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• Economic Upheaval: Maxed Out
• The Fall Feasts: Yom Kippur -
• Religious Unity: Who Are They Praying To? -

Important News Headlines

Memory Verse of the Week

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THE FALL FEASTS: YOM KIPPUR -

"Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God."
- Leviticus 23:27-28

Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is perhaps the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Yom Kippur is observed on the 10th of Tishri. This year Yom Kippur will begin at sunset on September 21 and end at nightfall on September 22. Yom Kippur is considered the holiest and most solemn day of the year. It is a day of repentance and reconciliation. Yom Kippur is a Sabbath day. Therefore most Jews refrain from working and will attend synagogue services. It is also traditionally a day of fasting.

It was on this day - the only day - that the High Priest was able to enter the Holy of Holies, and then only after elaborate ceremonial washings, offerings, and associated rituals. This was also the day that two goats were selected, one for an offering and one as the "scapegoat." As many aspects of the feasts were prophetic, the scapegoat is also Messianic. The ceremonial acts that were to be carried out by the High Priest on Yom Kippur are described in Leviticus 16 (see also Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 23:27-31, 25:9; Numbers 29:7-11). Since the loss of the Temple in 70 A.D., the God-centered observances of the Torah have tragically been replaced with a man-centered, good works system of appeasement through prayer, charity, and penitence.

Yom Kippur traditionally ends with one long note of the Shofar, a musical instrument usually made from a ram's horn. The significance of the ram's horn is traditionally rooted in Genesis 22. Here God commands Abraham "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Abraham is called upon by God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, as a test of his faith. After God halts the sacrifice at the last minute, Abraham spies a ram trapped by his horns in a nearby thicket and offers the animal instead as a sacrifice.

It is interesting to note that the first instance in which the word "love" appears in scripture is when God commands Abraham to sacrifice "thine only son Issac, whom thou lovest." Compare the commandment God gave to Abraham with John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  Woven throughout the Old Testament feasts is the foreshadowing of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind. Those of us who have placed our trust in Jesus Christ are able to enter behind the veil and stand in the Holy of Holies. We have forgiveness because of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Please take a moment during this most holy of days to reflect on all of these things and to repent of any unconfessed sin in your life.

[Editor's Note: This is the second installment of a three part series on the fall feasts of Israel. Next week’s article will cover Succoth, otherwise known as the Feast of Tabernacles.]

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*** Nan's Corner***

Faith in the Night Seasons

God's will is perfect. Why then do we kick so hard against it? When good things happen we praise and glorify Him. When supposedly bad things happen we doubt God and quench His Spirit. Without clarity and understanding of His Will, life becomes a mystery in which we are seeminlgy thrown about by circumstances. God, however, has promised in His Word that His will is not to be a mystery to His own. He promises to reveal to us His wonder-filled life, crated before the foundations of the world. The classroom He often uses to teach us this lesson is called the "night season."

How do we continue to have faith in God when everything in our lives is crumbling apart? What is a "night season" and how can we experience real intimacy with God during a time like this? God knows that the only way we will ever attain imovable intimacy with Him is by depriving us of the "natural light" that we have always relied upon and teaching us to walk in naked and unshakeable faith. Through this book you will receive deeper insights into how much God loves you and wants to have an intimate relationship with you. You will also get a glimpse into your own underlying, and often hidden, self-centered ways while learning an laternate way to deal with them. Faith in the Night Seasons not only relates the personal story of Chuck and Nancy Missler's own night season, but also goes on to explain what we are to do if we find ourselves in similar circumstances.

RELIGIOUS UNITY: WHO ARE THEY PRAYING TO? -

After the Virginia Tech slayings, students of a variety of faiths gathered to mourn and pray for the fallen and their friends and families. Buddhists, Muslims, and a Catholic have gathered to pray over the wreckage of the MD-82 plane that crashed at Phuket, Thailand on Sunday. Last week, leaders from a spectrum of world religions gathered in Greenland to pray for the planet over global warming.

In light of the centuries of violence cause by religious disagreements, this ecumenical unity offers a comforting picture. Rather than burning each other at the stake or blowing each other up, people of differing faiths are increasingly willing to gather together and pray for a common goal.

That sounds so harmonious. So peaceful. So tolerant. If all faiths were equal and all spiritual paths ultimately led up the same mountain, such global unity would be a wonderful thing. But, if the people praying are invoking any other god than the true God, then what real good is accomplished? In fact, what spiritual battles rage unseen while the outwardly at-peace religious faithful make their petitions?

Michael Ramos-Lynch of The Brown Daily Herald argues that prayer is a good response to a tragedy like the murders at Virginia Tech. And it is. However, his reasoning is more feel-good than it is a champion for the power of God to affect human lives. Ramos-Lynch suggests:

The answer, Michael, is that prayer is far more than a means to find a human connection. Prayer is more than even a connection with the spiritual or holy. Prayer is a connection with God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and earth. Through prayer, we kneel in His throne room, souls bared before Him "with whom we have to do" (Heb. 4:13). Through the power of His Holy Spirit working in us, we partner with Him to accomplish His perfect will in our lives and the world around us.

If, however, we are not praying to the one true God, then we are guilty of breaking the First Commandment:

Prayer to any other god is not helpful or unifying and it cannot bring true healing or comfort. Prayer to any other god than to the True God is only a play for the Enemy of our souls.

In the end times, religious unity will be coerced, as all people, small and great, will be required to worship the Beast and his image (Rev. 13:8). Those who do not worship the Beast will be killed (Rev. 13:15).

In the meanwhile, we still have great religious liberty. Let's take advantage of the moments we have left, especially during times of tragedy. In the face of disaster, when even non-religious people are drawn to pray together, people are hungry for answers and comfort. There is a world desperate to hear about the hope that is within us - the hope of a true relationship with the God of the universe through His Son Jesus Christ. When things are hardest, let us not use 'religious unity' as a reason to shy away from sharing that hope with others.

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Israel Spots Nuclear Installations in Syria - September 18, 2007
Washington official says Israeli surveillance shows a possible Syrian nuclear installation. Israel believes that North Korea has been supplying Syria and Iran with nuclear materials. yNet

Russia Tests Superstrength Bomb - September 18, 2007
Russia has tested the world's most powerful vacuum bomb, which unleashes a destructive shockwave with the power of a nuclear blast, dubbing it the "father of all bombs". The bomb is the latest in a series of new Russian weapons. Reuters

Maryland Court Upholds Ban On Same-Sex Marriages - September 18, 2007
Maryland's highest court today upheld a state law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, ending a lawsuit filed by same-sex couples who claimed they were being denied equal protection under the law. AP

Forced Conversions a Growing Problem - September 18, 2007
Headlines this week reported that Nigsti Haile, a 33-year-old Christian woman, was tortured to death in Eritrea for refusing to recant her faith, and the European Center for Law and Justice is asking the United Nations to address what it described as the growing problem of forced religious conversions around the world. WND

US Confirms Israeli Air Strike on Syria - September 12, 2007
A US official has confirmed that Israeli warplanes carried out an air strike "deep inside" Syria, escalating tensions between the two countries. Telegraph

We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
Jeremiah 3:25 KJV