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By Arlene Bridges Samuels

President Obama and Vice President Biden viewed their 2015 Iran deal as a landmark agreement, believing it to be the best way to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The last seven years, however, have shown it to be quite ill conceived—a veritable land mine, in fact. And there’s plenty of blame to go around concerning the “bad Iran deal,” as it came to be known among many Americans and Israelis. 

In simple terms, U.S. negotiators incorrectly used a foreign policy strategy of “carrots and sticks,” the idea that the correct blend of incentives and punishments can convince nations to alter their policies and behavior. Unfortunately, the American team wanted to believe that Iran would keep any agreements made, even though Iran is the world’s most prolific purveyor and state sponsor of terrorism. U.S. negotiators offered Iran a ton of carrots first, often neglecting the sticks in its diplomatic basket. 

John F. Kennedy once observed, “There comes a point where you see no evidence that the carrot and diplomacy are working.” Yet the Iran negotiators, past and present, have consistently ignored the most reliable indicator of Iran’s compliance. Prominent in Shia Islam’s religious teaching—which Iran follows—is the concept of taqiyya (dissimulation and concealment). Deception and lies are allowed when dealing with enemies according to the Quran.

In Iran’s long litany of complaints against the two allies, the U.S. is called the “Big Satan” and Israel the “Little Satan.” But Iran’s decades of threats against the U.S. and Israel are not merely words. Today, 43 years later, Iran still celebrates both its 1979 Islamic Revolution victory and its takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran that same year, when more than 50 Americans were held hostage for 444 days. “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” are often-shouted chants at these celebrations. 

Among those attending this year’s festivities were foreign ministers from communist Cuba and from Venezuela, which is run by a dictator who has ruined the once-wealthy nation. Both nations are allies of Iran. It is said that 1,500 Iranian cities and 30,000 villages celebrated this year’s anniversary victory. Why would so many join in the celebrations, since the Iranian leadership spends so much on its nuclear quest rather than everyday needs of its citizens?

In fact, Radio Free Europe reports that teachers in more than 100 Iranian cities are protesting their low wages. In 2017, citizens protested the high cost of living; in 2019, protests were against gasoline prices; in 2021, the concern was water shortages. Despite facing possible arrest, imprisonment, and shootings, the protestors continue their uprisings. In a document leaked from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Radio Free Europe’s Radio Farda said the rising discontent in Iran might be nearing a “state of explosion.” They also reported that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei admitted: “U.S. sanctions were not the only cause of Iran’s economic woes.” He went on to say that government mismanagement was a problem, blaming bad decisions by previous governments.

Taqiyya—concealment—is not the only facet of Iran’s negotiating strategy. Iran’s apocalyptic Imams view their highest goal as obeying Allah. That means welcoming their Islamic religious leader, the 12th Imam (Mahdi in Arabic), to establish a worldwide caliphate in which everyone becomes Muslim. Most Shiite Muslims believe that the 12th Imam, who was born in 868 A.D., was put into hiding in 941 A.D. and will remain there until judgment day. That makes Christianity and Judaism targets, which also has significant repercussions for the U.S. and Israel.

Overlooking Iran’s compelling force of Shiite religion, the U.S. and other nations are feverishly working to resurrect the 2015 Iran deal in Vienna, Austria. Negotiators are currently on the eighth round of talks since April 2021, when the Biden administration reopened them. Between Iran, France, Germany, China, Britain, and Russia, the talks are like a clever game of chess. Although Iran and India argue about who invented chess (ancient Persian writings mention chess), Iran is an expert with clever hidden strategies played with some who desperately want a deal no matter what. Iranian leaders are skilled at taking advantage of Western appeasement. 

Unwilling to comprehend and/or investigate Iran’s religious motivation for gaining world superiority, the negotiating nations cannot seem to understand that they are not dealing with a country that genuinely wants peace. The European Union serves as the chair; Communist China and Russia have seats at the table. The U.S. is only indirectly involved because Iran refuses direct talks with the U.S.—they will not sit at the same table. Now, Britain and France function as go-betweens with the U.S. Special Envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, one of the lead negotiators in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Unrest is showing on the U.S. team, and rightly so. On January 24, Richard Nephew, the U.S. deputy special envoy for Iran, left the negotiating team because he considers that tougher talks are crucial to making progress. The Hill reports that two other unnamed members of the team may resign for the same reason.

