Saturday, November 11, 2017

Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos And Warren Buffett Have More Money Than The Poorest 50% Of The U.S. Population Combined Posted: 09 Nov 2017 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos And Warren Buffett Have More Money Than The Poorest 50% Of The U.S. Population Combined

Posted: 09 Nov 2017 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

The problem is not that we have a few people that are rich – the problem is that we have so many that are poor. As you will see below, three extremely wealthy individuals have as much money as the poorest half of the nation combined. In a free market capitalist society, there are always going to be some that do better than others, and there is nothing wrong with that. But in our society today, there are so few that are doing well. At this point a majority of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and “one in five households have zero or negative net worth”…

In the United States, the 400 richest individuals now own more wealth than the bottom 64 percent of the population and the three richest own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent, while pervasive poverty means one in five households have zero or negative net worth.
Those are just several of the striking findings of Billionaire Bonanza 2017, a new report (pdf) published Wednesday by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) that explores in detail the speed with which the U.S. is becoming “a hereditary aristocracy of wealth and power.”

That means that if you have no debt and a single dime in your pockets, you have more wealth than one-fifth of the entire country.

Okay, so let’s talk about the three men that have more wealth than the poorest 50 percent of the U.S. population combined. Those three men are Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, and Warren Buffett. I don’t want to take anything away from what those three Have accomplished, because we need more risk takers and entrepreneurs.

Sadly, the level of small business creation has fallen in every presidential administration going all the way back to George H.W. Bush, and the percentage of Americans that are self-employed is hovering near all-time record lows.

As a nation, we desperately need to return to a culture that encourages free market capitalist thinking. We want young men and women to create, invent, innovate and start new ventures. But instead, today our culture encourages young people to become dependent on the government and on the big corporations, and as a result the middle class is evaporating.
As I discussed above, at this point 20 percent of all U.S. households have “either zero or negative wealth”…

The rise at the wealthiest end of society comes as one in five US households live in what the report’s authors call the “underwater nation”, with either zero or negative wealth. Inequality is even more stark among minorities. Three in 10 black households and 27% of Latino ones have zero or negative wealth, compared with 14% of white families.

In recent years, unprecedented intervention by global central banks has created an absolutely enormous stock market bubble, but the real economy has continued to struggle.
Just look at what is happening to Sears. This week they announced that they lost between $525 million and $595 million during the 3rd quarter of 2017.

How in the world do you do that?

If they had their employees doing nothing all day but flushing one dollar bills down the toilet, I still don’t think that they could lose that much money in three months.
Sears is going to sell 140 stores in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, but many believe that this is simply delaying the inevitable. In fact, one prominent analyst named Bill Dreher believes that Sears will never be profitable again…

One Wall Street analyst is beginning to doubt whether Sears Holdings will ever be profitable again, as the 124-year-old retailer struggles for liquidity and same-store sales evaporate.
“Sears’ operational performance is clearly NOT improving, and we grow increasingly concerned whether the company will ever return to profitability,” wrote Susquehanna analyst Bill Dreher in a note to clients Wednesday. “Further highlighting the company’s weakened position is the reality that manufacturers are increasingly demanding tighter payment and/or withholding products.”

Once upon a time, Sears was the number one shopping destination for the middle class.
But like the middle class in America, the best days for Sears are now long gone.

If we want to restore our economy to greatness, we need a vibrant middle class.

And in order to have a vibrant middle class, we need to have a system that encourages entrepreneurs and small businesses. Free markets work if you allow them to, but unfortunately today we are strangling our entrepreneurs and small businesses with rules, regulations, red tape and oppressive levels of taxation, and until we change our ways we are going to continue to get the same very poor results.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

The Dead-Jew Industry - Tsvi Sadan ISRAEL TODAY

The Dead-Jew Industry

Friday, November 10, 2017 | Tsvi Sadan ISRAEL TODAY

Murdering Israeli Jews has become a lucrative career for Palestinian Arabs, and Israel is doing too little to deter it.

