Judge expected to rule in Bible verse banner suit

In the Lone Star state trouble is brewing. Again. It seems some cheerleaders are making signs with Bible quotes written on them like:

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

Who indeed is against them? Well, it seems that there is a group that wants America free from religion. The group, Freedom From Religion Foundation complained to the school district that the Kountze High School cheerleaders violated America’s First Amendment to its Constitution. This amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

The School District responded to the complaint by banning the signs. So, the cheerleaders sued, arguing that the ban violates their free speech rights, which are also guaranteed in the First Amendment. The Judge has allowed the cheerleaders to continue until he decides the case. The decision is expected today.

What struck me as fascinating is that this anti-religion group stated: “If the majority of the cheerleaders were atheists, would a court support their ‘right’ to hold up a banner insulting Christianity or all believers?”

Wait just minute. There’s a name for this type of argument. It’s a typical argument used by too many these days. It’s saying that apples are the same as oranges. I mean, really, are the cheerleaders insulting non-believers? No. But here’s the rub. There are people who will condemn the right of Christians to speak freely, while they continue to speak their way in public and in schools. [Evolution is a theory. It is one of many theories. But the schools teach it like it was Truth.]

And the cheerleaders didn’t even use the Name of our Lord. Oh, they wrote G-d with a capital letter. That’s the same thing, isn’t it? They’d have been heralded in the media if they’d just said something like, “Who can be against us if our higher power is for us?” But too often Christians, if not outrightly banned, are harrassed and jeered for their faith.

We live among a people of unclean lips. We live in a generation that has no regard for Messiah Y’shuaJesus. They speak about the mother earth, celebrate holidays like the upcoming satanic halloween [I will not capitalize either word, and yes, they go together.]. And cheerleaders in Austin, Texas, are banned from signs that use the word G-d. What would have happened if they’d have said “JESUS” in a sign? Would they have been arrested for a hate crime? [Oh, that’s right, America has not yet adopted such facist methods of control.]

But you know where all this is going, right? It is headed for a time when the world says conflict will end if we just have a world government and a world religion. Confict will end when those Jesus freaks stop their rantings and get with the program. Even the big-box churches are starting to come around and incorporate Eastern-style thought into their teachings. Meditation. Inviting New Age speakers to be on the same platform as their so-called preachers. I mean, isn’t Buddha a brother and equal to Y’shuaJesus, as is Mohammad. All propets right?

Yup, freedom of speech only applies to non-Believers. They won’t use the Name of the Lord Y’shuaJesus. Well, actually, often they do, but it is in vain. Hum. Isn’t that “hate speech” in itself?

I rant. Sorry. Check out the full article at CNSNews.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Asia Bibi; In Prison 1217 Days so far

Asia Bibi, a 37-year-old Pakistani woman from the village of Ittanwali, was arrested by police on Friday, June 19, 2009. Asia (also called Asia Noreen) is the wife of 50-year-old Ashiq Masih, and their family is one of only three Christian families in a village of 1,500 families.

Many of the local women, including Asia, work on the farm of Muslim landowner Muhammad Idrees. During their work, many of the Muslim women have pressured Asia to renounce Christianity and accept Islam. In June, the pressure became especially strong.

On Friday, June 19, there was an intense discussion among the women about their faith. The Muslim women told Asia about Islam. Asia responded by telling them about her faith in Christ. Asia told the Muslim women Christ had died on the cross for sins, then asked them what Mohammad had done for them, according to VOM sources. She told them Jesus is alive, but Mohammad is dead. “Our Christ is the true prophet of God,” she reportedly told them, “and yours is not true.”

Upon hearing this, the Muslim women became angry and began to beat Asia. Then some men took her and locked her in a room. They announced from the mosque loudspeakers that she would be punished by having her face blackened and being paraded through the village on a donkey. Local Christians informed the police, who took Asia into custody before the Muslims could carry out their plan. She was held at the police station in Nankana city. Christians there urged the police not to file blasphemy charges, but police claimed they were under pressure from local Muslim leaders.

