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.
Mark Levin said the whole day went by and neither Obama nor the Pope mentioned the Christians being raped and slaughtered by ISIS. Yet they were more than happy to talk about Climate Change, something he said doesn’t mean anything to the girl being raped by 20 different men every day.
BERLIN (JTA) — The migrants sit slumped together on the sidewalk outside the State Office for Health and Social Affairs here, resting on donated sleeping bags, clutching food handouts, smoking, sleeping, fiddling with their cellphones.
They have come to this city by the tens of thousands, propelled by German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s pledge to welcome at least 800,000 asylum seekers into the country. Many are Syrians, but there also are migrants from Iraq, Pakistan, Albania, Afghanistan and other countries.
The Syrians have braved perilous journeys by inflatable raft through the waters between Turkey and Greece, marched for miles on sunbaked roads en route to Athens, circumvented Hungary’s harsh border controls and passed through Macedonia, Serbia and Austria to find their way onto trains bound for Germany.
“I had five years of civil war in Syria, but the journey here was more dangerous,” said Hadiya Suleiman, a 45-year-old mother of five from Deir ez-Zur in eastern Syria, where ISIS killed her 18-year-old son. “Here, I feel for the first time like a human being. We thank our mother, ‘Mama Merkel.’”
But many Jews are watching the wave of migrants flocking to Germany with some measure of alarm, concerned with what a massive influx of Arabs could mean for Germany’s Jews and the country’s relationship with Israel.
“This is not yet France, this is not yet London,” said one Israeli who has lived in Berlin for about 10 years and asked not to be identified. “Yet,” he added pointedly.
Thousands of migrants line up daily to register at Berlin’s State Office for Health and Social Affairs. (Uriel Heilman/JTA)
Outside the processing center at the health and welfare office in central Berlin, where thousands have come to register as refugees, the wait for documentation can take days, even weeks. In the meantime, the migrants have nowhere to go.
Every evening, a frenzy ensues when volunteers set up metal barricades to prepare for the arrival of buses that will take the lucky ones to shelters for the night. Those who can’t squeeze onto the buses must find a place to bed down on the street or in a nearby park. Police at the site keep watch — more with pity, it seems, than vigilance.
Monika Chmielewska-Pape, a Jewish lawyer originally from Poland, is among the volunteers helping the refugees. She collects clothing for them from friends and neighbors, drives the migrants to administrative appointments and tries to help them navigate Berlin.
‘The situation is very hard for refugees here. If we don’t help them, the people stay on the street’
“There are so many people here and the state is not able to help them,” Chmielewska-Pape told JTA last week. “The situation is very hard for refugees here. If we don’t help them, the people stay on the street.”
But Chmielewska-Pape said she is not typical of Germany’s Jews. Most, she said, are anxious about the migrants, fearful of the consequences of a massive influx of Arabs into Germany. Chmielewska-Pape said her own decision to help the migrants did not come easily, and she keeps her Jewish identity to herself — including from the left-wing Germans who volunteer alongside her and whom Chmielewska-Pape said are not sympathetic toward Israel or the Jews.
The irony of refugees fleeing through Europe to the relative safe haven of Germany is not lost on anyone here. Seventy-five years ago Jews were the refugees, trying to flee a genocidal German chancellor whose name became synonymous with evil. Few countries were willing to accept Jewish refugees; most were turned back and perished at the hands of Hitler’s Nazis.
Today, Germany occupies the opposite role, lauded as the most humanitarian and welcoming country in Europe. Both critics and supporters of Merkel’s refugee policy cite Germany’s past as a major motivating factor.
“Why is Germany more welcoming than other countries? Because of history,” said Berliner Stefan Hitziger. “It’s not only guilt, it’s a chance for Germany. It’s a chance for us to rebuild society anew, to have new inputs and new outputs.”
Some 1,500 refugees are being housed at a sports facility adjacent to the Olympic stadium where Germany hosted the 1936 Olympics. (Uriel Heilman/JTA)
But many Jews here believe that Germany’s atonement for its past is coming at Jewish expense. They’re worried that the influx of hundreds of thousands of Muslims will turn Germany into a place hostile to Jewish concerns and to Israel – and that along with the migrants there are terrorist infiltrators who will try to realize their dreams of jihad on German soil.
It’s not that Jews in Germany are unmoved by the plight of the downtrodden migrants — many Jews here are themselves migrants from the former Soviet Union — but sympathy takes a back seat to the harsh concerns of realpolitik.
