As we quickly approach the last days before Yeshua/Jesus returns, the mystery to awaken and restore Israel into the family in the One New Man becomes tantamount in God’s glorious plan to establish His kingdom upon the earth.

In this light, the Holy Spirit is shifting His focus onto a very necessary spiritual restoration in God’s family between Jew and Gentile, in order that His end-time plans may actually come about through us. I call this the Re-connection. The truth is that both groups are intricately linked together into these plans and are actually in great need of one another, yet presently the family of God is divided and separate.

As a result, I am beginning a new series called, “What is The One New Man?” In these articles we will explore and re-examine the pertinent Scriptures on the One New Man, as well as issues related to Israel and the Church. We will interview leaders from both sides of the family to gain a better understanding. However, the main goal here is to help bring the body of Messiah/Christ into a greater unity and depth of understanding of this mystery; the goal is not necessarily to see it anymore from either a Gentile or Jewish lens, but rather through the heart of the Father who longs for His family to be one. To be united into His end-time purposes and plans to mobilize us into the fray (John 17:23). 

Ephesians 2:11-22 – Written For God’s Children From The Nations

This is the only text in the entire New Covenant Scripture that refers to the term, “One New Man”, so it is a good place for us to start. This text is written specifically to Gentile believers to clearly communicate what has now transpired through the releasing of the New Covenant in Yeshua/Jesus.

Verse 11 begins with “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh.” However, it may help us to better comprehend this text if we have a clearer understanding of the apostle Paul’s vision and purpose for his ministry here, which was to win the Gentiles to the faith and to unite the family between Jew and Gentile.

Please also understand that within this context Paul had quite a challenge on his hands to be able to convince Gentile believers of their now complete and total equality with their Jewish brethren in Messiah/Christ. After all, referring to the Jews, Paul writes, “Israelites, to whom belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises, to whom belong the patriarchs, and from whom, according to the flesh, is Christ, who is over all, God forever blessed. Amen“ (Rom. 9:4-5).

So one could imagine that, in the beginning of Paul’s ministry, he had to work hard to lay a strong foundation and be able to explain how this was now possible, as both Jew and Gentile needed to embrace the cross in order to pass over from sin’s curse, which the law fully exposed. Messiah/Christ now made an entrance for all of His children, both Jew and Gentile alike. The fullness of the law through the Spirit indwelled each of us as we yielded to Messiah/Christ, who are now joined together and rise to become His Holy Temple (Eph. 2:21).

While the Jews actually came through the law, and Gentiles came after it through Messiah/Christ, both had to fully embrace the message of the cross in order to find the fullness of the New Covenant: “And He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father (Eph. 2:17-18). This alone should be enough to kill the concept of dual covenant theology, which somehow gives a pass to the Jews believing in God but not embracing the cross concerning their salvation.

As a result, Paul lays out to us one of the clearest explanations in the Bible of what has actually transpired through the Gospel, as it relates to both Jew and Gentile in the family of God. Look at the very first point he makes here. He reminds Gentile believers what they were excluded from before they believed in Yeshua/Jesus, obviously now inferring that through Messiah/Christ they are now fellow citizens with Israel, or as the NAS and KJV put it, a commonwealth of Israel and sharers of the covenants of the promise.

Ephesians 2:19 continues, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Please note here that Paul did not have to explain this to the Jewish believers. By this time, they were already aware of how the Holy Spirit had opened the door for Gentiles coming to faith. Rather, Paul needed to convince God’s children from the nations that they were now included in the Israel of God.

Ephesians 2:20 points to an Israelite-like body built upon the apostles and prophets, of which the Messiah was its cornerstone. This was the Jewish governing authority that the Lord established the Kingdom of God to go out from, along with its five-fold focus to equip the saints for good works. We are grafted into Israel as fellow citizens with equal rights.

Ephesians 3:6 makes clear another component of Paul’s argument: “The Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members, and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel.” Yet why is it today that, when we think of the Church, we see it as such a separate entity from the very commonwealth that we have been grafted into, as if the Gentile Church replaces Israel?

Am I missing something here, for is not belief in Yeshua/Jesus actually Jewish? When one believes in Him, do we not become children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and inherit the covenants that were also given to Israel? So why do we consider Christianity in such a gentile manner?

