From Israel To Italy

Vinedressers in Italy prefer hot, dry summers as opposed to mild ones with ample rainfall. The reason for this is that they say it makes for a sweeter or more flavorful grape.

In John 15:1-17 we read about Israel’s vineyard, its Supreme Vinedresser, and its One, Living Vine. In Israel, the vines would run much closer to the rocky soil to be able to take advantage of the dewfall in the night. Israel has very little rainfall from the early spring to the late fall, yet the vines produce their sweetest grapes in the hot desert when other plants have long died off. The dewfall would be captured beneath the rocks that would protect the  the water from evaporation and allow it to penetrate the ground and nourish the vine’s roots.

There’s a great spiritual analogy to consider between the long, scorching summer and the sweetening of the grapes. The dry heat and minimal rain remind us of the loss of visible blessing (ie. rain from Heaven). We will all suffer spiritual dry times in our lives. But I’m not talking about spiritual weariness as much as I’m equating dry-ness with enduring persecution and/or difficulty.

In other words, Christians who enjoy a vibrant and rich Faith are ones that have most likely endured much for that Faith. The fruit that they bear is much sweeter to others because it’s been under different forms of persecution and has not had much visible, physical blessing to rely upon. Their faith in itself has been trained to be much more dependent on the Lord’s nourishing. 

I regularly hear this reflected from short-term missionaries to poorer countries. They’ll often say something like, “The faith of the people on this field was so joyful and rich.” Or, “They had so little but they were so content and happy.” Or, “We went to bless them and we received a blessing instead.” What blessing was that? Sweeter grapes.

The Western Believer has a hard time understanding persecution. They will often reduce persecution to the idea of physical abuse or worse. However, stop to consider that there can be at least six other forms as well:

1. Spiritual
2. Emotional
3. Mental
4. Governmental
5. Financial
6. Testimonial (reputation, name, slander)

Often, these go unseen but serve to enhance the difficulty and struggle that moves toward the final realm of the physical abuse and martyrdom that we frequently associate with the word persecution.¹

In Italy, we have regularly endured these other six forms of persecution. For years, it was hard to relate the struggles and difficulties of “what we’re going through” to those who don’t have a gridwork to understand it. Sometimes the only explanation we can offer is - growing grapes in progress.

1. Rick Pearcey writes a fantastic article on the nature of persecution in the modern-day can be found here. In the article, Pearcey outlines the process of persecution. The initial forms of persecution will be used to ostracize and demonize. Then, the later forms will be used to destroy. [back]

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Just a note to those of you who follow this blog that my co-contributor here on I2I, Roberto, had to say good-bye (for now) to his father Pasquale on the 7th of January. Pasquale turned 94 last week (meaning that he was born before the Titanic was built to put it in perspective).

We pondered the secrets of old-age that Pasquale knew and placed a few ideas on the table. One said it was because he was Italian (who are generally known for their longevity — I’ve never seen more 90 year-olds riding bicycles anywhere else). Another said it was because he was a Battistuzzi. Pasquale had a brother who recently passed away that was about the same age. Another attributed it to the good wine (Conegliano, where Pasquale was from, prides itself on being a city of the juice). Our Church family partially thinks it’s because of the great care that Adele and Roberto gave their dad. But the best reason came from an African nurse who said, “God wasn’t finished talking with him yet.”

As God has finished His pursuit of Pasquale, one point we should consider is  How does God also talk to us in the grand scheme of things? The Bible lays out many ways.¹ One way the Hebrew worldview explores the Father’s lessons is through the funeral. Ecclesiastes 7:2 says,

It is better to go to the house of mourning
   than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
   and the living will lay it to heart.

Here, Solomon lays out the simply profound point that it is better to seek meaning in your life more from a funeral than from a party. Everybody will be at a funeral someday. It’s the funeral of another (especially those close to us) that “talks” a language of God to those who are still alive. The deliberation over a life teaches us what qualities of wisdom that we should pursue and what foolishness of destruction we should avoid. The funeral aligns the living toward meaning. The funeral is the sound of the gate opening to eternity. That sound will help those who are prepared for eternity and haunt those who are not.

