The Final Reckoning
High Holy Days

Photo by  Robin Mathlener  on  Unsplash

Can you believe the High Holy Days are already upon us?  By now you've made your plans to assemble for worship at Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.  You're dusting off the camping gear, but you're explaining to the kids that Sukkot is more than a camping trip, it's worship.  You're doing that final accounting for the feast year, and soon the birds will be flying south.  We'll pass this way again next year, but we'll only have one opportunity to finish well and balance our books this year.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.  Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, "'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'"  For  if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor,  if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. (Je  7:3-7)

What is this wonderful "forever and ever" place Jeremiah talking about?  The Bahamas?  Disneyworld?  Six Flags?  It's certainly not Neverneverland, but Forever Land.

The place is Jerusalem in the Land of Israel:

You shall  celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat;  and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the  orphan and the widow who are in your  towns Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the L ORD  your God in the place which the L ORD  chooses, because the L ORD  your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful. (Dt 16:13-15)

Anyone who wants to celebrate this feast sincerely is entitled to do so, regardless of pedigree.  A joyous Sukkot is evidence that justice has been done in our personal and faith community in the previous year.  There are two ways to celebrate justice toward all, a justice that returns Israel to "the place," HaMakom.

Ideally, a worshiper would go to Jerusalem for the three pilgrimage feasts.  In no other generation has this been so easily accessible to people around the world.  Imagine how much time and money it cost the converts in Acts Two to make the obedient trip!  It makes me ashamed when I complain about how I get very little sleep on the ten-hour flight, but in ages past, people slept on the ground for days, maybe weeks on end.  And is the plane ticket too much?  

It's surprising how much we spend on little daily luxuries, such as drive-through coffee.  If I made my own coffee six days per week for a year, I'd have the price of the ticket.  If I acknowledge that part of my tithe is to be set apart for the journey and enjoyment of the feasts in Jerusalem, then likely I could celebrate at least one feast in Israel every couple of years.  Sadly, inconvenience is the usual reason that people don't even try to make at least one trip to celebrate a feast.  

Some people, however, have every intention of going to celebrate a feast in Israel when they collect the funds.  In the meantime, they celebrate "in your towns," being faithful wherever they are.  They provide for widows and orphans to celebrate wherever they hold their Sukkot.  This is the repentant heart that eventually leads The Holy One to return Israel to their own Land, the Place where He has put His Name, Jerusalem:

Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples;  but if  you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them , though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell. (Ne 1:8-9)

Yes, repentant Israel takes an accounting and corrects their personal books before the shofar sounds at Yom Teruah.  They correct their congregational books before the closing of the gates at Yom Kippur, and they start the new feast year's books with justice by helping the widow and orphan rejoice with them at Sukkot.  The ultimate reward?  The gathering.  Foreverland.

If you have not already committed to rejoicing "in your town" then we'd like to offer you two opportunities:  1) helping the orphan to rejoice at Sukkot and 2) celebrating Passover or Sukkot of 2019 with us in Israel.  Read below for details.

Ready to Sign up for 
Passover in Israel 2019?
*Sukkot registration and itinerary will be posted soon

Passover at Tamar Park 2018

Tour Dates:
April 14 - 25, 2019

Price:
$2,495 (airfare not included)

Tour Includes:
  • Hotels
  • Breakfast
  • Dinner (except April 24)
  • National Park Passes
  • Masada Lift
  • Galilee Boat
  • Bus transfer to and from Ben Gurion Airport
  • All tips (except housekeeping)
  • All meals at Biblical Tamar Park
Not Included:
  • Lunches
  • Flight/Trip insurance
  • Airline Ticket
The Creation Gospel's choice of Biblical Tamar as a base for our tours, which celebrate both Passover and Tabernacles, is not random. Tamar is the southernmost boundary of Israel that will be established when the tribes are restored to their inheritance in the Messianic Age. Ezekiel 47 gives a beautiful description of the Arava desert as does Isaiah 35. 

In the blossoming desert around Tamar, Israel takes a step home. There she will prepare each year by drinking from the river that flows from the Temple. The step-by-step journey begins among the nations of exile. What if other sheep hear Yeshua's voice and yearn to celebrate the biblical feasts in the Land of Israel, yet they have no pedigree in hand? It doesn't matter because.... 

Thus says the Lord GOD, "This shall be the boundary by which you shall divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel...the south shall extend from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt and to the Great Sea.... You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel." (Ezek 47) 

Notably, Solomon used Tamar as a fortress to guard southern Israel and its trade routes. It was Solomon who first prayed for the nations who would turn toward the Holy Temple and pray. He asked that their requests and return be accepted by the Father. Blossoming Rose at Tamar is a wonderful step that connects both native-born Israel and the "strangers" who return. 

At Passover, our tour will focus on the Biblical teaching of resurrection. We will study the process of death, burial, post-mortem experience, and two resurrections from Genesis to Revelation. Specific sites along the journey will offer the opportunities to stand on the ground where biblical events and prophecy of the nations will take place

Are you coming?

T o read the itinerary and register, go to 


Needs at LaMalah

The LaMalah Children's Centre in Kenya is currently using a dung-powered device to heat and boil water.  We have approximately $200 toward the $1200 solar boiler, and we would like to provide the funds for a Sukkot celebration in which several groups across Kenya can gather at the Centre.  In order to save on the money transfer, which is the same regardless of amount sent, we'd like to send one amount the first week of October that includes funds for Fourth Quarter orphanage support, Sukkot, and the solar boiler.  They would like to have the boiler installed before an upcoming government inspection of the facility.  

Our latest report is that the children are doing well in school, and there has been little sickness.  For those who have already generously sent extra funds for the orphanage in advance of this appeal, we THANK YOU, especially our monthly supporters.  If you find that you have some extra funds when you make your feast celebration accounting, your contribution will be put to good use.  If you have not read about LaMalah, you can go to  Orphanage.

If you'd like to contribute, the mailing address is:

The Creation Gospel
PO Box 846
East Bernstadt KY  40729

One-time or recurring donations can also be made through PayPal.


Children of LaMalah
Sukkot 2018

Other Ways to Contribute

As always, 100% of the royalties from The Creation Gospel workbook series go into the ministry.  You can support us by purchasing our study materials through your local bookstore or on Amazon.  The Workbook Five Torah study series in five volumes may be especially helpful as we start a new Torah cycle: