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From childhood I have known that the major sign of prophecy is the sign of the fig tree, the nation of Israel. I accepted Christ as my Savior in 1942 at age of ten years. Mother and I went to hear a new preacher in town, who was holding services in a little basement mission below Velta Carter's clothing store. We lived in the small rural town of Britton, South Dakota. Rev. Grant Wacker rented the space from the IOOF, The International Order of Odd Fellows. Word went around our village that "the peculiar people are holding meetings in the Odd Fellows hall." I guess that was high humor for a town in which every vaudeville show that came through featured, at some point in the program, a rumpled looking drunk who staggered around the stage amusing us with his witticisms. One line inevitably was spoken to an overly made up lady, who bragged, "How do you like my new perfume, Jake? It's Evening in Paris." Jake responded, " Haw, Haw, Haw, Evening in Paris, eh? Just take a smell of this," as he waved a bottle of booze about, "This here smell is Saturday night in Britton." It always brought the house down. Entertainment was sparse in our town, consisting mostly of the movie theater, which charged ten cents for admission, and changed the film showing every week or so. That is why we went to the new Assembly of God Pentecostal mission. Mother and I went out of curiosity, hoping to be entertained. Some ladies had told mom about the strange services and urged us to go, for a good time. We went with the poorest of motives, but God in His grace met us there and our lives were transformed. Pastor Grant A. Wacker told me that I was his first convert. Actually mother and I went to the altar for salvation in the same service. Dad did not join the fold for another twenty years, then got saved at the age of 62 in the Assembly of God in Aberdeen, South Dakota. When I was eleven years old, in 1943, God used a German Evangelist, Hans Bretschneider, to introduce me to Israel. He preached and taught us about end time prophecy, the Book of Revelation, and about Israel, which did not exist at that time. We did not know about the holocaust underway in Germany, and when Bretschneider told us what he knew about what was happening, it seemed remote and unrelated to life in Britton, South Dakota. Remember, I had never heard about Jews previous to this. There was no one in Britton who identified himself as a Jew. Bretschneider introduced us to Abraham, Moses, and the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. He did not talk about them as a fossil people, with only a past and no future. He spoke of them as a living people with a wonderful future in the plan of God. He said that the Jews would return to Palestine and establish a new nation. That branded him as a lunatic in the eyes of non-believing outsiders. Even the Christian church people had a hard time swallowing such a novel notion. It would never happen. The Reader's Digest published an article, at about that same time, written by Editor Frederick Painton, which stated that there never could be another Jewish nation in Palestine. Old line denominational churches had bought into the heresy of replacement theology. Just who did this upstart German think he was anyway, always quoting the Bible and talking about the sign of the fig tree, claiming that it was Israel, about to be reborn? He quoted the words of Jesus, "And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away" Luke 21:29-33.
"Behold the fig tree [Israel] and all the trees [rest of the
nations]." "All the trees" refers to all the nations which God
has always watched, warned and judged or blessed in accord as to how the nations
treated Israel and the Jewish people. This
is revealed in the Abrahamic Covenant. God will bless those who bless Israel and
will curse those who curse Israel. The wrath of God is revealed at the end of
the "times of the Gentiles," when Jesus comes back to fight against
all the nations of the world, all of whom have sent armies to destroy Israel.
Read Zechariah chapters 12,13,14. For a complete study of the subject of Israel,
please read my book Can Israel Survive in
a Hostile World? published by New Leaf Press. Through the anointed preaching of the evangelist, a fire was born in my soul for a people whom I knew not and a nation that then was not. It was not until I was in my teens that I met a person whom I knew was Jewish. Arlo Levi was a classmate and friend in Central High School in Aberdeen, South Dakota. One day I was visiting in Arlo's home, and suggested that we go to some event that was coming up. Arlo said, "I can't go, David, that is on the day of Yom Kippur." I looked at him in amazement, exclaiming, "Arlo, are you Jewish?" He said, "Dave, where did you think I got the name of Levi?" Years later I shared this personal anecdote with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who was greatly amused by it. Mrs. Lewis and I met with Mr. Begin on fifteen occasions. He was always interested in sharing Bible truths regarding Israel's future destiny. I heard him tell A senior aide, Mr. Yeheil Kadeshai, that we brought inspiration and comfort to him. Many years went by. God called me to be a Christian ambassador to the nation of Israel. In 1975 we formed the organization, Christians United For Israel, following a prayer demonstration I led in front of the White House, during the Gerald Ford administration. We displayed a large banner proclaiming our group of about one hundred clergy persons to be Christians United for the Biblical right of Israel to her land. As our rally ended we were invited to meet President Gerald Ford's top advisor on Mid Eastern affairs, Mr. Robert Oakley, to come to the Old Executive Office Building, where our delegation conferred with him for over an hour. We gave Oakley a letter form - for President Gerald Ford. Later we received a telegram from Senator "Scoop" Jackson, telling us that the letter was hand delivered to Ford. Later, in 1978, I was one of five founders of the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel. I also led this group in a similar demonstration in Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington, D.C. Dr. Isaac Rottenberg rented a sound truck with huge columns of speakers. I think we rattled the windows on Pennsylvania Avenue. Once again our delegation was invited to a conference. Our meeting that time was with Morton Blackwell, who was an advisor to President Ronald Reagan. Last week, on December 30, 1996, Christians United For Israel was a signatory to a full page in the Jerusalem Post , proclaiming support for Israel in the controversial "Jerusalem controversy." This has been a long journey of spiritual insight, adventure and blessing. Someday I may write a book about it. And it all began when a German evangelist reached out and touched the life of a little boy in a humble mission church in Britton, South Dakota, which lies about ten miles south of Kidder and forty miles from Sisseton. (Adapted from Signs of His Coming, Chapter 5) |
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