Still in the Fight

 

The drive to meet Pastor Rick took me past the Temecula Valley High School baseball field where our son, Cole, played shortstop for the Golden Bears during his four years there. Cole was a good player, but that wasn’t the reason I always thanked the Lord for His mercy when I drove by the field. It was because of a special miracle the Lord did twenty-two years ago during a state playoff game.

On that particular day, the Golden Bears were playing the Norco High School Cougars. The pitcher for the Cougars was Carson Riley, a right-hander, who threw around ninety-five miles per hour and was a solid major league prospect.

Cole stepped into the right side of the batter’s box to lead off the seventh inning. Riley’s first pitch was a fastball, which tailed inside and hit Cole in the middle of his chest, knocking him to the ground. He laid motionless on the ground.

The coaches for Temecula Valley rushed to him. One of them took out a cell phone and made a call.

Jane and I were sitting in the bleachers above the dugout on the first base side of the field. I grabbed Jane’s hand. “Honey, we need to go out there. Cole’s in danger,” I said.

We stood up and hurried to field.

Jim Dawson, the head coach for the Golden Bears, looked up as we approached home plate. “Dylan, he’s not breathing. I phoned for an ambulance, which should be here in four minutes,” he said.

Jane and I dropped to our knees and began praying. She prayed in tongues while I placed my hand on his chest.

“Father, You gave me a promise when Cole was born that He would preach the gospel and do miracles in Your name. When You made that promise, You looked into the future and saw this day. And yet, You still made that promise to me. I am not leaving until You honor Your promise and Cole stands up, totally healed in Jesus’ name. You did it for Elijah when he prayed for the widow’s son and I’m asking You to do the same thing for Cole, right now,” I prayed.

Coach Dawson grabbed my shoulders. “Dylan, let’s wait for the ambulance,” he whispered.

I slapped his hands away. “Let go of me,” I shouted. “God is doing a miracle here.”

Dawson released his grasp and wandered off. A siren could be heard pulling into the school’s parking lot.

“Father, I didn’t ask You to give me that promise for Cole. You did it on Your own. So, honor Your promise, in Jesus’ name,” I prayed over and over again.

“What’s happening here?” asked a paramedic, rushing toward us with a stretcher.

Cole’s green eyes fluttered and opened. He looked into my eyes. “Dad,” he whispered, “I met Jesus. He said I had to come back to life because of your prayers.”

My son was totally healed and wanted to stay in the ballgame, but of course, the two paramedics insisted on him riding in the ambulance to Temecula Valley Hospital. Jane and I followed them in our Chevy Tahoe.

All of the tests on Cole proved to be negative. The Lord healed him.

Cole graduated from high school two weeks later and now lives in San Diego with his wife Allyson and their two daughters, Mia and Madison.

If I drove by the baseball field a hundred times in any one day, I always thanked the Lord for that miracle every time. I never want the Lord to forget how much it meant to me.

(Excerpt from Still in the Fight, a remodeled update of the short novel Unhinged Geezer, and a work still in progress by Larry Nevenhoven)

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Prayers for America (6/7/2018)

The American church has more than enough critics pointing their fingers at its problems. From feminists to LGBT individuals to racial activists to homeless communities to doctrinal purists to politicians to whomever – all seem to have a bone to pick with the American church.

Here’s my challenge to every critic: are you willing to be a part of the solution? Or do you just want to keep throwing rocks?

You see, change will only happen when critics, like you and me, have a revelation of what the American church should be: the Bride of Christ. If we can just get a small glimpse of what this Bride should look like, we would fall in love with her. Then, we’d do whatever we had to do to bring the Bride into her fulfillment.

My prayer today:

Lord, help us. We believers are being tossed about by every wave of criticism, by the trickery of men, and by deceit, but if You would reveal a glimpse to us of Your Bride without any spots or wrinkles or blemishes, in all her holiness and without fault, we would use our revelations as lighthouses to draw us toward her. (Based on Ephesians 4 and Ephesians 5:27)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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Give Me This Mountain

Eighty-five year-old Caleb went with a group from Judah to speak with Joshua about their inheritance in Canaan. Caleb reminded Joshua that he was one of the two men who stood in faith when the other ten men gave a bad report about the Promised Land.

