Month: March 2024

A Note from BIB Co-Founder Dov Schwarz

This Season of Purim and this Generation!
March 23 - 24, 2024
The holiday Purim pertains to lots or dice that were used in the book of Esther. Wicked Haman had manipulated the King of Persia to sign off on a law to destroy the Jews across the Persian Kingdom. Haman determined the date to kill the Jews by casting purim.

Thankfully, the LORD raised up two lowly and unknown Jewish people (Mordecai and Esther) who lived in Persia as a result of the Babylonian captivity that took place about a hundred years earlier. Persia conquered Babylon setting the stage for the book of Esther.

The LORD had raised up Esther from obscurity to become the King’s wife—Queen Esther. She had not told the King she was Jewish and was deciding if she should reveal her identity and intercede for her people who were about to be annihilated. Her older cousin Mordecai who had raised her from orphaned childhood said these words that are so very relevant for we who follow the Holy One of Israel Messiah Jesus:

“And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-14

Esther responded by calling the Jewish people in Persia to a three day fast with prayers. The LORD, whose hand you see though He is not mentioned, moved powerfully to bring deliverance for the Jewish people and great destruction upon Haman and his whole house!

The take away for all disciples of Israel’s Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) should be obvious. The same Haman spirit that infected Persia then has done so today! The radical and vicious Jew hating Iranian (Persian) leaders are dead set on Israel’s total destruction. Their evil henchmen Hamas and Hezbollah are at war today with Israel. They with much of the world today are set on Israel’s destruction just like in Esther’s time.

Now is our time as Kingdom disciples of Messiah to be like Mordecai and Esther! Now is the time to fast, pray, and more than ever stand with Israel. Many of our Israeli brothers and sisters in Messiah have been personally touched with the sorrow of these times in Israel. Some are even fighting in

Gaza and preparing for war in Lebanon. Truly we have learned that one of the best ways to bless Israel is by Blessing Israeli Believers in Messiah Yeshua!

Update from Ezra in the Golan Heights

Dear Blessing Israeli Believers,

We are blessed to live and minister in the Golan Heights and are thankful for all the troops stationed on Israel’s northern border. Mount Hermon is covered with snow which has closed all the roads except from military vehicles.

Through our contacts we arrange for the soldiers to order food, come down the mountain and meet us in our town to receive special meals to thank and encourage them.

The tank unit we have been feeding asked if we could supply each soldier of their company with a Leatherman multitool. These tools are greatly needed to clean their weapons, work on their tanks and other situations they face daily.

Praise & Prayer

Thank you for supporting the different programs during this difficult time here in Israel.

• Pray for the release of the hostages and for their families
• Pray for the 10 young soldiers from our Fellowship
• Pray for the LORD to continue to add to the church
• Pray for more opportunities to bless and encourage the troops
• Pray for my complete recovery from hip replacement surgery.

All for His Name’s Sake,
Ezra & Shulamite
Numbers 6:24-26