Hello My Name Is...Jehovah Jireh

According to John 8:56 - Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing the day of Jesus and when he saw it he was glad. What does this mean and how does it relate to the name of God found in Genesis 22 - Jehovah Jireh? This third is a series of sermons on the YHWH names of God looks at Our God Who Provides.

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Responding to Rosie's Rant

Wayne Allyn Root has written what I think is one of the best responses to the comments of Rosie O'Donnell and the Hollywood Left's flawed view of America, Christianity and Islam. Your can read his full commentary here, but let me share a few excerpts:

• "Radical liberals like Rosie and her Hollywood friends are so blinded by their own prejudices and hatred towards America, Christians, and Republicans that they actually believe that conservatives who defend their moral values with words are equivalent to radical Muslim terrorists. Terrorists! Those who defend their moral values with murder!

• How bad has America been to poor Rosie?

• Here in our Christian-dominated nation, Rosie,an outspoken lesbian activist and mother is a multimillionaire TV celebrity living the life of her dreams in complete freedom.

• Here in this Christian-dominated nation, Rosie is able to host television shows, adopt children, publicly express her views, and openly flaunt her lesbian lifestyle. Devout Christians may not approve, but no one takes any actions to ruin her life. She is not imprisoned or murdered for her views or lifestyle choices.

• Is Rosie not aware that in any Muslim nation she'd be banned from television, banned from adopting children, and imprisoned for infractions far less serious? Just for being a lesbian she would be beheaded or stoned to death."

• "Rosie and many of her radical liberal Hollywood friends, in my mind, can now be officially classified as delusional, paranoid, and living in a fantasy world. Rosie so loathes the Christian leaders who disagree with her lifestyle that she doesn't understand the difference between verbal disagreements and people who would instead cut her throat, stone her to death, and murder her children for the "crime" of having been adopted by a lesbian mother.

• The real irony? The reason Islamic radicals hate us so much is symbolized by Rosie O'Donnell herself. They hate us so intensely precisely because America is a free nation that allows an outspoken lesbian to host talk shows, bask in celebrity, give lectures on radical views, and earn tens of millions of dollars while flaunting an unconventional lifestyles."

• "No Rosie, religious Christians don't approve of your lifestyle or your views, but they would give up their lives to defend your right to express those views. That is what makes America and Christianity (and President Bush and the Republican Party) the good guys. There is no comparison. Only dysfunctional, confused, mentally-fragile, spoiled brat Hollywood liberals, who think holding hands and singing will make us all friends, could miss that dramatic difference between America and her enemies, between Christianity and radical Islam."

A Reminder...

Surely it is not
the business of the Church
to adapt Christ to men,
but to adapt men to Christ.

- Dorothy Sayers

Who R U? Meyers-Briggs Think They Know

You Are An INTP

The Thinker You are analytical and logical - and on a quest to learn everything you can. Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge. Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat. A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it. You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor.

What's Your Personality Type?

I have taken this type of test countless times and it always comes back the same. I am who I am. For more on INTP's check out this profile of the personality type.

By Grace I Am What I...Was?

In a recent interview former NJ governor James McGreevey had this to say:

"What I didn't understand was that being gay, as with everything else, is a grace from God, and that by accepting that grace and by accepting that reality, by embracing that truth, I could authentically be who I was...The danger is when people have to act out in dark shadows. If people can be who they are in the bright light of day, can celebrate their uniqueness ... that's what promotes a moral fabric in a society."

My concern in this post is not with McGreevey's homosexuality per se, but rather in how he describes it as "a grace from God." There seems to be a growing trend in society today for individuals to declare that God blesses them when they embrace their "uniqueness" regardless of what that may be. The belief is that God's great gift to humanity is not transformation but confirmation; not repentance of what I have done, but acceptance of who I am.

Yet this seems to go against the Word of God that speaks of grace as a tool for transformation. Yes, while it is true that Jesus loves us where we are; he loves us too much to leave us there. Jesus embraced the adulterous woman, but then commanded her to go and sin no more. Paul writing in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 said this:

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

This is grace in action. To change who we were that we might become what God intends us to be - inheritors of a kingdom. Paul, himself, admits in 1 Corinthians 5:10 that he what he once was has by the grace of God been transformed in what God intended for him to be. He went from Christ-hater to Christ-follower.

