December 24, 2015

From Ben Columbia...

Today is the eve of the holiday we as Americans know as Christmas, and it is actually known by many peoples in many lands.  It's a good time to be with family and for people to come out of the hustle and bustle of every day life.  It's a time to share in the blessing of others with gifts and acts of generosity.  It's a "feel good" time, and we all like to feel good.


In the holy scriptures, the holiday is never mentioned, and nowhere are God's people commanded to remember and celebrate Christ's birth.  However, we are given the command to remember His death, burial and resurrection on the Lord's Day each week as a memorial of His sacrifice for our sins. To remember His body, and blood, and that He is our Savior.

As we busy ourselves with gift giving and preparations to feast with family and friends, let us also soberly reflect on the truth that Jesus Christ gave mankind the greatest gift possible.  One that sinful mankind sorely needed--the ability to have our sins forgiven, wiped out, blotted from the citation--as if we'd never sinned. Now, when immersed into His body, one is now justified and sanctified by the blood He shed on a cross over two thousand years ago.  Sins are washed away, and new spiritual life is given, along with a new name, Christian and born into a new family, the family of God and household of faith.  Christianity is the gift we ought to be seeking this season, and not only at this time, but every day alike.

Have you received this gift?

From Gary... Instructed in WHAT?


And as Jesus spoke THE TRUTH.

John, Chapter 8 (WEB)

 30  As he spoke these things, many believed in him.  31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.   32  You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 


  33  They answered him, “We are Abraham’s seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say,‘You will be made free’ ?” 



  34  Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.   35  A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.   36  If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.   37  I know that you are Abraham’s seed, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.   38  I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.” 



  39  They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” 
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.   40  But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.   41  You do the works of your father.” 



They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.” 



  42  Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.   43  Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.   44  You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.   45  But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.   46  Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?   47  He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.” 



  48  Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?” 



  49  Jesus answered, “I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.   50  But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.   51  Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.” 



  52  Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’   53 Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?” 



  54  Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God.   55  You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him, and keep his word.   56  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad.” 



  57  The Jews therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 



  58  Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.  



  59  Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, having gone through their midst, and so passed by. 



The quote from Plato shows us that people have been taught falsehoods for literally thousands of years and those who tell the truth are derogatorily slandered. Why? Power, I imagine.  The one who controls the reality of a thing, controls the one who believes this reality. And condemning those who speak THE truth naturally follows. 

The benefit of truth is that it frees you from lies (8:32, above). Truth goes beyond this world and is everlasting. And if you would like to be free from lies (and therefore death) eternally, it follows that you must follow the one who has THE POWER to overcome death and the father of all lies (the devil 8:43-47). Jesus reveals himself as God (8:58) and those who were the sons of the devil wanted to destroy him then and do so until this day.

Things have not changed much; our education system has become so corrupt with liberal lies that some have even tried to petition away the first amendment of our constitution. They have chosen sides with the devil and are worthy of this condemnation...

Isaiah, Chapter 5 (WEB)
 20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
who put darkness for light,
and light for darkness;
who put bitter for sweet,
and sweet for bitter!
  21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and prudent in their own sight!

If you are NOT being called a lunatic or a fool- ask yourself, WHY?  

Last question- "Who is YOUR FATHER"?

