[Linux4christians] [Fwd: Appeal From Bethlehem]

[Nigel Ridley]

Please consider our brothers and sisters in Bethlehem and please forward
this to those you think would be able to help in any way.

Blessings,

Nigel

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:     Appeal From Bethlehem
Date:     Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:40:38 +0200
From:     Howard & Randi Bass <songfish at netvision.net.il>
To:     songfish at netvision.net.il



Dear Brothers and Sisters in Messiah,

I am forwarding this humble and sincere appeal from a dear servant of
the Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem.  He is a wonderful man of God and a
true shepherd of the flock under his care.  Please consider his plight
and understand that his thoughts are not his alone.  Whatever
differences we may have regarding prophecy and the issues of the last
days, as followers of Yeshua and members together of His household, we
are our brother's keeper.

May God bless you all as we work together to provoke one another to love
and good works that our Father in Heaven is glorified.

Shabbat shalom,
Howard

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


*From:* Nihad Salman [ mailto:nihad at p-ol.com]

*Subject:* RE: appeal from Bethlehm


Dear all

I hope that you are doing fine. I have been very busy in the last weeks.

This is an appeal if you like to read it to the church or put it in the
magazine of the church

The situation:

As the situation in Bethlehem and the rest of Palestine approaches a
man-made humanitarian crisis, Immanuel church

calls on brothers and sisters who care about God's testimony in this
area to support the people of Bethlehem at this

crisis time.

Over 70% of the population of Bethlehem now lives below the poverty line
and unemployment is more than 68%.

Once a prosperous middle class city, Bethlehem has been economically
suffocated, due to lack of tourism and workers

denied access into Israel to work, and now the post-election sanctions
have brought the local population to the edge of disaster.

many families at the church tells me that already they are struggling to
buy food, medicine, tuition for their children education, pay utility

bills, and their basic needs, never mind their tithes and offerings in
the church.

External help accounts for 85% of the Palestinian national income which
pays salaries of more than 156,000 public sector employees.

Since February non of these employees have been paid because of the
Sanctions on the Palestinian help. Now, in church we have teachers, for
example, who work in public schools who did not receive their salaries.
Already before the sanctions, we had one third of the church could not find

any job and now with the situation more than 60% have no income.

Immanuel Church:

  Immanuel church situation is like other churches, so I may suggest if
funds come through to the Immanuel Church, we will share it with the
other churches. The fund will be put under the supervision of two of our
elders( Murad Massoud and George Musalam), including myself. Depending
on the size of the offering, we will decide if we give one time gift or
divide it to two or three times as needed. The committee will study each
family in need and give as needed. Those are elders that I trust and had
already handled such funds before. At this point, part of the fund will
be used for the basic needs of the people, part will be used for the
emergency needs as it comes up (especially in the area of medical help).

Finally, according to Christian Aid organization, in two years, almost
three in four Palestinians ( 74% ) will be living below the United
Nations poverty

line of an income of $2 a day , worse than Afganistan, Siera Lion and
Angola. Christian Aid has stated that "Palestinian society faces collapse if

this situation continues.

A call to help:

This is a call for the church and for the human and moral response to
this humanitarian crisis. Let us respond to this need in a way that brings

glory to God's name. Jesus said: the poor will be with you always. This
means that we have a responsibility towards the needs that He brings

our way. This is a shared responsibility between the church inside and
the church outside the Holy Lands, let us keep the light shining in
Bethlehem.


Sincerely in Christ

Rev. Nihad Salman