McGreevy longs for the day when people can be who they are in the light of day. He has no idea how ugly that day would be if people were able to give vent to what they are in their heart of hearts. Yet sadly we are moving to just such a day when nothing is taboo, when anything goes.

Yet Ephesians 5:11-17 says:

"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

The grace of God is a marvelous thing, but it should not be used as a cover for a sinful embrace of one's own selfish actions or desires. A true gift of grace is a renewed heart and a transformed life.

James McGreevey says he is on a spiritual journey. It is my prayer that he will find along the way what grace really means. And that truth will set him free to become what God wants him to become.

Three Christian Men Face Execution To Appease Muslims Radicals?

Tibo, Da Silva and Riwu

From WorldNet Daily:

Three Christian men in Indonesia who claim they were falsely accused of murder during attacks by radical Muslims are scheduled to be executed as early as Thursday.

A Washington, D.C.-based human rights monitor claims the cases of Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus Dasilva and Marinus Riwu are being rushed to a conclusion in order to appease Muslims upset by the scheduled execution of three Islamic terrorists charged in the 2002 Bali bombing.

The Indonesian government is "sacrificing true justice to provide judicial 'balance,'" charges Jeremy Sewall, a policy analyst for International Christian Concern, or ICC.

"This is not justice," Sewall said. "This is deception, cover-up and appeasement."

Normally, said ICC, the appeal for the three men should last months or even a year.

The U.S. group points out Tibo, Riwu, and Da Silva were the only men charged in the Poso conflict.

"This is a glaring injustice and hints of massive cover-up by the Indonesian government," the group said in a statement, noting it has done its own investigation of the conflict...

"Entire Christian villages were attacked with government munitions and burned down using Indonesian government fuel trucks," ICC said. "Christian adults and children were beheaded. The Muslim community initiated the attacks and there was every indication that local Muslim government leaders were involved. Why were no Muslims ever charged in any of the attacks?"

The three men claim their convictions resulted from irregularities during their trial. They contend, for example, the judge in the case neglected to consider the testimony of 13 different witnesses – including the defendants themselves – that would have exonerated them.

A number of other witnesses – including Irwanto Hasan, who at the time was a member of the Poso Police Intelligence Division – say the men were part of a humanitarian team when they were arrested.

They came to Poso in 2000 after hearing reports a Catholic Church there had been burned, according to the British-based Christian charity Jubilee Campaign.

The men entered the conflict zone to evacuate children from a church-run school in the village of Moengko, Poso City, the group said. On the morning of May 23, 2000, a Muslim mob entered the village and set fire to the church. The defendants and the students escaped out the back door before the building burned to the ground.

A few days later, according to Hasan, Tibo and the others were recruited by the Red Group, described as a "militant Christian group." Hasan claimed the men acted to subvert the Red Group's leaders and protect various individuals – both Christian and Muslim – from violence. Hasan claimed that at one point Tibo saved his life.

Please pray for these men and that justice will be done. Pray also for the Christians still facing violence and persecution in this region of the world. For more on the ongoing persecution of believers worldwide check out the Persecution blog.

Update: It is reported that the three were executed early Friday morning in spite of intense lobbying on their behalf including by Pope Benedict.

Knowledge From Newton

"I can hardly recollect a single plan of mine, of which I since have not seen reason to be satisfied, that had it taken place in season and circumstance just as I had proposed, it would, humanly speaking, have proved my ruin - or at least it would have deprived me of the greater good the Lord had designed for me. We judge things by their present appearances, but the Lord see them in their consequences; if we could do so otherwise, we should be perfectly of His mind; but as we cannot, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage for us, whether we are pleased with His management or not." - John Newton

Hello My Name Is...YHWH

In this second in a series on the names of God, we look at Exodus 3 and consider God's personal name YHWH and what that meant to enslaved Israel and to us today.



