Showing posts with label British. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Golden Future for Jesus Followers - Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

Golden Future for Jesus Followers

Wednesday, August 24, 2016 |

Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

Topics:

As the Olympic Games show increasing signs of returning to its pagan[1] roots, the humility amid personal brilliance of a few outstanding Christian competitors shines out like stars in a darkened universe.

And its promotion as a showpiece for world peace and unity was tarnished by the hostility shown to the 47-member Israeli delegation[2] – 44 years after eleven Israeli athletes were massacred at the Munich Olympics by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.

For Britain, bursting with pride after collecting a staggering 67 medals and finishing second in the table to the United States at Rio, it was an event to savour after some of our politicians had downplayed patriotism in favour of staying within the European Union.

It seems the British bulldog spirit has instead received a belated boost. But the prowess of our athletes isn’t enough; what the human body can achieve should not be an opportunity for self-congratulation, but for giving honour where it is really due as in the case of South African athlete Wayde van Niekerk, who gave glory to God just moments after his spectacular win in the 400 metres – echoing the gold medal won in the same event at the 1924 Paris Olympics by legendary Scottish athlete Eric Liddell, who went on to be a missionary in China.[3]

Holding up his running spikes, imprinted with the words ‘_Jesus I am all yours, use me_’ after breaking Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old record with a time of 43.03 seconds, Wayde told the BBC: “The only thing I can do now is to give God praise. I went on my knees each and every day and I told the Lord to take care of me every step of the way.”

His achievement is all the more amazing as he had to fight for his life when entering the world as a 2 lb premature baby in Cape Town 24 years ago.

He was congratulated by Usain Bolt, another vocal Jesus-follower, who was on his way to completing an unprecedented triple hat-trick of titles with golds for 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m in three consecutive Olympics. The two might have competed together had the South African 200m champion elected not to enter that race in his first Olympics.

Also giving praise to Jesus was American pastor’s daughter Allyson Felix after winning two golds (4 x 100 & 4 x 400m) and a silver medal in the 400m individual.

Describing her ability as a gift from God, she said: “For me, my faith is the reason I run. I definitely feel I have this amazing gift that God has blessed me with, and it’s all about using it to the best of my ability.”

But she has suffered pain and disappointment over the years, explaining: “It is with injuries my faith really plays a part because I know I’m able to look at the bigger picture and see that God has a plan for my life and that this is also part of it. I can’t imagine my life without Jesus. I can’t imagine just waking up and going through life without Him. He is my life and that’s what I live for. I have learned that track doesn’t define me. My faith defines me. I’m running because I have been blessed with a gift.”

And what about the Fijian rugby sevens team who, after winning gold by beating Team GB in the final for their country’s first ever Olympic medal, got down on their knees to praise and thank the Lord who is clearly first in their hearts!

As London vicar Andy Palmer[4] put it, they were reflecting the attitude shown by Israel’s King David in penning Psalm 104 that, whatever we achieve as humans, we are merely God’s creation and he is far greater than us – He is the one to be praised!

So let’s take inspiration from these Olympic heroes who understood that there is a bigger picture to our lives; that Jesus wants to win our hearts and a life lived without him is ultimately empty and meaningless.

The Apostle Paul was clearly familiar with the ancient Olympics, making several references to athletics in his letters to the early Christians. In a rebuke to the Galatians who had been deceived by false teaching, he scolds: “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?” (Gal 5.7)

To the Philippians, he encourages them to join him as he presses on “towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3.14)

To Timothy his protégé, he urges: “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Tim 4.7f)

And again to Timothy he declares: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Tim 4.7f)

Yes, there is a prize for which we can all strive, as St Paul reminds the Corinthians: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Cor 9.24–27)

And in the letter to the Hebrews, we are urged to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross…” (Heb 12.2)

So we can learn from athletes of the necessity for strict training in our spiritual lives because we are not running aimlessly, but for a crown that will last forever.

