From Israel Today June 19,2011

It is difficult to be certain why Haim Gouri uses New Testament motifs in his latest book of poems, entitled Eyval, named after Mount Ebal (Deut. 11:29).

Gouri is an iconic figure in Israeli culture—the personification of the ideal Israeli. Born in Tel Aviv in 1923, he joined the Palmach militia and was sent to Hungary in 1947 to assist survivors of the Holocaust making their way to Palestine. During the 1948 Israeli War of Independence he served as a deputy company commander in the Palmach’s Negev Brigade.

Although perhaps best known as a poet, Gouri is also a novelist, filmmaker, and journalist.

Eyval is a rebuttal of the prevalent tendency amongst so many Israelis to indulge in condemnation of their mother country. “Since…every leper opens up his mouth to frighten her,” Gouri “writes her glory and splendor, counts like a peddler her glories, [and] grinds Balm of Gilead, healing and remedy for her sorrows and illness” (Poem 59).

And in Poem 86, he quotes Jesus Himself: “Who amongst you has not sinned, let him be the first to throw stones at her.”

In Eyval, Gouri dialogues with the Messiah who endlessly tarries. In Poem 23, he seems to identify the Messiah as Jesus and commands Him as a military commander—much like God commanded Abraham before Him: “Move, move over. Get out by night to your land, to your family, through the stone, through the tiredness, through the silence and the shadow of death. Move, move as in a dream of the night. Remember that you have already been here, with the [crown of] thorns that have already became a familiar literary symbol that never lose their greatness.”

While one can understand this poem in various ways, the reader must face Gouri’s need to command Jesus to return immediately to His land and family.

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My comments:

Let us pray that this is a sign that the Jewish people are beginning to see that Jesus is their Messiah!

One of the finest statesmen Western civilization has ever known is on trial for his right to free speech.  Here is an excerpt from his final statement to the court:

Final remarks of Geert Wilders at his trial in Amsterdam, June 1st, 2011:

Mister President, members of the Court,

I am here because of what I have said. I am here for having spoken. I have spoken, I speak and I shall continue to speak. Many have kept silent, but not Pim Fortuyn, not Theo Van Gogh, and not I.

I am obliged to speak. For the Netherlands is under threat of Islam. As I have argued many times, Islam is chiefly an ideology. An ideology of hatred, of destruction, of conquest. It is my strong conviction that Islam is a threat to Western values, to freedom of speech, to the equality of men and women, of heterosexuals and homosexuals, of believers and unbelievers.

All over the world we can see how freedom is fleeing from Islam. Day by day we see our freedoms dwindle.

Islam is opposed to freedom. Renowned scholars of Islam from all parts of the world agree on this. My witness experts subscribe to my view. There are more Islam scholars whom the court did not allow me to call upon to testify. All agree with my statements, they show that I speak the truth. That truth is on trial today.

We must live in the truth, said the dissidents under Communist rule, because the truth will set us free. Truth and freedom are inextricably connected. We must speak the truth because otherwise we shall lose our freedom.

That is why I have spoken, why I speak and why I shall continue to speak.

Please read his entire speech.  It is articulate, truthful and timely.  Whether or not Mr. Wilders is acquitted may well mark the downfall of Western civilization in Europe.

Please watch the following videos of a speech he gave in Washington D.C.

Today our pastor asked the question “what is the mark or sign of a mature Christian?”  My first thought was of a verse from Ephesians,

While there is nothing wrong with getting a fresh word from the Scriptures  – that is gaining a new insight or awareness of what God has already said in His Word  – it is a far cry from what most Christians do today.  Too many run from conference to seminar to bookstore looking for the latest fad.

A mature Christian rejoices to hear the word of God preached with boldness and conviction even if the subject matter doesn’t immediately apply to their current situation.  The sermon doesn’t have to be about “felt needs” it can simply be about the nature of God or the deity of Jesus and it will taste like meat on the table of the mature believer.

If we want mature believers in our churches then we must feed the people meat instead of milk or better yet, teach them how to feed themselves.  That is the purpose of the five fold ministry as Paul said,

Our friends over at The Sacred Sandwich hit the nail on the head with this one!

In today’s Jerusalem Post:

Netanyahu rejects complete pullback to 1967 borders

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER AND REUTERS
05/19/2011 22:10

Prime Minister reacts to Obama’s Middle East speech, saying Israel would object to any withdrawal to "indefensible" borders, adding he expected Washington to allow it to keep major settlement blocs in any peace deal.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Thursday Israel would object to any withdrawal to "indefensible" borders, adding he expected Washington to allow it to keep major settlement blocs in any peace deal.

In a statement after President Barack Obama’s speech outlining Middle East strategy, Netanyahu said before heading to Washington that "the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of Israel’s existence".

