Believers in Christ have reached an Esther 4:14 tipping point, and Americans have a God-given requirement to fast, pray and vote, Jentezen Franklin says.  

“You may be the one God is calling to stand up at such a time as this!” Franklin shares in a new Facebook post. 

“It’s time for the body of Christ, the Church, to stand up. As America goes, the world goes. That is why I am asking the Church to stand up and be counted … to let your prayers be heard in heaven, and your vote recorded on earth,” he says.  

Watch the video to see his plea. 

My beloved friend, President Shimon Peres, has died. It was my great pleasure to have known this man. He suffered a major medical emergency on Tuesday, September 13, an event from which, sadly, he did not recover.

President Peres was one of the founding fathers of the State of Israel, and one of the most beloved Israeli leaders worldwide. Born in Wiszniew, Poland (now Vishnyeva, Belarus) in 1923, his father moved to Palestine in 1932, settling in Tel Aviv. His family joined him in 1934. His achievements as an Israeli leader were historic, and his brilliance was matched only by his compassion.

President Peres served as prime minister of Israel following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, and was elected president in 2007. Following his retirement in 2014, he graciously and selflessly agreed to serve as International Chair of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center and Museum in Jerusalem of which I am the founder.

It was a rare privilege for me to travel with him when he presented the Friends of Zion (FOZ) award to a president, a prince and a pope. It was a delight to accompany this amazing man as he presented the awards to Prince Albert II of Monaco, and to President George W. Bush, and wife, Laura, at the Bush Presidential Library, and at a special meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

As he and I met with Pope Francis, the pontiff wrapped his hands around those of President Peres. I could see the feelings of admiration Pope Francis had for the president. The two men spoke of the morality of leadership in the world as the Pope was invited to be a Friend of Zion.

We had the same amazing experience with President George W. Bush at his presidential library in Dallas, Texas. After the presentation of the FOZ award, Mr. Bush looked at President Peres and said, “I’ll bet you are older than my father.” President Peres smiled and answered, “I am three years older.” The two men enjoyed a very jovial chat as they walked through the library.

When I first met him and shared my dream to unite non-Jewish friends with the State of Israel—Friends of Zion—he said to me, “I will help you.” President Peres said, “It takes more energy to make enemies than to make friends, and to sustain them.” He generously reached out in love and compassion to serve our Friends of Zion Museum, standing with us and making friends for the nation of Israel, a part of his life’s work. No one made more friends for his beloved homeland than did Shimon Peres. Most of us don’t accomplish even a fraction of what he has accomplished.

Thanks to his amazing kindness, Friends of Zion Heritage Center, Museum and Global Initiative have now exceeded the eight-million-member mark during the first year of operation. In the many visits and meals shared with President Peres, I asked him repeatedly to please stop talking for a moment to give my brain a rest. It was my privilege to observe the genius of one of the most beautiful and brilliant minds ever created as he represented the nation of Israel. He had the capacity to take the most complicated problems and make them more easily understood.

President Peres was a kind and gentle soul, filled with amazing love. He refused to discriminate against anyone. I was often asked why, with his busy schedule, he would be so kind to the Friends of Zion Museum.

The only reason is that he liked everyone—even his enemies.  He believed in the cause of friendship to his last breath. It has been my distinct honor to call him “friend.”

Even though we had ideological differences, that which united us—our love for Israel—was so much greater. Words are insufficient to express my love for my treasured friend and giant of a man, Shimon Peres. {eoa}

Dr. Michael D. Evans is an award-winning journalist who has served as a confidant to multiple Prime Ministers of Israel and leaders in the Middle East for more than two decades. He has spoken in thousands of churches and appeared on hundreds of network television and radio shows, including Good Morning America, Crossfire, and Nightline, and multiple appearances on the 700 Club. He appears frequently on Fox News, CNN World News, NBC, ABC, and CBS, and his insightful articles and perspectives on Israel and the Middle East have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Times, Jerusalem Post, and newspapers worldwide. 

Is Christ’s Second Coming simply a metaphor? If you say yes, you may have fallen prey to a popular New Age deception.  

“In the New Age movement, the Second Coming of Jesus is believed to be a metaphor for the arrival of ‘Christ Consciousness’ within millions of people around the world as they begin to awaken to their higher nature,” ex-New-Age blogger Steven Bancarz says in a new video. 

“Christ will incarnate, in a sense, within humanity as a divine state of consciousness.” 

