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IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
Israel's Darkening Horizon - By Matt Ward -
https://www.raptureready.com/2018/10/02/israels-darkening-horizon-matt-ward/ Relations between Israel and Russia are on a knife edge. Events in the Middle East are moving at a very fast pace. With the downing of a Russian IL-20 reconnaissance plane on September 17th, it would seem that Russia, sensing an opportunity, is trying to both reset relations with Israel as well as redraw the operational limits of their own involvement in Syria and the Middle Eastern theatre. They are doing this whilst at the same time drastically curtailing Israel's ability to act against her ever-more-entrenched regional enemies in Syria, Iran and Hezbollah. Events began on September 17th with an Israeli Defense Force attack on a Syrian military facility located in Latakia. It was believed by Israel to be housing a lethal, high precision weapons systems bound for use by Hezbollah in Lebanon, something that has always been a very clear red line for the Jewish State. After the successful airstrikes, the Israeli F-16 warplanes were engaged by Syrian air defenses. As a direct consequence of Syria's wide-ranging and highly imprecise anti-air fire, a Russian IL-20 military plane with 15 Russian servicemen on board was shot down over the Mediterranean. All Russian servicemen died. This has created a firestorm for Israel, one which has the potential to severely impede her operational capabilities, not only in Syria but also in her ability to successfully defend her own homeland. Immediately following the downing of the Russian IL-20 plane, Israel dispatched senior IDF commanders to Russia with the aim of clarifying that the responsibility for this unforeseen tragedy lay squarely at the door of the Syrian government. To that end, Major General Amikam Nurkin travelled to Moscow to brief senior Russia officers personally, presenting them with the data and findings from the IDF's own investigation. To be blunt, the IDF's conclusions were rebuffed. That is an understatement. After concluding its own investigation, the Russian military came to the conclusion that it was in fact Israel that was solely to blame for the downing of the Russian IL-20, not Syria, and that Israel was exclusively to blame for the loss of the 15 Russian servicemen. This accusation has rocked the IDF, and the shock felt within the Israeli military has been exacerbated by the increasingly bellicose accusations and charges laid against the IDF from the Russian military and its Defense Ministry. On Sunday, 23rd September, the Russian Defense Ministry publicly gave its own account of what happened on September 17th. The Russian Defense Ministry lays the entire blame for the incident squarely with the IDF. Worse still, Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov has openly claimed that the IDF has actively misled Russia about the location of its planned airstrikes in Syria, and that because of this the Russian IL-20 was prevented from being moved to a safe zone. Russia is declaring this as a direct breach of the 2015 Russian-Israeli agreements made to try to prevent clashes in Syria between Russian armed forces and Israel's. But Major General Igor Konashenkov wasn't finished there. He went further. General Konashenkov continued by asserting that Israeli F-16 fighter jets had used the IL-20 as a "shield" against Syrian air defense systems, thereby purposely endangering the aircraft and all the Russian personnel on board. In so declaring, he has directly contradicted the IDF's claim that the Israeli F-16's were already home in Israeli airspace when the IL-20 was hit and shot down. He is publicly asserting that Israel lied to them. The Russian briefing concluded ominously by claiming that Israeli military personnel have acted with "criminal negligence," and that they are exclusively to blame for the loss of Russian life. The Russians, as a consequence, have now declared electronic war on Israel over the skies of both Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean. In quick time, the Russian military has armed Syria with the S-300 air defense system and will also immediately start jamming all "enemy" navigation in the Eastern Mediterranean. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Syrian electronic air defense capabilities will now be increased to the same levels as the Russian forces currently operating within Syria. Shoigu continued, "Russia will jam satellite navigation, on-board radars and communications systems of combat aircraft which attack targets in the Syrian territory, in the regions over the Mediterranean Sea bordering with Syria." Shoigu then concluded with a thinly veiled threat to Israel, stating that if these new measures "fail to cool hotheads, we will have to respond in line with the current situation." This is certainly a huge blow to Israel and will severely impede Israel's ability to act within the Syrian theatre. The temperature in the Middle East has just shot up a number of notches. This is the first time in history that one nation has openly declared electronic warfare against another nation-state. To this end, the first deliveries of Russian Krasukha-4 electronic warfare units have now been delivered to Syria. As