Seventeen months after Asia’s arrest, she was convicted of violating subsection C of Pakistan’s 295 blasphemy law – blasphemy against the prophet Muhammad – and was sentenced to death. No Christian in Pakistan has ever been executed under the blasphemy law, but in several cases,extremists have murdered Christians after their release from prison. Asia’s conviction and death sentence have brought international attention to the country’s blasphemy laws. Christians have called for Asia’s release and for a repeal of the laws, while extremists in Pakistan continue to demand that she be executed.

The Voice of the Martyrs urges Christians around the world to pray for Asia Bibi and her family.

Prison is Tough, Even for the Most Faithful

In April, Asia was going through a rough time. She had to celebrate yet another Easter away from her family. She told her husband, Ashiq, “I am fine, but to be alone and away from my family is frustrating to me. I want to run away from this imprisonment.”

Ashiq encouraged her, and said, “You have been steadfast in your faith so far; be patient and trust in God. He will surely guide you.”

In June, Ashiq reported that Asia was feeling better. She said another group had brought her some food and clothes, and she was thankful for them and for all her prayer supporters.

Monthly Visit With Family

Imprisoned Christian Asia Bibi was visited by her husband, Ashiq, on March 6, 2012. When Asia inquired after her two young daughters, Ashiq told her that the children were healthy and doing well in school. She told him she was feeling discouraged about ever being released.

He said, “Yesterday when we had family prayer, I asked the children what they were praying for. They said, ‘We are praying for those people who are helping us and who are trying to release our Mama.’

At that moment, Ashiq “felt God’s presence, and he said to me, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am with you.'”

Courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs

Alireza Seyyedian

Alireza Seyyedian is a 37-year-old former Muslim who has been a Christian since 2006. Last year, security forces confiscated his computer during a raid on his apartment. Authorities then discovered video of Alireza’s baptism in Turkey on the computer. In December 2011 he was sentenced to six years in prison, for crimes against national security and propaganda against the regime.

The judge stated that since Alireza was baptized in Turkey, he was trying to express the lack of freedom in Iran and was therefore was propagating against the regime. He was also accused of holding regular meetings with former Muslims and distributing Bibles among youth. They also said he had communication with Zionist satellite TV channels such as Mohabat TV and Radio Mojde and shared worship hymns he had written with them. The verdict also falsely accused him of being a member of the Jesus Only cult.

On March 14, 2012, Alireza was caught seeking to flee Iran for Turkey. He was arrested and transported back to Tehran where he was imprisoned in Evin prison. He was put in Section 350 of the prison, which is where political prisoners are held. That part of the prison is run by VEVAK, the intelligence service that reports to Ayatollah Khameini and is beyond the control of Iran’s prison authorities. According to one report, the conditions of this section of the prison are unsanitary, and each cell is overcrowded with around 30 political prisoners.

Reposted from Voice of the Martyrs

Psalm 7 A model for us while in distress (part five)

Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous– you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends. I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High. From Psalm 7.

David finishes half his prayer in which he fled to G-d, came to grips with his enemies, and sorted through his lack of guilt for such response against him. Now turns David calls upon G-d to take action. “Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.” Without another breath, David declares his knowledge of G-d as judge, jury, and executioner.

David shows us that he knows G-d wants confession and repentance from the guilty. David also declares that those who do wrong, perish by their own doing, at their own hands. In the end those who do evil perish. Those who bow their knees to Y’shuaJesus will be with Him for eternity.

Psalm 7 provides a model for us in our prayers. It presupposes that, like David, we know G-d through Y’shuaJesus. That means that we understand our lives are to be as peaceful as possible, living like lambs. It also means that the one to whom we turn in times of distress, whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, is the same One to Whom David turned. We must be innocent, and we understand our righteousness comes from Y’shuaJesus. Finally, we call upon G-d to go forth in His anger as He deems necessary.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Psalm 7 A model for us while in distress (part four)

Save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. from Psalm 7

In the first post on this topic, I stated that David makes several points in his prayer (Psalm 7): We introduced the Psalm and spoke of the first point, that David declares that he takes refuge in G-d—he flees to G-d. Now lets take a look at the next three points in which David implores G-d to save him and points out from whom he should be saved. Then David declares his innocence from wrong doing. Without a breath, he continues with “Okay, IF I did something wrong, then let the enemy take my soul and my life.”

