What Has Israel Done For You Lately? - Israel Today

What Has Israel Done For You Lately?

Monday, February 22, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff

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Israeli Goodwill

Most of the mainstream news regarding Israel is related to conflict, but year after year Israel punches far above its weight in a wide range of other areas. Sadly, far too little of that receives significant media coverage.

Jerusalem Online recently ran an op-ed listing the five top ways that the author of that piece felt Israel had helped the world in 2015.

A summary of that list is as follows:

1. Israel continues to aid the victims of Syria’s civil war both by granting entry to those in need of urgent medical care and by sending aid teams to refugee camps throughout Europe;
2. Israeli intelligence played a key role in thwarting a massive ISIS terrorist attack in Germany last November;
3. Israel was one of the first on the ground and provided a disproportionate amount of assistance when an earthquake ravaged the nation of Nepal;
4. Israel fed the entire population of Vanuato for a full month after a tropical cyclone devastated the tiny island nation last March;
5. Israel leads in the battle against the global water crisis by providing innovative solutions to over 150 nations where water is far too scarce.

Of course, this list is by no means comprehensive. Despite Israel’s tiny size, minuscule population and lack of significant natural resources, it routinely contributes disproportionately to the good of the international community.

PHOTO: Israeli soldiers load rescue equipment onto a plane before being dispatched to Nepal following a massive earthquake (Flash90)

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When It Hasn’t Happened Yet - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

When It Hasn’t Happened Yet

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“My soul, wait in silence for God alone, because my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and salvation, my stronghold; I won’t be moved.” (Psalm 62:6-7 Complete Jewish Bible)

Disappointment and discouragement go hand in hand. You had put your hopes on an expected desire to be fulfilled, and it didn’t happen. Discouragement then followed, and you even wondered if what had been promised to you would ever happen. It has been two years, five years, even seven years since the word was delivered to you. Might it even be 40? What is going on Lord?

Thinking back, you believe you did all the right things along the way. You prayed, you fasted, you gave yourself to everything you knew to do. And yet in the time you thought it would have come by now it had not. The right person to marry, that move to another location to start over, the beginning of a new work that had been burning in your heart since youth.

“Surely this was you Lord, and yet when will it come to pass? Why is it taking so long?” you cry silently in your heart.

We all know the stories of Moses and Joseph, who each were given a word that they would do something great for God. For Moses, it was to lead God’s people out of the long-endured suffering in Egypt. For Joseph, it was to rule a nation in order to save his family, and many others. Both of these would be mighty accomplishments if they ever happened. But years into the struggle to believe, it hadn’t. I can imagine Moses (Moshe in Hebrew) saying to himself in the 39^th year, “I am quitting. This will never happen. How could I have been so wrong?”

And Joseph, in prison for two years, previously spending 11 with the Egyptian Potiphar after being bought as his slave, could have said the same. “It won’t happen. The dream was just a dream. What was I thinking?”

How many times have we come so close to seeing something completed, a dream come true, and then we gave up hope just short of it? Probably more that we would know, by not allowing the Lord’s time period to be completed. But even in those times we missed it, the Lord was still directing our steps. He realizes our weaknesses, and accomplishes His will in spite of those shortcomings.

Knowing that our Lord Jesus knows all, I am encouraged that He will indeed finish what He started. The hope within, to keep on pressing on, even when it seems nothing will change, in and of itself is a gift from the Lord. His Holy Spirit within us is there to help us keep believing, trusting, and seeing our dream accomplished. After all, He is the One who gave us the dream. And when it hasn’t happened as yet, He will give us the grace and fortitude to keep hoping and trusting until it does.

I encourage you to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2, NKJV)

The promise, the dream, the desire of your heart will come to pass. The Lord Himself gave that to you, and He was not kidding around. What He says He will do, He will do. Keep strong in your faith, and don’t give up.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to support the families that we do, primarily in Israel, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

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

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Now Think On This - In the New Year of our Lord 02.23.16 - #246 –“When It Hasn’t Happened Yet” – Tuesday at 11:15 am

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

Israel Takes Center Stage in US Presidential Race - Israel Today

Israel Takes Center Stage in US Presidential Race

Tuesday, February 23, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff

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America

Israel this week once again took center stage in the heated US presidential race, on both the Republican and Democratic sides.

