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Blake Shelton Refuses to Leave His "Savior's Shadow"
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The Voice judge and country superstar Blake Shelton appears to have penned his latest single after his faith.
According to Taste of Country, fans have not seen this side of Shelton, who has been dating fellow musician Gwen Stefani for the last few months.
"Here the vocalist shows all of his vulnerabilities, revealing a man who is still very rooted in his faith and raising," ToC writes. "That's counter to who he appears to be on television and Twitter, but no less honest."
In the song, Shelton sings:
I'm standing in my Savior's shadow, He is watching over me I feel the rain, I hear the thunder, As he cries for me I'm standing in my Savior's shadow, Grace will lead to where I'm free I take his hand, we walk together And his light shines on me
Though the devil try to break me My sweet Jesus won't forsake me When I'm in my Savior's shadow Where I'm supposed to be.
Published on Apr 11, 2016
Blake Shelton's new song "Savior's Shadow" from his upcoming album, If I'm Honest.
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Posted: 13 Apr 2016 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
Could you imagine being kidnapped, being auctioned off like a piece of meat, and being endlessly gang-raped every day by some of the most evil men on the entire planet for months on end? This is what ISIS is doing to thousands upon thousands of women in Iraq and Syria, and some of their victims are as young as nine. The things that I am about to share with you are almost too nightmarish for words, but it is imperative that we understand what is going on. When ISIS conquers an area that is not Muslim, they believe that they can do whatever they want to the women because they are “infidels”. So innocent young women are being treated in some of the most horrible ways imaginable, and most of the rest of the world looks on with indifference. But of course what ISIS is doing is just the tip of a very big global iceberg. As you will see below, there are tens of millions of slaves in our world today, and sexual exploitation is involved in approximately 80 percent of those cases. I came across a Daily Mail article earlier today that detailed what ISIS did to a young Yazidi woman named Khalida. When she was captured, she was brought to one of those infamous “auctions” where members of ISIS buy and sell women like trading cards…
A Yazidi woman sold as a sex-slave eight times by an ISIS jihadi says she was put on parade like she was being picked out in a ‘car showroom’. Khalida, 20, was kidnapped and taken to Raqqa where she was put on display in a ‘meat market’ where women are purchased for as little as a mobile phone, or simply given away as ‘gifts’. The most beautiful women are put into a separate ‘VIP’ room where leaders can take their time choosing their favourite three or four girls each.
Khalida and her sister were purchased initially by a very sick old man with a white beard that kept them locked away in a small room. From time to time he would rape them, and then afterwards his wife would beat them for “tempting” her husband. Later she was sold to other owners, and she was gang-raped by ISIS fighters multiple times. Here is more of her story from the Daily Mail…
Raped up to three times a day her ‘slave master’ or gang-raped by groups of ISIS fighters, this quiet young woman was bought and sold by eight different men – each more brutal, callous and perverted than the last. She told MailOnline she was force-fed contraceptive pills and once taken to hospital for a contraceptive injection after she was rendered unconscious by one particularly brutal gang rape. ‘They [ISIS] did not want me get pregnant, especially if there was more than one man because they would not know who the father of the baby was,’ she said.
This is going on day after day in the Middle East, and yet it doesn’t make a lot of headlines in the western world. Perhaps we think that if we can ignore what is happening to them that we are justified in not doing anything about it. Next, let me share with you the story of Nadia Murad. She was just 19 when ISIS conquered her town, and she saw ISIS kill all of the males in her family right in front of her eyes…
Murad and her mother and sisters watched out of the window, along with hundreds of other women and children from the Yazidi village of Kocho, as ISIS slaughtered their men and boys. “We could see outside—they were shooting the men and they were beheading them as well. They were also taking them away in buses. “My six brothers were killed in this way.”
