Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Turkey Looks to Rebuild the Ottoman Empire With Eyes on Jerusalem
Jul 26th, 2020
CommentaryJONATHAN TOBIN/JNS.ORG
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

To understand just how dishonest the discussion about Jerusalem is when conducted in venues where Israel is regarded with hostility, like The New York Times, you need to start by discussing events in Istanbul, Turkey.

Last week, the regime of Turkish authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved to turn the clock back to 1453, when the Muslim Ottomans besieged the city then known as Constantinople. It was all that was left of the once-mighty Byzantine Empire, which ruled much of the region as the successor to ancient Rome in the eastern Mediterranean. When the city fell after a 53-day siege, the attacking forces engaged in an orgy of murder, rape, and destruction.

But in the aftermath of the battle, the Ottoman Turks not only made the city the capital over which their empire would rule until the end of World War I; they also converted the city's largest church -- the Hagia Sophia, which was the center of Eastern Orthodox Christian worship -- into a mosque.

The action was typical of conquerors in that era, as well as in ancient times, and the symbolism of triumphant imperialistic Islam was obvious. But in the 20th century, when Turkey became a secular republic after the fall of the Ottomans, the Hagia Sophia was turned into a museum as part of secularist-leaning Kemal Atatürk's efforts to put Islamic extremism in the past.

A century later, Erdogan is determined to consign such enlightened attitudes to the dustbin of history. The Turkish leader's ambition to be the leader of the Islamic world is also motivating him to engage in the sort of gestures that will prop up notions about maintaining Islam's domination of the region.

In a statement, Erdogan said that the reimposition of Muslim worship at the Hagia Sophia is "the harbinger of the liberation of Masjid al-Aqsa [the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount]." That's a call for throwing Israel out of Jerusalem and the spot holiest in Judaism. That this incendiary comment came during the period when religious Jews begin the period of mourning for the destruction of the ancient Temple culminating on Tisha B'Av is probably coincidental but still chilling.

What happened in Constantinople was hardly unique. Invading Muslims did the same thing everywhere that they triumphed during the period when they spread their faith by force of arms from India to Europe. And, to be fair, Christian forces repaid the favor when they reconquered Spain and the Balkans by converting mosques into churches.

So when Erdogan echoes the Palestinian rhetoric of both the so-called moderates of Fatah and the extremists of Hamas about chasing the Jews from Jerusalem, he's not just signaling his hostility to the Jewish state. He's also making it clear that he wishes to claim the title of the guardian of Islam from Saudi leaders that many Muslims think are now tainted by their under-the-table relations with Israel.

Unfortunately, the Hagia Sophia precedent is also helping shape the discussion about Jerusalem.

An example of this came in The New York Times in a column written by Mustafa Akyol, a regular contributor to the paper's opinion section. Akyol, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, is a Turkish Muslim scholar who is dedicated to a more liberal version of Islam.

Writing ostensibly to criticize Erdogan, Akyol argues that the Muslim takeover of the Hagia Sophia actually runs counter to the precepts of the Prophet Muhammad, which was, he said, later discarded by Muslims after their conflicts with the Christian world intensified. His purpose is to ask Muslims to revive a more tolerant version of their faith, and it is to be hoped that sentiment will be heeded.

But the proof he puts forward for his thesis is to claim that when Muslims took Jerusalem from the Byzantines, they refrained from converting other the shrines of other faiths into mosques.

As he writes: "The Christian historian Eutychius even tells us that when Caliph Umar entered the city, the patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, invited him to pray at the holiest of all Christian shrines: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Umar politely declined, saying that Muslims might later take this as a reason to convert the church into a mosque.

He instead prayed at an empty area that Christians ignored but Jews honored, then as now, as their holiest site, the Temple Mount, where today the Western Wall, the last remnant of that ancient Jewish temple, rises to the top of the Mount, on which the Mosque of Umar and the Dome of the Rock were built. In other words, Islam entered Jerusalem without really converting it."

That sounds nice, but it is utterly disingenuous. By putting mosques on the Temple Mount, the caliph was signaling that Muslims were asserting their dominance over the people who had the strongest claim to the city and the holy places. Some 25 years before the Muslim conquest, Persian Sassanid conquerors had briefly thrown the Byzantines out of the region and turned Jerusalem over to the Jews, who built a synagogue on the Temple Mount.

