Oldest Surviving Copy of Hebrew Bible Recognized as UNESCO World Treasure

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Oldest Surviving Copy of Hebrew Bible Recognized as UNESCO World Treasure

Aleppo Codex (Photo: Reuters)/Ammar Awad

Christian Post Report – A picture depicting the 10th century Aleppo Codex is displayed during a news conference at Jerusalem’s Yad Ben-Zvi institute December 2, 2007. The institute said last month that a 1,000-year-old parchment, the size of a credit card, forms part of the Aleppo Codex, viewed by scholars as one of the most authoritative manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible. The parchment was kept as a lucky charm by Sam Sabbagh, a Syrian Jew who in 1947 plucked it from the floor of an Aleppo synagogue that was torched after a United Nations decision to partition Palestine, paving the way for the creation of Israel.

The Aleppo Codex, the oldest surviving copy of the Hebrew Bible that some experts believe all versions of the Old Testament stem from, has been recognized by UNESCO as an important world treasure.

I24News reported that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization added the millennium-old Codex earlier this week to its International Memory of the World Register, which honors some of the most important discoveries relating to human history.

Adolfo Roitman, the head curator of the Shrine of the Book Museum in Jerusalem, which holds the Codex, explained its significance, stating that all current versions of the Old Testament stem, “in one way or another, from this ancient manuscript.”

Dead Sea scrolls(Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner)Amir Ganor, director of the unit for the prevention of antiquities robbery in the Israeli Antiquities Authority, shows a document, thought to be an ancient text written on papyrus, at Jerusalem Magistrates Court May 6, 2009. According to the Israeli Antiquities Authority, the document is written in ancient Hebrew script, which is characteristic of the Second Temple period and the first and second centuries CE. This style of writing is primarily known from the Dead Sea scrolls and various inscriptions that occur on ossuaries and coffins. It was seized from two men suspected to be antiquities robbers in an elaborate undercover operation

The Codex is believed to have been written somewhere around the year 930 in the town of Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. It has been moved around through several different cities, and as many as 190 pages are missing from the surviving copy, though scholars disagree where and when they were lost.

It was smuggled out of Syria and arrived in Israel in 1958, before it was eventually moved to the Israel Museum in the mid-1980s.

It is also not clear who precisely owns the Codex, though filmmaker Avi Dabach, who is planning to make a documentary about the ancient manuscript, believes that it belongs to the Jewish community that fled Syria.

“In the 1960s the Aleppo-Jewish community sued the people who brought the Codex to Israel. … The Israeli Authorities decided to confiscate this item and then, from a position of strength, force on the community an arrangement,” Dabach has said.

Although the Aleppo Codex is considered the oldest copy of the Hebrew Old Testament, there are much older fragments of biblical manuscripts in existence, such as the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls.

The scrolls, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, date back to the first and third centuries BCE, and contain texts from the Old Testament pertaining to the birth of Christianity. They are believed to have been hidden from approaching Roman armies in the caves in the Judean desert on the shores of the Dead Seas somewhere around 68 BCE.

Back in September 2011, the scrolls were made available online through a joint effort by Israel’s national museum and Google, whereas previously only a small group of scholars had read them.

Source : Christian Post

Sexual Sin Is Not Enough To Take you To Hell – Pastor Sunday Adelaja

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Sexual Sin Is Not Enough To Take you To Hell – Pastor Sunday Adelaja

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Franklin Graham Warns Christians Will ‘Lose This Country’ If They Don’t Vote

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Franklin Graham Warns Christians Will ‘Lose This Country’ If They Don’t Vote

Franklin Graham (Photo: Reuters/Allison Shelley)

Christian Post Report – Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, addresses the crowd at the Festival of Hope, an evangelistic rally held at the national stadium in Port-au-Prince, January 9, 2011.

The Rev. Franklin Graham implored Christians to vote based on their biblical values in South Carolina on Tuesday, warning that they may “lose this country” if they don’t participate in the 2016 election.

Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, made his comments while on his latest stop in Columbia, South Carolina, as part of his Decision America Tour.

The evangelical leader told the crowd of over 7,000 that although he is not endorsing any one political candidate, Christians must remember their biblical values when voting in the upcoming election, warning that if believers don’t get involved in politics, “we’re going to lose this country.”

“America is being stripped of biblical heritage,” Graham said while speaking at the State House in Columbia this week, adding that he encourages American Christians to “vote for candidates who stand for biblical truth and biblical principles, and are willing to live them.”

“I want to get to as many Christians as I can to vote in the next election,” the evangelical leader continued. “Our country is going in the wrong direction. And I think some of the politicians that are running have tapped into the anger and the frustration in this country. And I want Christians to know that their vote does count and we’ve taken God out of government, schools and everything else and we need to get God back into it.”

“Our society is unraveling and it’s coming apart,” Graham added.

The evangelist’s latest stop in South Carolina comes ahead of the state’s presidential primary set to take place on February 20. Graham has already stopped in Iowa and New Hampshire ahead of their recent Caucus and primary votes, respectively.

The religious leader echoed a similar sentiment on his recent visit to Georgia, where he encouraged an audience in Atlanta to fight against society’s use of political correctness.

“You try to lift up the name of Christ in any public form, and what happens? The lawyers come and say ‘we’re gonna sue you.’ And so people begin to back up; people go ‘I don’t want get sued.’ Let me tell you: Get sued. Get sued,” Graham told the crowd.

When speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, in January, Graham said he has “zero hope” for either political party, instead telling Christians that they must rely on their own moral conscience to make the right decision for the country.

“I have no hope in the Democratic Party. I have zero hope in the Republican Party […] My only hope is in the body of Christ,” Graham told the crowd of over 2,000.

On the Decision America website, Graham states that his goal with his nationwide tour is to “challenge Christians to live out their faith at home, in public and at the ballot box,” adding that he will also “share the Gospel” during his visits.

Although Graham has not officially endorsed any political candidate, he did applaud the recent results of the Iowa Caucus on social media, focusing on the large amount of evangelicals who turned out to cast their vote.

“The polls show that more evangelical Christians came out to vote last night than in 2008 or 2012. I hope that this will be true for both the Democratic and Republican parties and spread to every state,” Graham posted on Twitter earlier this month.

“If men and women who love God and fear Him will stand up and let their voices be heard at the ballot box, it will make a difference in our country. God bless America!” Graham added.

As The Christian Post previously reported, voter polling data from Edison Media Research found that in the recent Iowa Caucus, 64 percent of Republican voters identified as evangelical.

Source : Christian Post

Beyonce’s Mother Tina Knowles Reveals Favorite Worship Song

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Beyonce’s Mother Tina Knowles Reveals Favorite Worship Song

beyonce tina knowles (Photo: Reuters/Olivia Harris)

Christian Post Report – U.S. singer Beyonce Knowles (R) holds hands with her mother Tina Knowles on the catwalk after the launch of their first collection, The House of Dereon, at Selfridges September 17, 2011.

Just weeks before attending Super Bowl 50 with her pop superstar daughter Beyonce, Tina Knowles-Lawson was in church giving total praise while listening to one of her “favorite” gospel songs.

During the worship portion of a church service held at St. John’s Houston, Knowles took a few seconds to shoot an Instagram clip of the worship band singing and playing to Richard Smallwood’s 1996 song, “Total Praise.”

“One of my favorite church songs : ‘lift Your Hands in Total Praise,'” Knowles posted along with a clip of the entire church with hands lifted in worship.

“Total Praise” has become a staple song in gospel music, being covered by many churches and choirs throughout the years. In 2001 when Destiny’s Child was looking to do a gospel medley for their album “Survivor,” the Washington Post reported that Michelle Williams suggested “Total Praise” to fellow group members Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland. Although they did not cover the complete song, the girls used Smallwood’s “Amen” chorus as the final part of their gospel medley.

