STREAMS IN THE NEGEV

Isaiah 41:17-20 "A site of a thankful soul who has found living water to drink from the true God of Israel"

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272 COMMENTS

  1. CONTROVERSY WITH ZION Revisited – 21 Apr 2018

    Several years ago I read a book by Dalton Thomas by the above TITLE, and wrote my impression of it here:
    https://streamsinthenegev.com/reflecting-pool/comment-page-3/#comment-25980
    Since then, my reading of Scripture has led me to see some things that I had not notice before. What he wrote, and what I also believe, is that there is going to be another expulsion of the Jewish people from Israel. . . .but for a brief and horrible period towards the end of this age, leading up to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the salvation of “all Israel” — a full redeemed remnant from all the tribes of the Children of Jacob. I had thought that he might have been speaking of an indefinite exile again for the Jewish people, but that is not the case.

    I highly recommend a series of films connected with Dalton, and FAI (Frontier Alliance International), called Covenant and Controversy. The third part, just released, directly addresses the issue of Jacob’s Trouble, and the implications for the Church of God, the believers in Jesus.

  2. BILLY GRAHAM – 9 Mar 2018

    Last Friday (Mar 2), I turned on the TV to watch some US news on Fox News. Unexpectedly, I happened to turn it on just as the funeral of Billy Graham was beginning. What a remembrance and a celebration of a life and death given whole-heartedly to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God! What I witnessed on American TV is something that we would never see here in unbelieving Israel: a joyful funeral and the free-flowing testimony in songs and eulogies confessing and proclaiming Jesus! I don’t know how many avowed unbelievers or nominal Christians watched the whole funeral ceremony on TV; I expect for some who might have, it could have been uncomfortable, maybe even annoying. But let the Holy Spirit deal with them about that, if so! Despite some of the controversy surrounding Billy’s evangelicalism, his legacy was heard upon his death and burial.

    This could be a watershed for the USA, hearing nationwide — and even around the world — the call to repent and to believe the everlasting gospel of salvation and of God’s Kingdom. As Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, clearly spoke out to all, including to herself: Wake up, Church; the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again!

    Though most believers seem to ignore it, the reestablishment of the Jewish people in the land promised them by God is a time-mark sign which Yeshua gave to His disciples when they asked Him about the end of the age and the fulfillment of all the things He was telling them, leading up to His return. The figtree is blossoming now for 70 years, and we are the generation that is witness to it.

  3. FESTIVALS, NEW MOONS, SABBATHS – 4 Mar 2018

    Israel lives by its calendar, and we get accustomed to that, too. We have just finished celebrating Purim (from the Scroll/Book of Esther in the Bible) and are looking towards Passover at the end of this month. From one Full Moon to the next, with a New Moon right in the middle. This New Moon marks the beginning of the Biblical Israeli year, which lays out YHVH God’s plan of redemption, pointing to and focused on the Messiah of God, Himself YHVH who came to us in the person of the Son of God — Yeshua/Jesus. He came; was crucified as the Passover Lamb, and as the Yom Kippur Goat; was buried and rose again; gave us the Holy Spirit from the Father; calls people to repentance and faith in the gospel; remains the only Savior of all men, especially of those who believe, among Jews and Gentiles; and is coming again to rule and reign among His people from this land of Israel and chosen city of Jerusalem, over all Israel and over the nations. What a hope to wait for until its certain fulfillment!
    streamsinthenegev.com/school-of-fish/the-new-moon-covered-or-revealed/

  4. LOOKING AHEAD BEYOND TODAY’S HEADLINES — 18 Feb 2018

    As you probably already know, the situation on the borders of Israel in the north and south are heating up. As is the political situation surrounding the Prime Minister, as those of you who keep up with the state of things in Israel also know. Despite these threats to the stability of the nation, Yeshua presently reigns from on high — behind the veil, so to speak — seeing to it that God’s plan of redemption continues to advance until it is completed! The ‘great commission’ is until the end of the age, which has not yet come, but is definitely nearing each day and month and year.

    Yesterday we had an Arab brother, who pastors in the western Galilee, teach at Yeshua’s Inheritance Cong., and we were joined by a congregation from Arad for the joint service. The pastor and I were joined by the senior elder from Arad to pray for our nation, and for the gospel to go out to whomsoever, that many be saved before the great and awesome Day of the LORD (YHVH) that will eventually bring this ‘age’ and ‘this world’ to its finality. At present, there is the priority for evangelism as God both demonstrates His hidden presence in Israel (similar to the first Purim in the Scroll of Esther), but also His displeasure over His people’s unrepentant heart and mind towards Him and to His Son. As we are studying the book of Isaiah in our mid-week group, both elements are very clear as the prophet is given revelation through to the end-times of the last days and the coming Kingdom of God.

  5. FAKE NEWS – 23 Oct 2017

    Fake news is not new; it goes back a long way. A big one is this:

    ‘Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.’ (Mt 28:11-15)

    We are called to witnesses to the truth of the risen Lord and Messiah. (2Cor 10:3-6)

  6. VERSES ABOUT YESHUA IN NT FROM OT NOT READ IN SYNAGOGUES – 16 Oct 2017

    This is another example of the spiritual nature of the conflict centered in Yeshua between Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity:
    https://www.haaretz.com/news/what-happened-to-jesus-haftarah-1.166699

    But despite this, rather incredibly, the Jewish people who go to synagogue on the Day of Atonements, the holiest day in the year for them, they read and hear the book of Jonah the prophet! Jesus said that the only sign which He would give to unbelieving Israel is the sign of Jonah, that he was three days and three nights in the belly of the large fish. In the sovereignty of God, He has them read that book every year when His people seek forgiveness of their sins.

    The mindset against Jesus is a spiritual stronghold which needs to be taken down through prayer and speaking the truth in love and in righteousness.

  7. TIKKUN OLAM? – 15 Sept 2017

    Tikkun olam is the humanist concept and religion to make the world better. It can cross all social, cultural, national, and religious borders. WHAT a better world looks like to each one will be very subjective. We do that believing God has told us to, and because it seems so obviously good and right; but, honestly, we are motivated to do it because we think God either does not really exist, or that He has gone away, or that He does not have His own better plan to actually accomplish this and make the world (HIS world!) right and better.

    I had a chance to participate in a discipleship school, called Making Disciples of All Nations. There is much good teaching and examples provided in this school (and seven nations were present for the 5 days) of how to influence our societies as believers. HOWEVER, the emphasis was on making disciples of nations, misapplying the Greek word meaning ethnic groups: the gospel is to go to all people groups — whoever and wherever they are — and make them disciples of the Messiah Jesus. This may eventually change a country, but the mandate is to people and not to countries/nation-states. When the LORD told Adam to subdue the Earth, and to rule over every living thing, this did not include other people. Yeshua Himself will hand all authority back to the Father once the Millennial Kingdom and the final judgment is complete!

    When I grew up in the U.S. during the 1950’s, it could be said that America was certainly a Christianized country, and the especially white Anglo-Saxon Christian ruled in all facets of society. As Jews, we experienced a significant amount of social anti-Semitism; and the Blacks knew the gross indignities of legalized and social discrimination. And this was in the South, in the “Bible Belt”! It was the consensus in those days that any reference to God meant the God of the Bible — the Old and New Testaments; any reference to Christ meant Jesus; any reference to Lord meant Jesus or God, too. Today this is not so clear, and we must be more specific and mention His name, and which God and Lord and Christ we are meaning as the one true God.

