SHILOH, Samaria – A thousand Christian pastors and influencers traveling across Israel have a clear message for the White House: the Friends of Zion tour delivered it from ancient Shiloh, the site of the original Tabernacle as described in Joshua.
This is a land known by two very different names. Much of the international community recognizes it as the West Bank.
However, Jewish tradition and the Bible call it Judea and Samaria. That debate has been simmering since Israel won a victory over Jordan and several other Arab nations in the 1967 Six-Day War, and it is front and center today, as more than 1,000 pastors and Christian leaders have come here to Shiloh to hear the story from a Jewish perspective.
Dr. Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, set the tone with a message directed at the Trump administration concerning Israel’s sovereignty over the biblical heartland.
“Vice President Vance, we’re here in Shiloh. In Judea and Samaria, and we love you,” Evans declared. “We pray for you. We stand with you. But you have to understand something about us. This is the Word of God, and the Word of God is the thing that made America great.”
He continued, “You said the policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. Mr. Vice President, we love you. But there’s something you have to understand. Yeah. The policy of the God who birthed America, and the policy of the God who gave these people this land is, in fact, that Judea and Samaria is Bible land. It’s Bible land, and we have 66 reasons (the number of books in the Bible). Why? Why? It’s Bible land.”
Evans’ response points to a recent statement from Vance following a Knesset vote to declare Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria while the vice president was visiting Israel.
Vance said of the vote, “It was purely symbolic. I mean, look, if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”
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European leaders also continue to warn against any moves that might close the door to a future Palestinian state.
While visiting Jordan, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated, “Furthermore, we are also keeping a close eye on the situation in the West Bank. We must keep the path to Palestinian statehood open. That is why there must be no annexation steps in the West Bank.”
Yet, Governor Yisrael Gantz, head of Samaria’s Binyamin Regional Council, casts a vision of Shiloh and Samaria becoming a place of prayer.
Gantz told CBN News,” When I wake up every morning, very early in the morning, and go through the vineyards, I feel the heavy mission that I have soul to develop this area and I pray that I will be able to develop this area, so that everyone will feel that this is their home, and this place will be open to prayer for everyone in the world, and these prayers will be accepted by God.”
He told pastors their support matters to the mission God gave to Israel.
“Applying the Israeli law here is the justice of God,” he said. “We didn’t take someone else’s land. We came here because God sent us here, and we have to complete His mission. We will do that together.”
U.S. Pastor Rusty Nelson felt a divine power in seeing this historic stand for Israeli sovereignty where the Tabernacle once stood.
“It’s really overwhelming to see, especially after coming out of the war, to see this many people gathered here at Shiloh, but specifically pastors, and to be a part of a historic event and to bring them specifically into this arena, it was the first place of possessing the land and establishing a headquarters of worship.”
Nelson added that despite tensions in the region, he feels completely safe.
“I think I’d rather be here than on a back street in New York, you know, because God has surrounded his people,” he noted.
Brian Bauer, visiting Shiloh for the first time, admitted that standing on the stones where God once dwelled left him speechless.
“This is literally the rocks of the hillside that God dwelt with his people. And to be standing in this, knowing that Christ would come and tabernacle amongst us. This is the foretaste of it, and you can feel his presence in the place.”
For Christians and Jews who have long worked to share the biblical story of Judea and Samaria, the moment felt like a breakthrough.
Josiah Hilton of The Israel Guys told CBN News the gathering marked a true turning point.
“I’d say after being here for many, many years to two decades now, working the land, to see what’s happening today with these thousand pastors coming, to show their support for Israel, but not only just coming to Israel, they came to the heart of Samaria, to Shiloh here, is a huge statement.”
Hilton added, “And I think this really shows the progress we’re making in the world of getting the information out there, as far as what is Judea and Samaria? It’s not the West Bank.”
Christians are waking up, and Christians want to come back to the place that they were, where the Bible actually happened. After the event in Shiloh, The hope is that the message of sovereignty will make it from Judea and Samaria all the way to the White House.
