Michael Nissim, Nahariya Messianic Congregation, February 2019
Asher Intrater and Eitan Shishkoff were sent out by Tikkun Ministries and made Aliya (immigration) to Israel in 1992. In 2004, at a convention of Tikkun leaders held in the U.S, Dan Juster, Tikkun’s Senior Apostle, detailed the progress of their plans and the challenges they were facing, in the following manner:1
- “In the north, Eitan Shishkoff has on the drawing boards his third and fourth congregations, following the model of cell groups and raising up leaders; one in Acco, two in Kraiot (one Russian-speaking and one Hebrew-speaking, more oriented to youth) and one in Haifa.
- “In the south, Asher Intrater and Eddie Santoro, both Tikkun Emissaries, give us a strong connection to the Tel Aviv congregation, now the most successful congregation reaching Sabras, over 200 now.
- Vision for discipleship, leadership training and multiplication of congregations.
- “Need for teaching; many Messianic congregations in Israel are actually anti-Torah… Just to get Torah embraced is a huge battle.
- “In the late 80’s, Asher [Intrater] said that he and Eitan [Shishkoff] were like Joshua and Caleb sent to scout out then take the land, while Dan [Juster] was to be like Moses and stay on the other side of the river.”
This statement of Intrater’s, about “scouting out and then taking the Land,” could be viewed as an unnecessary statement, one to be overlooked. No one wants his words to be taken out of context, or to have every poor statement of his remembered. However, in Intrater’s case, this statement represents a consistent line of thought with other articles he wrote, the official teaching of his organization, Tikkun/Revive Israel,2 and the spirit of the worldwide apostolic movement in general. I would like to expand on this.
In the meantime, we will note that the congregations belonging to Shishkoff, who, according to the regional distribution is in charge of the North, have gone from planning stage to facts on the ground, and more have been added to them. And the strong Tel-Aviv congregation mentioned — it too will be delivered over time into the hands of Asher Intrater and Tikkun network—and is none other than “Tif’eret Yeshua”. Not too bad for progress.
So, what did Intrater mean when he said “to scout out, then take the land”? Did he “only” mean bringing the Messianic congregations in Israel under apostolic authority, or rather to taking the Land, as in “the state of Israel”? Isn’t such a suggestion outlandish?
Well, the intent to unify the body of Christ in Israel and around the globe under apostolic authority based in Jerusalem has been well documented in the paper “Tikkun Doctrine, A Critical Survey“, by brother Shimon Amit from Jerusalem. However, in their thinking, the church is only one of seven mountains which must be taken in order for the Messiah to return.
The Seven Mountains
“The Seven Mountains Mandate” is a doctrine that teaches that there are seven spheres, or “mountains”, of society, dominating all walks of life, and these are: religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and business. There are slight differences as to what the seven spheres are exactly (for instance, some include “military” or “judicial system” instead of existing spheres, and some incorporate them under the existing ones, but the idea remains the same). According to this doctrine, believers must conquer these seven spheres for the Messiah, in order to prepare the world for His second coming. The way to bring people to the Kingdom of Heaven, according to their method, is to effectually bring down the Kingdom of Heaven to the earth!3 The Apostolic Restoration plays a very central role in realizing this vision.
The change in perception is this: If up to now we aimed at reaching lost souls to tell them about salvation in Jesus Christ so they will be saved one at a time, now the method is to take over the cultural mountains and to create a new social reality, a transformation of the population as a whole, in order to bring the souls in an entire city, or even an entire country, under the Kingdom. This is the “new paradigm”, as it is called. Apostles (or apostlettes), such as Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of “Generals.org” (and whose books are distributed by Maoz publishing), are to be the generals presiding over the process that will bring about this reformation.
The vision of the Seven Mountains was given by revelation to two different leaders of ministries, who were at different locations, during the same 24 hours. These two individuals then contacted one another and developed this doctrine, which was completely adopted by virtually all known leaders of Dominion Theology worldwide, and has become an integral part of this theology. I, personally, have no doubt that this vision has a supernatural source.