“Moses promised,” said Caleb, “that the land where my feet walked upon would be my inheritance and my children’s forever because I wholly followed the Lord.”

Caleb then added, “Now therefore, give me this mountain which the Lord promised me.”

Joshua responded by giving Hebron to Caleb.

Hebron is a historic site where the Tomb of the Patriarchs is located. In this tomb, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah are supposedly buried. Today, it is a revered city for Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike.

But what did Caleb do with Hebron?

After he had conquered and defeated the Canaanites, Caleb gave the city of Hebron to the Levites.

So, Caleb received the desire of his heart, only to give it back to the Lord a few months later. What’s with this?

I have always admired Joseph Farah and WND.com. It’s my opinion that WND is the most accurate source of news and has the best commentary on the internet or anywhere else. The best! Their columnists include Farah, Chuck Norris, Dr. Michael Brown, Ann Coulter, Patrick Buchanan, Walt Williams, Barry Farber, Ilana Mercer, Larry Elder, Greg Laurie, Patrice Lewis, and countless others.

Last May, I read a column by Patrice Lewis. She revealed how she was an unknown writer who just had a publishing deal fall to pieces, but still sent a couple of guest columns to WND. Her guest columns resulted in her being asked to write a weekly column for WND.

After reading Patrice’s column, I felt the Lord say to my heart: “You will be a columnist for WND.”

Let me get real with you, okay?

My 1,618 posts on my blog have averaged a little over fifty viewers per entry. Not much! My thirteen published books on Amazon have sold well enough to maybe allow Carol and me to stay in San Diego at a cut-rate motel for one night, take in a movie, and eat a couple of meals at some fast-food restaurants before scampering back to Temecula.

Do you get the point? I am a plodding, prolific writer without a following or an audience.

Yet, God made it happen for me. How?

I had written an article and sent it to WND for consideration to be a guest column for them. They did not accept it. I was, of course, disappointed, but I rewrote it and added a hundred or so words to its length and posted it on my blog.

On November 25, 2017, I was spending time in prayer and felt the Lord wanted me to send an email to Joseph Farah, telling him about the guest column I had sent to his editors with a link to the rewritten version on my Larry Who blog. I did that.

An hour later, Farah responded by saying that he enjoyed the article and would run it on WND.

Two hours after this, Farah asked me to be a weekly columnist for WND.

Was I shocked?

I dropped to my knees and wept so hard that Carol ran into my office. We then both wept at the greatness of our God and how He could make something out of nothing and even use an unknown like me.

My first column appeared on WND on December 1, 2017.

While praying last week, I felt the Lord wanted me give up my writing a column for WND so I could spend more time completing my two unfinished novels and some other things He has asked me to do.

Last week’s column, my twenty-sixth one, was my last one for WND. I loved writing for them. They are the best!

So, why would God give me the desire of my heart and then ask me to give it up a few months later?

Our God is an over-the-top loving Father who desires to give His children what they long for, even though He has other plans in mind. He is El Shaddai, the God who is more than enough…not just enough, but more, more and more than enough.

My advice to everyone who reads this column: ask for your mountain.

 

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Prayers for Israel (6/5/2018)

 

I wrote in a recent WND column:

The main storyline of the Bible from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation revolves around the nation of Israel and God’s covenant people – the Jews. There are side narratives, allowing Gentiles to be grafted into the main storyline, which believers like me are thankful for. Yet even so, the Apostle Paul warns Gentiles not to think of ourselves as being superior to the Jews, but to be grateful and to fear God. Paul also states that the calling of God on Israel is irrevocable. (China and Israel: My End-Times Teachers)

If we believe we’re in the last days, then we need to start praying and interceding for Israel. As John Wesley wrote: “God does nothing except through prayer.”

My prayer today:

Lord, give us Your love and zeal for Israel and Jerusalem. Help us to open our mouths  to defend and to pray for them until Your righteousness and salvation is fulfilled in their midst. (Based on Isaiah 62:1)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for Israel and Jerusalem.

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Inside Israel

SHUK

The Shuk in Jerusalem

 

Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is —

To HIM Who is Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace, The Creator. TO HIM be all glory and may HE be blessed.  May you all be encouraged and blessed and know that you are loved.

