Servant of Messiah Ministries

Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

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Why study Church History?

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What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecc 1v 9)

It is impossible to appreciate that scripture without understanding.

We act as if we stumbled on a perfect set of Paleo-Hebrew Dead Sea scrolls and Yeshua led us into the desert like Rav Shaul to explain His Truth to us. Instead, He handed us 2000 years of His faithful working in the mess to bring us to this place. Gratitude should be our starting point.

Church History is made up of debates that have raged for 2000 years. A good understanding of that history will cast light on “new heresies” and explain so many traditions we take for granted despite them having no biblical support.

The sixteenth century alone provides a treasure of soul-stirring narratives. Think of Martin Luther’s bold and daring stand for the gospel against the destructive errors of Rome. Had it not been for that flawed anti-Semite – we would still be sitting in a Latin Mass with no access to a bible – let alone an English one. Consider the faithful witness of the English martyrs who died singing psalms as they were consumed by flames.

The story is messy and bloody and should stir our hearts to do great feats.

Church History is a reminder of God s faithfulness:

Like the psalmist, we must “recount all of God’s wonderful deeds” to remind ourselves that He will never leave us or forsake us (Ps. 9:1; Heb. 13:5).

All of Church History is His-Story. The stories of His faithfulness to the men like George Mueller who fed and clothed 20,000 orphans on prayer alone should encourage us to pray.

God provided us with perfect scriptures to perfectly equip us. The history of the Canon of (both old and new) testaments are in themselves amazing stories. God protected His word against all kinds of attacks.  Tyndale’s translation was the first English Bible to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, the first English one to take advantage of the printing press, and first of the new English Bibles of the Reformation. Tyndale died to give us that access.

Throughout time, God was there providing the tools for the next move of God in the hearts of men.

Church History protects us from error and clarifies previous errors:

Irish philosopher Edmund Burke wisely remarked that “those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” Indeed, without a basic knowledge of church history, individual Christians and churches are prone to repeat the same doctrinal errors and foolish mistakes of former days.

Learning about Adoptionism, Pelagianism, Arianism, Donatism, or Gnosticism will help you see some of those same heresies in the teachings of many modern preachers and teachers. Without studying Church history, these doctrines may seem new and creative.

A study of the revivals will reveal the Revivalism that cropped up where manipulation methods of Finney replaced the authentic work of the Holy Spirit in the pursuit of “converts” rather than conversion.

A study of the Welsh revival will reveal how emotionalism supplanted biblical doctrine. A great move of God was derailed and fell apart very quickly. Unstructured emotional meetings did not nurture or train mature believers or prepare saints for the long road ahead.

As Twain said “The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” A study of history teaches us which traditions are suffocating and need to be avoided and which are so crucial that they must be preserved at all costs. Studying history will open our eyes to traditions we have always assumed were biblical.

Church History humbles us:

Our current generation with pride declares that we are the greatest generation of believers in the history of the world. Rev 3 v 17 – You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’  And you don’t realise that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. A look at history will shame us.

For instance, reading the letters of the Church Father, Ignatius of Antioch (35-108 AD), places our own efforts in perspective. The words of Ignatius to the church in Rome, about his own willingness to die as a martyr, should humble us in the light of the “easy-living” approach of many of today’s Christians: “I am writing to all the Churches and I enjoin all, that I am dying willingly for God’s sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you; do not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching to God. I am God’s wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ.”

Queen Mary ascended the throne of England in 1553. In subsequent years, she had at least two hundred people put to death (often by fire) for their religious convictions. – Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were burned at the stake on October 16, 1555.  Latimer died much more quickly; as the flames quickly rose, Latimer encouraged Ridley, “Be of good comfort, Mr Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.”

The martyrdoms of Ridley, Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer are today commemorated by a Martyrs’ monument in Oxford. The faith they once died for can now be freely practised in the land.

Church History encourages us:

 Hebrews 12 v 2 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

God filled the bible with biographies for many reasons….He wanted us to read them.