The Disconnection

While the church prospered greatly under the persecution of the then Roman Empire with great signs and wonders accompanying its efforts, something hugely significant was lost when Rome looked to adopt the faith and nationalized it. I call this the Disconnection. Not only was the governing structure and focus of the Church altered through its leadership—adapting numerous pagan beliefs in the process and moving us away from God’s calendar—but all connections to its roots and heritage to Israel were cut and eventually lost.

This established Christianity as a separate and distinct religion, even teaching that the Church had now succeeded Israel with all of the promises and covenants relating to them and not to Israel. In reality, belief in Yeshua/Jesus is the only true and proper extension of Judaism fulfilled in the New Covenant itself, which was given to Israel through Yeshua/Jesus, who then took its message out to the nations through the apostles and prophets so that God’s other children could be grafted into the fold (John 10:16).

There are key words for us to understand here, such as “together with Israel” and “fellow citizens with God’s people” that point to the fact that, within the unity of the One New Man, there existed two distinct groups, one that was Jewish and one Gentile. Yet both now co-existed in a heavenly unity within the Spirit that will ultimately reflect God’s priesthood upon the earth when Yeshua/Jesus comes back to reign.

The One New Man does not wipe out these distinctions, as the Church has taught; rather, it upholds and blesses them. God was not calling Gentiles to be Jews from within this unity, for He created the Nations and their uniqueness, but rather to express their beliefs through Israel, which was lost when the Church disconnected itself. This must be restored now if Israel is to be won back to faith.

Yet it wasn’t long after the Roman world took control of the Church that the only entrance into the olive tree of Israel became fully Gentile, with absolutely no Jewish expression being permitted.

While the disconnection may have been tolerable during God’s sole focus on gathering His children from the Nations (God has been equitable in time spent on His family: 2,000 years on the firstborn from Abraham to Yeshua/Jesus and 2000 years on His children from the Nations), as we enter the time of the fullness of the Gentiles, the Holy Spirit is shifting us.

As a result, this breach must be restored to reunite us and make us one. This will not only prepare us for His coming to properly reflect the commonwealth we are grafted into, which is inherently Jewish, but also for one of our greatest ever roles, which is to help breathe spiritual life back into the rest of Israel with the mercy of God we have received, who must be awakened before He returns (Rom. 11:30-32). For we will become far more effective in our evangelism and witness back towards the Jewish people when we are reconnected to our roots and heritage properly, drawing them to jealousy instead of presenting the current Gentile branch of the faith, which is completely foreign to them and which was used to persecute and kill their ancestors.

The Natural Branch Must Be Restored

My second book, The Ezekiel Generation, really focuses on this. His family is not complete until the broken branch of Israel is grafted back into the tree and our Father’s covenants and promises to restore His firstborn children have come to pass.

Israel cannot be grafted back into the Gentile branch of the faith, but must be restored to their own natural branch, which calls for a great realignment in our thinking and our eschatology, which up to this point has had the Church and Israel on separate paths before the Lord’s return. There are reasons why we have not been able to see this role and Reconnection up until this time, which The Ezekiel Generation fully brings to light. 

The natural branch is already re-emerging in the form of the Messianic Movement and many Jewish believers coming to faith in the Church. However, they truly need our help and support to fulfill their own callings. They need to live out their own identities as Jewish believers, so that Yeshua’s light can shine back to the rest of Israel through them.

It is time for us both, as Jews and Gentiles in the faith, to begin to hang up our own individual perspectives that are keeping us apart. The fullness of the revelation of the One New Man will not come to us from either side, but only when we are dwelling together in unity.

We need to see this reunion in His family from our Father’s perspective, who loves all of His children equally but longs for His firstborn to be restored. It is only with His heart and His Spirit that we will be able to fully engage and fulfill His plans for us. His purposes have us intricately linked during these days to fulfill His plans upon the earth and which includes a mutual love and respect for one another.

In next month’s article, I will teach from Romans 11. {eoa}

To listen to the Bible Study at Messiah’s House on Ephesians 2:11-22, please click here.

Grant Berry is a Jewish believer in Yeshua/Jesus and author of The New Covenant Prophecy and The Ezekiel Generation. He has founded Reconnecting Ministries with the specific focus to help the church reconnect spiritually to Israel and considers it vital to the kingdom of God in the last days. His website is reconnectingministries.org.

