The following is a letter I received from a Christian “friend” in Israel who has asked to remain unnamed. I thought some of you might be interested in some of the practical things that go into the preparations for Passover in Israel.
Shalom!!
Happy Holiday! “Hag Sameach” literally means ‘holiday happy’ in Hebrew.
Even though Pasach (Passover) doesn’t start until the Eve of March 30th, the main greeting here in Israel now is “Hag Sameach.” Today, as I was at the grocery store, I could see the shelves being emptied where the things with ‘leven’ used to be. They let the things sell out and will not buy anything with leven in it until after Pasach. So I could not buy my soy milk today; they are already out. Anyway, everyone is preparing, cleaning their homes (probably where ‘Spring Cleaning’ came from) and washing their cars. The price to wash your car is now 50 shekels instead of 40 shekels. $2.90 more because of the holiday. I found out when I washed my car today!
It’s an exciting time to be in Israel!
Also, Christians in the ‘Holy Land’ and from around the world will be celebrating Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. I took (a) picture on a Palm Sunday where people were celebrating by waving Palm branches and singing in their own languages as they walked the path Jesus (Yeshua) took as He rode the donkey into Jerusalem.
May our Lord bless you as you remember His love for you during this amazing season. “Hag Sameach” Hoping you have a blessed holiday!
Nisan, the first month on the Jewish calendar (according to the Torah), coincides with March-April on the civil calendar, which marks the beginning of the spring months. On the first day of Nisan, God instructed Moses, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months, the first of the month of the year” (Exodus 12:2).
This month we celebrate the 8-day holiday of Passover, from the 15th through the 22nd of Nisan. It commemorates the Jewish people’s miraculous redemption from slavery in Egypt, and the birth of the Jewish nation. We will not see a year change for the Hebrew calendar until September 10th 2018, 1 Tishrei 5779, the Rabbinical New Year.
In Israel everyone is preparing for the coming celebrations, it is during this time that the Jewish people are looking to God and remembering His blessings. He brought His people from slavery to their homeland, where He will be glorified. This is a wonderful time for us to be praying for the Jewish people to come to know His love for them and for us to seek His blessings in our own lives.
Shana Tovah (Have a Good Year)
My comment:
Some of you will be waving palm branches this Sunday as a reminder of our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem. Christians remember the resurrection on a daily basis but it is important to know about the last week of Jesus’ journey here on Earth. Each of the gospels spend quite an amount of time on it so it must be of great value.
All Christians should be praying for the peace of Israel. In the past five days:
A Muslim resident plowed into a group of soldiers, killing two and critically injuring two others.
A 32-year-old father of four who worked as a security guard at an excavation site in the Old City, succumbed to multiple stab wounds to his torso.
The IDF destroyed two terrorist tunnels leading from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Netanyahu said, “The time has come for the International Community to realize that the financial aid given to Hamas is being used underground.” The people continue to suffer in the Gaza Strip due to lack of medical aid, electricity and water, which their Government is expected to supply.
An Israeli man was injured after he accidentally entered a Palestinian Authority-controlled town near Beitar Illit south of Jerusalem. The man, who was driving on a motorcycle, took the wrong exit, and found himself in the Palestinian town. He was attacked by rock-throwing terrorists and suffered a head injury. IDF forces were dispatched to the scene and transported him to the hospital.
There are, of course, larger forces at work plotting the destruction of the tiny little nation that God has an everlasting covenant with. Jews continue to return to the land in spite of the dangers they face from surrounding nations.
It is amazing to watch.
One thing is clear; Israel will never be destroyed. It is one thing you can take to the bank. Uh..I’m not so sure about how secure that is these days though.
Chris Reimers
*English Haggadah Text with Instructional Guide
Posted by Chris 
Wings of the Wind 
What mean these stones?
June 1, 2018A Sermon by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (An excerpt)
Let me put it to you like this. Christianity is not a philosophy. What is a philosophy? Well, a philosophy is made up of ideas put forward by men, in an attempt to try to understand life and our problems and how to deal with them and how to solve them. It is a matter of ideas, of thoughts and of teachings. My point is that while there is obviously a teaching and a doctrine which is a vital part of Christianity, that is not the first thing. What differentiates this is that it is first and foremost a record of historical events and historical facts. What mean these stones outside Gilgal? All that they mean is that certain things happened to these people-history. Let us be clear about this. There are so many people today who talk about the Christian attitude-towards war and peace, a Christian attitude towards education, a Christian attitude towards art, drama and literature. Now all that tends to turn it into a philosophy, into a teaching, into a theory, into a point of view. But that is really not to be true to our position. So Christianity, we must remember, is not one of a number of theories and ideas and philosophies with respect to life. It is quite unique because it is teaching which is based upon history.
I can go further and I can say this. That this is the thing that differentiates the Christian faith from religion-from any kind of religion. You take these religions that people, some of them, are turning to at the present time. Buddhism or Confucianism or Hinduism, or any one of these ‘isms’. What are they? Well, they are all something invented by men. They are all teachings. They involve a kind of worship, but they are not based upon facts and upon events. They are all based upon ideas-and they are ideas that are supposed to lead you and to help you to arrive at the particular deity that you want to worship.
Now here again, you see, our Christian faith is entirely different. It calls attention to facts. And that is why this building in a sense is going to do exactly the same as the bread and the wine do in a communion service. They again are calling attention to facts. So, we must start with this all important matter-this principle-and realise that it is vital to our whole situation. The uniqueness of the Christian faith depends upon a series of historical facts and events and the teaching which results from them.
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It is probably not altogether right to excerpt from one of the greats, though I think the good Doctor would be happy with my reasoning here. How many were saying in 1977, when the sermon was given, that the Bible was a good book but that much of it consisted of “meaningful fables” and “nice stories” and that its historicity was in serious question? This type of liberal Christianity, already quite popular then, was something that Martyn Lloyd-Jones abhorred. How much more are the historical parts of the Bible under attack today? Yes, parts of the scriptures are beautiful poetry and some are eschatological wonders. But there are the parts that, until the past few centuries, were always considered history and still are by men in agreement with Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Remarkably, currently and in the recent past, men are calling what has always been considered history poetry or allegory. There is the “Documentary Hypothesis” and a myriad of similar criticisms which weaken the inspired intentions of the text. Some go so far as to question the miracles.
I admire men like David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Walter Martin, and Charles H. Spurgeon and I agree with them. All great scholars, they upheld the Bible as the inspired word of God in times of question. We are living in times when many consider the Bible as just another book on the shelf. In their time, these great men were astonished that anyone could have such an opinion and if any were with us today I think they would receive more mocking than they did in their day and would respond no differently than when they were alive.
This is a sermon that needs to be heard more today than ever. I am including a link to the text of this sermon and another to the recording of the actual sermon. Either would be more than worth your time.
Chris Reimers
COMPLETE TEXT OF “WHAT MEAN THESE STONES?”
A RECORDING OF THIS EXACT SERMON BY Dr D Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Preached at West Street Baptist Church; Crewe; in 1977.)
A sermon WITH THE SAME TITLE was preached at Newport; South Wales; in 1977. Martyn Lloyd-Jones often used this text at the opening of new churches. It was on this text that he last preached at the opening of Barcombe Baptist Chapel in 1980.
MEET DR. LLOYD JONES (INTERVIEW)
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