A mere profession of godliness is worthless

A mere profession of godliness is worthless. It is he that abideth in Christ that is a Christian. For “every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” In every clime, in every nation, our youth should cooperate with God. The only way a person can be pure is to become like-minded with God. How can we know God?—By studying his word. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”     

Of what profit is it to say pleasant things, to deplore the works of Satan, and yet at the same time to enter into the fulfillment of all his devices? This is being double-minded. “Wash ye, make you clean: put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”  

There must be a cleansing of the hands, and a purifying of the double mind. “Be afflicted, and weep and mourn: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness.” It is right to be cheerful, and even joyful. It is right to cultivate cheerfulness of spirit through sanctification of the truth; but it is not right to indulge in foolish jesting and joking, in lightness and trifling, in words of criticism and condemnation of others. Those who observe such persons who make a profession of religion, know that they are deceived. They know that the hands of such professors need to be cleansed, their hearts need to be purified. They need to experience genuine repentance for sin. What have they to mourn over? They should mourn over their inclination to sin, over the danger they are in from inward corruption and from outward temptation. They should be afraid because they have so feeble a sense of the sinfulness of sin, and so little idea of what constitutes sin.  

When you truly repent of sin, you will not be satisfied to acknowledge simply that you are sinful, and let the matter rest there. Do you intend to remain sinful while life shall last? Do you mean to violate your conscience? Do you mean to do evil always? What does the Lord say to those who have had light, and yet have failed to live in accordance with it? “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” There is a repentance of sin that needeth not to be repented of. “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”  

Does this text mean that the human agent can remove one stain of sin from his soul?—No. Then what does it mean to purify himself?—It means to look upon the Lord's great moral standard of righteousness, the holy law of God, and see that he is a sinner in the light of that law. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sin; and in him is no sin.” It is through faith in Jesus Christ that the truth is accepted in the heart and the human agent is purified and cleansed. Jesus was “wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Is it possible to be healed, while knowingly committing sin?—No; it is genuine faith that says, I know that I have committed sin, but that Jesus has pardoned my sin; and hereafter I will resist temptation in and through his might. “Every man that hath this hope in him [abiding in him] purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” He has an abiding principle in the soul, that enables him to overcome temptation. “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.” God has power to keep the soul who is in Christ, when that soul is under temptation. “Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” That is, every one who is a true believer is sanctified through the truth, in life and character. “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth [not professeth to do] righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; ... because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.” Now mark where the distinction is made: “Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither is he that loveth not his brother.” “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”    The Youth's Instructor, February 15, 1894

The Supremacy of Christ

15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.      Colosians 1:15-20

Disney: going farther into the darkness of the spiritual world

Life Site   January 9, 2020

The Disney Channel will premiere a new cartoon – The Owl House – on Friday, January 10, that promises to introduce young viewers to a world of demons and witchcraft.    

According to Disney, “The series follows self-assured teenage girl Luz, who discovers a portal to another realm where humans are not well-liked, and she must disguise herself in order to fit in at witch school.”  

Disney describes that realm as a “Demon town,” where Luz takes up residence with Eda the Owl Lady, “the most powerful witch on the Boiling Iles.”  

Luz declares, “Someday, I’m going to be just like her.”

“The original pitch (for the show) was ‘girl hangs out with witch in hell,’” voice actor Alex Hirsch told Newsweek.com.   

The show’s art director, Ricky Cometa, explained that when the show’s creator, Dana Terrace, first approached him, “she said that ‘we're trying to make this demon realm a part of Disney.’”' 

“We really wanted to make this demon realm feel like home, and just had to figure out how to do it," said Cometa. 

The writers room for the show is “full of books on witchcraft, witches and spells to take inspiration from,” according to the Newsweek piece.  

The visual design of the show is inspired by various European painters such as Hieronymus Bosch, who was best known for his surrealistic depictions of hell.   

Show creator Terrace, who first became acquainted with religious painters while growing up in Catholic school, said Bosch’s twisted takes on angels and demons would make for a “cool show in that art style.”

Last month, controversy arose over when major retailers such as Walmart, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble offered a book inviting young children to learn how to summon demons. 

Written for 5- to 10-year-olds, A Children’s Book of Demons directs kids to “conjure gentle demons by writing their sigils, which serve as ‘a phone number’ straight to the spirit.” 

“As ridiculous as the ‘demons’ contained in the book may be, there is nothing innocent or fun about even pretending to summon evil spirits,” noted Elizabeth Johnston, aka  Activist Mommy, on her blog. “But who is to say it is pretend? The spirit world is real and is no laughing matter.”

