Dear Friends,

It’s a new year! How about making a resolution to do something significant for Israel this year?

I’m dictating this message on January 1, and I’ve been reading umpteen columns in the newspaper today about New Year’s resolutions. Primarily they all come down to making amends with those we have not loved enough and doing something to reconcile those broken relationships. Well, all relationships in this world begin with person-to-person interaction, but ultimately we who are Biblical believers are to love a certain nation and a certain people. This is because God chose them and God loves them, and that’s all there is to that! As difficult as some may find it, we are all to love the Chosen People and the Promised Land.

I know that neither one is perfectly lovable, and God knew that when He picked them out. But let’s face it, our own children and our own spouses are not perfectly lovable some of the time, and yet, when all is said and done, we truly love them, and we do all we can for them. This needs to be the case for Israel in this new millennium. That nation is simply not getting enough love in this world.

I’m not talking about sending us donations or buying Israel bonds or taking a Holy Land tour. All of those are helpful to Israel, of course, and to us. But I’m talking about bigger things. I’m talking about praying for the peace of Jerusalem, about speaking up to friends who deplore the situation over there, and about complaining to your local newspaper or television station or network about balderdash masquerading as news, about an Israel that they constantly malign. And I’m talking about possibly visiting your local synagogue and shaking hands with the worshipers or buying a book about Jewish history, and I’m talking about speaking up to your doctor or dentist or lawyer or whomever is Jewish in your life and telling them that they are special to you simply because of the people they were born into and God’s wonderful plan for those people and their homeland.

You could also give, as I have done myself, toward the support of those people in Israel who have served you for years—our TV crew and our tour providers. Our guides and drivers are among the most skilled in the business and thoroughly versed in Scripture. Our television people are all believers and wonderful workers who have gone with us to areas no tourists would visit to make programs about who rightfully owns the land. On the day that I myself carried a gun to visit Bethel deep in the West Bank, none of those crewmen were armed. They are suffering right now because of the adverse publicity which discourages tourists and television production alike, yet they have worked for you for more than twenty years. Please make a serious prayer about giving to the “Good News from a Far Country” fund, and we will send that money over to Israel immediately.

As Paul told the Romans (15:25-27):

But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.

And obviously, if you’re in a position to undertake a tour to Israel, that’s best of all, because it will turn you yourself into an ambassador from that great land. It will also turn you into a sharp and knowledgeable critic of CNN and the other media who make their profits by denigrating a sister democracy.

On our December tour, which went exactly as I predicted with no violent action whatsoever and no knowledge on the tourists’ part that anything unusual was going on in the land, a good and spiritual time was had by all. I suggested to my wife, Sandra, who led the tour, that the pilgrims each write something about their experience if they felt like it, and I would consider those reports for upcoming newsletters. I want to share with you below the thoughts of one of our passengers, a Bible Study Fellowship leader, along with her own introduction:

Shalom, Sandra,

Here is a little article I wrote for Zola. I don’t know exactly what he is looking for or hoping for. Mine may be too emotional, as well. However, it’s what came from my heart, you know “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” It will not hurt my feelings if he can’t use it. If he wants me to take another direction, I can try again. My love to you both.

ISRAEL IN DECEMBER

Psalm 102:13 — “You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.”

If ever there was a time for Christians to show compassion to Israel, it is NOW! If Christians would embrace the truth that the Jewish people are the brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ and the family we have been grafted into (Romans 11:17), I wonder how our responses to the incessant slander and maligning from the media would change in its effect upon us.

For many weeks I experienced a deep longing to be in Israel. It was an undefined emotionalism that could not be put into words. As time passed and Israel experienced more and more hardship, the desire intensified and became so intimate that it was almost too personal to be shared. A Jewish friend living in Israel helped me to articulate what my heart could not. He said, “When the one you love is hurting, you desire to go to her, to show comfort and support and love.” He was exactly right! His words defined the undefinable.

I love Israel and the Jewish people with all my heart, and I wanted very much to demonstrate my love and support in the midst of the Palestinian propaganda showcased on our TV screens. I began to pray that God would let me go home to Israel, and He did!

I just returned from ten magnificent days of touring with Zola’s Hanukkah tour group. Our group of 18 traveled and traversed Israel together from Galilee in the north to Eilat in the south. Our luxurious, brand-new tour bus meandered through the majestic mountainous beauty of the Golan Heights. We viewed the Sea of Galilee from Peace Vista where we beheld the beauty of the entire outline of God’s tranquil harp-shaped lake, the very spot where Jesus taught His disciples and walked on the water. We prayed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. I experienced the deep satisfaction of standing shoulder to shoulder with weeping women at the wall as I shared their pain and prayed with them for the peace of Jerusalem. There was never a moment when I felt endangered or fearful. Instead, I was completely at ease and content as I walked in God’s land and prayed for His people.

If you are considering a tour of Israel, please don’t allow media malarkey to rob you of this joy and privilege. It’s time for Christians to reach out with arms of love, embracing our Jewish brothers and sisters. Jesus Himself said, “If you have done unto the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me.” It’s time to “show favor to Zion, the appointed time has come.”

Karen Swanson
Fort Collins, Colorado

I have nothing to add to the above except to invite you to join us for our next tour, which will be April 16–26 (Deluxe Tour of Israel) or April 11–26 (Grand Tour with an extension of a luxurious cruise to the Greek islands). Come with us to experience for yourself what Karen has so beautifully expressed. We will visit all the major Biblical sites, as we always do on our Deluxe Tour. I personally will teach at several sites, such as the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of the Sermon, the Upper Room and the Garden Tomb, and you will have ample opportunities to ask me any questions you like during our evening discussion meetings. I hope you’ll join us.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Your Messenger,

Zola

Zola Levitt Ministries is ECFA approved and has Charity Navigator’s top rating of 4 stars.

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