Dear Friends,

I’m writing this letter on the Day of Atonement, 5743, and I’m very glad my atonement has been done for me. If it weren’t for the gracious sacrifice of the Jewish Messiah back in 3793 or so (32 A.D.) I would be confessing and fasting today for 24 hours. I would have to confess the sins of the whole past year and that might take me more than a day! Furthermore, I would only obtain forgiveness for one year. Next year on this day I would have to repeat the process and beseech God to let me have another year.

When I was a youth in the synagogue we greeted each other at this time of year with a Hebrew blessing that meant “May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.” By that, we really meant, “I hope I see you on the next Day of Atonement—I really hope you make it till then.” I just can’t tell you what a difference it makes to know that my inscription in the Book of, Life is now permanent and irrevocable and I have an oncoming eternity of holy days to see all the believers who ever walked the earth!

But until the King returns on that upcoming Day of Atonement when “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,” we have more worldly matters to consider. This month we have CBN problems, ministry headquarters problems, a new series on “The Promised Land” starting up and tribulation in Lebanon. Let me take up these matters one at a time for your consideration.

With CBN we’re on hold until decision time. We have until the beginning of December on our present air time contract and there is some question as to whether we can remain in our accustomed time slot. Rates ore going up drastically, as I explained in my recent newsletter, and Christian programming is being moved to undesirable early morning and late night times on that network. This issue concerns only our viewers who watch on the CBN cable network, of course, but that involves a huge number of people, upwards of half a million of you. I personally don’t favor the talk going around that CBN is personally doing us a bad turn on forgetting its old friends. Trying to see things from their point of view, I realize that they ore trying to make a family programming network that will compete with the big secular networks and there one quite a few headaches involved. If air time can be sold to commercial sponsors to run secular reruns and if that process ultimately earns more talents for the work of the Lard, then we all have to put up with whatever temporary inconveniences result. If more souls are saved by the device of gathering a bigger crowd to watch the channel and then witnessing to them with the 700 Club and the soap opera, then I’m all for it. It hurts right now because we know that our particular message is very effective and it looks like we’re going to have to take a back seat. But all that remains to be seen; at the moment we’re desperately trying to keep our present air time at our present rate, at least through the period when our Promised Land series will run. If CBN will give us a break for that long then we’ll take a bigger and more educated crowd over to our new time slot.

I was surprised to see that the majority of you voted that we should drop off CBN rather than pay the enormously higher new rates. Some of you have been faithful CBN supporters for years and you now say that you are not pleased with what you see on that network. I can understand that. On the other hand, CBN’s argument would be to consider all of those new people who are finding their CBN channels for the first time because of attractive family reruns and one then staying tuned for the Christian programming as it comes. God only knows what the right thing is in this complicated situation but there may be some livable compromise. We have in mind to pay the same rate or perhaps a bit more and to take two new time slots. One would probably be 8:00 AM Sundays, E.S.T. and the other very late Sunday night. In this way we might just catch a sizable enough audience out of the late-to-bed folks and the early-to-rise folks. Enough of CBN. That situation will clarify itself over the next few weeks and I’ll stay in touch with you about it.

As to our ministry headquarters, we have to move. We had been sharing a building with the Dallas Chapter of the American Board of Missions to the Jews, which had worked out very well fo both of us. But it turns out that our hosts had to sell the place because it really was getting too expensive to run. So we have to arise and go immediately, like Abraham, to whenever God has in mind for us. It is unique that we are running a series called “The Promised Land” at such a time. What I’m wondering about is where “the promised offices” are going to be. I only mention this to you because our big family of viewers has a remarkable way of coming up with just what we need at just the time we need it. We are getting the electric typewriter, by the way, from a lovely Christian couple in Arkansas and we got the automatic letter opener. The letter opener saves multitudes of time, of course, but once in awhile, instead of merely slitting open an envelope it simply eats the entire letter. Considering some of the disagreeable complaint letters we get, it probably has a case of indigestion by now. At any rate, thank you most kindly for those gifts. We are very grateful.

Headquarters offices are a much bigger problem, of course. We have to stay near our post office box, our bank, etc., and therefore we must be in North Dallas somewhere relatively close to Preston Center. I’m sorry that this message concerns very few of you nationally, but as the Book of James points out, “Ye have not for ye ask not.” If you have some offices in the appropriate area, or a lot, or if you know someone who does, please get in touch with us without delay. Again, land or real estate donated to a ministry such as ours is a completely tax deductible gift and, in some cases, an advantageous one for the giver. The lovely old home we are presently moving out of was initially the gift of a kind Christian family to our Jewish evangelism friends and it not only served their needs so perfectly for these many years, it will now bring much needed funds for new projects for that ministry. If you have land or offices outside of Dallas, conceivably we can work out some trade arrangement with a real estate owner here and end up with a suitable place for our headquarters. Please understand that we don’t ask this large gift for ourselves, but for the ministry which is owned by all of you. We only need a place to reside as we labor. It was a good work indeed in the Old Covenant to provide a “prophet’s chamber” to those in need who were called to the Lord’s work.

