Showing posts with label Epicenter. Show all posts

Friday, October 18, 2013

Ultimate Curse for US? - Joel Rosenberg

Joel C. Rosenberg Reveals

Ultimate Curse for US

Last Friday, I had the honor of addressing the Values Voter Summit in the nation’s capital. To watch the video of the speech—which runs about 22 minutes—please click here.

In my remarks, I noted that Americans increasingly fear for the future of our country. Today, nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe the country is on the “wrong track,” and they’re right. Families are imploding from adultery and divorce. We have chronically high unemployment, sluggish economic growth and skyrocketing national debt. We are facing high rates of crime and drug and alcohol abuse and tragically high suicide rates among our young people and armed forces.

And then there is the most haunting number—55 million babies who have been aborted since 1973. Soon, if this is not changed, we will reach 60 million babies murdered.

For these and many other reasons, America is in grave danger. Unless we repent and plead with the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive us—and give us a Third Great Awakening—we face not only the possibility of the Lord removing His hand of grace and favor on us, but also His bringing judgment to us.

But I noted that we face another dangerous moment as well. What if, on top of all of our other national sins, America turns against Israel and the Jewish people?

The Lord God Almighty said clearly in the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:1-3), “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.” At this critical moment in American history, do we want God’s blessing, or will we invite His curse?

Unfortunately, U.S.-Israel ties have been more strained in recent years than at any other time since 1948. A large and growing number of Israelis feel like they are increasingly alone in the world and that their longtime faithful ally, the United States, might not be there for them when the next big crisis hits.

A new poll published by the Jerusalem Post, for example, notes that “two-thirds of Jewish Israelis believe U.S. President Barack Obama will fail to keep his promise to prevent Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.”
While the vast majority of the speakers at the Values Voter Summit are staunchly pro-Israel, one speaker—Sen. Rand Paul—has called for eliminating all U.S. military aid to Israel.
The situation has gotten so serious that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu felt compelled during his recent U.N. speech to say, “Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

How serious is the possibility that America will eventually turn against Israel? What should Christians do?

I hope you will take some time to watch the address, share it with others and then comment on our“Epicenter Team” page on Facebook and/or send me a note on Twitter at @JoelCRosenberg.

Joel C. Rosenberg is the author of numerous New York Times best-selling novels and nonfiction books, with nearly 3 million copies sold. He is also the founder of the Joshua Fund(www.joshuafund.net). His books include The Last Jihad (2002), The Last Days (2003), The Ezekiel Option (2005) and The Copper Scroll(2006).

For the original article, visit joelrosenberg.com.

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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Egyptian Christians' 'Radical' Response to Islamists

By Chris Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief

MINYA, Egypt -- The city of Minya sits at the epicenter of the persecution against the Christian Church in Egypt. During the past two weeks, Christians have suffered the worst attacks in centuries. Radical Islam spurred the violence, but the onslaught is being met with the love of Christ.

Worst Violence in Centuries

The Amir Tadros Church in Minya is just one of dozens of churches that have been burned down throughout the country.

The interior of the century-old church was completely destroyed.

One expert told CBN News the violence against Christian churches in Egypt is the worst in nearly 700 years.

Exclusive video shows that the inside of the sanctuary is completely gutted and the altar destroyed.

Now the church is holding its services at 6:30 a.m., using a makeshift altar erected outside. Engineers say the church would need to be torn down before it could be rebuilt.

"To be sure that everything is burned, they put fire in every place," Ezzrat, a U.N. human rights officer, said.

"Before this time they make a sign for Christian places or cars or houses or buildings. And if the place has an X on it, they burned the place," he explained. "And that shows that they planned this before."

Loving Your Enemies

The churches weren't the only targets. Cars, schools, and businesses owned by Christians were also destroyed. Muslim radicals marked Christian businesses with a black X before torching them.

Perhaps most shocking was the destruction of a Christian orphanage.

Muslim mobs attacked and destroyed a Coptic Christian orphanage called Christ Soldiers, leaving about 200 children without shelter.

The Christians who run the orphanage left a message for the attackers on the building's exterior wall: "You meant to hurt us, but we forgive you. God is love. Everything works out for good."

They also wrote, "Love your enemies."

Evangelical ministries bore the brunt of many of the attacks. There's not much left of the Bible Society of Egypt's bookstore in Minya. Their store in nearby Azuit was also destroyed.

Those bookstores used to look like the Bible Society's main bookstore in Cairo. Now the Bibles, books, and children's materials are in shambles.

"For the last 130 years we have been operating," Bible Society of Egypt Vice President Ehad Tanas told CBN News. "We have bookshops in the streets and the main cities in Cairo and Alexandria, Tantur, Upper Egypt and it [the destruction] has never happened before in the history of the Bible Society."

