A Note From Zola
Dear Friends, I was in Jerusalem on September 11 and that turned out to be quite a learning experience. The TV crew and I immediately changed our plans in the middle of the tour. We had been filming a series called Sons of Israel, concerning the patriarchs, prophets, etc. But we switched to the World Trade Center and Washington, and were able to interview civilian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Tel Aviv. I saw the sincere commiseration of the Israelis, and some of them even walked up to me when they heard me speak English to express their condolences. I also saw the Palestinians dancing in the streets with joy. I saw Arafat give blood, as though anyone would want the blood of a seventy-year-old with Parkinson's disease. I saw Palestinian Authority spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi with her same old pack of lies insisting that it was all Israel's fault. Arafat even sent greetings to the Israelis for the Jewish New Year on September 17! A personal friend of mine, an American expatriate to Israel, had a very interesting view on fundamentalist Islamic hatred. He said that we were deeply disturbing their way of doing things by empowering their women and showing their people that one can change one's leaders.
Afghanistan has no television and so they do not see the pervasive images of women as newscasters, federal prosecutors, actresses, singers and dancers on full display. But they see the occasional traveler and are aware that not every woman in the world wears a chador, the traditional head-to-toe covering of Moslem women. Their women discover that females elsewhere actually go to school, drive cars, and even get medical care. Under the Taliban, women cannot see a doctor even in childbirth. Moslem men, in fact, find our women in the West overwhelmingly attractive. They're just regular fellahs, you know. Second, and probably equally dangerous, our Western ways involve periodic changes of leadership. If Moslems could simply depose their leaders, their lot would improve significantly. And two hundred million Arabs are struck silent by fear of a few thousand Islamic fundamentalists. A Moslem pointed out to me that only one percent of Moslems were terroristically-minded. That just isn't true of Jews, Christians, Buddhists, etc. (And if only one percent are terrorists, that's still 10 million terrorists!) With all of their religious protestations and chestthumping indignation, I still remain convinced that the major motivation of Moslems is envy. In no place in the world are their societies anything close to a success. The Arab Moslems literally can't feed themselves (the Emirates and oil-rich countries are fed by us). Their villages typically have no doctors, few schools, bad water, etc. Most of them are living closer to the 10th century than the 21st because they've never advanced beyond feudalism, ruled by dictators similar to those in Cuba, North Korea, Haiti, and the like. If we knew the truth about the Chinese society, which is heavily Moslem, I would guess their situation would be much the same. Their jealousy of the successes in the free world must be overwhelming.
Another way to stay in office is to pretend you're on both sides. Today, even the dictators of Syria, the Palestinian Authority, and Iran — mass murderers all — are pledging allegiance to the American flag! Nobel Peace Prize laureate and serial killer Yasser Arafat is inconsolably grief-stricken as we speak. I believe that between fighting the empowerment of "the little woman" and the hopelessness of replacing their leaders, the terrorist dictatorships will continue, as they have in Israel, with more and more assaults on democracy. How they might be liberated is anybody's guess, but unseating those "governments" would be a very good start. The Israelis, of course, are sincerely troubled, and they have a great deal of experience with terrorism. They've had to listen to American advice (and withstand American pressure) for years. And now, Cynthia Smith, bookkeeper at our ministry office, wonders if they will advise the Americans to simply offer half our country to these terrorists to see if they'll make peace!
Would Israel Have Fared Better?The Jerusalem Report ...Did the Americans make the wrong choices in the skies over the northeastern United States on September 11? Or were they unprepared to make any choices at all? [Former chief of staff Dan] Shomron inclines to the latter view. Were suspicious planes to have closed in on a potential Israeli target, he says, Israel would have sent up fighters and taken the appropriate action. "Our radar picks up planes at a great distance. And if anything looks suspicious, we immediately scramble fighters," he notes, indicating that it is inconceivable that behavior like that of the planes that crashed in New York and Washington would not have raised an alarm. Defense analyst and former Israel Air Force pilot Reuven Pedatzur is similarly withering. "True, if somebody is holding a gun to the pilot's head during the approach to Ben-Gurion Airport, and forces him to swerve into a Tel Aviv office building, there's nothing we can do," says Pedatzur, of Tel Aviv University. (In the wake of the U.S. experience, incoming flights have been told to fly over Haderah and Netanyah rather than Tel Aviv.) "But in most cases there's going to be some kind of suspicious behavior, some signal from the cockpit."
The fact that the terrorists were so easily able to take control of the planes is similarly disturbing. A few hours after the attack, Israel closed its airspace to foreign airliners, allowing only Israeli planes — which have armed security guards aboard — to land at Ben-Gurion. Had the Americans stationed sky marshals on planes, as they did during the rash of skyjackings of the late 1960s and early 1970s, "they very well might have killed the terrorists," says Nachman Tal, a fellow at Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies. "The four hijacked planes might have still gone down, but not on the terrorists' targets." Anything would be an improvement, says Tal, who describes procedures at Boston's Logan Airport — from which the Twin Towers planes took off — as little more than casual, particularly on domestic flights. "In Israel, passengers and luggage are examined before they reach the airline counter. Anyone who doesn't add up just does not get on the plane." That would have thwarted Muhammad Atta, one of the hijack pilots, who reportedly was involved in attacks on buses in Israel in the mid-1990s. Another possibility for terrorists is to use someone who is legitimately on a plane before takeoff, like employees of catering and cleaning firms, to leave something under a specific seat, or in an overhead compartment. Or for terrorists to arrive from another airport where they may have been able to breach security, as two Twin Towers terrorists apparently did from Portland, Maine to Boston on the morning of September 11. "There's no one simple solution in airport security," says Even-Ezra. "And though there are many defenses, each answers only one specific kind of threat." It's extremely difficult, Kimche points out, to infiltrate a small, highly ideological group. "But you can penetrate the large circle of friends, families, mistresses, drivers and helpers," he observes, "and we've been infiltrating that larger group constantly. They may not know everything about a terrorist plot, but they know something's going on, and that can give a clue."
Then he gives one chilling example. "If we knew they were recruiting or
training pilots, we'd have red-flagged airports. You can be sure of
that."
Israel Stopped Plan to Destroy Its Tallest BuildingsTEL AVIV — Israel has foiled Palestinian plans to destroy the two tallest office towers in the country. It was not clear whether the planned Palestinian attack was connected to the Sept. 11 suicide plane crashes that downed the World Trade Center. Israeli authorities said two Palestinian men planned to use a car bomb to down two adjacent office towers in Tel Aviv. The two were arrested on Aug. 7 and identified as members of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The plot was disclosed as Israel resisted U.S. pressure to convene a summit with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
An indictment released on Sunday did not say when the two were to have
blown up the office towers — one building 50 floors, the other 46
floors. The indictment said Samah Jibril and Rami Katouni had received
extensive military training in Syria.
Unfriendly Skies Are No Match for El AlAfter El Al's sole hijacking in 1968, they designed the industry's most impenetrable flight security. In 1979 in Zurich, they found a bomb in the bag of a German passenger who looked nervous. He thought he had been hired to smuggle diamonds. A few years ago in London, they found a bomb in the bag of a pregnant English passenger, placed there by her Palestinian lover, whose identity security officials had checked beforehand. The recent U.S. suicide hijackings could never have occurred on El Al. Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror explains, "Those men's names would be on our list," and staff also easily would have noticed that the hijackers traveling first class did not look wealthy enough to pay the fare.
In 1987, Pan Am rejected Mr. Dror's security plan. One year later, Pan
Am's flight to New York exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270
people. "American security has been sleeping well for years," says Beni
Tal of a security firm in Tel Aviv. "Now they've woken up forever."
Zola's Bulletin Board
ISRAEL
Petra Extension Begins March 7
Israel Tour Begins March 11 GREECE
Mediterranean Cruise Begins March 21
Biblical Greek Extension Begins March 26 Dates are tentative
To our usual cruise of the Mediterranean isles, we plan to offer a New Testament tour of Thessalonica, Philippi and Berea, in northern Greece. The luxury cruise and land tour would make this 10-day package perfect for those who have already experienced Israel with us. To request a brochure, please contact Tony (214-696-9760) during office hours or our answering service (800-966-3377) anytime.
Zola is hosting periodic tours to The Holy Land Experience in Orlando, FL. Please let us know whether you would prefer the weekend of Nov. 23 or Nov. 30. If you would like to extend your stay to include the weekdays in between, then we will provide you with a list of other sites and attractions in Orlando. For more information, please call Tony at (214) 696-9760 during office hours. You may also call 1-800-WONDERS (966-3377) anytime.
Create many of the memories of a Holy Land tour without flying overseas! From 6:30 PM, Friday, November 9 until Sunday afternoon, November 12. For information, please see page 2 of the September Levitt Letter and call Tony at (214) 696-9760 or write to Attn: Tony
Beginning in late November and into the winter months, Zola plans to be in Florida leading groups to the new Holy Land Experience in Orlando. If you know a church that would like to host him when he's going to be "in the neighborhood," they would save considerably on travel expenses. Please contact Lawrence in our office at (214) 696-8844.
Our ministry's congregation meets each Friday evening at 7:30 CT. To attend online, click on "Zola on Internet TV" at www.levitt.com and download the free software. Another option: click on "ZolaChat" to fellowship in our interactive chat room. You will see Zola's answers to questions from across America.
In Castalia, OH, WGGN-52 now shows Zola Levitt Presents on Thursday evenings at 7:00. In the United Kingdom, the Revival Channel carries our program on Thursdays at 5:30 PM. Please remember our two major U.S. networks: Zola airs on TBN at 7:00 AM Central Time on Mondays and at 1:00 AM Mondays on FAM on both coasts (midnight Central Time).
In our next issue, look for a review of Moody Bible Institute's new book, Storm Clouds on the Horizon, edited by Dr. Charles Dyer. Is this new release on Bible prophecy and Israel a resurrection of solid Bible teaching or merely an attempt to soothe worried donors about professors gone astray? Don't miss it!
"Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average
American newspaper is like trying to play Bach's 'St.
Matthew's Passion' on a ukulele."
To War, Not to CourtThe Washington Post This is not crime. This is war. One of the reasons there are terrorists out there capable and audacious enough to carry out the deadliest attack on the United States in its history is that, while they have declared war on us, we have in the past responded (with the exception of a few useless cruise missile attacks on empty tents in the desert) by issuing subpoenas. Secretary of State Colin Powell's first reaction to the day of infamy was to pledge to "bring those responsible to justice." This is exactly wrong. Franklin Roosevelt did not respond to Pearl Harbor by pledging to bring the commander of Japanese naval aviation to justice. He pledged to bring Japan to its knees.
We no longer have to search for a name for the post-Cold War era. It will henceforth be known as the age of terrorism. Organized terror has shown what it can do: execute the single greatest massacre in American history, shut down the greatest power on the globe and send its leaders into underground shelters. All this, without even resorting to chemical, biological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction. This is a formidable enemy. To dismiss it as a bunch of cowards perpetrating senseless acts of violence is complacent nonsense. People willing to kill thousands of innocents while they kill themselves are not cowards. They are deadly, vicious warriors and need to be treated as such. Nor are their acts of violence senseless. They have a very specific aim: to avenge alleged historical wrongs and to bring the great American satan to its knees. Nor is the enemy faceless or mysterious. We do not know for sure who gave the final order but we know what movement it comes from. The enemy has identified itself in public and openly. Our delicate sensibilities have prevented us from pronouncing its name. Its name is radical Islam. Not Islam as practiced peacefully by millions of the faithful around the world. But a specific fringe political movement, dedicated to imposing its fanatical ideology on its own societies and destroying the society of its enemies, the greatest of which is the United States. Israel, too, is an affront to radical Islam, and thus of course must be eradicated. But it is the smallest of fish. The heart of the beast — with its military in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey and the Persian Gulf; with a culture that "corrupts" Islamic youth; with an economy and technology that dominate the world — is the United States. That is why we were struck so savagely. How do we know? Who else trains cadres of fanatical suicide murderers who go to their deaths joyfully? And the average terrorist does not coordinate four hijackings within one hour. Nor fly a plane into the tiny silhouette of a single building. For that you need skilled pilots seeking martyrdom. That is not a large pool to draw from. These are the shock troops of the enemy. And the enemy has many branches. Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Israel, the Osama bin Laden organization headquartered in Afghanistan, and various Arab "liberation fronts" based in Damascus. And then there are the governments: Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya among them. Which one was responsible? We will find out soon enough. But when we do, there should be no talk of bringing these people to "swift justice," as Karen Hughes dismayingly promised mid-afternoon yesterday. An open act of war demands a military response, not a judicial one. Military response against whom? It is absurd to make war on the individuals who send these people. The terrorists cannot exist in a vacuum. They need a territorial base of sovereign protection. For 30 years we have avoided this truth. If bin Laden was behind this, then Afghanistan is our enemy. Any country that harbors and protects him is our enemy. We must carry their war to them. We should seriously consider a congressional declaration of war. That convention seems quaint, unused since World War II. But there are two virtues to declaring war: It announces our seriousness both to our people and to the enemy, and it gives us certain rights as belligerents (of blockade, for example).
The "long peace" is over. We sought this war no more than we sought war
with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan or Cold War with the Soviet Union.
But when war was pressed upon the greatest generation, it rose to the
challenge. The question is: Will we?
Shrine to TerrorPalestinian students at Al-Najah University in Nablus have been glorifying suicide bombers and the murder of Jews with a gruesome exhibit in their school cafeteria. In one part of the exhibit, there is a large rock in front of a mannequin dressed as a religious Jew. A taped message coming from the rock repeatedly says, "O believer, there is a Jewish man behind me. Come and kill him." This is a reference to a verse in the Koran.* In another part of the exhibit, there is a reenactment of the bombing of the Sbarro Pizzeria in Jerusalem, including broken tables splattered with fake blood, pizza, human body parts and a portrait of suicide bomber Ezzaldin Almasri, holding a Koran in one hand and a rifle in the other.
Visitors are encouraged to show disrespect for Israel and the United States by walking on the Israeli and American flags, placed on the steps leading to one of the displays. On Sunday, September 23, the Associated Press (AP) reported on this disturbing exhibit with powerful photos. Disturbingly, very few newspapers carried this AP story in their September 24th editions. Mistake: On September 25, the Agence France Presse reported that Arafat had shut down the vile exhibit. Not true. The students were merely asked to "tone it down," as if that were possible when the very point of the exhibit is to celebrate violence against Jews. The AP's coverage of the exhibit ended with a Palestinian student's unbalanced, false accusation that Israel kills and tortures [innocent] Palestinians. An Israeli viewpoint might have reminded readers that Palestinian terrorists target civilians on purpose, while Israeli soldiers respond to attacks against Israelis. Arabs, most prominently Palestinians, celebrated September's terrorism in America. Here are some comments from happy Arabs:
"We're ecstatic." Palestinians, including PA police, paraded through the streets of Gaza and the West Bank. Reuters in Beirut reported that "jubilant Palestinians took to the streets of refugee camps of Lebanon and the West Bank, waving Palestinian flags and distributing sweets." AP film footage of these celebrations, which included members of Arafat's security forces, was confiscated. Palestinians threatened the life of one videographer should the news agencies air footage of these mass celebrations, numbering more than 3,000 in Nablus. Despite Arafat's attempts at "spin control" to discourage these gleeful demonstrations, PA security forces have had "limited success" in quelling the joy expressed by thousands of Palestinians over the loss of American life. Calls by Arafat for his people to support the U.S. have been rarely heeded amid the shouts of support for the hijackers and their successes. Arab students at Hebrew University in Jerusalem threw a party in their dormitory. Islamic sources of former CBS newsman David Dolan state that "many Muslims see the coordinated attacks upon New York and Washington as signaling the end of American hegemony in the world" and believe that the U.S. is "the main world obstacle standing in the way of the spread of their faith."