In closing, when a Shiite Muslim theocracy is interested in taking over the world with a nuclear threat in its arsenal, we can be sure that its people will remain at risk. On February 9, All Arab News reported more troubles about Iran, which is bragging about its Khaybar-Shekan missile that travels 900 miles. It has been dubbed a “castle buster,” referring to a battle where Muslims overran a Jewish castle hundreds of years ago. The “castle buster” can reach Israel and some of our U.S. bases in the region. 

Lieutenant General Michael Kurilla, the nominee to lead U.S. Central Command, testified in Congress: “Renewed [JCPOA] negotiation efforts must consider the significant changes that have occurred in the security and geopolitical environments since the 2018 American withdrawal from the agreement.” He also noted that the Biden administration’s sanctions waiver to Iran means that “Iran will increase its support of proxy and terrorist groups that target U.S. forces in the region.” That means Yemen, Syria, Hezbollah, Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza. 

Let us pray together that the Vienna negotiators will remove the basket of carrots for now, adhere to Lt. Gen. Kurilla’s briefing, and restrict Iran’s missile development. Why? One of the biggest carrots in the “bad” 2015 Iran deal did not include Iran’s intercontinental ballistic missile program. No restrictions! A wide-open path to harming Israel and our military personnel in the region! Will Iran achieve nuclear-tipped missiles next? 

We invite you to join CBN Israel this week to pray for Israel, Iran, and the Middle East:

• Pray for Iran’s citizens who are suffering oppression from their leaders.
• Pray for protection for the many Iranians who are meeting our Lord Jesus. 
• Pray for the current negotiators to use wisdom and face realities about Iran. 
• Pray for Israel’s contingency plans to stop Iran from “going nuclear.”
• Pray for the continued success of the Abraham Accords peace agreement and for more nations within the Middle East to join. 

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 Marc Turnage

The land of Israel did not merely provide the stage upon which biblical events too place, its flora, fauna, climate, and geology provide the images, metaphors, and vocabulary that biblical writers used frequently to communicate their message whether in narrative, poetry, or prophecy.

There are places within Israel today where one can stand within the geography used by the biblical writers and feel and hear, within the setting, the message they sought to communicate. The Dan Spring is one of those places.

The spring acquires its name from the biblical site of Dan, the northernmost city within biblical Israel. Located at the base of the foothills of Mount Hermon, it provides the largest of the three springs whose tributaries come together south of the site of Dan to form the Jordan River.

The Dan Spring produces roughly 240 million cubic meters per year. With such a large amount of water coming from the spring, especially in the winter and spring of the year when the rains and snowmelt add to it, the sound of the Dan tributary roars as it flows towards the meeting point to form the Jordan.

The psalmists use this setting and the sound created by the waters in a couple places. Psalm 29 proclaims: “The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over mighty waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!” The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever. May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!” (29:2-9).

The highlighted bold type shows the psalmist’s use of the waters of the Dan spring to describe the voice and glory of the Lord. How do we know he meant the Dan Spring? Because of the geographic detail provided, which is italicized. These locations—Lebanon, Sirion, and Kadesh—surround the northern area of Israel and the Dan Spring.

When the psalmist listened to the raging waters of the spring and its tributary, he found himself moved to comparison with the voice and glory of the Lord. He communicated his message through the physical setting of the Dan Spring and the surrounding countryside.

In Psalm 42, we find another use of the Dan Spring for the psalmist’s poetry: “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? … My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me” (42:1-7).

The psalmist begins by likening his desire for God to a deer craving the streams of water from springs, like the Dan. Although lush with vegetation, the summer heat and humidity of the region of the Dan Spring is difficult for animals and humans. He finds himself in the region of the Dan Spring (the italicized portions) and feels overwhelmed with the roar of the gushing spring.

