2025 Israel Tour - The Fellowship

We are on a journey. As believers in Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection, our ultimate destination is to be with Him forever. Along the way, there are intermediate stops. Sometimes they are planned. At other times, they wreak havoc.

Yesterday, we were in Frankfurt, Germany, en route to Israel. We had not planned on flying through Frankfurt, but the route was filtered through God’s hands. It hasn’t been easy. There have been numerous flight cancellations and rebookings. Following a lengthy delay in Houston, we needed the entire six-hour layover. Now we are unexpectedly forced to overnight in Athens due to another cancellation while we were over the Atlantic.

Now this is crazy. Waiting to leave Frankfurt, we overheard a group of four men discussing spiritual warfare in relation to the nation of Israel. We struck up a conversation and discovered that they are doing exactly what we are: visiting Israel as a small, self-contained group. We spoke with them in Frankfurt and also upon arrival in Athens.

This morning, we spoke again at the airport. We are on the same flight to Tel Aviv. When they entered the boarding gate area, we were doing our morning Bible reading.

Hmmmm? I wonder. Did God plan this long ago for reasons we will never know? This is what the “come and see” lifestyle is all about. It’s not about us. It’s about the One who has both the destination and the itinerary all mapped out.

In a few minutes, we will land in Tel Aviv. We have a plan for our time in Israel. However, what has happened over the last week tells me the Lord of all has something more in mind than we could ever dream or imagine.

Their Own Words

Jenifer Cortés
Today, we saw the Valley of Elah, where David and Goliath had their encounter. While I looked down, God gave me this.

It was not the rock.
It was not the young, brave guy.
It was the Almighty God
Who wanted to use them
To make His name known
To all the Nations.

Caleb Stratemann
From the airport, we went straight to Bet Shemesh, a predominantly Orthodox Jewish city. It was interesting to see the everyday lives of the people. Since this is not a standard tour-in-a-box program, we have a greater opportunity to walk among real people and experience their culture.

Bet Shemesh is very close to Tel Azeka, a nature reserve and archaeological site, famously known as the place where camping is mentioned in 1 Samuel, opposite Saul's army on the mountain across the valley below.

From the very spot we were standing on, Goliath shouted insults at Israel and her God. No matter what the Enemy throws at us, God is always in the midst of the seemingly impossible situation of life.

Rob Townley 
Today, I took my first steps in Israel. If I am honest, it's hard to believe I am here! We haven't even scratched the surface, and my mind is blown by the fact that I will walk on the same land the people of the Bible walked. This is going to add so much to the stories we have been learning to tell.  

Stay tuned.

Following two weeks in Israel with the Fellowship Team, one thing is clear. The Church needs to do a better job of teaching young people how the trajectory of world history is connected to the spiritual war between God and Satan. That war is the catalyst for all the death and destruction mankind has experienced since the beginning of time.  Forgetting this fact allows the Enemy of God to disconnect human history from the spiritual realm.

The spiritual war originated in the heavenly throne room of God, before the events of Genesis 1:3-2:4. Satan convinced an untold number (Revelation 12:3-4) of the "sons of God," heavenly spiritual beings, to follow him in a rebellion against their Creator. The result was their exile from the Lord's presence in a dark and chaotic place, as described in Genesis 1:2. What happened in the spiritual world destroyed the original perfection of this physical world.

Since that time, Satan has remained at war with God on planet Earth. His objective is to steal what rightfully belongs to God in both the spiritual and physical realms. In the Garden of Eden, he fomented the rebellion of mankind with a simple suggestion. "You can be like God." All the chaos and confusion, all the darkness and evil of this world, are rooted in Adam and Eve's response. Today, Satan is the ruler of this world. Tomorrow, it could be different. But that is another story. For now, I want to focus on what our team has discovered through their study of the Bible in our program and during their time in Israel.

The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) serves as the foundation for the life and ministry of Jesus and his first disciples. The Bible that Jesus taught establishes the reality of spiritual warfare, as evidenced by the recognizable downward spiral in the moral character of both the nations and Israel.

"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him." - John 1:10-11

From the very beginning, God made His intentions known.

• The Seed of the woman would destroy the seed of the Serpent, the one known as Satan.
• At the Tower of Babel, God separated the Nations from the people He would take as His own, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• God eternally and unconditionally promised that one nation, Israel, would be the exclusive avenue of redemption and restoration offered to the entire world.
• In fulfillment of all the forward-looking prophecies of the Hebrew Bible, God took on human flesh during the first century in Israel and made Himself known to His Jewish people first and to the Nations afterward.
• The Father has made an exclusive offer to all of mankind.  "My Son, Yeshua, has made me known to the world. Listen to Him. Through Him alone can our relationship be restored.  
• The God/Man was/is Jewish, born in the nation known today as Israel. Yeshua will return to earth to rule all Nations from His Jewish throne in Jerusalem for 1,000 years.
• Satan knows all of this.

Throughout history, Satan has been behind the most evil atrocities imaginable to encourage mankind to abandon God and take matters into its own hands. Humanity has bought into the original lie. "We can be like God."

During our first full day in Israel, the Fellowship Team traveled to two sites in Judea closely tied to the spiritual war we have been discussing: the Herodium and Bethlehem. Both locations are tied to Herod the Great.  