In 1563, Englishman John Foxe published his Acts and Monuments to give a universal history of God’s work at building His church. Often called Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, the history has become a Christian classic. There was a time when the Bible and Foxe’s work were the only two books many Christians ever read.

Link to get your free copy – Foxes-Book-of-Martyrs-John-Foxe.pdf

Hebrews 11 v 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets,  who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,  quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—  the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.  These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised….

We put free history books on this site in the hope it would light a fire in your heart to cry “once more into the breach.” Now let us finish the task set before us.

 

 

 

D.N.A. proves the bible!

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The advancements in DNA have been able to trace family relationships and prove parenthood beyond any doubt. Could this DNA research tell us if:

  • Jews were related to the Arabs and whether they shared a common family heritage?
  • Was there a Levite (Kohen) genetic marker that traced the descendants of Levi – the Priesthood.

“Jews and Arabs are all really children of Abraham,” says Harry Ostrer, M.D., Director of the Human Genetics Program at New York University School of Medicine. “And all have preserved their Middle Eastern genetic roots over 4,000 years,” he says.

The researchers analysed the Y chromosome, which is usually passed unchanged from father to son, of more than 1,000 men worldwide. Throughout human history, alterations have occurred in the sequence of chemical bases that make up the DNA, leaving variations that can be pinpointed with modern genetic techniques. Related populations carry the same specific variations. In this way, scientists can track descendants of large populations and determine their common ancestors.

Specific regions of the Y chromosome were analysed in 1,371 men from 29 worldwide populations, including Jews and non-Jews from the Middle East, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Jewish men shared a common set of genetic signatures with non-Jews from the Middle East, including Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese. These signatures diverged significantly from non-Jewish men outside of this region. Consequently, Jews and Arabs share a common ancestor and are more closely related to one another than to non-Jews from other areas of the world. The study also revealed that despite the complex history of Jewish migration in the Diaspora (the time since 556 B.C. when Jews migrated out of Palestine), Jewish communities have generally not intermixed with non-Jewish populations. If they had, then Jewish men from different regions of the world would not share the same genetic signatures in their Y chromosome. It is possible to calculate from the divergence of the Y-chromosomes how much intermarriage there was over the last 2,000 years. The answer is a striking 0.5 percent per generation.

A similar study published in British science journal, Nature (January 2, 1997), asked that participants in Israel, England, and North America to contribute DNA material and identify whether they were Kohen or could identify their family background.

The results of the analysis of the Y chromosome markers of the Kohanim and non-Kohanim were indeed significant. According to Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman in his article “The DNA Chain of Tradition: The Discovery of the ‘Cohen Gene,’” one scientific study found that 98.5% of Cohens tested share the same genetic marker, which signifies descent from a common male ancestor. Astonishingly, Cohen progeny from both the Sephardic (Arab-Muslim world) and Ashkenazic Jewish (European) groups share the same sequence. Judging by the number of mutations that has occurred in the Cohen haplotype, scientists conclude that the Cohens descend from one man who lived approximately 3,300 years ago.(A haplotype is a group of genes within an organism that was inherited together from a single parent.)

In a second study, Dr. Skorecki and associates gathered more DNA samples and expanded their selection of Y chromosome markers. Solidifying their hypothesis of the Kohens’ common ancestor, they found that a particular array of six chromosomal markers were found in 97 of the 106 Kohens tested. This collection of markers has come to be known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH)–the standard genetic signature of the Jewish priestly family. The chances of these findings happening at random is greater than one in 10,000.

The finding of a common set of genetic markers in both Ashkenazi and Sefardi Kohanim worldwide clearly indicates an origin pre-dating the separate development of the two communities around 1000 C.E.

Professor Hammer was recently in Israel for the Jewish Genome Conference. He confirmed that his findings are consistent that over 80 percent of self-identified Kohanim have a common set of markers.

