Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

U.S. Episcopal Church Has Adopted Pro - Muslim, LGBT Agendas
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsBreitbart
Categories: Today's Headlines;Apostasy

Statements by the dean of the National Cathedral as it hosted Muslim prayers on the 100^th anniversary of the last Caliph’s call for Jihad against nonbelievers have led to a closer look at the ideology of the Episcopal Church in the United States.

As Breitbart News’ National Security Editor Dr. Sebastian Gorka reported co-organizers of the Muslim prayer event at the Episcopal National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., included the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the All-Dulles Area Muslims Society (ADAMS) Center – all of which have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Breitbart News’ Jordan Schachtel interviewed Gary Hall, dean of the National Cathedral, who said he was not aware that the Muslim prayers took place on the 100^th anniversary of the last Caliph’s call for Jihad against nonbelievers, or the infidel.

“I did not know that it was that anniversary,” Hall told Schachtel. “But knowing it now, it actually seems to be more appropriate to have an event that is on an anniversary of a hard time. …There have been atrocities on both sides. There have been extremists on both sides.”

The Episcopal church, as the Huffington Post reported in September, has been leaning leftward for over a decade, with greater emphasis on “diversity,” particularly in the area of human sexuality and now, in its outreach to Muslims.

In 2003, the church elected its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, who, in May, announced his divorce from his “husband,” Mark Andrew. Robinson’s consecration led to hundreds of parishes exiting the church in protest. Currently, the 66-year-old bishop is a fellow at the left-wing Center for American Progress (CAP) in Washington, D.C., which was founded by John Podesta in 2003.

Katharine Jefferts Schori is about to end her nine-year tenure as presiding bishop, the first woman elected to head a national branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. In announcing her decision not to seek re-election, Jefferts Schori said, “I will continue to engage us in becoming a more fully diverse church, spreading the gospel among all sorts and conditions of people, and wholeheartedly devoted to God’s vision of a healed and restored creation.”

As the Huffington Post reported, though her predecessor, Bishop Frank Griswold, chose not to litigate against parishes that left the church over its new emphasis on sexual “diversity,” Jefferts Schori spent millions of the national church’s funds in litigation against five dioceses, winning most of the legal battles.

Over Jefferts Schori’s term, however, Episcopal church membership has dropped by 12 percent. In 2009, the conservative Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) broke away from the Episcopal church over substantial issues regarding human sexuality and the authority of the Bible.

During the summer, ACNA elected Atlanta Bishop Foley Beach as its new archbishop, and has been embraced by conservative Anglicans from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Also in 2009, Jefferts Schori condemned what she called “the great Western heresy – that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God,” a statement that created a firestorm among traditionalists.

In that same year, under the leadership of Jefferts Schori, the Episcopal church adopted a provisional rite for the blessing of same-sex unions.” Three years later, “gender identity and expression” were added to the church’s “nondiscrimination canons,” which prohibited exclusion of transgender individuals from ordination for that particular cause.

Similarly, in 2010, Jefferts Schori presided over the consecration of lesbian Suffragan Bishop Mary Glasspool of Los Angeles.

The Episcopal church’s emphasis on promoting LGBT issues has won the attention of one of the top gay philanthropists in the country – Jon Stryker, heir of Stryker medical technology company – who was also one of Barack Obama’s top bundlers for his 2012 re-election campaign. In March, Stryker’s Arcus Foundation, created primarily to promote the LGBT agenda, announced that the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago’s Chicago Consultation would be a recipient of the foundation’s Social Justice grants.

According to Arcus:

Several organizations will use funding to empower Christian leaders to promote full inclusion of LGBT members in their religious communities and larger societies. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago’s Chicago Consultation plans to use funding to build LGBT understanding and acceptance by organizing a third gathering for LGBT activists and high-level Anglican leaders from Africa and elsewhere.

In addition to the LGBT agenda, the church has taken on outreach to Muslims. Partnerships between local Episcopal churches and Muslims have been encouraged. The Episcopal church in Connecticut (ECCT), for example, under the direction of Bishop Ian Douglas, sold one of its church properties to the local Muslim community several weeks ago.

According to the Episcopal News Service (ENS), Christ Episcopal Church in Avon, Connecticut, was sold on October 21 for $1.1 million to the Farmington Valley American Muslim Center, Inc. (FVAMC).

Douglas, who, according to the Huffington Post, is considered to be a potential successor to Jefferts Schori, met with other ECCT staff, community leaders, and residents in the spring of 2013 to discuss how Christ Episcopal Church could be used “as an asset to God’s mission of restoration and reconciliation” in the local community and beyond.

According to ENS, in September of 2013, ECCT entered into an “interfaith partnership” with the Muslim Center. The new relationship involved renting the Avon church to FVAMC to allow local Muslims a place to gather for “prayers, teaching, youth programs and interfaith work.” Since that time, ENS states the Muslim community has expanded and grown its programs, particularly those for youth.

ECCT committees concerned with the sale gave it wide support and noted that the purchase of Christ Episcopal Church by the Muslim community is the start of a new era of collaboration.

“I thank God that through the stewardship of our property in Avon we have come into relationship with our Muslim neighbors in the Farmington valley,” Douglas said. “Together we are learning about what it means to be people of faith working together for peace and understanding.”

“It is a blessing to cooperate with the FVAMC in the development of their new home,” Douglas added.

“We are grateful to our brothers and sisters in the Diocese for their partnership,” said Khamis Abu-Hasaballah, president of the Board of Trustees of the FVAMC. “This house of worship will serve as a foundation for our efforts to continue building bridges with our neighbors, the local community, and other faith traditions.”

“Our relationship with the ECCT serves as a shining example in our region, and as a beacon of hope for inter-religious understanding and cooperation the world over,” Abu-Hasaballah added.

A press release about the partnership between ECCT and FVAMC states, “The initiative builds on and expands the interfaith work that is taking place in other areas of the Diocese that include special educational programs, guest speakers, refugee resettlement, and shared space, as well as participation in interfaith coalitions.”

The Next Big Mideast Explosion
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsWND
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A rendition of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

JERUSALEM – While Egypt has undergone some big leadership changes in recent years and some tumultuous social upheaval, a bigger story has been occupying the attention of the nation from the man in the street to top officials.

You probably haven’t heard much about this story – but it will have huge impact on the region and the world in the days to come.

Egypt is concerned about ISIS. It’s concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood as always. It’s concerned about the Palestinians in Gaza. It’s concerned about Iran.

But there’s something even more pressing on the minds of Egyptians – something they see as a matter of survival.

The lifeblood of Egypt has always been the Nile River.

Here’s a report from Foreign Policy Magazine from earlier this year: “Egypt’s musical-chairs government faces enough challenges. So why is a construction project almost 3,000 kilometers from Cairo provoking fears over Egypt’s national survival? Egypt and Ethiopia are butting heads over the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a $4-billion hydroelectric project that Ethiopia is building on the headwaters of the Blue Nile, near the border between Ethiopia and Sudan. Cairo worries the mega-project, which began construction in 2011 and is scheduled to be finished by 2017, could choke the downstream flow of the Nile River right when it expects its needs for fresh water to increase.”

Note we are talking about a dam project that could “threaten Egypt’s national survival” as early as 2017.

How seriously is Egypt taking this threat?

A Wikileaks document released in the fall of 2012 revealed Egyptian plans to build an airstrip for bombing the dam. In June 2013, before he was deposed, President Mohamed Morsi said “all options” including military intervention were on the table if Ethiopia continued to build the dam on the Blue Nile.

Ahmed Abdel Halin, a strategic analyst, was quoted in the African newspaper Mshale earlier this year saying: “Egypt sees its Nile water share as a matter of national security.”

Ethiopia began diverting some water to the dam last year. That’s when things really started heating up in Egypt, with some Egyptian officials calling for sending commandos or arming local insurgents to sabotage the dam project unless Ethiopia halts construction.

Richard Tutwiler, a specialist in water resource management at the American University in Cairo, summed up Egypt’s problem: “Egypt is totally dependent on the Nile. Without it, there is no Egypt.”

A report in WaterWorld magazine, a trade publication of the international water industry, quoted a member of the Egyptian National Panel of Experts studying the effects of the Renaissance Dam as saying Ethiopia’s construction of a dam is a catastrophe for his country, which would end up losing 60 percent of its agricultural land. He also warned that a collapse of the Renaissance Dam could in turn lead to the collapse of the Aswan Dam, in effect devastating the whole of Egypt. Keep that in mind for later.

A report from National Geographic last fall showed Egyptians – from politicians to ordinary citizens – are furious and frightened by the implications of Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam.

“Ethiopia is killing us,” said taxi driver Ahmed Hossam. “If they build this dam, there will be no Nile. If there’s no Nile, then there’s no Egypt.”

“Building a dam is tantamount to a declaration of war,” a senior Nour Party official said. Meanwhile, Ethiopians living in Egypt have been beaten up and evicted from their homes due to the panic and helplessness of everyday Egyptians.

Here is another news report that will give you an idea of the magnitude of the crisis:

In 2012 Bradley Hope of Egypt’s the National reported that the dam “could destabilize Egypt in a way that would make the last year of political upheaval look minuscule.”

Mohamed Nasr El Din Allam, Egypt’s minister of water and irrigation, was quoted in that article as saying: “It would lead to political, economic and social instability. Millions of people would go hungry. There would be water shortages everywhere. It’s huge.”

Now think about this.

The Nile River’s length is 4,132 miles. It flows through Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and into Egypt. The Greek historian Herodotus called Egypt “the gift of the Nile,” because civilization there depended on the resources of the river. It’s true that without the Nile there would be no Egypt. To the east and west is desert.

