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Old Video About Jesus' Return Suddenly Going Viral
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An old video of Anne Graham Lotz talking about the end of the world is going viral.
The video, which was posted on Lotz's YouTube channel in 2014, shows Billy Graham's daughter talking about Jesus' return and the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. According to her ministry, she gave the message in 2009 at the National Religious Broadcasters convention.
"They re-established the nation of Israel and the family of nations in May 1948, and that's significant to me because I was born in May 1948," she said. "And I believe that's my generation, and Jesus said the generation that sees that take place is the generation that's going to see His return and I believe ... if I live out my natural lifetime, I will live to see the return of Jesus Christ to this Earth."
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At its triennial gathering in Tel Aviv last month, the board of the Jewish Agency was told that the organization would be increasingly focused on aiding the local Arab population in the coming years.
In fact, that mission has already begun. Whereas the Jewish Agency was historically focused solely on the Jewish community, today it employs 75 Druze and Arabs and has poured around $2.5 million into their respective communities in recent years.
Agency chairman Natan Sharansky told the gathering that “as a Zionist I believe that this is important for the future of our democracy.”
At the same time, Israeli Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh announced the appointment of a new commander for the Northern District who will be focused on mass recruitment of Arab Muslim officers.
“The police has been deepening cooperation with the Arab population by establishing police stations in Arab towns, and conducting massive recruitment effort of officers from the Muslim sector,” Alsheikh said.
Israel has also been proposing increased economic cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, as confirmed by Palestinian Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara in remarks to the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency.
Bishara met late last month with Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon. Israel’s Channel 10 reported that the two discussed a package that would see greater integration in the construction, medical, and high-tech sectors, as well as a range of study and internship opportunities for young Palestinians.
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The “Herev” (Sword) Battalion, comprised of Druze, Jewish and Christian soldiers, are an elite unit specially trained in the Northern Command. (Photo: IDF)
Christian IDF Soldiers Recieve Special Recognition in Historic First
“And a terror from God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Yisrael.” (2 Chronicles 20:29)
For the first time, the International Fellowship and Christians and Jews, in partnership with the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum (ICRF), will bestow academic scholarships on 40 Christian IDF soldiers, with the goal of enabling them to take advantage of Israel’s advanced higher learning institutions and ultimately helping them integrate into Israeli society.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the Fellowship, and Father Gabriel Naddaf, head of the ICRF, said that they hope that the scholarship program will ease the transition of younger members of the Christian community into mainstream Israeli society, help close socio-economic gaps, and give more Israeli Christians the opportunities that come with higher education.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. (Wikimedia Commons/IFCJ)
Since Christians are not required to serve in Israel’s military, all of the Christian recruits are volunteers eager to do their part to defend their country. Eckstein and Naddaf believe they should be entitled to every benefit in return.
“We believe that every Israeli citizen deserves equal rights and opportunities in all areas of life, while on their part they provide an active share and contribute to Israeli society,” said Eckstein, the Jerusalem Post reported.
His organization and Naddaf’s work together in the Israeli Christian community to encourage its members to serve in the IDF, a project which has grown steadily in recent years. Eckstein said he was happy to see that “more and more young [Christians] are choosing to integrate into society and even serve in the IDF and national service”.
There is Biblical precedent for gentiles aligning with Jewish forces. Yael, a member of the Kenite clan, famously killed Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army, thereby giving victory to the army of Israel and delivering its people – an action for which she was blessed in the Book of Judges.
Naddaf called the scholarship program “a message to the whole world, that two religious leaders from different religions can lead a change in society where they live and work through cooperation.” He also thanked Eckstein for supporting the ICRF.
Father Gabriel Naddaf (Wikimedia Commons)
The Christian leader founded the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum in 2012. In its first year, the ICRF helped to enlist 40 Christian soldiers. By 2014, it had more than doubled its numbers in an upward trend that continued into last year. The ICRF is part of a larger effort by Naddaf to change the perceptions surrounding Israel’s Christian population and help its members become Israeli Christians, rather than aligning with the Arab population.
“Calling them ‘Arab Christian’ puts them on the side of Palestinians and terrorists, when in reality they’ve lived in Israel for generations and just want to live in peace and security,” Naddaf explained in December of last year at a Christmas celebration honoring several soldiers.