Davey Blackburn experienced unimaginable pain in recent weeks after his wife was sexually assaulted and murdered in their home during a break-in.  

Before police made an arrest, however, some Fox television personalities “dragged (Davey’s) name through the mud” says NewSpring pastor Perry Noble. 

“I really do hope and pray that Megyn Kelly, Jeanine (Pirro) and FOX News will strongly consider issuing a public apology for the report that was aired on Thursday, November 12 on The Kelly File where Davey’s involvement was called into question and essentially his name was dragged through the mud–which all led to a book promotion,” Noble writes in a recent blog post.

“As a result of this report, Internet trolls began popping up everywhere, accusing Davey and issuing their own ‘conspiracy theories’ as to how he had to have somehow arranged this.”

Noble continued: “I have always admired Megyn Kelly and her journalistic ability, so when I saw this report by her on FOX I was both shocked and disgusted. The Kelly File should apologize for this as journalistic integrity was tossed out the window for the purposes of a book promotion.” 

Multiple suspects were arrested in the case, including a teen who was booked a preliminary murder charge. 

After the arrests of self-proclaimed “The Kill Gang,” Davey Blackburn released the following statement: 

“(My hope is) that Jesus would give me and our family a heart of forgiveness,” he says. “Though everything inside of me wants to hate, be angry, and slip into despair I choose the route of forgiveness, grace and hope. If there is one thing I’ve learned from Amanda in the 10 years we were together, it’s this: Choosing to let my emotions drive my decisions is recipe for a hopeless and fruitless life. Today I am deciding to love, not hate. Today I am deciding to extend forgiveness, not bitterness. Today I am deciding to hope, not despair. By Jesus’ power at work within us, the best is STILL yet to come. Even when I don’t see it, I believe it to be true.”

Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday, saying the jet had violated its air space, in one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member country and Russia for half a century. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane had been attacked when it was 1 km (0.62 mile) inside Syria and warned of “serious consequences” for what he termed a stab in the back administered by “the accomplices of terrorists.” 

“We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today,” Putin said, as Russian and Turkish shares fell on fears of an escalation between the former Cold War enemies. 

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, Turkey said it had shot down the jet while in Turkish air space. Along with a second plane, the aircraft had flown more than a mile into Turkey for 17 seconds, despite being warned 10 times in five minutes while approaching to change direction, the letter said. 

“Nobody should doubt that we made our best efforts to avoid this latest incident. But everyone should respect the right of Turkey to defend its borders,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara. 

In condemnation of Russian air strikes in Syria, during which Turkish air space has been violated several times in recent weeks, Erdogan said that only Turkey’s “cool-headedness” had prevented worse incidents in the past. 

Each country summoned a diplomatic representative of the other. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov canceled a visit to Turkey due on Wednesdayand the defense ministry said it was preparing measures to respond to such incidents. 

U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande, meeting in Washington, urged against an escalation, while NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance stood in solidarity with Turkey. 

Footage from private Turkish broadcaster Haberturk TV showed the warplane going down in flames, a long plume of smoke trailing behind it as it crashed in a wooded part of an area the TV said was known by Turks as “Turkmen Mountain.” 

Separate footage from Turkey’s Anadolu Agency showed two pilots parachuting out of the jet before it crashed. 

A deputy commander of rebel Turkmen forces in Syria said his men shot both pilots dead as they came down. The Russian military confirmed one pilot had been shot dead from the ground and another soldier died during a rescue operation. 

A senior Turkish official said at least one of the pilots could still be alive. “It’s not a fact but a possibility. We’re trying to verify the information and taking all necessary steps to facilitate their return,” the official said. 

A video sent to Reuters earlier appeared to show one of the pilots immobile and badly wounded on the ground. 

“MORAL CRUSADE” 

Russia’s defense ministry said one of its Su-24 fighter jets had been downed in Syria and that “for the entire duration of the flight, the aircraft was exclusively over Syrian territory”, a suggestion Turkey denied. 

“The data we have is very clear. There were two planes approaching our border, we warned them as they were getting too close,” another senior Turkish official told Reuters. “Our findings show clearly that Turkish air space was violated multiple times. And they violated it knowingly.” 

