America, Israel, Judaism, and Christianity Are at a Key Moment in History

A BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY STORY TO END THE WEEK. • • • A BILLION BUTTERFLIES VISIT ISRAEL. Israel Today reported on Friday that an extraordinary migration of hundreds of millions of brilliantly-colored butterflies covered Israel during the Purim celebrations : "According to the Association of Butterflies in Israel, between 700 million and just over a billion painted-lady butterflies are now passing through Israel on their way to Europe in search of food and toward their annual breeding grounds. Citizens around the country are reporting that masses of butterflies have been seen flying over the southern Arava region, across the Sharon Valley, and through major city centers up to the Carmel Mountain range. According to Noam Kirshenbaum of the Association of Butterfly Lovers in Israel, this is the largest migration event ever seen in Israel. A survey sample showed that many thousands per hour of the painted-ladies can be seen migrating across the skies compared to just a few hundred in a similar event five years ago. Dubi Binyamini, a butterfly researcher and chairman of the Association of Butterfly Lovers in Israel, explained on their Facebook page that like birds, the butterflies migrate in search of food. In January and February this year, huge amounts of rain fell not only in Israel, but also in the Arabian Peninsula and 'the desert bloomed,' Benyamini noted. 'Every female of the painted-lady can lay up to 500 eggs,' and he estimates that within days about one million butterflies are hatched from a single female. When the food sources dry up in the desert, the butterflies set off in search of nourishment across Israel on their way to Europe for the summer. Scientists are still unable to determine how the butterflies have this 'built-in knowledge' and know to fly north. 'There is an annual cycle of migration during spring. They come up from Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, fly north across Israel to the Carmel Mountain range, then turn west across the Mediterranean to Cyprus and continue on to Europe to build the next generation,' Binyamini said in the interview. In order to survive the thousands of kilometers journey, and many will not survive, the butterflies rest in Israel to feed on the nectar of the wide variety of the Land’s wildflowers and get the energy needed to continue the migration across the Mediterranean towards Cyprus and Turkey." • • • BUTTERFLIES FOR PURIM 2019. Purim 2019 was celebrated from sundown Wednesday, March 20, to sundown Thursday, March 21. Thus, in 2019 (Jewish Year 5779), Purim was celebrated on the first day of Spring. The Purim holiday was celebrated in at least some Jewish communities as early as 124 BC, when celebrations were written about in Alexandria. The Jewish historian Josephus, writing in the first century AD also mentions the holiday, noting that it was widely celebrated. Today, Purim in Israel is embraced by everyone, from religious Jews in Jerusalem to secular Tel Avivians. It's a time of festivity and celebrated far beyond its original religious roots, with costumes, street parties, parades, gift-giving and general celebration much like Mardi Gras in new Orleans. • The Persian empire of the 4th century BCE extended over 127 lands, and all the Jews were its subjects. When King Ahasuerus had his wife, Queen Vashti, executed for failing to follow his orders, he orchestrated a beauty pageant to find a new queen. A Jewish girl, Esther, found favor in his eyes and became the new queen -- though she refused to divulge the identity of her nationality. Meanwhile, the anti-Semitic Haman was appointed prime minister of the empire. Mordechai, the leader of the Jews (Mordechai was orphaned Esther’s cousin who had raised her as his own daughter), defied the king’s orders and refused to bow to Haman. Haman was incensed, and convinced the king to issue a decree ordering the extermination of all the Jews on the 13th of Adar -- a date chosen by a lottery Haman made (hence the name Purim, “lots”). Mordechai galvanized all the Jews, convincing them to repent, fast and pray to God. Meanwhile, Esther asked the king and Haman to join her for a feast. At the feast, Esther revealed to the king her Jewish identity. Haman was hanged, Mordechai was appointed prime minister in his stead, and a new decree was issued granting the Jews the right to defend themselves against their enemies. On the 13th of Adar the Jews mobilized and killed many of their enemies. On the 14th of Adar they rested and celebrated. • The four Mitzvot, or commandments, that the Jewish people should fulfill during Purim are -- (1) Reading the Megillah (The Book of Esther). (2) Sending mishloach manot, or gift baskets; (3) The Seudah, or festive meal. (4) Matanot La'evyonim, giving to the poor. Religious Jews fast on the day preceding Purim. • We wish all our Jewish brothers and sisters a happy Purim celebration -- and joy in watching the butterflies visit Israel. • • • UNFORTUNATELY, CHINESE CHRISTIANS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO CELEBRATE. Christina Headlines (christianheadlines.com) reported a March 15 Morning Star News story. Morning Star News is the only independent news service focusing exclusively on persecution of Christians, as a news service independent of any one entity "seeking to serve all agencies in their efforts to help persecuted Christians. It relies on a network of professionally trained, veteran journalists around the world." Here is the report published by Christian Headlines : "Following the arrest of 44 worshipers from house church meetings in southwestern China in February, police in Chengdu this month arrested a married couple from the church and beat them during interrogation, the church reported. The couple, identified as Liu and his wife Xing, of Early Rain Covenant Church, were visiting Christian friends when police from Chengdu Shuyuan Police Station on March 2 detained them and took them to Taisheng Road Police Station for interrogation, according to the church, whose pastor along with more than 100 others was arrested in a December 9 raid. 