The Truth Behind the Obama-Khalidi-McCain Triangle
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Obama befriended Rashid Khalidi who, despite the weak-minded and poorly argued persistence of Kirsten Powers on Fox & Friends this A.M., is a terrorist. According to Mona Charen @ NRO:
Khalidi was a spokesman for the PLO in the 1970s, when the organization was officially designated as a "Terrorist" group.
and,
"Khalidi, who has called Israel an “apartheid” state and who defends the right of Palestinians to use violence against Israel, founded a group called the Arab American Action Network."
What has been printed about the infamous 2003 dinner party are Obama's remarks about the close relationship his family had with the Khalidis, and how that friendship impacted the way he thought about, shall we say, foreign relations:
A special tribute came from Khalidi’s friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi’s wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking. ...His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been “consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases. . . . It’s for that reason that I’m hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation — a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid’s dinner table,” but around “this entire world.”
Perhaps that is why Obama was one of 22 Senators who voted AGAINST a 2007 Resolution declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist force.
Perhaps that is why Obama declared he would meet Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad WITHOUT preconditions.
Perhaps that is why, less than 24 hours after declaring support for Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem at this year's AIPAC conference, Obama told CNN that Jerusalem was up for negotiation.
Doug Ross @ Journal reports, according to a reliable source: Saw a clip from the [2003 dinner/LA Times] tape. Reason we can’t release it is because statements Obama said to rile audience up during toast. He congratulates Khalidi for his work saying “Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine” plus there’s been “genocide against the Palestinian people by Israelis.” [Hat Tip: Israpundit]
More than just words over the dinner table have passed between Obama and Khalidi. According to the same NRO article:
"When Obama served as a director of the Woods Fund in 2001 and 2002, the foundation donated $75,000 to the AAAN, for projects like an “oral history” project on the “Nakbah,” which translates as “catastrophe,” and is the name Palestinians use for the birth of Israel."
and,
"Khalidi held a fundraiser for Obama when the latter ran for Congress in 2000..."
Obama does not deny any of this took place. His campaign's only rebuttle to the incriminating videotape is that John McCain chaired the board of the International Republican Institute, one of four organizations created by the National Endowment for Democracy, with the purpose of assist in establishing and building democratic governments across the globe, when the group granted funds to Khalidi's "Center for Palestine Research and Studies". According to the Chicago Tribune:
During the 1990s, while McCain served as chairman of the International Republican Institute, the group distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including a $448,873 grant in 1998 to his Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank.And, since 1993, when McCain joined IRI as chairman, the group funded several studies run by Khalidi's group in the Palestinian territories, including more than 30 public opinion polls. Khalidi helped found the center, "an independent academic research and policy analysis institution."
The Center for Palestine Research and Studies has no official website, but comes under the heading of CIPE- The Center for International Private Enterprise, a sister-institution to the IRI. According to the CIPE website:
The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) strengthens democracy around the globe through private enterprise and market-oriented reform. CIPE is one of the four core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy and a non-profit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Since 1983, CIPE has worked with business leaders, policymakers, and journalists to build the civic institutions vital to a democratic society.
So, let me get this straight:
Obama is trying to compare his close friendship with Rashid Khalidi, replete with family dinners, honorary speeches, and monitary exchanges, to McCain having sat on the Board of an Institution created to promote Democracy that granted monies to a man who claimed to be promoting Democracy among a people enslaved, and then distributed said monies to that man's organization through a sister-institution?
Obama used the Woods Fund to grant monies to a Khalidi project that was openly and pointedly anti-Israel and anti-Jewish.
McCain was one of many board members to grant monies to a Khalidi project that claimed to desire the promotion of a democratic attitude among the Palestinian people.
Obama knew Khalidi's anti-Israel philosophy because they talked about it over dinner.
Has McCain ever shared so much as a Tic-Tac with Khalidi?
The only thing McCain and his fellow board members are guilty of is believing that a Palestinian wanted to better the lives of his own people. We've learned a lot since the 1990s, and we've learned a lot more in the past week about those who befriend Khalidi and terrorists like him.
