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Zephaniah 2:4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noonday and Ekron shall be rooted up. 5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The Word of the Lord is against you; O Caanan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.Around the world people are assiduously following news coverage of the 2023 Israeli War with HAMAS in Gaza wondering if this heinous terror attack on unsuspecting Israeli civilians will escalate into a regional conflict or worse....

“Living as Children of the Day” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30; Zephaniah 1:7-16) “Christ has brought us out of darkness, made us children of the day.” The hymn we just sang was written to go with the three Scripture readings assigned for this day. Each stanza corresponds to one of the readings. The point of the lessons and of the hymn is this: The day of the Lord--that is, the return of Christ--the day of the Lord is drawing near, a day of both judgment and salvation. For us it will be a day of joy, because of what Christ...

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will open in May to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel declaring its independence, Trump administration officials said Friday. A senior State Department official said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson approved a security plan late Thursday for an embassy location to open in Jerusalem. “We are excited about taking this historic step, and look forward with anticipation to the May opening,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Friday. Officials told Fox News the embassy would initially be located in the neighborhood of Arnona on a compound that currently houses the...

“Christ Has Brought Us out of Darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30; Zephaniah 1:7-16) Well, here we are in the middle of November. It’s cold. It’s dark outside. The trees are growing bare. The days are growing shorter. The earth seems to be dying. Darkness seems to be winning. So it seems appropriate that at this time of year--every year, in November--in the church we focus our attention on the end times. We’re coming toward the end of the church year, before Advent comes and we start all over again. The end times, the last things, Judgment Day, the Second...

A statement from the Turkish government promises “unprecedented and incalculable reprisals” against Israel for the Israeli Navy’s seizure of the Marmora, a Turkish vessel, which was leading a fleet of ships through the Gaza blockade over the weekend. The statement has received the support of Hezbollah, an arm of the Iranian government, and Hamas, the Palestinian network. Such measures will not be confined to diplomatic censure. Reports from Ankara, the capital of Turkey, state that the government, which remains under the control of the Justice and Democratic Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma, AKP), is planning to continue pounding the Israeli blockade...

Wait For Me ZephaniahZephaniah 1:1 – "The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah."The name Zephaniah means, ""defended by Jehovah", "protected by Jehovah", "hidden by Jehovah". (1) We know nothing of Zephaniah outside of this Minor Prophetic book. Zephaniah goes out of his way to identify himself as the great-great-grandson of good king Hezekiah of Judah. Zephaniah may do this for the purpose of adding weight and credibility to his rebuke...