"Almost every message of Yeshua was about FORGIVENESS..." ONE FOR ISRAEL

Aug. 7, 2017  Dr Erez Soref President of  ONE FOR ISRAEL  Shalom! This week we have an amazing story of a Jewish man who was beaten into a coma, but as he came to know Yeshua, he slowly came to the shocking realization that he must also forgive his attacker. "Something in my heart began to change", explains Jonathan. "Almost every message of Yeshua is about forgiveness - he says that we must love our enemies bless those who curse us and do good to those who persecute us." Can you imagine if everyone around here actually started to do what Yeshua said? To love their enemies, to pray for those who are persecuting them? To forgive deep wounds and bless the ones who caused it? The Middle East conflict would be over!  Yeshua holds the true key to peace, and so we will not stop proclaiming his Gospel of Peace - the true liberating force in the universe. Forgiveness and freedom! Peace between man and God, man and his brother! Moreover, we are committed to discipling sons and daughters of the King here in Israel, both Jew and Arab, training both new and mature believers in righteousness. Whether people come from a Jewish, Muslim, or nominally Christian background, we all need to grow in our faith so that we can live lives worthy of him, to truly live as he called us to, and to correctly divide the word of truth. "Make every effort to present yourself before God as tried and true, as an unashamed worker cutting a straight path with the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15) STUDENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT:  DAVID INGZHIASHVILI This is David, one of our students in the Russian program, and pastor of not one but two Russian speaking congregations! He was eager to gain proper academic training in theology, and we have loved getting to know him. Although an upstanding pastor today, life was not always so squeaky clean for David. He was born in Georgia and immigrated to Israel at the age of 21, but due to the great difficulties of adapting to a new country, David began to use heavy drugs and became deeply addicted for eight years. David's life was completely destroyed; relations with his family and friends seemed hopelessly ruined. But one day he visited local congregation in Haifa where he was touched by God. From that moment, David's life began to change.  Soon, David went to a Messianic rehabilitation center, where God began to work in his life. Instead of suffering the excruciating experience of coming off drugs "cold turkey" the Lord made it so that David fell asleep and woke up only after nine days! After that, the Lord healed him of Hepatitis C, restored relations with his family and friends, and gave him a wife and two daughters. Today David is the pastor of the of the "Living Israel" congregation in Rishon leZion, near Tel Aviv. Within two years he opened three congregations in the city, two of which he is the senior pastor. David has a vision to plant a fourth congregation, after that a fifth, sixth, seventh, and so on, so that Russian-speaking Israelis will know that there is a Living God in Israel. Why Bother Reading the Lists in the Bible? You don't have to go far in either the Hebrew Scriptures or the New Testament before you hit them - those lists of unpronounceable names! The lists and genealogies in the Bible have been a source of much consternation (and sometimes merriment) as hapless readers struggle through exotic and multi-syllabled Middle Eastern names in their Bible study groups. Do we really have to bother with these lists? Is it so bad to just skip them? Continue reading... Tu B'Av: A Day of Love in Jewish Tradition The ancient tradition of the Jewish "Day of Love" is on "Tu B'Av" or, the 15th of the Jewish month of Av, which like all Jewish days, starts at sunset the day before, and continues until sunset the following day. The theme of love and marriage is so important in Judaism, and indeed the Bible, not only to be fruitful and multiply, but because it manifests the plans, heart and nature of God, right before our eyes. The very definition of true love. Continue reading... FOLLOW US:

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What Russia's Top Church Leader is Saying about Donald Trump - CBN News

What Russia's Top Church Leader is Saying about Donald Trump

CBN News 11-26-2016

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church believes President-elect Donald Trump is the only American politician to give Russians, and Christians, hope in the war against the Islamic State. 

Patriarch Kirill told Russia Today (RT) he is encouraged by the incoming president's strong position against ISIS. 

"Based on what Mr. Trump said in the course of the election campaign, we can see that he does have the intention to establish a dialogue with Russia, including first and foremost when it comes to combating terrorism," Kirill said. 

"That's good; it opens up new opportunities for cooperation, which is what I hope we're going to have in Russia-U.S. relations in order to tackle this," he added.

"I don't know him personally, and I don't know much about his life, so I can only judge based on his statements, which were in stark contrast to other politicians' stances. There was no hope in what others were saying, while Mr. Trump's words give us hope," he said.

