Jekyll Island

Other attempts were made to resurrect a central bank in America but none succeeded until the creation of the Federal Reserve System at the hands of a well-documented conspiracy. “The situation we are confronted with did not happen in the last few years, but began in 1913 when a group of cunningly deceitful legislators passed the Federal Reserve Act on December 24 at 11:45 p.m., after those who were opposed went home for Christmas,” Veon noted.

“[T]here was an occasion near the close of 1910, when I was as secretive, indeed, as furtive as any conspirator. . . . I do not feel it is any exaggeration to speak of our secret expedition to Jekyll Island as the occasion of the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System . . . ,” wrote Frank A. Vanderlip, one of the men who created the Fed. He went on to become president of New York’s National City Bank, a forebear of today’s Citibank.
Townhall - Jim Marrs - The Necessary Death of the Bank of the United States - Full Article

It is the best course to acknowledge the One (God Almighty - "El Shaddai") who owns "the cattle upon a thousand hills" (Psalm 50:10). And remember to:

"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy" (I Timothy 6:17).

Isaiah 14:11,12

Doris Augustsson: Satan som ville sätta sig över Gud! Lusifer var musiker i himlen, men blev nerkastad till jorden tillsammans med sina änglar.

Translation from Bing: Satan who wanted to sit over God! Lusifer was a musician in the sky, but became nerkastad to earth together with his angels.

(It rejoices my heart to see some of the people of my ancestral home reading and understanding God's Word. I'll meet them in heaven one day. - Linda)

Eclipse

Pacific July 11, 2010 Total Solar Eclipse.

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Genesis 1:14).

Character building . . .

"Always do what you are afraid to do."- Emerson

NPR - National Public Radio

The usual NPR news piece consists of a leftie reporter interviewing a leftie politician. Sometimes another leftie will be allowed to chip in with the observation that the other two lefties aren't far enough left. When NPR's well of leftism runs dry in the wee hours, local stations often retransmit leftism from the BBC. A real laugh riot, and we're forced to pay for every glorious second of it
Townhall - National Public Radio: Choosing Sides and Controlling the Terms Of the Debate With Our Money

"And He (Jesus) spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? (Luke 6:39).

Plutocracy

MEANING: noun,
1. Government by the wealthy.
2. A country or state governed by the wealthy people.
3. Wealthy ruling class.
ETYMOLOGY:From pluto- (wealth) + -cracy (rule). From Greek ploutokratia,(wealth, overflowing riches).

Seems that's where Socialism ends. Keep everyone poor except the few at the top while they are rich, rich, rich, and getting richer.

A must read is Orwell's "Animal Farm" where the animals start out equal but it all to soon ends with the pigs revising the rules because: "All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others". Amazon.com: Animal Farm (9781412811903): George Orwell: Books

Don't envy the rich of this world. Read Psalm 73 and tremble for them.

"...these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches...Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places: Thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment!" (Psalm 73: 12, 18-19).

God instructs us, who live in the dispensation of His grace, to pray for men (mankind) that they may be saved, indeed pray for ALL people is His will, "God our Saviour who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (I Timothy 2:4). Rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, man or women, ALL to be saved, and in this age of Grace it is an open invitation to ALL based upon the atonement of the cross of Jesus Christ for ALL. Good news!

The cross liberates the soul

In New York Harbor stands a lady,
With a torch raised to the sky;
And all who see her know she stands for
Liberty for you and me.

I'm so proud to be called an American,
To be named with the brave and the free;
I will honor our flag and our trust in God,
And the Statue of Liberty.

On lonely Golgotha stood a cross,
With my Lord raised to the sky;
And all who kneel there live forever
As all the saved can testify.

I'm so glad to be called a Christian,
To be named with the ransomed and whole;
As the statue liberates the citizen,
So the cross liberates the soul.

Oh the cross is my Statue of Liberty,
It was there that my soul was set free;
Unashamed I'll proclaim that a rugged cross
Is my Statue of Liberty!

© Statue of Liberty - Words & Music by Neil Enloe
YouTube - Ivan Parker - Statue of Liberty

The trodden down Christ. . .

The Cross proclaims that God is love, a love that conquers by the shedding of Christ's own precious blood for sinners:

In weakness like defeat
He won the victor's crown;
Trod all His foes beneath His feet
by being trodden down.

