EVAnGElical cHRiStiAn SuppORt fOr iSrAEl

Praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem (Part of the Second Temple).

yOuR cOmmEntS: (LORi H., NEw yORk StAtE)

Dear Lay Monks,

I went to A Night to Honor Israel in Albany last Sunday.  It was excellent.

 

I think we need to stand by the Jewish people at this time, in an increasingly anti-Semitic world.

 

Blessings and prayers,

Lori H. (New York State)

yOuR cOmmEntS: (MadELEinE, NEw ZEaLaNd)

Dear friends in Jesus, 

Greetings from New Zealand.  New Zealand has many prayer warriors like yourselves. 

 

Please pray for Israel.

 

God bless you, 

Madeleine (New Zealand)

JAcOb’s WEll, SycHAR (1936)

“Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down upon the well; and it was about noon.” -John 4:6
The Fortress Masada
Jordan River

KiNG dAVid’s tOMb, JERuSALEM

“Men and brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.” -Acts 2:29

May 14, 1948 — CREATION of MODERN STATE OF ISRAEL

The United Nations voted to end British Mandate control over Palestine, and proposed a Partition into Jewish and Palestinian areas. On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, accepted the UN's Partition proposal, and proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. Both the U.S. President Harry S. Truman, and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, formally recognized the new nation on that same day.

May 15, 1948 — Palestinian Authority and Arab Countries Reject two State Solution

 

The Palestinian Authority and neighboring Arab Countries rejected the UN Partition Plan, and the creation of a Jewish State.  

 

The very next day, on May 15, 1948: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq declared war, attacking the new Nation of Israel.  

 

The Arab forces also invaded and seized for themselves, all of the UN-proposed Palestinian areas. 

 

fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy

Israel becoming an Independent Nation was the fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy.

                       

                           “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the LORD God:                                                  I will even gather you from the people,                                                   and assemble you out of the countries                             where you have been scattered,

     and I will give you the land of Israel.”

 -Ezekiel 11:17

 The Prophet Ezekiel lived c. 622-c. 570 B.C.  From datable information found in the text of the Book of Ezekiel itself, Ezekiel’s prophecies were given over the course of approximately 22 years, the last occurring in 570 B.C.

                                 

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

they shall prosper that love you.”

 

-Psalm 122:6

 

1948: israel’s  war of independence

Capt. Avraham "Bren" Adan raising the Ink Flag at Umm Rashrash (now Eilat), marked the end of the 1948 war.

1967: “six-day war”

Celebration at the Western Wall of the end of the "Six-Day War." 

 

After 10 months of fighting, Israel defeated all of the Arab countries, controlling the area that the UN General Assembly Resolution 181 had recommended for the Jewish State, and 60% of the UN-proposed Palestinian areas.

 

Of the remaining 40% of the UN-proposed Palestinian areas, that the Palestinians had rejected:

 

The UN-proposed West Bank Palestinian area was annexed by Jordan.  

 

The UN-proposed Gaza Palestinian area was annexed by Egypt.

 

In 1967 Egypt, Jordan, and Syria again launched an unprovoked attack against Israel.

 

Israel defeated the attack, won the war, and now controlled the West Bank (Biblical Judea and Samaria), East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula.

 

From 1948-1967, under Jordanian control, Jews were completely expelled from the Old City (East Jerusalem).  This included the Jewish Quarter.

 

Jews were barred from even entering the Old City for 19 years, effectively banning Jewish prayer at the site of the Western Wall.

 

This Ban ended on June 10, 1967, when Israeli Forces took control of the site.

Phylacteries
A Longer, Yemeni-style Shofar (Ram's Horn Trumpet)
"Word of Promise" (Dramatized Old Testament)

 

Evangelical Christian Support for Israel: Eschatology (Study of the End Times) and Biblical Compassion

 

Much support for the Nation of Israel is based on its being a Western-style Democracy.

 

Many Evangelicals (and other Christians) support Israel because of their beliefs relating to what they see as fulfillment of prophecy; which some tie into their particular views on Eschatology.  

