REMINDER: HANNUKAH STARTS NEXT WEEK!

Hannukah, the Festival of Lights, this year starts at sunset on December 8, and ends at sunset on December 16. While it is not one of YAHWEH's Appointed Times, it is - like His commanded Mo'edim - extremely significant AND all about HIM!

Hannukah serves as a remembrance of the victory of a small band of Jews over the occupying army of Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus, who came to power in 175 B.C.E. forbade the Jews to practice their religion, and desecrated their Temple...But YAHWEH showed them all who was boss!

By the way, Yeshua our Messiah - the "Light of the World" - was conceived during this "Festival of Lights"; and, as we can see in John 10:22-38, he participated in the feast of Dedication! (You can count exactly nine months from Hanukkah to Sukkot!)

For more, please see our article!

Can you pass the “Israel Test?”

This very short video from PragerU contains some amazing insights into Israel's history! It is truly worth a few minutes of your time...

If you don't have time to watch it, here's a transcription:

How do you respond to people who excel you in invention, creativity, and wealth? Do you envy them? Do you feel their success somehow diminishes you? Or do you admire what they've achieved and try to emulate it? These questions sum up what I call "The Israel Test."

In the 1880s, European Jews settled in mandate Palestine and wrought an agricultural miracle in that desolate territory, then sparsely populated by a few score thousand Jews and a couple hundred thousand Arabs. The Jewish settlers drained malarial swamps, leached salt from the soils, terraced the barren hills, and planted millions of trees. They massively expanded the capacity of the land and enabled it to support a substantial Arab population.

In the two decades between 1921 and 1943, Jews quadrupled the number of enterprises, multiplied the number of jobs by a factor of 10, and increased the level of capital investment a hundredfold. Far from displacing Arabs, they provided the capital for a major expansion of Arab farms and enabled a sevenfold rise in Arab population by 1948, to a level of 1.35 million, the largest in the long history of Palestine. In other words, the Arabs came to what would be soon be the State of Israel because of the Jews.

By comparison, Trans-Jordan, now known as Jordan, with the same geological endowment and four times the land but no Jews was able to sustain a population density only one tenth of the population density of Palestine.

Crucial to Israel's accomplishments were world leading technological advances in the recovery of water through desalinization, drip irrigation, and sewage recycling.
Over the past fifty years, Israel has increased its population tenfold, its agricultural production sixteen fold and its industrial production fifty-fold while actually reducing net water consumption by ten percent since 1948. This huge expansion of effective water resources enabled the land to support not only more Jews, but also millions more Arabs.

Today the state of Israel with its astonishing achievements in computer science and other high tech fields distils both the genius of the Jews and the misdirected anger of the failed states that surround her. The great divide in the Middle East is not between Arab and Jew but between admiration of achievement, along with a desire to replicate it, and envy accompanied by violent resentment.

People who admire success, who pass the Israel Test, tend to be wealthy and peaceful. People who resent achievement, who fail the Israel Test, tend to become poor and violent.

So, again…

How do you respond to people who excel you in invention, creativity, and wealth?  Do you envy them? Do you feel their success somehow diminishes you?  Or do you admire what they've achieved and try to emulate it? The Israel Test is the central divide in the world today. How you answer it as an individual and ultimately how we answer it as a nation is a test of our own will to triumph over enemies who hate us, as they hate Israel, for what is best within us.

LET’S DISCUSS THE DANGERS OF GOSSIP…

Did you know that you, as the “hearer” of the gossip, may be held just as liable in God’s eyes, as the one(s) who are doing the gossiping?

As you know, the Internet reeks with gossip, people’s personal opinions, outright lies and conspiracy theories. In Hebrew, the term is called “Lashon hara” ("evil tongue") which refers to speech about a person or persons that is negative or harmful to them, even though it is true.

It is speech that damages the person(s) that are talked about either emotionally or financially, or lowers them in the estimation of others - sometimes even to the point of completely damaging their reputation.

Lashon hara is considered to be a very serious sin in the Jewish tradition. The communicator of lashon hara violates the Torah prohibition of lo telech rachil b'ameicha, translating to "thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people" (Leviticus 19:16 KJV). (Source: Wikipedia)

According to MyJewishLearning.com, the laws of lashon hara are often said to derive from two principal sources in the Torah. One is a verse in Leviticus 19:16, which prohibits talebearing, and the other is Exodus 23:1, which prohibits bearing false rumors. The verse from Leviticus refers to rechilut, or simple gossip — merely repeating information about other people, even if it’s true and even if it’s not negative.

The same verse also bars standing idly by the blood of your neighbor — essentially, failing to save someone from death. That these two prohibitions are contained in the same verse is understood to signify the seriousness with which Jewish tradition regards lashon hara!

Jewish law considers the broad category of lashon hara to be a significant sin, as it harms social cohesion and is difficult to atone for. Once such speech has been let loose in the world, it is virtually impossible to undo its damage.

Jewish law also regards both the speaker and the hearer of lashon hara as liable. (Please think long and hard about this as this is a VERY serious thing!)

There are various other commandments that one might be guilty of violating in the course of speaking lashon hara. These include the prohibition known as lifnei iver — literally, placing a stumbling block before the blind, more commonly understood as causing others to sin.

Someone who speaks lashon hara and causes the listener to transgress may also be guilty of lifnei iver. Some authorities also consider lashon hara to violate the Torah’s commandment to “remember what God did to Miriam” (Deuteronomy 24:9). This commandment is understood as referring to God striking Miriam with leprosy for having spoken ill of her brother Moses. Speaking ill of others may be a violation of this commandment as well.

Truth be told, most - if not all - of us have been guilty of either spreading, or listening to, gossip of various kinds. This is one of the many reasons Yeshua commanded us to “Take every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (AENT)

Ephesians 5:4 Neither obscenities nor words of foolishness, or of division, or of falsehood, which are not useful; but instead of these, thanksgiving. (AENT)

James 1:26 And if anyone thinks that he worships Elohim and does not subdue his tongue, but his heart deceives him; his worship is desolate. (AENT)

Titus 1:16 And they profess that they know Elohim, but in their works they deny him; and they are odious and disobedient and to every good work reprobates. (AENT)

Matthew 12:34 "Generation of vipers! How are you able to speak good things, you who are evil? For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart. 35. A good man brings forth good from his good treasures, and the evil man brings evil from his evil treasure. 36. I say to you for every vain word that the sons of men speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment. 37. For by your words you will be made righteous, and by your words you will be condemned." (AENT, See also Deut. 32:21)

There is no scripture commanding us to slander others with vicious gossip. We are to "rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith" (Leviticus 19:17, Titus 1:13, 1 Timothy 5:20); we are to "warn a divisive person once, then a second time, and after that, have nothing more to do with him" (Titus 3:10); we are to "beware of" and "stand distant from" those who refuse to follow YHWH's commands (Romans 16:17-18) and we are to do the following:

2 Timothy 2:15 Do all you can to present yourself to Elohim as someone worthy of his approval, as a worker with no need to be ashamed, because he deals straightforwardly with the Word of the Truth. 16 But keep away from godless babbling, for those who engage in it will only become more ungodly, 17 and their teaching will eat away at people like gangrene. (CJB)

We are to turn godless people over to God; not become their judge and jury. Certainly, we can approach them with HIS Truth; but if they refuse, let them go and leave them alone. HE will deal with them in HIS timing! (See Matthew 12:36, 2 Peter 3:10-13, Romans 2:16, etc.) PRAY for them in hopes they will some day see YHWH's Truth; don't malign them; that's not your job!

Isaiah 55:6 Seek ADONAI while he is available, call on him while he is still nearby. 7 Let the wicked person abandon his way and the evil person his thoughts; let him return to ADONAI, and he will have mercy on him; let him return to our God, for he will freely forgive.(CJB)

People who deliberately commit gossip and run others down are NOT on God's Path; they are hypocrites, espousing God out of one side of their mouths while spewing evil out of the other. They simply get some kind of perverted joy out of putting others down!

Scripture tells us that we are in the world, but not "of it" and unfortunately, we must learn to deal with it - not like the heathens do, but according to YHWH's Torah. God's people are to be holy/set apart, "taking every thought captive".

