Time to do the Mission

This is a time for reflection on our mission as members of, Tree of The Mustard Seed Ministries and  The People
of Abraham.

We see from the news that a great conflagration is raging with
increasing loss of life and displacement of peoples around the region
of the Holy land.

As The People of the Books, we owe our brothers and sisters who are
caught up in this clash of arms, the offer of solace and support no
matter who they are, or what faith they follow.

We as people of peace will face a test in this time of chaos and
tumult. That test will be staying true to our course and calling for
peace no matter who may be at fault in this current clash.

Hundreds of years of war MUST BE STOPPED!! The cycle of death MUST
END!!
It is the INNOCENT who pay the greaatest price, for the hatred of
others. The women, children and men, who just want to live, and find
safety, in the homes and countries where they live, suffer the
greatest.

I am sending you, as members, the request, that you take the time and
effort to send to the leaders of Israel the fervent prayer for their
peace, but also to remind them that killing of the innocent, no matter
who does it IS WRONG!!

Also, the leaders of Hamas should be apprised of this fact, There is
no “right” in killing of the innocent, It is a perversion of what ever
faith you follow. This will be followed by other requests of the same
nature. Be strong, pray hard for God to prevail over the foolishness
of men!!
be well friends,…….Reverend Bruce

RAMADAN GREETINGS!!

logo

Monday, September 1, 2008

Ramadan

Today, or yesterday, depending on where you live in the world and the method of reckoning, it is the beginning of Ramadan.

To our Brothers and Sisters of Islam, Salaam Aliekum!! May this Holy season of rededication to Muslim, be fruitful for you.

May your observance bring you peace as you once again fast and move closer to The One God of Abraham, Lord of ALL, the benificent, The bringer of all things sweet, The bestower of blessings, beyond counting, of all of His creation.

The bringer among us, of all the prophets,(p.b.u.t.) to lead us to submission to His way.
The teachers of restoration, of relationship in submission to Allah, The most merciful.Peace be upon them all!

May He attend you in your reflections on how you can relate, May He grant you peace in your life, peace in your family, peace in your countries, peace in your soul, as you move toward rededication contemplating ALLAH (pbuH) in this Holy season for you as you submit once again to Allah.

This from your brothers and sisters of Judaism and your brothers and sisters of Christianity, helpers all.

Wa, Aliekum Salaam

Rev. Bruce Holzrichter Sr. The People of Abraham

In answer to a question

This was an answer to a question posed by a young man in regard to the status of the Jews in the world today and if God’s covenant was still in effect.

 

 

 

 

 

I will endeavor to answer your questions seriatum.
God’s covenant with Israel was never rescinded. The laws He gave Moses, over time, became enmeshed with the laws of men. As such they were not true to the spirit of the law. By the time of Jesus’s birth they had become a travesty of legalisms and, virtually impossible for people to understand, let alone follow. The priesthood and scribes from the time of Moses had added to the ten commandments 603 “Fences” that they felt were to protect the laws of God. As if He needed their help!!

The first hint of a Massiah appears in Genesis. Chapt. 3 verse 15 through the entire Bible there are over two hundred and twenty “hard” prophesies, concerning the Massiah and his two forms. The first is as the suffering Massiah and interssesor “Priest” on the order of Melchizedek. And, the second is as the conquering King.

In His time, it was believed that the conquering King was the ONLY Massiah. The people of the Jewish faith still hold this view, as probably do you.

No one, and no thing, can take Israel’s inheritance from them! Once again, arrogant men in the form of Preachers and Pastors over the centuries have foisted this view that God gave up on the Jews, there is no way that these men and women could be farther from the truth.

God does NOT, change His mind!! When He said an everlasting covenant He meant it!!!

We are now in the age of the Gentiles, soon to end. Hopefully we, as the people of the Book, can forstall the violence and blood shed foretold, and bring peace to all our brothers and sisters as we, as those said people, have been commanded to do by our Creator!!

