Your Daily Bread for October 22-28, 2023

Welcome to Your Daily Bread for October 22-28, 2023, by Dr Apelu Poe!

Key Torah Code for this Week: “Vayishlach” (And he sent): Genesis 32:4-36:43.

Basic Principle of Our Judaic-Christian Faith:

We, as Jews and Christians, need to have the courage or the boldness of the heart to get out of the box, whatever that box may symbolise, and to let go of the past so we can explore the mystery surrounding our Divine calling.

“I hesitate to state it in detail because it sounds so Apocalyptic. I told Clinton, holding something back even as I warned him. I could not bring myself to tell the President the world might come to an end.” I’ll get to the point in a minute.

But let me, first of all, say Talofa, and Shabbat shalom to you, my friends, in the name of “Yeshua HaMashiach”, Jesus the Messiah! I’m Dr Apelu Poe, a Torah-Bible Code developer and a 3-Times #1 International Best-selling author from Samoa, now residing permanently in LaVergne, Tennessee, USA.

Getting back to the point. If you have been following God’s calendar, which dictates and foretells the events of our lives, as the above quote indicates, you will know that we are now entering the third week of the Providence season. What is Providence season? The Providence season is the second season of God’s calendar, with the Harvest Home or Thanksgiving Sunday, November 23, as its festival. As the name suggests, the Providence season is when we are called to acknowledge that our God is Yahweh Yireh, who provides for our needs. The biblical basis that supports this season is found in Genesis 22:14: So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The Lord will provide’ as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided.”

Question: Do we have the Biblical evidence that further supports this? Of course, we do Listen, again, to these Biblical witnesses that provide a solid Biblical basis on which one could reflect on this critically important season of God’s calendar:

God himself said, “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything” (Genesis 9:3). With this in mind, the prophet Jeremiah put it this way, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11); This is why King David declares with a loud voice, “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15-16); James, therefore summarises it, saying, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:1-2).

Before we look at this week’s Torah portion, let me also say “thank you” to all of you, my readers, for taking the time to access my teaching on Facebook and LinkedIn from week to week. It is a great delight and inspiration to know that so many of you worldwide find my special Torah gift helpful in your daily walk with God! I call my Torah gift for you this week “Your Daily Bread for October 22-28, 2023.”

Why am I saying this? Well, for those of you who have been following my teaching, I’m saying this because, as you might have noticed, I have been using this same gift that God has given me for the past 41 years to help guide the destiny of those whose spiritual welfare God has entrusted to me. And now that I have retired from the ordained ministry in July 2021, I want you to have free access to it. My pastoral desire is simply this: For you to be the person God has created you to be. My prayer, then, is that you would be able to live according to God’s time so that you may discern God’s Divine path for your life and how it is that God wants you to live to receive his blessing best and shine his holy light.

Your Benefits from My Torah Gift I Can Give You This Week

So, what exactly can you expect from the Torah gift I’m giving you this third week of the Providence season? Well, the first and foremost is self-awareness of our responsibility of being moral perfectionists. It’ll help you become aware that this Judaic-Christian way of life that God has called us to live is not without challenges, trials, and tribulations.

Think about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza between the Israelis and Hamas that has thrust the Middle East into catastrophic chaos. Last Wednesday, October 18, Piers Morgan, the British Talk TV host, challenged the Israeli Ambassador, saying, “You can’t deny there’s a humanitarian crisis.” Piers Morgan hosted Israel Ambassador for the U.K. Tzipi Hotovely for an almost entirely sympathetic interview until the Talk TV host pressed her on her earlier denial of a “humanitarian crisis” unfolding in Gaza.

Hotovely had appeared earlier last week on Sky News and flatly refused to use that terminology to describe the current conditions in the war-torn territory whose leaders orchestrated a vicious and indiscriminate attack on the citizens of southern Israel last weekend.

“What’s the view on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza?” the Sky News host asked Hotovely.

“There is no humanitarian crisis,” she responded, explaining that Israel is allowing Gaza citizens to flee to safety and is “targeting military targets.”

