Category Archives: Israel

by

Daily Broadside | Terrorist Organization Needs to Be Eradicated

What’s there to write about except the war that’s broken out in Israel? Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization, attacked southern Israel and of this writing, have launched 3,500 rockets, have infiltrated nearly 30 Israeli communities, have taken more than 100 hostages including the elderly, women and children, and have killed 1,100 in the terrorist attack.

There are reports that several Americans are among the dead and captured.

Israel responded by declaring war—not just an “operation”—and has vowed to crush Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving PM, called for a massive military response after the attack, which occurred 50 years to the week after the surprise attack on Yom Kippur in 1973.

Reports say that 450 Palestinians have been killed so far.

I am an unwavering supporter of Israel. I believe that God has a plan for the Jewish people, and that the hostility we see toward them today is a continuation of the hostility they’ve experienced since they were slaves in Egypt.

I also believe that there are innocents on both sides of the conflict. I don’t doubt that there are Palestinian families who wish for peace just as there are Jewish families who wish for peace. I encourage all of us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, that both Arabs and Jews would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

But I will denounce in no uncertain terms that Hamas is a barbaric entity that deserves to be completely annihilated. They may be fighting for what they believe in, but there is no place in a civilized world for such morally repugnant behavior.

Israel has every right to defend itself against this evil.

Here’s his daughter and the video of her being taken prisoner.

Iran is undoubtedly behind the attacks; even Hamas has claimed Iran’s support for their war against Israel. We should cut off funding for Iran, for Palestinians, for any terrorist state or entity of any kind.

But what do our current leaders do? Fund Iran as they chant, “Death to America!”

Insanity.

Here in the states, we’re beginning to see the benefits of all that “diversity” we’ve been importing.

Just wait until our “diverse” citizens and guests start attacking those who support Israel. It’s going to happen.

While the U.S. is moving a carrier group to the eastern Mediterranean, we can hardly afford to enter a third World War. But it’s beginning to look a little dicey.

Pray for peace.

by - 4 Comments

Daily Broadside | Israeli Politicians Tried to Criminalize Talking About Jesus

It’s been a week. Yes, it’s been a week since Monday when I last posted, and now it’s Friday, so it’s been a week since I last posted. But it’s also been a week, if you know what I mean. We’ve got work going on in the house, it’s tax season, work is picking up, the kids need support, and it’s garbage night. What’s a guy to do?

The good news is that I am going to keep daveolsson.com going for another year with the Daily Broadside. Now that I’ve got three years under my belt, I’m going to explore what more can be done with this exceptionally small publication with famously quiet and loyal readers.

Instead of closing the week with the latest moronic effort by our political betters to deceive us into believing that the walls are really closing in this time on Donald J. Trump and that they’re not building a surveillance state that will eventually help them easily label you as a friend or foe of the regime and limit your personal opportunities and purchasing power, here’s an encouraging story from the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu vowed to block a bill by members of his own governing coalition making it illegal for followers of Jesus in Israel to discuss the Gospel message with other Israelis.

An article on Sunday by ALL ISRAEL NEWS first broke the story of the dangerous bill in which two ultra-Orthodox members of Knesset – Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Asher – were determined to outlaw anyone from sharing the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah in Israel, and punish violators with prison sentences.

Nothing like alienating 660 million supporters in a world that hates you.

Sam Brownback – former U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom in the Trump-Pence administration – was the first American leader to publicly sound the alarm about what a threat to religious freedom and human rights the bill posed.

Brownback also became the first to praise Netanyahu for taking a strong stand against the bill.

“Bibi Netanyahu is an amazing leader of courage,” Brownback told ALL ISRAEL NEWS in a text message on Wednesday. “I applaud his quick and decisive move to address what could have become a major issue.”

I’m not sure that such a law would have turned away evangelical support for the nation of Israel, but it would have made it awkward for those evangelicals who visited the holy land and would have earned a rebuke from US lawmakers. Still, it’s clearly a better policy choice to avoid offending the one block of people across the globe who believe not only in Israel’s right to exist, but in the ongoing role that Israel plays in God’s redemptive work.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16)

The bill, which was withdrawn following Netanyahu’s threat, would have imposed a one-year prison term on anyone caught violating the law. It was conspicuously aimed at evangelical Christians by the bill’s authors.

This bill would apply to people having spiritual conversations with Israelis of any religion.

