MASHIACH YISRAEL CHAI

is a Hebrew phrase that translates: THE MESSIAH OF ISRAEL LIVES. Indeed, He does.

AM YISRAEL CHAI

translates: THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL LIVE. Indeed, they do.

Interestingly, one absolute biblical truth is a sign proving the other, and vice-versa. I am reminded of a 17th Century conversation between French mathematician Blaise Pascal and King Louis XIV, as recorded in the posthumous 1670 publication of Pensees de M. Pascal Sur La Religion (The Thoughts of Mr. Pascal on Religion). The King demanded of the God-fearing math expert: “Give me one proof of the supernatural.” Mr. Pascal replied, “Why, the Jews, your Majesty, the Jews.” Indeed, ISRAEL is a one-word proof the Bible is true and can be trusted. And MESSIAH, is a one-word proof the LORD keeps His promises, both to Israel and the Church.

In our many conversations over the years with Hebrew-speaking lost sheep from the House of Israel, we customarily use these Hebrew phrases to communicate biblical truth. Because AM YISRAEL CHAI, we Gentiles can believe and trust the Word of God and the promises of the God of Israel. We must therefore follow up: MASHIACH YISRAEL CHAI. The Messiah of Israel also lives, just as foretold by the Jewish prophets and beheld by Jewish eyewitnesses following His resurrection in Jerusalem. His name is Yeshua (i.e. Jesus in English). He came once as a suffering servant, a substitutionary sacrifice, to be rejected and pay the price for sin on a cruel Roman cross, just as it was foretold. And, He is coming again to rule and to reign, to sit upon the Throne of David and to fulfill all promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Messiah of Israel lives. Of course, we must also warn these lost sheep:

Stop looking to the nations for help. Stop looking to and hoping upon the United States, a nation which has turned its back upon God and the Bible. You are making the same mistake your fathers made—who looked to Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome instead of the LORD for help. Look to God. Look to the Messiah, the one your fathers rejected.

We repeated such things many times with many people during our recent 5-week stint in Israel. There were many good conversations in the highways and hedges. And yet, according to the fools in the U.S House of Representatives who recently passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act (including many Republicans and my own North Carolina district’s ass with a bowtie, Patrick McHenry), such talk is now “antisemitic hate speech.” The Reformer John Calvin used some appropriate language to describe politicians like this in his commentary on the Book of Daniel, but I won’t even go there. We don’t look to godless politicians or Christless “conservatives” for definitions. We look to the Bible, and the Bible defines what is love and what is hate in the eyes of the God of Israel. Hate keeps quiet about truth while true love bids a warning doom to children, both Jew and Gentile, who play in the freeway:

“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9).

“He that hateth dissembleth with his lips” (Proverbs 26:24).

Anyway … forget Republicans and Democrats, two sides of the same coin and two cheeks on the same crusty rump. And yet, BEWARE: Christless conservatism in America is just as dangerous, perhaps more so, than godless liberalism.

These two short Hebrew phrases (עם ישראל חי משיח ישראל חי) are also inscribed on the back of the crosses we have carried on our shoulders across America, from Mile 0 at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to Mile 6,543 at the top of a hill on Heine Road in Stevens County, Washington. They were on the first cross stolen from us by the Madison County Sheriffs Department in Montana, who helped aid and abet a hate crime against Christian missionaries. And, those same Hebrew words are inscribed on the second cross, an exact replica of the first made to replace that which was stolen. That second cross has been carried a thousand miles from the spot of the infamous Madison County hate crime; and just last week, it was with us as we preached Christ on university campuses up in Pennsylvania. In fact, amidst a raucous crowd of students at Dickinson College, a Jewish girl saw these Hebrew phrases and asked about them. You can listen to that brief conversation in the clip below:

