Corona Visas for Evangelical Volunteers Leave Catholics Frustrated

Courtesy: HaYovel

But Israel Today confirmed there is no conspiracy to favor Evangelicals over Catholics or Orthodox

Waves have been made in the Israeli media over an Evangelical Christian group managing to secure visas for its foreign volunteers at a time when the country’s borders are closed to non-citizens.

HaYovel is a US-based ministry (though the core staff resides in Israel much of the year) whose primary mission is aiding Israeli farmers in Judea and Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”) during the annual grape and olive harvest seasons. While here, the group’s volunteers are also educated and equipped to become ambassadors for what God is doing in Israel today.

Needless to say, the coronavirus policies that have shut Israel off to all but returning Israeli citizens were a devastating blow to HaYovel’s vision and mission. Or at least, they would have been. Instead, the closure produced what could be seen as a tremendous testimony.

“We were worried about having to shut down the operation since we only had eight of our staff members in the Land. Normally for a harvest season, we get 300 volunteers coming through in addition to staff,” HaYovel’s Executive Director, Zac Waller, told Israel Today. “So we talked to the vineyard owners to figure out a solution, and at one point even considered bringing in a mechanical harvester to complete the mission. We also reached out to our contacts in government, and finally started to see miracle after miracle. In the end, we were able to get 50 volunteers here.”

The use of the word “miracle” here is not an exaggeration. As noted, Israel has closed its borders to all non-citizens. The obvious victim of this policy has been the tourism industry. But no less impacted have been Israel’s small farmers, many of whom rely on foreign volunteers and laborers to tend and bring in seasonal crops. In the best of times, Israel’s government pays inadequate attention to these farmers. So for HaYovel’s petition to get before the right eyes, let alone be considered and approved, is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle.

Even with a Divine hand opening doors, everyone assumed to be shut and locked, this is still Israel. The bureaucracy is thick, and the feet are often dragged. And though the approval for HaYovel’s volunteers came in what many would consider record time for a visa matter, the mandatory quarantine for all incoming passengers still meant they wouldn’t quite get to the vines in time. But then another miracle occurred – the grapes waited for the volunteers.

“We always base the timing of the harvest on the biblical feasts,” explained Waller. “And every year we hit it spot on, but this year the grapes just weren’t ready. They were about three weeks later than normal. But it just so happened that the first day of the red grape harvest was the first day that our volunteers got out of their mandatory two-week quarantine after arriving in the Land. Thank God, it’s just all coming together.”

In addition to being the fulfillment of prophecy (see Isaiah 61:5), the work of HaYovel’s volunteers is crucial to the success of small farmers in the biblical heartland.

“We need volunteers, too!”

HaYovel’s incredible story did not go unnoticed. Sadly, the only bit that the secular Israeli media focused on was how these Christians had somehow sidestepped restrictions under which others have been left groaning.

And that caught the attention of other Christian institutions that likewise run volunteer programs, and who felt that in light of HaYovel’s success, they were being unfairly denied visas by Israel’s Interior Ministry.

“We need visas, too!” read the headline of a letter sent to the Israeli government by The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land.

The Catholic officials said they were “astonished” to learn that American Evangelical volunteers had secured visas, while they have been unable to do the same for volunteers that normally serve at hospitals, schools, and elderly homes that are administered by the Catholic Church.

“We have been repeatedly told that visas cannot be given because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Catholics complained, seeming to suggest that the Israeli government was giving preferential treatment to more pro-Israel Christians.

Waller proposed a simpler answer.

“Agriculture is kind of a special category,” he noted. “Even in times of lockdown, agriculture has got to continue so that the stores can stay stocked. In addition to that, we are living and working in rural areas, aren’t doing tours, we aren’t around a lot of people or going into populated areas. Our risk of exposing or being exposed is minimal.”

Israel Today can indeed confirm that there is no special consideration being granted to Israel-supporting Evangelical ministries in regard to volunteer visas. Many of the Evangelical ministries based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have had to operate during this period with greatly reduced staff numbers due to the blanket ban on entry visas.

Ayo Mary Laurent, A Royal with a Royal Inheritance In Christ and Ministry

Family and Ministry. Photo by Luis Quintero (pexels)

In Deuteronomy 8:6-7, the Scriptures commanded parents to teach diligently our children the way of the Lord. This is ultimate in Christian upbringing.

“6. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7. For the Lord, your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills”

Family is the principal plan of God’s for the happiness and growth of His children. 

The fact that God Himself established families from the onset of creation and shows us various examples of strong families. It also teaches us how to have a loving, happy, and successful family. God made it very clear that families are fundamental when he created Adam and Eve. The Bible calls them “man and . . . wife” (Genesis 2:25), and the first commandment  He gave them was to "...be fruitful and multiply...", meaning to children ( Genesis 1:28).

According to a study, Christian upbringing contributed towards a number of positive outcomes as well, such greater happiness, more volunteering in the community, a greater sense of mission and purpose, and higher levels of forgiveness

God promises blessings for your children when they know and obey gospel truths: “If your sons will keep My covenant, And My testimony which I shall teach them, Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.” (Psalm 132:12).

For Christian parents, the main objective is to establish and develop in their children’s early receptive years, so they will consistently have the hunger and desire to wholly seek God as their Father. That is the ultimate goal.

Family and Ministry

The personal example set by parents is of the utmost importance! Children must see the real God through their parents.. children’s’ knowledge of God is predominately by their parents’ example. "go into all the world and preach the Gospel" (Mark 16:15). Christ made it clear that "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8).

Every Christian parent wants their children to grow up to love God and His Word. We know the immersed benefits that God’s law will bring to Ministry and children, both now and in the life to come—a firm and fulfilling life now, and in due course, eternal life in God’s family at Jesus Christ’s return.

Ayo Mary Laurent, Photo by Pereza Zang

In Nigeria, Ayo Mary Laurent, whose family background as a ministerial one, her late dad, was a Senior Evangelist of The Celestial Church of Christ, the mum, a Minister of God, and her grandmother Elderly Princess Florence Oni is the Chairperson of the very renown Cherubim and Seraphim prayer movement, white garment church with Headquarters in Osun state Nigeria is an example of Christian upbringing and ministry.

She is today, a devout Christian, an ordained minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and an anointed evangelist from the Zion International School of Evangelism. There is no richer inheritance that parents can give their children than to see, hear, and experience the fullness of the blessings that come from choosing obedience and fulfillment in God. 

Parents who are in ministry and devote the time and the commitment—showing genuine love and interest in their children—will receive a reward that will bless them, and their children, to the end of their days! "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them" (Psalm 127: 3–5).

Children stepping in parent’s tracks, taking the mantle of leadership on the great commission is of great joy to parents and Hosts of heaven.

Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for 'blasphemous texts'

In July, a man accused of blasphemy was shot dead in a courtroom
in the northwestern city of Peshawar

Asif Pervaiz, 37, who has been in custody since 2013, given the death penalty for sending 'blasphemous' text messages.

Islamabad, Pakistan - A court within the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore has sentenced a Christian man to death for having committed "blasphemy", his lawyer says, in the latest case of Pakistan's strict religious laws being applied against minorities.

Asif Pervaiz, 37, has been in custody since 2013 when he was accused of sending "blasphemous" text messages to a former supervisor at work, lawyer Saif-ul-Malook told Al Jazeera.

The court rejected his testimony wherein he denied the charges and sentenced him to death on Tuesday.

"The complainant was a supervisor during a hosiery factory where Asif was working under him," said Malook.

"He denied the allegations and said that this man was trying to induce him to convert to Islam."

Speaking in his own defense in court earlier in the trial, Pervaiz claimed the supervisor confronted him after he quit work on the factory, and when he refused to convert he was accused of having sent blasphemous text messages to the person.

Blasphemy laws

Muhammad Saeed Khokher, the complainant within the case, denies wanting to convert Parvaiz, according to his lawyer, Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry.

"He has taken this defense after the actual fact because he had no other clear defense," Chaudhry told Al Jazeera. "That's why he accused him of trying to convert him."

Chaudhry said there are other Christian employees at the factory, but none have accused Khokher of proselytizing.

Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws prescribe a compulsory execution for the crime of insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad, and strict penalties for other infractions like insulting Islam, the holy Quran, or certain holy people.

There is currently a minimum of 80 people in prison in Pakistan for the crime of "blasphemy", with a minimum of half them facing life sentences or the execution, in line with the United State's Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Those accused under the laws are mainly Muslim, during a rustic where 98 percent of the population follows Islam, but the laws disproportionately target members of minorities like Christians and Hindus.

Aasia Bibi case

In one of the foremost high-profile blasphemy cases within the country's history, the Supreme Court ruled in October 2018 that a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, had been framed in her case during which the laws had inadequate oversight for false accusations.

Those accusations can have deadly consequences. Since 1990, a minimum of 77 people is killed in relation to blasphemy allegations, according to an Al Jazeera tally.

Those killed have included people accused of blasphemy, their members of the family, lawyers, and judges who have acquitted those accused of the crime. Bibi fled Pakistan in 2019 as a result of threats against her life.

The latest such murder occurred in July when a man accused of blasphemy was shot six times in a courtroom during a hearing in his case.

His murderer was apprehended and was garlanded with roses by far-right supporters during subsequent court appearances.

This month has seen a sharp spike in blasphemy cases being registered in Pakistan, particularly in the most populous province of Punjab. Many of these cases have targeted the country's sizeable Shi'ite minority, which forms roughly 15 percent of the population.

Since a series of large-scale sit-in protests on the matter of blasphemy in 2017, political parties have increasingly been including messaging on blasphemy in their platforms.

The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, formed by firebrand scholar Khadim Hussain Rizvi before the 2018 polls, campaigned on a platform supported the defense of the blasphemy laws.

While it won few seats, it garnered the fourth-highest share of the countrywide popular vote by one party.

Sudan Agrees with Rebels to Remove Islam as State Religion

Lieutenant general Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of Sudan holds up a pen before signing a peace deal with rebel groups on August 31.

Peace deals include bold pledges on religious freedom. But much work remains for the transitional government after three decades under Bashir’s strict sharia.

In signing successive peace deals with entrenched rebel movements last week, Sudan drew upon the legacy of Thomas Jefferson.

“The constitution should be based on the principle of ‘separation of religion and state,’” read the text of an agreement between the North African nation’s joint military-civilian transitional council and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM–N).

“The state shall not establish an official religion.”

The declaration of principles further cements Sudan’s efforts to undo the 30-year system of strict sharia law under President Omar al-Bashir, during which Islam was the religion of the state.

The agreement was signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, four days after a more inclusive peace deal was signed with a coalition of rebel groups in the Sudan Revolutionary Front in Juba, South Sudan.

The Juba agreement established a national commission for religious freedom, which guarantees the rights of Christian communities in Sudan’s southern regions.

Sudan’s population of 45 million is roughly 91 percent Muslim and 6 percent, Christian. Open Doors ranks Sudan at No. 7 among the 50 nations where it is hardest to be a Christian.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) interpreted the agreement even more widely: to protect the rights of all Sudanese people to practice their religion of choice.

With a stronghold in the southern Nuba Mountains within the South Kordofan region, an area with a significant Christian population, the SPLM–N held out of the initial peace deal specifically because it did not guarantee the separation of religion and state.

“There are no equal citizenship rights, there’s no distribution of wealth, there’s no equal development in the country,” one rebel leader told South Sudan in Focus.

“There’s no equality between black and Arab, and Muslim and Christian.”

But now including most of the major rebel movements in the western Darfur region and the Sudanese south, the democratic transition can continue with national unity.

Following months of popular protests, Sudan’s military overthrew Bashir in April 2019. An interim constitution—which notably omitted reference to sharia law as the primary source of legislation—was signed in August 2019, establishing a ceasefire and a six-month window to achieve peace.

Negotiations began in late 2019, and the February 2020 deadline was extended.

Autonomy is granted to the southern regions of the Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Darfur, which had been split into five regions, will be reunified under its own governor with a special revenue-sharing agreement.

Rebel parties will receive 35 percent of government ministries, and 75 seats in the upcoming 300-member transitional parliament. Individual militants will be incorporated into the national army.

Sudan is currently led by an 11-member Sovereign Council, with one member a Coptic Christian. Currently headed by a military figure, a civilian will take the helm halfway through the three-year transition ending in 2022, with new elections.

Since the conflict erupted in Darfur in 2003, about 300,000 were killed with 2.7 million displaced from their homes. Thousands more were killed in the south since fighting began in 2011.

The civilian prime minister has already implemented significant changes.

