Rick Joyner - MorningStar
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Rick Joyner
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Rick Joyner shares about some of the things he believes are coming in 2015.
Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Ancient Prayer Book Highlights Judeo-Christian Heritage
Ancient Prayer Book Highlights Judeo-Christian Heritage
Friday, September 19, 2014
JERUSALEM, Israel -- A rare Jewish prayer book is on display for the first time ever. It is part of an exhibit highlighting the Jewish-Christian heritage of the Bible and the Jewish roots of Christianity.
The 1,200-year-old Hebrew text can be seen at the in Jerusalem.
"It touches the hearts and souls of every Jew everywhere in Israel, everywhere in the world because it is the oldest known document, written document of a prayer book," said Amanda Weiss, director of the Bible Lands Museum.
CBN News received a private look at the prayer book as it arrived for exhibition.
"This is part of their heritage and we are excited to bring it here and we are excited to be able to do a lot more study on it because it's part of their tradition," said Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby and chairman of the Museum of the Bible, which will one day house the Green Family Collection of biblical artifacts.
The prayer book will be part of a larger exhibit called "The Book of Books," which includes some of the most important biblical texts ever seen in Israel.
Most of the exhibit comes from the Green family, who owns one of the largest collections of biblical artifacts in the world. It traces the written word from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Gutenberg Bible and beyond.
"It tells us about roots of history of the Jewish people, which obviously is where Christian foundation is built upon, Hebrew scripture," Green told CBN News.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu viewed the ancient book before its unveiling and became one of the few people to ever read from it.
"This prayer book is a most important find," Netanyahu said at his office. "It is written in Hebrew and contains the prayers that the people of Israel say to this very day. It is a connection between our past and our present and that is something of great value."
Green also presented Netanyahu with a rare parchment from his collection of religious texts as a gift. Originally found in the Cairo Geniza, the parchment dates from the 12th and13th centuries. It includes a dialogue written in Arabic about the relationship between man and his creator.
Weiss said the book was dated by carbon-14 testing to the year 820 and there's still a lot to learn about it.
"We know it comes from the Middle East for sure," she said.
The 50-page compilation was written by four different scribes. It is opened to the Shacharit prayer. Based in large part on the Book of Psalms and other scriptures, it's the same prayer Jewish people around the world still pray in the morning.
Prayers like, "Bless the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say 'Amen. Halleluyah!'"
"It helps them understand more of its roots," Green said.
Interest in "The Book of Books" exhibit has been overwhelming.
"I have never experienced an exhibition so globally appreciated by everyone that's seen it," Weiss told CBN News.
With the condition of the world today, Green says the message of the Bible is more important than ever.
"There's not a better time than today than to have people take a look at this book," Green explained. "When you have a book that says that the summation of this book is to love God and to love one another, I think that's a message for this world today and has been a message for the world since the beginning."
Pro-Life Leaders Furious over Obamacare Abortion Funds
Pro-Life Leaders Furious over Obamacare Abortion Funds
Friday, September 19, 2014
WASHINGTON -- Outraged lawmakers and pro-life leaders gathered outside the U.S. Capitol building Thursday to demand Congress put an end to Obamacare's massive funding of health care plans that pay for abortions
They pointed out past laws specifically forbid this, but Obamacare is ignoring that legislation and the president's own promises that no taxpayer dollars would subsidize abortion.
The speakers at the Capitol Hill news conference were reacting to a new Government Accountability Office report showing massive federal funding of abortion is allowed for under the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare.
"One thousand-thirty six plans cover elective abortions and are subsidized by taxpayer funds," Arina Grossu, with the Family Research Council's Center for Human Dignity, said.
"You not only can't keep your doctor, you also can't avoid supporting abortion if you're a taxpayer in this country given Obamacare," Ovide LaMontagne, general counsel of Americans United for Life, said.
The Hyde Amendment passed by Congress in 1977 has made it illegal for taxpayer money to pay for abortion. President Obama also pledged during negotiations over the Affordable Care Act that would continue.
Jeanne Monahan, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said the opposite has happened.
