June 1999: Volume 21, Number 6



Contents




Zola Levitt
Zola Levitt
I can't help being disappointed in the results of the Israeli election. But if I'm going to preach that Israeli affairs are guided by God, then I'll accept the new Prime Minister as resulting from His will.

Changing of the Guard

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak is a very good man, a decorated soldier and a field marshal of unquestioned integrity. He helped plan the dramatic rescue at Entebbe, and he fought the Palestinians in Beirut. What I fear about him is that he will be too eager to reverse the policies of Netanyahu, especially as regards the land and Palestinian reciprocity for it. The former Prime Minister insisted on the Arabs keeping their word, fighting terrorism, and dealing fairly with Israel. I am a little afraid that Barak, trying to please his various constituencies, will want to give back the Golan Heights and will remove the army from south Lebanon where it guarantees the peace of Galilee.

The Israeli settlers are nervous about these things as well, and they have undertaken building programs to create what former P.M. Begin called "facts on the ground."

I don't think that Barak will deal so closely with the Orthodox in Israel, and we should see a settling down of religious conflicts.

In the meanwhile, our media are gloating. They imagine that Netanyahu was the only problem holding up what they called the peace process, and now they can see a new Palestinian nation on the horizon. Our news reporters can make or break a country, and they are breaking a small and brave democracy into pieces.

Why do our media behave this way? Well, other than the standard aversion to Jews and their country, I think the root of the problem is money. Why on earth any democracy, including ours, would favor a Palestinian "state"— in reality, a dictatorship —to be formed in the midst of a very small democracy is inexplicable except as it affects the cash income of the perpetrators. Pleasing the more powerful Arabs, such as those in Saudi Arabia with their hands on the oil spigot, leads to more comfortable transactions in rooms behind the scenes. We have served Arab interests since the boycotts of the 1970s because we're afraid, as a country who obtains 56% of its oil offshore, that we'll be cut off again. Like drug addicts we work for our pushers, committing crimes in the process just to get the substances we need.

The Bible says, "the love of money is the root of all evil," and that truth can be seen around the world. Milosevic, according to a recent The Jerusalem Post article, wants Kosovo not for any religious or geographical reasons, but because of its mineral wealth. It's a matter again of cash for the perpetrator. From Georgie Anne Geyer of The Washington Times, "In addition to manipulating passions over the holy places, what really gets Slobodan Milosevic's blood pulsing is that other Kosovo. This is the one that has been historically called 'Queen of minerals and mines.'" Bill Clinton sells our nuclear secrets and access to our government to the Chinese for cash. Some Christian seminaries couldn't care less what doctrines they are teaching or what textbooks they are using because they are totally distracted by their pursuit of cash. Some of our TV networks, Christian and otherwise, sell us awfully poor times at high prices because they save their better times for those that will give them even more cash. And two of what were the finest Christian publishers in my days as an author, Zondervan and Moody Press, have disappointed me in the same year, primarily on matters of cash.

I am a sinful man, but I do not have a cash addiction, and that has done our ministry well. We have never asked for money when we didn't need it, and we have never wasted any of it. I broadcast whatever the Lord would lead me to broadcast, and write whatever He leads me to write. Occasionally, it is gently suggested to me that we might "do a little better" if I weren't such a "hard-liner" on Israel or on pointing out the errors of certain denominations or on criticizing certain seminaries, professional people, etc. Well, insofar as I am listening to the Lord and am guided by Him, you need to talk to Him, not to me. At the beginning I was warned that television ministry was hard, a Jewish person could not very likely succeed in it, it was hopeless to pay the bills out of one's own pocket and hope the donations would make it up, and so on. Well, following the Lord and doing His will as I best perceive it has given the lie to all those warnings. He has guided us through thick and thin, and in May we celebrated the 20th year of Zola Levitt Ministries, a very happy time.

But back to the Israel election: The major factor is that there was a change of governments. Don't expect the Palestinian dictatorship to end until Arafat dies or is assassinated. Don't expect any Arab leadership to ever change other than with a palace coup or the like. As columnist William Safire asked, "Where does this happen but in a genuinely quarrelsome democracy? Where in the Middle East but in Israel?"

