The Left Finds New Way to Bash Trump: His Connection With Pentecostals - STEVE STRANG CHARISMA MAGAZINE

Frank Amedia started POTUS Shield to defend Donald Trump spiritually. (POTUS Shield)

The Left Finds New Way to Bash Trump: His Connection With Pentecostals

 8/8/2017 STEVE STRANG  CHARISMA MAGAZINE

Pentecostal prophets predicted Donald Trump would win against all odds. Christian leaders have met with him many times, and he is open to their counsel and prayer. Recently, a photo of Christian leaders laying hands on Trump in the Oval Office went viral.

And the left is enraged. First, they don't understand it. Then, they find our doing spiritual warfare or binding and decreeing that America will turn to God to be somehow threatening.

This was the subject of a blog someone sent me that relates to an "in-depth" article by Peter Montgomery from Right Wing Watch (a project of People for the American Way, which is partly funded by business magnate and far-left political activist George Soros). Montgomery's article documents all the scary Pentecostals who want "dominion" over the earth and our country. It's actually well-researched, but it's as if he is presenting evidence to show why readers should be afraid of these people.

Frank Amedia, who is being attacked because of his POTUS Shield, thinks this is good. At least the left is taking us seriously instead of just ignoring the spiritual realm. I talked to Frank about this in a podcast you can hear below. We discuss what is happening spiritually and how the left is reacting. It's quite provocative.

I told Frank I hope my new book, God and Donald Trump, helps answer some of the questions the media seem to be asking about how this non-religious billionaire man of the world is associating and accepting prayer from crazy Pentecostals (whom the majority of Americans think are weird anyway.)

As someone who grew up Pentecostal, I understand the public consensus, and I've been subjected to some of the same ridicule. But as a believer, I also understand the spiritual realm and see how God is raising up prophets to speak to those in power.

In my book, I document four modern-day prophets who said Trump would win against all odds. Amedia was one of them. In addition, months before the election, he said on a secular talk show it would be an electoral landslide, and it was.

I'm sure those attacking us are people we would like if we were neighbors. But their worldview is diametrically opposed to ours, and they are vying for power in our culture and the government. Recently, that seems to have increased a lessening of our religious rights. As believers, we must speak up for righteousness in our nation.

These far-left people, most of whom are anti-Christian, have considered Christians in general and Pentecostals in particular to be of no consequence, so they ignore what we believe. They assumed we'd always stay within the four walls of the church so as to not disrupt their way of life. Now that God is raising up leaders to speak up outside the church, they don't know what to think. My guess is they will freak out and then decide it's of no consequence, and things for them will go back to normal.

One of my goals in writing God and Donald Trump was to bring a new angle into the discussion about the election. I want to present the idea that God in heaven may have answered the prayers of His people. Maybe it was His will for Trump to be elected. In the natural, that is hard to believe. But maybe some eyes will be opened to the fact that God reigns supreme over the affairs of men and that His will is revealed in the Word of God. The book comes out Nov. 7, and you can pre-order a copy from Barnes & Noble, ChristianBook.com or Amazon.

As always, share this with friends and leave your comments below.

The Attack on POTUS Shield

Why are the media bashing President Trump and his association with Pentecostal leaders? Frank Amedia returns to the show to discuss the issues surrounding this attack and what you can do to stand up against it. Listen now.

Steve Strang is the founder of Charisma Media and President of Christian Life Missions. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Click here to subscribe to the Strang Report podcast, and here to sign up for the Strang Report newsletter.

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Keep An Eye on Israel ✡ "It Is A Land Which Hashem Your God Looks After" - Israel365

It is a land which Hashem Your God looks after, on which Hashem your God always keeps His eye, from year’s beginning to year’s end. Deuteronomy 11:12 (The Israel Bible™)   אֶרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ דֹּרֵשׁ אֹתָהּ תָּמִיד עֵינֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בָּהּ מֵרֵשִׁית הַשָּׁנָה וְעַד אַחֲרִית שָׁנָה דברים יא:יב E-retz a-sher a-do-NAI e-lo-HE-kha do-RAYSH o-TAH ta-MEED ay-NAY a-do-NAI e-lo-HE-kha BA may-ray-SHEET ha-sha-NAH v’-AD a-kha-REET sha-NAH

