ISRAEL'S HISTORY

The Messianic King and His Kingdom

Micah 5:1–15: For centuries, Jewish people have looked for the Messiah to deliver them from Gentile oppression, secure for them the land of Israel…

His Mercy Endureth Forever Part One

A well-known entertainer in Hollywood gave his life to the Lord many years ago. But money, fame, and corruption began to do their work…

Israel: Still a Miracle

The world thought it impossible. But with God, nothing is impossible. And if you don’t believe that fact, you don’t know the history of little Israel.

The War of Independence

When the British received their League of Nations mandate over the Holy Land at the San Remo Conference in 1920, they were told to implement the Balfour Declaration that called for “the establishment…

Who Took Whose Lands?

Although the British were instructed in 1920 to help the Jewish people resettle into land that had been designated for a Jewish national home, they did just the opposite. Instead of facilitating Jewish…

The Six-Day War

Surrounded by 250,000 enemy soldiers, 2,000 tanks, and 700 jetfighters, Israel again defended herself. The outcome? Another miracle.

Status of Jewish Holy Sites

Under Jordanian occupation (May 28, 1948—June 7, 1967), all Jewish holy sites in East Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria were off-limits to Jews. In East Jerusalem, 58 synagogues were destroyed or desecrated. Jordan built…

When Was the Holy Land an Independent Arab State?

For years Yasser Arafat has referred to Israel as “our country, Palestine” and has talked about retaking the land, “restoring its freedom,” and restoring the State of Palestine with “holy Jerusalem” as its capital…

Looking for Christmas

A dispute raged a few years ago over whether to allow a manger scene in front of a local municipal building. A lady in town reportedly opined, “Isn’t it a shame that we…

Dateline: Jerusalem

The West Bank? The West Bank of what? Subtly slanted journalism is shaping the thinking of people around the globe—and it is not pro-Israel.

The Eyes of Faith Conclusion

My friend’s father had a heart attack in February. Renée told me her dad was in the maternity ward of a hospital, visiting his newborn grandson, when he suddenly slumped over in a chair. Seconds…

Akiva: Ascension to Prominence

Joseph Akiva is known by Jewish people around the world as the famous Rabbi Akiva. Though he lived from A.D. 50 to 135, he is deeply revered among Jews today for his amazing insights…

Micah’s Call for Justice

Micah 3:1-12: In the book of Micah, God holds Judah’s leaders responsible and accountable for their abuse of the underprivileged. Earlier, Micah condemned those who used the nation’s legal system to defraud people of their property…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Sep/Oct 2002

One of the most exciting aspects of a return trip to Israel is seeing the magnificent changes that take place in relatively short periods of time. Riding through the Galilee and Judean hills and seeing…

Judah’s Corrupt Leaders

Micah 2:1-13: God gave the Jewish people the land of Canaan as an everlasting inheritance. However, their uninterrupted possession of it was conditioned on the nation walking in God’s ways and keeping His commandments. Failure…

The Eyes of Faith Part One

I’m from Missouri,” was a popular saying years ago. Often those who said it weren’t from Missouri at all but were expressing skepticism about something. They were saying, “Show me, and I’ll believe.” “Show me…

The Preservation of the Jewish People

The Bible tells us what it will take to destroy the Jewish people. And it tells us when God finally will say to Himself, “I’ve had enough of them!”

The ‘Final Solution’

How does a nation plan genocide? Hitler’s systematic, calculated method will alarm you, even as it confirms the truth of the depravity of man.

A Warning to Judah

Micah 1:1-16: One of the brightest and yet darkest periods of Judah’s history came in the eighth century B.C. Although the prosperity of Uzziah’s kingdom (790–740 B.C.) was still being felt in the days of his son…

Exodus: Ship of Misfortune

The war was over, but the heartache was not. Tired, homeless, and hurting, the Jewish people aboard the Exodus found themselves victims yet again.

Victory in Europe

Great was the rejoicing at the news of Hitler’s defeat. Israel My Glory heralded the victory in this superb account by our former director, Victor Buksbazen.

Home at Last

Israel was reborn and Jewish people were dancing in the streets when this magnificent article appeared in Israel My Glory.

The Miracle of Israel

Israel was still an infant when Victor Buksbazen toured the country and wrote this report, which is amazingly relevant today, fifty-two years later.

