March 2020: Here's an update of the ministryin the last month.We LOVE encouraging replies!

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FLORIDA STATE FAIR OUTREACH

Our second outreach of 2020 is complete. We had abooth up at the Florida State Fair in Tampa fromFebruary 6th – 17th.

We had several hundred general conversations withpeople who came up to the booth. About 51 of them wereJewish people and many of those took gospel literature. Our next one is scheduled is the Miami CountyFair. March 12th – April 6th. Please pray for our newendeavor as we have never been to this fair before.

Volunteers Tamar and Elizabeth.Before the crowds arrive - Setting up the booth takesseveral hours (and a lot of strength as Tamar shows.)

WANT US TO LEAD A "Christ in thePassover" SEDER IN YOUR HOME IN

2020?

If you can gather at least 15 adults in your home, wewould be willing to come and lead you in a ''Christ in thePassover'' service if you are in our geographicarea. (Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin,Florida.) We send a prep list and you take care of all thepreparations (don't worry - it is not complicated.) Call ouroffice or email us for more information.http://rockofisrael.org/schedule-a-service/

If you remember the story of Balaam in the book of

Numbers – who was paid to put a curse on Israel, butended up blessing them instead. Although he tried, hismouth could not speak the curse.

He eventually came up with plan B - send Moabitewomen over to the Israelite camp and get them to causethe Israelite men to be unfaithful to God! Sadly his plan B worked.

“While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began toindulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women…”

(Numbers 25:1)

“They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice andenticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the

Peor incident…” (Numbers 31.16)

Fast Forward to 2020. It appears that Hamas has taken Balaams advicetoo. They took that same strategy but put a modern twiston it. Hamas recently “sent women” into the Israeli armycamp - in the form of social media chats - and "thewomen" had many Israeli soldiers unknowingly downloadvirus programs which could then track the soldierswhereabouts and possibly cause harm.

Some things never change.----------------

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Sunday saidit has thwarted an attempt by the Hamas militant group tohack soldiers' phones by posing as young, attractivewomen on social media, striking up friendships andpersuading them into downloading malware. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told reporters that the phonesof dozens of soldiers had been infected in recent months,although he said the army detected the scam early onand prevented any major secrets from reaching theIslamic militant group. “We do not assess there is any significant breach ofinformation,” the military spokesman said. He said Hamas used a number of social media platforms,including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram andTelegram, to make contact with unsuspecting soldiers.Posing as young women on social media, the groupstruck up friendships with the soldiers, sending photos,texts and voice messages to them. Eventually, they sent the soldiers links to “seduce” theminto downloading what they said was a Snapchat-like appto exchange photos that could quickly disappear,Conricus said. In reality, the links were to three malwareprograms that allowed Hamas to gain access to thesoldiers' phones. Read the full story here:https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/16/world/middleeast/ap-ml-israel-hamas.html

“L’ Chaim!” (To Life!)– a traditional Jewish toast.

THIS MONTHS TRIVIA:

On what day of a male baby's life does a"Bris" (circumcision) take place?

A) Day 3

B) Day 8

C) Day 14

D) Day 31

Answer near bottom

This Months Jewish HumorSamuel was heading out of the Synagogue one day, andas always Rabbi Mendel was standing at the door,shaking hands as the congregation departed. The rabbi grabbed Samuel by the hand, pulled him asideand whispered these words at him: "You need to join theArmy of God!" Samuel replied: "I'm already in the Army ofGod, Rabbi."

The rabbi questioned: "How come I don't see you exceptfor Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?" Samuel whispered back: "I'm in the secret service."

Purim is on March 10th

Though not a major holiday, Purim is celebrated aroundthe world by Jewish people as the time when theyremember how God delivered them from annihilation atthe hands of wicked Haman. The holiday has even beennicknamed the Jewish Mardi Gras because of all thecelebrating done!

The story of Purim is found in the book of Esther. Andwhile God is not mentioned by name in the book, Hishand is seen clearly working behind the scenes. Thestory takes place in ancient Persia (now known as Iran)and while it is too long to give all the details here, thebasic overview of the story is this: -- God places a beautiful young Jewish girl on the throneof Persia through a series of unique events. -- ''Esther'' (her actual Hebrew name was Hadassah)becomes the King's favorite and secretly hides hernationality from the King. -- Her uncle ''Mordechai'' is the one who raised her andstill has connections with the Queen. He also is a devoutperson and refuses to bow before one of the King'sleading men - Haman. Haman is an Amalekite who aredescendants of Esau. (Genesis 36:12; 1 Chronicles 1:36)

As a people, the Amalekites are identified as a continualenemy of the Israelites. -- Haman cannot stand being around Mordechai - (thefeelings were probably mutual), but it was not enough tolet things be. Haman devises a plot to have MordechaiAND all his people killed in a violet day of rioting andlooting!

-- Through another ''coincidence'' (God working)Mordechai gains the favor of the King and is required tobe honored by Haman - which is humiliating for Haman. -- Mordechai learns of this plot to destroy the Jewishpeople and convinces Esther to barge in on the King forsuch urgency of the matter. In that time period, barging inon the King was a capital offense. --Esther does it, makes her eventual plea before the Kingat a dinner with Haman as a guest. (Haman has no ideaEsther is among the people he requested to annihilate).The King wants to know - who wants her killed? Shepoint to ''This wicked Haman!''.

--While the king steps out for a moment to process all this- Haman literally begs for his life at the foot of theQueen. The King returns in and sees this and you canguess what he thought Haman was trying to do. Thesoldiers put a cover over his head and take him away -immediately. --The King issues another decree that the Jewish peoplecan now fight for their lives on that day with impunity andthe King's blessing!

Well they did fight back, and the day this all happens iscalled ''Purim'' which means ''lots'' because Haman hadthrown ''lots'' to determine the day he would destroy theJews. Little did he realize it was the date THEYdestroyed their enemies! And all this would never have

happened if he just kept his big mouth shut. Today - the entire book of Esther is read in Synagoguesaround the world. Jewish children dress up as the storycharacters. Like a costume day. Boys dress up asMordechai and girls like Queen Esther. The carnival-likeholiday is celebrated with parades and costume partiesall over the world in Jewish communities.

On the basis of Exodus 17:14, where the Lord promisedto ''blot out the name'' of Amalek, it is customary for theaudience to make noise and shout whenever ''Haman'' ismentioned, in order to desecrate his name. Loud shoutsof ''BOO's!!!'' will happen whenever Haman ismentioned. And loud cheers for our heroes Esther andMordechai happen as well. One of the traditional foods are called Hamantashencookies. Three pointed cookies that hide the filling inside.

This Purim, as we follow tradition and blot out the nameof Amalek, Haman and their like, we might also considerthe claims of the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus) whose veryname actually means ''salvation.'' He offers life andpeace to all, both Jews and gentiles, who trust in hisname. And all who follow Yeshua (Jesus the JewishMessiah), according to the New Covenant, will have theirown names written in the book of life. Our ''Haman'' called ''death'' is a now defeated foe for allwho trust in Yeshua/Jesus. We gain everlasting life onthat day!

QUIZ ANSWER:

Answer - B) Day 8

We need your support each month to do this work.We are not a big ''world-wide'' TV ministry

with millions of donors.

We are a small ministry seeking to do BIG things for the Kingdom of God.

Our office staff are waiting and ready to help you with any questions you might have. 513-874-2566.

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