All posts filed under: z38

A photo of a Gilgal site revealing its distinctive sandal shape. Photo: Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel

A Gilgal site to become a garbage dump for Palestine?

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Breaking Israel News is reporting the Palestinian Authority has contracted a foreign company to handle its garbage. The concern is that the proposed location for a new garbage dump is just a couple hundred meters away from an important archaeological site called Gilgal. The move could potentially damage or even destroy the site near Rimonium overlooking the Jordan valley. No excavation has been done at this site. What is unusual about the site is its unique sandal-shaped design. It is one of five similar styled sites found in Israel. And they can be large. One of them called el-‘Unuq is the size of two football fields (228 feet wide and 816 feet long). The Israelis created them shortly after they entered the Promised Land under Joshua. They were all called Gilgals and marked by large stone walls in the shape of the foot or sandal. Scattered throughout Israel they initially served as spiritual and government centers. At one of the Gilgal sites near Gibeath-haaraloth, Israel circumcised its men after leaving Egypt and held their first …

Beautiful Thailand Photo: Robert Saltori/Flckr/Creative Commons

Is Satan real? Thai model manifests a spirit on live TV?

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An interesting YouTube video has gone viral showing a young Thai model, Thippawan ‘Pui’ Chaphupuang” being possessed by a spirit while being interviewed on a live TV show in Thailand. During the interview, the young woman tells the host that she is often visited by a Thai spirit called ‘pop.’ According to Thai beliefs, Pop is a powerful ghost or spirit said to possess women. It is thought to be cannibalistic and will eat the internal organs such as the heart and liver of the girl it possesses. In other words, it will eventually destroy the person, it possesses. It is believed to be the malevolent side of a group of Thai spirits called Phi Fa that causes natural disasters or disease. During the interview the girl tells the host that ‘pop’ is coming to possess her and she begins to manifest this spirit. The original poster removed the video, but others have since posted it. The young woman begins to writhe and screech and at times speaks in a lower tone. The host asks …

A church worship service. Photo: Joachim S. Muller/Flickr/Creative Commons

Did God create you to dance?

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Should we be dancing in church? Well, if a 2006 study is correct, it appears when God created humans, He hard-wired each of us to dance — more on that in a moment. I still remember a service at a church I was attending in the 70s. The Jesus people movement was in full swing and the congregation was made up of people 30 years and younger. Back then everybody had long hair, including the girls. One particular Sunday evening service we kicked back the chairs and began dancing before the Lord. We broke up into groups, joined hands and whirled around in circles dancing and singing. The thing that struck me the most was the utter joy and excitement on people’s faces as they danced and worshiped the Lord. I was attending seminary at the time, in a denomination that frowned on this type of activity. But they faithfully preached the Bible and people were saved through this ministry. I had a professor by the name of Dr. Dahns. He was a former United Church Minister …

Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, Jerusalem Photo: jordan Pickett/Flickr/Creative Commons

UNESCO to vote if Jews have any connection to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

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This week the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced it is postponing a vote that would put Jerusalem’s Temple Mount firmly in the hands of the Muslim. Whether Israel would actually implement UNESCO’s recommendations is anther issue. But if the motion passed it undoubtedly would embolden the Muslims in their attempts to control the site. The vote is part of a Palestinian-Jordanian initiative that would declare the Temple Mount  a “Muslim-only” site. The vote would see the Temple Mount returned to its status before the 1967 Six Day war. Prior to the Israel Arab conflict, the Jordan Waqf that operates the two Muslim buildings on the site — the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock — controlled every aspect of the Temple Mount including who could visit the site. But perhaps the most disturbing part of the motion is that it would deny any historical Jewish connection to the Temple Mount. The original motion also referred to Israel as an “occupying force.” When Israel protested the motion later revisions tried to …

Photo: WELS net/Flickr/Creative Commons

All Shook Up!

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We have a nice apple tree in our front yard, and I just love apple crisp during the cold months. But, if you want nice apples, you have to do some work. When my wife and I moved to our present home we were thrilled that we had an apple tree, but what it produced were tons of small “crabapples.” We were told that at one time the tree had produced larger apples, and a friendly expert told us that as soon as the apples started to grow, to remove many of them and what remained would be larger apples. The other day I was doing my apple thinning, but even after using my six-foot ladder I could not reach the high branches. I had a great idea. It seemed to me that there were a number of really small apples with weak stems, barely attached to the branches, that would easily fall off if I reached up and gave the high branches a good shake. That’s when God spoke to me about John 15:1-11. …

Bethany Hamilton surfing off the coast of Santiago, Galicia, Spain. Photo Valdovino.net/Flickr/Creative Commons

