As I showered in preparation for our last day of sightseeing, I reflected on many of the places we’ve visited. A list with a one- or two-sentence description would fill the rest of this blog. While each now holds a special place in my heart, and many brought the Bible to life and me to tears, one common thing connects them—fear. Rather, the lack of it.

I’ve realized how much we live in fear in the United States. With crime, murder and rape rates at mindboggling levels, we’re forced to bolt our doors at home, keep our cars locked while in the driveway, and be always mindful of our surroundings. Despite these safety precautions, robbery, theft, murder and rape dominate the nightly news.

Being the curious group we are, someone inquired about the rape statistics in Israel. The response was the number is so minuscule that a percentage doesn’t exist.

How incredible is that? Imagine living in a place where people can hitchhike at night, women no less, and not have to worry about being abducted and/or raped. Think about the peace a parent could have while their three-year-old boy walks into the market with two buddies the same age and not need anyone to occupy them. I’ve seen both during my visit here.

At first you think, at least I did, “Oh, is that safe?” But when you see it numerous times and you ask questions about it, you discover people don’t fear being mugged or kidnapped. Living in that bondage is not part of their daily life.

Granted, there are world leaders who’ve vowed to wipe the country off the face of the earth. That’s a different concern, on a much different level. But walking through life doing the things they love to do, they are able to do so without the fraught or worry that plagues us in the United States.

While visiting our sites, we’ve walked, talked, laughed and cried. And not once worried about our belongings or our safety. We’ve walked without fear, something we can’t always do at home.
How sad is that?

Learn more about Israel from Larry J. Leech II in future blogs and updates on Twitter and Facebook.

Believers are often confronted by skeptics who bark out their opposition to our present translation of Scriptures, charging that the translation is not the same as the original Word God gave to Moses, the prophets, and the apostles.

However, an event in 1948 helped settle the controversy of the authenticity of the 1611 translation of the English Scriptures as it relates to the Old Testament.

In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd boy was watching goats in the Judean wilderness near the western edge of the Dead Sea. Exploring several caves, he discovered a group of large clay jars. Inside were pieces of rolled, leather-like parchments. In 1948, the Bedouin sold seven parchments to Mr. Kando, a cobbler and antiquities dealer from Bethlehem, who eventually sold the scrolls. The most famous of the scrolls, it was discovered, was an ancient copy of the Book of Isaiah.

This valuable scroll was examined by scholars and purchased by the Hebrew University, who placed it on display at the Shrine of the Book Museum in Jerusalem. The scroll begins with the 16th chapter of Isaiah and continues through Isaiah 66. To the amazement of scholars, when this 2,000-year-old scroll was compared to the English translation of Isaiah from the 1611 King James translation of the Bible, they were both parallel, with the only exceptions being a few minor spelling differences and tense-oriented scribal errors.

This discovery was good news to believers in the inspiration of the Bible and sad news to skeptics of divine inspiration.

Some Western Hebrew scholars occasionally point out that there are misspelled words in certain sections of the Old Testament. These are usually identified as mistakes by the copyist. Thus the inspiration of the Scriptures is minimized by alleged human mistakes. The Jewish rabbis, however, have discovered that these so-called mistakes actually reveal a deeper meaning or a cryptic prophetic secret, indicating future events.

Mysteries of the Mistakes

When studying the Scriptures, Christian ministers often employ one of these methods to interpret or prepare a message:

The primary meaning—reading the story as a past or
future event

The practical meaning—how the story or verse can be personally applied to us today

The prophetic meaning—how the prophetic symbols and layers reveal mysteries of the future

Jewish rabbis are taught to analyze the Torah by using four different methods. They are:

Peshat—understanding the simple meaning of the text

Remez—an allusion, or an allegorical and philosophical level of study

Drash—the regal level, the Bible is understood using riddles and parables

Sod—the hidden meaning or the mystical level 17

Christ was a master at teaching on all four levels. He taught the simple and practical life truths through the Beatitudes, yet He also revealed the riddles using parables and privately revealed the mysteries of the kingdom to His disciples (Matt. 13:11).

Perry Stone is the author of numerous books, including Breaking the Jewish Code (Charisma House), from which this article is excerpted. To purchase a copy, click here.

