We sold everything (our cars, furniture and home) in 2016 and moved our family of five into a motor home to travel the entire United States in 2017 on a tour we called the Trail Of Fire. This week, we arrived back where we started. We covered 50,000 miles, visited 47 states and connected with 80 amazing ministries.

This past month, the question I have been asked the most is “What is your biggest takeaway?”

Curious?  

One thing this year has done for us is it has given us a national perspective. We didn’t just pass through a city or state, we lived there. We didn’t just minister in the church. We walked their streets, bought groceries in their supermarkets, sat in their homes and around their tables. We spent time getting to know them and listening to their stories. Our lives have been greatly enriched because so many were willing to share their own lives with us.

It’s been a blessing! We set out in January of 2017 dreaming about the impact we could make on the nation; however, we never considered the impact the nation would make on us. We have truly been changed by this year for the better!

Ultimately, we found a great remnant across the land that also carries the same burden for national awakening. These churches, ministries, revival hubs and houses of prayer are strategically positioned across America. They are a faithful battalion of believers that have made seeking a greater awakening for their city a priority.

This year has greatly encouraged me about the possibilities for national awakening. I believe that true nationwide revival is not just a distant dream, but an imminent reality if we will pay the price. I assure you that though the full breakthrough we’ve prayed for may tarry, we ourselves are not tarrying in vain!

So, what was my biggest takeaway from 2017?

Just as I am encouraged at all we saw and experienced, I also see a tremendous need. I believe the church, as a whole, has lost its eternal perspective. So much of what occupies our present time is making little eternal impact. This must change if we have any hope of true revival.

This week I came across the following in a book called In Light of Eternity. It is the biography of the late great revivalist, Leonard Ravenhill. At the end of the book the biographer writes the following account. He asked Ravenhill in the last year of his life if he had any regrets. This was his response:

“If I had spent more time alone with God rather than preaching and planning how I was going to change the world, I would be a very different man.”

Stop and read that again! “If I had spent more time alone with God rather than preaching and planning how I was going to change the world, I would be a very different man.” I pray it hits you like it did me!

Ravenhill was a man with a colossal prayer life. He would often spend entire days locked away in his study in prayer. I’ve heard unbelievable stories about the prayer meetings he hosted. The man was a giant in prayer, yet here he was, at the end of his mortal life, with eternity in view and his response was, if only I had prayed more and preached and planned less.

If such a man could say this, how much more should we!

That quote only reinforced what I had been feeling over the past few months—that so much of what the church world is doing right now is missing eternal intentionality. Let’s be honest, we could all say, “If we spent more time alone with God this year, rather than—(preparing that sermon series, watching television, golfing, on Facebook), I would be a different person right now.”  

Interestingly, here we are back where we started, and I find myself confronted with a truth I wrote about one year ago in my book, Trail of Fire. Fifty thousand miles traveled, only to arrive right where we began. I am convinced the Lord gave us this assignment to give us His perspective on a serious need within the American church. This is the key to unlocking national awakening—we must bring eternity into view.

I said above that much of what the church occupies its time with carries very little eternal significance. Most of what we call “ministry” is really day-to-day maintenance. Granted, this daily maintenance is necessary, and when done properly, it allows us to actually do ministry. However, let’s not confuse the two as being the same thing.

This is true for individuals and churches. Whether it is working a 9-5 just to make one more paycheck so you can make one more payment or if it’s one more Sunday so we have one more offering just to keep the wheels spinning one more week, the effects are temporal, not eternal.

I think back to all the meetings, the plans, the series, the programs, the budgets, the tasks that I let dominate my time and realize much of it could have been eliminated or done more efficiently, allowing more time to pray and truly love others. At one time, I called all of it ministry and was proud of my busy ministry life. Looking back through the lens of eternity, I see so much of that was arrogance. It is only the things that impact eternity that can truly be called ministry.

This year, I stood by a man and watched as he was born again. What a moment to witness and share with him. I’ve seen this so many times this year. There is nothing like seeing eternal life come into what was once a broken soul. That moment changed eternity, not just for him, but for his family as well. I think about the orphans in Uganda we were able to help through our giving. Yes, it was a simple thing that simply met a temporary need. However, it also enabled a local church to show the love of Christ to them as well. That moment impacted eternity. This was ministry! We should have, could have done more!