“It is a sign of the degeneration of our society that making use of demons is considered acceptable, and it manifests ignorance of their malice and desire to do us harm,” renowned exorcist, Fr. Chad Ripperger, told LifeSiteNews. “Books such as these ought to be avoided by parents and children, as they pose a possible opening to demons’ influence in their lives, which will only end in affliction and suffering.”

“Parents would be well warned that it is not something ‘silly,’ but contrary to the proper formation of their children,” he continued. “Opening up children to this at a young age will often place the child in a mindset that diabolic influence of demons in his life is not something serious or to be avoided.”

Trump and Francis bulding the one world religion

NTEB  January 25, 2020

VP Mike Pence arrived at the Vatican for what was billed as a 'meet and greet', then stunned everyone by turning into a high-level, closed-door meeting on something so sensitive that neither party was willing to discuss it. And within mere hours of that bombshell, President Trump announced he was finally ready to reveal his 'Deal Of The Century' Middle East Peace Plan, and asked Benjamin Netanyahu to fly to Washington this coming Tuesday, for a meeting on that very subject. Do you see where all this is heading? Trump has the relationship with Israel, Pope Francis has the relationship with the Muslims, put the two together and....peace in the Middle East?

Suddenly, everything begins to makes sense. From one side, I have been watching Donald Trump over the past three and a half years, the man that God placed in power of the world’s strongest and most-prosperous nation, doing amazing things for the nation of Israel. The thing he wants most to do in Israel is his ‘Deal Of The Century‘ Middle East Peace Plan, headed up by his Jewish son in law, Jared Kushner.

“Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Isaiah 28:14-16 (KJB)

On the other side, I have been watching Pope Francis over the past 7 years, weaving and scheming to build the One World Religion of Chrislam. In 2019, things came to a head as Chrislam, otherwise known as the Abrahamic Faiths Initiative, was finally formalized. The peace covenant document known as ‘Human Fraternity For World Peace‘ was signed by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, and sealed by kissing each other on the mouth. Chrislam.

For quite awhile, I viewed both these paradigms as something happening separately from each other, until today. The thing that always nagged at me in the back of my mind was how to combine the two and keep all parties happy at the same time. It was seemingly impossible. Then last week, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Callista Gingrich, held a meeting at her office at the Vatican and declared to Pope Francis that the United States is “fully committed to working with you to advance our shared goals of mutual respect, religious freedom, and peaceful coexistence” in regards to the Abrahamic Faiths Initiative, otherwise known as Chrislam.

Do you see where all this is heading? Trump has the relationship with Israel, Pope Francis has the relationship with the Muslims, put the two together and….peace in the Middle East? Sure seems like it to me. The missing ingredient that no other political leader has had in the past 70 years is Chrislam. Rick Warren started it, handed the baton with full evangelical support to Pope Francis, the pope then signed a covenant with Islam, and the Trump administration has thrown in their full support in the same week as announcing they are finally ready with the Peace Plan. Across the board you have complete and total harmony, everyone gets something, everyone is happy.

Tempted in All Points Like As We Are

Christ paid an infinite price to redeem the world. He sacrificed his honor, his riches, his glorious home in the royal courts, and endured the fierce assaults of Satan, that man might have strength to overcome as he overcame. The temptations that Satan brings to bear upon the human race are severe; but his test for the Son of God was a hundredfold more severe. It was not merely the gnawing pangs of hunger that made Christ's sufferings so intense; it was the guilt of the sins of the world, which pressed so heavily upon him. He who knew no sin was made sin for us. With this terrible weight of guilt upon him, he withstood the fearful test upon appetite; upon the love of the world and of honor; and upon pride of display, which leads to presumption. Christ endured these great temptations, overcoming in our behalf, and working out for us a righteous character.  

Many who fall under temptation excuse themselves with the plea that Christ's divinity helped him overcome, and that man has not this power in his favor. But this is a mistake. Christ has brought divine power within the reach of all. The Son of God came to the earth because he saw that moral power in man is weak. He came to bring finite man in close connection with God. It is by combining divine power with his human strength that man becomes an overcomer.  

When we are tempted to question whether Christ resisted temptation as a man, we must search the Scriptures for the truth. As the substitute and surety of the human race, Christ was placed in the same position toward the Father as is the sinner. Christ had the privilege of depending on the Father for strength, and so have we. Because he laid hold of the hand of infinite power, and held it fast, he overcame; and we are taught to do the same. He met every temptation with, “It is written;” and so must we. The one who resists evil in his strength can say, in the words of Inspiration: “The Lord God will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? ... Behold, the Lord God will help me: who is he that shall condemn me?”  