"This is a Jihad [holy war]: either victory or martyrdom."
And the world continues to mourn."I suspect," says Dolan, "that the inability of much of the West to understand and fully back Israel's lonely fight is now coming back to haunt the free world."
Incidentally, Muslim leaders in Britain are demanding that Osama bin
Laden not be described as an Islamic fundamentalist because they fear
this it is provoking a racial backlash. The Muslim Council of Britain
wants bin Laden to be referred to as merely a terrorist, with no
reference made to his faith. Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the
council, said, "We will never accept the term Islamic terrorist. Islam
does not permit such violence." Mr. Bunglawala might not know about
Koran verse 4.90, quoted above, and Koran 9.5: "Slay the idolaters
wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie
in wait for them in every ambush."
Dismantle Terror-Supporting RegimesThe Jerusalem Post (September 14) — In 1995, I wrote in my book, Fighting Terrorism: "Extremist Islamic terrorist organizations nullify in large measure the need to have air power or intercontinental missiles as delivery systems for an Islamic nuclear payload. The terrorists themselves will be the delivery system. In the worst of such scenarios, the consequences could be not a car bomb but a nuclear bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center. "The rising tide of Islamic terrorism is qualitatively different from the terrorism which the West has had to face until now. The various strains of militant Islam see their ultimate destiny as leading to a final confrontation with the Great Satan, the United States. "What this new terrorism portends for America and the world and what can be done about it has not yet been sufficiently understood. The growth of terrorism has been accompanied by a steady escalation in the means of violence, including those capable of bringing down entire buildings. The very real possibility that terrorist states and organizations may soon acquire horrific weapons of mass destruction and use them to escalate terrorism beyond our wildest nightmares has not yet been addressed properly by Western governments. Ultimately, the explosion and collapse of the World Trade Center was caused by 300 tons of jet fuel rather than by a nuclear device, and this means that the tragic horror we experienced this week was not the worst possible scenario. Down the line, a far worse catastrophe may be in the offing: terrorist regimes like Iran and Iraq wielding atomic weapons. No longer will individuals or buildings be the ones threatened by terror; entire cities may be destroyed, entire states may be held hostage. The world is on the verge of an abyss, and most political leaders have not properly gauged its depth. The only way to fully understand this is to recall the effects of another hate-filled ideology, Nazism, which also started as a local movement, and which in just a few years became a world force. Nazism 60 years ago, like fundamentalist Islam today, was also initially directed only against Jews and other local minorities. It quickly became clear, however, that its passionate hatred was directed against our entire civilization. Then as now, the democracies were late in appreciating the horrendous implications to our societies of a fanatic ideology bent on world domination and lacking any inhibition about destroying lives in the process. Hitler was working to develop nuclear weapons. If he had, our civilization would have come to an end. Today, for the second time in the modern era, we are faced with the possibility that weapons of mass destruction will fall into the hands of a maniacal movement, whose leaders are blinded by their fanaticism to a sober calculation of deterrence. We could face terror and destruction on a scale that would dwarf even the horrors of Manhattan. This is the greatest danger we have ever faced. Until recently, no one dealt with it. The democracies have wasted too much time. They are approaching the 12th hour. They cannot wait any longer. The United States must lead the alliance of free nations to stamp out terrorism and uproot its safe havens. We must declare terrorism as a crime against humanity and the terrorists as enemies of mankind. We must destroy the terrorist organizations, punish and dismantle regimes that support or harbor them, and disarm their weapons of death. For the suicide bombers are only the tip of the iceberg. Their actions could not have been possible without a broad infrastructure of governments, organizations, and ideological movements that support terror, directly and indirectly. The battle lines are clear. Those who support barbaric terror are dancing in Gaza and Ramallah, Beirut and Baghdad. Those who support freedom and democracy are grieving in New York and London, Paris and Tel Aviv. Terror cannot be defeated unless it is completely uprooted. America must lead the international war against terrorism, but Israel must do its share. Here, right next to us — and in large measure, with our encouragement — a terror-supporting regime par excellence, led by Arafat and the PLO, has developed. And its capabilities grow increasingly stronger. It, too, like the entire empire of terror, must be disarmed and demilitarized — before it is too late. The free world must defeat terror. If it does not, terror will defeat us.
Today's tragedies can either be the harbingers of much
greater calamities yet to come or the turning point in
which free societies once again mobilize their resources,
their ingenuity, and their will to wipe out this evil from
our midst. Eradicating terrorism is not a "policy option"
— it is a necessity for the survival of our democratic
society and our freedoms.