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Divine Justice

Sunday Spurgeon

“I have exalted one chosen out of the people.”
Psalm 89:19

Christ was chosen out of the people—that He might know our wants and sympathize with us. You know the old tale—that one half the world does not know how the other half lives—and that is very true. I believe some of the rich have no notion whatever of what the distress of the poor is. They have no idea of what it is to labor for their daily food. They have a very faint conception of what a rise in the price of bread means. They do not know anything about it. And when we put men in power who never were of the people, they do not understand the art of governing us.

But our great and glorious Jesus Christ is One chosen out of the people and therefore He knows our wants. Temptation and pain He suffered before us. Sickness He endured, for when hanging upon the Cross, the scorching of that broiling sun brought on a burning fever. Weariness—He has endured it, for weary He sat by the well. Poverty—He knows it, for sometimes He had not bread to eat, except that bread of which the world knows nothing. To be houseless—He knew it,for the foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests, but He had not where to lay His head.

My brother Christian, there is no place where you can go where Christ has not been before you, sinful places alone excepted. In the dark valley of the shadow of death you may see His bloody footsteps—footprints marked with gore. Yes,and even at the deep waters of the swelling Jordan, you shall, when you come hard by the side, say, “There are the footprints of a Man—whose are they?” Stooping down, you shall discern a nail-mark and shall say, “Those are the footsteps of the blessed Jesus.”

He has been before you. He has smoothed the way. He has entered the grave, that He might make the tomb the royal bedchamber of the ransomed race—the closet where they lay aside the garments of labor, to put on the vestments of eternal rest. In all places, wherever we go, the Angel of the Covenant has been our forerunner. Each burden we have to carry has once been laid on the shoulders of Immanuel—

“His way was much rougher and darker than mine.
Did Christ my Lord suffer and shall I repine?”

I am speaking to those in great trial. Dear fellow-traveler! Take courage—Christ has consecrated the road and made the narrow way the King’s own road to life.

Tozer For Today

(Ruins of the Church at Laodecia)

Religion today is not transforming people;
rather it is being transformed by the people.
It is not raising the moral level of society;
it is descending to society's own level,
and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory
because society is smilingly accepting its surrender.

A. W. Tozer

Why Kids Need Therapy Later In Life...

HT: Neat-O-Rama

Ministerial Mirth

The minister's sermon on this particular Sunday was considerably longer than normal. However, it was so well prepared and inspiring that he just knew it would be a big hit with the congregation.

At the end of the service he stood shaking hands with parishioners as they exited. One man paused and said, "Pastor, your sermon was so invigorating and inspiring and refreshing."

As the minister broke out in a big smile, the man completed his comment by adding, "Why I felt like a new man when I woke up!"

Sermon: Hello...My Name is God

This is the first in a series upon the Yahweh names of God in the Bible. Using Psalm 9:10 as a springboard, this message conisders three reasons why it is important to study the names of God: 1) To enlarge our concept of God 2) To enrich our worship of God and 3) To enhance our experience of God.

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Lest We Forget...Joshua Aron

Last month I stood once again by the deep wound that is Ground Zero. I have been there several times since the Towers fell. The first just a few days after 9-11 when the dust still hung in the air and the heat from the rubble radiated for blocks. But this time was different, as I stood by the plaques remembering those who had lost their lives on that terrible day, I was looking for a single name - Joshua Aron.

I didn't know Joshua Aron personally. But over the last few months I have allowed his life to give a face to the many who died that day. From the words of family and friends I have gained an understanding of this 29 year old Cantor Fitzgerald equities trader who life ended far too early.

These are their words, their memories...

Rachel, his dear wife, (Joshua died just five days short of their first wedding anniversary) remembers the love notes sent by instant message, the promise to get back at her tormentors with the words - "You want to get em? Come on, Let's get 'em right now." She says of Joshua: "We were best friends. Everything just came naturally."

Joshua's mother Ruth wrote the following tribute to her son:

I lost my beloved son, Josh, September 11, 2001 in the World Trade Center horror. Josh was 29 years young, an equity trader at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of Tower one. A son who did us all proud; who reached for the stars and caught a few.

