A NOTE ABOUT THE OJB NEW TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE

LET'S COME TO TERMS WITH THE FAITH OF THE FIRST CENTURY

 Shalom! Let's stop here and test your Moshiach literacy.

STOP AND TAKE A MOMENT TO WATCH THE NUMBER #1 GOOGLE RATED MESSIANIC VIDEO

       On his deathbed, with his Hebrew translation of the Brit Chadasha gripped by his trembling hand, Frantz Delitsch was still making corrections to his translation on the day he died. This shows why we must make the most of the time for the sake of getting the Hebrew Brit Chadasha and other language versions to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

The Bible says to redeem (acquire back) the time because the days are evil. Even though I was a professional actor with a Master's Degree in Drama and a member of SCREEN ACTORS GUILD, I cannot say I always did that. But by the grace of G-d (and what a disappointment I must be to the L-rd in so many ways, since "to whom much is given, much is required"), every two or three years a certain amount of fruit has been coming from this ministry. This is since I came to Messianic salvation in 1971 and then earned a doctor's degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. My professors there were key-note speakers at the historic Lausanne Conference in 1974 sponsored by Billy Graham.

When I hurried into James Collier's World Wide Pictures office in 1974 with a screenplay about the Apostle Paul [depicting him as a Chassidic Rabbi--I'm talking about the real Paul of history, not the "saint" so fabricated today], I had no idea it would take me until 2001 (27 years) to put the film on the Internet. I didn't even know there would be such a distribution miracle as the Internet, where people all over the world could download a Bible-based film through their phone lines and then view it on their computer screen! But G-d knew. The Bible says, "This Good News will be preached to every creature." Also it says, "Knowledge will increase." In Exodus 12:41, we find that G-d brought Israel out of Egypt after exactly 430 years, to the very day, from the day He brought Israel into Egypt. That's 365 days times 430 years to the very day! Like a train conductor moving people out of the station exactly on time, so G-d moved His people in and out of Egyptian captivity according to His precise plan perfectly timed to the day.

On Labor Day, 1978, when I had only 23 cents to my name, G-d checked me into the Wishing Well Motel free-of-charge in Boynton Beach, Florida. The business card I saved and have since shown to hundreds of people from that supernaturally provided free motel room says, "Your wish will come true at the Wishing Well Motel!"  My "wish" and prayer at the time was to make a film about Paul called THE RABBI FROM TARSUS. Then exactly 17 years later, to the very day, the Lord checked our ministry into our website on the Internet, on Labor Day, Monday, 1995. That's 365 days times 17 years to the very day! Look at Exodus 12:41 again. Now, this film is being prepared for uploading and downloading from our website on the Internet. As I write this, the entire 89 minute film with Hebrew subtitles is being converted to the media of digital technology. Now remember I was 31 years old when I started this "media Bible" project in 1974 and now I am turning 58 years old May 2. So I believe that G-d now at last wants this film to take its place in the emerging digital world of the Internet. Think how knowledge has increased (Daniel 12:4)! Once there was a shift from silent films to sound films. Then the shift was from black-and-white to color. Now this color film we made and distributed as a VHS video is being transformed this month to the format of a DVD with Hebrew subtitles! This is all to serve the substance of one of the greatest historical events of all time, the true story of the Apostle Paul's witness to the Resurrection of the Messiah, a witness he himself made more credible by his martyr's death. All this is in the film, THE RABBI FROM TARSUS. Just recently a man was moved to faith viewing this film, which a professional actor also viewed and is now acting in a live stage drama "downunder" in co-operation with a messianic staff member in charge of Jewish outreach in Australia. Even as 200 movie screens are closing in America every day, soon even major motion pictures will be downloaded from the Internet and people will start the downloads even as they set their alarm clocks and go to bed at night. THE RABBI FROM TARSUS will also be downloaded as well!  Baruch Hashem!

What is exciting about what is happening this month is that, with your prayers and support, anyone in the world with a fast modem will be able to log on to our website at afii.org and watch the film, whether he or she is sitting at a computer in Australia or Israel. This will give our website the equivalent of a "movie screening room open to the entire world." Baruch Hashem! This means, with the traffic now visiting our website, we will have hundreds of possible online viewers each day from the first day the technology is launched from our website. Who would have ever dreamed in 1974 when I went flying out the door with that screenplay to talk to one of Billy Graham's film directors at World Wide Pictures that the completed film would one day be viewable in such faraway places as the Internet now reaches.