Kirill also told RT that he agrees that Trump is not afraid to speak his mind especially during a time when Christians in America are being shut down by political correctness. 

"It seems as if political correctness is meant to limit Christians' freedom to practice their faith. For example, why should we use 'X-mas' instead of 'Christmas'?," he asked. "We're very wary when, under the guise of political correctness and universal rights and liberties, we glimpse signs of discrimination against the people who want to be open about their Christian convictions." 

As Russia's Vladmir Putin congratulated Trump on his election victory and later vowed to dialogue with the U.S. "on the basis of mutual respect," Kirill said it is important for Christians to continue to pray for the nations that are working to eradicate terrorism. 

"All that is left to us as Christians is to pray and, of course, work together with everyone, so that all the nations involved realize that collaboration is instrumental. We keep hearing that the coalition has its own approach, and Russia has a different stance. Well, now is the time when we can't have two conflicting positions any longer; we need to align ourselves with each other," he said.

World War 3? Barack Obama Could Take A Major Step Toward War With Russia On Friday - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

World War 3? Barack Obama Could Take A Major Step Toward War With Russia On Friday Posted: 13 Oct 2016   Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG Because the mainstream media is devoting almost all of their time and energy to covering the Trump and Clinton campaigns, most Americans don’t realize that the Obama administration is bringing us perilously close to war with Russia.  On Friday, Barack Obama is going to sit down with his foreign policy team and discuss “military options” in Syria.  As you will see below, the options under consideration include direct strikes “on Syrian military bases”.   Russia has already pledged to respond militarily to any direct strikes on Syrian forces, and so the decisions that Barack Obama makes regarding Syria on Friday could literally be the spark that sets off World War 3. The daily drama surrounding Trump and Clinton is far less important than a potential war with Russia.  This should be front page news all over the country, but unfortunately most of the big news organizations are giving it very little coverage.  The following is an excerpt from an extremely important Reuters report that so far is not receiving nearly enough attention… U.S. President Barack Obama and his top foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider their military and other options in Syria as Syrian and Russian aircraft continue to pummel Aleppo and other targets, U.S. officials said. Some top officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against Islamic State, the officials told Reuters. One set of options includes direct U.S. military action such as air strikes on Syrian military bases, munitions depots or radar and anti-aircraft bases, said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. If Barack Obama decides to directly hit the Syrian military, that will be crossing a “red line” that Russia has already established. And unlike Obama, Russia actually takes their red lines deadly seriously. In my recent article entitled “Russia Is Preparing For A Nuclear War With The United States“, I included a quote from a major Russian news source that demonstrates what the Russians are thinking at this point.  The Russians recently deployed additional S-300 and S-400 air defense systems to Syria, and they have warned that any strike against Syrian forces “would put Russian personnel in danger”… Russia’s Defense Ministry has cautioned the US-led coalition of carrying out airstrikes on Syrian army positions, adding in Syria there are numerous S-300 and S-400 air defense systems up and running. Russia currently has S-400 and S-300 air-defense systems deployed to protect its troops stationed at the Tartus naval supply base and the Khmeimim airbase. The radius of the weapons reach may be “a surprise” to all unidentified flying objects, Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson General Igor Konashenkov said. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, any airstrike or missile hitting targets in territory controlled by the Syrian government would put Russian personnel in danger. If the Obama administration is insane enough to start ordering airstrikes against Syrian positions, let us hope and pray that the Russians are willing to back down and show restraint. Because if Russian S-300 and S-400 air defense systems start shooting down U.S. military aircraft, that could set off a chain of events that may be unstoppable. And right now the Russians are taking the threat of war with the U.S. very seriously.  For example, the Kremlin has ordered all top officials to return to Russia as soon as possible… Russian citizens have reacted with fear over reports Moscow has ordered officials to fly home all relatives living abroad – with some residents claiming it is ‘another step towards war‘. The Kremlin is said to have told high ranking officials to bring their loved ones back to the ‘Motherland’ immediately – with any who disobey being overlooked for promotion. It comes against a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating relations with the West over Russia’s role in the Syria conflict and just days after Putin moved nuclear-ready missiles closer to the border with Poland. In addition, the Russians recently concluded an unprecedented “civil defense drill” that involved 40 million people. Here in the United States, we never have those kinds of drills and there isn’t even anywhere for the general population to go in the event of a nuclear war. If and when the missiles start falling, the only thing that will be left to do is to say our prayers and kiss our family members goodbye. Over in Russia, there is a tremendous amount of interest in the U.S. election right now, because it is widely believed that Donald Trump could dramatically improve relations between the United States and Russia. But if Hillary Clinton gets elected, many top Russian officials believe that will make the possibility of nuclear war much more likely.  For instance, just consider what Vladimir Zhirinovsky told Reuters earlier this week… Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker known for his fiery rhetoric, told Reuters in an interview that Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington. By contrast, Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton could spark World War Three, said Zhirinovsky, who received a top state award from Putin after his pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came third in Russia’s parliamentary election last month. And anyone that watched the second debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump got to see the intense disdain that Clinton has for Russia. Hillary believes that the Russians are trying very hard to keep her out of office, and she tends to take any threats to her political career very, very personally.  The thought of her having her finger on the nuclear trigger is beyond terrifying. And I am certainly not alone in this opinion.  Even presidential candidate Jill Stein believes that nuclear war with Russia will be much more likely if Clinton is elected… “It is now Hillary Clinton that wants to start an air war with Russia over Syria by calling for a no-fly zone,” Stein said.  “We have 2000 nuclear missiles on hair-trigger alert. They are saying we are closer to a nuclear war than we have ever been. Under Hillary Clinton, we could slide into nuclear war very quickly from her declared policy in Syria. “I sure won’t sleep well at night if Donald Trump is elected, but I sure won’t sleep well at night if Hillary Clinton elected. We have another choice other than these two candidates who are both promoting lethal policies,” she continued. “On the issue of war and nuclear weapons, it is actually Hillary’s policies which are much scarier than Donald Trump who does not want to go to war with Russia. He wants to seek modes of working together, which is the route that we need to follow not to go into confrontation and nuclear war with Russia.” And the ironic thing is that Hillary Clinton actually played a key role in starting the civil war in Syria when she was Secretary of State in 2011.  At the time, the “Arab Spring” was sweeping across the Middle East, and the Obama administration, Saudi Arabia and Turkey decided that it would be a wonderful time to try to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria and make Syria a full-blown Sunni puppet state.  So they helped organize protests, they armed and funded the rebels, and the rest is history. Now the civil war that Hillary Clinton played such a key role in starting has brought us to the brink of World War 3 with Russia. And most Americans don’t realize this, but Russia now has nuclear superiority over us.  For anyone that doubts this, please go and read this article that I recently published. So we definitely don’t want to tangle with the Russians, because there is a very good chance that we would come out on the losing end. But whether we would win or we would lose, there is absolutely no reason to go to war with Russia in the first place.  Barack Obama has got to be absolutely insane to even consider getting us into a direct military conflict with the Russians, and let us hope that he backs off while there is still time to do so.

