Church prepares 300,000 meals for refugees in the ME

 In just two days, members at an evangelical megachurch in Florida prepared over 300,000 meals that will be sent to refugee families displaced by the Islamic State terrorist organization and the ongoing civil war in Syria, The Gospel Truth reports.

The multi-campus Christ Fellowship in southeast Florida held its third annual "Make-a-Meal" weekend on March 18-19 in which an estimated 12,500 church members pitched in at all eight of its campuses to prepare meals for refugees in the Middle East and their less fortunate neighbors throughout south Florida.

Christ Fellowship's associate director of Missions, Philip McCracken, told The Christian Post on Monday that over 489,000 meals were prepared over the course of the weekend. While 300,000 of those will be distributed by the humanitarian aid group World Help to large refugee camps in the Middle East, the rest will be distributed to local food banks and other ministries to impoverished families throughout the southern Florida region.

Although McCracken couldn't say which refugee camps the meals would be distributed to, he assured that lot of those meals will be served to refugees from Iraq and Syria.

"It was something that our church could do in a way that creates an easy serve opportunity for people. It allows the opportunity for people to come serve for a small amount of time but when you step back and look at the big picture, you are like, 'Wow! Together, we really did make a big impact,'" McCracken told CP. "I think it is in it's simplest way an example of how we are able to live out our mission, which is to love others and help others the way Jesus did," he added.

"There are times providing food to people in need is a way to do that and a tool to minister to those in need. It is just a good way for us to live out our mission to share the Gospel." The meals that were packed for refugees consisted of a rice product that included sugar, dehydrated vegetables and vitamins.

Meanwhile, the food that was packaged for local distribution was an oatmeal product that included vitamins, cinnamon and sugar. While church offerings helped pay for some of the products that went into the meal, McCracken said the church was helped out by local farmers who attend the church who donated "thousands and thousands of pounds" of rice and sugar for the event.

"They are just individuals who go to our church and feel called to help out in the areas that they have been blessed with and the areas where they have resources," he explained.

As this marks the third year that Christ Fellowship has held its "Make-a-Meal" event, McCracken said that this is the first time that the church made food for people in need in their immediate communities. In past years, the church had only prepared food to be distributed internationally.

In 2016, Christ Fellowship prepared food distributed to people in need in the landlocked Western African nation of Niger. In 2015, the church prepared food that was distributed to people in Haiti. McCracken said that most church members who participated in the event helped out after church for about 20 minutes. "Each person gets six bags and once you make your six bags, your commitment has been fulfilled," he said.

"A lot of people do stay and help but from beginning to end, it takes somebody about 20 minutes from the time they get their instructions, bags and make their food." "It's a classic example of how you are better together when people contribute a little bit," he noted. "For some of these people, hopefully it is an introduction to serving and opens their mind to other service opportunities — whether it is locally in our own neighborhoods or some of the international things we do as well." As appeared on christianpost.com.

‘I Answer Only to God’: Hollywood Icon’s Passionate Message About Faith and Prayer

Iconic actor and ex-wrestler Mr. T recently told Fox News that, despite his fame and fortune, he has never forgotten God, FOX News reports.

The 64-year-old actor, whose birth name name is Lawrence Tureaud, has had his share of struggles, successfully battling a T-cell lymphoma cancer diagnosis back in 1995. Today, he is cancer-free and is praising God for helping him get through the storm.
 


“My faith was tested like Job. That’s the message I try to tell other people, just because you believe in God, serve God, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, people gotta realize, it don’t mean things not gonna happen to you,” Mr. T told Fox. “I believed in God when cancer come to me. Now, when I speak, I speak with authority because I’ve been there.”

The actor, who is currently competing on season 24 of “Dancing With the Stars,” said that he faced chemo and radiation and lost his hair. It was a harrowing ordeal, but he now gives back by visiting sick kids whom he encourages not to give up.

Mr. T is even planning to donate his earnings from the dancing competition to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Shriners Hospital’s for Children, he told the outlet.

“I answer only to God. I got so much, got gold … Rolls Royce [but] I didn’t forget God,” he said. “Every day I pray.”

It’s no secret that Mr. T is a Christian, as he has been vocal about his faith in the past. He’s the son of a pastor and has routinely explained the important role that Christianity plays in his life. In fact, he told HuffPo Live back in 2015 that he once turned down $1 million to appear in a beer commercial simply because he didn’t feel quite right about it.