well as neutralizing ground and airborne radars, these units can also jam and severely disrupt spy satellites. This system can jam all forms of communications systems, disable guided missiles, aircraft and radars, and be used as a platform to attack enemy electronic warfare capable units. These combined Russian measures will have the result of significantly hampering Israel's ability to operate successfully within Syria, or even to monitor at least to the same degree, what is actually going on there "on the ground." Netanyahu has declared that, irrelevant of these new measures, Israel will continue to take the action necessary to prevent the embedding of Iran and Hezbollah in Syria. Such grand statements are meaningless though as even Netanyahu himself, speaking on the sidelines of the recent UN summit, openly acknowledged that this "accident with the IL-20 may have serious consequences" - many of which may be as yet unforeseen. Netanyahu's comments are an explicit acknowledgement that the dynamic in Syria may have changed significantly. The delivery of these new S-300 missiles, whilst not the most cutting edge weaponry available, will certainly complicate Israel's ability to act unimpeded in Syria. As Israeli journalist Barak Ravid observed, the move "could limit the Israeli air force's freedom of operation in Syria." (1). The delivery of these missiles and Russia's declaration that they will interfere electronically with Israeli electronic warfare capabilities matter. They matter because, short of the obvious military impediment Israel now faces, the move also threatens to unravel a military and political alliance between Israel and Russia that has thus far kept them, and more importantly the other major world powers, backing up both sides from coming into direct conflict in Syria. Israel will now have to be exceptionally careful and will need to calculate each and every potential intervention against Iran and Hezbollah in Syria in a way it has not had to before. Given that Israel has already conducted hundreds of operations in Syria and will likely continue to do so in the future, the likelihood of an Israeli jet being shot down by enhanced Syrian air defense systems has now significantly risen. If such an eventuality does arise and Israeli planes are shot down, or pilots injured or captured, then the likelihood that this may in turn provoke a wider regional flare-up increases dramatically. Israel, Iran, Syria, Russia and the United States could all be dragged into open and direct confrontation. The bottom line for how this crisis concludes rests with Putin, although at this stage it appears that the outcome will be a severe restriction of Israel's freedom of action over Syria. Amongst all the uncertainty though, one thing does however remain unchanged; Iran is still, without question, absolutely determined to continue transferring arms to Hezbollah. The real test will be when Israeli intelligence, at some point in the near future, suggests that Iran is once again attempting to smuggle sophisticated arms and weaponry into Lebanon. What happens then, when Israel feels absolutely obliged to act? Will they? And if they do, what will Russia do? And will this be containable? Only time will tell. https://www.axios.com/russia-supply-syria-syria-missiles-rebuke-israel-d2603edf-c35a-48b1-a61a-ad8d647c52f8.html [email protected] Abbas & Netanyahu UN Speeches Signal End of Peace Process - By Ben Cohen - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=2605 There was one corner of New York City last Thursday where the Senate Judicial Committee hearings into the accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh went largely unnoticed: the United Nations building perched on the East River, where the 73rd General Assembly has been in full swing this week. But while the proceedings in Washington were electrifying, the spectacle at the United Nations had all the feel of an annual routine. Most of all, there were the usual lengthy speeches, laden with protocol and platitudes, and delivered by world leaders of varying rank whose visits to Manhattan for the diplomatic season are of dubious value to the taxpayers who underwrite them. And then Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu came along on Thursday morning. In different ways, both their speeches ventured onto territory similar to that under the spotlight in Washington, with its underlying themes of unanswered-for aggression and injustice, punctuated by reputational smears and factual distortions. Moreover, and again in different ways, both speeches pointed even uninformed listeners to the conclusion that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, at least as conceived over the last 30 years, is now dead. Abbas, in particular, sounded like a throwback to the 1970s, when the Palestine Liberation Organization was committed to a unified "secular democratic" state stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Jordan. Those were also the days when the PLO, with Soviet assistance, began pushing the libel that Israel is an "apartheid" state. In his U.N. speech, Abbas asserted exactly that point with relish, arguing that the recently passed law designating Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people was the final seal on the inherently discriminatory character of the Jewish state. This was the launch pad for some even more hyperbolic observations. According to Abbas, the Palestinians are the only nation on earth denied the right to self-determination--apparently, the Kurds, the Sahrawis and the Tibetans don't exist. Towards the end of the speech, he even questioned whether the international community, which has lavished billions of dollars on the Palestinian Authority over the last two decades, regarded the Palestinians as human beings. Moreover, Abbas continued, the Palestinians are wise to the use of humanitarian aid as a political trick and will never accept anything less than a full state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital. Getting to that point will require a definitive break with the U.S.