Later in the exchange, when the Sky News host said the network “has been showing images” of humanitarian crises in Gaza, Hotovely became emotional, saying: “blame Hamas. Ask Hamas. … what is happening? There is a war in Gaza.” When discussing food and water supplies in Gaza, the Israeli Ambassador explained that Hamas was entirely responsible for repurposing the machinery needed to pump water out aquifers, suggesting that many public resources are “being abused.” “Just think how irrational it is that the international community, knowing that Hamas started this war, is blaming Israel for what it didn’t start.”

Morgan, the Talk TV host, responded, “I’m not blaming Israel, no, no,” “All I’m saying is I understand the scale of what happened last weekend means that there must be an unprecedented response.”

Question: Why is there such a humanitarian crisis that has resulted in the loss of an increasing number of innocent lives on both sides, the Israelis and Hamas? Answer: It could be a combination of many factors. We cannot deny that lying at the heart of the problem is the issue of justice or the question of what is right and what is wrong according to Jesus’ teaching on Christian ethics.

Because in life, there is this thing that we call the devil.

Listen, again, to the witness from the first Book of the Torah. ‘Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5).

It is no wonder why the Lord said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” (Zechariah 3:2).

How can we overcome these forces of darkness we face today? Where can we find the inner strength to face these challenges? Let’s listen to the apostle Paul’s advice, “Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the armour of God that you can stand against the devil's wiles. For we are not contending against flesh and blood but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:10-12).

The second benefit my Torah gift will give you this week is understanding our role as God’s guardians of his creation that surrounds us. It’ll help you not lose focus on the fact that God did not give us the freedom to do what we want with his creation. Instead, God gave us only the right to use his creation responsibly for the well-being of each other.

What is becoming increasingly evident in the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the Middle East is that the lives of the Palestinian people do not matter. This is precisely the same old bias in the Middle East conflict that the Palestinian-Canadian Jewish group in Canada voiced last week. And that is, they do not value Palestinian lives. Some Canadians question why Canada’s response to Hamas’ acts does not seem to include sympathy for Palestinians.

Apparently, the views of Canadian leaders and politicians are completely biased towards support for Israel. Israel has been bombing Gaza with so many civilians even right now. They are targeting ambulances. One Palestinian relative was just murdered trying to save Palestinian lives as a paramedic. On October 7, Hamas, the Islamist political and military organization that governs the Gaza Strip of Palestinian territories, launched an attack on Israel to infiltrate dividing borders.

The action resulted in hundreds of deaths for both Israel and Palestine. While some Israeli supporters are labelling the violence a “terrorist attack”, some of the Palestinian diasporas are calling the violence a response to the long-standing Israeli occupation of Palestine.

In Ottawa, Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the attack at a vigil soon after the incident, saying, “Hamas terrorists aren't a resistance, they're not freedom fighters. They are terrorists, and no one in Canada should be supporting them, much less celebrating them,” while standing in front of a Canadian and Israeli flag.

Question: Where, then, can we find the road that will lead us to a world where all of God’s children can come together not by force or coercion but by the voluntary exchange of gifts and values and the longing to help make this world a better place?

Answer: When we all come to acknowledge and accept that we’re all part of one human family created in the image of God, incorporated into the Body of Christ, and blessed alike through the gifts of God’s Holy Spirit.

Listen, again, to the apostle Paul, who acknowledges, saying, “God had made of one blood all nations of men to dwell together on all the face of the earth…” thus reminding us that all human beings are the creation of God (Acts 17:25-26).

The third benefit that my Torah gift will give you this week is our need to entertain optimism. It’ll help you and me realise that navigating through this rugged ground that we call the Judaic-Christian way of life is not easy. Therefore, we must look at the more favourable side of events or conditions and expect the most favourable outcome.

Why is that important? Because it helps us register in our minds the belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world. A good example that can further illustrate the truth of this statement is in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s, the President of Ukraine’s peace formula.

