Remembering Oct. 7, 2023 

     "October 7 is with us all the time," says a member of Israel's management team in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz, where 90 percent of residents have made a quiet return. The agricultural community was founded in 1951. 

     "Not everyone is willing to risk living so close to Hamas-ruled territory. Since the early 2000s, Nahal Oz suffered relentless mortar fire and rocket attacks from Gaza. When bomb warnings would sound, residents had seconds to reach shelter. They saw Hamas members training on the other side, heard them digging tunnels under their homes, and watched incendiary balloons devastate their crops. 

 Excuse me. The government did nothing?

     "The October 7 surprise attack left more than 1,200 people dead and others carried away. The Trump administration's Board of Peace gives hope of some security. The board will oversee Gaza reconstruction and civil administration, yet to go beyond rhetoric. 

     "The challenge for a new generation is believing that Gaza can look different from its past. Israel's early leaders expected the borders would grow safer over time, and they believed relations with their neighbors would normalize. But the notion that Jewish people are secure in their ancient homeland was shattered. 

     "Israel's government wants to show security is possible. It began plans to rebuild two weeks after the incident. Since then, it has renovated buildings and rebuilt infrastructure. The region now has 3,000 more residents than before and plans to double the population by 2033.

     "Gilad Yavetz, a renewable energy businessman, believes Nahal Oz could become a showcase for agricultural technology. His 23-year-old son, Yiftach, led the force that confronted the terrorists on Oct. 7, preventing a larger massacre. Yiftach died during the battle. His father feels a duty to strengthen the community his son died to protect. 'My son helped save 400 people. I want to follow his path.'"

 WORLD magazine

Are You a New Creature?                     - a message from our pastor -

     "There is our linage, our DNA, our education, our good deeds, our failures, our age, our appearance.

     "But, if we are children of Jesus Christ, we are new creatures. We are no longer primarily the above identities. We are not even primarily the product of our parents. 

     "In Christ, we are products of the Heavenly Father. 

     "The late Smith Wigglesworth, plumber turned preacher, said: "I am a thousand times bigger on the inside than I am on the outside." Why so? Because the Spirit of God dwells within us. 

     "Many or most of us don't talk to ourselves like that. We look in the mirror and rehearse the same old lines. 

     "If we have made the confession to God (seriously) He has placed his Spirit in us. We are worth more than we imagine. We are a thousand times larger on the inside than we are on the outside." 

  Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. - 1 John 4:4. 

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Proverbs

     How to better understand ourselves and others, our weaknesses and strengths. 

     Most of the book of Proverbs was written by King David's son and successor, Solomon. In chapter 1:2-7 Solomon promotes wisdom and understanding in behavior, righteousness, justice and equity. Simple people can be prudent; youth can gain knowledge and discretion, and the wise might become wiser. Following are words in chapters 1and 2:

            Wisdom                                        Foolish

             insight                                       rush into sin   

          discipline                                         wayward

           discretion                                  love simple ways  

          discerning                                          plunder

      fear of the Lord                                 ill gotten gain 

         knowledge                                         mockery 

            listen                                             schemes 

          insight                                            complacent     

        blameless                                          dark ways  

          faithful                                              devious  

      fair and just                                         seductive

          love                                                 unfaithful

     straight paths                                    paths to the dead

 Reality Crisis

     Columnist Andree Seu Peterson wrote a zinger in WORLD magazine under the subhead, "What happens when we can no longer trust everything we see?" 

     After five long paragraphs about questionable information in our world, she turns to the Bible.

     "Psalm 119. Its 22 stanzas correspond to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza has eight verses, all starting with the same letter. Key words are repeated throughout, hinting at a message in a pattern of eight. In Isaiah, a sequence of thoughts is presented and then repeated in reverse order, with a third idea inserted in the middle, such that the middle idea is emphasized by virtue of its position." 

     "The Bible is a living code. We have now entered the rarefied realm of 'gematria,' secret patterns of numerical values of Hebrew letters and meaningful repetitions of 7s, 4s, and 40s, not only in the literary content but in the frequency of words and the lengths of sections."

     Peterson touches on nature's pattern of numbers, and biology. Then to Scripture: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!" - Romans 11:33 

     She concludes: "The Word of God is a light in a dark place. We always said that was true. And now, more than ever before, the darker it becomes the brighter His Word shines."

Money Money 

     We don't particularly care to write about money, but it's a subject most people deal with. 

     On the positive side, some 25% of American adults want to start investing in the stock market this year. Younger adults are leading the way. Some 42% of those aged 18-29 are considering investing for the first time.  

     Younger adults have shifted from buying a starter home to investing in the stock market. The typical sale price for a smaller, more affordable starter home exceeded $260,000 last year, more than double the 2015 price of $110,000.

     Meanwhile, consumer use of debt for necessities, instead of discretionary spending, reached an all-time high last year. Total American household debt is nearly $19 trillion, and a record number of consumers lack enough money to repay debts. 

     Analysts expect the trend to continue this year. Almost 30% have more credit-card debt than emergency savings. Paying down credit-card debt and increasing emergency savings is difficult. 

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Jesus said:

Matthew 5:44, 45 - But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  

Mark 8:34-38 - If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?  If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. 

Luke 8:16-18 - No one lights a lamp and hides it. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known. Therefore, consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.  

John 4:23-24 - Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth. 

 

A Story of Friendship  

     We know about Mark Twain (not his real name), a literary genius. And Ulysses S. Grant, the general who brought our Civil War to an end. 

     You may not know that Twain had failed investments and other personal loss. In 1884, Grant faced financial collapse due to a fraudulent business partner and a terminal diagnosis of throat cancer. 

     Would no one in North America help this man who - along with Lincoln - saved our Union? Mark Twain would. The two met at a Washington banquet. Twain's humor broke through Grant's reserved demeanor.

     Grant began to write his memoirs as a way to provide for his wife. Publishers offered modest terms, but Twain saw the literary value. He offered his new friend a more generous deal and took the book to market. As Grant labored through pain, Twain organized sales, recruiting agents and ensuring the book reached a wide audience. 

     "The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant" became a triumph in literature and financially. Grant didn't see its impact, but his final effort proved as resolute as any campaign he had fought. 

     "Twain was known as a cynic, but he was a steadfast friend." 

                      Tomorrow: What did Jesus say?