In the western world, we tend to think that such things could never happen to us. But in my new book I discuss how Christians all over the globe are eventually going to be facing this kind of persecution. If you are under the illusion that you are somehow going to be exempt from all this, then you are going to be in for one heck of a wake up call. After Nadia Murad watched ISIS butcher her family members, she was sold 13 different times, and her various “owners” were incredibly brutal…
I first met Murad in July last year, four months after she managed to escape from her captors in Mosul. She visited the UK with two other former captives and former Iraqi MP Ameena Hasan Saeed, who helped to smuggle her out of the Islamic State. Speaking anonymously, she described in blistering detail how she was abused, raped, and sold through the ranks of ISIS troops, enduring a total of eight months in captivity and 13 owners who kept her locked up, starved and disorientated. At the time, she showed me scars from cigarette butts burnt into her skin by the fighters who worked for her first owner, a commander called Salman. He had his men gang rape her after her first disastrous attempt at escaping. “I found a small window so I climbed out and jumped from the second story, but one of Salman’s guards found me and brought be back to him. I could have died jumping, and after that I wished I had.”
I don’t know how anyone can read these stories without having an emotional reaction. Just imagine if this was happening to your wife or your daughter. How would you feel? Unfortunately, even if ISIS could somehow be wiped off the face of the planet tomorrow, that would only put a very, very tiny dent in the overall problem of sex slavery in our world. The following are 11 facts about human trafficking that come from dosomething.org… 1. Globally, the average cost of a slave is $90. 2. Trafficking primarily involves exploitation which comes in many forms, including: forcing victims into prostitution, subjecting victims to slavery or involuntary servitude and compelling victims to commit sex acts for the purpose of creating pornography. 3. According to some estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation. 4. There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves in the world today. 5. According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, of which 80% are female and half are children. 6. The average age a teen enters the sex trade in the U.S. is 12 to 14-year-old. Many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children. 7. California harbors 3 of the FBI’s 13 highest child sex trafficking areas on the nation: Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. 8. The National Human Trafficking Hotline receives more calls from Texas than any other state in the US. 15% of those calls are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 9. Between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year. 10. Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry (behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking). It reportedly generates a profit of $32 billion every year. Of that number, $15.5 billion is made in industrialized countries. 11. The International Labour Organization estimates that women and girls represent the largest share of forced labor victims with 11.4 million trafficked victims (55%) compared to 9.5 million (45%) men. To me, those numbers are absolutely staggering. Most people tend to think of slavery as something that happened in less civilized times, but the truth is that it has been estimated that there are more slaves in our world today than ever before in human history. We live in a world that is absolutely brimming with evil. This is something that those that believe that people are “generally good” and that humanity has a “bright future” really struggle with. If humans are “generally good” and we really have advanced so dramatically over their centuries, then why are there more slaves in the world today than ever before and why do we see so much evil all around us? The answer to that question reveals a lot more about someone than you might think. If you would like to take a shot at that question, please feel free to share what you think by leaving a comment below… *About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog. Michael’s controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled “The Rapture Verdict” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.*
“Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel; again shalt thou be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.” Jeremiah 31:3 (The Israel Bible™)
A group of converts to Judaism in Uganda has gained official recognition from the Jewish Agency for Israel.
In a letter to Rabbi Andrew Sacks, who serves as the head of the Conservative movement in Israel, the Jewish Agency confirmed that “as of 2009, we view the Abayudaya in Uganda as a recognized community registered with the Masorti-Olami world Conservative movement,” Haaretz reported.
Additionally, the letter also stated that the Jewish Agency recognizes the authority of Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, who serves as the spiritual head of the Ugandan Jewish community.
The recognition paves the way for Uganda’s Jewish community to become eligible for Israeli citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return. The recognition also will allow members of the community to obtain visas from Israel’s Interior Ministry in order to study at yeshivas (Jewish schools) in the Jewish state.
The Abayudaya Jewish community originally splintered off from Christianity in the early 20th century, when its members began observing Jewish laws and customs. In 2002, the 1,500-member community was formally converted to Judaism by a Conservative rabbinical court. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, however, only accepts Orthodox conversions.
Persecution of Christians in the Middle East at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS) has become so serious a problem that it has been recognized as genocide. Some Christians in the region are unwilling to go like lambs to the slaughter, however, and have begun forming militias to fight back.
One such group is the Babylon Brigade, some 500 to 1,000 Christian fighters who mobilized after ISIS took control of their hometown in Mosul, Iraq in 2014. Christians were forced to leave, convert or pay bribes, and many were expelled from their homes. Women were raped and sold into slavery or killed.
