JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T
MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE
MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.
ISAIAH 51:3-4
3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion:(JERUSALEM) he will comfort all her waste places;(FROM NUCLEAR WAR) and he will make her wilderness like Eden,(I BELIEVE THE EZEKIEL-4TH TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT AFTER JESUS RULE FOR THE 1,000 YRS FROM JERUSALEM) and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.(PRAISE TO JESUS IN THE DESERT-COULD BE THE NEW JERUSALEM-4TH TEMPLE BUILT 25 MILES INTO THE DESERT FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.SINCE EZEKIELS TEMPLE IS WAY TO BIG FOR THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT)
4 Hearken unto me, my people;(ISRAEL) and give ear unto me, O my nation:(ISRAEL) for a law shall proceed from me,(JESUS IN JERUSALEM) and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.(ISRAEL AND THE WORLD)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
If talks fail, Abbas said to be weighing dissolution of Oslo, PA-Dramatic move would create security and diplomatic fallout for Israel; Bennett: ‘We won’t stop him’-By Times of Israel staff and AFP April 20, 2014, 9:28 am-The Times of Israel
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has reportedly threatened to dissolve the PA and disband Palestinian security forces operating in the West Bank if peace negotiations with Israel fail, a move which would create huge security and diplomatic problems for Israel.According to Palestinian sources cited by Yedioth Ahronoth on Sunday, Abbas and top PA officials are considering the drastic move, which would involve cancelling the 1993 Oslo Accords and announcing that the Palestinian Authority is a “government under occupation” without full sovereignty, which would technically move full responsibility for the Palestinians, in the West Bank at least, to Israel.The threat, which has reportedly been passed on to Israel, would also disband and abolish PA security forces operating in the West Bank, theoretically opening the way for expanded Palestinian unrest against Israeli forces. The move could also prompt a surge in international legal and diplomatic action against Israel.Yedioth said a vote on the move is scheduled for a PLO meeting on Saturday, three days before the peace talks are currently scheduled to end.The prospect of the PA’s dissolution was greeted with derision on Sunday by Economics Minister and Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett, who has been a vocal critic of the negotiations. As PA head, Abbas is “encouraging terrorism against Israel” with his threat, Bennett told Maariv.“If he wants to go, we won’t stop him. Israel won’t conduct negotiations with a gun to our head,” he said.The current round of US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are scheduled to end on April 29 after a nine-month negotiating period, and the two sides have been unable to come to an agreement to extend the talks. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said last week that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are striving to reach an agreement to extend their peace talks beyond the deadline.However, officials in Jerusalem said Friday that no progress had been made in emergency talks that took place between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators the night before, and that the two sides would meet again this week after the Passover holiday.Washington is pushing for an extension, but the negotiations hit an impasse two weeks ago when Israel refused to release a group of Palestinian prisoners as agreed at last year’s launch of the talks.Under the agreement, Israel had committed to a four-phase release of 104 prisoners held since before the 1993 Oslo autonomy accords, but it cancelled the release of the last group of 26 at the end of March. Among them are 14 Israeli Arabs who the Jewish state is refusing to free. It also wanted a prior commitment from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to extend the peace negotiations, which Abbas refused to make.According to Israel Radio, the Palestinians are adamant in their demand that all 26 prisoners be released, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to concede on the issue of releasing the Israeli Arab terrorists. The head of the Shin Bet security service advised Netanyahu to release the 14 Israeli Arab prisoners in question and deport them to the Gaza Strip or abroad, the report said, but Netanyahu said he would not act in a way that may endanger Israeli citizens. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a group of Israeli MKs last week that he opposed any such deportation.The Palestinians retaliated for the delay in the prisoner releases by seeking accession to several international treaties, a move Israel described as a “major breach” of understandings.Abbas told the Israeli opposition MPs visiting him in the West Bank city of Ramallah last Wednesday that if talks were extended, he would want the first three months “devoted to a serious discussion of borders,” Haaretz reported.The Palestinians want a state based on the lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Palestinians mull handing territory 'keys' back to Israel
APR 20,14-YahooNews
Jerusalem (AFP) - Palestinian negotiators have warned they may pass responsiblity for their territory back to occupying power Israel if peace talks remain stalled, a senior Palestinian official said Sunday.The official said the Palestinians told US peace envoy Martin Indyk on Friday that unless Israel releases Palestinian prisoners as agreed and freezes settlement building, they could dismantle the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) of president Mahmud Abbas."The Palestinians informed Indyk that if this Israeli intransigence continues, they have several options to resort to," the Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity."First, handing the keys of the PA to the UN so it will become in charge of the Palestinian people and the state of Palestine, which is under occupation, or that the (Israeli) occupation assumes again full responsibility for everything."Under the 1993 Oslo accords which were to have led to an independent Palestinian state, the Palestinians received some autonomy in managing their day-to-day affairs.The PA is in a constant budgetary crisis and only manages to pay its civil servants and provide essential services thanks to generous funding from foreign donors.But Israel still retains overall control of the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem while the militant Islamist Hamas threw off PA rule in the Gaza Strip in 2007 and has since run its own administration.US Secretary of State John Kerry nudged Israel and the Palestinians to reopen peace talks in July for a nine-month period.The United States is striving to broker an agreement to extend those talks beyond their April 29 deadline, but so far without success.At Friday's meeting with the Palestinian negotiators, Indyk "had no new ideas to save the negotiations," the Palestinian official said on Sunday.Israeli commentator Nahum Barnea, writing in top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily on Sunday, said the Palestinian gambit was a desperate one."The Palestinians are playing their last card," he wrote. "Cancelling... all their achievements and all the obligations they made under the Oslo accords."If the Palestinians carry out their threat it will have dramatic results. The PA will be dismantled, all its security apparatus will be dispersed." That would oblige Israel to fill the vacuum at tremendous financial cost, Barnea added."The (military) will have to find a way to take the PA's place: to set up a police force, to take care of education, health services, water, sewage."
