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"Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn."
(Romans 11:28-29)
I am so grateful for the opportunity that Ashley and I had to go to Israel December 1-8. I am still trying to process all that I saw and heard. I am not sure how, but Ashley and I were put on one of the VIP buses. We were given access to events others were not, taken to the front of the line whenever there was a gathering, and I was like, "Wow! What a blessing!" I am grateful to Jay Strack for inviting me to go on this trip. Jay has been to Israel 105 times! I have a hunch Jay had something to do with us being on the VIP bus. One of the men on our bus was George Barna, and I heard him make these comments: Only 9% of people in the church in the USA have a biblical worldview. By age 13, one's worldview is established and rarely changes.
We had a powerful night of worship on December 3rd with multiple speakers, like Mike Huckabee, Mike Evans, and O.S. Hawkins with worship led by Al Denson. We also heard more testimonies of those who had been held hostage. One of them was Omer Shem Tov. Omer was held hostage in dark tunnels by himself for 505 days before his release in February 2025. He said without the help of U.S. President Donald Trump, he would not have been set free. Omer refuses to be bitter and simply said, "I chose life."
We were up at 6:30 a.m. on December 4th and off to Mt. Herzl, named after Binyamin Ze'ev (Theodor) Herzl, a Zionist and visionary leader of the Jewish State. On these grounds, thousands of fallen Israeli soldiers are buried. It is the equivalent of the USA's Arlington Cemetery in Washington, DC. It seems that Israel has been at war for most of her 4,000-year history. Israel is currently fighting wars on 7 geographical fronts and an ideological front. 1,152 soldiers have died since October 7, 2023. Over 900 buried at Mt. Herzl. At the Memorial Hall, they have listed the names of 25,000 fallen soldiers. After visiting Mt. Herzl, our group attended a ceremony at a police station in Jerusalem, where presentations were made on the wars with Iran and in Gaza.
Then, all 1,000 of us traveled to the Temple! We sat on the steps of the southern wall where Jesus and disciples would enter the Temple. The religious leaders like the Pharisees and Sadducees had a special entrance from the east. But Jesus was not like them, He came humbly and associated with the common people.
Please pray for the Israeli people; pray that they receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Messiah.
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