Shalom Partner and Friend of Israel,

There is no doubt that today Matthew 24 is in the process of being fulfilled. The “King of Kings” is soon to return! How do we know this is true? Scripture substantiates it. So, if ever we need a reminder of the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father, and encouragement to finish the race, this one’s for believers! If we need to discern the season, this one’s for us! Luke 21:25-28, encourages us to stand firm, and rejoice, knowing that the battle is on …but “help is on the way!” In all the doom and gloom, we need to be “still” and encouraged with a reminder that God is still in control, and has always been!

The Gospel of Matthew is all about the King… “The King of the Jews” - the King who came to die to save His subjects, the King who is coming again to establish His Millennial Kingdom as the King of Kings and that King is Yeshua HaMashiach - Jesus Christ. Matthew focuses on both the First and Second Coming of Christ, with the assurance that in both cases, indeed the King is coming! Yes, Christ is coming back to Earth soon as “King of kings” and “Lords of lords” to establish the “Kingdom of God.” When He returns there will be” signs and wonders in the sky” and all those who are alive will see them. That’s one promise that will certainly be fulfilled! When Yeshua (Jesus) came to Earth approximately 2000 years ago, there was also a “sign in the heavens.” The wise men from the East saw “this sign” and they followed it to Bethlehem. They were learned men who knew their scripture and they studied the stars. They knew this star would lead them to the “New Born King” and they came to worship Him. Even Herod, King of Judea, knew a King was born, though he thought it was an earthly king. He reasoned this King would be a threat to him and he tried to put him (the new Born King) to death. Now, when Christ returns to Earth the second time, he won’t be as a little child to suffer at the hands of men BUT rather He’ll return with all the divine power and might that He used to create the universe. As we see in Romans 1, the divine nature and invisible qualities of God can clearly be seen in every aspect of His Creation; the vastness, order, and precision of the universe are manifestations of God and so those who refused to believe in Him have NO excuse!

Charles Spurgeon once said; “I think we do NOT attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough about it. But certainly, if there is anything promised in the Bible it is this! I imagine that you cannot read the Bible without seeing clearly that there is to be an actual restoration of the Children of Israel.” Here he was speaking about God’s prophetical promise about His people – the Jews!  About 4,000 years ago God commanded Abraham to leave his country and assured him; “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” - Genesis 12:1-3. And, God gave a specific land with borders and boundaries to Abraham through his offspring Isaac and Jacob;  “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northwards and southwards and eastwards and westwards, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.”  - Genesis 13:14-15. Some today (even Christians) are unsure if this promise still stands - but we must ask ourselves, “When has God ever broken His Word?” NEVER! It is no accident that the people of God are back in the land God promised to their forefathers – their restoration, though filled with challenges and sorrows for many people, is a fulfilment of God’s Word. Because, God is faithful and true, even though we are not!  God promised he would do it, and he has done it. Not because Israel is in any way better than any other nation – in fact, God says the opposite! (Deuteronomy 7:7)

From Father Abraham to the streets of Israel today, the story of the people of Israel at every corner proves that while we fail God over and over, He is faithful and His Word is true. As we celebrate the promised re-establishment of Israel 70 Years (1948-2018) later and Jerusalem 50 Years (1967-2017) …and with US Embassy move this year (2018) from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem - let’s recognise the epic story of God’s faithfulness as demonstrated not only in the pages of the Bible, but in the same piece of real estate that he promised to the forefathers thousands of years ago. He is the same God, yesterday, today and forever. The God of Israel keeps his promises! If God has done all this for Israel, you can count on His faithfulness to you too. An event that had to happen before Yeshua (Jesus) could return was the re-establishment of the State of Israel! Before 1948 nobody could even imagine this event happening. The re-gathering of Jews to Israel is a clear sign, in both the Old and New Testaments that our Age is just about over. Yeshua (Jesus) said, "Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" – Luke 21:24. On June 6, 1967, the Jews, for the first time since Jerusalem was captured by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C., took over control of the entire city of Jerusalem, thus signalling the approaching end of Gentile world power! We can see clear signs that we are approaching the End-of-Age and the “signs” are clear! Read; Matthew 24; Luke 21 - All these things are happening with increasing frequency. What strikes us about the “Days of Noah” is that even in the midst of terrible apostasy, evil, violence, and rebellion against God, the people went ahead with their normal lives. They planted fields, they harvested crops, they built houses, they got married, and they had children. They went about business as usual, until the very day that Noah entered the Ark, and then destruction came and took them all away. That is how it will be when Yeshua (Jesus) comes again. Business will go on pretty much as usual until the dreadful wrath of God and the Tribulation fall upon the earth. Then it will be too late to turn to God. At that point the Lord will come back again.