Kirsten Powers tried to defend Obama's relationship with Khalidi with the argument that you can be friends with someone and still have differing points of view. The question that immediately came to my mind was this: Has Kirsten Powers ever been told she's not good enough to walk this planet? Has she ever had a friend threaten to wipe her family "into the sea" and then laughed about it and invited them to join her for dinner next Tuesday night? Probably not.
So many pundits are already commenting on the momentous nature of this election. Perhaps it is because Americans-- real Americans who value their freedoms and their identities-- are learning who their true friends really are.
Friends Don't let Friends Vote Obama.
Cross-posted at The Jewish Cowgirl
Labels: election, McCain, Obama, Rashid Khalidi
posted by Shoshana @ 10:54 AM
This Says It All
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Via Drudge
Labels: America, American elections, Israel, Obama, palestinians, President, Presidential Election
posted by Shoshana @ 8:55 AM
Redemption in Obama's "Jesus Story"
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Greek columns. Fanfare. Shouting, jumping, and rolling in the aisles.
I'm not talking about a revival meeting in a megachurch; I'm talking about just an average day on the Obama campaign trail.
Now, in a desperate attempt to woo Christians to the left, a PAC called "The Matthew 25 Network" has cropped up to cast B. Hussein Obama in a holy light. Not like Louis Farrakhan did when he dubbed B. Hussein the Islamic Messiah, oh no. M25N wants to bless Obama in a more, shall we say, Judeo-Christian fashion.
One might be tempted to ask how a Christian PAC go about appropriating Matthew 25, a chapter about unprepared Virgin Brides with no oil for their lamps, paranoid servants making unwise investments, and the Messiah separating the sheep from the goats at the second coming, to endorse Barack Obama.
Sure, the organization performs some quick exegesis, taking from the chapter one verse that comes in handy, in this case, verse 40: "The King will say to them, 'Yes! I tell you that whenever you did these things for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did them for me!'," a verse rich in moral teaching when placed in perspective. But, one might inquire as to the relevance of verse 41 that reads: "Then he will also speak to those on his left saying, 'Get away from me, you who are cursed! Go off into the fire prepared for the Adversary and his angels!'"
Somehow, interpreting that verse in light of the current political climate might cause more than one Bible-believing voter to think twice before associating the most left-leaning Senator in this nation's history with Jesus Christ.
And yet, that is exactly the association a Matthew 25 Network representative made this morning on CNN. "Barack Obama's got a Jesus story," were his exact words.
A "Jesus Story"? What exactly is a "Jesus Story" anyway? As far as I know, there is only one Jesus Story because there is only one Jesus. I happen to think of Him as an Israeli carpenter from Judea who fulfilled the prophetic words in Torah (Genesis 22) and the prophets (Isaiah 53) regarding the Messiah who would come to redeem Israel and the nations.
Liberals, however, happen to think of him as an African-American who grew up as a Muslim in Indonesia, purposefully surrounded himself with "radicals" including "Marxist professors" during his college years, and whose ideology fulfills the Marxist axiom, "From each according to his ability to each according to his needs."
Now there's a guy to whom I want to bow.
Hey, they hail him in Germany:
That's always a good sign ...right?
My Jesus had working schlubs-- fishermen, tax collectors, and prostitutes-- for followers. Sure, they gave up their bad habits and all they owned to devote their lives to serving their Messiah and living out the principles He taught them, including humility and servitude towards one another and their neighbor through great personal sacrifice.
The Liberals' messiah has cultured, educated, traveled, professional men and women working for him. Sure, they embrace murder and general acts of terrorism both in America and against American allies abroad, destruction, fraud, racism, anti-Semitism and generalized hatred, but they've given their lives to their causes. In fact, at least one of them still wishes he could do more, insisting that he and his wife "haven't done enough."
My Jesus was sacrificed for world redemption.
The Liberals' messiah would like to sacrifice Americans in order to redeem world opinion.
My Messiah preached personal freedom through an end to slavery.