The waters of the Nile have served as the means whereby civilizations have gathered along its banks – even to the days before the pharaohs of Egypt. The natural flow of the Nile is from south to north. Thus, the waters that eventually make their way to Egypt must first pass through the regions of southeastern Africa before emptying in the Mediterranean Sea.

Historically, in the spring, the snow on the mountains of East Africa melts, sending a torrent of water that overflows the banks of the Nile and floods the river valley. The rushing river picked up bits of soil and plant life called silt. As the annual flood receded, a strip of black soil emerged every year along the banks of the Nile. The silt was rich in nutrients, and it provided the people of Egypt with two or three crops every year. This made the Nile Valley ideal for farming since ancient times.

But that’s not as true today as it had been in the past. Egypt already had water problems before the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam came on the scene.

In 1970 the Egyptians constructed the Aswan Dam in southern Egypt to provide water for irrigation, to generate electricity and to control the flood waters of the Nile.

The original Aswan Dam was an embankment dam situated across the Nile River in Aswan, first built by the British in 1902. In the 1960s, President Nasser began building the high dam. It was a key objective of the socialist Egyptian government following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Nasser sought to control flooding, provide water for irrigation and generate hydroelectricity that would industrialize Egypt.

Nasser’s dream was to transform the old-fashioned agricultural economy of Egypt into a modern industrial society. It required electricity. Thus the power plant at the dam. It would also require moving people into cities and wiping out the old ways of raising crops that depended on the regular overflow of the banks of the Nile. In fact, 120,000 people, mostly Nubians, were forcibly relocated to build the dam and Lake Nasser, the reservoir into which the Nile flows.

No longer does the Nile overflow its banks the way it did annually before then. The Aswan Dam controls the flow of water, and no longer are the fertile areas along the Nile the source of natural nutrients flowing out of Africa. All that silt has been accumulating in the Aswan Dam since 1970. And it’s filling up with silt and already choking the flow of water into Egypt through the Nile. Some 40 million tons of silt was deposited annually on the banks of the Nile during flooding. That 40 million tons now accumulates every year in Lake Nasser and at the dam, diminishing both the capacity of the lake and the flow of water through the dam.

In other words, Egypt already has a big water problem. And the man most responsible for that water crisis was Gamal Abdel Nasser, the long-time president and Israel-hater – the predecessor to Anwar Sadat.

That water problem has already greatly diminished the fishing industry in Egypt because the water no longer carries those natural nutrients it picked up in Africa along the way.

But, as Egyptians have figured out, it could get a lot worse with the building of the dam in Ethiopia.

All of this may sound very familiar to Bible prophecy students.

The parallels between what’s happening in Egypt right now and what is predicted for Egypt in Isaiah 19 and Ezekiel 29 are stunning.

Isaiah 19 first predicts what seems to be a civil war in Egypt: “And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts.”

Following that, in Isaiah 19, comes the drying up of the Nile River: “And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither. The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded. And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.”

Isaiah 19 says that Egypt will become “desolate and waste” from “the tower of Syene unto the border of Ethiopia.”

What is Syene? It’s another name for Aswan – where the Nile enters Egypt through the Aswan Dam.

Keep your eyes on Egypt.

The confluence of prophecy and current events seems to be taking place before our eyes.

Is anyone paying attention? 

Survey Says Most Non - Christian Millennials Have Never Read the Bible
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Earlier this year, I told you about some of the challenges in reaching Millennials for Christ, that is, young adults aged roughly 18 to 33. While 55 percent of Baby Boomers say they’re religious, only 36 percent of Millennials do. “Today,” University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox notes, “fully 29 percent of Millennials consider themselves religiously unaffiliated, a record postwar high. They are also much less likely to describe themselves as ‘religious’ compared with earlier generations of Americans.”

Well, how is this rising generation connecting to the Bible? In a word, poorly. According to a new study by the Barna Group, “Non-Christian Millennials hold ambivalent and sometimes extremely negative views about the Bible.”

How negative? The first thing to know is that a full 62 percent of non-Christian Millennials have never even read the Bible. Friends, that’s the kind of world in which we live—one with tremendous ignorance of God’s Word. It’s no wonder that the nation has gone so far downhill, so fast, because we can’t expect people to live like Christians if they aren’t Christians, and especially if they don’t even have a passing acquaintance with the Scriptures.

Non-Christian Millennials’ unfamiliarity with the Bible, however, has not kept them from forming an opinion on it—an extremely negative one. Barna says that nearly half believe “the Bible is just another book of teachings written by men that contains stories and advice.”

The most common words they use to describe the Bible are “story,” “mythology,” “symbolic,” and “fairy tale.” Fully 30 percent of Millennials allow that it’s a useful book of moral teachings, but nearly as many—27 percent—agree that the Bible is “a dangerous book of religious dogma used for centuries to oppress people.”

Almost one in five say the Bible is “an outdated book with no relevance for today.” I don’t know about you, but those numbers kind of make me want to weep.

Although we obviously have a long way to go to overcome this prejudice, I’m glad to say that the survey gives us some pointers on how to do it—and how not to do it.

First, how not to do it: Barna suggests reading your Bible around a non-Christian Millennial is not likely to spark much spiritual interest—the opposite, in fact, is more likely to be true. According to Barna, “When they see someone reading the Bible in public...they assume the Bible reader is politically conservative...; that they don’t have anything in common with the person...; that the Bible reader is old fashioned...or that [he or she is] trying to make a statement or be provocative....Fewer than one in 10 non-Christian young adults indicate any kind of positive response.”

So what is a more effective approach among this group? According to Barna, “personal interactions” with people who have benefited from the Bible tend to bear the most fruit.

As we’ve said before, Millennials value relationships. We don’t need to be Bible scholars—although of course there’s nothing wrong with that. But we do, however, need to practice what the Bible preaches, and be neighborly.

And there’s more good news. The survey suggests that Millennials are fully capable of holding orthodox views about the Bible and the Christian faith. Nearly all self-identified Millennial Christians who attend church at least once a month and who describe their religious faith as very important to their lives believe the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life and that it’s the actual or inspired word of God.

So when it comes to Millennials and the Bible, is the glass half full, or half empty? It all depends, gentle listener, on us.

Porn Industry the Main Sex Educator of Kids, Says Child Advocate
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsCBC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

More kids at ever younger ages are accessing pornography online, according to a range of international studies, but there's not much consensus about what, if anything, should be done by parents or teachers to address the issue.

Today in Winnipeg, a children's advocacy group called Beyond Borders will host a symposium entitled "Generation XXX, the pornification of our children."

"The porn industry is the country's main sex educator of our boys and girls," says Cordelia Anderson, one of the experts scheduled to speak at the symposium, referring to the situation in the U.S.

"Young people have never had this ease of access to this type of material at this young of age," the founding president of the U.S. National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation told CBC Radio. "This alone should encourage us to be talking about it and studying it."

Cathy Wing, the co-executive director of Ottawa-based MediaSmarts, another conference speaker, says "we really need to talk to kids from an early age, before they become exposed to online porn."

28% of boys look for porn at least once a week

In May, her group published the results of a survey that found 23 per cent of students in Grades 7 to 11 say they have searched out pornography online. Twenty-eight per cent of the boys said they looked for porn at least once a week.

As Wing observes, "there seems to be less of a stigma about looking for pornography, because everybody's doing it, than there is for looking for good information about sexuality." 

Just eight per cent of the students surveyed said they had searched online for information about sexuality.

Of course, when it comes to viewing pornography there may be a discrepancy between what kids say they do and what they actually do. 

A Spanish survey, for example, said that 53.5 per cent of Spanish youth aged 14 to 17 viewed online porn, while a poll by Opinium Research in June of 500 U.K. 18-year-olds had almost half saying that viewing pornography was typical by age 13 to 14.

Is porn damaging?

While almost half the U.K. teens said they saw nothing wrong with watching pornography, 70 per cent agreed with the statement that, "pornography can have a damaging impact on young people's views of sex or relationships." Just nine per cent disagreed.

"Porn can have both negative and positive impacts," says Alice Gauntley, a sex education activist and a student in gender and sexuality studies at McGill University in Montreal.

"It can reinforce sexist, racist and transphobic stereotypes and give us unrealistic expectations about sex and our bodies. But it can also be a source of pleasure and a means of exploring our sexualities."

But for young teens with no sexual experience, processing the porn on their screens may be quite a challenge. Gauntley argues, "it is necessary to equip teens with the tools they need to make sense of the erotic material they might come across."

Sex educators are concerned that young people are getting the wrong picture about sex from viewing online pornography.

As Wing points out, "you're not going to get realistic portrayals in the pornography industry. It's a business; everything is constructed, like all media." 

She advises teachers and parents to, "make sure the kids understand that this is not reflecting reality, that it's a constructed reality that contains bias and it's there to make money."

Fantasy, not reality

Sex therapist Wendy Maltz says that while kids have a sense that they should view pornography as fiction, she doesn't think they do. 

"That takes a lot of high-order thinking to maintain that, especially under the influence of sexual arousal. It can start getting blurry when there's an excitement associated with it."

Maltz, author of The Porn Trap: The Essential Guide to Overcoming Problems Caused by Pornography, says "the image is the reality on the internet."

She adds that you won't stop young people's curiosity about sex, but that it's important for them to know that curiosity is normal. "It doesn't mean you're sick if you found this stuff exciting."

But it bothers Maltz that, because of the prevalence of pornography, "kids are getting robbed of having their own sexual conditioning come from real-life romantic experiences."

She would like to see kids start getting a healthy sex education before they start viewing pornography.

Getting educated about porn

The questions is where should young people get that education?