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Hebrews 12:2,3).

"For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. " (II Corinthians 13:4).

"...the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men"(I Corinthians 1:25).

Who but an omniscient God would have devised such a plan? "Contradiction of sinners against Himself"...thank you, Jesus.

Pagan vanities. . .Hammer of Zeus

Greece lightning: Ancient Parthenon lit from above as storm breaks over Athens | Mail Online

Jupiter = Latin for Gr. Zeus, the national god of the Greeks. Mercurius = Gr. Hermes.

"And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker....which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people crying out. and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein" (Acts 14:12, 14, 15).

More Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers: "Do you have a room?" "Room" = "zimmer" in German. "Does your dog bite?" Just a bit of help with the dialogue.

Does your dog bite? - Maggie's Farm#comments

A must read about dogs is James Thurber's short story, "The Dog That Bit People" -- be prepared to laugh. It is also a superb piece of writing.

Psalm 93

"The LORD reigneth, He is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: Thou art from everlasting" (Psalm 93:1-2).

The LORD has come to begin His glorious reign over the earth. It is Jehovah the Son. He has a garment of majesty...a visible glory. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord" (Hab. 2:14).

All this is future, but what a glorious future it will be!

Lincolnesque

Once on the road Lincoln was stopped by an old woman who informed him that he was just about the ugliest man she'd ever seen. He said, "Ma'am, I can't help my face." She replied, "No, I guess not. But you could stay home."

(Some days, me too!)

Chauncey Gardiner. . .

Amazon.com: Being There: Peter Sellers Oh, boy...stupid is as stupid does, somebody said -- Forest Gump wasn't it? I found the movie (Being There) agonizing--who could be that naive? And who could not see his naivete?

Peter Sellers is always a hoot to watch though, and in my mind's eye can still see his innocent, simple face as he plays Chauncey Gardiner. The movie is built on the premise that people see what they want, not necessarily on what is real.

The Bible says there is coming a man who will deceive the world. Daniel speaks of him: "And in his estate (the one destroyed in verse 20) shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceable, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries" (Daniel 11:21).

And the Apostle Paul tells us about him: "...that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

People will see what they want...but not see what is real. Let's not be deceived...keep reading the Book of Truth.

Psalm 40:1

"I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry."

Curmudgeons. . .

Five Best Books on Curmudgeons | By John Derbyshire - WSJ.com

Disaster can be our friend...

From David Warren:

A merciful God allows us to suffer the consequences of our stupidities, including especially our moral stupidities, even in this world. It does not always seem merciful at the time. But just as nature has a way of rectifying her imbalances -- painfully, perhaps, but effectively all the same -- so human nature contains the seeds of recovery. Disaster can be our friend.

davidwarrenonline.com - NEWSPAPER COLUMNS

Black Swan Theory

Black swan theory What is fragile should break early while it is still small. Nothing should ever become Too Big to Fail.
No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains.
People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus.
Do not let someone making an "incentive" bonus manage a nuclear plant – or your financial risks.
Counter-balance complexity with simplicity.
Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning.
Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to "restore confidence".
Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains.
Citizens should not depend on financial assets or fallible "expert" advice for their retirement.
Make an omelette with the broken eggs.

"If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." (written by Job, chapter 14:14, 1520 B.C.).

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (written by the Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 59 A.D.)

Impossible? Nothing is impossible to God! Call it a Black Swan if you want, I call it Good News!

Must I not wonder?

"What good am I, if I'm like all the rest?"

What good am I, if I'm like all the rest
If I just turn away when I see how you're dressed
If I shut myself off so I can't hear you cry
What good am I ?

What good am I if I know and don't do
If I see and don't say, if I look right through you
If I turn a deaf ear to the thunderin' sky
What good am I ?

What good am I while you softly weep
And I hear in my head what you say in your sleep
And I freeze in the moment like the rest who don't try
What good am I ?

What good am I then to others and me
If I had every chance and yet still fail to see
If my hands are tied must I not wonder within
Who tied them and why and where must I have been.

