Pastor Youcef - Letter From Iran

Letter From Iranian Pastor Youcef

Gary Lane, CBN News Senior International Reporter

I just received this email from Present Truth Ministries. It's a letter they received from imprisoned Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. He's the Christian house church pastor facing execution in Iran for leaving Isalm. Pastor Youcef maintains he was never a Muslim and therefore could not be guilty of apostasy.

In the letter, the Iranian pastor says his trial has been so long that he wishes "these days to end."
He praises the support he has received from churches and politicians and says he believes the international human rights campaign to free him "can bring positive results."

However, he suggests Koran burnings like those led by a Florida pastor "cause stress and trouble."
Pastor Youcef asks for our continued prayers and support.

Here's the text of the full letter translated by Present Truth Ministries. A big thanks to Jason DeMars for passing it along:

07 May 2012

Greetings from your servant and younger brother in Christ, Youcef Nadarkhani.

To: All those who are concerned and worried about my current situation.

First, I would like to inform all of my beloved brothers and sisters that I am in perfect health in the flesh and spirit. And I try to have a little different approach from others to these days, and consider it as the day of exam and trial of my faith. And during these days which are hard in order to prove your loyalty and sincerity to God, I am trying to do the best in my power to stay right with what I have learned from God’s commandments.

I need to remind my beloveds, though my trial due has been so long, and as in the flesh I wish these days to end, yet I have surrendered myself to God’s will.

I am neither a political person nor do I know about political complicity, but I know that while there are many things in common between different cultures, there are also differences between these cultures around the world which can result in criticism, which most of the times response to this criticisms will be harsh and as a result will lengthen our problems.

From time to time I am informed about the news which is spreading in the media about my current situation, for instance being supported by various churches and famous politicians who have asked for my release, or campaigns and human rights activities which are going on against the charges which are applied to me. I do believe that these kind of activities can be very helpful in order to reach freedom, and respecting human rights in a right way can bring forth positive results.
I want to appreciate all those are trying to reach this goal. But at the other hand, I’d like to announce my disagreement with the insulting activities which cause stress and trouble, which unfortunately are done with the justification (excuse) of defending human rights and freedom, for the results are so clear and obvious for me.

I try to be humble and obedient to those who are in power, obedience to those in authority which God has granted to the officials of my country, and pray for them to rule the country according to the will of God and be successful in doing this. For I know in this way I have obeyed God’s word. I try to obey along with those whom I see in a common situation with me. They never had any complaint, but just let the power of God be manifested in their lives, and though sometimes we read that they have used this right to defend themselves, for they had this right, I am not an exception as well and have used all possibilities and so forth and am waiting for the final result.

So I ask all the beloved ones to pray for me as the holy word has said. At the end I hope my freedom will be prepared as soon as possible, as the authorities of my country will do with free will according to their law and commandments which are answerable to.

May God’s Grace and Mercy be upon you now and forever. Amen.

Youcef Nadarkhani

http://blogs.cbn.com/globallane/archive/2012/05/09/letter-from-iranian-pastor-youcef.aspx

Why Are Christians Really Leaving Bethlehem?

By Julie Stahl

CBN News Jerusalem Correspondent

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

 

 

 

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Arab Christians in Bethlehem have been suffering from human rights abuses and economic hardships for years. But some are trying to bring a message of hope into their lives.

It could be described as a modern day exodus: Christians are leaving Palestinian Arab-controlled areas like Bethlehem in great numbers.

"It's my prediction that if the remaining Christians in the West Bank and Gaza -- Gaza only has maybe a thousand, two thousand Christians," human rights lawyer Justus Weiner told CBN News. "If their needs are not addressed in 10 or 15 or at most 20 years, there won't be any Christians in the cradle of Christianity. This will be a kind of memorial, a museum."

Weiner said the threat of persecution, including beatings and forced marriages between Christian women and Muslim men, are some of the reasons Christians have left.

Although tourism and the economy picked up last year, uncertainty still prevails.

"I know if you just look deep within their hearts, I know many people have fear and doubt in the unknown and unseen," Pastor Steve Khoury told CBN News. Pastor Khoury leads churches in Bethlehem and in Jerusalem. Part of the congregations' outreach includes Christmas banquets each year, sponsored in part by CBN. Khoury said they do many unorthodox things to bring the message that hope is only built on the solid rock of Jesus. Khoury grew up on the mission field. His father, Dr. Naim Khoury, started Holy Land Missions 30 years ago. He said his experiences growing up as the son of a missionary taught him not only the life of a missionary, but also the struggles and battles of every believer.