Today's Israel Inspiration This is the only time the Bible tells us how Hashem “spends His time.” From the beginning of the year until the end, it says, the Creator of the universe focuses “His eyes” and attention on Israel. If we combine this idea with that mentioned in verse 22 instructing us to walk in Hashem’s ways and hold fast to Him, we must likewise keep our eyes focused on Eretz Yisrael “from year’s beginning to year’s end.”  Now you too can keep your eye on Israel by ordering our new, gorgeous Israel365 calendar which includes 16 full size and color photos of the Land of Israel. Order your calendar now » Israel From the Air Will Take Your Breath Away Experience Israel from above. Visit the Holy Land from the birds perspective. Jerusalem, Jaffa, the Dead Sea, Latrun, Acre, the Sea of Galilee, the holy Western Wall and plenty more beautiful locations in Israel are waiting for you.   Enjoy » Reviving Ancient Rituals For the first time in 2,000 years, a group of Kohanim (men of the Jewish priestly caste)  are studying the Jewish laws to be able to ascend the Temple Mount and enter the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence is said to dwell.   Read more » Hold the Bible in the Palm of Your Hand In the incredible Nano Bible, the spirit and technology of Israel have come together to produce the world’s smallest bible, printed onto a single 5mm x 5mm surface, and set into a beautiful piece of silver jewelry so that you can take the Bible with you wherever you go.   Shop Now- Save 12% » Plant a tree in Israel to complement your prayers and support for Israel and her inhabitants.   PLANT NOW » Today's Israel Photo This awesome photograph of three IAF planes flying over the Land of Israel is featured in our brand new 2017/2018 calendar! ; If you enjoy your Israel365 daily email newsletter, please consider donating to one of our causes or buying products from our store and blessing the Land and the People of Israel.   Thank You to our Israel365 Store Customers "Todah Rabbah" to Maxwell L. from Malaysia; Linda G. from California; Robin W. from Colorado; Kathy B. from Idaho. Shop the Israel365 Store »  Thank You to our latest Tree Donors "Todah Rabbah" to Maria Yvonne T. from New York; Joshua S. from Alaska; Rose T. from Washington; Mary D. from California. Plant Vineyards in Samaria »   Thank You to Our Holocaust Campaign Donors "Todah Rabbah" to Rachel F. from Texas; Sue B. from New Zealand; Sarah H. from Missouri; Earlese M. from Switzerland. Donate to Holocaust Survivors Now »  Thank You Please help us continue to spread the beauty and significance of the Land of Israel!   Sponsor a day in honor of a loved one » “We Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” It’s great to hear from you and make new friends from all over the world. Please send me an email and let me know how you are enjoying Israel365 (don’t forget to say where you are from!).   Stay in Touch » I am 80 year old retired worshipper of the God of the Bible. And we pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. We are unable to do more than pray for you and feel and share in your sorrow. We love the Jew; the seed of Abraham. We are sorry for the senseless suffering of former years, and of the present. May God give you His Peace! Frank and Martha Huston and our congregation of Evangelical Believers. God bless Eretz Israel. --Frank Huston Shalom, Rabbi Tuly Weisz RabbiTuly@Israel365.com

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Christian Country Star Glen Campbell Dead at 81 - JESSILYN JUSTICE CHARISMA NEWS

Glen Campbell sings "Rhinestone Cowboy" during his tribute at the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California. (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo)

Christian Country Star Glen Campbell Dead at 81

 8/8/2017 JESSILYN JUSTICE  CHARISMA NEWS

Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

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Famed country music star and renowned Christian Glen Campbell died Tuesday. He was 81.

The "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Wichita Lineman," singer suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for several years before passing away at an Alzheimer's facility in Nashville, surrounded by his family.

"It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather and legendary singer and guitarist, Glen Travis Campbell, at the age of 81, following his long and courageous battle with Alzheimer's disease," according to a family statement.

Campbell was a musical legacy who impacted multiple genres.

According to Rolling Stone:

In his youth, Campbell started playing guitar and became obsessed with jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. He dropped out of school when he was 14 and moved to Wyoming with an uncle who was a musician, playing gigs together at rural bars. He soon moved to Los Angeles and by 1962 had solidified a spot in the Wrecking Crew, a group of session pros. In 1963 alone he appeared on 586 cuts, and countless more throughout the decade, including the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man," Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas," Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling."  ...

Campbell was married four times, and has five sons and three daughters. Despite his career successes, he struggled with alcoholism and cocaine addiction. In the early '80s, he had a tempestuous, high-profile relationship with country singer Tanya Tucker, who was 22 years his junior. In 1981, he became a born-again Christian, and in 1982, he married Kimberly Woollen, a Radio City Music Hall Rockette, who helped Campbell clean up his life.

