Dear Friends,

I should begin by explaining why this letter will not comment on the material we presented concerning Dallas Seminary, Moody Bible Institute, and several other Bible schools in the last Levitt Letter. Obviously, our pointing out that these formerly great seminaries are teaching questionable doctrines, especially in regard to Israel, is very controversial. But the fact is, the Levitt Letter, as I dictate this letter, is still in the printing phase.

Our newsletter is much more complex than this much shorter letter, and obviously goes through more steps of production. Typically, each month I choose the material for the Levitt Letter and get it under way approximately three weeks before you receive it. Then, about ten days later, I dictate this letter which will reach you about two weeks later than the larger newsletter. Thus, we have not had response to the unusual commentary in our past letter, but I am certain that we will in our very next publication.

And, to tell you the truth, I am concerned about that. My first concern is that the seminaries will blithely ignore us and try to take the position that we are an irrelevant bunch of troublemakers who are trying to upset their apple cart. But the fact is, we will meet them on the level field of Biblical discussion at any time and prove to any audience how very wrong they are and how secular are their reasons for teaching these false doctrines.

A second fear I have is that small-minded attacks will be made on this ministry as they were by Criswell College last year. We approached Criswell only to tell them about a bad textbook we had discovered among their classroom materials. Rather than just thank us and get rid of the book, they lashed out in a most un-Christian manner and created a great deal of dissention. In the end, when shown plainly that quotations from the book simply contradicted their own doctrinal statement, they relented and said they wouldn’t use the book as a main textbook in the future.

But, it was all for nothing. The book is still a main textbook at Criswell College.

I am not afraid of the attacks themselves, which come from those who try to defend the indefensible, but saddened that the Christian community has to come to this. There is simply no way that this ministry—teaching Bible as it does each week to millions—can stand idly by and see incorrect teaching going on, especially in what are regarded as the finest of our seminaries. Obviously, these organizations are producing future pastors, missionaries, and church-workers of all sorts, and these people are ill-equipped to even comment on developments in Israel or on Biblical prophecy. We are aware that in the secular universities there has been a “dumbing down” of standards, so that our college graduates are not at all what they were even a generation ago. I’m afraid that’s happening with respect to seminary graduates today.

But more of that when the newsletter hits, and we have some reactions.

I personally think the most exciting news story of the month was a report from the back pages of USA Today concerning a possible use of crops rather than oil to provide fuel. It seems that there is hope that ordinary field crops can be refined to take the place of this expensive resource, and that development will change history as we know it. For one thing, there will be no more kowtowing to Arabs or anyone else who happens to have some oil on their land. In addition, pollution in the world will decline, and finally, fuel will be much more affordable. Please pray for this important development.

At this writing, Barak has suspended peace talks with Syria, a great relief. Although the media may dress it up as some kind of proper peace process issue, the idea of any civilized nation dealing with Syria is appalling. First of all, these are hardly equal nations. Israel doesn’t need Syria’s good will or anything else from that police state. Israel’s per capita income is 20 times that of Syria, and Tel Aviv exports double the combined exports of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. And as far as peace goes, there has been no war between Syria and Israel since 1973. I certainly hope these talks do not start up again no matter how much the Clinton administration pays the talkers.

Bad news on the European scene is Austria’s election of a far-right government, or in plainer words, Nazi sympathizers. As the Dallas Morning News European bureau pointed out on February 9,

Joerg Haider—who in the past has expressed Nazi sympathies, and his Freedom Party—rode to power on a virulently anti-immigrant platform that characterized blacks as drug dealers, Romanians as pickpockets. The ascension of Mr. Haider’s party has frightened Austria’s Jews—who fear a return to open anti-Semitism.

The European union has barred bilateral contact with Austria. That stubborn nation was a pariah in front of the whole world during the administration of Kurt Waldheim. But Waldheim was found to have served in the Nazi army back in World War II. He did not have the effrontery to promote Nazi ideas in this day and age.

The entire problem of prejudice, racial and otherwise, is complex, but I cannot help thinking that better Bible-teaching could only help matters. The Bible is a book which does not separate blacks and Romanians from white people of whatever nation, and it chooses the Jews as the ultimate people of destiny with God. When I see this sort of anti-Jewish sentiment, as well as the other racism, I can only think that the prince of this world is running these affairs.

And if we had Bible teaching that honors the Chosen People, to say nothing of all other children of God in this world, it would be much more difficult for people to hate others simply because they are different.

If the great seminaries taught that we are a privileged generation to see the return of the Jews to their Promised Land—a prophecy of 3,500 years’ range!—then apparently people would honor the Jews instead of despise them. And that, in a nutshell, is what makes it so difficult for a ministry like ours to take no notice when seminaries are de-emphasizing the subjects of prophecy and Israel and failing to honor the Chosen People.

This ministry has not changed its direction at all. Our upcoming prophecy conference will certainly emphasize exactly what the seminaries have lost. See the enrollment form enclosed with this letter.

As to the media—no fans of Israel—they had a wonderful time with the unusual event of a snowstorm in Jerusalem. Dan Rather said, “Snowballs were the only sign of conflict—” on January 28, as though Jerusalem always has conflict. As a matter of fact, Jerusalem is a far more peaceful city than any American city of its size, and I can’t remember a sign of conflict there in the last year. Peter Jennings, really misinformed when it comes to Israel, said, “It usually snows each winter in Jerusalem,” a statement with little truth at all and rather characteristic of that broadcaster.

Come over to see this beautiful and peaceful place for yourself. Our Spring Deluxe Tour is April 24 through May 4. We will visit all the major Biblical sites, among them Mt. Carmel, Megiddo, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the Mt. of Beatitudes, the Jordan River, the Western Wall, the Mt. of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Upper Room, the Garden Tomb, Masada, Capernaum, Caesarea, and the Dead Sea. We will also see the breathtaking Golan Heights, where you will really understand the devastating loss it will be to Israel if they lose this beautiful land to Syria. See the original Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum, visit Yad Vashem (Israel’s Holocaust Memorial), and the Old City of Jerusalem, where you will see the effects of the various conquerors on the Holy City. You will be reluctant to leave Israel for your flight home, but you will have a heartfelt knowledge that the Jews are the true inheritors of God’s Land.

Our Grand Tour, April 19 through May 4, sees Israel with the Deluxe Tour, but first cruises the Greek islands of Patmos, Mykonos, and Rhodes, and the city of Ephesus, Turkey. We will tour all these locales, including Corinth and Athens, with its Acropolis and Parthenon. As you follow the Apostle Paul’s path through Greece and Turkey, you will strengthen your Bible knowledge and understanding while sailing some of the world’s most beautiful waters aboard a “floating luxury hotel.” Come with us and delight in the lands of the Bible!

If you can’t visit God’s Land in person, see it from your armchair. You won’t have to wait long, as our new television series, “This Is Israel,” begins airing in March. And if you do intend to join us on our tour to the Holy Land, what better way to prepare than to study it in this new series? We will show the true Israel in all its peaceful beauty and variety, not the barren, war-torn land the media has presented to you for so interminably long.

And please remember to pray for the (continued) peace of Jerusalem!

Your messenger,

Zola

P.S. Though I look much older, on March 14, I will turn 29. That is to say, I was born again on that date in 1971; that is my Christian birthday. The most appropriate birthday present would, as always, be a gift to this ministry. Thanks.

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

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