But this evil, twisted interpretation of the end times is directly contrary to what the writers of the Bible had to say.  

Watch the video to see the explanation. 

Earlier this month, the New Hampshire Union Leader ended a century of support for Republican presidential candidates by refusing to endorse GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

That move was, in large part, due to the steadfast refusal of former Gov. John Sununu, who also formerly served as White House Chief of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. Sununu, who also was chairman of the New Hampshire GOP, penned an op-ed in January, urging Republicans not to “drink the Trump Kool-Aid” ahead of his state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

“Most of us know ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’ refers to a commitment to an idea without comprehending the implications of that commitment,” he wrote. “We remember that this phrase derives from the horrible tragedy of 1978 where 900 followers of Jim Jones died when he convinced them to drink a mixture of Kool-Aid and cyanide. What is often forgotten is that hundreds of others who did not want to drink the deadly cocktail were murdered by forcibly being given doses of cyanide.

“Today Republicans find themselves in a similar position as many of our primary voters continue to support Donald Trump.”

That’s about as brutal as you can get in describing how much you don’t want someone to win. Sununu later endorsed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for his state’s primary. Trump won New Hampshire in landslide fashion, however, knocking Christie out of the race—and eventually won the Republican nomination with a comfortable delegate lead.

And now, it seems, he’s won over John Sununu.

In a statement released by the Trump campaign Tuesday, the former governor and former Bush chief of staff made a surprisingly enthusiastic endorsement of the new GOP standard bearer. He said:

“Donald Trump is the only candidate in this race who can bring bold change to Washington, D.C. I support the Trump-Pence ticket for their pro-growth agenda and commitment to protecting American interests. Republicans, Independents and smart Democrats need to come together to elect Donald Trump and Mike Pence.”

Former Israeli president and elder statesman Shimon Peres, a joint winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize and an influential figure in Israeli politics for 70 years, died in hospital on Wednesday aged 93, two weeks after suffering a massive stroke.

A convinced campaigner for Middle East peace who remained energetic until his final days, Peres was mourned by world leaders and praised for his tireless engagement.

U.S. President Barack Obama said: “A light has gone out”.

“There are few people who we share this world with who change the course of human history, not just through their role in human events, but because they expand our moral imagination and force us to expect more of ourselves,” Obama said in a statement. “My friend Shimon was one of those people.”

Despite decades of rivalry with Peres, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a right-winger who defeated the then-Labour Party leader in a 1996 election, praised him as a stalwart of the center-left and a visionary.

“There were many things we agreed upon, and the number grew as the years passed. But we had disagreements, a natural part of democratic life,” Netanyahu said after holding a minute’s silence at a specially convened cabinet meeting.

“Shimon won international recognition that spanned the globe. World leaders wanted to be in his proximity and respected him. Along with us, many of them will accompany him on his last journey to eternal rest in the soil of Jerusalem.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement saying he had sent a condolence letter to the family expressing his “sadness and regret” and praising Peres’s “intensive efforts to reach out for a lasting peace … until the last days”.

It was not clear if he would attend Peres’s funeral, which will take place on Friday at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery, in a section dedicated to “Great Leaders of the Nation”.

In the Gaza Strip, Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the enclave’s Hamas Islamist rulers, said: “The Palestinian people are happy over the departure of this criminal, who was involved in many crimes and in the bloodshed of the Palestinian people.”

Obama, Britain’s Prince Charles and former U.S. president Bill Clinton are among those expected to attend, Israeli radio reported, although Israel’s Foreign Ministry could not immediately confirm the attendance list.

French President Francois Hollande also confirmed he would attend, alongside his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

Political Life

The announcement of the death was made at the Tel Hashomer hospital by his son Chemi and son-in-law Rafi Walden.

“His life ended abruptly when he was still working on his great passion, strengthening the country and striving for peace. His legacy will remain with us all,” said Walden, who was alsoPeres’s personal physician.

Polish-born Peres, whose family moved to then British-ruled Palestine in the 1930s, was part of almost every major political development in Israel since its founding in 1948. He served in a dozen cabinets and was twice prime minister, though he never won a general election, struggling to connect with ordinary voters.

He was first elected to Israel’s parliament in 1959 and barring a brief interlude in early 2006, held his seat for 48 years, until he became president in 2007.

In every role he undertook—from forging Israel’s defense strategy in the 1950s to running his eponymous peace foundation—Peres was known for his energy and enthusiasm, even recording jokey YouTube videos into his 90s.