Any of God’s burdens are light, it is man’s arrogance and bridling at any restraint, that causes us to rebel. It is in our nature to do so. God knows this, and has provided many means to bring ourselves to Him in submition. You may notice I did NOT say surrender, Jesus NEVER surrendered!! He submitted to the will of God!! There is a vast difference between the two.

Some men should not be Pastors, some should not be teachers and, some should not be counsellors. It is the arrogance of being educated, that causes so many to lead themselves into temptation. God doesn’t do it as we beseach Him in the Lords prayer not to do. It is we in our stupid surety that we, and we alone, have THE answer, that leads us into temptation!!

None of us have THE answer, unless it comes from God, it is no answer at ALL.

At the end of this age, there will be a reckoning, and all will be restored as God told us. It will be HIS will, that WILL be done!!

Now I’m just a man, do you need to believe a word of what I just wrote?? No, of course you don’t!! But ask God to lead you, search your heart, as you should with every thing of the spirit. If it rings true, it IS true!! If it does NOT, it is NOT. That is the best that any living man can tell you, or instruct you to do.

As always, choose well!! Be well friend……..Tawodi

GUESS WHO’S BEEN HERE FOR A WEEK!!!

I wrote a while ago about why I put up the picture of the Tree of the Mustard seed.  Surprisingly it affected someone deeply and they took comfort from it, and moreover wrote a comment thanking me for it.  Also was the hope that Leigha Grace had arrived safely. Well she was going to wait with her arrival, until we assured her what school she would be made to attend!!  She was born at 9:32 Monday morning July twenty eighth 2008,  It seems she decided our choice of schools could be negotiated at a later date!!  So for my son Jim and the MOM,  Christie, here is Leigha Grace……oh yeah,  all of you too!!!

Operational Notice!!!!

Posted at The People of Abraham   http://peopleofabraham.blogspot.com  tuesday  July 15 2008

 

Today I announced, on Tawodi’s Hawks Nest, that today, the Board of Advisers is open for questions. We have the great honor and good fortune to have as volunteers, Nine people very knowledgable in their religions. Some have Masters and upward degrees in their disciplines and worship practices. Welcome to all of them!!

To take advantage of this service, you can contact them at the following E Mail address….

the-people-of-abraham@googlegroups.com Pose your question in a proper form, your email address WILL NOT be given for any reason to anyone after your question is answered it will be discarded. We will keep the questiion and assign it a file number but your name and any information, will be deleted. SO! don’t get angry with us if we don’t remember you!! On your answer you will recieve this file number, keep it! Use it to refer to the first question if you want to correlate them for some reason, to us.

The second way to pose a question is to use the comment section on this blog. Yep, that’s right, you can do it right here. We have expanded the comment section to full page size!! This is to give you plenty of room to pose multiple questions and even submit an article!! That’s right, you can post here!! It will be moderated, (for obvious reasons) and then, posted if you wish. Or we will simply answer your multiple questions.

You need not be a member of The People of Abraham to use this service, we’d like it if you were, but it is not necessary. This service is open to all. And, more importantly free!! We are all volunteers, everything here is FREE, there is no charge to join, no charge to use the services, no charge for anything you copy and use elsewhere. This is our Calling, take advantage of it!!

The most important thing to remember is this, we will allow NO cross religion debate, NONE!! It is devisive and sometimes destructive and will not be tolerated. If you want to fight, go somewhere else!!

The form to pose a question, is as just that, a question.

Items that are submitted such as “Did you know that such and such religion does/believes thus and such.” Any question posed this way will be considered a “challenge question” and will be given a file number and discarded. The second submission of this nature, after the first one has been flagged, will result in your being banned from ALL of our sites, NO EXCEPTIONS!!

This group is kind of unique in one way. Most are for people who are professionals in their faith structure. We are for ANYBODY, blue collar, white collar, any religion, anywhere in the world.

