Beck: We are entering the age of the miracles of God

US media personality opens four-day Restoring Courage rally in Caesarea; 2,000 Christians, mostly Americans, fly in especially for Beck’s event.

By JONAH MANDEL
Beck Caesarea 311 (photo credit: George Lange)
Beck Caesarea 311
(photo credit: George Lange)
The solutions to the problems of our times are not within the reach of political leaders, rather divinity, US pundit Glenn Beck told nearly 3,000 enthusiastic followers in the Caesarea Amphitheater on Sunday night, at the opening event of his four-day Restoring Courage rally.
“I’ve spent the last few years trying to find solutions for what is happening in the world,” he said on the backdrop of the pillars of the grand stage. “While there may not be a political solution, the good news is the God of Abraham ain’t running for office,” he said to loud applause. “Be not afraid, know who he is, know his face, know that he is a God of covenants and miracles. We are leaving the age of man-made miracles of spacecraft, and we are entering the age of the miracles of God.”
The pleasant evening wind carried the gentle fragrance of the adjacent Mediterranean Sea to the audience in the ancient outdoor theater, the dozens of buses that brought them to the northern city lined up impeccably and awaiting their return in the parking lot like Roman legions. The group of nearly 2,000 Christians who flew in especially for Beck’s event, most of them Americans, will attend an event Monday in memory of the Holocaust, with the grand finale of the tour being the Wednesday Restoring Courage event, to take place near the Western Wall.
Beck addressed the sensitivity of the Christian Evangelist love to Israel and Jews, which many shy away from in suspicion.
“There is a 2,000-year-old flinch of the Jewish people, when someone says I love you; I’d imagine the Jewish people at first would say thank you.”
he said. But over the years, Christian love of Jews and their desire to bring them to the truthful beliefs cost too many lives.
“It’s not just the Holocaust, it’s happened over and over again,” said Beck. “There’s an important distinction of saying I love Israel, I defend Israel, and not separating that from the Jewish people. Make sure to say not that we only love Israel, but we love the Jewish people as they are.”
One Jew not afraid of contemporary Christian love is Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Efrat’s chief rabbi, who is active in Jewish-Christian dialogue. “He is the reason I had hope, because he reached back and didn’t question, just heard love and that is good enough for him,” Beck said of Riskin, who was instrumental in making Beck believe he could pull off the event.
“For close to 2,000 years we were persecuted by the church, suffered wars at the hands of the church,” Riskin said. “Now, despite the fact we are different, Jews and not Christians, who respect Jesus as a Jewish teacher and not as god – you Christians have the courage to love us in our otherness. We are grateful to your courage to love us, stand by us, in the time of our grave need and danger, as rockets fall on southern towns.”
Pastor John Hagee, head of Christians United for Israel, equated today’s Israel to West Berlin of 1963 when JFK gave his “Ich bin ein berliner” speech.
Like that part of the city in the midst of Communism, “Israel is today a tiny island, an outpost swimming in a sea of tyranny. I stand here with a strong message, at this difficult juncture in history – please know that what I say now is shared by multiple Christians – ani yisraeli – I am an Israeli,” Hagee said, the crowd chanting with him.
Beck also addressed the controversy over his visit here, which is being frowned upon by politicians from the Left.
“Somebody said we’re going to bring chaos, mayhem,” in the Wednesday rally, close to the Temple Mount, “and I thought- it’s the Middle East, how would you know?” “We don’t bring chaos and mayhem,” he said in a more serious tone. “No, we bring truth, we bring peace, we bring support, we bring comfort. Let our actions this week and from here out – let the Jewish people know, no matter what our governments say – we are not our governments, we stand with you.”
“It was wonderful,” beamed Marie Conforto, who came from San Diego, California along with her husband, Dennis.
“I really enjoyed it. And I can’t wait for Wednesday, it sounds like it’s going to be phenomenal.”