Michael L. Brown grew up in a typical conservative
Jewish home in the suburbs of Long Island, N.Y. He attended Hebrew school and had been introduced
to the Scriptures as a child. But during his teen years, he got caught up in the 1960s
counterculture. He played drums in a rock band and started using drugs at age
14. He shot heroine and cocaine, and even stole money from his family to support his habit. But a visit
to a Pentecostal church changed everything. Watch videos below.

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An oil exploration company has announced that it has found “significant quantities” of oil in Israel, buoying hopes that natural resources are prevalent in the Holy Land and could enable Israel to become energy independent.

An Israeli company, the Givot Olam Oil Exploration Limited Partnership, announced in December that it found oil at its drill site in Rosh Ha’Ayin, about 10 miles inland from the Tel Aviv coastline. Gas was also found during the drill.

It is unknown whether the well contains a commercially viable amount of oil, but the company will continue its exploration. The discovery of oil comes almost a year after Israel announced the finding of a rich natural gas field 55 miles west of the Haifa port. With initial estimates at $15 billion, the gas field could meet Israel’s natural gas demand for 15 years and reduce its dependence on imports. An oil reserve would do the same.

Some companies, both Christian- and Jewish-owned, believe the Bible points to vast amounts of petroleum deposits in Israel and use biblical prophecy to guide the location of their drill sites. In addition to geological research, Zion Oil and Gas, a Christian-owned company, determined drilling locations based on passages from Genesis and Deuteronomy that detail Jacob’s blessing of certain tribes.

In Deuteronomy 33:18-19, Moses blessed the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun saying, “‘They will summon peoples to the mountain and there offer sacrifices of righteousness; they will feast on the abundance of the seas, on the treasures hidden in the sand.'” Also, in Deuteronomy 33:24, it is said of Asher “let him bathe his feet in oil.”

Taking that to be natural oil and not olive oil, and presuming that “treasures hidden in the sand” may indicate natural resources such as oil, Zion Oil and Gas secured two onshore exploration licenses covering about 162,000 acres between Tel Aviv and Haifa and a permit to explore 165,000 acres to the east. These regions of Israel include the land allotted to the tribes of Asher, Menashe, Issachar and Zebulun.

If Israel strikes oil, the discovery could drastically change the geopolitical dynamic in the Middle East, making Israel, which does not have official relations with surrounding Arab oil-rich nations, energy independent. Joel Rosenberg, in his novel The Last Jihad, fictionalizes a possible outcome of an oil discovery in Israel, which in his book becomes the impetus for a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians.

The quest for oil based on biblical prophecy is not new. In 1972, James Spillman wrote The Great Treasure Hunt before there was any geologic proof that oil or gas sat beneath the Holy Land. In his later book, Breaking the Treasure Code: The Hunt for Israel’s Oil, Spillman details the ancient tribal boundaries to pinpoint the location of a vast oil reserve.

Nevertheless, critics maintain that the Hebrew word for oil used in the verse about Asher is shemen, which generally indicates olive oil, and never petroleum oil. Rabbinic writings interpret it to mean olive oil as well.

Nicole Schiavi in Israel

Grace is when we get what we don’t deserve.

Mercy is when we don’t get what we do deserve.

Mercy manifests when we don’t get justice for our sin. Grace, on the other hand, is imparted power we don’t deserve that frees us from the tyranny of sin.

Many Christians have lumped the two words together and assigned to both the same meaning. Am I splitting hairs here or is this just semantics? Not at all. Here’s a way to think about it: Suppose you play both football and basketball with football rules. Football would go well; however, with basketball you’d lose the uniqueness of the sport in addition to incurring numerous injuries. We’ve lost the power of the identity of grace because so many have combined it with mercy. We’ve also incurred numerous injuries by playing grace with mercy’s rules.

Grace gives us the power to live, and mercy keeps us free from guilt, condemnation and shame, all of which try to pull us back into sin’s grip. Mercy keeps our conscience clear of the judgment we deserve. What amazing mercy God has shown us!

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace,…that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need. (Hebrews 4:16, AMP)

Mercy is given for our failures, our sins we’ve repented of. However, grace is given to help, to empower us. What a great salvation our Father has given us-complete and lacking nothing!

Marked by boldness and passion, John Bevere delivers uncompromising truth through his award-winning curriculum and best-selling books now available in over sixty languages. His newest book is Extraordinary: The Life You’re Meant to Live. More information is available at www.ExtraordinaryOnline.org.

