Isaiah 65:1

"I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, 'Here I am, here I am,' To a nation that was not called by My name.

"In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious."

I'm writing an update about my trip to Korea and the Philippines, and some of the things I will write will be limited because we have anti- freedom of religion ("anti-missionaries") that read the updates. This was my second trip to Asia, the first was to Japan and Thailand. I will try to focus my thoughts to express as clearly as possible what the Lord privileged me to be a witness of.

Before the bombing, and from the beginning, God has spoken to us through the book of Habakkuk Chapter 1:5, that He was going to do something in our day that even if He would sit down to explain, we wouldn't understand. How t he Lord was able to take the tragedy that tried to rip apart our lives, and how he has used Ami's story literally to the ends of the earth, and that forgiveness is stronger than hate is a wonder. We're proud of Ami, that he decided that the first weapon of choice to be used against this organization of people that wanted to destroy us was the power of love.
 

There are many instances in the Bible where it says the people, the disciples, Joseph and Miriam, and even the governor Pontius Pilate, were astonished. But within scripture, there are only two times that Yeshua was astonished. The first was in Matthew 8:8-13 where an Italian Gentile Centurion that had 100 soldiers under his command, understood that in the nature of the chain of command, Yeshua's authority was the highest, and that He only had to say the word and his servant would be healed. It says that Yeshua was astonished by his faith.

The second time was when Yeshua went to His hometown and was among His own people. His townsmen were so cynical and so lacking faith, that even though the one they were waiting for, the promised Messiah, was among them, with all the scriptural credentials that only He could fulfil, yet they remained faithless. (Mark 6:1-6) Yeshua was astonished.

On this trip, out of the 35 countries that I have visited to this day, this has been the most astonishing one ever. I was constantly astonished by all that I saw, heard and witnessed.

I guess with me this trip started years ago when I was on Mt. Gerizim, (Deut. 27:11-13), with a group from Singapore. We stood overlooking the city of Nablus, which is ancient Schechem, where 70% of the suicide terrorist bombers come from that carry out attacks against the citizens of Israel. The second they started to pray, they prayed so ferociously, that within my spirit I was like a tree that was shaken by the wind.

 

I spent 7 days in Korea with Leah and Ami, and 10 days in the Philippines. Leah already explained in short in her last update which can be read on www.amiortiz.com, much about what happened in Korea, but I would just like to add, that besides the TV and newspaper interviews, the overwhelming response to the movie "Restoration"appearing in the regular movie theatres, and meeting amazing brethren, I woke up at 5 AM one morning, and I was thinking about where I was. I believe the Lord spoke to me. There is a tremendous revival in Asia that is and will be affecting the world; it's like a mighty wind with which God is visiting the people of Asia. We spoke at numerous meetings but I was astonished many times by their prayer meetings, especially in the smaller congregations. They would pray for quite a long time, but then I noticed, especially in one small congregation that met in a re-modelled barn (that looked like a barn from the outside but was very beautiful inside), that after they prayed, and the meeting was officially over, they began to pray about how to implement the things they had just prayed for! It was like they knew that they would be held responsible for the things they just prayed about. After we pray, sometimes it's almost like throwing a penny into a wishing well with no expectation of response to the things we've prayed for. However, their expectations are very high, and they believe and act upon those things they've prayed for. (James 1:5-8; Hebrews 11:6)

I was also privileged before leaving Korea to visit the Blue House which is like the US Whitehouse, and to have one of the Parliament members come to pray with us for the unification of North and South Korea -and also for Robert Park, an American Korean who intentionally crossed the border from China into North Korea to be arrested in order to share the Gospel with the North Koreans. This same Parliament member, who is a born again believer, gave us a VIP tour of their Parliament building as well, with an explanation of how the Parliamentary South Korean government works. We prayed in the Parliament also.

Sometimes there are things built into the culture, rituals, customs and philosophies of a people that can work against them in their spiritual lives, but once these very things that worked against them are surrendered to the Lord, they can be used for Him. For instance, here among the Muslims, especially among those trained to be suicide bombers, the dedication to die for something, or to seek a cause to die for, and the lack of fear of death, upon coming to faith, is almost automatically geared to and used for the Gospel with the same fervor. "For me to live is the Messiah, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21) This has made a tremendous impact for the Gospel in the Muslim world.

