Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Each of the twelve tribes of Israel received a special portion of the Land to correspond to their unique spiritual attributes. According to Jewish tradition, Zebulun, the successful sea merchant, had a ‘partnership agreement’ with his brother Isaachar, who were the Torah scholars of the family. The arrangement was that Zebulun worked in order to support Isaachar’s noble profession of full time Torah study and they ‘split’ the spiritual revenue and heavenly reward that the joint venture earned. Learn more with our new interactive Bible website, TheIsraelBible.com, with Hebrew and English text and exciting modern features. Sign up for a free personalized reading plan and receive a free eBook, “24 Inspirational Verses from the 24 Books of The Israel Bible.”
A new website is using modern technology to share Israel's great biblical significance with people all over the world. An audio component allows readers to hear the authentic Hebrew text, while interactive maps and other content bring the verses to life.
This handmade bracelet is made with high quality materials from a studio in Israel. Artist Chen Zuker uses leather, Swarovski crystal, semi precious stones and silver plated metal to create beautiful designs for the modern woman. Silver plated with charms of the Star of David, Shema Israel, and leaves.
Can you guess where Rebecca Kowalskytook this glorious photo of fishing boats in Israel? Take a guess and send me an email or post your answer on Facebook!
Thanks for the updates, many blessings- Monika Chand
Thank You so much for the message! I'll always stay with Jerusalem, with Israel...as for me, I am just like Ruth the Moabitess: "...for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy G-d my G-d!" Yours in the Holy One of Israel. Esa Heiska
Posted: 28 Mar 2016 Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
If a new financial crisis had already begun, we would expect to see corporate debt defaults skyrocket, and that is precisely what is happening. As you will see below, corporate defaults are currently at the highest level that we have seen since 2009. A wave of bankruptcies is sweeping the energy industry, but it isn’t just the energy industry that is in trouble. In fact, the average credit rating for U.S. corporations is now lower than it was at any point during the last recession. This is yet another sign that we are in the early chapters of a major league economic crisis. Yesterday I talked about how 23.2 percent of all Americans in their prime working years do not have a job right now, but today I am going to focus on the employers. Big corporate giants all over America are in deep, deep financial trouble, and this is going to result in a tremendous wave of layoffs in the coming months. We should rejoice that U.S. stocks have rebounded a bit in the short-term, but the euphoria in the markets is not doing anything to stop the wave of corporate defaults that is starting to hit Wall Street like a freight train. Zero Hedge is reporting that we have not seen this many corporate defaults since the extremely painful year of 2009…
While many were looking forward to the weekend in last week’s holiday-shortened week for some overdue downtime, the CEOs of five, mostly energy, companies had nothing but bad news for their employees and shareholders: they had no choice but to throw in the towel and file for bankruptcy. And, as Bloomberg reports, with last week’s five defaults, the 2016 to date total is now 31, the highest since 2009 when there were 42 company defaults, according to Standard & Poor’s. Four of the defaults in the week ended March 23 were by U.S. issuers including UCI Holdings Ltd. and Peabody Energy Corp., the credit rating company said.
And by all indications, what we have seen so far is just the beginning. According to Wolf Richter, the average rating on U.S. corporate debt is already lower than it was at any point during the last financial crisis…
Credit rating agencies, such as Standard & Poor’s, are not known for early warnings. They’re mired in conflicts of interest and reluctant to cut ratings for fear of losing clients. When they finally do warn, it’s late and it’s feeble, and the problem is already here and it’s big. So Standard & Poor’s, via a report by S&P Capital IQ, just warned about US corporate borrowers’ average credit rating, which at “BB,” and thus in junk territory, hit a record low, even “below the average we recorded in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 credit crisis.”
