Christians Awake, the bell has rung and the trumpet has sounded!

In a time we all need to pull together and get this country back on course. It would appear Obama has other plans. He is still trying to divide the American people, and he is doing a great job. In his hope to destroy this country he continues in his quest to also deny the very foundation of our nation. That being God Almighty! Think Obama, we would not be a country if not for God. Have you noticed when he is making speeches to various groups here in America and around the world he will not acknowledge Jesus Christ or God as creator. He will however acknowledge the Muslims; “Allah”. He seems to be well versed with ideas and philosophies to get around the truth.

He is helped on this journey with the liberal state run media who are proud to put down Christianity in every way. The words he uses to proclaim his intended purpose sound to some wonderful and others dreadful. It leaves the truth somewhat disillusioned in the minds of our youth. It makes them question; is there another way? Of course the answer is simple, NO! Our next generation already has a hard time accepting there is a God and that Christ is his only born son. The very fact of Obama recognizing other religions and claiming this nation as a multi-religious community is appalling and destroys what our forefathers set up. The truth is what needs to be spread.

There is only one way, the way Jesus Christ paved with his life. If Obama wants to rule the world he needs to pick another country because as Christians and Americans we see through his charade. The change he shouted from podiums all across this country to win votes for his victory as President of the United States is real. It is working hard to be accomplished. That change is the total removal of Christ and Christianity. That in turn will destroy America altogether. The time to stand is now. Today is the day of Salvation! Get up and get in to the battle.

Stanley Davis, Author, Writer, and Minister.

email: stanleyjdavis@gmail.com

Blog:http://stanleydavis.wordpress.com

Author of “Hot leads and cold cases”, (from the case files of Peter Stone) series, A message to the Church

Minister at Servant Heart Minsitries in Alabama

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITER-MAKE A WEBSITE

Have you ever seen any very old books and thought to yourself “I’d sure like to have that in my library…that would really be cool!”  Well here’s one of those type of books and an auction just for you!

[wpauction id="3" /]

In 1990, I was planning a trip to Israel, but it got postponed due to Desert Storm and the Gulf War. I finally go on a tour trip of Israel in 1996. But in the late 80s, in Oklahoma, before the internet, how does one begin to learn Hebrew?

There wasn’t any internet yet. I ordered the famous, or infamous, FSI course. FSI stands for the Foreign Service Institute. These are courses created by the US government, supposedly used to teach military and/or diplomats.

The cassette tapes that came with FSI were useful, but the book lacked a lot. It was designed by the government for an instructor to use in a classroom environment, NOT for an individual to use for self study. Even today, I have never gone back to complete that book.

Eventually, on a business trip, I visited one of the Borders book stores, which were all huge and new at the time. I found a “reader”, a book that teaches the alphabet, and had lots of practice exercises, where the student tries to read pages and pages of syllables and words.

Attending synagogue and learning some of the Hebrew prayers really accelerated my understanding of Hebrew. The music, along with the weekly repetition, clearly helps with the learning the words and phrases. Each week, I would pick a favorite tune, and go home and break down the words of that particular prayer.

To learn more Biblical Hebrew, I used Mansoor’s book, “Biblical Hebrew: Step by Step”. After that, a friend was teaching Biblical Hebrew to a small group, using Weingreen’s “A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew”. This is another book that would be hard to pick up and learn on your own. By completing one lesson every week or two, we finished the book in about two years.

To really know Hebrew, one must study both Biblical and Modern. I remember using two short courses that were books that came with 3 or 4 cassette tapes: “Hugo Language Course: Hebrew in Three Months” and also Eliezar Tirkel’s “Every Hebrew”. I found that I liked the Hugo course slightly better, but learned something from each.

In 2005, I registered for Hebrew IV and V via an online course offered by Hebrew College in Boston. It used the text “Hebrew From Scratch – Part II” (with 5 CDs available). Even though I audited the course, it was required to submit homework weekly, and meet with our teacher online for about 45 minutes per week. Later, I went on to take other classes, which include an introduction to Aramaic via the Talmud, and classes that required reading Medieval Hebrew (such as aggadic literature).