    The God of Israel never told His people to rule over, or to make disciples of, other countries (for example Egypt); Yeshua did not tell His disciples to rule over or to disciple Rome. The Lord said that night is coming and no one can work. He said that unless He returns, no one will be left alive. This is not the stuff of taking nations for Christ and handing the kingdom over to Him whenever He may return. But the Father has set a day, which will come at the appointed time! With a doctrine to take nations in Jesus’ name, those who follow this will never pray the last prayer of the Bible: Even so, Come, Lord Jesus! Because they will be thinking that they still have nations to take before He can come. Such teaching also sidelines Israel as God’s key to the salvation of other nations. It also dismisses the present reality that Satan is the prince of this world until Jesus comes back to put him away.

    Also, Yeshua gives us signs of when He will come, and the reestablishment of the Jewish people back in the land of their inheritance is a key sign, like Noah’s ark was in his day. Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Empire, and Christians ruled in all spheres of society. It is true that over the centuries, western countries in particular were gospelized and christianized, making huge changes in governance and culture. Yet, still the Kingdom of God was not manifested in God’s will being done on Earth as in Heaven, and corruption always took over, bringing reproach to the name of the Lord. And today we are living in an increasingly antichrist world, and a falling away from the true faith in those same western countries.

    I spoke to some of the leaders of MDN (who are also leaders of Full Gospel Business), and they actually agreed with me from their own Bible knowledge. So my challenge to them was how to bring together these two elements — in the light of the coming suffering, persecution, and martyrdom (which they teach in a by-the-way fashion) — of personal salvation and the responsibility of every believer to be salt, light, and a fragrance of Christ in our lives, whether in the marketplace, the schools, the military, the mundane occupations of most people: that whatever we do, and wherever we are, we are to be conscious of our being disciples and ambassadors of the King whose kingdom is not of this world, which opposes HIM, who is coming back at a set time that is not going to change, to judge the nations in righteousness, bringing peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

  8. Sam, your humble presentations with your expertise help draw attention to the fact that there are signs in the skies.

    They do point to the coming again of the Lord, just as there was a sign that pointed to His birth. The times and seasons of their fulfillment are in God’s hands.

    Blessings to you.

  9. Howard, it is true that the celestial signs have not borne out….yet. It is a prospective test….they must meet certain criteria to be valid, and therefore we will see if they come to fruition or not! This is why I put the idea out there in advance….if you go back and look at the dates of the videos I put out, they go back to 2014 and point to the fall of 2017, with the theme that an agreement to divide the Land must happen if the signs are valid.

    They have nothing to do with the rapture….just the onset of the 70th week. And, they must meet the internal Biblical criteria given to us in Daniel of the specific day counts. We don’t know at this point if they are valid or not, but at the moment, events seem to be pointing in the direction of a so-called “peace” agreement in the form of the 2 state solution this fall…….let’s see what happens! IF nothing transpires, I will be the first to admit it was hogwash….
    Shalom! Sam

  10. THE MYSTERY OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH – 7 Aug 2017

    There are more than a few Messianic leaders with that worry and devastating feeling of having some of their children not walking in the faith with Yeshua. I don’t understand, for sure, what to me is the mystery of repentance and faith in the gospel. But it does seem that Christians are no different than the Jews in this matter: within God’s family, not all believe. Of course, we don’t write anyone off, for as long as it is called TODAY, it is the day of salvation!

  11. CELESTIAL SIGNS – 30 July 2017

    The last couple years have been full of signs in the heavens, with many Bible believers saying that they portend imminent acts of God in line with prophecies in His Word. There are more supposedly on the way, this August and September and October. Admittedly, it is all ‘other-worldly’ to me! 🙂

    Whether or not things are going to unfold precisely as pronosticators speculate in conjunction with these signs remains to be seen. (It seems that, till now, they have not.) But even if not, God is drawing our attention to numerous signs or indicators which point us in the right direction: the coming of the Lord draws near(er)! And Yeshua Himself has given us celestial signs which do lead up to His coming, and to which we should give at least some attention. (Mt 24:29-30; Mk 13:24-26; Lk 21:25-28; Rev 6:12-17) These specific signs have not yet occurred, and seem to be still some years away, “after the tribulation of those days” of which the Lord and Messiah speaks.

    This year of 2017 is a year of convergence commemorating a number of significant events in history, all connected in some way with the Lord’s providential supervision of history in connection with the spread of the gospel and the salvation of His people Israel, and judgments and the blessing to come for the whole world through His two-edged sword.

    2017 — 500 yrs since the Reformation; 120 yrs since 1st Zionist Cong; 100 yrs (double Jubilee) since Beer Sheva Charge, the Balfour Declaration, and the capture of Jerusalem by Gentile Christians; 70 yrs since UN Partition Plan; 50 yrs Jubilee since capture of Jerusalem by Israeli Jews; 30 yrs since beginning of 1st Palestinian Intifada (“breaking the yoke; horse shaking off the rider”)

    Scoffers may think that there is nothing going on which speak of the Lord’s return, but God is giving people in many walks of life to consider that there are countless ways pointing to the end-times of the last days — in nature, in morality, in the return of the Jewish people back to the covenant land of promise. Signs point to and signify something to draw the attention and direct us in the right direction.

    The gospel accounts are a bit sketchy regarding when the maji from the East saw and understood the celestial sign connected with the birth of the King of the Jews. How long from when they saw it was Yeshua born? Was He born before, during, or after they witnessed the sign? How long did it take them to travel to Israel? The Scriptures do say that Herod had all the baby boys up to two years old killed.

    The Holy Spirit is waking up the church, but there is much confusion of faces (to use a phrase in Daniel) among the believers, and the world is unable yet to give us much credibility, since there is so much abuse and misappropriation of the signs. My prayer is that the Lord will do what He needs to to bring His sheep together with one accord and one voice, and in love and unity — all as a testimony to the truth of who Yeshua/Jesus really is. I pray that He would put His fear into His own, and into the world-at-large, and grant repentance where it is needed most in each of us who call upon His name out of a pure heart.

    May the voice of the Lord be heard, His word spoken, and heard in those with ears to hear. Lord, please give me a hearing ear and a discerning spirit!

  12. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD AND THE REESTABLISHMENT OF ISRAEL – 12 July 2017

    On Revelation TV’s Middle East Report with Simon Barret, he interviewed Kelvin Crombie on June 30.

    Kelvin is a historian and an expert on the geo-political build-up for the restoration of the Jewish people to God’s covenanted land to them in fulfillment of His promises sealed by oath. He connects four major events which occurred on Oct 31 in modern history which impacted the Body of Messiah and nations towards the Jewish people’s return to the land of their fathers: the Reformation in 1517; the visit of the German Kaiser to Jerusalem in 1898; the Battle of Beer Sheva in 1917; and the British government’s approval of the Balfour Declaration.

    You can view the very interesting and informative one-hour interview here:
    http://www.revelationtv.com/programmes/episode/the-middle-east-report54426

  13. IDENTITY – 30 May 2017

    Just as it is hard for Jewish believers to accept and explain being both Jews and also Christians, without being Judaizers, Gentiles, or traitors, so too is it hard for Israeli Arab believers to accept and explain being both Arab and Israeli, without being merely political Zionists, non-Arab, or “collaborators”.

    When the Son has set us free, we are free indeed! We are sons and daughters of God, living in the world, but not of it.

  14. Shavuot/Pentecost – 30 May 2017

    Greetings this Shavuot holiday evening!

    This evening begins the Judaism version of Pentecost (50 days). It is called in Hebrew, Shavuot (weeks). This appointed time (mo’ed) is one of the Feasts of YHVH given in Lev 23. According to God through Moses to Israel, the holiday is to be on the 50th day — or the day after seven full Sabbaths — counting from the appointed time of First-fruits, which falls on the day after the Sabbath during the Passover and Unleavened Bread week. In other words, it is to always be on a Sonday, with the counting of the sheaves (omer) of the wheat to be harvested beginning on the day of First-fruits, or the day of resurrection, Yeshua being the first-fruits from the dead. So it is seven full weeks from the first-fruits resurrection, or the 50th day, counting that day. It is a jubilee of sorts. In today’s Judaism, the counting begins on the day after Passover, whatever day of the week that may be, and Shavuot always then falls on the 6th day of the third month of Sivan, which is tomorrow this year. (BTW, this year marks the END of the 5oth year/Jubilee of the liberation of Jerusalem — being the end of the 50th year, rather than marking the Jubilee year, since we are now going into the 51st year.)