According to one Egyptian website, angry mobs attacked more than 60 churches from Minya to Alexandria to Giza and Suez and throughout Egypt.

Muslim Brotherhood vs. Christians

The rampage began after Muslim Brotherhood supporters targeted the churches as scapegoats for the army's decision to break up two Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo.

They also blamed the church for allegedly participating in the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Yet Christians point out many of their Muslim neighbors defended and protected them.

They don't see this as a Muslim against Christian issue, but as the Muslim Brotherhood against the Christians. And even though they've been targeted, they're responding with forgiveness and pressing on in the face of persecution.

A Sunday school class at the Amir Tadros Church now meets in an alcove off the main building. They're learning about the namesake of the church, who was a Christian martyr. It's not your typical Sunday school lesson.

"This day I think the children have a life experience," Sunday school teacher Marka William told CBN News. "They see their church burned. They see how they are treated all the day. They see us forgive our enemies."

"We respond as every other Christian has responded," Tanas said. "We are in Egypt to serve. We are in Egypt to demonstrate the Christian love. We do every effort to be self-restrained and to show the Christian love that the Lord has taught us to show."

'Pray for Us'

The churches are asking for prayer and support from the Church worldwide.

"They can pray for us all the time [and] ask Jesus to save us," William said.

"What happens in Egypt affects the Middle East, so we ask them to pray for the country," Tanas said. "We ask them to pray for Christians. We ask them to pray for the Middle East."

"We also ask them to pray for the government, the existing government that the Lord will give them wisdom and guidance in every decision they make," he added.

While living under threats, they vow to continue their ministries. They say the buildings have been destroyed, but the Church goes on and their faith remains in Jesus Christ who promised He would build His church.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Joel Rosenberg - The Church's Call to Stand with Israel - Watchmen on the Wall Conference

Published on Jun 1, 2013

Watchmen on the Wall Conference 2013
Joel Rosenberg - The Church's Call to Stand with Israel

Joel Rosenberg's website

ABOUT JOEL

Joel C. Rosenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels—The Last Jihad, The Last Days, The Ezekiel Option, The Copper Scroll, Dead Heat, The Twelfth Imam, and The Tehran Initiative—and five nonfiction books, Epicenter, Inside the Revolution, Implosion,Israel at War, and The Invested Life, with nearly 3 million copies sold.

The Ezekiel Option received the Gold Medallion award as the "Best Novel of 2006" from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Joel is the producer of two documentary films based on his nonfiction books. He is also the founder of The Joshua Fund, a nonprofit educational and charitable organization to mobilize Christians to "bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus" with food, clothing, medical supplies, and other humanitarian relief.

As a communications advisor, Joel has worked with a number of U.S. and Israeli leaders, including Steve Forbes, Rush Limbaugh, Natan Sharansky, and Benjamin Netanyahu. As an author, he has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and TV programs, including ABC's Nightline, CNN Headline News, FOX News Channel, The History Channel, MSNBC, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Sean Hannity Show, and The Glenn Beck Show.

He has been profiled by the New York Times, the Washington Times, the Jerusalem Post, and World magazine. He has addressed audiences all over the world, including those in Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, and the Philippines. He has also spoken at the White House, the Pentagon, and to members of Congress.

In 2008, Joel designed and hosted the first Epicenter Conference in Jerusalem. The event drew two thousand Christians who wanted to "learn, pray, give, and go" to the Lord's work in Israel and the Middle East. Subsequent Epicenter Conferences have been held in San Diego (2009); Manila, Philippines (2010); Philadelphia (2010); Jerusalem (2011); and Albuquerque, New Mexico (2012).

The live webcast of the Philadelphia conference drew some thirty-four thousand people from more than ninety countries to listen to speakers such as Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon; pastors from the U.S., Israel, and Iran; Lt. General (ret.) Jerry Boykin; Kay Arthur; Janet Parshall; Tony Perkins; and Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the founders of Hamas who has renounced Islam and terrorism and become a follower of Jesus Christ and a friend of both Israelis and Palestinians.

The son of a Jewish father and a Gentile mother, Joel is an evangelical Christian with a passion to make disciples of all nations and teach Bible prophecy. A graduate of Syracuse University with a BFA in filmmaking, he is married, has four sons, and lives near Washington, D.C.

To visit Joel's weblog—or sign up for his free weekly "Flash Traffic" e-mails—please visit www.joelrosenberg.com.

Please also visit these other websites:

www.joshuafund.net

www.epicenterconference.com

and Joel's "Epicenter Team" and the Joel C. Rosenberg public profile page on Facebook.

- See more at: http://www.joelrosenberg.com/about-joel/#sthash.U3me2oU9.dpuf