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By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Prayers for Israel and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at war are ascending from worldwide Christian prayer meetings online, in person, and personal prayers day and night on the lips of millions of believers. I recently spoke at a church that requested an update on Israel’s war against unleashed evil. When the gathering concluded with a season of prayer for Israel, one of the pastors prayed with a focus on 2 Chronicles 20:1-30.

As the biblical and historical account goes, Judah’s King Jehoshaphat and the Jews faced a huge army headed their way made up of their ancient foes—the Moabites, Ammonites, and men from Mount Seir. When fear gripped them, prayers and fasting began, and Jahaziel, a Levite, shared a word from the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”

God then gave specific directions for the coming battle, whereupon  “Jehoshaphat bowed his head … and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem … bowed before the LORD.” Assembling early the next day, King Jehoshaphat appointed singers to lead the army. As they marched, they sang, “Give thanks to the LORD, for His love endures forever.” The Lord Himself set up ambushes where those in Mount Seir were defeated—with a final result that Israel’s enemies destroyed one another. I am not a prophet and I do not claim to know how God will enact His purposes in this war, but I do know that prayer is foundational, that this biblical account is full of hope, and I will “pray” it.

Getting much of my daily news from international Bible teacher and Israeli Jewish believer Amir Tsarfati on his Telegram channel, I was captivated by a video clip. One of the IDF soldiers who had been on the ground in Gaza for a week said, “Please continue to pray for us. We see miracles there. Your prayers work.” Other short clips show IDF members singing together in various battle locations. It is inspiring to hear their jubilant, strong voices raised in praise of God as they face possible death or injury, yet they are determined to have victory over evil.

The IDF, the most humanitarian army in the world, is encountering dangers we cannot imagine. Dangers within the 300 miles of tunnels underneath Gaza (doubtless booby-trapped by the terrorists), dangers from IEDs (improvised explosive devices), and dangers in northern Israel—with increasing threats from Hezbollah right over Israel’s border with Lebanon. They face an implacable foe called satan, expressed in ancient Jew-hatred that never seems to die.

Today’s venomous demonstrations are not new, either. Beginning in the 1930s, Hitler perfected a mesmerizing style of oratory that kept German crowds riled up until the shocking murders of six million Jews burst into the open in 1945. With only radio broadcasts and scant reporting available, much of the world was in the dark about Hitler’s genocide of European Jews until the end of World War II.

The Third Reich’s wickedness was widely revealed through on-site photographs ordered by General Dwight D. Eisenhower in liberated concentration camps. He wanted to ensure that evidence was accumulated and maintained to silence any doubters of Nazi atrocities. Today, however, Hamas and other Islamic regime proxies have modernized Hitler’s propaganda and brutality into indescribable acts of evil. Terrorists themselves—with their body cams and victims’ mobile phones—videoed their cruelty with elation. One terrorist called his parents, excitedly bragging that he had murdered 10 Jews “with his bare hands.” His father praised him.

Hamas unleashed its weighty war crimes on October 7, which too quickly flashed around the world—accusing Israel of war crimes instead. While Hamas is targeting Jews, we cannot ignore Mahmoud al Zahar, a co-founder of Hamas. “We are not talking about liberating our land alone,” he said last year. “The entire 510 million square kilometers of planet Earth will come under [a system] where there is no injustice, no oppression, no Zionism, no treacherous Christianity.”

Anglican Theologian Reverend Dr. Gerald McDermott recently authored an article in Christianity Today that is well worth reading: “Christians Have A Duty to Hate the Evil of Hamas.” Part of his explanation includes commentary for believers who may struggle with Israel’s defensive war. “First, we are called by both Testaments to hate evil. Proverbs says to fear the Lord is to ‘hate evil’ (Proverbs 8:13), and the Apostle Paul urges us to ‘hate what is evil’ (Romans 12:9). We should hate the evil of Hamas—and not be afraid to say so publicly.”

The war crimes accusations launched against Israel around the world as verbal (and sometimes violent) weapons are aimed at the wrong target. In another timely article, Bruce Hoffman at The Atlantic wrote a summation called “Understanding Hamas’s Genocidal Ideology.” Documented on August 18, 1988, Hamas’s original founding goals included four main themes:

• The complete destruction of Israel to set up a Shia Muslim theocracy
• Unrestrained holy war
• Total refusal to negotiate an agreement with Israel regarding claims to the Holy Land
• Repeating propaganda, conspiracy theories, and Jew-hating figures of speech.

