Thursday, June 4, 2015

Stephen Curry - Faith, Family & Fatherhood

Foul: Media Scorns Athlete's 2-Year-Old Daughter

Point guard Stephen Curry led the Golden State Warriors to their first spot in the NBA Finals in 40 years.

Curry has been called one of the best pure shooters in basketball.

"He is an unbelievable competitor. He wants to win. But more important than anything is his relationship," the team's longtime chaplain, Earl Smith, told CBN News.

"He is what you see. He lives it fully and he enjoys life because he has peace with his life," Smith added. "He has a relationship that far exceeds a three-point shot, far exceeds the accolades that are in the arena. He is a family man. He loves his wife. He loves his daughter."

Curry's 2-year-old daughter scored the most attention at the post-game news conferences. That's had some turning up the heat on the young stand-out, who champions his Christian faith, his family, and fatherhood.

Reporters have criticized the Warriors MVP for the daddy-daughter time in front of the camera.

One reporter tweeted, "Curry's kid is cute. That doesn't mean she should have been at the presser."

"The celebration that we had after game five with my family and be as normal as possible and obviously she has got a personality that is pretty electric and loves that scene, but there is no motive," Curry told reporters, following game five of the western finals. "It's just me and her hanging out."

The criticism also didn't sit well the team's chaplain.

"That really bothered me and the reason it bothered me is because of the question that keeps coming up, where are the fathers? Where are the dads?" Smith told CBN News. "And here was a guy that truly had a daughter that was loving on her dad, loving to be with her dad."

At a time when athletes routinely make headlines for abuse, Smith calls these moments a "missed opportunity."

"Maybe the interview should have changed. Maybe it should have taken a different direction and talked about at a time when there is questions about athletes and a questions about fathers and their relationships with their children," Smith suggested.

"I am going to enjoy those times with my daughter, no matter how much pub she gets, regardless of what cameras are pointed my way because that is a special time," Curry said.

Curry's post-game press time could get a little more crowded soon. He and his wife are expecting their second child in July.

Watch video: Steph Curry - Golden State Warriors




Worship Leader Who Lost Sons in Tragic Wreck Has 3 Choice Words for Driver Who Killed Them

The Eddings family

Worship Leader Who Lost Sons in Tragic Wreck Has 3 Choice Words for Driver Who Killed Them



Gentry and Hadley Eddings lost their two sons in a horrific crash. (Courtesy)

The worship pastor who lost his two little boys in a horrific crash is urging forgiveness for the driver that killed them.

Gentry Eddings and Hadley Eddings were traveling in a caravan when the car with a pregnant Hadley and the couple's 2-year-old was struck by another vehicle.

The 2-year-old died in the crash, but Hadley had an emergency C-section, delivering her baby about a month early.

Sadly, the newborn died just two days after the crash.

They "were able to spend precious moments with (the newborn), holding him in our arms before he went to be with his brother in heaven," Gentry tells The Charlotte Observer.

While many may struggle with bitterness after a driver takes the lives of their children, the Eddings had the grace of God to go above and beyond.

"We have, in our hearts, forgiven the man who did this. It was not the easiest thing to do, but in some ways it was because we know—Hadley and I—that Jesus Christ has forgiven us our debt. ... So in some ways, it was very easy to forgive a man who made an accident," Gentry said at their funeral, according to TCO.


Satan, Keep Away from My Bloodline! by Perry Stone

Satan, Keep Away from My Bloodline! 

by Perry Stone

Identity Network

 
Have you ever wondered why, after raising your children in the ways of God, they choose to walk away from Him and go their own way?
 
The heaviest burden for a parent to carry is for his or her own bloodline - his or her children and grandchildren and their eternal destiny. Children are a heritage from the Lord and the greatest weight on a parent's heart.
 
I have met thousands of parents whose children were raised in a local church but today are spiritually AWOL. Why?
 
Root Causes
 
Here are three often-undetected root causes why your family members may avoid church. There are social reasons. Some feel uncomfortable meeting new people, are not sure how to dress and feel awkward when asked to hold the hand of the stranger next to them. There are also neurological reasons. People suffer from a variety of disorders that may cause them to feel uncomfortable in a service. Some neurological disorders like Autism cause difficulty in sitting and are disturbed by loud music or noise. Some have economic reasons for not attending because they believe the church is always asking for money.
 
