New York Shows Israel Solidarity With Rainy-Day Parade and BDS Rebukes - Abra Forman - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

New York Shows Israel Solidarity With Rainy-Day Parade and BDS Rebukes

By Abra Forman June 6, 2016  BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“Set ye up an ensign upon the high mountain, lift up the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.” Isaiah 13:2 (The Israel Bible™)

The 2016 annual Celebrate Israel Parade, led by Governor Andrew Cuomo, took place on June 5, 2016. (Lev Radin/Shutterstock.com)

Inclement weather couldn’t keep the state of New York from showing its Israel pride on Sunday, with over 30,000 supporters – including Governor Andrew Cuomo –  joining the annual Celebrate Israel Parade through the streets of Manhattan despite pouring rain.
Just before the parade, Cuomo announced a new pro-Israel initiative to be implemented in New York: a state ban on dealing with companies or organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to harm Israel through economic means.

The executive order requires a list to be drawn up of all businesses that support BDS, either directly or indirectly. Once the list is established, “all executive branch agencies and departments — which make up a large portion of state government — as well as public boards, authorities, commissions, and all public-benefit corporations will be required to divest themselves of any company on the list”, the order read.

The move was met with approval by Israel’s UN Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, who said in a press statement, “Governor Cuomo’s announcement is another effective strike against those seeking to harm Israel. America is Israel’s largest and most important ally, and the governor’s initiative emphasizes this special bond.”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who also marched in Sunday’s parade, added, “The residents of New York believe in Israel and we have a deep love for the people of Israel.”

“As long as I am mayor, we will always stand by Israel,” de Blasio vowed.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio at the Celebrate Israel Parade. (Video Screenshot)

The day of the parade was overcast, with occasional downpours, but that didn’t stop thousands of supporters from turning up.

“People’s spirits are so good,” said de Blasio of the weather. “We believe in the state of Israel, we defend the state of Israel. It doesn’t matter that it’s raining, doesn’t matter what the circumstance or what the critics say, here in this city, we have a deep love for the people of Israel and the state of Israel.”

“Every act of solidarity matters,” he said firmly.

The parade, sponsored by the UJA Federation of New York in partnership with the state of Israel, featured thousands of marchers from dozens of pro-Israeli organizations, schools and clubs, some famous guests, and musical performances, including house band Soulfarm. The cast of Broadway’s “Fiddler on the Roof” joined, performing renditions of some of their musical numbers.

Senator Chuck Schumer at the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City. (Celebrate Israel Facebook Page)

“It was really great seeing how many people showed up to support Israel, even though the weather was so bad,” marcher Michael Forman, who attended with his wife Amy, told Breaking Israel News. “There was a very nice ambiance of unity and a spirit of joy throughout the parade.”

“We even got to see Kathy Lee Gifford and Senator Chuck Schumer walking by,” added Amy. “It’s just good to know that despite what you see on the news, there are so many Israel supporters out there who want to show the world how proud they are.”

The parade coincided with Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the reunification of Israel’s capital city in 1967. Much like in New York, Jerusalem’s streets were filled with blue-and-white clad supporters waving flags, singing, and dancing in celebration of God’s holy city.

A New Digital Cash System Was Just Unveiled At A Secret Meeting For Bankers In New York - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

