#and especially given the history of israel as we know it today. I Do Not Think That Is An Okay Thing To Say

[nonbinarychaoticstupid]

anyone else see the issue with comparing netanyahu to hitler or is that just me

[edenfenixblogs]

Look what Google just recommended to me!!!!

I already own (and love) Shabbat and Portico.

But I am OBSESSED with the rest and must acquire them immediately.

Top of my list is Love Japan because LOOK AT THIS BEAUITFUL BOWL OF MATZO BALL RAMEN!!!!!

We hear a lot about Jewish people in Europe and MENA, but we do not hear a lot about Jewish culture as it blends with East Asian cultures, and that’s a shame. Not just because it erases the centuries of Jewish populations there, but also because there are plenty of people of mixed decent. People who may not have come directly from Jewish communities in East Asia, but people who have a Japanese Father and a Jewish Mother, for example. Or people in intercultural marriages. These are all real and valuable members of the Jewish community, and we should be celebrating them more. This cookbook focuses on Jewish Japanese American cuisine and I am delighted to learn more as soon as possible. The people who wrote this book run the restaurant Shalom Japan, which is the most adorable name I’ve ever heard. Everything about this book excites and delights me.

And of course, after that, I’m most interested in “Kugels and Collards” (as if you had any doubts about that after the #kugel discourse, if you were following me then).

This is actually written in conjunction with an organization of the same name devoted to preserving the food and culture of Jews in South Carolina!

I’m especially excited to read this one, because I have recently acquired the book Kosher Soul by the fantastic, inimitable Michael J. Twitty, which famously explores faith and food in African American Jewish culture. I’m excited to see how Jewish soul food and traditions in South Carolina specifically compare and contrast with Twitty’s writings.

I’m also excited for all the other books on this list!

A while ago, someone inboxed me privately to ask what I recommended for people to read in order to learn more about Jewish culture. I wrote out a long list of historical resources attempting to cover all the intricate details and historic pressure points that molded Jewish culture into what it is today. After a while I wrote back a second message that was much shorter. I said:

Actually, no. Scratch everything I just said. Read that other stuff if you want to know Jewish history.

But if you want to know Jewish culture? Cookbooks.

Read every Jewish cookbook you can find.

Even if you don’t cook, Jewish cookbooks contain our culture in a tangible form. They often explain not only the physical processes by which we make our meals, but also the culture and conditions that give rise to them. The food is often linked to specific times and places and events in diaspora. Or they explain the biblical root or the meaning behind the holidays associated with a given food.

I cannot speak for all Jews. No one can. But in my personal observation and experience—outside of actual religious tradition—food has often been the primary means of passing Jewish culture and history from generation to generation.

It is a way to commune with our ancestors. I made a recipe for chicken soup or stuffed cabbage and I know that my great grandmother and her own mother in their little Hungarian shtetl. I’ll never know the relatives of theirs who died in the Holocaust and I’ll never meet the cousins I should have had if they were allowed to live. But I can make the same food and know that their mother also made it for them. I have dishes I make that connect me to my lost ancestors in France and Mongolia and Russia and Latvia and Lithuania and, yes, Israel—where my relatives have lived continuously since the Roman occupation even after the expulsions. (They were Levites and Cohens and caretakers of synagogues and tradition and we have a pretty detailed family tree of their presence going back quite a long time. No idea how they managed to stay/hide for so long. That info is lost to history.)

I think there’s a strong tendency—aided by modern recipe bloggers—to view anything besides the actual recipe and procedures as fluff. There is an urge for many people to press “jump to recipe” and just start cooking. And I get that. We are all busy and when we want to make dinner we just want to make dinner.

But if your goal isn’t just to make dinner. If your goal is to actually develop an understanding of and empathy for Jewish people and our culture, then that’s my advice:

Read cookbooks.

[causticsunshine]

anne sharing her stance as neutral on the genocide through multiple of her instagram stories certainly doesn't help my opinion about this whole staying quiet thing. very disappointed but not surprised.

i literally saw this one this morning (screengrab via @/spacecowboysue on twitter):

(edit: i’m about to get properly irate here but my anger isn’t just aimed at her, it’s at everyone taking similar pages out of her book by claiming neutrality and calling for ‘peace’ and essentially playing I Pretend I Do Not See in this situation; there is no reason or excuse for anyone who claims to want ‘peace’ here to be playing the so-called neutral card anymore.)

like okay, what the fuck is a STATUE going to do? and reconcile what—nearly a century of systematic occupation and genocide pushed and backed by numerous western countries, including her own? yeah, i’m sure a fucking statue is going to just, y’know, poof all the palestinians’ past and active trauma away, rebuild all the rubbled homes and cultural centers and other buildings, regrow the natural flora and heal the traumatized and dying animals and bring back the desecrated olive orchards, rain down clean water and fresh food from the sky… oh and bring back all their martyred dead!

and on top of the fucking insult that it is to still be standing for ‘neutrality’ and just wanting ‘peace’ between an oppressive nation state committing apartheid and the peoples of an actual country continually being terrorized for existing in their own homeland, calling it the ‘palestine israel conflict’? no one has ANY valid excuse anymore to belittle a continual siege as a ‘conflict’, like it’s a fucking playground spat.

and perhaps besides the point a bit, but on top of all that—anne will let the public call her son a slag (since he was a CHILD), a cheater, a womanizer, a queerbaiter AND a zionist, but the second anyone’s come for his bald head? oh, now that’s just too much now!

so today alone, she can make a post and a story calling out people making fun of or talking about her nearly 30 year old child shaving his head, but the best she can do in terms of addressing ongoing genocide that over 290 british MPs voted no on a ceasefire towards, is making a story post implicating her further neutrality and whittling the situation down to being ‘fixed’ with that ugly ass fucking statue?

and for anyone who wants to jump down my throat or go after anyone else talking about this with claims of ‘well you don’t know what she’s doing or saying in private’ or getting mad we upset harry’s mummy—i think sharing this shit publicly tells you whereabouts she’s at on things! she posted 3 separate stories about some fucking boots she recently purchased or was given through sponsorship (tbh i wasn’t arsed to check the detail, all i saw was the same pic like 3 times on her available IG story) and a few others about some ted talk she attended and meeting the speaker there, then one about harry’s hair, and then made an actual POST about his hair and tagged it with TPWK….

she HAS a platform. she has over 2.8 million instagram followers alone. and this is what she chooses to prioritize, to push. there really is no excuse anymore, especially when you’re from one of the countries continually backing israel and voting no on intervening with their despicable terror! there are resources EVERYWHERE including constant updates on gaza, debunkings on the lies western and israeli propaganda are spreading, insights into the entirety of the apartheid, information on palestinian culture and values, on the true history of israel, holy books… what excuse is there to really be had at this point besides blatantly prioritizing your own comfort over the lives of thousands of occupied and terrorized and murdered people?

[roseverdict]

The Philestines were an ancient enemy of the Israelis who lived in the Mediterranean. Israel and Judea were renamed Palestine at different times by the Romans as a punishment meant to humiliate them following rebellions against Roman rule. Arabs didn't start living in Palestine until Ottoman rule. And Jews are actual people just like Israel is a nation state. Neither is dependent on what your Holy Books think should happen.

Oookay. It took me a second to remember that this is in reference to my half-asleep, already-known-to-be-probably-ill-informed ramblings, but lemme just make something clear:

We agree on that last bit.

Neither is dependent on anybody's holy books, mine or otherwise (because some branch-offs of Christianity have additional holy books I don't follow and I just wanna make it clear I'm talking about those too).

Unfortunately, the people in power over military superpowers sure seem to fucking think they are, and they are acting accordingly.

My brain was just making connections between similar-sounding words used to reference peoples who have called that stretch of the Mediterranean home during various points of human history. Part of why I posted about it instead of just letting it simmer silently in my head for who-knows-how-long; my memory is shit enough as it is, and I don't exactly want to be that person who convinces themself of something completely false, forgets that it's false, and then doubles down on it whenever someone points it out. ESPECIALLY not about something like this. I know a guy irl who pulls that bs constantly about all kinds of subjects, and it ranges from annoying to frustrating to downright infuriating, depending on the seriousness and impact of the subject he's spewing nonsense about at any given time. I've talked about him before- he donated half my DNA.

I don't exactly want to be a James Somerton or a Nick Hergott, who just sits there and thinks really hard about things and then says "okay, that's all my research done!" without so much as cracking open a search engine.

So thank you for pointing out that the history of that region has had more at play than just Today's Hot Topics over the past several thousand years. I didn't necessarily need a reminder that people who don't believe in the Bible don't believe in the Bible or what it says and shouldn't be held to the Bible's standards due to that, given that I've been trying to unlearn that very thing for the past decade or so and haven't colossally screwed up yet to my knowledge, but I appreciate it all the same. Keeps me humble. Clearly, though, I was correct in assuming I would need to do more research in order to figure out if the 2 AM thoughts of somebody with a special interest in linguistics had any basis in actual reality or not. I think I'll go do that.

[a-queer-seminarian]

Jesus flipping tables: a more accurate & respectful reading

This post shares a large chunk of chapter two of Amy-Jill Levine’s book Entering the Passion of Jesus. (Read the whole chapter as a PDF here.) Levine is a Jewish woman who is also a Professor of New Testament Studies.

Levine combats traditional readings of the text with their antisemitic layers by evincing how Jesus’s anger reflects the anger of his predecessors Jeremiah and Zechariah — an anger focused not on the simple fact that sacrificial animals were sold in the Temples’ outer courts, but on the way the Temple (like many of our worship spaces today) had become a safe place for corrupt oppressors, who behaved as if their daily atrocities would be overlooked by God if they paid for a sacrifice every now and again.

TL;DR: to sum up Levine’s points, she evinces how:

Jesus’s whole table flipping, whip-wielding stunt is more symbolic than practical (echoing similar stunts pulled by his people’s prophets).

Some have argued Jesus is mad about gentiles not being allowed to worship in the temple, but they very much were welcome. (There were places and rituals off limits to them, just as there are certain things non-members can’t do in our own worship spaces, like take communion or be on a committee). 

Jesus wasn’t pissed about animals being sold in the temple’s outer courts; that was normal and logical. There’s also no evidence of exploitation or unjust prices, so he’s not angry about the poor being cheated here either.

Jesus did not reject the Temple, or its laws & rituals! He followed them himself and helped restore people to them. (He even has “zeal for his father’s house.”)

Jesus also isn’t condemning the high priest or other priests with his actions here. That’s just not in the text; plus Caiaphas’s worry about Jesus’s actions inciting political violence that could harm his people were reasonable.

What Jesus is communicating with his table flipping and whip-wielding: he’s upset that the Temple is as “a den of thieves,” a place where people who sin and oppress in their everyday life feel perfectly comfortable, instead of feeling called to repent and reform. His words hearken back to previous prophets with similar concerns.

And finally, in the version of this story told in John’s Gospel, Jesus seems to be looking forward to a time when the Temple is no longer needed, for all places will be sacred and God will speak directly to everyone of every nation -- once again, Jesus is hearkening back to previous prophets who looked forward to the same thing. This is also a concept that the Pharisees were into, so stop depicting the Pharisees as “evil” or “backwards” or completely at odds with Jesus! (One key difference between Jesus’s vision and the Pharisees’ if of course that Jesus identifies a “new temple,” his own body.)

One last thing: if you’re unfamiliar with the various Gospel versions of the “temple cleansing” -- Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:11-17, Luke 19:45-46, and John 2:13-17 -- or want to reference them as you read this post, visit this webpage to read them all.

Without further ado -- the excerpt from Levine.

________________

The incident known as the ‘Cleansing of the Temple’ is described in all four Gospels. Most people have the idea--probably from Hollywood--that this is a huge disruption. When we see this scene depicted in movies, we find Jesus fuming with anger, and we inevitably see gold coins falling down in slow motion. Everything in the Temple comes to a standstill. ...But we are not watching a movie: we are studying the Gospels. 