The Blight of Anti-Semitism

In the Middle East, Israel occupies a sliver of land 8,019 square miles in area. Her immediate, hostile neighbors occupy 2.2 million square miles—270 times more land than Israel. Yet they want what Israel has…

Five Facts You Should Know About Israel

Have you ever wondered why Jewish people have been scattered throughout the nations of the world more consistently than any other people? Why anti-Semitism persists in rearing its ugly head repeatedly throughout history? Why Nazism…

Deborah A Mother in Israel

Some people are unlikely leaders. On the surface, they appear to lack the distinctives we usually associate with greatness. David, for example, was a shepherd boy, a dreamer, who wrote songs and played a harp—qualities…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Jan/Feb 2002

According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Cabinet minister Dan Meridor hailed a recent Palestinian statement as “a major breakthrough.” Apparently the Palestinian Authority (PA) has offered to resettle Arab refugees in the

Who Weeps for Hagar’s Children?

Two children, two promises. The road has not been easy for Isaac’s seed, but neither has it been a bed of roses for the descendants of Ishmael.

Israel’s Quest for Peace

What happened to the Oslo “peace train”? Did it even leave the station? Ride the rails of inquiry for a look at why there still is no peace in the Middle East.

Israel’s Internal Battle

Religious vs. Secular. Likud vs. Labor. Hawks vs. Doves. For a country fighting to stay alive, little Israel has more than its share of domestic troubles.

Syria: Certain Foe, Uncertain Future

Take a trip through the history of Syria and learn how a country that once embraced Christianity has become a home for despotism and terrorists.

Death of a Nation

Hosea 13:1-16: Although nations do not intentionally commit suicide, Israel was headed that way. Gross idolatry insulted the covenant relationship God had established with the Israelites, and their ingratitude toward Him for His grace and goodness had…

The Virgin Mary

Christmas is approaching. And as people the world over look forward to the gifts, decorations, and tinsel of the season, those of us who love the traditional carols anticipate with joy the sweet strains…

When Silence Says It All

The pope’s recent visit to Syria spoke volumes. But the loudest message appears to have been what he wasn’t allowed to say.

So, What Exactly is That?

Meeting new people is a regular part of my job. Usually it takes just a short time before I find myself asking the inevitable question, “What do you do?” Sometimes (not often, I hope)…

God’s Discipline of Israel

Hosea 12:1-14: Two young boys were fighting in the park. A man took one of the boys aside and began to spank him for his inappropriate behavior. An observant bystander indignantly asked the man…

Mother Rachel Conclusion

Barrenness was an extreme source of shame and disgrace in ancient Israel, and Rachel’s barrenness only worsened her relationship with her sister Leah. It was bad enough they shared a husband.

Downsizing the State of Israel

Going, going, gone? Learn why what’s being done to Israel today contradicts everything earlier Christian Zionists believed.

Mother Rachel Part One

They come by the thousands, bringing their prayer books, their handkerchiefs, their heartaches and tears. Some weep quietly; others cry uncontrollably. But almost all of them cry. These are the Jewish women who come…

Living in a World Turning Upside Down

Wrong is right; good is evil; and Christianity is the world’s new nemesis. That’s what the new paganism preaches—and it’s turning the world upside down.

Give Us a King

Were the Israelites wrong to demand a king? This insightful article examines
the events leading to the creation of the monarchy in ancient Israel.

Saul

God chose him, equipped him, and established him as king. But it wasn’t long before things went wrong. Learn what happened and why.

Formed in the Master’s Hand

This outstanding article takes a thoughtful, tender, and discerning look at the life of David, the sweetest psalmist in Israel.

Glory and Infamy

Solomon was Israel’s wisest and wealthiest king. Yet, despite his dazzling accomplishments, he sowed the seeds of national destruction.

Too Far Gone

Some people claim good leadership is all it takes to turn a country around. But sometimes nations can slide so completely down the sewer of moral degradation that God finally flushes the pipes and clears…

Aliyah for the People of the Book

The People of the Book.” Whom do you think of when you hear that phrase, which so clearly distinguishes a specific people? Which people and what book? The people are the Chosen People, the Israelites…

The Wages of Sin

Sin is like a moral cancer, infecting everything it touches. If you do not deal with it, it will corrupt you totally. What is true of moral corruption in man is also true in nations.

The Holocaust: Keeping Faith

Teaching about the Holocaust in conjunction with faith is often a delicate situation. It is a sensitive, difficult topic, but one with many lessons for people who want to learn about the mercy and patience…

History by The Wishing Well

The ugly tentacles of revisionism are spreading over the Temple Mount. And if Arafat has his way, they eventually will reach all the way to Christ Himself.

In His Hand

As fall chilled the air last year, Gwyne Campbell traveled home to New Jersey to attend a wedding. Shortly before she was to return to Word of Life Bible Institute in Schroon Lake, New York…

The Making of the Diaspora

Hosea 9:1-17: One of the greatest paintings of all time is Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment. The entire work, painted on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, reflects the despair of people who are marked for judgment.

