Greeting from Northern Minnesota!

Well, where to even begin....it has now been a year since Dad was called home to be with the Lord—June 28^th, 2007.  It is still very, very difficult to believe he is gone.  There is not a day that goes by without him being in my thoughts.  I miss him immensely.  His loss is greatly felt by so many.  He jokingly commented that maybe more good would come from his passing than when he was alive.  This has become our prayer!  It has been amazing the letters and emails that we have received from those people who have been reflecting on the words Dad had spoken, and how it has impacted their lives. 

It is difficult to know what to write as so much of what was shared in the newsletters before Dad died dealt directly with the ministry and the community.  I am sure that many of you are wondering what will become of this land, what the future holds, and what is currently taking place.  To be totally honest, so are we!

Right now, there is a sense of waiting.  Waiting for God to reveal, in His timing, what is to take place with the farm.  With Dad’s passing, it has felt like the old needed to die, and that a fresh wind will some day blow, and a new order will come in.  As our own family does not live on the farm, we cannot speak for everyone there, but for us, the year has been challenging!  The responsibility feels enormous, but I would not have it any other way.  I do it for my Dad.  Someone once asked me in an email if I thought that what I was doing was the way Dad would have done it.... My response?  No, I'm not Dad, and maybe that’s why the Lord chose to have us here now. 

Oh how I wish Dad were here.  More and more I realize how short I fall of the mark.  I read what he wrote, and realize that I daily miss where I should be.  I wish I had more of his determination in me, to keep his legacy burning, to keep his vision going.  He had such a passion for others to grasp onto and hold the word of God close to their hearts, to savor every word that came from the Bible, and to understand what it said. 

What is my father's legacy?  Who will be the one's to carry it on?  Those with the same passion and vision.  Where is the new wine skin?  It's not about one man, but about many, you and me, the family of the Almighty God, the brethren he so fondly referred to.  There are some who have challenged what Dad was saying when he made references to "the brethren."  God forbid that anyone should think it is just about a chosen and select few.  It's each and every one that has a call on their life to walk the road that has been set before them, and challenge themselves with what is burning in their own hearts!  We all have our parts to do.  The challenge has been laid before us...take up His cross and follow.  Find old newsletters and writings.  Read the books.  Draw in the word with the first light of day, and let it become a part of you.  Live your life with a passion to seek Him more!

You will notice that the website has changed significantly.  One of the major differences was to move all of Dad’s messages, books, DVD’s, MP3 sermons, etc, to a separate website.  They can now be found at www.artkatzministries.org.  We will start to post old newsletters on there as well and also have a link to them from the Ben Israel website. We are very grateful to Simon Hensman for his help with the office work, and who facilitated the new website for getting Dad’s messages out.  This work could not be done without fellow laborers like him.  Art Katz Ministries is being formed as a separate entity with a Board of Directors to oversee it.  My father was the visionary for community, and though it was not perfect, it was his life.  The two went hand in hand for him.

Included in this newsletter is an excerpt from a previously unpublished book that my father wrote many years ago.  It is called: What a Jew does with Jesus.  We hope this will minister to you and bless you.  The book is currently at the printer, and it can be ordered towards the end of August either through the Art Katz Ministries website or by calling the office (as can all his other books).

As most of you know, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in February.  She had a double mastectomy in April.  According to her physicians, her cancer was advanced.  Mom has chosen to stand on the Word of God for her healing and not to use chemical intervention or radiation.  She has done radical changes in her diet, and this is how she is choosing to fight this disease. 

We (as a family) are so appreciative of your support in prayers, phone calls, letters of encouragement and gifts.  This has been a life-changing time for all of us.  We need to take care of Mom in every way.  Your continued help and support is greatly needed.  For now, she will be staying in the main farmhouse, but we need to look at remodeling it to make it better for living on one level.   Are you able to help with this project?

The cost of this project is yet unknown, and it would be dependant on who does the remodeling, volunteer hours, and supplies that are needed.  We have one brother from Connecticut, who had stated he might be able to come.  Are there others?  Pray for the funding to cover this project before winter sets in.  If you wish to help with this, funds can be sent to Ben Israel Fellowship, indicate that it is for remodeling the house for Inger. 

Mama Rose, one of our prayer warriors, is in need of a new roof on her mobile home.  It is not a low cost project.  We need all of you to believe with us that the financing for this project will come in and not be an added burden to anyone.

