“The coronavirus crisis took us all by surprise – God took us by surprise!”
Message of ENC President Johannes Fichtenbauer to the communites.
“The corona crisis is a challenge to everyone – It hits everybody, the poor and the rich alike. The consequences may hit the poor more than the rich. Nothing important will be untouched by the results of this crisis – Everything will be different after it’s over. Our prayer should be that God has reached his goals with this crisis and that we may have learned the right lessons from it.”
Outline of the video message by Johannes Fichtenbauer, 25th of March, 2020
The coronavirus crisis took us all by surprise – God took us by surprise!
However, some prophets had some words of revelation that such a challenging pandemic may come, but this was rather vague. Now we see a lot of confusion, fake news prophecy and misinterpretation. This should not make us nervous, we shouldn’t get impatient. It´s much too early for a final judgment.
It´s a challenge to everyone – It hits everybody, the poor and the rich alike. The consequences may hit the poor more than the rich. But even the rich, the mighty, the upper-class people cannot escape and their fears are just the same.
Nothing important will be untouched by the results of this crisis – Everything will be different after it’s over. Our prayer should be that God has reached his goals with this crisis and that we may have learned the right lessons from it.
Let us be examples to everybody and witnesses to the Gospel
- Let us be good citizens – cooperating with the government
- Let us be men & women not driven by fear, but full of confidence in God´s provision and protection
- Let us be loving neighbors, reliable friends, trustworthy partners – also to those around us who are not believers –
- always ready to help, wherever our support is needed.
- And whenever we are asked about our peace and confidence,then let´s explain our faith to those who ask
Pray – pray – pray
- March 25th – 27th are 3 days of ongoing fasting and prayer. And we believe in the power of prayer
- But there is a need for constant prayer even after these 3 days are over. Let us not stop.
- The long list of prayer requests (see the letter sent out 2 days ago) may grow as we will be entrusted with adeeper revelation. The more revelation we receive the more prayer requests we will have.
- As time goes on we will better understand why God allowed this crisis to happen.
A prophetess, a friend of mine, yesterday opened my eyes to a passage in 1 Petr. 4, 7 – 13 which I want to share in closing.
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
THE TWO BRANCHES OF THE OLIVE TREE
Israel and the nations
AND
THE ROOTS OF OUR FAITH
The olive tree does not symbolize Israel
The roots of our faith are not in Israel, neither for Israel nor for the nations in the economy
of Salvation, the two entities that form the Redeemed of Israel on the one hand, and the
Redeemed of the nations on the other hand, are only branches, branches grafted onto the tree
of life, the roots are elsewhere, the branches draw their sap (the “fat” of the olive tree) from
the same source: the olive tree, some inherit a legitimate and natural process: the Redeemed
of Israel, a people set apart from whom belong by descent the covenants and the promises
(Romans 9:4), and on the other hand the Redeemed nations, they too are of the nature of the
olive tree but wild, they are grafted like the others on the frank olive tree, but by adoption.
The branches of both types must be grafted onto the trunk of the olive tree to live spiritually.
The roots of the olive tree are Revelation and the promises made to Abraham. He saw in
anticipation the tree of life of salvation, the revealed Messiah-Savior: Abraham saw my day
and he rejoiced, says Jesus (John 8:56).
The nature of the olive tree is the faith of Abraham, the father of Faith (Galatians 3:7-29) it is
by the faith of Abraham that we are begotten in salvation, his two posterities being: the sand
(physical posterity) and the stars (non-palpable, spiritual posterity), they are of two natures:
the redeemed are of two natures: honest olive tree for Israel, wild olive tree for the nations.
Abraham is the father of believers, whether Jews or nations. The believers of the nations are
not grafted into Israel, and the believers of Israel are not grafted into the nations, but both are
grafted in the nature of faith which Abraham manifests when he says: “God will provide for
Himself” (Genesis 22:8). Paul explains that we are grafted, fused into a single trunk (Jesus)
thus becoming his body: For he is our peace, who of the two has made one, and who has torn
down the wall of separation, the enmity, having destroyed by his flesh the law of ordinances
in its statutes, in order to create in himself with the two one new man, establishing peace, and
to reconcile them, the one and the other in one body, with God through the cross, destroying
enmity through it. He came to proclaim peace to you who were far off, and peace to those
who were near; for through him we both have access to the Father, in the same Spirit.
(Ephesians 2:14-18). The Spirit of God is the sap that nourishes this body. To some who claimed
to be sons of Abraham, Yeshua replied: “And do not pretend to say within yourselves: We have
Abraham as our father! For I tell you that from these stones God is able to raise up children
for Abraham. » (Matthew 3:9). The faith of Abraham is the revelation and acceptance of the
messiah Yeshu’a (Jesus). By the new birth the first are grafted again on the wild olive tree which
is of the nature of their election, the second which are and remain of the wild nature are
grafted on the wild olive tree. To exist, one must be grafted together.