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Sixteen arrested after clashes at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa
APR 20,14-YahooNews
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli police arrested 16 Palestinians Sunday as they clashed with demonstrators at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, a sensitive holy site that is frequently the scene of tensions."This morning, after the site was opened for visitors and tourists, the suspects threw rocks at the police, wounding two of them," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.After police dispersed the crowd with sound grenades the demonstrators took shelter in the Al-Aqsa mosque, which police are not allowed to enter, he said.A police statement later said 16 "Arab rioters" had been arrested.The mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City -- built on the holiest site in Judaism and considered the third holiest in Islam -- has over the past week seen clashes between Muslim protesters and Israeli police.Dozens of Palestinians were wounded Wednesday in clashes with police after Jewish visitors were allowed onto the compound, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount -- the site where the biblical first and second temples stood.Palestinians have long feared that Israel would take over the site, which is under Jordanian custodianship, amid calls from Jewish extremists for the temple to be rebuilt.Non-Muslims are allowed to visit the site but Jews are barred from praying there. Hardline Jews frequently try to defy the ban, often igniting clashes between rock-throwing Palestinians and police.Sunday's clashes came as tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists flocked to Jerusalem for the Christian Easter holiday and the week-long Jewish Passover.Fearing unrest, Israeli police tightened restrictions on access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, limiting entrance to men over the age of 50 and women.On Saturday UN Middle East peace envoy Robert Serry said he and other diplomats had joined an Easter procession at the invitation of Jerusalem's Palestinian Christian community but were stopped at a security checkpoint.He said Israeli police refused to allow the group to proceed despite earlier assurances of unhindered access, leading to a "precarious standoff" in which an angry crowd pushed their way through.Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor defended the police, calling Serry's statement "an odd communique on a non-event" and "a display of poor judgement".Official Palestinian news agency Wafa on Sunday quoted the Palestinian foreign ministry lambasting the Israeli actions as contrary to international conventions on freedom of worship."The Palestinian foreign ministry on condemned on Sunday Israeli authorities forbidding Christian and Muslim worshippers from reaching their holy places which is a violation of the Geneva conventions," it said."These (Israeli) regulations can be only be described as fascist and racist."At Sunday's Easter mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe that Christ was crucified and then rose from the dead, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal spoke of "hardship and persecution" suffered by Christians."Nevertheless," said Twal, the Holy Land's senior Roman Catholic prelate, "We can be sure of the success of our mission, even here, however difficult that may be in this strife-torn Holy Land."
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Source: Ukraine synagogue firebombed-Chabad site says main shul in Nikolayev attacked, no casualties reported-By JTA April 20, 2014, 9:12 pm-The Times of Israel
The main synagogue in the Ukrainian city of Nikolayev reportedly was firebombed.The synagogue was empty of worshippers when it was firebombed early Saturday morning, according to the Chabad-affiliated Shturem.org website.Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the door and window, the report said, citing Yisroel Gotlieb, son of the city’s chief rabbi, Sholom Gotlieb.A passer-by put out the fires with a fire extinguisher, according to the report.The attack was recorded by the synagogue’s closed circuit television security camera and uploaded to YouTube.Nikolayev, a Black Sea port city of approximately 500,000, is located in southeastern Ukraine about 70 miles from Odessa.The Giymat Rosa Synagogue in Zaporizhia, located 250 miles southeast of Kiev, in eastern Ukraine, was firebombed in late February.Last week in eastern Ukraine, fliers calling on Jews to register withpro-Russian separatists and pay special taxes were distributed in Donetsk.
KC shooting suspect said world should be rid of Jews-Frazier Glenn Miller told rabbi on March 30 that Jews are root of global problems-By JTA April 20, 2014, 10:20 pm-The Times of Israel
The Missouri white supremacist charged in the Kansas City-area killings told a Manhattan rabbi that “we have to get rid” of every Jew.Frazier Glenn Miller, who also goes by Frazier Glenn Cross, called the American Friends of Kiev hotline on March 30 and spoke with Rabbi Menachem Siegal, director of the United Jewish Communities of Eastern Europe and Asia, the New York Post reported Saturday.Miller attacked Siegal for raising money for Jews who he said “cause all of the problems” and “destroyed the whole economy in the United States and the world,” Siegal told the Post. He also said, according to Siegal, that “Hitler should have finished off the job in Europe by coming to the United States and getting rid of every Jew.”He did not indicate that he planned to actually attack and kill Jews.Siegal provided a copy of the call log and caller ID of the 10-minute conversation for the US Justice Department.Miller was indicted for the April 13 shooting spree that killed three people at Jewish community buildings in suburban Kansas City, Kan. The victims, none of whom were Jewish, were a man and his 14-year-old grandson outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park and a woman outside the nearby Village Shalom retirement community.
