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Joint statement on "Christ at the Checkpoint"
"They bend their tongue like their bow;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me," declares the LORD.
"Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
Because every brother deals craftily,
And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
"Everyone deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth,
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They weary themselves committing iniquity.
"Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they refuse to know Me," declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 9:3-6
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Key Moriel
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Shalom and Greetings in Christ Jesus,
Purim is on Thursday (Wednesday night), 14 Adar 5772 (March 8, 2012). Note: Very important background information on Christian Palestinianism and the "Palestinian jesus" (vs the true Jewish Messiah) can be found here: "Prophets Who Prophesy Lies In My Name"
Christian Palestinianism and the anti-Israel Crusade
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs058/1101513513760/archive/1104863769538.html#LETTER.BLOCK8 *To Forward this newsletter to others, send the link for the online posting (see click here above) or use the "Forward Email" link at the bottom. This way you can be sure you won't be unsubscribed by someone else. |
Joint statement on "Christ at the Checkpoint"
|  MORIEL MINISTRIES - February 24, 2012
Leaders of the UMJC and MJAA joined forces again this month (see "UMJC, MJAA respond to Messer video) to issue a statement on a matter of deep concern for the Messianic Jewish community. The statement, on the "Christ at the Checkpoint" conference scheduled for March 5-9 in Bethlehem, included leaders of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance and the International Association of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues. The first "Christ at the Checkpoint" conference, held in 2010, drew much criticism for its biased treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and promotion for this year's event raises the same concerns (see http://www.christatthecheckpoint.com.) Here is the joint statement in full (or you can hear it read at http://youtu.be/Mk0GPnPqtj0): As representatives of the international Messianic Jewish community, we raise deep concerns about the anti-Israel and, indeed, unbiblical nature of the Christ at the Checkpoint conference soon to be held in Bethlehem. The Messianic Jewish community has noted the growing opposition to Zionism and the state of Israel within some elements of the Evangelical Christian world. Such opposition ignores the profound and ancient connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel, and the modern history of the founding of the state of Israel. Equally troubling, this opposition is often linked to a resurgent supersessionism, the doctrine that the church replaces Israel as God's covenant partner. This theology, which has led historically to anti-Semitism and the tragic oppression of the Jewish people, appears to permeate this entire conference. The conference is being promoted internationally and features speakers from around the world, including prominent American and European Christians, several of whom have a decidedly anti-Israel bias. We address the following to the conference organizers as evidence of our concerns: - Your conference title, "Christ at the Checkpoint," places the Israeli border checkpoints as the central issue of Christian concern. You frame the entire story of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in terms of Israel's alleged oppression and abuses, with no historical or political context provided, and no allegations of oppression or abuse on the part of any Palestinians or other Arabs historically or currently.
- You state a desire for "hope in the midst of conflict," and for peace and reconciliation among followers of Jesus. Sadly, both the structure of your conference, with its one-sided focus on the Israeli "occupation," and the anti-Israel record of some of its key representatives, work against peace and reconciliation.
- Your website features speakers who repeatedly raise "the grim reality" of "the occupation" as virtually the only challenge that Palestinian Christians face.
- Your conference objectives discredit Zionism alone of any political movement, thereby undermining your own talk of peace and reconciliation, which would require seeing both perspectives.
- You claim to "stand resolutely against all forms of violence and racism, regardless of the perpetrators," but the only form that you mention is Zionism. There is no mention of the violence perpetrated against Jews by Palestinians, including Hamas, which regularly attacks Israeli civilians.
In the tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there are two claimants to justice, Jews and Arabs, and true reconciliation efforts must recognize this reality. We urge you, therefore, to be true to your own affirmations and disassociate from all anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish expressions during your upcoming conference. You have taken a stand against Zionism as "ethnocentric." We disagree with this characterization and challenge you instead to take a stand against anti-Semitism, against jihad, against fascism in the Arab world, and against the cult of child martyrdom, as promoted by many opponents of Israel, including several that have hosted visits by your organizers. We urge you to state support for peace efforts between Israel and the Arab world that recognize the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, and its right to firm and secure borders, without any threat of terrorism. We urge you to remember the terrible history of Christian supersessionism, which led to invalidating the Jewish people and their unique covenant with God, stripping away the Jewishness of the Biblical message of redemption for all through the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), and promulgating Biblical interpretation that demonized the Jewish people and inevitably resulted in centuries of Christian anti-Semitism and persecution of the Jewish people. And, finally, we urge you to remember the words of that famous Rabbi, Paul of Tarsus, who wrote these words to Gentile Christians concerning their relationship with the early Messianic Jews and the Jewish people: But if some of the branches are broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root that supports you. Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. (Rom. 11:17-18) Paul Liberman, President
Joel Chernoff, General Secretary
Messianic Jewish Alliance of America Howard Silverman, President
Russell Resnik, Executive Director
Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations Jeff Forman, Chairman
International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues John Fischer, President
Joel Liberman, Executive Director International Messianic Jewish Alliance
Originally posted on the MORIEL website
http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/discernment/israel/joint-statement-on-christ-at-the-checkpoint
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Iran court convicts Christian pastor convert to death
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FOX NEWS [News Corporation/Murdoch] - By Lisa Daftari - February 22, 2012
A trial court in Iran has issued its final verdict, ordering a Christian pastor to be put to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, according to sources close to the pastor and his legal team.
Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.
It is unclear whether Nadarkhani can appeal the execution order.
"The world needs to stand up and say that a man cannot be put to death because of his faith," said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).
