Monday, August 17, 2015

If You Could Speak to the Iraeli People, What Would You Say?


“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel,  You who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; Even to your old age I will be the same; And even to your graying years I will bear you!  I have done it, and I will carry you;  And I will bear you and I will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:3-4).

Hey Gang, If could stand on the top of the Mount of Olives and shout so as to heard across the land of Israel, that is what I would shout.  Zechariah tells us precisely what is going to happen in the last days just prior to the end of the age when he wrote “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the people around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will be against Judah” (Vs. 2).

 He goes on and paints a panoramic picture of 2015 when God has fulfilled His word to ”make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured.  And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.  (Zech 12:3).

I would shout, “Listen up people - “The apple of God’s eye’,  “In the day the Lord  will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them”  (Zech 12: 8).

Listen up readers of Gramps Morning Thoughts, the Lord decreed: “Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will  again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people who will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.  And He will lift up a standard for the nations, and will assemble the banished one of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isa.11:11-12).

After retiring as president or Eagle Village we placed all of earthly possessions in a storage unit and moved into our fifth wheel with the intention of traveling and volunteering in ministries as long as our health allowed. After several trips in the middle parts of the states, we were heading for the south to spend the winter months and decided to visit friends in route but God had another plan in mind for us.

It was to be a two or three day visit and then off to the sunny south but God had a different idea., We were asked to remain in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and pray for our hosts as they sojourned to Jerusalem for meeting for an missionary organization called The Ebenezer Emergency Fund. This organization sent out fishermen to the old USSR to find Jews who wanted to make aliyah (return to Israel) and help them travel to Kiev, Russia where they were put on ships to travel to Haifi, the port of embarkation for the Olim (returning Jews).

Our hearts desire was to be a fisherman and go to Kiev and be part of the crews that ministered to the Olim that were found and brought to Kiev; many of whom were in very poor physical condition.  Although the fisherman on land and on the ships were not allowed to witness to the Olim, many came up to them and said, “We know why you are here and want you to know we believe in your Lord.”

One story that was very special involved a very elderly lady who was bed fast.  They found her in a very isolated remote village more than a thousand miles from Kiev.  Her heart’s desire was to go to the land she had always loved, Israel.     The story of getting her to Kiev was a story of God’s loving and powerful hands; one of one miracle after another until the day she was carried aboard the ship and bound for the land of her dreams.

Five days later she arrived in Haifi and was taken from the ship to the embarkation center where shortly after her arrival her heart gave out and she passed away.   The question is often asked, “Why did you invest so much in an old lady whom you knew might not survive the rigors of a trip of this magnitude?  The answer is very simple but not understood by many folks today – because Jesus said, “Go into all the world and save my people”.  There were as many hallelujahs that were heard in the heavenlies when this dear saint passed through the gate of heaven as when Peter and Paul and the great saints of the ages reached their heavenly home.

Soooo, my friends, there is so much that wants to get out my heart and brain to you but will have to restrain myself until another time.  But let me add one last comment before closing: the wonderful things about Israel becoming a nation and seeing Jerusalem come under Jewish control is it is fulfilled prophecy that you can touch.  We were blessed to be able to go to Israel, not to do the tourist thing but to get our hands dirty in the soil of the land.  Did you know you can be blessed filled sand bags when you know those sand bags may one day protect one of God’s chosen people?   

The word says one day Israel will become a home of God’s chosen people, the Jews, once again, and the olim will come from the four corners of the earth.  That is not pie-in-the-sky but pure reality.   Something that can be shared with someone that is not so sure the Bible is the Word of God.

Blessings,

Gramps

PS Next one on Fri then return to regular schedule

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