Inspirational

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From the Editor Nov/Dec 2025

Panic covered my young daughter’s face. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the monkey bars above her head, her legs dangling beneath her…

Inside View - Clock Gears

Inside View Nov/Dec 2025

In my 13 years leading The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry (FOI), I have enjoyed communicating my insights and perspectives…

Faith for Living

Becoming a Bondslave

How do you respond to surprises? A late-night knock on the front door, a sudden job termination, or an unexpected marriage proposal…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Nov/Dec 2025

There are many stiff-necked people in Israel (Isa. 6:9–10). But the Lord calls us who follow Jesus to go to them so they may hear with their own ears…

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From the Editor Sep/Oct 2025

As is practically a birthright for American boys, I grew up watching superheroes on TV. Even now, I look fondly on those shows from decades past that portrayed a…

Faith for Living

To Know Him and Be Like Him

If you knew what it would take to spread the gospel message throughout the known world in the 1st century AD and you could…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Sep/Oct 2025

I often take the bus to Jerusalem. The things I hear on my rides are hard to believe. This week, my wife and I took our seats on the bus next to several ultra-Orthodox…

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From the Editor Jul/Aug 2025

Ebenezer Scrooge hated Christmas. The protagonist of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol eschewed Yuletide cheer to maximize his profits by oppressing his…

‘I Will Bless You’

Not all Jewish people are wealthy. But their collective success is undeniable—and here’s why. I was just getting settled in my dorm room on my move-in day on the campus…

Redeem Your Suffering

Scripture tells us, “Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). Most people in this life suffer, and the apostle…

Faith for Living

A Midnight Song in Philippi

The city of Philippi awoke one morning, unaware that change was coming. It was a bustling Gentile metropolis in the Roman…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Jul/Aug 2025

I often feel like a lamb among wolves (Lk. 10:3) while sharing God’s Word on the streets of Israel. But what I share from the Bible often surprises the people with…

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From the Editor May/Jun 2025

When I was 9 years old, I was a baseball card fanatic. My bedroom boasted binders stuffed full of cards, lined neatly…

The Touch of the Master’s Hand

Whether He uses five loaves and two fish or an “I love Israel” sticker, God skillfully transforms the ordinary into…

Faith for Living

What Happened to the Tikvah?

As the coordinator for the Tikvah Team, The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry’s volunteer network, I am grateful…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold May/Jun 2025

Many people in Israel find no rest because they are too busy speaking against people like me who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ…

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From the Editor Mar/Apr 2025

My daughter, cute and kind with characteristic 3-year-old excitement, often asks me, “Is it time yet?” Whether she’s waiting to go to the park or…

Requirements for Retirement

Is there more to retirement for a Christian than rest and relaxation? I’m a product of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry…

Faith for Living

Malchus’s Encounter With Jesus

Rising in the morning, Malchus didn’t know his time was near. He had no clue his blood would be shed that evening as he shared…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Mar/Apr 2025

We are celebrating Passover here in Israel. Children and their parents happily sing “Avadim Hayinu,” a song with one sentence…

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From the Editor Jan/Feb 2025

In my mind’s eye, I still see it. A familiar field. I was running through it many years ago, feeling strangely uneasy, sensing danger. Suddenly, the ground beneath my…

Inside View - Clock Gears

Inside View Jan/Feb 2025

I once read that the greatest threat to any organization is leadership succession. This statement rings especially true of Christian organizations…

Faith for Living

The Wedding Dress

In 2017, tennis legend Serena Williams drew headlines when she reportedly paid $3.5 million for her wedding dress.1 As of 2023, a wedding gown costs…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Jan/Feb 2025

From time to time, I enjoy long discussions with my Arab neighbors. They often speak to me hatefully. But we who believe in the Lord cannot respond with hate…

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From the Editor Nov/Dec 2024

Christmas is coming! People throughout the world eagerly await this most wonderful time of year. Kids wait impatiently to open gifts, hoping to receive the…

The Legion of Martyrs

In the year AD 286, the elite Theban Roman legion of more than 6,600 Egyptian youths was dispatched to Gaul for action. The amazing fact about this…

Faith for Living

Learning to Get Out of God’s Way

After the children of Israel crossed over the Jordan River on dry ground, the Lord directed Joshua to enlist 12 men, one from…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Nov/Dec 2024

Christmas is coming soon. So, many of the ultra-Orthodox tell me, “Have a great birthday!” They mean to insult me because they know I believe in Christ…

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From the Editor Sep/Oct 2024

I met my lovely wife, Morgan, while we served together at a Christian summer camp. Within a few short days of joking and bonding over chasing energetic kids around…

Faith for Living

Are You Blessing the World?

In October 2000, two Israel Defense Forces reservists accidentally entered the Palestinian city of Ramallah…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Sep/Oct 2024

I recently had an encounter that was hard even for me to believe. But as we say here in Israel, “When God wills it, anything is possible…

Elwood McQuaid: In Loving Memory

For each generation, the Lord raises up the right leader for the times. That was certainly true of Elwood McQuaid…

Faith for Living

Giving Thanks for the Unseen

Young children’s prayers are often sweet and simple. Many of us spoke such prayers during our own childhoods…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Jul/Aug 2024

Many elderly people in Israel go door to door collecting money for blind children. Recently, I heard a knock on my door. When I opened it, two kind, elderly, ultra-Orthodox men…

Conquering our Kvetching

My beloved mother was a five-star kvetch. This Yiddish term describes a habitual complainer—and my mother was…

Faith for Living

When the Walk Becomes a Crawl

Who among us hasn’t experienced both the mountaintops and gullies of life? Sometimes we know unspeakable joy, and other…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold May/Jun 2024

My Arab neighbors often come to my home to speak about spiritual matters. When they cannot answer my questions, they tell me they will…

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From the Editor Mar/Apr 2024

I disobeyed my parents many times as a child. They were habitually gracious in their admonition. But on one occasion, I misbehaved so severely that…

Inside View - Clock Gears

Inside View Mar/Apr 2024

October 7, 2023, was a wake-up call for many Christians unfamiliar with Israel’s role in God’s plan of redemption. Those who think God has…

Why Do You Love Israel?

