Welcome to: The Church that Believes
Shiloh Comes!
Gen 49:10
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, until
Shiloh
come: and unto him shall the gathering of the people
be.
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Jewish Believers
Dear Allen
and Anita,
Greetings in
the Messiah. I hope you had a good
Thanksgiving and that you will enjoy many blessings during the month of
December. What a great season of celebration! Life certainly has its joys!
Yet sadness
in this life is unavoidable. I don't know about you, but I found it impossible
to ignore the recent tragic events in
Mumbai , India , which exploded across our television screens during the
Thanksgiving holiday. I know your heart went out to the
Indian nationals and their
families as well as the various victims from other countries. Let’s remember to
pray for them.
However, nothing grabbed my heart and soul more than
knowing that a number of Jewish people were targeted and murdered, including the
leaders of a religious Jewish outpost in
India – a young,
Israeli-born Rabbi, Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah. The great blessing
in the midst of this horrible situation is that their two-year old son was
saved. However, just the other day it was announced that Rivkah had been five
months pregnant!
These events – and especially the murder of this young
couple in their late 20s – deeply grieved me throughout the weekend. As I was
thanking God for all He has provided, I was well aware of the fact that many
other fathers and mothers were mourning the untimely deaths of their children –
murdered simply because they were Jews, Westerners or simply in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
As you probably know,
Chosen People Ministries had a team in Mumbai a few short weeks ago.
Robynne, a new staff member who was there, expressed her feelings about the
terrorist attacks in the following e-mail:
Thanks for all your notes inquiring of people we know
in Mumbai. We spent time in all the sites that were later hit. I was in the Taj
and the Oberai hotels much of the week meeting with people. This turn of events
in the growing wave of attacks in India is so sad. I have email ed and am trying
to call friends with Chabad there, and others we met who live in Mumbai; I will
update you as I hear. Let's keep all of them in prayer.
A member of Sha'ar
Adonai[ Chosen People Ministries’ Messianic congregation in
Manhattan ] is married to an Indian Jewish man. I spent time sharing with his
family members, who are deeply connected with the Jewish community in Mumbai. He
was spared, but I am reminded of how important it is to take the opportunity to
talk to people about
Yeshua (Jesus) – it could be their last opportunity.
The death of
this young couple has especially moved me, and over the last few days I have
thought a lot about martyrdom.
In Jewish
and Christian traditions,
an individual rarely directly chooses to die for their faith. If you look at the
martyrdom of
Jim Elliot and his fellow missionaries who were killed by the Auca
Indians, or other modern missionary martyrs, you can see that their choice to
follow the Lord to a mission field was made before their lives were at profound
risk.
The Scriptures teach us that that dying for our faith is not ours to
choose, but God’s to grant. Yet the Lord expects us to follow Him faithfully --
even if it leads to intense personal discomfort and ultimately to death.
There is no
doubt in my mind that Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah were martyrs and will
be treated as such within the Jewish community. If the timing had been
different, Chosen People Ministries staff members might have been martyred as
well!
The awful events of the last few days are a reminder that
we need to abandon ourselves to the
will of God and cultivate
a deep willingness to go wherever He leads, even enduring sacrifice and hardship
in serving Him. Are we willing to give our all?
My heart breaks for the Jewish people who were killed in
India , especially for the rabbi and his wife. Let’s continue to pray for the
families of all the victims of this tragedy. And as followers of Yeshua the
Messiah, let's ask the Lord what we can learn from the example of this couple!
"For whoever desires to save his life will lose
it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."
(Luke 9:24)
Your brother,
Mitch Glaser
President, Chosen People Ministries
P.S. Pray for Chosen People Ministries and for our
efforts to bring the Gospel to the Jewish people. We are “pulling out all the
stops” in December as we proclaim the message of Jesus, the
Light of the World. Your
prayers and generous financial support are a great help during this season of
year!
