Category: Israel

9th of Av update

by atharris, posted in Israel, Middle East

A hoard of coins from the fourth year of the Jewish Revolt against Rome — minted months before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE — was found outside the capital and announced by the Israel Antiquities Authority on Tuesday to coincide with the Ninth of Av, the date commemorating the destruction of the Second Temple.

The coins are all of identical size and age, and possibly from the same mint. Their value has yet to be determined, but they are likely quarter or one-eighth shekel bits, Betzer said. They are all marked with the words “For the redemption of Zion” and “Year four,” indicating they were made during the fourth year of the revolt against the Roman Empire, or between spring 69 and spring 70 CE.

http://www.kosherpress.com/trove-of-jewish-revolt-coins-discovered-near-jerusalem/

The World Polarizes

by atharris, posted in Israel

Tiny little Israel, roughly the size of the state of New Jersey and with a population of one half of 1 percent of the world’s 7 billion people, and yet it has caused a great divide and commotion among the peoples of the world in the midst of their conflict with Hamas.

Interestingly 2000 years ago, Israel was polarized against one man; Jesus. The Pharisees and Scribes of the day were against Jesus, even accusing Him of working for Satan and calling ‘good’ evil. In the end, most of Israel rejected Jesus and went on to see their destruction beginning in 70 AD.

As it was in the beginning with Adam and Eve, and as it was in the days Jesus walked the Earth, so it is today, a fight between good and evil, a fight for the Kingdom. Just as Israel ended in destruction during that time, the world today is facing the most destructive time in its history.

Perhaps you are reading this and looking for a way out of all the uncertainty, war, and the coming destruction? Perhaps you desperately need peace in your life? Jesus is the only way. Do you know Him?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:3-6

 

 

Watching the events around the world today, a few verses come to mind.

13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Matthew 23:13

 

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12

 

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20

 

3 And I will bless them that bless thee (Israel), and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:3

 

16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Revelation 17:16-18

 

7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.

10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. 11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. Psalm 72:7-11

 

17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. 18 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. 19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. Psalm 72:17

 

 

 

 

 

Declaring Israel a ‘terrorist state,’ Bolivia’s president ends free entry for Israeli visitors

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/30/declaring-israel-terrorist-state-bolivia-president-ends-free-entry-for-israeli/

Rising tide of anti-semitism in Britain as Jewish people face backlash over bloodshed in Gaza

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2707421/Rising-tide-anti-semitism-Britain-Jewish-people-face-backlash-bloodshed-Gaza.html#ixzz393io2QAn

Facebook says page calling for death to Jews doesn’t violate ‘community standards’

http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2551348

Anti-Jewish slogans return to the streets in Germany as Mideast protests sweep Europe

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-israeli-palestinian-conflict-spills-into-europe-with-protests-anti-jewish-slogans/2014/07/30/36ca8d41-b5a4-4790-9b53-c94e75da4ba6_story.html

On Monday morning, an Orthodox synagogue in North Miami Beach, Fla., Congregation Torah V’Emunah, found a swastika and the word Hamas scrawled on the outside of the building. A day earlier, cars owned by a Jewish family in Miami Beach were egged, smeared with cream cheese, and defaced with graffiti reading “Jew” and “Hamas.”

 

In Malibu, Calif., graffiti reading “Jews=Killers” and “Jews are Killing Innocent Children” appeared near the entrance to a Jewish summer camp. Pro-Palestinian graffiti was sprayed on a Chabad center in Las Vegas and on an Orthodox synagogue in Lowell, Mass.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.608088

A very good article:

As Operation Protective Edge continues into its fourth week, US Jewish leaders describe in excited terms an almost unprecedented atmosphere of unity among American Jews.

………

However, there is another narrative being voiced as well.

A recent Pew poll highlights an age group that is less than “supportive.” Instead of standing with Israel, the poll finds that a third of all young Americans aged 18-29 (Jews and non) in fact blame Israel for the Gaza conflict.

……….

In a comment on a Times of Israel news article about the poll he writes: “In the US, according to recent surveys, it is largely the younger generation (18-29), the self-proclaimed liberals that chastise Israel the most, yet this is the same generation that cannot point to Israel, Iraq, or Afghanistan on a map (there are many surveys to back that up, too). Empty, misguided conviction in other words.

 

 

 

The 9th of Av

by atharris, posted in Israel

The infamous 9th of Av will fall on August 4-5, a week from today.  Menachem Av is the 5th month on the Jewish calendar. Why is this significant?

