Rescue personnel stand near a victim who was killed in a terror attack in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem.16 people were wounded, six of them seriously when two terrorists armed with guns and knives boarded a bus and began a shooting and stabbing spree, October 13, 2015. (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90

LIVE BLOG: Multiple Terror Attacks Hit Israel in Unprecedented Strikes Tuesday; Dozens Wounded, Several Dead

By Abra Forman October 13, 2015 , 9:40 am

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:6)

The recent violence in Israel shows no signs of abating, with Palestinian terrorist attacks against Jews recorded throughout Jerusalem and the entire country every day for the past week.  Stay tuned to Breaking Israel News for live updates on today’s events.

06:55  Selfie Stick, Nunchucks Bring Down Terrorists

Social media reports indicate that a selfie stick, a popular gadget used to snap selfie photos, was used to take down a terrorist in Jerusalem on Tuesday. 

On Monday, an Israeli man is said to have subdued a terrorist carrying out an attack at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station with a pair of nunchucks. 

06:48  CNN Headline Blames Israel for Recent Terrorism

Anti-Israel media bias strikes again as the homepage of the CNN website published a misleading headline, insinuating Israel is the perpetrator behind the current wave of terrorism to strike the country. 

06:42  Kiryat Ata Attack Case of Mistaken Identity

The stabbing attack outside an IKEA in Kiryat Ata is reportedly a nationally motivated attack. An Israeli stabbed a second Israeli thinking he was an Arab. The Israeli stabber was arrested by police.

06:39  Terrorist Behind Armon Hanatziv Bus Attack Freed Hamas Prisoner

One of the terrorists behind Tuesday morning's bus attack in Armon Hanatziv is a known Hamas terrorist who was released from prison. 

06:08  Hundreds Riot at Gaza Border

Approximately 200 Arabs from Gaza are rioting at the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel, throwing stones and burning tires. Security forces closed the crossing in response to the violence.

06:04  Eilat Update: Shots Were Fired on Jordanian Side of Border

Police have confirmed that the shots were fired on the Jordanian side of the Eilat border crossing. No Israelis were injured.

05:54  Attacks Reported Near Eilat

A developing story is underway as reports come in of two incidents in Eilat, at Israel's southern tip on the border with Sinai. A car ran a checkpoint at one of the border terminals, and there are reports of a shooting attack at the border crossing into Jordan in the Rabin terminal.

05:49  Jerusalem Hospitals Receive Emergency Blood Units to Treat Terror Victims

According to Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency response service, the organization's Blood Services has supplied "214 blood units and components" to Jerusalem hospitals Shaare Zedek and Haddassah Ein Kerem. 

05:47  Kiryat Ata Attack: One Israeli Wounded

Preliminary reports on the stabbing in Kiryat Ata say that a single victim was lightly wounded and the terrorist arrested.

The attack took place near the city's IKEA branch. 

First responders and civilians were asked to clear the area as security forces searched for a possible bomb.

05:39  PHOTO: Bus Attack in Jerusalem

The Government Press Office of Israel has released this photo of emergency workers cleaning up the scene of this morning's Jerusalem mass casualty attack, which killed two.

05:36  DEVELOPING: Attack in Kiryat Ata

Reports are coming in of a stabbing attack in Kiryat Ata, a town near Haifa in the North of Israel. The terrorist is believed to have been apprehended by security forces. 

05:34  Hamas Claims Credit For Attacks

Hamas has claimed credit for this morning's violence in Jerusalem, saying that the simultaneous attacks were carried out by a single terror cell, rather than by individual "lone wolves."

05:25  New Photo from Scene of Car Ramming Attack

  (Credit: Hillel Maier/TPS)

05:20  Third Israeli Victim Succumbs to Wounds

Three Israelis are confirmed dead, victims of terror attacks carried out across Israel on Tuesday. Jerusalem's Deputy Mayor has called for "Operation Defensive Shield" to combat terrorism across the city.  

05:14  Israeli Security Minister Considers Closing East Jerusalem

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan is considering, among other defense tactics, putting East Jerusalem on lockdown in response to the dramatic rise in terror attacks. Another possible measure under consideration is easing the restrictions on obtaining gun licenses for civilians.

05:01  Riots on Gaza Border

The IDF is fighting to control riots on the Gaza border as rioters attempt to breach the fence separating Gaza from Israel. IDF soldiers are using tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to stop them.