-led peace process, he argued, since the United States is now unambiguously in Israel's corner. It will also require more "sacrifices" from the steadfast Palestinian people (this from a man whose mandate to govern those same Palestinians ran out 10 years ago.) Ultimately, Abbas's speech was a plea to retain the Palestinian question as the central challenge in the Middle East. While that argument was once taken for granted, especially by the Europeans, the wars in Iraq and Syria, the rise of Sunni Islamism and the looming Iranian threat all suggest a very different reality. So, at the same time as facing what he insists is Israeli and American duplicity, Abbas has to contend with a loss of status. And all this while Hamas in Gaza refuses to accept the P.A.'s authority--perhaps the most revealing of all of Abbas's complaints, but one that was easily lost amid his verbal assaults on Israel and America. When Netanyahu came to the podium about an hour later, his speech was the perfect illustration of why Abbas sounds so desperate. I didn't time it exactly, but we were probably 30 minutes into the speech before he even said the word "Palestinian." The Middle East, as presented by the Israeli prime minister, has evolved dramatically as a result of the empowerment of Iran enabled by the 2015 nuclear deal--so much so that the old divide between Israel and the Arab states over the Palestinians has been overtaken by an unprecedented spirit of unity in the face of Iran's military interventions across the region. Preventing Iran from weaponizing its nuclear program is a goal shared by states across the Middle East, and as Netanyahu sees it, it is one whose urgency far surpasses the unresolved Palestinian question. To expect Abbas, one of the few surviving members of the PLO's founding generation, to adjust to this reality is a fantasy. Although the Palestinian leader has continually confounded predictions of his imminent demise, it will probably have occurred to Abbas that Thursday may well be the last time he addresses the U.N. In which case, he will have deliberately left a legacy of conflict, rather than the transformative strategic thinking the Palestinians desperately require if they are to achieve the two-state solution that President Trump says he "likes." In the final analysis, Abbas's speech to the U.N. confirmed that the P.A. and the PLO are returning to their old game of undermining Israel's legitimacy at every turn. Netanyahu's speech demonstrated that while Israel is aware of the Palestinian retreat into maximalism, there are bigger problems that his country is facing. Ironically, it is the prospect of renewed warfare between Fatah and Hamas, strongly hinted at by Abbas, that is more likely than anything else to drag Israel's attention away from Tehran. Sukkot Ends With Clouds of Gog Magog War on Temple Mount - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/114568/strange-mist-temple-mount-war-spiritual/ Strange Mist on Temple Mount Is War on Spiritual Plane I wipe away your sins like a cloud, Your transgressions like mist- Come back to Me, for I redeem you. Isaiah 44:22 (The Israel Bible™) On Sunday, a group of Jews praying on the Mount of Olives witnessed a large white cloud rise up out of the ground from the Temple Mount. The phenomenon was recorded by Josh Wander, a Mount of Olives resident. A sunrise prayer session was organized on a plaza overlooking the Temple Mount for the holiday of Hoshana Rabbah, the last day of the week-long holiday of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). "Just after sunrise, I was recording a Facebook live video of the prayers when I panned my camera to the Temple Mount," Wander told Breaking Israel News. "All of a sudden, I noticed a cloud or fog that erupted from the northeastern corner of the mount. It seemed to be coming from the area which was designated for women in the time of the Temple and the eastern gateway, which confused me, since I know that today, it is an orchard of olive trees and there is normally no activity there." The balcony of Wander's home overlooks the Temple Mount so he is intimately familiar with the scenery. He is also a regular visitor to the site and said he has never seen anything like this before. "It was billowing up so I thought some Arabs might be burning branches," Wander said. "But it was much too early for Arabs to be on the Temple Mount and I didn't see any Arabs there before, during, or after and certainly no fire. It was not just a thin mist and the video doesn't really convey the