“I have no problem contributing some money to help some people, but for the German government to accept a tide of refugees? No,” said a Jewish immigrant who lives in Potsdam, near Berlin. Like others interviewed for this story who criticized Merkel’s welcome of the refugees, he asked that he not be identified.
‘These Arabs have no possibility of integration. They can’t contribute to society. I prefer Balkan immigration’
“These Arabs have no possibility of integration,” he said. “They can’t contribute to society. I prefer Balkan immigration.”
For now, Germany’s Jews are keeping a low profile. They number some 200,000 in a country of 80 million. Their political influence is negligible.
“Why should the Jews talk publicly about it?” the Potsdam Jew said. “We’re not significant enough to make a difference in state policy.”
Jews aren’t the only ones with deep reservations, even resentment, toward the migrants. Many Germans share similar concerns about terrorist infiltrators and how Germany might be transformed by a massive influx of Arab and Muslim migrants. They, too, don’t want the problems of France, where unemployment, poverty and radicalism are problems among the country’s six million Muslims.
In a country where obsession with pure Germanic lineage still lingers, some Germans express their concerns more bluntly.
‘In 100 years there will be no more German people in Germany, only Arabians and maybe Chinese’
“In 100 years there will be no more German people in Germany, only Arabians and maybe Chinese,” said Otto, a Berlin taxi driver. “Berlin is full of immigrants from Poland, Russia and Turkey. The Poles have integrated well, the Russians so-so and the Turks hardly at all. The Arabs will be even worse.”
Josef Schuster, the president of Germany’s main Jewish body, the Central Council of Jews in Germany, has come out in favor of welcoming the migrants. In a September 10 Op-Ed in Die Welt, he shunned any Jewish association with neo-Nazis screaming “Foreigners out!” and evoked the Jews’ own history as refugees. But he also said that Germany must make sure the refugees respect Germany’s positions on Israel and the Holocaust, not alter them.
“It’s also important that those who at present can’t return to their home countries will become familiar with our Western values,” Schuster wrote. “In Germany, that means respect for the values enshrined in the Constitution and also an acceptance that support for Israel is part of the political DNA of this country. Moreover, society by and large agrees that the Holocaust must be remembered.”
Migrant children play at a temporary camp for asylum-seekers near the main railway station in Munich, southern Germany, on September 13, 2015. (Andreas Gebert/DPA/AFP)
History isn’t the only reason Merkel is welcoming the migrants. With negative population growth, Germany needs more people to help sustain its economy, the strongest in Europe. At its current birth rate of 1.38 children per woman, the lowest in the world, Germany’s population will shrink by some 20 percent over the next 45 years. An influx of immigrants could offset the shrinking workforce.
For historical and practical reasons, it is vital to make sure these migrants are integrated successfully into German society, said Nina Peretz, a lay leader at the progressive Conservative Fraenkelufer Synagogue in Berlin. Peretz is helping spearhead a project to distribute Jewish-donated goods to the migrants on November 22, Europe’s annual Mitzvah Day.
“You need to give these people a future in Germany because a large number are staying,” Peretz said. “If you don’t let them work and study, then you will have a problem. You have to integrate them and take the risk of what will happen. If you don’t help them, if you don’t talk to them, then the situation is uncontrollable.”
The Jewish festival of Sukkot is called by several names: the Harvest festival, the Joyous festival, and the festival of Booths. Jewish families construct temporary huts -- Sukkot -- where they eat and some even sleep for the week-long holiday. Jews traditionally pray during the holiday while holding a citron fruit and branches of myrtle, palm and willow branches -- called the lulav and etrog.
Jews sitting in their Samarkand Sukka (circa 1870, Library of Congress). More on Samarkand Jewry here.
Bukharan family in their Jerusalem sukka (circa 1900). Note the man on the right holding the citron and palm branch (Library of Congress collection). Compare this sukka to one photographed inSamarkand30 years earlier
And Now the Mystery Picture -- The Occasion for this Photo
We recently found this photograph of Australian soldiers at the Western Wall in an Australian library archives and posted it on this site. The men fought in World War I in Palestine in 1917-1918.
Australian soldiers at the Western Wall, picture taken by "R. F. Ingham, 1st L." (Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Australia)
What was going on at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City?
The reason for the kittel
We went back and inspected the photo closely.
The shadows suggest it was photographed around noon. Several men appear to be wearing white caftans, called a kittel, normally worn on Yom Kippur. But if the day were Yom Kippur, where were the throngs of worshippers?