Everything in the universe is orderly, follows a precise pattern, and is endless. There is NO disorder and NO confusion; everything runs as God has set in place and commanded. There is NO mystery about this. God reveals His nature to all those who want to see. God doesn’t hide Himself. He makes clear that His only begotten Son came the first time to die for our sins and the second time He’ll come to redeem us and put a stop to sin. He also outlined a chain of events leading up to His Second Coming and didn’t just leave us unprepared. The word ‘Rapture,’ however, doesn’t appear in the Bible. The Greek word translation of the word means; “to snatch out or catch away.” Even though the word never appears in Scripture, we read that the true believers will meet Christ in the air - in the clouds at His Coming. And, we know this WILL happen! However, let’s be clear on when this will happen - what is the timeline and what will happen afterward?

The “Rapture” will take place before the Great Tribulation. Christ’s Coming is first in the secret Rapture, since He will return for the saints is ‘as a thief in the night’ and it will be accompanied by NO signs, except the disappearance of the true believers in Yeshua (Jesus). The Lord speaks of the day and hour when we will see Him coming in the cloud of heaven. However, He also says... “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only…” - Matthew 24:36. Only God, our Heavenly Abba Father, knows the exact hour when Christ WILL return!  After the “Rapture” of the saints …the Second Coming of Christ will occur at two different points in time; First a so-called  “peace treaty” will be signed by Antichrist with Israel (Daniel 9:25-7) in the middle of the 7-year “Tribulation.” And at the second part of the Tribulation will be Christ’s return - “coming in great glory” to establish the “Kingdom of God” …and to rid the world of the Antichrist. In Matthew 24; Mark 13; and Luke 21, Christ says that the sign of the “Son of Man” will appear in Heaven and then ALL the tribes of the Earth will mourn and will see the (rapture) “Son of Man coming on the clouds” of Heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30). Christ compares the time just before His Second Coming; “...as in the days of Noah” when the everyday lives of people went on as usual, then  “…two men in the field one will be taken the other left; two women grinding, one is taken and the other is left!” Pre-Tribulation thought claims these events must take place at two different times; (1) Rapture and (2) then the Second Coming of the Lord after the Great Tribulation. We read in Genesis 6 that; in Noah’s time there was widespread violence and corruption. Human calamity was so great that God was determined to destroy ALL flesh, except Noah and his family. Yet, even with all this mayhem around him, Noah and his sons were still able to build the Ark in relative peace. But, when the rain came - God Himself sealed the Ark and the godless people were unable to get in!

As we can see today life still goes on within tribulation. The Bible clearly teaches that society WILL degenerate in the End Times, becoming as evil as it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39). The Apostle Paul warns that society will descend into a black pit of immorality, violence, and paganism (2 Timothy 3:1-5). He asserts that men will be “lovers of self, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure.” People will be “boastful, arrogant, and unholy,” and children will be “disobedient to parents.” Sounds like the evening news, doesn’t it? Look at today’s news and what do we see? In short, we have arrived! Lawlessness from the godless leftist liberals is today at the most dangerous level of hatred. They are pushing their anti-God LGBTQ agenda which is totally against God’s divine plan for families. We should be deeply concerned over these developments, not only because we are witnessing the destruction of the West as we know it, but because both Yeshua (Jesus) and the Apostle Paul prophesied that when these things occur, the Church will come under attack and individual Christians will be persecuted.

In recent times across the world unprecedented violence, slander, lies and deceit, Christian persecution, floods, drought, famine, abortion which is the murder of the innocent babies, crime, war, injustice, Islamic terrorism - so the list goes on …and yes, nevertheless so life goes on as if nothing is happening! Yeshua (Jesus) said that as lawlessness increases, “most people’s love will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). The Lord warned us that in this hostile atmosphere that many professing Christians will “fall away” and will proceed to co-operate in the persecution of believers (Matthew 24:10). Paul indicates the same thing when he says that people will be “haters of good” and that they will therefore be “brutal” and “reckless,” reviling those who stand for righteousness (2 Timothy 3:2-4). Anti-Semitism is on the rise… not only across Europe and in America but also in South Africa where our current government is hostile towards Israel and is openly supporting the BDS movement which has pushed the Jew persecution around the world! Most importantly, we MUST keep our eyes focused on Israel it is God’s plan from Genesis to Revelation. When Israel became a nation again in 1948 after 2,000 years in exile – the clock began to tick!

