Puritan Corner - Chasten Me

“It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit because there is no winter there.” 
by John Bunyan (1628-1688)

I correct and discipline everyone I love.
Revelation 3:19 NLT

How the Little Horn stepped into England

And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, ...And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.

Daniel 8:9,10

 

"Ethelbert was the first English king to be converted to Christianity, which proved to be a crucial event in the development of English national identity. In 597 a Roman monk called Augustine arrived in Kent as leader of a group of missionaries sent by Pope Gregory the Great. There were plenty of Christians in Britain already and had been ever since Roman and early Celtic times, before the country was invaded from the mid-fifth century onwards by pagan English of various Germanic tribes, who in time set up small kingdoms. 


Ethelbert

Augustine’s mission was not to establish British Christianity, but Roman Catholic Christianity. Ethelbert’s wife, Bertha, was a daughter of the Merovingian Frankish king in what is now France. She was a Christian and it was a condition of the marriage that she would be free to practise her religion. Ethelbert evidently considered that an acceptable price for a close connection with the most powerful ruler in western Europe.   
Bertha brought a bishop with her from France as her chaplain and presumably she had her own Christian retinue as well. For worship she restored the ancient church of St Martin of Tours, which dated back to Roman times. Ethelbert had consequently been in close touch with Christianity 

Pope Gregory the Great

and he soon accepted it for himself. His household followed suit and pagans lower down the social scale in Kent found it in their interest to be baptised in numbers in the local rivers. Ethelbert now presided over the creation of a law code which gave the Roman church a secure place in the kingdom. Augustine was made Archbishop of the English on the pope’s orders and he appointed bishops of London and Rochester before his death in 604. London was in the kingdom of Essex, which was ruled by Ethelbert’s pagan nephew Sebert, who had also became a Christian convert. 
Bertha died in or soon after 601, it seems. Ethelbert apparently took a second wife. When he died in 616 he was buried in what was later St Augustine of Canterbury’s abbey.  
In time, other pagan English kings were impressed by the Roman Church’s support for strong regimes, which in turn made religious control easier. These kings accepted the Roman church and carried their people with them. Over centuries the process would lead to the creation of a single unified English nation." HistoryToday

7 Similarities Between Christian "Rock" Worship and the Golden Calf Worship

15th CENTURY B.C. ISRAEL		CONTEMPORARY EVANGELICAL
1. Instantly gratifying: The people were impatient with Moses’ delay.		Can’t wait for the Praise and Worship party, fun and revelry to begin.
2. Idolatrous: The people worshiped another god alongside the true God.		Worshiping the worship team or other church celebrities.
3. Sincere: The people sincerely believed that they were worshiping the true God.		Very few know who God is or who Jesus is, and most other Biblical doctrines. If they’re not worshiping the God of the Bible, then it’s idolatry.
4. Worldly: From where did they get the idea of worshiping a golden calf and indulging in sexual revelry? From the Egyptians and Canaanites.		From where did they get “contemporary” worship music and practices? From the celebrity and entertainment world.
5. Creative: New idol, new leader, new “celebration.”		Always on the lookout for new songs, new innovations, even new teachings.
6. Disorderly: Like the noise of war.		Worship where everyone does what is right in his own eyes.
7. Pagan and sensual: “Rose up to play” (KJV, NASB, ESV) has sexual overtones. The Hebrew verb “play” variously means “to sport, play, make sport, toy with, make a toy of.” Genesis 26:8-9 says that Abimelech “saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife” (ESV). Various translations say Isaac was “caressing” (Holman, NASB, NIV), and even “fondling” (NLT, NRSV) Rebekah. This is why other translations use “indulge in revelry” (NIV), “pagan revelry” (NLT), “revel” (NRSV, Holman), and “orgy” (God’s WORD) for Israel’s pagan worship. A Bible commentary interpretsthis worship as “with lascivious dancing, singing, and drumming round the calf.” Paul makes clear that the Israelites’ golden calf worship involved pagan sexual revelry FROM DoctrineUnites!   Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 1 Corinthians 10:6-8		See this for yourself in most evangelical churches.

