The Christian family advocating for Israel across the U.S.
“It inspires us to do what we do, especially when see antisemitism and how rife it is. It’s one little thing we can do, but it hurts to see this happening - it gives us great pain.”
By ILANIT CHERNICKThe Wearp family showcase some of the products from Judea and Samaria that they export and sell in the United States as part of their Blessed Buy Israel venture.(photo credit: ILANIT CHERNICK)
The Wearp family has a special bond with the land of Israel.Together with his wife, Doris, and their five sons, Steve Wearp travels throughout the United States in an RV, selling products from Judea and Samaria.This endeavor – Blessed Buy Israel – was started by Steve in 2016, when he left his job as a Caterpillar engineer and sold the family’s Texas home to take on a dream that had been inspiring him for over 20 years.The entire family is involved in the assembly line. But how did a Christian family become so pro-Israel?“We both realized while reading the Bible that something was missing,” he told The Jerusalem Post this week. “Our faith is tied to the Jewish people and Israel. We started digging deeper and deeper into [the history] of Israel and got an understanding of Judaism from a Torah perspective.”Wearp was also involved in Holocaust education for many years, educating young Christian leaders on how to present facts about the Holocaust, and it impacted him deeply.However, it was after a March of Life trip in 2010 to Tubingen, Germany, where he learned about the horrors of Holocaust, that Wearp decided it was time “to rectify what’s been done in our Christian forefathers’ name.”It was his interest in World War II and his family being from Europe that sparked his interest in the Holocaust.“I was trying to understand how something like this happened,” Wearp said. “It was Christian-Europe that did this, and we can’t ignore the replacement theology. The root of antisemitism is jealousy.”Wearp explained that “today, we cannot undo what happened in the past, we can’t fix what our forefathers did in the past, but my prayer is for us to do acts of repentance, and walk into the future together and build a better world.”Asked about the rise of antisemitism across the globe today, he said that “it inspires us to do what we do, especially when we see antisemitism and how rife it is.”He said that his family’s support for the State of Israel and Blessed Buy Israel “is one little thing we can do, but it hurts to see this happening – it gives us great pain.”Since then, the family has attended classes at Yad Vashem, with two of their sons going as recently as last year.“Never again,” Wearp said. “We realized we would not be silent [especially with] Christian complacency and apathy, and the indifference by Christians during the Holocaust.”When the EU decided to label products from Judea and Samaria in 2015 – making it clear that the West Bank was not part of Israel – the family realized that they needed to do something, and that is when they established Blessed Buy Israel.“My older son Samuel and I went to Judea and Samaria, and we started talking to different people there about bringing products from there to the United States,” he explained. “We didn’t want just products, we wanted the products to have faces behind them, because antisemitism thrives when we dehumanize a person. But if we tell their story, it changes the narrative.”To bring the items to the United States they had to go through labeling, FDA approval, and getting the products onto a ship from the producer, which is why they come usually once a year to organize the shipments from Judea and Samaria to Israel. It’s put on a boat in Haifa and then sent to Dallas.Wearp said some of the products they sell in America include olive oil, ceramics, chocolate, honey, dates, jewelry and even soap.“People love it, but we need to get the word out more,” he said, adding that people order products through the website. “We want to make an economic impact.”Once they receive the products, the family makes deliveries and sells from an RV in which they travel all over America.“We realized that we’re on a journey, we’re on a journey right now – we go from person to person, place to place.”Asked what keeps them inspired to do what they’re doing, Wearp said it’s seeing the people of Israel building and working the land, from raising sheep to living in box cart in Judea and Samaria. “It’s the stories of faith and passion.”Wearp said that they’ve also seen “God’s word come alive during the time that we have been here, seeing the prophecies of Amos, Ezekiel, and seeing the roads and ruins rebuilt, children playing in the streets.”Wearp noted that Judea and Samaria are so critical because most of the Bible took place there.“God gave this land to the Jewish people, there is a deed, and He is keeping it,” Wearp said. “We are praying for Jewish people to take hold of those promises. We want to come and help them take hold of their inheritance.Asked about Blessed Buy Israel’s motto and the boycott movement, Wearp said that they are “providing a way for people across the world to stand together with the Jewish people against the dangers posed by those who promote the destruction of the State of Israel through the boycott movement. We are seeing a division. People are being forced to make a choice, spiritually. I don’t think it’s just Christians, everyone has to make a choice.“It’s the Kingdom of God vs the Kingdom of the Nations.”