"Obama promised up and down, right and left, that abortion would not be covered in the health care law, and that Americans could be assured on his promise that the Hyde protections that we've known since the 1970s would still be covered in the health care law," Monahan told CBN News. "Well, unfortunately, we know now that President Obama has broken his promises."
"Nancy Pelosi said you wouldn't know what's in the bill unless you pass it - except for this: President Obama and the leadership of Congress said there would be no federal subsidies of abortion coverage," LaMontagne added. "And they have either lied or been grossly negligent in enforcing and following up on their promises."
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., helps lead the pro-life caucus in the House of Representatives.
"Agree or disagree with abortion funding, and thankfully a majority of Americans do not want public funds being used for abortion, but people don't like to be deceived. They don't like to be lied to," he said. "And that's exactly what has happened here."
"These massive subsidies for abortion-covering plans amount to a sharp break from decades of federal policy under the Hyde Amendment," Susan Muskett, with the National Right to Life Committee, added.
Smith agreed.
"It is completely, totally, absolutely contrary to the Hyde Amendment," he said.
Smith and other pro-life legislators spearheaded a move in the House to fix the problem with a bill called HR7 but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has refused to let the Senate vote on its version of that bill.
"Polls have shown that Americans don't want abortion coverage in their plans. And they also don't support federal funds for abortion," Melissa Swearingen, with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said. "The best solution would be a simple and clean fix. Enact HR7, which is the 'No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.' It does basically what it says in the title: it prohibits federal funds going to abortion."
"But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has prevented Senate action on identical legislation," Muskett pointed out.
"Sen. Reid when he was in the House was one of the most pro-life members of the House of Representatives," Smith said. "His record was identical to that of Henry Hyde."
In the spirit of that record, Smith asked Sen. Reid to get out of the way and let the Senate vote to make it so taxpayer money can't be used to pay for abortions.
The GAO report found that every single Obamacare taxpayer subsidized plan in Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont pays for abortion on demand.
In New York, 405 of the 426 subsidized plans subsidize abortion on demand. In California, it's 86 of the 90 subsidized plans, and in Massachusetts, 109 of 111.
Obama and the Rabbis
Obama and the Rabbis
Thursday, September 18, 2014 | Tsvi Sadan ISRAEL TODAY
Jews are naturally interested in Barack Obama's policy in the Middle East, and not a few rabbis are using telltale signs in American leader’s expressions of religion and moral values to draw somewhat far-fetched conclusions regarding the spiritual nature of his presidency.
Since Obama's election, Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, the most popular Orthodox Jewish "evangelist" in Israel, has been among those teaching that he is the representation of "Tidal," the "king of nations" mentioned in Genesis 14:1.
Being the forty-fourth president of the United States, Obama’s presidency will be characterized by bloodshed, because in gematria – where Hebrew letters can take numeric value and vice versa – 44 makes the word for blood.
Rabbi Yitzhak also views Obama as a Christian Muslim, and as such a representation of both Edom (a euphemism for Christianity) and Ishmael (Islam), Israel's two arch enemies. Obama's presidency therefore will be characterized by dangerous anti-Israel policy that has the potential to bring about Israel's destruction.
This danger, says Rabbi Yitzhak, can be averted by the repentance of individual Jews. In other words, Israel's wellbeing depends not on the IDF, but on proper Jewish response to God.
Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, another respected figure in certain religious circles, claims that the summer’s Gaza war has initiated the great war of Gog and Magog with nations gathering against Israel prior to the coming of Messiah. The reason for this war, he says, has everything to do with homosexuality, and particularly the annual gay and lesbian parade in Jerusalem, which was postponed this year because of the Gaza conflagration.
President Obama enters this scheme by being the first American president to openly supported gay and lesbian marriage.
According to Jewish understanding, incest was the cause of the Flood and incest will be the cause for the last apocalyptic war of Gog and Magog.
Like Rabbi Yitzhak, Rabbi Schwartz uses esoteric interpretation methods to draw his conclusion that the world is coming to its end. An example is the appearance of the name "Obama" in Ezekiel 38:2, where, in Hebrew, counting seven letters from the last letter of the word "prince" makes the word "Obama." Be that as it may, Rabbi Schwartz still says that Israel bears heavy responsibility for the impending global doom, and therefore must undergo a deep and thorough searching of her soul.