During a town hall event ahead of a primary vote in South Carolina, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump suggested he would be “neutral” in dealing with the Israeli-Arab conflict.

One of his top two challengers, Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) fired back telling Fox News that if “America will stand unapologetically with the nation of Israel…because I am not neutral between terrorists who are blowing up and murdering women and children, and the people of Israel who are trying to defend their nation.”

The other Republican candidate, Senator Marco Rubio (Florida), has a history of strong pro-Israel action.

Meanwhile, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton insisted in an interview with CNN that both Trump and Cruz had “missed the mark” regarding Israel, but her own position sounded suspiciously similar to Trump’s.

“I’ll defend and do everything I can to support Israel, particularly as the neighborhood around it seems to become more dangerous and difficult,” said Clinton, before qualifying her statement by adding, “I happen to think that moving toward a two-state solution, trying to provide more support for the aspirations of the Palestinian people is in the long-term best interests of Israel, as well as the region, and, of course, the people themselves.”

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Recession 2016: In Some States, A Very Deep Economic Downturn Has Already Arrived - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

Recession 2016: In Some States, A Very Deep Economic Downturn Has Already Arrived Posted: 22 Feb 2016 Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG Did you know that there are some U.S. states that have already officially fallen into recession?  Economic activity all over the planet is in the process of slowing down, and there are some areas of the country that are really starting to feel the pain.   In particular, any state that is heavily dependent on the energy industry is hurting right now.  During the years immediately following the last recession, the energy industry was the primary engine for the growth of good paying jobs in America, but now that process is completely reversing.  All over the U.S. energy companies are going under, and thousands upon thousands of good jobs are being lost. On Sunday evening, Bloomberg published an article entitled “The U.S. States Where Recession Is Already a Reality“. The following is an excerpt from that article… As economists size up the chances of the first nationwide slump since 2009, pockets of the country are already contracting. Four states — Alaska, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming — are in a recession, and three others are at risk of prolonged declines, according to indexes of state economic performance tracked by Moody’s Analytics. The three additional states that are “at risk of prolonged declines” are Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma.  What all of those seven states have in common is a strong dependence on the energy industry.  Last year, 67 oil and gas companies in the United States filed for bankruptcy, and approximately 130,000 good paying energy jobs were lost. If the price of oil does not go back up, this could be just the beginning.  It is being reported that a whopping 35 percent of all oil and gas companies around the planet are at risk of falling into bankruptcy, and the financial institutions that have been backing these energy companies are getting very nervous. Of course things could shift dramatically for oil and gas companies if World War 3 suddenly erupts in the Middle East, and that could literally happen at any time.  But for the moment the outlook for the energy industry continues to be quite dreary. Let us also keep in mind that the problems for the U.S. economy are not limited to the energy industry.  According to CNBC, corporate profits in the United States have now declined for three straight quarters, and this is the very first time this has happened since the last recession… With 87 percent of the S&P 500 reporting, total blended fourth-quarter earnings have shown a decline of 3.6 percent, according to FactSet. Assuming the trend holds up, it will mark the first time profits have fallen for three straight quarters since 2009. But the road ahead doesn’t get any easier. FactSet is now projecting that earnings will decline 6.9 percent in the first quarter, a stunning move lower over time considering that in September the expectation was for 4.8 percent growth. As corporate profits fall, layoffs are starting to increase.  Just the other day we learned that the number of job cuts in this country shot up 218 percent during the month of January according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It is starting to look very much like 2008 all over again, and I am convinced that it will soon be much, much harder to find work in America. Here are some more numbers that indicate that the U.S. is heading into a major economic slowdown… –U.S. exports were down 7 percent on a year over year basis in December. –U.S. manufacturing activity has been in contraction for four months in a row. –U.S. factory orders have fallen for 14 months in a row. –The Restaurant Performance Index in the United States has dropped to the lowest level that we have seen since 2008. –Orders for Class 8 trucks in the United States dropped by 48 percent on a year over year basis in January. But the mainstream media continues to try to convince all of us that everything is going to be just fine.  Earlier today, CNN ran an article entitled “U.S. recession fears fade after market rally“, and the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “The U.S. Economy Is in Good Shape” that got a tremendous amount of attention. Well, if the U.S. economy is in such great shape, then why are some of the biggest retailers in the entire nation shutting down stores at a frightening pace.  The following list of store closures comes from one of my previous articles… -Wal-Mart is closing 269 stores, including 154 inside the United States. -K-Mart is closing down more than two dozen stores over the next several months. -J.C. Penney will be permanently shutting down 47 more stores after closing a total of 40 stores in 2015. -Macy’s has decided that it needs to shutter 36 stores and lay off approximately 2,500 employees. -The Gap is in the process of closing 175 stores in North America. -Aeropostale is in the process of closing 84 stores all across America. -Finish Line has announced that 150 stores will be shutting down over the next few years. -Sears has shut down about 600 stores over the past year or so, but sales at the stores that remain open continue to fall precipitously. Perhaps things look fine for the moment in New York City or Washington D.C. or San Francisco or wherever it is that these “reporters” write their articles. But for ordinary Americans that operate in the real world, the pain of this new economic downturn is already exceedingly apparent.  Here is more from Bloomberg… Dale Oxley doesn’t need to hear about rising odds of a U.S. recession to dread the future. For the West Virginia homebuilder, the downturn has already arrived. “Everyone is going to have to tighten their belts,” said Oxley, the 48-year-old owner of a Charleston-area construction company. “The next couple of years are going to be difficult.” Unfortunately for hard working Americans like Oxley, what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. We have entered a long downturn that is ultimately going to be even more painful than the last recession was. And everything changes if Saudi Arabia and Turkey get trigger happy and decide to invade Syria.  If that happens, it could very well be the spark that sets off World War 3 and a full-blown meltdown of the global financial system.

