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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.
Monday, July 13, 2015
Hebrew Music Monday ✡ "Fear of the Lord"
Unafraid of ISIS, Iraqi Christian Girl's Faith Beyond Viral
Unafraid of ISIS, Iraqi Christian Girl's Faith Beyond Viral
Sunday, July 12, 2015
ERBIL, Iraq-- It's now been one year since the Islamic State overran much of northern Iraq. ISIS has brutalized, raped, and murdered thousands.
CBN News shared many of the horror stories, but we also learned of one little Christian overcomer who inspired us. The unshakeable faith of young Maryam Behnam has encouraged Christians in Iraq and around the world.
For Iraq, the summer of 2014 was like no other as a militant Muslim group know as the Islamic State overran the city of Mosul and nearby villages. Thousands were killed, or kidnapped and more than a million people fled into Iraqi Kurdistan.
Over the last year, CBN News brought you many reports from Iraq about Christians who have been forced from their homes because of ISIS. But young Maryam's story went viral, so we thought we'd introduce you to her once again.
Fearless Faith of a Child
Late last year, the world was amazed to hear Maryam tell a Sat 7 reporter she forgives ISIS.
Reporter Essam Nagy asked Maryam, " What are your feelings towards those who drove you out of your home and caused you hardships?
Maryam responded, "I won't do anything to them, I will only ask God to forgive them."
Watch that viral interview below:
Hundreds of thousands of people viewed her comments on the Internet.
CBN's Gary Lane recently caught up with the 11-year-old and her younger sister Zomorod as they returned from school. Their family recently moved into a small, two bedroom trailer in a community of displaced Christians in Erbil.
So, why is Maryam unafraid of ISIS, and why does she forgive the jihadists who drove her from her home in Qaraqoush?
"In the Bible Jesus said to us, 'Don't be afraid, I am with you.' And also, He said forgive others no matter who they are hating you. You have to forgive them," she said. "Jesus is my father, and He is my creator. I have no one else better than him. When ISIS drove us out of our home, His hand was on us and He saved us."
Future Dreams
When Maryam grows up she wants to join Doctors Without Borders.
"There are people everywhere, they need treatment but they cannot get it because they don't have enough money to go to the doctor and the doctors aren't available usually," she said passionately. "So, this is why. As Jesus said, 'You've been given freely, you should give freely.' This is why we should love them and provide treatment."
Maryam said she cherishes the Bible because it is God's love story to humanity.
"The only story in the Bible is the story of the resurrection of Christ Jesus the Lord because through that story, we can have hope. "
The young displaced Christian said when she prays, it isn't for a bigger home or more possessions.
"When I pray, I pray that God might help us to go back home. And also that the peace of God might come all over Iraq and also, may God forgive ISIS."
Source of Wisdom
So, what is the source of Maryam's unshakeable faith and the words of wisdom beyond her years?
"The words I am speaking to you are not coming from a random place. They come from the Holy Spirit," she insisted. "The Holy Spirit gave me these words to tell you."
Maryam's father Walid is proud his daughter became an Internet sensation.
He thanks God for Maryam, because He "gave me a nice daughter to disseminate the Word of Jesus to all the world through the media, not to famous her, but to give the regard of God to all the people and to the peace."
Maryam and her sister Zomorod love singing hymns. Their mother Alice has taught them the words to many Christian songs.
"It seems like the Holy Spirit put in their hearts to love those songs and dedicate this part of their personality to love God and praise God," she told CBN News. "So they admire this way of worshiping."
Listen to the girls sing below.
For the Glory of God
Maryam advised Christian children in the United States and elsewhere to love God and share their faith with friends.
"They don't need to be frightened and also, things that happen in their lives, they should learn from us and our lives," she said.
"This should not be to get something or to get glory for ourselves," she continued. "It is for the sake of God because God lives and we want to do everything for the glory of God and also for exalting God in our lives."
First western female fighter against ISIS returns to Israel
First western female fighter against ISIS returns to Israel
Monday, July 13, 2015 | Israel Today Staff
Gill Rosenberg, a Canadian - Israeli, returned to Israel after spending the last 8 months on the front lines against ISIS in Syria and Iraq with Kurdish fighters.
In November 2014 it was reported that Rosenberg had joined the Kurdish forces fighting ISIS in Syria. She flew via Jordan to Erbil in Kurdish controlled northern Iraq where she assumed her combat role.
A few weeks later media reports stated that she had been abducted by ISIS being the first western female combatant having been abducted. Within a matter of days the reports of her abduction were put to rest with reports of a post on her FaceBook page that she was alive and well.
After seeing action in Syria Rosenberg moved to Iraq where she continued in her combat role util she left Iraq for Paris about 10 days ago.
She arrived in Israel on Sunday where she was briefly detained by Israel's General Security Services (Shin Bet) and interrogated before being released.
"It's good to be home. I'm here for now, and don’t plan on going back there anytime soon," she said.