There are other rabbis and small time "prophets" who likewise use a "biblical code" system to find names, places, events and even specific dates that supposedly reveal Obama's most secret intents.
Intriguing and captivating as it may be, however, relying on such methods for the understanding of current affairs has proved erroneous too many times in the past. Having said that, however, this phenomenon demonstrates that many rabbis harbor a deep and unusual distrust of Obama.
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Thursday, September 18, 2014
Aaronic Blessing/Benediction stitching
I am thankful for the one who did this for us many years ago. It hangs in my home office.
Steve Martin
Love For His People, Inc.
Israel Recognizes 'Arameans' as Nationality
Israel Recognizes 'Arameans' as Nationality
Thursday, September 18, 2014
JERUSALEM, Israel -- In what many are applauding as an "historic decision," Israeli Interior Ministry Gideon Sa'ar approved the designation of Aramean Christians as a nationality in Israel.
Sa'ar said Arameans fulfill the criteria of a nationality, including historical heritage, religion, language and culture. He instructed Population Authority head Amnon Ben-Ami and his staff to register Arameans applying for their Israeli ID cards by their nationality.
IDF Maj. (res.) Shadi Halul called it an "historic decision and an historic change for the relations between Christians and Jews in the State of Israel," the Israeli daily Israel Hayom reported.
Halul said the decision is "proof that Israel protects its citizens and the identity of its minorities, unlike all the Arab nations around us."
Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek Orthodox priest from Nazareth, also praised Sa'ar's decision, calling it "brave."
Nadaf said it paves the way for Israeli Christians from all Eastern Orthodox churches to be designated as Aramean on their identity cards.
Father Nadaf has been encouraging Israeli Christians to serve in the IDF for years, supporting the Israeli Christians Recruitment Forum, founded by Maj. Ihab Shlayan.
"[Israeli] Christians won't be held hostage, won't be ruled any longer by those who would force their ethnicity, religion, way of life on them,"Israel Hayom's Dror Eydar quoted Shlayan.
"We won't be protected wards and hide behind the groups who control the street. We want to live in Israel and a historic wrong was righted. Congratulations to the Aramenas and here's to a fruitful life together in the Holy Land," he said.
"God is Near to All Those Who Call" ✡ The Magic of the Hebrew Month - ISRAEL365
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Tortured in Ukraine: Christians Living a Nightmare
Tortured in Ukraine: Christians Living a Nightmare
Thursday, September 18, 2014
It's a scene that has played in Elena Velichko's head over and over. Pro-Russian rebels took over her hometown in early April. Her husband Vladimir told her to take the kids and leave the city.
"He took us to the train station and we said goodbye. He said, 'I love you.' He kissed me and kissed the children and left," Elena said.
Several days later, her life and that of her eight children, ages 2 to 16, suddenly turned upside down.
Surreal Reality
It was June 8, Pentecost Sunday. The church was half empty. That's because the city was under tremendous assault by both the pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army.
Once the church service ended everybody made their way to the front of the church to go home.
But then the unimaginable happened.
"The church called and said my husband, along with three other believers, had been taken by men who were waiting outside the church," Elena said.
Alexander Gayvoronski, a church deacon, was there that Sunday morning.
"The men wore masks and had machine guns. They told the four Christian men to get into their cars," Gayvoronsi said.
The rebels took the pastor's sons, Ruvim and Albert Pavenko, Victor Brodarsky, and Elena's husband, Vladimir.
Multiple sources told CBN News what then happened to the four Christian captives.
First rebels took them outside the city and tortured them. The next day the men were put in car and told to drive away.
Then, minutes later they were recaptured and shot multiple times. Elena's husband was burned in the car.
"I don't hate my husband's killers. It is easy to start asking questions. Why did this happen? But if I keep thinking about this it will only wear me out," Elena said.
Christians Targeted
That same day rebels burned down the largest furniture factory that belonged to Ruvim and Albert Pavenko's father.
It had become clear rebels were targeting the city's evangelical community.
Sergey Demidovich, a top evangelical leader in Slavyansk, said Christians face constant threat.
