Dear Friend,

As we consider the fifth anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks against our nation on 9/11, I’m sure we all think back to where we were and what we were doing when we first heard the news of those awful events.

On that Tuesday morning I was preparing to leave for the airport in Philadelphia to pick up “Haim of Haifa” and his wife, our missionaries in Israel, who were arriving to spend a few weeks in the U.S. to meet with churches and individuals and share about their ministry. Their plane was one of hundreds diverted and forced to land elsewhere (in their case, Halifax, Nova Scotia) when it became clear what was happening.

In fact, there was another Hebrew Christian Fellowship missionary from Israel in the air, preparing to land in the U.S., when the horror began. Paul Valerio and his son were flying from Tel Aviv to attend his father’s funeral in Connecticut when the World Trade Center was attacked. Their plane was diverted to Toronto where they spent the next few days with an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish family, one of numerous families from their synagogue who opened their homes to displaced air travelers. Sadly, Paul missed his father’s funeral, but was able to spend some time with family and friends.

It has been aptly observed that we as a nation will never be the same since the events of that fateful day. It is as if we have stared into the face of evil and seen an intensity of hatred and a depth of animosity toward this country that we’ve not known before and which will haunt us from this time forward.

We must not forget that the forces that hated America enough to orchestrate the attacks claiming 3,000 lives hate Israel and the Jewish people even more. Can there be any doubt that at the heart of these events is really a spiritual battle of cosmic proportions?

Never has it been more clear that the only basis of hope and real peace for this world and its depraved inhabitants is the Gospel of Jesus Christ which “is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

May the intensity of hatred against the Jewish people which is increasingly prevalent and obvious in this world be matched by the intensity of our love and our desire to see them come to know their Messiah as we, only by God’s grace and mercy, have come to know Him.

May God bless you and yours as you seek to shine the light of Jesus in a dark and dangerous world.

Sincerely in Messiah Jesus,

Rev. Roger L. Wambold,
General Director