 Some letters have been edited for space. Shalom Zola: Just thought you might be interested in Moody's fence-sitting. In Moody's Today in the Word, pg. 22 (Sept. 15, 2001) they write, "Jesus planted kingdom seeds two thousand years ago in Palestine," and in the same paragraph, several sentences on, "twelve Jewish disciples in Israel." This is really trying to have it both ways. Thanks for your good teaching. — CK
Dear CK:
Moody claims to honor Israel, which of course they stopped
doing some years ago. In this particular paragraph,
they can't even get its name right. There was no "Palestine"
2,000 years ago, of course. Be careful where you're educated;
you may end up talking like them. — Zola
Dear Mr. Levitt: I just wanted to e-mail you and let you know how much I have enjoyed your web site. I have only visited it twice and only on my second visit did I get to really look through and see all your selections. I must say that your pictures of Israel were breathtaking. I could not help but cry while looking at them. How anyone could look at these photos and not be touched by the Spirit of God is beyond me. Just looking at the garden tomb I could imagine Mary weeping for her Master and I could imagine her joy when He appeared to her. AWESOME!!!! I think you are doing a wonderful job. I recently read your August newsletter and read those two critical letters telling you to decide whether or not you want to be a Jew or a Christian and saying that the Jews need to get over their persecution and save some tears for the children. OHHH Zola, I wish I could go and smack them with my Bible for you, but I'm sure you are probably used to getting letters from sad, devil-oppressed people like that. What a privilege it must be to have Jewish blood running in your veins and know Jesus as your Messiah. As far as getting over the persecution, I don't really think that the person writing that letter had a real grip on reality or they would know better than to say something that stupid. The only tears they need to be concerned with at this point are the ones they will be crying when they come face to face with our King and they realize they have been deceived by the enemy of our souls. You keep up the good fight!!!!!! — PC
Zola: I never miss your program. I love it. You and your staff put together one of the best, if not "the best," program that is on today. Not only is it good for Christian education, but it is historically great. You are a wonderful teacher, and I have learned so much from watching your program, and have told others to watch also. Your interviews are great, and the locations that you do your programs from are beautiful. You are a very blest servant of God, and our Lord Jesus. Please, Please, Please don't stop doing what you are doing. People have to, and should, want to learn the truth about what is going on with events that are happening today. Israel is only protecting Israel, and yet they get blamed for starting everything. Please let the people know what is really happening. As our state motto says..."YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN PENNSYLVANIA." God bless you and your staff. May Jesus always be with you (I know He is). — CW
Dear CW:
Thanks for your letter. I have many friends in Pennsylvania
since I was raised there. God bless you, too. By the
way, I'll come any place the Lord leads me to preach.
Contact Lawrence Ford at 214-696-8844 for details. He
is also handling my engagements in Florida when I'll be
there from Thanksgiving weekend into the winter months
leading tours to the
Holy Land Experience. — Zola
Dear Zola: I ran across your newsletter article concerning United Methodists and their leadership's stand for Palestine. May I very humbly add a footnote? Not all United Methodists subscribe to this foolishness. As a United Methodist Pastor, I have led tours to Israel three or four times. I stand fast with the Israeli people and their struggle. In fact, I have a full-sized Israeli flag in the corner of my office and am proud to teach and preach our "grafted in" Jewishness from my pulpit. The United Methodist Church is like my wife of 33 years. We fuss and feud sometimes, but when the dust settles, I still love her. We United Methodists have misplaced our Wesleyan heritage, but the grass roots...those wonderful people with their fannies in the pews...are solid as a rock, still know from whence we came and whose Cross we honor. His people are our people. His God is our God! Please, try not to lump all United Methodists into one bunch! — Pastor DG
Dear Pastor,
You're in a very small minority of United Methodists
that support Israel in the present conflict, I'm afraid.
Since you're apparently going to stay in that denomination
(which I know is very good in some sectors), why
don't you contact those bishops and try to straighten
them out? They certainly won't listen to me. — Zola
Mr. Levitt: We've been listening to your program for several years... we've always enjoyed your programming, very informative. However, it was shocking to hear you castigating Dr. J. Vernon McGee (especially since he's dead and unable to respond to your comments) regarding Israel on your television program.... We've been studying the Bible for a long time, and have also studied much of Dr. McGee's 5-Year study of the Bible. Nowhere have I ever heard and/or read Dr. McGee make the comment you attributed to him on your recent television program. It's too bad, Mr. Levitt, when people feel it's OK to knock others who do God's work. And you know, Mr. Levitt, Dr. McGee's work lives on, growing each day, in spite of the fact that he is dead!! This certainly shows how God has blessed McGee's work! We are just one little household. On the grand scheme of things we won't make much difference. But we won't be tuning you in...any more. — DVL
Dear DVL:
I reported a word-for-word, face-to-face conversation I
had with Dr. McGee and many have corroborated his
views. He was certainly a fine Bible teacher, but he was
amillennialist, as far as I could tell. And he told me in
plain words that the present-day Israel was not associated
with prophecy. The same views seem to be held by
Moody Bible Institute, Dallas Seminary, etc. these days.
I was only reporting on something that happened. Please
don't violate Paul's warning about us being not one of
Apollos and one of Cephas, but we're all of Christ
(1 Cor. 1:11-13).