"I never thought in the 21st century, in [a] free country as Ukraine, it was possible to experience this level of persecution," Demidovich said. "The separatists saw Protestant Christians as enemies. They viewed us as cults."
But the persecution was just getting started.
"All the Protestant churches in the city were either taken over by rebels or forced to close. We were forbidden to meet for services and the leadership forced to leave or be under risk of arrest," Demidovich said.
And the persecution is spreading far beyond just this city. Throughout the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as rebels gain more territory, assaults against evangelicals are growing.
Two pastors told CBN News they were arrested and tortured for their faith.
"If I went to Donetsk today I would be arrested at the first checkpoint and put in jail," Oleg, a pastor from Donetsk, said. "The last time I was in prison they beat me up so badly, but I kept preaching the gospel and telling them to repent."
Unwavering Faith
Many believe the persecution is linked to pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church, and the pro-Russian rebels are only happy to do their bidding.
"When I was in prison, a rebel soldier told me they have an order to kill all the Christian pastors who are not part of the Russian Orthodox Church," Anatoly, a pastor from Luhansk, said.
While that has forced some to go underground, others are deciding to stay.
"Many heroes were born out of this conflict -- men and women who are boldly sharing their faith and helping those caught in the war," Oleg said.
Elena Velichko said there's not a day that goes by that she doesn't think of that last goodbye, that final kiss she had with her husband at the train station.
But she is unwavering in her faith, trusting God to take care of her, the children, and Ukraine.
"People often ask me how I am doing. I tell them about a mighty God who can heal our hearts, maybe not as quickly as we would like it, but the process is going on and the prayers of people around the world help," Elena said.
"The biggest thing you can do for me is to pray for me and my family, about the future of my children and my country," she said.
Several days later, her life and that of her eight children, ages 2 to 16, suddenly turned upside down.
Surreal Reality
It was June 8, Pentecost Sunday. The church was half empty. That's because the city was under tremendous assault by both the pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army.
Once the church service ended everybody made their way to the front of the church to go home.
But then the unimaginable happened.
"The church called and said my husband, along with three other believers, had been taken by men who were waiting outside the church," Elena said.
Alexander Gayvoronski, a church deacon, was there that Sunday morning.
"The men wore masks and had machine guns. They told the four Christian men to get into their cars," Gayvoronsi said.
The rebels took the pastor's sons, Ruvim and Albert Pavenko, Victor Brodarsky, and Elena's husband, Vladimir.
Multiple sources told CBN News what then happened to the four Christian captives.
First rebels took them outside the city and tortured them. The next day the men were put in car and told to drive away.
Then, minutes later they were recaptured and shot multiple times. Elena's husband was burned in the car.
"I don't hate my husband's killers. It is easy to start asking questions. Why did this happen? But if I keep thinking about this it will only wear me out," Elena said.
Christians Targeted
That same day rebels burned down the largest furniture factory that belonged to Ruvim and Albert Pavenko's father.
It had become clear rebels were targeting the city's evangelical community.
Sergey Demidovich, a top evangelical leader in Slavyansk, said Christians face constant threat.
"I never thought in the 21st century, in [a] free country as Ukraine, it was possible to experience this level of persecution," Demidovich said. "The separatists saw Protestant Christians as enemies. They viewed us as cults."
But the persecution was just getting started.
"All the Protestant churches in the city were either taken over by rebels or forced to close. We were forbidden to meet for services and the leadership forced to leave or be under risk of arrest," Demidovich said.
And the persecution is spreading far beyond just this city. Throughout the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as rebels gain more territory, assaults against evangelicals are growing.
Two pastors told CBN News they were arrested and tortured for their faith.
"If I went to Donetsk today I would be arrested at the first checkpoint and put in jail," Oleg, a pastor from Donetsk, said. "The last time I was in prison they beat me up so badly, but I kept preaching the gospel and telling them to repent."
Unwavering Faith
Many believe the persecution is linked to pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church, and the pro-Russian rebels are only happy to do their bidding.
"When I was in prison, a rebel soldier told me they have an order to kill all the Christian pastors who are not part of the Russian Orthodox Church," Anatoly, a pastor from Luhansk, said.
While that has forced some to go underground, others are deciding to stay.
