Editor's note: Joseph Farah is in Israel this week leading a tour of the Jewish state with best-selling author Jonathan Cahn.
JERUSALEM – This is the second year in a row I have taken large American tour groups to Israel with my good friend messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn, a two-time New York Times best-selling author of "The Harbinger" and "The Mystery of the Shemitah" and the co-writer of "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment," the best-selling faith movie of 2012 and 2013.
We sometimes joke about our partnership being called "Farah-Cahn Enterprises."
But our tours of Israel are not about money, not about celebrity, not about politics and not about selling books and movies.
It's about our mutual love and respect for the reborn nation of Israel as a promise of God, despite all its warts, flaws and imperfections.
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It's an unusual commitment from a Jewish-American and an Arab-American. We want to be a blessing on Israel because we know that Israel is a blessing on the world – and always has been in spite of its blemishes and failings.
We know Americans come back from Israel changed. They don't just come back with good memories. They don't just have a great time. They come back transformed spiritually.
I can say this today because I'm not promoting registration for our tour. We're here in Israel. And we're not even planning our next trip. I just want you to know what I'm seeing again for the second year in a row.
I've been to Israel many times over the years – first as a skeptical news correspondent half a lifetime ago and later as perhaps the most prominent Arab-American cheerleader for Israel. If you doubt that self-proclaimed moniker, read what Jewish journalist Aliza Davidovit wrote more than a decade ago about my commitment to Israel – in this world and the world to come.
What is that commitment about? What's my motivation?
I just want to be in God's will – and I know what His will is for Israel.
He chose Israel to be the "oracles of God." (Romans 3:1-2)
That's a big responsibility. It doesn't mean that all Jews are oracles of God. But it is significant that all the oracles were Jews. Think about that. Old Testament, New Testament – the writers were all Jews, though I am well aware of arguments that Luke was a Gentile. I don't buy them, but I am aware of them.
Those who are eagerly anticipating the promise of Jesus' Second Coming should be aware of how and where He is returning, according to the prophets: Israel – where He will reign and rule the world for 1,000 years. That's pretty significant, isn't it?
Israel is not just another country. It's uniquely the only civilization reborn from the dead after nearly 2,000 years.
It's the only civilization whose language was dead for 2,000 years. It, too, was resurrected.
Do miracles still happen today?
One of the biggest miracles ever occurred within the lifetimes of many alive today – that rebirth of Israel. Another one happened when Jerusalem was recaptured by Israel in 1967 – during my lifetime. And think about how all the Jews who today live in Israel – millions of them from all over the world – came back. How does that rank on the miracle scale?
God Himself tells us in Holy Scripture it rivals the Exodus. Jeremiah 16:14-15: "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers."
Don't believe in miracles? Just give yourself a chance and visit one in person. That's what I'm doing, again, right now in Israel.
Media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, please contact [email protected].
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