Colonel John H. Patterson: Righteous Among the Nations

One of the reasons that the museum features the story of Colonel John H. Patterson is that most people have never heard of him. That is unfortunate.

Another reason is that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother, Yoni, was named after him. That is special.

The final reason is because we believe that his story should never be forgotten. That would be reprehensible.

Patterson was a staunch advocate of Zionism in a storied military career that included commanding the Zion Mule Corps, a contingent of 750 Jewish soldiers recruited from the Diaspora to fight in the Boer War and in World War I.

Two years after it was formed in 1915, the Mule Corps was expanded and, thereafter, was known as the Jewish Legion. Its five battalions consisted entirely of Jewish volunteers. The 38^th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers was comprised of Jews living in Great Britain and a number of Russian Jews who joined forces with the former Mule Corps members. The 39^th Battalion was made up of Jewish men from the U.S. and Canada. Palestinian Jews and former Jewish POWs held captive by the Ottomans became the 40^th Battalion. The 41^st and 42^nd Battalions completed the Legion, but were posted in England without seeing action.

The Jewish Legion fought in the Battle of Jerusalem in 1917 and the Battle of Megiddo in 1918. The Battle of Megiddo was the last, and decisive, Allied offensive thrust in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign under General Allenby. Patterson served as commander of the 38^th Battalion until his retirement in 1920. Perhaps his passion and vision for Zionism are best exemplified, not by what he said at the end of his career, but by what he said to his men on March 31, 1915 upon the formation of the Zion Mule Corps.

“‘Pray with me that I should not only, as Moses, behold Canaan from afar, but be divinely permitted to lead you into the Promised Land.”

His prayers were answered as he led his men in recapturing the Promised Land in a battle that was among those with the fewest Allied casualties in all of World War I.

Patterson served in the British military for 35 years until his retirement. There is no doubt that leading the Jewish Legion, the forerunner of the Israeli Defense Forces, was his greatest honor.

Following WWI, Patterson authored The Story of the Jewish Legion, somewhat of a companion piece for his previous books, With the Zionists at Gallipoli and With the Judeans in Palestine. Patterson successfully lobbied to raise funding for Zionist efforts after retiring to California.

He died in La Jolla on June 18, 1947, less than a year prior to the establishment of the nation of Israel, a day for which he had worked and prayed for an entire lifetime. According to his last wishes, Patterson’s ashes were brought to his beloved Zion and buried in an undisclosed location. The Mike Evans Museum is planted here for the very same reason that his ashes are. Because we love Israel.

 In 2004, Patrick Streeter published Mad for Zion, A Biography of Colonel J.H. Patterson. His inspiring story is available at Amazon.com.

Not Just Another Museum

There are already thirty-two museums in Jerusalem. Isn’t that enough already? How can another one add anything to what is already here?

The answer to that question may not come from where most people expect. While most museums are built to preserve antiquities of some form of art, culture or history, the raison d’être for the Mike Evans museum, officially named the Friends of Zion Heritage Center, is to tell a love story that has been misunderstood, and even missed entirely, by the tellers of history. It is the story of the enduring love and compassion that true Christians have, and have had, for the Jewish people and now for the nation of Israel.

Dr. Mike Evans has dedicated his entire life to telling the story and to encouraging the people of Israel. This museum is yet another way of communicating that beautiful love story that so many so-called Christians have tarnished, so much so that the Jewish people – God’s chosen – have been unable to comprehend that anyone really loves them with the passion that Dr. Evans and Bible-believers around the world really do.

It would be correct to say that the Mike Evans Museum is unique, simply based on its use of 21st century technologies. Even calling it interactive does not suffice. It is an experience that takes visitors well beyond the ordinary and the expected.

Within these walls, visitors will become acquainted with the true stories of some of the men and women who have gone to great lengths to aid and protect the Jews, promote the cause of Zionism and preserve the nation of Israel. But, more than an education, our hope is that each person will sense the love of our staff for Israel and realize that it represents the love of multitudes among the nations who also love the special and sacred land.

Our expectation is that, within these walls every visitor will become acquainted with the stories of men and women who have gone to great lengths to aid and protect the Jews, promote the cause of Zionism and preserve the nation of Israel. But, more than the education, our hope is that each person will sense the love of our staff and realize that it represents the love of multitudes among the nations who also love them.

Politicians and men of high position throughout the ages have misappropriated the Christian label without understanding its true meaning and have often used that label to promote their personal agendas to persecute the Jewish people. Much to our mutual misfortune, this has led to misconceptions that Christians hate the Jews and cannot be trusted. The Mike Evans Museum exists as a beacon of assurance that those misconceptions are false.

We love you, Israel. We pray for your peace, Jerusalem. We bless you, children of Abraham. We know the plans that YHWH has for you, plans for you to prosper. We are here to demonstrate and teach you how much we care, and to share with you the stories of others who have gone before who have done the same. Shalom.

