Showing posts with label Palestine. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Should Jesus Unite Mortal Enemies? - Tsvi Sadan ISRAEL TODAY

Should Jesus Unite Mortal Enemies?

Monday, February 15, 2016 | Tsvi Sadan ISRAEL TODAY

Topics:

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is taking a toll on Messianic Jews and Arab Christians who, in principle, are supposed to follow Jesus' command to love one's enemy.

The tension between Messianic Jews and Evangelical Palestinians has grown ever deeper with the appearance of the Christ at the Checkpoint conferences that promote a brand of Replacement Theology in which "Palestine" replaces Israel.

Most Messianic Jews have boycotted these conferences for their blatant hate toward Israel, and for their aggressive theological efforts to delegitimize the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.

Some Messianic Jews, however, think that no matter what the circumstances, conflict between Messianic Jews and Evangelical Palestinians is intolerable and unacceptable.

In an effort to resolve this conflict, a group of Messianic Jews and Evangelical Palestinians, most of whom are organizers of and participants in the caustic Christ at the Checkpoint conferences, met last month in Larnaca, Cyprus.

A press release published on the website of the very same people who organize, draft and propagate the "Palestine is Israel" agenda, outlines the way in which people who hold diametrically-opposed theological positions can still live up to Jesus' command to love your enemy.

The document proposes some practical steps aimed at expressing the unity that should exist between the two groups.

The document asserts that unity is possible on the basis of common ethical values: "...our unity in the Messiah must uphold ethical standards of life that are worthy of our calling." In order to live up to this standard the document calls for “a generous theological stance, which makes room for and respects the conscientious convictions of others that they sincerely derive from their reading of Scripture.”

In other words, those drafting this document believe that sincerity alone if enough to validate irreconcilable interpretations of the same sacred text. Sincerity and goodwill supersede truth.

The document goes on to state that "we recognize that we hold very different theological positions regarding the land," yet "deplore those ways of speaking and acting that are incompatible with obedience to our Lord."

Simply put, in this version of Christian righteousness, a Palestinian "brother" can maintain that "the establishment of the State of Israel as a catastrophe" and still be able to live in peace with Messianic Jews. Similarly, a Messianic Jew is expected to embrace those who are calling for his demise.

This conclusion is possible, but only if the Messianic Jews in question fail to see themselves as part of greater Israel, in which case they can tolerate the notion that Israel's rebirth was a catastrophe.

If, however, Messianic Jews do see themselves as an integral part of Israel, this document is yet further evidence of a disturbing phenomenon wherein Jews in increasing numbers are embracing the destructive narrative of their enemies. Only in this case they are doing so in the name of Jesus.

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.

Friday, February 5, 2016

God Rains Down Divine Retribution Upon Detractors of Israel - by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

(Photo: GraphicStock)

God Rains Down Divine Retribution Upon Detractors of Israel

by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS February 5, 2016

“And if in spite of these things ye will not be corrected unto Me, but will walk contrary unto Me; then will I also walk contrary unto you; and I will smite you, even I, seven times for your sins.” (Leviticus 26:23-24)

Margot Wallström, Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, has earned a reputation for Israel-bashing. The first blatant anti-Israel offense came in 2014, when she became the first European Union foreign minister to recognize the state of Palestine.

After the horrifying terror attacks in Paris last November, she came out with a statement linking Islamic anger to the lack of a two-state solution. Even worse, after months of terror in which Palestinians were attacking Israelis in the streets on an almost daily basis, she accused Israel in January of carrying out “extrajudicial executions”.

Israel reacted through diplomatic channels, but a more powerful force stepped in. Three days after Wallström accused Israel of executing Palestinians, it was revealed that she had jumped to the head of an eight-year waiting list for apartments owned by a labor union. Stockholm is suffering from a serious shortage of housing and this was viewed by the Swedish public as an egregious misuse of her position. Anti-corruption prosecutors are investigating the case now to determine if it constitutes bribery, which carries a potential two-year prison term.

This type of instant karma is the rule and not the exception when it comes to politicians that treat Israel badly. One of the clearest examples of divine slap-down came on January 21, 1998, when US President Bill Clinton gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a decidedly cold reception at the White House, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refused to have lunch with Netanyahu. Things looked grim for Israel, but later that day, the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke out, ultimately resulting in Clinton’s impeachment.

