The Friends of Israel in Action May/Jun 2023
Reaching the Next Generation
We often hear the same questions asked at our Friends of Israel (FOI) prophecy conferences: “Where are all the young adults? Do students care about prophecy or Israel and the Jewish people?”
We understand your concern, and reaching the next generation is a big priority for us. We want to see more students studying God’s prophetic Word and developing a passion for Israel and the Jewish people.
Recently, Paul Pierce, an FOI Church Ministries representative from Spokane, Washington, shared Scripture about Israel and the Jewish people with 15 college students and came away encouraged.
Keegan, a student at Washington State University, invited Paul to speak at a Bible study. Keegan participated in our Bridges online internship and our Encounter program, where he visited the Jewish community with us. He is a young advocate for Israel and the Jewish people on his college campus.
Attending the study were students from Washington State University and the University of Idaho. They came from various spiritual and cultural backgrounds—some unsaved and others mature believers in Jesus Christ.
Paul and the students enjoyed a deep conversation that evening. The students asked many questions about Jesus’ Second Coming, the role of Israel in prophecy, God’s promise to Abraham, the Rapture of the church, and Jewish culture and customs. Most importantly, Paul communicated that the God of Israel loves each of the students so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for them.
The students loved Paul’s message. Throughout the following week, Keegan’s friends thought of more questions about the end-times and Israel.
As he reflected on the evening’s discussion while driving home from the Bible study, Paul was encouraged to see young men and women seeking after God and desiring to know His Word.
We often are led to believe this generation is self-oriented, rejects the church, and embraces unbiblical ideologies. While that may be the case with some young people, Paul found the opposite to be true.
Let’s pray God will continue to use The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry to impact the next generation with biblical truth about Israel and to advance the cause of the gospel.
You can help support Paul Pierce and others like him serving in North American Ministries outreach with The Friends of Israel. Thank you for your prayers and financial support!
In Canada, please give here.
Sharing the Gospel in the Shadow of the Holocaust
“What is this? Who wrote it? You?”
Walter’s questions provided a perfect opening for Emanuel Machnicki, our newest Polish field representative, to speak about the Lord. Emanuel was driving Walter and several other Jewish acquaintances to a Holocaust memorial service when Walter, an atheistic sociology professor at the University of Bialystok in Poland, found a copy of the book Torah for Christians in the back seat of the van. He waved it and looked knowingly at Emanuel.
“Yes, I wrote it,” said Emanuel. “But it’s really for Christians—to help them love the Bible more.”
“My dear fellow,” said Walter, “instead of talking politics, we can have a serious conversation!” So Emanuel and Walter began to discuss God, the gospel, and why there are Christians around the world who love and support the Jewish people.
Their conversation took place on the way to a commemoration of the Jewish revolt at the Treblinka death camp in Poland. At least 1 million Jews were murdered there in the span of a year. It’s difficult to ascertain the exact number killed because the Nazis exhumed mass graves and burned the bodies of their victims, tilling the land to look like a farm in an effort to hide their atrocities.
But the Polish remember, in part because of the revolt that took place in October 1943, when close to 100 victims escaped and told their stories. And our Polish team remembers as well.
Emanuel poignantly explained to Walter, “Why put your faith in science and human ‘progress’? Treblinka was built by the most civilized nation of poets, musicians, scientists, and doctors, winning nearly half of the Nobel prizes! Still, their education didn’t stop them from deciding that some of their neighbors were not human and deserved extermination. All the acclaimed progress of science is there behind the barbed wire of Treblinka: railways, machinery, bureaucracy, chemical engineering, societal planning. Can we really trust technological advancement or social progress to save us? What are we progressing towards?”
Emanuel is right. Science and technology cannot change the human heart. Only Jesus can, and our international teams around the world are working hard to show the Jewish people that God loves them and Christians do too. It’s a daunting task, requiring sincerity, gentleness, patience, persistence, and kindness.
Our workers attend memorials, care for Holocaust survivors, and offer countless expressions of love for the “least of these,” Jesus’ brethren (Mt. 25:40).
After returning home following the memorial service, Emanuel was excited to learn that Walter had asked a mutual friend for his phone number. The gospel of Jesus has sparked a light in Walter’s mind. We pray for God to also shine in his heart “to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
You can support our Polish team and other FOI ministries around the world. Thank you for your prayers and financial support!
In Canada, please give here.
Photos: The Friends of Israel Archives
