What Not to Say
I hung up the phone in shock. I had called looking for comfort, maybe some sympathy. A man who had been a pillar in my life and a spiritual father to me had passed away…
I hung up the phone in shock. I had called looking for comfort, maybe some sympathy. A man who had been a pillar in my life and a spiritual father to me had passed away…
It is never fun to be in God’s waiting room. If Job could speak with us, he probably would verify the difficulty of waiting on the Lord. Job’s story, told in the Bible book…
Shortly after I became a Christian in 1980, I was invited to a luncheon sponsored by the local branch of a nondenominational, evangelical Christian organization…
Another Father’s Day is just around the corner. My dad passed away in 2008; and at age 97, my mom still misses him. Perhaps that was why she showed me…
Population 4.18 million. Situated like a jewel by the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, it beckons to tourists from around the world to enjoy its nonstop nightlife…
“What do you mean you became a Christian at 21? Aren’t you a pastor’s daughter?” an older gentleman asked me…
My story begins with my father, who was enjoying recognition as a successful research chemist despite two big problems: He was a functioning alcoholic and an atheist…
Many years ago, my wife and I were invited to dinner at the home of a prominent older woman. She knew governors and senators and had been friends with Albert Einstein…
When I became a Christian, I didn’t know much about Christianity. I didn’t know the New Testament or doctrine or what God expected of me as a believer…
A bump on the head and a trip to Oz was all it took for Dorothy to realize there’s no place like home. Dorothy is the main character in L. Frank Baum’s children’s book…
“It is apocalyptic.” U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon didn’t exaggerate much when he assessed the wildfires that ravaged…
The doctrine of coming judgments is not popular. Most Christians don’t like reading or hearing about it. They say it’s scary…
When I was a teenager, I enjoyed visiting my pastor’s study. His bookshelves were sprinkled with interesting knickknacks…
The toxic turn in the nature of the American political system, bitterly pitting factions and friends against one another, has…
Many years ago, my husband’s friend Ken Campbell lost his 18-year-old daughter in a car accident. Ken pastored a church here in South Jersey, and Gwendolyn was a student at Word of Life…
Health experts agree that walking 10,000 steps a day is a good thing. So I do this “good thing” regularly, and I can tell you that my Oy veys grow louder every time I start walking. But I can also tell you that…
“Welcome to the State of Israel,” the guard said, smiling as he checked us through security and into the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC. My wife and I attended a function there…
In 1949, a show called Father Knows Best debuted on the radio. It made the transition to television in 1954, starring Robert Young, who played Jim Anderson, the father of three children…
A peculiar industry has been growing in America. It generates $2 billion in revenue a year and employs roughly 85,000 people who are primarily mediums, astrologers, palm readers, and fortune-tellers…
Sam Coonrod made news last summer when he refused to kneel. The then-27-year-old relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants was the only baseball player…
It’s confession time. I possess a peculiar ability that annoys everyone, even my husband. I listen to the same music over and over…
During the Christmas season, the popular children’s animated television show Bob the Builder and Hallmark…
More than any other time of year, Christmas is when people talk about Jesus’ birth. You would think that after 2,000 years, Jesus’ miraculous conception would be…
As I look at the world and the terrible things people do, I will never understand why God loves us and wants to dwell among us. The fact that a Jewish virgin bore the divine…
The one true and living God is omnipresent. That is, He is everywhere all the time, an infinite being with respect to space. Despite this magnificent attribute…
We don’t know his name or his background. We do know he was a criminal (Lk. 23:32). But as he hung between heaven and Earth on a Roman cross, something within…
At sundown September 18, our Jewish friends will celebrate Rosh Hashanah. This first of the High Holy Days initiates a new year on the Jewish calendar…
Eclectic is how I would describe my mother’s taste in furniture. Nothing really matched when I was growing up. Furniture was not her thing…
How do we find meaning in life? That is a question people around the world ask themselves. Even Israel’s King Solomon, the wisest, richest man who ever lived, asked it…
In the 1960s, the English rock group The Rolling Stones shot to stardom with a song titled “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” This thought easily could…
In 1969 singer Peggy Lee had a hit song titled “Is That All There Is?” The woman in the song reflects back over her life, which is filled with disappointments…
Have you ever met someone who claims to be an existentialist? I have, and it was an encounter I’ll never forget…
I don’t know what the situation will be by the time you receive this issue of Israel My Glory. Today we’re “sheltering in place,” unable to go practically anywhere…
I am more of a doer than a thinker. It takes discipline for me to think before I act. Spending two weeks in Israel…
