Showing posts with label CBN News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CBN News. Show all posts

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Archaeologists Uncover Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem Just How Bible Describes It - CBN News Emily Jones

Courtesy: Dr. Shimon Gibson
Archaeologists Uncover Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem Just How Bible Describes It
08-23-2019
CBN News Emily Jones
JERUSALEM, Israel - Academics are saying the Bible is trustworthy after discovering evidence of the 6th century Babylonian siege of Jerusalem as it is described in 2 Kings, Chapter 25.
Archaeologists from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, excavating on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, say they have found physical evidence of the Babylonian attack, including burnt material, arrowheads, carbonized wood, bronze, iron, jewelry, and broken pottery.
Dr. Shimon Gibson, co-director of the university's Mount Zion archaeological project, told CBN News the discoveries were "unexpected."
The Bible describes King Nebuchadnezzar's forces burning "every great house" down, including the house of the Lord – Solomon's Temple. The soldiers also took bronze pillars and vessels from the Temple and carried them back to Babylon while the children of Israel were thrown into exile.
"What we're finding are the results of that destruction," Gibson said, adding that Nebuchadnezzar was known as the "Destroyer of Nations" at the time.
The researchers also found a particularly rare piece of jewelry with unclear origins.
"It might have been an earring. It might have been a tassel, some kind of ornament. It's unclear at this point in time. It consists of a golden bell out of which extends this bunch of grapes made out of silver," Gibson said.
While he cannot say conclusively that the archaeologists stumbled upon the remnants of the Babylonian attack, Gibson said it "lines up very well" with the Bible.
In fact, Gibson believes the discoveries prove the Bible to be a reliable and historically accurate document.
"There have been over the past several decades a lot of discussion as to the veracity of the biblical account. Some would like to see it more as mythically based, maybe having a basis in history, but still largely a document that is not really to be relied upon," he explained.
"Our excavations prove that to not be the case."
Gibson said the archaeologists will return to Jerusalem next summer to excavate the site in its entirety.


Thursday, August 22, 2019

Here Are 5 Things Trump Has Fulfilled from the Wish Lists of Christian Voters - CBN News Steve Warren

Here Are 5 Things Trump Has Fulfilled from the Wish Lists of Christian Voters
08-21-2019
CBN News Steve Warren
When Donald Trump became president on Jan. 20, 2017, evangelical Christians and their leaders drew up their "wish lists" of big goals he could pursue, opposing abortion and limiting the ever-invasive LGBTQ movement. 
Two and a half years later, the Trump administration is being praised for fulfilling many items on those lists. Here's a quick list of just 5 of those big issues:
  • 1.  Pro-Life Moves, Like Forcing Planned Parenthood to Choose Between Abortion and Women's Health.
  • 2.  Protecting Religious Freedom Rights of Employers.
  • 3.  Appointing Conservative Judges to the Federal Bench
  • 4.  Limiting the LGBTQ Movement in American Life
  • 5.  Standing with Israel, Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, and Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's Capital
Mat Staver, president of the legal advocacy organization Liberty Counsel, said Trump has fulfilled about 90% of the goals on a list that Staver and other conservative leaders compiled.
"In the first two years of his administration, he's achieved more than all of the presidents combined since Ronald Reagan," Staver said. "He's been the most pro-religious freedom and pro-life president in modern history."
One of the biggest steps came this week when the Department of Health and Human Services implemented a new rule for the federal family planning program known as Title X.  Planned Parenthood, the nation's biggest abortion provider, quit the Title X program it had participated in for decades rather than obeying a new rule which would have stopped its clinics from referring women for abortions.  
When the organization walked away, it left $60 million in federal funding on the table that could be used for women's health by other medical providers across the country. It was a move hailed by conservatives and condemned by liberals.
Last week, the Labor Department proposed a rule that is expected to shield federal contractors from discrimination complaints regarding hiring and firing decisions motivated by religious beliefs. In other words, they won't be forced to hire people who refuse to follow their faith.
The administration has also moved to appoint conservative judges to the federal bench.   
"We are heartened by the appointment of constitutionalist judges, including two excellent Supreme Court justices (Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh), and look forward to more such appointments throughout the federal court system," said Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family.
But the president's promise-keeping didn't end there.  As CBN News reported, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in May of 2018. 
The new facility opened on May 14, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the modern state of Israel.  
"First and foremost, it was the day that the United States put itself on the right side of history," US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told CBN News. "I would suggest maybe your audience might agree with me the move put itself on the right side of God. It was a day when we recognized one of the great historical truths of our time." 
The Trump administration has also taken action reversing or revising policies and rules instigated by President Barack Obama.  Obama pushed abortion rights and same-sex marriage, mandated that abortion-causing drugs be covered by the Affordable Care Act, required the military to allow transgender troops, and told school districts to let transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice.
Like any other sitting president, President Trump has many critics of his new policies. Numerous organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are seeking to block some of the administration's moves in court.
Meanwhile, the Alliance Defending Freedom, one of several conservative legal law firms that litigated against numerous Obama-era initiatives, welcomes the president's action.
"The defense of life, free speech, and religious liberty should never be subject to political and cultural whims," said Kristen Waggoner, an ADF senior vice president. "They are constitutional guarantees, and we are grateful that this administration recognizes that reality and is taking serious steps to correct injustice and protect all Americans."
Dr. Robert Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Dallas, has predicted that Trump's policies could win him even more Christian votes in 2020 than in 2016.
"When he ran in 2016 and promised pro-life, pro-religious freedom policies, most evangelicals who voted for him didn't know whether he would or could fulfill those promises," Jeffress said. "When they look back now, they see he checked off all of those goals. ...He'll win by an even larger margin on the basis of promises kept."


