Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog - The Caliphate has been crushed, but ISIS is by no means dead.

New post on Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

The Caliphate has been crushed, but ISIS is by no means dead. Here’s the latest. by joelcrosenberg (Jerusalem, Israel) -- Tonight, I fly back to the U.S. to prepare to launch my new political thriller, The Kremlin Conspiracy. But before I pivot to Russia, I wanted to update you on the fight against the Islamic State.  After all, my last three novels -- The Third Target, The First Hostage and Without Warning -- all dealt with the threat of ISIS capturing chemical weapons in Syria and plotting genocidal attacks against the U.S., Israel, Jordan, the Palestinians and Egypt. What's more, a year ago I asked McLaughlin & Associates, a respected U.S. polling first whose clients included the Trump campaign, to conduct a survey to understand how Americans were viewing the war against ISIS. What we found was sobering: Only one-in-three Americans believe “the U.S. and our allies are winning the war against the Islamic State and getting safer every day.” A remarkable 41 percent believe “the U.S. and our allies are losing the war against the Islamic State and the threat to our safety is growing.” Fully one-in-four say they had no idea if we’re winning or not. We also found that almost seven-in-ten Americans (68%) said they “fear catastrophic terrorist attacks by ISIS are coming to the U.S. homeland, possibly involving chemical or biological weapons.” How much has changed in just twelve months. The new administration -- working closely with its Arab and Kurdish allies -- has: Decimated the Islamic State caliphate, after removing the handcuffs the Obama team had put on the U.S. military and American allies. Liberated 98% of ISIS territory. Liberated some 8 million people enslaved by ISIS. Liberated Raqqa, the Syria capital of the Islamic State. Hit Syria with missile barrage after Syria used chemical weapons against its citizens, something President Obama never did even though he drew the “red line.” "In January (2017), about 35,000 Islamic State group fighters were in Iraq and Syria controlling more than 17,000 square miles – an area roughly the size of Pennsylvania," reported U.S. News & World Report. "Now, between 1,000 and 3,000 extremists are occupying less than 2,000 square miles, according to officials at the U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad overseeing the war."  The Caliphate in Iraq and Syria is, effectively, no more. That's the good news. The bad news is that the war against ISIS is far from over. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group's leader, has been reported killed several times, but seems to actually be still at large. He needs to be hunted down and killed. Many ISIS foreign fighters have redeployed from the Middle East to their home countries, where they are believed to be plotting new and deadlier attacks. The U.S. and Europe need to be especially wary. Countries like Libya and Yemen are in chaos, and ISIS can use such no-man's lands to rebuild and train for new strikes. "Brett McGurk, the special envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, told reporters at the State Department just before Christmas that the U.S. had made significant progress against the extremist network in 2017, but there is still work to do," reported U.S. News & World Report. "Nobody who works on these problems would tell you we're popping champagne corks or anything," said McGurk, who began his position during the Obama administration and has continued under Trump. "This is not over, there is a long way to go." Bottom line: the West -- and Washington -- dare not become complacent. Much progress has been made in the battle to crush the Caliphate. But ISIS is not dead. We must stay on the offense, lest these jihadists blindside us, without warning. —————————————- To pre-order a copy of The Kremlin Conspiracy, please click here. To order copies of the new mass market paperbacks of the J.B. Collins novels — my most recent trilogy of novels about ISIS plotting attacks on the U.S., Israel, Jordan and Egypt — please click here. Learn all about The Joshua Fund’s Holy Land tour in July and the 2018 Epicenter Prayer Summit in Jerusalem — come meet Israelis and Palestinians and pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the region! —————————- Would you like to make a secure, tax deductible investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.com)? This is the non-profit organization that my wife, Lynn, and I founded in 2006 to educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, to care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, care for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. The Joshua Fund is a member in good standing of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Please click here to learn more. Thanks so much! Subscribe (free) to the RSS feed (click here) and receive every new posting on this blog directly via email. joelcrosenberg | February 23, 2018 at 2:02 pm | Categories: Epicenter | URL: https://wp.me/piWZ7-8EB

Sharing Love From Sweden - ACCEPTED AND LOVED BY GOD - Eva Haglund

ACCEPTED AND LOVED BY GOD

Eva Haglund, Sweden

Oct. 3, 2015

In Song of Solomon we can read about a relation between a woman and a man in a marriage but also understand about the relation about the Bridegroom Jesus in a relation to His Bride, the congregation - Body of Christ. We can see how He sees us personally. He loves us much greater than we understand. 