The findings exposed two common myths

  • The biblical assertion that the Samaritans were not proper Jews was unjustifiable and politically motivated. The Samaritan DNA shows that the lineage of this group is even more homogeneous and over a longer time than that of the Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity. The fact that from Ezra’s time onwards Jewish teaching prohibited marriage between Jews and non-Jews – reinforced later by Christian rulers also forbidding it – contributes mightily to Jewish genetic identity.
  • The Christian Identity and  British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) is a doctrine based on the hypothesis that people of Western European and Northern European descent are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of the ancient Israelites. DNA proves this is a fairy tale.

Two books make for interesting reading:

Abraham’s Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People by Jon Ernstein.

DNA and Tradition: The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrews by Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman.

Why should Xians study Torah.

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Top 10 Reasons why Christians should know Torah

Know Torah = Know Yeshua

We do new converts to Christianity a disservice when we hand them a Gospel of John and the Book of Psalms.

The book of Hebrews says in Heb 10 v 7 – Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.  Hebrews is quoting Ps 40 v7 – Then I say, “Look! I come! What is written in the scroll pertains to me.” 

Which scroll was He referring to in light of there being No New Testament yet?

Yeshua made every effort to validate His ministry and His Messiahship from the Jewish Torah. His talk on the Road to Emmaus appears to be a thorough survey of the Jewish Scriptures. His uniquely Jewish mission was to fulfill Jewish roles and customs …..like Kinsman Redeemer, Passover Lamb, High Priest, Atonement, Line of Judah, Son of Joseph and Son of David are terms only explained in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Attempts to de-Judaize the bible are not new. Early Christian Fathers tried to separate themselves from their Jewish Roots and the early 12 Jewish disciples of Messiah.

  • Hilary of Poitiers (AD 291-371) wrote: “Jews are a perverse people accursed by God forever.”
  • Gregory of Nyssa (died AD 394), Bishop of Cappadocia: “the Jews are a brood of vipers, haters of goodness…”
  • Jerome (AD 347-407) describes the Jews as “… serpents, wearing the image of Judas, their psalms and prayers are the brayings of donkeys.”

Hitler’s plan was to gradually ‘Nazify’ the church beginning with a theological center he set up in 1939 called ‘The Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life’. Walter Grundmann was appointed as its academic director and wrote in 1941,  ‘The Bible must become Jew-free and the German people must see that the Jews are the mortal enemy who threatens their very existence’.

In the 1940 edition of the Nazi bible, the following words can be found: “The Evangelical Jesus can only become the savior of our German people, because it does not incarnate the ideas of Judaism, but fights against them mercilessly’.  Referring to the rewritten bible in a memorandum to the institute in Eisenach, Hitler wrote ‘The book will have to serve the fight against the immortal Jewish enemy!

When you see who does not want you to read and Study Torah…That should tell you something!  Please let that strengthen your resolve to find the Jewish Yeshua on very page of the volume written about Him. That volume starts with the Torah.

  1. Yeshua can be found there!

John 1:45 Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the Torah, and the Prophets, wrote: Yeshua of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

  • How can you know the answer if you never knew the question?
  • They only recognized Yeshua as the Messiah because they knew the Torah.
  • The Torah is where the hidden treasure is found!
  1. So we can properly understand who Yeshua is!

Luke 24:27 Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Yeshua began with Moses and so should we. How can we claim to know Yeshua if we know nothing of His family, His culture or His country?

  1. So we can believe Yeshua is the Messiah!

John 5:46,47 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. But if  you do not believe his writing, how will you believe my words?”

If you throw out the Torah and claim it is irrelevant you have no validation for your belief in Yeshua. It is not a matter of Moses versus Jesus it is belief in that what Moses says proves your belief in Messiah!

  1. Torah sets your heart on fire!

Luke 24:32 They said one to another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”

There were no Gideon Bibles back then. All they had was the Tanakh. (Hebrew Old Testament) God says His Word is like a fire. Our hearts will burn when we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the truths of the Torah to us.