    Be that as it may, let us strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the Body of Messiah in hope of the fulfillment of the promise which the giving of the Holy Spirit and YHVH’s law anticipates.

  15. OUR CREATOR AND REDEEMER – 12 May 2017

    The Church is not Israel, but rather a new creation, made up of blood-bought (redeemed) persons – both Jews and Gentiles – with saving and living faith from out of every nation, tribe, language, culture.

    YHVH God created/creates: the present Universe Gen 1:1; Adam and Eve (man and woman) Gen 1:27; Israel, the people Is 43:15; the Church (Body of Messiah/Christ) Eph 4:24; the regenerated Millennial heavens and Earth Is 65:17; the new universe Rev 21:1

  16. PROPHETIC WORDS – 21 Apr 2017

    “In this period of prosperity, of sanguine hope of continued and ever-increasing peace and happiness, the minds and hearts of the multitude will be closed against all appeal, all instruction. It is only when the dreadful storm of persecution and death, alluded to in several propositions, shall, when excited and marshalled by the elements and forces now at work, burst with fearful violence upon the Church, and beat with pitiless vehemence upon the heads of true, unflinching believers in Christ, that this work, will find a cordial response, a hearty welcome in the breasts of the faithful. Time with its startling and terrible events will justify this publication. ”
    (George N. H. Peters, The Theocratic Kingdom, Intro., p. 24; 1884)

  17. LEAVENED, OR UNLEAVENED BREAD? – 26 Feb 2017

    A curious thing:  wine was used by the Lord at the Last Supper/Passover, and is considered acceptable doctrinally by many churches and Messianic congregations for the Lord’s Supper.  Grape juice is an alternative, being of the fruit of the vine.  At the first Passover, when the Israelis were delivered from hard slavery in Egypt, neither wine nor grape juice was part of that feast.  And, according to the instructions given us for Passover in Lev 23, and in the Passover account in Exodus, the emphasis is on eating unleavened bread (matza), but nothing about drinking wine. 

    Following the Passover, looking prophetically, once the first-fruits wave offering had been offered on the day after the Sabbath (i.e., Sonday, the “one”/first day of the week) after coming into the land which the Lord was giving to the children and people of Israel, then they could use wine and eat [regular] bread (lechem).  This was during the Passover week.  When Yeshua was walking with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus after His resurrection (first-fruits from the dead) on the day after the Sabbath of that Passover week (i.e., Sonday), their eyes were opened when He blessed and broke bread (artos in Greek; lechem in all Hebrew translations normally used).  Then “they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight”. (Lk 24)  Wine is fermented; it is leavened.  Nothing leavened was permitted under the Law during the Passover and Unleavened Bread week. 

    It is interesting that the same Greek word for bread is used in the account of the Last Supper, and in that of the meal with the two disciples in Emmaus.  Had the Last Supper been the night before Passover, as some believe — and therefore leavened bread would have been “permissible” — then surely we would think that the word used in the account of Emmaus would have specified unleavened bread, since it was during the Passover/Unleavened Bread week.

  18. AGRICULTURE EXPRESSING NEW TESTAMENT TRUTH — 25 Feb 2017

    At Ben-Gurion Intl Airport recently, the Israel Ministry of Science, Technology, and Space displayed an exhibition along the wall going down towards the Duty Free area. One of the exhibits particularly caught my attention:

    “In commercial citrus orchards, trees are grafted together, joining varieties. The lower part of the tree — the rootstock — provides the system of roots, while the upper part — the scion — produces the fruit. When agriculture moved to the desert, new rootstocks had to be found for such an area.” Dr. Eran Raveh — Gilat Research Center, Agricultural Research Org. – Volcani Center

    Does not this remind us of the Apostle Paul’s explanation of how Jews and Gentiles together in Messiah/Christ are planted and grafted in by God? Praise the Lord!
    https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+11%3A11-24&version=ESV

  19. SHAKING OFF CHRISTIANITY – 30 Jan 2017

    A recent article appeared in The Christian Post, titled “How Christianity in America Changed During Obama’s Presidency: Pew Report”.

    http://www.christianpost.com/news/how-christianity-in-america-changed-during-obamas-presidency-pew-report-172970/
    What caught my attention was the end of the article:
    ‘”I think evangelicals largely felt alienated and ignored during the eight years of this administration. If you rewind through the decades, evangelical Christians were at the head of the table, then they moved to the foot of the table, and then they got moved to the kids table, and then they got kicked out of the dinner party altogether,” Dickerson said.

    Those negative feelings likely precipitated a vote for a man in a presidential election many evangelicals found unsavory, he explained.

    First Things editor R.R. Reno previously told CP in an interview about his book Resurrecting the Idea Of A Christian Society that “the main problem facing Christians today is a kind of lament, a spirit of lament of having lost the country” and that lament “tends to make contemporary Christians resentful of the present age. So it creates a defensive posture toward the contemporary moment as we feel the current going against us.”
    “Instead, what has happened is very powerful elements of our society are shaking off this presumptive authority of Christianity to define their lives and for the wider public culture of America,” Reno said.”‘

    The end of the article states that there is a “shaking off this presumptive authority of Christianity to define their lives and for the wider public culture of America”. This ‘shaking off’ of legal and/or moral authority/preeminence is the essential meaning of “intifada“, which is what the Muslims and Palestinians call their resistance against the Israel and her sovereignty.

    It is the essence of what Psalm 2 speaks of “the kings of the Earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against YHVH and against His Messiah (Anointed/Christ): let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us“.

    This ‘shaking off’ is some of the final words that a nearly blind Isaac left with his profane aggrieved son, Esau, upset that he had forfeited his birthright and blessing to Jacob, whom YHVH had already appointed to be a covenant heir to the promises of the righteous and holy God: “By your sword you [Esau] shall live, and you shall serve your brother [Jacob]. And it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you will break his yoke from off your neck.” (Gen 27:40)

    The article points out the general feeling among Christians, who have received God’s highest call and blessing, and who are called to be agents and faithful of living by and making known God’s holy moral standard, that the current culture and society are actively overthrowing these foundations and authority by any means at their disposal.

    The whole LBGTQI movement and agenda is a prime example. Redefining what is right and wrong, good and evil, holy and profane — turning them on their heads — is a frontal attack on the truth and holiness of the Creator and Maker of Heaven and Earth, who has chosen and appointed those through whom He is working out redemption and to ultimately establish His rule and authority over Israel and the nations. It is the Islamic jihad to overthrow Judeo-Christian civilization. As written in Ps 2, God laughs derisively at those who would presume to overthrow HIM!

    This “shaking off” is the spiritual war taking place in these last days of a final rebellion against the sovereignty and constituted authority of the one true living God and of the lordship of the Son of God — Messiah Yeshua/Christ Jesus — over all peoples and nations.

  20. SHOULD THE U.S. MOVE ITS EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM? – 23 Jan 2017

    I really don’t know what the general feeling is around the Messianic body here in Israel about moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. 

    It is interesting that the location of where the current consulate is now, in the Arnona neighborhood, is considered “West” Jerusalem, not East Jerusalem.  So, we are still not talking about the Biblical boundaries of the city, or of that which is publicly spoken about to part of some possible future Palestinian state, with half of Jerusalem as its capital.  So, it is clear that the issue here is not simply political.