Linda Kasdorf is studying the impact of pornography on children and youth for her social work degree at the University of Regina, and she works at Saskatoon Christian Counselling Services. She says parents have the responsibility not only to protect kids from pornography, but also to educate them about sex. 

"Sexual intimacy is totally missed when kids view porn, and there's no way to prepare them to understand that void."

Kasdorf argues when it comes to pornography, the education needs to begin with the adults. "Many parents have no idea that their children can even access pornography, they're that naive."

She adds that, "parents needs to be taught how to talk about pornography with their kids, how to help dissect experiences when kids are exposed to pornography."

But she also wants to see pornography become a component of school sex education programs. Those programs should ensure that, "kids actually have trusted adults that they can talk to about things they're curious about."

Gauntley would like to see a media literacy component on pornography, "because it encourages teens to be critical thinkers — to be able to recognize the differences between sex in porn and in real life."

Chris Markham, head of the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association, argues that sex education is a shared responsibility for parents, schools and the community, while acknowledging that, "parents are the first educators of their children."

Markham says the provincial curriculum should address the internet pornography issue and that this is a pressing need for kids in Ontario, but his organization hasn't taken a position.

The Ontario curriculum for sex education dates from the 1990s, when internet porn was in its infancy and before most of today's students were born.

Editors Note.....The Word of God has something to say about this topic, it is found in Galations 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

PA Clarifies: 'Abbas is Inciting for Religious War'
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Mahmoud Abbas at Yasser Arafat's grave

Issam Rimawi/POOL/Flash 90

Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) head Yoram Cohen may have claimed Tuesday after the Har Nof attack that Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas "isn't inciting terrorism" - but that appraisal is completely wrong according to Abbas's own adviser.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) revealed on Tuesday that PA Supreme Sharia (Islamic law) Judge and Abbas's adviser Mahmoud Al-Habbash appeared on official PA TV on November 5, after several attacks and hours before another one in Jerusalem that left two dead, where he clarified that Abbas is indeed inciting terrorism.

Al-Habbash used the term "ribat" meaning a religious war or conflict to defend or reconquer land defined as Islamic in describing the recent wave of terror attacks sweeping over Jerusalem, tying the terror to the status of the Temple Mount - the holiest site in Judaism - where the Jordanian Waqf (Islamic trust) continues to wield de facto control and forbid Jewish prayer.

"First of all, allow me to say that we kiss every forehead, every hand and even every foot that carries out ribat at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and in Jerusalem...We are behind them. The leadership is with them...we are with them in every movement, in every action and every deed, and we welcome what they are doing at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque," Al-Habbash said.

Referring to Abbas's speech in mid October when he called to block Jews from "defiling" the Temple Mount by "all means necessary," Al-Habbash noted "a few days ago, President (Abbas) greeted them, reinforced them and requested more ribat from them."

"This statement may have angered the Israelis and the occupation, that the President is inciting the Palestinians from Jerusalem to ribat. Yes, we are inciting the people in Jerusalem to ribat. Ribat means to protect and to hold on to your ground," said Al-Habbash in an admission of incitement.

In his speech, Abbas said "we must all carry out ribat" so as to prevent Jews by "any means necessary" from entering the Temple Mount, because "they have no right to enter it. They have no right to defile it."

PMW documented how a clip of this part of the speech was given heavy rotation on PA TV, and how the call for violence bears a close resemblance to former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's call for the 2000 Second Intifada.

Obama 'Would Order' U.S. Troops Into Combat If ISIS Got Nuclear Weapon
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsABC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

This undated file image posted on a militant website on Jan. 14, 2014, shows fighters from the al Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) marching in Raqqa, Syria.

President Obama has been unwavering and definitive in declaring he will not deploy U.S. ground troops into combat to fight ISIS militants. Period.

But for the first time since the start of then anti-ISIS offensive dubbed Operation Inherent Resolve, the president volunteered a scenario which he said would change his mind.

“If we discovered that [ISIS] had gotten possession of a nuclear weapon, and we had to run an operation to get it out of their hands, then, yes,” the president told reporters at a news conference in Brisbane, Australia, on Sunday. “I would order it.”

There is no indication that ISIS currently possesses or could easily obtain a nuclear weapon, officials say.

Still, Obama’s declaration of a nuclear weapon in the hands of ISIS is a noteworthy new “red line” – and a very high bar for a U.S. offensive role on the ground.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs and Obama’s top military adviser, has consistently kept the door open to deployment of U.S. ground troops in combat situations ever since anti-ISIS military operations began, but has yet to formally recommend it.

Last week, Dempsey testified on Capitol Hill that the Pentagon is “certainly considering” whether to embed U.S. military advisers with Iraqi combat units deployed to the front lines. Obama has also maintained openness to the idea, but already rejected one recommendation to do so.

“Yes, there are circumstances in which [Dempsey] could envision the deployment of U.S. troops. That’s true everywhere, by the way,” Obama said Sunday. “That’s his job, is to think about various contingencies. And, yes, there are always circumstances in which the United States might need to deploy U.S. ground troops.”

Netanyahu: Cabinet will Vote on the Jewish State Law
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Netanyahu and Livni

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reiterated on Monday that he intends to bring the controversial Jewish State Law to a vote in the Cabinet next Sunday - despite Justice Minister Tzipi Livni’s rejection of the law.

Speaking at the start of the Likud faction meeting in the Knesset, Netanyahu recalled how on November 29, 1947 the UN General Assembly voted to establish a Jewish state in Israel.

"66 years have passed since that day, and not a day goes by without the right of Jews to a national state of their own being undermined," he added. "In Israel, every citizen has fundamental rights that are enshrined by law. However, the national right of the Jewish people in Israel is not enshrined in law.”

"On Sunday I will bring the Jewish State Law to the Cabinet, in order to provide a response to all those who doubt the right of Jews to have their own nation-state in the state of Israel. The Jewish State Law is a foundation in securing our rights in our country," Netanyahu said.

According to the Jewish State Law, which was proposed by MK Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) and is backed by the Jewish Home party, all Jewish schools will teach Jewish history as well as Jewish tradition and heritage. Hebrew will be recognized as the only official language in Israel. Arabic, which as of now is considered an official language in Israel, will instead be given special status.

The bill also declares that the State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which a Jew can exercise his desire for self-determination in accordance with his historical legacy. This right to exercise national self-determination will be provided to Jewish people only.

However, every resident, regardless of religion and nationality, will be entitled to preserve his or her heritage, culture and language.

The bill came before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, but Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who opposes the law, removed it from the agenda by purposely wasting time at the meeting, leaving only the last few minutes for a hurried discussion of the law before announcing that the debate on it is to be put off for a later date.

Livni’s move angered members of the Jewish Home party, whose leader, Minister Naftali Bennett, announced that his party would no longer be supporting any bills proposed by her Hatnua party or by Yesh Atid party, which also opposed the law.

Livni on Monday spoke of the bill at the start of Hatnua’s faction meeting, and said, "The Declaration of Independence already determined that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. A Jewish state in which there is equality for all Israeli citizens. I am opposed to a democratic state without a Jewish state or a Jewish State without a democratic state.”

"I was pleased to hear the Prime Minister saying that he is in favor of equal rights," added Livni. "The laws of Elkin and the Jewish Home do not include this value and this word and that is why I postponed the discussion on them. We are not against a Jewish State law. We are against a Jewish State law which harms the Declaration of Independence.”

Netanyahu to Convene Urgent Security Cabinet After Attack
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) announced that he would be holding an urgent Security Cabinet meeting Tuesday, following the brutal massacre of Jews as they prayed at a Har Nof, Jerusalem synagogue for the morning service. 

"This is the direct result of the incitement being led by Hamas and Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas - ed.], incitement which the international community is irresponsibly ignoring," Netanyahu stated in the announcement.

"We will respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were met by reprehensible murderers." 

Tuesday morning's massacre saw two Arab terrorists enter the Agassi St. synagogue with knives, guns, and axes before opening fire on worshippers. Four were killed and thirteen were injured. 

Netanyahu's announcement follows the urgings of several outraged MKs to immediately convene a meeting on the issue; several proclaimed that the attack constitutes a "declaration of war."

Merkel Issues Stark Warning to Russia Over Ukraine
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Irish Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned Russia she would not allow it “trample on international law” and undermine the peaceful post-Cold War order in Europe. After three hours of talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin, a disillusioned Dr Merkel warned Moscow “old thinking about spheres of influence” would not assert itself again in Europe.

While the German leader delivered her stark warning during a speech in Sydney, Mr Putin told German television the key to resolving the conflict over Ukraine lay in maintaining strong Russian-German relations.

In an interview with ARD public television, Mr Putin made his clearest concession yet that Moscow was assisting rebels in eastern Ukraine with troops and weapons. Asked about the claims, confirmed by outside observers but denied consistently by the Kremlin, Mr Putin said: “Anyone waging a fight . . . will always find weapons.” He attacked the West for ignoring Ukraine’s use of heavy weapons to “annihilate” civilians in rebel-held areas.

“Is that what you want? We certainly don’t. And we won’t let it happen,” he said.

Unimpressed In remarks recorded before the Brisbane G20 summit but broadcast late on Sunday

, Mr Putin said it would be “too bad” if Germany and Russia lost the positive “atmosphere” built up in the last 15 years. Dr Merkel appeared unimpressed by the Russian leader’s appeal, warning that, unchecked, Russia would not end its destabilisation efforts in Ukraine.

“This is about Moldova, this is about Georgia, and if this continues then one will have to ask about Serbia and one will have to ask about the countries of the western Balkans,” she said in Sydney.

Pro-EU politicians in Georgia and Moldova have come under pressure amid the ongoing Ukraine stand-off while, in the Balkans, Russia has been courting politicians and investing heavily in infrastructure.

