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.
After Donald Trump's 11-year-old lewd remarks regarding women broke this weekend, many Christians rushed to crucify him. But not evangelist Franklin Graham.
In a statement posted to Facebook this morning, Graham said:
The crude comments made by Donald J. Trump more than 11 years ago cannot be defended. But the godless progressive agenda of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton likewise cannot be defended. I am not endorsing any candidates in this election. I have said it throughout this presidential campaign, and I will say it again—both candidates are flawed. The only hope for the United States is God. Our nation's many sins have permeated our society, leading us to where we are today. But as Christians we can't back down from our responsibility to remain engaged in the politics of our nation. On November 8th we will all have a choice to make. The two candidates have very different visions for the future of America. The most important issue of this election is the Supreme Court. That impacts everything. There's no question, Trump and Clinton scandals might be news for the moment, but who they appoint to the Supreme Court will remake the fabric of our society for our children and our grandchildren, for generations to come.
Trump's disgusting comments do not reflect the man he is now, the Republican candidate said in a statement
Trump has told media outlets, pastors and supporters throughout the last year about his growing faith.
"I've never said I'm a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I'm not," Trump said in a video statement. "I've said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more-than-a-decade-old video are one of them."
Since Trump's initial comments, he has rededicated his life to Christ. Prominent Christians like James Dobson and Jentezen Franklin stand behind the candidate, as do dozens more as part of his Faith Advisory Board.
3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!
Has God called you to be a leader? Ministry Today magazine is the source that Christian leaders who want to serve with passion and purpose turn to. Subscribe now and receive a free leadership book.
And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel: ‘Be strong and of good courage; for thou shalt go with this people into the land which Hashem hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.
In today's verse, Moses encourages Joshua to be “strong and courageous” as he readies himself to lead the people to settle the Land of Israel. Though the battle for the Holy Land will not be easy, it is no doubt well worth the fight. Three thousand years later, Joshua’s spiritual heirs can be found among the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces, men and women who demonstrate strength and courage every single day in serving their country and their nation. With the new Jewish year upon us, the IDF is on call 24/7, more determined than ever to ensure Israel a safe New Year.
Earlier in September, the Iron Dome Missile Defense system stopped two projectiles fired from Syria into the Golan Heights, defending Israel's northern cities from terror!
The sound of the shofar is a call to prayer and repentance, it resonates and uplifts, it carries your emotions with its haunting sound. The blast brings a sense of hope as it the shofar that will herald the Messiah. Watch here to discover how shofars are made!
Infantry soldiers from the IDF's Caracal Unit train in the Holy Land desert. The unit is composed of female combat soldiers, proving that even ladies can be fierce!
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“Todah Rabbah” to our Latest Tree Donors
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To the brave men & women of the IDF- Despite what you may hear in the news media, you have MILLIONS of Christians who pray and support you! I personally believe my country, USA, has no greater friends than the people of Israel! May God bless you and keep you! Shalom, Brian Waddell
JERUSALEM, Israel – Jerusalem Dateline's Julie Stahl recently spoke with Liz Healy, an American who has spent years studying the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City.
In the following interview, Healy talks about the significance of the contested site to Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Stahl: We're here on the Mount of Olives with lots of tourists and we're overlooking the Temple Mount with the golden Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. What's the significance of the Temple Mount to Muslims?
Healy: For Muslims, it's the third holiest site in their religion, but interestingly enough, it's not the Dome of the Rock that's the most prominent site. It's the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Stahl: What's the significance of the Temple Mount to Jewish people?
Healy: In Jewish tradition, this is where Adam was created. It was also the place after the flood that Noah brought an offering to the Lord. We know this is the place that Abraham brought Isaac to be sacrificed. Also, [it's] the place where David bought the threshing floor [and] where he said he wouldn't make an offering to God that cost him nothing. And it's the site of the first and second [Jewish] temples. It was believed by most, also, the place for the third temple where it will be built.
Stahl: It's such a holy site to so many people. Why is it so controversial?