Creation Moment 2/29/2016 - Seriously Dudes...

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men;

1 Corinthians 1:25

"Delicate, though possibly deadly, flowers trapped in amber for some 30 million years have been discovered, scientists report.
The fossilized plants are asterids, which make up about one-third of the world's flowering plants.

About 80,000 species fall under this taxonomic clade, including coffee trees, tomato plants, mint, basil and tobacco. Despite the ubiquity of asterids today, no fossilized examples of the plants have been found until now, the researchers say. 
Species of the genus Strychnos are almost all toxic in some way," George Poinar Jr., an amber expert at Oregon State University, said in a statement. "Each plant has its own alkaloids with varying effects. Some are more toxic than others, and it may be that they were successful because their poisons offered some defense against herbivores."
Scientists have identified about 200 species of Strychnosplants. One of the most famous representatives of this genus might be Strychnos nux-vomica, from which strychnine is derived.
Curare —which contains the toxin tubocurarine, extracted from the plant Strychnos toxifera — has a storied history as well. Hunters in South America used the poison to make paralyzing blow darts. More recently, safe doses of the poison have been used in medicine as a muscle relaxer.
It's not clear how toxic (if at all) the newly discovered Strychnos electri was. These two new flowers became entombed in sticky tree resin in a steamy tropical forest in what is today the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range in the Dominican Republic some 20 million to 30 million years ago.
Amber, which is hardened tree resin, is an important source of knowledge about tiny prehistoric life on Earth. In Dominican amber in particular, scientists have discovered species of wasps, locusts, ticks, blood-sucking flies and beetles suspended in time." LiveScience

SERIOUSLY DUDES---Do you really think that poison would still be functioning after "30,000,000" years??? IF it is still toxic it sure can't be "30,000,000" years old.....And another point, how can you tell that in the supposed "30,000,000" year old amber, that those creatures are "wasps, locusts, ticks, blood-sucking flies and beetles"? ---because they look like "wasps, locusts, ticks, blood-sucking flies and beetles" today..... so evolution was on a roll then stopped?
 

Papal Notes - Spiritualism for children?

"Pope Francis, who has penned weighty encyclicals and decrees, has taken a stab at the simpler side

of his job with a book for children to answer such questions as "What did God do before the world was made?"

Others wanted to know if dead relatives can watch over them from heaven? (certainly);

Perhaps the most poignant question is from an 8-year-old Australian boy named Luca. "Dear Pope Francis, My mum is in Heaven. Will she grow angel wings?"

Francis answers that no, she won't grow wings but "she is the mother you know but more beautiful than ever ... smiling and full of love for you." NewYorkTimes

 

Is Francis teaching spiritualism to the children? It would appear so.....is it not logical for a child to assume if "mum" is in heaven watching him, that he could possibly "communicate" with her? Of course that would be a reasonable conclusion to come to.

 

--BUT-- Scripture disagrees with Francis on the dead- For the living know that they shall die: but

the dead know not any thing, Ecclesiastes 9:5

Watch clip of Doug Batchelor Sermon on the DEAD

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0Dwr-DI33-E

 

Health Note - Weight Loss

Beloved,

I wish above all things that thou mayest....be in health,...

3 John 1:2

 

"Losing weight is only half the battle — for many people, the bigger challenge is keeping the weight off over the long term. But is there a secret formula for success? To find out, Live Science interviewed experts and conducted a weekslong search for the best studies on the topic of keeping weight off." LiveScience

 

 

Creation Moment 2/28/2016 - Charles Townes says...

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD,
and my servant whom I have chosen:
 that ye may know and believe me,
and understand that I am he:
before me there was no God formed,
 neither shall there be after me.
Isaiah 43:10

The Law......

