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AllFaith.com and Beit Emunah's

Previous AllFaith Community Worship Gatherings:
Sundays at 2 PM Eastern.

Welcome to AllFaith.com and Beit Emunah's Archived AllFaith Community Worship! This is a community service for all people of the Light. We invite your participation and contributions.

We are a community of diverse people from different and unique backgrounds united in the belief that God is ONE and desires that we be of one spirit.

Last night, President Trump authorized three airstrikes in Iran, including destroying the Fordow mountain site that's been in the news this week. It and Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons appears to be gone. The President warned Iran against any retaliation. We want peace. If the Mullahs want their country destroyed, they will continue their terrorist aims.

Sometimes peace requires taking down aggressors who refuse peace. This is what Israel and the United States have been doing. Now we pray that peace will be secured for Israel, the US, the Iranian people, and the world. The ball is in Iran's hands. May God bless our nation, Israel, the Iranian people, and the world.

The creator of the modern Jewish Chassidic Movement, the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, was born in the year 1700 and died in 1760. His yahrzeit is today. His blessings to the world are beyond measure. He was the grandfather of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. We remember him and thank God for him.

Yesterday, June 21st, was the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The long cold winter is over! Enjoy! May this be a summer of world peace and joy. Remember this happy summer song?

In the Summertime, Mungo Jerry, 1970

We continue in prayer as Israel and the United States continue destroying Iran's nuclear, cyber, and other abilities to terrorize the people of the world. We continue to pray for our leader's wisdom and success in this endeavor.

This Monday at 8 PM Eastern, our journey through the Bible will continue as we begin our study of the Minor Prophets with the Book of Hosea.

The Book of Hosea uses the prophet Hosea's marriage to the unfaithful Gomer as a metaphor for God's relationship with Israel. Israel, like Gomer, is portrayed as repeatedly abandoning God for other "lovers" (idols and foreign nations). Despite their unfaithfulness, God, like Hosea, continues to love and pursue them, offering forgiveness and restoration if they return to Him.

How should we understand this from an AllFaith perspective? If Israel's sin was going to "other gods," does this not negate our AllFaith perspective? It does not.

Understand that the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible, dealt with Israel as the chosen nation of priests. Malachi (who wrote circa 400 BCE) was the last biblical prophet sent to Israel. When the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE because of Pharisee/Rabbinic sins, this unique priesthood relationship with Israel was placed on hold (not ended).

There is no biblical evidence that HaShem authorized any other speakers to Israel after the biblical minor prophets, including the Rabbinate. There is no biblical support for the claim that the Prushim (Pharisees/Rabbinate) were appointed to lead Israel, nor that the claimed "Great Assembly" or Knesset Hagedolah actually took place. The Talmud (written between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE) claims that Prophet Ezra established the Rabbinate through the Knesset Hagedolah; however, neither Ezra nor any other biblical author in the Tanakh or the New Testament ever mentions such a declaration. The repentance referenced in the Book of Ezra says nothing about establishing the Pharisees, Sadducees, or any other body to replace the Prophets as representatives of God to Israel.

In the absence of such granted authority, we seek Elohim, One God, everywhere and await the day when the Divine Truth will be revealed to us all. We pray for the revelation of the Song of Redemption and the coming of Mashiach ben David.

Redemption Song, Bob Marley and the Wailers

Music is so much a part of our lives, and in the summer, it just feels right to unwind with some upbeat music. This Wednesday, June 25th, is Global Beatles Day! Global Beatles Day is an annual holiday honoring the Fab Four and their many contributions both to music and to world culture. The date, June 25, was chosen to commemorate the Beatles' appearance on the BBC show Our World in 1967, where they performed the song "All You Need Is Love" before an international audience.

In 1967, the War in Vietnam was escalating, and the Six-Day War in which Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria happened. The Nigerian Civil War began in 1967 as Nigerian forces invaded the secessionist state of Biafra. The Apollo disaster happened as a fire during a launchpad test killed three astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. People in Detroit and elsewhere were rioting across the country as the Civil Rights Movement was exploding everywhere and fundamentally changing our society. The times felt uncertain and to many, dark and foreboding.