Keith (my husband) and I, along with the Herrera's and Willie Wallace, are Board Members of Ben Israel Fellowship.  In my heart, it is our primary responsibility to oversee the physical aspects of the farm—anything that has to do with the expenses and physical maintenance of the property.  Though Keith is a minister, we do not feel that the spiritual oversight is up to us right now, as those who remain on the farm need to feel free to do what is right in their own hearts.  We do not want to influence that in any way. 

All I know is that God is God.  He is on the throne, and He rules and reigns.  There is nothing on this earth that happens without His knowing.  Though man may have expectations of us, God calls us to obedience, faith, and trust.  We need to be like Peter, and take a step on the water to our Father.

Grace is what brought us to Minnesota and grace is what keeps us here.  We all do believe that God can do great things.  All it takes is a willing hand and a heart that listens.  Will you continue to support us as we walk this journey?  God has never left us or forsaken us, and we need to continue on this road, but cannot do it alone.

As you pray for us, let us know how we can pray for your.  After all, we are all part of the family of God.

Until next time...The blessing of the Lord be upon each of you.

Sissie (Christina) Pennel

Edited excerpt from the Introduction of a new book: “What a Jew does with Jesus” by Art Katz

Can anything sound more ridiculous than the phrase, “a Jew for Jesus”?  At the first hearing, one wonders if this is not some kind of joke, a dull-witted attempt to find humor in the apparently irreconcilable.  Anyone with even the most rudimentary knowledge of Jewish history knows that from the Middle Ages to modern times, from the Crusades through the Inquisition till the Hol­ocaust, that the name Jesus Christ, or the word Christianity, has been a source of sorrow and pain for Jewish life.  How can a Jew express any kind of affinity for this Jesus from Galilee, in whose name we have suffered so much?

Throughout the last two millennia, the phenomenon of Jews accepting Jesus as their promised Messiah cannot be shrugged off and dismissed from Jewish consciousness and consideration.  Increasingly, volumes of articles are being written by rabbis, Jewish profess­ors of religion, and other community leaders in response to this apparent problem.  More disconcertingly for the critics, these Jews who say they ‘believe in Jesus’ assert that they have not forsaken being Jews, but on the contrary, they claim that their faith in Jesus has actually enhanced and deepened their Jewishness!

To the Jewish mind, the phenomenon of conversion has historically been understood as that cynical process of accommodation by which one changed one’s religion to ‘Christian’ in order to escape the discrimination and trials that attended being Jewish.  More often, as was the case with Karl Marx’s family, it was considered a. doorway to emancipation and increased opportunity among the Gentiles to whom they were already largely assimilated.  This practice, rightfully odious to Jews, had nothing to do with belief, faith or convictions, such matters being as absent after the conversion as they were before.  Not so, however, with today’s Jews who believe in Jesus. 

Can one be a Jew and still believe in Jesus?  Does Jesus fulfill biblical prophecy of the promised Messiah?  Martin (Moishe) Rosen, former leader of the San Francisco centered Jews for Jesus group says, “The traditional, rabbinical Judaism we know is not the religion delivered by God to the prophets.  The Judaism of the prophets was founded on the basis of supernatural revelation...What kind of personal experience with God can the establishment-type Judaism offer to take the place of what we know has happened to us?”  What confirming experiences with God do these Jewish believers profess to have?  What evidence is there in changed lives and character that bespeaks an encounter with a living God? 

However accomplished Jews may be in every field of intellectual and cul­tural endeavor, our biblical illiteracy is readily acknowledged.  How many of us, who call ourselves intellectual, have satisfied ourselves with mere hearsay concerning God, the Bible and other matters of etern­al consequence.  We don’t seem to be willing to undertake even the most minimal investigation.  Real seekers after truth will spare nothing in their painstaking search.  How many of us who profess to be such seekers have blithely dismissed the person of Jesus without so much as a cursory examination—content instead to rest upon cheap platitudes and ignorant disdain?

This book is an attempt to set forth answers to these questions by a systematic review of the scriptures. 