Not content to let things be, the members of the Babylon Brigade are offering resistance to ISIS forces. They are a part of a larger group called the Popular Mobilization Forces, which qualifies them for funding from the government.
ISIS “displaced us from our houses, they took our money, killed our young men and women and they took our properties,” the group’s commander, Rayan Al-Kildani, told NBC News. “Therefore, Christians decided to fight the terrorists of ISIS.”
This is a far cry from turning the other cheek as typically mandated by Christian doctrine, but the Babylon Brigade is not alone. Dwekh Nawsha, which translates from Syriac to “one who sacrifices”, was formed the same year to protect Iraq’s Assyrian Christians from ISIS. Dwekh Nawsha operates in coordination with the regional and international security forces and counts several foreign fighters among its ranks, including from the US, France and Australia.
Meanwhile, the Nineveh Plain Protection Units consist primarily, though not exclusively, of Christian fighters. Most of Iraq’s Christians are concentrated in this region.
Not all the Christians standing up for themselves, their people and their homes are men, either. In Syria, the “Female Protection Forces of the Land Between the Two Rivers” of the Syriac Christians Brigade celebrated its second class of fighters in early January.
“I’m a practicing Christian, and thinking about my children makes me stronger and more determined in my fight against [ISIS],” one fighter named Babylonia, who graduated with the first class in December, told AFP. She said she is fighting for her children’s future and “against the idea that the Syriac woman is good for nothing except housekeeping and make-up,” something her husband, also a soldier, encouraged her to do.
Just last year, Iraq also welcomed its first all-Christian brigade to its regular forces, as well. The “Tiger Guards” answer to the government of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.
“Around 600 peshmerga from our Christian brothers in the Nineveh plain joined this course, which focused on physical training, military lectures and shooting exercises,” said Abu Bakr Ismail, the commander of the training academy.
“All the participants are volunteers…and want to liberate their land from ISIS and then protect it,” the Kurdish special forces major general told AFP, according to its report carried by al-Arabiya.
As King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for peace, but there is also a time for war.
There's new evidence that parts of the Bible may have been written long before some scholars thought.
Israeli mathematicians and archaeologists used handwriting analysis technology, similar to what's used by banks and intelligence agencies, to analyze the signatures.
The researchers from Tel Aviv University say they found proof that some biblical texts from the Book of Joshua to 2 Kings may have been written before the Babylonian captivity following the destruction of the First Jewish Temple, built by King Solomon, in 586 B.C. and lasting 70 years until 538 B.C.
Some scholars say this period actually began in 587 B.C.
In any case, that's several centuries older than when scholars believe the Dead Sea Scrolls were written.
There's a hunger inside of you that can't be satisfied with food. (Charisma archives)
My heart is hurting today. It's not that anything out of the ordinary happened. It's not that anyone close to me passed away. It's that I have this great burden for those who are caught in the overwhelming stress of life that leads them down the path of continual weight gain. Everyone is looking for answers, but almost no one wants the real answer.
I got an email recently. Essentially it said, "I'm reading your book and I am confused. You say you've been on low-carb diets and gained the weight back again. Now you're on a low-carb diet and losing the weight and keeping it off. What changed?"
What Is the Problem?
In my response, I put on the coach's hat and said, "Obviously, it's not about what we eat." Then I told her reread Sweet Graceand look for the hidden keys. "They are not so hidden."
We always go to what we eat as the cause of the angst we feel over our weight loss. Doctors will tell you what they always use to tell me, eat less and move more. Let me tell you, when I had over 250 pounds to lose, that sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. Wah Wah Wah!
It is true on a very basic level, but it doesn't get at the core of why we eat. Without going to that deep place, we will always eat more than we should and continue to gain weight.
We Are Complex
Changing our mindsets is vital. However, in order to do that, we have to go to the root of why we eat when we are not physically hungry. It is head hunger, plain and simple. Part of it is physical if I eat foods which are addictive to me, but the reason I eat those foods is out of an emotional need.
