The Friends of Israel in Action Sep/Oct 2023
From a rabbi dressed as Spider-Man to an Elvis impersonator at an Israeli wedding, some interesting characters have…
From a rabbi dressed as Spider-Man to an Elvis impersonator at an Israeli wedding, some interesting characters have…
Marcus is dead. His lifeless body lies on a hospital bed. The doctors attending him look down on his corpse. Only minutes ago they were busily monitoring his vitals…
This past winter was one of intense hardship for civilians in Ukraine. As the war between Ukraine and Russia has raged on…
“I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the moshiach [Messiah], and though he may tarry, still I await him every day.” So states the Jewish sage Maimonides’…
The Lord has been gracious to The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry (FOI) as we seek to proclaim biblical truth about Israel, the Messiah, and God’s Chosen People…
We often hear the same questions asked at our Friends of Israel (FOI) prophecy conferences…
Within hours of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s midgame cardiac arrest in January, sports writers, reporters, and analysts around the country prefaced their remarks with…
Publishing is an interesting industry. We must do everything very far in advance to meet our deadlines. I’m writing this column on December 2, 2022, but you’re reading…
Halina Ostik, who fought in the Polish Resistance during World War II, smuggled Bibles into the country under the…
We enter 2023 thanking God that more than 90 people have graduated from our Friends of Israel (FOI) Bridges program…
A 28-year-old Christian in eastern Uganda has died from head injuries sustained in an attack by Muslim extremists in July…
Last spring, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) telephoned Tim Munger, a Church Ministries representative…
In June, Islamic terrorists again stormed a church in Nigeria, massacring more than 50 Christians who were peacefully…
The Australian ministry of The Friends of Israel (FOI) has grown remarkably in recent years. Many of you know Deane Woods…
It’s official: The United Nations (UN) has formally accepted the concept of “Islamophobia,” a move that will…
College campuses are notorious for their hostility toward the things of God. Such animosity deters some people…
Islamic extremists stopped an evangelist in Uganda on his way to participate in a debate about Christianity and Islam and beat him…
Nobody has enjoyed COVID-19 lockdowns. But even when the government makes leaving home impossible, God can still take…
Muslims who kidnapped a Christian pastor in northern Nigeria killed him in December after receiving ransom payments…
The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry (FOI) has launched an exciting new work called Encounter to expose Christians to the…
Giants have always fascinated me. That’s probably why I reacted so quickly when Laura, my administrative assistant, asked me…
If you’ve ever been called a mensch, consider it a great compliment. The Yiddish word is used to describe someone of noble character…
A 14-year-old Christian in eastern India clung to life for six weeks before succumbing to severe injuries…
In God’s grace, He delights in using us to make known His kindness that leads men and women to repentance (Rom. 2:4)…
As the world watched videos and images of people trying to escape the Sharia regime the Taliban is imposing in Afghanistan…
There would be no Christmas without Hanukkah. That’s a fact! Hanukkah commemorates God’s divine…
A house-church in Vietnam may face criminal prosecution and has faced community hatred due to COVID-19…
Polish nationalism and the place of Jewish people in Polish society have taken some troubling turns recently…
As part of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry’s mission to teach about Israel and the Jewish people, our North American…
NAIROBI, Kenya—A mosque leader had men rape three teenaged relatives of a church pastor in western Uganda…
It was a beautifully mild, sunny, spring day when our field representative Dr. Juan Carlos Espinoza set up his table in a local park…
Many Americans are still reeling from the results of the 2020 presidential election. According to two surveys, between 76 and…
New Delhi, India—Hindu extremists attacked a group of tribal Christians preparing to celebrate the New Year…
God is not hampered by borders! Here in The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry’s International Department…
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…
I was born into a Christian home and grew up learning about God and His Word. As an 8-year-old in summer Bible school…
It is with both sadness and joy that we announce the homegoing of our dear friend and coworker, Bob Duarte, who entered the presence of the Lord…
Uganda—The Muslim husband of a 38-year-old mother of three beat his wife unconscious…
Nurith had hit rock bottom in her life. Her husband had suffered a severe stroke, and she was dealing with loneliness…
“I don’t talk politics, and I don’t talk religion!” Ninety-year-old Ruth stood 4 feet 10 inches tall in the doorway of her home…