A New Digital Cash System Was Just Unveiled At A Secret Meeting For Bankers In New York Posted: 02 May 2016   Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG Last month, a “secret meeting” that involved more than 100 executives from some of the biggest financial institutions in the United States was held in New York City.  During this “secret meeting“, a company known as “Chain” unveiled a technology that transforms U.S. dollars into “pure digital assets”.  Reportedly, there were representatives from Nasdaq, Citigroup, Visa, Fidelity, Fiserv and Pfizer in the room, and Chain also claims to be partnering with Capital One, State Street, and First Data.   This “revolutionary” technology is intended to completely change the way that we use money, and it would represent a major step toward a cashless society.  But if this new digital cash system is going to be so good for society, why was it unveiled during a secret meeting for Wall Street bankers?  Is there something more going on here than we are being told? None of us probably would have ever heard about this secret meeting if it was not for a report in Bloomberg.  The following comes from their article entitled “Inside the Secret Meeting Where Wall Street Tested Digital Cash“… On a recent Monday in April, more than 100 executives from some of the world’s largest financial institutions gathered for a private meeting at the Times Square office of Nasdaq Inc. They weren’t there to just talk about blockchain, the new technology some predict will transform finance, but to build and experiment with the software. By the end of the day, they had seen something revolutionary: U.S. dollars transformed into pure digital assets, able to be used to execute and settle a trade instantly. That’s the promise of a blockchain, where the cumbersome and error-prone system that takes days to move money across town or around the world is replaced with almost instant certainty. So it is not just Michael Snyder from The Economic Collapse Blog that is referring to this gathering as a “secret meeting”.  This is actually how it was described by Bloomberg.  And I think that there is a very good reason why this meeting was held in secret, because many in the general public would definitely be alarmed by this giant step toward a cashless society.  Here is more on this new system from Bloomberg… While cash in a bank account moves electronically all the time today, there’s a distinction between that system and what it means to say money is digital. Electronic payments are really just messages that cash needs to move from one account to another, and this reconciliation is what adds time to the payments process. For customers, moving money between accounts can take days as banks wait for confirmations. Digital dollars, however, are pre-loaded into a system like a blockchain. From there, they can be swapped immediately for an asset. “Instead of a record or message being moved, it’s the actual asset,” Ludwin said. “The payment and the settlement become the same thing.” Why this is so alarming is because we are seeing other major moves toward a cashless system all over the planet.  In Sweden, 95 percent of all retail transactions are already cashless, and ATM machines are being removed by the hundreds.  In Denmark, government officials actually have a stated goal of “eradicating cash” by the year 2030.  And in Norway, the biggest bank in the country has publicly called for the complete elimination of all cash. Other nations in Europe have already banned cash transactions over a certain amount. Here are just a couple of examples… As I have written about previously, cash transactions of more than 2,500 euros have already been banned in Spain, and France and Italy have both banned all cash transactions of more than 1,000 euros. Little by little, cash is being eradicated, and what we have seen so far is just the beginning. 417 billion cashless transactions were conducted in 2014, and the final number for 2015 is projected to be much higher. The global push toward a cashless society is only going to intensify, because banks and governments both tend to really like the idea of such a system. Banks really like the concept of a cashless society because it would force everyone to be their customers.  There would be no more hiding cash in a mattress at home or trying to pay all of your bills with paper money.  Under a cashless system, we would all be dependent on the banks, and they would make lots of money whenever we swiped our cards or our “chips” were scanned. Governments see a lot of advantages in a cashless society as well.  They tell us that they would be able to crack down on drug dealers, tax evaders, terrorists and money launderers, but the truth is that it would enable them to watch, track, monitor and control virtually all of our financial transactions.  Our lives would become open books to the government, and financial privacy would be a thing of the past. In addition, the potential for tyranny would be absolutely off the charts. Just imagine a world where the government could serve as the gatekeeper for who is allowed to use the cashless system and who is not.  They could require that we all submit to some sort of government-issued form of identification before being permitted to operate within the system, or it is even conceivable that a loyalty oath would be required. Of course if you did not submit to their demands, you could not buy, sell, open a bank account or get a job without access to the cashless system. Hopefully people can understand where this is going.  Paper money is a very important component of our freedom, and if it is taken away from us that will open the door for all sorts of abuse. Even now, cash is slowly being “criminalized” in America.  For example, if cash is used to pay for a hotel room that is considered by federal authorities to be “suspicious activity” that should be reported to the government.  Of course it isn’t against the law to pay your hotel bill in cash just yet, but according to the government it is something that “terrorists” do so it needs to be closely watched. It doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to see where all of this is going.  And for those of us that understand what time it is, this is a clear indication that it is getting late in the game. *About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog. Michael’s controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled “The Rapture Verdict” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.*

Why You Need to Add Israel to Your Top 10 Prayer List Right Now - CBN NEWS CHARISMA NEWS

Why You Need to Add Israel to Your Top 10 Prayer List Right Now

 2/9/2016 CBN NEWS  charisma news

It is vital Christians lift Israel up in prayer. (Reuters)

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Praying for Israel should be in every Christian's top 10 most important prayer items, said Eliyahu Ben-Haim, chairman of the Intercessors for Israel (IFI) in Jerusalem.

"You don't have to have Israel as your No. 1 burden. The Lord gives people all sorts of burdens, but it should be in your top 10 list, somewhere, even if it's No. 10," Ben-Haim told CBN News.

It's important to pray for Israel, he said, because it's "God's proclamation to the world that the Word of God, the Bible, is true, and it's God's proclamation to the world that Yeshua (Jesus) is returning ... maybe even soon."

Praying for Israel, he said, is at the center of the Bible.

"It is actually even more talked about in the Bible than the Lord Himself, and what was His title on the cross? 'This is Yeshua, King of the Jews,'" he noted.

More than 200 intercessors from some 40 nations gathered in Jerusalem recently for the annual IFI conference to pray for Israel, the Jewish people, the nations and the fulfillment of God's Word.

This year's conference theme was taken from Isaiah 59: "Truth Is Fallen in the Streets."

According to the conference brochure, the "two most flagrant examples of 'truth fallen in the streets' are the 'evil' Iranian nuclear deal signed last summer and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year 'that homosexual marriage was a right given under' the U.S. constitution.

"We are witnessing not just the destruction of justice, righteousness and truth, but the rapid decline of Western civilization as we have known it for the past 2,000 years," Ben-Haim wrote.

Ben Haim said at IFI they pray according to 1 Timothy, which commands Christians to pray for those in authority. Political leaders are the shepherds of a nation, he said.

"If we aren't praying for our government, we have no right to complain," he said.

Regarding Iran, it's a "world-class threat to everyone," he said.

They're working toward obtaining a nuclear bomb and ushering in the reign of the Mahdi, a false messiah, who according to Islamic tradition is "supposed to return when either a third of the world has died and at a time of enormous violence and chaos."

"The Muslims have always said they're going to defeat Israel because we love life and they love death," he said. "In Isaiah 28, even though it was spoken to the people of Israel, the Lord's talking about people who made a covenant with death, and that is Islam."

Ben-Haim also referred to current wave of Palestinian terrorism against Israel, called by some the "knife intifadah" (or uprising).

"These people are going out not just to kill, they're going out expecting to die," he said.

But there's hope.

"Isaiah 28 ends with God's promise that His flood will overcome this covenant with death, even as Yeshua has already done that Himself on the cross," he said.

"I would just encourage people to pray. Pray what you read in the Scriptures," Ben-Haim said. "God is working out His Word in this country (Israel) in a very obvious and startling manner, and He's not coming back to New York or Moscow or Charlotte. He's coming back to Jerusalem. We should have a focus on this country and on this city."

(IFI provides updates and scriptural prayer points year round on its website.)

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How Can a Jew Believe in Jesus and Still Be Jewish? - Sam Nadler

Why do some hold to the belief that a Jewish person who believes in Yeshua is no longer a Jew?

How Can a Jew Believe in Jesus and Still Be Jewish?

10/29/2015 SAM NADLER  charisma news

It all depends on who Jesus (Yeshua) is.

The New Covenant presents Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah (John 1:41, 45, 49, etc.). If He's not the Jewish Messiah, then no one should believe in Him, because His credentials as Savior of the World are based on His credentials as the Messiah of Israel.