And as a democracy ourselves, we should appreciate the fact that while some 40% of Americans care to vote in presidential elections, more than 80% of Israelis voted in this election! As James Carville, who managed the campaign of Barak, observed, Israel is "a unique and wonderful country, a heck of a place." And he called the election campaign "intense."

As to the issues of the election, The Washington Post brilliantly observed, "Many religious Jews believe the West Bank is Biblical and promised to Jewish people by God." They don't realize, of course, that all of the promises made by God to the patriarchs about ownership of the land were made in what they call the West Bank (Judea and Sumeria). I often relate that the only time I personally carried a gun to make a TV program was at Bethel, deep in the West Bank, the exact site where God renewed His promises to Jacob about the Jews owning the land. Shechem (now called Nablus by the Arabs) was the site on which God assured Abraham that the Jews would own the land forever.

It is the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, which will decide thorny issues like settlements in the West Bank and the possible division of Israel. Of course, I pray that the status quo remains. To me, there was only one issue in this election, and that is that Israel not give away any more land to the Arabs, their sworn enemies. It was a small relief that Barak didn't win enough support in the Knesset to form a single-party government. Therefore, he will have to negotiate, as Netanyahu did, with various interests in the Knesset to establish his policies.

This is a tense time for Israel. I hope the United States doesn't "help out" much more. The new Prime Minister is already being treated as some kind of American surrogate within our power to control. As a Dallas Morning News editorial sagely stated on May 18, "The United States should strive to insure that [Barak] remains focused." Tricky words like "focused" mean he should keep on giving away land to the Arabs until there is no more Israel, I presume.

If it weren't for the will of God, the United States on its own could finish off modern Israel. I hope we just leave it alone.

***


Return to Index


DON'T FAULT GUNS
BY: TOM HOPE

Enough with the rigged debates on gun control.

Columbine is a problem with our culture, not the National Rifle Association.

Thirty years ago, anyone could buy a gun any time. We had a much lower crime rate and no high school massacres. Quit blaming guns.

Back then, we were raised by our parents, not by the entertainment industry. Our parents taught that the highest goals of life were to please God and to improve the lives of those around us. By the time we were 5, we knew right from wrong.

But today, good and bad are treated as irrelevant to the public debate. Life's noblest goal has become personal pleasure in whatever you choose. We rarely set limits for children, and we pretend there are no consequences to the choices they make.

When we make real values part of our culture again, these problems will fade away. Until then, they will get worse.

***


Return to Index


A startling article which will interest a large portion of our audience appeared recently in an Israeli magazine. I have quoted liberally below from the article and made a few comments of my own in bold type.

"Decoding the Priesthood"

by Peter Hirschberg, printed in The Jerusalem Report,
May 10, 1999

New genetic research shows the vast majority of kohanim, the Jewish priestly class, to be descended from a single ancestor—scientific confirmation of an oral tradition passed down through 3,000 years . . .

. . .The samples being collected are part of a worldwide project using cutting-edge genetic technology to study the ancient lineage of the Jewish priesthood. If tradition is accurate, all the men reciting the priestly blessing and their counterparts across the Jewish world are direct descendants of Aaron, anointed the first high priest by his brother Moses at least 3,000 years ago.

Now, using the cells these men have scraped from the inside of their cheeks, along with those of kohanim in the U.S. and Britain, scientists are able to peer into their chromosomes. What they are seeing is staggering: At least 70 percent of kohanim, themselves about a twentieth of Jewish men, have a common set of markers on their Y chromosome, the chromosome every male receives almost unchanged from his father —and, in effect, from his father, and father's father before him.

The researchers' conclusion: The tradition of the Jewish priesthood, or kehunah, has a genetic basis that does point to a single ancestor —possibly Aaron. What's more, this priestly genetic marker may also be a signature of the ancient Hebrew population, preserved in the kehunah because it is a closed club: You can convert to Judaism, but you can't convert into the priesthood. The gene trail, in other words, may lead past Aaron to his great-great-grandfather, Jacob, a.k.a. Israel. . . .

. . . no other non-Jewish group has been found with more than a five percent incidence of the chromosome. And so, they say, it could provide clues—alongside anthropological and ethnographic evidence — as to whether there's any basis to claims by groups that they are descendants of the Hebrews or have some form of Jewish ancestry. . . .

