Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Franklin Graham Rebukes Obama

Franklin Graham Rebukes Obama


Franklin Graham
Franklin Graham (File)
After U.S. President Barack Obama's controversial remarks comparing radical Islam to the Christian crusades, Franklin Graham took to social media to call out America's leader: 
"Today at the National Prayer Breakfast, the President implied that what ISIS is doing is equivalent to what happened over 1,000 years ago during the Crusades and the Inquisition. Mr. President, many people in history have used the name of Jesus Christ to accomplish evil things for their own desires. But Jesus taught peace, love and forgiveness. He came to give His life for the sins of mankind, not to take life. Muhammad, on the contrary, was a warrior and killed many innocent people. True followers of Christ emulate Christ—true followers of Muhammed emulate Muhammed." 
The post has more than 107,000 likes, 9,000 comments and 51,000 shares. 

Illegal Palestinian Worker Shown Mercy for Saving Jews

Illegal Palestinian Worker Shown Mercy for Saving Jews

Tuesday, February 10, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff
The Tel Aviv District Court has decided to show clemency to a Palestinian worker residing illegally in Israel-proper after he saved the lives of an Israeli Jewish doctor and his son from a stone-throwing Palestinian mob.
“The defendant is a kind of ‘Righteous Among the Nations,’” ruled Judge Shamai Becker, referencing the designation given to non-Jews who helped save Jewish lives during World War II.
Becker sentenced the defendant to 18 days in prison, which he had already served while in custody. “Rather than condemn, we show gratitude to this man because he risked his life and livelihood in his home village in order to save Jews in danger,” the judge continued.
The 38-year-old Palestinian was accused of residing in Israel illegally, of supplying a false identity and possession of counterfeit documents. He confessed to the crime, but was shown mercy both due to his earlier sacrifice and a lack of evidence that he would commit further offenses.
The incident in question, in which the man saved two Jewish lives, occurred just before last summer’s Gaza war. A Jewish doctor and his son found themselves in an Arab village in the so-called “West Bank” and were set upon by an angry mob.
The doctor, who appeared in court as a witness on behalf of the defendant, testified: “It was the first Thursday of the month of Ramadan. I was nervous and tried to pass through the Arab village as quickly as possible. Some local people told me which way to go, but they led me astray and followed us.”
Soon after, the two Israelis were attacked by the mob. The son called the police, but both feared for their lives as they became blocked and stones were hurled at their vehicle.
It was then that the defendant and some of his family members intervened and acted as a human shield between the stone-throwing mob and the endangered Israelis. For 45 minutes the Palestinian man stood guard over the two Jews until an Israeli army unit arrived to extract them.
“He undoubtedly saved our lives,” the doctor assured the court.
But that selfless act came at a cost. Since that day, the Palestinian man has suffered numerous reprisals in his village, where he is unable to find work after being branded a friend of Jews. This, too, was taken into consideration by the court.
PHOTO: Palestinian workers at a checkpoint leading into Israel-proper. The poor, corruption-riddled Palestinian economy leads many to seek jobs in the Jewish state.
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My Rain is Falling by James Donovan

My Rain is Falling 

by James Donovan

Identity Network
 
I am The Great I AM! I am the Lord that calms the storms and departs the seas. I am moving upon planet earth with a mighty move of My Spirit. Like the natural rain comes down and replenishes the earth to grow and bear a harvest of fruit. My rain drops are falling. My mercy is falling like the rain and springing up a well and bringing forth life. I am opening up the heavens and invading the earth with spiritual rain. I am bringing forth refreshing to those who are weary and down trodden.
 
In the natural the dark clouds open up and the rain comes down. In the same way, My glory clouds are releasing My rain. It is a spiritual rain, which is full of My presence and My glory. I am bringing forth newness of life and new growth. I am reviving and bringing newness of life to the dry and wasted areas of your lives; to bring about change and to revive you to the newness of life that I have for you; to enable you to flow in My Presence.
 
I Am Opening Heavens and Pouring Down My Rain
 
My rains bring refreshing and growth and I am moving. I desire you, My people to move by My Spirit in these days, and to flow with My resurrected power and authority. So I am reviving you, My people and calling forth My chosen ones to flow in the river from above; to flow and be led by My Spirit. For My Spirit brings freedom and liberty.
 