In a few short weeks, we will head back out to that spot on Heine Road to continue carrying this cross with the Hebrew messages on the back all the way to the Pacific. This summer, Lord willing, #TheLongWalkUSA will finally finish, and we will have fulfilled our commitment to the LORD. And guess what? The tyrants in Montana failed to stop it. Their sabotage failed, and we do not fear their sham trial at the end of October. Hallelujah to the Lord! An interesting twist to the saga is that my daughter and I have been asked to conduct women’s self-defense seminars in at least three states, including Montana, as we make our way back across the country. In other words, we are going to be openly teaching women and girls the EXACT SAME PRINCIPLES we put into practice on the side of that Montana highway. How do you like that Austin Knudsen? These will also be great opportunities to share the Gospel. An announcement recently appeared in a South Dakota newspaper concerning one of these events. Here’s an interesting piece of trivia: The NFAA Center is the world’s largest archery center. Wow, what an honor. Pray the Lord will be glorified.

As promised in my last newsletter, A Time of War, A Time of Peace, I'm going to have Brother Eric Trent share more detail about our recent time in Israel and concerning some of our AM YISRAEL CHAI, MASHIACH YISRAEL CHAI interactions on the street. Please pray for him and his family. Lord willing, and before we leave to head back out to walk, they will have moved down to Peru for the summer to work with a childrens outreach and a church plant our local church helps to support in one of Lima’s poorest and most dangerous barrios. They will also be giving attention to Israeli backpacker outreach on the Hummus Trail that passes through the country. The Lord has provided a place for them to live, and they will literally hit the ground running with three small children. Please pray for the Lord’s provision as plane tickets are far more expensive than the days of our Team Yeshua Peru, and it’s never cheap to transition a family to the foreign mission field. Notwithstanding, the Lord never guides where He does not provide. Eric will be greatly missed on the last leg of #TheLongWalkUSA, but we rejoice at this opportunity for him to serve with his wife and children on behalf of Full Proof Gospel Ministries and his local church in a faraway land. This brother has been a faithful sidekick on the highways and byways since Cape Hatteras and he has walked nearly 3,000 miles. And, it will never be forgotten how he came to my aid on the side of that Montana highway. He is a hero, and I spit on Madison County and the State of Montana for falsely and unjustly branding him a criminal for doing what is right according to the Word of God (Read Proverbs 24:10-12). Indeed, the LORD will avenge him and reward him for standing in the gap, willing to lay down his life for the brethren (John 15:13).

Ok, I’ll shut up and let him share his heart:

Greetings dear brethren in the name of our Savior and King, Jesus the Messiah. This is Eric Trent writing …

I hope and pray these days find you both well and refreshed in the goodness of God. His mercy is new and abundant each day, and believers are privileged to bask in His mercy through the faithful work and interposition of His dear Son. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, truly saves, and nothing can ever alter this absolute truth, certainly not a congress of Republican and Democrat louts in the United States House of Representatives.

Jesse’s February 22nd newsletter, Hiatus No More, communicated our plans to travel back to Israel for about five weeks during these times of conflict in the Middle East. On March 23rd, we returned from the Holy Land, and what a fruitful time it proved to be! I’d like to share with you some testimony from that journey, praying it brings great comfort, edification, and satisfaction to all of those who faithfully pray for and financially support this work. We cannot express how thankful we are for such kindness and generosity. The saints at home and abroad truly hold the ropes for us as we labor to take the Gospel to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. In this latest journey, and in all journeys, we are motivated and compelled by the example of the Apostle Paul as succinctly described under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost:

“Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” (Romans 10:1).

And later,

“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (I Corinthians 2:2).

While in Israel, our desire was simple: to preach Jesus the Messiah to the people, always motivated by our heart’s desire to see them saved and restored. There is a future restoration promised to the nation of Israel, and it will happen (Romans 11:26-27). Rest assured, however, outside of faith in Messiah and Him alone, no such rest and restoration can be found, not for Jew, not for Gentile (Hebrews 4:8-11). Take this as the necessary motivation to go in love and have the guts to share the Gospel of the Jewish Messiah with your Jewish neighbors!

