Inside View Jul/Aug 2024
From the time the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob settled in the Promised Land following their 40-year wilderness wandering, they have faced enemies…
LAND OF ISRAEL
The Question is WHY?
Sometime in the future, a war will break out. In today’s world, that would seem a normal activity, as there are always conflicts brewing somewhere…
No Weapon Formed
The threat to Israel’s survival has existed for millennia. Jewish people often stand before their history in sober silence, so stunned by the unmitigated brutality…
Israel’s Hope
The Battle of Gog and Magog will mark a dark time in Israel’s history. Facing a united attack from a coalition of powerful nations, Israel may feel helplessly alone…
Bordering on Normal
Israel is bordered by Lebanon and Syria in the north, Jordan in the east, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and Egypt in the south. No map, however, conveys the…
Jewish World Update Nov/Dec 2023
Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli recently objected to the German government allowing comparisons between the…
Jewish World Update Sep/Oct 2023
The New York Times Jerusalem bureau chiefs and columnists have long referred to Israeli “occupied territory…”
From the Editor May/Jun 2023
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…
Jerusalem of Gold
If you’ve never been to Jerusalem, it’s time you made the trip. But if you can’t go in person, I suggest you relax, put your feet up, and come with me…
Via Dolorosa
The traditional route Jesus traveled to His crucifixion, known in Latin as the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrow), is debated. We know Jesus appeared before…
Gordon’s Calvary
There is a distinctive, rocky outcropping north of Jerusalem that, in 1842, Otto Thenius, a German preacher, proposed to be the actual place of Christ’s crucifixion…
The Garden Tomb
Nothing compares to taking communion while sitting on the benches in the picturesque setting of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. Considered by many…
The Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives is the best place to stand in Israel to get a bird’s-eye view of Bible prophecy. Perched “on the mountain, which is on the east side of the…
Bethlehem
A short bus ride from Jerusalem lies the city of Bethlehem. It is located a mere six miles south of Israel’s capital in what traditionally was Judea and today is called…
Valley of Elah
One of the most famous upsets of all time took place in the Valley of Elah: The Israelite shepherd boy David slew the Philistine warrior giant, Goliath…
Joppa
On the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, in an ancient section of what is now Tel Aviv, lies one of the oldest cities in the world: Joppa (also called Jaffa and Yafo)…
Caesarea Maritime
When I lead our Up to Jerusalem tours to Israel, I enjoy seeing the excitement of those who have never seen the Holy Land. On our first full day of touring…
Mount Carmel
My college professor once invited a missionary to speak in our class on the history of the Christian faith. She had spent many months providing…
Megiddo
In 2002, the CBS television news show 60 Minutes ran a segment on what it proposed motivated evangelical support for Israel. The broadcast claimed we believe that…
Gideon’s Spring
Scripture teaches time and time again that bad choices lead to bad outcomes. Man’s disregard for God and His Word leads to destruction…
Caesarea Philippi
The crystal water rippling through the springs of the Banias Nature Reserve creates an idyllic background for visitors walking through Caesarea Philippi…
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee is Israel’s largest freshwater lake and the lowest freshwater lake on Earth, lying 700 feet below sea level. It measures slightly more than…
Masada
Spectacular. Mighty. Imposing. Remarkable. All these words aptly describe this desert plateau that rises more than 1,400 feet above the shores of…
En Gedi
The landscape surrounding the Dead Sea looks like something from another world. Barren mountains of rock, crystalized salt formations, and sinkholes…
The Friends of Israel in Action Nov/Dec 2022
Last spring, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) telephoned Tim Munger, a Church Ministries representative…
From the Editor Sep/Oct 2022
My husband, Tom, had a wonderful opportunity recently to visit Israel on a tour led by the Zionist Organization of America. He was among a handful of Christians…
The Friends of Israel in Action Sep/Oct 2022
The Australian ministry of The Friends of Israel (FOI) has grown remarkably in recent years. Many of you know Deane Woods…
Israel: Trip of a Lifetime
Pick up a tour brochure touting journeys to places far or near and you’ll likely see the claim, “The trip of a lifetime!” A promise…
From the River to the Sea
Throughout history, hatred of the Jewish people has surged and subsided but never disappeared. In the late 1800s..