Healy: I think that's the exact purpose. Because it's so holy and all the monotheistic religions – Christians, Jews and Muslims – all feel like this is their place of worship and so it's very controversial as to who's going to actually end up on this mount.
Stahl: Do you think the three religions could share the Temple Mount?
Healy: Personally, I don't, but there is a huge movement about coexisting on the Temple Mount and even recently, within the last two weeks, I know about a meeting between Christians and Muslims and Jews who all are talking about what are the possibilities and how could they establish both a temple and a mosque on the Temple Mount.
Stahl: What kinds of plans are being made to build a third temple?
Healy: There are actually quite a few and depending on the group you talk to, different architectural designs have been made. So one group is doing a design more like Herod's Temple and it would be on the Temple Mount and I don't believe they would have a mosque that would be there.
There are other groups that are more focused on the design that's given in Ezekiel, chapters 40 through 48, which is the next structure in scripture that God said to build – a temple in this way. And then, even some archaeological research has been done recently that would say that the Holy of Holies is not under the Dome of the Rock, which is the most common assumption, but a little bit to the north and that's why, kind of, the coexistence movement is moving forward…because it's possible they could be right next to each other on the Temple Mount.
Stahl: Where in the Bible does it talk about building a temple -- a third temple?
Healy: There's several references and it somewhat depends on interpretation, but we would begin in the Book of Daniel where it talks about the Abomination of Desolation and we know that's happened once, but it talks of a future time where the sacrifices will again be taken away so a temple would have to exist for the sacrifices to be done.
We also see it listed in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 [and] in II Thessalonians. They all make a reference to a false messiah setting himself up in a temple and declaring himself as God or removing the sacrifices. We also see in the Book of Revelation, John is told to measure the temple measurements and so there has to be a physical temple for him to be able to measure it.
Stahl: So what preparations are actually being made right now to build the third temple?
Healy: There are actually quite a few and it just shows that God is giving the Jewish people kind of signs or an expectation that it's time for the soon-coming messiah. But there is a group specifically that has re-established the Levitical priesthood. They started a school a few months ago and they have a registry for those who are from the Levitical line that they could come and be trained and be ready to do the service in the temple.
They've also started a red heifer farm. The Temple Institute did [this] with an Israeli farmer and that was again with ritual purity – that they need to have a red heifer that meets Jewish law and has been supervised and doesn't have any white hairs, able to be completely burned and the ashes mixed with running water and then used to make everybody ritually pure to be able to go into the temple.
Stahl: I mean, right now, Jewish people just going on the Temple Mount can create a riot sometimes. So can you envision a scenario where they would allow the temple to be built?
Healy: No. A lot of the scholars I've spoken to talk about how the building of this next temple is really going to bring peace to Israel and bring safety from all of her enemies. And so in that way, I can see that any, maybe, leader that would be raised up or somebody that would be able to bring the nations together, especially those who might align with Israel that there might be some agreement that a temple could exist there and this person could be set up in the temple.
What we know is that's probably going to be a false messiah because as we read in the Book of Daniel there's a false messiah that's going to make a peace agreement and so the potential is that something would be built before the false messiah set himself up.
Genesis 12:1-3: "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your family, and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless them who bless you, and curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.'"
Zechariah 12:2-3: "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling before all the surrounding nations. And when there is a siege against Judah, it is also against Jerusalem. And it will be on that day that I will set Jerusalem as a weighty stone to all the peoples. All who carry it will surely gash themselves, and all the nations of the land will be gathered against it."
1. It started last month when President Barack Obama spoke at the United Nations and addressed the United Nations for the last time as president and criticized Israel for its continued "occupation and settlement of Palestinian lands." He even went on to say that the Jewish state would be better off if it did not "permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land." He also said that Palestinians would be better off if they were to "reject incitement."
2. Then only five days later he President Obama calls Judea and Samaria "Palestinian," in a vast contradiction to International Law! "Surely Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel ... [and if] Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land," Obama said.
3. Then after the death of Shimon Perez, the White House amended its transcript of President Barack Obama's eulogy for Shimon Peres to remove "Israel" from the Jerusalem dateline. The White House sent reporters an amended the transcript that afternoon, "with a corrected header," about nine hours after the transcript was first mailed. Instead of simply removing the word "Israel," officials struck it through.
