Journey Home to Israel

Daily Journal for Thursday, November 6, 2008

A dinner celebrating the success of Wings of Eagles, an IFCJ program (in partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel) which has brought 300,000 Jews to Israel, highlighted The Fellowship’s 2008 Journey Home Tour on Thursday.

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of IFCJ, honored two couples – Rev. Shawn and Holly Baker of Middlesboro, Ky., and Lester and Dixie Culpepper of Sinton, Texas – with Goodwill Ambassador to the Worldwide Evangelical Christian Community recognition awards for their outstanding investment into Wings of Eagles.

“This is prophecy being fulfilled in our time,” the rabbi told Fellowship partners.

Faith Temple Church in Middlesboro, led by Pastor Baker, has funded bringing 428 Jews home to Israel in the past 10 years; the Culpeppers, who celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary Thursday, have funded bringing 1,000 Jews home to Israel.

“This is not about doctrinal issues – it’s about our responsibility to minister unto the Jews material things,” Pastor Baker emphasized.

Citing Genesis 3:12, the pastor said that Faith Temple’s blessing of Israel has resulted in the church being debt-free, a significant increase in church members, and the unexpected gift of a $2.9 million complex to be added to Faith Temple’s ministry. “It also has resulted in a shift of spiritual atmosphere in our region and supernatural blessings. This has reversed the curse of poverty in our region, a coal mining area with an average annual salary of $17,000,” he added.

Four grateful people who have made aliyah and resettled in Israel expressed their appreciation to The Fellowship and its partners for the opportunities they have been afforded as a result of aliyah. They included Yulia Zverev, 26, who was born in Russia, served in Israel’s Air Force and is now a dentist; Roni Vakselman of Peru, 21, who made aliyah two years ago and studied Hebrew for six months before enrolling in Israel’s Army; Shlomi Bicha, 30, who made aliyah as a 6-year-old in 1984, served in Israel’s Army for 12 years, and was severely injured in the War with Lebanon two years ago; and Raphael Ouzan, 21,who made aliyah five years ago and is a lieutenant in Israel’s Army.

Ouzan revealed how aliyah had been far more difficult than he had imagined. “I didn’t know Hebrew. I couldn’t even write my name in Hebrew. I was afraid,” he said. After mastering Hebrew, Ouzan went on to win first prize in a world science competition.

Overcome with emotion, Rabbi Eckstein said, “I feel so humbled. All I can say is, ‘Give praise to the Lord for He is good.’ This is not of the natural – this is of God.” He thanked IFCJ partners, saying, “These four all share the common thread of giving back to Israel. They could not have climbed up this ladder without you. You’ve made an investment in their lives.”

DEAD SEA FLOATING: After enjoying a photo opportunity with a congenial camel at a highway marker designating sea level, excited tour participants squealed with delight as they floated in the Dead Sea, the lowest point in the world at 1,365 feet below sea level, and slathered black mud on themselves in the mud baths at Ein Gedi, where David hid while being pursued by Saul. Beryl Ratzer, one of the tour’s guides, pointed out that the Dead Sea, the saltiest body of water on earth, is 35 percent salt while the ocean is only 3 percent salt.

MOUNTAIN-TOP EXPERIENCE: Morning hours were spent climbing at Masada, Herod’s splendid palace and fortress, which was the site of the last Jewish stand against the Romans in 73 A.D. and mass suicide of its 960 defenders.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS: The afternoon’s final stop was at Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a cave in 1947. The scrolls, which predate any other ancient written materials by nearly 1,000 years, were almost perfectly preserved copies of Old Testament books written in Hebrew.