"This one case is not just about one execution. We have been able to expose the system instead of just letting one man disappear, like so many other Christians have in the past."
It is also feared that Nadarkhani will be executed in retaliation as Iran endures crippling sanctions and international pressure in response to its nuclear agenda and rogue rhetoric. The number of executions in Iran has increased significantly in the last month.
"This is defiance," Sekulow said. "They want to say they will carry out what they say they will do."
The order to execute Nadarkhani came only days after lawmakers in Congress supported a resolution sponsored by Pennsylvania Rep. Joseph Pitts denouncing the apostasy charge and calling for his immediate release.
"Iran has become more isolated because of their drive for nuclear weapons, and the fundamentalist government has stepped up persecution of religious minorities to deflect criticism," Pitts, a Republican, told FoxNews.com. "The persecuted are their own citizens, whose only crime is practicing their faith."
The ACLJ has been a major driving force in keeping Nadarkhani's case in the international spotlight. Many other advocacy groups and human rights organizations also have mounted global campaigns and petitions against the Iranian government, and experts credit Nadarkhani's international support for keeping him alive.
The ACLJ recently launched a Twitter campaign to publicize Nadarkhani's case, asking participants to dedicate a daily tweet to "Tweet for Youcef," stating the number of days he has been imprisoned (currently 863) and ending the tweet with "ViaOfficialACLJ," sending readers back to the organization's website where they could learn more about his case.
Tweets have reached 157 countries and over 400,000 people.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 89 members of Congress, along with the European Union, France, Great Britain, Mexico and Germany, have condemned Iran for arresting Nadarkhani and have called for his quick release.
Nadarkhani was arrested in October 2009 and was tried and found guilty of apostasy by a lower court in Gilan, a province in Rasht. He was then given verbal notification of an impending death-by-hanging sentence.
His lawyers appealed the decision under the premise that Nadarkhani was never a Muslim at the age of majority, and the case was sent to Iran's Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court's decision of execution, provided it could be proven that he had been a practicing Muslim from the age of adulthood, 15 in Islamic law, to age 19, which was when he converted.
The lower court then ruled that Nadarkhani had not practiced Islam during his adult life but still upheld the apostasy charge because he was born into a Muslim family.
The court then gave Nadarkhani the opportunity to recant, as the law requires a man to be given three chances to recant his beliefs and return to Islam.
His first option was to convert back to Islam. When he refused, he was asked to declare Muhammad a prophet, and still he declined.
Iran's judiciary had delayed in issuing a final verdict, fearing the decision would have far-reaching political implications.
Sources say Nadarkhani has been advised by family members, lawyers and members of his church to remain silent throughout his ordeal, out of fear that authorities may use his statements against him, a strategy commonly employed by the regime.
Unedited :: Link to Original Posting
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/22/iran-court-convicts-christian-pastor-convert-to-death/
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Lawmaker's resolution condemns Iran for Christian pastor's death sentence
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FOX NEWS [News Corporation/Murdoch] - By Perry Chiaramonte - February 17, 2012
Lawmakers in Congress have joined the fight to save an Iranian Christian pastor who has been sentenced to death for refusing to renounce his faith.
A resolution sponsored by Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA) denounces Iran for its leaders' ruling of apostasy against Youcef Nadarkhani and calls for his immediate release.
"Iran has become more isolated because of their drive for nuclear weapons, and the fundamentalist government has stepped up persecution of religious minorities to deflect criticism," Pitts told FoxNews.com. "The persecuted are their own citizens whose only crime is practicing their faith."
Nadarkhani was born to a Muslim family and admits that he was introduced to the teachings of Islam, but claims he never accepted the faith. The charge of apostasy, which in Iran carries the death penalty, is leveled at those who abandon their faith.
Pitts introduced the measure on Friday and so far has the support of seven other members. Nearly 90 members of Congress previously signed a letter supporting Nadarkhani.
Nadarkhani, who also held house church services in Iran, was facing execution after being convicted of apostasy in November of 2010, but appealed his conviction all the way up to the Iranian Supreme Court. That trial was held in the Gilan Provence last September, when he refused to renounce his Christianity. Nadarkhani has been detained for a total of 858 days. ...
Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/17/congress-throws-its-support-behind-release-iranian-christian-pastor-sentenced/#ixzz1mh7SEHwa
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1st century Gospel of Mark found?
Could be oldest fragment of New Testament known to exist
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WND [WorldNetDaily] - By Joe Kovacs - February 19, 2012
A New Testament professor is setting the world of Bible scholarship on fire with his claim that newly discovered fragments of early Christian writings could include a first-century version of the Gospel of Mark, from the same century in which Jesus and the apostles lived.
Daniel B. Wallace of the Dallas Theological Seminary made the stunning announcement during a Feb. 1 debate with Bart Ehrman at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill on whether we have the wording of the original New Testament today.
"If this Mark fragment is confirmed as from the first century, what a thrill it will be to have a manuscript that is dated within the lifetime of many of the original followers of Jesus!" Wallace said. "Not only this, but this manuscript would have been written before the New Testament was completed."
Wallace says seven New Testament fragments written on papyrus had recently been discovered - six of them probably from the second century and one of them probably from the first. He expects further details to be published "in about a year."
"These manuscripts now increase our holdings as follows: we have as many as eighteen New Testament manuscripts (all fragmentary, more or less) from the second century and one from the first. Altogether, more than 40 percent of all New Testament verses are found in these manuscripts. But the most interesting thing is the first-century fragment.