We are very complex human beings. We know we need to change. We have good intentions and then something goes haywire when we try to implement it. There are many layers to this, but it starts with acknowledging we have a problem that goes deeper than sticking to an eating plan.
Stress from working long hours, stress from bills, stress from relationships, stress from not eating right, stress from not working out, stress from not being spiritual enough, stress from giving in to temptation, stress from not doing our daily devotions ... stress, stress, stress is a major culprit. We eat to stave off stress and then we get more stressed because it shows on the scale.
Live Freely and Lightly
Here's what God has to say about that. "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."1
Wouldn't that be awesome to live freely and lightly? These verses tell us it is possible to stop the spinning for a minute and let God lead. I'm not saying to do forced Bible study, though studying the Bible is great.
Let God Minister to You
I'm saying to allow God to minister to you as only He can. Running to food when we are stressed does not hold a candle to running to the only One who can really comfort us, the precious Holy Spirit, the Comforter Himself.
When is the last time you took even five minutes to soak in His presence, focusing only on Him and asked Him, "Holy Spirit, what do you want me to know today? I invite You to lead me every step of the way today. I invite You fully into each moment. Speak to me."
We do not have to worry. His yoke is "easy"2 because we are joined in this battle with Him. We don't have to pull alone. He's pulling with us. As long as we are going His direction, "the yoke is easy to bear, and the burden is light."2
I Am Weak
It's OK that I am weak. God delights it my weakness. Losing 260 pounds has been the easiest hard thing I've ever done because I surrendered my weakness to Him.
He says, "My grace is enough. It's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness." His grace is all the power I need to take the next step out of overwhelming difficulty and heaviness into living freely and lightly.
Are You Weak?
Are you weak today? That's awesome, because when you let Christ take over, the weaker you get, the stronger you become.4 Stop doing this in your own strength. Stop trying to bear your burdens alone. He's ready to shoulder them if you just take your hands off.
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Passover is one of the three pilgrimage festivals mentioned in the Bible along with Sukkot and Shavuot. Historians and rabbinic literature refer to hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who filled the streets and alleyways of Jerusalem, bringing sacrifices to the Temple.
The Temple Institute's depiction of a Passover seder at
the time of the Temple. Note the pascal lamb on the table.
Today as well, Jews from all over the world and from all over Israel make their pilgrimages to the holy city. The Library of Congress photographic collection includes a series of photographs of Yemenite residents of Jerusalem celebrating their Passover seder in 1939. Note their low table and compare it to the painting of a Seder during the time of the Temple, taken from the Passover Seder Haggadah of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. In 1882, the Christians of the American Colony adopted a wave of Yemenite Jews who arrived in Jerusalem penniless, hungry and sick. The Colony believed the Jews were from the lost tribe of Gad. For decades the American Colony photographers continued to take pictures of the Yemenite community.
Yemenite Passover Seder:Drinking winein the Kiddush ceremony. Note the table is covered at that point,and all men are leaning to their left as prescribed. (Library of Congress)
Washing hands during the Seder. Note the children's involvement and wonderment. A major theme of the Seder is to teach the children about the Exodus from Egypt.
The Yemenite community has a tradition of a soft matza, similar to Middle East pita or laffa bread, which they bake daily during Passover.
Discussing the local Yemenite matza, an ancient traveler to Tza'ana in Yemen quoted his Yemenite host, "There is no requirement that the matzos be dry and stale because they were baked many days before Pesach. Every day we eat warm, fresh matza. "
The traveler reported, "I enjoyed their special kind of matza -- it was warm, soft and didn't have the usual burnt sections which was present in every matza I had ever eaten until then."
Unfortunately for the 1939 Yemenite family, it appears that the only matza available to them was the square and stale machine-made matza.
Posted: 12 Apr 2016 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
The elite are fleeing major cities around the globe at a staggering rate. In fact, the Chicago Tribune is reporting that approximately 3,000 millionaires left the city of Chicago alone during 2015. The same study discussed in that Chicago Tribune article found that 7,000 millionaires left Paris, France last year. So why is this happening?
Why are thousands of millionaires suddenly packing up and moving away from the big cities? Could it be possible that they have many of the same concerns that “preppers” do about what is coming?
