![\"Joomla!](\"images/stories/powered_by.png\" "\\"Example")
Joomla! provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface that simplifies the management and publishing of large volumes of content including HTML, documents, and rich media. Joomla! is used by organisations of all sizes for intranets and extranets and is supported by a community of tens of thousands of users.
Joomla! now provides more developer power while making the user experience all the more friendly. For those who always wanted increased extensibility, Joomla! 1.5 can make this happen.
A new framework, ground-up refactoring, and a highly-active development team brings the excitement of \'the next generation CMS\' to your fingertips. Whether you are a systems architect or a complete \'noob\' Joomla! can take you to the next level of content delivery. \'More than a CMS\' is something we have been playing with as a catchcry because the new Joomla! API has such incredible power and flexibility, you are free to take whatever direction your creative mind takes you and Joomla! can help you get there so much more easily than ever before.
Thinking Web publishing? Think Joomla!
',-2,1,0,1,'2008-08-12 10:00:00',62,'','2008-08-12 10:00:00',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-01-03 01:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',29,0,0,'','',0,147,'robots=\nauthor='),(2,'Newsflash 1','newsflash-1','','Joomla! makes it easy to launch a Web site of any kind. Whether you want a brochure site or you are building a large online community, Joomla! allows you to deploy a new site in minutes and add extra functionality as you need it. The hundreds of available Extensions will help to expand your site and allow you to deliver new services that extend your reach into the Internet.
','',1,1,0,3,'2008-08-10 06:30:34',62,'','2008-08-10 06:30:34',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2004-08-09 10:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',7,0,3,'','',0,1,'robots=\nauthor='),(3,'Newsflash 2','newsflash-2','','The one thing about a Web site, it always changes! Joomla! makes it easy to add Articles, content, images, videos, and more. Site administrators can edit and manage content \'in-context\' by clicking the \'Edit\' link. Webmasters can also edit content through a graphical Control Panel that gives you complete control over your site.
','',1,1,0,3,'2008-08-09 22:30:34',62,'','2008-08-09 22:30:34',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2004-08-09 06:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',6,0,4,'','',0,0,'robots=\nauthor='),(4,'Newsflash 3','newsflash-3','','With a library of thousands of free Extensions, you can add what you need as your site grows. Don\'t wait, look through the Joomla! Extensions library today.
','',1,1,0,3,'2008-08-10 06:30:34',62,'','2008-08-10 06:30:34',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2004-08-09 10:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',7,0,5,'','',0,1,'robots=\nauthor='),(5,'Joomla! License Guidelines','joomla-license-guidelines','joomla-license-guidelines','This Web site is powered by Joomla! The software and default templates on which it runs are Copyright 2005-2008 Open Source Matters. The sample content distributed with Joomla! is licensed under the Joomla! Electronic Documentation License. All data entered into this Web site and templates added after installation, are copyrighted by their respective copyright owners.
If you want to distribute, copy, or modify Joomla!, you are welcome to do so under the terms of the GNU General Public License. If you are unfamiliar with this license, you might want to read \'How To Apply These Terms To Your Program\' and the \'GNU General Public License FAQ\'.
The Joomla! licence has always been GPL.
','',-2,4,0,25,'2008-08-20 10:11:07',62,'','2008-08-20 10:11:07',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2004-08-19 06:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',7,0,0,'','',0,263,'robots=\nauthor='),(6,'Support Verses','support-verses','','Rev 21:
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The Joomla! team has millions of good reasons to be smiling about the Joomla! 1.5. In its current incarnation, it\'s had millions of downloads, taking it to an unprecedented level of popularity. The new code base is almost an entire re-factor of the old code base. The user experience is still extremely slick but for developers the API is a dream. A proper framework for real PHP architects seeking the best of the best.
If you\'re a former Mambo User or a 1.0 series Joomla! User, 1.5 is the future of CMSs for a number of reasons. It\'s more powerful, more flexible, more secure, and intuitive. Our developers and interface designers have worked countless hours to make this the most exciting release in the content management system sphere.
Go on ... get your FREE copy of Joomla! today and spread the word about this benchmark project.
','',0,1,0,1,'2007-07-07 09:54:06',62,'','2007-07-07 09:54:06',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2004-07-06 22:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',5,0,5,'','',0,154,'robots=\nauthor='),(10,'How do I localise Joomla! to my language?','how-do-i-localise-joomla-to-my-language','','In Joomla! 1.5 all User interfaces can be localised. This includes the installation, the Back-end Control Panel and the Front-end Site.
The core release of Joomla! 1.5 is shipped with multiple language choices in the installation but, other than English (the default), languages for the Site and Administration interfaces need to be added after installation. Links to such language packs exist below.
','Translation Teams for Joomla! 1.5 may have also released fully localised installation packages where site, administrator and sample data are in the local language. These localised releases can be found in the specific team projects on the Joomla! Extensions Directory.
Please note that Joomla! 1.5 is new and language packs for this version may have not been released at this time.
Joomla! 1.5 does not provide an upgrade path from earlier versions. Converting an older site to a Joomla! 1.5 site requires creation of a new empty site using Joomla! 1.5 and then populating the new site with the content from the old site. This migration of content is not a one-to-one process and involves conversions and modifications to the content dump.
There are two ways to perform the migration:
','This is a two phased process using two tools. The first tool is a migration Component named com_migrator. This Component has been contributed by Harald Baer and is based on his eBackup Component. The migrator needs to be installed on the old site and when activated it prepares the required export dump of the old site\'s data. The second tool is built into the Joomla! 1.5 installation process. The exported content dump is loaded to the new site and all conversions and modification are performed on-the-fly.
Note: This function requires the use of the iconv function in PHP to convert encodings. If iconv is not found a warning will be provided.
Well... how about never needing to mess with encoding settings again?
Ever needed to display several languages on one page or site and something always came up in Giberish?
With utf-8 (a variant of Unicode) glyphs (character forms) of basically all languages can be displayed with one single encoding setting.
','',-2,3,0,31,'2008-08-05 01:11:29',62,'','2008-08-05 01:11:29',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-03 10:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',8,0,0,'','',0,52,'robots=\nauthor='),(13,'What happened to the locale setting?','what-happened-to-the-locale-setting','','This is now defined in the Language [lang].xml file in the Language metadata settings. If you are having locale problems such as dates do not appear in your language for example, you might want to check/edit the entries in the locale tag. Note that multiple locale strings can be set and the host will usually accept the first one recognised.','',-2,3,0,28,'2008-08-06 16:47:35',62,'','2008-08-06 16:47:35',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-05 14:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',7,0,0,'','',0,28,'robots=\nauthor='),(14,'What is the FTP layer for?','what-is-the-ftp-layer-for','','The FTP Layer allows file operations (such as installing Extensions or updating the main configuration file) without having to make all the folders and files writable. This has been an issue on Linux and other Unix based platforms in respect of file permissions. This makes the site admin\'s life a lot easier and increases security of the site.
You can check the write status of relevent folders by going to \'\'Help->System Info\" and then in the sub-menu to \"Directory Permissions\". With the FTP Layer enabled even if all directories are red, Joomla! will operate smoothly.
NOTE: the FTP layer is not required on a Windows host/server.
','',-2,3,0,31,'2008-08-06 21:27:49',62,'','2008-08-06 21:27:49',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-05 16:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=',6,0,0,'','',0,43,'robots=\nauthor='),(15,'Can Joomla! 1.5 operate with PHP Safe Mode On?','can-joomla-15-operate-with-php-safe-mode-on','','Yes it can! This is a significant security improvement.
The safe mode limits PHP to be able to perform actions only on files/folders who\'s owner is the same as PHP is currently using (this is usually \'apache\'). As files normally are created either by the Joomla! application or by FTP access, the combination of PHP file actions and the FTP Layer allows Joomla! to operate in PHP Safe Mode.
','',-2,3,0,31,'2008-08-06 19:28:35',62,'','2008-08-06 19:28:35',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-05 14:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',7,0,0,'','',0,26,'robots=\nauthor='),(16,'Only one edit window! How do I create \"Read more...\"?','only-one-edit-window-how-do-i-create-read-more','','This is now implemented by inserting a Read more... tag (the button is located below the editor area) a dotted line appears in the edited text showing the split location for the Read more.... A new Plugin takes care of the rest.
It is worth mentioning that this does not have a negative effect on migrated data from older sites. The new implementation is fully backward compatible.
','',-2,3,0,28,'2008-08-06 19:29:28',62,'','2008-08-06 19:29:28',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-05 14:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',7,0,0,'','',0,95,'robots=\nauthor='),(17,'My MySQL database does not support UTF-8. Do I have a problem?','my-mysql-database-does-not-support-utf-8-do-i-have-a-problem','','No you don\'t. Versions of MySQL lower than 4.1 do not have built in UTF-8 support. However, Joomla! 1.5 has made provisions for backward compatibility and is able to use UTF-8 on older databases. Let the installer take care of all the settings and there is no need to make any changes to the database (charset, collation, or any other).','',-2,3,0,31,'2008-08-07 09:30:37',62,'','2008-08-07 09:30:37',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-05 20:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',10,0,0,'','',0,27,'robots=\nauthor='),(18,'Joomla! Features','joomla-features','','If you\'re new to Web publishing systems, you\'ll find that Joomla! delivers sophisticated solutions to your online needs. It can deliver a robust enterprise-level Web site, empowered by endless extensibility for your bespoke publishing needs. Moreover, it is often the system of choice for small business or home users who want a professional looking site that\'s simple to deploy and use. We do content right.
So what\'s the catch? How much does this system cost?
Well, there\'s good news ... and more good news! Joomla! 1.5 is free, it is released under an Open Source license - the GNU/General Public License v 2.0. Had you invested in a mainstream, commercial alternative, there\'d be nothing but moths left in your wallet and to add new functionality would probably mean taking out a second mortgage each time you wanted something adding!
Joomla! changes all that ...
Joomla! is different from the normal models for content management software. For a start, it\'s not complicated. Joomla! has been developed for everybody, and anybody can develop it further. It is designed to work (primarily) with other Open Source, free, software such as PHP, MySQL, and Apache.
It is easy to install and administer, and is reliable.
Joomla! doesn\'t even require the user or administrator of the system to know HTML to operate it once it\'s up and running.
To get the perfect Web site with all the functionality that you require for your particular application may take additional time and effort, but with the Joomla! Community support that is available and the many Third Party Developers actively creating and releasing new Extensions for the 1.5 platform on an almost daily basis, there is likely to be something out there to meet your needs. Or you could develop your own Extensions and make these available to the rest of the community.
','',-2,4,0,29,'2008-08-09 07:49:20',62,'','2008-08-09 07:49:20',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-07 10:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',13,0,0,'','',0,253,'robots=\nauthor='),(20,'Support and Documentation','support-and-documentation','','Support for the Joomla! CMS can be found on several places. The best place to start would be the Joomla! Official Documentation Wiki. Here you can help yourself to the information that is regularly published and updated as Joomla! develops. There is much more to come too!
Of course you should not forget the Help System of the CMS itself. On the topmenu in the Back-end Control panel you find the Help button which will provide you with lots of explanation on features.
Another great place would of course be the Forum . On the Joomla! Forum you can find help and support from Community members as well as from Joomla! Core members and Working Group members. The forum contains a lot of information, FAQ\'s, just about anything you are looking for in terms of support.
Two other resources for Support are the Joomla! Developer Site and the Joomla! Extensions Directory (JED). The Joomla! Developer Site provides lots of technical information for the experienced Developer as well as those new to Joomla! and development work in general. The JED whilst not a support site in the strictest sense has many of the Extensions that you will need as you develop your own Web site.
The Joomla! Developers and Bug Squad members are regularly posting their blog reports about several topics such as programming techniques and security issues.
Joomla! Documentation can of course be found on the Joomla! Official Documentation Wiki. You can find information for beginners, installation, upgrade, Frequently Asked Questions, developer topics, and a lot more. The Documentation Team helps oversee the wiki but you are invited to contribute content, as well.
There are also books written about Joomla! You can find a listing of these books in the Joomla! Shop.
','',-2,4,0,25,'2008-08-09 08:33:57',62,'','2008-08-09 08:33:57',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-07 10:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',13,0,0,'','',0,22,'robots=\nauthor='),(21,'Joomla! Facts','joomla-facts','','Here are some interesting facts about Joomla!
As with previous releases, Joomla! provides a unified and easy-to-use framework for delivering content for Web sites of all kinds. To support the changing nature of the Internet and emerging Web technologies, Joomla! required substantial restructuring of its core functionality and we also used this effort to simplify many challenges within the current user interface. Joomla! 1.5 has many new features.
','In Joomla! 1.5, you\'ll notice:
Substantially improved usability, manageability, and scalability far beyond the original Mambo foundations
Expanded accessibility to support internationalisation, double-byte characters and right-to-left support for Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew languages among others
Extended integration of external applications through Web services and remote authentication such as the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
Enhanced content delivery, template and presentation capabilities to support accessibility standards and content delivery to any destination
A more sustainable and flexible framework for Component and Extension developers
Backward compatibility with previous releases of Components, Templates, Modules, and other Extensions
Joomla! runs on any platform including Windows, most flavours of Linux, several Unix versions, and the Apple OS/X platform. Joomla! depends on PHP and the MySQL database to deliver dynamic content.
The minimum requirements are:
Joomla! provides plenty of flexibility when displaying your Web content. Whether you are using Joomla! for a blog site, news or a Web site for a company, you\'ll find one or more content styles to showcase your information. You can also change the style of content dynamically depending on your preferences. Joomla! calls how a page is laid out a layout. Use the guide below to understand which layouts are available and how you might use them.
Joomla! makes it extremely easy to add and display content. All content is placed where your mainbody tag in your template is located. There are three main types of layouts available in Joomla! and all of them can be customised via parameters. The display and parameters are set in the Menu Item used to display the content your working on. You create these layouts by creating a Menu Item and choosing how you want the content to display.
Blog layout will show a listing of all Articles of the selected blog type (Section or Category) in the mainbody position of your template. It will give you the standard title, and Intro of each Article in that particular Category and/or Section. You can customise this layout via the use of the Preferences and Parameters, (See Article Parameters) this is done from the Menu not the Section Manager!
A Blog Archive layout will give you a similar output of Articles as the normal Blog Display but will add, at the top, two drop down lists for month and year plus a search button to allow Users to search for all Archived Articles from a specific month and year.
Table layout will simply give you a tabular list of all the titles in that particular Section or Category. No Intro text will be displayed just the titles. You can set how many titles will be displayed in this table by Parameters. The table layout will also provide a filter Section so that Users can reorder, filter, and set how many titles are listed on a single page (up to 50)
Wrappers allow you to place stand alone applications and Third Party Web sites inside your Joomla! site. The content within a Wrapper appears within the primary content area defined by the \"mainbody\" tag and allows you to display their content as a part of your own site. A Wrapper will place an IFRAME into the content Section of your Web site and wrap your standard template navigation around it so it appears in the same way an Article would.
The parameters for each layout type can be found on the right hand side of the editor boxes in the Menu Item configuration screen. The parameters available depend largely on what kind of layout you are configuring.
','',-2,4,0,29,'2008-08-12 22:33:10',62,'','2008-08-12 22:33:10',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-11 06:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',11,0,0,'','',0,159,'robots=\nauthor='),(25,'What are the requirements to run Joomla! 1.5?','what-are-the-requirements-to-run-joomla-15','','Joomla! runs on the PHP pre-processor. PHP comes in many flavours, for a lot of operating systems. Beside PHP you will need a Web server. Joomla! is optimized for the Apache Web server, but it can run on different Web servers like Microsoft IIS it just requires additional configuration of PHP and MySQL. Joomla! also depends on a database, for this currently you can only use MySQL.
Many people know from their own experience that it\'s not easy to install an Apache Web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP, WAMP, and MAMP are easy to install distributions containing Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl for the Windows, Mac OSX and Linux operating systems. These packages are for localhost installations on non-public servers only.Out of the box, Joomla! does a great job of managing the content needed to make your Web site sing. But for many people, the true power of Joomla! lies in the application framework that makes it possible for developers all around the world to create powerful add-ons that are called Extensions. An Extension is used to add capabilities to Joomla! that do not exist in the base core code. Here are just some examples of the hundreds of available Extensions:
You can find more examples over at our ever growing Joomla! Extensions Directory. Prepare to be amazed at the amount of exciting work produced by our active developer community!
A useful guide to the Extension site can be found at:
http://extensions.joomla.org/content/view/15/63/
There are five types of extensions:
You can read more about the specifics of these using the links in the Article Index - a Table of Contents (yet another useful feature of Joomla!) - at the top right or by clicking on the Next link below.
![\"Component](\"images/stories/ext_com.png\" "\\"Component")
ComponentsA Component is the largest and most complex of the Extension types. Components are like mini-applications that render the main body of the page. An analogy that might make the relationship easier to understand would be that Joomla! is a book and all the Components are chapters in the book. The core Article Component (com_content), for example, is the mini-application that handles all core Article rendering just as the core registration Component (com_user) is the mini-application that handles User registration.
Many of Joomla!\'s core features are provided by the use of default Components such as:
A Component will manage data, set displays, provide functions, and in general can perform any operation that does not fall under the general functions of the core code.
Components work hand in hand with Modules and Plugins to provide a rich variety of content display and functionality aside from the standard Article and content display. They make it possible to completely transform Joomla! and greatly expand its capabilities.
![\"Module](\"images/stories/ext_mod.png\" "\\"Module")
ModulesA more lightweight and flexible Extension used for page rendering is a Module. Modules are used for small bits of the page that are generally less complex and able to be seen across different Components. To continue in our book analogy, a Module can be looked at as a footnote or header block, or perhaps an image/caption block that can be rendered on a particular page. Obviously you can have a footnote on any page but not all pages will have them. Footnotes also might appear regardless of which chapter you are reading. Simlarly Modules can be rendered regardless of which Component you have loaded.
Modules are like little mini-applets that can be placed anywhere on your site. They work in conjunction with Components in some cases and in others are complete stand alone snippets of code used to display some data from the database such as Articles (Newsflash) Modules are usually used to output data but they can also be interactive form items to input data for example the Login Module or Polls.
Modules can be assigned to Module positions which are defined in your Template and in the back-end using the Module Manager and editing the Module Position settings. For example, \"left\" and \"right\" are common for a 3 column layout.
Each Module is assigned to a Module position on your site. If you wish it to display in two different locations you must copy the Module and assign the copy to display at the new location. You can also set which Menu Items (and thus pages) a Module will display on, you can select all Menu Items or you can pick and choose by holding down the control key and selecting multiple locations one by one in the Modules [Edit] screen
Note: Your Main Menu is a Module! When you create a new Menu in the Menu Manager you are actually copying the Main Menu Module (mod_mainmenu) code and giving it the name of your new Menu. When you copy a Module you do not copy all of its parameters, you simply allow Joomla! to use the same code with two separate settings.
