Upon returning from Israel, my husband had some thoughts he recently recorded about his burden for Israel and Christians' need to support this nation. He wrote this article, and I thought you would enjoy reading it:THE WORLD HAS SET ASIDE this day to pause and remember the atrocities carried out by Nazi Germany over 65 years ago. January 27 is International Holocaust Day. As I write these lines, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland, marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the death camp by Soviet troops. And Israel’s President Shimon Peres is speaking to the German Parliament in Berlin. Both are doing what each of us should do: pause to remember.
Earlier this month while in Jerusalem, I had the honor of meeting with the Vice Prime Minister of Israel, Moshe Ya’alon. Later that same day I met with Member of Knesset Dr. Arieh Eldad at his office at Knesset. Both of these men expressed a concern to me which I relate to you here. They addressed the need for Christians the world over to stand in defense and support of Israel. This message must be delivered to the sixty million Christians in America, in the Spanish world where I was born and raised, and in the former Soviet Union, where I now live and serve. Therefore, these words will be written in English, Spanish, and Russian, and disseminated to Christians living in these countries.
The Jewish Agency reported earlier this week that anti-Semitism is more widely spread and prevalent in 2010 than it was during World War II. Speaking about the rise of anti-Semitism as evidenced by the Jewish Agency report, Prime Minister Netanyahu warned the international community that those who hate Jews and want to destroy Israel will eventually move on to the rest of the world, too. Speaking Monday during a ceremony at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, he said, “We know that this just begins with Jews, and then continues on to the rest of the world.”
IT IS AN INDICTMENT ON CHRISTIANITY that during difficult days such as these, when it seems everyone is against Israel, our friends in the Jewish community are in short supply of true friends. I am convinced that Jews today are facing the same situation they faced in 1938. Iran is today’s Nazi Germany, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is today’s Hitler. Nothing less than a nuclear holocaust is the threat we hear from Iran, and we must not sit by in silence this time while this generation’s Hitler plans the destruction of the State of Israel. Speaking of the Jewish nation, the Scriptures declare, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:…” These blessings and these judgments are very real. However, at every turn we hear not blessings, but curses against Israel. Even supposedly devout Christians praise the patriarchs of the past while avoiding their Jewish neighbors.
In 1938 far too many Christian leaders, and therefore world leaders, did not take seriously the threat to Jewish citizens of Europe until it was too late. There is a pattern throughout history of persecution of the Jewish people, often perpetrated by brutal thugs presenting themselves as religious leaders, while the rest of the world feigns ignorance. When we turn a blind eye to an impending atrocity, we are as guilty as the perpetrator of the crime. If we ignore the events in our world today, much as our ancestors ignored them a generation ago, we are repeating history in a way that can only be seen as sinful.
God placed Esther, whose real name was Hadassah, queen of Persia (modern-day Iran), in a critical position to help the Jewish people when an evil man, in this case Haman, was plotting to exterminate the Jews. 2,500 years later, today’s Persian leader, Ahmadinejad, is again plotting to exterminate the Jewish people. His ultimate goal is to put together the capability for a nuclear holocaust.
Just as Esther’s cousin Mordecai said to her, God is today saying to Christians, “If you remain silent at this time, I will see to it that deliverance comes to the Jews from another place. But you and your house will perish.”
DELIVERANCE WILL COME to the Jewish people again, even if God Himself has to come and save them. But it is clear that Christians worldwide have been elevated to a position of influence for such a time as this. I am convinced that if we will stand in defense and support of Israel, God will defend our nation. But if we hold our peace and remain silent at this very critical time in history, the judgment of God will fall on our land.
The Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has opened unto us a great door and effectual way to stand in defense and support of Israel today. We need your help to continue the work the Lord has given us to fulfill. If you love the Lord; if you love your country; if it is your desire to stand with Israel during these critical times, I call on you to share our passionate support of Israel and her people and let us know that you would like to become involved in fulfilling Isaiah 62:1 “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest….”
Though Simperopol is a fairly flat city, our little village is nestled among some hills. During the last couple of weeks, we experienced some very cold, icy weather. Because of the ice (and some dangerous cliffs off of the road), we were snowed in for a couple of days! A couple of times David tried to leave the village, only to return more than an hour later saying he had only been three minutes away, trying to make the same incline over and over again. One time it took him an hour and half to drive to get to the edge of town, and this normally takes us only about seven minutes! The lowest that it got that I know of was -17 degrees fahrenheit.
Dinner by the Sea of Galilee, where David and I shared "St. Peter's fish"
