SUNDAY MORNING- This week if I start
the meetings back up [I might wait one more week] all I will do is overview my
month in North Bergen- and try and tell the most interesting stuff.
On the trip I made comments on
the pictures- so some of you might be familiar when I re-tell.
Ok- one of the verses [actually a
few] that these past few years I felt were significant about the
teaching/outreach ministry deals with the ‘Princes of Abraham’.
In the bible Abraham had kids-
The first 2 were Ishmael and Isaac.
Ishmael is the father of the Arab
[many are Muslim] people- and Isaac is the head of the Jewish people [and
according to the apostle Paul- Christians are the promised seed].
So- in my teaching I try and
speak into these 3 groups- Jews- Muslims and Christians.
So- one day at Burger king Abe
walked in- he is 99 years old and owns lots of real estate in North Bergen-
worth between 50-100 million [Danny told me].
Danny introduced me to Abe- and
his sweet wife Regina- who is 97.
Regina would walk up to me and
Danny and give us lollipops- it was cute- Danny’s in his 70’s and I’m in my
50’s- but she saw us as kids.
Abe told me his story- he grew up
in Poland and met Regina [also from Poland] when she was 5 years old.
Abe fought with the Russians
against the Nazi’s during WW2 [called a partisan] and he told me he killed many
Nazi’s.
They married in 1945- and came to
the U.S. in 1947.
Abe studied in the Yeshiva
university in Poland [famous school for Jews who study to be Rabbi’s] he and
Regina speak 9 languages- and Abe is well versed in the Torah [the Christian
Old Testament].
Danny told Abe I was a street
preacher- and Abe mentioned some stories from the Torah.
He talked about Hamman- and I
went on and told the story that we find in the book of Esther.
Hamman [I have not read it in
years- so bear with me] was a persecutor of the Jews- and hatched a plan to
execute them- on a gallows.
Esther was one of the wives of
the king- and she was also a Jew- but no one knew [like Regina- she owned a grocery
store in Poland during the war- she provided food for the Catholic church- and
was saved from the Nazi’s by pretending to be Christian].
So- Hamman built the gallows-
hatched a plan to kill the Jews- but Mordechai- a relative of queen Esther- said
to her ‘who knows if you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this’.
He prodded Esther to reveal her
true identity to the king- and to stick up for her people.
She tells the king the plot of
Hamman- and the tables turn- and Hamman himself is hung on the very gallows he
built to kill the Jews.
Now- as I told the story off the
cuff [like jus now] Abe realized I did know the Torah.
I did this with a few other
names/events he mentioned form his years of study.
Abe did ask me if I knew any
other languages- I told him no- but as a bible teacher I have learned some
Hebrew and Greek.
Of course Abe knows Hebrew.
As we talked I tried to think if
I can speak any Hebrew words- sure enough I told Abe ‘I know a few words of
Hebrew’.
I asked Abe ‘What does Yeshua
Hamishia mean’?
Abe told me- it means ‘when
salvation/freedom comes- he will be on a White horse’.
I told Abe that Yeshua- or
Joshua- in Hebrew means Jesus in Greek [The New Testament was written in
Greek].
So the same name is Jesus for
Christians.
The translation I gave is ‘Jesus
is the Christ’.
Now- I don’t know if anyone ever
told Abe this- it’s one of the main points a Christian would share with a Jewish
friend.
I talked a little more about
Isaiah 53- which is a key chapter as well- it is in the Jewish bible- and is
the most clear prophecy about Jesus.
As Abe walked away- he came back
to my table [in the Burger King- which he owns the property].
And he walked up to my table [he
can do what he wants- he and his family never pay for food when they eat here].
And he sang- in Hebrew- a Jewish
blessing over me.
The bible says if you give a cup
of water to a prophet- you get a reward.
In a way Abe received the words I
spoke- he gave ‘a cup of water’ [the blessing] to someone who testified to him
about the Christ- from his own Torah.
[The bible says in the book of
Revelation ‘the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy’].
SUNDAY AFTERNOON-
Ok- Today I saw Cameron for the first time
since I’ve been back- I met Cameron at our halfway house about 2 years ago.
He’s ‘one of my disciples’ [that’s
what he said to my Muslim friend who came around looking for me this month].
Now- he has been in my meetings
this year [by the way- I committed to do the meetings- for one year- it was an
experiment of sorts- and actually went much better than I thought it would-
I’ll talk more about it later].
So- when Cameron left our halfway
house 2 years ago- the next day I went by- and saw he had my old fire dept.
bible open [I donated it to our halfway house] and it was funny- he had it open
and I saw he was reading the psalms- with all the notes I made in it years
earlier].
