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From Our Heart

June is known as the “month of the bride” throughout many nations. As we enter this month that symbolizes covenants of oneness made between a man and a woman, let us carry in prayer and in our hearts those who are yet to come into their bridal identity through salvation in Christ. There is a deep longing in the heart of God for those who will have the veil of blindness lifted from their eyes so that they can look into the face of Jesus and find the One that their hearts have yearned for. We are being invited into the longing of Jesus as he intercedes for the lost throughout the world— especially in the Arab world.
Recently, one of our worship leaders had a vision of the whole Middle East being restored to Eden; it was covered with gold. She heard the Lord saying that He desires us to “co-create with him” as he restores this land to his original intent. We invite you and those whom you walk with to lift the veil through prayer during the month of June.
 
John 17:21 says,
 
“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”
 
As we come into the oneness that Jesus prayed for, the world will see it and they will believe. It is amazing that oneness with Christ and with one another is the key to removing the veil from the eyes of the world. The evil one seeks to divide the Church so that the veil continues to blind the world from the truth that Jesus is the Messiah, who the Father sent. How do we become divided? Often it happens as we allow our minds to be distorted toward one another due to different opinions, judgments, offenses, and wrong beliefs. This is what the Lord says about unity,
 
“Look! How good and how pleasant it is when brothers truly live in unity. It is like fine oil poured on the head, which flows down the beard—Aaron’s beard, and then flows down his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, which flows down upon the hills of Zion. Indeed, that is where the Lord has decreed a blessing, even life everlasting.” Psalm 133:1-3
 
As we pray for the lost, let us ask the Holy Spirit to guard our hearts and minds from any place that can be used to divide the family of God. We want to be able to say that the evil one has found no place in us to be a threshold to divide the Church. We will allow his Spirit to renew our minds and purify our hearts so that we can walk in deeper oneness with him and one another. Then the world will know!

The Seed will help you continue to be part of sowing the seeds of the Kingdom throughout the nations. Look for it in your inbox at the beginning of each month. If you know someone who would like to subscribe, have them go to www.watchmen.org/subscribe to sign up for our mailing list.

THIS IS US

Our Featured Global Family

By Kathi Pelton

Our featured family member for the month of June is also our oldest family member, Don Finto. Don was born on April 18, 1930. Don’s dad left his family when he was only two years old, so he grew up fatherless. Tragically, his mother died only two years later.  Don and his two older sisters moved in with their grandparents who had raised ten children and had a deep faith in God. They lived on a farm, so Don became a farm boy and learned to milk cows, and raised hogs, doing all the kinds of things a kid from west Texas would do. He was raised in a very legalistic Church of Christ that prohibited musical instruments, prophesy, and baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Though Don experienced deep trauma and painful experiences in his first decade of life, he deeply wanted to know Jesus, so he was water baptized at eleven years old. God used his difficult early years thrust him toward the Lord, rather than away from Him.  After primary school, Don went to a Christian college where he met his wife, Martha. After they were married, they moved to Germany (post-WWII) where Don worked with a local church. He then returned to the states where he received his master’s degree and PhD in German literature and Biblical studies. He then took the role of the head of the language department at a university in Tennessee.  

In 1967, the Jesus Movement had begun and because Don is a pastor at heart, he began to engage with these radical young “hippies.” This was not viewed well by the university leadership, but Don knew that his heart was called to pastor these young ones so resigned from his position at the university and was asked to become the pastor at a local Church of Christ. Most churches did not accept the “Jesus People” because of their appearance (often shirtless and barefoot) but Don’s heart wanted to make a place for them. This church grew from a mere 65 members to being so full that people sat in the aisles and every available spot. Over the next 25 years, they had over three thousand attendings.

They not only had the hippies but many of these “hippies” were Jewish. Messianic Jews were unheard of—they believed that if they accepted Jesus, they were no longer Jews. But Don was pastoring Jewish young people who were coming to faith in Jesus and then disciplining them—even teaching them that they were not giving up being Jewish, but they were now following the Jew’s long-awaited Messiah. Through this journey, Don met people like Dan Juster, Asher Intrater, and others. Don became a father figure in the Messianic movement that was happening.

Don began to travel the nations, especially the Middle Eastern nations, to see young people come to Christ and to work with the Messianic global family. He began a ministry called Caleb Global that equips young people from around the world through training schools. They are in Tennessee (USA) and often lead trips to Israel and other nations. He works closely and travels with his spiritual son, Tod McDowell. Out of fatherlessness, he has become a father to a multitude of sons and daughters that refer to him as Papa Don.

Don’s beautiful wife, Martha, went to be with the Lord in 2016. This year, while in Israel with some of the global family, Don turned 92. He is still actively traveling internationally and ministering as a father to many throughout the world.

PUT LINK FOR VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH DON FINTO AND TOD MCDOWELL HERE

THE PLUMBLINE

All Have Sinned

By Asher Intrater

King David was one of the great heroes of faith and one of the most righteous men who ever lived. However, he committed a horrible sin with Bat Sheva that included murder, adultery, and lying. He repented deeply for that sin and wrote the poignant poem of grief over his own wrongdoing in Psalm 51 “create in me a clean heart”, which has become such a source of comfort to so many over the centuries.

Click Here for the full article.

THE PATH

In May we had a Global Communion from Jerusalem. If you missed it and would like to see it, click on this link.

We also had a Global Gatekeepers Zoom call on May 23rd, 2022. If you would like to see the replay, please watch here.

THE PORTRAIT

From Our Prophetic Artists

The Creative Art team has been seeking to hear what the Spirit is saying and express it visually. 

THE PERFUME

During our time in Luxor, Egypt Shady and Ruth Abadir’s fifteen-year-old daughter shared a song that she had written that became the theme song of The Crowning Gathering. It brought men and women to tears when they sang it, and it joined all the generations together in allegiance to the King.

 PUT LINK FOR “PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE KING” SONG/INTERVIEW HERE (RUTH AND DAUGHTER)

PUT LINK WITH HANY B AND SONG FROM EGYPT GATHERING HERE

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