God has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. You are as much alone with him as if you were the only being he had ever created.
CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-31NIV
Get ready for goosebumps!
“Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” Psalm 8:2 NIV
Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” Matthew 5:14-15 NIV
“Our call is to engage with the world. Our mission as light in the darkness has not ended. In fact, it is greater now than it has ever been as the time of the end draws near.” Amir Tsarfati
God had a plan to bless the world through the Jews. He sent His son, Jesus, born of a virgin, a young Jewish girl named Mary. (Matthew 1:18)
“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” 1 John 3:8 NIV
No wonder Satan hates the Jewish people!
The Lord had said to Abram, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:1-3 NIV (emphasis mine)
This is the blessing:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NIV
The Jewish people continue to bless the world even today. Although Jews are a small percentage of the population (0.2%), they have made an astounding number of contributions in the fields of medicine, science, art, and music, for which everyone should be grateful.
Here are just a few:
Jonas Salk (creator of the first polio vaccine)
Albert Sabin (oral polio vaccine)
Galileo (pioneered the use of the telescope for observing the night sky. His discoveries undermined traditional ideas about a perfect and unchanging cosmos with the Earth at its center.)
Elie Wiesel (political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor) authored 57 books)
Albert Einstein
Jerry Lewis (who raised more than 2 billion dollars for his Muscular Dystrophy Association Charity, Jerry’s Kids)
Isaac Singer (inventor of the sewing machine)
(This list could go on and on, but I’ll stop here for the sake of brevity.)
Anti-Semetism
The savage attack on the Jewish people by the evil terrorist group Hamas, unbelievably, launched an anti-Semitic campaign around the world. The pro-Hamas demonstrators, when interviewed, showed little to no knowledge of the history of Judaism or the establishment of the Jewish state.
Ignorance allows dictators and terrorists to pursue their objectives while a properly informed public preserves and protects what is important to a free and civilized society.
If you believe such things are important, offer some gratitude, not hostility, to the Jews.”
I just finished reading the Book of Revelation again, and it makes me wonder why so many Christians don’t read it. These are some of the reasons I found. People say:
It’s not that relevant to my life.
It’s so hard to read.
I don’t understand it.
It makes me uncomfortable.
It scares me.
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John introduces the Book of Revelation by saying,
“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” Revelation 1:3 NIV
And consider what Jesus says about the Book of Revelation:
“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.” Revelation 22:7 NIV (The Greek word translated soon can mean quickly or suddenly, also in v. 12.)
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:12-14 NIV
The first time you read Revelation, some parts might be difficult to understand, but there will be many parts that are pretty straightforward.
Chapters 2 and 3, for example, are messages from Jesus to the seven churches. These messages contain warnings and compliments from Jesus and are still relevant today.
The more you read and study Revelation, the more of it you will understand. For one thing, other books of the Bible will help you determine its meaning, especially Daniel and Ezekiel.
So go ahead and get started. You will be blessed!
Note: Here are three books by Amir Tsarfati that I found helpful for making the connections to Old Testament Scriptures:
Revealing Revelation, Exploring Ezekiel, and Discovering Daniel.
Yom HaZikaron is the day of national remembrance in Israel to commemorate all the soldiers and people who lost their lives during the struggle to defend the State of Israel. On this day we mourn and remember our fallen soldiers and all lives lost by terror. Yom HaZikaron, which goes by the Jewish calendar, begins with a siren at 8:00 in the evening. As soon as the siren is heard, Israeli citizens stop whatever they’re doing, wherever they are, and stand firm to honor those they’ve lost. People driving on highways stop their cars in the middle of the road to get out and stand in remembrance. A whole office will stop working and a family having dinner will stop eating in order to spend a minute in respectful silence. MORE
170 soldiers have fallen since Israel’s last Memorial Day. Their names are now added to the 25,648 who have fallen since 1860, when Jews left the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City to establish new neighborhoods in the Holy Land.
“America joins the people of Israel in observing Yom HaZikaron — Israel’s Memorial Day — and in honoring the fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism who have given their lives in defense of the Jewish State. May their memories forever be a blessing.” Ambassador Mike Huckabee
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”
“God treated Jesus as if He had lived my life, that I may be treated as if I had lived His life.”
Harvey Stalker
““For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 AMP
“Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].” 1 Corinthians 15:58 AMP (emphasis mine)
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.” Psalm 145:18-19 NIV
One of the biggest problems in the world today is that people believe lies, even outrageous lies. Who would have believed that American universities would be teaching that a man can get pregnant, or that an unborn child at full term isn’t a human being?
Who would have believed that, all over the world, people would be protesting against the Jews in support of the evil terrorist organization Hamas? Who would have believed that an irrational hatred for Israel and the Jews would be unleashed that hasn’t been seen since the Holocaust?
These lies come straight from Satan. He is behind the dangerous lies that much of the world has bought into.
Unfortunately, many people believe these lies (also known as propaganda). It’s shocking how easily a culture’s thinking can be reformed and controlled.
Remember, Satan is the Father of lies. Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said,
“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44 NIV (emphasis mine)
I’ve read many historical novels that take place during WW2. You may have read the famous book, The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. (If you haven’t read it, please do!)
How could 6 million Jews have been carried off to concentration camps and no one stopped it? Why didn’t the people do something? Some, like Corrie ten Boom and her family, did take action by hiding Jews in their home. They were arrested and put in the infamous concentration camp Ravensbrücke. And there were others, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who gave their lives to stand against evil. But the vast majority did nothing. Did they believe Hitler’s lies?
As we think about our question, consider these words of Adolf Hitler:
Throughout the world today, there is enormous support for the terrorist organization Hamas and an irrational hatred for Jews. Only demonic influence can explain it.
“The world changed on October 7. It will never be what it used to be.” Jan Markell
“As the world becomes more and more anti-Jesus, it is going to become more and more anti-Jewish.” Trevor Rubenstein
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Winston Churchill
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:6-8a
“So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth…” Ephesians 4:25 NLT
No wonder the Bible has so much to say about love and truth! How important they are!
“When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” ― Golda Meir, A Land of Our Own: An Oral Autobiography
Real Christian Women 