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 easy to sell the Mike Evans Museum as unique, simply based on the use of 21st century technologies that make it a museum of experience that takes visitors well beyond the ordinary and expected. It is a place where this love story is unfolded for all to acknowledge and receive. We pray that this will be place where skeptics’ disillusionment becomes enlightenment, where the ignorant become educated and where those who feel unloved realize that they are not.
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.