From Glenn Beck [via Israpundit]:
Gang, this is the final warning. I mean it. This is the final warning. You cannot become — you cannot get any clearer on what is coming. It amazes me day after day after day after day that America just doesn’t seem to care anymore, but you cannot get any clearer. If this is out here and this man is elected, you are going to elect the most arrogant Marxist who will not be stopped because he came into office fully uncovered. Every — do not pretend to be shocked when we begin to see a Marxist and who I believe will become a fascist President. And he will become fascist because he will not understand how you suddenly don’t want to become Marxist.My Messiah identified with and has a strong love for Israel and the Jewish people.
The Liberals' messiah identifies with and has a strong love for the enemies of Israel and the Jewish people.
Barack Obama Accepted Jeremiah Wright’s and Michael Pfleger’s Endorsement
...Sarkozy told Obama at that meeting that if the new American president elected in November changed his country’s policy toward Iran, that would be "very problematic."
Obama Advisor Suggested that the U.S. Attack Israel
MSM Holds Video Of Barack Obama Attending Jew-Bash & Toasting a Former PLO Operative…
Today, a "Jewish American Senior" asked Joe the Plumber, "Am I right in saying that an Obama Presidency would mean Death to Israel?"
Joe the Plumber, an average working-class middle American said, "Yes, I'd have to agree with you on that."
Somehow, when it comes to Jesus, Barack Obama just can't measure up.
And, yet, Americans are being led to believe that, come November 4th, they will crown their Messiah.
So, dear voter, who is your God?
Labels: American elections, Christian, Israel, Jesus, Judaism, Matthew 25 Network, Messiah, Messianic Judaism, Obama, President, Yeshua
posted by Shoshana @ 7:12 PM
Hit a Jew Day
Monday, October 27, 2008
Shocked by the CNN report logged at Israel Matzav, I Googled, and sure enough: It is "Hit a Jew Day" in Missouri [SperoNews]
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), concerned over reported incidents targeting Jewish students at Parkway West Middle School in the suburbs of St. Louis MO, will meet with school officials on October 24 to discuss implementing an anti-bias education and response. A number of Jewish students at the school were hit by fellow classmates during the week October 12-18 on what the students called "Hit a Jew Day."IsraelMatzav ends his blog entry with a warning: "If you're Jewish, you don't want to be on the streets next Tuesday night if John McCain wins the election. You just know they're going to blame the Jews."
...The incident began during the school’s “Spirit Week” that included Hug a Friend Day, High Five Day, Hit a Tall Person Day, to Hit a Jew Day. Many such schools celebrate their Spirit Week similarly, with Cross-Dressing Day, Camouflage Day, or Pajamas Day, etc.
Is his reaction heavy-handed superstition?
Can we afford to define it as such?
Obama has friendly and financial relationships with a number of anti-Israel/anti-Jewish activists including Edward Said and PLO terrorist Rashid Khalidi, of whom Obama spoke very highly:
Barack Obama also praised the former PLO operative during the event. And, Obama confessed that his family often shared dinner with the Khalidis:I hate authors who quote themselves, but I'm going to do it here to make an important point. From Freedom's Current Crisis:His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases... It's for that reason that I'm hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation -- a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid's dinner table," but around "this entire world."...The event was videotaped, and a copy of the tape was obtained by The Times. Khalidi and the Obamas were great friends in Chicago and often shared meals together.
...The LA Times has video of Obama toasting a former PLO operative at a Jew-bash but will not release the video.
...Charles Johnson adds that Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn attended the same 'dinner.'
Why wouldn't Ayers and Dorn attend a function in honor of a PLO terrorist? They probably trained alongside him as members of the Weather Underground!
...A Lexis-Nexis news database search of 40 years worth of major American newspaper archives returns one article detailing the timeline of transactions between Castro and the PLO. Please note that, unless otherwise stated, all quotes and facts come from Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s concisely detailed article "Castro’s Link to the PLO" printed in The Washington Times on July 24, 1990.
