Sunday 25 March 2012

DR SAM GORDON FROM THE MESSIANIC TESTIMONY, AND HIS VISIT TO OUR AREA.

We were very pleased to welcome to our area last week, the excellent Dr Sam Gordon (formerly of Trans World Radio), and now Director of the renown Messianic Testimony, whose main aim is to evangelise and educate the Jewish people that Jesus (Yeshua) is indeed their Messiah, and Saviour.

He commenced his long weekend tour with a visit to the Bristol branch of the PWMI on Friday, 22nd March when over forty people attended to hear this fine man of God expound the exciting theme of the Rapture of the Church to Heaven, before Jesus later returns to earth for his covenant people of Israel.

The following evening, Sam crossed the Severn Bridge to start the Welsh leg of his tour, and his first stop was our Caldicot branch of the PWMI. This lovely, warm, enthusiastic man with a cheeky Irish sense of humour, gave another splendid address from the book of Revelation on "Worthy Is The Lamb". This was based on his best selling book of the same name, and Sam has now become something of a prolific author with many books and booklets to his name, and his expanding repertoire. Needless to say, he sold many of his products over the weekend, with all proceeds going to the worthwhile Messianic Testimony.

On the Saturday Sam moved a little further into South Wales, with a double presentation at the Newport branch of the PWMI, at the impressive seminar facilities available at the new YMCA conference centre.

His first message was titled "Will Israel Survive", particularly relevant in view of what is happening in the Middle East at present. He opened by declaring that the Jewish state is in a very precarious position with Hezbollah and Syria to the North, Hamas in Gaza in the South West, the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt in the South, with Fatah (formerly the PLO) to the east, and the even greater threat of Iran to the North East, all declaring their hatred of Israel, and demanding the annihilation of this tiny little nation, about the same size of our beloved Wales!

Going through the prophetic passages of Zechariah chapters 12 to 14, Sam showed quite comprehensively that not only will Israel survive, but that after some suffering during the time of Jacob's Tribulation, they will emerge as a victorious state, and then become the principal nation in the Millennial Kingdom, a position they were always meant to have had, if they had recognised Yeshua as their Messiah at His First Coming nearly 2000 years ago.

The second session took us to the heights of Heavenly Glory, and the home of the Church, the Body and Bride of Christ, whose home is the heavenly places far above all, with Sam's title being "An Insider's View Of Heaven". Very exhilarating and uplifting stuff indeed! On the Sunday morning Sam left his prophetic theme on the shelf, when he spoke at the Apostolic Christian Centre in Ebbw Vale at their morning service, to complete a memorable four days in Wales and the West Country.

All of the meetings were well attended, excellent Biblical ministry and Prophecy was proclaimed, lots of good Biblical merchandise was sold, good offerings were made, and the very worthwhile Messianic Testimony profited handsomely, which will assist them with their fantastic mission to bring Yeshua to the Jewish people. We thank Sam for his splendid ministry, and we give praise and thanks to the Lord who makes memorable weekend tours like these possible.

Maranatha Blessings,
Neville.

NEW BIBLE STUDY OPENS AT THE PONTYPOOL PWMI.

We are pleased to announce that with effect from Thursday 8th March, we will be holding a new weekly Bible Study and Fellowship evening at our Zion Christian Fellowship Church in Pontypool. The full address is Zion, 4 Pisgah Road, Talywain, Pontypool, NP4 7HZ.

Pastor Arthur Wicks from Beddau, near Pontypridd has agreed to take a series of studies on the fascinating Book Of Revelation, with a strong theme on the events yet to happen before the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem to redeem his chosen and covenant people of  Israel.

All meetings start at 7.30pm, and there will be plenty of food and fellowship available after the gathering. Please come if at all possible, and please invite your friends, family and contacts, for everyone is welcome, and the more the merrier!

Hope to see you there,

Maranatha Blessings,

Neville.

REVIEW OF JON IKIN AT EBBW VALE PLUS "THE GOG" OF RUSSIA FROM EZEKIEL 38 AND 39.

