My dear friends:
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.”
Philippians 3:1-5.
Yes, a mighty thank you for helping us this past month to climb over many walls. Because of your kindness, we are able to pay something down on our plane tickets to Canada. We also hope to have our latest book, ‘Miracles Among the Nations’ available by September also. We are thankful for the effectual doors that have opened in Canada.
Hebrew Words Matter:
For believers, “Let there be Light!” are the Divine words which created our world. “Tzedakah – Charity is words of truth and conveys values, culture, and tradition. False words tear at the fabric of life and have the power to kill. They can create a chaotic biblical Tower of Babel.
Every word in Hebrew has a 3 letter shoresh or root, which reveals the true meaning and impacts culture. Take, ‘tzedakah’, the word listed above. English describes it as ’charity’ from ‘caritas, love and philanthropy’ from philo, also love. Giving to the needy is an act of love or justice. But for the Jews, it is simply just; or morally right. The true meaning is all in the root.
Speaking of Light and Justice – What about Hell? Many conflicts continue to rage, some in our own backyards; among them, an upsurge in COVID. One young professional person told me, “I feel like my life has been cut in half, I am struggling with what they are now calling, ‘’long-COVID’. I have no strength.”
The Big Picture
Any widespread spiritual conflict is a huge mosaic made up of individuals. The individuals that make up that mosaic are the real targets of hell’s assault. Nations fall because of one reason – individuals chose to follow the author of fallenness.
How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
Isaiah 14:12
The word ‘weakened’ used in the verse above describes the work of Satan. His goal is to weaken. Weakened has been translated: to cause something to waste away, to become frail, to decay, or to be destroyed. In our personal lives when we believe the lies offered to us by the fallen one without investigation as to its source and fail to offer a righteous challenge, our faith weakens with each compromise we allow. A weakening of our faith also happens when we believe the bluffing from the bully of hell and shrink away in silent fear or allow our need for group acceptance to control our speech and actions with the fear of rejection.
“While each of us should be concerned and involved in the welfare of our nation through prayer, service, and sacrifice, we should not forget the first and foremost assault on any nation does not begin with its institutions. The initial target is the faith of the Church. We hold the destiny of nations in our hands. With a successful assault against truth and faith on an individual level, a nation cannot stand.
The word “nations” was mentioned over 60 times in the New Testament, many times by Jesus. Most noted was His use of the word in The Great Commission. Nations is a word that can refer to a tribe, race, or nation. These are groups of people where we live and work. Our faith needs to remain strong and not compromised so that our tribe, race, or nation can survive long enough to flourish under the influence of God’s love.
Maintaining a strong faith is what loving our neighbour as ourselves looks like. It is what will help a nation stand in challenging moments of history. One person with strong faith can become the ignition point of a wildfire of revival and reformation in any nation no matter how dire the situation of that nation might appear.” From a message by Garris Elkins
Give Thanks: Hands up!
Who can understand Israeli politics? The left and right came together to ‘vote in’, a budget, for the first time in 3 long difficult years. Why? Mr Netanyahu, the former PM refused, sorry, I know he is a big hero outside of Israel. Miraculously, by working together, left and right, Arabs and Jews worked as a true democracy is supposed to work. This special transaction gave hope to all of us in the centre who are sick and tired of the lies, shenanigans, indictments and divisive policies of the previous 12 years under Mr N. Yes, the world loved him, but not Mr and Mrs. middle-class in Israel, who have been almost obliterated. Meanwhile, P.M. Mr Bennet resigned from his position of power, to hand over that power to his colleague, Mr Yair Lapid. He spoke of his successor with amity and admiration. This is unique in Israel. To do so with grace and love of country is even rarer. Thank you, Mr Bennet, in spite of what the religious right spewed forth trying to discourage and destroy you. We, in Israel unfortunately have suffered for years, under leaders who swaggered with self-satisfaction, refusing to relinquish power. Some thrive upon the poisoned slings and arrows of politics and it is rare to find a self-effacing leader but we did. He brought impossible factions together despite the sneering backstabbing of the opposition’s leader Mr N. and his lackeys, who even voted against their own policies just to bring down the government.
May time and history be kind to Naftali Bennett. The opposition and its leadership have resorted to many dirty tricks and lies over the last year. But Mr Bennett and Yair Lapid rose above the malicious tactics of the opposition. Naftali Bennett was labelled an extreme rightist, yet it is he, and his government, who included two Arab parties, Meretz, Avodah, New Hope, Yamina, Blue and White and Yesh Atid. They gave the average Israeli, a truly representative government. I’m disappointed that they were not able to survive, I pray that they will form an even wider coalition and come back fighting when new elections will be held on Nov. 2nd, 2022.
The Palestinian: Colonel-Cop or Terrorist?
The leading watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has exposed the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) underbelly. They translated an Arabic video from leader Mahmoud Abbas’ party that should shock American taxpayers and any other individual who abhors terrorism and believes in peace.
In the video, Abbas’ party “reiterates that the U.S. trained and funded PA Security Forces fulfill a double role: Cops by day and terrorists by night,” reported PMW.“ In a post on its official Facebook page, Fatah refers to the security force terrorists who were arrested as ‘heroic prisoners,’ and to the security force terrorists who were killed as ‘martyrs,’ The video, which was posted on May 25, 2022, glorifies four PA Security Force members arrested or killed amid shootouts with Israeli counter-terrorism forces. The clip also lauds the father of terrorist Ra’ad Hazem, who murdered three innocent Israelis in cold blood during a terror attack in Tel Aviv. Hazem’s father, who is a colonel in the PA Security Forces, is currently on the run.
Quote from a reader of Stain Remover.
“Circumstances of life finally opened my eyes to the brokenness in me and what was in need of healing. Your book, ‘Stain Remover’ was part of my initial healing process. Thank you.”
Germany
Home in Greece:
From our door in Jerusalem to our cottage in Greece, it turned into a saga of 14 long hours. Leaving at 3 p.m. one day, we arrived at our destination the following morning at 5:30 just in time for the sunrise! It’s good to be back, and out in the countryside, where the smell of zatar permeates the dry air. We can hear chickens on the little farm next door clucking over their eggs, and the wake-up call of a rooster. We enjoyed the outdoor market on Thursday and the church bells today. Ah, yes, rest. We slept long hours for days. One day, Jay took four naps. We had no idea how weary we were. Israel is such a pressure cooker. Our kids said they cried when we left, including little Ryan 17 months old. This is a new chapter for us and we are easing into it slowly, and preparing for the Canada trip at some time.
Take a moment now to enjoy the ‘Golden Gate Quartet’: introduced to me by Peter, an Austrian friend who came to us for dinner last week.
You could print out a copy of my letter and give it to a praying person to read, who has no computer! Tell your friends who have computers.
The God of love and peace [the source of loving kindness] will be with you.
Love from Meridel
Meridel Rawlings: P.O. Box 47554, Ermioni, 21051, Greece.