Though sensitive, intense, brilliant, successful and handsome, you were at your best loving & being loved. Joshua, you prepared for your whole life what you were just beginning to taste - the pleasure of success which flows from focused persistent hard work and the loving relationship you had with your chosen partner in life, your wife Rachel.

6-29-72 Josh, you announced your arrival into this life with a bang - that bang was your unique logo for life: to enjoy to the fullest, to aspire to experience the best in all of life’s possibilities. You gobbled life & made it look so enticing.

At 7 years of age you asked me to teach you how to read financial tables in the Wall Street Journal & to explain the work & where it was done. We made some joint investments - then & there you said that would be your career.

Josh, you gave us all a unique & genuine truth, loyalty & an intensely delicious way of inviting us into your favorite experiences & activities. I so miss your teasing me & your delight in my biting the hook you dangled. You have been a most caring & loving son."

Ruth was determined that Joshua's alma mater Cornell (he graduated in 1994 with majors in consumer economics and housing) transform the tragedy into a vehicle for educating students about national security issues.

The result of her tribute is the Joshua Aron First-Year Writing Seminar on "The Politics of National Security and Intelligence," one of the most popular courses now offered through Cornell's John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines.

"It's a very significant addition to the curriculum," said Cornell Vice Provost Isaac Kramnick. "For the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks, Cornell is offering a credited course designed specifically to get undergraduates to think critically about some of the most pressing issues that face their generation and the nation as a whole."

Joshua's father Barry Barry Aron, says, "Not a minute goes by in a day that I don't think about Josh. ... It's like part of you being ripped out and you can't replace it."

His brother-in-law, Andrew Pitagorsky remembers Joshua:

Josh Aron was my brother-in-law, my friend, but more importantly he was my sisters husband…..she loved him and he loved her….and would have done anything for her…..he treated her like gold, the way I always knew she needed to be treated. From the day I met Josh at that first Hanukah dinner when Rachel said he was just a friend I knew he was more then a friend…..they complemented each other perfectly…. There wasn’t a thing in the world that josh wouldn’t have done for my sister and I loved him for that…I remember one day he came home with a new car for Rachel and she was so excited, or the time he got her the piano, and I remember all the times that I would come over for dinner, just the three of us and josh would cook the most amazing meals…..it’s a good thing he did because I knew Rachel wasn’t going to. Or the time he took me to the World Series for my birthday…..that was the best birthday present I have ever gotten….there were so many good times we shared and I am shore all of u have shared good times with him too that we all will have to remember...

Friends will call to mind his child-like enthusiasm, his ability to always be ready with a quip from an Austin Powers' movie, his constant activity whether it was in the kitchen, on his bike or surfing the internet. He delighted in the moments of life - repainting his Upper Westside apartment, installing a 200 bottle wine cellar or watching his 90 inch projection television.

Friend Joanna Seidler remembers:
"Not a day goes by that I don't think of Josh and his family. I have many happy memories with Josh, none that I will soon forget. He was a good friend with a big heart and will be sorely missed by me and many, many others. Keep his memory alive by thinking and talking about him daily; it helps. All of you be well."

That is the best advice we can take from events of that dreadful day. We can keep the memories alive by keeping the conversation alive. While I never met Joshua Aron, his life is now a part of mine and a part of yours.

More tributes for 9-11 victims can be found at the 2996 site.

Sunday Spurgeon

What a great word that word “salvation” is! It includes the cleansing of our conscience from all past guilt and the delivery of our soul from all those propensities to evil which now so strongly predominate in us. It takes in, in fact, the undoing of all that Adam did. Salvation is the total restoration of man from his fallen estate. And yet it is something more than that—for God’s salvation fixes our standing more secure than it was before we fell. It finds us broken in pieces by the sin of our first parent—defiled, stained, accursed. It first heals our wounds, it removes our diseases, it takes away our curse, it puts our feet upon the rock Christ Jesus and having thus done, at last it lifts our heads far above all principalities and powers, to be crowned forever with Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven.

