Dear friends and supporters,

As I write this most of the world is glued to their TV’s and radios listening to the news of the bombing in London. People are asking, “When will this all end?” Fingers are being pointed and accusations leveled. But I want to alert you to what is happening to our brothers and sisters in the Lord in Arad, Israel. Some of you are already aware of the attacks and this will be an update. For others this may be new information. I pray that it will cause us all to be more alert in our prayers.

Persecution of Christians is increasing all over the world, so what is happening in Israel barely hits the news, if at all. People in our churches yawn when they hear of Christians being crucified in Sudan, or imprisoned in some of the former Soviet republics or China. So far, only one Internet news agency that I have found has carried any information about the plight of believers in Israel. I am aware of only one publication outside of Israel to carry information, a Messianic newspaper.

Currently, most of the open persecution in Israel is in the city of Arad, between Beersheva and the Dad Sea in the northern Negev. The current city of Arad is located 6.2 miles from the ancient site of a city by the same name. In the Bible the city is mentioned several times, always negatively. During Temple times, a second, false temple was built there where priests were trained to conduct sacrifices in Jerusalem.

In the past few years a group of Ultra-Orthodox Jews known as Hassidei Gur have moved into the modern city of Arad in large numbers. They openly state that they are there to take over and kick everyone else out. They have begun with the believers. They openly tell the believers that they will carry them out in coffins if they refuse to leave. They have also openly told the Bedouins that they must leave.

Meanwhile, the believers in the town grew. They began to become more and more visible. Eddie and Lura Beckford opened The King’s Men Chess Club in an almost empty shopping center as an outreach, especially to the local Russians who love to play chess and dominos. As a result of their presence and the traffic they developed, businesses began to open in most of the other store spaces in the shopping center. The owners love Eddie and Lura and the chess club. The place has come alive. But the Hassidei Gur became alarmed. People would go there to play chess, but not to the synagogue. In January of this year the Hassidei Gur opened a counter chess club, which was visited only on opening day and when they offered cash prizes for tournaments. That club has since closed due to lack of participants, while the King’s Men Chess Club flourishes.

The Hassidei Gur began first to picket in front of Eddie’s and Lura’s home, slash their tires, etc. Then they expanded to other homes as they learned who was a believer. They soon discovered a ladies’ prayer meeting on Wednesday mornings in the apt. of Rebekah Frei and began to picket and scream loudly for an hour or more during the prayer time. The neighbors, who have become much more friendly to the believers and angry with the demonstrators, have continuously called the police.

In January I led a team of 7 for a ministry trip to Arad to work with Eddie and Lura. The house was picketed while we were there. Our son, videoed the event.

In March the demonstrators learned where the local pastor, Yakim Figueras, and his family live and began to demonstrate there on Tuesday mornings, even jumping up and down on his car. For about an hour or so they yell curses at the top of their lungs, disturbing the whole neighborhood and terrorizing the children as well as the adults.

When this group discovers believers they put pressure on employers to fire them and landlords to evict them. We personally know people that this has happened to. We have helped some of the believers financially who have lost their jobs or whose lives have been threatened.

On May 20^th, at a fellowship dinner of the believers in the town, A* was standing next to me when her life was threatened. (All fellowship dinners are held outdoors, even in winter. This is the desert.) Later that evening when A* tried to leave, she was surrounded and beaten. She was then told that soon she would be carried out of town in a coffin.

S* and his former pastor, who now lives in another town, were surrounded by Hassidei Gur and beaten with two rabbis watching. Read the account of Stephen in Acts 7:52-8-1 and you will have the exact picture. As a result S* has no teeth today and can only get menial work. Recently he told me that the beating was a blessing.

Yakim is the pastor of the Hebrew-speaking congregation. Debbie is his wonderful wife and the pianist of the congregation. The demonstrators appear every Tuesday morning in front of their house. When Yakim complained to the police, even showing them video footage, they responded by issuing a restraining order against both Yakim and the main demonstrator, Mendel, to not go against each other for 30 days. Mendel broke the order the next day. When Yakim called the police, they did nothing.

Eddie and Lura, their names appear frequently in Israeli newspapers. This past May posters appeared around town with their photos warning people in Hebrew and Russian to beware of them. They recently moved into a new house and the police gave the datim (Hebrew word for Hassidic Jews) the new address. But when Eddie and Lura go to the police for names and addresses of their persecutors, they are refused. The information on attacks on them fill several file drawers in the police station in Arad and I cannot begin to give details here, lest I write a book that would rival Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” in size.

In the Bible we read about the Jewish supreme court, called the Sanhedrin. Well, in January 2005 the Hassidei Gur and other Ultra-Orthodox sects re-established the Sanhedrin, which hasn’t met in 1,600 years. Recently they issued an edict that states that Arad is to become a pure city for the training of priests to conduct sacrifices. A school for this purpose has already been built. The campaign to get rid of all “impure” people has begun—with the believers and those evicted from their homes when the group moved into town.

Several events have recently taken place or are now taking place that bring these groups together with a fever pitch for their cause. They researched and found (from their group, of course) a man whom they claim is a direct descendant from King David with an all male line and have declared him to be the King of Israel. An attempt is being made to breed a red heifer, which is needed to begin the sacrifices again. They have come within 3-4 white hairs of accomplishing this. An archeologist by the name of Vendyl Jones (the real Indiana Jones) has discovered the storage place for a number of items from the first Temple, including incense and the ingredients for making it, holy anointing oil and others. He has promised to deliver the Ark of the Covenant by August 13^th this year. He believes that in the same cave with the ark is the Tabernacle of Moses, the ashes of the last red heifer sacrificed and the priestly garments. The Temple doesn’t have to be built in order to begin the sacrifices, as this was never the case in history. All Temple worship began at Gilgal, which is believed to have now been located, including the exact place where the Tabernacle once stood.

With all this, it is no wonder that the Hassidei Gur and their ilk feel the need to train priests in conducting sacrifices NOW.