From Gary... Bible Reading December 24



Bible Reading 

December 24

The World English Bible

Dec. 24
Habakkuk 1-3

Hab 1:1 The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Hab 1:2 Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you "Violence!" and will you not save?
Hab 1:3 Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.
Hab 1:4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.
Hab 1:5 "Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.
Hab 1:6 For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
Hab 1:7 They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
Hab 1:8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
Hab 1:9 All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.
Hab 1:10 Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.
Hab 1:11 Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god."
Hab 1:12 Aren't you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.
Hab 1:13 You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,
Hab 1:14 and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
Hab 1:15 He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.
Hab 1:16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.
Hab 1:17 Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
Hab 2:1 I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
Hab 2:2 Yahweh answered me, "Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
Hab 2:3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won't prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won't delay.
Hab 2:4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
Hab 2:5 Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn't stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can't be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.
Hab 2:6 Won't all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, 'Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?'
Hab 2:7 Won't your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?
Hab 2:8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.
Hab 2:9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
Hab 2:10 You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
Hab 2:11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.
Hab 2:12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
Hab 2:13 Behold, isn't it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?
Hab 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
Hab 2:15 "Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!
Hab 2:16 You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh's right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
Hab 2:17 For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.
Hab 2:18 "What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?
Hab 2:19 Woe to him who says to the wood, 'Awake!' or to the mute stone, 'Arise!' Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in its midst.
Hab 2:20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!"
Hab 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.
Hab 3:2 Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.
Hab 3:3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.
Hab 3:4 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.
Hab 3:5 Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.
Hab 3:6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.
Hab 3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.
Hab 3:8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?
Hab 3:9 You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.
Hab 3:10 The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.
Hab 3:11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.
Hab 3:12 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.
Hab 3:13 You went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah.
Hab 3:14 You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.
Hab 3:15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.
Hab 3:16 I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.
Hab 3:17 For though the fig tree doesn't flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:
Hab 3:18 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

Hab 3:19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer's feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

 Dec. 24
Revelation 9, 10

Rev 9:1 The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from the sky which had fallen to the earth. The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him.
Rev 9:2 He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke from a burning furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit.
Rev 9:3 Then out of the smoke came forth locusts on the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who don't have God's seal on their foreheads.
Rev 9:5 They were given power not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a person.
Rev 9:6 In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
Rev 9:7 The shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared for war. On their heads were something like golden crowns, and their faces were like people's faces.
Rev 9:8 They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like those of lions.
Rev 9:9 They had breastplates, like breastplates of iron. The sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, or of many horses rushing to war.
Rev 9:10 They have tails like those of scorpions, and stings. In their tails they have power to harm men for five months.
Rev 9:11 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is "Abaddon," but in Greek, he has the name "Apollyon."
Rev 9:12 The first woe is past. Behold, there are still two woes coming after this.
Rev 9:13 The sixth angel sounded. I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Rev 9:14 saying to the sixth angel who had one trumpet, "Free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!"
Rev 9:15 The four angels were freed who had been prepared for that hour and day and month and year, so that they might kill one third of mankind.
Rev 9:16 The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of them.
Rev 9:17 Thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them, having breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of lions. Out of their mouths proceed fire, smoke, and sulfur.
Rev 9:18 By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their mouths.
Rev 9:19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with them they harm.
Rev 9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn't repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn't worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk.
Rev 9:21 They didn't repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts.

Rev 10:1 I saw a mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.
Rev 10:2 He had in his hand a little open book. He set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land.
Rev 10:3 He cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices.
Rev 10:4 When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, "Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and don't write them."
Rev 10:5 The angel who I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky,
Rev 10:6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay,
Rev 10:7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets.
Rev 10:8 The voice which I heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, "Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land."
Rev 10:9 I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. He said to me, "Take it, and eat it up. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."
Rev 10:10 I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
Rev 10:11 They told me, "You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings." 

From Roy Davidson... Sing to the Lord!



http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/057-sing.html

Sing to the Lord!

“I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being” (Psalm 104:33).
God created man with the ability to sing. Singing gives words wings and expresses the deepest feelings of our heart.
Singing is the music God has prescribed for His church.
During the historical period of the New Testament and for six hundred years thereafter, singing was the only music used for worship in Christendom.
That is why “a capella”a (Italian for “as in the chapel”) is the designation in music terminology for singing without instrumental accompaniment.
It was not until 666 A.D. that Pope Vitalianus I introduced instruments in the apostate Roman church.
Not only are Christians instructed to sing, they are also told to whom they are to sing, what they are to sing, why they are to sing, and how they are to sing. Not all singing is acceptable to God.

What is singing?
To sing is to vocalize words in melodious tones with rhythmic emphasis. The melody and the rhyme enliven the words, adding depth to their meaning.

To Whom do Christians sing?

Christians sing to the Lord! 

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16); “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). Christian singing is heart-felt worship directed to God.

Worshipful singing was also directed to the Lord in the Old Testament. Many elements of Old Covenant worship (such as sacrificing animals, burning incense and playing music instruments) have no place in the spiritual worship of the New Testament. Singing, however, is a form of worship found under both covenants.
“I will praise the LORD according to His righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High” (Psalm 7:17).
“I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High” (Psalm 9:1, 2).
“Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works!” (1 Chronicles 16:9).
“Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples” (1 Chronicles 16:23, 24).
Christians sing to the Lord!

What do Christians sing?
We sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19).
Because these terms overlap, they are often used interchangeably. Yet there is some distinction.
A hymn is a song of praise. A psalm is a poem that is sung as worship. A spiritual song is a song about a religious topic.

Why do Christians sing?
Christians sing to glorify God not to entertain man. Although Christian singing is directed to God, it also serves as a confession of faith to unbelievers, and as teaching for believers.

Christians sing to glorify God.
As already indicated in several Scriptures, we sing to worship and praise God. When we lift our voices to God in songs of praise, the spirits of others are also lifted.

Christians sing to confess their faith to the nations.
In his victory song, David says, “Therefore I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to Your name” (2 Samuel 22:50; see also Psalm 18:49).
Paul quotes this verse to prove that the message of the Messiah would be for all nations: “And thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, ‘Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name ” (Romans 15:9 NET).
Jesus sang songs of praise with His disciples (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26) and now, two thousand years later, the church of Christ is still singing praise to God as a confession of faith to the nations.

Christians sing to instruct one another.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).
In a prophetic Psalm the Messiah says: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You” (Hebrews 2:12).
Followers of the Messiah also instruct their brethren in the assembly as they sing praise to God.
Christians sing on other occasions as well: “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms” (James 5:13).
At midnight, in a dark prison cell at Philippi, with feet fastened in the stocks, with backs beaten by many lashes of a whip, Paul and Silas “were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).
Christians sing to glorify God, as a confession of faith to non-Christians, and to instruct one another.


How do Christians sing?

Paul says, “I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:15).

Christians sing with the spirit.
Jesus explains that true worship must be in spirit and truth: “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23, 24). Thus singing, as a form of worship, must be in spirit and truth.
Worship must come from the heart to please God. That is why Christians sing and make melody in their heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19); that is why they sing to the Lord with gracein their hearts (Colossians 3:16).
David understood that singing must come from the heart: “I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart” (Psalm 9:1).
God listens to the tone-quality of the heart, not the tone-quality of the voice.
Christian singing wells up from the heart and ascends in worship to God.
Someone who sings a religious song to glorify himself or to entertain man, rather than in the spirit to the Lord, is not singing in a way that pleases God.

Christians sing with understanding.
Christian singing is understandable melodious speech. It is “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19); it is “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16).
What does Paul mean by, “I will also sing with the understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:15)?
The assemblies at Corinth were disorderly. People were speaking in languages no one understood, and several people spoke at the same time.

In dealing with this problem, Paul emphasizes an important principle: Public worship must be understandable and edifying.
“Unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air” (1 Corinthians 14:9). “In the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Corinthians 14:19). “Let all things be done for edification” (1 Corinthians 14:26).
This also applies to singing: “I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:15).
Paul wanted to speak with understanding so others could be taught. Thus, to sing with understanding means to sing in such a way that people understand the words and are edified.

Sounds without meaning do not edify.
“Let all things be done for edification” (1 Corinthians 14:26). Edification is a building up, an increase in spiritual insight resulting from instruction.
Through this Scripture God excludes meaningless sounds from the Christian assembly. Sounds without meaningful content do not edify.
This explains why God omitted music instruments from Christian worship. Music instruments are neither spiritual nor intelligible, they do not give instruction.
Paul compares someone without love to music instruments: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).
Sounding brass and clanging cymbals were used in the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 29:25, 26), but lifeless instruments are not suitable for worship in spirit and truth under the New Covenant.
God’s requirement: “Let all things be done for edification” (1 Corinthians 14:26) and the related condemnation of meaningless sounds in the assembly also preclude hand-clapping and the imitation of instruments with the voice. Such body and throat noises are not spiritual and do not have meaningful content.
Christians use the voices God has given them to sing with the spirit and with the understanding. They do not pollute their worship with sounds devoid of meaningful spiritual content.

What have we learned?
Singing is the music God has prescribed for His church. Christians are told to sing, and they have been given precise instructions. They sing to the Lord. They sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing serves to glorify God, as a confession of faith to non-Christians, and as instruction for believers. Christians sing with the spirit and with the understanding. What is sung must be understandable. All things must be done for edification. Meaningless sounds do not edify and are unsuitable for worship in spirit and truth.
“Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day” (Psalm 96:2). Sing to the Lord! Amen.
Roy Davison
Endnote:
a Italian for "in the manner of the chapel," literally "according to the chapel," originally “alla capella” or “alla cappella.” 
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

From Jim McGuiggan... ANN JOHNSTON DIED

ANN JOHNSTON DIED

I've known him a very long time and recall many lovely shared experiences. Went by to visit him for a while. I was a little reluctant due to the circumstances. Hadn't seen him in years and these were agony-filled days for him and his close-knit family.
Fifty years they'd been married. Fifty years they loved each other and fifty years they were the dearest friends.
The entire family had just got back from a marvellous holiday in Galway [another one--it was what they did together, traveling here and there]. She loved him, he loved her, the kids loved the parents and the parents loved the children.
She went out into the back garden to potter around with the flowers, doing what she enjoyed, fell down and was gone!
No warning! Out of the blue! No visits to the doctor! No scary moments that suggested something was wrong! Nothing! No thing!
Gone!
He'd had some health set-backs and she cared for him as she cared for her children and their children. Blessed woman!
Didn't know if he could take a visit; didn't know if he could be bothered but couldn't keep from what might have been intrusion. He was gracious and as soon as he saw who it was he knew why I was there and the pain filled up in his eyes and finally spilled over. "I'm just having a bad day," he managed to finally blurt out, chest heaving and in a tone almost as if apologizing.
It's the price lovers pay for knowing one another so well and for so long. A price they're glad to pay! The agony exists because the love relationship existed, expressed in moments alone, times when they couldn't stop laughing, the happy lunacy, the fights that often meant they took one another seriously, arguments that said they held one another accountable and then the making up, the pleasure of knowing that nothing was an insurmountable difficulty, the times of fear they shared and saw conquered.
I watched his daughter Irene watching him, her daddy, flawed, like all the rest of us, watched her with love and tenderness shining out of her tear-filled eyes as he sobbed and she kept filling in the sentences he couldn't finish.
Though love had been handed heartbreak with Ann's leaving it hadn't died. There it was written all over people who go on.
It's so wonderful to be loved. I'm not sure, but maybe it's even more wonderful to love.
I know Someone from whom all human loves come and if he is anything like what he showed himself to be in Jesus Christ he must hurt with the hurt of his children, whoever or wherever they are.

Camels and the Composition of Genesis by Eric Lyons, M.Min. A.P. Staff


http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=858&b=Genesis

Camels and the Composition of Genesis
by Eric Lyons, M.Min.
A.P. Staff


Arguably, the most widely alleged anachronisms used in support of the idea that Moses could not have written the first five books of the Bible (a theory known as the Documentary Hypothesis) are the accounts of the early patriarchs possessing camels. The word “camel(s)” appears 23 times in 21 verses in the book of Genesis. The first book of the Bible declares that camels existed in Egypt during the time of Abraham (12:14-17), in Palestine in the days Isaac (24:63), in Padan Aram while Jacob was working for Laban (30:43), and were owned by the Midianites during the time Joseph was sold into Egyptian slavery (37:25,36). Make no mistake about it, the book of beginnings clearly teaches that camels were domesticated since at least the time of Abraham.
According to skeptics (and a growing number of liberal scholars), however, the idea that camels were domesticated in the time of Abraham directly contradicts archaeological evidence. Over one hundred years ago, T.K. Cheyne wrote: “The assertion that the ancient Egyptians knew of the camel is unfounded” (1899, 1:634). In his oft’-quoted book on the various animals of the Bible, George Cansdale stated:
The Bible first mentions the camel in Gen. 12:16, where the presents are listed which the pharaoh gave to Abram. This is generally reckoned to be a later scribe’s addition, for it seems unlikely that there were any camels in Egypt then (1970, p. 66, emp. added).
More recently, Finkelstein and Silberman confidently asserted:
We now know through archaeological research that camels were not domesticated as beasts of burden earlier than the late second millennium and were not widely used in that capacity in the ancient Near East until well after 1000 BCE (2001, p. 37, emp. added).
By way of summary, what the Bible believer has been told is: “[T]ame camels were simply unknown during Abraham’s time” (Tobin, 2000).
While these claims have been made repeatedly over the last century, the truth of the matter is that skeptics and liberal theologians are unable to cite a single piece of solid archaeological evidence in support of their claims. As Randall Younker of Andrews University stated in March 2000 while delivering a speech in the Dominican Republic: “Clearly, scholars who have denied the presence of domesticated camels in the 2nd millennium B.C. have been committing the fallacy of arguing from silence. This approach should not be allowed to cast doubt upon the veracity of any historical document, let alone Scripture” (2000). The burden of proof actually should be upon skeptics to show that camels were not domesticated until after the time of the patriarchs. Instead, they assure their listeners of the camel’s absence in Abraham’s day—without one shred of archaeological evidence. [Remember, for many years they also argued that writing was unknown during the time of Moses—a conclusion based entirely on “silence.” Now, however, they have recanted that idea, because evidence has been found to the contrary. One might think that such “scholars” would learn not to speak with such assurance when arguing from silence.]
What makes their claims even more disturbing is that several pieces of evidence do exist (and have existed for some time) that prove camels were domesticated during (and even before) the time of Abraham (roughly 2,000 B.C.). In an article that appeared in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies a half-century ago, professor Joseph Free listed several instances of Egyptian archaeological finds supporting the domestication of camels [NOTE: The dates given for the Egyptian dynasties are from Clayton, 2001, pp.14-68]. The earliest evidence comes from a pottery camel’s head and a terra cotta tablet with men riding on and leading camels. According to Free, these are both from predynastic Egypt (1944, pp. 189-190), which according to Clayton is roughly before 3150B.C. Free also listed three clay camel heads and a limestone vessel in the form of camel lying down—all dated at the First Dynasty of Egypt (3050-2890 B.C.). He then mentioned several models of camels from the Fourth Dynasty (2613-2498 B.C.), and a petroglyph depicting a camel and a man dated at the Sixth Dynasty (2345-2184 B.C.). Such evidence has led one respected Egyptologist to conclude that “the extant evidence clearly indicates that the domestic camel was known [in Egypt—EL] by 3,000B.C.”—long before Abraham’s time (Kitchen, 1980, 1:228).
Perhaps the most convincing find in support of the early domestication of camels in Egypt is a rope made of camel’s hair found in the Fayum (an oasis area southwest of modern-day Cairo). The two-strand twist of hair, measuring a little over three feet long, was found in the late 1920s, and was sent to the Natural History Museum where it was analyzed and compared to the hair of several different animals. After considerable testing, it was determined to be camel hair, dated (by analyzing the layer in which it was found) to the Third or Fourth Egyptian Dynasty (2686-2498 B.C.). In his article, Free also listed several other discoveries from around 2,000 B.C. and later, which showed camels as domestic animals (pp. 189-190).
While prolific in Egypt, finds relating to the domestication of camels are not isolated to the African continent. In his book, Ancient Orient and the Old Testament, professor Kenneth Kitchen (retired) of the University of Liverpool reported several discoveries made outside of Egypt proving ancient camel domestication around 2,000 B.C. Lexical lists from Mesopotamia have been uncovered that show a knowledge of domesticated camels as far back as this time. Camel bones have been found in household ruins at Mari in present-day Syria that fossilologists believe are also at least 4,000 years old. Furthermore, a Sumerian text from the time of Abraham has been discovered in the ancient city of Nippur (located in what is now southeastern Iraq) that clearly implies the domestication of camels by its allusions to camels’ milk (Kitchen, 1966, p. 79).
All of these documented finds support the domestication of camels in Egypt many years before the time of Abraham. Yet, as Younker rightly observed, skeptics refuse to acknowledge any of this evidence.
It is interesting to note how, once an idea gets into the literature, it can become entrenched in conventional scholarly thinking. I remember doing research on the ancient site of Hama in Syria. As I was reading through the excavation reports (published in French), I came across a reference to a figurine from the 2nd millennium which the excavator thought must be a horse, but the strange hump in the middle of its back made one think of a camel. I looked at the photograph and the figurine was obviously that of a camel! The scholar was so influenced by the idea that camels were not used until the 1st millennium, that when he found a figurine of one in the second millennium, he felt compelled to call it a horse! This is a classic example of circular reasoning (2000, parenthetical comment in orig.).
Finds relating to the domestication of camels are not as prevalent in the second millennium B.C. as they are in the first millennium. This does not make the skeptics’ case any stronger, however. Just because camels were not as widely used during Abraham’s time as they were later, does not mean that they were entirely undomesticated. As Free commented:
Many who have rejected this reference to Abraham’s camels seem to have assumed something which the text does not state. It should be carefully noted that the biblical reference does not necessarily indicate that the camel was common in Egypt at that time, nor does it evidence that the Egyptians had made any great progress in the breeding and domestication of camels. It merely says that Abraham had camels (1944, p. 191, emp. added).
Similarly, Younker noted:
This is not to say that domesticated camels were abundant and widely used everywhere in the ancient Near East in the early second millennium. However, the patriarchal narratives do not necessarily require large numbers of camels…. The smaller amount of evidence for domestic camels in the late third and early second millennium B.C., especially in Palestine, is in accordance with this more restricted use (1997, 42:52).
Even without the above-mentioned archaeological finds (which to the unbiased examiner prove that camels were domesticated in the time of Abraham), it only seems reasonable to conclude that since wild camels have been known since the Creation, “there is no credible reason why such an indispensable animal in desert and semi-arid lands should not have been sporadically domesticated in patriarchal times and even earlier” (“Animal Kingdom,” 1988). The truth is, all of the available evidence points to one conclusion—the limited use of domesticated camels during and before the time of Abraham did occur. The supposed “anachronism” of domesticated camels during the time of the patriarchs is, in fact, an actual historical reference to the use of these animals at that time. Those who reject this conclusion cannot give one piece of solid archaeological evidence on their behalf. They simply argue from the “silence” of archaeology…which is silent no more!

REFERENCES

“Animal Kingdom” (1988), The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).
Cansdale, George (1970), All the Animals of the Bible Lands (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Cheyne, T.K. (1899), Encyclopedia Biblica (London: A. & C. Black).
Clayton, Peter A. (2001), Chronicle of the Pharaohs (London: Thames & Hudson).
Finkelstein, Israel and Neil Asher Silberman (2001), The Bible Unearthed (New York: Free Press).
Free, Joseph P. (1944), “Abraham’s Camels,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 3:187-193, July.
Kitchen, K.A. (1966), Ancient Orient and Old Testament (Chicago, IL: InterVarsity Press).
Kitchen, K.A. (1980), The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. J.D. Douglas (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale).
Tobin, Paul N. (2000), “Mythological Element in the Story of Abraham and the Patriachal Narratives,” The Refection of Pascal’s Wager [On-line], URL: http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/abraham.html.
Younker, Randall W. (1997), “Late Bronze Age Camel Petroglyphs in the Wadi Nasib, Sinai,” Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin, 42:47-54.
Younker, Randall W. (2000), “The Bible and Archaeology,” The Symposium on the Bible and Adventist Scholarship [On-line], URL: http://www.aiias.edu/ict/vol_26B/26Bcc_457-477.htm.

Personal Responsibility by Dave Miller, Ph.D.


http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=1176

Personal Responsibility
by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

As the moral and spiritual fabric of American culture continues to unravel, one time-honored norm after another is being jettisoned from daily living. One of those traditional values has been the importance of taking responsibility for one’s own decisions and actions. This cultural trait was once embodied in the widely circulated quip pertaining to an incident in the life of the father of our country. George Washington was alleged as a boy to have taken it upon himself to cut down a cherry tree. When questioned about the incident, he is reported to have remarked: “I cannot tell a lie, I chopped down the cherry tree.” Regardless of whether this little ditty is fictional or historical, it illustrates the point that honesty, integrity, and owning up to one’s own actions were once cherished societal norms.
For several decades now, however, this approach to life has suffered serious erosion. A prominent feature of current culture is to look for someone else to blame for those unpleasant things that happen in one’s life. Coupled with this evasion of personal responsibility is the desire to get rich quick by suing anyone and everyone who might be even remotely connected to the circumstance. Consequently, a driver can spill coffee on herself after passing through a fast food drive-up window, sue the restaurant—and win! One can choose to smoke cigarettes for years, sue the cigarette manufacturers, and extract large sums of money. One even can eat hamburgers and French fries from fast food chains—and then turn around and blame the restaurant for gained weight and high cholesterol levels.
Don’t misunderstand. Genuine negligence takes place in our society in which those who promote services to the public fail to give adequate attention to genuinely dangerous aspects of their products. However, much litigation in America today is unjust, outrageous, and deplorable. Frivolous law suits have led to millions of dollars spent on superfluous warning labels that cheapen the significance of truly necessary ones. Since “accidents happen” through the ordinary circumstances of human existence without anyone really to blame, innocent people are being victimized, singled out to bear the brunt of reckless vengeance, undeserved retaliation, and greed.
One of the prominent teachings of the Bible is the fact that God holds all accountable human beings responsible for their own actions. The attempt to shift blame to others has been a perennial propensity on the part of many people (1 Kings 18:21; Matthew 27:24), but God consistently has insisted upon the necessity of a person accepting responsibility for his or her own thoughts, decisions, and actions. This insistence is seen, for example, in the oft’-repeated phrases, “his blood shall be upon him” (Leviticus 20:9,13,27; Deuteronomy 19:10; Ezekiel 18:13; 33:5), and “his blood be on his own head” (Joshua 2:19; 2 Samuel 1:16; Ezekiel 33:4; Acts 18:6). It also is seen in the declarations that “the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4,20), and “the son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son” (Ezekiel 18:20; cf. Deuteronomy 24:16).
We humans may try to “pass the buck” and evade responsibility for our own actions. It’s like we tell small children: “If you put your hand in the fire, you’re going to get burned.” Yet, when we ourselves get burned for our own behavior, we become resentful and angry and want someone else “to pay.” But there are consequences to our actions. God is keeping a record, and one day will call all of us to account (Matthew 12:36; Romans 14:12). He assigns responsibility for our own actions to us, no one else. When we make choices that bring hardship or hurt into our lives, we must be willing to humble ourselves and bear the consequences. If we do not want to endure that pain, we should not commit the acts that elicit such a result. If we do commit such acts, we have earned the resultant suffering, and we deserve to get what we have earned. We need to be adult enough to “take our licks.” Even when hardship comes due to the nature of human existence and the world around us, with no particular individual responsible, we should humbly bow and commit ourselves to “Him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
America would be a much better place in which to live if we returned to an observance of the simple precepts of Scripture: “Repay no one evil for evil…. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath” (Romans 12:17,19); “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:8-9).