The key to true eternal impact is found in learning to minimize the maintenance so we can maximize the ministry. This shift is made simple by adopting an eternal perspective.

Jonathan Edwards often prayed, “Oh God, stamp eternity upon my eyeballs.”  He endeavored to live each day with eternity firmly fixed in view. The result was America’s First Great Awakening. Ravenhill wrote that were we to be so bold to pray such a prayer, we would likely change everything we do.

Now, there’s a thought. Ravenhill went on further to say, “Five minutes inside eternity and we will wish that we had sacrificed more, wept more, grieved more, loved and prayed more, and given more.”  Oh, my friend, if that statement is true, then a great deal must change. If we truly desire to see more in the coming year then we need to start living with eternal intentionality today.

So what do we do?  Let’s start here. Take a moment to evaluate 2017 in light of eternity. What things have you done that will make a difference 10 years, 100 years or even 1,000 years from now? Take a look at your checking account. How much money went into temporary things and how much went into things that will last?  How much more could have been moved toward eternal purposes?  Look at your calendar. How much time was wasted in frivolous activities and how much was sown into eternity?

I admit, this is a sobering exercise, but it is necessary. Too often, we treat time as if it is something that can be wasted. However, eternity leaves no time waste. Each second is precious and most be invested wisely.

Here are three eternal priority shifts we must make this year:

1). Prioritize the Secret Place. Rather than letting that place of prayer and devotion be the last place you run to, let it be the first place. We must tackle each day and every problem from the same starting point. There is no getting around this. Prayer must be paramount.

2.). Prioritize the Word. God’s Word is eternal, powerful and life-changing, but it does you no good as long as the words sit unread on the shelf. The American church is becoming increasingly biblically illiterate. If you’re a pastor, I encourage you to minimize the trivial sermon series that offer a few verses and take your congregation into actual study of biblical texts. Let’s preach the Word and let the Word transform them. Don’t just give your people verses, give them the Word. For the rest of us, let me encourage you to adopt a daily reading plan. Get the Word in you!

3.). Prioritize Eternity in your Present. Every day is pregnant with eternal possibilities. Most go unnoticed and unrealized. Make it a daily goal to look for one eternal moment in each day. You’ll be surprised how many there are.

Eternal intentionality is the key to making 2018 more significant. Eternal intentionally is the key to getting the church on track toward awakening. Eternal intentionality is the key we’ve been missing. It’s time we find it.

President Donald Trump made a historic move last week with the announcement that the U.S. would officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and prepare to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.

God and Donald Trump best-selling author Stephen E. Strang says Trump’s action is yet another promise fulfilled to evangelical Christians and the Jewish community.

“Some say declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel is actually more important than moving the embassy, but it certainly must be a precursor to it,” Strang said. “We must help our evangelical friends understand this, especially those who are only focused on the embassy and not thinking about the significance of Jerusalem. Going forward, it’s important believers pray for the peace of Jerusalem as the implications of these decisions are realized.”

In God and Donald Trump, Strang also writes that only a strong leader like Trump could make such a bold declaration.

“There are ministry leaders and prophetic voices who are convinced God brought Donald Trump, who had said for many years that he was not at all interested in running for public office, to this place for this time,” Strang wrote. “It may well be that Trump was sent by God as a bull in a china shop to break up the globalist agenda and interrupt the left’s campaign to remake America in their own image. A man with a milder, gentler, less aggressive personality could never hope to take on the forces within the political establishment and prosper, which explains why Donald J. Trump was the perfect choice for this hour.”

With the recent announcement regarding Jerusalem, Trump continues to persist against global voices, standing with Israel and many of his evangelical supporters, Strang said.

In God and Donald Trump, Strang gives an inside look at the journey to the Trump White House through firsthand interviews and perspectives from those who were intimately involved. The book was recently ranked No. 25 on the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) Best-Sellers Top 50 list, as well as No. 24 on the ECPA Non-Fiction list, for Dec. 2017.

Strang is an award-winning journalist and successful businessman who began his career as a newspaper reporter at the Orlando Sentinel. He later founded a Christian publishing house and media company while interviewing and writing about nearly every Christian leader in the country over the past four decades.

For more information on God and Donald Trump, visit  and view the book’s video. Visitors to the site can also download a free chapter and order the book.

