STATE OF MORIEL 2016
To our Brethren in Jesus,
It is appropriate for me to commence by earnestly thanking you all for your much valued and appreciated prayers and support during the last year. This has been particularly true in light of my own health struggles with lympho-edema and the infectious cellulites in my lower limbs that easily cause recurrence. I have spent three stretches hospitalized in the UK & USA totaling nearly seven weeks since September when I very nearly went home to glory because of bilateral kidney and hepatic failure due to cellulite infection. I have since that time been hospitalized twice and had surgery in California plus a series of subcutaneous tissue ingrates above my ankle. My lower legs remain in compression castings and I undergo self administered lymphatic pump treatments daily plus, for the moment, a cocktail if medication. I frequently require crutches to be mobile. The susceptibility to cellulite reinfection is high and the ramifications for my neck injury and restrictions on the hydro therapy I used to reduce reliance on anti-inflammatory agents is problematic. The anti inflammatory drugs, without which I experience extremely painful brachio-plexis and partial paralysis in my left arm, are contra-indicated for other medications I am required to take. Yet The Lord has allowed this.
I have had to cancel mission trips to India, and postpone another to the rather large Moriel children’s work in The Philippines as well as itineraries in South Africa, Ireland, and the USA additionally postponed including conferences in New Jersey, Ohio, and Iowa. Our 2015 Conferences in England and Scotland had to be cancelled and, after leg ulceration, required unexpected surgery in California prevented me from returning to England for a further month. Although we hope to film bible teachings on location in Israel, Greece, Turkey etc., all of our Bible Study Tours have needed to be indefinitely discontinued in case I became reinfected while leading a tour and require hospitalization abroad during a tour. These ongoing medical limitations, barring divine intervention, will be permanent – at least to a considerable degree, and these are things God has a purpose in no matter how much they may be Satanic attacks, etc. These trials keep us trusting in Him and His coming and not hoping in this world. Please pray I am able to reschedule postponed conferences and that I can resume active ministry on a full time basis and that scheduled trips to China and Austral-Asia & New Zealand will be able to proceed as planned. There will however need to be major changes.
Until now, too much of Moriel’s itinerate ministry has focused on Jacob Prasch and to a degree David Royle. In the future David Nathan from Moriel South Africa (a nice Orthodox Jewish boy who got saved by His Messiah), Marco Quintana (who leads our Spanish language ministry) and eventually one or two others will be doing itinerate speaking more and Jacob Prasch less. We will also be promoting other preachers whom we stand with outside of Moriel such as Chris Hill in the UK. But what of Jacob?
As I and others have sought The Lord concerning His purposes in allowing adverse situations regarding my health to impact the ministry, it has been clear that His Hand (irrespective of how Satan may be trying to exploit matters for his diabolical ends) has been causing all things to work together for good. This is not to understate the disappointments or problems of now being a handicapped person, but it is to say that God knows what He is doing and He has in these months of prayer and reflection steadily revealed those purposes step by step. Oddly, and by divine intervention, the overall ministry of Moriel has not declined and, in newer areas, even expanded. But it has already changed with more change coming quickly. The on-line growth if Moriel on YouTube and social media has been, to say the least, impressive. Moreover, it has become clear that my illness and the curtailed itinerate ministry has been concurrent with the launch of Moriel ROKU TV. Moriel Ministries is also available as internet TV via Vimeo.com.
I will, in the future, only be speaking at local churches within 2 hours driving time of where I am based due to the need to be home evenings for lymphatic pumping etc. Plus I can no longer handle driving long distances with my legs.
My future speaking will either be conferences or seminars, although I may be able to accept a local church invitation if I am already away for a conference. Dena in the UK and the various Moriel administrators are restructuring my scheduling accordingly. What will be happening instead is a regular weekly expository teaching TV program which will commence soon, Lord willing, plus a live Q&A broadcast weekly with periodic updates. These will take place in concert with the already existing broadcast by John Haller from the Moriel affiliated congregation in Ohio.
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Technology has also dictated further major change in the areas of recorded materials and future books.
With the boom we have experienced on YouTube material previously recorded on CD and DVD is increasingly being web posted free of charge at little cost. I have never accepted salary or royalties from our published or recorded materials and we always used proceeds of what we sold to subsidize what we gave away to poor countries etc. and to cover things like travel costs and contributions to missions. We also kept prices deliberately lower than most other ministries. But now, by giving away what we once sold, we are going to need to trust the Lord and the generosity of those led to help sponsor our teaching, missions, and evangelism to make up for the deficit. It is a major financial risk we are led of the Lord to accept by faith; but our God is never broke, the coins are still in the mouths of His fish, and He still blesses those who bless Israel (where much of our mission budget is devoted), and He still prospers His people to fund His work.
Moriel will still keep its recorded materials available through the on-line store and catalogue for those wishing it. But from now on we are just giving it away without cost for “freely we have received, so freely we shall give” and just trust Jesus to continue to meet the costs of funding our missions etc.
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Book writing is another aspect of Moriel’s ministry that is changing rapidly. The new Moriel TV and on-line ministry is based in the USA. Technical design and support of the website etc. has been relocated to Israel as has the copy editing of future books (both were previously done in California). We have outsourced our technical and design requirements to a Messianic Jewish firm in Israel operated by a British born Jewish believer, Steve Davis whose design abilities are helping us and other ministries.
Planned future books include “NO BALM IN GILEAD”; what really happens after the rapture? This will be the sequel to HARPAZO. Elon Moreh, whose skills are superb, will be the new copy editor. Israel is closer to the UK than California (and less expensive to get to) so we expect the book writing process to be faster and easier. The other development, though, is the obvious growth in e books and Kindle plus marketing via Amazon as well as direct online marketing through the Moriel website and Moriel Facebook page. Printed books however will still be available for the foreseeable future, although more and more readers are acquiring our books via Kindle.
