From the Editor Jul/Aug 2019
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…
CHRISTIAN LIVING
Inside View Jul/Aug 2019
I awoke in Jerusalem on April 5 to learn my uncle, Dr. Renald E. Showers, was called home to glory. As I reflected on Rennie’s life and the family stories I heard growing up…
Remembering Rennie Showers (1935–2019)
News of the passing of renowned theologian Dr. Renald (Rennie) Showers in April generated a massive outpouring of condolences…
Q: Should Christians Always Obey Civil Government?
God instituted civil government in the Noahic Covenant after the universal flood (Gen. 9:6, 8–17) to protect human life and…
Passing the Mantle
It’s so important to teach the younger generation. Elijah mentored Elisha for almost eight years. Then Elisha made an unusual request…
‘I Will Send You Elijah’
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…
The Restrainer of Evil
While establishing the church in Thessalonica, the apostle Paul personally instructed believers concerning future prophecy…
Pay It Forward
Have you ever heard of International Pay It Forward Day? Every April 28, in an attempt to transform the world for the better, a global movement encourages people to…
A Look at Life in Israel
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…
Q: What is the sin leading to death?
The apostle John told Christians, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him…
The Great Deception
It’s easy to become discouraged and misled by false reports. That’s why it is so important to be able to discern between truth and error…
An Appeal for Spontaneity
In the short, handwritten note from the apostle Paul to his friend Philemon, we step into a captivating story of grace and divine providence…
From the Editor Mar/Apr 2019
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…
Comforting the Persecuted
The apostle Paul made a practice of visiting churches he had planted and providing pastoral care and counsel. But sometimes opposition to him and his ministry made the task impossible…
The Godly Mailman
It was time—time for the runaway slave to return home to face whatever consequences awaited him. He had been away long enough. Onesimus was a fugitive. He had fled to Rome where he…
From the Editor Jan/Feb 2019
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…
Christian Persecution Jan/Feb 2019
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…
From Bitterness to Joy
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…
The Gold-Box Idol
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….
A Hearing Heart
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…
‘Bring Up Samuel for Me’
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…
Samuel’s Big Disappointment
The expectation of great potential can be exciting. It certainly is for athletes and professional sports teams, as each new season dawns. Many a manager has left training camp saying to himself…
Introduction: The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
One of the apostle Paul’s earliest ministries was in the city of Thessalonica. Because his heart was to “the Jew first” (Rom. 1:16), he preached the gospel first in the…
Trash to Treasure
The roomful of men sat transfixed as they listened several years ago to the story of the elderly gentleman standing before them. The stark concrete room alternately filled with waves of laughter and…
God is Faithful
Paul’s concluding words in this epistle are extremely important. He revisited prominent themes of prayer, sanctification, the Lord’s faithfulness, spiritual commitment, and preparedness for the Rapture of the church…
The Bucket List
If today were your last day on Earth, would you be satisfied with your life? Many people who have unclear answers to such a question create bucket lists. Making a bucket list has become a popular exercise to help define what constitutes a satisfactory life…
Christian Persecution Sep/Oct 2018
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…
Church Life
The apostle Paul often addressed the church as a family. He called members brothers and sisters and encouraged them to love one another. To function properly, a church—like a family—must have structure, order, respect for its members…
Cultivating Contentment
A story is often told about a Jewish man in Hungary who complained to his rabbi, “Life is unbearable. Nine of us are living in one room. What can I do?” The rabbi answered, “Take your goat into the room with you. Do as I say and return in a week…”
The Christian’s Life
“At the Rapture,” wrote Bible scholar John F. Walvoord, “Christians will see their loved ones who died and preceded them to heaven. It will also end their earthly problems, and they will be forever with the Lord.”1 For these reasons, the Rapture has been a…
Deciding to Trust God
I recently read about a man who was flying an airliner over Tennessee. He told his copilot, “You see that lake down there? When I was a boy, I used to sit in a rowboat on that lake and watch the airplanes soar across the sky and wish I were up there. Now I’m a pilot…
Using the New World of Connectivity
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….