“They offered me almost a million dollars to do a beer commercial in Japan. I said, ‘I won’t do it,’” the actor told the outlet at the time. “First, it was $700,000 and then they moved the price up. Why? Because of what I stand on.”

Was Christopher Columbus a Jew Led by Belief in the Prophet Isaiah?

At the top left-hand corner of all but one of 13 letters Columbus wrote to his son, he included the Hebrew letters beit-hay. "Even today, observant Jews put these Hebrew notes on their documents. It stands for b'ezrat Hashem, which means 'with God's help'. Columbus did not include these Hebrew letters when writing to outsiders and certainly omitted them from the letter he wrote to King Ferdinand." – Roni Segal

The more historians research Christopher Columbus, the more they question the true origins of the great explorer credited for discovering America. In fact, there is growing speculation that Columbus was a Jew fleeing the Spanish Inquisition rather than an Italian hired by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to find riches in Asia.

“There is a lot of evidence that Christopher Columbus was a man of faith seeking to help his brethren escape certain death or conversion in Spain and even that he dreamed of rebuilding the third holy temple in Jerusalem,” noted Roni Segal, academic adviser for The Israel Institute of Biblical Studies, an online language academy, to Breaking Israel News.

“For starters, Georgetown University linguist Estelle Irizarry has analyzed hundreds of Columbus’s handwritten letters, diaries and documents. She found that Columbus’s primary language was Castilian Spanish, the ‘Yiddish’ of the day for Spanish Jews, otherwise known as Ladino.”
 

Portrait of a Man, said to be Christopher
Columbus, Sebastiano del Piombo, 1519.
Wikimedia Commons)

Ladino is a language spoken by Jewish people from Spanish countries. Its vocabulary is made up of words from Spanish, Turkish, Greek and Hebrew. When Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, their Spanish language went with them, binding them to their heritage and Spanish origins. Today, it is estimated that between 160,000 and 300,000 Sephardic Jews (Jews of Middle Eastern or Spanish origin) worldwide have some knowledge of Ladino.

Also striking is that at the top left-hand corner of all but one of 13 letters Columbus wrote to his son, he included the Hebrew letters beit-hay (ב”ה). “Even today, observant Jews put these Hebrew notes on their documents,” continued Segal. “It stands for b’ezrat Hashem (בעזרת השם), which means ‘with God’s help’. Columbus did not include these Hebrew letters when writing to outsiders and certainly omitted them from the letter he wrote to King Ferdinand.”

It has long been assumed that Columbus was an Italian explorer from Genoa who set sail for Asia in 1492 to supply the Spanish monarchs with gold and spices. However, the the new theory holds that Columbus’ actual name was Cristóbal Colón, the name signed on his letters.

It is believed that he was from Spain, the child of Domingo de Colon and Suzana de Fonterosa, Jews forced to convert to Christianity, referred to as Marranos, who were makers and sellers of nautical maps. Many Jews at the time feigned conversion to save their lives. They practiced Catholicism in public and Judaism in private.

Several Spanish scholars, including Jose Erugo, Celso Garcia de la Riega, Otero Sanchez and Nicholas Dias Perez, believe that Columbus was actually a Marrano seeking to escape persecution.

His famous voyage left Spain the day after Tisha B’Av (the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Av, or August 3, 1492). Historians believe that Columbus was scheduled to sail on Tisha B’Av but put it off in order not to leave on the tragic day in Jewish history when both the first and second Temples were destroyed. The auspicious date also coincided with the four-month deadline proposed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella for the Jews in Spain to either convert to Catholicism or be killed.

There are several other interesting factoids related to Columbus which highlight the strong possibility that the explorer was Jewish. In his last will and testament he asked that a tithe of one-tenth of his income go towards the poor and provide a dowry for needy brides. This is a common Jewish custom. Additionally, he left money to a Jew who lived in the Lisbon Jewish Quarter, something that would have been unheard of from a Catholic Spaniard.

Columbus also left money to other explorers with the belief that his successors would eventually liberate the Holy Land. Simon Weisenthal writes in his book “Sails of Hope” that Columbus’ voyage was motivated by a desire to find a safe haven for the Jews suffering from the Spanish Inquisition. Echoing this sentiment, Carol Delaney, a cultural anthropologist at Stanford University, believes that Columbus was a deeply religious man who sought riches in order to finance the return of Jerusalem to the Jewish people and the rebuilding of its holy Temple.




The signature of Christopher Columbus.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Perhaps even more telling, Columbus signed his last will and testament with a triangular signature of dots and letters similar to what is inscribed on gravestones in Spanish Jewish cemeteries. In fact, he ordered his heirs to use this symbol in perpetuity.

