Attacks in Israel Leave 5 Dead, Including US Teen - CBNNews.com

Attacks in Israel Leave 5 Dead, Including US Teen

CBNNews.com

Thursday, November 19, 2015

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JERUSALEM, Israel – A drive-by shooting south of Jerusalem killed three people, including an American teen and an Arab bystander, and injured at least six others.

The shooter opened fire from his car at a minivan, then drove a little further before ramming his vehicle into another car, mortally wounding an 18-year-old American tourist and critically injuring a 50-year-old man who was evacuated unconscious to Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.

Israeli security forces shot and captured him as he attempted to open fire at other cars.

A second attack injured three people, one seriously, and sent several others into shock.

Two hours earlier, a stabbing attack outside a synagogue in southern Tel Aviv killed two Israelis in their early 30s. A third victim is reported in stable condition at a local hospital.

The attack took place as worshippers were gathered for afternoon prayers.

The first victim managed to get inside the synagogue where he collapsed in a pool of blood. The killer tried to push his way inside, but worshippers closed the door before he could enter. People on the street subdued the terrorist until police arrived.

According to Israeli media, the attacker is a 36-year-old resident of the Arab village of Dura near Hebron. He had a work permit and was employed at a restaurant right next to where the terror attack took place.

The stabbing took place one year to the day after two Arab terroristsmurdered four Israelis in a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof. The attackers shot and stabbed the four men to death as they gathered for morning prayers.

Hamas praised Thursday's attacks as it did the synagogue incident a year ago, calling the terrorists heroes. 

Navy Chaplain: 'Best Thing for Church is Persecution' - CBN News

Navy Chaplain: 'Best Thing for Church is Persecution'

By Paul Strand

CBN News Washington Sr. Correspondent

Friday, October 16, 2015

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WASHINGTON -- Navy Chaplain Lt. Cmdr. Wes Modder never expected counseling service members on what the Bible says would put him in the fight of his life.

But that's what happened after a group of those he counseled complained a few months ago about what he had to say on subjects like homosexuality and other sexual matters.

Worsening matters, Modder's direct commander sided with his accusers and decided to take legal action against the chaplain.

"It was shocking. You feel a lot of emotion," Modder told CBN News in a recent interview. "You feel natural feelings like betrayal."

His opponents at Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina didn't just want the Assemblies of God pastor corrected. They were after his job, which would have meant the loss of his military pension as well.

"They wanted to kick me out, remove me from a promotion list," Modder recalled. "Having a family with four children, not knowing what I'm going into, sacrificing 19 years of honorable military service --  all of it was on the line, everything."

Then recently his attorney, Michael Berry with the Liberty Institute, got surprising news from the Navy: Modder was cleared of all the charges.

"When we found out that the Navy, that this two-star admiral had completely exonerated Chaplain Modder, I was blown away," Berry told CBN News. "It was not what I was expecting. I was preparing myself for a dogfight."

Berry said he was elated and could hardly wait to tell Modder the good news. The chaplain and his family were overjoyed. But he admits he's still hurting.

"There's a huge sense of victory and relief, but the emotional capital is overwhelming," Modder said.

Still, he suggested as more and more Christians face similar battles over their beliefs, they have to fight because the cause is crucial.

"I think it's paramount," he said. "I think the best thing for the Church is persecution. And I know that sounds counterintuitive, but we need to stand for religious liberty."

"It's not really about bakers. It's not really about florists. It's about validating something that is national," he explained.

Berry said he's distressed by the un-American nature of this Christian persecution.

"It could be people of any other faiths, too, but unfortunately right now the majority of attacks are coming against Christians in this country," Berry said. "That's not what our country is about."

As a combat veteran, Berry's particularly frustrated military commanders are thrust into the middle of these battles.

"When a commanding officer has to worry about whether or not somebody in his unit is going to be offended because a chaplain is praying or because a chaplain dares to speak from their religious worldview to another service member, that commanding officer now, his attention and his focus is taken away from the external threat and he has to worry about things he should never have to worry about," he said.

Modder and his family will soon be out of the uncomfortable environment he found himself in at Joint Base Charleston. They're transferring to one of their favorite duty stations, San Diego.

Wathc here: Chaplain's Interview on CBN News

Immigration to Israel Hits a Record-Breaking Year

CBNNews.com

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

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JERUSALEM, Israel -- Immigration to Israel climbed to a 10-year high this past year, the Jewish Agency reported, quoting projected statistics from the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption.

An estimated 26,500 Jews immigrated to Israel in 2014, a 30 percent increase from 2013.

For the first time in its history, French immigration topped the numbers worldwide, while immigrants from Ukraine nearly tripled from 2013, up a whopping 190 percent.

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky called it a "record-breaking" year marking an "historic shift."

"This year also saw an historic shift: for the first time in Israel's history, the number of immigrants who came to Israel from the free world is greater than that of immigrants fleeing countries in distress," Sharansky said.

Sharansky called the trend "evidence of Israel's attractiveness as a place where it's good to live, as well as of the success of our joint efforts to promote aliyah and strengthen connections between Jews around the world and the State of Israel."

Immigration from western European nations climbed 88 percent from last year, and the former Soviet Union saw a 50 percent increase. 

More than half the immigrants were younger than 35, including 5,300 children and 8,200 between the ages of 18 and 34.