  1. Torah, as the beginning, is the Key to prophetic understanding!

Isaiah 46:9,10 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure;

The Bible says it is to God’s Glory that he conceals matters and it is to our honor to search them out. You will never fully understand Revelation if you don’t understand Genesis and the Torah. They are bookends of one story.

  1. So we can know the promises to the family we are grafted into!

Romans 9:4,5 Who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Messiah as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.

There are not two trees, one Jewish and one Christian. We are grafted into one tree and the early “church” fathers are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You are saved by the same faith that Abraham was saved by. Gen 15 v 6 And Abram believed the LORD and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.

  1. Torah comes from the breath of God and is His Word!

2 Timothy 3:16,17 Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Again there was no New Testament when this was written. The Torah equips us for every good work. The early church proved all their doctrines from the only scriptures they had –The Torah.

  1. Torah brings us liberty!

Psalms 119:43-48 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in your judgments. So shall I keep your law continually forever and ever? And I will walk at liberty: for I seek your precepts. I will speak of your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself in your commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up to your commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in your statutes.

Only when we know our boundaries do we have true liberty as well as safety for everyone.

  1. Torah reveals God’s heart and is what makes our lives go well!

Deuteronomy 5:29 O that there was such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!

God is the same yesterday, today and forever! God would never say that Torah is good, now Torah is bad, and now Torah is good again. The Torah is God’s instruction. His instruction is always for our good, as He loves us!

  1. Torah prevents us from being deceived and reveals false prophets!

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them; You shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proves you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and join him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he has spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust you out of the way which the LORD your God commanded you to walk in. So shall you put the evil away from the middle of you?

Any person who believes the Torah is done away with is a false prophet. There are many modern day “prophets” going around claiming to hear from God. Just ask them if the Torah is done away with?.

If they say, yes, Run for your lives!

Chanukah Newsletter

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Dear friends:

The Bible declares that there is nothing new under the sun. What happened back then is happening today. We are only building upon the sins of the fathers. Sadly, the events at the U.N. on Friday – will only get worse. We as a nation now have chosen to curse and betray the ‘siblings of the Messiah.’

There is a saying that the Church started it all with forced conversions declaring:
“Jews cannot live among us as Jews!”
Then, the nations of the world followed up on what the Church said by expelling the Jews from various countries and declared:
“Jews cannot live among us as Jews!”
Hitler simply built on the foundation that the Church and the nations had laid by stating:
“Jews cannot live among us as Jews!”

The National holidays of Israel point to a time of two such persecutions. Esther is the story of Purim – when Haman (like Amalek) wanted their extermination. Chanukah was a time of forced assimilation by the Greek Empire. The Hebrew word “Chanukah” (say “chah-noo-kah) literally means “dedication.” It is from this word that the holiday known as Chanukah gets its name. This festival is not one of the seven festivals of the Lord found in Leviticus chapter 23.

Some Background is needed
During the few hundred years prior to the Common Era (C.E.), the Hellenistic (Greek) armies of Alexander marched throughout the Middle East in a conquest to control the civilized world. The later Hellenistic armies, led by General Antiochus Epiphanies IV, sought to eliminate all traces Judaism which was alien to Hellenism, by fierce methods of assimilation.

He enforced strict anti-Torah policies, the forbidding of circumcision and public and private Torah reading. The Judeans resisted. Antiochus eventually seized complete control of the Temple itself, and in a public display of triumph and mockery, he sacrificed swine upon the altar itself, pouring swine urine on the Temple furniture and holy things. He also enforced the strict Hellenization of Israel by setting up a gymnasium in Jerusalem, compelling Jews to attend.  His activities are described as – And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt-offering, and they shall set up the ‘abomination that maketh desolate.’ Daniel 11:31. That phrase and its implications are covered in our study.

