Happy 60th Birthday ISRAEL May 8 2008

Happy Birthday, Israel. May there be peace in Jerusalem and throughout the land. Israel turned 60 on May 8th on the Jewish calendar. "We salute the brave men and women whom God brought back to the Holy Land to fulfill the prophecies of Ezekiel 36 & 37 -- to rebuild the ancient ruins, make the deserts bloom, create an "exceedingly great army" and forge a homeland to protect and defend the Jewish people from all enemies, foreign and domestic." (Joshua Fund)

God says: "I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them a singleness of heart and action so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will most assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul." (Jeremiah 32:37-41).

I am old enough to remember the excitement many expressed in seeing prophesy fulfilled in the early years of the nation of Israel. Certainly I grew up with an expectation of the soon return of Christ the Messiah to the earth. My expectation remains but, hey, Christians in the first century looked for the Messiah too. I am praying for the success of Jews for Jesus' "Behold Your God Campaign" which is underway.

When we spent two weeks in Israel in 1970, we decided that Israel would be a country we would enjoy living in. As we came in to the airport at Tel Aviv, we were addressed in Hebrew repeatedly. The customs men would not believe we were not Sabra (native born) or that at least
we had relatives in the country. It was late on Friday afternoon and when we went to the taxi stand I was questioned as to why a "good Jewish girl" was traveling, as the Sabath was about to begin. I stated I was a Christian so the man spit on the ground stating, "Well, that explains it." It was a funny experience as I attended University High School in West Los Angeles, CA. The high school was nearly empty on the Jewish High Holiday days and we Gentiles used to say, "Unihi was 99 and 44/100% Jewish."

I loved seeing the sites where Jesus and other Biblical persons walked. Salvations history played out in time, space and history. Denny and I really enjoy the DVD's by Ray Vander Laan, founder of That the World May Know Ministries. You are see the places of Biblical history through them.