Category: Opinion

During my tour last year of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, I was haunted by what I saw. Old movie clips and photos of Jews being herded off to concentration camps tore at my emotions. I could barely contain myself.

In a Gentile or non-Jewish society, businessmen speak of contracts and agreements. However, the word covenant was used in ancient times and was more than just a binding agreement signed on a parchment or sealed with a wax impression from a signet ring.

While flying to Israel for the first time last year, I wondered what the country was really like. My daily dose of cable and network news made me think I was about to encounter some unfriendly people. But nothing could have been further from the truth. What the church needs to know about Israel can’t be found in a nightly newscast; it can be found in the Words of the Person who created it. Let’s open our Bibles and get to reading. Watch the video below.

Missiles are fired from Gaza into southern Israel. Iran is steadily marching toward the production of nuclear weapons. And Hezbollah and Hamas are smuggling and stockpiling arms. Welcome to 2010. This may be a new year, but Israel’s problems remain largely the same as last year’s, and the year before.

The persistence of Israel’s problems can tempt us toward two equally troubling reactions. The first reaction is to grow weary. There are no quick fixes in Israel. No easy answers. Who knew that standing with Israel would be so hard and take so long?

When I was in a concentration camp during World War II,
we had to stand every day for two or three hours for roll call, often
in the icy-cold wind. Once a woman guard used these hours to
demonstrate her cruelty. I could hardly bear to see and hear what
happened in front of me.

Suddenly a skylark started to sing high in the sky. We
all looked up, and when I looked to the sky and listened to its song, I
looked still higher and thought of Psalm 103:11: “For as the heavens
are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those
who fear Him” (RSV).

In the early 1970s, a significant number of Jews committed their lives to Yeshua and came to the conviction that they should call themselves Messianic Jews rather than Christians. There were several reasons for this. One was the history of institutional Christianity and its impact on the Jewish people.

From a Jewish perspective, Christianity was a movement of semi-paganism, oppression and anti-Semitism. We wanted to project ourselves in such a way that the Jewish people would take another look at Yeshua without the barriers of their pre-formed perceptions of Christianity.

We have led many tours to Israel, and sometimes people are hesitant to go because they are fearful of terrorists and possible war in Israel. When they express those fears, Tom and I always share that we feel safer walking the streets of Jerusalem than we do walking the streets of Atlanta. There is a sense of God’s peace and presence in Israel that supersedes the threat of war and terrorism.

Every visitor to Israel has at least one special moment from his or her trip that stands out. Whether it’s walking on the same paths on which Jesus walked, sitting in a restaurant talking with local Israelis or planting a tree to help the desert rebloom—a visit to Israel is memorable.

I asked believers from around the world to share their unique memories. From Wales to China to the United States, they responded with stories they’ve treasured in their hearts—in some cases for decades. Here are their special moments.

A 220-person Israeli delegation arrived this week in Haiti to aid victims of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck the country late Tuesday.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a fleet of doctors, nurses and aid workers to provide medical care, food, shelter and other necessities to the tiny country. Relief efforts include a Home Front Command field hospital and rescue unit, workers from Magen David Adom, an organization similar to the American Red Cross, and Israeli police officers.

No other book of the Bible has more to say about the captivity of God’s people and the promise of freedom and restoration than the book of Isaiah. Isaiah ministered as a prophet to the people of God in and around Jerusalem during the period when the nation of Israel was a divided kingdom.

Zechariah 12:1-13:9 is a powerful prophecy of when the veil of the Jewish people will be dropped and Israel will be saved in a day. Zechariah prophesies, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born” (Zech. 12:10, KJV).

At 4:53 p.m.—the moment when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake turned Haiti
upside down a week ago Tuesday—hundreds of Christians spent a minute
praying for survivors, churches and relief teams on the ground in
Port-au-Prince.

Ministries are also responding to the diaster, providing relief and/or medical
assistance to the small nation. To make a financial contribution to quake victims, scroll down to the
ministry of your choice and click on the link.

Photo courtesy of Haiti-based Love a Child

We may never know with certainty which of the four sites associated with “Emmaus” is the true location. Which one is the actual location where Jesus appeared to His disciples following His resurrection?

The story in Luke 24 recounts how two of Jesus’ disciples met Him while traveling. They were heading west from Jerusalem, to Emmaus. They spoke with the “stranger” for a while and only later, when they ate together, was Jesus’ true identity revealed. Later, the two disciples headed back to Jerusalem.

Prayer is one of the most valuable weapons of spiritual warfare. When we slip to our knees to communicate with God, He spiritually transforms our hearts and we send out prayers that can effect change in Israel and other hot spots around the world. The Bible says we “ought to always pray” and never let up (Luke 18:1). Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you with a passion for prayer and watch Him bless you, Zion and the nations in 2010. To pray with us, click here.

Although it takes a back seat to rumors of war, a tsunami of faith is quietly overtaking the Muslim world. Islamic adherents are laying aside their allegiance to Muhammad to follow Jesus Christ, despite the social ostracism, persecution and possible martyrdom that converts to Christianity face. Propelled by dreams, visions and miracles, this wave of revival is bringing vast numbers of Muslims—some say millions—into God’s kingdom.

When Joshua led the children of Israel into the Promised Land, news of their conquests spread quickly.

The terrified Gibeonites devised a plan to avoid being conquered. Several men approached the camp dressed in dirty, worn-out clothes, carrying old wine and moldy bread. They told Joshua they were ambassadors from a distant land and asked Israel to enter into a covenant with them (Joshua 9).

In Genesis 12:3, God makes a promise to Abraham: ‘”I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.'”

In my own life I have seen proof of this promise; when I have blessed Israel and the Jewish people, God has showered His blessings on me. That is why we have set up the “Bless Israel” fund through Christian Life Missions.

  Dear Friend, Thank you for subscribing to our Standing With Israel weekly e-newsletter, which is usually sent out on … Read More