Dear Friends,

This month I want to call your attention to three events on the prophetic scene. We cannot always assume that every piece of world news is related to some verse of prophecy, but the fact is, this has been a most significant month.

Many people have asked us if the assassination of Sadat is a prophetic fulfillment. It isn’t, per se, because no prophet said that the leader of Egypt would be killed before the latter days. But I do think of these events, Like the assassination of Sadat, as “catalytic events” — events which help to set up a genuine prophecy fulfillment. In this case it is clear that the assassination has had a profound effect on the military aspirations of the nation of Libya. Colonel Khaddafi lost no time in mourning; he immediately dispatched an army through Chad, his weak southern neighbor, and started up border skirmishes with Sudan, the southern neighbor of Egypt. Choosing the moment of Egypt’s bereavement, Khaddafi has made steps to surround that nation.

This is critically important to the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s Russian invasion prophecy. Libya is to be one of Russia’s allies (see Ezekiel 38:5). Egypt is omitted in the prophecy and is not one of Israel’s invaders. We had assumed to this point that the reason Egypt did not invade, in Ezekiel’s view of the invasion, had to do with the Camp David accords and the resulting peace covenant between Egypt and Israel. That may still be the fact of it, but at this time we are tempted to wonder if Egypt is not part of the picture because Libya has simply overwhelmed her. We had previously always thought of Egypt as a cornerstone of Arab power in North Africa, but it is becoming clear that that honor belongs more to Libya. It was Libya, after all, who ventured to attack the U.S. Navy airplanes a few weeks ago, and Libya, who is the most critical of Egypt’s peace-making policies. With Sadat’s passing, Egypt may be critically weakened, at least for the moment and Libya has suddenly risen to power.

We need to await farther developments on that front, but it is fairly safe to say that Libya will continue her provocative ways and will stir up every sort of trouble in the Middle East in the months to come. Khaddafi’s real hatred of Israel knows no restraint and it will carry him to his rightful destiny in the Russian invasion. The death of General Moshe Dayan, on the other hand, has a different significance. The volatile General was hailed in some quarters as the Messiah of Israel in 1967. And indeed, he did “signs and wonders” in the Six Day War, driving of greatly superior numbers in less than a week. General Dayan masterminded the lethal Israeli attack which put to rest all notions of Arab supremacy. The idea of his actually being the Messiah more or less passed with the time, but his natural death, at this point, served to quiet those who would place the Messiah’s mantle on every hero who comes down the road. Prime Minister Begin, too, has been thought of as the Messiah, but notions like this have to be put to rest by Dayan’a passing on. The mere fact of the General’s mortality reminds everyone that he was of the flesh. Moreover, the Messiah will do greater things than Dayan did and He will not grow old and die.

It sounds like an obvious point, but there prophecy teachers who suppose that Israel will accept the Antichrist as Messiah. There’s not the vaguest biblical sanction for such a thing, and we see in Dayan’s death, a quieting of the Israeli tendency to overdo its admiration of mere men. The movement to have Begin as Messiah has been infinitely more quiet than in the case of Dayan and by the time of the Antichrist, we must suppose that the Israelis will be quite a bit more skeptical. It will be, in fact, the Israeli rejection of the Antichrist that shows the world his vulnerability and brings on the battle of Armageddon.

The third event—Arafat’s cozying up to Moscow—has obvious prophetic significance. Russia needs to consolidate her power on Israel’s northern border. The PLO needs guns to continue their murderous ways. The two have a lot in common and so they have joined forces. Arafat will receive his proper reward for making friends in the Kremlin.

My next newsletter will try to continue what has become “coverage” of the coming Russian invasion. We have in our possession an interview with Sadat last year where the Egyptian President made some startling predictions in relation to Russia and Israel.

We have talked about funds entirely too much in the Last two letters and I’m not going to burden you with an appeal this time. I do want to refer you to our upcoming programs on “The Holy Places,” a series of some 14 weeks of especially fine location footage. When you see what we can do on something like that, you will appreciate how we are using your money.

And concerning the issue of my response to that famous Letter of complaint, this month, I feel Like a half-way apology is necessary. In the ensuing times there have been many letters which said in effect, “You may be right, but you’re not being very Christian about it.” For not being Christian I must apologize; I don’t mean my feelings to run away with me. Enough said.

I wanted to remind you again about our upcoming tour of Israel, Dec. 19–30. You must pay in full by Nov. 19, which is the airline cut-off date.

Please tell your friends to watch “The Holy Places” series. I think this will persuade them to become steady viewers of ZOLA LEVITT LIVE. And keep watching the newspapers for continuations of the prophetic events. Isn’t it good to be in the know!

Your messenger,