President George H.W. Bush signed the Oslo Accords on October 30, 1991, setting the stage for the disastrous “Land for Peace” process. The very next day, a hurricane dubbed “The Perfect Storm” hit the east coast of the United States, destroying Bush’s house in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Occasionally, divine intervention can take an ironic turn. As president, Jimmy Carter was not nearly as involved with Israel as he has been since leaving office. In his book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, he blames Israel’s “colonization of Palestinian land” as being “the primary obstacle to a comprehensive peace agreement”.

Carter was a proponent of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) since it seemed to produce results and bear pressure on Israel to negotiate. He has also met with many leaders of Hamas and during the 2014 war in Gaza, called for Israel to negotiate with Hamas.

One year later, he was diagnosed with cancer and melanomas were found in his brain and liver. After only a few months of treatment, the doctors pronounced him cancer-free. Pembrolizumab, a drug developed in Israel, was a key element in his treatment. His adherence to boycotting Israeli products and innovations obviously had its limits.

Carter’s miracle cure may not have been solely attributed to Israeli science. His sins against the Jewish people may have been forgiven in December 2009, when Carter published an open letter apologizing for any words or deeds that may have upset the Jewish community. In the letter, he said he was offering an Al Het, a prayer of repentance, said on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.

Divine retribution is not restricted to non-Jews. Ariel Sharon had achieved almost legendary status in Israel. After a spectacular army career, he entered politics and, at the head of the Likud party, was elected prime minister in 2001. He endorsed the Roadmap for Peace and began plans to remove the Jewish population of Gush Katif from the Gaza Strip. The dismantling of the Jewish settlements was scheduled for August 15th, 2005, the day after Tisha b’Av, the anniversary of both Jewish Temples being destroyed.

In July, one month before the IDF dismantled Gush Katif and evicted almost 9,000 Jews from their homes, Rabbi Yosef Dayan, a member of the nascent Sanhedrin who can trace his lineage back to King David, led a group of ten rabbis in performing an obscure, ancient Kabbalistic ceremony, the Pulsa diNura, on Sharon. The Pulsa diNura invokes the angels of destruction to block heavenly forgiveness of the subject’s sins, causing all the curses named in the Bible to befall him and resulting in his death.

Sharon’s health deteriorated, and by January, he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, entering a vegetative state from which he never recovered. Rabbi Dayan also led rabbis in the Pulsa diNura against Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin a few months before he was assassinated. Rabin was shot and killed in 1995 by Yigal Amir, an extremist who opposed Rabin’s peace initiative and particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords.

Rabbi Dayan told Breaking Israel News that none of these events were simple coincidence, but divine justice. “Today, there isn’t prophecy. God presents circumstances for us to try to understand him, to express our belief in him,” he explained. “These aren’t things that happen by chance or coincidence. This is not just true for politics, but it is also true for politics. Politicians are, after all, simple servants of God, no less or more than the rest of us.”

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Israeli Deputy FM: West Finances Palestinian Terror | Aviel Schneider ISRAEL TODAY

Israeli Deputy FM: West Finances Palestinian Terror

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Aviel Schneider ISRAEL TODAY

Topics:

Terrorism

Three of the latest Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israeli Jews were carried out by children aged 13, 15 and 16. All three of these children were encouraged to commit heinous crimes by programming on Palestinian Authority TV, as confirmed by the 16-year-old killer of Dafna Meir, a Jewish mother of six.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (pictured) said Western governments are ultimately responsible for this because it is they who bankroll the Palestinian Authority without demanding proper accountability.

Of course, Palestinian parents also have a role to play.

The father of the aforementioned 16-year-old killer told Israeli media that he opposed the attack, but when speaking before Palestinian cameras he praised the actions of his son.

The father of a 13-year-old Palestinian girl, Rakia Abu Ayid, who was shot and killed while trying to stab Israelis, likewise said he was proud of what his child had done. “Praise be to Allah. This was done in service to Al Aqsa Mosque and Palestine,” the father told Palestinian TV. “She will now meet her siblings in paradise and Allah will have mercy!”

A similar account was given by the parents of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot and killed after stabbing and moderately wounding a pregnant Jewish woman in Judea. The boy’s mother called him a “holy martyr.”