A U.S. military spokesman said it was an issue between the Turkish and Russian governments and that U.S.-led coalition operations in Syria and Iraq were continuing “as planned.” 

Moscow’s decision to launch separate air strikes in Syria means Russian and NATO planes have been flying combat missions in the same air space for the first time since World War Two, targeting various insurgent groups close to Turkish borders. 

Russia’s military involvement in Syria has brought losses, including the bombing by militants of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt. But there is no sign yet that public opinion is turning against the operation in Syria and the Kremlin said it would continue. 

Instead Moscow, helped by state-controlled television, has used these reverses to rally public opinion, portraying the campaign as a moral crusade that Russia must complete, despite indifference or obstruction from elsewhere. 

A U.S. official said U.S. forces were not involved in the downing of the Russian jet, which was the first time a Russian or Soviet military aircraft has been publicly acknowledged to have been shot down by a NATO member since the 1950s. 

The incident appeared to scupper hopes of a rapprochement between Russia and the West in the wake of the Islamic State attacks in Paris, which had led to calls for a united front against the jihadist group in Syria. 

Russia’s main stock index fell more than two percent, while Turkish stocks fell more than four percent. Both the rouble and lira currencies were weaker. 

Lavrov advised Russians not to visit Turkey and one of Russia’s largest tour operators to the country said it would temporarily suspend sales of trips. 

SHOT AS THEY FELL 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the warplane crashed in a mountainous area in the northern countryside of Latakia province, where there had been aerial bombardment earlier and where pro-government forces have been battling insurgents on the ground. 

“A Russian pilot,” a voice is heard saying in the video sent to Reuters as men gather around the man on the ground. “God is great,” is also heard. 

The rebel group that sent the video operates in the northwestern area of Syria, where groups including the Free Syrian Army are active but Islamic State, which has beheaded captives in the past, has no known presence. 

A deputy commander of a Turkmen brigade told reporters on a trip organized by Turkish authorities that his forces had shot both pilots dead as they descended. 

“Our comrades opened fire into the air and they died in the air,” Alpaslan Celik said near the Syrian village of Yamadi, holding what he said was a piece of a pilot’s parachute. 

In a further sign of a growing fallout over Syria, Syrian rebel fighters who have received U.S. arms said they fired at a Russian helicopter, forcing it to land in territory held by Moscow’s Syrian government allies. 

Turkey called this week for a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Turkmens, who are Syrians of Turkish descent, and last week Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest against the bombing of their villages. 

About 1,700 people have fled the mountainous area due to fighting in the last three days, a Turkish official said on Monday. Russian jets have bombed the area in support of ground operations by Syrian government forces. {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

 Citing “increased terrorist threats” from militant groups in various regions of the world, the U.S. State Department issued a global alert on Monday for Americans planning to travel following deadly militant attacks in France and Mali. 

As millions of Americans prepare to travel for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, the agency said potential attackers could target private or government interests. 

The department did not advise people against travel but said U.S. citizens should be vigilant, especially in crowded places.

The State Department has regularly issued such worldwide travel alerts since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. A State Department official said the latest alert, which expires Feb. 24, effectively updated past warnings. 

In the statement on its website, the State Department said: “Current information suggests that (Islamic State), al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and other terrorist groups continue to plan terrorist attacks in multiple regions.” 

Although it did not mention the Nov. 13 Paris attacks claimed by the Islamic State group in which 130 died, the department noted that militants had carried out attacks in France, Nigeria, Denmark, Turkey, and Mali during the past year. 

“Authorities believe the likelihood of terror attacks will continue as members of (Islamic State) return from Syria and Iraq,” it said. “Additionally, there is a continuing threat from unaffiliated persons planning attacks inspired by major terrorist organizations but conducted on an individual basis.” 

France and Belgium have launched a manhunt following the attacks in Paris, with a focus on Brussels barkeeper Salah Abdeslam, 26, who returned to the city from Paris hours after the attacks and is still at large. 

Abdeslam’s mobile phone was detected after the attacks in the 18th district in the north of Paris, near an abandoned car that he had rented, and then later in Chatillon in the south, a source close to the investigation said. 

Detectives were examining what appeared to be an explosive belt found in a litter bin in the town of Montrouge, south of the capital and not far from Chatillon. 

