Israelis and Tourists Both Celebrate as Visitors Return to the Holy Land in Pre-Pandemic Numbers

By: Julie Stahl – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – When COVID closed Israel’s borders in 2020, it virtually shut down businesses depending on tourism.  As restrictions lifted in March of this year, the long wait for visitors ended and Christians from around the world are flocking back to the Holy Land.

Tour buses once again line the streets of Jerusalem, while boats full of tourists are back on the Sea of Galilee.

Galilee Worship Boats Captain Daniel Carmel welcomes the change.”(It’s) not like in the year of 2019, but it is so blessed. Hallelujah! We have groups and we have no complaints,” he exclaimed.

CBN News joined Carmel and a group of more than 40 Brazilians, many who were making return trips to Israel. Sara Limasilverio from Sao Paulo first visited in 2008 as a 15-year-old.

 “It feels amazing, and I was waiting for this moment,” she said. “Our trip changed like three or four times because of the pandemic. But now that we’re here, we’re enjoying every single moment. The presence of God, it’s so beautiful. And the joy of the Holy Spirit on us, it’s amazing,” she continued.

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2022/october/israelis-and-tourists-both-celebrate-as-visitors-return-to-the-holy-land-in-pre-pandemic-numbers

Israel’s Vote Count Nearly Complete, as Netanyahu and Religious Parties Win Big

By: Julie Stahl – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – With nearly 100 percent of the votes counted in the Israeli elections, it seems that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party will return to power.

Netanyahu urged his supporters to wait until final results are in before declaring victory. Still, according to the count so far, it seems clear that Netanyahu has a solid majority to form an ideologically conservative government.

In Jerusalem early Wednesday morning, Netanyahu told a cheering crowd of supporters, “One thing is already clear: our way, the way of the Likud, has proven itself.”

After the initial exit poll results came in Tuesday night, the celebrations began at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center. Those results held up with less than 3 percent of the votes remaining to be counted, virtually assuring that Netanyahu will extend his time as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. 

Netanyahu promised, “I will establish a nationalist government that will see to all Israeli citizens without any exceptions.”

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2022/november/israels-vote-count-nearly-complete-as-netanyahu-and-religious-parties-win-big

Jewish Sovereignty is on the Ballot

By: Caroline Glick – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

The real issue dividing Israeli society isn’t former premier Benjamin Netanyahu or the economy, but something far more basic: Israeli society is being torn apart by the issue of national sovereignty.

Most of Israel’s commentators insist that Tuesday’s Knesset elections—the fifth in fewer than four years—are about the same thing the last four were about: Benjamin Netanyahu. If you vote for Netanyahu’s Likud Party, or for the other three parties in his right-religious bloc, then you are for Netanyahu. If you vote for caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, or for any of the members of his left-Arab bloc, then you are against Netanyahu. Nothing else is up for grabs.

The notion that politics in Israel can be boiled down to whether a person loves or hates Netanyahu was never true, at least for voters. Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked, Gideon Sa’ar and their colleagues in the Yamina and New Hope parties who bolted the right and formed the current left-Arab government are rightly viewed as having betrayed their voters. Last May they put their hatred and envy of Netanyahu above their professed ideology and their voters to oust their camp from power and give Israel its first post-Zionist government.

Today, there is no “Never Bibi” right. Bennett isn’t running. Shaked is about to be wiped out at the polls. Sa’ar has joined Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s leftist National Unity Party.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/opinion/jewish-sovereignty-is-on-the-ballot/

92% of Bible Users Say Scripture has ‘Transformed’ Their Life: Survey

By: Ryan Foley – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

A new study finds that the overwhelming majority of those who read the Bible at least three times a year have experienced transformation as a result of their encounters with Scripture, along with a sizable minority of Christians who interact with the Bible less frequently.

The American Bible Society released the seventh chapter of its 12th annual “State of the Bible” report Wednesday, which focuses on “Bible use.” The survey of 2,598 adults conducted from Jan. 10-28 defines “Bible users” as those who said they interacted with the Bible at least three to four times a year.

Within this group of “Bible users,” 92% answered in the affirmative when asked if “the message of the Bible has transformed my life.” Just 8% said otherwise. By contrast, a majority of respondents who did not meet the criteria for designation as a “Bible user” (62%) did not see the message of the Bible as a source of transformation in their lives, while 38% did.

cont’d…

https://www.christianpost.com/news/92-percent-of-bible-users-say-scripture-has-transformed-their-life.html

Victims of Religious Oppression in Turkey Reveal Why Christian Population is Dwindling

By: Anugrah Kumar – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

Victims of religious oppression in Turkey shared their stories at an event on religious freedom at the European Parliament where the speakers suggested that political and social atrocities in that country were behind the Christian population’s decline from 20% to a mere 0.2% over the last century.

The victims highlighted atrocities against Christian minorities committed by the Turkish government and parts of society, according to the human rights group ADF International, which held the event this week in partnership with the group European Conservatives and Reformists.

Among those who testified at Wednesday’s event in Brussels, “Freedom of Religion in Türkiye,” was Mark Smith, a Christian missionary who was expelled from the country in 2020 after living there for over a decade.

