Ernest Lloyd Funeral

A brief funeral service Ernest Lloyd will take place at Belfast Crematorium on Friday 7 January 2011 at 11am, followed at 12.30pm by a Thanksgiving service at Bethany Baptist Church in Bangor. Refreshments will be served after the service.
The crematorium is situated at Roselawn Cemetery, 127 Ballygowan Road, Crossnacreevy, Belfast, BT5 7UD (entry is via Ballygowan Road). For directions, visit the crematorium website

Bethany Baptist Church is at 23-27 Gransha Road, Bangor, County Down, BT20 4TN and directions are available on the church website.

This coming Sunday, a Thanksgiving service will be held at 11.00am at Glenmanus Reformed Presbyterian Church, 23-25 Portstewart Road, Portrush, County Londonderry, BT56 8EH. Directions to the church are at here.

A memorial service is being planned to take place in London at the end of January or beginning of February. Details will be available on this website soon.

Ernest Lloyd: more tributes

Thanks to those of you who are leaving comments about Ernest (seen above as a teenager). Please keep them coming.

Here are four new ones:

I was a very young believer when introduced to Ernest 12 years ago in Belfast.

It was Valerie Shaw who introduced us and thanks to her initiative and efforts we became good friends. It was her also who informed me of Ernest’s death.

Soon after getting to know Ernest, I started to draw from him much inspiration in my Christian walk. His great love for Christ and life-long service, humility, meekness and a good sense of humour, were the main attributes which have always stood out in my memory. Being constantly captivated by Christ was the secret of whom he was and what made him so special. Mike Moore’s biography of Ernest conveys it much better than I can here in few words.

Ernest was a very faithful friend – I could always be assured of his interest and prayers. There was never any wavering in his warmth and friendship, even when my replies to his letters were much delayed. He often laughed when I was telling him that, paraphrasing, he shifted all paradigms when it comes to retirement. It was indeed a high privilege to be his friend.

His love for Christ was infectious; when listening to him one was captivated by something real and passionate in the way he spoke about the Lord. While speaking to Ernest one had no doubts that he was a spiritual giant.

I hoped to come to Ulster for a short spell to see him before he would pass away.
Though I feel sad for losing such a friend I am truly happy for him – he is finally in the presence of His beloved Saviour whom he served so passionately and faithfully his entire life. As Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:21 “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

Thank God for His grace in Ernest’s life and for the example that he was to us.

Andrew Machauf

My brother who lives in England today sent me an e-mail to inform me of Ernest Lloyd's passing. I knew Mr Lloyd from the age of nine or ten through his visits to Cape Town where he usually stayed with our family during visits. Those were a particular pleasure for me because Mr Lloyd was full of fun and good humour, and prepared to put up with the distractions I created, almost certainly because I recognized the fun that he represented. Not particularly angelic as a child, my father and I clashed bitterly for years, but Ernest Lloyd saw through the harshness that existed and those few weeks around our home left special memories and a great impression regarding what a truly great Christian is all about. We managed to keep in touch over the many years and I can truly say that I have lost a friend. What a lovely Christian he was with that ever ready humour and no-nonsense approach.

Rob Porter
Mississauga, Canada.

I will be so grateful to G-d for bringing Ernest to the truth in Mashiach. The members of BMJA and other Messianic ministries have been heartfelt dearest of friends to me, bringing encouragement amidst the most terrible of storms. Over many, many years I have been able know and share such love and compassion with others because Ernest chose to follow the pathway Mashiach showed him.

Ernest will be mourned by many across the world. Many will wish they were there to say prayers at his graveside. So many more will write, far more eloquently than I, about the giant of a man – a true mensch – who spoke truth – emet – with such conviction.

His care for the following generations, his encouragement to all who came along his path, will have lasting effect. We are the poorer for his passing, the richer for his presence in our lives.

It is a tradition that at a burial in Judaism, the tzitzit [fringes] are cut from the deceased’s tallit [prayer shawl]. The people they are given to will look on them and remember the life of prayer lived by the one they once belonged to. Ernest was indeed a man of prayer and we can all look on the threefold cord that binds us all to Mashiach and to Ernest.

