Awake!

Our friend, multi-talented Avner Boskey, integrates in a delightful and pithy way colorful song lyrics and media references into his Messianic missives from the Negev. I thought of him as I remembered a song from my youth. One of the many psychedelic soul songs that Norman Whitfield wrote and produced in the late ’60s and early ’70s was recorded by the Temptations in 1970 attacked the Vietnam War, Nixon’s administration, and drug addiction, making it one of the few protest records from Motown.

Ball of ConfusionPeople movin’ out, people movin’ in Why, because of the color of their skin Run, run, run but you sure can’t hide An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth Vote for me and I’ll set you freeRap on, brother, rap onWell, the only person talkin’ ’bout love thy brother is the preacher And it seems nobody’s interested in learnin’ but the teacherSegregation, determination, demonstration, integration Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation

Ball of confusion Oh yeah, that’s what the world is today

The sale of pills are at an all time high Young folks walking round with their heads in the sky The cities ablaze in the summer time And oh, the beat goes onAir pollution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul Shootin’ rockets to the moon, kids growin’ up too soon Politicians say more taxes will solve everythingAnd the band played on So, ’round and around and around we go Where the world’s headed, nobody knows Oh, great googa-mooga, can’t ya hear me talkin’ to ya? Just a ball of confusion Oh yeah, that’s what the world is todayFear in the air, tension everywhere Unemployment rising fast, The Beatles’ new record’s a gas And the only safe place to live is On an Indian reservationAnd the band played onEve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand Suicide, too many bills, hippies moving to the hills People all over the world are shouting “End the war!” And the band played on

Half a century ago this ditty blasted over radios across the country. Today it rings equally true. As the Hebrew Scriptures tell us:“What has been is what will be, and what has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes 1:9The battle between light and darkness proceeds as the Bible predicted. Europe, once a Christian environment (however flawed), is gasping for spiritual air as politically correct policies are creating a Moslem-dominated continent. Note: Please see the description of our ministry’s television series Bad Moon Rising.

Hejira

The hejira is ongoing and America could deal with the same issues that Europe is facing— a growing segment of the population that values its political/religious ideology (sharia) over the existing laws of the land.What is hejira? TheFreeDictionary.com defines it thusly:

1. An Arabic word meaning emigration or flight, used to refer to any flight from danger but especially the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622.
2. A journey by a large group to escape a hostile environment.

Sadly, many of the Moslems flooding into the West are importing their 7th-century paradigm with them. The West desperately needs a spiritual awakening. In a coincidence that caught my eye, Norman Whitfield composed the protest song above. Another Whitfield—George— once spurred us into a renewed season of Messiah-centered living.In the 18th century, George Whitefield (often misspelled Whitfield) came to the American colonies from Great Britain; in both places he preached a series of re-vivals that came to be known as the “Great Awakening.” He reputedly preached at least 18,000 times to perhaps 10 million people.

Politicians come and go, but the Word abides forever (1 Peter 1:25). The West is ready for another great awakening, when crowds gain a personal sense of their need for salvation by Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus Christ. Your prayers and financial contributions keep this ministry’s voice shouting—“from the housetops”(Matt.10:27), on television, in print, on the web — that Yeshua is the hope of the entire world. When people hear the Gospel, the Spirit goes to work changing hearts.