However, in their official explanation of the bill, the two Israeli legislators specifically emphasized the warning to stop Christians, in particular.

The bill’s primary objective, therefore, appears to be making it illegal for followers of Jesus (“Yeshua” in Hebrew) to explain why they believe that Jesus is both Messiah and God with the hope that Israelis might consider following Him.

Fortunately, the freedom to share the good news of Jesus with others in the holy land remains intact.

Have a good weekend.

by

Daily Broadside | New Discovery Boosts Christian Confidence in the Bible

As a believer it is helpful to my faith when archeological discoveries reinforce or directly prove the historicity of the Bible. In three scriptures, we read of the Pool of Siloam.

2 Kings 20:20 —

As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

Nehemiah 3:15 —

He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam, by the King’s Garden, as far as the steps going down from the City of David.

John 9:7 —

“Go,” [Jesus] told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

And now, if you want to go see the pool, you can.

The Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel National Parks Authority and the City of David Foundation announced days before the new year that the Pool of Siloam, a biblical site cherished by Christians and Jews, will be open to the public for the first time in 2,000 years in the near future.

“The Pool of Siloam’s excavation is highly significant to Christians around the world,” American Pastor John Hagee, the founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, told Fox News Digital. “It was at this site that Jesus healed the blind man (John:9), and it is at this site that, 2,000 years ago, Jewish pilgrims cleansed themselves prior to entering the Second Temple. 

“The Pool of Siloam and the Pilgrimage Road, both located within the City of David, are among the most inspiring archeological affirmations of the Bible…

…

The pool was first built roughly 2,700 years ago as part of Jerusalem’s water system in the eighth century B.C. The construction unfolded during the reign of King Hezekia as cited in the Bible in the Book of Kings II, 20:20, according to the two Israeli agencies and the City of David Foundation. 

According to estimates, the Pool of Siloam passed through many stages of construction and reached the size of 1¼ acres.

Atheists, secular humanists and mainline scoffers often characterize the Bible as being mythological or fictional. Yet there has never been an archeological find that has disproved any biblical record; in fact, any archeological discovery relating to a biblical text has only validated the Bible’s historicity.

For instance (and appropriately, as we exit the Christmas season), it was long thought that the Bible was in error when Luke wrote (2:1) that, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)” Critics charged that Quirinius was governor at a later date than what the Bible claims, but Sir William Ramsey (1851-1939), historian and archaeologist, demonstrated that Quirinius was twice governor of Syria, the first being at the time of Jesus’ birth.

So, when another bit of archeology verifies the scripture’s record, it serves as a reminder that my faith is based, at least in part, on solid evidence of its historical accuracy. The reinforcement comes in handy when facing a culture that is not just increasingly hostile, but increasingly militant and violent towards Christians in ways that would have been unthinkable just 30 years ago.

The Pool of Siloam is one of those significant historical discoveries that can encourage us.

Ze’ev Orenstein, director of international affairs for the City of David Foundation in Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital, “One of most significant sites affirming Jerusalem’s biblical heritage — not simply as a matter of faith, but as a matter of fact — with significance to billions around the world, will be made fully accessible for the first time in 2,000 years.”

The Pool of Siloam doesn’t prove that Jesus was who he said he was but taken with hundreds of other pieces of archeological evidence, we can trust that the biblical authors were accurate in what they wrote about the times and places in which they lived. And if they were accurate in those details, then a person could reasonably conclude that they were accurate in other details — like Jesus being the Son of God.

I thought Rev. Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, nicely summarized what the discovery of the Pool of Siloam means for us.

“In the Pool of Siloam, we find evidence of history preserved for us, revealed at just the right time. This is a truly historic event. Theologically, it affirms Scripture, geographically it affirms history and politically it affirms Israel’s unquestionable and unrivaled link to Jerusalem. Some discoveries are theoretical. This one is an undeniable. It is proof of the story of the Bible and of its people, Israel.”

by

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem closes its doors to the public.

This is the moment The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was closed due to Coronavirus.

Last time this happened was in 1349, during The Black Death, a bubonic plague pandemic.

What’s fascinating about this story is the guy with the keys.

A comment from the thread: “The (sic) Christianity’s holiest shrine is guarded by Muslim Family Joudeh Al Goudia. The Family has been Gatekeepers of the Holy Sepulchre Church since 1187.”

The reason a Sunni Muslim keeps the keys is to prevent conflict among the many Christian sects that have some claim on the site.