God will fulfill His purpose for your life

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Despite our setbacks, mistakes, accidents, failures, sins and fears, God fully intends on accomplishing His purposes for our lives. That was the first thing I thought of when I read the powerful testimony of Bethany Hamilton. You may remember her story, Bethany was thirteen years old when a shark attacked her while she surfed in Hawaii in 2003. Though the shark cut off her arm, incredibly Bethany survived. Three weeks later, she conquered her fears and was back surfing. Her strong faith in God helped her through the ordeal and her story would spread around the world because of it. Since then a feature film, Soul Surfer, has been made on Bethany’s triumphal return to surfing. She is now married to Adam Dirks and they have a one year old son. Aside from winning several surfing competitions, she and Adam also placed third during the 2014 filming of The Amazing Race. The World Surf League announced that on May 30, 2016, Bethany, 26, finished third in the World Surf’s League Fiji Women’s Pro. She wasn’t …

Photo: Ed Yourdon/Flickr/Creative Commons

The secret mystery of contentment

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A favorite verse many Christians often quote is “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Found in Philippians, I think we often miss how Paul intended these words to be understood. The phrase is found in the larger context of being content in whatever circumstance life hands us. As we live life, we are subject to change. Growing older. Changes in jobs, some planned some unplanned. Changes in marital status. Life can often blind side us. Even as Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians he was sitting in a dark, damp and gloomy Roman jail. His death was imminent. From this prison, Paul writes: 11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens …

Replica of a Viking ship. Photo: valt98/Flickr/Creative Commons

Viking tales and dinosaurs

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In the late 1930s, while digging in the remains of an ancient fortress, Sverresborg Castle, located near Bergen, Norway, archaeologist Gerhard Fischer came across the partial skeletal remains of a body in a well filled with rocks. But when World War II broke out the excavation stopped,  the remains buried and the discovery largely forgotten. However according to the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage, in 2014 archaeologists have stumbled across more remains of this body in the well. After dating a bone shard they discovered it was over 800 years old — dating it to 1200 AD. But here the story takes an interesting twist. There are a number of sagas or epic poems written by Vikings and handed down through the generations. Many disregarded them as fanciful tales. But there is one saga entitled the Sverris Saga, dated to the 1200s, that talks about Viking wars, great voyages and clan feuds. In it there is an elaborate story about King Sverre Sigurdsson who led a group called the Baglers. They were so poor they wore shoes made of birch bark. …

Are you feeling trapped by your own limits? Photo: Hans Ackr/Flickr/Creative Commons

Are you a ‘limited’ edition?

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Limits, we all have them and I have always looked at them in a negative way. Recently, I read an Albert Einstein quote, where he said: “Once we accept our limits, we can go beyond them” It really got me thinking about the limitations in my life. Some days my world seems so small. I feel guilty and sometimes angry about wanting more, beyond the limits of my home and everyday responsibilities. It seems from the beginning, God knew we could not be responsible for everything, nor could we do just whatever we please.  When we function within His limits there is a blessing of protection on our lives. But sometimes the limits that seem to be on us are not ones put there by God, but limits we have put on ourselves. I ask myself how can I go beyond this ordinary life? Should I be content with doing the dishes laundry, making supper and going to work? When the daily cycle of life drags me down, I begin to buy into this ‘house mentality’. …

Alone. Photo: Stefano Bertolotti/Flickr/Creative Commons

Praying for connection

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I am sitting in my living room in my new home. I am grateful for my life at this moment and for moving and setting up a new residence outside a small city where we have lived for almost two years. This place and space my husband and I have created is pretty good. Although, this phase of retirement living in a new place is very quiet these days. There are days and weeks where life and people I knew are just a blurred  memory.  Other days the memories are more vivid. These past two years have been a time of rest for me.  The Lord  has led me beside still waters, refreshed my soul and breathed new life and hope into me. Creating a new circle of friends is difficult. Yet, I know that God created us with a need for relationship.  From past experience, I know that it takes time and often years to find friends that you have a connection with. Stepping out of my comfort zone and extending myself to others …

Eric Metaxas addressing the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr/Creative Commons

Eric Metaxas on ‘authentic’ faith

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Eric Metaxas recently gave an interesting speech to a three-day conference called The Bridge. Its theme was the persecuted church. Metaxas is a popular author, speaker and radio host. He has written several books and has appeared as a cultural commentator on Foxnews, CNN and MSNBC. Since the death of Chuck Colsen of Prison Fellowship he has become one of the main voices for the organization’s program Breakpoint. Samuel Smith a writer for Christian Post reported on Metaxas’s hour-long speech in which he said the faith of the North American church has become diluted because of our success. Metaxas said in other parts of the world where Christians regularly face persecution, they have been forced to ask themselves “Do I actually believe this or don’t I?” Until recently, Christians in America have never been faced with this question. Metaxas cited the life of German Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) who the Nazi Gestapo arrested in April 1943 because of his vocal opposition to Adolph Hitler. Metaxas wrote a book on Bonhoeffer —Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. …