“Hi” and welcome to Inside Israel. Last Sunday, I promised to post a letter that J of Jerusalem had received, that encouraged her. So, here we go . . .
MOST ENCOURAGING LETTER (I edited out only the first pp of personal things)
“Date: September 25, 2011 Prayer log from trip to NYC during Durban III
Dear Friends,
What follows is a prayer-log from my journey to NYC … God bless you as we come into the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Ingathering, to be a people of the ingathering, a people of the trumpet blast, a people so filled with the Presence of God that others come close to the Living God to hear His Trumpet blast because of His witness within you. Shalom! Shalom!
So … I pray that the things I share in here will bless you in the midst of the chaos of the times we live in. God is deeply and profoundly working, and His Will IS being done! Praise the LORD for His Manifest Presence in our lives!
I went to NYC because God had told me to pray before the UN … to walk around it praying. When I arrived in NYC there was no way to even get near it. The streets were closed for blocks around it. One could get a glimpse of the UN from the side streets, but the police barricades did not allow anybody without a pass to come close. I remembered there was a park with several sculptures near the UN, and I asked several policemen and women how to get to it. They did not want to tell me, but finally, one did, and I went there. From that location I had a good, broad view of the main tower of the UN. It wasn’t the same park I had meant, but this was better than nothing … BUT the LORD had told me to walk around the UN praying, and I wanted to do that. So, I prayed, walking through the park, and wondering what I was to do. The LORD led me to a ramp that went down onto one of the side streets, inside the barricades. I went down it, and the guard did not bother me. I was now able to walk around the UN praying, and I was the only person I saw without an official badge. The LORD made it very clear to me that the Durban III conference would come to nothing: that the true colors of the enemy would surface sufficiently for the conference to lose any credibility, and that is how I prayed. I prayed that the LORD’s WILL would be done in the UN, that the UN would become the United Nations of God, and that the meeting would collapse under the weight of its own evil. I also continuously sang “Am Yisrael Chai” (The People of Israel Live) over all the delegates I saw.
I saw LOTS and LOTS of delegates. They came in motorcades of multiple cars, some of which had their side windows rolled down, and some of which had their back windows rolled down. Snipers were positioned inside those open windows, ready to defend their ambassadors. The cars were all black, with blackened windows, and with sirens. They have NY license plates (wonder who is paying for these people’s protection …) There were snipers positioned on top of the UN. There were policemen who were wearing so much ammunition their shirts were completely covered in ammunition. There were policemen with helmets on. There were lots and lots of policemen, and there were Secret Agents. They stared straight ahead, and looked deadpan serious. They often had ear pieces to communicate with each other. Some policemen escorted motorcades on bicycles, and they rode their bicycles looking in all directions (behind them, to the sides, in front) continuously. Policemen were visually checking for people’s badges at every intersection … not asking people to show their badges, but making sure people were wearing them. Nobody, however, bothered me.
After a while, I felt compelled to go into the Church of the United Nations. You are not allowed into this building without a badge, but they allowed me in to go to both the bathroom and the chapel. Praise God on both counts! In the chapel I met a few other people (from various nations) who were praying for Israel. We became friends. Then, I went back out onto the street, and got back in front of the UN, and kept praying. Eventually, I left, and walked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and prayed a bit there, and went to join my friend at Times Square Church.
At Times Square Church, they prayed for Israel A LOT, and sang many songs about the Trumpet’s Last Blast. They even sang a Paul Wilbur song, “Blow the Trumpet in Zion.” And they baptized 60 people … pretty special.
I felt, at the end of the day, like I had fought hard for the LORD, and I expected to see dramatic results.
The next day, at the rally, there were about 2,000 people present. It was a lot different than praying individually, because this was more of a celebration. Over 40 churches were involved in organizing this event, and people kept shouting “NOT ON OUR WATCH!” They were committing to support Israel regardless of the cost, and there was great zeal in the crowd. They proclaimed themselves the TRUMPETS of God’s alarm and declared their demands: the nations/people groups must respect Israel. Robert Sterns, an evangelical Christian, one of the main organizers, kept saying that we are the shofars. He encouraged people to not just blow the shofars, but to BECOME the shofars of God. The man in front of me was a Palestinian believer. He was blowing the shofar again and again for Israel. His t-shirt declared His commitment. (see photo) The Bible calls that land the land of Israel, he told me, and never calls it the land of Palestine.
After the event, I was a bit tired, and went back to the park from the day before to rest in the LORD. As I sat and meditated on God’s Presence, I had my Israeli flag with me, and a young woman came up to me to talk. She was from Israel. In a bit, two other people came over to talk. They were from Israel too. We were the only four people in the park! And so … I shared the Gospel with them, and encouraged them. The LORD had me tell the young woman this: that it cost 6 million Jews to buy Israel back for the Jews, and that they won their first war with match sticks, so what were they frightened of now? If they gave up, those 6 million Jews would have lost their lives for nothing. This was God-breathed, and it really inspired her. She was expressing a defeatist attitude, and this shook her up, and re-kindled her desire to fight. She became very, very excited and encouraged, and she was curious about my belief in Yeshua.