4. And now today we have a report that the White House has accused Israel of a betrayal of trust, in an unusually sharp rebuke over its plans to build hundreds of new settlement homes deep in the West Bank. Days after President Barack Obama approved a $38 billion Israeli military aid package and attended former president Shimon Peres's funeral in Jerusalem, the White House railed at the construction of 300 housing units on land "far closer to Jordan than Israel."
As this is being written, we have millions of residents on the East Coast being evacuated from the threat of Hurricane Matthew that has left Haiti in ruins and is predicted to cause billions of dollars in damage and areas of Tampa Bay may be left uninhabitable for weeks or months! Some reports are saying this hurricane could be worse than Hurricane Katrina that struck New Orleans in 2005. Also, on the West Coast experts are on edge as many are predicting a mega-quake could strike the San Andreas fault line after a recent earthquake swarm had taken place. The warning prompted a shutdown of city hall and residents to stock food, water and supplies.
3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!
Has God called you to be a leader? Ministry Today magazine is the source that Christian leaders who want to serve with passion and purpose turn to. Subscribe now and receive a free leadership book.
On October 31, spooky beings and superheroes, cartoon characters and rubberized celebrities will line the streets and mall hallways of America, anticipating sugary rewards. Compelled by shouts of "trick or treat," children of all ages will tote receptacles of various size and weight harboring the result of the night's hunt. It's called Halloween, and while for most it is a harmless annual activity, its roots run deep in ancient paganism.
All Hallows' Eve, or Halloween, originated in the 7th century AD. It was celebrated on May 13 and was a night for remembering deceased saints and martyrs. The date was later changed to November 1 in order to Christianize the pagan holidays Beltane and Samhain—festivals of summer, winter and fire.
James Frazer, in The Golden Bough, said, "throughout Europe, Hallowe'en, the night which marks the transition from autumn to winter, seems to have been of old the time of year when the souls of the departed revisited their homes in order to warm themselves by the fire." Such ghosts walked the countryside retrieving offerings of food and drink (the treat) supplied by living family members. Darker forces roamed the night as well. Demons, hobgoblins, witches on broomstick—all haunting the night with acts of mischief (the trick).
Real witches were also known to revel on Halloween night. According to Man, Myth & Magic, the witches of Aberdeen danced "round an old grey stone at the foot of the hill at Craigleuch, the Devil himself playing music before them." Modern witches and Wiccans practice similar skyclad (nude) Halloween traditions, calling on Earth spirits and goddesses to visit their knife drawn circles of power.
Meet the Original Halloween Witch—Hecate
In the upcoming book by me and Josh Peck Abaddon Ascending: The Ancient Conspiracy at the Center of CERN's Most Secretive Mission, we consider, among other topics, the goddess Hecate, the Titan Earth mother of the wizards and witches, who illustrates perhaps better than any other ancient goddess the connection between Wicca, the Celtic Halloween traditions and the realm of evil supernaturalism.
As the dark goddess of witchcraft, Hecate, like Isis, was worshiped with impure rites and magical incantations. Her name was probably derived from the ancient Egyptian word Heka, meaning "sorcery" or "magical," which may explain her association with the Egyptian frog goddess of the same name. This may also explain the affiliation of frogs with witchcraft, and the various potions of frog-wart and "hecateis," Hecate's hallucinogenic plant, also called Aconite, which supposedly sprouted from the spittle of Cerberus (Hade's three-headed guard dog) that fell to the ground when Hercules forced him to the surface of the Earth.
Because her devotees practiced such magic wherever three paths joined, Hecate was known by the Romans as Trivia ("tri"-three; and "via"-roads). Later, when the Latin church fathers compared the magic of the goddess Trivia with the power of the Gospel, they found it to be inferior, and thus the pursuit of Hecate's knowledge became known as "Trivial Pursuit," or inconsequential. But the fact that Hecate's followers sincerely believed in and feared her magic and presence was legendary. This was primarily due to her role as the sorceress of the afterlife, but true believers also feared Hecate's ability to afflict the mind with madness, as well as her influence over night creatures. She was thought to govern haunted places where evil or murderous activity had occurred. Such areas where violence or lechery had a history were believed to be magnets of malevolent spirits, something like "haunted houses," and if one wanted to get along with the resident apparitions they needed to make oblations to the ruler of the darkness—Hecate.
