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SHALOM
FROM JERUSALEM,
The
big news here in Israel today, boldly headlined
in the nation’s largest newspaper, Yediot
Ahronot, this morning, is Russia’s reported
return to two naval bases that the Kremlin
largely built and once controlled in neighboring
Syria.
The
move is said to be part of a large Russian
weapons deal with Syria, at least partially
funded by Iran, as I reported about in last
weeks monthly news update. The dramatic
Russian move will undoubtedly increase speculation
among observant Christians and Jews that
Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog invasion is drawing
very near.
In light of author Joel Rosenberg’s popular
novel about the theme, I get asked about
this prophecy all the time now as I travel
around the world, and especially if I see
its fulfillment as possibly imminent.
Frankly
I do NOT see Ezekiel’s penultimate prophesied
event as taking place in the near-term future.
Instead, I suspect that the region could
well witness an apparent massive clash between
Syria and Israel—described in Isaiah chapter
17—unfold in the not too distant future,
to which Russia and other countries listed
by Ezekiel would eventually react, but not
immediately in the climactic way described
by Ezekiel.
I have explained why I hold this view in
several of my books, and also do a bit of
that in the first installment of a new column
I am writing for the MJAA web site, which
will be published there soon, and every
month thereafter.
To read the column, go to www.mjaa.org
later this week. I will also be doing my
usual news report for the Moody Broadcasting
Network based in Chicago later today, which
can be accessed at their web site, www.mbn.org
Below
is a tribute that I wrote early last week
in honor of the late Christian broadcaster,
ministry leader and author George Otis,
who passed away at the ripe old age of 90
in southern California in mid-July.
I worked with George’s High Adventure Ministry
in southern Lebanon in the early 1980s,
and kept in contact with him and his ongoing
work since then.
The tribute—which mentions his views concerning
Russia’s role in the region—was published
and released by the ASSIST News Service
(ANS), run by veteran journalist and broadcaster
Dan Wooding, who also had a connection to
the ministry in those years.
To
receive a free subscription to ANS, just
send an e-mail message to Dan at assistnews@aol.com
or sign up at www.assist-ministries.com/feedbkdan/index.htm.
If you want to check out stories posted
on their website, go to www.assistnews.net.
A
Journalist’s Tribute To George Otis
By
David Dolan
Special to ASSIST News Service
JERUSALEM,
ISRAEL (ANS) -- I will never forget the
first time I met George Otis Sr. It was
December 1980, and we were in the Garden
Tomb near Jerusalem’s historic walled Old
City.
Several
months before, I had been offered a position
at George’s Voice of Hope radio station
in southern Lebanon by station manager Chuck
Pollak. I had listened to the station many
times while living for one year with a Christian
group on an Israeli kibbutz located just
across the tense international border.
Having
picked up hepatitis that September from
drinking water directly from the Hatzbani
River (which flows through Lebanon where
animals wade in it and sewage is dumped
in it) before merging into Israel’s Jordan
River, I was in pretty bad shape. So I declined
the offer and bought an airplane ticket
back to my native Pacific Northwest.
The fact that the station was frequently
shelled by rogue PLO forces who occupied
most of south Lebanon in those days was
possibly a contributing factor as well!
I
only got as far as Jerusalem when I realized
that, like Jonah of old, I was fleeing from
God. I headed straight to the Garden Tomb
to seek wise counsel from an older Idaho
couple who were longtime friends volunteering
at the renowned holy site that year. They
urged me to return to Idaho for further
physical healing, pointing out I could “always
return later” to work at the gospel radio
station.
When
I still expressed disquiet, they suggested
I go out into the quiet garden—it was near
closing time—to pray for more guidance from
On High. I quickly noticed that one group
of pilgrims was still seated on neat rows
of benches in the lush garden, just above
the empty ancient tomb. They were all wearing
the same blue wind blazers inscribed with
the words HIGH ADVENTURE MINISTRY: THE VOICE
OF HOPE.
I
went to one of the back rows and sat down
to listen to an extremely animated golden
haired man, wearing the same blue blazer,
who was swishing his arms through the air
while speaking with deep passion to the
assembled flock, who listened with rapt
attention. It was George Otis.