The full article appears in the November 2017 issue of Israel Today Magazine.
CLICK HERE to read it all

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates

Friday, November 10, 2017

Jerusalem & Friends - "Dov and the Children" - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Jerusalem & Friends

-Dov and the Children

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

"The coastlands are putting their hope in me, with the ‘Tarshish’ ships in the lead, to bring your children from far away, and with them their silver and gold, for the sake of Adonai your God,

the Holy One of Isra’el, who glorifies you. Foreigners will rebuild your walls, their kings will be at your service; (Isaiah 60:9-10, Complete Jewish Bible)

Brad made aliyah to Israel years ago from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the USA. Then he became Dov Ben Zion. It is quite common for names to be changed once Jews return. Their new identity on the outside speaks of the glorious desire within, to build afresh in their Promised Land.

When my son Ben and I went to Jerusalem in October of 2010, Dov was very kind to allow us to stay in his Jerusalem office, a converted apartment in Israel's capital city’s southeastern neighborhood of Talpiot. In 1922 Zionist pioneers had established this area (Hebrew meaning “magnificently built”).

Now, situated just off Hevron (Hebron) Road on the way towards Bet Lehem (Bethlehem), this particular residential area, was well, not so much magnificent. These apartment buildings were built by the Israeli government to house the immense flow of new immigrants coming home to the Land decades ago. But by the early 2000s, they had lost their luster, deteriorated a bit, and now housed many of the lower income segment of the expanding city’s population. Many Jews from Ethiopia and other such nations occupied the 3-4 rows of buildings, each one having three stories.

Once inside this home for a week, I, being the father, took the mattress laid out in the “private” back room floor for my bed. Ben got the main room’s couch, almost long enough to fully stretch out his legs at night. But hey, when we go to Jerusalem, we always enjoy staying with friends, and we don’t make a big deal over the accommodations. (Other places have full-size beds and more!)

Dov’s work was primarily among these, the poorer members of the population, who didn’t have much at all. But at least they had come home. Many of the school kids who lived here, along with their teachers. Many also received some sort of assistance through his work among them.

Having barely enough means to basically just cover the monthly rent and buy food, even if only for supper, they appreciated the extra help he was able to give them. Dov’s funds came from abroad, from Christians who supported Israel.

Visiting the nearby early childhood schools one day, which we too had helped support through Love For His People, was a real joy. By sending prior money to buy essentials not covered by the funds given them from government and private means, blessing these kids and their teachers helped make our debt to Israel decrease. (After all, it was the Jewish people from whom the Bible, prophets, and Messiah have come through to us. We owe a lot to them!) With so much having to be spent on defending their borders, the government’s supply line was limited for education at this level. We were glad to help.

Though we couldn’t speak Hebrew, Ben and I sat with these on the playground and colored with them, even with our white skin. They accepted us. It didn’t matter to them where we were from. They just enjoyed having “big friends” who came and gave them this time to be with them, and a smile too to go with it.

Meetings the teachers, those who also give so much of themselves, even by their own means, as do many loving educators, enlarged our hearts for future gifts for their work. We know we have been called to lift up their hands, and encourage others to do the same.

I end this message with the words of our Lord, “Yeshua called the children to him and said, “Let the children come to me, and stop hindering them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Yes! I tell you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it at all!” (Luke 18:16-17, Complete Jewish Bible)

Bless the children Lord, and may we also be Your hands and feet to do just that.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$50 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to:

Love For His People, Inc.

P.O. Box 414

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn. We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 11.10.17 - #330 – “Jerusalem & Friends – Dov and the Children” Friday, 11:30 am

10 Attributes of the Fast-Approaching Jesus Reformation - JOSEPH MATTERA CHARISMA NEWS

The new Jesus Reformation will convey simplicity and generosity. (Pixabay/Public Domain)

The past several decades, more believers are embracing a Christ-focused faith (or a Christological theology). I am referring to coming back to the New Testament focus of allowing Jesus Christ to be our center, our life, and our hermeneutic for interpreting the Scriptures.

According to Ephesians 1: 9-11, this Christological focus, experience and paradigm are going to get stronger as we get closer to the consummation of human history. This passage refers to the fact that in the fullness of the times God is going to unite all things (both in heaven and on earth) in Christ. Furthermore, it says God will providentially cause all macro trends to gravitate toward Messiah, because He works all things according to the counsel of His will.

Since the Scripture (John 1: 4,5) teaches that in Him (Jesus) is life and that life is the light of the world (life and light for both Christian and non-Christian) God is merely bringing all cultures back to Himself, as His intent all along was to reconcile all things back to Christ by the blood of His cross (Col. 1:20). I am seeing more and more young believers and leaders embracing this paradigm, which will eventuate in a "Jesus Reformation".