"God has burdened my heart in a great way," Khoury wrote on his web site. "He has shown me that Arabs can come to salvation; He has shown me that Jews can come to the Messiah, and that the people in Israel are losing hope in life." "Seeing people bleed every day, and seeing a person one day and gone the next because of violence has made me appreciate life," he said.

There are only about 15,000 born-again Christians in Israel. They face daily persecution by the other two dominating religions.

Pastor Khoury has seen church members attacked and discriminated against because of their faith. Several believers under his ministry have been martyred, including his own uncle. The church in Bethlehem has been firebombed 14 times, and Dr. Naim Khoury has been shot at several times in the last 10 years.

Nevertheless, Holy Land Missions has reached out to thousands over the years through their many outreach programs, including Calvary Church in Jerusalem and First Baptist in Bethlehem.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/May/Why-Are-Christians-Really-Leaving-Bethlehem/

Warren Marcus (One New Man) - Speaks at Evening To Honor Israel 2012

"Ashreinu" Dance - Evening To Honor Israel 2012

Wane Daroux Sings An Original at the Evening To Honor Israel 2012

"Hatikva" sung at the Evening To Honor Israel 2012

Shout Your Name - Gid Anthony

Salvation Belongs To Our God - Gid Anthony

Evening To Honor Israel 2012

Evening To Honor Israel annual celebration.

Lincolnton, NC April 27, 2012

Beit Yeshua, Highway To Zion, One New Man, Love For His People

(Photos by Steve Martin, Love For His People.)

Benjamin Netanyahu 28 years old

Netanyahu thanks Israel's friends - Jerusalem Post

Netanyahu thanks Israel's friends

By JPOST.COM STAFF

04/25/2012 10:30

Israel is unique for having millions of passionate friends "for whom the well-being, security and future of our country are so important," Netanyahu says in special YouTube broadcast.

Photo: YouTube screenshot

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took the opportunity ahead of Independence Day on Wednesday to acknowledge Israel's "millions of friends," both Jewish and non-Jewish, and thank them for "their unwavering support" of the Jewish state.

In a special YouTube video posted on the eve of Israel's celebration of 64 years of Independence, the prime minister said in English that Israel is "unique" for having such "passionate friends... for whom the well-being, security and future of our country are so important."

"This passionate support, along with Israel’s strong army, free economy and dynamic society, is the pillar of our national strength," he said.The minister spoke about Israel's other unique qualities, saying that the Jewish state is unparalleled regionally for "having a vibrant, liberal democracy where women are equal, minorities are free and where all are subject to the rule of law."

And while the modern state of Israel on Thursday commemorates less than a century of independence, Netanyahu said the Jewish state can celebrate having restored sovereignty and provided self-defense for the Jewish people, who lived previously in the diaspora for 2,000 years, "stateless and powerless."
"Israel is unique in in gathering to an ancestral homeland an exiled people who had been scattered around the globe," the prime minister explained, saying Independence Day is a "time for us to consider what makes Israel truly unique."

Israel Independence Day - Snapshots

Independence Day: Snapshots through the decades - Jerusalem Post

By ALINA DAIN SHARON/ JOINTMEDIA NEWS SERVICE

04/21/2012 07:33

Despite continuous political turmoil and violence, Israelis have always found a way to grow and innovate.

Photo: State of Israel National Photo Collection

In honor of Israel’s 64th birthday, JointMedia News Service takes a look at the major events that shaped each decade in Israel’s history since 1948. The emerging picture shows that despite continuous political turmoil and violence, Israelis always found a way to grow and innovate.

1948-58

In November 1947, three decades after the Balfour declaration favored “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” and three years after the Holocaust, the United Nations General Assembly voted 33 to 13 for two “independent Arab and Jewish States.” The State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948, and David Ben-Gurion became the nation’s first prime minister.

The day after the proclamation, Arab countries invaded and the war for independence began, but the newly formed Jewish state came out victorious by 1949.



After the establishment of the 1950 Law of Return, about 680,000 mostly European and Mediterranean Jews settled in Israel by 1951.

In the 1956 Sinai Campaign, Israel launched an attack against Egypt, together with France and Great Britain, capturing the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Shortly afterward US pressure forced Israel to relinquish the territories.

1958-68

This decade was strongly defined by the kibbutzim, the collective communities created throughout the Jewish state. Kibbutz members were considered the best of Israeli society, and many pursued elite careers in the government and military. The Kibbutz culture yielded the development of drip-irrigation, a system that can directly water a plant more efficiently than the sprinkler.



After armies from surrounding Arab nations began threatening Israel during the Six Day War of 1967, the country exacted a major victory in a surprise offensive, gaining control of the Golan Heights, Gaza, Sinai and the West Bank. Israel also gained East Jerusalem, unifying the city.  Violence and war didn’t stop Israeli arts from flourishing. In 1964, “Sallah Shabati,” a film about the struggles of a Mizrahi immigrant family, was nominated for the Foreign Language Film Academy Award. In 1966, renowned writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon won the Nobel Prize in literature.

