Servant of Messiah Ministries

Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

From Tears to Triumph – The Power of a Praying Mother.

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The world celebrates the New Year with fireworks and celebrations. You and I are left with a reality of not much to celebrate. If you live in Israel, Gaza, or Ukraine after years of war or the USA struggling to make ends meet – we all face 2025 with our challenges.

I was reflecting on my journey of faith and how a praying mother is the only reason I am still alive. It was not luck or good fortune that spared me the consequences of a life of drink, drugs, and crime. It was God who protected me, to bring me to Himself late in life, in a wonderful demonstration of His Grace.

I am drawn to this story and Augustine’s reflections could be my own. Of another mother at another time long ago…

Monica could be called the “persistent mother.” A North African woman living in the fourth century, Monica was married to Patricius, a pagan, as arranged by her family. She endured significant abuse from her drunken husband, but her greatest challenge came from her oldest son, Augustine.

Monica taught Augustine how to pray when he was a child. When he became seriously ill, he requested baptism; however, after his recovery, he soon forgot about it.

Later, while studying in Carthage, he embraced a hedonistic lifestyle, living with his girlfriend and their son. Monica was so distressed by Augustine’s choices that she would not allow him to eat or sleep in her home. Her heart broke watching his prodigal lifestyle.

Despite their infrequent communication, Monica continued to pray for her son. She requested the bishop to go and counsel her wayward son. After many requests, the bishop advised her that it was better to talk to God about Augustine than to speak to Augustine about God.

He also reassured her: “At present, the heart of the young man is too stubborn, but God’s time will come. It is not possible that the son of so many prayers and so many tears should be lost.”

Augustine’s time came several years later. In Milan, the preaching of Bishop Ambrose profoundly influenced him. Soon after, Augustine found himself torn between his desire to live a chaste life and the temptations of his hedonistic sensual life.

In his distress, he went to an outdoor garden at the place where he was staying. There, he threw himself on the ground under a tree and cried out, “How much longer, Lord? Will your anger remain forever? Please, forget my wrongdoings.”

At that very moment, he heard a neighbor child singing from the other side of the wall. The child kept repeating the phrase, “Tolle lege! Tolle lege!” which means “Take up and read!” Augustine stood up, went inside, and found a Bible that opened to Romans 13.

He read in Romans 13 Verse 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in immorality and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Ambrose baptized Augustine on Easter Sunday in 387. Soon after, his mother passed away. Just before her death, Monica expressed her contentment, saying, “I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here. All I wished to live for was to see you converted and become a child of heaven.”

From that time on, Augustine led a virtuous life. He was later ordained and named the bishop of Hippo. Augustine is recognized as one of the great scholars of the early church.

Here are some famous quotes from Augustine:
“Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved You.
In my unlovely state, I plunged into those lovely created things which You made.
You were with me, and I was not with You.
The beautiful things kept me far from You; though if they did not exist in You, they would have no existence at all.
You called and cried out loud, shattering my deafness.
You were radiant and resplendent; You cast away my blindness.
You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after You.
I tasted You, and I am left hungry and thirsty for You.
You touched me, and I am set on fire to obtain the peace which is Yours.”

Later he wrote – “You have made us for yourself, O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

These words remind us that no one is beyond God’s reach.

As this year ends and we begin a new, Monica’s story invites us to remain faithful to prayer. If you are praying for a child, spouse, or friend, let her example strengthen your resolve.

Trust that God is at work—even when you cannot see it. This year we may need that faith.

Kind Regards,

A. Volunteer.

PS – For a more in-depth study of this topic  – you can find many books on prayer free to download on the website  https://servantofmessiah.org/prayer-ebooks/

 

Yeshua was Born at the Feast of Tabernacles

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As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Proverbs 25 v 25  
The “gospel of Jesus Christ” is good news, and heaven is a far country. Hearing it preached is refreshing to the soul. The word gospel derives from the word god-spell, meaning “good story,” or Greek euangelion, meaning “good news.”
However:
War in Ukraine
War in Israel
Tragedy in Gaza.
Elections in the USA
War in the D.R. Congo and Niger
We could all use some “good news”   
Do you realize the gospel story of Jesus, began around the Feast of Tabernacles, which is observed in the autumn?
Please, take a few minutes to review it, as it is presented in scripture.  
  • Zechariah’s Service in the Temple: Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, was a priest in the division of According to 1 Chronicles 24, the priests in the division of Abijah served in the Temple during the tenth week of the Jewish religious year. This week falls in the month of Sivan, which is usually late May or early June. After Zechariah finished his time serving at the Temple, he returned home, and his wife Elizabeth became pregnant shortly afterward.
  • John’s Birth Around Passover: If Elizabeth became pregnant in Sivan (around June), her pregnancy would last nine months, meaning John the Baptist was likely born around Passover, which happens in the month of Nisan (March or April). This is important because many believed John’s role was to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus, John’s birth at Passover.
  • Jesus’ Birth During the Feast of Tabernacles: Nine months after Mary conceived, Jesus would have been born in Tishri, which is in September or October, during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. Sukkot is a festival where people celebrate how God took care of the Israelites in the wilderness by living in temporary shelters, called tabernacles or The Bible emphasizes that Jesus’ birth is connected to this festival because, in John 1:14, it says that “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us”, meaning God came to live among people through Jesus. This connection highlights the belief that Jesus’ birth represents God physically dwelling with humanity.