The language of Christ on many occasions shows that he was placed in the same position that we are. He had to walk by faith, as we walk by faith; and when temptations came to him with overwhelming power, he used the language that every child of earth must use. “The Son can do nothing of himself,” Christ declared, “but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.”...

Christ is the Captain of our salvation. “It became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” The suffering that poured in upon the Son of God is beyond anything that man will be called to endure; yet Christ overcame, and perfected a spotless character. By his suffering and resistance he made plain to man that perfection of character can be obtained and maintained by humanity.  

When Satan fails to lead men into sin by the first two temptations, those of appetite and presumption, he besets them with the third, the love of the world; and in almost every case he leads them into apostasy by this means. It is the glory of this world that attracts and ensnares. But we have reason to thank God that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, and came off conqueror in our behalf. Every son and daughter of Adam may have this divine strength. The promise of the Comforter has been given us. “He that believeth on me,” said Jesus, “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” The power that came to Christ as a representative of the human race will come to every member of the human family who will make God his strength.  

“We have a great high priest, which is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.... We have not an high priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” We may take courage, and believe that we shall overcome every imperfection of character. Our Redeemer has taken our nature, fought our battles, and in his name we shall conquer. Human nature may take hold of the strength of God, and be victorious.       The Youth's Instructor, December 28, 1899

Trump uniting with evangelicals

NBC.  Jan. 3, 2020

President Donald Trump launched his campaign's new coalition to court evangelical voters at a Latino megachurch Friday, part of efforts to shore up support in the community for his re-election bid as well as broaden it in the wake of a prominent evangelical magazine coming out in support of his impeachment.

“Every Democratic candidate running for president is trying to punish religious believers and silence our churches,” Trump told a crowd of thousands at the Ministerio Internacional El Rey Jesús. "This election is about the survival of our nation."

The rally-style event, which included everything from a prayer session and brief remarks by a young woman who chose not to get an abortion after becoming pregnant unexpectedly in college, saw Trump acknowledge the power of the evangelical voters who helped put him in office in 2016 and boast of conservative accomplishments both real and exaggerated while promising more to come.

A win in November, Trump said, would be “another monumental victory for faith and family, God and country."

Australia calls world to pray at sunrise

Missions Box  December 30, 2019

This year our focus is to pray for the nations. Over the last two years we had registrations from 50 different countries including USA, South Africa, Namibia, Pakistan, Japan, United Kingdom, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Zealand, and Australia.

Warwick Marsh, coordinator for Australia’s National Day of Prayer & Fasting said, “David said in Psalm 108:2, ‘I will wake the dawn with my song.’ During this time of prayer, we want to focus on giving great praise to God. We also want to pray for revival and transformation, that God will bring healing to each of our nations: 2 Chronicles 7:14.”

Marsh continued, “In declaring Jesus Christ as Lord at this worldwide Sunrise Prayer Relay we are circling the globe with prayer, praise and worship and surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ for the glory of God. This year we want to challenge people to pray for the nations. Use the prayer resources on the website and social media and register your location at: www.sunriseprayerrelay.org. This year we are asking you to help reach a billion people and get behind www.go2020.world/home.

Pat Steele, a prayer & evangelist leader in Wollongong Australia, said, “We encourage you to pray the Lord’s Prayer together aloud as the sun rises and make a declaration that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life, your family, your region and your nation. Let’s also join to pray for the nations. At your location we encourage you to include praise and worship, prayers, and scripture readings. We suggest 30 minutes, but you can pray for longer. You could even take communion, shine a torch, or light a candle. What you do for your sunrise celebration is up to you.”

Mike Pence meets Pope Francis in private audience

Fox. January 25, 2020

VATICAN CITY — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday, discussing the anti-abortion march in Washington and telling the pontiff, "You made me a hero" back home by granting him a private audience.

The pope and the vice president had a private hour-long conversation. Pence was beaming after the meeting, which appeared to be particularly cordial.

The hero description apparently referred to Pence's Roman Catholic family upbringing. He later became an evangelical Christian.

Trump had a private audience with Francis at the Vatican in 2017, and on Friday in Washington, the U.S. president was attending an anti-abortion rally in Washington. Trump is the first sitting U.S. president to do so in the history of the annual March for Life’s history.

Pence's office said the march in the U.S. capital was among the topics discussed with the pontiff. Catholic church teaching forbids abortion, and Pence himself has been staunchly anti-abortion.

In Friday's interview, Pence also praised Francis for his “passion for the sanctity of life.”

Francis smiled warmly throughout the traditional exchange of gifts at the end of the audience. Pence presented the pope with a large, plain wooden cross made from a tree on the grounds of his official residence in Washington.

Francis gave Pence five bound books of his writings as pope. The pontiff then pointed to a large white envelope, explaining, “this is a message of peace.” Francis was referring to an annual message to promote peace issued by the Vatican.

