Recent allegations of child sexual abuse and cover-up relating to Sovereign Grace Ministries, and the subsequent public statements made regarding this tragic situation have distressed and alienated many professing Christians. On July 17, 2013, individuals representing a wide spectrum of evangelical Christendom have joined together and released a powerful public statement entitled, A Public Statement Regarding Sexual Abuse in the Church of Jesus Christ (included below). Individuals ranging from Michael Reagan (son of former President Reagan), Paul Young (author of “The Shack”), Diane Langberg (clinical psychologist and author) Jonathan Merritt (faith and culture writer), and Julie Clinton (president of Extraordinary Women) are just some of the signers of the statement. Continue reading

The greatest dividing and alternatively uniting force in many private lives and nations is the modern State of Israel. I took a moment to walk from our tiny rented cottage up through the Moshav to the little ‘pinati’ or corner-store. I chose a few yams and dropped them in a bio-degradable paper bag, along with 3 semi-ripe black avocados, a handful of cucumbers and finally Eco-friendly dish soap. The local moshavnik in charge was obviously very upset. I heard him from the back of the store speaking frantically into his phone in rapid-fire French which, ended with the word ‘Toulouse!’

Download the PDF version here Still Small Voice  Shalom Dear Friends: March/April 2012 Adar/Nissan 5772 “For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as he rejoiced over your fathers… IF you obey the voice of the LORD your God… and IF you turn to the LORD with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 30:9b, 10b. God’s Heart and Mine Can you hear our Heavenly Father’s cry? He is asking us to cling to Him. Lovers cling to each other. Are we that committed? Trusting is the hard part is it not? Especially when there is no change to be seen. My challenge for 2012 is, “Will you trust Me?” I am doing my best and I must honestly say that it feels extremely weak at this point. But the truth is, we have no place else to go, no other source of life, no one else that knows what we go through and why we keep hanging on. (clinging for dear life) I do take courage in the fact that …

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 1650 Waddington Rd., Nanaimo, BC, Canada. Luncheon included, $15.00 Please register:! Carol Dowe at 250-751-8511 AND email:! carol@dowe.ca

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Seasons Greetings from Meridel Rawlings Join us in the privileged place entrusted to God’s ‘little ones’, beautifully reflected in Psalm 36: 7-9. “How precious is your loving kindness O God! Therefore, we Rawlings put our trust under the shadow of Your wings. We are abundantly satisfied with the goodness of Your house, You give us to drink from the river of Your pleasures.  For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.” Click here to view the newsletter in PDF

Shalom Dear Friends: “…And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses to record…:”  Isaiah 8:2a. This fall Jay and I rejoice in 40 years following hard after the Holy One of Israel. What an adventure for us former Canadians. Rejoice with us; Daniel, the youngest of our sons to be launched, was one of 20 students chosen and has begun a 4 year degree program in film at in university here in Israel. The following article was published in the ‘Christian edition of the Jerusalem Post’ at the prompting of the ‘International Christian Embassy’ of which we were co-founders in 1980. The title “Christian Family” is a little misleading and to clear up any confusion let me say that our family is composed of Jews and Christians including 8 grandchildren, 3 Christian and 5 Jewish!

Shalom; God bless you each one for your loving letters. I will give some details of my incredible trip to Europe later. July in Israel is hot! Our family planned a get away, and because finances were scarce we all emptied out our refrigerators, grabbed the coolers, tents, swimsuits, grand-babies, sunscreen bedding and cooking utensils. We filled 4 vehicles… and headed north. A wide creamy white sandy beach became our campsite for two nights. Eight silver colored tents were set in a semi-circle not including the tent filled with toys and books when the sun got to be too much for the children. The men raised a sun shade on 4 poles so the Moms had some protection in the camp kitchen. Dads and kids scavenged wood for cooking and camp fires.  Liyah just 5 learned to surf. Noam and Amitai found adventure dressed as Beduin sheiks  The girls swam, read and painted. The twins roared up and down the smooth wet sand racing giant yellow trucks. They laid down full length on the wet …

Still Small Voice Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.     Psalm 85:10 There are a few times in life when heaven seems to touch the earth, and recently Jay and I and my nephew Paul felt this favor while filming TV programs up in the Galilee. For a couple of days we were like kids out of school. There is just something about Galilee. Here Jesus spent the greatest time of His ministry and here he was heard gladly. In his life time Israeli historians say that out of the 2 million Jews living here at the time under Roman rule, 500,000 followed the Rabbi. Our tour guide was Irene Bredlow, took us  to explore Capernaum, Chorazin and biblical Bethsida where a monument has been set up which reads “Here the Gentiles gave glory to the God of Israel.”  What did these 3 cities have in common? Jesus cursed them all. He even said in the day of judgment, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on Judgment Day.