Jerusalem was full of Festival pilgrims—there was no room for Joseph and Mary. Rome knew when Jews were commanded to go to the feasts with the second tithe in hand for taxation and census purposes. Sheep were still in the fields—there was no snow yet. Bethlehem raised thousands of lambs for slaughter in the temple.

The Symbolism of the Festivals:

 Chanukah (Festival of Lights): This festival celebrates the rededication of the Jewish Temple and is known for the lighting of the menorah, which symbolizes light in the fact that Jesus, called the “Light of the World” (John 8:12), was conceived during Chanukah is significant because it represents how Jesus would bring spiritual light to a world in need.

Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles): This festival remembers how the Israelites relied on God’s protection while they lived in temporary shelters during their journey Jesus being born during this time adds meaning because it symbolizes how God came to live with humans through the birth of Jesus, fulfilling the idea of God’s presence among His people.

Conclusion:    This timeline connects key moments in the story of Jesus with major Jewish festivals. Zechariah’s priestly service led to John’s birth around Passover, a time of deliverance, and Jesus’ conception happened during Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. Nine months later, Jesus was born during Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, celebrating God’s living among His people. These connections show that Jesus is seen as the “Light of the World” and as God coming to dwell with humanity, bringing hope and salvation.

After all the wars and all the troubles, we look for the meaning of the Feast in Zach 14 v 16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.
Finally global peace – annual celebrations to the King who is living among his people.
No more Wars – No Hurricanes – No Divisive Politics  
Now that is Good News.  
 
Happy Feast of Tabernacles, everyone. 
Our King will be returning soon to live with us again.  
More extensive Notes to download: When was Jesus (Yeshua) born?

 

Insights from Idioms and Yeshua’s Wisdom

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John, caught in the relentless whirlwind of life’s daily grind, was in charge of the company picnic. His temper flared and he blew a fuse when the heavens opened up, raining cats and dogs. His best laid plans went up in smoke.  Ironically, his buddy, a TV weatherman, had given him a heads-up straight from the horse’s mouth – a warning of impending heavy rain.  John had dismissed it as leg-pulling, but now he realized he was up a creek without a paddle. “Well, I guess that’s just the way cookies crumble,” John muttered, fretting over the possibility of getting the axe from his boss.

In our daily discourse, idioms like “a bull in a China shop” and “when the cows come home” pepper our language with vivid expressions. These phrases have ingrained themselves into our speech over the years to the point of becoming commonplace. They’re like word pictures painting vivid depictions of various scenarios. “What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?” or “I’m just killing time” are perfect examples.

Hebrew idioms have similarly woven themselves into millions’ everyday conversations. Consider, for instance, the biblical expressions such as the story of a man unwilling to “go the second mile” or the celebration that goes, “we’re going to kill the fatted calf.” She couldn’t perceive the “handwriting on the wall,” and another believed he could “walk on water.”

Yeshua, too, employed a Hebrew idiom when He proclaimed His mission was not to “destroy the Law or the prophets.” He used a phrase familiar to his audience in biblical times. Accused of misinterpreting the Torah, Yeshua asserted that He was, in fact, teaching it accurately. What exactly did Yeshua mean by “destroy the Law” and “fulfill the Law”? These terms were like tools in the arsenal of rabbinic argumentation.

When one sage believed that a colleague had misinterpreted a passage of Scripture, he’d accuse, “You are destroying the Law!” Predictably, in most instances, his colleagues would vehemently disagree. What was “destroying the Law” to one sage was “fulfilling the Law” (correctly interpreting Scripture) to another.

In simple terms, Yeshua was stating, “Don’t even entertain the idea that I intend to nullify the Law through misinterpretation.” My intent is not to weaken it but, by faithfully interpreting God’s Written Word, to strengthen it. I would never invalidate the Law by misinterpreting it.”