If He is the true Messiah, then it is kosher that I as a Jewish person believe in Him. And, I would be a Jew in good standing with God, even if no one else agreed.

For argument's sake, suppose that Yeshua is a false Messiah. In the eyes of rabbinical authority, I must still be seen as a Jew. Why? Because, believing in a false messiah does not make any Jew a non-Jew. For example, in 132 c.e., Simon Bar Kochba was as a leader during the Jewish revolt against Rome. Rabbi Akiva (a very famous rabbi) declared Bar Kochba to be the Messiah, although at the time Bar Kochba had none of the accepted credentials.

However, no Jewish authority has ever said, "Akiva is no longer Jewish for believing in a false messiah." If, after endorsing a false messiah, Akiva is still considered to be a Jew in good standing, then one who believes Yeshua is Messiah cannot be considered otherwise.

In a synagogue on Long Island, New York, I once gave a presentation of why I believed Yeshua is the Messiah. Afterward, the senior rabbi stood up and declared, "Nadler, you're no longer a Jew because of your belief in Jesus!"

"Rabbi," I responded, "If the Bostoner Rebbe says I'm still a Jew, though a wayward Jew, and if the Encyclopedia Judaica declares I'm still a Jew, though a wayward one, then on what basis can you say I'm no longer a Jew?" "Well," the rabbi said, "perhaps I'm wrong." "Rabbi," I quietly responded, "maybe you're wrong about more than just that?"

To my astonishment, the synagogue audience of over a hundred Jewish people erupted into applause. It was apparent to all who would consider the issues objectively that a Jew who believes in Yeshua is still a Jew, whether the rabbi approves or not.

In the Book of John, the early believers in Yeshua described him as "the Messiah;" "the One spoken of in Moses and the Prophets;" "the King of Israel," and so on. They consistently saw Yeshua in a Jewish frame of reference, as the centerpiece of Jewish history.

Please notice also how these believers understood themselves. In both Acts 21:39 and 22:3 in the New Covenant, Paul declares first to the Romans, then again to his own Jewish people, "I am a Jew from Tarsus." At this time, Paul had been a believer in Yeshua for well over 20 years.

So, it isn't that he's confused or that he's trying to say one thing to the Romans, and something else to the Jews. Paul doesn't say that he "was a Jew," or "an ex-Jew from Tarsus," or a "former Jew," etc.—Paul considered himself a present-tense Jew.

In Romans 11:1, Paul reiterates his Jewish identity when he raises the rhetorical question, "Has God forsaken His people (Israel)?" He then answers, "Not at all! For I am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." His first "proof" that God has not forsaken Israel is himself. God chose a "Hebrew of Hebrews" (Phil. 3:5) so that the Gentile world would never think that God would forsake "a people whom He foreknew."

Today it's the same story. Every Jewish believer living his or her present-tense Jewish identity testifies, "Am Yisrael Chai b'Yeshua HaMashiach!"—The people of Israel live in Yeshua the Messiah! For if the Lord would break His promises to Israel, why should anyone else think Him trustworthy regarding the Good News of Yeshua?

A few years back, I was invited to speak on a secular radio call-in show in Miami, Florida. I received a number of "you're-no-longer-a-Jew" calls from Jewish listeners. Then a call came in from a more polite gentleman: "Mr. Nadler, now that you're a believer in Jesus you're no longer a Jew, for the Bible says that 'in Messiah there's neither Jew nor Greek.'"

I recognized the Scripture portion and responded over the air, "Oh, you mean Galatians 3:28, 'there's neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female; for we are all one in Messiah Jesus'."

"Exactly," the caller replied. 

"Then let me ask you a question. Are you a believer?" 

"Yes, I am," he answered.

"Great. Are you married?" I asked. "Well, yes, I'm married," he slowly answered. "Is your wife a believer?" "Yes, she's a believer," he responded after a longer pause.