Mike Evans Museum to Feature Heroes of Israel

During your visit to the Mike Evans Museum in Jerusalem, officially called the Friends of Zion Heritage Center, you will encounter the stories of military heroes like General Marie-Pierre Koenig, Col. John Henry Patterson, and Major Orde Wingate, and political leaders like President Harry Truman, who did so much to prepare for Israel’s rebirth as a nation.

The list of heroes is even longer than those people though. Oskar Schindler, Irena Sendler, Miep and Jan Gies, Raoul Wallenberg, Chiune Sugihara, and, of course, the courageous Ten Boom family. These stories are largely untold in Israel to this day.

Even in the cases where the stories have been told, the Christian faith that drove these men and women to risk everything, and even give their very lives for the sake of the Jewish people, is largely unmentioned in the annals of history.

But we will also be sharing the amazing stories of the Machal—the volunteers, many of them Believers, who came from around the world to stand with the newborn Jewish state in its desperate fight for survival following the Declaration of Independence in 1948.

Of course, there were also those who hated the Jewish people and wished to do them harm. We will address the Holocaust head on—including the role of many who claimed to be Christians during this awful atrocity, but showed that they do not represent true Christian belief or practice.

When you get the opportunity to visit Jerusalem, please don’t pass up a trip to the Friends of Zion Heritage Center!

Museum to Feature Heroes of Israel

During your visit to the Mike Evans Museum in Jerusalem, officially called the Friends of Zion Heritage Center, you will encounter the stories of military heroes like General Marie-Pierre Koenig, Col. John Henry Patterson, and Major Orde Wingate, and political leaders like President Harry Truman, who did so much to prepare for Israel’s rebirth as a nation.

The list of heroes is even longer than those people though. Oskar Schindler, Irena Sendler, Miep and Jan Gies, Raoul Wallenberg, Chinue Sempo Sugihara, and, of course, the courageous Ten Boom family. These stories are largely untold in Israel to this day.

Even in the cases where the stories have been told, the Christian faith that drove these men and women to risk everything, and even give their very lives for the sake of the Jewish people, is largely unmentioned in the annals of history.

But we will also be sharing the amazing stories of the Machal—the volunteers, many of them Believers, who came from around the world to stand with the newborn Jewish state in its desperate fight for survival following the Declaration of Independence in 1948.

Of course, there were also those who hated the Jewish people and wished to do them harm. We will address the Holocaust head on—including the role of many who claimed to be Christians during this awful atrocity, but showed that they do not represent true Christian belief or practice.

It was this inspiration that gave me the vision of creating a museum in Jerusalem. I wanted to tell the story of Corrie’s family, which is virtually unknown to the Jewish people in Israel. Then I realized there were hundreds of other amazing stories that also needed to be told. And my vision of a Mike Evans Museum in Jerusalem, later became a reality, and officially is now called the Friends of Zion Heritage Center.

Hamastan

by: Michael D. Evans

If you read the papers or listen to the secular, Liberal Left media, you would conclude that poor Hamas is the victim of the war in Gaza. The terrorist government that has fired thousands of missiles into Israel, that has sent a plague of suicide bombers to blow up Jews, whose own charter calls for the destruction and elimination of the State of Israel. A spokesman for this same organization, Hamas, recently announced that it would arm its youth with hand grenades instead of stones to fight against Israel.

America received a wake-up call from hell on 9/11 and in response waged a war against radical Islam in Afghanistan and Iraq for more than a decade. America’s wars are near conclusion, but fanatical Islamists’ hundred years’ wars have just begun. The media in America is feeding and fueling terror by providing free coverage to Hamas. Terrorism is the only enterprise worldwide that does not have to pay for commercials. The truth is: Terror would dry up if it did not have free publicity.

The wars of the twenty-first century are mostly conducted by proxies and the media, and are controlled by economics. Hamas, a proxy of a Persian Gulf oil-rich Sunni fundamentalist state, would be out of business without the media and money. In essence, Hamas is in the blockbuster business. Its objective is to place children in harm’s way by positioning its missile launchers in schools, hospitals, and homes hoping that Israel will inadvertently kill children. When that happens, those videos are used to raise money for its cause.

Hamas, a radical Islamist terror organization, is an acronym for Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmiyah (Islamic resistance movement.) The overall leader is Khalid Meshaal who is based in Qatar. Not only is his base far removed from the war in Gaza, virtually the entire leadership of Hamas and its command and control center is there as well. No, Hamas’ leaders are not fighting in Gaza; they are hiding behind the safety of a rich Gulf Oil state that boasts the world’s third largest natural gas and oil reserves—in excess of 25 billion barrels.