Deliberately spreading vicious rumors about someone (whether or not there's any truth to them is irrelevant), is NOT pleasing to YHWH...in part, because we are to be His ambassadors, constantly trying to reach others for Him.

Are we really supposed to pluck out our eyeball if it offends us?

The answer is:

NO, of course not! We should never mangle or disfigure our bodies in any way, as that serves to help destroy “the Image of ELOHIM” (Genesis 1:27) It’s simply a metaphor meaning to “remove sinful visions from your mind as if you had no eyes and could not see!”

Let’s examine that particular passage and then apply some science and common sense:

Matthew 5: 29 If your right eye makes you sin, gouge it out and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom. 30 And if your right hand makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom. (CJB)

The Bible, as you know, contains many metaphors. (A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas.

For instance, the old adage, first used by Shakespeare, “All the world is a stage,” is obviously not true. We humans are not all actors, playing roles. He used points of comparison between the world and a stage to convey an understanding about the mechanics of the world and the behavior of the people within it.

So, the same holds true for the passage about plucking out your eye, or cutting off your hand, etc. Our organs and limbs are only doing what God created them to do. Eyes and hands don’t sin, per se. It’s the resulting THOUGHTS IN YOUR BRAIN that are the problem (which is why Yeshua said we are to take every thought captive (2 Cor 10:3-5).

It’s the brain that controls WHAT our bodies do. The brain is where our thoughts originate; it interprets what we see, smell, touch, and feel. If our eyes see something (i.e., we happen upon a porn site while perusing the ‘net), we will automatically react because of the thoughts the sight invokes.

(By the way, we react according to “where we are spiritually.” Those who know what constitutes sin, will immediately remove the offending sight from our eyes. Those who are “weak” and have little respect for, or fear of God, will “want more” of whatever their eyes are seeing…)

So, consider the following explanation:

A February 2003 article in Nature Reviews on the human brain by Jacqueline Wood and Jordan Grafman called, "Human Prefrontal Cortex: Processing and Representational Perspectives" explains that our Prefrontal Cortex supports functions involving the integration of information about emotion, memory, and environmental stimuli, and the dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex supports the regulation of behavior and control of responses to environmental stimuli."

Without going into a long explanation about the various parts of the brain and their functions, the above-mentioned parts of our brain “integrate inputs from many sources and implement more abstract behaviors.”

In other words, the prefrontal cortex handles your behavior! It is where you make decisions to take action on a thought.

SO, AS YOU CAN SEE, the bottom line is: “The eye” is NOT the problem. “Seeing” something is NOT the problem. The problem comes into play when what you see reaches the brain – and you allow the resulting thoughts to lead you astray! (It's all instantaneous.)

Therefore, it is imperative to always keep your thoughts in check, especially when it comes to things you know are considered evil in YAHWEH’s Eyes…

A FEW QUESTIONS FOR THOSE WHO INSIST ON SUPPORTING "PALESTINE"

(By Yashiko Sagamori, National Unity Coalition for Israel.)

If you are so sure that "Palestine, the country, goes back through most of recorded history", I expect you to be able to answer a few basic questions about that country of Palestine:

When was it founded and by whom?

What were its borders?

What was its capital?

What were its major cities?

What constituted the basis of its economy?

What was its form of government?

Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat?

Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation?

What was the language of the country of Palestine?

What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine?

What was the name of its currency? Choose any date in history and tell what was the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan on that date.

And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur?

You are lamenting the "low sinking" of "once proud" nation. Please tell me, when exactly was that "nation" proud and what was it so proud of?

And here is the least sarcastic question of all: If the people you mistakenly call "Palestinians" are anything but generic Arabs collected from all over -- or thrown out of -- the Arab world, if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in the Six Day War?

I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern day "Palestinians" to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology (the science that deals with the origin of words) for history won't work here. The truth should be obvious to everyone who wants to know it. Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of destroying Israel; they still cherish it today.

Having time and again failed to achieve their evil goal with military means, they decided to fight Israel by proxy. For that purpose, they created a terrorist organization, cynically called it "Palestinian people" and installed it in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. How else can you explain the refusal by Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the "West Bank" and Gaza, respectively?