Officials in Israel on Thursday indicted the man accused of sending a bomb to the home of a Messianic minister in March 2008 that nearly killed the pastor’s teenage son.

Jack Teitel, 37,  was indicted for attempted murder, among other charges, for allegedly sending a bomb hidden in a gift basket to the home of David Ortiz, pastor of a Messianic congregation in Ariel, Israel.

(Photo of Ami Ortiz, Compass Direct News)

The package, opened by Ortiz’s 15-year-old son, Amiel, damaged the family’s apartment and left Amiel covered with blood and burns, and full of needles and screws contained in the bomb. Now, 20 months later, 16-year-old Amiel is back in school and playing basketball.

When Teitel walked into court, the West Bank settler shouted that God was proud of him. “It was a pleasure and honor to serve my God,” Teitel reportedly said. “God is proud of what I have done. I have no regrets.”

Police said Teitel is an ultra-Orthodox Jewish nationalist who picked out his targets based on his nationalist philosophy.

Along with the Ortiz case, police said Teitel is responsible for the June 1997 shooting death of Samir Bablisi, a Palestinian taxi driver who was found in his cab with a single bullet wound to his head. Two months later, police said, Teitel shot Isa Jabarin, a Palestinian shepherd who was giving Teitel driving directions to Jerusalem.

Police also said that Teitel attempted to burn down a monastery and unsuccessfully planted several bombs. He is also accused of the September 2008 bombing of Zeev Sternhell of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The bombing left the emeritus history professor slightly wounded.

Teitel told police he was trying to kill David Ortiz, not injure his son.

In all, Teitel has been indicted for two cases of pre-meditated murder, three cases of attempted murder, carrying a weapon, manufacturing a weapon, possession of illegal weapons and incitement to commit violence.

Adi Keidar, Teitel’s attorney, reportedly said his client is “mentally unstable.” He cited Teitel’s alleged confession to acts he did not commit. After a psychiatric evaluation by the state, Teitel was deemed fit to stand trial.

Keidar is representing Teitel or behalf of the Honenu organization, a nationalistic law firm endorsed by Mordechai Eliyahu, a rabbi known for his far-right Orthodox views.

Honenu is known for defending, among others, Ami Popper. Popper was convicted in 1990 for shooting seven Palestinian workers who were waiting for a ride at a day labor pick-up site. Popper’s attack, like all others cited in Honenu’s website, was said to come “in response” to Palestinian aggression. Despite numerous attempts to contact Keidar, he could not be reached for comment.

David Ortiz said he is not surprised by Teitel’s claim that God is proud of him. Ortiz cited biblical verses where the early Christians were warned that one day people would kill them and think that they were doing the will of God. Teitel, Ortiz said, saw him as an enemy of the nation of Israel.

“He saw me and the professor as false prophets,” Ortiz said.

Police have brought no evidence linking Teitel to any other co-conspirator. But Ortiz’s wife, Leah, said she thinks Teitel worked with others. Teitel’s neighbor, Yosef Espinoza, was brought in for questioning and later released. Teitel does not speak Hebrew, but when he was arrested he was distributing handouts written in Hebrew criticizing homosexuals in Israel.

When his apartment was raided, police found a cache of illegal weapons he has been indicted for owning. Ortiz also said that a tape from a closed-circuit television camera taken on the day of the bombing shows Teitel was driven to the Ortiz apartment by another person.

Regardless, Leah Ortiz scoffs at the claim that Teitel was politically motivated. Instead, she said, he used politics and religion as a foil to justify murder.

“He is a serial killer,” she said.

In spite of all the pain that the Ortiz family has gone through, Leah Ortiz said she has seen much good come from the tragedy, including miraculous healings. She said that the bombing has helped soften the opinion of people in Israel toward Jews who believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

“It has made them face the facts of how they see Jesus,” she said.

Howard Bass, a leader of a Messianic congregation in Beer Sheva, Israel, said he isn’t so sure.

“It’s not that simple,” he said, adding that such attacks may help tolerant people to eschew violence, but that others will actually be encouraged by the bombings. “It makes people aware of how far they [people set against the Messianic Jews] will be willing to go and abhor them. It’s bringing things to light and forcing people to make a decision: What is good and what is evil?”