GREETINGS!

How incredibly thankful I am that I know Him Who never changes and can’t be moved, because everything around us changes so rapidly and all that can shake surely is being shaken.  Although I do know that some of you get all sorts of reports and know quite well what is happening here, I also know that MANY others of you have told me that you hear nothing and would like to know, so for this second group, I will share some of the things going on as I see it at the end of this letter perhaps…

BUT!

This letter is more to share the path that I am walking and the fruit along the way.  It’s just how wonderful how He can open surprise doors and streams in the desert…and I get to share with you, not one, but TWO such opportunities to rejoice. NOT to rejoice in me for getting the opportunities, but in the fact that HE does such marvelous things.

So, my hand hurts.  No, actually it’s been “killing me big time” for about 2 months.  And it’s my right hand, the one that I use all the time for everything.  Suddenly it really hurt to write, to cut veggies, to do dishes, and forget opening bottles.

My tea cup fell from my hand. The pain went right up through my elbow and shoulder and I kept thinking that it would either go away or well, maybe you know, the body is getting older and things sometimes hurt.  Kudos to you who ALWAYS get healed. I have had miraculous healings. Some very dramatic, and my GOD DOES HEAL, but He also is Truth and the truth is that it hurt and wasn’t healed yet.

My doctor sent me to our health fund’s occupational therapist.  (In Hebrew that is ‘rapooie h’eesook’ רפוי בעסוק.)  I was unfamiliar with this service and was pleasantly surprised to spend an hour with one fun lady from Canada who soaked my hand in hot wax.  She made me a brace that fits and has helped wonderfully.

Of course, we talked about where we came from and why and although I lifted it before The Lord, there was no opening that I found to share there as yet.

BUT OUTSIDE WAS THE SECRETARY!  She was a lovely sabra (native born Israeli) with many of the characteristics of a sabra that I have shared before.  She was DIRECT. There just is NO TIME for beating around the bush with her. But it was a funny conversation that went something like this when I tried to make my next appointment

 “OH! You speak Hebrew?  I heard you speaking English.  Why were you speaking English?” she demanded.

I told her, “Well Ruthie is from Canada and English is our mother tongue so it was easy for both of us.”

That was only a door. She continued, “She’s been here 30 years and you speak better than she does!”

NOT! I thought, but thank you.

Then the clincher – “Where do you come from?” she asked.

When she heard, me say, “Alaska,” she lost it.

“ALASKA? WHERE IS THAT? ISN’T IT COLD THERE?”

“It’s pretty there,” I replied.  

“WHY DID YOU COME HERE? WE HAVE SO MUCH STRESS!” she exclaimed.

The more of my story that I shared the more she shot questions at me, especially when she heard that my Husband is not Jewish.

“We HAVE to be here!  We are Jewish and we have no choice but WHY IN THE WORLD would anyone who doesn’t have to be here be here?”

Oh my she was intrigued and quite demonstrative about it all.

“Well, you know that it is written in Yeshi’aho (Isaiah) that we Jews will be brought home from the ends of the earth and someone had to come from there. So it is us,”I told her.

To my amazement her answer was: “Well at least did you bring Messiah with you?” 

Let that question settle a moment.  I didn’t HAVE a moment as she continued to shoot questions.

I answered “Yes…as a matter of fact…yes I did.” 

 But she didn’t take notice of my answer and I’m glad. Perhaps because I don’t think that she was ready to hear the full answer but I have her to pray for now. That her heart would be prepared and that HE would remove the scales.

For me though, it was enough to excite me by way of memory that I MUST be ready in season and out of season to give an answer to those who ask.  And perhaps that prepared me for today’s encounter with Kinneret, the secretary along side of me who works for the other doctor. She is the one who replaced Mali. I have asked you to pray for her before, so perhaps He is answering YOUR prayers?

Kinneret, the mother of 5, has a heart-wrenching story.  I shared some of it 5 months ago when she began working with me, but have learned more since. Her 16 year-old twins have mental problems.  Perhaps you remember that her mother has been in a mental hospital since Kinneret was about 5. She is schizophrenic and Kinneret has the dark fear that she has passed the genes down to her children.