What all of this tells us is that we are in the early stages of an absolutely epic financial meltdown. Meanwhile, we continue to get more indications that the real economy is slowing down significantly. According to the Atlanta Fed, U.S. GDP growth for the first quarter is now expected to come in at just 0.6 percent, and Moody’s Analytics is projecting a similar number…
First-quarter growth is now tracking at just 0.9 percent, after new data showed surprising weakness in consumer spending and a wider-than-expected trade gap. According to the CNBC/Moody’s Analytics rapid update, economists now see the sluggish growth pace based on already reported data, down from 1.4 percent last week.
Of course if the government was actually using honest numbers, people wouldn’t be talking about the potential start of a new recession. Instead, they would be talking about the deepening of a recession that never ended. We are in the terminal phase of the greatest debt bubble the world has ever experienced. For decades, the United States has been running up government debt, corporate debt and consumer debt. Our trade deficits have been bigger than anything the world has ever seen before, and our massively inflated standard of living was funded by an ever increasing pile of IOUs. I love how Doug Noland described this in his recent piece…
With U.S. officials turning their backs on financial excesses, Bubble Dynamics and unrelenting Current Account Deficits, I expected the world to lose its appetite for U.S. financial claims. After all, how long should the world be expected to trade real goods and services for endless U.S. IOUs? As it turned out, rather than acting to discipline the profligate U.S. Credit system, the world acquiesced to Bubble Dynamics. No one was willing to be left behind. Along the way it was learned that large reserves of U.S. financial assets were integral to booming financial inflows and attendant domestic investment and growth. The U.S. has now run persistently large Current Account Deficits for going on 25 years. Seemingly the entire globe is now trapped in a regime of unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus required to levitate a world with unmatched debt and economic imbalances. History has seen nothing comparable. And I would strongly argue that the consequences of Bubbles become much more problematic over time. The longer excesses persist the deeper the structural impairment.
As this bubble bursts, we are going to endure a period of adjustment unlike anything America has ever known before. I talk about the pain coming to America in my new book entitled “The Rapture Verdict” which is currently the #1 new release in Christian eschatology on Amazon.com. To be honest, I don’t know if any of us really understands the horror that is coming to this nation in the years ahead. None of us have ever experienced anything similar to it, so we don’t really have a frame of reference to imagine what it will be like. This spike in corporate debt defaults is a major league red flag. Since the last financial crisis, our big corporations went on a massive debt binge, and now they are starting to pay the price. We never seem to learn from the errors of the past. Instead of learning our lessons the last time around, we just went out and made even bigger mistakes. I am afraid that history is going to judge us rather harshly. Those that are waiting for the next great financial crisis to begin can quit waiting, because it is already happening right in front of our eyes. If you believe that the temporary rebound of U.S. stocks is somehow going to change the trajectory of where things are heading, you are going to end up deeply, deeply disappointed.
I've been to Turkey at least a half dozen times over the years and have always loved it there. Just last October, I traveled to Istanbul for a series of meetings. I visited the Blue Mosque and various locations that I'd written about in The Third Target, including the area of restaurants and cafes where I'd set a fictional terrorist attack that nearly kills my main character, J.B. Collins, the New York Times foreign correspondent.
I'm so glad I went, but it's going to be awhile before I go back. Turkey is fast turning from a moderate, peaceful democracy -- indeed, long model of tolerance in the Islamic world since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1920s -- into a dangerous dictatorship under President Erdogan, an increasingly tyrannical Islamist. What's more, Turkey is becoming both a transit point for ISIS and al Qaeda and other jihadists, and even a target of Radical Islamic terrorism.
Soon, I plan to write more about the darkness falling over Turkey, a country I love dearly and one where I've taken my wife and children repeatedly over the years.
For now, here's more on the warning issued to Israeli citizens:
"The Counter-Terrorism Bureau at the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday issued a travel warning calling on the public to avoid visiting Turkey and urging Israelis currently there to leave as soon as they can," reports the Times of Israel.
The warning, which raised the terror risk in Turkey from level 3 (basic concrete threat) to level 2 (high concrete threat), came in the wake of a terror attack in central Istanbul on March 19, in which three Israelis were killed and several others wounded," the Times noted. "That attack, the PMO said in a statement, underscored the threat emanating from Islamic State cells that seek to attack tourism sites and proved that IS has 'high capabilities of carrying out further attacks.'"