Welcome to all,   Be well friends………..Rev. Bruce…………….Tawodi

From The Pastor’s Page, Tree of The Mustard Seed Ministries

 

Today, after listening to the archived version of my show, a very important thing occurred to me. Prayer, yes I know it is second nature to me,  but is it to you?

 

While I was listening, I decided to create a segment for the show and flashed on this new site and thought, WOW  what a way to introduce the page, and people, to just what it is we do here at The Tree of The Mustard Seed! After all, we don’t sell anything, why are we here!! We are here to bring to people a little something they don’t get anywhere else. Themselves and their relation to God, most that we serve can not go to church, for health reasons, or debility due to age. One of the nursing homes I serve, down loads my show and plays it on M.P.3. players for their residents and  it is enjoyed by them. It is free this way and they can make as many copies as they want by loading it into their computer and downloading to all their M.P.3’s!!

 

                     So,  here is the first installment of The Pastors Page

Have you ever heard of active listening? In relation to prayer? What it entails is learning to find that still small voice you may have heard so much about, but don’t know how to hear. Remember God speaks to us in the stillness, or the quiet places. His voice is often lost among the hurly burly sounds of life as we struggle through our daily existence, you are not alone in this maelstrom of noise and confusion. Even the people who are homebound, feel the pressures of life, just in a different way.

   I myself, must actively create a quiet time for prayer, usually in the early morning when my wife and daughter are still asleep. First you must compose yourself as best you are able, it will take some time to learn to do this. Then you simply pray as you normally do. The difference comes now, still yourself, listen.Allow at least fifteen minutes to do this.  People usually ask at this point, “what am I listening for! This is the question! What you are literally trying to hear is, God!  Will you?  Eventually yes. How?  By feeling mostly, it is a hard thing to accept that God would talk to you isn’t it?  But ask yourself, why wouldn’t He? After all,  your Bible, your preachers and pastors,  have been telling you all of your life, you are a child of God haven’t they? Well, then why wouldn’t He talk to you!!

   Maybe this is the problem,you don’t really, deep down, believe that do you? Your not worth talking to, at least by God are you?  WRONG!!!

You certainly are worth it!!  How do you know this Rev. Bruce? ? How…..it’s simple…..Jesus gave up his life for you didn’t He!  Why.  WHY,  Would He do that,  if you weren’t worth it!!!  By your lack of faith in your own worth, you have been crippled in your prayer, probably all of your life! If your prayers are crippled by this lack of faith in you. How can your faith in anything He told you be believed? This is really terrible to think about isn’t it? Well don’t give up, faith takes time, time well spent in listening. You WILL hear that still small voice. When?  When you are ready, it can not be forced,  it can not be willed,  it can not be wished into existence,  it simply must be accepted. That is terribly difficult to believe I know, but if you have the faith of a grain of mustard seed you will be rewarded! It is written! And, it is true. I have seen so many times, when people are ready to give up,  when their hearts are broken when they think not even God can love them He shows them that He does indeed love them. You see God didn’t go away….You did! Come back to His unlimited love, it is waiting for you still, in the silence of compassion and love that God is, in the stillness, that He will share with you, God is still there, always was, always will be.

   May his blessings sustain you,  may His peace fill you,  may this coming week be full of God’s enveloping grace, Selah,  AMEN.

 

UPDATES ON ACTIVITIES of THE PEOPLE OF ABRAHAM

Today is the fifth of July, there have been a few changes and additions, for this blog site and, other places on the net, concerning The People of Abraham.