Nothing has changed!

In other words, on October 7, 2023, Hamas—with minds long occupied by hate—enjoyed hours of unrestrained, brutal jubilation to enact their goals. That is, until Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel’s cabinet officially declared war the following day: October 8, 2023.

Hamas is guilty of war crimes. Here are a few that are prohibited and listed in numerous world bodies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva Conventions of War in 1949, and the United Nations: Murder. Torture, including mutilation. Hostage-taking. Intentional attacks against civilians. Pillage. Rape. These crimes do NOT describe Israel, a nation founded on democratic principles.

The Holocaust was—and remains—a horror embedded within Jewish hearts and history, and although Germans kept meticulous records to please Hitler, they nevertheless did their best to hide their evil. Today, it is truly staggering that Hamas’s evil doings are being glorified by protestors worldwide, with Israel and Jews equally vilified. This, despite social media filled with hundreds of hours of Hamas’s own raw footage. The world now knows the horrific truth of baby beheadings, dismembering children, a father and child tied together then burned alive, and women raped before and after murders. Clearly, satanic lawlessness has broken out with a vengeance.

The raw footage of barbaric facts was released to 200 international journalists in a private showing after Israel’s military struggled for days debating whether or not to show the horrific footage. Eilon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, commented, “I can’t believe … we have to do this as we try to defeat a terrorist organization that is brutally slaughtering our people.” He added that Israel is seeing in “real time a phenomenon akin to Holocaust denial unfolding, as people cast doubt on the scale of the atrocities Hamas has recorded to glorify all this violence.”

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari explained, “We will not let the world forget who we are fighting.”

More than almost any other IDF policy, one of the most outstanding (and unusual) is to send warnings to Gazan civilians to evacuate to designated safe locations before any bombings begin. I daresay no military on earth follows the example of the Israel Air Force, which has repeatedly dropped leaflets, made telephone calls, and sent text messages to alert Gazan civilians about impending attacks.

Conversely, Hamas acts by cleaving to its policy of using civilians as human shields, killing Palestinian civilians or blocking them from the roads leading to safety, and using mosques and hospitals as weapons depots and hiding places. Add to this, among their many other war crimes: terrorists hide in Red Cross ambulances trying to escape or fight. Now you might understand why Israel targets particular ambulances.

For facts and prayers, I suggest you remain updated with CBN News and IDF’s daily update. Commit to passing on at least one fact and one prayer a day to honor our Jewish-birthed faith and help Israel oppose lies and slander. We must be the sources of facts! 

We welcome readers to join our CBN Israel team this week to read and meditate on 2 Chronicles 20:1-30.

Prayer Points:

• Pray that the IDF experiences miracle after miracle—for their safety and for their anxious families.
• Pray for the safety of our American soldiers stationed in northeast Syria since 2015. They are under constant attack from Iran.
• Pray for families who know that more than 340 of their sons and daughters have already died defending their homeland.
• Pray for the continuation of massive humanitarian aid flowing into Israel from Christians worldwide.
• Pray for believers to commit to sharing facts that oppose the propaganda against Israel’s just war.

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After she served nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as Outreach Director part-time for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel since 1990. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited and is a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

As seen in recent events, the moral differences between Israel and Hamas could not be clearer. To protect Gazan civilians, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have repeatedly dropped leaflets, sent texts, and made calls warning Palestinians to move into southern Gaza and out of harm’s way during Israel’s counterattacks following the October 7 invasion and massacre. Hamas, on the other hand, threatens the safety of its residents by blockading the predetermined escape route and then cowardly using its innocent civilian populations as human shields. In fact, Gazan deaths are welcomed by these new Nazis—to further their hate-filled propaganda purposes..

Good and evil, light and darkness are openly opposed to each other both in spiritual battles and in battles on earth. Prime Minister Netanyahu announced in a recent press conference that “this war will be long and hard” and called it “our second War of Independence.”

The “long and hard war” includes information warfare, where mainstream media use their own quick-trigger responses as weapons, often within seconds. They report Hamas’s lies as facts. Thus, anti-Israel media actually incite violence in a Jew-hating world that is eager to blame Jews for evil-doings. For Christians—and anyone of sound mind and conscience—disbelieving anything Hamas claims is a good idea. Namely, the initiative that infects terrorist minds with unrestrained hatred: “Slaughter Jews anywhere and everywhere.”