"Well," I said, pausing to catch my breath. "If you're a believer and still a male, and your wife is a believer and still a female, then I'm a believer and still a Jew. The verse in Galatians is not teaching that we lose our identities in Messiah, but that there's only one way to God for all people."

An extremely long pause, then "You mean... I'm still Jewish?"

"If you were born a Jew," I responded, "then you're still a Jew."

"Hallelujah!" he shouted over the airwaves, "They told me I was no longer Jewish."

Yes, it has been said that one cannot believe in Jesus and still be Jewish. However, if, as the Bible teaches, Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, then trusting in Him is the most Jewish decision a person could ever make.

Dr. Sam Nadler is a Jewish believer in Jesus and has been in Messianic Jewish ministry for over 40 years.  Sam is the president of Word of Messiah Ministries, which is bringing the Good News to the Jew first but not to the Jew only, and planting Messianic Congregations in Jewish communities worldwide. To encourage and equip the Body of Messiah in our shared calling, Sam is invited to speak in churches across the country, and has written multiple books on Jewish evangelism, discipleship, and the Feasts of Israel. For more information and resources, or to invite Sam to speak at your church, visit www.wordofmessiah.org. 

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Rabbi Threatens to Kill Messianic Jewish Evangelists - ISRAEL TODAY

Eitan Bar and Moti Vaknin, the Israeli Messianic Jews behind the One For Israel project

Rabbi Threatens to Kill Messianic Jewish Evangelists

Sunday, October 25, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

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Topics:

Messianic Jews

A well-known, though already controversial, Israeli rabbi recently released a video encouraging his followers that Messianic Jews sharing the Gospel deserve the “death penalty.”

“Whoever incites to idolatry, his punishment is death,” stated Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi. “And whoever follows him also deserves death!”

Mizrachi was referring specifically to Eitan Bar and Moti Vaknin, the Israeli Messianic Jews behind the One For Israel project that exists primarily to share the Gospel via the Internet.

In one of their more recent videos, Bar and Vaknin exposed several of Mizrachi’s false teachings regarding Yeshua and the promises about Messiah.

Mizrachi warned that “if they dare to speak up again, these two clowns, I will strike them down.”

In a video response to Mizrachi’s threat, Bar and Vaknin asked for prayers for their personal safety, but also expressed forgiveness and love for the wayward rabbi.

“Rabbi Mizrachi, we still love you, forgive your incitement, and refuse to hate you back,” said Vaknin.

Born in Israel, Rabbi Mizrachi now resides in New York where he heads an organization that teaches his brand of Judaism to both religious and secular Jews. He has courted controversy in the past by, among other things, suggesting that Down’s Syndrome and autism are “punishments for sins committed in a previous life.”

Watch the full video response by Eitan Bar and Moti Vaknin here: Rabbi and Messianic Jews

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Rosh Hashanna in New York 100+ Years Ago.

Israel's History - a Picture a Day -  Rosh Hashanna in New York 100+ Years Ago

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• Rosh Hashanna in New York 100+ Years Ago. The Busiest Men in New York on New Year's Eve
• Correction to Our Posting about Max Rossvally and "Blowing Smoke"
• Gallery of Rosh Hashanna Photos in New York 100 Years Ago. To Our Jewish Readers. 
• May You Be Inscribed and Photographed in the Book of Life

Rosh Hashanna in New York 100+ Years Ago. The Busiest Men in New York on New Year's Eve Posted: 12 Sep 2015 The George Bain Collection in the Library of Congress contains several dozen pictures of New York's Jewish community. Our previous posting showed the community commemorating the Jewish New Year.  "Celebrating the Jewish New Year on the East Side" (circa 1910, Bain Collection, Library of Congress) But during a period of about 10 years at the beginning of the 20th century, the Bain photographers focused on a group of very busy men on the eve of Rosh Hashanna -- not the rabbis or the cantors -- but the "boot blacks," the shoe shiners on the street corners.  Note the women customers, perhaps the reason for the Bain photographers' interest. "Bootblack stand, busy on Jewish New Year, Sept. 1905" (Bain Collection, Library of Congress) "Jewish New Year - boot blacks" (circa 1910-1915, Bain Collection, Library of Congress)   "Jewish New Year - boot blacks" (circa 1910-1915, Bain Collection, Library of Congress)  "   "Jew[ish] New Year - boot black"  (September 1912, Bain Collection, Library of Congress)