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest,

O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

Psalm 94:12

"The law of God was changeless in its character, and therefore

Christ gave Himself a sacrifice in behalf of fallen man, and Adam lost Eden and was placed with all his posterity upon probation.
Had the law of God been changed in one precept since the expulsion of Satan from heaven, he would have gained on earth after his fall that which he could not gain in heaven before his fall. He would have received all that he asked for. We know that he did not.... The law ... remains unalterable as the throne of God, and the salvation of every soul is determined by obedience or disobedience...."
Mind, Character & Personality vol,1 E.G.W.

British Excuse for Sunday as a rest day

**Pay close attention to the LAST paragraph......
"Sunday is boring. It's grey and dull. Sunday is tedious. If only something could be done to rid us of this non-day, this aberration, this pathetic waste of everyone's time.

Maybe there's hope, though. If only we could find a way for large buildings to open. Places where people can flock on a Sunday and bask in the glory of a higher power. Somewhere where their lives can be changed, their dreams made real, their problems solved and their joy made complete.
There's a problem, though. For some reason, a mean band of boring, old, grey curmudgeons are trying to prevent this glorious utopia from appearing. They say they want to 'keep Sunday special,' but really, they just want to spoil everyone's fun. They want to keep a few hours each Sunday where these golden palaces of worship remain closed, and force people to engage in such archaic pastimes as spending time with their family, getting outside and exercising, or even – ha! – going to church...
Thankfully, it looks like the forces of light could win the day. The government is stepping in and allowing the great temples of mammon to open for longer on Sundays and now all will be well in the world. No longer will we be forced to endure whole hours without access to these precious shrines, filled with such awe and wonder. We will soon be unshackled to give praise and make offerings to the gods which inhabit them throughout Sunday, magically transforming it into a day of joy, prosperity and most-importantly for our wellbeing – profit.

You may think I'm being over the top, far-fetched, flippant or trying to spread some kind of moral panic here.
I'm not making it up, though. Listen to Conservative (sic) MP and Government Minister Anna Soubry, "We are of that generation where Sunday, truthfully, was the most miserable day of the week... The only thing to look forward to was Sing Something Simple on the radio. Goodness me, if that didn't sum up a miserable Sunday."
Soubry's answer? Shopping!! Throw open the doors of the large shops and let the good times roll! No more dull old Sundays. We'll be saved from the tedium by being able to go the garden centre at 9pm, we'll be able to fill our trolleys with cat litter in the supermarket at 7am, and, joy of joys, we'll be able to spend those precious extra hours deciding whether we NEED a 46 inch or a 50 inch television.

That's not all though – according to the government, Sunday trading isn't just going to take away monotony and make our lives exciting. It's also, apparently, going to transfigure our economy. "This

will be another part of my plan to ensure a truly national recovery, with our great towns and cities able to determine their own futures," said Chancellor George Osborne.
Osborne's claim doesn't stand up to scrutiny. This move wouldn't necessarily be better for our economy at all. But there are far more persuasive arguments for leaving the law as it is – a good British compromise, as it has been described.

Here are three main reasons the government is so mistaken to bow to corporate pressure and permit Sunday trading hours to be extended.
1) It allows the exploitation of workers.
In his brilliant book The Land, the eminent Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann says, "Sabbaths are the only events which protect the poor from being bought and sold. If Sabbaths can be eliminated, life will be emptied of history. Land will be void of covenant. Everything can be bought and sold. Brothers and sisters, like land, become commodities."
This is as self evidently true in the 21^st Century as it was in ancient Israel. Without the slim protection offered by reduced Sunday hours, many workers – who are already paid less than the Living Wage, will feel compelled to work on a Sunday – giving them less time with their families, less time for rest, and less sense of themselves as anything other than an economic unit. Oh, and their pay might be cut further as bonuses for working on a Sunday are eliminated.
2) It will further damage small businesses and local communities.
Small shops are vital parts of many communities. They already struggle to compete against rapacious supermarkets. Research from Oxford Economics showed that 8,800 jobs would be lost in the convenience sector as a result of Sunday trading changes. The net result of removing Sunday trading regulations would be a loss of 3,270 jobs in the wider grocery sector.

