A God-fearer or Godfearer was a class of non-Jewish (gentile) sympathizer to Second Temple Judaism mentioned in the Christian New Testament and other contemporary sources such as synagogue inscriptions in Diaspora Hellenistic Judaism. The concept has precedents in the proselytes of the Hebrew Bible.

In the Hebrew Bible there is some recognition of monotheistic non-Jewish worship as being to the same God. This forms the category of yir'ei Hashem (God-fearers, cf. Psalm 115:11). This was developed in later rabbinical writings into the concept of uncircumcised Noahides, Gentiles following the "seven laws" which rabbinical writings assigned to Noah, on the basis that Genesis records Noah distinguishing "clean" and "unclean" foods before the covenant of circumcision with Abraham and the regulations of the Law of Moses.

There are various Greek forms of this term:

The word may also be related to terms in other languages such as Neo-Persian Tarsàkàn^{[citation needed]}

The terms are found in synagogue inscriptions in Aphrodisias. Judging from the distinctions in the Book of Acts it is thought that they did not become full Proselytes to Judaism, which required circumcision, though the evidence across the centuries varies widely and the meaning of the term may have included all kinds of sympathetic Gentiles, proselytes or not. There are also around 300 text references 4th C BCE - 3rd C CE to a sect of Hypsistarians some of whom practised Sabbath and which many scholars see as sympathizers with Judaism related to God fearers.

The Sabians (Arabic: صابئة‎) of Middle Eastern tradition were a monotheistic Abrahamic religious group mentioned three times in the Quran: "the Jews, the Sabians, and the Christians." In the Hadith they are nothing but converts to Islam, while their identity in later Islamic literature became a matter of discussion and investigation.

The Qur'an briefly announces the Sabians in three places and the Hadith provide further details as to who they were as people of the book:

According to Muslim authors, Sabians followed the fourth book of Abrahamic tradition, the Zaboor, which was given to the Prophet King David of Ancient Israel according to the Qur'an. The "Zaboor" is identified by many modern scholars as the Biblical book of Psalms. Most of what is known of them comes from Ibn Wahshiyya's The Nabatean Agriculture, and the translation of this by Maimonides.

Other classical Arabic sources include the Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim, (c. 987), who mentions the Mogtasilah ("Mughtasila," or "self-ablutionists"), a "sect" of "Sabians" in southern Mesopotamia who counted El-Hasaih as their founder and the vast majority^[who?] of academics agree that they are probably the enigmatic "Sobiai" to whom Elchasai preached in Parthia. According to Daniel Chwolsohn (1856) they appear to have gravitated around the original pro-Jewish Hanputa of Elchasai out of which the miso-Judaic prophet Mani seceded and are identified therefore as the pro-Torah Sampsaeans but also less accurately with the anti-Torah Mandaeans. They were said by Khalil Ibn Ahmad (d.786) to believe that they "belonged" to the prophet Noah.

William Braunstein, better known as Ill Bill, is a Jewish American Rapper and record producer from Brooklyn, New York. Having gained notoriety in the underground hip hop group Non Phixion, Ill Bill is known for his hardcore lyrics and as the producer, founder and CEO of Uncle Howie Records. His brother Ron is also a rapper and producer, known as Necro.

Ill Bill was the main voice behind the now disbanded Non Phixion, and is currently involved with La Coka Nostra, along with Slaine, Danny Boy and DJ Lethal of House of Pain & Limp Bizkit fame. In 2004 he released his debut solo album What's Wrong with Bill? and has since released various solo mixtapes and collaborations in anticipation for his second solo record and the upcoming La Coka Nostra album.

On September 16, 2008, he released his second album on Uncle Howie Records, entitled The Hour of Reprisal. The album includes appearances from Necro, Tech N9ne, B-Real of Cypress Hill, Everlast, Bad Brains, Max Cavalera of Soulfly, Vinnie Paz of Jedi Mind Tricks, Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, Immortal Technique and Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan. It also features production by DJ Muggs, T-Ray, DJ Lethal, Necro, DJ Premier and Ill Bill himself.

Vincenzo Luvineri (born August 19, 1978), better known as Vinnie Paz (formerly known as Ikon the Verbal Hologram), is an Italian-American rapper and the lyricist behind the Philadelphia underground hip hop group Jedi Mind Tricks. He is also the frontman of the hip hop supergroup Army of the Pharaohs.

Originally taking the pseudonym of Ikon the Verbal Hologram, he later changed his name to Vinnie Paz, after the Rhode Island boxer Vinny Pazienza. Paz originally started rapping with fellow Jedi Mind Tricks member Stoupe in his basement. Paz is known for his raw and gritty lyrical delivery. He is also known for his extensive use of studio punch-ins, seldom recording a verse in one take. His lyrics frequently contain references to religion, war, politics, mythology, conspiracy theories, and the paranormal. His more recent albums such as Servants in Heaven Kings in Hell show a more obvious approach to politics and world issues. This gritty style of Paz became apparent with the release of Violent by Design, and has become progressively more defined since its release. Vinnie Paz has a number of aliases, including Louie Doggs, Vinnie P, The Pazmanian Devil, Pazienza, Frank Vinatra, Vin Jong Ill, Rumplestiltsvin, Muhammad Al Vinejahd, and Vin Laden. Raised Catholic, Vinnie Paz is now a Muslim, which plays a major role in much of his lyrics. Vinnie is also a heavy metal fan, and occasionally uses song titles and band names in JMT tracks and lyrics.

Barack Hussein Obama II (ⁱ/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. In January 2005, Obama was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the state of Illinois. He would hold this office until November 2008, when he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In April 2011, he announced that he would be running for re-election in 2012.