Ms. Jodie Anderson – Tribute to an amazing friend of Gd and Israel – who passed on to a better place today…

Many in Israel have had the opportunity to meet Ms. Jodie Anderson – daughter, wife, mother, preacher, biblical activist and friend  – over the past 30+ years.

Ms. Jodie was quite simply one of the most outstanding and pioneering Christian heroes of the 20th century – a grand-matriarch of the Christian-Israel relationship in the United States in general and Texas/Oklahoma region in particular.

Anyone who knows Ms. Jodie is sure that she is being greeted in Heaven today by all the great leaders of the past – all lined up to welcome her and thank her for her many years of dedication and service to His Word, His Land and His People.

Anyone who knew her would also not be surprised if the great leaders of the past greeted Ms. Jodie with her very own Texas-sized Golden Dr. Pepper Fountain – along with a Texas-sized grin!

No one was more outspoken for Israel. No one was more outspoken for biblical Jewish rights in the entire land. No one was more outspoken for joint Texas-Israel values. No Christian stood so strongly for the Jewish right to be Jews – and against any attempts to mess with their historic position and biblical faith.

No one stood where Ms. Jodie stood. No one was willing to go the lengths she was willing to go to defend her beloved.

No matter who was threatening her beloved – Mrs. Jodie would stand against them with no fear. She stood in the severe cold of Virginia and in the sweltering heat of Texas. She stood entire weekends with nothing but a cold Dr. Pepper for sustenance in vigilant prayer and protest for her beloved. She stood and fasted. She fasted and preached – always with the Word of Gd as her guide.

Even this past week, when I had the blessing to be allowed one last visit with her in her hospice – she (eventually and not without struggle) stood up and gave me her opinion on everything from the recently created Jerusalem Nano Bible coin, to world events to the way I was dressed and my weight (needless to say I did not do too well in the evaluation even by comparison to the state of the world – though she did love the coin design and was thrilled with the upcoming move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem).

Sadly, I was the last friend from Israel to be able to have such a visit.

Creating and commanding a unique ministry – The Battalion of Deborah – Ms. Jodie filled El Al and Delta airline seats with busloads of pilgrims who were tasked with so much more than tourism. Starting with a carload of close friends in 1991 – Battalion Commander Jodie filled over a dozen buses at a time with her Christian soldiers for Israel at the peak of their activity. They not only visited, studied, fasted and prayed – but they worked hard as well – volunteering on army bases on the Golan and in towns throughout The Land that needed their skilled help.

Born only 16 months after Israel was reborn and losing her Baptist minister dad when she was at the tender age of nine – Ms. Jodie recalled to her last day the excitement her father expressed when telling, telling and retelling her of the rebirthing of Israel just before her own. Though he died when she was only nine, the lifelong love for Israel was instilled in her forever. – “In every walk of your life, stand by them” – her saintly dad commanded her – and Commander Jodie did just that – till she took the last struggled breaths of her life,

“I dare you to show me someone who can describe biblical Deborah as a wimp,” Ms. Jodie admonished me many times. “Deborah commanded Barak to join her in battle. And that is what I do now. Gather others and go into battle. Every day. There is so much apathy. I have to make sure people know they are going to be accountable for their own lack of action. I cannot believe how hard I have to fight even with supposed people of the church – so many today just seem to have blinders on. Maybe its easier for them that way but its not biblical! Since when is Jerusalem a political debate?! How did Zionism become a political curse word?! How can Israel be so hated even by so-called Jews?!” It’s 100% biblical! They are all wearing blinders!!”

“The world is so busy taking God and the Ten Commandments out of schools, courts and the public square. You don’t spit in the face of Gd! Everything America did in the past few years against Israel, the threats to harm her sovereignty, votes against her at the U.N. – all this will be brought to judgment. All this crying about ‘Church and State’ to excuse everything. It’s so sad and it just makes me so mad!”

To those who knew her, Ms. Jodie’s work for Israel seemed to have consumed every moment of her life. When they found out that she was a full time operating room nurse who worked sixty hours a week in cardiothoracic and brain surgeries – they are dumbfounded.

Even this past year Nurse Jodie, despite her severely failing health, traveled to war-plagued Syria along with her husband Pastor Keith and a team of Christian and Jewish doctors and nurses to volunteer at a special hospital set up by a Christian ministry in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces

In the past year alone Ms. Jodie has joined forces with Christians and Jews in Israel and the USA to help create three new organizations – The Jerusalem Nano Bible Foundation, Heroes Unity Israel and Heroes Unity USA – all of which she helped lead as Founding Chair – despite the massive pain and lack of energy. ,

Please pray for Ms. Jodie to finally find rest in her new home in Heaven (though I expect she has already found new strength and is already busy banging down celestial doors, lecturing all in her path and searching for other ways to influence issues on behalf of Israel way down here).

Her passing during the week smack between the Israeli and US celebrations of Israel’s 70th reBirth Day is somewhat fitting as the date differences between the Jewish and Gregorian calendars always made her “crazy.” It is appropriate that she stayed here on Earth for the Jewish calendar’s 70th celebrations in Israel before heading on to her new life with new strength – in time to help with the final preparations above for the great celebration based on the Gregorian calendar next month.

If anyone had second thoughts about moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem on May 14th – they now have a new and powerful celestial commander to cope with – and I would not recommend messing with a rejuvenated Nurse Jodie Anderson.

Ms. Jodie’s is survived by her loving husband Pastor Keith Anderson, her children and grandchildren.

Pastor Keith, a great biblical scholar and pastor emeritus of Fort Victory Church in Fort Worth, Texas who now preaches at the Cowboy Heritage Church of Grapevine, has survived his own tribulations in recent years yet sat vigilantly and lovingly by his beloved Ms. Jodie’s bedside these past few months – bringing him to the point of exhaustion.

Let us all pray for their children, grandchildren and their many, many cousins and friends.

Let us all pray as Jews have prayed for millennia:

May they be comforted among
all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem
and may they know grief no more.