Here's what we know about the actual setting. We begin by noting that the Temple complex was enormous. It was the size of twelve soccer fields put end to end. So, if Jesus turns over a table or two in one part of the complex, it's not going to make much of a difference given the size of the place.

The action therefore did not stop all business; it is symbolic rather than practical. Our responsibility is to determine what was symbolized.

For that, we need to know how the Temple functioned.

The Jerusalem Temple, which King Herod the Great began to rebuild and which was still under construction at the time of Jesus, had several courts. The inner sanctum, known as the "Holy of Holies," is where the high priest entered, only on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to ask for forgiveness for himself and for the people. Outside of that was the Court of the Priests, then the Court of Israel, the Court of the Women, and then the Court of the Gentiles, who were welcome to worship in the Temple. 

The outer court, the Court of the Gentiles, is where the vendors sold their goods. The Temple at the time of Jesus was many things: it was a house of prayer for all nations; it was the site for the three pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot/Pentecost, and Sukkot/Booths; it was a symbol of Jewish tradition (we might think of it as comparable, for the Jewish people of the time, to how Americans might view the Statue of Liberty); it was the national bank, and it was the only place in the Jewish world where sacrifices could be offered. Therefore, there needed to be vendors on site.

Pilgrims who sought to offer doves (such as Mary and Joseph do, following the birth of Jesus, according to Luke 2:24) or a sheep for the Passover meal would not bring the animals with them from Galilee or Egypt or Damascus. They would not risk the animal becoming injured and so unfit for sacrifice. The animal might fly or wander away, be stolen, or die. And, as one of my students several years ago remarked, "The pilgrims might get hungry on the way." One bought one's offering from the vendors.

And, despite Hollywood, and sermon after sermon, there is no indication that the vendors were overcharging or exploiting the population. The people would not have allowed that to happen. Thus, Jesus is not engaging in protest of cheating the poor.

Next, we need to think of the Temple as something other than what we think of churches. A church, usually, is a place of quiet and decorum. ...The Temple was something much different: It was a tourist attraction, especially during the pilgrimage festivals. It was very crowded, and it was noisy. The noise was loud and boisterous, and because it was Passover, people were happy because they were celebrating the Feast of Freedom. ...We might think of the setting as a type of vacation for the pilgrims: a chance to leave their homes, to catch up with friends and relatives, to see the "big city," and to feel a special connection with their fellow Jews and with God. It is into this setting that Jesus comes.

______________

Driving out the Vendors 

...It seems to me that Jesus, in the Temple, was angry. But what so angered him? I hear from a number of people, whether my students in class or congregations who have invited me to speak with them, that the Temple must have been a dreadful institution; that it exploited the poor; that it was in cahoots with Rome; that Caiaphas, the High Priest in charge of the Temple, was a terrible person; that it banned Gentiles from worship and so displayed hatred of foreigners; and so forth. ...Some tell me that the Temple imposed oppressive purity laws that forbade people from entering, and so Jesus, who rejected those laws, rejected the temple as well. No wonder Jesus wants to destroy the institution.

But none of those views fits what we know about either Jesus or history.

First, Jesus did not hate the Temple, and he did not reject it. If he did, then it makes no sense that his followers continued to worship there. Jesus himself calls the Temple "my Father's house" (Luke 7:49: John 2:16). ...

Second, Jesus is not opposed to purity laws. To the contrary, he restores people to states of ritual purity. Even more, he tells a man whom he has cured of leprosy, "Go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them" (Mark 1:44; see also Matthew 8:4; Luke 5:14). 

Third, Jesus says nothing about the Temple exploiting the population. As we'll see in the next chapter, when we talk about the widow who makes an offering of her two coins, Jesus is concerned not with what the Temple charges, but with the generosity of the worshipers. 

Fourth, we've already seen that the Temple has an outer court, where Gentiles are welcome to worship. They were similarly welcome in the synagogues of antiquity, and today. They do not have the same rights and responsibilities as do Jews, and that makes sense as well. When I [a Jewish woman] visit a church, there are certain things I may not do. We might also think of how nations function: Canadians, for example, cannot do certain things in the USA, such as vote for president; nor can citizens of the USA vote in Canadian elections.

As for Caiaphas...Caiaphas is basically between a rock and a hard place. He is the nominal head of Judea, and he is supposed to keep the peace. Judea is occupied by Rome, and Roman soldiers are stationed there. Caiaphas needs to make sure that these soldiers do not go on the attack. He needs to placate Pilate, and he needs to placate Rome. 

At the same time, as the High Priest, he has a responsibility to the Jewish tradition. Rome wanted the Jews to offer sacrifices to the emperor...but Caiaphas and the other Jews refused to participate in this type of offering because they would not worship the emperor. The most they were willing to do was offer sacrifices on behalf of the emperor and the empire.

When Jesus comes into the city in the Triumphal Entry, when people are hailing him as son of David, Caiaphas recognizes the political danger. The Gospel of John tells us that the people wanted to make Jesus king (John 6:15). Caiaphas has to watch out for the mob. Caiaphas also has to watch out for all these Jewish pilgrims coming from all over the empire celebrating the Feast of Freedom, the end of slavery. When he sees Roman troops surrounding the Temple Mount, Caiaphas has to keep the peace. And Jesus is a threat to that peace. But none of this has to do directly with Jesus' actions in the Temple. He is not at this point protesting Caiaphas's role.

Sometimes I hear people say that Jesus drove the "money lenders” out of the Temple. That's wrong, too. Money-lending was a business into which the medieval church forced Jews, because the church concluded that charging interest was unnatural (money should not beget money). Yet people needed, then and now, to take out loans. The issue for the Gospel is not money lending but money changing. These money changers exchanged the various currencies of the Roman Empire into Tyrian shekels, the type of silver coin that the Temple accepted. We experience the same process when we visit a foreign country and have to exchange our money for the local currency.

So, if Jesus is not condemning the Temple itself, or financial exploitation, or purity practices, what is he condemning? Let's look at what the Gospels actually say.

According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, ...the concern is not the Temple, but the attitude of the people who are coming to it.

In Mark's account Jesus begins by saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?" (11:17). Indeed, it is so written. Jesus is here condensing and then quoting Isaiah 56:6-7... Jesus' rhetorical question should be answered with a resounding “Yes!"--for the Temple already was a house of prayer for all people. More, he is standing in the Court of the Gentiles when he makes his pronouncement. ...Thus, the problem is not that the Temple excludes Gentiles. 

Already we find the challenge, and the risk. Are churches Today houses of prayer for all people, or are they just for people who look like us, walk like us, and talk like us?

How do we make other people feel welcome? Is the stranger greeted upon walking into the church? Is the first thing a stranger hears in the sanctuary, "You're in my seat"? When we pray or sing hymns, do we think of what those words would sound like in a stranger's ears? ...

Matthew and Luke drop out "For all nations," and appropriately so, for they knew it already was a house of prayer for all nations. Matthew and Luke thus change the focus to one of prayer. And prayer gets us closer to what is going on in the Synoptic tradition.

___________

Den of Thieves

Jesus continues, ‘But you are making it a den of robbers’ (Matthew 21:13). Here he is quoting Jeremiah 7:11: “Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight?”

A "den of robbers" (sometimes translated a "den of thieves") is not where robbers rob. "Den” really means "cave," and a cave of robbers is where robbers go after they have taken what does not belong to them, and count up their loot. The context of Jeremiah's quotation -- and remember, it always helps to look up the context of citations to the Old Testament -- tells us this.

Jeremiah 7:9-10 depicts the ancient prophet as condemning the people of his own time, the time right before Babylonians destroyed Solomon's Temple over five hundred years earlier: “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are safe!’ -- only to go on doing all these abominations?" 

Some people in Jeremiah's time, and at the time of Jesus, and today, take divine mercy for granted and see worship as an opportunity to show off new clothes rather than recommit to clothing the naked. The present-day comparison to what Jeremiah, and Jesus, condemned is easy to make: The church member sins during the workweek, either by doing what is wrong or by failing to do what is right. Then on Sunday morning this same individual, perhaps convinced of personal righteousness, heartily sings the hymns, happily shakes the hands of others, and generously puts a fifty-collar bill in the collection plate. That makes the church a den of robbers -- a cave of sinners. It becomes a safe place for those who are not truly repentant and who do not truly follow what Jesus asks. The church becomes a place of showboating, not of fishing for people. 

Jeremiah and Jesus indicted people then, and now. The ancient Temple, and the present-day church, should be places where people not only find community, welcome the stranger, and repent of their sins. They should be places where people promise to live a godly life, and then keep their promises. ...

___________

Stop Making My Father's House a Marketplace

John's Gospel says nothing about the house of prayer or den of robbers. In John's Gospel, Jesus starts not simply by overturning the tables, but also by using a “whip of cords" (since weapons were not permitted in the Temple, he may have fashioned the whip from straw at hand), and driving out the vendors. Jesus when says to the dove sellers, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" (John 2:16). He is alluding to Zechariah 14:21, the last verse from this prophet, "and every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and use them to boil the flesh of the sacrifice. And there shall no longer be traders in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day."

In John's version of the Temple incident, Jesus anticipates the time when there will no longer be a need for vendors, for every house not only in Jerusalem but in all of Judea shall be like the Temple itself. The sacred nature of the Temple will spread through all the people. He sounds somewhat like the Pharisees here, since the Pharisees were interested in extending the holiness of the Temple to every household.

The message is a profound one: Can our homes be as sanctified, as filled with Worship, as the local church?

Do we “do our best" on Sunday From 11 a.m. to 12 noon, but just engage in business is usual during the workweek? Do we pray only in church, or is prayer part of our daily practice? Do we celebrate the gifts of God only when it is time to do so in the worship service, or do we celebrate these gifts morning to night? Is the church just a building, or is the church the community who gathers in Jesus' name, who acts as Jesus taught, who lives the good news? 

Jesus' words, citing Zechariah, do even more. They anticipate a time when all peoples, all nations, can worship in peace, and in love. There is no separation between home and house of worship, because the entire land lives in a sanctified state. Perhaps we can even hear a hint of Jeremiah's teaching of the "new covenant," when "no longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, 'Know the LORD,’ For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). Can we envision this? Can we work toward it? ...

[craigtowens]

The value of journaling

Do you keep a journal? I’m not talking about a diary of your daily events, but a journal of your ongoing dialogue with God. This is a discipline I began over 25 years ago, and it’s been immensely helpful to me.

Every time you read the history of Israel in the Old Testament, you are really reading a written history—a journal—of what God did for His people.

In Luke 1:46-55, we read Mary’s song about the soon-to-be-born Jesus that someone journaled to record for posterity. The same thing is true for Zechariah’s song about his son John in Luke 1:67-79. I am sure that many people found great comfort in reading and recalling these songs, perhaps even Jesus Himself and John the Baptist.

Even Jesus told His disciple John to journal the words He spoke to him about events still to come (Revelation 1:11, 19; 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14; 14:13; 19:9; 21:5).

Journaling has helped me at so many crucial points in my life. Especially when I needed to look back to be reminded of something God had spoken to me. I shared one example of this in my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter—

      The board was making a major decision. They were considering a change in their leadership to one who had completely different credentials and training from all of their previous leaders. Because this change would be so momentous, the board interviewed me for more than four hours. When they finally felt they had deliberated long enough, they asked me to leave the room while they prayed and voted. I stepped out into the lobby for just a couple of minutes when the door opened again and they asked me to step back inside.

      “Well, Craig,” the spokesman began, “we prayed and we feel you are the one God has selected for this position.” I told them I would be happy to accept their offer. After they prayed over me, I began to pack up my things to head home.

      “Hold on a minute,” one of the board members said to me, “we’re about to discuss the budget, and we think it would be good for you to be a part of this discussion.” I agreed and resumed my seat at the table.

      I was handed both the year-to-date financial report and the projected income and expenses for the remaining quarter of the year. “As you can see,” the treasurer began, “we are projecting a $70,000 loss for this year.” Then he turned to me and asked, “What are you going to do about that?”