  • After Moses sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan, the spies return on the eighth day of Av and report that the land is unconquerable. That night, the 9th of Av, the people cry. They did not believe that God could help them, and the people as a whole were persuaded that it was not possible to take the land. As a result, the entire nation was made to wander in the desert for 40 years Numbers 13, 14.
  • The First Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av (423 BCE).
  • The second Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av (68 CE).
  • Betar, the last stronghold in the heroic Bar Kochba rebellion, fell to the Romans on the 9th of Av of the year 3893 (133 CE) after a three-year siege. 580,000 Jews died by starvation or the sword, including Bar Kochba, the leader of the rebellion.
  • The Jews of England were expelled by King Edward I on the 9th of Av in 1290.
  • The Jews of Spain were expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on the 9th of Av of 1492, terminating many centuries of flourishing Jewish life in that country.
  • World War II and the Holocaust, historians conclude, was actually the long drawn-out conclusion of World War I that began in 1914. Germany declared war on Russia, effectively catapulting the First World War into motion, on the 9th of Av.

Clearly the 9th of Av historically has been a day of judgment against Israel. Will something of significance happen this year? Israel does not currently have a temple but there is some new significant movement in this area with the recent statement of finding a perfect Red Heifer and now a campaign to complete architectural plans for the Temple.

The Temple Institute launches an Indiegogo campaign to build the Third Temple, under the title: ‘Don’t make history, make the future.’

“Now is time for one of its most ambitious projects yet: completing architectural plans for the actual construction……

“It is not enough to wait and pray for the Third Temple,” it concludes. “It is a Biblical obligation to build it.”

The Temple Institute’s campaign will run for sixty days, ending on September 25 – during the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashana.

The campaign aims to raise $100,000 toward a building fund for the Third Temple, as part of its wider campaigns to train kohen-priests for Temple duties and rebuild the instruments in the priestly services.

https://www.templeinstitute.org/archive/28-07-14a.htm

Building the temple, says the Indiegogo campaign statement, would “usher in a new era of universal harmony and peace,” as prophesied in the Bible.

As Christians know and understand, the building of the third temple will usher in the 7 year Tribulation.

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)……….

21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Mattthew 24:15-21

Temple-Mount-map-4.jpg__600x0_q85_upscale

 

 

 

 

 

ISIS and the Return to Mecca

by atharris, posted in ISIS, Israel, Middle East

Why does ISIS continue to destroy temples, tombs and even Muslim mosques wherever they go? What point are they trying to make? It’s strange that they would even destroy their own places of worship.

Ancient shrines become latest casualties of ISIS rampage: Islamic extremists demolish mosques and temples as they spread their carnage through Iraq

  • Images show at least 10 ancient shrines and Shia mosques being destroyed
  • Pictures show buildings demolished and bulldozers plowing through walls
  • Sunni extremists consider Shia Muslims heretics and the veneration of saints apostasy

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2683087/ISIS-wages-war-Shia-Muslims-Extremists-demolish-ancient-mosques-temples-spread-carnage-Iraq.html#ixzz38bptVoi5

But yet, there is a real reason behind it. They see themselves as a more ‘pure’ type of Islam and are out to destroy that which is not.

What these groups are doing is based on an endemic Salafist principle common to most Salafist movements, whether they are jihadists or not. This principle underlines the need to purify the earth of polytheism and disbelief. These groups consider religious shrines or any other sites related to a certain person to be a kind of sanctification, which is, according to them, a true sign of polytheism.

The destruction of these sites is part of the process of returning to the authentic Islam and eliminating all alien elements, according to the Salafist understanding. This contradicts the traditional understanding of Islam by all Muslim confessions, which means that Islam does not contradict other sanctities, but rather understands them and considers them sacred, especially when the people of these sacred places are prophets of the Quran, such as the prophets Jonah and Daniel and many others from both the New and Old Testaments.

The destruction of sacred places also happened during the establishment of Saudi Arabia, which was described as the first political entity for Salafists in the Islamic world.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/iraq-is-destruction-shrines-abrahamic-religions.html#ixzz38brOKstp

While it cannot be confirmed, ISIS has threatened to destroy the Kaaba or black stone in Mecca. It is the holiest site of all Islam. Men walk in a circle around the Kaaba.

Kaaba
ISIS is leaving a path of destroyed churches, shrines and mosques in its wake as it storms across Syria and Iraq, and has even set its sights on Mecca — Islam’s holiest site.
“They see themselves as the last defenders of Islamic civilization and want to eradicate anything that they see as the enemy of Islam, and any Muslim they perceive as compromising with the West,” Yvonne Haddad….

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/10/isis-destroys-shrines-and-mosques-sets-sights-on-mecca/

Will they attempt to do so and will they succeed? The following video was filmed in 2012 and although does not mention ISIS, it presents a very plausible scenario that ISIS could indeed at least attempt to do so with respect to what is happening in the Middle East today. The video is also packed with other Biblical facts and tidbits that make a very interesting view. Pay attention when Avi mentions the Arab Spring midway and particularly towards the end of the film.

