|
By Lloyd Mackey
BY THE TIME this appears in print or online, at least a
few hundred Okanagan Christians will have experienced the latest Revelation
Mystery Theatre presentation staged by Return Ministries (RM).
The events, which follow up earlier presentations in
communities from Osoyoos to Salmon Arm, are in the interests of encouraging
Christians to support the return of North American Jewish people to the
land of Israel.
In June, the Okanagan events focused on the Feast of
Pentecost.
Dean Bye, director of Return Ministries, says he has
been most encouraged by the strength of support in the Okanagan, for what
the group is doing.
Bye maintains that “we are focused on helping
people to understand Israel from a biblical standpoint. We encourage a
return to Hebraic roots and a reading of the Bible with more of an
understanding of the restoration and return.”
He adds that RM’s helping to return Jewish people
to Israel is “all in preparation for the return of Lord Jesus –
who will return to Jerusalem.”
The ways in which RM operates involve both the
arranging of work and study tours to Israel for Christian young people, and
theatre/drama events in various parts of Canada, to build interest.
Bye affirms that RM takes the traditional Christian
Zionist approach to the return of the Jewish people to the Holy Land, and
the building of the nation of Israel (which has been celebrating its 60th
anniversary this year).
He cautions, however, that their approach is based on a
biblical understanding of the issue, rather than taking a political slant.
Noting the Israel/Palestinian divide and the
long-standing suffering which comes out of it, Bye says RM stands by what
he maintains to be a biblical view: that Israel will ultimately possess the
land.
Being faithful to a biblical vision, he suggests, means
spiritual support to Israel in its struggles can be validated.
At the time of the interview, Bye was putting the
finishing touches on the July Okanagan presentations, which were intended
to dramatize the ‘Revelation of the Bride.’
The means to get the point across, he says, was to
bring an actual couple who had recently been married in Israel, as part of
the theatre entourage.
Continue article >>
|
Revelation Mystery Theatre’s objectives, as
outlined on the RM website, are as follows:
“Through interactive theatre, that includes food,
song and dance, and great creativity, guests would receive an impartation
of revelation of what God is doing in Israel now.
“Non-Jews would be challenged to be active in
returning to the Jewish roots of their faith; [they] would find God’s
call and purpose in returning the Jewish people to Israel and to
God’s heart, in preparation for the return of Messiah to Jerusalem.
“The eyes of non–Jews would be opened to
know the One New Man (Ephesians 2:15,16). Guests would give prayerful
consideration to standing with and supporting the holy work of Return
Ministries.”
These support–building processes augment study
and work tours to Israel. One tour, each October, helps build awareness for
the biblical Feast of Tabernacles.
Bye says RM’s emphasis provides him opportunities
to bring an educational component into a university context.
One such presentation, recently given at McGill
University in Montreal, was attended by some Palestinian students.
There had been predictions of possible protest from the
students, but this did not occur – because, Bye suggests, “we
were not talking about borders of 1967 or 1948, but sticking more to what
the Bible promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Bye says the interest in what RM is doing cuts across
Christian denominational lines, and includes Catholics as well as a variety
of Protestants.
“No doubt, the larger interest comes from those
with an evangelical Christian background, notwithstanding,” he points
out.
Contact: www.return.co.il.
August 2008
|
