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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, January 9, 2015
"And Abraham Arose Early" ✡ Special Delivery to the Western Wall
Most Persecution of Christians is at Hands of Muslims
Most Persecution of Christians is at Hands of Muslims
Wednesday, January 07, 2015 | Israel Today Staff
The non-denominational relief organization Open Doors on Wednesday published its annual World Watch List of the 50 countries around the world where Christians face the most persecution.
The group estimates that some 100 million Christians globally are persecuted for their faith. Over the past year, both the severity and the geographic distribution of persecution have increased, reported Open Doors.
That is especially true in the Middle East, where only in Israel does the Christian population grow and thrive. Needless, to say, the Jewish state did not make the list of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
Since 2002, North Korea has held tight to the inglorious top position on the World Watch List. Of the estimated 200,000–400,000 underground Christians in North Korea, up to 70,000 are listed as “enemies of the regime” and made to suffer torture and hard labor in detention camps.
After North Korea, most of the persecution is happening in the Middle East, where violent jihadism has been on the rise, putting the local Christian populations under increasing pressure.
Iran rose to seventh place on the list over the past year. Unlike other Muslim countries in the region, in Iran persecution of Christians is government sanctioned. Under the leadership of the “moderate” President Rouhani, prison sentences are more common than ever for those suspected of having come to faith in Jesus.
In neighboring Iraq and Syria, the atrocities committed by the Islamic State (ISIS) against local Christians have shocked the world. With the assistance of jihadists from around the world, ISIS has vigorously pursued the establishment of a caliphate imposing strict Islamic principles reminiscent of the violent times of the Prophet Mohammed.
Christians unfortunately enough to find themselves living under the caliphate have been forcibly evicted, enslaved and murdered. In the Nineveh Plains and the city of Mosul, ancient Christians communities, the entire Christian population have virtually disappeared.
The authors of the Open Doors study noted that in no less than 18 of the 20 highest ranking countries “Islamic extremism” is the main driving force behind the persecution of Christians.
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Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Jewish Cartoonist Confronts 'Holocaust' of Mideast Christians
Jewish Cartoonist Confronts 'Holocaust' of Mideast Christians
Friday, January 02, 2015
HERZILIYA, Israel -- One of the more well-known political cartoons in the world comes from Israel.
Dry Bones appears in the Jerusalem Post and has been reprinted in newspapers from The New York Times to the Wall Street Journal.
For more than 40 years, Jewish cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen has aimed his political commentary at topics like Islamic terrorism and anti-Semitism.
Now, he's targeting what he calls one of the worst problems in the world today: persecution of Middle East Christians.
"Christian communities being totally slaughtered and murdered and driven out and a whole ethnic cleansing of the Middle East, to wipe out Christianity and Western leaders just look the other way," he remarked.
In just one recent example, this past summer ISIS drove tens of thousands of Christians out of their ancient homes and gave them the choice to either convert or die.
Another example is a burned out church in Minya, Egypt, by the Muslim Brotherhood. Kirschen said he can't understand the apathy in the West to what he calls a holocaust facing Middle Eastern Christians.
"I think the unusual thing is the apathy," he told CBN News. "It's totally crazy that the churches are not speaking out; that the politicians are not speaking out; that there aren't demonstrations in the street."
So, Kirschen is turning up the volume. His team includes his wife, Sali, and their intern Michael. Together, they've launched an Internet campaign to rally support for Middle East Christians.
He wants to turn Dry Bones fans into members, then activists.
"People have to find a way to fight back against this. And if our churches and our Jewish organizations and our political leaders are willing to go along with the willful rewriting of history, if they are willing to go along with just looking the other way while the Christians in the Middle East are totally slaughtered and wiped out, then we the people need to do something," he told CBN News.
Watch more from Chris Mitchell's talk with Kirschen:
Kirschen's art form, refined over four decades, communicates truths in pictures and just a few lines. This is clearly a mom and pop operation.
"I'm the fulfillment department and the shipping department," his wife, Sali, said.
They offer perks to new members and despite their small size hope to make a big splash for Middle East Christians, especially at this time of year.
Kirschen summed up their plight in two cartoons especially for the Christmas season.
In one cartoon it says: "Santa claus will have it easy this year. Just about the only place left in the Middle East with Christians left to visit is the Jewish state."
He also penned this cartoon's plea: A Christmas wish for Christian communities across the Middle East: May the world hear your cries for help.
Immigration to Israel Hits a Record-Breaking Year
Immigration to Israel Hits a Record-Breaking Year
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
JERUSALEM, Israel -- Immigration to Israel climbed to a 10-year high this past year, the Jewish Agency reported, quoting projected statistics from the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption.
An estimated 26,500 Jews immigrated to Israel in 2014, a 30 percent increase from 2013.
For the first time in its history, French immigration topped the numbers worldwide, while immigrants from Ukraine nearly tripled from 2013, up a whopping 190 percent.
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky called it a "record-breaking" year marking an "historic shift."
"This year also saw an historic shift: for the first time in Israel's history, the number of immigrants who came to Israel from the free world is greater than that of immigrants fleeing countries in distress," Sharansky said.
Sharansky called the trend "evidence of Israel's attractiveness as a place where it's good to live, as well as of the success of our joint efforts to promote aliyah and strengthen connections between Jews around the world and the State of Israel."
Immigration from western European nations climbed 88 percent from last year, and the former Soviet Union saw a 50 percent increase.
More than half the immigrants were younger than 35, including 5,300 children and 8,200 between the ages of 18 and 34.
France took the honors for the oldest immigrant, 104 years of age, while the youngest, several weeks old, came with his family from America.
Among Israel's newest citizens are more than 1,000 doctors and health professionals, engineers, artists, athletes and many with degrees in the humanities and science.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Israel Photo Trivia ✡ "The Grapes of Your Vineyard"
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Monday, January 5, 2015
"A Word For 2015: How Will You Prepare The Way For The Lord?" - Rick Joyner
"A Word For 2015: How Will You
Prepare The Way For The Lord?"
Rick Joyner, Fort Mill, SC
The Elijah List
Each New Year we usually say "Good-bye!" to the previous year with a "Good riddance!" Every year has its challenges, but after a few more years go by, we tend to remember only the good things.
One thing we can surely rejoice in is that the Lord chooses to forget all of our confessed sin and only remembers the good we have done. If we are going to be one with Him, we too will have to forget our sins and our failures, and only remember the good things.
This is not a delusion, nor is it that we do not want to learn from our mistakes. We remember the good because we are not called to be failure-oriented people. We are called to go "from glory to glory" (see II Corinthians 3:18). If we are seeing with the eyes of faith, we will look back and see nothing but glory.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Now might be a good time to list the ten best things that happened to you in 2014 and thank the Lord for them.
As you do this, you will likely find far more than ten. In fact, if we are truly walking in the light, we will find it hard to ever end the list because there is so much to be thankful for. This can really help us enter 2015, because we enter the Lord's gates with thanksgiving.
2015 is supposed to be the best year of your life to date. Every year is supposed to be better than the last. Proverbs 4:18 says, "But the path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day."
This means that if we are on the right path, then our lives should be getting continually brighter. If this is not the case, we need to go back to where we missed the turn and get back on the right path.
This does not mean that our coming year will be without challenges, and maybe even greater ones than we've had before. If so, then it is an opportunity to see bigger victories than we've had before, because He always "leads us in triumph in Christ" (see II Corinthians 2:14) and "All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (see Romans 8:28). This is the Word of God that cannot fail, so how can we not move forward into the future with faith and expectation?
How Will You Prepare the Way For the Lord?
It could also be helpful to go back and count your greatest challenges of 2014, noting how they have worked out.
Some of them may still be in the works, but one thing is sure, if we have approached the challenges in the right way, we have been changed by them; and according to James, that is more valuable to us than gold or silver.
God is far more concerned about what we've become than what we've done. How were you changed in 2014?
As another year has ticked off toward the end of this age, we are one year closer to some of the greatest events in human history – the harvest that is the end of the age and the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom to the whole world.
How are you going to be a part of preparing the way for the Lord in these? You have a part to play or you would not be here.
With all that may be going on in our personal lives, let us keep in mind that by seeking first the Kingdom, the Lord promises to take care of the things that concern us. This year, let us resolve to seek Him and His Kingdom more than we ever have before, and it will be our greatest year yet.
Rick Joyner
MorningStar Ministries
MorningStar Ministries
Rick Joyner is the founder and executive director of MorningStar Ministries and Heritage International Ministries and is the Senior Pastor of MorningStar Fellowship Church. He is the author of more than forty books, including The Final Quest, A Prophetic History, and Church History. He is also the president of The OAK Initiative, an interdenominational movement that is mobilizing thousands of Christians to be engaged in the great issues of our times, being the salt and light that they are called to be. Rick and his wife, Julie, have five children: Anna, Aaryn, Amber, Ben, and Sam.
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