Does the Jewish Calendar Hold the Secret to Christ's Return? - JESSILYN JUSTICE CHARISMA NEWS

A centuries-old 'Messiah clock' could reveal the time of Christ's return. (Alex The Shutter/Flickr/Creative Commons)

Does the Jewish Calendar Hold the Secret to Christ's Return?

 9/7/2016 JESSILYN JUSTICE  CHARISMA NEWS

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

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A 200-year-old "Messiah clock" could hold the answer to Christ's return, according to some reports.  

"When you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should know that the times of the Messiah have started, that His steps are being heard. And when you hear that the Russians have reached the city of Constantinople (today's Istanbul), you should put on your Shabbat clothes and don't take them off, because it means that the Messiah is about to come any minute," Jewish Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, also known as the Vilna Gaon, allegedly prophesied in the 18th century.  

Gaon created the Messiah clock in the 1700s. The Vilna Gaon reportedly used his secular and religious scholarly background to come up with a unique method of tracking time based on the Hebrew calendar and a combination of Jewish sources found in the Talmud, Breaking Israel News reports. Based on his specific calculations, the Messiah clock was created and has been slowly ticking down toward his ultimate arrival. 

According to Breaking Israel News:

The clock is based on the six days of creation, with each day corresponding to 1,000 years on the Hebrew calendar. The Vilna Gaon centered his calculations around the Jewish tradition that the Messiah must arrive by the year 6000 in the Jewish calendar, which corresponds to the day before the Sabbath and God's refrain from any work. Currently, the Jewish calendar year is 5776. 

So is Jesus' Second Coming in 24 years? Only time will tell!

3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!

Has God called you to be a leader? Ministry Today magazine is the source that Christian leaders who want to serve with passion and purpose turn to. Subscribe now and receive a free leadership book.

Winds Of War: Is Russia Conducting A Massive Mobilization Of Troops For An Invasion Of Ukraine? - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

Winds Of War: Is Russia Conducting A Massive Mobilization Of Troops For An Invasion Of Ukraine? Posted: 30 Aug 2016  Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG The drumbeats of war are growing louder.  Fighting in eastern Ukraine between separatists and pro-government forces has risen to an intensity not seen in well over a year, and the Russians claim that they recently foiled a “Ukrainian plot” to conduct terror attacks in Crimea.   As tensions in the region have increased, the Russians have used the cover of “military drills” to move massive amounts of troops and military equipment up to the border with Ukraine.  This is something that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, but things have intensified since then, and a huge military exercise is planned for September.  Needless to say, the Ukrainians are quite alarmed by this, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is warning that a full scale mobilization of the Ukrainian military may be needed.   If something is going to happen, it is likely to happen soon.  As you will see below, once we get into October it will become much less likely that we would see a Russian invasion of Ukraine. We aren’t hearing much about this conflict in the U.S. media, but over in Europe this is a very big deal.  Just consider the following excerpt from an article in the Independent entitled “Russia is teetering on the brink of ‘all out war’ with Ukraine“… Ukraine is holding a major military parade in Kiev today to mark its 25th anniversary as an independent state. But, at a time that should otherwise be a moment of national celebration, a serious crisis with Moscow is flaring up. So serious, in fact, that on Tuesday the Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande were forced to hold a three-way phone call to try to de-escalate the situation. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has even warned that there is growing risk of a “full scale Russian invasion along all fronts,” ratcheting up what is already the bloodiest European conflict since the wars over the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. And the truth is that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has some very good reasons to be concerned.  