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Dear Friends,

At the recent polls, voters in both America and Israel seemed to ask, “What is the change we need?” Barack Obama campaigned with “Change We Need.” Netanyahu promised another direction and a stronger and safer tomorrow. Both countries opted for “change,” but the changes are taking them in opposite directions.

Whereas George W. Bush had a stand-tough ethos, Obama seems more ready to negotiate. The previous Israeli administration pandered to terrorists by deliberating on how to carve up the country to appease them instead of responding forcefully to their incessant aggression. Now Israel has decided to take a firmer stance rather than tolerate erosion by Arab demands and political mismanagement.

As your Bible-minded observer and journalist, I constantly develop new TV programming for you. I have led nine recent tours to Bible sites with pilgrims who savored the trip of a lifetime. While there, I interviewed Messianic Believers who live in Israel, and rubbed elbows with various Jewish citizens on the street. Though the Israelis selected a hard-line prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, they also seem to like America’s new, softer-line president. The contradiction is odd and interesting and worth examining more fully in an upcoming Levitt Letter.

America has gone from a tough political posture to a weaker one; while Israel has gone from a moderate posture to one more resolute. The changes on both sides of the Atlantic seem to indicate that voters tend to drift about as they wrestle with how to solve society’s troubles.

Perhaps our two nations are attempting to stumble upon a combination that eventually will work. Though it’s better to live in a rough democracy than a smooth dictatorship, we must seek to be in God’s will where “the change we need” is undisguised.

Though you won’t hear it on the six o’clock news, the biggest change we need is repentance!

John introduced Jesus in this opening salvo: “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent!” (Mk. 1:15) In Mt. 4:17, Jesus picked up on the very same theme, saying as much when it came time for Him to move out: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” We can believe this assurance from John and Jesus that a brave new world is available to people at the other end of “change”—of biblical change, that is.

The word “repent” means “to change”—but to change directions more significantly. In pointing fingers about the causes of such global concerns as the economy, climate, and worldwide terror, we all seem to ignore the real problem: sinful human greed.

In John and Jesus’ day, many who came for life-changing baptism and absolution were unrepentant. Though they embraced the “change we need” mantra of their day, they treated it more as fluff than substance. John recognized their superficial attitudes and said, “Brood of vipers…Bear fruits worthy of repentance” and “even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees” (Matt. 3:7-10).

John believed that a new world was dawning, but he understood that it would come about by the Candidate he was promoting: King Jesus. Furthermore, John seemed to believe that a new world would come in response to recruiting citizens for the Kingdom: devoted Believers—which brings us to me and to you.

Many alarmists are warning, “The sky is falling.” Unlike some other ministers, I don’t believe it. The current economic glitches seem short-term, temporary speed bumps on the highway to the coming Kingdom. The Tribulation miseries that the Bible predicts still seem off in the distance. There are grand opportunities in the present, and I wish to dispel fear, doubt, and excessive caution. It’s an optimal time to make Jesus known in the world. And you and I, via this ministerial outreach, are doing just that.

I just returned from Israel where I filmed a new TV series entitled Dark Prince: When The Devil Has His Day. It will introduce viewers the world over to the major Bible texts about the devil and the evil-filled latter days. I am not Satan’s “PR man.” But everyone needs to understand the Bible’s important message about a downtrodden world at the ragged edge of human history. Of course, the presentation of that message needs to be balanced—and taught from a decidedly Jewish perspective. Please be sure to watch the series on television or at www.levitt.tv—and consider writing a check to this ministry to help us broadcast the program’s important information.

In a few weeks I will return to the Holy Land to shoot another important series about Jesus, whom I like to call “Yeshua,” His Hebrew name. This eight-part series will explore Jesus/Yeshua’s basic teachings. For instance, we will dissect the “Sermon on the Mount” beneath a very Jewish microscope. You will be amazed at how Jewish this basic Christian message really is. It’s a life-giving message, I might add—and will enrich your life.

In this most famous of sermons, Jesus says: “Lay up treasures in Heaven” (Matt. 6:20); don’t “serve two masters” (v. 24) and “do not worry about your life, what you will eat… but seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow…” (vv. 25-34). Bearing in mind this sage advice, when we look to political leadership, we should care about who and what is leading us, more than who and what is leading the country—Israel’s or ours. After all, if you’re walking with God, He can make the manna fall from Heaven for you and make water flow from the rocks, no matter the times or the seasons or the place.

Please help me teach and preach these Bible messages to the millions who need to hear them now more than ever. There are enough people on our mailing list that if each one did a little and gave a little, we could accomplish a lot. I’ll leave it at that.

Lastly, for His sake as well as for your own, visit Israel with me—or with anyone. Go! Perhaps there’s a change you need that will happen when you go to the place where repentance/change was first proclaimed.

Is it safe, you wonder? Yes. Or else I wouldn’t go. Reports of the localized dangers in Israel are more hype than substance. Come with me and I’ll prove it to you. Our summer tours both depart June 7. The Discovery Tour (featuring Dig for a Day with archaeologists) will return June 17. The Am Israel Chai Extension, for incredibly rewarding volunteer work, will return June 21. This may be just the change you need!

Or plan to join us this October 13 or 18. Our four fall tour options include Israel only, Athens + Israel, Israel + Petra, and Athens + Israel + Petra. Call (214) 696-9760 and learn how to get the change you need at the time you need it. If you don’t want to pick up a phone just now, please consider picking up a pen and checkbook to help us take The Story global via our Bible-based television series.

I wish blessings to you.

Your messenger,

Jeff Seif

P.S. If you simply want to escape your everyday world, I can recommend a Caribbean cruise or a trip to Paris. However, if you don’t want just a vacation but want to recover your spiritual equilibrium, then by all means come with me and walk in the footsteps of Jesus!

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