News sources for Israel's Christian friends . . . free daily email updates about news in Israel

For the latest news about what is happening in Israel, the Middle East and the global Jewish and Arab world from a Christian (Evangelical Protestant) perspective, the monthly magazines Israel Today and Jerusalem Post-Christian Edition are two good resources.

Some print edition articles can also be found on their online sites via here (Israel Today) and here (Jerusalem Post-Christian Edition).

According to their web site, Israel Today "is a Jerusalem-based news agency providing a biblical and objective perspective on local news. Founded in 1978, when it began publishing a monthly German news magazine, the English language edition of Israel Today was launched in January 1999 in order to meet a growing demand for news from Israel to the English-speaking market. The Japanese edition was launched in 2004, and a Dutch edition is currently in the works, as well. Israel Today maintains a diverse staff of local journalists who live in the Land and therefore report from firsthand experience, offering a mix of information, interviews, inspiration and daily life in Israel." The monthly magazine has subscribers in more than 80 countries.

The Jerusalem Post-Christian Edition (est. 2006) is published in full partnership with the International Christian Embasssy Jerusalem (ICEJ, est. 1980). It "is packed full of biblical insight, political analysis and unreported news from the Holy Land, making it a must read for all Christians who care about Israel."

Both Israel Today and ICEJ offer a free daily news update via email. Click here to subscribe to Israel Today's, and here to subscribe to ICEJ's.

For other news sources and information about Israel, see Uncommon Christian Ministries' recommended links.

Israel, Henry H. Halley (1874-1965) and "Halley's Bible Handbook" . . . 17 and 19.5 year desire being fulfilled

One of the reasons for my current and extended 2-year spiritual pilgrimage to and self-study sabbatical in Israel is due, in part, to my reading of Halley's Bible Handbook.

It was this handbook and its pictures of historical/archaeological sites in Israel that spurred my interest in visiting The Holy Land of Israel.

At the time of purchasing the 24th edition (1965) of the handbook in 1989 or 1990, I was 18- or 19-years-old and not yet a Christian. I purchased it soon after I began reading the Bible seriously in October 1989.

From October 1989 (West Hartford, Connecticut) to my conversion to Christ in October 1992 (Lake Crescent Lodge employee dorm room in Olympic National Park near Port Angeles, Washington), I was a self-student of the Bible. (For the full story of my conversion to Evangelical Protestant Christianity, click here.)

For 10 days in late December 2005/early January 2006, and now for 2 years from May 2009 to July 2011, my desire to see in-person the historical sites of the Bible in Israel is being fulfilled. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).

Zondervan, the current publisher of the handbook (25th edition), states,

Halley's Bible Handbook, the classic layperson's companion text, includes a concise Bible commentary, important discoveries in archaeology, related historical data, church history, maps, and more. . . .

Halley's Bible Handbook was born out of the conviction of Henry H. Halley that everyone ought to read the Bible daily.

From its first edition, a small give-away booklet of 16 pages, it has grown into an 864-page "almanac" of biblical information, used regularly by hundreds of thousands of laymen, teachers, and ministers. Halley's Bible Handbook contains more biblical information than any other book of its size.

It has been a continuous best-seller through the years and has sold more than five million copies in many languages.

Elsewhere, Zondervan writes,

Now in full color, the twenty-fifth edition of Halley’s Bible Handbook provides time-tested help for understanding the Bible—not just with the mind, but also with the heart. It includes a concise Bible commentary, important discoveries in archaeology, related historical data, church history, maps, and more.

Clear. Simple. Easy to read. Now in full color for its twenty-fifth edition, this world-renowned Bible handbook is treasured by generations of Bible readers for its clarity, insight, and usefulness.

Halley’s Bible Handbook makes the Bible’s wisdom and message accessible. You will develop an appreciation for the cultural, religious, and geographic settings in which the story of the Bible unfolds. You will see how its different themes fit together in a remarkable way. And you will see the heart of God and the person of Jesus Christ revealed from Genesis to Revelation.

Written for both mind and heart, this expanded edition of Halley’s Bible Handbook retains Dr. Halley’s highly personal style.