— Zola
Dear Zola: Thank you so much for your wonderful newsletter and library. It is such a blessing and I "sit on the edge of my seat" to receive this information. I cannot think of any issue, nationally or internationally, that comes close to importance and relevance, as do the issues that surround our beloved Israel. There is no other subject that is as revealing as that of Israel. The glaring fact that the socialist media and the enemies of our Lord and His Word are so blatantly blind makes discernment easy. Indeed, I support the article ["Eviction," August Levitt Letter] by Cal Thomas. There will not be peace in this area nor will Israel be removed or destroyed. The Arabs are at war to the maximum of their ability and methods. No nation can tolerate this level of attacks. Eviction is a better avenue to stability. What an exciting period of history. Again, we are on the edge of our seats. It is either rapture or resurrection! Thank you so very much and we praise our Lord for providing us a pastor-teacher and indeed, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. — CC
Dear CC:
Thank you for your letter. Yours is overwhelmingly
representative of all the many letters we received in
response to the "Eviction" article. Let us pray that
Israel will take firm action and be less bothered now
by outsiders with words like "restraint." — Zola
Dr. Levitt: It is a disgrace that Dr. Levitt is trying to steal our Jewish people. One CANNOT be Jewish and accept Jesus as "The Messiah." If you do, then you are a Christian. You need to stop this deception. It is destroying our people. We already lost 6 million in the Holocaust. — LT
Dear LT:
Yes, you can be Jewish and accept Jesus as the Messiah.
Thousands of Jews did in the first century and they are
the basis for the entire Christian church. What is destroying
our people is a brand of non-Biblical Judaism in
which the keeping of laws, even nonsensical laws, has
replaced faith in God. The irony apparent to all Biblereading
people is that the Jews, the true purveyors of
Scripture, are barely knowledgeable in Bible and have
therefore overlooked the Messiah. They even have failed
to see Israel's part in prophecy, even though it is
unfolding right before their eyes. I'm sorry if you have
taken offense, but you'll have to keep in mind that Jesus
was a born and bred Jew from Galilee in Israel and spent
His entire ministry appealing to Jewish people and those
alone for faith in Him and His Father. — Zola
Dear Zola and Staff: I began getting your Levitt Letter last October and learn quite a lot from it. Thanks for sending it. One thing I particularly like is the Hebrew Lesson. Since I have no other way to learn Hebrew besides the concordance, I look forward to the new verse for each month — and memorize it thoroughly (OK for someone 70 years old). — MR
Dear MR:
Thank you for your kind letter. When you arrive in
Jerusalem in the Kingdom to come, your verses will
sure come in handy! — Zola
Dear Zola and Staff: I enjoyed the August Levitt Letter. Cal Thomas happens to be one of the few columnists I bother to read. Eviction — yes — that's the best solution I've heard yet. One question I've always had is: Why didn't the Palestinian Arabs make the land into a great prosperous nation of their own before 1948? There was plenty of time and oil money around. — GH
Dear GH:
There were no "Palestinians" before 1948 or even before
the 1960s. They had no government and are not, in fact,
a distinguishable ethnic group. There were Arabs in the
land, but no one called a "Palestinian." This brings up
another point about a previous letter we ran asking
about the Israelis using the word "Palestine" in their
Declaration of Independence. I did some research on
this in Israel when I was there recently and discovered
that the word "Palestine" only shows up in the English
translation of the Declaration. The original Hebrew
document doesn't use the word at all. — Zola
Dear Zola: No way would I criticize you because I love you and Jewish people (both saved and unbelieving), but I would like to clear up one "hang-up" I have with your teaching. You are right, Biblically, in teaching that Israel is now, always has been, and always will be God's own gift to the Jews forever. He promised the Land to Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. Forever. My problem is that you always speak of the Jews, even unsaved Jews, as if they are superior to Gentile Christians. ...I have witnessed to many Jews, but they detest my precious Lord. One told me that Jesus was a false Messiah. Another told me that the Jews blame Jesus for all their problems. ...Perhaps they'll be in that remnant that will be saved someday. — JV
Dear JV:
I cannot have said that I think Jews are superior to Christians
because I don't believe that. I've spent exactly half
of my life in each of those communities and I obviously
find Christian company very satisfying. You say to me
that you're not criticizing me because you love me and
you think I'm doing a great work, but then you indicate
that you don't particularly care for my people.
You write the amazing sentence, "I have witnessed to many Jews, but they
detest my precious Lord." I've known thousands of Jewish people in my
life and I never met a single one who "detested" Jesus. Admittedly, they
don't give Him His due. Some call Him a revolutionary rabbi, some a
prophet, etc., but I have never, ever met a Jewish person who detested
Jesus or the founder of any other religion, for that matter. And you
report that a Jew told you that the Jewish people "blame Jesus for all
their problems." Well, that's odd. They're not having problems from
Christian people today and haven't had through the ages (other than
Catholics or other marginal denominations). You are charitable when you
indicate about the Jews you've witnessed to, "Perhaps they'll be in that
remnant that will be saved someday," but to tell you the truth, there
are just as many Jews that are saved as there are Gentiles, per capita,
in the Church today. Perhaps I'm being oversensitive, but with all of
your kind phrases and so on, I simply see an individual who has a
problem with the Jewish people. Remember that the first thing you will
do in heaven is have a face-to-face conversation with the King of the
Jews. — Zola
In response to a few letters I still receive from folks who accuse us of taking tours just for a profit while leading people into danger, let me make four points:
— Zola Zola: I...consider you a foremost authority on Israel. I very much respect your ministry. A few weeks ago I watched your TV program...and you made repeated references to Moody not being willing to support your ministry and this was due to Moody developing the liberal viewpoint of "Replacement Theology." I have listened to Moody for many years and know personally some of the great preachers who serve on their Board. I just couldn't believe they had suddenly made such a drastic shift in theology, so I wrote an email [copy sent] to Dr. Joseph Stowell. Thanks. — RR
Dear RR:
I thank you for trying to secure some vestige of truth from Moody's
executives regarding their theological stance. As you can read in our
new book, Battles with Seminaries, our concern with Moody Bible
Institute is its allowing professors to teach Progressive
Dispensationalism (PD), not necessarily replacement theology. PD muddles
the distinctions between the Church and Israel and claims that Jesus is
now, in heaven, seated upon the throne of David, which goes against
orthodox dispensational teaching, as prophecy expert Dr. John Walvoord
has pointed out in his analysis. This misinterpretation of prophecy
allows God's current work in Israel to be conveniently postponed.