Matthew 6:22-23 says: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness” (KJV). Regrettably, translators and educators have grappled with the Hebraic concept of the “evil eye” for an extended period.
• “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” (NKJV).
• “If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light” (NKJV).
• “Therefore, if your eye is sound, your whole body shall be full of light” (MKJV).
• “If then your eye is true, all your body will be full of light” (BBE).
• “If your eye is unclouded, your whole body will be lit up” (TCNT).
• “Thine eye may be perfect, all thy body shall be enlightened” (YLT).

This can be quite perplexing. Yeshua’s contemporaries immediately grasped His meaning when He spoke of the “evil eye.” This concept was, and still is, deeply rooted in Hebraic culture. But what did Yeshua truly intend?  From a Hebraic perspective, what is an “evil eye” or a “good eye”?  To unravel this idiom and bring clarity, let’s first delve into the context of Yeshua’s words and their connections in the Torah/Tanakh.

First, let’s zero in on the context. The very next verse, after the mention of the “evil eye” sheds light on its significance.

Matthew 6:23-24 explains, “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

When Yeshua referred to the “bad eye,” He wasn’t alluding to poor eyesight or advocating for LASIK surgery! From the context, it’s evident that Yeshua was employing a Hebrew expression to address human greed. Each time He referred to the eye, He addressed the avarice issue. An “evil eye” signifies a greedy eye belonging to an individual driven by selfish desires.

Proverbs 28:22 corroborates this notion: “He that hastes to be rich hath an evil eye, and considers not that poverty shall come upon him.”
In stark contrast, Proverbs 22:9 presents an alternative: “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.”

Deuteronomy 15:7-9 underscores the consequences of an “evil eye” within the context of assisting the impoverished, emphasizing the importance of generosity.

In essence, Yeshua employed the “evil eye” idiom to critique human greed. It serves as a poignant reminder that we should strive to be generous and not let selfishness dictate our actions. By delving into the original context and meanings, we can gain a profound understanding of these idioms and their enduring relevance in our lives today. Just as John learned from his rainy picnic experience, these idioms carry valuable lessons for us to uncover and apply in our daily journeys.

 

 

Old Books – C.S. Lewis

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While we provide a wide variety of books by different authors does not mean we agree with every one of their teachings. We ask you to have a Berean mind and search your Scriptures, to verify what you read.(Acts 17 v 11). These books reflect a broad sampling of theologies and all books reflect denominational, historical and cultural biases.

Even though we do not agree with all the resources and eBooks we provide, we do offer them because Philippians 4:8 says

Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Some people have found them praiseworthy and useful…and if you do not …you can enjoy the fish and spit out the bones. We all need to discern truth and error and get beyond being bottle-fed milk. This is your opportunity to do that.

The lives presented in the biographies are just men, prone to error and sinners like the rest of us. Yet their lives do inspire us. Remember it is not their church, their great works, or their writings, that made them a “heroes of the faith,” but God made them so.

C.S. Lewis said it best when he encouraged us to read “old books”

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about “isms” and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said. The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism. It has always therefore been one of my main endeavors as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.

This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology. Wherever you find a little study circle of Christian laity you can be almost certain that they are studying not St. Luke or St. Paul or St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas or Hooker or Butler, but Sproul, MacArthur, Keller, Piper, N.T. Wright etc.

Now, this seems to me topsy-turvy. Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light. Often it cannot be fully understood without the knowledge of a good many other modern books. If you join at eleven o’clock a conversation which began at eight you will often not see the real bearing of what is said. Remarks which seem to you very ordinary will produce laughter or irritation and you will not see why—the reason, of course, being that the earlier stages of the conversation have given them a special point. In the same way, sentences in a modern book which look quite ordinary may be directed at some other book; in this way, you may be led to accept what you would have indignantly rejected if you knew its real significance. The only safety is to have a standard of plain, central Christianity (“mere Christianity” as Baxter called it) which puts the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective. Such a standard can be acquired only from the old books.

It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones. Every age has its own outlook.

It is especially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books… 

Reformation and Jubilees?

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Blow the Shofar in Zion, and sound an alarm on My Holy Mountain!  Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD, is coming; Surely it is near… (Joel 2:1)

The Feast of Trumpets falls on Sept 21, 2017, and Yom Kippur is 10 days later….

The U.N. declared International Day of Peace “just happens” to be September 21, 2017. The Theme this year “just happens” to be peace and safety.

It is 70 years from 1947 which was the rebirth of Israel. – On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as Resolution 181

It is the 50th anniversary or year of Jubilee for Jerusalem. It was liberated in 1967 when Jerusalem was recaptured by Israel from the Jordanians. Fifty years earlier Jerusalem was liberated by Allenby in 1917 and 400 years earlier in the Turks conquered Jerusalem in 1517.