Hecate's familiar, the night owl, announced the acceptance of the oblations, and those who gathered on the eve of the full moon perceived the spooky sound of the creature as a good omen. Statues of the goddess bearing the triple-face of a dog, a snake, and a horse overshadowed the dark rituals when they were performed at the crossing of three roads. At midnight, Hecate's devotees left food offerings at the intersection for the goddess ("Hecate's Supper"), and, once deposited, quickly exited without turning around or looking back. Sometimes the offerings consisted of honey cakes and chicken hearts. At other time's puppies, honey and female black lambs were slaughtered for the goddess and her strigae.
The strigae were deformed and vicious owl-like affiliates of Hecate who flew through the night feeding on bodies of unattended babies. During the day the strigae appeared as simple old women, and such may account for the history of Halloween's flying witches. The same strigae hid amidst the leaves of the trees during the annual festival of Hecate, held on August 13, when Hecate's followers offered up the highest praise of the goddess. Hecate's devotees celebrated such festivals near Lake Averna in Campania where the sacred willow groves of the goddess stood, and they communed with the tree spirits—Earth spirits, including Hecate, were thought to inhabit trees—and summoned the souls of the dead from the mouths of nearby caves. It was here that Hecate was known as Hecate-Chthonia ("Hecate of the Earth"), a depiction in which she most clearly embodied the popular Earth-mother-spirit that conversed through the cave-stones and sacred willow trees.
Hecate was elsewhere known as Hecate-Propylaia, "the one before the gate," a role in which she guarded the entrances of homes and temples from nefarious outside evils (talk about Satan casting out Satan!). She was also known as Hecate-Propolos, "the one who leads," as in the underworld guide of Persephone and of those who inhabit graveyards. Finally, she was known as Hecate-Phosphoros, "the light bearer," her most sacred title and one that recalls another powerful underworld spirit, Satan, whose original name was Lucifer ("the light bearer"). It was nevertheless her role as the feminist Earth-goddess-spirit Hecate-Chthonia that popularized her divinity and commanded reverence from among the common people.
Modern Symbolism
The connection between ancient paganism and the modern customs and costumes of Halloween is easy to trace. The Hecatian myths adopted by Celtic occultists continue in pop culture, symbolism and tradition in the following ways:
People visiting neighborhood homes on Halloween night represent the dead in search of food (the treat).
Masks of devils and hobgoblins represent evil spirits seeking mischief (the trick).
Those who pass out candy represent the homes visited by the dead, or may also represent worried individuals seeking to appease Hecate and other nighttime terrors.
The Jack-O-Lantern (will-o-the-wisp, fox fire, fairy fire, etc.) is, according to some histories, a wandering soul stuck between heaven and hell. Others claim the Druids left Jack-O-Lanterns on doorsteps to ward off evil spirits. Another legend concerns a drunk named Jack who made a deal with the devil. Each claims to be the true origin of the Jack-O-Lantern myth.
Harmless Fun or Doorway to the Occult?
Not long ago some 300 exorcists flocked to Poland for a week-long congress to examine the current fashion for Halloween-themed monsters like werewolves and vampires the world-over, and the apparent connection between this fascination and a surge in demonic possession.
According to the Christian scholars I worked with when writing the book God's Ghostbusters (FREE WITH ANY DONATION IN OCTOBER), this reflected how the world is experiencing an explosion of ancient occultism combined with wicked fascination for ghosts and all things paranormal. In the United States alone, there are as many as 8 million practitioners of witchcraft. On college and high school campuses, vampires, werewolves, and other "creatures of the night" are esteemed as objects of desire and idolized by young men and women who view them as cult icons of envious mystical power. Almost daily we read how Satanism is spreading to public schoolyards and elementary after school clubs, [i] city council meetings are being opened with invocations to Satan, and even church goers are being enchanted by the darkness. An article by Russ Jones for OneNewsNow.com discusses "Mysticism Infecting Nazarene Beliefs" and another by the Telegraph describes how a "surge in Satanism" inside the church has sparked a "rise in demand for exorcists" within traditional religious settings.
