March, 2007

 

Greetings from Brunswick,

 

 

I want to thank all of you who called or emailed concerning the February newsletter about our trip to Israel and her borders.  I really appreciate all of your kind and encouraging words.  It is so difficult to condense a trip of that length and caliber in to a seven page newsletter, when there are so many things happening over there, some good and some not so good. 

 

One of the things that I asked you to pray for was rain and snow that the Galilee would rise and the underground reservoirs would all be filled. Well, Praise the Lord, He has certainly been answering that prayer. It was an exceptionally cold winter in Israel, with abundant rain falling in the center of the country, and Mount Hermon, in the north, well covered in a deep blanket of snow. 

 

The cold of the winter months is now beginning to lose its grip and the spring sun is rising higher each and every day. In the Judean Hills the almond trees are gracing the green lush fields, and the hills that surround the Sea of Galilee are covered with green grass and beautiful flowers. The snow is beginning to melt and run down in to the Sea of Galilee, and new life is beginning to burst forth everywhere.  The hearts of many Israelis are beginning to open like flowers to the Gospel, and the wind of the Spirit is beginning to blow all across the Land.  All to the glory of God!

 

I shared with you some time ago that Day Star Christian Cable Television Network is broadcasting all across Israel, day in and day out. They are now licensed by the Israeli Government! Many of our Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters are sharing Yeshua with the Israelis, and as a result I noticed that some in leadership positions there in the Land have become much stronger and bolder in their witness. 

 

Just a week ago during a prime time news show, one of Israel’s major news channels aired a ten minute story on Messianic Judaism. The journalist, a secular Israeli, presented everything in an incredibly positive light. The emphasis in the show was that this is a Jewish faith, believed in by Jewish people. They showed beautiful Messianic Israeli families celebrating the Shabbat, Messianic worship, the Word being preached in Hebrew, and believing soldiers who are officers in the army.  Almost everyone interviewed or shown was a sabra, which is one who was born in Israel.

 

In Israel, Jesus is known by the Name “Yeshu” which is an abbreviation which means “may His Name be blotted out!”  Many people won’t speak His Name because in so doing they are saying that He is “salvation” since that is the meaning of His Name, Yeshua. However, in this show His Name, Yeshua, was used throughout the program, and a significant percentage of Israel’s population heard of Yeshua, the Jewish Israeli Messiah for the very first time. Hallelujah!

 

Many reports of people responding to the program have been received which has   resulted in new openings for believers to share with others. Let us all pray for many more doors to be opened as a result of this program, so that one day they will never again be called a “danger and a threat” to Israeli society.

 

Recently a believer was asked to speak with a group of over fifty new army inductees about his faith in Yeshua. This was a real shocker, but he went to share with them and the young soldiers listened intently. There was a long discussion about this Messianic faith following the presentation, and no one was aggressive or negative. In fact they took 35 Complete Jewish Bibles from the speaker after the meeting. The most amazing part of this is that the meeting was sanctioned by the Israeli Army itself, and even held in an official IDF building in the heart of the city.  

 

There is also a growing soldier’s meeting that is being led by one of the brothers in a local congregation, and they meet twice a month. As many as thirty believing soldiers gather together to build one another up during their challenging time in the service.  There are also other young soldiers, who have very busy schedules, but as time permits they are involved in the weekly young adults meeting in their local congregation.

 

Let us continue to pray for these young soldiers. They must maintain their faith in very adverse conditions as they strive for excellence in their army service, and many of them are in combat as well as other very responsible positions. The military is a tremendous harvest field at this time, so know that our prayers for them are surely being answered.

 

I must tell you, though, that as the glory and light of Yeshua grows in the Land,   opposition is responding big time, resulting in much persecution. Some are being entrapped through telephone calls, while some who own restaurants are being stripped of their kosher certification by rabbinic authorities and that is making it impossible for them to maintain their business. Congregations have been invaded, believers attacked and   harassed, while still others are being denied their right to make Aliyah because of their faith. In some cases the government has even been trying to take their citizenship away.   They truly do need our prayers that God would continue to guard their hearts, strength and passion as they run the great race that He has put before them.