I am calling My chosen ones to flow and soak in My presence and harken to My voice, and be led of My Spirit. For I am bringing new growth and spiritual maturity to those who will yield to Me. Press into Me, and receive My rain drops from heaven; which is more of Me. For My rain is falling upon earth bringing a mighty revival to those who shall receive My glory, My giftings, My anointing and walk in My power and authority with signs and wonders following. For I AM A GOD OF MIRACLES!
 
Be glad and rejoice for I am opening the heavens and pouring down My rain; My presence. I am restoring, and rebuilding. I am bringing forth newness of life from those areas previously devastated, to those who will receive My presence, and walk in My presence. For where My Spirit is there is freedom and liberty.
 
Yes, Lord
 
I am raising up a people who in the natural look peculiar. But I am moving through those who say, "Yes Lord, send Your rain. Yes Lord, send your Presence. Bring forth change by Your Spirit, for You are our God!" I am raising up those who rejoice in My rain upon planet earth, and acknowledge that I am bringing forth change and touching lives for My own Glory.
 
My Presence brings forth My love. So receive My love. Come and walk with Me this day. Receive My rain. Receive My presence in your life, not just on Sundays but every day. Let My presence come on you and cover you with My love all the time and in every area of your lives. For I am raising up a people who will walk in My love and give My love away.
 
For, through My presence I AM filling you up with Holy Ghost fire to be My conduits, fulfilling the destiny I have for you. Be releasers of My Greatness in this season.
 
James Donovan


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Monday, February 9, 2015

Israel Summit Ends with Praise, Pledge to Prayer

Israel Summit Ends with Praise, Pledge to Prayer

Courtesy

LOVELAND, Colorado -- Participants in the first gathering of FIRM, the Fellowship of Israel-Related Ministries, closed their three-day summit Friday evening with the launching of a new website and an affirmation of founder Wayne Hilsden's call to pledge 1 percent of his day -- 14 minutes daily -- to pray for Israel and the Jewish people and for God's purposes to be fulfilled on earth.
One of the youngest members of FIRM, 22 year-old Michael Mistretta, introduced the closing speaker, 80 year-old Pastor Jack Hayford, founding pastor of Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif., who told several hundred people in attendance that the future of Israel is one of the central spiritual battles of our generation.
The leaders placed special emphasis on the younger generation throughout the summit, and on the last day, hundreds of high school students heard an exhortation from Calev Myers, an Israeli human rights attorney and activist dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism around the world and spotlighting injustices against Palestinians by their own people.
Hilsden, co-founding pastor of King of Kings Community, stressed the importance of humility for Christians in approaching the global conflict over Israel.  One of FIRM's central scriptures is from the apostle Paul's letter to Ephesians:  "Remember that at one time, you were separated from the Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in the Messiah Jesus -- you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah."  (Ephesians 2:12-13).
Hilsden says the group will expand its outreach through the website and other projects, but that the success of the collective effort to bless Israel and the other peoples of the Middle East in a time of growing persecution is prayer from individual Christians and Messianic believers on every continent.

Military Chaplains the New 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell?'

Military Chaplains the New 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell?' - CBN News


FORT BENNING, Ga. -- "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was once a term used to refer to homosexuals in the military. Now, however, the term is more often being applied to Christians in uniform.

Military chaplains are feeling the pressure to conform to the new reality, as some label biblical values "hate speech."

Chaplains have been an integral part of the military throughout our nation's history, bringing hope to the living and comfort to the dying.

Now some chaplains are coming under fire from official government policy and must choose between their consciences and their commander's orders.

A Faith at Odds

The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" worried the chaplains who follow the biblical view of same-sex relationships. Congress then stepped in, passing a bill that guaranteed the rights of all military personnel to exercise their faith.

Ron Crews, head of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, said the result of that legislation is that "chaplains can be chaplains."

"They can, in fact, bring their faith to the table in their work," he said.

Crews served as an Army chaplain for 21 years.

"Chaplains, and not only chaplains but all service members, cannot receive recriminations for living out their faith in the military," he said. "We want not only chaplains but all those who serve to be able to exercise the religious liberties that they are putting their lives on the line for."

Despite the law, many Christians, and especially chaplains, often find themselves at odds with military leadership.