Traveling to the land of Israel is more than visiting sites. It should transform how we read and interact with the physical reality of the land of the Bible.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

“Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:29-31 NKJV).

When the chief priests of Jerusalem commanded Peter and John to no longer speak in Jesus’ name, the two disciples had a choice to make. They went to their community and together they prayed. 

They did not pray for favor with the rulers. They did not pray for deliverance. They did not pray for protection. They prayed for boldness to continue in their way. They asked God to show forth His glory through signs and wonders. As a result of their prayer, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word with boldness. 

How do you respond to adversity? Do you seek a way out or the removal of the problem? The followers of Jesus did not see adversity as a problem to be avoided or from which to be delivered. They did not reason, “If we just gained favor with the ruling powers.” Rather, they sought to stay their course faithfully in doing what God had called them to do. 

Adversity does not mean we are out of God’s will, nor should we seek to avoid it. They sought boldness to do the task they had been given and believed that ultimately God would glorify Himself and His servant Jesus. 

When you find yourself confronted with adversity, how do you pray? Our true submission to God seeks His glory above our comfort; it submits to the challenges we face, recognizing that how we handle them provides an opportunity for Him to show forth His wonders. 

The followers of Jesus did not pray a prayer that focused on themselves. They could have—they had just been threatened. Rather, they sought God to glorify Himself through them, and they offered themselves as vessels for Him to use for that purpose.  

Our daily prayer should be that in our lives, no matter the situation or adversity we face, God will glorify Himself.

PRAYER

Father, glorify Your name through our lives. No matter the situation, we will stay faithful to You; glorify Yourself in this world through us. Amen.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

For Valentine’s Day this past Monday, Americans rushed to buy flowers, candy, and greeting cards for loved ones. That same day, the United Nations watchdog, UN Watch, sent another kind of greeting calling out the recently established Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (COI) at the United Nations. The so-called Commission puts Israel under a magnifying glass of constant investigation. The COI’s permanent inquiry has singled out Israel among the 193 U.N. members; no other nation has been forced to tolerate this extraordinary level of destructive attention. Not North Korea, not China, not Iran. Take a moment to absorb this fact: Since 2015, the U.N. has condemned Israel an unprecedented 112 times, North Korea, 6, and Iran, a paltry 5.

UN Watch, an independent non-governmental organization, is an excellent watchdog of U.N. activities. Canadian-born lawyer Hillel Neuer is the executive director of the organization, which was founded in 1993 and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. About the COI, Neuer explains, “It is unlimited in its scope. … [It is] systemic discrimination … to accuse Israel of being a racist state.” The COI’s three-member team was allocated several million dollars and a staff of 20 to prepare its first report due in June 2022. 

Neuer has launched an online petition calling on Navi Pillay, the chair of the Commission of Inquiry, to resign. With signatures increasing, you may want to add your signature and consider it a Valentine to Israel! UN Watch has plenty of facts in its legal brief, a 30-page complaint, to justify its demand for Pillay’s resignation. She is a former U.N. human rights commissioner and a retired South African judge. However, the impressive titles cannot hide the underlying facts that prove her inability to run the commission with a fair and unbiased perspective. 

The first red flag appeared early on with Pillay’s omission of prior statements she’s made about Israel that are sure to indicate her opinions going forward. International law requires fact finders to be impartial. Here is a small sample of Pillay’s opinions. She signed a petition, “Sanction Apartheid Israel,” that was authored by the South Africa Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Coalition. A UN Watch study revealed that between September 2008 and June 2010, Pillay made “nine [negative] statements on Israel, the only democracy in the region, but none on the human rights violations of 146 countries, including nothing on such gross violators as North Korea … and Sudan.” 

Further, Pillay describes Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as “inhuman.” In a June 2021 letter to President Biden, she accused Israel of “domination and oppression of the Palestinian people.” It is obvious that Pillay’s selection to the COI was not based on fairness. The appointee selection guarantees the United Nations’ hoped-for result as another series of condemnations and denigration against the world’s only Jewish state. Recusing herself is the right action to take.

