The Mongrel People

Today, once again, I have been reminded of the amazing things that G-D is doing in the world, fulfilling bible prophecy, despite a concerted effort by all that is evil in the world to stop it.

All through the prophets you read about the return of G-Ds children to the land of Israel, the number of times it is mentioned would take me to long to write, but it always starts with the tribe of Judah being the first to return and then it moves on to the rest of the tribes. Today we have over 6 million of the tribe of Judah now living in Israel and more are going there every day. If every Jewish person in the world, who knew for a fact that they were Jewish, were to go to Israel it would be somewhere around 13 million or more, however that is not likely to happen. Too many of the Jewish people who live here in the exile are comfortable here and many more don’t believe in the idea that they are G-Ds chosen so they scoff at the idea of returning to Israel.

I don’t claim to speak for G-D, but I do think I may have an idea of what He is doing to make up for those people who refuse to go home from the exile.

An orthodox Jewish tradition says that only a certain percentage of the Hebrews left the land of Egypt after an amazing deliverance by G-D. They had become so used to their bondage and slavery that the thought of taking a chance in the wilderness looked scarier than the idea of remaining slaves and so they stayed behind to fade away into history. G-D, however, had a plan. He brought out a mixed multitude of Egyptians along with the Hebrew slaves. Exodus 12 :38 JPS” Moreover, a mixed multitude went up with them..” the words “mixed multitude” literally means a “mongrel race” suggesting that many of those who went with them were a mix of peoples, perhaps even a mix of Hebrews and Egyptians, and I think that this may be a precursor as to what is going to happen soon.

One of the things that I have learned about G-D is that He has lots of patience. He warned the Israelites what was going to happen to them if they didn’t change their ways but He also gave them a lot of time to do so. They didn’t change and eventually the things He said would happen did. This, I believe, is going to happen again in the near future. G-D has been calling the Jewish people out of their exile for the past 60 years or more and while many have listened many more have not. G-d isn’t going to wait forever and this is where I think I may have an idea of some of what He has planned.

You see I have witnessed this very unusual phenomenon of Jews and Gentiles getting together in relationships and leaning towards Judaism as the way to raise their families. I am not saying all of them mind you, but it has proven to be true at least amongst those that I know. I had another example of that shared with me today.  On top of all that you have many people, who are of the nations, entire families of people, as well as individuals, who are, in mass, turning to the G-D of Israel and rejecting the religions of their fathers. Even amongst many Christian groups they are now turning toward the G-D of Israel and the Torah looking for the answers. In short the nations of mixed people, all us mongrels, are looking to the G-D of Israel for the answers, and as a result we have come to love the G-D of Israel and His Torah.

Here are two verses, out of many, that I want to share with you. That give an idea of what I think is about to happen.  The first is Isa.11:11-13

It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

Hosea 2:23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”

So what I think is going to happen is simple. G-D is going to wait only so long for all of the tribe of Judah to leave the exile and return to Israel and then He is going to open the way for those who have a heart for Israel and a love for Him and the Torah. Israel’s borders will expand with the numbers of those who will come and Jacob will have to expand his tent.

Can I prove that this is the way it will happen? No. But if history is any example and if you believe, as I do, that the prophecies will happen,  then I will say that is all the proof I need.

Read the prophets, decide for yourself.

Shalom.

All The Nations Will Come

I love where I live. In case you don’t know my family and I live up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. These are not the tallest or grandest mountains this world knows but they are the most beautiful, in my humble opinion anyhow, and its home. In the short period of time that we have been here we have seen deer and turkeys and a bear. We have a Yellow bellied sap sucker that is very comfortable with us as well as a Scarlet Tanager that likes to visit and we have quiet.

But what is it that makes a mountain beautiful? Is it the trees, the birds and the animals? Is it the quiet that we have or the sounds of the wind as it blows through the trees? I don’t think so. It certainly is a part of it and, I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but truly what makes this so beautiful?  I believe it is all the things that I mentioned but also it’s the presence of G-d in our home and in our hearts that really make this a beautiful place.

According to Isaiah though there is going to be a mountain that is far better than anything we have ever experienced before. It is going to be a mountain that calls to our very souls and will bring all of us to us to worship G-d the way He was meant to be worshipped.

Isa.2:2-3 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths. “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

It doesn’t say that it’s going to be the most beautiful mountain, though I think that if G-D is there its likely to be wonderful, but it is going to be a mountain that all of us are going to want to go to. The passage says that the nations are going to flow to it and that the peoples of the world are going to say let’s go to the mountain of G-D and to the house of the G-D of Jacob to learn His ways.

Right now Israel is under attack from enemies both in and out of their own country. They get some of the nastiest press worldwide from those that want to see them destroyed and yet here is a promise for both Israel, and those of us  who love Israel, that a day is coming when all of us are going to want to go to Israel to the Mountain of G-D in Jerusalem and from there peace is going to overflow throughout the world.

So what makes a Mountain beautiful?  The presence of G-D.