May HaShem grant Him the joy of eternal life.

Gerry Cohen

Heaven is peopled today by many noteworthy characters but, if one is allowed one’s imagination to picture things “humanly graphically”, dear Ernest’s entry may well have been noticed!! After such a full life, he certainly may have his well deserved rest, but his works will follow him, at least in the memory of so many friends, family and colleagues. May the Lord bring forth much fruit from his endeavours and hard labour, which the Lord promised would never be in vain.

It is sad not to have the prospect any more to hear his loud enthusiastic laughter, or the splendid jokes which produced it but, above all, how thankful I am to have known him and to have been encouraged so often and cheered by his good common sense, and Spirit filled advice!

I thank the Lord for lending to this world such a servant as Ernest; also for the privilege to have spent times of precious fellowship with him in Haifa when he was visiting, or on deputation tours in Scotland.

May God bless his family and close friends with comfort and care, and renew the strength of those who will continue to witness in his steps.

Francine

Tributes to Ernest Lloyd

Within minutes of emailing the news of the death of Ernest Lloyd (seen above preaching in South Africa in the 1950s), the following two tributes appeared.

I have just heard a very sad news... My “adoptive” Grandfather, as we decided that I would call him, Mr. Ernest Lloyd, went to be with Jesus... I think I am still shocked... I was supposed to see him on January 10th, 2011... He was 97 and his life is one of the purest examples of what a servant of the Lord should be like...

He'd been serving the Lord through Christian Witness to Israel for over 70 years... a man whom God used to turn high numbers of people to Himself... A man with humble beginnings, but with an incredible Saviour, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah)... A book was written about him -The Importance of Being Ernest, by Mike Moore -which impacted me greatly before entering this mission, but which was just a glimpse of the beautiful creation God had made in him...

I was going to see him... but Jesus wanted to have him quicker... I am not surprised He wanted to spend time with him... He is definitely someone everyone enjoyed spending time with...

Ernest Lloyd is with the One whom he'd given his heart and life to... what a gift for Jesus on this Christmas to take into heaven...

In my adoptive Grandfather's memory,

Andreea


I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to meet Ernest in 2006, when he was 94. I was impressed by his hospitality, generosity, his lively mind, and by his sense of the history of the Messianic movement. More recently, Ernest twice wrote to me to encourage me in my role as [BMJA] President and, when I rang him a few weeks ago, he told me that he continued to pray for the BMJA. I know that any others of you who have met him, will share my admiration for him. May our thoughts and prayers be with Ernest's family, and with the many, many people whose lives were, under God, touched by this remarkable man.

In Yeshua, our Messiah and our Hope

James

Having had the privilege of meeting and getting to know Ernie Lloyd a little at an SDHS conference in Bournemouth a few years ago, I can personally say what a very special and godly man he was, and what a loss he will be to the church on earth. But now he is in glory with the Saviour he loved and served so faithfully, “which is far better”.

Pam

Ernest Lloyd 1913-2010

On Wednesday 23 December 2010, in his 98th year, Ernest Lloyd passed suddenly, quickly and peacefully into the presence of the Lord he had trusted, loved and served for almost eighty years.

By any standard, the life of Ernest Lloyd was remarkable, spanning, as it did, almost the entire twentieth century. He lived through the reigns of five monarchs and under the leadership of more than twenty different Prime Ministers; he experienced the trauma of two World Wars and saw the gradual decline of the British Empire as well as the establishment and survival of the state of Israel.

Ernest never owned his own home, never learned to drive, never learned another language and never sent an email. At the age of 98, he had a better memory than some men half his age. He was an avid and wide reader, a lover of music and an indefatigable writer of letters, almost all of which were bashed out with remarkable inaccuracy on a series of manual typewriters, each of which he has worn out.

