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What Happens When Only President Obama Has an Umbrella On a Rainy Day?
The president holds his umbrella for staffers without their own. This happens when only President Obama has an umbrella?
When the president arrives on the South Lawn of the White House via a Marine Nighthawk helicopter, the customary protocol is for him to be well inside the White House before staffers follow behind. But in a driving rainstorm upon returning from New Jersey on Monday, Obama paused at the back entrance to the helicopter and motioned for two senior staffers to come out with him.
Evidently, Obama had the only umbrella on the helicopter.
The president then shared his umbrella with Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and Deputy Chief of Staff Anita Decker Breckenridge back to the Oval Office. A Marine guard and Secret Service agents stood by, drenched.
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Trump Receives Criticism From All Quarters for Proposal to Ban Muslims
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments about banning all Muslims from entering the U.S. have received harsh and abundant criticism.
CNN.com reports that, on Monday, Trump’s campaign issued a press release that stated, “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
Since entering the presidential race, Trump has become known for his often inflammatory rhetoric, but the controversy and condemnation caused by his recent statement is perhaps unparalleled.
Condemnation of Trump’s comments, which come in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting, carried out by alleged ISIS sympathizers, have come from all sectors.
Not surprisingly, the Democratic party has used Trump’s comments to level criticism against him and the GOP, but Trump’s fellow Republicans have also harshly criticized his statement.
Senator Ted Cruz stated, “That is not my policy.”
John Kasich said, “This is just more of the outrageous divisiveness that characterizes his every breath and another reason why he is entirely unsuited to lead the United States.”
“(Trump’s) habit of making offensive and outlandish statements will not bring Americans together. The next president better be somebody who can unite our country to face the great challenges of the 21st Century,” added Marco Rubio.
Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and Lindsey Graham were among others who disagreed with Trump’s proposal and condemned it as being against American values.
Trump did clarify that his proposal would only include Muslims who are attempting to enter the U.S. and would only be in effect “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
“I have Muslim friends, Greta, and they’re wonderful people. But there’s a tremendous section and cross-section of Muslims living in our country who have tremendous animosity,” he told Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren. “It does not apply to people living in the country, except we have to be vigilant.”
Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention on Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission also condemned Trump’s comments. … Read More
Justin Welby speaks on food poverty report
Justin Welby spoke of his shock at the “tragedy” of hunger in Britain today and blamed “unnecessary problems” in government benefit administration as he launched a report on food poverty in the Houses of Parliament.
The Archbishop of Canterbury warned a “large body of evidence” pointed to delays in benefit payments and the government’s sanctions policy being major causes behind why people use food banks.
However Welby cautioned against overly-politicising the debate.
“This is not saying the government is a complete failure any more than it is a saying it is a complete success,” he said as he launched the report by the all-party parliamentary group on hunger.
“No one gets it right all the time.”
The launch marked the anniversary of the first report into hunger by the cross-party group and Frank Field MP, the chair of the group, told Christian Today of his “real sense of sadness” that there was a need to do another report one year on.
“The government seems to treat the scandal of hunger as little more than a boil of no significance on our society,” he said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. The body of our country is wreaked by a raging fever called hunger.”
Field told Christian Today there was a “lack of urgency” in tackling this “huge national disgrace.”
“As a nation we cannot say how many countless children went to bed hungry last night and took their hunger into school tomorrow let alone why that is,” he said. ... Read More
25 Assyrian Christians released by ISIS
Over two dozen Christians kidnapped by Islamic State, including two children, have been freed, Christian Today has learned.
The Assyrian Church of the East in Syria today secured the release of 25 Assyrians who have been held hostage since February. A Demand for Action (ADFA), a campaign group for minorities in the Middle East, confirmed the release in an email to Christian Today.
Photos have been posted online showing the group being transported on a bus with a clergyman. The two young boys appear to be aged between 9 and 12 years old, and are the first children to have been released by ISIS.
The hostages were among more than 200 people abducted from villages along the Khabour River in northern Syria. These 25 were from the villages of Tal Jazirah, Tal Shamiran and Qabar Shamia. ... Read More
Obama vows to defeat ‘new phase’ in terrorist threat after San Bernardino shooting
President Barack Obama on Sunday laid out the most sweeping defence yet of his strategy to defeat Islamic State, but he offered no US policy shift to confront what he called a “new phase” in the terrorist threat after a mass shooting in California.
In a rare Oval Office address, Obama sought to calm a US public increasingly jittery about the fight against Islamist militancy that once appeared to be waged overseas. His remarks failed to quiet Republican critics who have long accused him of underestimating the militants’ strength and staying power.
Obama spoke just four days after US-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his Pakistani wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, opened fire on a holiday party for civil servants in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people. The pair were killed hours later in a shootout with police.
Obama condemned the attack as “an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people.” But he also said San Bernardino showed that “the terrorist threat has evolved into a new phase” as Islamic State used the Internet to “poison the minds” of potential assailants.
He also made a connection between national security and the need for gun control following America’s latest mass shooting.
The FBI is investigating the paramilitary-style attack in California as inspired by Islamic State, which controls swaths of Syria and Iraq and has shown an expanded reach beyond its Middle East strongholds, including complicity in the November 13 assaults in Paris that killed 130 people.