5 Facts You Should Know About Israel
Have you ever wondered why the Jewish people have been scattered throughout the world more than any other people?..
How Going to Israel Strengthened My Faith
For many Christians, touring and studying in the land of Israel is a once-in-a-lifetime…
An Ancient Witness to the Messiah
Many people wonder what the ancient Hebrews thought about the coming of the Messiah. Some see the…
Inside View Nov/Dec 2021
Modern Israel has become the world’s leader in water technology, and its innovation in this important area is one way God is blessing the world…
Balaam: Fact or Fiction?
As Moses and the Israelites camped on the Plains of Moab, Moabite King Balak devised a plan to defeat them. Knowing he could…
Inside View Sep/Oct 2021
The Western church relies heavily on English translations of the original manuscripts of Scripture. Until John Wycliffe’s first complete translation in 1382…
Inside View Jul/Aug 2021
I’ve had the privilege of visiting Israel 28 times since my first trip in 2003, most often to lead tours. It has been a rich blessing to see the land of the Bible…
The Real Friend of Israel
Many Americans are still reeling from the results of the 2020 presidential election. According to two surveys, between 76 and…
Jewish World Update May/Jun 2021
A new group of “Democrats” has emerged in America that intends to wipe Christian values from the nation’s landscape…
No Place Like Home
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…
Jewish World Update Mar/Apr 2021
Former President Barack Obama’s 768-page memoir, A Promised Land, published in November 2020, continues to garner…
Jewish World Update Jan/Feb 2021
Israel’s failing El Al Airlines, suffering under $2 billion in debt, has been purchased by 27-year-old, New York-born Eli Rozenberg…
Abracadabra! Let There Be Peace!
Magicians have the gift of misdirection. They make us focus on the inconsequential; and when we least expect it…
From the Editor Jul/Aug 2020
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…
Annexation Now Looms Large
The coalition agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival, Blue and White party leader…
Did Moses Write the Torah?
The Bible says explicitly Moses wrote the Torah. Exodus 24:4 states, “Moses wrote all the words of the LORD”…
From the Editor May/Jun 2019
“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…
The Plan to Hitch Israel to Saudi Arabia by Rail
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Israel Katz have announced a historic plan to establish a rail link between Israel and Saudi Arabia…
Making Something Out of Nothing
Somehow Israel always seems to find itself in the middle of a controversy. Israel’s parliament recently passed a bill called the Jewish Nation-State Law, and immediately it made headlines around the world…
The Flap Over Israel’s Nation-State Law
The Knesset recently enacted a new law that declares Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and that they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it…
The Man Who Believed in Miracles
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…
Inside View Jul/Aug 2018
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…
The Divine Distribution
When God confirmed a covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1), He issued a divine proclamation: He vowed to give all the land He was promising Abraham to both Abraham and his descendants forever (13:15). God bequeathed the land through…
The Best is Yet to Come
Leon Uris’s novel Exodus, about the founding of the State of Israel, captivated the world when it came out in 1958. It became an international sensation, rising quickly to number one on The New York Times best-seller list and staying there for eight months…
Sneak Preview
The land of Israel. The most hotly contested region in the world. The Jewish people say it is theirs, and the Arabs say it is theirs. Yet God tells us clearly to whom it belongs: In the last days, He says, “I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the…
The Coming Invasion
Today much of the world despises Israel. All it takes to substantiate this truth is a look at the UN’s overwhelming number of anti-Israel resolutions, the countries that have waged war against Israel in hopes of annihilating it, and the news media’s endless caricature of…
Happy Birthday, Israel!
For years I had a dream. I wanted my hometown baseball team (the Cleveland Indians) to play the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. I had adopted the Cubs when I lived in Chicago. Both teams excelled at losing…
Five Facts You Should Know About Israel
Have you ever wondered why the 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 specifically targeted the Jewish people for genocide in the…
Preparing for War
As tensions rise along the Lebanese-Israeli border, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has warned that the next war between Hezbollah and Israel will include Syria. “In anything that transpires, it will be one theater,” he said. Syria and Lebanon together, Hezbollah, the Assad regime and all…
Inside View Nov/Dec 2017
Earlier this year, as I was looking back at the beginning of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, I turned to the first issue of Israel My Glory, published in December 1942—only four years after the ministry began.