How the Nine Traits of the Messianic Generation are Coming Alive in the Modern World By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

A page from the ‘Gemara’, which when combined with the Mishnah constitutes the Talmud, the Oral law of Judaism. (Photo: Mendy Hechtman/FLASH90)

How the Nine Traits of the Messianic Generation are Coming Alive in the Modern World

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz February 23, 2016  BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence.” 
Daniel 12:1-2 (The Israel Bible™)

In the search for signs of the onset of the Messianic era, many look to the Bible and Prophets. The rabbinic sages who wrote the Talmud, a collection of Jewish biblical commentaries, were also granted a modicum of prescience. One section of the Talmud describes, in detail, the characteristics of society preceding the Messiah. In many ways, it is a disturbingly accurate description of our culture today and its unique traits, never seen  before in history.

This description, found in the tractate of Sotah, folio 49b, lists nine traits of the days preceding the Messiah.

1) Insolence will increase and honor dwindle

The internet has drastically changed the dynamics of modern society, making fame a more a matter of shock value than merit. The web has given rise to a culture of shamelessness and permissiveness in which freedom of expression manifests in internet trolling and bizarre viral videos. The phenomenon even received the presidential seal of approval when President Barack Obama met with Glozell Green, a woman whose claim to fame was eating cereal from a bathtub.

2) The vine will bear its fruit but wine will be dear

Today’s global economy has led to a situation in which a fertile country could go into debt and be unable to feed its population. This is precisely what Venezuela is experiencing today. Hoarding food and prepping became illegal in 2013. Last year, the government instituted rationing of electricity and forced farmers and food manufacturers to sell 30-100 percent of their goods to the state at set prices. Today, there are long lines for basic commodities and serious concerns that Venezuela may be on the verge of a catastrophic economic collapse, leading to an economically-induced famine. Given the state of the global economy, this is dangerously close to becoming a common phenomenon.

3) The government will turn to heresy and there will be none to offer them reproof

Without touching on US President Barack Obama’s ambiguous religious life, he has often been criticized for political heresy in his harsh treatment of the Bible of the United States: the Constitution. Discussions about gun control make no reference to the second amendment, and his executive order granting amnesty to illegal immigrants is in litigation for its questionable legality. Obamacare has several points which are criticized for violating basic constitutional points. Yet Obama has placed himself above reproof by issuing executive orders with impunity.