    I, for one, would at least like the U.S. — and other nations, too, for that matter — to recognize Jerusalem as being in Israel, and even her capital.  If, for pragmatic reasons they choose not to locate their embassies and personnel there, I can accept that.  No question that moving BACK to Jerusalem — since all the  nations moved out around 1980 — will fire up a storm.  The Scriptures do say that all nations will come against Jerusalem, so something must occur to rile them up to that extent.

    Christians who believe God that Jerusalem is the City of the Great King, from which Jesus will reign after His return, should acknowledge Jerusalem as being in Israel, and her capital, whether embassies are located there or not.

  21. THE JOY OF HEAVEN – 19 Dec 2016

    It is rightly said that the Jewish people did not make much of celebrating birthdays, as we read no mention of it in the Old Testament among the Children of Israel. But, then, a heavenly choral group breaks out to announce to some Jewish shepherds in the field the joy of our Father in Heaven to announce the incarnation, that the Word was made flesh, and the Son of God was born of flesh and blood!

    It seems that birthday celebrations have become an important element of Jewish and Christian culture since that time. If God rejoiced and ‘celebrated’ at the birth of His only-begotten Son, is there any good reason why those who love Him should not join in? Truly, all good things begin and end with Yeshua!

  22. THE CHIGAGO CUBS AND SPIRITUAL TRUTH – 5 Nov 2016

    For baseball and sports fans, the victory of the Cubs against the Cleveland Indians in an epic World Series was an emotional roller coaster until the final out, with an outbreak of great joy for probably the greater part of those watching. It provided a vicarious thrill even for those with no personal or vested interest in the club or team. The Cubs finally did it after 108 years of suffering and of becoming a proverb, almost. We are all glad for them, even though the Indians played well, proved themselves worthy competitors, and who are also a long time since their last championship (1948).

    There were stories after the game of how the present team kept the former players in mind, some of whom are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but who never even played a World Series game as a Cub (the last time for the Cubs was in 1945); and if some of them did, they never were victorious as the champions. They won this Series for them, too, and this year’s championship was theirs also. There were even stories of family members among the fans who went to the graves of their relatives who had gone to the grave without experiencing the joy of finally attaining the goal — winning the World Series again since their last victory in 1908. The fans today shared the vicarious victory with all those who had gone before whose hope and love had been in the Cubs.

    God has promised all whose faith and hope have been in Him through His Word and promises concerning His Son, Yeshua the Messiah/Jesus Christ, that they would inherit eternal life, even if they died. All who have gone before are awaiting the resurrection from among the dead to inherit that life that is in God. All believers today are living with that hope, and when the time comes, ALL who have suffered in this world in their love for the Lord with their hearts set on the sure hope of His promise will SHARE together that joy of true victory to be experienced.

    All who will endure and overcome great tribulation will be doing so for all who have overcome in their own generations, that God will have a pure, spotless, blameless, holy Bride for His Son. We will all rejoice as one together our Owner, who purchased us with His precious blood, and trained us to be champions for His glory, and ours in Him!

    “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland…. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection….And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”

    All the world’s a parable! 🙂

  23. WHAT DAY AND TIME IS IT? – 1 Oct 2016

    As a matter of interest, the Jewish New Year (Biblically, the first day of Israel’s Biblical 7th month, and called the Day of Memorial of Trumpet Blast) is being observed from Sonday (tomorrow) evening and Monday. This is supposed to be observed at the New Moon (the first day of a lunar month).

    However, the New Moon began last night (Sept 30), and so the appointed time should have been observed last night and today. More than that, this year the barley was seen in the first Adar month, so there was no need for a second Adar, Biblically-reckoning. So Israel’s 7th month this year — and “Jewish New Year”, or Memorial of Trumpet Blast — should have been a month ago! This, of course, throws off all the other months, and also the actual timing of the Day of Atonements, which is on the 10th of the seventh month, or nine days after the beginning of the lunar month, which is to begin with the New Moon (darkened). (see https://streamsinthenegev.com/school-of-fish/the-new-moon-covered-or-revealed/)

    Religious and rationalistic modifications to God’s calendar reckoning have distorted and led astray those who would rely on them for observance and calculations. Praise the Lord for His wisdom that we are not bound to this for our lives as believers in Yeshua, however still significant these appointed times remain for us for other purposes in God’s plan of redemption, and of Israel’s observances during the Millennial Kingdom to come.

  24. 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL AND TIMING OF MESSIAH’S DEATH – 29 July 2016

    With respect for the 70 weeks of Daniel, many make the common mistake of assuming 69 consecutive weeks of years until Messiah’s death, and using the decree of Artaxerxes as the starting point. Yet Gabriel gave Daniel to understand that there would be 7 sevens (49 yrs) and 62 sevens (434 yrs), and that after the 62 weeks Messiah would be cut off and have nothing. (Dan 9:25) In other words, there is some break between the first 49 years and the next 434 years. Then there is the final 1 week, or the final 7 years leading up to the return of the Lord, making for 490 years. (Dan 9:24-27)

    The LORD Himself said in Is 44:28 that Cyrus would be His shepherd and anointed one to have His people rebuild the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. The decree mentioned in Daniel refers to the city; Cyrus is recorded to have given the decree, around 536BC to rebuild the Temple (Ezra 1:1-4). Yet in Ezra 4:11-16, the troublers of the returning Jews to do the work clearly wrote that the Jews were building the city. So, just as the Word of the LORD to Isaiah said, it is obvious that to return and rebuild the Temple included the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Otherwise, there would not have been the free access to worship at the Temple if the city were in ruins, or is the enemy controlled it. The returning Jews and Levites, etc,, were apparently giving more attention to building their own houses (in the city) than the House of God, so Zechariah and Haggai were sent to refocus their attention and efforts. Artaxerxes simply held by the initial decree of Cyrus so that the work could continue in the time of trouble.

    It should also be evident from this that Yeshua not only died, but was also born more than 490 after the decrees, and that His death did not fulfill the 70 weeks of years: God’s purpose for this time-clock have not been realized, the antichrist has not yet come, and there are still wars until the end; whereas in the Millennial Kingdom wars will have ceased, and not even taught.

    Yeshua died in 30 AD (which is 40 years before the Temple’s destruction; see corroborating evidence from a hostile third party, the Talmud, an unsympathetic source: http://www.windowview.org/hmny/pgs/talmuds.30ce.html). It is widely accepted that Messiah/Christ was 33 1/2 yrs old at His death. Having begun His 3 1/2 yr public ministry when He was about 30 years old, then He was born on the 24th of Chislev, 5 BC, by my reckoning (Hag 2:10-23), being necessary that He was born before King Herod died, whose death is historically recorded as being in 4 BC. https://streamsinthenegev.com/school-of-fish/conception-and-birth-of-john-the-baptiser-and-jesus-the-messiah/ The magi from the East could have seen His star up to a couple of years before they actually arrived in Bethlehem, Israel.

  25. BEFORE TIME BEGAN – 19 July 2016

    Haim Shore, a professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, has written an extremely interesting book, named Coincidences in The Bible and in Biblical Hebrew (2nd Ed, 2012). Dr. Shore is tenured in the Dept of Industrial Engineering and Management; his research interests are in the area of statistical modeling, and quality and reliability engineering. He brings forth many and varied “coincidences” of the special uniqueness of both the Bible, and of the original Hebrew language as used and written in it.

    Incredibly, and sadly, like too many others, Prof. Shore uses the source book for the Jewish people — and through them for all people — for his own primary source of inquiry and conclusions, but practically rejects the Source of the inspired account and language. Dr. Shore indicates an intelligent design for the creation, but does not know the Designer! (This is like Deism.) His calculations are not gematria, but statistical analyses, using the unique qualities of the Hebrew alephbet, in which each letter does also have a numeric value. His findings also lend credence to the hypothesis that Hebrew (in a purer form before the Tower of Babel) could be the original, Edenic language.