Another section of the picture may provide the answer. It suggests the day was actually the seventh day of Sukkot, a day called Hoshana Rabba, when some men have a custom to wear akittel. The hour was well beyond the traditional morning prayer period so the crowd was sparse.
The lulav and etrog
The woman conversing with the Australian soldier may be holding a lulav (between her left shoulder and knee); the soldier may be holding the etrog.
Sukkot 1918 would have been a holiday for everyone in the picture: The Jews were liberated from the oppressive Turks, and the Australians Light Horsemen were on their way home after hard-fought battles in the Sinai, Beer Sheba, and east of the Jordan River.
When World War I broke out, new military technologies were brought to the battlefields. Tragically, military leaders continued to use outdated strategies leading to catastrophic outcomes.
Open-field charges of enemy position may have worked in the 19th century, but in the new era of the machine gun, it was a disaster. War became more complex and new fighting techniques needed to be adopted.
Our world continues to change every day requiring us to adapt, particularly with technology. One of the biggest dangers to marriages is in the area of sexual temptation. It leads to relational issues and, too often, failed marriages.
This has been true throughout history. However, changing definitions of appropriate clothing and the emerging media-saturated culture filled with sexually charged images have made the battlefield more complex.
Recently, All Pro Dad Founder Mark Merrill spoke with Steve Arterburn, author of Every Man's Battle: Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time. Mr. Arterburn has counseled numerous men and women on this issue on the front lines. He shared with us some important ways of fighting temptation that will lead to more fulfilling relationships.
Here's how to win the battle:
Building Restraint
Fighting temptation starts by building the discipline of restraint. Those who desire to resist sexual temptation must possess the ability to deny themselves instant pleasures. That ability doesn't just appear, it needs to be built. Think about it like training for a marathon. No one can run twenty-six miles without doing many smaller distance runs that lead up to it. Eventually, muscles and endurance are strengthened for the longer runs. Building up the ability to resist sexual temptation starts with practicing small denials.
Consistent small acts of discipline become habits that form strong character.
Control Your Eyes
Images you view will form a photo album or video library in your brain. The more time you spend looking at something the more those pictures become vividly clear and permanent. That library profoundly affects our feelings and attitudes, particularly about our spouses. It becomes easy to compare them to the images we house. Practice the discipline of bouncing your eyes away from things that awaken sexual desire apart from your spouse. Reserve those looks for what belongs to you—your wife. Looking solely to her to awaken those desires will increase your wife's attractiveness in your mind make it easier to connect.
Protect the Mind
There are thoughts, images, and ideas that will enter our minds. When they do, we have a decision to make. We can either continue to think about them or escort them out. The problem occurs when we get a tempting or potentially destructive thought that we nurture rather than eliminate. If there are things that enter your mind that don't belong there, practice the discipline of stopping the thought process and changing it to something else. Perhaps shift the focus again to your spouse, God, or other things that are right to think about.
Be Open and Honest
Finally, it's easy to justify something that is happening inside your head. The problem is that those attitudes never stop in the inside. They eventually find their way to the surface in attitudes of discontentment and coldness with a spouse. Even if those attitudes are ever so slight, they push couples in a direction of disconnection. First, be honest with yourself about the impact of giving in to sexual temptation.
Next, find a friend or group of guys that you can be open with about how you are doing in building these disciplines. Give them authority to hold you accountable to living a higher standard and provide them with the same encouragement. We were never meant to do this alone.
If you would like to listen to the interview of Steve Arterburn by All Pro Dad Founder Mark Merrill, click here.
BJ Fosteris the Content Manager for All Pro Dad and a married father of two. For the original article, visitallprodad.com.
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Pastor John Hagee discusses his books in an interview with CBN. (Facebook)
John Hagee Goes Beyond '4 Blood Moons' With '3 Heavens'
On this week's edition of The Watchman, we sit down with Pastor John Hagee to discuss what the current series of Four Blood Moons means for America and Israel. We also take a look at Pastor Hagee's new book, The Three Heavens.
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Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
Nations are drowning in unparalleled levels of debt, fears of economic calamity are growing and global leaders such as Pope Francis are warning that the world has entered the "last times" and is at the beginning of a "piecemeal" Third World War.
To address these crises, world leaders are meeting Friday through Sunday at the United Nations to consider a 15-year plan titled, "Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development"—a proposal some experts believe could be the first step toward the global state and cashless society predicted by the biblical prophets.
