Charisma Magazine

The last thing that G-d created in the story of creation was the Sabbath, the day of rest. The Sabbath is actually the seventh day of the week; it marks the ending of one week and the beginning of a new one. This is by no means the most important day of the week. The verses tell us that on the seventh day, G-d stopped His creation. This was a day after the male and female were created, as written in Genesis 2:1–3:

“And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day G-d finished His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had done. And G-d blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because in it He rested from all His work, which G-d had done in creation.”

Seemingly, there is no problem here. We have six days of work and one day of rest. However, if we look at Genesis 2:2, we learn that G-d finished His work on this day and not on the sixth day. This verse arose from a difficulty that caused changes in other versions of The Bible, for example, in The Septuagint (LXX) it is written that G-d finished His work on the sixth day and not on the seventh. Another way to solve this problem is with the interpretation of the verb finished (wayechal in Hebrew). This verb could denote the past tense, meaning that G-d had already finished creating on the sixth day.

It’s a story that works to break down the walls between Muslims and Jews. It’s the story of Kevin, a 14-month-old Indonesian boy diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease just eight days after his birth. His fate looked grim—the heart malformation is responsible for more deaths within the first year of life than any other birth defect.

Kevin’s misfortune was an opportunity for Save a Child’s Heart, an Israel-based international humanitarian project focused on improving the quality of pediatric care for children from developing nations, to treat its first Indonesian child.

Kevin’s surgery, which was made possible by donations from the American Jewish Committee (AJC), was a success and doctors are optimistic that Kevin will make a full recovery. Perhaps when he does, he’ll remember the kindness of the Israeli people.

There seems to be a presumptuous triumphalism affecting-rather, infecting-the Western church, especially in America. This attitude, based on poor theology and ignorance of history, causes believers either to be unaware of or to deny outright the existing crisis regarding the future of Christianity in the face of jihadist Islam.

Proof texts such as "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" are thrown about as we seek to convince ourselves that America is immune to the persecution already prevailing against Christian brothers and sisters around the world because of Islam. We forget that there are many, many places (such as Turkey) where Christianity once flourished but where today Islam exerts total control.

With more Jews professing faith in Yeshua than ever before, Israel’s supporters wonder if this isn’t the beginning of an end-times prophecy being fulfilled

Inside a prayer cave on the mountain where Elijah once challenged the prophets of Baal to call down fire from heaven, Jordan Elias was playing a song of worship and repentance when he had a radical encounter with God.

“It was as if a presence burst through the door and filled the cave in an instant, and I immediately sensed the holiness of God,” recalls the 23-year-old Elias. “It was heavy. A good word to describe it is ka’vod. In Hebrew, it means ‘the weight of His glory.’ I tried to stand, but the presence of God just compelled me to my knees and onto my face. I began weeping and crying out: ‘Lord, I’m Your servant. Give me Your fire.’”