"The ties between communist Cuba and the PLO go back at least to 1966, when Mr. Castro hosted the Tri-Continental Conference, which brought together more than 500 delegates from radical groups around the world, including the PLO, to devise an international strategy to counter 'American imperialism.' … The relationship between Mr. Castro and the PLO is mutually beneficial because each fits into the other's grand strategy. Diplomatically, politically and militarily, Castro and the PLO work hand-in-hand."
...In the late 1960s, the growing number of young militant communist factions in Europe traveled to Cuba, among other places, to train alongside Islamic militants and Arab insurgents from the PLO, Hamas, and similar organizations.
...Marxist groups aided the PLO in executing terrorist acts. In one instance, the Red Army Faction (formerly the Bader-Meinhoff Group, a collective of Marxist Germans) joined with the Black September Group to help murder Israeli Olympians during the 1972 Munich Olympics. In 1976, the PLO, along with a group of German dissidents, was unsuccessful in hijacking a plane at Nairobi International Airport. As a result, two of the German dissidents, Thomas Reider and Brigida Schultz, were arrested and jailed. The Entebbe hijack that occurred six months later was PLO retaliation for their allies’ imprisonment. (History International)
..."The PLO assists Marxist-Leninist guerrillas around the world because they see it as the best way to fight Israel's main ally, the United States. The intent is to drain U.S. energies and resources and to distract the United States from playing an active role in the Middle East."
...Ms. Ros-Lehtinen was, at the time, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She ended her article with the poignant words: "The PLO and Mr. Castro play a vital role in international terrorism, and the partnership between them must not be ignored."
Can Barack Obama's character be made any clearer?
Seriously?
What else do we need to do to illustrate his Marxism? Get him to wear an "I HEART FIDEL" or "ARAFAT 4-EVER" button below his much-discussed and miniscule American flag pin?
Marxism birthed communism, socialism, and fascism. These movements birthed Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Fascist Italy, Communist China, North Korea, Vietnam, the PLO, Castro's Cuba, the Weather Underground, the Black Power movement, Saddam's Iraqi regime, and, in part, Ahmadinnerjacket's Iran. Marxism has been the driving force of the liberal wing of the Democrat Party since the 1960s-- and has roots in that party that go back to the 1930s and before! (Just ask Whittaker Chambers.)
Can the connections be any clearer?
America, do you get it?
Hitler was elected.
Is that a heavy-handed comment?
Can we afford to define it as such?
Cross-posted at: The Jewish Cowgirl
Labels: America, Anti Semitism, Elections, Hit a Jew Day, Israel, Marxism, Obama, PLO, President, Rashid Khalidi, Socialism
posted by Shoshana @ 10:47 AM
Redemption in a Postmodern Era
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Every once in a while I click into this music video program called Steel Roots on Inspiration TV. Basically, it's a Christian version of MTV circa 1990-- you know, when they aired music videos and not gag-inspiring low-budget reality TV of their own making. Young VeeJays intermingle music videos with commentary and interviews with different Christian bands. Decent idea in theory, right?
The other day my mother walked into the room, took one look at the screen and said, "What are you watching? That looks sick!"
A group of men wearing black eyeliner, their tattoo-covered skin layered in black leather, were screaming into a microphone while graphics on the screen depicted what appeared to be some kind of tornado followed by a girl locking herself into a bathroom and rolling around on the floor.
"It's Christian music videos," I replied.
"What's Christian about that?" she asked, aghast.
The next video that came on was of a band in a dark warehouse. Again, all wearing black, some with tattoos, banging hardcore on drums and electric guitars/bass. The lead singer, a girl with more eyeliner than most raccoons I've seen wandering in the woods, kept slamming her head to the side in a freakish sort of way that made her look, well, dead. Seriously, every three words and slam her head would pop off to one side and she'd roll her eyes a bit as if she was a doll whose head just got ripped off by some nasty little kid. Again, I couldn't quite tell what they were singing about, but the vision of her eyes half rolled into the back of her head stuck with me. (I just had an involuntary shiver.)
Then, a third band came on. A group of young guys-- definitely no older than mid-20s-- were dressed as soldiers wandering through a field and camping out. The lyric that kept repeating was "You're my favorite disease". One kid-- the lead singer I guess-- ended the video by running away from his buddies and kneeling on a hill. The most I got out of the song was that they were equating Messiah with a disease.