A Wow Moment
The beat goes on as the Arabs pick up where the Ammonites left off. Have you ever read a Scripture verse you had read many times before, but suddenly it seemed brand new to you? I have. I call it a Wow! moment. My most recent Wow! moment came after reading Judges 11: “And the…
Inside View Sep/Oct 2017
On our spring Up to Jerusalem tour, we made a stop at the headquarters of The Jewish Agency for Israel in Jerusalem to deliver funds donated to help Jewish people in other parts of the world…
Miracle at Be’er Sheva
Few people probably associate Australia and New Zealand with the Balfour Declaration. But here is a look at a little-known miracle that helped to shape that segment of history.
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…
FOI Canada Goes Up to Jerusalem
A look at the first-ever FOI Canada Up to Jerusalem trip to Israel and some of the wonderful experiences God provided. It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. Sounds simple enough. Forty years later…
What Shall We Eat?
When the ancient Israelites arrived in the Promised Land, it was “flowing with milk and honey.” But when the Jewish pioneers arrived in the 19th and 20th centuries, it was as barren as a stone. This article, written in 1953 when the State of Israel was just 5 years old…
Inside View May/Jun 2017
Does God fight for Israel? When Israel triumphs over multiple Arab armies attacking on multiple fronts, it certainly seems that God fights for Israel. Such was the case in 1967 when Israel won a humanly improbable…
End of the Two-State Solution
U.S. President Donald Trump recently announced he will not insist on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I thought for a while the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two. But honestly, if Bibi and if…
Ma’ale Adumim: It’s Not What You Think It Is
Before we arrived in the spring of 2000, I asked the 16 members of our Friends of Israel Youth Adventure team (now called ORIGINS) to describe what they thought a settlement would look like.
Six Days In June
When the 1967 Six-Day War erupted, the Jewish state had just celebrated 19 years of independence. Levi Eshkol, 71, was both prime minister and defense minister. Eshkol had replaced the legendary David Ben-Gurion in June 1963. Filling Ben-Gurion’s shoes…
Message in the Wall
Sounds of gunfire, soldiers singing “Jerusalem of Gold,” and the faint sound of a shofar were heard over the army wireless. It was June 7, 1967, and the Israel Defense Forces paratroopers had just liberated the Temple Mount and Western Wall.
Fifty Years Later
The Six-Day War begot the hackneyed catchphrase Israeli-occupied West Bank. Mindless talk of the “occupation” generally goes hand-in-hand with unvarnished ignorance or a willful disregard of the area’s strategic value.
Rehearsal for Armageddon
How important is Jerusalem to the Jewish people? Their souls have been intertwined with it for more than 3,000 years. Unfortunately, their heartache is not over. This article was written shortly after Six-Day War and ran in the…
It’s Not Over ‘Til It’s Over
A city’s significance is often measured by its commercial importance, the height of its skyscrapers, or the grandeur of its architecture. But Jerusalem is not like any other city. Jerusalem’s significance comes from the One who chose to dwell…
When Heaven Comes to Earth
It is probably the best known and most fought over city in the world. The Jewish people cherish it. The Muslims want to take it. The United Nations wants to divide it. Nations are willing to go to war over it. But the Jerusalem of today is not the…
Israel in the News May/Jun 2017
If you’re a runner and love Israel, you may be interested in signing up for the third annual Bible Run on October 6, a reenactment of the first-ever recorded marathon—the trek of a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin who ran from…
The Great Invalidation
“Next year in Jerusalem!” As they have since the Jewish people were scattered around the world in AD 70, these words will ring out on the evening of April 10 at the close of Passover seders everywhere. Yet, if the United Nations…
Blessings Upon Blessings Isaiah 60
Famous 20th-century preacher and theologian Harry Ironside long ago noted that the book of Isaiah evokes glad anticipation in the hearts of believers who cherish “the coming day when Immanuel, of whom this prophet speaks, will take…
Isaiah’s Good News Isaiah 61
Good news comes in all shapes and sizes, and when it arrives—particularly in the midst of trying times—it is usually like the soothing balm of Gilead. The words of Isaiah 61 may have affected the Israelites of the prophet Isaiah’s day…
Sweet Beulah Land Isaiah 62
For centuries the Jewish people have waited for their Messiah to come and set up His Kingdom in Israel. At that time, Israel will receive the Land God promised them in perpetuity. That is when redeemed Israel will experience the fulfillment of…