Picture this: A Jewish man who has embraced Jesus as his Messiah waves the flag of Israel and sings…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Mar/Apr 2024

Though we seek peace with our neighbors, we know it will not come easily. They call themselves righteous Jews while they tell me to keep quiet…

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From the Editor Jan/Feb 2024

We have now witnessed the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust. Israel will never be the same after October 7, 2023…

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We Knew This Would Happen

For nearly two decades, The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry (FOI) has looked at the Israel-Hamas conflict through the…

Faith for Living

Faith Check

Every January 1, gym memberships, health foods, self-improvement plans, time-scheduling charts, and Bible-reading programs are in popular demand…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Jan/Feb 2024

This week I went to the hospital for a doctor’s appointment. While there, I saw some of the hospital workers who remembered what I had shared…

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From the Editor Nov/Dec 2023

Each December, I begin formulating a plan to read my Bible for the following year. In past years, I jumped into Genesis feeling energized…

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Tidings of Great Joy

The Christmas season has arrived. My family is busy decorating the house, untangling the Christmas lights, and picking out the tree. Of course, my kids’ wish lists…

Faith for Living

The Beauty of Gratitude

My son Brian received his first pair of eyeglasses when he was 11 years old. As he tentatively tried them on…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Nov/Dec 2023

Many immigrants live in the neighborhoods around us. Most of them have come from Russia. When we celebrated the Feast of Hanukkah recently…

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From the Editor Sep/Oct 2023

Hymns have a unique staying power. If you grew up singing hymns in your church, I’m sure you can attest to this fact. The sweet words of these songs…

Virtual Reality Goggles

Dying to Live

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…

Faith for Living

The Help of His Countenance

A 5-year-old girl was enjoying a picnic with her family one day when she noticed a cluster of older girls yelling nearby.

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Sep/Oct 2023

People from nations all over the world come to visit Israel. It is written in Isaiah 34:1, “Come near, you nations, to hear” and in Isaiah 49:6…

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From the Editor Jul/Aug 2023

American pastor Andy Stanley stated in a 2018 sermon, “Peter, James, [and] Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures…

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‘Moshiach Is Here!’

“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’…

Faith for Living

Under the Shelter of His Wings

“You’ve got cancer.” The doctor’s words felt like a sucker punch. Surely he must have gotten my lab results mixed up…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Jul/Aug 2023

The ultra-Orthodox often find new ways to attract new followers. Recently, they hosted a big, public meeting with a well-known rabbi. Like many rabbis, he felt he could convince…

Doing the Right Thing

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…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold May/Jun 2023

We live very close to our Arab neighbors, so we see each other almost every day. A few months ago I had a long conversation with some of them…

Inside View - Clock Gears

Inside View Mar/Apr 2023

At our farewell dinner for our Up to Jerusalem tour to Israel in October, I was touched by the comments of our Israeli guide. We honored him for skillfully leading…

Faith for Living

How Do You Spell “Love”?

The “Joy” ship—what a misnomer! I thought. I had reluctantly returned to my unfittingly named Norwegian cruise ship…

Don’t Get Too Comfortable!

If we knew years ago what the world would look like today, we probably wouldn’t have signed up for what we face now…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Mar/Apr 2023

It is written in Jeremiah 6:14, “‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.” It is also written, “I will give you assured peace in this place” (14:13)…

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From the Editor Jan/Feb 2023

As a child, I asked my dad, “Why didn’t Jewish people fight the Nazis?” He replied, “They couldn’t fight. You don’t understand.” Today, I understand better…

Inside View - Clock Gears

Inside View Jan/Feb 2023

A few years ago, a friend sent me a page from the December 27, 1937, issue of Life magazine. In it was an article titled “Christmas in Naziland…

Finishing Without Regrets

When the apostle Paul sat in a cold, dark Roman prison, he chose his final words carefully as he took inventory of his life…

Faith for Living

Aidan’s Crucible

I barely recognized him. My grandson was no longer the 19-year-old kid I knew. He had lost weight and was lean, angular, and fit and carried himself with confidence…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Jan/Feb 2023

The ultra-Orthodox are always looking for 10 men to form a minyan, a quorum necessary for synagogue prayer. So I wait outside the synagogue, watching them call people…

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From the Editor Nov/Dec 2022

Christmas is around the corner. ’Tis the season for almost every made-for-television movie to overload us with house-decorating, tree-lighting, cookie-baking, and…

Inside View - Clock Gears

Inside View Nov/Dec 2022

Many believers today see no value in studying prophecy, particularly end-times prophecy. They say it serves no purpose and is difficult to understand…

The Fallacy of Fictionalism

Scott Hershovitz is a philosophy professor and director of law and ethics at the University of Michigan…

Apples of Gold

Apples of Gold Nov/Dec 2022

Through God’s miracles, the Jewish people have survived; and now we live in the Promised Land. At this time of year, we enjoy celebrating Hanukkah…

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Something is Wrong

Pro-choice activists are fuming over the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared abortion is not a constitutional right, overturning its…