Thousands celebrate Easter in Holy Land-Easter Mass held in Holy Sepulchre, Bethlehem, and Gaza; Pope Francis issues prayer for peace in Syria, Ukraine-By AP and AFP April 20, 2014, 2:01 pm-The Times of Israel
Thousands of pilgrims from around the world celebrated Easter in the Holy Land, commemorating the day when according to Christian tradition Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem two millennia ago.Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal led Mass at the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem on Sunday. The site is where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, worshipers prayed and lit candles at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.Easter was also celebrated in Gaza where less than three thousand Christians live among about 1.7 million Muslims. Christian communities in the Holy Land, as well as elsewhere in the Middle East, have been declining in recent years due to regional turmoil.Pope Francis prayed for peace in Ukraine and Syria in an Easter Sunday address before 150,000 faithful in which he also condemned the “neglect and dire poverty” behind the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa.“We ask you to enlighten and inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine,” the Catholic leader said in his prayer for the holiday, which this year coincides with Easter in the Orthodox calendar.
Pope Francis, huge crowd joyously celebrate Easter
By FRANCES D'EMILIO -APR 20,14-YahooNews
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Marking Christianity's most hopeful day, Pope Francis made an Easter Sunday plea for peace and dialogue in Ukraine and Syria, for an end to terrorist attacks against Christians in Nigeria and for more attention to the hungry and neediest close to home.Well over 150,000 tourists — Romans and pilgrims, young and old — turned out for the Mass that Francis celebrated at an altar set up under a canopy on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica.So great were their numbers that they overflowed from sprawling St. Peter's Square, which was bedecked with row after row of potted daffodils, sprays of blue hyacinths and bunches of white roses. Waving flags from the pope's native Argentina as well as from Brazil, Mexico, Britain, Poland and many other countries, they also filled the broad boulevard leading from the square to the Tiber River.Easter is the culmination of Holy Week and marks Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion.Francis noted that this year the Catholic church's celebration of Easter coincided with that of Orthodox churches, which have many followers in Ukraine.Francis prayed that God would "enlighten and inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine, so that all those involved, with the support of the international community, will make every effort to prevent violence."In eastern Ukraine, the holiday was marred by a deadly shooting Sunday fueled by tensions between pro-Russian supporters in the east and those loyal to an interim government in Kiev. The clash appeared to defy an international agreement reached last week in hopes of ending months of unrest.Francis also prayed that all sides in Syria will be moved to "boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue." Syria has been wracked by a three-year civil war that has cost 150,000 lives and forced millions to flee the country.Christians make up about 5 percent of Syria's population. In comments to mark Easter there, the Greek Orthodox patriarch vowed that Christians there "will not submit" to extremists who attack "our people and holy places."Francis makes a pilgrimage to Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel next month, so on Easter he prayed that hopes sparked by the resumption of Mideast peace negotiations will be sustained.Thousands of pilgrims from around the world flocked to the celebrate Easter in the Holy Land, where Christian communities, as well as elsewhere in the Middle East, have been declining as the faithful flee regional turmoil.Francis also spoke of those suffering in Africa from an epidemic of deadly Ebola and urged a halt to "brutal terrorist attacks" in parts of Nigeria. Nigerians marked Easter with heightened security against a spreading Islamic uprising, mourning the deaths of 75 bomb blast victims and fearful of the fate of 85 abducted schoolgirls. The homegrown terror network Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for last week's rush-hour explosion in the capital, Abuja, and threatened more attacks.In Venezuela, there have been hopes Vatican mediation can help end the country's violent political unrest, and Francis urged that "hearts be turned to reconciliation and fraternal concord" there.But Francis' Easter message also urged people to pay attention to the needy close to home. He said the "good news" of Easter's joy means "leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life's troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast."He denounced the "scourge of hunger," which he said was "aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible."Francis has set an austere tone in his papacy, forsaking an ornate apostolic palace apartment for a simple guesthouse on the Vatican grounds and rejecting limousines for regular cars.Cheering and applauding, the crowd tried to catch a glimpse of the pontiff as he circled around in his white popemobile before going to the basilica's balcony to deliver his commentary.Reflecting the worldwide reach of the Catholic church, faithful read aloud prayers and passages from the Bible in Hindi, French, Chinese, German, Korean, Spanish, Italian and English.___Writers Michelle Faul in Lagos, Nigeria; Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Yuras Karmanau in Bybasivka, Ukraine, contributed to this story.Follow Frances D'Emilio on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fdemilio
04/20/2014 = VATICAN INSIDER-Pope, in Easter message, calls for “an end to all war, every conflict”-Pope Francis called for an end to conflicts and the scourge of hunger in the world, and reminded everyone that if Jesus were not risen from the dead, Christianity would lose its meaning-gerard o'connell