This is the key idea that Dr. Dyer communicates in his letter to you,
saying that "Moody Bible Institute is firmly committed to the future
fulfillment of all God's promises for the nation Israel," and
quoting phrases from Dr. Joseph Stowell like "God will begin [at
the Rapture] the consummation of His plan for His Chosen People Israel."
He simply won't say that God's promises are being fulfilled right
now, which they are. You should write and ask Moody if God is
fulfilling His promises to Israel — day by day — at the
present time. — Zola [emphasis mine]
Shalom: I can't stop giggling. It's what I love about Zola, his no-nonsense honesty! Remind Zola that the real brethren are going through all that Jesus and Paul predicted, "All day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter"... and everything Paul experienced. Yet, the Lord Jesus is always defending us! The truth is MOST people have never read the Scriptures, ESPECIALLY Catholics. The Jew, at least, has heard about Moses, and that is a good starting point. Our job is to obey the Spirit of God, at all costs (rather than men). To beat Catholics over the head is not a bad idea, but I prefer the kinder route of first handing them an easy-to-understand Bible. We need to encourage our brothers to take it out of the sheath, and start speaking unashamedly...that we may be instruments of His Word. Above all, may we do as we were commanded by our Lord Jesus, be not ashamed of the brethren.... — E
Dear Zola: I just got the Levitt Letter (August 2001) and was reading with great enthusiasm when all of a sudden I came across a letter entitled, "You should be stopped..." from "C." Well, "C," I find your opinion real disturbing concerning the Jews and your idea of Christianity. If you really are a Christian, read your Bible over again, please. Especially Rom. 11, all of it! God gave Israel and Jerusalem to the Jews.
...I will give you a quote from Golda Meir when she was asked when there
will be peace in Israel. "There will be peace in Israel when Arab
mothers love their children more than they hate the Jews." I suggest you
go over to Israel, it just may teach you how wrong you are. I'd be
honored and proud for the opportunity to fight the PLO for every square
inch of it! — SRC
The New Evil Empire
...But the fact that there are people in this world who would crash an airplane full of innocent people into a building full of innocent people should revive the concept of evil. There is a new "evil empire"— the empire of terror. ...The United States will obviously seek out the organizations that have declared war on it and the states that give them moral and material support. But the world is not a court of law and the United States cannot limit itself to acting based on a level of proof that may never be found. Rather, the United States should state, as Roosevelt did in 1941, that as of yesterday's attacks a state of war "has existed" between the United States and the "evil empire" of state-sponsored terrorism.
...Terrorism is a global scourge that must be fought globally. Until
now, the democracies have fiddled with and indulged the states where
terrorism has been cultivated and grown. America's goal should be, one
way or another, to defeat or remove the regimes that have declared war
against her. If the democracies do not unite to defend themselves, our
world will become as tragically unrecognizable as the New York skyline.
  Taking A Chance on IsraelJERUSALEM (September 12) — At least one American on a United Jewish Communities solidarity mission to Israel yesterday struggled with the irony that her life was saved by being here. "When I saw the pictures of the World Trade Center collapsing, I was sick to my stomach," said Marilyn Cranney. "I work on Tower No. 2 on the 70th floor as a lawyer for Morgan Stanley... I've been getting to work at 8:30 in the morning and I would have been killed."
"It just goes to show, you shouldn't be afraid to come here," she said,
obviously shaken.
ABC's Peter Jennings: A Mouthpiece for Arafat?The Washington Post commented that Peter Jennings, anchorman of ABC World News Tonight, made a dramatic blunder during the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington when he gave airtime to Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi. Post columnist Tom Shales, reporting on how the different networks were covering the crisis, stated that "Thursday was Jennings' worst day, however. He hosted what looked like a little intercontinental tea party for alleged experts on the Middle East, one of whom was professional Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, whom Jennings hailed as 'widely known in the United States.' Also widely disliked." Other media outlets have reported that Ashrawi and Jennings were romantically involved during his stint as bureau chief in Lebanon.
During the interview, "Jennings deferred to Ashrawi, as usual, and let
her filibuster. It was a nauseating display...," Shales stated.
Nauseating particularly since this mouthpiece for Arafat cast the blame
for the attacks on America on Israel while our citizens lay dead and
wounded.
