Christian Space 360

(Washington, D.C.) — This weekend I had the honor to address the Values Voter Summit here in the nation’s capital, attended by thousands of Evangelical Christian leaders and grassroots activists.

C-SPAN broadcast the Summit live. You can watch my address by clicking here.

It was a joy to meet with and spend time discussing the trend lines in the Middle East with many dear friends, including Vice President Mike Pence, Family Research Council Chairman Tony Perkins, U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback whom I’ve known for a quarter of a century, and former Congressman Frank Wolf. Rep. Wolf is a genuine hero of mine and  he was honored at a special gala dinner for his three decades of work fighting for religious liberty and against the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo kicked off the Friday afternoon session, giving an excellent and encouraging address on the administration’s efforts to advance religious liberty around the globe and truly make this issue a top U.S. foreign policy priority. 

As the closing speaker of the afternoon session, I was asked to share my observations as an Evangelical follower of Jesus living in Jerusalem of the latest trend lines and key leaders in the Mideast, including:

• Egyptian President el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II and the Delegation of Evangelical leaders I took to Cairo and Amman last November.
• The new Saudi Crown Prince and the important reforms he is pursuing.
• The leaders of the United Arab Emirates, one of the least discussed but most interesting American allies in the region.
• And the rising Iran threat — including Russia’s dangerous alliance with Iran — and how this is fundamentally reshaping the geopolitics of the region.

I’ve not made a full transcript of my remarks, but here are a few excerpts:

• These [Sunni Arab] countries realize that the threat to the region is not the United States, it’s not Israel even, it’s not Christianity — it’s Iran and Iran’s radical Islamism. And it’s causing a fundamental recalculation of every leader in that region, ‘Who is my friend and who is my foe?’….
• Now, I make things up in novels. But this is real life. Things are happening — Russia is forming an alliance with Iran, Turkey, Qatar. So, to the north, wickedness, evil, danger. To the south, something new: an American, Israeli, Sunni Arab alliance. It’s not perfect. It’s not fully formed. But something is happening that has never happened in history.
• We need to encourage it. We need to nurture it. We need to be grateful that this current administration understands it in a way that the last administration certainly did not.
• And we need to continue to pray — for peace in the region, peace for Jerusalem, and that we can be salt and light in every aspect of life, from foreign policy to human rights and the gospel most importantly….

I do hope you’ll watch and share the full address — it runs about 25 minutes.

Later today, I head to New York City for meetings with a number of world leaders on the sidelines of the opening Fall session of the United Nations General Assembly. I’d be grateful for your prayers this week, and will report what I can when I can.

REMINDER: On Saturday evening, October 6th, I will speak in the Denver, Colorado area. The topic of my address will be, “FLASH POINTS: WHERE WILL THE NEXT MAJOR WAR BREAK OUT?” Please register today to join us. It’s the only other public speaking event I’ll be doing on this visit to the U.S., and I’d love to see you there.

[Note: Though the C-SPAN graphic mentions The Joshua Fund, I was speaking at the Summit as a private individual, not in my capacity as TJF’s Founder. TJF is a strictly non-partisan, non-political organization.]

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• PRE-ORDER — To pre-order a copy of THE PERSIAN GAMBLE on Amazon, please click here. (Note: Right now, Amazon is the only place I can find online that is pre-selling the novel. I will post links to others sales options when they become available.)
• To order a copy of The Kremlin Conspiracy — the New York Times best-selling political thriller, now available in hardcover, e-book and audio formats — please click here, or order from any of your favorite general market or Christian bookstores.
• To order copies of the new mass market paperbacks of the J.B. Collins novels — my most recent trilogy of novels about ISIS plotting attacks on the U.S., Israel, Jordan and Egypt — please click here.

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• Would you like to make a secure, tax deductible investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.com)? This is the non-profit organization that my wife, Lynn, and I founded in 2006 to educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, to care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, care for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. The Joshua Fund is a member in good standing of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Please click here to learn more. Thanks so much!