Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) “are not terrorist organizations” at a United Nations event marking “50 years of occupation” by Israel in the disputed territories, The Jerusalem Post reported.

What are the marks of prayers that make a real impact? In this episode, John and Lisa launch into a series of conversations centered on what God says about prayer, how we should pursue His presence and why you should develop a vibrant prayer life.

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Best-selling authors and speakers John and Lisa Bevere founded Messenger International.

Millennial vlogger Joseph Solomon is encouraging his peers to engage in true intercession. In this video, he breaks down Mark 9 and explains how some spiritual barriers can only be defeated with fervent prayer.

Have you ever wondered why Donald Trump is so deeply hated by the elite?  It isn’t because he is a Republican. In fact, there are lots of Republicans out there that the elite absolutely loves. The truth is that the reason the elite have such deep animosity toward Trump is that he is fighting their globalist agenda. When Trump talks about a border wall or a travel ban, the elite hate that, because they ultimately want a world where national borders have been made meaningless. And when Trump talks about tearing up trade agreements, that really freaks them out, because they have been working very hard to try to merge the economies of the planet into a single global economic system. Worst of all for the globalists was when Trump pulled out of the Paris climate agreement. For decades, the elite have been using such international agreements to impose their values on the entire planet, and now the leader of the most powerful nation in the world is standing up to them.

Unfortunately, most of the members of Congress are still embracing the globalist agenda, and this puts them directly at odds with Trump. So just because someone is a “Republican” does not mean they care about American sovereignty. Sadly, sometimes Republicans are actually some of the worst offenders when it comes to pushing globalist causes.

This is why we need a new political war against globalism. It wasn’t enough just to get Trump into the White House, because the globalists in Congress seem determined to block most of the things he is trying to do. So we need to kick the globalists out and replace them with true patriots who truly want to restore our republic.

Most Americans don’t understand that these issues can have a dramatic impact on their daily lives. For example, the reason someone in your extended family may not have a good job right now is because that job was shipped to China.

According to Politifact, more than one study has found that the United States lost more than 60,000 manufacturing facilities after China joined the WTO in 2001:

In 2001, the year China joined the WTO, the Census counted 352,619 manufacturing establishments. In 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, it counted 292,543. That’s a drop of 60,076 over those three years.

Another Census series, its Business Dynamics Statistics, tallied 348,513 manufacturing establishments in 2001 and 274,756 in 2014—a drop of 73,757 manufacturing establishments.

And another study found that the U.S. lots a whopping 2.4 million manufacturing jobs after China joined the WTO…

A 2014 report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that the U.S. trade deficit with China has cost 2.4 million manufacturing jobs between 2001 and 2013. The report cites illegal Chinese policies that encourage exports and keep labor cheap, as well as a failure of the WTO agreement that endorsed China’s membership to prevent these sorts of actions.

Slowly but surely, merging the United States into a global economic system has cost American workers dearly. Today, American workers have to compete for jobs with workers on the other side of the planet who live in countries where it is legal to pay slave-labor wages. This is driving down wages and eroding the middle class.

The middle class dipped under 50 percent of the U.S. population for the first time ever in 2015, and if current trends continue, the middle class will just continue to get smaller and smaller in the years ahead.

But the global elite are not concerned about the middle class. They love shipping jobs overseas because it enables them to make bigger profits.

Our daily lives are affected by our lack of border security as well. For decades, globalists in both major parties have been perfectly fine with neglecting border security, because ultimately, they want national borders to essentially become meaningless. But this has allowed millions upon millions of people to enter our nation illegally, and communities all over America are suffering the consequences.

For example, there are 150,000 gang members now living in Chicago, and a lot of that growth can be attributed to illegal immigration. The gang members now outnumber the police by more than 10 to 1, and more illegal immigrants are pouring into Chicago with each passing day.

In other parts of the country, the federal government is forcing local communities to take refugees from the Middle East whether they want them or not. Here in Idaho, a 5-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by three Islamic refugees, but incidents such as this are not going to stop the globalists in Washington from forcing us to take even more.

And we aren’t even supposed to say “Islamic terror” anymore because the global elite are trying to foster “cooperation” between all of the major religions of the world.

If the global elite have their way, America will continue to be merged into a global economic system, a system of “global governance” and a system of “global religious cooperation”. International bodies such as the U.N. and international treaties such as the Paris climate agreement will be used to impose globalist values on literally the entire planet.