Having competed in many marathons, I have been hugely inspired by these scriptures over the years, encouraging me to keep going, and not give up, even though it hurts and the road ahead seems so long and arduous.

The only occasion I didn’t finish a race – ‘hitting a wall’[5] after 22 miles in the 1972 Scottish Marathon – made me realise there was more to life than running, that God had a purpose and plan for my life. And within a week I had asked Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour.

I have never looked back. I see this as a picture of Britain, a nation that has been running away from God in a fruitless race to nowhere. But now, perhaps shaken up by the Brexit vote, we have finally run out of steam, leaving us in a position to once more consider the claims of the Jewish Messiah who has helped to make our country great.

‘Britain’s golden age’ was how one tabloid described our success at Rio. Perhaps that is stretching it too far, but if we shift our emphasis to a pursuit of discovering our true purpose instead of a relentless striving after earthly comfort and material benefits, there is a ‘pot of gold’[6]at the end of the rainbow, and it’s found in the person of Jesus Christ, who said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14.6) Or as a Jewish friend told me, he (Jesus) is the only one who can take us to the finish line and award us the greatest medal of all – forgiveness of sin and eternal life!

We have been reminded, in a Christianity Today article by Steven Gertz, that the Olympics was lost to the world for 1,500 years after being outlawed by the Roman Emperor Theodosius in 393AD for being too pagan. Not only did it involve gory violence and naked competitors, but pigs and bulls were sacrificed to pagan gods, to whom athletes swore allegiance. (Apparently Theodosius was strongly influenced by Bishop Ambrose of Milan.) Alarmingly, the current Olympian anthem calls on an “ancient eternal spirit” – clearly with no connection to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – to bless its endeavours. ↩
An Egyptian judo competitor was sent home after refusing to shake the hand of his Israeli rival Or Sasson, who went on to win a bronze medal – somewhat ironic as the two countries have been at peace for 37 years – and the Lebanese Olympic delegation was reprimanded after blocking Israeli athletes from entering a bus they were supposed to share. ↩
The subject of the film Chariots of Fire, Liddell elected not to run his favoured race, the 100m, because the heats were held on a Sunday – the Lord’s Day – and surprised everyone with his brilliant run in the longer event. He went on to preach the gospel in China and died prematurely in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. But his legacy lives on – ultimately his whole life was run as a race to complete the work to which Jesus had called him. ↩
Rev Andy Palmer is vicar of St John’s, Downshire Hill, in Hampstead. ↩
An expression used by marathon runners to indicate complete inability to go any further ↩
According to the Bible, all believers can look forward to living in a city of pure gold (Rev 21.18) ↩

Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon, and Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com

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Tuesday, February 16, 2016

How a Native American Prophecy Over George Washington Affected the Country - EDDIE HYATT CHARISMA NEWS

How a Native American Prophecy Over George Washington Affected the Country

A statue of George Washington, center. (Flickr/Creative Commons)

George Washington (1732-1799) was providentially prepared for his role as the pre-eminent Founding Father of the United States of America. Numerous remarkable incidents occurred in his life and career that even he could only attribute to the providential hand of God.

One of the most amazing incidents occurred when an old Native American chief declared of a young Washington, "He will become chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him the founder of a mighty nation."

Providentially Protected in Battle

This prophecy came forth in 1770 as Washington and the chief were discussing the Battle of Fort Duquesne in which both had participated but on opposite sides. The Battle of Fort Duquesne had occurred in July 1755 when 1,459 British soldiers were ambushed by a large contingent of Native American warriors who had joined the French in their fight with the British for control of the North American continent. It proved to be one of the bloodiest days in Anglo-American history with 977 British soldiers killed or wounded. It was a day also, however, when Washington's legendary fame for bravery began to spread throughout the land.

Washington, in his early 20s at the time, had been recruited by the British because of his knowledge of the ways of the wilderness and the American Indians. He had acquired this knowledge in his work as a surveyor of wilderness territory.

Assigned to travel with the British General Braddock to take Fort Duquesne (present day Pittsburgh), Washington found his advice for traveling through the wilderness and dealing with the Natives ignored by Braddock, who considered him a young upstart colonialist.

