How to avoid GOP presidential self-destruction
How to avoid GOP presidential self-destruction
There are two ways to look at the 2016 presidential election prospects: The country hasn’t been as prepared for a Republican landslide victory since 1980. The 2010 and 2014 midterm elections have demonstrated widespread, grass-roots outrage at the direction of the country. The 2016 campaign has shown Americans rejecting Washington establishment politics – in both parties.… (more…)
Hijabi Muslimas Casing Florida Synagogues | Pamela Geller
Hijabi Muslimas Casing Florida Synagogues
ByPAMELA GELLER on February 18, 2016
One can only imagine what these Muslimas are up to.
The Miami Jewish community has been on edge for some time. One synagogue was defaced with “Hamas” and swastikas (below). Cars have been defaced with antisemitic messages.
South Florida saw a spate of anti-Semitic incidents involving synagogues and cars spray-painted with swastikas, “Hamas” and hateful symbols, as well as protestors holding offensive signs at anti-Israel rallies.
Read more here.
UPDATE: A reader writes me that “the same exact situation happened in Connecticut a few months back. Didn’t make as much news since it’s not Miami, but pretty interesting and curious to see if there’s any connection between the two situations.”
Jewish community on alert after suspicious activity at numerous synagogues, Local10.com, February 17, 2016 (thanks to Armaros):
NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – The neighborhood patrol was out Wednesday night, and some in the North Miami Beach Jewish community were on edge after a group approached several area temples asking suspicious questions.
Two women visited a North Miami Beach temple over the weekend and identified themselves as Muslims. One of the women, who clutched a Quran, asked questions such as when the congregations meet.
They also asked what time services are held, which service was the busiest and how many congregates belong to the temple, according to Yona Lunger, a community activist within the Jewish community.
Police said a similar incident happened on Miami Beach over the weekend at the Beth Israel Congregation, at 770 W 40th St., when two boys in the congregation were approached by a couple asking similar questions.
North Miami Beach police told Local 10 News that they have interviewed the women and do not believe they pose a danger to the community.
However, they are still investigating, along with the FBI.
“We have been teaching the people in our congregation if you see something, say something,” said Rabbi Donald Bixon, who leads the Beth Israel Congregation. “They didn’t feel comfortable, they said something and it was immediately followed up.”
Joshua Klien, a synagogue member, says these incidents are a reminder to remain vigilant.
“With today’s happenings all over, you have to be vigilant,” said Klein.
Lunger, whose patrol works closely with detectives, said maybe it’s a sign of the times that people are still uneasy, and although the women didn’t commit a crime, they did raise a concern.
Sources told Local 10 that another incident was reported at a synagogue in Hollywood. Calls to the Hollywood Police Department were not returned.
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Rush: What about Vatican’s border ‘walls’?
RUSH: WHAT ABOUT VATICAN’S BORDER ‘WALLS’?
Talk-radio icon blasts pope’s statements questioning Trump’s faith
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/09/POPE1.png
Talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh on Thursday dismissed Pope Francis’ suggestion Donald Trump is “not a Christian” because of the Republican front-runner’s support for a border wall to stop illegal immigration.
“Man, are they pulling out all the stops now,” chortled the broadcast titan. “The pope says that Donald Trump is not a Christian because Christians do not build walls. They build bridges. Never mind that the Vatican is surrounded by a wall, and we won’t even talk about who built that wall. But that’s what the pope said.”
Trump himself seized on the topic of the high walls surrounding the pope’s sovereign mini-state of Vatican City as an opportunity to paint the pope as a hypocrite, re-tweeting images of the huge structures to his more than 6.2 million followers on Twitter.
But Limbaugh pinpointed the pope’s attack on Trump as largely in character for the Roman Catholic leader, who is widely viewed as leaning left.
“Given the pope’s political leanings, I’m surprised he isn’t on the campaign trail for Bernie Sanders,” joked Limbaugh. “Maybe Bernie Sanders is too far to the right for the pope.”
