CRUSHED GRAPES MINISTRY |
Frank B. Smith, Director, PO Box 3009, Vista, CA. 92085-3009 |
| June 11, 2002 Dear Fellow Pilgrims, There is a blessing promised to those of us who have set our hearts on pilgrimage (Ps. 84:5), and whose strength is in God. A pilgrim is "one who journeys in foreign lands." We are strangers and foreigners here on this earth. Our citizenship is in heaven. In this journey, I have come to understand (not believe, understand) that I have no strength in myself. Only in Him can I do or accomplish anything. Also, in Him I can do all things. What a strange concept to the world system, but my, how it sets us free! My only responsibility now is to hear His voice and do what He says. CALL TO OMAHA A few weeks ago I began to hear in that still small voice, the Lord telling me to move to Omaha, Nebraska. When I started the questioning and asking for specifics, the information was to move this summer. I asked if I could wait for my sons visit from Taiwan and the answer was, "yes." Mike, Nico, Solomon, and Isaac will leave August 25, and God-willing I will head for Omaha then. I plan to make a quick trip to reconnoiter in mid July before a family reunion in Colorado. There are some dear friends and ministry partners in Omaha who have given standing invitations to stay with them, but the Lord said, "no." I believe I am to find the man of peace, stay with him and begin to serve (Luke 10:1 - 9). I am not certain of any more specifics, but the desire of my heart has always been to have Christian Community in the inner city. Also in establishing house churches, there is a need to just gather night after night and help people function. I will be free to do just that. I don't want to go to any more conferences on how to do it, I just want to do Church in ways that God wants and where He is pleased to be involved. I want to gather people, get them saved, and help them live this wonderful life Jesus came to give us. And of course my passion for the one church of the city fits as well for Omaha as Vista or any other place. At age sixty-nine this is an exciting and challenging venture, but there are some painful drawbacks. All my Southern California children and grandchildren will be tremendously missed. It hurts just to think about being separated. And leaving the wonderful work at Green Oak Ranch is traumatic. However, I have felt for some time that the great evangelistic and discipling work at Green Oak could be done by others. God has provided some wonderful servants to take up the slack, and it appears that more are coming. Another "God thing" about this move is that some have come to think of me as indispensable. That is a very dangerous and erroneous idea that is well disabused. How long this assignment is to run, I do not know. It may be permanent for my lifespan, it may be temporary, it may be that I will travel from Omaha a great deal, and of course it may be that Jesus will be here before long - even before the end of summer. SOME THOUGHTS ON ISRAEL Why is there such hatred towards the Jews? Why would children throw their lives away to kill others? Why would parents rejoice in such martyrdom for their loved ones? Who is behind this? Who turns the hearts to hate that much? The first answer that pops in most heads is, Satan, but Satan is a defeated foe who can only go as far as God allows him. He is something like a monkey on a chain. In fact sometimes when God is angry, He lets Satan do His dirty work. (See 1 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1. Was it God or Satan? Yes. Check it out sometime) Here is what I believe is happening. God's heart and desire is revealed in Hosea 14:1,2: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him, 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses. We will never again say "Our gods" to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.'" His words through Amos (6:8) are still true: "I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses." Modern Israel, so favored of God, appears to be a very proud secular state that trusts in its great army and air force (war-horses) and the United States (Assyria). (God desires and will) "pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. (So that) they will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a first born son." Zechariah 12:10. The heart of God is to call His people back to Himself through Yashua His Son. He cries out to them, "Please look to Me. Please consider My love. Please repent so I can reveal Myself to you as the one you have pierced, so I can remove the veil from your eyes." Now a process is going on that God has used over and over again. He creates trouble and hatred to draw His people back to Himself. Here is just one of many such instances, "The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites." 2 Chronicles 21:16. I believe this could be interpreted for today, "The Lord aroused against the Israelites the hostility of the Palestinians and of the Arabs who live all around them." Why? So they will turn and come home. So the beautiful Olive Tree of Israel and we Gentiles grafted in, might be planted in the land and its beauty and fragrance be spread over the whole earth for this coming Sabbath Millennium. Blessings. I love you, Frank  Ps: Hungersite.com is an advertising website that feeds the hungry. Every “hit” sends a meal to a hungry person in a third world country. Check it out and if you feel it’s worthwhile, put it on your favorite sites. It is an easy and convenient way to help the hungry and a good reminder to pray. |