      I gulped, tried not to show that my stomach was doing flips, and said, “Honestly, I don’t know.” I paused, and since no one else said anything, I continued, “But I’ll let you know what we come up with.”

      All the way home, I kept thinking, “What have I gotten myself into? I’m walking away from a successful business to oversee an organization that’s going to go bankrupt before I even get started?!” But then I began to remind myself of something else: God chose me.

      When I returned home, I immediately went to my journal. I flipped to the page where I had written down all of the reasons why I had concluded that God chose me for this position. I looked at the way God had spoken to me and to my wife, and the way friends who knew nothing about this decision spoke a confirming word to me. I looked at the pages where I had written down the vision I believed God had given me for this new organization, and how the board chairman’s handwritten vision for the organization matched mine thought-for-thought. Looking at these words—at the specific dates and ways God had spoken, and confirmed, and re-confirmed His direction—gave me the confidence to step into this assignment, even when facing such a huge financial mountain. (excerpt from chapter 5 “A Humble Leader’s Attitude Adjustment”)

If you haven’t journaled in the past, I encourage you to begin this spiritual discipline today. I can tell you from both what I read in the Bible and my own personal experience how valuable this will be for you.

[lamortexiii]

Cryptic Mystic: What’s Your Sign?

Many of us are fascinated by astrology and all things outer space related. The great unknown that is beyond the stars has been a hot topic for centuries. But, how did the zodiac begin? What makes astrological signs and the alignment of planets and stars so magical? Is it truly prophetic? Does your sign define your personality, past, present, and future? Or is this simply another product of the Barnum Effect?

So I’ll start by asking the obvious: “what’s your sign?” I’m a Leo through and through. While I’m skeptical about the claims of some astrological signs and their relation to my life on a daily basis, I do believe there is some truth here - as is with most things. This topic is one that I have been wanting to write about for some time now. I have always found outer space, stars, planets, etc. to be fascinating. As a child, I remember laying in the grass and watching the stars above me. In my little valley in the forest, I could see so many stars that wouldn’t be visible if I were in the city. I am so thankful I had that childhood experience of growing up somewhere where I could truly connect with nature and the simple things around me that most take for granted on a day-to-day basis. I still stargaze to this day, but I can’t see near as many as I once did in my childhood forest valley home. I’ve seen a plethora of shooting stars throughout my lifetime, two meteor showers, two solar eclipses, and plenty of unidentified objects that were likely satellites… or were they…?

One time when I was driving home from work late one night I saw something that befuddled me. As I drove down the winding 2 lane highway in the darkness of the night I saw what appeared to be a helicopter hovering right above the trees. Now, this area I was driving through was rural. There are few houses in those woods, but there are some. The backroads leading to the site where the “helicopter” was hovering are seldom traveled, especially this late at night. I began processing the event in my mind and questioning if it was a helicopter, why would it be hovering so low and what exactly would it be doing in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. It just didn’t make sense. I thought about logical explanations and could only come up with one. There is the slim possibility that someone driving on one of the many backroads in that area may have got into an accident and was getting airlifted to a hospital. I’ve seen it happen before on backroads near there. Aside from this idea, I had nothing. By this point, I had obviously slowed down so I could get a better look. Hell, there wasn’t any traffic so it’s not like I was worried about causing an accident or anything. As I looked closer I noticed it wasn’t a helicopter at all. There were about 4-6 large bright lights shining down below the area that the craft was hovering over. The circumference of this craft was much wider than a helicopter - more circular. The lights were far too big and far too bright. Whether it was fear, shock, tiredness, or my stomach growling, I continued to drive on and leave the peculiar scene behind. Now, I know this has nothing to do with astrology or zodiac signs, but it is an interesting story nonetheless. 

In reference to zodiac signs, I find that descriptions of a Leo with my particular birthdate are genuinely pretty accurate when describing my personality and conflicts. However, the daily horoscopes are definitely not accurate in my experience. I will say that when I read/listen to them I try to apply something positive from the reading to my daily life. I engage in a deeper thought process and practice mindfulness throughout the day, keeping that positive focus within my mind on the positive message I am supposed to be implementing into my day. I have also found that compatibility readings have been somewhat inaccurate as far as certain zodiac signs getting along or not getting along with other zodiac signs. The biggest obvious red flag for me is how many different sources there are. And guess what? They all say something different on the daily. If zodiac signs and horoscopes are supposed to be accurate, then why don’t all individuals who report them online all say the same thing - or at least something similar?? To play devil's advocate here, I did say earlier that I believe there is some truth to all of this, which is why it interests me so much and also why I believe in this stuff to a degree. There is a lot of magical and wondrous history to unpack in regards to the zodiac and horoscopes. So, let’s jump right in, shall we?

Interesting fact: the word zodiac is derived from Greek terminology meaning “circle of little animals.” We’re a circle of little animals - cute visuals there, eh? Hieroglyphs in Egypt dating as early as the 14th century BC were found to contain a circle of decans (constellations) depicting something that looks a lot like the constellations and zodiac symbols that we know today. In total there were 36 decans found within the temple.

During the first half of the first millennium, Babylonian astronomers created our modern zodiac. They also mapped the previous constellations that were seen in the Egyptian hieroglyphs but continued to add more as they were discovered. In the last half of the 5th century, the Babylonian astronomers divided the many constellations into 12 equal "signs” to represent the 12 months of the year at 30 days per month. Each sign contained 30° of celestial longitude, thus creating the first known celestial coordinate system. According to calculations by modern astrophysics, the zodiac was introduced between 409 and 398 BC and probably within a very few years of 401 BC. Unlike modern astrologers, who place the beginning of the sign of Aries at the place of the Sun at the vernal equinox, Babylonian astronomers fixed the zodiac in relation to stars, placing the beginning of Cancer at the "Rear Twin Star" (β Geminorum) and the beginning of Aquarius at the "Rear Star of the Goat-Fish" (δ Capricorni). Due to the precession of the equinoxes, the time of year the Sun is in a given constellation has changed since Babylonian times, the point of vernal equinox has moved from Aries into Pisces. 

You’ll be pleasantly surprised, intrigued, or disgusted to know that all of this does have some roots within religion. The Hebrew Bible shows knowledge of the Babylonian zodiac. E. W. Bullinger noted that the drawings found in the book of Ezekiel were quite similar to the middle four quarters of the zodiac (Lion/Leo, Bull/Taurus, Man/Aquarius, Eagle/Scorpio). You read that right, Scorpio is noted as being an eagle - not a scorpion. Some say that the twelve tribes of Israel are correlated with the zodiac signs found within the Hebrew 12 month calendar. There is an argument that the position of the Israelic tribes around the Tabernacle from the book of Numbers correlates with the exact order of the zodiac, with Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan representing the middle signs of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, and Scorpio, respectively. It is shocking how I have heard religious people in modern times talk about how this is all a bunch of garbage, even though some of this is literally correlated with items from the Bible.

To explain daily horoscopes and the connection between the stars, planets, and our zodiac signs, you must engage in a bit of math (yuck). When planets and constellations of the zodiac would align, the Babylonian astronomers of that time would note the experiences that people had and found similarities. These experiences, along with the position of the Earth, Sun, Moon, and constellations and the positions relative to the zodiac signs were stored within a catalogue. This went on for several years and is essentially what began our modern-day daily horoscope. However, it is my personal opinion that a lot of these “professionals” who have their own magical websites where you can get a free daily horoscope, just make shit up to sound interesting. That is obvious by the previously mentioned differentials found within each page. I encourage you to do a quick Google search and you’ll see what I’m talking about. This ties into the belief that the Barnum Effect is in play here. You’ll remember the Barnum Effect from last month's blog. If you haven’t read the June 2021 blog The Imaginarium of Barnum, I suggest you head there next to get a deeper understanding of what I’m talking about before you continue reading. Much of what is broadcasted in daily horoscopes, zodiac sign descriptions, and even within mediumship and tarot readings is full of extremely vague generalities. Because the information is presented in such a vague and generalized way, it then becomes an instance where anyone could apply any of the information to their life in some way. So as you can see, there is some psychological manipulation at play here. Now, I am not saying this is true for all who present the information. I will say that there are A LOT of shams out there. I have seen far more fake sites/readings/etc. than I have seen legit ones. If I had to give a percentage from my personal experience, I’d say about 85% of what I’ve seen is bullshit. But you choose what you believe at the end of the day. I just ask you to keep an open mind and a wise eye about you when scanning the web for horoscopes, zodiac information, tarot, and mediumship. 

All of this information is interesting to stew on within your mind. I hope that you learned something new. I know I did when I was researching this topic for the blog. The religious ties were the most surprising thing to me. What did you find most interesting? Drop a comment under the blog on Tumblr or under the Instagram post for this month’s blog and let me know. Tonight if you are able, take a look at the stars and see if you can find the constellations. The plethora of shapes within the brightest stars are brilliant to gaze upon. Who knows, maybe you will find your zodiac constellation. Maybe you will depict a new constellation on your own by combining different combinations of stars. Or maybe you’ll see something that you can’t explain…

Cryptic Mystic Blog by PsychVVitch @psychvvitch

www.LaMorteXiii.com

[justforbooks]

Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus

This storm will pass. But the choices we make now could change our lives for years to come

Humankind is now facing a global crisis. Perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. The decisions people and governments take in the next few weeks will probably shape the world for years to come. They will shape not just our healthcare systems but also our economy, politics and culture. We must act quickly and decisively. We should also take into account the long-term consequences of our actions. When choosing between alternatives, we should ask ourselves not only how to overcome the immediate threat, but also what kind of world we will inhabit once the storm passes. Yes, the storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive — but we will inhabit a different world.

Many short-term emergency measures will become a fixture of life. That is the nature of emergencies. They fast-forward historical processes. Decisions that in normal times could take years of deliberation are passed in a matter of hours. Immature and even dangerous technologies are pressed into service, because the risks of doing nothing are bigger. Entire countries serve as guinea-pigs in large-scale social experiments. What happens when everybody works from home and communicates only at a distance? What happens when entire schools and universities go online? In normal times, governments, businesses and educational boards would never agree to conduct such experiments. But these aren’t normal times.

In this time of crisis, we face two particularly important choices. The first is between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment. The second is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity.

Under-the-skin surveillance

In order to stop the epidemic, entire populations need to comply with certain guidelines. There are two main ways of achieving this. One method is for the government to monitor people, and punish those who break the rules. Today, for the first time in human history, technology makes it possible to monitor everyone all the time. Fifty years ago, the KGB couldn’t follow 240m Soviet citizens 24 hours a day, nor could the KGB hope to effectively process all the information gathered. The KGB relied on human agents and analysts, and it just couldn’t place a human agent to follow every citizen. But now governments can rely on ubiquitous sensors and powerful algorithms instead of flesh-and-blood spooks.

In their battle against the coronavirus epidemic several governments have already deployed the new surveillance tools. The most notable case is China. By closely monitoring people’s smartphones, making use of hundreds of millions of face-recognising cameras, and obliging people to check and report their body temperature and medical condition, the Chinese authorities can not only quickly identify suspected coronavirus carriers, but also track their movements and identify anyone they came into contact with. A range of mobile apps warn citizens about their proximity to infected patients.

This kind of technology is not limited to east Asia. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel recently authorised the Israel Security Agency to deploy surveillance technology normally reserved for battling terrorists to track coronavirus patients. When the relevant parliamentary subcommittee refused to authorise the measure, Netanyahu rammed it through with an “emergency decree”.

You might argue that there is nothing new about all this. In recent years both governments and corporations have been using ever more sophisticated technologies to track, monitor and manipulate people. Yet if we are not careful, the epidemic might nevertheless mark an important watershed in the history of surveillance. Not only because it might normalise the deployment of mass surveillance tools in countries that have so far rejected them, but even more so because it signifies a dramatic transition from “over the skin” to “under the skin” surveillance.

Hitherto, when your finger touched the screen of your smartphone and clicked on a link, the government wanted to know what exactly your finger was clicking on. But with coronavirus, the focus of interest shifts. Now the government wants to know the temperature of your finger and the blood-pressure under its skin.

