Monthly Archives: August 2017

We are seeing the greatest advance of the Gospel in the Mideast in human history. Join us at the 2017 Epicenter Conference & discover the dramatic story the media won’t tell you.

August 30, 2017 By in Epicenter

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Is there any good news in the Middle East today? Yes, there is!

What truly excites me is that amidst the worst persecution in the modern history of the Church, we are seeing the greatest advance of the Gospel and the greatest harvest of souls in the Middle East in the history of the Church.

Today, millions in the region are searching for hope via satellite TV, radio and the Internet. Some are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus. Others are finally reading the Bible — and specifically the New Testament — (or listening to it on audio Bibles) for the first time. They’re carefully examining the claims of Jesus of Nazareth in their heart languages for the first time. They’re asking their most important questions, and getting those questions answered. And they are coming to faith in numbers we’ve never seen before.

This is a story the media won’t tell you — but it’s true, and it’s extraordinary.

That’s why I’d like to you join The Joshua Fund and me on Friday evening, October 6 and Saturday, October 7 for the 2017 Epicenter Conference, being held this year in Southern California.

Because you’ll hear from and meet Jewish, Arab and Palestinian pastors and ministry leaders — dear friends and allies of ours — as they share the story of how the Gospel is advancing and is uniquely being shared in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt amidst enormous challenges.

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I believe it’s vital that The Joshua Fund not simply care for the poor and needy — including Holocaust survivors and refugees fleeing from ISIS — though we consider it a tremendous responsibility and great joy to help local congregations in the region provide humanitarian relief.

Given this extraordinary moment in history, it’s also vital that The Joshua Fund invest in Israeli and Arab pastors and ministry leaders, to encourage and refresh them, to pray with and for them, and to help them make disciples and train and equip new believers, and develop young leaders.

And that we educate the Church in North America and around the world about God’s plan and purposes for the people and nations of the epicenter, and how powerfully the Holy Spirit in moving in this region.

In a sense, The Joshua Fund is like a venture capital fund. We’re constantly looking for small but effective ministries. We get to know them. We vet them. We pray for them. And then, if the Lord gives us the green light, we endeavor to invest in them and help them preach and teach and bear even more fruit than perhaps they could have on their own.

Please register today, join us for a fascinating and spiritually powerful event, and come discover a story you simply won’t hear on the evening news.

(Please share this with your friends on social media and encourage them to join us for 2017 Epicenter Conference.)

I’ll be speaking in Denver on Sept. 30 on the latest threats from Radical Islam, Russia & North Korea. Please register today.

August 29, 2017 By in Epicenter

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I’m looking forward to being back on the Front Range next month. On Saturday evening, September 30th, I will speak in the Denver area — the topic will be, “Brace For Impact: An Evening Discussing The Latest Threats From Radical Islam, Russia and North Korea.”

We’ll examine the latest developments and trend lines from the perspective of geopolitics, economics, and the Scriptures.

The occasion will be the annual fundraising event for Ministry Architecture, Inc. This is the ministry my parents (Len and Mary Rosenberg) started around two decades ago to provide architectural services for evangelical Christian ministries operating in developing countries who need orphanages, training centers, medical missionary hospitals, and other facilities to show the love of Jesus.

Before I speak, my folks will share about the exciting work God is doing through this ministry. Then I will discuss the latest developments in the Middle East, Russia and Asia. and answer your questions — always my favorite part of the evening. I’ll be signing copies of my books, as well.

The event will take place at Calvary Chapel South Denver in Littleton, Colorado, from 7:00pm to 9:15pm. Doors will open at 6:15pm. A contribution of $25 per person is requested to help support Ministry Architecture. Contributions are tax deductible. Registration is required, and you can register at www.ministryarchitecture.com.

Please register today by clicking here — I hope to see you there!

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Through The Joshua Fund, Evangelicals are caring for the poor & needy in Israel, the West Bank and five Arab countries with the love of Jesus. (Here’s an update on the Board’s visit to the epicenter.)

August 22, 2017 By in Epicenter

TJF-warehouseboardstaff-summer2017What a blessing to have all of The Joshua Fund Board of Directors with us here in Israel.

Over the course of five very full days, we met and prayed with our Israeli staff, visited The Joshua Fund’s warehouse in central Israel, and worked together in the warehouse, packing bags of food for needy Israelis.

Through this warehouse — and our local partners that run 17 distribution centers — TJF provides food and other supplies to some 3,000 needy families in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) every month. Why? Because the Lord Jesus commands His followers to “love your neighbor” and show compassion for people of all backgrounds, especially the poor.

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In addition, the Board traveled throughout the Land to meet with Jewish, Israeli Arab and Palestinian Arab pastors and leaders of non-profit organizations. While we wish we could have visited with all of our partners and allies, it was so special to spend so much time with this cross section.

We received detailed briefings on how the work is going. We got a clearer picture of  how they are caring for the poor, teaching the Word of God, preaching the Gospel, discipling new believers and seeking to faithfully fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew chapter 28:18-20). We had the opportunity to ask lots of questions and to hear their personal stories of why these leaders feel called by God to do this vital work.

Together, we spent time in prayer together as a Board, praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for all the people of the epicenter. We also prayed for the Lord to strengthen His Church throughout Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and in the five Arab countries surrounding Israel that we also work in — Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.

In addition, we prayed for wisdom and courage for believers throughout the region who face severe persecution. And we prayed with thanksgiving and deep gratitude for each of you who pray for TJF and our allies, and who faithfully invest financially in this ministry.

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Here are some of the Scriptures that guide our Board and staff:

  • Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:14)
  • Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done. (Proverbs 19:17)
  • The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. (Proverbs 22:9)
  • Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. (Proverbs 28:27)
  • If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:17)

Lynn and I are so grateful for all of TJF’s Board and staff members and for all of our dear allies. They genuinely love and want to serve both Israelis and Palestinians, and it is such a joy to work side-by-side with them.

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Announcing the 2017 Epicenter Conference: “What does the Future Hold for Israel and Her Neighbors?” (Register today)

August 14, 2017 By in Epicenter

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What does the Future Hold for Israel and Her Neighbors?

Join The Joshua Fund and me on Friday evening, October 6 and Saturday, October 7 for the 2017 Epicenter Conference, being held this year in Southern California.

Come an hear from Jewish, Arab and Palestinian pastors and ministry leaders as they share the story, in real time, of how the Gospel is advancing and is uniquely being shared in Israel and in the neighboring nations.

This is the first Epicenter Conference we’ve held in four years — register today and join us for a fascinating and spiritually powerful event.

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NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN WITH NORTH KOREA: How did we get to the point that Pyongyang may have 60 warheads? Disastrous deals cut by Presidents Clinton and Obama. Here are the facts.

August 12, 2017 By in Epicenter

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While a preemptive North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. and/or America’s Pacific allies sounds like a plot ripped from my 2008 novel, Dead Heat, it may no longer be a fictional scenario.

U.S. intelligence agencies are now convinced that “North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, crossing a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power,” reports the Washington Post, based on a confidential analysis by the Defense Intelligence Agency.

“The United States calculated last month that up to 60 nuclear weapons are now controlled by North Korean leader Kim Jong In,” notes the Post.

This week, Pyongyang threatened to attack the island of Guam with ballistic missiles that could be armed with nuclear weapons. With 160,000 residents and two U.S. military bases, the Pacific island territory now appears to be in Pyongyang’s crosshairs.

President Trump immediately warned the leaders of North Korea not to dare even consider attacks against the American people or their allies, saying they would experience American “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

“Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely,” the President added. “Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path.”

We need to pray for peace, and for our leaders to have wisdom to know how best to contain the North Korean threat and ratchet down tensions. We need to pray that countries like China will use their considerable leverage to persuade the North Koreans to back down. As a protective measure, the U.S. needs to be urgently bolstering its naval and air assets in the Pacific theater, as well as its missile defense assets, closely coordinating both defensive and offensive capabilities with allies like South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan, among others.

At the same time, we need to reexamine the disastrous nuclear deals both President Clinton and President Obama made with North Korea. Both men promised the American people that their diplomacy would make us all safer by persuading Pyongyang not to pursue nuclear weapons or the long-range ballistic missiles to deliver them. Both could not have been more wrong. Such serious misjudments have helped get us to this exceedingly dangerous moment.

In October of 1994, President Bill Clinton cut a deal with North Korea in which Pyongyang agreed to “freeze and gradually dismantle its nuclear weapons development program,” reported the New York Times.

“This agreement will help achieve a longstanding and vital American objective — an end to the threat of nuclear proliferation on the Korean Peninsula,” Mr. Clinton told the American people.

“This agreement is good for the United States, good for our allies, and good for the safety of the entire world,” Mr. Clinton added. “It’s a crucial step toward drawing North Korea into the global community.”

In return, the Clinton administration gave North Korea $4 billion in energy aid.

In addition, the Clinton deal gave North Korea two nuclear power plants, for which American taxpayers helped foot the bill.

“This is a good deal for the United States,” Mr. Clinton said at the time. “North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program. South Korea and our other allies will be better protected. The entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons.”

But Mr. Clinton and his senior advisors couldn’t have been more wrong.

In February of 2012, President Obama was similarly duped.

Mr. Obama agreed to a deal in which Pyongyang promised (again) not to build nuclear weapons and stop testing long-range ballistic missiles.

In return, the Obama administration agreed to give North Korea 240,000 metric tons of food.

Experts warned the Obama team at the time that “it is naïve at best for the administration to herald a North Korean ‘commitment to denuclearization’ after the many years of North Korean actions definitively proving the contrary.”

Less than a month later, Pyongyang tested another long-range rocket in clear violation of the agreement, and a humiliated Mr. Obama had to suspend the food aid program.

Clearly, the policy of “strategic patience” (read: “do nothing and hope for the best”) run by Mr. Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been a colossal failure.