When Faisal Malick heard a Christian business man say “Jesus is the Son of God,” he got angry and set out to convince the man Islam is the only way. But for Malick, a devout Sunni Muslim, his life was about to change forever. He accepted Messiah into his heart and today he shares his faith with others, declaring Yeshua is the Son of God. Watch video below.

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In Genesis 12:3, God makes a promise to Abraham: ‘”I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.'”

In my own life I have seen proof of this promise; when I have blessed Israel and the Jewish people, God has showered His blessings on me. That is why we have set up the “Bless Israel” fund through Christian Life Missions.

Over the last several years through Christian Life Missions and friends like you, we have helped buy an ambulance for Israel; helped rebuild a war-torn city near the Lebanese border; and provided bomb shelters near the Gaza Strip where Kassam rockets from Hamas rain terror on Israeli citizens who had no where to run and hide.

Many ministries raise money for Israel. However, some raise money for Israel but the funds never get to the intended destination, according to what I’ve been told by Israeli insiders. This has also motivated me to make a way for those who want to bless Israel to do so with integrity through a ministry like Christian Life Missions.

We are a small ministry with little overhead expense. Most of what you give will go directly to “Bless Israel.” Christian Life Missions has been around since the mid-1950s and has been a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability since 1980.

Over the years Christian Life Missions has functioned with the utmost integrity and without a shred of controversy, so you can give with confidence.

As we think of places to give in 2010, won’t you band together with others who (like me) believe in blessing Israel? If your gift is at least $30 we will give you a copy of David Brog’s book Standing With Israel, which tells from a Jewish perspective why Bible-believing Christians are Israel’s best friend.

My company donates the books so everything you give can go to bless the Jewish people and Israel. We have sold or given away nearly 150,000 copies of this important book. If you haven’t read it, you need to because it will bless you.

Never before have we asked for donations from the readers of the Standing With Israel e-newsletter. But as we sent out this request to our regular Christian Life Missions donors we decided to include readers of this newsletter because we want you to also receive a blessing by blessing the Jewish people and Israel!

Donations can be made by sending a check made payable to “Christian Life Missions,” designated for “Bless Israel” in the check’s memo line, and sent to Christian Life Missions, 600 Rinehart Road, Lake Mary, FL 32746.

Donations can also be made online at blessisrael.christianlifemissions.com with a credit card or through PayPal. To me, that’s an even quicker and easier way to give.

Please check out Christian Life Missions’ new Web site, christianlifemissions.com, which tells about all the ministries we support. But the ones closest to my own heart are those that bless God’s chosen people. Won’t you dig down and give a generous offering-as I’m doing?

God bless you for your generosity.

Steve Strang
President, Christian Life Missions
Founder and Publisher of Charisma magazine

As we walked past the Egyptian exhibit in the Museum of Art History in Vienna, I noted the great importance placed upon memorials for the dead. The wealthy took great pains to prepare proper tombs and memorials. Embalming to preserve the body was of prime importance. Why did the Egyptians do this? 

It was a way of declaring significance in the face of death. Human beings want to believe they are significant in the scheme of things.

Anthropology teaches us that traditions concerning death and the dead almost universally declare life after death. These traditions affirm the significance of human life in the face of death. The reasons for belief in significance vary, but no religious system gives the quality answer that we find in the Bible, where we learn that human beings are created in the image of God, for an everlasting life of fellowship with Him and with other human beings.

This is the beginning point for the question of identity: Who am I? Do I have worth? Many people experience great doubt concerning their worth. They experienced terrible rejections in their growing up years, or tragic events that gave rise to deep questions concerning their own worth.

Identity was defined in ancient times largely by one’s ties to family and tribe, and one’s place in an ancestral line. The Bible does not disregard these ties in the question of identity and worth. Indeed, the prophets call Israel to faithfulness based on their worth according to their ancestry going back to Abraham. “Look to the rock from which you were hewn … look to Abraham your father” (Isaiah 51:1, 2).

Identity Crisis

I believe that some Gentiles in the Messianic Jewish movement are having an identity crisis and are not solving the problem the right way. The Messianic Jewish congregational movement is a movement of Jews and Gentiles who have joined together in the calling and for the salvation Israel. Both enjoy and participate in Jewish life patterns. They are one in the Messiah. Most Christians are not called to become part of Messianic Jewish congregations though all are called to support the salvation of Israel. Some are called to the Jewish people as a primary life focus. Their heart is bonded in a unique way with the Jewish people.

