Dear Friend,
Let the bullying begin … in earnest, in America, against anyone who dares retain a traditional view of marriage, a religious belief, or who supports a democracy in the Middle East (Israel).
After decades of challenges to traditional values, our beloved country seems destined for a reckoning.
We’ve come a long way, baby, from the “greatest generation” of World War II to the “grayest generation” of the 1960s. My Woodstock Generation flew well but landed poorly, consigning many moral and spiritual issues to a gray zone. We started with an idealistic worldview of a better America without racism and a naïve belief in a world without war. Our result was to blur the clear black and white of good and evil until that distinction is now unrecognizable, just as Isaiah predicted in chapter 5:
20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
What a chilling description Isaiah wrote of his day and what an accurate assessment of our times he prophesied. We are experiencing the “stacking up” of the signs of Yeshua’s imminent return.
Our current television project bears the title Times of the Signs because of my study and interviews with prophecy experts. To a person, they say that the signs of the Second Coming are crowding onto the world scene.
Rav Shaul (Apostle Paul) spoke of this to Timothy:
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God… (2 Timothy 3:1–4)
Our nation is at a tipping point in our flight from the God of the Bible. The wisdom from Above has been relegated to the hearts of Believers but is absent from our governing bodies and corporations.
Given the dearth of true statesmen in our midst, studying Winston Churchill encourages me that God can cause men like him to arise again, the right men at the right time. Churchill was a flawed man who nonetheless kept the big picture in sight and clearly saw the difference between good and evil. As the Royal Air Force fought the pivotal Battle of Britain with the German Luftwaffe, Churchill proclaimed in gratitude: “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Churchill knew the selfless sacrifice by those on the frontlines and by those who served in every capacity to end the threat of totalitarianism. Churchill’s “so many” includes us, the generations that followed, who have benefitted from the stalwart grit of the soldiers and civilians who stood in the gap.
WWII not only saved the world from Hitler’s plan of conquest, it opened the door to the modern state of Israel. After the death camps were uncovered—and in a moment of uncharacteristic generosity on this anti-Semitic globe—the world “allowed” the rebirth and establishment of a Jewish homeland. Of course, the heavenly joke is on “the world” because God prophesied the restoration of the Jewish people (the children of Abraham) to our homeland over 4,000 years ago:
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.” —Genesis 15:18
The State of Israel was going to happen. I won’t quibble here due to, uh, space limitations, but the actual land grant is MUCH larger than Israel’s current borders. Stay tuned as God works through upcoming events to fulfill THAT promise as well.
We Jewish people, and the Church folks who love us, can thank men like Churchill for holding the line against the hordes of hell.
We need people like that today as ISIS, al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority, and other terror groups continue to assault Israel and the West. The lack of outspoken opposition to ISIS and their ilk is a phenomenon that parallels the days of Churchill. When Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich proclaiming, “Peace in our time,” he was just like the long-winded pundits of today proclaiming Islam a “religion of peace.” Missing the point in a profound and dangerous way, the current leaders in the West appear to concentrate on issues of social engineering while the hostile hordes amass at the gates.
A pointed example is the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that legalizes same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Some people celebrated; many mourned. The mourners do not hate or fear sexual choice but rather the freedom to uphold traditional marriage under attack. We are being marginalized and the bullying has just begun. We await the potential deeper alienation.
There is a small note of hope in the language of the majority opinion:“Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned. The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered. The same is true of those who oppose same-sex marriage for other reasons. In turn, those who believe allowing same-sex marriage is proper or indeed essential, whether as a matter of religious conviction or secular belief, may engage those who disagree with their view in an open and searching debate. The Constitution, however, does not permit the State to bar same-sex couples from marriage on the same terms as accorded to couples of the opposite sex.” (James Obergefell, et al., Petitioners v. Richard Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health, et al.)
Regarding the words you just read, the Evangelical Church Alliance, our ordaining group, sent Katharine and me the following note:
This paragraph appears to give religious bodies, like the ECA, clergy, like our ministers, and, possibly others (“persons”) the legal defense necessary to resist any attempts to coerce the endorsement or validation of same-sex marriages. Of course, it is sure to be tested in court in the days ahead, and no outcomes can be predicted with any certainty. For the moment, though, it would appear that religious institutions, including associations, organizations, denominations, congregations, etc. are not affected by this ruling. However, state governments and their employees are ordered to comply and begin issuing licenses immediately.
To paraphrase Churchill: Never was so much taken from so many by so few.
The first legal salvo has been fired against the “People of the Book” in this debate. We can add this impropriety to our national coolness toward Israel and our leaders’ flagrant ignoring of jihad as another sign of the crisis in America and of the soon coming of the Lord.
The keen-thinking theologian Russell Moore reminds us:
The Supreme Court can do many things; but the Supreme Court cannot get Jesus back in that tomb. Jesus of Nazareth is still alive. He is still calling the universe toward His kingdom.
One way to affirm our belief in the Word is to visit the land of its origin. Come with us to Israel for a study tour and affirm your faith. We will celebrate God’s prophetic faithfulness together.
Our Fall Tour 2015 still has openings. Zola Tours manager, Sandra, can help you select your optimal pilgrimage. Please call her at 214-696-9760, email her at , or visit www.levitt.com/tours to learn more.
Deluxe | Israel | Oct 11–20 |
Grand Petra | Israel & Petra | Oct 11–23 |
Grand Athens | Greece & Israel | Oct 5–20 |
Ultra Grand | Greece, Israel, Petra | Oct 5–23 |
Deluxe | Israel | Mar 13–22 |
Grand Petra | Israel & Petra | Mar 13–25 |
Meanwhile, please watch Katharine and me on television as this ministry continues with programs for your edification and enjoyment. Our August Zola Levitt Presents schedule includes:
We conclude our ten-part series in which the viewer joins a group of pilgrims touring Israel. Our Messianic Sabra (native-born) guide opens the Bible with the Hebrew language at his command. Pastors Myles and Katharine Weiss teach alongside our local guides. Meet “living stones” of the Body of Messiah in the Land, many of whom ZLM supports through benevolence funds.
HEART TO HEART
Before we introduce our new series about the Patriarch Joseph, Myles and Katharine respond to letters and emails from viewers of the program and readers of the Levitt Letter. Katharine interviews the vice-president of Global Training at Ahava, makers of Dead Sea minerals skin care products.
And… drum roll… at long last and significant cost, we take pride in introducing the long-awaited series:
JOSEPH: DREAMER/REDEEMER
I know that these programs will uplift you and your family. Please be aware that everything we do depends on gifts of funds from partners like you. I’ll see you here, there, or in the air.
Please remember to Sha’alu shalom Yerushalayim—Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6)
Your brother and messenger,
Myles
P.S. God is still on His throne… no supreme court can change that!
Dear Myles,
America’s decline will not reverse without intervention by the Lord.
“Here is my donation for August. Please use it to expose increasingly blatant attacks on God’s Word and His cure for moral decline.”
This series recounts the history of Abraham’s sons—Isaac and Jacob—to confirm God’s eternal covenant with the Children of Israel to this day.
Zola’s Ultimate Hebrew Primer teaches both print and script, so you will be ready to read, speak, and write Hebrew in Israel and in Heaven. Assumes no prior knowledge and progresses gradually, so even the fainthearted will find immediate value.
Beautiful and useful, this lovely Jewish calendar provides the dates of all the biblical feasts and sabbaths. Learn the names of the months, the Holy Days and all the rest through the English phonetics like in our monthly Hebrew Lesson in the Levitt Letter.