Sundown tonight begins Aviv 15, 6008 (Monday April 21, 2008)
 
The leaven has been purged from our homes and we begin "keeping" (shomer) the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days in which we carefully "guard" (shomer) ourselves from consuming any leavened bread (cakes, crackers, pastries, etc). 

Living in Israel, in the midst of an entire nation that attempts to stand together in unity in this endeavor (though there are a growing number of rebels), it is much easier to keep oneself unspotted by the "leaven" of this world.  In America and in the rest of the diaspora, it is very difficult to" live in the world" while attempting to "remain unspotted by the world."  You will see, in the coming week, how often you are offered leavened bread (symbolic of sin).  It will come at you from every angle.  We have even had people bring leavened cake to a Passover Seder!

Keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread is one of the greatest object lessons that is afforded the follower of Yahshua.  Those who "blow off" this feast in ignorance, relegating it to a dead relic of the past, have completely missed the point of what the Messiah was teaching his disciples at every bend in the road. 

If you have never celebrated Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, do not miss this year to begin your spiritual journey of discovering the joys of being delivered from the bondage of the pagan religious system.  Next Sunday will be "Yom haBikkurim" (Day of Firstfruits) when we celebrate the resurrection of Yahshua.  Of course it is a month after the pagans celebrated the reincarnation of Easter (the Babylonian sex goddess), but the further Passover is from the annual pagan fertility rites, the happier I am. 

We are having a small Passover Seder for our office staff and families this year.  About 50 guests, including my parents, will gather to celebrate the prophetic shadow pictures embedded in the Passover.  Next year, I would like for you to join us for an entire week of festivities as we make room for hundreds to join us for the grandest Feast of Passover ever held in America! 

 
Until the smoke clears. . .

Shalom, Peace

Michael Rood