Fully aware of this terrorist mindset, Israelis are unified in existential combat to save their people and their land. On the battlefield, the IDF’s Swords of Iron are demolishing the darkest evils in a just war. Unity also characterizes Christians and Jews mobilizing together with Lights of Kindness for traumatized Israelis.

Although big evangelical Christian organizations such as CBN Israel, Samaritan’s Purse, and Christians United For Israel (CUFI) are undertaking massive humanitarian operations for Israel, hundreds of churches, state governments, and smaller charities are also shining Lights of Kindness—working hard to gather supplies for delivery to Israel. Proverbs 4:9 comes alive: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.”

The Eldan Hotel in Jerusalem is one venue for Lights of Kindness from smaller entities such as the non-profit Genesis 123. The foundation of my friend, modern Orthodox Jew Jonathan Feldstein, is another Light—devoted to building warm bridges of cooperation between Jews and Christians for numerous projects.

Shortly after evil’s ruthless October 7 invasion along Israel’s Gaza border, Jonathan’s friend David Nekrutman—executive director of The Isaiah Projects—asked Jonathan to join him to contribute to the first week in the Eldan Hotel where around 60 Jewish evacuees are housed. Evacuees include families of three generations—most from Moshav Mishan, near Ashkelon, immediately north of the Gaza border. Before they came to Eldan Hotel in Jerusalem, they could not leave their homes and bomb shelters.

A dad with three young children described the continual Hamas rocket fire and staying in bomb shelters for hours at a time. His children “are afraid.” Others at the hotel who live in Sderot include a Holocaust survivor. Jonathan and David mobilized both their networks of Jews and Christians, which paid the evacuees’ expenses for the first week. As the second week approached, Jonathan’s friend Jeffry Mark (J. Mark Interiors Ltd.) asked how he could help. He has now financed evening activities, meals, and Shabbats, turned his nearby showroom into a place for the families to relax, with his staff volunteering. At this writing, Jonathan says thus far at least $35,000 has been donated for hotel accommodations, food, and activities.

The evacuees are expressing genuine gratitude that Christians around the world have donated much of the funding. They are overwhelmed with such kindness. One mother observed, “My child smiled for the first time in weeks.” Some evacuees in the Eldan Hotel are also commuting to jobs, because despite the war they still must work. Dozens of volunteers are stepping up.

Jonathan Feldstein explained that efforts are open ended, since many evacuees have no homes to return to. Those who still have homes are afraid to return because terrorists are still firing rockets. Jonathan has initiated The Israel Emergency Campaign under his Genesis 123 non-profit to make immediate and practical differences “for as many people on the ground as possible.”

Feldstein is looking long term, based on assessments from Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF. He acknowledges, “We will need a lot of help.” He has included donations for soldiers and first-responder civilian security teams, which is a big need. Jonathan mentions, “I’m not asking anyone to smuggle through a dirty [Hamas] tunnel; just to give. We will continue to invest to make the best impact to save and heal as many lives as possible.”

Other worthy efforts include Maasay Yahdav, which was founded by Doris Mintz in 2007. Throughout the year, Doris and her team gather humanitarian aid and ship it to Israel. Their teams also travel to Israel twice a year to help distribute these items. Collaborating with a range of Jewish organizations and Israeli hospitals, Maasay Yahdav teams especially enjoy showing mercy and love in visits with Holocaust survivors and giving them beautiful handmade blankets.

Another relief organization is Kad-esh, whose founders Rabbi Baruch and Archbishop Dominiquae Bierman are on the ground in Israel. They are equipping a village in Samaria with tactical equipment for self-defense and providing tents and sleeping bags for soldiers on Israel’s northern border.

A big Light of Kindness among churches is Reverend Dean Haun and Morristown, Tennessee, First Baptist Church. His Harvest of Israel outreach has over the years shipped more than a hundred 40-foot containers of humanitarian aid to Israel with the involvement of many other churches. Rev. Haun, who has led tours to Israel 35 times, describes their current focus on obtaining and distributing “Kevlar helmets, body armor, boots, ballistic plate carriers, and more.”