God and Donald Trump is published by Frontline, an imprint of Charisma House, which has published books that challenge, encourage, teach and equip Christians, including 14 New York Times best-sellers.

In his highest-debuting and latest New York Times best-seller, The Paradigm: The Ancient Blueprint That Holds the Mystery of Our Times, (),Jonathan Cahn unveils how modern-day politicians demonstrate alarmingly similar behaviors as leaders from the Bible, revealing that behind modern American leaders lies an ancient mystery.

“Each are following the paradigm of an ancient leader,” Cahn says, “a corresponding prototype that explains their actions, their policies, even their personalities.”

For example, in The Paradigm, Cahn writes about King Ahab, whom the Bible presents as a man divided. He was at the forefront of deepening apostasy in ancient Israel, leading a spiritual, cultural and political war against the nation’s biblical faith and traditional values. Cahn identifies the characteristics of such a leader and reveals how these traits set the precedent for political figures in modern Western culture.

“The king will be a divided man,” Cahn says. “On one hand, he will come from a culture founded on faith in God. On the other, he will embrace and champion a culture and an ethos that wars against the God of his heritage. … He will be a man in conflict, compromised, complicated and divided.”

Cahn emphasizes the impact that leaders have on a nation and how their actions carry great weight for both good and evil. Cahn extrapolates on Ahab as a leader, detailing how he oversaw the rise of a new pagan morality and presided over its enshrinement. By embracing Baal worship, Ahab allowed his people to transfer sexuality from the private realm of marriage to the public realm of the temple cult.

Furthermore, Baal-worship involved child sacrifices. Thus, under Ahab’s reign, the government endorsed the killing of innocent children. Cahn reveals in his new book how the Bible uses this paradigm of the king to foretell a modern-day leader who would also allow the murder of children, along with other acts of ungodly morality.

“As it was with King Ahab, President Bill Clinton was especially connected to the blood of the innocent,” Cahn said. “As it was in the reign of King Ahab, it was in Clinton’s time in office that the state now became an active agent in the nation’s apostasy.”

In The Paradigm, Cahn points to how Bill Clinton signed a series of executive orders that enabled abortion in America and around the world. He also writes on Clinton’s act of adultery in the White House, which not only separated sex from marriage, but also placed sexual sin on the ultimate public platform. Bolstered by these parallels, Cahn underscores King Ahab and President Clinton’s overall moral ambiguity.

“Though Clinton was raised with a biblical foundation, he would embrace an ethos and morality that warred against biblical morality,” Cahn says. “As was his prototype, King Ahab, Clinton was a man divided. … He would sin against the ways of God and then express repentance and sorrow—just as Ahab did.”

The Paradigm details how both these leaders, one from 3,000 years ago and the other in contemporary America, exhibited a weakness of will and morality. By drawing on these similarities and even incorporating shocking parallels between timelines, Cahn demonstrates how the paradigm can provide insight for future events.

The Paradigm highlights that ancient leaders even reveal or determine the time that the modern leader will have on the national and world stage,” he added. “Bill Clinton entered the national stage in 1979 when he was elected governor of Arkansas for the first time. His time on that stage lasted until January 2001, the end of his presidency—a total of 22 years. When one opens the Bible to find his ancient prototype, Ahab, it is revealed that ‘Ahab, son of Omri … reigned in Samaria for a period of 22 years.’ This parallel is not only true of Bill Clinton, but ancient prototypes also reveal the mystery of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

“The Bible is the Word of God,” Cahn concluded, “so much that its patterns, keys and templates reveal, illuminate and foretell, if not determine, even the events and details of the present day.”

The Paradigm, which was released in September and debuted in the top five of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal book charts, reveals a newly uncovered master blueprint and ancient template that foretells many events of modern history. The Paradigm also removes the veil behind the leaders, governments, events and scandals of modern times. Its disclosures are so detailed and its revelations so precise that it even speaks of events before they happen.

Cahn, who caused a stir throughout America and the globe with the release of his instant New York Times best seller The Harbinger, which sold over 2 million copies, followed that earth-shattering work with The Mystery of the Shemitah and The Book of Mysteries also New York Times best-sellers. In fact, the mysteries of the immensely popular The Harbinger continue and are intertwined with the mysteries of The Paradigm.

The Paradigm is published by Frontline, an imprint of Charisma House.

