The Regathering of Israel

"Therefore behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.' 
For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.…”   Jeremiah 16:14-15

The Rebirth of the State of Israel

Derek Prince was privileged to be privy to the events leading up to the UN declaration permitting the Jews to have a homeland in the historical Land of Israel.  As American Christians, it is good for us to remember that it was President Harry Truman, on May 14, 1948,  who through the United Nations, supported Israel in becoming a Nation. 

Israel today

In April, Jewish people around the world gathered to celebrate the Feast of Passover in remembrance of their deliverance from Egyptian slavery.  During the first 2 weeks of May, Israel has already commemorated 3 more important dates: Holocaust Memorial Day, Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, and Israel's 68th Independence Day.

The dispersion of Israel among the nations, as prophesied in the bible, came to a climax in WW2 with the rise of the Third Reich in Germany, and the famous meeting in Berlin between Adolf Hitler and The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, where the final solution to the "Jewish Problem" both in Europe and Palestine was discussed and agreed upon.

For 24 hours, all shops, restaurants and places of entertainment were closed while the nation solemnly remembered those who were murdered and persecuted in the Holocaust.

A few days later, a memorial day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror was recognized in another solemn 24 hours, which ended with fireworks, celebration and dancing in the streets to recognize Israel's 68th year of Independence.

The modern State of Israel and the Church of Jesus Christ continues to face many challenges.

The Faithfulness of God

He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.”
For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham. He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy; he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for—that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws. 
(Psalm 105, 8-11; 42-45)

God has provided specific instructions on How to Pray for Israel and the Church:

1. Stay within the parameters of God's Word. (Matt. 24:20)
2. Enter with thanksgiving and praise (Ps 100:4, Jer. 31:7)
3. Jew or Gentile - confess appropriate sins (Dan. 9:5-15)
4. Identify with God's ultimate purpose: A People for Himself (Tit. 2:11-14). * Political and military issues are secondary.
5. Only by God's spirit (Zech. 4:6)
6. Plead for Mercy and Favor (Ps. 102:13-18)
7. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122:6)
8. Bless - and be blessed! (Num. 24:9)
9. Don't tell God what to do! (Is. 40:13-17)
10. Pray for harvest of Gentiles (Rom. 11:25-26)
11. Take the sword of the Spirit - proclaim! (Eph. 6:17, Ps. 33:8-12, Jer. 31:10b, Ps. 125:3, 129:5-6

Here in Tennessee

Our Pastor has dedicated this year to, Learning to Pray!   Each week we have had a different message on the Church’s importance and responsibilities.  Some of his titles:

• Prepared, Invested and Aligned-God is Our Rock  
• Let's Pray-Prayer 201
• Let's Pray-The Lord’s Prayer
• Trusting God in an Unstable World

Recent Results of Prayer In Our Church and Community

• May 3, Decision America Tour – Franklin Graham – more than 9,000 gathered at our State Capitol in Nashville. 17 chartered buses from our campus
• Local Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast – Attendees doubled over last year
• May 5, National Day of Prayer -  25% increase

May this letter find you in good health!
Thank you so much for all the ways you continue to support us.
Titus 2:13  “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

In His Great Love,
George and Betty Jackson, Directors
Derek Prince Israel

God watches over His Word

The Nation of Israel, in early springtime, is sprinkled with Almond Trees. Some stand alone in perfect places where individual blossoms can be admired. Others cascade over the hillsides of Israel and are visible for miles away.

The Prophet Jeremiah lived in Anathoth, three miles northeast of Jerusalem. He was called as a Prophet by God before he was born. In the first chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, we find Israel in a place far from God, not unlike the Nations of the world today.

The Almond Tree is a reminder to us: God watches over His Word!

The times we are living in are scary, to say the least. The world is unstable. Global politics are volatile. The rate of change we now experience is spiraling out of control. We’re uncertain about what will happen tomorrow, and we feel helpless to do anything about it.

In our church here at home, we have just completed a four-week New Year Series, "Let’s Pray!" Adults and children are learning to pray together in their homes. We have been encouraged to pray a short prayer as we meet people in schools, on their jobs, and in the market place. Many of those who receive prayer are often greatly encouraged. We are learning, too, that we can pray with some the prayer of salvation, which changes their eternal destiny!

The Last Great Task

In Matthew 24:3, the disciples asked Jesus a question: ‘“…what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the close of the age?”’ (rsv). Their question was specific. They did not ask for signs in the plural, but for the sign—the one final, definite indication that the close of the age was at hand.