Hotovely told Israel Radio on Monday that Western governments involved in the peace process need to take responsibility for their role in this tragic situation.

“The international community needs to intervene here. It is unreasonable that money given by the West to the Palestinian Authority is used to incite terrorism against Israel,” she said.

Indeed, the West seems almost entirely unconcerned about what has become of the roughly $21.5 billion given to the Palestinians over the past 25 years. “Where’s has all that money gone?” wondered Hotovely.

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.

Monday, January 25, 2016

The Prophetic Truth Behind the Rapprochement Between the Pope and the Jews By Rivkah Lambert Adler - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

Rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, accompanies Pope Francis, during a visit at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, on May 26, 2014. (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/FLASH90)

“Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD; but they that deal truly are His delight.” (Proverbs 12:22)

On the surface, it looks like Pope Francis and the Jews are cozying up to one another and becoming besties. Below the surface, an End of Days prophecy that pits Rome against Jerusalem is playing out.

That’s the contention of Rabbi Tovia Singer, a Jewish expert in both Hebrew and Christian Scripture and director of the counter-missionary organization, Outreach Judaism. Singer opens his case by noting the proximity of two recent news items.

Orthodox Rabbis Hold Out An Olive Branch

On December 3, 2015, the Center for Jewish Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC) issued a statement calling for increased cooperation between Jews and Christians. Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn, Academic Director of CJCUC told Breaking Israel News, “The statement was addressed to the Jewish community primarily, and secondarily to the Christian community.

“Most of our statement referred to the developments in the Catholic Church (e.g. Nostra Aetate) but it also applies to all Christians and churches who are not actively converting Jews and acknowledge that the biblical covenant between God and the Jewish people is still a valid living covenant.”

Nostra Aetate, passed in 1965, is a declaration by the Catholic Church that the Jewish people of today are not responsible for the death of Jesus. The statement also condemns any expression of anti-Semitism and confirms that “God holds the Jews most dear.”

Korn further commented to Breaking Israel News, “Our statement was not coordinated with the Vatican or the Pope’s request in any explicit way. As Orthodox rabbis, we felt that after 50 years there was a need to express our position on the positive changes brought about by Nostra Aetate and the Church’s affirmation of the validity of the special covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people, which is the foundation of Judaism.”

Vatican Tells Catholics to Stop Trying to Convert Jews

Just one week later, on December 10, 2015, the Vatican called on Catholics to stop missionizing Jews.

In an extended interview with Breaking Israel News, Singer explained that, while that gesture looked to many like the next stage of friendship between the Jewish people and the Catholic Church, the Vatican’s statement is essentially meaningless since “Roman Catholics haven’t evangelized Jews in 75 years.”

Singer acknowledged that the evangelical Christians who oppose the Vatican’s statement are theologically correct when they claim that Pope Francis is presenting a distorted view of a central Christian teaching. “The New Testament clearly tells that Jews are the primary audience [for conversion],” he told Breaking Israel News.

These two events – the peaceful statement of more than 50 Orthodox rabbis toward Catholicism and the Pope’s command to stop converting Jews – look to many like rapprochement.

However, according to Singer, there’s a third, darker element that has been overlooked by most. This third element, which has prophetic implications, tells the real story of the Catholic Church’s agenda toward Israel.

Pope Makes Friends With Abbas

In May 2015, the Pope drew the Roman Catholic Church closer to the Palestinian Authority when he called PA President Mahmoud Abbas a man of faith and an angel of peace. A month later, in June 2015, the Vatican signed a treaty recognizing the State of Palestine.

Although the modern state of Israel was established in 1948, diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican were not established until 1993, 43 years after the founding of the State. Yet the Vatican has already recognized the State of Palestine, despite the fact that no such entity exists.

The Prophecy

According to Singer, the Pope recognizing the PA points to an End of Days prophecy that speaks of Edom (Rome) coming up against Jerusalem. The Jewish people’s conflict with Edom is discussed in the Book of Daniel (2:31-35) which speaks of four exiles of the Jewish people. Until the arrival of the Messiah, the Jewish people, even those who live in Israel, are still in the fourth exile, known as Galut Edom (the Exile of Rome)

The Exile of Rome began when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in the year 70 CE, and continues until today. It will only end in the Messianic days, when the Third Temple is built. The Book of Obadiah includes a prophecy that, at the End of Days, Edom (Rome) will attempt to come up against Jerusalem a second time.