Newsflash is a Module which will display Articles from your site in an assignable Module position. It can be used and configured to display one Category, all Categories, or to randomly choose Articles to highlight to Users. It will display as much of an Article as you set, and will show a Read more... link to take the User to the full Article.
The Newsflash Component is particularly useful for things like Site News or to show the latest Article added to your Web site.
![\"Plugin](\"images/stories/ext_plugin.png\" "\\"Plugin")
PluginsOne of the more advanced Extensions for Joomla! is the Plugin. In previous versions of Joomla! Plugins were known as Mambots. Aside from changing their name their functionality has been expanded. A Plugin is a section of code that runs when a pre-defined event happens within Joomla!. Editors are Plugins, for example, that execute when the Joomla! event onGetEditorArea occurs. Using a Plugin allows a developer to change the way their code behaves depending upon which Plugins are installed to react to an event.
![\"Language](\"images/stories/ext_lang.png\" "\\"Language")
LanguagesNew to Joomla! 1.5 and perhaps the most basic and critical Extension is a Language. Joomla! is released with multiple Installation Languages but the base Site and Administrator are packaged in just the one Language en-GB - being English with GB spelling for example. To include all the translations currently available would bloat the core package and make it unmanageable for uploading purposes. The Language files enable all the User interfaces both Front-end and Back-end to be presented in the local preferred language. Note these packs do not have any impact on the actual content such as Articles.
More information on languages is available from the
http://community.joomla.org/translations.html
If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. Paul
\r\nThe whole and complete thesis of this book is to introduce others to the light of God. The light of God is simply the meaning of the word light that is expressed in the Bible, the word of God. In this chapter we will discuss the process used by the apostle Paul, in the Corinthian church, to help bring a collective to the light. Also, in our examination of Paul\'s teachings, I will define how he opened the door to an understanding of the statement: the heavens declare the glory of God.
\r\nRequiring much effort, and though I gained a minimal amount of knowledge compared to the whole of the information extant, physics and astronomy gave me more insight into my social, economic, and psychological malformations than any other of my worldly endeavors. The study of these disciplines bore a direct relationship to my need for the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when Christ came into my heart, I immediately understood my calling-to preach and teach God\'s word in the physics community. At the same time though, I was a drunken drugged out street urchin. As a result, God has given me many joyful years laboring in Rescue Mission ministries. However, as I learn the wisdom of, and gain the ability to expound the scriptures, a portion of the apostle Paul\'s hard hitting words never ceased to resound in my heart: Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord\'s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ\'s servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God. (1 Corinthians 7:20-24)
\r\nI believe God placed me in the Rescue ministry to understand who I am; that he might teach me, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little; and that I might be constantly aware of the truth, by keeping a mirror image of myself before me. The ministry has helped me to grow and to love and admire those who are homeless with me in Christ, for they are content to help the needy no matter what the difficulty. My personal struggle though, is to do what I am called to do, in faith, hoping that the result will bring a clearer understanding of the blessings God has given us toward the unbeliever. Those closest to me in Christ are helping me, and are in support of my realizing what I am called to do.
\r\nI brought many difficulties into the Christian community-personal difficulties, like anger and the need to blame everyone for my inadequacies, and the inability to hear. While working on these faults, I see one thing clearly; I should not cast my pearls (the Gospel of Jesus), before swine. That is to say, no judgment, for I am what I judge. If I am righteous, righteousness will come forth. If I cast my pearls before swine, for example, if I think of someone as a dirty rotten swine pig, and I cast my pearls toward them, they will perceive of my inner hypocrisy and may turn around and rend me. If I truly love those who are unbelievers or unlearned, and they perceive my honest intention, I (but not I-the Christ that is within me) will be received with open arms.
\r\nI have chosen to follow the apostle Paul, in the way he followed Christ. Am I an apostle?-No! I believe Paul to be a tentmaker. I am convinced that for the remainder of his time on earth, after receiving Christ, his endeavor was to build the tabernacle of God amongst men. I believe him to be a wise masterbuilder.
\r\nIn the Acts of the Apostles, Paul told King Agrippa that on the road to Damascus he encountered a great light. When Paul saw the light, he asked, Who art thou, Lord? The reply was, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Moreover, Jesus told him to ... \"rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Then Paul said, Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. Knowing from the Revelation of the apostle John, that the temple of God is a temple of Light, and that Paul was receiving help from God, I believe that Paul-from the moment of his encounter with the Lord-labored to build the temple of God amongst men.
\r\nThe word \"tentmaker\" has a particular connotation to me. The Greek word skenopoiov is translated tentmaker. skenopoiov is a rare word. It is thought to be formed by combining skhnhv and poievw. If so, in an earthly sense, skenopoiov would mean pitching or erecting a tent or booth. Therefore it could possibly mean \"tent-maker\" as in that of a tradesman. This meaning is wholly within the range allowed by the etymology, and would be natural if Paul was a tradesman for a living; or, after meeting Christ on the road to Damascus he went out to make tents for his friends. Along this line of thought, the tents of antiquity were for the most part made of leather, so, it is reasoned that more than likely Paul, being a skenopoiov was a leather worker.
\r\nThe word skenopoiov is used only once in the New Testament (Acts 18:3), so there is nothing to compare it to there. In the book of Acts, Paul went to Corinth and stayed with Aquila and Priscilla, because they were of the same (tevcnh/) occupation. What tevcnh/ (kind of work), is not shown in the context of the passage, so, we must lean on the rest of the scriptures. Paul, in his letters, says that he earned his own way, but there is nothing that I can find to show he worked other than his labor for the Lord. (Ref: 1 Cor. 4:12; 1 Thess. 2:9; 2Thess. 3:8; Acts 20:34) In Acts 17:16,17 Paul disputed in the streets daily: Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul asks, ... \"are not ye my work in the Lord?\"-meaning the Corinthians are a result of his labor. He goes on, rhetorically, to say that he does not have the power to forbear working. He then suggests that he preaches and teaches to them without charge, even though, in the law of Moses, the ox that treads out the corn should not be muzzled. It looks pretty dim for my thesis-until we read 2 Corinthians 11:7-9. Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. Paul\'s work was to preach and to teach the Gospel etc., and he stayed with Aquila and Priscilla because they were of the same craft. The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. 1Co 16:19
\r\nThe meaning of the word skenopoiov is disputed by some of the great etymologists showing that skhno\" (not skhnh) meant body-the human or animal body dead or alive. skhno\" originally meant tent but was almost never used as such-the normal use of the word is the transference-body. The use of body for skhno\" is so firmly established that it is not really understood by these linguists how the word could be translated tent-nevertheless it is.
\r\nThe word skhnhv is an incredible word. It occurs 20 times in the new testament-ten times in Hebrews alone. The word means tabernacle. In Hebrews 9:1 skhnhv refers to the physical tabernacle in the old testament and in 9:11 to the spiritual tabernacle of Jesus, one that is not made with hands. It is curious that in the Gospel of John, 1:14, Jesus is said to have dwelt (tabernacled=eskhvnwsen) among us. All considered and taken to its end, I understand the word in an eschatological sense to mean not the dwelling place of God, for God is the dwelling place, but the very presence of the glory of God-indicating Jesus the light of the world.
\r\nIn the Septuagint (Greek O.T.) skhnhv occurs over 400 times; mostly for tent or tabernacle and in many cases the Hebrew equivalent means dwelling place-not especially a place for God to dwell, but, a place to assemble with or be joined with God. It seems that our earthly concept of skhnhv (tent and/or tabernacle) is a pattern of that which is to come. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: (Isaiah 40:22) The word tent is rendered from skhnhv in the Septuagint.
\r\nInstalling of Joomla! 1.5 is pretty easy. We assume you have set-up your Web site, and it is accessible with your browser.
Download Joomla! 1.5, unzip it and upload/copy the files into the directory you Web site points to, fire up your browser and enter your Web site address and the installation will start.
For full details on the installation processes check out the Installation Manual on the Joomla! Help Site where you will also find download instructions for a PDF version too.
','',-2,3,0,31,'2008-08-11 01:10:59',62,'','2008-08-11 01:10:59',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 06:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',5,0,0,'','',0,28,'robots=\nauthor='),(29,'What is the purpose of the collation selection in the installation screen?','what-is-the-purpose-of-the-collation-selection-in-the-installation-screen','','The collation option determines the way ordering in the database is done. In languages that use special characters, for instance the German umlaut, the database collation determines the sorting order. If you don\'t know which collation you need, select the \"utf8_general_ci\" as most languages use this. The other collations listed are exceptions in regards to the general collation. If your language is not listed in the list of collations it most likely means that \"utf8_general_ci is suitable.','',-2,3,0,32,'2008-08-11 03:11:38',62,'','2008-08-11 03:11:38',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 08:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=',4,0,0,'','',0,26,'robots=\nauthor='),(30,'What languages are supported by Joomla! 1.5?','what-languages-are-supported-by-joomla-15','','Within the Installer you will find a wide collection of languages. The installer currently supports the following languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Bengali, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Devanagari(India), Croatian(Croatia), Magyar (Hungary), Italian, Malay, Norwegian bokmal, Dutch, Portuguese(Brasil), Portugues(Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Svenska, Thai and more are being added all the time.In Joomla! versions prior to 1.5 there were separate processes for creating a Static Content Item and normal Content Items. The processes have been combined now and whilst both content types are still around they are renamed as Articles for Content Items and Uncategorized Articles for Static Content Items.
If you want to create a static item, create a new Article in the same way as for standard content and rather than relating this to a particular Section and Category just select Uncategorized as the option in the Section and Category drop down lists.
','',-2,3,0,28,'2008-08-10 23:13:33',62,'','2008-08-10 23:13:33',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 04:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',6,0,0,'','',0,24,'robots=\nauthor='),(33,'What is an Uncategorised Article?','what-is-uncategorised-article','','Most Articles will be assigned to a Section and Category. In many cases, you might not know where you want it to appear so put the Article in the Uncategorized Section/Category. The Articles marked as Uncategorized are handled as static content.','',-2,3,0,31,'2008-08-11 15:14:11',62,'','2008-08-11 15:14:11',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 12:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',8,0,0,'','',0,27,'robots=\nauthor='),(34,'Does the PDF icon render pictures and special characters?','does-the-pdf-icon-render-pictures-and-special-characters','','Yes! Prior to Joomla! 1.5, only the text values of an Article and only for ISO-8859-1 encoding was allowed in the PDF rendition. With the new PDF library in place, the complete Article including images is rendered and applied to the PDF. The PDF generator also handles the UTF-8 texts and can handle any character sets from any language. The appropriate fonts must be installed but this is done automatically during a language pack installation.','',-2,3,0,32,'2008-08-11 17:14:57',62,'','2008-08-11 17:14:57',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 14:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',7,0,0,'','',0,32,'robots=\nauthor='),(35,'Is it possible to change A Menu Item\'s Type?','is-it-possible-to-change-the-types-of-menu-entries','','You indeed can change the Menu Item\'s Type to whatever you want, even after they have been created.
If, for instance, you want to change the Blog Section of a Menu link, go to the Control Panel->Menus Menu->[menuname]->Menu Item Manager and edit the Menu Item. Select the Change Type button and choose the new style of Menu Item Type from the available list. Thereafter, alter the Details and Parameters to reconfigure the display for the new selection as you require it.
','',-2,3,0,31,'2008-08-10 23:15:36',62,'','2008-08-10 23:15:36',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 04:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',6,0,0,'','',0,41,'robots=\nauthor='),(36,'Where did the Installers go?','where-did-the-installer-go','','The improved Installer can be found under the Extensions Menu. With versions prior to Joomla! 1.5 you needed to select a specific Extension type when you wanted to install it and use the Installer associated with it, with Joomla! 1.5 you just select the Extension you want to upload, and click on install. The Installer will do all the hard work for you.','',-2,3,0,28,'2008-08-10 23:16:20',62,'','2008-08-10 23:16:20',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 04:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',6,0,0,'','',0,24,'robots=\nauthor='),(37,'Where did the Mambots go?','where-did-the-mambots-go','','Mambots have been renamed as Plugins.
Mambots were introduced in Mambo and offered possibilities to add plug-in logic to your site mainly for the purpose of manipulating content. In Joomla! 1.5, Plugins will now have much broader capabilities than Mambots. Plugins are able to extend functionality at the framework layer as well.
','',-2,3,0,28,'2008-08-11 09:17:00',62,'','2008-08-11 09:17:00',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 10:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',6,0,0,'','',0,20,'robots=\nauthor='),(38,'I installed with my own language, but the Back-end is still in English','i-installed-with-my-own-language-but-the-back-end-is-still-in-english','','A lot of different languages are available for the Back-end, but by default this language may not be installed. If you want a translated Back-end, get your language pack and install it using the Extension Installer. After this, go to the Extensions Menu, select Language Manager and make your language the default one. Your Back-end will be translated immediately.
Users who have access rights to the Back-end may choose the language they prefer in their Personal Details parameters. This is of also true for the Front-end language.
A good place to find where to download your languages and localised versions of Joomla! is Translations for Joomla! on JED.
','',-2,3,0,32,'2008-08-11 17:18:14',62,'','2008-08-11 17:18:14',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 14:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',7,0,0,'','',0,33,'robots=\nauthor='),(39,'How do I remove an Article?','how-do-i-remove-an-article','','To completely remove an Article, select the Articles that you want to delete and move them to the Trash. Next, open the Article Trash in the Content Menu and select the Articles you want to delete. After deleting an Article, it is no longer available as it has been deleted from the database and it is not possible to undo this operation.
','',-2,3,0,27,'2008-08-11 09:19:01',62,'','2008-08-11 09:19:01',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 10:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',6,0,0,'','',0,26,'robots=\nauthor='),(40,'What is the difference between Archiving and Trashing an Article? ','what-is-the-difference-between-archiving-and-trashing-an-article','','When you Archive an Article, the content is put into a state which removes it from your site as published content. The Article is still available from within the Control Panel and can be retrieved for editing or republishing purposes. Trashed Articles are just one step from being permanently deleted but are still available until you Remove them from the Trash Manager. You should use Archive if you consider an Article important, but not current. Trash should be used when you want to delete the content entirely from your site and from future search results.
','',-2,3,0,27,'2008-08-11 05:19:43',62,'','2008-08-11 05:19:43',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-10 06:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',8,0,0,'','',0,28,'robots=\nauthor='),(41,'Newsflash 5','newsflash-5','','Joomla! 1.5 - \'Experience the Freedom\'!. It has never been easier to create your own dynamic Web site. Manage all your content from the best CMS admin interface and in virtually any language you speak.','',1,1,0,3,'2008-08-12 00:17:31',62,'','2008-08-12 00:17:31',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-11 06:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',5,0,2,'','',0,4,'robots=\nauthor='),(42,'Newsflash 4','newsflash-4','','Yesterday all servers in the U.S. went out on strike in a bid to get more RAM and better CPUs. A spokes person said that the need for better RAM was due to some fool increasing the front-side bus speed. In future, buses will be told to slow down in residential motherboards.','',1,1,0,3,'2008-08-12 00:25:50',62,'','2008-08-12 00:25:50',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2006-10-11 06:00:00','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',5,0,1,'','',0,5,'robots=\nauthor='),(43,'Out of the Pit','out-of-the-pit','','![](\"images/stories/emc2.gif\")
This project is the resultant of my life\'s work. I ask you (the select few) who are reading this work here on the web to candidly comment about my labor on the \"Christsweb\" site I have prepared for you. My intention is to publish. I need you to comment and help me work out any flaws that might impede my my success when presenting this work to a publisher. If you disagree with the thesis but think it is presented well, please help me to find a common ground with you in Christ. I need your support. This work represents the ability to retire for my wife an myself. If I fail — that\'s OK — let it be God\'s will. If God grants success beyond our needs, we will give the abundance to the poor. I pray that you will help in our endeavor.
I worked on this graphical concept for a long time and I believe it is correct. If you can find a flaw in my logic I would apreciate you letting me know by email or forum. Look closely at what is in the shadow.
\r\nIntroduction
\r\nChapter One – God Did It!
\r\nChapter Two – Logos
\r\nChapter Three – Understanding the Temple
\r\nChapter Four – A Little Astronomy
\r\nChapter Five – ExNihilo
Evening and the morning, according to the Word of God, does not have to mean a 24 hr. period.
2Pet 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
No person has ever lived a thousand years, so, no person knows what a thousand years is like — one day is \"as\" a thousand years. One day with the Lord is as an epoch or age — an era or subdivision.
Is your eye single?
The wonder of a singularity...
The believer lives in the Light. When our faith is in God, there is a real Light that comes to dwell with us — I mean a Light that is not imagined or supposed, but, a real Light that we can actually see — Christ Jesus himself.
Matt 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Luke 11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
There are the last days and there is the last day.
If your eye is on the last days (plural), your eye is full of evil — the last days are full of war and death and devastation.
If your eye is on the last day (singular), your eye will be full of Light — God there, is \"all in all\" — God is Light.
I Love where I live and what I see — I am raised with Christ and live in His Kingdom and I see the Son of God who is the Glory of God. There is no night in His day of rest — the last day. The darkness of the last days, is behind me and all who believe — we live in Christ Jesus, the Light and Glory of the Father.
Praise Jesus for His faithful acts of Grace.
__________________
Blessings to all who read this...
![](\"images/stories/seeking.gif\")
This project is the resultant of my life\'s work. I ask you (the select few) who are reading this work here on the web to candidly comment about my labor on the \"wiki\" site I have prepared for you. My intention is to publish. I need you to comment and help me work out any flaws that might impede my my success when presenting this work to a publisher. If you disagree with the thesis but think it is presented well, please help me to find a common ground with you in Christ. I need your support. This work represents the ability to retire for my wife an myself. If I fail — that\'s OK — let it be God\'s will. If God grants success beyond our needs, we will give the abundance to the poor. I pray that you will help in our endeavor.
I worked on this graphical concept for a long time and I believe it is correct. If you can find a flaw in my logic I would apreaciate you letting me know by email or forum. Look closely at what is in the shadow.
','',1,5,0,34,'2010-01-02 22:17:03',62,'','2010-01-02 22:21:06',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2010-01-02 22:17:03','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',3,0,2,'','',0,227,'robots=\nauthor='),(49,'Lighthouse One','lighthouse-1','','God often speaks to me in analogies. Several years ago he took me on a trip down the Oregon Coast and showed me how lighthouses paint a picture of our spiritual lives. Most lighthouses are tall, towering structures along with a smaller facility for the keeper. At the top of the tower there is a jewel which houses the light.
\r\nIf you are a Christian you may think of yourself as a lighthouse. God, the Creator, is the builder of the lighthouse. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
Jesus is the Light. John 8:12 “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The light, called a “jewel”, is made up of a series of prisms put together in an oval shape. It uses refraction (to change the direction of rays) and reflection. Jesus reflects the Father and we are changed into reflections of Jesus. Jewels are very expensive and precious. Matthew 13:45-46 tells us, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
The keeper of the lighthouse is the Holy Spirit. “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” John 14:15-16 The keeper’s pride is the light, to keep it shining. The Holy Spirit’s pride is Jesus, to glorify him. The keeper’s job is a constant vigil to keep the light lit, to polish, clean, paint, to keep house, do yard work and maintenance around the lighthouse. The Holy Spirit performs these tasks in our lives as we are submitted to him.
