By Elmer Josephson

Elmer Josephson at study.

"Take heed lest that day come unawares" (Luke 21:34 paraphrased).

The year was 1889 and the inhabitants of the peaceful coal mining community, Johnstown, Pennsylvania (75 miles east of Pittsburg) felt very secure in their newly declared city, snuggled in the valley of the Allegheny Mountains. There seemed to be a natural protection thrown around them as a guard against the outside elements; and they proudly had just become a full-fledged city. Little did they suspect terrible tragedy would stalk the valley before the year was out.

Part of their security lay in the fact that a flood-control dam had been built up the valley (a U.S. Reservoir) forming Lake Conematugh on the South Fork, a tributary of the Conematugh River just 12 miles east. Many times they had driven by and some had seen water seepage through cracks in the dam, but it caused no alarms. There were no fears.

Fateful Day, May 31,1889

Heavy rains and a snow had fallen previous to May 31st. Now the pressure of this three mile long lake was beginning to tell. A young man riding by on a horse saw the crack in the dam was widening and more water was coming through. He spurred his horse and rode ‘breakneck speed’ into town. There he rode up and down the streets crying out, "The dam is breaking! The dam is breaking! Move to higher ground! The dam is breaking."

Most of the inhabitants felt ‘he is unduly excited; he is an alarmist." There was no danger and after all wasn’t the dam 12 miles away from their comfortable little town and homes? And they would send a responsible inspector in due time to check the situation.

But before they had time to work things out through ‘normal channels’, the dam did break. In less than an hour on that unsuspecting day of May 31, 1889, the city lay in shambles, property damage ran into multiple millions of dollars and 2,300 of its inhabitants had lost their lives; 777 unidentified victims were buried in a single plot in one common grave. Most of those who perished could have been saved had they heeded the warning of a concerned and alert young man.

Bitter Topic

In Miami Beach, Florida, after the radio network news went off, we chanced to hear a talk show at that time hosted by Miami based Larry King. He interviewed a Mr. Sam Rosenkrantz, president and owner of a local travel agency. Mr. Rosenkrantz related that he was 12 years old, living in Dresden, Germany when Hitler literally wormed himself into the top government post as Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Though the new government was anti-Jewish, there certainly was no fear of the rise of the diabolical monster of Nazism that was actually in the making which would consume the lives of six million sons and daughters of Abraham.

The following year, in 1934. young Sam, then 13, was beginning to feel ‘choked down.’ Most thought his fears were unfounded and that the anti-Semitic expressions of the Nazis would pass. But that year, sensing ever-increasing Nazi designs against Jews, Sam left Germany for Israel. The Jews of Germany and Europe who had lived there so many years, owned their homes, shops and businesses, had their law and medical practices, could not, with the farthest stretch of the imagination dream of the nightmarish holocaust that awaited them!

Then the Nazi dam of hatred broke. The unsuspecting fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, children and friends were cruelly torn away from each other and from every earthly comfort, homes and schools, from houses of worship, and thrust into filthy over-crowded torture camps like animals into a cage and finally cunningly deceived into entering gas chambers (not for a show bath as they were told) - as sheep are led to the slaughter.

The 7-Promise Joy-Pact

Unwittingly, young Sam obeyed the divine order given by the Almighty to Abraham (in the Abrahamic Covenant, Genesis 12:103): "Get thee out of thy country. . . unto a land [Israel] I will show thee. . .AND. . . ." Then follows the greatest seven-fold HAPPINESS ASSURANCE-pact in the world. However, there is a conditional clause in the Almighty’s blessing policy upon which the fulfillment of all seven promises hinge. These seven glowing, solid gold promises made by the Lord God Who cannot lie are contingent on the people of Israel being in the land of Israel.

This clause reads: "And the Lord God had said to Abraham, Get thee out of they country . . . unto a land I will show thee" - the Land of Israel (Genesis 15:18; Joshua 1:4, etc.). AND

1. "I will make of thee a great nation." Every Jew that returns to the land makes it greater, stronger and wiser.

2. "I will bless thee." As God promises through the Prophet Isaiah, "Therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them" (Isaiah 61:7).

3. "And make thy name great." The name of Israel is becoming ever greater with the passing of time.

4. "And thou shalt be a blessing." Look at the ‘firsts’ in literature, medical science and on the roster of Nobel Prize winner.

5. "I will bless them that bless thee

6. "and curse him that curseth thee." Sacred and secular history bears this out from Egyptian bondage to Amalek, from Haman to Hitler - every Jew-hater in any age and any where has or will experience this curse.