It is the 70th anniversary of the Dead Sea Scrolls – early 1947

It is the 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration – On November 2, 1917, Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour writes a letter expressing the British government’s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

It is the 120th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress – “In Basel, I founded the Jewish state,” Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl said in 1897 of the First Zionist Congress.

It is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation – Catholics and Lutherans will celebrate Reformation Day Oct 31st, 2017 in Jerusalem. They will begin to set aside differences that started with Luther actions on Oct 31, 1517, in Wittenberg Germany.

 

It is 120 Jubilees from Adam.

It is 40 Jubilees since Christ’s death.

It is 70 Jubilees since Exodus (1483 B.C).

It marks year 5777 on the Jewish calendar.

So we pay attention and we note the time….for God moves in time and with design and order.

No – I make no attempt to interpret the mind of God and His inscrutable plans. I do know that ‘coincidence” is not a Kosher word….We only pray to be part of whatever He plans to do among His people and we prepare spiritually.

Troop ship or Cruise ship

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There is war upon us…Satan has canceled all leave and is running a 24/7 operation. He knows his time is short….but we are still utilizing our time and resources as if we are at peace…

The Queen Mary, lying in the harbor at Long Beach, California is a fascinating museum of the past. It was used both as a luxury liner in peacetime and a troop transport during the Second World War. Now she is a museum showing the contrast between the lifestyles appropriate in peace and war.

On one side of a partition, you see the dining room reconstructed to depict the peacetime table setting that was appropriate to the wealthy patrons with fine china and an array of knives and forks for each course of the meal. On the other side of the partition, the evidence of wartime austerities are a sharp contrast. One metal tray with indentations replaces fifteen plates and saucers. Bunks eight tiers high explain how the peacetime capacity of 3000 passengers gave way to 15,000 troops on board in wartime.Two men shared each bunk (sleeping in shifts) on the Queen Mary as it steamed across the Atlantic in World War II.

This transformation took a national emergency. The survival of a nation depended upon it. The essence of the Great Commission today is that the survival of many millions of people depends on its fulfillment.  She was set apart for a wartime purpose…

So we are set apart …consecrated…“setting apart of things for a holy use.” Are we set apart for wartime troopship conditions or are we still trying to be a cruise ship

Ours is a save-yourself society if there ever was one. Underdeveloped societies suffer from one set of diseases: tuberculosis, malnutrition, pneumonia, parasites, typhoid, cholera, and so on. Affluent North America has virtually invented a whole new set of diseases: obesity, heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, venereal diseases, cirrhosis of the liver, etc.

And we’re more than ever plagued with the social diseases of drug addiction, alcoholism, divorce, abused children, suicide, murder. Our divorce courts, prisons, psychiatric offices and mental institutions are flooded. In saving ourselves, we have nearly lost ourselves.

The decks and staterooms and dining facilities of the Queen Mary spoke of luxury and comfort and ease. Travelers could relax and be served anything their heart desired, at any time of night and day.

The coming of war changed all that as she was pressed into a wartime role…..Luxury Liner became troopship. Staterooms that slept 2 now slept 8. Dining facilities that fed 3000 now fed 15,000. It was not pretty or comfortable ….but the survival of Britain and Europe depended on it.

On August 30, 1939, the Queen Mary departed on her last peacetime voyage. The following day the Nazis invaded Poland and for safety reasons, the Queen Mary was ordered to run a zigzag course under blackout conditions.

She was called “The Grey Ghost” and she transported 765,429 troops during the war. Adolph Hitler offered $250,000 and the Iron Cross to any U-boat Captain that could sink the Queen Mary. She resumed peacetime cruises on July 31, 1947. Winston Churchill traveled on the Queen Mary three times during WWII and considered it his headquarters at sea. In fact, he even signed the D-Day Declaration onboard.

The church is a cruise ship of leisure and luxury when we were commissioned to be a life raft and a troopship …Like the bounty put on the Queen Mary – the apostle,  Paul was known in Hell.  Acts 19 v 15 the evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?”

We remain anonymous in hell and ineffective…

It is a time we ripped out the comfort and the leisure and gird ourselves for war… If the church is going to finish the great commission it is not going to be as a cruise ship….it may be as a troop ship.

J.B.Phillips, who gave us the Phillips New Testament, said of the first chapters of Acts:

  • “This is the church of Jesus Christ before it became fat and out of breath by prosperity.
  • This is the church of Jesus Christ before it became muscle-bound by over organization.
  • This is the church of Jesus Christ where they didn’t gather together a group of intellectuals to study phycho-sematic medicine, they just healed the sick.

