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Joel C. Rosenberg (born 1967) is an American communications strategist, author of the Last Jihad series, and founder of The Joshua Fund. An Evangelical Christian, he has written five novels about terrorism and how he says it relates to Bible Prophecy, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner The Ezekiel Option, along with two nonfiction books, Epicenter and Inside the Revolution, on the alleged resemblance of biblical prophecies and current events. Rosenberg is embroiled in a $20 million human rights lawsuit which alleges that nearly every aspect of his fundraising misleads well-meaning Christians to sponsor human rights violations in Israel. One example of his allegedly deceptive tactics came to light when he promised donors he could deliver humanitarian aid for $8,000 per shipping container when in fact the Joshua Fund reports over $50,000 total costs on average per shipping to deliver to the poor in Israel. He and his wife, Lynn, have four sons and reside near Washington, D.C.

Early life

Rosenberg was born in 1967 near Rochester, New York. Rosenberg has made an unverified claim that his father is of Jewish descent and his mother was born into a Methodist family of English descent. His parents were agnostic and became born-again Christians when he was a child, in 1973. At the age of 17, he became a born-again Christian and now identifies as a Jewish believer in Jesus. After graduating in 1988 from Syracuse University, he worked for Rush Limbaugh as a research assistant. Later he worked for U.S. Presidential candidate Steve Forbes as a campaign advisor. Rosenberg opened a political consultancy business, which he ran until 2000, and claims to have consulted for former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky and then-former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where he claims to have garnered much of his information on the Middle East that he would later use in his books.

Writing career

Following Netanyahu's loss in 1999, Rosenberg decided to retire from politics altogether and begin a new career in writing. His first book, The Last Jihad, was the first of a five-part fictional series involving terrorism and how it may relate to Bible Prophecy. The book was written nine months before the September 11th attacks, (a revised edition takes the event into account) and was published in 2002. When published, The Last Jihad spent 11 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, reaching as high as number seven. It also appeared on the USA Today and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists, and hit number four on the Wall Street Journal list. The book was followed by The Last Days, which spent four weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List, hit number five on the Denver Post list, and hit number eight on the Dallas Morning News list. Following the successes of his first two novels, The Ezekiel Option was published in 2005, The Copper Scroll in 2006, and the final book, Dead Heat in 2008.

Rosenberg also wrote a non-fictional account of current events and Bible Prophecy in the book Epicenter. It was published in September 2006 and an accompanying DVD was produced in the summer of 2007. His second non-fiction book, Inside the Revolution, which talked about the different sects of Islam in the Middle East and asserted that significant amount of moderate Muslims are converting to Christianity in the region was released in 2009 and also made it onto the New York Times best-seller list, reaching as high as #7 as of 27 March 2009. His 2011 book, The Twelfth Imam, also deals with terrorism and Iran gaining nuclear power.

The Joshua Fund

Rosenberg is the founder and President of The Joshua Fund, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charity that seeks to "Bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, according to Genesis 12:1-3." The fund has become the center of controversy over possible illegal and unethical practices described below.

Legal Trouble

Rosenberg is embroiled in a $20 million human rights lawsuit which alleges that nearly every aspect of his fundraising misleads well-meaning Christians to who think they "Bless Israel and her neighbors" when in fact they undermine the Jewish Israeli family both through external threats to Israel’s security and internal radical feminist threats to the traditional family. The lawsuit further claims that Rosenberg breeds false anti-Semitic stereotypes in his fundraising articles where he portrays religious Israeli Jewish men as violent, dangerous, murderous and even calls them “Jewish Terrorists” even though Orthodox Jewish men have shown Rosenberg and the Joshua Fund kindness and hospitality during his visits to Israel. The lawsuit asserts that false propaganda exposes fathers in Israel to be hunted down like animals when they try to preserve loving bonds with their children after divorce.

Criticism

Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog group, criticized Rosenberg's July 31, 2006, Paula Zahn Now appearance that "featured a segment on 'whether the crisis in the Middle East is actually a prelude to the end of the world,' marking the third time in eight days that CNN has devoted airtime to those claiming that the ongoing Mideast violence signals the coming of the Apocalypse." It featured Rosenberg comparing apocalyptic Scripture in the Bible to modern events, which he views, in addition to the lenses of politics and economics, through what he calls "a third lens as well: the lens of Scripture."