But Obama, whose restraint contrasted sharply with French President Francois Hollande’s impassioned words after the Paris attacks when he vowed a “merciless” response, said there was no evidence the California assault was directed by a militant group overseas or part of a broader conspiracy at home. … Read More
Israel Seek to Make Wine that Jesus Drank
Marawi is a white wine produced by Recanati Winery in Israel. According to The New York Times, it is “crisp” and “acidic.” It is also aged 1,800 years, in a manner of speaking.
Israeli researchers are using DNA testing and archaeological research to identify grape seeds indigenous to their region. They found a reference in the Babylonian Talmud that helped them narrow their work further. Now they have created a wine they believe was in use around AD 220. They plan to continue working until they have produced wines that Jesus and King David would have used.
In a season when we justifiably decry the commercialism of Christmas, it is important to show our culture that Jesus is real and relevant today. Rediscovering his first-century world is helpful. Relating him to our world is essential.
Unfortunately, rebuking culture or withdrawing into Christian enclaves seem to be the most popular options today. Let’s consider a third approach.
There was a time when Christians embraced cultural engagement. In Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat reminds us that Roman Catholic bishop Fulton Sheen once hosted a prime-time television show on faith and culture. He was seen by 30 million people and won an Emmy in 1952. Billy Graham’s crusades made national headlines and received prime-time coverage.
Douthat notes that the civil rights movement was birthed in and supported by churches across the land. He cites President Eisenhower’s famous remark that our democracy depends on “a deeply felt religious faith, and I don’t care what it is.” Douthat concludes: “American Christianity at midcentury offered believers a relatively secure position from which to engage with society as a whole.”
That was then, this is now. Postmodernism convinced our culture that all truth is relative and subjective. The sexual revolution convinced society that biblical ethics are outdated and irrelevant. Vietnam and Watergate convinced many that all authority should be challenged, including that of the Church. Our culture began separating religion from the “real world,” and we haven’t stopped.
How should we respond? Let’s take our cue from Christmas.
Jesus left his perfect paradise for our fallen planet. He exchanged his seat at the right hand of the Father for a feed trough in a cow stall. He gave up the worship of heaven for the wonder of field hands. He came to us so we could come to him.
Now he calls us to do the same: “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (John 15:16). So seek to “bear fruit” for your Master in all you do this day and this season. Ask God to give you insight for those you influence and wisdom as you share his word in yours. Look for opportunities to make Jesus real through your words and actions. For more, see my Using Christmas for Christ.
But make sure you spend enough time with the Christ of Christmas to manifest his character to others. Billy Graham observed, “To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees.”
Drink the “new wine” Jesus provides (Matthew 9:17), and share it with all who thirst for God. That’s everyone you know.
US Evangelist Billy Graham Explains Where God is when Terrorism Occurs
Evangelist Billy Graham has answered the timeless question “Where is God when terrorism happens” in a Charisma News article.
The world-renown pastor wrote, “If we only look at the bad things in the world, we might conclude God doesn’t care about us. But what do these wars and other tragedies point to? They point us to another reality: the reality of human sin.”
He continued, “They tell us something is radically wrong with the world and that ‘something’ was caused by our rebellion against God.”
Graham said that God is loving and “all-powerful,” though acts of terrorism would lead us to believe that He is not in control.
“How do I know God loves us? I know it because Jesus Christ demonstrated God’s love by coming down from heaven to defeat sin,” he wrote. “By His death and resurrection, Christ defeated Satan and someday the final battle will be won and sin will be destroyed forever. The Bible says, ‘The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work’ (1 John 3:8).”
He also said that the question has been debated by theologians for years, but we cannot understand God’s plan as humans.
“Remember: God is far greater than we are, and we’ll never fully understand some things about Him until we get to heaven. The apostle Paul said, ‘Now I know in part; then I shall know fully’ (1 Cor. 13:12).”
Ancient Seal of Biblical King Hezekiah Discovered in Jerusalem’s Old City
Christian Headlines report – An ancient seal of the Biblical King Hezekiah has been found at an archaeological site at the foot of the wall that surrounds Jerusalem’s Old City.
Charisma News reports that the clay imprint is known as a bulla and is dated from the period of King Hezekiah around 700 B.C. The area in which it was found is rich in relics from the period of the first two ancient Jewish temples.
However, “This is the first time that a seal impression of an Israelite or Judean king has ever come to light in a scientific archaeological excavation,” said Eilat Mazar of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University who directed the excavation.
The ancient seal is thought to have been discarded into a refuse dump at the time of King Hezekiah. The bulla was initially discovered five years ago, catalogued, and placed in a closet with 33 others.
It was only recently that one of the archaeologists on Mazar’s team realized its true identity after studying it further.
The seal has Hebrew scripts imprinted on it, as well as a symbol of a two-winged sun. The Hebrew script reads, “Belonging to Hezekiah (son of) Ahaz king of Judah.”
The details of Hezekiah’s reign over Judah can be found in the Biblical books of 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Isaiah.
2 Kings 18:5-7 states, “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.”
Source : Christian Headlines
Photo courtesy: Wikipedia
