Friday, May 5, 2017

Casa Nova Church next to Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel (#4 of 4)


Casa Nova Church 
next to Church of the Nativity 
in Bethlehem, Israel 
Steve Martin
(#4 of 4)















Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel (3 of 4)


Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel 
Steve Martin
#3 of 4





Published on May 5, 2017
Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel (3 of 4)

May 5, 2017

Videos filmed and shared by Steve Martin - to give appreciation to and love for those we support, through Love For His People, Inc.

Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel (2 of 4)


Mass is being said at the altar where Jesus is said to have been born on the spot below it.

Videos filmed and shared by Steve Martin - to give appreciation to and love for those we support, through Love For His People, Inc.

Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel (1 of 4)


Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel 
Video by Steve Martin (1 of 4)
May 5, 2017

Videos filmed and shared by Steve Martin - to give appreciation to and love for those we support, through Love For His People, Inc.

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog - Confirmed: President will visit Israel, Saudi Arabia & the Vatican this month. Trip designed to reach out to Jews, Muslims & Christians, strengthen U.S. alliances, advance peace.

AirForceOne

New post on Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

Confirmed: President will visit Israel, Saudi Arabia & the Vatican this month. Trip designed to reach out to Jews, Muslims & Christians, strengthen U.S. alliances, advance peace.

by joelcrosenberg
(Central Israel) -- President Trump made it official yesterday: his first foreign trip will begin with stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican where he will meet with the Pope. From there, he will participate in a NATO Summit in Brussels, followed by the G-7 Summit in Sicily, Italy. He will depart the U.S. on May 19.
Mr. Trump made the announcement of his "historic" trip on an already big day. The House passed a bill to "repeal and replace" Obamacare after months of painstaking negotiations on Capitol Hill. It was also the National Day of Prayer. The President met with Evangelical leaders and signed an Executive Order advancing religious freedom.
The President's decision to visit Israel on his first foreign trip keeps a campaign pledge. It also further underscores the warm and close bonds this White House is intentionally building with the Israeli people and government, a sharp contrast to the last eight years. President Obama skipped Israel on his first visit to the Mideast in June of 2009.
I'm very encouraged that the President is coming here to the epicenter. He will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, visit key religious and historic sites, and outline his vision for peace. He may also meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, though that has not been confirmed. He just met with Abbas in Washington on Wednesday.
The decision to visit Rome -- and meet with the Pope -- will underscore the President's efforts to strengthen ties to Christian leaders. His emphasis, so far, has been with Evangelical leaders, many of whom helped him win the presidency.
The decision to visit Saudi Arabia first was dramatic for a leader who consistently attacks "radical Islamic terrorism" and called for a "Muslim ban" during his campaign.
But Mr. Trump has been intentionally -- and rightly -- reaching out to Arab Muslim leaders in recent months to forge a working alliance against Iran and ISIS. He recently met with the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince, along with Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi and Palestinian leaders.
“Saudi Arabia is the custodian of the two holiest sites in Islam, and it is there that we will begin to construct a new foundation of cooperation and support with our Muslim allies, to combat extremism, terrorism and violence,” Mr. Trump said, “and to embrace a more just and hopeful future for young Muslims in their countries."
"Our task is not to dictate to others how to live, but to build a coalition of friends and partners who share the goal of fighting terrorism and bringing safety, opportunity and stability to the war-ravaged Middle East,” he said.
“Tolerance is the cornerstone of peace,” Mr. Trump said at a ceremony at the White House, in which he said he would go to “Saudi Arabia, then Israel, and then to a place that my cardinals love very much, Rome.”
"The Saudi stop will consist of three meetings for Mr. Trump: one with the current monarch, King Salman; a gathering of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries; and a broader meeting with Arab and Muslim countries," reports the New York Times.
——————
———————
joelcrosenberg | May 5, 2017 at 4:33 am | Categories: Epicenter | URL: http://wp.me/piWZ7-7G6

The Best Thing That Trump Has Done So Far - Michael Snyder


Posted: 04 May 2017 Michael Snyder

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives finally approved a bill that would repeal and replace significant portions of the law that created Obamacare.  But it was a very close vote.  On Donald Trump’s 105th day in the White House, 217 members of the House voted in favor of the bill, and 213 members of the House voted against the bill.  Of course “Trumpcare” is far from perfect, and it actually does very little to fix our rapidly failing healthcare system, but the reason why this is the best thing that Trump has done so far is because this bill would greatly reduce federal funding for Planned Parenthood. 