presence of the mist." When he lived in the United States, Wander served as a pilot in the Air Force Auxiliary where he was trained to identify clouds. Meteorology and identifying clouds is an essential part of pilot training. "There was very little wind and the smoke just seemed to crawl across the mount toward the Dome of the Rock," Wander said. "It seemed to come out of a specific spot but after several minutes, it seemed to be rising up from multiple sources in the same general area." Wander reluctantly described the mist with a word he rarely uses. "It looked supernatural," he said. Not trusting his own eyes, Wander asked the people around him if they could also see the mist. Most were immersed in their holiday prayers and had not noticed but when it was pointed out, they confirmed the mist's presence. The phenomenon lingered on the ground around the golden dome for more than 20 minutes. "I am certainly not the kind of person who sees signs in nature," Wander said. "But this was just too out of the ordinary to ignore. It looked eery and the location, the site of the Holy of Holies, is too significant." When Rabbi Yosef Berger heard of the sighting, he responded with equanimity. "If you had told me that it happened any other day of the year, I would not have assigned it any significance," Rabbi Berger told Breaking Israel News. "But to have this cloud appear on Hoshana Rabbah is highly significant and makes me happy, knowing the geula (redemption) is at hand." The rabbi cited Midrash Talpiot, a collection of homiletic and oral teachings compiled by Elijah ben Solomon Abraham ha-Kohen of Smyrna in the 17th century. "It is written in the Midrash Talpiot that the War of Gog and Magog will begin three hours before the dawn on Hoshana Rabbah, the battle will last three hours, and then the Moshiach will begin to appear," Rabbi Berger said. "Of course this war is accompanied by flames and smoke as was hinted at in Psalms." Hashem is in its midst, it will not be toppled; by daybreak...He puts a stop to wars throughout the earth, breaking the bow, snapping the spear, consigning wagons to the flames. Psalms 46:6-10 "It very well could be that a major battle was being waged on the Temple Mount on the spiritual plane and the only part of it that we could see was the smoke," Rabbi Berger said. "It has been clear all year that a war is being waged for the Temple Mount." The rabbi noted that a record 28,000 Jews ascended to the Temple Mount in the past year and an additional 5,000 visited the site during the recent holidays. "Smoke is only one aspect of the war, an illusion that we can see with our eyes while the real battle is being waged on planes we cannot see," Berger said. "The real battle goes much deeper. We may be seeing other aspects of the battle in the near future." "During Sukkot we read about Gog and Magog in the Haftarah (a section of the Bible - usually from the Prophets - read in the synagogue that is thematically linked to the Torah reading). On Pesach, we read as the Haftarah Ezekiel's vision of the Dry Bones," Rabbi Berger said. "The war begins on the last day of Sukkot and the resurrection begins on Pesach." Rabbi Berger noted that Hoshana Rabbah is the day of judgment for the nations. "We are seeing a realignment among the nations concerning Israel," Berger said. "The United Nations is going through changes and may cease to exist. In England, America, Germany, and so many countries, their politics is being determined by how they relate to Israel and the Bible. This is a precursor to what will happen soon, what is already taking place on levels we cannot see." They're Gone! - By Dennis Huebshman - https://www.raptureready.com/2018/09/30/rapture-theyre-gone-dennis-huebshman/ The Rapture You wake up one morning, and your spouse is not there. You check the kid's rooms, and they are not there either. You try to call a friend, but all you get is voicemail. You turn on the morning news, and there are reports of multiple vehicle accidents; airplanes have fallen from the sky; the broadcast ends with the announcer saying there's chaos everywhere. While you're taking all of this in, you say to yourself that it couldn't be the Rapture, because you're still here. Jesus wouldn't leave such a "good person" as yourself behind, because you have so much to contribute to heaven. After all, you had the same seat at church for years and years, and except for when something really important came up, you didn't miss a service. You gave money regularly to keep your church membership up to date, sang all the songs, bowed your head during prayer, and complimented the preacher regularly on his messages - even when you had no idea what the message was about. After all, you believe in God, and you know Jesus was one of His best prophets; so why are you still here? Besides, didn't the preacher just say last week there's many ways to heaven? Surely you qualified in at least one of them. For those who see the errors in all the above, you're in the minority of the total world population. Worldwide, it's estimated that "true believers" are about 10% of the total population; and if you're Jewish, it's about 1% to 2% that are Messianic. People in the United States believe we are a "Christian" nation; however, the 10% is just about right even here. Yes, there are a lot