New research shows people who consume lots of sugar are more than twice as likely to die from heart disease. Doctors say sugar feeds cancer and Alzheimer’s. Then there’s sugar’s link to diabetes—and the list goes on. That’s why making giving up sugar your New Year’s Resolution, to include artificial sweeteners, could be the best think you could do for your health in the 2018.

When we think of addiction, we tend to focus on drugs and alcohol. But more doctors now say sugar addiction is often overlooked as the destructive and deadly force it actually is. One of those physicians is sugar addiction specialist Dr. Vincent Pedre, Medical Director of Pedre Integrative Health and President of Dr. Pedre Wellness, based in New York City.

“Sugar is the source of all chronic disease,” he said, “We know that solid tumors, cancers, feed on sugar.”

Dr. Pedre says sugar includes all sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup and natural ones like agave. He also points out that to your body, refined carbohydrates are sugars, too.

“People think, ‘Well, I don’t eat dessert, so I don’t have a lot of sugar,'” he said, “But then they’re eating bread, rice, pasta. We break down the carbohydrates, and they become sugar.”

Most of Us Are Addicted

An estimated three-fourths of Americans are addicted to sugar and don’t know it. But food manufacturers do. They add sugar to nearly everything, even foods that may not seem sweet, such as crackers, bread, yogurt, pasta sauce and more. This keeps customers coming back for more.

There are nearly 60 different names for sugar. Check the list of ingredients. Red flags are any type of syrup and words that end in -ose, as well as fruit juice concentrate, fruit juice, molasses, turbinado, maltodextrin, evaporated cane juice, caramel and honey.

Most people might be shocked to learn that they consume 100 times more sugar than their ancestors did back in the 1800s. Dr. Pedre says most patients are also unaware that their sugar overload is at the root of their nagging health issues, and that when people give up sugar, these issues disappear.

“Bloating, abdominal pain,” he explained, “But also sinus congestion, mental fog, memory issues, fatigue, achiness, joint pains—these are all symptoms of consuming sugar in all of its forms. But people don’t connect the two.”

Scientists who tested lab animals discovered sugar is even more addictive than some illicit drugs.

“Sugar affects the same parts of the brain as cocaine,” Dr. Pedre said, “So I tell people that sugar is cocaine for your brain. And by that I mean that it affects the dopamine pathways. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that makes you feel good. Things are great.”

He says people who are addicted to sugar can never be satisfied with just a taste. “Because that’s the design of the neural circuit in the brain,” he explained, “It’s going to want more hits. And it keeps wanting more and more because it becomes desensitized to small amounts.”

How to Quit

Dr. Pedre points out that alcoholics shouldn’t have even one drink and drug addicts should avoid even just one hit. Therefore by extension, sugar addicts shouldn’t have even a little. That’s why he recommends giving up all sweets. After a number of days, it varies from person to person, the sugar addict generally stops craving it. In the meantime, he says power-through temptation, armed with the knowledge that it’s only temporary.

“The craving is not going to last longer than 10 to 20 minutes,” he explained, “So if you don’t give in to the craving initially, eventually it’s going to pass because your body is going to realize that it doesn’t really need that for survival.”

Dr. Pedre does offer this safety net: whole fruit. Whole fruit is fruit in its natural form, not fruit juice or fruit products like gummy fruits, dried fruits or fruit rolls. Dr. Pedre says eventually sugar addicts need to avoid the sugar in fruit, but it’s an adequate substitute for the more harmful types of sugar.”

“Now the chocolate-chip cookie is going to be a much faster hit for the brain, so you get that quicker satisfaction,” he said, “If you have a fruit, let’s say an orange or berries, you need to give it a little more time. The feedback is going to happen, it’s just going to take a couple of minutes.”

Artificial Sweeteners Worse than Sugar

Although whole fruit is an acceptable substitute for sugar, Dr. Pedre warns his patients to avoid artificial sweeteners at all costs. Research shows they’re actually worse than the real thing.”

In his book, Happy Gut, he says artificial sweeteners can harm our immune system by disrupting the bacteria in our digestive tract.

“It reduces a type of bacteria that tends to be found in lean, healthy people and it increases another type of bacteria in this genus called bacteroidetes, that is found in people who are obese,” he said.

Studies show people who regularly consume artificial sweeteners actually gain more weight. Artificial sweeteners, just like sugar, can trigger dangerous insulin resistance.