News from Fred and Dina Herrera

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  It has been a while since you have heard anything from us.  All is well because the Lord is good.  We would like to share a little history of how we became involved with Ben Israel Ministries.  We met Art Katz in 1976.  At my request to the Lord, Art came to Dallas for one night at which time we were introduced.  He invited us to the annual convocations, and we came every year until 1983, at which time we came to live at the community.  Needless to say, our lives were changed!  The community closed in 1985, and we moved back to Dallas for 3 years.  The Lord then spoke to us that we were to return to Ben Israel, and we returned.  We lived in the house with Art for 1½ years where we prayed day and night as the Lord led.  After 2 years, the Lord began to bring people, and the community began to form again.  The Lord gave Art a vision for a place of refuge and provision for the last days for God's people.  We believed in that vision.  In 1991, the Lord spoke and said for us to come back to Dallas. Since then, we have returned to Ben Israel every year encouraging the saints there.  Art then asked for us to divide our time between Ben Israel and Dallas at which time we would come to Ben Israel every two months.  When Art began to get sick, he asked for us to come be with him, and then at his request, we came to be with him in his passing from this life to the next.  

Well, it has been quite a journey, but we are still hanging in there.  Art is gone, but the vision remains.  What are we going to do with it?  There has been a lot of turmoil and a lot of you have been shaken with Art’s passing.  Some of you have even stopped your support.  Some of you are upset.  God just wants us to check our hearts.  I believe the Lord is not finished with this property and with Ben Israel.  If you have been disappointed, I hope you are taking it to the Lord.  Time is short, and the times of the end are at hand.  We see persecution upon the Jews and the believers.  We must prepare spiritually and physically.  We need places like Ben Israel.  Stay focused on Jesus, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  If we keep our eyes on Jesus and Him only, we will never be disappointed.

Psalms 91

Hebrews 12:2

Blessings in Jesus’ name,

Fred and Dina Herrera

News from Inger Hava Katz,

Greetings to you all on this lovely sunny day in July.

I am looking out over the lovely garden that I am blessed to have.  It’s really beautiful and it is all with the help of Dan.  He and his wife have lived here with us for about six months and in a few days they will travel west.  I will miss them.  As Sissie mentioned in her article, it is now over a year ago since Pappi went home to the Lord.  It’s strange – I know he is gone, and yet, for me it is like he is on one of his many long trips, and I find myself thinking that he will come home.  But the point is that he is at his heavenly home.  I know that.  I suppose I was so used to seeing him come and go that it has not been as hard for me as for some who have had their husbands all the time.  This does not mean that I do not miss him – I do.  As Sissie wrote, he was just a man, but a lot more than that.  He was complicated and yet simple, with a strong love for the Lord with all his heart.  He was a man who was at times misunderstood as well as a man of many facets. 

You know, it is kind of funny, even though we had our differences and I often did not understand what he was about, I have lots of funny memories of him; and that is what I hope one day I can pass down and share with you.  It is an Art Katz you may not know, but I had the privilege of knowing.  One thing I believe, it was in God’s wisdom that Pappi had Sissie took care of his affairs and the affairs of B.I. along with the Board members.  It has not been easy on her.  But looking back, and now having her close by and not thousands of miles away and only seeing her once a year, she indeed is her father’s daughter.  I think she is a lot like him in so many ways; just look how she writes.  Sissie and I don’t always agree, and we look at things differently just like Pappi and I did.  But I know she loves her mom and wants only the best for me.  I also believe with all my heart that one day things will come together and it will not be until it is God’s time.

Personal Notes and Homefront

We have been blessed with two new little girls here at B.I. born to the George and Tammy Wipf and to Archie and Elaine Kleinsasser.  A third baby will soon arrive as well.  Eileen and Mama Rose are faithfully praying for whatever God puts on their hearts, and of course for Ben Israel.  The rest of the folks here are well.

As a grandmother, I would like to share with you two joys for two of the grandkids (not that the others don’t count – they do very much so).  Sarah participated in the State Little Miss Pageant in June, and she came home with five trophies.  Proud parents?  Oh, yes.  Proud grandmother?  Very much so.  And Samuel, now 16, passed a test with several points above the required points.  He will, in two years, walk out of college with his high school diploma and a two-year degree in computer security networking, and he also has his driving license now.  Happy for him, I am, and so is he.