What good am I if I say foolish things
And I laugh in the face of what sorrow brings
And I just turn my back while you silently die
What good am I ? - Bob Dylan

"I looked on my right hand, and behold, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul." (Psalm 142:4)

Conservatives and Libertarians

Conservatives believe that (limited) constitutional government is essential "to secure these rights"— to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Libertarians repudiate this insight of the Founding Fathers. They oppose all government, and they repudiate the need for social cultivation of the social bond, for public authority, and of legally enforced rules. They are opposed to the Constitution and to the American heritage. Indeed, libertarians repudiate essential elements of civilization as it has historically developed everywhere. To paraphrase Lord Keynes, they "repudiate all versions of the doctrine of original sin, of there being insane and irrational springs of wickedness in most men. [They are] not aware that civilization [is] a thin and precarious crust erected by the personality and the will of a very few, and only maintained by rules and conventions skillfully put across and guilefully preserved. [They have] no respect for traditional wisdom or the restraints of custom. [They] lack reverence . . ." They are a belated offspring of the eighteenth century Enlightenment, of rationalism in its most virulent form. They believe that we can do away with the perennial tension between the individual and the group by denying the legitimacy of any social authority.

United States v. Timothy Emerson, Potowmack Institute, amicus curiae, Appendix G

Diet. . .

Someone said this, and it is a great rule of thumb: “Eat food. Not much, mostly plants.”

Need encouragement?

"And David encouraged himself in the LORD his God" (I Samuel 30:6b).

Freedom...

A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule. -Michael Pollan, author, journalism professor (b. 1955)

Nature was cursed in the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 3:17). Blame our adversary Satan, who deceived Eve into biting that apple with the result of God's judgment causing the creation to be filled with weeds. We've been at war with the weeds ever since. And with the totalitarian rule of Satan, the 'god of this world.'

The good news is Jesus Christ defeated our adversary at the cross and we can now stand in glorious freedom. There is now an escape from the totalitarian rule of the evil one, and one future day creation will be loosed too (Romans 8:21). No more weeds! Alleluia!

So, as we wait: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1). And get out that weed spray!

Exit

Alcoholism is a dark tunnel only the addict would understand. Its initial welcome is heaven itself.

The exit from the tunnel, if there is one, is filled with the hell of many cold turkeys and pitch black despair about everything.

Only God, as far as I’m concerned, can get us out of it.

If you don’t believe in God?

You’ll die from the addiction to alcohol. (- Michael Moriarty, Big Hollywood)

Olivia's Peonies

Olivia's bouquet to her Amma. They are delicate scented, not heavy to make you tire of them. I think they suit Olivia well. I know they suit me.

History Returns to Europe

Perhaps if everybody ends up about the same, regardless of effort or achievement, then life must be enjoyed mostly in the here and now. Why sacrifice for children, or put something aside for heirs, or worry over a judgment in the afterlife? The more the European Union talks about its global caring, the less likely its own citizens are to have children.
Victor Davis Hanson : History Returns to Europe - Townhall.com

Things we can't not know. . .

"...there are things we can't not know. We'd have to suppress our conscience not to know those things--and that's exactly what Romans 1 is talking about, that people may suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1: 18-19).

- from The Case For The Real Jesus by Lee Strobel, p. 238 The "Yuck Factor."

The "yuck factor" is when we don't even have to think through certain issues. We know immediately it is wrong. We'd have to suppress our conscience not to know.

Never grow old. . .

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them." ~ Laurence Binyon

Army Capt. Ed Arntson, Chicago at Arlington

Memorial Day

Washington at Valley Forge

Arnold Friberg, painter of the famous work “Prayer at Valley Forge,” died last week (July 2010) at the age of 96.

Truth. . . death to the ego...kind of tickles. . .

From One Cosmos. He reads books that I would not.

A sample of Gagdad's recent musings:

...it is hopeless to defer to biology as to the nature of Life as such. A biologist knows no more about the nature of life than a watchmaker does about the nature of time.

Or something like this, from a more recent post:

Truth must be sufferered... Why is that? Because to know a truth -- i.e., genuine objectivity -- is death to the ego. But once the ego is out of the way, it doesn't hurt at all. In fact, it kind of tickles.

(I've never regretted the loss of perceived truth to real truth. . . although I've never considered it to be like tickles. : ) - Linda)

Isaac and Christ

Isaac was not a little child when offered by his father, but rather he was precisely the same age as Jesus at His crucifixion. If Isaac was offered right around the time of his mother's death, he would have been about age 35½. This is supported by the fact that Sarah's death is the very next event recorded in Genesis (23:1).