Leonard Ravenhill said…

  • The church used to be a lightning bolt, now it’s a cruise ship.
  • We are not marching to Zion – we are sailing there with ease.
  • In the apostolic church it says they were all amazed – In our churches, everybody wants to be amused.
  • The church began in the upper room with a bunch of men agonizing, and it’s ending in the supper room with a bunch of people organizing.
  • We mistake rattle for revival, and commotion for creation, and action for unction.

I think this is a critical hour in history, the most critical hour in history; the prestige of this nation we love has gone down, and we face insurmountable problems. As someone said, “We live in a theater of the absurd.”

We have complete Bibles and stunning technological devices but we are dying as we try and save ourselves. If we transformed ourselves by giving up a lifestyle of comfort for a lifestyle of service, we will save others and so save ourselves...Luke 9 v 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

 

Foot Washing or Hand Washing

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We live in a democracy and many Christians are pleased that we elected Donald Trump. He pledged to make us “Great”.  The danger of democracy is, that we all share the blame and the consequences of our Governments rule in our name.  Literally ‘democracy’ comes from the Greek ‘demokratia,’ and may be translated as the rule of the common people (‘demos’ means ‘common people’ and ‘Kratos’ means rule or strength).

As the richest and most powerful nation on the planet, we have a responsibility to mankind. This United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all….is on track to collide with the values and the concerns of the Creator of all men.

In ancient Jewish literature, there are many references to Sodom. The phrase “middat Sdom” was used. It may be translated as “the way the people of Sodom thought”. It meant a lack of charity and hospitality towards others; ignoring the needs of the poor, etc. In the Middle East, a person’s survival could depend upon the charity of strangers. To help strangers was a solemn religious duty of paramount importance.

Isaiah 1; The entire first chapter is an utter condemnation of Judah. They are repeatedly compared with Sodom and Gomorrah in their evildoing and depravity. Throughout the chapter, the Prophet lists many sins of the people: … being unjust and oppressive to others, being insensitive to the needs of widows and orphans, committing murder, accepting bribes, etc.

Ezekiel 16:49-50:”Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” God states clearly that he destroyed Sodom’s sins because of their pride, their excess of food while the poor and needy suffered; sexual activity is not even mentioned.

Our new budget calls for a 10% increase in defense spending ($54 Billion) at the expense of UN food aid. The largest humanitarian crisis since World War 2 is looming in Africa. The lack of humanitarian access in Somalia and conflict in Sudan, South Sudan, and Eritrea has resulted in an influx of refugees into Ethiopia. The refugee camp at Dadaab, located close to the Kenyan border with Somalia, was originally designed in the early 1990s to accommodate 90,000 people but the UN estimates over 4 times as many reside there. The ongoing civil war in Somalia and the worst drought to affect the Horn of Africa in six decades has resulted in an estimated 12 million people whose lives are threatened. The total number of refugees and asylum seekers has made Ethiopia the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa…and they can barely feed themselves. The millions that face starvation is larger than the Ukrainian famine, the Cambodian famine, and the Irish famine combined.

This punitive gutting of food aid makes up only a microscopic part of the US budget. It costs less than a new jet – and only buys sacks of corn meal….the kind that obese and intoxicated Americans feed their animals and would never stoop to eat.

In 2011  40% of the U.S. corn crop was diverted to make fuel for cars. Ethanol uses 4.9 billion bushels of corn in the U.S. That was enough grain to feed 350 million people. Seems biofuel and ethanol paid more as Govt incentives redirected corn/wheat into ethanol production. So we filled the tanks of our cars with subsidized ethanol at the expense of the very hungry poor.

American farmers cashed their checks and Egyptians, Libyans, Algerians, and Mexicans rioted over the price of their bread/tacos/tortillas. Raising their basic food prices along with our efforts to destabilize the Middle East was our “gift” with political motives. The Arab Spring was the chance for the “rule of the common people”  and left six countries in ruin and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Islamic State of Libya in charge…before chaos. Food is a weapon more powerful than oil.

It is Passover next week and another crowd once chanted “Crucify Him”  His blood be on us and our children. They understood the responsibility of democracy.

This Passover we will gather for our Seders and our Easter festivities…collectively having sentenced millions of people to death. They are black and brown and we will never get close enough to smell that smell or hear the rasp of a starving baby.

  • We too will ask for a bowl and a towel.  
  • It won’t be to wash their feet…..
  • It will be our hands we wash as we proclaim ourselves innocent of their blood.