That brief period of Jewish rebuilding was snuffed out by Christian violence and Persian betrayal. But the notion that nobody wanted the Temple Mount but the Muslims in that period of history is untrue. The Muslim conquerors could have placed their mosques anywhere. Putting them on the Temple Mount achieved the same goal as was pursued in Constantinople eight centuries later.

There is only one example of a victorious power rising above sectarian conflict when it comes to religious shrines, and contrary to Akyol, it has nothing to do with the first Muslim conquerors. Rather, it is what happened in June 1967 when Israeli forces reunited Jerusalem.

The city had been divided for 19 years, during which Jordan banned Jews from praying in the Old City of Jerusalem, and desecrated and destroyed synagogues and places like the ancient cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

Nevertheless, when Israeli paratroopers took possession of the Old City, they not only preserved the mosques on the Temple Mount, but Defense Minister Moshe Dayan handed over control of the area to the Muslim Waqf. This inaugurated the first period in Jerusalem's history when free access to all the holy sites for believers of all faiths was granted.

The one exception to that rule is the Temple Mount, where, to this day, Jews are prohibited from praying anywhere on the sacred plateau above the Western Wall. An Israeli government that is fearful of doing anything to validate conspiracy theories spread by Palestinian leaders about a plot to blow up the mosques has rigorously enforced this rule.

The point here is not only to bring attention to the revanchist Islamist spirit that Erdogan's boasts represent. Nor is it to highlight the fact that even Muslim liberals like Akyol are unable to be honest about the way Judaism's holiest site was converted into a Muslim shrine that is inviolable in the view of world opinion.

Rather, it is to point out that the only way Jewish access to holy sites in Jerusalem, as well as that of other faiths, will be preserved is by ensuring that the city is not redivided as advocates of a two-state solution with the Palestinians insist must happen.

The only alternative to the status quo in Jerusalem is not a platonic utopia of two peoples living happily together in shared sovereignty, as envisaged by anti-Zionists like Peter Beinart, or by returning to the peace parameters embraced by the Obama administration that would split the city.

Erdogan's revival of the brutal conqueror's path is the only other choice. Those who care about religious freedom and the preservation of the holy sites should draw the appropriate conclusions from events in Turkey, particularly the way it is discussed in the pages of the Times.

Revelation 10:1 Introduction - Exploring Revelation
Jul 26th, 2020
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Book Study;Prophecy

Revelation chapters 10 & 11 are an interlude to the events that are unfolding during the tribulation. They are a pause in the story-line of the book. They give us some facts and information that help us to understand the total picture. There is an interlude in chapter 7, between the 6th and 7th seals. In this chapter we have an interlude in God’s judgment, the 144,000 are sealed, and we see God's mercy in the midst of judgment.

In chapters 8 & 9 the 7th seal is opened, which is the 7 trumpet judgments. The 7th trumpet is not sounded until Revelation 11:15, but these judgments do not begin until chapter 16. Chapters 12-14 are also a parenthesis, these chapters tell what God is doing and what Satan is doing during the blowing of the trumpets. The understanding of these parenthesis will eliminate much confusion as you study the book and try to grasp the chronology.

In the interlude between the 6th and 7th trumpets (chapters 10-11) we are introduced to three personalities, the mighty angel (chapter 10) and the two witnesses (chapter 11).

"And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire" (Revelation 10:1). This is a very interesting verse, we have here a description of Christ, and yet we know that it is not Christ, Christ is in heaven and does not come to earth until chapter 19. We have a simple explanation.

There are several illustrations of this in scripture. Illustration #1 - The name Lucifer means "shining one", before his fall from grace, Lucifer dwelt close to the presence of God and as he hovered over the throne of God, he reflected the glory of God because of his nearness to God. Illustration #2 - Moses went up into the mountain and was with God. When came down off the mountain scripture says, "The skin of his face shone", he was reflecting the glory of God because he had been in His presence. Illustration #3 - We as believers reflect the glory of the Lord as we linger in His presence (2 Cor. 3:18).