"It was dated by one of the world's leading paleographers. He said he was 'certain' that it was from the first century. If this is true, it would be the oldest fragment of the New Testament known to exist. Up until now, no one has discovered any first-century manuscripts of the New Testament. The oldest manuscript of the New Testament has been P52, a small fragment from John's Gospel, dated to the first half of the second century. It was discovered in 1934."
Wallace's interest is focused on the portion from Mark's Gospel.
"Before the discovery of this fragment, the oldest manuscript that had Mark in it was P45, from the early third century. This new fragment would predate that by 100 to 150 years."
Craig A. Evans, professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College, says the find may indeed be of very great importance.
"If authenticity and early date are confirmed, this fragment of the Gospel of Mark could be very significant and show how well preserved the text of the New Testament really is. We all await its publication," Evans told the Christian Post.
Others agree.
"Any find that gets us a quarter-century or so closer to the time the original gospels were written would be highly significant, even sensational," Andreas Kostenberger, senior professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological in Wake Forest, N.C., told Baptist Press.
"Of course, in part the significance of the discovery depends on the size of the fragment, not to mention the verification of the date. There have been previous reports of discoveries of early Mark or other gospel manuscripts that did not check out at closer scrutiny, so it is certainly appropriate to maintain scholarly caution until the full data are known and available to public scrutiny. For example, some scholars got burned when they prematurely accepted so-called 'Secret Mark,' which turned out to be a forgery."
When asked about the trustworthiness of what Mark really wrote if we don't possess an actual original copy of his manuscript, Kostenberger said, "The fact is that the earliest manuscripts of all or parts of Mark that we do have show remarkable consistency and stability. And none of the minor variations between different manuscripts affect any major doctrine of Christianity at all.
"Of course, there is no way to prove positively one way or another what might have happened during the period between the original writing of Mark and the first available copies. Knowing what we do know about the care with which ancient Jews as well as early Christians took to preserve the original wording of what they believed to be authoritative and sacred writings - in fact, the very words of God - inspires a high degree of confidence. First the apostles, and then those after them carefully guarded the reliability of the eyewitness testimony to Jesus contained in the four canonical gospels."
Unedited :: Link to Original Posting
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/earliest-gospel-of-mark-found/
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Archaeologists strike gold in quest to find Queen of Sheba's wealth
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THE OBSERVER [Guardian Media Group, UK] - By Dalya Alberge - February 11, 2012
A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba of biblical legend derived her fabled treasures.
Almost 3,000 years ago, the ruler of Sheba, which spanned modern-day Ethiopia and Yemen, arrived in Jerusalem with vast quantities of gold to give to King Solomon. Now an enormous ancient goldmine, together with the ruins of a temple and the site of a battlefield, have been discovered in her former territory.
Louise Schofield, an archaeologist and former British Museum curator, who headed the excavation on the high Gheralta plateau in northern Ethiopia, said: "One of the things I've always loved about archaeology is the way it can tie up with legends and myths. The fact that we might have the Queen of Sheba's mines is extraordinary."
An initial clue lay in a 20ft stone stele (or slab) carved with a sun and crescent moon, the "calling card of the land of Sheba", Schofield said. "I crawled beneath the stone - wary of a 9ft cobra I was warned lives here - and came face to face with an inscription in Sabaean, the language that the Queen of Sheba would have spoken."
On a mound nearby she found parts of columns and finely carved stone channels from a buried temple that appears to be dedicated to the moon god, the main deity of Sheba, an 8th century BC civilisation that lasted 1,000 years. It revealed a victory in a battle nearby, where Schofield excavated ancient bones.
Although local people still pan for gold in the river, they were unaware of the ancient mine. Its shaft is buried some 4ft down, in a hill above which vultures swoop. An ancient human skull is embedded in the entrance shaft, which bears Sabaean chiselling.
Sheba was a powerful incense-trading kingdom that prospered through trade with Jerusalem and the Roman empire. The queen is immortalised in Qur'an and the Bible, which describes her visit to Solomon "with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold and precious stones ... Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices."
Although little is known about her, the queen's image inspired medieval Christian mystical works in which she embodied divine wisdom, as well as Turkish and Persian paintings, Handel's oratorio Solomon, and Hollywood films. Her story is still told across Africa and Arabia, and the Ethiopian tales are immortalised in the holy book the Kebra Nagast.
Hers is said to be one of the world's oldest love stories. The Bible says she visited Solomon to test his wisdom by asking him several riddles. Legend has it that he wooed her, and that descendants of their child, Menelik - son of the wise - became the kings of Abyssinia.
Schofield will begin a full excavation Schofield said that as she stood on the ancient site, in a rocky landscape of cacti and acacia trees, it was easy to imagine the queen arriving on a camel, overseeing slaves and elephants dragging rocks from the mine. ...
Tests by a gold prospector who alerted her to the mine show that it is extensive, with a proper shaft and tunnel big enough to walk along.
Schofield was instrumental in setting up the multinational rescue excavations at the Roman city of Zeugma on the Euphrates before it was flooded for the Birecik dam. Her latest discovery was made during her environmental development work in Ethiopia, an irrigation, farming and eco-tourism project on behalf of the Tigray Trust, a charity she founded to develop a sustainable lifestyle for 10,000 inhabitants around Maikado, where people eke out a living from subsistence farming.
Sean Kingsley, archaeologist and author of God's Gold, said: "Where Sheba dug her golden riches is one of the great stories of the Old Testament. Timna in the Negev desert is falsely known as 'King Solomon's Mines', but anything shinier has eluded us.