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The Moriel Quarterly will continue limited publication but the Moriel newsletter in the UK etc. will, in the future, be available through a standard .pdf file on our website Moriel.org and Moriel Facebook page. The future of Facebook however may be precarious as Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to support the pro-Islamic policies of Angela Merkel and is already removing websites critical of the Islamist threat. Why a Jew and an anti-Nazi German would team up to pander to Islamo-fascism, which is the new Nazi-ism, is beyond comprehension. Thus Moriel is beginning to examine alternatives such as Twitter, etc.
For elderly readers who may not be online or even have computers – no fear. Moriel UK will print off copies of the newsletter by download and post them upon request.
Meanwhile, the Moriel UK office has been mostly relocated to the West Midlands. The existing Maidenhead address however remains active.
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In any event, these are the basic changes that are coming or have in some areas already begun to arrive in Moriel.
We are happy to report, however, that our Mission work in Japan, The Philippines, and Thailand continue to flourish by God’s grace (although Japan remains a very difficult mission field). Our plans to open Moriel India have had a setback due to my health but remain on the agenda with the help of Pastor Mark Jackson.
After a hiatus the Moriel Canada branch will reopen but now as a tax deductible charitable organization under the direction of Chris & Jayne Pederson (Jayne is originally from Basingstoke in the UK and was formerly with ‘Hope for Today’).
At long last Marg & Raewin will no longer need to fly to Moriel New Zealand by remote control from Australia as they have done since Nigel went to be with The Lord but Pierre & Marguerite Mosely are getting ready to assume the administration of the New Zealand branch.
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There are still tremendous needs for the future (the biggest of which is always prayer) and go well beyond finance for which we must now trust The Lord more radically as we give almost all new teaching material away freely on line.
One of which is Africa. Moriel has not had the missionaries to take on the sizable AIDS/HIV children’s work in Uganda pioneered by our dear sister Carol Adams who will need to retire for reasons of age and health. Please pray in this regard. Such a mission field is not an easy calling. We want who God calls – but ideally it would seem to be best if we had an Afro American or a British couple, one of which should have good medical qualifications. Africa is a very difficult cultural environment to understand and we need missionaries who know they have the call of God for this work.
In South Africa the children’s ministry of Ebyown has had the best kind of problem to have. By God’s grace it has become a victim of its own success. In the earlier years before anti-retro viral drugs the HIV children developed AIDS and died. Our mandate was to take care of them and teach them that Jesus loves them and soon He will be taking them to their new home in heaven where they won’t suffer any more. It was heart breaking, but simple. Now children who were never supposed to survive have thankfully, due to God’s goodness and ARV therapy. Most have learning disabilities and are in or approaching their early teens and the question becomes what can be done with and for them now. Indeed, they survived what had initially been a death sentence. For this we praise God for exceeding anyone’s expectations. But what to do now is a challenge with which we are really struggling. We absolutely need much prayer and wisdom and vision from The Lord. We know that He has the answers.
In South Africa the children’s ministry Ebyown has the best kind of problems. Due to God’s grace, lots of tender loving care and ARV therapy the children continue to thrive. In fact we have become victims of our own success through His mercy and constant intervention. In the early days the prognosis for the children was very poor, in fact we did not think many of them would make it to their early teens, however God once again confounds the wise of this world by giving the children life and a good life expectancy. The problem now has transformed from how do we take care of these children to the time when Jesus takes them home, to what do we do with these young men and women who grow older and who need a future? The difficulties still remain. Health can literally turn for the worse, most have learning difficulties however God through His grace has allowed them to thrive. So now the question is now where from here?
It was decided by the Moriel board to relocate to the Western Cape. Here outside Swellendam an undeveloped farm of 44 acres was purchased and here at what is now called The Mount of Olives Mission, a future was to be set out for the children that would not only sustain a future for the children but also act as a missions witness for the gospel.
It has been a tough three years since Jacob lay our first Olive tree and we taught under what was a cattle shed. However since then a Home has been built. The farm has begun to be developed and our vision of a self sustaining community is beginning to bear fruit. Through the kind donations of Moriel supporters not only have we been able to build a house, the Lord has helped us purchase equipment, Dairy Cattle and other meat animals. The mission is also self supporting in power and water and we are off grid. The future which includes a 7 year plan (unless the Lord returns) includes a farm shop, a butchery, the production of food and jams. The remaining food is to be used in outreaches to the poorest of the poor. The gospel goes forth from the mission and bibles and tracts are circulated. Here we have teaching weekends with guest speakers. All this will provide a safe secure home for the children and a beacon for the gospel.
This can only be achieved if God continues to release people and funding to us. Help is needed as David’s health has suffered with diabetes and resulting complications such as peripheral neuropathy and so after two operations for broken bones and slipped disks, heavy labor is impossible for him. So the needs include more help and support. Much wisdom continues to be needed, but God has taken us this far and will take the work further.
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Well, this just about sums most things up. We simply report. We only ask The Lord for money for our operating costs.
We never have fund drives or gimmicks (although we do make disaster relief appeal exceptions periodically, such as for a major disaster in a region we operate in).
The Lord will also continue to fund our missions in Asia, Africa, and Israel. Our emphasis is always on evangelism, bible teaching, and taking care of sick and impoverished children in the Third World. Our other focus, of course, is the persecuted church.
There is however one thing we shall ask you for, indeed you have something we covet – PRAYER!
With much love in Yeshua; The Lord Jesus who saved us and called us and Who is Coming again.
Jacob Prasch & Moriel
