Dear Friends and Fellow Pilgrims,

Since moving to Israel almost thirty years ago, we have written a periodic letter to our friends and partners. Understanding that Israel plays a unique role in world history and serves in many ways as a prophetic sign for the worldwide believing community, we have a sense of responsibility to share what we see going on in the Land. For those that support us spiritually and financially, it is also a matter of accountability for the privilege we have of ministering to the Lord and His people. The time since our last letter has been perhaps the longest period ever without communication. More than for just staying in touch with friends, we write to communicate perceptions, perspectives, observations and insights from a prophetic perspective that we believe will help others see as God sees. The current swirling complexity of local and world events, alongside the erosion of confidence in the integrity of governments, agencies, and mass media, has left us, like so many others, sorely challenged to know what to believe and how to process what we hear. Consequently, discerning what the Lord would have us share on this platform has been difficult. Without a sense of how the facts and events fit into God’s plan, our words and thoughts would hardly be worth the time it takes to read them. For the last eighteen months, and doubly so for the last two, from morning to night, day in and day out, I (arni) have been listening and thinking and praying and sitting and sitting and sitting, seeking the word and wisdom of the Lord. A unique aspect of our lives ever since we came to Israel is having the time, and freedom to so sit and wait before the Lord. Contrary to all natural inclinations to do something, we are committed to fight to be still and wait. This is right in line with what we shared and practice concerning worship… presenting ourselves as living sacrifices without plan, program, or agenda. Having this as a mandate -- a stewardship from the Lord, we owe the ability to follow this leading to the committed group of beloved friends and partners that have stood with us faithfully year after year after year.

From the early days of this present season, we have emphasized the need to bear in mind that God is sovereign. It’s more than that He sees, more than that He knows, more than that He has a plan. He is the absolute author and finisher. He is never in the position of responding to the enemy. Given all we see going on around us, it can be challenging to picture God as ultimately behind it all in some way. In seeking to understand the present, we find it helpful if not essential to go to the end of the road and look back from there. Everything culminates in the return of the King and must be viewed in that light. Chief among the road markers of what leads up to that day is the removal of Israel’s blindness and blessing the One who comes in the N­ame of the Lord. According to Romans 11:25 this happens once the fullness of the nations has come in. Though some take this fullness to be numerical, we understand it from the Greek to be a qualitative determination rather than a quantitative one. As such, the fullness of the nations involves the best and the worst…character-wise. A similar dynamic occurred at the time of Israel’s natural birth, giving credence to the belief that it will be so again in the spiritual birthing of the Israel of God. In Genesis 15:16, God told Abram that his descendants would be afflicted for four hundred years and come forth only when the iniquity of the Amorites had reached full measure. Consequently, as the spiritual follows the natural (1Cor.15:46), the revelation of Yeshua to Israel and His Return will be preceded by the world’s iniquity reaching God’s full measure. That is not to say that we are there, but it is an important perspective to keep in mind.

Where does that leave us? What are we to think? How are we to see? How shall we respond? Do we rise up in the face of gross injustice? If so, how far shall we go? Protest? March? Sit-in? Walk-out? Revolt? Many have drawn a parallel with the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930’s and how most of the Church hid its face and remained silent. This is not the first time we are personally confronting such questions. Fifty-five years ago in America, as civil rights were dependent on skin color, as thousands died in a terrible war in Southeast Asia, while government leaders lied, injustice was covered over and political leaders assassinated, a multitude arose and marched and protested and sat-in and and cried out. We left friends, family, home, possessions, and all our worldly aspirations in search of truth, likeminded people, and the knowledge of Him who was from the beginning. Before knowing the Lord, before knowing chapter and verse, the following principles were in the core of our being:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God (Heb.11:8-10).

Therefore let us go out to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb.16:13).

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion (Ps.84:5-7).
Remembering the spirit of our beginnings in the light of the now is stirring and challenging. Our dynamics in this present crossing over are similar but not exactly the same. Back in our early twenties, we had literally nothing of consequence to lose. Our possessions would not have filled the back of a small truck. We were without family, career aspirations, or any manner of material rooting or emotional investments. Fifty years later we are constrained to ask, are we living in the light of these verses? Do we interact with the world as something passing away? Is our heart set on pilgrimage? Are we hoping and waiting for the city God is building? Can we view what is going on around us without being caught up with the wind and the waves? What is it to keep the main thing the main thing and yet be connected in the present earthly reality? These are the questions of today’s quest. While pondering all this a word came into my mind: “Eternalize, Eternalize.” Cover it all with the cloak of eternity. Strive to see from Father’s perspective. It’s quite a different picture from there.

As I began trying to write this letter over a month ago, my thoughts were taken up with the grievous manipulations, measures, and threats our and other governments are employing against those resisting the call to be injected with an experimental insufficiently-tested genetic treatment. Our Prime Minister vilified the one million Israelis that have refused the shot declaring, “Those who refuse vaccines are endangering their health, those around them and the freedom of every Israeli citizen. They are endangering our freedom to work, the freedom of our children to learn and the freedom to hold celebrations with the family.” We could easily fill page upon page with reports of all that is going on here regarding the Corona crisis. In keeping with our calling as first among the nations, Israel is sadly a world leader in this issue as well. There is benefit in exposing what is surely headed your way. However, we have felt the Spirit taking us down a different path.