Huh?
Just to make sure I heard them right, I Googled "Christian music" and "My Favorite Disease" and found out that the song was written by a band called THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH and the lyrics to the last verse go like this:
Sometimes I feel like a monster
And times I feel like a saint
I'm on my knees
You're my favorite disease
And I love to way you kill me
Love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I still don't get it. Why is Messiah a disease?
Aren't diseases bad things?
Is Jesus a cancer to your system now?
Suddenly, cancer can be a good thing?
What?
I don't get it.
What I did get out of a half-hour of Christian MTV was that these bands are trying awfully hard to worship G-d while looking like every other secular rock band you see marketed today. Eyeliner? Tattoos? Bobble-heads? Comparing Jesus to death-causing agents?
Simply put, none of that makes sense.
"Oh, but you're being judgemental." I can hear the complaints now. "Are you going to judge a fellow brother or sister in Christ because they don't worship the way you do?"
No. If they want to scream into a microphone and render their worship unintelligible to all but G-d's ears, that is their choice. If they want to carve images and names all over their skin in total lack of respect for G-d's commandment not to, that is their choice. And if they want to parade around looking like death, acting like death, and comparing "the Light that gives Life" to death, that is their choice.
I am not the judge of the universe. The power of condemnation is not in my hands. Nor is the power of redemption.
I can't condemn someone for comparing Messiah to disease. But I can't redeem them and say it's a good comparison, either. Too often the "non-judgmental" wing of the Christian community is quick to condemn anyone who voices an opinion of disdain when it comes to radical decision making, especially among youth. To borrow a phrase from another era, the people who respond negatively to bobble-headed, mascara-laden disease praisers are often labeled as "The Man trying to get you down." They're tossed off as "traditional", "old", and worst of all, "opinionated" and "judgmental." "All truth is G-d's truth" many modern Christian writers, like Rob Bell and Mike Erre, like to say.
Yeshua is Truth. In fact, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But in repeating this axiom, many believers often interpret Yeshua as the Way to the Truth of Eternal Life-- and they stop there. Eternity is enough for them, which implies that once you've used your chance in this life to pick up your free pass, everything else you do and how you do it doesn't matter.
That doesn't make sense.
How many believers understand that Yeshua, their Messiah, also teaches the Truthful Way to live Life?
Actions speak louder than words.
If actions didn't matter, Yeshua never would have had to hang, bleeding in agony on a tree in a rainstorm.
If actions didn't matter, Yeshua never would have had to spend three years criticizing His own people for their unrighteous behavior and teaching His followers the way to eat, the way to pray, and the way to live their lives on this planet.
Yeshua's sacrifice is not a blank check you've been given to pay off the consequences of every bad action you take. Yeshua's sacrifice is the number one example of taking responsibility for the purpose G-d has for your life: To walk with Him in righteousness, even unto death, with full trust in the unseen fact of eternal life given through the grace of the only begotten Son of G-d.
In other words, your bad choices have been forgiven but you and you alone have been redeemed. Now, how you walk the walk is up to you, but G-d's forgiveness doesn't imply that you are suddenly held unaccountable for your actions. Yeshua didn't die on the execution stake to make everything okay. He didn't walk this earth as a rebel and leave His followers with a great commission to be like everyone else.
In fact, understanding and putting full faith in His forgiveness and grace implies acknowledging not only that you have done something wrong, but that you have dishonored G-d by doing so. So, why is it that so many believers hold onto the notion that since they've been forgiven, they can do whatever they please and Messiah makes it all okay?
Since when did the Son of G-d become a band-aid for your un-G-dly behavior?
There is such incredible zeal among young believers to live out their faith in Messiah in total and complete honesty. But they can't go around claiming everything is redeemed for Christ and call it kosher.
I once attended a worship service where the leader decided to follow a good hour and a half of praise music with "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles. My dad and I, the big Beatles fans we are, stared at one another with a mutual expression of, "What are they doing?"