Pubs are closing at an alarming rate. Churches continue to lose members, as we know only too well. Community centres and youth services are under immense pressure. The fabric of our communities is at risk of coming apart – and dealing a blow to small community shops will only make this worse.
3) There is more to life than shopping.
For that matter, there is more to life than money. At times, though, you wouldn't know it. The crass reductivness of our national conversation is almost beyond parody. As a society, do we truly believe the only metric for measuring our success is in how many things are bought and sold?
The mocking of sincere people who think that six hours on a Sunday is sufficient for people to buy things (and to force others to work) seems to suggest we really have lost our way.
The campaign to keep Sunday special isn't about imposing antiquated Victorian views on a dynamic economy – as proponents of non-stop hyper-consumerism would have you believe. A broad coalition of churches, trade unions, small shopkeepers and others simply wants the chance for us all to have a brief period of Sabbath.

If late capitalism won't allow even a partial Sabbath, then we say no. We reject the colonisation of our lives by money. We, in the words of Brueggemann, resist the endless, "demands of market ideology that depend... on the generation of needs and desires that will leave us endlessly "rest-less," inadequate, unfulfilled, and in pursuit of that which may satiate desire." ChristianToday/UK
COMMENT:
Q: Who does that line (underlined) sound like? ....A: The anti-capitalist rhetoric of Pope Francis...
Oh, & P.S.--Sunday (1st day of the week isn't Sabbath).... But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work,
Exodus 20:10
 

Creation Moment 2/27/2016 - Blue Tarantulas

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the ...creeping thing,

Genesis 1:24

"Like all other animals, the origin of spiders poses an ongoing problem for evolutionists. According to the fossil record, "the first fossil spiders are known from the Devonian" as 100% spiders. The Devonian period

supposedly ran from about 350 to 400 million years ago, but spiders haven't evolved since?
Scientists have identified about 900 modern species of tarantulas. Although large and formidable-looking, their bites are actually no worse than a wasp sting. Some tarantulas can live for several decades.
The BBC recently reported a group of tarantulas possessing a beautiful blue color that apparently has an important signaling function. Evolutionary researchers maintain this cobalt shade evolved at least eight separate times. But what's the evidence?
 
To have this amazing color evolve via "good mutations" stretches logic and credibility for several reasons.
To begin, the
spiders do not have any pigmentation cells to produce the unique blue color. Instead, individual hairs are designed to reflect specific wavelengths of light. The complex arrangements in these reflecting hairs are so small they are referred to as biological photonic nanostructures. It is this sophisticated arrangement within the tarantulas' hair that produces what is known as structural color, similar to the remarkable scales on the Morpho butterfly.
 
Is this sophisticated coloring phenomenon the result of time, chance, and natural processes occurring eight separate times, or did it result from plan, purpose, and special creation? The latter explanation is more logical and scientific.
Evolutionist Bor-Kai Hsiung said, "It evolved from multiple origins and different mechanisms [to] produce the very same blue colour...."  Different mechanisms and multiple origins—all by chance mind you—developed the same structural blue color at around 450 nm [nanometers] eight separate times?
No, life at every level is far too complex and orchestrated not to be designed, and the tarantula's biological photonic nanostructures are one more example.
God created spiders as fully spiders just like the fossil record shows—and this includes the incredible iridescent group of blue tarantulas." ICR

Something Solid...

"But shall we wait till we feel that we are cleansed? No; Christ

has promised that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
You are not to wait for wonderful emotions before you believe that God has heard you; feeling is not to be your criterion, for emotions are as changeable as the clouds. You must have something solid for the foundation of your faith."
 Selected Messages vol.1,p.328 E.G.W.