Herod came to power as the puppet king of Israel under the authority of the Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar. Paranoia and brutality are a dangerous brew. It was said that it was "better to be a pig in Herod's kingdom than to be his son." Discovering a plot to betray him, in retaliation, Herod murdered his wife and two sons. Nonetheless, Herod is well known for his magnificent building projects, particularly his extensive refurbishment of the Temple Compound in Jerusalem. It is an engineering marvel to this day. Less well-known are the five fortress palaces that Herod constructed throughout his realm.

The five palaces, one of which he never occupied (Masada), were built as safe havens in the event Herod needed to abandon Jerusalem during possible rebel attacks. The Herodium stands just outside the ancient town where Yeshua was born, Bethlehem. Needing a commanding overview of the territory surrounding Herodium, Herod moved one entire hill on top of another to make a small mountain. This may have provided some context to Jesus' words.
 
"Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." - Matthew 17:20-21  

Not included on most Israel tours, it was well worth our effort to visit. We even had a private guide who works on the site. It isn't hard to imagine that a man with a big enough ego to build as Herod did would be threatened by even the slightest suggestion that someone would soon take his place as king.

In 5 B.C., a caravan of wealthy men from Persia (Iran) arrived in Jerusalem. They were looking for the location of the recently born King of the Jews. Hearing of them, Herod inquired how they had known of his birth. They were Gentile god-lovers who knew that the birth of a Jewish king would be announced by the appearance and guidance of a brightly moving star.

"I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel, and crush through the head of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth, Edom shall be a possession, Seir, its enemies, also shall be a possession, while Israel performs valiantly." - Numbers 24:17-18  

Herod was of Edomite descent. This prophecy did not bode well for his future. Discovering from his own biblical scholars that the child was to be born in Bethlehem, he sent the men on their way to worship Him. Afterward, they were to return to Jerusalem and report where they found Him. They did not. Alerted to the fact that Herod sought to destroy the child, they returned home another way. Possessed by paranoia and demonic delusion, Herod sent soldiers to murder all of Bethlehem's male children under two years old, corresponding to the time the men first saw the star.

Herod's murder of male Jewish children is a fact of history. It was not the first time. Pharaoh ordered the drowning of all male babies born in Egypt. As if the boys were not enough, Hitler ordered the destruction of over one million Jewish children during the Holocaust. Jewish mothers have grown accustomed to the enemies of Israel murdering their children. The lessons of history should be learned. If someone says they are going to destroy your future by murdering your children, you should believe them. The Israelis are all too familiar with this lesson. Never again!

While in Bethlehem, we made a stop at the Shepherd's Fields to get an idea of how it might have looked on the night Yeshua's birth was announced to the men who raised sheep for the sacrifices in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, due to the Houthi rocket attacks, there have been very few visitors to Bethlehem in recent months. The place we normally visit was inaccessible. We also visited the Church of the Nativity. It was eerie. The five members of our group were the only visitors to the church at the time. The continual conflict in the region has had a devastating effect on the Palestinian community as well.

The Muslim Palestinian leadership is the real enemy of their people. Fifty years ago, Palestinian Arab Christians represented eighty-five percent of Bethlehem's population. Today, it is less than half of one percent!

The historical Christian towns of Bethlehem and Nazareth, once home to large Christian populations, have seen that population flee en masse due to Muslim intimidation and violence.

• Over 100 Palestinian terrorists took over the Church of the Nativity in 2002, using it as a fortress from which to fire upon Israeli troops while holding nuns, priests, and monks hostage and looting or destroying virtually everything of value inside the building.
• During 2000-2002, the Palestinian Authority's Tanzim militia chose the Christian town of Beit Jala as a base for unprovoked shooting at Jerusalem. The Tanzim was specifically positioned in or near Christian homes, hotels, churches, and the Greek Orthodox club, knowing fully well that these sites would be hard-hit by Israeli return fire.

The last thing we did in Bethlehem was something most Israel tourists experience: a visit to an olive wood store. Our visit was unlike anything we could have imagined. I have known the owner of the shop we went to for many years. It is a family business. The store owners opened it exclusively for our small group of five people. They hadn't seen any tour groups in months. We were the first. Only five men from the owner's immediate family assisted our group in making their purchases. We didn't buy much. But we left something of eternal value behind. We joined hands and prayed for the end of the war, for prosperity to return to Bethlehem, and for eternal peace in Yeshua to become the law of the Land.    

It was a sweet, bitter moment that I will never forget.

Their Own Words

Caleb Stratemann
What amazed me the most during our time in Bethlehem was the people. Bethlehem is part of what most people know as the West Bank. Actually, it is part of Judea, situated near Jerusalem. The Christian population is under attack in Bethlehem. Although oceans, borders, and fences separate us, we are not separated from our brothers and sisters in Christ, still living in the town where Jesus was born. Jesus is the Son of the Living God. He still has followers there.

Rob Townley
Today, I kept seeing and remembering things that happened in the Bible over and over again. I was struck by how connected everything is. My only conclusion is that for things to be this deeply connected across thousands of years, there has to be an Intelligent Creator.

Jenifer Cortés
Belén is the hometown of Noemí, David, and Yeshua, my Messiah. It's a place I will remember seeing with my own eyes. Looking at the landscape, I could imagine what it must have looked like during Biblical times. I am speechless at how my understanding of the Bible is being taken to a whole new level, how everything is connected, and that I am now writing this in Jerusalem!

Stay tuned for our next installment about our time with a pickle planter near the Gaza Strip.