Rome-In a stirring Easter message to the world, Pope Francis prayed to the Risen Jesus, “to put an end to all war and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent”, and “to the scourge of hunger”.He called for an end to the conflicts in Syria, the Central African Republic, and the violence in Nigeria, South Sudan and Iraq, and appealed for a negotiated settlement in Syria, the Ukraine and Venezuela and prayed for the success of the resumed negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. He delivered his message, focused on Jesus resurrection and its meaning for people today, from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday, April 20. His immediate audience was some 250,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square from all continents, but he also had a global audience thanks to TV, Radio and the news means of social communication, estimated at one to two billion people.He began by reminding people that “the Good News par excellence” is that “Jesus, who was crucified, is risen!” as the Gospels tell us. “This event is the basis of our faith and our hope”, he said, because “If Christ were not raised, Christianity would lose its very meaning; the whole mission of the Church would lose its impulse, for this is the point from which it first set out and continues to set out ever anew.”In Jesus, he said, “love has triumphed over hatred, mercy over sinfulness, goodness over evil, truth over falsehood, life over death” and that is why “In every human situation, marked by frailty, sin and death, the Good News is no mere matter of words, but a testimony to unconditional and faithful love: it is about leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life’s troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast…”In this context, Pope Francis turned his eyes to the many difficult situations and conflict hotspots in today’s world.He prayed to the Risen Jesus “to help us overcome the scourge of hunger, aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible”He asked that we be enabled “to protect the vulnerable, especially children, women and the elderly, who are at times exploited and abandoned.”He called for people to assist “our brothers and sisters struck by the Ebola epidemic in Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone and Liberia”, and to care for “those suffering from so many other diseases which are also spread through neglect and dire poverty.”He implored the Risen Lord to comfort “those who cannot celebrate this Easter with their loved ones” because “they have been unjustly torn from their affections, like the many persons, priests and laity, who have been kidnapped” in different parts of the world.He remembered the millions of immigrants too, “who have left their own lands to migrate to places offering hope for a better future and the possibility of living their lives in dignity and, not infrequently, of freely professing their faith”. He asked the Risen Jesus to comfort them.Pope Francis then issued a resounding call, asking the Risen Jesus, “to put an end to all war and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent.”He prayed in a particular way for Syria, “that all those suffering the effects of the conflict can receive needed humanitarian aid and that neither side will again use deadly force, especially against the defenseless civil population, but instead boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue!”He called for an end to “the fratricidal acts of violence in Iraq”, and prayed that “the hopes raised by the resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians” be sustained.He appealed for an end to the conflicts in the Central African Republic, the brutal terrorist attacks in parts of Nigeria, and the violence in South SudanAnd, he prayed that in Venezuela “hearts be turned to reconciliation and fraternal concord”.This year the Christians of the East and the West celebrate the feast of Easter on the same day, April 20. For this reason, at the mass celebrated by Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square before he spoke to the world, the joyful Easter hymn of the Byzantine liturgy “Stichi –Stichira”, was sung by an Oriental choir in Greek.In his message the Pope recalled this common celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and prayed that it may “enlighten and inspire” peace initiatives in the Ukraine “so that all those involved, with the support of the international community, will make every effort to prevent violence and, in a spirit of unity and dialogue, chart a path for the country’s future.”As he spoke, Saint Peter’s Square looked like a beautiful garden thanks to the display of flowers provided by flower-growers from the Netherlands. Francis thanked them for their generosity too.He concluded by praying that the Risen Lord may give peace to the world, and then he imparted his blessing and wished everyone “Buona Pasqua!”, Happy Easter!
04/18/2014 - VATICAN INSIDER-The Church collects for the Holy Land-The Christian community in the Middle East-Parish offerings will go towards helping Christians in the Middle East and Syria-vatican insider staff
Rome-Today the Church is collecting for the Collection for the Holy Land, traditionally held every Good Friday. Its purpose is to maintain strong ties between Christians across the world, including the holy places. The money collected from the various parishes is sent to the Custody of the Holy Land which uses it for the upkeep of the holy sites and to help local Christians. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, sent a letter to pastors of the universal Church, highlighting that the Collection “is still today the principal source which sustains the life and works of the region’s Christians I n response to the ardent desire of the Supreme Pontiffs, who, especially on the occasion of Good Friday, have always recommended concrete acts of authentic fraternal charity.”Speaking to Vatican radio, the Custodian of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, explained the significance of the Collection further, in light of Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Jordan, the Palestinian Territories and Israel. He said the Collection is “reinforced by the Pope’s visit” and is important for two reasons: one because it shows support for Christian presence in the Holy Land, this presence being marked by Christian places of worship and the holy sites which are a testimony of the history of Revelation; and secondly it is important for the Christian presence in the region, a presence the Pope will be supporting and encouraging also physically with his visit.Fr. Pizzaballa said a third of the Collection would go towards maintaining the holy places. Most of the money – two thirds of it – will go to projects which support the Christian presence there by creating jobs, restoring old Christian houses, especially in Jerusalem and schools, particularly in the Bethlehem and Jericho area. Part of the Collection will also go to Syria’s Christians. One of the things that is depleting the Christian population in the Middle East and especially in the Holy Land, is immigration. Christians prefer to go elsewhere, particularly the West, in search of a better life. The Collection aims to foster more dignified living conditions in order to encourage Christians to stay. Part of the offerings will also go to Christian parishes in war-torn Syria - to Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia and some villages near Turkey - in order to help them through these difficult times. hristians’ lives are at risk here and they cannot even immigrate, the Custodian said.