"The idea that the ruins of Sheba's empire will once more bring life to the villages around Maikado is truly poetic and appropriate. Making the past relevant to the present is exactly what archaeologists should be doing. "
Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/12/archaeologists-and-quest-for-sheba-goldmines
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Get out the monkey wrench ... make the lie fit
Earth Hit the 7-Billion Mark Too Late
| INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH (ICR) - By Brian Thomas, M.S. * - October 27, 2011
The world's population will reach seven billion on October 31, 2011, according to the United Nations, and media outlets are heralding the issue of overcrowding on the planet. How long did it take for this many humans to be born? The evolutionary version of human population growth presents a fantastic scenario to answer that question. In this imaginary long-ages history, the population did not grow at all for millions of years before suddenly taking off only a few thousand years ago. In the July 29, 2011, issue of Science, demographic anthropology expert Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel wrote: After the members of the genus Homo had been living as foragers for at least 2.4 million years, agriculture began to emerge in seven or eight regions across the world, almost simultaneously at the beginning of the Holocene.1 Supposedly, the advent of agriculture enabled population growth at that time. But according to the Bible and historical records, there was never a time when humans weren't engaged in agriculture. The problem is that in this projected timeline, people ("genus Homo") must have had virtually no population growth "for at least 2.4 million years." Bocquet-Appel wrote, "The world's population on the eve of the emergence of agriculture is estimated to have been 6 million individuals."1 Thus, the first human couple that supposedly evolved from ape-like ancestors would have had only 6 million descendants after 2.4 million years. This requires a population growth rate of about 0.000000009-essentially zero. Virtually no growth for 2.4 million years? In contrast, the average historically observed growth rate has been at least 0.4 percent, at times spiking to above two percent. Even a "pre-industrial farming population" growth rate of 0.1 percent per year-Bocquet-Appel's number-would have yielded today's seven billion people in only 7,062 years.1 As the late Dr. Henry Morris, founder of the Institute for Creation Research, asked, "How could it be that the planet only now is experiencing a population crisis-why not several hundred thousand years ago, soon after man first appeared on earth?"2 To try and explain this slow growth, Bocquet-Appel stated, "An increase in the birth rate was closely followed in time by an increase in mortality." And the cause of all this death was "infectious diseases" such as "Rotavirus and Coronavirus."1 But this only invokes more unlikely events. How could such diseases maintain a near zero balance of birth and death rates for so long without randomly killing the whole population at some point? And why would these diseases suddenly lose their population-reducing effect after so many supposed eons? Plainly, the infectious disease idea, along with unrealistically slow growth rates, are ad hoc add-ons that prop up long-age thinking. But the current world population aligns completely with biblical history, with no added stories. Using census records from the last 400 years and a bit of algebra, and assuming a natural logarithmic growth, eight Flood survivors 4,500 years ago produce 7 billion people almost exactly.3 This is powerful evidence that biblical history is accurate, and man-made evolutionary history is not.
References - Bocquet-Appel, J.-P. 2011. When the World's Population Took Off: The Springboard of the Neolithic Demographic Transition. Science. 333 (6042): 560-561.
- Morris, H. 1984. The Biblical Basis for Modern Science. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 416.
- The formula for logarithmic human world population growth is P = Poert, where P = the current population, Po = the initial population, e = the base of natural logarithms (2.718), r = the average annual population growth rate (0.456% or 0.00456 in the calculator), and t = the time interval from Po to P.
* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Unedited :: Link to Original Posting
http://www.icr.org/article/6425/%20/
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Genetics Analysis of Jews Confirms Genesis | |
ASSIST NEWS SERVICE (ANS) - By Brian Thomas, M.S. - June 7, 2011
DALLAS, TX -- A team of geneticists recently analyzed 6,529 individual genomes, representing 107 different human populations.1 They found genetic traces of African ancestry in various people groups and estimated the timing of the ancient African/non-African intermarriages. The results of their analysis of Jewish populations will come as no surprise to those who believe in the literal history of Genesis. Despite their extensive statistical analyses of reams of genetic data, the researchers relied on traditional historical sources to anchor their results to actual time. And along the way, what the authors termed a "striking finding" would actually have been anticipated by a more biblically literate investigation.
The team, led by researchers from Harvard Medical School, compared differences in DNA sequences between the individuals and processed the data with several focused analyses. For example, one algorithm called the 3 Population Test compared three populations at a time to detect whether or not one of them was ancestral to the other two.
The study results published in the online journal PLoS Genetics included the virtual absence of evidence for African genetic mixing among Northern Europeans. This makes sense, given their geographic distance. However, Southern Europeans appeared to have experienced a measure of mixing with Africans 55 generations ago, equivalent to approximately 1,600 years, assuming a generation time of 29 years and a constant mutation rate.2
But for all their ingenuity and labor, the authors still required written historical sources to anchor their results in real history. They even wrote that this result "needs to be placed in historical context."1 They then recounted a "period of Roman occupation of North Africa that lasted until the early 5th century AD, and indeed tomb inscriptions and literary references suggest that trade relations continued even after that time."1
So-called "molecular clock" data are always calibrated with secondary historical sources where possible, and the time-related results from this analysis are no exception. This is why molecular clocks, which were promising when first introduced, were soon recognized for their unreliability and are most often correlated with evolutionary "dates" given to fossils.3
The genetic analysis also discovered that all eight Jewish populations in the PLoS study contained three to five percent African DNA sequence patterns. This was "striking" because the individual Jewish populations were known, through secular historical records, to have been separated from each other for hundreds of years. African DNA was even found in modern descendants of Ashkenazi Jews, who have inhabited Northern Europe since the 1100s A.D.
