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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, January 18, 2016
Hebrew Music Monday ✡ "God of the Armies of Israel" - ISRAEL365
ISRAEL TODAY - COMMENTARY: Is 'Christian Zionism' Becoming a Dirty Word? | Brian Hennessy
COMMENTARY: Is 'Christian Zionism' Becoming a Dirty Word?
Monday, January 18, 2016 | Brian Hennessy ISRAEL TODAY
Approaching the Jewish people under a Christian banner, even when connected to “Zionism,” has always been a liability. The memory of forced conversions and unbridled Christian anti-Semitism is too ingrained to be quickly set aside. So even though Christian support for Israel has been quite forthcoming over the last 40 years, it wasn’t until recently that many Israelis began to accept our support as genuine. And to reciprocate with a generous measure of trust.
However, the problem I’m alluding to concerning the term ‘Christian Zionism’ is not coming from Jews, but the Church. It seems there is a growing hostility within the Traditional Church towards those members whom they feel love Israel too much! A church in my own hometown of Pennsylvania recently spilt over support for Israel.
The hostility is being spearheaded, of course, by pastors and denominations still in the grip of Replacement Theology. But they are being increasingly joined by other Christians who aren’t anti-Semitic or anti-Zionist, but who just don’t get it. Not having awakened yet to the Hebraic roots of their faith they can’t understand why Zionist Christians love Israel so much. They feel we’re putting our love for Israel above our love for the Church.
If things continue, Christian Zionists could one day be unwelcome within the Christian tent.
Inflaming this problem, of course, is the false narrative being pushed by both religious and secular anti-Semites who keep insisting the so-called Palestinian/Israeli conflict is the reason Muslims hate the West. And Israel, they say, is responsible for both the cause and continuation of the problem. If Israel would just give back the land they took from the Palestinians, then peace would come to the Middle East and joy to the rest of the world. That this is a complete nonsense is besides the point. The lie has been repeated so many times, in so many ways, it has become the reality.
Complicating things even further is a new ecumenical movement on the rise within Christendom. It involves a final push to patch up all the major theological differences that has fractured Christianity into thousands of sects. Their goal is to fulfill Jesus prayer to the Father about his followers, “that they might all be one’ (John 17:21). Many influential evangelicals are now paving the way for reunification, believing all roads must lead to Rome. The scriptural protests that inspired the Protestant Reformation are being minimized, while our points of agreement maximized. Even the giant schism that divided the Church into east and west is quietly being sewn back together.
If this reunification takes place, as it probably will, Christianity would once again become that intolerant ecclesiastical power we’ve been apologizing to the Jews for since the Holocaust. And Christians who love Israel could become as much of a pariah in their home churches as Israel presently is to their governments.
If that happens, I believe Christian Zionists will be forced to make a hard decision about where their loyalty lies. Will we stand with Israel, or with the religion that long ago severed us from the Hebraic roots of our faith, and persecuted the family of Messiah Yeshua?
When push comes to shove, it will help to recall the name ‘Christian’ is not something we owe a great deal of loyalty to. It was just a name imposed upon us by our enemies that we eventually adopted. And it was not a nice name at that. According to the scholars, it was meant to be one of scorn and derision. The term only appears in the Bible three times (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet. 4:16). Paul never used it to address believers. The name the early church referred to themselves by most often was as members of “The Way.”
In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion “Christian” may be the name Isaiah was referring to when he uttered this judgment against the persecutors of God’s people: “You will leave your name for a curse to My chosen ones. And the Lord God will slay you. But My servants will be called by another name” (Isa. 65:15).
Brian Hennessy is the author of Valley of the Steeples, available at:ketchpublishing/BrianHennessyBooks.htm
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LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE Editor's Note (Steve Martin):
'Heroic' Palestinians Stab Israeli Mother, Pregnant Woman - Israel Today Staff
'Heroic' Palestinians Stab Israeli Mother, Pregnant Woman
Monday, January 18, 2016 | Israel Today Staff
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Topics:Terrorism
Palestinian Arab terrorists, so often described as “heroic” by Palestinian leaders and media, demonstrated their tremendous bravery this week by stabbing a petite, defenseless Israeli mother and a pregnant Jewish woman.
On Sunday, a Palestinian terrorist entered the home of Dafna Meir in the Jewish settlement of Otniel and brutally stabbed her to death in front of three of her six children. A day later, another knife-wielding Palestinian seriously wounded a 30-year-old pregnant woman in the nearby Jewish community of Tekoa.
Meir’s older teenage daughter witnessed the attack, and told authorities that her mother wrestled with the terrorist to prevent him from harming any of the children. By some miracle, after fatally stabbing Meir, the terrorist fled the scene instead of killing the children.