Matthew 5:16 says, “ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
mmmmmmm
','',-2,4,0,35,'2010-03-17 17:13:11',62,'','0000-00-00 00:00:00',0,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2010-03-17 17:13:11','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',1,0,0,'','',0,0,'robots=\nauthor='),(48,'Ann\'s Writings','anns-writings','','![](\"images/stories/annstitle.jpg\")
These little essays were inspirations given to me during part of the time my husband and I ministered at the Hospitality House Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter in Washington State. Most were included as part of a monthly newsletter put out by the House, hence the references to the mission and our work there.
It is my hope that as you read my thoughts you will see a Christ who is involved in our everyday experience, a Christ who loves you and wants to be a part of your moments. Let Him occupy your thoughts as He does mine.\r\n','\r\n
If you are a Christian you may think of yourself as a lighthouse. God, the Creator, is the builder of the lighthouse. James 1:17 says, \"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.\"
| \r\n Home | \r\nFor Mothers Gardening Giving God Answers I Shall Not Want Light and Dark Mansion Meaning has Growth New Year Perfect Heart Rescue Ministry Resting ResQ | \r\nReturning Right Notes Say So Schoolmaster Simplicity Speaking the Truth Temptation Testimony The Widow\'s Mite Trust What if Jesus Came? When are we saved? Whiter than Snow | \r\n
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This writing is to help us understand what the Bible is telling us concerning Light. God is Light. Jesus is the Light of the world. When we believe, Jesus comes to sup with us. Jesus is a real light that is brighter than the noonday sun. To each who believes he is the Light and Glory of God — he comes. The Light is in the world and the world was made by him, but the world knows him not. The Bible says that the condemnation is that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Unfortunately, he even comes to his own and his own receive him not.
\r\nThe Light comes to us individually and then he ascends telling us that we collectively will ascend with him and meet him in the clouds. When the last trumpet blows and all who are on the earth believe and we have all ascended with Him as he is with the Father there will be a new heaven and a new earth — it is then we will know through experience the words of the two men in white apparel who said, “… why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
\r\nHis coming is his ascension. I know this is a bold statement, his coming is his ascension, however, when the Light of the glorious gospel of Christ is manifest, or ascended into the clouds from the mortal flesh of all those who do and will believe and the last trumpet blows, the perfect will have come for all the world to see the marriage of the bride and the lamb. Death then, is swallowed up in victory by the life which is the Light from heaven and is above the brightness of the midday sun. This Light is God himself and the Lamb. There will be no need of the sun or the moon to shine on the earth for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
\r\nBy knowing, understanding and living the precepts given to us by the light of God, we shall find eternal life. In the light, every dilemma can be reconciled. A steadfast consideration of light will solve our social, political, and worldly problems. We can have one goal, one vision — without being required to change cultural values — man can become one in the light.
\r\nWhile looking into the night sky, we see minute flecks of light standing out in the vast darkness. Like the stars in the heaven, we, the body of Christ, are lights to the world. In the darkness there is always a remnant of light; in the light there is no darkness. Light is the only singularity!
\r\nGod is light; Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
\r\nThis little book is about light. It\'s about finding the place where there is no darkness — a place of rest — the Sabbath. It\'s about being raised into heavenly places. It is about charity. It is about giving the light and love and healing of God to the world — freely and without cost — for the edification of those who receive and for the profit of our Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. It is about the urgency of this matter — that none will be lost. It is about the incumbency — the duty and obligation of all who believe to give the gospel to those who are without the love of God. It is about going into all nations with our gifts from God, healing all peoples physically and spiritually, thereby, bringing the Kingdom to fruition that the end will come.
\r\nIn some ways we have missed the importance of light — all too often we speak of it in passing. We study, meditate, and scrutinize words like spirit, love, life, truth, etc.; and we find each of these precepts individually perfect in the glorification of God. With all due respect, I long for the time we, as a body, will also engage in the more weighty discourses pertaining to light. Throughout the Bible, the teaching of light is prevalent, so we do not want to minimize it in any way, nor do we want to gloss over it — we want to grab hold and work out its meaning — in all of its grandeur. En masse, we should encourage each other to talk about the light, study the light, think about the light, live in the light; thereby, with and by his grace, we can help others to be raised from the cares and woes of this world unto the right hand of God — into all that is good. Thank you Jesus!
\r\nThe prophets and the Psalmist discoursed in the hope of the coming Messiah: \"For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising\" (Isa. 60:2-3). \"O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles\" (Ps. 43:3). \"The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple\" (Ps. 119:130). Even so, when Jesus the Messiah came, many could not see Him.
\r\nJesus taught his disciples: \"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid\" (Matt. 5:14).
\r\nAfter his encounter with a great light on the road to Damascus, Paul the apostle was sent to the people and the Gentiles by the Lord to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light (Acts 26:18). It is said by Paul, \"... Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light\" (Eph. 5:14).
\r\nThe light is no longer a mystery. The writers of the old and the new testaments understood the fullness of the light and they passed it on to us. John, in his first letter, says, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” 1John 1:5 In the book of Genesis, the first words directly attributed to God are, \"Let there be light: and there was light.\" God, as revealed in the coming heavenly city, is the temple of light: \"And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof\" (Rev. 21:22 — 23).
\r\nMy personal relationship with Christ is somewhat like that of the apostle Paul. I do not claim to be an apostle or prophet, however, Jesus engendered in me to know, understand, and follow his teachings and the writings of the prophets and apostles concerning his glorious coming and to follow after them. After meeting Jesus, I found in myself the urgency to learn to verbalize the meaning of light. I have, without faltering, determined to find its place in our doctrinal matrix.
\r\nI prayed with all of my heart to do the will of God, and the Lord found a way for me to do it. I believe what I am doing is my duty — my prayer is that I will harm no one. My hope is that all who read this will turn to our Lord Jesus to validate any truth that might be discovered here.
\r\nI think we are to give up whatever else we are doing and seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness on earth. We are mandated to go into the world and preach the gospel, with every jot and tittle of the word of God.
\r\nThe purpose of this writing is to simply begin a dialogue on light. I am trusting that through this work some may turn from the darkness of sin to the wonderful glorious light of the gospel of Christ who is the image of God.
\r\nThank you Jesus!
','',1,5,0,34,'2010-04-01 20:24:11',62,'','2010-04-01 22:09:01',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2010-04-01 20:24:11','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',3,0,1,'','',0,699,'robots=\nauthor='),(52,'Logos','logos','','I believe the Bible is the Word of God. And in fact, I understand the words in the Bible to be God. I believe the Bible has been placed on this earth through the loving inspired hearts and minds of the prophets and the apostles. I am convinced that it is perfect, whole, and complete. The reason: I have been saved. No other book, and I have read many, can give us the knowledge and the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we believe, the words of Jesus enter into our very soul and change our lives. In turn, the life that is in us, is born from us as manifest light to the world. We are born again; the world is unctioned to the light of eternal life.
\r\nI read the Bible from start to finish. I believe that is was put in our hands to be read in that manner. I hear it said that we should start in the middle, or, with the Gospel of John, or some such thing; but, I am convinced that it should be read from the beginning. When I speak to those who have not read the Bible as I think it is intended to be read, I hear another story than from those who read the work straight through. Those who have read from Genesis on, seem to know the path toward heaven. Those who have read piece meal, weather they have read it all or not, seem to know there is a heaven, but are not clear according to the Bible, how to get there. When we start from the middle we are constantly looking back toward the beginning. By starting in the beginning, we are looking (from every direction) toward the coming Messiah; when we meet Jesus, we believe his words, and he directs our eyes and our hearts toward the eternal heavens.
\r\nIf I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father\'s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:31:47)
\r\nIf I speak the truth, and you can rejoice for a while in the light of what I say, that\'s OK. But, Jesus doesn\'t want the testimony of men. To receive the light of Life, believe and understand the Old Testament writings, they speak of Jesus. You do that by reading them. Moreover, if you are aware of those who do not have the ability to read, you yourself, or, find someone that will read this incredible description of Jesus to them. If you refuse, they will not have HIS word abiding in them. Remember, we cannot believe the writings of Moses if we do not read them. Without the prophets we are not able to completely understand or believe the words of Jesus.
\r\nIn this chapter it will be our endeavor to find the significance of the English term, Word. We will start at the beginning of the Bible- Literally. At the beginning is the word in. The meaning of the word seems elusive. When I question as to what in means, invariably I am asked, \"In what?\". \"No\", I will say, \"What does the word in mean without regard to anything else?\". \"Well, I don\'t know, it could mean inside or within.\" \"Yes\", I will say, \"Now, what does In the beginning mean?\" \"Well, I suppose it means In the beginning. You know, way back in time-at the beginning.\" This is typical of the many conversations I have had concerning the term in.
\r\nThe secular use of the word is that of a preposition; combined with a noun in makes up a phrase; such as, in the garden (a physical place), in support (situational), in the spirit (manner). When we scrutinize the word, it always means within, inside, or in the midst of something. In a hurry, means that I am inside, within, in the midst of a hurry.
\r\nThe theological use of the word in must include the Greek term en. En
\r\nAlbert Einstein, had a deep conviction that a higher power of thought was manifest by the inscrutable universe. Purportedly, his God was the God of Spinoza. In 1699 J.G. Wachter\'s Der Spinozimus im Judenthumb, endeavored to show that the seed of the pantheistic system of Spinoza came from the Kabbalah. However, the theological formulas of pantheism, \"God is everything\" and \"Everything is God\" were also found in Muslim and Christian mysticism. At that time, and even today, pantheistic thought processes are embedded in the mathematical theories that pervade our sociological, psychological, and economical worldly view. The pantheistic doctrine that God \"is everything\" etc., taken to it\'s logical end reduces God to that which is manifest, and is directly opposed to the teachings of the apostles John and Paul, who respectively say, God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. ( Joh 4:24); And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. (1Co 15:28) According to the prophets and apostles of the Bible, God the creator of the cosmological system in all ways waxes greater than his creation, as would be the nature of the potter\'s ascendancy over the pot. Even the Son is subject to the Father: Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (Joh 14:10) Everything is in God, and God is in everything.
\r\nIn is the word of distinction. In is the first word in the Bible. It begins the biblical discourse requiring a choice. The selection we make concerning the meaning of the first word determines the outcome of our very existence-we act in faith. I believe that etymology, philology, and by course historical context, are the keys to understanding text from antiquity. Even so, what is essential and ultimately true, when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of things, is: the Spirit, the words themselves, will make the increase.
\r\nGenerally it is thought that the word in in the phrase \"In the beginning\" in Genesis 1:1, refers to a first moment in time. Because of the said historical sense in the first few verses of the creation story, the connotation of in is an act or process, beginning and on this side of time-this formulation requires in to mean, at the beginning. At the beginning, an historical term, is opposed to the word in in the phrase \"In the beginning\" in John 1:1, which is reported to mean, prior to the beginning-existence before time. Here we have a word that means one thing in one place, and another meaning in another place, same phrase-In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; and, In the beginning was the word ... .
\r\nThe apostle John in the beginning of his first letter, wrote: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;). In these verses we see the phrase, from (apo=meaning out of) the beginning; the life was manifested to John and his fellows in Christ. Manifest inherently means that which is already there; as well, readily perceived, not concealed, open to the senses. The Word of life is the light of men. The Word is the logos (logos) of life, the very God of Creation.
\r\nIn the New Testament, the word arch is most always rendered beginning; such as, 1 John 1:1. However, considering the historical context it is said to mean a first point in time. Beginning (arch) means from or out (apo) of the beginning and assumes the inclusion of the Greek term logos which is from before time; and which, refers to the Christ. Again, in 1Jo 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
\r\nI believe this is a pivotal point, it is here that we will be able to either accept or reject all I am going to say or have said. The following concerns the bottom line of this thesis. It is not provable in history, philology, etymology, or anywhere outside of the biblical words presented. I believe it can only be proven by the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, the words that I give you are spirit and they are life. I am sure that the words given will prove a foundation for all to believe-for the words that manifest are God.
\r\nThe word beginning is a most miraculous word. Beginning is the embodiment of Christ the Word of Life, who is God, as are other words in the Bible; such as, ending, light, life, word, spirit, etc. Jesus said he is the beginning and the ending. It is true that each of the above words can be used in a worldly sense, e.g., the spirit of a team, the light from a bulb, the ending of a pier, the life of a ball bearing; but, in the word of God, these words with biblical meanings are the all powerful eternal existence of man, the saving grace of God. When Jesus says he is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the ending, he is aware of the content of any previous words given. Remember, it is through Jesus, the light of the world (kosmos) that everything was made. Jesus is the beginning and everything came from the beginning and resides within the beginning. The word in, in the phrase, In the beginning in Genesis 1:1, therefore, is required to mean within, inside in the midst of that which is the beginning.
\r\nIn the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen. 1:1
\r\nWhile thinking about this book, a truth about myself cropped up. I found that I often think and write from a negative/critical point of view. In my search to correct this difficulty, I learned that if we determine something is wrong, love will change our discernment into compassion, rather than criticism. Knowing that, I must continually ask God to remind me about love. This led me to think about my life prior to meeting Jesus. Sad to say, negativism has long been a problem in my life.
\r\nMy desire is to go through as many of the following pages as I can without railing accusation. Because of this, I\'ll give you a candid view of me before knowing God-and how I came to know him. I believe my conversion to Christianity is integral to your understanding of any viewpoint I might possess; so, by giving you the capsule version, I\'ll be getting everything out in the open-I can be up front. Maybe then, as I refer back to this chapter for reference, seeing who I really am will assist me in keeping the thoughts of my heart in the right place. With that said, I hope you will forgive my brashness in the next few paragraphs.
\r\nI believe that through his son Jesus, the light of the world, our compassionate God is graciously extending his gift of eternal salvation to all-without cost.
\r\nHe looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living. Job 33:27-30
\r\nIn my studies and prayers, I have grown to know that every word in the Bible is the saving grace of God. In fact, to those who believe, the words are God incarnate-life itself. I love knowing that all of the precepts, written down by the Judeo-Christian sages of old, are required for all to be saved. Each of us living, and all who lived, have in various ways fallen short of the Glory of God, but, in the Bible, no matter who we are and where we come from, our individual spiritual needs are met. The Bible covers every circumstance of life. It brings forth our fallen nature, and encourages us to collectively return to the righteousness of our inception. For those who have a personal relationship with God, the Bible incorporates the pathway to the true vision for man.
\r\nClose to two thousand years ago, the Revelation of Jesus Christ came to John the apostle in a vision from God. He was told to write what he saw in a book. I read the book. It\'s about a place of beauty and wonder, a place full of the joy of eternal life. I believed the book to be true, and I asked God if I could go there. God is kind to answer prayer. Those who believe are raised at his own right hand with his son Jesus. It was revealed to John that God and the Lamb are a temple of light. I have been given to look upon the glorious light and am now a new creature in Christ; my hopes, thoughts and dreams are that everyone will choose the path leading to the temple of God.
\r\nFor me, the coming of the day of the Lord was a terrible thing. I remember my first desire to read the Bible. It was to gather proof against the hypocritical Christians in the world. I had never read Scripture and I wasn\'t positive who God is, but I was sure that what those \"Christians\" were saying could not be in their Holy Book. Because of the way they acted toward me, I believed the church to be a ruse; they and their Bible were one of the primary reasons I had given up hope in our society. They were playing a big role in the ruining of my life and I wanted them to stop. No person, group, or book, knew the answer to life and death; and I was going to prove it. Then I would find a way to leave the planet. I just couldn\'t live any longer the way I felt.
\r\nTherefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Eccl. 2:17
\r\nAlong with feelings of rejection toward the Christians, I had come to realize the physics community, of whom I longed to be a part, was hell bent to destroy the freedoms we as a social order innately sought. We allowed that branch of science, and their ilk, to hold back knowledge of the physical heavens from the rest of the world. Furthermore, we encouraged the physicists to surreptitiously feed our armies with the means to eradicate mankind. I began to see that the underlying impetus behind the conglomerate effort to know the workings of our solar surroundings was power-the kind that would allow man to rule man. Something was wrong.
\r\nAnd the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the faceof the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Gen. 1:2
\r\nEven so, I believed the model held by the physics community to be the greatest of all paradigms; set in place properly, it would not only be a perfect ruling dynamic, but it had the wherewithal to save the world. I just couldn\'t figure out why those we entrusted as caretakers of the paradigm did not want God in the equation. Though I personally didn\'t think much about a supreme being, the purity of physics required all things be considered. I felt that if anything was left out of our calculations, we could not realize a true paradigmatic statement. That\'s when I saw it; the laws of physics were set in a linear historical frame and they broke down by not being able to predict anything prior to what the physicists call a singularity. Theorems of cosmology required that in time past the universe was compressed to a state of zero. This infinite density, called a singularity, reduced man\'s highest form of thought to a place of nothingness-where the light is turned off. Without God, we hit a brick wall; linearity needed to be replaced by an omni, that is, eternal frame. Be that as it may, while purporting gravity, the cosmologists saw all the heaven\'s energy migrating toward a mass point and condensed into a state of vacuity. And with that, they realized the greatest weapon of them all-the Big Bang. My conclusions were: we were extracting from the heavens the exact method to manufacture great bombs, and by so doing, we had turned away from any relationship we might have had with God. We wanted to rule. The proof: our country was focused on the inevitable attack by those we feared might retaliate against our overt efforts to control their behavior. We didn\'t trust God, we built fallout shelters to protect ourselves from our own unrighteous behavior. Just rewards, I thought.
\r\nWe, the multitudes, kept our heads in the sand because we were supplied with gifts of placation-TV\'s, VCR\'s, electric mixers, motorized this and that, electric toothbrushes, and the like. Moreover, learning to operate these mechanical niceties kept mass man opiated-we were like babies in a playpen. We were taught to hold these contrivances close to our bosom, and we obliged by curling around them in a fetal position. Some of us protected our homes and workplaces with steel bars for fear of losing our wonderful contraptions. Our country generated enough money in the sales of these gifts in kind to pay for all the research and development we needed for our war machine.
\r\nAs any bully would, we rationalized armed conflict to be a successful sociological process. After all, look at our efforts in the second world war; pulling together to stamp out tyranny was good! Further, because of the mechanical and electronic skills required for success, we reasoned we could live for a long time in the luxury of the spoils. Instead, we lived in fear of our enemy, and without God.
