Hope you’re all having a great summer!

We are….Gene has undergone a truly miraculous recovery!  He is released from the care of the neurosurgeon…is making great progress with his left hand.  He has been “picking his Gibson Dove” once again…even though he’s not back 100%.  He is a blessed man …we both are so blessed!  We thank you all for your prayers over these last several months.

If you know us and our ministry very well, then you know there is something very important to us and that is….Israel.  It is so important to us that everyone, especially Christians, know that the doctrine of Replacement Theology, that is, the belief that the “Church” has replaced Israel with regard to the Covenant promises is NOT true or biblical.   It is this doctrine that has fostered the anti-Semitism that we see in the Church and the world.  The “Church” is NOT Israel and has NOT replaced Israel.  Read Romans 11…believers in Jesus (Yeshua) are grafted in to the “Olive Tree”…the commonwealth of Israel…the root of which is Yeshua.

The following is an excerpt from Gene’s book, TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES: The Battle for Beulah Land, Chapter 9, “Doctrine Institutionalizes Hatred”:

“The physical Israel which is today in the very center of the world’s confrontations and divisions has not yet received that new heart and spirit that God has said He would give them. The physical ‘olive tree’ has been replanted ─ not yet a beautiful tree, but then, neither is the ‘Church’ which is fragmented, divided, continues to doubt God’s word, and hangs onto teaching which is not supported in Scripture. This teaching has undoubtedly led to centuries of anti-Semitism which, in turn, has led to the deaths of millions of Jews. Killed for no other reason than because they were Jewish.

“Very early in church history, church fathers were claiming that the Jews were responsible for killing Jesus. The Edict of Constantine, 321 A.D., decreed, “On the Venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in the cities rest, and let all workshops be closed”, thus, the first statute with regard to the state’s legal change of the Sabbath to Sunday. The 29th Canon of the Council of Laodicea, which convened in about 365 A.D., stated “Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day rather honoring on the Lord’s Day resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found Judaizing, let them be anathema from Christ.

“The Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. changed the celebration of the resurrection so that it would not be associated with the Jewish Feast of Passover, a date God had ordained prior to Israel’s exodus from Egypt. (Exodus 12:18) We should know that Jesus, the Lamb of God, was crucified at the very time that lambs were being slaughtered in preparation for the Passover.    The date of recognizing the day that the Lamb of God had shed His blood as a covering (Passover) for the sin of all humanity was changed because it was “Jewish!”

We have made our book, TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES: The Battle For Beulah Land available as a FREE E-BOOK, downloadable in PDF format.  CLICK HERE! 

Watch the book report by Paul Arnold, of God’s Learning Channel:

We hope you will download TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, read, and share it with your family and friends.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they prosper who love you!”  (Psalm 122:6)

Love and blessings,

Gene and LaVada

P.S.  We are working on a new format for our newsletter to include news about Israel and the Middle East, as it affects the United States.  We would offer little “snippets” of news articles that you can click on to get the full story.  We have daily access to news that is not necessarily reported on our mainstream news networks.  There are things happening in Israel and the Middle East, which could have profound impact on the U.S. and the rest of the world.  Check out this new page by clicking here.   You can subscribe to this page by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of this site.

As always, we love hearing from you…so, let us know how you are doing and what you are doing, and most of all, if you appreciate hearing from us!! 🙂

Spring is springin’ up all over, I guess!

Hope this finds all of you blessed beyond measure!  We are, for sure!  Praise Yahweh!

First, an update on Gene….he was released from wearing the neck brace back in February!  He has one or two more checkups with the neurosurgeon and then he will be done with that.  He is still working with a hand therapist to get his hand back in shape to be able to play his guitar.  The strength in his left hand is improving but is not 100% yet!  So, he’s working on that.  He is also taking care of some minor issues that were uncovered in the process of all the x-rays/MRI’s, etc.

We count our blessings every day!  It is such a miracle that he is even alive! We thank you all for all the prayers sent to the Father on Gene’s behalf!  And ask you to keep on praying for his total recovery!