The videos shown on nightly television news programs are designed to appeal to Muslims allowing Hamas to raise billions of dollars from Islam-based charities in Canada, Western Europe, the United States, and throughout the Gulf Oil states. This does not include $20 to $30 million yearly from Iran. All told the annual donations to Hamas total nearly $500 million dollars.

Hamas’ unapologetic goal is to liberate Jerusalem and annihilate Israel. Lest you forget, Qatar is also the home base for Al Jazeera. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani not only founded the news organization, which is now a member of the US media market, but has also personally pledged $500 million to Hamas. The best friend Hamastan could hope for is the Liberal Left media in the United States.

In 2013, former Vice President Al Gore opted to sell his Current TV network to Al Jazeera despite an offer from Glenn Beck to purchase Gore’s network. This might have raised some red flags as to Gore’s decision, but the Liberal Left media opted to ignore the transaction. Mr. Gore’s move should have, at the very least, raise questions concerning his moral clarity and subjugation to an organization that publicizes terrorist activities.

Donations made to Hamas include a Qatar charitable society also controlled by the Al Thani family. Osama bin Laden touted Qatar’s charity in 1993 as an important fundraising source for al Qaeda, underscoring its long history of funding terrorism. Qatar now has the world’s largest natural gas and oil reserves—in excess of 25 billion barrels.

There are more than seventeen major terrorist organizations operational in the Middle East, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) which is crucifying Christians and making life an unspeakable hell for others. These organizations have two things in common: Hatred for Israel and the United States and an undying commitment to an Islamic caliphate. None of them care about the Palestinians who are simply pawns to be exploited. The last triangle of family-owned thugocracies (countries) in the region is simply a terrorist cartel much like the Mafia.

The way these thugocracies keep these fanatical organizations from turning on them is by paying them off by funding their armies. It takes the presence of an enemy to require an army, and Israel qualifies as an adversary to terrorists worldwide.

These secular humanists despise America; they believe Hamas is basically good and should not be held accountable for the wrongs it does. There is no moral clarity for they are moral relativists that reject standards of good and evil, right and wrong. They make excuses for evil and worse, deny it exists. They coddle malevolence by refusing to confront it. A desire to negotiate no matter the cost gives rise to those in the West to become willing cohorts to the jihadists.

Rather than believing that Hamas waging war is evil, they believe that Israel is evil for retaliating. In their view, self-loathing replaces righteous indignation and begets appeasement.

Now that the US has left the Middle East, there is only one ally in the crosshairs of terrorists: Israel, the “Little Satan.” If Hamas wins, then Hamastan and its jihadist brothers will not be just a threat to Israel, but an existential threat to the West—soon appearing on an Al Jazeera newscast near you.

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Dr. Michael Evans is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. His book, Persia: The Final Jihad, is available at www.TimeWorthyBooks.com.

Hamas: Killing its own People

by: Michael D. Evans

Hamas is a Palestinian terror organization known best for its charter which calls for the total annihilation of Israel and the Jewish people. The aim of the Islamist group is to found a Hamas-controlled state extending from the banks of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. Hamas’ soulless ideology is no different than that of the Nazis; its theology can be compared to both Al Qaeda and ISIS. It is an unabashed proxy of Iran and receives its training and funding from that radical Islamic country. Israel is on the frontline of the fight against such radical Islamists whose objective is world domination.

US taxpayer money indirectly funds Hamas through the Palestinian Authority. Suffice it to say that if the Canadian or Mexican government fired missiles into the United States or were to send a wave of suicide bombers into the US to blow up American citizens, it would cease to exist. America’s first taste of such fundamental hatred came on 9/11.

In the past several days, Israel has agreed to a temporary ceasefire brokered by Egypt. At the time it was to go into effect, Hamas again began lobbing rockets into Israeli territory and sending operatives through its extensive tunnel system to attack targets inside Israel. Israel's President Shimon Peres reveals that the IDF stopped a Hamas plot to send a terrorist strike team across the border to carry out “wholesale slaughter” of the residents of Kibbutz Sufa. He announced that more than a dozen terrorists had been stopped by the IDF before they could reach their target and begin killing the innocents. Please click here to see more info.

Israel quite obviously has the upper hand in the conflict; why then do the terrorists in Gaza continue their assault? The answer seems to be that Hamas believes it can win concessions through world opinion—the inundation of photographs of Gazan civilians being maimed or killed by Israeli counterattacks. Its leaders must surely feel that a rising death toll will force an end to the war it started.

While Hamas leaders have gone underground like snakes in a viper pit, they continue to use their own civilians as human shields in an attempt to shame the Israeli military. Gazans who have fled their homes after being warned by Israel of an imminent attack are being intimidated into returning to their homes. United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) shelter facilities reported that only 20,000 of the more than 100,000 advised to relocate asked for refuge. Apparently Hamas officials had threatened retribution if they left their homes following the Israeli warning. UNRWA, advised not to provide relief, has been warned to expect retaliation following the end of the current conflict. Please click here to see more info.