The mission Ernest actively served for seventy years changed its name twice – in 1965 the British Society for the Evangelization of the Jews became the International Society for the Evangelization of the Jews and, after uniting with the Barbican Mission to the Jews in 1976, became Christian Witness to Israel – and he outlived five of its directors. In his three score years and ten of missionary service Ernest travelled more than a million miles by land, sea and air and preached more than 200,000 times in some twenty countries to countless multitudes. Although his pace of life in the last two decades of his life was nowhere near as hectic as it was when he was a missionary, in the 1990s, Ernest was regularly away from home for three months each year on preaching tours that took him to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. He also served on the councils of Christian Witness to Israel (in an honorary capacity), the International Messianic Jewish Alliance, the British Messianic Jewish Alliance and the Spanish Gospel Mission.

He was an evangelist, a teacher, a preacher, an advocate of mission to the Jewish people and a spokesman for the international Messianic movement. In spite of frequent bouts of ill health, Ernest Lloyd single-handedly laid the foundations for the work of missions to the Jewish people in South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Though not all remained affiliated to Christian Witness to Israel, almost all those branches continue to present a vibrant witness to the Jewish communities in their countries.

The number of Jews and gentiles who have been saved through his ministry, either directly or indirectly, is incalculable. In many cases he led them to the Messiah himself but at other times his role was to break down prejudices and lay a foundation on which others could build or, to change the biblical metaphor, he broke up the fallow ground allowing others to sow and reap. The number of lives Ernest touched for good by preaching, teaching, encouragement, advice, kind words and actions, example and precept cannot be counted.

It was in his role as an evangelist that one of Ernest’s outstanding qualities was seen most clearly: an almost infinite patience enabled him to suffer being rebuffed time after time in his efforts to lead his “kinsmen according to the flesh” to the Messiah.

Ernest was the last of a generation of Hebrew Christian spiritual giants that included men of the calibre of Mark Kagan, Victor Buksbazen, Herman Newmark and the Bendor-Samuels. Another generation of Jewish believers has arisen, many of them learned in rabbinic literature and zealous for the cause of Messianic Judaism. It should be our prayer that the new generation will feel the same deep love for their people and be willing to sacrifice as much for their salvation as Ernest did. Nevertheless, it may be that other generations of Jewish believers will come and go before another appears who will play a role in the purposes of God as significant and important as that played by Ernest Lloyd.

“So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.” (John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress)

Kristine Luken, 1966 – 2010

The following is a press release from CMJ UK:

Kristine Luken, 1966 – 2010

CMJ UK Administrator

CMJ UK is deeply shocked by the violent death in Israel of our much loved administrator Kristine Luken. Kristine had worked for the ministry for one year having previously worked for the American government. As a committed Christian with a deep love for the Jewish people she had had contact with CMJ in America, Israel and the UK. When the administrator position became available in the UK Kristine applied and was appointed in October 2009.

She had to cope with a move to a new country as well as a new job but quickly made the adjustment and became a key member of our team. She had a beautiful and gentle spirit as well as a strong and vibrant faith. She loved Israel and had visited on several occasions both as a tourist and as a member of CMJ. She had just taken on responsibility for Shoresh Tours, a CMJ company that organizes tours to Israel. Kay Wilson, who is the senior tour guide for Shoresh, was a close personal friend of Kristine’s as well as a colleague and her visit to Israel was for both

It is a tragedy that such a lively, caring and faith filled person should have been struck down in such a way. We are praying for her friends and family at this tragic time. However, CMJ will continue to share the gospel with the Jewish people and to work for forgiveness and reconciliation in Israel. This is a mandate that God gave us 201 years ago and we are confident that the best epitaph we could give Kristine is to continue to that to which she was totally committed to supporting.

Robin Aldridge

CEO

CMJ worker murdered in Israel

Two Arab men attacked and killed Kristine Luken and badly wounded Kay Wilson, her UK-born Messianic Jewish friend, in the Jerusalem Forest on Saturday 18 December.

Kay is a leading tour guide with Shoresh Tours, which operates under the auspices of the Churches Ministry among Jewish people. Kristine was an administrative secretary at CMJ’s headquarters in the UK. Her colleagues at the UK office are in shock.

As the two women were walking in the forest between the southern Jerusalem suburb of Tzur Hadassah and the nearby town of Beit Shemesh, they were approached by the two young men, who asked for water. Kay Wilson responded that they had no extra water but as she and Kristine walked away, the men attacked them, tied their hands behind their backs and began stabbing them.

