Shalom All,
We did another Passover Drama last night, this time with Chester Anderson and his team here in the Orlando area.

Our video of the Orangeburg, SC event will be available soon and we pray everyone will take advantage of it. We believe what we are doing helps people to see Passover in a new light, in a way that includes the greatest Passover ever, one that is yet to come: The Marriage Supper of the Lamb!

For now, it is time for me to return to updating my Feast book, which will probably go out of print this year. I want to update and not just reprint it, because each time a book is printed, the air is different, so to speak. Different things are happening in the spirit realm in regard to our movement. As we journey down this road that leads to Zion, we walk in different times, in different seasons. Among other things, I feel now is the season to address the issue of the anti-Christian attitude that often afflicts our movement.

Before I say anything about the problem, let me first say that I think the people who associate themselves with the idea of “Messianic Israel” are among the neatest people on earth. We are far out on the cutting edge of what our God wants to do in the earth in this hour, and I feel blessed to think I am hopefully counted among such devoted people.

Let me also say that frankly, if I had to deal with the main line Churches every day of my life, I would be pulling my hair out, if not walking away in total frustration. Thankfully (for them and for me), that is not my call. Instead, we primarily work with the people of Messianic Israel, so I tend to focus on our particular “problems.” And, in my opinion, year after year, around Christmas and Easter, our problems resurface...

During these times I walk around feeling like I want to go off, hibernate and cry. I weep inside, both because of the worldly practices that draw people away from the truth of our Messiah, and because I feel many who should be ministers of salvation instead become “part of the problem.”

However, going off to cry seems to be a luxury that is not allotted to me. Instead, it seems I am wired with an automatic “speak up” button that gets pressed every time I feel someone is picking on someone else.

In the early stages of our walk, we fought against the anti-Semitism of the Church (we still do when the occasion arises). But anti-Semitism is not generally a problem in our movement. We are a people who love and try to understand the Nation of Israel and the Jewish people. But, I am sad to say that many do not have a similar love of, and understanding for those of the Church. Some among us are blatantly anti-Christian, and that is no more acceptable than is anti-Semitism.

I think I was about five the first time my Mom told me that “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.” I don’t remember when I first realized that, if you yank at a fish you are trying to catch, you run the risk of tearing the hook out of its mouth. And I know I was very, very young when I first realized that people can say unkind things that hurt your feelings and make you want to walk away from them.

And so I must now speak up and ask: How can it be that we condemn people who call Jewish people “Jewzzz” (with a derogatory tone), and yet we think it is all right to call a Christian, and “X-tian” (as though they need to be “stamped out”)? How can we call the Church the “kirch” (implying the word is based on a witches circle) and then be upset if someone calls a synagogue a “sin-a-gag” (a place filled with so much sin that you gag)?

Isn’t all meanness, meanness? Isn’t all sin, sin?

How can one be acceptable among us when the other is not?

Are we not commanded to judge with equal weights and measures? (Deu 25:13-16; Pro 20:10).

I am not saying that it is all right for us to walk as people do when they are in error, but that we should first of all be people of “mercy.” As James said, “Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” (James 2:13). Also, when chastening some Pharisees, Yeshua said to them, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, more than sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mat 9:11-13). (Note: The correct translation is “more than,” not “instead of.”)

To find the ancient paths we need to seek at this time (Jer 6:16), we must be delivered from all religious bondage. In our restoration, we must also walk where no man has walked before. However, if we are going to return home, we must surely travel a road that is richly paved with kindness. Mercy, and not the fine details of sacrifice, is the foundation upon which we must build. For the Father’s mercies are new every morning (Lam 3:23). He is always doing a new thing. In these latter days, if we will walk according to His ways, He will do a new thing in and through us. But first, a golden road of mercy must be made to run through our hearts.

While we must not ignore, or be oblivious to, the errors we see around us, any and all corrections must first be rooted in a heart of compassion. For it is God’s “kindness” that leads people to repentance (Rom 2:4). He warns, “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does YHVH require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your Elohim” (Mic 6:8).

Let my “speak up” button work once last time as I ask:

If someone greets us with “Merry Christmas,” can we learn to respond in kindness? Can we offer honey to them rather than vinegar? Can we gently tug at them with an encouraging comment, such as, “Thank you. His birth really did change the world, didn’t it?”

If someone greets us with “Happy Easter,” could we perhaps say something like, “Thank you. His Resurrection changed everything. Knowing Him changed my life. How about you?”

In this way, we can possibly keep open a door of communication and feed the babe: one life-changing spoonful at a time, of our Father’s Word.

I pray my words will come off as kind encouragement for a movement that is very dear to me. I want so much for us to be able to go further down this road to Zion, and I know it must be paved with kindness.

Much Love,
Batya