Let’s go back in time to the year 550BC when Ezekiel wrote about the Valley of Dry Bones - Ezekiel 37.

“… The bones covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them…. Then he said … “Come, O breath, from the four winds” … They all came to life and stood up on their feet – an exceedingly great army!”

A man whisked away to a valley full of bones which start to rattle and hum as they join together forming …and then dead flesh and skin starts to envelope lifeless skeletons so that they become corpses. Then the wind blows wildly from all directions and the bodies all come to life and they stand up to become a great army. This sounds like a script from a horror movie ready to open up at Halloween! But, Ezekiel who wrote this script was NOT interested in sending shivers down our spines 2,500 years later. Instead, he was engaged in something much more serious. He proclaimed a message from God Himself. And remarkably, the events of history HAVE played out such that this message was meant for us who are living today! How so?

God tells Ezekiel that these bones are the whole house of Israel and that they are dry and their hope is lost! Ezekiel wrote; “Then He (God) said to me; “…these bones represent the people of Israel. … I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel … Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken! … I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered. I will unify them into one nation on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule them all; no longer will they be divided into two nations or into two kingdoms…” - Ezekiel 37:11-23.

In other words these bones that Ezekiel saw in a vision 2500 years ago represented the Jewish people… When Ezekiel wrote these words the Jews had previously been divided into two political nations but had now gone into exile to Babylon as a conquered and ruined people. Just as every bone, by definition, has previously been a living organ in a living body, but is now ‘dead’, the Jews of that day saw themselves as formerly alive but now ‘dead bones’. Then Ezekiel had this vision of their eventual return to life. The Jews in his day did return from the Babylonian exile a few decades after his vision …but he was not writing of that since it was a return only from Babylon and they returned only as a province dominated within a vast Empire. They did NOT yet come alive as a nation. In his vision Ezekiel foresaw a return of God’s chosen people (Jews) from the ‘nations’ and ‘places where they had been ‘scattered’ back to that same land that they had been ejected from …where they would be ‘one nation’ with their own ‘king’ or ruler. That did NOT happen until thousands of years later when the modern state of Israel was forged from a United Nations resolution in 1948. Only then did the Jews finally get a self-governing nation with their own ruler.

 Did you know…? The area of the State of Israel fits 545 times into the Arab World's area that is roughly 0.18% of the lands. Tiny Israel is the size of the Kruger National Park in South Africa or New Jersey in America. The population of Israel estimate at 2016 census - 8,585.000 Israeli Citizens; Jewish, Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians, etc. Now compare the Islamic Nations surrounding Israel… Strictly, there are 17 Arab countries, while the Arab League includes other 4 states, which are not Arab, and the so-called disputed territories, totalizing 22. Estimate Arab census taken in 2007 is 330,000,000 and these 17 Arab countries have 46 times the population of Israel! For a tiny nation of people, having the Jews emigrate from almost half the countries of our globe in the span of 70 years, after an exile of 2000 years, is nothing short of remarkable. What is even more remarkable is that Ezekiel ‘saw’ it in a vision 2,500 years ago.

Until our day – 70 years later - after the re-birth of Israel in 1948 the dead bones literally had begun to rattle together into skeletons. And, with the subsequent gain of Jerusalem in 1967 as their Eternal Capital …flesh and skin started to envelope the skeletons. And now every year thousands of Jews are returning from all the nations around the world. They are returning and making deserts bloom into lush farmland; they are returning and rebuilding ruined cities; they are learning Hebrew their ancient tongue; and more and more are considering again their ancient God revealed in the Hebrew Old Testament as Elohim and as YHWH (Yahweh). The IDF today has grown into mighty army. From the ashes of the Holocaust tiny Israel (surrounded by hostile Islamic nations) the IDF is protecting their homeland is an army to be respected! 

We can see today the “dead bones” coming back to life in front of our eyes, in the stages envisioned by Ezekiel those thousands of years ago.  And just like Ezekiel described, it is happening with all the confusion, splitting and dividing between peoples and nations (and especially the United Nations) like the violence caused by the rushing of the ‘four winds’ of the compass.  If you have any doubt just listen to the world news!

