The question that most people ask: What is God's will?
This one is very easy to answer because it is not about you or about me. God's will is so much larger than the let's-go-to-work/come-home-and-eat/ watch-five-hours-of-television/ and-then-go-to-sleep crowd. "Tomorrow we'll do something NEW. We'll do the exact same thing again!"
Oh, my! Too bad, so sad. But most Americans are actually living like this.
But once you understand His will, really understand it, you will see clearly what the news media is all about. It won't matter that almost all of the media is attempting to brain wash us. Once you know a few very simple facts it will all make sense.
#1 God is gathering ALL THE NATIONS to fight against Jerusalem. You don't really think that it is an accident that so much OIL is in the Middle East, do you? Check out Zechariah 14:2. Better yet, read chapters 12, 13, and 14. Better yet, read the entire Bible.
This "gathering" is taking place RIGHT NOW, even though the big-time newscaster can't see the nose on his face.
#2 My plan is to destroy ALL THE NATIONS that come against Jerusalem. Did we not just hear President Bush declare in his State of the Union Address that there would be a "Palestinian" state by the end of 2008? Couldn't you just see the "Palestinians" governing themselves? There's something to laugh about---or maybe cry about.
I look at the END TIMES this way: God is playing chess with the Devil and in a very short time He will checkmate him. The nations are merely the pieces on the chess board.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." (Look up the address. It will be good for you to do a little "seeking" for yourself.)
Many folks think this is a horrible time and they are depressed, running to the pharmacies to pop as many "legal drugs" as they can.
Then there are people like us: We are so hyped and excited about being alive during this generation. It is because we know God's will, and we can't wait to watch Him pull it off.
Wow! Hey, one more suggesstion: Read chapters 12, 13, and 14 of the book of Zechariah. Then study those chapters. Then go back and read those chapters about 100 times.
I promise you this: You will know the will of God and you will be pumped!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
My Latest Trip to Israel
"In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen ones.” -Jesus- Mt. 24:22 (NLT)
Greetings in Jesus' Name!
Have you ever had a total stranger come up to you while you were having lunch and say, “Will you be in a documentary film tomorrow for our production company?”
This is what actually happened to me in Jerusalem. The invitation came totally out of the blue so I knew that it was an open door from the Lord. The film company is Jewish-owned; but the producers wanted to film a group of Christians on the Mt. of Olives and a few other places, asking them questions about their faith. My job was to round up a group of believers, which I easily did.
Here are some of the pictures from the film shoot: http://picasaweb.google.com/davidjrojas/ChristmasDay?authkey=q_RqnAUIr-g
God works in wonderful ways! What a great opportunity. I was able to share my personal testimony about what Jesus has done to change my life and who He is. Normally Jewish people do not want to hear anything about Jesus. But the main purpose of this documentary was to find out what Christians had to say as they visited Israel.
The film company even provided a free lunch, taxi service to each site, and a tour guide who explained the history every place we went. Without even trying, God made it possible for our testimonies to literally reach millions of people.
PBS will be showing the film throughout Europe, the U.S. and Australia. The movie is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008. I will be sure to let you know the title of this documentary when I find out myself. If you are interested: http://www.biblicalproductions.com/ There is no doubt about it---we are in the very last days and the return of Jesus is imminent! For decades people have been saying, "Jesus is coming soon!" We in America have heard it so often that the words have almost lost their meaning. Few churches in the U.S. make any reference to His return any more. This message has become “out of style”, because it might make someone feel “uncomfortable”. "Yeah, yeah," people mock, "You Christians have been saying this stuff for decades." In this newsletter I want to present some very startling information to build up your faith. The hope of Jesus' return is one of the basic doctrines in the Bible. The angels in the first chapter of Acts told the disciples "Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but some day He will return from heaven in the same way you saw Him go."
Jesus declared:
"Everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory (Mk. 13:26)." "The end will come (Mt. 24:14)." "For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so will it be when the Son of Man returns (Mt. 24:27)." "Remember what happened to Lot's wife (Lu. 17:32)!”
Will We Miss It? One thing is for sure. We don't have to wonder if we will miss this event. He has made it very clear that EVERYONE will see Him when He returns! This will not be something done on the sidelines somewhere. This will be headline news, broadcast on every major television station in the world, and it will be screaming headlines in every newspaper and news magazine. Jesus has made it very clear that an end is coming. Some people have embraced the philosophy "same-old, same-old". But it will not always be "same-old, same-old". An end is coming for this sick old world, and there are clear signs everywhere for those whose eyes are open that we are extremely close to the end of all things. We have all seen lightning when it flashes in the sky.
Watching a storm is an incredible experience. I never tire of seeing God express His power in the heavens with explosions of thunder and lightning. Jesus used this as an example of what it will be like when He returns. Power! Majesty! Incredible! No one has ever seen anything like it! Earthquakes in Many Parts of the World! When I was in Jerusalem with my daughter, Martha, suddenly, at 10:40 a.m. one morning an earthquake shook Israel. It was only a 4.2 on the Richter scale, but it was enough to get everyone's attention. The Great Rift Valley begins in Syria and runs all the way down into Africa. The lowest place in the Rift Valley is at the Dead Sea in Israel, 1,300 feet below sea level. This was the epicenter of the earthquake. Seismologists predict that there will be many more earthquakes such as this one, and that they will most certainly increase in intensity. The reason for this is that the Great Rift Valley is a huge fault in the earth. And it is not there by accident. God put it there.
When we go from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea we actually descend more than 3,700 feet. According to the Bible such a powerful earthquake will shake Israel that a large plain will be created north of Jerusalem all the way to the south of Jerusalem. "From Geba, north of Judah, to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem will become one vast plain (Zech. 14:10)." God is always way ahead of everything. A new settlement, named "Giba'at Ha'arb'a", has been built five and one half miles north of Jerusalem. The spelling of "Geba" and "Giba" is actually insignificant. The English meaning is "The Hill"!
Jesus calls these events "birth pains"! One thing we know for sure, when a woman is about to give birth to a child her contractions become more intense and they become much more frequent. Here are the signs to watch for as we approach the "end of all things": Deception, wars, famines, earthquakes, Christians arrested, torture, imprisonment, betrayal, hatred, false prophets, rampant sin, and love turning cold.
"There will be greater anguish than at any time since the earth began. And it will never be so great again. In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen ones. (Mt. 24:21-22)."
Many Will Rush Here and There
Almost every major city in America has a by-pass highway, usually four or six lanes wide that encircle the entire downtown area. Larger cities, like Beijing, have seven ring roads encircling the business section. Then there are linking roads between each of the circles. It is not uncommon for every circle road and all of the links to be jam-packed full of traffic, sometimes stopped completely for an hour or more. Airports also are so busy that there are times when a person can hardly walk through the terminal to get to his airplane. Lines are everywhere and it's push-push, rush-rush, in order to go anywhere. Five hundred million people travel by air each year inside the United States. That is more than the population of our nation. Statistics show that by 2017 the number of people flying on airliners each year within the United States will be more than one billion. Worldwide the number will be five billion! The United States consumes twenty million seven hundred thirty barrels of oil DAILY. China has five times as many people, but only uses six million five hundred thirty four thousand barrels of oil per day. Worldwide daily consumption is eighty two million two hundred thirty four thousand barrels per day. Our country uses approximately one fourth of all the oil produced. The Bible was very accurate when it said in the last days people would be rushing to and fro (Daniel 12:4). Knowledge Will Increase Daniel also predicted that in the last days knowledge would increase. How could he possibly know such a thing except by the Spirit of God? More than 3,000 new books are published EACH DAY! A week's worth of information in the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century. The number of text messages sent and received each day exceeds the population of the planet. 1.5 exabytes (1.5 X 10 to the 18th) of unique information will be generated worldwide this year . . . more than in the previous 5,000 years. NEC and Alcatel have recently tested third-generation fiber optics that push 10 trillion bits per second down one strand of fiber. This is equal to 1,900 CDs or 150 million simultaneous phone calls, every second. There are over 2.7 billion searches performed on Google each month. To whom were these questions addressed B.G. (before Google)? By 2013 a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computation capability of the human brain. Yes, exactly like the Bible predicted: knowledge is increasing.
The Temple Mount
We all know the story about Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22:2). What many people do not know is that Mt. Moriah is same place where the Temple Mount is now located. David was told by God to purchase Araunah’s threshing floor 3,000 years ago. It was perhaps the best real estate deal ever made in the history of the world. David paid 50 pieces of silver for it (2 Sam. 24:24)!
Solomon, David's son, erected the first Temple on this location in 953 B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., which means it stood for 367 years. The second Temple (516 B.C.) was restored by King Herod, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.
Today there are thousands of Jewish and Christian people who want to see a Third Temple erected. However, there are some major obstacles. The Arabs erected the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in 688 A.D. and the abomination of desolation is still there. If Israel bulldozed the Dome of the Rock it would start World War III.
A few days ago I made my second visit to The Temple Mount. The first time I went I was able to actually enter the Dome of the Rock and touch the huge stone on which Abraham placed Isaac. This time an imam sat out front and said very gruffly, “Only Muslims.” I could feel the murderous hatred coming out of the man as he glared at me.
Worshiping rocks seems to be the thing in Islam. The Ka’ba in Mecca is also a rock, supposedly part of a fallen meteorite that the Arabs have worshiped centuries before Mohammed was born in 571 A.D. Even though Mohammed never visited Jerusalem, the Muslims have made it their third most holy place, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The Temple Institute in Jerusalem (you can Google it) has prepared the sacred vessels for the Third Temple. These furnishings are on display, and they have been copied precisely according to the Old Testament instructions. One of the main pieces is the Menorah. This is not a myth; I have been there and seen them myself.
The Menorah Was Moved While I was in Israel this last time. I watched with very great interest as the Jewish leaders moved the six foot high, seven-branched golden candelabra, the Menorah, from the Cardo, where it has been on display for several years. It weighs about 1,000 pounds.They moved it closer to the Temple Mount. In fact, it is so close that when a person stands in front of the Menorah he can easily see the Mount and the Dome of the Rock. Arabs are furious about this, but there is nothing they can do about it. I watched the workers place a bulletproof clear "bubble" around it and over it. The message the Jews are sending to the world by placing the Menorah so near the Kotel (Wailing Wall/Western Wall) is that they are expecting to build the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in anticipation of the coming of their Messiah. But in order to build the Third Temple the Dome of the Rock will have to be destroyed. Any thinking person knows that this will start World War III. So we will all have to wait and watch as the Lord works out the details during this time of the end. Zechariah tells us that when Jesus' feet stand on the Mt. of Olives it will split apart. Half of the mountain will move north and the other half will move south, leaving a very large valley (Zechariah 14:4). As I stood in front of the Menorah and looked at the Mt. of Olives, exactly straight east of the Temple Mount, like the Bible says, it all made sense. The Jews will not have to destroy the Dome of the Rock. When the mountain splits it will take out the Islamic Dome of the Rock in a heartbeat, and the Abomination of Desolation will be gone. Notice that Mark's gospel refers to the Abomination of Desolation as an "it", not a "he". The Abomination of Desolation has been on the Temple Mount for more than one thousand years (since 688 A.D.). When the King of Kings and Lord of Lords returns He will destroy all false idols, demons, and Satan himself. The 700-Mile Walk! While I was in Israel I met four men: George, Gabriel, Arop, and Ngor. They had several things in common. They were all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; they were all Sudanese; they had all been tortured by Muslims; they had all watched as their mothers, wives, and sisters had been raped and murdered; and they had all walked 700 miles to Israel, the only place of refuge for them in the Middle East. All other countries are Islamic countries. My heart broke as I heard their stories. Muslims attacked them, burned their homes, killed their families, and tortured them. But somehow, by the Grace of God, they were able to escape with the clothes on their backs. They had no money, but one by one they began walking toward the only place of hope for them---Israel. When they arrived in Egypt they received the worst treatment. The Egyptian Muslims were extremely cruel. They went days without eating and they had no shelter.
But as they prayed God led them to some Bedouins who promised to guide them by night across the Egyptian/Israeli border. They had to walk in the hot desert without any water. Those of us in America would have died from that walk across the Sinai. But God kept them alive. Finally they found an Israeli military outpost, and the Jewish soldiers took them in and nursed them back to health. It is a modern day miracle that they are even alive. The plight of the Sudanese refugees has been kept under wraps by the secular press because it refuses to expose the Muslims for the ruthless killers that they are. And the press does not want to take the side of Christians on any issue, even one so glaring and obvious as this one. The “peaceful Muslims” are killing, torturing, and raping Christians in Sudan on a massive scale, more than two million so far. No one is being punished for these horrendous crimes because the Sudanese government officials are Muslims. They not only look the other way as the "infidels" are butchered, they often are the ones doing the killing. Martha's church in Jerusalem is appealing for help for these dear people. The Israeli government has not officially made a decision about what to do with these men. If they are sent back to Egypt they will be killed. Prayer is needed now for these brothers. May God have mercy upon these dear people. Martha in Jerusalem! My daughter, Martha Berg, lives in Israel with her five children. Almost two years ago her husband died from a massive heart attack. The children found him on the bathroom floor early in the morning and went to tell their mother: "We can't wake Daddy up!" There are several reasons why Martha has chosen to remain in Israel. One of them is because she works for a ministry called Shevet Achim. Check out our website (http://www.flc7.com/) to find out the details of what she does. Shevet Achim goes into Gaza and Iraq and brings children who are dying of heart ailments to Jewish doctors in Israel. After the life-saving operations they are returned to their parents. I am writing this newsletter in Jerusalem and there are five Iraqis living in the house with us. Of course, the people from Gaza and Iraq have been told all of their lives what horrible people the Jews and Christians are. When they see the love poured out on them by people like Martha, and they see their children healed, it changes them forever. Shevet Achim is a small bridge of peace between two warring peoples. Boom! Boom! Boom! It was early in the morning when I heard three explosions. Martha was already up and was crossing the street to get some breakfast food from the small store nearby. "Get back in your house!" a soldier shouted. It was only then that she noticed that Prophets Street was cordoned off with yellow tape and “suspicious packages" were lying in the middle of the road. Looking out the window she saw the soldiers release a robot which approached the object. And then the Boom, Boom, Boom of the explosions. Jesus said it. There would be wars. But this time it was right on our doorstep! Yahweh or Hashem? I was walking down the street in Jerusalem when a woman yelled my name. "Hey, Wes!" I was so surprised to see an orthodox Jewish friend. Knowing the customs, I did not even put out my hand to shake her hand. Their rules emphatically state that they cannot touch another man, especially a gentile. But she threw her arms around me and gave me the biggest hug imaginable. "Hey, aren't you still ultra-orthodox?" I asked her. "Of course I am," she replied. "Then what are you doing touching me and giving me a hug?" "Oh, you're special. I've known you a long time." This just blew my mind. Here we were out in public where everyone could see us and she was giving me this big hug. I thought we might get stoned. As we visited I asked her a few questions about her faith and shared some of my own viewpoints about Jesus being Messiah. I know that even when they write the word "God" they spell it "G-d". And in public they never speak the word "Yahweh". If orthodox Jews are standing on a corner visiting and they want to talk about God they use the term "Hashem". So I asked her, "Do you ever say Yahweh?" We do use that name when we pray to Him in private. But we use "Hashem" when we talk about him to one another. I immediately thought about the Scripture in Exodus 3:15: "Yahweh is my eternal name to remember for all generations!" Here I was, standing on a street in Jerusalem thousands of years after this verse was written, witnessing a fulfillment of Exodus 3:15. We may not use the name "Yahweh" much in America, but it is THE NAME in Israel. Literally it means: “I shall be who I shall be.”
