Worthy Brief - 6/7/2017
Friend, good parenting works; look to your Heavenly Father!
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
I ran across a profound story that shows what happens when the family structure breaks down -- but this didn't have to do with people -- it had to do with elephants.
In Kruger National Park in South Africa a group of adolescent bull elephants whose family members had been gunned down during a culling operation were transported to another wildlife reserve. While at the other reserve, the young elephants embarked on a killing spree that lasted several years leaving more than 100 animals dead, including 40 white rhinoceroses. To stop the killing, a strategy was implemented to ship in older male elephants from Kruger to establish a new male hierarchy which would keep the adolescent elephants in check. Thus the killing stopped.
Like human society, the elephant family defines established roles for training and discipline in family life. And like humans, young elephants require a prolonged period of nurture with family units to prepare them for adult life. Damage and loss in family life will produce painful and sometimes devastating results. In this situation the loss of the mature males was catastrophic.
Many of us in the body of Messiah have not had healthy parental role models, and some have had none at all; but our life as a believing family will generally begin to improve, correct, and heal the results of broken family life which many suffer from. Mature believers ought to be role models and examples, not only to our children, but also to younger believers.
Ideally, Christian leaders will be healthy role models, but many are themselves, deficient and unhealed in certain ways. We all ought to have grace when it comes to this area of body life. Our expectations will not always be met and may even be severely disappointed. Our saving grace -- and it is truly an amazing one-- is that we all have a Heavenly Father who is a perfect parent, and who can love and nurture us in both male and female ways, and who is also able to provide human role models and healers to help bring us to wholeness.
Friend, be thankful for any good parenting you have received; forgive all that was negative or deficient. Then ask your Heavenly Father to parent you by His personal parental love and providence in your human relationships. This will free you from deep resentment and bitterness, and will begin to move you toward maturity and peace, and will prepare you to be a good parent and role model for others.
Your family in the Lord with much agape love,
George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah
Arad, Israel
Around the World
U.S.-backed Syrian forces begin final battle with Islamic State to liberate Raqqa
U.S.-backed Syrian forces launched the long-awaited assault on the Islamic State’s self-styled capital of Raqqa on Tuesday, marking what the Pentagon says will be the beginning of the end of the terrorist group’s hopes for a caliphate in its last major stronghold in the country.
EU to give 50m euros to new African fighting force
The European Union has agreed to give more than 50m euros to fund a new African joint military force in the Sahel region.
Syphilis cases hit highest level since 1949 amid rise in risky sex
Syphilis cases have reached the highest level since 1949 following a rise in unsafe sex as fears about HIV have faded, new figures suggest.
Developing nations in Paris climate accord threaten to keep polluting unless they're paid
Peru says it can cut emissions by 30 percent by 2030 compared with its 'business as usual' projections, though that would be a net pollution increase of 22 percent and is contingent on billions of dollars in funding. India, Iran, South Sudan, Niger, the Central African Republic, Cuba, Egypt, Paraguay and a host of other countries have similar demands: Pay up, or else they will have to keep polluting.
Islamic State massacre at least 160 civilians fleeing western Mosul
Islamic State massacred more than 160 civilians as they attempted to flee the fighting in western Mosul, the UN has said.
100,000 Children Trapped in Hell-Like Mosul, Being Used as Human Shields by ISIS
UNICEF, the United Nations' children's fund, has warned that as many as 100,000 children might be trapped in the embattled city of Mosul in Iraq, with the Islamic State terror group attempting to use them as human shields.
Terror Expert: U.K. Let Radical Imams 'Inspire' Terrorists' Acts of Evil
Cherished freedoms make the fight against radical Islam more difficult in the United States and the United Kingdom, but the battle can be won through the ideas and by putting an end to cultural coddling of radical ideologies, according to a terrorism expert with extensive ties to the U.K.
U.S. threatens to withdraw from U.N. Human Rights Council
Though the United States' membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council doesn't run out for another two years, the Trump administration said Tuesday it might leave early.
Pentagon: Beijing Is Arming Its Manmade Islands in South China Sea
China is outfitting its manmade island outposts in the South China Sea with warplane hangars and weapons, the Pentagon said Tuesday in its annual assessment of Beijing's military.
Notre Dame: Attacker shouted that he was a soldier of Isil as he attempted to strike police officer with hammer
French police shot a man outside Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris on Tuesday after he tried to attack them with a hammer and shouted 'This is for Syria' in a terror incident just two days after the London attacks.
Shooting incidents in Iranian parliament, Ayatollah Khomeini mausoleum
A man opened fire in the Iranian parliament on Wednesday and injured a guard, a witness said.
Israel-Palestinian Conflict
IDF Conducts Surprise Drill for Possible Hezbollah Attack on Northern Border
The IDF called up thousands of soldiers from its Northern Command conscript divisions Sunday to conduct a surprise military exercise on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
Netanyahu to right-wing leaders: No settler will be uprooted in peace deal
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday implored right-wing leaders to unify behind him in future peace efforts, promising that he would not bring a 'tragedy' upon the settlements and that not a single settler would be uprooted as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Inside the United States
Did the FBI have evidence of a breach larger than Snowden? A lawsuit says yes.
A former U.S. intelligence contractor tells Circa he walked away with more than 600 million classified documents on 47 hard drives from the National Security Agency and the CIA, a haul potentially larger than Edward Snowden's now infamous breach.
16 states ask Supreme Court to revive Trump travel ban
Texas and officials with 15 other states filed briefs with the Supreme Court on Monday asking the justices to reinstate President Trump's travel ban policy, saying they're convinced it's both legal and justified.
Republicans worried about leaks consider cutting back surveillance authority
A small revolt in corners of the Republican Party bedevils plans for reauthorization this year of surveillance capabilities considered the 'crown jewels' of the U.S. intelligence community.
News Blackout on Refugee Boys Who Sexually Assaulted Idaho Girl
A judge sentenced three Muslim refugee boys in the sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl in Idaho, but nobody knows the length or terms of the sentence because the judge has barred everyone in the courtroom, including the victim's own parents, from speaking about the case.
Christian News
ISIS Attacks in Egypt Could Spark Massive Harvest of Souls
The violent bloodshed of Egyptian Christians at the hands of radical Muslims in recent days has sent shock waves throughout the country.