While exploring the COI, let us take a short tour of the members of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC). CNSNews reported last October in the lead-up to HRC elections that the number of “free” nations on the HRC is shrinking. Out of 47 nations, only 14 are considered “free.” Those designated “not free” include the likes of China, Cuba, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Venezuela. 

In these nations and others like them, human “wrongs” rule the day, not human rights. Having their representatives sitting at the table in the COI’s Geneva, Switzerland, headquarters seems like a travesty.  

Nikki Haley, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2019, recalled her unsuccessful efforts to reform the HRC: “Right now, you have every murderer, dictator and thief on that council.” That remains true. 

The United Nations itself lists these as basic rights for every human being: the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work, and education. The World Population clock changes every second, but at this writing it is 7.9 billion people. The Thompson Reuters Foundation in 2016 estimated that “a third of the world” lives in nations without freedoms. These numbers are all but incomprehensible. 

Nevertheless, those of us who enjoy the blessings of living in freedom have a duty in following our Lord to bless others as we are able. Remembering Jesus’ affirmation of the widow’s mite lets us know His pleasure when we give to others, especially sacrificially. And Psalm 82:3 urges us to “Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy.” Excellent organizations help provide human rights by giving humanitarian aid throughout the world. CBN’s Operation Blessing and Samaritan’s Purse are at the top of my list, both here at home and abroad.

While overlooked at the United Nations, Israel’s humanitarian aid covers the world with help in crises produced by natural disasters, famine, and poverty—and extends to providing training in superior agricultural methods. Israel does not consider any religion or skin color as a barrier to mercy. Embedded in Israel’s culture is a concept called tikkun olam—“repairing the world.” The U.N.’s “human wrongs” nations would do well to imitate Israel rather than create a Commission of Inquiry to investigate one of the world’s most humanitarian nations. 

The COI would also do well to investigate how the Palestinian Authority (PA) oppresses its own population, as reported by The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). One JINSA article asserts that the PA has long sought to keep the Palestinian people “poor and powerless while enriching its apparatchiks and functionaries with villas and cars,” as confided by a former political director in President Mahmoud Abbas’s office. Polls show, in fact, that 80 percent of Palestinians believe the PA is corrupt and neglects their fundamental rights. 

Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989)—Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, peace activist, and Nobel laureate—once said, “A country which does not respect the rights of its own citizens will not respect the rights of its neighbors.” It is long past time for the United Nations to heed that advice and investigate and rehabilitate the nations riddled with human wrongs and kick them off the Human Rights Council. Stop the hypocrisy and place freedom-loving nations on the HRC. 

Join with CBN Israel to pray this week from Isaiah 1:17—“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”

• Pray that we ourselves, the Christian community, will be consistent givers and “pray-ers” for those in need.
• Pray for an effective, firm uprising in the United Nations—that it might rehabilitate itself and adhere to its founding values. 
• Pray freedom for people trapped in evil nations. 
• Pray for encounters with our Lord among those in desperate need, giving them salvation and the hope of heaven. 
• Pray for Hillel Neuer as he leads the way in revealing wrongdoing at the United Nations.

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.

Liat’s life has never been easy. Married to a violent husband for years, at age 44 she is now a single mother, raising her two children alone on a limited income. Although she struggles to make ends meet, she is grateful that the terror in her home is over. 

However, living in Israel’s coastal city of Ashdod, she has endured a different battleground—facing ongoing terror and rocket attacks from Hamas-ruled Gaza. These attacks have been going on for nearly 20 years and can seem “routine”—but the constant stress and unpredictability can take its toll emotionally. 

Liat lives in government housing, and the rocket strikes on her building left the electrical system barely working. Liat paid for the repairs—but still waits for the government to reimburse her. Meanwhile, a recent barrage of rockets left her 17-year-old daughter debilitated by anxiety, and desperate for treatment. With bills piling up, Liat needed help.