It features brilliant maps, photographs, and illustrations; contemporary four-color design; Bible references in the easy-to-read, bestselling New International Version; practical Bible reading programs; helpful tips for Bible study; fascinating archaeological information; easy-to-understand sections on how we got the Bible and on church history; and improved indexes.

For a biography on the Kentucky-born Protestant (Disciples of Christ) minister and author, Henry H. Halley (1874-1965), click here.

Halley's Bible Handbook, 25th Edition is available through its publisher (Zondervan), at Christian Book Distributors (CBD) or Amazon.com.

It is worth noting that Dr. Halley developed a fondness for memorizing favorite passages of the Bible until he could recite from memory entire books from the Bible, in abridged, connected form and in their own words. Some have suggested that at any one time Dr. Halley could quote in excess of no less than 25 continuous hours worth of Scripture without looking at a reference. According to Dr. Halley, "The Bible is the most precious possession of the human race."


Elder D. J. Ward & Main Street Baptist Church (Lexington, Kentucky)

Interestingly, Dr. Halley is buried near where a favorite preacher of mine ministered.

Kentucky's historic Lexington Cemetery (est. 1849, 833 West Main St.) is just up the street from where the late Elder D. J. Ward pastored (1989-2008), namely, the historic Main Street Baptist Church (est. 1862, the first African-American Baptist church in Lexington, 582 West Main Street).

Up until 2009 (when it moved to New Home Missionary Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn.), Main Street Baptist Church was home to the annual Sovereign Grace Bible Conference. The conference was founded in 1983 by Elder Ward who was, at the time, pastoring in Oak Ridge, Tenn. I have attended this African-American conference twice, in 2003 and 2004 (and then again in 2013).

Click here for the location of Dr. Halley's burial site in Lexington, Kentucky.

"An Uncommon Christian" now available @ Reformation Heritage Books . . . Joel Beeke, Baruch Maoz and Israel . . . Is today's Judaism still Jewish?

Among other online options, An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, 2008) is now available through Reformation Heritage Books. Click here to view RHB's web page for An Uncommon Christian, and here to view other biographical Christian books offered by RHB.

Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Reformation Heritage Books was founded in 1994 with the purpose of distributing sound, Reformed, experiential literature, such as that which flourished in the Puritan Era (c. 1550-1700). RHB's mission "is to glorify God and strengthen His Church through the publication and distribution of Puritan and Reformed literature." To read RHB's insightful and edifying "Heritage Booktalk" blog, click here.

Other online buying options in the U.S., Canada and overseas for An Uncommon Christian--including Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com--are viewable at Uncommon Christian Ministries' website. This is also the same for the second recent book on Taylor (an edited anthology), Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor (University Press of America, 2008).

** NOTE ABOUT (AND FROM) ISRAEL **

On a somewhat related note, and among other places worldwide, RHB's editorial director, Dr. Joel Beeke, has spoken at a conference sponsored by Grace and Truth Christian Congregation in Rishon LeZion (Rishon LeTsion), Israel. I have attended this Tel Aviv-area congregation several times since my arrival here in Israel on May 8, 2009. (As a pastor, church historian, Puritan scholar and author, Dr. Beeke was 1 of 22 international endorsers of An Uncommon Christian.)

Grace and Truth Christian Congregation was founded in 1976 by a group of Israeli Christians, including longtime pastor Baruch Maoz (1976-January 2009). Today it is largely made up of veteran Israelis and immigrants from the former USSR and other countries, with some non-Jewish persons and an Arab family. The Reformed (Calvinistic) Baptist church also serves expatriate students or workers from various parts of the world, and a growing deaf community. Grace and Truth is one of Israel's oldest churches and thereby has showed the way for other churches in the country. It has led a successful international campaign against efforts to restrict religious freedom in Israel.

Click here to read a good article about the church's history and challenges by the now-retired Pastor Baruch Maoz. And here to read Pastor Maoz's response to a review of his 400-page book Judaism Is Not Jewish: A Friendly Critique of the Messianic Movement (2003). Pastor Maoz's website, "Soli Deo Gloria (Israel): Creating Reformed Literature in Hebrew," can be found here.

