The Vision Thing.

Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

This verse was probably written by King Solomon, a leader who knew a thing or two about running a country.

George HW Bush, the 41st President of the United States, derided critics who said he didn't have any plans for what to do with America by calling it "The Vision thing." But as any serious student of Political history can tell you, if a leader doesn't have a goal that he or she can give the People (or followers) to shoot for, the nation or movement that person leads will quickly fall apart. Human beings are built to go forward, and if they aren't going forward to any specific goal they'll start going nowhere, fast.

That is what is happening in Israel today under the leadership of Ehud Olmert and the ironically named "Kadima" (Hebrew for Forward) Party.

Offering no goals to the People, and having no goals themselves except to stay in power, they are failing to give the Israeli public any motivation to move, and the Israeli public is allowing itself to fall into a self defeating lethargy that I'm afraid it will take something awful happening to shake us out of.

Unfortunately, this is also happening in the Believer community.

The leadership of the Community here in Israel doesn't have anything that could really be called a long term vision or plan. For that matter, there is so much division in the Body that there is no united effort of any kind.

The tools for creating and sustaining a long term, united effort are here. The most valuable resource being a large pool of second generation Sabra Israeli believers, the sons and daughters of those who came here over the years and blazed trails. These young people are in their 20's, many of them just out of the IDF. They speak fluent Hebrew (most of them also speak English) and know Israel and how to relate to Israelis from the inside. They are 110% Israeli.

There's just one problem.

No one is giving them any inspiration. No one is giving them any vision.

The result is that this precious and indispensable resource, which could be utilized in so many ways to spread the Gospel and build the Kingdom in Israel, is being frittered away or at best underutilized. Sporadic efforts at training and education and occasional youth conferences with little or no follow up are the best of what's going on. At worst, Sabra Israeli Believers are actually being encouraged to leave the country by parents who naturally think that they could have a better life in America or Europe, just like many non-Believer parents are doing.

This leads into a MUCH BIGGER problem in the Body worldwide. The psychotic aversion on the part of most pastors to use the "S" word.

What is the "S" word?

Sacrifice.

Yeshua talked a lot about sacrifice, including in one of His most famous sayings;

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Luke 9:23)

In other words, the life of a Believer is not supposed to be fun or easy. It's hard work, and punishment, and sacrifice, and pain and suffering.

But what comes after will make it all worthwhile.

That's the Vision that Yeshua offered us, and it is the vision that far to many pastors and leaders of the Body, both here in Israel and worldwide, have ignored (and even turned upside down, e.g. the so called "Prosperity Teaching Movement.")

So I am asking, with all due respect, for the leadership of the Body here in the Land to please try and communicate this Vision to the members of the Body here in the Land, especially the young people. We are not on this Earth to have a good time, we're here to do a job. The fun will come later.