The emergency pudding

One of the problems we face in working out where we stand on surveillance is that none of us know exactly how we are being surveilled, and what the coming years might bring. Surveillance technology is developing at breakneck speed, and what seemed science-fiction 10 years ago is today old news. As a thought experiment, consider a hypothetical government that demands that every citizen wears a biometric bracelet that monitors body temperature and heart-rate 24 hours a day. The resulting data is hoarded and analysed by government algorithms. The algorithms will know that you are sick even before you know it, and they will also know where you have been, and who you have met. The chains of infection could be drastically shortened, and even cut altogether. Such a system could arguably stop the epidemic in its tracks within days. Sounds wonderful, right?

The downside is, of course, that this would give legitimacy to a terrifying new surveillance system. If you know, for example, that I clicked on a Fox News link rather than a CNN link, that can teach you something about my political views and perhaps even my personality. But if you can monitor what happens to my body temperature, blood pressure and heart-rate as I watch the video clip, you can learn what makes me laugh, what makes me cry, and what makes me really, really angry.

It is crucial to remember that anger, joy, boredom and love are biological phenomena just like fever and a cough. The same technology that identifies coughs could also identify laughs. If corporations and governments start harvesting our biometric data en masse, they can get to know us far better than we know ourselves, and they can then not just predict our feelings but also manipulate our feelings and sell us anything they want — be it a product or a politician. Biometric monitoring would make Cambridge Analytica’s data hacking tactics look like something from the Stone Age. Imagine North Korea in 2030, when every citizen has to wear a biometric bracelet 24 hours a day. If you listen to a speech by the Great Leader and the bracelet picks up the tell-tale signs of anger, you are done for.

You could, of course, make the case for biometric surveillance as a temporary measure taken during a state of emergency. It would go away once the emergency is over. But temporary measures have a nasty habit of outlasting emergencies, especially as there is always a new emergency lurking on the horizon. My home country of Israel, for example, declared a state of emergency during its 1948 War of Independence, which justified a range of temporary measures from press censorship and land confiscation to special regulations for making pudding (I kid you not). The War of Independence has long been won, but Israel never declared the emergency over, and has failed to abolish many of the “temporary” measures of 1948 (the emergency pudding decree was mercifully abolished in 2011).

Even when infections from coronavirus are down to zero, some data-hungry governments could argue they needed to keep the biometric surveillance systems in place because they fear a second wave of coronavirus, or because there is a new Ebola strain evolving in central Africa, or because . . . you get the idea. A big battle has been raging in recent years over our privacy. The coronavirus crisis could be the battle’s tipping point. For when people are given a choice between privacy and health, they will usually choose health.

The soap police

Asking people to choose between privacy and health is, in fact, the very root of the problem. Because this is a false choice. We can and should enjoy both privacy and health. We can choose to protect our health and stop the coronavirus epidemic not by instituting totalitarian surveillance regimes, but rather by empowering citizens. In recent weeks, some of the most successful efforts to contain the coronavirus epidemic were orchestrated by South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. While these countries have made some use of tracking applications, they have relied far more on extensive testing, on honest reporting, and on the willing co-operation of a well-informed public.

Centralised monitoring and harsh punishments aren’t the only way to make people comply with beneficial guidelines. When people are told the scientific facts, and when people trust public authorities to tell them these facts, citizens can do the right thing even without a Big Brother watching over their shoulders. A self-motivated and well-informed population is usually far more powerful and effective than a policed, ignorant population.

Consider, for example, washing your hands with soap. This has been one of the greatest advances ever in human hygiene. This simple action saves millions of lives every year. While we take it for granted, it was only in the 19th century that scientists discovered the importance of washing hands with soap. Previously, even doctors and nurses proceeded from one surgical operation to the next without washing their hands. Today billions of people daily wash their hands, not because they are afraid of the soap police, but rather because they understand the facts. I wash my hands with soap because I have heard of viruses and bacteria, I understand that these tiny organisms cause diseases, and I know that soap can remove them.

But to achieve such a level of compliance and co-operation, you need trust. People need to trust science, to trust public authorities, and to trust the media. Over the past few years, irresponsible politicians have deliberately undermined trust in science, in public authorities and in the media. Now these same irresponsible politicians might be tempted to take the high road to authoritarianism, arguing that you just cannot trust the public to do the right thing.

Normally, trust that has been eroded for years cannot be rebuilt overnight. But these are not normal times. In a moment of crisis, minds too can change quickly. You can have bitter arguments with your siblings for years, but when some emergency occurs, you suddenly discover a hidden reservoir of trust and amity, and you rush to help one another. Instead of building a surveillance regime, it is not too late to rebuild people’s trust in science, in public authorities and in the media. We should definitely make use of new technologies too, but these technologies should empower citizens. I am all in favour of monitoring my body temperature and blood pressure, but that data should not be used to create an all-powerful government. Rather, that data should enable me to make more informed personal choices, and also to hold government accountable for its decisions.

If I could track my own medical condition 24 hours a day, I would learn not only whether I have become a health hazard to other people, but also which habits contribute to my health. And if I could access and analyse reliable statistics on the spread of coronavirus, I would be able to judge whether the government is telling me the truth and whether it is adopting the right policies to combat the epidemic. Whenever people talk about surveillance, remember that the same surveillance technology can usually be used not only by governments to monitor individuals — but also by individuals to monitor governments.

The coronavirus epidemic is thus a major test of citizenship. In the days ahead, each one of us should choose to trust scientific data and healthcare experts over unfounded conspiracy theories and self-serving politicians. If we fail to make the right choice, we might find ourselves signing away our most precious freedoms, thinking that this is the only way to safeguard our health.

We need a global plan

The second important choice we confront is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity. Both the epidemic itself and the resulting economic crisis are global problems. They can be solved effectively only by global co-operation.

First and foremost, in order to defeat the virus we need to share information globally. That’s the big advantage of humans over viruses. A coronavirus in China and a coronavirus in the US cannot swap tips about how to infect humans. But China can teach the US many valuable lessons about coronavirus and how to deal with it. What an Italian doctor discovers in Milan in the early morning might well save lives in Tehran by evening. When the UK government hesitates between several policies, it can get advice from the Koreans who have already faced a similar dilemma a month ago. But for this to happen, we need a spirit of global co-operation and trust.

Countries should be willing to share information openly and humbly seek advice, and should be able to trust the data and the insights they receive. We also need a global effort to produce and distribute medical equipment, most notably testing kits and respiratory machines. Instead of every country trying to do it locally and hoarding whatever equipment it can get, a co-ordinated global effort could greatly accelerate production and make sure life-saving equipment is distributed more fairly. Just as countries nationalise key industries during a war, the human war against coronavirus may require us to “humanise” the crucial production lines. A rich country with few coronavirus cases should be willing to send precious equipment to a poorer country with many cases, trusting that if and when it subsequently needs help, other countries will come to its assistance.

We might consider a similar global effort to pool medical personnel. Countries currently less affected could send medical staff to the worst-hit regions of the world, both in order to help them in their hour of need, and in order to gain valuable experience. If later on the focus of the epidemic shifts, help could start flowing in the opposite direction.

Global co-operation is vitally needed on the economic front too. Given the global nature of the economy and of supply chains, if each government does its own thing in complete disregard of the others, the result will be chaos and a deepening crisis. We need a global plan of action, and we need it fast.

Another requirement is reaching a global agreement on travel. Suspending all international travel for months will cause tremendous hardships, and hamper the war against coronavirus. Countries need to co-operate in order to allow at least a trickle of essential travellers to continue crossing borders: scientists, doctors, journalists, politicians, businesspeople. This can be done by reaching a global agreement on the pre-screening of travellers by their home country. If you know that only carefully screened travellers were allowed on a plane, you would be more willing to accept them into your country.

Unfortunately, at present countries hardly do any of these things. A collective paralysis has gripped the international community. There seem to be no adults in the room. One would have expected to see already weeks ago an emergency meeting of global leaders to come up with a common plan of action. The G7 leaders managed to organise a video conference only this week, and it did not result in any such plan.

In previous global crises — such as the 2008 financial crisis and the 2014 Ebola epidemic — the US assumed the role of global leader. But the current US administration has abdicated the job of leader. It has made it very clear that it cares about the greatness of America far more than about the future of humanity.

This administration has abandoned even its closest allies. When it banned all travel from the EU, it didn’t bother to give the EU so much as an advance notice — let alone consult with the EU about that drastic measure. It has scandalised Germany by allegedly offering $1bn to a German pharmaceutical company to buy monopoly rights to a new Covid-19 vaccine. Even if the current administration eventually changes tack and comes up with a global plan of action, few would follow a leader who never takes responsibility, who never admits mistakes, and who routinely takes all the credit for himself while leaving all the blame to others.

If the void left by the US isn’t filled by other countries, not only will it be much harder to stop the current epidemic, but its legacy will continue to poison international relations for years to come. Yet every crisis is also an opportunity. We must hope that the current epidemic will help humankind realise the acute danger posed by global disunity.

Humanity needs to make a choice. Will we travel down the route of disunity, or will we adopt the path of global solidarity? If we choose disunity, this will not only prolong the crisis, but will probably result in even worse catastrophes in the future. If we choose global solidarity, it will be a victory not only against the coronavirus, but against all future epidemics and crises that might assail humankind in the 21st century.

Yuval Noah Harari is author of ‘Sapiens’, ‘Homo Deus’ and ‘21 Lessons for the 21st Century’

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[rivasremedies]

Do Horses Love Garlic?

The History of Garlic

Garlic is one of the oldest known foods and has been consumed by humans for several thousand years dating back to 2600-2100 BC. Its roots began in China, Japan, and Korea. From there it migrated to the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and then Great Britain. Today, it is one of the most popular medicinal foods in the world. Garlic is used across the globe, including India, Egypt, and Israel, for its nutritional and culinary value, as well as its medicinal properties. Close relatives to garlic include onion, shallot, leeks, and chives.

Garlic for Nutrition

Garlic, which is categorized as a vegetable, contains high levels of sulphur and vitamin B1 (thiamine), both of which nourish the skin. And because Vitamin B1 changes the body odor, it is a popular addition to supplements to help resist or repel insects including flies and ticks. Garlic also contains the essential minerals of calcium, phosphorus, manganese, and selenium, as well as a high content of Vitamin C. There is also germanium in it; a lesser known but still important mineral with antioxidant properties that heals wounds, strengthens the immune system, and has been used in cases of cancer.

Garlic as Medicine

Garlic contains allicin, a phytonutrient which breaks down to form a variety of organosulfur compounds, compounds which give garlic a number of therapeutic effects. Garlic is widely used for bacterial infections, yeast infections, viruses, colds, flus, immune problems, respiratory conditions, toothaches, abscesses, a lack of appetite, and low vitality. In war-time Russia, garlic was known as “Russian penicillin” because it was so effective in treating wound infections. In more recent times we have learned that garlic is also an effective blood thinner and helps to reduce high blood pressure as well as cholesterol. There is also an association between the intake of garlic and the reduction of certain cancers.

All this considered, garlic makes an excellent tonic.

Garlic is also thought to ward off ghosts and negative energies and can be used for those people or animals who are prone to attracting entities that deplete their life force.

Garlic as Horse Medicine

It seems that everyone is passionate about garlic! There are garlic lovers and there are garlic haters. Especially when it comes to feeding it to horses! In fact, one of my Facebook posts on garlic was in the top ten posts ever for record engagements. Whew! That’s a lot of passion over garlic. The conversation went on for days.

Garlic lovers see a lot of positive changes in their garlic-eating horses. Garlic can help horses with digestive upsets, leaky gut, respiratory problems, infections, skin problems, and overall malaise. It is also an excellent general detoxifier. Garlic can also be used as a poultice on abscesses, wounds, and joint infections.