 

Let us also thank Victor, Julia, Yael, Eddie and Jackie for sharing with us. Please know that our thoughts and prayers are surely with you all. Shalom and blessings to you!  

 

*******

 

Let us pray for all those whom God is calling in to Jerusalem for ministry purposes that they receive their visas and have favor with the Ministry of Interior.

 

Let us pray for the true prophetic to be released in Jerusalem and throughout the Land. Pray the Lord will silence all false prophets, and cause His true prophets to be recognized and given a voice. Pray that the leaders of the Nation will begin to cry out for the voice of God, and for the voice of the prophet to gain credence as in the days of Elijah and Elisha.
 

Spring Feasts of the Lord

 

When I returned from Israel I had only a couple of days to rest and write a newsletter,   and then I was off and running. I had a number of meetings that were all back to back, and as a result of those meetings I met a lot of interesting brothers and sisters.  I have also fielded a lot of questions, and in so doing I can tell you that God is stirring the hearts of His people as we prepare to enter in to the Passover Season.

 

The first of the Lord’s Feasts is Passover, the foundational feast. The six that follow this feast build upon Passover. This feast comes in the Spring of the year and begins the biblical new year. This year Passover begins at sundown April 2^nd.  Jews around the world will gather around the Passover Seder Dinner to remember the exodus out of slavery in Egypt through the blood of the Passover Lamb as Israel was “born” as a Nation.

 

As the yearly celebration of Passover rolls around, we, too, should renew our commitment to God by celebrating it. We all need seasons of reflection, repentance, and renewal. Only the Feast of Passover can adequately challenge the basic roots of our commitment, for it is through this Feast that God has purchased us and made us His own special people.

 

Keep in mind that Yeshua is the Passover Lamb that paid the price by shedding His blood and allowing His body to be broken that we could be delivered from our sins, be healed and set free. We have much to thank Him for and much to celebrate through the Passover Season.  In I Corinthians 5:7,8 the Apostle Paul said, “For indeed our Passover, Christ, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us “keep the feast” with sincerity and truth.”

 

A people who forget the liberating historical truths of Passover will in the end forget God and turn away from His ways. The erosion of faith is a steady, almost undetected disease. It happens to those who no longer celebrate the goodness of God. When we become thankless, we eventually end up faithless. So it should be with great joy and expectation that we welcome and celebrate the Season of Passover, at His appointed time.

 

The second day of the Passover Season begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yeshua had died and was buried, however it was prophesied that His body would not decay in the grave.  Acts 2:27 confirms this for us. “You will not leave My soul in Hades, nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption (decompose in the grave). Psalm 16:10 is almost word for word in confirmation.

 

Yeshua rose from the grave on the third day, and immediately the religious ones began to challenge the fact to keep the people from believing that He truly had risen.

 

During the Feast of First Fruits, which is the third of the Spring Feasts, and part of the Passover Season, we can see Paul having to refute the false teaching of the religious ones: In I Corinthians 15 he said to them:  “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.”  (v.14)

 

“Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” (v.18).

 

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable.” (v.19).

 

“But now, Christ is risen from the dead” (v20).

 

“Christ Himself is the firstfruits!” (v23).  Because His sacrifice was accepted for all of us, He has risen and lives on. And so will we. His Spirit indwells us, He is in us, and we are in Him, therefore that is our assurance of eternal life.

 

We see people raised from the dead in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, but eventually they each one died again. However, Yeshua was the first to be resurrected from the grave never to die again. He and He alone is the Firstfruits!”

 

Think on These Things

 

Before the Feast of Passover, the Jews ‘selected’ a young lamb with ‘no flaws or defects’ depicting ‘innocence’ five days before the Passover and brought the lamb right in to their family to love it and care for it for four days. Then when they had to sacrifice the innocent one to die in their place, they knew the costly nature of the sacrifice! It hurt! It broke their hearts, especially the little children.  So we see that Passover speaks of redemption!

 

It was prophesied that Messiah, the Passover Lamb, would be sacrificed for us and He was. It is also interesting to note that Yeshua entered Jerusalem on the very day of lamb ‘selection’. The Lamb of God! And in the Temple when the last lamb had been slain, the priest announced to the people, “It is Finished!” He spoke the very same words that Yeshua spoke as He was slain for us. “It is Finished!”