Can we ever prepare for the experience of death? Maybe not. But the confidence that we find in the Bible is that we can prepare for what comes after death (1 Corinthians 15:54-58). It’s a solved mystery! You will either experience death’s fury and total sting - or Yeshua’s victory of everlasting life. Consider funerals — they have something to say.

1. God speaks to His kids through creation, conviction, His Word, circumstances, godly people, destruction of the wicked, the rising and falling of kings and nations, the one-another community of Yeshua, the simple trust of a child etc. [back]

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There are many ways that I could expound on a title like The Jekyl & Hyde Italians. I could easily take up the themes of taxes, laws, manners, or religious practices and we’d have some funny & shocking posts. However, my main description is of the Religious-Secularism that pulls at them from all sides. I actually feel sadness for the Italians and their deep, deep struggle to see the Truth of Biblical Faith which reigns over secularism and through healthy religion.

The Great Divide

Simply, Italians from the day they’re born are confronted and confused with a terrible dichotomy or division to life.

On one side, the Roman Empire tells them that God created the universe in 6 days and is the Source of our origins.¹ This is what the family for generations has had to follow and believe. To deny this is to refute Grandma and discredit the priest. This is their values side of what they know.

On the other side, the Italian (European) public education system pounds naturalistic Darwinism into them from a young age. This theory basically says that chance and natural laws come together and form the origin (and meaninglessness) of life. There-is-no-God atheism is the stew they’re boiling in from Monday through Saturday. This is the idea of science or facts that they know.

What we have then is the common Italian who walks around as secular as can be, living for the pleasure of the moment (or the moments to come), and thoroughly confused as to where they came from and where they’re going.

Here’s the Hard Work

I think one of our greatest tasks as Bible-believing and practicing Christians in Italy is to help Italians to see that God is the source & designer of life, that He does have a plan for life ( Ephesians 1:7-10), that He is know-able, and that they are responsible to Him for what they do with that life.

1. of course, they don’t give the Italian the “why” and they say that God is not know-able apart from them and their mediation [back]

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This is the final, fantastic close of Mr. Scudder’s testimony. We apologize for the long absence this summer, but we’ve had to do a lot of travel and take care of many personal obligations. Getting back to this post, while I may not fully follow Mr. Scudder in the area of “modern tongues”, I would say that his understanding is excellent about the deception of a mixed and/or common faith. Please take a couple minutes to read through his closing and then leave us a comment or two!

Catholics no longer a mission field?

Some Evangelicals are now saying that Roman Catholics are no longer considered to be a mission field since they are ‘Christians’, as evidenced in the document ECT, (Evangelicals and Catholics together).

What a sad commentary to our brothers and sisters in Latin countries, and others who have laid down their lives for the Gospel, and have seen millions of Roman Catholics believe the Gospel. The future of evangelism hangs in the balance.

In my eight years of working with Charismatic Catholics, I have come to the following conclusions.

I had been naive and had neglected to really look into the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church to see what they really believed about the doctrine of Salvation by Grace alone through faith alone on account of Christ alone. I took it for granted that they believed the Gospel of the Bible. I had not prepared and made serious mistakes. After study I found that historically, and conversely, the Roman Catholic Church teaches as dogma, that justification is conferred through her sacraments, and that it consists of inner righteousness whereby a man, it is stated, becomes ‘just within himself.’ The Church of Rome condemns the Biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. (Council of Trent)

Any non-Catholic Church that held the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church would be considered a ‘Cult’ by many of the same people who are seeking unity with the Catholics.

I have discovered that most Protestants do not know what the Gospel is ‘according to Rome’! And are easy prey for Roman Catholic apologists because they do not know how to defend sola scriptura or because of their extreme arminianism. Do we once again need a reformation in the ‘Protestant’ Evangelical Churches?

It was the standard practice of the FGBMFI to tell Roman Catholics to stay in the Catholic Church so that they could witness to others and I find this to be true also in many Protestant/Pentecostal churches. I believe this was a very dangerous attitude in that I found those who stayed eventually were lost to the Roman Church once again for various reasons or because they had not been truly born again. I believe most of the ones who had trusted in Christ alone for salvation came out of the Roman Catholic Church.