I still feel that I have just scraped the surface of learning the beautiful Hebrew language. By creating courses and teaching classes for others, I have continue to learn more each and every day.

Perhaps the most well-known Jewish prayer is the “Shema”. This prayer is recited twice per day (morning and evening). The prayer is translated as “Hear Israel”, and refers to the entire verse “Hear O Israel, the Lord Thy God, the Lord is One.”

Even the New Testament quotes the Shema. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is asked by a scribe “What is the greatest commandment”. He replied with the “Shema”.

Brachot, or blessings, are associated with almost every Jewish event. The sabbath begins Friday evening, when the “bracha” (blessing) is said over the lighting of two (or more candles). This is followed by a short blessing over a cup of wine, and then the bread.

Officially, the candle-lighting blessing should occur 18 minutes before sunset on Friday. The Torah forbids “kindling a fire” on the Sabbath, so the day is marked by lighting a candle immediately before it begins, and ends with lighting a candle at the Havdalah service (see below).

One of the most loved songs of Friday night is “Lecha Dodi”, which literally means “Come My Beloved”. The theme of this song is the bride and bridegroom – the Jewish people and God. It was composed in 1571 by Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz, renowned for his wisdom and poetry.

The Havdalah service marks the end of Shabbat. It should be performed no earlier than nightfall on Saturday night. Nightfall is the time when three stars can be seen in the sky. It is normally about 45 minutes to an hour after sundown, depending on your latitude.

The word “Havdalah” itself come from the root word “L’HAVDIL” which means to separate or distinguish. The brief ceremony includes three “brachot” (blessings) over wine, spices, and fire. A special Havdalah candle is used that has several wicks; it is usually extinguished in the wine cup, or some wine that is poured into the saucer.

The brief Havdalah ceremony typically concludes with the song “Eliyahu HaNavi” (Elijah the Prophet). The song goes as follows: “Elijah the Prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, Elijah, Elijah, Elijah the Gileadite, Speedily and in our days, Come to us, With the messiah, son of David, With the messiah, son of David.

Back in 1994, I first began to learn Hebrew. Most books were just too difficult; for example, I ordered the “Foreign Service Institute” course. It taught the entire alphabet on one page, then jumped into complex lessons with no vowels.

Finally, I found an exercise book that was dedicated to just teaching a person to read the Hebrew letters. This book would teach one letter, and a few vowels in the first chapter. The second chapter would follow-up with the same letter, and add another letter and another vowel or two. In Hebrew, the vowels are written below or above the Hebrew letters, and they are called Nikud.

Using this methodology, I finally got to where I could read Hebrew words “on site”. Then I could make out words in the course book, the Sidur, or the Hebrew Bible and finally be able to pronounce them, even if I didn’t know what they meant. As a beginner though, I didn’t always know if my pronunciation was correct or not.

Even the books were lacking. What I needed was a person (or computer) sitting there with me, validating whether I was pronouncing the Hebrew words correctly or not. Oh vey – if only I would have had a personal tutor. But as a software programmer, I knew that I could get the computer to take the place of the tutor that I didn’t have.

A friend of mine helped me with the Hebrew fonts, and suggested a multimedia book-oriented tutorial program called “Tool book”. I purchased and learned Tool book, and slowly began to write my own Hebrew tutorial program. It was a big challenge and very time consuming. It probably took over two full years to get the product in the format that it is today.

I didn’t choose to teach the alphabet in alphabetic order. Instead, I chose letters based on their shape and their frequency of use. Eventually, I found a talented singer and speaker to record over 2700 voice files, which then had to be meticulously edited on the computer.

Finally, the art work came together, and the progam changed from three diskettes (you don’t see those much any more) to a CD/ROM. I learned Microsoft Frontpage and began selling the program online, back when the world wide web was just in its infancy. After 10 years, I have literrally sold 100s of the program.

Creating my first published software tutorial “At Home with Hebrew” was a challenge and a labor of love. It was not an immediate financial success, but I learned a lot, and it introduced me to the world of internet marketing. After the first program, I went on to create two additional Hebrew tutorials and created a successful website marketing dozens of other peoples products.