Heed the Words of Jeremiah ✡ "A Leafy Olive Tree"

The Lord called thy name a leafy olive tree, fair with goodly fruit; with the noise of a great tumult He hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken JEREMIAH (11.16) זַיִת רַעֲנָן יְפֵה פְרִי תֹאַר קָרָא יְ-הוָה שְׁמֵךְ לְקוֹל הֲמוּלָּה גְדֹלָה הִצִּית אֵשׁ עָלֶיהָ וְרָעוּ דָּלִיּוֹתָיו ירמיהו יא:טז za-yit ra-a-nan y'-fay f'-ree to-ar ka-ra a-do-nai sh'-maykh l'-kol ha-mu-la g'-do-la hi-tzeet aysh a-le-ha v'-ra-u da-li-yo-tav

Jerusalem Inspiration The first time the olive appears in the Bible is when Noah checks to see if the flood waters have receded. When the dove returns with an olive branch in its mouth, Noah knows that the water has receded sufficiently and life has begun anew (Genesis 8:11, 21). Pure olive oil was also used for the lighting of the golden lamp in the Temple, as well as to anoint priests and kings as part of their initiation. One lesson we can take from the olive is that just like an olive only yields oil when pressed, so too, when we are pressed between the millstones of life, our best selves emerge. It is often only when forced that we rise to the occasion to meet life’s challenges.  We now find ourselves in the days preceeding Tisha B'Av, the day when we commemorate the destruction of our holy Temple in Jerusalem.  History has taught us that Jeremiah's words ring true, and in the face of hardship, the Jewish people rise to the challenge. Delve into the Bible with the Israel Bible Subscription » Aliyah Under Fire The inspiring words of greeting to over two hundred new Israeli citizens, who chose to move to Israel during last summer's war, are a true testament to the Jewish nation's ability to overcome any challenge. Watch here » Why Doesn't Iran Deal Include U.S. Hostage Release? Four Americans are being held in Iran, at least three on what are considered to be trumped-up charges, and their families would like to know why US President Barack Obama has not done anything to get them out? Read more » Jerusalem Washing Cup We are now in the saddest period in the Jewish calendar, when we remember the destruction of the Holy Temples in Jerusalem. Bring a piece of Jerusalem into your home with this beautiful ritual washing cup featuring the Jerusalem skyline. Get this Great Deal » Jerusalem Daily Photo A sprawling olive tree by Yehoshua Halevi. The symbol of the olive tree was woven onto the flag of one of the tribes of Israel.  Do you know which one, and its significance? Send me your answer or post it on Facebook. Guess on Facebook » Thank You Please help us continue to spread the beauty and significance of Jerusalem! Sponsor a day » “I Love Israel and its People” 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!). Stay in Touch » Hello, good morning! Everything I have to say is: I love Israel and its people, from the bottom of my heart and pray, for the peace in Jerusalem every days and nights. A nice day for everybody there and a big hug! - Mauro Nunes Vieira Blessing from Jerusalem, Rabbi Tuly Weisz RabbiTuly@Israel365.com

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The Hope: The Rebirth of Israel (Video - Part 1) - CBN The 700 Club

The Hope: The Rebirth of Israel

The 700 Club

Published on Jul 20, 2015

CBN’s new documentary The Hope: The Rebirth of Israel takes viewers on an journey through the 50 years that preceded the founding of the modern State of Israel. See history unfold through the eyes of some of Israel’s visionaries and founders ...

The Hope: Buying the Holy Land (Video - Part 2) - CBN 700 Club

Published on Jul 21, 2015

In the mid-nineteenth century, Palestine was marked by disease, poverty and despair. But that all changed when Jewish pioneers legally purchased, settled and developed the land of Israel.

Alveda King Calls Black Congressional Caucus to Carpet After Gruesome Planned Parenthood Videos

7/21/2015 ALVEDA KING  charisma news

Alveda King speaks out against Planned Parenthood. (Flickr)

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Dear Congressional Black Caucus (CBC),

I am writing to you regarding recent videos that have gone viral exposing Planned Parenthood's practice of harvesting and selling aborted babies' body parts.

If they or anyone else had been exposed for harvesting and selling animal body parts, there would be such an outrage from the left and right. But for some reason it seems to be OK to chop up the unborn babies and harvest their body parts.

The videos are shocking, yet still nary a word from the CBC.