Though history claims that Columbus’ voyage was funded by Queen Isabella, in actuality it appears that Jewish Conversos (those who converted by force to Catholicism) and prominent Jews gave the explorer an interest-free loan. These investors included Louis de Santangel, Gabriel Sanchez and Rabbi Don Isaac Abrabanel, a known Jewish statesman. Indeed, Columbus’ initial letters discussing his journey were sent to Santangel and Sanchez, thanking them for their support and telling them what he had found.

“Irizarry also notes that Columbus occasionally included Hebrew in his writings and references the Jewish High Holidays in his journal during his first voyage,” continued Segal to Breaking Israel News. “Wiesenthal postulates that Columbus sailed west to reach the Indies because of his Biblical faith, including from the Book of Isaiah, which he repeatedly cited in his writings.

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Isaiah 65:17

Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Hashem thy God, and for the Holy One of Yisrael, because He hath glorified thee. Isaiah 60:9

Given these facts, Columbus’ discovery of America, a country symbolized by religious tolerance and freedom, goes hand in hand with his Jewish heritage.

‘Jerusalem is the capital of King David’UNESCO chief:

(JNS.org) UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova has rebuffed attempts by the U.N. cultural body to deny a historic Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. Credit: UNESCO/Michel Ravassard.


“In the Torah, Jerusalem is the capital of King David, where Solomon built the Temple and placed the Ark of the Covenant,” Bokova said last week at the policy conference of the European Coalition for Israel, a grassroots Christian initiative.

“To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justifies its inscription in the UNESCO World Heritage List,” she added.

Bokova’s comments represent a sharp contrast to previous statements and resolutions issued by the U.N. agency. In October 2016, UNESCO passed two controversial resolutions condemning Israeli actions at Jerusalem’s holy sites as well as ignoring Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

Yet in a meeting last month with World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reaffirmed his recognition of Judaism’s historic ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Before March’s remarks, the U.N. chief had said on Israeli radio, “It is completely clear the Temple that the Romans destroyed in Jerusalem was a Jewish temple.”

Every prayer is a second chance

What is prayer? Every prayer, in its purest form, is a second chance; it’s a chance to choose to believe in God and what He has promised, Erin Weideman writes in the Washington Times.

The day I prayed for the first time — I mean when I opened my mouth, spoke, and knew God was listening — was June 9, 2007. It was my most important second chance.

Though I grew up attending church with my family, and I had uttered words in prayer many times before, I never really believed that God was listening.

That day, inside my family home, face down on my parents’ bathroom floor, I rested my flushed cheek against the cool, creamy tile.

I was 26, only a few years removed from my time as a college athlete on scholarship, with my eyes decidedly fixed on the typical measures of success: wealth, self-sufficiency, independence. A fierce competitor since early childhood, I had spent the previous years willfully separated from God, pursuing all of these goals, and doing so
with a dangerous, overcompensating attitude that proudly declared, “I know exactly what I’m doing, and I don’t need help. I can do it by myself.”

A few months before that day, the doctor told me in the exam room, without having done one X-ray or MRI, that he knew it was cancer. My heart sank. I felt sick. Defeated. How could this be happening? How could it be happening to ME, the girl in control of her own life?

That moment on the floor was three months after my first cancer diagnosis and surgery. I had finished enough physical therapy to have the radiation treatment needed to kill any residual disease.

Only there I was, 12 hours into a three-day quarantine, on the floor. I was by myself, but I couldn’t do anything. Dizzy, I couldn’t breathe. I had worked myself into a frantic panic and, even though I had never fainted before, I suddenly knew it was coming. I felt it, and there was nothing I could do.

My body hit my parents’ bathroom floor, and I remember pressing my face against that icy, flat surface as the words escaped. “God, please,” I whispered, “I know you’re here.” I wept. “Please help me.” The words were like prisoners wrongly accused, released into the arms of their loved ones after spending too much time locked away under false truths. “God, please help me,” I cried. “I’m so sorry.”

Until that moment, I didn’t believe that God was really listening. As I softly spoke those words, the terror subsided. I sat up, and I knew God was right there with me. I knew He heard me. I knew that I was going to survive. It was my second chance.

After my initial diagnosis and four subsequent recurrences, I had completely written off the idea of being a wife or a mother. But as it turned out, He had both marriage and motherhood in my future. Even as I doubted Him, I prayed, knowing God was listening intently and guiding me toward His purpose, my destiny.