UNRWA also discovered the validity of accusations against Hamas of routinely hiding its store of rockets and launchers in the midst of neighborhoods, in schools, mosques, hospitals and other civilian locations. It uses civilians of all ages as human shields. Days after the start of the latest round of rockets fired into Israel, UNRWA representatives discovered a stash of about twenty rockets in one of its schools in Gaza, a blatant breach of UNRWA policy.

In a recent Fox News interview, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succinctly summed up the great divide between the Israelis and Hamas. He told interviewer Chris Wallace: “The difference between us, we are using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they're using their civilians to protect their missiles.” Click here to see more info.

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Dr. Michael Evans is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. His book, Persia: The Final Jihad, is available at www.TimeWorthyBooks.com.

Iraq Is Falling: What the latest round of violence in Iraq means

by: Michael D. Evans

An Al Qaeda splinter group has seized some of Iraq's largest cities and is marching toward Baghdad with thousands of well-armed fighters. Their ultimate goal is the creation of an Islamic state. The group is sometimes called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS); but their all-inclusive name is the Islamic State of the Levant (ISIL)—meaning they have designs on the entire region.

The dream of an Islamic caliphate that will stretch around the globe is alive and well today. Terrorist forces have seized territory from Iraq's borders with Syria and Turkey all the way to the city of Fallujah, just 40 miles from Baghdad. The ISIL group is Sunni Muslim, and has fought in support of the bloody Assad regime in Syria. Now they are fighting against the Shia-led government of Iraq, which is being reinforced by Iranian Special Forces units.

The battle for control of Iraq is a battle for control of the future Islamic caliphate which both Sunnis and Shia believe is coming. The dream of the Muslim future is a world living under sharia law. Both sides support this goal—they are now killing each other by the tens of thousands for the sake of each controlling its common vision of the future.

The Bible has much to say about Iraq—the ancient empire of Babylon. It was the center of opposition to God from the time of the tower of Babel to the empire that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple under Nebuchadnezzar. And Revelation tells us that the final battles of the age will be waged and inspired by demonic spirits that are bound there right now.

Our government and even many Christians do not view what is happening in the Middle East as a spiritual war. They see the military wars and the economic wars, but they miss the most important part. I blew the trumpet to sound this warning 35 years ago. In 1979 my book Israel: America's Key to Survival had on its cover an American flag being cut in half by an Islamic sword. The hatred of radical Muslims is not just directed at Israel—they want to destroy us as well.

The destruction of Israel (the “little Satan”) and the destruction of America (the “great Satan”) are linked as steps toward the same goal. There is no doubt that we are dealing with principalities and powers in spiritual warfare. The very name Levant is linked according to some sources to an ancient demonic power. Certainly the region has long been the center of opposition to God's plan for mankind. In light of this unmistakable truth, how should we respond? The Bible gives the answer:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (Ephesians 6:10-13).

More than twenty years ago I was mocked when I told America's leaders that a terrorist attack would be launched against New York City and the World Trade Center towers. I was told that I was delusional—that the Islamic religion did not pose a threat. I knew better. I had been briefed by Isser Harel, the former head of Mossad, who told me that such an attack would definitely come.

Even after the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, few heeded my warning. They simply did not understand the role spiritual warfare plays in world events. Only after the tragedy of 9/11 did some people begin to pay attention. Even after that demonstration of the purpose and commitment of our enemies, some still refuse to acknowledge the reality of what we face.

John the Revelator described present-day Iraq (ancient and future Babylon in the spirit realm) perfectly:  He cried out in a powerful voice, "Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a prison for every evil spirit, every unclean bird, and every unclean and hated beast” (Revelation 18:2).

During the lead-up to the war in 2003, I wrote a book called Beyond Iraq: The Next Move. In it I said that God-fearing Americans must fall on our knees and pray, or our military victory would be short-lived. Unless the demonic forces behind terrorism are confronted and defeated, they will return again and again.

In 2007 I wrote the #1 New York Times bestseller Final Move Beyond Iraq. In it I pointed out that the moral relativistic views of liberals make it hard for them to see moral issues clearly. They reject absolute standards of good and evil of right and wrong. In their worldview, man is perfectible, human nature is on the path toward enlightenment and the concept of original sin is primitive.

This is a false and deadly belief. When they refuse to confront evil, evil does not cease to exist. It only becomes stronger. The jihadist terrorists strike at the body...the moral relativist strikes at the soul; both evils must be confronted. No battle can ever be won in the physical world until it is first fought and won in the spirit realm. This is our calling today—the message from Iraq that you and I must hear and to which we must respond:

If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

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Dr. Michael Evans is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. His latest fiction book, Born Again: 1967 is available at www.TimeWorthyBooks.com.