ISAIAH 51:3-4
3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion:(JERUSALEM) he will comfort all her waste places;(FROM NUCLEAR WAR) and he will make her wilderness like Eden,(I BELIEVE THE EZEKIEL-4TH TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT AFTER JESUS RULE FOR THE 1,000 YRS FROM JERUSALEM) and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.(PRAISE TO JESUS IN THE DESERT-COULD BE THE NEW JERUSALEM-4TH TEMPLE BUILT 25 MILES INTO THE DESERT FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.SINCE EZEKIELS TEMPLE IS WAY TO BIG FOR THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT)
4 Hearken unto me, my people;(ISRAEL) and give ear unto me, O my nation:(ISRAEL) for a law shall proceed from me,(JESUS IN JERUSALEM) and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.(ISRAEL AND THE WORLD)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
If talks fail, Abbas said to be weighing dissolution of Oslo, PA-Dramatic move would create security and diplomatic fallout for Israel; Bennett: ‘We won’t stop him’-By Times of Israel staff and AFP April 20, 2014, 9:28 am-The Times of Israel
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has reportedly threatened to dissolve the PA and disband Palestinian security forces operating in the West Bank if peace negotiations with Israel fail, a move which would create huge security and diplomatic problems for Israel.According to Palestinian sources cited by Yedioth Ahronoth on Sunday, Abbas and top PA officials are considering the drastic move, which would involve cancelling the 1993 Oslo Accords and announcing that the Palestinian Authority is a “government under occupation” without full sovereignty, which would technically move full responsibility for the Palestinians, in the West Bank at least, to Israel.The threat, which has reportedly been passed on to Israel, would also disband and abolish PA security forces operating in the West Bank, theoretically opening the way for expanded Palestinian unrest against Israeli forces. The move could also prompt a surge in international legal and diplomatic action against Israel.Yedioth said a vote on the move is scheduled for a PLO meeting on Saturday, three days before the peace talks are currently scheduled to end.The prospect of the PA’s dissolution was greeted with derision on Sunday by Economics Minister and Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett, who has been a vocal critic of the negotiations. As PA head, Abbas is “encouraging terrorism against Israel” with his threat, Bennett told Maariv.“If he wants to go, we won’t stop him. Israel won’t conduct negotiations with a gun to our head,” he said.The current round of US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are scheduled to end on April 29 after a nine-month negotiating period, and the two sides have been unable to come to an agreement to extend the talks. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said last week that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are striving to reach an agreement to extend their peace talks beyond the deadline.However, officials in Jerusalem said Friday that no progress had been made in emergency talks that took place between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators the night before, and that the two sides would meet again this week after the Passover holiday.Washington is pushing for an extension, but the negotiations hit an impasse two weeks ago when Israel refused to release a group of Palestinian prisoners as agreed at last year’s launch of the talks.Under the agreement, Israel had committed to a four-phase release of 104 prisoners held since before the 1993 Oslo autonomy accords, but it cancelled the release of the last group of 26 at the end of March. Among them are 14 Israeli Arabs who the Jewish state is refusing to free. It also wanted a prior commitment from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to extend the peace negotiations, which Abbas refused to make.According to Israel Radio, the Palestinians are adamant in their demand that all 26 prisoners be released, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to concede on the issue of releasing the Israeli Arab terrorists. The head of the Shin Bet security service advised Netanyahu to release the 14 Israeli Arab prisoners in question and deport them to the Gaza Strip or abroad, the report said, but Netanyahu said he would not act in a way that may endanger Israeli citizens. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a group of Israeli MKs last week that he opposed any such deportation.The Palestinians retaliated for the delay in the prisoner releases by seeking accession to several international treaties, a move Israel described as a “major breach” of understandings.Abbas told the Israeli opposition MPs visiting him in the West Bank city of Ramallah last Wednesday that if talks were extended, he would want the first three months “devoted to a serious discussion of borders,” Haaretz reported.The Palestinians want a state based on the lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Palestinians mull handing territory 'keys' back to Israel
APR 20,14-YahooNews
Jerusalem (AFP) - Palestinian negotiators have warned they may pass responsiblity for their territory back to occupying power Israel if peace talks remain stalled, a senior Palestinian official said Sunday.The official said the Palestinians told US peace envoy Martin Indyk on Friday that unless Israel releases Palestinian prisoners as agreed and freezes settlement building, they could dismantle the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) of president Mahmud Abbas."The Palestinians informed Indyk that if this Israeli intransigence continues, they have several options to resort to," the Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity."First, handing the keys of the PA to the UN so it will become in charge of the Palestinian people and the state of Palestine, which is under occupation, or that the (Israeli) occupation assumes again full responsibility for everything."Under the 1993 Oslo accords which were to have led to an independent Palestinian state, the Palestinians received some autonomy in managing their day-to-day affairs.The PA is in a constant budgetary crisis and only manages to pay its civil servants and provide essential services thanks to generous funding from foreign donors.But Israel still retains overall control of the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem while the militant Islamist Hamas threw off PA rule in the Gaza Strip in 2007 and has since run its own administration.US Secretary of State John Kerry nudged Israel and the Palestinians to reopen peace talks in July for a nine-month period.The United States is striving to broker an agreement to extend those talks beyond their April 29 deadline, but so far without success.At Friday's meeting with the Palestinian negotiators, Indyk "had no new ideas to save the negotiations," the Palestinian official said on Sunday.Israeli commentator Nahum Barnea, writing in top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily on Sunday, said the Palestinian gambit was a desperate one."The Palestinians are playing their last card," he wrote. "Cancelling... all their achievements and all the obligations they made under the Oslo accords."If the Palestinians carry out their threat it will have dramatic results. The PA will be dismantled, all its security apparatus will be dispersed." That would oblige Israel to fill the vacuum at tremendous financial cost, Barnea added."The (military) will have to find a way to take the PA's place: to set up a police force, to take care of education, health services, water, sewage."