If we do not stop the globalists, American sovereignty could eventually be eroded away almost completely. Yes, the “United States” may still technically exist, but all of the important decisions would potentially be made by a “North American Union” or a “global government.”

The European Union and the African Union are models for what the elite hope to do to the entire world. Many Americans don’t even know that all 55 nations in Africa belong to the African Union. And of course the elite eventually hope to unite all of the regions under a single international banner.

If we hope to defeat the globalists, now is the time. We already have Donald Trump in the White House, and now we need to kick the globalists out of Congress and out of important positions in our government agencies. We also need to withdraw from a whole host of international agreements that have already significantly eroded American sovereignty.

We will always want to maintain positive working relationships with other nations, but we do not ever want to merge into a single global system.

Our founders risked everything to break free from tyranny and to establish a free and independent republic, and we aren’t about to willingly hand this country over to the globalists now. {eoa}

Over the last 50 years, there has been an acceleration in the restoring of apostolic and prophetic leadership to the body of Messiah around the world. There are many spiritual principles we can glean from the original meaning of “apostle” that will clarify the role of apostles today. Yes, we all have been sent out from King Jesus, but not everyone has been given the grace and gifting to lead as an apostle (Eph. 4:11).

Jesus is the original apostle who was sent from the Father in heaven to the “foreign territory” called earth, in order to transform the earth to be like heaven. Like Roman apostles being sent from Rome, and like Jesus sending His apostles from Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, so today God is still sending apostles out all over the earth to lead His church in the mission of kingdom advancement.

Fivefold Team

The worldwide church is supposed to be led by apostles, who work with skilled team members of prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Together, they raise up many “colonies” (ekklesia—congregations), all of which have the same mission—to make earth like heaven. The apostle’s job description includes keeping his team unified and focused on the mission for which they were sent, without compromising the King’s commands and desires.

Apostles are to be connected with, and in mutual submission with, other apostles. They cannot accomplish their mission alone. When the unique and diverse gifts of the prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are submitted to apostolic leadership, they become an unstoppable, kingdom-advancing team that the gates of hell cannot prevail against (Matt 16:18).

The prophet stays focused on being in regular communication with the “home government” (heaven!), and keeping the team updated on what he is hearing in the Spirit. The evangelist stays focused on inviting everyone in the “foreign territory to embrace the Kingdom citizenship that is being freely offered. The pastor stays focused on serving, feeding and unifying the citizens. The Teacher stays focused on teaching the Constitution (Word of God) and culture of the kingdom. The apostle stays focused on the big picture and makes sure his team members, along with himself, are intentionally equipping citizens to carry on the work of “colonizing” the earth with the culture of heaven.

Generationally Focused

Not only is the apostle focused on leading his team but also on connecting the generations. At the core of every true apostle is the heart of a father (1 Cor 4:15). Multiplying himself and this kingdom vision into the next generation is not put off for the latter years of his life but is a lifestyle lived through the decades.

Jesus and the writers of the New Testament had no problem using the word “apostle” in their day. So why do we? {eoa}

In this clip from Bethel TV, worship leader Jenn Johnson talks about a time when her faith was being tested by her circumstances. That’s when God taught her a valuable lesson about seeing things from His perspective. Don’t miss this invaluable insight.

Pastor Shane Idleman shares some enlightening truths from Scripture as they relate to the question of whether or not Christians should drink alcohol. “The person who consumes alcohol walks a very fine line between freedom and sin, responsibility and carelessness, liberty and abuse,” he says.

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Look around at our society, and you’ll come to a pretty easy conclusion: There’s not enough love in today’s world. Christian band The Brilliance wants to change that, urging believers to love others in this inspiring music video.

Today is Asteroid Day. In case you want to join the celebration, you can watch a program on NASA TV describing how researchers find, track and characterize Near-Earth Objects.

From the skies to the seas: a video showing tourists in shallow water at a Florida beach has been seen more than 5.2 million times. Not because of the tourists, but because of the seven sharks swimming around them.

From sharks to tragedy: An aspiring YouTube star convinced his girlfriend to shoot a gun into the thick book covering his chest. He was certain that the book would stop the bullet and the video would make them famous. The bullet killed him; his girlfriend has been charged with manslaughter.

From tragedy to celebration: A baby was born on a Spirit Airlines plane traveling from Ft. Lauderdale for Dallas/Ft. Worth. The airline has awarded him free air travel for life.