But when the ambush occurred and Braddock himself was wounded, Washington took charge and organized an orderly retreat while at the same time putting his own life at risk, rescuing the wounded and placing them in wagons. During this time of chaos, two horses were shot out from under him and his clothes were shredded with bullets.

He emerged unscathed and gave glory to God, saying, "I was saved by the miraculous care of providence that saved me beyond human expectation." His reputation for bravery immediately spread among both the English and the Native Americans

The Prophecy Comes Forth

It was now 15 years later in 1770 and Washington and a friend had been exploring an area along the Ohio River when they encountered a group of Native Americans. Recognizing Washington, the Natives invited the men back to their camp to meet with their chief, whom it turned out had fought on the side of the French in the Battle of Duquesne.

According to historian George Bancroft, they were having a cordial visit and then the old chief, pointing to Washington, spoke the amazing prophecy. He said;

"I am chief and ruler over all my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the Great Lakes, and to the far blue mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man's blood mixed with the streams of our forest that I first beheld this chief. I called to my young men and said, 'Mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the redcoat tribe—he hath an Indian's wisdom, and his warriors fight as we do—himself alone is exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies.' Our rifles were leveled—rifles which, but for him, knew not how to miss. Twas all in vain; a power far mightier than we shielded him from harm. He cannot die in battle. The Great Spirit protects that man, and guides his destinies. He will become chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him the founder of a mighty nation" (Benjamin Hart, Faith & Freedom, 234).

The Prophecy Fulfilled

Five years later, war broke out with Great Britain, and Washington was appointed commander in chief of the colonial army. He led his outnumbered, outgunned troops to an amazing victory over the British through numerous unusual incidents that he attributed to the providential intervention of God. He then presided over the Constitutional Convention and was later unanimously elected the first president of the United States of America. He is the only president to have received 100 percent of the electoral votes, not once but twice.

Washington's sacrificial service, in which he put the good of the country ahead of his own personal aspirations, endeared him to the hearts of all Americans. "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," was a common adage ascribed to Washington by his generation, which also considered him the "father of his country." When he died on Dec. 14, 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered 10 days of mourning throughout France. In America, thousands wore mourning clothes for months.

The old chief was right!

Our Responsibility

As we are remember George Washington on his birthday, let us not forget that we, as a nation, owe our very existence to the providential mercies of Almighty God. And let us not suppose that we can continue as a nation without His providential care. Let us therefore beseech Him to have mercy upon us as a nation and visit us again with His mercy and power.

For a limited time, we are extending our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charisma. As a special offer, you can get 40 issues of Charisma magazine for only $40!

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Thursday, January 7, 2016

UK Christians Rally Behind Israel - | Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

UK Christians Rally Behind Israel

Thursday, January 07, 2016 | Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

Topics:

Christians

When the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was celebrated this time last year, few could have imagined that anti-Semitism would get even worse. But it has.

The past year has seen two shocking terrorist attacks on Paris, with Jews specifically targeted on both occasions, along with the wave of stabbings and shootings in Israel itself. One incident occurred on Christmas Eve at Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, just yards from Christ Church, where they were celebrating the birth of the Messiah who came to bring peace to a troubled world and where, ironically, they steadfastly work towards reconciling Arab and Jew through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

But even as the UK marks Holocaust Memorial Day later this month, we too are witnessing an ongoing rise in anti-Semitic incidents necessitating armed guards having to be deployed to schools in London’s Jewish community. But is the Church as a whole rallying to the support of those who are once more threatened with genocide, as they were under the Nazis? Do they even care?

British publishing magnate Lord Weidenfeld did indeed benefit from caring Christians who took him in after he was rescued from Czechoslovakia through the so-called Kindertransport project of 1938, and has launched a campaign to rescue Christians from Syria out of gratitude for the compassion he was shown. He believes that the Islamic State terrorists are worse even than Hitler’s henchmen. The latter were cold and calculated as they killed on an industrial scale, but the Muslim fanatics seem to enjoy what they are doing.