A resistance led by the Maccabean family began to fight back. When the Temple was eventually recaptured by the Judeans, it was in shambles. The altar had been ritualistically defiled by Antiochus’ armies. It was decided that before any reconstruction and repair could commence, the House itself had to be cleaned up and rededicated back to God. The story is recorded for us in the Apocryphal books known as the Maccabees.

The familiar 9-branched candlestick is known as a “Chanukah.” The Chanukah (the Hanukkah menorah) has very special instructions for how it is lit. The lampstand itself has eight candles, with one extra candle set apart or placed higher than the other candles. This special candle is the Shamash or servant candle. All the main candles on the menorah receive their light from the Shamash.

In the same manner, we receive our light from the Messiah, the Suffering Servant of The Almighty of whom it was written: “The One who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:9)

The Bible tells us John 10 v 22 – It was now winter and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Temple during the time of Chanukah, the Festival of Dedication.

So this Festival of Lights is a time of dedication. Rededicate your Life to renewed service to the Messiah – the Light of the World.

Starting in a few weeks it is my hope to add weekly written and audio teachings to this site. We are adding almost 70 new books in January that we just completed processing. Some are quite exciting. Please forward our material to others.

Blessings

Richard A. Volunteer

Turkey will leave N.A.T.O.

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Since the coup attempt that killed 270 people Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned a democracy into his autocracy.  The purges in Turkey now makes the McCarthy era during the 1950’s look like a picnic.

A total of 2740 judges and prosecutors have been detained while 4,897 State employees were fired, and 76,567 State workers were suspended.  The military lost 3000 arrested with officers leaving the country to seek asylum in the West.

In Turkey it is not the Communists being hunted but the Gulenists….to date over 40, 360 suspected Gulenists have been detained.  The irony is that Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish preacher, and writer has supported President Erdogan’s rise to power.

During his early years as President after a history of military Coups in Turkey,  Erdogan used to call the widely circulated Gulenist owned newspaper “Zaman” as the “guardians of democracy in Turkey.”   In 2013 those same papers would expose the corruption of Erdogan regime. After the failed coup of July 2016 all Gulenists were labeled terrorists.

There is virtually no independent media left in Turkey with 160 media outlets shut and 108 journalists detained. His threat to bring back the death penalty has alarmed the EU members – as the EU does not allow the death penalty in its member states.

Ankara began its formal accession talks with the EU in 2005. In March 2016, the sides have reached what seemed like a landmark deal, when sealing a joint plan to combat the migration crisis. Ankara promised it would assist the EU in dealing with the influx of migrants in exchange for some funding and also to potential ease the process through which Turkey could gain EU accession and visa-free travel within the Schengen Zone for its citizens.

But despite plans to introduce the visa-free agreement in July, it has so far been postponed, with the EU authorities saying Turkey has failed to comply with all of the EU’s 72 criteria. Ankara’s tough anti-terrorism legislation, especially criticized by Brussels, is the main stumbling block.

Erdogan blasted Merkel, “Germany thinks that they are a first class country, a first class democracy and that Turkey is second class. We want them to treat us as equal partners.”  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was “highly alarming” that “freedom of the press and speech are being restricted [in Turkey] again and again,” and provided the example of the arrest of at least 13 editors and editors in chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper.

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said that Berlin would not extradite suspects to Turkey if they were facing political charges, with the only exception being evidence of “classic criminal activity” presented by Ankara.

Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that people in Turkey no longer wanted the EU membership. The official said the government is under “huge pressure” to abandon its plans to join the EU bloc of 28 nations, which is being accused of “double standards.”  “We are under huge pressure to stop the negotiating process,” Cavusoglu said at a Strategic Forum in Slovenia.

Turkey has since strengthened ties to Russia and it appears its bid for E.U. membership is slipping further and further away.    Ankara’s large dependence on Moscow’s energy and tourism make this inevitable. Turkey’s constitution is shaped by Sharia law which is incompatible with Europe liberal thought.  Turkey (NATO’s 2nd largest military power) is also gravitating towards Russia on the Syrian issue.  This is reducing her ties with the U.S., as Russia continues to fuel tensions in NATO.  Moscow could split NATO apart.