“It’s like if you’re becoming deaf and you have to turn the volume up higher. Your body is becoming deaf to the insulin signal. So your body jacks up the insulin,” he continued, “But if insulin is high, what happens is, it tells your body, turns on genes, that say, ‘store fat.'”

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Dr. Pedre says while insulin resistance is a serious condition, it doesn’t have to be permanent. He recommends intermittent fasting to help fix the problem. There are many different ways people can fast intermittently. One of the most popular is going without food for a 12 to 16-hour stretch each night.

“The idea behind intermittent fasting is that when you’re not eating you’re allowing your insulin levels to drop, you’re allowing the insulin receptors to reset so then what’s happening towards the end of the fast is that you’re increasing insulin sensitivity,” he said, “So you’re making your body insulin sensitive again.”

It might not be easy, but giving up sweets in their many forms, including artificial sweeteners, could pay dividends in the long run. {eoa}

Copyright The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., All rights reserved.

Ken Davies was on the streets, a homeless, drug-addicted homosexual who had one-night stands with other men just so he could have a place to sleep.

Davies says the root of his affliction, though, was demonic. And to escape, he needed deliverance.

Watch the video to see his testimony.

(This prayer has been adapted from our prayer initiative: 911: A Recall to Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, which was first issued in August 2015.)

“The Lord said to Abram … ‘I will bless them who bless you'” (Gen. 12:1a, 3a).

God of Abram, Isaac and Jacob, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Eternal I AM. The One who is age to age the same. There is no shadow of turning with You. You are fully present in every generation—past, present and future. You are the All-Mighty. Your power has not been deleted or depleted over the millennia of human history. We know that You so loved the world that You gave us heaven’s treasure when You sent Your only Son 2,000 years ago to be born as a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. When we join the shepherds and gaze into that manger bed, we find ourselves looking into the face of God. Thank you for the wonder of Christmas! Thank you for the gospel that tells us that anyone and everyone who places their faith in the baby—who grew to live, then die as our Savior, who now sits on heaven’s throne, who is soon to return and rule the world—will not perish but have everlasting life. Heaven’s miracle available to little dust people!

While our hearts are overflowing with humble gratitude for Your amazing grace, we also know that Your great heart of love still longs to pour out Your blessing on the city and the people that You have uniquely chosen as Your own: Jerusalem. The House of Israel. The Jews.

In this present worldwide climate—where evil seems to be unrestrained—nations are unraveling, wars are raging, arms deals are being struck behind the closed doors of our enemies … there are rumors of more wars breaking out in the Middle East and in Asia … where kingdoms are rising against kingdom … where threats are backed by weapons of mass destruction—our spirits feel the turmoil and agitation that surely is a reflection of the warfare being waged in the invisible realm.

Yet in the darkness, we have experienced an explosion of light. President Trump has affirmed America’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital! He has vowed to move our embassy there! Thank You for all the work You have done behind the scenes to bring this to a decision. While the enemies of Your people may rage, we rejoice, because we understand that in our blessing of Israel, we will be blessed!  We suddenly find ourselves on Your side once again, aligned with the nation and the city on which You have placed Your name.

We humbly turn to You now. We turn away from our responsibilities and routines, our busyness and our business, our own problems and pressures. We turn away from focusing on the turmoil in our capital and even the needs of the church. We turn away from any self-reliance or self-interests. We turn away from our Christmas shopping and wrapping and baking and planning and partying as we look up. To You! We join together with one heart and one voice to pray to thank You for the president’s decision and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. You alone are the One who makes us to dwell in safety. You alone are the One who makes us secure. You alone are God. And You alone are our God. We turn to You, deeply aware we do not deserve in ourselves to address You, yet boldly confident of access into Your most holy presence through the blood of Your Son and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