The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom: We have heard a message from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the nations: ‘Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.’ (Obadiah 1:1)

According to Singer, the surest way for Edom to “rise up against Jerusalem” and destroy Israel is to strengthen her enemy. Thus, the Pope’s friendship with Abbas and his efforts to embolden the PA is the real story, the true fulfillment of the prophecy of Obadiah.

Singer urged that the world not be fooled by signs that the Pope and the Jews are warming up to one another. The Catholic Church’s true agenda, to fight against Jerusalem, as Obadiah prophesied, is being revealed by the Church’s recognition of the non-existent State of Palestine.

LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE FEATURED BOOK

Paperback: $5.95

Kindle $1.99

Buy here: End of Days by Steve Martin

My heart yearns for the glory of the Lord Jesus to be revealed in the earth, touching the hearts and souls of men, women and children in each and every nation. As we see the days become darker, we believe that the Lord God of Israel will show Himself strong, and prove that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, as He says He is.

I wrote this book for you who also long to walk in strong faith, courage and commitment to the end, for whatever the Lord has planned and purposed for you and I. Together, as the Body of Christ, and the glorious Bride that we will become, we will one day see His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. The Gospel, the Good News of salvation, will be declared, and that which is just and good will for all eternity overcome the evil one.

I sincerely believe we are living in the end of days, as prophetic words have been rapidly fulfilled since the re-birth of Israel in 1948. Jesus Himself had said that when we see the fig tree budding, we know that the time is near.

This book, my 10th published in the last three years (all between 2013-2015) and before my 61st birthday, is very special to me. I sense it is something the Lord put on my heart to do several months ago, giving it that “urgency of getting it done and out there” feel as I wrote. Originally these chapters were Now Think On This messages. It was amazing to me how many were done in September and October of 2015 alone, as the Holy Spirit would speak a word or sentence to me, and I would write soon after. I am truly grateful for His impartation, and acknowledge Jesus (Yeshua), my Lord and Savior, above all.

The photos I have included in the book are primarily ones I took (exceptions noted), both to document history and to share another way the Lord also speaks to His Body. Capturing moments of the Holy Spirit action, especially in the two “fire” photos, were exciting. In both cases I wasn’t even aware of it until they were “developed”.

I trust this book will both encourage you and cause you to re-commit yourself - to know the Lord’s will for your life, do all you can to allow Him to direct your steps, and be the light in these dark days we desperately need and have been called upon by the Lord to be. I am with you, arm in arm! Ahava (love in Hebrew) and shalom (peace),

Steve Martin
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC
Jan. 25, 2016

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog: ISIS waging war of genocide against Christians in the Mideast.

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

BREAKING NEWS: ISIS waging war of genocide against Christians in the Mideast. New UN report provides chilling details.

(Austin, Texas) -- The evidence is in, and it's chilling -- the Islamic State is intentionally waging a war of genocide against Christians in Iraq and Syria.

The jihadists are systematically trying to exterminate the Christian population in both countries by forcing followers of Jesus Christ to convert to their brand of Apocalyptic Islam or enslaving them, murdering them, starving them, and/or driving them out of the region.

This is the case I began to lay out during a presentation at Life Austin Church here in the Texas capital on Thursday night. It was part of a series of messages I'm delivering across the U.S. on radio, TV and in churches as part of The First Hostage book tour.

For the moment, ISIS is focusing their genocidal campaign on the populations of Iraq and Syria. But this is only the beginning. According to their Apocalyptic Islamic eschatology, ISIS leaders want expand their genocidal campaign throughout Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt and the rest of the region in order to broaden their Islamic kingdom or caliphate and hasten the coming of the Mahdi, who they believe will then establish a worldwide caliphate.

Consider the trend lines:

The number of Christians in Syria has dropped from 1.25 million to 500,000 in recent years, according to analyses by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ).
The number of Christians in Iraq have dropped from 1.4 million to fewer than 275,000 in recent years, which ACLJ notes is "an 80% drop."

“When hundreds of thousands of Christians – men, women and children – are killed, this isn’t war -- this is genocide," argues World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder. "And we Jews know what happens when the world is silent to genocide.”

Lauder has urged Jews and Christians to join forces against genocide. “Together, we must speak as one and tell the world: no more discrimination, no more terror, no more death, and no more silence!” I absolutely agree.

