'Missionaries' Asked to Leave
By Tzippe Barrow
CBN News - Jerusalem Bureau
August 19, 2007
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Christian author and teacher Ron Cantrell and his wife Carol have lived in Israel for more than 20 years.
"The thing that brought us here is really the Bible," Cantrell told CBN News. "We saw a gap between what the Scriptures were saying and the way many in the Church viewed Israel," he said.
Seven months ago, the Cantrells applied for permanent residency with Israel's Interior Ministry. This week they were told their application was turned down due to "suspected" missionary activity, and they were given two weeks to leave the country.
"It's the reverse," Cantrell said smiling. "We're 'missionaries' to the Church. Our hearts are to teach Christians about Israel's vital importance in God's plan," he said.
"We're not fighting the Israeli government. We're not going away bitter from here in any way, shape, or form," he said.
An ordained pastor, Cantrell served as an international board member with Bridges for Peace, a Jerusalem-based evangelical Christian organization.
A little more than four years ago, he and his wife created Shalom Shalom Jerusalem Ministries, a Christian Zionist organization involved with the ingathering of Jewish people to their biblical homeland.
"The meat of who we are and what drives me as a Christian Zionist are the examples we see in Scripture," Cantrell said. "My biblical heroes are the Roman centurions -- the centurion in Acts, chapter eight, and the one who built the synagogue at Capernaum.
"I see in every step of the nation of Israel a Christian standing beside the Jews," he said, citing Orde Wingate, the British soldier who, during the pre-state British Mandate years, taught the Haganah (predecessor of the Israel Defense Forces) how to fight.
"He was only here about three years, but he made such an impact. The Wingate Institute and streets were named for him," Cantrell said.
"That's what's down inside of us, and that's why we'll go on doing what we're doing regardless," he said.
A Baptism of Suffering
Four years ago, on June 11, 2003, Cantrell was on the corner of Jaffa Road and Prophets Street in Jerusalem's city center when a Hamas terrorist, disguised as an Orthodox Jew, blew himself up on Egged bus 14, killing 17 people and injuring more than 70 others.
"I have no idea why I wasn't hit by shrapnel. I was impressed to crouch down and saw glass shards and shrapnel whiz by my head and caught a glimpse of some kind of transparent shield in front of me," he said.
"It was a baptism into the suffering of this people," said Cantrell. "I remember thinking, if you go home when things are bad, you really don't have a mandate. Isaiah said 'comfort my people,'" he said.
A few days later on Israeli television, the Cantrells heard Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah say that Christian Zionists were worse than Jews because they were responsible for bringing thousands of Soviet Jews to Israel.
"We felt like we were caught in the cross hairs," said Cantrell, as he and his wife had sailed on the second voyage to Odessa, Russia, with the Ebenezer Fund's Operation Exodus ship, for that very purpose.
The suicide bombing and the hate-filled words of the terror chief only strengthened their determination to help turn the hearts of Christians to the Jewish people.
Seeking an Extension
Because their trust is in the God of Israel, the Cantrell's have peace about the government's decision. But during this time of transition, they're seeking an extension of the two-week notice to organize their lives.
"God is sovereign. We know that. He is simply 'enlarging our tent pegs' and we want to go with it and flow with it," Cantrell said.
Two of the Cantrell's three children are married to Israelis and will remain here, reason enough for hoping not to have an Interior Ministry flag by their names in the computer.
Beyond that, they would like to bring tours and first-time visitors to Israel so they simply want to leave with a clear name.
"The world is a place pulled together by cyberspace," Cantrell said, "so we can be wherever the Lord wants us."
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