'NYT' Best-Selling Author Mark Levin Has Strong Warning for America

 9/2/2015 DAVID BRODY/CBN  charisma news

In 'Plunder and Deceit,' Mark Levin issues a strong, clear warning for America, taking direct aim at what he sees at the threat posed by a growing, powerful federal government. (Reuters)

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Mark Levin has done it again. The popular radio show host has hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-selling list with his new book, Plunder and Deceit.

CBN's David Brody recently spoke with Levin for a closer look at his latest message to the masses.

Levin's Warning to America

On the radio, Levin pulls no punches with his millions of listeners. And as an author, he's fighting mad too.

In Plunder and Deceit, he issues a strong, clear warning for America, taking direct aim at what he sees at the threat posed by a growing, powerful federal government.

"It's transitioning into something more oppressive, more coercive and it's transitioning into something that is not constitutional," Levin said.

Levin said it's the next generation that will be in the crosshairs. That's the focus of the book: a clinical factual dissection of how liberal federal government policies—be they social, environmental or economic —are ruining the future.

"Future generations don't vote. They don't exist yet so they keep stealing from them," he charged. "They keep robbing from them, which means they are going to have limited liberty; they're going to have limited opportunity, limited wealth creation and we're spending it all today."

"This is something really unbelievable, that we are stealing from unborn babies, Lord knows how far into the future, their future," he said.

Social Security Crisis

Just one of Levin's examples of the dangers America and the next generation face: Social Security.

The long-time entitlement program needs structural changes to survive, and while solutions to change it have been around for years, nothing is being done.

Not only that—Levin also lays out the case that Social Security is already technically bankrupt.

"I don't even think people who receive these benefits know what's going on," Levin said. "Many of them don't know that the money doesn't exist."

"All that money that they paid into the system, there is no system," he continued. "That money was taken and spent the second it was taken on other government projects, on other government programs."

Call to Action

So where does this leave the next generation? What can be done?

"How do you get younger Americans, the next generation involved in these issues and to take notice of what's going on in this country?" Brody asked Levin.

"One at a time," he replied. "There are millions and millions of parents and grandparents who know exactly what I'm talking about and they're worried about what's going on in this country."

"They know like I know intuitively and through intellect that the country is headed in a very bad place and it's moving there very, very quickly," he warned.

Levin sees Plunder and Deceit as a pamphlet to equip communities with facts they will hopefully share with others in a variety of settings.

"In the home, during the holidays, at the dinner table, at the breakfast table, when you are putting your kids to bed—those are the circumstances," he said. "We as parents and grandparents have more influence on our children and grandchildren than we can possibly know."

Levin believes change won't come from Washington. Just like in Revolutionary War days, change comes from "we the people" because he believes ideas stir up action—and lead to consequences.

"I think tens of millions of us are extremely concerned about where this country is going," Levin told CBN News. "Maybe we are in the majority; maybe we're not—I don't know—but there are tens of millions of us and that's a big army of people."

"If thousands of us —not even millions of us, let alone tens of millions of us—really take this seriously, you don't know where we can go with this because in this great country there are many great people who will do many great things," he said.

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Are We Headed Toward Revival or Retribution? DAVID RAVENHILL

Are We Headed Toward Revival or Retribution?