Tuesday, August 20, 2019

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Administration Plans Big International Cuts Including Abortion Funding in Africa - CBN News David Brody

whitehouse2
EXCLUSIVE: Trump Administration Plans Big International Cuts Including Abortion Funding in Africa
08-19-2019
CBN News David Brody
A senior Trump administration official tells CBN News that the White House plans to cut abortion funding in West Africa as part of their goal to drastically cut America's international foreign aid around the world. 
Specifically, the blueprint would no longer provide 'voluntary family planning money' to the countries of Sierra Leone, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Benin. 
"The President himself has stated that there is a lot of fat in the foreign assistance we provide," according to the senior official. "While there are many great programs we support around the world, taxpayer dollars should not be spent on 'voluntary family planning' in Africa—which could include abortion. This administration is committed to cutting wasteful spending and protecting the unborn." 
The release of the specific international aid cuts is expected as early as Tuesday.
The moves are part of what is known as a "rescissions package," meaning the canceling of billions of unspent foreign assistance funds, which could total more than four billion dollars. Administration officials tell CBN News more than 100 countries overall will be targeted for international aid cuts. 
As for the 'voluntary family planning' funds, they are typically dispersed through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  The administration has discovered that some of those family planning funds used in West African nations actually evade or skirt around what is known as America's, 'Mexico City Policy,' which requires non-governmental organizations to agree not to "perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations." That is the reason the rescissions money specifically looks to get rid of funds going to those individual programs in West Africa.
Beyond family planning, White House officials are also looking to cut funding to many other programs including investing in Guatemalan agriculture technology, solar panels in Central Asia, crop diversity in Bangladesh, desert survival courses in Egypt and cuts to border security funds provided to more than a dozen countries including El Salvador.
Democrats in Congress and even some top Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)  are against the proposed cuts. White House officials believe they have the power to cancel the funds without approval from Congress. That's a point of contention moving forward.
The overall argument by senior officials inside the Trump administration is that many of these foreign aid programs that are targeted in the current rescissions package have had a history of waste and abuse and therefore the view that US tax dollar money is being used to fund corruption around the world. 
The competing view is that the money spent by America overseas is crucial for national security. Proponents of this approach say the funds help unstable countries become more self-sufficient, which in turn keeps them from becoming bad international actors, which would make the world a more dangerous place.

