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Writer's pictureSMUCD
Feb 19, 20221 min read

Sermon Series Prt 31 Fellowship & Times Of The Gentiles



In this Sermon we explore the difference between kindling a fire & what fellowship means. This kindling of fire lead Israel down the wrong path and still does as we explore more black history in the bible linking to alot of the subject matter from the last episode . We look at Isaiah Ezekiel and what Jesus sais about sending his prophets to spread his word among these stiff necked people. We then explore what Jesus means by the times of the Gentiles being fulfilled and how we can guard our hearts and minds from wordly influences and what his promise in the gospel means for all of us who have become Israel through the holy spirit. Amen

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Writer's pictureSMUCD
Feb 18, 20222 min read

SMUCD Presents Black History in The Bible Series

Updated: Apr 22, 2022


SMUCD Jesus & Black History In The Bible Series

Who are the Israelites ? ..... Who is Judah ?

You can hear the Replays (Below) in the days to come


On Tight Knit Radio Listen live every 3rd Saturday 1-2pm

on https://wolbbaltimore.com/listen-live/or radio 1010AM you can

call in 410 481 1010 to join the convo & share

SMUCD Black History in The Bible Series to hear and see more visit https://www.smucd.org/blog


Prt 1

On this episode we go into the past present and future we talk about Exodus and the description of the Hebrew people being vigorous and tough and the pregnant women delivering their children fast with precipitous labor . We reflect on this & share , we then look at the very end of Deuteronomy 28 and specifically verse 66-68 and what God describes of us going back to Egypt in Ships what does this all mean & more ?


Prt 2

On this 2nd episode we first take a look at the slave bible a version of the Bible that was used during US Slavery which removed more than half of the Bible resulting in a lack of understanding in the current african american churches of today. We then take a look a the physical descriptions of the Israelites as well as Jesus & then the exploits of Judah the progenitor of the Tribe of Judah. We look at the temptations he battled with as well as his victories and what he offered us in advice about faith , knowing that Jesus can pull us out of any situation by following his example.
















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Writer's pictureSMUCD
Feb 18, 20223 min read

Black Basketball player who converted to Judaism with Conservative rabbi denied Israeli citizenship


This Article is about Jared Armstrong in the center of this photo

(JTA) — Jared Armstrong traveled to Israel on Birthright last year. He also spent months studying with an American Conservative rabbi in order to formally convert to Judaism, a step he wanted to take so he could move to Israel to play for the Hapoel Haifa basketball team.

That ambition suffered a serious setback Wednesday after Israeli officials for the second time rejected his application for citizenship.

According to Haaretz, which first reported on the denial of Armstrong’s appeal, the Interior Ministry told Armstrong in a letter that they believed he was converting only to play on the team. It also cited the fact that his conversion classes were held via Zoom.

“It makes me crazy. Hasn’t Israel experienced COVID as well? I mean this decision shows so much disconnect,” Rabbi Michael Beals, the Wilmington, Delaware, rabbi who supervised Armstrong’s conversion, told Haaretz.

Beals, who has a longtime relationship with U.S. President Joe Biden, called the decision by Israel’s government “racist.” Armstrong is Black.

The rejection of Armstrong’s conversion comes amid a string of high-profile cases in which Israeli authorities have rejected citizenship applications from Black Jews who have converted outside of Orthodox Judaism.

In December, the Interior Ministry denied an application for citizenship by a Ugandan man who converted with the Conservative Movement, despite an Israeli Supreme Court ruling last year recognizing non-Orthodox conversions performed in Israel.

And last month, a Black Jew originally from the United States won a promise of citizenship after beginning a hunger strike to call attention to his experience with Israel’s immigration bureaucracy. First, David Ben Moshe’s conversion was rejected on the oft-ignored grounds that he had not spent adequate time in the community where he converted after he became Jewish, the Jerusalem Post reported. The Interior Ministry reversed that decision amid an outcry but then rejected his citizenship because he had been convicted of a crime in the United States. Now, Ben Moshe, who is married to an Israeli and has two Israeli children, will be able to become a citizen in 2023.

Armstrong, 24, is originally from Philadelphia and was previously a member of the basketball team at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. His father is not Jewish, and his mother underwent a conversion through Congregation Beth El, a predominantly Black community in Philadelphia that is not affiliated with any Jewish denomination.

Read about the community here

Israeli basketball teams often recruit players from outside of Israel who are Jewish and can therefore become citizens. But because Israel only accepts conversions performed through recognized denominations for the purposes of immigration to Israel under the Law of Return, which guarantees Israeli citizenship to all Jews who apply for it, Armstrong had to convert.

He began the process of studying for a formal conversion with Beals, a Conservative rabbi, and began applying for citizenship while in Israel where he first arrived for his Birthright trip last year and later began playing for Hapoel Haifa. After the Interior Ministry rejected his appeal for citizenship, Armstrong will no longer be able to play for Hapoel Haifa.

Not all basketball players in Israel are Jewish. Amar’e Stoudemire was not when he played for the Hapoel Jerusalem team. He began the process of conversion after leaving the team in 2018 and formally converted to Judaism while living in Israel in August 2020. Now a coach for the Brooklyn Nets, and was recently featured in a HBO documentary speaking about his journey to Orthodox Judaism.




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