Kay reported that when one of the men saw she Star of David necklace she was wearing, “He took it off of me, like a gentleman, and then stabbed me twelve times.”

She pretended to be dead and when she was sure the men had gone, Kay made for the nearby highway. A group of people at a children’s playground saw her and called the police. It was feared that Kristine had been kidnapped but her body was found on Sunday morning a few hundred yards from the site of the stabbing.

Kay is recovering in stable condition at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, and she is expected to be discharged in two or three days.

Please pray not only for Kay’s complete physical recovery but also for her emotional and psychological healing. Please remember Kristine’s parents and twin sister in the USA, as they seek to come to terms with their loss.

The incident raises several questions. It appears to have been a premeditated attack and there appears to have been no other motive for the attack other than to murder them; why else would they enter the forest carrying knives and the aparatus to tie up their victims?

Why did the two Arabs choose to murder Kay and Kristine? Had they deliberately chosen to kill them because they knew they were workers with CMJ and, if so, why would that matter?

A few years ago, I expressed concern to a British Christian anti-Zionist that in his books, talks and articles, he criticised not only Israel but also a range of Christian organisations, including evangelical mission agencies such as CMJ. I went on to point out the danger of this approach:

“Given the radical outlook of some Islamic groups, it is fair to ask whether you might not have endangered the ministries and possibly the lives of some Christian workers in the Middle East.

“This is not idle conjecture. Hamed Al-Tamimi of the Palestinian Authority’s Judicial Council has said, “Christians who support Israel are distorting their true faith, have adapted [sic] Satan as god [sic] and comprise the greatest danger to world peace... Very few people know the truth about this [Christian Zionist] movement, which unconditionally supports the Zionist enemy and unconditionally opposes Islam and the Muslims." (my emphasis).

“I am not claiming that radical Muslims have made comments like these in response to your influence, but in view of the fact that some Islamic websites carry your anti-Zionist articles, the potential for creating serious harm is there.”

Reading those words that I wrote some five years ago, I now literally shudder.

Did the two men who attacked Kristine and Kay know the two girls were workers with CMJ? And were their murderous intentions motivated by hatred for representatives of an organisation they had heard “unconditionally supports the Zionist enemy and unconditionally opposes Islam and the Muslims”? Do Christian anti-Zionists who denounce their Christian Zionist brothers indiscriminately through their published writings and speeches and on Muslim websites and at Islamic conferences bear responsibility – directly or indirectly – for the appalling attack on these CMJ workers? I don’t know but a day is coming when we will all know. Talk may be cheap but it can cost some people their lives.

In the Shadow of Hitler

One of the most odious libels against Israel is the comparison of Israel with Nazi Germany. Those who peddle the lie seem unable to see just how offensive the charge is to Jewish people, especially those who survived the Holocaust seems. Such a comparison is rarely used to describe other regimes, even those which are actually guily of genocide.

Whatever we may think of Israel’s policies and actions, Israeli citizens – Arab and Jew alike – are allowed to voice their opposition to those policies from within Israel itself; something that was never allowed in Nazi Germany. Whatever we might think of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, Palestinians are not being systematically exterminated.

Now, a report by the UN National Archives, entitled “Hitler’s Shadow” demonstrates that Nazism and Islam share common values and, more importantly, a common enemy in the Jews. According to the report, World War II-era Palestinian Arab leader Haj Amin al-Husseini (pictured above with Hitler)was paid handsomely for fomenting hatred of the Jews in “Palestine” and for recruiting Muslims as Nazi soldiers. For his collaboration with the Nazis, Husseini was promised rulership of Palestine at the successful conclusion of the war.

One document cites Hitler informing Husseini that Nazi Germany’s only aim in conquering Palestine was to eradicate the Jews there. After that, the country would be Husseini’s to rule as he saw fit.

Husseini praised new Muslim recruits to the Nazi military, and stated that “the entire Muslim world ought to follow their example.”