• We ask that the fear of the one, true, living God would fall on us, on Israel’s neighbors—and on Israel (2 Chron. 20:29).
• We ask that the ancient prince of the Persian kingdom and every other demonic force vowing to come against Your City be bound and rendered powerless in the face of the hosts of heaven (Dan. 10:12-13).
• We ask that the days of rage that are threatened would not materialize.
• We ask for supernatural wisdom for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Cabinet, his counselors and all government officials, so that they make decisions in line with Your perfect will. Draw the prime minister into Your Word. And then, when he opens and reads it, speak to him through it.
• We ask that You use President Trump’s decision to encourage Israel’s leaders and her citizens while putting her enemies on notice that America has her back.
• We ask that You bless The Beautiful Land and all those who live there, both Jews and Arabs, with Your peace.
• We ask especially that You woo Your people to Yourself. Draw them to put their trust in You, so that they experience peace without—and within.
• We ask that You bless President Trump. Thank You for his courage. His boldness. His leadership in the world. Make his enemies, both here and abroad, to be at peace with him.
• We ask that You bless the president’s family, his Cabinet and his staff. Protect them, while giving them unity, loyalty and a shared vision.
• Lastly, we ask that You bless America. Our beloved nation. Protect us. Defend us. Unite us. Please continue to use us as a force for good in the world. Keep us steadfast in our commitment to be a friend to Your people.

You are a great prayer-hearing, prayer-answering, covenant-keeping, miracle-working God. Hear our prayer!  Listen to Your children as we pray for the peace of the city on which You have placed Your name. Answer us!

For the glory of Your great name, Yeshua!

Amen

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!'” (Ps. 122:6-7).

Anne Graham Lotz, second child of Billy and Ruth Graham, is the founder of AnGeL Ministries and chairman for the National Day of Prayer Task Force. She has authored 15 books, including her latest, The Daniel Prayer.

This article originally appeared at .

God and Donald Trump author Stephen E. Strang comments regarding Trump’s announcement of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In his book, Strang’s words ring almost prophetic.

“There are ministry leaders and prophetic voices who are convinced God brought Donald Trump, who had said for many years that he was not at all interested in running for public office, to this place for this time,” Strang wrote in God and Donald Trump. “It may well be, as (Michele) Bachmann and certain prophetic voices have suggested, that Trump was sent by God as a bull in a china shop to break up the globalist agenda and interrupt the left’s campaign to remake America in their own image. A man with a milder, gentler, less aggressive personality could never hope to take on the forces within the political establishment and prosper, which explains why Donald J. Trump was the perfect choice for this hour.”

With today’s announcement regarding Jerusalem, Trump continues to persist against global voices, standing with Israel and many of his evangelical supporters.

Strang is an award-winning journalist and successful businessman who began his career as a newspaper reporter at the Orlando Sentinel. He later founded a Christian publishing house and media company while interviewing and writing about nearly every Christian leader in the country over the past four decades.

For more information on the ECPA best-selling book God and Donald Trump, visit  and view the book’s video. Visitors to the site can also download a free chapter and order the book.

God and Donald Trump is published by Frontline, an imprint of Charisma House, which has published books that challenge, encourage, teach and equip Christians, including 14 New York Times best-sellers.

Christ the Rock Community Church in Menasha, Wisconsin, has announced that its founding pastor, Bill Lenz, took his own life on Monday—a tragic event that follows a months-long battle with depression.

“With heavy hearts, we must share some devastating news. Our beloved Senior Pastor, Bill Lenz, passed away on the afternoon of December 4,” the church said on its Facebook page. “Bill had been suffering from depression for the last three months.”

Christ the Rock Community Church said that Lenz was seeing a doctor and counselor and talking with friends, but that “depression eventually claimed his life on Earth.” {eoa}

Read the rest of this story from our content partners at Faithwire.

After news broke President Donald Trump would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. Embassy there, evangelicals rushed to praise him.

Here’s a sampling:

Gov. Mike Huckabee, honorary national chairman of My Faith Votes:

For over two decades American presidents have talked the good talk on Israel. But when it’s come to taking action, they’ve hesitated and kicked the can down the road instead of standing with our ally and recognizing its right to call Jerusalem its capital. Today, President Donald Trump did what his predecessors didn’t have the courage to do: recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city. In so doing, he set two great examples for us—how to make good on promises and how to treat your friends. There is no brighter beacon of democracy in the Middle East than Israel, and President Trump’s announcement of Jerusalem as its capital reinforces—for the whole world to see—the truth that it has a right to exist. Christians in America should be proud that one of our closest allies, also the ancient homeland of our Judeo-Christian faith, exudes tolerance, steadiness and strength in a region too often marked by all the reliability of deserts full of shifting sand.

