# How to simply teach the church here about good / bad motivations for visiting Israel



## Pergamum (Mar 6, 2009)

Hello;

The national church here sent dozens of people to Israel this year. 

Some went to go to see the "Holy Land," Others want to go to meet Jewish people who need the Gospel and to see how to become missionaries to the Jews. Others report feeling more holy after going and coming back. Others say that we must pray for the Jews because God blesses those who bless Israel. Others think that the Jews have to come to faith before the end of the world happens and so they want to speed the Day of the Lord by bringing the Gospel to the Jews.

The church here is enthralled at embarking on an "International Missions Movement" and on not merely receiving missionaries but also in sending missionaries...and one of these places is to Israel. 

From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya...now they want to take the Gospel from Irian Jaya back to Jerusalem.

Exciting....but with dangers. (the stance of the church is premil, but not necessarily Dispensational).



If you were in my place and had to write an open letter or to teach on the subject, what sort of very simple outline would you follow and what would you say? 

Also, since the church is premil and the rule of the church is that its doctrines are not allowed to change since its birth (a good thing, for the most part) how do I teach this without transgressing their premil position (I am amil or postmil, depending on how to describe it...). 


Can anyone link me to article too? About good and bad Jewish evangelism and even the Reformed hope of the Jews coming to repentance? I need online links, because books take forever to get here (we got some Christmas presents in May last year).


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## DMcFadden (Mar 6, 2009)

Pergy,

I'm not going to be of much help to you here, but I LOVE Israel trips and have been there five times. Being a Christian and a history nut, seeing Israel is MANY times more intense than standing in Calvin's pulpit, touring Geneva, gazing on the Reformation Wall, spending an afternoon in the Musee International De La Reforme, checking out the hall where Calvin lectured, or visiting Erasmus' grave in Basel (all of which I loved and want to do again with more time to spare!!!).

In my experience, the Bible comes alive when you visit Israel in a way that you can only imagine prior to the trip. BTW, after touring Basel and Geneva, aspects of the Reformation made a LOT more sense to me as well.

And, if you want to make your visit socially valuable, there are Christian groups to visit, orphans to minister to, and Arabs to listen to regarding their experience dealing with the governemnt of Israel.

Unless you are riding on a city bus, Israel (even Jerusalem) is safer than most communitites back here in California. On my last trip I saw a half dozen young mothers pushing their babies along the side of the road in strollers at 8 and even 9 at night! They were walking alone and seemed far less wary than people passing in a California mall in the middle of the day.


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## Pergamum (Mar 6, 2009)

No, you are a big help, because I merely do not want to be negative, but I want to channel their enthusiasm and give them GOOD reasons as well to visit and not merely be critical.


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