Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Make His Deeds Known Among the Nations - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Make His Deeds Known Among the Nations
Now Think On This
Steve Martin


“And as you do it, you'll say, "Give thanks to God. Call out his name. Ask him anything! Shout to the nations, tell them what he's done, spread the news of his great reputation! Sing praise-songs to God. He's done it all! Let the whole earth know what he's done! Raise the roof! Sing your hearts out, O Zion! The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel." (Isaiah 12:4-6, THE MESSAGE)

Oct. 23, 2018 
6:45 am Madrid time
Madrid, Spain

Coming to a close today is one of the best adventures I have had in these 63 years of living, with this soon completion of my 18th trip to Israel. They are cherished days to be home with my good wife and family, but it is also a wonderful time to be among those whom the Lord has brought back from the many nations from which they have been scattered.

We are living in the amazing times of biblical prophecy being fulfilled right before our eye. I must shout out (or write, as I best do), what He has done, the Holy One of Israel.

With all that is happening, nothing must stop you and me from walking in His ways, protection, and abundance, as we commit ourselves to His daily purposes and plans. And on this particular journey, even the two canceled flights (there and back) and all that entailed; nor the WiFi that daily kept knocking me off from uploading my wonderful 1,700 photos and 71 fun hearted (and a few serious) short videos taken in Israel, could hold me back. Not even the pesky, cursed mosquitoes that bit up my feet often in the middle of the night, as I got 4-5 hours of sleep each day to refuel for the next one.

Nothing should stop us from pursuing the living God, the One from Whom all the nations must seek and find their fulfillment in.

As we see Him bringing back the Jews from all the nations - Russia, France, England, China, Ethiopia, India, the USA, and so many more, to the Promised Land of Israel, we must give thanks, declare and make known that the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach) and the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) are together performing their mighty acts. It is truly a wonder to behold.






















Nissim & Hadassah, Steve Martin at a Mediterranean Sea restaurant

Spending time with my Jewish friends of Israel is always the best time. Nissim and Hadassah Lerner from Giv’at Ze’ev (originally from Virginia); Abraham Saidan and his family who made aliyah (immigrated) from Iran; Louie the Old City Arab gift shop owner who always gives me the real “best price”; my new friend Shlomo (Solomon) in the Jewish Quarter; and Rabbi Kokeb Gedamu and his wife Menalu (Congregation Amud HaEsh), who are Ethiopian Messianic Jews bringing hope and teaching to those who also came from the south to Israel. 

Rabbi Kokeb Gedamu of the Ethiopian Messianc Jews' Congregation Amud HaEsh (Pillar of Fire)

Louie the Arab gift shop owner at Jaffa Gate

Shlomo (Solomon)! (next to the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City Jewish Quarter)

My very good friend for over 12 years now - Abraham Saidan

Sharing this bond of our Father’s love is uniting the Jews and Christians together there in the land, along with those of us who have heard and received the call to stand with them.

Our Mighty God is doing it. He is manifesting Himself, showing His glory, and revealing His heart for the nations.

Being a part of it all is a thrill for a lifetime.

Shalom and Ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,
  
Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.


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Now Think On This #357 - in the year of our Lord 10.23.18 –Make Known Among the Nations”, Tuesday, 7:45 am Madrid, Spain

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Lies and Propaganda - Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