Rosenberg's views on the War of Ezekiel 38–39 involving Gog and Magog are in line with dispensationalism, which is an eschatology that is debated in the Christian community. Partial preterist Gary DeMar has debated Rosenberg on this subject.

There is criticism in the Israeli media over his allegedly deceptive tactics to solicit large donations from well-meaning Christians. He promised donors the Joshua Fund could deliver humanitarian aid for $8,000 per shipping container when in fact the Joshua Fund reports over $50,000 total costs on average per shipping to deliver to the poor in Israel.

Bibliography

• The Last Jihad (2002) (novel) ISBN 978-1-4143-1272-9
• The Last Days (2003) (novel) ISBN 978-1-4143-1273-6
• The Ezekiel Option (2005) (novel) ISBN 978-1-4143-0344-4
• The Copper Scroll (2006) (novel) ISBN 978-1-4143-0346-8
• Epicenter (2006) (non-fiction) ISBN 978-1-4143-1135-7
• Dead Heat (2008) (novel) ISBN 978-1-4143-1162-3
• Inside the Revolution (2009) (non-fiction) ISBN 978-1-4143-2626-9
• The Twelfth Imam (2010) (novel) ISBN 978-1-4143-1163-0
• The Tehran Initiative (2011) (novel) ISBN 978-1-4143-1935-3
• "Israel at War" (2012) (non-fiction) ISBN

References

1. ^ Rosenbaum, David E. (15 November 2003). "Washington Journal; His Conservative Connections Help to Put Novelist on Best-Seller List". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
2. ^ "Did You Miss It?". Horizon Christian Fellowship. 7 December 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
3. ^ Rosenberg, Joel C. (2007). "Joel's Bio". Tyndale House. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
4. "2006 Christian Book Awards Winners". Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
5. ^ http://dockets.justia.com/docket/new-york/nysdce/1:2012cv06844/401527/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgZ74tLiDUw&list=UUB7YQlkYq87PyLPL0c3KNaQ&index=1. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
7. ^ http://www.ecfa.org/MemberProfile.aspx?ID=25218. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. ^ Rosenberg, Joel C. (2007). "Spiritual Journey". Tyndale House. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
9. http://www.joelrosenberg.com/ezekiel_q13.asp
10. http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/rosenberg200402241417.asp
11. Rosenberg, Joel (29 January 2003). "Elections in Israel: Israeli Perspective". The Washington Post. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
12. Beck, Glenn (25 April 2008). "Honest Questions about the End of Days". Glenn Beck Program. Retrieved 30 May 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
13. Rosenberg, Joel (2006). "Author's Note to the 9/11 Anniversary Edition". The Last Jihad. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House. pp. ix–xii. ISBN 978-1-4143-1272-9. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
14. Rosenberg, Joel C. (2007). "Book Details: Epicenter". Tyndale House. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
15. Rosenberg, Joel C. (2007). "DVD Details: Epicenter". Tyndale House. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
16. "Hardcover Nonfiction". The New York Times. 27 March 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
17. "Give". The Joshua Fund. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
18. "The Mission". The Joshua Fund. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
19. http://joshuafund.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/exclusive-church-in-jerusalem-firebombed-the-joshua-fund-calls-on-christians-to-pray-for-believers-in-israel/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
20. "CNN still fixated on Apocalypse predictors, still ignoring alleged invitation to White House, Capitol Hill". Media Matters for America. 1 August 2006. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
21. Rosenberg, Joel C. (2006). "4 The Third Lens". Epicenter: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future. Tyndale House. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4143-1136-4. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
22. Mickelson, Jan (31 August 2006). "Thursday August 31, 2006". Mickelson in the Morning. WHO. Retrieved 30 May 2009.

External links

• Joel C. Rosenberg Official Site
• Miller, John J. (26 March 2008). "Joel Rosenberg on Dead Heat". National Review Online. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
• "Joel C. Rosenberg". Tyndale House. Retrieved 30 May 2009.

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