At the same time, and with a tender heart, I observe that some Gentile believers are attached to the Messianic Jewish movement out of motives other than a heart burden for Israel and the Jewish community. Rather they are joined to it as an answer to a personal identity crisis. They read the promises in the Bible concerning Israel and her future glory. Romans chapter 9 begins with a list of the benefits of being part of Israel in answer to the question of what advantage being Jewish provides. Theirs are the covenants, the patriarchs, the giving of the Law, the Temple, the priesthood and the glory. Isaiah states that in the future, Israel will blossom and bud and fill the whole world with fruit. So a Gentile believer who does not know himself adequately in Messiah thinks that it would be better to be Jewish or an Israelite. He thinks that if he is not, he is second class. This has led to amazing diversions.

Diversions in the Messianic World

One group says that those who come to faith in Yeshua, from any nation, are physical descendants of the lost tribes (the Ephraimite Movement). They are seeking status in Israel as permanent residents without the usual benefits of the State. It is as if they are saying, “If I am a lost tribes person, then I am an equal Israelite and have equal worth.” Another group says that they may not all be physical descendants, but that there are enough who are descendants that the whole is Israel (the more moderate Ephraimite Movement).

This is a partial replacement theology (that the church has replaced Israel and is a new and true Israel). These folks still affirm the identity of Jews, whom they call the tribe of Judah.

Another group is touting one new man in Yeshua, and lives a Jewish life pattern in some ways, but it is said that they are beyond Jew and Gentile as a new type of humanity. This is seen as a great new revelation, but it is not understood that this is exactly like the third race replacement theology of the early Church. Many of these groups disparage the Church, even the Reformation churches, as pagan. This is another way of superior identity assertion. It betrays a sad lack of understanding of the theology and practice of the churches.

A Biblical Understanding of Worth and Identity

The problem in all of these movements is a failure to understand worth and identity from a Biblical perspective and to enter into it. Jews do have a worth according to God’s promises to Abraham. Through the work of Yeshua, however, Gentiles who come to faith in him also become the children of Abraham. Baptism incorporates the Gentile fully to become the seed of the Messiah and hence the seed of Abraham. This happens by a creative miracle of the Holy Spirit. In addition, one can now redeem one’s ancestry by forgiving what was bad and receiving with gratitude that which was good. So one can be a Norwegian seed of Abraham, as well as French, Chinese or Russian. I do not wrestle with the fact that my ancestry is both Jewish and Norwegian as if this makes me lesser and only a half Jew. I am a Jew, but I appreciate both, and both become full of meaning in the Messiah. Indeed, different Church traditions of worship and life patterns are enriching from this perspective. All of us share the rich value of being created in the image of God and being a new creation.

One New Man

The “one new man” of this theology is the one new humanity. It is not homogenization. It is the complement of mutual blessing as in a marriage. In Messiah, with regard to worth and spiritual acceptance, there is no male or female. But male and female in the Messiah continue and produce the amazing personal enrichment of a marriage in Messiah. In the same way, Jew and Gentile are to enrich one another. Instead of seeking to prove that one had a Jewish ancestor way back when, or that one is from the lost tribes, it is much better to bring our uniqueness in the Messiah for mutual blessing. It is much better to embrace one’s ethnicity in the Messiah by dying to any idolatry of it. We all write life stories out of the background we have been given, whether an African tribesman or a Japanese warrior.

Identity issues are solved for Gentiles in realizing that they are created in the image of God, each with his own unique ethnic and cultural heritage. They are now the seed of Abraham through the Messiah. They are part of the one new man, His glorious bride. There is nothing better than this. There are different callings, but without status superiority in the body. Israel’s promises are glorious, but not more than the promises of glory for all in the bride of the Messiah. All peoples can enter into this as full participants. The gospel is preached to all nations.

In the Messiah we together form an amazing wholeness out of the variety of peoples that make up God’s multifaceted body. It is with this understanding that the call of Gentiles to serve in Messianic Jewish contexts is such a blessing. Identity is based on memory and purpose, which is future oriented. That memory includes a healthy ancestral dimension. In the Messiah all can come to their fullness of meaning and identity.

Daniel Juster is the founder of Tikkun Ministries. To contact him, go to www.tikkunministries.org.

When it’s time to spring clean our homes, we empty out the closets, give away unwanted clothes, and sweep, mop and wash until the house looks and smells new. And so it is with the believer. The Father wants us to live authentic lives as modeled by His Son, and throughout our journey, He will do spiritual cleaning. It is during seasons of difficulty and God-appointed tests that we discover what is in us. Reputation is what we are on the outside, but the Holy Spirit reveals the true character of a person. Let evangelist Joyce L. Rodgers encourage you in times of character building. Listen to podcast below.

