Is America in Never-Never Land?

 “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (I Peter 4:17).

Hey Gang:  Have you been asked the question, “Where were you when some significant even happened?”  We had just arrived at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel when we learned that Donald Trump had been elected President of the United States.  I will remember it well, for the remaining days on my tenure on this earth for I believe God said, “Now go for it!”

Soon after arriving, a young man, I would guess by his accent was from the Land of the Emerald Isle, recognized the stickers on our suitcases that we were bloks from the United States and asked, “Hey Yank, what did you think of the presidential election outcome. 

When the conversation began, I sensed he was not a supporter of the conservative movement that is taking place in America.  My answer was the same as that given on a number of occasions before: “I asked him a question, “If you were going through a very tough time in your life and you were given the option to stay with the same road you were on or a second unknown option that appeared that have some new ideas and a willingness to stand firm for those new ideas, what would you do?”

 I sensed, as the conversation progressed and ended, I detected a wish in his eyes that perhaps the same thing could happen in his country that is also has issues.  I admit that when I received the message the Donald Trump had won it was like a huge milestone had been removed from my shoulders.  I really wanted to run and leap and praise God for the answered prayers of His people, but it is hard to do that in a bus. 

One of his question that was of special interest to me was, “Why would you support a person you do not have a clue how he will rule and govern?”  Again my answer, “Because I knew from history what the opposition candidate will do and how she would govern.  Sometimes it is best to purchase a pig in a poke rather than one that is badly tarnished;” Note: I am calling our new President “a pig”. 

As we met the incoming group of travelers that would be our companions for the next ten days, it was not difficult to determine who the winners and losers were.  There was a brightness about the eyes of the winners.

As we headed for Jaffa, in route to Jerusalem for the first night of our tour, I spent that half hour thanking God for His mercy in withholding judgment from our nation.  My prayers for the past months were centered on ‘His will be done’, and that ‘His will’ was that He would not give us the President we deserved but one that will not lean on his own understanding and will put his trust in Jehovah God.  

My prayers have changed now.  I believe with all my heart God answered the prayers of His people.  I also believe that this is only the first step to restoring our nation to the creeds of the Founding Fathers.  In the development of the Village the easy part was writing the mission statement; it was the implementing of the mission statement that was the blood and guts part of the growth process.

While Mr. Trump‘s political agenda is important, even critical, to achieving worthy goal in turning our nation in the right direction, Heaven’s priorities are truly the matters for which God’s reprieve has been so mercifully given.  

Read the following words very carefully “Of course, the Church (all born again believers) should take this reprieve as a mandate to recapture moral ground-to roll back some of the social evils the Obama administration has brought forth-most through executive fiat.  It is the very church which has, in my estimate, allowed this slide toward the moral abyss through her acquiescence.”  

Hear me my friends!! Yes, I firmly believe that God has answered the prayers of His people- which should give His people the confidence and faith to not lay down the gauntlet now, but to increase our commitment to prayer and sharing the good news that Jesus Christ is still in control and will respond to the prayers of His people.

Place these words of John on your refrigerator door, bathroom mirror and rear view mirror of your car and pray them whenever you come in contact with them.  “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us:  And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him.  (1 John 5:14-15).

Blessings,

Gramps

P.S  Bottom Line: this is not the time to stop praying.

Arrived Here from 'Home'....

“He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.  Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions” (Deut. 32:10-11).

Hey Gang:  Thank you and blessings to all who covered us with prayers as we returned to Israel once again.  In our sojourn we had to make four aircraft changes and we had to run through airports in all the four changes.  At the Newark Airport, on our way over, we were two terminals away from our departure point with less than thirty minutes- due to a problem and delay in departure from Chicago to Newark.  Since all of our party were considered older than dirt, they put us in push chairs and ran full speed through the crowded terminal. We arrived as they were doing the final loading.  But made it we did.

Twelve hours later the wheels of our Boeing 777 touched down and we were ‘home’.  It has always amazed me, in each of my twelve touch downs at the Ben Gurion Airport, that a feeling of peace settles into my soul.  As we went with the crowds through the visa check-in procedure, it reminded me of what it must have been like in Jerusalem during the celebration of Passover.  Even today the city of Jerusalem and surrounding suburbs cannot be classified as a large city when compared to the mega cities around the world. 

   

But we are told that the population swelled in Jerusalem and the surrounding bergs to more than two million people.  There are two peak times for ministries to schedule tours to Israel, October-November and February-March and, as we learned, this was a bumper year for tourists.

We were very pleased to clear the intake process and get into the Tel Tamar Van and hit the road for the desert.  Two hours later we arrived at The Biblical Park of Tel Tamar and settled in for fifteen days of work and fellowship.  People have asked me, on many occasions, if I was not afraid to be located four miles from Jordan, who at this point is not overly happy with Israel.  My response, no, there is no press in the Arabah and very few in the Negev.  They don’t like the desert and will do all in their power to stay away from it. 

  

And, where there is no press, there is no deep haters of Sons of Ishmael with Sons of Isaac.  The main concerns of the people of the Arabah is water and survival.  We had a daily visit from Mohammad, who has a deep respect and even love for Tel Tamar and the people who freely come and give of their time and talents to make their lives easier.  Sunday nights were special for the ladies in the crowd; Mohammad brought his wife and four beautiful little children to visit.  There is a softness about the Bedouin children that makes them especially beautiful.

I have stood on the top of the Tel (hill over a rebuilt city) many times and looked across the valley to Bozrah, which is located in Jordan about six miles distant.  Isaiah wrote the following words about this very special place: “Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? It is I who speak in righteousness, might to save” (Isaiah 63:1).

In our first trip to Tel Tamar, then known as Kibbutz Ir Ovot and located in the Wilderness of Zin, where Moses and the children of Israel trucked for forty years and it was called Oboth (Num. 21:10).  At Kibbuts Ir Ovot in 1984 lived Rabbi Pearlmutter and his family.  Simca and his family had been in a survival mode for many years and, in a sense, when Blossoming Rose became involved, it made his life a lot easier.  He often told the story that at every meal they set a place at the table for “He who will come from Edom”, expecting that he and his family would join the growing crowd of believers who would walk with Jesus to the Eastern Gate. 

Well, my friends, I could go on for hours but will give you a shovel full at a time.  In the 30 plus years that we have sojourned in the Arabah of Israel, we have seen many prophecies fulfilled- but none more profound that the greening of the desert.  What was barren waste land on our first trips is now beautiful vineyards and fields of flower, fruit and vegetables, many which provide for the needs of Europe.

We are fearful for these final days of President Obama’s presidency for many believe he is going to throw Israel under the bus by voting ‘aye’ on the UN resolution that Israel must return to the boundaries of 1967.  I believe God gave our nation a reprieve from judgement by Donald Trump’s victory, but are we facing an even more dangerous fate if Pres. Obama says “yes”.  Joel 3:2 gives us fair warning: “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, On behalf of my people and my inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered Among the nations.   And they have divided up My land”.   

Something to think and pray about, my friends. Continue to pray for the incoming new administration.

Blessings,

Gramps

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