"Yes! Love!" the leader proclaimed, "All we need is the love of Messiah!"
Yeah, but that's not what the Beatles were talking about when they penned the tune in 1967. They were talking about "free love," a love rooted in drugs, promiscuous sex, music, and the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I know. I saw the Anthology. So did everyone else who stood there, more than a little aghast.
As believers, we are so enamored with the truth that Yeshua's sacrifice has allowed G-d to forgive our past wrongs, to redeem us from our sins, that we tend to not only claim that redemptive power over our own lives, but over everyone and everything that we love.
But, we can't redeem.
We can't make it better.
We can't render the actions and work of others as just in G-d's eyes.
We can pray for people and we can pray that the truth we hear in music, in movies, and in all work produced is more powerful and pervasive than the lies that often accompany those truths, but we can't go around calling everything good.
It's a great thing to look for the good in this world, because Scripture states that, "Every good thing is from above." But, condemnation and redemption go hand-in-hand. You can't have one without the other and both belong to G-d. It's good that you don't want an attitude of condemnation pervading your believing community, but just as you recognize that you don't have the power to condemn everything as bad, you have to recognize that you don't have the power to redeem everything as good, either.
When the Beatles sang "All You Need is Love" they were singing an anthem of the Hippie movement. They were four guys with torrid private lives who openly used illegal drugs and participated in pagan religious activities. You may understand that G-d is love, but their love god was someone or something completely and utterly different.
When a rock band cakes on eyeliner, clads themselves in tattoos and black leather, and stares at a camera with eyes rolled to the back of their head, they might be singing about G-d (although that's even left to question) but they look like pagans.
When musicians talk about Messiah in terms of disease and death they use the antithesis to characterize the thesis of their professed faith.
Paul writes to the Corinthians, "'Everything is permitted,' you say? Maybe, but not everything is helpful. 'Everything is permitted?' Maybe, but not everything is edifying." How does looking, sounding, and analogizing like the secular world translate into being an effective witness for the truth of Messiah?
Paul goes on to write, "Well, whatever you do, whether it's eating or drinking or anything else, do it all so as to bring glory to G-d." In other words, Paul isn't saying that your actions will glorify G-d no matter what you do, he says that what you do should be motivated by the goal of glorifying G-d.
Does dressing, acting, or talking like you're dead glorify G-d?
No.
Does espousing a secular nature while professing Biblical belief glorify G-d?
Better yet, let me ask you this: Is our G-d the G-d of confusion?
Then why do you portray your faith in Him in such confusion?
Labels: Christianity, condemnation, Jesus, Messiah, redemption, rob bell, Steel Roots, Yeshua
posted by Shoshana @ 8:38 AM
Christian Media: Observations
Monday, October 20, 2008
Larry Huch Ministries
Inspiration Television
Monday, October 20, 2008
7 pm EST
Selling "Prophecy Decoded," a six-CD series on prophecy from a "Jewish perspective."
Pastor Larry says it's the "best" prophecy series you'll ever listen to. He usually does not teach on prophecy because he used to think it was all doom and gloom, but after the anointing of G-d fell on him, Pastor Larry believes that end-time prophecy is exciting because "we will go out before the doom and gloom" -- "we will go out with a shout."
With your $40 purchase of Pastor Larry's CDs you'll receive a free gift- a bottle of anointing oil that Pastor Larry wants you to use on "your childrens' pillows, your husband's pillow, and your checkbook," so that your family and your finances will be "anointed for the end times."
You will also receive another free gift: An Israeli/American flags lapel pin, in order to show our support as Americans for Israel. Why? Because, in the Bible it says that G-d will bless those who bless Israel.
In the last segment, Pastor Larry reminds us that he knows from studying the Jewish roots of the Bible that you never come before G-d with empty hands. Now, we think of this when we think of going up to Jerusalem, but we know that when 2 or 3 are gathered in His Name, His presence is there. So, as Pastor Larry and his viewer(s) gather together through the television, he would like you to consider sowing a seed into his ministry.