Daniel Juster, the senior apostle at Tikkun,4 testifies that the new paradigm had already been adopted by Tikkun teachers long ago: “For 35 years our ministries have taught the Gospel of the Kingdom in a way that connects us to the newer ‘Seven Mountain/Pillar Teaching’. This teaching is now becoming popular in both charismatic and evangelical streams.”5 This new teaching is one of the reasons why, when you say “the Gospel of the Kingdom” and they say “the Gospel of the Kingdom”, it means two different things.
Infiltration as a Way
We can find an expression of the Seven Mountains doctrine at ‘passing the baton’ ceremony from the previous pastor of Tif’eret Yeshua congregation, Ari Sorko-Ram, to the new pastor, Asher Intrater (a ceremony which also constituted an official acknowledgement of Intrater as an apostle). At that ceremony, Sorko-Ram said the following:
“Asher, as pastor, will continue to impart, direct, cast vision, equip, and empower this next generation to penetrate all sectors of society in Israel – government, the arts and entertainment, education, politics, justice system, family, and religion. Only then, can all Israel be awakened to the Gospel!”6
Each term here (impart, direct, cast vision, equip, empower) holds a specific and charged meaning in NAR jargon,7 one that is different than anything you could imagine. But what is disturbing is that Sorko-Ram does not talk about integrating into all sectors of society, but rather infiltrating them— and that, as a prerequisite to Israel’s awakening to the Gospel (“only then can all Israel…”). These thoughts originate with Dominion Theology and the Seven Mountains vision.
Stealth as a Means
The nature of “Infiltration”, whether it be to a church or to spheres of society and institutions of government, is not overt, but covert. Infiltration is carried out in stealth, in secrecy, below the radar. Is that truly the intent of our friends? Apparently, it is.
Johnny Enlow is one of the prominent figures in the apostolic movement. Ron Cantor, of Tif’eret Yeshua and Tikkun/Revive Israel, cites him and introduces him in one of his books as “author, speaker and co-leader of Restore7” (a website wholly dedicated to the Seven Mountains vision).8 Well, the same Johnny Enlow openly espouses the method of stealing into politics in order to at the end of the day, take the state leadership’s reins of government in one thrust:
“As this new Seven Mountains Mandate paradigm invades the body of Christ, many rising Josephs [who will be rulers as Joseph] will be equipped to make unprecedented political breakthroughs. Many nations will form new political parties based on this new paradigm. Most will have a political name that carries the words reform, reformation, or restoration [ironically enough, Tikkun means Restoration] in it… They will understand the value in operating in a stealth fashion and in being as “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt. 10: 16) … a new generation gets a vision and faith to see and be part of what God is doing on earth… In many nations, the movement will gain almost overnight favor to be in power as its leaders carry the Joseph mantle of favor. Even in nations where they don’t immediately win elections, they will begin to set the political agenda through their discourse. They will carry an anointing of spiritual reformation that will penetrate every sector of society.”9
At Intrater’s initiation ceremony, the words “penetrate every sector of society” sounded like a copy-paste of Enlow’s last sentence. It’s pretty clear there’s an influence here.
On another website, 7colturalmountains.org, Enlow explains the method of getting into positions of authority in order to conquer the “mountain of government”:
“The goal is… to have Christians who are called to be in high places step into that role. And wearing a “Christian” label on our sleeve isn’t the point. We need to learn to be “as wise as serpents and harmless as doves” and realize that stealth authority and influence are much preferred over overt authority and influence. A low profile diffuses resistance from the opposition.”10
In other words, don’t be open about your faith and your purpose. Quietly steal into positions of control and wait for the right moment.
Changing Language as a Method
The militant themes of invasion, conquering and dominion have alarmed many U.S circles, and justifiably so. Therefore, Os Hillman, the man behind 7culturemountains.org, recommends adopting different terminology. From now on, say “influence”, not “dominion”.11 Others speak of “shaping” society, not “taking it over”.
