Thanks for taking the time to read this. This isn't a paper this time and no pictures but i think it will be enjoyable. so Enjoy!
Things have been picking up around Yad Hashmona. This second half of the semester has come out of nowhere and is almost on us. this will be the most busy/exciting half i think. We have many trips planned. One a week. The first one that is coming up on saturday is a camp-out on the Dead Sea. We will sleep under the starts and do a small hike. We will also get our chance to float in the Dead Sea. We are very excited for this. After that we go to the Negev. That is the wilderness in the south of the country. We will be there for about 4 days. We also have a Galilee trip planned that will be close to ten day, if i remember right. Then we have travel study and then home. So with all that coming up we still got the homework as normal. Prayer are much appreciated. It will be a very good time, of course, but it may be a little more challenging as far as getting things done. We look forward to it!
About a week ago we got the chance to listen to a Jewish Rabbi explain to us the Jewish view of the Messiah. That was a very sad but informative lecture. The Jewish people have a lot of views that i never knew about. He said a lot of things. The main thing i think is most important as to why the reject Jesus as the Messiah is that they have made up how they think the Messiah should come to the earth. He explained it to us. The have a time period in which they think he will come, which is in the next 270 years. They have all sorts of unbiblical qualifications saying that The Messiah must be this type of person and do these type of things. All of this adds to their greatest mistake (quite possibly the greatest mistake of all time), the miss the true Messiah, Jesus. The Jewish people have set up for God how God is supposed to bring The Messiah to them, instead of looking through the scriptures and seeing how the Messiah will really come. The other factor that plays into this is the Judaism has many more book that they follow and consider divine other than the O.T. They have what they call the Oral Torah. They claim that all of the revelation given to Moses on Mount Sinai was not written down and that their was an oral torah also given the Moses. And through the years this is a Oral tradition passed through the generations until in 200 B.C. and man named Hanasi wrote down the Oral Torah. They believe this to be completely divine. The problems with this are pretty clear if you ask me, but we won't go into that. They hold this book as authoritative so i a lot of their veiws and practices come from this. These also have Rabbi's books and commentaries on the Torah. They also hold these up high and some things they do come from those as well. All very interesting but i think this is were they got the things about the Messiah. The also have "explanations" for passages like Isaiah 53, even though they are weak explanations. They also discredit miracles as a way of proving ones self as the Messiah. The Rabbi that came was very good and really got us thinking. I can't remember everything he said, or at least write it all out, but it was good to hear this from someone who believes it to be true.
To turn tides a bit, just this last friday we had a missionary come and speak to us. He is studying here in Jerusalem and his father is a pastor in the Mid-west. He was a high up official in the U.S. Army so he lived in the Sinai Peninsula, north Africa, and a few others places doing the work of the army. He was a light in those places for the gospel, but he felt the call to full-time ministry. So now he studies at the Hebrew University and is trying to reach out to the Arabs and the Jews of Israel. I very neat man. He is married and has a few kids. He challenged us with with possibly thinking missions to unreached areas. That is his passion. He goes into areas with less then 1% christianity and Shares the gospel with people who have never heard of Jesus. It is true, some people have never heard about Jesus. (I would say a good amount of Jews don't really know who Jesus is, they only know what their Rabbi tells them). I am not ready to get up and move to Sadie Arabia but he challenged me in what i am planning for my future. One thing he told us that he had heard was, "Don't plan according to fear or comfort." Than was really challenging to me because i think i was planning my life and getting it to the point that i am comfortable and then from their figuring out how to serve God. That is right. I have fooled myself into thinking that way and he brought that to light. It was a very good talk.
Finally last sunday we went to Tel Aviv for the first time, other than the plane ride. It was a good trip. We went to a IDF museum, which is the Israeli Defense Force. We saw old Tanks and learned about their wars. Very interesting stuff. Israel has been through a lot and it is nice to say that we are American and back them. We then went to downtown Tel Aviv and walked around a bit. It was the first time in a Modern cities since L.A. I didn't see 1 religious Jew until the end of the day. Tel Aviv is pretty secular and modern. It is the only city like this is Israel.
I just want to share a verse that i have thinking about recently. 2 Corinthians 10: 5 "...and take every thought captive in order to obey Christ." That has been my prayer as of late. I want to honor Christ not only in my action but in my thoughts as well. This is hard for me sometimes but by the grace of God i am learn to control my thoughts and "take them captive". This is just the verse i needed right now, and God knew it. I would challenge you to think about you thoughts. Are they honoring to Christ? or do they honor yourself? are you taking them captive to obey Christ? or letting your mind roam free? God knows what you think, he knows what i think. That is scary. I don't want anyone to know what i think sometimes if i am honest. But God always knows what i am thinking. Take them captive to obey Christ. Jesus Christ died a ugly death for you so that you would not be under the wrath for your sin, which includes bad thoughts. He calls us to fight sin. My prayer is for myself and all is that we would obey what Christ says and fight for a pure thought life. After all if God designed us and life and knows the best way to live, i think we should head his instruction.
thanks for reading the blog. Let me know what you think of it! Hope all is well. More to come soon.....hopefully:)
Ben and Christina
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