Her future loyalties will lie with Russia and the Middle East and not with Europe. As Russia enlarges her influence in the Middle East, Europe and America will find themselves sidelined. The U.S. wasn’t even invited to a meeting held in Moscow between Russian, Turkish and Iranian officials who discussed solutions to the Syrian war. Turkey is prophesied to be a part of the nine (9) nations including Russia that will ultimately invade Northern Israel. Ezekiel 38 and 39 are future events. That separates her future from Europe. 

Rise of the European Right

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The Trump victory after the Brexit decision in Britain has shown the way for the right-wing populist parties across Europe. They believe their time has come and they share Trump’s themes – a hard line on immigration, a distrust of trade deals, a defense of traditional values and a suspicion of international organizations and international elites. Voter dissatisfaction with mainstream established political parties is at a record high.

More than half a century after the Second World War, the West is sliding toward a resurgence of far-right political movements that could make the 1930s pale in comparison.

A new report funded by the German Federal Foreign Office reveals that public support for far-right political parties in Europe has risen exponentially since 1999, resulting in record wins in the European Parliament. An analysis of the report’s data suggests that far-right parties are poised to take a third of all seats in the next round of European elections in 2019.

Currently in the opposition in the Dutch Parliament, Mr. Wilders’ anti-immigrant Party for Freedom is set to make big gains in next year’s election that could earn it a seat in the Dutch government.

Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice Party roared back into the government by winning 39 percent of the national vote in the 2015 parliamentary elections. The party was founded in 2001 by Lech Kaczynski and his identical twin, Jaroslaw. Law and Justice first won power in 2005. Lech became president and Jaroslaw, eventually, his prime minister. In 2010, Lech Kaczynski and much of Poland’s top leadership died in a plane crash while landing at an airport near Smolensk, Russia. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who was not on the plane, is now leading Poland’s shift rightward as the party leader

In Hungary,  Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party, running on a joint list with the K.D.N.P., a Christian Democratic party, have won the last two parliamentary elections, worrying many Western leaders about his increasingly authoritarian rule. The party also decisively won in voting for the European Parliament in May 2014. Jobbik, a far-right, anti-immigration, populist and economic protectionist party won 20 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections in 2014, making it Hungary’s third-largest party.

The far-right Sweden Democrats party, which has disavowed its roots in the white-supremacist movement, won about 13 percent of the vote in elections in September 2014, which gave it 49 of the 349 seats in Parliament.  Because none of the mainstream parties would form a coalition with the Sweden Democrats, which is led by Jimmie Akesson, the country is governed by a shaky minority coalition of Social Democrats and the Green Party. The Sweden Democrats’ platform calls for heavily restricting immigration, opposes allowing Turkey to join the European Union and seeks a referendum on European Union membership.

Founded in 1980, the neofascist party Golden Dawn in Greece came to international attention in 2012 when it entered the Greek Parliament for the first time, winning 18 seats. The election results came amid the country’s debilitating debt crisis and resulting austerity measures. The party, which the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner described in 2013 as “neo-Nazi and violent,” holds extreme anti-immigrant views, favors a defense agreement with Russia and said the euro “turned out to be our destruction.”

In France, the National Front is a nationalist party that uses populist rhetoric to promote its anti-immigration and anti-European Union positions. The party favors protectionist economic policies and would clamp down on government benefits for immigrants, including health care, and drastically reduce the number of immigrants allowed into France. The party was established in 1972; its founders and sympathizers included former Nazi collaborators and members of the wartime collaborationist Vichy regime. The National Front is now led by Marine Le Pen, who took over from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party started three years ago as a protest movement against the euro currency, won up to 25 percent of the vote in German state elections in March, challenging Germany’s consensus-driven politics. The party failed to win seats in the German Parliament in 2013 by narrowly missing the 5 percent threshold, but is now polling at 10 percent to 12 percent and is expected to be the first right-wing party to enter the Parliament since the end of World War II. Support for the party shot up after the New Year’s Eve sexual assaults in Cologne. The party “attracted voters who were anti-establishment, anti-liberalization, anti-European, anti-everything that has come to be regarded as the norm.