Later, I left that park and went back down the ramp, and continued to walk and pray in front of the UN, carrying my flag. Again, even with the flag, nobody asked me to leave. A black man, dressed elegantly, with dread locks down his back, approached me, and I knew he wanted to start a conversation, and I, at first, tried to avoid it. But then, I remembered that slogan, “NOT ON MY WATCH!” and I engaged in dialogue with him. As I suspected, he supported the Palestinians, but he had the logical mind of a lawyer, which he was, and as I explained things to him, he changed his mind. At the end, he explained to me how grateful he was to have talked with me. He said, “This was an excellent conversation. Thank you!” Praise God! I had become the shofar, just like they had commissioned us at the rally, and had spoken up clearly and pragmatically on the LORD’s behalf, in support of my people, and it had worked. Alleluiah! A policeman warned us we would have to leave or be stuck where we were for sometime. I asked him why, and he said, “Because the President is coming by.” Well, I stayed right where I was to watch and pray. About 15 black cars with flashing lights came by, then, about 50 motorcycles, then another 20 or so cars, and then, two limousines. The President waved at me from one of them. (I was singing, “Am Israel Chai” over all of them.) Then about 20 more cars came, and then an ambulance, and then a few more motorcycles. There were also helicopters overhead. Can you imagine living like that?
I went back to the UN to pray, and then, went back into the church, and then went into a park by the UN Catholic church (really, really pretty), and then walked back to where the rally had been. There, I got to talk to Caleb Myers, which was God-breathed, and saw three people actively involved in dialogue, two Christians who were praising God, and a wide-eyed Jewish woman from Russia. When I explained to her that I was a Messianic Jew and explained my relationship with Yeshua, her eyes got even wider. She asked Yeshua to come into her heart, so that she could know Who He Is, and know if she wanted to follow Him. She was excited to do this. She wanted to talk and talk, which we did, and then, we met the next morning to talk as well.
The next morning, after we talked, I went down to the World Trade Center, which is being re-built beautifully, with much love and passion. I prayed I was not looking at an Isaiah 9:10 situation. I prayed, that instead, the buildings would be constructed to God’s Glory. I was both proud, and alerted to the danger of our country’s hubris. May God be our protector, and may we serve Him with all that we do! And may NYC rebuild itself to the Glory of God, and NOT to the glory of mankind. Amen and amen.
I returned to the place of the rally from the day before, and there were multiple rallies in progress. Four different groups were demonstrating about the Middle East: two Iranian groups, and two Jewish groups. One Jewish group was made up of ultra-Chasidic Jews who were shouting that Israel had no right to exist, that it couldn’t exist legally, scripturally (Talmudically actually), until the Messiah came … and so, it should be given to the Palestinians. This was tragic to me. Their faces looked like masks. I actually had to look at some of them a few minutes to make sure they weren’t wearing masks. They would not engage in meaningful discussions, but would simply shout slogans. One Iranian group was rallying for a democratic, secular Iranian government. The man I talked to likes Israel because it is a democracy, and he has Jewish friends and a Jewish son-in-law (or daughter-in-law, I might have gotten that mixed up.) He is a Shiite Muslim who wants his country to be a democracy. The other Iranian group wants the Shah back. The Israeli group was having a mock-circus, because they considered Durban III to be a circus act of clowns, and they had stilt walkers, and unicyclists, and jugglers, etc., and they were all dressed up in clown costumes, singing and dancing … It was quite wild, in general. Israeli and Iranian flags were all mixed up together, and we were talking to each other, discussing our common needs, our differences, and our desires. We were encouraging one another, while the leaders at Durban III were shouting at each other.
I went back to the UN to pray for one last time, and then felt it was time to leave. Yep, it was, for somebody asked for my badge. I left and went into the Catholic church. If you are ever around 44th street, in NYC, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, go and look at it. The artwork is exquisite, and the sculpture of the Risen Savior took my breath away. I just sat on one of the pews and basked in the Glory of Yeshua’s Resurrection. Then, I went back to my friend’s house to watch the Republican debates.
My friends, this is a perilous time we live in, but it is a good time. It is a time we are called to say, “NOT ON MY WATCH!” and to STAND for Israel and for what is right. There are so many people out there who genuinely care and want to do something good, and in the midst of all the chaos, they can be reached. And there are those who are aching to hear the Gospel, and God/Yeshua wants to reach all of them. It is His heart-felt cry that not one should perish, and people are hungry to know truth.
Durban III did collapse under the weight of its own evil. The issue, of course, with Ammas, and the Palestinians, is much more serious, and requires on-going, in-depth prayer, but we are on the winning side. Whatever it costs, we win. Let’s not give up. Let’s not grow weary. Let’s not just “wait for the rapture,” and let the world “go to hell.” Rather, let’s use every breath and step and word that we have to bless the LORD by encouraging people to trust Him and to love Him and to know Him, and, in the midst of the sorrow, let’s keep on rejoicing and resting and praying. He is coming soon! Whenever that will be, He is coming soon!
Shalom! Shalom!”
ani b’derek
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