Hostile Environment

Bass himself was a victim of at least one attack by anti-missionary, Orthodox extremists. On Dec. 24, 2005, several hundred Orthodox Jews mobbed an outdoor service Bass held. The mob destroyed church equipment, terrorized congregants and threw Bass into a baptismal pool.

Bass has since sued Yad L’Achim, an Orthodox, anti-missionary organization he said is responsible for inciting the attack. A court decision in the case is due later this month.

On its website, Yad L’Achim asserts that missionaries are “devious” and are trying to “destroy the Jewish people.” The organization makes no distinction in its website between missionaries and Messianic Jews. The site also goes as far as to accuse Messianic Jews of “playing the victim to the hilt” in reference to the Ortiz bombing.

Despite numerous attempts to reach members of Yad L’Achim, no one was made available for comment.

According to the 2009 International Religious Freedom Report issued by the U.S. Department of State, there are 10,000 Messianic Jews in Israel. The report documents several cases of violence against Messianic Jews, including one case on May 15 in which “ultra-Orthodox residents of the Tel Aviv suburb of Rehovot attacked and beat a group of Messianic Jews who were handing out New Testament pamphlets on the street.”

Additionally, Bass cites a book published this week in Israel titled, The King’s Torah. Bass said the book encourages the killing of gentiles and anyone else deemed to be a threat to Israel.

“We’re seeing a spirit rising,” Bass said, “where they feel they have a legitimate right to kill anyone who threatens the Jewish state.”

Mentioning the book, David Ortiz agreed with Bass, calling the bombing and recent anti-Christian aggression “a shadow of things to come.”

As for what the Ortiz family wishes for Teitel, Leah Ortiz said she hopes he will receive a sentence that is “equal to his crime.” Because Israel has no death penalty, this very likely would mean life in prison.

Regardless of what happens in court, members of the Ortiz family say they have forgiven Teitel.  David Ortiz hopes one day to sit down face-to-face with Teitel and talk. He said he hopes Teitel will become another Apostle Paul.

“There is something inside him that makes him want to kill people. If God has had mercy on me, maybe he’ll have mercy on others,” Ortiz said. “The Lord forgave David and many people in the Bible—my goal and my prayer for him is that he will repent and be saved.”

A Florida-based ministry is racing to end human trafficking.

Run for Freedom will host a 5K race in Cocoa Beach Saturday to raise money and awareness about what the United Nations calls one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world.

“Our main purpose is to raise awareness about human trafficking,” said Rachel Manzo, whose parents founded Run for Freedom. “Most people think that it only happens overseas … but [it’s] right here in our own back yard.”

Listen to Rachel Manzo discuss human trafficking
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download mp3

Every year 1.2 million children and teenagers worldwide are abducted or coerced into prostitution, pornography or forced labor. This year the average victim is 13 years old.

Roughly100 people are expected to walk or run just over three miles Saturday. The event is Run for Freedom’s fifth 5K since September.

“[Sex trafficking is] nothing new,” said Mary Ann Manzo, who co-founded Run for Freedom with her husband, Pat. “It’s been around a long time, but in the day and age we live in, it is one of the fastest growing criminal activities happening in our world.”

The Manzos, who launched the ministry earlier this year, plan to use donations from the 5K to open a home for rescued trafficking victims. The ministry seeks to house 14 young women in the Dream Home, which is expected to open on Jan.1.

“It’s not the same as a drug rehab or an abused domestic violence situation,” Mary Ann Manzo told Charisma. “It’s very unique and different.”

Listen to Mary Ann Manzon discuss Run for Freedom
{audio source_mp3=””}
download mp3

The women, rescued by Florida law-enforcement during brothel raids, will be given spiritual rehabilitation through counseling and chapel services, and will be taught a trade. Upon leaving the one-year program, the women will be assisted with job placement.

Mary Ann Manzo says Christians who can’t run for freedom can help victims of sex trafficking through donations and prayer. She notes that some churchgoers also may be unwittingly contributing to the problem by secretly viewing pornography online.