\r\nThe indicators, the messages sent to us by our leadership, were that we would continually be drawn together if we kept the war effort going. Each war would be a goal-as though we were playing a game. We started manufacturing bombs and other weapons and put them up for sale to the world at large, always keeping the most sophisticated for ourselves. We devised electronic war games to alter the mind-set of our children in case we needed more than a generation to gain control of the earth. We inundated our little cowboys and cowgirls with electric mini-jeeps and machine guns that sounded real. In the name of God, our offspring would march in the pathways of our deception. We supplied weapons to any war we could find or covertly create. And, as though it were the ultimate game of chess, we used the powerful image of the \"good life\" in our country to draw the rest of the world\'s eyes off what we were doing and what we could see (mathematically) in the heavens.
\r\nWe utilized our knowledge of the heavenly mechanics to remain one step ahead in the weapons race. We were told it was a race created for the benefit of the people. Like every corporate conglomerate, though, we often realized an urgent need for expansion; with a change of venue here, and another tac there, we finally settled on Star Wars. Listen to the name and purpose of these words-Star Wars. Had we a motto for our growing madness, I think it would have said: bomb everyone who wants to bomb anybody-nuke the nukers. It was clear-cut that as a self appointed nation we alone would decide what\'s good and evil on this earth. For a better vantage point, for us to rule with an iron hand, we took our venerable war machine into the heavens-the very place that has the ability to provide peace on earth.
\r\nI must have been in a deep sleep. I was so involved in what I thought to be the purity of the academic study of physics and the history thereof, that I didn\'t understand our haste to be of a dubious nature. I got caught up in the arms race like most everyone else. When I opened my eyes and saw what I saw, I had to shake my head to clear it, and I said to myself, \"Do nothing, you can\'t beat it.\" I was fearful. We had a bomb facing every direction, not only toward the enemy but back toward ourselves-dictating our actions. We were living in a false peace-aptly called a cold war. It was then I deemed the physics and war communities like unto a man who would enter a large populated room with a hand grenade. He would pull the pin and yell out \"All right you so-and-sos, get down on your faces and shut-up.\" There would be compliance, then peace, but not heartfelt peace.
\r\nI couldn\'t find any compassion for academia. I blamed them. I hated them for what they were doing to me and our country. Whoa,-my legs wobbled from my thoughts. I fell to my knees. I considered myself to be like them and I couldn\'t do anything about it. In my heart I cried out to know Love. I could go nowhere. The heaviness of my understanding rendered me still.
\r\nMy most valuable possession, the profound thoughts of the physical community that I believed could never be superseded, plummeted me into a place of melancholic void, a space with no life. Everything known about the heavens was being used to do injustice to man-and I bought into it. I felt that the totality of my being personified death. I was sore-afraid. This penetrating moment of understanding is what I call my great spiritual black out.
\r\nSeeing me in this most untenable state, my wife-to-be sought help. She joined a church. We were told to discontinue our living arrangement until we were married. This was the last straw. There couldn\'t be more. Devastated and alone-separated from life itself-I was unable to fully comprehend. What is going on, I thought? The very community that professed love was doing their best to break us up. I wanted justice. Revenge crept up inside of me. Those ... Christians were saying we were living in sin; what about them I thought. They were greedily protecting their way of life while the greater portion of the people on the earth were starving. Hypocrites!
\r\nObviously, I couldn\'t go to the spiritual community. I had no personal relationship with God or them. My inability to see the light in the physical community kept me from any hint of refuge on this earth. I had no place to share my feelings. My depression became so great that I was afraid to die for fear of what forever might be.
\r\nO Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. Isa. 38:16
\r\nI screwed up my courage, and proceeded to throw away all of my dreams. I quit work. I left home. I purchased a used copy of the King James Version of the Bible (because it was the oldest) and stormed off to be close to the sea. I armed myself with the destruction of Christianity-their own Words.
\r\nIn my first attempt, I couldn\'t understand a syllable of the King James English. I had read a great deal of Shakespeare, but, there was no sense to be made of this writing. Could it be there was some sort of hidden code? (In retrospect, I was tenaciously clinging to my only understanding-even though I perceived it to have no foundation.) By the grace of God, I remembered I was told to \"kneel and pray\" before reading the book. I thought it was silly to get on my knees, (what could I do there that I couldn\'t do standing or sitting) but I did. \"I don\'t know who you are God, and I don\'t know what to say, but if you\'re there please help me to understand.\" An awareness of something began to tug at my soul. It kept coming to my mind that I would hear the truth if I tried reading the Bible again.
\r\nMany times in the past, questions emerged from within me concerning how man came into being or what made the earth and the stars. In the academic disciplines I had read, the only answer that I could find was: it could have been this, or, according to an ancient writer if this were so, then maybe that happened. In the Bible, the first words said to me were God did it! I clearly understood what was said. I made a choice. Without question I believed for the first time. God took me to the beginning and started me in a direction I innately wanted to go-toward heaven. At that moment, one on one, God created for me the Heaven and the Earth.
\r\nMy first reading of the Bible was very deliberate. It took six weeks. I stopped only for sleep and prayers of forgiveness for the things I had done. Most of my reading was outside, in a little clump of trees, close to the water, where I could be by myself. Nothing could have kept me from the truth that was unfolding. I had been unctioned to leave the darkness behind. From Genesis to the Revelation, the words of God riveted my soul with the wonder of creation and the knowledge of my wretchedness.
\r\nWhen I met Jesus, I could see myself as one who would throw dice for his garments, and stick a spear in his side to test if he were dead.
\r\nI finished the Revelation and immediately returned to the old testament. I sought to understand more of Christ and the Church through the relationship of Ruth to Boaz. When the awareness came, my whole being seemed to focus on our Saviour Jesus and his reasons for allowing the terribleness of the cross to happen. It was then I believed Jesus to be the Messiah. I came undone. I knew that every part of me was known. I felt naked. In my thoughts I was a drunk, a whoremonger, a murderer, a perverted soul with no right to life-Satan himself-and all the host of heaven was watching. The terror was more than I could bear. I cried for God to eradicate me from the earth, to send me to hell for the benefit of those I might endanger.
\r\nAnd God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Gen. 1:3
\r\nInstead of God taking me off the earth, I woke up on the ground prostrate and crying uncontrollably. For a moment I thought a whirlwind had entered me and moved every particle of my physicality around and into a different place. There was mud and grass covering my face and imbedded deep into my fingernails. I was surrounded by Jesus, the light. The book was true. It said, \"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me\" (Rev. 3:20).
\r\nShortly, I felt the softness of a hand on my shoulder. It was an old lady. She said her name was Ruth. She had come to tell me Jesus is my Saviour-I had been forgiven. She told me she had been watching me for several weeks. She sat on the ground with me and for the better part of the day comforted me with her hugs and exceptional knowledge of Scripture. She assured me that the light I was experiencing was Jesus, and showed me the biblical proof. I asked her about mercy, faith, grace, flesh and sin. I told her my darkest secrets. I asked her why Jesus wasn\'t talking to me like he did with Paul. She said, he probably revealed all he had to say to me in the Scripture, but he promised he would visit those who believed. I asked if I could see her again; almost dismissing the thought, she said Jesus would show me the way.
\r\nIn those few precious moments with Ruth, and for the first time in my life on this earth, I experienced truth, love, friendship, joy, righteousness, and forgiveness. How I long to give those things away as she gave them to me.
\r\nThe visible light was with me for months. I told everyone about it. Thinking me crazy, my friends began to dissipate. Some of the people in the churches I attended suggested psychological help. I thought all Christians had seen the light. Isn\'t it Jesus that sets us apart? Jesus is the light of the world, the firstfruits of the spirit. We are the light of the world, the firstfruits thereafter. When I insisted, I was called Satan. I was told I was transforming myself into an angel of light. The confusion overwhelmed me. I wanted things cleared up so I could at least talk to people who professed they had been saved. As my zealousness began to fade, a gift was strongly implanted in my mind to thoroughly study every word in the Bible, to \"prove all things.\" I wasn\'t going to stop talking about Jesus, so I had no choice. It was difficult for me to comprehend that maturity comes with wisdom and I had little. Down deep inside though, to the marrow of my bones, I was convinced there is nothing more important than God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. I couldn\'t be Satan-I had been forgiven!
\r\nOne day I noticed the light surrounding me had begun to recede toward the heavens. In tears, I frantically searched the Scripture to find out why. With great relief, I found passages saying Jesus would return, \"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you\" (John 16:7). \"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee\" (Hebr. 13:5). I trusted him.
\r\nAnd God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. Gen.1:4
','',1,4,0,25,'2010-04-01 21:57:43',62,'','2010-04-01 22:04:42',62,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2010-04-01 21:57:43','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',3,0,3,'','',0,720,'robots=\nauthor='),(53,'Understanding the Temple','understanding-the-temple','','If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. Paul
\r\nThe whole and complete thesis of this book is to introduce others to the light of God. The light of God is simply the meaning of the word light that is expressed in the Bible, the word of God. In this chapter we will discuss the process used by the apostle Paul, in the Corinthian church, to help bring a collective to the light. Also, in our examination of Paul\'s teachings, I will define how he opened the door to an understanding of the statement: the heavens declare the glory of God.
\r\nRequiring much effort, and though I gained a minimal amount of knowledge compared to the whole of the information extant, physics and astronomy gave me more insight into my social, economic, and psychological malformations than any other of my worldly endeavors. The study of these disciplines bore a direct relationship to my need for the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when Christ came into my heart, I immediately understood my calling-to preach and teach God\'s word in the physics community. At the same time though, I was a drunken drugged out street urchin. As a result, God has given me many joyful years laboring in Rescue Mission ministries. However, as I learn the wisdom of, and gain the ability to expound the scriptures, a portion of the apostle Paul\'s hard hitting words never ceased to resound in my heart: Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord\'s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ\'s servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God. (1 Corinthians 7:20-24)
\r\nI believe God placed me in the Rescue ministry to understand who I am; that he might teach me, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little; and that I might be constantly aware of the truth, by keeping a mirror image of myself before me. The ministry has helped me to grow and to love and admire those who are homeless with me in Christ, for they are content to help the needy no matter what the difficulty. My personal struggle though, is to do what I am called to do, in faith, hoping that the result will bring a clearer understanding of the blessings God has given us toward the unbeliever. Those closest to me in Christ are helping me, and are in support of my realizing what I am called to do.
\r\nI brought many difficulties into the Christian community-personal difficulties, like anger and the need to blame everyone for my inadequacies, and the inability to hear. While working on these faults, I see one thing clearly; I should not cast my pearls (the Gospel of Jesus), before swine. That is to say, no judgment, for I am what I judge. If I am righteous, righteousness will come forth. If I cast my pearls before swine, for example, if I think of someone as a dirty rotten swine pig, and I cast my pearls toward them, they will perceive of my inner hypocrisy and may turn around and rend me. If I truly love those who are unbelievers or unlearned, and they perceive my honest intention, I (but not I-the Christ that is within me) will be received with open arms.
\r\nI have chosen to follow the apostle Paul, in the way he followed Christ. Am I an apostle?-No! I believe Paul to be a tentmaker. I am convinced that for the remainder of his time on earth, after receiving Christ, his endeavor was to build the tabernacle of God amongst men. I believe him to be a wise masterbuilder.
\r\nIn the Acts of the Apostles, Paul told King Agrippa that on the road to Damascus he encountered a great light. When Paul saw the light, he asked, Who art thou, Lord? The reply was, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Moreover, Jesus told him to ... \"rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Then Paul said, Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. Knowing from the Revelation of the apostle John, that the temple of God is a temple of Light, and that Paul was receiving help from God, I believe that Paul-from the moment of his encounter with the Lord-labored to build the temple of God amongst men.
\r\nThe word \"tentmaker\" has a particular connotation to me. The Greek word skenopoiov is translated tentmaker. skenopoiov is a rare word. It is thought to be formed by combining skhnhv and poievw. If so, in an earthly sense, skenopoiov would mean pitching or erecting a tent or booth. Therefore it could possibly mean \"tent-maker\" as in that of a tradesman. This meaning is wholly within the range allowed by the etymology, and would be natural if Paul was a tradesman for a living; or, after meeting Christ on the road to Damascus he went out to make tents for his friends. Along this line of thought, the tents of antiquity were for the most part made of leather, so, it is reasoned that more than likely Paul, being a skenopoiov was a leather worker.
\r\nThe word skenopoiov is used only once in the New Testament (Acts 18:3), so there is nothing to compare it to there. In the book of Acts, Paul went to Corinth and stayed with Aquila and Priscilla, because they were of the same (tevcnh/) occupation. What tevcnh/ (kind of work), is not shown in the context of the passage, so, we must lean on the rest of the scriptures. Paul, in his letters, says that he earned his own way, but there is nothing that I can find to show he worked other than his labor for the Lord. (Ref: 1 Cor. 4:12; 1 Thess. 2:9; 2Thess. 3:8; Acts 20:34) In Acts 17:16,17 Paul disputed in the streets daily: Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul asks, ... \"are not ye my work in the Lord?\"-meaning the Corinthians are a result of his labor. He goes on, rhetorically, to say that he does not have the power to forbear working. He then suggests that he preaches and teaches to them without charge, even though, in the law of Moses, the ox that treads out the corn should not be muzzled. It looks pretty dim for my thesis-until we read 2 Corinthians 11:7-9. Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. Paul\'s work was to preach and to teach the Gospel etc., and he stayed with Aquila and Priscilla because they were of the same craft. The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. 1Co 16:19
\r\nThe meaning of the word skenopoiov is disputed by some of the great etymologists showing that skhno\" (not skhnh) meant body-the human or animal body dead or alive. skhno\" originally meant tent but was almost never used as such-the normal use of the word is the transference-body. The use of body for skhno\" is so firmly established that it is not really understood by these linguists how the word could be translated tent-nevertheless it is.
\r\nThe word skhnhv is an incredible word. It occurs 20 times in the new testament-ten times in Hebrews alone. The word means tabernacle. In Hebrews 9:1 skhnhv refers to the physical tabernacle in the old testament and in 9:11 to the spiritual tabernacle of Jesus, one that is not made with hands. It is curious that in the Gospel of John, 1:14, Jesus is said to have dwelt (tabernacled=eskhvnwsen) among us. All considered and taken to its end, I understand the word in an eschatological sense to mean not the dwelling place of God, for God is the dwelling place, but the very presence of the glory of God-indicating Jesus the light of the world.
\r\nIn the Septuagint (Greek O.T.) skhnhv occurs over 400 times; mostly for tent or tabernacle and in many cases the Hebrew equivalent means dwelling place-not especially a place for God to dwell, but, a place to assemble with or be joined with God. It seems that our earthly concept of skhnhv (tent and/or tabernacle) is a pattern of that which is to come. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: (Isaiah 40:22) The word tent is rendered from skhnhv in the Septuagint.
\r\n
\r\n','',1,4,0,35,'2010-04-02 18:31:48',62,'','0000-00-00 00:00:00',0,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2010-04-02 18:31:48','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=\nshow_modify_date=\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',1,0,2,'','',0,627,'robots=\nauthor='),(55,'ExNihilo','exnihilo','','\r\n\r\nAccording to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man\'s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man\'s work of what sort it is. If any man\'s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man\'s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Paul-1Cor. 3:10-15
\r\nThere was a man in my life-whether all that I say about him is real or fictional is for God to determine. I didn\'t like this man until he died. He was the man that married my mother and I did not like him. He was an auto mechanic; a peculiar sort of man because he worked all of the time. My mother said that he was always doing things for others and never charging for his time. I didn\'t like him because we were poor. He worked all day at the auto shop. On the weekends and most evenings he worked in our two-car garage in the back of the house. I didn\'t like him because sometimes he made me wash the greasy auto parts and hold the lamp for him so he could see the engine of the car he was working on. He told me all about combustion engines, but I didn\'t want to listen.
\r\nWe had an old LaSalle car that he loved. I think it had twelve cylinders, I\'m not sure. He could get that old car to run so smooth we couldn\'t hear it when we were inside it, and we couldn\'t even feel it move when it was running. About once a month he worked on the LaSalle. The majority of the time he made my brother and me help.
\r\nI thought him strange because before he did anything to the car he would pull his violin out from under the bed in my mother\'s room and make a few sounds like he was tuning it. He never played the violin, he just tuned it. For some reason though, I knew he could play it if he had to-he talked a lot about classical music. Once in a while after he would painstakingly perfect the sound of the violin, I would hear part of a melody, but not much, not for long. However, when he was finished tuning, he could make the violin sound like a bird. To this day when working on the computer I like to have a guitar handy, to tune before I start; it kinda makes things go better. Anyway, after he finished tuning the violin we would go out into the garage and tear into the big green LaSalle.
\r\nOne evening after we got it running smooth, my step-father asked me to drive the car out of the garage. I couldn\'t figure it out. I was the only one helping, I don\'t know where my brother was. I had never driven before-my brother had, but I hadn\'t. He told me how to do it though, and I backed the car out of the garage while he watched. I did a good job. When I finished he came and sat on the passenger side, leaving me in the driver\'s seat, and closed the car door. I couldn\'t believe it-I felt aces! We listened. We couldn\'t hear anything and we couldn\'t feel the car move. He leaned against the dash and looked out the windshield straining his neck a little because the garage was close in front of us and the glass was almost straight up and down and said, \"Look up, into the sky, try not to move-look hard. When the car is running and it feels as still and sounds as quiet as the universe, it\'s in tune, just like everything up there is. That\'s the way you can tell if you\'ve done a good job.\" Maybe I liked him.
\r\nMy stepfather had glaucoma. He developed leukemia and died when I was young. For the short time I knew him, bits and pieces of his conversation made me believe that he worked on some bomb in Arizona or Nevada or somewhere. After he died, I made up stories about him to myself until I couldn\'t tell what was true and what was not. I knew he was a genius though, and I guessed that because of his eyes he couldn\'t do the work he used to do. He knew so much stuff. He talked about the bomb and how it was made. He wished we would not have done what we did in Japan. Sometimes he got drunk when he talked about it. He wanted to be a good man, I didn\'t know what his problem was.
\r\nWhen I got older and I wanted to be alone I would go somewhere and lie on a hillside or in the middle of a meadow and look up at the night sky and think of my stepfather. He introduced me to the wonder of the universe. Because of what he told me, I devised many plans on how the night sky works. He told me that everything up there fit together, all of it was connected-and the stars related to each other like friends. He told me that God made the lot of it. He said if I wanted to, I could know everything there is to know about the heavens. I would lie there and think for quite a while. The only thing I truly knew though, concerning my stepfather, is that I didn\'t get to tell him I liked him before he died. He never knew it.
\r\nIt is difficult for me to change my way when I don\'t want to, especially when I feel comfortable where I am. Before I began studying the thoughts of others, I devised many methods for the universe to work, but each one seemed to fall apart at one end or the other. I would spend months and sometimes more than a year concocting a scheme that I was sure would work; and when it wouldn\'t, I felt as though I lost my dog or my arm was being cut off. Imagine this: for over three centuries, hundreds, maybe thousands of people have devoted their lives developing the complexities of the Newtonian dynamic; just to have it replaced by another paradigm. Yes, they had been looking for a better way, but still, what would it do to their mind-set? With all that, I was not going to stop looking for the universal secret to life-I was afraid of death. I saw my stepfather in the hospital and I swore to myself that I would do everything I could to overcome. I was going to live forever. I decided to leave my family. I figured that if they were not important to me, I wouldn\'t have to watch them fail and wither away. If I didn\'t get close to anyone I would never have to go to another funeral.