This prayer inspired me to take additional chances: one to become a teacher to impact the lives of children, and the other to create something for this world that would lead others toward Him. On the heels of our daughter’s birth, something I thought would never happen, my husband and I created and launched Bible Belles, a company dedicated to helping girls discover who God really is, and through our first book, “Hannah: The Belle Of Prayer,” helping them talk to Him and know He is there so they can find out who they really are.

Prayer is about talking to God, knowing He is listening, and trusting that we are never, ever alone.

•  Erin Weidemann is the founder and CEO of Bible Belles and author of the award-winning children’s book series “The Adventures Of Rooney Cruz.” She is also the host of the Heroes For Her podcast. For more information, visit www.BibleBelles.com

Seeking God’s guidance at a career crossroads

The value of a compass is its ability to discern true north. No matter how thick the trees or the fog surrounding you, true north gives a sense of clarity and a direction to move, Jim Daily writes in the Washington Times.

Outside of the principles taught in Scripture, that sense of true north through my life has always come from prayer.

Back in 1989, I had a decision to make. I had no idea at the time that my entire future hinged on that one moment. I’d been working in northern California in the sales division for International Paper, one of the industry leaders in the field of paper and packaging products.

One night, the plant manager took me to dinner at a swanky restaurant in Berkeley, where he offered me an upper-management position with a six-figure salary. I enjoyed working at International Paper and was excited about the opportunity. I was also pleased that it would give me the financial means to take care of my wife, Jean, and the children we hoped to raise. We could even buy our first house.

That night, I told Jean about the position and the salary I’d been offered. We both were enthusiastic about this new direction for us.

A few minutes later, Jean said, “By the way, there’s some kind of business message on the answering machine The recording was from a man named Ron Wilson. Ten months earlier, Ron had talked to me about a new position I might be interested in at a nonprofit organization called Focus on the Family. Jean and I admired Focus’ mission to strengthen marriages and families and were big fans of their radio broadcasts, so we were intrigued by the opportunity. But the months had passed, and I hadn’t heard back from Ron. Because I didn’t want to force my way through a door the Lord wasn’t opening, I let it go.

But now, Ron’s message said the position had finally been approved. Would I still be interested? Suddenly, I had two opportunities to consider, so I prayed about both. I knew Focus wouldn’t be able to offer the same compensation as International Paper, but money wasn’t the only consideration. The Focus mission was close to my heart. My mom died when I was nine, and my stepdad walked out on my siblings and me the day of her funeral. I spent a year in foster care, and my dad later died an alcoholic. The chance to help families around the United States and the world in a significant and meaningful way was an enticing possibility.

I called Ron and flew to Los Angeles the next day for a series of intense interviews and meetings with Focus executives. Throughout the day and on the flight home, Jean and I continued to talk and pray. Ron called on Saturday to ask me to join the Focus on the Family team — at one-third the salary I would make at International Paper. Still, I knew what I felt the Lord was telling me. Ten minutes later, I called Ron and accepted the offer. I’ve never regretted the decision.

I had no idea then that 16 years later God would lead me to assume the presidency of Focus on the Family.

In some ways, the power of prayer is a mystery. Not every prayer receives what we might consider a definitive answer, of course. But I’m convinced, both from the truth of Scripture and from many experiences throughout my life, that the Lord hears our hearts and moves according to His plans to guide our steps.

That’s true north.

•  Jim Daly is president of Focus on the Family. He co-hosts its daily radio broadcast, which is carried on some 2,000 radio outlets and has been inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Mr. Daly’s forthcoming book, “Marriage Done Right: One Man, One Woman”  and “Regnery Faith”.

The joy of secret prayer

At age 41, my spiritual life had become tepid, joyless and somewhat irrelevant to me, Chuck Bentley writes in the Washington Times.

The Christian faith had been a very real part of my life since I was a child, but as I grew older, although my faith was intact, the cares of the world had slowly eroded any real reliance upon God. I was going through the religious motions marked by attending church and minimal charitable giving, but the vibrancy of a personal relationship was suffering.

My wife, Ann, an avid Bible reader, challenged me to read the Bible, something I had not regularly done as an adult. In 2000, beginning in the New Testament, I started reading. It did not take long to be confronted with challenges that would change my life forever.

On Day Two, I saw in the sixth chapter of Matthew the clear instructions of Jesus to give in secret, pray in secret and to fast in secret. None of those practices were a part of my life at that time. But I was looking for something to reignite my relationship with the One I called Lord.