German officials remained coy yesterday about the Putin-Merkel talks late on Saturday evening, saying only they were “very general”.

Senior German officials blame the Russian leader for being erratic and refusing to listen to anyone. German hopes of finding a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine standoff have shrunk significantly in recent weeks, particularly after Mr Putin’s October 25th speech in Sochi, in which he warned that “it should be clear to everyone” that the “bear” would not give up its territory.

German officials have vowed to keep open communication channels to Moscow but Dr Merkel said she “didn’t want to go back” to the Cold War standoff in Europe.

It remains to be seen whether she can get her coalition to back her tough talking on Russia. While her Christian Democratic Union welcomed the Sydney speech as “completely realistic”, senior figures in Dr Merkel’s Social Democratic (SPD) coalition partner insisted diplomacy remained the best way to prevent a deterioration in Ukraine.

SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel, a political protege of Mr Putin’s confidante and ex-chancellor Gerhard Schröder, conceded the Ukraine situation was terrible with no solution in sight. But, on a visit to Belgrade, he urged ongoing talks and reminded an audience that ex-SPD leader Willy Brandt announced his detente policy with Moscow “at the height of the Cold War”.

More outspoken was SPD foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Mr Schröder’s former chief of staff. He warned “not to close off possibilities of defusing a conflict through our public language”.

Let the Headlines Speak
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

IRS Agents Can Pose as Clergy to Spy on Churches
"It is troubling and an outrage that members of the IRS can pose as members of the clergy to gather information for the government. The First Amendment and the foundational principles of religious freedom that have long been embraced and honored by our nation are being trampled by these rules.  

Magnitude 5.4 Earthquake Hits Bárðarbunga
An earthquake of 5.4 in magnitude hit the northern caldera rim of Bárðarbunga volcano under Vatnajökull glacier at 1:37 am yesterday. Following the event, seismic activity in the intrusive dike, connecting the volcano with the eruption in Holuhraun, increased slightly.  

Ferguson-Area Cop’s Ominous Warning on What’s Coming: ‘I’m Serious, Get a Gun’
If you do not have a gun, get one and get one soon. We will not be able to protect you or your family,” he wrote. “It will be your responsibility to protect them. Our gutless commanders and politicians have neutered us. I’m serious, get a gun, get more than one, and keep one with you at all times.”  

Spain to Vote on 'Palestinian State' Tuesday
Spain's parliament will vote Tuesday on a non-binding motion calling on the conservative government to recognize a Palestinian state in coordination with any similar EU move, parliamentary sources told AFP.  

Australia, China Agree Landmark Free Trade Deal
China and Australia on Monday signed a declaration of intent on a landmark free trade deal more than a decade in the making, opening up markets worth billions to Australia and loosening restrictions on Chinese investment.  

A Computer Science Professor Found A Way To Identify Most 'Anonymous' Tor Users
...by injecting a repeating traffic pattern, such as the common HTML files that most Tor users are likely to be accessing, into the connection and then checking the router’s flow records to check for a match. If it finds a match, then the user is no longer anonymous.  

Iraqi Forces Enter Baiji Oil Refinery After Months-Long Clashes With ISIS: Reports
“The first Iraqi force, the anti-terrorism force called Mosul Battalion, entered Baiji refinery for the first time in five months,” Iraqi police colonel Saleh Jaber told Reuters.  

Obama secretly met with Ferguson protesters
why is the president meeting with the violent Mike Brown protesters before a verdict is reached in the court case?  

3 Americans among dead in Palestinian terror attack on Jerusalem synagogue
The Americans... were killed along with a fourth person after two Palestinians armed with meat cleavers and a gun stormed the building and began attacking people.  

Global terrorism on rise: Fivefold increase in terror-related deaths since 2000
Almost 18,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks in 2013, a 61 percent increase from the 2012. Four terrorist groups, the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Boko Haram were responsible for two thirds of all such deaths around the globe.  

PM: Murders result of wild Palestinian incitement ignored by world
Tuesday's murderous attack in Jerusalem is a direct result of incitement led by Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and irresponsibly ignored by the international community, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his initial reaction to the Har Nof terrorist attack.  

Co-conspirator of 9/11 attacks says Saudi prince financed operation
Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen convicted in 2006 for charges related to his admitted role in the 9/11 attacks, wrote in a letter received this month by a federal court in Oklahoma that he wants to take the stand and explain supposed links between the terrorist plot and Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud.  

New approach could help forecast earthquakes
"Nobody to my knowledge thinks we can predict earthquakes. We can't say anything about when they are going to happen, what we can say is that we think we can forecast where they are going to happen and how big they are going to be,"  

Earthquake swarm near Oregon desert intensifies
Dozens of earthquakes, ranging in magnitude up to 4.0, have struck within 45 miles of Lakeview, Ore. in the Sierra Nevada desert in the last week. The activity is part of an earthquake swarm intensifying in the last week, the United States Geological Service (USGS) said Monday.  

Greece: four earthquakes in Evia felt throughout Attica
The Geodynamic Institute of the Athens Observatory reported that four consecutive earthquakes occurred in the Gulf of Evia shortly after 1am on Tuesday morning, which were felt throughout Attica as reported by To Vima online. The first two earthquakes, which measured 5.2 on the Richter scale were the strongest and occurred about four minutes apart.  

5.4 magnitude quake in Myanmar
The department says some regions and states have felt the quake occurred at around 11:04 am with the epicentre about 140 miles southwest of Mandalay seismology office.  

Peru: Magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Lima
A 5.6-magnitude earthquake that hit the Pacific shook buildings in Peru's capital city Lima and affected cellphone services, Reuters reported.  

Harsh Cold to Freeze Northeast, Set Records in South
The coldest air since last winter, now over the Plains and Midwest, will blast into the East during the first half of this week. The core of the frigid air will focus over the northern Plains and the Great Lakes through at least Wednesday with overnight lows dipping down into the teens, single digits and even near zero F in the coldest spots.  

Global terror attack deaths rose sharply in 2013, says report
The number of deaths from terrorism increased by 61% between 2012 and 2013, a study into international terrorism says. There were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, a 44% increase from the previous year, the Global Terrorism Index 2014 report added. The report said militant groups Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Taliban were behind most of the deaths.  

Michael Brown: Missouri governor activates National Guard
The governor of the US state of Missouri has activated the state's National Guard in anticipation of a grand jury decision over the killing of an unarmed black teenager. In a statement, Jay Nixon said the guard will "support law enforcement's efforts to maintain peace". A panel is deciding whether to charge Officer Darren Wilson in the August death of Michael Brown, 18.  

Netanyahu vows harsh response to synagogue attack
JERUSALEM — The Israeli prime minister says Israel will "respond harshly" to a deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Tuesday's attack a "cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers."  

Earthquake felt in Greek capital, no reports of injuries
An earthquake shook central Greece early on Tuesday and was felt as far away as its capital Athens but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, Greek police and fire brigade officials said.  

Iran nuclear stakes high as 'end' talks begin
Few people believe Iran and the six world powers it is negotiating with will be able to reach an agreement by the 24 November deadline to resolve the crisis over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. But if they do - and that is a big "if" - one of the most dangerous crises in the Middle East may finally be defused.  

Church reports damage after recent swarm of earthquakes in NW Oklahoma
A swarm of earthquakes is causing damage in northwest Oklahoma. Residents say the damage accumulated from five quakes, including the 4.8 magnitude earthquake on Friday that residents felt as far south as Oklahoma City. Wichita station KAKE said a church in Harper County was hit especially hard.  

Iranian Cleric Threatens US, Israel With 'Missile Attack'
A prominent Iranian religious leader threatened the United States and Israel with missile attacks just as U.S. officials and other diplomats were preparing for last-minute talks with Iran over its suspected nuclear-weapons program. The bombastic Friday sermon by Ayatollah Ali Movahedi-Kermani further inflamed tensions surrounding the talks aimed at meeting a Nov. 24 deadline for a deal to stop Iran from enriching uranium in exchange of the removal of crippling economic sanctions.  

UN official warns of ‘an expansion’ of violence in Israel
UNITED NATIONS — A senior UN official warned Monday that lack of progress on a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict ensures that a new round of violence “is never too far below the surface.”  

Hamas official calls to dismantle Palestinian unity government
A senior Hamas official called Sunday to dismantle the Palestinian unity government led by Fatah and Hamas and to set up a new government in its place, citing the Palestinian leadership’s failure to advance the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip following this year’s summer war between the Islamist group and Israel.  

Global terror attack deaths rose sharply in 2013, says report
The number of deaths from terrorism increased by 61% between 2012 and 2013, a study into international terrorism says. There were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, a 44% increase from the previous year, the Global Terrorism Index 2014 report added. The report said militant groups Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Taliban were behind most of the deaths.  

Three Reasons why the GOP Establishment is as Dangerous as the Democrats
Many on the Right were euphoric that the Republicans thrashed the Democrats in the elections earlier this month, expanding their presence in the House of Representatives while recapturing the Senate with a wide (and still growing) margin. Yet, in a move that seems to have been calculated to burst everyones’ bubbles, John McCain came out last week during an interview with the left-wing web magazine Salon and promised that the incoming GOP senators wouldn’t be “Ted Cruz types.”  

Red Cross Volunteer Sacked for Gay Marriage Opposition
Back in March, Bryan Barkley was photographed standing outside Wakefield Cathedral holding a small placard reading “No Same-Sex marriage” on the first day they took place in England. The 71 year old Barkley believes in traditional marriage and has also been a Red Cross volunteer for almost 20 years.  