Here is the stark reality of what is facing the Jewish people at the dawn of 2016: Iran is fast developing nuclear weapons with which to “wipe out” Israel (in the words of the Ayatollahs and Iranian presidents). And the current spat between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia only adds to the tension in the region. Meanwhile Lebanon-based Hezbollah has once again started firing rockets into the Jewish state, ISIS are believed to be stalking the Golan Heights near Galilee, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority continue to incite their people to murder and some Westerners are engaged in a boycott of Israeli goods on the pretext that they are oppressive occupiers of land not their own. But the truth is that most Jewish victims of persecution are attacked simply because they are Jews, not for political or economic reasons.

With all this in mind, UK Christians who can see what is happening are trying to draw the attention of a generally uncaring public to the plight of Jews everywhere. One such event will be held on January 24 at a Sheffield church and will involve other Holocaust escapees brought to England via the Kindertransport. One of them, John Fieldsend, whose parents perished at Auschwitz, was also taken in by a kind Christian couple. He became a follower of Jesus and a full-time preacher, but it could all have been so different. On a visit to the Children’s Memorial at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, he recalls: “As we listened to the names of the children being read out on an endlessly looping tape – which took several days to go round – I realized that had my journey from Czechoslovakia been delayed by only about five weeks, my name would have been on that tape! It was a very dramatic experience…”

Among the organizers of the Sheffield event – at the Bush Fire Church, 427 Halifax Road, Grenoside S35 8PB from 3 to 5pm – are Ginnie White, whose mother Stella was roughed up by Oswald Mosley’s fascists as a child growing up in London’s East End where she was also once jeered at as a “dirty Jew”. The afternoon will also involve the signing of the ‘Shalom Declaration’ promising support for the Jewish people.

And under the banner of Christians United for Israel, a petition is being sent to the UK Government expressing condemnation of anti-Semitism and acknowledging the huge contribution of its Judeo-Christian heritage in shaping British values.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s account of his own family history, shared in a United Nations speech, perfectly illustrates the necessity for such memorial days. After being beaten senseless by a group of anti-Semitic hoodlums at a railway station in the heart of Europe, his grandfather Nathan promised himself that, if he lived, he would take his family to the Jewish homeland and help build a future for the Jewish people.

Six million Jews perished in the gas chambers, but the nightmares of the survivors live on while new generations face fresh threats. When will it stop? We have so much for which to thank them – they gave us the Bible, on the foundations of which we have built a great civilization. And they gave us Jesus, Saviour of both Jews and Gentiles who put their trust in Him, who said: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25.40)

PHOTO: Jaffa Gate, site of a fatal incident also involving a serious wounding on Christmas Eve, and only a stone’s throw from Christ Church, a haven of reconciliation. (Charles Gardner)

Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon, and Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com

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Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta) Jerusalem Was Captured by the British 98 Years Ago. New Photos from the Ottoman Archives

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

Jerusalem Was Captured by the British 98 Years Ago. New Photos from the Ottoman Archives

Posted: 14 Dec 2015

"The End of Ottoman Rule in Jerusalem, December 9, 1917." Two cavalrymen from
the British forces hoisting a Turkish flag on their bayonets. (Ottoman Imperial Archives)

The latest batch of photographs released this week by the Ottoman Imperial Archives includes several treasures showing historical sites and events in Palestine. The picture above shows two cavalrymen from the British forces hoisting a Turkish flag on their bayonets.

The sergeants accepting the surrender of Jerusalem
December 9, 1917 (Library of Congress)

In the past, we featured several pictures found in the Library of Congress (LOC) and Monash University (Australia) archives showing the surrender of Jerusalem to the British forces in December 1917.

The LOC picture of two British sergeants accepting the surrender flag from Jerusalem officials (not Turkish officers) is one of the most iconic photographs of World War I in Palestine. The picture was taken by a photographer from the American Colony Photo Department; the flag was a sheet taken from an American Colony bed.