1968-78

In the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the Jewish state was surprised with an attack by Egyptian and Syrian armies on the holiest day of the Jewish faith, narrowly escaping defeat. A year earlier, 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO) terrorists during the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.



In 1972, Japanese gunmen recruited by the PLO opened fire at Lod’s Airport near Tel Aviv (now Ben-Gurion International Airport). Twenty-eight people were killed, including Puerto Rican Christian pilgrims and Israeli scientist Aharon Katzir. In 1974, Palestinian terrorists attacked the town of Ma’alot, including an elementary school, ultimately killing 22, mostly children. But when an Air France plane with Israeli and Jewish passengers was hijacked in 1976 by Palestinian terrorists and forced to land in Uganda, the IDF flew commandos to a daring rescue mission in which they killed all the terrorists and freed the hostages.

Also in this decade, four Israeli films were nominated for the Foreign Language Film Academy Award.

1978-88

In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords, driven by US President Jimmy Carter. Sadat and Begin won the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize, and a historic peace treaty between Egypt and Israel was signed the following year.

In this decade PLO terrorists seized a bus from Israel’s coast highway, killing more than 30 civilians. A series of reprisals on both sides followed, and villages close to Lebanon were frequently shelled with mortars. In 1982, Israel attacked Lebanon in an effort to remove the terrorists. Though Israel drove the PLO out in the first Lebanon War, many soldiers died in the process. Israel also bombed and destroyed the Osirak nuclear complex in Iraq to prevent the building of nuclear weapons.



By 1987, the First Intifada uprising began, bringing with it thousands of Israeli casualties through Molotov cocktail, grenade, bomb and other attacks. Nevertheless, Israel won the Eurovision song contest for the second time in 1979, and another film was nominated for the Foreign Language Film Academy Award in 1984. More than 8,000 Ethiopian Jews were secretly airlifted to Israel in Operation Moses.

1988-98

This decade saw Israeli society change fundamentally, primarily spurred by a mass immigration of Jews from the Soviet Union. More than a million Russian Jews arrived in Israel, many during the height of the Gulf War, when the Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was shelling Israel with missiles. Though at first struggling to assimilate both socially and economically, many ultimately became politically active and exacted enormous influence on culture, music, science and technology. Russian Jews notably founded the “Gesher” theater, which at first staged plays only in Russian, but soon transitioned into Hebrew.



Israel signed a 1994 peace treaty with Jordan. In the 1993 Oslo Accords—for which Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize—Israel and the PLO signed an agreement primarily focused on Palestinian self-governance in the territories of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. Israeli society was deeply divided over the agreement, but the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir traumatized and united Israelis of all political persuasions.

One of the worst terrorist attacks of the decade occurred in 1996, when two Jerusalem buses were bombed, killing 26 people and injuring about 80.

1998-2008

In 1998, an Israeli woman was crowned Miss World. The Second Intifada started in 2000, and by 2005 more than a thousand Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks. The bombing of the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv killed 21 teenagers. A major bombing of a Netanya hotel on the eve of Passover killed nearly 30 and injured 140.



In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip, and the 2006 Second Lebanon War saw Israel fight Hezbollah forces. That same year, Hamas captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Notable high-tech Israeli inventions and start-ups in this decade include the Disk-on-Key, a precursor to the now ubiquitous flash drive; wireless capsule endoscopy, a pill-sized camera that can pass through the digestive tract and detect diseases, and the instant messaging service ICQ. Four Nobel prizes were awarded to Israelis in the fields of economics and chemistry. The first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, famously participated in the international Columbia Shuttle space mission in 2003, but was tragically killed when the shuttle exploded.

2008-2012

Gilad Shalit’s release in 2011 again polarized Israeli society because it required the release of about 1,000 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons.



Three more films were nominated for the Foreign Language Film Academy Award, most recently “Footnote” in 2012. Also in 2012, Tel Aviv was named Best Gay City in an international competition. Two more Nobel prizes were awarded to Israelis in chemistry.

Information from TIME, BBC, the Forward, Yedioth Ahronoth, the Chicago Tribune, ADL, the Jewish Virtual Library and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs was used in this report.

israel today | Israel News | Egypt cuts off gas supply to Israel - israel today | Israel News

israel today | Israel News | Egypt cuts off gas supply to Israel - israel today | Israel News

Paul Wilbur - Zealous Over Zion

Evening Honoring Israel at Beit Yeshua

Beit Yeshua will be hosting an Evening Honoring Israel, along with Highway To Zion and Love for His People, on Friday, April 27, 2012, in Lincolnton, NC. This is an opportunity for you to take your stand for Zion's sake by honoring this nation chosen by God for the revelation of His glory and our Messiah Yeshua!