'At 2 p.m., while being interrogated, they were personally humiliated, abused, and violently beaten by seven to eight police officers from the Chengdu Taisheng Road Police Station,' the church’s March 2 statement on Facebook reads. 'They were detained for nearly eight hours. After being beaten by police officers from the Taisheng Road Police Station, sister Xing and her husband were escorted by an unidentified person back to their home.' ” • Christian Headlines called the "unexplained violence" one of the : "latest instances of persecution of the church in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. After church pastor Wang Yi and his wife, Jiang Rong, were incarcerated in the December 9 raid, authorities on February 24 detained 44 Early Rain members meeting for worship in several homes. Some were released the next day, and seven others were released on Monday (March 11), the church reported. Pastor Wang and his wife were charged with 'inciting to subvert state power' and are in secret detention. Ten others are also facing criminal charges, including four church elders, according to the statement. Police have pressured landlords to evict some church members and compelled employers to fire others, and one church member has been missing since March 5. In a statement on March 8, the church reported that Pan Fei, who had lost his job because of his church activities, disappeared after his first day at a new job on March 4. 'He stopped going to work beginning on the following Tuesday morning,' the statement reads. 'We have visited his apartment multiple times to look for him but to no effect. We have not been able to contact him.' " • Christian Headlines gives details of the church statement about Pan Fei : "Police had arrested Pan Fei several times since May 2018 and had illegally searched his home, according to the church. After police compelled his landlord to evict him, community officers visited him at his new apartment and harassed him regularly. In the past, when brother Pan Fei would encounter harassment and persecution, he would ask his brothers and sisters to pray for him. But he has not sent any messages since disappearing four days ago. We are concerned that brother Pan Fei is being targeted for his faith.” • Pan Fei is not the only Christian being persecuted, and perhaps brutally beaten or murdered, for his faith, in China. Christian Headlines also reported another incident recounted in a church statement : "Yesterday (March 14) Early Rain member Zhang Ying and her daughters received a visit at their apartment in Chengdu from her landlord, accompanied by officers from the local police station. Six males and one female barged into her home. They insulted sister Zhang and her three children, threatened them, and derided them. Two of them were extremely aggressive and threatened to rape and beat sister Zhang. Community officers stood by the side and recorded their insults and verbal abuse with a video camera. Zhang has signed a two-year contract with her landlord for the apartment, but he falsely claimed that she had violated it without saying what she had done wrong....He was harassing her because community officers and police had pressured him to. When the landlord and community officers left, they required sister Zhang to move out of her home by the end of March.” • The Early Rain Covenant Church says that threats have become commonplace for church members : “For the most part, there is no member of this church who has not suffered in some way,” the church reported in a February 24 statement. • Chinese Christians are often charged with “inciting subversion of state power,” punishable by up to five years in prison or 15 in extreme cases, as the Communist regime views religion as a threat to its ideological control, according to advocacy group China Aid. It notes that Christian groups have no intention of threatening government power. Pastor Wang, states the South China Morning Post (SCMP), "was a human rights activist and a constitutional scholar before becoming a pastor. In 2006, he met with then-US President George W. Bush in the White House." Christian Headlines says : "The raids on the Early Rain church are part of a broader crack-down on unofficial or 'underground' churches that Beijing escalated since last year following amendments to the Religious Affairs Regulation that give lower-level officials more power to act against churches and impose tougher penalties for 'unauthorized religious gatherings,' according to the SCMP. Unofficial churches decline to become part of the government-sanctioned Three-Self Church, which would subject them to intrusive government controls. The Early Rain church on Tuesday (March 12) posted a video of Xu Xiaohong, head of the government-sanctioned Three-Self Church, telling the National People's Congress the previous