For quite a while, I have been writing about how the elite have been preparing for the coming collapse. But I had no idea that literally thousands of them are packing up and permanently leaving our major cities. As I mentioned above, the Chicago Tribune is reporting that about 3,000 of them left the city of Chicago alone during the previous calendar year…
Millionaires are leaving Chicago more than any other city in the United States on a net basis, according to a new report. About 3,000 individuals with net assets of $1 million or more, not including their primary residence, moved from the city last year, with many citing rising racial tensions and worries about crime as factors in the decision, according to research firm New World Wealth.
But of course this is not just happening in Chicago, nor is it just an American phenomenon.
Paris saw the largest exodus. The French city lost 7,000, or 6 percent, of its millionaires, followed by Rome, which lost 5,000, or 7 percent.
It is true that some of these millionaires are moving for tax reasons, but many others are quite concerned that humanity is hurtling toward a deeply apocalyptic future, and they want to get prepared for what is about to happen while they still have time.
In eastern Germany, one company known as “Vivos” has spent an enormous amount of money converting an underground facility built by the Soviets during the Cold War into the largest private shelter on the planet. It is called “Europa One”, and it is being billed as an ultra-luxury survival bunker for the elite.
Located in the heart of Europe is one of the most fortified and massive underground survival shelters on Earth, deep below a limestone mountain. Built by the Soviets during the Cold War, this shelter was a fortress for military equipment and munitions. Now privately owned, this 76 acre above and below ground hardened facility is capable of withstanding a substantial close range nuclear blast, a direct airliner crash, biological and chemical agents, massive shock waves, earthquakes, electro-magnetic pulses, and virtually any armed attack.
This irreplaceable complex is now being re-tasked as Vivos Europa One, becoming the world’s largest and most fortified underground shelter for long-term, uncompromising protection of high net worth individuals, their families, and most precious assets when no other above-ground exfiltration solution will suffice.
The complex includes over 21,108 square meters (227,904 square feet) of secured, blast proof living areas; and, an additional 4,079 square meters (43,906 square feet) of above-ground office, apartments, warehouse buildings, and its own train depot. Collectively there are over 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) of continuous tunnel chambers.
An RT report that was posted on YouTube right here contains some stunning visuals from the inside of this facility. Personally, I was quite stunned when I saw the extent of their preparations for the first time…
As I was preparing for this article, I remembered something that Zero Hedge just reported that I think relates to this subject. It turns out that “the smart money” has been net sellers of U.S. stocks for 11 weeks in a row…
Last week, during which the S&P 500 was down 1.2%, BofAML clients were net sellers of US equities for the 11th consecutive week. Net sales of $1.7bn were smaller than in the prior week, but all three client groups (hedge funds, institutional clients, private clients) remained net sellers, led by institutional clients.
So why are the elite dumping stocks like crazy right now?
Don’t they realize that the stock market has been going up?
Could it be possible that they have information that the rest of us do not?
Most people have absolutely no idea how vulnerable our society truly is, or how very easy it would be to plunge the general population into a state of utter chaos.
That is why I am so glad that Mike Norris (the son of Chuck Norris) is coming out with his new movie entitled “AmeriGEDDON”. This film imagines a time when a global terror organization disables the U.S. power grid and martial law is instituted. Rioting, looting and civil unrest break out, and the government moves in to disarm the citizens and “restore order”. You can watch the official trailer for this new film right here…
Could we actually witness such a scenario in our future?
Well, I don’t expect to see anything like this next month, but in my new book I explain why I believe that America is heading for a future that is even more apocalyptic than the one portrayed in “AmeriGEDDON”.
Everywhere you turn, our world is becoming increasingly unstable.
Many people believe that we are entering a period of time when an unprecedented confluence of events will combine to create a “perfect storm” which will shake the world to the core.
And it isn’t just “preppers” that feel this way. As you have just seen, thousands of millionaires are so concerned about changing conditions that they are fleeing the major cities.
So before you dismiss all of this apocalyptic talk as “nonsense”, perhaps you may want to consider what the elite may know that you do not.
*About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog. Michael’s controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled “The Rapture Verdict” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.*
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