\r\nFor the years prior to my knowing God I traveled all over the country, studying in the great libraries, collecting information. Most of the time I would go to a university in a certain city, find out what was required in a particular curriculum and study the texts. Sometimes I would take classes to help myself keep on track. I worked as little as possible for a living. I kept my nose in the books. I read the classics, theory of education, philosophy, psychology, eastern thought, theatre, optics, astronomy and physics, to the limit of my understanding. I chose those fields because at the time I understood their theoretical subject matter to be what I needed to get where I wanted to go. I leaned more toward physics and astronomy; I felt these two systems of information could produce the foundation for man to gain access to forever.
\r\nEarly Astronomy
\r\nWhile looking into the antiquities of astronomy and physics, I learned that astronomy, born out of astrology, was the first physical science-even before medicine. From the information I was able to glean, I found that the process of acquiring knowledge of the celestial spheres has directly and in a special way governed our activities and thoughts here on earth-and in particular the Western World.
\r\nFrom sketchy records, going back to 2000 B.C., we find concepts of the universe. Archaeological investigations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and as far east as the valleys of China and India have yielded the inhabitants\' knowledge of celestial motions. The awareness of moving objects in the sky without doubt exercised an influence on these ancient people.
\r\n\"The heavens reveal ideas; the holyman takes them as his model\"
\r\nBook of Changes
\r\nThe Chinese, often considered the oldest civilization, had a calendar that reflected their observed knowledge of celestial changes. This knowledge, to a great extent, governed their own activity. Their temples, for example, always faced the rising sun. Also, they noticed that each day the sun would shift its position according to the stars. The lowest arc of the sun\'s travel across the sky would mark what we now know as the winter solstice. Some assert their division of the circle into 365.25 equal parts to be proof of the accuracy of their observations. All this, coupled with irregular heavenly activities, such as the appearance of comets, brought forth some terrifying superstitions that abounded in this ancient culture. For example, because of their astrological bent, the underlying disharmony of a comet was thought to indicate failure by the governing rulers. All in all, in the Chinese culture, more than 2000 years before Christ, there was a high level of understanding of the events taking place in their celestial treasury.
\r\nProbably the best astronomers of antiquity were the Babylonians. Like the Chinese they were stargazers. They named many of the constellations, such as, Orion, the Pleiades, Aldebaran, and Sirius. It is believed that they were, for the most part, responsible for the pseudoscience of astrology. After a time, the astronomical movement of the celestial bodies became a religious dogma to the Babylonians. Unlike the Chinese, whose stars became gods, the Babylonian gods became stars. The Babylonians placed their native divinities into the heavens; and all the mythic traits of these divinities were transferred to the stars. It was the first and only time that any religion made their divine beings visible and calculable. That is, the divine worship of the Babylonians was made equivalent to astronomy. Their religious message was revealed through picture writing in the sky.
\r\nThe task of Greek astronomy was to eliminate the apparent planetary irregularities perceived even by the Babylonians. One of the most striking of these irregular events was the motion of Mars. Month by month for half of the year the distance Mars would travel grew longer; thereafter, the length of the planet\'s journey would diminish. The Greeks thought it to be an illusion; surely the cosmos is perfect in its circular motion and its unchanging velocity.
\r\n
Once the center of the orbit of Mars was no longer the center of the earth, the solution to the problem of cosmological irregularities could be explained. Apollonius of Perga, a mathematician of report, who had supplemented Euclidean geometry with the laws of curves such as the ellipse, the parabola, and the hyperbola, constructed a geometry that would provide a mathematical rationale to satisfy the Greek appetency for harmony. Even though the planets might circle around an assumed empty point, the earth still remained the center of the universe, and the pride of the Hellenistic philosophers was justified.This achievement lasted for one hundred years. Then, the digging around by one called Hipparchus showed that the irregularities of Mars were greater than had been assumed-he knew the ingenious construction of Apollonius had failed. Hipparchus was so shaken because he had destroyed a triumphant cosmology, he could not bring himself to solve the mysteries of the planetary orbits.
\r\nNot to worry though, an Egyptian, Claudius Ptolemaeus, came to the rescue of Grecian astronomy and restored the harmonization of the cosmos Hipparchus had so reticently and sorrowfully demolished. Ptolemy had such superior qualities as a theoretician that his \"Great System\" (Megale Syntaxis tes Astronomias, known from the Arabic translation as the Almagest) lived for approximately fifteen hundred years. Yes, the system was complicated, but by moving the center of Apollonius\' imaginary circle twice the distance from Earth and overlaying his planetary circle upon that of Apollonius\', Ptolemy was able to calculate with some accuracy the future positions of Mars. Because of capitulation, Ptolemy\'s \"epicycles\" seemed to be a barnacle on his sinking ship of astronomical thought. Nevertheless, it was the earth centered system of the universe propounded by Ptolemy that triumphed over Apollonius\' theory that the planets circled around an assumed point in a void.
\r\nAlgebra, and Euclid\'s geometry, describing space as three-dimensional, were tools that aided the Greeks in their observational capabilities, but, they did not have a scientific method of investigation. They treated experimentation with contempt and aloofness. They did recognize that things were going on in nature that they could not understand; however, any hypotheses that was philosophically pleasing and logical to them was \"proven,\" even when contradicted by observation.
\r\nAfter the decline of the ancient Greek civilization, any sort of scientific investigation, for the most part, came to a halt. As the Roman empire strutted to power, a new progress of expansion, commerce, politics, and warfare was shared by those who would accept the good life that the Greeks sought to achieve. The Romans abandoned all thought of nature and the universe.
\r\nThe inability of astronomers to build upon or supplant the Great System of Ptolemaeus, along with the ever increasing stronghold of astrology in the Christian community, were enormous factors in the suppression of astronomical thought between the rise of the Roman Empire and (what we know today as) the era of the classical physicists.
\r\nThe notation of the activities of the heavenly spheres all but gave way to astrological writings in the sky. For a short time, the need by the Christians to place the Gospel in the stars took precedence over any sort of realistic approach to heavenly observation. There was what seemed to be a reversion to the Babylonian tradition of placing the divinities into the stars. Finally, the fathers of the Church began to fight this tendency. Tertullian, for example, sharply admonished the Church with these words: \"The magical relationships in the heavens existed only up to the appearance of Christ. Through Christ man was raised from servant of the stars to master of the stars.\"
\r\nWas astrology a form of idolatry? The Church fathers believed it to be so. Stargazing would be permitted for noting the signs of weather and such (Augustine, for one, felt that the stars had an influence over nature), but fortune-telling astrology was not to be permitted. The Church took an official stance on this matter. Even so, astrology won a powerful place in Christianity.
\r\nAs the darkness of the Middle Ages began to settle on the Western World, there was a hint of realism that kindled a new light. By this time, the Church had banned astronomy along with astrology. There was a fear in the Church that the study of the movements of the sun, moon, and planets would turn men\'s minds to pagan idol worship. Be that as it may, many astronomical and scientific achievements, including those of Ptolemy, were translated from the Arabic and brought to Christendom. The era that would all but end the regressive tendencies of astrology, and bring astronomy into a commonplace, was at hand.
\r\nSome call Johann Muller of Konigsberg (about 1450) the first \"true\" modern scientist. His role in the revival of Renaissance astronomy was important. At the University of Vienna he completed and published Georg von Peurbach\'s translation of the Almagest, Theoricae novae planetarum (New Theories of the Planets), and wrote his own work on trigonometry. He understood the sky to be curved, and applied Arabic trigonometry to it. He even suggested to the Pope, that out of fifty of the Church\'s calculated Easter dates, thirty were incorrect. Toward the latter part of the Middle Ages astronomers in the West were making sensible, impartial, and sober observations of the heavens.
\r\nClassical Astronomy
\r\nJastrow, an \"...agnostic in religious matters,\" in his work \"God and the Astronomer,\" speaks about what he thinks are \"...some strange developments going on in astronomy-partly because of their religious implications and partly because of the peculiar reactions of my colleagues.\" The Universe had, in some sense, a beginning: there was a prime mover-or a creative agent-that the scientists did not want to come to terms with. The Steady State cosmology (which had no beginning) had been superseded by the Big Bang theory.
\r\nThe general scientific picture of the universe was now one that suggested an enormous explosion; and we are witnessing the aftermath. The universe is expanding before our eyes. And, if we were to look back (in our mind\'s eye) to the moment of this beginning we would see \"The dazzling brilliance of the radiation ... .\" Again, the density of the hot Universe must have had no description. \"The picture suggests the explosion of a cosmic hydrogen bomb.\" This cosmic bomb would mark the birth of the Universe.
\r\nThe Big Bang seemed to support the biblical view of the origin of the world. The theologians, in general, were delighted with the proof that the Universe had a beginning. The astronomers, though they were supposed to have an objective mind about things, had become irritated. Their reaction was much the same as the theologians displeasure with the Steady State theory. The new evidence was in conflict with the scientists\' beliefs. There is a faint glow of radiation around the earth, and it is coming from every direction in the heavens. It was found by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson of the Bell Laboratories, and was the almost certain evidence that made the Big Bang theory a reality. It would be impossible to paper over this one.
\r\nThe measurements showed that the earth could not be the origin of this radiation-the entire universe, the moon, the sun, and any particular object in the sky seemed to be the source. Penzias and Wilson had stumbled upon one of the mysteries of the Cosmos. Some scientists, who we now know were ahead of their time, such as Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman, had asserted that the Universe resembled a white-hot fireball in its very first moments. The Penzias-Wilson radiation-and this is the clincher-was from that fireball. As the Universe expanded and cooled, the fireball would have become less brilliant, but the radiation would not have disappeared. Around the earth is a diffuse glow of this ancient fireball radiation-the pattern of wavelengths expected from the light and heat of a prime explosion are the same as those found by Penzias and Wilson. As a result, the Big Bang theory has no competitors. Try as they would, the supporters of the Steady State theory were unable to find any alternative explanation.
\r\nThis kind of observation found its inception in the labors of the classical physicists who were in the throes of the modern scientific endeavor-the astrologers continued in their prognostications.
\r\nSome of the more eminent astrologers, such as Nostradamus of Paris, who foresaw the demise of King Henry II in a duel, made it difficult for astronomy to come to the fore. Everyone knew that a king could or would not engage in a duel; however in a court tournament, the splinter of a lance flew at the king and the projectile struck him dead.
\r\nAlthough Tycho Brahe was a passionate lover of astrology, he was an astute observer of the heavens. He took pride in his \"Tychonic Cosmology\" thinking that he had surpassed the theoretic of Copernicus. Nevertheless, he was truly a man of astronomical distinction. He was destined to surpass the Greeks. His refraction table corrected the basic error of the Greeks that resulted from rays of light being bent as they entered the earth\'s atmosphere. He was possibly the first to bring the precision we need for astronomical insight. He labored diligently to restore the dignity of man that Copernicus had demolished by putting the sun in the center of the universe. He harbored a deep feeling that God made man the benefactor and central figure of the cosmos. The earth had to be the focal point of God\'s attention. His solution to the problem was that the sun revolved around the earth annually and the planets revolved around the sun.
\r\nJohannes Kepler, Brahe\'s student and assistant, may have been the last of the astrologer-astronomers. With Kepler, it seems, was a turning toward the realism of astronomy. Although Tycho Brahe was a successful astrologer who wrote horoscopes for the king\'s court, was made responsible for the predictions of good and bad \"political weather,\" and had written volumes concerning the \"new star\" that appeared in the northern sky of 1572, Kepler decided that keeping statistics would be the best form of objectivity. He himself made a few solid predictions concerning the weather, but his almanac failed miserably. He gave up forecasting.
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Brahe believed anything that appeared in the heavens after the creation must be transitory. His new star lasted eighteen months. (We would know the star today as a nova.) Brahe thought it a sign that there would be a new light in religion, in Finland, between 1593 and 1632. His prediction was thought to be fulfilled in one Gustavus Adolphus II, king of Sweden (Finland was under the political power of Sweden at that time) and who was born 1594 and died in 1632.Kepler did have a keen regard for personal horoscopes, but he did not want to engage in the foretelling of personal fate. It is known that when a certain general wanted to know how long to trust in the good fortune the military was bringing him, the reply from Kepler was, \"Whosoever would have the answers to such questions from the stars alone, without reckoning with the character and the free will of man, has not yet rightly learned to trim the lamp of reason which God has lighted in him. If you would be hoodwinked to your face, turn to the young astrologers; there are many who have the faith and the brazenness to indulge in such games. True astrology is a holy testimony to God\'s glorious works, and I for my part, do not wish to dishonor it.\"
\r\nBoth Tycho Brahe, and Kepler with his waning astrological bent, believed that an understanding of the unity of the universe would give man a better ability to order his own fate. Tycho Brahe said, in a lecture at the University of Copenhagen in 1574, \"To deny the forces and influence of the stars is to undervalue firstly the divine wisdom and providence and moreover to contradict evident experience. For what could be thought more unjust and foolish about God than that He should have made this large and admirable scenery of the skies and so many brilliant stars to no use or purpose-whereas no man makes even his least work without a certain aim.\" Tycho Brahe was unable to formulate an accurate picture of the universe, but he did something more than others of his leaning; he kept records that were true to his observations regardless of the conclusions drawn.
\r\nJohannes Kepler was given the advantage of being the successor to Tycho Brahe. His adoption of the heliocentric principle given by Copernicus and his driving curiosity made Kepler a mathematician indeed. He was enthralled with the beauteous symmetry of the universal system. He thought there must be a simplicity-a synthesis-that would describe in geometrical relationships the motions of the celestial spheres. But Mars was his greatest difficulty; the planet would not fit into the Copernican theory.
\r\nCopernicus, in a book published in 1543, \"De Revolutionibus\" had offered an alternative to Ptolemy\'s \"Almagest.\" Copernicus analyzed a vast amount of data including that of Ptolemy. And, as he reconsidered the planetary motions, and their relationship with the sun, his assertion was that the sun should be the central point of the system rather than the earth. He removed the five planetary epicycles of Ptolemy and replaced them with a great number of small epicycles in order to make accurate planetary predictions. Although he was steeped in mediaeval tradition; such as, the uniform circular motion of the planets, and the stars being surrounded by the planets on a crystal sphere, many of his ideas were historically significant. He believed that the earth\'s rotation (an exemplary thought to be sure) produced the daily motion of the stars. He thought the earth was just another planet revolving around the Sun.
\r\nKepler couldn\'t be satisfied with a mystical interpretation of what he observed. He instead looked for a relationship that was causal. With all the data he possessed, he set out to test the Copernician theory of the heliocentric solar system. There was always error in circles and epicycles, but Kepler found that the paths of the planets could be described by an elliptical movement. He recognized that the orbit of Mars could be represented as an ellipse with the sun at one focal point and an unoccupied point in space at the other. His first law of planetary motion was written as such: \"Each planet moves around the sun in an orbit whose shape is that of an ellipse, with the sun at one focal point.\" His second law of planetary motion, which explained his observance of Mars speeding up when approaching the sun and slowing while moving away from the sun, was this: \"A straight line joining the planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas in space in equal intervals of time.\" His third law: \"The square of the period of any planet is proportional to the cube of its semimajor axis,\" is a relationship recognized by Kepler that each and every planet has in the length of time required to revolve around the sun (the period of a planet) and its average distance (the semimajor axis of its orbit) from the sun.
\r\nThe Copernican revolution lasted two hundred years; his work caused a frenzy in the Church. Many men, Galileo being one of them, were threatened with death or were burned at the stake in order to keep their \"heretical beliefs\" silenced. It was the Galilean instrument (the telescope) that brought proof that would indicate a heliocentric solar system. The truth will out; \"De Revolutionibus\" planted a seed that would bring a new life into the scientific community. Moreover, Kepler played a demonstrative role in the spreading of the \"new life\" Copernicus had so arduously labored to give.
\r\nExactly who it was that invented the telescope is not clear. It may have been the Dutch spectacle maker Hans Lippershey, who combined lenses to produce an enlarged image of a distant object. Credit for the \"astronomical\" telescope is given to Galileo Galilei. It is thought that Galileo heard about the work of Hans Lappershey. He set out to produce a telescope without knowing its ramifications.
\r\nBy whatever means the telescope came into being, the results of its work became the vanguard of astronomical thought in the seventeenth century. The significance of the Galilean telescope was that it proved there to be centers of revolution other than the earth itself, and revealed stars that could not be seen with the naked eye. The discovery of the moons of Jupiter helped to strengthen the Copernican theory that the earth was not the center of the universe. Galileo was able to observe Venus through all its phases. Under the Ptolemaic system Venus couldn\'t move to the opposite side of the sun from the earth. The earth could never see its fully illuminated face. The truth is, the Ptolemaic system required Venus to appear in a \"new\" phase or as a crescent. This was absolute proof that the system of Ptolemais had met its demise and the heliocentric theory of Copernicus would live.
\r\nThere is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation.
\r\nHerbert Spencer
\r\nGalileo had opened an era of experimentation and invention that would be the mainstay of the scientific endeavor. He traveled to Rome with his newfound information. The Church leadership pronounced his teachings heretical and required that no one should expound upon them as representing reality. He was forced by the Inquisition to abjure his position that the earth was not the center of the solar system. When he asked some of his contemporaries to look through his telescope at the heavens, and in particular the moons of Jupiter; tradition says their response was, \"I see nothing.\" Admitting what they had seen would have been a refutation of their dogmatic understandings. Sir Isaac Newton must have been talking about Galileo and those of his mien when he said, \"If I have been able to see farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.\"
\r\nIsaac Newton, himself a giant in the world of classical physicists, made lasting contributions in his work \"Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy\" (\'Principia\'). He invented calculus, demonstrated that white light could be separated into its various colors by refraction, and explained the astrodynamics of gravitation. In his explanation of the earth\'s spherical shape, Copernicus suggested there was mutual attraction of objects. The same thing was implied by Kepler (and other physicists) when mentioning the possibility of an inverse square attraction between objects. None of them, however, provided proof of this matter.