Have you ever wondered if you would be willing to risk your life to save someone else? Many Europeans faced that decision during World War II…
New Delhi, India—Incited by Hindu extremists, thousands of tribal animists in India have driven Christians in…
COVID-19 hasn’t stopped the progress of the gospel in Jerusalem. Our field representative, Meno Kalisher, senior pastor of the…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently declared that his decision to…
Nigeria—From January to mid-May 2020, Muslim terrorists hacked to death at least 620 Christians…
The moment I saw Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee on the neck of George Floyd as Floyd lay facedown, cuffed, and breathless, I knew…
Not only is Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari behind what several international observers are calling a…
April was a terrible month in Nigeria as Muslim Fulani herdsmen again attacked and murdered Christians, including children…
A good friend of mine who is Jewish once told me Jewish history in Christian countries follows a pattern. Initially, Jewish people are welcomed…
The global persecution of Christians has reached unprecedented levels: “260 million Christians experience…
CHINA—As more government officials in China are empowered to close churches and a “social credit” system threatens to…
Muslim Fulani herdsmen kidnapped and killed a pastor’s wife in Nigeria three days after killing a Baptist pastor…
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…
AKWANGA, Nigeria — As a Baptist church member tried to fight off an armed Muslim Fulani herdsman…
Widespread evidence shows that “today, Christians constitute by far the most widely persecuted religion,” according to an interim report…
HYDERABAD, India—Christian persecution has grown much more severe in India, and tribal villagers are being taught that Christianity is anti-Indian…
News of the passing of renowned theologian Dr. Renald (Rennie) Showers in April generated a massive outpouring of condolences…
EGYPT—A Christian mother who was kidnapped and tortured in Egypt for her faith now fears for her daughter and her pastor-husband…
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…
Why should Israelis and American Jews see eye to eye? Americans and Israelis are not alike. They have different concerns, interests, lifestyles, and even a different calendar…
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…
It was troubling to watch the video of Rafi’s Jeep going up in flames, the victim of an incendiary balloon launched in Gaza and carried by the wind into Israel. Within seconds, the entire Jeep was aflame…
They say the tip of an iceberg represents only 10 percent of its volume; the other 90 percent sits quietly below the surface. April 2019 marks 130 years since Adolf Hitler’s birth in Braunau am Inn, the largest town in northern Austria…
EGYPT—The Egyptian government has rejected a proposed bill to remove the religious designation required on ID cards, reflecting the enormity of the discrimination…
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…
In response to the increasing anti-Semitic attacks in France, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed Diaspora Affairs and Education Minister…
I was sitting in a room with approximately 5,000 people last summer in Washington, DC, listening to then U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. She delivered a remarkable speech that reflected on her year and a half at the UN…
Nikki Haley’s departure as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations elated the political Left and saddened those who love Israel. In less than two years, Haley set a new American standard that leaves her successor with big shoes to fill…
PAKISTAN—Authorities in Lahore, Pakistan, continue their refusal to arrest the Muslim hospital officials who killed an innocent Christian man, Sunil Saleem, more than eight months ago…
Pro-Israel students at Columbia University in New York City recently hosted a protest against the school’s “pervasively hostile environment” toward Zionist students…
IRAN—“We told them many times that Jesus is our Lord and you cannot take Him away from us,” Iranian Christian Marziyeh Amirizadeh told the audience at the recent Ministerial to Advance…
“Holocaust memory and Jews are under attack [in Europe],” said Elisha Wiesel, commenting on the recent desecration of the childhood home of his late father, renowned…
After more than a year of warnings, the Trump administration has followed through on a pledge to withdraw the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), calling it a “cesspool of political bias…”
INDIA—India’s Jharkhand state has recently become the sixth state in India to implement a new, draconian “anti-conversion” law that authorities are using to target and imprison Christians under the false accusation of trying to forcibly convert people…
Some Bible critics claim Joseph was the invented hero of an Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) literary drama written years after the purported event. But ancient Egyptian records support the biblical account…