Shalom

Ephraim Is My First Born

Saturday morning my wife and I were having our coffee, out back on the deck, and were talking about just where it is that we fit in the grand scheme of things. We don’t belong to any clubs or social groups and, because we are non-Christians in a Christian dominated society, we don’t even have any church affiliation. We are literally alone. Yes, I have a blog or two that I can write, and hopefully my wife can find a local homeschool group for her and the kids, but the reality is that there just isn’t any group out there that really matches what we need. I have never heard of any churches or homeschool groups that have non-Christian, yet G-D fearing agenda, most of the time they are either Christian or Jewish or just secular in nature. I can’t just run around the corner and find a local congregation or group that quite fits what we are looking for. So the question of where we fit has been a constant question for the both of us.

Then yesterday a friend of mine, who is Jewish and lives in Israel, posted something on FB that reminded me that I do belong somewhere and that G-D does have a plan for my future and that it will be better than anything I have ever known.

Jeremiah 31:9 JPS “They shall come with weeping, and with compassion will I guide them. I will lead them to streams of water, by a level road where they will not stumble. For I am ever a Father to Israel, Ephraim is My first born.”

This brought me to tears and at the same time brought me much comfort.

The reason that this means so much to me actually starts at the end of the verse with the phrase “Ephraim is My first born.” It is my belief, based on research found on a website called Brit Am and my own study, that many of us here and in Europe, particularly the coastal countries, are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. You may disagree with that notion if you wish, but ask yourself this question; if my ancestors came from (pick your country) where did their ancestors come from? Historical records, biblical accounts, as well as many cultural traditions, would suggest that many of us are actually descendants of the lost tribes of Israel.

So keeping that thought in mind, when G-D speaks of Ephraim or Manasseh or just straight out calls Israel by name, He is speaking of us. Therefore the promises of bringing Ephraim home and restoring him to his land and birthright as children of Israel belong to us.

So the verse was a reminder to me, and I hope to you as well, that while we may not see everything at this moment, while we might feel very alone, G-D has a plan for our future and He has promised to return us back to our heritage.

Shalom

Miracle of Moving

What a difference a week makes. Last week at this time my family and I were finishing up packing so we could move out of the town we were in, up into the mountains ,where we are now. What total insanity and chaos it was, but oh what peace and quiet we have now. We went from constant noise, from early in the morning to late at night , continuous traffic, sirens and such, to the sounds of the wind, birds and rain. What a difference.

I should point out to you that, financially speaking, we were not quite prepared to move. At the beginning of May we hadn't even been really looking , so we had started off the month paying the rent and our bills and getting the things that we usually do with out a inkling of a thought that we were going to move soon. The house we were living in had issues, mold and mildew, due to a leaky roof and a lack of insulation but after looking hard and long during February and March ,as our lease was about to end, we hadn't been successful in finding anything, so we decided, in April, that we would stay put until we could afford to buy again.
Having made that decision, once again, I learned that G-D has plans that generally do not involve our timing or even our efforts filled with hidden miracles.

On the second day of May, my wife was on line just glancing at adds for places to rent, not a hard search mind you, just kind of glancing as she was looking for something else, when she ran across an add for this place. She told me about it and showed me the pictures ( she found them on a real estate page later that day) and asked me if I thought it was worth a call. We were somewhat reluctant, because of all the fruitless searching that we had endured, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to make a call so I told her to go ahead. My wife called and talked to the owner for quite awhile, and he seemed interested in meeting us, but he told us that he had others that were ahead of us that he had to talk to and that he would call us in the next week.

We basically figured that was the last we were going to hear from him. Eight days later he called us back and wanted to know if we were still interested in looking at the house. We made the arrangements to look at in the afternoon and, to make a longish story short, shortly after we got home he called to offer us the place. This was the 10th of May. We made the arrangements to move in on the 29Th.

So we now had three less then three weeks to make arrangements to move,pick up some things that we needed, and pack. Just to add a little more fun to it, I had what was left of my bottom teeth removed right in the middle of all the packing.

 The house we found is the kind of place that we have been looking for our entire lives together. It is way out on a dirt road up on a mountain. We are surrounded by trees and usually the loudest thing we hear now is birds or the wind. It seems to us that finding this was a miracle, however the financial part was the real surprise miracle.

We had very little money to work with,especially after putting a deposit on this house, yet we needed to get a refrigerator, a propane tank, and rent a truck, not to mention paying for the gas of that truck, and still eat and live while packing. Neither one of us thought that we would make it to moving day with any money left.
Obviously we did manage to get here, but when we sat down to balance the check book,we found that we had spent more money then we actually had prior to being paid. We were trying hard to be careful with what we spent but somehow we went over and yet nothing bounced, nothing was rejected, we never noticed and here we are.

Next morning as I was pondering this I ran across a proverb that I thought I might share because it seems to answer my question as to how or even why we were able to do this with literally nothing to spare.

Proverbs 1:33 " But he who listens to me will dwell in safety, Untroubled by the terror of misfortune."

I don't suppose any of us really listen to G-D the way we should, though I'd like to think that we try, but when it became obvious to us that we weren't getting anywhere in our search we took the hint that G-D was telling us to wait and stopped and when the time was right, when we weren't really looking we found this house. The misfortune would have come on the day we moved because, technically speaking, we were flat out broke, but we weren't aware of that fact and, as I said earlier, it wasn't until we balanced the check book that we found we had some how gone over what we had.

You may come to your own conclusions. I can only tell you that we listened to G-D and here we are.
Shalom