You cannot stay in a Church, without consequences, that denies we are saved by what Christ did outside of us, and not what we can do to become worthy inside.

“Solo Christo”

“Solo Christo” was one of the cries of the Protestant Reformation. Translated from the Latin, it means “Christ Alone.”

In these times, the growing tendency to emphasize feelings and experiences at the expense of sound doctrine is presenting the world with a ‘feel-good’ religious community, the boundaries of which grow more ephemeral with every new ecumenical pronouncement. This is especially true among Roman Catholics and some Evangelical and some Charismatic Christians. I want to emphasize that not all Evangelicals and Pentecostals are being deceived but some are.

And the lines become more blurred, so that now in some ecumenical meetings, New Agers, Universalists, Roman Catholic as well as “some” true born again Christians such as Evangelicals and Pentecostals are coming together to celebrate their oneness in a quote, ‘Common Experience.’ This is the great deception.

Although speaking in tongues can be valid experience from God it is not always of the Holy Spirit. It can be counterfeited. Satan has counterfeits of every Gift of God. You can receive an experience without being saved, and when this happens it leads to many problems. The major problem is a false sense of security that you are saved, and leads you further away from the true Gospel and many times into the occult. It has been documented that most spiritualists are former Catholics.

If we accept everybody as brothers and sisters because they speak in tongues, then we are heading down a slippery slope, Catholic or otherwise.
(Spiritual experience ALONE can never be the basis for unity. Unity must be based on sound DOCTRINE.)

Some may have a legitimate question about laying hands on unbelievers. Some bitterly regret having prayed for and laid hands on these Catholics who have, according to some Pentecostal testimony, received an alien spirit as a result. Does this mean that “we” transmitted an evil spirit from us to them? NO - in our ignorance God would not allow us to transmit the Holy Spirit or an unclean spirit to a unregenerated person but we have been guilty of helping that person open-up to an unclean spirit.

*****************
“If anyone comes with another doctrine, do not receive him….for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”
Holy Bible 2 John 10-11 KJV.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
Galatians 5:1. KJV

*********

Bill Scudder

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Welcome back for those of you who picked up reading the I2I blog in the Fall of 2005. With great pleasure, I2I is going to shift gears into a co-blog format. Brother Roberto Battistuzzi is teaming up with Brother Rob Krause to write about our insights & experiences in Italy, how Jesus of Nazareth has changed our lives, and how Romanism and Secularism impact the land of Italy and much of the world.

Along with a new site design with a number of user-friendly features¹, we’ve also written a new “About I2I” page to explain more clearly how we see I-2-I.

So, on Monday - June 5th, we’ll be up and running again as we get the last pieces put into place. We hope to bring posts to you weekly. Please feel free to comment and share your insights with us too.

Rob & Rob

1. a great navigation bar, Bible verses popup on the site when you mouseover, most recent comments published in the sidebar, and streamlined organization [back]

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“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” Gal.5:1

During a holiday in beautiful Austria, we were encouraged to visit a delightful town on the shores of a lake, Zell am See. It is a well known ski resort and is located in a beautiful setting, with towering mountains all around. We were enjoying a welcome break after 8 years in Italy, where we have been challenged in many ways and especially in the Christian spiritual realm. While walking around this town, we came across the Catholic Church which dates back many centuries, (as many of these
churches do!). As part of our stay in Italy is evangelizing Italians, we have spent many months of study in an effort to get to grips with the reason for such spiritual oppression in that country. Many friends and visitors have commented that they “feel” oppressed in their spirits whenever they come to Italy. We are now realizing more and more that the Vatican
and, therefore, the Catholic Church play an enormous role in this. One can argue the point, but the religion of any country has an effect on the whole population. Whether one has separation of Church and State or not, the religious beliefs of the country’s political establishment shapes the way a country is run through it’s laws and other things. If one has a very strong spiritual influence like the Vatican has in Italy, then that shapes not only the political system but also the psyche of the population. The purpose of this blog is not to go into details of this, except to give two simple examples :

1. One of the first “duties” of a newly elected Italian Prime Minister is to visit the pope (sic).
2. By law, Italians have to sign away a percentage of their tax to either the Catholic Church or two other religious establishments. It is called the “Otto per mille” or “Eight per thousand”. In other words,eight euro out of every thousand euro paid in tax goes to the designated institution. There will be a more detailed blog on this later.

