The following is written by one of our British brethren, Stephen Spykerman. Other than myself, sad to say, he's the only Church of God member I've ever seen express in writing any heartfelt interest in
"the cities of Judah." Is God now directing more hearts to focus on Jerusalem? I sincerely hope and pray so!
For Zion's sake,
David Ben-Ariel
***************
MOUNT EPHRAIM – NEWSLETTERby Stephen SpykermanNO: 4 - THURSDAY, 21ST DECEMBER 2006
Dear Friends,
THE TIMING WAS NOT RIGHT FOR OUR MOVE TO ISRAEL!It is just over ten months since I last wrote to you all, and it certainly has been a most eventful time for our family. To start with we did not move permanently to Israel as planned because our heavenly Abba showed us through a whole set of incredible circumstances that it was not the right time for us to go. Although He did not say ‘never’ it was just a ‘not yet’ type of answer. Instead we ended up moving to Shaftesbury in Dorset. Our new address is:
The Coach House 2 Woodmans Court Shaftesbury Dorset SP7 8PY Tel 0044 (0)1747 853131. Shaftesbury is an ancient Saxon hilltop town, which was once the royal seat of King Alfred the Great. Our new house is in fact the gatehouse to 12 other properties at the rear. These 12 houses can only be accessed through our archway, and we rather like the association it congers up with the 12 tribes of Israel.
A MESSAGE FROM A FRIEND Just a few days ago I received a memo from Steve Collins a good friend and fellow author on the tribes of Israel. He asked how things were faring with my work, and he kindly offered to link his new website with mine. This forced me to write to him to explain that I don’t have my own website as yet, although it is in the planning stage. At the same time I let him know that my manuscript has not yet been published, and I felt I owed him an explanation as to why it has not happened. The fact is that most authors in our field self publish their material usually from their own resources, and thus the question is, why have I not done the same thing?
THE COVENANT I MADE WITH MY HEAVENLY FATHERWhen I first started to write, I made a covenant with my Father in Heaven that He would provide the funds to publish the work on the grounds that it was His work and not mine to bring the tribes of Israel back to the Land of promise. Ever since I have been bound by that covenant, and it surely has been a severe test of faith for me, especially so, because all my life up to that time I had always done pretty well everything in my own strength. Thus eight years ago I used this covenant as a way to bind myself to doing things His way and not the way of my old man.
OUR MESSAGE GOT INTO THE BRITISH PARLIAMENTNevertheless, Father has given me a few minor successes along the way, in that I was especially commissioned to write a booklet specifically addressed to the leaders of Great Britain. The booklet was to contain a message about Britain's Israelite ancestry and calling as a nation, as well as to warn her about the folly of her involvement in the European Union. Some 5,000 glossy beautifully illustrated booklets were printed, of which some 1,750 were placed in the hands of every Member of the House of Lords and the House of Commons in the British Parliament. The individually addressed envelopes containing the booklets were delivered by hand into parliamentary mailrooms on the Eve of Hanukkah 2004. The irony of this date is that the message about the hidden ancestry of the British people were delivered to Parliament exactly 87 years to the very day from the date of the liberation of Jerusalem on the Eve of Hanukkah in 1917, when General Allenby led his British and Anzac's troops into the Holy City.
A SIGN THAT ELOHIM USES FAMILIESA further God-incident was that the inside man in the House of Lords who helped facilitate all of this was a descendant of this same general e.g. Lord Michael Allenby of Megiddo, whom I had befriended in previous years. It is a clear sign that our loving Father likes to use righteous families down the generations.