“Unfortunately, statics are high in Christians being involved in pornography privately online,” Mary Ann Manzo said. “We need to know that anytime we visit a site and click on something to view, whether it’s paid for or unpaid for, we are becoming part of the demand. And the supply will need to be met. As we cut that demand back and become more holy in our style of living before God, we are able to help the problem that way as well.”

Believers around the world look to the Middle East for signs of peace. And the Bible tells us to pray for our enemies, for the peace of Jerusalem and more. Any human attempts to accomplish peace apart from God are futile, a temporary fix to a centuries-old problem. Scripture says, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov. 16:7). There will be no rest without intervention from the Prince of Peace. Click below to watch video.

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said President Barack Obama must choose between Israel and Iran. The comment was made Tuesday in Istanbul during an economic address before the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference.

“The support of both Israel and Iran can’t go hand in hand. No change is made unless great choices are made,” said Ahmadinejad. “We will clasp any hand that is extended sincerely toward us, but changes should be made in practice.”

During a briefing at the Middle East Institute in Washington, Undersecretary of State William Burns responded to the remarks: “We seek a relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran based upon mutual interest and mutual respect. We do not seek regime change. We have condemned terrorist attacks against Iran.

Burns said he recognizes “Iran’s international right to peaceful nuclear power.” He said the U.S. and its international partners are prepared to have serious discussions with Iran about “how it can resolve longstanding doubts about the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear ambitions … reinforced by the recent revelation of a clandestine enrichment facility near Qom.”

“We are ready to move with Iran along a pathway of cooperation, not confrontation, of integration, not animosity,” he explained. “But it depends squarely on the choices that Iran makes, on its willingness to meet its international obligations and responsibilities.”

[Source: International Christian Embassy Jerusalem; ]

As I showered in preparation for our last day of sightseeing, I reflected on many of the places we’ve visited. A list with a one- or two-sentence description would fill the rest of this blog. While each now holds a special place in my heart, and many brought the Bible to life and me to tears, one common thing connects them—fear. Rather, the lack of it.

I’ve realized how much we live in fear in the United States. With crime, murder and rape rates at mindboggling levels, we’re forced to bolt our doors at home, keep our cars locked while in the driveway, and be always mindful of our surroundings. Despite these safety precautions, robbery, theft, murder and rape dominate the nightly news.

Being the curious group we are, someone inquired about the rape statistics in Israel. The response was the number is so minuscule that a percentage doesn’t exist.

How incredible is that? Imagine living in a place where people can hitchhike at night, women no less, and not have to worry about being abducted and/or raped. Think about the peace a parent could have while their three-year-old boy walks into the market with two buddies the same age and not need anyone to occupy them. I’ve seen both during my visit here.

At first you think, at least I did, “Oh, is that safe?” But when you see it numerous times and you ask questions about it, you discover people don’t fear being mugged or kidnapped. Living in that bondage is not part of their daily life.

Granted, there are world leaders who’ve vowed to wipe the country off the face of the earth. That’s a different concern, on a much different level. But walking through life doing the things they love to do, they are able to do so without the fraught or worry that plagues us in the United States.

While visiting our sites, we’ve walked, talked, laughed and cried. And not once worried about our belongings or our safety. We’ve walked without fear, something we can’t always do at home.
How sad is that?

Learn more about Israel from Larry J. Leech II in future blogs and updates on Twitter and Facebook.

Believers are often confronted by skeptics who bark out their opposition to our present translation of Scriptures, charging that the translation is not the same as the original Word God gave to Moses, the prophets, and the apostles.

However, an event in 1948 helped settle the controversy of the authenticity of the 1611 translation of the English Scriptures as it relates to the Old Testament.

In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd boy was watching goats in the Judean wilderness near the western edge of the Dead Sea. Exploring several caves, he discovered a group of large clay jars. Inside were pieces of rolled, leather-like parchments. In 1948, the Bedouin sold seven parchments to Mr. Kando, a cobbler and antiquities dealer from Bethlehem, who eventually sold the scrolls. The most famous of the scrolls, it was discovered, was an ancient copy of the Book of Isaiah.