    I only want to take a couple of his paragraphs from two of his chapters (14 and 22), and shine some light into the darkness. For, as it is written, “In Your light we see light”. (Ps 36:9)

    Ch 14
    The book of Genesis starts with the story of creation:
    “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void.”
    • Linguistic analysis of tohu and bohu, the only words describing the created Earth, indicates an allegory with desolate wilderness, where an individual is staring amazed and startled because he or she has nothing to observe, or because no sense can be made of what is being observed. Comparison with another Hebrew word for wilderness, shmamah, reveals a similar pattern of evolving verbs that indicate amazement and anxiety, but also boredom.

    Ch 22 … time zero does not coincide with the instant of the big bang — time zero is roughly 3 Gyr (giga years: 1 Gyr=1 billion yrs) earlier …. Given the peculiar new concepts of “Dark energy” and “Dark matter”, now widely entertained by modern cosmology, is it possible that cosmologists, at some future point in time, would update their estimates to claim that only the visible universe was created at the big bang, however the “Dark” constituents of our universe preceded the estimated instant of the big bang by approximately 3 Gyr???

    Prof Shore partially quotes the first two verses of the Bible in the book of Genesis. Interestingly, he leaves out the fact of the darkness, and of the Spirit of God’s activity in the pre-time event. Dr. Shore also rejects the literal six-day creation, but sees it as the model for scientific understanding and research findings in a number of scientific fields.

    Logically, if Science were the determining factor in understanding the Universe and all that is in it, then it should have come before Moses wrote what he did as inspired by the Holy Spirit. Man could possibly have written after-the-fact in some clever way about the truth of matters, but never before-hand with the wisdom and revelation that has intrigued scientists, and all people of every profession and academic accomplishment throughout our history.

    It seems that Prof. Shore is unwittingly speaking of himself as he describes the meaning of “tohu and bohu”: he is looking at something, but not really seeing anything, like staring at a wall. It is just uniform desolation — without form — as fascinating and amazing as a desert is, with its “boredom” of uniformity! Without seeing the Creator, who is Light, all one can see is the darkness, with whatever light filters in. But we see YHVH God in the face of Yeshua the Messiah, His Son, who is the uncreated Light of the world and confirms what Moses has written. (Lk 16:31; Jn 5:46-47) God has called light out of the darkness! (2Cor 4:6) We can praise God with our lips, but our hearts can be far from Him by not knowing Him personally.

    When Dr. Shore speaks of new findings of ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’ as existing before the birth of the universe, this perfectly corresponds to the part of the verse in Gen 1:2 which states that “darkness was on the face of the deep. . . .” In the beginning what God created was outside of Himself, and therefore “without form, and void”, in “darkness”. But the Spirit of God was there supervising from the very outset of the creation. Measured Time begins from v.3, when the light and the darkness were separated on Day One, and YHVH began to bring shape and form to the Heavens and the Earth that He had created. This is similar to a child coming into the world through birth, having been “fearfully and wonderfully made” in the darkness of the mother’s womb. Those first nine months are not “counted” when we think of birthday celebrations, yet the creation had begun “in the beginning”.

    Does this pre-existing darkness not remind us of a pregnancy — formed in the darkness — beginning months before the visible birth and birthday?; and like the darkness of the New Moon days before the visible light is first seen? In all these cases, the “substance” was “there” already before anyone — other than our Creator and Redeemer — could know it and see it. Faith believes without seeing, and when we do see, we also know that what we now see already was — before time began! With our Father’s desire to dwell forever with His redeemed children — those who believe in Messiah Yeshua and His sacrificial death on the cross for our sin, and in His resurrection from the dead on the third day — He does not need nor want billions of years to accomplish that. Love wants to hasten the day as much as possible, rather than to put it off. And if Man is the LORD’s greatest image-bearer, with whom He wants to spend eternity, what purpose is served by having billions of years before He created male and female, and hundreds of thousands or millions or billions of years since Man was created? God has told us in His Word enough of what, when, how, and why, and that as little children believing their Father, we enter His Kingdom as we anticipate the consummation of His plan of redemption.

    Here is a link to a recently produced movie produced to demonstrate the incredible correlations of the scientific “coincidences” that Dr. Haim Shore has researched using the Bible and the Biblical Hebrew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvKlP7hEo-Q&feature=youtu.be
    The end of the film quotes from Deuteronomy that the LORD is God. (In the movie, which I only knew about after I wrote the reflection, Prof. Shore does correlate the “dark matter” time before the “big bang” with the darkness over the face of the deep in Gen 1:2. When God spoke the world into existence, I am sure there was a loud sound to break the silence!)

  26. INTERVIEW WITH JULIA FISHER ON PREMIER CHRISTIAN RADIO – 16 July 2016

    Julia Fisher interviewed me in Beer Sheva earlier this year. She has posted a two-part radio interview on her July 7th and 14th, 2016 program. They deal with the current situation for believers in Israel, with Jewish and Arab reconciliation in Christ, and with our hope of the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    They are each about 12 minutes, and you can listen to them here: http://www.olivetreefund.org/http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Weekday/The-Olive-Tree/Episodes/The-Olive-Tree106
    http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Weekday/The-Olive-Tree/Episodes/The-Olive-Tree107

  27. THE ABIDING WORD OF GOD – 15 July 2016

    Time does not nullify God’s Word or His standard or His ways to accomplish His goal.

  28. INTERNECINE WARFARE – 19 June 2016

    Yeshua/Jesus has changed our lives, and brought us into His ministry of peace and reconciliation with those who are naturally our enemies or antagonists. Of course, we find it more difficult when it becomes a personal issue with someone, and not only a national or ethnic matter. But Israel’s salvation as a nation is necessary for the full blessings to the nations. Oftentimes reconciliation is limited to individuals and people groups, but God’s plan to save nations, with Israel the key, is left out.

    As Israel becomes more of a religiously Jewish state in its orientation, it will also become less democratic, making it more restrictive on evangelical believers in Jesus. Historic Judaism does not accept those who believe in “that man” any more than it accepts Him as being the Messiah. God is working to take away this ungodliness from Jacob, so that “all Israel” will be saved.

    We hear various reports of thousands — even millions — of Muslims being saved out of their darkness and brought into the kingdom of light. These being Gentiles (non-Jews), God’s wisdom is to bring the fullness of the Gentiles into the olive tree before the salvation of His chosen nation. May the new heart and God’s Spirit in them cause them to provoke Israel to jealousy and to show mercy upon her. PLEASE PRAY FOR MORE GENTILES TO BE SAVED, EVEN AS YOU PRAY AND WORK FOR THE SALVATION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

    Israel is, as usual, going through much internal political in-fighting. Some former defense ministers are denying that Iran is a serious threat to Israel, despite the Islamic religious and political jihad against the existence of the sovereign Jewish nation in the land promised by YHVH to the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. This is like denying all of the Muslim links to the terrorism happening around the world. On the other hand, the unrestricted time which a particular person can be Prime Minister entrenches power and breeds corruption. This is simply a reality of human nature and sin. What to do? Evangelize, pray, be diligent at what the Lord has called each of us to do, and watch expectantly for the signs of the coming again of the Lord! But we also need to be prepared mentally and spiritually for the serious troubles which lie ahead as the Day approaches (which is still some years to come).