But first this bill must get through the Senate before it can become law, and that is looking extremely doubtful at this point.  In fact, The Hill is reporting that one Republican Senator has said that this bill has less than a 20 percent chance of succeeding in the Senate…
A senior GOP senator said the chances of getting 51 votes for legislation based on the House healthcare bill are less than 1 in 5.
The senator also put the chances that the House bill will meet Senate budgetary rules preventing a filibuster at less than 1 in 5, meaning portions of the legislation would have to be removed.
Lawmakers are keeping quiet about their concerns because they want to help Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), whose job they fear may be in jeopardy if the House fails again to approve an ObamaCare repeal bill.
Yes, I know that Trump and the Republicans in the House were greatly celebrating on Thursday, but there really isn’t anything to celebrate yet.

The Senate is probably going to come up with an entirely different version of this legislation, and it is likely to look far different from the bill that just passed the House.

If a bill of some sort can actually get through the Senate, and that is a huge “if”, then an attempt would be made to reconcile the differences between the two bills, and then the final version would be submitted to both the House and the Senate for an up or down vote.
The problem is that the Senate is not going to pass anything like the version that the House just came up with, and conservatives in the House are likely to balk at anything that the Senate comes up with.

So please don’t think that an Obamacare repeal is a done deal.

The truth is that it probably is not going to happen any time soon.

But for the moment, I am going to applaud President Trump and House Republicans for doing something right.  I have been very tough on them in recent weeks, and rightly so, but when they do something good I am certainly going to give them the praise that they are due.
The bill that the House just passed would greatly reduce federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and that fact alone more than makes up for all of the other flaws in it.  The following comes from CNS News
The American Health Care Act—the Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill that the House of Representatives passed by a 217-to-213 vote this afternoon–will temporarily and significantly reduce, but not eliminate, federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
The bill will prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving funding through “mandatory” federal funding streams—primarily Medicaid—for exactly one calendar year after the president signs it.
But it does not prevent Planned Parenthood from getting “discretionary” funding through the Title X family planning program.
It is just for one year, which is far from ideal, but at least for 12 months Planned Parenthood would see their funding go down by hundreds of millions of dollars
The pro-life bill would eliminate more than $390 million (over 86%) of over $450 million in annual federal funding to Planned Parenthood, from all mandatory spending programs. The measure also redirects funding to community health centers which outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities 20 to 1 and offer a wider array of health care services, but not abortion.
Of course this is one of the provisions in the bill that some Republicans in the Senate want to eliminate.

It is extremely unlikely that any bill that even defunds Planned Parenthood in part will ever get through the Senate, but Trump should make an all-out effort to get this accomplished anyway.

And if Republican leadership can somehow get a bill through the Senate and signed into law that at least significantly reduces federal funding for Planned Parenthood, I will officially take back all of the negative things that I have said about the Republicans so far this year.
This week President Trump also signed a landmark executive order that does a great deal to protect religious liberty
The order, signed during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, directs the Internal Revenue Service to exercise “maximum enforcement discretion” over the so-called Johnson amendment, which prevents churches and other tax-exempt religious organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. The order also provides “regulatory relief” for organizations that object on religious grounds to a provision in Obamacare that mandates employers provide certain health services, including coverage for contraception.
All Americans, including Christians, should be free to express their political beliefs without fearing repercussions from the federal government.  The Johnson Amendment was probably always unconstitutional, and that is one of the reasons why it has never really been enforced.  Congress should go even farther and completely repeal it, and hopefully that will happen someday.

So once again I want to take this opportunity to applaud Trump for doing something right.  This is a good executive order, although it doesn’t quite go far enough.  A major war against people of faith is being waged by very powerful forces in this country, and I am thankful for a president that is at least trying to keep some of the heat off of our backs.