The first order of business is the inclusion of this site in The Tree of The Mustard Seed Ministries, web site index of links and organizations. Look on the right, you will see a widget that contains the link to get there it is a short web page with full support used to promote various aspects of our, and others, work in interfaith efforts. It is run and maintained by me and others, of these ministries. A short word is in order here as another change is going to take place. It is important to not give the impression of the new Ministries link being a “doorway” to the People of Abraham or any other site. The Tree of The Mustard Seed Ministries is a local church,  visitation  and Bible study conducted by me and other people whose calling is to homebound people and those in nursing homes and Hospice care. Since I am one of the founders I don’t mind, but encourage to some degree, the group. T.P.O.A. but, the work I do locally for it, is recruitment and organizational in nature. There are people who do participate in one place only. They have their own churches, or places of worship, but help in our efforts toward peace. The other thing to realize is that neither I, nor anyone else in this ministry, takes one red cent for anything we do…ever.  Donations, sometimes offered, are referred to  nursing home, resident moral funds, or gifts to Ronald McDonald House, or other charities in the name of the person donating it,  or they may do so in our name. We accept no fees whatsoever,  and never will. The same can be said for membership in,  or affiliation to,  The People of Abraham. I felt it important at this time to clear the air on that issue, thank you for your forbearance. It is also for what ever search engines are looking at us!!!  They don’t like “doorways” !!  And now, back to the point!

We are just about ready to field our Board of Advisors. These are people who possess degrees in various fields of religious study, some Masters degrees, others baccalaureates, two with DR. after their name. The purpose of these people is to answer questions from members and non members alike. Too much dissention occurs between people of different faith systems of belief, especially when a person makes a statement about someone’s faith and they don’t even have a firm grasp of their own!!

How anyone can tell me what I believe, when they do not worship in my faith, is a mystery to me, as it is to almost everybody else! Cross religion debate, is not allowed on any of The People of Abraham sites. It too rapidly becomes contentious and destructive and our purpose is to bring people together. Not foster dissention and enmity!!

So, the existence of a board of advisors. If you are engaged in discussion on another site and someone raises a question you would like the REAL answer to, from a scholar trained in that discipline, well, come to one of our sites, pose your question and it will be forwarded to the appropriate person and you will recieve your answer via e mail, ( you must leave an address) If perchance, you do not mind an open posting on this forum here, we will answer it openly, but will not use your name and no information about you will be divulged.

The open posting of questions can take place in the comment section, available after any post. These have been expanded in size, so that an entire page is available to insure you have room to be as thorough as possible, or may have more than one question.

Also if you would like to post an article you have written or present material from you or somewhere else you can use this feature as there is a whole page available, and if you need it, you can simply fill a page, stop, file it by clicking send or submit, and then logging back in and finishing what you are writing and completing your submission. PLEASE! Be aware of copywrite laws and credit material from other sources, as we cannot control access and /or dissemination of material once you post it, we do not want to face copywrite infringment lawsuits!!( niether do YOU!!!)

How do I become a member of The People of Abraham?? EASY, go to the face book site via hyper link, and sign up!! OR do so right here, click on “the google help group site for us, and sign in there, it is more secure as we control access, your information will not be shared. We make no money from these efforts, so there is no reason, at all, for us to give your info to anyone!! We are setting up a directory of benifits and/or activities. You will be asked for opinions, on chat sessions, or maybe even occasional guest appearances on talk shows, if you want to address certain aspects of faith or the group’s outside activities for gatherings and rallies, that sort of thing, to increase the group’s size and scope that you may participate in, or even organise yourself!

Printed materials, to bring to your Church, Synagogue, or Mosque, to share with your congregations to invite people to join us in this effort. We will be making downloadable forms you can download your self and disseminate that way, there is no cost except for the paper, no postage, no printing, etc. etc. This way we can operate with no dues, no membership fees, and each in his, or her own way, can participate for pennies and we can reach so many more people this way.

Print this page if you wish, it is a blue print for all the things that are taking place, or are on the horizon for The People of Abraham. We need you!! Please join in this important work toward peace. So many say they want it, but so few are willing to do anything for it. We are setting this up so most can be of vast benefit to the work right from their office or living room, it doesn’t get easier, or cheaper, than that!!!

Be well all, Rev. Bruce………………………………..Tawodi

What role does God play in the modern world?