    Israeli military leaders have expressed extreme self-confidence in Israel’s capability to decisively defeat both Hamas and Hezbollah whenever the next wars break out in Gaza and in Lebanon. The Word of the Lord says that it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the LORD that victory will ultimately come. But woe to those world powers who would actively weaken Israel’s capabilities to defeat those who are intent on defeating and destroying her! PRAY FOR ISRAEL’S REPENTANCE BACK TO HER GOD, AND FOR GOD’S GRACE AND MERCY STILL UPON THE NATION THAT SHE AND HER ENEMIES WILL KNOW THAT YHVH IS GOD IN ISRAEL.

  29. Weeks of Yeshua’s death to Ascension – Leviticus 23. G-d is precise, predictable and consistent. That which the Lord G-d said, sealed up and released in the Bible, shall all be completed in the last days to the utter most. Check out “Kingdom Authority Restored” at:
    >
    >https://nhimministry.com/2016/04/06/kingdom-authority-restored/
    >
    >Other messages “It is Time,” “Fight the Good Fight,” “Two Witnesses,” to name a few, may be of interest.
    >
    >2016_0517

  30. I have always believed that Christ either died on the Wednesday (rising around nightfall on 6 pm Saturday – all clothing was neatly folded when Mary arrived) or the Thursday (and rising 6 am on the Sunday). To me, they are the only two time frames that fit in with scripture! I had also understood that Saturdays were not the only Sabbath days, with other special Sabbath days being observed through the years.

  31. THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS – 1 Apr 2016

    Yeshua gave the sign of Jonah, of being 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the large fish, as the only sign that He would give to those religious leaders who consistently opposed Him and would not listen to Him. He spoke of His death, burial, and resurrection.

    In order for this sign to be fulfilled, Jesus had to be sacrificially killed on Thursday afternoon, and rise from the dead during the night before the dawn of the day after the Sabbath, i.e., the first day of the week, Sonday.

    In Genesis 1:5, God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.

    Death and burial before 6:00pm (18:00) on Thursday = 1st day
    6:00pm Thursday – 6:00am Friday = 1st night
    6:00am Friday – 6:00pm Friday = 2nd day (which was also a Passover Sabbath)
    6:00pm Friday – 6:00am Shabbat (regular weekly Sabbath) = 2nd night
    6:00am Shabbat – 6:00pm Shabbat = 3rd day
    6:00pm Shabbat – 6:00am Sonday = 3rd night

    Yeshua rose sometime before the dawn before the end of that 3rd night of darkness. He is the true Light, and the bright and morning Star of a new day of an anticipated new creation! Hallelu-Yah!

    Yeshua is the Passover Lamb, who was examined for 4 days, from the 10th of the first month (Nisan/Aviv) through the 13th (4 days: Sonday-Wednesday), and then slain on the 14th of the month (Thursday). Messiah was found innocent by Pilate, by Herod; the rulers and religious leaders could only get false witnesses to perjure against Jesus, thus breaking the 9th commandment: He was innocent, the Man and the Lamb without spot or blemish. (Ex 12:2-7)

    God is sovereign and brings to pass His Word precisely on time!

  32. THE LARNACA STATEMENT – 18 Mar 2016

    This joint statement by 30 believers from Israel and the Palestinian Authority (disputed territories), sponsored by the Lausanne Movement, was issued in February. It purports to present a Biblical approach to conflict resolution between the Jewish and the Arab believers in Yeshua/Yasua/Jesus. You can read the full statement here: https://www.lausanne.org/about/blog/mena-updates/larnaca-statement

    What struck me about the statement is the total absence of any reference to the coming again of the Lord, or that Islam is a direct rejection of YHVH, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, and the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. For all its ‘niceness’, it is not really a “Christian” statement, IMO, but rather humanistic in its approach, however well-intentioned, giving “narrative” priority over the unchanging truth of God’s Word as we have received it in the whole Bible.

    This is a compromising post-modern Christian humanism, rather than sound Biblical faith in the sovereignty and wisdom of the one true God. Therefore, all their hope is, practically speaking, in this world only — that man can make this world right — and they are all frustrated and/or angry at the state of things that find no earthly, human resolution.

    The answer which YHVH God has given is the proclamation of the gospel until the end of the age, the coming Day of the LORD/ the day of vengeance of our God, and the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ to make the world right. All glory to God, and to the Lamb upon the Throne!

  33. WHAT AND WHEN IS THE BLESSED HOPE? – 18 Jan 2016 (rev 16 May 2017)

    Tit 2:11-14 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, (12) teaching us that having denied ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live discreetly, righteously and godly, in this present world, (13) looking for the blessed hope, and the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (14) who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to Himself a special people, zealous of good works.

    Act 23:6 But when Paul saw that the one part were Sadducees and the other part Pharisees, he cried out in the sanhedrin, Men! Brothers! I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee! I am being judged because of the hope and resurrection of the dead.

    Act 24:14-16 But I confess this to you, that after the Way which they call heresy, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things that are written in the Law and in the Prophets. (15) And I have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. (16) And in this I exercise myself, always to have a blameless conscience toward God and men.

    Job 19:25-27 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall rise on the Earth at the last; (26) and even after my skin is corrupted, yet this: in my flesh I shall see God, (27) whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not a stranger’s; my heart yearns within me!

    Dan 12:1-2 And at that time Michael shall stand up, the great ruler who stands for the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation; until that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. (2) And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

    Act 26:6-8 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made to our fathers by God, (7) to which promise our twelve tribes hope to attain, serving God fervently night and day. For the sake of this hope, king Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. (8) Why is it thought a thing incredible with you that God raises the dead?

    Php 3:7-12 But whatever things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. (8) But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ (9) and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith, (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death; (11) if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. (12) Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I am pressing on, if I may lay hold of that for which I also was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

    Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. The second death has no authority over these, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him a thousand years.

    Our blessed hope as believers in Yeshua/Jesus is the same as that given to the Fathers and to the Children of Israel: it is the resurrection of the dead in Messiah/Christ, and the rapture of the living in Christ/Messiah at His revelation, at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in great power and glory: “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the Earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

  34. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO TODAY’S NEWS – 13 Dec 2015

    I want to recommend the book and the DVD by my friend, Kelvin Crombie: Gallipoli — The Road to Jerusalem. He gives tremendous historical background to the break-up of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, and the subsequent state of affairs now coming out of the Middle East. The Battle of Beer Sheva (Third Gaza), with the subsequent victory of the Allies in the WW1 Palestine/Middle East Campaign was one of the bright spots of a horribly destructive war, and brought about the establishment of God’s Word to return the Jewish people back to their homeland. This, as we know, is what has started the fire that is raging out of control today. Jerusalem was surrendered by the Turks 98 years ago on Dec 11, during the Jewish Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), which is being celebrated today.
    http://www.heritageresources.com.au

  35. IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN! – 13 Dec 2015

    I have come to strongly accept that the birth of the Lord was during this time of year, and have given what I believe is sufficient Scriptural proof for upholding the long-held tradition. https://streamsinthenegev.com/school-of-fish/conception-and-birth-of-john-the-baptiser-and-jesus-the-messiah/Here is an article which addresses two objections — sheep out in the winter (don’t forget that Christmas is in early winter), and also the timing of the priestly course of Abia, to which John’s father, Zecharia, belonged. http://nabataea.net/birthdate.htmlAnother objection used today is that Yeshua/Jesus was born during the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles, because He “tabernacled” with us. It is very interesting how God always shows Himself “ahead of the game”, and having thoughts and ways far above ours! Hanukkah was started by the Maccabees as an 8-day festival in order to be celebrated as a substitute Feast of Tabernacles, the 8-day festival of the LORD which they could not celebrate at the scheduled time because of their war against the Greeks and the Jewish Hellenists. You can find this reference in the non-canonical primary source, the Apochrypha, in 2Mac 1:9, 10:5-8.