Religious gathering with Kanye West to fill up Sun Devil Stadium

Ktar  January 17, 2020 

PHOENIX – College football season is over, but a huge crowd is expected to converge on Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe on Saturday for a daylong religious gathering featuring rapper Kanye West.

All of the free tickets for Awaken 2020 were quickly snapped up online. The event’s website invites attendees “to be part of the Jesus awakening that is shifting HISTORY.”

West and his Sunday Service Collective gospel choir may be the biggest draw, but the event runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. with about a dozen evangelical leaders.

In addition to West, who released the Christian-themed album “Jesus is King” in October, Daniel Kolenda, David Herzog, Brian “Head” Welch, Cindy Jacobs, Jerame Nelson, Guillermo Maldonado, Jake Hamilton, Jeremy Riddle, Stephanie Herzog, Eddie James and Steve Swanson are scheduled to speak.

Remember when Sunday was a day of rest?

Iol. 16 January 2020

My mother was not a particularly religious woman. She was an Anglican. Her generation of Anglicans regarded religion as duty rather than a passion.

I remember, though, how shocked she was when the law was changed to allow shops to open on Sundays. This was not for any religious reasons. She simply thought it was unfair to expect shop assistants to work on weekends after having worked hard all week.

“For goodness sake! Everybody deserves one day of rest every week.”

In those days, shops and banks closed at around noon on Saturday and remained closed until Monday morning.

Nobody complained. It was simply the way things were. People knew the shops would be shut on Sunday, so they bought the groceries they needed for the weekend in advance.

Banks would be closed. Remember there were no ATMs then, so if you needed money for the weekend, you cashed a cheque on Friday. No big deal.

We don’t really have weekends anymore. We slide through the week, day by similar day, with hardly a blip on the road through life. Nobody needs to plan ahead.

I sometimes think my mother may have been right about Sunday closing. We have allowed shopping to become the new religion. Instead of enjoying relaxed weekends at home with our families, we dash off to the shops, anxious not to miss out on the latest bargains. We are more interested in stuff than we are in each other. One side effect of this shopping religion is that we now tend to judge each other by the stuff we have bought.

“Jimmy got a new smartphone, Sally bought a new flat-screen TV that’s bigger than ours.”

I suppose it’s too late to turn back now. If families decided to spend a quiet, shopping-free Sunday together, they probably stick it for two hours before becoming bored and heading off to see what’s on special offer at PnP or Checkers.

The Court Case That Could Finally Take Down Antiquated Anti-Catholic Laws

The Atlantic. January 12, 2020 

Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear one of the most significant education cases in decades: Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. Centering around a modest tax-credit scholarship program in Montana, Espinoza could have major ramifications for educational-choice programs across America, which help nearly half a million students attend private schools.

In deciding Espinoza, the Court has the opportunity to do more than just settle the fate of one controversial tax credit; it could also junk Montana’s Blaine Amendment, finding it in violation of the Constitution’s religious-freedom and equal-protection clauses. In doing so, it would set a strong precedent against any law born of bigotry, even if other justifications seem neutral.

The Espinoza case dates back to 2015, when, shortly after state lawmakers enacted the tax-credit scholarship program, the Montana Department of Revenue devised a rule that banned families from using the scholarships to attend religious schools, which account for more than two-thirds of the state’s private schools. The case is brought by three Montana moms whose children are thriving at a private religious school; without the tax-credit scholarships, the families are struggling to pay tuition. (Litigating on behalf of the parents is the Institute for Justice, where I work, though I’m not directly involved with the lawsuit.)

In May 2017, a trial court ruled in their favor and struck down the Department of Revenue’s rule. But in December 2018, the Montana Supreme Court reversed the decision, citing what is commonly known as Montana’s Blaine Amendment. Enacted during a wave of anti-Catholic bigotry in 1889, the amendment bans “direct or indirect” public funding for any “sectarian purpose.” According to the majority opinion, the tax-credit scholarship program violates the Blaine Amendment, even though it’s funded entirely through voluntary, charitable, private donations incentivized by the state’s tax credit. This past summer, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, and it will be argued on January 22.

Today, 37 states have Blaine Amendments in their state constitution, though the precise wording varies. The amendments are named after Representative James G. Blaine of Maine, who in 1876 proposed a federal constitutional amendment that would have prohibited state funding for schools “under the control of any religious sect.” Blaine’s amendment passed the U.S. House of Representatives but fell just short of the supermajority it needed to pass the U.S. Senate.