There are so many prophecies and promises in the Bible concerning Israel that have come true, especially in the last 200 years, that no one could possibly have predicted or imagined. It shows that God can see the future, foretold it in His Word, and has been utterly faithful in keeping his promises! More than 300 years ago, King Louis XIV, the ruler of France, asked the famous philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal, to prove that the existence of God. Pascal replied; “Well, your Majesty, the Jews! The  Jews!” Their remarkable story of survival and their journey through history till today reveals that time after time, God’s Word is true! Israel will be an anvil on which God WILL judge nations and people on how they treated the Lord’s brethren – the Jews! We are watching these prophecies come true today before our very eyes here in Israel and around the world. As our culture has secularized and paganized, Christianity, the Church, and Christians have come under increasing attack as “intolerant bigots.” The attacks are going to intensify, and it is going to become increasingly difficult for Christians to stand for righteousness. Jobs will be lost. Careers will be destroyed. Christians will even be sent to prison for speaking out against evils such as homosexuality since that will be labelled as “hate crimes.” What then are those of us who love God and His Word, the Bible, going to do facing a rising wave of ridicule, harassment, and persecution for our Judeo-Christian faith in Yeshua (Jesus)? How shall we live for Christ in the End Times? “When we see all these things happening we will know that the end is near. The Kingdom of God is about to be established.” - Luke 21:28, 31.

Many Christians today have allowed their priorities to get very mixed up. Usually, job or career is number one, family is second, and God is third or even fourth behind an obsession with sports or something similar. God should always be first, family next and job third since it is God who gives us the ability to create wealth. If we ask ourselves this question; If God was to give us the opportunity to make one request, what would it be? Power? Fame? Success? King Solomon asked for wisdom, but David asked for something ten thousand times more profound when he asked for intimacy with God (Psalm 27:4). And, because he put God first, he states in Psalm 27 that he did not fear life (vs 1) or death (vs 13). It is also the reason that he is remembered as; “the man after God’s own heart” - Acts 13:22.

More than ever before we must stand on the God’s Word… The Bible says that the End-Times WILL be an “Age of Deception” (Mathew 24:24; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 4:3-4). In fulfilment of that prophecy, believers in Yeshua (Jesus) are NOT immune and are today also being bombarded with false but alluring religious systems offered by the Islam, Christian cults, Eastern religions, Liberalism and the New Age Movement. Anyone can be deceived! We are to guard ourselves against deception by staying rooted in the God’s Word – the Bible on a daily basis and test everything by the Word (1 John 4:1). The Old Testament Scriptures teach that God NEVER changes (Malachi 3:6). And, the New Testament states that; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, yes and forever.” – Hebrews 13:8. There is NO way we can cope with the evil of End-Time society in our own strength. Anyone who tries to do so will be defeated. Our only hope is in God who is alive and well, who is still on the throne, who hears prayer and answers prayer, and who still performs miracles!

We need to understand that the Holy Spirit is a person and is the “supernatural presence of God” in the world today. He performs a dual role; for the unbeliever… He is God’s Evangelist - the one who works on human hearts to draw them to the Cross in repentance. No one is saved apart from the testimony of the Spirit (John 6:44, 65). With regard to the believer… the Holy Spirit is God’s indwelling presence to provide us with power and guidance and our Enabler. He is also God’s Potter, for one of His basic responsibilities is to daily shape believers more fully into the image of Yeshua (Jesus) - 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. One of the ironies of the believer in Yeshua is that we cannot serve God in our own power. Rather, the only way we can effectively serve the Lord is by relying on the power of His Holy Spirit who resides within us. However, we must remember that it is possible to quench and grieve the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19; Ephesians 4:30).

