(Worthy Insights) – The Temple Institute announced on Tuesday that the remaining red heifers that had been brought from Texas by Boneh Israel to perform the Biblically mandated purification ceremony are not suited for the ceremony.

“The three weeks of intensified focus and adoption of customs of mourning over the destruction of the two Holy Temples in Jerusalem have ended,” the announcement read. “But our recap of all the work the Temple Institute is involved with, the one aim of rebuilding the Holy Temple and renewing the Divine service is far from exhausted.”

The Temple Institute described its more than two decades of efforts to find a suitable red heifer. A red heifer is an entirely red female cow with no more than one non-red hair on its entire body. In the language of the Bible, red is not exclusively what we know today as red. It also includes brown and other similar shades of red. This excludes black. All of the hairs on its body must be the same color. The animal must also be two years and one month old. There can be no blemish, no holes in the ear, and it may never have carried a burden. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Along the storied Silk Road, in the spiritual heart of Central Asia, an unlikely movement is quietly growing behind closed doors.

In Bukhara, a city revered in Islam with more than 2,000 years of history and home to the region’s oldest mosque, a small but determined group of Christians is worshipping, praying, and sharing the gospel with boldness and courage.

Nestled among ancient architecture and bustling bazaars, house churches are emerging, hidden from public view but alive with whispered worship and bold faith. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Summertime means Vacation Bible School for many churches across the country. For more than a hundred years, VBS has provided children a week-long, faith-based experience combining learning with fun and fellowship.

Excitement filled the air at Kempsville Baptist Church in Virginia Beach on a recent hot Wednesday night in July, as children from kindergarten through 5th grade showed up for their 3rd night of VBS. Bible lessons combined with games, crafts, music and other activities engage the young people while helping them grow in their faith.

This year’s focus is magnifying the Lord.

Lifeway VBS Specialist Melita Thomas told CBN News, “It’s all about seeing the bigness of God in the small details of His creation. For a generation of kids that is plagued with isolation, that’s plagued with anxiety and loneliness and worry to have a message that the God of the universe is never too busy for you, that He sees you and knows you and loves you, He made you, you are not a mistake. He knows how many hairs are on your head. He loves you so much that He chose to die to pave the way for our relationship to be restored to Him.”

[ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Every Evangelical Christian who values truth should be both sickened and angered by the conduct of the New York Times.

On Friday, the NYT published a front page story with this incendiary headline: “Young, Old, and Sick Starve to Death in Gaza: ‘There’s nothing.’”

To illustrate their accusation that Israel is purposefully starving the two million residents of the Gaza Strip, the NYT ran a photo of a severely emaciated child being held in his mother’s arms as she looks distraught and he looks like he’s on the verge of death. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – The New York Times amended its article that detailed starvation in Gaza on Tuesday to include that a child featured in the story and its front page, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, had a preexisting medical condition that impacts his appearance.

“We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated [Mutawaq] and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems.”

The amendment came after the Israeli Consulate General in New York made the request, and after the photo of Mutawaq with his brother spread across social media. The consulate informed the NYT of Mutawaq’s medical condition, according to Israeli media, citing Israeli sources. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – President Donald Trump’s administration notched another huge win for Americans of faith on Monday, announcing that they would be able to share their religious beliefs at work.

The memo, The Hill noted, said that federal employees may persuade others why their religious beliefs are “correct” and that they would “be permitted to display and use items used for religious purposes or icons of a religiously significant nature, including but not limited to bibles, artwork, jewelry, posters displaying religious messages, and other indicia of religion (such as crosses, crucifixes and mezuzahs) on their desks, on their person, and in their assigned workspaces.”

“The Federal workforce should be a welcoming place for Federal employees who practice a religious faith. Allowing religious discrimination in the Federal workplace violates the law,” the memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management read. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – The release of declassified material has shed new light on the creation of the Russian collusion investigation and many of the names are crushingly familiar. Indeed, Congress is moving to “round up the usual suspects” in light of the new revelations. It is the story of the real Russian conspiracy: how high-ranking officials in the Obama Administration seeded this false claim with the help of an eager, unquestioning press corps.

Not surprisingly, the media, which spent years repeating the false Russian collusion claims, is doing a full-court press to kill the story. Yet, many of these key figures are retaining counsel in anticipation of the unfolding investigation. Many previously secured contracts with MSNBC or CNN, or book deals, where they doubled down on the false claims detailed in these new documents. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Almost 200 people were baptized during a Sunday night worship service and a planned outdoor event hosted by Manna Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

As CBN News has reported, Manna Church is a multi-campus congregation whose expressed mission is to plant a church near every U.S. military base around the globe.