Even though Blaine’s amendment was never enacted nationwide, Congress later required many potential states to adopt a version of the amendment in order to be admitted to the union. Starting with the Enabling Act of 1889, Congress granted statehood to Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington only after their state constitutions guaranteed that their public schools would be “free from sectarian control.” Senator Henry Blair of New Hampshire, who regularly reintroduced the Blaine Amendment in subsequent sessions, called this provision of the Enabling Act “the very essence” of his proposal, and praised Congress for setting a “great precedent.”

At first glance, Blaine Amendments may seem like a benign way to ensure the government’s neutrality toward religion. In the 1875 speech that inspired Representative Blaine, President Ulysses S. Grant called for a federal ban on government funding for “sectarian schools” in order to “keep the Church and state forever separate.” More recently, nine states with Blaine Amendments collectively filed an amicus brief in the Espinoza case, arguing that no-aid provisions like theirs and Montana’s merely “sought to solidify the Framers’ original design separating church and State.”

But Blaine Amendments weren’t truly devoted to the separation of Church and state. Instead, they were mainly focused on separating the Catholic Church and state. Although public schools are largely secular today, that wasn’t the case in the 19th century. Public or “common” schools typically instilled in their students a nondenominational form of Protestantism, requiring them to sing hymns, pray, and read from the King James Bible—in direct conflict with Catholic dogma.

Refusing to send their children to schools that clashed with their values, many Catholic families (often immigrants) created their own private, religiously affiliated school systems. In turn, those parochial schools quickly became a target for bigoted attacks, most infamously by the Know Nothing party, and later by the American Protective Association. The association was particularly powerful in Montana: At the APA’s peak, up to one-tenth of Montana residents were members. The fact that Blaine Amendments featured so prominently in the platforms of those groups clearly shows that prejudice was a motivating factor behind state Blaine Amendments.      More

A Trum calendar: replacing the seventh day Sabbath for the first day Sunday?

Washington Times  December 31, 2019 

For more than 500 years, the most popular and influential book after the Bible was “The Golden Legend” by Jacobus de Varagine. At the end of the 13th century, Varagine was grappling with how medieval Christians perceived time: He mapped the liturgical calendar and the stories of feast-day saints associated with it. The book was a bestseller.

Flash forward to today. We now waste a great deal of time fumbling around with the flawed Gregorian calendar. For one thing, new calendars have to be printed ever year. What a waste of both time and money.

But this isn’t the only cost dished up by our Gregorian calendar. Indeed, there are a number of problems and inefficiencies associated with it. Under the Gregorian calendar, the scheduling of the days for holidays, sporting events and school schedules — to name but a few — must be redone each year. What a waste of time and money.

The Gregorian calendar also causes confusion when it comes to the age-old idea of “time is money.” For example, to determine how much interest accrues for a wide variety of instruments — bonds, mortgages, swaps, forward rate agreements, etc. — day counts are required. The current calendar contains complexities and anomalies that create day-count problems.

And there are other financial problems generated by the Gregorian calendar. For example, back in 2013, Apple was caught up in a quarterly reporting fiasco. Following its firt-quarter 2013 earnings announcement, Apple suffered its worst one-day loss in four years as a result of the company’s failure to meet Wall Street’s expectations. This was largely due to a simple calendar-generated error — most analysts failed to account for the fact that Apple’s Q1 2013 was one week shorter than the same quarter the year before.

The past 400 years have only seen a handful of cohesive efforts to standardize the modern calendar or iron out the kinks of the Gregorian calendar. The crusade for calendar modernization found one of its most prominent champions in 19th-century industrialist George Eastman, the founder of the Eastman Kodak Co. Driven by a desire to create a more business-friendly calendar, he developed the “Eastman plan.” It was one of the first cogent models of a fixed (or permanent) calendar and was designed to eliminate the practical and financial inefficiencies generated by the Gregorian calendar system.

However innovative, the Eastman plan was in many respects crude, failing most crucially to account for and preserve the Sabbath. Like many past attempts at calendar reform, the Eastman plan was doomed by its failure to address religious and cultural concerns. Indeed, one of the major criticisms of such calendar reforms is that they interfered with religious days of rest, which play an integral role in the organization of economic activity, i.e. “the work week.”

Faith leaders call for unity, 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz

Church Times. 24 January 2020

THE 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz should be used “to come before God in worship, conscious of our need for forgiveness, but committed to action that would seek the common flourishing of all”, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

In a statement released this week, in advance of Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday, Archbishop Welby said: “The Holocaust, the Shoah, remains a unique stain on the history of Europe, and a chilling reminder to me of how millennia of Christian anti-Jewish hatred could provide a seedbed for such evil.”

The Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) has released a prayer for this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day. It was launched at an event in the House of the Lords on Monday, where it was read by the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally.

