Worthy News
A powerful 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck northwest Turkey on Sunday evening, killing at least one person, injuring 29 others, and causing more than a dozen buildings to collapse.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Monday that Australia will formally recognize a Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly in New York this September, aligning with recent moves by the United Kingdom, France, and Canada.
In pouring rain, people shed tears for those who died or were injured when, exactly 80 years ago, the U.S. dropped a devastating nuclear bomb on this Japanese city. The destruction of Nagasaki soon forced Japan to surrender, bringing World War II to a close.
European leaders have raised the pressure on U.S. President Donald J. Trump to involve Ukraine in a planned summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on ending the war in Ukraine, where officials said Russian shelling and drone attacks killed numerous people Sunday.
A Christian laborer forced to work in Pakistan’s harsh brick kiln industry is recovering after falling victim to an organ trafficking scheme “that ignited outrage” across the nation, according to an investigation shared with Worthy News.
President Donald Trump has ordered a significant increase in federal law enforcement presence across Washington, D.C., in an effort to combat what he described as an “out-of-control” crime wave in the nation’s capital. The White House announced the move on Aug. 7, saying the deployment will begin at midnight and continue for at least seven days, with an option to extend.
Church leaders in Haiti expressed concern Sunday about the kidnapping of nine people, including an Irish missionary and a child with disabilities, as violence spreads throughout the Caribbean nation.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have signed a peace deal at the White House that will end decades of armed conflict that killed tens of thousands and led to the expulsion of more than 100,000 mainly Christian Armenians from the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The leaders of both nations want to nominate U.S. President Donald J. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize as he brokered the historic agreement.
Indonesia’s Catholic bishops have expressed concern about mounting anti-Christian violence in the world’s largest Muslim nation. They urged the central government in Jakarta to act decisively “against all forms of intolerance, particularly when accompanied by violence,” which, they stressed, “constitutes a criminal offense.”
In the first six months of the Trump administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Houston arrested 356 illegal foreign nationals who are confirmed gang members.
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[worthy_plugins_news_stories detail_page_uri="/worthy-news/" excerpts=true limit=10 pager=true image=thumbnail image_position=left]Worthy Devotions
The Hebrew word for “face” is “panim”, (the Hebrew letters, peh-nun-yud-mem), literally “faces”, a plural word. Normally, when we think about God, we focus only upon one of His “faces” at a time. God is “love” – or He is “holy”– or He is “just”— or He’s a God of “wrath”. Yet, of course, ALL these “faces” are His at once; and so the word “panim” accurately reflects the truth of God’s multifaceted being. As we get to know Him better we begin to appreciate the complexity of His nature and the fact that our focus on one “face” is a very limited view, since there’s so much more going on in His amazing “Personality”.
Patience is one of those things… so hard to learn it… so hard to practice it faithfully in our daily walk. It’s one of of those things I truly wish we didn’t have to learn — but God requires it of us! As I was reading through this passage again in Exodus, it dawned on me that Moses sat on the mountain for six entire days before the Lord spoke to him. He had to patiently wait for the Lord for six days!
The book of Isaiah, often called the Old Testament Gospel, reveals that a child was to be born and his name called “The Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father”. We know that this Child was Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth, that He is the unique Son of God, the express image of the invisible God. The throne of David was to be given to Him and He now holds its “key”, a symbol of the right and authority of His reign, which will be consummated when He returns to this world and restores the Kingdom to Israel [Acts 1:6-7].
When I studied Isaiah 53 earnestly in the ancient Hebrew, I was taken back by the Hebrew word for “afflicted” (me-u-neh). In modern Hebrew this word means “tortured”. When I was young, and first learned what torture actually involved, my soul was shocked that this could happen to people; in fact that it was happening to people. That a person could be kept alive for the purpose of intentionally causing him intense agonizing pain was an astounding enigma for my young soul. It really frightened me; and I think that fear of torture is probably the greatest fear that humans can experience. We read about people who have been tortured, with a kind of horrified awe. And quietly we wonder inside, “How can this be?” And, “Could this ever happen to me?”
I love this story! Peter was sitting between two guards and suddenly an angel of the Lord comes to him and frees him — and he thinks it’s a vision! He’s not sure if he truly believes it.
“Exhausted but still in pursuit…” Well, now we know why the angel of YHVH addressed Gideon the way he did. With his small three hundred man army he had just decimated the army of Midian — but the victory wasn’t complete, and so the Jewish general and his small, exhausted, hungry, band were determined to cross the Jordan and take care of 15,000 additional Midanite enemies and their leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna.
His nightmares began each day when he awoke. James Stegalls was nineteen. He was in Vietnam. Though he carried a small Gideon New Testament in his shirt pocket, he couldn’t bring himself to read it. His buddies were cut down around him, terror was building within him, and God seemed far away. His twentieth birthday passed, then his twenty-first. At last, he felt he couldn’t go on.
On January 1st 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which proclaimed freedom for all slaves in the ten states which were in rebellion. At the time, when U.S. Secretary of State Seward took the document to the President to sign, Lincoln took a pen, and held it for a moment. He then removed his hand and dropped his pen. Lincoln turned to Seward and said, “I have been shaking hands since nine o’clock this morning and my right arm is almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.” He hesitated, then took the pen, and without wavering, took the document and boldly signed it!
For nearly 2000 years the Jewish people were scattered across the world without a homeland. In one day, according to the meticulous preparation of God, on May 14th 1948, the nation of Israel was restored. As millions of Jews were returning to their homeland they began rebuilding the ancient cities that were destroyed, restoring the desolations of many generations, and fulfilling Biblical prophecy…
As we celebrated Shavuot last night, we’re looking at the promise given 2000 years ago: that normal people will lead extraordinary lives; that disciples, who were terrified on the night of Yeshua’s (Jesus) death, were transformed into bold saints of God; and that fishermen, tax collectors, and housewives – normal everyday people – became empowered, and turned the Roman Empire inside out and upside down!
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