Terror Attacks Unites Israel and French Christians

Corinne Lafitte - worship leader

Terror Attacks Unites Israel and French Christians

By Julie Stahl

CBN News Middle East Correspondent

Friday, June 12, 2015

JERUSALEM, Israel -- France is the least evangelized country in Europe, and some Christians believe the recent terror attacks there could lead to a change.

Part of that is because of a growing connection between Israel and French Christians.

French worship leader Corinne Lafitte recently helped bring nearly 500 Evangelicals, Protestants, and Catholics together to bless the Jewish people.

"To tell them we love them. We are with them. We'll do everything to sustain them and to help them, whatever is the situation in France," Lafitte told conference participants from the podium.

While pro-Israel Christians have been holding conferences in Israel for decades, this was the first time French Christians gathered as a group in Jerusalem to support the Jewish state.

Pastor Carlos Payan believes coming to Jerusalem will be particularly good for this group of Christians.

"We live in time that we have not prepared, but God has prepared that time for us," Payan told CBN News. "We'll receive also healing by coming here to Jerusalem."

A major event happened earlier this year when Islamic fundamentalists carried out terror attacks in France, one in a kosher supermarket in Paris where they gunned down four French Jews.

Payan said Jewish-Christian relations improved after that tragic incident.

"French Jews know that many Christians, not only Evangelicals, but Catholics and Protestants are friends with Israel," he said.

Lafitte explained that Jews in France are going through a particularly hard time.

"Well the situation is really terrible," she told CBN News. "We live in a little Jewish quarter and we see people spitting on Jews -- things like that -- happening."

Last year, some 7,000 French Jews immigrated to Israel, the most from any nation, and this year more are expected.

While the Israel event was planned long before the terror attacks, French-Israeli Pastor Tony Sperandeo said it's a wake-up call for the Church.

"The Church is the light. They should not expect the government to do anything," Sperandeo told CBN News.

"They should stand and believe and trust the word of God and stand with the principle that they know, to love Israel, as the scripture says: I will bless Israel. I will bless those who bless Israel, I [will] curse those who curse Israel," he said.