In verses 5 through 13, Jesus gave them various signs—various events or trends that would characterize the closing period. However, it was not until verse 14 that He actually answered their specific question: ‘“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”’

Here is a specific answer to a specific question. When shall the end come? When this ‘Gospel of the Kingdom shall have been preached in all the world’ and to all nations. …The initiative in world affairs is with God and His people. The climax of the age will not be brought about by the actions of secular government or military power, nor by the floods of satanic deception and lawlessness. The final decisive activity will be the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom. This is a task that can be accomplished only by the Church of Jesus Christ. --Derek Prince, Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting

Our thanks to all of you who support in so many ways.
We could never do it without you!  May the Lord bless you richly!

George & Betty Jackson, Directors

Greetings from our Home in Tennessee

This is the most wonderful time of the year. The laughter of children and carols can be heard everywhere; friends with happy faces greeting us in the market place where we hear their stories of answered prayers.  What a privilege to live in a nation where the birth of our Savior is celebrated.  May that never change.

It is always good to be in our home church and share again the Christmas Season.  This is our fourth year to have read through the Bible as a congregation.  It has been very encouraging when, meeting a friend, we find ourselves discussing the Scripture reading for the day or week.  We have sought to increase our prayer life and throughout the church, adults as well as children are learning to pray.

As revolt and chaos spreads through the Middle East, it turns out that the only stable democracy in the region is Israel. In neighboring Syria, 240,000 of its citizens lay dead and more than a million more have invaded Europe. Among them jihadists who are determined to bring chaos and mayhem to the capitals of Europe, as we have just witnessed in Paris.  Adding to this awful toxic brew is the arrival of the Russian military machine into the region. We should all take note and prepare ourselves for greater upheavals.  

Earlier this year, we received a letter from a close friend in Jerusalem, an Orthodox Jew.  Dr. Moshe Sharon, born in Haifa in 1937, educated at the Hebrew University and the University of London,   Dr. Sharon joined the faculty of Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1965 and received his PhD in Islamic history where he taught Islamic history and civilization and continues on staff there.  In his personal letter he writes: 

“Your prayers and support are needed and America should know that it needs the help of the Almighty to defend its values and heart of Christian civilization which is in great danger all over the world.  This makes your work mightily important and every achievement of yours in bringing the message of the Church by outreaching to as many people as possible is of a tremendous value.”

God promises in His Word a truly glorious future to Israel, but He also warns that the saved remnant of Israel will have gone through intense pressure to make them what He intends them to be. Will the church likewise emerge as a remnant that has been purified by a pressure no less intense?      

In Matthew 24, Jesus reveals a mark that characterizes God’s people: endurance. In verses 4–13 He gives a brief but vivid picture of the period leading up to the close of the present age. He describes a series of events that He calls “birth pangs” or “labor pains” because they climax in the birth of God’s kingdom on earth. He warns His disciples that they will be subjected to progressively increasing pressures.

“’Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake’” ( V9,  NKJV).

What sort of people are described here? Clearly they are Christians who suffer “for His name’s sake.” 

“‘And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’” ( V 10-14, NKJV).

A divine purpose is behind these tests, to which both Jews and Christians are being subjected. As the present age draws to a close, God intends to bring forth a people for His name, who will be fit to share His Kingdom throughout eternity. Therefore He will not spare His people any test that is needed to produce the kind of commitment and character that He requires. The same period of testing that faces Israel likewise faces the Church. We need to ask ourselves: Are we prepared to go through what it will take to make us what God intends us to be? For those who make the right response, the end result will be a people who are pleasing to God, fit to share His glory.

Against a worldwide background of darkness, distress and confusion, Isaiah portrays the end-time Church emerging in glory and power:

“So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. 

“And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.

“As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

“For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 

“And [the nations] shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.

“Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces [literally, wealth] of the [nations] shall come unto them.”  Isaiah 59:19–21, 60:1–5, NKJV

Proverbs 8:17   I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.  NKJV

Our thanks to each of you who have supported the Israel work this year.  We pray this will be the best Christmas you have ever had.

In His Great Love,

George and Betty

P.S.  We recommend Derek’s book, Ultimate Security, 

which will strengthen and encourage you.   

Israel and the Church

It was a summer night in 1967, when we walked down the street to a friend’s house where we heard Derek Prince explain the importance of Israel. Derek understood so much more about the Bible than we did, and we wanted to know more of what he knew.

“How do you go to church all your life and miss the relationship between the Bible and everyday life? I have read the Bible in the past, people, places, history, and facts—but never like Derek.  He talks about it like a road map, yet I don’t even know it well enough to read the signs.”

