MEM

From the "One Year Book of Christian History"

By E. Michael and Sharon Rusten (Tyndale ISBN 10: 0-8423-5507-3)

God had greatly blessed His people, Israel, through Nehemiah, a Jew, who was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes I of Persia (c, 465-424 B.C.) King Artaxerxes had made Nehemiah governor of Judah and as governor he had directed the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in just fifty-two days (Nehemiah 1:1-6: 16).

However, restoration of the walls and gates was not the most important challenge facing the Jews returning to Jerusalem. Of far greater importance was their need for spiritual restoration. Therefore on October 8, 445 B. C. Ezra the priest brought the scroll of the Law before an assembly of all the Jews in Jerusalem. He stood on a high wooden platform that had been built for the occasion. On the platform with Ezra were thirteen assistants, probably priest or Levites. The assembly included not only men and women but also all children old enough to understand the reading of the Law.

Ezra unrolled the scroll at daybreak, and as he did so, everyone stood up. Before Ezra began to read, he praised the LORD, the great God whose word he was about to read, and all the people lifted their hands toward heaven and shouted, "Amen! Amen!" Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

When the people rose to their feet, Ezra began to read and continued until noon. Although the people stood for five to six hours, they listened attentively and began to weep as they realized that what they were hearing were the very words of God

As the Law was being read, thirteen additional Levites circulated through the crowd, explaining what was being read so that everyone could understand…

The people’s response to the reading was to weep before the LORD, but Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites said to them, "Don’t weep … Go and celebrate with a feast … Don’t be dejected and sad, for the Joy of the LORD is your strength!" They wanted the people to realize that in spite of their sins, their strength against their enemies in the coming years would be their joy in their Savior God

The people then left the assembly in the early afternoon so they could prepare a holiday meal and celebrate with great joy, for they had heard God’s words and understood them

The reading of the Law on October 8, 445 B.C., was a turning point in the history of Israel. Up to then Israel had been a people whose religious life centered around the temple. On this day they became a people whose religious life centered on the book-God’s book.

What part does the Bible play in your spiritual life? Do you prefer to read it yourself or to listen to what others say about its teachings? Are you a person of the Book? God works in the lives of his people using two agents, His Spirit and His Word. He controls His Spirit, but we are responsible to appropriate His Word in our lives.

Here we have the two ways:

• To live by bread alone; being consumed with fulfilling our basic physical needs
• To live by every word that comes from the mouth of YHVH; to live dependent upon Elohim (God)

How important is the Word of Elohim to you? Consider all He has done for us and all the lives that have been laid down that we might hold it in our hands as a neatly bound readable book, The Holy Bible. It is not just a book, it is the living Word of the Almighty reaching out to us. Revealing Himself to us, bringing us liberty and peace by offering us the hope of salvation. Being reconciled to Him - it is all in The Book.

The writings, faithfully inspired by the Spirit of YHVH is the witness and testimony of His love for us. They are His guidelines for walking with Him and with one another. Those born of Him have the promise of eternal life -to be in His Kingdom - eternally with the Holy One of Israel. Amen

Words from Proverbs about The Book of the Law (the first 5 books of Moses called the Torah)

Thankfully we have His instruction in the form of His written Word. And His Spirit to guide us in His paths.

"But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads." Albert Camus

Thus we find this happiness, this harmony - by giving heed to YHVH’s instruction.

"Every Christian who seeks to advance in holiness should remember this: there may be intense consecration and fervent zeal, and if the Lord Himself does not step in, there may be unconscious self-exaltation. Let us learn the lesson that the greatest holiness comes in the deepest humility." Andrew Murray

How does God feel about issues we face today?

Do you understand the importance of the Bible to the Christian life? When you read it what do you find? It contains stories about people who encountered God in their lives. Are you content to read their stories? You consider God’s word to have supreme authority in doctrine and the practice of faith; the standard by which all others are judged, but you shouldn't be content with reading the stories of other people. For God’s word is a call to action, not just to study, but to respond to and act on. Search the scriptures and see that they testify of Yeshua (Jesus). Come to Yeshua and encounter Him yourself that you may have life. (Adopted from a blog post by Dale Cresap)

Most Americans are unaware of the fact that over two hundred years ago, the United States had declared war on Islam, and Thomas Jefferson led the charge!!!

At the height of the eighteenth century, Muslim pirates were the terror of the Mediterranean and a large area of the North Atlantic.  They attacked every ship in sight, and held the crews for exorbitant ransoms.  Those taken hostage were subjected to barbaric treatment and wrote heart breaking letters home, begging their government and family members to pay whatever their Mohammedan captors demanded.