Ukraine and partner states have now agreed on further talks at the state leader security adviser level to approve the peace formula proposed by President Zelenskyy.

This will be the third meeting of the advisers, whose main task is to agree on holding a Peace Summit or other event in a multilateral format that should approve the peace formula based on Ukrainian proposals. The first meeting occurred in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June, and the second in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in August.

? The meeting in Jeddah was attended by national security advisers and political advisers to the leaders of about 40 countries. Among them are those not part of the Western camp, such as China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Chile, and South Africa. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed the participation of Chinese representative Li Hui in a meeting on the Ukrainian peace formula in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The more promising news for all of us is that the Head of the President's Office, Andrii Yermak, is planning a new national security and political advisers meeting in Malta. At the end of September, Yermak expressed hope that the third meeting of the national security advisors to the heads of state would be held by the end of October to discuss Ukraine’s peace formula.

It is no wonder why the apostle Paul leaves us with these words of wisdom, “I appeal to you, therefore brothers and sisters’ by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by renewing your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).

The fourth benefit my Torah gift will give you this week is the importance of being a protective challenger. It’ll help you better understand the true nature of power and justice. For what purpose? To better protect yourself and protect those who are too weak to protect themselves. Why is that important? Because we live in a world that is not always a safe place for all of us. That is the direct, brutal, but it is the honest truth. Consider the latest development on the war in Ukraine. Europe’s parliamentary assembly has declared Russia's dictatorship and Putin’s rule illegitimate after 2024.

Here are the latest key developments to keep in mind:

? PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) declares Russia's dictatorship, Putin’s rule illegitimate after 2024

? Minister: UK explores using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's defence

? Ukrenergo: Germany to provide $80-million grant to protect critical infrastructure.

? PM Shmyhal: Switzerland contributes one-fifth of $530 million demining aid donation.

? Ukrainian resistance in occupied Melitopol blew up a train carrying Russian ammunition, fuel, and military reports.

? Media: Marine drone struck Russian ships near Crimea.

What this all boils down to is this: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), on October 13, adopted a resolution declaring Russia a dictatorship and calling on the international community to recognize Vladimir Putin's presidency as illegitimate after his current term ends in 2024.

PACE also urged its member states to cease all contact with Putin "except for humanitarian contact and in the pursuit of peace," according to the assembly's press service.

"The overwhelming power of the president resulting from the extremely long term in office combined with the lack of any checks and balances such as a strong parliament, an independent judiciary, free media, and a vibrant civil society has turned the Russian Federation into a de facto dictatorship," the parliamentarians said.

Putin has held power in Russia as president or prime minister since 2000. Amendments to the Russian Constitution made in July 2020 allowed Putin to remain president until 2036 potentially.

In the resolution, PACE called Russia's war against Ukraine evidence that dictatorships "threaten the international peace and security and their neighbours' territorial integrity and political independence.

Perhaps, in this context, we can better make sense of the prophet Isaiah’s prophetic word, saying, “No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me declares the Lord” (Isaiah 54:17).

The fifth benefit my Torah gift will give you this week is high motivation. It’ll help you feel energized and motivated, knowing that our God has the inherent power in his hand to protect us from all evil and all forces of darkness we face in our lives.

I’m sure you know Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, is making a frenzied tour of the Middle East seeking help to free US hostages. Joe Biden, the President of the United States, Joe Biden has said the US is doing everything in its power to return hostages held in Gaza “if we can find them”.

On Friday, the US president spoke with families of American hostages captured by the terrorists. It came as Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, landed in Qatar on a furious round of shuttle diplomacy. He thanked the Gulf state, where some Hamas leaders live, for trying to secure the release of hostages.

At least 22 US citizens died in the fighting in Israel, and at least 17 others are unaccounted for, Washington officials said. The US has also called for the immediate and unconditional release of 150 Israeli hostages. Speaking in Doha, Mr Blinken said: “I really want to thank Qatar for the work that they are doing to try to help secure the release of hostages. I know other countries are as well, and it’s something that we’re actively pursuing.”