What The Studies Say

Some horse folks are fearful to feed garlic because of its reported effects on red blood cells. But studies are sparse and often unreasonable and inconclusive. One study showed that high quantities of garlic over several weeks can lead to anemia, i.e., a reduction in red blood cells. The study included four horses and two of them were controls which meant that only two horses ate the garlic which was fed in freeze dried form. These two horses were given .1 grams/kg of body weight (approximately 45 grams in total) every day to start which was then gradually increased to .5 grams/kg (approximately 227 grams in total) of garlic over 41 days. This higher dosage was then continued for another 30 days for a total of 71 days.

This means that a one-thousand-pound horse would have been fed the equivalent to 7 medium cloves of raw garlic for the first 6 weeks and then up to 38 medium cloves of raw garlic for another month!

And so, perhaps of no surprise, after 2-1/2 months of these toxic doses the horses’ blood work showed a type of anemia called Heinz body anemia but no other visible signs of physical symptoms or other health problems. Symptoms of anemia can include fatigue, muscle weakness, loss of appetite, pale gums, and yellowish eyes. In any case, within 5 weeks of discontinuing the garlic, all of the blood work returned to normal.

Link to resource: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15822591/

Another study used 250 grams per day on 1,000-pound horses with the same results.

Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t know why any sensible horse person would feed their beloved horses these kinds of toxic dosages. It defies common sense. Few vegetables or plants would NOT be toxic if fed in this way. It’s all about the dose. Horses are very sensitive and do not need to be overdosed with anything for it to work.

According to the National Research Council in 2008, a presumed safe intake for horses is 90 mg/kg (= .09 grams) of body weight per day (6 raw cloves) and a historically safe intake is 15 mg/kg (.015 grams) of body weight per day (1 raw clove).

Meanwhile Health Canada has approved garlic for all equine supplements, with a precaution to not feed to any horses with a bleeding disorder. Fair enough.

Garlic as People Medicine

The effects of garlic on red blood cells are not exclusive to horses, it has the same effects on humans, and dogs too. In fact, it is these chemical properties that make it such an excellent antioxidant to improve circulation and reduce blood pressure. And so, while some people may be nervous about its supposedly adverse effects on horses, many of these same people are eating lots of garlic for themselves. But no one is worried about the same potentially toxic effects on people because they are focused on the benefits. In fact, the world production of garlic for human consumption is over 25 million tons! That’s a lot of garlic!

My own mother took garlic every day for many years and credited it for her strong immune system. Good thing she didn’t live in ancient Greece though, the authorities of the time forbade anyone who smelled like garlic from entering their sacred temples.

How to Feed Garlic to Horses

Horses are also garlic lovers and garlic haters, although most of them really like it. They must know that garlic has a long history of helping people and animals with its nutritional, medicinal, and therapeutic benefits. So, we side with both the horses and Health Canada and highly recommend it for equine medicinal purposes where indicated. But like all medicinal herbs and supplements, it should only be given if the benefits are obvious, and of course it should not be given over long periods of time as in months or years. A shorter duration will not only prevent any kind of toxic effects, but it will avoid desensitization where the body no longer responds to it in a positive way. Most herbs or supplements, if given for longer than is needed, will lose their potency. So, it is always best to use herbal plants or vegetables temporarily as indicated for specific situations.

The Garlic Equine Dosage

Raw garlic is the best and most potent form. Feed 2-3 medium or large cloves daily for 2-3 weeks or less if the condition improves. And if your horse doesn’t like the taste or stops eating it take that as a sign that your horse is finished with it. My own horses let me know when they have had enough because they start to flip the cloves out of their dish. This is usually after about 2 weeks of 2-3 garlic cloves per day. Horses know best!

~ Stop and Smell the Garlic ~

Marijke van de Water, B.Sc., DHMS

Equine Health Nutrition Specialist Homeopathic Practitioner Medical Intuitive & Healer Educator & Author

Marijke is a life-long horse lover, the author of the best-selling Healing Horses Their Way, and the founder, formulator, and CEO of Riva’s Remedies. She is a gifted healer who helps horses, and their people, from around the world live happier, healthier lives.

[indestinatus]

tiva fanfiction author recommendations plz I need some good tiva to read

OKAY SO

This has been sitting in my inbox for a couple of days because I had to think SO HARD about my favorite authors and I was sure I would forget some of them. I started reading fanfiction almost ten years ago, so a lot of the titles and names have been lost in my memory by now. There are some more recent stories (which the authors are active) and the ones I get back to reread, so I’ll list those. Some works are still in progress. Here are some of my favorite tiva stories in no particular order:

Christmas Meeting by @beatrixacs [M, 368,073 word count, in progress]

Christmas 2015. Prague, Czech Republic. An unexpected meeting between two former co-workers after more than two years from their parting in Israel that will make them realize that their feelings towards each other are stronger than before. But will they do anything about it? And what does the future look like for them? AU Season 13.

Kissing Deal by @beatrixacs [M, 247,815 word count, complete]

Tony and Ziva are posing as a married couple in a hotel for a week to keep an eye on another married couple that is involved in their last case and to find some evidence against them. As a part of marital necessities they make a deal about kisses. Will they finally find their way to each other thanks to it?

a crawl to cross the distance by @benditlikepress [M, 6,258 word count, complete]

Tony and Ziva’s first date ended up happening 15 years after they first met, 5 years and 7 months after their daughter was born, and just over a month after they were reunited for good.

leave before the lights come on by @benditlikepress [M, 9,049 word count, complete]

The night before Ziva is assigned to NCIS, she crosses paths with one member of the team in a bar. Set between Kill Ari Pt 2 and Silver War.

That We May Forgive by @justkindaoverhereobsessing [G, 12,875 word count, complete]

Ziva's second pregnancy is nothing like her first (makes a comparison between Tali’s pregnancy and a second child in the DiNozzo family)

We Are an Ocean by @justkindaoverhereobsessing [M, 120,164 word count, in progress]

The first time they sleep together, it's easy. It makes sense, partners transitioning to friends and maybe friends with benefits. Letting emotions in, though? That might be a different story (tiva sleeping together and the repercussions of it throughout the episodes)

Heat wave by jelenamichel [M, 24,685 word count, complete]

What was it they said about excessive heat having an effect on a person's ability to think clearly? A heat wave in DC brings the tension between two agents to boiling point. 

Famiglia by jelenamichel [T, 83,903 word count, complete]

When DiNozzo Senior's health takes a hit Tony finds out about long-kept secrets and lies. His life begins to change as his two families collide, and he battles with who he wants to be versus the man he seems destined to become.

I See You by @storywriter30 [T, 8,491 word count, complete] 

And suddenly, it is the Fall of 2009 and he is seeing her for the first time again. All of her strength, all of her scars, all of their history, lay bare in front of him (Tony finds Ziva is alive in Paris).

The Liaison by @hundan [E, 28,470 word count, in progress]

Some days it's hard to remember why it is you do your job, this was highly evident today for Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. When he left Gibbs, his boss, in the motherland to take a overseas deployment to Israel he thought the whole thing would be an experience of a lifetime. Maybe he was wrong, but maybe he was right. AU

The Past Forgotten by @hundan [T, 75,315 word count, complete] 

"I'm sorry, I don't know you" Tony said, simply. Like that one single comment hadn't ripped her heart out and stomped all over it. She was his partner, she's not meant to be forgotten by him of all people.

Hoping for Happiness by @jaelke421 [M, 265,887 word count, complete]

Tiva romance. Chronicles their transition from friends to something more. Departs canon after Child's Play. Warning: Mention of rape and torture. 

Cold Tiles and Warm Air by @factoffictionwriter [M, 3,658 word count, complete]

But staring? It just wasn't her thing. Touching, kissing, stroking… these were all forms of intimacy she could get behind. But leave her to look - just look, not touch - and she typically grew antsy. Or worse: Bored. Tag 11x02. Bitter Sweet.

Family Second by @factoffictionwriter [M, 26,865 word count, complete]

Alternate ep 13x24. The team gets ahold of Ziva before the mortar attack. Follows along with the storyline of the episode for the most part. A true to character AU of sorts.

holding on (and letting go) by @thewintersoldierdisaster [G, 1,322 word count, complete]

Tony and Ziva are reunited again. Set in S17.

Cool Hand Luke by @thewintersoldierdisaster [G, 1,959 word count, complete]

Tony and Tali spend Ziva's birthday in Paris.

Of Plenty by Strawberry Shortcake123 [M, 28,748 word count, complete]

While celebrating their reinstatement as NCIS agents, Tony and Ziva drink too much and go too far. They decide to put the night behind them- until Ziva finds out that she is pregnant.

Treasure Map by @belletylers [T, 11,285 word count, complete]

"Tony had always considered himself fairly good at finding people who were missing. Especially if those people were Ziva." Tony and Tali go to Paris, searching for Ziva after the events of 13x24.

A Helping Hand by @loudlooks [M, 16,928 word count, complete]

Ziva comes up with a creative solution to help Tony, who refuses to take painkillers after injuring both arms.

Something I Left Behind by @aksannyi [E, 5,894 word count, complete]

This is a missing scene from Past, Present, Future, which explains how Tali came to be. Yes, the M rating is there for a reason. This is angsty, given the nature of the episode it comes from.

Under Pressure by @aksannyi [E, 4,338 word count, complete]

She didn't need to kiss him then, but she did, and suddenly they were no longer pretending. Tony and Ziva learn a lot about each other while they're under cover. Tag to 3x08, Under Covers. 

Treading Water by Mechabeira [T, 191,744 word count, complete]

"You can still swim, can't you? You're going to have to tow her in, DiNozzo. We aren't going to let her just tread water."

There are so so so many more great authors out there, so I’ll list their FF.net and AO3 pages (the ones I can remember): Zays, jae-vous, brightblue, Anonymous033, Strawberry Shortcake123, AliyahNCIS, quotelation (@quotelation), McGeekle (@mcgeekle), LittleSammy, pro-bee (@pro-bee), xoxonessie (@xoxonessie), alacarton (@ahtlolevad-fics) and MANY OTHERS THAT I SURELY FORGOT (for that I’m sorry, but I tried my best).

Please feel free to fangirl with me about all those stories (haha I’m always opened to that) and to click in their accounts to see more great ones!! I just linked some I like most, but there are authors who wrote about 20-50 tiva stories with the same quality I linked it here. Be sure to check their profiles out!!

ALSO IMPORTANT TIP

From someone who loves tiva fanfiction, the works about it are scattered throughout more than a decade, so there’s A LOT (a lot, no joke) of good fanfiction both on FF.net and AO3. Some of the authors are still active on Tumblr, and if you like someone’s type of posts, try to ask them if they wrote something (what I love here is that most people active on the fandom eventually turn into writers) or even if they haven’t I’m sure they would recommend some great ones!