Therefore we conclude that this mighty angel is not the Lord himself, but as it states, a mighty angel, an angel who had been in the presence of Christ, before the throne. This emphasizes that the message he bears has come right from the throne.  The implication is that we are to be in the presence of Christ before the throne so that we may bear to those around us the message of our Lord and speak with authority. God delights to delegate things to His servants to do. He delights to raise up those to whom He will give great power to do His will and glorify His name. What greater privilege could there be than to be a servant of God and to glorify His name. It is all possible as we linger in His Holy presence.

The word "mighty" means strong or powerful, there are several mighty angels in the scriptures; this may be the same angel mentioned in Revelation 5:2 and the one mentioned in Revelation 8:3.

Another reason we believe that this angel is not Christ is found in Acts 1:10,11,"And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." In these verses we are told that Jesus had ascended into Heaven and when He returns it will be in like manner as they had seen Him ascend into Heaven. We do not see Christ on earth until Revelation 19:11- 21.

Do you see why it is important not give an arbitrary interpretations to the book of Revelation or to any portion of scripture.

Believer, there is no free lunch in understanding God's word. Although we have the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, yet we are instructed to work at knowing the scriptures. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" 2 Tim. 2:15. This word "study", means to labour to the point of exhaustion.

Let the Headlines Speak
Jul 26th, 2020
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

For The Full Story Click on the Individual News Item

Draft DNC Platform Declares White Americans Too Rich, Too Privileged, and Too Evil
“In more than 80 pages in the draft platform published by Politico, whites are mentioned 15 times, all critical, including three references to white supremacy or supremacists and one to white nationalists,”

Shots Ring Out After Armed Militias Descend on American Heartland City
Police have confirmed reports of shots fired in Louisville as opposing militia groups descended on the city Saturday. WAVE-TV reported that in response to the NFAC traveling to Louisville, other militia groups also announced plans to descend on the city.

Cancel Culture – What Are You Going to Do When They Come for You?
To all the wealthy, liberal elites who are cheering on the protests and riots, a word of warning is in order. The same holds true for the conservative Christians who are lining up to show their support for the BLM movement. To each of you I say: Do not be deceived. The cancel culture will soon be coming for you.

End Times Birth Pains – What’s Coming Next?
The frequency of these events testify that Jesus is coming. Our generation will witness His return (Matthew 24:34). All the signs Jesus and the prophets said to look for are present. They include, but aren’t limited to:

Hurricane Hanna Continues to Intensify Ahead of Texas Landfall; Conditions Worsening in South Texas
Hurricane Hanna’s eye is now coming ashore in South Texas ahead of landfall later today, with the potential for dangerous rainfall flash flooding extending well inland into northeast Mexico. Sustained winds have increased to 85 mph according to the Hurricane Hunters. The hurricane’s eyewall is moving inland south of Corpus Christi. Some areas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville will get a break in the wind and rain as Hanna’s eye moves ashore.

Prominent Muslim Group and Democratic Elected Officials Join in Endorsement of Biden
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has endorsed former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden for president. In a letter spearheaded and released on Wednesday by the Muslim group Emgage USA, Omar—along with Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and 41 other elected Muslim officials … Omar has perpetuated anti-Semitic tropes on social media …

Iranian Govt Threatens to “Employ Other Weaponry” In Response to Foreign Cyber Attacks
Iran’s foreign ministry announced on Thursday that recent cyber attacks on its power facilities may have been caused by foreign governments.

Rockets Fall, Tensions Rise as Russia Taking Over Syrian Golan
Sources in Syria reported that anti-regime forces fired surface-to-air missiles at Syrian aircraft in southern Syria, after the aircraft responded to a “hostile target” which tried to enter Syrian airspace.The incident takes place while Russia has been stepping up its efforts to control sections of the Syrian Golan in recent weeks which include establishing a local militia, a development the Israeli government perceives as positive for the region.

California Churches Defy Gavin Newsom’s Lockdown Order: Christ Is Head of the Church
Two churches in California are defying Gov. Gavin Newsom’s orders to keep their doors closed because of the coronavirus, including Grace Community Church in a Los Angeles suburb, where Pastor John MacArthur posted a letter on Friday titled, “Christ, Not Caesar, Is Head of the Church.”

Hurricane “Douglas” continues WNW toward Hawaii, pre-landfall emergency issued
Category 2 Hurricane “Douglas” continues moving WNW toward Hawaii and is expected to be near hurricane strength when it nears the islands Saturday night (LT) through Sunday, July 25 and 26, 2020.