In September 2019, Sudan and the United Nations agreed to open human rights offices in marginalized areas with significant religious minorities.

In December 2019, the public order law—used to punish individuals, especially women, in non-conformity with sharia law—was repealed.

And in July 2020, the Miscellaneous Amendments Act repealed the apostasy law, ended flogging for blasphemy, banned female genital mutilation (FGM), and permitted non-Muslims to drink alcohol.

The government additionally disbanded church councils used to control Christian congregations, declared Christmas a national holiday, and stated it is working on a uniform law for all religious worship.

But there is still much to do.

USCIRF noted that promised compensation claims for churches destroyed or confiscated during Bashir’s reign have been held up by bureaucracy. It called for full repeal of the blasphemy law, which still stipulates six-month imprisonment. And much work is necessary to reform remaining Islamist imprints in the judiciary and Ministry of Education.

Despite earlier hopes, Christianity will not be introduced for the first time in the national school curriculum. One pastor has complained that compulsory Islamic education sometimes results in the forced conversion of Christians to Islam.

And following the July repeal of sharia-based measures, thousands of Sudanese rallied against the “apostasy government.”

Sudan has witnessed several failed peace deals in the past, and significant hurdles toward full religious freedom remain.

But Christian leaders are hopeful.

“People here prefer to be cautious,” said Tombe Trille, Catholic bishop of El Obeid, capital of northern Kordofan, to the Vatican’s news agency. “But it is very important that a signature has finally been reached.

“We are all very happy.”

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Israelis Excited to Visit United Arab Emirates

Israel Tourism Minister Assaf Zamir

One of the “fruits” from the Israel-UAE peace deal should be bilateral tourism.

“We are looking forward to the arrival of UAE citizens in Israel and the day we can fly to visit Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We will not limit the number of tourists from the UAE. The peace agreement creates enormous potential for the Israeli economy and tourism, and we will do everything we can to promote cooperation between the two countries.”

This is what Israel Tourism Minister Assaf Zamir (pictured) said in an interview with UAE journalist Fahd al-Amiri.

Zamir added: “The two countries are geographically close to each other. It’s only a 3-hour flight between Israel and the Emirates. Israelis also like to travel to new destinations… and the amazing achievements we hear about the UAE make [many Israelis] excited to go there.”

The Minister mentioned in the interview that the main Arab countries Israeli citizens can visit are Egypt and Jordan. And there, too, Israelis go only in small numbers of about 200,000 tourists a year. Many more Israelis visit Asian countries, such as India and Thailand.

Segments from the interview:

Can tourists from the UAE visit Jerusalem?

“We want all tourist sites to be open without restrictions to tourists coming from the Emirates, both religiously oriented sites and non-religious. In general, I think all Israel will be open to the Emirate tourists.”

How will direct flights of airlines between the two countries attract more tourists?

“… mainly because … that makes it easier for the tourist to fly and travel between the countries.”

How does Israel see the tourism industry of the Emirates?

“I think Israeli tourists are excited to visit your country because we know that your country is a hospitable country and welcomes tourists from all over the world. In addition to the great beaches and restaurants you have, the unique culture attracts crowds to your country from everywhere.”

What tourism products will the State of Israel offer to tourists from the United Arab Emirates?

“The religious sites all over the country and chiefly the city of Jerusalem… not only the religious sites but also the cultural sites and other historical sites in Israel. In addition, we offer tourists diverse culinary experiences; the city of Tel Aviv and its wonderful restaurants and beaches; Eilat and desert attractions; the Negev, also the Upper Galilee and beautiful Mount Hermon covered in snow.”

Abdullah al-Mohiri, owner of the Golden Eagle Travel and Tourism Agency in Ras al-Khaimah, UAE said that peace and prosperity are two sides of the same coin, and one cannot be achieved without the other. Abdullah expects that the peace agreement will contribute to cooperation with the Israeli side and to the prosperity of all economic spheres, especially tourism, by virtue of being linked to stability in the region.”

On our side, tourism agents in Israel are eagerly awaiting the moment the peace agreement will enter into force. On the one hand, the agents think that many Emirate tourists will want to come to the holy sites in Israel and especially to Jerusalem. On the other hand, they think that the demand of Israelis to fly to Dubai and Abu Dhabi will outweigh the demand to fly to Turkey or Greece.