So- Cameron has been texting me
when I was in North Bergen- telling me his landscaping business is booming- and
he has all types of accounts- making good money.
To be honest- I thought the kid might
have been trying to make me feel good being I was gone [he’s like an adopted
son of sorts].
So- today he showed me all that’s
going on and sure enough- he was telling the truth.
Now- I had a guy- Mason- cut a
tree for me a few months back.
I told the story- he was also one
of the guys that sat in my meeting at another halfway house.
So- he said he cut trees- and I
had him do mine.
He knows his stuff- but uses
[drugs].
So- he never finished the job- I
decided to pay him anyway- and he came back a few days later with his partners.
He never told them I paid him-
and we got into it.
I made up with Mason and he sat in my meetings
again [my ‘fellowship’ is real- some of the guys have gotten into it with me-
or I them- and later we make up- very real stuff].
So- Mason has joined with Cameron
and they are making good money.
As we left church- Mason was
carrying- you guessed it- that same fire dept. bible. [By the way- they never
met before- I knew them both- but they never knew each other- Mason ran into
Cameron on the street when I was gone- and that’s how they hooked up]
Cameron gave it to him [see the
pics- all the pics I’m posting on Facebook relate to these posts].
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?
I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
God requires of us to hear him daily- to be
open to change and new things- conversion is not only a static event [one time
thing] but an ongoing process.
I’m glad I stuck with the kid-
and made up with Mason- they are a good team.
SUNDAY NIGHT-
Just got back from the beach baptism-
I didn’t baptize- but went to a Rock City Church baptism.
We had a good time- the pastor- David-
is a great guy. I’ve talked with him- shared prophetic stuff- he wants me to
fit in more- I’m just supporting him in a way- being pastors need men who have
a background in stuff. So I think that’s my purpose at this time.
I sat at one of the picnic
tables- there are lots of people at a function like this who know stuff about
the bible.
Sometimes when people see me
smoking and stuff- they think I might be someone in need- that’s ok.
A lady came by- she writes- I
gave her my card and talked a bit.
I shared some stuff with the
pastor- he thanked me.
Then there were 2 ladies who sat
by me- as we talked it turned into about a 30 minute meeting.
One of them said ‘I wish I could
quote the bible like that’- I told them that I’ve been doing this for many
years- and it comes over time.
They did know the bible- and were
sincere Christians.
One of the girls realized she
could learn stuff that she has questions about.
I did a teaching [spur of the
moment] on whether or not Christians should obey the Kosher food laws of the
bible.
I did a history of when God first
allowed man to eat meat [after the flood] the various verses in Corinthians and
Romans about the issue.
Many good Christians have questions
on this.
I quoted a lot- gave some
background- in the end I said it’s a mater of grace- your allowed to eat
whatever- but some choose to be vegetarians- and that’s ok.
It was funny- I never planned on
doing a meeting type thing at the baptism- but it worked out well.
On the way to the island I saw
Austin for the first time.
Austin is an Afghanistan vet- who
out of all the kids I work with- he’s in the most trouble [that’s his nick
name].
I just asked Cameron earlier in
the day how he was doing.
He told me bad- he got beat up in
the face with a bat when I was gone- they disfigured him- for life.
He said you wouldn’t even
recognize him.
Austin got stabbed before I left
Texas on this last trip.
I remember the guy who stabbed
him [who I know] as acting strange that day- outside the mission.
I asked him ‘how you doing’- he looked
at me- I could tell he was ready to do something.
He said ‘what did you say’.
I replied ‘I asked how you were
doing Bryan’.
He looked at me and said ‘blessed’. A few minutes later he stabbed Austin- it
made the news that night.
I recognized Austin as he crossed
the street- and yeah- he looks different.
I noticed he took off his
sunglasses for a 2nd- and put them on fast.
He didn’t see me- and I was on the
way to the island.
I’ll try and cover a few more
things this week- sort of like journaling.
As of now- I think I will wait
before I re-start the meetings- I do enjoy them- but I feel I should wait.
It’s not easy for me to not be
busy- so I’ll have to try and settle down some.
Ok- enjoy this update- I might do
1 or 2 more and that should be it.
http://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/black-sabbath-2014.zip
[Black Sabbath drive- to My North Bergen friends- this video is a drive I took
with Cheech in the old town- you can see 91st street and stuff- for
those who moved out of the area long ago- you might like it- I did mention some
names of the old friends from the area as I passed your house’s- see who you
are!]
facebook.com/john.chiarello.5
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [FaceBook#]
- I have posted lots. visit- ccoutreach87.wordpress.com- my radio shows.
No comments:
Post a Comment