"The real agenda of the globalist elite through all these 'sustainable development' and 'social justice' programs [is] to create a new global state," says Paul McGuire, a Fox News and History Channel commentator and co-author of The Babylon Code: Solving the Bible's Greatest End-Times Mystery.
"We read in the book of Revelation that in the last days Babylon will return as a 'born again' world government, religion and economic system. What is happening now with the United Nations is Babylon rising again before our very eyes."
NEW - Life in the Spirit is your Spirit-filled teaching guide. Encounter the Holy Spirit, hear God speak to you, and enjoy timeless teachings on love, mercy and forgiveness.LEARN MORE!
Speaking before a joint meeting of Congress, Pope Francis encouraged lawmakers to protect the family and to show compassion toward the poor and illegal immigrants, and to fight climate change.
In a speech that did not include a single reference to Jesus Christ, the Pope did honor Dorothy Day, a socialist who founded the Catholic Worker.
He also highlighted the work of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thomas Merton, a Cistercian monk.
Francis called Dorothy Day "a servant of God," saying, "Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints."
Pope Francis has long used his papal pulpit to speak out for the environment and his speech today was no different. Katherine Hayhoe, an associate professor at Texas Tech University, has worked for years calling on the evangelical church to take climate change seriously. CBN's Charlene Aaron spoke with her by Skype about the pope's speech.
Addressing the illegal alien crisis on America's southern border, Francis admonished opponents of illegal immigration to "remember the Golden Rule."
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Mt 7:12)," he said. "Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves."
Francis encouraged the United States to abolish the death penalty.
"I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes," he said.
On his belief that climate change is a serious problem, the Pope said, "In Laudato Si', I call for a courageous and responsible effort to "redirect our steps" and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity."
"I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States - and this Congress - have an important role to play," he said.
Pope Francis also offered a somewhat veiled message about gay marriage, which he opposes.
"I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without," Francis said. "Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the importance and, above all, the richness and the beauty of family life."
He did not directly mention abortion, a prominent issue in America now because of the Planned Parenthood baby parts scandal.
After much anticipation that the Pope would use the speech as a chance to lecture Congress about inequality in America, he appeared to adopt a more conciliatory tone toward America's lawmakers, while still encouraging them to do more to promote social justice.
Join us on our new podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
As I've been praying about this new Hebrew year of 5776, the Lord revealed some amazing things that I want to share. Since we have now moved from 5775 to 5776, and to see what this year may hold prophetically, we look at the number six to see its meaning in Hebrew.
The number six is vav. a word meaning "peg" or "hook."
As I was studying this, the Lord immediately brought back to me the story of Jael in Scripture, which you can read about in Judges 4. In this epic event, the Lord delivered the Israelites out of the hands of the oppressive Canaanites, and He did so in a remarkable way!
He used an unknown woman who was not even an Israelite to defeat the head of the Canaanite army, a man named Sisera. The Bible says that the Canaanites had "harshly oppressed the children of Israel for 20 years." The Israelite army, along with their leader, Barak, had come up against the army of the Canaanites, and began to drive them back. As a result, their leader, Sisera fled on foot, and came upon the tent of a woman name Jael, who was a Kenite, not an Israelite.
As he lay down to rest in her tent, and fell asleep, this audacious woman took a tent peg and drove it through his head. Although her tactics were unconventional, they were extremely effective! She used what she had to defeat the enemy, and in doing so, her name is forever blazoned in biblical history as a hero!
In killing Sisera, she made it possible for the Israelites to win the battle, as Scripture tells us that from that day forward Israel grew stronger and stronger against the Canaanites until they utterly destroyed them. Jael used the only thing she had, which didn't seem like much, but it destroyed the "head," in more ways than one.
The Spirit spoke to me and said, "I will be raising many up in this year—5776—who will use what I have placed in their hand (the tent peg) to destroy the plans of Satan and take out the 'head' of the enemy who has kept them oppressed and defeated ... the enemy who is waging war in their family, their city and their nation!"
He also began to show me that many of those He will be raising up will be the most unlikely ones ... those whom no one would suspect, who have no rank or title. He will use them to destroy the enemy who has kept so many bound for far too long.
They may not seem to be the strongest or the most qualified, but if they will obey the Lord and use what is in their hand, they will forever change their destiny, their territory and their generation.
I also felt the Lord saying that, just as He did then, He is especially raising up courageous women, for such a time as this, to war against the enemy. It is time for the daughters of the Lord to arise, and take their place in His army. We must fight the our soul's enemy, who has kept us oppressed and who is seeking to destroy us as well as all those around us.