Lies and Propaganda

Sunday, October 22, 2017 |  Charles Gardner  ISRAEL TODAY
As new settlement construction gets underway in Israel’s disputed territories, a fresh wave of condemnation is expected.
Accusations that the Jewish state is practicing apartheid – supposedly over its ‘illegal occupation’ and ‘treatment of the Palestinians’ – will inevitably be trotted out, adding fuel to the fire of a Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment (BDS) movement masquerading as a compassionate supporter of oppressed Palestinians, but in actual fact demonstrating another form of anti-Semitism.
Before tackling this gross misuse of the ‘apartheid’ tag, it’s worth saying that BDS has taken a series of knocks of late – both in the courts and in the legislative arena. In Spain, for example, 24 legal rulings and expert opinions were made against the movement and, in France, one court decision ordered that a financial penalty be imposed on BDS activists demonstrating outside supermarkets calling on consumers to boycott Israeli products.
In the United States, several pieces of legislation against the movement have been ratified. In Texas, for instance, a law was passed forbidding ties with, or investment in, companies that boycott Israel.
According to Ynetnews, such success has benefited from investment in a legal battle by Israel’s Justice Ministry now under Ayelet Shaked. Even actress Greta Gerwig regrets putting her name to a letter calling for the cancellation of a play based on a novel by Israeli author David Grossman and funded by Israel’s Office of Cultural Affairs in North America – a letter denounced as “hypocritical, discriminatory and dangerous” by nearly 50 high-level entertainment industry executives.
Creative Community for Peace, dedicated to countering the cultural boycott of Israel and including Celine Dion, Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake among its members, claim credit for persuading Gerwig to retract her support. “I was unfamiliar with the complexities of the letter and I did not take the time to study them,” she conceded.
Meanwhile claims that Israel is an apartheid state are described as “an absolute lie” and a mockery of the struggle her parents went through by Olga Meshoe, daughter of a South African MP who grew up under the apartheid system.
There is no doubt that international sanctions helped to end that oppressive regime, but comparisons with Israel are outrageous, according to many South Africans like Olga (myself included). Opponents of Israel have been using the ‘apartheid’ tag “to incite and encourage the destruction of a people just because you don’t like them,” she said. “The world needs to recognize that you are not only doing an injustice to the people in the Middle East; you’re making a mockery of what our parents went through.”
Olga and her father Kenneth are founders of DEISI – Defend, Embrace, Invest, Support Israel – part of Africa’s growing movement towards closer ties with the Jewish state.
The irony of the Jewish ‘apartheid’ claim is that Ramadan Dabbash, head of a Palestinian village in Jerusalem, says almost all the city’s Arabs would prefer to live peacefully under Israeli administration.
It is the Palestinian leaders, he said, who destroy the chances for peace with non-stop incitement of Palestinian youth, diversion of funds to terror and a resultant lack of economic growth in Palestinian-controlled areas.
Also on the BDS front, I recall that Boris Johnson, on his last tour of Israel, condemned a boycott proposed by what he termed “corduroy-jacketed academics”. He said: “I cannot think of anything more foolish than to say you want to have any kind of sanctions or divestment or boycott against a country that, when all is said and done, is the only democracy in the region; and that is the only place, in my view, which has an open, pluralistic society.”
I need to add that, just because I commend a politician on his/her stand for Israel doesn’t mean I applaud them wholeheartedly or necessarily regard them as morally superior. But it is a chink of light, as the Bible is quite clear – those who bless Israel will themselves be blessed (Genesis 12.3).
And I very much doubt if the boycott advocates would go all the way in their efforts if they really knew the extent of the merchandise produced by little old Israel, or by Jewish people in other lands. It would mean a change of lifestyle few would be prepared to contemplate.
We are not just talking about oranges, Sharon fruit, and a few other products we could easily leave out of our shopping baskets without upsetting our appetites too much. Are they prepared to sacrifice their mobile phones, computers, and so many other trappings of modern life for the cause? It is no secret that Israel has long been an international hub in the development and production of modern technology from which we all now benefit and without which much of our commerce would grind to a shuddering halt.
For example, you would have to stop googling for all that vital information as Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are both Jews. You would have to close down your Facebook account because 31-year-old Jewish-American Mark Zuckerberg founded the facility. You would have to stop watching Steven Spielberg movies and throw out all your Bob Dylan and Barbra Streisand albums. And, to top it all, you would need to close down your computers as Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer and Dell Computers founder and CEO Michael Dell are both Jewish.
In closing, may I recommend Israel’s delicious mangoes, available at Sainsbury’s. And, if you’re looking for the perfect setting for a special occasion, I could point you in the direction of the world’s No 1 restaurant (according to Tripadvisor) – the Black Swan at Oldstead, near Thirsk, in North Yorkshire – which includes Israeli wine on its menu…at a cost!

Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon, and Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com
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Tuesday, June 13, 2017

The Next Financial Crisis Has Already Arrived In Europe, And People Are Starting To Freak Out - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG


Posted: 12 Jun 2017  Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

Did you know that the sixth largest bank in Spain failed in spectacular fashion just a few days ago?  Many are comparing the sudden implosion of Banco Popular to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, and EU regulators hastily arranged a sale of the failed bank to Santander in order to avoid a full scale financial panic. 

Sadly, most Americans have no idea that a new financial crisis is starting to play out over in Europe, because most Americans only care about what is going on in America.  But we should be paying attention, because the EU is the second largest economy on the entire planet, and the euro is the second most used currency on the entire planet.  The U.S. financial system is already teetering on the brink of disaster, and this new financial crisis in Europe could turn out to be enough to push us over the edge.

