The Temple Mount: Is it REALLY Jewish?

please read this article as a PDF file

http://www.weblessisrael.org/temple_mount.pdf

The Temple Mount: Is it REALLY Jewish?

This article will convince any discerning reader that the Temple Mount is indeed Jewish.

URGENT NEEDS IN THE EPICENTER: Would you consider helping The Joshua Fund as we bless Israel and her neighbors?

This article is from the Weblog of Joel Rosenberg, founder of the Joshua Fund, a Christian non-profit providing real help for people in Israel and the region.

“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me….Truly I say to you, to the extent you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” — the words of Jesus of Nazareth as found in Matthew 25:35,36,40

Dear friend of The Joshua Fund:

First and foremost, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am awed by how generous you have been with your prayers and your financial gifts this year. Though I am an author by profession, words cannot express how grateful I am to you for investing so much of yourself into the work that we are doing to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus. I have no doubt that the Lord will bless you and your family for doing so, because He promised this in Genesis 12:1-3.

By God’s grace – and with your help – The Joshua Fund this year has been able to:

* provide food for needy Israeli families in Jerusalem for Passover

* help Israeli organizations feed and care for needy Israeli Holocaust survivors

* fund the purchase of urgently-needed medical equipment for the only Israeli hospital and trauma center operating on the border of Gaza

* assist a shelter operating to care for the homeless in Israel

* help with a soup kitchen caring for the needy in Tel Aviv

* purchase (since the fall of 2007) over 170 tons of food in Israel to bless the poor and needy, as well as to stockpile supplies ahead of the next war

* help stock bomb shelters in northern Israel with food and other emergency relief supplies

* provide a shipping container of furniture to Russian immigrants in Israel

* provide blankets, heaters and others supplies to needy elderly residents in Sderot, Israel

* provide food for needy residents in Sderot, Israel at Hannukah season

* provide thousands of backpacks and school supplies to needy children in Israel

* purchase vehicles to assist relief organizations in Israel in transporting food, clothing, relief supplies and volunteers

* provide funds to care for an Israeli pastor’s family whose son was nearly killed when a bomb was sent to their home disguised as a Purim gift

* help fund heart surgeries for three severely ill Iraqi children who were flown to Israel to be treated by Jewish Israeli doctors, all of which was organized by evangelical Christians

* provide thousands of Arabic Bibles, Christian literature and films about the love and compassion of Jesus for an evangelical ministry to Palestinians operating in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza

* fund evangelistic Christmas parties for nearly 600 Palestinian Muslim men, women and children run by Arab Christians

* provide emergency food assistance for Iraqi Christians fleeing Radical Islamic violence in the city of Mosul (ancient Ninevah)

* provide hundreds of backpacks, school supplies, and Arabic and Kurdish Bibles and Christian literature to needy Muslim children in Iraq, working through local Iraqi Christian ministries

* provide school furniture such as desks and chairs to needy elementary schools in Iraq through Iraqi Christians

* provide broadcasting equipment and funds to build studios for a Christian radio station in northern Iraq that will soon be able to broadcast Christian music, Bible teaching, Christian dramas, and gospel programming for up to 1.7 million people a day. (Please pray for this project in particular. The station is all ready to go on the air. I have been there to see it myself. The station’s staff just need a final signature from local authorities, a process that is now underway. Please pray with us that the authorization will come quickly and the station can go on the air early in 2009.)

* provide thousands of vaccinations for at-risk children in Afghanistan

* provide funding for three Afghani Christian leaders to be tutored in English to improve their ministry skills

* send Joshua Fund staff, board members, and American evangelical Christian pastors to pray with, teach, and encourage pastors and ministry leaders in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Gulf States

* take nearly 200 Christian leaders and volunteers to Israel in April 2008 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the prophetic rebirth of the Jewish State, pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and participate in the first-ever “Epicenter Conference” in Jerusalem, attended by some 2,000 Christian leaders and lay people from around the world

* use radio, television and print interviews — as well as email alerts and our website and weblog — to help millions of evangelical Christians in the U.S., Canada and around the world understand the serious threats facing Israelis, Palestinians, Iraqis in the epicenter, and how they can truly bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus in real and practical ways

While this is by no means a complete list of the projects The Joshua Fund has assisted with this year, I hope this will give you a sense of our heart to care for those in real need, and how we are investing the funds you have entrusted to us.

