A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – As decision time comes closer for President Donald Trump to stay in or withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, more evidence of Iranian intransigence in the region was given to members of the U.N. Security Council by Israel earlier today.

At a debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestine Question, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon released a previously classified Israeli intelligence document showing a satellite photograph of what he said was an Iranian-run induction and recruitment center close to Syria’s capital Damascus, and only 12 miles from the border with Lebanon.

Danon claimed that more than 80,000 Shi’ite militants are operating in Syria under Iranian control. He said, “We are presenting this image to the world so you can understand the depth of Iran’s involvement in Syria. What you see here is Iran’s central induction and recruitment center in Syria. … It is at this base, just over five miles from Damascus, where they are trained to commit acts of terror in Syria and across the region.” [ Source: Fox News (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – A day after being sworn in as the new U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo landed in Brussels for talks with key allies in Europe on heightened Russian aggression and ways to strengthen the NATO military alliance.

Pompeo, a former Army officer who was a Republican congressman, is regarded as a loyal supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump with hawkish world views.

Even before his confirmation on Thursday, the former CIA director was already involved in U.S. diplomacy, although it will be his first meeting at NATO, an organization founded on collective defense against the threat from the former Soviet Union. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – A large group of Iranian refugees, which has been left in limbo in Austria for over a year, is suing the Trump administration after their applications for asylum in the United States under a special amendment designed to protect persecuted religious minorities were denied.

The group of about 90, which consists of dozens of Assyrian and Armenian Christians and other religious minorities, filed a class action lawsuit last week against U.S. government officials in hopes that a judge will bar the administration from denying asylum to the Iranian refugees.

Similar groups of refugees have in the past been admitted to the U.S. under the Lautenberg Amendment, which was originally passed in 1989 to facilitate the resettlement of Jews from the former Soviet Union but has since been expanded to apply to minorities facing persecution in Iran. [ Source: Christian Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Well-known evangelical leaders such as Franklin Graham, Paula White and Samuel Rodriguez are calling on members of Congress to pass bipartisan re-entry reform legislation that aims to provide federal prisoners with the training and rehabilitation they need to be successful once they are released back into society.

Hundreds of Christian leaders have signed onto a letter sent Wednesday to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders voicing support for the Prison Reform and Redemption Act of 2017, also known as H.R. 3356.

The bill would expand programs that focus on their individual problems, such as drug rehabilitation, treatment for sexual addiction, job training, anger management or others. The legislation would also expand risk assessment to determine the best programs for individual prisoners. [ Source: Christian Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Although some 80 percent of Americans say they believe in God, only a slim majority of the nation’s approximately 327 million people believe in God as described in the Bible, according to results of a new study released by the Pew Research Center. And among those younger than 50, belief in the God of the Bible drops lower than 50 percent.

The findings from the survey of more than 4,700 adults conducted nationwide between Dec. 4–18, 2017, reveal that one-third of Americans say they do not believe in the God of the Bible, but believe there is some other higher power or spiritual force in the universe. Applying these results to the general population, that translates to approximately 109 million people who believe in a higher power that is not the God of the Bible.

Only 56 percent of the people surveyed indicated that they believe in God “as described in the Bible” and the strongest supporters of this response were Christians who self-identified as members of the historically black Protestant and evangelical traditions. Some 92 percent of those who identified with the historically black Protestant tradition said they believe in God as described in the Bible while 91 percent of those who identified as evangelicals support that position. These groups also overwhelmingly supported the view that God is all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful. [ Source: Christian Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – On Friday, August 25, 2017, Rohingya militants allegedly attacked 30 police stations in western Myanmar and killed 12 security force members.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority living under almost constant persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, lost their right to citizenship under national law in 1982—and with it, their access to health care, education, and police protection. Few have jobs, and many are banned from leaving their villages.

Their attack against Myanmar police involved handmade weapons. The Myanmar government was furious. In retaliation, soldiers spent weeks killing 6,700 Rohingya (including 730 children under five). They raped women and girls. They burned 288 villages. And along the nearby border with Bangladesh, where the refugees were fleeing, they laid landmines. [ Source: Christianity Today (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday that Iran’s destabilizing actions in Syria risk an escalation with Israel that could spark a larger regional conflict.

Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mattis said Iran has continued to work through its Lebanon-based proxy, Hezbollah, to expand Tehran’s influence in the Middle East.

Fears over a new conflict breaking out deepened in February when an Iranian drone launched from Syria crossed into Israeli airspace. The drone was immediately shot down, setting off a day of tense fighting that culminated in the downing of an Israeli jet that had been bombing Iranian positions in Syria. [ Source: Washington Free Beacon (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Israel’s envoy to the United Nations said on Thursday that Iran had recruited at least 80,000 Shiite fighters which it was training at a base just over five miles from Damascus.

Holding up a map, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told the Security Council that Iran had set up a training base just over five miles from Damascus.

“What you can see here is Iran’s central induction and recruitment center in Syria. There are over 80,000 Shia militants in Syria under Iranian control. It is at this base, just over five miles from Damascus, where they are trained to commit acts of terror in Syria and across the region,” Danon said. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Iran’s supreme leader called on Muslim nations to unite against the United States, saying Tehran would never yield to “bullying,” state television reported on Thursday.

“The Iranian nation has successfully resisted bullying attempts by America and other arrogant powers and we will continue to resist… All Muslim nations should stand united against America and other enemies,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.

Iran’s top authority criticized Trump for saying on Tuesday some countries in the Middle East “wouldn’t last a week” without U.S. protection. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un walked across the border Friday to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in for the first inter-Korean summit in more than 11 years.

The leaders met at 9:30 a.m. local time at the Military Demarcation Line, which divides the two Koreas within the Panmunjom border village.

This marks the first time a North Korean leader crossed the MDL since the 1950-53 Korean War, and the first time a summit is held on the southern side of the border. [ Source: UPI (Read More…) ]

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