Category: Watching

Red Heifers arrive in Israel in preparation for “Third Temple”

– September 16, 2022

The Temple Institute and Boneh Israel made a huge step towards reinstating the Temple service on Thursday when five red heifers landed at Ben Gurion International Airport.

The red heifer was the main component in the Biblically mandated process of ritual purification for impurity that results from proximity or contact with a dead body. Because the elements needed for this ceremony have been lacking since the destruction of the Second Temple, all Jews today are considered ritually impure, thereby preventing the return of the Temple service.

The Temple Institute launched its Red Heifer program about a decade ago, led by Rabbi Azariah Ariel. But even in Temple times, an animal that fulfilled the Biblical requirements was exceedingly rare. Failing to produce a suitable candidate from ranchers in Israel, The Temple Institute began investigating alternative sources for a red heifer.

Boneh Israel, an organization that connects Christian lovers of Israel to the Holy Land, stepped in to help. Led by Byron Stinson, a native Texan, Boneh Israel understood ranchers.

“I didn’t set out to do this, but right now, I am probably the best red heifer hunter in Texas,” Byron quipped. “The Bible says to bring a red cow to purify Israel, and I may not understand it, but I am just doing what the Bible said.”

“The prophecies came true, and the Jews are back in Israel,” Byron said. “Now they need to build a Temple. But it’s like buying a really nice car. If you don’t have the key, you aren’t going anywhere. The red heifer is the key to making the Temple work like it’s supposed to.” Boneh Israel took out full-page ads in ranching magazines, explaining the situation to ranchers. They requested that any red calves be set aside.

“Several years ago, the farmer is a devout Christian who became intensely interested in the Biblical commandment,” Stinson explained to Israsel365 News.”He began breeding cattle for this trait. So when my team and I set out to search ranches in Texas for a red heifer, his were already better suited.”

https://endtimeheadlines.org

World mourns death of Queen Elizabeth II

DW – September 9, 2022

Condolences have been pouring in from all over the world after Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday.

She was the country’s longest-ruling monarch and met with many world leaders during her decades on the throne. She was aged 96 when she died.

Following the Queen’s death, her eldest son replaced her as monarch, taking the title King Charles III.

World leaders in mourning

US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden released a joint statement describing Elizabeth as “a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States,” with the White House saying she had met with 14 US presidents.

The Bidens later went to the British Embassy to pay their respects.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply saddened” and offered his “condolences to her bereaved family, the government and people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the wider Commonwealth Nations.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Tweet that he learned of the queen’s death with “deep sadness.”

Even Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote a telegram to King Charles, wishing him “courage and perseverance in the face of this heavy, irreparable loss.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping said the late queen’s death “is a great loss to the British people” and pledged to work with the new king to strengthen relations between Beijing and London.

Germany remembers Queen’s role after WWII

German leaders also joined in the chorus of condolences, highlighting the queen’s role in repairing the relationship between the UK and Germany after the Second World War, during which she had volunteered in the Women’s Auxiliary Territory Service, working primarily as a mechanic.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the queen “was an example and inspiration to millions, also here in Germany. Her commitment to German-British reconciliation after the horrors of World War II will never be forgotten. She will be missed, not the least for her wonderful humor.”

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement that “her natural authority, her immense experience, her exemplary performance of duty will remain in our living memory.” He added that after World War II, “the hand of reconciliation was also the hand the of the Queen.”

“We mourn, with our British friends, the loss of Queen Elizabeth II,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on Twitter. “She was a source of strength and confidence for her country… Germany remains eternally grateful to her for reaching out to us for reconciliation after the terror of the Second World War.”

Fellow monarchs send messages of condolence

European monarchs joined the outpouring of mourning, with messages from kings of the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Spain.

“With sadness, my family and I have today received the news that my dear relative, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, has passed away,” King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden said.

https://www.dw.com

German Chancellor Demands Bigger EU, Less National Sovereignty for Members

Breitbart London – August 29, 2022

PRAGUE (AP) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Monday for a growing European Union to agree on a series of changes that would help it overcome internal divisions and stand up to external rivals such as Russia and China.

In a wide-ranging speech at Charles University in Prague, Scholz said the EU must make itself “fit” for future enlargement from 27 to 30 — or even 36 — nations by taking more decisions by majority vote, rather than requiring unanimity on all issues that has in the past allowed individual member states to veto key decisions.

“We have to remember that swearing allegiance to the principle of unanimity only works for as long as the pressure to act is low,” Scholz said, arguing that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a wake-up call for the EU to change the way it takes decisions.

Scholz suggested allowing majority decisions on pressing issues such as sanctions or human rights policy, with those unwilling to explicitly back a vote having the option to abstain without blocking unanimity.

The German leader also backed calls to reconsider the composition of the European Parliament, which currently has 751 deputies, to prevent it becoming “bloated” through future expansion. A similar reform of the way each member state is represented in the bloc’s executive Commission could see commissioners share responsibility in certain areas, he said.