Full integration into Israeli society “begins with the youth and continues in enlistment in the IDF or national service and paves the way towards studies in higher education institutions and integration into the workforce. We are there every step of the way in order to encourage, strengthen, and support,” said Naddaf of the scholarship program.
The 40 scholarships will be presented to the IDF soldiers and soon-to-be students on Thursday at the Greek Orthodox Church in Yafa Inman-Naseriyye, an Arab local council located near Nazareth.
Lou Engle at TheCall, Washington, D.C., August 2008
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Sixteen years ago, Lou Engle started asking the Lord how he could be part of turning America back to God. This John the Baptist-style prophet and intercessor discerned the perils facing our nation before 9/11, before the Great Recession, before this new wave of racial tension—and before the rise of an Islamic terrorist group that is beheading Christians and threatening to "strike America at its heart."
Lou's humble question birthed TheCall, a prayer movement that has gathered hundreds of thousands of believers to stadiums in America for solemn assemblies in the spirit of Joel 2. TheCall is a summons to prayer, fasting, repentance and sacrificial worship that does not advertise bands or promote speakers—but exalts the Lord Jesus Christ.
On April 9, 2016—the 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street outpouring that essentially birthed the modern-day Pentecostal movement—Lou is taking this holy prescription to the Los Angeles Coliseum. The goal is to unite believers in urgent, humble fasting and prayer, seeking the Joel 2 promise that God will pour out His Spirit again. It's noteworthy that this is the same venue where Billy Graham once preached the gospel to 140,000 souls.
TheCall Azusa Now could be the most pivotal of all prayer meetings for Lou, who found Christ during the Jesus Movement—and was mowing lawns and sweeping basements for a living when he says he heard the voice of the Lord speak these words clearly in 1975: "I've called you to be an instrument of revival."
"I began dancing in the room—and that began my journey. That call became more clear in 1984 when I was reading a book called Azusa Street by Frank Bartleman, who prayed and fasted before the Azusa Street Revival. His wife thought he would die," says the 63-year-old revivalist. "I went into days of fasting and one night cried out to the Lord to give me the mantle of Frank Bartleman."
Marked for Prayer
It seems God took him up on his petition. As Lou tells the story, the very night he was crying out for Bartleman's mantle, his friend had a dream in which he saw a big black book with the title "revival." In that dream, his friend opened the book to the inside cover and there was a picture of Frank Bartleman—and his face turned into Lou's face.
"From that moment on, I knew my calling was revival and I was an intercessor for revival. My calling is to fast and pray," Lou told Charisma in his characteristic rough voice. "I am a fire starter in prophetic intercession who calls people into fasting and prayer for breakthroughs with the end goal of seeing the spirit of revival."
Lou entered full-time ministry when Ché Ahn, founding pastor of HRock Church in Pasadena, California, set him in place as his intercessor in 1984. Ché, who is also the founder of Harvest International Ministry and international chancellor of Wagner Leadership Institute, describes Lou as "one of the most amazing prophet-intercessors I've ever met."
"TheCall and mobilizing prayer for revival has been historic," Ché told Charisma. "There has been a turning point. Even though laws haven't changed, the number of abortions is declining almost every year—especially since 2000, when abortion was the primary focus of TheCall D.C. that saw 400,000 people crying out to God."
Ending abortion has been a burden on Lou's heart for decades. In 2004, he founded Justice House of Prayer DC, which is committed to pray for national leaders and seeks spiritual transformation and cultural reformation from the government gate of our nation's capital, and Bound4LIFE. Both ministries were birthed after 50 days and nights of 24/7 prayer and fasting that led a large group of prayer warriors to Washington, D.C., to re-enact a prophetic dream one of the intercessors had during the fast. On Oct. 4, 2004, they stood in a silent siege (Ezek. 4:1-3), wearing red tape with the word "LIFE" written over it, praying for an end to abortion.
This Bound4LIFE grass-roots movement, which seeks to exalt Jesus, see an end to abortion and contend for a great awakening in every sphere of society, has spread like wildfire in the pro-life community, even finding its way to the cover of TIMEmagazine. Although Roe v. Wade still stands, pro-life laws are passing across the nation and a recent Associated Press report reveals abortions have dropped by 12 percent nationwide since 2010.