. . . "It looks like this chromosomal type was a constituent of the ancestral Hebrew population," says David Goldstein, an expert in the field of evolutionary genetics at Oxford University. "If this inference holds up, it means we can test the origins of particular groups that seem to have a potential connection to an ancestral Jewish population." . . .

. . . "At first I was worried that it was a sampling artifact (a chance result of the group chosen) because of the high frequency," says [researcher] Hammer . . . "It was incredibly exciting to find something that could be tracing paternally-inherited traits over 40 to 50 generations, three or four thousand years of history. This is the first time ever we have been able to make a correlation with the ethnographic record over this time scale. Some people keep records that go back three, maybe four generations. But 50 generations!" . . .

Clearly, Biblical veracity has been tested here and found excellent. And the Jews, at least of the high priestly sect of Levites called kohanim, have been very good about not intermarrying or having extramarital relations. Obviously, adultery causing pregnancies would dilute the gene pool, but evidently this has not happened to any significant degree.

. . . "This is powerful," [Rabbi Ya'akov Kleiman] says. "It shows the lineage of the kohanim is true. The end is the redemption and part of it is a functioning Temple. We see now that the exile is ending. We're not messianists and we're not pushing the train, but it's going. This gene shows that God keeps His promises. That we wouldn't remain scattered."

"It also shows that we've kept our promise to Him," chimes in Moshe Tenner, a Manhattan dentist studying at the yeshivah. "The creator of this tool, of the gene marker, is God. This probably will go back to Shem [according to Genesis, Noah's eldest son and the progenitor of the Semitic peoples]. This is a tool that He's built in for us to unravel. It's no coincidence." . . .

Truly, Daniel 12:4 is working out: "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

This article might be of great interest to those who are looking into their own backgrounds to find a Jewish descendency. It is not clear whether DNA from other tribes can be found very accurately, since those tribes have intermarried and mixed together for so long. But the kohanim are special and have kept their gene pool very exclusive. In any case, it's certainly food for thought. What a great God we have, indeed!

***

"From Aaron Onward"

(Source: "The Crown of the Kohen: A Concise Guide for Kohanim," Center for Kohanim, Jerusalem.)

The first kohen, or priest, according to the Bible, was Aaron, the brother of Moses of the tribe of Levi, who lived some 3,300 years ago.

  • The 12 tribes of Israel are the descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob. Levi was Jacob's third son; Aaron was Levi's great-grandson. Aaron's descendants became the priestly caste; the rest of the Levites gained a secondary role in Temple rites; all other Jews form the third and largest class, the Israelites.

  • Kohenstatus is passed from father to son.

  • Kohanim often have last names indicating their status, such as Cohen, Kahn, Kaplan, Rapaport, Katz, Azoulay and Harunoff. But such a name is not necessarily proof that someone is a kohen.

  • Today, since there is no Temple, the privileges of the kohenare limited. He no longer receives trumah— a share of produce raised in the Land of Israel — and since sacrificial service can no longer be performed, he doesn't get a share of the offerings. Remaining privileges include being the first called for an aliyah to the Torah in synagogue services; being given the option to lead the birkat hamazon blessing after meals; performing pidyon haben,the redemption of the firstborn son.

  • Another remaining function is the birkat kohanim,in which the descendants of the priestly class bless the people. When the Temple was still standing, the blessing was performed at the conclusion of the morning service. Today, in most parts of Israel, the blessing is recited at services every morning. Outside Israel, Sephardic communities generally perform the ritual daily, while Ashkenazi kohanimrecite the blessing only during the musafservice of the major holidays.

  • Kohanimmay not marry divorcees or converts, and must have no physical contact with the dead. If a kohenmarries a convert or divorcee, his children, halalim,lose the privileges and duties afforded them by their kohenstatus.

***


Return to Index


A Note From Zola

Dear Friends,

I gave my news of the election in the cover article, but let me just add this: the problem has never been on the Israeli side in this "peace process." It is not Netanyahu making it hard, nor was it Peres and Rabin making it easy, that affected this bizarre dancing between the parties. The problem with the peace process is that Arafat and company would like to get the Jews out of Israel and have all the land, and that's all there is to that.

Ask yourself what would happen if Arafat had the weapons Israel has and the Israelis were clinging to the coast as things would be if the Palestinians created a nation in the West Bank. Arafat's constant reneging on agreements and non-cooperation policies remind one of Hitler promising peace before World War II. Clinton and company play the role of Neville Chamberlain who, believing the Nazi dictator, stated, "Peace in our time," in 1938. There are three reasons why we can't even get a start toward peace, and those are that you can't make agreements with dictators, you can't make agreements with dictators, and you can't make agreements with dictators.

While the Palestinians are screaming for land in Israel, the interesting issue of Jewish property in Arab lands has arisen. After all, untold numbers of Jews fled in 1948 from various Arab countries, leaving furnished homes with silverware in the kitchen drawers. They were hounded out of the Arab countries after Israel's War of Independence, and they could only take what they could carry, rather like the refugees from Kosovo. The ethnic cleansing by the Arabs is the most complete and exacting in the entire world. (Saudi Arabia objected to American Jewish soldiers defending it against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War, because if one were killed and buried in Saudi Arabia, it would contaminate their very earth!)

But there are other issues to speak of this month. The Reform Jews are talking about returning to keeping Sabbath laws and eating kosher. The Reform rabbis feel that this will inspire better Judaism in their failing communities. In reality, it's that famous phenomenon of "less faith/more law." When people seem to be losing their beliefs, then give them more rules and regulations to keep (see Catholicism, the stricter Protestant denominations, or Islam). I was witnessing to a Reform Jew just last week, and in the end he called me "intolerant" because I insisted on Biblical truth. He argued that there's room for everyone with God. And I informed him that, the way is narrow, and so we had no meeting of the minds. But then if you see the letter on page 8 from my dear Jewish friends I witnessed to 19 years ago, you will see that those seeds ultimately bore fruit.

I am still troubled by letters from various denominational churches, each defending their particular congregation. It is the policies of the central offices of such churches that I criticize, especially when they are anti-Israel, a position unimaginable for any real Christian. I do understand, as I said in the last issue, that there are fine individual churches in every denomination. That was not my point. If your hierarchy holds an unbiblical position, my advice would be to change churches or simply change the name of the church and get out of that denomination. What could be simpler? After all, Scripture points out that we should not have denominations at all. Paul warned the Corinthians,

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren . . . that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? (I COR. 10-13)

With the media, NBC aired a ridiculous "Noah's Ark" which competed with The Prince of Egypt for the Biblical Inaccuracy Prize of 1999. Why these stories which have been beloved in human literature for more than 3,000 years have to be changed, I will never understand.

In a mark of true democracy in the Holy Land, the new "Miss Israel" is a Palestinian Arab!

I can't tell you how important it might be that you come to Israel on our September tour. This may literally be the last tour of Israel in this life for believers! If the Rapture comes September 10, the Feast of Trumpets, then Israel is the place to be. In any case, a tour of Israel, as I've often said, is worth ten years of Sunday school.

On our September 4-15 Deluxe Tour we will visit the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of the Sermon, the Upper Room, the Garden Tomb, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, and many other Biblical sites. You can opt for the extension (Grand Tour, September 1-15) to Petra and a five-star resort on the Dead Sea. We will tour the Negev Desert and visit En Gedi, Eilat, Beersheba, and other beautiful locations.

Our prophecy special is on track for a September national telecast. Thank you for all your wonderful support for this important program. Our regular airtimes are very expensive, and this program will be even more so due to the cost of prime time television. Any help you can give us will make a meaningful difference.

And please remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Your messenger,


Return to Index


TWO-PART EDITORIAL

Has Joseph's Tomb Been Found in Egypt?

Part One
By Thomas S. McCall, Th.D.

Thomas S. McCall, Th.D. Is it possible that the tomb of the ancient patriarch Joseph has been found in Egypt? The Biblical account is that Joseph was elevated to being the right-hand man of Pharaoh, the vizier of Egypt, because God enabled him to interpret Pharaoh's troubling dream. Joseph then structured the agriculture and taxation procedures of Egypt so that great storehouses of grain were utilized over the seven good years, with the result that there would be an abundance of food during the seven bad years. When the bad years came, there was a famine in Canaan, and Joseph's estranged brothers and his father Jacob made their way to bountiful Egypt, where they discovered to their great surprise that the despised brother was not only still alive, but both able and willing to save them and provide for them.

Through Joseph's good offices, Pharaoh allowed the Hebrew cattlemen from Canaan to settle in the Land of Goshen, in the eastern sector of the Nile delta. This land was relatively flat and well watered from the flow of the delta. For several hundred years, from Joseph to Moses, the Hebrew people flourished and multiplied in the Land of Goshen, even after a Pharaoh arose "who knew not Joseph," and all he had done for Egypt.

THE OATH ABOUT THE BONES OF JOSEPH

Joseph believed the word of God, and knew that the Hebrew people would not stay in Egypt forever. He knew that one day the Lord would bring them out of Egypt back to the Land of Abraham, to the Land of Promise. Joseph knew that he would not see that day, but he made his kinsmen swear that, when that day came, they would carry his remains with them out of Egypt to the Promised Land:

And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt (Genesis 50:25-26).

Hundreds of years passed. Joseph's body lay in the coffin, and his tomb must have been well identified, because when the Exodus occurred, and Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, he was able to locate Joseph's coffin and take it with them to the Promised Land:

And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you (Exodus 13:19).

Not only were the bones of Joseph taken out of Egypt, but they were carefully guarded all during the wilderness journey for forty years, the transition from Moses to Joshua, and the turbulent conquest of Canaan. As the Book of Joshua closes, after the Land was conquered, and the territory of Israel was parceled out to the tribes, Joseph's bones were ultimately buried in their final resting place by his descendants in the town of Shechem:

And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph (Joshua 24:32).

Thus the story of the bones of Joseph is faithfully recorded by Moses and Joshua, to make sure that posterity knew that the oath Joseph made his fellow Israelites swear had been fulfilled to the letter. Joseph's body did not remain in Egypt, but went with his people and abode with them in the Land of Israel. Joseph is a magnificent illustration of the Messiah, the rejected Kinsman Redeemer who will ultimately be reconciled with His Jewish brethren in the Land of Israel.

THE IDENTIFICATION OF JOSEPH'S TOMB

But we return to Joseph's coffin in Egypt, where his bones lay for hundreds of years. It must have been well marked and identified all that time, in order for Moses to have selected it out of all the Hebrew tombs in the Land of Goshen. Most likely, the coffin of Joseph would have been laid in a clearly identified tomb, befitting the office of the man who had served most of his life as the vizier of all Egypt. Furthermore, Joseph would have wanted his tomb to be in the Land of Goshen, close to his people, where his remains would be readily available when the people of Israel left Egypt. Also, we would not expect Joseph, as a Hebrew, to be buried in the Upper Nile Valley, known as the Valley of the Kings. This is where the Pharaohs and some of their chief servants were buried. It was probably by mutual agreement that Joseph, although the vizier of Egypt, would be buried close to his people in the Land of Goshen. Such is the Biblical account of the burial of Joseph. Does archaeology confirm any of this? Up until recently, it has not. The Egyptian archaeologists, using the conventional chronology, have not been able to find any evidence of the Hebrew people in the Land of Goshen as indicated in the Scriptures. They do find various groups of Semitic people occupying Goshen at various periods of time, but they do not see any mass Semitic occupation at the time the Exodus was supposed to occur. In their chronology, if the Exodus event occurred at all, it would have had to have been about 1300 BC. Only traces of Semitic occupation are found at that time period. This has led the archaeologists to conclude that the Exodus never happened. They think that Moses and his phenomenal struggles with Pharaoh are all mythological and unhistorical, and only a "fundamentalist conservative" could possibly believe in the historicity of these ancient Biblical accounts.

(PART TWO CONTINUED IN NEXT ISSUE)

***


Return to Index


Zola's Bulletin Board

Audited Financials

This ministry is on the up and up. During the ten years that we have made our audited financial statements available to you free for the asking, we have continually learned from our volunteer auditor ways to tweak and fine tune our procedures to maximize stewardship and minimize temptation and unnecessary risks. We have seen and felt God's hand as we cope within a society that grows ever more complicated.