Praying or Not on the Temple Mount
The Palestinians never lose an opportunity or excuse to kill Jews. What is feared is a new intifada or holy war in Israel, specifically in Jerusalem, where attacks on its civilians and soldiers have been occurring. The present grievance has to do with the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism, but one that was taken over by Muslims when they invaded in 638 A.D.  

EU says it has no plans for sanctions on Israel
BRUSSELS - The European Union has no intention of imposing sanctions on Israel if it takes steps to block a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the EU's new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday.  

Japan Recession, Europe Stagnation Cast Pall Over Global Economic Outlook
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A sharp slowdown in Asia and stagnation in Europe are putting the global economy at risk of a prolonged slump, economists say, marked in places by sky-high ­unemployment, sluggish wage growth and some of the worst economic conditions in decades.

On Monday, Japan said it had entered its fourth recession in six years — this one despite aggressive efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to boost growth. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the world’s economy could be headed toward another disaster.

“Six years on from the financial crash that brought the world to its knees, red warning lights are once again flashing on the dashboard of the global economy,” Cameron wrote Monday in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

Two of the world’s economic powerhouses — Europe and Japan — are failing to bolster global growth, and their economies appear to be getting worse. With an unemployment rate of 11.5 percent, the euro zone is experiencing conditions that some economists say echo the Great Depression.

Emerging markets, which helped lift the world out of the ugly downturn that followed the 2008 financial crisis, are also lagging. Russia and Brazil have been dogged by recession, and China’s double-digit growth has slowed rapidly as the country has matured and a speculative real estate bubble has let out air.

China is “the thousand-pound gorilla in the emerging world and a big, big question mark,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at the consulting firm IHS.

Conditions differ markedly from the financial meltdown of 2008 that sparked a worldwide crisis. “It’s not like the world is leveraged up and ready to plunge back into the abyss,” said Jay Bryson, a global economist at Wells Fargo. “The challenges today are a lot different.”

For the United States, the developments have raised few concerns. The U.S. economy is growing at a solid pace of 3 percent per year, and falling gasoline prices have pumped roughly $80 billion into American wallets. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 13 points Monday, and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index edged toward a record high as lucrative mergers at home obscured bad news abroad.

Still, exports represent 13 percent of the U.S. economy and have slumped a bit, the first sign that sustained weakness abroad could limit the American recovery.

Economists said stagnation and political paralysis in Europe are perhaps the most worrisome features on the global landscape. In the Guardian, Cameron described the euro zone as “teetering on the brink of a possible third recession, with high unemployment, falling growth and the real risk of falling prices too.”

Add in stalled trade talks, conflict in the Middle East, fighting in eastern Ukraine and the alarming spread of the Ebola virus, Cameron warned, and the world is functioning against “a dangerous backdrop of instability and uncertainty.”

Cameron’s bleak prognosis came at the end of the Group of 20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, where leaders of the world’s biggest economies struggled with strategies for kick-starting growth. Similarly negative pronouncements have echoed from other sources in recent days, particularly in relation to Europe.

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, told reporters in London last week that “a specter is now haunting Europe — the specter of economic stagnation.” International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has warned of “the risk of a new mediocre” in Europe, with low growth, low inflation, high unemployment and high debt.

On Monday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi presented European lawmakers with a list of policy recommendations to stimulate growth, arguing that monetary policy alone cannot solve the problem.

Draghi said that “2015 needs to be the year when all actors in the euro area — governments and European institutions alike — will deploy a consistent common strategy to bring our economies back on track.”

Leaders in Europe and the United States have urged Germany — Europe’s largest economy, teetering on the edge of recession itself — to boost public spending. But German leaders continue to insist that other struggling euro-zone countries need to restructure their economies first.

Europe is hardly the only sick patient. Government figures released Monday in Japan showed the world’s third-largest economy shrinking for the second quarter in a row, with gross domestic product falling by 1.6 percent.

The report stunned forecasters, who had been expecting solid 2 percent growth, and served to undermine Abe’s plan for reviving an economy that has suffered two decades of stagnation, falling prices and dangerously high government debt.

That plan included an increase in the national sales tax in April — the first in 17 years — that slowed consumer spending far more than expected, Japan’s economy minister acknowledged Monday.

“The numbers are absolutely awful, beyond-description awful,” said Peter Tasker, a longtime analyst of Japan’s economy and a supporter of Abe’s policies. “It’s clear that the tax hikers and the fiscal hawks have tanked the economy.”

In response, Abe is expected to announce Tuesday that he will dissolve the lower house of Japan’s parliament and call a snap election for December, enabling him to delay a second sales tax increase scheduled for the fall of 2015.

By contrast, India, Britain and the United States have been among the world’s bright spots. U.S. job growth has been steady for a full year, and unemployment is back to pre-crisis levels. With oil prices plummeting, economists said even a recession in Europe probably would not knock the United States off track.

“Things would have to get really bad in the global economy for the U.S. economy to begin to suffer again,” Behravesh said.

Still, “we have to be on guard about possible ramifications for the U.S. economy,” said Joel Prakken, senior managing director of the forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, which has already knocked a few points off its projections for U.S. growth in 2015.

Prakken called “a freshened round of financial turbulence the most insidious threat.”

“Financial contagion,” he said, “knows no boundaries.”

Is the UN Using Vaccines to Secretly Sterilize Women All Over the Globe?
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

In some areas of the world, purposely cutting off someone’s family line is considered to be one of the most wicked things that you can possibly do. But that appears to be precisely what the United Nations is doing. 

Two UN organizations, the WHO and UNICEF, have just been caught red-handed administering “tetanus vaccines” laced with sterilizing agents to girls and women in Kenya. And as you will see below, this is not the first time that this has happened. 

Apparently there is a well-coordinated international program to use vaccines to secretly sterilize women in poor countries all over the planet. The United States needs to immediately demand a full investigation of the UN vaccine program.

There have always been anecdotal stories of women all over the globe being unable to have children after receiving UN vaccines. But now we have scientific proof. Lab tests that were recently conducted found an antigen that causes miscarriages in the vaccines that were being given to girls and women in Kenya. A story that was posted on Life Site News about this caused shockwaves all over the Internet. The following is an excerpt from that report…

Kenya’s Catholic bishops are charging two United Nations organizations with sterilizing millions of girls and women under cover of an anti-tetanus inoculation program sponsored by the Kenyan government.

According to a statement released Tuesday by the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association, the organization has found an antigen that causes miscarriages in a vaccine being administered to 2.3 million girls and women by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Priests throughout Kenya reportedly are advising their congregations to refuse the vaccine.

“We sent six samples from around Kenya to laboratories in South Africa. They tested positive for the HCG antigen,” Dr. Muhame Ngare of the Mercy Medical Centre in Nairobi told LifeSiteNews. “They were all laced with HCG.”

So exactly what is HCG?

The following is how Natural News described what it does…

HCG is a chemical developed by the World Health Organization for sterilization purposes. When injected into the body of a young woman, it causes a pregnancy to be destroyed by the body’s own antibody response to the HCG, resulting in a spontaneous abortion. Its effectiveness lasts for years, causing abortions in women up to three years after the injections.

This is an absolutely horrifying scandal, but the mainstream media is totally ignoring it.

Perhaps that is because they agree with what the United Nations is trying to do.

And should we actually be surprised at what the UN is doing? After all, the UN has publicly declared in writing that it intends to reduce population growth in Kenya…

The United Nations and its oftentimes barbaric population-control apparatus are under fire again after releasing a deeply controversial report claiming that the African population of Kenya is too large and growing too quickly. 

To deal with the supposed “challenge,” as the UN and its “partners” in the national government put it, international bureaucrats are demanding stepped up efforts to brainwash Kenyan women into wanting fewer children. 

Also on the agenda: more taxpayer-funded “family-planning” and “reproductive-health” schemes to reduce the number of Africans to levels considered “desirable” by the UN.

Critics promptly lambasted the plot as undisguised eugenics, with some experts calling it a true example of the “war on women.” Among other concerns, analysts outraged by the report noted that the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the establishment’s fiendish efforts to slash human populations — especially those considered “undesirable” by self-appointed guardians of the gene pool — have a long and sordid history going back decades. Today, the agenda marches on, as illustrated in the latest UN report calling for drastically reduced numbers of Kenyans.

The UN will keep doing this until we demand that they stop. Back in the 1990s, similar sterilization campaigns using tetanus vaccines were being conducted in Nicaragua, Mexico and the Philippines. The following comes from thinktwice.com…

Here are the known facts concerning the tetanus vaccination campaigns in Mexico and the Philippines:

* Only women are vaccinated, and only the women between the ages of 15 and 45. (In Nicaragua the age range was 12-49.) But aren’t men at least as likely as young women to come into contact with tetanus? And what of the children? Why are they excluded?

* Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) hormone has been found in the vaccines. It does not belong there — in the parlance of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the vaccine has been “contaminated.”

* The vaccination protocols call for multiple injections — three within three months and a total of five altogether. But, since tetanus vaccinations provide protection for ten years or more, why are multiple inoculations called for?(3)

* WHO has been actively involved for more than 20 years in the development of an anti-fertility vaccine utilizing hCG tied to tetanus toxoid as a carrier — the exact same coupling as has been found in the Mexican-Philippine-Nicaragua vaccines.(4)

And these are just the incidents that we know about.

I think that it would be safe to say that wherever the UN is vaccinating people for tetanus all over the world there are probably sterilizing agents in those vaccines.

Meanwhile, the UN continues to pour money into other global sterilization methods.

For example, the UN has dedicated massive amounts of resources to supporting the “one-child policy” in China.

And in India, UN money is often used to provide financial incentives to women to volunteer for sterilization.

At this point, approximately 37 percent of all married women in the nation of India have been sterilized. That is an absolutely astounding number. In fact, it is so astounding that I could hardly believe it when I first saw it.