But the ultimate reason for many avoiding a Christian gathering is spiritual. First, according to John 12:40, the adversary has blinded the eyes and hardened the hearts of some, preventing them from receiving knowledge and being converted. Another reason is simply unbelief. It is impossible to receive any spiritual or, for that matter, physical and financial blessing or breakthrough if a person abides in unbelief. Their wrong thinking prevents it.
 
Wrong thinking creates what we call strongholds. The word stronghold was used by the Greeks when speaking of a castle or a military fortification that was built to prevent access. In Paul's writings strongholds are mental blocks of thinking that prevented spiritual breakthroughs.
 
The adversary will use a person's wrong thinking to build up a mental stronghold, hindering them from going to the very place where their mental and spiritual chains can be broken. Believers must also deal with wrong thinking and never allow human reasoning to exalt itself above the knowledge of God, but to pull down mental strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4-5).
 
Praying
 
When parents have asked me how they should pray for their prodigal son, daughter, or at times grandparents are concerned about their wayward grandchildren, I share how I pray for my own children. The first thing I do is thank God for giving me two wonderful children - a boy and a girl. I then declare that anyone who carries my DNA or my name (Stone) that is linked to my family will all be in the kingdom of God and not one will be missing. I ask God to protect them from harm, danger, and any disabling accident, and I assign a generational angel to be with them. 

At times when I have seen someone in my bloodline struggle and knew a demonic spirit was attacking them, my prayer became aggressive and a rebuking anointing began flowing through me as I rebuked the powers of the adversary, demanding them to "get their hands off" that person and for God to bring relief and restoration. It is also important to discover if there is a "root source" to their resistance to God such as a hurt, an offense, a misunderstanding that should be dealt with.
 
Parents should also pray in advance for the friends their children have, beginning at an early age, as many of their choices as teenagers will emerge out of peer pressure from those surrounding them.
 
At times it takes very intense and consistent intercession to initiate a life-changing breakthrough in family members. Often when a parent or any believer engages in intense intercessory prayer coupled with a prayer burden, the seeker will receive an assurance before they see the actual breakthrough. The Greek word for assurance in the New Testament means a complete and peaceful confidence in a matter (1 Thess. 1:5; Heb. 6:11, 10:22). Once this inner assurance is received, it releases a calming effect that settles your mind or spirit, as God's still, small voice prompts your perception that everything will be all right and you can move from asking God to thanking Him in advance (see Isaiah 32:17).                 
 
When Faith and Assurance Collide
 
When I was a teenage minister, I canned this feeling of assurance, "I know in my knower!" For example, there have been times I have prayed for individuals whose situations were so bleak that it required a supernatural intervention, or what we term a miracle to bring them back from the brink of death or destruction. However, when prayer was offered under the anointing of the Spirit, a peaceful calm erased the doubts and confusion. We left the hospital knowing that everything will be well.
 
Never cease to pray for your lost family members and begin thanking God when you sense an assurance. Remember, the peace of assurance will precede the actual breakthrough, often by days, weeks, and months. The best way to disrobe the assurance is in the words of Paul, when he wrote, "For we which have believed do enter into rest" (Hebrews 4:3, KJV). When faith and assurance collide, you will be at rest, even in the midst of the most severe storm ... for even Christ could sleep through a storm knowing He was going over to the other side (Luke 8:22-25). God's assurance that He is and will be moving on your behalf will bring a mental, physical, and spiritual rest to you.
 
Perry Stone


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Cross Rises in Pakistan City Hostile to Christians

Cross Rises in Pakistan City 

Hostile to Christians


A giant cross is rising in a place where Christians often suffer persecution for their faith: Karachi, Pakistan.

The 140-foot cross stands at the entrance of a Christian cemetery in the center of the city. It's being built by Parvez Henry Gill, a Pakistani businessman who said the idea came to him in a dream.

"I want to show the world the Christian community in Pakistan has religious freedom," Gill said.

While some have criticized the cross, Gill said he "leaves that to God."

Pakistani Christians have faced church bombings and other attacks by Islamic terrorists.

In March, Taliban suicide bombers killed 15 people and injured nearly 80 others in the city of Lahore in eastern Pakistan. The group's spokesman vowed bombing attacks would continue until the government implements Sharia law.