Since the Modern State of Israel was born in 1948, the number of Jewish believers in the land has grown from about 12 to somewhere between 30-40,000! Such church growth under the weight of tremendous tribulation and persecution over the years really is a true testimony to the faithful promise of the Messiah:

“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

In fulfillment of this promise, there are Jewish believers living in Israel today whose boldness and faithfulness would put many professing Christians in America to shame. These Jewish brothers and sisters truly love the souls of their countrymen, and their actions and witness demonstrate this in the spirit of James 2:17. It was an honor and a privilege to come alongside some of these and endeavor to be an encouragement to them in their land as they are to us in ours.

A brother Jesse has known for many years and who lives with his wife and two boys in Jerusalem, is one of those faithful Jewish believers whose unwavering commitment to sharing the Gospel is a true testament to his boldness. Unlike most Christians here in America, he regularly goes out into his own Jerusalem (Acts 1:8), in this case literal and physical Jerusalem, to proclaim the Good News. One of our main reasons for coming to Israel, even during this time of Middle East conflict, was to encourage this brother and his family, so we made open-air preaching in the Old City a regular part of our itinerary. This ancient city, steeped in Jewish history and awaiting the return of the King of kings and Lord of lords, is one of the best places in all the world to declare the Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection. What a privilege to preach where the prophets, the apostles, Stephen, Peter, John, Paul, and Jesus preached! What an honor to be cursed and heckled where the prophets, the apostles, Stephen, Peter, John, Paul and Jesus were cursed!

Typically, we’d publicly proclaim and distribute Hebrew Gospel tracts at the Jaffa Gate and at spots inside the Jewish Quarter. Both were great locations. The Jaffa Gate yielded more conversation as it is a regular transit route to the Jewish Quarter via the Armenian Quarter and the only gate of the Old City one can drive through. I remember one conversation with two religious young men immediately after I wrapped up an open-air message on Hebrews 10:10-13. Both were from America and living in Israel to study the Talmud and Rabbinic Judaism. Our lively conversation touched upon many points, particularly the Law, the New Covenant, and the meaning of circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4). These religious young men were actually humble and took Gospel material before we parted ways. Again, it was one of many good interactions with folks passing through the Jaffa Gate.

The Jewish Quarter was definitely more intense, but our Jewish brother was led of the LORD to preach there, so there is no way we would let him go alone for the first few times. One morning, we actually preached in the Hurva Plaza, right in front of the large National Synagogue. Nearby and encased stood the large gold menorah constructed by the Rabbinic Temple Institute for use in the future Jewish temple, an edifice built for Antichrist, the false Messiah (read Revelation 11). There was a woman who got so worked up at our presence. She kept hissing, “You are speaking lies. Nobody is listening!” And she just wouldn’t leave. We told her, “It’s very clear that someone is listening to us, and that someone is YOU.” It was almost comical. Just like the Jews who followed Paul and Silas to Berea from Thessalonica (Acts 17:13), she kept pacing about the plaza trying to stir up the people. In this case, it simply didn’t work. The LORD restrained this very angry religious woman, and after the preaching was finished, we were approached by some Gentiles from Peru (of all places) who professed to know Christ and were greatly encouraged by our witness. Hallelujah!