“Optimists and pessimists die the same way,” he said. “They just live differently. I prefer to live as an optimist.”

He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with the late former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for reaching an interim peace deal in 1993, the Oslo Accords, which never turned into a lasting treaty.

Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli ultra-nationalist who opposed the interim accords, and it was Peres who took over as prime minister after Rabin’s death.

Peres is widely seen as having gained nuclear capabilities for Israel by procuring the Dimona reactor from France while defense ministry director-general in the 1950s.

As defense minister, he oversaw the 1976 Israeli rescue of hijacked Israelis at Entebbe airport in Uganda.

In the Arab world, his legacy is tainted by the 1996 shelling of a United Nations compound in the village of Qana in southern Lebanon during an Israeli offensive. More than 100 civilians sheltering there were killed. Peres was prime minister at the time and Israel said its forces had been aiming at militants firing rockets nearby.

Peres was also seen to have done little to rein in the expansion of Israeli settlements on land captured during the 1967 Middle East war, even if he was not an active proponent of a policy that Obama has described as an obstacle to peace.

From 2007, when he was elected president at the second attempt, Peres played more of a ceremonial role, trying to raise Israel’s profile internationally while advocating for peace through his foundation. He stepped down as president in 2014.

Despite the influence he has had on Israel’s landscape, his death is not expected to have an impact on the already dim prospects for a return to peace talks with the Palestinians. {eoa}

© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

From the opening of time, God’s Spirit was shaping the destiny of creation. This is not only witnessed in the account of Moses when he declares, “the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water” (Gen. 1:2b), it is also witnessed in the psalms of David. Under inspiration from the Lord, he writes, “When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the surface of the ground” (Ps. 104:30).
 
Yet, the sons and daughters would not continue to fellowship with their gracious heavenly Father. They turned away from His goodness and grace, losing access to His glory. God began to decry: “My Spirit will not always strive with man, for he is flesh” (Gen. 6:3). Flesh and blood had fallen tragically short of the glory.

Nevertheless, from the moment sin entered the hearts of men, there was a longing for a return of the Shekinah. We witness an intense longing in the oracles of the prophets.

For example, Moses declared, “Oh, that all the people of the Lord were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:29). In a similar way, Ezekiel became a mouthpiece, saying, “For I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God” (Ezek. 39:29). Isaiah follows the same pattern, pronouncing: “I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring” (Is. 44:3).

Joel joins this great company of seers, affirming, “And it will be that, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. Even on menservants and maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit” (Joel 2:28-29).

There is little doubt that ancient Israel expected the Spirit to be manifest within the people of God as they entered into the coming age of salvation. They believed that a day would come when all who loved God would be positioned to speak the mysteries of His Word.

Rabbis and the Spirit of Prophecy

Since the Holy Spirit was so closely related to prophetic speech in the Old Testament, some of the rabbis in the intertestamental period began to make reference to the “Spirit of Prophecy.” Theologian Archie Hui elaborates on this, noting that in Rabbinic literature: 

“‘prophecy’ is one of the ten names given to ‘the Holy Spirit.’ … other rabbinic lists of ten names sometimes replaced ‘the Holy Spirit’ with ‘prophecy.’ … Thus, for instance, Midrash Haggadol on Genesis equates ‘prophecy’ with seeing, watching, proverb, interpretation, the Holy Spirit, prophecy, vision, oracle, sermon, riddle.“[1]

In many of the rabbinic sermons, or “targums,” we encounter references to the “Spirit of Prophecy.” Reflecting on this, Hui writes:

“In Targum Onkelos, Joseph is said to have the Spirit of prophecy in him after he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream (Targum Onkelos. Genesis 41:38). Similarly, Joshua is said to have the Spirit of prophecy in him (Targum Onkelos, Numbers 27:18). The Spirit of prophecy is said to rest upon the seventy elders of Israel, and they prophesied as a result (Targum Onkelos, Numbers 11:25-29). The same thing happened to Balaam, the false prophet (Targum Onkelos, Number 24:2).”[2]

Hui continues, noting that we also:

“find the Spirit of prophecy associated with Israel’s judges, kings, prophets, and priests including Othniel (Targum Nebium, Judges 3:10), Saul (Targum Nebium, 1 Samuel 10:6, 10; 19:23), David (Targum Nebium, 2 Samuel 23:2; 1 Chronicles 28:12), Solomon (Targum Ketuvim, Ct. 1:1; 7:2; Ecclesiastes 1:4; 3:11-14; 4:15; 9:7; 10:7).“[3]

Through its prominence in the various targums, it’s obvious that the “Spirit of Prophecy” captured the imaginations of rabbinic Judaism prior to the first century.