ARCGAEOLOGY: Fabric Found

"Israeli archaeologists have discovered fragments of “remarkably preserved” 3,000-year-old fabrics, leather and seeds dating to the era of the biblical kings David and Solomon.

 

This is the first discovery of textiles dating from the 10th century B.C. “and therefore provides the first physical evidence” of what residents of the Holy Land wore, said Erez Ben-Yosef, the lead archaeologist with the Tel Aviv University excavation team that did the dig.

 

The excavation, carried out in southern Israel at the ancient copper mines of Timna — believed by many to be the site of King Solomon’s mines — took place in late January and February.

 

The textiles, just 5-by-5 centimeters in size, are the remnants of clothing, tents, ropes, cords and bags. They were preserved thanks to Timna’s extremely dry conditions, the archaeologist said.

 

Ben-Yosef said the fabrics, which vary widely in weaving style, color and ornamentation, provide “new and important information” about the Edomites, the descendants of Esau who often fought against the Israelites and mined in Timna.

 

“Luxury-grade fabric adorned the highly skilled, highly respected craftsmen managing the copper furnaces,” said Ben-Yosef. “They were responsible for smelting the copper, which was a very complicated process.”

 

Vanessa Workman, a member of the excavating and analysis team, said the Hebrew Bible is chock-full of references to fabrics and dyes. “Blue colors and green colors and red colors and what the high priest wore, the tabernacles. Linens, woolen fabrics.”

 

Workman said the discovery at Timna “is an affirmation” of biblical texts. “It brings the desert culture of that period alive.” ChristianHeadlines

And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, ... and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.

2 Samuel 12:24

Creation Moment 2/26/2016 - Just Admit It

All things were made by him;

and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:3

"A new model of the universe suggests there could be as many as 700 quintillion other planets out there, and Earth doesn't look like any of them.

This is huge news because it runs contrary to everything we know about our place in the universe. 

Back in the early 1500s, Nicolaus Copernicus figured out that the Earth wasn't at the center of the solar system. From then on, the

more we learned about the universe, the more clear it became that Earth is cosmically insignificant — an idea called the Copernican Principle. 

Of all the planets that formed inside the model, Earth sticks out like a statistical sore thumb. Most of those quadrillions of planets in the model are inside galaxies much larger than our Milky Way and orbit stars with compositions totally different from our sun......and while Earth might not be quite a 1-in-700 quintillion planet, it's certainly an unusual place." yahoo

Just Admit It......the UNIQENESS of our planet, of life, the complexity of the Genome, etc. = DESIGN which in turns = DESIGNER which in turn would be to us -- GOD

 

HIS "Friend"?

Abraham was a "Friend" of God....
Abraham believed God, ..... and he was called the Friend of God. James 2:23
Lazarus was HIS "Friend"....
Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; John 11:11

Qualifications to be HIS "Friend"...

Ye are my friends,

if ye do whatsoever I command you.

John 15:14

Creation Moment 2/25/2016 - Our Unique Jupiter

 I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens,

and all their host have I commanded.

Isaiah 45:12

"Nothing has been more upsetting to comfortable theory than the discovery of hot Jupiters around other stars.
It’s nice to find an honest astronomer not predisposed to triumphalism. Astrophysicist Paul Sutter is such an one. In his Space.com piece, “Extremely Hot and Incredibly Close: How Hot Jupiters Defy Theory,” he writes as if a humiliated penitent in a confessional. His article should send a warning to scientists who tend to be overconfident in their knowledge and methods.

 

As usual, we thought we had it all figured out. See that gas giant over there in the outer solar system? It was born there. It will spend its whole life there, and it will die there. Sure it might wiggle around a bit every few hundred million years — who doesn’t? — but, by and large, planets don’t move.