Now her son (twin) who has not left the house in a year says that he is homosexual and so ashamed that he wants to die.  As she tearfully shared these griefs with me, how she tries so hard and nothing she puts her hand to succeeds, she has such a broken heart and so much fear. AND she is religious, an orthodox woman.

SUDDENLY The Holy Spirit said, “NOW!  SHARE MY NAME WITH HER NOW!

“YES LORD!’

And so I did. With not enough Hebrew (she speaks no English), there at work, with work to do, but through the door that He was opening, I shared what I could.  I shared how He came to me and how He changed me, NOT by works that I did but by coming IN and living inside of me and bringing me His peace.  She wept and listened and asked some questions. We spoke for about an hour.

Will you pray for her and her family?  Will you pray for HIM ALONE TO BE SEEN AND GLORIFIED?

Yesterday we heard a wonderful message in kehila reminding us about WHO IT IS to Whom we pray and WHO it Is Who leads us through the wilderness, where we grumble for meat when He has given us manna, where we accuse Him of bringing us to death when He is bringing us to LIFE.  And just when you least expect it, HE appears.

And opens a door or two.

 

Very briefly, an opinion from your sister-of-NO-expertise.

Times are changing here.  Even the silence is different. SOMETHING is happening and Iran is involved.  When the intense rocket fire of last week ended suddenly with a ceasefire that Hamas declared, I thought, “Huh…I don’t think so….”

Friday we were back to “from the river to the sea we are taking back the land,” along with the fires being set by the kites loaded with incendiaries  and then again last night we had more rockets from Gaza into S. Israel.

By the way, the rockets and mortars that we have retrieved were made in Iran.  On our North there has been much tension, and yes, the weather has been mighty strange.

BUT!!  OUR GOD IS! And OUR GOD IS WHOM WE FOLLOW WHEREVER HE LEADS IS WHERE I WANT TO BE.

THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS FOR HIS PURPOSES AND HEART FOR JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL AND FOR OUR FAMILY.

GOD bless you dear brothers and sisters.

Lovingly,

J

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Are Demons Responsible for Inner City Violence?

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My new weekly column entitled, “Are Demons Responsible for Inner City Violence,” can be read by clicking here.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can perhaps read it better by using the Chrome browser rather than Safari. Also, you can go to the app store and download a free app called: WND.

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Prayers for America (5/31/2018)

Two days ago, I had a vivid dream.

In it, my wife Carol and I were attending a church meeting. I sat in the front row of the sanctuary, next to the church’s pastor on my left and Carol to my right. The whole church was waiting on the Holy Spirit, hoping to hear Him speak to the assembly through prophecy.

All of a sudden, my wife spoke in tongues. I waited a moment to see if one of the pastors or another believer would interpret the tongues. Then, I started to interpret her tongues by saying, “The day of the Lord is coming quickly. Are you prepared…”

I continued speaking the interpretation until I felt my wife’s elbow hitting my ribs. My eyes must have been closed because I opened them to look at her, wondering why she had elbowed me. She rolled her eyes and nodded her head toward the sanctuary. Everyone had stood up and left. A few remained at the back of the sanctuary talking with each other.

End of dream.

Many of my dreams are weird, but this one felt so realistic.

When I awakened, I felt hurt because the pastor was one I knew from my past, a person who had respect for my prophetic words. Yet, the pastor and the congregation had paid no attention to my words because the prophecy was about the end-times and challenged them to prepare themselves. They already had everything figured out. They were leaving on the first bus out, as in Pre-Trib rapture.

Then, I knew the Holy Spirit was showing me through this dream that changing the church’s thinking from a Pre-Tribulation rapture belief into one that prepares itself for going through the great tribulation would be an uphill struggle. I had better prepare myself now!

My prayer today:

Lord, I pray the American believers will hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches and will be fair-minded like the Bereans so they search the scriptures to find out whether a Post-Tribulation rapture could possibly be true. (Based on Revelation 2:7 and Acts 17:11)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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Prayers for LGBT Believers (5/29/2018)

https://vimeo.com/270783445

The above almost six-minute video is from Church United and was produced as a tool to stop AB 2943 from becoming law in California. This proposed law would ban helping anyone with unwanted same-sex desires or gender confusion. So far, AB 2943 has passed the California Assembly by a lop-sided vote and will soon be voted upon in the California Senate.

