"We have patrolled the earth and behold, all the earth is rumbling with wars and rumors of war."

It was on November 29, 1947, 60 years ago, that all creation appeared to hold its breath.

On that day in 1947, the nations watched, the Jews prayed, and the Arabs oiled their guns. On that unprecedented day in the history of nations, the United Nations (UN) voted 33 to 13 (with 10 abstentions) to divide the British-mandated area called "Palestine" between the Jews and the Arabs who were both laying claim to it.

Like a massive final contraction after years of birth pangs, UN General Assembly Resolution 181 opened the way through which the ancient nation of Israel could finally be reborn in its historic homeland.

But their battle for independence was not over. Within hours of the partition vote, Israel's enemies began searching for a way to rescind and annul that decision. But they were wasting their time. Less than six months later, on May 15, 1948, the State of Israel came into being on its God-given land.

It was as foretold by the prophet Isaiah thousands of years before:

Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children...
(Isaiah 66:8)

From that day to this, those who hate Zion (and in truth hate the God who has chosen Zion) have sought to destroy her.

These sixty years have been eventful years. The surrounding Arab states have attacked Israel time and time again. The "Palestinian" Arabs have waged a relentless terrorism and propaganda campaign against the Jewish state to demoralize its citizens and delegitimise it in front of the international community. The industrial powers have sided "pragmatically" with the oil-rich Arabs and have pushed Israel into prejudicing its security and surrendering its millennia-old claim to its land.

Unfortunately, the currently Christian-led United States is leading the charge and the upcoming meeting, currently scheduled for late November at Annapolis, Maryland, will attempt to roll back the process of Israel's physical national restoration which the God of Israel has ordained and brought about. Such a meeting is doubly futile. Who do the Quartet on the Middle East (United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations) think that they are to go against the will and purpose of the Holy One of Israel?

What would the God of Israel have His people do about this situation today? Surely the first issue is to realize that it takes more than a mandate by the nations of the world to fulfill the prophecies regarding the regathering of all Israel back to their own soil. While that mandate did open doors for return, it was primarily restricted to the return of the tents of Judah, and that has resulted in a Jewish population of some five million in the land today (Zec 12:7). But, imagine if the numbers were ten million, or even twenty million. Would the situation be different today? Absolutely! Because territorial dominion was, is, and always will be, a matter of numbers (Gen 1:28).

Even if every one of the fourteen million Jews on earth today returned to the land of Israel, they would fall far short of fulfilling the numbers required to fulfill the prophesies regarding the regathering of all Israel, and thus meeting the criteria for Yeshua’s return (Acts 19-21).

The challenge before us can be likened to the task of filling a cartoon that holds twelve eggs. It takes twelve eggs to fill it, just as it takes the twelve tribes of Israel, each with an equal inheritance, back in the land to fulfill the prophecies regarding Israel’s restoration and redemption (Eze 47:21 - 48:35).

Just as it takes eggs to fill the cartoon, it is going to take citizens of the Commonwealth of Israel—those whom Yeshua is making into one redeemed people—to return to Zion and fill the land until there is no more room (Isa 35:10; 49:20; Eph 2:11-14).

Israel’s enemies are those inhabitants of the land that serve another god. In Isaiah’s day he called them Philistines. Today, we call them Islamic radicals. Regardless of the name, when Ephraim and Judah join together they will defeat their enemies and possess the land (Isa 11: 13-14). Our God is blowing His whistle. He is calling Ephraim to once again to be a mighty man, and to return from the west and join his brother Judah (Hos 11:10; Zec 10:7-8).

The challenge in accomplishing this regathering is that most Israelites are still lost sheep. They, as each of us once was, are lost to their heritage, and therefore they do not respond to the whistle that is redeeming, restoring and reuniting all Israel. The God of Israel would have those Messianic Israelites forerunners that have heard His whistle take the good news to those that have not yet heard. Let us fulfill our call, by taking full advantage of every opportunity we are given to preach the good news of the kingdom and to be known as people with “beautiful feet” who bring good news of good things (Rom 10:15-16).

How do we accomplish this formidable endtime mission and become victors in the war of words that started in the garden with Adam and Eve and HaSatan? We do it by effectively utilizing the word weapons our God has and is making available to us. And there is good news regarding our arsenal of word weapons, as we prepare to enter into the sixty-first year since the UN Mandate. We have a new, revamped and updated model of one of our most effective word weapons which will soon be available for our use. It is the newly updated edition Israel’s Feasts and their Fullness, by Batya Ruth Wootten.

For more about this latest edition of Batya’s book Israel’s Feasts and their Fullness, please see Letters from Batya and Angus, which described many of the changes in the Expanded Edition. Including many new and more in-depth prophetic insights concerning the feasts and our call as part of the people of Israel.

The lost sheep that Our Father would have us reach are for the most part mired in the maze of the “Church” system. The problem is these lost sheep are like the Emperor in the fairy tale who had been convinced by his tailors that he was well dressed, even thought he was naked. Unfortunately, the “Church tailors” have similarly stripped the people of their heritage and earthly destiny, which was what they had lost when they become lost sheep. This happened through their failure to fully proclaim Paul’s assertion of the importance of being clothed with the citizenship of the Commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2:12-18). Even though their nakedness has been revealed to them, many remain entrapped by a fraudulent and deluding influence, continuing their illusion of being clothed (2 Thes 2:9-11, Rev 3:5,18).