Some people, when they use the word “salvation,” understand nothing more by it than deliverance from Hell and admittance into Heaven. Now that is not salvation—those two things are the effects of salvation. We are redeemed from Hell because we are saved and we enter Heaven because we have been saved beforehand. Our everlasting state is the effect of salvation in this life.

Salvation, it is true, includes all that because salvation is the mother of it and carries it within its heart. But still it were wrong for us to imagine that that is all the meaning of the word.

Salvation begins with us as wandering sheep. It follows us through all our mazy wanderings. It puts us on the shoulders of the Shepherd. It carries us into the fold. It calls together the friends and the neighbors. It rejoices over us. It preserves us in that fold through life. And then at last it brings us to the green pastures of Heaven—beside the still waters of bliss—where we lie down forever in the presence of the Chief Shepherd, never more to be disturbed.

To Boldly Go...

From Star Trek:

"It was the new television season, just like any other, and NBC was about to debut their new science fiction show. That in itself wasn't a novel idea: CBS had Lost in Space, ABC had contemporary shows like The Time Tunnel and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. It was pretty standard that networks had something on the air that fell into the general category of science fiction. And while these other shows had their own quaint charms, they lasted a few seasons and mostly drifted off into memory, and later syndication. (The other one-hour drama that every network had was a Western; NBC already had a bona fide hit in Bonanza and CBS, with Wild Wild West, neatly combined the Western with sci-fi.)

On the evening of the 8th of September, following Daniel Boone, this new NBC show premiered with an episode called "The Man Trap." The angle of the story was different, to say the least: It was a love story with a sci-fi twist, borne of a relationship from the doctor's past, featuring a monster that, in the end, just wanted to live. It was moving, tragic and anything but cheesy. The viewers — at least the ones who were paying attention — were hooked."

Star Trek Trivia from IMBD

• James Doohan ("Scotty") lost his right middle finger during WWII Most of his scenes are shot to hide it. However, it is very noticeable in the episode "Catspaw." Scotty is hypnotized and holding a phaser pistol on Kirk & Spock in Korob & Sylvia's dining hall. When Scotty is in the shot, only two fingers are holding the butt of the phaser.
  
  
• In only one episode ("Mirror, Mirror") does Scotty address Kirk as "Jim".
  
  
• "Shore Leave" is the only episode in which the U.S.S. Enterprise is seen orbiting a planet from right to left. The I.S.S. Enterprise also does this briefly in the parallel universe, in the teaser to "Mirror, Mirror", but by the beginning of Act I, it is again orbiting from left to right.
  
  

• "A Piece Of The Action" is the only episode in which the Enterprise phasers are used to stun.
  
  
• Due to budget constraints, the element of "parallel" or "mirror" Earth planets was used on several occasions to keep set and make-up costs down. (i.e. "Miri", "Bread and Circuses", "A Piece of the Action", "Patterns of Force" and more.)
  
  
• Martin Landau was originally offered the role of Spock, but declined. (Ironically, Leonard Nimoy, who accepted the part, took over the role of disguise-expert on "Mission: Impossible" (1966) when Landau left that show.)
  
  
• Mission Impossible was also filmed on the same lot as Star Trek, therefore when Star Trek ended, Lenoard Nimoy merely crossed the street to go to his new job.
  
  
• Shortly after the cancellation of the series, the staff of the marketing department of the NBC TV network confronted the network executives and berated them for canceling Star Trek, the most profitable show on the network in terms of demographic profiling of the ratings. They explained that although the show was never higher than #52 in the general ratings, its audience profile had the largest concentration of viewers of ages 16 to 39, the most sought after television audience for advertisers to reach. In other words, the show, despite the low ratings, had the precise audience advertisers hungered for, which was more than ample justification to consider the show a big success.
  
  
• In 2000, the show was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest number of spin-off productions, including the feature film series and the numerous TV series.
  
  
• Many elements of the Spock character were improvised by Leonard Nimoy during production. For instance, the "Vulcan neck pinch" was his suggestion during filming of "The Enemy Within" for how Spock could subdue an opponent. The "Vulcan salute" was created during the production of "Amok Time" using a version of a traditional Jewish religious hand gesture as a distinctive Vulcan greeting.
  