We will be making our debut, so to speak, back on the gospel music stage at the Annual Convention & Awards Show of the South Texas Gospel Music Association which will be held this Friday, April 29, 6-10 pm and Saturday, April 30, 10:00 am – 8 pm, at the Embassy Suites Convention Center Hotel in San Marcos, located on I-35 at McCarty Lane.  You can call the STGMA office for more details at:  210-654-9694  And, since Gene is unable to play his guitar, we are planning to have our granddaughter, Victoria Celestine, play her guitar with us for our part of the performance!  She is an aspiring young (14 years old) singer/songwriter, in the process of recording her first album and we are looking forward to having her join us at the STGMA Concert.  We will be performing at 12:10 pm on Saturday… Hope you can come to some or all of the convention!  You will be blessed by all the southern gospel, country gospel, bluegrass and just plain ol’ inspirational Christian music!!

We are in a beautiful season right now as believers in Yeshua (Jesus)… the celebration of the Feast of Passover…. picturing the death, burial, and resurrection of the Perfect Lamb of God!  Jesus celebrated his Last Supper with his disciples the night before he was crucified.  The next day, at the same time that He was hanging on the cross giving up His own life, the lambs were being slaughtered for the Passover sacrifice at the temple… for the Passover Seder to be eaten that evening at sundown.   We really need to study the account of the first Passover in order to get a true understanding of what was actually taking place that day on the hill of Calvary.

Since we have been studying the biblical roots of Christianity, we have found a wealth of information on what the Church was like in the first century!  We continue to look for what is true regarding the Church in the beginning.

Until next time… May Yahweh bless you and keep you!

Gene and LaVada

MENORAH MUSIC MINISTRY

The old corn house on the home place.

Hope this finds you all making a great start on 2011!!

We wanted to bring you up to date on Gene’s healing progress…

He just had a checkup and the doctor said it’s all healing perfectly, so far! His doctor also proclaimed, “Thank God!”  It was a real comfort throughout the whole process to know that our neurosurgeon believed and trusted in God to direct him.

Gene is still wearing a neck brace.  They put a titanium u-shaped rod in the back of his neck along with some bone grafts.  His left hand was pretty messed up, as the index finger was dislocated at the middle joint, and actually gashed to the bone at that joint.  He has to undergo some occupational therapy to try to get it strengthened… hasn’t been able to play his guitar. He also fractured his right collar bone and a rib on the right side.  We’re taking it one day at a time…he has been able to greatly reduce the pain meds also.  And that’s a good sign.  He’s up and around quite a bit, doing as much as he can.

All in all, we are so grateful to our Father in Heaven (Hallowed be His Name!) that he is alive and not paralyzed!!  (We found out later from the hospital reports that bone fragments were “in close proximity to the carotid artery at the first vertebrae”…so he could have bled to death!)

Psalm 91 certainly was true for Gene!  I quoted the last three verses of that psalm in the last update, but I hope you found it and read the whole psalm…it’s beautiful.  And it is His promise to us who love Him, believe in Him, keep His commandments and call upon His Name.

And speaking of “His Name”…three days before Gene’s accident, we saw an interview on God’s Learning Channel of Keith Johnson and Nehemia Gordon.  Keith Johnson has written an exciting book on the “Name” of our Father in Heaven. See the following scripture… and think about the many scriptures that refer to “the Name of God”!

“God said further to Moses “Say this to the people of Israel:  ‘Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [Yehovah], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.  This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered generation after generation.‘”
…Isaiah 3:15 (Emphasis mine.)

In the prayer Yeshua/Jesus taught us, He says, “Hallowed be thy Name”….do we ever ask, ‘what Name?’  Keith caused us to really think about this!  We checked out what he says…and, lo and behold, there it is in our Strong’s Concordance … everywhere the word “LORD” is, it is from the Hebrew word, “YHVH” which, when the proper vowel pointings are applied to the Hebrew letters, it is pronounced “YehoVAH”.  And this is what Keith found in the oldest “vocal” Hebrew text (text with vowel pointings), the Leningrad Codex.  If you want to research this, there is a link to Keith’s website on the right sidebar of this page.

I have not counted them, but Keith says the Name, YHVH, is in there more than 6,000 times!  Now, when you really give this some thought, you have to conclude that the terms, “God” and “LORD” are NOT names…they are titles.  And they are the same titles used for pagan gods, as well!  Hmmmmm!