CBC, I ask you: Are you so beholden to the abortion lobby that you are totally paralyzed and unable to garner the necessary will to denounce their behavior?

I thought surely this current gruesome behavior on the part of PPH would be the catalyst for change: Surely, now the CBC will yank their support of an industry that is involved in the illegal harvesting and selling of body parts of aborted babies. Yet we hear nothing. Your silence is deafening.

For the record, my Uncle Martin Luther King Jr. was pro-life. Even though his wife attended the awards ceremony where Planned Parenthood gave a plaque attributed to MLK, he didn't attend. MLK; my daddy, A.D. King; and their father, M.L. "Daddy" King were pro-life. Granddaddy even saved me and one of my children from abortion. Thank God he did.

Meanwhile, Sanger and her PPH Federation targeted and have sometimes paid black leaders—doctors, preachers, lawyers, teachers—with grants and scholarships to convince them to join her. Does this sound like love and compassion?

Attention, CBC (Congressional Black Caucus and Concerned Black Clergy). As a post-abortive mother, I know firsthand the pain abortion can bring. There is no agape love in abortion and trafficking baby body parts. They are hateful and violent deeds.

CBC, you cannot serve both God and money. You cannot serve both Planned Parenthood and your constituents. By serving Planned Parenthood, you are not only hating the other or despising the other, but your position is helping to kill our people.

CBC, it's not too late to put your constituents first, where they belong. Get involved—no, take the lead—in the investigations of Planned Parenthood. Take the lead in calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. It's time to stand up for truth.

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Discover an Often Neglected Key to Understanding Israel's Land Promise

 7/22/2015 SANDRA TEPLINSKY/LIGHT OF ZION   charisma news

The Torah still serves as the foundational holy text. (Wikimedia Commons)

These days, many are uncertain as to how to interpret Israel's land promise in light of the New Covenant. Many are unsure of how to respond to the denial of many Christians that promise still exists.

Sadly, no lack of controversy surrounds the subject. Many important principles of Scripture interpretation come into play. One often neglected key can help.

First, a quick bit of background needs to be set. Scholars generally agree that the best interpreter of the Bible is the Bible. The Scriptures themselves teach us how to understand new and inspired revelation in light of earlier text.

The five books of Moses, known as the Pentateuch or Torah, serve as the foundational holy text. The Hebrew prophets and other writers built squarely on that foundation. Their newer writings amplified and applied God's Word, taking it to the next level of redemption history. Sometimes they described new covenants—like those God made through Abraham, Moses and David. Jeremiah described a profoundly new covenant in which God's Word would be engraved in human hearts.

Since the New Covenant is not the first of God's several covenants, how did the ancient writers of Scripture interpret newer covenants in light of earlier ones?

When new revelation was given to biblical authors, they never re-interpreted the pre-existing Word of God to accommodate their new revelation. Rather, new revelation was accepted as divine truth based on what had been previously acknowledged to be true

To qualify as holy canon, no new text could refute or replace the foundational meaning of earlier text. A critical test for judging the divine inspiration of any proposed new writing was its consistency with prior writings. If the proposed passage or scroll or covenant contradicted God's pre-established Word, it disqualified as Holy Scripture. In fact, any new covenant would be primarily interpreted in light of older covenants, never the other way around.

Yeshua and the New Covenant's Jewish authors would have been strongly influenced by this sacred principle. Therefore, when they give fresh meaning to an Old Covenant passage or principle, they build on or amplify, not abolish, the original contextual meaning of that passage or principle. (How many times have you read Scripture only to hear God speak deeper, fresh personal meaning to you each time?) Thus, the Messiah said He came to fulfill, not do away with, the Torah. He is not the terminator, but the perfection, completion and goal of all Hebrew Scripture.

By this principle, God's unconditional land promise to Abraham in Genesis 15, inherited by the Jewish people, still applies to them. Those promises have been amplified by the Mosaic covenant (law) and the prophets. By the New Covenant, they may also apply, on another level, to the metaphorical land of Christian hearts. Meanwhile, some Gentiles may also be called to live in Israel, just as some Gentile have always lived in the Promised Land.

Because the New Covenant was written in light of the Old, confusion results if we reverse that order and interpret the Old Covenant primarily in light of the New. Such an approach amounts to reading the Bible backwards. It almost guarantees the Scriptures will not be rightly understood.