As the Washington Post has pointed out, the Russians have used military exercises as an excuse to stage forces for military action in the past… As violence in the east heats up, Ukrainian officials have suggested that Russia may use the upcoming military drills, called Kavkaz (Caucasus) 2016, as cover for military action against Ukraine. The drills are the first to integrate the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, into the country’s military planning, and thousands of Russian troops will be brought in for air, land and sea exercises. Ukrainian government analysts have recalled that exercises served as staging grounds for troop incursions in 2014, as did Russian military exercises held shortly before the Georgian war of 2008. Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations suggested that Russia may have “bad intentions,” while the West has also said it would like observers to be present. If there is going to be a Russian invasion of Ukraine in September, Kavkaz 2016 will likely be used as cover for invasion preparations.  It is a yearly exercise, but in 2016 it looks like it will be much bigger than ever before, and some analysts have pointed out that the Russians have not conducted a mobilization on this scale since the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.  Here is more on Kavkaz 2016 from the Daily Signal… In September, Russia has plans for a large-scale strategic military exercise called Kavkaz-2016. The exercise, which is an annual event, will include units deployed near the borders of Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan—including two Russian military districts in the Southern and Northern Caucasus, the Russian Black Sea Fleet (headquartered in occupied Crimea), and the Caspian Flotilla. It is not immediately clear the exact size of this year’s exercise, but last year it comprised 95,000 troops, 7,000 vehicles, and 150 aircraft, according to a report by IHS Markit, a U.K.-based intelligence and analysis firm. If the Russians are going to do something, they need to do it soon, because the weather turns very bad during the month of October.  Here is one how one analyst assessed the situation… “But will there be a war – we’ll see, no much time for guessing left… In this situation, the main thing for Russia is to achieve strategic and tactical surprise. And if she does not start now – then it will be too late. One would need to turn off full-scale operations in October because of the rains and the next draft to Russian army (it would mean the demobilization of current wave of conscripts and training the new ones – UT).” A Russian invasion of Ukraine would mean that Russian relations with the U.S. and with Europe would immediately plunge to Cold War levels.  Of course some would argue that we are already there.  In any event, a Russian invasion would force the U.S. and NATO to make some very uncomfortable decisions. Would the U.S. and NATO just stand by and do nothing while Ukraine is overrun by the Russians? Maybe. But if the U.S. and NATO responded with military force, that would risk a full scale nuclear confrontation with Russia. Right now, a war with Russia is about the last thing that most Americans are thinking about, but the truth is that we are not that far away from such a scenario. Over in Russia, the mindset is totally different.  The following is from a Newsweek article entitled “In Europe and Russia, There’s Talk of War“… Recently, I grabbed a taxi in Moscow. When the driver asked me where I was from, I told him the United States. “I went there once,” he said, “to Chicago. I really liked it.” “But tell me something,” he added. “When are we going to war?” The question, put so starkly, so honestly, shocked me. “Well, I hope never,” I replied. “No one wants war.” At the office, I ask a Russian employee about the mood in his working class Moscow neighborhood. The old people are buying salt, matches andgretchka [buckwheat], he tells me—the time-worn refuge for Russians stocking up on essentials in case of war. In the past two months, I’ve traveled to the Baltic region, to Georgia, and to Russia. Talk of war is everywhere. Most Americans don’t realize that Russians already view the United States more  negatively than they did even during the height of the Cold War.  On Russian television they openly talk about the inevitability of a war between the United States and Russia, and the Russian military has feverishly been preparing for such a future conflict. If we can get to October, we can probably breathe a bit of a sigh of relief because the Russians are not likely to conduct an invasion once the weather turns bad. But for now there are very good reasons to be concerned, and we shall see what happens over the coming weeks…