Surprise: Planets move. And not just a little. They move a lot. All over the place. In fact, in the early days of a solar system’s formation, planets are a little rambunctious: squirrely little toddlers jostling about underfoot. But it wasn’t until we started observing planets in other solar systems (“extrasolar planets” or “exoplanets” for the astronomer on the move) that we really noticed this fact. 

The hot Jupiters, in particular, put shame on the face of planetary scientists whose models went kaput with the discovery of these fast-moving giants. The penitent weeps:

 

And it wasn’t just any type of exoplanet that kicked off this re-think; it was the hot Jupiters. Imagine: a planet more massive than the largest one in our solar system and 10 times warmer, a monstrous beast of hydrogen and other elements, complete with swirling bands of gas and a rich, dynamic atmosphere, orbiting closer its star than Mercury orbits the sun. In some solar systems, such a planet orbits so quickly that its year is shorter than the Earth’s day. That means these worlds can whip around their parent stars in hours. The physics involved can reduce the most hardened scientist to tears.

Dr. Sutter tries to regain his composure. Maybe a little humor will help.

When astronomers spotted the first hot Jupiter (51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet to be found around a sunlike star, no less), the reaction was mostly, “Ha ha, mother nature, that’s cute. You got us this time, but no more funny business, OK?”

 

But then another hot Jupiter was found. And another. Then half a dozen more. They went from goofy oddballs to … normalcy. For a while, it started to look like our own solar system was the weird one. Maybe they should just be called “regular Jupiters,” and ours re-named a “cold Jupiter?” CEH

Papal Notes - Francis & Bernie

"Bernie Sanders said Pope Francis is a socialist like himself in an

interview with a Catholic television network set to air Tuesday. “I think what the pope has done, in a very bold way... is raise the issue of the worship of money, the idolatry of money, and to say maybe that’s not what human life should be about,” Sanders told Salt + Light network. “That is a very, very radical critique of the hyper-capitalist system, world system, that we’re living in today.” Sanders was asked if he considers Francis to be a socialist  and answered, “Yes.” Sanders explained: “So few should

not have so much, and I think that’s what the pope is talking about.” DailyBeast

Uhm....it's none of Sanders or the Pope's business to decide who should have how much......

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, ..... nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

Exodus 20:17

SDA News - Congrats Tiffany Summerscales

"Andrews University, along with the rest of the world, was on pins and needles this morning as we

awaited the announcement from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the National Science Foundation that they had discovered a way to detect and measure gravitational waves.
However, unlike most of the rest of the world, we waited alongside one of the LIGO scientists who worked to make that a reality.
Tiffany Summerscales, associate professor of physics at Andrews University, is one of 1,000 researchers from various locations around the world who has been studying gravity and how to prove a theory Einstein posited a century ago. She’s been working with the project since 2000 when she began her graduate research.
Summerscales explains the basis of this research, saying, “Einstein’s theory of general relativity posits that mass curves space-time. When the distribution of mass changes, the curvature must also change and that change spreads outwards through space like the ripples on a pond. These ripples, also called gravitational waves, are very faint. Only the most significant events in the universe, like a supernova (an explosion that briefly outshines an entire galaxy), or massive objects are capable of producing gravitational waves of measureable strength.” AndrewsAgenda
....for the people had a mind to work.
Nehemiah 4:6
 

Papal Notes - You Go Girl...

And out of one of them came forth a little horn,

Daniel 8:9

"A New Hampshire state representative who supports Donald Trump referred to the pope as the "anti-Christ" in a Facebook post thread.
That comment came in a thread the same day, Feb. 18, that Po