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Sixteen arrested after clashes at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa
APR 20,14-YahooNews
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli police arrested 16 Palestinians Sunday as they clashed with demonstrators at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, a sensitive holy site that is frequently the scene of tensions."This morning, after the site was opened for visitors and tourists, the suspects threw rocks at the police, wounding two of them," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.After police dispersed the crowd with sound grenades the demonstrators took shelter in the Al-Aqsa mosque, which police are not allowed to enter, he said.A police statement later said 16 "Arab rioters" had been arrested.The mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City -- built on the holiest site in Judaism and considered the third holiest in Islam -- has over the past week seen clashes between Muslim protesters and Israeli police.Dozens of Palestinians were wounded Wednesday in clashes with police after Jewish visitors were allowed onto the compound, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount -- the site where the biblical first and second temples stood.Palestinians have long feared that Israel would take over the site, which is under Jordanian custodianship, amid calls from Jewish extremists for the temple to be rebuilt.Non-Muslims are allowed to visit the site but Jews are barred from praying there. Hardline Jews frequently try to defy the ban, often igniting clashes between rock-throwing Palestinians and police.Sunday's clashes came as tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists flocked to Jerusalem for the Christian Easter holiday and the week-long Jewish Passover.Fearing unrest, Israeli police tightened restrictions on access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, limiting entrance to men over the age of 50 and women.On Saturday UN Middle East peace envoy Robert Serry said he and other diplomats had joined an Easter procession at the invitation of Jerusalem's Palestinian Christian community but were stopped at a security checkpoint.He said Israeli police refused to allow the group to proceed despite earlier assurances of unhindered access, leading to a "precarious standoff" in which an angry crowd pushed their way through.Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor defended the police, calling Serry's statement "an odd communique on a non-event" and "a display of poor judgement".Official Palestinian news agency Wafa on Sunday quoted the Palestinian foreign ministry lambasting the Israeli actions as contrary to international conventions on freedom of worship."The Palestinian foreign ministry on condemned on Sunday Israeli authorities forbidding Christian and Muslim worshippers from reaching their holy places which is a violation of the Geneva conventions," it said."These (Israeli) regulations can be only be described as fascist and racist."At Sunday's Easter mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe that Christ was crucified and then rose from the dead, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal spoke of "hardship and persecution" suffered by Christians."Nevertheless," said Twal, the Holy Land's senior Roman Catholic prelate, "We can be sure of the success of our mission, even here, however difficult that may be in this strife-torn Holy Land."
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Source: Ukraine synagogue firebombed-Chabad site says main shul in Nikolayev attacked, no casualties reported-By JTA April 20, 2014, 9:12 pm-The Times of Israel
The main synagogue in the Ukrainian city of Nikolayev reportedly was firebombed.The synagogue was empty of worshippers when it was firebombed early Saturday morning, according to the Chabad-affiliated Shturem.org website.Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the door and window, the report said, citing Yisroel Gotlieb, son of the city’s chief rabbi, Sholom Gotlieb.A passer-by put out the fires with a fire extinguisher, according to the report.The attack was recorded by the synagogue’s closed circuit television security camera and uploaded to YouTube.Nikolayev, a Black Sea port city of approximately 500,000, is located in southeastern Ukraine about 70 miles from Odessa.The Giymat Rosa Synagogue in Zaporizhia, located 250 miles southeast of Kiev, in eastern Ukraine, was firebombed in late February.Last week in eastern Ukraine, fliers calling on Jews to register withpro-Russian separatists and pay special taxes were distributed in Donetsk.
KC shooting suspect said world should be rid of Jews-Frazier Glenn Miller told rabbi on March 30 that Jews are root of global problems-By JTA April 20, 2014, 10:20 pm-The Times of Israel
The Missouri white supremacist charged in the Kansas City-area killings told a Manhattan rabbi that “we have to get rid” of every Jew.Frazier Glenn Miller, who also goes by Frazier Glenn Cross, called the American Friends of Kiev hotline on March 30 and spoke with Rabbi Menachem Siegal, director of the United Jewish Communities of Eastern Europe and Asia, the New York Post reported Saturday.Miller attacked Siegal for raising money for Jews who he said “cause all of the problems” and “destroyed the whole economy in the United States and the world,” Siegal told the Post. He also said, according to Siegal, that “Hitler should have finished off the job in Europe by coming to the United States and getting rid of every Jew.”He did not indicate that he planned to actually attack and kill Jews.Siegal provided a copy of the call log and caller ID of the 10-minute conversation for the US Justice Department.Miller was indicted for the April 13 shooting spree that killed three people at Jewish community buildings in suburban Kansas City, Kan. The victims, none of whom were Jewish, were a man and his 14-year-old grandson outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park and a woman outside the nearby Village Shalom retirement community.