With Europe lagging behind global rivals when it comes to digitalization and space exploration, Scholz said the EU could become a global leader in the transition to a greener economy that would also help it become less dependent on foreign energy suppliers.

In his address, Scholz repeatedly cited the threat posed to the EU by Russia under its authoritarian president, warning that “any disunity among us, any weakness, is grist to (Vladimir) Putin´s mill.”

“We must close ranks, resolve old conflicts and find new solutions,” he said, noting that the bloc needs to overcome long-running tensions among its members on the issues of migration and fiscal policy.

https://www.breitbart.com

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Is Assassinated

Milton Quintanilla – July 8, 2022

Hospital officials in Japan have confirmed that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe died after he was shot during a campaign speech in Western Japan Friday morning.

Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was shot twice from behind while speaking to a crowd on the streets of Nara on Friday. Abe was delivering a campaign speech ahead of an election for the parliament’s upper house this Sunday.

Video footage posted to social media shows Abe speaking when a loud bang erupted, and smoke began to rise from behind the former Prime Minister. The first shot, however, missed the former prime minister, who paused and turned around only to get shot at again seconds later. The second shot struck Abe in the chest, causing him to collapse to the ground. His security then tackled and arrested the gunman, later identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. According to the Japanese outlet NHK World News, a police officer retrieved a gun at the scene that is believed to be homemade.

Yamagami, who served in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) for three years, reportedly told police that he was dissatisfied with the former prime minister and sought to assassinate him.

According to Fox News, Abe was left unconscious and in cardiac arrest after being shot. He was taken to a hospital for treatment but later succumbed to his injuries.

Doctor Fukushima Hidetada of Nara Medical University told NHK World News that a team of more than twenty doctors spent four hours trying to save Abe’s life.

“We tried to resuscitate him, but, unfortunately, he died at 5:03 pm,” he said.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Boris Johnson’s resignation caps off tumultuous tenure

Peter Aitken , Anders Hagstrom – July 7, 2022

Boris Johnson announced plans to resign as prime minister of the United Kingdom on Thursday in a tumultuous end for a government that once enjoyed a strong democratic mandate.

Johnson’s roughly three-year tenure ended in disarray after he threatened a standoff with his party and a possible general election following the resignation of 42 ministers who deemed his position “untenable.” He says new leadership is “clearly now the will” of Parliament.

Johnson hopes to remain in a caretaker position as his Conservative Party elects a new prime minister, a process that may take roughly two months.

“I have appointed a new cabinet who will serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place,” he said. “When the herd instinct moves, it moves.”

Conservative ministers declared that they had lost confidence in the prime minister after news emerged he had elevated Chris Pincher to the powerful role of deputy chief whip despite allegations of sexual misconduct.

But it was not the only scandal that Johnson’s government had to wrangle with. It was merely the final one that ministers could tolerate, bringing an end to his sole ambition and goal in politics.

“Boris Johnson’s place in history is assured given his stewardship of Brexit, vaccine rollout during the COVID-19 crisis and staunch defense of the free world in Ukraine,” Alan Mendoza, co-founder and executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital.

https://www.foxnews.com

Supreme Court Overrules Roe v. Wade in Dobbs Decision – Returns Abortion to State Lawmakers

Ken Klukowski –  June 24, 2022

WASHINGTON, DC – The Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade on Friday, holding in the Dobbs case that the Constitution does not include a right to abortion and returning the issue of abortion laws and regulations to state legislatures.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the Supreme Court in Friday’s 5-4 decision:

Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return the authority to the people and their elected representatives.

Roe was handed down in 1973 in a 7-2 decision, holding that the U.S. Constitution includes a constitutional right to abortion, despite the fact that abortion is not found in the text, structure, or history of the Constitution, and the nation went more than 180 years without ever noticing it existed. It has been one of the most divisive legal issues in American history.

An early draft of Alito’s opinion leaked in May, the first such leak of a full opinion in the 233-year history of the Supreme Court, leading the left to violent protests, including destroying a pro-life center in Wisconsin, vandalizing churches, and threatening protests at the home of conservatives justices in violation of federal law.

These threats have culminated in what was almost an assassination attempt of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which went seemingly unnoticed by President Joe Biden – who did not speak out to condemn it – and has led to rapid action on a new federal law to protect the justices. The court majority evidently stood firm against the threats and public pressure, overruling Roe and the later revision of Roe in 1992, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

With Roe overruled, the issue of abortion now goes back to the states to pass whatever restrictions on abortions the voters of each state choose to adopt.

https://www.breitbart.com

The scientific meltdown over a controversial discovery of ‘biblical Sodom’

Jerry Pattengale – April 22, 2022

(RNS) — What everyone agrees on is that something unusual happened at Tall el-Hammam, an ancient settlement near the Dead Sea.

In a layer of ancient earth, archaeologists claim to have found evidence of an apocalyptic event: Melted rooftops. Disintegrated pottery. Unusual patterns in the rock formations that can be associated with intense heat. For another three to six centuries after 1650 B.C., the settlement’s 100 acres lay fallow.

