There is a ceasefire in the Israel Palestinian conflict after about a month of fighting. Even today many people do not know the details of this conflict, while many are blinded by their religion to look from one particular side. Here is a short video which explain the actual situation in this conflict.
Watch this interesting video:
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Pilgrimage to Holyland 8 - Prayers
Prayer is very important to us Christians because it is like blood in our bodies. How can we survive if we do not have blood in us? Therefore, one of the aims of our pilgrimage to the Holy Land was pray and worship. Infact, during our visit to the Holy land everyday we prayed. In the morning before we start our journey, we prayed in the bus. Everyday at the end of the day we shared a devotion in the hotel we stayed. Each pilgrim was assigned a day to lead the devotion and pray. During this time, we also shared our experiences and what God had taught us during our visits for that day.
Answered Prayers
I remebered clearly the answer to one of our brothers who was baptiz
ed in the river Jordan. He was scared of cold weather. Therefore everyday he prayed that when he gets baptize in river Jordan, the weather will be warm. He was supposed to be baptized on a cold day, but thanks to God it was postponed by the tour guide. On the day he was baptized, it was the hottest day we experienced while in Israel! In fact it was unbearably hot around 40 degrees centigrade! Hallelujah! God answered his prayers!
Every holy places we went people were praying and some prayed very fervently. I took a picture of a man wearing a usual cap instead of the skull cap praying very fervently devoting all his prayers to God on the Western Wall in Jerusalem. (See this picture on this page). Many of us were praying with all our hearts during our visits to various sites.
God commanded us to pray unceasingly, 1 Thessolonians 5:17. Of course there are many verses about prayers. The challenge to us is to pray unceasingly everyday.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Pilgrimage to the Holyland 7 - Garden Tomb
During our pilgrimage to the Holy Land, our group visited two Biblical sites which were supposely the location of Jesus' burial after His Crucifixtion. Many of us were puzzled because on that day we visited the Holy Sepuchre in the morning and in the afternoon we visited the Garden Tomb. Later when we listened to the tourist guide at the Garden Tomb explaining than we understood the stories to these two sites.
Traditionally the Protestants identify with the Garden Tomb as the place where Jesus was crucified because this place resembled the description in the Bible. Hebrew 13:12 says, "12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood". This location has always been outside the City Gate. Also near to the tomb is an outcrop of a hill that resembles a skull.
On the other hand, many believed that the Holy Sepulchre is the real location of Jesus' Crucifixtion and burial as it was also outside the City Gate during the time of Jesus. This location has been taken as the real site since the time of Constantine.
Nevertheless, like the tour guide explained whichever is the real site is not important, the important aspect is that the crucified Christ resurrected for the dead after dying for three days. It is also left to the pilgrims to decide which is the right one.
At the Garden Tomb it was not crowded and believers can sit and pray to our Lord Jesus, and spend quite time with Him.
A video of our group at the Garden Tomb.
Traditionally the Protestants identify with the Garden Tomb as the place where Jesus was crucified because this place resembled the description in the Bible. Hebrew 13:12 says, "12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood". This location has always been outside the City Gate. Also near to the tomb is an outcrop of a hill that resembles a skull.
On the other hand, many believed that the Holy Sepulchre is the real location of Jesus' Crucifixtion and burial as it was also outside the City Gate during the time of Jesus. This location has been taken as the real site since the time of Constantine.
Nevertheless, like the tour guide explained whichever is the real site is not important, the important aspect is that the crucified Christ resurrected for the dead after dying for three days. It is also left to the pilgrims to decide which is the right one.
At the Garden Tomb it was not crowded and believers can sit and pray to our Lord Jesus, and spend quite time with Him.
A video of our group at the Garden Tomb.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Why Should Christians Care about Israel
As a group of about 32 of us are preparing to make our pilgrimage to Israel, I came across an article explaining why Christians should care about Israel. It is a given that Israel is the chosen land of God, and the Israelite are the chosen people of God. There is no two ways about this. As Christians we are children of God and He is the same God who chose Israel as His "home". Against all odds, as it was prophesied in the Bible the nation of Israel will stand, thus in 1948 the modern state of Israel was created by more 660,000 returning Jews.
