Thursday June 17
Following a suspected anti-Semitic vandalism attack only four days before, a team of two went to a small strip mall in a Jewish neighborhood, praying to find white fields for the harvest. Most people were quite receptive to receiving literature from us and only a small number refused our anti-Semitism pamphlet.
A Jewish man wearing a kippa was at his car and took a pamphlet and commentary on Isaiah 53 but then said, “Did you know Jesus was Jewish?” Shocked, the team member listened to him speak about many religions that have gods but only the Jews have the one true God. The gentleman said that he had read the NT but that he now only trusted and read the Tanakh.
The other team member then joined the conversation and we spoke about the prophets in the Old Testament. We offered the whole gift set but he said he did not want the Brit Hadashah. We pointed out that the prophets of old foretold of the coming Messiah and he could read about that hope in the second book, so he took the New Testament, too. He promised to read the anti-Semitism pamphlet and commentary and closed his door without further comment, smiling and with a full gift set in hand.
Another man, Simon was leaning against his car door and was obviously in pain. A team member went to see if he were okay and asked if she could pray for him and he responded, “Why not?” Before beginning she asked if he was Jewish to which he said yes! She gave him the anti-Semitism pamphlet and explained why they were giving out that information while trying to think of how to proceed in prayer. Laying her hand on his shoulder and relying on Yeshua, she prayed for the man’s healing in the name of Hashem. Afterwards, he accepted a full set of Scriptures in English. Later, she saw him again and asked how his pain was to which he replied, “I’m too busy to notice the pain!” We pray he opens his pamphlet and discovers the One who touched him!
A woman in a hijab was sitting on a park bench across the street, so we offered her a Bible. She was French Canadian but said she did not know what the Bible was. We said the Koran spoke of Jesus and Miriam (His mother) and that the New Testament gave more information about them. She thanked us with a big smile and took a whole French Bible.
On another bench, a believer from a nearby church was reading the New Testament in Greek. She had heard about Beth Ariel and the radio show. Upon hearing that one team member had worked in Haiti and knew Creole, she asked if she could get in touch with her through our office to introduce her to an unbelieving Haitian friend so they could speak in Creole together.
A Muslim man asked a team member what she thought of Islam. Answering truthfully that some adherents believed in salem (peace in Arabic) and that some did not, he agreed and grinned. He said he was definitely going to read our pamphlet.
An Israeli woman asked if we were Jehovah’s Witnesses, which we denied. We offered her the anti-Semitism pamphlet along with the Isaiah 53 leaflet that had rabbinic commentary in Hebrew on the back. Pleased, she said she worked at a nearby Chabad (ultra-Orthodox Jewish center). She got into her car, wishing us a Shabbat Shalom!
A woman we overheard with a distinct Moroccan Jewish accent was sitting outside one of the stores. She was all excited to get our literature and gift set. She then blurted out that she had three sisters and so she wanted a full set for each of them. One team member hurriedly crossed the street to fetch them while the other gave her Messianic prophecy bookmarks for the four sisters. The woman then initiated follow-up by asking the first team member to call her and to go visit her, even asking them to connect their phones right away, which we did. Sunday evening, we called N., but she was at work and promised to call back. We haven’t heard back so far but plan to call her again tomorrow, which is a provincial holiday.
At the end of the afternoon, we engaged a Jewish woman from France in a long conversation. She had fled to Canada from there with her husband but was now concerned about needing to flee Canada because of the same anti-Semitism. She was keen to receive all our literature, but we had no more French Bible gift sets left. We will be sure to stock up before the next outing.
In all, we gave out close to thirty anti-Semitism pamphlet tracts and six sets of the Scriptures, plus a whole French Bible.
Clearly there were good works prepared beforehand for us to do, accompanied by the Great Fisher of men. Please take time to praise Him for His work and that these seeds would spring to life – eternal life. Thank you for your work of preparing these white fields for the harvest by your prayers.