Thousands celebrate Easter in Holy Land-Easter Mass held in Holy Sepulchre, Bethlehem, and Gaza; Pope Francis issues prayer for peace in Syria, Ukraine-By AP and AFP April 20, 2014, 2:01 pm-The Times of Israel
Thousands of pilgrims from around the world celebrated Easter in the Holy Land, commemorating the day when according to Christian tradition Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem two millennia ago.Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal led Mass at the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem on Sunday. The site is where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, worshipers prayed and lit candles at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.Easter was also celebrated in Gaza where less than three thousand Christians live among about 1.7 million Muslims. Christian communities in the Holy Land, as well as elsewhere in the Middle East, have been declining in recent years due to regional turmoil.Pope Francis prayed for peace in Ukraine and Syria in an Easter Sunday address before 150,000 faithful in which he also condemned the “neglect and dire poverty” behind the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa.“We ask you to enlighten and inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine,” the Catholic leader said in his prayer for the holiday, which this year coincides with Easter in the Orthodox calendar.
Pope Francis, huge crowd joyously celebrate Easter
By FRANCES D'EMILIO -APR 20,14-YahooNews
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Marking Christianity's most hopeful day, Pope Francis made an Easter Sunday plea for peace and dialogue in Ukraine and Syria, for an end to terrorist attacks against Christians in Nigeria and for more attention to the hungry and neediest close to home.Well over 150,000 tourists — Romans and pilgrims, young and old — turned out for the Mass that Francis celebrated at an altar set up under a canopy on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica.So great were their numbers that they overflowed from sprawling St. Peter's Square, which was bedecked with row after row of potted daffodils, sprays of blue hyacinths and bunches of white roses. Waving flags from the pope's native Argentina as well as from Brazil, Mexico, Britain, Poland and many other countries, they also filled the broad boulevard leading from the square to the Tiber River.Easter is the culmination of Holy Week and marks Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion.Francis noted that this year the Catholic church's celebration of Easter coincided with that of Orthodox churches, which have many followers in Ukraine.Francis prayed that God would "enlighten and inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine, so that all those involved, with the support of the international community, will make every effort to prevent violence."In eastern Ukraine, the holiday was marred by a deadly shooting Sunday fueled by tensions between pro-Russian supporters in the east and those loyal to an interim government in Kiev. The clash appeared to defy an international agreement reached last week in hopes of ending months of unrest.Francis also prayed that all sides in Syria will be moved to "boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue." Syria has been wracked by a three-year civil war that has cost 150,000 lives and forced millions to flee the country.Christians make up about 5 percent of Syria's population. In comments to mark Easter there, the Greek Orthodox patriarch vowed that Christians there "will not submit" to extremists who attack "our people and holy places."Francis makes a pilgrimage to Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel next month, so on Easter he prayed that hopes sparked by the resumption of Mideast peace negotiations will be sustained.Thousands of pilgrims from around the world flocked to the celebrate Easter in the Holy Land, where Christian communities, as well as elsewhere in the Middle East, have been declining as the faithful flee regional turmoil.Francis also spoke of those suffering in Africa from an epidemic of deadly Ebola and urged a halt to "brutal terrorist attacks" in parts of Nigeria. Nigerians marked Easter with heightened security against a spreading Islamic uprising, mourning the deaths of 75 bomb blast victims and fearful of the fate of 85 abducted schoolgirls. The homegrown terror network Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for last week's rush-hour explosion in the capital, Abuja, and threatened more attacks.In Venezuela, there have been hopes Vatican mediation can help end the country's violent political unrest, and Francis urged that "hearts be turned to reconciliation and fraternal concord" there.But Francis' Easter message also urged people to pay attention to the needy close to home. He said the "good news" of Easter's joy means "leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life's troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast."He denounced the "scourge of hunger," which he said was "aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible."Francis has set an austere tone in his papacy, forsaking an ornate apostolic palace apartment for a simple guesthouse on the Vatican grounds and rejecting limousines for regular cars.Cheering and applauding, the crowd tried to catch a glimpse of the pontiff as he circled around in his white popemobile before going to the basilica's balcony to deliver his commentary.Reflecting the worldwide reach of the Catholic church, faithful read aloud prayers and passages from the Bible in Hindi, French, Chinese, German, Korean, Spanish, Italian and English.___Writers Michelle Faul in Lagos, Nigeria; Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Yuras Karmanau in Bybasivka, Ukraine, contributed to this story.Follow Frances D'Emilio on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fdemilio
04/20/2014 = VATICAN INSIDER-Pope, in Easter message, calls for “an end to all war, every conflict”-Pope Francis called for an end to conflicts and the scourge of hunger in the world, and reminded everyone that if Jesus were not risen from the dead, Christianity would lose its meaning-gerard o'connell