“Total Praise” is based on Psalm 121, in which King David wrote about relying on God during his most difficult times. “I lift up my eyes to the hills, From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth,” the psalm reads.

Beyonce has never shied away from mentioning God throughout the years. Early on with Destiny’s Child, she was known to occasionally sing a few gospel numbers and her faith can be accredited to her mother.

Knowles-Lawson, now remarried to actor Richard Lawson, in a keynoteaddress at the Texas Women’s Empowerment Foundation’s eighth annual Women & Money luncheon, shared her testimony and talked about growing up in the Christian faith as a Catholic.

She accredits all of her success as a fashion designer with House of Deréon to the tough skin she gained while attending Catholic school.

“The nuns picked on us a lot, my family. I didn’t understand at the time but my mom did the altar cloths. She did the altar boys’ uniforms. She worked for the nuns. My dad chauffeured the nuns around. My brothers cleaned the school yard,” she said. “And I often wondered why we were indentured servants to the church. And the nuns were very hard on me. They would always say, ‘You really don’t belong here. If you only knew, you’d be very grateful to be here. You’ve got a rebellious spirit. We need to take down that spirit and control it.'”

Source : Christian Post

Iran-Backed Militias Lead Attacks on Christians in Baghdad

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Iran-Backed Militias Lead Attacks on Christians in Baghdad

Radical militias with Iranian support are reportedly attacking Christian communities in Iraq, seizing property and sites of cultural interest.

Lisa Daftari of Foreign Desk wrote Tuesday that this was happening especially around Baghdad and attributed her information as coming from multiple sources, including “Christian members of the Iraqi Parliament,” “Christian community leaders,” and the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat.

“According to leaders, the seizures have been carried out in the upscale regions of Baghdad, where militia men have forced entry into homes and businesses with falsified documents,” wrote Daftari.

“Iraq’s Christians are considered to be one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, with their villages concentrated in Baghdad, Basra, Erbil and Kirkuk. The Assyrians had made the towns and regions around the Nineveh Plains in the north home, until IS forced them out.”

A religious minority who have ancient roots in the Middle Eastern nation, Iraqi Christians have found themselves the victims of increasing persecution.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the situation for Christians in Iraq has become increasingly hostile, with large numbers fleeing the nation.

With the rise of IS, Christians and other religious minority groups have found themselves in danger of what some have called a “slow-motion genocide.”

Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA recently ranked Iraq among the worst persecutors of Christians in the world today, noting that “Christians have lived in Iraq for two millennia but are currently on the verge of extinction.”

“Christians are caught here in the crossfire of two different battles: one for a Kurdish autonomous country and one for a religious cleansing of Iraq by Islamic terrorist groups who wish to make the country purely Islamic,” noted Open Doors.

“On the other hand, amidst the current crisis, there are also sparks of hope as opportunities arise for churches to reach out to refugees.”

News of the militia attacks on Christians in Baghdad comes as the European Union Parliament voted overwhelmingly to label IS’ actions in Iraq and Syria “genocide.”

Sophia Kuby, director of EU Advocacy at Alliance Defending Freedom International, told The Christian Post in a statement that she hoped the EU resolution will “save lives.”

“Genocide is an internationally recognized legal term and it is necessary to call for further steps such as a referral by the U.N. Security Council to the International Criminal Court in order to condemn and punish the perpetrators of genocide,” stated Kuby.

“We hope that the resolution that the European Parliament adopted today will ultimately help to save lives.”

Source : Christian Post

Candace Cameron Bure Takes Stand Against Foul Language on ‘The View’

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Candace Cameron Bure Takes Stand Against Foul Language on ‘The View’

Christian Post Report – Actress Candace Cameron Bure (L) and “The View” co-host Raven-Symone (R) on the show, October 19, 2015.