The vast array of help from Christians and Jews together includes acquiring aid from government officials in states like Alabama and Tennessee. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced their Treasury’s decision to increase its investment in Israel bonds. The Commonwealth of Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares sent a letter to all 123 Virginia sheriffs asking them to consider donating any expired law enforcement gear for the IDF. He visited Israel again earlier this year, meeting with men and women in the IDF. Miyares expressed his support, commenting that they “are willing to give their lives to maintain peace in this region. … They are committed to democracy and the public safety of their land, and I am proud to stand with them.”  

Prime Minister Netanyahu commented about nations standing with Israel: “Our allies …  understand today that if Israel does not win, they will be next.” He added, “Many around the world understand well that Israel is fighting not only its war, but humanity’s war against the barbarians.”

Let us consult our Jewish Lord Jesus to ask what part He wants us to play in helping our Israeli friends who fight on the front lines of freedom for all of us—as they oppose the Islamic Regime behind it all. 

Join our CBN Israel team this week in reflecting on Ecclesiastes 4:10—“If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”

Prayer Points:

• Pray for Christians to consistently pray and offer practical help.
• Pray that Christians use emails, social media, and conversations to communicate facts from reliable sources like CBN Israel and CBN News.
• Pray for God to confuse Israel’s enemies: Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis.
• Pray with thanks for Christians who are donating whatever they can to help ease suffering and gain victory in Israel’s defensive war.

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After she served nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as Outreach Director part-time for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel since 1990. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited and is a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

“We are 12 days [now 20] into the war, and we still have not been able to bury all our dead. … We cannot tell families if their loved ones have been kidnapped or whether they are dead.”   

In her solemn statement, Anat Sultan-Dadon, Consul General of Israel to the Southeastern United States spoke at one of many functions last week. Her grave manner and impassioned statements of truth about Hamas’s deadly attacks drew multiple standing ovations during a joint North Carolina-South Carolina forum of the National Federation of Republican Women. I experienced the privilege of interviewing her at my alma mater, Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, which hosted the event.

During the interview, Sultan-Dadon reiterated that “The human mind cannot comprehend the brutality—wiping out entire families, the slaughter, and the beheading of babies.” She repeatedly underscored Israel’s determination “to be strong for one another” and their “duty as a sovereign country to eliminate the terror threat.”

The savage assaults, which began on the Shabbat morning of October 7, 2023, are incomprehensible. The slaughters, hostage kidnappings, and unspeakable rapes can only be understood as a demonic, Hitleresque blitz committed by bloodthirsty terrorists. The Consul General described the “profound pain” that shattered every Israeli beginning on that horrific day. Their lives have changed forever in this small nation—the only Jewish country in the world. The appalling numbers are increasing; the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has announced 224 abducted—some of them Americans and other foreign citizens—1,400 Israelis massacred, and over 5,240 wounded.

Some of the results of October 7 and since have meant the displacement of over 120,000 Israelis from their kibbutzim along the breached Israel border. I have often visited Kfar Aza, a once-beautiful community inhabited by wonderful Israeli civilians. Terrorists murdered one hundred residents there. Twenty Israeli communities in Israel’s north—where Hezbollah is embedded in Lebanon—have also been relocated due to critical safety precautions. Many of these refugees, who have no homes to return to, are currently housed in hotels. Those in somewhat less-dangerous locations are staying in homes and bomb shelters with other Israeli families.

My conversation with Consul General Sultan-Dadon covered a range of important topics. These must not only be understood but also memorized as talking points to oppose information warfare against Israel. Her factual assessments are critically important. I urge Christians to view them as lessons that will enable all of us to be educated advocates for Israel.

“Standing with Israel is not just about Israel,” she said. “It is standing alongside all the values that we hold dear: freedom, everything holy and sacred in stark opposition to death and destruction.” In a resolute voice, she declared, “If you are not standing with Israel you are standing for terror and hate.”

Confirming the Islamic Regime’s role, Consul General Sultan-Dadon stated, “Without a shadow of a doubt Iran funds, guides, provides weapons, and trains its proxies even far beyond our region. Iran is not only a threat for Israel, but also a threat to destabilizing the Middle East, and a threat to the free world. She concluded, “All the values that we hold dear [are] everything that they oppose.”

Last week, Hamas and most of the world circulated the lie that Israel bombed a Gaza hospital. Israel does not bomb hospitals. The Consul General spoke intensely about media and the fanatical demonstrators “instantly taking the word of a brutal terror organization” that had just committed atrocities instead of accepting the facts and evidence that Israel presented. “That is not acceptable and should be called out.” She recounts what really happened: “One out of five rockets that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launch at Israel to target civilians, misfires and falls in their own territory—harming their own civilians.”