pe Francis suggested that Trump's desire to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico is "not Christian," provoking a response from the Republican frontrunner.
Susan DeLemus, in the thread to a post on one of her favorite psalms was asked by a commenter if she saw the Pope's comments.
"The Pope is the anti-Christ. Do your research," DeLemus wrote, following up in the thread saying "I'm not sure who the Pope truly has in his heart."
DeLemus on Monday told POLITICO she was actually referring to the papacy.
"I was actually referencing the papacy. And what I wrote after that 'do your research,' if you read the Geneva Bible, which is the Bible I use when we study, the commentary is—actually by the founders of the United States actually, the Protestant Church—their commentary references the papacy as the anti-Christ," DeLemus said. "And I think actually in one part of it, and I don't remember who it was that wrote it, there was one of the popes that they had referenced as the anti-Christ. So that's all I was referring to, the papacy, not particularly that one particular pope because the papacy is a seat. It's not just one person."
She added, "I'm not saying the pope is going to start growing horns

and a tail and start poking people."
But DeLemus didn't shy away from weighing in on Pope Francis' comments.
"I'm not Catholic so I don't think he's infallible. I believe he's fallible just like the rest of us," DeLemus said. "I'm really not a respecter of men. It's really God I respect, and he's the head and the leader." Politico

COMMENT:
You go girl......


 

Creation Moment 2/24/2016 - Neanderthals are Humans

"If Neanderthals interbred with modern humans as early as new findings suggest, the distinction becomes meaningless.

“Our first sex with Neanderthals happened 100,000 years ago,”

New Scientist shouts. This is a shocking story of a tryst that is steamier than any dime novel. It was announced in Nature by Dr. Sergi Castellano and a research team from Max Planck Institute. Colin Barras reports, "It was a two-way street. Many people carry ancient Neanderthal DNA in their genome as a result of cross-species liaisons around 50,000 years ago. Now it seems that some Neanderthals carried our DNA, too."

The BBC News agrees with the 100,000-year date for the secret dating encounter, but things gets worse. Where did the liaison take place? According to Live Science, if you guessed the Fertile Crescent, you’re getting warmer. Castellano and his colleagues speculated that the episode of interbreeding they detected may have occurred in the Levant, the eastern Mediterranean region that includes Israel and Syria. Previous research suggested that modern humans and Neanderthals were present in the Levant as early as 120,000 years ago. Another potential location for this interbreeding was Southern Arabia and the area around the Persian Gulf, they added. “The exact place where the gene flow occurred is not settled, but the Near East fits the fossil evidence we currently have,” Castellano told Live Science.

This news is worse than the prior week’s announcements that Neanderthal DNA is responsible for some of our modern maladies like depression, allergies and obesity (Science Magazine, PhysOrg). Not that all Neanderthal genes are bad; some seem to increase the immune system, the claim went. But if “interspecies gene flow” between the two groups dates back 120,000 years or more, such distinctions are academic. Species are defined by the ability to interbreed and produce fertile offspring. And speaking of fertile, isn’t the Fertile Crescent where the Tower of Babel was located? Is that mere coincidence? " CEH
And God said, Let us make man in our image, .. Genesis 1:26

What to Munch on Today...

What to munch on today?.....

Do you want to munch on the FORBIDDEN FRUIT today?

--OR--

Munch on the HEAVENLY MANNA from above?

YOUR CHOICE......Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: Joel 3:14


 

Papal Notes - Sticking that nose again into global politics

"Pope Francis on Sunday called for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty, saying the commandment "You shall not kill" was absolute and equally valid for the guilty as for the innocent.

Using some of his strongest words ever against capital punishment, he also called on Catholic politicians worldwide to make "a courageous and exemplary gesture" by seeking a moratorium on executions during the Church's current Holy Year, which ends in November.
"I appeal to the consciences of those who govern to reach an international consensus to abolish the death penalty," he told tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square.
"The commandment "You shall not kill," has absolute value and applies to both the innocent and the guilty," he told the crowd.
The 1.2 billion-member Catholic Church allowed the death penalty in extreme cases for centuries, but the position began to change under the late Pope John Paul, who died in 2005." Reuters

STICKING HIS NOSE INTO WORLD POLITICS AGAIN (such as with so-called "climate change", his anti-capitalism crusade, immigration, Trump, etc.).... the Little Horn of Daniel seeks to influence the political debate on the GLOBAL STAGE.... and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. Revelation 13:3

Creation Moment 2/23/2016 - ASASSN-15lh Lesson

This (story below) is probably why GOD structured the universe as it is...where we are... so these events, for whatever purpose they serve, don't harm us due to their distance....