The bad news is that reaching out to these lost sheep is not an easy task. The good news is Our Father knows that we (this includes you!) are capable of getting the job done. We do need to reach out to the lost sheep, but in our reaching out we need to be led by the Ruach HaKodesh. We need to follow in the footsteps of those first disciples, who, in reaching out to the lost sheep of Israel with the message of the Kingdom, went only to the people that the Ruach led them to. It most often only takes a few words to know when to shake the dust from your feet, or to witness, and offer someone a book. But we do need to sow the first few words. When we sense a spirit of interest or acceptance, one of the best ways to help them get rid of their illusion that they are well dressed is by giving them the opportunity to see the truth of their heritage with Batya’s book Israel Redeemed - Restored and Reunited. However, we often find that people in the churches, and especially the leadership, are more open to investigating Israel’s Feasts as a first step, in which case, Israel’s Feasts and their Fullness – Expanded Edition, would be the appropriate book to make available to them. Undoubtedly, the best course of action is to make both books available.

Sixty-years ago this month, a reluctant gentile world, still somewhat shaken up by the horrific sights revealed by the liberation of Hitler's Death Camps, scraped together barely enough compassion to support the establishment of a homeland for the Jews.

That compassion has long gone!

In their eyes, Israel is not much more than a nuisance; a thorn in the side of the world. According to them, the nation's Jews must be made to pay, compensating the Arabs and mollifying them, so that the threat Israel's policies pose to world peace will be removed.

For the Islamic world, what the US wants to achieve at Annapolis is just phase one of their plan to excise the Jewish cancer once and for all from their midst.

The creation of a Palestinian state may appear to be more or less the belated implementation of UN Resolution 181. But let us not forget, as Arafat used to say: The Arab world rejected that resolution, rendering it void. For them, establishing a Palestinian state is not correcting that misstep. It is preparing for the correcting and erasing of the entire "mistake" that enabled Israel's rebirth.

Despite these trying times, we need to be encouraged, because we know, and we want the world to know beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the Shepherd of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps; that He is and will continue to defend His people; and that He who brought up the tents of Judah will gather all Israel back to their own soil and fulfill His promise Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The only One who is going to be doing any "rolling up" is Israel's God. And it is the self-important and arrogant nations He will gather, to place inside and crush in the winepress of His wrath.

For in the past these nations scattered His people and divided up His land.

And they want to do it again.

Our God has given us the weapons, the resources, and the people necessary to insure that they don’t! They won’t, if each one of us does our part.

One key part we can start accomplishing today is to fully realize the potential that the Expanded Edition of Israel’s Feasts and their Fullness can provide, when we effectively use it to reach out to millions of lost sheep. We need to tell them the good news that it is time for the redeemed of Israel, not only to realize that they are citizens of its Commonwealth, but to celebrate Israel’s appointed feasts, and to prepare for their return to Zion (Isa 35:10). To accomplish this goal, which is so dear to our Father’s heart, we need adequate supplies of this key book available and readily accessible to as many people as possible.

Imagine, if Key of David Publishing was able to send a press release and copy of the book to the various types of media that promote books. Imagine ads placed in appropriate papers, magazines, on TV and radio stations. Imagine 6,500 Christian book stores being aware of the book, by giving copies of it to as many stores as possible, and by sending flyers to all the stores, and advertising in appropriate trade publications. Imagine through mailings, advertisement in appropriate media, and personal contacts, having as many pastors of the 360,000 Churches in America as possible, made aware of this book. Imagine reaching out and meeting the needs of lost sheep in other countries in their various languages.

It takes a lot of imagination on my part to envision even a small part of the above goals being accomplished. My thoughts after reviewing the financial requirements to get the job done, was that it would be great if we had a Bill Gates or Warren Buffet who felt led to fund this harvest, which either could easily do. However, I felt our Father’s answer to my cry for help was, “I have chosen the forerunners of Messianic Israel to reach My scattered sheep. They may not individually have the wealth of a Gates or Buffet, but they have the numbers and dedication, and they will provide the funding and personnel resources required to accomplish these tasks.”

Please pray about whether you are one of those chosen to help provide the needed resources to accomplish this mission. If your answer is “yes,” then please make a commitment to Key of David Publishing. Together we can go through the gates, clear the way for the people; build up the highway, remove the stones, and lift up a standard over those the God of Israel is redeeming (Isa 62:10-12). Working together we can make imagination a realty.

Your commitment can be made to Key of David Publishing by mail, phone, or on line.
Mail: Key of David Publishing, PO Box 700217, St Cloud, FL 34770 Phone 407-344-7700
Online: http://www.messianicisrael.com/Store/ShopList/join.asp, under contributions select “Key of David Publishing.”

I sincerely thank you for your support at this crucial time.

May our Father bless you for your dedication and your faithfulness.
Angus

Note: Background for this article came from an article, To Reverse Israel's Rebirth, by Stan Goodnough, Jerusalem Newswire, November 1, 2007.