Although the rabbis believed that with “the deaths of the last prophets at the end of the Persian era, the Spirit of Prophecy withdrew from Israel,”[4] they were convinced that it would someday return. Rabbi Tanuma firmly declared, “In this world, only a few individuals have prophesied, but in the World to come all Israel will be made prophets.”[5]
 
The New Testament and the Spirit of Prophecy

As the New Testament explodes on the scene, it is bursting with the life of the Spirit. The Gospels, in particular, are proclaiming “that the longed-for universal age of the Spirit had at last arrived and the age of the prophets and prophecy, if it had indeed died out, was now being reborn.”[6]

Prophetic activity is now being accentuated in the infancy narratives (Luke 1:39-50; 1:67-79; 2:27-32; 2:36-38), as well as the life and ministry of Jesus (Luke 4:17-22). An outworking of the Spirit is also what later characterized the apostolic commissioning and activation (John 20:21-22).
 
In the book of Acts, the Spirit is poured out at Pentecost and multitudes find their mouths filled with prophetic speech (Acts 2:1-4). Peter reveals that this remarkable encounter fulfills what Joel had once envisioned generations earlier (Acts 2:14-21).

As we finally come to the end of the New Testament, John the Revelator brings a fitting conclusion. He declares that “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10b).

The testimony—in other words, who Jesus is and what He has accomplished—has finally unleashed the long-awaited age of the Spirit. Because of His death, resurrection and activation of the church, you and I are presently living in the era that the ancients longed for.

________________________________________________
^[1] Archie Hui, “The Spirit Of Prophecy and Pauline Pneumatology,” Tyndale Bulletin 50:1 (1990), 96-97.
^[2] Archie Hui, “The Spirit Of Prophecy and Pauline Pneumatology,” Tyndale Bulletin 50:1 (1990), 94-95.
^[3] Archie Hui, “The Spirit Of Prophecy and Pauline Pneumatology,” Tyndale Bulletin 50:1 (1990), 94-95.
^[4] L. Stephen Cook, On the Question of the Cessation of Prophecy in Ancient Judaism (Tubingen, Germany: Gulde-Druck, 2011), 172. Cook references Frederick E. Greenspahn, “Why Prophecy Ceased,” Journal of Biblical Literature 108:1 (1989): 43.
^[5] Rabbi Tanuma quoted in Max Turner, “Tongues and Experience For All In the Pauline Churches,” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 1 (1998): 246.
^[6] G.F. Hawthorne,”Prophecy,” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1992), 637. {eoa}

J.D. King, director of the World Revival Network and co-pastor at World Revival Church, is writing Regeneration: Healing in the History of Christianity. King is a sought-after speaker, writer and author. 

Satan’s sneaky ways have manipulated envy from one of the seven deadly sins to one of the most marketable advertising campaigns, Pastor Rick Warren says.  

“Today, entire consumer industry is built on envy. Every single advertisement is built on envy,” Warren says. “Satan has these tools called catalogs that create envy.” 

Specifically, the head of Saddleback Church says, popular fashion magazines like Vogue and Glamour should be called Envy and Envier.  

Indulging in envy is the No. 1 barrier keeping believers from fulfilling God’s calling on their lives, Warren says.  

“(It will) cause you to waste your entire life. It’s a very subtle sin, an insidious attitude that will keep you, more than any other thing in your life, this one thing will cause you to miss God’s best for your life.”  

The sin destroys us and those around us.   

“Envy is hidden. We don’t realize how it devalues other people, how it damages relationships, how it destroys your happiness and makes you miserable,” Warren says.  

The antidote?  

To praise the success of others, the pastor says. If you enjoy the happiness of others, as prescribed in Romans 12, you will eliminate envy from your life. {eoa}

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church. His book, The Purpose Driven Church, was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of , a global Internet community for pastors.

Illinois may be the Land of Lincoln and the birthplace of the Republican Party, but it’s been about as blue a state as it can be—thanks in large part to the infamous “Chicago Machine.”

But according to a super PAC operating in the state, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump actually has a legitimate shot at winning it in the November election—if the state’s GOP leadership would get out of the way. Gov. Bruce Rauner and U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk—both Republicans—have been attacking the Republican presidential nominee for weeks, including in a recent Spanish-language-only ad.