Premillennialism is less popular than it used to be. But it’s essential to…
On December 17, 2019, 16 leaders of The United Methodist Church signed the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation…
The book of Acts opens after the disciples had been learning about the Kingdom of God for 40 days from the King Himself…
I have often heard the dispensational, premillennial view of the Bible criticized as too pessimistic and being all about Israel to the point that it denigrates the church…
As I write this column, I’m looking at two miniature Israeli flags on the windowsill of my office. When the degenerate empire of Nazi Germany surrendered May 8, 1945…
Larry is a lover of Israel and the Jewish people. He is also a longtime friend. I met him and his wife, Lori, many years ago when we moved to Chicago…
On the night of October 24, 2019, all of Israel’s television news programs led with the same foreboding report: Israel’s…
Jewish people have faced annihilation ever since Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt more than 3,400 years ago…
“I felt so alone,” my Israeli friend said with tears in her eyes. We had just finished a delicious Shabbat meal in her home with her family when…
At a “Thank God for Israel” event on an American university campus a few years ago, a young Jewish rabbi accosted me after I spoke…
Do you believe in miracles? It’s a simple question, but the answer has far-reaching implications. Two people groups we’d expect to believe in miracles are…
I witnessed an attempt to reframe theology during our Canadian Friends of Israel Prophecy Conference…
Elijah and Elisha were among Israel’s most important prophets. Some people confuse them, but they were extremely different men…
Some people spend a lifetime trying to acquire a great name or leave a great legacy. There is a special woman in the Bible…
She was merely a little Jewish girl. Yet God in His sovereignty positioned her where her faith and grace would touch the highest echelons of military power…
WAR. The very word conjures up horrific images of mass destruction, fleeing innocents, pain, and suffering. But another dimension of warfare exists…
Two things I feel like I’ve known about since the day I was born are the Holocaust and the State of Israel. Some people feel these entities are unrelated…
Unless you’ve lived in a cave for the last four years, you probably know 2020 is an important presidential election year…
The air was cool, a hint of dampness pervading it. I stood huddled with my Jewish friends. In front of us lay a massive mound of gray ash…
I recently had a horrible dream. I was lost, very far from home, and nothing looked familiar. I felt anxious, afraid…
On a radio call-in show some years ago, a listener asserted the world “would be better off without Jews.” Another listener called in…
The suggestion provoked a small eruption. I made it some years ago at a family gathering of my grown children and their families…
Those of you who’ve read my book, The Search, know how much I loved and respected my late mother-in-law. Miss Thelma, as we called her…
“Where were you on Christmas?” The unexpected question from U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to Elena Kagan…
Each December my family and I look forward to the beautiful decorations, wonderful Christmas carols, and the many…
Few subjects pique our interest more than the afterlife. What happens to us when we die? Many people speculate they’ll have a more fulfilling existence beyond…
When you arrive in heaven, Saint Peter will greet you at the pearly gates with your eternal itinerary. You’ll receive your wings and a halo, take a seat on your white fluffy cloud…
When my twin brother, a minister of the gospel, was dying from cancer last year, we were all praying God would somehow push back the awful disease…
Over the years I’ve had many people tell me doctrine isn’t important. What matters, they say, is that you love Jesus. I’ll never dispute the importance of loving Jesus. But the apostle Paul spent…
We believe God is one being in three coequal, coeternal persons. This short statement expresses the Christian definition of the Trinity, or the triunity of the Godhead…
We believe all human beings are sinners (Rom. 3:23), possessing active sin natures that result in our physical and spiritual deaths…
We believe Jesus was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit and was born to a virgin. The virgin birth is a crucial doctrine of the Christian faith…
We believe the unconditional covenant God made with Abraham is still in force today, and God will not cancel it. God made the unconditional covenant with Abram (Abraham), recorded in Genesis 15…
We believe everyone who ever lived, including unbelievers, will be bodily resurrected from the dead and receive a new, immortal body. However, not everyone will spend eternity enjoying immortality…
Every now and then, the Lord brings someone into your life who changes everything for you. I met Rennie and Ellie Showers 33 years ago when I was a student at Word of Life Bible Institute…
As a frequent traveler to Israel, I know enough to go to a specially designated area for taxis located outside the terminal at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv…
Without any announcement, the prophet Elijah appeared in Israel and boldly confronted his generation with a strong warning from God…
The scorching sun beat down on Obadiah as he walked the arid path, each step sending a swirl of dust upward…
It’s so important to teach the younger generation. Elijah mentored Elisha for almost eight years. Then Elisha made an unusual request…
Elijah has always been a bit of a puzzle. An iconic figure among the Old Testament prophets, he appears center stage, bigger than life—and then disappears…
“When that plane touches down at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv,” someone told me recently, “I know I’m in a country that’s a miracle…
For centuries, Jewish people have been asking themselves, “Who is a Jew?” Today a new wrinkle has developed, and it involves Christians…
Many of our readers have asked us what life is like in Israel, especially for Jewish believers in Jesus. So we asked Meno Kalisher to answer a few questions for us…
Modern Israel is a miracle. When Mark Twain visited there in the 1800s, he left thinking it was the most miserable place on the face of the earth…
Many Americans scratch their heads trying to figure out Israel’s political system. Here’s an overview of it from someone who truly understands it…
What do you do when you have no place to go for Shabbat? That’s when the Lone Soldier Center in Memory of Michael Levin becomes a lifesaver—in more ways than one…
What would you do if someone asked you, “What’s the big deal about the resurrection?” That was the question a talk-show host asked a guest many years ago. The guest, a professing Christian…
A friend of mine told me a story recently that I think you’ll appreciate. A few years ago, her daughter Andi attended an event at Disney World that called for audience participation…
People visiting Israel during the annual Purim celebration in March, when masses of costumed Israelis joyously parade through the streets, might liken the event to…
Being a Christian has never been easy. We find ourselves at odds with the world. More often than not, our values, ethics, and morals directly conflict with those held by the majority. The reality is that…
Jesus Christ’s resurrection is the heartbeat of Christianity. Though most denominations have theological differences, one core truth binds the whole lot together: the belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ…
Without the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, believers have not been forgiven, believing loved ones who died are lost forever, and Christians live miserable lives. In fact, Christians live…
Both of my children came to know the Lord at age four. I’ve heard some preachers say children can’t get saved that young, but I beg to differ. It depends on the child and, of course, on God…
Nostalgia. That’s the emotion fans of the iconic 1960s TV series Star Trek feel when they hear the words live long and prosper. The character of Mr. Spock…
Everybody loves a good story. God made us that way so He could instruct us in truth and illustrate it through the people whose lives are recorded in the Bible. Their stories show us, rather than tell us, how to live…
During the closing period of the judges, the Israelites embraced wicked beliefs in their worship and view of God. God had confirmed Samuel as His spokesman and true prophet, but the Israelites refused to obey….
I have many fond memories of my mother from my childhood, but there is one memory that is far from fond. I still get a knot in the pit of my stomach when I think about it. When I was around 11 years old, we were…
Disobedience to God can drastically change a person’s life. King Saul’s disobedience dramatically altered both his life and his kingship. As a consequence for transgressing into the priestly office…
When my younger daughter was about 12, she took figure skating lessons. She got pretty good, too. Since we were always at the rink about two hours, I’d bring work with me. One day a girl who sometimes skated with my daughter sat down beside me…
This Christmas season, as we gather in our churches to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and sing the carols of Christmas, we no doubt will sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” one of the most beloved hymns of all time…
Birth announcements are exciting. Parents share the news first with family, then with close friends, and later with the community. In the first century, however, it was unthinkable to send birth announcements to the poor and to those who held lower-class occupations, like shepherds…
I have some Christian friends who do not celebrate Christmas. They object to the many pagan traditions that have crept into the holiday and argue that Jesus was not even born on December 25. I don’t disagree. They are quite correct…
For more than 50 years, Charles M. Schulz’s animated classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, has touched millions of television viewers. In it, Charlie complains, “I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy…
King Herod was a complex man. He was a brilliant builder and politician, yet a ruthless and brutal tyrant. He makes a brief appearance in Scripture as the cold-blooded killer of baby boys in Bethlehem and surrounding areas…
Why are so many people willing to believe a lie? They would rather believe they evolved from monkeys than that they were created by almighty God, who loves them. They would rather believe there’s no such thing as absolute truth and that the Bible is nothing more than fables and myths….
If you hold an American passport and were born in Jerusalem, this might be the time to get your document updated. Perhaps now, 70 years after Israel gained its independence, the U.S. State Department will finally print “Jerusalem, Israel” on your passport…