Here are the details!
Date:      Friday, April 27th
Time:     7:00 p.m.
Where:   Beit Yeshua (gym of Covenant Bible Church - 2168 Gastonia Highway, Lincolnton, NC)
Special Speakers: 

Warren Marcus, Pastor of Steele Creek Church/One New Man

Bill Duerfeldt of Christian Friends of Israel

This will be a joyous evening honoring Israel and commemorating the fulfillment of prophecy with the birth of the modern day nation in 1948!

Below is a link from last year's celebration - such a blessing!
http://curtis.loftinnc.com/2011_An_Evening_Honoring_Israel.htm

All are invited. No charge.

Israel remembers the Holocaust - Israel Today

Israel remembers the Holocaust

Thursday, April 19, 2012 | Ryan Jones

Israel on Thursday was the scene of solemn silence and piercing cries as every man, woman and child remembered the Holocaust, the most devious and the most successful attempt in history to destroy the Jewish people.

No matter how many times one hears it, the emotions stirred by the nation-wide siren blast at 10 AM on the morning of Holocaust Victims and Heroes Remembrance Day never diminish. It is humbling, and heartbreaking, to realize that at that exact moment, six million fellow Israelis are all standing together in tear-inducing silence in honor of six million European Jews whose lives were mercilessly snuffed out.

In Auschwitz, Poland a group of hundreds of Israelis and Diaspora Jews, including 50 Israeli soldiers, marched through the preserved remains of the largest of the Nazi death camps, as a squad of Israeli F15s roared overhead, a symbol that despite the best efforts of history's most notorious villains, the people of Israel not only live, but are stronger than ever.

Back in Israel, the nation's leaders presided over memorial ceremonies, insisting that such an atrocity would never again befall the Jewish people so long as there was a Jewish state to defend them. But in the back of everyone's minds is the growing concern that in less than a generation from now, the Holocaust will be redefined by Israel's antagonists, if not forgotten completely.

Already today, foes like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas and British author David Irving deny that the Holocaust ever happened, or try to paint it as a Jewish conspiracy. It is difficult for these revisionists to gain much mindshare at present as there are still Holocaust survivors living among us. But what happens when the last of those poor souls to personally experience the Nazis' "Final Solution" is laid to rest?

When there are no more Holocaust survivors left, and one of the blackest chapters in human history is no longer a living memory, will any nation besides Israel continue to remember it for what it was? Will any nation besides Israel continue to believe that the spirit behind that horrific act of genocide remains active in the world today?

 

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/tabid/178/nid/23195/language/en-US/Default.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Israel%20remembers%20the%20Holocaust%20%7C%20Israel%20remembers%20the%20Holocaust&utm_campaign=daily%20newsletter%20email%20-%2020120419

 

Holocaust Survivors & Remembrance Project

Full website: http://isurvived.org/home.html

israel today | Israel News | Report: Palestinian sentenced to death for selling house to Jews - israel today | Israel News

israel today | Israel News | Report: Palestinian sentenced to death for selling house to Jews - israel today | Israel News

March of Remembrance 2012

   

    http://marchofremembrance.org/#.T4tmMBBvwwE.blogger

israel today | Israel News | Israeli soldiers answer your questions online - israel today | Israel News

Full story: israel today | Israel News | Israeli soldiers answer your questions online - israel today | Israel News

Why Fold the Napkin?

Why Fold the Napkin?

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection? I never noticed this....

The Gospel of John 20:7  tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.
[ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020:7&version=YLT ]

The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed separate from the grave clothes.

Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!'

Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see... The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in.

Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.

Was that important? Absolutely!
Is it really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition.

When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it.

The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table.

The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, 'I'm done'.

But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table,
because.........
The folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'

He is Coming Back!

Gil Amelio: The Face of Christ

Gil Amelio: The Face of Christ

Watch as gifted sculptor Gil Amelio recreates the final moments of Jesus' life and the sacrifice that changed eternity.

As seen on CBN's 700 Club: Gil Amelio: The Face of Christ

The Jesus Film Project - Part 8 of 8 (Yeshua's Resurrection!)

The Jesus Film Project - Part 7 of 8

The Crucifixion | A Medical Perspective

Crucifixion of Jesus

Attraction Black Light theatre Silhouettes Passover Pesach in Cancun 2...

israel today | Israel News | Christian Zionists gather at Israel's Knesset - israel today | Israel News



Full story: israel today | Israel News | Christian Zionists gather at Israel's Knesset - israel today | Israel News