In Song of Solomon 4:9 we read: " You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes, with one link of your necklace." We understand when we read this text that we are so loved by God. He is crushed by his love to us, a very strong love. He really cares about us.

In Psalm 139 we can read that God is with us everywhere. He cares every second. He is thinking at us. If I am in the middle of the sea, He is with me. When it is dark in the night, He is there. He is with me. In Psalm 139:5 it is written, "You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me."

I do not need to think that I am left alone because God is with me. He is my Daddy.

In Psalm 139:13 we understand that God saw us already in our mother's womb. We were planned, thought of and created by the God who loves us. We read, "For you formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb." In verse 14 it is written that we are 

"fearfully and wonderfully made."

In Song of Solomon is also written, "You are all fair my love, and there is no spot in you."

I think that this means that we are beautiful in His eyes, His Bride. I believe that it means that we are cleansed in Jesus' blood, and there is no spot. His Bride has "white" clothes.

Jesus is crushed by His love for His Bride. We look fine in His eyes. We make mistakes  but are cleansed by His blood. Sanctification is anything else. Jesus wants us to be free from things but His purpose is love.Through faith in Jesus we are saved. When Jesus loves His Bride, the Body of Christ, it is natural that He wants us have a relationship with the first love to Him - in love with God.

Song of Solomon is a good book showing a relationship between the Bride and Bridegroom. It is a close relation between Jesus and the Bride, that of a personal relation.  It is like the woman who was touched at His feet, crying because of His love. It was not a dry theology but a heart who was touched in the relation to Him. It was like a heart with life. A heart to heart relation. Jesus wants to be our Friend, simple and natural. 

In Song of Solomon is written, " Oh, my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your voice is lovely." Jesus loves when we speak to Him. In Song of Solomon we also see how He looks at His Bride - beautiful words to His Bride and also how the Bride is in love with the Bridegroom. Verses 10-16 begins with "My beloved is white and ruddy, chief among ten thousands."

Jesus wants to speak comfort with the inner voice, secrets and also tell us jokes when we listen. He speaks also to us through His Word, the Bible, which can be our daily Bread. Jesus loves all people and was willing to give all for us in deepest pain.

The cross, Jesus sufferings for us, is like a sermon of His love to us personally. The cross is also like a sermon about God's love, our heavenly Daddy's love to the world, willing to give the most precious He had for us. His Son has opened the way for us to have salvation. We could not do it ourselves but needed a Savior.

In John 3:16 is written, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

God is a God who cares about the world. He has shown us the greatest love. 

1 John 4:8 "God is love."

Sharing Love From Sweden - Crushed By Your Love by Eva Haglund

Sharing Love From Sweden - Eva Haglund
Feb. 14, 2014

Crushed By Your Love

The woman at your feet was crushed by your love. The sins were forgiven. She met You, Jesus, and was crushed by Your love.

Who am I? A "needer". Who do I need? You! Our own works - titles, education, riches, and even the right clothes - our own strength is crushed at Your feet.

You want You to be seen in our lives. The woman at Jesus' feet did not come with her own strength. There were people around her who did not count with her. "She had just been a prostitute."

The woman was crushed at Your feet by Your love. Let us be melted in ourselves. You are the One who is big. Let us be melted at your feet, my God of love.

Let us give like "precious oil" our lives. Give it all to You in Your hand. Your biggest present to us was the giving of Your life - crushed at Calvary, like a precious oil of love from Your heart.

I want to be at Your feet. I want to be on my knees for what You have done for me on the cross. I am crushed by your love at Your feet.

Eva Haglund

Sweden - blue and white flowers

A BOTTLE of PERFUME -  LIKE A HEART

 JESUS IS LIKE THE SEA

Jesus, You are much more wonderful than I understand. You meet me in the morning. I am crying just thinking about how fantastic You are. Longing for you. You are like the sea.

To know You is to know a big sea which never ends. I just know a little drop of the sea about who You are. Jesus, You are so wonderful! Your love is so great, as a big sea!

You are the most wonderful person I ever have met! Jesus, You are amazing, as the sea is full of "sea-stars" and "sea-diamonds" created in the sun. You are like the sea.

Eva Haglund

When I think about the Israelic flag I also think about  a diamond in a sea. God is wonderful like the sea. He is like a diamond. Like a sea full of "diamonds" and "stars". Israel is like a beautiful star and precious diamond in God`s hand. God loves Israel!

 

 

 A BLUE DIAMOND

 

As the stars...