The source said it was too soon to say whether the belt had been in contact with Abdeslam, whose elder brother blew himself during the gun and suicide bomb attacks. 

One theory was that Abdeslam had intended to blow himself up in the 18th district but had abandoned the plan, although it was not clear why. 

“Maybe he had a technical problem with his explosive belt,” a police source said. 

Fearing an imminent threat of a Paris-style attack, Belgium extended a maximum security alert in Brussels for a week but said the metro system and schools could reopen on Wednesday. 

“We are still confronted with the threat we were facing yesterday,” Prime Minister Charles Michel said. Potential targets remained shopping areas and public transport. 

Belgium has been at the heart of investigations into the Paris attacks since French law enforcement bodies said two of the suicide bombers had lived there. Three people have been charged in Belgium with terrorist offences, including two who traveled back with Abdeslam from Brussels. 

SOLDIERS PATROL BRUSSELS 

As authorities tried to establish Abdeslam’s movements and whereabouts, a source said he traveled through Italy in August with a companion, but his presence caused no alarm because he was not a wanted man at the time. 

His companion was Ahmet Dahmani, a Belgian man of Moroccan origin who was arrested in Turkey last week on suspicion of involvement in the Paris attacks, the investigative source said. 

In Belgium, prosecutors said they had charged a fourth person with terrorist offences linked to the Paris attacks. 

They released all 15 others detained in police raids on Sunday. Two of five people detained on Monday were also released while the other three had their custody prolonged. 

Soldiers patrolled the streets of Brussels, the bustling European Union capital, which has been in lockdown since Saturday. 

On the Grand Place, a historic central square that usually draws crowds of tourists, an armored military vehicle was parked under an illuminated Christmas tree. 

NATO, which raised its alert level after the Paris attacks, said its headquarters in the city were open, but some staff had been asked to work from home. EU institutions were also open with soldiers patrolling outside. 

Interior Minister Jan Jambon told RTL radio, however, that the capital was still operating. “Apart from the closed metro and schools, life goes on in Brussels,” he said. 

Workers were also setting up stalls for the city center Christmas market, which is due to open on Friday, and organizers of the Davis Cup tennis final between Belgium and Britain in the city of Ghent, 55 km (35 miles) from the capital, said it would go ahead this weekend. 

AIRCRAFT CARRIER 

French jets from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier struck Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria on Monday, while Britain offered France the use of an air base in Cyprus to hit the militants behind the Paris attacks. 

French President Francois Hollande met British Prime Minister David Cameron in Paris as part of efforts to rally support for the fight against Islamic State. Hollande is also due to visit Washington and Moscow this week. The French president and U.S. President Barack Obama will hold a joint news conference on Tuesday morning, the White House said. 

French jets taking off from the country’s flagship in the eastern Mediterranean destroyed targets in Ramadi and Mosul in Iraq on Monday in support of Iraqi forces on the ground, the French armed forces said in a statement. 

In the evening, a raid was carried out on Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, where the French armed forces said planes destroyed several facilities including a command center. {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

In a nearly unprecedented move last year, a black megachurch absorbed a smaller white church in a bold statement about racial relations in the church and in America. 

Now, Shiloh Church is experiencing “miraculous” growth and financial blessings, which campus pastor Dan Beckwith attributes to the merger.  

“With former Ridgewood members, local Shiloh members, and new people coming in from the community we have seen tremendous growth,” Beckwith says. “Financially the Lord has also blessed this new work. We managed to meet budget and we kicked off a capital campaign to further eliminate the debt. The Lord’s hands have surely been on this merger and renewed this church to a place of effective ministry in this community.” 

Here’s how the merger went down, according to Christianity Today:

Shiloh Church—an 8,000 member African-American church—wanted to expand its campus. At the same time, predominantly white 500-member Ridgewood Baptist Church was deeply in debt and wanted to rent from Shiloh. 

When push came to shove, the churches merged with Shiloh Senior Pastor H.B. Charles Jr. at the helm. 

“God is forcing us as a church to put our money where our mouth is,” Charles said at the time. “This is a step of faith for us.”

Now, Shiloh Church is a pinnacle of race relations both in the church and beyond. 

“We’re learning to love beyond our culture and others learn to love beyond theirs,” Charles says. “It requires humility, unity and a willingness to change and grow, but they’re good challenges that we’re looking forward to facing.”