Many are jettisoning alternate focuses in the church such as prosperity, self-fulfillment, and other emphasis since they have come to realize by His grace that only Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (truly believers are lost and hidden with Christ in God and it has pleased the father that in Jesus all fullness should dwell (Col. 1:19).

Scripture also tells us that Jesus holds the universe together with the word of His power (Heb. 1:3) and that in Him all things consist (Col. 1:16-17). The intent of the triune God in creation was that Jesus would have the preeminence in all things (Col 1:16-20). Furthermore, Jesus said that all things spoken in the Law, the prophets and the Psalms (the three Hebrew components of the Old Testament called the Tanakh) pointed to Him (this means that the ultimate goal of all biblical interpretation is Christological and/or has its full meaning explained in Jesus).

I myself have had three distinct conversion experiences since 1978:

– In 1978, I was converted to the gospel of individual salvation

– In 1995, I was converted to the gospel of the kingdom of God (the present rule of Christ in the universe)

– In the past decade, I have been converted gradually to a high Christology that has transformed every aspect of my life, ministry and focus

My experience is not unique as God is doing the same thing globally in the church as He continues to reform His church.

Every prior reformation has prepared the bride of Christ for the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is the ultimate union of the church in Him (Rev. 19).

The Birth of the Protestant Reformation

Although there were always revivals and reformations in both the East and the Western branch of the Catholic church, after the printing press was invented in 1517, a macro Reformation exploded on the scene. This was because the Bible was now in the hands of the common people for the first time (instead of just the religious priestly class and the cultural elite). Hence, a move towards elevating the teachings of the Bible above church canons and ecclesial traditions caused a restoration of seminal biblical teachings found in the New Testament. Teachings such as justification by faith alone and salvation by grace alone.

As well as further illuminations that led to the formation of Protestant denominations such as the Reformed, Lutheran, Anglican, Ana-Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal and more (there are presently more than 30,000 denominations of Christianity in the world). However, the restoration of any true biblical teaching should eventuate in a high Christology or a Jesus-focused life, faith and church.

The following are 10 attributes of the emerging Jesus Reformation

1. A Christ-focused hermeneutic

That is to say, the science of interpreting Scripture by first uncovering the author's original intent, locating prior mention of the theme to build a proper foundation for understanding (antecedent use of the theme) ultimately leading to discovering how the narrative or doctrine foreshadows the Messiah (of course much more is involved in biblical hermeneutics).

2. Christ-focused preaching

Along with a Christ-focused hermeneutic (interpretation) should be preaching with a goal to exalt the lordship and glory of Christ. This will necessitate a shift away from using Bible study and preaching merely for self-fulfillment, motivational sermonettes and a distorted, myopic prosperity gospel.

3. A greater appreciation for the true church

With a Christ-centered approach to life, we realize that all believers together comprise His body and become His bride—that is to say we cannot separate Christ from His body, since He is the head and the church is the neck down (Eph. 1:22,23, 1 Cor. 12).

When John wanted to see Jesus, he saw the seven golden lampstands (the church) before he saw the Lord in the midst of His church (Rev. 1:12-13). That is to say—the church is the invisible manifestation of the invisible Christ.

4. A greater understanding of fulfillment in Him

Scripture teaches that believers are complete in Him who is the head of all principalities and powers (Col. 2:8-10). A greater illumination of this truth in the Jesus Reformation will cause a shift away from religious striving for accomplishment and an entering to His rest for inner satisfaction and contentment (Heb. 4:7-11).

5. A loss of religious performance and politics

The more Jesus is the center of the church the more faith becomes a way of life (John 14: 6), instead of a religious performance to ascend the heights of the institutional hierarchy.

6. A desire for living in simplicity

The self-focused prosperity message replete with opulent living and excess will be jettisoned in favor of a life content in Him. Once a person experiences the fullness of Christ they will be more fascinated with Jesus than anything else—hence the need for a lavish lifestyle to appease the flesh will be crucified in Him (Rom. 6:1-8).

7. An explosion of generosity

When Jesus is the center of the church, then the realization comes that He owns everything in the world and believers are merely His treasurers and stewards. This will lead to living a life obedient to the Lord regarding generosity and investing more financially in His kingdom.