 

First Fruits and Nisan 17th

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There is a strange connection between New Beginnings and First Fruits and Nisan 17th. Yeshua was resurrected 3 days after his death on Nisan 14th on Nisan 17th on the 8th day. First Fruits and Resurrection Sunday was the greatest of all New Beginnings...

Let us consider the other New Beginnings
• Nisan 17, Noah’s Ark safely rested on Mt. Ararat (Gen 8:4) Note that the seventh month was later designated as the first month at the time of the Exodus (Ex. 12:2).
• Nisan 17, Hebrews entered Egypt (Exo 12:40-41) 430 years before deliverance. ...even the self-same day it came to pass...
• Nisan 17, Moses led the Israelites through the Parting of the Red Sea (Exo 3:18, 5:3)
• Nisan 17, Israel entered and ate the first fruit of the Promised Land (Joshua 5:10-12)
• Nisan 17, The cleansing of the Temple by Hezekiah (eight hundred years after entering the promised land. (2 Chronicles 29:1-28)
• Nisan 17, Queen Esther saved the Jews from Elimination (Esther 3:12, 5:1)
• Nisan 17, The Resurrection of Messiah

The odds of just two of these events both happening accidentally on the same day of the Hebrew year (360 days) are one in 129,000. The odds of these events all happening coincidentally on the same day of the Hebrew year are one in 783 quadrillions, 864 trillion, 876 Billion, 960 Million (783,864,876,960,000,000).

1. Noah’s Ark
Genesis 8:4 dates in a Hebrew Word Study: The Hebrew New Year begins in the month of Nisan (April of the contemporary calendar). However, there is another calendar that may have been used to account for the days of the Flood. This account is documented in an ancient Jewish commentary on the Genesis passage.
According to this ancient calendar, the ark rested on the mountain on precisely the same day that Jesus was resurrected from the tomb. Yes, that’s right. Thousands and thousands of years before the resurrection, God engineered history to point toward the pinnacle event of salvation. Just as the ancient judgment ended on the day the ark touched the ground, so the judgment of the restored world ended on the same day of the year when the tomb could not hold Him.

2. Entered Egypt
The Hebrews entered Egypt 430 years to the day they excited Egypt.

3. Crossing the Red Sea
Moses recorded the fact that Israel crossed the Red Sea and physically left the land of Egypt on the 17th of Nisan in Numbers 33:1-8: These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.2 And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. 3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; (Nisan) on the morrow after the Passover (still the 15th) the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. (Remember, Israel’s days start at sunset) 4 For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.5 And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. (Evening of the 15th) 6 And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. (Evening of 16th) 7 And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they pitched before Migdol. (Evening of the 17th) 8 And they departed (morning of the 17th) from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.”

4. Ate Fruit in Promised Land
Nisan 17 in 1445 BC (BR). On this same day, Israel makes the first camp at Succoth beginning the Exodus and their first day out of Egypt on the evening of Friday Nisan 17 as stated in Exodus 12:37-39. On this same date, 40 years later, Joshua would meet “the Commander of the army of the Lord” which begins Day 1 of the 7 day Battle of Jericho according to Joshua 5:13-6:5.
On Nisan 16 last day God rained Manna. On Nisan 17 Israel ate the first fruits of the promised land.

5. Hezekiah
Immediately upon becoming king, Hezekiah commenced a great religious reform. In eight days they had re-opened the great Temple of Solomon and cleansed it of defilement (2 Chronicles 29:1-17). The cleansing of the temple was not completed until the sixteenth day of the first month (Nisan)

6. Queen Esther
Haman had convinced the king to sign a decree to destroy the Hebrews (Esther 3:1-12). The decree went out on the 13th Nisan (Esther 3:12). Esther then proclaimed a three-day fast (Esther 4:16) for the 14th, 15th and 16th. On the 3rd day (5:1) Esther approached the king saying to herself ‘If I perish, I perish!’ (an attitude of death or resurrection… it’s in God’s hands!) On the 17th Nisan, the tables were turned on the enemy Haman and instead of the Jews being destroyed, his own life was taken!

7.Yeshua the Messiah
With the death of Jesus, all looked lost to His disciples and followers. Their Messiah was dead! The one they had placed all their hope in was gone and two of them headed out of town to Emmaus. The disciples, being Jewish, knew that God had told Moses that the first Sunday following the Sabbath after Passover would be the feast of Firstfruits. (See Lev 23:9-14). It was on this day that they were to offer to God the first-fruits of the harvest. And yet, even the disciples didn’t see that God was starting a new ‘first fruits’ on this day, the 17th Nisan. A ‘first fruits’ of those that would be raised from the dead!

Luke 23:1-8 “On the first day of the week (17th of Nisan), very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.”