"Many heroes were born out of this conflict -- men and women who are boldly sharing their faith and helping those caught in the war," Oleg said.
Elena Velichko said there's not a day that goes by that she doesn't think of that last goodbye, that final kiss she had with her husband at the train station.
But she is unwavering in her faith, trusting God to take care of her, the children, and Ukraine.
"People often ask me how I am doing. I tell them about a mighty God who can heal our hearts, maybe not as quickly as we would like it, but the process is going on and the prayers of people around the world help," Elena said.
"The biggest thing you can do for me is to pray for me and my family, about the future of my children and my country," she said.
The Islamic State Thinks 'Big': Next Target - Jordan and Israel?
The Islamic State Thinks 'Big': Next Target - Jordan and Israel?
Wednesday, September 17, 2014 | Elizabeth Blade ISRAEL TODAY
The Middle East has a serious problem, and it isn’t the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Though one wouldn’t know it by the skewed focus of international media and diplomatic attention, the crisis of the Islamic State dwarfs even the most serious bouts of Israeli-Arab violence.
Over the past several months, the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS), a Sunni Muslim group rejected by Al Qaeda as being too extreme, has not only managed to gain control over much of Iraq and Syria, but has fulfilled the long-held dream of many Sunnis by establishing a "caliphate" that demands the allegiance of all faithful Muslims.
But the Islamic State’s notorious leader, Abu Baker Al-Baghdadi, is not content with the territory he already rules. Al-Baghdadi is thinking big, and has vowed to forcibly spread Islam to the four corners of the world. Iraq was only the first target among many, and the swift defeat of the US-trained and equipped Iraqi military provided the Islamists a major morale boost.
Abdul Alhasan (name changed for security reasons), a member of the Iraqi parliament, explained the easy conquest of key Iraqi cities by pointing a blaming finger at his nation’s unpopular government.
“We poured billions of dollars into military equipment and training, but these fanatics managed to deal us a severe blow. This would not have been possible if the government listened to the will of its people,” said the politician, insisting that Iraq needs to grant greater autonomy to its diverse group of minorities and abandon the American idea of an overbearing central government.
Instead, Baghdad has strongly suppressed calls for greater regional autonomy, sparking violent clashes and dangerous shifts in allegiances. This has only made the Islamic State’s job easier, with some factions preferring the caliphate to their own government. It would appear that a unified Iraq’s days are numbered.
And while Alhassan and others remain optimistic that Iraq still has a fighting chance, the Islamic State is already moving on to new targets in its assaults on Jordanian border towns. The goal is clear: topple Jordan’s monarch and annex the territory of the Hashemite Kingdom in a march that inevitably leads to Israel.
In a face-to-face showdown, Jordan’s well-trained military and substantial regional and international backing should be too much for the Islamic State to overcome. The real threat is the Islamic State gaining supporters within Jordan. “Mass demonstrations in support of the Islamic State have already taken place in the Jordanian city of Maan,” notes Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an expert on Islam at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.
Kedar stresses that many Palestinian and Syrian refugees residing in the Kingdom are angry over the way Jordanian authorities handle their miserable living conditions, "forcing thousands to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State, which they view as a solution to their problems."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been monitoring the developments closely, vowed to help Jordan in curbing the rising threat. "Israel realizes that one day we may all wake up to find the Islamic State on our borders," says Kedar. "The real danger is that Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and even inside Israel proper may support the Islamic State, shattering Israel's security."
According to the pundit, it might be in Israel’s interests to tackle this threat militarily before it has a chance to gain a foothold West of the Jordan River. While such a decision hasn’t been taken yet, rumors are that Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the US have established an operations center in Amman with the aim of developing plans to defeat the Islamic State.
The Islamic State has asserted that its present focus is dealing with apostate Muslim countries, but there is no doubt the jihadist horde is inching ever closer to the Jewish state.
UPDATE: In fact, the Islamic State has already reached Gaza, the West Bank and Israel proper. In the upcoming issue of Israel Today Magazine, we interview an Islamic State member active in the Gaza Strip.
The October 2014 issue of Israel Today will be provided free of charge to all our daily newsletter subscribers. If you haven’t already, click here to sign up today.
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