The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria have much less claim to nationhood than that Indian tribe that successfully emerged in Connecticut with the purpose of starting a tax-exempt casino: at least that tribe had a constructive goal that motivated them. The so called "Palestinians" have only one motivation: the destruction of Israel, and in my book that is not sufficient to consider them a "nation" -- or anything else except what they really are: a terrorist organization that will one day be dismantled.

In fact, there is only one way to achieve peace in the Middle East. Arab countries must acknowledge and accept their defeat in their war against Israel and, as the losing side should, pay Israel reparations for the more than 50 years of devastation they have visited on it. The most appropriate form of such reparations would be the removal of their terrorist organization from the land of Israel and accepting Israel's ancient sovereignty over Gaza, Judea, and Samaria.That will mark the end of the Palestinian people.

What are you saying again was its beginning?

MORE FACTS ABOUT "PALESTINE"

BY Australian columnist, Steven Shamrak:

The Palestine Mandate. July 24, 1922.

In July 1922, the League of Nations entrusted the Great Britain with The Palestine Mandate. Recognizing "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine," Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine - Eretz Israel (Land of Israel).

General Assembly resolution 181, of Nov. 29, 1947: It calls for the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem to be controlled by a "special international regime" to protect its holy places. The Zionist movement seeking to establish a Jewish state accepted the partition, the Arabs rejected it. The resolution was not carried out: After Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, war broke out pitting the embryonic state against surrounding 7 Arab states. Israel gained more land than it would have had under the partition resolution. Neither Israel nor Jordan, which controlled the divided parts of Jerusalem after the war, accepted control of the holy city by an international body.

Security Council resolution 242, Nov. 22, 1967: It calls for "withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied" in the 1967 Six Day War and for "respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." The resolution was not carried out because the Arab side did not recognize Israel, and Israel refused to withdraw.

The Refiner’s Fire’s response to the Harvard students who blame Israel for the war started by HAMAS

LET THIS SINK IN:

The Book of Revelation tells us that many believers in Messiah will be beheaded (not shot or stabbed or hanged, but beheaded):

Revelation 20:4. And I saw thrones, and (persons) sat on them, and judgment was given to them, and to the souls that were BEHEADED for the testimony of Yeshua and for the Word of Elohim: and these are they who had not worshipped the beast of prey nor its image; neither had they received the mark upon their forehead or on their hand; and they lived and reigned with their Mashiyach those thousand years. (AENT)

QUESTION: WHO are the ONLY people on the planet who still perform beheadings? It’s not a hard question. Even such “brainiacs” as you Harvard students should be able to answer that one…

But if you can’t, let me clarify for you: It’s the Muslim terrorists occupying Gaza – which Israel gave to them for the sake of peace! They and their ilk have been provoking “the Jews” for centuries; and have proven, over and over again that they don’t just want them out of Israel (so that they – the Muslims – can take over); rather, they want them dead, wiped off the face of the earth!

If you’re sitting there chuckling under your breath over that little tidbit, think about this: While YOU hate the Jewish people, YAHWEH-ELOHIM has made it clear since the beginning, that He LOVES them! In the passage below, He is making a “forever” covenant with our first Forefather, Abraham:

Genesis 12: 3 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (CJB)

Deuteronomy 7:6-8: For you are a people set apart as holy for ADONAI your God. ADONAI your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure. 7 ADONAI didn't set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people - on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 Rather, it was because ADONAI loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that ADONAI brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharoah king of Egypt. (CJB)

YES, “the Jews” (a blanket term used for all 12 Tribes) have disappointed Him. Haven’t YOU?) But, here is a modern-day example that He has continued to KEEP His promises to THEM: He used what Hitler did to the Jews during the Holocaust, to bring about Isaiah’s prophecy that Israel would become a nation again, and that it would happen in one day (see Isaiah 66:7-8).  It happened on May 14, 1948 - when "the world" briefly felt sorry for the Jews and returned Israel to them, and they were able to declare independence for Israel as a united and sovereign nation for the first time in 2,900 years!

That same day, the United States issued a statement recognizing Israel's sovereignty. And, only hours beforehand, a United Nations mandate expired, ending British control of the land. During a 24-hour span of time, foreign control of the land of Israel had formally ceased, and Israel had declared its independence, and its independence was acknowledged by other nations. Modern Israel was literally born in a single day! (See our article, Israel, Bible and Prophecy.)

