With the amount of information exploding via internet and other publications, sometimes people just want to have the basics at hand to help them in their walk with the Lord.
In order to serve our mission partners, we are now publishing a new series of easy to digest materials that help people go and grow.
The first installment in this series focuses on Rosh Ha Shannah, beginning on September 8th and Yom Kippur, ten days later.
We invite you to please print these and share them and forward them to your Christian friends far and wide. We are doing this as a service of our mission and do not charge for these.
Your gifts of mission support are welcome to help sustain our growing mission work.
What an interesting weekend! With the Glen Beck conservative rally “Restoring Honor” and Civil Rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton “Reclaiming the Dream,” the potential for clashes was certainly possible. Feeling somewhat cautious, I chose to forgo my Saturday routine of distributing fliers on the Mall. Thank God, major conflicts were avoided, and each group was able to voice their passion for making America a better place peacefully.
Although I stayed away from D.C., I managed to have a fruitful day. I chose to revisit the local Messianic, Ohev Yisrael, congregation after two morning Bible study groups.
I reconnected with Rab. Rudolph and regained his contact information. I had written it on the back of my cards, then inadvertently gave that card away. We hope to work together more in the future.
As we enter the Fall and approach the Jewish New Year I would like to thank those who are praying for this ministry. Please continue to do so, and please consider giving financial support as well. Most of all, I pray that you will become actively involved in sharing the Gospel message with all those around you.
Check out this YouTube clip in which Pen, of Pen and Teller, shares about how “a good man” shared the Scriptures with him. Pen, a noted atheist, took time to record his respect for people who witness to their faith and his disrespect for those who lack the courage of their convictions. Please pray for Pen, that God will reveal the truth of the Scripture to him.
This Saturday while distributing fliers, I greeted one of the “regulars” near the Smithsonian Metro Station. Henry distributes free maps of the downtown Washington DC area to tourists while gathering donations for the homeless. I asked how he was doing and he said, “Much better this week than last week.” When I asked about last week, he said that his sister and her two children had been murdered. Please pray for Henry and his family, that they would find strength and healing. He said that several churches were supporting and praying for him already and that prayer would be appreciated.
A couple of people who saw what I was doing came up to me and showed me the Star of David and Cross that they were wearing. Another group of three said that they were Messianic believers. Several individuals thanked me for my witness.
I had a conversation with a Jewish lady who asked if I believed that there would be another Messiah. I said that Y’shua had already come as Messiah Ben Joseph as prophesied in Scripture. She asked if this Messiah would come again. I shared about the book of Matthew and invited her to contact me if she had more questions. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will guide her to true knowledge of the Messiah and what He has done for her.
An angry young man confronted me with his belief that people in our government were bent on killing all of the Jews. Please pray for him. A history of persecution of the Jewish people leads to real feelings of mistrust in governments, but they do not change who Y’shua is or what He did for us all.
Do you have a Jewish friend or relative? It is getting to be close to the Jewish High Holy Days – New Year (Rosh HaShanah) on 8 September and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on 17 September. Please consider sending holiday greetings. An appropriate greeting for Rosh HaShanah would be “shana tova”, “a good year” or “a good sweet year” , or “may you be written and sealed for a good year”, even “Happy New Year” works here . An appropriate greeting for Yom Kippur would be or “may you have an easy holiday” or, again, “may God forgive us, and may we be inscribed and sealed for a good year”. While you may have difficulty finding greeting cards at local stores for these holidays, many internet sites include appropriate e-cards.
As believers in Jesus, we can rejoice that our names are written and sealed in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Our sins are covered by the Blood of the Lamb forever.
This issue includes: Opportunities to share the Gospel are all around us. The New Year is just around the corner. Your prayers and gifts are asked for to support our people in the field. A Gospel tract for you to use. Updates from two capitals: Moscow and Washington DC. Nan C’s corner “Give, go, Pray!”.
With no special event going on this weekend the National Mall was relatively calm. Still the constant stream of tourists heading for the various buildings of the Smithsonian allowed me to distribute 800 flyers for the day. The weather was great. The mid 80′s replaced the mid 90′s. Half of the fliers that I distributed asked the question “Who is the Greatest Artist?”. The answer, of course, is God. The flowers in bloom behind me were a great reaffirmation of that fact.
The only other noticable campaign I saw was a PETA van protesting the wearing of fur. It reminded me of the value of all life. After the fall of Man in the Garden of Eden the Bible reports that God sought out His creation. Although he was all knowing, God asked the man what he had done. After an explanation with much finger pointing God Himself shed the blood of an animal to provide a covering for them. This illustrated the seriousness of sin because it cost of a life to cover their sin. God still covers our sin with the cost of a life -the life of His Son, Y’shua (Jesus).
