Users Visit Holy Land on Facebook

In an effort to help Internet users discover Israel’s holy places and modern sites, the Consulate General of Israel in New York has released a Facebook application of the Holy Land.

Holy Land Trivia: From Creation to Creativity, offers a pictorial encounter with many significant places in Israel, and gives users the opportunity to share newly-gained knowledge with Facebook friends.

The application, designed to appeal to users of all backgrounds and especially to Christians, contains three multiple-choice quizzes about different locations of interest throughout Israel. The questions cover knowledge on holy sites in Israel, modern Israel, and a combination of the two.

Jerusalem’s Future

I love Jerusalem! I love it because it’s a beautiful city and because it is where Messiah taught, laid down His life for the sins of mankind, and was resurrected, triumphing over death. It is the city of the great kings David and Solomon, and the place where the prophets and other great Bible heroes came to worship God in the temple.

From a human perspective, Jerusalem would not rank as one of the world’s most important cities. Even when biblical history was being written in Jerusalem’s streets, the city was not as significant as Alexandria, Rome or Athens.

Still, 3,000 years after King David’s reign, most of the world’s population believes that Jerusalem is the most important city on earth. There is only one possible reason: It is important to God and to His plans for the last days.


Pray for Peace

During my trip to Israel in late March, I ran into a group of Jewish kids on a field trip in Jerusalem’s tourist area. They were giggling and chatting like a brood of cackling hens, when two of them jumped in front of my camera and asked me to take a picture of them. I did and they skipped off.

With backpacks in tow and ponytail dangling, those kids looked like the kids in my neighborhood; they looked normal to me. But their chaperone did not.

The 21-year-old wore a pair of blue jeans with a dark-colored jacket; a bracelet and something else–a high-powered assault rifle strapped to her shoulder. The weapon was longer than the arms that carried it.

California Church Builds Interactive Holocaust Memorial

Vowing that it will “never forget,” a California church is today unveiling an interactive exhibit honoring the 6 million Jews who died during the Holocaust.

Built by Cornerstone Church in Fresno, the Holocaust Experience will guide visitors through scenes of 12 major events that took place between 1933 and 1945. The scenes span from the rise of Adolf Hitler to Kristallnacht, or “the Night of Broken Glass,” when nearly 1,000 synagogues were set on fire across Germany, to Hitler’s decision to execute genocide as “the final solution to the Jewish question.”

The exhibit, which will be on display until Sunday, is housed in the church’s 10,000-square-foot educational facility and cost nearly $10,000 to build.

Sight-Seeing In Caesarea

My trip to Israel took me to many interesting and fascinating places. On the second day of my travels, I toured Caesarea, an ancient port built by King Herod. There I saw ruins of an ancient vomitoruim (my tour guide, Tison Ben David, explains the meaning of the name in the clip) and a reconstructed Roman theater. When biblical history meets archeology, the Bible truly comes to life.

Israel Mourns Fallen Soldiers, Celebrates 61 Years of Independence

Israelis shifted gears on Tuesday evening from mourning its fallen soldiers to celebrating the nation’s 61st Independence Day.

Opening the official ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said, “We have come once again to this hill—on one side the grave of the prophet [of Zionism], on the other the graves of our childrento remind ourselves once again from where we came, and where, with the grace of God, with the blood of our children and with the sweat of our brow, we have succeeded in reaching so far.

Rivlin said that moving directly from Remembrance Day to Independence Day is the “purest preparation” for the subsequent joy. Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a memorial gathering to honor slain Israeli soldiers and that the global threat of terror was greater than ever. “We have no choice but to fight terror until it is obliterated and to defend our lives,” he said.

600 U.S. TV Spots Focus on Peace in Middle East

The Israel Project (TIP) will begin airing a television ad campaign that focuses on the need to teach peace on both sides and to peacefully stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Three ads will air May 2-5 in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. By the end of the week, the commercials will have aired more than 600 times on CNN, CNN’s Headline News, Fox News and MSNBC.

“Today we celebrate Israeli Independence Day and it is a time to focus not only on the tremendous achievements but also on the ongoing threats to Israel’s existence and what can be done to move towards a better future,” commented Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, Founder & President of The Israel Project. “I believe there is no question that teaching peace and tolerance to children as Israel does as an official part of their curriculums is paramount. I only hope that Palestinian leaders will adopt this model and stop teaching hate so that together we can work toward a common more peaceful future.”