The state of Arkansas must record the names of both partners in a same-sex marriage on the birth certificates of their children, a judge ruled on Monday.

Three lesbian couples had challenged the refusal of the Arkansas Health Department’s Vital Statistics Bureau to identify them as the adoptive or biological parents of their respective children.

Monday’s order applies only to the three couples who brought suit. They claimed they were unconstitutionally denied the treatment afforded heterosexual parents, including unmarried parents. 

Circuit Judge Tim Fox of Little Rock, who ruled from the bench, said he would consider broadening his finding to include all same-sex couples with children in Arkansas, and issue a written decision later.

“He made it pretty clear where he’s going,” said Cheryl Maples, attorney for the plaintiffs.

“It’s another step forward for gay couples,” Maples said, “and I’m sure the next step is right around the corner.”

The couples, all married, filed suit after the U.S. Supreme Court in June made same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

The state resisted on largely technical grounds, arguing that the issue was not same-sex marriage but long-established regulations governing the identification of biological and adoptive parents on official documents.

The state said the policy could be changed only by the Arkansas Health Board or by the legislature. 

A spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said she would await the judge’s ruling on the broader question before deciding whether to appeal. {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

The pastor had just delivered his Sunday morning sermon when he stepped behind the stage and collapsed, later dying of a “cardiac event,” according to reports. 

Eddie Crain was the children’s pastor at NorthPointe Community Church in Fresno, California.  

“He literally had just poured his heart out in his passion to make a difference for kids,” pastor Steve Williams posted on the church’s Facebook page. Please pray for his family and for all who will be so deeply impacted by this loss.

Crain leaves behind his wife and five sons.  

“We don’t get over our grief, we get through it. We can have confidence that God walks through this with us,” Williams writes in another Facebook post. “In Hebrews 13 God promises that, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’

“We can trust that God is good. Even when there are so many questions we just don’t have the answers for — about why, why now, and what’s the meaning in this? Everything that we know about God leads us to trust all that we don’t understand about God.

“We’re in uncharted waters as a church family, but we know that Jesus goes with us. And that we will do this together.” 

Please keep the church and the Crain family in your prayers, especially as Thanksgiving approaches.

Cities across the U.S. are on high alert this Thanksgiving week amid concerns of a potential holiday terror attack.

In New York, NYPD officers swarmed a subway station during a planned simulation of an active shooter underground.

“These exercises are vitally necessary in New York City; we are, at this time, very well prepared,” NYPD Police Commissioner William Bratton said.

Security is especially tight at locations considered “soft targets”—everyday places where large crowds gather, such as sporting events or shopping malls.

Over the weekend, Atlanta police received a tip from the hacker activist group Anonymous about a possible ISIS threat during a WWE event. Although nothing happened, Americans are on high alert.

Meanwhile in Europe, authorities continue their hunt for suspects from the Paris attacks.

Brussels, Belgium, is on the highest terror alert level for the third day in a row, with the threat of attack considered “imminent.” The city is virtually on lockdown. Officials have closed schools and subway service has been suspended.

Meanwhile, the West is pulling together to support France and ramp up the war against the Islamic State.

British Prime Minister David Cameron says he will ask Parliament to approve allowing the British military to join in on the air strikes against ISIS in Syria.

“I firmly support the action President Hollande has taken to strike ISIL in Syria,” Cameron said. “It is clear the world is coming together to tackle this terrorist threat.”

This week, French President Francois Hollande will travel to both Washington, D.C., and Moscow to talk with President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin about ways to fight back against ISIS.

Folks around Salem, Virginia, were ready to jingle the government’s bells after they implemented a ban on Christmas trees and religious Christmas carols in the public spaces of the local VA hospital.

The holiday hullabaloo began last week when workers received an email announcing that Christmas trees would no longer be allowed in public spaces at the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

“Trees (regardless of the types of ornaments used) have been deemed to promote the Christian religion and will not be permitted in any public areas this year,” the email stated.

According to the federal government’s telling of the Christmas story, not only did the three wise men delivered gold, frankincense and myrrh—they also brought along a Douglas fir adorned with sparkling lights.

The VA also warned employees that “public areas may only be decorated in a manner that is celebratory of the winter season.”