That said, as you can imagine, there is so much more to be done. Wars and rumors of wars continue to dominate the Middle East as 2008 draws to a close. Just consider just a few of these sobering headlines in recent days:

• 7 more rockets strike Negev, as IAF renews attacks on Gaza: “More than 40 rockets have been launched at Israel since Tuesday. Militants fired 24 Qassams at southern Israel and 11 the day before. One rocket fired Wednesday struck a parking lot adjacent to a supermarket in the southern town of Sderot. Three people sustained shrapnel wounds and nine others were treated for shock.”
• “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday that Israel is in its last days”
• Iran Said to Have Nuclear Fuel for One Weapon
• IDF preparing options for Iran strike
• Bin Laden Has Ordered an Attack Bigger than 9/11
• Hamas Cleric: “The Annihilation of the Jews in Palestine is One of The Most Splendid Blessings for Palestine”
• Violence rocks Gaza as truce set to expire: “Violence flared around the Gaza Strip on Thursday on the eve of an expiry of a truce but Israel stressed it would not rush into a major military operation in the besieged Palestinian territory.”
• Islamists drive Christians out of Nineveh [Mosul]: Iraqi city declared ‘most dangerous place on Earth’ for non-Muslims
• Iraqi Christians Remain Under Siege
• Violence in Afghanistan to worsen next year: Canadian general

In light of such serious threats, I want you to know that we at The Joshua Fund are praying for peace while doing everything we possibly can to prepare for war. We are, for example, prayerfully seeking to acquire a Joshua Fund warehouse in Israel to stockpile more relief supplies. We are prayerfully seeking to purchase a truck sufficiently large enough to transport and distribute relief supplies throughout Israel. We are prayerfully seeking to hire staff in Israel to run our warehouse operations center. And this is just the beginning.

Would you be willing to help us at this critical hour?

1) The first need is more prayer partners. We are seeking to recruit at least 100,000 evangelical Christians from all over the world to stand with us in praying knowledgeably and consistently for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6) and for the people of the entire region. By God’s grace, we already have more than 80,000 prayer partners signed up (double the number from a year ago). If you would like to receive regular “Flash Traffic” emails with urgent prayer updates, geopolitical updates, and Joshua Fund project updates, please click here.

The Joshua Fund is providing relief assistance to families in Sderot, a town in southern Israel that has been hit with more than 6,000 rockets and missiles from Gaza

2.) The second need is financial support. I realize economic times are tough for many of you. But that is true in Israel, as well. One-in-four Israeli live below the poverty line (about $800 a month for a family of four). One in three Israeli children live in poverty. And obviously Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas are doing everything they can to prepare for the annihilation of the Israeli people. That is why we believe so strongly that now is the time for evangelical Christians to show unconditional love and unwavering support to the Israeli people. If the Lord prompts you, we would be deeply grateful if you would be willing to make an end-of-the-year financial gift. A tax-deductible contribution of $50, $100, $1,000 or more would help enormously as we seek to be as ready as we can possibly be for the next war, as well as to bless Israelis and their neighbors who have severe needs today. If you would like, you can give securely on-line right now by clicking here. Or please make your check payable to “The Joshua Fund” and send to:

The Joshua Fund

18940 Base Camp Road

Monument, Colorado 80132-8009

On behalf of The Joshua Fund staff and board, thank you again so much for your love and your generous spirit. It is an honor to be doing ministry together with you.