Poll: 67% of Russians hope for God’s help - TRUNEWS

Poll: 67% of Russians hope for God’s help 

TURNEWS 04.28.16

  

Russians have begun to hope for God’s help, and/or have begun to speak about the predestination of people’s fate by God, twice as often in the past 25 years, sociologists said, citing a poll conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM).

The poll, which surveyed 1,600 people living in 130 populated areas, of 46 regions of Russia, was conducted on April 23-24.

Sixty-seven percent of the respondents said they hope for God’s help in their daily life to a certain extent, which is a 18 percent increase from 1991 (49 percent).

Fourteen percent of the respondents (against 21 percent in 1991) said they do not believe in God, and 11 percent said they do not hope for God’s help. Three percent of the respondents answered differently and 5 percent were undecided.

As compared to 1991, Russians now believe more in phenomena associated with religion. Fifty percent of the respondents said they believe in religious miracles, which is a 18 percent increase from 1991 (32 percent). Forty-six percent of the respondents (against 33 percent 25 years ago) are confident that there is life after death. Forty percent believe in the devil and hell (against 25 percent and 24 percent in 1991).

Responding to a question as to whether human life is predestined by higher forces, 48 percent of the respondents said that it is (against 25 percent in 1991).

Forty-five percent of the respondents surveyed in 1991, said that human life does not depend on God’s plan, and now, only 26 percent of the respondents said so. Eighteen percent of the respondents said they equally disagree, and agree, with the allegation that human life is predestined by God.

Speaking about whether anti-religious works should be banned at the legislative level, 58 percent of the respondents answered positively. This indicator has not changed since 1991 (58 percent). Twenty-five percent of the respondents spoke against such a ban, and 17 percent were undecided.

“NOT ONE CHURCH IS EMPTY”

The rise of religious sentiment among citizens has been noticed, particularly by the Russian Orthodox Church. The number of parishioners is growing not just quantitatively, but qualitatively, the head of the press service of the Patriarch Alexander Volkov told RBTH.

“We experienced the first wave of religiosity just after the Soviet period, when crowds of people went to the church, but it was not always a conscious effort,” said Volkov. “Now people are doing it with more forethought.”

The church has taken notice and over the past five years, Moscow has significantly increased the number of parishes – from 894 in 2012 to 1,110 in 2015. But this is not enough according to Volkov.




Religion in Russia: What regions believe in Christ, Allah and Buddha? By Natalia Mikhaylenko, special to RBTH

“Now we understand that we need many more churches,” he said. “Not one of the constructed temples is empty. All are full or are even overcrowded.”

All photos credit to Yekaterina Sinelschikova, RBTH

Read the original article on RBTH from April 28, 2016