THE MESSAGE GOES TO BUCKINGHAM PALACE!The booklet with its accompanying letter was also sent to Her Majesty the Queen, Prince Phillip and Prince Charles, as well as to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and many other Bishops and religious leaders up and down the country. As the message went to the leaders of the nation it had to be a work executed in high quality paper with full colour illustrations on every page, plus a most attractive cover. The booklet was called
"GREAT BRITAIN Her Calling and Hidden Ancestry." It obviously cost quite a lot of money to do this, as the booklets were literally given away. Hundreds of copies were mailed to influential people outside the immediate parliamentary circle. The miracle is that all of this did not cost me a single cent, as everything was paid for by a most generous sponsor sent from above. I can honestly say that it greatly encouraged me at the time, and it strengthened my faith in the covenant I had made with my loving Father in heaven.
A NEW COMMISSIONThen last year I was asked to write a similar booklet to be directed at the leaders of America. The idea being that we repeat the same exercise by getting the message of America's hidden ancestry to the Members of both the Houses of Congress and the Senate, as well to the President, his Cabinet, White House Staff, and the Members of the fifty State Legislatures in the United States. Once again the funds were provided for the graphic design, and within the space of three months a magnificent lavishly illustrated booklet was ready for print, under the title of:
"WHO ARE YOU AMERICA? Time to Lift your Prophetic veil!" The only problem was that we only had enough money left over to print just one hundred copies. Hence for the past eighteen months I have been using those master copies as a most precious form of seed corn, and have handed them out most sparingly.
OUR NEW BOOKLET GOT INTO THE WHITE HOUSE!One thing I do know is that President George W Bush has been given at least one copy, possibly two. On a visit to Jerusalem last year I just so happened by another God incident to meet two people who just happened to have a close relative work at senior level in the White House. One of those was a prayer partner of the president who regularly participated in the presidential prayer breakfast. They each offered to get one of my booklets onto the Presidents desk. However, to date Abba has not seen fit to open the doors into America for this specially designed booklet containing His message about the Israelite heritage of the American people. My earnest hope is that day will come soon, as by now I have barely 20 booklets left.
THE PROPHETS OF OLD ALWAYS WENT TO THE LEADERS OF THE NATIONHaving studied the lives of the prophets in the Bible, I noted that they invariably addressed their prophetic messages, exhortations, and warnings to the leaders of the nation, be it Israel, Judah, or both. The plain fact is that Our Heavenly Creator always held the leaders of His nation Israel primarily responsible for the conduct of His people. We know from the Scriptures that YHVH does not change, as the Word says; He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. For this reason I feel it is important that we follow the same principle and pattern today.
This is not to say that I would dare call myself a prophet, as I would not presume to equate myself with those great men. Nevertheless this does not mean that we cannot learn from those prophets, as I believe in going to the leaders of their nations in their day, they set an important example for us to follow in our time. For this reason I believe that the message of our extraordinary Israelite heritage must first of all go to the leaders of our nations. Following on from this principle it occurred to me last year that our message about the whereabouts of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel should also go to the leaders of Judah in the State of Israel. In fact there are a number of Orthodox friends; including several influential Rabbi's who have earnestly urged me to have the
"WHO ARE YOU AMERICA? Booklet translated into Hebrew. They would like to see it placed in the hands of all Members of the Knesset, and Rabbi's in Israel, thus covering both secular and religious leadership of the nation. Now I think we have quite a precedent here! They are inviting me, a believer in Messiah Yeshua, to do this thing. Surely, this is unprecedented!
THE MESSAGE SIMPLY HAS TO GO TO JUDAHGetting our message to the leaders of Judah does have tremendous appeal, and it does also resonate somewhat with the Word which states that, 'the Word of the LORD shall go forth from Zion!' The question in my mind is; does this
WORD GOING FORTH FROM ZION INCLUDE HIS PROPHETIC WORD TO THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL? The Bible appears to answer with a big YES! After all, it is the Jews who have preserved the Scriptures for us, and it is fair to say therefore that all the Scriptures have come to us from Zion. Clearly the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, yes, and even the New Testament all came to us from Zion! Did not our beloved Saviour, Yeshua the Messiah of Israel, the King of the Jews, also not commission and send out His disciples from Zion with His Gospel of the Kingdom? Did His Apostles also not take His Kingdom Gospel message from Zion to the uttermost parts of the world?