De Blasio to Fight Increase in City’s Shootings With Useless “Gun Buyback”
After removing bail for 90% of cases, putting thousands of criminals back on the streets due to the pandemic, disbanding the city’s plainclothes anti-crimes unit, and demonizing police officers, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is finally ready to fight crime. And like Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, he’s blaming the guns (which mysteriously weren’t going off at this frequency a mere year ago – at least for his city).

Austin Protester Dead After Gunman Opens Fire Into Crowd
A protester in downtown Austin is dead following a Saturday night shooting, according to local station KXAN.

Health company apologizes for falsely telling 600,000 US military members they were infected with coronavirus
A healthcare insurance company for members of the U.S. military had to apologize  for accidentally telling over 600,000 people that they were infected with the virus when they were not.

George Soros Pumps Another Quarter Billion Dollars into Black Lives Matter
Far-left billionaire George Soros has announced he is pumping another staggering amount of cash into the radical Black Lives Matter organization.

U.S. Medical Research Agency Fires Dozens of Scientists with Financial Ties to China
Dozens of scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. government’s handsomely funded medical research agency, have been fired over their secret financial ties to Communist China. It is not clear how long they went undetected or how much taxpayer-funded research they stole,

Gov. DeSantis Suggests Florida’s Coronavirus Death Toll Inflated
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wants to take a look at how the state is reporting its coronavirus cases and deaths.

CHICOM-Aligned Fox News Cements Its Position As Controlled Opposition By Breaking Away From the Communist-Inspired Portland Riot Coverage at the White House Press Briefing-Forever Fake News
CHICOM-Aligned Fox News Cements Its Position As Controlled Opposition By Breaking Away From Portland Riot Coverage at the White House Press Briefing-Forever Fake News

SCIENCE FRAUD: Florida Gov. DeSantis calls for investigation into why people are testing “positive” for coronavirus tests they never received
After learning that waves of people who were never even tested for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) received mysterious “positive” results, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, decided to call for an investigation into the matter to get to the bottom of it.

Judicial Watch Sues DOJ/FBI/ODNI for Records about Obama Oval Office Meeting about Dossier and Targeting of General Flynn
Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for all records related to the January 5, 2017, meeting at the Obama Oval Office during which the Steele Dossier and the investigation of General Flynn were discussed

California Churches Defy Lockdown Order: Christ Is Head of the Church
Two churches in California are defying Gov. Gavin Newsom’s orders to keep their doors closed because of the coronavirus, including Grace Community Church in a Los Angeles suburb, where Pastor John MacArthur posted a letter on Friday titled, “Christ, Not Caesar, Is Head of the Church.”

Louisville Mayor addresses report the “NFAC” armed militia group is coming to Louisville 
Democrat Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer addressed reports that the armed militia group known as the “NFAC” or  will be marching in his city today.

Supreme Court denies Nevada church’s appeal of attendance restriction amid coronavirus pandemic
The Supreme Court on Friday denied an appeal by a Nevada church to allow additional worshipers to join in-person services based on capacity amid the coronavirus pandemic.

US officials raid Chinese consulate in Houston believed to be spy hub
U.S. officials pried open the doors of the Chinese consulate in Houston on Friday and took over the building shortly after Chinese officials vacated the facility on orders from the Trump Administration.

Russia-backed milita taking over Syrian Golan Heights
The Russians have been steadily gaining control over the Syrian Golan Heights region in recent weeks, establishing their own strong militia in the area, Hebrew-language outlet Channel 12 News reported Friday.

Las Vegas Casinos Are Making Another Round Of Brutal Furloughs And Layoffs
Hundreds of employees are set to be laid off and tens of thousands will be furloughed, with uncertain futures.

Father, the Hour is Come; Glorify Thy Son, That Thy Son Also May Glorify Thee - John 17:1
Jul 26th, 2020
Morning MeditationF. B. Meyer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

In one form or another we are constantly asking the Father to glorify us. Glorify me, O Father, we cry, by giving me the largest congregation in the town; by commencing a great revival in my mission, by increasing my spiritual power, so that I shall be greatly sought after. Of course, we do not state our reasons quite so concisely; but this is really what we mean. And then we wonder why the answer tarries. Is it not because our Father dare not trust us with glory? He knows that we would become proud and self-conscious; that we would ascribe our success to the strength of our arm and the swiftness of our foot. Nothing would be more harmful to our Christian growth. But when we desire glory only that we may be able better to glorify Jesus, then there will be no stint in what He will confer on us. Glory, like a golden river, will pour into our hearts and lives.