Carl Gallups, the author of “Be Thou Prepared: Equipping The Church For Persecution And Times of Trouble” and the pastor of Hickory Hammock Baptist Church, also dismissed the pope’s comments.
Get Rush Limbaugh’s “An Army of One” from the WND Superstore.
“Why is the pope so concerned about America’s borders, immigration laws and citizenship requirements when it is a known fact that the Vatican has one of the highest border walls, some of the world’s strictest immigration laws and some of the most stringent citizenship requirements?” asked Gallups.
“I say the pope has no business in America’s business – especially the business of border security and homeland defense. When America can tell the pope how to manage the borders of the Vatican, I would consider listening to his opinions about our laws.”
Gallups also cited Scripture to illustrate what he considers the biblical mandate of national defense.
“What about Israel’s walls? What about Nehemiah’s walls – and defending them with deadly weapons against the terrorists of his day?”
The pope was asked if American Catholics should vote for Trump, and said, “As far as what you said about whether I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions, widely regarded as one of the nation’s foremost experts on immigration policy, had offered similar comments earlier.
“Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem and the Lord commanded him to build a wall,” commented Sessions. “So, [there are] many references in the Old Testament about the legitimacy of nations or countries or tribal areas deciding who goes in and through and who does not. So that’s part of it.”
Gallups argued whatever the pope tells reporters, he clearly believes in security measures when it comes to defending his own sovereign territory and his person.
“If we shouldn’t build walls around our borders – then for the same reasons, the pope should not have walls, security guards, an army, and locks on the doors to his domain,” Gallups told WND. “I agree with Trump on this one: the pope has allowed himself to be used as a pawn by Mexico.”
Limbaugh dismissed any possibility the pope’s criticism would hurt Trump, arguing it is Francis who may end up with a public-relations fail.
The talk-radio king said Pope Francis “has not hidden his ideological alignment, much less his political alignment,” and so Trump’s supporters are likely to “circle the wagons” to protect their candidate from the attacks of a powerful “establishment” figure.
He also noted the irony of Pope Francis calling Donald Trump’s avowed Christian faith into question when the pontiff seems willing to accept Communist leaders as Christians.
Limbaugh asked: “Has he questioned the faith of the Castro brothers? Has the pope questioned the faith of any Communist leaders?”
He also drew a contrast between the mainstream media’s willingness to question Trump’s faith while taking Obama’s declaration that he’s a Christian at face value, amid all the evidence.
“Don’t anybody ask about the president’s religion!” Limbaugh thundered, tongue in cheek. “Don’t even get close to going there. Don’t do it. That is a forbidden area. You cannot even ask about it. The pope can go ahead and claim that Trump is not a Christian, but you can’t go there when we’re talking about the president of the United States.”
And Limbaugh argued the Vatican is just another institution hollowed out by liberalism.
“If I were a Catholic, I’d be asking what’s going on here,” Limbaugh said of the current church. “I’m talking about just as an ongoing, everyday matter of daily life, one of the most destructive things, if not the most, is radical liberalism, leftism. And it is clear that they are making great strides in corrupting once-great institutions and once-great traditions. And when I say corrupting, I mean taking over and politicizing them for the express purpose of advancing the leftist agenda. And the advancement of the leftist agenda in large part consists of destroying institutions, traditions, people, policies, what have you, that the left considers to be obstacles to their efforts to blow everything up.”
The host added: “You know, folks, I’ve been around so long, I can remember when it was a rhetorical question to ask, ‘Is the pope Catholic?’ Now it’s a legit question.”
Get Rush Limbaugh’s “An Army of One” from the WND Superstore.
A couple days earlier, the two sides already were engaged over immigration.
Trump criticized the pope’s plan to visit the border, and said, “I think Mexico got him to [visit the border] because Mexico wants to keep the border just the way it is because they’re making a fortune and we’re losing.”
The Vatican responded with a statement, “The pope always talks about migration problems all around the world, of the duties we have to solve these problems in a humane manner, of hosting those who come from other countries in search of a life of dignity and peace.”