  
• Sulu and Uhura didn't have first names in this series. Sulu did get a first name (Hikaru) but not until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). In Season 2 DVD Special Features, Nichelle Nichols reveals that she and Gene Roddenberry accepted the first name "Niota" for her character, which is a Swahili word meaning "Star". Uhura is a variant of "Uhuru", Swahili for "freedom".
  
  
• Lloyd Bridges and Jeffrey Hunter (who had played Captain Pike in the original pilot) both turned down the role of Captain Kirk.
  
  
• Gene Roddenberry originally conceived the Klingons as looking more alien than they do in the series, but budget restriction prevented this. When the show moved to the big screen, he was finally able to make Klingons look more alien. The resulting continuity break between TOS and the movies and later series was addressed in the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) episode "Trials and Tribbleations" in which the character of Worf confirms that something did happen to make the Klingons appear human, but he refuses to elaborate. In the final season (season #4) of the fifth "Star Trek" series "Enterprise" (2001) an episode dealt with the exact nature of why some Klingons (that would be the Klingons form the original series) did not have the "knotted" forehead that visually characterized all Klingons portrayed starting with _"Star Trek The Motion Picture" (1979) . The premise was that a group of Klingons on a Klingon-populated world separate from their home world are exposed to a virus that modifies their appearance to that of the way they looked in TOS (and the crew, especially the ship's doctor in "Enterprise" manage to discover and generate a medical fix for the malady, of course).
  
  
• Gene Roddenberry once hypothesized that the Enterprise carried a platoon of Starfleet Marines, but they never appeared onscreen in the original series. The Starfleet Marines would eventually make an appearance, but not until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993). The idea was revived with the addition of a group of "space marines" beginning in the 2003-2004 season of "Enterprise" (2001).
  
  
• One of the writers, D.C. Fontana, was told to use the initials "D.C." by Gene Roddenberry because networks at the time generally wouldn't hire women writers. Her first name is Dorothy.
  
  
• Contrary to popular belief, Captain Kirk never said, "Beam me up, Scotty," in any episode.
  
  
• Grace Lee Whitney was supposed to be the lead female character, hence her prominent role as Yeoman Janice Rand in the first season. However, the producers let go of the character after the first season, much to the fans' relent. Whitney, however was asked back for most of the Star Trek movies, reprising her role as Janice.
  
  
• Stardates were established in order to keep the audience guessing as to when the series takes place. A calendar year for the adventures of the Enterprise crew is never given in any episode, and Gene Roddenberry said the series could have taken place anywhere from the 21st to the 31st Centuries. By the time of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), however, calendar years for Trek adventures had been established and the official Star Trek Chronology now indicates that the original "Star Trek" TV series takes place between the years 2266 and 2269.
  
  
• In the hallways of the Enterprise there are tubes marked "GNDN", these initials stand for "goes nowhere does nothing".
  
  
• The series' opening credits has lyrics that were never used (although they were published in the book "The Making of Star Trek", by Stephen J. Whitfield They were written by Gene Roddenberry so that he would receive a residual for the theme's use alongside the theme's composer, Alexander Courage.
  
  
• Actor Mark Lenard, best known for his role as Sarek, Spock's father, was the first actor to play a member of all three of the major alien races: Romulan, Vulcan, and Klingon (he is the commander of the Klingon attack group at the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).
  
  
• The slanting crawlway that leads up to the warp-drive nacelles is referred to as a "Jefferies tube." This is a reference to art director , Walter M. Jefferies.

• When NBC was promoting "Star Trek" (1966) in magazines, all shots of Spock's pointed eyebrows and ears where airbrushed out of the pictures because NBC thought that no one would watch the show due to Spock's resemblance to the Devil.

• On at least two occasions ("Miri" & "City on the Edge of Forever") the exterior Mayberry set from "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960) was used. In "City," as Kirk walks Edith home, they pass by the easily recognizable courthouse, Floyd's barbershop, Emmett's repair shop, and the grocery.