The chair of the CCJ, the Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Michael Ipgrave, said: “Through prayer, we will be asking Christians to remember the pains of the past, and to recommit to a better future for all people, and, in particular, of course, to commit themselves to combating anti-Semitism, which is such a scourge in our society and our world.”

The chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), Olivia Marks-Woldman, said: “This year, we reflect on the theme ‘Stand Together’. In the run-up to the Holocaust, and in each subsequent genocide, perpetrators took deliberate steps to stop their designated victims living, studying, and working alongside their neighbours. Communities were stopped from being together.

“And, today, we know that prejudice and hostility based on faith or identity is still prevalent in many areas. Indeed, in some cases, it is even on the increase. We need to show solidarity to others.”

What You Need to Know About Gene-Edited Farm Animals

Organic Consumer January 8, 2020

For decades, the biotech industry has spun a narrative around genetically engineered crops that could be summed up very simply as “jam tomorrow, instead of bread and butter today.”

Sustained—and financed—largely on the promise of spectacular success at some unidentified point in the future, the research and development of new types of GMO foods, made with a whole host of new genetic engineering technologies, has gathered pace in recent years.

These days, without most people being aware of it, genetic engineering is spreading from the crops in the field to the animals in the barn.

Using new genome editing (sometimes referred to as “gene editing”) techniques like CRISPR, biotech breeders are proposing to breed a brave new world of farm animals that don’t get sick, don’t feel pain and produce more meat, milk and eggs at a lower cost than ever before.

Not many NGOs are currently working on this issue and it can be hard to find good information to help make sense of it all. But two recent reports provide in-depth information on the mechanics as well as the ethical issues around gene-edited farm animals.

One, from Friends of the Earth, entitled “Genetically Engineered Animals: From Lab to Factory Farm,” is an extensively referenced report that provides key background information and highlights the urgent need for safety assessments of genome-edited animals.

The other, “Gene-edited Animals in Agriculture,” is a report from a day-long roundtable in June 2019, co-hosted by my organization, Beyond GM, and Compassion in World Farming in the UK. The roundtable involved individuals representing a wide range of perspectives. What emerged was a fascinating glimpse into not only the technology, but also the ethics and values systems that underpin that technology.

If you are new to the subject of genetically engineering farm animals for food, if it concerns you or if you just want to know more in order to be an informed consumer, these two reports provide an important starting point

What could go wrong with military robots?

RT 5 Jan, 2020

 When human troops are replaced by robots on the battlefield, it won’t be because the Pentagon's had some revelation about the value of human life – it’ll be an effort to defuse anti-war protests by minimizing visible casualties.

US military commanders are itching to get their hands on some killer robots after an Army war game saw a human-robot coalition repeatedly rout an all-human company three times its size. The technology used in the computer-simulated clashes doesn’t exist quite yet – the concept was only devised a few months ago – but it’s in the pipeline, and that should concern anyone who prefers peace to war.     More

The Hidden Uses of 5G Technology

Walking Times December 23, 2019

At the London Summit, the 29 member countries of NATO agreed to “guarantee the security of our communications, including 5G”. Why is this fifth generation of mobile data transmission so important for NATO?

While the earlier technologies were perfected to create ever more advanced smartphones, 5G is designed not only to improve their performance, but mainly to link digital systems which need enormous quantities of data in order to work automatically. The most important 5G applications will not be intended for civil use, but for the military domain.

The possibilities offered by this new technology are explained by the Defense Applications of 5G Network Technology, published by the Defense Science Board, a federal committee which provides scientific advice for the Pentagon –

The emergence of 5G technology, now commercially available, offers the Department of Defense the opportunity to take advantage, at minimal cost, of the benefits of this system for its own operational requirements.

In other words, the 5G commercial network, built and activated by private companies, will be used by the US armed forces at a much lower expenditure than that necessary if the network were to be set up with an exclusively military goal. Military experts foresee that the 5G system will play an essential role for the use of hypersonic weapons – missiles, including those bearing nuclear warheads, which travel at a speed superior to Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound). In order to guide them on variable trajectories, changing direction in a fraction of a second to avoid interceptor missiles, it is necessary to gather, elaborate and transmit enormous quantities of data in a very short time. The same thing is necessary to activate defences in case of an attack with this type of weapon – since there is not enough time to take such decisions, the only possibility is to rely on 5G automatic systems.

This new technology will also play a key role in the battle network. With the capability of simultaneously linking millions of transceivers within a defined area, it will enable military personnel – departments and individuals – to transmit to one another, almost in real-time, maps, photos and other information about the operation under way.

