It’s difficult to say that this is a memory, because of the impact that what I am about to tell you has had on my life. This “memory” is integral to my every day life, my whole outlook, fashioned by how I now have a greater understanding of my Faith, and the way I read and understand my Bible.
Let me take you back to the turn of the millennium, spring of the year 2000.
I was a circuit Steward in the Methodist Church, and with that come certain obligations…It was the International Week of Prayer and there was a speaker booked for a circuit event. I had had a busy day at work and had to drag myself to that meeting.
The Speaker introduced himself to those gathered and announced that although we were expecting him to speak on prayer, the Lord had spoken to him whilst travelling to us, and he was now going to speak on Spirituality, he went on to mention that he believed that his talk was particularly for one person present. I immediately felt a quickening of my spirit, feeling that that one person was me, (let me add that this was a fairly unique experience for me). The talk was very good but not really anything that I hadn’t heard before, but my Spiritual antennae had been raised and so when he went on to say that if anyone was interested there was to be a study day on “Jewish Spirituality” in a local village the following Monday. By “Godincidence”, (I don’t believe in coincidence), I happened to have a day’s Annual Leave then, and felt that it was God’s will I attend, so the next morning I booked myself in.
The speaker was John Fieldsend, and I suppose, on hindsight, this was when the veil of replacement theology, (that I didn’t even realise I was wearing, and was clouding my vision), began to fall.
During the lunch-break I noticed above the resources, on the wall, a poster for a conference in Jerusalem, coupled with 3 separate tours of Israel, two of them were “pilgrimages” and the third was an Archaeological Tour. The latter attracted me instantly, and when I got home, I boldly told my husband, a non-believer, that I would love to go, and quite out of character for him, he said “go then”.
This conference and the tours were being organised by C&M Ministries, who I had never heard of. To cut a long story short in September, I found myself boarding a plane for Tel Aviv, Israel. A friend from church and also a neighbour of ours, had enthusiastically asked to go with me, it would be his first trip to Israel too.
Back then passengers disembarked from the plane onto the tarmac at Ben Gurian airport.
When I did so, the moment my feet were on the ground, I felt something Supernatural, the nearest description I can give is it felt like a thunderbolt going through me, and I audibly heard a voice saying “You are home”. Nothing like this had ever happened to me, but far from being fearful I was ecstatic, and excited to see what this meant in the forthcoming days. I kept quiet about it because Peter hadn’t had the same experience, and I was reticent to share it with others in case they thought me to be quite crazy!
The conference was amazing and God downloaded so much into me, I had never heard teaching like this, this clearly was Truth. Clifford continued to teach in the evenings.
Time visiting archaeological remains in Jerusalem was brought to an abrupt halt when the second intifada broke out. I didn’t fully understand the politics of it all, but the Spiritual battle for the Land, and particularly the Temple Mount was brought into sharp focus, God was teaching me so much in such a short time, but still I couldn’t get enough.
We were able to escape to the Galilee which was largely unaffected by the intifada except for a heightened awareness of the possibility of imminent danger. Clifford and Monica were wonderful, so wise, protective and aware of the spiritual dynamic. Because visits out were limited in Jerusalem, we had the privilege of teaching from Clifford and Monica and I learnt so much from them.
We had a Syrian Christian Guide and he opened up the Land of Israel to me visually and culturally, I suddenly understood that God still had a plan for His Land, His People and the One New Man Church spoken of in Ephesians.
Since then God has taken me to Israel almost every year, sometimes twice. Only a hip replacement, and the Pandemic has kept me away.
I know that God took me to Israel for a purpose, and I try to impart what he has taught me about what he is doing in and through Israel in regard to Biblical prophecy, opening up the full counsel of God to largely “New Testament Christians”.
I have to add that I remained a prayer partner with C&M, and served on the “Pardes Biblical and Hebraic Study Days” until the end of the Moggerhangerr years. Over the years I’ve been on more C&M tours, continuing to learn so much each time. I count myself blessed that I went along to that meeting at the beginning of the millennium, without which I might never have received the revelation of the significance of Israel, and I would have missed my calling. Part of my calling is a desire to take tours for people like me who had never received the revelation, to bring them to the place, with the desire in your heart to know our Lord better, He will show up and change your life.
I am so grateful to Clifford and Monica for facilitating that tour, and for in time giving me the opportunity to fulfil my dream to take tours to Israel. The last two being “Encounter with Israel” in 2017, and “Exploring the Covenants (1)” in 2019. I hope and pray that God will give an opportunity to continue with these tours after the Pandemic.
I wait faithfully to see what our Lord has in store for Issachar Ministries, now my Ekklesia, knowing that the memory making won’t stop, and there will be more opportunities to do exploits for the Glory of God!”
Personally I am so grateful to God for putting me in touch with you both when He did, my journey with Him has been greatly enhanced, my knowledge of the depth of His word has increased, and my personal faith in Him has been buoyed up by the many messages such as yesterday’s was, that I have heard you expound since then (September 2020).
Now I count it a privilege to serve God, helping in a small part to facilitate clear teaching to the supporters of Issachar Ministries which will continue to be a legacy of yours as you leave it in the very capable hands of Nick, Vanessa and Chris to take it forward into this challenging new season.
May God continue to bless you both double for your faithfulness and obedience for the last 70+ years, and for many more to come whilst you catalogue it all through your Heritage ministry, thus enabling your exploits and experiences to glorify God for generations to come.