Blessing Israeli Believers – February 2024

A Note from BIB Co-Founder, Dov Schwarz

Dear Blessing Israeli Believers Partners and Friends,

An old saying may accurately define the upcoming weeks and months for Israel and the entire world: “you ain’t seen nothin yet!” It would appear, like so many have been warning, that this Hamas war is widening far beyond Gaza. The entire Mid-East is erupting in our days—and it is just the beginning.

According to the Prophetic Scriptures either now or in the near future this war will develop into that which is prophesied in Psalm 83, Isaiah 17:1, Zephaniah 2 amongst other places in the Bible. Israel is the epicenter but the entire world will shake when this war does take place. At the time of writing this letter I am getting first-hand information from Jerusalem and Northern Israel.

All Israelis are being instructed to prepare for a national power outage due to the imminent war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Whenever this takes place—sooner or later—it will be very serious and will include many casualties on both sides. There could be no more important time to stand with our Israeli Believing Partners! Always remember:

“Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Psalm 121:4

Thank You so much for your ongoing and faithful support—they tell us in Israel that you cannot imagine how thankful they are for your prayers and financial help!

In His Service, Dov Schwarz

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An Update from Dov Bikas, Aviv Ministry Center, Tel Aviv Israel

Ashkelon Ministry – the “Day After”

These days Israeli politicians, among other things, wrestle with the question of the “day after the war” – how it is going to look like and what decisions should be made about it. In a similar way, we too are thinking about the “day after,” which in the case of our war relief efforts in Ashkelon, has already arrived. The war continues, but the rocket attacks on the city have become very rare, and Ashkelon is returning to a more or less normal life. What should we do next then?

Thanks to God and to your donations, during these three months we have been able to help a lot of people (about 800 families) and to build close relationships with them. On the one hand, we could finish the project now and say good-bye to everyone, but on the other hand, we value these connections and do not want to lose them. Besides, most of these people are immigrants, single mothers, the elderly and the disabled who live below the poverty line and, sadly, in the near future their financial situation is about to get worse, since because of the war we are expecting the prices and taxes to keep rising.

Therefore, we have decided that in 2024 we will be turning our short-term war relief initiative into an ongoing humanitarian project. This work is not cheap and requires a lot of effort, but it also has many advantages. For example, when you give someone a tract on the street, there is very little chance that you will ever meet this person again. And here we have a large group of people we can visit on a regular basis, bring them food and keep sharing the Gospel with them. And we do believe this work has a beautiful potential. In Ofakim – another nearby city where we have been doing food distributions – a weekly Bible study group has already been created. Please pray for all the people we are in touch with both in Ashkelon and Ofakim.

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"Should I preach if no one is listening?”

One of our volunteers, Leonid, shared what happened once during his shift in Aviv Center.

His group was feeding the visitors, as usual. Then Leonid sat down with them and tried to preach (sadly, due to the effects of drugs, it is difficult for many visitors to focus on the Word). He took the topic of prayer.

“I look around,” says Leonid, “and see that nobody is listening to me. Well, not even one! Should I stop? But something in me prompts: ‘Speak!’ And I kept talking on how important prayer is for us, for our relationship with the Lord... And again, I see the same: no one is listening. And I am still urged – ‘Continue’! So I did...And suddenly a guy’s head rises from the table (I thought he was fast asleep beside his plate) and I hear:

‘Leonid, I am actually listening to you...’

‘Thank God!’ I said. ‘One person has heard me!’

And from that day on, the visitors themselves have been asking: ‘Will we have a Bible lesson today?’”

Let us pray that the Lord would give us boldness in the most hopeless (in our opinion) circumstances to share His Word!

Thank you very much for all your prayers and care!

Every blessing to you all, Dov & Olga Bikas