Bewitched

Are you a Muggle? What! You don’t know? Then you must be one of the few people in America who haven’t read a Harry Potter book (Scholastic)—a slickly dressed, literary version of a wolf…

Reaping the Whirlwind

Hosea 8:1-14: Few things are more destructive than a tornado. Its funnel-shaped wind can swirl up to 500 miles per hour, devastating everything in its path. The mere sight of the cloud is usually terrifying…

Losing the Vision?

We have entered the “post-Zionist” era. Yet God says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” What does this all mean for little Israel?

Lost Hope Reclaimed

Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off on our part…

Sliding Toward Anarchy

Hosea 7:1-16: It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Yet in this chapter of Hosea, the prophet uses a number of similes and metaphors to paint a vivid picture of Israel’s pursuit…

Turning Back the Clock

For thirty years, Israeli farmers in north- ern Israel have lived in relative safety. Now those days may have ended.

The First Line of Defense

Once a year an Orthodox community in Israel assembles to honor the boys from fatherless families who are ready for bar mitzvah. The fathers of these boys all lost their lives in service to their…

Israel’s Superficial Repentance

Hosea 6:1-11: A doctor once stated, “Three hundred of my patients, when notified they were dying, repented of their sins and professed faith in God. Once they were restored to health, only ten of the three hundred…

Silhouette of man speaking.

What Goes Around

We are all well acquainted with the names of people like Corrie ten Boom, Oscar Schindler, and Raoul Wallenburg. Each is distinguished for rescuing Jewish people who were marked for death by the satanically driven…

Ruth: A Trophy of His Grace

How could a Moabite woman end up
in the line of the Jewish Messiah? Read this timeless testimony to God’s love and grace.

Rahab and Tamar

Courage and righteousness are some- times found in the unlikeliest places. But wherever they are found, God delights
in blessing them.

The Genealogies of Jesus

Examine the intricacies of the genealogies of Jesus and the precision of God in bringing His Messiah into the world.

From Badge to Banner

Vexillology. Most people have never heard the term; but according to World Book Encyclopedia, it is the study of the history and symbolism of flags. Its root can be traced to the Latin word for…

Israel’s Impending Judgment

Hosea 5:1-15: Batsell B. Baxter tells of a huge painting hanging in the Supreme Court Building of Switzerland. In the foreground are the litigants who have come to the court seeking justice.

Israel: God’s Answer to Skeptics

Israel’s existence defies logic; yet there she stands. This excellent article explains the invincibility and eternality of the Jewish people.

God’s Indictment of Israel

Hosea 4:1-19: Sowing and reaping is an immutable law of nature. This law holds true in both the spiritual and moral realms of life. During the reign of King Jeroboam II, seeds of spiritual adultery and moral…

Struttin’ on Through The Fire

Like pieces of an intricate puzzle, Daniel’s ancient prophecies are falling into place. The “fire” is coming—and so is the King.

God’s Redemptive Love

Hosea 3:1-5: How many people would be willing to buy back their own possessions? In all probability, not many. The average person today, it seems, would be more likely to spend twice as much money going to…

Israel’s Spiritual Adultery

Hosea 2:2–23: Today in America, the divorce rate is at an all-time high. Most people view fidelity, chastity, and commitment differently than they did a generation ago. In the past, those who entered matrimony dedicated themselves…

The Marriage of Hosea

Hosea 1:2—2:1: Hosea’s marriage to Gomer and the birth of their children become the texts of God’s message to Israel. Israel’s unfaithfulness is portrayed in Gomer’s infidelity, and the removal of God’s covenant relationship…

The Many States of Palestine

An early Zionist leader was fond of speaking of the land that was to become Israel as “a land without a people for a people without a land.” Although his observation was, in large measure, accurate, it was not quite the whole of…

A Nation in Decline

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,” wrote Charles Dickens…

Who Killed Christ?