The Day of the Lord
1 Thessalonians 5:1–3: In 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, we saw that Christians (both dead and living) will be raptured to be with Christ when He appears to receive His church. But what about those left behind?…
Unexpected Grace
Harry was one of those unforgettable characters. We were climbing a mountain during a thunderstorm when he said he needed to tell me something…
Someone to Believe In
My wife enjoys watching Antiques Roadshow, a popular television program where appraisers provide the monetary value of something you may have had in your attic…
When We Hurt
Easter was the next morning. I was at church, tired but rejoicing after three packed-out presentations of our church’s passion play that weekend. Hundreds of people…
A Life That Pleases God
1 Thessalonians 4:9–12: How to live a life that pleases God is the overriding theme of the first 12 verses of 1 Thessalonians 4. Verses 1–8 speak about sexual purity, and verses 9–12 provide practical instruction on how to maintain right relationships with…
Distracted Living
A new year has begun, and new prospects are on the horizon. The Bible challenges us to spend our time wisely and avoid wasting opportunities: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because…
On the Judah Road
Sometimes we make one decision that changes our lives forever. That’s what Ruth did, and God blessed her. I’d like to tell you about a girl who grew up 30 centuries ago and made a decision so momentous it not only secured her place in history but…
Living in Moral Purity
1 Thessalonians 4:1–8: Some people find it difficult to live for Christ. But God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us, and we need to learn how to yield our lives to His control. In the final two chapters of 1 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul…
Christmas Bedlam
For many of us, Christmas is far from the “silent night” and “peace on earth” we sing about. Copious community events, school concerts, and church programs fill the season.
Coming of Age
They may have been children 20 years ago, But today they are posed to take over the church. What is the best way to impart sound doctrine to the generation that is coming of age?
Why They Care
Millennials are a highly justice-oriented generation. They empathize with the downtrodden, embrace social-justice causes, and have massive potential to do good. But what is their motivation, and is it enough?
Coaching the ‘Participation Trophy’ Generation
Baby Boomers were taught, “Play to win.” But they taught their children, “Play to have fun.” How do we now teach this generation hungry for purpose to contend for their faith?
Bible Museum Opens Soon in Washington
If you love God’s Word and Israel, you won’t want to miss the Museum of the Bible’s grand opening in November in Washington, DC. Located only three blocks from the United States Capitol Building and…
Paul’s Encouraging Word
1 Thessalonians 3:6–13: Greatly relieved by Timothy’s encouraging report that the young Thessalonian church was not wavering in its faith despite persecution, the apostle Paul penned this letter to the Thessalonians.
Do I Have To?
Do I have to? Those four little words frequently crossed my mind and sometimes my lips in response to my parents’ directives during the formative years of my life. The inevitable consequences and pressure to conform…
From the Editor Jul/Aug 2017
Every Wednesday, we have chapel at The Friends of Israel headquarters. It’s a wonderful time when we pray together, hear a brief message, and sometimes connect via Skype with one of our workers overseas who…
A Trail of Carcasses
Camped at Sinai for 12 months, the fledgling nation of Israel received God’s Law, constructed His Tabernacle, and established the Levitical priesthood. It had great dreams and high expectations of entering a land that flowed “with milk and honey” as it set out from…
Fiasco at Kadesh Barnea
After traveling through the desert from bondage in Egypt, the children of Israel embarked on the last leg of the journey to their new home: the land of Canaan—the land God had promised them. With the end of the trek in sight…
Rebels Without a Cause
It didn’t go well for Korah and crew when they complained against God. In fact, the ended up in what people today might call a giant sinkhole. Anyone who knows a little Yiddish probably knows the word kvetch. It means complain and whine habitually.
The Covert Conspiracy
Many things happen behind the scenes that affect our lives and the history of nations. The Israelites fell prey to the enemy’s devices, and it cost them dearly. If you think you know everything going on around you, think again. Life is not always what it seems. Sometimes circumstances are orchestrated…
The Desert Complaint Department
A lesson in what NOT to do–even though God is always faithful. Complaining is a flaw of sinners. It is part of humanity’s sinful condition. It is part of humanity’s sinful condition. We grumble about long lines, prices, people…
A Minister’s Encouragement
1 Thessalonians 3:1–5: Birthing is not easy. That’s why it’s called labor. Paul felt personally responsible for the Thessalonian church, which he had birthed through his ministry. He cared for the babes in Christ there with the gentle love…
Hide-and-Seek
I recently heard someone sarcastically compare man’s relationship to God to a cruel game of hide-and-seek where God supposedly hides slightly out of reach and demands to be found. Man is “it”—seeking the ever-elusive God but never able to find or please Him.
Who is This Person?