The report concludes by noting that despite the mountain of evidence against him, the Allied powers allowed Husseini to flee to Syria after the war and did not pursue a criminal investigation. Husseini died in Beirut in 1974, a hero among his people.
The international community’s lenient treatment of Husseini, even though he had openly collaborated with modern history’s most brutal and criminal dictatorship, was repeated when the world decided to reward one of history’s the most blood-soaked terrorists, Yasser Arafat, by making him a head of state.

Fire of Elijah?

Andrew Sibley is of the opinion that the fire in Israel’s Carmel region was significant. Could it be the “fire of Elijah”, he asks on my blog “The Israel Inferno” (Sunday).

What exactly does Andrew mean by the “fire of Elijah”? Presumably he is referring to the fire Elijah was able to call down from heaven to demonstrate to an apostate Israel that Yahweh was God, and Baal wasn’t. Elijah also called down fire from heaven to consume several of the king’s men when they were sent to arrest him.

Andrew wants to know my thoughts. Well here they are:

First, no one called down this fire from heaven; it was apparently the result of two Druze brothers leaving burning rubbish unattended.

Secondly, Elijah’s fire vindicated him as a prophet of Yahweh and everyone who observed the fire come down knew it was a supernatural vindication of the prophet.

Thirdly, the fire on Carmel came as the result of a showdown between the prophets of Baal and Elijah. This latest fire on Carmel was the result of an accident (forgive me if my theology sounds a little flaky there; I hope you know what I mean).

Fourthly, if I understand Andrew’s book Zion’s New Name properly (see my blog "Replacement Theology's New Name", Monday 11 January 2010), he believes the modern state of Israel no longer stands in a covenant relationship with Yahweh. Israel’s astonishing transformation of the land from desert and swamp to fertile arable land apparently means nothing; Israel’s remarkable technical achievements have no significance; the benefits bestowed on the rest of the world in the areas of agriculture, technology and medicine are too insignificant to mention. However, when a fire breaks out in an area of outstanding natural beauty, killing 42 people, that has significance. And biblical significance to boot!

Perhaps I am reading far more into Andrew’s brief comment than I ought and am judging him a little harshly, in which case I am open to correction.

For a very interesting and bizarre revelation on the "fire of Elijah", visit Joseph Weissman's latest blog at Harry's Place.

The Israel Inferno

I have just returned from Israel where the worst fire in Israel’s history had destroyed 12,000 acres of forest, just under half of the entire Carmel forest reserve. As I write, the fire is still blazing but it is hoped that Israeli fire fighters will put out the blaze tonight. According to the Jewish National Fund it will take decades to rehabilitate the area.

Aid has come from the USA, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Egypt and Australia, and even the Palestinian Authority sent a token detachment of three fire engines to help put out the inferno.

The fire has claimed the lives of 42 people, including 36 prison guards whose bus was en route to a local prison that was being threatened by the fire and needed to be evacuated.

An editorial in Palestine Today stated: “We have to tell you how happy our Palestinian people are at the killing 40 Zionist wardens burned to death,” referring to the Israeli prison guards who were burned to death while trying to reach a prison that was under threat from the flames.

The editorial continued: “Many lessons will be learned from this ‘divine fire’, and the lesson that is most prominent is that the demise of this [Zionist] entity is just a matter of time.”

A survey of Arab media outlets by Jerusalem Post journalist Khaled Abu Toameh revealed that in surrounding Muslim countries the fire was seen as Allah’s judgment on Israel. Readers of those media outlets urged Allah to continue and intensify this punishment, and encouraged Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas to take advantage of the situation and attack Israel.

A typical comment was: “Thank Allah for this new Holocaust. Thank God for burning the Jews the same way they burned our Muslim brothers in Palestine [sic].”

Another urged Hizbullah, Hamas and all Arabs to see the fire as a “golden opportunity to get rid of Israel. The sea and fire are in front of the Jews and weapons are behind them.”

Another praised Allah for the fire, calling on his Palestinian brothers to set fire to all forests in Israel.

Commentators on the Arabic web forum Muslm.net (not a typo) posted photographs of Israelis burned to death in the fire with captions reading “Allah is Great!” and hailing the disastrous wildfire as a gift from Allah.

Nevertheless, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad phoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer his personal condolences. Fayyad also sent three Palestinian fire engines to fight the fire.

