This evening, according to the Hillel II calendar and the sighting of the moon, is Yom Teruah, or the Day of Trumpets.  This day marks the beginning of civil year 5777 in Israel and is the day on which kings were crowned.  This day is also potentially one of the most important in the history of the world!!

Without question, the world is holding its collective breath for a number of reasons, all of which tie to the great prophetic pregnancy of the times.  In a year of steadily building tension, we currently have the Mideast in turmoil; the United States trading shots with Russia in Syria; Jewish, Hebrew roots and Christian sources looking expectantly for the arrival of the Messiah; the Sanhedrin has been reconstituted and is counting the Jubilees; numerous signs in the heavens; economic meltdown; Islamic takeover of Europe and positioning for the same in the US; etc.  Seriously, this is a Jenga tower that is teetering for collapse!

Personally, I am nearly breathless watching things unfold as we are quite possibly living through the most significant time in the history of the world, namely, the redemption of All Israel and the establishment of the Kingdom by/for the Mashiach!  For those not familiar with these things, please read Ezekiel 37 and focus on the last five verses.  Understand clearly, there will be no rapture, there is no ‘heaven’ (in the Christian ‘escapist’ sense) and we have 1000 years ahead of us when a very Jewish King is seated on the throne in Jerusalem to rule the world and His people, All Israel, reside in the Land under the rule of Torah.

With all of this going on, we are preparing to return to the Land for Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, followed immediately by the Second B’ney Yosef Congress.  I can’t help but image a hundred different amazing possible scenarios!

For most of my life, at the least the last 35 years, I have had a strong expectation that 2017 on the Gregorian calendar, would be a significant year.  My initial thought, as a teenager, was based on the capture of Jerusalem in 1967 and a basic assumption that it happened in a Jubilee year.  Later, I read of an alleged 12th century rabbi who laid out a 10 jubilee prophecy that would culminate in 2017 with the coming of the Mashiach.  As I have watched, read, and studied prophecy for the last 30 years, nothing has significantly moved me from or competed with this enduring belief that 2017 is of major importance.  In the last six or seven years, I learned that it is the Jewish (Biblical) calendar that matters, not the Gregorian.   Now, today actually, according to the Jewish calendar, we are crossing the threshold into this momentous time frame and the stage can’t be set any more perfectly!

[An interesting side note is that I see very few prophecies for events in 2018, 19 or 20….  or beyond.  Literally, everyone’s focus seems attuned to the here and now.]

Is this THE time?  Who really knows?  But, as we make plans and prepare for flights next week, I have to tell you that there is a giddiness mixed with a holy heaviness.  If you are feeling the same, then these next Ten Days of Awe as we approach Yom Kippur are of utmost importance.  Observing the Fall Feasts (Yom Teruah/Oct 3; Yom Kippur/Oct. 12 and Sukkot/Oct 17-25) as well as the Shabbats (seventh day Sabbaths) is more important than EVER!!  Eating clean and getting shellfish and pork out of your diet is great fire insurance (Isaiah 66:16-17).

We would ask for your prayers as we prepare to travel.  Our desire is to please the King and be a fragrance wherever we go.  We particularly pray for His Divine appointments on this journey as we meet and interact with many people in Israel and along the way.  We pray for protection and provision for ourselves as well as our eldest who will be manning the homestead and continuing his degree.

Look for many pictures and articles shared from the Land, beginning late next week.