The video shows five men and two women relating their journeys out of their LGBT lifestyles. All of their remarks touched my heart with the challenges they faced. Here are a few words gleaned from their testimonies:

Woman #1: “I heard the Lord say to me in His still small voice, “Choose,” and it wasn’t an easy choice. It was the hardest choice I have ever made…”

Woman #2: “I lived and loved being a lesbian. I felt like I was born that way. It seemed to explain why I was the way I was…A seventeen year-old boy approached me with what he called a word from the Lord. What he said to me was a direct answer to something I had been praying about for years.  Getting this answer to my prayer caused me to question whether I knew God. So, I picked up a Bible and began highlighting every passage that described the character of God. I discovered this amazing God that was so beautiful and so excellent. I couldn’t think of withholding myself from Him.

Man #1: “My parents and I cried for two hours. They told me how much they loved me no matter what. They asked me how they could help. I wanted help wherever I could get it. They found a Christian counselor. I had no promise that I would ever change but I had support from the counselor and my parents that I was loved and I was safe.”

Man #2: “God can restore the years the locusts have eaten. It is absolutely amazing.”

If you have the time, the six-minute video is well-worth watching.

My prayer today:

Lord, help us to be Your hands outreached to the LGBT community and help us to yield to Your loving Spirit to be Your servants to them.

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for LGBT believers.

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China and Israel: My End-Times Teachers

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My new weekly column entitled, “China and Israel: My End-Times Teachers,” can be read by clicking here.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can perhaps read it better by using the Chrome browser rather than Safari. Also, you can go to the app store and download a free app called: WND.

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Prayers for America (5/24/2018)

 

In the early 1990’s, Larry Burkett told a story on his radio program, “Money Matters,” that still sends shivers down my spine. Burkett had attended a local church and heard a Chinese man tell his testimony.

It seems the man was a lieutenant of Mao Zedong when Mao’s communist army defeated Chiang Kai-Shek and took control of China. Mao then set out to cleanse China of all imperialist influences, especially American connections. Missionaries were sent home or killed. Chinese pastors were imprisoned or killed. Christians were killed. Political leaders, people who had visited America or attended schools there were killed.  Historians estimate 40,000,000 Chinese were executed by Mao during his various purges.

The man, who told this testimony, was chosen by Mao as one of the leaders in the rural purges. He dispatched his tasks with cruel efficiency. But some Christians focused their prayers on him and he was miraculously saved. So convinced was the man that Christ was the answer for China he decided to return to Peking (Beijing) and tell Mao the good news of Jesus.

Mao was not impressed with his lieutenant’s message and commanded him to renounce his new found faith. The man refused and said, “I cannot deny the experience I’ve had with Jesus.”

Mao brought his wife and children before the man. Soldiers stood behind his family with guns aimed at their heads. Once again, Mao asked the man to renounce his faith. The man fell to his knees and said, “Please do not kill my family, but I cannot deny Jesus.”

His family was executed before his eyes.

Next, his parents, brothers, sisters and their families were brought before the man with soldiers standing behind them with guns at their heads. Mao insisted the man renounce Jesus. The man refused. His entire family was executed before his eyes.

All of his friends and their families were placed in front of him, but still he would not renounce Christ. They were executed.

Then, Mao decided death was too good for the man. He was stripped naked and placed in a cold cell. Once a day, guards were ordered to beat him.

His imprisonment and beatings continued for fifteen years. During that time, the man led 90% of the guards to Christ and the guards even risked their own freedoms by bringing Bibles to him.

When he finally emerged from prison, he walked down a road, heading toward his hometown. As he walked, people in the fields next to the road, fell to their knees and cried out to be saved by Jesus. Yet, the man said nothing because the presence of God was so heavy upon him that he just continued to walk.

Larry Burkett said that when the Chinese man finished his testimony he was asked, “What do you think of our American churches?”

The man gazed at the audience with tears in his eyes. “You American Christians do not know the Jesus I know,” he said.

My prayer today:

Lord, help us Americans to know the Jesus of the Book of Revelation and to not be offended by what He does in the end-times and by what He doesn’t do.

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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