Possibly no subject in history has been as inflammatory to the Jewish people as the question, Who killed Christ? Time and again, the accusation of Christ-killer has been hurled against the Jewish people. Centuries of hatred have been built…

Pilate’s Dilemma

Pontius Pilate was awake early. It appeared that it was going to be a normal spring day in Jerusalem. At least that’s what he hoped. He had been appointed as the fifth Prefect to the Roman province of Judea and Samaria by Emperor Tiberius…

The Emperors of Rome vs. The Messiah

Near the end of his life, as the Roman Emperor Domitian was making claims of divinity and persecuting the church, the Apostle John wrote, “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 Jn. 5:19b). John was teaching that earthly rulers…

Roman Madness at Masada

On Nisan 14 in the year 73 A.D., Jerusalem was quiet. Normally the city would have been full of Jewish pilgrims waiting in line for the Temple priests to sacrifice their Passover lambs. But on this day there were no pilgrims. There were no…

Perceptions…Old Shadows Fade Slowly

A few weeks ago I had lunch with an Israeli diplomat, a man for whom I hold great respect, in Washington, DC. We discussed, among a host of other things, the inescapable tensions that often arise between the Christian and Jewish…

Politics And Politicians

From the time of Israel’s inception as a modern state 51 years ago, the United States has been its consistent and loyal friend. In our country, many issues seem to be based on political affiliation. The treatment of Israel has not been one…

The Conquest Over Pagan Jericho

When people hear the word Jericho, they naturally think of Israelites marching, trumpets sounding, and walls falling down. It is a wonderful story of faith and victory that we enjoy reading and telling in Sunday school class, but did it…

The Battle of the Gods: Paganism’s Seduction of Israel

The call had gone out nationwide to assemble at Mount Carmel. Now the peak was bustling with thousands of people. King Ahab was there. Also present were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah. Standing before the throng…

Divine Condemnation of the Occult

Nothing is more terrifying than being in the clutches of occult activity. The demonic forces of darkness can seize a person with overwhelming intensity. The powers of Satan and his demonic hordes have led many to mental and spiritual…

The Shrinking State Of Israel

The Jewish people had traveled a tortuous road for the better part of two millennia before Baron Lord Rothschild received, on behalf of the Jewish people, the official letter sanctioning a national home for Jewish people in Palestine. For 400 years…

Israel at 50: The Battle For Soil And Soul

To the casual observer of life in the Middle East, the real struggle there appears to be about the issue of soil. Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs are arguing over “land rights.” At times, this struggle has erupted into violence over how…

Israel at 50: Obstacles To Peace

The American College Dictionary defines the word obstacle as “something that stands in the way of or obstructs progress.” In order to understand the Middle East Peace Process, we must investigate the facts surrounding the…

Israel At 50: Celebrating the Year of Jubilee

The year 1998 is the Year of Jubilee—the 50th birthday of the State of Israel! What is going through the minds of Israelis on the state’s 50th birthday? What are the expectations of its citizens? Since Israel is a nation of immigrants…

The Call of the Shofar

Have you ever been driving along the highway when, seemingly out of nowhere, you hear the shrill sound of sirens? At first you are startled as the high-pitched sound seems to engulf you from almost every direction. Instinctively you try to…

Silhouette of man speaking.

Israel Cannot Forget What Many Refuse to Remember

Repeated denials by U.S. officials of any intention to pressure Israel into a posture of appeasement in the interest of approving nods from Yasser Arafat are refuted by their own actions. The heat is on Israel to acquiesce to Washington’s…

Prophetic Implications

The stepping aside of the United States, even temporarily, in favor of intervention in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians by the European Union brings to mind an end-times scenario. There is a strong indication that…

The Fall of Babylon

Revelation 18: In the 1980s, Saddam Hussein started to rebuild portions of the ancient city of Babylon. Christians began to ask if Hussein’s project had anything to do with Bible prophecy. This in turn rekindled the often-asked question…

Silhouette of man speaking.

Zionism: One Hundred Years and Counting

Most of us hardly noticed that Israel was having a birthday. No, I’m not talking about its upcoming 50th, which will be celebrated in 1998. It was in August 1897 that a group of Jewish representatives in silk hats and frock coats filed into a hall in Basel, Switzerland, to hear…

The Temple in the First Century

“He who has not seen Herod’s Temple has never seen a beautiful building.” With those deliberately exaggerated words, rabbis extolled the magnificence of the Temple that was in Jerusalem during the first century A.D. Although the religious Jews often despised…

Time for a Temple?

The most volatile 35 acres on earth are undoubtedly those comprising a rectangular platform in East Jerusalem on which the ancient Jewish Temple once stood. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament affirm that a new Temple will once again occupy…

Israel’s 1948 War Of Independence

In a few months, the State of Israel will commemorate fifty years of modern statehood. No nation in the history of mankind has been born out of such enormous suffering.

Six Days In June Oct/Nov 1997

“A people considered for centuries as non-fighters carried out in June, 1967 against long odds the most nearly perfect military operation in modern history.” With these words an eminent American historian opened her…

The Yom Kippur War Oct/Nov 1997

Prime Minister Golda Meir was worried. It was that same strange feeling she had back in 1967, on the eve of the Six-Day War. Reports had been coming in since May…