These extortionists of the high seas represented the Islamic nations of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers collectively referred to as the Barbary Coast and presented a dangerous and unprovoked threat to the new American Republic.

Before the Revolutionary War, U.S. merchant ships had been under the protection of Great Britain.  When the U.S. declared its independence and entered into war, the ships of the United States were protected by France. However, once the war was won, America had to protect its own fleets. Thus, the birth of the U.S. Navy.
Beginning in1784, seventeen years before he would become president, Thomas Jefferson became America's Minister to France.  That same year, the U.S. Congress sought to appease its Muslim adversaries by following in the footsteps of European nations who paid bribes to the Barbary States, rather than engaging them in war.
In July of 1785, Algerian pirates captured American ships, and the Dey of Algiers demanded an unheard-of ransom of $60,000.  It was a plain and simple case of extortion, and Thomas Jefferson was vehemently opposed to any further payments.  Instead, he proposed to Congress the formation of a coalition of allied nations who together could force the Islamic states into peace.  A disinterested Congress decided to pay the ransom.

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Tripoli's ambassador to Great Britain to ask by what right his nation attacked American ships and enslaved American citizens, and why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts.

The two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had answered that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."

Despite this stunning admission of premeditated violence on non-Muslim nations, as well as the objections of many notable American leaders, including George Washington, who warned that caving in was both wrong and would only further embolden the enemy, for the following fifteen years, the American government paid the Muslims millions of dollars for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages. The payments in ransom and tribute amounted to over twenty percent of the United States government annual revenues in 1800.

Jefferson was disgusted.  Shortly after his being sworn in as the third President of the United States in 1801, the Pasha of Tripoli sent him a note demanding the immediate payment of $225,000 plus $25,000 a year for every year forthcoming.  That changed everything.

Jefferson let the Pasha know, in no uncertain terms, what he could do with his demand.  The Pasha responded by cutting down the flagpole at the American consulate and declared war on the United States.  Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers immediately followed suit.  Jefferson, until now, had been against America raising a naval force for anything beyond coastal defense, but having watched his nation be cowed by Islamic thuggery for long enough, decided that is was finally time to meet force with force.

He dispatched a squadron of frigates to the Mediterranean and taught the Muslim nations of the Barbary Coast a lesson he hoped they would never forget.  Congress authorized Jefferson to empower U.S. ships to seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli and to cause to be done all other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war would justify.

When Algiers and Tunis, who were both accustomed to American cowardice and acquiescence, saw the newly independent United States had both the will and the might to strike back, they quickly abandoned their allegiance to Tripoli. The war with Tripoli lasted for four more years, and raged up again in 1815.  The bravery of the U.S. Marine Corps in these wars led to the line "to the shores of Tripoli" in the Marine Hymn. They would forever be known as "leathernecks" for the leather collars of their uniforms, designed to prevent their heads from being cut off by the Muslim scimitars when boarding enemy ships.

Islam, and what its Barbary followers justified doing in the name of their prophet and their god, disturbed Jefferson quite deeply.  America had a tradition of religious tolerance, the fact that Jefferson, himself, had co-authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, but fundamentalist Islam was like no other religion the world had ever seen.  A religion based on supremacism, whose holy book not only condoned but mandated violence against unbelievers was unacceptable to him.  His greatest fear was that someday this brand of Islam would return and pose an even greater threat to the United States.

Any doubts, just Google Thomas Jefferson vs. the Muslim World.

A certain king they chose one day,

In stature very tall,

And he was bashful, too, forsooth,

His name, you see, was _____.

Staying on the Path (edited for length)

We reject repentance at our own peril. We reject righteousness, sanctification and the pursuit of holiness to our own detriment. Though there is safety on the narrow path, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to blaze our own trail, indifferent to the untold perils and dangers waiting those who stray.

I wish, with all my heart, I could write happy things in my letter to you today. I wish I could tell you the sun will come out tomorrow and the storm clouds will pass, but our refusal to accept God’s help, our refusal to submit and humble ourselves before Him only hastens judgment.

The wolves have gathered, the hunt begins, and this weakened nation is the prey.

The level of your relationship with Christ today will determine whether you stand or fall by the wayside tomorrow. Know that you are resting in Him, know that you draw your strength from Him, and know that you have placed your hope and trust in Him.

On Christ the solid Rock we stand, for truly, all other ground is sinking sand.

With love in Christ

Michael Boldea Jr.

*(This document may be edited for length)

Ps 48:14 (JPS)

1. "Jesus, Son of David" - Luke 18:35-39

2. Numbers

3. Decapolis - Mark 5:20

4. When the Lord returns - 1 Corinthians 4:5

5. He had leprosy - 2 Kings 5:1

6. Candace - Acts 8:27