“Terrorist infrastructures in Turkey continue to advance additional attacks against tourist targets – including Israeli tourists – throughout the country,” the statement added. Israelis in Turkey should “leave as soon as possible.""
"The police have warned that IS group members may have scouted out places of worship as well as consulates and embassies, saying that churches and synagogues especially in Ankara, as well as foundations belonging to non-Muslims, should be on their guard," the article noted. "Israel has not stated definitively whether last Saturday’s blast had deliberately targeted Israelis. It has praised Turkey for its handling of the aftermath of the bombing. The Israeli victims of the attack were Yonathan Suher, 40, Simha Dimri, 59, and Avraham Goldman, 69. Suher and Goldman were also United States citizens."
What a joy and undeserved honor it is to celebrate Easter in the Holy Land, where Jesus of Nazareth traveled and taught and healed and loved His neighbors and His enemies.
Unfortunately, too few Jews and Arabs in this region get as excited about Easter as I do. Amongst six million Israeli Jews, about two million Israeli Arabs, and another four million-plus Palestinian Arabs, only about 30,000 are born again believers that Jesus is the Messiah who died on the cross and rose again from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures. The good news is wonderful news -- but not enough people in this part of the world know it or believe it.
Then again, my family and I weren't always excited about Easter. There was a time when we hadn't heard the Gospel. And even when we did hear about God's free gift of forgiveness and hope and eternal life, we didn't all immediately believe it. My parents and I understand what it's like to be lost, and to feel lost, and to genuinely have no idea that God loves us and wants to adopt us into His royal family.
Today, I'd like to share with you our spiritual journey. In this hour-long audio message (divided up in 5 to 10 minute segments on YouTube), I explain the process my parents went through to come to faith in Jesus Christ, how I later came to faith in Christ myself, and later how I experienced a powerful spiritual revival in my junior year of high school that completely transformed my life. I hope it will encourage you in your own spiritual journey, and that it will be something you can share with family and friends to help and encourage them, as well. Thanks and God bless you.
Brits More Likely to Believe in Ghosts Than Their Creator
More British people believe in ghosts than a creator. (Flickr/Creative Commons)
Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
British people are more likely to believe in ghosts then a creator, and self-identified Christians are more likely to believe in aliens than then devil, according to a new survey.
"There is a tendency to believe in the friendlier parts of faith than those which are difficult to contemplate. People who say they are Christian are more likely to definitely believe in heaven (44%) than hell (27%), and more likely to definitely believe in angels (35%) than the devil (24%)," according to the YouGov study. "British people as a whole are most likely to believe in fate (36%) and alien life (30%), while in net terms belief in ghosts (-9) and karma (-11) is more prevelant than belief in a Creator (-21) or heaven (-21)."
Approximately 45 percent of Brits definitely do not believe in a Creator while 20-25 percent definitely do believe in a creator.
Meanwhile, about 35-40 percent definitely do not believe in ghosts while 25-30 percent definitely do believe in ghosts.
According to The Conversation, Christianity has declined in England throughout the last several decades. Only 1 out of 5 people born since 1975 believes in God.
"Belief in a 'higher power' has indeed gone up, but this vague spirituality comes at the expense of more religious theism. Nearly half of younger adults in Britain qualify as atheists or agnostics, even if they would not use those terms themselves," The Conversation reports.
In America, 18 percent believe they have seen a ghost, according to a Pew Research study.
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Christians Must Unite Now Against Gay Bullies and Their Allies
The mayor of San Francisco has banned all publicly funded city employees from traveling to North Carolina.
The NFL is threatening to block Atlanta, Georgia, from hosting a future Super Bowl.
The NBA is threatening to relocate next year's All Star game from Charlotte, North Carolina, to another city.
Corporate giants like American Airlines and Hollywood giants like Disney are threatening action against Georgia and North Carolina.