04:51  Deputy Foreign Minister: Abbas Has Blood on Hands

image: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Tzipi-Hotovely.jpg

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely stated on Twitter that PA President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders have "blood on their hands" for the recent wave of terror occuring in Israel. 

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/51030/live-blog-terror-updates-from-israel-tuesday-october-13-terror-watch/#EPrCIbGzXAGeEqjT.99

Recovering From Church Burns: Advice for the Wounded By Wendy Alsup

Recovering From Church Burns: Advice for the Wounded By Wendy Alsup

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Here's my advice for those burned by the church. It's simple, yet profound. Here goes:

Trust the church.

I need to qualify that, right? How do you trust the same entity that wounded you deeply? It's fundamentally helpful to distinguish between the church local and the church global.

The global church is made up of local churches, some with organized denominational structures and some without. When you've been burned by a local congregation or even the larger denominational system with which they are affiliated, it's helpful to zoom out in your own head and remember that the "big C" church is way bigger than the particular group that hurt you.

The group that wounded you is really just a very small subset of the larger body of Christ. And the worst thing you can do after being burned by a local congregation is to allow your beliefs on the larger body to fall apart.

We Need Community and Shepherds

Here are my core convictions on the body of Christ, which I think are well supported by Scripture: We will never reach a point of Christian maturity in which we no longer need community. And we will never reach a point in Christian maturity in which we no longer need shepherds. Furthermore, you will probably never need a community with a shepherd quite as much as you need one after you've been burned by a previous community with a shepherd.

I was burned by a church years ago, but praise God He convinced me that I still needed the church. So I crawled in to a new church, wounded and weary. I had listened to their pastor's sermons on podcasts for months, and I knew that, at least according to the sermons, this church valued the Bible and grace.

For a long time, our family was the last one in to sit down and the first one out when the service was over. I observed, and I listened. And over time, I got the courage to reach out.

Five years later, I have never once regretted opening myself up to that body. Now, this is not to say they are perfect or the pastors never make a mistake. It's not to say that one day I won't be burned by this congregation (or that I won't hurt others). But the bottom line of the Christian life is that we need community, and we need pastors.

Though I may be hurt again by my community or my pastors, I still need them. The possibility of being hurt in the future is there, but it is only a possibility. However, my need for them is not a possibility. It is an actual, factual, present need.

The Good Shepherd

About a year into my time at my current church, my pastor preached this sermon from Philippians 2. He made two particularly important points. First, God's good under shepherds are recognized by their humility, not their giftedness. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, and He is the model for His under shepherds.

Beware the shepherd whose personal burdens and needs drive the church's agenda or eclipse the needs of the sheep. When the needs of the sheep must submit to the needs of the shepherd, this is not leadership like Christ (or Paul, Timothy or Epaphroditis).

Second, when God has brought the humble under shepherd into your life, like Paul's exhortation concerning Epaphroditus in Philippians 2, welcome them with joy and receive them with honor.

The imperfect but humble under shepherd still exists! God didn't abandon us to only poor leaders after Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus passed on. It is to our benefit, not detriment, to receive them and honor them in the name of Christ. 

My son pulled a hot curling iron down on his hand when he was 1 year old. I picked him up before he even started crying and ran to the sink to run cold water over his hand, followed by an ice pack I held periodically on the burned area. Later, in the emergency room, a nurse told me that was absolutely the best thing to do for his burned hand.

Sure, we got the heat away from his hand first, but then we needed to apply the opposite, a cold ice pack, to really undo the damage the heat - even removed from his hand - was still doing to his skin.

You Need a Pastor

I am growing a firm conviction that this is the remedy for those burned by the church. If you were wounded by a self-serving, proud, authoritarian pastor, the answer is not to never allow yourself to sit under another pastor. The answer is to find a humble, sacrificial pastor who is willing to lay down his interests for those of his sheep.

Sitting under humble leadership is the antidote to the sting of the burn from the proud. Like my son, you may still have a scar when it's all said and done, but the scar of distrusting all Christian community and leadership for all time is so much worse than the one you may have when you allow yourself to re-enter community and sit under Christ like leadership.

If you've been burned by a pastor, you need a pastor.

"So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 

And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble'" (1 Pet. 5:1-5, ESV).

Wendy Alsup

www.theologyforwomen.org

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