LLX News

By: Caitlin Burke – CBN News; cbn.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Large-scale protests are ongoing across Iran even after the government restricted internet access and blocked social media apps. Now, U.S. lawmakers are urging the State Department to do more to help the Iranian people. 

While the U.S. recently eased international internet restrictions to counter Tehran’s government censorship, billionaire Elon Musk wants to take it one step further. He wants to provide Iranians with Starlink, his unique satellite internet service. While the satellites are now active over Iran, the signal won’t be accessible until portable receivers can be distributed throughout the country.

“In Ukraine, he pushed thousands of them, but obviously, we had a government to work alongside. In Iran, we don’t. But there are NGO’s on the ground. We have covert means through various partnerships and routes that we can get these things in,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) told CBN News.

Congressman Waltz believes the U.S. government should coordinate those efforts. He and Rep. Maria Salazar recently wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting the State Department get involved.

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2022/october/elon-musk-seeks-to-use-his-starlink-to-help-iranians-battling-oppression

By: Nicole Alcindor – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

To be ‘anti-Semitic would be rejecting Jesus’

Christians in the United States are being urged to use their influence to combat anti-Semitism amid a staggering rise in hate crimes and other incidents targeting Jewish Americans in recent years.

As a leading Jewish civil rights organization reports that 2021 saw violence against Jews reach record levels, followers of Christ have a role to play in fostering acceptance for their Jewish neighbors and pushing back against anti-Semitic conspiracy theories within their spheres of influence, Christian scholars say. 

“I think through genuine conversation, we begin to reflect on how our own churches or communities expressed anti-Semitism, either consciously or unconsciously, wittingly or unwittingly,” Christian theologian Rev. Lee B. Spitzer, an affiliate professor of church history at Northern Seminary in Illinois, told The Christian Post.

cont’d…

https://www.christianpost.com/news/how-christians-can-combat-the-rising-tide-of-anti-semitism.html

By: Anugrah Kumar – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

How do today’s teens across faith groups think about Jesus, the Bible and justice? The U.S.-based Christian polling firm Barna posed this question to nearly 25,000 teens in 26 countries and got encouraging answers.

“Data show it’s rare that teens think poorly of Jesus,” says Barna, which found that most of them have a positive perception of Him, with 49% of teens describing Jesus as “loving,” 46% believe He offers hope, and 43% say He cares about people. 

Only 8% said He is detached from today’s real issues, 7% believe He is judgmental, 6% think He is irrelevant, and 4% say He is hypocritical.

“The global impression of Jesus is that he is trustworthy, generous, wise, peaceful … and the glowing list goes on,” Barna added.

cont’d…

https://www.christianpost.com/news/survey-reveals-what-teens-think-of-jesus.html

By: John Waage – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL–The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) is expecting more than 2,000 Christian tourists to return to Israel for the annual Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) celebrations, beginning October 9.

For the past two years, tourism was heavily restricted in Israel, as it was nearly everywhere, due to COVID lockdowns.

The anticipated turnout has encouraged the embassy staff.

“After all the global travel bans of recent years, the response from our worldwide following has truly been amazing,” said ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler. “Our Feast clearly signals that Christian tourism to Israel is back.”

The embassy will welcome attendees from 70 nations, including government officials and dignitaries from Africa, Europe, and Latin America.  They also will host singers and musicians from nations including the US, Canada, Brazil, Australia and Finland, Ivory Coast, Fiji, and Iran, along with local Israeli artists.

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2022/september/after-nearly-three-year-absence-christian-tourists-return-to-israel-for-icej-feast

By: Seth J. Frantzman – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

Iran reportedly has around 20 types of ballistic missiles, some of which are copies of missiles developed in North Korea, or have origins in Russian and Chinese missiles.

Iran held a military parade on Thursday and unveiled what it claimed to be a new ballistic missile.

The missile is a medium-range ballistic rocket capable of traveling around 1,400km, according to Iranian media. Images of the missile were also shown in Iranian media. Called “Rezvan”, the missile was shown during a parade that marks Iran’s victory over Iraq in the 1980-1988 war. 

With a range of 1,400 km, the missile would be capable of striking anywhere in the Middle East as well as in parts of Europe.

“It’s a precision ballistic missile,” the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Hossein Salami, said, according to Iran’s IRNA. Iran has increased both the precision and range of its missiles in recent years and it has been increasing its abilities to launch satellites and manufacture drones. Iran has reportedly provided Russia with Shahed-136 drones.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-717930

By: Chris Mitchell – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel —It is quite a sight to see a group of cattle arriving at Israel’s busy Ben Gurion Airport.

A recent delivery of five red heifers from Texas to Israel is causing quite a stir. Talk is growing that their arrival is prophetic, and a prerequisite to the return of the Messiah.

Some rabbis believe the ashes of a red heifer are necessary for purifying priests to serve in a future Temple. 