Why?
It is because North Carolina has passed a bill requiring people to use the public bathroom or locker room that corresponds to their birth certificate gender and because Georgia has enacted legislation (yet to be signed by the governor) that would protect pastors from having to perform same-sex "marriages."
It is time for Christians and all people of conscience to say: "Enough is enough with your bullying. We are not going to bow down to your threats. We will do what is right, regardless of cost or consequence, and in the end, we will be vindicated for taking a stand."
As for Ed Lee, the mayor of San Francisco, he's acting more like a dictator than a mayor. Who gave him the right to tell city-funded employees where they could travel in their own country, once known as "the land of the free"?
Unfortunately, the pattern is all too familiar.
A state like Indiana passes a Religious Freedoms Act that mirrors national law, as a result of which gay bullies and their allies threaten to pull their businesses from the state—from Wal-Mart to Apple to Craig's List to the NCAA—and within days, the governor and the legislation cave, passing a new law that makes things worse than ever. (This happened in March, 2015; the Indianan legislators and governor have since pushed back to some degree.)
We cannot let this happen in our states (I have lived in North Carolina since 2003), and as believers nationwide, we must stand together and reject these pressure tactics and call them out for what they are: unethical, strong-armed bullying.
Never bow down to bullies!
Earlier this year, I helped draft an eight-page letter to the mayor and City Council of Charlotte, detailing the negative effects that their new "anti-LGBT discrimination" bill could have. (Ironically, a gay man who was instrumental in helping to push this bill through was a convicted, child sex-offender who has since resigned as president of Charlotte's LGBT Chamber of Commerce because of his past record.)
Among the negative effects of this bill outlined in my letter were:
The door would be opened wide to heterosexual predators who would use transgender bathroom rights to spy on girls and women (for chilling video evidence of what these heterosexual predators have done, see here).
The proposed changes could lead to widespread discrimination against Christians and other people of faith who, in good conscience, could not participate in same-sex "weddings" (such as photographers, bakers, florists and others). The law would now be decidedly against them.
I also noted that, "National studies indicate that states which do not have non-discrimination laws including 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' are suffering no ill effects economically," dispelling the myth that only "progressive" (that is, "pro-LGBT") cities are prospering. The evidence is clearly against this.
This is yet another reason to stand up to the bullies: Good business practices and hard work lead to prosperity, not being politically correct. (For the truth about the North Carolina bill, which the secular media is largely failing to report, see here, and note that in North Carolina, some of the companies protesting the loudest already have policies to protect LGBT "rights" and those policies are completely unaffected by the new law.)
In Georgia, the main focus was preserving religious freedoms, such as protecting pastors from having to perform same-sex "wedding" ceremonies. (Religious freedoms were certainly an issue in North Carolina, but the central focus here was on the bathroom bill.)
Yet as Ryan Anderson pointed out, the bill passed by the Georgia legislature was quite narrow in its protections, contained language that could be used against people of faith and was a significantly gutted version of a far from perfect original bill.
In other words, the current bill awaiting the governor's signature is quite tame, simply providing the barest of protections of our religious liberties, and it is still creating anuproar of protest, as "More than 30 of Hollywood's heaviest hitters sent a threatening letter to Gov. Nathan Deal, telling him in no uncertain terms that if he passes the religious-freedom bill the legislature handed him for consideration, they'll never work in Georgia again."
As I have warned for years (and repeated almost ad infinitum), the activists who came out of the closet want to put you and me in the closet, and they will not rest until that door is safely shut. It is time for us to say: That will never happen, and we will go to jail rather than compromise our convictions. Your bullying will backfire in the end.
When it comes to transgender issues, we are dealing with an unquantifiable, untestable condition which relies entirely on self-perception (and can switch by the day or the hour), as noted by Margaret A. Hagen, professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University. Yet the mayor of Seattle recently used an executive order to allow biological males to use women's bathrooms.
