January 9, 1999

Dear Friends and Loved Ones,
May you have a happy and blessed New Year filled with courage, faith,
confidence, direction, security in God, peace in the midst of anything, and
all the gifts you need to be faithful and usable to our King in these days
of birth pains. The time is drawing near when He shall receive the return on
the investment of His life and death on our behalf. And, the time is drawing
near when we shall receive the reward of grace for our labors in the
Kingdom. Maranatha! Hallelujah!

OF FIRST CONCERN
So much can be said about these pregnant times, but the primary burden I
feel is the assignment to “compel them to come in.” Those who were invited
to the banquet made their excuses, and they are still making excuses. The
halt, the lame and the blind are here - look around, it’s us. Now, because
there is still room, we are told to compel them to come in so that His house
might be full.

We used the wonderful tool of The Four Spiritual Laws, which began, “God
loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” This was powerful and
fruitful. Then we switched to Kennedy’s, Evangelism Explosion and the
question, “If you were to die tonight and stand before God and He asked,
‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” This wonderful
question paved the way for many of us. The recent harvest has been nice. It
has always been ripe, even in Jesus’ day, but this season, today, here and
now, it is time to reap the earth and compel the hearers to come into the
Kingdom.

Be open to the leading of His Spirit within you and always be ready to
share. A very appropriate encounter in this day could go something like
this: “Look, you know Jesus is what you need and you know He is true. So
stop fooling around and turn your life over to Him now. You’re running out
of time. Pray right now and ask Him to forgive you and receive you into His
Kingdom. Do it now. I’ll pray with you, if you want, but you’re the one on
God’s hot seat, so do it now.”
I challenge you to do this. You will be greatly blessed.

WHERE TO?
Once they “come in,” where do they go? Where do they find worship in spirit
and truth without some old testament type guru telling them what to do and
how to believe and act? Where can they prepare for the wedding with like
minded lovers of Jesus who want to follow Him? What kind of gathering
[church] will scratch their itch for worship without hype or pretense, and
fellowship that’s real and life related?

Those are huge questions, and maybe you are to be a part of the answer.
Maybe you are to provide your home as a meeting place where Jesus can
fellowship with His called-out saints. Ask Him, and then do what He says. If
it’s appropriate and you want help, please ask. Most of our help, however,
will be encouraging [pushing] you to get at the work and stop making
excuses.

MY TWITCHES
I have started this letter many times during the last four months. I was
going to write more on the theme of holiness, which stirred several
unexpected responses. The reactions ranged from, “This is the best stuff you
have ever written and is vitally important. Drop everything and write a book
or pamphlet about this reality of being sinless before God.” To “Who do you
think you are proclaiming yourself sinless? This is Pharisaical preaching.”
I felt terrible that I was unable to make clear the grace and mercy and
kindness of God in this, and was perceived as harsh and judgmental. And it
seemed that the harder I tried, the worse it got. If God permits, I may try
again to present this truth, but not now.

Then there are my ever present, all consuming thoughts about these times of
birth pains of which the Bible speaks so often. The events and prophetic
interpretations seem to be clearer all the time, but again, I have
difficulty in presenting it without stirring up very hostile reactions.
Perhaps this is inevitable.

The call to readiness must continually be sounded. Be self-controlled and
alert. Be focused on Jesus and His Kingdom and stop being consumed by the
things taking place around us. We are different and part of something else,
another culture, another society. Our leader, example, and pattern of
behavior is Christ Jesus. In the opposite culture, the leader, example, and
pattern of behavior is President Clinton.

Here again is a very brief summary of what I believe regarding the times and
seasons:
There are seven thousand-year periods allotted for us in biblical history.
These millenniums correspond to the seven days of creation. We are living in
the window of time between day six and day seven, sometimes referred to as
the great tribulation. We are awaiting the return of Jesus as King of kings
and Lord of lords. The final thousand years, or the day of the Lord, will
correspond to the seventh day of creation or the Sabbath. The “last days”
are the final three millenniums which began during Jesus’ time on earth as
the Son of Man.

This window of time is referred to as birth pains. It was previewed by the
plagues in Egypt, the activities before the flood, and the events in 168 BC
and again in 70 AD. It is the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy. I
believe that week began in November of 1995 and will end in 2002. Here are a few of the reasons.

The Oslo accord was originally referred to as the seven year something or
other. [I have tried to verify this and am unable to come up with any
details. If any of you can help me, please send the information.] It was
agreed to in principle by Yitzak Rabin [his name sounds like “the many ones”
in Hebrew] and Yasser Arafat, called the “horn” by the Palestinians. They
signed their intentions at the White House in September 1993 before the
largest audience to a treaty signing in the history of the world. Rabin was
assassinated in November 1995 and the world leaders met at his grave and
“confirmed” the treaty with “death.” Daniel 9:27 says the Antichrist would
confirm a covenant with Rabin for one seven. In Isaiah 28 this action is
called a covenant with death for peace and safety.