The Monash archives provided a picture of Turkish soldiers hurrying into the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's Old City on December 9, 1917, "driven from the outlying hills by our men," the caption reads. From the Old City they continued their retreat toward the Dead Sea.

But the photo was not very clear. The Ottoman Archives photo below is so clear that viewers can see the writing on the building on the left, "Bezalel" in Hebrew and English. The Bezalel pavilion was built outside of the Jaffa Gate in 1912 to sell souvenirs and crafts made at the Bezalel Academy of Arts. The structure was demolished in 1918 by the British.

Turkish retreat from the Jerusalem hillsides on December 9, 1917. The Bezalel Pavilion is on the left.
(Ottoman Imperial Archives)

Saturday, December 12, 2015

New Evidence Suggests C.S. Lewis Was a Secret Agent - TROY ANDERSON CHARISMA NEWS

C.S. Lewis (YouTube)

New Evidence Suggests C.S. Lewis Was a Secret Agent

Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

Long before James Bond, the popular Christian apologist C.S. Lewis undertook a wartime mission for MI6 to help the British defeat the Nazis during World War II, a professor at Union University in Tennessee says.

During the war, Lewis undertook a secret mission for the British spy agency to record a message to "win the hearts of the Icelandic people" prior to a surprise invasion of Iceland.

"In the Battle of the Atlantic, Iceland could have provided Germany with a strategic naval and air base," wrote Hal Poe, the Charles Colson professor of Faith and Culture at Union University, in an article in Christianity Today. "Instead, thanks to the British invasion, Iceland provided the ideal base for seaplanes to search for the German naval vessels that prowled the Atlantic sinking the merchant fleet with its crucial supplies."

As it turns out, the best-selling author of Mere Christianity, The Chronicles of Narniaand The Screwtape Letters was recruited by MI6's Joint Broadcasting Committee to broadcast to people in occupied territory during the war, Poe wrote.

"Perhaps one of his former pupils at Oxford recommended him for his mission," Poe wrote. "It was an unusual mission for which few people were suited. J.R.R. Tolkien had the knowledge base for the job, even beyond that of Lewis, but Tolkien lacked other skills that Lewis possessed. ... In the 1930s, Lewis was the best show in town. Somehow Lewis had developed the skill to speak to an audience and hold them in rapt attention, in spite of his academic training rather than because of it."

At the time, those working for the Joint Broadcasting Committee were a "fledgling group of amateurs desperately working to save their island home from disaster," Poe wrote.

"The Joint Broadcasting Committee recruited C. S. Lewis to record a message to the people of Iceland to be broadcast by radio within Iceland," Poe wrote. "Lewis made no record of his assignment, nor does he appear to have mentioned it to anyone. Without disclosing his involvement with military intelligence, however, Lewis did make an indiscreet disclosure to his friend Arthur Greeves in a letter dated May 25, 1941. Lewis remarked that three weeks earlier he had made a gramophone record which he heard played afterwards."

During the broadcast, Lewis spoke on "The Norse Spirit in English Literature," providing a "touchstone between the Norse people and the English."

In a blog entry titled, "Holy Screwtape! Young C.S. Lewis secretly worked with MI6," Terry Mattingly wrote he has an entire room in his house dedicated to the Oxford don's books, but was completely surprised by Poe's "news scoop."

"It argues that, while no one is claiming Lewis ever ran around with a gun and a decoder ring, the young Oxford don appears to have done some work for MI6, as in Her Majesty's Secret Service," Mattingly wrote. "Yes, you read that right. This kind of adds a new layer of meaning to discussions of an 'Inner Ring' and talk about devilish high-ranking agents working with case officers to snare souls."

For a limited time, we are extending our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charisma. As a special offer, you can get 40 issues of Charisma magazine for only $40!

NEW from CHARISMA: Do you want to encounter the Holy Spirit and hear God speak to you? Increase your faith, discover freedom, and draw near to God! Click Here

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Wednesday, August 24, 2016