What if you looked in a mirror and were unable to recognize yourself? Unfortunately, this type of thing happens. Sometimes traumatic brain injuries or diseases make it difficult for people to recognize faces, even their own. The condition is known as…
Ministering With Affection
1 Thessalonians 2:7–12The church is a family. People enter it by being born into it spiritually. And, as in a family, all members have responsibilities; and their commitment to and love for one another are necessary to create…
Open the Door!
Years ago, young people were always afraid of being picked last. The humiliation of standing alone while your peers pondered which team was going to be stuck with you was devastating. Even being picked second to last was…
From the Editor Jan/Feb 2017
This year marks the 75th anniversary of Israel My Glory, and we plan to run vintage articles by Victor Buksbazen, the first editor of the magazine and first executive director of The Friends of Israel.
Inside View Jan/Feb 2017
Sitting around a table in Warsaw, Poland, last summer, I listened as our Friends of Israel staff there shared how God worked in their lives to bring them to faith in Christ and eventually into Jewish ministry.
Tapestry of Grace
Why did so many people in the Bible do such bad things? Was it okay that God’s people had multiple wives?” a newly saved young mom asked me. I told her the Bible portrays humanity’s sinfulness honestly, but its record of such behavior does not…
The Man Whom God Knighted
There is no other biblical personality that has been made more the butt of harsh and unfair criticism than that of the patriarch Jacob, one of the ancestors of the Jewish race. He is depicted as the cunning supplanter…
Ministering with Integrity
1 Thessalonians 2:1–6: The apostle Paul’s abrupt departure from Thessalonica brought accusations that he was a religious charlatan preaching for financial gain and personal honor. If the accusations went unanswered, they…
God is Up to Something
The scattered stones and ruins of the ancient city of Philippi silently lay in the bright Grecian sun. Standing there, as I scanned the landscape around me, the organized rubble seemed to shout, “This is the place! This is the place…
Corrie’s Courage
A pastor’s visit to the Ten Boom house reminds us how the faith of one Christian family preserved many Jewish lives during the Holocaust. We were in the last room on our tour through the Corrie ten Boom Museum…
Didn’t Know Who You Were
The wonderful Christmas season will soon be here. It’s a time to celebrate the divinely supernatural, when God did something for humanity that is so spectacular it has to be experienced personally to be understood.
‘For My Name’s Sake’
I am Charlie Perry’s great grandson. That fact may not mean much today, but in my small hometown many years ago, it meant plenty. Charles H. Perry was a man of impeccable integrity…
The Thessalonians’ Testimony
1 Thessalonians 1:9–10: When the Thessalonians received Jesus Christ as their Savior, they experienced a thrilling transformation. They were completely delivered from the darkness and depravity of paganism and anxiously…
7 Things I Learned About Dealing with Officials
I was fully prepared to breeze over a July 14 article in theguardian.com headlined “Ghostbusters in line for China ban due to supernatural theme.” But I read it, and I’m glad I did…
From the Editor Sep/Oct 2016
Have you ever heard of the Yazoo land scandal of 1795? Apparently, it is considered “the most corrupt deal in American history,” according to historynewsnetwork.org…
The Peter Principle
What do you do when the Bible says one thing and the government says another? Follow the principle the apostle Peter gave us. A significant parade of years has passed since my grammar school days…
Rejoicing Over Salvation
1 Thessalonians 1:5–8: The apostle Paul did not preach on the power of positive thinking to the Thessalonians. He did not use skillful oratory, philosophical arguments, clever expressions, or…
Recycling History
Israel’s wise King Solomon, with years of world-watching behind him, concluded, “That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9)…
Thankful for the Thessalonians
1 Thessalonians 1:2–4: When kindness is shown to someone, the usual response is to say thank you. No New Testament writer other than Paul expressed thankfulness to his fellow Christians…
Liberty, Love, and Life With Christ Conclusion
During its formative years, the church was entirely Jewish, as Jewish people by the thousands recognized Jesus as their long-promised Messiah. But by the end of the apostle Paul’s first missionary journey…
Liberty, Love, and Life With Christ Part Four
Christians are to honor God’s holiness by keeping His commandments. But what about gray areas where the Bible is silent? In those cases, followers of Jesus must not offend their consciences or those of other believers…
God’s Way