I hope I could help you somehow, and I’m sure Anthony DiNozzo and Ziva David will still have a lot of new authors to cherish them, their story is not over yet. 

thanks, anon!! xoxo Sofia

[haleviyah]

First Century Rabbi Sketch

Let's dive into history for a moment here. According to archives, Israel was (and still is) not as pristine as you see in the movies or to anyone's liking. I (probably like you) have been raised/sold the narrative that this tiny strip of sand was suppose to be almost like a mini-Rome, with pious men walking the streets, and those who didn't agree with you or walked on the other side of the road was automatically your enemy without getting to know them first. Boy, was I wrong - AWFULLY WRONG. And I am glad the movie portrayals were fake! To put this in brief summary, the region where Rebbe Yehoshua Bar Yosef (or who you would like to call "Jesus Christ") is from would make Las Vegas look tame. Smoking (or vaping) and drinking were no strangers to the populous, obviously. Shisha molasses, marijuana and high alcoholic content wine were common at small dinners and large parties along with other substances. However, they were not used solely as means of intoxication and euphoria in contrast to today's assumptions based in the modern church. These substances were mainly used in gatherings, especially given to those who have it rough/stressful (i.e. prostitutes, tax collectors who would extort citizens, and other shades of the rainbow of life.) Please, understand this. This was during OLD COVENANT, meaning that the Immersion (or baptism) of the Holy Spirit was not available to everyone yet. There had to be methods used to slow down oppression in everyone's personal lives and things such as simple dinners to parties were essential to help the people to relax enough and get the stress off their shoulders. Rabbis (which I stress the word is NOT a religious title, but rather equal to calling a gentleman "Sir") would host these said gatherings often and happily pay for the food or whatever supplies is necessary. Sin (disbelief) was inevitable back then when it came to the Law. The Law was a mitigation process, much like how us quarantining a majority of 2020 was mitigation against the COVID-19. This was how the Law worked and it was effective to a degree, however it is NOT designed to heal us or make us righteous. Nowadays, that the Law is fulfilled, the dependency on physicality to slow down sin is no longer necessary anymore. We have the power to counter it easily. I stress this off and on, and I will do it again: the Bible is WAY more gritty and in depth than one would think. It’s way more down to earth and relational, and exercises altruism instead of keeping you up in the clouds while enticing you with euphoria. When you empathize Israel's (Judea's) history and let your guard down towards Truth and raise that guard against religious dogma/doctrines, I guarantee things will be smoother.   On a side note, you christians are probably wondering, "Is this what Jesus looked like and did?" Well, I hate to burst your pretty little bubble but YES! There is an extremely high likelihood he hosted these parties mentioned and payed for them in full (wines, hookahs and music) and ate, drank and chilled with the prostitutes, tax collectors and otherwise. One more thing I nearly forgot: I am in no means promoting abusing the usage of drugs, NOR am I a prohibitionist. However, if you have a rough day and you want to smoke a blunt, or have a glass of wine/beer to relax, I am not going to stand in your way. Stress kills you more, and making sure that you have a peace of mind is more way important than trying to police your life and making your uneasiness worse. This is how I have learned how to see things. 

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

17th December >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 1:1-17 for The 17th December: ‘A genealogy of  Jesus Christ’.

17th December

Gospel (Except USA)

Matthew 1:1-17

The ancestry of Jesus Christ, the son of David

A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother, Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother, Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother, Obed was the father of Jesse; and Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Azariah, Azariah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah; and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers. Then the deportation to Babylon took place. After the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob; and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 1:1-17

The genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.    Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king.    David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.    After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.    Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations.

Reflections (8)

(i) 17th December

Today we begin the Octave of Christmas. The readings, especially the gospel readings, relate much more to the birth and childhood of Jesus. The alleluia verses are a series of beautiful Advent prayers, each of which is worth making our own this Advent season. The genealogy of Jesus with its list of strange names may strike us as an unusual gospel reading. Why include it in the lectionary at all? Yet, it reminds us very forcibly of the humanity of Jesus. Yes, we believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but he was also a son of Abraham and a son of David. He belonged to the people of Abraham’s God, the people of Israel. Through Joseph, his father, he was a descendant of King David. Jesus was deeply rooted in the Jewish world and tradition. His family tree was a Jewish family tree. His Scriptures were the Jewish Scriptures. When God became human, he did so among a particular people, in a particular place, at a particular time in history. Yet, God sent his Son into the world for all peoples, for every place and for all future time. Jesus, now risen Lord, is to be found among us, in this place, in this time. When God sent his Son into the world it was for everyone, in every time and place. The child Jesus was born not just to Mary and Joseph of Nazareth two thousand years ago, but to each one of us today. That is why we celebrate the birth of this child as good news for us, for me personally. Christmas is the time when we give thanks to God for the greatest gift he could have given us, the gift of his very self, the gift of his Son, who is light from light. Having given such a wonderful gift, God will never take it back. Because of the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph, we have all been eternally graced and we are called to live out of that grace.

And/Or

(ii) 17th December

The gospel reading we have just read is probably one of the strangest gospel readings of the church’s liturgical year. We might ask, ‘Why bother with that long list of names?’ It was clearly important for the evangelist Matthew to communicate some sense of Jesus’ family tree. There seems to be an increasing interest in family trees in recent times. More and more people want to know ‘Where have I come from?’ and ‘Who are the people who have helped to make me the person I am?’ Each of us is very aware that the story of our ancestors is an important part of our story. It is the part of our story that is below ground, like the roots of a tree. And where would a tree be without its roots? In a similar way, Matthew knew that the story of Jesus’ ancestors was a very important chapter in his own story. In Jesus’ genealogical tree that Matthew gives us there are a number of people who were anything but paragons of virtue. Many of them had what we would call today a dark side. Yet, Matthew is declaring that God worked through all of these people, including those whose character left a lot to be desired, to give the world its Saviour. Matthew’s genealogy reminds us that, in the words of Saint Paul, God’s power can be made perfect in weakness. Even when we are not at our best, God’s purpose for our lives and for the lives of others continues to work itself out.

 And/Or

(iii) 17th December

The gospel reading we have just read is probably one of the strangest gospel readings of the church’s liturgical year. We might ask, ‘Why bother with that long list of names?’ It was clearly important for the evangelist Matthew to communicate some sense of Jesus’ family tree. There seems to be an increasing interest in family trees in recent times. More and more people want to know ‘Where have I come from?’ and ‘Who are the people who have helped to make me the person I am?’ Each of us is very aware that the story of my ancestors is an important part of my story. It is the part of my story that is below ground, like the roots of a tree. And where would a tree be without its roots? In a similar way, Matthew knew that the story of Jesus’ ancestors was a very important chapter in his own story. The genealogy, the family tree, of Jesus that Matthew presents in this morning’s gospel reading stresses in the very first line that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham and a descendant of David. As son of David, he is the promised Messianic King of the Jews; as son of Abraham he fulfils the God’s promise to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Jesus, the long awaited Messianic king of the Jews has come, not just for the sake of Israel, but for the sake of all the nations, and that includes all of us. Jesus may be a Jew, but he is the light of the nations.

 And/Or

(iv) 17th December

This morning we begin the octave of Christmas. The readings for these eight days are very specially chosen. The first reading invariably consists of one of the great Messianic promises in the Jewish Scriptures. The gospel acclamation on each of these eight days is also very significant. Each one is a beautiful prayer, a variation on the simple, ‘Come Lord Jesus’. You may have noticed the gospel acclamation for this morning’s Mass, ‘Wisdom of the Most High; ordering all things with strength and gentleness, come and teach us the way of truth’. The gospel readings for these eight days, apart from tomorrow Sunday, are all taken from the first chapter of the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke. This morning’s gospel reading consists of the opening seventeen verses of the gospel of Matthew. It is an unusual gospel reading; it is tempting to ask ‘what is the point of that long list of names’. What was Matthew doing by beginning his gospel in this particular way? He wanted to show that Jesus was rooted in the Jewish people; his family tree included Abraham and Isaac, David and Solomon, and many others. Jesus was hewn from the rock of Abraham, like the remainder of the people of Israel. We are being reminded that the deepest roots of our own Christian faith are to be found in the story of the people of Israel. That list of names is anything but a list of saints; there are plenty of people whose lives left a lot to be desired; we only have to think of David. Yet, Matthew is saying that in some mysterious way, God worked through all of those characters to bring Jesus to humanity. Matthew is reminding us there that God can bring great good out of human sin and brokenness. That realization is not an encouragement to sin but it gives us hope that even when we fall short of our calling the Lord’s saving purpose continues to work itself out.

 And/Or

(v) 17th December

Matthew’s gospel opens with the genealogy of Jesus. You may wonder why it is given to us as a gospel reading at the beginning of this novena of days before Christmas. After all, it is only a long list of mostly unpronounceable names. We are being reminded that the child whose birth we are soon to celebrate did not just drop out of the sky. He was fully human and like all humans, all of us, he had an ancestry, he had a family tree. He had roots and he was shaped by those roots. When you look at that list of names, they are a very mixed bag. Many of them are far from being paragons of virtue. Yet, each of them played a part in the making of Jesus. Each of them ultimately served God’s good purpose. There will be good and bad in our own family tree just as there will be good and bad in our own personal lives. Yet, God can work in a life-giving way even through the darker and what we would think of as the more negative experiences of our lives. Every experience can serve God’s purpose if we remain to God’s presence to us. He is constantly at work in our lives bringing new life out of death and great good out of failure.

 And/Or

(vi) 17th December

Today we begin the octave of Christmas. The gospel readings from the 17th December up to and including Christmas Eve are all taken from the first chapter of the gospel of Matthew and of the gospel of Luke. This morning’s gospel gives us the opening seventeen verses of Matthew’s gospel, the genealogy of Jesus. You might be tempted to ask, ‘Why do we read these verses at all in our liturgy?’ What are we to make of this long list of unpronounceable names? At the very beginning of his gospel Matthew is telling us that Jesus is a Jew, a descendant of Abraham and of David. His roots and our roots as his followers are to be found in Judaism. Matthew was aware that many of those listed in the genealogy of Jesus were anything but paragons of virtue. Yet they had a role to play in the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, to all men and women, Jew and pagan. Matthew may be reminding us that God can work powerfully in and through flawed human beings. Our own personal frailties and weaknesses do not prevent God from working through us. Even though we may be far from perfect, we can still have a role to play in bringing Jesus, Emmanuel, to all those who continue to long for his coming.

 And/Or

(vii) 17th December

Today, the first day of the Octave of Christmas, we traditionally read Matthew’s account of the genealogy of Jesus. At one level it seems like a rather dry list of names. Yet, this is how Matthew has chosen to begin his gospel and this list of names clearly had great significance for him. It tells us that Jesus had an ancestry; he did not just drop out of the sky, as it were. This ancestry was solidly Jewish. As the first line of the gospel reading states, Jesus was ‘son of David, son of Abraham’. Matthew is reminding us that Jesus, and the church that emerged from him, have their roots in the story of God’s dealings with the people of Israel in the Jewish Scriptures. In this solidly male list of names, four women are mentioned, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah. They are all non-Jewish in origin. Matthew is suggesting that Jesus’ heritage line brought in Gentiles as well. Jesus’ initial concern during his public ministry was for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but he as risen Lord he sent his disciples to go out and make disciples of all the nations. The church, like Jesus, has deep Jewish roots, but is open to the world. Many of the named people in Jesus’ genealogy, both the men and the women, were anything but paragons of virtue. Matthew suggests that there were plenty of skeletons in Jesus’ cupboard. Yet, God worked through them all to bring us Jesus. The same can be true of our own ancestral story. Even out own personal story will not always be one of pure virtue. Perhaps one of the messages of this gospel reading is that the Lord can turn all of our experiences to a good purpose, both the sinful and the virtuous ones, both the darkness and the light. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans, ‘all things work together for good for those who love God’.

