The Shuk in Jerusalem
Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is —
Blessings Dear Sisters and Brothers in The Name of The Lord, Yeshua h’meshiach, Jesus Christ. May He be blessed and glorified and may you be blessed and edified.
Our four-year old Granddaughter surprised us at lunch the other day by quoting verses in Hebrew before we ate. “She learned it in gan,” (pre-school) our daughter told us.
I was blown away. I am still trying to say the whole portion in Hebrew, and she had learned it in a government secular pre-school. Wow!
Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and [a]be careful to observe it,that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’
4 “Hear, O Israel: [b]The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lordyour God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.(Deuteronomy 6:1-9)
This portion of scripture – the Shma– is the main prayer of Judaism. Shma is the command: Hear. However I was surprised to hear our 4 year old repeat it fully.
Israeli state radio begins the 6 a.m. broadcast with the Shma every morning, as do most observant Jews and many traditional Jews. SHMA YISROEL, ADONAI ELOHENU, ADONAI AHAD! HEAR OH ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.
This scripture (verses 4-9) along with Deut. 11:13-21, is contained in the mezuzah (the little box affixed to the door frame of Jewish homes). The tefillin box that I described to you recently, also contains these verses along with Exodus 13:1-16. Of course, like my 4 year old Granddaughter, we can put the scriptures in our heads, write them on our doorposts and wrap them around our bodies, but they only change us and glorify The Lord if they are in our hearts and life breathed into action by The Holy Spirit.
None the less, we plant The Word in our hearts and in the hearts of our children knowing that one sows, and another reaps, but only GOD gives the increase.
And here I walk the streets in “the land of The Book” surrounded by and part of the people of The Book. I pray: “LORD! Breathe Your Spirit of LIFE into us all that we would become the testimony that You want us to be, the display of Who You Are”
I asked for prayer for Kinneret in my last letter and many of you responded that The Lord had put her on your heart. So you need to know that the very next day after I sent out the prayer request she told me, “It is really a miracle! My son got an appointment to be interviewed for intensive day treatment at Hadassah Hospital. (One of the best mental health facilities) It is a miracle that he got the appointment so quickly!”
Happily I told her that I had shared some of her story and needs with my praying friends outside of the country by mail. She was amazed and couldn’t imagine such a thing that people would pray for her family. So I do have a further request to tack on, for those of you who are praying for her. Their daughter – Shir – is having her Bat Mitzvah this coming Sunday and her twin brother (the one who is hidden in his room) will not be coming. That is breaking his mother’s heart. She has asked if I would please come to the Bat Mitzvah to be there like a Mother for her.
I told you that her mother has been committed to mental hospital since Kinneret was 5 and it broke my heart. It will be difficult for me to go as it begins at 7:30 p.m. and I work on Monday. But I feel that it is important. If it is The Lord’s open door, will you pray with me that I am able to go?
I cannot tell you how encouraged she is to know that you are praying for them. And the fact that she is glad, encourages me.
I went to the shuk and prayed which way to go. With things so tense in the country these days it is wise to take nothing for granted, but that is always wisdom for each of us anywhere, eh?
I went to an Arab vendor whom I like and asked him how he was. He mumbled “b’seder” (ok, fine) under his breath and continued looking down.
Once again I spoke strongly, my boldness surprising me. “No you are not. What’s wrong?” I demanded.
He looked up at me startled and recognized me. A smile spread across his face. “Ah mah me.” (‘mah’me’ sounds just like mommy and is an affectionate Hebrew term that DOESN’T mean mommy but is a warm sign of friendship.’It’s this FAST! (Ramadan) I’m hungry and tired. I work all day and party all night and then comes the 2 a.m. call to prayer, just as I get to sleep, and then it is 4 a.m. and I have to get up to go to work. It’s hot and I’m HUNGRY! Not sleeping and not eating makes us crazy,” he laughed and I groaned.
“Oy! I understand,”I said.
“It’s almost over,” he continued.
So, when I stopped by his stand today I asked, “Are you less tired and grouchy now,” figuring that Ramadan was over.
“No!” he barked. “Eid-al-Fitr! Just as bad! Two more days!” He shook his head.
Along came an old religious Jew and they began talking happily about a rabbi that they both knew had said and I had to chuckle.
WHAT A MIXTURE!
Burning kites sent by the hundreds across the border from Gaza to set afire the ripening fields of the south of Israel. So what do we do? Kite making camps are held on the Israeli side of the border to teach the kids the beauty of kites so that they won’t be afraid of them. They float beautifully designed back across to Palestinian Gaza.
Meanwhile, as we seek a solution, so much of the land in the south has burned, so many crops and food destroyed. The farmers are dismayed. So many questions and so shockingly much MIS-information on international news.
Israel demolishes 15 homes in our own Gush Etzion village of Netiv HaAvot. One of the homes was the loving home of a friend of mine – a family of six, a secretary whom I used to work with. I heard her speak on the evening news as she can speak English. The land had a claim filed against it and although it is still disputed, the law ruled to destroy the houses. We are a people with a law.
And then there is suddenly rain in June. But it is our dry season and the rains have passed. Yet the desert is closed to trips because of flash flooding. Whereas May was 2 degrees warmer than normal, June so far is 2 degrees cooler.