But when Steven Collins, the principal archaeologist at Tall el-Hammam, considered the scientists’ evidence in an article that ran last year in the respected scientific journal Nature, he claimed that the incineration matched with the place and timing of the biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah. This brought down on himself what in academic circles might be called hellfire.

That story of Sodom and its sister city Gomorrah is one of the Bible’s best-known stories. Abraham bargains with God to spare Sodom — even then synonymous with sin — to save its few righteous residents. The Lord was having none of it. “Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah,” the Book of Genesis says. Abraham looks back and sees “dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.”

On the face of it, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see possible connections between Tell el-Hammam. But in a real sense you do.

Led by Collins, dean of the College of Archaeology at Trinity Southwest University, 21 experts from 19 research institutions weighed in on Tall el-Hammam’s remains, concluding that the nature of the destruction suggested a massive airburst or comet.

https://www.christiantoday.com

48 GOP Senators Vow Support for Hyde Amendment

Jeffrey Rodack – June 3, 2022

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., led 47 other Republican senators in pledging to block any bill that would undermine the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion.

Daines, founder and chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, and his colleagues made the pledge in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“We write to express our unwavering support for the Hyde Amendment and all other longstanding pro-life protections,” the letter says. “For more than 45 years, the Hyde Amendment has ensured that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund abortions, saving the lives of nearly 2.5 million preborn children. As you know, the Hyde Amendment is supported by both a substantial majority of the American public and a bipartisan majority of sitting United States Senators, and was most recently signed into law by President [Joe] Biden in Public Law 117-103.

“On February 5, 2021, we wrote to you that ‘We are committed to vote against the advancement of any legislation that would eliminate or weaken the Hyde Amendment or any other current-law pro-life protections, or otherwise undermine existing Federal pro-life policy.’ We firmly renew this commitment for FY 2023.”

The senators added:  “We urge you to start where we finished by making a baseline commitment to maintain the same pro-life protections that were included in Public Law 117-103, and to eschew any taxpayer-funded giveaways that benefit the multi-billion-dollar abortion industry.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, one who signed the letter, noted it has been endorsed by a host of organizations, including Americans United for Life and the Alliance Defending Freedom.

https://www.newsmax.com

Biden to visit Jerusalem with unprecedented statement: Zion belongs to Muslims

– May 11, 2022

US President Joe Biden is planning a visit to Israel in June. Still, a recent report claims that while here, he will visit the eastern section of Jerusalem in a clear message of support for establishing a Palestinian capital in the Jews’ eternal capital.

CNN reported on Monday that the President’s office had announced unfinalized plans for the visit to the eastern section of Jerusalem. The president may visit Al Makassed Hospital, located on the Mount of Olives. It is the largest Palestinian medical center in Jerusalem. Nearly 80% of the hospital employees are residents of the West Bank who have special permits to enter Israel.

No US president has ever visited this section of Jerusalem. This stands in stark contrast to President Trump, who prayed at the Western Wall. In addition, the Biden administration had pledged to reopen a consulate for Palestinians in the eastern section of Jerusalem after Trump closed the consulate when he moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Barry Shaw, a Senior Associate at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, criticized Biden’s decision:

“He has demanded that he will not be accompanied by any Israeli official but will meet members of the Palestinian Authority who have been permitted to administer certain hospitals and schools in east Jerusalem but who insist that their capital will be in Israel’s undivided and sovereign capital, Jerusalem, even though their government and administrative…offices are in Ramallah.”

“This is a devious way for Biden and his State Department to get back at Israel and drive a wedge into Israel’s legitimate and exclusive sovereign rights over its Jerusalem capital, following Israel’s refusal to allow the State Department to open a US consulate there to serve Palestinians.”

“This visit…is likely to damage US-Israel relationships in a very profound way. While Biden is prepared to visit Jerusalem and meet Palestinian officials, his White House has publicly opposed the building of Jewish homes in Judea. Both over this issue and that of Iran, the gap is widening between Jerusalem and Washington.”

https://www.israel365news.com

Jews begin building Third Temple on Israel Independence Day

– May 6, 2022

While most Israelis were celebrating Independence Day by having family barbecues, a small group gathered in the Old City of Jerusalem and began chipping away at stones, preparing them to be used to build the prophesied Third Temple.

The event was organized by Rabbi Aryeh Lipo who envisioned it while on his way to the funeral of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky in March. Lipo ascends to the Temple Mount on a daily basis (when the Israeli police permit Jews to enter) but was deliberating with a friend which was more important: to attend the funeral of a tzaddik (righteous Jew) or to ascend to the Temple Mount.

To honor Rabbi Kanievsky, he and a friend were learning a halachic (Torah law) ruling written by Rabbi Kanievsky in which he stated that the stones for the Temple had to be cut by Jews with the intention of honoring God’s name.

“We have a mitzvah (Torah commandment) to build the Temple. This mitzvah is not conditional or time-bound. We have this requirement at all times. So it is a pity that we are not actively engaged in it. Right now, it is politically complicated for us to begin building on the Temple Mount but that does not exempt us from this mitzvah.”

https://www.israel365news.com