The study authors said: "A parsimonious explanation for these observations is that they reflect a history in which many of the Jewish groups descend from a common ancestral population which was itself admixed with Africans, prior to the beginning of the Jewish diaspora that occurred in 8th to 6th century BC".1
But unlike their other results, the authors did not correlate this explanation with historical records, being evidently content to let the reader speculate about possible associated events. Did they do so because those records are not secular but biblical? Was the Bible ignored because it is considered taboo as a subject of serious historical study?
Genesis records that Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob (Israel), married an African from Egypt.4 Numbers chapter one records that Joseph's descendants, including those of both Ephraim and Manasseh, together outnumbered those of the other tribes.5 And elsewhere, Numbers tells that the proportion of land area that Joseph's descendants inherited was larger than other tribes. Together, these records show that the African DNA of Joseph's wife had a high likelihood of spreading through subsequent generations of Jews. And later relatives could also have married Africans.
In fact, a few generations after Joseph, Moses married a woman who was African. Numbers 12:1 states: "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman."
Though the PLoS study specifically looked for DNA similarities with peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the fact that any Jewish/African marriages are specifically recounted in biblical records opens the possibility that sub-Saharan Africans would also have intermarried with Jews. The ancient Hebrews considered all of Africa's inhabitants as either Egyptian if they inhabited the Nile River region, or Ethiopian if they came from any place south of Egypt-including sub-Saharan Africa.
And perhaps others, during the time from roughly 1706 B.C. when the Israelites entered Egypt all the way until they were taken captive by Assyria in 721 B.C. and even later, also intermarried.6 In line with this date range, the genetic study provided a wide time range for African admixture with Jewish ancestors, "between 1,600-3,400 years ago."1
When it comes to history, genetic analyses can provide clues at best, whereas ancient records provide more reliable information. This analysis of Jewish genes certainly corroborates what the Old Testament tells about the history of the Jewish nation, and this not surprising since "O LORD God, thou art that God, and thy words be true."7
References
1. Moorjani, P. et al. 2011. The History of African Gene Flow into Southern Europeans, Levantines, and Jews. PLoS Genetics. 7 (4): e1001373.
2. More specifically, the team measured single nucleotide polymorphisms, which may be the result of random mutation or non-random cellular DNA alterations.
3. See, for example, Thomas, B. New Study Contradicts Flower Fossil Dates. ICR News. Posted on icr.org April 9, 2010, accessed May 25, 2011. And Thomas, B. Frozen Penguin DNA Casts Doubt on DNA-Based Dates. ICR News. Posted on icr.org November 25, 2009, accessed May 25, 2011.
4. Genesis 41:45.
5. Because these sons of Joseph were each blessed with "tribe" status on par with their uncles, their populations were counted separately. According to Numbers 1, Ephraim and Manasseh totaled 72,700 people at the time of the exodus from Egypt, and the next largest tribe was Zebulon, at 57,400. Also, each one inherited a separate land area within what is today known as Israel.
6. Dates based on Ussher's Chronology, a charted summary of which can be found at creation.com
7. 2 Samuel 7:28.
Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research. (www.icr.org).
** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2011/s11060032.htm |
Christian Teens Tell Churches: Challenge Us, Don't Water Down Gospel
|  THE CHRISTIAN POST - By Jeff Schapiro - March 2, 2012
Ed. Note: The following is a report from the Groundswell: The Church of Tomorrow Speaks Today online conference for youth that featured an appearance by Rick Warren. The excerpt below seems to fly in the face of all the "Seeker Sensitive/Purpose Driven�" garbage floating around out there. It is quite interesting and one has to wonder if some of these leaders will change their agenda and style if the outcry demands it. This would be right in line with the church of Laodicea and tickling the people's ears. BE/\LERT! [...] David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group, also offered his insights during the event. He shared with viewers some of the research that appeared in his book, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church...and Rethinking Faith, which focuses on the overwhelming number of young people who stop attending church after their teen years.
According to Barna Group research, 59 percent of teenagers who are active in their youth groups today will stop attending church at some point between the ages of 18 and 29. Kinnaman said Christian teens want more opportunities to contribute and express their views in the church, but adults aren't pushing them to reach their potential.
"This generation is more interested in being challenged than we are in challenging them," he stated.
Many of the student speakers also discussed the issue of the cultural relevance of churches during the event. One speaker, Nick Ertel, said entering some churches is like walking into a "timewarp," because the church's methodology hasn't changed in 30 years.
Still, while many of the teens agreed that churches need to change to become more relevant to their generation, they also said the basic message should stay the same.
"Don't water down the Gospel. Be real ... You're not showing that the Gospel can be relevant by watering it down," Ertel said.
Ford Garner, a high school senior, indicated that his generation is just waiting for an invitation from the church. The prayer group at his high school jumped from 15 people to over 100 people after he encouraged other members of the group to invite their peers to join them.
"The kids are hungry, and they want to know Christ, they just need someone to invite them ... and they really will take to it," said Garner. ...
Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-teens-tell-churches-challenge-us-dont-water-down-gospel-70689/
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Partnering in Satanic Deception
Rick Warren builds bridge to Muslims
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Through years of outreach, Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren is part of an effort named King's Way that's attempting bring evangelical Christians and Muslims together
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER [Freedom Communications/Providence Equity Partners LLC.] - By Jim Hinch - February 23, 2012
Why do John Piper and Mark Driscoll endorse the wicked ministry of this dangerous deceiver? Because they are deceivers themselves so they are partners in Satanic deception.
