A farmer inspects the wheat harvest in Israel. Pope - TopicsExpress

A farmer inspects the wheat harvest in Israel. Pope Francis Openly Praises Jews “But we are citizens of heaven, and it is from there that we expect a Deliverer, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.” (Philippians 3:20) The head of the Catholic Church recently took a historic step by publicly praising the Jewish people. In an open letter to the Italian paper La Repubblica, Pope Francis responded to questions relating to God’s promises of happiness and prosperity to the Jewish People in light of persecution that culminated in the Holocaust. The questions had been posed by Eugenio Scalfari, the paper’s cofounder and former editor. Pope Francis emphasized that despite persecution, God had not abandoned the Jewish People, and they had not abandoned their faith in Him. “This is a question—believe me—that touches us profoundly as Christians, because with the help of God, especially since the Second Vatican Council [created 50 years ago], we have rediscovered that the Jewish People are still for us the holy root that produced Jesus [Yeshua]. “During all these years of friendship with our Jewish brothers in Argentina, I, too, have questioned God many times in my prayers, especially when my mind turned to the memory of the terrible experience of the Shoah [Holocaust],” he said. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis maintained close ties with the Jewish community. Israeli President Shimon Peres presented Pope Francis with a black leather Bible earlier this year. The Jewish People serve as an example to Christians in that they still await the Messiah’s coming, he said, reminding Christians that they are only pilgrims in this life. “For this, we will never be sufficiently grateful to them as a Church, but also as human beings,” he said. “In the persistence of their faith in the God of the Covenant, they summon all, including us as Christians, to recall the fact that we are awaiting the return of the Lord as pilgrims, and must therefore always remain open to Him and never retreat from what we have already achieved,” he continued. “The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” (2 Peter 3:10-12) Jewish men pray on Sukkot at the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem. As you wait His return, you can make a difference for Eternity—click here Have Archaeologists Found the Biblical Town of Dalmanutha? “The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand were present. After He had sent them away, He got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.” (Mark 8:8–10) The town of Dalmanutha mentioned in the Book of Mark, along the northwestern shore of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), may have been discovered, according to Ken Dark, the director of the Research Centre for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. Dark links his discovery with the famous “Jesus Boat” that was uncovered along this same shore in 1986 and is on exhibit at the Yigal Allon Museum of Kibbutz Ginnosar. The boat has been dated to the first century AD. The "Jesus Boat" in the Yigal Allon Museum The location of the southern edge of Dalmanutha is said to be only a distance of 500 feet (150 meters) from the ancient village of Magdala, which is believed to be the village from which Mary Magdalene is said to have come. Much of the existing artifacts linked to the town of Dalmanutha were found in the area of Magdala, which is the modern city of Migdal. Some of these artifacts date Dalmanutha from as early as the second century BC up to AD 5 during the Byzantine Empire. Included among the artifacts were cubes called tesserae, cut stone used in ancient mosaic panels and as floor tiles. Also found were pieces of limestone vessels “associated with Jewish purity practices in the early Roman period” that indicate a Jewish community. (Livescience) Although Dark cannot say for sure that this proves this is the location of the city of Dalmanutha mentioned in Mark, the size of the town would seem to support this, and no other site for this town has been uncovered.