November 2016 – Page 2 – 11:3 Restoration

20161029_165208 During last week’s Torah Portion, Tommy and Dorothy Wilson, while leading the Shabbat discussion at the Second B’ney Yosef Congress, made a statement that I found very interesting and insightful. Of course, the Portion was Bresheit and their focus was on the creation and fall of Adam and Chava.

As we read the Portion, we noted the dividing and bringing together of light and dark into one day, the dividing of waters below waters and the sky, then the dividing of waters and land, etc, etc. In each case, the dividing revealed something and the bringing together revealed something else in how each relates to the other and how together he parts reveal aspects of the Creator.

This process culminates in the dividing out of Chava from Adam. He was perfect, yet, Abba chose to divide him, taking Chava out of him and then immediately bringing the two back together. We know, quite well, that men and women are different and that each reveals different aspects of the Father. Man and woman started as one, were divided. Fell in rebellion and are in the process of being restored.

All of this we know. Continue reading “Dividing and Gathering”

20161030_223553 — Al and Char McCarn, Mark and Polly Webb, Pete and Kelly Rambo, David Altman

As we were touring parts of Israel in the days prior to the Second B’ney Yosef National Congress, I found myself, more than a few times, looking forward to talking to BYNA Elder Mark Webb who I knew would be in attendance. As Father’s plan would have it, Kelly and I were seated at the same table with Mark and Pollyanna the very evening we arrived at the Eshel Hashomron.

Mark is a gentle giant that I had the pleasure of meeting last year at the First Congress and have gotten to know better at each step along the way. While speaking with him on a cool March evening outside of a Thai restaurant in St Petersburg before the BYNA Summit, I learned that he and Polly are avid students of astronomy and the signs that appear in the heavens. Knowing that he has really believed for some time that 2017 is a significant time period, my immediate question, once caught up on each other’s lives and families, was to ask what new things he has been seeing and what his current thoughts are regarding eschatology.

Mark did not disappoint. Because there were several other couples seated at the table who may not have been aware of Biblical astronomy and the Hebrew use of the mazeroth, Mark began with some quick background and examples, such as Daniel, for studying the stars. Then, he shared a HUGE piece of information. Continue reading “There shall be signs in the heavens….”