His trip brought him first to Israel and next to 6 Arab countries, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Mr Blinken must give Israel full-throated support while securing the liberation of American hostages taken by Hamas terrorists. He urged Israel to take “every possible precaution to avoid harm to civilians” but noted they were caught in a “crossfire of Hamas’s making”.

Again, it is no wonder the prophet Isaiah urged us not to lose hope. Listen, again, to the prophetic Isaiah, assuring us, saying, “He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:28- 31).

The Historical Proof that Supports our Need for Your Daily Bread that Sustains Us Spiritually

Does it surprise you that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, did not forget to remind us about these things? That is why last week you heard Jesus speaking to us, saying, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything that is written about me in the Law of Moses [Torah] and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled…” (Luke 24:44). ). Jesus, then, did something which I thought was quite remarkable and quite extraordinary. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:45-49).

Overview Summary of this Week’s Torah Portion

With this in mind, let us look at this week’s Torah portion, Genesis 32:3-36:43. In the Hebrew language (God’s sacred tongue) from which our English Bible translation was taken, this week’s Torah portion is called “Vayishlach” translated “And he [Jacob] sent,” see Genesis 32:3.

To understand this, one has to, first of all identify the double references in the text. On a superficial linguistic level, which is intended primarily for the Jewish audience, the reading focuses on the code, “Vayishlach” translated (And he [Jacob] sent), see Gen. 32:3.Thus, in the opening part of the reading, we see Jacob sending messengers to his brother, Esau, so that he may find favour in his sight.

In the central part of the reading, we learn that Jacob returns to the Land of the Holy One after a twenty (20) year stay in Haran. Therefore, he sends messengers or angel emissaries to Esau, hoping for reconciliation. But his messengers report that his brother is on the warpath with four hundred (400) armed men. Jacob prepares for war, prays, and sends Esau a significant gift consisting of hundreds of heads of livestock to appease him. That night, Jacob ferries his family and possessions across the Jabbok River; he, however, remains behind and encounters the angel that embodies the spirit of Esau, with whom he wrestles until daybreak. Jacob suffers a dislocated hip but vanquishes the supernatural creature, who bestows on him the name Israel, which means “he who prevails over the divine.” Jacob and Esau meet, embrace and kiss, and they weep.

The reading concludes with a detailed account of Esau’s wives, children and grandchildren; the family history of the people of Se’ir among whom Esau settled; and a list of eight ( kings who ruled Edom, the land of Esau and Se’ir’s descendants.

.Indeed, on a profound theological level, this week’s Torah portion, “And he [Jacob] sent,” has an essential message to us, the Church, and the Body of Christ. This message is evident when the portion is interpreted in the context of this third week of the Providence season. We must reach out to those with whom we had estranged relationships and welcome them to become part of the Kingdom of God. How can we be sure of that? Listen, again, to our text for this week: “And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom…And Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming…But Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept” (Genesis 32:3; 33:1, 4). It is no wonder why God said, “For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and shall see my glory…And I will take some of them for priests and Levites, says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:18, 21).

Perhaps it is for this reason that David exclaimed, “O Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! When I look at your heavens, the works of your fingers…what is the man that you are mindful of him…” (Psalm 8:1, 3-4). Jesus, then, put it this way, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Should you be interested in learning more in-depth study of the weekly Torah codes on which our lives turn, Book I, Volume 1 of my III Books Series: 11 Volumes was released on February 28 and shot to the #1 International Bestseller in three countries within 24 hours, reaching the #1 in the US in Christianity, Religion and Spirituality, with 4 #1 Hot New Releases and 3 #1 New Release Banners in Bible Study Guides, and Hermeneutics. It also peaked at #1 in Australia in Judaism, Jewish Sacred Writings and Old Testament Studies and made the #1 International Bestseller list in Great Britain in Religion, Exegesis, and Bible References. Here’s the link to get your copy of my #1 International Bestseller, “The Hidden Secrets of the Master’s Mind: How You Can Live with God’s Time”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWVMBSJP. You can reach me at [email protected]