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President Obama has made a mistake of biblical proportions. Why do I say that?

There has already been a two state solution imposed on the land of Palestine.  It happened in 1922.  Britain, in it’s great wisdom, decided that “Jewish Palestinians” and “Arab Palestinians” shouldn’t have to live together so they gave 80% of the land to the Arabs and let the Jews keep 20%.  The land of Arab Palestine is today called Jordan. It’s called history – read it.

God has said the mountains of Israel belong to Israel and He will judge those who try to carve out the mountain area for the descendants of Edom.  God will judge anyone who tries to divide up His land. My prayer is that God will remember that the majority of Americans do not share Obama’s opinion in this matter and that we will not have to suffer judgment for our president’s words.

End of the world? How about a party instead?

By TOM BREEN, Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. – A prediction that the world as we know it will end on Saturday has naysayers across the country getting ready to party. Atheists are sponsoring so-called "Rapture parties" from Fayetteville, N.C., to Oakland, Calif. Non-believers will gather on Saturday to celebrate their prediction that the world will not end.

Online, a Facebook group sarcastically promoting post-Rapture looting has more than 170,000 people signed up to participate.

A retired civil engineer named Harold Camping made the calculation based on his reading of the Bible. It’s been spread by advertising, publicity and missionary groups.

Mainstream Christians are also scoffing at the prediction, although they’re not planning parties.

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By now, everyone has heard of the prediction by Harold Camping that the Christians will be raptured on May 21st followed by the end of the world on Oct 21st.  Of course nothing will happen and the atheists will hoist another and toast each other that Christianity is wrong.

Hopefully, the world will remember that Camping doesn’t represent evangelical, bible believing Christians. Hopefully, we won’t hear about this when trying to discuss bible prophecy among real scholars and students of the word of God. Hopefully, Christians will learn that you can’t make God perform on your schedule – He is sovereign – and will act in a time and place of His choosing.

In announcing their approval of the ordination of homosexual ministers in the PC(USA), the denomination’s leaders said:

"Reactions to this change will span a wide spectrum. Some will rejoice, while others will weep….Those who weep will consider this change one that compromises biblical authority and acquiesces to present culture."

I am one of those who are weeping, and I have a good reason:
Back in the late 1800s, the PC(USA) denomination sent some wonderful missionaries to the Middle East. In Egypt, they established very fine Bible-believing churches across the land. PC(USA) now comprises the largest Protestant group of more than half a million attendees.  I belonged to one of their churches when I was a young man. Later, while in Australia, I became an Anglican (the Episcopal Church in the USA). Thus, I weep for both of these two former Bible-believing denominations, with which I have deep history.

…

Today, I’m appealing to all faithful Presbyterians in the PC(USA) and Episcopalians to vote with your feet and get out of these churches as fast as you can. As I mention in my latest book The Greatest Lie, this type of preaching is now invading many mainline and evangelical churches.

 

• There can be no excuse.
• No, you cannot stay and be a witness.
• No, you cannot stay and try to change things.
• No, you cannot stay and hope that you will be a light.
• These denominations have chosen darkness, and they need to experience what true darkness is all about by not having any believers inside their walls.
• To modify slightly the words of the apostle Paul, the faithful believers ought to deliver these institutions to Satan by walking out as fast as they can. (1 Corinthians 5:4-5)

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Source: Dr. Michael Youssef

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Kudos to Dr Youssef for telling it like it is.  Too many Christians are under a delusion about staying in an unhealthy church under some misguided notion of being a light.

 

NEW YORK – Thousands belonging to the immediate and spiritual family of David Wilkerson celebrated his life, legacy, and love for Christ at a memorial service Saturday at Times Square Church in New York City.

A clip from the tribute video for David Wilkerson, founding pastor of Times Square Church in New York City, shown at his memorial service on Saturday, May 14, 2011 in New York City, New York.

(Photo: Times Square Church via The Christian Post)

Speakers, including leadership of the church Wilkerson had founded and his relatives, honored the evangelical pastor for a life “well-lived” through personal testimonies and songs rejoicing that he is now in heaven.

“It was all about Jesus Christ,” Carter Conlon, senior pastor of Times Square Church, said of Wilkerson’s life.” Everything that Wilkerson did, lived, believed and preached centered around the cross of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the wonderful and full, abundant life that God promises to those who would turn to Christ with an honest heart.” Source article: The Christian Post

 

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I will miss the passionate preaching and the heart after God that David Wilkerson brought to this generation.  May we soon meet you in front of the throne of God and together rejoice in Jesus our Lord.

Today begins the Java Report blog.  Of course this is the first post and there is no need to comment on this one!

Eph 5:15-17