1 Cor 15:20-23 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

Like the defeat of the Egyptians and the death of Haman on this same day previously, this Sunday morning on Nisan 17th saw the resurrection of Jesus and the defeat of Satan!

Death had been turned into the life and defeat into victory!  Like the two travelers on the road to Emmaus on that fateful Feast of First Fruits, could the opening of the scriptures cause our "hearts to burn." Could this day not be an annual New Beginning for each of us?

American Drunken Delusions

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Since I was not born in America I was afforded the benefit of a British schooling in Africa. Our history lessons included European history and the rise and fall of great empires. Now living and working as a citizen of the United States, we talk about OLD houses that are only 50 years old. In Britain, the city of Bath was established in the 1st Century by the Romans, in Europe an old house is 700 years old, and in Jerusalem, they date back to the Crusades…. 700 years before America was even settled.

The great business leaders that made America great are Astor, Rockefeller, DuPont, J.P. Morgan with roots that are less than 200 years old. In 1308 some 700 years ago, the Frescobaldi’s were wool traders and bankers and they financed King Edwards wars both in Wales and in France. The family, which also built Florence’s first bridge Santa Trinita also became one of the main composers of keyboard music during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.

The Bank of Italy compared the tax records of Florentine taxpayers of 1427 to track the mobility of social economic status across the centuries. All that long before Columbus ever sailed.

We look with pride on Harvard (1693) and Yale (1701) and Princeton (1747) Ivy League schools that trace their roots back to the first Great Awakening that swept the East Coast. The word university comes from the Latin: Universitas – which was coined at the foundation of the University of Bologna in Italy in 1088. In 1158, the Emperor Frederick Barber also settled the rules, rights, and privileges of universities. Back then Italy was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The University of Oxford in the Kingdom of England was founded between 1096 and 1167, but it was not until 1254 that Pope Innocent the fourth granted Oxford University, a charter by papal bull. I guess our schools missed some 700 years of early education.

Our largest Protestant denomination is the Baptists with a long history extending all the way back to 1845 and the Southern Baptist Convention. The Catholic Church held sway over all of Europe and crowned its Kings and its Emperors a thousand years before….The old line confessions of the Reformation that are the roots of Lutheran and the Westminster confession are 200 years older than America. The 500 year anniversary of the Reformation is this October 2017 and the Catholics and the Lutherans and the Anglicans are planning a wonderful reunion as the mother church embraces her errant daughters.

So what is my point?
We are the illegitimate offspring of no lineage that stumbled onto a continent and found the winning lottery ticket. In the last 80 years, we became the most ignorant, most obese, entitled people squandering the world’s resources at an unprecedented rate.

We are thrilled and hypnotized with our latest technological gizmo. Like most lottery winners, we have bought depreciating cars and lead the world in drug addiction, divorce, illegitimate births, abortion, porn production and consumption, depression, and the highest number of incarcerated citizens on the planet.

We have remained too drunk to realize we can’t read or write, have no sense of history, and our biggest political concern is who is allowed in which bathroom.

Like most lottery winners we have racked up the world’s largest national debt and bankrupted ourselves with pouring trillions of dollars in failed “Nouveau riche” (French: ‘new rich’) schemes to export our democracy.

Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar already recognized Afghanistan would not be changed. If our schools included history we would have recognized neither Greece, Rome, Genghis Kahn, the British nor the Russians ever defeated and subdued Afghanistan. She has been called the graveyard of empires…but we won the lottery…..so our money can change what 1000 years could not?

Europe is not ignorant of her history and her monuments and her old buildings are reminders of her ancient roots. Nationalism is awakening all over Europe and the E.U. is done. Europe is beginning to realize that the United States (which has no history and no character) is only about consumerism and self-protection. Like most “friends” on a drunken bar hopping spree, they tend to leave when the U.S.A. can no longer pick up the tab for the next round of cool-aid……

There is a new world order coming, and the United States is no longer the center of the world. Like a cherry tree in the coming hurricane, she will be blown over by the wind of History. America will be replaced by a tree planted in Europe long ago, with deep roots, reaching all the way back to Rome, Greece, and Babylon.

God also has a view of history and it also stretches back to 2000BC when He called a man out of Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization. Babylon, that area between the Tigris and the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq.

God has also appointed a King to return and take up His throne. Those two world orders, who both trace their roots back to Babylon, (the cradle of civilization) will clash at the center of the world. Jerusalem.

The people of God need a worldview and a global perspective to look beyond bathroom politics, immigration, and taxation. There are bigger matters at hand according to the God who writes history.

The end time powers will once again be prophets and kings. Our happy feel good “scampering before the Lord” in playful worship in church, is not going to sustain us in the time ahead. As the people of God, we need to sober up, put down our small screen device, and realize there is a war coming.