7. And "in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" - through the Book of Books, the written Word and the Lord of Lords, the Redeemer.

Though the people of Israel have been scattered 2,000 years, still much of this covenant has been fulfilled. However, the complete fulfillment, according tot he Scriptures, cannot be realized until Israel has fully returned to the land.

Conflict’s Center

As atrocious as the Nazi holocaust was (and the Eternal will judge every anti-Semite) still in God’s sovereignty it led to the rebirth of the State of Israel. Now, a new peril of anti-Semitism is rising in the earth at both ends of the spectrum, the far left and far right. In light of all the evidence we have gathered, we observe that the crack in the dam is widening and we must cry out, "The dam is breaking." We sense something of what Sam Rosenkrantz did in Dresden, Germany in 1934. Are we alarmists? Read the daily news items. Notice the decided anti-Israel bent in most all media reporting.

But regardless of the volcanic eruptive days ahead, let us never lose sight of the over-ruling sovereignty of God in it all. Satan’s power at time appears to be loosed completely, but ever bear in mind as King David by divine inspiration wrote, "The wrath of man shall praise thee and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain" (Psalm 76:10). We do not understand all God’s ways but as Moses wrote, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us" (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Created to Fly

"When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel; for the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance" (Deuteronomy 32:8,9).

It is clear from the above Scripture that the Almighty’s plan for the ages and the salvation of the nations centers in the seed of Abraham to whom God declared, "In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (‘made joyous’, Gen. 12:3). Therefore, Satan constantly vents his wrath against Israel.

In verses 10, we are told of the special watch-care and instruction given the Eternal’s ‘private secretary’ to the nations. "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye" (Deut. 32:10).

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the LORD alone did lead him . . . ." (Vs. 11 & 12).

The Almighty likens Himself to a mother eagle in His care and training of Israel, His people. An eagle at times appears to be very cruel towards its young, but this very treatment has been the means of their survival and strength.

The eagle builds her nest high on the rim of a canyon or on a towering precipice hundreds of feet above ground, among others reasons as a protection against her enemies. She makes her next with various sorts of strong thorny twigs and lines it with something soft, as down. It makes a very comfortable home for the newly hatched eaglets. But the mother eagle knows her brood needs to learn to fly and to grow strong in order to survive and enjoy the life for which they were created.

Bitter Days of Warning


Young life and new blood gave vigor and adventure to the pioneering nation of Israel. At top left is our friend, Mr. Franz Josef Katz, who assisted the young nation in its beginnings through encouragement of Youth Alijah (immigration). This is the hope of Israel.

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest...." Teaching the eaglets to fly is a very painful and misunderstood operation. First, the mother eagle removes the soft lining and the thorns come through to prick the young birds. They become very unhappy: ‘Why should mother be so cruel as to make us so uncomfortable?’ This parent bird that has carefully protected them from every attack of the enemy and has faithfully brought food day by day to sustain them, now suddenly seems to have changed from a loving mother into a destructive foe. If the little birds do not take the hint to leave the now uncomfortable nest and try flying of their own accord, she will break up the nest completely. If they still refuse, she will brush them off from the rocky height one by one. See them as they come tumbling down head over tail, down, down, down, about to be dashed on the rocks below when mother eagle swoops down under them and hears them up, higher and higher and then tips them off again, until they finally learn to fly for themselves.

The is the analogy the Almighty Himself gives regarding preparing His Covenant People Israel to be the Kingdom of Priests He decreed would bring about world redemption (Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 61:4-6; Rev. 7).

The eagle family would be annihilated if the mother eagle did not force this discipline on the succeeding generation. They must discover their capacity to fly and develop their wings. This is not only a safeguard against the destroying enemy but an assurance of the very life of coming generations.

We have seen within the framework of God’s sovereignty, the breaking up of the nests of His people around the world. It often seems cruel on the part of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in this last and final regathering of His people to the land, even as in the Egyptian bondage deliverance. (Read Exodus 9:16.)

But Satan always over-steps himself. Haman is hanged on the gallows he made for Mordecai. What Hitler meant to be the torture and death of the Jews actually became the birthpangs and rebirth of their statehood. What Nasser meant to be the destruction of the cities and State of Israel ended in Judea, Samaria and above all the Golden Queen city of Jerusalem under Israel’s control.

What Now?

David Ben Gurion making his historic announcement of the
founding of the modern state of Israel, May 14, 1948.

Now, just before the coming of the Messiah, Satan will make one desperate effort to destroy world Jewry. (Read Ezekiel 36 to 39; Zechariah 12 to 14; Micah 4 to 7; Isaiah 60 to 62; Rev. 12.)