Isaac is called a "lad" or "boy" in Gen 22:5 & 12, but this word (nah'-gar) is exactly the same as used of the "young men" in the same verse; it is used of Joshua in Ex 33:11 during the year of the Exodus, when he was 53 years old. Obviously, then, Isaac need not have been a child.

Isaac carried the wood of his own sacrifice (Gen 22:5), as did Jesus; He was immobilized, as was Jesus. Both actual sacrifices, of ram and Christ, were trapped by horns (Jesus on the ‘horns’ of the cross — an ancient, technical description); and both were crowned by thorns (the brambles, in the case of the ram).

Most Ancient Days: Chapter 6 -- Kings of the Nile: Egypt from Babel to Sodom

Behavioral microchips. . .

English: I broke the glass.
French: J’ai caissez le verre.
Spanish: El vaso se cayó y se rompió. (The glass fell and broke itself).

While French and Italian form the responsible, accountable sentence as do other Indo-European languages, Spanish holds over the Arabic passive “not me!” form.

When an infant learns its mother tongue from its mother, these things get programmed into its little behavioral microchips.

Northern Europe and Northern Asia have formed us well.

(from pelaut comments on - Works and Days » Reflections on Small Town American by Victor Davis Hanson.)

Language...the Lord said to let your yes be yes and to let your no be no...and to be accountable. That's the language of what is true and what is not. You think? - Linda

Why Aren't Earth's Oldest Trees Older?

This towering giant sequoia stretches 275 feet, about as tall as a 27-story high-rise building, and is 102.6 feet around. That makes it the largest (by volume) individual tree in the world. The general lives in the Sequoia National Park in California. Scientists believe this tree could be anywhere from 2,300 years old to 2,700 years old.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010

The sheer girth of certain ancient, wizened trees can take one's breath away. Although the age estimates given for these antique specimens vary from a few to tens of thousands of years, the majority of them are consistent with a biblical timeframe for earth history.

The oldest individual still-living tree is in California. Appropriately nicknamed Methuselah, the hardy bristlecone pine from the dry and salty high elevation of Inyo National Forest is in a protected area.

Wired Science stated that Methuselah was 4,765 years old.

Why is Methuselah, or any other long-living tree, not a great deal older than this if the earth itself is millions of years old?

The very oldest known tree better fits a biblical age for the earth of thousands, not millions, of years.

1. Ghose, T. The Oldest Trees on the Planet. Wired Science.
2. Earle, C. J., ed. Pinus longaeva. The Gymnosperm Database.
3. Schulman, E. 1954. Longevity under Adversity in Conifers.
4. Lorey, F. 1994. Tree Rings and Biblical Chronology.
5. Vardiman, L. 2008. A Dark and Stormy World.

Swedes "the tragic view". . .

I recall two caricatures of the Kingsburg Swedes — “dour” and “dumb.” But I think both pejoratives, in truth, were not really so pejorative. “Dour” is perhaps shorthand for “the tragic view.” The Kingsburg Swedes understood that no one gets out alive, and that we must brace and endure with dignity the premature death of the good, the unforeseen hail at harvest that ruins the ingenious farmer and misses his less adept counterpart, the market collapse that ensures failure for the otherwise perfect harvest. This is not fatalism, but rather a gallantry in accepting our all too brief existences, rather than raging against the unfairness of it all and expecting “them” to “make it better — or else.”

“Dumb” also was a misnomer. So was “naïve.” Mostly, I heard that Swedes did not go into packing, brokerage, real estate, buying and selling. They sold their crops when they could have gotten more with tougher bargaining, and bought too high when they might have worn down the seller. They paid their taxes, when write offs were to be had. In other words, they never got rich, and assumed that their own amazing capability for hard work might give them leeway, some margin in which they might not otherwise have to be so brutal to others to survive. (-Victor Davis Hanson)

Works and Days » Reflections on Small Town America

(Victor Hanson has captured qualities that have puzzled me all my life about father and his thinking. The tragic view, indeed! And why keep us so poor by doing work and then charging the lowest rate? I was angry for this so many times in my growing up years. Dr. Hanson has proposed a positive spin and my heart says that this tragic view is true to my father, and perhaps to myself too. Why does it take so long to understand? Grrrrrr! - Linda)

"...they are all dumb dogs"

"And tomorrow will be like today, only more so" (Isaiah 56:12 NSV).

"Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant" (Isaiah 56:12 KJV).

Who are they?

"His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and the are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter" (Isaiah 56:10,11).

Sounds like our leaders today, doesn't it?.

Human history vs. Bible history. . .

The question of human history versus Biblical history:

Romans 3:4 “… yea, let God be true, but every man a liar”

1 John 5:9 “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.”

(From Johny Varghese, Grace India Ministry, johnyvarghese@comcast.net)

An excellent mother . . .

Suzie is a Gordon Setter; her official name is “Oh Susannah of Springset Kennels.”

The owner of the kennel taught Sunday school with my husband and we got Suzie as a breeder dog. She provided one litter of puppies and then became our dog for free.

Note: Suzie was described by the kennel owner as being an excellent mother because she didn’t kill any of her children.

By that measure, I’m an excellent mother myself.

(Me, too.)

THE MOST IMPRESSIVE INDIVIDUAL IN HISTORY

When asked which person left the most permanent impression on history, H.G. Wells replied that judging a person's greatness by historical standards: "By this test, Jesus stands first."

"I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history."



--H.G. Wells, British writer, 1866-1946

The Great Souls of Our Era

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen Sings "Anthem"

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/grace_notes/the_great_souls_of_our_er.php

It's May, and apple blossom time . . .

I'll be with you in apple blossom time-The Andrews Sisters

(Picture taken in cousin Betsy's place in the wonderful Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or home to me.)

America, like a hero. . .

I am, proudly, a culturalist.

My culture, American, is vastly superior to every other. All things considered.

Those Scandinavian countries, whence my ancestors, are ever so wonderful, as all of Europe must be, if you just want to get by, you know, hoping not to be invaded, and maybe some great but unnamed power will keep you safe, or rescue you.

Now who might that be? No matter. Point is, American character -- not diet -- is like a hero in the book of Judges. A great cry comes unto the Lord, and a savior rises up. America.

(- from Forgotten Prophets blog, article: Zoom.)

(I think so, too. America to the rescue? Maybe not again. You're on your own, nice people of Scandinavia. - Linda.)

Sisyphean

Def: Endlessly laborious and fruitless.

Albert Camus wrote an essay The Myth of Sisyphus in which he compares man's eternal and, in his view, futile search for meaning to the task that the mythical king was compelled to perform for all eternity. He concludes by saying that life is itself the end: "One must imagine Sisyphus happy." From: Gowri (via Wordsmith Talk bulletin board)

(I thought of all the explanations of the modern philosophy of our day, the above quote from Camus, the unbelieving existentialist, sums it up quite succinctly. It is most depressing. No hope. Sisyphus was confined to push a boulder up a hill and then have it fall back only to push it up again...forever repeating... and the religion of existentialism concludes that "one must imagine Sisyphus happy." That's sad. Very sad. - Linda)

Sisyphus in popular culture:

WALL-E, 2008, Academy-Award-winning animated movie directed by Andrew Stanton featured a robot who continually builds towers of trash-compacted cubes; these towers erode and collapse in the wind. Pixar creative team referenced Sisyphus in planning the character of WALL-E.
Cool Hand Luke, a popular movie starring Paul Newman in which the title character is a defiant prisoner at a work camp. His futile efforts to challenge authority, such as his escape attempts, result in equally pointless punishments, such as digging holes and filling them back in.
1866 Sisyphus, asteroid
Stone of Sisyphus, the previously unreleased album by the band Chicago
Sisyphus (dialogue), a dialogue ascribed to Plato
“Sysyphus,” an instrumental by Richard Wright of Pink Floyd
“Carve Away the Stone,” track 11 on the album Test for Echo by Rush. Lyrics written by Neil Peart.

FYI: Sisyphus is pushing that rock from the deepest depth of the unseen world, the Tartarus of hell. To hear a series of messages on hell visit the website of Grace Life Bible Church and click Online Messages, and get ready to have your hair stand on end!

Occam's Razor

There’s a thing in philosophy and science called Occam’s Razor. It’s a principle that says the simplest answer is the right answer. Occam’s Razor is generally accepted to be 99.99 percent of the time true. Medical students are told, for example, "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras."

The phrase in Paul’s epistles that matches is II Corinthians 11: ‘the simplicity that is in Christ.’

