Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Oh LORD,
 Our God,
 How Excellent is Your Name over All The Earth!
 For You Alone Are Worthy,
 You Alone Are LORD,
 You Alone Are The King of the Universe!
 Ancient of Days,
 You Are The One True God of Abraham,
 and We Praise and Worship You with Our Whole Heart,
 Soul, Mind, and Spirit!

 
Let all that has been Concealed
Be Revealed.

Father, We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem,
According To Your Will and Promise.
We Pray That You Will Forgive The Sins
of Our Own Nation,
and Lead us all to Godly Repentance.
Create in Us Clean Hearts, Oh LORD,
and Renew a Right Spirit Within Us.

This we Pray Together,
As We Await Your Messiah,
Blessed Be He,
To Set Up His Kingdom,
And Make All Things Right.

God Bless America.

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Amen !!! <><

Psalm 26

Of David.

1 Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to you.*

4 I do not sit with the worthless,
nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5 I hate the company of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.

6 I wash my hands in innocence,
and go around your altar, O Lord,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.

8 O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners,
nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
10 those in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.

11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the Lord.

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Matthew 2

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[c]

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
   weeping and great mourning,
 Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”[d]

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The evil dictator Joseph Stalin had some remarkable artists under his boot. One of these was filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, who pioneered Special Effects and Montage Filming techniques. Along with the brilliant composer Sergei Prokofiev, some great art was produced, but was unfortunately in the service of the Totalitarian State. Although the propaganda wasn't as blatant as that of Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, it was still there.

There was an Eisenstein Film Festival being held in the Colonial-Era African Meeting House on Beacon Hill back in the 1970's, and as an artist/musician/filmmaker, I just HAD to attend. The series started with "Potemkin", trudged through "Alexander Nevsky", and ended with the four-hour Epic "Ivan The Terrible". The word "Terrible" in Ivan's name did not mean the same as it does now. We speak of a terrible first date or a terrible movie. In Ivan's day it meant that he was so fierce and powerful that he inspired TERROR.

Just like Herod the Great, Ivan killed his own son Dmitri. It is possible that Ivan killed his wife too. We know Herod did, as he murdered one of his wives, the unfortunate Mariamne.

Just as there were lots of Ivans in the Russian Royal Family, there were a lot of Herods in the First Century. At least three are mentioned in the New Testament. The one in this Chapter is the first of the line, Herod the Great. He was not a "great guy" at all. In fact, he was pretty TERRIBLE, in the Ivan sense of the word.

Like Stalin, Herod had some amazing artists under his boot. The architecture of this period is even named after Herod and includes Palaces, Public Buildings, Mountain Resorts, and, the most crowning achievement of all, The Second Temple. The Temple that was rebuilt under Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel was vastly improved and expanded by Herod. The "Herodian Stonework" still exists today in the Western Retaining Wall and the structure around the Cave of Machpelia.

But, just as Eisenstein's filmmaking and Prokofiev's music do not excuse Stalin's purges and mass murders, neither does the architecture excuse Herod's evils. Liberal scholars may dispute The Slaughter of the Innocents, but it was well within Herod's capabilities to order such a massacre and not even have it recorded in the public record. Josephus doesn't mention it, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. We have Matthew's account, and there is that strange little cave in Bethlehem where hundreds of infant bones were discovered.

St. Jerome lived in that very cave for a while, where he translated the Bible into Latin, so everybody could read it for themselves.

Latin was the ordinary language of the common people at the time, so the translation is called "The Vulgate".

One can imagine the spirits of the little ones urging St. Jerome onward.

"Don't leave us out. Tell our story."

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS