WATCH THE EPICENTER CONFERENCE ON-LINE: Unconditional love, unwavering support

What a remarkable experience we had in Jerusalem just one week ago today. Some 2,000 Jewish and Christian leaders from all over the world -- the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East -- gathered together at the international convention center in the Holy City to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the prophetic rebirth of Israel, to examine the geopolitical threats posed by radical Islam, and to mobilize Christians around the world to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and show unconditional love and unwavering support for the Jewish people.

We so wish you could have joined us, but for those who could not, we have now made it possible for you to watch each speech on-line at no charge. Please click here, and please encourage others to watch as well.

Our prayer is that you will learn more about who we are at The Joshua Fund, and what we are trying to accomplish, and that you will be inspired to join us in blessing Israel and her neighbors in real and practical ways.

At www.epicenter08.com, you will also find full color photos from the conference. You will find results from the exclusive survey we commissioned of American Christian attitudes towards Israel and the epicenter. You will also find links to order DVDs of the full 8-hour conference, or a 2-hour summary package on DVD.

Thank you so much for your prayers that the conference would go well, and that the message would spread far and wide. Those prayers were graciously answered. We did not have protests. We did not have any troubles at the conference. To the contrary, there was great interest from many parts of Israel. We had hundreds of secular and religious Israelis -- and even an Orthodox Rabbi -- come from Dan to Beersheeba to see and learn and evaluate who we are and what we are doing through The Joshua Fund. We also had extensive media coverage, including CNN Headline News, CBN, The Jerusalem Post, The Christian Post, a one-hour live radio broadcast on "Janet Parshall's America," and a one-hour live radio broadcast on a network of more than 100 Christian radio stations, to name just a few.

So thank you again for your prayers -- and please keep praying that:

1) the Lord would raise up at least 100,000 allies around the world would be mobilized to pray knowledgeably, consistently and faithfully for Israel and the people of the epicenter; and

2) that the Lord would graciously allow us to invest $120 million into humanitarian relief in Israel and the surrounding countries through Operation Epicenter to care for the poor and needy and for victims of war and terrorism over the next few years.

And may the Lord bless you more than you can hope for, dream of, or imagine as you bless Israel and her neighbors with unconditional love and unwavering support.

CBN INTERVIEWS JOSHUA FUND FOUNDER RE: EPICENTER CONFERENCE

Chris Mitchell, Jerusalem bureau chief for the Christian Broadcasting Network, filed this story: "On Thursday, nearly 2,000 Christians will be gathering in Jerusalem for a special one-day conference. The conference is called the Epicenter Conference and it's hosted by best-selling author Joel Rosenberg. Rosenberg is one of the most perceptive analysts on what's happening in the Middle East today. In this video, we talked to Rosenberg today about the goals of the conference and what he believes are the major geopolitical threats facing Israel today."

* To watch the CBN interview on-line, please click here.

U.S. EVANGELICALS, ISRAELI LEADERS GATHER IN JERUSALEM

Excerpts from a story in the Christian Post: "Nearly 2,000 Evangelical Christians and high profile Israeli leaders met together in Jerusalem Thursday as part of the historic 'Epicenter 08' conference. The conference, which was organized by The Joshua Fund, a D.C.-based evangelical organization, gathered Christians from around the world to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and highlighted support for the Jewish State, which it called a 'biblical obligation.' Israeli Cabinet Minister Isaac Herzog, who was among those representing the Jewish State as it made preparations to celebrate its coming 60th anniversary next month, praised the organization for its dedication to Israeli causes and efforts to 'bless Israel' with more than '$100 million in aid within three years.' Joel C. Rosenberg, founder and organizer of The Joshua Fund, wrote of the powerful endorsement on his blog. 'He thanked The Joshua Fund for doing humanitarian relief work to care for the poor and needy and victims of war and terrorism and for advancing a message of unconditional love and unwavering support for the State of Israel and the Jewish people,' he reported. 'Herzog encouraged The Joshua Fund to continue educating America's 100 million evangelicals and mobilizing them to provide food, clothing, medical supplies and other forms of humanitarian aid,' Rosenberg added. 'Herzog said unequivocally that evangelical Christian support for Israel is much needed and deeply desired.' Former CIA Director and Florida Congressman Porter Goss, along with various other influential U.S.-based pastors who had flown in from America, were also present, and used the opportunity to praise the State of Israel and their firm resolution to back the Jewish State against the threats of terrorism and radical Islam...."

JOSHUA FUND RELEASES EXCLUSIVE POLL OF AMERICAN CHRISTIAN ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EPICENTER: Unconditional, unwavering love towards Israel

* To watch the Epicenter Conference in Jerusalem on-line, please click here.

U.S. Christians 'morally' support Israel

By Etgar Lefkovitz

The Jerusalem Post

April 10, 2008

More than 80 percent of American Christians say they have a "moral and biblical obligation" to support the State of Israel, and half say Jerusalem should remain its undivided capital, according to a survey released on Thursday.

While evangelical Christians are the strongest supporters of the Jewish state, strong pro-Israel convictions cut across all key Christian denominations in the US, according to the poll carried out on behalf of the Washington-based Joshua Fund, an evangelical organization.

Eight-two percent of respondents said they had a "moral and biblical obligation" to love and support Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem," 10% disagreed and 8% did not know.

Eighty-four percent of Protestants agreed with the statement (including 89% of Evangelicals), compared to 76% of Catholics.

Half of the American Christians surveyed opposed Israel dividing Jerusalem with the Palestinians in a peace agreement, 33% were unsure and 17% thought it should be divided.

Fifty-three percent of Protestants supported a united Jerusalem, as did 44% of Catholics.

Evangelical Christians were most supportive of a united Jerusalem, with 62% in favor and 11% against.

A plurality of the US Christians (44%) surveyed said they did not know whether a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would be a peaceful moderate democracy or a terrorist state, 32% said that it would be a terrorist state and 24% said that it would be a peaceful democracy.

The survey found clear differences between Protestants and Catholics on the issue.

Protestants were more likely to say a Palestinian state would be a terror state by a 10-point margin; Catholics were evenly split. Evangelical Protestants said a such entity would be a terrorist state by a 20-point margin, but non-evangelical Protestants said it would be a peaceful and moderate democracy by six percentage points.

The belief that a Palestinian state would be a terrorist state was strongest among Republican and conservative Evangelicals.

Nearly half (49%) of American Christians surveyed were interested in visiting Israel, including about quarter of both Catholics and Protestants who were "strongly" interested.

Forty-seven percent of those polled were not interested in visiting.

There are 50 million-60 million evangelicals Christians in the US.

Two-thirds of respondents said that if Iran developed nuclear weapons, it would eventually try to use them to attack Israel, 23% were unsure and 13% said Iran would not attack.

Finally, 45% said they would be more likely to support a US presidential candidate who would protect America from Islamic terrorism, protect Israel from a nuclear attack from Iran, oppose the division of Jerusalem and refuse to pressure Israel to make concessions on issues of national security, compared to 29% who said such positions had no effect on their vote and 9% who would be less likely to support such a candidate.

The survey will be officially released on Thursday at a conference at the Jerusalem International Convention Center (Binyenei Ha'uma) organized by The Joshua Fund that is expected to be attended by 2,000 evangelical Christians from around the world.

The non-profit organization aims to raise more than $100 million over the next three years to help Israeli victims of terrorism, and to fund humanitarian projects in Israel in education, health, welfare and immigrant absorption, and $20m. for Christians in the West Bank, Gaza, Iraq and Sudan, said Joel C. Rosenberg, the group's founder and president.

"Our support for Israel is unwavering and unconditional," he said.

The survey, which was conducted by McLaughlin and Associates by a telephone sampling of 1,000 American Christians last month, had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.