I
got the Lord’s message, and quickly returned
up north to work at the unique radio station;
the only gospel broadcaster in the entire
Middle East.
That
was an appropriate place to meet George
for the first time, since the bulk of his
long and fruitful life was devoted to the
world renowned Rabbi from Galilee who had
risen from the dead in Jerusalem nearly
two thousand years before.
George
was hardly a perfect man, but then again
who was or is besides the Risen One? We
sometimes clashed during my two years as
News Director at the Voice of Hope, located
in the lovely Valley of the Springs just
below the Lebanese town of Marjayoun.
For
one thing, I was not so certain that four
parts country music to one part gospel—which
was strictly upheld by the Big Boss—was
the perfect mix for the crisis-filled region.
But that was partly due to my general dislike
for that particular musical genre! In the
end, I had to admit that many Israelis at
least had become country music fans, as
reported in the local media, all due to
George Otis, who personally chose the musical
format.
But
mostly I just watched in wonder as this
super energized ever ready bullet of a man
shot across the world, frequently arriving
at the always bustling radio station soon
after getting off a plane at Israel’s Ben
Gurion airport following the arduous journey
from Los Angeles, always as fresh and sprightly
as a well watered daisy!
It
would usually be just seconds before George
was donning headphones and sliding behind
the on-air desk to utter his latest words
of encouragement to the war weary peoples
of southern Lebanon, northern Israel and
even parts of Jordan and Syria. That was
always welcomed by me and my disc jockey
cohorts, if only that it gave as an extra
coffee break!
But
more than that, it was somehow always inspiring
to listen to George speak, if only because
he was constantly revved up and positive,
despite the conflict raging all around us.
A
friend of many Israeli officials and of
former California Governor Ronald Reagan,
who had recently taken the nation’s number
one seat in the Oval Office, George frequently
used his on air pulpit to echo Reagan’s
warnings that the Evil Empire, the Soviet
Union, would one day be brought down. He
went even further than the Republican President
did by specifically warning that the Kremlin
would be judged by God for backing the Syrians
and the PLO in their ongoing war against
Israel. Indeed, just a few months after
I began working at the Voice of Hope, the
Syrians and PLO were routed by Israeli forces,
handing a significant black eye to their
Soviet patrons.
One
of George’s proudest moments during the
two years I labored with his ministry was
his sponsorship of the freed “Siberian Seven,”
a group of persecuted Russian Pentecostals
who had been allowed to immigrate by the
Kremlin in January 1982 after taking refuge
in the US Embassy basement in Moscow for
over three years. While they waited for
papers that would allow them into various
western nations, the seven freed Christians
were invited by Israel—under High Adventure
sponsorship—to live with our small Voice
of Hope workers community in the upper Galilee.
It was a sign of things to come, and of
the very collapse of the Soviet Union that
George so often prophesied.
After
the Israeli operation was launched to push
the PLO out of Lebanon in June 1982, George
was not content to “just” broadcast the
good news to his war dazed audience—he insisted
the ministry must expand to give aid on
the ground to the Lebanese people. I will
never forget going with George and others
into a Palestinian neighborhood in the coastal
town of Sidon, where we passed out food
and other material aid to needy (and often
raucous) residents. We later found out that
the American Frisbees included with the
food and New Testament aid packets—stamped
inside with the radio station’s logo—were
mainly being used as plates!
As
George passed from his 60s into his 70s
and 80s, his energy level remained incredibly
high. Not content to just have a Lebanon-based
radio station broadcasting into the Holy
Land, he worked to expand his broadcasting
ministry all over the globe. I watched with
continued amazement as his far reaching
plans became facts on the ground.
Very
few people would have had the vision, courage
(chutzpa in Hebrew) and sheer drive to have
ventured into a major war zone in the first
place in order to set up a radio ministry—in
the literal line of frequent hostile fire
from the hills above. But George Otis had
those traits in abundance, and he ended
up broadcasting from a south Lebanon valley
to the biblical mountains and cities of
Israel and Lebanon, and by short wave, to
many other countries beyond the region.
Kol
ha kavod (all due honor) George—may you
receive your well deserved eternal reward!
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