FROM A FRIEND OF MINE:     Returning and Re-gathering

My dear friend Betty responded to my last post after she did a little research on the month of Cheshvan. She discovered that it was in the month of Cheshvan that Solomon's Temple was completed in Jerusalem. I found this very fascinating, since it appears that we are very close to seeing the third Temple being erected there; and if not the whole temple structure, then at least the Altar where the sacrifices will resume. We should all be cautioned not to speak against this event, since it was foretold in Scripture, and will most certainly be a sign once again to the world that Jerusalem is the City of the Great King, and belongs to Yahweh for eternity! The prophet Daniel tells us that "From the time that the daily sacrifices are abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days." (Daniel 12:11) When the sacrifices at the Altar are abolished, the Great Tribulation begins. But there must be an Altar established again in Israel for this prophecy to be fulfilled! Could it be in Cheshvan once again that we see the Altar restored? Did you happen to see the article about the gathering of stones from the Dead Sea for just this purpose? I have reprinted part of it below from the Arutz Sheva newspaper in Israel, dated July 29, 2009):

"The Temple Institute, which has already built many of the vessels for the Holy Temple, such as the ark and the menorah, has now embarked on a project to build the altar. Construction begins Thursday in Mitzpe Yericho (east of Jerusalem) at 5:30 p.m.

“Unfortunately, we cannot currently build the altar in its proper place, on the Temple Mount,” Temple Institute director Yehudah Glick said. “We are building an altar of the minimum possible size so that we will be able to transport it to the Temple when it is rebuilt." Even a minimum size altar will work out to be approximately 2 meters tall, 3 meters long, and 3 meters wide. Workers have collected around 10 cubic meters of rocks weighing several tons already.The rocks were gathered from the Dead Sea area and wrapped individually to assure they remain whole and are not touched by metal, as the Bible requires.“The Torah says that no iron tools should be used on the altar’s stones,” Glick explained. “The altar represents a connection to life and to the creation of the world. Iron is the opposite – it is used to build tools of war, death, and destruction.”The stones will be cemented together with a mixture of sand, clay, tar, and asphalt. “There are many positive developments recently with regard to the Temple,” Glick added. “Hundreds of Jews visited the Temple Mount this week, and more and more continue to come, after undergoing the requisite ritual immersion.”
Additionally Betty uncovered the fact that in the month of Cheshvan the Israelites returned to the Land following their captivity in Babylon. So, it is not only the month of completing the Temple, but of the re-gathering of the scattered Israelites! No wonder my heart is so deeply yearning to return this month! No wonder I was so awe-struck when reading Ephraim Frank's blog this morning. You will want to read it too, for it contains a thrilling account of an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi who had a powerful vision from the Holy Spirit regarding the return of Ephraim to the land of Israel, and the joining of the two sticks in the Father's hand (Ezekiel 37:19, 22). Read those scriptures. Then read the blog at this link: http://israeliteletters.blogspot.com/
Then pray - with all your heart - for Yahweh to re-gather His scattered ones and reunite them upon the mountains of Israel, and reveal Himself as the only True God of Israel as He states in Joel 2:27, "Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am YHVH your Elohim, and that there is no other!" AMEN!

My EE Team had a great Divine appointment today. One of my regular team members couldn't go out today, so we asked a woman who had never gone out before or had any training in conversational Evangelism to be a fill-in "smiler" for us. All she had to do was smile and balance out the other woman and I, who could not go out alone. (rule of three).

Our visit was a woman who mostly spoke Spanish and was having a hard time understanding all my English as we talked at her door. Finally our smiler asked her in Spanish if there was anything we could pray with her about? She immedietly said yes, and dragged us into her place. She went and got her 16 yr old daughter for us to pray over. She was home sick from school.

After we prayed, I started to ask about their church background and the daughter was listening to me in English while my smiler was translating to Mom in Spanish. After a discussion and explanation of the Gospel, they both prayed and invited Jesus Christ into their lives!

If you have never had the experience of being used by God to help someone into the family of God, it never becomes tiresome or boring! The odds of that Spanish speaking woman smiler being available and the 16 yr old being home and the Mom home also are off the charts...

Think about serving in a church visitation ministry in your church and using Evangelism Explosion (EE).