Constant Vigilance

The day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations anti-racism conference in Geneva. Here, he did a great favor for all who love Israel—he was honest. He let his virulent hate for Israel and bizarre anti-Semitic conspiracy theories flow from his tongue largely unfiltered. It was an ugly performance.

The delegates from most European nations walked out on Ahmadinejad’s speech. Even UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, was moved to criticism. Most other delegates, of course, remained in their seats. Many cheered.

But Ahmadinejad is rarely so honest. And he is rarely so helpful. It is what this man does in the shadows—not what he says in public—that is most dangerous. And what he does in the dark typically gets far less attention.

Making Intercession: CUFI Delivers Prayer Requests to Western Wall

Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is providing believers with the opportunity to place their prayers in the Western Wall without leaving home.

Prayers submitted to CUFI web site will be printed out, prayed over at the national office in San Antonio, sent to Jerusalem, and hand-delivered to the Western Wall.

Prayer is an integral part of CUFI, which prays daily for the peace of Jerusalem, the well being of the state of Israel, growth and development of Christians United for Israel and for those in authority, including those in governmental and spiritual positions. Personal prayer requests are also welcome.

 

 


Remember the Holocaust

In late March I took the trip of a lifetime. I spent seven days in Israel touring historic sites and ancient ruins that date back more than 2,000 years. I discovered the roots of my Christian faith and watched the Bible come to life.

My schedule was packed with many interesting places to see, including the Western Wall, the Garden Tomb and the Upper Room, where Jesus ate the Last Supper. I floated in the Dead Sea and toured the Valley of Jezreel, which overlooks the ancient city of Armageddon, the place of the final war mentioned in Revelation.

But I was haunted by my visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, located on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem. Without any warning, I found myself in tears. 

Pope to Make First Papal Visit to Holy Land

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As part of his first papal visit to Israel next month, Pope Benedict XVI will stop at several Christian and Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem, according to Israel Ministry of Tourism.

He is scheduled to be in the Holy Land May 8-15, and will visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, Mount Zion and the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane. President Shimon Peres will be the pope’s host and escort.

The visit will mark the pope’s first trip to Israel since accompanying Pope John Paul II on his pilgrimage in 2000. Pope Benedict XVI will deliver Mass at Manger Square in the Palestinian Authority city of Bethlehem on May 13 and another at Mount Precipice near Nazareth on May 14.

What is Christian Zionism?

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.”

Since the birth of the state of Israel in 1948 the theological error known as replacement theology has begun to decline and a theology of Christian Zionism that understands the importance of God’s everlasting covenant with Abraham and the nation he would birth has been increasing.

 

Seven Reasons to Support Israel

Everything Christians do should be based upon the biblical text. The following are seven biblical reasons why Christians everywhere should stand up and speak up for Israel. This is taken from the Leadership manual for Christians United for Israel. It’s so good, we got permission to share it here.

1. God has promised to bless the man or nation that blesses His chosen people. History has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the nations that have been blessed the Jewish people have had the blessing of God. The nations that have cursed the Jewish people have experienced the curse of God.

And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:3

The Secret of the Jews

Those who studied biblical prophecy in the late 1930s believed an evil power of darkness had been unleashed in Europe. German dictator and tyrant Adolf Hitler, like a demon on assignment, was initiating his “solution” to the world’s problems by planning what historians would later identify as the Jewish Holocaust.

When 1948 arrived, the world was missing 6 million Jews, including 1.5 million children who had perished during the Nazi “Final Solution.” Most Holocaust survivors were without a permanent home, had few if any possessions, and had watched their paintings, antiques, gold and silver jewelry, and money being seized by Hitler’s godless goons.

Pentecostal Leader, Former Israeli General to be Honored At Prayer Breakfast

Leaders of the Jewish and Christian communities will gather at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. to celebrate Jerusalem and to honor two great men, Pastor Jack W. Hayford and Israeli General Shimon Erem (retired) at the Jerusalem Prayer Banquet to be held May 14.

Rev. Robert Stearns of Eagles’ Wings, legendary entertainer Pat Boone, and pastor Frederick K.C. Price founder of Ever Increasing Faith Ministries, will host the event.

CUFI Stands with Israel on Capitol Hill

Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), presented a petition expressing solidarity with the State of Israel to members of Congress in late March.  The petition is signed by more than 100,000 American Christians.

The Israel Pledge says:
“We believe that the Jewish people have a right to live in their ancient land of Israel, and that the modern State of Israel is the fulfillment of this historic right.

We maintain that there is no excuse for acts of terrorism against Israel and that Israel has the same right as every other nation to defend her citizens from such violent attacks.

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