\r\nNewton consolidated the views of his time into a general theory of motion, which, when applied to the solar system, satisfied the requirements of astronomy. His law of motion can be explained in this manner: were you to place an object (such as a clothes hanger) on a string and tie the string between the legs of a stool, then move the hanger along the string, the hanger would be moving in a straight line in relation to the stool. Now, pick up the stool and move the hanger while walking with the stool; the hanger\'s fixed frame of reference has been changed. The hanger now has a different motion relative to its rigid reference frame-which could be the deck, the walls, or even the house-boat you are on. This reference frame is called a \"base,\" oftentimes referred to as a \"Galilean base.\" Ultimately this base is attached to the center of mass of the solar system. It is without rotation relative to the fixed stars. Newton referred to any movement relative to a Galilean base as \"absolute motion.\"
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Newton was sure that if there was truly an attractive force in the heavens it could be mathematically defined. The distance of the moon from the earth, he thought, was sixty times the earth\'s radius. It would follow then that the attractive force of the earth on the moon would be one-sixtieth its strength-given the distance. However, Kepler\'s third law stated that with any two planets the ratio of the cubes of their semimajor axes is equal to the ratio of the squares of their periods. Because of Kepler\'s third law, Newton was able to deduce that the attraction of the earth on the moon would diminish inversely as the square of the distance, which meant the attraction ratio of the earth on the moon would be as little as one-three thousand six hundredth.
The concept of mutual attraction between objects came to the fore in the mind of Newton. He must have been thinking of the apple falling to the earth and that the same force would probably be tugging at the moon. Assuming that the natural motion of an object would be a straight line, and that a circular motion would be caused by the influence of a mutual attractive force, Newton was able to generalize Galileo\'s thoughts on inertia. Newton\'s first law stated: \"Every body preserves in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right (straight) line, unless it is compelled to change that state by force impressed thereon.\" His genius was in his ability to synthesize.An object (such as an apple) would fall with an acceleration rate of thirty-two feet per second every second. The first second therefore, would yield a distance of sixteen feet. When Newton divided three thousand six hundred into the sixteen feet the moon would be falling in its first second, he came up with fifty-three thousandths of an inch and the classical dynamic in the guise of the law of gravitation was born.
\r\nNewton had proven that there was a mutual attraction between celestial bodies. His equation for this force would be thus: Gravitation equals the product of the masses divided by the square of the distance.
\r\nNewton\'s dynamic \"Law of Universal Gravitation\" proved its validity for all movement in the sky. It can calculate the movement of meteors, binary stars, and comets. It can explain the weight of stars, deviations in the orbits of the planets resulting from the influence of other planets and moons, and it can predict the position, mass, and orbit of unknown planets. Moreover, every tiny particle of mass has graviton (hypothetical particle-a postulated energy exchange to make gravitational interaction consistent with quantum theory) and Newton\'s formula is applicable to it.
\r\nTogether, Galileo\'s \"Dialogues\" and Newton\'s \"Principia\" brought forth a new view of the world. This \"World-Machine\" displaced the spheres of Aristotle with a mathematical dynamic that would require a capitulation by the scientific and theological communities.
\r\nAristotle would explain that objects fall because each thing seeks its own natural resting-place. Heavy objects would fall downward (the bigger the more rapidly) and light things such as fire had a tendency to find their rest in an upwardly direction. The followers of Aristotle were looking for reason-the purpose (teleology) of God. They had a deductive process of thinking. Starting from a general principle, they would reason to the particulars. These particulars were not always in accordance with observation. Galileo and Newton, on the other hand, set aside all deductive reason and engaged in the process of induction, starting from a set of particular observations to find a general dynamic.
\r\nThe medieval picture of the universe, a mergence of Aristotelian cosmology and Christian theology, which was based on the laws of morality rather than the laws of mechanics, found its own Aristotelian place of rest. Ian G. Barbour says, \"At times man\'s spiritual destiny seemed to so outweigh temporal relationships that the world was treated as a great allegory whose essential secret was its religious meaning, not its operation or its causes.\"
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\"Let there be light: and there was light.\"-GOD
\r\nFrom ancient times, thoughts concerning the origin of the world have been associated with a deity who made the light and subsequently the heavens, the earth, and man. The God who separated light from darkness has been considered a life giving force, the first cause, and because of this act of love, the foundation and the very existence of man.
\r\nThe new theories of the origin of the world, as seen by modern cosmogony seem perplexing to the human mind. Through the centuries, as mankind gradually accumulated knowledge about the various observed phenomena taking place in the world system, a scientific method began to take shape, concluding that the way to the discovery of a first cause would be through historical data — hence, the theory of the big bang and a new era.
\r\nThere have been many from the Church and the physical disciplines that have characterized the scientific era by searching out an understanding of the origin of the world\'s emergence totally from natural causes, e.g., a reasonably complete and consistent theory of planetary formation. This comes through knowledge of the workings of our solar system and the progress of observational astronomy. However, though the universal picture has been broadened, difficulties remain — explaining the origin and evolution of the great galactic families of stars is one. Understanding the nature, size, and shape of one galaxy and then comparing it to another may suggest to us which one is older, but alas, everything is relative. How old is the oldest?
\r\nThere is no scientific absolute that can explain a cause. The big bang is a belief based on hypothetical circumstances. It is thought to have resulted from a continuous evolutionary process that started in a highly compressed homogeneous material a few billion years ago. I ask myself, where were you when that happened? Then I say to myself, it must be hypothetical.
\r\nSome scientists believe the same circumstances require a hypothesis that says the existing universe has been somewhat the same throughout eternity. The \"steady-state” universe theory claims the continuous creation of matter in intergalactic space.
\r\nCosmogony is generally left in the hands of the theologians. It concerns the creation, origination, or manner of coming into being of the world or universe. More specifically, a biblical cosmogony that is generally accepted in the monotheistic Protestant tradition is: the doctrine of the origin of the universal cosmic order by the creative power of God. Ex nihilo is a cosmogony that means the universe was created out of nothing, or, — not from previously existing material. In order though, to introduce my thoughts on biblical cosmogony, I find it necessary to insert a short piece I wrote some time ago.
\r\nCreation out of nothing — ex nihilo — infers there is no God. Can there be something from nothing? It is \"nothing\" that does not exist, for God is all in all. All in all connotes existence — God exists!
\r\nIf we separate the physical from the spiritual, without regard to a continuum, then that which is physical would come from nothing — ex nihilo — and the bodily ascension of Jesus Christ would be without reason. If however, we consider there is one spiritual entity, the \"all in all,\" and we come from and reside within that spirit which exists in its eternal state, the Light, then the reason is that we have come from something. God created us means we come from something. God is spirit. God is something. \"Nothing\" then, would not exist. And, it would be reasonable for the physical body of Jesus to make the change and ascend into Glory.
\r\nLet\'s reason together. If we put \"nothing\" in a box over here, and put \"something\" in a box over there, a duality exists. If God is \"all, and in all\" there is no duality — there is God and that which is created — the singularity of one within the other.
\r\nBecause we choose a linear historical frame of reference for our academic pursuits, in the deep recesses of our mental and spiritual understandings we can only see darkness. The great authoritative kabbalist Nahmanides in his commentary to the Torah of creatio ex nihilo suggested that in its literal sense it is the free creation of the primeval matter from which everything was made. However, he implied by his kabbalistic allusion in his commentary to Genesis 1, that the true mystical meaning of the text is the emergence of all things from the absolute nothingness of God. Essentially, the kabbalists thought that this nothingness is the barrier confronting the human intellectual faculty when it reaches the limits of its capacity. There is a realm they think, that no created being can intellectually comprehend, which can only be described as \"nothingness.\" Most Christian denominations agree to creatio ex nihilo, believing that the only source of the doctrine of creation out of nothing is found in the Bible. However, this theological cosmogony creatio ex nihilo is in line with most scientific thought. The prevailing cosmological and astronomical proofs of this line of reason, i.e. their singularity theorems, suggest that at some definite time in the past the universe was compressed to a state of zero size and infinite density, called a singularity. As the doctrine creatio ex nihilo leads us to a state of nothingness, so does the written mathematical laws of physics break down into a place of nothingness at a singularity — darkness is to much for the human mind or mathematics to comprehend. It seems that history can only lead us to ... .
\r\nAccording to the Bible, I find it difficult to understand the universe was created ex nihilo (out of nothing) or from chaos (pre — existing matter). Moreover, I do not believe in a solid — state theory (that the universe has always been in existence).
\r\nWhat I know according to the Bible is: Jesus is the beginning.
\r\nRe 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
\r\nGod formed the light and created the darkness.
\r\nIsa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
\r\nThe created darkness was there prior to God forming the light.
\r\nGen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
\r\n2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
\r\n3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
\r\nJesus is the light of the world (the Greek word for world is kosmos).
\r\nJoh 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
\r\nJesus is the only begotten of the Father
\r\nJoh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
\r\nJesus is seen by man as a visable light
\r\nActs 26:13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
\r\n14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
\r\n15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
\r\nAll of creation was and is within Jesus
\r\nEph 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
\r\nEph 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
\r\nIn the end, God and the lamb are the temple and that temple is light
\r\nRev 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
\r\n23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
\r\n24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
\r\n25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
\r\n26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
\r\n27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
\r\nAll of the previous verses tell me Gen 1:1, \"In the beginning ...\", means everything was created within the begotton light of the world. The same verses tell me all who believe are now and will be within Christ Jesus the light of the world forever. For me to understand this, means that in Him there is no darkness. There is no recourse but to tell everyone on the planet.
\r\nAccording to the Bible, I do not believe the universe was created ex nihilo (out of nothing — God is substantive) or from chaos (pre — existing matter). Moreover, I do not believe in a solid-state theory (that the universe has always been in existance).
\r\nI believe that out of and within God and Christ was the heavens and the earth created.
\r\nI cannot understand why we argue from extra — Biblical asumption that comes to us via the doctrine of man. There is no proof in our arguments. Can we stop and argue Biblical proofs? What does the Bible say?
\r\nPlease regard first word in verse 22 below? — the word is \"In\" (Greek \"en\" = inside, within). The whole of the creation of God is \"in\" Christ who is the first and the last the only begotten of God. We must believe for the following to be true.
\r\nEph 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
\r\n19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
\r\n20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
\r\n21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
\r\n22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
\r\nBible scholars have chosen an historical critical paradigm to decipher Biblical texts. In my opinion this paradigm was given its lofty place in Biblical exegesis because of our need to etymologize and Bishop Usshers competitive efforts with astronomical calculations of his time so he could prove the day and the hour of creation. At that time, astromomy was leaving astrology behind because of our methods of tracking the stars and figuring out from where they came. It is the historical paradigm that will seemingly refute my understanding in every way shape and form. I believe it is the history of Biblical words that enables us to decipher the true contextual meaning of the Bible. I have read many extra-biblical histories though, and I find most are based in part on assumption. Show me an extra-biblical history and I will show you one by another author that is different.
\r\nThe coming Kingdom is not an assumption — it is based on faith. When I see the acts of faith in and by the Christian community, I see the evidence of things not seen. I see the kingdom coming. Our faith comes not from looking back as did Lot\'s wife, but from looking toward what is hoped for by the believing community.
\r\nI believe eternity is the true Biblical paradigm. I believe that eternal concepts are omni in nature as opposed to a lineal historical frame. I believe God, the Son and the Holy Spirit are omni-present in relation to the creation. I believe there is no duality. I believe all things created are within God and the Son. When I look at time, I see the earth rotating every 24 hours and I see the earth going round the sun every 364 1/4 days and then I say to myself (I got this from Einstein) if I were to travel out into space until I couldn\'t see the earth — what time would it be? Then I come back to my senses and realize that God made the lights in the firmament for seasons and days and years. All in all, I cannot see all of this in a linear time frame.
\r\nThe word \"be reshyith\" is translated as: In the Beginning. The Septuagint renders the first words \"en arche\" as does the quote you gave in John 1:1. Rav Berg, says the Creator chose the letter B (Bet, Bayt) since it is the first letter of the word blessing. Bayt is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is the archtype of all \'containers\', the physical means by which Aleph can cause animation of life. Aleph is all that is and all that is not, that which cannot be conceived. Aleph must have a \'receptacle\' in order for the abstract to come into existence.
\r\nI didn\'t know about Rav Berg until recently. I have always believed the first words in Genesis and John meant \"In\" within the beginning Christ Jesus because he is all and in all save for the father.
\r\nThe historical paradigm renders the first words (in reality) \"at\" the beginning. When I read 1 John 4:2 history requires the word \"in\" to be \"has\" come in the flesh. The truth is that Jesus is in the flesh of the believer. Jesus is the resurrection and we are the body of Christ. So, \"Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God\". In context John is not speaking from an historical frame.
\r\nLooking into history will render assumption — looking at eternity will render God.
\r\nI would like to give to you, in part, how I understand that the heavens declare the glory of God.
\r\nWhen we look into the darkness of the night sky we see many stars. Each star that we see shines on us. Because we can see a star is proof that the star shines on us. Each star shines on every other star unless there is another star or obstruction in the way. Moreover, every star shinning on every other star creates the structure of the heavens.
\r\nIt is said that when we create a telescope large enough, and we look out into the heavens, we will see only luminescent light — in every spot we look with this great telescope there will be a shinning star. This is called the optical horizon.
\r\nBecause we are on the earth and are outside of the sun, we are obstructed from seeing the stars on the other side of the sun that would shine on us, however, through our sun we can partake of the life of the other stars that are shining on it. Still, being on the earth, during the day, we are obstructed from the night sky and the stars that are there and in the night we are obstructed from the sun and those stars on the other side of the sun. Were we inside of the sun, and we looked out with our great telescope, all we would be able to see would be light — there would be no darkness.
\r\nBe as it may, we the body of Christ, like the stars in the heavens, are luminaries through the darkness of the ways of world. Each of those who are not a believer is an obstruction in our heavenly construct on the earth. The only way to a perfect completion of our heavenly construct, the temple of God here in earth, is to give to those who are without life. And, that life is our Lord the “sun of righteousness” — Jesus the Son of God. Through Jesus, we who believe can partake of the life and light of the Father who is the creator of the heavens and the earth — in him there is no obstruction.
\r\nThank you Jesus.
\r\nIn keeping with an earlier writing, I would invite you once again to think of yourself as a lighthouse. The Father is the builder, Jesus is the Light, and the Holy Spirit is the keeper.
The Holy Spirit’s job is to glorify Jesus and to work in the believer’s life to bring him or her into conformity with the life of Christ. When we invite the Holy Spirit to live in our heart we serve Jesus in several ways.
1. We are vessels. I believe that the collective body of Christ is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I Cor. 6:19-20 says, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God\'s.”
2. We are to show the way to others, just as the lighthouse does, by shining our light. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
3. Another of our functions is to warn others of impending danger.
“Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father\'s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.” Luke 16:27-28 All scripture contains warnings to those who chose to go their own way, apart from the direction of our loving God.
4. We are to serve Jesus in any capacity that he asks of us. Joshua tells us “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Josh. 24:15
Though lighthouses of today are run electronically, in the old days the keeper was vital to the light. It could not shine if he was not there to light it. In his absence the lighthouse was subject to vandalism and ruin by weather and circumstances. So it is with us. We cannot be vessels or witnesses, we cannot warn others, we cannot serve Jesus if we fail to ask the Holy Spirit to inhabit and direct our lives. When the Spirit of Jesus lives in us, then we fulfill our mission on earth.
Although most lighthouses now are electrified, lights of old were usually oil lamps set inside the jewel, which then magnified and reflected the flame. A variety of causes could dim the light. The oil lamp would build up a layer of soot and smoke from the inside. The windows could be dirtied with bird droppings and salt-water corrosion on the outside. The keeper gave his attention to keeping the jewel polished and the windows clean and clear.
The Holy Spirit, our “lighthouse keeper”, does the same for us by bringing God’s word to our remembrance. Sin, or darkness, can dim and even put out our light. 1 John 1:5 says, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
Our lights will be dimmed with corrosion if we fail to study God’s word—if we are inattentive or slothful about learning His will. Prayer and fellowship with other believers will help to keep our lights clean and polished. Look out for the soot and smoke of unbelief, pride, idolatry, discouragement, discontent. Unforgiveness will bring on total darkness. The Bible says that if we don’t forgive those who offend us, God cannot forgive us our sins. We will be eternally dirty!
The Psalmist prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Ps. 51:10, 2, 7.)
Jesus words to us are, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 5:16
So be a lighthouse on this earth!
The construction and stability of various lighthouses closely parallels the spiritual lives of God’s people.
The Umpqua Lighthouse in Oregon was originally built on the sandy shore of the Umpqua River where it flowed into the sea. The ground eroded after some time and the lighthouse fell into the surf! It was rebuilt on solid rock higher above the ocean where it stands secure today. In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus says, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” The “Rock” is Jesus and faith in his word.
The enemies of the disciple of Christ are many. The lighthouse on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay is inspiring. The first lighthouse established on the west coast, it was severely damaged by the 1906 earthquake. When a penitentiary was built on the island, the light had to be rebuilt much higher to shine out above its prison. In the 1960’s, during an Indian takeover of the island, the light was extinguished. The siege was ended, the light relit, and it shines brightly today.
Many Christians, in defense of their faith, have overcome amazing obstacles. The Tillamook Lighthouse is an example to us. It is set apart on a large rock some distance from the shoreline. During construction a worker was drowned, supplies were constantly lost; builders were cold, wet, hungry, and isolated. During high seas, rocks would pummel the building, making holes in the roof. The jewel was chipped, railings knocked down, keepers injured; yet this light burned faithfully for 77 years. Paul encourages us in II Cor. 4:8-10, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”
I want to share with you a wonderful promise that God makes to all who are facing the trial of their faith in Jesus. It is Romans 8:37-39. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Let your light shine!
The word of God is alive and active! When I maintain my relationship with that Word by continually reading it and letting it speak to me, sharing it with other believers, I am given new understandings. The Lord has given me a fresh insight on 1 Corinthians 13, the “love” chapter. I encourage you to read it with me.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth…”
Charity is the perfect love of God, His people loving others the way He loves. This description of charity simply means absence of “self”. Read each phrase and consider its meaning. Think about how you would behave in your relationships if you were not seeking your own rights. Think about how others would be drawn to God if they saw only the love of Jesus expressed in your concern for their betterment. Only when we forget “what about me” and take on God’s way of loving can we attain these attributes.
This isn’t easy. Paul said, “I die daily”. We must, too. The natural man can have all knowledge, all faith, and be devoid of charity. The man who has forgotten himself and embraced the love of God in his heart and in his actions is the man who sees not through a glass darkly, but face to face. He is the one who has left off childish things and has become a man. He is the person who no longer sees in part, but to whom the perfect has come. The “perfect” is the pure and selfless love of God, expressed through Jesus.
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
\"For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.\" Isaiah 51:3
Our Lord is incredibly good and gracious! I recently came across this verse and realized that I could substitute my own name for the word Zion. \"For the Lord shall comfort Ann.” For many years I felt that my life was like a waste place and a wilderness with the deepest desires of my heart going unanswered. I believed God was faithful but his response to my cry seemed like a carrot on a stick being forever held in front of me and never grasped. I drew encouragement from the Old Testament story of Joseph, (Gen. 30 through 50) who spent many years waiting for God to fulfill His word. He never gave up his trust in God no matter how adverse his circumstances, and at the end he was able to say, \"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.\" Gen. 50:20
For me, when it seemed I had nothing left, when life as I had known it ended, when all my dreams seemed dashed, the Lord came and brought comfort to my waste places. He brought me out of my personal wilderness into the Promised Land. He made my life grow and blossom like a garden. He filled me with joy and gladness and thanksgiving by giving me a life partner who shared my desire to minister to others in teaching and in hospitality.