Rome-In a stirring Easter message to the world, Pope Francis prayed to the Risen Jesus, “to put an end to all war and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent”, and “to the scourge of hunger”.He called for an end to the conflicts in Syria, the Central African Republic, and the violence in Nigeria, South Sudan and Iraq, and appealed for a negotiated settlement in Syria, the Ukraine and Venezuela and prayed for the success of the resumed negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. He delivered his message, focused on Jesus resurrection and its meaning for people today, from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday, April 20. His immediate audience was some 250,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square from all continents, but he also had a global audience thanks to TV, Radio and the news means of social communication, estimated at one to two billion people.He began by reminding people that “the Good News par excellence” is that “Jesus, who was crucified, is risen!” as the Gospels tell us. “This event is the basis of our faith and our hope”, he said, because “If Christ were not raised, Christianity would lose its very meaning; the whole mission of the Church would lose its impulse, for this is the point from which it first set out and continues to set out ever anew.”In Jesus, he said, “love has triumphed over hatred, mercy over sinfulness, goodness over evil, truth over falsehood, life over death” and that is why “In every human situation, marked by frailty, sin and death, the Good News is no mere matter of words, but a testimony to unconditional and faithful love: it is about leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life’s troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast…”In this context, Pope Francis turned his eyes to the many difficult situations and conflict hotspots in today’s world.He prayed to the Risen Jesus “to help us overcome the scourge of hunger, aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible”He asked that we be enabled “to protect the vulnerable, especially children, women and the elderly, who are at times exploited and abandoned.”He called for people to assist “our brothers and sisters struck by the Ebola epidemic in Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone and Liberia”, and to care for “those suffering from so many other diseases which are also spread through neglect and dire poverty.”He implored the Risen Lord to comfort “those who cannot celebrate this Easter with their loved ones” because “they have been unjustly torn from their affections, like the many persons, priests and laity, who have been kidnapped” in different parts of the world.He remembered the millions of immigrants too, “who have left their own lands to migrate to places offering hope for a better future and the possibility of living their lives in dignity and, not infrequently, of freely professing their faith”. He asked the Risen Jesus to comfort them.Pope Francis then issued a resounding call, asking the Risen Jesus, “to put an end to all war and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent.”He prayed in a particular way for Syria, “that all those suffering the effects of the conflict can receive needed humanitarian aid and that neither side will again use deadly force, especially against the defenseless civil population, but instead boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue!”He called for an end to “the fratricidal acts of violence in Iraq”, and prayed that “the hopes raised by the resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians” be sustained.He appealed for an end to the conflicts in the Central African Republic, the brutal terrorist attacks in parts of Nigeria, and the violence in South SudanAnd, he prayed that in Venezuela “hearts be turned to reconciliation and fraternal concord”.This year the Christians of the East and the West celebrate the feast of Easter on the same day, April 20. For this reason, at the mass celebrated by Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square before he spoke to the world, the joyful Easter hymn of the Byzantine liturgy “Stichi –Stichira”, was sung by an Oriental choir in Greek.In his message the Pope recalled this common celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and prayed that it may “enlighten and inspire” peace initiatives in the Ukraine “so that all those involved, with the support of the international community, will make every effort to prevent violence and, in a spirit of unity and dialogue, chart a path for the country’s future.”As he spoke, Saint Peter’s Square looked like a beautiful garden thanks to the display of flowers provided by flower-growers from the Netherlands. Francis thanked them for their generosity too.He concluded by praying that the Risen Lord may give peace to the world, and then he imparted his blessing and wished everyone “Buona Pasqua!”, Happy Easter!
04/18/2014 - VATICAN INSIDER-The Church collects for the Holy Land-The Christian community in the Middle East-Parish offerings will go towards helping Christians in the Middle East and Syria-vatican insider staff
Rome-Today the Church is collecting for the Collection for the Holy Land, traditionally held every Good Friday. Its purpose is to maintain strong ties between Christians across the world, including the holy places. The money collected from the various parishes is sent to the Custody of the Holy Land which uses it for the upkeep of the holy sites and to help local Christians. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, sent a letter to pastors of the universal Church, highlighting that the Collection “is still today the principal source which sustains the life and works of the region’s Christians I n response to the ardent desire of the Supreme Pontiffs, who, especially on the occasion of Good Friday, have always recommended concrete acts of authentic fraternal charity.”Speaking to Vatican radio, the Custodian of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, explained the significance of the Collection further, in light of Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Jordan, the Palestinian Territories and Israel. He said the Collection is “reinforced by the Pope’s visit” and is important for two reasons: one because it shows support for Christian presence in the Holy Land, this presence being marked by Christian places of worship and the holy sites which are a testimony of the history of Revelation; and secondly it is important for the Christian presence in the region, a presence the Pope will be supporting and encouraging also physically with his visit.Fr. Pizzaballa said a third of the Collection would go towards maintaining the holy places. Most of the money – two thirds of it – will go to projects which support the Christian presence there by creating jobs, restoring old Christian houses, especially in Jerusalem and schools, particularly in the Bethlehem and Jericho area. Part of the Collection will also go to Syria’s Christians. One of the things that is depleting the Christian population in the Middle East and especially in the Holy Land, is immigration. Christians prefer to go elsewhere, particularly the West, in search of a better life. The Collection aims to foster more dignified living conditions in order to encourage Christians to stay. Part of the offerings will also go to Christian parishes in war-torn Syria - to Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia and some villages near Turkey - in order to help them through these difficult times. hristians’ lives are at risk here and they cannot even immigrate, the Custodian said.