The heifers were discovered and brought to Israel with the help of the Boneh Israel – “Building Israel” – organization and its team leader, Byron Stinson.

Rabbis from the Temple Mount Institute in Jerusalem approached Stinson about the unique cattle.   

“They said, ‘Byron, could you… in Texas find us a red heifer?’ And I wasn’t expecting that that day and it was shocking to me to think about it. But I know a lot of ranchers and I know a little bit about cattle and being in Texas,” Stinson recalled. “I always say yes to these Jewish rabbis because they’re my friends and I love them, and why not?”

This began an in-depth process of finding the rare heifer that meets key stipulations found in the Bible.

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2022/september/texas-red-heifers-arrival-stirs-prophetic-excitement

By: Adam Milstein – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

In recent years, while much of the Jewish community has been keenly focused on antisemitism on college campuses, we have largely overlooked another growing danger. Activist teachers and administrators have increasingly injected antisemitism into American public and private high schools through expanded Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) departments and policies and by promoting radical curricula steeped in Critical Race Theory (CRT), such as the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (LESMC). Through this ideology, American Jews are implicitly and sometimes, explicitly, portrayed as privileged white oppressors. By extension, the Jewish State, Israel, is described as an oppressive ethno-state engaged in apartheid, colonialism, and ethnic cleansing.  

We are starting to see the consequences of this campaign. Highschool students, both in public and private schools around the nation are engaging in antisemitic bullying and harassment toward their Jewish peers. Amplified through social media and group chats, the phenomenon has become increasingly frequent in high schools. Antisemitism also rears its head in high school sports and a there’s a spike in antisemitic graffiti, like swastikas. Physical violence rooted in antisemitism has become increasingly common in the U.S. and worldwide, from Los Angeles to Atlanta, Palm Beach, New York, and even in Australia. 

Last month, a federal investigation found that during the 2018 and 2019 school years, a Tempe, Arizona, based Kyrene School District violated the civil rights of a middle schooler when she was forced to endure repeated antisemitic harassment in class. Nine students harassed and called her antisemitic names, in addition to making frequent jokes about the Holocaust.

cont’d…

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-717053

By: Julie Stahl – CBN News; cbn.com

TEL AVIV, Israel – When God wanted to tell the story of His faithfulness through the ages, He chose to do it through the Jewish people.  Now, that history is the subject of a new museum in Israel.

It’s called Anu – it means “us” – The Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. Its goal:  tell the story of God’s chosen people from Abraham until today. 

It’s the biggest museum of its kind in the world. So, while there are literally hundreds of Jewish museums all over the world. This is the only one that attempts to tell the whole story, historically, geographically, and thematically,” says Dan Tadmor, CEO of Anu, The Museum of the Jewish People.

The museum uses artifacts, stories, artwork, and innovative technologies to tell the good and sometimes difficult history of the Jewish people like never before. 

Tadmor believes this story is relevant to both Jews and non-Jews. 
“We refer to Judeo-Christian values as the bedrock of Western society. They are Judeo-Christian values. It’s the things that we share. It’s the values of the Bible,” Tadmor explained.

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2022/september/new-museum-shares-the-story-of-the-jewish-people-like-never-before

By: Emily Jones – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israel is celebrating the second anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords, a historic series of agreements that saw Israel normalize ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Jerusalem for the first time on Thursday to mark the occasion. He kicked off his trip by visiting Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

The foreign minister laid a wreath at Yad Vashem’s Hall of Remembrance in honor of the six million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis.

“I am here today to remind ourselves of the lessons that history teaches us and the great responsibility upon us to act with tolerance for building our community and society,” he wrote in the guestbook. “We must take the brave step of building a bridge of true peace for the coming generations.”

Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan called the foreign minister’s visit a “momentous occasion.”

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2022/september/uae-rsquo-s-foreign-minister-visits-yad-vashem-meets-israeli-leaders-in-honor-of-abraham-accords

By: Talia Wise – CBN News; cbn.com

A group of Chinese exiles fleeing from religious persecution are seeking asylum in Thailand after being denied refuge in South Korea. 

Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, a group of 60 Chinese Christians, said they fled the communist regime in 2019 to escape religious persecution.

“Political pressure is rising, and there’s more and more ideological control,” said Pastor Pan Yongguang, whose church has been on the run for years. “The persecution is growing worse.”

“They didn’t want us to teach our children the Bible, and children are banned from attending church. This went against our faith and our consciences,” he told Union of Catholic Asian News, earlier this year. 

He added that he was constantly questioned by Chinese officials, but his congregation came under intense pressure in 2019, when citizens in Hong Kong began to protest leaders. 

Pan asked members to vote on whether or not to stay in the country.

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2022/september/homeless-jobless-stateless-but-not-faithless-chinese-christian-exiles-denied-asylum-now-flee-to-thailand