The last time we preached in the Jewish Quarter, things got pretty heated pretty quickly. We had positioned ourselves on a balcony walkway with a great vantage overlooking a corridor of restored Roman ruins with a small plaza on the other side. There was a staircase to our left which sees plenty of foot-traffic. Our Jewish friend had not been preaching long when his step-stool was literally kicked out from underneath him as he proclaimed Jesus to the passing audience. It was a dangerous attack that could have caused him to fall headlong into the corridor below. Jesse and I immediately rushed into the gap and drove off his attacker (read Proverbs 24:10-11). The ultra-orthodox man who kicked our friend quickly backed down and started poo-pooing about being afraid and being a victim. It was all on tape, and that fact suddenly changed his tune. He left, stood at a distance, and behaved himself for a short while. But then, just like the woman in front of the National Synagogue, he tried to go from person to person and stir up a mob against the preachers. We kept preaching, and the door of utterance remained open for a time. Interestingly, a large group of Christians from South Africa walked through the plaza below, the same group Jesse had engaged in a shop a day or two before, and they stopped when they heard the Gospel message. Suddenly, there was an “Amen Corner,” and these folks were shouting “Halleujah" in response to the name of Jesus. It was a living, breathing fulfillment of Isaiah 65:1-2 AND Isaiah 42:6 right in front of our eyes and the eyes of the religious naysayers.

Eventually, the place did come unglued, and it was almost immediately after I declared loudly that Yeshua (Jesus in Hebrew) is the Jewish Messiah and that YESHUA IS GOD. Oh boy, those religious folks didn’t like that. An ultra-orthodox man ran up into my face and started shouting, “This is blasphemy. This is idolatry” over and over again. An angry mob quickly gathered as even young boys were spitting on the ground at our feet and hissing at us like snakes. The police quickly converged on the location and also tried to intimidate us, even though we were breaking no laws. They manhandled us a bit, said we weren’t welcome back in that place, and ordered us to leave the Jewish Quarter. We politely obliged, as the angry crowd continued to grow, and these officers escorted us through the narrow alleyways. Along the way, a group of Jewish teenage boys followed mocking, like those children did to Elisha (II Kings 2:23-24). We didn’t call out the she-bears as did the prophet, but as soon as we stepped into the Armenian Quarter and the police left, we engaged them firmly, with a good balance of courage and love. Those big-talkers immediately changed their tune, and a few even took Gospel tracts. One young man actually said, “Thank you for coming to Israel during this time.” Glory to God!

Friends, open-air preaching may not be easy or comfortable, but it is effective, even in Jerusalem, for the sake of the Gospel. We need look no further than the faithful testimony of the Apostles in the Book of Acts. That testimony BEGAN in Jerusalem. In honor of that, we actually took one of the two local church teams (two different teams from our church came to Israel to labor with us during those 5 weeks), over to the set of ancient steps leading up to the Second Temple where Peter most likely preached in the open-air on Pentecost. It would have been a perfect place to baptize the three thousand who were saved that day, as ancient mikvehs (ceremonial bathing pools) have been unearthed all around. You can access this spot through the Jerusalem Archaeological Park. Jesse stood on those steps that afternoon, lifted up his voice like a trumpet, and read aloud Peter’s Pentecost message from Acts 2:

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

According to the United States House of Representatives, I guess this would have been considered an act of “antisemitism.” Forget them … there was a family hanging out nearby, and they heard. I’m sure they thought us strange, but I’m also sure they will never forget it.

Look, we love the Jewish people. If we didn’t, we definitely wouldn’t travel to their homeland during a time of war. I mean, one of those Iranian ballistic missles actually landed in the Dead Sea at the very spot we had been swimming less than a month before. There were terrorist attacks in “off-the tourist-trail” places either right before or right after we passed through. At the security checkpoint between Ma’ale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem, three Palestinian gunmen opened fire the morning of February 22nd. One Israeli was killed and eleven others, including a pregnant woman, were injured. We drove through the same checkpoint that night to deliver coffee to some IDF soldiers at a base down the road. In Hebron, a Palestinian opened fire from a Muslim cemetery on IDF troops. We walked right by that cemetery a few days before with a team of four believers from our local church, distributing Gospel tracts and socks to the soldiers. A 14-year-old Israeli shepherd boy was kidnapped and murdered in an area of Samaria not long after we had driven through twice. And along Hwy 90 in the Jordan Valley, there is a sketchy section we drove through twice as we made our way back to Jerusalem from the Galilee with each of the two volunteer teams from our local church. Just a few days after we returned home, gunmen opened fire on cars and a school bus along that very sketchy stretch of highway. Three people were hurt.