So what has all this to do with the photo? Quite a lot.
I walked into the church to see what was inside.As I turned to walk out, this sculpture caught my eye.It was at the back, almost hidden.Above it, to the left was a statue of the “madonna” holding what is supposed to be baby Jesus.The contrast was enormous.On the one side , this pathetic representation of our Glorious Lord and on the other a jewel studded statue of the “mother” of Christ.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In a flash of intuition, I suddenly realized:”this is it!!” I have yet to see anything graphic that condenses everything that I have studied over these few years regarding the spiritual bondage of catholics,
and sadly, more and more Protestant denominations than this statue.
Jesus, the Anointed One, is still considered as a dead figure on a cross or as a baby in the arms of a woman.
Yet He is the soon returning Glorious, Resurrected, God the Son.
The problem in Italy and other predominantly catholic countries is that Yeshua Mashiach is held captive in the minds of people. Catholics will more than likely pray to other “gods” or “godesses”, (read saints and madonnas), than to the True and Only God.
The striking thing about this sculpture was not only that the representation of the Lord was chained to the wall, but that it was behind bars too!
Almost as if to say, “We must make doubly sure that Jesus is not freed, just in case the truth comes out and we lose an empire of a billion plus subjects.”
If you think I am exaggerating, come and experience Italy for yourselves.
This is the reason that we pray and intercede for a Holy Spirit led Reformation in Italy. May the King of Kings break the chains of religious bondage and apostasy so that hundreds of million of prisoners will see the light and experience the glorious freedom from sin.
Grace and shalom

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Dolomites

Originally uploaded by Rob and Adele.

Dolomites, Alps and the Reformation
“Therefore, since we are justified by FAITH, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ “ Romans 5:1
What have these three words to do with each other ? Pretty much in a strange sort of way. When we arrived in Italy 8 years ago, we went about the business of sharing our testimonies and gospel with my countrymen. After a few minutes of telling them that we were born and grew up in Africa, the first question would be “What on earth made you come to this country ?” ( As I blog more and more, you will be reading stories about Italy that will, hopefully ,give some insight into the psyche of the Italians ).
This was the perfect opening to tell them “The Lord sent us here to look after my ageing dad and to evangelise”. This often led to more in depth discussion on faith, Christianity and Catholicism. Many times we would be told “I wish I had your faith !”, My reply would be “It is only by the grace of God, but you can also have it if you receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour”
“Oh but I am Catholic and Christian “would be the counter reply.
Catch 22. You want the faith, yet you claim to be Christian already . So back to square one.
We joined Serenissima Bible Church led by Pastor Rob Krause three years ago and have been sharing many things together. Pastor Rob came to Italy, called by God , to be a missionary in Italy. We have laughed and cried a lot together. But one comment made by an Italian friend of ours has shaped the way we pray for Italy. We had been praying many months for revival in Italy. Our folks in the church had been encouraged to do the same. Until this brother said “ Why are you praying for revival if Italy has never had a Reformation !”I will elaborate on this under a different title. Our prayer strategy now is for the Lord to open they eyes and the hearts of Catholics to the truth of the Gospel. We camped out on this thought for a long time, (still are ).We dedicated ourselves to studying in greater depth the history of the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformation. Did you know that there was a pre Luther “Protestant” church in the mountains north of Torino ?.We have been told by reliable sources that there was a small group in an area not far from where we live. Sadly both were wiped out at the time of the Counter Reformation and the Council of Trent. We have learnt that , for centuries , the Roman Church has done it’s utmost to prevent any form of evangelisation in this country. This has done untold damage to the country and it’s people. In the weeks to come you will be reading stories of this.
But back to the title. I believe that the Lord helped me understand a lot through one simple dream. If your theology teaches you that God does not speak through dreams, please bear with me on this one. I am extremely careful on some things, especially dreams. But Joel ch.2:28 gives scriptural backing for them,( I must be an old man !) and it is confirmed in Acts 2:17 by Peter on the Day of Pentecost when he quoted from Joel.
The dream I had was a map of Europe. As I was looking at it from above , Europe was brown and dry. All of a sudden there was a n incredible wave of crystal clear water rolling down from the north and flowing over the Alps. I woke up and thought ,”What a great , vivid dream” , and then put it out on my mind. However, during the day it came back again and again. As I thought about it, I believe the Lord showed me that the Alps , ( hence the picture of the Dolomite mountain), have been a physical barrier for Italy. The Reformation happened north of the Alps and never crossed over. The Alps representing religious pride and man’s continuous resistance to His Truth for the sake of retaining power over people in body, soul and spirit. Nevertheless, Jesus said regarding the rich young ruler in Mat. 19:25-26 : When the disciples heard this , they were greatly astonished and said” Who the can be saved ?” BUT JESUS ( here is the BUT GOD again that I love so much) , looked at them and said to them “With men this is impossible, BUT WITH GOD, all things are possible”.
So we have faith that Hashem will send His Spirit over the spiritual Alps and many will be saved.
Let me conclude with this : watch out those of you Evangelicals and members of traditional churches that are compromising with the Roman Catholic Church. When the Lord begins to Reform Italy and priests , bishops and others begin to realize the error of their ways , reject the teachings that have held them captive for centuries; beware that you are not embarrassed and have to repent yourselves for having sided with them.
Grace and shalom

