Shalom Dear Friends,

"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to harvest what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…. a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace" (Ecl. 3:1-5, 8).

I grew up in the State of Wisconsin in the north central part of the United States. Wisconsin is not unique in its four distinct yearly seasons. I used to enjoy the change from one season to the next. There was no mistaking the times; everything in nature would respond to the changing weather patterns, as did man. The sights, the sounds, and the smells all told you that change was about to come. However, technological advancement has been enabling man to create artificial conditions that 'cooperate' with him, and thus the environment accommodates itself to suit his comforts. It is the works of his own hands which now stimulate his senses. His ears take in the sounds from TV, radio, tapes, CDs etc. The smells that surround him are emitted from scented canisters and other devices. His eyes feast on what he himself has created and built. All of these objects can be brought into a self-contained capsule, like buildings or automobiles. However, in so doing, humanity has become mute to reality. In the same way, the religious systems have insulated themselves in luxurious and opulent edifices and set lofty aspirations for themselves. Intellectual knowledge and/or ignorance have blinded the eyes from seeing and intimately knowing the Creator. Man has constructed for himself a false sense of spirituality, and being surrounded by an artificial world he is not able to take notice of the changing times and the seasons. Indeed, he cannot, as he has adapted to what he worships in reality; the works of his own hands.

If we don't know the season, we are like a farmer who goes out to harvest his crop in the winter and plants in mid-summer. Yes, there is a "season for love and for hate, for war and for peace". As it is in Israel today, almost overnight it seems that we have gone from one to the other, but yet the change has been gradual. Many, who were, and still are, looking to man to save them at the change of season will be disappointed when they find out that they have run, so to speak, out of fuel for the winter. The world has experienced a season of relative peace and prosperity, but I think it is about time that we begin to smell the fading flowers of spring, for the hot summer months may be ahead. Those who are crying out, saying that "the fields are ripe for the harvest", may be swinging sickles into non ripened wheat fields. It takes the hot summer of tribulation to make those fields (garments) white.

The days of Ya'acov's Trouble may be only a few days (YHVH's days) ahead.

" For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. And unless YHVH had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake (Israel), whom He chose (Ya'acov), He shortened the days" (Matt. 13:19-20). "When it is evening you say, `It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening'. You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times" (Matt. 16:2-3). "Let us now fear YHVH our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest" (Jeremiah 5:24).

Under His wings,
Ephraim

Shalom Fellow Israelites,

This morning, being awakened by the eerie sound of the local muezzin (the Muslim minaret), I was reminded to arise in these early morning hours to fellowship with the God of Israel. I opened to the Psalms and read this prayer:

"YHVH, remember David and all his afflictions; how he swore to YHVH and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: 'Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for YHVH, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob'….. For YHVH has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: 'This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it'" (Ps.132:1-5;13-14).

As I mused on that prayer I was wondering: "Do I have that kind of a desire, to see His house restored and built up so that He can come and fill it and find His rest?" Messiah Yeshua gave His life to redeem and restore the house of Jacob, that house that is called by His Name, the house that belongs to YHVH for the purpose of His dwelling, that He might fill it with His Glory. "Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed--This Mount Zion where You have dwelt…[for You] chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which You loved….[for You] love the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Ps.74:2; 78:68; 87:2).

YHVH's house is being built from living stones, these precious stones at one time looked like broken pot shards, lying in the dust heaps of humanity. Jeremiah writes about them in Lamentations: "How the gold has become dark! How the pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street. The precious sons of Zion, valuable as fine gold, how they are regarded as clay pots, the work of the hands of the potter….their appearance is blacker than soot; they go unrecognized in the streets; their skin clings to their bones, it has become as dry as wood" (Lam. 4:1-2,8).

When Ezra and Nehemiah returned to the land from Babylon, they found the stones of the city burned and cast down in the midst of rubble. The enemy was mocking them saying that these stones were worthless, and even if the workmen were to build, they would crumble if a mere fox were to jump on them. Such is the work of restoration in our day! We may not look like much in the eyes of our enemies, but the One who holds the plumb line, the One who has redeemed us, sees us as pure gold fit for the Father's use. Ephraimites, as you return to Zion, which is in Judah, remember where you came from… You must leave Babylon and the pig sties of Torahlessness behind you! A prerequisite of the covenant that was made with our father Abraham, was to leave his father's house and his native land and to go to a land that YHVH would show him. This process starts in our hearts, as there is where the highways to Zion are to be found (Ps. 84:5). "Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of His people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad" (Ps. 53:6).

"Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing, declare, proclaim this, utter it to the end of the earth; say, 'YHVH has redeemed His servant Jacob!'" (Isaiah 48:20).

The restoration in the days of Zerubbabel and Joshua could only begin after a remnant left Babylon. YHVH stirred up Cyrus's spirit, in order that the word that He spoke by Jeremiah would be fulfilled. YHVH's sovereignty led the way when the season came for His word to come to pass. YHVH just may be stirring up the spirit of entire nations today, in order to do the same thing. "Proclaim this among the nations: 'Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears…Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehosaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. (Please note which nations are judged. See Ps.83). Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. (There is a harvest that is ripe at this time, but it happens to be that of the tares). YHVH also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but YHVH will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So you shall know that I am YHVH your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain" (Joel 3:9-17).

Mo'adim Lesimcha and Shabbat Shalom, Shevet Achim

"Together (Ephraim and Judah) will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west; they will plunder the sons of the east; they will possess Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon will be subject to them. And will destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt". (Isa.11:14-15)