In 2013, 80 people died when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives cache at the All Saints Church in the northern city of Peshwar.

Obama Blames Netanyahu, Jihadists Attack Jews

Obama Blames Netanyahu, Jihadists Attack Jews



JERUSALEM, Israel -- Days after President Obama said Israel is losing "credibility" because of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intransigence on the creation of a Palestinian state, jihadists in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets on southern Israel, the second attack in 10 days.

The rockets exploded in open areas near the cities of Ashkelon and Netivot. There were no injuries or property damage, but air raid sirens blared in Gaza-perimeter communities just after 11 p.m. Wednesday.

IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said more than 140,000 Israel citizens were potentially at risk when the air raid sirens sounded.

The IDF responded by targeting three terrorist training camps in Gaza, confirming direct hits.

An ISIS-affiliated group in the Gaza Strip, calling itself Sheikh Amar Hadid Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it retaliation for the death of one its members by Hamas.

According to Channel 2 Middle East commentator Ehud Yaari, the man Hamas executed was a former officer in one of its own brigades.

Yaari said Hamas is trying to curb these activities by arresting some Salafist activists and trying to discipline Islamic Jihad, the group responsible for the rocket attack 10 days ago.

"Salafists are trying to undermine Hamas policy, coordinating with ISIS-affiliated Salafists in the Sinai," Yaari told journalists Thursday morning.

Yaari said Hamas is weakening because the perception of Operation Protective Edge, the IDF'S military incursion against Hamas rocket fire last summer, is different in Gaza than the way it's been presented to the outside world.

Gaza residents see it as a failed offensive because Hamas didn't achieve any of its demands.

There's one point, however, on which they all seem to agree, articulated in a statement by the Sheikh Amar Hadid Brigades.

"We have repeated that we will continue in the way of jihad ["holy" war] against the Jews, the enemies of Allah," its statement read. "No one will stop us from filling our obligation and attacking the Jews."

Meanwhile, Israel holds Hamas responsible.

"Even if the shooters last night were jihadist groups rebelling against Hamas by firing at us, we view Hamas as being responsible for everything that occurs in the territory of Gaza," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said in a statement.

"We will not tolerate any attempts to harm our civilians or allow the return of a reality where rockets are trickling into the state," he added. "We will act decisively and firmly to ensure the security of the residents of the South and the citizens of Israel."

Obama and the Jewish Experience

Obama and the Jewish Experience

Thursday, June 04, 2015 |  Tsvi Sadan  ISRAEL TODAY
The interview President Obama gave to veteran Israeli journalist Ilana Dayan went very well. In her Hebrew introduction, Dayan said that being the first black president, Obama had "changed America forever." While she failed to explain how skin color had changed America, viewers at home could tell by the tone of Dayan's voice that whatever change to which she was referring must have been a good change.
With such an intro, it wasn't surprising that contrary to promos suggesting Obama would put all his cards on the table, Dayan delivered an irritating interview showing a smug president having fun with one of his admirers.
Sympathetic as Dayan was, however, speaking for half an hour about Israel inevitably yields some insights, and most disturbing was Obama's deep pro-Palestinian disposition. 
During the 30 minutes that were aired, nothing was said about Palestinian institutionalized incitement against Israel; nothing was said about how official Palestinian insignia shows the State of Palestine replacing all of Israel; and nothing was said about the spread of Antisemitism on American campuses.
This alone demonstrated Obama's inclination to embrace a Palestinian narrative that accuses Israel of apartheid and racism in order to deflect attention from its real agenda, which is clearly outlined in nearly every aspect of Palestinian culture, from school plays to soccer teams inform everyone willing to listen that their holy land must be freed from the Zionist monster. 
Obama, it must be said, shares only half of that Palestinian vision in pushing the same old partition plan (two-state solution) that the Palestinians themselves rejected.
Most revealing was Obama's answer to Dayan's question over what he thinks about plans to segregate buses going in and out of the West Bank. Dayan's use of "segregation" was misleading at best, and the president knew that. The demand for separate buses came from Israelis fearing for their lives. This demand that is so eagerly condemned is in essence no different from the two-state solution, for it too seeks to separate, not segregate, Jews from the Palestinians.
The question, framed as it was in the context of apartheid, found a ready president:
"In my mind there is a direct line between the Jewish experience, the African-American experience" Obama said, insisting that there should be "a special empathy and a special regard for those who are being mistreated because the color of their skin or the nature of their faith. The Israeli people," continued Obama, "don't have to look to me to determine how to feel about a law like that." 
Though the request for separate buses for Israelis and Palestinians was never intended to become legislation, and will ultimately not be implemented due to the tyranny of "political correctness" that prefers stupid ideas over life, the president nevertheless framed the conflict in terms of race and justice, or more precisely, Israeli racism and injustice.
In so doing, Obama has shown that he had embraced the guiltless Palestinian narrative that constantly blames Israel for criminal acts that range from rape to war crimes. This explains why he chose to reference a nameless, peace-loving child from Ramallah instead of address the phenomenon of a Palestinian children's choir singing to dignitaries: "My holy land, I will sate you with my blood." 
Though Obama repeatedly stressed America's commitment to Israel's security, this interview did nothing to appease apprehension toward his administration.
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God Said: 'This Is Just a Taste of What Is Coming' - J. Lee Grady