Youcef Nadarkhani, 38, is an Iranian-Christian pastor. He spent three years in prison and was sentenced to death by hanging on charges of apostatizing from Islam and evangelizing Muslims. Although released in September 2012, he was…
Why We Believe
Every year Christians pause to remember an event that changed history. Whether you call it Easter or Resurrection Sunday, it is a day of rejoicing, when we gather together in churches around the…
The Twisted Cross
I was in 10th grade U.S. History class when we got to the chapter on World War II and learned about Hitler and the Nazis. To me, the Second World War was just a misty history that happened…
Liberty, Love, and Life with Christ Part Three
Christian liberty is a gift from God. Scripture says Christians are free to practice whatever God’s moral absolutes do not prohibit (Gal. 2:4; 5:1), providing they do not violate their own consciences (Rom. 14:22–23)…
Vessels of Clay Romans 9:1–29
Four thousand years ago, God called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees (southern Iraq) to the land of Canaan (Israel) and made him an awesome promise…
A Plea From a Millennial
A few miles from my boyhood home, just off a dusty country road, sits a little orange brick church. The tattered curtains sway in and out…
Confronting Church Conflict
3 John 5–14: Third John focuses on three men, two of whom—Gaius and Diotrephes—were church leaders. Gaius was a committed servant, full of love and truth, and given to hospitality…
Liberty, Love, and Life With Christ Part Two
Christians should live according to God’s universal guidelines of conduct through the power of the Holy Spirit. Part one examined the fi rst guideline. Here are three more.
How to Walk and When to Stand
Since June 26, when five Supreme Court justices issued their majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, the millennia-old idea of religious freedom in America has…
He Still Seeks and Saves
Tears streamed down Sandy Yao’s face as she stood by her mother’s bed. God felt so far away. She had trusted His Son as her Savior. She believed God had opened the door…
A Beloved Servant
3 John 1–4: Churches are like families: full of members with differing personalities, dispositions, and temperaments. Some members are friendly, loving, truthful, generous, and hospitable…
Liberty, Love, and Life With Christ Part One
Have you ever wondered why genuine Christians differ in their opinions on the morality of certain conduct? Some sincere Christians believe…
Inside View Sep/Oct 2015
Do you ever feel like you want to do something to help Israel in addition to praying? That was how we felt when we started the Israel Relief Fund many years ago.
From the Editor Sep/Oct 2015
A few months ago, the husband of one of my dearest friends died of a heart attack while eating lunch. One minute he was alive; the next, he wasn’t. My friend told me the ambulance arrived…
Psalm 121: Our Security
Imagine a Jewish father singing to his children, “My help comes from the Lᴏʀᴅ, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber…
Psalm 125: Our Protector
Mayhem is everywhere. This motto is used by one of America’s biggest insurance companies. The television commercial portrays “mayhem” in the form of a man running amok…
Psalm 127: Our Provider
Situated at the midpoint of the Psalms of Ascents, Psalm 127 is didactic, or instructional, and is attributed to King Solomon. Confronting the reality of daily existence, it motivates readers to…
Psalm 128: Our Source
A steady stream of families paraded across the stones and steps that marked the path to the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City. I sat nearby as they carried canopies, banners, and balloons…
Psalm 129: Our Guardian
From their sojourn in Egypt to their days in Europe during Hitler’s Third Reich to today, the Jewish people have been afflicted. Yet against all odds, this tiny group of people…
Psalm 130: Our Redeemer
If there is one thing we all share, it’s trouble. My Jewish friends often use the Yiddish word tsuris. I remember one day in 2010 that dumped a tremendous amount of tsuris on me. I learned…
Psalm 131: Our Hope
Psalm 131 is a song of humility. This Song of Ascents was composed by King David. Though one of the shortest psalms, it is also one of the most poignant. David composed it while experiencing severe challenges and inner turmoil, perhaps when…
Psalm 132: Our Dwelling
Psalm 132 is the longest of all the Songs of Ascents and focuses on worship, which the nation of Israel modeled after the experience of its greatest king and worship leader…
Psalm 133: Our Unity
Hine ma tov u’ma-nayim, shevet ach-im gam ya-chad. These Hebrew words are familiar to anyone who attends synagogue regularly. “Behold, how good and how pleasant…
Psalm 134: Our Blessing
When God blesses something, He bestows on it life and goodness. During creation, God only blessed living things; He did not bless the sun, moon, or stars. After He created Adam and Eve…