Thankfully, friends like you were there for Liat. Through CBN Israel, caring partners covered the cost for trauma counseling for her daughter—as well as providing finances to buy nutritious food, basic essentials, and pay some of the bills for the rocket strike repairs. Liat exclaimed gratefully, “Thank you so much… We are so overwhelmed with your kindness and generosity!”

Your gift to CBN Israel can rush continued aid to terror victims—plus deliver food, housing, financial help, and more to those in need. So many in Israel struggle to survive. You can make a difference for immigrant families, aging Holocaust survivors, and others in crisis. 

Will you join us in blessing this special land today?

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

Mount Carmel is a limestone ridge that bisects the coastal plain of the land of Israel branching off from the mountains of Samaria west towards the Mediterranean coast. It is most famous as the location for the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al (1 Kings 18:19).

Today, the Carmelite monastery of Mukhraka (Arabic meaning “burned place”) remembers that event. The mountain’s geographic location along the Mediterranean coast makes it fertile for agriculture (600mm average rainfall a year), which also led biblical writers and prophets to herald Carmel as a place of agricultural abundance (Song of Solomon 7:6; Isaiah 33:9; 35:2; Amos 1:2). Its fertility, rainfall, and proximity to the Phoenician coast, just to its north, made Carmel an appropriate location for the worship of Ba’al, the Phoenician god of storms and fertility. Even after Elijah, people continued to worship Ba’al of Carmel. 

The fertility, precipitation, and location of Mount Carmel play a key role in the story of Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al. Agriculture in the land of Israel proved difficult in the ancient world. The people depended solely upon God for rain to water their fields and crops due to the topography of the land (see Deuteronomy 8; 11:10-20). 

For this reason, God promised that as long as Israel obeyed Him and His commandments, He would send rain in its season; if Israel disobeyed, He would shut the heavens, so it wouldn’t rain. The concern for rain in its season (at the appropriate time) lead the Israelites to often look also to other local deities, like Ba’al, to provide rain, just in case.

The people had turned from God by worshipping Ba’al during the reign of King Ahab, and therefore, God sent drought on the land. Elijah called the children of Israel, together with the prophets of Ba’al, to gather on Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel receives some form of precipitation 250 days a year; it sits on the southern edge of Phoenicia where Ba’al worship originated. It also provided a high place. 

Ba’al is often depicted walking on the mountains, a god of high places. The drought that God sent offered a direct challenge to the god of rain. Elijah’s challenge, the god who answered with fire was God; Ba’al’s symbol was a lightening bolt. The heart of the story lies within the geographic setting of Mount Carmel. 

Of course, after God sends the fire upon Elijah’s sacrifice, and the people turn to the Lord as God, then He sends the rain. The setting and background of this story underline the challenges of daily life faced by the ancient Israelites; these challenges that raised the fundamental question that Elijah posed to the people, “If the Lord is God, then serve Him.”

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks among the seven gold lampstands says: I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. You also possess endurance and have tolerated many things because of My name and have not grown weary. 

But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent” (Revelation 2:1-5 HCSB).

We often read John’s letter to the community in Ephesus and think that they had lost their love for the Lord. But that doesn’t make sense within the context. John commends the Ephesian community for testing those who call themselves apostles, not tolerating evil-doers, and enduring patiently for the sake of Jesus’ name. They hadn’t lost their love for the Lord.

Rather, they had lost their love for one another. In their ardor for testing, not tolerating evil, and enduring in their faith, they had abandoned their love for others. It’s easy to do. Throughout the New Testament, we are reminded to love one another and not judge, for in the manner we judge others, God will judge us (see Luke 6:37-38). We can become so focused on truth that we forget to love. It’s not an either-or, but as Paul says, without love, we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13).

The threat posed to the Ephesians is that if they do not change, they will eventually be removed. How we treat others is weighed seriously within the New Testament. In our zeal for truth, we can be both right and wrong. The Ephesians had lost the love for others that they’d had at first. 