In a discussion on another forum I wrote this in answer to an atheists statement. That we need alittle less God, as when was more God any good for anybody. Of course he was blaming religion for all the ills of the world as many do without knowing what the role of God and more important, what our role in relation to Him, is.

Joe,

The problem is not God.

The problem is that very, very, very few, human beings understand just what place God has in society at large.

In ancient times God was in the forefront of the formation of society and culture, as that was a formative time.

As time progressed, God turned over to us dominion, as has been stated in more ways than anyone can count. As the civilization matured we as humans pulled away from God and since it is a function of free will to do so, He let us do just that.

What so few fail to realise with That maturization process came responsibilities, which to date we humans still refuse to shoulder ( generally speaking )

God always wanted to have a personal relationship with US, not with governments, but with human beings!!!

Our tribalistic herd instinct and mulishness will not let us, on some level, grasp that fact! And, fact it is, and is also how we as religious people, get in so much trouble in the world.

We find ourselves attracted to the trappings of certain religious structures for their majesty, or to some others for precisely the opposite!! But, in all cases, ALL cases, we still apply the “herd” as the governing factor in our choice. To wit “Well all these people agree with me, so it must be right!!”

This applies to what ever religion, sect, denomination, or god, you choose to worship, except in rare instances.

The exceptions?? They are when some one asks themselves, what does God want, and listens in the stillness for the answer. It is in the stillness, we get that answer we seek.

That answer is never, band together with this band of lunatics and kill that band of lunatics!!

It is always, If you would have what you seek, do as I ask. If you would have all that I offer, give to Me, all that is Mine. When it becomes apparent that all that you are, is exactly what is required, we turn away. The price is too high, we must live in the world! Some few will submit, realizing that submission is not surrender, but glorying in the fullness of what becomes revealed to those who do not tell God what they want, but accept what He offers. A whole different form of existence, totally foriegn to most, in their ability to understand.

And, so we grope in our poor way, to come together in a semblance of agreement, of what God wants of us and, the answer must needs be flawed, because we are flawed, and any answer we provide, will be flawed as well.

It is not so much that atheism should be taught, or any other ism, but that our place in the scheme of things as the children of a future, that will depend on all of us being there, cannot be fulfilled, unless we take and apply, those measures that ensure we will be there.

Recognition of individual human beings, no matter who they call God. The richness of the human experience, in and of, a relational nature will ensure that we are there.

If we do as Jesus instructed, even if only on a secular level, this will come to pass.

Every Master who has ever walked the Earth has given us the same message, use it, choose well.

Joe, Be well friend………………Tawodi

THE ORIGINS OF CONFLICT

I am with this post trying to clear up two great misconceptions between the world of Islam and Judaism and Christianity.
The devide has existed for hundreds of years and with the presentation of the first accounts of Ismael in the Old Testament, or the Torah, you will see that this story is far older than the formation of Islam.

And when Sara had seen the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with Isaac her son, she said to Abraham:
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:10 Cast out this bondwoman, and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:11 Abraham took this grievously for his son.
EBD NTB SBD
Ge 21:12 And God said to him: Let it not seem grievous to thee for the boy, and for thy bondwoman: in all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:13 But I will make the son also of the bondwoman a great nation, because he is thy seed.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:14 So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:15 And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:16 And she went her way, and sat over against him a great way off as far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept.
EBD NTB SBD
Ge 21:17 And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Hagar? fear not: for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is.
EBD NTB SCO SBD
Ge 21:18 Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand: for I will make him a great nation.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:19 And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:20 And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
EBD NTB SBD

As you can see the Masoretic texts are represented here and show that niether God, nor Abraham, discarded, or “threw away” Ishmael. The mighty that is God, while maintaining His covenant with Abraham made sure, that even in his iniquity, (Abraham) this was not used as punishment for the child, who was innocent. All merciful God provided for him and produced another great nation of him (Ishmael)

There, you now have the Biblical account, we will now go to the exigitical basis for the names of God, or Allah, as can be proved by diligent study of facts on the ground so to speak. Instead of speculation of a faith you don’t understand, or have never studied, as to do so you have been told, will corrupt your understandings of your own faith. If such is possible, how deep was your faith??