And then there is the recent spate of killings and Zombie-like attacks on people and animals as well as by individuals claiming to be vampires and werewolves. The arrest of a Texas man who broke into a woman's house, threw her against a wall and tried to suck her blood is one example. Another case involved a Florida teenager who was later charged together with four other people of beating a 16-year-old boy to death. The teenage girl claims to be a vampire/werewolf hybrid and investigators acknowledge that she and the other suspects appear to be part of a vampire cult.
Rise in this activity is documented in the book God's Ghostbusters (Defender Publishing) which boasts a "who's who" of conservative scholars—including best-selling authors and Christian leaders like Chuck Missler, Gary Stearman, Noah Hutchings, Gary Bates, and John McTernan—who emphasize the need for Christian leaders to take a stand and to speak out on this issue, perhaps even using the month of October and the season of Halloween as opportunity to address congregations on the dangers of occult activity.
A new program joining the web-exclusive daily broadcasts at SkyWatchTV.com is called Teens Rock and will be hosted by the company's COO, Joe Ardis. Commenting on the occult dangers to youth in modern culture, he notes: "Psychologists have long understood how women in general desire strength in men, but few could have imagined how this natural and overriding need by young ladies would be used in modern times to seduce them of their innocence using mysteriously strong yet everlastingly damned creatures depicted in popular books and films like Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. Listing all of the related fan sites, music videos, magazines, television shows and movies currently dedicated to erotic obsession with alluring demons-in-flesh would be daunting. But these would have to include television shows like Being Human, The Gates, Underworld, The Vampire Diaries, and True Blood, not to mention the hedonistic gay-themed program The Lair, a series that plays nationwide on all major cable systems based on a vampire-run sex club."
Ardis further admonishes that, "If parents, pastors and youth pastors haven't been paying attention, they need to spend a little time looking into what their children are mentally and spiritually feeding on, because we are losing a generation to darkness. Consider as an example popular youth-oriented magazines like Rolling Stone and their article "The Joy of Vampire Sex." Look at the ménage à trois on the magazine's cover of three nudes bathed in blood with the promise to readers that vampires are 'Hot. They're Sexy. They're Undead.'"
Obviously for people like Ardis, this is a serious issue, but he acknowledges some will disagree and say that focusing on pop-culture memes as a sign of deeper, culturally relevant consequences is an over-assessment of the danger. The present captivation with dark supernaturalism by this generation will eventually fade, some might argue, so we should not worry, as the long-term effects of Harry Potter's witchcraft andTwilight's vampirism will be of no more significance in the years ahead than was the Cowboy and Indian games played by our grandparents.
But as a doctor of theology with a past in exorcism, I personally couldn't disagree more. Mass media, including the Internet, television, film, radio, and other communications systems, have traded Bela-Lugosi-like vampires of former years and silly Abbott and Costello's Frankensteins and Mummies, which could be vanquished with Christian symbols, for monsters of profound demonic character depicted as impervious to Christ's power. As a result, today's youth have exchanged yesterday's pigtails and pop-guns for pentagrams and blood covenants aligned with forces far stronger than former generations could have imagined.
It is no stretch to suggest this is one of the signs that this age is under demonic influence. If we could see through the veil into the supernatural realm, we would find a world alive with good against evil, a place where the ultimate prize is the soul of this generation and where legions war for control of its cities and people.
Whether the reader agrees completely with my assertion, with everything that is happening in culture today, Christian leaders should use the month of October and the season of Halloween to address these issues.
3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!
Has God called you to be a leader? Ministry Today magazine is the source that Christian leaders who want to serve with passion and purpose turn to. Subscribe now and receive a free leadership book.