day that officials planned to 'Sinicize' Christianity. This plan would rid Christianity of all 'Western' influences and ensure that all Christian doctrine and worship conforms to the government ideology, the church stated, noting that Xu denounced churches gathering in 'private meeting places' and 'black sheep' who are 'subverting state security.' ” • The US State Department announced on December 10 that it had included China among 10 countries designated as Countries of Particular Concern for severe religious rights violations. China ranked 27th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian." • If you want to help Morning Star News or persecuted Christians, you can visit < http://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ > or < https://morningstarnews.org >. • • • WHY THE PURE PROPAGANDA OF AMERICA THE JESUIT REVIEW?? In a March 21 article by John A. Worthley, a visiting professor of public administration in China since 1983, who has served as Mother Teresa’s emissary to China and facilitated the milestone 2015 reconciliation pilgrimage of Chinese bishops to the United States, Worthley wrote : "This past Christmas, Catholics in China rejoiced, despite the ongoing tensions between the 'underground' and state-recognized church. For the first time in more than six decades, the faithful openly celebrated as one flock the incarnation of the eternal Word. For the Catholic community in the Middle Kingdom, Christ’s prayer made in agony, 'that they be one,' was finally realized. The quest for unity in the Chinese Catholic Church has been a long one. The current phase can be traced to the 1950s, when Chairman Mao Zedong closed all churches and the 'underground' church developed. In the late 1970s, when the government established the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), the underground church was invited to come under government registration. Some of the faithful and members of the clergy accepted. Many did not. With a new agreement between the Vatican and China on the appointment of bishops, the Catholic Church in China has entered a new era." • Why would a Jesuit journal publish such a propagandist article about the church in China on March 21? Because Xi Jinping arrived in Italy on Thursday for a 3-day visit. • Fox News reports : "Chinese visit to Italy seeks closer ties, stirs suspicions....At the heart of Chinese Premier Xi Jingping's visit to Rome beginning Thursday is a key prize : A deal to make Italy the first major democracy to join China's ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure project that has raised concerns about Beijing's growing economic clout. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has pledged to sign the memorandum of understanding on Saturday, despite objections from US allies and doubts within the coalition government that it could give China greater political influence in Europe and the West. But Xi's visit, at the invitation of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, also aims more broadly at deepening trade and cultural ties. Conte has even suggested that Italy could play a role in easing tensions over trade between China and the United States. Mattarella told the Chinese stat-run news agency Xinhua Thursday that the visit is an expression of the 'solidity of the bond and mutual respect' between the two countries, which will celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations in 2020. Xi's visit includes a meeting with Mattarella and a wreath-laying at Italy's monument for unknown soldiers on Friday. On Saturday, Premier Conte will sign the infrastructure deal and Xi will visit the Sicilian city of Palermo before departing Sunday." • Fox Nerws outlines what's at stake with the visit : "INFRASTRUCTURE. Italy's signature on the ambitious 'Belt and Road' infrastructure-building project would give legitimacy to a project that envisions overland and maritime routes connecting China with Europe, reviving the old Silk Road traveled by Marco Polo in the Middle Ages. The initiative encompasses about 60 countries through Asia and Africa to Europe. Conte has dismissed concerns that signing the framework with China would downgrade Italy's strategic ties with Europe and the United States, saying its focus was more commercial and on encouraging trade with China. The White House has criticized the deal, saying it is weighted in China's interests. Italy's European allies have declined to sign a joint declaration on the 'Belt and Road,' saying it lacks standards on financing and transparency. While full details have not been released, it includes collaboration and investments in the northern Italian ports of Genoa and Trieste as well as roads, railways, airports and telecommunications. 