"I got an email from a chaplain in Afghanistan who preached a sermon for his unit out of 1 Peter, talking about the last days and the fact that there would be a rise in homosexuality during the last days," Crews said.

"He got called into his commander's office, he got told, 'You cannot preach out of that text,'" Crews said. "He wound up getting a bad OR from that commander in the war zone."

Exploding Controversy

Another example of this tension happened recently at Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade. A chaplain was asked to give a suicide prevention class. But what happened next exploded in controversy.

Capt. Joe Lawhorn serves as chaplain for the 5th Ranger Training Battalion based at Fort Benning. He was asked to lead a class on suicide prevention at the Mountain Ranger Camp.

In addition to covering the Army-wide curriculum, he cited his own experience and shared his personal struggle with depression.

"And so he gave his rangers a handout," Crews said. "On one side was all of the resources available to military personnel. On the other side, though, he said, 'I want to tell you that this is what worked for me.'"

What was on the reverse side were referrals to Christian counseling services.

"During the presentation, according to those who were witnesses, at no time did Chaplain Lawhorn say 'mine is the only way,'" Crews said.

One ranger took a picture with his phone and sent it to the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, and that group made a big issue of it.

Lawhorn's brigade commander later issued Lawhorn a "letter of concern," which the Pentagon insists is administrative in nature.

In our investigation the military has been unable to cite any written rule or regulation the chaplain actually violated. Meanwhile the Ranger who complained received no punishment at all, although he violated Army policy by going outside his chain of command.

A Force Multiplier

Those actions speak volumes about how toxic the climate has become for Christians in the military.

"You are in a very pluralistic environment," Jeff Strueker, a former Ranger chaplain, told CBN News. "You get all faiths and all walks of life."


Strueker became a chaplain half-way through his 24-year military career. He has been involved in every major American conflict since 1987.

"Why do we have chaplains to begin with? George Washington, when he formed the Continental Army, formed two branches--infantry and chaplains and basically said, 'I need war fighters, and then I need men who can minister to the souls of war fighters,'" Strueker explained.

"So a chaplain who is doing his job well is a force multiplier for a unit," he continued. "That force multiplier means that the unit is more effective in combat. (It) doesn't matter if it's a transportation unit or a hospital unit or if it's an infantry unit. They're more effective in combat with a chaplain."

Strueker believes the vital role of chaplains goes beyond leading church services for the troops.

"Today you need somebody in the unit who can deal with spiritual issues of a soldier. No one else in the unit can do what a chaplain can do," Strueker explained. "Ninety-nine percent of the counseling that I did was with people who weren't Christian. They came to me because I was there -- there while the bullets were flying and they needed somebody to talk to."

No Battlefield Complaints

And that's not all the chaplain does. Strueker said there are many cases in Iraq and Afghanistan where atrocities were avoided just because there was a chaplain there to be a moral linfluence on the men and women on those battlefields.

Strueker said on the front lines, complaints against chaplains are very rare.

"Sharing the Scriptures with somebody who's about take their last breath on a battlefield are the kind of complaints people that are way back in the rear make," Strueker added. "The guys that are on the battlefield don't ever make those kind of complaints to me as a chaplain."

Strueker said the current climate would make it more difficult to do his job.

"I'm commissioned by God to be a minister of the Gospel, and my denomination has endorsed me," he explained. "So I answer not just to the U.S. Army, but to God Himself and to my denomination for what I do."

"And if the point comes where my career is asking me to do something that my denomination or my relationship to God is asking me not to do, I have got to leave the military," he added.

"You serve everbody with grace and dignity," Crews said. "However, when someone comes to you for counsel you've got to be absolutely clear up front, that if you're coming to me, I counsel from a biblical perspective."

Strueker agrees.

"I don't want to see chaplains leave the military," he said. "I hope many more good men and women will become chaplains. But if you can't do it in good conscience, then you owe it to God to leave the military."

Anti-Semitic Incidents Spike Across Britain

Anti-Semitic Incidents Spike Across Britain

Anti-Semitism hit a record high in Great Britain last year, according to a British charity.
The Community Security Trust reports the number of anti-Semitic incidents spiked, including more than 80 violent assaults.
The charity recorded 1,168 incidents across Britain. That's more than double the number of cases in 2013, and the highest yearly total since the group began monitoring anti-Semitism in Britain in 1984.
Some of the anti-Semitic abuse included hate mail, threats, and abuse on social media, graffiti, and the damaging of Jewish property.
The charity believes the spike was a retaliation over the conflict between Israel and Hamas last summer.
A spokesman for the group said fear spiked yet again after one of the Islamic terrorists in last month's Paris attacks specifically targeted a Jewish grocery store.
Four Jewish people were among the 17 victims killed in the Paris rampage.
Afterward, an unprecedented number of British Jews called the Community Security Trust fearing they could be targeted next.