In other words, candy canes are good, the baby Jesus is bad.

“Displays must not promote any religion,” they noted.

The VA went so far as to tell workers what kind of “holiday” music was permissible according to government standards.

“Music travels and should be secular (non-religious) and appropriate to the work environment,” the email stated.

The VA decided to go into full Grinch-mode and ban visiting entertainers from warbling any Christmas carol that included the words “Christ” or “Christmas.”

“They told me I could sing ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ but I couldn’t sing about Christ,” Pastor John Sines, Jr. told me. “I couldn’t sing about anything that had the word Christmas in it. I could sing what they referred to as ‘holiday’ songs.”

The Rev. Sines, the pastor at Rock Pike Baptist Church in Forest, Virginia, was a bit flustered by the rules. All he wanted to do was entertain the veterans.

“My agenda wasn’t so I could push Jesus on the veterans,” he said. “I just wanted to honor the veterans and to say thank you.”

So the good reverend politely told the VA Hospital that he was not going to abide by the rules.

“I let those folks know I wasn’t going to be bullied into their way of thinking,” he said. “We’re rednecks. We don’t have no problem standing our ground.”

Pastor Sines said he wasn’t trying to cause any trouble—he just wanted to do what the Constitution allowed him to do.

“I have a Constitution that protects my freedom and I have God, who said He would protect me from everything else,” the pastor told me.

In addition to Pastor Sines—the VA had to contend with outraged employees and veterans and the local townsfolk. So on Friday—they reached a compromise.

Pastor Sines said he was re-invited to perform and Christmas trees will once again be allowed in the public spaces—so long as other faiths are also represented.

That includes “the Jewish Menorah, or Hanukkah Lamp, and the Kwanzaa Mkeka (decorative mat) or Kinara (candleholder).”

They cited VA Directive 0022, titled, “Religious Symbols in Holiday Displays in VA Facilities.” The directive states that religious symbols may only be allowed in a public area if they display does not favor one religion over another, and conveys a primarily secular message.

So the only way folks can celebrate Christmas is if they also celebrate Kwanzaa and Hanukkah.

“This compromise allows for the Salem VAMC to be in full compliance with Federal mandates that prohibit U.S. government facilities, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, from ‘favoring one religion over another’ while providing the diversity and flexibility for employees and Veterans to celebrate the holidays according to their individual faith structure,” the VA stated.

Sounds to me like somebody’s been smoking too much mistletoe.

The federal government may cite VA directive 0022 for its definition of Christmas—but I prefer to cite the holy Bible. And the Good Book declares that Jesus is the Reason for the Season not a decorative mat.

When it comes to losing weight, the body can have a gender bias. According to one physician, hormone imbalances put women at a disadvantage. But women can possibly hit a hormone reset button and still shed those unwanted pounds.  

Laurie Mazzone is living proof it works. After years of frustration, the New York City hair stylist found a way to reclaim her high school figure. Resetting her hormones helped her lose 11 pounds in just three weeks, followed by another seven, and she’s not done.

“I lost four inches off my waist. Four inches in a month is unbelievable. I had not seen that kind of result in anything that I’ve done,” Mazzone said.

On a Hunch

Mazzone balanced her hormones under the direction of San Francisco gynecologist Sara Gottfried. The Harvard and M.I.T. educated physician lost 25 pounds when she first tried it on herself.

But it didn’t start out that way. At first, when she was 25 pounds overweight, Dr. Gottfried went to a fellow physician who told her to eat less and exercise more. 

Since she already had a pretty healthy diet and was a runner, she didn’t accept his advice. Then she saw another physician who prescribed an antidepressant, a treatment she also rejected.

As a physician, Dr. Gottfried had a hunch her problem might be hormonal. She tested her hormone levels, something no other doctor thought to do, and as it turns out, her hormone levels were all off the charts: either way too high or way too low.

Using her medical expertise, she discovered a natural way to balance her hormones, and as a result, lost the weight. Now she feels great. Gottfried realized other women needed to know what she found out.

“I started to share it with women in my practice,” she recalled. “And the results were amazing. Women lost on average about 15 pounds; they dropped their blood sugar by 21 points; they lost four inches off their waist. We now have had 5,000 people go through this program.”

