John Stembridge

This year Israel has been filled with mourning from so many funerals of those killed in the uprising since last September. At the Solidarity Rally at the Torch of Friendship in Miami on Father's Day June 17th, the father and brother of one of the teenagers stoned to death at the Wadi in Israel shared the pain of losing their loved one at such a young age. He and this family are just one of dozens experiencing the same throughout the land. It appears that many who would be happy to drive Israel into the sea or to spill its blood on this Holy Soil still surrounds Israel.

It reminds me of the time that I first heard Menachem Begin address the Sukkot Festival at the International Jerusalem Convention Center in Jerusalem 1981. At the time Begin and Sharon were taking great heat from the UN and world community for the massacre in Beirut. At this Sukkot Festival were a couple thousand primarily Christian Zionist delegates from over 50 nations singing of their love and prayers for Israel to be regathered to Zion from the nations. Begin was so moved that there could be such love and prayers for Israel in the midst of such a crisis that he threw his arms to the heavens and declared:
"I wish the world could see this tonight and they would know that Israel is not alone." Today this feast has grown to five to six thousand delegates annually from well over a hundred nations.

Today, however not all people or nations are as happy to see Israel regathered to the land and dwelling safely and securely as these that gather in Jerusalem from the nations for the Feast of Tabernacles every year. Why is that so? The main reason that these who celebrate the Feast each year understand and support Israel's regathering is that they believe the Torah when Hashem says that he has given this land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to their descendants as an inheritance forever. They also believe that whoever blesses Abraham is blessed and whoever curses Abraham is cursed. They believe that Hashem must keep His promise and regather the tribes from the Americas and the Four Corners of the earth before the rest of the nations can experience their redemption.

In 1993 Max Wein, holocaust survivor of five of Hitler's camps, and I traveled to Washington D. C. to participate in the beginning of the National Unity Coalition for Israel headed by Esther Levens of Kansas City, Ks. This organization is composed of 200 Jewish and Christian Organizations with over forty million members in support of Israel. Because of its success, Israel has opened a new portfolio at the Israeli Embassy in D. C. to cultivate stronger support from America's Christian community. Many members in both the House and Senate consider themselves Christian Zionists. In addition to these in the United States today, there are countless millions more in the British Isles, Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, Africa, the islands, and the rest of the Americas.

One of the pleasures of visiting Israel is the opportunity to meet and dialogue with so many friends. My friend Moshe Sharon who founded the Chair on Islam at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem informed me that he has now founded a new chair at the university on the Bahai religion, whose world headquarters is in Haifa. Another friend was Rabbi Chaim Richman head of the Jerusalem Institute located at the Kotel. It is always good to get an update on how the plans for the restoration of the Temple and the restoration of Temple Worship are progressing. This time the Rabbi seemed very hurt and concerned that many Jewish artifacts from the Temple are being destroyed by the construction of a third Mosque on the Temple Mount. A new friend that I'd heard much about and whom I met personally this time on Ben Yehudah St. was Yair Davidi, an orthodox Jew from Australia. Yair is one of the most prolific researchers and writers today on Ephraim, the ten lost tribes. He has written several books plus has a very popular internet address that people from all over the world access who are searching to see if they may be part of Ephraim, the ten tribes. There are approximates thirteen to eighteen million in the world that have kept their identity as Jews. Five million of these are already in the land and another eight to thirteen million are yet scattered among the nations. The name Jew is derived from the name Judah that means of praiser or worshipper of G-d. After Solomon, the Kingdom was split into two. Judah made up of the three Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levy was in the South. Ephraim or Israel consisting of ten tribes was in the North.

Judah went into captivity into Babylon during the time of Daniel and returned to the land under Ezra, Nehemiah, and Cyrus. Ephraimllsrael went into captivity into Assyria to the north. From there, they went into Western Europe, the British Isles, from there to America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, plus numerous nations around the world. In Hosea, Hashem said to Ephraim that He would scatter his seed among the nations. In Genesis when Jacob blessed Ephraim the blessing stated that Ephraim's seed would become the fullness of the nations. That means that many more nations will be coming into the covenant in addition to the Jewish people.

After Hashem regathers the whole house of Israel (the ten lost tribes) from the Goyim to the land in Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones in chapters 36 and 37, He then tells Ezekiel to take the stick of Judah in one hand and the stick of Ephraim in the other hand. Then Ezekiel was to put the two sticks together and make them one stick (nation). After He makes them one nation He will give them one King, the Messiah, and they will be one people with one G-d. At that time they will no longer be two nations but Echad (one) in
the hand of Hashem. (Halevai-Toda La El)

Hashem has a plan for the regathering of the thirteen tribes. He says in the Tenach That for every Jew that is regathered to the land there will be ten non Jews which I choose to call Ephraimites who will take hold of their tzitzit (fringes worn by Jewish men that represent the laws of Hashem) and say we're going with you because Hashem is with you. At present there are five million in the land who call themselves Jews. For very Jew that is regathered there will be ten Ephraimites, which means another, fifty million
Ephraimites are yet to come. When that happens Israel's population will swell to fifty five million.

Hypothetically, let's suppose that all eighteen million Jews make Aliyah. Now add ten Ephraimites for every Jewish person regathered, that would be one hundred eighty million Ephraimites plus eighteen million Judites. That will make the population of Israel approximately 200 million. This would change the balance of power forever in the Middle East. Recently, Miriam Jacobi, founder of the Florida Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and I met with Mo she Arens, former Foreign Minister of Israel at Arthur and Bonnie Horwitz's home at Grove Isle. Mr. Arens was here lobbying for the preservation of the Golan Heights and Jordan Valley because of their importance to Israel' security. Mr. Arens made a powerful statement when he said that Alivah will solve all of Israel's problems. Can you begin to visualize the significance of that statement which reflects Hashem's plan to regather all the JewishlEphramite scientists, acadamians, doctors, lawyers, financiers, agriculturalists, etc. from the nations to the land? Unquestionably, Israel at that time will fulfill its destiny to become the head of the nations and to be a lamp and a light to all the nations of the world. At that time the Middle East will become the Garden of Eden in the earth and there will be universal justice, health, and peace to all inhabitants on earth