Who Is A Jew? The Jewish people believe that if your mother has Jewish blood then you are a Jew. Anyone, from any country in the world, can move to Israel and become an Israeli citizen if they can prove that their mother is Jewish. Another way, but a very difficult and almost impossible way for a gentile to become Jewish is to be proselytized. This means going through the Jewish ceremonies, classes, and all the rigors of the rabbi’s teachings. This process can take years!
The Apostle Paul was one of the most learned men of his time. He spoke at least five languages, was trained at the feet of Gamaliel, a noted rabbi and important scholar. The Apostle Paul was born Jewish and authored books of the Bible that have endured for centuries. God picked the right man for the right job. If there is any man whose writing can be trusted it is that of the Apostle Paul. Here is his definition of being Jewish: "A true Jew is one whose heart is right with God (Romans 2:29)." He goes on to explain that when a person places his faith in God's Son, Jesus, he is adopted into God's family. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ and believe that God raised Him from the dead, then you are a Jew! Personally, I believe that my whole family is Jewish. This belief is not based on emotion or on family lineage. It is based firmly on the Word of God. There is nothing as sure as God's Word! So every time I see the word "Jew" in the Bible I take it personally. Over and over again the Bible says that the Jewish people would return to the Promised Land in the last days. So why should I be surprised that one of my children, a Jewess, lives in Israel? It is just one more fulfillment of Bible prophecy in these last days.
As the Apostle Paul sat at the feet of Gamaliel, I have had the privilege of sitting at the feet of Dr. Gerald Schroeder (Google him) in Israel, who has two Ph.Ds and has authored The Hidden Face of God and The Science of God. He recently led Prof Antony Flew, the world’s most famous atheist, to faith in God. This has driven The New York Times editors crazy. Dr. Schroeder’s powerful message is that the living God created the universe and sustains it. We are not here by random chance! So whether it is Jewish people returning to Israel from all over the world, Muslims raging, earthquakes, wars, or other signs, the end is near. Jesus is coming again! “Every man who has this hope in him purifies himself (1 John 3:3).”
“The beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them (Rev. 13:7). I believe that the “beast” is Islam and the Dome of the Rock is the abomination of desolation. During these exciting days we should each be asking the Lord to use us and place us in the center of His will.
Very soon the heavens will roll back like a scroll and we will see Jesus face to face. What a day that will be! He is not coming this time as a baby, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Thank you so much for your generous gift to Full Life Crusade. May He reward you as only Jesus is able to do! In His Service,
Be sure to visit our website often to read informative articles: www.FLC7.com
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Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 (574) 267-7546
Greetings in Jesus' Name!
Have you ever had a total stranger come up to you while you were having lunch and say, “Will you be in a documentary film tomorrow for our production company?”
This is what actually happened to me in Jerusalem. The invitation came totally out of the blue so I knew that it was an open door from the Lord. The film company is Jewish-owned; but the producers wanted to film a group of Christians on the Mt. of Olives and a few other places, asking them questions about their faith. My job was to round up a group of believers, which I easily did.
Here are some of the pictures from the film shoot: http://picasaweb.google.com/davidjrojas/ChristmasDay?authkey=q_RqnAUIr-g
God works in wonderful ways! What a great opportunity. I was able to share my personal testimony about what Jesus has done to change my life and who He is. Normally Jewish people do not want to hear anything about Jesus. But the main purpose of this documentary was to find out what Christians had to say as they visited Israel.
The film company even provided a free lunch, taxi service to each site, and a tour guide who explained the history every place we went. Without even trying, God made it possible for our testimonies to literally reach millions of people.
PBS will be showing the film throughout Europe, the U.S. and Australia. The movie is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008. I will be sure to let you know the title of this documentary when I find out myself. If you are interested: http://www.biblicalproductions.com/ There is no doubt about it---we are in the very last days and the return of Jesus is imminent! For decades people have been saying, "Jesus is coming soon!" We in America have heard it so often that the words have almost lost their meaning. Few churches in the U.S. make any reference to His return any more. This message has become “out of style”, because it might make someone feel “uncomfortable”. "Yeah, yeah," people mock, "You Christians have been saying this stuff for decades." In this newsletter I want to present some very startling information to build up your faith. The hope of Jesus' return is one of the basic doctrines in the Bible. The angels in the first chapter of Acts told the disciples "Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but some day He will return from heaven in the same way you saw Him go."
Jesus declared:
"Everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory (Mk. 13:26)." "The end will come (Mt. 24:14)." "For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so will it be when the Son of Man returns (Mt. 24:27)." "Remember what happened to Lot's wife (Lu. 17:32)!”
Will We Miss It? One thing is for sure. We don't have to wonder if we will miss this event. He has made it very clear that EVERYONE will see Him when He returns! This will not be something done on the sidelines somewhere. This will be headline news, broadcast on every major television station in the world, and it will be screaming headlines in every newspaper and news magazine. Jesus has made it very clear that an end is coming. Some people have embraced the philosophy "same-old, same-old". But it will not always be "same-old, same-old". An end is coming for this sick old world, and there are clear signs everywhere for those whose eyes are open that we are extremely close to the end of all things. We have all seen lightning when it flashes in the sky.
Watching a storm is an incredible experience. I never tire of seeing God express His power in the heavens with explosions of thunder and lightning. Jesus used this as an example of what it will be like when He returns. Power! Majesty! Incredible! No one has ever seen anything like it! Earthquakes in Many Parts of the World! When I was in Jerusalem with my daughter, Martha, suddenly, at 10:40 a.m. one morning an earthquake shook Israel. It was only a 4.2 on the Richter scale, but it was enough to get everyone's attention. The Great Rift Valley begins in Syria and runs all the way down into Africa. The lowest place in the Rift Valley is at the Dead Sea in Israel, 1,300 feet below sea level. This was the epicenter of the earthquake. Seismologists predict that there will be many more earthquakes such as this one, and that they will most certainly increase in intensity. The reason for this is that the Great Rift Valley is a huge fault in the earth. And it is not there by accident. God put it there.
When we go from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea we actually descend more than 3,700 feet. According to the Bible such a powerful earthquake will shake Israel that a large plain will be created north of Jerusalem all the way to the south of Jerusalem. "From Geba, north of Judah, to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem will become one vast plain (Zech. 14:10)." God is always way ahead of everything. A new settlement, named "Giba'at Ha'arb'a", has been built five and one half miles north of Jerusalem. The spelling of "Geba" and "Giba" is actually insignificant. The English meaning is "The Hill"!
Jesus calls these events "birth pains"! One thing we know for sure, when a woman is about to give birth to a child her contractions become more intense and they become much more frequent. Here are the signs to watch for as we approach the "end of all things": Deception, wars, famines, earthquakes, Christians arrested, torture, imprisonment, betrayal, hatred, false prophets, rampant sin, and love turning cold.
"There will be greater anguish than at any time since the earth began. And it will never be so great again. In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen ones. (Mt. 24:21-22)."
Many Will Rush Here and There
Almost every major city in America has a by-pass highway, usually four or six lanes wide that encircle the entire downtown area. Larger cities, like Beijing, have seven ring roads encircling the business section. Then there are linking roads between each of the circles. It is not uncommon for every circle road and all of the links to be jam-packed full of traffic, sometimes stopped completely for an hour or more. Airports also are so busy that there are times when a person can hardly walk through the terminal to get to his airplane. Lines are everywhere and it's push-push, rush-rush, in order to go anywhere. Five hundred million people travel by air each year inside the United States. That is more than the population of our nation. Statistics show that by 2017 the number of people flying on airliners each year within the United States will be more than one billion. Worldwide the number will be five billion! The United States consumes twenty million seven hundred thirty barrels of oil DAILY. China has five times as many people, but only uses six million five hundred thirty four thousand barrels of oil per day. Worldwide daily consumption is eighty two million two hundred thirty four thousand barrels per day. Our country uses approximately one fourth of all the oil produced. The Bible was very accurate when it said in the last days people would be rushing to and fro (Daniel 12:4). Knowledge Will Increase Daniel also predicted that in the last days knowledge would increase. How could he possibly know such a thing except by the Spirit of God? More than 3,000 new books are published EACH DAY! A week's worth of information in the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century. The number of text messages sent and received each day exceeds the population of the planet. 1.5 exabytes (1.5 X 10 to the 18th) of unique information will be generated worldwide this year . . . more than in the previous 5,000 years. NEC and Alcatel have recently tested third-generation fiber optics that push 10 trillion bits per second down one strand of fiber. This is equal to 1,900 CDs or 150 million simultaneous phone calls, every second. There are over 2.7 billion searches performed on Google each month. To whom were these questions addressed B.G. (before Google)? By 2013 a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computation capability of the human brain. Yes, exactly like the Bible predicted: knowledge is increasing.
The Temple Mount
We all know the story about Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22:2). What many people do not know is that Mt. Moriah is same place where the Temple Mount is now located. David was told by God to purchase Araunah’s threshing floor 3,000 years ago. It was perhaps the best real estate deal ever made in the history of the world. David paid 50 pieces of silver for it (2 Sam. 24:24)!
Solomon, David's son, erected the first Temple on this location in 953 B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., which means it stood for 367 years. The second Temple (516 B.C.) was restored by King Herod, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.
Today there are thousands of Jewish and Christian people who want to see a Third Temple erected. However, there are some major obstacles. The Arabs erected the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in 688 A.D. and the abomination of desolation is still there. If Israel bulldozed the Dome of the Rock it would start World War III.
A few days ago I made my second visit to The Temple Mount. The first time I went I was able to actually enter the Dome of the Rock and touch the huge stone on which Abraham placed Isaac. This time an imam sat out front and said very gruffly, “Only Muslims.” I could feel the murderous hatred coming out of the man as he glared at me.
Worshiping rocks seems to be the thing in Islam. The Ka’ba in Mecca is also a rock, supposedly part of a fallen meteorite that the Arabs have worshiped centuries before Mohammed was born in 571 A.D. Even though Mohammed never visited Jerusalem, the Muslims have made it their third most holy place, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The Temple Institute in Jerusalem (you can Google it) has prepared the sacred vessels for the Third Temple. These furnishings are on display, and they have been copied precisely according to the Old Testament instructions. One of the main pieces is the Menorah. This is not a myth; I have been there and seen them myself.
The Menorah Was Moved While I was in Israel this last time. I watched with very great interest as the Jewish leaders moved the six foot high, seven-branched golden candelabra, the Menorah, from the Cardo, where it has been on display for several years. It weighs about 1,000 pounds.They moved it closer to the Temple Mount. In fact, it is so close that when a person stands in front of the Menorah he can easily see the Mount and the Dome of the Rock. Arabs are furious about this, but there is nothing they can do about it. I watched the workers place a bulletproof clear "bubble" around it and over it. The message the Jews are sending to the world by placing the Menorah so near the Kotel (Wailing Wall/Western Wall) is that they are expecting to build the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in anticipation of the coming of their Messiah. But in order to build the Third Temple the Dome of the Rock will have to be destroyed. Any thinking person knows that this will start World War III. So we will all have to wait and watch as the Lord works out the details during this time of the end. Zechariah tells us that when Jesus' feet stand on the Mt. of Olives it will split apart. Half of the mountain will move north and the other half will move south, leaving a very large valley (Zechariah 14:4). As I stood in front of the Menorah and looked at the Mt. of Olives, exactly straight east of the Temple Mount, like the Bible says, it all made sense. The Jews will not have to destroy the Dome of the Rock. When the mountain splits it will take out the Islamic Dome of the Rock in a heartbeat, and the Abomination of Desolation will be gone. Notice that Mark's gospel refers to the Abomination of Desolation as an "it", not a "he". The Abomination of Desolation has been on the Temple Mount for more than one thousand years (since 688 A.D.). When the King of Kings and Lord of Lords returns He will destroy all false idols, demons, and Satan himself. The 700-Mile Walk! While I was in Israel I met four men: George, Gabriel, Arop, and Ngor. They had several things in common. They were all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; they were all Sudanese; they had all been tortured by Muslims; they had all watched as their mothers, wives, and sisters had been raped and murdered; and they had all walked 700 miles to Israel, the only place of refuge for them in the Middle East. All other countries are Islamic countries. My heart broke as I heard their stories. Muslims attacked them, burned their homes, killed their families, and tortured them. But somehow, by the Grace of God, they were able to escape with the clothes on their backs. They had no money, but one by one they began walking toward the only place of hope for them---Israel. When they arrived in Egypt they received the worst treatment. The Egyptian Muslims were extremely cruel. They went days without eating and they had no shelter.