At the Ebbw Vale branch of the PWMI on Friday 9th March, Pastor Jon Ikin from Dorset gave a very enlightening powerpoint presentation of what he described as the "Three Wars That Must Take Place Before The Tribulation". 

He described the scenarios involving the three famous prophesies from Psalm 83, Isaiah 17, and Exeziel 38/39, all of which are yet future, and yet to be fulfilled. The last one in particular involves the Russian led invasion from the north to attack God's chosen nation of Israel.

Bearing this in mind, I reproduce here a recent article by the American Bible Prophecy Expert Joel. E. Rosenberg, who describes Russia's President Putin as being a real contender to be the end times "Gog" who comes strongly against the Jewish nation.
                            *************************

Is Vladimir Putin the Biblical figure known as "Gog"? Make no mistake: the Russian-Iranian strategic alliance that I’ve been writing about for the last several years has deepened to the point where Moscow is now unequivocally and quite openly backing the mullahs in Iran.

“Russia warned Israel on Wednesday that attacking Iran would be  disastrous and played down the failure of a U.N. nuclear agency mission to Tehran, saying there is still a chance for new talks over the Iranian atomic programme,” reports Reuters. 


‘Of course any possible military scenario against Iran will be catastrophic for the region and for the whole system of international relations,’ Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told a news conference. It was one of Russia’s starkest warnings against resorting to force, an option Israel and the United States have not ruled out if they conclude that diplomacy and increasing sanctions will not stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.’
I hope Israel understands all these consequences … and they should also consider the consequences of such action for themselves,’ Gatilov said. ‘I hope a realistic approach will prevail, along with a sensible assessment.’”

The big question now is this: Now that Vladimir Putin has won his bid to become Russia’s President again during the March 4 elections,  would Putin then directly threaten Israel with retaliation for an attack on Iran? So far, Russia hasn’t gone so far as to threaten a military response, but it’s not out of the question. 


Putin won the Presidency with a commanding majority in excess of 60% (although hotly disputed by rival Gennady Zyuganov, the head of the Communist Party, who had approx 15% support). And Putin in recent years seems itching to rebuild the Russian military (something he promised again just this week – he’s called for a $770 billion upgrade of Russia’s military), strengthen his alliances throughout the Islamic world, and give the West a black eye. 
He explicitly ran his campaign on anti-Americanism, for example. He’s close to the Iranians. He’s defending the Bashar al-Assad, the butcher in Damascus. He’s growing closer to the Turks, as they become hostile to Israel. Putin hasn’t directly threatened Israel, but he’s backing all of Israel’s worst enemies and could find himself drawn into a war to prove his alpha-dog machismo.

Another question I’m getting asked these days: Is Putin “Gog,” the evil leader described in the prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39? It came up during my recent speaking tour in Florida, and in a talk I gave to a group on Capitol Hill last week? 


Thus far, my answer remains the same — Putin is certainly “Gog-esque,” but it is too early to speculate on whether he is actually the biblical figure that will rise to power in Russia (known in Ezekiel’s prophecy as “Magog”) in the last days and build an alliance with Iran (“Persia”), Sudan (“Cush”), Turkey (“Gomer”), Libya and Algeria (“Put”), the countries of Central Asia (“Beth Togarmah”) to attack the State of Israel from “the north” (probably via Lebanon and Syria). 
That said, it is fair to say that geopolitical events over the past decade — and certainly over the past year or so — have been moving on a trajectory consistent with the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38-39. That doesn’t necessarily mean we will see the prophecies come to complete fulfillment in our lifetime or soon, but we cannot rule out the possibility.

For the moment, the major need is to keep mobilizing people to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and to keep asking the Lord to help us get ready for the next war that comes, be that a really bad geopolitical war (ie, an Israeli first strike on Iran, or vice versa), or a prophetic war (ie, the War of Gog and Magog). One way or the other, it would seem that war is coming. The handwriting seems to be on the wall. Dare we allow ourselves to be unprepared?


Neville.