Lance Wallnau too says the terminology needs to be changed. Lance Wallnau is perhaps the most prominent teacher for Seven Mountains, and was the one to coin the term “Seven Mountains Mandate”. In a mutual interview he held with Johnny Enlow and Os Hillman, Wallnau instructs his listeners to carefully utilize different terminology, according to the audience they are addressing:
“Part of my problem is that people will take my message, link their own interpretation to it and go out and talk about taking down high places, coming against the Devil – I am very particular where I use that language because you don’t want to startle all of the horses out of the barn. If you’re talking to a secular audience, you don’t talk about having dominion over them, I mean, my gosh, that’s what their afraid of…
“So the anxiety is based on misinformation [he says that because the real intention has been exposed]. What I’ve said today is I want to find out who’s anointed with the right ideas and I want to serve them – to be a Joseph, you’re going to shape Pharaoh.
“This whole idea of taking over, and that language of take over, it doesn’t actually help – it’s good for preaching to the choir, and it’s shorthand if we interpret it right, but it’s very bad for media.”12
It is astounding how these teachers, off of whom the apostolic movement in Israel is feeding and whose doctrine it is spreading, do not mince their words when speaking about stealth being a legitimate means as far as they are concerned, and instruct their followers to alter definitions and terms according to their audience. Because, according to scripture, stealth, deception and acting covertly are the characteristics of false teachers and false prophets, not of the servants of God:
“They will secretly introduce destructive heresies” (2 Peter 2:1); “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation” (Jude 4); “this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage)” (Galatians 2:4).
Covert action and stealth – these are methods of false teachers. Why do they act this way, I ask? The way to act is not by stealth but by being forthright with the truth, as is written: “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Cor 4:2).
It is also worth noting that Joseph, of whom these teachers claim to get their inspiration, did not strive for a position in government whilst hiding his identity and waiting for the right moment. Right from the start he was introduced to Pharaoh as a Hebrew youth, and he became ruler over Egypt the same day he was taken out of prison. He was very open before the king, with no tricks or change of language.13 It is true that people like Joseph, Ezra and Nehemiah took advantage of their access to kings to benefit their people Israel, but we don’t know of any subversion or stealth on their part.
Tikkun and Dominion Theology
Asher Intrater also teaches that the reins of government have to be taken hold of as part of the prerequisites for Yeshua’s return. From his perspective, there must be a kingdom in Israel before the Messiah can return, and in it there must be a functioning government that will constitute the foundation for the Kingdom of the Messiah14:
“The reestablishment of the nation of Israel is a necessary prerequisite to the second coming. [up to this part most of us will totally agree, but watch where this is going] If Yeshua is to return to take up His throne as the king of Israel, there must be a throne for Him to return to. There must be a structure of government in Israel that will form the base of Yeshua’s kingdom in the world to come.”
That is, according to Intrater, the Kingdom, or at least its early version, should already be founded before the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah, therefore, does not establish His Kingdom on His own, but we are the ones to make sure a physical, temporal kingdom with a functioning government awaits Him here on earth, for Him to be able to return and take it.
But how is an unbelieving government to receive Yeshua when He returns? Answer: by believers’ entering into positions of authority in the various fields. This is how Intrater answers in the very same passages:
“This problem is also solved as Messianic believers take up places of authority within Israeli society.“
He goes on to explain that this process had already begun:
“We already have those who are officers in the IDF, those who are serving in medicine, law, education, etc. This is just the beginning. As Messianic Jews gain these kinds of positions, then Israel will be ready to cry out, “Baruch Ha Ba, Blessed is He who comes!”
Again, we see that the salvation of Israel depends, purportedly, upon a gradual process of entering into key positions.