 

Evangelicals who do not hold these same eschatological views support the existence of a Jewish State for different reasons.

 

Their support is based on their Biblical religious beliefs to exhibit love and compassion for all peoples of the world.  This view holds that a homeland for the Jewish people was created in 1948 as a response for present and future protection due to the occurrence of the Holocaust during WWII: “Never again.”  ____________________ 

 

David Brog, former chief counsel and later chief of staff to the late (Jewish) Senator Arlen Specter (Senator from Pennsylvania: 1981-2011), highlighted support for Israel among Christians in his book: 

 

 “Stand With Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State.”

 

Brog’s central thesis, both as a Jewish American and early Executive Director of Christians United for Israel, is unabashedly pro-Israel, and affirms that support for Israel should be encouraged by American Jews, as well as provide a forum for Christians to express their views on Capitol Hill. 

 

He was an ardent promoter in galvanizing support for this Evangelical-Jewish lobbying organization on behalf of Israel.

 

Brog, who is Jewish — not a Christian, formed an executive board of prominent evangelicals: (Jerry Falwell was a member before his death), Michael Little, Gary Bauer, and George Morrison — all evangelicals, and all actively engaged in pro-Israel activities —

 

— activities which include “A Night to Honor Israel” held throughout North America, as well as recent involvement in the annual AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee Lobby) gathering in Washington, D.C.   

____________________ 

 

The proliferation of Evangelical Christian organizations and Jewish organizations reaching out to one another…with the common goal of supporting the survival of the nation of Israel, in the U.S. and elsewhere includes:

 

International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (Leader: Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein)

 

Operation Exodus (Combined Christian and Jewish Organization: working together to provide aid for poor Jews to emigrate to Israel, in many cases to escape persecution in Islamic Countries.)

 

Bridges for Peace (Desire to see Christians and Jews working side by side for better understanding and a more secure Israel.)

 

Christians United for Israel (Leader: David Brog).

 

Breaking Israel News (Publisher: Rabbi Tuly Weisz.  A Jewish Media Company that puts a Biblical spin on News for Evangelical Christians.  

 

Defying journalistic conventions, they tap into a vast Evangelical market, hungry for stories of Prophecy that are playing out in the Holy Land.

 

Israel Awareness Day

            (Faith Bible Chapel: Arvada, Colorado)            

 

Click on the Flag of the Nation of Israel (Above) to go to our webpage:

 

 “The Ten Commandments (Versions)“ in our “God’s Word” Category.

 

Versions:  Judaism, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant. 

 

Evangelical Christian Support for Israel:

Some Thoughts from Lay Monk S.G. Preston

 

That Evangelicals have a great love for the Jewish people, and intense support for the Nation of Israel, is certainly true.  As to why this is true, apparently Evangelicals hold differing views in this area.  Who knew?  😉

 

I am an Evangelical, and yet I do not hold the view of many Evangelicals that they are waiting for the Jewish people to do something before Jesus can return:  Re-build the Temple?  Something else?  

 

Though admittedly, like Charles Spurgeon, Lay Monk Bob and I had always tended to avoid getting involved in any type of “End Times” discussions.

 

My personal view is summed up by Jesus’ own words in Matthew 24:36… 

 

“But of that day and hour no one knows; no, not the even angels of Heaven; but my Father only.” 

 

In my own case, I simply feel an immense gratitude and debt to the people through whom the Word of God came.

 

 After all, three-fourths of the Christian Bible is the Jewish Bible.  The first Christians were nearly all Jewish.  All of the New Testament books except for two: The Gospel of Luke and The Book of Acts, were written by Jewish people.

 

And of course, Jesus was Himself born into this world Jewish.

 

 We read God’s Word, and it is about the Jewish people.  Jews and Christians also share much of the same basic morality, as summarized in The Ten Commandments.

 

      And as for support for Israel, it contains most of the holy places of our Faith.  It is a western Democracy; a haven of freedom in the midst of a sea of dictators.  We also support a homeland for the Jewish people as a safeguard against any repetition of the Holocaust: “Never again.”