"Lou has pioneered for a whole generation the reality that we have to stop abortion," says Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of Generals International, a prayer-based organization that works to change lives and transform nations. "History will say Lou was a major voice that was the impetus for abortion to be stopped."
40-Day Fast and a Dream
Perhaps the king of 40-day fasts, Lou is known for fasting as much as he is for prayer. His ministry is marked by prophetic dreams and visions God uses to lead and guide him on each step of his journey. One of those dreams came in 1996 during a 40-day fast inspired by Bill Bright, the late founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (now known as Cru). Bright, who also wrote The Four Spiritual Laws and was the visionary behind the Jesus film, realized that evangelism efforts were not bearing transformational fruit. He called 2 million people to join him in his annual 40-day juice and water fast. Lou responded to the call.
"I had a dream, and I was supposed to be giving a letter to a little boy named Joel. I lost the letter and I was looking for it frantically," recalls Lou, who says he was raised on Derek Prince's book Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting. In Prince's book, the late Bible teacher declared the only answer in the last days would be united fasting and prayer. "I woke up and the Lord just spoke to me: Don't lose Joel's letter. Call the youth of America to fasting and prayer, the book of Joel. Little did I realize I would be calling solemn assemblies."
On Oct. 4, 1997, Lou watched in awe as Promise Keepers, a men's ministry on a mission to ignite and unite men to become warriors who will change their world, assembled 1.4 million men on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In a subsequent meeting with 600 young people, Lou started proclaiming from Malachi 4:6 that the hearts of the fathers would return to the children, and the hearts of the children would return to the fathers. He says he saw in the Spirit a corresponding move of young people—a John-the-Baptist, Nazarite generation—who would go to the National Mall and fast and pray as the older men had. When that day came, Lou declared prophetically, it would be a sign that America is turning back to God.
Then it happened. In 1999, a woman asked Lou if he had ever considered putting young people on the National Mall like Promise Keepers did two years earlier. When he told her about his proclamation and prophetic insight, the woman wrote him a check for $100,000 to fund what would become Lou's first major solemn assembly. TheCall D.C. hit the mall Sept. 2, 2000, shortly after a dream Lou says he had in which he was overwhelmed with the possibility of America turning back to God.
"In that dream, a scroll rolled down before me, and I read Luke 1:17 to go on before the Lord in the spirit of Elijah and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the rebellious to the wisdom of the righteous," Lou says. "I woke up, and the Lord told me, 'What I'm pouring out is stronger than the rebellion.' I knew TheCall was a John-the-Baptist, Nazarite movement. If TheCall is truly a John-the-Baptist movement, you can bet there's a Jesus Movement coming."
Mike Bickle, director of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, got to know Lou when he was at IHOP for five years. Mike told Charisma Lou has a gift for national assignments that galvanize thousands of intercessors and mobilize them to action in a key day. Lou has held TheCall at over 20 sites in America with strategic focuses. For example, TheCall D.C. focused largely on abortion. TheCall Nashville in 2007 focused on the church renewing her marital covenant with the Lord, to repent of her tolerance of Jezebel and to pray for a new Jesus Movement to sweep the nation. TheCall Detroit focused on uniting races and ethnicities to pray as one unified body.
"Only people with these values gather to Lou's voice—people who are desperate for breakthrough and are confident it's coming," Mike says. "Some people are desperate, but they are not confident. Some people are confident, but they are not desperate. Lou brings thousands of desperate, confident people together, and they are encouraged because they are not alone. They see there's an army out there."
Facing Down Goliaths
Lou's ministry moves in a prophetic swirl of sorts, but he's had plenty of spiritual warfare along the way. He's tackled principalities such as Baal and Jezebel and wrestles with the spirit of mammon. In fact, he says funding has always been one of his greatest challenges: "It's hard for people to lock on to funding prayer, but it happens." But he says his feelings of personal failure and weakness are the greatest challenge. Indeed, Lou Engle says his greatest challenge is Lou Engle.
"It's the challenge of having faith when you can't see results," Lou says. "You don't even know people are coming. The enemy lies and says, 'You can't do it.' And yet we have fought through and seen hundreds of thousands gathered. That in itself is a miracle. People say God is not answering the prayers. People criticize prayer rallies. Prayer rallies of 100,000 or 400,000 or 40,000 are the answer because it is the birthing. Prayer has always been the birthday of the great awakenings."