Maintaining love is one of the hardest actions we do as humans. The gravity of life can tend to pull us in the opposite direction, and we can all too easily find our love gradually growing cold. Whether in marriages, families, friendships, or other relationships, we have to work and cultivate our love for others. In our fervor for the truth, we must guard against becoming cold and callous.

Let’s remember this powerful statement by Jesus to His disciples on the night He was arrested. “This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12-13 HCSB).

Jesus’ warning to the community in Ephesus serves as a sober reminder to us today in how we are to treat others. We must pursue loving rightly as much as we pursue doing right. May we follow the command of Jesus to love one another as He has loved us.

PRAYER

Father, we repent of those times that we have not loved others. We have judged when we should have been merciful. Forgive us, and may we be merciful as You are merciful. Amen.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

Amnesty International describes itself as a global movement that protects people wherever justice, freedom, truth, and dignity are denied. And there’s no question that this human rights organization has a good track record at “researching and documenting human rights abuses wherever they occur,” as its website states. However, one nation is excluded from these noble goals, as evidenced in a recently released document that accuses Israel of outrageous treatment of Palestinians. The 278-page report is titled “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity.” Such a title is more fitting for actual terrorists who live in or around Israel—or for China or North Korea. 

The word “amnesty” in ancient Greek means “forgetfulness, passing over” and is defined as “a government pardon to a group or class of people.” Often this includes a political offense where a country officially “forgives” groups or individuals who are prisoners of conscience. Amnesty International has expanded its attention to a range of issues, and the United States has not escaped its criticism. For example, one of its reports cites how terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay continue to be held without adequate medical care or fair trials. 

Amnesty International was established in 1961 with headquarters in London. With offices now scattered worldwide, this non-governmental organization is dedicated to advocating for human rights. Claiming 10 million activists, it received the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for its “defense of human dignity against torture.” Amnesty has acted in many admirable ways, for example calling out China’s enslavement of Turkic Muslim Uighurs and Iran’s harsh reprisals against its citizens.

However, when it comes to Israel, Amnesty’s report borders on an incomprehensible lack of truth telling. Its four-year project is in fact an exercise in distortion. They are demanding that the International Criminal Court investigate Israel. This strikes me as an attempt to pass itself off as an intellectual pursuit to advocate for Palestinians, yet it suffers from a lack of context. Amid the rise of worldwide anti-Semitism, Amnesty’s 278-page opinion piece veers off into libel, handing out more hate tools to use against Israel.

A Wall Street Journal editorial calls the report “a libel that distorts history.” It goes on to say, “Israel was founded in the wake of the Holocaust with broad international support. The Jews who settled in historic Palestine had to fight to survive against Arab militias and national armies that wanted to push them into the sea. … The report is a denunciation of the very existence of Israel as a refuge for the Jewish people.”

Neither Amnesty International nor the United Nations is the final authority for Israel’s rights and its very existence. The foremost facts of history are contained in the 66 books of the Bible. For 3,000 years it has enshrined God’s eternal, unconditional real estate deed to Israel as the Jewish ancestral homeland. Genesis 15:18-21 makes it clear when God visited Abraham and held one of the most significant conversations of all time: “I will assign this land to your offspring.” God’s simple words carry frequent and profound repetition throughout the Old and New Testaments. 

One thousand Bible verses attest to the Jewish people as the indigenous owners of the land.

Let us check out a few facts that Amnesty International neglected. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964. The PLO added the Palestinian Authority in 1995 as a part of conducting the practical aspects of the defunct Oslo Accords. The PLO and PA are interrelated and interchangeable. They retain several key claims in their charter: Article 9: “Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.” Article 10: “Commando action constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian popular liberation war. This requires its escalation, comprehensiveness, and the mobilization of all the Palestinian popular and educational efforts and their organization and involvement in the armed Palestinian revolution.” In other words, their goal hasn’t changed: to wipe the nation of Israel off the map. 

The 84-year-old Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, holds tightly to the PLO charter. On Palestinian “educational” efforts, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reports that the slogan used in textbooks and speeches—“Palestine stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River”—is commonplace. The PA Ministry of Education says it in another way: “Israel does not exist.” PMW also reports that for decades Palestinian TV has been planting ideas of violence into their children to become child soldiers.