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him?

and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalm 8:3,4

"Researchers have discovered the brightest supernova ever seen,


An artist’s impression of the record – breakingly powerful,

superluminous supernova ASASSN – 15lh

 as it would appear from an exoplanet located

about 10,000 light years away.

(Credit: Wayne Rosing)

and the unusual object powering it could challenge what physicists know about dying stars.
When massive stars die, they do not go gently into the night. Instead, they expel most of their mass outward in a powerful explosion called a supernova, leaving behind a glowing cloud of gas and the collapsed remains of the former star’s core. In June 2015, a supernova appeared in the sky over the Southern Hemisphere, and astronomers believe it could mark the death throes of a very unusual star.
The supernova, named ASASSN-15lh, was 20 times brighter at its peak than the combined light of the Milky Way galaxy’s 100 billion stars, making it the brightest supernova ever observed. In fact, it’s twice as bright as the previous record-holder." Discover

Do not seek out Job's comforters

God, that comforteth those that are cast down.

2 Corinthians 7:6

 

"And who comforteth like Him?

 

 There is no balm in Gilead, but there is balm in God.

There is no physician among the creatures,

but the Creator is Jehovah.

 

It is marvellous how one sweet word of God will make whole songs for Christians. 

 

 

Go to the Comforter, and ask Him to give thee consolation. Thou art a poor dry well. ...... Do not go to earthly acquaintances, for you will find them Job's comforters after all; but go first and foremost to thy "God, that comforteth those that are cast down," and you will soon say, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul."

Charles Spurgeon

The "Really" File - (NBC bashes Jesus)

The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;

it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

Romans 8:7 NIV

"A new sitcom on NBC has suggested in one of its episodes that Jesus was pro-gay marriage and may have been a homosexual himself.

 

Charisma News’ Jennifer LeClaire reports that the new NBC

sitcom Superstore is advertised as follows:

 

"America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) and Ben Feldman (Mad Men, A to Z) star in a hilarious workplace comedy (from the producer of The Office) about a unique family of employees at a supersized megastore.”

 

In the episode of the show entitled “Wedding Day Sale” a Christian store manager asks help from a gay employee to build a special gay wedding section in the store.

 

“I just want everyone who comes into this store to feel accepted,” says the store manager.

 

This comment then leads the manager and the employee to discuss 

From the "Really" File

Jesus’ views on homosexuality and to suggest that he would support gay marriage and gay adoption, and that he himself may have been homosexual.

 

LeClarie points out that “Various agendas have tried to morph Jesus into their own image over the centuries,” but that “the church needs to rise up and get equipped to preach an unadulterated gospel to a people group that is finding new ways to justify sin—even portraying Jesus in their own gay image.” ChristianHeadlines

 

REALLY????????

Creation Moment 2/22/2016 - Foolish for "Christians" to believe in evolution

"The struggle for life and elimination of the weakest is a horrible

process, against which our whole modern ethics revolts. An ideal society is a non-selective society, one where the weak is protected; which is exactly the reverse of the so-called natural law. I am surprised that a Christian would defend the idea that this is the process which God, more or less, set up in order to have evolution."   — Jacques Monod, 1976

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love;

1 John 4:16

Character of the "144,000"

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion,

and with him an hundred forty and four thousand,

having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

Revelation 14:1

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree:

he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Those that be planted in the house of the LORD

shall flourish in the courts of our God.

Psalm 92:12,13

 

PSALM 15:1,2

 

	LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
		*He that walketh uprightly, *and worketh righteousness, *and speaketh the truth in his heart.