The land promised to Israel is much greater than what they poses today, and the day is coming soon when they will expand their borders.

Deuteronomy 11:24

24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

  • The Southern boundary – The Wilderness
  • The  Northern boundary –  Lebanon
  • The Western boundary – River Euphrates
  • The Eastern – Uttermost (Mediterranean Sea)

It may look something like this.

Israel

Watch the video for more information guaranteed to turn on ‘light bulbs’!

Israel’s Prophetic Return to the Homeland Continues Today

by atharris, posted in Israel, Prophecy

Israelis from around the world continue to migrate back to Israel today as prophesied. But first, a little history of Israel beginning shortly after the Crucifixion.

Deuteronomy 28:49-50

49 The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; 50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:

The prophetic scripture above was fulfilled with the Roman occupation of Jerusalem. The language of the Romans was foreign to the Jews and the eagle was the symbol of the Roman Empire. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70 and destroyed the temple as prophesied by Jesus.

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Matthew 24:1-2

The cities were destroyed and the Jews ate their own children out of hunger. Complete destruction came in 135 AD.

29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. 0 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. 31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.  Leviticus 26:29-31

Today the Jews reside in most countries of the world just as foretold in the scripture.

And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods,…Deuteronomy 28:64

accurate4_6

The Jewish people have survived 2,000 years of persecution without a king or authority.

28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished. Jeremiah 46:28

6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Malachi 3:6

4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Hosea 3:4

  In 1948 the nation of Israel was formed.          

21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: Ezekiel 37:21

16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. Ezekiel 11:16-17

Since 1948, Israel has been attacked many times and is once again under attack today. Israel will eventually trouble the whole world and it seems we see this happening today.

2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:2

Today the Jewish people of the world continue to migrate back to their homeland.

Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky told The Times of Israel that not only aren’t there any postponements or cancellations, “We’ve had more new immigrants than missiles.”

While Sharansky may have slightly exaggerated — approximately 2,050 rockets have been fired at Israel since Operation Protective Edge began while 1,500 Diaspora Jews immigrated during the same time period —

There are a few thousand immigrants already “in the pipeline” for this year and some 10,000 scheduled briefings. Aliya, he said, generally takes about six months from Western countries. “This is not an evacuation, like in the recent cases of Ukraine,” he said.

Over 200 North American immigrants, undeterred by the continuing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, winged their way into Israel on Tuesday to begin a new life.

A special flight chartered by the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization landed at Ben Gurion Airport with 228 immigrants from the US and Canada, 100 of whom are children.

Founded in 2002, the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization has worked with the Israeli government to bring some 40,000 North American immigrants to Israel.

When nearly 75 percent of French Jews reported they were considering emigration earlier this spring, they weren’t kidding. More than 400 French Jews arrived in Israel today, a group that included mostly young families from Paris and its suburbs, with almost 200 children making the trip.

There was a 62 percent increase in French rates of immigration to Israel in 2013—3,289 French Jews made aliyah, up from 1,917 the year before—and according to the Jewish Agency for Israel, which organizes these mass aliyah trips, those numbers are liking to keep increasing. They’re expecting 5,000 olim, or Jewish immigrants to Israel, this year.

 

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Despite an ongoing and bloody conflict, hundreds of families left the United States to immigrate to Israel on Monday afternoon.

Nearly 400 people from across the United States and Canada gathered Monday for a farewell ceremony at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Many secular Jews are being drawn to the homeland without a clear understanding of why.

Scoggin is not your typical immigrant to Israel, and not just because she hails from the 49th state. Scoggin has no family in the Holy Land, hasn’t had much Judaism in her life and has a Christian father. But something drew her to Israel.

“I’m not religious, I grew up celebrating Christmas my whole life, but I do feel that connection to my land,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s my Jewishness or if I just like the heat.”

“There’s just something about Israel that is both dynamic and magnetic. The intellectual and historical experiences when I’m there are very challenging. And for me, I grew up never being around very many Jews. We were a very secular Jewish family. I went to an Episcopalian boarding school. I work for Catholic Social Services. There’s something really appealing for once about being among my own and having the holidays be the Jewish holidays.”

Read more: Alaskan immigrants trade grizzlies for Gaza rockets | The Times of Israelhttp://www.timesofisrael.com/alaskan-immigrants-trade-grizzlies-for-gaza-rockets/#ixzz38OyusQjX

Amazing isn’t it!!

Isaiah 40:8

8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Jeremiah 32:37-40

37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:

38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:

39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:

40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

NBN-July-22-1-1-635x357