Jerusalem is and should be recognized as the capital of Israel. It is David’s capital, the site of the first and second temples, the focus of the historians’ accounts, the psalmists’ songs and the prophets’ visions. It is the place where Jesus, a Jew himself, was crucified and where he was resurrected. It is the place where he will set foot again on earth at his second Donald J. Trump has demonstrated true leadership today by recognizing Jerusalem as the legitimate capital of Israel. President Trump is a modern-day profile in courage, accomplishing what no other president has been willing to do. It took courage for President Harry S. Truman to recognize Israel as a nation in 1948, and it took courage for President Donald J. Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel today. He is a blessing not only to our nation but to Israel as well. Jerusalem has been the object of the affection of both Jews and Christians down through history and the touchstone of prophecy. But most importantly, God gave Jerusalem—and the rest of the Holy Land—to the Jewish people.

Promise made. Promise kept. Once again, President Trump has shown the world what I have always known—he is a leader who is willing to do what is right however loud the voices are of the skeptics and the critics. Evangelicals are ecstatic, for Israel is to us a sacred place and the Jewish people are our dearest friends. The Jewish people have dedicated themselves to Jerusalem over millennia, taken pride in it, defended it with blood and treasure, and today we rejoice with them as our president has done the sensible thing—he has let the State of Israel choose for itself its own capital. Christians, the world over, are not surprised and we call the world to pray for the peace of Jerusalem—God’s chosen city for God’s chosen people.

The historical record, empirical fact and our faith all confirm that Jerusalem is in fact the capital of the Jewish people. I therefore enthusiastically applaud President Trump’s decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a promise every president has made since Clinton, and which none has fulfilled until today. In 1995 Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which mandated moving the U.S. Embassy to a unified Jerusalem. Every six months since, our political leaders have given one excuse after another for not following through on this promise. President Trump has made clear that the time for acquiescence is over. Recognizing the Jewish people’s rightful claim to their eternal capital city puts the United States firmly on the right side of history. This is not only the right thing to do, it is the altogether righteous thing to do.

The Scriptures declare that those who stand with Israel will indeed be blessed. It should therefore come as no surprise that the Christian community in America is unapologetically a true and faithful friend to the Jewish people. God’s devotion to the Jewish people is the result of an eternal applaud the U.S. administration’s leadership for finally, rightly and formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal will be many who oppose this decision, just as so many have opposed Israel and her people throughout the centuries. We should not be surprised by this, but rather more convinced than ever that, despite great opposition, God’s hand will forever be on the people of the promise. To this day, Israel stands as a shining light in the Middle East, a free democracy, a thriving economy and a vibrant culture undergirded by the rule of law. May she continue to be blessed and may we, the United States of America, be blessed by reaffirming that we stand firmly beside her.

On behalf of The Fellowship’s millions of evangelical Christian supporters around the world, I applaud the U.S. administration’s decision today to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It is a bold, courageous move that is long overdue, and is especially significant coming from Israel’s closest ally. Both Jews and Christians around the world have prayed for this day, which rights a historic wrong by affirming to the world that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people.

On behalf of thousands of evangelical Christians across Rio de Janeiro and all of Brazil, I wholeheartedly welcome the U.S. administration’s brave and farsighted recognition of Jerusalem, our holy city, as Israel’s capital.

On behalf of thousands of Christians across Seoul and all of South Korea, I commend the U.S. administration’s long-overdue recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. This is an historic moment for Christians and Jews around the world.

President Trump’s support of Israel is encouraging. It marks the beginning of a new season in U.S. Middle-East Policy. The previous administration allowed persecution, terrorism and stereotyping of the Israeli people. As someone who has been to Israel several times, I have seen the complement of this nation to democracy. As an African-American, I have also seen the fairness and civil freedoms afforded every resident: black, white, Palestinian or Jewish. I celebrate President Trump’s historic decision.

For millennia, the Jewish people were deprived of their homeland, persecuted and rejected wherever they went. Even their return to the Promised Land has been mixed with sorrow, as they’ve had to wait on the world to once again recognize what’s rightfully theirs: Jerusalem.

 

I’m thoroughly pleased President Trump has taken this action when it comes to our ally Israel. By recognizing that Jerusalem is Israel’s unquestionable capital and promising the subsequent move of the U.S. embassy, President Trump has incurred blessing on America, for Scripture says God blesses those who bless Israel. As the psalmist once said, let us then ‘Pray for peace for Jerusalem: may those who love you be at peace!’