of "religious" people here; but religion isn't what saves someone, which Jesus constantly reminded the Pharisees about. Satan and his demons are working overtime to pull as many souls from Jesus as possible; and the sad news is, a lot are turning to him. Some are accepting Satan outright, and are even forming "Churches of Satan." Their goal as stated is to ridicule our Savior and to blaspheme the Holy Spirit as a show of defiance to the Heavenly Father. For some reason, they believe the devil will be able to give them special privileges "IF" there even is such a thing as a tribulation period. The Bible? It's just a book of fairy-tales and myths to them. Life is meant to enjoy everything to the fullest, and Christianity cramps that style. The youth of America (30 and below) are leaving churches in record numbers - especially any church where the Bible is preached word for word, leaving nothing out. These congregations are becoming fewer and fewer as time goes by. The Churches that are flourishing are the ones that stir the spirit and soul with great finger-snapping music that are mostly 7-11 songs. This is a song that repeats the same 7 words 11 times, but doesn't hold any real spiritual meaning. People get in a "group mentality" mode, and believe they have had a "religious experience." To keep the mood going, videos are included, and a person at a control board keeps the lights "pulsing" to the beat of the song being played. Some larger churches are incorporating fog machines along with the music. To top all of this entertainment off, a "soul-stirring" message from a false prophet, aka: anti-Christ, is given. They will even hold up a Bible, but the words given aren't in there. They have learned the art of "ear-tickling" to keep the seats full and the collection plates overflowing. In 1 John 2:18-19, he warns about anti-Christ's in the first century. Jesus, Paul and others warned this would only increase as we approached the end times, and it's evident we are there. Mainline evangelical churches are changing to accept alternative lifestyles that God said are an abomination. Their reasoning is that God loves everyone, so He wasn't really serious about condemning anyone for whom they "love." Problem is, God does expect us to love everyone, but in a spiritual way, not sexually related. That's reserved for a man and a wife. Children are even being encouraged in the lower grades to accept what a small minority of the population is trying to force on everyone. Gender identity has become a huge issue, especially in some of our more liberal states. California, for example, has passed a law that makes it illegal for anyone, especially pastors, to offer any form of counseling against gender identity issues. Even if a person requests help, it is illegal to supply it. We are getting to the point Jesus spoke of where people will believe they're right in killing Christians (Matthew 24:9 and John 16:2). During the Tribulation, anyone who accepts Jesus will be sought out to be martyred, as the final anti-Christ will demand ALL worship be directed to him. The "Freedom From Religion" groups are just a prelude to this; they harass Christian business people and protest against religious displays wherever and whenever they can. This will not get any better, but will only increase as we approach the Rapture, followed by the Tribulation. For anyone who says they would like to be certain they won't be left behind, the remedy is not difficult, except in someone's mind. To overcome this, the guide to be "Rapture Ready" is as follows: Romans 10:9, "... because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (His promise!) Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Back up one verse to Romans 10:12, "For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek (Gentile), for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on Him." What about someone who believes their sin is too great to be forgiven? Romans 3:23-24, "...for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. But they are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by Grace you are saved through Faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God; it is not from works so that no one can boast." As for the many ways, or the don't-need-Jesus argument - John 14:6, "Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me." That is the straight and narrow, plain and simple. You have not sinned beyond the reach of our Savior's blood. Re-read Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13. You are part of the "all" if you will call on Him. It's an offer that's made to all, but it won't last much longer. God does not want anyone to fail (2 Peter 3:9), so I believe He's giving us a bit longer before Romans 11:25 takes place. That's when the fullness of the Gentiles happens, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 (Rapture) happens in the "twinkling or blinking" of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). No one knows the day or hour. To have accepted Jesus as your Savior now, will prevent you from having to experience the scenarios given in the first couple paragraphs above. One thing: No, you aren't good enough, as no one is. Jesus was the only person to ever live a sin-free life, but God loves you so much (John 3:16-18; Romans 5:8) that He allows