    A further argument given as to why Yeshua/Jesus could not have been born during this time is that it is the time of celebration of pagan gods (Saturnalia, etc). But the point is missed that the Son of God came to take back what is His from all the usurpers and pretenders to the throne! His coming is an act of war on YHVH God’s part to restore the true spiritual worship of the one true God, redeemed humanity to Himself, and the Kingdom of God to the heavens and the Earth, over Israel and the nations. He began this with His birth in the flesh. When He pours out His wrath on His enemies prior to His coming again, the Kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah! (Hag 2:20-23; Dan 2:31-45; Mt 1:18 – 2:23; Ps 2; Rev 11:15-18)

    Come, let us celebrate our great God and Savior for His great faithfulness and grace to us!

  36. REVELATION OF YESHUA TO ISRAEL AT HIS BAPTISM; REVELATION OF ANTICHRIST AT his DESOLATING USURPATION –
    12 Nov 2015

    It is interesting that Yeshua was revealed to Israel as being the Lamb of God and the Son of God, when He was baptized by John the Baptizer. (Jn 1:24-34) Yeshua/Jesus did His public ministry for 3 1/2 years. He died at Passover, which means that He would have been baptized around Succot (Feast of Booths/Tabernacles) six months earlier.

    The Antichrist, who opposes and seeks to replace the true Christ/Messiah and God, is revealed to be the one when “he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself to be God”. (2Thes 2:3-4; Mt 24:15; Dan 9:27; 11:36-39) The beast/antichrist is given authority to reign for 42 months, which is 3 1/2 years. (Rev 13:5-8; 12:10-17)

    Jesus/Yeshua came bringing salvation for all — Jew and Gentile — who would believe in His name. The Antichrist comes bringing wrath and destruction against those who are called by the name of YHVH God of Israel and of Messiah/Christ.

    Jesus rules over all powers, now sitting at the right hand of God in the heavenlies, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the world to come! (Eph 1:20-21)

    Even so, Come, Lord Jesus!

  37. LIES, LIES, LIES – 27 Oct 2015

    Israel is experiencing a barrage of outright lies regarding the official position of the government towards the Temple Mount. This is Judaism’s holiest site, based on the biblical record of YHVH choosing that site in a manner that King David understood that the Temple, the House of YHVH, should be built there, and that the Ark of the Covenant should be moved there. Today, most Jews everywhere are not thinking that some new temple should be built or that the Islamic Dome of the Rock should be destroyed. Although most Jews might agree that they should have the right to go up onto the mount, and even to be able to pray in some fashion up there, none of them are insisting on going into the Muslim mosque to do so! The Temple Mount is large, and praying in the open air is very possible. Christians, of course, can pray in ways that it is not even noticeable! According to the words of the Messiah Yeshua, the days will come when some House of God will be again constructed and sacrifices offered. This will be the Temple, already motivated by unbelief in Jesus, in which the antichrist will be revealed for who he is.

    The problem with all this, though, is that the Temple Mount is being/has been turned into a high place. In the Bible, the LORD forbade His people from praying on the high places, places where pagans also worshiped their gods. Unfortunately, the history of Israel given us in the Scriptures show that they frequently prayed in the name of YHVH on high places, and King Solomon even encouraged it! It is really blasphemous to the one true living God, the God of Israel, to treat Him as a mere “another god”, or to elevate other gods as if they were equal in status to Him.

    I believe that Israel is being given by God to get a taste of what it is like to be lied about without any rationale or logic, other than envy, perhaps, or being hated without justification. Why would He allow this? Because this is what His own people do towards Him and His unique Son. There is no basis for it, but just as the devil stirred up this murderous hatred from the beginning, so is still now. We reap what we sow, and as we judge, so shall we be judged. God is righteous, and in His wisdom He is giving His children to feel the human fear and futility of being unable to stem the tide directed at a God-chosen scapegoat.

  38. Merci, Jean-Igor!

    I also just recently read Nehemiah 8. It’s very interesting, too, that Yom Kippur, the 10th of the month, is not at all referred to — only the first of the month, and then Succot.

  39. Hi Howard, best greetings from France !
    The best explanation I have found about the swap between 1st of Nissan (not Pessah which is the 14th of Nissan) and the feast of Trumpets to be the beginning of the jewish year is in Nehemiah chapter 8. After the return from captivity in Babylon, there was a big spiritual revival and it happened to be on the first day of the seventh month ! Since that time, this revival probably became Rosh Hashana “the head of the year”.
    Many blessings to you and your family and your kehilat.

  40. Thank-you, Carol. I did read that article you referred to before I wrote my comments.

    The calendar which YHVH gave to Israel is a lunar-solar calendar, with the moon having to adjust periodically to the rule of the sun in order to keep God’s order and times. For example, the Passover must always be in the Spring (Aviv) and begin with a Full Moon. In Islam, their’s is a lunar-based calendar, and so lacks any fixed marker for their holy days. Christians use a solar-based calendar, and the holidays are in close association with the lunar-solar calendar of Israel, yet set times by the Son.

  41. Thank you for your ministry to the Body of Messiah! I recently read an article that gave the first explanation I had heard for the Jewish people’s changing the name of Yom Teruah to Rosh Hashanah. I won’t try to give the whole explanation, that can be read at the website, Nehemia’s Wall, article “How Yom Teruah Became Rosh Hashanah.” In a nutshell, he says that while the Jewish people were living in captivity in Babylon, the Babylonians celebrated two New Years, one being on the first day of their seventh month. The Babylonians also used a lunar calendar, so their months generally coincided with the Biblical calendar. Over the years in captivity, the Jewish people slowly began to incorporate the idea of a New Year beginning in their seventh month. The article is a very interesting and educational read. Hope this gives some new insight!
    God bless!

  42. SIGNS AND THE DAY OF ATONEMENTS – 22 Sept 2015

    Yes, the shmitta has come and gone, and many have been misled to have placed too much stock in that as being a sign. No doubt that God is drawing attention to the times and the events which are associated with them. These things must come to pass, and there are more wars and desolations to come. Yet, because Jesus has told us, we are to be watchful and prayerful that we will stand through the battles of our faith by doing His will, and having done all, to stand! Building our house on the Rock, we will be unmoveable, if bent and shaken. This is a matter of living faith in His Word and in His name. God help us!

    The only certain ‘sign’ that we will be able to run with is the one that the Holy Spirit gave Paul to write in his second letter to the Thessalonian believers. And I believe this was a clarification of what he had already written to them in his first letter, which was being misunderstood.

    2 Thes 2:2-4 “that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.…”

    And since Daniel is giving us the initial background prophecies by the Spirit of God for the days we are now living in, he has also looked ahead to that event:

    Dan 11:36 “”The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place.”

    Things are again heating up here in Jerusalem and on the southern and northern borders of Israel. To be honest, if it weren’t for knowing the Lord, I can understand how many can be overcome by fear. On this Day of Atonements, though, the Jewish people are in great need of repentance: we still trust in our own abilities and power, and not in the sacrifice for sin which Jesus had accomplished for His chosen people and nation. Therefore, there is no peace and security, despite all that this small country has been able to achieve and accomplish against the odds. Surely if YHVH were not for them, they would be as Sodom and Gomorrah. Praise the Lord for His covenant faithfulness and mercies! O that God would breakthrough and put His holy fear into Jews and non-Jews, and into believers and unbelievers, for His glory!

  43. THE BEGINNING OF A NEW BEGINNING – 19 Sept 2015

    In Israel we are in the period known as the Ingathering, the period from the 1st of the 7th month on the Hebrew calendar from YHVH God to Israel through the Day of Atonements on the 10th of the same month, and on into the Feast of Booths from the 15th-22nd of the month.