If EU regulators had not arranged a “forced sale” of Banco Popular to Santander, we would probably be witnessing panic on a scale that we haven’t seen since 2008 in Europe right about now.  The following comes from the Telegraph
Spanish banking giant Santander has stepped in to the rescue ailing rival Banco Popular by taking over the failing lender for €1 in a watershed deal masterminded by EU regulators to avoid a damaging collapse.
Santander will tap its shareholders for €7bn in a rights issue to raise the capital needed to shore-up Popular’s finances in a dramatic private sector rescue of Spain’s sixth-largest lender.
It will inflict losses of approximately €3.3bn on bond investors and shareholders but crucially will avoid a taxpayer bailout.
But now that a “too big to fail” bank like Banco Popular has failed, investors are immediately trying to figure out which major Spanish banks may be the next to collapse.  According to Wolf Richter, many have identified Liberbank as an institution that is highly vulnerable…
After its most tumultuous week since the bailout days of 2012, Spain’s banking system is gripped by a climate of fear, uncertainty and distrust. Rather than allaying investor nerves, the shotgun bail-in and sale of Banco Popular to Santander on Tuesday has merely intensified them. For the first time since the Global Financial Crisis, shareholders and subordinate bondholders of a failing Spanish bank were not bailed out by taxpayers; they took risks in order to make a buck, and they bore the consequences. That’s how it should be. But bank investors don’t like not getting bailed out.
Now they’re worrying it could happen again. As Popular’s final days showed, once confidence and trust in a bank vanishes, it’s almost impossible to restore them. The fear has now spread to Spain’s eighth largest lender, Liberbank, a mini-Bankia that was spawned in 2011 from the forced marriage of three failed cajas (savings banks), Cajastur, Caja de Extremadura and Caja Cantabria.
On Thursday, shares of Liberbank dropped by an astounding 20 percent, and that was followed up by another 19 percent decline on Friday.

Spanish authorities responded by banning short sales of Liberbank shares, and that caused a short-term rebound in the stock price.

But we haven’t seen this kind of chaos in European financial markets in a very long time.
Meanwhile, Nick Giambruno is sounding the alarm about a much bigger bubble.  At this moment, more than a trillion dollars worth of Italian government bonds have negative yields…
Over $1 trillion worth of Italian bonds actually have negative yields.
It’s a bizarre and perverse situation.
Lending money to the bankrupt Italian government carries huge risks. So the yields on Italian government bonds should be near record highs, not record lows.
Negative yields could not exist in a free market. They’re only possible in the current “Alice in Wonderland” economy created by central bankers.
You see, the European Central Bank (ECB) has been printing money to buy Italian government bonds hand over fist. Since 2008, the ECB and Italian banks have bought over 88% of Italian government debt, according to a recent study.
The moment that the ECB stops wildly buying Italian bonds, the party will be over and the Italian financial system will crash.  Unfortunately for Italy, the Germans are pressuring the ECB to quit printing so much money, and the Germans usually get their way in these things.
But if the Germans get their way this time, we could be facing a complete and utter nightmare very quickly.  Here is more from Nick Giambruno
Once the ECB—the only large buyer—steps away, Italian government bonds will crash and rates will soar.
Soon it will be impossible for the Italian government to finance itself.
Italian banks—which are already insolvent—will be decimated. They hold an estimated €235 billion worth of Italian government bonds. So the coming bond crash will pummel their balance sheets.
It’s shaping up to be a lovely train wreck.
And all of this is happening in the context of a global economy that appears to be headed for a major downturn.

For example, the last time that global credit growth showed down this rapidly was during the last financial crisis
From peak to trough the deceleration in global credit growth is now approaching that during the global financial crisis (-6% of global GDP), even if the dispersion of the decline is much narrower. Currently 55% of the countries in our sample have experienced a -0.3 standard deviation deterioration in their credit impulse (median over 12 months) compared to 77% of countries in Dec ’09 when the median decline was -1.4 stdev.”
Of course the last time global credit growth decelerated this dramatically, global central banks intervened on a scale that was unlike anything that we had ever seen before.
But this time around it is happening at a time when global central banks are very low on ammo
More importantly, back in 2009, not only China, but the Fed and other central banks unleashed the biggest injection of credit, i.e. liquidity, the world has ever seen resulting in the biggest asset bubble the world has ever seen. And, this time around, the Fed is set to hike for the third time in the past year, even as the ECB and BOJ are forced to soon taper as they run out of eligible bonds to monetize. All this comes at a time when US loan growth is weeks away from turning negative.
As such, what “kickstarts” the next spike in the credit impulse is unclear. What is clear is that if the traditional 3-6 month lag between credit inflection points, i.e. impulse, and economic growth is maintained, the global economy is set for a dramatic collapse some time in the second half.
There are so many experts that are warning about big economic trouble in our immediate future.  I would like to say that all of the experts that are freaking out are wrong, but I can’t do that.

I have not seen an atmosphere like this since 2008 and 2009, and everything points to an acceleration of the crisis as we enter the second half of this year.