Only love would compel us to go to such places and to take our loved ones with us. That same love also compels us to articulate plainly the truth of God’s Word to Israelis: truth concerning repentance, truth concerning biblical faith, and truth concerning their one and only hope, Yeshua the Messiah.

We especially loved engaging the IDF soldiers and had many such encounters during our 5-week stint. Over the years, we have painstakingly searched these out along the Hummus Trails in both South Asia and South America and have hosted many in our homes away from home. The search isn’t so painstaking in Israel, for young people with machine guns on their shoulders and in IDF uniform are everywhere. These folks, conscripted into service at 18 years of age, have no choice but to risk their lives for the safety and security of their people. After the gruesome and barbaric Hamas attacks on October 7th, 2023 (something Israel has every right to justly retaliate against), many former soldiers who had completed their conscription were called back up as reserves to help defend their land from the enemy. Not a few out on the Hummus Trails in South Asia and South America actually cut their journeys short and flew back home.

As for us, we could walk through the Old City of Jerusalem and easily cross paths with 20-30 soldiers in a day. The Old City was devoid of the usual foreign tourists, but not of young folks in the IDF. We engaged these with a very easy approach, simply walking up and saying in Hebrew: todah she’atem shomrim alenu (lit. thank you for guarding us). It immediately opened a door, as most people around the world hate the IDF soldier. Almost all of them would take a copy of this great Hebrew tract for soldiers, one that talks about another more important sacrifice than theirs, that of the Jewish Messiah for His people. We gave out many of these in many places.

Twice, we visited an interchange in the Gaza Envelope that saw a lot of soldiers passing through, either going into or coming out of Gaza. At Beit Kama, there is a gas station, a McDonalds, a coffee shop, and a few other little restaurants. It was a great place to engage the IDF and give out those soldier tracts. With our first volunteer team, that McDonalds was packed with young folks in uniform. We tracted the entire place. With our second volunteer team, we returned during the day and had some great conversations. Carter and I were able to share Christ with two tank operators preparing to enter the war zone. We put our arms around them and prayed for their protection. This second time, there was also a bus load of Jewish students from the United States who were on a pilgrimage tour sponsored by the Israeli government. Strangely, these soft tourists were colder to the message of the Gospel than the soldiers going into Gaza to risk their lives. One young man, as we took him through God’s Law, replied, “I know where you are going with this, and I’m not interested.” He walked away very proud. Then, we engaged a bus driver. As our Jewish brother in Christ took him through the Law, shots rang out across the parking lot. Suddenly, we saw civilians pouring out of both the coffee shop and McDonalds in a complete panic. Then, there were some machine gun bursts. Our group moved to a safe position, as we were surrounded by soldiers loading their weapons and rushing headfirst into the chaos. The Lord gave us great peace and grace in a seemingly high-stress situation. We were able to comfort some of those young people from America, some of the same who had minutes before been so cold to biblical truth. We also ministered to a female soldier in uniform who was crying.

It turned out, a career Israeli soldier in his fifties had been waiting in line for a coffee and was stabbed by a young man from Gaza who had recently become an Israeli citizen. The soldier, while bleeding everywhere, still had the wherewithal to unholster his firearm and kill the terrorist. He was a hero, but he died out on the sidewalk. We prayed for the LORD to spare his life as he lay there, but it just didn’t happen. Law enforcement quickly arrived on the scene and began driving people away as they created a perimeter around the buildings. To this day, we know there was more to the story and believe there were other terrorists. Notwithstanding, we left the scene praising God for His protection and trusting those we had been witnessing to as the shots rang out would not soon forget how quickly life can be snuffed out. Hebrews 9:27 is an inescapable truth, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement:” There is no escaping that appointed day. There is always a payday, someday. That evening, we visited the Negev city of Dimona and tracted a market. The soldier who was killed that day was from Dimona. Shaken up, we camped in the desert near what Numbers 34:4 calls the “ascent of Akrabbim.”