We Christians are forever connected to Israel, even if you do not like what ever is happening politically in Israel today. We are also connected to Israel spiritually. The historical connection is important because biblical times were recorded in history, and when we want to learn about God we have to study the historical facts. You cannot understand Jesus fully if you do not know the places He has been, preach, teach and communicated with His disciples and the Jews.
Overall most of the media gives negative views of Israel and its policies. But the realities in Israel and its surrounding are different. People of different races and religions live together and help each others. Like in the hospital you have Jewish doctors working side by side Arab doctors. Similar patients from each race treated each other without any issue.
There is a good article on this subject, the author wrote very well please read it at the link above.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Understand Holocaust Understand Israel
http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/standing-with-israel/17261-understanding-the-holocaust-means-understanding-israel
About 32 of us from our Church will be making our pilgrimage to Israel on 15th April 2013. This is not going to be a usual tour of a country but we are going as pilgrims, our hearts and souls connected to our God through the Holy Land. It is God's divine plan for us to visit. It is timely too as our government has officially allowed pilgrimage to Israel. It was prohibited before end of last year.
When I read an article about the holocaust, the suffering of the Jews, and creation of the State of Israel, I realize the connection of Christians to Israel and understanding their plight is significant. It was indeed God's plan for the re-creation of the ancient Israelite State. God has appointed the Israelite to be the first people of God in the past, today they are till these people. Their suffering under the Nazi was horrendous and cruel. The Nazi was so cruel and evil, sometimes we wonder how can a human inflict such pain and cruelty upon another human. But God had said that man has evil hearts, and without God we perished. Out of this suffering, the State of Israel was re-created in 1948 by about 660,000 Jews returning to Israel from all over the world. Since then, they have prospered, but they are still not "out of the woods" as they have to struggle daily against their enemies living within and near their borders. It has to be God's protection otherwise Israel cannot stand alone against their enemies surrounding them. Similarly many Christians are also persecuted all over the world, we have seen that in Egypt, the Middle East, China, Indonesia, even in Malaysia here. We Christians are connected to the Holy Land. It may not be physical but it is certainly spiritual. You cannot be a Christian and claim you do not want to know the history of the Israelite.
I am looking forward to our pilgrimage to Israel, and pray for fresh encounter with God in the Holy Land.
To read more click on the link above.
About 32 of us from our Church will be making our pilgrimage to Israel on 15th April 2013. This is not going to be a usual tour of a country but we are going as pilgrims, our hearts and souls connected to our God through the Holy Land. It is God's divine plan for us to visit. It is timely too as our government has officially allowed pilgrimage to Israel. It was prohibited before end of last year.
When I read an article about the holocaust, the suffering of the Jews, and creation of the State of Israel, I realize the connection of Christians to Israel and understanding their plight is significant. It was indeed God's plan for the re-creation of the ancient Israelite State. God has appointed the Israelite to be the first people of God in the past, today they are till these people. Their suffering under the Nazi was horrendous and cruel. The Nazi was so cruel and evil, sometimes we wonder how can a human inflict such pain and cruelty upon another human. But God had said that man has evil hearts, and without God we perished. Out of this suffering, the State of Israel was re-created in 1948 by about 660,000 Jews returning to Israel from all over the world. Since then, they have prospered, but they are still not "out of the woods" as they have to struggle daily against their enemies living within and near their borders. It has to be God's protection otherwise Israel cannot stand alone against their enemies surrounding them. Similarly many Christians are also persecuted all over the world, we have seen that in Egypt, the Middle East, China, Indonesia, even in Malaysia here. We Christians are connected to the Holy Land. It may not be physical but it is certainly spiritual. You cannot be a Christian and claim you do not want to know the history of the Israelite.
I am looking forward to our pilgrimage to Israel, and pray for fresh encounter with God in the Holy Land.
To read more click on the link above.
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