But it is actually true.

And these procedures are often not conducted safely. In fact, one recent mass sterilization campaign resulted in the deaths of ten women…

Ten women have died in India and dozens more are in hospital, many in a critical condition after a state-run mass sterilization, a local official said Tuesday.

Many of the more than 80 women who underwent sterilization at the free government-run camp in the central state of Chhattisgarh on Saturday fell ill shortly afterwards, the official told AFP.

Of course the United States is not exactly innocent in all of this. These UN organizations are absolutely showered with money by the Obama administration, and the U.S. government even has an “Office of Population Affairs” that is used to promote population control all across the planet.

Those involved in these efforts actually believe that they are doing the right thing. They are convinced that “climate change” is the number one problem that humanity is facing today and that the number one way to fight “climate change” is to reduce the number of people.

So they believe that they are actually “saving the world” by pushing a population control agenda.

Is Economic Collapse Imminent?
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Will the U.S and the global economy survive the end of Quantitative Easing (QE)? Or will the stock market plummet as a result, finally pushing the financial markets over the edge? The pattern since 2008 stocks is that stocks have risen dramatically throughout every stage of quantitative easing, but have always declined substantially when the various QE phases have ended. These progressions over time have been demonstrated by charts based on the S&P 500 market index.

Michael Snyder, in a recent report for the Economic Collapse blog, laments: “…many Americans still don’t understand what quantitative easing actually is. Since the end of 2008, the Federal Reserve has injected approximately 3.5 trillion dollars into the financial system. Of course the Federal Reserve didn’t actually have 3.5 trillion dollars. The Fed created all of this money out of thin air and used it to buy government bonds and mortgage-backed securities. If that sounds like “cheating” to you, that is because it is cheating. If you or I tried to print money, we would be put in prison. When the Federal Reserve does it, it is called “economic stimulus”.

Snyder argues that to make matters worse, the overall economy has not been helped much at all by these QE phases; rather what all of this “easy money” has done is fuel “the greatest stock market bubble in history”, unbacked by economic fundamentals in any way, shape or form. Matters are not helped by the deflationary pressures already said to be starting to take hold around the rest of the globe. He concludes that the Federal Reserve and other global central banks have merely put off the inevitable and made long-term US problems even worse by printing money to postpone a global deflationary depression.

Other key symptoms of the underlying economic disease can be seen in the banking sectors where:

• The European Central Bank (ECB) says 13 of Europe’s 130 biggest banks must increase their capital buffers against losses by 10 billion euros ($12.5 billion);

• Right now, the “too big to fail” banks account for 42 percent of all loans and 67 percent of all banking assets in the United States that are an integral part of the U.S economy. Five of these banks each have more than 40 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives.

Snyder concludes: “The big banks have transformed Wall Street into the biggest casino in the history of the planet, and there is no way that this is going to end well. A great collapse is coming. It is just a matter of time.”

Predicting similarly dire outcomes, the Guardian.com puts it this way: “The concerns raised by the Fed’s stimulus still exist: has it helped the economy? (Probably, but not enough). Has QE made banks more profitable? (Yes, and that will continue). Has QE created an expectation that the Federal Reserve can now meddle in the markets with trillions of dollars of muscle, complicating things for normal money managers? (Yes, and that expectation, too, will continue). 

In other words, by ending QE, the Fed is not filling up the financial hole left by its stimulus. It has only stopped digging itself deeper… With the upcoming challenge of its exit, QE is proving a truth of even the most well-intentioned bailouts: getting the financial system out of trouble doesn’t mean ending a crisis for good; it means only delaying the reckoning until the economy is strong enough to take it.” 

The trouble seems to be that there is no guarantee that the economy will be strong enough any time soon, or that it will ever recover in good enough time to avert a national and global economic disaster.

Other analysts also agree that a global economic crash is imminent, but emphasize other contributory factors. An example is financial expert James Rickards, quoted in a recent edition of rt.com suggesting that the desire of powerful countries such as Russia and China to break free from reliance on the U.S dollar as the world’s reserve currency will be a major catalyst towards the predicted economic collapse. Rickards sees a transition to gold and eventually Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) as viable alternatives emerging as the new world global currency after “the death of the dollar”.

So what would such an economic crash look like, and what would it mean to the average family? A report from infowars.com earlier this year suggests that “primary events” would include: major collapses in the bond and stock markets and possible sudden deflation (primarily of assets), followed by dramatic inflation, if not hyperinflation (primarily of commodities), followed by a crash of several major currencies, particularly the euro and the US dollar. “Secondary events” would include: increased unemployment, currency controls, protective tariffs, severe depression, travel restrictions, confiscation of wealth, food shortages, squatters rebellions, riots, and martial law.

In a nutshell, economic mayhem and chaos, followed by hardships at virtually all levels of life and society, which will then be brought into control by martial law and a centralized economic system, certain to be assisted by the advanced biometric and RFID technologies available today. That’s one clear roadmap to the fulfillment of the prophecy of Revelation 13:16-18:

He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Hamas Calling for More Attacks in Jerusalem
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsYNet News
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

In the Sur Baher neighborhood of East Jerusalem, a young Palestinian was caught throwing a Molotov cocktail towards an Israeli vehicle and hitting it on surveillance video in East Jerusalem.

Several other Palestinian riots were reported in various locations in East Jerusalem on Monday night. Security forces clashed with Palestinian rioters in the Sur Baher, Wadi al-Joz, Al-Ram, and Abu Dis neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

Israeli police said that stone throwing was reported near the Palestinian town of Sur Baher and that police forces used riot control measures against the Palestinian rioters.

Various Palestinian organizations called for a general strike of businesses, bus drivers and Arab officials as a protest against al-Roumani's death.

Egged bus drivers who were friends of al-Roumani did not show up to work on Monday causing public transportation delays in Jerusalem. The delays were expected to continue on Tuesday.

 "After the unfortunate death of the Egged bus driver who put an end to his life and committed suicide, delays are occurring in Jerusalem's public bus lines. These delays are caused by the absence of drivers from the Arab sector, from East Jerusalem," Egged said in a statement. "At Egged we are gathering former drivers and retired drivers of the company in order to minimize the affect on passengers. With that, Egged apologizes for the inconvenience and asks passengers to act with restraint and patience," Egged wrote in the statement.

Earlier on Monday, an IDF officer sustained a hand wound from a firework launched at security forces by Palestinian rioters near Ramallah. The soldier was taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem with two of his fingers partially amputated. Dozens of Palestinians threw stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli security forces at security forces during the incident. IDF soldiers responded with riot control measures.

After the incident, Israeli security forces entered an Arab village in northern Jerusalem.

Increased Israeli police presence will continue in Jerusalem in the coming days.

Finnish Firm to Trial Facial Recognition Payments
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Finnish tech firm Uniqul plans to launch a pilot of a facial recognition-based payments system at cafes in early 2015.

Uniqul’s payment system, which recognises customers based on their geometric facial proportions, has been in development for about two years. The pilot will be launched in the country’s capital region, which includes the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen.

CEO Oscar Tuutti told Planet Biometrics that the system starts verifying customers from up to four metres away. By the time they have reached a checkout, the final verification process only takes around "half a second".

The facial recognition feature can be incorporated into current cash register systems, with Uniqul supplying tablets and webcams to retailers.

While the pilot will use a PIN system as a back-up, Tuuti said he firm plans to “dial down” its usage – and that this process would be assisted by incoming machine learning capabilities.

Referring to the three building blocks of innovative payments technologies – speed, convenience and security, Tuuti said that NFC payment systems such as contactless are sacrificing the former for the latter.

“Biometrics offer a new level of security, and Uniqul’s facial recognition system also has better convenience and speed levels than some rivals. There is no concern over forgetting card, PINs or passwords”.

The Uniqul enrols users at sale locations, with biometric data stored in secure clouds that are compliant with EU data protection rules, he added.

In September, Mastercard said it had completed a "successful" voice and facial recognition payments trial. In the same month, academics at China’s Chongqing Institute of Green said they had developed a facial recognition payment application with “near-perfect accuracy”.

EU to Israel: If You Want to Get Along With us Make Peace
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The EU warned on Monday that continued growth of its bilateral ties with Israel and the Palestinian Authority was directly linked to their actions with regard to the peace process.

“The EU recalls that the future development of the relations with both the Israeli and Palestinian partners will also depend on their engagement towards a lasting peace based on a two-state solution,” the EU’s foreign ministers said after a council meeting in Brussels.

The meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council comes amid increasing tension between Israel and the EU over settlement activity.

On Sunday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said that it was a mistake for the EU to link its ties with Israel to the peace process.

The EU and Israel have strong ties, and Israel is awarded a status similar to that of an EU member state. But that status only applies to areas within the Green Line.

Still, Israel is worried about the increased threat of an EU boycott against products manufactured in settlements and calls from parliamentarians in EU member states to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.

In Brussels on Monday, foreign ministers vowed to continue working against the sale of goods produced in Jewish communities over the pre- 1967 lines. This includes West Bank settlements, Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem and Jewish communities on the Golan Heights. The EU believes that all those communities are illegal. Recently, dairy and poultry products from over the Green Line were banned from the European market.

While the ministers’ words implied a boycott or a ban of those products, many of which already have consumer labels marking them as produced in settlements, the council’s conclusions did not state that outright.

The EU’s Foreign Affairs Council said that “the EU and its member states remain committed to ensure continued, full and effective implementation of existing EU legislation and bilateral arrangements applicable to settlement products.”

It added that “the EU closely monitors the situation and its broader implications and remains ready to take further action in order to protect the viability of the two-state solution.”