Most the time we think life is extremely complicated because we get our plate so full. We think there are 50 million different reasons for failure and for sin or for success.

It does not matter what your specific circumstances are; there are really only three fundamental points of being tested:

• the lust of the flesh,
• the lust of the eye
• and the pride of life.

When Adam and Eve were tested and fell, it was in those three points. In Matthew 4, when Jesus Christ was tested of Satan, it was in those three points He was tempted.

When sin attacks you, it attacks you on one of those three points. The whole course of the world is based upon focusing an attack on YOUR thinking and YOUR soul under those three points.

(Knowing Occam's Razor makes the success of standing against the wiles of the devil an easier fight, I think. - Linda)

(From R. Jordan via Lisa Leland . com)

RESPONDING TO PRINCIPLES

I may no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather respond to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.

--Jim Elliot(evangelical Christian missionary to Ecuador who, along with four others, was killed while attempting to evangelize the Waodani people through efforts known as Operation Auca).

Thor, angry at Loki?

"If I was a Viking living in Iceland a thousand years ago, and I saw some of this stuff, I would be pretty sure that Thor was angry at Loki again, or maybe he was mad at Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr. But I would be pretty sure there was an angry god of some kind in that volcano."

Jonah Goldberg The Corner - National Review Online:

Vanity Fair

MEANING:
noun: A place characterized by frivolity and ostentation. ETYMOLOGY: After Vanity Fair, a fair that lasted all year long in the town of Vanity, in the novel Pilgrim's Progress by writer and preacher John Bunyan (1628-1688). In the fair were traded houses, honors, titles, kingdoms, pleasures, and much more.

Sounds like ebay, eh? (from A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg)

Let's remember The Preacher of the Bible..."Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

But don't ever read this Book without reading the last verse..."Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (12:13).

Today, in the age of God's wonderful grace, our only command is to trust in the Lord for the finished work of Calvary where all our sins were paid for. This is not vanity, this is life!

A big IF. . .

"If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done," says the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:37 KJV).

Now, that's a most remarkable promise. God has bound himself, by the faithfulness of his Being and of his Word, that Israel shall have a place in his program as long as the heavens and the earth remain. God will never cast them off as long as the sun and the moon maintain themselves in their courses and as long as long as the scope of the heavens remains to be measured and the interior of the earth remains unexplored.

So, where is Israel today? Today is the Mystery age of the Body of Christ where there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. But, one day, maybe soon, this age will end with the Rapture of the church, and then the prophecy of Israel will again be foremost in God's redemption of the earth.

The Bible is written to reflect the time we are now living and where we are to get our living instructions. Today this is in the Epistles of Paul, Romans to Philemon.

Chart courtesy of Johny Varghese:
Grace India Ministry
9834 Maynard Terrace
Niles, IL 60714
johnyvarghese@comcast.net

Thoughts courtesy of The Berean Call

The Master, even in Golf. . .

Sunday, relaxing in my chair reading the GR Press. Cubbies were out of town and WGN was broadcasting the Sox (: (), so tuned in the Master's and enjoyed the trial and error of play among the greats. Who knew even the pros could miss a foot shot to the flag?

Anyhoo...picked up Tiger's comments as he sliced into the trees...I know I heard him blaspheme the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ. News outlets have picked up his out of control temper, but no one mentioned the slander of "the name that is above all names."

Can we say to pray for the man...evidently he knows not what Master his tongue will acknowledge some day.

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow...and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" ( Philippians 2:10-11).

Meditations on Good Friday

Yet I must not forget that I too am greedy, that I too seek to control others and manipulate my world for my own benefit and betterment. We hate most in others what we see in ourselves, and our instincts scream to return evil for evil. Yet by so doing, I enslave myself to those who would enslave and destroy me.

The Cross teaches me another way. It teaches me, quite simply, that God is in control of all things, and that His ways are not my ways. It teaches me that the darkest hour comes before dawn, that God can use evil for good, and that only by bending my will and my knee before Him, no matter what the cost, can my own victory and deliverance, and that of others, be purchased.

We are at war. This is a war, not merely of bombs and guns, nor of words and arguments, nor of politics and power. It is an ancient war, from the very beginning of time: a war between the will of man and the will of God.

Meditations on Good Friday

And God created . . tulips!

Piano song

YouTube - Musique sans parole " Neige " Piano song

Can we change?

Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. -Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, c.1420

I like the wisdom of us trying to fix others and cannot, but I refuse to believe the life lived in Christ is unable to work effectually to change me.

I'm a New Creation in Christ and now can put on the new nature, and put off my old nature as I walk around in my flesh body. I'm not the person I was, and I do hope I have some years to allow the outworking of the salvation I have received already, in Christ.

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth...in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him:" ( Colossians 3:5 - 10).

I can't make myself as I want to be, but I have the power of God working within me to transform me if I allow Him to work. I'm transforming every day. Praise the goodness and power of Christ.

Movie: In the Valley of Elah

Elah is where David meets Goliath (I Samuel 17). Not sure exactly the meaning of the title in relation to the film. The story of David and Goliath was mentioned a couple of times but who was David and who was Goliath representing? Don't know. I was hooked by the title, but agree with the review below. Pass on this one.

The premise: Four tough guys go out, get drunk and rowdy, which leads to a fight, murder and cover-up. Good start for a crime mystery. As the movie goes on, we find out why the above occurred: The guys were in the army; soldiers are psychopathic torturers, drug addicts and child killers; this occurs because war is immoral, the military is immoral, and the United States of America is a horrible place.

Otherwise, nothing to see here, move along folks. One incident summarizes the disrespect and cluelessness of the filmmakers: Near the end, Tommy Lee, a veteran with two dead veteran sons, hoists a U.S. flag that had been in battle, upside down. NO veteran anywhere, anytime would commit that act. Sickening.

# 1 Song on the date I was born - March 14, 1947

YouTube - Ted Weems Orch. - Heartaches, Decca 1938

From what movie?

“Dellow Felegates…” Jar Jar

Experience

We had the experience but missed the meaning...
- Eliot, The Dry Salvages

Don't miss Pastor Bryan's Resurrection Sunday's message on lots of folks who had the experience but missed the meaning. Soon to be posted at: www.gracelifebiblechurch.com Click ONLINE MESSAGES and then the April 4 message.

Perfect pattern. . .

Majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon my Savior’s brow,
His head with radiant glories crowned,
His lips with grace o’er flow,
His lips with grace o'er flow.

No mortal can with Him compare among the sons of men;
Fairer is He than all the fair
Who fill the heavenly train,
Who fill the heavenly train.

Majestic manhood, perfect pattern.
Live again thy life through us.

(Samuel Stennett, 1787)

Satisfied (Jesus Satisfies My Longing)

YouTube - Satisfied (Jesus Satisfies My Longing) - Gaither Vocal Band

Good Friday

Over and over again
we sit in our courtyards,
our mouths speaking what our hearts are full of . . .
WE DO NOT KNOW HIM.
DONOTDONOTDONOT
KNOWHIMKNOWHIMKNOWHIM echoes loudly
emphatically
filling time and space
heaven and earth;
and yet
the saddest part is
when the cock crows
we don't have the ears to hear
TOHEARTOHEARTOHEAR.
At least Peter had the ears to hear
and the heart to weep.
(-Ann Weems, Kneeling in Jerusalem)

"And He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:" On arriving at the place, "they gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall (wine mingled with myrrh, Mark 15.23), and when He had tasted thereof, He would not drink" (Matt. 27.34). This potion was stupefying, and given to criminals just before execution, to deaden the sense of pain.

Fill high the bowl, and spice it well, and pour
The dews oblivious: for the Cross is sharp,
The Cross is sharp, and He
Is tenderer than a lamb.

But our Lord would die with every faculty clear, and in full sensibility to all His sufferings.

Thou wilt feel all, that Thou may'st pity all;
And rather would'st Thou wrestle with strong pain
Than overcloud Thy soul,
So clear in agony,
Or lose one glimpse of Heaven before the time,
O most entire and perfect Sacrifice,
Renewed in every pulse.
(-Keble )

"...they crucified Him" John 19.17-19

Calvinism is back

"When things go through this upheaval," Ms. Tickle says, "there's always those who absolutely need the assurance of rules and a foundation."

Christian faith: Calvinism is back / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

I've been at the place where I said to the Lord....just tell me what to do and I will do it. It doesn't work!

What works in God's program for today? Grace.

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured-
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace , grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Grace trumps Calvinism (Law keeping) in what we need today.