This valuable scroll was examined by scholars and purchased by the Hebrew University, who placed it on display at the Shrine of the Book Museum in Jerusalem. The scroll begins with the 16th chapter of Isaiah and continues through Isaiah 66. To the amazement of scholars, when this 2,000-year-old scroll was compared to the English translation of Isaiah from the 1611 King James translation of the Bible, they were both parallel, with the only exceptions being a few minor spelling differences and tense-oriented scribal errors.

This discovery was good news to believers in the inspiration of the Bible and sad news to skeptics of divine inspiration.

Some Western Hebrew scholars occasionally point out that there are misspelled words in certain sections of the Old Testament. These are usually identified as mistakes by the copyist. Thus the inspiration of the Scriptures is minimized by alleged human mistakes. The Jewish rabbis, however, have discovered that these so-called mistakes actually reveal a deeper meaning or a cryptic prophetic secret, indicating future events.

Mysteries of the Mistakes

When studying the Scriptures, Christian ministers often employ one of these methods to interpret or prepare a message:

The primary meaning—reading the story as a past or
future event

The practical meaning—how the story or verse can be personally applied to us today

The prophetic meaning—how the prophetic symbols and layers reveal mysteries of the future

Jewish rabbis are taught to analyze the Torah by using four different methods. They are:

Peshat—understanding the simple meaning of the text

Remez—an allusion, or an allegorical and philosophical level of study

Drash—the regal level, the Bible is understood using riddles and parables

Sod—the hidden meaning or the mystical level 17

Christ was a master at teaching on all four levels. He taught the simple and practical life truths through the Beatitudes, yet He also revealed the riddles using parables and privately revealed the mysteries of the kingdom to His disciples (Matt. 13:11).

Perry Stone is the author of numerous books, including Breaking the Jewish Code (Charisma House), from which this article is excerpted. To purchase a copy, click here.

About 40 Muslim extremists with machetes and clubs tried to break into a Sunday worship service outside Uganda’s capital city of Kampala on Nov. 1, leaving a member of the congregation with several injuries and damaging the church building.

Eyewitnesses said the extremist mob tried to storm into World Possessor’s Church International in Namasuba at 11 a.m. as the church worshipped.

(Photo: Compass Direct News)

“The church members were taken by a big surprise, as this happened during worship time,” said Pastor Henry Zaake. “It began with an unusual noise coming from outside, and soon I saw the bricks falling away one by one. Immediately I knew that it was an attack from the Muslims who had earlier sent signals of an imminent attack.”

The pastor said the disturbance brought the worship service to a standstill.

“There was a tug-of-war at the entrance to the church as members tried to thwart the Muslim aggression from making headway inside the church,” he told Compass.

A member of the congregation who was taking photos of the worship service—and then the attack—was beaten, sustaining several injuries, church leaders said. He was later taken to a nearby clinic for treatment. During the pandemonium, some church members were able to escape through a rear door.

Pastor Umar Mulinde added that nearby residents helped repel the attack.

“At the scene of the incident were rowdy Muslims with machetes and clubs ready to destroy the church,” Pastor Mulinde said. “The good neighbors of the church also came in, and we were able to overpower [the assailants].”

Police arrived and put a stop to the assault, but officers did not arrest anyone, church leaders said.

“We have reported the matter to the central police station, and we are surprised that no action has been taken,” Pastor Zaake said. “So far no person has been arrested as a result of this mayhem. It is as if the police are not concerned about our security and lives.”

Many in the church are now living in fear, he said, noting that last Sunday (Nov. 8), attendance decreased from 250 to 100 people.

“Since the attack we have been receiving a lot of threats from the Muslims,” Pastor Zaake said. “There is a conspiracy that we can’t understand. This trend really gives me sleepless nights.”

Area Muslims have long opposed the existence of the church in Namasuba, complaining that church members try to convert area Muslims. Christian sources said the initial pretext for damaging the church building was that its outdoor stairway encroached on the alley; the estimated US$535 (1 million Uganda shillings) in damages were limited to the stairway. The sources said that when the complaint of the stairway encroaching on the alley fell on deaf ears, local Muslim and community leaders criticized the church for making too much noise.