He eventually turned to hymns.

"I love singing gospel music and hymns. Being a Christian, I love to tell people about Christ and what he's done for me and can do for them," Campbell said in 1990.

But he still struggled with the party scene that came with musical fame. He says he was a raging cocaine addict before his faith rescued him.

He told Guideposts: 

I had promised Kim that cocaine would not be part of our marriage. I tried and prayed, but I didn't keep that promise. One night shortly after our first child, Cal, was born, some musician friends were in town, and I stayed up till dawn doing cocaine with them.

When I got home Kim was heartbroken and furious, and I was afraid she was going to take Cal and leave. I can't say I would have blamed her but I think it would have torn my heart out.

As I had done so many times before, I begged the Lord to deliver me. I don't understand why, but that day it was as if Jesus reached down and pulled my hand back from the cocaine. I never touched the drug again.

But he still struggled with alcohol.

He told the magazine: 

I used to argue with my pastor about how much wine they drank in the Bible. "Jesus turned water into wine," I'd remind him. He'd look at me, shake his head and say, "Glen, when you can change water into wine, then maybe you can drink it." ...

When God lifted my obsession for alcohol it was as if he raised the curtain on a whole new life. He changed me in ways I never could have changed myself, and that is the key. Kim and I have a real marriage now, an honest marriage.

Today I truly have a peace "which passeth all understanding." I really don't understand it. But I thank the Lord all the time. I am a man richly blessed, despite myself. For all that God has given me, there is nothing for which I am more thankful than Kim.

Campbell is survived by his wife, Kim Campbell of Nashville, Tennessee; their three children, Cal, Shannon and Ashley; his children from previous marriages, Debby, Kelli, Travis, Kane and Dillon; 10 grandchildren, great- and great-great-grandchildren; sisters Barbara, Sandra and Jane; and brothers John Wallace "Shorty" and Gerald.

Jessilyn Justice is the director of online news for Charisma. Born and raised in a pastor's family in Alabama, she attended Lee University and the Washington Journalism Center. She's passionate about sharing God's goodness through storytelling. Tell her what you think of this story on Twitter @jessilynjustice.

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Israel and the Nations: A Theological Opinion, Part 2 - Ron Cantor Messiah's Mandate

Israel and the Nations: 

A Theological Opinion, Part 2

Ron Cantor —  August 8, 2017 

Part 1

Continuing with our series on Israel and the nations, I want to move to our second statement.

Gentile simply means a member of the nations. When a member of the nations comes to faith, he does not become Jewish. He continues to be a member of his or her nation, but has complete access to all the heavenly benefits found in Yeshua.

What is the ecclesia?

I have heard many believers say that now that they believe in Yeshua, they are Jewish. However, I do not think that this is what Scripture teaches. This is the beautiful mystery of the New Testament Ecclesia (often translated church). I don’t like to use the word church for two reasons:

1. The English translation of the Greek Ecclesia is not church, but assembly. It is simply a mistranslation. (see video on the subject here)
2. In our modern culture, the word church tends to speak of something completely non-Jewish (with steeples, etc.), while the one new man (Eph. 2:15) is made up of both Jews and the nations.

It is important to note that when Paul uses the term ecclesia, it is not anecclesia, but the ecclesia. Ecclesia was a common word in his culture, but he ‘branded’ it for something specific. For example, in Richmond where I grew up, we have the Coliseum. In Rome, there was the ancient Colosseum. However, the word coliseum simply means “a large theatre or stadium,” from the word ‘colossal.’ Both in Rome and in Richmond, they took a common noun and made it a proper noun. If I have tickets to a concert in Richmond, I say, “I am going to the Coliseum,” not “I am going to a coliseum.”

One New Man

So Paul is saying there is a new thing, called The Assembly or Gathering. And this Gathering is different in so many ways. It is unique in that it is NEW and it is a UNITED assembly of Jews and Gentiles.

In Ephesians 3, Paul uses the word mystery four times to describe God’s marvelous plan for the nations. He says that this revelation, that has now been revealed to God’s holy apostles and prophets, was a secret in times past.

“The mystery is that, through the Gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Messiah Yeshua.  Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Messiah, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.”  (Eph. 3:6, 8-9)

First, we see that non-Jewish believers become heirs with Israel, not in place of Israel. Second, despite our unique callings, we are one body. Third, Gentiles share in the promise in Messiah—there is equal access to “the boundless riches of Messiah.”