- JJ Prasch
The Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest and one of America's most influential Christian leaders, has embarked on an effort to heal divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
The effort, informally dubbed King's Way, caps years of outreach between Warren and Muslims. Warren has broken Ramadan fasts at a Mission Viejo mosque, met Muslim leaders abroad and addressed 8,000 Muslims at a national convention in Washington D.C.
Saddleback worshippers have invited Muslims to Christmas dinner and played interfaith soccer at a picnic in Irvine attended by more than 300 people. (The game pitted pastors and imams against teens from both faiths. The teens won.)
The effort by a prominent Christian leader to bridge what polls show is a deep rift between Muslims and evangelical Christians culminated in December at a dinner at Saddleback attended by 300 Muslims and members of Saddleback's congregation.
At the dinner, Abraham Meulenberg, a Saddleback pastor in charge of interfaith outreach, and Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs at a mosque in Los Angeles, introduced King's Way as "a path to end the 1,400 years of misunderstanding between Muslims and Christians."
The men presented a document they co-authored outlining points of agreement between Islam and Christianity. The document affirms that Christians and Muslims believe in "one God" and share two central commandments: "love of God" and "love of neighbor." The document also commits both faiths to three goals: Making friends with one another, building peace and working on shared social service projects. The document quotes side-by-side verses from the Bible and the Koran to illustrate its claims.
"We agreed we wouldn't try to evangelize each other," said Turk. "We'd witness to each other but it would be out of 'Love Thy Neighbor,' not focused on conversion."
Saddleback representatives declined to make Warren available for comment. Tom Holladay, associate senior pastor at Saddleback, said the outreach to Muslims is part of Saddleback's PEACE Plan, a wide-ranging effort to solve major world problems by mobilizing governments, businesses and faith communities.
"This is us serving our own community with Muslims here in Orange County," said Holladay. "We realize we don't agree about everything and we're very open about that. ... You just recognize the differences and recognize the points where you can work together."
Warren has faced criticism from some evangelicals for his outreach to Muslims. Late last year, he issued a statement flatly denying rumors that he promulgates what critics term "Chrislam," a merging of Islam and Christianity.
The "rumor is 100 percent false," Warren wrote at Pastors.com, a website he founded that provides practical advice to church leaders. "My life and ministry are built on the truth that Jesus is the only way, and our inerrant Bible is our only true authority." ...
"I don't know if you have noticed this, but God likes variety," Warren told an audience of 8,000 Muslims at a Washington, D.C. convention in 2009, according to a transcript published by the religion news website beliefnet. "People of all beliefs (can) be, and discuss, and, yes, even disagree, without demeaning or debasing each other."
Warren's outreach to Muslims stems directly from his church's location in multiethnic Orange County, home to 170,000 Muslims. For 12 years Warren has lived next door to Yasser Barakat, a Muslim from Syria who worships at a Mission Viejo mosque four miles down the road from Saddleback. The Trabuco Canyon neighbors were friends for years before Barakat realized he lived next door to a world-famous Christian pastor.
When Barakat discovered who Warren was, he invited his neighbor to learn more about Islam. "I was talking to him over the fence," Barakat said. "I said, 'Rick, why don't you go to Syria with me? He said, 'Sure, let's talk about it. Let's do it.' "
Warren traveled with Barakat to Syria in 2006, and Warren and his wife, Kay, began attending Iftar meals at the Mission Viejo mosque. Iftar is the evening meal Muslims eat after fasting all day during the holy month of Ramadan. Invitations followed to address Muslim conferences in Long Beach, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.
"We understand that to some people in the religious community these events may be difficult to swallow," said Yassir Fazaga, imam at the Mission Viejo mosque. "But I believe that we have to begin somewhere and just begin to reach out and be accessible to people when they ask about who we are."
Gwynne Guibord, an ordained Episcopal priest and co-founder of a Los Angeles outreach group that fosters relationships between churches and mosques nationwide, said Saddleback's effort is unprecedented. "I'm not aware of any other evangelical church reaching out to the Muslim community," she said.
Guibord said that when she and Jihad Turk co-founded the Christian-Muslim Consultative Group in 2006, they sent invitations to mosques, the Catholic archdiocese and a variety of mainline Protestant denominations throughout Southern California, but not to evangelical churches.
"I think that many evangelicals feel a mandate to convert people to Christianity," Guibord said. Because the Consultative Group was founded to respond to increasing antagonism between the two faiths, "we would not have made headway" if one side was trying to convert the other, she said. Now, she said, it might be possible to include evangelicals in her group's work.
Turk said the relationship between Saddleback and Muslims, though still in its infancy, has already produced results. "People (at the December dinner) were talking about the bonds they've formed and they were crying," he said. Both sides realized they shared misconceptions about each other's faith.
"We did a quiz at the Christmas dinner," Turk said, "asking basic questions about Islam or Christianity with the scriptures, the Koran or the Bible. And both sides were missing it.... It's an education for everyone."
Barakat said he continues to know Warren as a man who literally loves his neighbor. Barakat said his children could always count on Warren to buy the candy or magazine subscriptions they sold door-to-door for school fundraisers. The Warrens have hosted Barakat's family at a Christmas dinner, he said.
"He calls me his Muslim brother," Barakat said. "It all started with a friendship."
Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/muslims-341669-warren-saddleback.html
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Christian Nightclub Gone Wrong
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Chattanooga: 9 shot on Christmas Eve outside Club Fathom
CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS of Chattanooga, Tennessee [WEHCO Media, Inc.] - By Kevin Hardy and Naomi Jagoda - December 26, 2011
The Christmas Eve shootings that left nine people wounded took place outside a downtown Chattanooga church and teen club where multiple fights have occurred in recent years.
Chattanooga police said nine young people were shot when rival gang members began firing at each other in a crowd of about 400 teens leaving a Christmas Eve event at Club Fathom, 400 Cherry St.
One off-duty officer also fired shots after someone pointed a gun at him, police said.
Police believe the Club Fathom brawl led to at least two other incidents, including another shooting near College Hill Courts.
A sign on the window of Mosaic Church, 412 Market St., advertised a candlelight Christmas Eve service from midnight to 1 a.m. The Club Fathom event was billed online as a party, where no ID was required. One advertisement featured a busty woman in red lingerie and a Santa hat.
Club Fathom is listed as a teen-centered outreach ministry of Mosaic Church on the Mosaic. They share the same building. Mosaic Church pastor Tim Reid could not be reached for comment Sunday. A sign on the Cherry Street entrance advertises River City Church, whose pastor is listed on that website as Martin Scott.
Five juveniles and four adults were shot in the melee. One adult and two juveniles were hospitalized with injuries not believed to be life-threatening, Chattanooga Police spokeswoman Sgt. Jerri Weary said.
She said while officers were trying to identify the shooters, one person pointed his gun at Officer Jacques Weary, who had been moonlighting at the club for the event.
Officer Weary wasn't injured, and the suspect escaped, Jerri Weary said. She said Jacques Weary is her former husband.
Jacques Weary was put on administrative leave, as is standard for an officer-involved shooting. The internal affairs division will conduct a parallel investigation with the major crimes division to examine the officer's shooting, Jerri Weary said.
A history of trouble
Club Fathom has had a history of trouble near its downtown location. Affiliated with Mosaic Church, the Market Street building also has a sign for River City Church.
On July 30, 2006, three stabbings took place in a nearby parking lot after about 500 people were thrown out of Club Fathom and gathered nearby.
Police told the Times Free Press that patrons reported more than a dozen misdemeanor and felony assaults in a five-month period that year.
And in June and July of 2009, shootings occurred in parking lots near the club, though police told the Times Free Press at the time that the club couldn't be blamed for them.
Mayor Ron Littlefield intervened at the time, and Reid, the pastor, temporarily stopped youth weekend night activities that summer.
Kim White, chief executive officer of the downtown development group RiverCity Co., said Club Fathom is one of a few problem bars, restaurants and establishments that the city should declare a nuisance and close.
"It's unfortunate that police ... have to use their resources like that on Christmas Eve," White said.
Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/dec/26/chattanooga-9-shot-christmas-eve-club-fathom/
See Also:
The Truth Behind Hip-Hop, TTBHH - Exministries
http://networkedblogs.com/s7h3H
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President Obama and the Bible
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The Truth' by Michael D'Antuono - Obama as Super false messiah
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ONE NEWS NOW [American Family News Network] - Dr. Michael Youssef - February 3, 2012
Many of us who are biblical scholars have watched Mr. Obama's use, or should I say abuse, of the Bible with dismay.
Who can forget when he gave a speech mocking the ceremonial law of the Old Testament then saying something to the effect of, "How can you govern by the Sermon on the Mount?"
Well, he did it again at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. I never understood that name since very little prayer, if any, takes place. Instead, perhaps it should be called the National Breakfast Gathering.
The president quoted the Bible to justify punishing those who have worked hard, and most of whom are very generous givers, in order to take their money and give it to many of his constituencies who are always standing outside the doors of the White House with out-stretched hands.
Mr. Obama, in justifying his misguided policy, quoted Jesus in Luke 12:48: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
No, you do not have to have a seminary degree to know that Jesus is talking about individual stewardship in an individual's relationship with God.
For it is God who gives each person different portions of gifts, talents, and treasure to manage according to His sovereign will. It is God who entrusts people with what they have, not the government.
God is the One who will judge the faithfulness of each individual's stewardship and blessing, or lack thereof. In Luke 12:48, Jesus, God the Son, is exhorting individuals to be faithful and give generously without regret.
Understanding this, one has to wonder if Mr. Obama has replaced God with his administration. He must believe that when he says "much is given," he refers to what is given by the government; and "much is demanded," as that which is demanded by the government. This is 180 degrees opposite to the truth.
This is a very dangerous precedent. We have had egotistical presidents before, from both political spectrums, but never to my knowledge have we had one who saw himself as replacing God, or one who views his administration as acting on God's behalf or instead of God.
Misquoting the Scripture is a common practice by some politicians to advance their cause, but this abuse of the Scripture and viewing one's administration as the judge and executioner -- not for crimes, but for personal stewardship -- has reached a new low in egotism.
Mr. Obama needs to issue an immediate and urgent apology for his misuse and mangling of the Scripture.
Unedited :: Link to Original Posting
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=1529270
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Afghan drug war debacle: Blair said smashing opium trade was a major reason to invade but 10 years on heroin production is up from 185 tons a year to 5,800
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LONDON DAILY MAIL [Associated Newspapers/DMGT] - By David Williams - February 17, 2012
The West is losing the heroin war in Afghanistan - ten years after Tony Blair pledged that wiping out the drug was one of the main reasons for invading the country.
Despite spending �18billion and a conflict which has so far cost the lives of almost 400 British troops, production of the class-A drug by Afghan farmers rose between 2001 and 2011 from just 185 tons to a staggering 5,800 tons.
It increased by 61 per cent last year alone.
Such has been the failure to combat the problem that more than 90 per cent of the heroin sold on Britain's streets is still made using opium from Afghanistan.
The United Nations yesterday warned that the situation was out of control.
Declaring that the West had lost its war against the drug, a glum UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon added: 'Time is not on our side.'
The UN figures make grim reading for those who backed the invasion.
Cutting the supply of heroin was one of the prime reasons given by then-prime minister Tony Blair in 2001 for sending in British troops.
Three weeks after the attack on America's Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, Mr Blair said: 'The arms the Taliban are buying today are paid for by the lives of young British people buying their drugs on British streets. This is another part of their regime we should seek to destroy.'
But ten years later, the UN figures reveal how the outcome has been so dramatically different.
Some 15 per cent of Afghanistan's Gross National Product now comes from drug-related exports - a business worth up to �1.6billion each year, it was claimed.
Officials say there is clear evidence that the opium trade is being orchestrated by the Taliban, with vast profits used to buy weapons and fuel the insurgency.
The warning came at a meeting in Austria of more than 50 countries.
Britain alone has spent an estimated �18billion - a further �4billion is said to have been earmarked for this year - in Afghanistan, where 398 of its troops have died and thousands have been injured.
The most recent was Senior Aircraftman Ryan Tomlin, from 2 Squadron RAF Regiment, who was fatally wounded by small arms fire during an insurgent attack on Monday in Helmand Province - the heart of the opium industry.
Ironically, the Taliban had overseen a significant fall in heroin production in the months before the invasion. Their leader Mullah Mohammed Omar - collaborating with the UN - had decreed that growing poppies was un-Islamic, resulting in one of the world's most successful anti-drug campaigns.
As a result of this ban, opium poppy cultivation was reduced by 91 per cent from the previous year's estimate of 82,172 hectares.
The ban was so effective that Helmand Province, which had accounted for more than half of this production, recorded no poppy cultivation during the 2001 season.
However, with the overthrow of the Taliban opium fields returned, despite the destruction of crops by coalition forces and initiatives to persuade farmers to switch to other produce.
There was some success but, commanders said, the 'reality' was that forces were too thinly stretched to focus on crop destruction - a move that, anyway, turned farmers against the troops.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that the 2006 harvest was around 6,100 tons, 33 times its level in 2001, a 3,200 per cent increase in five years.
Cultivation in 2006 reached a record 165,000 hectares compared with 104,000 in 2005 and 7,606 in 2001 under the Taliban. This fell in figures for 2010 because of crop disease, but the UN figures show that it increased sharply again last year when 131,000 hectares were under cultivation, producing some 5,800 tons of opium.
The rise came even though the Afghan government and Nato have boosted crop eradication measures by 65 per cent and made significant seizures in recent months. The UN says there are now 17 provinces in Afghanistan affected by poppy cultivation, up from 14 a year ago.
Experts say the Taliban's involvement in the drugs trade ranges from direct assistance - such as providing farmers with seed, fertiliser and cash advances - to distribution and protection. ...
Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102158/Heroin-production-Afghanistan-RISEN-61.html?printingPage=true
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Two-Thirds of U.S. Deaths in Afghanistan Have Occurred Since Obama's Surge
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CNSN 'Cybercast News Service' [Media Research Center] - By Edwin Mora - February 28, 2012
Ed. Note: We should remember and take note that the mainstream media networks started their news broadcasts each night during the 2008 presidential campaign season with an update of Afghanistan and Iraq US war casualties. After Barack Obama won the White House, that reporting immediately ceased. The casualties however, did not, and in the case of Afghanistan increased. This is American media bias and it is ugly. BE/\LERT! Two-thirds of U.S. military fatalities in the decade-long Afghan war have occurred since May 15, 2009, when the first wave of the troop surge ordered by President Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan.
The 1,180 U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan reported between May 15, 2009 and today account for approximately 66 percent of the total of 1,792 U.S. military fatalities in that country since the beginning of the war in October 2001, according to CNSNews.com's database of all fatalities in the war.
At the White House press briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney noted that the president had been clear when he campaigned in 2008 that he would escalate the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan-saying this was necessary because the previous administration had not put sufficient resources into that war. ...
On February 17, 2009. less than a month after taking office, Obama announced the deployment of 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, fulfilling his campaign promise to shift U.S. military forces to Afghanistan.
The first wave of those troops arrived in southern Afghanistan, the epicenter of insurgent activity, on May 15, 2009.
Since that date, according to CNSNews.com's database of Afghan war casualties, 1,180 U.S. service personnel have given their lives in Afghanistan. Since the Afghan war began on Oct. 1, 2001, a total of 1,792 U.S. service personnel have given their lives in that war.
On March 27, 2009, a little more than a month after he announced his initial escalation in Afghanistan, Obama announced another surge that would send an additional 4,000 troops into Afghanistan. That brought Obama's increase in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 21,000 at that point.
The president determined later, however, that even more U.S. troops were needed on the ground in Afghanistan.
On Dec. 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment to Afghanistan of additional 30,000 U.S. military personnel.
Since Obama ordered that final escalation of 30,000 U.S. troop in Afghanistan, an additional, 944 U.S. military personnel have died in that country. That equals about 53 percent of the total 1,792 deaths since the beginning of the war in October 2001.
When Obama announced his final troop surge in December 2009, he said that U.S. troops would begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2011.
Later, in remarks at the conclusion of a NATO summit meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, on Nov. 20, 2010, Obama said that by 2014 Afghan forces would be responsible for taking the lead in securing their own country. ...
Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/two-thirds-us-deaths-afghanistan-have-occurred-obama-s-surge
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