The Amnesty report mentions the almost two million Palestinians living in Gaza, calling 1.4 million of them registered refugees. It cites Gaza’s shortcomings with regard to garbage collection, inadequate water, unreliable electricity, and huge unemployment, yet fails to blame the ruling terrorist organization, Hamas, for these conditions. There’s no mention, either, about that government’s cruel use of civilians as human shields—or the fact that their top leaders live in luxury while the citizens suffer. Even as Hamas is pounding Israeli civilians with rocket barrages, Jewish truckers are crossing into danger in order to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza. Yet Hamas launched rockets against these trucks in the conflict last May, so who are the humanitarians? Surely not Hamas! 

Amnesty International’s recent report, which adds fuel to the fire of slander and libel against Israel, is described in Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.” No nation on earth is perfect, of course, including Israel. Nevertheless, I’d like to recount a few essential facts. In 2005 Israel removed its 8,000 citizens from Gaza, hoping that after this complete disengagement, Palestinians would turn the area into a paradise on the Mediterranean. Instead, the Palestinians elected Hamas in 2007—and rockets began to rain on Israel a few years later. 

Furthermore, Israel is the only nation in the world that delivered black Africans to freedom when it airlifted thousands of Ethiopians to settle in Israel. In a proactive effort to save civilians when Israel is forced to defend its own citizens, Israel’s army is the only military that makes calls and drops leaflets to Gazan civilians telling them to vacate buildings (including schools and mosques) where Hamas purposely stores weapons. Jewish and Arab physicians work side by side in Israeli hospitals, where the lives of hundreds of Palestinian children are saved. Numerous Israeli businesses employ some 35,000 Palestinians in Judea and Samaria—the West Bank—and offer equal wages and benefits. Arabs serve in the Knesset and, although not required, proudly serve in the Israel Defense Forces. 

Although Amnesty has consistently ignored these few realities, those of us who stand with Israel could easily write our own 278-page report and call it “Israel’s Demonstrated Commitment to Peace and Equality for Everyone.” 

No matter how often Israel is slandered with apartheid or accused of living on “stolen land,” God the Father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the final Authority. Ezekiel 37:21 “Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.”

Join CBN Israel this week in prayer as we have also spoken out against this report:

• Pray that Christians will rise up to pray and act against rising anti-Semitism.
• Pray for Israel’s supporters to respond with wise words and facts when Israel is slandered in situations like these.  
• Pray for a reverse of anti-Semitism among some politicians in U.S. Congress.
• Pray that Palestinian children who are hearing hateful messages about Israel in Palestinian media be exposed to the truth. 

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.

Living in Israel, Gila is 60, and a single mom of four grown children. Three live on their own—but Noam, her youngest at 20, was born with a severe form of cerebral palsy. 

Noam’s daily challenges include impaired vision and epilepsy. With the mental and verbal capacity of a child, he requires leg braces and assistance to walk, and has a manual wheelchair. As his sole caregiver, Gila now lacks the strength at her age to continue the care he needs. 

Recently, Noam became a resident in a special disabled home unit. He learns life skills with other residents—and comes home on weekends. Gila saw this as a wonderful gift. However, Noam wasn’t strong enough to propel his old wheelchair. When the home gave him lessons to use the new motorized wheelchairs, Gila knew that Noam needed one to gain more independence. On her low income, she could not afford it, and was rejected for a government grant. She then raised donations for almost half the amount—but needed help for the remainder of the cost.

Thanks to friends like you, CBN Israel was able to fund the rest—and Gila presented it to Noam for his 20^th birthday! CBN Israel’s caring donors also brought her food, assistance, and encouragement. And today, Noam is thriving in the home with more freedom and mobility, bringing Gila peace of mind. She exclaimed, “Thank you so much for your kindness!” 

Your gift to CBN Israel can provide vital aid to many more in Israel with disabilities—as well as offering groceries, finances, and essentials to others in need. As the cries for help in the Holy Land persist, you can bring hope and assistance to refugees, elderly Holocaust survivors, and hurting families. 

