Summer of Love or Summer of Destiny?

The reason Jerusalem was destroyed in the 1st Century, according to Luke 19, was because the people did not recognized the time of their visitation.  We live in a time similar to 1st century Israel in that many people, the people of God even, are missing what God is doing in and through His people Israel in our time. Many people are distracted by the chaos, confusion and noise of our modern world. This should not be case for God’s children! God’s light and love is being shown and shone into the entire world. The “time of our visitation” is what we at the Nations’ 9th of Av like to call, the “time of our invitation!” God is inviting us to be a part of His grand plan of redemption. Shine God’s light into the world around you, and watch as the darkness is pierced, for surely, as the Prophet Isaiah said, “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you!”

The Nations 9th of Av invites everyone to join and be an active part of what God is doing in the world today. We are preparing now to observe the 9th of Av – the annual day of mourning by the Jewish people – on July 17-18 with a 25-hour video prayer and worship event. Visit us at www.9-av.com to learn more and join our email list.

Embrace the past to transform the future of Christian-Jewish relations. Stand with Israel! Together we can make a difference.

Click here to watch the video: The Time of Our Visitation

The Time of Our Visitation

Left: Revelers at the “Fantasy Fair” in Mill Valley, California during the Summer of Love (Photo by Elaine Mayes, California Historical Society “On the Road to the Summer of Love Exhibition,” via History.com). Right: Israeli paratroopers sits along the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on June 7, 1967 (Israeli Defense Ministry IDF Archive, via Jewish Virtual Library.)

It’s possible to live through earth-shaking times and miss the really important things. That’s why it’s good to remember that God’s redemptive plan hinges on Israel and Israel’s Messiah.

Psalm 121:1-8; Esther 8:13-14; Zechariah 12:3; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 19:41-44; Romans 11:25-27; 2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Click here to listen to the podcast: The Time of Our Visitation

Click here to watch the video: The Time of Our Visitation

Click here to download the transcript: The Time of Our Visitation.pdf

Music:”Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” The Beatles, The Beatles, 1967-1970 Disc 1, Capitol Records 1970; “Chorus: He, Watching Over Israel,” Felix Mendelssohn, performed by Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh, Mendelssohn: Elijah, 1846, Signum Records 2012.

Picture of the Week 06/07/17

Did anyone notice that the continued existence of the Jewish people as a nation is the greatest evidence that there is a God in heaven?

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© Albert J. McCarn and The Barking Fox Blog, 2017.  Permission to use and/or duplicate original material on The Barking Fox Blog is granted, provided that full and clear credit is given to Albert J. McCarn and The Barking Fox Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Knesset Inaugurates Jerusalem Jubilee Celebration – JewishPress.com

The Bible contains so many comforting words of assurance that everything will be all right in the end.  It contains a number of frightening words as well, but our preference is to avoid those, thinking that they must apply to someone else.  Consider, for example, this familiar passage by the Apostle Paul:

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.  For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.  For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.  And they shall not escape.  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.  You are all sons of light and sons of the day.  We are not of the night nor of darkness.  Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.  (I Thessalonians 5:1-6 NKJV)

We like to think of ourselves as those who will not be caught off guard.  After all, what would it mean if we are among those caught unaware when sudden destruction comes?

But what if the apostle’s words are intended to warn those among God’s people who are not paying attention?  Paul seems satisfied that his correspondents in Thessalonica are sufficiently alert, but can he say the same about their brethren elsewhere – or perhaps us today, two thousand years removed from his personal instruction?  His friends in Thessalonica probably understood that his words about those who say, “Peace and safety!” referred to prophecies Jeremiah and Ezekiel had spoken about the people of God who paid no attention to the signs of the times and refused to repent when YHVH sent them warning (see Jeremiah 6:9-15, 8:8-12, and Ezekiel 13:15-16). 

Surely the apostle was also aware of Messiah Yeshua’s parable about the Ten Virgins – all of whom went to sleep while waiting on their Bridegroom (Matthew 25:1-13).  The difference between the wise and the foolish was not their degree of vigilance, but their degree of preparation.  That, too, is something we should heed.

Consider what happened on December 23, 2016 (23 Kislev 5777 in the Hebrew calendar).  That was the day United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 declared illegal anything Israeli that exists beyond the 1967 borders of Israel.  That means not just the communities that have grown up on unoccupied and unowned land in Judea and Samaria (commonly called the West Bank), but neighborhoods in the neighborhoods of East Jerusalem where friends of mine live.  It means as well the Temple Mount and the Kotel (Western Wall), the holiest sites in Judaism and the places God Himself has established as His own.

The best video on the Six Day War you will ever see

Forty-nine years ago, as America led the West in the self-indulgent Summer of Love, Israel was fighting for its life in the Six Day War. The outcomes could not have been more distinct:  the United States emerged from the summer of 1967 in a downward spiritual, social, economic, political, and military spiral that has yet to hit bottom, while Israel emerged not only victorious over its far more powerful and populous Arab neighbors, but in possession of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the Golan, Gaza, and Sinai. The fortunes of Israel have risen higher ever since, even in the face of mounting opposition from every nation on earth.

This is not to say that the State of Israel is by any means perfect or entirely good, but rather that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has not forgotten the Jewish people, and continues to keep His covenant with them and with all Israel for His Name’s sake. That is the point of Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel’s video on the Six Day War, released by Israel Video Network on June 5, 2016 to mark the 49th anniversary of the beginning of the greatest military victory in Israel’s modern history.

If you don’t think miracles are real, then you better watch this and think again. . .

Source: The best video on the Six Day War you will ever see

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© Albert J. McCarn and The Barking Fox Blog, 2016.  Permission to use and/or duplicate original material on The Barking Fox Blog is granted, provided that full and clear credit is given to Albert J. McCarn and The Barking Fox Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.