Copyright 2016 WND
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/rush-what-about-vaticans-walls/#tjA6vykK4zF9Qo5L.99
A Million Dollars for SHARIAsource at Harvard
A Million Dollars for SHARIAsource at Harvard
ByPAMELA GELLER on February 17, 2016
“This well-deserved award affirms and expands the illuminating work that Professor Rabb does to shed light on Islamic law, giving us all a deeper understanding of sharia,” said Dean Lizabeth Cohen of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard.
I think we understand the sharia all too well.
Where is the study of the subjugation and oppression of women under the Shariah at American’s most vaunted institutions of learning? Any courses available under the women’s studies programs?
Parents, do not send your children to college. They are hotbeds of radicalism.
Stay on top of what’s really happening. Follow me on Twitter here. Like me on Facebook here.
– See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2016/02/a-millions-dollars-for-shariasource-at-harvard.html/#sthash.Bly3D6qh.dpuf
http://pamelageller.com/2016/02/a-millions-dollars-for-shariasource-at-harvard.html/
Inside McConnell’s ambiguous Scalia email
Inside McConnell’s ambiguous Scalia email
I must say I was surprised by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s quick response following news of the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia that he would not entertain confirmation of a replacement nominee this year. I was pleasantly surprised. But I was also suspicious. I was suspicious because Mitch McConnell has a bad track… (more…)
False grace, loving God and hating evil
False grace, loving God and hating evil
What a mess our world is in. What a mess America is in. What a mess the church is in. Depressed yet? Isaiah 5:20 encapsulates, I believe, the cultural condition of much of the world, most of America and an alarmingly high percentage of those who belong, or at least claim to belong, to the body… (more…)
The Pope vs. Donald Trump: What Exactly Is a “Christian”? – Life, Hope & Truth.(Also see chapter 5, of the book, this site.)
The Pope vs. Donald Trump: What Exactly Is a “Christian”?
The pope inserted himself into America’s divided political atmosphere by declaring Donald Trump is not a Christian. What exactly is a Christian anyway?
Pope Francis dominated news feeds this week by making a shocking statement about U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. While aboard his papal aircraft to Rome after a visit to Mexico, Francis was asked to comment about a statement Mr. Trump had recently made. In his answer Pope Francis made the following statement about Mr. Trump’s views on immigration and his proposal to build a wall across the U.S./Mexican border:
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel.”
When asked if American Catholics should cast their vote for Mr. Trump, he said:
“I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that. We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.”
Donald Trump, who is a Presbyterian, quickly retorted: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian and as President I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened.”
Protestants and Catholics
The Presbyterian denomination is a part of Protestantism, which split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. The Protestant Reformation was one of the nastiest religious divorces in history.
Even though the Catholic Church disagrees with many of the tenets of Protestantism (and vice versa), especially its rejection of the authority of the pope as the vicar of Christ and the successor of Peter, officially the Catholic Church recognizes Protestants as Christians. Catholics officially see Protestants as “separated brothers,” and recent popes have made ecumenical overtures toward better relations with other Christian denominations (including Protestants and the Orthodox).
The people behind Life, Hope & Truth are not engaged in the American political battle and are not Catholic, so we are not taking a side in the debate between Pope Francis and Mr. Trump. But we do encourage our readers to consider more deeply the question: What exactly is a Christian anyway?
What exactly is a Christian?
As we watch the verbal sparring between the leader of the world’s largest religious denomination and a controversial U.S. presidential candidate over who is and isn’t a Christian, we do not need to rely on the opinions of either man. Christianity isn’t defined or negated by anyone’s personal declaration about himself or someone else. It is defined by God’s Word, the Bible.
So what does the Bible tell us about the “Christian” label? Here are four biblical points to consider:
1. Calling yourself a “Christian” doesn’t necessarily make you one.
Jesus Christ, the man from whom Christianity derives its name, made this bold statement during His human ministry: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). In other words, Jesus was saying that it’s futile to declare His name but not actually obey Him. He went on to clarify that a Christian “hears My sayings and does them” (verse 47).