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Main Piazza, S.Stefano

Originally uploaded by Rob and Adele.

Italy is built around piazzas — or the main square of the city. It’s a place where people go to sit, talk, or meditate on anything and everything. Not much has changed over 2000 years in regard to city squares. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul entering a piazza like this one and proclaiming boldly the glory of God?
I’ll write some more on this piazza later today or tomorrow.

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It may seem a strange title seeing that I have never been to Israel and that I lived most of my life in Africa. Born and grew up in Kenya and then South Africa. But it reflects the the spiritual journey that Israel’s Messiah has mapped out for me. For a more detailed bio, read the Africa link.
It all began on the 5th of January 1975 in Cape Town , South Africa. That fateful night when the Holy Spirit convicetd me that I was a sinner and where I met the Saviour.
Born of Italian parents, baptized as a baby, christened (I still have the photos of the Bishop of Nairobi laying hands on me) and grew up as a Catholic. Like 95 % of my countrymen, I believed that I was a Christian, albeit not a good one, but as long as I went to confession & communion I would be OK. Nobody told me about repentance as a 180 degree turnaround, new birth, sanctification.I learned to blaspheme the Lord when I was 15 years old . (There is a separate blog on italy and blasphemy under Italian Culture).BUT GOD, I like this expression in the bible !BUT GOD, so loved me that He gave His only begotten Son that I should not perish but have life eternal- John 3:16. So Israel’s Messiah took hold of my life that night and 30 years later, here we are in Italy witnessing and winning souls for Him.
You may ask : Aren’t Catholics Christians? No. In the same way that belonging to a Protestant Church does not automatically make you a Christian. There is only one qualification : “you must be born again”- John 3:5. When I came to Italy 8 years ago I used to make a distinction between Protestants and Catholics. Now I realise that many Protestant denominations are sliding deeper into apostasy. Many denying the Lord Himself. Truly as Jesus said ” a dog returns to his vomit and a sow wallows in the mud “.Traditional churches that were born out of the Reformation and whose early pioneers were murdered and often burnt at the stake , now openly support homosexuality, abortion. Some leaders do not even believe in the Deity of Jesus, virgin birth and other fundamental beliefs.
So here I am, a thoroughbred Italian in the flesh, but a thoroughbred Christian in the spirit, sent of God to witness to my fellow Italians - i 2 i.

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