Merry Christmas 2016
Who is this? Who is this, so weak and helpless, child of lowly Hebrew maid, Rudely in a stable sheltered, coldly in a manger laid? ‘Tis the Lord of all creation, who this wondrous path hath trod; He is God from everlasting, and to everlasting God.* May your Christmas be filled with HOPE this year. We appreciate each of you, dear family and friends, and hope to see you in the New Year. Click here to read our 2016 Christmas letter and here for some stimulating thoughts about “season’s greetings.” *from an old Welsh Christmas...
Read MoreHanukkah-Christmas
This Christmas across the country there may be fewer Jewish people eating Chinese food and going to the movies because in 2016 Hanukkah and Christmas share the same weekend. The first night (Jewish holidays begin at sunset) of the Jewish festival of lights falls on Christmas Eve and the first day lands on Christmas. The full dates for Hanukkah 2016 are the evening of Dec. 24 to the evening of Jan. 1. Some families will surely retain some of the modern tradition of consuming Asian-American cuisine and a film, one born of having a day off when most other businesses are closed. But this time,...
Read MorePray with them 2016
Prayer for the Persecuted Church Today, November 6, is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. As reported on World Help’s Blog, This is no imaginary suffering. Believers worldwide are risking everything—even their lives—for the sake of the Gospel. In China, they face torture and imprisonment for gathering to worship in secret. In North Korea, they are sent to concentration camps for owning a Bible. In India, their churches are burned to the ground and their women raped and tortured. In the Central African Republic, their businesses are destroyed and their homes...
Read MoreThe gospel according to whom?
What does Jesus think? Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor, has recently written a challenging online essay titled “The guilt-free gospel of Donald Trump” that should stimulate a lot of thought and discussion in the evangelical community. The closest thing I can find to this on the other ticket’s side of the campaign is an article the September issue of America – The National Catholic Review by Michael O’Loughlin titled “The Private Faith Life of Hillary Clinton” that is remarkably tempered, given Hillary’s staunchly anti-Catholic views on...
Read MoreJewish New Year
Rosh Hashanah or in Hebrew ראש השנה, which literally means “head of the year,” is celebrated in 2016 from sundown on October 2 to nightfall on October 4. The Hebrew date for Rosh Hashanah is 1 Tishrei 5777. The holiday actually takes place on the first two days of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which is the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar. This is because Rosh Hashanah, one of four new years in the Jewish year, is considered the new year of people, animals and legal contracts. In the Jewish oral tradition, Rosh Hashanah marks the completion of the creation of the world. Rosh...
Read MoreBeverley visiting
For over 30 years His Branches has been encouraging and helping support a Canadian woman, Beverley Timgren, who has been a faithful and quiet witness to the love and resurrection power of Jesus in the Middle East for decades. Dr. Bill first met Beverley at a celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem sponsored by the International Christian Embassy-Jerusalem (ICEJ) in 1982. She was in the process of being called as a dental hygienist to serve the people of war-torn South Lebanon at the very time we were discovering that the Lord wanted our ministry to be involved in the same area....
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