Many sources have agreed with the Consul General’s facts, including the Associated Press—the largest media source in the world. She asserted, “Rather than take Hamas terrorists’ word for it, stand against it. Shame on all the networks for taking the word of terrorism over the word of Israel with the facts and evidence.”

She added that Israel makes every effort to minimize harm to civilians but “Hamas intentionally places their military assets in heavily populated areas—in mosques, hospitals, schools, and homes, using their own people as human shields.”

The Israeli Air Force’s policy is to drop leaflets into Gaza, make calls, and send text messages to warn them of impending attacks. In that vein, for days now Israel has informed civilians in northern Gaza to move to the south. The Consul General informed us that “not only is Hamas calling on civilians to stay put, but they are also actually setting up roadblocks to physically prevent them from evacuating.” She added that if civilians are killed, it offers a gold mine of propaganda that she described as “their distorted vision to accuse us as the perpetrator.”

One of the most heartbreaking facts that Consul General Sultan-Dadon shared is the following: “We are 12 days [now 20] into the war, and we still have not been able to bury all our dead. We cannot identify those who have been tortured or burnt, since for some all that remains are a few bones and fingernails. We cannot tell families if their loved ones have been kidnapped or whether they are dead.” Of Israel’s Holocaust survivors, she said, “Holocaust survivors who have already survived hell on earth are meeting hell in the form of Hamas.” 

A two-minute video clip was shown at the end of the Consul General’s heart-wrenching remarks. But before it began, Mistress of Ceremonies Jennifer Stefano warned attendees and Live Stream viewers about the deeply disturbing footage, inviting them to exit if needed. In the brief clip from Hamas body cams and call recordings, we viewed and heard the agonizing screams, murderous gunshots, and frenzied Arabic shouts.

Afterward, the audience sat in stunned silence. Stefano, a well-known commentator, called for moments of silence then offered a quiet goodbye. She rightly reminded us that we must “bear witness” as the Consul General had said earlier: “We need for all our friends to stand strong and remain strong in speaking the truth. The voices of humanity must drown out voices that support terror and hate.” Consul General Sultan-Dadon emphasized that the war will be “prolonged” and that the “very, very difficult visuals of atrocities are important so that all of you can bear witness to what has happened.” That evening at Winthrop University our deeper understanding tied our hearts even more securely to the traumatized hearts of Israeli Jews.

Now, additional barbaric acts are becoming known. On the October 23 airing of The 700 Club, Gordon Robertson interviewed Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States. Oren bluntly described the lethal butchery: “Anything that could be done to the body was done except for cannibalism.” Also that same day, the IDF briefed 200 foreign journalists using raw, unedited footage of murder, decapitation, and torture. Major General Mickey Edelstein, who briefed reporters afterward, said, “We have evidence” of rape but “we cannot share it.” He declined to elaborate. The journalists were not allowed to record the screening, which took place at a closed Israeli military base. However, with all the propaganda darkening the world, is it too much to ask that these 200 journalists now responsibly report the facts about the Islamic Republic of Iran—that its goal is genocide through one of its proxies?

Not surprisingly, the Consul General’s inspiring words were met with a lengthy standing ovation. “While we are facing the most painful chapter in the modern state of Israel’s history,” she said, “I want to assure you that we are strong, we are proud, and we are not going anywhere!” Let all of us join her in unity and strength!

At the minimum, I am urging Christians everywhere to pass along the Israel Consulate’s daily update of facts, which will help us inform others to stand as an army of truth to oppose the lies. Here is the link to sign up for their excellent official digital resources to share anywhere possible: [Learn More].

Meditating on Isaiah 40:28-31 NKJV, we welcome you to pray with our CBN Israel team:

“The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Prayer Points:

• Pray for every member of the IDF for safety and victory anywhere they are defending their country by land, sea, air, and cyber security.
• Pray for thousands of expert civilians who are using intelligence platforms on computers to locate hostages in Gaza.
• Pray for staff and soldiers who face the trauma of collecting and examining remains to identify bodies.
• Pray for concerted efforts among Christians providing humanitarian aid.
• Pray for Christians to act massively by forwarding and talking about facts to oppose the Information War against Israel.

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After she served nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as Outreach Director part-time for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel since 1990. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited and is a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.