I tend to get criticized by both the pro-Trump and anti-Trump camps because I try to be objective.

When our politicians do things that are wrong, I am going to say that they are wrong.And when our politicians do things that are right, I am going to say that they are right.
We lose credibility when we act as cheerleaders for politicians that are “on our side” no matter what they say or do.

In our society today, there is a desperate need for people that are willing to think critically and that are willing to cling objectively to the truth.

Because once we let go of the truth we are all in trouble…

Celebrating God's faithfulness to His Word and to Israel - Jan Willem van der Hoeven ISRAEL TODAY

Celebrating God's faithfulness to His Word and to Israel

Friday, May 05, 2017 |  Jan Willem van der Hoeven  ISRAEL TODAY
The uniqueness of the miracle of Israel is that historically it is the only nation ever that was out of her land for 1,900 years and regained it. Against all historic odds, Israel was reborn in one day in May 1948!
During the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles, we will celebrate God’s faithfulness to His word and Israel commemorating the following milestones:
  • 120 YEARS SINCE FIRST ZIONIST CONGRESS 1897
  • 100 YEAR SINCE BALFOUR DECLARATION
  • 70 YEARS SINCE U.N. DECISION THAT LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE
  • 50 YEARS SINCE THE LIBERATION OF JERUSALEM – JUBILEE
And the Lord their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they are as the stones of a crown, sparkling in his land. Zechariah 9:17
The Israelis are turning the land into an oasis and those who have had the privilege to tour this land have seen with their own eyes that they are as stones of a crown sparkling in HIS land!
So, how do we side with God and Israel in 2017 to celebrate the historic milestones of His faithfulness? We desire to spend seven days of joy but also of prophetic purpose in Israel!
Our programme is filled with interaction with the Israeli’s to comfort them that God is with them and will never leave them. More than any other year we focus on the covenantal promise that God gave this land to Israel! We will visit some key places that are a testimony of the covenant and faithfulness of God.
Jan Willem van der Hoeven who is the founder of the ICEJ and ICZC, and has ministered in the Land of Israel for 44 years. To find out more about the ICZC Feast of Tabernacles, visit www.israelmybeloved.com
Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates

Netanyahu slams Abbas for lying to Trump's face - Israel Today

Netanyahu slams Abbas for lying to Trump's face

Friday, May 05, 2017 |  Israel Today Staff
Few were surprised that the first words out of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' mouth in his meeting with US President Donald Trump were bald-faced lies.
"Mr. President, I affirm to you that we are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace," Abbas claimed, as he and Trump tried to sleuth out what's holding up Mideast peace.
Abbas continued: "And we are endeavoring to bring about security, freedom and peace for our children to live like the other children in the world, along with the Israeli children in peace, freedom and security."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately hit back.
During a joint press conference with visiting Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, Netanyahu stated:
"I heard President Abbas yesterday say that the Palestinians teach their children peace. That’s unfortunately not true. They name their schools after mass murderers of Israelis and they pay terrorists."
Netanyahu was referring to the fact that Abbas' Palestinian Authority uses the massive amounts of foreign aid it receives to provide large stipends to Palestinian terrorists arrested by Israel. It also routinely names Palestinian schools, parks and summer camps after the most blood-soaked terrorists - those who have managed to kill the most Jews.
Netanyahu did not even get into what Palestinian children are taught in local schools, where teachers and textbooks refer to Jews as sub-human, blood-thirsty monsters. And the incitement is even worse on after-school programming on Palestinian Authority-controlled television.
It is a culture of death that Hamas, the largest party in the Palestinian parliament, has proudly admitted to.
"For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry," said Hamas parliamentarian Fathi Hammad. The Palestinians are "saying to the Zionist enemy: 'We desire death like you desire life.'"
Fortunately, there was some indication that Trump had not been taken in by Abbas' lies.
In his own remarks to the press, Trump said that for peace to move forward, the Palestinian leadership would have to cease the incitement against Israel and the Jews:
"...there cannot be lasting peace unless the Palestinian leaders speak in a unified voice against incitement to violate — and violence and hate.  There’s such hatred."
Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates