March 2012 Blog

Welcome to the March blog. We appreciate your visit.

♦♦♦♦♦♦

 We hardly knew ye, Pontius

Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of Roman Judea, under whose governance Jesus of Nazareth was crucified (Matthew 27:2, plus 60 additional occurrences in the gospels, Acts, and I Timothy). He was appointed by the emperor Tiberius in AD 26 and suspended by L. Vitellius, Roman governor of Syria, in AD 37, after slaughtering a number of Samaritans at Mt. Gerizim.

Although Pilate is also mentioned in Josephus, Philo and Tacitus, and coins issued during his governance exist, inscriptional evidence for Pilate was rare. This stone (at right) was discovered in Italian excavations at Caesarea Maritima. Antonio Frova, director of the excavations, found a dedicatory stone that bore a three-line inscription: Tiberieum/[Pon]tius Pilatus/[Praef]ectus Iuda[eae], the interpretation of which is: “Tiberius [the Roman emperor of the period]/Pontius Pilate/Prefect of Judea.”

The stone, in secondary use in the theatre at Caesarea, had been shaped to fit its new use and in the process some of the inscription had been mutilated, although it was easily reconstructed. The inscription not only confirms the historicity of Pilate, it clarifies the title that he bore as governor. It is now on display in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

I love it when the unbelievers in the field of science can see with their own eyes the mounting evidence of the Bible’s veracity.

♦♦♦♦♦♦

Social media is no new thing

Graffiti may have been the ancient world’s social media. Thousands of ancient graffiti can be found carved into the walls of burial caves, tombs and quarries throughout the land of Israel. Typically, they include the name of the carver, sometimes accompanied by a brief prayer or simple drawing. Though these simple messages from the past have traditionally been neglected by scholars, some archaeologists are beginning to study these remains more carefully to see what they can reveal about the societies that created them. “Graffiti are a way of expressing yourself,” said Boaz Zissu, an archaeologist and senior lecture at Bar Ilan University who has been studying Israel’s ancient graffiti for decades. “In a period when Internet and blogs didn’t exist and somebody wanted to express himself and to say something they were doing, they did it with a nail on a wall of a cave.”

Solomon was right…there is nothing new under the sun.

Source: BAR Staff, 9/1/11

♦♦♦♦♦♦

What is the Muslim Brotherhood?

Here is a whiteboard clip that will inform Americans about the plans the Muslim Brotherhood has for us.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/new-whiteboard-video-blasts-obamas-islamist-sympathies/

They don’t mind telling us where they stand:

Allah is our Objective,

The Prophet is our Leader,

The Qur’an is our Law,

Jihad is our way,

Dying in the name of Allah is our highest Hope.

If they are that bold, why should we mind telling them where we stand?

♦♦♦♦♦♦

Blasphemy and Free Speech

If you care about your country, your church, your family…please read this article by Paul Marshall, a Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute. It is published in Imprimis, a monthy publication of Hillsdale College. America is on the brink of becoming something other than what you will want for your family. This is real, folks! Click on this link:

http://www.hillsdale.edu/images/userImages/mvanderwei/Page_6907/Imprimis_Feb12.pdf

♦♦♦♦♦♦

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.”

The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough about recycling and alternative energy sources to save our environment for future generations.”

She was right—our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back  then, we returned milk bottles and soda bottles to the  store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really  were recycled. But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away  kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts—wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, folks didn’t have radios and stereos and TVs in every room in the house. The few folks who had TV had a small one with a screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a faucet or fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school, or walked. Instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

[Anonymous, but remember:  Don’t make old people mad. We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to SET us off.]

♦♦♦♦♦♦

Planned Parenthood’s real agenda

Paul said, “I would not have you ignorant, brethren.” So let’s not be ignorant of the devil’s devices and the channels he uses to corrupt this generation.

If you really want to know what Planned Parenthood is all about, go to http://www.all.org website and click on “Hooking Kids on Sex.” PP would like everyone to think they are merely about breast cancer work and contraceptives for those who need them, and perhaps some “needful abortions.” Nay. This will shock you, but we will keep our mouths shut unless we are shocked. This is what Obama is protecting. He and his cronies have pressured former donors to reinstate millions of dollars to PP. He also wants Planned Parenthood to continue to be underwritten by our government. Here is what your tax dollars are buying for our children.

WARNING! Please DON’T let your children see this!! IT IS NOT FOR CHILDREN! It is for parents who want to be informed about what PP and public schools are putting before their kids. I apologize in advance for its extreme graphic content, but the need for parents to know trumps other considerations.

♦♦♦♦♦♦

 Psychologist advocates sin

 A psychologist has written a book about the joys of sin. Anyone surprised? That some sins may bring temporary carnal pleasure is not news, but claiming that sin is beneficial for overall health and well-being is a stretch. Should a so-called “scientific” website promote such ideas uncritically? Of course not, but the web is full of lies. If you would really like to know what the face of psychology in the twenty-first century looks like, just flip through the pages of the slick magazine Psychology Today. Hokey theories, New Age stuff, and mainly sex. Here’s the text from the site listed below:

In time for lustful thoughts on Valentine’s Day, Medical Xpress promoted a new sin book by Michael Laham (psychologist at the University of Melbourne).  The title surely attracts attention: The Joy of Sin: The Psychology of the Seven Deadlies (And Why They Are So Good For You).  Laham says go ahead and indulge: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, anger, envy, pride—all the vices the Good Book warns us about—are not only pleasurable but beneficial.

Dr. Laham said that when you take a look at the evidence, the seven deadly sins can really serve us quite well despite being told for centuries they are bad for us.

“This is great news for Australians as a recent BBC poll deemed Australia the most sinful country on earth,” he said.

So research now shows that it’s okay to indulge in a bit of lust this Valentine’s Day and you’ll be better off for it. In fact, indulge in all seven deadly sins and you might just be a little smarter, happier and more successful.

Medical Xpress offered no contrary opinions.  On the contrary, it opened its article by praising the “virtues of living a sinful life” and headlined, in bold letters, “Lust makes you smarter and evidence that seven deadly sins are good for you.”

Jamie Condiffe at New Scientist was only halfway impressed, thinking that Laham was trying to shoehorn evidence from “experimental psychology” to fit his edgy title.

Don’t give this book to the military.  Actually, it might be a smart tactical move to airdrop copies of The Joy of Sin on the military of the enemy. Let them become slothful gluttons so that they become easy targets. Students, why study? Get lazy and indulge your lustful desires; earn a B.S. (Bad Sin) the easy way. Parents, let your kids eat all the sugar and junk they want. Be angry and sin not. Hate your neighbor as your self wants to. Tell everybody how great you are. Appoint yourself Vice President (president of vice). Why stop at the “seven deadly sins”? Break the Ten Commandments while you’re at it, and the laws of the land. Make the world a better place—land yourself in jail.  [End – Source: http://creationrevolution.com/2012/02/psychologist-advocates-sin/]

Poppycock, you say. Who are you to judge? Unless you are “educated” as that psychologist has been, and have a psychology degree, you don’t know doodley. Personally, I had just as soon not know doodley.

♦♦♦♦♦♦

 Is “Palestine” in the Bible?

President Obama recently suggested that Israel should return to the borders that were in place before the 1967 war. That would put the Palestinians right in the middle of Israel where there would be no way the borders could be defended. If Gaza and the West Bank are put under total control of the Palestinians (see map below), Jerusalem would be virtually surrounded and indefensible. The Palestinians and their Muslim/Arab supporters have proved they cannot be trusted. Their stated goal is to wipe Israel off the map.

The question is often asked: “Who are the Palestinians? Is there really a country called ‘Palestine’?”

The name Palestine refers to a region of the eastern Mediterranean coast from the sea to the Jordan valley and from the southern Negev desert to the Galilee lake region in the north. The word itself derives from “Plesheth,” a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into English as “Philistine.” Plesheth, (root palash) was a general term meaning rolling or migratory. This referred to the Philistine’s invasion and conquest of the coast from the sea. The Philistines were not Arabs or even Semites, they were most closely related to the Greeks originating from Asia Minor and Greek localities. They did not speak Arabic. They had no connection, ethnic, linguistic or historical with Arabia or Arabs.

The Philistines reached the southern coast of Israel in several waves. One group arrived in the pre-patriarchal period and settled south of Beersheba in Gerar where they came into conflict with Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Another group, coming from Crete after being repulsed from an attempted invasion of Egypt by Rameses III in ………. [continue reading the full article here: advanceministries.org/Articles

♦♦♦♦♦♦

 Allah, yes; Jesus, no

• Dexter Thielhelm, a second-grader at James Madison Elementary School in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, had a simple message for his classmates: “Jesus loves you.” The young boy had worked diligently with his mother and siblings to create candy and notes for his friends at school, as he filled empty water bottles with candy and a rolled-up Bible verse (John 3:16) to share with his classmates. But earlier this week, to the surprise of the boy and his family, school officials confiscated the valentines before they could be handed out. Jesus is verboten on school campuses.

 • Dozens of parents in Tampa, Florida, are outraged after finding out that a member of the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) spoke to history students at Steinbrenner High School last fall. Dozens of parents showed up at the Hillsborough County school board meeting on Tuesday night to make their frustrations known. Among their concerns, as FOX News reports, the parents discussed the group’s alleged ties to a terror financing case involving Hamas.

 • Colorado student quits high school choir over Islamic song praising “Allah”

A Colorado high school student says he quit the school choir after an Islamic song containing the lyric “there is no truth except Allah” made it into the repertoire.

James Harper, a senior at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, put his objection to singing “Zikr,” a song written by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, in an email to Mesa County School District 51 officials. When the school stood by choir director Marcia Wieland’s selection, Harper said, he quit.

“I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for students in a public high school to be singing an Islamic worship song,” Harper told KREX-TV. “This is worshipping another God, and even worshipping another prophet…I think there would be a lot of outrage if we made a Muslim choir say Jesus Christ is the only truth.”

Source: FoxNews.com and The Blaze.  Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/islam/2012/02/16/high-school-choir-forced-praise-allah#ixzz1myAhJwP8

 “Jesus” and “Christianity” may be forbidden to be mentioned on campus, but Allah and Islam…no problem for school officials. You would think it was Evangelical Christians who rammed airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon killing nearly 3000 persons, and had attempted over 50 failed bombings in the U.S. since then. Amazing!

♦♦♦♦♦♦

 Headlines from the year 2059

Ozone created by electric cars now killing thousands in the seventh largest country in the world, Mexifornia, formerly known as California. White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia’s third language.

Spotted Owl plague threatens northwestern United States crops and livestock.  

Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.

Iran still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least 10 more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels.

France pleads for global help after being taken over by Jamaica. No other country comes forward to help the beleaguered nation!  

Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.

George Q. Bush says he will run for President in 2060.   

Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.

85-year $75.8 billion study: Diet and exercise is the key to weight loss.

Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.

Global cooling blamed for citrus crop failure for third consecutive year in Mexifornia and Floruba. 

Japanese scientists have created a camera with such a fast shutter speed they now can photograph Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee with her mouth shut.

Senate still blocking drilling in ANWR even though gas is selling for 4532 Pesos per liter and gas stations are only open on Tuesdays and Fridays.  

Supreme Court rules imprisoning criminals violates their civil rights. 

Average height of NBA players is now nine feet seven inches with only 13 illegitimate children.

New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2060.

Floruba voters still having trouble with voting machines. 

I love this country! It’s the government that scares me!

–Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hanlons-razor/2011/06/21/

♦♦♦♦♦♦

 And some people can’t figure out why committed Christians don’t have televisions!

 Raunch rules

 PASADENA, Calif. (AP) Last week seemed typical for CBS’ sitcoms on Monday night, television’s most popular—and raunchy—night of comedy.

There was a strip club visit on “How I Met Your Mother,” lap dance included. The stars of “2 Broke Girls” mistakenly believed an upstairs neighbor ran a brothel. “Two and a Half Men” included jokes about masturbation, oral sex, sex with moms, trading cigarettes for sex and two scenes with loud noises of passion from behind closed doors.

A quick count found 53 sex jokes on the network’s four comedies, which includes “Mike & Molly.” There were also nine jokes about flatulence or bowel movements, and two scenes where marijuana use was clearly implied—one with a teen-age boy and the other with an older woman.

[My, what a wholesome, beneficial lineup for families! Don’t we have a wonderful media in America? Source: The Lufkin News, Lufkin, TX; 1/24/12]

♦♦♦♦♦♦

This is about how smart phone usage can put your children at risk:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vARzvWxwY

How do the social media negatively affect our youth? Let me count the ways…

♦♦♦♦♦♦

 BooksBooksBooksBooksBooks

 Judging With Righteous Judgment

 By J. R. Ensey

How often have you heard this question: Who are we to judge? Did Jesus forbid us from judging others? He did say, “Judge not,” but in what context? Later He said, “Judge….” Which command are we supposed to obey?

We certainly know that there is enough censoriousness being exhibited today to bring the wrath of God on the habitual critic. Undeserved, prejudicial censure is condemned in the Scriptures. Unrighteous judgment is what was proscribed by Jesus. He was nailing the Pharisees for indulging in it.

Many folks today do not know the difference, thus overlooking matters that should be confronted and handled according to the Scriptures. As Lewis Smedes once said, “Common sense suggests that if no one ever judged other people, there would be no real human community. In a sinful world, no community can exist for long where nobody is ever held accountable: no teacher would grade a student’s performance; no citizen would sit on a jury or call a failed leader to account. And, when you come to think of it, nobody would ever forgive anyone for wrongs he had done; we only forgive people for what we blame them, and we blame them only after we have judged them.”

Righteous judgment uses the background of biblical principles to make informed decisions. Would one consider marriage without “judging” their potential mate? Should one invest in a stock or business without making an informed judgment about the overall health of the company and the character of its chief executives? Would you put someone in a church position without determining whether they are capable or trustworthy? Or issue ministerial license without first judging by all the evidence available that they should have the license? Bottom line: all Christians, and especially Christian leaders, must judge.

This little inexpensive booklet points out the difference in righteous and unrighteous judgment, and also provides some guidelines for avoiding the guilt one may feel when he or she is obligated make a judgment.  AM price only 3.95.

Busy Woman’s Guide To Soulwinning

by Kimberly Sciscoe

Discover how to align your busy days so that they are God centered and soul conscious. This guide is filled with real-life stories, hands-on tips, and practical strategies to empower you to connect others to God. This type of soul winning is fun, easy, and rewarding. Be the soul winner you have always longed to be!  AM price $16.95

ORDER THESE AND OTHER GREAT BOOKS ONLINE AT:

advanceministries.org/store

♦♦♦♦♦♦

Giggling or grimacing allowed

♦♦♦♦♦♦

Parting shots

Dana Perrino (Fox News) describing an interview she recently had with a Navy SEAL.  After discussing all the countries he had been sent to, she asked if they had to learn several languages?

His reply: “No ma’am, we don’t go there to talk.”

______

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” – Thomas Jefferson

 ______

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln

♦♦♦♦♦♦

How long has it been since the kids and young people of your church sat on the edges of their chairs listening to you teach? Here is a surefire way of virtually guaranteeing that—take your next ten texts from Genesis Chapters 1-11. Build a foundation for their faith in the rest of the Bible by conveying the facts of history from those chapters of Scripture. True science proves the Bible is right on every point. Guess what? Their parents will love it too! Have a great month.

JREnsey