8. A desire to live a supernatural life of faith

When the church abides in Him, they will bear much fruit and do great works for Him (John 15:1-7; 14:12). This will lead to living a life dependent upon Jesus as the author of our faith (Heb. 12:1, 2) resulting in seeing His mighty hand operate as part of our daily walk—both in the church and marketplace (almost all the miracles in the Bible took place outside of a religious edifice).

9. A desire to empower others

Jesus invested the bulk of His time and focus pouring into and forming His followers (Mark 3:12-14; Luke 9:1, 2; 10:1, 2). He commanded us to focus on doing the same (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Tim. 2:2). Consequently, with the emergence of the Jesus Reformation will come a renaissance in the church of disciple making. This will cause the church to shift away from the shallow church growth, concert-based and performance-based methodologies in favor of a transformational model based on conformity to the image of Christ.

Indeed—conformity to Christ is the primary reason He saved us (Rom. 8:29, 30). Instead of church teaching and membership being a "mile long and an inch deep"—levels of teaching with a goal to mature believers in Christ will be the new normal (Col. 1:21-23). A celebration of inner virtue, humility, brokenness and Christlikeness will eventually transcend shallow gospel preaching and church practice.

10. A celebration of servanthood instead of entitlement

Jesus said He did not come to be served but to serve and give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28).

A Jesus Reformation will shatter the present focus on ecclesial and religious politics that breed entitlement among institutional and church-based leadership. This new reformation will cause the church to understand the privilege of laying down our life for the good of others. It will replace the prevalent man-pleasing, performance-based Christianity with a Christlike attitude of washing the feet of others for His glory.

Dr. Joseph Mattera is an internationally known author, interpreter of culture and activist/theologian whose mission is to influence leaders who influence nations. He is renowned for addressing current events through the lense of Scripture by applying biblical truths and offering cogent defenses to today's postmodern culture. He leads several organizations, including The United Coalition of Apostolic Leaders (uscal.us). He also has a blog on Charisma News called "The Pulse." To order one of his books or to subscribe to his weekly newsletter go to josephmattera.org.

Charisma Readers save 50% OFF these select Bibles plus FREE SHIPPING plus a Special Bonus for a limited time! Show me the Bibles on sale!

Christmas is coming soon. Get a jump start with these great Spirit-filled bundles. Save up to 70% plus FREE Shipping! Life in the Spirit Gift Boxes, Special Book Bundles, and Christmas Gift Bundles.

Shabbat Shalom! We bless Israel!

Shabbat Shalom!

We bless Israel!

Steve & Laurie Martin

Love For His People

Charlotte, North Carolina

USA

The Dow Falls By Triple Digits As Anxiety Over The Senate Tax Plan Grows - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

The Dow Falls By Triple Digits As Anxiety Over The Senate Tax Plan Grows

Posted: 09 Nov 2017 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

It is becoming quite clear that even if Congress passes a tax reform bill in 2017 that it won’t actually be that significant. On Thursday, anxiety about the Senate’s version of the bill pushed the Dow down more than a hundred points, and that was the biggest decline that we have seen in two months.

Could it be possible that the massive stock market bubble that we are currently witnessing is about to burst? Anticipation of what this tax bill would mean for U.S. companies has been the foundation for so much of the euphoria that was have seen on Wall Street this year, and now reality is starting to set in…

The Dow suffered its biggest drop since early September as investors reacted to reports that the Senate’s tax proposal would delay tax cuts for corporations for year, a development that pushes back a key part of the plan Wall Street was betting on to provide a boost to corporate profitability.

Reducing our corporate tax rate is very important, because right now we are not competitive with the rest of the western world. Almost every other major industrialized nation has a much lower corporate tax rate than us, and that encourages major corporations to locate operations elsewhere.

So if we are able to reduce the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, that is likely going to mean good things for the U.S. economy and more jobs for U.S. workers, but unfortunately the Senate version of the bill would delay that tax cut until 2019…

The top corporate rate would drop from 35% to 20% in 2019, a year later than it would in a revised bill approved Thursday by the House Ways and Means Committee. That change, which reduces the overall cost of the tax cut package, delays one of President Trump’s main priorities for overhauling the tax code, but administration officials did not seem concerned during a brief appearance with Hatch on Thursday afternoon.

And then if the Democrats take back control of the White House in 2020, they would probably jack corporate tax rates back up to where they were before, and so in the end the change would not make much of an impact at all.