The Lord has given us His tools, and though at times they may not seem like much to fight with, He will show us how best to use what He has given us, to destroy the "head" of the armies that are fighting against us. Something else the Lord began to show me about this story in Judges 4 is that Jael was alive during the reign of Deborah, the judge and prophetess. Deborah was truly a prophetess of the Lord, but she was also a judge, which means she carried an apostolic anointing.
This is why the Israelites were able to throw off the oppression of the Canaanites during her lifetime. Not only did Deborah prophetically hear what the Lord was saying and what was coming, she equipped and charged the Israelite army and its leader, Barak, to go forth in battle and fight for their freedom. In addition to the women the Lord is raising up, the Lord will be placing many men of God into leadership positions alongside these women.
They, like Barak with Deborah, will be able to listen and heed the voice of the women of God that He has anointed for this hour. They will not care who gets the credit. They will have no prejudice, and will be able to discern those whom the Lord has appointed to be apostolic and prophetic leaders in the kingdom during these last days.
Jael was not an Israelite, but she was close enough to the boundaries of Israel to most likely have heard of the judge and prophetess Deborah. I do not believe it is by mere chance that the Lord used a woman of no consequence to kill the head of the enemy army, during the very time that the entire nation of Israel was being ruled by a woman.
In fact, Deborah even prophesied that the Lord would use a woman to destroy the enemy army. She tells Barak, the leader of the Israelite army, that she will go with him into battle at his request, but also tells him that there would be no glory for him because Sisera would die at the hands of a woman.
I believe Jael was only able to have the courage and wherewithal to strike a fatal blow to the enemy, because she had already heard of a mighty woman of God who ruled the entire nation of Israel, a woman who was a prophetess as well as an apostolic leader.
The Lord told me that He is also raising up Deborahs in this hour who will lead an entire army and put the enemy on the run. They are a hybrid warrior of apostolic (judge) and prophetic leader. These women will raise up many "Jaels" under them, who will strike deathly blows against the enemies in their own territory and sphere of the kingdom.
These are the daughters of Deborah, and this is their year. Armed with the hammer of authority and the "peg" of purpose, they will pursue their destiny and make their mark in kingdom history.
Amanda Shiflettand her husband, Darin, are a unique and anointed ministry team with a heart for equipping the body through worship, prophecy, evangelism and deliverance. At God's leading, they co-founded Ministries for Life not long after their marriage in 2009. God has blessed and anointed them to work together to impact this end-time generation.
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“Announce this among the nations, prepare war, arouse the mighty men; all the men of war shall approach and ascend.” (Joel 4:09)
According to a Radio Sawt Beirut (Radio Voice of Beirut) report, anonymous senior Hezbollah sources have said that under a certain scenario China may become involved militarily in Syria, should it become convinced that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is in critical danger. According to these officials, Assad relies on Russian-Chinese support for his survival.
According to the sources, this move will not be marginal, and could be expected to materialize in the near future.
According to some Syrian dissidents, this story is is not credible and is being leaked to suggest that the Syrian regime is finally receiving the military support it needs to ensure its survival, from the Russians—and the Chinese.
Western sources have revealed recently that over the past two weeks Russia has been shipping advanced weapons, as well as Russian Army soldiers and experts to support Assad.
The Radio Voice of Beirut website has published pictures of Russian soldiers deployed in several areas in Syria controlled by Assad, confirming a Russian military presence there.
Reuters has reported last week that Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wants China’s help in resolving tensions and unrest in the Middle East and is ready to play host to more Chinese firms once sanctions against it are lifted. “China and Iran find mutual benefits in many areas,” Zarif told his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, at a meeting in Beijing.
China is the biggest customer of Iranian oil and Zarif said their economies were “complementary.” The two countries faced “similar challenges as well as opportunities,” he said.
Khaled Qahtan, Editor-in-Chief at Radio Sawt Beirut International in Europe Reporting on Syria and Lebanon, has tweeted (translated from Arabic):
“The sharing of power between Russia and Iran may start in Syria, but there is disagreement for the moment because of the growing influence of Iran in Damascus, which Russia is seeking to reduce.”
Qahtan also tweeted there is effective coordination on the ground between Russia and Iran over the distribution of deployment of their troops in Syria, and both forces appear now in full readiness to campaign on behalf of the Assad regime.
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/49453/lebanese-radio-chinese-military-involved-syria-alongside-russia-iran-middle-east/#QQ9Y6SdUGwqaTw3V.99