'Our two countries may harness our historical and cultural bonds forged through the ancient Silk Road,' Xi wrote in the Corriere della Sera newspaper this week." -- "TECHNOLOGY. Key Italian officials have insisted that the issue of expanding Chinese company Huawei's 5G network into Italy is not part of the 'Belt and Road' memorandum. The Chinese 5-G network is viewed with suspicion, mainly by the US government, which says it could give Chinese security services a backdoor to snoop on consumers. The issue is a major source of tension between China and the US. While European countries have balked at banning Huawei outright from participating in the creation of the new 5G networks, one key member of Italy's government, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, shares the concerns, saying nothing in the memorandum can threaten Italians' data." -- "CULTURE. Ahead of the visit, Xi noted that China and Italy are the countries with the largest number of UNESCO world heritage sites, sharing both cultural and tourism resources. He suggested that the two countries could form 'twinning relationships' between world heritage sites and cooperate on art exhibitions, TV and movie production, language course and travel. Mattarella said that the heritage of Italy and China both 'arouse admiration around the world' and could help develop the economy. The two countries are expected to soon announce the pairing of the Langhe, Roero and Monferrato wine region in Piedmont with China's Honghe Hani rice terraces, while Verona and Hangzhou are to establish sister-city relationships. Culture and tourism officials will be meeting Saturday on the sidelines of Xi's visit." -- "TRADE. Conte said he aims to rebalance trade with China. Currently 1 billion Chinese consumers provide a market for 13 billion Euros (nearly $15 billion) in Italian goods, while Italy's 60 million people buy 60 billion Euros in Chinese-made products each year. Italy's undersecretary for economic development, Michele Geraci, says Italy lags its European partners in trade with China by 15 or 20 years, and that the aim is to increase Italian exports to China by 7 billion Euros, putting Italy in line with France. Mattarella said that Italy sees China 'not only as an economic partner of prime importance, but also as a driver of global trade,' and a market for Italian technology and expertise in areas like environmental protection, food security, health services and machinery. He called for 'open and transparent' trade with both countries acting 'on an equal basis.' Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao said the 'Belt and Road' deal would be beneficial for both countries' economic development and trade. However, Francois Godement, a specialist in Chinese politics at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, called such claims 'bogus,' because Chinese companies already have significant investments in Italy." • • • WHY IS ITALY SIDING WITH CHINA? Many analysts say that although Italy hopes to benefit commercially from the tighter relationship with China, there is little evidence of that happening. It is Beijing that will benefit. China is particularly interested in investing in Italian ports to help funnel its products into Europe, amid warnings that Rome has to avoid the model of the Greek port of Piraeus, which was taken over by Chinese shipping giant Cosco in 2016. Supporters of the MoU said that it will lead to China complying with European Union standards, and cannot be compared to debt-inducing deals Beijing has signed with developing countries -- as if Greece, another EU member, is a developing country. • In what some saw as a snub, Italy's nationalist Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said he would not attend Saturday's state dinner for Xi at Mattarella's Quirinal Palace. Salvini has said Italy would be "no one's colony" and urged caution about using telecom giant Huawei's next generation 5G mobile technology? Salvini's coalition partner Luigi Di Maio is keener for Chinese partnerships. Deputy Prime Minister Di Maio said recently : "Today we say 'Italy first' in trade relations, while remaining US allies, in NATO and in the EU." Allies' concerns about 5G could be allayed by strengthening the Italian government's so-called 'golden powers' to keep control of strategic industries and infrastructure, Di Maio said. BUT, the United States has warned European allies that Huawei could use its 5G technology as a "backdoor" for spying, while China has lashed out at what it is calling "immoral" attacks. AND, the fact that Italy is a NATO member planning to join China's ambitious maritime, rail and road venture, which critics warn mainly benefits Chinese firms, has raised concerns among Western allies and also in Italy. Rome could become "a sort of Chinese Trojan horse in Europe," said Mariastella Gelmini of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party. White House official Garrett Marquis last week tweeted that there was "no need" for Italy to endorse "China's infrastructure vanity project." • Italy is not alone in Europe in leaning more toward China. Xi's visit comes a week after the European Union released a 10-point plan for a shift to more assertive relations with Beijing, warning that China was a "rival" to the EU as well as its biggest trading partner. Premier Conte is expected to reassure European partners about the non-binding MoU at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, before heading back to Rome for the signing. France 24 media outlet reported on Friday : "France on Thursday announced that President Emmanuel Macron will hold trade and climate talks on Tuesday with Xi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. As he arrived for the EU summit in Brussels, Macron welcomed what he called Europe's 'awakening' to the challenge posed by China." • AND WHO IS XI NOT VISITING WHILE IN ITALY??? Pope Francis. It is routine that every head of state or government visiting Italy stops at the Vatican to visit the Pope. BUT, Xi Jinping seems to be prepared to ignore the protocol. • Xi is not expected to meet Pope Francis. The Vatican has diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not Beijing, so the encounter would be unlikely despite an agreement on appointing