David states that he needs saving from all his pursuers, that he’ll be torn apart by them, and there is none to deliver. No one is available, so G-d must do it? Is that what he means? I think many are available, but David knows that only G-d CAN save, can deliver. In Psalm 7, David cried out to the LORD after someone spoke lies to the king, to destroy David’s relationship with the king. It was false witness, and now king Saul was after David. But David doesn’t specify a particular enemy, only saying “save me from all my pursuers.” His pursuers are defaming him, destroying his reputation. Others may be physically pursuing David to actually destroy his physical life. There is mention by David of the need to be saved, least his soul be torn apart. Spiritual warfare against David by evil in the spiritual realms? It sounds like it to me.

The title to these pages states that Psalm 7 is a model prayer for us while in distress. Many other psalms provide models for us, too. Many of the Psalms are songs of David. They are also our songs. We make them ours. They are the words for our mouthes that fit what we feel in our hearts, but can’t bring to our tongue. We don’t have to be hiding in a cave, along the Salt Sea (also know as the Dead Sea). We don’t have to be pursued by people with clubs and swords or perhaps rifles, either. We can be under a dark blanket of emotional torment that clouds our vision and tears at our inner person, our soul. We must allow ourselves to be like David, fleeing to Y’shuaJesus, taking refuge in Him. We must understand that He, and He alone, is able to save, to deliver. He has delivered us from the greatest evil of all—our spiritual death—we need faith to walk in that revelation.

David points out that he is guiltless of fault against those who pursue him. Y’shua pointed out that before we go into the House of the Lord to make sacrifice, if we find we have wronged someone, we need to leave and make amends. The Apostle Paul tells us we must “examine ourselves” so that we are pure before communion. When the Lord Y’shuaJesus died, and rose, our sin was forgiven. I think of Y’shuaJesus telling His followers who would be the chosen Apostles, to wash each other’s feet. Y’shuaJesus died to wash us clean, but occasionally we must examine ourselves and make amends with our brothers and sisters—washing our feet. We help ourselves, and we help each other in this washing.

In times of calamity, distress, we flee to Y’shuaJesus for refuge, because only He can save us. And we can ask if there is any thing we’ve done to bring this all on us. I think it takes courage and great strength, too, to come to the Lord in prayer saying, like David, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust.

Selah. We take a breath to consider these things.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Psalm 7 A model prayer for us while in distress (part three)

O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

“In You do I take refuge,” prays David. One commentator said the original meaning of the Hebrew for “take refuge” meant “flee to.” In danger, I’m sorry to say, my first thought is to flee from, to go anywhere that gets me out of danger. Isn’t that what fleeing is all about. Perhaps that is exactly what Elijah did. G-d tracked him down, led him to a mountain cave, and got him to the point He could finally whisper to him.

David’s attitude is much better. “He puts himself under God’s protection and flies to him for succour and shelter,” wrote Matthew Henry. “He pleads, his relation to God. “Thou art my God, and therefore whither else should I go but to thee? Thou art my God, and therefore my shield ([see also] Gen 15:1), my God, and therefore I am one of thy servants, who may expect to be protected.” His confidence in God: “Lord, save me, for I depend upon thee: In thee do I put my trust, and not in any arm of flesh.” Men of honour will not fail those that repose a trust in them, especially if they themselves have encouraged them to do so, which is our case.”

There are those saints today, brothers and sisters in Messiah Y’shuaJesus, that are in eminent physical danger. Pastors, ministers, brothers and sisters living in any of the 51 Gospel-restricted nations of the world are in danger. They are in danger if they assemble, if they speak of the LORD to one another, if the actually share the Gospel with someone. The rest of us may be, but most likely are not, in the line of fire—yet! It is coming, though. In whom will we trust? Is our pattern in times of distress, discord, to turn to a spouse, someone in our family, a close friend, or a paid therapist? Have we trained ourselves to flee from anything that discomforts us? When all else fails us, and no resolution is found, do we then come to G-d and say, “Hey, where are You, where were You?”