But as they prayed God led them to some Bedouins who promised to guide them by night across the Egyptian/Israeli border. They had to walk in the hot desert without any water. Those of us in America would have died from that walk across the Sinai. But God kept them alive. Finally they found an Israeli military outpost, and the Jewish soldiers took them in and nursed them back to health. It is a modern day miracle that they are even alive. The plight of the Sudanese refugees has been kept under wraps by the secular press because it refuses to expose the Muslims for the ruthless killers that they are. And the press does not want to take the side of Christians on any issue, even one so glaring and obvious as this one. The “peaceful Muslims” are killing, torturing, and raping Christians in Sudan on a massive scale, more than two million so far. No one is being punished for these horrendous crimes because the Sudanese government officials are Muslims. They not only look the other way as the "infidels" are butchered, they often are the ones doing the killing. Martha's church in Jerusalem is appealing for help for these dear people. The Israeli government has not officially made a decision about what to do with these men. If they are sent back to Egypt they will be killed. Prayer is needed now for these brothers. May God have mercy upon these dear people. Martha in Jerusalem! My daughter, Martha Berg, lives in Israel with her five children. Almost two years ago her husband died from a massive heart attack. The children found him on the bathroom floor early in the morning and went to tell their mother: "We can't wake Daddy up!" There are several reasons why Martha has chosen to remain in Israel. One of them is because she works for a ministry called Shevet Achim. Check out our website (http://www.flc7.com/) to find out the details of what she does. Shevet Achim goes into Gaza and Iraq and brings children who are dying of heart ailments to Jewish doctors in Israel. After the life-saving operations they are returned to their parents. I am writing this newsletter in Jerusalem and there are five Iraqis living in the house with us. Of course, the people from Gaza and Iraq have been told all of their lives what horrible people the Jews and Christians are. When they see the love poured out on them by people like Martha, and they see their children healed, it changes them forever. Shevet Achim is a small bridge of peace between two warring peoples. Boom! Boom! Boom! It was early in the morning when I heard three explosions. Martha was already up and was crossing the street to get some breakfast food from the small store nearby. "Get back in your house!" a soldier shouted. It was only then that she noticed that Prophets Street was cordoned off with yellow tape and “suspicious packages" were lying in the middle of the road. Looking out the window she saw the soldiers release a robot which approached the object. And then the Boom, Boom, Boom of the explosions. Jesus said it. There would be wars. But this time it was right on our doorstep! Yahweh or Hashem? I was walking down the street in Jerusalem when a woman yelled my name. "Hey, Wes!" I was so surprised to see an orthodox Jewish friend. Knowing the customs, I did not even put out my hand to shake her hand. Their rules emphatically state that they cannot touch another man, especially a gentile. But she threw her arms around me and gave me the biggest hug imaginable. "Hey, aren't you still ultra-orthodox?" I asked her. "Of course I am," she replied. "Then what are you doing touching me and giving me a hug?" "Oh, you're special. I've known you a long time." This just blew my mind. Here we were out in public where everyone could see us and she was giving me this big hug. I thought we might get stoned. As we visited I asked her a few questions about her faith and shared some of my own viewpoints about Jesus being Messiah. I know that even when they write the word "God" they spell it "G-d". And in public they never speak the word "Yahweh". If orthodox Jews are standing on a corner visiting and they want to talk about God they use the term "Hashem". So I asked her, "Do you ever say Yahweh?" We do use that name when we pray to Him in private. But we use "Hashem" when we talk about him to one another. I immediately thought about the Scripture in Exodus 3:15: "Yahweh is my eternal name to remember for all generations!" Here I was, standing on a street in Jerusalem thousands of years after this verse was written, witnessing a fulfillment of Exodus 3:15. We may not use the name "Yahweh" much in America, but it is THE NAME in Israel. Literally it means: “I shall be who I shall be.”
Who Is A Jew? The Jewish people believe that if your mother has Jewish blood then you are a Jew. Anyone, from any country in the world, can move to Israel and become an Israeli citizen if they can prove that their mother is Jewish. Another way, but a very difficult and almost impossible way for a gentile to become Jewish is to be proselytized. This means going through the Jewish ceremonies, classes, and all the rigors of the rabbi’s teachings. This process can take years!
The Apostle Paul was one of the most learned men of his time. He spoke at least five languages, was trained at the feet of Gamaliel, a noted rabbi and important scholar. The Apostle Paul was born Jewish and authored books of the Bible that have endured for centuries. God picked the right man for the right job. If there is any man whose writing can be trusted it is that of the Apostle Paul. Here is his definition of being Jewish: "A true Jew is one whose heart is right with God (Romans 2:29)." He goes on to explain that when a person places his faith in God's Son, Jesus, he is adopted into God's family. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ and believe that God raised Him from the dead, then you are a Jew! Personally, I believe that my whole family is Jewish. This belief is not based on emotion or on family lineage. It is based firmly on the Word of God. There is nothing as sure as God's Word! So every time I see the word "Jew" in the Bible I take it personally. Over and over again the Bible says that the Jewish people would return to the Promised Land in the last days. So why should I be surprised that one of my children, a Jewess, lives in Israel? It is just one more fulfillment of Bible prophecy in these last days.
As the Apostle Paul sat at the feet of Gamaliel, I have had the privilege of sitting at the feet of Dr. Gerald Schroeder (Google him) in Israel, who has two Ph.Ds and has authored The Hidden Face of God and The Science of God. He recently led Prof Antony Flew, the world’s most famous atheist, to faith in God. This has driven The New York Times editors crazy. Dr. Schroeder’s powerful message is that the living God created the universe and sustains it. We are not here by random chance! So whether it is Jewish people returning to Israel from all over the world, Muslims raging, earthquakes, wars, or other signs, the end is near. Jesus is coming again! “Every man who has this hope in him purifies himself (1 John 3:3).”
“The beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them (Rev. 13:7). I believe that the “beast” is Islam and the Dome of the Rock is the abomination of desolation. During these exciting days we should each be asking the Lord to use us and place us in the center of His will.
Very soon the heavens will roll back like a scroll and we will see Jesus face to face. What a day that will be! He is not coming this time as a baby, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Thank you so much for your generous gift to Full Life Crusade. May He reward you as only Jesus is able to do! In His Service,
Be sure to visit our website often to read informative articles: www.FLC7.com
P.S. You are always welcome to copy our materials!
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 (574) 267-7546
Numbers from Daniel and Revelation
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet
were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:
and the Dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Rev. 13:2
February 2008
Greetings in Jesus’ Name!
Ever since I returned from Israel my mind has been on the end-time events that are taking place so rapidly. It is hard to keep up with them all. I saw with my own eyes the Menorah being moved from the Cardo to the overlook of the Temple Mount. I watched as a bulletproof bubble was erected to protect the eight-foot solid gold sacred vessel, worth more than four million dollars.
Jewish craftsmen have prepared every sacred vessel in preparation for the Third Temple. These vessels have been carefully prepared by Jewish artisans for the first time since 70 A.D. And they are all on display at the Temple Mount Institute for a mere four shekels.
Little did I know when I began attending Dr. Gerald Schroeder’s classes ten years ago that the Menorah would stand just beneath our classroom window. Aish HaTorah (The Fire of the Torah) is where I attend class when I’m in Israel. It overlooks the Wailing Wall and the Temple Mount. Because of where the Menorah now stands, literally millions of tourists will see it.
The popular topic of conversation now is the erection of the Third Temple. Will it happen? When will it happen? Surely Jesus is coming very soon.
Just last Thursday an article appeared in the Jerusalem Post telling about a 1st Temple seal. This medallion was discovered near the City of David by Dr. Eilat Mazar. The finding proves several things: 1. Jewish people lived in the Holy Land 3,000 years ago, despite Arab denials to the contrary. 2. Nehemiah 7:6 – 55 confirms the find, or, if you prefer, the find confirms the detailed factuality of the Bible.
Here is a quote from Dr. Mazar: “One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find.”
If you would like to read the entire article:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1200475897717
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
My instructor, Dr. Gerald Schroeder, is a member of the U.S. Atomic Energy commission, holding two Ph.Ds, one in Nuclear Physics and one in Earth Sciences. (http://www.geraldschroeder.com/age.html) The most famous atheist in the world, professor Antony Flew, has recently come to faith in God by being exposed to Dr. Schroeder and his teachings.
I have listened to Dr. Schroeder lecture for about 50 hours. Each time I am totally blown away and amazed by his teaching—so powerful, so knowledgeable, so wonderful. Yet he remains so humble. He rides his bicycle to and from class and is always available after class to answer questions.
I said to Dr. Schroeder, “I feel so stupid around you, but I have so many questions.” He replied, “There are no stupid questions---only stupid answers!” Sitting under his teaching makes me realize that we have learned so very little in the church and in our Sunday school classes.
Back home in America a person found out that I had gone to Israel, so he asked, “Did you drive over there?” Someone else, who has been in the church all of his life, stated: “I don’t even know where Israel is located!”
Most Christians I meet do not even know what the Menorah is!
So where do we begin in America? We must begin on the kindergarten level. God states in Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!”
Daniel prophesied that in the last days knowledge would increase.
I have been studying the book of Daniel. Two times it says “seal up the words of this book until the time of the end! (Daniel 12:4,9).”
Well . . . we are living in the time of the end and some of the mysteries are being unveiled. Here are a couple “mysteries” that have recently been revealed:
Daniel 12:11
“From the time the daily sacrifice is taken away (583 B.C.) and the sacrilegious object that causes desecration is set up (68 A.D.) to be worshiped; there will be 1290 days. And blessed are those who wait and remain until the end of the 1335 years (732 A.D.)!”
In Daniel 12:11 God talks about “1290” days and “1335” days. Do all the math you want and it makes no sense. . . until you realize that the Hebrew calendar is totally different from ours. For instance, on January 6, 2008 the Jewish calendar says it is Tevet 28, 5768.
This means that there is a 3,760 year difference between our calendar and the Hebrew calendar: Duh! 5,678 minus 2008=3760.
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
You may not realize this, but we did not even get the calendar we have now until 1582. Pope Gregory (thus, The Gregorian Calendar) had it made. Our calendar is only 426 years old. The Jewish calendar, or the Levitical calendar, is 5,768 years old, dating from Adam.
So, don’t let me lose you here. Our calendar is based on solar years: 365.24 days to the year.
The Jewish calendar is based on 360 days to the year.
Now let’s go back to Daniel 12:11. How can we convert the “1290” days and the “1335” days to the Gregorian calendar, the one which we use?
The math is very simple once you stop and think about it: Divide 360 by 365.24 and you get .9856532.
Now multiply “1290” by .9856532 and you get “1271”.
So, going back to Daniel 12:11, we can substitute our new number---“1271”.
When was the daily sacrifice stopped?
Some people would say it was 586 B.C. because this is the date when Babylon invaded Judah. But it was not until three years later that the daily sacrifice was actually stopped. So the actual date is 583 B.C. There is a reason for the three-year delay. You can ask me later so this does not get too complicated here.
Now we have two reliable numbers: 583 B.C. and 1271 days.
Because 583 is B.C. one must subtract 583 from 1271.
This gives us 688 A.D.!
Again, if you were educated in the United States (like I was) this number means absolutely nothing to you. But it means a great deal to most of the rest of the world.
The Dome of the Rock was erected in 688 A.D.!
Inside the Dome of the Rock there is a caption that says, “God forbid that He should have a son.”
The Dome of the Rock is on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel and has been there for 1,320 years. This is the exact location where God told Abraham to go in order to sacrifice his son, Isaac: Mt. Moriah.
I believe that the Dome of the Rock is the abomination of desolation. It has been right in front of our eyes for 1320 years and we never even noticed it.
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
What other truths have been right in front of our eyes that we have not seen?
But you might ask, “How can you change ‘days’ to ‘years’? The Bible says ‘days’.” In Numbers 14:34 we find out how God thinks about a day: “Because the men who explored the land were there for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years---a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins.”
Now let’s tackle the “1335” days.
We will use the exact same formula as above: .9856532 times 1335 equals 1315.
1315 minus 583 equals 732 A.D.
Once again, because we received our education in the U.S., 732 A.D. means nothing to us. I’ll explain:
Mohammed was born in 571 A.D. and died in 632 A.D. He lived 61 years. Exactly 100 years after his death something profound took place in Europe called The Battle of Tours.
For more than 100 years Muslims had gone from city to city and country to country forcing people to “convert or die”. Those who would not declare, “There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet” would be tortured, raped, ravaged and butchered (heads sawn off, etc., etc.). This period of time was the first Jihad. So in a very short time most of the known world had “converted” to Islam, all, that is, except Europe.
Emir Abd er Rahman led 300,000 crazed and demonized Arabs to Spain by ships. In a very short space of time he forced the Spaniards to “convert” to Islam. Not satisfied with spilling the blood of tens of thousands of innocent Spaniards, he led his troops over the Pyrenees Mountains to France, planning to de-Christianize all of Europe, and force them to chant, “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.”
But God had a man!
The man’s name was Charles. Later he was named Charles Martel (the hammer). I’m sure that the Spirit of God was upon him. He decided that he would stop the Arab madness.
He went to the farmers near the city of Tours and told them that their wives and daughters would be raped by Emir’s butchers if they did not rise up and fight. Because the farmers did not have any weapons, they brought their scythes, hoes, and shovels to the battlefront.
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
To make a long story short: Charles and his farmers fought with such fury that the 300,000 terrorists fled before them. Emir Abd er Rahman was killed in the Battle of Tours, the 1st Jihad was stopped, and Europe was spared.
Rev. 13:3
“ And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; . . .” (end of the first Jihad)
“ . . . and his deadly wound was healed:” (the second world-wide Jihad)
“ . . . and all the world wondered after the beast.”
How did Islam expand in such a short time? Why are 1.8 billion people caught up in this fraud? Why are leaders so blind? How are they able to make statements like: “Islam is a peaceful religion”? And at the same time Muslims are torturing, raping, and killing, just like Emir did. It is history repeating itself.
“Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” Rev. 13:4
If the United States of America cannot overcome the terrorists, then who can?
The “beast” gets his power from the Dragon. And he is making war with the saints, and will overcome them (Rev.13:7).
Now you know why 688 A.D. and 732 A.D. are important!
The first date is when the Dome of the Rock was erected. The second date is when the 1st Jihad ended.
Knowing all of the above, no wonder I got chill bumps when I watched the Menorah being moved. And no wonder I stood in awe as I wiped water off the 600-ton foundation stone of the Temple Mount ( Joel 3:18).
“ . . . a fountain will burst forth from the Lord’s Temple.”
Those of us with our eyes open know assuredly that the return of the Lord Jesus is imminent! Signs are everywhere. Israel became a nation in 1948. In 1967 the Jewish people captured Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.
And even as this letter is being written our President is placing pressure on Israel to divide Jerusalem and The Land.
“I will judge them for harming my people . . . and for dividing up my land” (Joel 3:2).
The other time our nation forced Israel to give up Gaza, hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. What do you suppose will take place here in the United States if we force Israel to give up the city of Jerusalem?
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
Most people do not realize that the Living God of the Bible considers The Holy Land to be the “apple of His eye”.
Jesus has told us what to do: “Watch and pray.”
In this letter I have tried to help you to “watch” in the hopes that you will pray like you have never prayed before.
Billy Graham stated many years ago: “If God does not judge America, then He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
We are already being judged and most people do not even know it. Our open border to the south will prove to be a great judgment, increasing crime, strange diseases, economic collapse and eventually civil war.
The wealth transfer to the Arab nations through oil purchase has healed the wound of the “beast” (the Leopard, Bear, Lion of Daniel and Revelation), and is financing the 2nd Jihad in the image of the 1st Jihad. This also is one of the judgments on our nation. Each time we fill up our vehicles with gasoline we are sponsoring worldwide terrorism.