In another statement, made to very religious people, Christ said: “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). The word vain means useless. So people can give themselves “Christian” labels and can even be fervent worshippers—but still not be a Christian if they are teaching false doctrines instead of Christ’s sayings (Luke 6:46).
Christ’s point is that real Christianity isn’t just a name tag. You don’t just pick it up, stick it on your shirt and poof—you’re a Christian. It’s so much more than that.
Genuine Christianity is not defined by a single political stance, family upbringing or denominational membership. Christianity is a way of life—a way of life based on following Jesus Christ.
2. Christians keep all of God’s Commandments.
The apostle John made a very direct statement about Christianity in 1 John 2:3: “Now by this we know that we know Him [Jesus], if we keep His commandments” (emphasis added). John is saying that we are a Christian only if we obey His commandments. Notice what he wrote next: “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (verse 4).
Strong words!
Christianity is really about knowing the real Jesus Christ and obeying His law. In other words, striving to do what He said(Matthew 19:17-19; John 15:14).
Jesus also was clear that when “the commandments” are mentioned in the New Testament, it means all of them! Get out your Bible and read Matthew 5:17-19!
This will gain more meaning and importance in the next point.
3. A Christian must keep the Fourth Commandment.
Most professing Christians respect the 10 Commandments—they fight to put them on stone in front of courtrooms and memorize them in Sunday schools. But the problem is that 99.9 percent of them don’t believe or keep the 10 Commandments—meaning all 10! At best, the majority of Christendom keeps nine. (And when you learn more about those nine, it becomes obvious that many doctrines of mainstream Christianity compromise those too.)
But most claiming to be Christians ignore the Fourth Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God” (Exodus 20:8-10).
Most churches observe Sunday—the first day of the week—as the “Lord’s day” and completely ignore the seventh-day Sabbath. Yet God considered the Sabbath so important that it is the only commandment He began with the word remember. Perhaps this was an ominous foreshadowing of mankind’s propensity to forget this law.
Not only does the Bible say this is a sign identifying God’s people (Exodus 31:13)—but Jesus even reinforced it by saying He made it specifically for our benefit and that one of His titles is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28)!
Anyone who leads a religious denomination—whether it is a small corner church of 50 people or a globe-spanning denomination of 1.2 billion—would do well to heed Christ’s warning in Matthew 5:19 about teaching people to break any of God’s Commandments, including the fourth.
We urge our readers to read our free booklet The Sabbath: A Neglected Gift From God to learn more about this huge topic. This booklet contains information that can truly change your life.
4. A Christian must have genuine love for others.
Jesus made another statement defining Christianity: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
Christ’s genuine followers will love one another. Sadly, some claim that love overrides obedience to God’s law as the only requirement of a Christian. But those arguments break down when we read further and discover that the biblical definition of love is keeping the commandments (1 John 5:2-3).
The 10 Commandments define love. They show us how to love God (the first four) and how to love other people (the last six). When we really internalize these commandments, we learn that love is all about having genuine outgoing concern for the well-being of others. It manifests itself through living a life that can be summed up in the word give.
In 1 Corinthians 13 the apostle Paul sheds more light on how genuine love is demonstrated in a Christian’s life. One description we read is that “love … is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked” (verses 4-5). Sadly, these characteristics rarely describe the behavior of political candidates and prominent people in our society today.
From a label to a way of life
Genuine Christianity goes far deeper than any label we apply to ourselves. It is not defined by a single political stance, family upbringing or denominational membership. Christianity is a way of life—a way of life based on following Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6) and living by “every word of God” (Luke 4:4).
Verbal sparring between personalities over who is and isn’t a Christian is useless and, in all honesty, is quite sad. We encourage our readers to never get into these kinds of debates—but instead, to use this unfortunate episode that bombarded our news feeds this week to focus on what really matters: pursuing true and genuine Christianity based on the standard found in your Bible.
To learn more about true Christianity, read “Why Is Christianity Becoming Irrelevant?” and “Six Things You Need to Ask About Your Christianity.”