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Joyce L. Rodgers is the founder of Primary Purpose Ministries in Dallas and the author of Fatal Distractions. To contact her or listen to other messages, click here. To purchase her book, click on the image. 

Indecision is a miserable state to be in and certainly is not a fruit of the simple life. Simplicity prays, seeks wisdom and decides. It doesn’t waffle. It sticks with the decision it made unless there is a very good reason to change it. The apostle James said the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways and will not receive anything he asks from the Lord.

How can God give us anything if we can never make up our minds concerning what we want?

Inevitably, our journeys through life bring us to many unavoidable decisions, and we will always get into trouble if we make them emotionally or according to what we think or want. God wants us to make wise decisions. I believe having wisdom is choosing to do now what we will be happy with later.

I love Proverbs 8:2-3: “On the top of the heights beside the way, where the paths meet, stands Wisdom [skillful and godly]; at the gates at the entrance of the town, at the coming in at the doors, she cries out” (The Amplified Bible).

If you want to simplify your life, you must think about the future and realize the choices you make today will affect tomorrow. Some people are never able to relax and enjoy life because every day they deal with messes resulting from not walking in wisdom. I frequently hear people say, “I know I should not do this, but … .”

It is foolish to do things we know we shouldn’t do. How can anyone expect to get a right result if they already know they are making a wrong decision?

They are gambling on things turning out right anyway, but wisdom does not gamble; it invests. Making the decision to do the right things now may not bring pleasure right away, but it does later on. So many people pay a high price for a cheap thrill, but you can make a decision right now to not be one of them.

It’s entirely possible that we make a million decisions in our lifetime, and the wiser they are, the better our lives will be. Simplifying your life requires that you really think about your decisions before you make them. James 5:12 says, “But above all [things], my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath; but let your yes be [a simple] yes, and your no be [a simple] no, so that you may not sin and fall under condemnation.”

What James is saying is, “Make a decision. Just say yes or no; and don’t keep changing your mind.” We often labor over the choices before us when we just need to make a decision and let it stand. This may be a simple example, but think about it: When you stand in front of your closet in the morning looking at all your clothes, just choose something and put it on. Do not go back and forth until you make yourself late for work!

Let me encourage you to start making decisions without second-guessing yourself or worrying about the choices you make. Don’t be double-minded or wishy-washy because doubting your decisions after you make them will steal the enjoyment from everything you do. Make the best decisions you can and trust God with the results. Do not be anxious or afraid of being wrong.

If your heart is right and you make a decision not in accordance with God’s will, He will forgive you and help you move on. Be decisive. Whatever you need to do in life, just do it-and keep it simple. “Let go and let God be God” really is a good idea. It immediately simplifies any situation, no matter how difficult. We need to do what we can and then cast the rest, along with our cares, on God.

The Bible says we should do what the crisis requires and “having done all … to stand” (Eph. 6:13). Work at having a simple approach to decision-making. Life is too short to live it frustrated.

Joyce Meyer is a New York Times best-selling author and one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers. She has written more than 70 books, including the popular Beauty for Ashes and Battlefield of the Mind, and her most recent, Never Give Up! (all FaithWords). She is also the founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries Inc. and the host of Enjoying Everyday Life radio and TV programs, which air on hundreds of stations worldwide.

During my tour last year of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, I was haunted by what I saw. Old movie clips and photos of Jews being herded off to concentration camps tore at my emotions. I could barely contain myself.

When I entered the children’s memorial, all I could think about were the millions of children who died in gas chambers. I saw images of some of their faces, and they were no different from my child or yours. In my mind, I could hear them giggling, laughing and enjoying life, but they died without mercy. (Photos 1 and 2 courtesy of Yossi Ben-David / Yad Vashem)

That’s why we must always remember the Holocaust. The atrocities of one of the most brutal genocides in world history should be etched deep in our hearts, lest we forget and perpetrate similar crimes against other nations of people. The deaths of 6 million Jews must never be in vain.

Every year the United Nations calls on the world to officially recognize International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was observed Tuesday. With much focus on Israel, it’s interesting to see how the international community is responding to current events unfolding in the country.

