About Dr. Doug Wheeler

Dr. Doug Wheeler has been a pastor for over 50 years and teaches the Bible from the Jewish perspective. He is presently the Pastor of Beit Midrash (House of Study Congregation) in Pocahontas, Arkansas. He holds a Ph.D. in Church Administration from California Graduate School of Theology, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He completed this Ph.D. under the academic supervision of Dr. Butrus Abd-al-Malik, a brilliant Princeton educator fluent in six languages, including Hebrew. Dr. Malik taught for many years at Cal State and California Graduate School of Theology. He was the first educator to teach him how to study the Bible from a Jewish perspective. He also instilled in his students the importance of the Torah as the foundation of our faith. Dr. Wheeler also earned a Th.D. in Systematic Theology from Florida Theological Seminary.

Dr. Wheeler is the founder and President of Kidron Christain College and Seminary, established in 2008. He is also a professor of theology at Legacy College in Maumelle, Arkansas. In addition, he also serves as an advisor to Shuvu College of Messianic Judaism, located in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. Wheeler is the founder of Derekh Ha'achdut Ministry, which emphasizes the need for Jews and Gentiles to become one under the Lordship of Yeshua HaMashiach with Torah as the foundation of our faith. Yeshua spoke about the need to understand the Torah in John 5:46-47 when addressing those persecuting Him. He stated, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings (Torah), how will you believe My words? To understand the New Testament in depth, it must be studied with the Torah as its foundation.

Dr. Wheeler is the author of, "Betrothed: An Intimate Face-Face Walk with God. He has been married to his wife Joyce for 36 years. She is presently a Ph.D. candidate in Positive Psychology. They have two sons and five grandchildren.

The Purpose of Derekh Ha'achdut

Acts 1:8 is a crucial passage of Scripture foundational to the ministry of Derekh Ha'achdut. This passage follows a discussion that Yeshua had when questioned about whether this was the time when the Kingdom of Israel would be restored. He answered that they were focusing on the wrong thing. He told them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The Greek word for power is dunamis (δύναμις). This is where we get the English word dynamite. However, its verb form refers to sustained power to perform a task or assignment. In Hebrew, the word for power is more specific. The word for power is כּחַ koach. It means "to have the ability to do something." Koach is about strength and the supernatural ability that HaShem gives you to accomplish His goals in the world. If you recall Parsha Yitro, when Israel was camped at the base of Mt. Sinai, HaShem entered into a betrothal with them, established with two cups. We read about this betrothal and the two cups in Exodus 19:3-8, "And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, thus you shall say to the House of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to Myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all the people: for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. So, Moses came and called for the elders of the people and laid out all these words which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do." Please note that Israel agreed to do all that the Lord had spoken before He even spoke to them (giving them the Torah). At the sin of the Golden Calf, the cup of "we will do" was shattered leaving them with the cup of

"we will hear," which refers to the responsibility to "obey the things" that the Lord would speak through the Torah. However, in Acts 2, we see that with the giving of the Holy Spirit, the cup of we will do was reestablished. Please notice Yeshua's promise concerning the Holy Spirit. "You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you." When they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, they were given the power to fulfill the call of HaShem in their lives. Again, this was the reestablishment of the cup of "we will do" that was shattered at Sinai. This empowered the "witness" to surrender his life to be a part of "Tikkun Olam," rectification of the world by spreading the Gospel message. To do that, the message must spread systematically from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth. The way out is a systematic, progressive spread of the Gospel message to the entire globe. The systematic way out reflects the systematic way back in. The way out was from Jerusalem (the Jewish people), to the Judeans (those Jews who were exiled), to the Samaritans (referred to as Anusim), those who, through intermarriage or captivity, have lost their Jewish heritage and identity, and then to the nations (the Gentiles). The spiritual goal for Gentile believers is to begin walking on the path back to Jerusalem. This represents a return to the very roots of our faith and foundation with a proper Torah foundation, walking out our relationship with HaShem based on the ancient paths and ways. Our roots are found in Jerusalem, not in Rome. These two cities represent a totally different approach to HaShem. Jerusalem is about proper orientation, the actual source. The 14th blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei states, "And to Jerusalem, Your city, may You return in compassion, and may You rest within it, as You have spoken. May You rebuild it soon in our days as an eternal structure, and may You speedily establish the throne of David within it. Blessed are You, HaShem, the builder of Jerusalem." Jeremiah explains the way back to HaShem when we feel we have lost our connection to Him. He states in Jeremiah 6:16, "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it," What are the ancient paths, and how do they relate to us today as believers?

Gentiles can visit Jerusalem at any time. However, to return to the Spiritual Jerusalem, they must be grafted in and adopted into the commonwealth of Israel. This is the essence of Ephesians 2:11-18. I would like to include this passage for your consideration. Speaking to Gentiles, Paul wrote, "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh - who were called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands - that at that time you were without Messiah, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without HaShem in the world. But now in Mashiach Yeshua, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Mashiach. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him, we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Please consider the word enmity in this passage. The root of this Greek word is ἔχθρα, which means "hatred or hostility toward" something or someone. In this case, the passage states that Yeshua broke down the middle wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles. He did this by abolishing in His flesh the hatred of and hostility toward "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" that separates Jews and Gentiles. If we are truly functioning as believing Gentiles, then our hatred or hostility to the Torah has been eliminated. Concerning the Jews, Paul has much to say. He writes in Romans 11:1, "I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! I am also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew....I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now, if their fall is riches to the world and their failure for the Gentiles, how much more is their fullness?" You can easily see that the role of the Gentiles is two-fold: to stop the hatred and hostility toward the Torah and to provoke the Jews to zealousness. The relevant question today is, how can Gentiles function in this call if they believe that Yeshua did away with the need to follow the Torah?

Please understand that Gentiles being adopted into the family of God is not an idea that began after the resurrection of Yeshua but something that had been prophesied for centuries. This is not a new or unique idea. The foundation for this is found in Genesis 48:5 when Jacob tells Joseph concerning his sons, "now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, even as Reuben and Simeon are. He equates Ephraim and Manasseh with the same level of honor and inheritance as the first natural-born sons.

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