THE KEY OF DAVIDIn getting our message about the identity and whereabouts of Judah's lost prodigal Israelite brothers to the leadership of Judah we may well be unlocking the key of David, which will finally enable the call to the Tribes of Israel to go forth from Zion.
That call is for the Tribes to recognize their Israelite origins and return to the Land of their Fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I strongly feel that Judah, hard pressed as she is, by murderous enemies on all sides needs to know who and where her long lost Israelite brothers are. I believe that once the message has broken in Judah it will flow from Zion into our lands.
JUDAH HOLDS THE KEYJudah is the key to the tribes coming back to Israel, as the Jewish State at the moment does not permit non Jews to settle in the land. At the moment Christians, who want to settle in Israel can do so only with a three month visa. Many thousands of dedicated believers have lived in the land for many years, whilst having to leave the country every three months, only to re-enter the land on a new three months permit. If the State of Israel could be made aware that these Christians are in fact Ephraimites, true descendants of Jacob from the Lost House of Israel, it may be willing to change the entry rules for those of us who want to return to the Land of our Fathers. In fact some of my rabbinical friends have already set up a small Orthodox pressure group to try to influence certain members of the Knesset in the Israeli government to make entry for the true friends of Israel a lot easier. They are attempting to persuade the Israeli government to relax the entry rules by granting Christian Ephraimites five year residential permits.
If this were to happen, according to some estimates, well over a 100,000 American Ephraimites would immediately commence their arrangements to emigrate to Israel, with many more from other Israelite nations joining them. They would come not like impoverished refugees, as they would bring all their not inconsiderable wealth with them to make a new home in the Land of their Patriarchal Fathers. What starts as a trickle is bound to soon become a flood, and thus before our very eyes we would witness the fulfillment of all those prophesies concerning the return of Ephraim e.g. the House of Israel in preparation of the ultimate reunification of the two sticks/trees of Judah and Joseph. (Ezekiel 37: 19-28 & Zechariah 10:6-8).
THE FOURTH ARAB ISRAEL WAR IS NOW IMMINENT Frankly, you don't have to be a prophet to realize that another Arab-Israel war in the Middle East is now absolutely inevitable. The next war is described in great detail in Psalm 83 where David prophesies: "They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, "Come let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more." For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You!" (Psalm 83:3-5).
Since the foundation of the State of Israel this prophecy has already been fulfilled on three occasions, respectively in the 1948 War of Independence, the Six Day War of 1967, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Each time with Divine help Israel has emerged victorious, even though in the 1973 Yom Kippur War it was a very close run thing for the new nation.
Yet, when you read the account in the Book of Amos in chapter one you will note that when those same conspirators attack Israel for the FOURTH time YHVH will not turn away His punishment and His awesome wrath will utterly astonish the whole world. Amos chapter two makes it clear that both the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be punished at the same time. I believe in the case of Judah this will mean massive Jewish casualties, especially in the Tel Aviv/Haifa coastal areas. In the case of the House of Israel the Bible indicates massive economic fall-out from this now imminent Fourth Arab-Israel War.
A NUCLEAR WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST?This war clearly is now at the door and we also need to realize that it almost certainly will go nuclear! I believe 2007 is going to see the war described in Isaiah 17, which, with prophetic certainty states that;
"Damascus shall become a ruinous heap!" Can we even begin to imagine what the effects will be when Judah, with her back against the wall facing certain defeat, is forced to use her nuclear weapons against Damascus in order to prevent total annihilation? I believe that YHVH has a fourfold purpose with this next war.
YHVH’S FOURFOLD PURPOSE WITH THE COMING WAR1st. To humble His people by administering correction to Judah. (Amos 2:4-5).
