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PURIM RAYER CALL WEDS! 9PM EST. Conference call number: 805-399-1200 access code 552-690. Use *6 to mute/unmute. Invite your friends to join us. 

PLEASE CONSIDER SOWING towards Jon & Jolene’s Israel tour, praying onsite through the Israeli elections. You will be with us through your prayers and giving! To make a contribution please click here.

Thank you for continuing to pray for the family and friends of Apostle Jay Swallow.

Pleading this Righteous Cause
“By standing on the platform before the joint session of Congress and the world, Prime Minister Netanyahu is in effect saying like Esther, “If I lose, I lose. But I must come and plead this righteous cause for the preservation of Israel”—Terry Deckard.

Jolene and I want to express our profound gratitude for your fervent intercession covering Israeli PM Netanyahu and this morning’s historic speech before Congress. The “red carpet” was truly and authentically rolled out. “Bibi” thundered. And our nation and world have passed through a defining moment in history.

Lamplighter family, thank you also for your prayers and generosity towards us. It is such an honor to walk with you. We are now less than $1800 away from reaching our budget for the trip!

Our work is not yet done—really it’s just beginning. Tomorrow on Purim (and my birthday) we begin our Purim Campaign, a journey from DC to Albany to Vermont and then to Jerusalem, where we will be praying through to the Israeli elections. Though we won’t be able to post near as often, we will keep you updated for sure. And your prayers are more important now than ever.

Turnaround! Perceptions of the Speech
Here’s the honest truth. If Obama secures a treaty with Iran, we will be left with a fragile deal very similar to Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement before WWII. If Obama is wrong, we will have a second holocaust.

That said, despite the controversies surrounding his speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu received a hero’s welcome in Congress, from Democrats and Republicans alike. The world watched a turnaround—much like the Book of Esther—where the ones who sought to marginalize actually became marginalized themselves.

One of the most important speeches of this century was marked by deep humility and gratitude expressed towards Congress, the American people, and towards President Obama. The message itself was interrupted by more than 40 standing ovations.

Perhaps because she had just criticized Netanyahu for being arrogant, my eyes were upon Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein for most of Netanyahu’s time on the platform. The former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee stood with profound resolve again and again, applauding key points as one who knows the truth behind the words—and how much more could have been said.

PM Netanyahu is a father to Israel. As such, on the eve of Purim he defined for the world the spirit and resolve of his people. But in a profound way, PM Netanyahu spoke as a father to America as well, calling us to again embrace who we really are. Drawing a contrast between the American Revolution and the Iranian Revolution, he noted, “America’s founding document promises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Iran’s founding document pledges death, tyranny, and the pursuit of jihad!”

With this speech, PM Netanyahu has joined the ranks of Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill. Like his predecessors, this statesman has been granted the audacious privilege of both defending and defining the future of the western world.

On the eve of Purim, with modern Persia in hot pursuit. You just cannot make this stuff up. I’ve said this about very few people in my life, but someday I really would like to shake PM Netanyahu’s hand.

Memorable Quotes
Lamplighter family, you heeded James Goll’s intercessory perception and prayed for PM Netanyahu to have one memorable phrase that conveys to the world the essence of his message. Here are a few to choose from:

Tomorrow night, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we’ll read the Book of Esther. We’ll read of a powerful Persian viceroy named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish people some 2,500 years ago. But a courageous Jewish woman, Queen Esther, exposed the plot and gave for the Jewish people the right to defend themselves against their enemies. The plot was foiled. Our people were saved. Today the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate to destroy us.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei spews the oldest hatred, the oldest hatred of anti-Semitism with the newest technology… You know, in Iran, there isn’t exactly free Internet. But he tweets in English that Israel must be destroyed!

In this deadly game of thrones, there’s no place for America or for Israel, no peace for Christians, Jews or Muslims who don’t share the Islamist medieval creed, no rights for women, no freedom for anyone. So when it comes to Iran and ISIS, the enemy of your enemy… is your enemy!

We must always remember — I’ll say it one more time — the greatest dangers facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons.

This deal won’t be a farewell to arms. It would be a farewell to arms control. And the Middle East would soon be crisscrossed by nuclear tripwires.

Before lifting (economic) restrictions, the world should demand that Iran do three things. First, stop its aggression against its neighbors in the Middle East. Second, stop supporting terrorism around the world. And third, stop threatening to annihilate my country, Israel, the one and only Jewish state.

My friends, for over a year, we’ve been told that no deal is better than a bad deal. Well, this is a bad deal. It’s a very bad deal. We’re better off without it. Now we’re being told that the only alternative to this bad deal is war. That’s just not true. The alternative to this bad deal is a much better deal!

(Nodding to Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel winner) And I wish I could promise you, Elie, that the lessons of history have been learned. I can only urge the leaders of the world not to repeat the mistakes of the past.Not to sacrifice the future for the present; not to ignore aggression in the hopes of gaining an illusory peace.

But I can guarantee you this, the days when the Jewish people remained passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days are over.

This is why, as a prime minister of Israel, I can promise you one more thing: Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand. But I know that Israel does not stand alone. I know that America stands with Israel. I know that you stand with Israel.

My friends, may Israel and America always stand together, strong and resolute. May we neither fear nor dread the challenges ahead. May we face the future with confidence, strength and hope. May God bless the state of Israel and may God bless the United States of America.