Sadly, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, one of Israel’s most senior religious figures, called the fire a divine visitation on the nation for not observing Shabbat.

They tried to kill us; God saved us; let’s eat!

I’m sorry if you are housebound by snow in the UK but, as I write, I am looking out on Nof Ginosar, the Sea of Galilee. I hasten to add that I am working so I’m not able to enjoy the sun but it is nice to be in a warm climate. I arrived late last night and am spending a few days teaching the Bible to a group of Christians from Singapore.

However, today is the first day of the festival of Hanukkah and that is bad for waistlines. Jewish people say that all the festivals can be summed up with one succinct sentence: “They tried to kill us; God saved us; let’s eat!” Last night I had a healthy salad, followed by an obligatory sufgani (a doughnut filled with jam). Boy, they are sweet! Israel’s enemies failed to kill them but the sufganiyot might succeed.

Anyway, in the latest round of WikiLeaks documents, there is good news for Israel. Contrary to everything we are told in the media, the leaks reveal that the Arab states see Iran and its nuclear weapons program and not Israel as the real threat to Middle East stability and their own security. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the documents reinforced what Israel has been saying for years about the Iranian nuclear program.

According to WikiLeaks, the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has said Israel cannot be blamed for mistrusting Arabs and that the Jewish state deserves credit for seeking peace in light of the threat posed by Hamas and Hezbollah. "When you consider that many in the region perceive that Hezbollah drove Israel out of Lebanon and Hamas kicked them ... out of the small piece of land called Gaza”, said al-Thani, “it is actually surprising that the Israelis still want peace."

Anyway, the festival of Hanukkah, which starts today and continues for the next eight days, has its origins in the heroic struggle of Judah Maccabee against the Syrian tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century BC. The story can be found in the two apocryphal Books of the Maccabees. It is probable that the references in Hebrews 11 to “others [being] tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection [while] still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment” refer to the martyrs of the Maccabean period.

Hanukkah means “Dedication” and the Talmud contains an account of a miracle that supposedly occurred after Judah Maccabee liberated the temple and rededicated it to the God of Israel. Tractate Shabbat 22b in the Talmud says that the Greeks had desecrated the sanctuary and the oil for the seven-branched Menorah, and that when the temple was rededicated, only one jar of oil remained undefiled – enough to last for just one day. By a miracle, however, the sacred oil lasted eight days, long enough for more oil to be obtained.

That miracle is remembered each year by the lighting of a nine-branched candlestick, the Hanukkia. This is the basic mitzvah, or commandment, of Hanukkah and for eight days Jewish people light the candles, one each day until on the last day of the festival eight candles are lit. The central ninth candle, the shamash, or “servant” light, is the one from which all the other candles are kindled. Because of the candles, the celebration has also come to be known as the Festival of Lights.

Falling, as it does, in December, for Jews living outside Israel, Hanukkah has in effect become a Jewish substitute for Christmas and it is fascinating to compare the similarities between the two festivals. Some of the similarities are obvious but others are not. Hanukkah recalls the dedication of the temple of God and the miracle of a supernatural light that accompanied the event. The birth of Jesus was the coming into the world of the true Temple of God and the true heavenly Light to shine on those who sat in darkness.

But there is a more challenging lesson we can glean from the feast. The tenth chapter of John’s Gospel records the visit of Jesus to the temple at Hanukkah (v22) an account that occurs at the heart of a section of the Gospel in which Jesus is presented as “the Light of the World” (8:12; 9:5; 11:9-10; 12:35,46). In chapter 13, Jesus reveals himself as the Servant to his disciples and sets them an example they are to follow.

In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus teaches his followers that they are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”. “As He is, so are we in this world”, John writes in his first letter, and in John 13 the Servant Light sets an example for the other lights to emulate.

The lesson for us, therefore, is that by serving others we truly become the light of the world. Isn’t this what Paul is driving at when he says he wants his Gentile readers in Rome to provoke the Jewish people to jealousy? It is God’s purpose that we Gentile believers serve as his shamash to kindle “such a candle” in Israel “as shall never be put out”.