First Responses...It may be more than coincidental that on the day of the terrorist attacks, the official Palestinian daily said, "The suicide bombers of today are the noble successors of their noble predecessors — the Lebanese suicide bombers, who taught the U.S. Marines a tough lesson in [Lebanon]. And then, with no preconditions, they threw the last of the remaining enemy [Israeli] soldiers out of the [security] zone. These suicide bombers are the salt of the Earth, the engines of history. They are the most honorable people among us."
Any response to this day of infamy should begin with people like this.
Israeli Warning of Attacks Ignored(September 16) — Israeli intelligence officials say that they warned their counterparts in the United States last month [August] that large-scale terrorist attacks on highly visible targets on the American mainland were imminent. ...Two senior experts with Mossad...were sent to Washington in August to alert the CIA and FBI to the existence of a cell of as many of 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big operation...and told the Americans that there were strong grounds for suspecting Iraqi involvement.
An administration official in Washington said: "If this is
true then the refusal to take it seriously will mean heads
will roll. It is quite credible that the CIA might not heed
a Mossad warning: it has a history of being overcautious
about Israeli information."
Defense Department Bows to AllahWASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that the retaliatory operation name "Infinite Justice," which was intended to be America's rallying cry, would now be changed to "Enduring Freedom." Either name is acceptable, but what makes many sour in the stomach is the reason for the change: to placate the Muslims who took offense at "Infinite Justice." The idea that America could do only that which is ascribed to Allah, the god of Islam, was repulsive to the Arab world.
Shame on Rumsfeld for letting political correctness lead
us to appease the god of America's enemies!
It Has BegunWorldNetDaily ...The diplomats, politicians and pundits who so recently were pleased to condemn Israeli responses to terror in that tiny country from the comfort and safety of their easy chairs in America and elsewhere are strangely silent today.
It is time for us as Christians to pray that our nation first repent for its great sin of pushing Jesus Christ and the Word of God out of our public consciousness, and then to pray that God will spare our nation and direct us in this critical hour of our history. In my video, "Where Is America In Prophecy," I warned that America will be destroyed as a world power and that terrorism was one way this could happen. This scenario seems to have begun. I do not believe this is the last attack. An even more serious threat hanging over the U.S. is a chemical or biological bomb attack. Right now, I wouldn't rule out any possibility. Let us pray that our leaders realize the full implications of these attacks, and that they will have the courage to use our military power in an unrestricted way to not only bring to justice those responsible, but to deal such blows that no terrorist organization will be left alive to do this again. I believe we need to warn the nations whom we know harbor, protect and support terrorist groups to hand them over or face the full military fury of the world's last remaining superpower. If we act like wimps now, we will encourage far worse attacks than these present ones.
And to the Islamic terrorist groups of the world I say: "You have
awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible rage."
Faith in CNN RewardedSir, — There was something not right; I was tuned to CNN night and day, and not for a moment did they bugle the Palestinian cause. But patience rewarded my faith; Wednesday night, they broke away from the attacks on America to provide a breathless "eyewitness" report about the attack on Palestine. For many stunning minutes, CNN allowed Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to cry about "terrorist" Israel invading Jericho. CNN, thinking that Erekat was at the scene, asked what he was seeing; he stammered and said the details were passed on to him. "All we are doing in Jericho is collecting blood for the American victims," he whined, then accused Israel of using the U.S. attack as a "shield" to destroy Palestine. All the while this spokesman of terrorists nobly decried terrorism.
Israel's incursion was a routine in-and-out operation, but
CNN accorded it unfathomable importance. The attack on
Jenin was also mentioned, but not the drive-by-shooting
murder of an Israeli mother. I stayed tuned to CNN for
two whole days — the only time it interrupted its coverage
was to vilify that terrorist state, Israel.
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Copyright © 2001 by Zola Levitt Ministries, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. All rights reserved. Brief passages may be quoted in reviews or other article. For all other use, please get our written approval.
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You bring criminals to justice; you rain destruction on combatants. This
is a fundamental distinction that can no longer be avoided. The bombings
of Sept. 11, 2001 must mark a turning point. War was long ago declared
on us. Until we declare war in return, we will have thousands of more
innocent victims.
...As we look with horror at the devastating attacks on the United
States, the hearts of all Israelis are with the American people. Even we
Israelis, who have been battling a wave of terrorism for almost a year,
have trouble fathoming what has befallen tens of thousands of innocent
people in America. We are sickened, once again, by scenes of
Palestinians dancing in the streets, this time celebrating the deaths of
Americans. We have trouble fathoming the hatred directed at us, so we
can only imagine the bafflement and pain of Americans attempting to
contemplate the baseless hatred directed at them. Some Americans, like
some Israelis, may be tempted to think about what they have done wrong,
what they might have done to cause people to take so many lives along
with their own. The answer is that America has been attacked not for
what it has done wrong, but for what it has done right, and for being
the hope of the entire world.
Across America, those same elected officials and television commentators
are calling for blood, although we don't even know who did it, yet,
although we have a pretty good idea. If Israel reacted the same way,
they would be the first ones to brand them as racist, genocidal maniacs
— for exactly the same reasons they are now using in their own
calls for revenge. It is far less easy to condemn the Israelis from the
front lines than it is when you believe you can "feel their pain" from
your easy chair. Now that they can really feel their pain, many
apologists for Arafat & Company are singing a different song.