Dr. Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church

President Trump’s announcement—that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s rightful capital and that our embassy will move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem—is the best news to come out of the Middle East in decades. As a Christian, I’m grateful America is playing a decisive role in the story of God’s chosen people, and I’m very glad President Trump is displaying the courage to fulfill a promise to support Israel and its biblical role among the nations.

Jerusalem is the nerve center of the world geographically. Jerusalem is the salvation center of the world spiritually. Jerusalem is the glory center of the world ultimately. Jerusalem is the city of the past, the present and the future. This city was the capital of Israel under King David. David’s son Solomon built the first temple, and the shekinah glory came. Jesus taught, was crucified and was resurrected there. When the Jews formed a nation on May 14, 1948, it was a modern-day miracle. And—to Christians—it was a day of fulfilled prophecy. Never has a nation been able to maintain its national identity after being scattered for hundreds of years—until Israel! God even uses Jerusalem as a picture of what we will see in heaven in the ‘New Jerusalem. We are commanded in Scripture to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” God says of the Jewish people, and in effect, the nation Israel, “He who touches you touches the apple of His eye” (Zech. 2:8). That’s why we stand with the Jewish people and the nation Israel. We bless them and thank God for them. Jerusalem is their eternal capital. All of these are reasons why I am grateful for the U.S. administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

President Trump is on a record promise-keeping-roll. His support for Israel, undergirded by our “prayers for the peace of Jerusalem” are encouraging evidence that God is blessing us.

Dr. Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Church”

It is quite possible that President Donald Trump’s statement on Israel today is the single most important announcement regarding Israel by a U.S. president since President Harry Truman recognized Israel as a state 70 years ago on May 14, 1948.

Today is a major milestone in America’s historic relationship with Israel. Under the bold and courageous leadership of President, Trump America is finally putting American interests and the interests of our key allies first. America’s foreign policy, as it pertains to Israel, is coming into alignment with biblical truth—Jerusalem is the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state.

Rev. Jentezen Franklin, senior Pastor, Free Chapel 

It is with great enthusiasm that I wholeheartedly support and endorse President Trump’s decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. While it has been the practice of some international institutions to insist on international determination over this topic, we believe it is Israel’s right to decide the location of her capital as was spiritually declared by King David and then legally documented in 1950 when the Israeli Knesset passed the Jerusalem law and declared Jerusalem to be the eternal, undivided capital of the state of Israel. Declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital would not itself mark a change in American law. In 1995, Democrat President Bill Clinton signed a statute declaring, “Since 1950, the city of Jerusalem has been the capital of the state of Israel.”

Naming the city of Jerusalem the capital of Israel is not just a political right of Israel, it is also of great theological importance to Christians worldwide, and certainly to the churches I pastor.

Christianity began in Jerusalem, which served as the context for Jesus’ life and earthly ministry. Jerusalem is the city where Jesus was crucified on a cross, was laid in a tomb and where He rose from the grave and showed Himself to many others over a forty-day period. It is the city where many believe Abraham brought Isaac up Mount Moriah and passed God’s test of faith and the city where King Solomon built the magnificent Temple, declaring it a house of prayer for all nations. It is also the city Isaiah envisioned as the world’s center where the nations would beat their swords into plowshares and learn war no more. It is the city where Jesus wept.

The significance of Jerusalem to Christians, however, cannot be separated from the significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people. Their history is our history. We are intertwined through our Old Testament Scriptures and spiritual legacy. Their biblical examples are our biblical examples, and we share this heritage in Jerusalem as our spiritual capital while Israel also legally proclaims it as her national capital. Their national history has become our spiritual history.

We stand with the president of the United States, the nation of Israel and her right to declare Jerusalem as the capital. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as Scripture implores us to do, and we trust her peace and prosperity, not to man-made institutions and international efforts, but to the God of all peace and to the greatest Jew who ever lived, Jesus Christ.

With Christmas just around the corner, some people are getting caught up in the “Happy Holidays” vs. “Merry Christmas” debate. Not actor Chris Hemsworth. The Thor star took to the podium at Disneyland to tell the story of the birth of Christ at the Christmas Light Processional. The video was uploaded by the Orange County Register. See for yourself.