The church hosted a “Worship & Baptism in the Park” event at Festival Park in Fayetteville and saw 193 people make a public declaration to put their faith in God, as many more gathered to praise the name of Jesus. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – One month after the surprise announcement of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel by U.S. President Donald Trump, officials in the Islamic Republic fear that fighting could be ongoing in a more covert fashion.

For over two weeks now, a series of mysterious fires and explosions have been reported across the country of Iran, almost on a daily basis, and sometimes even two or three on the same day.

Publicly, Iranian officials have blamed an aging gas infrastructure, misuse of natural gas containers, or gas-fired water heaters for many of the incidents – but privately, many fear that at least some of the explosions could be instigated by Israel, according to a report in the New York Times. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Israel successfully assassinated 19 senior Iranian nuclear scientists during the 12-Day War, depriving Tehran’s atomic “weapons program of its most capable and experienced personnel,” according to a new intelligence assessment by a leading nonproliferation organization.

The military campaign evaporated decades of nuclear know-how, striking at the heart of Tehran’s weapons program in a way kinetic attacks could not, according to the Institute for Science and International Security.

“This act weakened Iran’s base for building nuclear weapons, eliminating needed expertise and hard-to-get management experience,” the organization determined. “This time the Israeli effort is different, and recovering may be far more difficult and take far longer.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – A genuine spiritual outpouring is happening among Gen Z this summer as thousands are hearing the gospel message, making professions of faith in Jesus Christ, and answering the call to ministry.

Clayton King, pastor and founder of Crossroads Camp in Anderson, South Carolina, told CBN News he “has personally seen more than 2,000 students give their lives to Jesus this summer.”

King saw the aisles flooded once again with spiritually hungry young people at Indiana Wesleyan University on Wednesday night. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – In the remote corners of Kazakhstan, a spiritual revolution is quietly unfolding. Surrounded by ancient traditions and deep-rooted Islamic faith, a small but growing group of Uyghurs are discovering a new spiritual path, one that is changing their world forever.

The Kazakhstan landscape stretches wide and wild, from sweeping grasslands to alpine valleys and towering snow-capped mountain ranges. Sitting in the heart of Central Asia, it’s the world’s largest landlocked country.

Recently, CBN News took a four-hour drive east from Almaty to the southeastern corner of the country, just a stone’s throw from China, where generations of Uyghurs have lived. Some here still practice ancient traditions like herding horses and sheep across the wide Kazakh steppe grassland. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – The news that eight babies with the DNA of three people have been born in the U.K. has been greeted by some as a great step in the fight against genetic diseases, but others are concerned about the ethical implications, which involve the destruction of two living embryos to create a third.

The eight babies were born in the last five years and were created as part of an attempt to spare them from mitochondrial disease. The disease affects around 1 in 5,000 babies in Britain and can cause developmental, metabolic and neurological disorders.

Only women with a high risk of passing on the disease to their children were eligible to undergo the process of creating a triple DNA baby. In all, 22 women underwent the procedure, but only seven became pregnant, with one having twins, representing a success rate of 36%. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Republican controlled states agreed to advance a law compelling the use of the term “Judea and Samaria” to replace the “West Bank” in official documents after Arkansas legislated such a bill last month.

The initiative was advanced by a West Bank settlement regional council leader Yossi Dagan as part of a move to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to support Israeli annexation of the area.

Utah, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Idaho, Iowa and Oklahoma were considering the bill that would include declaring the West Bank as the biblical cradle of the Jewish people and the therefore it could not be considered occupied territory. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Just two years ago, Iran’s current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this:

“The situation between America and Iran is this: When you chant, “Death to America!” It is not just a slogan, it is policy,” Khamenei said.

Iran’s leaders still call the U.S. the “Great Satan,” and Israel, “Little Satan.”

But lately, on Iran’s street’s the people are chanting something very different.

“Death to the Dictator. Death to the Dictator.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Hundreds of millions in federal taxpayer dollars have been given to organizations around the world that likely facilitate prostitution and the sex industry, a watchdog group has found.

Through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program, the U.S. government has doled out roughly $385 million to foreign organizations suspected of violating U.S. policy on sex work and prostitution advocacy, according to a complaint filed by the Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) and obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. In addition to the grants that have already been spent, CASA uncovered another $480 million in obligated funds to the same groups.

CASA is calling on the State Department’s Office of Inspector General to conduct a comprehensive audit of the PEPFAR program. [ Source (Read More…) ]