Zionism’s New Face

An update on the growing and passionate movement to stand with Israel


His crushing handshake contradicted the easy way in which he motioned with his other hand for us to sit down. I was enjoying my first trip to Israel with famed Bible prophecy teacher and Israel supporter David Allen Lewis. We had been traipsing around that tiny country of huge significance while gathering interviews for Lewis’ new book. And here we were, shaking hands with Ariel Sharon, the legendary Israeli general-turned-political official, and being seated in his Tel Aviv office.

A terrifying and brutal figure to some and a savior to others, Sharon led a daring crossing of the Suez Canal in October 1973 that saved Israel from destruction at the hands of Syria and Egypt. The wily general, now an older statesman, smiled broadly as he recounted for us his first memory of Lewis.

“There we were, fighting a terrible enemy in Lebanon [1982-1983], suffering also from international condemnation,” he said, describing Israel’s war against Palestine Liberation Organization forces, “and we look up and see the famous Assemblies of God man running up and down the border, reporting back to America what was really going on!”


Reasons for the Sabbath

God created everything in six days, and
He rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2). This initiated a set time each week
called the Sabbath, or Shabbat in Hebrew, which means “to rest or lay
aside labor.” There are Hebrew words translated rest in the English
translation of the Torah. They include: shabath, which alludes to
letting go (Exod. 23:11); shamat, alluding to letting alone; and nuwach,
to settle down (Isa. 23:12). They all carry the same connotation. A shabbat
was a personal letting go and resting. God commanded that the land and animals
rest and be “let alone” in order to fulfill the commandment.

The theme of resting
from labor was so important that God hallowed the seventh day each week as a
Sabbath of rest. Every seventh year was a Sabbatical rest year (called Shemitah
in Hebrew). Every seven cycles of seven years—forty-nine years—was designated a
Jubilee cycle of complete rest. During these three Sabbatical cycles, people,
animals, and the land enjoyed exemption from work (Exod. 23:10–12; Lev.
25:4–55). With each of the seven feasts, God commanded the people to refrain
from work. The Sabbath was created for man’s enjoyment: And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made
for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).


Ministries Partner to Respond to the Fires in Israel

The
fires in Northern Israel is said to be the worst disaster in the nation’s
history.  Now Christian Life Missions (CLM) is partnering with Vision for Israel to
respond quickly to the need.
 
Christian Life Missions is the non-profit partner of
Charisma magazine.  In 2006 it partnered with Vision for Israel, headed by Barry
and Batya Segel, to raise $150,000 to help rebuild a civic center in Northern
Israel.  Every dollar raised will go to help in Northern
Israel.
 
“We can
spring into action to meet the need because of our relationship with Vision for
Israel.  They have the infrastructure and the relationships to respond to the
need,” said Steve Strang, president of CLM and publisher of Charisma.  “We have
total confidence in them and their ability to respond quickly and to use the
money as it should be used.”
 
Readers
of Charisma also responded generously when the tsunami hit Southeast Asia in
2004. That time CLM partnered with the equivalent of the National Association of Evangelicals in Sri Lanka to
respond to the need. And readers responded to Hurricane Katrina, also working
again with local churches in Louisiana.

The Joseph Storehouse

The Joseph Storehouse is a humanitarian
aid center in the hills of Jerusalem and is the central focus of an
ever-expanding ministry, Vision for Israel.

The goal of this organization if to be
a source of emergency assistance to the entire community of Israel,
whether Jewish, Arab or Christian. Their desire is to be a channel of
mercy through the distribution of a full range of items such as
emergency medical equipment, food, toiletries, clothing and other
necessities. The Joseph Storehouse also warehouses supplies for times
of emergency in the land of Israel.

Vision for Israel

Founded in 1994 by Barry and Batya
Segal, the nonprofit Vision for Israel (VFI) is an international
humanitarian-aid center operating in the Judean hills outside
Jerusalem, primarily through its distribution outlet, The Joseph
Storehouse. Each week, orphans and widows, homeless and handicapped,
elderly and geriatric, new immigrants and victims of terrorism all
receive food, clothing, toiletries, kitchen and house-hold items,
blankets, towels, linens and toys from the ministry.

Betrayal in Zion

We are on the brink of a spiritual breakthrough in the nation of
Israel. Today, the number of Israeli Messianic Jewish believers is
estimated at 12,000, with about 140 different congregations and home
fellowships. God is birthing a new end-time movement of Jewish lovers in
Yeshua that is becoming a prophetic voice to Israel as well as to other
nations. This is truly a time to rejoice.

Nevertheless, many Jewish believers in Israel regularly experience
not only rejection by the traditional Jewish religious establishment but
also growing antagonism and hostility from extremist ultra-orthodox
elements. What is happening to the Messianic Jews is to be expected
considering we are in the end times. Similar persecution is being
experienced by believers all over the world.

We Will Never Forget

Why Yad Vashem is more than a top tourist attraction in Israel

All it takes is turning the channel, turning your head or turning your thoughts to something less disturbing. That’s how easy it has become today to tune out the reality of a million people slaughtered in an ethnic cleansing or hundreds of thousands killed by another massive earthquake, flood or hurricane.

But in Israel each year, more than 800,000 individuals refuse to turn away from a past filled with pain and indescribable horror. Instead, they walk through the doors of Yad Vashem and leave willingly scarred for life. Despite the cost of deep wounds being reopened, they choose to never forget the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Ministry Feeds Jerusalem’s Poor, Both Jews and Arabs

A New York-based ministry that co-organizes the annual Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem is coupling its intercession with action by raising funds to help the poor in Israel.

Eagles’ Wings ministry hopes to feed at least 1,000 impoverished families in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities this year as part of its ongoing mission to bless the people of Israel through prayer.

The ministry provided some meals this summer through a partnership with an Israel-based aid organization. But it hopes to raise more funding for the outreach through donations made at its website and during services held on the global prayer day Oct. 3. Each meal costs $18, according to the Eagles’ Wings website, with a week’s worth of food provided for $189.

“I feel like it’s time for us to really pray prayers that we are willing to become the answer to,” said Eagles’ Wings founder Robert Stearns, who launched the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem eight years ago in partnership with Foursquare Church leader Jack Hayford. “… Yes prayer is vital, yes prayer is urgent, but [we want to do something] from a social justice aspect that also brings a sense of relief and a sense of genuine comfort to the people living there.”

The Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee is one of the most popular tourists spots in Israel. Yeshua stood on its shores—and sometimes on the sea—and performed many miracles. He saw Peter and Andrew casting their net into the water and said, “‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men'” (Matt. 4:19, NKJV); He walked on water (see Matt. 14:22-33), and fed more than 5,000 people with five fish and two loaves of bread (see Matt. 14:13-21). To learn how to cast your net in this ancient sea, click below to watch the video.

A Grateful Nation

God loves a grateful nation. Just as an individual cannot “out-thank” the Lord-for God pours out His blessing more than ever, so a nation cannot out-thank God either.

Just as those individuals who praised God on Palm Sunday possibly did so selfishly, even ignorantly and for the wrong reasons—and God accepted their praise, so God accepts the praise of a nation that attempts to show gratitude to Him. It does not necessarily matter that every single person who participates in such thanksgiving is a faithful servant of God in his or her private life; God just notices a nation overall that makes any attempt to show gratitude to Him.

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