Please join us in blessing those who desperately need our help!

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

Bible readers find the issue of Jewish burial customs and tombs interesting due to the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus. While the Gospels do not provide an exact location for the tomb of Jesus, although tradition and archaeology does support the traditional location of the Holy Sepulchre, they do offer several interesting details about Jewish burial practices and the style of tombs used in the first century. And, since Jesus was placed in a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid (Luke 23:53), the style of His tomb must have been one of two known from the first century.

Jewish tombs in the first century consisted of two types: kokhim and arcosolia. The most common being the kokhim. A kokh (singular) was a long, narrow recess cut into a rock tomb in which a body, coffin, or ossuary (bone box) could be laid. The typical kokhim tomb was hewn into the hillside and consisted of a square chamber. The entrance to an ordinary kokhim tomb was a small square opening that required a person entering to stoop. The height of the chamber was usually less than that of a person, so they often cut a square pit into the floor of the chamber. This pit created a bench on three sides of the chamber where the bodies of the deceased could be prepared. 

After the chamber and the pit were cut, the kokhim were cut level with the top of the benches and perpendicular to the wall of the tomb in a counter clockwise direction, from right to left, in every wall except the entrance wall. One to three kokhim were usually cut per wall. The kokh had roughly vaulted ceilings and were the length of the deceased or a coffin. After the deceased was placed into the kokh, a blocking stone sealed the square entrance of the tomb. Small stones and plaster helped to further seal the blocking stone. The tomb was sealed in a manner that it blended into the surrounding hillside. 

After a year, when the flesh had decayed, the bones were collected and buried into the ossuary. Once the bones were placed into the ossuary, the ossuary could be placed in a loculus (kokh) within the tomb or upon the bench or floor of the main tomb chamber. Ossuaries were made of the soft, chalky limestone (a few ossuaries were made out of clay or wood) and consisted of a box where the bones were placed and a lid. The limestone was placed into water to soften the stone, which allowed the stone to be easily carved into the ossuary. 

Originally ossuaries served one individual, so the dimensions of the ossuary were the length of the femur and the width and height of the pelvis and skull. Many ossuaries, however, contain the bones of more than one person (and not complete persons at that). Most of the ossuaries discovered bear decorations, although they can be plain. Professional craftsmen decorated the ossuaries using a compass, ruler, straightedge, carving knife, gouge, mallet, and chisel. 

Many ossuaries bear inscriptions in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. These inscriptions were not done by professional scribes, but in the semi-dark of the cave by family members, to identify the deceased. Archaeologists excavating south of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1990 discovered an ornately decorated ossuary bearing the inscription “Joseph, son of Caiaphas,” the high priest who turned Jesus over to Pilate. It held the bones of a sixty-year-old male, and in the eye sockets of the skull were two coins. The practice of secondary burial in ossuaries date from the period of the first century B.C. to the first century A.D. Jews could also bury in coffins during this period as well. 

In addition to the kokhim tomb, arcosolia tombs began to appear sporadically during the first century. The arcosolia is a bench-like aperture with an arched ceiling hewn into the length of the wall. This style of burial was more expensive since only three burial places existed within a tomb chamber instead of six or nine, as typically found within kokhim tombs. Approximately 130 arcosolia tombs have been discovered in Jerusalem and over half of them also contain kokhim. Ossuaries (bone boxes) could be placed on the arcosolia benches.

The tomb identified within the Holy Sepulchre as the tomb of Jesus was originally an arcosolium (singular) with an antechamber; however, the centuries of pilgrims and the various destructions of the church have deformed and obliterated the tomb. What visitors see today is a later structure; nevertheless, the tomb originally contained a first century arcosolium tomb. 

Burial practices reflect the values, philosophy, and religion of people. The style of tombs used by Jews in the first century differ significantly from those used in the period of the Old Testament, which reflects the development of views of death and the afterlife from the period of the Old Testament to the New Testament.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

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