All posts filed under: z317

Gordon Ramsay abandons California for Texas

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Famed celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay, has joined a multitude of major corporations and moved the headquarters of his restaurant business, ‘Gordon Ramsay North America’, from California to Texas. According to the Western Journal, this move to the Dallas-Fort Worth area will coincide with a major expansion, as plans are afoot to open 75 new restaurants across the US over the next five years. Citing a report in The Dallas Morning News, the Western Journal provided a couple of the reasons why Ramsay’s company is abandoning California: “But perhaps the biggest reason why Gordon Ramsay North America moved its headquarters from California to Texas is hidden in the second to last paragraph of the Morning News article.“ “’Abdallah (CEO) and Ramsay were also enticed by the tax benefits in Texas,’ the outlet wrote. ‘Plus, the cost of living adjustment [from California to Texas] is pretty substantial,’ Abdallah says.” READ: Gordon Ramsay Ditches California, Moves Business HQ to Texas Over Taxes and Cost of Living And when they are not fleeing California, businesses are simply closing their …

The Deadly Ditch of Gnosticism

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Many years ago, when learning about Gnosticism while at Bible college, I wondered what the big deal was with it in our day – how is it relevant? Much of the New Testament after Acts deals with keeping the church out of two ditches – legalism (the Law) and Gnosticism (special knowledge) Legalism was trying to add the Law on top of grace. Acts 15 reveals one of the pivotal challenges that the early church went through to deal with this problem. We are saved by what Christ did (justified by faith), not by our works. Gnosticism on the other side of the road was the adding of “special knowledge” on top of grace. It is defined as “an early heresy based on knowledge instead of faith” (NKJV dictionary) And “knowledge” is not necessarily truth! When I was at Bible college, it was the late 70s and 80s. Cults and secret societies were very fringe, so it wasn’t really an issue? Yet so much of the New Testament deals with warning the church about both …

Does the discovery of a second synagogue in Migdal refocus our attention on the unusual nature of the first one?

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Archaeologists working with Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have found a second synagogue dating to the time of Jesus in the town of Migdal also called Magdala. It was a prominent town in Jesus’ day. And most believe that the last name of Mary Magdalene, one of Christ’s most famous female followers, indicated that she came from this community, located on the Northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, a short walk from Capernaum. This was an area where Jesus ministered extensively. 2 as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out. (Luke 8:2 NASV) It is the second synagogue dated to Jesus’ day found in the town. Synagogues played an important role in Jewish society. It was here they gathered to read the Torah, as Jesus did at the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21). It would have also served as the location for communal gatherings. The recently discovered synagogue is square-shaped, with a large central room where the Jews gathered on …

How Jesus appeared to a Muslim woman in a coma and healed her

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There is a powerful testimony on Premier Christianity of how Jesus uniquely healed a Muslim woman, resulting in her whole family turning to Christ. After a blood vessel ruptured in her brain, Jamila Darwish, a devout Muslim woman from Deir ez-Zor, Syria, was in a hospital, paralyzed on her right side and in a coma. The doctor told the family to make preparations for a funeral because there was little hope of recovery. But as she lay on her hospital bed, trapped in a body that refused to move, Jamila could still hear the conversations going around her. She heard her mother and sister crying after the doctor gave the news. But as she lay in her comatose state, a strange thing happened. Jesus suddenly appeared to her bathed in bright light. At first, she thought it was a hallucination from the drugs she was on, but then Jesus touched her hand. At that same moment, she heard her mother yell out that Jamila’s hand had moved. The doctor, who had missed the movement, checked …