Balancing Act

If one or more of seven key hormones is out of whack, forget about losing weight. But the good news is we can balance them—with our fork.

Specific foods can disrupt hormone levels. That can be fixed by avoiding the disruptive food for at least three days.

In her book, The Hormone Reset Diet, Dr. Gottfried lays out a 21-day plan for seven weight-related hormones.

Mazzone liked the fact that she could ease into a new routine.

“It was gradual. It wasn’t like a shock to my system. It wasn’t like, ‘Ok, now you’re off all these foods at once,’ and it wasn’t overwhelming. It was done in small little bits and pieces,” she said.

Mazzone started by giving up red meat and alcohol, which can raise estrogen.

Dr. Gottfried explained the role of the hormone.

“Estrogen is what makes us feminine. It gives us breasts and hips. But when it’s out of whack, when it’s too high relative to progesterone, it’s going to make you have weight loss resistance. You’re not going to be able to lose weight no matter what,” Gottfried explained.

There are, however, substitutes that Mazzone found extremely helpful.

“When I came home at night I would get a wine glass and I would just fill it with seltzer and apple cider vinegar and I felt like I was drinking wine,” she said.

While still avoiding red meat and alcohol, for the next three days Mazzone eliminated fruit from her diet in order to reset the hormone Leptin, which, according to Dr. Gottfried, has a big impact on our weight.

“It’s the satiety hormone. And that means it controls your hunger,” she explained.

While still avoiding red meat, now for six days, and fruit for three days, Laurie added caffeine to the “off limits” list because it can disrupt the hormone cortisol.

“Cortisol is the main stress hormone,” Gottfried said. “And when it’s too high, it grows this muffin-top. It just gives you belly fat that you can’t get rid of.”

Mazzone was afraid she wouldn’t be able to handle going without coffee, but she was pleasantly surprised.

“So once I came off the caffeine I was sleeping like a baby,” she said.

The thyroid is another hormone that causes women lots of problems. Dr. Gottfried said for optimal health we need to be in the “Goldilocks” range: not too high, not too low.

“Some of the common symptoms are thinning hair, weight gain – typically 10, 20 pounds – fatigue, depression. It can also give you a sense of being puffy—you know, fluid retention, which I think is really common,” she said.

In order to reset your thyroid, go without grains. That was a tall order for Mazzone.

“I grew up in an Italian family and they serve you like a half a pound of pasta. So I was dying. ‘How am I going to do that?'” she said. She did it by eating pasta substitutes, such as spaghetti squash, shredded zucchini or Shriataki noodles.

Next, avoid sweets to balance insulin. Mazzone said this takes discipline, but only at first.

“The sugar cravings were completely gone after four days,” she recalled. “And I was really addicted to sugar!”

Abstain from milk products to reset your growth hormone.

“Dairy I thought would be hard for me because I like cheese so much,” Mazzone confessed. “But I replaced it with hummus and I was fine. I didn’t even miss it.”

Finally, avoid environmental toxins, such as plastic and certain cosmetics to balance testosterone levels. Dr. Gottfried says most women don’t realize how we are bombared with toxins in our everyday life, such as in our beauty and healthcare products.

“The average woman puts on about 515 synthetic chemicals on her skin,” she said.

Blank Canvas Experiment

After avoiding those seven categories or foods, your hormones are now reset. You don’t necessarily have to avoid these foods forever. The way to determine which ones are ok for you to eat, and which ones aren’t, is to add one food back every three days while closely monitoring how your body responds to it. Everyone is different.

“Then you feel like a blank canvas,” Mazzone said. “And you’ve gotten rid of all these foods and you feel so great. And then you get to bring them back and see what happens. And that’s kind of interesting.”

When she resumed eating red meat, there was no change in her body, so it’s still on the menu.

Dairy, however, brought a different result. She gained five pounds in just three days after adding it back to her diet. That was a clear sign that she needed to stay away from dairy for good.

“I felt like I was doing a science project on myself,” she said.

That was just the beginning.

“I missed my caffeine, I thought,” Mazzone said. “So I had a cup of coffee. And that night I didn’t sleep. And that was it. I just never had it again.”

So for women, hormones often dictate whether the body will burn fat or hold on to it. By replacing disruptive foods with healthy substitutions, we gain another weapon in the battle of the bulge.