Other than reducing the corporate tax rate, the Senate version of the “tax reform bill” does not actually accomplish that much. The following comes from Zero Hege, and it is a good summary of what is contained in the bill…

20% permanent corporate tax cut delayed by 1 year
Complies with the $1.5 trillion cost (will cost $1.44 trillion)
Preserves 7 tax brackets: top tax bracket is 38.5%, down from 39.6%
Doubles standard deduction from $12,700 to $24,000 (married couples)
Ends state and local tax (SALT) deduction; keeps business deduction
Keeps the mortgage Interest deduction cap at $1 million
Preserve the estate tax, doubling the current $5.49 million exemption for individuals
Raises the child tax credit to $1,650 from $1,000
Sets 10% tax rate for US companies with IP in foreign low-tax jurisdictions
Full expensing of capital investments for five years
Preserves 401(k)s IRAs,
Sets repatriation rate at 12% for liquid assets, 5% for illiquid assets
Carried interest loophole unchanged
Electric Vehicle tax credit is spared (good news for Elon Musk)

This bill also repeals the alternative minimum tax, and that is a change that has been needed for ages.

But overall, our members of Congress are simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
We have the most abominable system of taxation on the entire planet. I once spent an entire year studying our tax code, and at the end of that year I came to the conclusion that the best thing that we could do would be to throw the entire thing in a shredder and start over.

Today, the tax code is more than two million words long, and the regulations are more than seven million words long. I used to have to lug these books to class with me, and that was not pleasant. Our system greatly favors the wealthy, because they can hire lobbyists to influence members of Congress, and they can pay accountants and tax attorneys to find every single loophole possible. Meanwhile, ordinary people like you and me always end up with the short end of the stick.

The next time you are talking to a politician, ask them to defend our current system of taxation. None of them will be able to, because it is an abomination.

Ultimately, I would like to abolish the IRS and the income tax completely. We did not have an income tax between 1872 and 1913, and it was the greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history.

Of course we would need to greatly reduce the size of the federal government in order to do that, and that might take a while. So in the short-term we could go to a flat tax or a fair tax, both of which would be greatly superior systems to what we have right now.

Simply reducing rates a little bit and tinkering with the regulations is not going to fundamentally change anything. Real tax reform means getting rid of our current abominable system entirely, and if I am elected to Congress that is precisely what I am going to fight for.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

Deception Rising: Ouija Boards Making Major Comeback as Christmas Gifts - JENNIFER LECLAIRE CHARISMA NEWS

What horrifying mockery of the Holy Spirit—and in the holiday season no less.

A new Google report reads, "Certain retro toys are making a comeback this season. Thanks to the new movie Ouija, searches for "Ouija boards" are up 300 percent since October. That puts Ouija boards at the fifth spot in the top holiday gifts for this season.

Often called a spirit board or talking board, a Ouija board is a flat board—kind of like the game of Monopoly or Clue—that dons the alphabet, the words "yes," "no," "hello" and "goodbye," the numbers zero through nine and various other cryptic symbols. Players put their fingers on a planchette, which is small piece of wood, that purportedly moves supernaturally to spell out words.

American spiritualist Pearl Curran turned what toy company Hasbro intended to be an innocent game into a demonic channeling tool during World War I. She and other diviners claimed the Ouija board could deliver messages from the dead and other spirits.

It's clear that this generation is fascinated with the spirit world. And the devil is clearly driving toward a great awakening of the occult.

Ouija is not a new movie, but was a blockbuster in 2014. The demonic film brought in $103.6 million worldwide against a $5 million budget. Products followed on that success with Ouija: Origin of Evil in 2016. That film grossed over $81 million. Its seems celebrating darkness remains profitable.

This revival of the devil's witchcraft is unto an awakening to the occult that will set the very elect up to be deceived, it if is possible (see Matt. 24:24). False signs and wonders will rise, along with false prophets and false christs.

We need to pray. A generation of youth has been exposed to witchcraft games, television shows, movies and more. The enemy is seducing people who are looking for the supernatural into a counterfeit movement could have dangerous eternal outcomes. In the book of Revelation, God has made it clear the fate of those who practice such things: sorcerers will have their portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (see Rev. 21:8). Let's keep pressing back this darkness.

Jennifer LeClaire is senior leader of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, founder of the Ignite Network and founder of the Awakening Blaze prayer movement. She is author of over 25 books. Find her online at jenniferleclaire.org or email her at info@jenniferleclaire.org.