Each time we visit Israel, we try to connect folks we met in prior years ministering along the Hummus Trails in either South America or the Indian Subcontinent. We consider it a very important to “follow up” and water seeds planted if the opportunities present themselves. Like other trips in the past, the Lord also opened such doors this time around. One young man, let’s call him Lee, lives in Yafo, not far from where once stood the house of Simon the Tanner, the place Simon Peter got his vision from the LORD to take the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10). When he heard we were back in Israel, he was eager to see us again. Jesse had met him in Huaraz, Peru back in 2019. At that time, Lee had been confronted with the things of God and the Messiah, so we prayed and asked the Lord to guide our words back to those things as we met for coffee in a Yafo alley. The conversation, in fact, quickly went there. His response was largely apathetic, claiming that he saw most of the Bible as nonsense. And yet, he followed up with an interesting statement. “Who knows? Maybe one day would will convince me, and I will believe.” We made sure to affirm that we have no power to convince. Only the Holy Spirit of God can do that work in the hearts of men. As our conversation continued, Lee showed us some raw and unfiltered footage from October 7th Massacre, including unedited reels put out by IDF soldiers and cycled through Telegram & WhatsApp in Israel. These clips were horrific, the type that can never be UNSEEN—so many innocent civilians killed, some shot point blank while walking down the street. It was nothing more than senseless slaughter; and the western media has done nothing but cover-up and soften the truth of the matter, nothing new under the sun. As awful as it was to watch this stuff seated at a table on the street outside that Yafo coffee shop, it served to further our message about the Lord for Lee, a message emphasizing the need to humble ourselves and turn to the Messiah. He is the only hope for deliverance from Israel’s enemies and eternal deliverance from the God of Israel’s righteous wrath and judgment upon sin. Before we parted ways, Lee gladly received a gift bag we had prepared for him. It contained some really nice socks from an American company owned by Jesse’s brother and set of Hebrew-English Scriptures in hardback, a Tanakh (i.e. Old Testament) and a B’rit Chadashah (i.e. New Testament). We told him they were for his home.

Rose Warmer, a believing Jewish Holocaust Survivor from Hungary, once labored to get the Bible into the hands of her own people, those in the concentration camps, and those without. As a result, she ended up in Auschwitz herself. She said these words, "The most important thing in the world to bring to people is God's Word." We believe that. Our rendezvous with Lee meant a lot to him; and we trust the Lord will faithfully use that time to His glory and to good spiritual fruit. As for Rose Warmer, her story is an incredible read. A Jewish brother in Christ lent us his copy while we were in Israel. It has recently been republished under a new title, Rose's Journey: A Christian in the Holocaust. The paperback is pricey, but the Kindle version is cheap. Yes, even during the Holocaust, there was a believing Jewish Remnant sharing the Gospel with their Jewish countrymen and sharing in their horrible sufferings.

On another evening, Jesse, Jamie, Carter, Bethany, and I reconnected with an entire Jewish family we originally met in Huaraz, Peru. While this family was traveling through this Andean village some years ago, they saw and responded to a handwritten Hebrew sign Jesse had posted around town, inviting traveling Israelis over for a home-cooked meal. That was a very fruitful time of pouring the Gospel into this family. Some time after that, the same folks passed through North Carolina and visited with the Boyds in their own home. Jesse’s elderly grandmother also put them up for the night. By God’s divine Hand of Providence, we found them in Israel; and they were so excited to have us over to their home for a home-cooked meal. It was a great reunion. We enjoyed the best spread of food during our entire time in Israel. We also spoke much of October 7th and Israeli politics. These topics made it easy to bridge from the natural to the spiritual, and we found ourselves saying to these Israelis the same things we have said to many Americans along #TheLongWalkUSA: You cannot fix a nation’s spiritual problems with political solutions. Our friends engaged us with humility, and as they had received copies of the Hebrew Scriptures from Jesse and his family before, we offered this time around a book containing all the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, showing their fulfillment in the New Testament. This gift was gladly accepted! It was a great evening, and all the glory belongs to God. Peace in the land of Israel will never come apart from the arrival of the Prince of Peace!

