Through the Bible in 66 Days - Amos

 

The Message of Amos: A Call to Justice, Truth, and Genuine Faith

Amos was possibly the first prophet to write down his prophecy; up until then, the prophets had delivered their messages verbally. He was called to prophesy during the reign of Uzziah in the southern kingdom of Judah and Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom of Israel.

The Political and Moral Conditions

During this time, both kingdoms enjoyed political stability, which in turn brought prosperity. Sadly, it was also a time of idolatry, extravagance, and corruption. The rich and powerful were oppressing the poor. God sent Amos to denounce the people of Israel for their social injustice and turning away from Him. He warned them that disaster would fall upon them for breaking God’s covenant. He urged them to leave the hypocrisy of their public religious events (chapter 5, verse 21). Nevertheless, Amos reminded them that God would remember His covenant with Israel and would restore those who were faithful (chapter 9, verses 11-15).

Through the Bible in 66 Days - Ecclesiasties

Ecclesiastes: When Life Feels Like Chasing the Wind

The book of Ecclesiastes stands as one of the most unusual and striking books in the whole Bible. It refuses to gloss over life's frustrations. Instead, it walks straight into them, naming the emptiness we often feel but rarely admit. The Teacher—it's writer—speaks with a raw honesty that resonates deeply with anyone who has ever wondered, What's the point of it all?

Yet Ecclesiastes is not a hopeless book. It is a signpost pointing beyond the emptiness of life "under the sun" to the fullness of life found only in Jesus Christ. The Gospel shines where human experience grows dim.

Through the Bible in 66 Days - Proverbs

 

A Gospel‑Centred Summary of the Book of Proverbs

Highlighting the Wisdom of God and the Way of Salvation

The book of Proverbs is God’s invitation to live wisely in His world. It is not merely a collection of clever sayings; it is a call to walk the path of life rather than the path of death. At its heart stands a simple but searching truth:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7)

But the fear of the LORD is not simply respect—it is a right response to a holy God. Proverbs exposes the foolishness of sin, the danger of ignoring God, and the certainty of judgment. Yet it also points us to the One who is the very embodiment of God’s wisdom—the Lord Jesus Christ.

National Holocaust Day 2023

Photos from own collection

Auschwitz was the largest Nazi concentration camp.  More than 1,100,000 men, women, and children lost their lives here.  Multiple train tracks led in to this extermination camp, no Jew ever came out!

All over the nation, places of public entertainment are closed, and last night a state ceremony was held in the Warsaw Ghetto Square in Jerusalem to honor the Jewish people who perished at the hands of Nazi Germany.

The flag was lowered to half-staff, and prayers were recited.  Holocaust survivors lit the six torches that symbolize the Six Million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust under Hitler's Final Solution.

Despite the process of dehumanization and annihilation that the Nazis unleashed on the Jewish People, necessitating a struggle for survival in the worst of circumstances, many Jews continued to exercise creativity, pursue education and culture, recite prayer, and observe the holidays.

"Many of those who struggled to maintain and preserve the human spirit did not survive the horrors of the Holocaust, but their deeds and actions are a reminder to future generations of the stamina and nobility of the human spirit," the Yad VaShem website states.

The Nazis packed Jewish people like cattle into railroad cars as they shipped them to their final destination at labor and extermination camps.  Those camps were part of Hitler's "Final Solution" to kill all of the 
Jewish People.

The Nazis intended that no Jew would survive the Holocaust.

Multiple tracks led from all over Europe to concentration camps like Auschwitz.  Jewish people were crammed into cattle cars and shipped to these death camps.  Very few survived.

Many were gassed immediately upon arrival and their bodies burned in ovens.  

Those who were healthy enough to work when they arrived were literally worked to death.

Two-thirds of European Jewry, that was one-third of all world Jewry, died in the Holocaust.

This horrible, unfathomable number—six million murdered—does not count the many Jewish children who will never be born because of this genocide.

Whole families were destroyed.  Some Jewish people who came out of the Holocaust were the sole survivor of their family.  They were left completely alone.  Many communities were utterly erased.

Those who came to Israel from Europe were a remnant.

Some of those who were gassed and put in the ovens were the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles of our Bibles for Israel Ministry staff.

May We Never Forget.

Paying tribute to the six million who perished in the Holocaust.  
Never Again!

Used by permission  

"The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.   Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing."  (Isaiah 51:3)

 

Remembering Sir Nicholas Winton

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

Towards the end of 1938, a stock-broker, born to German-Jewish parents, travelled from England, which had become his home, to Prague, Czechoslovakia, knowing that upon arrival, he would find many people displaced from their homes. Some were living with relatives, others living rough or in camps with little food and trying their best to keep warm in the winter conditions. At the age of 29, he had so far lived a relatively comfortable life, but hearing about Jews who had lost their jobs and suffered other forms of persecution, he set out to see if there was anything he could do to help.

Whilst a number of organisations were working away, things were getting tougher. He was concerned with rescuing children, but amongst other challenges, was the problem of transporting unaccompanied children across Europe into Britain. Nicholas used his political connections to put certain things in order and his mother went to the ‘Home Office’ to make his rescue plan possible.