So these are the days to pray!
May God bless you for helping us to spread the gospel during these last days. Thank you so much.
In His Service,
Wesley Smith
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
Email: wesed@hotmail.com Website: www.FLC7.com
were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:
and the Dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Rev. 13:2
February 2008
Greetings in Jesus’ Name!
Ever since I returned from Israel my mind has been on the end-time events that are taking place so rapidly. It is hard to keep up with them all. I saw with my own eyes the Menorah being moved from the Cardo to the overlook of the Temple Mount. I watched as a bulletproof bubble was erected to protect the eight-foot solid gold sacred vessel, worth more than four million dollars.
Jewish craftsmen have prepared every sacred vessel in preparation for the Third Temple. These vessels have been carefully prepared by Jewish artisans for the first time since 70 A.D. And they are all on display at the Temple Mount Institute for a mere four shekels.
Little did I know when I began attending Dr. Gerald Schroeder’s classes ten years ago that the Menorah would stand just beneath our classroom window. Aish HaTorah (The Fire of the Torah) is where I attend class when I’m in Israel. It overlooks the Wailing Wall and the Temple Mount. Because of where the Menorah now stands, literally millions of tourists will see it.
The popular topic of conversation now is the erection of the Third Temple. Will it happen? When will it happen? Surely Jesus is coming very soon.
Just last Thursday an article appeared in the Jerusalem Post telling about a 1st Temple seal. This medallion was discovered near the City of David by Dr. Eilat Mazar. The finding proves several things: 1. Jewish people lived in the Holy Land 3,000 years ago, despite Arab denials to the contrary. 2. Nehemiah 7:6 – 55 confirms the find, or, if you prefer, the find confirms the detailed factuality of the Bible.
Here is a quote from Dr. Mazar: “One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find.”
If you would like to read the entire article:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1200475897717
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
My instructor, Dr. Gerald Schroeder, is a member of the U.S. Atomic Energy commission, holding two Ph.Ds, one in Nuclear Physics and one in Earth Sciences. (http://www.geraldschroeder.com/age.html) The most famous atheist in the world, professor Antony Flew, has recently come to faith in God by being exposed to Dr. Schroeder and his teachings.
I have listened to Dr. Schroeder lecture for about 50 hours. Each time I am totally blown away and amazed by his teaching—so powerful, so knowledgeable, so wonderful. Yet he remains so humble. He rides his bicycle to and from class and is always available after class to answer questions.
I said to Dr. Schroeder, “I feel so stupid around you, but I have so many questions.” He replied, “There are no stupid questions---only stupid answers!” Sitting under his teaching makes me realize that we have learned so very little in the church and in our Sunday school classes.
Back home in America a person found out that I had gone to Israel, so he asked, “Did you drive over there?” Someone else, who has been in the church all of his life, stated: “I don’t even know where Israel is located!”
Most Christians I meet do not even know what the Menorah is!
So where do we begin in America? We must begin on the kindergarten level. God states in Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!”
Daniel prophesied that in the last days knowledge would increase.
I have been studying the book of Daniel. Two times it says “seal up the words of this book until the time of the end! (Daniel 12:4,9).”
Well . . . we are living in the time of the end and some of the mysteries are being unveiled. Here are a couple “mysteries” that have recently been revealed:
Daniel 12:11
“From the time the daily sacrifice is taken away (583 B.C.) and the sacrilegious object that causes desecration is set up (68 A.D.) to be worshiped; there will be 1290 days. And blessed are those who wait and remain until the end of the 1335 years (732 A.D.)!”
In Daniel 12:11 God talks about “1290” days and “1335” days. Do all the math you want and it makes no sense. . . until you realize that the Hebrew calendar is totally different from ours. For instance, on January 6, 2008 the Jewish calendar says it is Tevet 28, 5768.
This means that there is a 3,760 year difference between our calendar and the Hebrew calendar: Duh! 5,678 minus 2008=3760.
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
You may not realize this, but we did not even get the calendar we have now until 1582. Pope Gregory (thus, The Gregorian Calendar) had it made. Our calendar is only 426 years old. The Jewish calendar, or the Levitical calendar, is 5,768 years old, dating from Adam.
So, don’t let me lose you here. Our calendar is based on solar years: 365.24 days to the year.
The Jewish calendar is based on 360 days to the year.
Now let’s go back to Daniel 12:11. How can we convert the “1290” days and the “1335” days to the Gregorian calendar, the one which we use?
The math is very simple once you stop and think about it: Divide 360 by 365.24 and you get .9856532.
Now multiply “1290” by .9856532 and you get “1271”.
So, going back to Daniel 12:11, we can substitute our new number---“1271”.
When was the daily sacrifice stopped?
Some people would say it was 586 B.C. because this is the date when Babylon invaded Judah. But it was not until three years later that the daily sacrifice was actually stopped. So the actual date is 583 B.C. There is a reason for the three-year delay. You can ask me later so this does not get too complicated here.
Now we have two reliable numbers: 583 B.C. and 1271 days.
Because 583 is B.C. one must subtract 583 from 1271.
This gives us 688 A.D.!
Again, if you were educated in the United States (like I was) this number means absolutely nothing to you. But it means a great deal to most of the rest of the world.
The Dome of the Rock was erected in 688 A.D.!
Inside the Dome of the Rock there is a caption that says, “God forbid that He should have a son.”
The Dome of the Rock is on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel and has been there for 1,320 years. This is the exact location where God told Abraham to go in order to sacrifice his son, Isaac: Mt. Moriah.
I believe that the Dome of the Rock is the abomination of desolation. It has been right in front of our eyes for 1320 years and we never even noticed it.
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
What other truths have been right in front of our eyes that we have not seen?
But you might ask, “How can you change ‘days’ to ‘years’? The Bible says ‘days’.” In Numbers 14:34 we find out how God thinks about a day: “Because the men who explored the land were there for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years---a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins.”
Now let’s tackle the “1335” days.
We will use the exact same formula as above: .9856532 times 1335 equals 1315.
1315 minus 583 equals 732 A.D.
Once again, because we received our education in the U.S., 732 A.D. means nothing to us. I’ll explain:
Mohammed was born in 571 A.D. and died in 632 A.D. He lived 61 years. Exactly 100 years after his death something profound took place in Europe called The Battle of Tours.
For more than 100 years Muslims had gone from city to city and country to country forcing people to “convert or die”. Those who would not declare, “There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet” would be tortured, raped, ravaged and butchered (heads sawn off, etc., etc.). This period of time was the first Jihad. So in a very short time most of the known world had “converted” to Islam, all, that is, except Europe.
Emir Abd er Rahman led 300,000 crazed and demonized Arabs to Spain by ships. In a very short space of time he forced the Spaniards to “convert” to Islam. Not satisfied with spilling the blood of tens of thousands of innocent Spaniards, he led his troops over the Pyrenees Mountains to France, planning to de-Christianize all of Europe, and force them to chant, “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.”
But God had a man!
The man’s name was Charles. Later he was named Charles Martel (the hammer). I’m sure that the Spirit of God was upon him. He decided that he would stop the Arab madness.
He went to the farmers near the city of Tours and told them that their wives and daughters would be raped by Emir’s butchers if they did not rise up and fight. Because the farmers did not have any weapons, they brought their scythes, hoes, and shovels to the battlefront.
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
To make a long story short: Charles and his farmers fought with such fury that the 300,000 terrorists fled before them. Emir Abd er Rahman was killed in the Battle of Tours, the 1st Jihad was stopped, and Europe was spared.
Rev. 13:3
“ And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; . . .” (end of the first Jihad)
“ . . . and his deadly wound was healed:” (the second world-wide Jihad)
“ . . . and all the world wondered after the beast.”
How did Islam expand in such a short time? Why are 1.8 billion people caught up in this fraud? Why are leaders so blind? How are they able to make statements like: “Islam is a peaceful religion”? And at the same time Muslims are torturing, raping, and killing, just like Emir did. It is history repeating itself.
“Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” Rev. 13:4
If the United States of America cannot overcome the terrorists, then who can?
The “beast” gets his power from the Dragon. And he is making war with the saints, and will overcome them (Rev.13:7).
Now you know why 688 A.D. and 732 A.D. are important!
The first date is when the Dome of the Rock was erected. The second date is when the 1st Jihad ended.
Knowing all of the above, no wonder I got chill bumps when I watched the Menorah being moved. And no wonder I stood in awe as I wiped water off the 600-ton foundation stone of the Temple Mount ( Joel 3:18).
“ . . . a fountain will burst forth from the Lord’s Temple.”
Those of us with our eyes open know assuredly that the return of the Lord Jesus is imminent! Signs are everywhere. Israel became a nation in 1948. In 1967 the Jewish people captured Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.
And even as this letter is being written our President is placing pressure on Israel to divide Jerusalem and The Land.
“I will judge them for harming my people . . . and for dividing up my land” (Joel 3:2).
The other time our nation forced Israel to give up Gaza, hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. What do you suppose will take place here in the United States if we force Israel to give up the city of Jerusalem?
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
Most people do not realize that the Living God of the Bible considers The Holy Land to be the “apple of His eye”.
Jesus has told us what to do: “Watch and pray.”
In this letter I have tried to help you to “watch” in the hopes that you will pray like you have never prayed before.
Billy Graham stated many years ago: “If God does not judge America, then He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
We are already being judged and most people do not even know it. Our open border to the south will prove to be a great judgment, increasing crime, strange diseases, economic collapse and eventually civil war.
The wealth transfer to the Arab nations through oil purchase has healed the wound of the “beast” (the Leopard, Bear, Lion of Daniel and Revelation), and is financing the 2nd Jihad in the image of the 1st Jihad. This also is one of the judgments on our nation. Each time we fill up our vehicles with gasoline we are sponsoring worldwide terrorism.
So these are the days to pray!
May God bless you for helping us to spread the gospel during these last days. Thank you so much.
In His Service,
Wesley Smith
Full Life Crusade, P.O. Box 398, Winona Lake, IN 46590 Tel. (574) 267-7546
Email: wesed@hotmail.com Website: www.FLC7.com
When Silence Is Not Golden
In the last few years more than 7,000 bomb attacks have ripped apart human bodies and buildings. Islamic extremists have perpetrated all of these horrendous acts. They are intent on sending their message of terror deep into the hearts of everyone.
Have you ever wondered why the peaceful Muslims do not speak out about this? Consider: What if Jewish extremists had blown up tens of thousands of innocent people? Or what if Christian extremists had done the same thing? Wouldnt there be an angry outcry from the Jews and Christians against these madmen? Wouldnt rabbis and pastors be on national television denouncing the terrorists? Wouldnt the pastors and rabbis be explaining to everyone that this behavior is not representative of Judaism and Christianity?
Absolutely!
But we do not hear one imam or one Muslim leader crying out about the despicable acts that have killed and wounded tens of thousands of innocent human beings. Not one of them has publicly apologized for the murders of children, women, the elderly, and private citizens.
Does this not strike you as very strange? It sure does me!
And it makes me wonder about the silence of Islam's leaders. Why are they so silent? Why did we not hear an outcry from the Muslims in America after 9/11?
Someone has said, Remaining silent means that you agree with what is being done.
Either Muslim leaders do not care, or they are in favor of what the terrorists are doing.
Or is there another reason for this silence? Yes, there is. The Peaceful Muslims do not speak out because they are afraid for their lives and for the lives of their families. They know that if they say anything then these vicious killers will target them.
A recent example of this is an Arab man right here in the United States who spoke out against the terrorists. Other members of his mosque immediately became extremely violent and warned him not to say what he was saying. He barely made it out of the meeting without being beaten, if not killed.
The Muslims threatened him and his family with torture and death. This is merely one example of why there is not one Arab who speaks out against terrorism. They all know better! They have learned from experience and from watching what happens to any Arab who voices his opinion.
Now non-Muslims are catching on, too. Many of our political leaders in Washington D.C. and most of the news media are afraid to speak out and tell us the truth. They are scared to death that an Arab hit squad will come to their home and butcher them---right here in the United States.
An Arab family was recently massacred in their own home. They just happened to be a Christian family. Every member of that family had his throat slit. The sixteen-year-old daughter was brutally raped before they slashed her jugular vein.
The news media hushed up this incident, so that the rest of the nation would not find out that this barbarous act was an ordered hit from the local mosque. Almost everyone is afraid to tell the truth!
Peaceful Muslims? What do you see on the faces of the Arabs when you watch the evening news on television? Have you ever seen peace and love on the faces of these people? When you see them firing their rifles into the air, tearing the American flag to bits with their teeth, and then burning it, do they look peaceful and loving to you? And when you find out that they have slowly sawn a kidnap victim's head off, does that send a message of peace to you?
Of course not!
Political leaders and the news media are talking out of both sides of their mouths. They are showing us pictures of smoke, fire, violence, and torture. Then they are telling us that Islam is a peaceful religion.
It does not add up, does it?
Near Hancock, New York is a 100-acre plot of ground with a huge sign out front that says, ISLAMBURG.
The neighbors who live nearby are normal hard working Americans. They are terrified. They know that these 100 acres are being used as a terrorist training compound.
They hear gunshots all day every day!
And there is nothing anyone can do about it. These extremists know that they can use our freedoms to destroy us. Any American citizen who owns land outside of city limits can freely shoot his weapons. This is one of our rights as citizens of the United States of America.
The Muslims are smart enough to realize that they can use our freedoms to destroy us.
And Islamburg is not the only terrorist training camp in the United States. There are many others!
Any normal thinking person knows the purpose of these camps. The Arabs can tell us as much as they want to that they are using these compounds as places of worship.
When was the last time that your congregation fired rifles and machine guns all day long and dared to call it worship?
Are we the dumbest people on Gods earth, or are we going to wise up and do something about terrorism before it is forever too late?
We all know that if we become violent, our government will arrest us first, before they will even approach the terrorists among us. Our government is more concerned with profiling or not being politically correct than protecting the non-Muslim American citizens.
This is a dilemma! A major dilemma!
This is war!
Are you concerned about your children and grandchildren? Do you want your wives and daughters wearing burkas? Do you want your offspring taught that every person on this earth who is not a Muslim should be butchered, tortured, blown to bits, raped, and killed?
I used to think that a very small number of Muslims were extremists. Then I watched the documentary film, "Obsession". I learned from Arab spokespersons that probably ten to fifteen percent of Muslims are terrorists.
That translates into more than the population of the United States of America---300 million!
These figures are terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.