Yours to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus,

Joel C. Rosenberg

Founder and President

The Joshua Fund

Joel Rosenberg’s Weblog

Blessing Israel is a Biblical Command

by Franklin Banker

According to scripture, we are commanded by God to bless Israel. Here is a scripture which first anchors this concept, and defines it as well:

Genesis 12 : 1-3

“And Jehovah said to Abram, Go out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house into a land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

We don’t have to be Bible scholars with theological degrees to understand this process God established. We also don’t have to over emphasize it either. Just understand it for what it says. Basically, it defines God’s feelings towards the Israeli people when they were first established as a people through Abram.

We are not asking you to join a new religous order, or to change your own basic Christian foundation, but we are asking you to take a look at this often ignored Biblical Principle. We are free to ignore it, but we feel ignoring it might be unhealthy as God seems to demand it of us in His Word.

Jesus said at John 4: verse 22:

“You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.”

OK, so Jesus even establishes this for us further. He defines our salvation as coming from the Jews. HE HIMSELF came from the Jews. Think about that.  Let’s start a dialogue about this can we?

Feel free to comment, and we can discuss it back and forth!

Why should we bless Israel?

by David Cunningham

Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C., but lost their independent and sovereign status over 500 years before Christ walked the streets of Jerusalem, when the northern and southern kingdoms were taken into captivity by the Syrians and Babylonians. They regained their sovereignty on May 14, 1948, after the tribulations of Hitler’s campaign to exterminate the Jews in Europe during WWII. Then renewed attempts to exterminate the Jews started immediately, led by the nations of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. In the attacks in 1948, we can see the Hand of God protecting His chosen people. In the initial attack of 1948, the Arabs had 250 million people; Israel, 3 million. The Arabs had 1.5 million square miles of territory; Israel, 7,500 square miles. The attacking Arabs had more men under arms than the entire population of Israel, including every man, woman and child, yet Israel prevailed. What a miracle! Then the Israelis were again victorious in the 1956 conflict at Suez. When Arab nations massed to attack them in the Six Day War of 1967, the Israelis again defeated their enemies. But the Arabs didn’t give up – they initiated war again in the 1973, known as the “Yom Kippur War,” which began with an Egyptian and Syrian attack on Oct. 6, the Hebrew Day of Atonement. Again, Israel was victorious against those who would push them into the sea.

One thing should be evident in the series of conflicts – either the Jews are incredibly lucky, with a string of victories against vastly overwhelming odds, or there is something in the spiritual realm going on. If you flip a coin once, and it lands on edge, you can claim a result happened which was against all reasonable statistical probability. But if you do that four times in a row, maybe it’s time to concede that divine intervention is taking place.

If we admit that it appears that God is protecting Israel, maybe it’s worthwhile looking at the prediction of the re-birth of this nation. In the Bible, in the book of Ezekiel, this Old Testament prophet predicts that Israel will be born again as a nation. In Ezekiel chapter 37, verses 4-6, he says

“Again He said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the Word of Jehovah. So says the Lord Jehovah to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. And you shall know that I am Jehovah.”

For those who say this doesn’t predict the revival of Israel as a nation, consider the explanation that Exekiel gives in verses 11 and 12 of the same chapter:

“And He said to 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 by ourselves. Therefore prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and will bring you into the land of Israel.”

 

This is an astounding prophecy! When Israel was reestablished as a nation in 1948, they had not been a nation for over 2,500 years. Despite being dispersed around the world for two and a half millennia, they kept their identity, and have now been restored as a nation as God promised. To understand the incredible odds against this happening, consider that in all of recorded history there has never been another nation defeated and dispersed around the world, which became a nation again, claiming the land of their original national status.

If we can see the hand of God in Israel, maybe we should take seriously the promise in the Bible where God says to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you.”After all, where there is a conflict, and God has stated he will bless those on one side of the conflict, is it hard to choose whether you want to be on God’s side or the other side?

The most difficult thing for us in the United States today is to answer the question, “How do I bless Israel?” After all, we aren’t located in the Middle East, and don’t have the close access to the people there to help them. That’s the reason for our website, WeBlessIsrael.org – so that anyone who is interested in blessing Israel can find some practical ways to do so.