For any time of distress, whether or not it is spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical, there is a way that is better. There is David’s way. Flee to G-d! But to prepare for times that are truly evil, we must train ourselves to look at every moment of every day as an opportune time to flee to the Lord, to offer the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of thanksgiving. It is an attitude we do ourselves good to develop. Then, in time that are certain to come upon us, evil times, dangerous times, we will flee first to the Resurrected Messiah.

Praise Y’shuaJesus!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Psalm 7 – A model prayer for us while in distress (part one) (jonahzsong.wordpress.com)
Psalm 7 – A model prayer for us while in distress (part two) (jonahzsong.wordpress.com)

Psalm 7—A model prayer for us while in distress (part one)

David and Saul (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite. O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous– you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends. I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.
Psalm 7—ESV

David penned this song as a prayer to our G-d. According to Matthew Henry, David cried out these words in “a devout religious manner unto the Lord, concerning the words or affairs of Cush the Benjamite, that is, of Saul himself, whose barbarous usage of David bespoke him rather a Cushite, or Ethiopian, than a true-born Israelite. Or, more likely, it was some kinsman of Saul named Cush, who was an inveterate enemy to David, misrepresented him to Saul as a traitor, and (which was very needless) exasperated Saul against him, one of those children of men, children of Belial indeed, whom David complains of (1Sa_26:19), that made mischief between him and Saul.”

David makes several points in his prayer:

David declares that he takes refuge in G-d.
He implores G-d to save him and points out from whom he should be saved.
David then declares his innocence from wrongful doing in this particular instance.
He continues with “Okay, IF I did something wrong, then let the enemy take my soul and my life.”
Selah. David takes a breath. We take a breath to let it all soak in.
David then says “Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.”
Without another breath, David declares his knowledge of G-d as judge, jury, and executioner.
David shows us that he knows G-d awaits confession and repentance from the guilty.
He also declares that those who do wrongfully, perish by their own doing, at their own hands.
Finally, David wraps up his psaltry cry, saying: “I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.”

Selah.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Ezra’s Faith

Ezra 8:21—23
Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our G-d, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our G-d is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and implored our G-d for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

G-d heard the prayers of Ezra and the people who were traveling with him to Jerusalem from Persia. G-d extended His mercy toward them by covering their journey.

Some years ago an American traveler stood awaiting an Indian train that would take him north to the Nepalese border. As the sun set, he pulled out a copy of “Lonely Planet” guide book. He became alarmed at a short paragraph that described the train north upon which he was about to board. It said not to travel at night. Bandits were known to attack the train. He knew Americans were particularly vulnerable to such escapades. At that time, an American passport was worth 100,000 Rupees, he’d been told. He was concerned. He wondered if he should turn back, waiting until morning. He prayed. When finally the train arrived, he boarded it without delay.

G-d’s mercy extended to Ezra after He saw the fasting and heard the praying of Ezra and his company. G-d extended His grace to the American traveler. That traveler didn’t fast. Sure, he prayed. But only after he became concerned. G-d acted, not on the prayers themselves, but in His mercy, which He extends to whom He chooses, when He chooses, in the time He chooses. Additionally, it doesn’t seem to be based upon the righteousness of the recipient. Conversely, the lack of grace extended isn’t a product of righteousness or lack there of.

Pastor Jayasen died. Other pastors and ministerial workers throughout the world are persecuted. There are those we can agree that are truly wicked that seem to thrive. The wicked haven’t seen the wrath of G-d. Not yet, anyway! In the Psalms the cry is often put out to G-d that the righteous are persecuted and die, while G-d’s enemies seem to go free. Yet, what shall we make of Ezra’s statement to the Persian ruler? “The hand of our G-d is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” C.S. Lewis wrote about the belief in the after life, which I think has some guidance for us. “It is surly therefore, very possible that when G-d began to reveal Himself to men, to show them that He and nothing else is their true goal and the satisfaction of their needs, and that he has a claim upon them simply by being what He is, quite apart from anything He can bestow or deny, it may have been absolutely necessary that this revelation should not begin with any hint of future Beatitude or Perdition.” (from Reflections on the Psalms)

We are the clay, while G-d is the potter. All things work for the good. . . the Apostle Paul wrote. G-d sees beyond our day or week or month. G-d looks beyond our present time. He has a plan. Good thing, too. He is the Potter. We are the clay.