What was the mystery?

He created…

“in Himself one new man from the two [Jews and Gentile], thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.  And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” (Eph. 2:15-18)

So God has created a new thing—the Assembly—comprised of Jews and Gentiles. In the Assembly, both groups are reconciled to God and both have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit. There is no hierarchy. Yes, there is leadership (Eph. 4:11ff), but there is no inherent status based on ethnicity or gender or race. All have equal standing in the Assembly, but not the same calling.

Is there Jewish calling?

As stated before, men are still men and women are still women. No one argues that. But when it comes to Jews and Gentiles, it gets a little stickier. For those believers of Jewish background that maintain there is a calling connected to that, it could be an offense to those who feel that we are saying that Jewish status is better status (which we are not saying!). Still, Paul maintains that the unique calling on Israel remains. Romans 11:29 he says this calling it “irrevocable.” In Acts 13:47 he sees the calling on Jewish believers to be connected to Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6, to “be a light for the nations.”

What is a Gentile?

The question is, are Jews still Jews and Gentiles still ethnically Gentile in the New Covenant? Before I answer that, it is important to note that the word Gentile (in Hebraic thought) can have two meanings. The positive meaning is simply a member of the nations. The negative meaning is heathen or pagan—someone outside of God’s covenant. In the context of Ephesians, Paul uses both meanings.

So, the same Paul can say both, “You who were formally called Gentiles,” when referring to the negative usage. And “I am writing to you Gentiles,” (Rom. 11:13) when using it in a positive way.

He makes an amazing statement regarding access to the Gentiles in chapter three:

“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Messiah Yeshua.”

If Paul’s intent was that the Gentiles who come to Yeshua are now Jewish, then that would not be a mystery. At the time, there were a myriad of Gentiles throughout the Roman world that attended synagogue and many went through a formal conversion to Judaism. The mystery of the New Covenant, about which Paul is so excited, is that in Yeshua, there is no need for conversion to Judaism, but merely conversion from death to life.

“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” (Col. 1:13)

Is there anywhere in the New Testament where Paul specifically refers to a Gentile believer as a Jew? No. And yet, before going into the Temple, he circumcises Timothy (who was Jewish through his mother, but not raised as a Jew). He doesn’t circumcise Titus. Why? Because he is not ethnically Jewish.

One in Messiah

Clearly, the Jews are still Jews as shown in part one of this series. The mystery is that in Yeshua, Jews are still Jews and Gentiles are still Gentiles (or Greeks are still Greeks, and Brazilians are still Brazilians, etc.). And yet, our oneness in Messiah is so awesome, that we can say when it comes to access to God, there are no Jews or Gentiles, male or female, slave or free…we are one in Messiah.

Paul was not ethnically Roman, but he did enjoy all the benefits of being a Roman citizen. That is the mystery of the Gospel of which Paul speaks in Ephesians three, that believers from other nations become “co-heirs” and “members of God’s household” without becoming ethnic Jews. Believers from the nations enjoy all the benefits of citizenship in God’s household, just as if they were ethnically Jewish, though they are not. That is good news! And the truth is, being a new creation is far higher than being ethnically Jewish.

That is Paul’s meaning in Romans 2:28-29, when he says:

“A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.”

This is hyperbolic speech. Like when Yeshua said to hate your family or cut off your hand. It wasn’t literal, but because it is the word of God, we struggle with hyperbole. Paul isn’t saying that ethnic Jews are not Jews. He is saying the one who truly pleases God is the one born again—with the circumcision of the heart.

Value in Circumcision

How do we know this? Because, in the very next verse, Paul asks, “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way!” Circumcision through the Abrahamic covenant ties the Jewish people to the land of Israel. Non-Jews were not part of the physical Abrahamic covenant, but can be part of the greaterAbrahamic covenant through Yeshua. But the New Testament does not cancel the physical Abrahamic covenant—which never promised eternal life. The land of Israel and many blessings? Yes. But eternal life is only through Yeshua.

This is why Paul was going nuts when Gentiles were being taught that they had to be circumcised in order to be saved. He is shouting in Galatians that there is no greater benefit than salvation and salvation is free. There is no higher status than “born-again”.

Lastly, if all Gentiles are suddenly Jews when they get born-again, who are the members of the great multitude in heaven?

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.” (Rev. 7:9)

The great Assembly of God, the One-New-Man, the Household of God, that great Olive Tree, is made up of regenerated Jews and regenerated members of the nations.