What captured my attention was the obvious promise that follows each of those calls to action: “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” “Really?” I thought to myself.

In His own words, Jesus was challenging me not to be “religious” through public displays, but to put faith into Following these literal instructions in Matthew 6:6 — “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” — I made it a daily practice to get up an hour earlier in the mornings, set aside time to read my Bible, and then go into a small closet in our home, close the door, get on my knees and pray.

My understanding from this verse was that God wanted me to avoid vain posturing and to pray privately, secretly because of my need for humility. Certainly, that was a need of mine. But there was something far greater to learn.

In this new way of praying, although reverent and respectful, I noticed that I prayed differently when no one else was listening. Prayers became sincere, authentic and transparent. The words that I verbalized aloud were not catchphrases or platitudes, but real, conversational and often urgent.

What was happening was that I was learning to actually talk to God. These were not crafted prayers to impress others. These moments began to bring me closer to Him and into a two-way relationship in a similar way as human friendships develop through conversation.

But what about that “openly reward you” part, you may be asking?

Over time, I began to notice answers to very specific prayers about things that nobody knew were on my heart but God. In other words, Jesus began to show me that He was there; He was listening to those prayers! An incredible joy flooded my soul.

God wanted me to learn that He was in fact present. That He is the God who is not a historic figure or distant, disinterested deity, but the God who is there, fully alive and fully engaged. Only by praying in secret could I have discovered for certain that the King of Kings was listening. What could be better?

• Chuck Bentley is CEO of Crown Financial Ministries. He is also the author of “The Worst Financial Mistakes in the Bible And How You Can Avoid Them”; host of the nationally syndicated radio feature, My MoneyLife; and a columnist at the Christian Post. Follow him @chuckbentley.

Remembering a desperate promise made in war, kept in peace

It was July 1943, somewhere in the middle of the equatorial Pacific.

Louis Zamperini and two other men had been drifting in a rubber life raft that they had called home for some three and a half weeks, writes, Luke Zamperini in the Washington Times

They had survived the plane crash that claimed the lives of eight of their comrades and were now drifting helplessly toward enemy territory with no food or water. This, it would turn out, was only the midway point in their odyssey.

The meager provisions they had found in the raft had run out within the first week. The men had so far survived by eating what birds, fish and sharks they could catch with their bare hands and drinking what water they could collect from the occasional squall that passed over them. Before this voyage was through, one man would die and the other two would lose almost 60 percent of their body mass.

Scientists tell us that you can live three to five days without water. Even less if exposed to direct sunlight. It had been a week since Louis and his companions had had a sip. They were dying and they knew it.

Louis had never been a religious man. His family was at best nominally Catholic.

But this day he was desperate. He had no where else to turn so he began to pray, “Lord, if you get me through this, if you bring me home alive, I will seek you and serve you the rest of my life.”

Within the hour, a squall appeared. The men desperately paddled into the rain with upturned faces drinking in the heavenly water and collecting what they could in their empty water tins. They had been saved. Several more times they would be without water. Each time they prayed, the rains would come.

After 47 days at sea, they were rescued by the Japanese Navy and interred for 27 months. Having been a famous athlete, Louis was singled out for propaganda purposes and beaten mercilessly in the hopes that he could be broken and be willing to make broadcasts for Radio Tokyo.

He could not be broken, but he was damaged. He developed what we know today to be Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and brought this home with him at the war’s end.

Louis‘ physical deprivation at the hands of his captors and in the open sea had ended his athletic career. He unsuccessfully tried many business ventures only to end up broke and angry. Angry with the Japanese for what they did to him, angry with his failures, and angry with his PTSD.

The man that could not be broken by his captors had finally been broken by hatred and alcohol abuse. Once more he found himself with no where else to turn.

At the urging of his wife, Louis attended a tent meeting in Los Angeles by a new evangelist by the name of Billy Graham. During the sermon, Louis was brought back to that moment on the raft when he prayed for rain and realized that although God brought him home alive, Louis had reneged on his promise to seek and serve the Lord.

Feeling ashamed, he went forward and dedicated his life to Christ. Immediately he knew he was done fighting, drinking and hating. His PTSD miraculously disappeared. Soon after, he returned to Japan on a mission and forgave his former captors face to face.

He dedicated the rest of his life in service to others, testifying of his experience and conversion, and establishing a youth camp, which is still in service today under The Louis Zamperini Foundation and its partners.

• Luke Zamperini is the son of the late Louis Zamperini and chairman of the Louis Zamperini Foundation.