Oh for this absorbing passion for the glory of Jesus! To be able to pray "Thy kingdom come," without reference to our share in securing its advent. To be as glad when another scores a great success, as though it had been ourselves who had won the laurels. To pray as eagerly for the success of others as of ourselves. Here is an ideal which seems inaccessible, as it ridicules all our natural attempts to win it. To be pleased to suffer, to fail, to be counted nothing and nobody, if only our dear Lord is extolled, exalted, and made very high - is this possible?

Do you choose it? Then be of good cheer. This is the hunger which God has promised to satisfy. He never shows you your lack of a grace without pledging Himself thereby to realize it for you. Yes, this blessed experience shall come even to you. You shall be taught the blessed lesson of perfect love.

Defund the Leftist Public Education Indoctrination Mills
Jul 26th, 2020
CommentaryPJ Media
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Indoctrination Isn’t Education

The riots and protests that have been raging on, with activists demanding that American cities defund their police forces, are being carried out by a generation of American youth who have been indoctrinated with anti-American notions that were mostly planted in public schools. They were given the ability to grow even larger if the young person went to college. But the genesis of the problem is to be found in a public education system that is funded by American taxpayers of varying ideologies but controlled by radical leftist teachers’ unions.

While I have never been one to view anything as an existential crisis, I’ve more and more come to believe that the upcoming presidential election will be a watershed moment for the United States. If Joe Biden wins, it will be the complete triumph of decades of public education indoctrination. The drift of so many young Americans toward socialism and anti-American sentiment is the direct result not being taught real American history while being fed a leftist line that seeks to rewrite and/or whitewash much of what made this country great.

In the current public education environment, children are taught more about climate-change nonsense than they are about the founding fathers. Public education really isn’t education anymore, it’s more of a leftist catechism class.

The fact that we’re having conversations about defunding police is a strong argument for having a conversation about defunding the Dept. of Education.

Leftists go insane even if cuts to the Dept. of Education’s budget are suggested. It’s as if American children will no longer be able to read if the federal education overlords aren’t the executive producers of the show. Most don’t know that the

Dept. of Education is a relatively new cabinet-level department, having been made one by Jimmy Carter in 1979.

It would be difficult for even the most ardent leftist to make the case that public education in America was suffering before that. We did, after all, manage to get to the moon without the help of Common Core math.

The public education indoctrination mills are currently embracing The New York Times‘ ahistorical “1619 Project,” which is so historically inaccurate it’s been thrashed by leftist academics. On Thursday, Sen. Tom Cotton took a step in the right direction and filed a bill that would defund any public schools that tried to indoctrinate students with this trash.

It’s not enough. Serious discussions about slashing the Dept. of Education’s $64 billion annual budget are in order.

The notion that federal-level involvement is integral to properly funding schools is absurd.

I was educated before the Dept. of Education existed. I went to six years of public school and six years of Catholic school, so I have a good background for comparing things. I can unequivocally say that I got a better education in the Catholic schools. Still, I had some good public school teachers.

Back in those pre-Dept. of Education days public school teachers weren’t buying their own supplies. All that the Dept. of Education has introduced into the mix is the bloated inefficiency of the federal bureaucracy.

Public education is currently held hostage by the most evil organizations in America: teachers’ unions. The National Education Association is a nightmarish leftist political lobby that extorts money from all levels of government that are involved in education. The NEA’s primary mission is to make more money for the NEA, but it uses the “for the children” smokescreen to get its way.

The most powerful union in the far-left hellhole of California is the California Teachers Association. The status of the union and the politics of the state cannot be divorced from one another.

These unions are the people who control public education and they’re being funded mostly by the federal government.

Cut off their supply.

The New York Times agrees that there is a problem with public education, but they don’t think it’s the unions. They think it’s — drumroll please– white people.

When it comes to cabinet-level departments I would do away with, Education always tops the list. In the hands of its leftist union overlords all it does is turn out little future Soviets. The Dems hate Betsy DeVos so much because she isn’t in the unions’ pockets.

Let’s defund this anti-American boondoggle.