There are more than 300 million people who have been trained in the art of warfare that are intent on the destruction of our nation. And these terrorists are not six thousand miles away in the remote deserts. Many thousands of them are right here among us.
Many of them are American citizens. They are using their American citizenship to protect themselves, while at the same time they plot the overthrow of our way of life.
Every time you fill your car with gas you help support the terrorists. It is a known fact the Saudis pay for every mosque being erected here in the United States. It is also a known fact that the terrorists living here do not lack for financial backing.
Money is pouring into the U.S. from oil-producing nations to pay for the overthrow of our country.
Would you willingly offer financial help to terrorists so they could continue to train killers, kidnappers, and rapists here in our country? Of course you wouldn't! But indirectly, we all give them money.
And now the state of Minnesota has elected a representative to Congress, Keith Ellison, and a Muslim. He refuses to swear his allegiance to our country by placing his hand on a Bible. For the first time in history we have an elected official who has declined placing his hand on a Bible to take the oath of office!
Instead, he is insisting that he place his hand on the Koran (Quran) while he is being sworn in. And what do you think the cowards in Washington will do about it? Yes, they will cave.
Did you know that Arabs all over the world have given a numerical value to their sacred book, the Koran? Do you know what that number is?
It is 666!
Go to an Arab website and discover this truth for yourself. www.Quran666119.com
The best way to make sure that we lose this war is for good men to do nothing. It has often been stated by the news media that 9/11 was a wake-up call. Believe me, 9/11 was not a wake-up call. At first the news media spoke of having a National Day of Prayer. Do you remember that two days later it was changed to A National Day of Remembrance?
The day after 9/11 every person in America heard our president say, Islam is a peaceful religion. He even had several Islamic clerics on the platform to prove it.
Arab leaders all over the world responded to our president's statement with great joy. One of them said, "When I heard that I knew that the U.S. has already lost the war!"
I love our president, pray for him, and I highly respect the office of the president. But he was way off base when he made that statement. My guess is that he was attempting to keep the American citizens from massacring every Arab on our shores.
Americans were angry that day. And many of us are still angry. We did not like to watch 3,000 of our citizens being slaughtered as the Twin Towers were blown to bits. More people were killed that day than were killed during the raid on Pearl Harbor!
For two weeks after 9/11 churches filled to overflowing all over the country. Then it was back to the TV programs, pleasure, and chasing after money.
When the second large attack comes do you think that Americans will awaken? What if the attack is like the proverbial slow boiling of the frog? Do you remember that story?
A frog was thrown into a pan of boiling water. He immediately jumped out, saving his life.
Then another frog was placed in a pan of tepid water. Slowly, very slowly, the water was heated. The frog stayed right where he was until he died.
We can look the other way and choose to bury our heads in the sand, while Islamic terrorists blow people to bits all over the world. We can choose to believe that our nation is so strong that the war will not come to our shores. We can choose to believe that if we continue to spend four hours each evening watching television, that somehow we will have nothing to fear. We can choose to believe that the real world does not exist! We can choose to believe that the fantasy world of Hollywood is the real world.
How shocked many Americans will be when hooded mobs break into their homes! Unless some very serious steps are taken NOW, innocent citizens of our country will have their world turned upside down.
What can we do?
There are millions of fellow Americans who are not idling their time away any longer. They know the seriousness of the hour.
Will you be one of us?
There are legal things we can do! We can still use our freedom of speech and freedom of the press. We can awaken our people to the war that is imminent, and to the enemy that is within.
We can make sure that the men and women who occupy the seats of our city councils do not allow the enemy to take over our cities.
Have you heard what has taken place in Hamtramck, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit? In April of 2004 the city council of Hamtramck approved a request by the Muslims to broadcast the call to prayer over loud speakers.
So now Islamic imams broadcast their messages on public speakers all over the city of Hamtramck, calling the Muslims to prayer---five times a day. If you doubt that this has already happened in America, just go to Google and type in Hamtramck Muslim City. Read the entire article for yourself.
How would you like your city to become a Muslim city? Pity the many, many Arab people in our country who have fled here to escape tyranny. Believe me, they sure know what is taking place, because they have seen it once before in the country they left.
How were the Arabs able to turn a normal American city into a Muslim city? Its very simple.
Good men did nothing!
And now it is too late for that city!
Awaken your city. Awaken your synagogue or church. Awaken your neighbors. Awaken your family.
Awaken your self!
Have you ever wondered why the peaceful Muslims do not speak out about this? Consider: What if Jewish extremists had blown up tens of thousands of innocent people? Or what if Christian extremists had done the same thing? Wouldnt there be an angry outcry from the Jews and Christians against these madmen? Wouldnt rabbis and pastors be on national television denouncing the terrorists? Wouldnt the pastors and rabbis be explaining to everyone that this behavior is not representative of Judaism and Christianity?
Absolutely!
But we do not hear one imam or one Muslim leader crying out about the despicable acts that have killed and wounded tens of thousands of innocent human beings. Not one of them has publicly apologized for the murders of children, women, the elderly, and private citizens.
Does this not strike you as very strange? It sure does me!
And it makes me wonder about the silence of Islam's leaders. Why are they so silent? Why did we not hear an outcry from the Muslims in America after 9/11?
Someone has said, Remaining silent means that you agree with what is being done.
Either Muslim leaders do not care, or they are in favor of what the terrorists are doing.
Or is there another reason for this silence? Yes, there is. The Peaceful Muslims do not speak out because they are afraid for their lives and for the lives of their families. They know that if they say anything then these vicious killers will target them.
A recent example of this is an Arab man right here in the United States who spoke out against the terrorists. Other members of his mosque immediately became extremely violent and warned him not to say what he was saying. He barely made it out of the meeting without being beaten, if not killed.
The Muslims threatened him and his family with torture and death. This is merely one example of why there is not one Arab who speaks out against terrorism. They all know better! They have learned from experience and from watching what happens to any Arab who voices his opinion.
Now non-Muslims are catching on, too. Many of our political leaders in Washington D.C. and most of the news media are afraid to speak out and tell us the truth. They are scared to death that an Arab hit squad will come to their home and butcher them---right here in the United States.
An Arab family was recently massacred in their own home. They just happened to be a Christian family. Every member of that family had his throat slit. The sixteen-year-old daughter was brutally raped before they slashed her jugular vein.
The news media hushed up this incident, so that the rest of the nation would not find out that this barbarous act was an ordered hit from the local mosque. Almost everyone is afraid to tell the truth!
Peaceful Muslims? What do you see on the faces of the Arabs when you watch the evening news on television? Have you ever seen peace and love on the faces of these people? When you see them firing their rifles into the air, tearing the American flag to bits with their teeth, and then burning it, do they look peaceful and loving to you? And when you find out that they have slowly sawn a kidnap victim's head off, does that send a message of peace to you?
Of course not!
Political leaders and the news media are talking out of both sides of their mouths. They are showing us pictures of smoke, fire, violence, and torture. Then they are telling us that Islam is a peaceful religion.
It does not add up, does it?
Near Hancock, New York is a 100-acre plot of ground with a huge sign out front that says, ISLAMBURG.
The neighbors who live nearby are normal hard working Americans. They are terrified. They know that these 100 acres are being used as a terrorist training compound.
They hear gunshots all day every day!
And there is nothing anyone can do about it. These extremists know that they can use our freedoms to destroy us. Any American citizen who owns land outside of city limits can freely shoot his weapons. This is one of our rights as citizens of the United States of America.
The Muslims are smart enough to realize that they can use our freedoms to destroy us.
And Islamburg is not the only terrorist training camp in the United States. There are many others!
Any normal thinking person knows the purpose of these camps. The Arabs can tell us as much as they want to that they are using these compounds as places of worship.
When was the last time that your congregation fired rifles and machine guns all day long and dared to call it worship?
Are we the dumbest people on Gods earth, or are we going to wise up and do something about terrorism before it is forever too late?
We all know that if we become violent, our government will arrest us first, before they will even approach the terrorists among us. Our government is more concerned with profiling or not being politically correct than protecting the non-Muslim American citizens.
This is a dilemma! A major dilemma!
This is war!
Are you concerned about your children and grandchildren? Do you want your wives and daughters wearing burkas? Do you want your offspring taught that every person on this earth who is not a Muslim should be butchered, tortured, blown to bits, raped, and killed?
I used to think that a very small number of Muslims were extremists. Then I watched the documentary film, "Obsession". I learned from Arab spokespersons that probably ten to fifteen percent of Muslims are terrorists.
That translates into more than the population of the United States of America---300 million!
These figures are terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.
There are more than 300 million people who have been trained in the art of warfare that are intent on the destruction of our nation. And these terrorists are not six thousand miles away in the remote deserts. Many thousands of them are right here among us.
Many of them are American citizens. They are using their American citizenship to protect themselves, while at the same time they plot the overthrow of our way of life.
Every time you fill your car with gas you help support the terrorists. It is a known fact the Saudis pay for every mosque being erected here in the United States. It is also a known fact that the terrorists living here do not lack for financial backing.
Money is pouring into the U.S. from oil-producing nations to pay for the overthrow of our country.
Would you willingly offer financial help to terrorists so they could continue to train killers, kidnappers, and rapists here in our country? Of course you wouldn't! But indirectly, we all give them money.
And now the state of Minnesota has elected a representative to Congress, Keith Ellison, and a Muslim. He refuses to swear his allegiance to our country by placing his hand on a Bible. For the first time in history we have an elected official who has declined placing his hand on a Bible to take the oath of office!
Instead, he is insisting that he place his hand on the Koran (Quran) while he is being sworn in. And what do you think the cowards in Washington will do about it? Yes, they will cave.
Did you know that Arabs all over the world have given a numerical value to their sacred book, the Koran? Do you know what that number is?
It is 666!
Go to an Arab website and discover this truth for yourself. www.Quran666119.com
The best way to make sure that we lose this war is for good men to do nothing. It has often been stated by the news media that 9/11 was a wake-up call. Believe me, 9/11 was not a wake-up call. At first the news media spoke of having a National Day of Prayer. Do you remember that two days later it was changed to A National Day of Remembrance?
The day after 9/11 every person in America heard our president say, Islam is a peaceful religion. He even had several Islamic clerics on the platform to prove it.
Arab leaders all over the world responded to our president's statement with great joy. One of them said, "When I heard that I knew that the U.S. has already lost the war!"
I love our president, pray for him, and I highly respect the office of the president. But he was way off base when he made that statement. My guess is that he was attempting to keep the American citizens from massacring every Arab on our shores.
Americans were angry that day. And many of us are still angry. We did not like to watch 3,000 of our citizens being slaughtered as the Twin Towers were blown to bits. More people were killed that day than were killed during the raid on Pearl Harbor!
For two weeks after 9/11 churches filled to overflowing all over the country. Then it was back to the TV programs, pleasure, and chasing after money.
When the second large attack comes do you think that Americans will awaken? What if the attack is like the proverbial slow boiling of the frog? Do you remember that story?
A frog was thrown into a pan of boiling water. He immediately jumped out, saving his life.
Then another frog was placed in a pan of tepid water. Slowly, very slowly, the water was heated. The frog stayed right where he was until he died.
We can look the other way and choose to bury our heads in the sand, while Islamic terrorists blow people to bits all over the world. We can choose to believe that our nation is so strong that the war will not come to our shores. We can choose to believe that if we continue to spend four hours each evening watching television, that somehow we will have nothing to fear. We can choose to believe that the real world does not exist! We can choose to believe that the fantasy world of Hollywood is the real world.
How shocked many Americans will be when hooded mobs break into their homes! Unless some very serious steps are taken NOW, innocent citizens of our country will have their world turned upside down.
What can we do?
There are millions of fellow Americans who are not idling their time away any longer. They know the seriousness of the hour.
Will you be one of us?
There are legal things we can do! We can still use our freedom of speech and freedom of the press. We can awaken our people to the war that is imminent, and to the enemy that is within.
We can make sure that the men and women who occupy the seats of our city councils do not allow the enemy to take over our cities.
Have you heard what has taken place in Hamtramck, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit? In April of 2004 the city council of Hamtramck approved a request by the Muslims to broadcast the call to prayer over loud speakers.
So now Islamic imams broadcast their messages on public speakers all over the city of Hamtramck, calling the Muslims to prayer---five times a day. If you doubt that this has already happened in America, just go to Google and type in Hamtramck Muslim City. Read the entire article for yourself.
How would you like your city to become a Muslim city? Pity the many, many Arab people in our country who have fled here to escape tyranny. Believe me, they sure know what is taking place, because they have seen it once before in the country they left.
How were the Arabs able to turn a normal American city into a Muslim city? Its very simple.
Good men did nothing!
And now it is too late for that city!
Awaken your city. Awaken your synagogue or church. Awaken your neighbors. Awaken your family.
Awaken your self!
Israel and the Last Days
“The people of Gaza and Tyre (Lebanon) have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not let them go unpunished any longer! So I will send down fire on the walls of Gaza and Tyre, and all their fortresses will be destroyed.” Amos 1: 6-7, 10 NLT
“Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its buds become tender and its leaves begin to sprout you know without being told that summer is near. Just so, when you see the events I’ve described beginning to happen, you can know his return is very near, right at the door. I assure you, this generation will not pass from the scene before all these things take place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will remain forever.” The words of Jesus Christ as recorded in Mt. 24:32-35NLT.
On my tenth trip to Israel I spent three months in Jerusalem and I learned so many things that I did not know about Israel. I interviewed Jewish Rabbis, Palestinians, missionaries, taxi drivers, shopkeepers, and just plain ordinary people. Everyone had his own opinion, and I thought that by listening and taking notes I might be able to find truth in the midst of so many diverse views.
One thing I wanted to do was actually go to people’s homes, see how they lived, and learn from them. Each day I prayed and God opened up the opportunities.
When I met Saleem, a Palestinian, he invited me to go with him to the town of Beit Jala.I wanted to see what a real Palestinian’s life was like, so I accepted Saleem’s offer. After we traveled around the first few curves in the road I was completely lost. I knew that we were somewhere south of Jerusalem, but I also realized that I was completely dependent on Saleem for directions. We chatted as we drove into the hills.
“A few weeks ago I had to move my wife and seven children out of my house. Right now we are crammed in with relatives in East Jerusalem. I have to go home a couple times a week to feed the dog and water the plants,” Saleem informed me.
“Why did you move out of your home? “ I asked naively.
“The huge shells from the tanks were crashing into my house and I was afraid that my wife or one of my children would be hurt or killed.”
“Why did the Israeli army shell your house?”
“Because one night a group of masked Arab gunmen broke into my home, forced us all to the floor, and began shooting toward Gilo. Gilo is another town just across the valley where the Jews live. The next day the shells from the tanks began falling on our home. We were afraid of the terrorists and we were afraid of the shells coming in.”