On Tuesday’s episode of ABC’s “The View,” the co-hosts talked about an obscene word recently said by Donald Trump at a recent campaign rally. The topic then led to “Fuller House” actress Candace Cameron Bure expressing her disapproval for foul language.<

While speaking at the New hampshire rally Monday night, Republican candidate Trump brought up Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and his hesitation when it comes to waterboarding. The incident became a point of discussion on “The View’s” Hot topics because the GOP candidate called attention to a woman in the crowd who used an obscene word to describe Cruz .

Trump immediately pointed out that “she just said a terrible thing,” and proceeded to ask her to do it again.

“You know what she said? Shout it out because I don’t want to say,” Trump instructed, but when he realized that most of the crowd could not hear the woman, he decided to repeat it.

The event, now a conversation on “The View,” evolved into a whole other topic altogether. Whoopi Goldberg argued that a lot of Americans feel they “should be able to say whatever” they want to.

As the conversation progressed, Bure pointed out that she has made it known to her fellow co-hosts that she “doesn’t like being called a b****.”

Goldberg acknowledge that Bure expressed her feelings and said that the ladies at the round table have quit using the word to describe a woman unless they can’t resist it.

Bure, however, insisted that she still hears it “around the table.” Joy Behar then tried to defuse the uncomfortable exchange with a joke.

“I have yet to call someone a skinny b****, and they say ‘how dare you call me a skinny b****?'”

People on Twitter immediately chimed in on the subject to express what they thought about using foul language as a term of endearment. See some of those comments below.

 

 

Bure has been heavily ridiculed for her Christian faith since she sprung back into the spotlight. After revealing that she was a submissive wife in her book Balancing it All, Bure was viciously attacked in the media for her views. She gracefully defended her stance by using scripture and went on to compete in Season 18 of “Dancing With the Stars.” While on the dance show, the actress also shared her modest values and went on to place third in the competition.

Source : Christian Post

Israeli Archaeologists Warn That New Western Wall Expansion Will Threaten Jewish History

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Israeli Archaeologists Warn That New Western Wall Expansion Will Threaten Jewish History

Christian Post Report – Workers remove notes from the cracks of the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, September 9, 2015. Workers on Wednesday cleaned out the cracks and made room for more paper notes that Jews believe are notes to God, ahead of the Jewish New Year that starts on September 12.A team of Israeli archaeologists have criticized plans to build a non-Orthodox prayer area at the Western Wall, arguing that the addition will destroy antiquities and Jewish history.

Nine prominent archaeologists recently penned a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, imploring him to stop plans to build a plaza at the Western Wall that would allow for non-Orthodox gatherings, including mixed-gender prayer, to take place.

The new proposal is part of a larger plan to ease tensions between the country’s Orthodox and liberal populations.

Previously, only Orthodox Jews have been permitted to worship at the Western Wall, which is considered to be the most holy prayer site for the Jewish religion. Mixed-gender gatherings and female-led prayer are forbidden.

The Western Wall serves as “the most important archaeological site for the Jewish people,” the letter argues, and renovations will mar the “diamond in Jerusalem’s archaeological crown.”

Specifically, the letter suggests that the new plaza will botch the historic value of the 7th Century Umayyad Palaces, located in the Western Wall’s southern area, where construction is expected to take place.

The letter was signed by nine well-known Israeli archaeologists and historians, including excavator and scholar Ronny Reich and Amihai Mazar, who serves as a professor at the Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem.

Muslims have also spoken out against the new plan, with the country of Jordan and the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf group, which controls Muslim sites in Jerusalem, voicing their discontent.

The groups have argued that the mixed-gender plaza will encroach on Muslim attractions in the region.

Jordanian Media Affairs and Communications Minister Muhammad Momani recently encouraged Israel not to “meddle” with the Umayyad Palace area, arguing that the site should be returned to his country’s jurisdiction due to its value to Islam.

Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, who oversees Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, added in a letter that the Umayyad Palaces should solely belong to Muslims, and all Jewish prayer should be forbidden from that part of the Western Wall.

“The Israeli police should remove all Judaization labels and pillars that have been entered into the site, and stop the Jewish religious prayers and parties,” Khatib said.

Israel’s Cabinet voted last week to expand the egalitarian prayer space.