 

We are people of prayer: let us keep the Jewish People, the City of Jerusalem, and the Nation of Israel always in our prayers.

 

EVAnGelical cHRiStiAn SuppORt fOR iSrAEl: bEinG On GOd’s SidE

May 14, 1948 (Ezekiel 11:17)
June 10, 1967 (Luke 21:24)

Jerusalem’s return to Jewish control after nearly 2,000 years was the fulfillment of Jesus’ words recorded in Luke 21:24. 

 

70 A.D. (Roman  seige of Jerusalem) – 1967 

 

“Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

 

-Luke: 21:24

 

 

Jerusalem Under Jewish Control

 

“I wasn’t alive in 1948, but I was in 1967.  The Six-Day War seemed like a miracle to the average U.S. citizen.  

 

Three Arab countries; Egypt, Jordan, and Syria; each individually much larger than Israel, launched an unprovoked invasion, and were all defeated…and in only six days!

 

After 2,000 years, Jerusalem was finally returned to Jewish possession.

 

According to the New Testament, on June 10, 1967, “the times of the Gentiles” ended (Luke 21:24).  Since then, it has been and is now, the time of the Jewish people.

 

As Abraham Lincoln once said:

‘Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.'”

 

-Lay Monk S.G. Preston

cOmmOn ROOts in iSrAel

Ruins of the ancient Great Synagogue in Capernaum (Kfar Nahum), Israel. Built in the 4th Century, it replaced an earlier Synagogue on the same site, at which Jesus taught. (UNESCO Photo).

 

The Gospels record that Jesus often attended and spoke at the Synagogue in Capernaum:

 

  • Matthew 4:23 mentions Jesus leaving Nazareth and moving to Capernaum.
  • Mark 1:21-28 tells of Jesus teaching and healing in the Synagogue there.
  • Luke 4:31-37 shows that Jesus regularly taught in the Synagogue. (See also: Luke 4:23)
  • John 6:22-59 contains Jesus’ Bread of Life teaching; Verse 59 confirms that Jesus taught this at the Capernaum Synagogue.
"The Word of Promise" Dramatized: Over 20 Major Stars. New King James Version. New Testament & Old Testament available separately, or together.
"Prayer" by O. Hallesby, a Norwegian Lutheran Pastor who was in the Grini Concentration Camp for two years (until the end of the war) for his opposition to the Nazis.
"The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom. She and her Christian Dutch family hid Jews and helped them escape Nazi-occupied Netherlands; they were interred in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. Only Corrie survived.
"The Ten Commandments" (Directed by Cecil B. DeMille) Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Debra Paget, Edward G. Robinson
"Esther" Queen of the Medo-Persian Empire; Deliverer of the Jewish people between 486 and 465 B.C. (Louise Lombard as Esther, F. Murray Abraham as Mordecai)
"Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace" Lutheran Theologian who helped Jews escape to Switzerland. Imprisoned by the Nazis and executed for involvement in one of the attempts to assassinate Hitler.

tHE tEn cOmmAndmEntS / tHE JESuS SHEmA

 

The Ten Commandments

 

(1.)  I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt; you shall have no other gods but Me.

 

(2.)  You shall not make for yourself a carved image, to be an idol; you shall not bow down to them, or serve them.

 

(3.)  You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

 

(4.)  Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.

 

(5.)  Honor your father and your mother; that your days may be long upon the land.

 

(6.)  You shall not murder. 

 

(7.)  You shall not commit adultery.

 

(8.)  You shall not steal.

 

(9.)  You shall not bear false witness.

 

(10.)  You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s.

 

-Excerpted from Exodus 20:1-17

 

 

The Jesus Shema (“Hear”)

The Greatest Commandment

 

“And Jesus answered, ‘The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one:

 

and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment.

 

And the second is like it, namely this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

 

There is no other commandment greater than these.'”

 

 -Deuteronomy 6:4-5

    Leviticus 19:18

     Mark 12:29-31

 

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