 

During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jews thoroughly clean their house and eat only matzo bread, which is without yeast.  Just as the Jews thoroughly cleanse and set their house apart for “holy purposes” it was also prophesied that Messiah’s body would not decay in the grave. He was a set apart One. Set apart for God’s “holy purposes”.  

 

For us leaven is depicted as sin in (Matt. 16:6,11), (Mark 8:15), (luke 12:1), and (Galatians 5:9).  We are to rid ourselves of all sin, and allow God to cleanse us, purify us, do a deep work within us, to set us apart for His use, His plans and His holy purposes. So the Feast of Unleavened Bread speaks of sanctification. 

 

The Feast of Firstfruits speaks of resurrection! It was prophesied that Messiah would rise from the grave on the third day. As believers in Yeshua we should be proclaiming for everyone to hear that “death could not hold Him!” He is risen! Hallelujah!

 

“Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph o’er His foes!”

Yeshua Himself said, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life!” (John 11:25) 

The Feast of Firstfruits marks the count down to the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) which is the fourth and last annual Feast of the Lord each Spring. Beginning with Firstfruits we count forty-nine days and on the fiftieth day, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) is celebrated. This period of time is known as the counting of the omer.  (Lev. 23:15,16). (measure, sheaf).

 

The Feast of Weeks speaks of origination. Messiah said that He would send the Holy Spirit to inaugurate the New Covenant and the Church age, which He did. Jesus said, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. (John 14:16,17).

 

In Acts I the Believers were commanded to tarry at Jerusalem until He came. He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. He said, “You have heard from Me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” They waited ten days and then the Spirit of God descended upon the first century believers. Just as He said it would!

 

During the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), two loaves were taken in to the Temple and waved, representing Jew and Gentile. Now they are one in Messiah since the coming of the Holy Spirit.

 

Paul said, “”For He Himself is our peace, who has made both Jew and Gentile one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation to create in Himself one new man from the two (Jew and Gentile), thus making peace.” (Ephesians 2:14-15).

 

The Passover Season speaks of redemption, sanctification, resurrection, and origination. The coming of the Holy Spirit inaugurated both the New Covenant and the Church age. We have so much to rejoice in as we celebrate the Passover Season.

 

Yeshua (Jesus) is the Passover Lamb!

 

Scripture records it and History echoes it!

 

The Lord is asking everyone of us, “How can you be silent during the Passover Season?”

“How can you not proclaim that Yeshua is the Passover Lamb?”

He is risen! He is alive! He is our Savior, our Healer, and Deliverer!

 

In both Mark 7 and Matthew 15 the Lord has much to say about the Pharisees and Religious teachers of His day holding tight to their traditions, and in so doing, nullifying the commandments of God.  Today He is saying the very same thing to the Church. He is calling all of us to let go of the ‘pagan’ holidays and all of their trappings and reconnect to our Jewish roots. He is calling us to celebrate Yeshua at His ‘appointed time’ for us to meet with Him and holiday.

 

Yeshua in Luke 22 was preparing for their Seder Dinner at Passover. In Matthew 26 the disciples were asking Him where they were to prepare for their Passover meal. In John 13 we see Yeshua washing the feet of the disciples before the Passover celebration began. In Luke 22 we see Yeshua and the disciples eating their Passover meal, Yeshua blessing the bread and the wine, and telling them they were to do the same in ‘remembrance of Him’ at His ‘appointed time’ every year.

 

The Lord instituted seven holidays and they are discussed throughout the Scriptures. They are called the Feasts of the Lord. In Hebrew the word ‘feasts’ means ‘appointed time.’  They are intended to be a ‘time of meeting with God’ for His ‘holy purposes’.

 

Restoring Our Lost Inheritance

 

The ‘death knell’ for the Early Church was the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in A.D. 312. There was turmoil in the Empire and the throne was empty. Two men, Constantine and Maxentius were fighting to seize control. Maxentius challenged Constantine to battle. Constantine prayed to the “supreme god” for help. To Constantine the ‘supreme god’ was Mithras the Persian sun god. However when Constantine came to the throne, he announced that he was a follower of Jesus, and the Christians could hardly believe it. They had been through so much persecution! At the hand of a man named Diocletian they had known great hardship, many were martyred, especially Church leaders, and Bibles were confiscated.

