Charisma Magazine

In the current economic slowdown, it's good to know God is still answering prayer and prospering His children. I'm encouraged by stories of financial miracles such as the one I recently heard when I traveled to New York.

The economy, it seems, affects everyone—even if it means only belt tightening, watching our 401(k)s drop or discovering credit is hard to come by. But as believers, we know God has promised to meet our needs and prosper us regardless of the current credit policy, the stock market or who is in the White House.

Imagine going bankrupt, having your house burned down and discovering your family has been kidnapped by terrorists—all in one day. Wouldn't that be the worst day of your life? That's what happened to David around 1012 B.C., when he lived in the village of Ziklag (see 1 Sam. 30).

The biblical account says that while David and his men were away in Aphek, their enemies, the Amalekites, ransacked their village, stole all their goods and kidnapped all the women and children. To make matters worse, David's men blamed him and threatened to stone him.

This week I'm presenting an eyewitness account of the devastation in Southern Israel that is the result of the violence perpetrated against Israel by Hamas. The account is written by my good friend, Rabbi Aaron Rubinger.

When the air-raid sirens go off in cities such as Sderot, the people have 20 seconds to get to safety. Often there is nowhere to run to, so a ministry named Operation Lifeshield has made two different kinds of bomb shelters, one of which doubles as a bus stop in the cities. Thanks to the readers of Charisma magazine, along with the people who have attended Nights to Honor Israel in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, a total of four bomb shelters have been donated so far.

Technology is amazing, and I sometimes marvel at the way I can google a subject and in seconds have thousands of possibilities. Initiating a Google search often takes less time than it does for me to open a Word document on my own computer.

One of the most interesting aspects of technology is viral marketing. This phrase refers to the spreading of information through the Internet almost as a virus spreads, passing from person to person without any seeming pattern.

In the old days we would have called this "word of mouth." Anyone who is in marketing knows that it is the best form of advertising. For example, most of the books I personally read are those that are recommended to me by someone whose opinion I trust.