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** They will be My people
24 July 2020
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A weekly reflection on current global affairs concerning Israel and
the Jewish people from a Biblical perspective.

If we just watch the media – even the media in Israel – we will be led to believe that there are innumerable problems and crises facing Israel. For some reason the news seems to focus on the negative aspects. That means the articles selected this week (below) are mainly about problems and challenges.

At the moment, Israel is in fact facing huge challenges – internally as well as externally.

But there is always a positive side to Israel. Behind all the problems, a miracle is happening. A people is returning home, a nation is being built. A nation that is called to serve God, love one another, and be a blessing to all in the land – Jew and non-Jew.

It is a difficult process. Let us pray for unity and love within the Jewish people in these challenging times.

Shabbat shalom,
Andrew Tucker
Editor-in-Chief - Israel & Christians Today

* The Israel & Christians Today Weekly Update will be on vacation for the next 3 weeks.*

Hezbollah
The IDF reinforced the Northern Command with additional infantry troops on Thursday following a situational assessment as tensions with Hezbollah rose following the death of one of its fighters in Syria. Read more.. ([link removed])


Germany and Islam
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Foreign Ministry has been plunged into a devastating new antisemitism scandal for the hiring of a radical Islamist who defends the annual Iranian regime-sponsored rally al-Quds Day calling for the obliteration of Israel. Read more.. ([link removed])

Dutch watchdog threatens to fine Israel Products Centre for misleading labels
The European Union is the only group of Western nations that takes a fixed position on the legal status of the Old City of Jerusalem, and the region of Judea and Samaria, often referred to as the “West Bank”. According to the EU, this is “Occupied Palestinian Territory”: it “belongs” to “the Palestinian people”, not Israel, and any Israeli activity there that impedes the establishment of a Palestinian state on that territory is illegal. This explains the EU’s vehement – almost violent – objection to Israeli “settlements”, which is a euphemism for Jews who live in the territories the Palestinians claim to be theirs. Read more.. ([link removed])


Indigenous people
It is to be hoped and expected that the Government of Israel will come around to acknowledging the importance and centrality of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and will finally and without any further delay or excuse, announce its endorsement of this important and central international document. Read more.. ([link removed])

Hamas-Houthi partnership
Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip, is seeking to forge an alliance with the Iran-aligned Yemini Houthi movement, officially called Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), whose members have launched repeated missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia for the past few years.
The Hamas-Houthi partnership does not come as a surprise to Arabs and Muslims. The two groups share a common goal: Eliminating Israel. Read more.. ([link removed])

Human Rights Watch – bias against Israel
In theory, the officials, researchers, and analysts working in the area of human rights are committed to unbiased, politically neutral reporting. In practice, these words often stand in sharp contrast to the activities and biased agendas of these institutions. This bias is characteristic of many major non-governmental organizations (NGOs) claiming human rights agendas. A prime example is Human Rights Watch, which exhibits a fundamental and consistent bias against Israel. Read more.. ([link removed])

China and Iran
The newly announced Iran-China 25 Year Comprehensive Partnership is unprecedented in its scope. It contains a “mystery clause” that gives China control over how Iran spends its resources, which could ultimately amount to Iran’s selling its sovereignty to Beijing. The close military collaboration between the countries also has major implications for the decades-long US domination of the Gulf and large stretches of the Indian Ocean. Read more.. ([link removed])


Rabbi Jonathan Sacks - Seven Principles for Maintaining Jewish Peoplehood
Starting with the Fast of Tammuz, we begin a period in the Jewish calendar known as The Three Weeks, culminating in the 9th of Av. During this period we recall the tragedies throughout history that have befallen the Jewish people, many of which, according to the Sages, were brought about as a result of sinat chinam, baseless hatred and discord between individual Jews and within the Jewish people. Read more.. ([link removed])

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“… and the sign”
- Video teaching by Johannes Gerloff

Episode 33 in the series of teachings by Israeli-based Bible teacher and journalist Johannes Gerloff:

Circumcision is the outward sign of God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants. It is a mark that is painful. It is a religious practice that is disputed until to-day. But, from a biblical point of view, a descendant of Abraham who does not circumcise his children violates this covenant and will be cut off from God's people.

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“Death”
- Video teaching by Rev. Willem J.J. Glashouwer

Rev. Willem Glashouwer helps us understand God’s prophetic word, and how prophecy is being fulfilled in our generation.

The four horsemen ride behind each other and also besides each other. The three final ones are given the power over a fourth of the earth to kill through war, famine, plague, contagious diseases and the wild beasts of the earth. War leaves a trail of destruction. Famine is the first to follow, and then contagious diseases will develop rapidly. The wild beasts of the earth are seen by some as bacteria/viruses and other pathogenic organisms, as the smallest of living creatures.


** SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK:
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** Ezekiel 37:18-28
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^18 “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ ^19 say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’^20 Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on^21 and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. ^22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. ^23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They wil
l be my people, and I will be their God.
^24 “‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. ^25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. ^26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. ^27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ^28 Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’”

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**
Newspaper Israel & Christians Today
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The goal of Israel & Christians Today is to help Christians to take God’s Word seriously, and study current events in the world in the context of the Bible.

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