“We love the country of Turkey and want to work for the good of its people. We are not a threat to the state, the country or the Turkish way of life,” Smith was quoted as saying.

cont’d…

https://www.christianpost.com/news/turkey-victims-of-religious-oppression-talk-of-christian-decline.html

Israel Should Stay out of the War in Ukraine

By: Jonathan S. Tobin – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

Being dragged into an endless and unwinnable conflict, to virtue-signal opposition to Russia’s illegal invasion, makes no sense for Jerusalem or Washington.

Eight months into Russia’s brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine, two things are clear about the conflict. One is that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s launching of the largest land war in Europe since 1945 was a crime that has largely united the civilized world in revulsion. Another is that no one seems to have any realistic idea how it can be brought to an end.

Note that I used the word “realistic.” By this I mean a solution that doesn’t require the complete military defeat of a nuclear power that is unlikely to accept abject humiliation. That would also rule out a policy predicated on an attempt at regime change in Moscow, a reckless notion with unknowable and possibly catastrophic consequences.

Of course, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose courageous leadership has helped Kyiv mount a resolute and surprisingly successful resistance to the onslaught, does have a vision of how the war will end. He says Ukraine will keep fighting until a military victory chases the Russians off of every inch of soil that his country controlled in February, and perhaps even those areas it lost to Russia in 2014.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/opinion/israel-should-stay-out-of-the-war-in-ukraine/

Elon Musk Seeks to Use His Starlink to Help Iranians Battling Oppression

By: Caitlin Burke – CBN News; cbn.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Large-scale protests are ongoing across Iran even after the government restricted internet access and blocked social media apps. Now, U.S. lawmakers are urging the State Department to do more to help the Iranian people. 

While the U.S. recently eased international internet restrictions to counter Tehran’s government censorship, billionaire Elon Musk wants to take it one step further. He wants to provide Iranians with Starlink, his unique satellite internet service. While the satellites are now active over Iran, the signal won’t be accessible until portable receivers can be distributed throughout the country.

“In Ukraine, he pushed thousands of them, but obviously, we had a government to work alongside. In Iran, we don’t. But there are NGO’s on the ground. We have covert means through various partnerships and routes that we can get these things in,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) told CBN News.

Congressman Waltz believes the U.S. government should coordinate those efforts. He and Rep. Maria Salazar recently wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting the State Department get involved.

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2022/october/elon-musk-seeks-to-use-his-starlink-to-help-iranians-battling-oppression

How Churches and Christians can Combat the Rising Tide of anti-Semitism

By: Nicole Alcindor – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

To be ‘anti-Semitic would be rejecting Jesus’

Christians in the United States are being urged to use their influence to combat anti-Semitism amid a staggering rise in hate crimes and other incidents targeting Jewish Americans in recent years.

As a leading Jewish civil rights organization reports that 2021 saw violence against Jews reach record levels, followers of Christ have a role to play in fostering acceptance for their Jewish neighbors and pushing back against anti-Semitic conspiracy theories within their spheres of influence, Christian scholars say. 

“I think through genuine conversation, we begin to reflect on how our own churches or communities expressed anti-Semitism, either consciously or unconsciously, wittingly or unwittingly,” Christian theologian Rev. Lee B. Spitzer, an affiliate professor of church history at Northern Seminary in Illinois, told The Christian Post.

cont’d…

https://www.christianpost.com/news/how-christians-can-combat-the-rising-tide-of-anti-semitism.html

Survey Reveals What Teens Think of Jesus

By: Anugrah Kumar – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

How do today’s teens across faith groups think about Jesus, the Bible and justice? The U.S.-based Christian polling firm Barna posed this question to nearly 25,000 teens in 26 countries and got encouraging answers.

“Data show it’s rare that teens think poorly of Jesus,” says Barna, which found that most of them have a positive perception of Him, with 49% of teens describing Jesus as “loving,” 46% believe He offers hope, and 43% say He cares about people. 

Only 8% said He is detached from today’s real issues, 7% believe He is judgmental, 6% think He is irrelevant, and 4% say He is hypocritical.

“The global impression of Jesus is that he is trustworthy, generous, wise, peaceful … and the glowing list goes on,” Barna added.

cont’d…

https://www.christianpost.com/news/survey-reveals-what-teens-think-of-jesus.html

After Nearly Three-Year Absence, Christian Tourists Returning to Israel for ICEJ Feast

By: John Waage – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL–The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) is expecting more than 2,000 Christian tourists to return to Israel for the annual Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) celebrations, beginning October 9.

For the past two years, tourism was heavily restricted in Israel, as it was nearly everywhere, due to COVID lockdowns.

The anticipated turnout has encouraged the embassy staff.

“After all the global travel bans of recent years, the response from our worldwide following has truly been amazing,” said ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler. “Our Feast clearly signals that Christian tourism to Israel is back.”

The embassy will welcome attendees from 70 nations, including government officials and dignitaries from Africa, Europe, and Latin America.  They also will host singers and musicians from nations including the US, Canada, Brazil, Australia and Finland, Ivory Coast, Fiji, and Iran, along with local Israeli artists.

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2022/september/after-nearly-three-year-absence-christian-tourists-return-to-israel-for-icej-feast