Over the noise…no, the ROAR, of the world being shaken from its foundation…may the cry go up from our hearts: I WILL LOVE THE LORD MY GOD WITH ALL OF MY HEART AND SOUL AND STRENGTH AND MIGHT! May we each do it, believe it, walk it and share it for His glory.
I am more and more convinced that there is no other way.
Sincerely,
J
Larry Who 
Do We Still Need Prophecy and the Spiritual Gifts?
A commenter on Dr. Michael Brown’s recent column, Charismatic Movement Needs Some Self-Policing: “The fruit of the Charismatic Movement has not been good.”
Like many critics, this person could only see the thorns of the Charismatic Movement and not the beautiful rose blossoms that have blessed numerous lives, including mine.
On May 20, 1985, I decided to commit suicide. This decision was based on my failure to put together a farm publishing company. All of my financial sources were maxed out, with the only untouched asset being a $125,000 life insurance policy on my life.
Suicide was not a problem because I was an agnostic. My not believing in God relieved me of worrying about Hell and God’s eternal punishment for my unbelief. It seemed like a good business decision on my part.
For some reason, I stopped at an insurance agent’s office that afternoon. Bill wasn’t my insurance agent nor was he a close intimate friend. Our relationship was built on my coaching his son for a teen baseball team the year before.
Bill invited me into his office. I sat down on a chair in front of his desk while he sat on the opposite side. We talked about baseball, but in the middle of our conversation, he paused and stared at me. “You’re thinking about committing suicide, aren’t you?” he said.
His words hit me like a sledgehammer. How did he know? It was my secret $125,000 payday. I was speechless. As I sat there, a vision played across my mind about my car ramming into a viaduct and killing me.
I wept. “How did you know?” I asked.
“Oh,” said Bill, “the Lord told me while we were talking to each other.”
His words shattered my unbelief. God was alive and He cared about me.
We continued talking for a while longer. He gave me a book to read: Power in Praise by Merlin Carothers. Bill stated how the small book had changed his life a few years earlier.
When I arrived home, I began reading the book. After finishing the first eighteen pages, I walked into the bathroom, closed the door, looked into the mirror and said, “Jesus, I’ve tried everything else and nothing has worked. I guess I’ll give You a try.”
Instantly, I was changed. I bowed down on the tile floor and worshipped my new Lord and King.
How a reader views my salvation testimony probably depends on which camp of Christianity the person presently sits in.
Eight to ten percent of American Christians might pooh-pooh my salvation testimony because they’re cessationists who believe that prophecy and the spiritual gifts ceased at the end of the apostolic age.
Another fifteen to twenty percent of Christians might jump up and down, saying, “Amen, brother.” These are the Pentecostals, Charismatics and others who wholeheartedly endorse prophecy and the spiritual gifts.
That leaves a balance of seventy to seventy-five percent of American Christians who are not in either of the first two camps. They have heard about prophecy but have not seen the spiritual gifts functioning in their own churches. For the most part, they do not hold any opinions one way or another on prophecy or the spiritual gifts.
What does the Bible say about prophecy and the spiritual gifts?
The Apostle Paul wrote the above verse in his first letter to the Corinthian Church around 55 AD. It explained the spiritual gifts and their proper usage.
The historian Eusebius pointed out the importance of prophecy in an event that occurred only ten or eleven years after Paul’s letter. A Messianic believer in Jerusalem prophesied that everyone should flee the Holy City to save their lives. The prophecy also reminded the believers of Jesus’ prophecy on the first Palm Sunday.
By early 69 AD, every Messianic believer had fled Jerusalem. Most went to a city in Jordan, named Pella, which was about sixty miles from Jerusalem.
In 70 AD, the Roman army led by General Titus sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, slaughtering nearly a million Jews. This calamity fulfilled the prophecy spoken by Jesus on that first Palm Sunday.
The number of Messianic believers who fled Jerusalem were about sixty thousand in total. Those believers loved Jerusalem and their Jewish neighbors. They would have told everyone about the prophecy, but sadly, the Jewish army had won some battles against Rome when the prophecy was first spoken. Therefore, most Jews ignored the words of those Messianic believers and remained in Jerusalem. The majority of them died.
What if someone today prophesied that we should evacuate San Francisco or Chicago or New York City or Washington D. C. or wherever because the city was about to be destroyed?
Maybe you’re thinking something like this could never happen, right?
The Book of Revelation tells us about the horrific destruction which will occur in our world sometime in the near future. Half of the earth’s population will die during the seal and trumpet judgments. Most of the cities will be destroyed. If believers don’t take the mark of the beast, we won’t be able to buy or sell anything, including food and medicine.
So, how will believers survive without prophecy and the spiritual gifts?
Maybe our American-held belief of a pre-tribulation Rapture will be accurate. Maybe believers will be out of here before the bad stuff happens.
But just in case, it might be a good idea to develop an ear for prophecy and learn about the spiritual gifts now.
(The above post appeared as a column for WND.com on April 13, 2018 which can be seen here.)
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Filed under America, Christianity, Commentary, Faith, Gifts of the Spirit, Prayer, Prophecy, spiritual warfare
Tagged as Christianity, Commentary, Prayer, Prophecy, Spiritual gifts