 And/Or

(viii) 17th December

Today, 17th December, we begin the octave of Christmas. The readings these days are special to each day. The Alleluia verse for these days is a special verse relating to the coming of the Saviour. They are lovely prayers in their own right, and would make a perfect prayer programme for these eight days. The Alleluia verse or antiphon for today is, ‘Wisdom of the Most High, ordering all things with strength and gentleness, come and teach us the way of truth’. The gospel readings for these eight days are all taken from the opening chapters of the gospel of Matthew and Luke, the story of the birth and infancy of Jesus. Today’s gospel reading is probably the strangest of all. Why do we read this long list of names on 17th of December? It is the genealogy of Jesus according to Matthew. This evangelist gives his version of the generations that led up to the birth of Jesus. In this way, he reminds us that this special child who has the unique name ‘God-with-us’, has a human ancestry. Like every human being, he has a family tree, a Jewish family tree. Jesus, the Son of God, is also the son of Abraham. Some of his Jewish ancestors mentioned in this list left a lot to be desired. Yet, God worked through them all to bring Jesus, God’s Son, to the human race in the fullness of time. The evangelist may be reminding us that God can always bring good out of what falls short of his desire for us. That is true of our own personal lives, as well. Even the darker experiences of our lives can serve God’s purpose for us, if we keep entrusting ourselves to God in love through it all. As Saint Paul says in his letter to the Romans, ‘all things work together for good, for those who love God’.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[dailyaudiobible]

03/16/2021 DAB Transcript

Numbers 24:1-25:18, Luke 2:1-35, Psalms 59:1-17, Proverbs 11:14

Today is the 16th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian. It is an honor, it is a privilege and joy and just fun…fun to be around this Global Campfire together with you, to know that we’re in this together, O just to know that is not a solitary endeavor, that we just have to shoulder the loads on our own, that our brothers and sisters are going through the same kinds of things we are all over the world. The Scriptures tell us that and it's true. We are in this piece of history together. We are in life together because we find ourselves alive on this planet at the same time. And what a joy it is to share this bit of history with you. And one of the ways that we understand our own history is to see how history is played out over the millennia with God in the middle of it, which is what the Scriptures give us. And, so, let's dive in. We are in the book of Numbers in the Old Testament and we've been tracking along with this, man named Balaam who had a donkey who talked to him yesterday. He’s been summoned by a king named Balak to curse the people of Israel. It’s just not working out that way. Let’s pick up that story. Numbers chapters 24 and 25 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today we…we read of the birth of Jesus. So, that’s a significant thing to point out. We won’t go into a whole lot of depth other than to just point out what we were pointing out yesterday. This is the last time will read the narrative of the birth of Jesus. Indeed, we’re in the third of the four Gospels. And the Gospel of John is what we’ll read after we finish the book of Luke, but the gospel of John doesn't refer to the Nativity story, the birth of Jesus. And, so, I’m just suggesting that as we move through this territory that we give it significance. I know we just passed through Christmas not too long ago and of this is a very famous story, but this is the story of the coming of the Savior. And, so, just really immersing ourselves into it, especially as we’re moving toward Easter, especially as we have this opportunity move through the gospel of Luke and really absorb and really put ourselves in the story as we move into the Easter season. So, this will be important for us.

But ow let’s go back to the book of numbers because we’ve had a developing story over the course of several days, a story of a man named Balaam who seemed to be hirable to curse people and apparently was effective at doing this sort of behavior because the king of Moab whose name was Balak sent for him, sent far and wide and sent dignitaries to get him to come. So, we can assume the Balaam had some sort of reputation for this sort of thing. Balaam also talked to God and heard from God. And, so, I don't want to go over like every little detail of the story because it's kind of drawn out but let's remember that the Moabite king Balak sent several envoys of prestige to get Balaam to come back to Moab and there was a promise of riches. God spoke to Balaam and told him not to go at least initially. When the first envoy came, they spent the night, Balaam sought God, God said don't go, he told the people, “I can’t go. I can only obey God.” So, the envoy went home. The next envoy came and said, “come, come at once.” Balaam said, “I can…I can only do what God tells me to do. Wait…wait for me to hear from God.” And at that point God said, “you can go.” So, in other words, “go with them but you can only say what I tell you to say.” That is key in this story. Let's remember that Balaam gets paid to do this kind of stuff. Let's remember that Balaam was promised prestige and riches. At first God told him that he couldn't go. So, that was a “no”. And then God told him that he could go as long as he only spoke the words of God. So, what was a no to riches and prestige kind of became a maybe depending on what God told him he could say, which opened up all kinds of possibilities for what might be able to happen to enrich Balaam’s life. And, so, they set off toward Moab. Moab, so that it's not completely confusing is essentially modern day Jordan. So, Balaam has permission to go and there's still a promise of riches and prestige. And, so, they take off and that's when the angel of the Lord comes and stands in front of the donkey stopping the donkey three different times. It's odd. Like it's an odd twist in the story because God gave Balaam permission to go. So, why is God sending an angel to stand in his path? So, the donkey sees the angel and veers off into a field. And, so, Balaam gets mad and beats the donkey back onto the road and they keep walking. Then they go through a vineyard and the donkey can’t get all the way through so Balaam’s foot gets smashed. And, so, Balaam’s pretty angry about that and then he beats the donkey harder and then finally they get to a really narrow place and the angel’s standing there with his sword and the donkey can’t do anything but just sit down. And Balaam is furious, like he's seeing red with rage and beating the donkey and that's when the donkey talks to him like, “have I ever done anything like this to you before? Why are you beating me like this?” It's then that we get true clues to what Balaam has been thinking about as they're taking this journey. So, the donkey says, “what have I done to make you hit me three times?” And Balaam answers, and this is the funny thing. He doesn't answer, “well…you walked into a field or you smashed my foot. Balaam answers, “you made a fool of me. If I had a sword in my hand, I'd kill you right now.” Balaam is traveling with a high-level entourage from the king of Moab who have promised prestige and wealth if you will come to the king. God told him no and then God told him he could go and he's been thinking about it. When his donkey misbehaves because of the angel, he's not confused about why he's having a conversation with a donkey and he's not really all that angry with what the donkey did, he’s angry because he's embarrassed, which reveals that there is pride involved which means that things could get very situational. Once the riches are promised and the prestige is out there then maybe Balaam could say a little curse, even if God didn't announce it maybe he could say a little curse and get out of there. What we see God doing by sending the angel is making it abundantly crystal clear to Balaam is that he must only say what God says. There are no other alternatives on the table at all. Once that is clear to Balaam, he does arrive in Moab to the king Balak who immediately takes him where he can view some of the camp of the Israelites. And Balaam asks for altars to be built and sacrifices to be given and then he goes to seek the Lord for…for His words concerning Israel. He comes back and blesses Israel. Balak the king of Moab who has sent for Balaam to come curse Israel, he’s not happy about this. Of course, Balaam’s got the message loud and clear. “I can only say to you…I can only say what God tells me to say.” So, the king of Moab, Balak, is like, “well, let's go look at this from another angle. Let's go look at the people from a different mountaintop. Like, let’s change our location and maybe God will be more favorable to us over there.” And, so, they go look. They build altars, they make sacrifices. Balaam is unable to curse Israel. And, so, the king of Moab’s like, “let’s go to another place and look at it from another angle and they do that and there is no curse, forthcoming toward Jacob or Israel. So, Balak’s clapping his hands and he's…you can just see him throwing sand, clapping his hands, kicking the dirt, yelling at Balaam like, “I sent for you and I promised you riches and prestige, all you need to do is pronounce a curse on these people and you've only blessed them.” Of course, then Balaam pronounces blessings upon Israel and pretty much curses for the nations surrounding them. Let's now overlay our own story with this story. Maybe we’ve sought God. Maybe God has said “no”. Maybe we’ve accepted no. Maybe we waited a little while and it came up again and we sought God and he said, “yes, but you must obey me completely.” And, so, we begin walking down that path. We’re walking along with those who are around us in this endeavor. And then we begin to think about all of the things that could come from this and then we start shifting the story in our minds, our goals and priorities, the way we’re going to position ourselves begins to suddenly change away from simply going and being the spokesperson for God, like to do God's will and more towards, “yes to all of that and what can I carve off the side for myself?” And then maybe obstacles come, maybe things that stop us in the center of the path or veer us into a field or smash our foot and we’re working so hard to curse the devil away from the thing that we can’t tell that there's an angel blocking the path because we have shifted our motivations. And, so, it looks like missteps or some sort of attack is only illuminating our pride because we’re embarrassed. We can find ourselves in Balm. Balaam ultimately got the message about what he could say what he couldn't say. Then we get to Balak the king and it really becomes our lives all over again. He’s so glad Balaam is there. He wants the curse brought down. The altars are built. Everybody does everything right, it’s just that the curse isn't forthcoming. And, so, what is Balak do? Let's…let's frame this differently. Let's look at this from a different angle. Like let's position this differently. Maybe God will see our way from a different angle and give us what we’re asking for, give us what we want. And that didn't work. And, so, what does Balak want? Well, then let's look at this from another angle. We do this all the time. We want a “yes”. We want what we want. And, so, we’ll just keep reframing the question or keep angling or positioning or manipulating the circumstances so that we can finally whittle the situation down so that we can get what we want. This story exposes so many of the games we try to play. In the end though what God has blessed will be blessed and that which is not blessed by God will not be blessed. This story also has a very interesting twist as it ends because it ends and then it's like we’re in another story where the people of Moab and the people of Israel are getting together and having meals together and worshiping false idols together and…and the women in the men are fraternizing together. It's like a super odd…are we even in the same story? Because it’s like we leave one chapter where God will not curse the Israelites He will only bless them and Balaam only speaks blessing over Israel and then he pronounces curses of…of the surrounding nations, and then the story ends, the next thing we know, the Moabites, which is king Balak’s people and Israel's people, they are having sex. So, there's like a bunch of stuff going on. How did we get from “curse these people so that they will die so that I can destroy them with my army to let's all get together and have a party?” Ironically, Balaam is involved here as well. We don't see it here in this particular story. We will get the rest of the story later in the Bible when a reference back to Balaam is given that tells us that this fraternizing, that the women of Moab going to bed with the men of Israel was a suggestion by Balaam. He ends up dying because of that. So basically, Balaam can't speak anything that the Lord isn’t telling them to speak. But in the end, he gives a strategy. God's not going to curse these people. The only way is to seduce them. So, we see that even in the end, after an angel in the path blocking the path, even though it becomes clear to Balaam he can only speak on behalf of God what God says he’s still trying to carve off a piece for himself and he dies, he dies in battle, as we’ll see later. And, as, for our wilderness experience and how easily it would be to be seduced away from the work in the wilderness toward the promise of comfort, ah, there’s just so much in this one story that so brings up motivations, the impulses that begin us on paths toward actions that we then carry out, whether they're right or wrong.

Prayer:

Father, we open ourselves to that because we are not above lying to ourselves. We've done it lots of times. We’re not above any kind of nuancing whatever it is that we want to manipulate whatever we’re trying to get. We’re not above these things and sometimes we don't even know we’re doing it. Sometimes it's so inherent in the way that we grew up or so inherent in the way that we've made life work so that we can get things done that we don't even see the deception, we don't even see the nuanced behavior that is leading us on a path that can’t end well. And, so, this is a season, this Lenten season is for these things. It's here marked as a season of the year where we really enter into these more difficult deep questions about why we do what we do and what we actually have our faith in. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit. Come into these things that are being brought up, the things that You're bringing up. because even as we read these stories and talk about them the overlay is unique to each of our lives. We all have our own story. And yet the motives of the heart are so common that we can think of all kinds of things that You're bringing up. And, so, we invite You into that. We open ourselves to what You're bringing up instead of shutting it down. We open ourselves. Reveal to us the ways that we are going astray, even if it's just by a half a degree, even if it's so subtle we can't even tell, because if we continue on that path, we’re going to ultimately be miles away from where we’re supposed to be. We’re ultimately going to be somewhere totally different than where we we’re supposed to be. So, we open ourselves to realigning our lives with Your will. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base. As always, it's the home of Global Campfire, it's…yeah…it’s the community, it's where we gather every day.

And, so, important to know certain aspects like the Community section. That is where to get connected. There's the different links to the different social media channels and platforms that…that we are on. the Prayer Wall lives there in the Community section and that is always happening, always. Always, we can go there and…and shoulder one another's burdens together and face outward by praying for each other or we’re just carrying a burden that’s very very heavy we can reach out and have our brothers and sisters come around us. So, the Prayer Wall is always there in the Community section. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in this mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and delivered, given freely to anyone who will listen to it anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and to build a rhythm’s around the…the rhythm of the Scripture and us showing up every day around the Global Campfire to build community around that. If that has been life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today on Brian. I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi from Baltimore MD God bless you each and every one of you. I so much enjoy the DAB and the DABC, the DAB Kids I listen to the proverbs I’ve listened to the Psalms. I listen every day. I've known about DAB for the last five or six years, but I've really just started listening this year, first of the year and I've been so blessed. I hear people talk about China when she did Chronological that I've actually even listened to China. I've listened to all…well half of January all of February and now I'm in…up to March the 13th. So, yeah, I've really been blessed by the Dab with this ministry and God's really moving in my life. And I just thank Brian and Jill and China, and everyone involved in the ministry including Ezekiel. I just thank you listeners that call in with your prayer requests. I'm touched deeply by each and every request and I pray along with you and for you. And it's such a joy to hear people like Kingdom Seeker Daniel and Blind Tony and all the rest. I'm…I’m just a little nervous right now but I am so happy to be part of this ministry and I just pray that the Lord will reach out and touch each and every one of you and bless you deeply. And I will be calling again.