Jesse, Jamie, and I also got to reconnect with two young men we first met in Bariloche, Argentina back in 2018. We’ll call them Andy & Gus. These former IDF soldiers, each having been called up for a term of reserve duty since the October 7th Massacre, have heard the Gospel from us multiple times, even in 2019 when Jesse and I met them at a small cafe in Tel Aviv. Needless to say, these guys know us well. They understand how grounded we are upon the things of the Lord and our convictions concerning Yeshua the Messiah. This time around, we met these two at a great pizza dive in Tel Aviv. Just finding parking was an adventure all its own, and our friends pleasantly surprised us by ordering some great pizzas with pepperoni and bacon. Yes, there is bacon in Tel Aviv. We covered a lot of ground over the course of the evening, seated at an outside table in a bit of a raucous environment. It was nice to revisit some old Argentina memories with those guys, and as always, our faith necessarily came up. We spoke of the God of Israel’s judgment, the Scriptures, the genuine saving faith of Abraham, and the Son of God. Andy & Gus listened cordially, and even asked a few good questions here and there.

At times, preaching the Gospel can be discouraging when we do not see any “results” from the work. We truly are the products of this instant-gratification culture. You want this item? Press this button, it will ship in two days, and it is yours! We foolishly think the Lord should operate the same way. Nope, God is sovereign. We are not. All we can do is preach Christ, water the seeds, and pray that God in His perfect timing will bring about the increase to His glory. Before we parted ways with Andy and Gus, we offered them each one of the same gift bags we had given to Lee, containing a nice hardback set of Hebrew-English Scriptures. They were very thankful and gladly received them.

Please pray for Lee, the family who had us over for dinner, Andy, and Gus. Pray the Messiah of Israel will reveal Himself to them in a mighty Red Sea-parting way, and that He will draw them unto Himself in these dark days.

I will close this report out with one of the last encounters we had in Israel before flying back to the States. After the volunteer teams had returned home, and after the lively preaching scene in the Jewish Quarter described above, Jesse and I decided to spend our last day taking a long hike, this time in the serrated Valley of Achor (read Joshua 7), known today as the Wadi Qelt. One day, this rough valley with its cliffs, deep canyon, and thick reeds—a place where the tourists don’t normally go, and where troublemakers from nearby Arab villages sometimes haunt—will be called a DOOR OF HOPE (Hosea 2:15) and shall be a place for flocks and herds to lie down (Isaiah 65:10). Jesse and I needed to take a hike. It had been a long trip in Israel, and there had been much running to and fro. For our last day, we needed respite ahead of a long flight, and our kind of restful “break” customarily involves a slogfest, this time down into a deep canyon to find a few swimming holes. Northeast of Jerusalem, we parked along the road inside the Jewish settlement of Kfar Adumim. From there, it was a beautiful trek down into the valley with a hot sun blazing. We eventually found a good spot for a swim and to take a lunch break. We had seen a few people out there, namely IDF soldiers on leave and carrying weapons for protection in that sketchy place. They all seem surprised to see us there, but a few took Hebrew Gospel tracts. Regrettably, we had passed by a few of the best swimming holes and had to end up settling for a lesser spot right before we had to make the long climb back up to Kfar Adumim. Of course, the Hand of the Lord was in all of that. Two young men passed by at a distance and waved as we prepared to get into the water. We exchanged a few pleasantries and that was that. Not long thereafter, they came back and approached, asking “Are you Jewish?” Our response: “No, we are just a couple just goyim (i.e. Hebrew for Gentiles), but a Jew saved our lives. His name is Yeshua Ha’Messiach.” From there, these two young men, getting ready to soon start their conscripted IDF service, were very humble and open to hear the things of God. We talked extensively about the religious hypocrisy of Rabbinic Judaism. And we marveled to hear them say, “The gods of the Orthodox are their rabbis.” Ain’t that the truth, not really different than the Catholic and his priests, or the pagan American college student and his woke professors. Once I heard this profound statement from their mouths, I quickly dug into my backpack and found a special gift for them, 2 leather-bound Hebrew New Testaments that can fit into a man’s pocket. Those were my last two. Both received them with great gratitude. What a divine appointment! And there we were, murmuring about having to settle for a lesser swimming hole.