The End of an Era
U.S. President James Madison served alongside Presidents George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and signed the Declaration of Independence. He was known as the “Father of the Constitution,” and his death…
Israel in the News Jan/Feb 2017
Donald Trump will be the most pro-Israel president in the history of the United States, a Trump advisor told The Jerusalem Post. “The level of friendship between the U.S. and Israel is going to grow like never before…
Inside View Nov/Dec 2016
“This is the most important lesson you will learn today!” Rafi said as the Jeep came to a stop on a dirt road, about half a mile from the fence dividing Gaza from Israel. Rafi climbed out with a…
From Cornfields to Kotel
I am not a Jew. I feel I should make that clear from the beginning. I don’t keep kosher. I don’t like gefilte fish. And the first time someone called me a “mensch,” I thought he was insulting me. No, I will never be mistaken for a Jewish man…
Inside View Sep/Oct 2016
It is common to cross paths with Christians who don’t believe the Jewish people today are God’s Chosen People. They fail to see how Israel fits into God’s plan for this world…
A Light at the End of the Tunnel
Claustrophobia is the fear of being confined in a tight space. It’s an anxiety disorder that can make someone feel like he is alone and suffocating. A woman who suffers from claustrophobia once told me…
The Coming Captivity Micah 1—2
Thirty miles north of Jerusalem, in what most people call the West Bank, lie the ruins of Samaria, ancient capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Though the area today is closed to tourists for…
The Reason for Hope Micah 4
The prophet Micah’s message of doom must have troubled Judah’s leaders. After all, if Judah were destroyed, how would God fulfill the vows He made to the children of Israel in the…
The Stones Cry Out
A growth-inspiring experience of a lifetime is to walk among the artifacts of empires, civilizations, and societies that have lived and died and, in many respects, shaped our world. For those of us living in the United States, a relatively young country…
Mount Moriah or the City of David?
For years scholars have argued about the precise location of the first and second Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Nevertheless, almost all archaeologists agree they were…
Footsteps in the Stones
I saw Israel for the first time when I moved my family to Jerusalem in 1979 to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Even though I had a master’s degree in biblical studies, I learned quickly I was not…
The Inquisitors
At the southeastern end of the old city of Jerusalem lies an impressive series of burial caves. Most date to the time of Jesus. Archaeologists recently have taken a closer look at them and have turned up…
The Underlying Proof
Khirbet Qeiyafa is a provincial town located about 19 miles from Jerusalem in the Elah Valley, where a young David slayed the Philistine giant Goliath. Today, 30 centuries later, it is contributing the most to the…
What America Needs
When Americans tune in to the presidential debates, most of them already know what they want to hear. They’re ready for a new hope and change. That’s why CNN’s Republican debate in December was the…
Telling the Truth
When knife-wielding Arabs went on a killing spree last fall in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and other parts of Israel, they butchered innocent Israelis…
The Permanence of the Promise
Some people maintain Romans 9—11 is a digression. However, as Bible scholar Thomas R. Schreiner noted, “The idea that these chapters disrupt the argument of the epistle has all but vanished today…
From the Heart
An unusual—and unanticipated—thought came to mind recently when I was asked to describe what I miss the most about spending time in Israel, now that I no longer travel there.
Pilgrim Songs
Psalms 120 through 134 are referred to as the Songs of Ascents due to the superscription at the beginning of each psalm. The term ascent carries the notion of step or degree. The interpretation of…
Psalm 120: Our Deliverer
Sung by ancient pilgrims making their way up to Jerusalem to observe the primary feasts of Israel, Psalm 120 is the first in a series known as the Psalms of Ascents. It begins with a…
Psalm 124: Our Defender
Living in danger was nothing new to my late colleague Zvi Kalisher. He lived in Israel for nearly 70 years and witnessed countless dangers. He often described his situation as…
Former Ambassador Michael Oren Calls Christian Support for Israel ‘Crucial’ In Special Interview With JNS.org
Seemingly lost in all the debate over U.S.-Israel relations is that Member of Knesset Michael Oren’s new book, Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide, is a memoir—and the memoir covers more than the…