France took the honors for the oldest immigrant, 104 years of age, while the youngest, several weeks old, came with his family from America.

Among Israel's newest citizens are more than 1,000 doctors and health professionals, engineers, artists, athletes and many with degrees in the humanities and science. 

Archaeologist Says He's Found King David's Citadel

Archaeologist Says He's Found 

King David's Citadel

CBNNews.com

Tuesday, May 06, 2014

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JERUSALEM, Israel -- An Israeli archaeologist says he found the legendary citadel captured by King David. The conquest allowed David to establish Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is wrapped up in the discovery. Archaeologist Eli Shukron found the citadel in east Jerusalem in a predominately Arab neighborhood.

The Elad Foundation, an organization that strives to prevent the city from being divided, financed the discovery. Arabs want that land as the capital for a future Palestinian state.

The site also rekindles the debate about using the Bible as a field guide to identify ancient ruins.

"For many people the Bible is a dusty book sitting on a shelf in some room in your home. But here we actually see stories of the Bible matching the archaeology in its place," Doron Spielman, vice president of City of David Foundation, said. "We can open up the pages of the Bible and literally they come alive for us from the very stones in this location."

The excavation cost $10 million and is now open to tourists.

World Vision Reverses Policy on Hiring Gays - CBNNEWS

World Vision Reverses Policy on Hiring Gays

CBNNews.com

Thursday, March 27, 2014

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Christian charity World Vision has reversed its policy change on hiring applicants in same-sex marriage, just days after announcing they would accept them.

Organization board leaders said in a letter to supporters Wednesday that they had made a mistake by changing its policy.

"We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to biblical authority," the board said in the letter.

Church leaders were quick to denounce the charity's decision to hire applicants in same-sex marriages. World Vision President Richard Stearns had said the move was not "symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity."

But faith leaders like Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, dismissed Stearn's reasoning.

"World Vision maintains their decision is based on unifying the church -- which I find offensive -- as if supporting sin and sinful behavior can unite the Church," Franklin wrote on his Facebook page.

In addition, the Assemblies of God had called for its members to shift their support to other charities.

Stearns said the board of the non-profit had been praying about the decision for years. But in the letter to supporters Wednesday leaders admitted they had not sought enough counsel from their Christian partners.

"As a result, we made a change to our conduct policy that was not consistent with our Statement of Faith and our commitment to the sanctity of marriage," they said.

"While World Vision U.S. stands firmly on the biblical view of marriage, we strongly affirm that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are created by God and are to be loved and treated with dignity and respect," they said.

A fifth of the World Vision funding comes from the federal government.

All Roads Now Lead Back to Jerusalem' - CBN's Mitchell

CBN's Mitchell: 'All Roads Now Lead Back to Jerusalem'

CBNNews.com

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JERUSALEM, Israel - For the past 12 years, CBN Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell has reported on stories from Israel and across the region.

Now he's recorded some of his experiences in a new book called, Dateline Jerusalem: An Eyewitness Account of Prophecies Unfolding in the Middle East.

Mitchell spoke with CBN's Scott Ross about his experiences and the events unfolding across the volatile Middle East.

The veteran reporter moved to Jerusalem with his family more than a decade ago. In doing so, he recalled the words of a friend who said, "You don't choose Jerusalem, Jerusalem chooses you."

Mitchell said the news he covers is more than individual stories. He said he sees a theme emerging that ties world events to the final battle for Jerusalem.

"You know, 2,000 years ago it was said that all roads lead to Rome. Two-thousand years later, I would feel that all roads are leading to Jerusalem," he told Ross.

"And whether it's Christians praying for the peace of Jerusalem like never before," he continued, "Or if it's about Jews that are coming back to this city, and fulfilling a dream of 2,000 years, or if it's radical Muslims who want to see Jerusalem as the capital of a caliphate - all roads, for good and evil, seem to be leading back here."

Click play to watch the entire interview with Chris Mitchell. CBN News

Abbas Declares Future State 'Judenrein'

CBNNews.com 

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said no Jews, civilian or otherwise, would be permitted to live in the future Palestinian state he envisions.
Abbas made his remarks Monday during a visit to Cairo.

"In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli -- civilian or soldier -- on our lands," he said, according to Reuters.

For a man who wrote his doctoral thesis on Holocaust denial, some analysts say Abbas latest statements calling for a Judenrein (Jew-free) state aren't surprising. 

In his dissertation, Abbas alleged that Zionist leaders inflated the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust.

"It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure so that their gains will be greater," he wrote. "Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and reach stunning conclusions -- fixing the number of Jewish victims at only a few hundred thousand."

According to Abbas, Zionist leaders encouraged Nazi persecution first so Jews would immigrate and secondly because "having more victims meant greater rights and stronger privilege to join the negotiation table for dividing the spoils of war once it was over."

Abbas spent some 30 years at the side of the late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat.

Editor's Note: Finally telling some truth!

Stakelbeck on Terror: From Israel's Bible Belt to America's

Stakelbeck on Terror: From Israel's Bible Belt to America's

Stakelbeck: I recently hosted an event in Nashville for Mayor Moshe Goldsmith and his wife, Leah. The couple are longtime residents of Itamar, a town in Israel's Biblical heartland of Samaria where Moshe serves as mayor. They share the truth about Israel's ...

CBNNews: Stakelbeck on Terror: From Israel's Bible Belt to America's - May 28, 2013