The following year, Intrater further detailed the fields believers must take over, in his article “The Joseph Vision”:
“As Joseph rose to leadership in Egypt, so is it God’s desire today for true believers to rise into key leadership positions in the fields of politics, military, business, banking, communications, resource management, and so on. We must have a confident faith that God can give godly people positions of dominion in this world. We should look for particularly strategic jobs, which could affect the control of such areas as data management in banking systems, energy resource alternatives, Internet communications, etc. … We need a generation of young Joseph leaders, ready to take dominion in their own countries and business fields.“15
Intrater talks about taking dominion and about controlling the data of banking systems. In my humble opinion, controlling a bank has nothing to do with the return of the Messiah, yet Intrater draws a circumstantial line between the two. For centuries the Jews have been accused of plans to take over banks and countries, and lo and behold, here it appears as part of Tikkun and Revive Israel’s vision.
Moreover, according to Tikkun, the level of authority we will reach in the church will directly affect the position we will be given in the Kingdom, when the Messiah returns. Therefore, it is hard for me not to see personal ambitions here. As Intrater writes:
“Spiritual authority in the international ecclesia [church] before Yeshua returns will become government authority in the millennial kingdom after He returns.”16
The Danger
The level of ambition could have been a laughing matter, had it not been dangerous. Not that I think that Tikkun and Revive Israel will succeed in realizing their plans. I don’t. But we have in Israel the Shin Bet (Internal Security Service) and the Mossad, who are entrusted with the safety of the state. By virtue of their duty they have to scan correspondences and publications. When they realize that a certain group is striving to occupy positions of authority in the IDF and in government institutions with some agenda (especially a “Messianic” agenda), they will mark all of us Messianics without distinguishing between “Tikkunists” and other Messianics.
If up to now the IDF concluded that Messianics are Zionists and patriots who enlist to all army units (including combat units) out of a feeling of social responsibility, loyalty to the state and wanting to carry the burden along with everyone else, now they might conclude, and rightly so, that we have some agenda. When people say “we have officers in the IDF and this is just the beginning” it reads as an attempt at a quiet coup. In some countries they would arrest those who wrote such things.
So, the danger is that the reputation we slowly built as Messianics in the Israeli society will be tarnished, as is written:
“And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed” (2 peter 2:2).
What is more, I am not familiar with any groups with control agendas (except maybe the Freemasons), and I feel ashamed to have such a group come out from within our own circles.
“We are not Dominionists”
Tikkun’s people claim, on their part, that people don’t understand them. One of them came out with an unequivocal statement, saying they are “not Dominionists”. And what is this statement, that they are not Dominionists, based on? That as opposed to classic Dominion Theology, where the Messiah will sit at our right hand untill we make His enemies His footstool, Tikkun does not believe they will succeed in fully restoring all the Kingdom before the Messiah returns. The Kingdom will be fully restored, they say, only in the Millennial reign. They are pretty adamant on that point. It’s on the basis of this difference that they claim they are “not Dominionists”.
Well, Cody Archer, the International Director of Revive Israel and a deacon at Intrater’s congregation in Jerusalem, has published an audio lesson on behalf of Revive Israel, intended to clarify precisely this point to supporters who asked. Judge for yourselves:
“We want our team to really be clear on these two topics… to get really clear on these topics and be voices both here in Israel and in the nations…
“The question is, how much are we called to rule now before Yeshua returns? … we as believers, have to have this idea, this drive on the inside of us that we want to take as much ground for the Kingdom as possible now before Yeshua returns.
“… though we’re not going to establish the full kingdom and government of God all across the Earth before Yeshua returns, our goal and motivation should be to want to restore it as much as possible before He comes. And I believe that’s our stance as a team. We want to push for that. We want to encourage this in the nations and stir up the vision. Really, we want to pass the vision, we want to cast the vision for restoring the kingdom of God [“restoring the kingdom of God” is another way of saying “to take dominion”] on the Earth as much as possible before Yeshua returns.”
