October 1999 Personal Letter

Dear Friends,

Tonight I am packing to leave for Israel! This will be my 63rd tour, and I promise you I’ll have trouble getting to sleep because of the excitement ahead.

I guess I’m repeating myself, but it’s simply a wonderful place. I realize everybody can’t go, and with our television outreach, I’m trying to do what I can to show the place to those who will not see it until the next life. It is not, by the way, what you are shown on CNN or the networks. They seem to purposely go out of their way to look for dusty streets and small towns, doing the business of journalists these days, which is cynicism and negativism. “They prefer the darkness for their deeds are evil,” said the Lord, and I could paraphrase Him with “They prefer run-down villages and strife between people because their purposes are evil.” In reality, the media tries to show Israel in as bad of a light as possible, not so much because they hate that country, but because they love money. For some reason, bad news about Israel sells, and that’s all they need to know. There is absolutely nothing on earth that the unbeliever won’t do for cash, and that includes breaking down an allied democracy and giving its land over to its worst enemies.

To combat this terrible media bias, we will tape a new series of programs to be called “This Is Israel!” And in that series, we will show the beautiful Israel that is really there: historic Jerusalem, modern, bustling Tel Aviv, the gorgeous Galilean countryside, the magnificent Golan Heights, the water springs where King David hid at En Gedi, the country club and marvelous scenery of Caesarea, etc. I could go on and on. Israel is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, although you’d never know it by the work of the cynics who portray it daily in so negative a manner.

Our crew will more or less follow our tour and especially emphasize modern Israel with its wonderful stone buildings and broad boulevards, its flower gardens, museums, and comfortable homes. The extremely fertile valleys and fields which have yielded food for the Chosen People for fully 4,000 years will be highlighted, as well as the leading-edge technology of that advanced nation. We will have very interesting interviewees, including one of the busiest men in the world, Ehud Olmert, the mayor of Jerusalem.

I am wondering how many of you saw our prime time special titled Is this The End … or just The Beginning? Obviously, we went to quite a bit of trouble and expense to make this one-hour special and show it to the entire nation in two airings during highly watched airtimes. The object was not so much to reach you, our usual audience, but rather the unbeliever who is struggling with thoughts of his destiny and the millennium. We spelled out end times prophecy in the most obvious ways and clarified the issue of salvation down to an on-camera, face-to-face witness in the last minutes of the program. I really think that a great many salvations will result from our effort this time. After all, the day of the Lord really is near, and that is hard to doubt. Even the unbeliever can see the world going to hell in a handbasket, and he should understand that only Christian salvation offers any real hope.

If you saw the special, please write in and tell me your opinion of it. And frankly, if you can help us amortize some of the terrific expense involved with producing and airing this program, it would be very much appreciated. We made no appeal for funds on the program. We were able to undertake this expensive project through the generosity of one supporter who wanted to see it happen, but we had the usual cost overruns, promotional expenses, and the like, and it caused us to fall behind. Sometimes people marvel over the fact that I tell them when to give to our ministry and when it’s not really necessary. I have oftentimes suggested they give to other ministries since we were okay financially at that time. To me, that is only fair and right. After all, Acts 2:45 points out that Christians have all things in common, and we are brothers and sisters after all. How will you trust me if I ask for money when we don’t really need it?

With that said, this is a time that giving would be helpful. We know that the year end will pull us out however deeply in debt we go, but we don’t want to be late with bills and so on because of extending ourselves for the gospel. The unbelieving stations don’t really understand our mission and don’t see the critical point of making a national primetime special at the same time as we undertake new location programs. But we must do as the Lord leads, and that is what we have done from day one. And I think you know that your money will be put to the best possible use.

And after all, the time to give for the gospel may well be running out. Salvation is free, as I have often said, for a limited time only!

Come and see the beauty of Israel for yourself rather than just seeing it on television if there’s any way that you can. We have two upcoming tours, and they are quite different. Our November Tour (Nov. 19–28) is a bargain kibbutz tour designed to allow teachers and students to miss as little school as possible (and other employees to miss as little work as possible) since it is a Thanksgiving holiday tour. We will stay in comfortable guesthouses on kibbutzim in the countryside. The itinerary is the same as our Deluxe tours, with such “desert extras” as camel rides and a visit to a Bedouin tent.

On our December tour, we will stay in luxury hotels. The Deluxe tour (Dec. 11–21) visits such sites as Jerusalem, the ancient City of David, the Israel Museum where we will see the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, the Garden Tomb, the Upper Room, Calvary, the site of the Sermon on the Mount, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, Masada, and Jericho. You may choose to be baptized in the Jordan River just as our Lord was.

The December Grand Tour (Dec. 11–26) has an extension at a luxurious resort in Eilat on the Red Sea. We will tour the Negev Desert, including En Gedi, Ashkelon (capital of Canaanite kings and harbor of the Philistines, the place where Samson slew 30 men), and Beer Sheba (birthplace of Jacob and Esau, where Joseph’s dreams caused strife between him and his brothers). We will visit Petra, one of the world’s greatest ancient attractions, the “rose-red city half as old as time,” a city carved out of a mountain. And we will spend Christmas Eve in the shepherds’ fields of Bethlehem!

Please remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Your messenger,