• In several episodes, prop beverage bottles were modified from existing alcohol bottles. Aldeberan Whiskey bottles were Cuervo Gold 1800 Tequila bottles. Bottles used for Saurian Brandy were George Dickel Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey carafes.

• According to official blueprints of the Enterprise, published in 1975, among features on the ship that were never mentioned on the TV series were two auxiliary bridges, a second sickbay area, a swimming pool, a garden, and a six-lane bowling alley. This last item, no doubt included in the blueprints as a joke, is the earliest known case of humor creeping into the background of the show's designs; this would become commonplace in the other "Star Trek" TV series of the '80s and '90s.

• After viewing the popularity of characters such as Robin on the _"Batman" (1966/II)_ series and shows like "The Monkees" (1966), the producers decided to introduce Ensign Pavel Chekov in the second season in order to attract more teenage viewers, especially girls, to the show. 'Walter Koenig' was selected due to his resemblance to Davy Jones.

• A bowling alley aboard the USS Enterprise, as shown in the 1975 blueprints, was actually mentioned in the episode "The Naked Time. " In that episode, Lt. Riley declares that "a formal dance will be held in the bowling alley at 1900 hours tonight." However, he was also quite delusional, so it's not certain that the bowling alley he spoke of actually existed.

• Mr. Spock was played as much more emotional and "human" in the original rejected pilot, "The Cage". This is very noticeable during the flashback sequences of the two-part episode, "The Menagerie". The flashbacks were simply scenes from the original pilot, re-edited into the new episodes.
  

• Leonard Nimoy (Spock) is the only actor to appear in every episode of the series.
  
  
• The uniforms were color coded to show what division of the ship that the crew member was assigned to. The colors were: gold - command, navigation, and weaponry; red - engineering, security, and ship's services; and blue - science and medicine. In practice, the gold uniforms often appeared apple green, which some have attributed to local interference with television signals. However, what actually occurred was that the peculiar green tunic was green, but under the lights on the set it appeared gold in most lighting conditions. However, the true color can be seen in Kirk's special "wrap-around" tunic and to some extent in the special occasion "dress" uniforms, both of which were made out of different materials which reflected the light differently. The uniforms were dry-cleaned, but the velour tended to shrink, so they had to constantly be altered which is why they often looked short on the actors.
  
  
• Each starship and starbase had its own insignia, which was worn on the left breast of the uniform. The Enterprise's insignia was the now well known boomerang-shaped device.
  
  
• Gene Roddenberry originally conceived Spock's skin color to be red, which would have meant extra hours in make-up for Leonard Nimoy. Fortunately for him, an early make-up test showed that the red color merely appeared as black on black-and-white televisions. Since most televisions in the '60s were still black-and-white, the idea was dropped.
  
  
• According to William Shatner's Star Trek TV memoirs, DeForest Kelley was the first one considered for the role of Spock.
  
  
• Leonard Nimoy modeled Spock after George Burns and his cigar. George's amused and unflustered acceptances of Gracie Allen's ramblings influenced Spock's interactions with Dr. McCoy.
  
  
  

This Is My Father's World

Kairos Journal offers this "quick take" on the life and death of Steve Irwin:

"The death of the conservationist Steve Irwin is widely reported in the world media. Irwin was a larger than life and controversial character who for many years championed the cause of crocodiles in Australia. Along with his wife Terri he founded “Australia Zoo” in Queensland, and such was their devotion to the cause of endangered species that they even went in search of crocodiles on their honeymoon.

One aspect of Irwin’s life stands out. He was unashamedly enthusiastic about the wonders of the natural world. Children adored him because he showed them what it might mean to love animals whether great or small. The sight of Irwin wrestling a mammoth crocodile or running in the desert to catch a scorpion was almost guaranteed to implant in children a playful delight in living beings. Tragically there is no indication that Irwin was a Christian, indeed, he and his wife welcomed their children into the world with Buddhist ceremonies. Yet his life is one long rebuke to Christians who take little delight in their Father’s world. If a man could love the creation this much and not know the Creator—how much more should those who love God take delight in the work of His hands?"