Now, the Never Hillary PAC released the following statement through its chairman, William Kelly, about the electoral issues in Illinois:

Gov. Rauner and Sen. Kirk have revealed their true traitorous colors in refusing to support Donald J. Trump, our GOP nominee for President. Trump won the Illinois primary with 39 percent in a four-way race and yet Rauner and Kirk continue to disrespect the voters. The latest poll shows only a small six-point gap between Trump and Clinton. That puts Illinois—Obama’s home state—in play for the GOP, but not if Rauner and Kirk have their way.

Illinois voters are fed-up with this rigged political system and they now know what side these cowardly little pukes are on: the wrong side. Rauner and Kirk still refuse to criticize or condemn Crooked Hillary Clinton.

In 2015, I busted the campaign finance caps in the Chicago mayor’s race, forcing Rahm Emanuel into a historic run-off election. I was happy to do it because Chicago deserves better. But Rauner and Kirk actually endorsed Rahm “Deadfish” Emanuel for Mayor twice.

Voters will remember what Kirk and Rauner have done this November and beyond. Gov. Rauner has written off Illinois GOP candidates up and down the ticket. But Never Hillary PAC will not let Gov. Rauner give up the Illinois ground game. We will step up where he has backed down.

Never Hillary PAC is raising $2.5 million in the next 42 days to run ads in Illinois and other states where establishment GOP leaders have turned their back on Donald Trump and his supporters.

In ancient Israel, the people turned away from God in their prosperity. They turned to the false god of Baal, even offering up their children as sacrifices on this demonic altar.

“They called what was evil good and what was good evil,” says Cahn, author of best-selling books The Harbinger and newest title, The Book of Mysteries. “They drove God out of their government, out of their culture, out of the lives of their children. They persecuted and hunted down the righteous.”

Cahn goes on to point out how nine harbingers of national destruction that appeared in ancient Israel are now appearing on American soil—many of them in New York City. One especially blatant sign just appeared in New York City—the arch that leads to the temple of Baal.

Watch the entire video to understand the spiritual dynamics behind this shocking event. 

When Americans cast their ballots for the next president this November, they will not only select the next commander-in-chief and primary enforcer of the law, they will help select a new Supreme Court justice and countless other lower-court judges.

Selecting judges is not an ancillary responsibility—it is a central and critical duty, with long-lasting effects. Indeed, half of the current Supreme Court justices were appointed more than 20 years ago. The next president’s choices will have a big impact on the judiciary. He or she will nominate at least one (but possibly several) Supreme Court justice and roughly one-third of federal district court and appeals court judges.

The judiciary is often an overlooked third branch of government. Yet the judges who populate its ranks wield tremendous power to decide cases that affect the daily lives of millions of Americans.

It was not always this way—the Founders believed that the judiciary would be the “least dangerous” branch. Over time, however, the judiciary has transformed itself into a policymaking body that wields wide-ranging power over virtually every aspect of life, such as Americans’ ability to own a gun, make campaign donations to political candidates, and own a home free from government interference, among many others.

Judges do not simply appear out of thin air. They are put on the federal bench by the presidents who nominate them and the senators who confirm them. The first step in curbing the judiciary’s excesses is for the president to nominate and the Senate to confirm individuals with a proper understanding of the limited role of the judiciary.

Thus, the president should nominate individuals whose records demonstrate that they will apply the Constitution and laws according to their original public meaning. Likewise, senators should rigorously question nominees about their judicial philosophy and examine their records, and then vote to confirm only those nominees who understand the proper role a judge should play in our society.

If the president and Senate are able to do so, the result will be a federal judiciary filled with good judges who are committed to faithfully applying the Constitution and laws and are not outcome-oriented.

When the president and Senate have failed to do so, we end up with bad judges—those who interject subjective policy preferences into the law, strain the text to achieve desired ends, and read new rights into the Constitution that are not grounded in the text. The stakes have never been higher, and it is essential that the next president appoint good judges. {eoa}

Tiffany Bates writes about the Supreme Court and constitutional law as a legal research associate in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.

Elizabeth Slattery writes about the rule of law, the proper role of the courts, civil rights and equal protection and the scope of constitutional provisions such as the Commerce Clause and the Recess Appointments Clause as a legal fellow in the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.

This article originally appeared at . Used with permission.