Street scene in the Jewish Quarter, Jerusalem Photo: The Vineyard magazine
June 2014
This year, you too can pray at You can see the land you have read about in the Bible all your life if you come on the Every Home for Christ Israel tour in October. Israel the land where there has been a continuous Jewish presence for over 3000 years. Jews are one of the few ancient peoples who have survived into modern times. Jewish civilisation was already over 1,000 years old when the Romans conquered Judea, but the Jews safeguarded their unique heritage for the next two millennia. No matter how far they wandered, how much they adapted to their host societies or how much they were persecuted, Jews maintained their identity.
or secular, Jews are connected by the ethics and values that Judaism teaches. Parents have passed the tradition to their children, who passed it on to their own children, and so it has continued for thousands of years.
Jews everywhere observe the holy days in almost identical ways and repeat the rituals and prayers that Jewish families have used Judaism and its sacred books bind the Jewish since the days of ancient Israel. people together. Whether they are religious Jews share the same life-cycle rituals. When
the Western Wall in Jerusalem! an eight-day-old infant is circumcised or adolescents celebrate their Bar Mitzvah and the whole community celebrates, they are reenacting age-old Jewish traditions. When a loved one dies, Jewish customs and prayers comfort the grieving and spell out how the community should support and console the mourners.
of the promise between God and the Jewish people in the Torah, which dates back thousands of years, the Hebrew language, the Torah, the laws in the Talmud, the Jewish calendar and Jewish holidays and festivals all originated in ancient Israel and revolve around its seasons, way of life and history. Zion and Jerusalem are mentioned 809 times in the Hebrew Bible. When Israel was Jewish life centres around home and reestablished in 1948, Jews everywhere came family. Jewish tradition sanctifies family to embrace Israel and once again recognise relationships. Parents' devotion and sense of it as the centre of Jewish life and continuity. responsibility for passing on Jewish identity have bound generations to the past while "Jews prefer being prisoners in linking them to the future. Jerusalem to enjoying the freedom they could acquire elsewhere...The Jews have always identified with Zion, the love of the Jews for the Holy Land Jewish homeland. It is at the core of Jewish which they lost...is unbelievable." history, religious texts and identity. Many consider title to the land to be at the heart
Jesuit Father Michael Naud on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, 1674
a “best ever”
Israel 18 day tour
Come to Israel with Every Home for Christ October 21/22 - November 9th You will visit ■ Independence Hall where David Ben Gurion pronounced Israel’s declaration of Independence on May 14th 1948 ■ Tel Aviv ■ Jaffa ■ Caesarea ■ Mt Carmel ■ Megiddo ■ Mount of Transfiguration ■ Nazareth ■ Cana ■ Sea of Galilee ■ Mt of Beatitudes■ Capernaum ■ Jordan River ■ Eilat■ Masada ■ Qumran ■ Jerusalem ■ Mount of Olives ■ Garden of Gethsemane ■ Western Wall ■ Garden Tomb ■ Al Aqsa Mosque ■ Kenesset - Israel Parliament ■ Holocaust Museum ■ Shrine of the Book ■ Bethlehem ■ Mt Zion ■ Jaffa Gate You’ll also visit in Jordan ■ Jarash ■ Dead Sea ■ Mt Nebo ■ Madaba ■ Petra
Great Accommodation!
Great Food!
Contact for Tour Brochure: Australia freephone: 1800 807 172 New Zealand freephone: 0800 900 200 E-mail: ehc@everyhome.org.au
Best Coaches to Sightsee
Israel From the desk of Eric Leach For 26 years now Every Home for Christ has In the years that followed, a plane would supported "gospel literature distribution", fly above the Tel Aviv beach with a banner being pulled through the sky by the plane, witnessing and preaching "Christ" in Israel. In 1970 I first went to Israel, returning in encouraging people to telephone, to know 1976 with the Youth for Christ singers and Jesus Christ, the Messiah. orchestra. In February 1988, I went to Israel to see what God may have for us to do through Every Home for Christ. It was then I came in contact with a group that had just been discussing evangelism and would become known in the future as the National Evangelism Committee and who would be endorsed by the Pastors of the Messianic Pastors' Fellowship, a ministry for volunteers and pastors to do personal witnessing on the Israeli beaches and, as well as this, they would do street witnessing with the distribution of thousands of gospel literature booklets over the years. As I understand it, this was one of the first ever attempts on the beaches and streets of Israel to preach Christ in modern times.
Then came the big events like the "New Age"and "Music" Festivals where thousands of Israelis would camp for several days. The Israeli believers would erect a big tent and have Chai Tea and music in the tent to attract the people. Then they would distribute gospel literature and do personal witnessing. Many came to Christ.
Every Home for Christ continues to work in Israel distributing gospel booklets with hundreds of people making enquiries about Then there was the "Jesus Film"where the Lord Jesus Christ. leaflets were put in letter boxes and people phoned to receive a Jesus Film. The phones "ran hot"almost from the moment the leaflets were distributed. The Israeli believers visited personally the homes of Eric Leach people who had requested the Jesus Film Executive Director Australia & New Zealand so as to make a personal contact.
Nicaragua Seeing the Mighty Hand of God at Work! The Nicaragua EHC ministry has recently focused its work where there has been little penetration or impact in the past. Though a portion of the population may claim to be Christian in some of these areas, this really means they often practice a potpourri of strange beliefs. They need the true Gospel. The towns of Ciudad Antigua and Sacacli are examples of such places where our Every Home for Christ teams are presently ministering. The two towns each have approximately 70,000 inhabitants. According
to EHC National Director Isaac Estrada, “Superstition, shamanism, and demonic manifestations are prevalent in these areas, but the mighty hand of God has been with us in every home we visited. We rejoice in the Lord for the dramatic conversions that we saw, and we thank God that He confirmed our proclamation with healings, signs, and wonders.� Praise God, 152,879 homes were visited last year and 17,713 decisions and responses were followed-up in this Central American nation.
When we knocked on Ana Gabriela Zuniga’s door, her mother answered and told us that doctors had given her 25-year-old daughter only three more days to live. Ana had suffered from the disease of lupus for five years. When we first saw her, Ana looked like a skeleton. We talked with her about Christ, and Ana immediately wanted to receive Jesus as Saviour. Then, we prayed for Ana’s healing and invited her to come to our large crusade event scheduled for that night in the city. Praise God—Ana came with her mother and brothers to the meeting, even though she was very sick, and as other workers began praying for her, they realised that all along Ana had been tormented by sorcerers that resulted in her physical condition! We prayed and prayed, and Ana was finally delivered that night from these strong spells. She went home from the meeting completely healed! Weeks later we went back to her home for further followup and could see that Ana was no longer just a skeleton but was healthy and rejuvenated. She was even working with her husband on his motorcycle. We praise the Lord for this miracle because, for us, it was a miracle worth all the costs, sacrifices, and efforts involved in spreading the Good News of Jesus in our city. From an EHC pioneer missionary Nicaragua, Central America
I write to say that I accepted the Lord J the gospe esus Chris l booklet I t through received f rom your w also direc orkers. Th ted me to e booklet a local ch urch, so I to learn m went to th ore about at church following Christ. I t blessing o hank you f this book for the let and fo r sending correspon me the E dence cou HC Bible rse to help me know m Jesus. ore about serving Alexandr e Barista Brazil, So uth Americ a
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".
Impacting the World
W
hen your EHC team visited my house, it was the first time I had ever heard about Jesus. To me it was like a dream to hear this Gospel about eternal life. I was so amazed that you would go to each house, not skipping any, and to take time as you did to pray for each person! I will never forget the free gift you gave me—the booklet about knowing God and His only Son Jesus Christ. I really thank God for sending His messengers to my home. Now I am a new creation. Pricilla Majola Lesotho, Southern Africa
Colombia
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Reaching "Guerrilla" Captors for Christ
n a country like Colombia, the opposition to the kingdom of heaven is a challenging reality that can raise difficult obstacles at any time. Numerous pastors have actually died because of the prevailing violence. However, God has graciously been with our teams as they go into these troubling areas to do systematic evangelism. One example is William Martinez, one of our MTC (Mobile Training Centre) trainers who was leading an EHC team in the district of Guiania. They were evangelising and teaching in the indigenous (native) communities along the river when members of a large guerrilla group attacked them and took them captive. Realising they may die anyway, the EHC team began to preach to their 50 captors, many of whom were so overcome by the conviction of the Holy Spirit that they began to cry as they heard the Word of God. After several hours, the guerrilla commander released the entire EHC team, and he promised that they would not be bothered again as they did their home-to-home ministry.
EHC Colombia is working this year in four major districts: Guainia, Guaviare,Vichada, and Huila. Our teams are sharing an average of 71,000 gospel booklets home by home each month, and an average of 10,500 Bible correspondence courses titled The Way to Happiness are presently being placed in the hands of those responding who want to know more about following Jesus as Saviour. As a result of the work that is being done, from the beginning of the ministry three years ago until to now, 3,512 Christ Groups have been planted with an average attendance of ten or more people per group. The four Mobile Training Centres implemented this past year in Colombia have tremendously increased our effectiveness and are a wonderful help in sustaining and preserving the harvest.