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

This is my Father’s world, dreaming, I see His face.
I open my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, “The Lord is in this place.”
This is my Father’s world, from the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.

This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The Lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

Hebrews 13:13

My initial reaction to this was to shake my head in disbelief. It is this "brand" of Christian activism that promotes and spreads the stereotypes of what an Evangelical is. But sadly there are those within the evangelical camp that have fallen prey to this militant aberration of the Christian faith. Paul specifically warns us that while we are indeed engaged in a war - that our weapons are not those of this world.

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
(2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Hitler's Rewrite of the Bible

From Pravda:

An institute, founded on Hitler’s command, rewrote Bible texts, eliminating all mentions of the special role of the Jewish people. According to Hitler’s version, Christ was an advocate of Aryan ideas. Sections from the Nazi Bible will be published by German publication Bild on Thursday.

In May 1939, on the Furher’s command, a theological institute was founded in Eisenach with the purpose of contributing to “dejewification”. Its employees edited biblical texts, removing non-Aryan passages. Dozens of works printed by the institute were published in over 100 thousand copies of the new Holy Scripture. It was assumed that this work would become a standard household book amongst Germans.

For a long time, almost nothing was known about Hitler’s Bible, since believers burnt almost every copy. However, a few copies were discovered in German churches at the end of the 1980s, but this was kept hidden from the general public at the time, writes Izvestia.

German biblical archivist Hansjorg Buss has summarized the dubious achievements of Hitler’s myrmidons for Bild newspaper.

“Germans with the Lord – the German book of faith”: the renewed version of the Holy Scripture contained 12 edited commandments instead of 10, as follows:

1. Honor your Fuhrer and master.

2. Keep the blood pure and your honor holy.

3.Honor God and believe in him wholeheartedly.

4. Seek out the peace of God.

5. Avoid all hypocrisy.

6. Holy is your health and life.

7. Holy is your well-being and honor.

8. Holy is your truth and fidelity.

9. Honor your father and mother -- your children are your aid and your example.

10. Maintain and multiply the heritage of your forefathers.

11. Be ready to help and forgive.

12. Joyously serve the people with work and sacrifice.

In the new edition of the psalms, words of Jewish origin, such as messiah and halleluiah, were altered and the city of Jerusalem was referred to as Eternal City of God. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was presented as resulting from a battle he fought against the Jews.

In the 1940 edition, the following words can be found: “The Evangelical Jesus can only become the savior of our German people, because it does not incarnate the ideas of Judaism, but fights against them mercilessly.”

“The German people fought against the destruction of their life and essence by the Jews”, wrote the director of the institute Walter Grundmann. Hitler personally signed the decree on the appropriation of the awarding of the title of professor to him.

And finally, Jesus’ ancestors, according to the Nazis, came from the Caucuses, therefore there was no way that the savior could have been Jewish.

What Hitler did is not all that unusual. Many before and many since have attempted to rewrite the Scriptures. From Marcion, to Thomas Jefferson, to the Jesus Seminar, man has resisted God's Word and has tried to supress, alter or dismiss the truth. Every age has those who will try to twist the Bible to fit some misguided agenda or philosophy. The fact of its seamless transmission thru the centures is testimony to its Divine origin and nature.

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."

Revelation 22:18-19

Groan.....

A student came home from school one day, very depressed, and moped around the house all evening. Finally, his father asked him what was troubling him.

“It doesn’t matter,” he replied. “Nothing matters.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Biology,” the lad replied, sullenly.

“Biology? Biology is all about life. It’s exciting!”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” He answered, “but today I learned that our lives are ova before they’re begun!”

HT: The Thirsty Theologian

God's Glory At WORK

John Wesley said: "Work as hard as you can, save as much as you can, and give all you can - to the glory of God." Today God's glory is the missing piece in our approach to work. As a result we are enslaved by our jobs, selfish with our salaries and intolerant of those who are less fortunate. This Labor Day message helps us put God back at the center of our work.

MP3 File