How can I ever thank Him for His faithfulness and goodness to me? One way is to tell everyone about Him. He is the great and awesome God who always keeps His promises to His children! \"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.\" Eph. 3:20-21
This is a letter for mothers, not every mother, but some who have faced a particular sort of agony for their children. Do you have a son who, in his teenage years or in adulthood, left home, responsibility, and the conventional way of life for a life on the tracks, perhaps as a drunk or drug addict? Did your son live under bridges, along the river, becoming a dumpster diver, frequenting homeless shelters? Did he suffer scorn and disgust?
I have met your son! Years ago he came to our homeless shelter and decided to stay and give his life to Jesus. As I sit in Bible study with him I see that he is closer to Jesus than most in the outside world because he knows where he has come from and it has cost him everything to get where he is now. Your son knows whom he is and that he comes to God with nothing but the ravages and ruin of sin. I am deeply humbled by his humility.
I have talked with your son as a friend. He listened to my struggles and heartaches and he sobbed aloud with me. He begged me to love the one I was hurting. I knelt at his feet and he held my hand and I knew that he felt the pain of what I had done as though it were his own. I stood in awe at the way Jesus had spoken to me. Your son was Jesus to me!
Be encouraged, mother. See through the eyes of God. Know that those who serve your son are serving Jesus. But know that the greatest wonder of all is that your son, in the likeness of Jesus, serves those whom God sends to him.
Surely there is no greater joy for a mother!
Peter swore that he was ready to go to prison or to death for his Lord Jesus. Why then did Jesus say to Peter, “I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me?” Luke 22:33-34 Most of us who love Jesus would say the same words Peter said, and many Christians throughout history have lost their lives for their faith. Is it possible for us to deny Jesus while at the same time vowing our faithfulness to him?
One day in my reading I saw the Luke passage clearly linked up with Matthew 25. Verse 40 says, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
The Jesus living in me reaches out to the Jesus in the homeless, naked, hungry, imprisoned, thirsty, sick, and the stranger. These destitute people may be believers or they may not be. It doesn’t matter — we meet their needs anyway, because Jesus did. I may speak about these things all I want. I may hope that someone else will do it. But unless I myself actually do the reaching out and helping, my words are empty, and I have denied Jesus.
We need not be afraid for ourselves as Peter was, of what it might cost us financially or socially or physically. When we know we are crucified with Christ, then it is He who lives in us and He who supplies everything we need to do the work the Father asks of us. He takes care of us and gives us incredible joy as we reach out in obedience. His words are true!
Jesus answered and said unto them, “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Matt. 21:21-22
Is this really true? Have you prayed and not seen the answer? The Lord has been reminding me lately that He does indeed answer every prayer. His ways and His timing we don’t always understand. We can’t even imagine the wondrous way He moves in our lives and in the lives of everyone else who is involved in the answer to our prayer. Sometimes it takes years for the answer to our heart’s cry to come forth—but I can tell you from my own experience that He does “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us...” Eph. 3:20.
There is an important condition to having the answer to our prayers. We must have faith and we must not doubt. To me that means putting my faith into action, believing everything God says and being obedient to His word. If I do that, then I want only His will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. I relinquish my own will to Him, dying to myself, so that He can do whatever He wants with my prayer request and me. I give over into His hands the person or the cause I am praying for, not binding them with my own ideas about how God should work. Then I rest and wait. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Is. 26:3
In my hardheaded, stiff-necked way, all this has taken me years to truly grasp. I’m still learning. My prayer for you, for all of us, is that we would trust God early, love Him always, and praise Him at every moment for all His wondrous works!
An ancestor of mine has recently given me a treasure. While looking through an ancient family Bible, copyright 1851, I found a tiny, yellowed, brittle newspaper clipping of this poem:
Giving Again
Giving is living, the angels said.
Go feed to the hungry sweet charity’s bread;
And must I keep giving and giving again?
My selfish and querulous answer ran.
“Oh no,” said the angel, piercing me through.
“Just give till the Master stops giving to you.”
Seldom have I seen such a powerful statement. The answer is obvious–God never stops giving to us, even when we don’t believe in Him or push Him to the background of our lives. How few of us can measure up to that kind of love.
I know two men at the Hospitality House who come as close as anyone I’ve ever known to the kind of giving that is like the Master’s. Jimmy Gaston is the driver for the House and Joe Chastain is his right hand man. The two are also best friends. They spend a lot of time kidding each other, making everyone else laugh, too.
However, Jimmy and Joe’s best qualities are their love for the Lord and their lives lived in service to Him. They pick up the donations from the grocery stores and from other contributors. You may have seen them on their rounds. Jimmy also gives anyone from the House a ride to or from work, to appointments, to church, to doctors. He’s always ready for his next assignment, always diligent. Jimmy gives encouragement, too; he readily talks about his relationship with Jesus and has a great listening ear. He’ll stop by the silkscreen shop almost daily just to say “God bless you”.
Joe has a reputation for helping with just about any job that needs doing. He says he does it for the Lord. Not only does he give assistance at the House, he also helps his friends in the community with chores around their homes. His best gift is one of friendship. He frequents the silkscreen shop, sitting in on our fellowship time, just because he is our friend.
May God bless Jimmy and Joe as richly as they have blessed all those whose lives they have touched. When you see them in town, say “Hi”. You’ll see what I mean.
We’ll stop giving at the Hospitality House, when He stops giving to us.
Most of us will agree that December can be an exhausting as well as a joyous time of year. For me, Christmas is an added dimension to what is so far the busiest time of my life. The Lord has brought to my mind and allowed me to meditate on some special verses not usually associated with Christmas but which I need to hear. Maybe they will comfort you, too.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul... Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:1-3a, 6
When I begin to fret and fume about not having enough time to accomplish all that needs doing, the Lord quiets me with the assurance that He is the One directing my life. I will not lack any good thing. God knows what is best for me, both on the spiritual and the physical plain. I can rest quietly in the green pastures with Him. The nourishment of His word is both satisfying and fertile. I know He has gone before me to prepare this place of rest. No harm will come to me. He provides calm, clean, clear, refreshing water for me, the water of life, His Son Jesus. All the worldly concerns that pollute and harass my soul He removes. He restores me to my rightful place in Him.
I can go to this green pasture with its still waters anytime I please, but the best news of all is that I need never leave there!
All of us at Threads of Light wish you a beautiful Christmas as you remember God’s love in sending Jesus for our salvation. He wants you to have peace now and forever!
“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11
Do you make New Years’ resolutions? Do you want to lose weight, quit some bad habit, walk your dog more often? I’ve made some, but seldom succeeded in keeping them for long. Instead, my continuing desire and hope is to follow Jesus more closely and press on in the process of becoming conformed to His image. He alone can change me.
The verses above made a big impression on me one holiday evening as I attended a small church in Olympia with family members. I decided to read and pray them daily.
In my own words, “Lord, I pray that my love for You may abound more and more and that I will come to a higher and fuller knowledge of You and Your will. May I learn to have right judgment, seeing and loving others as You see and love them. Help me to prove those things that are excellent by searching and knowing Your words so that I can approve Your excellency in others. May my love for You be sincere, not letting me be an offense either to You or to those whom I love in Your name. Fill me with the fruits of Your righteousness. These come only from Your working in me as I abide in You, Jesus, and are for the sole purpose of glorifying and praising God.”
My prayer for those of us at the Mission, and for you, is that our resolution would be always to follow Jesus, for our lifetime and for eternity. May God bless you and give you a happy new year!
“In my Father\'s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2
About the time of the Apple Blossom Festival, a man named Royce came to the Mission. He was a talented ventriloquist with a little friend named Si. What a delight to hear him tell Bible stories and present the gospel of Jesus Christ to all who would listen. He had traveled by bicycle from Montana and all over the state of Washington, trusting God to provide for him. He told us about a man he met in a town near here who was concerned that he and his dummy had no place to spend the night. The comment was, ‘Well, you are homeless, aren’t you?” Royce’s reply was that he was not homeless at all. He lived in the Kingdom of heaven in the mansion prepared for him.
What a wonderful statement! I’ve thought a lot about it since. Here are some other verses, favorites of mine. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Col. 3:1-3
Before his ascension Jesus told his followers he would prepare a place for them. Could it be that when we give our heart to Jesus we enter our mansion at that time and are forever with Him? As a believer, following in Jesus’ footsteps, I know I am already in heaven with him, hidden in God! I don’t have to wait to die for it to happen! So if I am already in my mansion, I can never be homeless, no matter if I own nothing more than the clothes on my back.
What security I have. What a sense of protection — peace and safety — to know I am in my “place.” I am surrounded by the walls of a mansion created for me by God. I will dwell there forever!
“I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.”
Psalms 101:2
What does David’s statement mean? Is a perfect heart something we also can attain to? Is it something we can boldly declare ourselves to have, as David did?
In 2 Chronicles 14, 15, and 16 we read the story of Asa, a king of Judah who did right in the eyes of the Lord. He set himself and his people to follow God no matter what. When the enemy came, he prayed.
“And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.” 2 Chron. 14:11
When the land was troubled, a prophet came to Asa with these words:
“Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.” 2 Chron. 15:7
In the same story we read, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” 2 Chron 16:9
Does having a perfect heart imply sinlessness, or that we never make mistakes? No, God’s people were then and are now misguided and imperfect throughout their lives. “But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.” 2Chron. 15:17
The perfect in heart believe God, follow his commandments, and trust in him for every circumstance of their lives. They seek their help from no other source but God. He is all in all! They wear the white robe of righteousness given them when they trust Christ for forgiveness of sin and for salvation to eternal life. We can have the same confidence that David did!
God has placed me in a wonderful ministry, one of blessing and fulfillment. The men at the Hospitality House have nothing or very little materially compared to the standard in this country, yet my husband and I are the constant recipients of their giving. One friend gives us love gifts of whatever abundance he has, his friendship, his acts of service. He has a true servant’s heart. Another drops by our T-shirt shop every day and encourages us with a hug and a “God bless you”. Several come in just to see what we’re doing because they believe in our ministry. Some stay to help in their special areas of expertise.
What blesses me the most, however, is hearing the stories of the work God is doing in our friends’ hearts. When we sit around the table at meals or at Bible study we talk about how we found God (or how He found us). I am always amazed at the various ways God brings His children into the Kingdom. Many agree that coming to the Hospitality House was a turning point in their lives. Here they have found friends who care and who give support in overcoming the old lifestyle of drugs or alcohol or joblessness. Here they have heard the gospel and seen it worked out in the lives of those who serve at the Mission.
I am convinced that the rescue ministry is the truest form of the church. We see men brought to Jesus just as they must have been in the New Testament times, with no regard to denomination, social status, habit of dress, or life history. Those who come here are first fed, clothed, and given a bed to sleep in, and then they find out about the living Lord, the author of and the reason for the friendship and love and care they receive. For those who believe, a new life has begun!
We have a new little black kitty that was found at about three weeks of age abandoned and crying near our shop. We named him ResQ. It’s great fun watching him grow and learn, explore and discover. He has the run of the house and the shop now, and it’s comical to see him teasing and imitating the older cats. He plays furiously, and then he comes to me and snuggles up on my lap or against my neck and naps till he’s rejuvenated. I love it when he does that. It gives me pleasure to cuddle him.
God has used ResQ to speak to me. When I’m exhausted, worried or fretting about something, I can’t handle it on my own. I go to my loving Father and snuggle up to His breast, in His hand, where He refreshes me. He takes away my cares and gives me rest. I know He receives great pleasure when His child does this.
“For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:” (Isaiah 30:15) In my own words, this verse says to me that several times a day in the midst of my busyness I must return my thoughts to God and rest with Him awhile. It saves me from myself. I get quiet, shutting out the events and commotion that surround me. I read His words, I pray, I feel a great assurance that nothing touches me outside His will for me. I have a deep, immovable confidence in His love and care for me and for those I love and am concerned for.
As I care for and love my kitty ResQ, so He cares for and loves us on so much deeper a level than we can comprehend. Rest in Him today and always!
Autumn is my favorite time of year! While walking from my home to the Mission one day I felt the joy that comes with the smell of the harvest air, the beauty of the colored leaves, and the crispness of the yellows and reds and browns under my feet. My thoughts turned naturally to God. I am learning ever more completely to be dependent upon and surrendered to Him. It’s a restful place to be. The dilemmas that come to me are not mine to solve. As the trees shed their dying leaves, I daily shed my concerns and perplexities and return them to my Father.
\r\nThe trees teach me a wonderful lesson. Isaiah 30:15 says, “For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength...” The meaning of the word “returning” is retirement or withdrawal. Unless the tree casts off its leaves and becomes dormant for a season it can’t produce the intended crop. Unless I cast my cares and my joys on the Lord and rest in Him, He cannot bring forth fruit in my life.
\r\nResting does not mean doing nothing. It means ceasing from our own works and doing only the works of God. “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.” Isaiah 32:17.
\r\nI pray with the psalmist David, “LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.” Psalm 131:1-2
','',1,6,0,36,'2010-06-28 20:31:08',125,'','0000-00-00 00:00:00',0,0,'0000-00-00 00:00:00','2010-06-28 20:31:08','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','','show_title=\nlink_titles=\nshow_intro=\nshow_section=\nlink_section=\nshow_category=\nlink_category=\nshow_vote=\nshow_author=\nshow_create_date=0\nshow_modify_date=0\nshow_pdf_icon=\nshow_print_icon=\nshow_email_icon=\nlanguage=\nkeyref=\nreadmore=',1,0,22,'','',0,422,'robots=\nauthor='),(72,'Right Notes ','right-notes-','','Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8
I study piano with another teacher, sharpening my skills and learning new repertoire, which I then pass on to my own students. At my last lesson, halfway through my piece I hit a badly discordant note and stopped playing. My teacher said, “ Don’t worry about that wrong note, just think how many right notes you played before you got there!” Right away the Holy Spirit brought to my mind a picture of my spiritual life. What do I do when I discover a fault or commit a sin? Do I let it defeat me or do I think about what God has done thus far in helping me to become more like Jesus? While practicing my piano piece I zero in on the difficult area and work on it till it’s corrected. However, before the correction is complete I go back and play the whole piece to hear all the beautiful right notes again. I do this in my relationship with Jesus, too. He wants me to let Him change me, and we work on that pretty consistently. He also constantly reassures me of His love and reminds me of the glorious plan He has for me to dwell with Him for eternity. He shows me the big picture. We must have this attitude in our relationships with others, too. We see their faults and may have to address them, but we see the talents, gifts, and Godly characteristics that are within. We love them as God loves us.
During a time of fellowship at the T-shirt shop we were discussing a certain aspect of our growth in obedience to the Word. One friend said that even though he knows he has a long way to go to reach his goal to become more Christ like, he was encouraged when he looked back and saw how far he’s come since he’s been a Christian. His focus was on the “right notes” he’s played. That’s what I believe the verse above is telling us. Let’s not get discouraged by our ‘wrong notes” and park there. Let’s go forward and dwell on the goodness of God and His wonderful plan for our lives.
In most of the epistles Paul wrote he went to great lengths to describe and compare the concepts of being under the law versus being saved by grace. He says the law is our teacher.
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians 3:24-25
As I sit day after day listening to and instructing my piano students I see many parallels between the art of learning to play the piano and learning to know and love God. A student may learn to play all the correct notes but until he grasps the concepts of phrasing, articulation, dynamics and expression, he will play mechanically. He will not be free to touch his own and another’s emotions and spirit. Until the teacher actually demonstrates these concepts, the student may not be aware of his lack.
So it is in our spiritual lives. We are very often not aware of our sin until we hear it pointed out to us. Then we are free to correct it or not, as we choose. A love for music and a desire to play the piano causes the student to seek for and put into practice the tenets of musicality. Our love for God and our desire to serve Him makes us seek after the things of God.
Gal. 5:18 tells us, “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” As the piano student learns the rudiments of the art he becomes able to soar above the rules and is free to express himself in his music. He has incorporated the spirit of the music into his being. When we love God and ask Him to be Lord of our lives we obey Him because of His Spirit within us. We are no longer “under the law” but above it because we have grasped the love and the grace of God. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Gal. 5:22-23 Thanks be to God that He so freely and lovingly teaches us!
What could be simpler and sweeter than a tiny baby? As I await eagerly the birth of our first grandchild I think again of the coming of our Lord in such a humble, small way – in the form of a little baby. Christians all over the world are united at this time of year in the celebration of Jesus’ birth.
Too often, though, we are divided from one another by our differences of opinion on certain doctrinal issues. Paul addressed this problem in the Corinthian church. “Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.” (2 Cor. 10:7) Later, he says, “But I fear, lest my any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Cor. 11:3) The serpent succeeded in casting doubt in Eve’s mind as to the goodness of God and His Word. She allowed him to divide her from God. When we Christians allow ourselves to be divided from each other by our egos and our self-righteousness, it is no less the work of the serpent.
The key word is ‘simplicity’. At the Rescue Mission we learn that Jesus was born in the flesh, showed us the way to live, died on the cross to free us from our sins and remove the load of guilt we carry. We know that He became poor so that we might become rich, that he became sin who knew no sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We know he rose from the dead and lives forever with the Father, so that we can do the same when we give our lives to Him.
Let us all return to our beginnings in Jesus and rest there in unity with our fellow believers. A blessed Christmas to all!
“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” Psalm 107:2
In Psalm 107 we read about the various afflictions and troubles of humanity and about how God rescues us from all these when we cry out to him. Several times during the exhortation we find the plea, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Verses 8,15, 21, 31.)
Have you a story to tell about how God delivered you? Are you glad to be saved? Tell it to someone else this day. It is a joy to the heart of God when his people recognize what he has done for them. It is even more a pleasure when his children tell others, in praise and thanksgiving.
Many have wandered in the wilderness, hungry and thirsty, desiring a place to dwell in peace and safety. Some of us are lost and lonely because of our rebellion from God. Our hearts have become burdened and weighed down. Call out to Him and He will save you from your distress. Some are in the prison of their own sin, made captives of their fleshly desires. If you cry out, He will set you free!
I rejoice to say that the Lord has recently performed several miracles in my family. One was the healing of physical illness and another the restoring of a broken relationship. He met our financial need, also. I want to tell everybody!
Have you something you want the world to know about the greatness of God? Tell all you see. If you’d like, I will publish your story on our web pages, or put it in this newsletter. The unbelieving world needs to know.
“Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”
A subject I’ve been thinking about lately was really brought home to me at our Praise-a-Thon while I listened to Rik Osborne singing Colin Ray’s song, “What If Jesus Comes Back Like That?” The song describes a hobo living under a bridge and it also portrays a premature baby born addicted to crack. The singer asks what we would do if Jesus came back like that. I’ve heard positive comments to the words, and also remarks from people who think the song is blasphemous. Let me give you some scriptures to think about.
“...he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:2-4
“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:35-36, 40
God created every person in His image. “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:9
So Jesus does come back “like that”. He comes in the hungry and thirsty soul. He comes in the homeless, the naked, the sick and the one in prison. He comes with no beauty, despised and rejected, grieving, stricken, afflicted. We would like to think that He only comes as the victorious warrior, full of glory, majesty, might and power, saving the world. Yes, He does come like that, too.
What will you do with Jesus’ words in Matthew 25? Will you reach out to those in need, realizing that in so doing, you are reaching out to Jesus? The resurrection is not past. (2 Tim. 2:18) He comes alive and new in each one who believes in Him.
The other day I was pondering upcoming trips over the snowy passes to Seattle hospital appointments for family members. I heard a definite voice saying, “Trust in me.” What? Had I allowed a tinge of worry concerning these events? I spoke back to God and acknowledged His love and care for my loved ones and for me. Peace returned to my heart.
I feel a deep trust that God is in control. I’ve given Him that control by a definite act of my will. Think about it. The only real choice we have in this life is to give God control or to try to keep that control for ourselves. Everything else that happens in our lives depends on which choice we’ve made. When we choose life with God He causes all circumstances to work towards that life. The choice for self leads to death. It’s that simple! He will give us our hearts’ desire, whether it is to have His will in all things or whether it is to have our will in all things. One path leads to eternal life with Jesus, the other to eternal death. These are the inescapable consequences of each person’s decision.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
He will arrange the events of my life exactly how He chooses. My part is to lie safe in His hand, surrounded by His light and love, waiting upon Him for each and every moment. My goal is to keep my heart and spirit open towards the Lord at all times, knowing I can only do this by realizing my complete weakness and dependency. It’s not something I can do at all on my own but through Christ I can do all things. That’s the way He planned it! Praises to God!
One of the most difficult growth processes in my Christian walk has been telling other people how I feel when their behavior affects me negatively. When the actions of someone else hurt, irritate, offend, or cause some other difficulty for me, I tend to make excuses for not confronting them. I say to myself “I’m wrong — I’m not being Christ like —they won’t listen — I’m afraid — they don’t care — I’ll hurt their feelings — they will reject me — I can’t find the right words or the right time — I’ll only make it worse — on and on.
I’ve discovered some verses that describe perfectly the turmoil that goes on in my brain, and they also offer the solution.
Psalm 32 says, “Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.” (v. 2-3) I wondered how I could both keep silence and roar at the same time. Here’s how — when I have “stuffed” my feelings and not spoken to the offender (kept silence) I find I can’t get quiet before the Lord. As soon as I begin to read my Bible or pray, a hoard of thoughts “roar” into my brain and I can’t concentrate on anything but my resentments. I have endless conversations in my mind with myself and with the “tormentor” who has treated me so unfairly. The more I do this, the more I withdraw my love from that person. The Lord has helped me to see that when I withhold love from my brother and am not honest with him, (guile) it becomes sin in me.
“For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (v. 4-5) When I bring my problem out in the open by talking to the one who has hurt me, I have thrown wide the door of my heart to both give and receive healing and forgiveness. And, as far as it lies with me, I have cleared up things between the Lord and me. I have learned to speak the truth in love.
I have found an excitement, in many different ways, in being part of the life of the Mission. I have seen such generosity displayed by those who in this stage of their lives have next to nothing in material goods. These men are rich in spiritual treasures.
The men here will readily offer to help when they see our need. Mike mows my lawn when he sees that I have too much to do. Another prunes my walnut tree because I don’t know how. Carl gives us his services as a painter, builder, and carpet layer. Joe does little odd jobs when he sees the need. Groceries are shared. Jimmy always has a prayer and an encouraging word. Their motive is simply friendship; the friendship of Jesus expressed toward each other and us.
I am always moved deeply when I see men giving in this way. It speaks of the love of Jesus and the willingness to share all that one has so that others may benefit. I look up to these men as my example.
“And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” Mark 12:41-44
Our God is an amazing God. He knows how to come to each one who will receive Him. My testimony is a simple one. In 1970 I went into a great depression and became filled with fear; fear of earthquakes, fear of pollution, fear for survival for my children and myself. I regretted that we were even in this world, so filled with evil and danger. Perhaps you have felt this way at some time in your own life.
In my desperation I took my dusty Bible off the shelf and wondered if the stories I’d learned in my childhood were really true after all. Randomly flipping the book open, I stabbed my finger onto a page and looked to see what it said.
“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:31-34
I almost laughed for joy! God had touched my deepest need, told me what to do, and given me a wonderful promise, all at once. I asked Him then and there to forgive me for my sins and to take over my life. I felt an incredible peace and joy, knowing that now my fears would be removed. And they were, as I faced each one.
Here again at the New Year I can think of no better resolve than the one I have every day, to seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, and to believe His promise to supply everything I need. After nearly 30 years I have seen how absolutely true that word is. He fulfills His promise for us here at the Hospitality House and He will do the same for you! May God bless you and give you a joy filled New Year as you walk with Him.
I am learning ever more completely to be absolutely dependent upon and surrendered to God. I have reached a point where I know that I know nothing except Christ and Him crucified. It\'s a restful place to be. He\'s lead me to and put me in the circumstance in which He wants me. The dilemmas that come to me are not mine to solve. I have no power, strength, or ability of my own. I desire only His will and His way and His timing. I want to be only a branch of the vine, continually abiding in Him and waiting for His will. He promises to produce the fruit--all I have to do is remain attached to the vine.
Psalm 62:5 is a commandment that David makes to himself. \"My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.\" I find there is nothing better I can do for myself than this same thing, absolute dependency and surrender to God, believing that His way is best.
Verse 4 of the same Psalm has new meaning for me. \"They only consult to cast him down from his excellency; they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.\" If the \"him\" in this verse is applied to God, it presents a clear picture of what we in this country are doing to God--seeking to eliminate Him from all public places while continuing to give lip service.
Verse 11 says, \"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth to God.\" We at the Hospitality House have learned that everything we have comes from God. We are a poor Mission, depending totally upon His provision through caring people who contribute to our need. If we are tempted to trust in man and make our plans apart from God, while blessing with our mouths , we are delighting in lies, for without God we can do nothing.
For me, Psalm 62 flows into Psalm 63. As I acknowledge my dependence and God\'s power, I begin to hunger and thirst to know more of God. \"O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is\"...v. 1. \"My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.\" v.8-10.
Those things seeking to destroy my soul are unbelief, worry, temptation to other sins, the battle for my mind, etc. But as I stay in the Word, the sword of the Spirit defeats the enemy. So it is at the Mission. As we make God\'s word our primary focus and seek to live according to His precepts, He keeps us by His mighty right hand.
Thank you, Jesus, for your Word, your power, your love for your children. Help us to be completely yours in every moment, every action of our lives, that your name will be honored. Amen.
\"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches; He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.\"
John 15:1-2, 4-5
On a recent trip to San Francisco my husband and I drove up to Santa Rosa and the Napa Valley to visit relatives and friends. Since God has been teaching me about abiding in the vine, I was interested in looking up close at the acres of grape vines. In the early spring, the green growth was just beginning so I could clearly see the sturdy vines growing up out of the ground, twining around the specially placed wires, and then the fresh, fragile new branches sprouting forth at quite evenly spaced intervals along the vine.
Just as these new branches are totally dependent upon the vine for a place from which to sprout and grow and receive nourishment, so am I completely dependent on Jesus. The green branch can do nothing if it isn\'t attached to the vine. It can\'t grow, it can\'t bloom, it can\'t produce grapes. It\'s good for nothing except the trash heap. God, the gardener, prunes me so I can bear better fruit, but again, I can do nothing on my own. My part is to remain attached to the vine. This is my work.
I do this work by staying in His word, by talking with Jesus, and by acknowledging a daily, moment by moment dependency upon Him. I keep myself open to a constant flow of the Holy Spirit through me, just as the branch receives nourishment from the sap that flows from the roots to the vine. As I do this, the vine, Jesus, produces in me the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance are the beautiful fruits he produces in me and I bear them for all to see, a witness to Him.
\"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.\" Heb. 12:11
Have you ever been disciplined by the Lord? Was it a painful jolt? Sometimes the Holy Spirit convicts and chastens us through our conscience when our words or actions are wrong. There comes a healthy guilt which drives us to repentance. Peace is then restored.
For some of us, there is a more painful way to receive discipline. Occasionally we may be spoken to by someone else about our shortcomings. We may rise to our own defense, make excuses, feel hurt or pass blame, but when we go to the Lord desiring only His will, He shows us the truth about ourselves.
This is never a pleasant experience. We feel embarrassed about our fault, about not seeing it earlier before someone else had to point it out. We are even more horrified when we repeat the same fault again. Why can\'t we learn the first time?
Humility sets in as we see ourselves next to God\'s holiness. Then He lifts us up and says, \"For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?\" Heb.12:6-7. We feel God\'s love stronger than before. A blockage is removed between us and God.
We cannot change ourselves. We must recognize and confess our faults and then be absolutely dependent upon and surrendered to our Father God, believing in His incredible love for us, and believing that He lets nothing touch us except what is good for our perfecting and purifying. Our purpose on earth is to bring pleasure to God by letting Him conform us to the image of Jesus, thus becoming a testimony, a \"letter\" to others, telling of His love for them, too.
In reading through the story of Jesus\' temptation in the wilderness in Matthew 4:1-10, I discover parallel passages in Deuteronomy as Moses tells the Hebrew children what God requires for them to enter the Promised Land.
In Matthew 4:4 Jesus responds to Satan, \" ..it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.\" Deut. 8:3 says, \" And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD.\"
To me, this says that we are to be filled with (feed on) the Word of God on a daily basis and live our lives in constant, faithful obedience to that word.
The next parallel verses are Matt. 4:7 and Deut. 6:16. \" Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.\" And, \"Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.\"
I was curious how we could tempt God so I looked up the event at Massah, Exodus 17:7. \"And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?\" The Hebrews were complaining about God\'s provision and doubting His continued care instead of giving thanks for all He had already done and trusting in all He promised to do. They were full of unbelief, and \"provoked\" Him to anger.
Matthew 4:10 says,\"Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.\" In Deut. 6:13, \"Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.\"
We must worship God alone, making sure that we are surrendered to His will and letting nothing take precedence over our love for Him.
These three principles are the same today as they were in Moses\' time and the New Testament time. Those who believed God entered the Promised Land and those who did not, perished. Let us press on to love God and worship Him alone. Let us live in obedience to His Word and in thankfulness for His will and His provision. Our God is an awesome God!
The lesson we receive from John the Baptist is one of preparing the way. \"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.\" Matt. 3:1-3
As I look at my beautiful summer garden I think about all the preparation that went into it before I was able to enjoy the vegetables and flowers. In April I cranked up my old Troy-Bilt and plowed through the hard, apparently lifeless dirt. After 2 or 3 sessions of tilling the ground looked soft and rich and ready. Next I planned my rows, pounded in stakes and tied strings back and forth. I prayed as I sprinkled various shriveled, dead-looking seeds into the little trenches I\'d made, asking God to make them sprout and grow and produce the desired food . A careful schedule of watering and days of anticipation finally revealed tiny sprouts appearing up and down the rows. Joy! They were on their way! A few weeks of continued watering, weeding, and thinning, combined with sunshine and warmth, have indeed produced the results I hoped for, healthful, good-tasting vegetables and lovely blooms.
Just as John was sent to prepare the hearts of those who would hear the message of salvation, so are many of us engaged in the same process. Paul says, \"I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.\" (1Cor. 3:6-7)
At the Hospitality House we have a ministry of tending a garden of human souls for God. It is our privilege and duty to dig up the ground of sometimes hardened or hurting hearts. We see the needs and
plan how we can lay straight rows by aligning stakes of discipline and responsibility. The seeds of God\'s word are carefully planted and watered with love. We eagerly watch for signs of growth, giving budding hearts room to grow, free from pressure. Sometimes we must firmly pull weeds but we do it with compassion. In His mercy and His timing, God gives the increase by shining the warmth of His light on any who will come to Him in repentance.
A few mornings ago I was reading my husband Keith a verse that had taken on new meaning for me, deeper than I\'d previously thought. It was Psalm 141:5 \"Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.\" His reply, \"Meaning has growth\", set me to thinking. There\'s an exciting fact about reading scripture over and over again. The Bible is like a diamond, continuously revealing new color as it\'s held up to the light. I like to picture myself, and all believers, because it\'s true, as being filled with the Light that is Jesus. The Word is Jesus, too, so as our Light shines on the Word, it shines back on us, giving new insight and knowledge and making us brighter and more like Him.
II Corinthians 4:4,6 says, \"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.\"
When we say we believe, but don\'t read and study the Word, we are like a candle with a bushel basket set over us. Our light shines faintly. It can\'t be made brighter and stronger because we are denying ourselves the source of growth. In I Cor. 13:10-11 it says: \"But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.\" The truly spiritual man has opened himself and put forth the effort to grow up into Jesus. Just as the physical child grows into a man as he is nourished with food, so the spiritual child must feed on the Word in order to grow. No earthly child wishes to remain a child, but many of us refuse or neglect spiritual growth and so continue on in babyhood.
Here is our goal: Ephesians 4:13-14. \"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive...\"
Let us be encouraged today to press on towards God by filling ourselves with His Word and His Light, that we may show forth the glory of God in the face of Jesus.
Romans 10:9-10 tells us: \"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.\"
I believe that the confession with the mouth is to be backed up with a continuous, lifelong expression of the Jesus who is in our hearts. It is not only a spoken confession but is demonstrated in our actions daily, a moment by moment obedience to the words of Jesus.
In 1 John 4:2 we read: \"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:\"
It is our spirit that confesses. It\'s the impression that others get when they\'re near us. Do they see love, honesty, joy, peace and righteousness in our every action, or do they see a discrepancy between what we say we believe and how we conduct our lives? Do they perceive the Holy Spirit? Or do they see the flesh in us? Which spirit do we possess?
Daily we are told to take up our cross and follow Him. (Mark 8:34) That means dying to our own earthly desires and actions and living each moment according to Jesus\' words and example. I believe that this is the \"confession\" we make that says we really believe in our hearts. And this confession leads us to salvation.
Isaiah 50:10 says, \"Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.\"
This has always been an intriguing verse to me. I used to think it meant that if you loved the Lord but were going through a hard time of affliction and darkness you should still trust Him and stay with Him. Now I interpret it differently. I believe that God is saying that for the person who fears God and obeys, it is incongruous to think that he would then walk in darkness.
Here\'s a statement that may help me make my point. \"Who is among you that wraps himself in a warm coat, and stands by a roaring fire, that walks in the cold and has no heat? let him trust in his coat, and stay near the stove.\" Being cold would be a fairly ridiculous thing to imagine while wrapped in a coat and standing by the fire!
John 8:12 brings more understanding. \"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.\" Or, \"I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.\" John 12:46.
When we properly fear God as Creator of everything, all powerful, all knowing, always present with us, and when we obey the voice of His servant, the Holy Spirit, He leads us to Jesus, the Light of the world. As we set our hearts to follow Jesus and sup with Him we never again walk in darkness. We learn to trust Him in every circumstance as we accept His will and experience His promises of guidance, wisdom, understanding and enlightenment.
As we celebrate this Christmas season, I pray you will invite the Light of the world, Jesus, to shine forth from your heart.
How many times have you heard it said, or said yourself, that the things of God are mysteries we cannot know?
In Mark 4:11 Jesus speaks. \"And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.\"
Would Jesus keep secrets from His followers? He says we\'ll know. Paul obviously was privy to the mystery of God, as we read in Ephesians 3:3-4. \"How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ).\" What is this mystery?
In Ephesians 5 we find a beautiful description of the husband and wife relationship. Paul seems to go back and forth between that and the bond between Christ and His church. \"For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Eph. 5:30-32.
The mystery is completely unraveled in Colossians 1:26-27 \"Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.\"
It\'s simple! When we believe in Jesus and act on that belief, He dwells within us, we are one with Him, and we live forever in the glory that is Jesus.
I love the snow! The snow changes the landscape. The air is crisp and clean when it snows - and everything sparkles. While out walking one day in the snow the words of a hymn by Wm. G. Fischer began to run through my mind. \"Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole; I want thee forever to live in my soul. Break down every idol, cast out every foe; Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.\" I wondered how anything could be whiter than snow!
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Re 1:5,6
David\'s prayer in Psalm 51:7 was brought to mind, \"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.\" Just then, as I turned towards the morning sun, the witness of the snow became even more brilliant. I felt God speaking the answer into my heart. 1John 1:7 says, \"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.\" When I make Jesus the Lord of my life, He fills me with His light, washes away my sins in His blood, and makes me whiter than snow!
I am filled with such joy this morning! It comes from realizing that nothing can touch me outside God\'s will. Man can\'t, Devil can\'t. If man hurts me it is God\'s plan for my purification. It is His complete will. In my pain I go to God and ask that He relieve my pain by killing every last speck of self and flesh that is in me. I want to be completely dead, even physically if that\'s in His plan. I count all things loss that I might gain Him.
I feel a deep trust that God is in control. I\'ve given Him that control by a definite act of my will. This is the only real choice I have in this life, to give God control or not give Him control.
Everything else that happens in my entire life depends on which choice I\'ve made. When I choose life with God He causes all circumstances to work towards that life. The choice for death leads to death. It\'s that simple! He will give me my heart\'s desire, whether it be to have His will in all things or whether it be to have my will in all things. The one leads to eternal life with Jesus, the other to eternal death and destruction. These are the inescapable consequences of my choice.
He will change my situation exactly when and how He wants to. My part is to lie safe in His hand, surrounded by His light and love, waiting upon Him for each and every next moment. I will keep my heart and spirit open towards the Lord at all times. I can only do this by realizing my complete weakness and dependency. It\'s not something I can do at all on my own but in Christ I can do all things. That\'s the way He planned it! Praises to God!!
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This project is the resultant of my life\'s work. I ask you (the select few) who are reading this work here on the web to candidly comment about my labor on the \"wiki\" site I have prepared for you. My intention is to publish. I need you to comment and help me work out any flaws that might impede my my success when presenting this work to a publisher. ![](\"file:///Users/user/Desktop/sitegroundstuff/public_html/book/images/e=.gif\")
If you disagree with the thesis but think it is presented well, please help me to find a common ground with you in Christ. I need your support. This work represents the ability to retire for my wife an myself. If I fail — that\'s OK — let it be God\'s will. If God grants success beyond our needs, we will give the abundance to the poor. I pray that you will help in our endeavor.
I worked on this graphical concept for a long time and I believe it is correct. If you can find a flaw in my logic I would apreaciate you letting me know by email or forum. Look closely at what is in the shadow.
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