Bolivian ministry leader Fernando Villalobos shares during the recent Bold Venture men's retreat.
Bolivian ministry leader Fernando Villalobos shares during the recent Bold Venture men's retreat. (Photo courtesy of Steven Semmones)
Fire in My Bones, by J. Lee Grady
Last weekend, I led a men's discipleship retreat at a church in Augusta, Georgia. Of the 125 men who attended, there were African-Americans, Ukrainians, Hispanics, Indian-Americans, Brazilians and white guys—and more than a third of them were spiritually hungry teens or 20-somethings. (Those who say young people in the United States aren't interested in Christianity don't attend the same meetings I do.)
We had a special time together—worshiping Jesus, sharing meals, opening our hearts in small groups, listening to messages from both older and younger speakers (the youngest preacher was 25) and praying for racial healing in our nation. Over the course of three days, some guys were delivered from porn, others were reconciled with their dads and many decided to begin mentoring other guys in the faith.
But something happened on the last morning that I felt I needed to share with my Charisma family.
After the last message, I asked my Bolivian friend Ives Orozco to come to the stage with his father-in-law, Fernando Villalobos. I knew a bit of Fernando's testimony. He had been a part of the sweeping revival that occurred in Bolivia in the 1970s, and I wanted him to share a few stories from those days and then pray for us.
I was not prepared for what happened next.
Fernando is not a shouting preacher. He is very humble and soft-spoken, but when he took the microphone the atmosphere in the room shifted immediately. I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
Fernando began to tell a story about how Julio Ruibal, the leader of the revival movement in Bolivia, had been baptized in the Holy Spirit while visiting California. When he returned to the city of La Paz, he led many students to Christ and was busy discipling them. One day, he asked a Christian woman to prepare a meal for 20 students—but when Julio arrived at her home he had 200 students with him!
When the woman worriedly complained that she didn't have enough food to serve the crowd, Julio told her that Jesus would provide. Then everyone watched as the meal was supernaturally multiplied. What Jesus did for a multitude 2,000 years ago was repeated in a modest home in South America.
"Jesus is here," Fernando said to us.
I have listened to countless miracle testimonies before. But when this broken man stood near the stage at Good News Church in Augusta, it was almost as if the same revival spirit that hit Bolivia more than 50 years ago entered the room.
Men spontaneously got up and walked or crawled to the front of the church. Some were kneeling, others were flat on their stomachs. I began to hear many of them sobbing. Within five minutes it became a chorus of wailing. It reminded me of some accounts I have read from the Great Awakening, when people were overcome by the presence and convicting power of the Holy Spirit.
Fernando did not ask for mood music, and he didn't manipulate the audience to get a response. He didn't tell anyone to cry. He simply reminded us that the same God who poured out the Holy Spirit on Bolivia in the early 1970s—resulting in hundreds of thousands of conversions over a four-month period—was with us now.
As I lay on the carpet in that church I thought of all the times I have prayed in the past year for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on my generation.
Then I felt the Lord speak to my heart: "This is just a taste of what is coming."
That is all I needed to know to be convinced. A fresh wave of God's power is headed toward the United States. The Lord has heard the cries of His people, and He is about to do again what He did in the early 1970s—only this time young people will be catapulted to the forefront of the movement, and it will not be divided by race.
I pray we all have our lamps full of oil so we can be ready for this visitation. Pray and expect the tangible presence of God to rock your world. We are on the verge of something big.
J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at leegrady. He is the author of The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale and other books. You can learn more about his ministry, The Mordecai Project, at themordecaiproject.org
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Israel Increasingly Sees Boycotts as Existential Threat