Two of the six children in the Meir household are foster children. Dafna was also a nurse at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, where she treated Jews and Arabs, alike. Adding to her saintliness, the apparently tireless Meir provided couples’ counseling.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that no effort would be spared in bringing justice to the killer.
“In the name of all Israelis, I want to give strength to all the children of the family. All of us are hurting and share in the painful grief. We will find the terrorist, and he will pay the full price for this heinous murder,” Netanyahu posted on Facebook.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon concurred: “We will not rest until we settle accounts with the terrorist, wherever he is. [Dafna Meir’s] murder…teaches us yet again what a cruel enemy we are up against.”
Monday’s attack took place at a clothing warehouse in the Judean settlement of Tekoa, essentially a suburb of Jerusalem. Security guards managed to shoot and kill the terrorist, but not before he inflicted serious upper body injuries to his pregnant victim, who was taken to a hospital in the capital.
In light of the two attacks, Israeli security officials are reconsidering allowing Palestinian workers into Jewish settlements. Both of the above terrorists are believed to have gained entry to Otniel and Tekoa by being employed by local Jewish businesses.
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The Financial Apocalypse Accelerates As Middle East Stocks Crash To Begin The Week - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC BLOG
Posted: 17 Jan 2016 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC BLOG
It looks like it is going to be another chaotic week for global financial markets. On Sunday, news that Iran plans to dramatically ramp up oil production sent stocks plunging all across the Middle East. Stocks in Kuwait were down 3.1 percent, stocks in Saudi Arabia plummeted 5.4 percent, and stocks in Qatar experienced a mammoth 7 percent decline. And of course all of this comes in the context of a much larger long-term decline for Middle Eastern stocks.
At this point, Saudi Arabian stocks are down more than 50 percent from their 2014 highs. Needless to say, a lot of very wealthy people in Saudi Arabia are getting very nervous. Could you imagine waking up someday and realizing that more than half of your fortune had been wiped out? Things aren’t that bad in the U.S. quite yet, but it looks like another rough week could be ahead. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are all down at least 12 percent from their 52-week highs, and the Russell 2000 is already in bear market territory. Hopefully this week will not be as bad as last week, but events are starting to move very rapidly now. Much of the chaos around the globe is being driven by the price of oil. At the end of last week the price of oil dipped below 30 dollars a barrel, and now Iran has announced plans “to add 1 million barrels to its daily crude production”… Iran could get more than five times as much cash from oil sales by year-end as the lifting of economic sanctions frees the OPEC member to boost crude exports and attract foreign investment needed to rebuild its energy industry. The Persian Gulf nation will be able to access all of its revenue from crude sales after the U.S. and five other global powers removed sanctions on Saturday in return for Iran’s curbing its nuclear program. The fifth-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had been receiving only $700 million of each month’s oil earnings under an interim agreement, with the rest blocked in foreign bank accounts.Iran is striving to add 1 million barrels to its daily crude production and exports this year amid a global supply glut that has pushed prices 22 percent lower this month. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what this is going to do to the price of oil. The price of oil has already fallen more than 20 percent so far in 2016, and overall it has declined by more than 70 percent since late 2014. When the price of oil first started to fall, a lot of people out there were proclaiming that it would be really good for the U.S. economy. But I said just the opposite. And of course since that time we have seen an endless parade of debt downgrades, bankruptcies and job losses. 130,000 good paying energy jobs were lost in the United States in 2015 alone because of this collapse, and things just continue to get even worse. At this point, some are even calling for the federal government to intervene. For example, the following is an excerpt from a CNN article that was just posted entitled “Is it time to bail out the U.S. oil industry?“… America’s once-booming oil industry is suddenly in deep financial trouble.Is it just me, or is all of this really starting to sound a lot like 2008? And of course it isn’t just the U.S. that is facing troubles. The global financial crisis that began during the second half of 2015 is rapidly accelerating, and chaos is erupting all over the planet. The following summary of what we have been seeing in recent days comes from Doug Noland… The world has changed significantly – perhaps profoundly – over recent weeks. The Shanghai Composite has dropped 17.4% over the past month (Shenzhen down 21%). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 8.2% over the past month, with Hang Seng Financials sinking 11.9%. WTI crude is down 26% since December 15th. Over this period, the GSCI Commodities Index sank 12.2%. The Mexican peso has declined almost 7% in a month, the Russian ruble 10% and the South African rand 12%. A Friday headline from the Financial Times: “Emerging market stocks retreat to lowest since 09.” Trouble at the “Periphery” has definitely taken a troubling turn for the worse. Hope that things were on an uptrend has confronted the reality that things are rapidly getting much worse. This week saw the Shanghai Composite sink 9.0%. Major equities indexes were hit 8.0% in Russia and 5.0% in Brazil (Petrobras down 9%). Financial stocks and levered corporations have been under pressure round the globe. The Russian ruble sank 4.0% this week, increasing y-t-d losses versus the dollar to 7.1%. The Mexican peso declined another 1.8% this week. The Polish zloty slid 2.8% on an S&P downgrade (“Tumbles Most Since 2011”). The South African rand declined 3.0% (down 7.9% y-t-d). The yen added 0.2% this week, increasing 2016 gains to 3.0%. With the yen up almost 4% versus the dollar over the past month, so-called yen “carry trades” are turning increasingly problematic.Closer to home, the crisis in Puerto Rico continues to spiral out of control. The following is an excerpt from a letter that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sent to Congress on Friday… Although there are many ways this crisis could escalate further, it is clear that Puerto Rico is already in the midst of an economic collapse…It isn’t Michael Snyder from The Economic Collapse Blog that is saying that Puerto Rico is “in the midst of an economic collapse”. That is the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury that is saying it. Those that have been eagerly anticipating a financial apocalypse are going to get what they have been waiting for. Right now we are about halfway through January, and this is the worst start to a year for stocks ever. The Dow is down a total of 1,437 points since the beginning of 2016, and more than 15 trillion dollars of stock market wealth has been wiped out globally since last June. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people out there that are in denial. There are a lot of people that still believe that this is just a temporary bump in the road and that things will return to “normal” very soon. They don’t understand that this is just the beginning. What we have seen so far is just the warm up act, and much, much worse is yet to come. |
Need a Dad? - Lesson Taught. Lesson Learned. - Now Think On This by Steve Martin
Need a Dad?
- Lesson Taught.
Lesson Learned.
Now Think On This
Steve Martin
“And He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and
strike the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:6, NKJV)
In prayer this morning the Lord reminded me of my dad,
Louis James Martin, who graduated to his heavenly reward over 15 years ago at
the age of 67, as a result of lymphoma cancer. I was giving thanks to my Father
that my Dad had taught me practical things while growing up – like putting away
the wrench tool after I used it, so it wouldn’t rust in the rain. You know –
just practical, common sense things like that.
As I continued praying, I realized that many of the current
generation we gave birth to don’t have a “real” Dad, or Mom, who were/are around
to teach them even the basic, practical things in life. Sure, each of us had at
least one parent in the beginning at the hospital, but not many then had a
father or mother, who loved them enough to train them, encourage them, or show
them how to live, after they left the place of their birth.
Few had a real mentor to teach them that they weren’t
given life to just exist for themselves. But their life is to have life, a life
with purpose, and understanding of the Creator’s plan, as they were created to
be. Not only in the natural realm, but especially even more so in the spiritual
one.
I mean – how many of this generation now in their
teens, including even those hitting their 40’s, know what life is all about, other
than playing video games for hours, standing in line for the latest hot movie a
day before it opens, or getting drunk, taking drugs of all kinds, or having sex
(with whomever), beginning in their middle school years?
Where are the fathers? Where are the mothers?
How far we have fallen.
The verse written just before Malachi 4:6, before
the restoration of the fathers to their children, says it even more which is
worth noting.
"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will
restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the
children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a
curse." (Malachi 4:5-6, NASU)
Our Father in heaven clearly states that He is going
to do something about the mess our kids, and their kids, are in. God the Father
says He is going to send Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and
terrible day of the Lord. To do what? To restore the hearts of the fathers to
their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.
As for me, I think that day is now. Certainly we are
approaching the great and terrible day of the Lord, in these last days. Thus
so, I am looking, I am expecting, I am believing the Lord is going to keep this
promise, His promise to His people.
Will each child have a father and mother to train
them, to teach them, to instruct them in the ways of the Lord? I don’t think
so, but I do believe that those who are longing for such a one in their life
will certainly be given one – a “parent” who will care for them. Teach them
right from wrong. Black and white. No gray stuff here.
And for those of us who know what to do, how to do
it, and when to do it – live as we were created to live– we will be given these
ones to do just that. Show them the way they are to go.
I am glad my Dad taught me the basics of life. That
wrench that I would have left out in the grass, after adjusting the motor on my
lawnmower, would have rusted after the first rain. And then I would have had to
buy another one, using money I would have spent on a nice hamburger and French fries.
I am very grateful for that, but even more so, how
he taught me, by example, how to live right.
Lesson taught. Lesson learned. We have to do the
same for those who need it now.
My eyes are open. My heart is ready, as a father, to
teach those who want to be taught.
My heart has been turned to my children, and those
who need a dad.
So think on this, in the love of
Jesus,
Steve Martin
Love For His People, Inc.