Lou points to the Bright 40-day fast in 2000 as the catalyst for the greatest harvest in America's history to date. After that, day-and-night prayer exploded around the world, the Global Day of Prayer was born, and TheCall was established. Lou believes God has answered Bright's prayers and fasting with a massive proliferation of prayer that's preparing the way for an explosive worldwide outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And Lou's going to keep praying and fasting—and calling others to join him—until he sees it.
"People say we don't see immediate answers to prayer," Lou says. "I tell you, bowls have to be filled, and it might take years until they overflow. Think of the 70 years of people crying out for release from communism. In one moment, the Berlin wall came down. Everything shifts. Give us one moment of revival. God will change everything. I think God is bringing a massive prayer movement as part of the answers to our prayers."
Dutch Sheets, an internationally recognized author, teacher and conference speaker, says he has never met anyone who lives what he preaches and teaches more than Lou, particularly with regard to prayer and fasting. "There's no one more committed to the cause of the Lord, and more specifically, the causes that God has put on his heart: the pro-life issue and awakening and revival," Dutch told Charisma. "Those things have made him so powerful and flow out of who he is. You'll never find a more passionate person than Lou Engle."
Mobilizing Intercessors
Lou will go down in charismatic church history as a general of intercession who mobilized the church to pray; a John-the-Baptist-like prophet who called the nation to repentance; a pro-life leader who understood that the blood of abortion is on our hands; a spiritual warrior who refused to tolerate Jezebel; and, hopefully an instrument of transforming revival.
"What releases the spirit of prayer is the spirit of prophecy," Lou says. "When I tell the story of Azusa, bones start rattling, movement occurs, people begin to pray. I am convinced that the problem is not that there isn't enough prayer. The problem is there's not enough prophetic unction to create the spirit of prayer, or it's the unbelief of the church, (who) won't believe the prophecies until she sees."
James Goll, president of Encounters Network, international director of Prayer Storm and founder of God Encounters Training, compared Lou to Kentucky Fried Chicken—he does one thing and does it right. "Lou Engle is not a show horse—he's a trained racehorse with God-given blinders that hems him in to see the finish line," James told Charisma. "Lou keeps his eyes on the prize to pay the price no matter what the cost. The prize is Jesus."
Lou not only has his eyes on the prize, but he has inserted himself into the storyline. He's standing in the gap and making up the hedge. He's positioned himself as a watchman on the wall. And he is encouraged by what he sees: a growing number of churches across the nation holding 21-day, 30-day and 40-day fasts every year. He's encouraged because he hasn't seen this since Bright led the charge.
"The problem in the church isn't unmotivated people," Lou says. "It's that we're not listening to the right dreamers. When the Israelites were re-establishing the house of prayer when they came back from Babylon, the prophet Zechariah started prophesying, and it stirred the people. We've had 20 years now of storyline that's fueling fasting, fueling prayer. God is in this generational Elijah movement, and I think we're about ready to shift."
Brian Kim, director of the Antioch Center for Training and Sending School of Frontier Missions in Colorado Springs, Colorado, told Charisma Lou embodies the marriage of prayer and prophecy and called him a visionary dreamer in every right.
"I have seen him lead hundreds of thousands in prayer, and I have seen him weeping in prayer in the early hours of the morning when he thought no one was watching, seeking solace in the front seat of his 15-passenger van for lack of a proper prayer closet," Brian says. "I have seen him give literally all he has for the sake of the gospel—and not just one time, but on numerous occasions."
Significance of This Call
Indeed, Lou sold his house in Pasadena to fund Asuza Now, and he's hoping to fill the stadium for the glory of God. Beyond fasting, prayer and worship, Bill Johnson, senior pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California, is joining forces with TheCall Azusa Now to hit the streets with evangelism in the weeks leading up to the main event. The evangelism component marks a shift of strategy toward proclamation of the gospel with the signs and wonders Lou sensed prophetically in 2011.
Leaders in the prayer movement agree that TheCall Azusa Now is significant at a time when America desperately needs revival. God never sends revival without first stirring united prayer.