Namasuba is predominantly Islamic, with some estimates of Muslim adherents going as high as 80 percent of the population.

Pastor Zaake said area Muslims have been holding meetings at night, which he suspects concern plans to paralyze Christian activities.

“It looks like they are planning for another attack, especially in light of the threatening messages I have been receiving on my mobile phone from anonymous senders,” a worried Pastor Zaake told Compass by phone.

The church has been meeting in Namasuba since March. It is located four kilometers from Kampala on a quarter-acre parcel.

Although the Ugandan constitution guarantees religious freedom, authorities hardly prosecute Muslim attacks against Christians, church leaders said.

“The police silence on the whole issue is worrying and leaves a lot to be desired,” Pastor Zaake said.

“It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.” When piano-bar musician Tony Delgatto (George Segal) croons those . lyrics to a sloshed crowd in the new film 2012, he has no idea he’s performing the intro to a seismic disaster that’s about to take center stage on planet Earth.

It isn’t long, however, before everyone, everywhere in this apocalyptic movie, which opens Friday, realizes Mother Earth has started to reel like a drunken sailor and that something is terribly wrong with her. What unfolds is a special-effects bonanza about the collapse of the world and the story of those who survive it.

Set from 2009 to 2012, the film opens with a discovery that the Earth’s core temperature is rising rapidly. Causing this is an astro-physical phenomenon brought on by a freakish planetary alignment that occurs once every 640,000 years, according to ancient Mayan astronomers. They calculated the next alignment would start in 2010 and end on the winter solstice of 2012, or Dec. 21.

Right on cue, the planets line up, causing the sun to microwave the Earth’s molten core and “melt” the world’s landmasses. The result is a gargantuan displacement of Earth’s crust—fault lines rip open, bodies of land implode, underwater earthquakes spike the seismographs and roll the planet from pole to pole with 4,900-foot tsunamis. Geological carnage is wreaked on a world that, thanks to joint governmental conspiracies, is clueless that an apocalypse is brewing.

At the center of the action are Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) and Kate Curtis (Amanda Peet), a divorced couple with two preteen kids. The four are reunited by circumstances just as the catastrophe strikes Los Angeles, where they live. Jackson Curtis, who works part time for a livery and was famous once for his best-selling science-fiction novel, has amazingly gotten wind of what’s happening in the disturbed belly of the Earth. He’s made it his mission to save his family, no matter what.

He piles everyone into his company’s limousine to head for a local airport, where he’s chartered a flight out of the city. Just as he does, Los Angeles begins to writhe and belch its molten guts out. Streets curl, jerk and snap like a bullwhip while Jackson drives pedal to the metal, dodging collapsing freeways, exploding gas lines, falling parking garages, disintegrating high-rises and pesky ground fissures.

Director Roland Emmerich does a decent job of pairing the film’s unrelenting action with some lighthearted comic relief, just as he did with Independence Day. For one, he gives us Woody Harrelson as Charlie Frost, a pickle-poppin’ hippie who lives in Yellowstone National Park in an ancient RV, from which he does pirate-radio broadcasts to expose government cover-ups about 2012.

The onscreen action is practically nonstop over the course of 2012‘s gargantuan 158 minutes, but you might lose count of the number of times you’ll think, The chances of that person surviving that disaster is, oh, about a gazillion to one. And be prepared to roll your eyes at the lack of fear some of the characters exude in the face of utter devastation or certain doom. How many of us could really make wise cracks while we’re standing under a sky that’s raining fire?

The film also erroneously states that Christians refer to the end of the world as the rapture. And it pits the conclusions of Mayan seers against the Bible’s teaching that humanity does not know the precise time (certainly not to the year) when the world will end.

You can be certain that 2012 is a cinematic thrill ride. But also know that the price of admission to this adventure is a hefty helping of absurdity you’ll have to buy into to believe anyone, anywhere could escape the snapping jaws of our tranquil planet turned killer beast. But, after all, it’s only a movie; so buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Content Watch: 2012 is rated PG-13. This movie is about disaster. There may be scary sequences that involve disasters killing countless people. Scenes may be too intense for young children. There is one momentary view of gore and no sex or nudity.