'The Creator of the Universe Will Not Allow Us to Be Driven from This Land': This Is Life on the Gaza Border - CBN News Julie Stahl


'The Creator of the Universe Will Not Allow Us to Be Driven from This Land': This Is Life on the Gaza Border
08-16-2019
CBN News Julie Stahl
GAZA BORDER, Israel - Rockets, firebombs, and tunnels along the border. Those images are what most of the world know about the Gaza Strip.  But what’s it really like to live there? 
CBN’s Scott Ross met with Eliyahu McLean who lives and works in Israel along the border of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.  
McLean introduces visitors to this complicated situation by giving what he calls the “Gaza Border Reality Tour”.  He took Ross on the tour that provides a glimpse of the complexities of life from both sides of the border. 
Ross met with McLean at Moshav Yoshivia, where McLean lives with his wife and children. It’s just seven miles from the Gaza border, in the direct line of rocket fire.
“Three weeks ago on the Sabbath, I was just finishing prayers here and I just walked home at 10:00 am and we hear Red Alert, Tzeva Adom, from this siren, and as soon as we heard Red Alert in our houses we have to run to a safe room,” McLean explained.
Hamas launched some 700 rockets at southern Israel that weekend.  McLean said they have only 10-15 seconds to run to their safe rooms.
“Why do you choose to live in this sort of an environment, (and) with a family?” Ross asked.
“First of all, all of Israel is under rocket threat,” McLean answered. “Many Israelis have discovered that this part of the Holy Land is actually quality of life. A few rockets don’t scare us.  We have faith in God – that God is going to protect us and this is sovereign Israel. If we’re going to run from here, we might as well run from Tel Aviv. We might as well run from wherever we are in Israel. The word here is resilience.”
McLean took Ross to the synagogue where he prays, showed him the Torah scrolls and introduced him to the neighbors.  When the situation is tense, he said, they sing and dance.
Not far from there is a public overlook into the northern third of the Gaza Strip, and on beyond is the Mediterranean Sea.  From there, you can see Gaza City, a city of one million people.  There are two million people in all of Gaza.
“That is a lot of humanity,” McLean said.
“You see there’s a border fence here and you see Israeli army lookout posts and if you look slightly to the left you can see a mound of earth on the other side – you can see a Hamas lookout post.  By the way, wave to Hamas, as we’re looking at them they’re looking at us,” McLean told Ross. “The enemy is just that close.”
Standing along the international border, the Israeli town of Sderot is visible and just 45 miles up the coast is Israel’s second-largest city of Tel Aviv. It was also recently hit by rocket fire.
On the map of Gaza, McLean showed Ross the places where Israeli communities of Gush Katif were inside the Gaza Strip prior to the Disengagement.
“In 2005, then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon uprooted the 7,000 Israelis in about 23 communities,” McLean said.
“But the tragedy wasn’t just uprooting but they left behind all of the greenhouses that were top of the world and the Palestinians from Gaza who were working there, they could have maintained it but Hamas decided to destroy the greenhouses and use it as a launching pad to fire rockets. So, it’s a little bit of what you call shooting yourself in the foot,” he explained.
Hamas did the same thing with electricity. 
“One of the ironies is that in the 2014 Gaza war, Hamas was firing rockets that destroyed that power station, which in fact supplies over 30 percent of the electricity to the same people that they live among. Isn’t that ridiculous,” he said.
“Certain elements of the leadership don’t take into account the needs of the simple people (that) aren’t necessarily those involved in the conflict,” he added.
Last year, Gazans had only four hours of electricity each day during the summer, which also creates problems for Israel.
“Recently the Israeli government even allowed money from a government called Qatar to revive the power stations, so now there are 12 hours a day of electricity.
“Why is electricity important in Gaza? First of all, it’s very hard in the heat of the summer or the cold of the winter to have no heating or to have or air conditioning.  If there’s no electricity the water treatment plants like last year will start pouring untreated sewage into the Mediterranean,” he explained. 
Nearby in Ashkelon is one of Israel’s largest water desalination plants
“If untreated sewage from Gaza reaches there what would happen to our saltwater treatment plant? It’s pumping water from the Mediterranean,” he said.  The plant is meant to purify salt, not sewage, he added.  
Mclean says just fighting the terrorists isn’t enough.
“We have to be concerned about what’s happening. We can’t just throw away the key. You see the dilemma Israel has? These days, even Hamas as extreme radical Islamist as they are, comparatively are the moderates.  If we topple them who will replace them?” he asked.
“At the same time, (we have) to remember the people just on the other side. Israel says why should it be our responsibility? Egypt doesn’t want them; Syria doesn’t want them; and Jordan doesn’t want them. Nobody in the Arab world wants them. So in the end, Israel ends up with the responsibility.”
The most recent border attacks involve fire kites or balloons, with incendiary devices attached.  The idea is they’ll fly across the border and set fire to the agricultural fields and forests on the Israeli side.
“The unfortunate reality is that we’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars of agricultural produce.  We’ve had thousands and tens of thousands of acres of national parkland totally burned to the ground,” McLean said.
“Sometimes it’s in the form of balloons and you know it’s very hard to tell children, you see balloons in the sky, you want to run after it that there might be a warhead on the end of the balloon,” he said.
McLean said that he and others want to send kites back to Gaza with a message of peace. 
“We in Israel didn’t come to displace you from a country called Palestine.  We came back home to the Holy Land not to be in a constant war with our neighbors but to live in peace with our neighbors,” added.
“Good overcomes evil. Light overcomes darkness,” Ross commented.
The final stop on the Gaza Border Reality Tour was one of the fields burned by a kite or balloon just two weeks earlier.  Besides the agricultural losses, McLean said there’s a message.
“We’re (Palestinians) in essence going to burn what we can’t have for ourselves and also it’s a statement of desperation and that the people there are suffering under a leadership that’s squelching freedom on the other side of the border,” McLean said.
Despite all the attacks and challenges, McLean said he’s hopeful.
“Ultimately, out of the ashes comes another field. A new life comes out of the ashes,” he said. “A new spirit and that new spirit is the spirit of determination, a spirit of prayer, the spirit of hope in the midst of a campaign of fear. Peace and love will prevail.
McLean said he’s a religious Jew who prays for peace daily.
“The Creator of the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will hear our prayer and not allow us to be driven from this land but to allow us to flourish in this land,” he said. “Our destiny is to live as neighbors, whether we like it or not we are neighbors.”