The First human heart transplant was performed in 1967, and other medical breakthroughs gave hope. San Francisco's Summer of Love happened that year, and more and more people were embracing the early Hippie culture ideals of love and peace two years before The 5th Dimension sang of the Age of Aquarius. The Monterey Pop Festival, which featured Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and other iconic performers, took place. Elvis married Priscilla in Las Vegas in 1967. Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first African American Supreme Court Justice. Good things were happening, as well as bad.

What a year it was! It was a time of hope and fear, not so different from today, when the world is again filled with hope and fear, faith and doubt. We survived 1967, 1969, and 2001, and we'll survive 2025 as well because human beings are survivors!

Through all the uncertainties, the Beatles told us, in 1967, that All We Need Is Love! And that is just as true today as it was then.

Love is All You Need

As the Bible says:

Psalm 146:3-5: Do not trust in princes,
Nor in mortals, in whom there is no salvation (help).
When the human spirit leaves, they return to the earth;
In that very day their thoughts and plans all perish.
How blessed and graciously favored are all who seek the help of God, All whose hope is in the One God. are blessed.

Where is our hope for universal love and peace? George knew:

George Harrison had everything material a person might desire, but still he sought God, realizing that materialism can never truly satisfy. His quest led him to a deep interest in Indian philosophy, culture, and religion, particularly the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON), even before the Beatles' famous 1968 trip to India to see Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. George became closely involved with my former teacher, Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, at the Radha Krishna Temple in London. He produced their hit single, "Hare Krishna Mantra," which became a UK chart mega-hit in 1969 and a global hit as Westerners looked to the East. George produced, recorded, and promoted music for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Moreover, he purchased a large estate and renamed it Bhaktivedanta Manor. It remains a major center for the Hare Krishna movement in the UK. George found what he was seeking in the Govinda conception of One God. His spirituality was AllFaith.

George's hit song "My Sweet Lord" famously blended the Christian hymn "Hallelujah" with the Hindu Hare Krishna mantra: "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare". He did this to show that God is One and that all the many Names for God ultimately point to the same Divine Reality. God is One.
George Harrison's My Sweet Lord

George expressed his conception of One God in traditional Indian Sanskrit terms. "Govinda" is a name of Lord Krishna as a young cowherder that appears as one of Vishnu's names in the Vishnu Sahasranama. The name Govinda, means "finder of Veda" or Truth. Govinda reflects Krishna's role as a protector of cows and his youthful activities in Gokula, a community of cowherds. Beyond this, it speaks of the Absolute Being Who knows and reveals Veda, ultimate Truth. The One Divinity.

One God is beyond all conception. Every culture describes the Supreme One according to cultural traditions. In the West, One God is commonly conceived as "God the Father," but God is more than our conceptions. As Govinda, God is conceived with eternal youthful vigor and beauty. This beautiful song topped the European charts and was sung in the ISKCON temples worldwide.

Govindam Adi Purusham
Worship of the Original Personality of God

Understand that God transcends all religion and dogma! Spiritual realization is not about membership in any religious body or political party. Spiritual enlightenment is not about what you call yourself or what you call One God! It's not about being Jewish, or Christian, or Muslim, or Hindu, or Sikh, or whatever. It's not about being politically Left or Right, Black or White, Asian, or Middle Eastern. No, it's about something much more fundamental! It's about looking within and discovering who YOU are beyond the confines and labels of duality. God consciousness is about Love and mutual respect and about honoring the Sacredness of all life. It's about learning to see God everywhere and in all beings.

Namaste! God is in each of us! If we truly believe in God, it will move us to action. Not because some ancient text says to do this or that, but because we see the Divine in everyone! We are all brothers and sisters. If I really love God, how can I not love you? And you? And him? And her? And One God, Whose image we are?

Despite our divisions, there is much more unity. Focus on our similarities, not differences! And:

Never Forget: God is Everywhere!

Praises and Prayers to God.

We invite you to share your prayers with us and with God now. Hold those you would pray for in your heart and release them to GOD for healing and blessing as we sing, The Lord Bless you.

Healing Time on Earth, John Denver

May One God hear our prayers and respond favorably to us.

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Note: All Times are Eastern.

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