7:30 -- Morris Cerullo is now telling us that in the years leading up to the financial crisis, "the L-rd led him" to issue "Financial Crisis Alerts" and he prays that "you have responded as I have directed you to" so that you can be ready financially for the end times.
His son, David, (who is the financial head of Inspiration TV) has written "Eve of Destruction" a book that questions whether or not this is the end of America.
You are also offered the "Save America Now" DVD: a prime time special broadcast before the last Presidential election and loaded with "anointed" performances by various Christian singers and pastors.
All these ministry resources can be yours for a suggested gift of $30 or more. These gifts will "inspire you, direct you, and keep you" during these turbulent times.
Cerullo ends with: "Please, don't procrastinate: Get into the cycle of what G-d has prepared for His people in these end times."
Labels: cerullo, Christian, culture, end times, huch, Jewish Roots, media
posted by Shoshana @ 7:21 PM
URGENT: A Night of Prayer & Fasting for America
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Tonight begins the Jewish fast of Yom Kippur. We gather together as a community to ask G-d for His mercy in forgiving our sins and blessing us with another year of life. Quick Biblical reference is Leviticus 23.
This year, Yom Kippur isn't just a Jewish thing.
Our nation is in serious need of G-d's mercy. We've got a "friend to the terrorists" running for President of the United States. Nothing is more serious than the possibility of a Hussein in the White House.
That's why I'm asking everyone who reads this blog--Jewish or not--to participate in a night of prayer and fasting for America. Since Yom Kippur starts at sundown, it can be as simple as skipping your nightly snack and humbling yourself for a few minutes before G-d in honest prayer.
Our nation is at stake. Can we do at least that much to help?
Pass it along to your friends, your family, your Pastors, and your Rabbis: tonight is a night to get serious before the Almighty and pray for this nation, to sacrifice a meal so we don't have to sacrifice our lives to the threat of a socialized government and anti-American ideologies both here and abroad receiving carte blanche from the highest office in the land.
Tonight. Sundown. Skip the snack and pray:
May G-d Bless America.
Cross-posted at The Jewish Cowgirl
Labels: America, American elections, Biden, McCain, Obama, Sarah Palin, Yom Kippur
posted by Shoshana @ 8:40 AM
Rethinking Christianity & Living Rabbinic Judaism
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
My reading list never ends. Currently, 2 books popped into my sphere:
Provocative Faith by Matthew Paul Turner
Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
I just finished the former and started the latter. I find it interesting that these young ministers are calling for a cultural re-think of faith in Messiah. What especially drew me to Bell's book were his uses of Jewish Biblical terms: tassels (tzitzit), Torah, and Shalom. I'm looking forward to seeing how he correlates these elements of Jewishness with his redefinition of Christian culture.
Essentially, what I'm sensing from this literature is a desire for a more living, vital faith. It's as if these young men know G-d and want to live their faith in Messiah, but they know that traditional Christian church culture isn't the way to do it. They want a practice that is less religious and more lifestyle-oriented, and they want it to be real and relevant to the way Messiah lived when He walked on earth. Is this a trend towards Biblical Judaism? I can only report on what I see, and when I see young people questioning church practices using Jewish terminology, I can't help but wonder about the direction of the culture of faith in Yeshua/Jesus with more than a little anticipation.
In the meantime, I've also completed Mark Kinzer's paper, Postmissionary Messianic Judaism: Three Years Later. In comparison to the two texts mentioned above, it seems that Kinzer's thinking is just as regressive as Turner's and Bell's is agressive.
Firstly, to compare the three texts is somewhat difficult, given that Turner and Bell wrote for a broad audience of everyday readers while Kinzer's work is penned for the realms of the Messianic and Christian academic elite. While Turner's and Bell's books contain clear, solid argumentation backed up by real life examples and scriptural citation, Kinzer's work is laden with language and argumentation fed by quotes of fellow academics and completely lacking in any Biblical citation whatsoever. The tone and style of these pieces clearly indicates their intended audiences, which causes me to question the motives behind Kinzer's work in particular. After all, if the radical cultural changes he proposes are so right-on for the movement as a whole, why not bring them to the people of the movement in a pallatable fashion? Why hide these assertions among the upper-echelons through the careful (and often confusing) use of academic language?