God’s answer and the next prophetic step in solving the world’s dilemma is the return of "the whole house of Israel" to Eretz Israel (land of Israel) - Ezekiel 37:11; 39:25.

To the mountains He says, "I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded" (Ezekiel 36:10).

"Then shall they know that I am the LORD their GOD, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen; but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there" (Ezekiel 39:28).

For this cause, in the sovereignty of the faithful Creator, He will allow the breaking up of the nests of His people around the world. It will seem cruel but He wants His people to "fly" - back to the land which He is going to make the guiding light of the nations. (Read again Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 66:19; Micah 4:1-7; Zechariah 14.)

The present spirit of lawlessness is not only anti-Jewish but anti-Christ (Rev. 12:7) since we are interrelated as Paul writes. "If ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed and heir according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29). As Jesus declared, "Salvation is of the Jews." (John 4:22). This lawlessness will increase and come to power on a world scale. It will seem to bury Israel’s hope and the true Spirit of Messiah - Christ (Daniel 12; II Thess. 2:7-12; Rev. 13:5-18).

The True Messiah

As the darkest moment when Jerusalem seems to fall into the hands of the enemy (Zechariah 14:1-2) the long awaited Messiah of Israel shall appear with glory and power. He will be, as the Hebrew prophet declares, a revelation of the mighty God. "Then shall the LORD go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. . .And the LORD shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord and his name one" (Vs 3-9).

The Messiah will reveal himself to his people Israel as Joseph did to his brethren. And "they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son" (Zech. 12:10). Can we imagine the emotional upheaval, learning that the Messiah is the one who became a sacrificial Lamb but now comes as the mighty Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the reigning King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19).

He will then in swift succession complete the fulfillment of every prophecy regarding his messiahship and set up his throne in Jerusalem with a United World Congress under His own sovereign domain. This world will then enter the Messianic era, a thousand years of righteousness, peace and prosperity, such as this planet has never known. What the enemies of Israel thought would be sure death and burial of Israel (as well as of the true Church) will end in the spiritual resurrection of the whole world and the establishing of the State of Israel as the guiding light of the nations.

Night Fades into Day

The Almighty is setting the stage for world redemption. He will let mankind see the final collapse of all our clever, but ungodly, systems. We have permitted atheism to be taught in our schools and universities, but not the Word of God; Karl Marx but not Jesus Christ, even in many former so-called Christian schools. The results are obvious.

We have made idols of our possessions. The Church itself has become rich and so materialistic and spiritually lukewarm it makes our Lord sick - to the point of him spuing it out of his mouth (Rev. 3:14-20). Forgetting the Lord’s command, "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he has cannot be my disciple," the Church has consigned that prerequisite of discipleship to the Kingdom Age and organizes large insurance corporations to secure itself financially and materially. Such hypocrisy fueled Communism. But the coming Kingdom Age will be built on true righteousness; not cleverness and intrigue. Many driving Cadillacs now will be pushing wheel barrows then, and visa-versa. As Jesus said, "Many that are first shall be last and the last first" (Mark 10:31).

Come Up Higher

But "the dam is breaking" and it’s too late to make repairs. We must also call to Jacob’s descendants, "MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND; ‘Get thee out of thy country’ . . . to the land of Israel where the world’s salvation will be culminated. We pray this shall be rightly interpreted in the light of God’s sovereign will and prophetic fulfillment.

Here, in this Holy Land, the Lord God will give the promised spiritual latter rain, another might Pentecost, as He declared through the Prophet Zechariah (12:10), "I will pour upon the house [kingdom] of David [State of Israel] and upon the inhabitants [residents] of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication."

The nations will be judged for their treatment against God’s covenant people Israel. Nations who think they can double-cross Israel because she is so small, forget Israel’s Covenant God is the Creator of us all, the Eternal One and through Him their Davids slay their enemy Goliaths.

In this lawless age governments do topple, sometimes very suddenly by violence, sometimes by deception, and almost always by internal unrest and pressure. Dams are breaking. There can be the loss of all possessions, but worse: the loss of precious lives. When Cuba confiscated all holdings, the only possessions Jews retained were their Israel Bonds. Those who invest in Israel have God’s blessing. Think on these things.

The redemption of this poor, sick, dying world is contingent on: "The law shall go forth from Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3 & Micah 4:2). Then the glorious Messiah of Israel will come to rule and reign over all the earth in righteousness, peace and prosperity for ever and ever. Amen.

(Now, please re-read the first portion of this article.)