You’re probably wondering what these stories have to do with you today. Here’s the answer: very little. Your odds of dying from a meteor, asteroid, or comet impact are one in 1,600,000. You are 17,777 times more likely to die in a car crash.

Sharks are not likely to kill you, either—falling coconuts kill fifteen times more people than sharks each year. I would guess that you’re not willing to fire a gun into a book on your chest. And I could find no statistics for the number of babies born on airplanes since this happens so rarely.

Here’s my point: We typically care about the news in direct proportion to its relevance to our daily lives. With the advent of social media and digital news sources, we can limit what we see to what we want to see more fully than ever before. If a topic isn’t obviously relevant to us today, it’s not relevant at all.

This is an understandable way to cope with the onslaught of messages that bombard us every day. But it’s exactly the wrong way to think about issues that matter most. The urgent is seldom significant, and the significant is seldom urgent.

This theme has been on my mind recently because of a petition I read in The Valley of Vision, a compendium of Puritan prayers. The author says of Jesus’ return, “That day is no horror to me, for thy death has redeemed me, thy Spirit fills me, thy love animates me, thy Word governs me.”

He knows that on that day, “Thou wilt come to raise my body from the dust, and re-unite it to my soul, by a wonderful work of infinite power and love, greater than that which bounds the oceans’ waters, ebbs and flows the tides, keeps the stars in their courses and gives life to all creatures.” As a result, “I triumph now in thy promises as I do in their performance.”

Nothing seems less relevant to our secular culture than preparing for eternity. But on the day we die and go to Jesus or He comes for us, nothing will be more relevant. In the meantime, being ready for that day is the very best way to live each day.

One day will be our last day. What if it were today? {eoa}

East Central University said they will remove crosses, Bibles and other religious symbols from a campus chapel to appease a bunch of out-of-town agitators.

It’s unclear when the Oklahoma school will commence with the Christian cleansing of the Kathryn P. Boswell Memorial Chapel. The chapel opened in 1957.

“We will continue to use the building as we always have, for all faiths,” ECU President Katricia Pierson said in a statement to the Ada News. “We do not want to presume to embrace one faith over another. We support all cultures and attempt to make them comfortable when they are here.”

The university’s president went on to say they are “looking at the feasibility of removing the cross on the steeple, but need to respond to the request for removal of religious icons from the chapel.”

“We are exploring options for preserving the items,” she said.

So on the bright side, it appears East Central University will not burn the Bibles or toss the crosses into a wood chipper.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is responsible for the Christian cleansing at ECU. They fired off a terse letter accusing the school of displaying “religious iconography.” That letter was obtained by the Ada News.

“These displays include Latin crosses on the top of and inside the building, Bibles and a Christian altar,” the letter stated. “While it is legal for a public university to have a space that can be used by students for religious worship so long as that space is not dedicated solely to that purpose, it is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to display religious iconography on government property.”

That’s a great big load of legal malarkey.

Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for First Liberty Institute, said there is federal precedent to maintain chapels in taxpayer-funded facilities.

“We have a Congressional Prayer Room in the Capitol, we have chapels in government-owned airports and many other government-owned chapels,” Sasser told me.

Sasser suspects Americans United is just testing Oklahoma’s new attorney general, Mike Hunter.

“They want to see if he backs down or stands up to their ridiculous claims, and I predict Mike Hunter will fight hard to preserve this historic chapel,” Sasser said.

Meanwhile, many Oklahomans are furious over the university’s decision to capitulate to those who want to eradicate Christianity from the public marketplace.

“I feel betrayed by our own country, upset that this could take place in America,” alum Jill Tucker Brown told me. “We are a nation founded on Christianity.”

Ms. Brown believes the university should stand up to the atheist and secularist bullies.

“I think it is absurd that anyone would go to this length (to remove the cross),” she told me. “If this university does not stand up for their rights, this will not be their only fight.”

Anita Thomas is also a graduate of East Central University and she is heartbroken over the news.

“I am heartbroken because our country has become a place where things like this can happen,” she told me. “

Much like the Islamic radicals, the atheists and secularists want to erase Christianity from the public marketplace. And they are waging their cultural jihad not with bombs—but with lawsuits.

As I wrote in The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again, it is time for patriots to mobilize and fight back. Appeasement is not the answer.

First, contact the university’s president and politely voice your opinion. Second, contact Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter and urge him to fight back against this godless scourge. And finally, the university’s alumni should immediately halt all funding.

If they remove the cross from the chapel—we should remove “In God We Trust” from their bank account. {eoa}