Also while we THINK the wicked thrive, they are only saved for a great wrath that will one day come to them. Perhaps G-d has completed what He wanted to do in Pastor Jayasen’s life. Perhaps the pot that our Lord was making was done. Pastor Jayasen is now with the Lord. The wicked have now another opportunity to come to know the Lord—before His wrath consumes them.

So, back to the American traveler on an Indian train in hostile territory heading north. After a couple short stops, an off-duty police officer boarded the train, sitting in the same car as the traveler. That traveler felt it a sign from G-d that G-d’s grace would be sufficient for his safe travel. And so it was, not just for that night, but for many, many days and nights afterward. G-d’s grace is still sufficient, operating in his life. Obviously, the Lord isn’t finished with him yet. The pot that he is, isn’t ready to put on the Heavenly shelf, so to speak. It’s still in production.

Hadassah (continued)

“When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry. . .” Esther 4:1 KJV

“. . .and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law–to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.” And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:7-14 ESV

Okay, so undoing Mordecai’s disobedience of the king, his not reverencing Haman, is now the responsibility of Hadassah? Oh, that’s right, we are not considering Mordecai to have disobeyed, but to simply have obeyed G-d. So it is G-d that has made a mess that Hadassah must risk her life to turn around, right? Why? Why ever would G-d cause a situation in which His own people would be put into harm’s way? As I see it, G-d’s people were already in harm’s way. And it was just a matter of time that something else would have triggered a massacre of His people. G-d foresaw it coming, prepared people in the right places. Look at what Mordecai tells Hadassah: “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

G-d is wise. We try. One thing I notice throughout the Bible is that G-d has the end in sight. He has a plan. And as rough as it is for me to take, G-d allows suffering if it produces what is necessary for G-d’s plan to succeed, for G-d to succeed. For if G-d succeeds, we succeed. He is our Victory. His Victory, is our victory. It can be no other way. We are too short-sighted. We haven’t the end in sight. We live too much in the present. Oh, sure, that’s what the New Age is all about—living in the present, not the past, not the future. And certainly, in some instances this may seem prudent. But we must have hope, and G-d’s Victory is our True Hope.

We must remember that in taking a look at various scriptures within the Book of Esther, or any Book of the Bible, it is easy to loose sight of the whole picture. Esther shows us there is persecution of those who would belief the One Lord, the One G-D. And we are shown that in the end, the Goodness of G-d prevails against His enemies. That’s right. Haman isn’t just the enemy of G-d’s people; Haman is the enemy of G-d. As I’ve said, and say again, G-d is Victorious. We are victorious in Him. Thank G-d for Y’shuaJesus, through Whom we come to G-d, the Father, and have right to be called Sons and Daughters of the Living, Holy G-d.

Still curious about connivance? Maybe next time. And remember the military academy cadet? Perhaps we shall discuss this event, too.

Until then, let us keep the Feast, and think of the Feast with Y’shua to come. Maranatha, Lord, Maranatha!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

The Feast of Purim; Sundown Tonight

“Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.” Esther 9:20-22

Home made Haman's ear (Photo credit: zeevveez)

Purim is celebrated by the reading of the Scroll of Esther, known in Hebrew as the Megillat Esther, which relates the basic story of Purim. Under the rule of King Ahashuerus, Haman, the King’s prime minister, plots to exterminate all of the Jews of Persia. His plan is foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, who ultimately save the Jews of the land from destruction. The reading of the megillah is typically a rowdy affair, punctuated by booing and noise-making when Haman’s name is read aloud.

Purim is an unusual holiday in many respects. First, Esther is the only Book of the Bible in which God is not mentioned. Second, Purim, like Chanukah, is viewed traditionally as a minor festival, but elevated to a major holiday as a result of the Jewish historical experience. Over the centuries, Haman became the embodiment of every anti-Semite in every land where Jews were oppressed. The significance in Purim lies not so much in how it began, but in what it has become – a thankful and joyous affirmation of Jewish survival against all odds.
This is from: http://urj.org/holidays/purim/

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

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