November 1998 Personal Letter

Dear Friends,

With all of the excitement over the tremendous response we received to the textbook issue and the Gerald Schroeder programs, I haven’t been talking much about what we are doing with television these days. When we have a major distraction like the textbook situation, we have to devote precious space in our letters to it in which we would ordinarily keep you informed of the ministry’s progress. But it is the work of all Christians to oppose false teaching whenever, and wherever, it occurs.

Those of you who follow us regularly are currently seeing the series called Love Stories of the Bible, and I trust you are finding these programs very delightful to watch. The fact is they are among the most pleasurable programs we have ever made. Imagine having as your work the task of talking to happy and spiritual couples about how they happened to meet and marry, and then comparing their stories with the romantic couples of Scripture!

On our Fall 1998 tour of Israel we filmed interviews for upcoming programs based on your interest in scientific things in Scripture. To that end we set out in Israel to talk to a number of scientists, believers and otherwise, about the subject “God and Science,” which will be the title of our next series. Israeli scientists just sound different from American scientists, and most of our audience has not heard from them before. We feature nobody in the series who is not Biblically literate, and our intention is to question scientists on how God works in their various scientific fields.

After we tackle the God and Science series, it will be well into 1999, and we will turn our attention to prophecy. It’s not, of course, the fact the Lord may come at the turn of the millennium that directs our attention to prophecy, but merely that everyone is thinking about it at such a time. Bible readers know no date is given for the Lord’s return and, in fact, He may come for you before you finish this sentence (the Rapture is that fast!). I have been contacted by various media, including the Associated Press and the Jerusalem Report, with the question of whether Armageddon is on the horizon. (I checked with Dr. John Walvoord, a very famous teacher of prophecy, and he said he had heard from hundreds of media representatives with that question. And so, while people are hungry, we’ll feed them.) A September Forbes Magazine cover asked, “Is It Armageddon?” because of poor stock market performance!

People holding to Year 2000 theories are actually being a bit worldly. It is not clear that God particularly cares for our Western world calendar, or that what we regard as the coming of the third millennium after Christ is any special milestone for the One Who lives outside time, and Who said in II Peter 3:8, “Unto the Lord, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.” With that said, it is thought by some that when the Lord arose on the third day, He was hinting that He would arise again at the third millennium!

To take the “day equals one thousand years” theory a step further, we could say the six thousand years of Biblical history might equal six days and the final thousand-year kingdom would be the seventh day, a Sabbath of rest. This would make all of the Biblical history fit elegantly into one earthly “week.” When I teach such theories, folks get excited, but in reality they are extra-Scriptural. The Bible does not dictate any of that.

In any case, we will certainly be heavily into prophecy during 1999, and we’ll take a tour after Christmas that year so we will be in Israel at the change of the millennium. If the Lord does come on January 1, 2000, then we’ll be waiting for Him in Jerusalem (and the Rapture will be only a domestic flight for us!). If you’d like to see Israel before that, then consider our December 1998 tour, which is our Christmas/Hanukkah Tour departing December 12 and returning either December 22 or 27.

Our Deluxe Israel-only tour, December 12–22, includes all the wonderful sites so familiar to our Bible-reading pilgrims, from Capernaum and the Mount of Beatitudes in the north to the Dead Sea in the south, and of course, Jerusalem. O Jerusalem! Within the Holy City itself we visit the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Mount of Olives, the Upper Room, the Garden Tomb and so much more. For an unforgettable trip of a lifetime, join us this December in Israel!

Our extended tour continues with an exciting trip featuring Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Ashkelon, and overnighting in Abraham’s “hometown,” Beersheba. We will then spend two luxurious nights in the resort city of Eilat on the Red Sea and visit the magnificent ancient city of Petra in Jordan. The extension also offers a visit to the Shepherds’ Fields of Bethlehem, where our Lord was born, for your Christmas Eve celebration, and a Christmas party on December 25 before returning to the States on December 27. Both tours will overnight in a luxurious European hotel on the way home and that will certainly help with “jet lag.”

For an entirely different treat, we are offering for the first time a Caribbean Cruise, February 5–8. As we sail through the lovely Bahamas, including Nassau and Cococay, I will be speaking and conducting Bible studies each day in the relaxing atmosphere of our luxury cruise vessel. There will also be time to work on a winter suntan, take interesting optional island trips, etc. The cruise starts when you leave your home on Friday morning, February 5, and you’ll be back on Monday evening, February 8.

Each November, I remind folks to help us in a time of need. The same odd business cycle seems to hit us at the end of every year. We make a new series of programs to show at the start of the fall season, so we’re in step with all the rest of television, but that involves our incurring heavy bills throughout the summer and fall. Truly, post-production expenses, the ones we have when we get home from Israel with the raw footage, run much higher than the whole trip to Israel itself. The programs look good because we take this extra time and expense to make them as perfect as we can. As a result, however, we are always stuck through the fall with heavy expenses.

Now, in our line of work we know year-end giving will pull us back out, but each year at this time I ask that you would consider moving up your year-end gifts to November. That little bit of help would be crucial to us. If you like, you can deduct a small percentage to account for the slightly lower tax advantage of giving before the end of the year, but please know this would be a great favor to us if you could manage it.

People have marveled over the times I said we have enough money for now and they should give to some sister ministry, giving me extra credit for being a “televangelist” and not loving money. Well, I don’t need the extra credit, but we could use a little extra cash right now, and I thank you for checking with the Lord for what you might do for us at this time. As always, I will be satisfied with whatever He tells you. And extra prayers in November, December, or any other time wouldn’t hurt either. Thanks.

And remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Your messenger,