Few of us would read a book by starting two-thirds into it, finish it and then pick up on page one. As an author, I wouldn't be too happy if that's how my writings were read! In this sober hour of history, God wants us to "rightly handle the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). Don't you?

Sandra Teplinsky has been in the Messianic Jewish ministry since 1979. She is president of Light of Zion, an outreach to Israel and the church based in Southern California and Jerusalem. She is an ordained minister and prophetic conference speaker, and has written several books and articles about Israel and the church.

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COMMENTARY: Is Israel Just Our Good Luck Charm? - ISRAEL TODAY

COMMENTARY: Is Israel Just Our Good Luck Charm?

Wednesday, July 22, 2015 |  Brian Hennessy  ISRAEL TODAY

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Christians

Ask a Christian why he or she loves and supports Israel and the Jewish people and the response will most likely be, “Genesis 12:3: Those who bless Israel, shall be blessed, and those who curse Israel shall be cursed.” It has almost become our mantra.  

But is that the right answer? 

Because if our love is supposed to be unconditional, then blessing Israel to get blessed has strings attached. It’s a way to get blessed, not be a blessing. Or avoid getting cursed. It’s a bit self-serving.

The fact is, the way many of us are using Genesis 12:3 is close to fetishism. It’s like Israel has become our good luck charm. Our rabbit’s foot. Caress it and it will bless you. Disrespect it and it will curse you.

Is that how we are to understand God’s promise to Abraham? Are we missing something here? I believe so. Centuries of Replacement Theology has left us with an “us” and “them” mentality due to the Jews prolonged state of disbelief regarding Messiah. We may no longer accept that the Church has displaced the Jews as God’s chosen ones, but we still see the Church and the Jews as two separate people of God. We reveal that mindset when we look at Israel’s restoration and say things like, “well, if God kept His promises to them, then we know He’ll keep His promises to us.” As if God has two different sets of promises and destinies for His people. Do not ALL the promises of God “have their yea and amen” in Yeshua? (2 Cor. 1:20) 

So how then should believers, especially those not Jewish, treat Genesis 12:3?

If we look at the last part of the verse God spoke to Abraham, it says, “And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” That means all who are “in him,” that is in his seed, will be automatically blessed and be a blessing to others. But aren’t all New Covenant believers who are circumcised in heart “in him” - in Abraham’s chosen family? Absolutely.  “For if you belong to [Israel’s] Messiah you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Gal. 3:29) And, “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:7). And again, “You brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise” (Gal. 4:28). 

So if we are all included in the chosen line of Abraham’s family through faith in Yeshua, then we are already blessed, right? Right! “Those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer”(Galatians 3:9)

Our problem then is just plain unbelief. By all means we should bless the state of Israel and the Jews. But not to get something we already have! We should love and support them as family. Because that’s what families do. It is the nations who need to realize if they bless Israel (or us) they’ll get blessed. And warned if they curse Israel (or us), well, things will soon turn ugly for them. 

That’s just the way it is.

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Prophecy: When the Gadites Rise the Goliaths Will Fall - Jennifer LeClaire

Prophecy: When the Gadites Rise the Goliaths Will Fall

7/21/2015 JENNIFER LECLAIRE  charisma magazine

Let the lions roar! (Flickr )

"When the Gadites rise the Goliaths will fall." I heard the Holy Spirit speak those words Tuesday night after I hung up from our Appeal to Heaven prayer call.

We're praying out the prophecies over the nation and we were praying out a prophetic word Tim Sheets released, part of which read: "As Esther, they will rewrite them by My statutes. Governors of the culture will now come forth. Remnant warriors will now emerge who have the heart of David, the wisdom of Solomon and the tenacity of Paul."

While I was praying through that part of the prophecy, the Holy Spirit started showing me the Gadites. I began to pray for the mighty warring Gadites to rise and take out the Goliaths. Again, when I hung up I heard the Holy Spirit say, "When the Gadites rise the Goliaths will fall."

Who Are the Gadites?

The Gadites came from the tribe of Dan. Gad was the seventh son of Jacob. His name means "troop." The Bible describes the Gadites as "men able to bear shield and sword, to shoot with a bow, and who were skillful in battle, who went to war" (1 Chr. 5:18). When Jacob blessed his 12 sons before he died, he prophesied, "Gad—a raiding troop shall raid him, but he shall raid at their heels and assault them [victoriously] (Gen. 49:19, AMP). In other words, it looked like Gad had lost the fight but he made a comeback. Isn't that what it looks like in America even now?