John Calvin, 500th birthday + Calvinism and evangelist James Brainerd Taylor + thanks to John Reisinger and Dan Green

July 10, 2009, was the 500th anniversary of the birth of the influential French theologian and pastor, John Calvin. Conferences throughout the world are being held this year in honor of the Geneva, Switzerland-based Protestant reformer. Included among the conferences was a major, multi-day one at Geneva's St. Pierre Cathedral ("Calvin 500: A Quincentenary"). If I was not in Israel this year, I would have attended this July conference.

Also, many newspaper, magazine and journal articles and blog posts about Calvin and the resurgent Calvinistic theology in the U.S., Canada and abroad are being published and posted in 2009, including "Calvin's theology still shapes churches" (Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky., July 10, 2009).

In Time magazine's "What's Next 2009: 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now," "The New Calvinism" ranked third. A good resource regarding "The New Calvinism" is Colin Hansen's Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists (Crossway, 2008).

Though there is no evidence that James Brainerd Taylor read Calvin's popular Institutes of the Christian Religion or his other works, the American evangelist Taylor (1801-1829) was a Calvinist of the Jonathan Edwards variety. I argue this in chapter two my first book An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, Jan. 2008). Comments such as this reveal Taylor's Calvinistic theology:

Surely I am a miracle of grace--a sinner saved by grace, free grace, sovereign grace, almighty grace.

Regarding Calvin's impact upon my own life and theology, I thank the Reformed Baptist theologian-pastor-evangelist John G. Reisinger (Sound of Grace ministries) for introducing me to Calvinism's TULIP theology soon after my conversion to Christ in October 1992. It was in the Port Angeles, Washington home of my late friend and mentor Daniel "Danny" R. Green (1947-2006) that I viewed Reisinger's excellent and instructive videos on TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace, Perseverance of the Saints).

Other key theologians, pastors and authors--both dead and alive--whom the Lord has used to instruct me in the doctrinal truths of Calvinism/Sovereign Grace/The Doctrines of Grace have been the 16th and 17th-century Puritans, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), George Whitefield (1714-1770), Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), A. W. Pink (1886-1952), James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000), Elder D. J. Ward (died 2008, obituary), Richard Belcher, J. I. Packer, John Piper, R. C. Sproul and Mark Webb.

The Calvinism-based Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) have been especially instructive in teaching me that the "only true God" of the Bible (John 17:3) is a sovereign God who extends His free grace to undeserving sinners.

Israel Update: Part 1 . . . Uncommon new Israeli friends + learning Israeli culture + Israel study tours + praying for Jerusalem

All is safe and well since my arrival in Israel on May 8. After volunteering and touring in mostly northern Israel (Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights, Mediterranean coast) for a month, on June 8 I settled in at my 1-2 year volunteer position at Christ Church Guest House in Jerusalem's Old City.

My 3-weeks (May 10-28) of volunteering with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)-affiliated Sar-El was an experience of a lifetime. Started in 1982 and receiving over 4,000 volunteers per year, Sar-El is called Volunteers For Israel in the U.S./Canada/Europe. VFI's mission “is to connect Americans to Israel through volunteer service. They achieve this goal by partnering with military and civilian organizations that enable volunteers to work side-by-side with Israelis. They promote solidarity and good will among Israelis, American Jews and other friends of Israel.”

Above is a sampling of some newly made uncommon Israeli friends from Haifa, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Shomera and Tzfat (Safed). By meeting native Israelis and reading books such as Culture Smart's Israel: A Quick Guide to Customs & Culture (2007), I'm learning much about the Israeli culture, especially the youth and young adult culture.

Though English is spoken widely here, and with a background of studying Biblical Hebrew in seminary, I'm beginning to teach myself modern Hebrew. The revival of the Hebrew language as a mother tongue and spoken language was initiated by the efforts of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (אליעזר בן–יהודה) (1858-1922). Many major streets in Israel are named in honor of Ben-Yehuda, including one in downtown Jerusalem and not far from where I live and work.

A good option for those wanting to visit Israel is the Shoresh Study Tours. Begun in 1986 by Christ Church (the oldest Protestant church [Anglican] in the Middle East, built 1849), the 1-3 week Shoresh Study Tours provide in-depth teaching on the Jewish/Hebraic roots of the Christian faith while touring Israel. "Shoresh" means "root" in Hebrew.