Rosenberg spoke of her difficulty witnessing the humanitarian crisis in the areas that she found herself, saying, "It's a country at war. There are millions of refugees scattered across the country, most of them women and children."
Rosenberg reportedly said that that she left the area for political reasons, saying that peoples attitudes towards the US and Israel and increasing Iranian advances in the area warranted her departure.
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Shemitah and the Messiah: Could This Be the Year Before His Arrival?
Shemitah and the Messiah: Could This Be the Year Before His Arrival?
“For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in its produce. But in the seventh year, the land shall have a complete rest, a Sabbath to the Lord.” (Leviticus 25:3)
image: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/idf-gaza-nature-flowers-agriculture-children.jpg
Israeli soldiers seen walking among the flower beds at Nir Yitzhak, Southern Israel, on the spot which was a staging area for Israeli tanks and soldiers during last summer’s “Operation Protective Edge”. (Photo: Edi Israel/FLASH90)
In a recent Breaking Israel News article, we presented some statements made by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a highly respected rabbi in the Orthodox world, in which he instructed Jews to come to Israel soon “or there won’t be enough room on the airplanes.”
Many readers were interested in his statements and wondered about the source for the Rabbi’s insistence upon connecting the coming of the Messiah with the year after the Shemitah, the Sabbatical year. The issue takes on particular urgency since the current year is a Sabbatical year, ending September 13.
Sources close to Rabbi Kanievsky explain that he is not making a prophetic statement predicting a certain time period. The Rabbi is simply relating to well-known classical sources on the subject that discuss the Messiah and place it in a specific time-frame.
According to the sources, the year after the Shemitah has a special significance relating to the Messiah. There is a possibility, perhaps even a probability, the Messiah will come the year after the Shemitah, though if he does not, it in no way negates or contradicts the Rabbi’s statements. This requires a bit of explanation.
This year, 5775 in the Jewish calendar, is a Shemitah year. The Shemitah comes every seven years, making it a form of Sabbath that occurs on a yearly, rather than a weekly, cycle. The Sabbath is generally characterized by a cessation that signifies accepting God’s greater authority in the world. Practically during the weekly Sabbath, this means a cessation of labor, showing that despite spending six days working for the material, we stop on the seventh day to show that God is the true master. The same is true for the Shemitah year. We work the land for six years, and on the seventh, we leave the land fallow and the fields are left open for anyone to come and take of the fruit. There are several other cases of cycles of seven that are related to this, for example the seven year cycle of a Hebrew slave before he is set free, as described in Exodus 21:2. Another aspect of the Shemitah year also has implications for loans, for the same reason.
Shemitah was commanded to Israel at Mount Sinai. After 40 years in the desert, the Jews entered the Land of Israel, but the land must be owned in order for it to be forfeited as the verse specifies. So 14 years later, after they had completed conquering the land, they began counting the seven year cycle. The first Shemitah year was the 21st year after the Jewish nation had entered the land.
The Shemitah is part of a larger framework of seven Shemitah cycles, in which we count 49 years, and then the 50th year is the Jubilee year, as described in Leviticus, chapter 25. The Jubilee year is observed only when all of the Nation of Israel is in the Land of Israel. Therefore, when the Jews returned from Babylonian Exile, since many chose to remain in the Diaspora, the Jubilee was not observed. For the same reason, it is not observed today in modern Israel.
It is interesting to note that despite the initiation of the Shemitah year being determined by the actions of the Jews, it worked out that the first Shemitah year was a multiple of seven since the creation of the world, according to the Jewish calendar. The year after the destruction of the Second Temple, 3829, was also known to be a Shemitah year, 547 seven year cycles since the creation of the world. The current Hebrew year is 5775; precisely 825 Shemitah cycles.
The Babylonian Talmud in the Tractate of Sanhedrin, 97a, brings the verse from Amos 9:11:
“On that day, will I raise up the fallen booth (Sukkah) of David.”
This verse comes in the context of a prophecy about God bringing the nation of Israel back from exile among the nations. Amidst descriptions of the days preceding the Messiah, the Talmud says:
“As it is written, in that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen. Our Rabbis taught: in the seven year cycle at the end of which the son of David will come-in the first year, this verse will be fulfilled.”
The Talmud is saying explicitly that the Messiah will come in the first year after the Shemitah. It should be noted that the Talmud describes the days before the Messiah in depth, and they are especially difficult times.
Rabbi Kanievsky was, of course, familiar with this source and was aware we are now in a sabbatical year. His instructions to come to Israel took into account that there was a much greater chance that the Messiah will be coming next year. It is interesting to note that Rabbi Kanievsky was very diligent about observing the Shemitah and ruled by more stringent rulings concerning this Biblical commandment.
image: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/rabbi-chaim-kanievsky.jpg
In addition to the sources brought in the previous article, a recording was made in the aftershock of the horrifying terror attack in November in a synagogue in Har Nof, Jerusalem. Rabbi Kanievsky was asked how to comfort the people so they would be less afraid. He said, “atonement” (kappara) many times. When pressed for an explanation, he said, “It is an atonement before the Messiah can come.”
Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Seigelbaum, founder and director of Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin, makes a remarkable observation that emphasizes the role of the Shemitah in the process of national redemption:
“It is not surprising that every year following the Shemitah year has been significant in our possession of the Land of Israel…Most of the change in the borders of the state of Israel took place the year following Shemitah year. For example, it was Shemitah year in 1966, and the following year, during the Six Day War, we recaptured Yerushalayim and Gush Etzion. The next Shemitah year was in 1973. This year was followed by the devastating Yom Kippur war. Following the Shemitah year in 1980, we relinquished Sinai to Egypt. After two cycles of Shemitah, in 1995 the Oslo agreement brought bouts of terrorism in its wake.”
It is clear that Rabbi Kanievsky was relating to Babylonian Talmud, which says specifically that the Messiah will come in the year following the Shemitah. Whether it will come after the Shemitah year we are presently about to complete has yet to be seen. What is undeniable is that there is a clear significance to the time period immediately following a Shemitah year in terms of national redemption.
Rabbi Kanievsky called upon people to do Tshuva, repentance, that leads to a return to faith and good actions in order to actualize the unique potential for redemption that is within us right now. If our actions are correct and coincide with God’s will, then the Messiah will come.
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/45001/shmitah-messiah-this-year-arrival-jewish-world/#tuGJuzS1OmQxA58p.99
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Another grandchild coming! News from our daughter Hannah...
Our daughter Hannah & Jonathan Avalos announcing our next grandchild is on the way.
Be fruitful and multiply!
With our love,
Steve & Laurie Martin
'There Are Christians Praying for Israel Inside Iran'
'There Are Christians Praying for Israel Inside Iran'
Sunday, July 12, 2015 | Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY
“I love Israel,” an Iranian delegate told a conference in Manchester aimed at building bridges between Middle Eastern followers of Jesus.
“I may be from Iran, but I love Israel, and there are Christians praying for Israel inside Iran.”
The young man, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, was addressing the UK at the Crossroads event hosted by the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ), a 200-year-old Anglican society.
A refugee forced to flee Iran because he had become a Christian, he spoke of the growing church in his adopted city led by a pastor who gives clear teaching about the special place of Israel in God’s purposes.
With the government and police on his case after converting to Christianity from Islam (which is against the law), he and his wife fled Iran three years ago, hidden in a wooden box on the back of a lorry for a tortuous 72-day journey to the UK. God watched over every detail, even in directing him to an Iranian church when he finally arrived in an English city.
Although financially secure back home with a house and car, he was empty inside and became disillusioned by the harshness of Islam. A troubling home life didn’t help and he became addicted to medicinal drugs until he learnt to play the sitar. For the first time in his life, he was given a hug, and began to share his problems with his tutor who eventually prayed for him with the laying on of hands in Jesus’ name. He was instantly healed, and subsequently became a believer. Now he wakes up every morning thanking Jesus for bringing him out of darkness.
Another ex-Muslim from Iran struggled to comprehend the harshness of the religion and was “switched on” to Christianity after watching a film about Jesus. She initially came to the UK to visit relatives and subsequently married an Englishman. Her faith, however, was put on the backburner until her five-week-old daughter was diagnosed with a tumour. It reminded her that she was a Christian who “knew someone who could sort it out” and her now five-year-old girl recovered so well that she is even swimming already.
A teenage boy, born in Tehran, told the conference how he turned his back on strict Muslim observance when his heart was touched by a church’s worship band.
Music was regarded as sinful among his radical group. But he was sickened by the brutal treatment of soldiers and shocked by the discovery of guns in a mosque. He realised he was being taught to kill and control people. He had been reaching out to God from an early age, but had found no answers until – in the UK – he heard people talking of Jesus. He reluctantly accepted an invitation to church, where his heart was melted by the music. “They told me this wasn’t about religion, but a relationship with God, which was exactly what I had been looking for all those years. I gave my heart to Jesus Christ, and what a difference it made. Now he’s my Lord, my God …my everything!”
An Iranian bishop, meanwhile, spoke of the suffering endured by Christians in a country where he also experienced discrimination as a member of the Jewish community, who were forced to live in designated areas.
Rt Rev Iraj Kalimi Mottahedh came to faith in Jesus through the influence of his uncle and became minister of a church visited by the Queen and the Shah of Iran. But when the revolution struck in 1979, the Anglican Church was the first to be targeted. A pastor was killed and an assassination attempt was made on the bishop at the time, who survived despite being shot through the head six times.
Iraj himself, who took charge when the bishop left, was imprisoned for eight months, unable to leave the country for twelve years and forbidden to accept Muslim converts into his church.
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