“Did the masked gunmen stay in your home?“
“Oh, no, they move to a different house and neighborhood every day. They seldom get injured. It’s the innocent people, like me, who are caught right in the middle.”
“And the Jews get blamed for targeting civilians?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
After Saleem took care of his dog and watered his flowers, he then picked the first orange from one of the trees in his yard and handed it to me. I will never forget his kindness. In the midst of his own enormous problems he wanted to give me a gift. Then he drove a few blocks away and parked in front of a house.
“I have to get something from my friend. It will just take a few minutes. You stay in the car. I’ll be right back,” he told me.
While I was waiting I suddenly saw four or five masked gunmen emerge from a house about a half a block from where Saleem’s car was parked. I knew that if they saw me, an American, I would immediately become a hostage.
The idea was most unpleasant.
It seemed like a very long time until Saleem returned to the car.
“Don‘t worry, “ he said, “We’ll be O.K. Everything will be all right.”
I wasn’t so sure. The masked terrorists were standing in the middle of the street.
Saleem started the car and began doing a u-turn. I could almost feel the bullets hitting the back window. But no bullets came.I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we were out of sight!
“Now you see what we live with every day!” Saleem exclaimed.
I have learned that I am not to “take sides”, but to love everyone. The problems in Israel are not solvable by any government. Only the Prince of Peace will be able to iron out all of the turmoil created by two groups of people who each believe that The Land belongs only to them.During the weekend of June 9-11 the Arab terrorists fired more than 45 Qassam rockets FROM GAZA into the Israeli towns of Dugit and Sederot. One rocket tore through the roof of an Israeli school, landed next to the teacher’s desk and exploded. Why was no one injured or killed? The teacher had just taken the entire class outside for prayer!And where do these terrorists shoot their rockets from? They always operate in Arab neighborhoods, knowing full well that the Israelis will not blow up five blocks of innocent Palestinians just to get them. In other words, they know that the Jews have a conscience and would not purposefully kill or maim civilians. The same cannot be said for the Arab terrorists, who purposefully target women and children with their suicide bombs. This is a huge difference between the two peoples!You can hardly see Israel on a map of the Middle East because it is so tiny. And yet every day this small nation of Israel is written about in newspapers and periodicals, worldwide. And it is a rare day when Israel is not mentioned on national television. Why is this? Doesn’t it strike you as being very unusual that a country with only six million people makes the news on a daily basis?Imagine a large empty football field. Now, in your mind’s eye, place a matchbox in the center of the field. This will give you some idea of how small Israel is in comparison to the Arab nations that surround her. Do you see how absolutely absurd it is for the Arabs to insist that Israel give up even more of its land to the Palestinian people?The Bible tells us that Israel is the place where God has chosen to set his name (Neh.1:9). Those who study the Scriptures know that Israel, from God’s perspective, is the center of the earth. Men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, and Solomon----not to mention the world’s most famous Jew, Jesus of Nazareth! Mohammed never lived in Jerusalem. Even today when Muslims pray anywhere east of Jerusalem they pray with their backs to the Holy City so that they can face Mecca or Medina.The Scriptures also tell us in several places that, although the Hebrew people become scattered all over the world, God will “hiss” for them, “gather” them, and bring them back to The Land. These predictions in the Bible have come to pass in this current generation, much to the astonishment of many people. And even though a coalition of six nations did everything they could to abort this dream, the dream became a reality anyhow. Israel became a nation May 14, 1948 (5th of Iyar, 5708)!God promised Abraham that all the land would be given to his seed. This Promised Land encompasses all the real estate from the river of Egypt (the Nile) to the great river (Tigris-Euphrates).If you look at a map you will clearly see that the land that God promised to the Jews covers six nations, what are presently Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. An amazing thing will happen in the near future, according to the Bible. All the land will become Israel’s land. This means that the Israel as we know it now will become many, many times larger.The challenging idea for believers is that Israel is a type of the church. What happens to Israel takes place in many of our lives in the spiritual realm. Have you ever compared the suicide bombers in Israel with the massive destruction taking place inside the American church? We have now reached a point in the United States when approximately 50 churches are permanently closing their doors each week! This is horrific destruction.Pastors aren’t running off with secretaries any more---they are running off with other men. The divorce rate, child abuse, and wife battering within the church have exceeded the secular world. It has become embarrassing. We are in a war and don’t even know it. The saddest thing is that we are losing the most precious commodity in our country---our young people!Just as Israel has a much smaller piece of real estate than what was originally promised, we believers have not entered into our promises either. One day Israel will be many times larger than she is now. Hopefully, the church will also see beyond the small perimeters we have painted for ourselves and break out of our tiny cages, entering into the limitless power of Almighty God.The Arab people who now have control of the nations in the Middle East will not freely hand over their countries to Israel. They hate God’s chosen people and would never give them one inch of their land. My guess is that one of these days the Arab nations will provoke Israel once too often and light the fuse that will cause the Jews to use their ultimate weapon---The Sampson Option (read the book by the same title by Seymour Hersh). Many scientists believe that Israel has a secret weapon, aptly named, that can absolutely disintegrate an entire city. When they are provoked, and find themselves with their backs to sea and nowhere else to go, the Israelis will then take the land, which is rightfully theirs---all of the Promised Land.God “hissed” for His people and gathered them to the place He has chosen for them. Six Arab nations attacked Israel the next day, May 15, 1948 hoping to drive them into the sea and bring to pass Hitler’s final solution---the commitment to annihilate every living Jew---the extinction. The Arabs delude themselves in thinking that they can wipe the Jews off the face of the earth, and Israel has decided that it will not accommodate the Arabs by disappearing from the map.The Arabs have determined to liquidate the state of Israel, but God has other plans for His people. After the War of Independence (1948-49) Israel has suffered through, and won, six more wars: Sinai War, 1956; Six-Day War, 1967; Yom Kippur War, 1973; Osirak Raid, 1981; Lebanon War, 1982-84; and the Second Persian Gulf War, 1991. And I have not mentioned here the constant Arab raiding gangs of snipers, and more recently the suicide bombers, who have targeted women, children, university students, and farmers, blowing them to smithereens. Innocent victims riding buses have been killed, permanently maimed and disfigured---faces blown away, limbs gone, eyes gone. Arafat, the costumed multiple murderer, has now gone “where the wicked cease from troubling” (a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island). Before his death Arafat planned and financed these butchers, and then dared to call them freedom fighters. Others have now taken his place. The main difference between the Israelis and the Arabs: terrorists purposely target innocent civilians, whether they are women, children, or the elderly. And the terrorists purposely shoot from civilian neighborhoods, knowing full well that the Jews will not indiscriminately blow up five city blocks of innocent people just so they can kill a hand full of terrorists. They hide behind the skirts of women. Some people call this “shrewd”, we call it wicked.We have been hammered by the media with the phrase “Islam is a peaceful religion”.If this is true Muslims should do their part by not killing people all over the world. President Bush was fed misinformation by Cleveland State University law professor David F. Forte. That’s why, even after 9/11, we have been asked by the liberal press to bow down and cow-tow to Muslims. Just so we can all be politically correct little grandmothers are being spread-eagled and searched at airport terminals, after all, we certainly can’t profile. Better to have an airliner blown up than that we should offend anyone.Many of us are not bowing down!In the War for Independence 6,373 Jews were killed (1% of Israel’s population). That would be like the United States suffering about 32 million casualties, or, to make it even clearer, about 60,000 deaths per state. One wonders how a new, struggling nation could survive such atrocities and weather such horrible storms. This in itself is miraculous. Someone has said, “I believe in God because the Jews exist! ” Think about it.The Jews know that they have nowhere else to go. If they are defeated on their own soil it will be the end of their culture, their nation, their religion, their tradition, the Hebrew language, and their dreams.A Jewish scientist from Tel Aviv sat next to me on one of my flights to Israel. As we chatted I asked him if he had ever heard of any group of people who had returned to the same land after 2,000 years and who had retained its language culture, traditions, and religion.He agreed with me that what the Jewish people have done by returning and building the state of Israel is nothing short of a miracle. This Jewish scientist was an atheist who used the word “miracle” in referring to what his people have done by achieving a national identity.Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism wrote, “If you will it, it is no dream.”The state of Israel is no longer just a dream; it is a reality. It has become fait accompli---an irreversible fact. Israel exists! And the sooner the Arabs recognize this truth, the better. They would do well to read A Place Among the Nations, by Benjamin Netanyahu, or So Sorry We Won, by Ephraim Kishon.Can you blame any people who refuse to be permanently turned into clay pigeons? And the Israelis have learned a truth that America is painfully realizing since 9/11---giving in to terror only leads to more terror.During the Six-Day War of 1967 so many modern day miracles took place that it is impossible to mention them all in this article. Any sane person has to realize that God is on Israel’s side. Surrounded by more than 200 million angry Arabs intent on bathing themselves in Jewish blood, it seemed that the six million Jews did not have a chance, either in 1948 or 1967.When the Six-Day war started there were 100,000 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai with more than 900 tanks. In the North, Syria was invading with six brigades and 300 tanks, from the vantage point of the Golan Heights. Seven brigades and 270 tanks were coming across from Jordan, with more back-up support from Iraq and Lebanon, not to mention the financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s oil money. Syria had been shelling Israel from the Golan Heights for several days before Israel struck back. 175 acres of orchards, 75 acres of grain and 205 houses had been destroyed before Israeli troops counter-attacked. And then the Arabs dared to protest to the United Nations that Israel had provoked the war and struck first.In the natural, Israel did not stand a chance. But in the first six hours of the war Israel destroyed 416 enemy planes, and then totally destroyed and demolished 80% of Egypt’s military equipment. Eleven thousand five hundred Egyptians died and Israel took six thousand prisoners.In the North the young Jewish soldiers faced 300 Syrian tanks, but bravely began clawing their way up the slopes of the Golan Heights inch by inch. I had the privilege of interviewing one of those courageous IDF men. If ever a David had faced off with a Goliath it was that day, when against insurmountable odds, boys spilled their blood and become men on a horrible battlefield. Like Nahshon (the name of the first man into the Red Sea when it parted), and Samuel Brand (Israel’s first legal immigrant, May 15, 1948) these young men chose to step into the line of fire of massive tanks and dismantle them.A death sentence for Israel had been lifted. Israel stared the threat of extinction in the face and decided that there would be no second holocaust.Israeli soldiers rushed into Jerusalem to the Western Wall (Wailing Wall or Kotel) and wept, prayed danced, and shouted. Moshe Dayan, distinguished by his eye-patch, led his men to the Temple Mount for the first time in 2,000 years. Those who were praying at the Kotel pressed kvitlach (prayer requests on small slips of paper) into the cracks of The Wall. Placing the kvitlach has become a tradition. During each of my trips to Israel I carry with me written prayer requests to insert there. I have had some wonderful and amazing personal answers.The Arabs delude themselves into thinking that they can wipe the Jews off the face of the earth. They have found themselves to be fighting against the God of the Bible!“The situation”, a reference to the current danger to Israel’s survival, continues up to this present moment. Even as you read this article there are Arab forces determined to kill one more Jewish person. Each day Arab schools teach hatred and it is pumped into the young minds and emotions of Arab children. They are told that to be a suicide bomber is honorable. They are told that the moment that they give up their life God will take them into heaven where they will be blessed, rewarded, and surrounded by 70 young virgins for eternity. So, believing what they have been taught, hundreds and hundreds of young Arabs strap on the explosives that will destroy them and catapult them into the real eternity---the one without Christ. This is beyond heart breaking, both for the Jews and for these innocent Arab children who have never known any other reality than the lie they grew up with.This brings us to another very serious question. Why do the Arabs hate the Jewish people so much? Personally, I believe that this hatred can be traced all the way back to the day Abraham sent Ishmael and Hagar into the desert to die. Ishmael was only a 14-year-old boy. He loved his father so very much. I’m sure that Hagar loved Abraham, also. Can you ever imagine the emotional turmoil that boiled inside of this young boy? He was rejected by the only father he had ever known.I believe that this rejection not only entered his mind and emotions; it entered his blood, his very spirit. He could never get over it---ever. He was destroyed emotionally, and he certainly passed this deep feeling onto his ancestors. No wonder the Bible immediately states that Ishmael “became an archer”. The hatred that boiled in his blood made him want to strike back because of the injustice done to him. If you want to read more about this story go to Genesis chapter 21 and to one of my articles on the FLC website: http://www.flc7.com/news/www.flc7.com/news/roots.html.The two million Arabs who live in Israel have the right to vote. None of the Arabs living in any of the Arab states can vote because every Arab nation is a dictatorship. This figures; because the Arabs not only cannot get along with the Jews, they cannot get along with each other either. Just take a look at what is taking place in Iraq.Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Arabs can get jobs, run businesses, and be members of a free society in Israel. When Palestinians attempted to settle in Jordan more than 10,000 of them were put to death. Syria butchered another 25,000 Palestinians and it barely made the news. President of Syria, Hafez Assad completely destroyed the town of Hama in 1982. 