P.S. I would be
most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends.
They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks!
Steve
We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to bless
the families that we do in Israel, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in
the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.
Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian
organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.
If these messages minister to you, please consider sending
a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless
families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian
ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each
donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.
Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING
THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major
credit cards: Love
For His People. If you don't have a
PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where
available).
Contribution checks can be sent to:
Love For His People, Inc. P.O. Box414
Pineville, NC 28134
Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)
Please share Now Think On This with your
friends.
Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com
martinlighthouse@gmail.com
Facebook pages: Steve Martin and Love
For His People
Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople
Now Think On This - In the New Year of our Lord 01.18.16 -
#235 –“Need A Dad? Lesson Taught. Lesson Learned.” – Monday at 6:30 am
All previous editions of Now Think On This can
be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This
Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this
encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social
media icons below. Thanks! Steve
LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE FEATURED BOOK
Paperback $5.99
Kindle: $1.99
Buy here: The Promise by Steve Martin
Throughout our lives, God keeps His hand on our shoulders and nudges us on to more than what we could ever realize. I am excited to share how He did it this with me, and am confident mine will be a story you’ll be able to relate to.
As I unveil my story, think back to those times when you knew there was some¬thing more but you just couldn’t put your finger on it. You knew deep down that life wasn’t what the TV sitcoms portrayed it to be. In our souls there is the hope, the cry for more, that someday questions will be answered and promises fulfilled if we just kept plugging away at what we know to do.
In The Promise I share my 40 year journey with you, and show you that dreams do come true. Though Peter Pan isn’t real, the Lord, the One Who created us, certainly is, and He has a plan in place for each one of us. When you are done reading this story, my prayer is that you too will know more of that good plan and His purpose for you.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC
Sunday, January 17, 2016
God Honors Churches Which Support Israel While Methodist Churches Sit Empty by Abra Forman - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS
Illustrative: United Methodist Church of Saugus, Massachusetts (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Daderot)
IFCJ Leader Yechiel Eckstein: God Honors Churches Which Support Israel While Methodist Churches Sit Empty
The International Fellowship of Jews and Christians (IFCJ) has harshly condemned the United Methodist Church’s recent decision to divest from five Israeli banks, warning that churches which do not support Israel will ultimately suffer from decreased membership and affiliation.“I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.” (Numbers 24:10)
IFCJ founder Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein said in a statement responding to the decision, “God is clearly honoring the churches that stand with Israel and the Jewish people by bringing about huge growth with them, and at the same time Methodist churches are sitting empty and their affiliation is way down.”
He said that the United Method Church (UMC) pension board’s blacklisting of five Israeli banks on the grounds that they enable abuse of human rights would only garner more conflict and strife in the region.
“Boycotting divides people and stirs deeper hatred for Israel and the Jewish people, rather than encouraging peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” he stated.
He emphasized the Fellowship’s appreciation for the millions of Christians who have “faithfully stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel and the Jewish people, despite cynical and hate-filled attempts to demonize Israel” in recent years.
NGO Monitor also made a statement blasting the decision and pointing a finger at the non-governmental organizations which attempt to delegitimize Israel under the guise of human rights. This group of “radical and anti-peace NGOs” runs campaigns calling for boycotts and divestments from Israel, said the statement.
The organization called the United Methodist Church’s decision immoral and damaging to the possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. “Isolating Israel and damaging the prospect of peace are entirely inconsistent with universal values and morality,” said Professor Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor.
He argued that the decision was based in a desire to hurt Israel rather than help Palestinians. “By adopting this resolution, the UMC handed a victory to anti-Israel extremists who are more interested in causing harm to the Jewish state than to improve the lives of Palestinians and Israelis,” he charged.
These extremists are represented by a group of NGOs which work against Israel, NGO Monitor said. At the forefront of this campaign is an NGO called “Who Profits”, which is funded by a number of European donors, including several church groups and the government of Spain.
Another pro-BDS and anti-peace NGO which promotes “economic warfare” against Israel is Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which praised the United Methodist Church decision and boasts a partnership with the United Methodist Kairos Response, a major BDS proponent within the Methodist church, said the NGO Monitor statement.
These organizations are part of a larger network of about 1,500 NGOs which, at a 2001 UN conference, formed a strategy aimed at delegitimizing Israel as an “apartheid regime” by calling for the imposition of sanctions and embargoes and the “full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel.
Steinberg called the strategy of using churches to advance the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) agenda “cynical”, adding that it “takes advantage of the perception of the church as a source of good and morality.”
“Tuesday’s decision by the UMC reflects the destructive power of the NGO network that exploits human rights for hate, and undermining the chances for peace and reconciliation,” he said.
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