God has NOT promised believers a rose garden as we live in a fallen world. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. The wicked do prosper and justice seldom prevails today and so it is easy for the righteous to grow discouraged! This calls for the practice of tough faith …the kind of faith that is not dependent on circumstances. It’s the kind of faith that hangs in there when the going gets tough because of a confident belief that… “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord” – Romans 8:28. God never promises that believers will be immune to suffering. But, what He does promise us is that He will be there to walk through the trials with us! He promises to be beside us when we “pass through the waters” and “walk through the fire” (Isaiah 43:2). And, He states that He will be there when we; “Walk through the valley of the shadow of death” – Psalm 23:4. We are to keep an Eternal perspective… We are to be in the world but NOT of the world (John 17:11, 16) and that’s a difficult principle to follow …and constitutes a daily struggle. It is so easy to get our eyes off the Lord and focus instead upon the world in which we live as daily demands can be so pressing. And, sadly one of the greatest of those demands is that we conform to the world and the world’s language, dress, entertainment, and even ungodly values. That’s why we are constantly exhorted in Scripture to consider ourselves as “aliens, exiles, and strangers” who are just passing through this world (Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11). We are told to “set our minds on things above, NOT on the things that are on the earth” - Colossians 3:2 …and, we are warned to NEVER fall in love with the world or to grow comfortable with it (Romans 12:2; 1 John 2:15-16). In fact, our Lord Yeshua (Jesus) said we are to; “hate our life in this world” – John 12:25 and His brother, James, said; “friendship with the world is hostility toward God” – James 4:4.

What does it mean to hate the world? It means we are to hate the evil world system that prevails in society. We are to hate a system that glorifies violence and immorality and which depreciates the value of life. C. S. Lewis once put it, “We are to live like commandos behind the enemy lines, preparing the way for the Coming of the Commander-in-Chief.” In other words, we are to live yearning for the day when Yeshua (Jesus) will burst from the heavens to bring peace, righteousness, and justice to the earth. The Bible clearly tells us that we are to live “looking for the return of Yeshua (Jesus).” Most Christians are so caught up in the world that they live thinking about anything but the soon return of our Lord. This is a sad state of affairs because Yeshua’s return is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) …and His return is imminent! Another huge problem is that most Christians know very little about Bible Prophecy and God’s plan for Israel in the End-Times so they cannot get excited about the Lord’s return. How can you get excited about an event you know nothing about since it is NOT taught as it should be in most Churches? Ignorance produces apathy! And, apathy about the Lord’s soon return has tragic consequences as it also robs us of an “Eternal mind-set,” destroys any sense of urgency for reaching lost souls and undermines a powerful motivator for “holy living!” You see, when a person comes to truly believe that the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) is “returning” and “may return any moment,” or “in a twinkling of an eye,” that person WILL be motivated to holiness and evangelism. The Apostle John says it this way; “We know that when He appears (the Rapture), we shall be like Him (glorified)! And, everyone who has this hope fixed on Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure!” – 1 John 3:2-3.

The Apostle Paul provides us with a “Spiritual mirror” for an End-Time attitude and says we are to; “Deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus” – Titus 2:12-13. When we look into this mirror - what do we see …and are we questioning ourselves? Are we walking in the centre of God’s will? Have we ordered our priorities to put God first? Are we standing on the Word of God, testing everything by it? Do we believe in a personal, caring and all-powerful God who hears prayers …and answers prayers …and who still performs miracles? Are we relying daily on the power of the Holy Spirit? Are we practicing tough faith, refusing to allow the calamities of life to overwhelm us? Are we keeping an Eternal perspective, refusing to get comfortable with this world? And, are we daily looking for Yeshua (Jesus)? Is the Rapture in our hearts? Is “Maranatha!” on our lips?

We most sincerely believe that God WILL bless you for your faithfulness and love for His Land and chosen people. God’s Word is true! He is watching to see how the nations are treating His people. God will have mercy on Israel through Gentile believers acting as mediators towards them. This is one of the most amazing revelations ever given to the church – an opportunity to do something that carries the highest priority in the heart of God. Yet, sadly, so few have seen the potential and the rewards of serving God in this manner - as agents of mercy to Israel and the Jewish people! Israel was and still is despised today and a despised nation continually turning away from God BUT nothing ever altered the purpose of God for that nation. The despised element is always a noticeable element in the purpose of God. When the Saviour of the world came, He came of that despised nation; like Israel… He Himself was “despised and rejected by men,” …and there is that despised element; “…things that are despised God has chosen,” 1 Corinthians 1:28. Now, more than at any time is the time to support Israel and the Jewish people - the Lord’s Brethren! We are witnessing the nations and people turning their backs on Israel. Thank you once again for your prayers and generous support!

We hope that you enjoy and become more informed by our work. We serve an awesome God and we are humbled by this opportunity to bring you this information. With Shalom to you and your family always,

Alf & Julie Saunders

01^st December, 2018

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