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We find another mention of the Gadites in 1 Chronicles 12:7-9: "From the Gadites mighty men of valor, men of the war battalion, who could handle shield and sword, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains, separated themselves for David in the stronghold in the wilderness" (MEV). Remember, it was the Gadites who stood on the side of righteousness with David amid Absalom's great rebellion. It's the Gadites that will stand strong amid the Great Falling Away we're seeing in the church even now.

Matthew Henry's Commentary describes the Gadites this way: "They were able-bodied men, men of incredible swiftness, not to fly from, but to fly upon, the enemy, and to pursue the scattered forces. In this they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains, so that no man could escape from them; and yet they had faces like the faces of lions, so that no man could out-fight them. They were disciplined men, trained up to military exercises; they could handle shield and buckler, use both offensive and defensive weapons ... They were daring men, that could break through the greatest difficulties. What enemies those were that they met with in the valleys, when they had passed Jordan, does not appear; but they put them to flight with their lion-like faces, and pursued them with matchless fury ..."

Goliath Must Fall

The Gadites had faces like lions. I like that. It means the fierceness and boldness showed on their faces, intimidating their enemies. Proverbs 28:1 says, "The wicked flee when no man pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion."

How bold is a lion? They aren't called the king of the jungle for nothing. The Bible calls the lion "strongest among beasts" (see Prov. 30:29-30). Amos asked, "The lion has roared; who will not fear?" (Amos 3:8) You can hear a lion roar from miles and miles away. And Peter warns us to, "Be sober and watchful, because your adversary the devil walks around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Of course, Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (see Rev. 5:5).

Goliath, on the other hand, was just an uncircumcised Philistine. Unlike the Gadites, Goliath was not in covenant with God. Goliath could not claim the promises of God. Goliath may look big—and he is—but he is no match for the Gadites. In your life and in this nation, Goliaths have risen up to war against us. But take heart. When the Gadites rise, the Goliaths will fall. Rise up now, bold as a lion, and decree and declare your victory over Goliath. Stand for truth amid the rebellion! It's time to roar! Decree and declare that the Goliaths attacking this nation will fall, in Jesus' name!

Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening; Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan's Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

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With Repulsive Planned Parenthood Revelations, Can We Defund the Abortion Industry Now?

 7/21/2015 DEBORAH HAMILTON  charisma news

The time has come to defund Planned Parenthood. (Flickr)

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Many pro-life advocates saw last week's abortion industry scandal involving a top Planned Parenthood official who was recorded casually talking over dinner about the sale of unborn babies' body parts as a chance to expose the gruesome business of abortion.

Among them was GOP Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who told Breitbart News that, if elected, he would vow to defund the abortion giant, stating, "Planned Parenthood has proven to be a repulsive, revolting, stomach-churning enterprise that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Destroying innocent human life and harvesting human organs is beyond barbaric—it is unimaginably immoral, grotesque, and evil."

Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES) President Dr. Richard Land says the outrage is warranted, since for far too long—Roe v. Wade legalized abortion on demand 42 years ago—Americans have turned a blind eye to the sickening underbelly of abortion that steals so much from American families. The video, he says, and its disgustingly matter-of-fact language, graphically illustrates that abortion providers have a low regard for human life as they so casually talk about the crushing of tiny hearts and lungs.   

"One more year cannot pass when we sit by as a nation and wait for the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade," Land said. "Nearly sixty million babies aborted—never to live up to their full, God-given potential—is a shameful page in our history. While the pro-life movement is making great strides and tireless work is being done, Americans must become more passionate about this shameful and guilty mark on our landscape. This repulsive video exposing the evils of abortion giant Planned Parenthood might just be the catalyst this country needs. Will this be the year we finally secure the legal protections of humanity and citizenship for our unborn citizens?"

Over recent years, more Americans have been forced into conversations about the evils of abortion, Land added, especially with the much-publicized charges against, and subsequent 2013 guilty verdict of, abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell and his "House of Horrors" in the Philadelphia area.

"Both the blood curdling stories of Dr. Gosnell's 'House of Horrors' abortion clinic and the casual, emotionless tone used by Dr. Deborah Nucatola, then Senior Director of Medical Services for Planned Parenthood, illustrate the extent to which wholesale abortion on demand is desensitizing our whole society concerning the sacredness of every human life, from conception to natural death and at all points in between."

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