As James Goll sees it, TheCall Azusa Now is strategic in the life of Lou Engle, which makes it strategic in the life of the nation. "There's going to be grace, grace, grace, grace, and it's a turning point to turn the innie into an outie," James says. "TheCall is going to take us into a modern-day Salvation Army where we are not just doing prayer and fasting in rooms; we are taking it to the streets coupled with the worship and evangelists and gifts of healing and working of miracles. It is a turning point."
Dutch believes God has another outpouring in mind at the Azusa Street level and says TheCall is part of the prayer momentum toward that outpouring. "God wouldn't be moving so sovereignly if there was not hope for this awakening," Dutch says. "TheCall is very significant and will bring great hope."
Mike sees TheCall Azusa Now as important for several reasons. Beyond the 110th anniversary of Azusa Street, he's looking at Lou's 30-year history of blowing the trumpet and gathering people to prayer. "Lou is a class of his own," Mike says. "I don't know of another person who has his resume in the Spirit. That's what makes this significant. That's what gets my attention."
"We are not saying this event will be what brings revival to America," Ché says. "TheCall is one of a number of initiatives for revival. But gathering to humble ourselves and pray and fast and seek His face en masse is especially significant on the 110th anniversary of Azusa Street."
Lou is asking the body of Christ some serious questions: Can you believe with us that denominations will unite, that the races could come together, that God could make us one as the antidote to the terrific division in our day? Could you believe with us for stadium Christianity where signs and wonders are breaking out and mass evangelism explodes across our country—the Third Great Awakening?
"I don't believe that God will fasten our soul to a dead-end vision," Lou says. "I stand in awe of the God who has been faithful to His promises. He will come to us like the rain. Though darkness covers the Earth, the glory of the Lord rises upon us. I pray your heart burns with this faith. Can a nation be saved? I still believe!"
Lou may or may not see 140,000 people fill the Los Angeles Coliseum as they did in Billy Graham's day, but tens of thousands are likely to unite in prayer, fasting and worship, intent on turning America back to God. Cindy Jacobs told Charisma TheCall Azusa Now is one of those events that, 10 years from now, people will say "I was there" or "I wish I had been there."
Jennifer LeClaireis senior editor of Charisma, director of the Awakening House of Prayer, a senior leader of the New Breed Revival Network and author of many books, including Jezebel's Puppets: Exposing the Agenda of False Prophets. Visit her online atjenniferleclaire.org.
Watch the incredible story of how God prophetically orchestrated each step leading up to TheCall Azusa Now at azusanow.charismamag.com.
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And the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said: '... I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I swore unto your fathers; and I said: I will never break My covenant with you.
We look to today's verse for comfort after a tragic week of multiple major terror attacks in Jaffa, Jerusalem and Petah Tikva. God promises that He will never erase the covenantmade with the Patriarchs that the Land of Israel belongs to the Children of Israel. Often the enemies of the Jewish People appear strong, and even claim many innocent victims. But the message God continues to send is that those who oppress the Children of Israel are always themselves destroyed. The persecutors of the Jewish People fade away over time, while the Nation of Israel lives forever. Our defenders on the ground are the brave soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces. Bring them much needed joy this Purim by sponsoring a Purim gift bag of goodies!
An inspiring woman has just joined the team of LIBI USA, showing that her heart is with the soldiers of the IDF, even while running a law firm in Massachusetts and raising a proud pro-Israel family.
A delightful introductory learning aid about the Bible and the Land of Israel which includes modules like word games, fill in the blanks, crossword puzzles, map reading, stories and secret codes to decypher. Sketched images enhance the learning experience. This fun and educational workbook will expand one’s knowledge of the Bible and Judaism. Paperback, 52 pages
Despite intense training in the Jordan Valley, a courageous young Israeli soldier from the Givati Brigade takes time to wear tefillin (phylacteries) during his morning prayers.
Rabbi Tuly, thank you for your wonderful posts on Israel365...I for one, wish that in addition to the wonderful Hebrew Letters (Blessed Be They), that I could hear it audibly in your daily posts...Shalom from Port Townsend, Washington, where it now is very cache to be anti-Israel (Boycott Divestment Sanctions)...Your posts give me Nourishment. Thank you once again...Elias (Lee) M.Jorgensen
