Can Australian Christians rally against policies aligning with the Palestinian cause? Urgent action needed to resist government’s anti-Israel stance. #Australia #Israel
Canberra Styles Israel an Enemy, Israel’s Enemies Australia’s Friend
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Galilee
The Prophetic Yom Kippur War
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the dramatic Yom Kippur. The Yom Kippur war is not only a powerful story from the pages of history, but I believe it also prophetically foreshadows an even greater war to come—while also pointing to the means of deliverance and victory. Caught Napping On October 5th, 1973 the Egyptian army on the West bank of the Suez Canal were drawn up in full battle array with bridging equipment and rubber boats for crossing the Canal. The Egyptian side of the Suez was bristling with 100,000 troops, 1350 tanks and 2000 artillery pieces and heavy mortars. Meanwhile the Israeli side of the border barely numbered 450 aging reserve troops, 44 artillery pieces and only 3 tanks! The border with Syria was in an even worse situation with the Israeli troops and tanks outnumbered in even greater numbers. The thin line of Israeli tanks and troops on the Golan was all that separated the civilians of the Galilee region from the incoming armada of Syrian troops and tanks. The surprise attack caught Israel napping. The seemingly all-knowing Israeli intelligence community had been completely blindsided by the attack. Israel’s frontline soldiers were therefore unprepared for the […]
Australia at a Crossroads:
The pulse of the land at the uttermost parts of the earth In the early hours of September 25, 1918, on the moonlit southern shore of the Sea of Galilee, white and aboriginal Australians executed the last horseback charge in military history to capture a small but fiercely-defended train station – Tzemach. Weeks later, World War 1 was over, and for the first time in nearly seven centuries, the Jews’ ancient homeland was free from Muslim control. As this article goes to press, the centennial of this little-known but critical Battle of Tzemach is being marked at the restored site, 11 months after the 100th anniversary of the famous victorious charge at Beersheba of the Australian 800 Light Horsemen. Beersheba began the liberation of the Land of Israel; Tzemach secured that liberty. ***** Last year—in the run up to Beersheba —I came to Australia to motivate for the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Multitudes of Aussies longed to see their country “lead the charge” as the first to move its embassy to this city. My 2017 journey took me to every major center around Australia, and from Elcho Island in the north, through Alice Springs, to Tasmania way down […]
Jerusalem: Magnet for Christian Visits (Part Two)
In Part 01 of our series about Jerusalem and Christians visits, we learned that the ‘river of pilgrimage’ has been flowing from the very beginning of the church age. Christians constitute the highest amount of sacred visitors to a holy city which is also sacred to Judaism and Islam, too. This growing phenomena in Christian visits is even more remarkable considering that neither Christ nor the apostles command it, and there is more of a spiritual, rather than geographic, emphasis in Christian worship. We also learned why Christians visit Jerusalem. They can be summarised in two key words: Devotion: From the very beginning, Christians have been motivated to visit Jerusalem so that they can ‘walk where Jesus walked.’ Following in the footsteps of the Master is a strong sign of devotion. Education: Pious believers visit Jerusalem because they want to learn more about the Bible. Considering that Jerusalem is mentioned over 811 times in the KJV, it is indisputably the premier city of Scripture. What is remarkable is that these twin pillars of devotion and education can be applied across the board, to pilgrims from every denomination and every century of the church age. The Tourism Factor To the ancient […]
The City of Tiberias
Tiberias is a city in Israel located on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is locally called Lake Kinneret, but we mostly know it as the Sea of Galilee. Our Israeli guide calls Tiberias, Tiberiah, which has a lovely Israeli lilt to it. The city itself was first established about 20BC and was named to honour the Roman Emperor Tiberias and the original city was actually located just a little further along the shores than the current modern city of Tiberias…however when I say the modern city, it’s still ancient. The city has natural hot springs which were known to help cure skin and other ailments and today it’s quite a bustling city, although it’s really very old. What is very characteristic of the buildings in Tiberias is the common use of black basalt stone. Most of the tourist hotels are situated along the shores of Tiberias which is really quite lovely when you wake up each morning to look out your window and see the sun rising over the lake. The history of Tiberias… is crucial in the unfolding of God’s plans for this land. There is quite a large orthodox community in Tiberias, […]