Over this last year we wondered if we were past a point of no return and that from here on restrictions would only increase. Remembering two unique experiences I had prior to our Aliyah has put things in a different light. One was in 1990 when I was in Israel seeking the Lord’s plan for our new life, and the second was shortly before we moved in 1992. These experiences spoke of something Divinely ordained which, as of today, is yet to come to pass. Beyond impressions or prophetic words, these are two of the most dramatic spiritual experiences I have ever had. They involved preparing the Body for the more difficult days ahead approaching the Return of the Lord. Being reminded of these words and events has shifted my expectations for the days immediately ahead. It has given us a sense of assurance that something is going to happen to slow or even stop the present downward slide…for a season. We see the events of these past months as a window into the future. Many have awakened to the spiritual nature and reality of the darkness. As in the former days we spoke of above, many have come out of the world system. We hope and pray that they will press on to discover the God of eternal truth.

We write here to the many who like us have come to a settled understanding about the dynamics of this moment as concerning the thinly-veiled wicked agenda behind it all. Concurrent with our personal shift, we have been impressed to revisit the scripture given to us just prior to our immigration specifically concerning our life in Israel -- Psalm 37. It is so very relevant for right now. Starting off in verses 1 and 2 we are instructed, “Fret not.” Don’t get angry, incensed, heated up or disturbed over the workers of iniquity. They will soon be cut down and wither. Instead, we are to be delighted, committed to and fully engaged in the goodness of the Lord. Verse 7 translated says, “Rest in the Lord.” The word for rest in Hebrew -- דום (dom) is much stronger than that. When a heart stops -- flatlines, this is the word describing that state. It’s the word used for a soldier standing at attention. The context is important. It is in the very face of the most hideous and grievous iniquity that we are instructed to be without direct response or reaction. Given the swirling darkness all around us, this is not a simple matter to sort through. It is a matter of faith to choose to believe that if the battle is the Lord’s, it’s not for us to fight. It’s a matter of choice to stand and behold the salvation of God. The call of Scripture is to hope, to trust in the Lord, and to wait for Him. Rather than go out on the offensive to bring down the enemy, we are told to stand firm in our faith. God will do it. To be immovable, to stand against, to give no entrance to the darkness, is not a call to engage and attack. We need to be wise as to how we apply the way God dealt with and through Israel in former times. The dynamics of the new covenant are different…better…than the former. Yeshua has all the authority in heaven and earth. Our being positioned in Him does not translate to our having been given the authority He has. Our situations have more become His than His have become ours. Psalm 46:10 is clear as could be. “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.” Be still! Dom (Heb.)! In this He alone is glorified.

Having said all that, we would not…could not…say that no one should stand up and cry out and march and protest, and so on. We all have our conscience and calling before the Lord. What is sure is that we don’t do anything except what comes to us as we stand at total rest and attention. The next part of verse 7 translates as “wait patiently for Him.” The sense of the Hebrew root--חול--gives quite a different picture. It means to twist and swirl as in dancing. It could also be to writhe in pain. In context, it leans towards being excited at the expectation of God totally cutting off the evildoers. And so we stand, with the world going crazy on one side, to which we turn our backs and behold the glory of the Lord. Verse 9 goes on to tell us that those who wait for the Lord, those that are so intertwined with Him that they are unable to move on their own, will inherit the earth. Not the globalists, not the billionaires, but the meek and gentle and needy (vs. 11) will inherit the earth. Trusting, waiting, and resting find their fullness only in the very face of wickedness. As is written in Psalm 23, He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. What a word for today! How well it all fits with the three verses cited above. We are simply not of this world. We belong to another Kingdom and are just passing through. The enemy’s curses and threats and arrows first come before the One in Whom we are hidden. We do not want to superficially simplify a deeply complex matter. The bottom line is more about our inner spiritual state than our visible actions. We want to present all of this for prayer and consideration and not as hard and fast doctrine.

Initially the Israeli government planned to open the door to tourists on July 1st. As a result of a change in the overall situation, that date was moved to August 1st. Everything was set to submit the Winklers’ application for a clergy visa. The day before the appointment, our angelic agent found out that though unvaccinated tourists were able to qualify with a week of quarantine, clergy applicants could not. They needed the shot or a letter of exemption from a doctor. The shot is out of the question for them, and such a letter has not yet been found because no doctor we have yet talked to will write such a letter under threat of losing his license to practice medicine. So we continue to wait, being grateful for how wonderfully Father has led, cared for, and used them over the last year. This stage of their lives is reminiscent of our journey in the 60’s and 70’s. They have become somewhat nomadic, traveling from country to country in a technologically-outfitted red Volkswagen van. Like us all, they are very aware of being in the hands of the Lord. By God’s grace, not-so-little-anymore Gloria is thriving and growing in every direction, being homeschooled and learning her fourth language in Italy.

Their time being away from home in Israel has been far more than just waiting to come back. God has teamed them with a close and dear friend from here in connecting with Jewish and Christian communities in Europe. They are presently in Sicily, where God has prepared some wonderful things for them. They have connected with a dear Israeli sister, also a worshipper, who has recently married and moved to Sicily. Please join us in praying for all that is before them and that in the right time a way will be made for them to return home. They are greatly missed by us and the whole community.

Speaking of family returning home, our son with his wife and four children have returned to Israel after fifteen years in Australia. Preparing for such a life change was a long and draining process. God has provided a place for them to spend the last four months recovering, acclimating and seeking the Lord. He has now led them to a house in the Jerusalem ar