2nd. To bring to pass the first phase of His awesome judgments upon Islam, and the enemies of His people.
3rd. To bring to pass the second phase of His eternal covenant with Abraham in which He promised all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates to his descendants. This is outlined by the prophet Isaiah as follows:
"To enlarge the place of Israel's tent, and to stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your chords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited." (Isaiah 34:2-3).
4th. As the State of Israel, in direct consequence of this war, annexes all of Southern Lebanon, nearly 90% of Syria, plus Gaza and all of the West Bank, and maybe a piece of Jordan to boot, she will be at least partially fulfilling the Divine plan to make room for the progressive return and settlement of her prodigal brothers of the House of Israel.
What a time this will be! What promise we have in the year that lies ahead of us! When we see it all happening before us on our T.V. screens, those of us who are looking to the establishment of His Kingdom, can then truly exclaim, WE LIVE IN THE DAWN OF THE AGE OF MESSIAH!!!!
WATCHMAN AND INTERCESSOR ARISE AND BE COUNTEDYet, understanding all of this we cannot just sit there and wait for it all to happen. Now is the time for the watchman and the intercessor to arise and be counted as never before. For some of us it is also a time of action. Those of us who have had our eyes opened to understand these things do need to get our message about the whereabouts and identity of Joseph to the leaders of Judah before the war occurs. It will be a huge comfort to her to know that her tribal brothers have been found and that they are a hugely powerful people. My problem is that I am only a one man band, and I cannot do this job without help and the necessary resources. I do recognize of course that Abba, the Holy One of Israel, is my helper and the provider of all my needs, yet I also realize that invariably He uses ordinary people like you and me to accomplish His purpose.
THE ELUSIVENESS OF SUCCESSIn January last year I went to Jerusalem with the express purpose of getting our booklet translated into Hebrew. I had been given to understand that there were at least three suitable people who might be able to do the translation. Soon after my arrival I discovered that the first two individuals had fallen away. This left me with one individual well known to me, and I had the personal recommendation of his Rabbi to boot. Some friends of mine however expressed doubts about his ability. My mistake was that I did not consult Abba about this objection, but decided that I would have him sign a contract containing certain safeguards. As it turned out, when I had his test paper checked it proved unsatisfactory. Sadly his work was simply not fit for purpose, as we are planning to send our material to the top echelons of Israeli society, nothing but a work of excellence will suffice. I had learned a painful lesson.
TREADING WATERThis past year the work has simply lain dormant, and I felt I was treading water. Nevertheless, I felt a great peace about it as I realized it was just not quite the right timing in Father’s purpose.
All of sudden in the last few months a new urgency has arisen, and once again we are set to visit Israel on the 15th January for a ten day trip together with my wife Virginia. Although the primary purpose for the trip is to participate in a 'Sanctification' course in close proximity to the Palestinian territories, I sense that there is another reason why our presence is required, and I am led to expect Divine appointments whilst we are in the land. I have a sense that maybe this time around the correct translator will present himself to me on this trip. It will surely be a milestone for this work, and my prayer is that you pray our visit maybe crowned with success. Another important thing we want to do next year is to set up a brand-new website probably utilizing our existing domain of jerusalemcalling.com, as we wish the call to go out to the Tribes of Israel from the Holy City urging them to return to Zion. (Jeremiah 31:6).
Wishing you many blessings in Yeshua our soon coming Messiah,
Stephen Spykerman
MOUNT EPHRAIM PUBLISHINGThe Coach House
2 Woodmans Court
Shaftesbury
Dorset SP7 8PY
E-mail: stephen@mountephraim.info
P.S. Can you think of a better way to bless Israel than to let the Jewish people know who and where their Lost Israelite brothers are? Our work relies on His providence which is invariably expressed through His people. You feel the Holy Spirit (Ruach haKodesh) is leading you to support the work of Mount Ephraim Publishing you can simply send a contribution to the above address.