In May of 1999 Israel’s year of Jubilee ends. On May 4, 1999 Horn Arafat has
said he will declare a Palestinian State, “no matter what.” May of 1999
marks 3 ½ years from the confirmation of the treaty. Therefore I believe May
of 1999 marks the beginning of the time, times and half a time, or 42
months, or 1260 days of Revelation.

Any other signs? Bible translations, missionaries to all nations, horrific
world-wide Christian persecutions, increase of knowledge, people scurrying
to and fro, wild economic swings, people [“all men”] beginning to blame the
Christians [and Jews] for all the problems, y2k, etc., etc. He who has ears
to hear, let him hear.
What then should we do? Two things: Get out of Babylon and compel people to come into the Kingdom of God. Plan for the future. Don’t be unprepared. Don’t get caught with your hand in the Babylonian cookie-jar. “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not
receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has
remembered her crimes.” Rev. 18:4,5. If God wills, more on this later.
All is coming to a conclusion, a glorious conclusion, a grand finale. The
stone cut from the mountain will topple the beasts of worldly governments.
Do not fear the things that others fear. Do not fret. Do not lament over the
destruction of Babylon. Economic Babylon, religious Babylon, social Babylon,
political Babylon, physical Babylon, and all other manifestations of the
anti Zion, anti Christ system are going through their death throes. We
experience these same phenomena as birth pains. We are commanded to rejoice at her doom. There is a wonderful thousand year Sabbath about to commence.
The great wedding banquet will begin the festivities, so as long as it is
day, compel them to come in, that His house will be full.

SARAH
Our twenty-seven year old champion for life daughter had her left hip
replaced in August, her right hip replaced in November, and is recuperating
from a Cystoscopy December 30. We pray this is the end of the surgeries for
the foreseeable future, but she is presently experiencing a lot of stomach
problems. Please keep her in prayer. She and Betty hit the road again mid
month for some speaking engagements in Kansas

RICK HOHN
Rick Hohn, the brother with cerebral palsy whom we helped with his
Autobiography, More Than a Watchmaker has become a dear friend as well as a fellow servant of Jesus. Rick preaches through a dynavox talking computer which he programs using a pointer attached to a head band. We wrote quite a bit about this amazing man a few letters back.

Rick was seriously injured Sunday November 15. He operates his wheel chair
through a control mechanism by using the back of his head. Rick only lives a
few blocks from Green Oak Ranch, and loves to come there for the Sunday
service whenever he is not preaching or sharing somewhere else. He relishes
the freedom of being able to drive his chair to the meeting hall, always
refusing to ride in their van unless it is raining, or muddy.
Once on the Ranch property there are gravel roads, hills and a sharp turn
before coming to the meeting hall. While negotiating this turn Rick’s new
chair apparently malfunctioned and went into manual or free-wheeling. He
picked up speed on the hill and crashed in front of the nature center. His
forehead had two gashes [thankfully he did not hit with the pointer or it
would have broken his neck], his collar bone was broken, there were internal
injuries, and later he developed Pneumonia. He was found moments later lying on his side still strapped into the chair on which one of the metal legs was broken.

The image riveted in my mind is of this dear friend and his non-responsive
body, strapped into an out-of-control wheelchair, careening down a hill to a
certain crash. Rick was absolutely [self]helpless, and no others were there
to rescue him. “Why?” I cry out, “Why? Why, God do You allow this? Why didn’
t You intervene? This man is one of Your greatest servants. Why do You allow
him to be treated this way?”

Some of my reaction is from watching Sarah also in a [self]helpless
condition. And then feeling myself strapped in situations over which I have
no control and am looking forward to inevitable crashes. “This world, in its
present form is passing away.” Yeeaaah! “When the foundations are being
destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Yeeeaaah!

Obviously certain foundations are being destroyed. The twenty year
investment of Christians into the political process has not born any
discernible fruit, in fact from the perspective of this world, it has been a
failure. The “immoral majority” has spoken clearly. The distinction between
the wicked and the righteous is getting clearer.

We are strapped in to a physical world that is about to meet God and the
sons of God. I remember being strapped in to a Roller Coaster and those
similar feelings while clanking up the first huge hill. Creation has been
groaning in travail as in the pains of childbirth. We who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit have also been groaning as we wait for our
adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Rom. 8:22,23.)
What a wonderful time this will be. I love you all and look forward to
sharing life together with you in His Kingdom.

God bless you. Frank


PS Rick was hospitalized, then sent to a Nursing Care facility. He was
discharged November 27, performed his first wedding eight days later, and
started a House Church last Tuesday. Praise God for this courageous and
faithful servant.

PPS If all this setting of dates riles you, go ahead and write it off, but
please listen to the admonition to get out of Babylon and compel others to
come in.

AMERIVISION’S Lifeline long distance telephone service can be obtained and Crushed Grapes benefited. Call 1-800 800 7550 and specify #66514 for us to receive 10% of your long distance bill.