After leaving the Mall I joined a group from my church, Bethany in Alexandria,Virginia to see the Potomac Nationals (P’Nats) play. They are the farm team for the Washington Nationals. This night they won. The crowd cheered and Uncle Slam the mascot, along with the event staff helped to work the crowd with cheers, waves, and songs to support and urge the team on. I like to imagine a similar scene in which the “great cloud of witnesses” in heaven and the whole Christian church on earth cheer and encourage us as we live out our lives as His witnesses here. The big difference is that we know that in the end we will have won, not because of who we are, but because of the victory Christ won for us. This great victory gift is not ours to keep for ourselves either. There is room for everyone on the team and in the stands. The after party will be unending.
Revilation 7:9-12
9After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Wow! What a busy summer. The mission has been going well and there has been lots of activity. Reporting in the form of newsletters has, however, fallen between the cracks. I am finally up to date. You can read the newsletters by following the following links, or just by going to the newsletter page link to see them all along with a summary of what is in each of them.
May 29 – August 8 was the Smithsonian Indian Summer Showcase. I didn’t hear about it until after the Tending The Flame conference (July 29-August 1). Native American style music played from speakers by the Natural History Museum perhaps from live performances closer to the American Indian Museum. Although I did not see anything associated with the celebration near my location, I want to congratulate the Native American peoples on the 5th anniversary of the museum. Lois and I were present for the ground breaking ceremonies for the museum.
This was my first return to the Smithsonian subway station since I received letters from both the Smithsonian and the Department of the Interior saying that my activities were protected by the First Amendment. A self-described paranoid depressed man at the subway station asked for prayer for himself and his family for healing and resolution of many issues. He would not give a name, but said that “God knows who I am”. Please pray for him and others in these trying times. After distributing 300 fliers there, I retreated to a shadier area near the Natural History museum. Interestingly, many birds and a squirrel decided to hang out close to my feet and caused several children to get excited. Hopefully more families took fliers, though at the time I did not look for a correlation. All in all 800 fliers were distributed. Please pray that The Holy Spirit will bless there seeds and use them to expand His kingdom..
The incident previously reported as “A Regular Weekend on the Washington DC Mall”, during which a Park Police officer challenged my right to distribute religious flyers without a permit, has been resolved! An official Letter from US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks clears up the situation (I redacted the name of the officer involved from the document.) This, along with the previous letter from Smithsonian Institution Office of the General Counsel provides Apple of His Eye with clear and reasonable guidelines for our mission on the National Mall from both authorities who have jurisdiction. The bottom line is that distribution of tracts is allowed within some basic common sense parameters without obtaining an official permit. The constitution is still valid and followers of Y’shua are able to share their beliefs freely in public places in the Nation’s Capital!
Please consider participating in this effort, by prayer, by contribution, or by direct participation in our outreach efforts, on the Mall, in Baltimore, or elsewhere
I just spent the weekend with 450 missional minded Missouri Synod Lutherans from the Southeastern District in Richmond Va. The conference was all about reaching out to those who do not know Y’shua as their Messiah. The theme of the conference was Living Letters. Redgie McNeal was the speaker.
I was privileged to give two presentations entitled Letters on the Mall. I showed slides (pictures that have been published here) that told the story of how I got involved in this mission and what has been going on this year. I also gave a presentation on why it is important to reach out, not only to all in general but also to Jewish people in particular. A total of around 50 people attended. Some of them signed up to continue to receive information about the mission, two approached me and said that they planned to join me in the future. Please pray that the Lord will create a heart for His people in many. Please pray for workers in the field.
2 Corinthians
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
With the mercury topping 100 degrees without considering the heat index, I decided that today would be a good day to revisit the nearest Messianic congregation.
Ohev Yisrael is located on the Fairfax County Parkway, between Route 1 and Springfield. From the outside it looks like a typical light industrial building. Inside it is a vibrant Messianic congregation. This congregation has a real underlying sense of the importance of family and faith family. Their vision is to provide a congregational home for Jewish believers in Y’shua and for believing Gentiles called to serve Messiah within the Messianic Jewish community.
Today James was having his Bar Mitzvah. Please pray that the Lord will bless him as he enters this new phase of his life.
After the service everyone shared a meal and enjoyed the time of fellowship. I spoke with their Rabbi, Michael Rudolph, who has a heart for relational evangelism and a desire to support people with Jewish backgrounds who wish to maintain that tradition within the body of a Christian church. Their web site is www.ohevyisrael.org
This blog is dedicated to Apple of His Eye in the DC - Northern Virginia - and Maryland suburban areas. We are a Recognized Service Organization of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod . We are a group of both Jewish and Gentile believers who take respectful training and outreach seriously. If you would like to learn more about AOHE in this area, please contact me - jerry@aohe-dc.org. If you would like to find out more about the AOHE organization in general, please see the central web site at www.appleofhiseye.org, or contact our founder, Steve Cohen - stevecohen@appleofhiseye.org, directly.