His Son's sacrifice to cover all our sins. If you die in Christ, you will be raised first at the Rapture. If you are alive when He calls, you will be taken up to meet Him in the air; and the raptured will be given a body meant to last for all eternity. To die without Jesus is to be condemned to the Lake of Fire forever (Revelation 20:11-15). There is no third option, and God will not force you one way or the other. He will honor your free-will choice - Heaven or Hell - whichever you choose. He would really love to have you choose His Son so that He can have you with Him forever. Just don't wait too much longer, as today would be a good time for your decision. Maranatha [email protected] Daily Jot: Christianity and the public arena - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com One of the purposes of The Daily Jot is to equip readers with a Biblical perspective on a current event so they are able to use it as encouragement to evangelize. That you are able to see an event from a Biblical lens and speak intelligently with the facts about it to someone is certainly a form of evangelization. Jesus said in Matthew 5:13, "You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." The Daily Jot provides you with that steady supply of salt so that you can "Let your light so shine before men." This is a rough arena. People get angry. Accuse. Judge. Project. Even threaten. When I tell you about them, it's to give you an example of what happens when you bring truth to the world. It's an example to prepare you for what you might encounter, even among your own Christian brethren. I want you to know what is out there so that you can have a response. We know there are people who absolutely hate Donald Trump. They say they are Christians. I wonder if they are because of what they write to me. They are quick to call names, to imply that I don't have a brain, even to say that I am not saved. If you use The Daily Jot to make your points, you may face the very same accusations. It takes a tough skin to be in the truth business because to some, truth is not always considered fair. Here are a couple of examples from readers commenting on Jots: "It's evident by your words that you are not a Christian sir. That's your choice... Trump goes against everything God says about being godly." "With all due respect sir, do you follow the Sound Doctrine of Jesus Christ? Or do you belong to some worldly religion? It will give me a clue as to why a Christian man would vote for someone that is a joke." See, this is the kind of response one gets when telling it like it is. This is what can happen to you when you speak truth. It's how you handle the conversation that will determine the outcome. Don't get angry and take the bait they are offering. Educate. Ask questions to lead them to a logical conclusion. Also know when you just can't contend with a fool. Remember, you are representing Christ. Their pattern is one of projection. They call into question your Christianity. What does that tell you? They call names like racist or bigot. What does this say about their feelings toward others? Usually when someone accuses you of something totally out of context, they are accusing you of what they are or what they have done. The response needs to be done in respect, in love and in firmness. Holding accountability is a tough job. Being a Christian takes tough skin. Just read how the apostles, watchmen, and prophets were treated. As you speak out on the issues of the day from a Biblical perspective, be an Ephesians 6 person-speak boldly as you ought to speak, and having done all, stand! Be encouraged! Daily Devotion: The Joy of Bridge Building - By Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. -1 Peter 3:15 Our rabbits had recently had bunnies when a man arrived one day with our water delivery. As he walked into the garage, where we keep our rabbits, he was amazed to see all the bunnies. He expressed his astonishment again and again while he was putting the water away-and he used the name of Jesus as he was doing it. I was getting a little irritated with this, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk to him. As he got into his truck, I walked over to him with an invitation to SoCal Harvest. "You know, I heard you talking a lot about Jesus today," I said. He looked shocked. "I heard you say 'Jesus' three times," I continued. "You obviously have a great interest in Jesus, don't you?" Then I handed him the invitation. "This is an event all about Jesus. Why don't you check it out?" You never know when opportunities to share your faith will arise. As 1 Peter 3:15 tells us, "Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear" (NKJV). It's a little like giving a defense in a court of law. But let's not think of ourselves as prosecuting attorneys; rather, we're witnesses. We're not there to embarrass or humiliate people. We're there to be witnesses, with gentleness and respect. There is always a way to build a bridge with someone. I think when some Christians share their faith, they just want to win the argument. But the objective is not to win the argument; the objective is to win the soul. The objective is to build a bridge, not burn one. If you want to win some, then you must be winsome. 
FROM THE HEART
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