bishops in China signed last year. YET, we cannot help but ask if Xi -- a profound pragmatist who will do or say almost anything that fits the occasion -- is deliberately snubbing Pope Francis and the Vatican, the seat of the Roman Catholic Church. Xi now has what he wanted from the naive Pope and has no further need to appear to be nice to him. The poor politically correct Francis has abandoned all Christians in China to the Chinese Communist Party and its atheist view that religion is just another instrument of marxist state power. Whatever good comes of the Francis papacy, his bargain with the CCP will forever be a bloody stain on his papacy. • • • DEAR READERS, to return to a happier topic, while the Jewish people were celebrating Purim on the first day of Spring, they also had another great reason to celebrate. As the Christian Post put it, it was another Trump promise kept : "President Trump announced Thursday that the United States would recognize the Golan Heights as the sovereign territory of Israel." President Trump tweeted the announcement, surely as a gift to Israel on Purim : “After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!” As of Friday morning, the President’s tweet has garnered over 158,500 likes and more than 38,300 retweets, as well as praise from many evangelicals and conservative Christians. • The Times of Israel said : "US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the time has come to 'fully recognize' Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in another monumental shift in US Mideast policy by his administration....Following the announcement, Prime Minister Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Trump by phone to thank him. 'You made history,' his office quoted him telling the US President. Netanyahu also put out a tweet welcoming Trump’s statement. 'At a time when Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Thank you President Trump,' he said. He issued similar praise at a joint press conference he held Thursday evening with visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Though Trump said it was 'time' for action, it was not clear that his statement constituted official recognition. On Wednesday, Israeli and US officials had said they expected an announcement on US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan could come next week. Trump’s tweet came hours after Pompeo was joined by Netanyahu for a visit of the Western Wall, the first time that Washington’s top diplomat has visited Jerusalem’s contested Old City accompanied by a senior Israeli official. The visit could be seen as tacit American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the contested Jewish holy site and a shift in US policy. The two men were also accompanied by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman....Pompeo called the decision bold and said : 'The people of Israel should know that the battles they fought and the lives they lost on that very ground were important and worthy.' At a meeting Wednesday with Pompeo in Jerusalem, Netanyahu accused Iran of attempting to set up a terrorist network to target Israel from the Golan Heights....'I think, for this reason, and many more, it is time that the international community recognizes Israel’s stay on the Golan, and the fact that the Golan will always remain part of the State of Israel,' he said....The White House has also announced that Netanyahu will be welcomed by Trump in Washington next week with Israel just two weeks from the April 9 election. Netanyahu is one of Trump’s strongest backers on the global stage....The White House said Netanyahu would be welcomed next Monday and Tuesday with a working meeting and a dinner with Trump. Netanyahu said he was looking forward to making the relationship 'even stronger' during the visit. In an interview Thursday with Israeli TV, Pompeo denied that his visit just weeks ahead of the election, and Netanyahu’s welcome in Washington, were part of a Trump administration effort to boost Netanyahu and get him re-elected. 'These things are about real pressing issues, things that matter to the world. They are time sensitive,' he told Channel 12." • Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote “Ulysses,” a poem often quoted whenever there is a search for adventure, experience and meaning which makes life worth living. Lord Tennyson painted an old Ulysses, his adventures and victories over the natural and supernatural elements of the known world now past. But, Lord Tennyson also paints a Ulysses unwilling to accept the settling in of old age, longing for one more quest. • There are many in today's world who see Christianity and Judaism and free markets and democratis republics and nations as old -- past their prime, their opportunity to change the world for the better over. These would agree with the penultimate lines of Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses " : "Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;..." • But, Lord Tennyson doesn't stop there -- he adds two more lines to close the poem and to complete his picture of Ulysses : "One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will, To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." • I often think of those lines when I consider President Trump's iron will, determined to save America, and of Israel, just as determined to save the Jewish people. They have come together at a key moment in history : "strong in will, To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."