The stage is being set for the new leaders of the future. When resources are strained and the people demand answers, they elect leaders that promise results. Political correctness and globalization will give way to extremism. Individual rights will be sacrificed for the greater good.

The last time the world looked to the Right to solve their problems – the choices were Franco, Tito, Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin. We have learned nothing from history, so we will repeat it.

 

 

 

US support of Israel withdrawn

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Today the UN Security Council voted to condemn Israeli settlements. Applause broke out in the 15-member Security Council’s chambers after the vote on the measure, which passed 14 to 0, with the United States ambassador, Samantha Power, raising her hand as the lone abstention. It broke with 36 years of accepted US Policy. Israel’s ambassador, Danny Danon, denounced the measure, and castigated the council members who had approved it.

In abstaining, the U.S. brushed aside calls for a veto by president-elect Donald Trump who, in an unprecedented move, managed to delay the vote a day by weighing in with Egypt, the initial sponsor of the resolution. Egypt then withdrew its support.

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, defended the move to abstain, saying “one cannot champion” both settlements and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The settlement problem has gotten so much worse,” Power said after the vote, which had been delayed from Thursday. She added that “our vote today does not diminish” the country’s “steadfast” commitment to Israel. The decision to abstain highlighted the increasingly frayed relationship between the Obama administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Netanyahu’s office, in a statement after the vote, rejected the resolution and said the Obama administration secretly plotted to undermine Israel by not vetoing the proposal. The White House rejected the accusation.

“The Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes,” Netanyahu’s office said in the statement.

Israel argues the final status of the territories should be determined in any future talks on Palestinian statehood. “President Obama and Secretary Kerry are behind this shameful move against Israel at the UN,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity. “The US administration secretly cooked up with the Palestinians an extreme anti-Israeli resolution behind Israel’s back.” He called it “an abandonment of Israel, which breaks decades of US policy of protecting Israel at the UN”.

The measure demands Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.” It declares the establishment of settlements by Israel has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.” While the resolution does not call for sanctions on Israel, it amounts to a high-profile rebuke of the Israeli government and could hamper Israel’s negotiating position in future peace talks. Palestinians argue that the expansion of settlements on the disputed land makes a peace deal even less likely.

Under international law, Israeli settlements — built on Palestinian land occupied by Israel — are considered to be illegal. Some 600,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem and on the West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war. Putting the West Wall – Israel’s Holiest site in Palestinian lands is unthinkable.

President-elect Donald Trump and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had all called on the Obama administration to veto the resolution before the vote.  “Today’s vote is a blow to peace that sets a dangerous precedent for further diplomatic efforts to isolate and demonize Israel,” Paul Ryan said. “Our unified Republican government will work to reverse the damage done by this administration and rebuild our alliance with Israel.”

In a tweet following the vote, Trump said: “As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th.”

Palestinian Reaction

Palestinian leaders, meanwhile, welcomed the resolution’s passage. The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement issued in Arabic that the move is “a big blow for the Israeli political policy, a condemnation for settlements and consensus by the international community and a support for the two-state solution.”

Ruling party Fatah spokesman Osama Qowasma called the vote a “historic victory for the Palestinian people, and it inaugurates a new stage in the conflict.”

A time is coming when the whole world will condemn Israel and the US Veto that protected them will be withdrawn. If it had not been for the US Veto and US Arms during the 1967 and the emergency shipments during the 1973 war, there would be no Israel today.

While Donald Trump may be a temporary change – America will abandon her ally and throw Israel to her enemies. The 14-0 vote is but the beginning. Like the Nazi era where harsh anti-Semitic laws were passed on the eve of Holy Days, so this Chanukah echoes of an earlier time. 

