Thanksgiving, A Bitter Sweet Time

Thanksgiving, an American holiday, is a time of joy and thanks for many, but a time of sorrow for others.  To numerous modern-day Americans (especially among the religious community) it is a time of giving thanks to God for all the blessings in their lives.  On the contrary, for some Native Americans it is a time of bitterness and sadness in remembrance of the genocide of their people/lifestyle by the hands of Europeans who took this land and eventually made it into: "the United States of America."  Some choose not to celebrate this day because they feel it is a dishonor to their ancestors, while others have moved forward and see it as a time of unification.  There have been many tragedies in the history of the United States, but it is also true that beauty can rise from ashes!  Many of us would not be here or alive today if not for the grueling history of our ancestors.  Despite a rough history, we have a lot to be thankful for today.

Many historians have concluded that the festival of Thanksgiving is rooted in the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), a time of harvest and giving joyous thanks to God.  Many of the pilgrims who came to this land were devout Puritans who saw themselves as the "New Israel" that observed the Jews of Holland celebrating Sukkot.  What later became the "United States of America" was seen as a "promised land" to their pilgrimage, a "holy mission," and an Exodus-like event.  Of course, the dreadful pillage and slaughter upon this land was NOT something commanded by God, nor is this land a replacement to the land of Israel where God placed His Name, none the less, this mission was called: "Manifest Destiny."

Those who choose to celebrate this American Holiday have a great opportunity to join together with their friends, family and loved ones for a big meal and celebration.  It is a Holiday where families that are split in faith can share a common Holiday together.  Messianic-believers celebrate God's Holy Days, the Biblical feasts, but stay away from Holidays rooted in paganism such as Christmas and Easter--- the holidays that most of the world celebrates.  Thanksgiving is an American holiday rooted in a Biblical Holy Day, rather than paganism.  What better time is there to get everyone together for a meal than this?

"I will praise the Name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving!" (Psalm 69:30)

"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms!" (Psalm 95:2)

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name!" (Psalm 100:4)

The Missin Ayin

The Hebrew letter "Ayin" represents an eye, also meaning "vision" or "to see."  The name Yeshua has an Ayin at the end of it (yod-shin-vav-ayin).  Unbelieving Jews who reject Yeshua of Nazareth as the Messiah (ha'Mashiach) commonly spell his name as "Yeshu" with no Ayin at the end of his name (yod-shin-vav) --- making the Ayin missing from the common Jewish name.  I believe that there is a spiritual lesson to this; they have eyes but cannot see.  It is a spiritual blindness on Israel spoken of by the Prophet Yesha'yahu(Isaiah) in the book of Yesha'yahu(Isaiah) chapter 53.  Their is an irony that those who do not see him as being the Messiah have omitted the Ayin from his name.  Can you see it?

 

Abortion Survivor Speaks Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOWMmx6eBjU

The murder of babies and child sacrifice has occurred for thousands of years from many groups of people including the ancient Canaanites.  In modern days babies are being killed through the act of abortion, and there are babies that actually survive the brutality of abortion.  For 18 hours Gianna Jessen was burned alive in her mother’s womb from a saline abortion at a Planned Parenthood Clinic. She has miraculously survived and speaks up. The link above is her speaking at the Parliament House in Australia.

Yemenite Hebrew Language

Yemenite Hebrew has been extensively studied by scholars, many believing that Yemenite Hebrew contains the most ancient phonetic and grammatical features of Hebrew. This assessment was also stated by: Judaeo-Yemenite Studies - Proceedings of the Second International Congress, Ephraim Isaac & Yosef Tobi, Princeton University. Scholarly research suggests that Yemenite Hebrew is one of the closest forms of Hebrew to how it was spoken in ancient times. This is evidenced in part by the fact that Yemenite Hebrew preserves a separate sound for every consonant except for sāmeḵ (ס) and śīn (שׂ‎), which are both pronounced "s."  These consonant sounds had already merged in ancient times. The Yemenites have gained much praise in the Jewish community because of their strick application of laws of grammar, not compromising on their language.

While some scholars believe that the phonology on Yemenite Hebrew may have possibly been influenced by Yemeni Arabic, other scholors and rabbis, including Rabbi Yosf Qafih and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, hold the widely accepted view that Yemenite Hebrew was not influenced by Yemeni Arabic and that there is evidence that shows that this form of Hebrew more likely influenced Yemeni Arabic than the other way around. This Yemenite Arabic was also spoken by Yemenite Jews but is very distinct from the liturgical Hebrew and the conversational Hebrew of their communities. Among various other things, Rabbi Qafih notes that the Yemenite Jews spoke Arabic with a distinct Jewish flavor, inclusive of pronouncing many Arabic words with vowels foreign to the Arabic language, for example, the Qamats ( קָמַץ) and Tseri (צֵירִי‎). This can suggest that Yemenite Hebrew was not only uninfluenced by Arabic, but it influenced the pronunciation of Arabic by the Jews because of their unwavering stickness to Hebrew grammar and language.