~ one more soul to be saved, to
depart with us at the rapture! Interesting! ~ ... as normally we'd not think
of the ravaging "savages" (enemies of Israel) would want ANYTHING to do with
wanting to know Christ!! ~ but this story tells us different. :)
We can pray that more & more will come into salvation, just as the door to
the time of the Gentiles fills up the ark & floats to safety.....
And it's nice to know that MANY
(multitudes TOO NUMEROUS to count) will come to salvation during the tribulation
~ from EVERY nation, tongue, and tribe!! Amen!
Let's pray for a hedge of
protection to surround & protect Zvi & his congregation!
"ZVI"
by Zvi in Israel
("Israel My Glory" magazine
September/October, 2008)
A while ago I had a long conversation with our
Arab neighbors here in
Jerusalem. They came to me to convince me that they
are holy people who
are more humane than we. However, they always speak of
killing us and
driving us into the sea. They strap explosives onto
themselves to blow
us up, and they even turn their children into suicide
bombers to kill
us-all because they want to take our land.
As we
spoke, I told them, "What you are doing is clearly written about
in the
Bible. Do you want me to read it, or do you want to read it
yourself?" So
one read, and his friends listened:
You shall speak to him, saying, "Thus
says the LORD: 'Have you murdered
and also taken possession?"' And you shall
speak to him, saying, "Thus
says the LORD: "In the place where dogs licked
the blood of Naboth, dogs
shall lick your blood, even yours"
(1K21:19)
God was angry with King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, for killing
Naboth
and stealing Naboth's land "This is what you are doing," I told them.
"You weep about how poor you are. What about those who have paid such a
high price and lost children? Do you want to pay that price also?"
I
told them, "If you would believe in the Lord, you would have special
feelings for one another and be more considerate of one another. But you
do not have proper faith. We, however, are ready to release hundreds
Arab prisoners-even those who have killed our women and children-to
secure the release of a few kidnapped Israeli soldiers. And you say no!
The only way you return soldiers to us is in a coffin. But pray every
morning. To whom? This is your faith? To kill men, women and
children?
"You bow down before one whom you believe. Yet in the Bible it
is
clearly written that we become like the one in whom we put our trust
(Ps135:18). We become like what we worship. What does the Lord our God
say in His Law? You shall not murder! And what does your law say? That
you shall kill, murder, and turn people into suicide bombers so that you
can go to heaven. And you want the entire world to agree with you and
become like you."
Then one man declared, "Islam will control the
world!"
It is difficult to speak to these people, yet the Lord commands
us to
bring His salvation to them because they walk in such great darkness.
So
I continued. "You have tried hard to destroy us, but we are still here.
And we will survive against all our enemies who want to swallow us alive
because it is so written:
"Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has
done great things for
them." The LORD has done great things for us, and we
are glad. Bring
back our captivity, 0 LORD, as the streams in the South.
Those who sow,
in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth
weeping,
bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him (Ps126:2-6)
They quickly wanted to know
where this was written. So I showed them,
and they were extremely surprised
to see that my Bible contains the New
Testament.
One immediately
asked, "How did you come to learn all this? As we can
see, you have believed
in Jesus Christ. How did you come to faith in
Christ? This is what we want
to know."
And I was happy to tell them. "You see," I said, "I never
looked for
special books about faith. What I read was the Holy Bible. It
alone
tells us how to know the Lord. And in this Bible, I found so many
places
where it is written about the Lord Jesus Christ that I learned about
true faith in the living God."
"We want to know more," one said. "You
must show us where all these
things are written in the Bible. We will not
leave until you show us
where it is written about Jesus."
So I gave
them my Bible and showed them Isaiah 53. And from then on,
they asked many,
many questions including, "Why do all Jewish people not
believe as you
do?"
"Many do!" I replied. "Come to our congregation and have a good look
and
see how many Jewish people worship with us. Even a rabbi was baptized.
And we have Arabs who come to our congregation. We never go to people
and say, "You must believe in Christ!" No. Only God can help people
believe. So we speak to them as we speak to you: step by step. They must
read the Bible and see for themselves where the truth lies. Only in such
a way can you come to know the Lord. And I pray that in time, you, too,
will come to know and believe in Christ as your own Savior. Then you
will have peace and will worship the God who loves you."