Ha’Shem Magazine S 5YE0 AR
Current by Sasha Nesmejanow
Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future
Well, hello there! Greetings to all our old friends and a very warm welcome if you are a newcomer. As an ancient Celtic saying goes, “There are no strangers here, only friends we haven’t met yet” As you may have already gathered this edition of Ha’Shem is rather special. We are celebrating! Having a birthday, in fact, but not just any ordinary birthday, it’s our 50th anniversary. What a wonderful achievement! It is a time of happiness, merriment and rejoicing with the opportunity to reminisce and recollect the roads travelled. We can ponder the events of the past, have some time reflecting over the journey so far, and we can look forward with hope, excitement and anticipation to what lies ahead. In the light of such remembrance let’s take a leisurely stroll down memory lane. In the very first edition of Ha’Shem, some 20 or so years ago, the opening article was entitled,
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“WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?” I think it’s quite relevant to revisit this to remind ourselves (and inform our new friends) about who we are and how we got here. Now, as then, we remain a diverse people. Coming together from many different backgrounds and cultures, the scriptures might very well call us a ‘mixed multitude’. We have come from far and wide, from Jamaica, Africa, India, Asia, North America, Scandinavia, Russia, Europe and the U.K. Our backgrounds are just as varied as our ancestries; there are those among us who were once atheists or strict religionists, some from well-to-do homes and yet others from poorer circumstances. There are some who are well-educated, with
degrees to their names, and some who have had no formal education whatsoever. Yet, regardless of all the assorted differences we all have one thing, or rather one person, in common. We have come into a relationship with one another through this one person, Yahshua Ha’Mashea. Known by many as ‘Jesus Christ’, we came into the knowledge of His original name, the name by which He was known while He lived and walked in Israel over 2000 years ago, and we call on Him using this name. We later came to an understanding of Yahweh’s Feasts, His Sabbath, the Fivefold Ministry and Water Baptism. Yahshua has made a dynamic change in all our lives. One by one He sought us out