Secondly, while Turner and Bell question the structure and methodology of contemporary Christianity, Kinzer uses the structure and function of the contemporary Christian church as the basis for a historical analysis of the relationship between Judaism, the Jewish people, and the Christian church/faith. In true postmodern fashion, Kinzer ignores the facts and implications of 2,000 years of history and instead uses today as the launching point for the future of the Messianic movement. Can we really wipe away 2,000 years of history and start fresh when we all still wear the scars of our past?
Thirdly, while Turner and Bell are seeking to redefine their faith-identity through the Word of G-d, Kinzer is relying on the man-made authority structures inherent within the Christian Church and Rabbinic Judaism to develop a Messianic identity. Turner and Bell are seeking to break down religious structures that inhibit believers from walking in their faith, while Kinzer relies on the very same man-made structures to redefine a halacha with Yeshua.
This year, I attended Rosh haShanah services at my local Reconstructionist Temple. Why? Honestly, my boss offered me his ticket and the time off from work. Appreciative and always up for a cultural experience and a chance to interact with my fellow Jews, I took him up on the offer. Three and a half hours of solid liturgy later I sat on a hard wooden pew and felt as if my jaw were going to fall off. Despite the admirable levels of commitment exhibited by the packed house, it took all I had to retain the deep sense of joy I have in being a Jew.
Despite the incredible number of times the word Yeshua was prayed in the liturgy, Yeshua was not invited into that room. It was as if someone threw a wedding but the groom never showed up. And, honestly, I wasn't even meaning to be Biblical in my analogy; there is just no other metaphor to explain the sheer sadness of it all. There was the bride, waiting and waiting, not realizing that in all her preparation for the biggest day of her life, she'd forgotten to do the one most important thing of all: Say 'Yes' to his proposal. There she was, playing bride the way little girls play house or play dolls. All decked out, she rehearsed the part with the same mix of joy and sadness inherent in any teenage girl's dream; that spark of hope damped by that twinge of reality. It was sad. It was creepy. It was weird. Three and a half hours of liturgy recited by a cantor, mumbled by an audience as familiar with Hebrew as they are with Chinese.
Afterwards, we all walked down to the river to cast our sins into the waters. At first, I realized that I hadn't brought any bread and secretly rejoiced in the irony that Yeshua had already washed my sins away. Then, one of the ladies came up to me with a slice and a smile. I returned the wish for a good yontif and took the bread with a nod of thanks. Tearing it up, I joined my people in casting off the sins of Israel into the mayim chayim. It reminded me more of feeding the birds than anything else.
Messianic services are filled with joy. We dance. We sing. We play tambourines and a host of other instruments. We wave tabrets, flags, banners. We wear talits. The ceremony of worship is all color and light, shouts and singing, clapping and dancing. The most movement I got in this service was davvening lightly during the two 5-minute periods of silent prayer and reflection.
Have you ever truly thanked G-d for knowing Yeshua? I have. I did it a lot this Rosh haShanah. I'm still doing it. Thank G-d, I know Yeshua. Thank G-d I'm not the bride left wondering. Thank G-d I'm not relying on day-old bread to take my sins away.
No one is more important in my life than Yeshua. Not many people understand that, including believers. So many believers get to the point where Yeshua becomes so familiar that they respond to His Name like robots receiving a computer prompt. The leader says "Praise Messiah!" and the congregants respond, "Amen!" when they're really thinking, "Is it time to eat yet?" or "I have to go walk the dog!"
Try attending a Rabbinic service. I guarantee you, your Messiah will take on a whole new place in your life and your way of thinking. Once you know what it is like to live the difference, you will love Him more than ever.
Baruch haShem, Yeshua.
Have an easy fast...
Labels: Christian, High Holidays, identity, Mark Kinzer, matthew paul turner, Messianic Judaism, Postmissionary Messianic Judaism, rob bell, Yeshua
posted by Shoshana @ 9:07 PM