In the days to come, I plan to lay out some specific calls to action, including a strategy for Christian athletes in the NFL and NBA. But for now, it's time for us to get on our knees before God so we can stand tall before man, resolving in our hearts that, whatever it takes (in godly, not fleshly terms), we will do what is right. (For an excellent, strategic handbook, see here.)
For the moment, I encourage you to take a moment to send a note of appreciation toGov. Pat McCrory in North Carolina for not caving in (He will be under heavy pressure in the days ahead.) and a note strongly encouraging Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to sign House Bill 757 into law. Will you stop and do that right now?
Billy Graham once said, "Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened."
Let courage spread from you to others—in your home, your school, your place of business, your congregation—beginning today.
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To a Muslim terrorist, unbelievers are unbelievers, be they children, women or men, and killing them is doing Allah's work.
That's why Muslim terrorists could carry out their horrific acts in Brussels last week, indiscriminately murdering and maiming people who, in all likelihood, never lifted a finger against a Muslim in their entire lives.
It didn't matter. To the radical Muslim, they are guilty and they deserve to die.
Watch the video to see Dr. Michael Brown explain more.
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Franklin Graham: Media Intentionally Misleading About North Carolina
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law a bill that overturned Charlotte's transgender bathroom ordinance. (Reuters photo)
Friday, the Rev. Franklin Graham was among the first to congratulate North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory to signing into law a bill that reversed the City of Charlotte's transgender bathroom ordinance.
Now, he's coming to the Tar Heel State's defense against what he claims is "media distortion" over what the state law does and doesn't do.
"They did the right thing in killing that bill," the evangelist wrote on Facebook Friday evening. "Charlotte's mayor and City Council voted to allow people to use a restroom or locker room that did not match their biological identity. We all know that's ridiculous—and dangerous. I'm glad North Carolina has a governor who will stand up for what is right and protect our children.
"Now he's facing harsh criticism by LGBT orchestrated voices. He's facing threats of backlash by big business, and of course his political opponents want to use this to their advantage. We can't bow down to economic threats that risk the protection of our citizens and go against common sense and morality. Government should not mandate men being able to use a women's public restroom based on their felt 'gender identity' of the day.
"LGBT activists are letting their voices be heard. We need to let the voice of common sense be heard as well. Write your newspapers editor and post on your social media about your support of what Governor McCrory and lawmakers in Raleigh have done–don't be silent.
"Pray for our local, state, and national officials that they will have the back-bone to make the tough decisions that are needed–and stand by them. And let Governor McCrory know in the comments below how much you appreciate his strong and courageous stand on this issue."
On Saturday, in response to news reports that San Francisco, Calif., Mayor Ed Lee was prohibiting city employees from traveling to North Carolina as a result of the legislation, Graham once again came to the state's defense. Linking to a press release from McCrory's office, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association wrote:
"San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee says he is banning all city employees from job-related travel to North Carolina in protest of the action NC Gov. Pat McCrory and the General Assembly just took to preserve basic privacy and protect its citizens from perverts and sexual predators. Can you believe it?
"I think Mayor Lee needs to focus on the problems of San Francisco—which are many—and leave NC to our governor to manage. He and others who are threatening NC with all kinds of boycotts really need to get their facts straight rather than believing the misinformation promoted by the Progressive Left.
"The measure just passed doesn't allow discrimination at all. Check out the real facts in this link for a dose of reality. These issues are facing many states, and we need to stand up for what is right.
"I'm so thankful NC has a governor and a majority of legislators at the capitol who have some backbone and aren't being pushed around by the dangerous whims of LGBT activists. I hope every pastor in every church across this country will pray for Gov. McCrory and these issues in their services tomorrow—and that they will stand against the onslaught on morality and God's truth in our nation."
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Rich Vera found himself in the spirit, supernaturally in the White House for 8 hours observing what is going on behind the scenes. Then God showed him a prophetic countdown for many nations of the world. Starting in 2016.
Click here to order your copy of The Final Countdown by Rich Vera: http://bit.ly/1TvAlNH