180,000 people lived there. Did the news media even mention it? And in 1922, 300,000 inhabitants of Smyrna were butchered by Muslims---another example of the “peace of Islam”.But when an Israeli soldier shoots a Palestinian terrorist who is attempting to blow people to bits, the press screams out the headlines and publishes the incident for the world to see.What people on this planet, other than Arab terrorists, place their children on the front lines of a war armed with rocks, and then dare to make an outcry to the Western press when one of them gets killed? Why don’t the “brave” terrorists and “freedom fighters” replace these children on the front lines? And why did they hijack The Achille Lauro in 1986, then torture and murder an old Jewish man in a wheel chair---all in front of his wife---and then dare call it a protest against Israel?What would we do in the United States if our citizens were being murdered and maimed on a daily basis? There would be a very great outcry by the American people to find the perpetrators and stop the violence. And we would want justice! We would want the people, whoever they were, and whatever religion they represented, to be imprisoned or put to death.When John Allen Mohammed and Lee Boyd Malvo were indiscriminately shooting innocent people of the back of their car, October 2002, media attention focused on it so much that for a few days there was not much else in the news. And there was a very strong cry for law enforcement to do something about it. For just a few days we Americans lived in fear for our lives. So we have a little understanding of what the Jews have faced since they became a nation.Ever since May 14, 1948 the Jewish people in Israel have lived like this every day! We cannot even imagine how brave these people are. What spirit they have! And they continue going to work, going to the store, going to school, taking busses (that are frequently boarded by suicide bombers), and going for walks.In 2006 I spent May and June in Jerusalem. If you remember, back in August of 2005 all Jewish people moved out of Gaza. It was referred to as “the disengagement”. Many of them were forced out by the Israeli Army. The Arabs had promised that if all Jews were forced out of Gaza then there would be peace. I guess that their definition of the word “peace” is very different from everyone else’s definition of peace.Since the Jews pulled out of Gaza the Arab terrorists have fired more than 800 Qassam rockets into Israel. That is the “thank you” that they have expressed for the Israeli withdrawal.During the weekend of June 9-11, 2006 the Arab terrorists fired more than 45 Qassam rockets FROM GAZA into the Israeli towns of Dugit and Sederot. One rocket tore through the roof of an Israeli school, landed next to the teacher’s desk and exploded. Why was no one injured or killed? The teacher had just taken the entire class outside for prayer!And where do these terrorists shoot their rockets from? They always operate in Arab neighborhoods, knowing full well that the Israelis will not blow up five blocks of innocent Palestinians just to get them. In other words, they know that the Jews have a conscience and would not purposefully kill or maim civilians. The same cannot be said for the Arab terrorists, who purposefully target women and children with their suicide bombs. This is a huge difference between the two peoples!Another major event took place while I was there. Hamas terrorists tunneled almost 1,000 yards beneath the Israel/Gaza border. During the night some of them made their way through the tunnel and emerged on the Israeli side of the border. They then killed two soldiers and kidnapped 19-year old Gilad Shalit. Israel issued an ultimatum: “Release this boy or we will invade Gaza!”Of course the terrorists would not release him. So on the morning of June 28 the IDF re-entered Gaza with guns blazing. This is the continuation of the century-old story of warfare, killing, torture, hatred, and bloodshed. Back in the olden days the Philistines were the enemy. Today, with just a few letters difference, it is the Palestinians. (By the way, the word “Palestinian” did not exist prior to 1967.)A few days later Hezbollah kidnapped and killed several Israeli citizens and then began firing Katusha rockets into Israel from Lebanon. The Katusha rockets are loaded with ball bearings. Upon impact these steel balls are propelled with such force that they penetrate steel. The ball bearings shred human flesh and bones as easily as a knife slices through soft butter. These rockets landed in Tiberias, Haifa, Nazareth and several other towns, killing Israeli citizens. Hassan Nasrallah is the leader of the same Hezbollah that murdered 220 United States Marines and 21 other service members in 1983 by blowing up the barracks in Lebanon. Of course, the European Union does not consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization, even though Hezbollah has now threatened to send thousands of suicide bombers all over the world to blow innocent civilians to bits, and stated: “We want to start World War Three!”The Hezbollah Flag. Does this look peaceful?What could Israel do? If a neighbor told you point blank, “I am going to kill your wife and children,” what would you do? You could sit by and hope that he really would not do this. Then when he began killing your family you would have to do something.This is exactly the situation Israel was in July 11, 2006 when Hezbollah began killing Israeli citizens. Israel had no choice but to retaliate! The murderous Arab cult forced the Jews to strike back and defend their nation and their people.You might ask the question, “Why did Israel invade Lebanon?” It is because Hezbollah literally took over the southern portion of Lebanon and used it as a military base, stockpiling at least 30,000 Katusha rockets. The Lebanese government was not strong enough to force the terrorists out of their country.Hezbollah receives more than 100 million dollars from Iran each year. This is how it is able to purchase arms and pay its soldiers. The money and military equipment are sent to Syria and then transported by trucks to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran also has at least 300 experts in Lebanon who are training the terrorists in the use of sophisticated weapons. Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stated, “We want to destroy Israel and the Jews!”Some people have accused Israel of using disproportionate force and not using the conventional method of sitting down at conference tables and negotiating peace. History has proven that nobody can sit down and talk with a group of people who are determined to kill you. Have you ever attempted to reason with a bully? The only thing a bully understands is force. Back during the Iraq war of 1991, on January 18 Iraq launched 42 scud missiles, destroying more than 4,100 buildings. Amazingly only two Israelis died, although 230 people were injured. Another example of God’s protective hand on behalf of his people.Whenever I mention to someone that I lead teams of people to Israel, the very first thing he says is: “Aren’t you afraid to go over there? I wouldn’t go over there for anything in the world.”Statistically, you are much safer in Israel these days than on the streets of the United States of America! My daughter, Martha, and her five children live there all the time. Go to http://www.flc7.com/news/www.shevet.org so you can read about what she does. I feel very comfortable living in Jerusalem and have never experienced any type of fear whatsoever.Golda Meir said, “One trip to Israel is worth listening to 100 speeches!”Israel is mentioned 2,566 times in the Bible, but it never mentions the Palestinians.Jerusalem is mentioned 811 times.The original meaning of the word “Israel” is found in Genesis 32:28 when Jacob, the supplanter (one who supersedes another by force or treachery) or heel holder, was given a new name. “And he said, Your name will not be called Jacob any more, but Israel: for as a prince you have power with God and with men, and have prevailed.”Israel literally means God prevails. As believers we need to hold on to the promises in His Word that he will prevail. As we see world events pointing clearly to the fact that we are in the last days it is our duty to at least watch and pray. That is the starting point. After that it becomes our duty as believers to do whatever God asks us to do.Without a doubt we are living in the end times---the very last days. It all started in the Garden of Eden, and now the world is focusing on Iran/Iraq and the Middle East. Jesus told us to be alert and to pay attention to the “Fig Tree (Mt. 24:32; Mk. 13:28; Lu. 21:29). Throughout the Bible the fig tree has symbolized the nation of Israel. Current events are triggering our entrance into the LAST DAYS as predicted in the Bible. Jeremiah 24:5 makes it clear that “figs represent the Jews”. The FIG TREE is the entire nation of Israel!
Russia has now entered the equation with several very interesting and important statements. Putin declared, “Israel has gone way beyond an anti-terrorist operation. It has used disproportionate force. We offer to place our troops on the Lebanon/Israeli border as a peace-keeping presence.” Why is Russia interested in being there?
In the 38th chapter of Ezekiel God predicts events that will take place “in the latter years”. He clearly states that Gog will come against Israel “as a cloud” to cover the land. The Scripture makes it clear that it will be God who “puts hooks” into Gog’s jaw and brings him to Israel, along with a multi-national force. Many Bible scholars believe that Gog is modern Russia.
The Fig Tree has budded (May 14, 1948) and many other signs and wonders are taking place in modern Israel. Most Bible scholars believe that the return of Jesus is imminent and that the END OF ALL THINGS is at hand. Jesus said that the generation that sees these things would be the last generation!
“Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its buds become tender and its leaves begin to sprout you know without being told that summer is near. Just so, when you see the events I’ve described beginning to happen, you can know his return is very near, right at the door. I assure you, this generation will not pass from the scene before all these things take place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will remain forever.” The words of Jesus Christ as recorded in Mt. 24:32-35NLT.
On my tenth trip to Israel I spent three months in Jerusalem and I learned so many things that I did not know about Israel. I interviewed Jewish Rabbis, Palestinians, missionaries, taxi drivers, shopkeepers, and just plain ordinary people. Everyone had his own opinion, and I thought that by listening and taking notes I might be able to find truth in the midst of so many diverse views.
One thing I wanted to do was actually go to people’s homes, see how they lived, and learn from them. Each day I prayed and God opened up the opportunities.
When I met Saleem, a Palestinian, he invited me to go with him to the town of Beit Jala.I wanted to see what a real Palestinian’s life was like, so I accepted Saleem’s offer. After we traveled around the first few curves in the road I was completely lost. I knew that we were somewhere south of Jerusalem, but I also realized that I was completely dependent on Saleem for directions. We chatted as we drove into the hills.
“A few weeks ago I had to move my wife and seven children out of my house. Right now we are crammed in with relatives in East Jerusalem. I have to go home a couple times a week to feed the dog and water the plants,” Saleem informed me.
“Why did you move out of your home? “ I asked naively.
“The huge shells from the tanks were crashing into my house and I was afraid that my wife or one of my children would be hurt or killed.”
“Why did the Israeli army shell your house?”
“Because one night a group of masked Arab gunmen broke into my home, forced us all to the floor, and began shooting toward Gilo. Gilo is another town just across the valley where the Jews live. The next day the shells from the tanks began falling on our home. We were afraid of the terrorists and we were afraid of the shells coming in.”
“Did the masked gunmen stay in your home?“
“Oh, no, they move to a different house and neighborhood every day. They seldom get injured. It’s the innocent people, like me, who are caught right in the middle.”
“And the Jews get blamed for targeting civilians?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
After Saleem took care of his dog and watered his flowers, he then picked the first orange from one of the trees in his yard and handed it to me. I will never forget his kindness. In the midst of his own enormous problems he wanted to give me a gift. Then he drove a few blocks away and parked in front of a house.
“I have to get something from my friend. It will just take a few minutes. You stay in the car. I’ll be right back,” he told me.
While I was waiting I suddenly saw four or five masked gunmen emerge from a house about a half a block from where Saleem’s car was parked. I knew that if they saw me, an American, I would immediately become a hostage.
The idea was most unpleasant.
It seemed like a very long time until Saleem returned to the car.
“Don‘t worry, “ he said, “We’ll be O.K. Everything will be all right.”
I wasn’t so sure. The masked terrorists were standing in the middle of the street.
Saleem started the car and began doing a u-turn. I could almost feel the bullets hitting the back window. But no bullets came.I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we were out of sight!
“Now you see what we live with every day!” Saleem exclaimed.
I have learned that I am not to “take sides”, but to love everyone. The problems in Israel are not solvable by any government. Only the Prince of Peace will be able to iron out all of the turmoil created by two groups of people who each believe that The Land belongs only to them.During the weekend of June 9-11 the Arab terrorists fired more than 45 Qassam rockets FROM GAZA into the Israeli towns of Dugit and Sederot. One rocket tore through the roof of an Israeli school, landed next to the teacher’s desk and exploded. Why was no one injured or killed? The teacher had just taken the entire class outside for prayer!And where do these terrorists shoot their rockets from? They always operate in Arab neighborhoods, knowing full well that the Israelis will not blow up five blocks of innocent Palestinians just to get them. In other words, they know that the Jews have a conscience and would not purposefully kill or maim civilians. The same cannot be said for the Arab terrorists, who purposefully target women and children with their suicide bombs. This is a huge difference between the two peoples!You can hardly see Israel on a map of the Middle East because it is so tiny. And yet every day this small nation of Israel is written about in newspapers and periodicals, worldwide. And it is a rare day when Israel is not mentioned on national television. Why is this? Doesn’t it strike you as being very unusual that a country with only six million people makes the news on a daily basis?Imagine a large empty football field. Now, in your mind’s eye, place a matchbox in the center of the field. This will give you some idea of how small Israel is in comparison to the Arab nations that surround her. Do you see how absolutely absurd it is for the Arabs to insist that Israel give up even more of its land to the Palestinian people?The Bible tells us that Israel is the place where God has chosen to set his name (Neh.1:9). Those who study the Scriptures know that Israel, from God’s perspective, is the center of the earth. Men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, and Solomon----not to mention the world’s most famous Jew, Jesus of Nazareth! Mohammed never lived in Jerusalem. Even today when Muslims pray anywhere east of Jerusalem they pray with their backs to the Holy City so that they can face Mecca or Medina.The Scriptures also tell us in several places that, although the Hebrew people become scattered all over the world, God will “hiss” for them, “gather” them, and bring them back to The Land. These predictions in the Bible have come to pass in this current generation, much to the astonishment of many people. And even though a coalition of six nations did everything they could to abort this dream, the dream became a reality anyhow. Israel became a nation May 14, 1948 (5th of Iyar, 5708)!God promised Abraham that all the land would be given to his seed. This Promised Land encompasses all the real estate from the river of Egypt (the Nile) to the great river (Tigris-Euphrates).If you look at a map you will clearly see that the land that God promised to the Jews covers six nations, what are presently Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. An amazing thing will happen in the near future, according to the Bible. All the land will become Israel’s land. This means that the Israel as we know it now will become many, many times larger.The challenging idea for believers is that Israel is a type of the church. What happens to Israel takes place in many of our lives in the spiritual realm. Have you ever compared the suicide bombers in Israel with the massive destruction taking place inside the American church? We have now reached a point in the United States when approximately 50 churches are permanently closing their doors each week! This is horrific destruction.Pastors aren’t running off with secretaries any more---they are running off with other men. The divorce rate, child abuse, and wife battering within the church have exceeded the secular world. It has become embarrassing. We are in a war and don’t even know it. The saddest thing is that we are losing the most precious commodity in our country---our young people!Just as Israel has a much smaller piece of real estate than what was originally promised, we believers have not entered into our promises either. One day Israel will be many times larger than she is now. Hopefully, the church will also see beyond the small perimeters we have painted for ourselves and break out of our tiny cages, entering into the limitless power of Almighty God.The Arab people who now have control of the nations in the Middle East will not freely hand over their countries to Israel. They hate God’s chosen people and would never give them one inch of their land. My guess is that one of these days the Arab nations will provoke Israel once too often and light the fuse that will cause the Jews to use their ultimate weapon---The Sampson Option (read the book by the same title by Seymour Hersh). Many scientists believe that Israel has a secret weapon, aptly named, that can absolutely disintegrate an entire city. When they are provoked, and find themselves with their backs to sea and nowhere else to go, the Israelis will then take the land, which is rightfully theirs---all of the Promised Land.God “hissed” for His people and gathered them to the place He has chosen for them. Six Arab nations attacked Israel the next day, May 15, 1948 hoping to drive them into the sea and bring to pass Hitler’s final solution---the commitment to annihilate every living Jew---the extinction. The Arabs delude themselves in thinking that they can wipe the Jews off the face of the earth, and Israel has decided that it will not accommodate the Arabs by disappearing from the map.The Arabs have determined to liquidate the state of Israel, but God has other plans for His people. After the War of Independence (1948-49) Israel has suffered through, and won, six more wars: Sinai War, 1956; Six-Day War, 1967; Yom Kippur War, 1973; Osirak Raid, 1981; Lebanon War, 1982-84; and the Second Persian Gulf War, 1991. And I have not mentioned here the constant Arab raiding gangs of snipers, and more recently the suicide bombers, who have targeted women, children, university students, and farmers, blowing them to smithereens. Innocent victims riding buses have been killed, permanently maimed and disfigured---faces blown away, limbs gone, eyes gone. Arafat, the costumed multiple murderer, has now gone “where the wicked cease from troubling” (a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island). Before his death Arafat planned and financed these butchers, and then dared to call them freedom fighters. Others have now taken his place. The main difference between the Israelis and the Arabs: terrorists purposely target innocent civilians, whether they are women, children, or the elderly. And the terrorists purposely shoot from civilian neighborhoods, knowing full well that the Jews will not indiscriminately blow up five city blocks of innocent people just so they can kill a hand full of terrorists. They hide behind the skirts of women. Some people call this “shrewd”, we call it wicked.We have been hammered by the media with the phrase “Islam is a peaceful religion”.If this is true Muslims should do their part by not killing people all over the world. President Bush was fed misinformation by Cleveland State University law professor David F. Forte. That’s why, even after 9/11, we have been asked by the liberal press to bow down and cow-tow to Muslims. Just so we can all be politically correct little grandmothers are being spread-eagled and searched at airport terminals, after all, we certainly can’t profile. Better to have an airliner blown up than that we should offend anyone.Many of us are not bowing down!In the War for Independence 6,373 Jews were killed (1% of Israel’s population). That would be like the United States suffering about 32 million casualties, or, to make it even clearer, about 60,000 deaths per state. One wonders how a new, struggling nation could survive such atrocities and weather such horrible storms. This in itself is miraculous. Someone has said, “I believe in God because the Jews exist! ” Think about it.The Jews know that they have nowhere else to go. If they are defeated on their own soil it will be the end of their culture, their nation, their religion, their tradition, the Hebrew language, and their dreams.A Jewish scientist from Tel Aviv sat next to me on one of my flights to Israel. As we chatted I asked him if he had ever heard of any group of people who had returned to the same land after 2,000 years and who had retained its language culture, traditions, and religion.He agreed with me that what the Jewish people have done by returning and building the state of Israel is nothing short of a miracle. This Jewish scientist was an atheist who used the word “miracle” in referring to what his people have done by achieving a national identity.Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism wrote, “If you will it, it is no dream.”The state of Israel is no longer just a dream; it is a reality. It has become fait accompli---an irreversible fact. Israel exists! And the sooner the Arabs recognize this truth, the better. They would do well to read A Place Among the Nations, by Benjamin Netanyahu, or So Sorry We Won, by Ephraim Kishon.Can you blame any people who refuse to be permanently turned into clay pigeons? And the Israelis have learned a truth that America is painfully realizing since 9/11---giving in to terror only leads to more terror.During the Six-Day War of 1967 so many modern day miracles took place that it is impossible to mention them all in this article. Any sane person has to realize that God is on Israel’s side. Surrounded by more than 200 million angry Arabs intent on bathing themselves in Jewish blood, it seemed that the six million Jews did not have a chance, either in 1948 or 1967.When the Six-Day war started there were 100,000 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai with more than 900 tanks. In the North, Syria was invading with six brigades and 300 tanks, from the vantage point of the Golan Heights. Seven brigades and 270 tanks were coming across from Jordan, with more back-up support from Iraq and Lebanon, not to mention the financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s oil money. Syria had been shelling Israel from the Golan Heights for several days before Israel struck back. 175 acres of orchards, 75 acres of grain and 205 houses had been destroyed before Israeli troops counter-attacked. And then the Arabs dared to protest to the United Nations that Israel had provoked the war and struck first.In the natural, Israel did not stand a chance. But in the first six hours of the war Israel destroyed 416 enemy planes, and then totally destroyed and demolished 80% of Egypt’s military equipment. Eleven thousand five hundred Egyptians died and Israel took six thousand prisoners.In the North the young Jewish soldiers faced 300 Syrian tanks, but bravely began clawing their way up the slopes of the Golan Heights inch by inch. I had the privilege of interviewing one of those courageous IDF men. If ever a David had faced off with a Goliath it was that day, when against insurmountable odds, boys spilled their blood and become men on a horrible battlefield. Like Nahshon (the name of the first man into the Red Sea when it parted), and Samuel Brand (Israel’s first legal immigrant, May 15, 1948) these young men chose to step into the line of fire of massive tanks and dismantle them.A death sentence for Israel had been lifted. Israel stared the threat of extinction in the face and decided that there would be no second holocaust.Israeli soldiers rushed into Jerusalem to the Western Wall (Wailing Wall or Kotel) and wept, prayed danced, and shouted. Moshe Dayan, distinguished by his eye-patch, led his men to the Temple Mount for the first time in 2,000 years. Those who were praying at the Kotel pressed kvitlach (prayer requests on small slips of paper) into the cracks of The Wall. Placing the kvitlach has become a tradition. During each of my trips to Israel I carry with me written prayer requests to insert there. I have had some wonderful and amazing personal answers.The Arabs delude themselves into thinking that they can wipe the Jews off the face of the earth. They have found themselves to be fighting against the God of the Bible!“The situation”, a reference to the current danger to Israel’s survival, continues up to this present moment. Even as you read this article there are Arab forces determined to kill one more Jewish person. Each day Arab schools teach hatred and it is pumped into the young minds and emotions of Arab children. They are told that to be a suicide bomber is honorable. They are told that the moment that they give up their life God will take them into heaven where they will be blessed, rewarded, and surrounded by 70 young virgins for eternity. So, believing what they have been taught, hundreds and hundreds of young Arabs strap on the explosives that will destroy them and catapult them into the real eternity---the one without Christ. This is beyond heart breaking, both for the Jews and for these innocent Arab children who have never known any other reality than the lie they grew up with.This brings us to another very serious question. Why do the Arabs hate the Jewish people so much? Personally, I believe that this hatred can be traced all the way back to the day Abraham sent Ishmael and Hagar into the desert to die. Ishmael was only a 14-year-old boy. He loved his father so very much. I’m sure that Hagar loved Abraham, also. Can you ever imagine the emotional turmoil that boiled inside of this young boy? He was rejected by the only father he had ever known.I believe that this rejection not only entered his mind and emotions; it entered his blood, his very spirit. He could never get over it---ever. He was destroyed emotionally, and he certainly passed this deep feeling onto his ancestors. No wonder the Bible immediately states that Ishmael “became an archer”. The hatred that boiled in his blood made him want to strike back because of the injustice done to him. If you want to read more about this story go to Genesis chapter 21 and to one of my articles on the FLC website: http://www.flc7.com/news/www.flc7.com/news/roots.html.The two million Arabs who live in Israel have the right to vote. None of the Arabs living in any of the Arab states can vote because every Arab nation is a dictatorship. This figures; because the Arabs not only cannot get along with the Jews, they cannot get along with each other either. Just take a look at what is taking place in Iraq.Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Arabs can get jobs, run businesses, and be members of a free society in Israel. When Palestinians attempted to settle in Jordan more than 10,000 of them were put to death. Syria butchered another 25,000 Palestinians and it barely made the news. President of Syria, Hafez Assad completely destroyed the town of Hama in 1982. 180,000 people lived there. Did the news media even mention it? And in 1922, 300,000 inhabitants of Smyrna were butchered by Muslims---another example of the “peace of Islam”.But when an Israeli soldier shoots a Palestinian terrorist who is attempting to blow people to bits, the press screams out the headlines and publishes the incident for the world to see.What people on this planet, other than Arab terrorists, place their children on the front lines of a war armed with rocks, and then dare to make an outcry to the Western press when one of them gets killed? Why don’t the “brave” terrorists and “freedom fighters” replace these children on the front lines? And why did they hijack The Achille Lauro in 1986, then torture and murder an old Jewish man in a wheel chair---all in front of his wife---and then dare call it a protest against Israel?What would we do in the United States if our citizens were being murdered and maimed on a daily basis? There would be a very great outcry by the American people to find the perpetrators and stop the violence. And we would want justice! We would want the people, whoever they were, and whatever religion they represented, to be imprisoned or put to death.When John Allen Mohammed and Lee Boyd Malvo were indiscriminately shooting innocent people of the back of their car, October 2002, media attention focused on it so much that for a few days there was not much else in the news. And there was a very strong cry for law enforcement to do something about it. For just a few days we Americans lived in fear for our lives. So we have a little understanding of what the Jews have faced since they became a nation.Ever since May 14, 1948 the Jewish people in Israel have lived like this every day! We cannot even imagine how brave these people are. What spirit they have! And they continue going to work, going to the store, going to school, taking busses (that are frequently boarded by suicide bombers), and going for walks.In 2006 I spent May and June in Jerusalem. If you remember, back in August of 2005 all Jewish people moved out of Gaza. It was referred to as “the disengagement”. Many of them were forced out by the Israeli Army. The Arabs had promised that if all Jews were forced out of Gaza then there would be peace. I guess that their definition of the word “peace” is very different from everyone else’s definition of peace.Since the Jews pulled out of Gaza the Arab terrorists have fired more than 800 Qassam rockets into Israel. That is the “thank you” that they have expressed for the Israeli withdrawal.During the weekend of June 9-11, 2006 the Arab terrorists fired more than 45 Qassam rockets FROM GAZA into the Israeli towns of Dugit and Sederot. One rocket tore through the roof of an Israeli school, landed next to the teacher’s desk and exploded. Why was no one injured or killed? The teacher had just taken the entire class outside for prayer!And where do these terrorists shoot their rockets from? They always operate in Arab neighborhoods, knowing full well that the Israelis will not blow up five blocks of innocent Palestinians just to get them. In other words, they know that the Jews have a conscience and would not purposefully kill or maim civilians. The same cannot be said for the Arab terrorists, who purposefully target women and children with their suicide bombs. This is a huge difference between the two peoples!Another major event took place while I was there. Hamas terrorists tunneled almost 1,000 yards beneath the Israel/Gaza border. During the night some of them made their way through the tunnel and emerged on the Israeli side of the border. They then killed two soldiers and kidnapped 19-year old Gilad Shalit. Israel issued an ultimatum: “Release this boy or we will invade Gaza!”Of course the terrorists would not release him. So on the morning of June 28 the IDF re-entered Gaza with guns blazing. This is the continuation of the century-old story of warfare, killing, torture, hatred, and bloodshed. Back in the olden days the Philistines were the enemy. Today, with just a few letters difference, it is the Palestinians. (By the way, the word “Palestinian” did not exist prior to 1967.)A few days later Hezbollah kidnapped and killed several Israeli citizens and then began firing Katusha rockets into Israel from Lebanon. The Katusha rockets are loaded with ball bearings. Upon impact these steel balls are propelled with such force that they penetrate steel. The ball bearings shred human flesh and bones as easily as a knife slices through soft butter. These rockets landed in Tiberias, Haifa, Nazareth and several other towns, killing Israeli citizens. Hassan Nasrallah is the leader of the same Hezbollah that murdered 220 United States Marines and 21 other service members in 1983 by blowing up the barracks in Lebanon. Of course, the European Union does not consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization, even though Hezbollah has now threatened to send thousands of suicide bombers all over the world to blow innocent civilians to bits, and stated: “We want to start World War Three!”The Hezbollah Flag. Does this look peaceful?What could Israel do? If a neighbor told you point blank, “I am going to kill your wife and children,” what would you do? You could sit by and hope that he really would not do this. Then when he began killing your family you would have to do something.This is exactly the situation Israel was in July 11, 2006 when Hezbollah began killing Israeli citizens. Israel had no choice but to retaliate! The murderous Arab cult forced the Jews to strike back and defend their nation and their people.You might ask the question, “Why did Israel invade Lebanon?” It is because Hezbollah literally took over the southern portion of Lebanon and used it as a military base, stockpiling at least 30,000 Katusha rockets. The Lebanese government was not strong enough to force the terrorists out of their country.Hezbollah receives more than 100 million dollars from Iran each year. This is how it is able to purchase arms and pay its soldiers. The money and military equipment are sent to Syria and then transported by trucks to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran also has at least 300 experts in Lebanon who are training the terrorists in the use of sophisticated weapons. Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stated, “We want to destroy Israel and the Jews!”Some people have accused Israel of using disproportionate force and not using the conventional method of sitting down at conference tables and negotiating peace. History has proven that nobody can sit down and talk with a group of people who are determined to kill you. Have you ever attempted to reason with a bully? The only thing a bully understands is force. Back during the Iraq war of 1991, on January 18 Iraq launched 42 scud missiles, destroying more than 4,100 buildings. Amazingly only two Israelis died, although 230 people were injured. Another example of God’s protective hand on behalf of his people.Whenever I mention to someone that I lead teams of people to Israel, the very first thing he says is: “Aren’t you afraid to go over there? I wouldn’t go over there for anything in the world.”Statistically, you are much safer in Israel these days than on the streets of the United States of America! My daughter, Martha, and her five children live there all the time. Go to http://www.flc7.com/news/www.shevet.org so you can read about what she does. I feel very comfortable living in Jerusalem and have never experienced any type of fear whatsoever.Golda Meir said, “One trip to Israel is worth listening to 100 speeches!”Israel is mentioned 2,566 times in the Bible, but it never mentions the Palestinians.Jerusalem is mentioned 811 times.The original meaning of the word “Israel” is found in Genesis 32:28 when Jacob, the supplanter (one who supersedes another by force or treachery) or heel holder, was given a new name. “And he said, Your name will not be called Jacob any more, but Israel: for as a prince you have power with God and with men, and have prevailed.”Israel literally means God prevails. As believers we need to hold on to the promises in His Word that he will prevail. As we see world events pointing clearly to the fact that we are in the last days it is our duty to at least watch and pray. That is the starting point. After that it becomes our duty as believers to do whatever God asks us to do.Without a doubt we are living in the end times---the very last days. It all started in the Garden of Eden, and now the world is focusing on Iran/Iraq and the Middle East. Jesus told us to be alert and to pay attention to the “Fig Tree (Mt. 24:32; Mk. 13:28; Lu. 21:29). Throughout the Bible the fig tree has symbolized the nation of Israel. Current events are triggering our entrance into the LAST DAYS as predicted in the Bible. Jeremiah 24:5 makes it clear that “figs represent the Jews”. The FIG TREE is the entire nation of Israel!
Russia has now entered the equation with several very interesting and important statements. Putin declared, “Israel has gone way beyond an anti-terrorist operation. It has used disproportionate force. We offer to place our troops on the Lebanon/Israeli border as a peace-keeping presence.” Why is Russia interested in being there?
In the 38th chapter of Ezekiel God predicts events that will take place “in the latter years”. He clearly states that Gog will come against Israel “as a cloud” to cover the land. The Scripture makes it clear that it will be God who “puts hooks” into Gog’s jaw and brings him to Israel, along with a multi-national force. Many Bible scholars believe that Gog is modern Russia.
The Fig Tree has budded (May 14, 1948) and many other signs and wonders are taking place in modern Israel. Most Bible scholars believe that the return of Jesus is imminent and that the END OF ALL THINGS is at hand. Jesus said that the generation that sees these things would be the last generation!
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