While ISIS is engaged in the slaughter of Christians because they believe it is fulfilling Islamic End Times prophecy, they actually unknowingly fulfilling Biblical prophecy about the last days.

The Lord Jesus Christ prophesied in John 16:3 that "an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God."

Christ also prophesied that believers will see "wars and rumors of war," the rise of "lawlessness" and vastly increased persecution in the last days before He returns to set up His Kingdom. The Lord Jesus specifically warned that the enemies of the Cross "will deliver you to tribulation" in the End Times "and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many." (see Matthew 24) These are exactly the trends we're seeing emerge in the epicenter.

But let's be clear: it's not just Christians who are facing the ISIS genocide. Sunni and Shia Muslims who don't share the ISIS theology and eschatology are also facing this jihadist rampage. So are Yazidis and other minorities. And, of course, ISIS is threatening to exterminate the Jews of Israel soon.

“Palestine will not be your land or your home,” ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told the Jews of Israel in an audio message in December. “It will be a graveyard for you. Allah has gathered you in Palestine so that the Muslims may kill you.”

In August of 2014, just after I finished writing my first novel about ISIS (The Third Target), I began publicly warning that "we are watching genocidal conditions emerging in the epicenter" as the ISIS jihadist rampage accelerated.

The situation has worsened dramatically since then.

By February of 2015, the government of Iraq had laid out their case to the U.N. Security Council that the Islamic State was not simply committing atrocities but outright genocide.

"These terrorist groups have desecrated all human values. They have committed the most heinous criminal terrorist acts against the Iraqi people whether Shi'ite, Sunni, Christians, Turkmen, Shabak or Yazidis," Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said. "These are in fact crimes of genocide committed against humanity that must be held accountable before international justice."

Now, just this week, the U.N. has issued a report documenting the magnitude of the horror. Consider the numbers just in Iraq:

18,802 civilians were killed in Iraq between January 2014 and October 2015
36,245 civilians have been wounded during this same period
some 3,500 have been seized as slaves by ISIS
3.2 million civilians have been displaced from their homes and villages, on the run for their very lives

"The violence suffered by civilians in Iraq remains staggering,” the report states. “The so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) continues to commit systematic and widespread violence and abuses of international human rights law and humanitarian law. These acts may, in some instances, amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide.”

The U.N. report "details numerous examples of killings by ISIL in gruesome public spectacles, including by shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing people off the top of buildings. There are also reports of the murder of child soldiers who fled fighting on the frontlines in Anbar. Information received and verified suggests that between 800 and 900 children in Mosul had been abducted by ISIL for religious education and military training....ISIL [also] continued to subject women and children to sexual violence, particularly in the form of sexual slavery."

Now consider the numbers in Syria, as well. According to the United Nations:

at least 250,000 people have been killed in Syria
6.6 million people in Syria have been displaced from their homes and villages and are on the run for their lives
13.5 million need humanitarian assistance," reported Reuters on January 15, 2016.

What's worse, new intel reports indicate ISIS appears to be testing chemical weapons for even larger and more lethal attacks. They must be stopped.

First, the President and Congress must publicly acknowledge that the Islamic State is engaged in genocide.

Second, it is time for Congress to formally declare war against ISIS.

And third, we need to elect a new Commander-in-Chief ready, willing and able to neutralize the ISIS threat, as well as the Iranian nuclear threat before it's too late.

As Jay Sekulow, head of ACLJ, and his team note, "The Holocaust gave rise to the necessity to define what 'genocide' is, and Article 2 of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) did just that," defining it as:

any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Sophia Kuby of ADF is urging Members of the European Union "to call the atrocities against Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq by its name: genocide."

“Christians in the Middle East urgently need this recognition to wake up the world to what is going on," Kuby notes. "In contrast to other diplomatic notions such as ‘systematic mass murder,’ ‘genocide’ is an internationally recognized legal term. It is necessary to call for further steps, such as a resolution at the UN Security Council and a referral to the International Criminal Court....All necessary criteria are fulfilled in order to recognize this as genocide. To deny this only adds to the horrendous suffering that people are already experiencing.”

————————–

——————-

joelcrosenberg | January 23, 2016 at 9:07 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-40L

Contents List

Tuesday, February 16, 2016