Rabbi: Jewish Prayers Kept David's Tomb From Becoming Church

Rabbi: Jewish Prayers Kept David's Tomb From Becoming Church

Sunday, February 08, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff
King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion was the focus of major controversy last summer when it was reported that, under pressure from the Vatican, Israel was preparing to hand over or sell control of the holy site to the Catholic Church.
The site is also holy to Christians, as the second floor of the compound is home to a more modern representation of the “Upper Room.”
In March an Italian newspaper reported that the Israeli government had in fact reached an agreement whereby the Vatican would take control of the Upper Room, while the building itself, and therefore King David’s Tomb, would remain still be owned by the Jewish state.
The situation was unacceptable to religious Jewish authorities, who noted that the arrangement would in effect transform the building into a church, thereby making it ritualistically impossible for Jews to worship anywhere on the premises.
Rabbi Eldad Shmueli told Arutz 7 that he subsequently made a call for all Jews visiting and praying at the Western Wall to also visit the nearby Tomb of David.
“To our delight the Israeli public has visited en masse, the publication of the agreement with the Vatican has given us a boost [in attendance] - there are many [Torah] lessons, prayers,” said Rabbi Shmueli. “The place is alive and vibrant - everyone should come here and help maintain the spiritual essence of this place.”
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Steven Spielberg on Preserving Memory ✡ "Have Compassion upon Zion"

You will arise, and have compassion upon Zion; for it is time to be gracious unto her, for the appointed time has come.

PSALMS (102:14)
 

אַתָּה תָקוּם תְּרַחֵם צִיּוֹן כִּי עֵת לְחֶנְנָהּ כִּי בָא מוֹעֵד

תהילים קב:יד

a-ta ta-kum t'-ra-khaym tzee-yon kee ayt l'-khe-n'-na kee va mo-ayd

Jerusalem Inspiration

Listen to the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Our generation had a great privilege - we saw the words of the prophets come true. We saw the rise of Zion, the return of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, the ingathering of exiles and our return to Jerusalem. We will make sure Jerusalem’s golden light will shine on our people, and spread the light of Jerusalem to the whole world. We will protect Jerusalem, because Israel without Jerusalem is like a body without a heart...Our heart will never be divided again!”
 

How Spielberg Found His Calling

In this poignant video, Steven Spielberg describes feeling the ghosts of Auschwitz and discovering the role he could play in preserving the prisoners’ stories.
 

Return of the Lost Tribe

The Bnei Menashe are the descendants of the tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel exiled by the Assyrian empire in 722 BCE. Over the last two years, more than 3,000 Bnei Menashe now call Israel home.
 

'Do You Believe in Miracles?' DVD

Just as God performed the miracles which are recorded in the Bible, he continues to perform miracles today. In “Do You Belive in Miracles?”, Hanoch Teller shares real-life stories of miracles to demonstrate God’s activity and presence in our lives.

Jerusalem Daily Photo

Noam Chen's stunning photo captures the blending of the past with the present: the Old City of Jerusalem during the Festival of Light.
 

Thank You

Today's Jerusalem Scenes and Inspiration is sponsored by Nelli Vandenijssel Groen from Nootdorp, Netherlands. Toda Raba!
 

“I Look Forward to the Verses

It’s great to hear from you and make new friends from all over the world. Please send mean email and let me know how you are enjoying Jerusalem365 (don’t forget to say where you are from!).
  Shalom. Thank you for sending me emails. I look forward to the verses pertaining to the content. I pray for the safety and G-ds protection on each and every IDF soldier and police officers throughout Israel. These are terrible times but we serve a covenant keeping G-d and we are HIS people and HE is our G-d. Whom shall we fear? Bless you all at Jerusalem365. Kalma Hayes South Africa.
Blessing from Jerusalem,
Rabbi Tuly Weisz
RabbiTuly@Israel365.com
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