***“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” (Psalm 122:6).***

We recently returned from nearly five weeks on the ground in Israel during a time of war; and yet for us, it was a time of great peace in which God’s grace and provision abounded. Thanks for all your prayers. I have been to Israel five times over the years and have traveled nearly every corner between Dan and Beersheba and from Metula to Eilat. All over, we have declared the true hope of Israel, the Gospel of the Kingdom and the person and work of the Messiah. This last journey, however, proved to be the best. Despite the war situation, the absence of normal tourism, and our passing through places either immediately before, immediately after, or during a terrorist attack, the LORD made everything about our labor beautiful in His time and He truly protected us. My widowed mother prayed Psalm 91 for us every day while we were over there, and those faithful prayers were answered.

Did you know that the promise of Romans 8:28 has an Old Testament counterpart? It’s Ecclesiastes 3:10-11:

“I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.”

An Old Testament illustration of this is the account of Ruth & Boaz that took place during the dark Period of the Judges, when “there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). This little story out of Bethlehem would change the course of human history at a time when all seemed dark and hopeless.

We are living in dark days. 2020s America is starting to look a lot like 1930s Germany, and certainly most Americans do what is right in their own eyes. Judgment is coming! It’s already here. Notwithstanding, our Lord makes everything, even the worst schemes of the Enemy, beautiful in His time; and for us who are the called according to His purpose, all things truly do work together for good. Keep the faith in times of both war and peace. Hold fast in times of both war and peace. And fear God, not men, in both times of war and peace. If we make the LORD our fear and our dread, and not the evil tidings of the day, He will prove Himself a sanctuary for us (as He was for Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz during dark days) even as He is a stone of stumbling and a rock offense to the wicked and a nation under judgment. Read and meditate upon Isaiah 8:13-14, my friends.

At this time, I’d like to refrain from going into too much detail about our time on the ground in Israel. Instead, I’d like to share about the long layover we had in London en route to the Holy Land. IT WAS GREAT. I’m going to let Eric Trent share more detail concerning Israel in a subsequent newsletter that should be coming next week. Please pray for Eric, his wife Mindy, and their three small children. In a few weeks, they will be moving to Peru to help with a church plant in one of Lima’s poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods. They will also be doing Israeli outreach in Miraflores, a part of town that sees a regular flow of Hummus Trail backpackers during our summer months (i.e. Peru’s winter months). We’ll share more on that later.

***Witnessing to an Israeli traveler in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima back in 2017***

I cannot thank you enough for your prayers while we were in Israel. Over five weeks, we accomplished much. Here’s a quick summary:

We hosted two teams from our local church, including my daughter, my son-in-law, and my wife.
We walked more than a hundred miles and drove nearly two thousand miles.
We witnessed to a whole bunch of IDF soldiers.
We were able to encourage some bold Jewish brethren and partner with them in evangelism to their fellow countrymen.
We fellowshipped with some Jewish local churches.
We distributed many Hebrew and Arabic tracts and gave out Bibles.
We did some open-air preaching in the Old City of Jerusalem and put on a concert of Gospel songs along Ben Yehuda Street. My daughter Bethany and her husband Carter were a big part of that.
We were able to reconnect with some Jewish folks to whom we witnessed when they crossed our paths in South America several years ago.
We crumbed with the Gospel numerous places the tourists don’t go (i.e. Hebron, Mt. Gerizim, Syrian border areas in the Golan, ruins of an old Roman tax station on the Road to Emmaus, the Gaza Envelope, Muslim neighborhoods around Jerusalem, etc.).
We discovered some new places: the Akkrabim Ascent mentioned in Numbers 34:4; some old Roman Road ruins; ruins of an old synagogue near the top of Mount Arbel where Jesus, according to Luke 4:44, would have preached; an arduous hike up the Valley of Achor; and some old watchtowers near the security wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
We camped in the desert.
We did some rock climbing in the Gehenna Valley and in the cliffs beside the Dead Sea.
We pedaled some long cycling circuits around Jerusalem, giving out Gospel material all along the way.
When my wife arrived in country, we even hiked to an Iron Dome Battery for a date.
Lastly, we visited some of the places where the horrific massacres took place on October 7th, including the site of the Nova Music Festival. Strangely, I discovered that Eric and I had actually been to that spot and had driven that road back in 2019. We had even witnessed to some IDF soldiers not very far from that place.

***This 2019 encounter occurred very close to where more than 300 civilians were massacred by Hamas terrorists on morning of October 7th, 2023.***

We actually visited the Nova Festival site twice and were able to give out a few Gospel tracts and witness to some folks who had come to see where friends or family had been slain. It was sobering. At one point, while reading Psalm 91 aloud (the same Scripture my mother was praying for us daily) amongst the many markers placed where people had fallen, we even drew a small crowd, and it allowed us to share about the hope that can only be found in the Jewish Messiah.

Reading Psalm 91 aloud at the Nova Festival Massacre site drew a small Jewish crowd and opened the door to speak about the Messiah. In the cement shelter right behind us, young people hiding in there on October 7th were slaughtered like animals.

***Markers commemorating where the slain were found at the Nova Festival Site near Re’im. More than 300 people were massacred here and others taken hostage.***

***I snapped this out the car window as we drove by. Kibbutz Be’eri saw some of the worst bloodshed on October 7th.***

My friends, I’ll tell you plain. Everything you have been told in the Western media about October 7th is a LIE. It was so much worse than has been reported, true Nazi-level hatred and slaughter of people minding their own business. While in Israel, I was shown actual footage unavailable here in America. It was stuff that can never be unseen. Wicked, wicked, wicked. Make no mistake, Jew haters are also Bible-believing Christian haters. That great red dragon of Revelation 12 hates both the woman (Israel) and her seed (the Church). And, as history bears witness time and time again, where persecution arises against Jews, it also arises against the Remnant Church. Are you ready for it?

This past week, I had the privilege of preaching with some good brothers on a few college campuses up in Pennsylvania. Amidst all this 1930s-style Jew-hating madness on college campuses across America, it was important for me as a preacher to make a couple of things clear to the mob surrounding us at Dickinson College:

"Jesus was Jewish. We support Israel. We believe what the IDF is doing in Gaza is righteous, and we praise God of it. Amen. WICKED TERRORISM OUGHT TO BE WIPED OUT AND ERASED. So, we support the IDF. We support Israel. We love and we preach the God of Israel."

These moments were even caught on camera as the mongrels shouted “Go home, go home.” And for the record, the preachers ended up going home when they were ready to go home, by the Lord's leading, and NOT A MOMENT BEFORE. And, I did get to witness to a Jewish girl who noticed the Hebrew message on my cross. Hallelujah!

Please pray for the people of Israel. I love them. Through the Jews, God gave to the world the Written Word of God (Romans 3:1-2), the Living Word of God (Romans 9:1-5), the Prophets and Apostles (Ephesians 2:19-20), the first New Testament churches, the first Christian pastors, and the first Christian missionaries (Acts 11:19-23). And of a certainty, one day, in the words of John Calvin from his commentary on Romans:

“When the Gentiles shall come in, the Jews also shall return from their defection to the obedience of faith; and thus shall be completed the salvation . . . which must be gathered from both; and yet in such a way that the Jews shall obtain the first place, being as it were the first born in God's family, as Jews are the first born, what the prophet declares must be fulfilled, especially in them. . . it is to be ascribed to the preeminence of that nation, who God had preferred to all other nations.”

And, as Charles Spurgeon affirmed long ago in a message before the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Jews:

“I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough of it. But certainly, if there is anything promised in the Bible it is this. I imagine that you cannot read the Bible without seeing clearly that there is to be an actual restoration of the children of Israel … May that happy day soon come! For when the Jews are restored, then the fullness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in; and as soon as they return, then Jesus will come upon Mount Zion to reign with his ancients gloriously, and the halcyon days of the Millennium shall then dawn; we shall then know every man to be a brother and a friend; Christ shall rule with universal sway”

Yes, may that happy day soon come. Meanwhile, I don’t make any excuse presently for Israel’s unbelief, her government, or her people. Today, the people of Israel, though regathered into the Land in a state of unbelief as promised by the prophets, remain far from the Lord as in the days of the Judges; and they need to turn back to Him and believe upon their Messiah. Notwithstanding, there is a growing Jewish church in the Land (Eric will talk more about that in the upcoming newsletter) AND we here in America really aren’t in a position to be condemning or lecturing other nations or other peoples about what is right and wrong without first TAKING A LONG HARD LOOK IN THE MIRROR.

Consider something for a moment. Israel had God's Word, a single witness; and the people rejected it. We here in America have had TWO WITNESSES, God's Word and ISRAEL'S EXAMPLE. We have rejected both. Sadly, Israel does not confess or accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Messiah. Many in America, even that old fool who calls himself a President, would confess Christ with their mouths, but their abominable works deny Him. Which is worse? Jesus very clearly gives the answer in Matthew 21:28-32. According to the promises of God's Word, the end of Israel is like that first son, one of national repentance and spiritual awakening (Read Romans 11). America is indeed that second son--"Yes, Lord," to His face and then a giant middle finger from where we think is "behind is back" (In truth, nothing is behind the Lord's back). My friends, it’s really not wise for us here in America to be picking at motes in the eyes of other nations when we have a great big 26-lane INTERSTATE HIGHWAY in our own ... one like I-10 as it passes through Houston, Texas.

Anyway, with that off my chest, let’s remember to love Israel, to pray for her peace, to seek her good, and to not forget our Jewish brethren in Christ who live in the land God gave to their Fathers and yet suffer persecution.

Stay tuned for more testimony from Eric. Lord willing, I will be heading back out to Washington State with Bethany and Carter the first week of June. We aim to finally finish #TheLongWalkUSA. Eric and his family will be hopefully be down in Peru by that time. The mess in Montana is still ongoing. A trial is scheduled for late October. The whole thing is so stupid, and we really shouldn’t take it too seriously. Moreover, the best “revenge” against the evil done upon us is to keep preaching Christ and serving Him. Back in January 2023, the Judge overseeing this case encouraged us to continue our missionary work. And, that is what we have done and will keep doing without your prayers and support.

Jesus isn’t just King. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! He is the Messiah of Israel. He is the Saviour of the Gentiles.

-Jesse Boyd, Full Proof Gospel Ministries

a time of war, a time of peace