Don’t think we’re crazy to ask you for buildings and land. We would ask for the moon if God wanted us to have it for His purposes (we don’t have to ask for the earth; we have already inherit-ed the earth). Our deadline for new offices, by the way, is Nov. 23, so please lend your prayers with that date in mind. And thank you for your good hearts in general. I know there’s hardly one of you out there who would fail to answer this need if you were in a position to do so.

Ah you can imagine, we have been asked about Lebanon and plenty. Is Zola going to staunchly support Israel and all of its policies even with the news of this massacre in the refugee camps? It’s a hard question. I do support Israel because a Bible-reading person cannot do otherwise, but I do not support killing innocent people. My position on this judgment call is against Israel for its failure to properly police occupied territory. When you occupy another land for whatever reasons, it is up to you to operate the place as peacefully as possible and surely with stringent security measures. Certainly it was not the Israelis who did the killing and no one has accused them of that, not even the PLO. But Israel was in charge and they failed to control the place. On the other hand, they had no way of expecting such excessive violence of Lebanese against Lebanese. The police force of, say, New York or Los Angeles has some pretty tough customers too, and they stay alert but they certainly don’t expect the sudden massacre of hundreds of defenseless non-combatants all in a day. It is certainly within the realm of possibility that the Israeli occupation forces took all reasonable security precautions but were still overwhelmed by the maniacal hostilities in a place like Beirut.

Let’s tell it like it is. The Israeli boys grow up in a civilized 20th century society that takes special pains to teach the dignity of human life and a proper respect for one’s neighbor, within the borders, or across the borders. They invaded Lebanon, which was simply a military necessity, in exemplary fashion if I may put it that way. Having the run of the place and the entire population within their grasp, they took special pains to attack only the armed enemy and to be excessively patient with the most tedious of negotiating procedures. Those young men did not rob the houses or the stones of the Lebanese people, they did not take their possessions non rape their daughters. In all fairness I don’t know if any army has even occupied a land with more care for the unfortunate victims who were not a part of the armed struggle. When the Germans pillaged Eastern Europe or when the communists seized land after land, no man, woman or child was safe from the all-powerful invader. Russian soldiers tore the gowns off wounded Catholic nuns in their march to Berlin in World War II and the Nazis were without peer in history in the annihilation of the defenseless. I’m not trying to merely shock you here but to counteract some of the media blitz that has fallen on the Promised Land because of the violence of hordes of uncontrollable gangsters of another nationality.

Still in all, the Israeli, because of his law and because of his expedience and because of his intelligence, must be more than “an officer and a gentleman.” He should have stayed at the gates of those camps and at whatever trouble, guaranteed the lives of his enemies. The Lord would have it that way because He was quoting the Old Testament when He taught those very Israelis, “Love your enemies.”

And what of Mr. Begin, the incorrigible? I would rather not ask President Reagan what he thinks; I would like to ask King David. David, who “slew ten thousand,” might probably have a better understanding of the problem. I can almost see him up in heaven, shaking his head, torn between telling the present King of Israel to repent, and beating his breast and shouting, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” Begin is tough and not given to diplomatic niceties. One thing even his enemies have to like about him—he says what he means and he means what he says. I hate to reveal it but in my experience, Begin is a very typical Israeli. He has a job to do and he’s going to do it no matter who says what. As to whether even his own people will support him in the face of these painful recent events, that remains to be seen. But in my heart of hearts I think he will be well remembered. I think history will be kinder to Begin than to Arafat, and I think that all of the things that he has done ultimately advance the progression of Israel to its glorification in the Kingdom Age. When all is said and done, prophecy pictures for us just such violence and anarchy at the end of the Age of Grace. The Antichrist, that “man of peace,” has to come forward for a good reason and the climate that will make him welcome is simply the things we are seeing now.

More pleasantly, Israel is being shown at its best on ZOLA LEVITT LIVE in our Promised Land series at the moment. Most of you have begun receiving these shows as they travel the routes of the various cable networks. Please be sure to tune in during this time and tell a friend or two. And write to us with your reactions to the shows. We go to quite a bit of trouble and expense to bring you these location programs and nothing makes us feel better than a little response. Don’t be afraid to criticize.

And it goes without saying, that at a time when we are faced with CBN air time rises, the need for a new headquarters, the production of new programs and the general inflation of everything we use and buy in our work, we need your financial help. Back when I asked for your vote about going to Israel in the first place, most of you were in favor, and with your vote you implicitly offered us your help. Well, this is the time for it. It’s hard to remember a time when we had more burdens at once and I hope you’ll bear that in mind. I know I can count on you.

And now, I have to pack. I might have picked a better time for it but off we go…“Next week in Jerusalem.”

Your messenger,