Samuel driving his brothers around     Grandsons, Blaide & Brandon          Sarah with proud parents

So, how am I doing?  I think well.  I do not know where things are at with the bout with cancer; it could be gone with the grace of God.  I don’t know.  I do not live like I have no tomorrow.  I plan into the future, believing it is God’s good will.  I make my plans, and God directs them (Proverbs 16:9).  Some of those plans go into 2009, like the desire to go to Denmark for my sister’s 60^th birthday in January, then back to Israel and the West Bank with a good handful of people who would like to see the Land.  It has not been easy and still is not, and there are times I hit a very low point.  Sometimes I even have a pity party, but not often.  I am back at work only four hours, two days a week.  The doctors are sending me back to therapy.  All in all, I am grateful for every day.  And it is not boring!  There is always a lot to do.  For the time being, we have guests from Holland and also a young friend from the West Bank who is not really my guest, but somehow it works out that way.  He is a very special young person – it is Lilly’s nephew, and I have known him for sixteen years since he was in Kindergarten.  He is helpful and very thirsty to know more about the Lord.  We enjoy reading God’s word together.

I am looking forward to Labor Day weekend to see old friends, and former B.I. families.  As it is right now, I will be cooking most of the meals, not alone, though.  Sunshine, Betty Tazono, is coming to help.  I think we will have a precious time, and I think Pappi will look down from heaven and smile.  Sissie is putting together a nice program of sharing.  There is one sadness in it all - Ariel can’t make it, and David needs to work most of the time.

I will close with a great big thank you for your prayers and support in so many ways; not just to and for B.I. but for me as well.  There is a song called “I Can Do Nothing Alone”, and another song I love is “Trust and obey, there is no other way.”  Truly I can do nothing alone, and there is no other way than to trust and obey – without God and family and friends, where would I be?  God bless you,

Lovingly,

Inger Hava

Thank God for Spiritual Fathers

As many of you know, my dear friend and spiritual father, Art Katz, went home to be with the Lord this past summer [2007].  I was privileged to participate in his funeral, and want to take this opportunity to highlight some of the ways that he affected me as a follower of the Messiah.

It was one of the most somber days I’ve experienced in recent history, as three hundred of us walked that half-mile stretch of dirt road in Northern Minnesota that separated the place of the funeral service from the place of the gravesite.  In front of the procession was a wagon, on top of which was the casket containing the body of Art Katz, the man whom God used to bring salvation to my family and to me.

Different people were taking turns helping push it from the Lodge to the garden where the gravesite service was about to take place.  It was quite a procession – one that brought recollections from as far back as 32 years!  Each step seemed to bring a flood of memories as I had walked that half-mile route hundreds of times during my teenage years.

First we passed the softball field where I spent endless summer days with my friends.  The emotions began to build as we passed the site of Mom Brogger’s trailer, the location where the entire community would come for our daily 8 a.m. prayer meetings.  As we passed the site of the trailer home in which I spent 9 ½ years, I could barely hold back the tears, thanking God for saving the Volk family and granting me the privilege to grow up in such a tremendous place with people who will forever be dear to my heart.

We then passed the big red barn.  It was in the loft of that very place where, in the summer of 1975, Art Katz turned to me and said, “So, Scotty, are you willing to embrace the same faith that your mom and dad have embraced?”  It was there that I, as a 10-year-od boy, surrendered my life to Jesus, our Messiah!

As we approached the gravesite, located in the garden immediately behind the Katz family home, I was overcome with emotion.  Surrounding the gravesite were hundreds of people whose lives were radically affected by Art.  It was quite a service; we sang some of Art’s favorite songs as his casket was lowered into the ground.

Though far from faultless, Art was a man that gave his life for the gospel.  He was not interested in the praise of man, but truly living for eternity. 

Excerpt from Line of Fire, December, 2007 by Scott Volk

Please keep these days for us in your prayers as we remember together.  To God be all honor, glory, praise and thanksgiving.

Much love to each of you,

Blessings,

Mama Rose and Eileen

Memorial-Reunion, August 29^th to September 1^st

We would like to extend an invitation to each of you to join for our Labor Day Friends and Family Memorial/Reunion.  It will start with supper on Friday, August 29th and end with lunch on Monday, September 1.  A registration form can be requested, or can be printed off by clicking here.  Please get that mailed in with your payments NO LATER THAN August 25th, 2008.  Registration received after that will be returned. 

We will be needing help to pull this reunion off!  We will be needing cleaners, assistant chefs, grounds keepers, worship leaders, back up singers, a videographer, more help with sound, etc...

If you are able to come a week or two early to help....let us know!