5G will also be extremely important for the secret services and special forces. It will enable control and espionage systems which are far more efficient than those we use today. It will improve the lethality of killer drones and war robots by giving them the capacity of identifying, following and targeting people on the basis of facial recognition and other characteristics. The 5G network, as a weapon of high-tech capacity, will also become the target for cyber-attacks and war actions carried out with new generation weapons.

As well as the United States, this technology is under development by China and other countries. The international disagreement concerning 5G is therefore not only commercial. The military implications of 5G are almost entirely ignored, because the critics of this technology, including many scientists, are concentrating their attention on its toxic affects for health and the environment, due to exposure to very low-frequency electromagnetic fields. This engagement is of course of the greatest importance, but must be linked to research on the military use of this  technology, financed indirectly by ordinary users. One of its greatest attractions, which favours the dissemination of 5G smartphones, will be the possibility of participating, by subscription, in war games of impressive realism in direct contact with players from all over the world. In this way, without realising it, the players will be financing the preparation for war – but this time it will be a real war.

Is God Plural in Greek?

In the Old Testament, the most common Hebrew word for “God” is “elohim”. (Strongs 0430 Myhla ‘elohiym el-o-heem’)

It is (sometimes) used as the plural form of the singular noun (strongs 0433) hwla ‘eloah.

Trinitarians commonly make the mistake of claiming that this plural appearance of the word is “proof” of their Trinitarian doctrine.

However this claim is seriously wrong! It is an abuse of the Hebrew Grammar. We must NOT ignore the fact that although “elohim” looks plural because of its suffix “IM”, it is most often singular in its own right. To distinguish between the singular and plural uses of “elohim” you have to be able to read Hebrew and know a little bit of Hebrew grammar. (or know someone who does!) When it is mean to be understood as singular, it is accompanied by SINGULAR verbs and pronouns. And when it is meant to be understood as plural it is accompanied by PLURAL verbs and pronouns. (Hebrew is a complicated language. There are a very few instances where this rule does not apply. However these relatively rare cases do not affect our main conclusions here)

When ELOHIM is used as a proper name, or when referring to Israel's ONE God, it is treated as a singular noun.

WHEN ELOHIM IS TRANSLATED INTO GREEK

It helps to look at how “elohim” is translated into the Greek language

The Greek language doesn’t have this same “singular/plural appearance” problem.

In the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, and the Greek New Testament, when OT references to “elohim” as the ONE God of Israel are translated into Greek the word "theos" is used. “Theos" is always a SINGULAR noun. You can’t ever mistake it for plural!!

When plural “elohim” meaning (idol) “gods” is translated into Greek the plural form "thea" or "theoi" is easy to distinguish. And when elohim refers to “goddess” or goddesses”, the singular is translated by “thea”. and the plural by “theai”.

LATIN

The same happens in the Latin translations. When “elohim” refers to plural (idol) “gods” (note the lower case)  the term “deus” (singular) or “dei” (plural) is used, When it means “goddesses, “dea” (singular) or “deai” (plural) is used, while for the Christian God the Latin uses simply “Deus” (singular).

From this it ought to be clear that when the OT Hebrew “elohim” refers to the ONE God of Israel, BOTH the Greek and the Latin recognise that it is a singular noun.

There is no possible justification for claiming that it supports the doctrine of the trinity.       Allon Maxwell

The Greatest Commandment

28And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 

29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God (Theos) is one Lord:  

30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  

31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.  

32And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:

33And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.  

34And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.        Mark 12:28-34

  

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:

² That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God (Elohim) is one Lord:

⁵ And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

⁶ And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

⁷ And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.     Deuteronomy 6:4

Strong's Concordance

Theos : God, a god

Original Word: θεός, οῦ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine; Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: theos
Phonetic Spelling: (theh'-os)
Definition: God, a god
Usage: (a) God, (b) a god, generally.

2316 theós (of unknown origin) – properly, God, the Creator and owner of all things (Jn 1:3; Gen 1 - 3).

[Long before the NT was written, 2316 (theós) referred to the supreme being who owns and sustains all things.]

Elohim, singular Eloah, (Hebrew: God), the God of Israel in the Old Testament. A plural of majesty, the term Elohim—though sometimes used for other deities, such as the Moabite god Chemosh, the Sidonian goddess Astarte, and also for other majestic beings such as angels, kings, judges (the Old Testament shofeṭim), and the Messiah—is usually employed in the Old Testament for the one and only God of Israel, whose personal name was revealed to Moses as YHWH, or Yahweh (q.v.). When referring to Yahweh, elohim very often is accompanied by the article ha-, to mean, in combination, “the God,” and sometimes with a further identification Elohim ḥayyim, meaning “the living God.”