We are not sure just when we will be back in full swing with our music, but there is a possibility we will be able to do some things that are in the Hill Country area… not too far away from home.  Gene says singing may be difficult for him with the collar, but he will do what he can do!  If Yehovah sends us, we will go!

We thank everyone for all the prayers and cards of well wishes!

Gene and LaVada

I am just now able to post a message to let you know that Gene
fell from a roof Friday afternoon, 11/19/10., landing on his
head…..was airlifted to Brooke Army Medical Center, in San
Antonio…. Had surgery to repair the 1st and 2nd vertebrae which were
were broken. No spinal cord damage. Other minor injuries. He was
discharged from the hospital this past Saturday evening… He is
making good progress, doesn’t remember what happened…but all other
mental faculties and body functions are good. He will wear the “collar” for a few months.

We are counting our blessings. No one saw him fall, but he somehow got up
and got in his truck, drove about 50 yds to the house, walked in the
back door with blood all over his head and said his head hurt and he
didn’t know what happened. I believe it is a miracle that he is even
alive.

“Because he loves me, I will rescue him; because he knows my name, I
will protect him.  He will call on me, and I will answer him. I
will be with him when he is in trouble. I will extricate him and bring
him honor.  I will satisfy him with long life and show him my
salvation.”(Psalm 91:14-15)

Love you all and ask for prayers….Gene is expecting to be back on
the road in January!

LaVada

What a wonderful year this is turning out to be!!

After a really great summer with all the rain to fill our beautiful Blanco River, then we get invited to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in the heart of the mountains in Colorado with the Bear Trax Fellowship!  What an amazing experience this was for us!  This was our first time to celebrate this Feast (called Sukkot in Hebrew) biblically!!  Last year, we built our very first sukkah in our back yard.  If you’re not familiar with that term, it is Hebrew for the “tent”, or “temporary dwelling”, that the Hebrews were commanded to dwell in for eight days (see Leviticus 23) in order to remember how they had lived in the wilderness after being miraculously brought out from the land of Egypt.  Take a look at those “Feasts of the Lord” in the book of Leviticus…they are not “Jewish” feasts at all…in Hebrew, the word is mo’edim…meaning ”appointed times”.  They are meant to be our ‘appointments’ with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!  What a concept!

The barn at Bear Trax Ranch, Colorado.

Karen Hannah Pryor, of the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, states in her weekly newsletter, “In this generation, the question of celebrating the biblical Feasts is being raised more and more frequently and insistently by Christians. And rightly so! Our Father is restoring the Hebraic Heritage that has been lost to so many of His children for centuries, and a significant factor in this restoration is the renewed understanding and incorporation of the Feasts in the lives of those who follow Yeshua, Jesus, as the Messiah of God.”  Click here to go there.

Examining a 200-year old Torah Scroll.

After Sukkot, we made our way to Minneapolis, MN, to attend the National Gathering of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) where we presented a PowerPoint presentation in partnership with the Friends of Israel of the Community Church of Joy in Glendale, AZ.  This was an exciting opportunity for us to share information about the unscriptural doctrine of Replacement Theology, which, simply put, says that “the Church” has replaced Israel with regard to God’s promises and Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

“See the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… (Jeremiah 31:31)” The writer of Hebrews quoted that scripture in Chapter 8.

In Genesis 12:3, God promised Abraham and his descendants, “I shall bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you.  And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

We were encouraged by the support and attendance of our breakout sessions…approximately 8% of the 1,000 to 1,100 attending the conference.  It is our hope and prayer that all the congregations in the LCMC will become Friends of Israel and recognize and support Israel’s right to exist as a nation.  The prophet Amos says they are never again to be removed from that land (Amos 9:15).  And Zacharia says all nations that come against Israel will seriously hurt themselves (Zacharia 12:3).  Think about that!

Well, to top off this 3-week trip….like icing on the cake…was a wonderful day at the Wimberley Gospel Music Festival hosted by Cowboys for Jesus Christian Fellowship at Fischer, TX, the very next day after returning to Blanco!  Got to see some of our friends in gospel music and minister to others with our music.

Until next time, we love you all, and treasure your friendship.

Shalom and blessings,

Gene and LaVada