Israel Increasingly Sees Boycotts as Existential Threat

Thursday, June 04, 2015 |  Ryan Jones  ISRAEL TODAY
A handful of recent victories for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement have Israelis concerned that this growing phenomenon could become, and perhaps already is an existential threat to the Jewish state.
“BDS has been winning the battle for public perception,” noted prominent columnist Ben-Dror Yemini in Yediot Ahronot. “Those who claim that BDS will not affect the Israeli economy are correct. For now. …But it’s an illusion. On campuses, at research institutes, and in media outlets, there has been a consistent, protracted, and dangerous erosion of support for Israel.”
The most stunning achievement of the BDS movement has been legitimizing the notion that Israel has no right to exist at all. BDS exploits the language of human rights in order to attract well-meaning people, even as delegitimizing the miracle of Israel’s modern rebirth.
Yemini and others worry that Israel, content with legal victories and the steady support of older generations, is doing too little to combat this phenomenon.
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Wednesday, June 3, 2015

"And He Dreamt" ✡ Who Has the Right to Ascend the Temple Mount?

And he dreamt, and behold a ladder was set earthward and its top reached toward the heavens...and behold, God was standing over him, and He said "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and God of Isaac. The ground upon which you are lying, I will give to you and to your descendants."

GENESIS (28:12,13)
 

וַיַּחֲלֹם וְהִנֵּה סֻלָּם מֻצָּב אַרְצָה וְרֹאשׁוֹ מַגִּיעַ הַשָּׁמָיְמָה... וְהִנֵּה יְ-הוָה נִצָּב עָלָיו וַיֹּאמַר אֲנִי יְ-הוָה אֱ-לֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם אָבִיךָ וֵא-לֹהֵי יִצְחָק. הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה שֹׁכֵב עָלֶיהָ לְךָ אֶתְּנֶנָּה וּלְזַרְעֶךָ

בְּרֵאשִׁית   כח:יב, יג

va-ya-kha-lom v'-hi-nay su-lam mu-tzav ar-tza v'-ro-sho ma-gee-a ha-sha-mai-y'-ma ... v'-hi-nay a-do-nai ni-tzav a-lav va-yo-mar a-nee a-do-nai e-lo-hay av-ra-ham a-vee-kha vay-lo-hay yitz-khak ha-a-retz a-sher a-ta sho-khayv a-le-a l'-kha et-ne-na u-l'-zar-e-kha

Today's Israel Inspiration

The ground upon which Jacob spent the night and encountered God was none other than the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. When Jacob awoke, he realized that it was no ordinary place, but the gateway of the heavens, the most propitious place for prayers to ascend to God, and the site where the Temple would later stand. Learn more about the future Temple which will stand here again with Root Source's new class taught by Temple activist Yehuda Glick, a miraculous survivor of an assasination attempt. Glick's lectures will teach you everything you need to know about the Temple Mount.
 

The Question of Rights to the Temple Answered

Who may ascend the Temple Mount? In this short film, Pastor Keith Johnson along with Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick pose the answer to this provocative question.

Modern Day Temple Services

On a mountain ridge overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem and the ancient Temple Mount, kohanim (ancestral priests) performed a dry run of the Temple Service.

The Book of Esther Scroll: Netanyahu's Gift to Congress

This gorgeous, handwritten Megillah scroll is complete with colorful illustrations and the full text of the Book of Esther which we read on Purim. It comes with a gift bag and is a limited edition of 900 numbered copies. Israel’s Prime Minister gave this scroll to US House Speaker John Boehner in his March 2015 visit to the U.S.

Today's Israel Photo

Channa Wander's photo of the Western Wall last Sukkot.
 

Yesterday's Photo Trivia

Thanks to all who responded to yesterday's photo trivia! We featured a stunning Tel Aviv beach, one of 13 beaches along the Tel Aviv-Jaffa coastline. A whopping 8.5 million visitors enjoy these beautiful beaches each year.

Thank You

Please help us continue to spread the beauty and significance of the Land of Israel!
 

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