A branch of a franc olive tree [by covenant], grafted onto a franc olive tree will give franc
olives, it regains its true nature and its function.
Wild olives domestic olives
A branch of a wild olive tree adopted by grace, grafted onto an olive tree will produce wild
olives. Grafting a wild olive tree onto a domestic olive tree has the property of regenerating
it, stimulating its vigor and productivity; which is implied in the following verses: Romans
10:19 “But I say, Has not Israel known it? Moses was the first to say, ‘I will provoke you to
jealousy through that which is not a nation; bronchus? Far from there! But, through their fall,
salvation became available to the pagans, so that they might be excited to jealousy. “
Both branches benefit from the free sap.
So the nations cannot replace Israel and aim towards that. Replacement theology is heresy.
Israel is a concrete people like sand, it is the physical posterity and not necessarily spiritual
(John 9:7), but which must become so for a part, the physical posterity inherits a land: the land
of Canaan since the river of Egypt up to the Euphrates, promised to the Patriarchs. The
redeemed form an entity not defined materially like the inaccessible stars, whether they are
of Israel or of the Nations. The Israelites saved by the grace of Yeshua (nature of the olive tree),
inherit, like all other Jews, the prophetic promises made to the nation of Israel.
If the Body of Messiah Yeshu’a (called Iglesia or Assembly) is immaterial, the people of Israel
is a concrete entity, it is God’s milestone in the history of men. This people must exist so that
Yeshu’a can return to establish his reign (Matthew 23:39). If this people were to disappear, the
entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, would lose its meaning. This is what Satan strives to
achieve.
Israel is symbolized by the fig tree and the vine
“She (a mighty nation) has made my vineyard desolate, and my fig trees in pieces. “ Joel 1:7
“I found Israel like clusters in the desert; I saw your fathers as the first fruit of a beginning fig
tree.” Hosea 9:11
“Now, understand the similarity taken from the fig tree: When its branches are tender, and it
puts out leaves, you know that summer is near.” Matthew 24:32
“The vineyard of the Lord” Isaiah 5:1 to 10, Matthew 20 and 21.
The fig tree and the vine are undoubtedly the two fruit trees symbolizing the nation of Israel,
temporal Israel.
But the olive trees or olive branches symbolize spiritual posterity: Israel and the nations saved
and regenerated, living from the sap of the tree of life (the olive tree).
Likewise there is one shepherd, one flock but two folds: Israel and the Nations (John 10:16).
One high priest, one priesthood
If Yeshua was a priest according to the order of Aaron, this would mean that believers,
whatever their origins, would be grafted into Israel. Now Yeshua is high priest according to the
order of Melkitsedek (Psalm 110:4, Hebrews 5:6, 5:10, 6:20) to whom Abraham gave the tithe
of all his goods (Genesis 14:20). This priesthood predates that of Aaron, it brings us back to
the root of our faith: that of Abraham.
There is one and ultimate high priest: Jesus/Yeshua (Hebrews 9:26-28). Therefore, any form
of atoning priesthood after Jesus is a deception.
The olive tree symbolizes the tree of Revelation
The olive tree is par excellence the tree which symbolizes the development of revelation, the
fidelity of God in his promises represented by the longevity of this tree from the Patriarchs
who constitute its roots, to the two witnesses guarantors of this revelation.
It is the tree of perenniality through which the divine promises pass like a watermark.
Mention is constantly made in Scripture of the offshoot (netzèr) characteristic of the olive
tree, which means that on a stump of several millennia, the tree regenerates. Yeshu’a is
called Yeshu’a ha-Notzri (Jesus of Nazareth) whose root is netzèr.
Genesis 49:22: Joseph is the shoot of a fruitful tree, the shoot of a fruitful tree by a spring;
the branches rise above the wall.
Isaiah 11:1,10: “Then a branch will come out of the trunk of Ishai, and a shoot will be born from
his roots. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord;… In that day the
Root of Ishai will be there as a banner for the people; the nations will turn to Him, and glory
will be His habitation.”
Isaiah 53:2: “Who has believed what we heard? Who has recognized the arm of the Lord? He
rose before Him like a weak plant. Like a shoot (netzèr) that emerges from a dry earth.”
Isaiah 60:21: “Only the righteous remain among your people; they will inherit the land; it is the
shoot that I have planted, the work of my hands to serve for my glory.”
Revelation 5:5: “And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not; behold, the lion of the tribe of
Judah, the Root of David, has overcome to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Revelation 22:16: “I Yeshua have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I
am the offspring and seed of David, the bright Morning Star.”
“I am the vine, you are the branches” said Jesus (John 15:5). He is the trunk, we are the
branches”