If all this weren’t bad enough, it’s made worse by the fact that the insane Obama nuclear deal with Iran was essentially patterned — and sold — after the Clinton deal with North Korea. As I warned in this Fox News interview and elsewhere (see here and here), the ayatollahs in Tehran are working closely with Pyongyang on nuclear and missile technology. They’re also watching how the U.S. and the world powers handle a nation aspiring to become a nuclear armed power. So far, they’re learning the West can be played for fools, and a small but aggressive nation can build a nuclear arsenal without much fear of being stopped.

Developing…..

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PROVOCATION: Putin sending 100,000 troops to borders of NATO states — expels US diplomats — as tensions with the West spike. Here’s the latest.

August 10, 2017 By in Epicenter

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Though much of the world’s attention is understandably riveted right now on North Korea and their chilling nuclear threats against the U.S., tensions with Russia are also spiking and require urgent attention.

Consider just a few key developments that have occurred in recent weeks:

  • Moscow is gearing up for massive war games later this Fall that could put upwards of 100,000 Russian troops on the borders of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Each of these countries are NATO members. Each lived for decades under the cruelty of Soviet occuption. Each are increasingly worried Putin may be interested in seizing them and putting them once again under Russian hegemony. It’s a concern I share but am concerned not enough leaders in the West do.
  • If such provocations weren’t enough, Vladimir Putin has just expelled 755 American diplomats from Russia, effective September 1st.
  • Putin has further “ratcheted up military provocations against NATO forces across Eastern Europe” by sending Russian warplanes to make “provocative flybys of NATO ships and aircraft,” by deploying “new military hardware to its Kaliningrad exclave, a territory nestled between the Baltic countries and Poland, which are all NATO members” and by conducting “cyber warfare attacks on the electoral processes of multiple NATO countries, including, but not limited to, the U.S., Germany and France,” according to a U.S. defense analyst writing in Newsweek,
  • All this, of course, comes after decisions by Putin to invade and seize Crimea and Eastern Ukraine since 2014.
  • To reassure our NATO allies that we will stand with them and honor Article V — NATO’s mutual defense pact stating that an attack against one NATO member is considered an attack against all — President Trump gave a major (and very good) address in Warsaw, Poland, on July 6th, which I would commend to your attention. Poland is a key NATO partner and one of America’s closest allies in Eastern Europe.
  • On July 31st, Vice President Pence visited Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, where he addressed NATO forces and met with leaders from all three Baltic States. This was also an excellent speech which I would encourage you to listen to or read. (here is audio and the text of the speech)
  • Then, Vice President Pence visited Georgia, which was invaded and partially occupied by Russia in 2008, and Montenegro, NATO’s newest member, where he rightly denounced Russian “aggression” and “occupation.”
  • What’s more, Congress has overwhelmingly passed — and President Trump has just signed — new economic sanctions on Russia to respond to Moscow’s efforts to interfere with American elections in 2016. The Senate vote was 98 to 2 in favor of the sanctions. The House passed the measure 419 to 3.
  • At the same time, as I recently wrote about from Berlin, President Trump is wisely continuing to press every NATO member to keep its commitment to invest at least 2% of its annual GDP on defense. Currently, only five countries are keeping that critical pledge — the U.S., Greece, Estonia, the U.K., and Poland. That said, Romania has just announced it will be the 6th country to hit the 2% mark. What’s more, Latvia and Lithuania have just announced they are dramatically increasing their defense spending and will both hit the 2% target by 2018. Other countries are beginning to step up, as well.

We need to be praying for U.S. and NATO leaders to have the wisdom and courage to bolster their forces in the Baltics and dramatically increase their deterrence against Moscow throughout Eastern Europe. We don’t want to see a scenario in which an emboldened Czar Putin feels tempted to invade anyone else.

I’ve been keeping an especially close watch on such developments as I finish editing the manuscript of my new political thriller, The Kremlin Conspiracy, which is scheduled for release in North America on March 6th. More on this soon.

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Excerpts from the New York Times story on upcoming Russian war games:

  • “Russia is preparing to send as many as 100,000 troops to the eastern edge of NATO territory at the end of the summer, one of the biggest steps yet in the military buildup undertaken by President Vladimir V. Putin and an exercise in intimidation that recalls the most ominous days of the Cold War,” the New York Times recently reported.
  • “The troops are conducting military maneuvers known as Zapad, Russian for ‘west,’ in Belarus, the Baltic Sea, western Russia and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad,” the Times noted. “The drills will feature a reconstituted armored force named for a storied Soviet military unit, the First Guards Tank Army. Its establishment represents the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union that so much offensive power has been concentrated in a single command.”
  • The Times story added that “the move is part of a larger effort by Mr. Putin to shore up Russia’s military prowess, and comes against the backdrop of an increasingly assertive Rssia. Beyond Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election in support of the Trump campaign, which has seized attention in the United States, its military has in recent years deployed forces to Syria, seized Crimea and intervened in eastern Ukraine, rattled the Baltic States with snap exercises and buzzed NATO planes and ships.”

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