At the same time, the ongoing Republican campaign for the presidential nomination has taken on a religious dimension, with nearly all of the candidates emphasizing a strong religious aspect to their platforms. It seems that many Americans have decided they would like to see less heresy and more religion in the White House.

3) The meeting place of scholars will be used for immorality

American universities were created to transform students into successful, educated contributors to society, yet morality on today’s campuses has taken a sharp and disturbing downturn. Studies have shown that as many as 40 percent of college students can be defined as alcoholics, and more than half of all university students will use illicit drugs. Even more disturbingly, sexual assault is rampant in today’s universities. Some studies estimate that 19-27 percent of college women and 6-8 percent of college men are sexually assaulted during their time in college.

4) The dwellers on the frontier will go about begging from place to place without anyone to take pity on them

Today’s refugee issue has become a modern epidemic. 14 million Syrians have fled their homes, and six million of these were forced to leave their country – four million in the last year alone. At least 340 children have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea since September and officials claim the actual figure may be much higher with many bodies lost at sea. Despite international efforts, the situation has grown beyond any ability to cope with it, and taken on social dimensions that have become the focus of debate.

5) Youths will put old men to shame, the old will stand up in the presence of the young

In today’s culture of youth, achievement at a young age is idolized and lauded, and older generations, despite having built the foundation of the modern world, are pushed aside as they age out of technological advancement and relevance. In 2014, Forbes wrote in its annual ‘Under 30 list’ highlighting the achievements of young entrepreneurs, “This is the time to be young and ambitious. Never before has youth been such an advantage.” It seems that lifetime achievement awards have gone out of fashion.

6) A son will revile his father, a daughter will rise up against her mother….and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household

Last month, a 20-year-old Syrian man personified this disturbing forecast when he  killed his mother in the city of Raqqa because she urged him to leave ISIS. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that there have been several cases of sons killing their father for similar reasons, but this was the first documented case of matricide.

7) The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog

Sometimes the simple reading is the most poignant. Hillary Clinton shocked many at a recent campaign speech in Reno when, while making a point, she began barking like a dog.

8) A son will not be ashamed before his father

The rabbinic commentary describes this as a condition in which the young take over the roles of authority traditionally held by society’s elders. This is certainly true in today’s marketplace in which uber-rich youngsters rule over men and women with decades of education and experience. Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, reset the biological business meter when he founded Microsoft at the age of 20, making Steve Jobs (born the same year as Gates) seem over the hill when he waited until the age of 21 to found Apple. At 23, an age when most people are coping with the very beginnings of their career, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was a self-made billionaire. David Karp, a high-school dropout, founded Tumblr when he was 20 and now, at the ripe old age of 26, has a personal worth of more than $200 million.

9) The wisdom of the learned will degenerate, fearers of sin will be despised, and the truth will be lacking

Nowhere is the fulfillment of this prediction more evident than in the blatantly unfair treatment of the State of Israel on today’s world stage. The dialogue surrounding the conflict in Israel is dominated by outright lies, including claims – now widely accepted – that deny facts previously undisputed. Despite the absolute absence of any historical Palestinian nation, opponents of Israel claim that the Palestinians have been a nation in the land of Israel for thousands of years, with historical and religious ties to the Temple Mount. This view was even propagated by one of the world’s premiere journalistic sources, the New York Times, which stated that proof of the Jewish Temples “proved elusive”.

The Israel debate is mired in absurdity. The world’s top thinkers, politicians and religious world leaders who should know better, blindly vilify the Jewish State and support its enemies. The attempts of Israeli security forces to protect Jews and citizens from Palestinian terrorists have been called “extrajudicial executions”. The United Nations has censured Israel, the only democratic nation in the Middle East, more times than any other country in the world. Pope Francis has crowned PA President Mahmoud Abbas an “Angel of Mercy”, despite Abbas’s blatant incitement of violence against Israelis.

One must look no further than the worldwide rejection and condemnation of the Jewish State, a beacon of democracy, faith, and light, to see the truth of this forecast.