10/1/2014 DAVID RAVENHILL   CHARISMA NEWS

David Ravenhill

Within the last three days I've received two very different YouTube messages from two senior charismatic prophetic leaders. The first leader, Rick Joyner, was citing a very vivid and frightening dream he recently had of terrorists coming across our southern border and carrying out unimaginable acts of brutality. So horrendous were these acts that Joyner stated he was not even going to describe them due to their violent and barbaric nature. (Only today we learned of the beheading of an Oklahoma woman by a recent convert to Islam.)

The other video centered around the "Appeal To Heaven" movement. Dutch Sheets, a well-known teacher and prophetic minister, was relating how our nation's first flag was that of a green pine tree on a white background bearing the words "Appeal to Heaven."

America during its first fledgling years knew the people's only hope for existence as a nation was sole dependency upon God. The point of the message was that several people through dreams, etc., believed that God was once again bringing us back to this place of absolute dependency upon Him; and that as we sought Him, He would bring about a Third Great Awakening in our nation.

My first reaction to these very different prophetic words was one of confusion. On one hand was the possibility of retribution while on the other, that of revival.

What was I to believe? As I pondered over these words I came to the realization that both were correct and that one was not necessarily in opposition to the other.          

Let me see if I can explain myself. I believe it's all a matter of timing or order.

Imagine if you were one of the many hundreds of missionaries who had given their lives to serve God in China prior to the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao Zedong. Once the revolution had begun, you were forced to leave—no doubt wondering in your mind what on earth was going to happen now that all the missionaries had been forced out. Fast-forward to the present, and we are now witnessing one of the greatest moves of God in recent history. What at first appeared to be a major disaster turned into mighty testimony to the power and grace of God.

The prophet Isaiah declared, "When the earth experiences Thy judgments the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness." He went on to say, "Though the wicked is shown favor he does not learn righteousness" (Is. 26:9-10). It is my personal belief that America is in for a time of judgment and that to be shown favor now would only delay God's ultimate purpose.

That said, I believe we are going to see an increase in violence, terrorism and natural calamities. God will use this to separate the carnal from the consecrated and in turn, produce a church that is truly Christ-centered. It would not surprise me in the least to see an underground church in America in the not-too-distant future—a church where every member functions in their God-given gifting and where everyone depends not only on each other but also holds fast to Christ their Lord and Head.

I truly believe that God wants to send revival to our nation, but revival now would simply cause the vast majority of believers to go on with business as usual.

I well recall during the first year of our ministry working with Brother David Wilkerson in Teen Challenge in Brooklyn, New York. One cold winter's day two drug addicts came in seeking shelter. Bro. David talked to them for a while and then I saw them leave. Bro. David said to me after they had left that he couldn't help them because they were not desperate enough to give up their drugs. He went on to say that all they really wanted was a bed for the night and a good hot meal. I somehow think that is what the church is looking for in revival—a good sermon, some great music, followed by some carpet time.

But I believe God's plans are radically different. He's looking for a pure, passionate, powerful people whose only desire is to extend His kingdom. A people who will love not their lives unto death, and whose first love is not the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL, but Christ Himself.

We are nowhere near to having Christ as our first love. God must first produce a real CRY in His people. We cry when we are in pain and not until. King David said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now I have kept Thy word" (Ps. 119:67, KJV). Or to put it another way, "Spare the rod and spoil the child."

The shakings have begun. Watch out for more. But remember, that while "no chastening seems to be joyful for the present ... afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Heb. 12:11, NKJV, emphasis added).

I see Joyner's dream coming to pass first, and then followed by a great awakening.

That's my opinion, and time will prove me right or wrong.

David Ravenhill has served the Lord for more than 40 years as a missionary, pastor, teacher and itinerant minister, having worked with the late evangelist David Wilkerson, Youth With A Mission, pastor Mike Bickle and the late evangelist Steve Hill. He is the author of several books, including For God's Sake, Grow Up! and Welcome Home.

Unless otherwise specified, the opinions expressed are solely the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Charisma Media.