The mechanics of God’s providence are truly beyond our comprehension, but thankfully the beauty of it can be apprehended by faith. Truly we can affirm, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28b). Of course, the Old Testament counterpart of this great promise is found in Ecclesiastes 3:11: “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time.”

I pray this ministry report is an encouragement and a salve to those who read it, to Christians in need of strength during these dark and difficult days for Israel, America, and a world overcome with iniquity. The Gospel and it’s testimony is the answer, and assuredly, it is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). Remember, it is HIS power, not OURS. May we preach the message faithfully.

We also need to remember how privileged we are to walk in His grace as Christ’s ambassadors (II Corinthians 5:20), and we must continually pray for the grace and strength to remain strong therein. Pray for each other.

I do want to give a quick shout-out to the two volunteer teams from my church who came to Israel during a time of war to help us in the work, and I want to thank the leadership and the people of New Testament Christian Fellowship who helped make it happen. I am so privileged and blessed to be part of a local church which has given more than 80% of its offerings to Great Commission missions since this congregation was first planted, ordaining elders and deacons, in 2006. Over the years, our elders, deacons, and church members have given of themselves, not just their finances, to walk and share Christ in places like Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Israel. I’m reminded of something the late Keith Green once preached:

“This generation of believers that you and me are a part of, we are responsible for this generation of souls, all over the world. We're responsible for them. We're responsible to pray daily for the needs of ministries around the world, and ask God, ‘How about me not sending my money this time, how about me going?’ It's so easy to write checks, it's so easy. But God can't cash out State checks in Heaven. He needs you!”

We also cannot be grateful enough for the brethren who support this ministry and pray for us. Please keep doing so. Ministry opportunity for this summer seems to be falling into place according to the Lord’s leading; and we truly need these efforts, as we did our time in Israel, bathed in prayer. Let me mention two quick things for the immediate future. The last leg of #TheLongWalkUSA, Lord willing, will begin in a few weeks. Carter & Bethany Phillips will be assisting Jesse with this, one more thousand-mile stint with the cross from Eastern Washington to the Pacific Ocean somewhere in Northern California. This has been a great work for the preaching of the Gospel across a failing nation, and it is hard to believe that it will come to a close soon. I have been greatly privileged to share in this adventure and to have walked, by God’s grace, nearly 3,000 miles of the path. As for me and my family, the Lord has opened a door, and we will be moving to Peru for the summer to come alongside a church plant and a faithful children’s ministry in one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in the capital city of Lima. This work involves providing food and raiment while teaching and instructing weekly on the Scriptures in small classes. This ministry has touched so many lives, and it will be a blessing to support them as the Macedonian believers once did Paul, giving “their own selves” (II Corinthians 8:1-5). Stay tuned for more details and news from the field. Our hope is to be down there by June. Only the Lord knows when we shall return Stateside.

May the Lord continue to strengthen your faith in Christ, that you may shine brighter each day for the glorious Gospel of our Lord in the face of darkness! And, let us “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” (Psalm 122:6).

Mashiach Yisrael Chai,

Eric Trent, Full Proof Gospel Ministries