Kasey Bar lives in Israel and wrote a blog for Travelujah about her take on what’s happening in the Promised Land. She challenges readers, especially Christians, to not only remember the Holocaust, but to speak out and not keep silent. Read her blog below.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

By Kasey Bar

This morning I picked up the Jerusalem Post to read the headline, “PM Expected to Draw Connections Between Iran’s Nukes and Holocaust.” The article goes on to quote other leaders. “Merkel to Peres in Berlin: “Teheran’s time is up.”

Today is the official United Nations Holocaust Remembrance Day and also the anniversary of the historic liberation of Auschwitz. I expected to see historic articles throughout the paper, but the main thrust of today’s headlines is a, not so subtle, warning that a second holocaust is waiting around the corner if the world does not act in some measure, and very quickly.

I find it eerie that on this day that we remember the atrocities of the past, we are confronted with a present day threat that could potentially kill more people in a few minutes then Hitler and his SS guards did in several years. On Tuesday, at the Warsaw Uprising Museum, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu wrote in the guestbook, “The people of Israel have learned their lesson.” I do not doubt his words, but I question whether the world has learned its lesson as well.

(Photos 3-5 courtesy of Travelujah)

This past summer I visited Dachau concentration camp right outside of Munich. It was my first visit to a concentration camp memorial. There is much to say on this subject, but that is for another blog on another day. But I remember feeling like I had stepped onto the set of some horror movie.

The heinous acts that were done there make the rational mind swim and finally go numb. I didn’t cry as I made my way through the man-made hell. I thought that the walks through the cramped housing units, gas chambers and crematorium would be very emotional, but I found that my senses were frozen. It was not until after I was away from it all that I could sort through my feelings. Even now, I have not fully unpacked the experience.

Toward the end of the tour, my group was lead to a large stone memorial with the words “Never Again” written in English, Hebrew, French, German and Russian. “Never Again.” I feel that our world is so detached from the atrocities and is so certain that the modern, educated world citizens of today could never return to such barbarism. But it was the most modern and educated people who masterminded the holocaust. Wishing hatred away has never been a successful strategy as history proves again and again.

I would like to believe the world has learned its lesson. But if it has not, have the Christians learned theirs? I often wonder what I would have done had I lived as a European Christian during the Second World War. Would I have been like Corrie Ten Boom who hid Jewish people in her home and marched bravely to a concentration camp when she and her family were caught?

Could I have publically spoken against Hitler like German Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose involvement in a plot to overthrow Hitler led to his imprisonment and execution in 1945?

Or would I be part of the silent mass of Christians who quietly dissented from Hitler.

Those who abhorred his government, his policies and his practices but who would never scratch below the surface afraid of what they might find. Would I have been content to be dissatisfied but passive?

The answer may come more quickly than I would like. We may all have a decision to make very soon. We do live in a period in history where there is virulent hatred toward Israel and her Jewish citizens and where there is a madman spewing numerous promises to wipe Israel from the map. The scenario, while similar to WWII, is different. Our response cannot be the same. We are not Germans and the man-making speeche of hatred is not our leader. How do we respond?

I wish I knew. But one thing I do know is that when we are faced with anti-Semitism of any kind, we must speak out. When the nation of Israel is verbally attacked for the crime of existing, we must answer in defense. And if ever called upon to shoulder the burden of the Jewish people, we must be ready.

It was Dietrich Bonheoffer who said, “It is the fellowship of the cross to experience the burden of the other. If one does not experience it, the fellowship he belongs to is not Christian. If any member refuses to bear that burden, he denies the law of Christ.”

If any man has a right to make such a bold statement it is he. As I honor this day of remembrance, it is my earnest prayer that if confronted with the choice, we Christians will answer as strongly as the Corrie Ten Booms and Bonheoffers who have gone before us.

“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter (Proverbs 24:11-12).

Kasey Bar lives in Ra’ananna Israel with her husband Yuval. She blogs frequently on her life in Israel on Travelujah.com, the only Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. Travelujah is an Israel based company that provides over 400 pages of interesting content, including expert and user blogs, travel ideas, tours and other information relevant to the Christian traveler.

Are you bound by habits or ungodly attitudes that keep you from God’s best? You can be released from those shackles by praying without ceasing and living out the Word every day of your life. Sharyn Culp of His Majesty Ministries, a prayer sanctuary on the Web, intercedes along with other Christians for people around the world. To receive prayer for deliverance and more, listen to podcast below.

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Prophetess Sharyn Culp is the founder of His Majesty Ministries, a worldwide prayer sanctuary on the Web. She offers a message of healing, deliverance, hope and more from the heart of His Majesty. To contact Sharyn or receive prayer, click here.