    In Lev 23, the holy day of the 1st of the 7th month is both a New Moon (God beginning a new thing although we don’t see it yet), and also the Memorial of [Trumpet] Blasts/Shouts. Interestingly, or strangely, the Jewish people at some point changed the day to being the Jewish New Year.

    God’s wisdom is above ours, and He has a way of doing things, or of letting things happen, that show His sovereign power and oversight. One example is how it is that in the synagogue readings for the holiest day of the year in Judaism — Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonements — the little book of the prophet Jonah is read. Yeshua told the leadership of the Jewish people, as they continually sought from Him more signs to validate Himself, that He would give them no other sign than the Prophet Jonah! And, praise God, He somehow got the rabbinic authorities to insert Jonah into the yearly reading on the day that most Jewish people might go to synagogue, seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness for their sins, while also showing His care and concern for even Gentile enemies!

    So, too, with the switch of the beginning of the seventh month to becoming reckoned in most Jewish minds as the beginning of the new year. And, indeed, the Jewish reckoning of years begins from this month. (This year is 5776, which is not Biblically accurate.) God does instruct Israel that the Jubilee trumpet is sounded on the Day of Atonements to lead into the 50th year from whenever His count begins. (Lev 25) It may not be as strange as it is interesting, as we consider God’s sovereign wisdom. Just as the seventh day Sabbath brings to completion and to a close the week, leading into the beginning of the new week on the day after the Sabbath, i.e., Sonday, so, too, does the seventh redemptive month of the calendar given to Israel mark the bringing to completion and fullness of God’s plan to save His people in order to re-establish HIS Kingdom dwelling in the midst of His saved and cleansed people: the new beginning of the never-ending Kingdom of God/Heaven!

    That is so corporately for the entire created order, and also has application for the individual believer in Jesus even now. When someone repents and believes the gospel — which is actually what the trumpet call of evangelism seeks — he/she is born-again and becomes a new creation. Truly a new beginning of a new birth for a new year of a new and eternal life!

    In these end-times of the last days, as the gospel continues to be preached to all peoples in all places, and Israel is being regathered to her land, the Holy Spirit is calling Yeshua’s people — the Body of Messiah/Christ — back together (an ingathering) in love and unity in preparation for overcoming the things to come, and for the holiness needed to see the Lord as a Bride suited to Her Groom, who is returning to set up His Kingdom — with His saints — on the Earth from Jerusalem in Israel. Then will the Father’s will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. This final 7th 1000-year Sabbath day for this creation will bring to fullness all that YHVH God planned to bring to a close His redemption and the final judgment in order to have that which is perfect forever in eternity.

    Again, even as man does things which are seemingly against God’s own word and commandments, nonetheless, to His everlasting glory, He can use it to ask them, “Then why did you not believe what you yourselves profess?” Born-again believers in Yeshua are free to be repentant and rejoiceful in God at all times, in all seasons because He has forgiven our sins! There is truly no wisdom, or understanding, or counsel against the LORD! Praise His Name!

  44. AT THE EDGE OF A CLIFF – 15 Sept 2015

    “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way….” (Is 53:6)

    Many believers in many churches from many streams of the Body of Messiah are praying for revival, repentance, a breakthrough from God. It is because we are recognizing that we are at a loss of knowing what to do to go on together in the Way which our Great and Good Shepherd has been wanting to lead us.

    We have done many ‘good’ things, telling the flock, “This is the way, follow me.” And we are finding ourselves at the edge of a cliff, with many others who have gotten there, too. Praise God; we are not the only ones! We definitely need an intervention from our Savior to place us on safe ground and facing the right direction together!

    There will still be Judases and Thomases among us (may I not be one of them, O Lord!), but we will at least know we are going on from there with all who are there, knowing that it is the Lord who mercifully and graciously rescued us and united us in His truth and love. All the different paths and well-meaning “navigators” which we have taken and followed to walk that narrow road of holiness and life have, instead, brought many of us to a dangerous dead-end.

    The issues which we thought were so essential that we could not “agree to walk together” will be left behind as our crucified and exalted Lord leads us on together with more wisdom and humility.

    At this time of year, when YHVH God reminds His people of the need to assemble together with a thankful and repentant heart for all His goodness to us, let us hear the trumpets blowing, saying, “Prepare ye the way of the LORD, for surely the Bridegroom comes!” Even so, Come, Lord Jesus!

  45. GOD IS LOVE: HE IS RELATIONAL – 11 Aug 2015

    God is our Father. He is adopting us to be sons and heirs with Messiah! By coming to us in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who took on flesh and blood, not only are born-again believers God’s sons and daughters, but Jesus/Yeshua is our Brother. Through receiving the Holy Spirit to live within us, we are not only children of God and brothers and sisters to the Lord, but we know we have a Friend, who demonstrated His love by giving His life for us.

    God teaches us to love one another, and Jesus commands us to love one another as He has loved us. As the Bride of Christ/Messiah, we look to that glorious wedding feast of the Lamb!
    We will be like Him — fully and truly in His likeness and image! Praise God for that hope and destiny, and for what eternity holds for those who love Him!

  46. THE UNKNOWN DAY AND HOUR – 24 July 2015

    I used to be of the opinion that the last three ‘unfulfilled’ appointed times of YHVH needed to be fulfilled just as the previous four: right on time, according to the set dates given in Lev 23. BUT, I have modified that, since Jesus says very plainly that NO ONE (except the Father) knows the DAY or HOUR of what we would refer to as the First Resurrection and Rapture (depending on whether one is dead or alive in Christ at that specific set time, which no one can know or alter).

    For believers, the trumpet call has been going on now since that Pentecost and taking of the Great Commission to all people — firstly to the Jews — to repent and to “come home”. The death of Yeshua on the cross was not only a Passover event, but an atonement for sin, which fulfills for the believer in Him the Day of Atonements. We also have God’s presence in our midst, which is a pledge of the fulfilling of the Feast of Booths during the Millennial Kingdom. So, while Israel and the nations are still being evangelized until the Day of the LORD comes, we in Christ already have eternal life now, but waiting for the actual reality in due course, both of the resurrection, and of the New Heavens and New Earth after the Millennium.

    Should we be misled to think that the rapture must occur on a ‘first day of the seventh month’ — otherwise called a New Moon and also the Memorial of Blowing of Trumpets, then that means we are looking for a specific day, which the Lord says we can not know. If we could know, then so could Satan and anybody else. That would put us in a situation of saying: “He didn’t come this year, so we have at least till next year at this time to wait.” Just as Messiah’s birth was at a time not expected, so will be His second coming, as He has told us. Therefore the advice and warning to be always watchful and in prayer, so that we will be ready, with the Holy Spirit’s help, when that Day comes.

    I personally do still think that the ‘last trump’ is connected with the seventh trumpet. There is also the Jubilee trumpet, which is blown not on the ‘Feast of Trumpets’, but on the Day of Atonements. Who is to say whether the Lord, in His wisdom, has not timed the trumpets to suit His own time schedule, which the Father has kept to Himself in this ultimate warfare strategy? The Holy Spirit, who inspired all the Scriptures, surely knew what to inspire Paul to write (even if Paul did not know in advance what John was given to write about the judgments which the seven trumpets herald). In any case, the last trumpet, the Seventh Trumpet is what calls out the Bowls, which are the wrath of God (for a comparatively shorter time, relative to the Tribulation and Great Tribulation), from which we believers are saved by the grace and mercy of our God and Savior.

    Thanking and praising God for the blood of Jesus!

  47. WHO IS JUST? – 23 July 2015

    Our own sense of justice is not the same as the righteousness of God.

    If we insist on justice, we would all die. The righteousness of God is revealed through the gospel, where we see that He, in the person of Jesus Christ, has paid the price for our ‘unjustness’ by Himself, so that we might be righteous when we believe and know that our wise Father is always right.

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