As Al Jazeera News reports, the government’s decision to allow the wall’s expansion is meant to appease Jews at home and abroad in the U.S., where there is a larger liberal population.

“I know this is a sensitive topic, but I think it is an appropriate solution, a creative solution,” Netanyahu said during last week’s Cabinet meeting, when members voted to allow the common area.

While conservative and Muslim groups have denounced the decision, others have called the move revolutionary for inclusivity in the Jewish religion.

Batya Kallus, a member of the Women of the Wall group that helped arrange the new plan, told NPR that the decision was “groundbreaking,” adding, “We’ve reconceived what the Western Wall includes.”

“Any Israeli who wants to be with their family, to connect with the spiritual experience of being near the Western Wall can come and be fully welcomed,” Kallus added.

Kallus’ activist group has faced numerous arrests for praying at Orthodox areas of the wall where only men are allowed to lead prayer.

Source : Christian Post

Cam Newton’s Mother Cautions Him Not to Let the Devil Use His Platform

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Cam Newton’s Mother Cautions Him Not to Let the Devil Use His Platform

Christian Post Report – Panthers quarterback Cam Newton named MVP at NFL Honors Feb 7, 2016.

Before Cam Newton stormed out of his press conference following his Carolina Panthers’ Super Bowl 50 loss, the quarterback’s mother, Jackie, advised him to use his platform to promote Jesus Christ.

Newton, 26, has been a hot button issue in the NFL after critics have questioned his “Dab” dance endzone celebrations. However, his mother sent him a Christ centered text message before he entered the big game.

“I want you to understand that hot and cold water comes out of different fountains. You are either hot or cold,” she began her lengthy text message, shared by Newton on Instagram. “You have a big platform. Which fountain are you?”

While Newton was named the NFL MVP at the NFL Honors Saturday, his mother warned him against representing the devil with his public statements.

“Don’t let the devil win over your words or speech that represent the dark world. But represent the awesome God you serve through your words,” she wrote. “Don’t confuse the devil and the enemy of what you are on: so speak boldly to the nations that you represent Christ for the great things He has done. Through your language and actions, speak words to uplift and not tear down.”

She went on to tell her son not to promote the “devil’s workshop” and quoted Proverbs 18:21 which states, “death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

“The devil [doesn’t] like positive words. That’s why he keeps attacking because he ain’t happy,” she wrote. “You win with your character and powerful words that you speak.”

However, after Newton’s Panthers lost 24-10 in the big game against the Denver Broncos and lost two fumbles, completed only 18 of 41 passes for 265 yards without any touchdowns and an interception, he didn’t feel like speaking. After few words in the post game press conference, he decided to make a dramatic exit, which drew a great deal of criticism.

Deion Sanders, Hall-of-Fame-cornerback-turned-NFL-Network analyst, spoke out against Newton’s postgame behavior that left Super Bowl fans talking.

“I understand the emotions of losing, but you can’t do that. A Manning, a Brady – all these guys that have been a prototypical type of quarterback in our game, they’re not going to do that ever,” Sanders said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “You’re opening yourself for more criticism, because everybody is going to say you’re dabbing and smiling and smiling and styling. So this is how you go out when you lose?”

In his exit interview on Tuesday, Newton made it clear that he had no issues with the way he responded to losing.

“For me, nothing’s pretty much going to change. You get what you get,” Newton said during his exit interview. “I’ve been on record to say I’m a sore loser. You show me a good loser and I’m going to show you a loser.”

Still, he explained the emotions that many deemed as having poor sportsmanship.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about. I’ve seen so much blown out of proportion,” Newton said in his interview. “At the end of the day when you invest so much time, when you sacrifice so much and things don’t go as planned, I think emotions take over. I think that’s what happens.”

Before the entire Super Bowl debacle, his mother’s “powerful” words let Newton know to rise above his critics’ comments.

“Cam, you are highly favored. God is on your side, why should you fear what man should do or say,” she wrote. “Remember God!”

Source : Christian Post