I found it to be so in Asia, where dedication, honor, and serving one another is such an art form - I was truly astonished. Sometimes in the West, we lack that so much. I would say that we very much lack that in Israel. I returned with these thoughts in my mind, to dedicate myself more in this fashion.

Continuing on to the Philippines, the fact that the y were ruled by the Spanish Empire for 400 years had a personal element for me, as Puerto Rico was also under Spanish rule for 400 y ears, and then in the same year and under the same treaty in 1899, both also became territories of the USA. The Spanish influence has left a very strong mark ethnically, architecturally, religiously and in the unique blend of Spanish and Asian culture and language. The climate is also tropical. For me it was like meeting relatives that I had never met before.

I was very astonished by the revival and again the fervor and dedication to the Lord and to one another in the Body , and how they are moving forward with the Gospel, not only in the Philippines, but definitely their vision is very universal, to reach the nations. I found their commitment to world evangelism is like the one in Korea, very much on track. It is with a lot of zeal accompanied with much understanding of international affairs and how to use opportunities for the Gospel, which is a tremendous combination.
 

I was privileged to be invited by Joel Rosenberg to participate in the first Epicenter conference to be held in Asia, in the capitol of the Philippines, Manila. The conference, "Signs of the Times", was hosted by Pastor Peter Tan-Chi, in his beautiful congregational facility- Christ's Commision Foundation Church (CCF). Pastor Peter and his "mighty men" team (2Sam. 23:8-38) have been used by God to make an impact on Asia with the message of the Good News. We were assigned a security team that guarded over us literally 24/7. I and my children have served in the Israeli army, and so from that perspective I was impressed by the Filipino security which is highly professional. Being with them was like taking a mini-course in security. The staff of workers that covered every aspect of the conference and meetings, covering media, hospitality, transportation, and everything from A-Z, both in Korea and the Philippines, were simply fantastic.

There's too much to talk about in one letter, but Joel and the team, which was composed of Dr. Hormoz Shariat, an Iranian ex-radical Shiite Muslim who today loves the Lord, Pastor Ray and Vicki Bentley , Lance Emma, and myself had the opportunity to meet some of the major pillars of Filipino society, many of whom are believers, to be on secular Filipino TV sharing the Gospel, to be on CBN Asia, to have lunch with the Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines, and to accompany Joel when he was invited to meet Gloria Arroyo, President of the Philippines. There he was able to talk not only about political issues, but to share the Good News of Yeshua as well. After our lunch meeting with her, she reverently bowed her head and joined us when we closed in prayer. Pastor Ray, Vicki and Lance remind me of the midwives in Exodus Chapter one who weren't afraid of Pharaoh's command, in that when they see God doing something, and something being spiritually birthed, they are there to cheer it on and assist to bring it forth.

I was able to spend more time with Joel this trip than the other times that he has invited me to his Epicenter conferences to speak. Not only I and the team, but the believers, the media, the Israeli ambassador and President Arroyo, were very much astonished by the uncompromising and without apology presentation of his end-time message and the simple "For God so Loved the World" message that Joel presented to them. Maybe none of these people would come into a meeting in a congregation, but they were truly in God's presence as the message of His salvation was shared. The Spirit of the Lord met us where we were, from the President's palace to the Ambassador's area of residence, to the restaurants. The Lord held our hands and led a very clear path before us. There were about 25, 000 attending the Epicenter conference including the overflow rooms, national TV and over the internet. The conference lasted from 9AM to 6PM. Non believing Israelis also wrote in after the broadcast. Truly God was glorified.

When I go abroad, I usually go shopping spiritually to see what God is doing in other places, to implement it here in Israel. I look forward to the time Yeshua will say to the Israeli believers and nation, "I haven't seen so much faith anywhere than here in Israel".

Pictures of the conference and blogs can be seen on: http://www.signsofthetimes.ph/category/blog

Yours in Messiah,

David