When first visiting Israel in 1983, I believe that G-d gave me a scripture in (I Kings 8: 41- 43).
In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name, for they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name.
With this scripture came the vision for Oil in Israel. As a Christian Zionist and New Covenant believer, I received the calling to render assistance to the Jewish people and Nation of Israel and to aid them in the Restoration of the Land by providing the oil and gas necessary to maintain their political and economic independence.
In the Bible, G-d sovereignly declares that Israel is His chosen people and we can gain some understanding of G-d’s choice, His vision and purpose by reading (Deuteronomy 7).
As a Christian Zionist, I declare “thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God”; and I believe that all true Christians must identify with Israel; as we are the “wild olive branch” grafted onto the olive tree by the grace of G-d. Moreover, I identify with the people of Israel in their struggle and understand a little something of their pain, confusion, and their hope in the midst of continued media misrepresentation and the world’s disdain of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. Israel appears to be coming under increasing criticism daily; for the very steps of self-defense which we in America take for granted as our sovereign moral right to defend of ourselves and our interests.
As a believer, I have and can have no doubt that mankind must learn that obedience toward G-d and his commandments is the key to progress, whether personal or corporate, national or international. Disobedience, on the other hand, can lead only to great difficulty. This too is the story of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. Indeed, it appears that G-d’s chosen people have ascended to heights and descended to depths far beyond our experience – in both blessings and curses – in progress and disaster.
In considering the history of Israel, however, this principle alone is insufficient to explain the great magnitude of Israel’s’ sufferings. There is another dimension. Throughout history Israel has been, and continues to be, a tangible and visible target for dark spiritual forces which are directed against the living G-d himself. No one can touch G-d; but the Jewish people and the nation of Israel are within reach of those whose hatred is directed against G-d, and who would attempt to foil the fulfillment of His purposes and disrupt His plan for the people of His covenant and the nation of Israel.
This hatred toward the Jews has been manifested time and again throughout the ages. To name only a sampling, there have been the crusades, the inquisition, and the pogroms. In the last century, we have seen the Holocaust, as well as the humiliation of, and later reneging on, numerous peace agreements regarding the Land of Promise. Since the re-establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, there have been many wars and many more attack of terror. Most recently, there has been the Gulf War with scud missiles, threatening chemical mayhem. Then there continues to be, the forced pressure of “peace” negotiations and calls of “land for peace” – despite the fact that Israel is the only nation on Earth that was created by a sovereign act of G-d and whose borders are clearly defined by G-d. For in Exodus 32: 13 He said, “… all of this land which I have spoken of will I give to your descendants and they shall inherit it forever.”
And when in the summer of 2000, the Prime Minister of Israel indicated that in return for the much prayed for “peace”, Israel would be willing to give most of the territory of the Holy Land re-conquered in the 1967 War- a war commenced by the Arabs with the declared purpose of destroying Israel- to create a Palestinian state, those very Palestinians rejected the offer, declaring that the Jews had no right to Jerusalem or to the Temple Mount. They claimed that the Bible was “forged” to show such a connection between the people of Israel and the site of His House, and then commenced a wave of terrorism, sending human bombs to kill and maim teenagers at discotheques and families at pizza lunches.
The recent events in the land of Israel notwithstanding, with sorrow and regret, we must admit the truth and confess that the greatest sufferings imposed on the Jewish people and Israel throughout history have come from the so-called Christian church and from those confessing the Christian faith. For this we must all ask their forgiveness. The forces directed against the Jews have misrepresented G-d and have wrongly interpreted His Word in an attempt to rob Israel of its inheritance which is based on a sovereign promise from G-d and an everlasting covenant (Deuteronomy 4:31). Despite the fact that these expressions of evil are totally contrary to G-d’s everlasting covenant, His unchanging nature and purpose, these actions were and continue to be “justified” by these evil men and nations for their own ends.
But as the Bible declares, G-d HAS NOT forsaken His covenant people and, “as new covenant believers,” we are commanded by G-d’s Word to stand together with the Jewish people whom the world has abused. As the fulfillment of prophecy is for the Jewish people- for them, the realization of their covenant and for them, the answer to their prayers of countless generations:
“And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord the God.” (Amos 9: 15)
John Brown
Chairman & Founder
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