It issued a three-page statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of a renewed effort by the EU to be involved in any US-led revival of the peace talks, which have remained frozen since April.

After the meeting, the EU’s new foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said that the EU supports the initiative US Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing to relaunch the peace process.

As part of that effort, Kerry spoke with PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday evening.

The EU was looking at a regional framework that involved the US, EU and UN Security Council, and that would also include Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Mogherini said.

“We decided that we cannot just wait and see. We are running out of time. There is an element of desperation in the area,” Mogherini told reporters.

She said that media reports of pending EU sanctions against Israel were not true.

In response to a question by a reporter about possible EU recognition of a Palestinian state, she said that the question was misplaced.

“To me, the real point is not so much the recognition of a Palestinian state, but what can we usefully do to have a Palestinian state,” Mogherini said.

EU member nations can recognize “Palestine” as a state, but that would not necessarily change anything on the ground, she said.

But, “You could have a wave of pressure that could lead to a positive result,” she added.

So her focus, she added, was a “road map for political action” that could have a positive impact on achieving a solution that would allow Israel and a Palestinian state to live side by side in peace and security.

The Foreign Affairs Council meeting was the first one to be chaired by Mogherini, who entered her post at the beginning of November, replacing Catherine Ashton. She immediately made a two-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, including Gaza.

EU states are sharply divided on the topic of unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, and the EU would need unanimous consensus among its member states to take the step to recognize “Palestine.”

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told reporters that he believed that such recognition should only come after a negotiated agreement for a two-state solution.

“We have to chose to avoid any unilateral steps, because the endgame is clear, a two-state solution, with everyone behind it,” he said.

The question is how to reach that goal, he said, adding that he believed the only way to do so was through negotiations.

The governments of the UK and Germany have the same stand on this issue as Lithuania.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier explained this position to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas when he met with him in Ramallah on Saturday.

But in October, Sweden voted to recognize a Palestinian state.

Poland and Hungary did so before they became EU member states. France and Denmark have also scheduled nonbinding votes on the issue.

Israel has said that such recognition is harmful to the peace process because it doesn’t give the Palestinians any incentive to return to the negotiating table.

12 Ministries Making a Difference in Israel
Nov 18th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

When Canadian native Wayne Hilsden moved to Israel in 1983 to help establish a fledgling congregation in Jerusalem, he didn't know that he would wind up staying for three decades, or that King of Kings Community Jerusalem would turn into a multi-faceted ministry that has helped give birth to six churches, a Bible college, a thriving prayer initiative and various outreaches.

However, most precious to the former professor at Eastern Pentecostal Bible College are the carefully built relationships that enable him to share the message that Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) is the Messiah awaited by Israelis.

"There's a greater measure of openness about one's faith," says the senior pastor of King of Kings. "When we came to Israel the average Jew didn't believe it was possible to become a believer. Even those who came to Christ believed they were the only Jews in existence who had done that."

From a smattering of 15 messianic congregations around Israel when he arrived, Hilsden estimates there are 150 today. These churches have more than 15,000 Jews who consider themselves followers of Yeshua.

Those numbers may seem minuscule in a nation of more than 8 million. But leaders who focus on providing humanitarian aid, social assistance and spreading the good news in a nation largely resistant to Christ say what God is doing in Israel rivals the exodus from Egypt.

The miracles are occurring "right before our eyes," says Gary Cristofaro, director of development for Ezra International. Since 1995 the U.S.-based ministry has aided the return of more than 43,000 low-income Jews to their ancestral homeland. A similar number are waiting for help securing documents, passports and assorted immigration papers.

"God is gathering His people from the four corners of the Earth," says Cristofaro, a former Assemblies of God pastor. "The miracles are greater than when He brought them out of Egypt. Understanding this can make a difference in people's faith. The things we worry about are pretty tame compared to this. It's a very exciting time. A lot of people's hearts will fail, but if more understand where they are in His economy, it will make a difference."

Ezra International's founder, Mel Hoelzle, points to God's promise in Jeremiah 16:16 to develop a network of fishermen and hunters to help with the return of Jews to Israel.

The former business leader discovered such networks in Eastern European churches and others after the fall of communism. In a vision, God told Hoelzle He brought down the Iron Curtain, but another wall (poverty) was holding His people from returning home.

"That's why we work with poor people," Hoelzle says. "It was unbelievable how in Russia, Siberia and Ukraine, we had people coming up to tell us about dreams and visions that He would call them to help Jewish people. And now they had the opportunity to work with an organization like ours."

Among other present-day miracles is improving Christian-Jewish relations, fractured by anti-Semitism in the church for 2,000 years.

The thaw has been aided by such long-standing efforts as the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, established in 1980 after 13 nations closed embassies to protest the Knesset's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital.

More recently, an 8-year-old ministry that provides portable shelters to Jews, Palestinians and other residents during rocket attacks is also opening doors of understanding.

Rabbi Shmuel Bowman says Operation Lifeshield has attracted support from diverse quarters. When Jews and Christians come together for a unified purpose, the program saves lives while bringing down long-standing walls, Bowman says.

"The Jewish Federation in Birmingham, Alabama, now has a Christian on staff whose job is to connect to Christian communities and talk to them about Israel and why bridge building is important," says the Torah scribe, who lives just south of Jerusalem. "If people can get together and talk about things we care passionately about, that opens doors to conversations and relationships."

Wide-Ranging Outreach

"Ministry to Israel" is a broad term, encompassing everything from church-planting and humanitarian aid to helping soldiers without extended family and protecting people vulnerable to attacks—especially those in southern Israel shelled by a hail of rockets this year from Hamas forces in Gaza.

In a nation prospering amid intense opposition from surrounding Middle Eastern neighbors, it may be hard to see Israel as a land of need. Indeed, during his multiple visits each year, Hoelzle finds a place vastly different from the snippets that appear via network news reports.

"Israel does a good job of protecting their people," he says. "I feel safer there than I do on the streets of Los Angeles or Chicago."

Yet, many are left behind in the country's economic development, particularly Palestinians, Russians and Ethiopian immigrants. The latter two groups are part of the ongoing "aliyah" return aided by groups such as Ezra International.

The Messianic Jewish Alliance estimates 1.7 million, or approximately 20 percent, of Israel's residents live below the poverty line. Jonathan Bernis, president and CEO of Jewish Voice Ministries International, says those numbers reflect groups still struggling to adapt to an advanced, high-tech-style economy.

In addition to lacking job skills, people such as elderly Russians and Ethiopians also run into language barriers. While many Israelis speak English, a failure to master the Hebrew language places immigrants outside the mainstream, Bernis says.

Yet, such needs are also creating an opportunity for messianic churches and Christian ministries that have gained credibility in many sectors of society.

"There's still a disdain for Jewish believers among the ultra-Orthodox and a majority in political leadership," says Bernis, who started Hear O Israel Ministries in 1984 before later merging it with Jewish Voice.

"But I think the messianic Jewish movement has gained a constituency. It has done a good job of providing clothing on behalf of the Christian community."

Some of the numbers are impressive. During the past 20 years, Vision for Israel & The Joseph Storehouse has assisted more than 750,000 people and 193,500 students, the latter through its Pack to School project, which provides school supplies to needy children.

Statistics pale in significance, however, when co-founder Barry Segal has touching encounters like his meeting with 64 Holocaust survivors in mid-August. Barry and his wife, Batya, sang to them and provided financial vouchers in advance of the Jewish holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 24-26, and Yom Kippur, Oct. 3-4).

This tender moment came right before the ministry distributed 8,500 backpacks and other assistance to children. Soon after, 500 members in Vision for Israel's Lone Soldiers program received hiking bags stuffed with personal supplies.

In early September, Segal's staff also gave out thousands of dollars worth of medical kits in backpacks to first responders who deal with the fallout of attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups.

The latter has been even more challenging lately, as more than 2,000 Gazans and Israelis died in two months of fighting with Hamas before a shaky ceasefire went into effect in late summer. In addition to destruction, Segal says the collateral damage has included victims suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Segal shares about projects and topics such as food, culture and the Bible on his weekly Roots & Reflections TV program, which airs in Israel and globally on Daystar. The program's positive message about Israel and its people helps counteract the anti-Semitism that has resurfaced this year around the globe.

"We are not stuffing the good news down people's throats," says Segal, who grew up in the United States and discovered Yeshua as a young musician in the Midwest. "We're introducing people to the Bible and its great author through a relationship with Yeshua, the Messiah.

"We are not trying to convert Jews to another religion but bring them back to repentance and a love for the faith of their patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all looked forward to this covenant relationship."Meeting Needs

The needs Hilsden sees around Kings of Kings' headquarters in an old theater in the heart of Jerusalem prompted the formation of new outreaches this year. Its Anchor of Hope counseling center is based in what used to be a sex shop, while its compassion center, which offers various forms of aid, launched last July. It plans to open a soup kitchen there in January.

"What we've been finding is the recent Gaza-Hamas war caused a quick downturn in the economy, partially due to [lower] tourism," Hilsden says. "There are a lot of needy people, especially in Jerusalem. I regularly see homeless people on the streets, digging through garbage cans to find food. Our hearts go out to them."

That statement can be repeated by numerous ministries that not only help those in need, but also continue to shine a spotlight on the land that occupies a central role in the Second Coming of the Messiah. Some examples:

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ)

Among its outreaches is hosting annual observances of Sukkot (this year observed from Oct. 8 to 15), a Jewish festival commemorating God's faithfulness to the Jewish people during their exodus from Egypt. The ICEJ, which held the first Christian celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in 1980, helps educate Christians worldwide about Israel's unique calling in God's plans.

