Am sitting in a coffee shop after our return from Jerusalem… looking through the early morning darkness at an American flag hanging at half mast. Wondering whether the lowered colors are for losses of our own soldiers or for the suffering people of Haiti… My thoughts go to faces of those I had a chance […]
On arriving in the Middle East my cab driver said that he used to be on “the left.” But said he had come to the conclusion that Arab and Jewish people would never be able to live together. Later an Israeli friend said, regarding peace, “The United States has been the savior of the world.” […]
On a day in which 30,000 Jewish people gathered in Jerusalem’s Western Wall Plaza to receive the priestly blessing, an article in the Jerusalem Post yesterday described 4000 Christians meeting on the shores of the Dead Sea and claiming to be fulfilling Bible prophecy. According to the JP article by Josiah Daniel Ryan, the 4000 were […]
Was surprised on Friday when The Jerusalem Post announced that Israel had received a video tape showing an alive-and-well Gilad Shalit– in exchange for the release of 20 Palestinian women. (Shalit is an Israeli soldier captured in a cross-border raid by Palestinians almost three years ago. The fact that a much more powerful Israeli government […]
Today is Yom Kippur on the Jewish calendar. This no-work day of synagogue services, prayer, and fasting is the most solemn holy day in Judaism’s annual cycle of holy/holidays. Today observant Jewish people will recite a long prayer of confession as they lightly tap their chest in a spiritual and physical act of contrition. Toward […]
Some in our day have taken issue with the idea of a national leader who admits before a watching world that his country has made mistakes that have contributed to international problems. Reminds me of a story that my barber told me earlier this week. He said that while volunteering to cut hair at a […]
The Dead Sea is dying. Water levels of what the Bible also calls The Salt Sea, already rest at the lowest on earth (1378 feet below sea level), and are dropping at a rate of three feet a year. The problem has developed not only from natural weather cycles, but also from the amount of […]
One of the most compelling prophecies of the Bible is found in Daniel 9:24-26. There the prophet predicts that from the time of the command to rebuild Jerusalem (after Israel’s exile in Babylon) 69 “sevens” would pass before the Messiah came and was “cut off, but not for himself.” Then Daniel says that the city […]
Moses asked Israel to remember their Exodus Passover on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan (Lev 23:5). He said the next day (the 15th) was to begin seven days of Unleavened Bread and called the first day a no-work/Sabbath (vv 6-7). Moses went on to say that, once Israel was in their promised […]
As we enter together into this holy week and season of Passover, sure wish everyone could see how the final events of Jesus life coincide with an ancient, annual cycle of Jewish holidays. In addition to fulfilling the mysterious predictions of prophets, Jesus showed how deeply his life was rooted in the annual celebrations of […]