 

Constantine seemed to be an answer to prayer to the Church. They suddenly went from an illegal religion to a favored one. Persecution and ridicule ended, and he was very generous with his money and honors for prominent converts. He made rest on Sunday an obligation for all, no longer permitting them to keep Shabbat as the Jews did. He spent a lot of money building new Church buildings and soon the Church became the most important land owner in Italy. The Church was thrilled thinking he was another Apostle Paul. However, in return for all of this he demanded complete control.

 

After he took control he called together the first general Council of Churches, the Council of Nicea. He seized that opportunity to reorganize the Church and give it a new image. He destroyed all of the House Churches which had provided the foundation of Church activity before he came on the scene. He built a Church building called St. John Lateran in Rome. The style of the building was called a basilica. The interior design was patterned after the throne room of the Imperial Palace. The Bishop sat on a throne with his subjects to his sides.

 

Once that building was completed, similar type buildings were spread all over. Immediately he abolished all Houses of Prayer, and allowed no gatherings of any kind in any private homes. They were allowed to meet no place but in the Catholic Church. Now Believers were no longer the Church, but the Church became a building. Worship was no longer Spirit led, but instead he set up solemn rituals as the form of worship with burning of incense and candles. He severed the Jewish roots completely, changing the day of rest to ‘Sunday’ in honor of the ‘sun god’, and grafted the Church in to the root of pagan Greek philosophy. He divorced the Church from Judaism and married the Church to paganism.

 

The sun god was on his coins and a statue of the sun god bearing his own features was erected in the heart of the city.  He replaced the Feast Days of the Lord with a new set of holidays. Pagan holidays of Rome were brought in to the Church as Christian holidays.

 

In the Scriptures we were never called by God to celebrate the birthday of Yeshua. We were never told when it was either. The pagans had a celebration for the birthday of the sun god, which was held in late December. It was a time of good cheer and gift giving, a favorite holiday of the Romans. So Constantine adopted that holiday and declared it a Christian holiday, the birthday of Jesus.

 

Another new celebration for the Church was the celebration of the Spring Fertility Festival. Each year they held a festival to honor the goddess of fertility. She was called Asherah by the Cannanites, Aestarte by the Persians, Ishtar by the Babylonians, and Eastre by the ancient Britons. The symbol of fertility was the egg. They decorated them and gave them as gifts.  Passover was outlawed and the Spring Fertility Festival was substituted. That is how the Church ended up with Easter. There was a common cult of Isis, an Egyptian goddess and she was called “the Great Virgin” and Constantine named her Mary and called her the Mother of God so the Church would worship her.

 

Is it any wonder the Lord is calling His people to reconnect to their Jewish roots and let go of the pagan holidays and all of their trappings? These pagan holidays do not appear in the Scriptures, however, the Feasts of the Lord do appear in the Scriptures and we have been called to celebrate Yeshua in them in remembrance of Him. The seven Feasts of the Lord are His master Plan of Salvation. Let us worship, praise and honor Him on His special days. He is certainly worthy to be worshipped, praised and honored.  Let us reclaim our lost inheritance as He is calling us to do. In the event that you choose not to keep Shabbat and keep the Feasts of the Lord, please don’t be critical of those who do.

 

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Pastor Sadie Connor called to thank all of us for our prayer covering over them as she and her team ministered in Jamaica. They had a very fruitful trip with 36 souls saved and many healed and set free.  All to the glory of God!

 

Paul and Joane Gelep are preparing to leave for Israel March 26th.  They will be there for four weeks so please begin now to lay a solid foundation of prayer beneath this mission and all of the travel that will be involved. They are such a blessing to His people every time the Lord sends them.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your prayer and financial support of this ministry, and for the help that I receive personally. I am so grateful. 

 

You may print out extra copies of the newsletters and prayer alerts at www.fairhavensmissions.org or reach me by telephone at (912) 265-0019.  I’m always happy to hear from you. Until the next time, watch and pray and be blessed.  In His love,

                                                                                                                                                                         Myrna