The embassy also helps combat anti-Semitism, which has surged this year in places such as Germany, France, Great Britain and Eastern Europe. In September Greece strengthened its laws against anti-Semitism and other hate speech because of the rise of a neo-Nazi Party there.

During a trip to Ukraine last January, Ezra International's Cristofaro encountered flyers containing "Blood Libel" claims. Popular in Nazi Germany, their primary accusation is that Jews murder Christian children to use their blood during holiday rituals, including baking Passover matzahs.

"It's hard to believe this is happening in the 21st century," Cristofaro says. "This happens in the Middle East and then is repeated by the Orthodox Church. Anti-Semitism is not just coming from neo-Nazis and Arabs but what many Jews see as the church."

Maoz Israel Ministries

More than 35 years old, Maoz Israel marked its birth with the 1977 marriage of founders Shira Sorko-Ram and her husband, Ari, a former actor and professional football player for the Arizona Cardinals (formerly St. Louis Cardinals). Now as Israeli citizens, they have founded the Tifaret Yeshua (the Glory of Yeshua) congregation in downtown Tel Aviv.

In addition, they manage a nonprofit publishing company that prints and distributes Bible-based books in Hebrew and a humanitarian-aid organization (istandwithisrael.com) that supports widows, orphans, needy people and terrorist victims.

The organization also provides scholarships to help immigrants with Hebrew studies and career training, as well as college courses for Messianic Jews.

Revive Israel Ministries

Directed by Asher and Betty Intrater, this apostolic ministry is dedicated to bringing revival to Israel by reconciling its people with Yeshua as Messiah. In addition to past involvement with several messianic churches in Israel and the U.S., the couple now helps pastor Ahavat Yeshua (Love of Jesus) in Washington, D.C.

Revive Israel's evangelistic strategy focuses on building personal relationships in the workplace, schools and neighborhoods. It also spreads the gospel through one-on-one street witnessing, broadcasts and literature distribution.

The ministry distributes a third of its donations to helping the poor, widows and orphans, and assisting Israeli business owners whose faith in Yeshua prompts challenges. Based in a residential community just outside Jerusalem, it also is cooperating on projects to develop a messianic industrial park and a residential development.

Operation Lifeshield

Responding originally to disruptions in northern Israel during a 2006 war with Lebanon, this year's attacks from Gaza have shifted its emphasis to the country's southern region. Bowman felt so strongly about the mission to protect residents from disruptions that he left his Orthodox Jewish temple to devote all his time to Operation Lifeshield.

Bowman draws key inspiration from Esther 4:14 and Mordecai's admonishment to Esther that God had placed her in a strategic location to save Israel. He recalls how he and others who helped initiate this effort mused: "Perhaps this is our time."

Since then, the organization has distributed nearly 300 portable bomb shelters that can protect anywhere from a dozen to 50 people. The school, medical clinic or governmental entity requesting one agrees to provide ongoing maintenance.

"We're such a boring organization," Bowman jokes. "We have one mission and that's to prevent Israelis from rocket attacks. Pastors tell me that, for congregants to make a donation and be able to see where that donation has gone—and connect with Israelis—they won't give to something abstract or undefined."

Media Ministry

While their ministries don't have an identical emphasis, two outreaches to Israel stem from those with roots in writing and commentary.

The co-pastor of Tel Aviv's Tifaret Yeshua, Ron Cantor is the founder of Messiah's Mandate, a teaching ministry aimed at raising up leaders for the coming Israeli revival.

The active blogger and author of Identity Theft (Destiny Image, 2013), Cantor is a thorn in the side of both anti-Semites and supporters of "replacement theology." His novel explores how Jesus has been robbed of his Jewishness, while in a weekly podcast and blogs he explores the truth about such topics as Israel's rebirth in 1948.

Through both novels and non-fiction, author Joel Rosenberg has written extensively about Middle Eastern and end-times subjects. His latest novel, The Auschwitz Escape, explores a Jewish prisoner relying on God's power to escape the concentration camp and alert the world to Nazi atrocities.

In 2006, Rosenberg and his wife, Lynn, set up The Joshua Fund to mobilize Christians to bless Israel. They have led numerous prayer and vision trips to Israel, organized conferences and seminars on four continents, and provided food and other supplies to the needy.Chosen People Ministries

Founded 120 years ago in Brooklyn by a Hungarian immigrant and now directed by Dr. Mitch Glaser, this ministry seeks to evangelize, disciple and serve Jewish people. It operates in 13 nations with programs that equip churches to do Jewish evangelism, support messianic congregations, print messianic materials and participate in benevolent distribution.

Representatives of Chosen People Ministries also conduct "Messiah in Passover" presentations in churches across the U.S. The ministry hosts an annual messianic Jewish retreat in Maryland and leads tours of the Holy Land annually.

The Joseph Project

The Joseph Project is the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America's humanitarian-relief arm. The alliance, which will observe its centennial anniversary next year, has distributed more than $100 million in aid to the poor of all faiths in Israel.

The ministry collects, ships and distributes more than 75 tons of clothing, furniture, household goods, medical supplies and other aid annually. It supplies this assistance through a network of 35 relief aid centers, more than 100 Israeli partnering organizations, and messianic congregations.

Donations have increased in recent years, with the Joseph Project tripling the number of 40-foot containers it shipped to Israel between 2010 and 2013, when aid totaled more than $5 million.

A Divine Mission

Those involved in ministry to Israel cite numerous Scriptures to buttress their support, particularly Matthew 25:31-40, which Segal says in context is a reference to helping Jews. They also cite Genesis 12:1-3, Job 29:11-17, Job 31:16-22, Isaiah 11:11-12, Isaiah 43:5-6, Isaiah 49:22, Isaiah 61:1-3 and the 36th chapter of Ezekiel.

"Ezekiel 36 speaks about how God's name is profaned as the Jewish people have been scattered," Cristofaro says. "God is mocked, and people think He can't fulfill His promises. He reveals himself to the Jewish people and the nations with this (aliyah) process. We have a choice: to sanctify or desecrate His name."

Hoelzle sees encouraging signs that more Christians are warming to the message of support for Israel, saying Ezra International has more churches helping finance the ministry than it did a decade ago. He thinks that stems from more awareness of ancient prophecies about Israel being fulfilled in modern times.

Indeed, during his ongoing trips to Israel, Bernis senses the same kind of openness to Yeshua that he saw among American Jews during the heyday of the Jesus People in the 1970s.

Bernis, whose work in recent years has broadly expanded to establishing a network of medical clinics for Jewish communities in India and some countries in Africa, says he has talked to Orthodox Jews in Israel who have embraced Yeshua after supernatural experiences.

"There is a growing expectation of Messiah," Bernis says. "We believe that ultimately the Jewish people—and particularly those in Israel—will cry out: 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord'" (Matt. 23:39). 

Ken Walker is a freelance writer, co-author and book editor from Huntington, W. Va., and a regular contributor to Ministry Today and Charisma.

4 More Ministries Impacting Israel

Here are some other ministries that are making a difference for the people of Israel:

Dugit: Simply the name of this organization in Tel Aviv is intriguing. The word "dugit" is Hebrew for "fishing boat," like the ones used by the disciples on the Sea of Galilee. Established in 1993 by Avi and Chaya Mizrachi, Dugit likes to refer to itself as "fishers of men" in the heart of Tel Aviv.

The Dugit Messianic Centre has been reaching Israelis with the gospel of Jesus Christ for more than two decades, discipling them to become stronger believers and grounding them in the Word. With 20 percent of Israelis living in poverty, Dugit's Agape Distribution Center helps to provide food and clothing to the needy. Families are sent to the center by social services, including Holocaust survivors and those unable to work for health reasons. During the major Jewish holidays, Dugit distributes "baskets of love," and the organization hands out free Bibles and testimony books in Hebrew, Russian and Arabic to quench spiritual thirst.

Succat Hallel: In the mold of the many sites of the International House of Prayer in the United States, Succat Hallel is a place where anyone can come to worship and pray 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Americans Rick and Patti Ridings were summoned by God to Jerusalem in 1999 and began worship services in their living room. In 2004, the Lord opened the door to Succat Hallel to relocate to a facility overlooking Mount Zion and the Old City of Jerusalem. In fall 2006, a second private prayer room opened in the City of David where the original Tabernacle of David stood. Since 2007, Succat Hallel has hosted a youth/adult conference known as ELAV, which means "Unto Him."

Jerusalem Institute of Justice: This organization is dedicated to cultivating and defending the rule of law, human rights, freedom of conscience and democracy for all people in Israel and its adjacent territories. Founded by Calev Myers in 2004, JIJ was established to provide pro-bono legal assistance for those suffering from illegal religious discrimination, including Messianic Jews. Myers immigrated to Israel in 1992, graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and became a licensed member of the Israeli Bar Association. Since 2007, JIJ has strived to free men, women and children trapped in the sex trade and has been working to change legislation in Israel, which currently allows both the sale and purchase of sexual services. Additionally, JIJ focuses on Palestinian human rights.

Bridges for Peace: Bridges is a Jerusalem-based, Bible-believing Christian organization whose desire is to see Christians and Jews working side by side for better understanding and a more secure Israel. Founded in 1976, BFP is a ministry of hope and reconciliation, giving Christians the opportunity to actively express their biblical responsibility before God to be faithful to Israel and the Jewish community. Its many programs include bimonthly publication of pertinent and positive news from Israel; its monthly teaching letter to bring fuller meanings of biblical concepts from the Hebraic roots of the Scriptures; its Chai Night prayer and study groups, which is a monthly intercessory prayer program for those desiring to pray for the peace of Jerusalem; and Operation Ezra, including a food bank and assistance to Jewish immigrants, Israel's elderly and its poor.