--> NOTE: Christ Church, Christ Church Guest House and Shoresh Study Tours are all members of the Anglican-run CMJ (the Church's Ministry among the Jewish people), with chapters in Israel, U.S., U.K., Ireland and South Africa.

Join with me in praying regularly for the peace of Jerusalem. The annual and international Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem (est. 2002) is every first Sunday in October.

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they be secure who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!" (Psalm 122:6-7)

"As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore." (Psalm 125:2)

"Blessed be the LORD from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the LORD!" (Psalm 135:21)

"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!" (Psalm 137:5-6)

James Brainerd Taylor in the Sequim Gazette

"Author plans 10-book series on 19th-century evangelist" is the title of journalist Matthew Nash's article in the May 20, 2009 issue of the weekly Sequim Gazette (Sequim, Washington). Click here to read the online version of the article.

This local article is in addition to other local media coverage on the recently rediscoverd James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) in the Peninsula Daily News and on "The Todd Ortloff Show" on KONP Newsradio (both based in Port Angeles, Washington). The two J. B. Taylor books (January 2008 and June 2008, University Press of America) have also received regional and national attention--see various blog posts below.

Uncommon Christianity in Israel? . . . farewell Port Angeles, Washington

Is there Uncommon Christianity in Israel? I'll soon find out as I leave for Israel tomorrow (Thursday, May 7, 2009) to participate in two volunteer endeavors. This is my second visit to The Holy Land, the first being for 10 days in late December 2005/early January 2006.

Click here for my contact information in Israel. And click here to see the recommended links for Israel on UCM's web site.

From May 10-28, I'll be volunteering with the Jewish-based Sar-El (est. 1982, called Volunteers For Israel [VFI] in the U.S.). VFI's mission “is to connect Americans to Israel through volunteer service. They achieve this goal by partnering with military and civilian organizations that enable volunteers to work side-by-side with Israelis. They promote solidarity and good will among Israelis, American Jews and other friends of Israel.”

Then, after a 10-day vacation to roam the land and beginning around June 8, I'll be volunteering for 1-2 years at Christ Church Guest House in Jerusalem's Old City. Completed in 1849, the Anglican-run Christ Church is the oldest Protestant Church in the Middle East. It was formed by The Church's Ministry among the Jews (CMJ, est. 1809), originally called the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. "Started in London by visionaries such as William Wilberforce (1759-1833), Charles Simeon (1759-1836) and [later] Lord Shaftesbury to share the Gospel with Jewish people, CMJ now has a worldwide ministry to share with Jewish people our belief that not only is Jesus (Yeshua) the Saviour of the world, he is the Jewish Messiah. Today [their] main work is in Israel but [they] retain a vibrant ministry in the U.K." So states the CMJ-U.K. website.
--> NOTE: CMJ is celebrating its bicentennial with events throughout 2009 in the U.K., U.S. and Israel. For the celebrations in the U.K., click here. Kelvin Crombie's latest book entitled Restoring Israel: 200 Years of the CMJ Story (Nicolayson's Ltd., Christ Church Jersualem, 2008) is highly recommended.

Also while in Israel--and as time allows--I'll be participating in the cultural exchange and hospitality-based Servas International (est. 1949, originally called Peacebuilders). I'm one of the over 20,000 Servas members who come from over 125 countries. Servas Israel has more than 300 individuals, couples and families willing to host Servas members for free. Click here to view a map of Israel that shows the areas with Servas hosts.
--> NOTE: Servas International has consultative status as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, currently with representation at many of the UN's hubs of activity.

Among other options, the "uncommon Christian" James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) considered ministry among the Jewish people in Palestine before his untimely death while a student at Yale Seminary in 1829. Taylor's reading of the Memoir of Levi Parsons (1824) no doubt inspired his interest.

Before settling down in Israel, a special THANKS to those in Port Angeles, Washington, who extended to me their kind farewell wishes and gifts during the weeks and days prior to my departure (today/May 6). Among other entities, it was sad to say goodbye to the Peninsula College Christian Student Fellowship. I served as the founding advisor for PCCSF, 2002-09.