Though Elohim is plural in form, it is understood in the singular sense. Thus, in Genesis the words, “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth,” Elohim is monotheistic in connotation, though its grammatical structure seems polytheistic. The Israelites probably borrowed the Canaanite plural noun Elohim and made it singular in meaning in their cultic practices and theological reflections.   Encyclopaedia Britannica

Understanding the true meaning of the word "Elohim"

Some claim that because the word most often used for God in the Hebrew Bible is Elohim (plural for El), then God must be a trinity and hence Jesus must be God (Supreme). But this is just another deception or ignorance. The fact is that the word Elohim is used for the true God, false gods, supernatural spirits (angels) and even human leaders such as kings and judges. Thus the word Elohim can and is used to refer to a single person, and when it does, linguists call it a “plural intensive” or “plural of majesty” which denotes greatness. The Hebrew people pluralized nouns when they desired to express greatness or majesty as they did with God. So when Elohim is used of the one true God, it is called a “plural of majesty” which denotes the greatness of God, not number.

This was “only” done by the Hebrew people so in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint, which Jesus and the apostles quoted) where Elohim refers to the true God, the word Theos is used which is not plural but singular. The same applies to the New Testament where Theos is the Greek equivalent to Elohim and once again it is not plural but singular. For example. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4 in Mark 12:29. The word Theos for God in this verse is singular, not plural. If Elohim was really a plurality of the one true God, then the New Testament writers would have used the plural of Theos also when referring to God. Instead they used the singular form every single time. And yet the plural form is used eight times in the New Testament referring to men or false gods. (John 10:34-35; Acts 7:40, Acts 14:11, Acts 19:26; 1 Corinthians 8:5; Galatians 4:8). I trust that no one will say that God is a Trinity in the Hebrew language while being one God in the Greek language.

Below are some dictionary definitions from scholars concerning the usage of Elohim as a “plural intensive,” or as many prefer, “plural of majesty” (a pluralis excellentice) or “plentitude of might.”

“The Hebrew noun Elohim is plural but the verb is singular, a normal usage in the OT when reference is to the one true God. This use of the plural expresses intensification rather than number and has been called the plural of majesty, or of potentiality.” — New International Version Study Bible, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985, p. 6

“This word [elohim], which is generally viewed as the plural of eloah [Strong's #433], is found far more frequently in Scripture than either el or eloah for the true God. The plural ending is usually described as a plural of majesty and not intended as a true plural when used of God. This is seen in the fact that the noun elohim is consistently used with singular verb forms and with adjectives and pronouns in the singular.” — Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 1, 1980, p. 44

“The plural form of Elohim has given rise to much discussion. The fanciful idea that it referred to the trinity of persons in the Godhead hardly finds now a supporter among scholars. It is either what grammarians call the plural of majesty, or it denotes the fullness of divine strength, the sum of the powers displayed by God. Jehovah denotes specifically the one true God, whose people the Jews were, and who made them the guardians of his truth.” — Smith's Bible Dictionary 1884 pp. 331-332

So why does the fanciful idea that Elohim refers to a trinity hardly find a supporter among scholars now? Because the truth is impossible to avoid and you would only end up looking very foolish and deceived if you use this to try and prove a lie. So when you hear the argument that Elohim means God must be a trinity, then understand that there is either deliberate deception or total ignorance and such a person cannot be trusted.

As for Genesis 1:26, the pronouns are plural in the Hebrew text so it is translated, “God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Trinitarians claim that since Elohim is plural, and the pronouns are plural, God must be more than one. But Elohim refers to the one true God which only leaves the question of who is “us” in this verse. Scripture does not leave us guessing.

Ephesians 3:9 says, “God, ... created all things by Jesus Christ:” God in this verse is obviously someone other than Jesus Christ, and Hebrews 1:2 and John 1:3 says God created all things by His Son. So who is speaking in Genesis 1:26 and who is He speaking to?

God the Father said to His Son, “let us make man in our image.” Christ is “the express image” of the Father, so anyone created in the Father's image is also created in His Son's image.

“After the earth was created, and the beasts upon it, the Father and Son carried out their purpose, which was designed before the fall of Satan, to make man in their own image. They had wrought together in the creation of the earth and every living thing upon it. And now God says to his Son, “Let us make man in our image.” As Adam came forth from the hand of his Creator, he was of noble height, and of beautiful symmetry. He was more than twice as tall as men now living upon the earth, and was well proportioned. His features were perfect and beautiful. His complexion was neither white, nor sallow, but ruddy, glowing with the rich tint of health. Eve was not quite as tall as Adam. Her head reached a little above his shoulders. She, too, was noble—perfect in symmetry, and very beautiful. ” — 1SP p. 24