We Have Moved!

God provided boxes, an energetic team of packers, high caliber cubicles at a bargain price and an opportunity to get rid of some unnecessaries. By the time you read this, we'll be comfortably settled in. Your letters should still go to the same P.O. box as before, our email address is still , and dialing 1-800-WONDERS will still put you in touch with our answering service that takes credit card orders and donations. Our new fax number is (214) 696-5885, and our new telephone number that will be answered during business hours Central Time is (214) 696-8844.

Israel Tour Comparison Shopper's List

Whether you are going to Israel with Zola or your church, you will want Israeli hotels, restaurants, drivers and licensed guides. You will probably prefer to fly to Tel Aviv instead of Amman, Jordan and not waste time being taken from gift shop to gift shop in order to enrich your host. Our list of questions will equip you to choose a Holy Land pilgrimage that you will cherish.

Answering Service

During our annual audit last week, our auditor indicated that our answering service's invoices are taking a disproportionate toll on our ability to make ends meet. As you may know, 1-800-WONDERS is only for credit card purchases and donations, and we need you to call (214) 696-8844 for other issues. If you own or operate an answering service who could give us a generous break on pricing, please contact Mark. Our 1-800 number is portable, and our viewers are terrific to deal with. If you know a Christian answering service, please ask them to prayerfully consider whether God is calling them to join forces with us.

Web Site of the Month

Jews who can't afford a trip to Jerusalem are visiting Virtual Jerusalem at www. virtualjerusalem.com. You can send a prayer to — and do a little shopping at — "the Jewish world from the heart of Israel."

Used Magazines, Paperbacks

Wanted: wholesome, used, recreational reading such as Louis Lamour books, bad-guy-turns-good-guy novels and magazines less than a year old — sports, sci fi, automotive, Popular Mechanics, woodwork, Reader's Digest, Our Daily Bread and Bibles, but nothing hardbound. You can help to reshape some young men's outlook on life and let them know someone cares with some recreational reading that might otherwise have gone to waste.

Chaplain David Powers
Hutchins State Jail
1500 E. Langdon Road
Dallas, TX 75241

Chaplain Keith Frances
Collin County Justice Center
4300 Community Blvd.
McKinney, TX 75070

Our Lord told us
to "Remember them
that are in bonds"
(Heb.13:3).


Return to Index


Letters to Zola

Dear Mr. Levitt,

          I'm an ex-Catholic who absolutely agrees with your assessment. I was in the Catholic Church (now a cult in my opinion) for 20 years. I had years of Sunday school as a kid and went to a Catholic grade school through 8th grade. In all that time they NEVER taught from the Bible. Instead they taught from Catholic textbooks.

          At the age of 25, God opened my eyes, and after studying the Bible for a few months, I realized that the Catholic Church taught a large amount of ungodly garbage.

          They basically have made up their own parallel gospel of: faith, penance, with sacramental practices being essential for further forgiving of sins, worship of a goddess called Mary (see The Marian Movement Doctrine), and many ungodly rules and regulations.

          You were right when you stated that the church claims that to be saved a person must be a member of the Roman Catholic Church. This is actually in their church law. (They justify this by saying the Roman Catholic Church is the only body of Christ on the earth.)

          I think you were actually kind in your statements.

          The Catholic Church did indeed preserve the writings of the faith and then murdered those who translated the Scriptures into the language of the common man.

          I'm a born-again believer by the grace of God, and I'm absolutely disgusted with the Catholic and the miscellaneous Protestant churches who refuse to stand up for God's truth and have sold out to the politically correct movement and allow sin to fester uncorrected among their membership.

          Thank you, Zola Levitt, for the wonderful truths you have declared. You have opened my eyes over the years. Please keep it up! Someone has to declare the truth, no matter how hard it steps on people's toes. That's what all true Christians are supposed to do. They are supposed to be points of bright spiritual light in this dark world. Sadly, it appears many have become "dim bulbs."

          It really is the Scripturally ignorant who cry the loudest when God's truth is declared! What's that saying about throwing a stone into a crowd. . . the one who yells the loudest is the one who got hit.