“You are the ammunition for Hamas’s guns; you are the warheads for its missiles,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon told the UN General Assembly when it recently condemned Israel for…
Some things seem almost too absurd to be true. But life is filled with absurdities when it comes to Israel. Do you see the ladder in the photo below? It has leaned against the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem for at least 150 years…
I recently had the privilege of spending several days in Israel with new Jewish arrivals to the land. They varied in age from teens to older adults, but the same theme defined their testimonies. They had an innate desire to return to the land…
Josh Blackman, a law professor at South Texas College of Law and frequent guest lecturer on college campuses, found himself the object of protest at City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law earlier this year. Professor Blackman was…
Saudi Arabia recently granted Air India permission to fly over its territory on new routes to and from Israel. The decision to open Saudi airspace to commercial jets bound for the…
When I was a student at the Hebrew University, Professor Avraham Malamat told our class no camel bones had ever been found from the time of the Patriarchs. The problem, as the professor saw it, was that…
The brutal murder of 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll marks the 11th time in 12 years someone has been viciously killed in France specifically for being Jewish and attests to the alarming rise of…
As I sat in church a few weeks ago, a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time turned around to tell me how cute my grandchildren are. My first thought was, How would you know what my grandchildren look like? They live 600 miles away. And then it dawned on me: Facebook!
Someone who stands before a faucet many times a day scrubbing up for fear of germs and general contamination suffers from mysophobia. The condition, which can lead to extreme anxiety, disrupts normal contact with others…
CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION is the worst it has ever been, according to a recent study by Christian persecution watchdog Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). “In terms of the numbers of people involved, the gravity of the crimes committed…
It rarely snows in Washington, DC. So when the big North American blizzard known as Snowmageddon dumped more than two feet of snow in the U.S. capital in February 2010, shutting down the federal government for an unprecedented four days…
Pastor David Lemming logs onto social media almost every day. He stays in touch with his people by encouraging them with a Bible verse, linking last week’s sermon so they can watch it online, and sometimes giving them a glimpse into the sermon he’s preparing for the following Sunday….
Facebook. YouTube. Instagram. Twitter. For most of us, these sites serve as entertaining outlets where we post pictures, share opinions, and watch videos of cats (so I’m told) or of a deer eating a snowman. (That one was viewed several hundred thousand times.) But for Israel, social-media platforms have become…
Every 83 seconds, someone uploads an anti-Semitic post to social media. In 2016 alone, more than 382,000 anti-Semitic posts appeared on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram1—many of which were never removed—denying the Holocaust; portraying the Jewish people as genetically inferior…
“Abraham never existed, but his cousin did!” said one of my professors during a graduate course on Israel’s early history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He believed Abraham and all the…
KENYA—A group of Somali Muslims recently broke into the home of a Somali Christian widow and brutally attacked her three children in a small Kenyan town…
A friend recently told me, “When I look at all that is happening in this world, I have to believe we’re getting very close to the end.” He was referring to the end of this age when God will begin a new time on Earth that will pave the way for the Messiah.
How would you feel if you discovered your third grader marched to the cafeteria giving the Nazi salute? “The children were standing with their [right] arm[s] out in front of them and the teacher was modeling the position,”…
The Chinese government has begun a renewed crackdown on believers attending unregistered churches and Christian parents taking their children with them to church. Chinese law strictly forbids adults to teach children religion and…
Surveying the current geopolitical landscape can give me a headache. The world is embroiled in a spiritual battle. Right is made to look wrong; wrong is made to look right; security threats loom large; and if we don’t keep our eyes on the Lord…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently Israel will not accept the new, unified Hamas-Fatah government unless Hamas renounces terrorism and acknowledges Israel’s right to exist. “Israel opposes any reconciliation…