“We’re not going to be lazy, we’re not going to be passive, we’re not just going to let the Devil have his way. But as much as possible before Yeshua returns we want to have this heart like Joshua going in and little by little taking over the Land, increasing our influence.”17
So, no. Revive Israel say they will not succeed in fully restoring the Kingdom. But their “goal and motivation” are identical to those of dominionists in every sense. They are aiming at the same thing. There is no difference between them and Dominion Theology in its hardest form, apart from the eschatological nuance where the Messiah has to return and intervene in the process somewhere towards the end, before they actually manage to take over everything. That’s it.
On the other hand, according to another teaching of Intrater’s, Yeshua and the armies of Heaven cannot (!) come down unless we open the heavens for them by our authority:
“I was thinking about [how] when Jesus comes back, it says in Revelation 19:11, “Heavens will be opened and all the armies of Heaven will descend with Him.” And you know what, they cannot do that if there isn’t someone here opening it [the Heavens] up for them… What this is about is all this Aglow movement [a movement that has aligned under Intrater’s apostolic authority] together with the glorified Church of Jesus Christ, taking their authority to open the Heavens to invite Jesus to come down.“18
This means that also this intervention of Yeshua and His armies is done only by apostolic authorization.
Joab and David
If this is the case, then this puts Revive Israel in the place of Joab, the son of Zeruiah. When Joab fought against the Ammonite capital of Rabbah and David was at the palace, Joab called David to come and complete the conquest so that David would get the glory, and not he himself (even though Joab did most of the work): “Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name” (2 Sam 12: 26-28). What Revive Israel are saying is that we need not worry – there will be something left also for Yeshua to conquer. I just wonder what will happen if they don’t act as Joab did and forget to allow Yeshua to come down before the conquests are completed. In their zeal to conquer the earth they might unintentionally conquer everything.
This is why when Tikkun say they are not Dominionists I take it with a grain of salt. A large grain of salt. I mean, they also said at the beginning that they don’t consider themselves a part of the N.A.R.. They probably don’t want to startle all of the horses out of the barn. But when you teach that the church has to understand its position as a “governmental body of people called out to rule the earth and every sphere of society” and that “we have been called to rule over all the earth, its creatures and resources“19, I ask: what is that if not Dominion?
Classic Dominion in Tikkun
Finally, here are a few citations I will conclude with, from a book co-written by Juster and Intrater, and from Cody Archer of Revive Israel, illustrating how inherent Dominion Theology is in the Tikkun/Revive Israel leadership:
The Great Commission in Matt. 28 is for taking dominion. Asher Intrater believes and teaches that the first Adam was commanded to dominate all the earth and subdue it (Gen 1: 28), but he lost the dominion given to him. Yeshua, as the second Adam, came to redeem this dominion and restore it to us through the apostles. When Yeshua commissioned His disciples to go and make disciples all over the world, He was actually commanding them to retake the dominion over the earth which was lost by the first Adam:
“The Great Commission. After Yeshua was raised from the dead, He gave us a commandment to preach and exercise spiritual authority in His name. This Great Commission [of the Lord in Matt 28] is parallel to the great commandment of dominion that God gave us [to Adam and Eve] in the first place. God called it dominion in Genesis 1, and Yeshua called it authority in Matthew 28. But dominion and authority are virtually the same thing. Yeshua is referred to as the last Adam. It is as [if] Yeshua were saying, “look, people, God told you to do something. You didn’t do it. Because you didn’t do it, you inflicted great harm on yourselves. Now I’ve fixed you up and given you a second chance. Let’s see if we can get it right this time. The game-plan is this: Go out and take dominion. Let’s try it again.”20
So according to Intrater, Yeshua’s Great Commission to His disciples was “go out and take dominion”. This is diverting the Gospel to another direction21 and it’s classic Dominionism.
