Shalom Friends! We were greeted by a camel this morning at the marketplace! It was wearing a sign against the Messianic Jews and surrounded by orthodox Jews. Because it was Christmas, they set up two tables and had more than the usual complement of demonstrators. They came early before we set up tables for the clothing distribution. They displayed their posters and materials with their printed lies about us and did more than the usual insults against Y’shua and harassments against us.

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Eddie and I, Rebeka, J* and our tourist friend from Germany manned the shop this morning. Eddie played his keyboard and Rebeka her guitar and we sang praises to our Lord and Savior in between the visitors and clothing distribution.

Outside, the Haredim had their megaphone and played Jewish music so loud it could be heard inside the shop. Then came the city officials and began shoving our tables and chairs and told us to move them. They didn’t want the domino and chess players playing out in the courtyard and wrote out a citation against us, warning they will close our place down if we don’t keep the tables close to the building. When it is cold, the players move the tables into the sunshine in the usually empty courtyard area in the marketplace. So they made them move directly in front of the Haredim’s loudspeaker. Some of the players gave up and went home – the noise was too much for them. We complained to the police about the noise, but were told it was legal for them and they suggested that we play our own music outside. (We are not interested in raising the noise level further)

We have a meeting with the Mayor scheduled for Jan. 7, so will take the citation to him and see what can be worked out. Meanwhile, the other shops are allowed to put merchandise out in the passageways, but our players are not allowed to have tables. The Haredim are allowed to set up two tables and make all the noise they want without paying rent or getting permits. It is definitely harassment and it was done on Christmas.

In the midst of all this, a Bedouin lady was not feeling well, so we invited her inside and prayed for her healing in the Name of Y’shua and Jamana explained the gospel to her in Arabic. She was feeling much better when she left and was happy. Several others accepted literature.

We went out to lunch afterward and a patron in the restaurant saw Eddie’s shirt --“Jesus loves you”-- and approached us to wish us a Merry Christmas!

A number of incidents have happened in the past few weeks. The Haredim cut all the tires on Shimon’s van (Shimon is the leader of the Russian congregation) while he was in congregation. They came up on the property and looked in the windows and took pictures of the people inside the congregation. (They use these pictures to post around town to warn people of the “dangerous Christians”.) Rebeka and I were sitting outside the post office when one of them came up from behind and began shouting at us and when I began to get up and reached for the camera, he pushed me and the chair fell over. A man began shouting at him and he left us to go talk to him then he came back and began harassing us again, so the owner of the coffee shop called two men and they actually took the Haredi by the arms and escorted him away from us. I filed a complaint with the police.

Israeli Jews are in trouble in so many ways, spiritually, socially, physically, politically. The Lord is allowing them enough rope to hang themselves and when they are at the end of that rope – they will call upon Him to save them. Until then, there is not much we can do except to keep giving out the gospel and reaching out to the individuals who are looking for their Savior. Y’shua is their only hope! Anything else is just putting patches on a threadbare garment – it doesn’t work. One of the favorite things that well-meaning tourists do when they come to Israel is to quote verses from the prophets out of context. Using verses from the future Millennial Kingdom and trying to apply them now is not only wrong; it is a lie. Don’t try to comfort Israel without the gift of the gospel. So many Christians are afraid of offending the Jews that they go overboard trying to say nice things to them. All that is well and good, if it is true. The bottom line is they need to be saved and they need to hear about Y’shua. Every day we pass the cemeteries here and realize that most of those dead people are in hell and more are joining them everyday! Please do not comfort your Jewish friends to hell – give them the only gift that truly matters: Y’shua!

It is extremely disturbing to see what these corrupt Rabbis do in the name of God while they lead their people to hell and persecute the people of God. They are so given over to demons they no longer resemble human beings. They are not acting in ignorance or blindness – they know exactly what they are doing. Many of their followers are clueless, but the leaders know that Y’shua is the Messiah. The pressure is on – the average person is hungry spiritually. We have opposition and it is difficult, but we have the victory! We have the one and only Gift to share with them. God has given the Solution for all the problems that Israel faces. Pray that they turn to their own Savior and receive Him!