The God of the wrong people

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Most believers attend a congregation because or proximity to their home and/or because they have friends they fellowship with.  We overlook small differences in beliefs, as long as we all agree on major doctrines.

Soon we realize there is no perfect church. Yeshua has a strong word to 5 of the 7 churches of Revelation – Repent!  This Counsel is given to all the churches except Smyrna and Philadelphia.

So now that we know there is no perfect congregation it comes as no surprise that there are also no perfect leaders/pastors/teachers.

Despite our many differences, God will divide us all into only two groups.  He does not have 30,000 denominations or sects – He only has ONE people of God.

  • Wheat and Tares,
  • Saved and Unsaved,
  • Believers and Unbelievers.

So what makes these people the Saved or the Unsaved?

Does their church affiliation or correct denomination save them?  I think we agree on the fact that Yeshua is not returning only for the congregations of the Messianic/Hebrew Roots congregations, or is He?

What about the (Jewish only) Messianic Groups…. who trace their roots back to the earliest Hebrew Christian Church. The first identifiable congregation made up exclusively of Jews who had converted to Christianity was established in the United Kingdom in 1813. A group of 41 Jewish Christians established an association called “Beni Abraham.”  The first Hebrew Christian church was established in New York in 1885. Does being Jewish save them?

What about the Seventh Day Adventists/7th Day Church of God.… who trace their history back to the Millerites of the 1840’s? Are they Orthodox enough and will their Sabbath keeping and kosher diet save them?

What about the Seventh Day Baptists….who trace their history to their persecution under Cromwell for holding on to the Sabbath.  The first recorded SDB meeting was held at The Mill Yard Church in London in 1651. Stephen Mumford, a Seventh Day Baptist from England, arrived in Rhode Island in 1665 and is mentioned as an advocate for seventh-day Sabbath in many records of the time. The first SDB church in America was at Newport, Rhode Island, established December 1671. Will Yeshua include the faithful of that group?

What about the 30,000 other denominations/congregations….who trace their roots back to the Lutheran Reformation of 1517 and the various confessions that came from that? What saves them when their Beliefs and Practices do not include the observations and customs of Yeshua and the First Century Jewish believers? Diet, Calendar and Feasts are obvious differences.

  • Are they saved by their actions, or by their statement of beliefs?
  • What made them saints?
  • Or should the question be – Who made them saints?

Acts 10, known as “The Conversion of Cornelius,” could just as well be called “The Conversion of Peter” because of Peter’s real struggle to cross the threshold of a Gentile household.That act alone needed a vision from God given to two men.

An angel appears to Cornelius and he sent 2 servants and 1 soldier to find Peter. Meanwhile, Peter is having his own “Come to God” meeting as 3 times he is commanded to eat, that which was never food.  So he takes 6 other men with him and crosses a Gentile threshold.  Peter’s ethnic prejudices,  were not biblically based, but Jewish custom.

God converts and pours out His Spirit on an uncircumcised Roman and family who is an occupier of the Holy Land. This Gentile was forbidden to enter the Synagogue and the Temple (uncircumcised). Wrong language, Wrong race, Wrong job description, Wrong calendar and no religious observance as it related to Temple sacrifices and synagogue attendance.

So when Peter returns – the church holds a conference and they ask the question that you must decide here and now:

Does God have YOUR permission to call the wrong people and pour His mercy on them?

  • Rahab the Harlot.
  • Ruth the Moabitess.
  • Ninevites – That wicked city
  • Naham another Gentile soldier.
  • Samarian woman at the well – of questionable repute.
  • Zacchaeus – collaborator and thief.
  • Thief on the cross.

When you finally allow God to save and adopt those He will as His own….then you will be included in His coming revival and the outpouring of His mercy on all the wrong people.

Two incidents to ponder:

  • A  Torah observant Torah scholar – Nicodemus came with a question – How is one born again?
  • A Torah observant crowd chanted “Crucify Him” on their Passover Day.

Torah observance was not the saving characteristic there.

When I study the History of the Messianic/Hebrew Roots/ Sabbatarian churches I am ashamed.  We have done nothing to better our world. We cannot point to our participation in the 1st and 2nd     Great Awakenings, which started world missions, translated bibles and changed the moral climate of our nation.  Why were all the leaders and congregations Protestant?

  • Are we are not gifted the very Truth and light of YHVH’s eternal Torah – that gives Life?
  • Are we not commanded to share this Truth will all the world and make disciples of all nations?
  • Are we still deciding if God has our permission to save all the wrong people?
  • Are we inviting them all to share our Blessings?