Once again the question has been raised as to the name of God, in relation to Islam and Christianity and Judaism.
Once again it is Christian fundamentalists, and others, who make spurious accusations about the word Allah. Here for all of you is the truth where the name comes from, who the father of Islam is and, what the name, Allah, means and why it means it. There are not ninty nine “names for God In the religion of Islam. There is one name and, one name only. The rest, that many would have you believe are names, are nothing more than descriptions of attributes, just the same as Jews and Christians have over thirty five such descriptions of the attributes of God.

I have engaged in this battle for years and when it is put down in one location once more, it pops up again in another location. Apparently these people think, like Geoseph Geobbels of W.W. 2, if you repeat a lie long enough, loud enough, it will become the truth. this is not so!! A lie, is a lie, no matter how many times you repeat it!! Receive the truth!

I get so tired of stating the truth of things, only to have the very same people come back and speak the same lie, all over again.
TRUE STATEMENT;
The Hebrew EL, was also the Cannaanite EL, or transcendant Chief God. The word is the root of thirty five Attributes of God linguistically for Jews and Christians alike.

ILLAH……pronounced ILL “Yach” ( “ach,” gutteral, glottal stop, implied by “ah” in the semitic languages.) Shortened to AL (prefix word -the-) apposed (attached) to Illah to make the compound word,ALLAH. Phonetic pronunciation Al- ach or The God Taken to mean, litterally, the ONE God of Ishmael, Older brother of Issach, by fourteen years, who, the Bible tells us, that God was with as he grew, to be the father of his own people, to whom would be descended twelve more tribes of people.

Their father???? Abraham !! The Father of the two semitic tribes, Hebrews and Arabs.

Read your Bible people!!!! The Arabs didn’t make this up. We did!!!!!

K.J.V. Biblical,
Citations, Genesis 21: V.9: -21.
Descendants of Ishmael: Genesis 25: V.12:- 18.
These Verses come after the discription of Abraham’s children by Keturah, their names and the dispersal of Abraham’s estate to Issach only, as the child of the covenant between Abraham and God born of Sarah, as God promised. Now for the life of me, I fail to see how you can blame Muhammad for what is in Our own Bible!!! If you figure out how he did that, maybe you can tell the rest of us!!!

Read and learn, I didn’t write this, or invent it, it is in OUR Bible…….

It is very important that you understand that I am a DEVOUT Christian Minister of many years service. The people of Islam have a different understanding of their worship of God. Is it necessary for me to accept it?? No, it is necessary for me to accept that they do. Nothing more is required of a Christian or Jew, other than that. Respect the fact that these things are what they believe and, leave it alone!!! You arenot required, to convert them, attack them, or abuse them for their faith, because you don’t agree with it. Jesus tells us, state your case and walk away, be as harmless as doves. Why as Christians, must we always forget those admonishments, that we were given by the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we profess to follow?? Keep your heart at peace and walk your own path to God, as others walk theirs, you are but human beings, you are NOT to judge, it is written……..

To all my Brothers and sisters of The People of Abraham and for those tired of being afraid.
Rev. Bruce………………………….Tawodi

Another place to go and learn

We once again reach out our hands in friendship to another sister organization, The American Interfaith Institute of Philadelphia Pa.
They have been around for more than 25 years and have scholars world wide, who teach and spread the word that we CAN get along, most people want only to live and prosper.
Every religious structure has those who would hi jack the faith for evil purposes and we as the people and children of the Abrahamic faiths must be in the forefront of those who would identify and oppose their purposes and actions and the LIE that they operate with the blessings of God. No matter which faith they profess.
So welcome them with me and if you live near them take advantage of their expertise……we will.