Israel fears that the United States and France want to advance another move on the Israeli-Palestinian issue before the Obama administration wraps up its term. The international foreign ministers’ meeting is scheduled for January 15 in Paris as part of the French peace initiative, a series of decisions on the peace process will be made. These will immediately be brought to the UN Security Council for a vote and will be adopted there before January 20.

God is clear. Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, whoever curses Israel will be cursed. America, under Barack Obama’s leadership, has now, for the very first time actively cursed Israel. A red line has been crossed.

All that we can now do, is wait for the judgment that will now fall. It will fall on the United States corporately, and there is nothing that Donald Trump can do to stop it.

Answers to Prayer – George Muller – Audio Book

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A Man of Prayer

George Mueller (1805–1898) is widely considered one the greatest men of prayer and faith since the days of the New Testament. He lived nearly the entire nineteenth century, two-thirds of it in Bristol, England. He led four far-reaching, influential ministries, but we know him best today for his orphanages.
During a time in England when most orphans lived in miserable workhouses or on the streets, like Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, Mueller took them in, fed them, clothed them, and educated them. Through his orphanage in Bristol, Mueller cared for as many as two thousand orphans at a time—more than ten thousand in his lifetime.
Yet he never made the needs of his ministries known to anyone except to God in prayer. Mueller had over fifty thousand specific recorded answers to prayers in his journals, thirty thousand of which he said were answered the same day or the same hour that he prayed them.
Think of it: that’s five hundred definite answers to prayer each year—more than one per day—every single day for sixty years!

Mueller’s Great Discovery
How did George Mueller pray? He said that for the first ten years of what he called his “life of faith”—referring not to when he was unknown but to ten years of trust in God and remarkable answers to prayer—he often struggled to get into the spirit of prayer, in other words, to really feel like praying. Until, that is, he made one slight alteration in his method.
Here’s how he described the change:………

The PdF book Answers to Prayer by George Müller

The Mobi book Answers to Prayer by George Müller

The Epub book Answers to Prayer by George Müller

ONE
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TWO
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THREE
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FOUR
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FIVE
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SIX
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SEVEN
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EIGHT
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Quiet Talks on Prayer by S.D. Gordon – Audio Book

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In the early 1900s, S.D. Gordon was a widely traveled speaker in high demand. A prolific author, he wrote more than 30 devotional books, most with the phrase “Quiet Talks” in the title. His first book sold half a million copies over 40 years! He died in 1936. E.W. Kenyon said that “S.D. Gordon is a sporadic outburst of divine grace. He is unusual, as are all of God’s rare tools… he is perfectly balanced in the Word and in the Spirit. He represents that rare but vanishing class of spiritually minded men of the last generation.”

The book is available here Quiet Talks on Prayer by SD Gordon

I. The Meaning And Mission Of Prayer
II. Hindrances To Prayer
III. How To Pray.
IV. Jesus’ Habits Of Prayer

 

PART  1

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PART 2

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PART 3

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PART 4

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Humility by Andrew Murray – Audio Book

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In Humility, Murray calls all Christians to turn from pride, empty themselves, and study the character of Christ to be filled with his grace. It is often called the best work on the topic ever written.   In 1895, South African pastor and missionary Andrew Murray (1828–1917) wrote Humility: The Beauty of Holiness.

Is not this what Jesus taught? It was when the disciples disputed who should be greatest; when He saw how the Pharisees loved the chief place at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues; when He had given them the example of washing their feet,- that He taught His lessons of humility. Humility before God is nothing if not proved in humility before men. It is even so in the teaching of Paul. To the Romans, He writes: “In honor preferring one another”; “Set not your mind on high things, but condescend to those that are lowly.” “Be not wise in your own conceit.”

The book is available here in
pdf format
Humility-Murray-Andrew.pdf
Mobi format
Humility-Murray-Andrew.mobi
Epub format
Humility-Murray-Andrew.epub