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Every Abortion Clinic in US to Receive 'Unplanned' Movie DVD: Find Out How to Get Your Copy - CBN News

Unplanned
Every Abortion Clinic in US to Receive 'Unplanned' Movie DVD: Find Out How to Get Your Copy
08-13-2019
The pro-life motion picture "Unplanned" will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and in digital formats on Tuesday, and Abby Johnson, the woman whose true transformational story is the subject of the movie, is taking advantage of the event by sending a DVD to every abortion clinic in the nation.
"Unplanned" is the true story of former Planned Parenthood clinic director Johnson, which debuted in United States theaters on March 29. The movie is currently screening in theaters around the world.  
The film is the dramatic account of Johnson's rise in the abortion provider's organization. In eight years, she rose from college volunteer to one of the youngest clinic directors, to Employee of the Year - then she assisted with an abortion. The inspiring film traces Johnson's journey from staunch abortion advocate to standing side-by-side with the people who prayed for her spiritual transformation and facing the full, head-on attack of one of the most powerful organizations on Earth.
According to And Then There Were None, Johnson's ministry which helped more than 525 abortion workers to leave their jobs, 800 abortion clinics across the country will each receive a copy of the film.
"When former abortion workers who came through And Then There Were None first saw the movie, they overwhelmingly said how much the story reflected their own experiences. These former workers stated that they felt validated in what they had experienced and seen inside the abortion industry," Johnson said in a press release. "While the film isn't easy to watch, I want everyone working in the abortion industry to see it and to know there is a lifeline to get out."
The "Unplanned" DVD and Blu-ray includes interviews with Johnson, a making-of featurette, deleted scenes and trailers, and Matthew West's "Unplanned's" official music video. 
"Anyone who has had an abortion, is contemplating an abortion or works in the abortion industry, I encourage you to see "Unplanned," Johnson said. "Supporters of abortion who watch this movie cannot walk away without explicitly knowing what they support."