Without a vision, the people perish! G-d is sending so many people to help us now. I am editing the Hebrew and the Yiddish New Testaments for publication and free universal distribution from our website. I am also finishing translating the Old Testament (500 chapters left to finish in a project started in 1999). We do homeless outreach every month, preach in the open air nearly every Sunday afternoon, give out thousands of tracts, speak in services in three different boroughs of New York City every single week, and give out thousands of evangelistic tracts to Jews, Muslims, Greeks etc every month. We also pray two nights a week in two different prayer services, one on Monday and one on Wednesday, and we are literally seeing all of our prayers answered, including our Passover Seder coming up April 15th!

Please send us your prayer requests. G-d is doing miracles in answering prayer now! Just when many are becoming nominal and backslidden, putting their Bibles down, skipping prayer meeting, ceasing to witness their faith to family members and friends, and even missing services in the House of G-d, just at such a time of worldliness, we are ministering to many Muslims and Jews every week, by the grace of G-d! And now we are seeing G-d beginning to move miraculously to answer prayer.

MANNA AND QUAILS--A PROVISION IS ALSO A TEST

In Exodus chapter 16, verse 4 we see that when G-d promised to rain down bread from heaven upon His hungry people in the barren wilderness, He says that His gracious provision would also be a test to determine "whether they will walk in My torah, or no."

If you study this chapter, you see that G-d knew in advance about their ingratitude and proud unbelief and disobedient hearts. He knew that some of the people would not honor the L-rd and would break the Ten Commandments by desecrating the Sabbath instead of trusting the L-rd that the extra provisions on the sixth day would provide for the seventh day. Not only are the Israelites to gather the miraculous provision daily in the morning for six days of the week, but they are to pick up a day's supply on any given day, with a double-harvesting on the sixth day, so that no work would be necessary on the following day. In the L-rd's prayer we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Then in Philippians Paul assures us, "My G-d shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Messiah Yeshua."

The people of G-d had just departed from the pleasant oasis of Elim and were now in the wilderness of Sin (pronounced "Seen"). Their "setting forth" was a test, for only G-d's provision could sustain them through the barren land that lay ahead of them. When they began murmuring against their leaders and their G-d, we are reminded of the warning, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." This a Scripture that should be memorized: Proverbs 3:5.

My new translation says for Exodus 16:7 that "He heareth your telunnot (murmurings, grumblings) against Hashem: and who are we, that ye murmur against us?"

In verse 8 it is stated that "your grumblings are not against us, but against Hashem."

In verse 16 it is promised that there would be sufficient manna for each person. My G-d shall supply all your needs. It was not necessary for anyone to hoard or to be greedy or to be anxious or to take more than he or she needed. G-d provided and what He provided could be turned into bread, a daily supply. But man cannot live on bread alone. The bread came with the word of G-d, and the daily dependence on manna was really an act of faith in the Word of G-d. G-d tested the Israelites by issuing certain stipulations concerning the collection and storage of the manna (see Ex.16:4-5,16,23). I believe that G-d is testing me to see if I will be a good steward of THE RABBI FROM TARSUS and make the necessary sacrifices to make sure that it is placed on the website for universal viewing and distribution free-of-charge. I have other needs right now but this need which goes back to 1974 must take priority. Like the manna from heaven, it was free, in the sense that G-d checked me into the Wishing Well Motel in Boynton Beach with 23 cents and the 23,000 dollars (100,000 times 23 cents = $23,000) needed to film it in 1986 came from Boynton Beach, like bread from heaven, like pennies from heaven. When I was most weak, G-d was most strong.  How can anyone not give Him glory?  G-d met my need exceedingly abundantly, 100,000 time over, more than I could ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). To demonstrate their faith in G-d's provision, the people were not supposed to keep any of the manna from one day to the next (see Ex.16:19). Notice the instructions of G-d were not heeded by some people (see Ex.16:20,28). Although they had witnessed a great and supernatural G-d deliver them at the Red Sea, still many lacked total commitment and and loyalty to their Savior. They failed the test of faith.

A PROVISION IS ALSO A TEST (part II)

I have been following G-d for exactly 30 years. I was saved at this time of year in 1971. G-d has always met my needs. Think of the constancy of G-d. G-d provided manna in the wilderness for 40 years for the people of G-d, even though they were stubborn and proud and unbelieving and tried Him greatly with their obstinacy. Only when the Israelites settled in the land of Canaan did the manna cease (see Ex.16:35).