George stopped to unlock our front door, then he turned around to look at me. “We have to learn more!” he said. I could feel his passion as he took my hand, closed his eyes, and prayed a prayer I had never heard him pray before, “God, we pray tonight for the peace of Jerusalem. Defend your people, Israel. Protect them from their enemies. And let Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Use us and our children, in the name of Jesus. Amen.”

The following morning, June 5, was the beginning of the Six Day War.

48 years later we find ourselves in Israel, praying for and teaching others to pray for Israel and the Church.   

We have recently been reading again the book by Derek, “The Destiny of Israel and the Church.” On the back cover of the book, Derek wrote: “One of the most exciting features of the period in which we now live is that the destinies of Israel and the Church are once again beginning to converge. This convergence will produce the most dramatic and significant developments of all human history.”  

The following paragraphs reveal briefly God’s plan for Israel and the Church:

In Romans 11:25–26 Paul is speaking primarily to Gentile Christians, and he shares with them a ‘mystery’—that is, a purpose of God which had been kept secret but is now revealed to believers:

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness [full number] of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written; “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”’

This passage reveals two successive stages in God’s plan to bring the present age to a close.

1. The words of Jesus in Matthew 24:14 must be fulfilled: ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then  the end will come.’
2. When the complete number of the Gentiles has been brought into the church, then God will once again turn fully to the preserved remnant of Israel and will reveal Himself to them in mercy and saving grace.

It appears that the transition from the emphasis on the Gentiles to the emphasis on the Jews will not be a single instantaneous event, but will be gradual and progressive. We are already in the early stages of this transition. The critical point of the Lord’s revelation to Israel is prophetically depicted in Zechariah 12:10:

And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

At this point, for the first time, Israel as a nation will receive a supernatural revelation of the identity of the Messiah who had been pierced with the nails of crucifixion.

2 chapters further on, Zechariah pictures the actual return of the Messiah in person:

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from the east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south… Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You. (Zechariah 14:4–5).

The foregoing analysis of the destiny of Israel and the church, as unfolded in the Scriptures, leads us to certain important conclusions.

1. The only reliable source of light upon the current situation in the Middle East is provided by God’s prophetic word. If we do not seek the light that comes from this source, we will inevitably find ourselves in the dark, subject to many forms of confusion and deception.
2. The destiny of both Israel and the church has been determined by God in eternity on the basis of His foreknowledge. Its outworking in time is guaranteed by the irrevocable covenants that God has established with each of them.
3. For all the good that God has promised to Israel and the church, both are equally and totally dependent upon God’s grace, which can be appropriated only by faith.
4. Tremendous tests and pressures lie ahead for both Israel and the church, but those who faithfully endure will be privileged to share God’s kingdom with Him throughout eternity.
5. Christians from Gentile backgrounds owe their entire spiritual inheritance to Israel. One appropriate way for them to acknowledge their indebtedness is to stand by Israel in the midst of their present pressures and to uphold them with faithful intercession.
6. The peoples of the Middle East will never know true justice or lasting peace until they are submitted to God’s appointed ruler, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Your continued support for Israel and the Church is immeasurable, and we thank you.  

In His Great Love,     

George and Betty

Our Role in Shaping History

In Matthew 24:3, the disciples asked Jesus a question: “what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the close of the age?” (rsv). Their question was specific. They did not ask for signs in the plural, but for the sign—the one final, definite indication that the close of the age was at hand.

It was not until verse 14 that He actually answered their specific question: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

Here is a specific answer to a specific question. When shall the end come? When this Gospel of the kingdom shall have been preached in all the world and to all nations.

“The initiative in world affairs is with God and His people. The climax of the age will not be brought about by the actions of secular government or military power, or by the floods of satanic deception and lawlessness. The final decisive activity will be the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom. This is a task that can be accomplished only by the church of Jesus Christ.”
                                                Derek Prince, Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting

CALL TO PRAY
In recent weeks we have met with some political leaders in our own State of Tennessee as well as other parts of our Nation. Without exception, they feel their greatest need is prayer. One question consistently asked:  “What did Derek Prince say about this time in History?” We have been able to provide copies of The Prophetic Guide to the End of Time, Rules of Engagement, The Key to the Middle East, and Secrets of a Prayer Warrior in book form. We also encourage them to go to YouTube and listen for themselves on many subjects that Derek covered specifically for us at this time. This material is available for the Body of Christ around the world!

Thank you for all the ways you seek to spread the gospel. May God bless your efforts and keep you safe. We are humbled by your faithfulness in praying, giving, and supporting us in so many ways. Thank you!