GIN07-9-CUFI.docx
500 Christians for Israel Plant Trees in the Galilee
500 members of Christians United for Israel (CUFI) come to Israel on a solidarity mission.
On Thursday September 11, the group planted trees at the Golani planting center in the
Upper Galilee.
"Over 500 people have come on this trip from all parts of the United States. As Christians, we
came to Israel to say – we're with you! Israel's fight is our fight, especially now. More than 70%
of the American people stand solidly behind Israel, and we want the people of Israel to know that
we support them," said Pastor John Hagee, the founder and national chairman of Christians
United for Israel (CUFI), in a phone interview on Thursday, September 11.
At exactly the same time, his followers, members of CUFI, were planting at the KKL-JNF Golani
tree planting center in the Lower Galilee. The members of the mission, many of whom were
visiting Israel for the first time, arrived in ten busloads, each of which was accompanied by a
spiritual guide and a tour guide who described KKL-JNF's work on behalf of Israel and the
environment during their trip in the north of Israel.
Hagee is also the president and CEO of John Hagee Ministries. His national radio and television
ministry is broadcast in the United States on ten television networks and reaches more than 150
million households. He has been to Israel more than two dozen times and has met with every
Israeli prime minister since Menachem Begin. John Hagee Ministries has given several million
dollars to bring Soviet Jews from the former Soviet Union to Israel, as well as millions to support
Jewish orphanages and other worthy causes which help Jewish people in Israel and around the
globe. Hagee is also the founder and executive director of "A Night to Honor Israel", an annual
event that expresses solidarity between Christians and Jews on behalf of Jerusalem, the State of
Israel, and the United States.
"When Prime Minister Begin ordered the destruction of the nuclear reactor in Iraq," Hagee
continued, "I knew that he should be congratulated, not condemned. We organized an assembly
with a choir of 200 and an orchestra of 40, and then I received death threats warning me not to
hold the assembly. I said to myself, if these sorts of people don't like this, then I'll do a support
Israel summit every year, bigger and better.
"If you take away the Jewish contribution from Christianity, there's no Christianity. God
promised Israel to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For us, support for Israel is a
religious imperative, not a political issue. God has an everlasting covenant with the Jewish
people, and forever means forever – right now, and a thousand years from now."
Pastor Hagee's son, Matthew Hagee, arrived on the first bus. His brother, Pastor Jack Hagee,
planted trees together with his wife, Denise. "The earth here doesn't look anything like what I'm
used to in Texas," he laughed, "I'm not even sure it's soil. But I'm here to pray for these trees, that
they should grow. I told the people in my bus that they should make a blessing on the trees they
plant." Denise added that coming here to plant trees reminded her of a quote from the prophet
Isaiah, chapter 60, verse 21: 'Your people are all righteous, they shall inherit the land forever,
they shall be the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.' "This
verse means a lot more to me now," she said.
Pastor Al Lungston and Cindi Warrenburg said: "Coming to Israel has been a lifelong dream.
The warmth of the people here and the welcome we received astounded us."
Pastor Hagee said there was a biblical mandate to plant trees, and Norma Kay Schade of
Forestburg, Maryland took his words to heart. "I've planted trees before in my life," she said, "but
it was never like this. Planting a tree in Israel has so much historical significance. I came to Israel
because I wanted to walk where Jesus walked. Israel is not at all like I imagined it; it's very
peaceful, not at all commercial. There's such a feeling of serenity."
Pastor Jeff Smith of Upstate New York said that this was his first trip to Israel, "but it won't be
my last. I've always felt drawn to come here, an unction to see what I've been reading about in the
Scriptures, to put my eyes on it. It's very special for me to know that the tree I planted today will
be growing in the Holy Land. I will be growing along with it."
For further information, comments or permission
please contact:
Ahuva Bar-Lev
KKL-JNF – Liaison, Information and Internet
Department
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 972-2-6583354 Fax:972-2-6583493
www.kkl.org.il/eng