Category: Standing With Israel

A Christian-owned company exploring for oil in Israel plans to expand its drilling operations through a partnership that includes the purchase of a 2,000-horsepower drilling rig.

In a deal announced this week, Zion Oil & Gas will form a subsidiary tentatively called Zion Drilling Inc. through a partnership with Aladdin Middle East Ltd. (AME). The arrangement includes the purchase of $7 million from AME and a series of $1 million payments that are expected to coincide with Zion’s drilling of seven additional wells in Israel.

In an effort to help Christians understand the spiritual, historical and prophetic significance of Israel, pastor Jack Hayford will teach a biblical online course about the Holy Land.

Israel: His Land, His Word is a six-week course that will run May 3 – June 13 at HisLandHisWord.com. Hayford says he wants to help others recognize the relationship between Israel and the Bible.

A hot topic in Israel today is evangelism, also known as proselytizing or missionary activity.

Here in Israel, it is not uncommon to take new believers to the Jordan River when they leave their religion of birth and choose Christianity. This decision is much more common among the Muslim people who are disappointed and without hope from following the god of Islam.

Attaining peace through sports is the goal of an upcoming weeklong sports pilgrimage, which includes a 10-kilometer, noncompetitive race that passes Israel’s security wall.

Pilgrims of Peace or JPII Games 2010, will take place in the Holy Land April 21-28, and is the seventh marathon-pilgrimage named after John Paul II, who himself promoted sports as a means to peace.

[Photo courtesy of Travelujah.com]

Years ago, I took a group of worshipers and intercessors to a large park in Tel Aviv, Israel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It was a holiday and the area was flooded with hundreds of families having picnics.

We sat down as a group and began to worship. We really felt the presence of the Lord in a strong way, and one of the ladies in our group who had brought several praise flags with her took one out and began waving it to the Lord.

There was a song in the musical Fiddler on the Roof called “Tradition.” As this Jewish father sang this song, this message was immediately conveyed: Life is full of traditions.

Traditions can be meaningful, but sometimes they get in the way of the effectiveness of God’s Word in our lives, and they can become very burdensome. As you listen to the song “Tradition” in the film, you can hear the frustration and weariness in the voice of the father. He too had worn himself out trying to keep all the traditions. Keeping traditions can also sometimes prevent us from seeing the newness and freshness of life.

Torah-adherent Jewish parents take time to teach their children prayers, study the Torah and the Talmud, and speak blessings for their future. As a Bible believer, you can follow the same biblical examples and customs of our Jewish counterparts by making operational seven important life truths for your children.

When American missionary Karen Dunham gave her life to Christ years ago, she had no thoughts of traveling to Jericho, West Bank, to minister. Not even after God told her several years later to go to Jerusalem to pray at the Western Wall did she consider such an undertaking. Like most Americans, she saw the Palestinians as enemies and had no love for them whatsoever.

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.

When we were in St. Petersburg, Russia, for an evangelical music festival designed to reach Jewish people, one of the musicians sang a song that I’ll never forget. The phrase “He is my defense” was repeated over and over again in the song. That phrase still resounds in my spiritual ears.

Amir was in a Palestinian prison because he was accused of giving information to Israel concerning attacks on the Jewish people. That information saved the lives of Israelis, but in the eyes of the Palestinian Authority (PA) it was a betrayal.

Men and women who give information to Israel are considered traitors to the Palestinian people. When caught, these so-called “collaborators” are arrested, tortured and many times killed. He was set free by Israeli troops and given permission to reside in Israel proper.

Tens of thousands of churches, and literally tens of millions of Christians in the U.S., have a committed belief in the importance of standing with Israel and blessing the Jewish people. The verse most often referred to as their biblical mandate is Genesis 12:3 in which God tells Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

The Jewish people say this phrase, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord,” whenever they are gathered together at a temple or synagogue. Jewish people and Christians do have much in common. Both are sons of Abraham, both are believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and both are chosen by God to be a special people.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy is now clear.

After the worst week in U.S.-Israel relations in 35 years, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to Washington Monday and gave a powerful and effective speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gala dinner at the Washington Convention Center, warning the world to stop Iran—or Israel will—and respectfully but directly challenging the Obama administration on Jerusalem and the peace process.