Cody Archer expresses similar thoughts:
“You can open your Bibles in Genesis chapter 1, the very first thing that God says to man is to “be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth and take dominion;” and in other words, go and take leadership, go and govern and rule over the earth. This is not something passive, this is God’s calling upon mankind to step into the place of leadership and to advance His kingdom in the earth, [to advance] His will in the earth.”22
It’s important to note that the Bible text is different: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth [heb: crawls] upon the earth.” It was said about the animal kingdom, not about ruling over other people.
Now, what do the apostles intend to do with the territories they will purportedly take over? Intrater explains:
“Things on this earth are not being done according to God’s will… We are out to change that… We are out to make every aspect of life on earth patterned after life as it is in Heaven. We want to impose a heavenly lifestyle here. We are looking for Heaven to come to earth.”
So we’ve mentioned scouting out the Land, infiltrating it and taking it over… All that remains now is to impose. I would definitely call that Dominion.
* This article is based mostly on the research of brother Andy Gould of Nahariya.
1 Documented by the pastor of Beit Simcha congregation and Tikkun staff member, Glenn Blank.1
http://members.beitsimcha.com/s_ser/s_ser_0016.asp
2 Revive Israel is one of Tikkun’s network of organizations.
3 “The atmosphere is changing; we are bringing Heaven to earth. We are walking in Kingdom authority. It’s the same authority that Jesus walked in” (Asher Intrater, Aglow Newsletter June 2013)
4 “Senior Shaliach”, http://www.tikkunamerica.org/about.php
5 https://kehilanews.com/2015/11/07/the-seven-mountains-the-pillar-teaching
6 http://support.maozisrael.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9830
7 NAR, New Apostolic Reformation — the restoration of the office of apostles and prophets to church government.
8 In his book “The Coming End-Time Awakening”, Ron Cantor cites from Johnny Enlow’s “prophetic word” for 2017. To deliver a prophetic word for the beginning of every year is the custom on the Elijah List website, one of the prominent platforms of the N.A.R movement. The prophecy is about the reformation that is taking place.
9 The Seven Mountain Mantle: Receiving the Joseph Anointing to Reform Nations, Pp. 110-111
10 Girgashites and the Mountain of Government http://7culturalmountains.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=39113&columnid=4336
11 http://7culturalmountains.org/apps/articles/?columnid=4347&articleid=76021
12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=52&v=Z9DNayTUD6Y
13 Gen 41: 9, 12, 14, 16, 25
14 https://reviveisrael.org/archive/language/english/2002/two_witness.htm
15 https://reviveisrael.org/archive/language/english/2003/joseph_vision.htm
16 https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/standing-with-israel/61796-3-goals-for-apostolic-and-prophetic-restoration. Specifically in this case I would quote Matt 19: 30, The first will be last.
17 https://soundcloud.com/revive-israel-media/restorationist-or-escapist
18 https://www.aglow.org/about-us/president-ceo/jane-s-messages/798-aglow-s-immoveable-stand-with-israel See towards the end of the article. This is hard core Latter Rain Dominionism.
19 Archer, Cody. Rediscovering the Original Ekklesia http://www.tikkunministries.org/newsletters/ri-oct15-prt.php This governmental body, he claims, must be led by apostles. It is worth reading this short article
20 The book “Israel, the Church and the Last Days” was written by Dan Juster and Asher Intrater
21 Moreover, there is no escape of inferring from his words, and from the message of other worldwide “apostles”, that Yeshua’s twelve apostles failed in their mission. Granted, they succeeded in evangelizing and establishing churches, but they did not take dominion as they were supposedly commanded, nor did they appoint a succeeding generation of apostles. This is probably the basis of Mike Bickle and the late Bob Jones’s thinking – both of whom were or still are involved with Tikkun – that when they frequently visit the third heaven, the original apostles are anxious to meet them more than they are to meet the original apostles. Because the things the modern apostles will do will dwarf what the original ones could do, and the signs and wonders they will perform will be much greater, and the next pentecost will dwarf that of Acts, etc.
22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-20thFTcCU&feature=youtu.be&t=258