In the NT Moshiach compares Himself with the heavenly manna. "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. This bread is my flesh [the Lamb of G-d of Pesach saved the people only if they ate his flesh -see Exodus 12:8] which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51; cf 6:48-58)."  Only those who fear the Devar Hashem will be saved (see Exodus 9:21) and Moshiach is the Devar Hashem (Yn 1:1).

I love to meditate on the word of G-d. The same G-d that gave Israel their charters, laws and commissions from heaven also gave them their food from heaven. And everything, even food, is a test. (They would agree with that statement at Weight-Watchers!) The food had to be prepared, it had to be laid up, ground up, baked and made ready. And according to Ex.16:6, the food was to remind the people of the L-rd and what He, not they, had done for themselves. The same G-d who plagued their enemies provided for their needs. G-d did this, and the same G-d will meet all our needs, including the need to put THE RABBI FROM TARSUS up on the website as a downloadable film viewable on the computer screen. Exodus 16:19 says, "Let no man leave of it till the morning." Let them learn to go to bed and sleep quietly, though they had not a bit of bread in their tent, nor in all their camp, trusting G-d with the following day to bring them their daily bread. 600,000 men, not counting women and children, fed from heaven every day! Without money! Without price! Food out of the clouds! An omer of this manna was laid up in a golden pot as we are told Heb.9:4, and kept before the testimony in the ark. In the same spirit of faith, I kept the business card of the Wishing Well Motel and still have it, though G-d gave it to me Labor Day, 1978.  Anyone who wants to see it, I scanned it into a pdf file and put it on the website.   When I tell the story in a homeless shelter the third Monday of every month, I have proof to give any gainsayer that what I am saying is G-d's honest truth. A provision was made in the wilderness for me! The same G-d is in heaven today, and He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He provided a supernatural room and a supernatural provision, and when the video file is stored on the website for downloading and viewing by the world, I'm going to make sure that this testimony is placed there on the website as well, like the manna was placed in the Ark. O how wonderful is Yeshua/Yehoshua!

How real is my Savior. How good and kind and constant is He. He will never leave you or forsake you. When mother and father forsake you, then the L-rd will take you up (Ps 27:10; see Ps37:28; 94:14). The Word of G-d is the manna by which our souls are nourished (see Mt.4:4). We also have hidden manna (Rev.2:17) such as is here for hungry hearts seeking G-d. I am praying for unsaved relatives who are not gathering for themselves from the Scriptures. Spiritual food must be gathered. And we must gather manna from heaven for ourselves; I cannot read the Bible for you and you cannot read it for me.

1974 was the year I wrote Everything You Need To Grow A Messianic Synagogue. In 1980 I founded Artists For Israel International, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization in New York State.

Then I began writing a series of books to get up to speed as a Bible translator. In 1981 I wrote Everything You Need To Grow A Messianic Yeshiva (William Carey Library Publishers) and The Rabbi From Tarsus (Tyndale House). In 1986 I wrote How To Point to Moshiach in Your Rabbi's Bible and made a film of The Rabbi From Tarsus (Word, Inc). In 1989 I wrote The New Creation Book For Muslims. In 1990 it was translated into Arabic and more recently into Urdu. In 1992 I wrote The Complete Book For Artists For Israel, which is a seminary/messianic yeshiva education compressed into a downloadable e-book. In 1996 the first edition of The Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha was published. Then, after that edition sold out it was reprinted and advertised in the New York Times. Since then it has been appearing in other language versions on the Internet. "He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and
multiply your seed for sowing..."  II Corinthians 9:10 says.  G-d has surely done that.  Praise His Holy Name!

These books were well received by many in 1999 at two international conferences, not only the Jewish consultation
but also the one on Muslim ministry, and many CD-Rom and Website links to them were established
by many other ministries throughout the world.  I give G-d the glory for this. G-d is a worker. And He wants
us to work hard as well.  "I passed by the field of the sluggard,  and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense; and behold
his field was completely overgrown with thistles." (Proverbs 24:30-31).  Think of how great a good comes out of such a small thing as one seed.  The acorn is very small, but look at the mighty oak tree!  Conversely, what great evil can
come from a little dalliance: we sow the wind, we reap the whirlwind. Therefore, before we give anything, whether of our substance or of our talents or time, we must first ask the L-rd for cleansing and forgiveness and dedicate
ourselves afresh and give ourselves to the L-rd and to our brethren by the will of G-d (II Cor.8:1-5).  I am always
praying, "L-rd, don't let anything in my life choke the word and make it unfruitful." (See Matthew 13:22).