God bless you,
E.K.
Brother in Yeshua


Zola,

          I hope that I am wrong, but until I am proven wrong this is the way I truly feel. The way I see it, the defeat of Bibi [Netanyahu] means that the people of Israel have chosen the path of slow national suicide and national cowardliness and disgrace. Zola, these are a people I can't stand with or in any way support. Now, I will not stand with them nor will I stand by a nation of suicidal cowards. — R.M.


Dear R.M.,

          Well, we don't have that option. You cannot stand against Israel, because that would be standing against God. He has not given up on them, nor shall He ever. After all, He has seen that nation through the most awful periods and the most terrible leadership and has always loved them to this day. So should we all.

— Zola


Our ministry recently received a communication from old friends. I remember the writers below as people to whom it was difficult to witness. As musicians, they acted sophisticated and worldly. They listened in a detached manner, seeming almost bored. I talked to them until 2 a.m. For some reason I just couldn't stop testifying.

There were no discernible results at that time, but others sowed seeds — and look at the results!

Always testify. We never know what an eternal difference we could possibly make.

Shalom Zola,

          It was about 19 years ago that we first met you on a cruise ship where we were entertainers. Both of us are from Jewish backgrounds, Lenny from England and Varda from Israel. You were the first Jewish person who shared with us the belief of Jesus being the Jewish Messiah. Your tour group spent 10 days with us on that cruise and sowed a seed that changed our lives for all eternity. We have never been the same since, having accepted and followed our Messiah for the last 13 years. The Lord has turned our lives upside down as entertainers. Four years ago He transformed our God given talent for His glory alone.

          We look back to meeting you with great appreciation and since you have played a major role in our salvation experience we wanted you to be one of the first to hear our new music. . .

          All our love and blessing "cruise" your way.

B'Shem Yeshua [in the name of Jesus],
L. and V. H.


Dear Zola:

          I am writing this letter to you directly, personally, in hopes that you will acknowledge it with your response which I'd appreciate having so very much at this time, as am desperate for direction, guidance, advice, thoughts, concern, consideration, care, prayers, and for love that is so badly needed at this time in my life. Zola, my dear, sweet, loving, adorable, kind, considerate, uncomplaining, praying, Christian wife Dorothy, went to be with Lord, Jesus, just a couple of weeks ago, and the grieving process, mourning devastation, the pain, hurt, the anger, frustration, the loneliness, the emptiness, the yearning for her presence and closeness is overwhelming, after being together for 57 years, as I am lost, afraid of being alone, the fear is setting in deeply, for a beautiful, outstanding, forgiving, always concerned about others, her smile was overpowering, which was also expressed in her eyes, an adorable praying Wife, Mother, Friend, Lady, Woman, that was truly one of God's Warriors. Zola, when my dearest wife left me to be with the Lord, Jesus, she was in my arms and said that she did not want to leave me, and I said that I was not ready to give her up, but followed through by saying that she was tired, but that She Would Be Safe In The Arms Of Jesus, and she was gone, presume that it was her spirit and soul. My wife Dorothy has repeatedly spoken to me about the vital importance of accepting the Lord, Jesus, and I very foolishly procrastinated, thinking like many of us that there is plenty of time for this later, not realizing that we never know from day to day when the end is coming. My deepest regret at this time, which is painful and hurting me deeply, sobbing continually, crying out for her, why didn't I listen to her when she was here with me and gone ahead to do what she wanted through her guidance and direction, as this would have made her life complete, happiness beyond expression, a beautiful smile that would not have quit, strengthened her love for me that much more, and now feel deeply with anguish, hurting, regretting with deep heartache, that I let her down by not taking this step when she was with me. Zola, please let me know if I will see my dearest wife Dorothy again in heaven, and will she be waiting for me, as I am looking forward to it with great anticipation? Please help, as I need your immediate acknowledgment, am afraid and alone. Love,

A.M.


Dear A.M.

          Not only your dear wife but also Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the prophets await in heaven for all of us who believe. We will see them and all believers of all ages eventually in Heaven or the Kingdom to come.

          You indicate that you procrastinated about accepting Jesus Christ. This is not a major undertaking. God knows your heart; just speak to Him about this. The Lord is "not willing that any should perish" (II Peter 3:9).