Oh! And let’s not forget: Messiah Yeshua (whom you call “Jesus”) was born into the Tribe of Judah! If it hadn’t been for those “Jews” you hate so much, you wouldn’t have the ONLY Mediator ever, who shed his blood to give YOU a chance to get into “heaven” because NOBODY gets to “heaven” (John 14:6) unless they “believe in” Messiah Yeshua and live according to YAHWEH’s Divine Instructions in Righteousness… (Yes, Yeshua is a JEW!)

RETURNING TO THE POINT:

No matter what “the world” does to the Jewish people, God has ALWAYS kept His promises to bless and protect them. THAT alone should tell you something!

He GAVE the Land is Israel to “the Jews”; and they have been bending over backwards to accommodate the demands of surrounding Islamic countries whose founding father was Ishmael that “…wild donkey of a man, whose hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him...” (Inform yourself about these two half-brothers.)

Genesis 15: 18 That day ADONAI made a covenant with Avram: "I have given this land to your descendants - from the Vadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River - 19 the territory of the Keni, the K'nizi, the Kadmoni, 20 the Hitti, the P'rizi, the Refa'im, 21 the Emori, the Kena'ani, the Girgashi and the Y'vusi." (CJB)

Deuteronomy 34: 4 "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, 'I will give it to your offspring'"… (CJB)

Leviticus 25: 23 "The land is not to be sold in perpetuity, because the land belongs to me -you are only foreigners and temporary residents with me." (CJB)

Ezekiel 43:7 He said, "Human being, this is the place for my throne, the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Isra'el forever. (CJB)

The passages above reveal how YAHWEH feels about HIS Land; and that His Land belongs to “the Jews!” YAHWEH even outlined the borders of Israel for Moshe (Moses) in Numbers 34:1-15!

And since GOD ALMIGHTY said these things, it proves that Israel is quite simply the most important piece of Real Estate in the entire Universe - and for all those who would seek to divide it or give it to someone else or even "internationalize" it, be advised He still wants it, and YOU are NOT getting it! Nor will He allow you to wipe out HIS people!

Unfortunately, NOTHING will change until Yeshua returns to teach humanity personally for a thousand years! Zecheriah 12:2-3 tells us that all the nations of the Earth will take up arms against Israel, and YHWH's chosen people will be surrounded. But He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep, (Psalm 121:4) and HE will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. (Zechariah 14:3)

The final battle in the Age of Man will be for control of Jerusalem, a place no one wanted until YHWH chose it as His own. (2 Chronicles 6:5-6). Since then, the forces opposed to Him have ceaselessly tried to take it from Him, for in the spiritual realm control of Jerusalem signifies victory over ELOHIM.

But this is what He said – and what HE says stands FOREVER:

Ezekiel 37: 21 Then say to them that Adonai Elohim says: 'I will take the people of Isra'el from among the nations where they have gone and gather them from every side and bring them back to their own land. (CJB)

So, YOU - Harvard loudmouths and all others who hate “the Jews” - are free to do so; but know this: GOD LOVES them! They are His people – and anyone who hates His people does NOT belong to Him – no matter how much they “believe in God” or warm the pews in their churches or Mosques or wherever they worship their various “gods”…

More than 300 Bible prophecies have come true, and continue to unfold before our very eyes! People around the world have been trying to kill off “the Jews” since time immemorial – and yet God has continued to bless them.

Israel belongs to HIS people - blanketly referred to as “Jews”; but which include ALL 12 tribes mentioned in the Torah … and anyone who goes up against them will LOSE in the end. The Bible says so! Here are some forgotten facts about the Israel-Arab conflict.

It will behoove you to remember that, for centuries everybody (especially the spawn of Ishmael) has hated “the Jews” and in many ways, fought over this tiny nation called Israel, to claim it as "their" holy place. Truth is, as has been revealed again and again, NO ONE will get to exterminate His people, nor seize their Land for themselves!

JUST REMEMBER: The Bible prophecies have been, and continue to unfold before our very eyes – and Israel ALWAYS wins in the end. If you hate Israel, then you hate its God as well … and you WILL have a lot of explaining to do on Judgment Day!