When we do homeless ministry and tract distribution and open-air preaching regularly, I always think about this scripture: "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap
bountifully." (II Corinthians 9:6) Call New York 718 253-0974 and you will hear the powerful message we are sowing to everyone who calls from the thousands of tracts we distribute monthly (visit our virtual tract room while you are browsing
at our website materials page).

Now there are 23,684  words in the Gospel of Matthew and nineteen of the most important of them can be translated into Hebrew for a little less than one dollar.  "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel" of Matthew 1:23 becomes HEH, NOON, HEH, then HEH, AYIN, LAMMED, MEM, HEH, then HEH, RAYSH, HEH, then VAHV, YOD, LAMMED, DALET, TAHV, then BET, FINAL NOON, then
VAHV, KOHF, RAYSH, ALEF, TAHV then  SHEEN, MEM, VAHV, then AYIN, MEM, NOON, VAHV, ALEF, LAMMED.  That's about 5 cents a word.

        $706.99 will translate Matthew into Hebrew. $25.25 will translate an entire
chapter.  Let me give you the rest of the figures, first the cost of translating the
entire book, then of translating an entire chapter: Mark $452.87, a single chapter
$28.30; Luke $774.45, chp $32.27; John $570.12, chp $27.15; Acts $723.88,
chp $25.85; Romans $282, chp $17.63; I Cor. $283.25, chp $17.70; II Cor.
$181.85, chp $13.99; Gal.$92.48, chp $15.41; Eph $90.72, chp $15.12;
Philippians $59.76, chp $14.94; Col.$59.64, chp $14.91; I Thes.$55.43, chp $11.09;
II Thes. $31.10, chp $10.37; I Tim.$67.73, chp $11.29; II Tim. $50.84, chp $12.71;
Titus $27.49, chp $9.16; Philemon $13.28 Hebrews $206.36, chp $15.87;
James $68.93, chp $13.79; I Peter $74.09, chp $14.82; II Peter $46.54, chp $15.51;
I John $75.31, chp $15.06; II John $9.04; III John $8.93; Jude $18.30;
Revelation $358.21, chp.$16.28

When our L-rd had to feed 5,000 people, he broke a big job down into smaller
components. The Twelve fed a hundred companies of 50, who sat down on the
grass and were fed in a supernatural yet orderly way.  I am only one man and
by myself I cannot translate 180,550 words into all six of the major languages that
the Jewish people of the world speak (Spanish, Ladino, Hebrew, Yiddish, French,
and Russian). I cannot pay for the translation of all these words into Hebrew.
However, I can share this burden with others that G-d has assigned to help me.
Pray and ask the L-rd about this.  Remember.  Wealth takes wings and flies
away (Proverbs 23:5). You go into a store and buy something for $46.54 which
quickly wears out and is gone. However, $46.54 could have paid the Hebrew
translator to translate II Peter into Hebrew (my favorite book), which when it goes
up on our website, immediately begins racing all over the world on
phone lines and modems to Hebrew readers everywhere! I have been collecting
treasures since 1971 and all of these treasures are on this website.  This is why
we are getting traffic and links from all over the world now.  Many
people are discovering these treasures every day, including many Orthodox Jews
and also many Muslims.  The grass fades and the flower falls but the word of our
L-rd stands forever.  The Bible says there is precious treasure and oil
in the dwelling of the wise (Proverbs 21:20).  Hallelujah!

I take only $500 per year as salary.  I do not want to cause a hindrance to the
distribution of the Word of G-d because of my own financial demands.  I believe
ministers should try to live a sacrificial lifestyle.  I believe the L-rd wants a Messianic
Bible Society on the Internet and wants all of these language versions of the Holy
Bible available free of charge.  Soon you will be able to download the Textus Receptus
Greek New Testament, the Hebrew Bible and many other e-Bibles from www.afii.org
all free of charge. You will also be able to view THE RABBI FROM TARSUS
with Hebrew Subtitles free of charge.  For all of the above reasons, I urge you
to become a member of our Messianic Bible Society.

May G-d always bless you in Adoneinu Moshiach Ben Dovid Yehoshua,

Dr. Phil Goble
Founder and President
ARTISTS FOR ISRAEL INTERNATIONAL