          All of us who believe rest in the sure knowledge that we will be together with our loved ones in the life to come. Compassion like yours is rare in anyone. I look forward to seeing you there, too.

— Zola

***


Return to Index


Editorial

Exporting Kosovo

A.M. Rosenthal
Syndicated Columnist

Buoyed by their role in helping turn a Balkan civil war into shivering, desolate crowds of refugees, a political booby trap for America unmatched since Vietnam, a perversion of NATO purpose and a planning debacle, the 15 nations of the European Union are now trying to export their collective political wisdom to shape the Mideast, which may God in Heaven forfend.

Of course, the European Union did have great assistance in the Kosovo tragedy—the abominable thug who is Serbia's dictator, and a Kosovo Liberation Army with a yearning itself for ethnic expulsions, of Serbs.

Particularly important has been President Clinton. He was elected nude of experience in or feeling for foreign and military matters. But in six years in office he has reached new heights of ineptitude, exhibiting the attachment to truth and candor that became his trademark at home.

Still the E.U. came up with ideas guaranteed to bear fruit—of tragedy. Europe's mind-set about the Mideast is pretty much the same that brought the fall into the pit of Balkan war. They are telling Israel that all of Jerusalem, not merely what the Palestinians claim as their capital for the while, is a corpus separatum, separate international entity, not an inch of it legally under Israeli control. They are telling Israelis and Palestinians that nobody has the right to try and stop the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Palestinian independence and Jerusalem are supposed to be decided during the final series of Israel-Palestinian talks. So there is not much reason to go ahead with it, is there? Just let the two sides fight it out to the death, while the European Union thinks up more great ideas.

Don't be surprised at these proposals —the European nations are simply selecting a time that could do most damage to disinter their old vicious gambit that the U.N. partition resolution of 1947 still stands.

The Jews agreed to partition and an internationalized Jerusalem in desperate pursuit of acceptance of their homeland by the Arabs. The Arabs rejected the resolution and fell on the Jews then and throughout the next half a century. Israel declared the resolution nullified.

Why do the Europeans commit this act of public grave-robbing now? One—Europe's mercantile policy toward the Arabs; oil and weapons contracts in feudal Arab countries are put far above profits to be made with high-tech Israel. Centuries of warfare among European tribes have dulled their brains. Two—they don't, well, care for Israel very much.

In Israel, Likud and Labor told Germany, current president of the E.U., to stuff the proposals. But Palestinians are already using them as a pressure point against Israel. If they go on too long, they will kill negotiations permanently and invite war. Kosovo will seem a merry little place.

The Europeans have no "plan" for Mideast agreement. Neither do they, NATO or Washington have one in Kosovo.

Bernard Trainor, retired Marine lieutenant general, put it best on MSNBC; all they have in Kosovo is a script. So, when the Serbs did not follow the script by surrendering and instead drove more Albanians out of Kosovo, NATO spokesmen looked all sad and hurt.

Where were the supplies for the refugees that should have been stockpiled? Coming; show check in mail.

The script treats the Serbs as inferiors who would docilely give up under bombing —which neither they, nor the British nor the Russians did in World War II.

Will the world be upset about Germans bombing children and grandchildren of the million Serbs the Nazis killed? Drop bombs, cut upset shot.

If Serbs lose Kosovo they will return to combat soon. They may prefer to fight on somebody else's land for a change —like neighboring Hungary. Now it is a NATO member entitled to full NATO protection —"full" meaning including nuclear.

What to show? Nothing; cut from script. What about from our minds? Shut up. Bill Clinton, no golfing today, says carry on.

Write new scene. Bring in troops, persuade some refugees to return, guard them. But for how long, chief?

Could we show us helping others to attain liberty— Iraqis, Kurds, Tibetans, Sudanese? And please, please, could we show a policy? Then we could have an honest plan. But what does a policy look like? I forget. Shut up and get on the team.

***



Return to Index

Return to Levitt Letter Archive Index

Return to Home Page


Copyright © 1999 by Zola Levitt Ministries, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. All rights reserved. Brief passages may be quoted in reviews or other article. For all other use, please get our written approval.