Good morning this is Flourishing in the Desert and I'm just listening to the community prayer for February 20th and I just want to lift up the family with the beautiful little baby yet to be born who has trouble with his heart. Lord God I thank You that none of this comes as a surprise to You, that You are already there, and You are already with them. Lord God I just thank You that You have chosen these parents to love this baby regardless of defect and I thank You Lord that You are with them through thick and through thin, that Your comfort and Your protection surround them. Lord God I pray that You would encourage them, that You would strengthen them. And Lord should You call this baby home early I just pray Lord God that You would comfort them even in that. And Lord should this baby come to term and live a full and prosperous life as long as You have deemed his life should be, I just pray Lord God that these parents would just cherish every moment with this child regardless of circumstance from the beginning of his life until the end. May they be thankful to You for the blessing and the treasure that You had brought to them of this beautiful, beautiful child. I thank You Lord for this child's life and I thank You for his parents. You are doing a marvelous work in each and every one of them. I trust You Lord, I trust Your work, I trust Your provision, and I trust…I trust You. And I just pray that the family would do so as well. I just lift all of them up to You Lord in Jesus’ name.

Good morning it's a beautiful Sunday morning in Saskatoon downtown. My husband and I are here at a hotel having some renewal time in our marriage and I've been watching a fireplace burning but not burning, just the flames coming up off the coals. And what Brian said on March the 11th how is…how we sometimes don't believe in what…don’t believe that God understands what we're going through. And it's been very painful what I've been going through and many other people have experienced this pain during Covid and before and well beyond. But I know that we are purified by the flame of God in our lives, and we will be a fragrance lifted up to heaven that other people see. I appreciate it's painful it's disruptive. I know I've been impulsive and said things that I shouldn't. I've dedicated too much to my career, but I know that God's forgiven me and I'm gonna take those lies captive like it says in second Corinthians 10:5 and take them captive to the obedience of God and allow the truth of the word of God to penetrate into set me free. I also want to pray for Jade now one of my friends who is still very ill. His body is on fire with inflammation of autoimmune disorders. And he had a piece of his tongue removed make sure it's not cancer I guess and he and his wife Gloria and two children are so beautiful and they need your prayers. It's been three months now. It's the middle of December to now…

Hey DAB family this is…I'm just gonna just go by C in this request. I just wanted to reach out, cry out to…I'm praying and I…I need you guys to pray for me too that I've been dealing with postpartum depression now since December and just things feel endlessly hard. I just feel weary. I'm so tired of feeling this hopelessness and I know that God is working but I feel like I can't see any fruits of the Holy Spirit in my life right now and I just honestly feel like I'm really worthless for His Kingdom. And I know have 4 kids who need me, a husband who needs me and I am hanging on for them but I just really need prayer because things feel really dark today and they have felt really dark this week and last week. And yeah, so just please pray for me.

Prayer for Catalina continues She's a sister of faith like a flint and this is her ninth time in the hospital in a health…in the behavioral health unit with psychotic affective bipolar disorder. It's a long long diagnosis. I don't understand it, but God does, and He gives the doctors wisdom and the treatment. And, so, I pray that the treatment this time will be so effective that she will never have to return to the hospital the 10th time in the name of Jesus I pray this. And I pray that she would be receptive to what the treatment plans are and I pray for her brother and the remainder of her family as they surround her with prayer, that they be encouraged as they see Christ…Jesus move in her life so she will totally dedicate her life to you. There are two persons who have lost their joy. Tammy is in remission from ovarian cancer. She's feeling emotionally overwhelmed and she's now caring for her husband as the kids haven't come around much anymore since it seems that she is doing better. Anne in Vancouver, after three years of suffering you've been diagnosed with pelvic prolapse and your joy is also gone. We hear it all the time, the joy of the Lord is our strength, but when we have no joy, you know, it's so hard to reach out and grasp that strength that is there for us. So, sometimes hearing these things we can't even fathom it. So, our family here, we’re lifting you up and I am praying the joy of the Lord will return to both of you, you will skip like dear, you will soar on eagles wings and you will be so joyful it will be contagious to your family and friends.

[veale2006-blog]

The Truth Behind St. Valentine’s Day Long but worth the read. February 14, 2021 St. Valentine’s Day is the world’s “holiday of love.” Since the Bible states that God is love (I John 4:8, 16), does He approve of the celebration of this day? Does He want His people—true Christians—partaking of the candy and cards, or any customs associated with this day?

When God says He wants you to live life abundantly (John 10:10), does that include celebrating a festive, seemingly harmless holiday like Valentine’s Day? The God who gives us everything—life, food, drink, the ability to think for ourselves, etc.—surely approves of St. Valentine’s Day, the holiday for lovers to exchange gifts—right?

Do not be so certain. Do not assume anything. Do not even take this article’s word for it. Go to history books and encyclopedias. Go to the Bible. Then you will know the real truth behind St. Valentine’s Day. And you will know what God expects you to do about it!

Valentine’s Past Like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, New Year’s and other holidays of this world, St. Valentine’s Day is another attempt to “whitewash” perverted customs and observances of pagan gods and idols by “Christianizing” them.

As innocent and harmless as St. Valentine’s Day may appear, its traditions and customs originate from two of the most sexually perverted pagan festivals of ancient history: Lupercalia and the feast day of Juno Februata.

Celebrated on February 15, Lupercalia (known as the “festival of sexual license”) was held by the ancient Romans in honor of Lupercus, god of fertility and husbandry, protector of herds and crops, and a mighty hunter—especially of wolves. The Romans believed that Lupercus would protect Rome from roving bands of wolves, which devoured livestock and people.

Assisted by Vestal Virgins, the Luperci (male priests) conducted purification rites by sacrificing goats and a dog in the Lupercal cave on Palatine Hill, where the Romans believed the twins Romulus and Remus had been sheltered and nursed by a she-wolf before they eventually founded Rome. Clothed in loincloths made from sacrificed goats and smeared in their blood, the Luperci would run about Rome, striking women with februa, thongs made from skins of the sacrificed goats. The Luperci believed that the floggings purified women and guaranteed their fertility and ease of childbirth. February derives from februa or “means of purification.”

To the Romans, February was also sacred to Juno Februata, the goddess of febris (“fever”) of love, and of women and marriage. On February 14, billets (small pieces of paper, each of which had the name of a teen-aged girl written on it) were put into a container. Teen-aged boys would then choose one billet at random. The boy and the girl whose name was drawn would become a “couple,” joining in erotic games at feasts and parties celebrated throughout Rome. After the festival, they would remain sexual partners for the rest of the year. This custom was observed in the Roman Empire for centuries.

Whitewashing Perversion In A.D. 494, Pope Gelasius renamed the festival of Juno Februata as the “Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.” The date of its observance was later changed from February 14 to February 2, then changed back to the 14. It is also known as Candlemas, the Presentation of the Lord, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin and the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.

After Constantine had made the Roman church’s brand of Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire (A.D. 325), church leaders wanted to do away with the pagan festivals of the people. Lupercalia was high on their list. But the Roman citizens thought otherwise.

It was not until A.D. 496 that the church at Rome was able to do anything about Lupercalia. Powerless to get rid of it, Pope Gelasius instead changed it from February 15 to the 14th and called it St. Valentine’s Day. It was named after one of that church’s saints, who, in A.D. 270, was executed by the emperor for his beliefs.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in early martyrologies under the date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city…Of the third Saint Valentine, who suffered in Africa with a number of companions, nothing is further known.” Several biographies of different men named Valentine were merged into one “official” St. Valentine.

The church whitewashed Lupercalia even further. Instead of putting the names of girls into a box, the names of “saints” were drawn by both boys and girls. It was then each person’s duty to emulate the life of the saint whose name he or she had drawn. This was Rome’s vain attempt to “whitewash” a pagan observance by “Christianizing” it, which God has not given man the power or authority to do. Though the church at Rome had banned the sexual lottery, young men still practiced a much toned-down version, sending women whom they desired handwritten romantic messages containing St. Valentine’s name. Over the centuries, St. Valentine’s Day cards became popular, especially by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These cards were painted with pictures of Cupid and hearts, and meticulously decorated with lace, silk or flowers.

First Man Called Valentine But who was the original Valentine? What does the name Valentine mean? Valentine comes from the Latin Valentinus, which derives from valens—“to be strong, powerful, mighty.”

The Bible describes a man with a similar title: “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD” (Gen. 10:8-9). He was said to have hunted with bow and arrow.

As mentioned, the Romans celebrated Lupercalia to honor the hunter god Lupercus. To the Greeks, from whom the Romans had copied most of their mythology, Lupercus was known as Pan, the god of light. The Phoenicians worshipped the same deity as Baal, the sun god. Baal was one of many names or titles for Nimrod, a mighty hunter, especially of wolves. He was also the founder and first lord of Babel (Gen. 10:10-12). Defying God, Nimrod was the originator of the Babylonian Mystery Religion, whose mythologies have been copied by the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans and a multitude of other ancient peoples.

Under different names or titles—Pan, Lupercus, Saturn, Osiris—Nimrod is the strong man and hunter-warrior god of the ancients.

But what does the heart symbol have to do with a day honoring Nimrod/Valentine?

The title Baal means “lord” or “master,” and is mentioned throughout the Bible as the god of pagans. God warned His people not to worship or even tolerate the ways of Baal (Nimrod). In ancient Chaldean (the language of the Babylonians), bal, which is similar to Baal, meant, “heart.” This is where the Valentine heart symbol originated.

Now notice the name Cupid. It comes from the Latin verb cupere, meaning “to desire.” Cupid was the son of Venus, Roman goddess of beauty and love. Also known as Eros in ancient Greece, he was the son of Aphrodite. According to myth, he was responsible for impregnating numerous goddesses and mortals. Cupid was a child-like archer (remember, Nimrod was a skilled archer). Mythology describes Cupid as having both a cruel and happy personality. He would use his invisible arrows, tipped with gold, to strike unsuspecting men and women, causing them to fall madly in love. He did not do this for their benefit, but to drive them crazy with intense passion, to make their lives miserable, and to laugh at the results. Many of the gods of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Assyrians and others were modeled after one man—Nimrod.

But what does this have to do with us today? Why should we be concerned with what happened in the past?

What God Thinks Read what God commands His people concerning pagan customs and traditions: “Learn not the way of the heathen…For the customs of the people are vain” (Jer. 10:2-3). Also notice Christ’s words in Matthew 15:9: “…in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

Throughout the Bible, God describes “heathens” as those who worship things that He had created (animals, the sun, the moon, stars, trees, etc.), or man-made idols, or anything but the one true God. He calls such people and their practices pagan. True Christians understand that God hates any customs, practices and traditions that are rooted in paganism.

But just how serious is God about paganism?

When He rescued the twelve tribes of Israel from brutal slavery and led them out of Egypt, He commanded them, “After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein you dwelt, shall you not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, where I bring you, shall you not do: neither shall you walk in their ordinances” (Lev. 18:3). God demanded the Israelites not to defile themselves with the pagan practices and customs of surrounding nations (vs. 24-29). “Therefore shall you keep Mine ordinance, that you commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that you defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God” (vs. 30).

God cursed Egypt—a nation of nature-worshiper—with ten plagues and freed Israel from slavery. He rescued Israel from Pharaoh’s army by parting the Red Sea and leading His people to safety. He fed the Israelites manna—special bread made by God—from heaven. He protected them from battle-tested Gentile armies, delivered them into the Promised Land and drove out their enemies.

How did Israel treat God in return? “Our fathers understood not Your wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of Your mercies; but provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea…They soon forgot His works; they waited not for His counsel: But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert…They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt; wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea…they despised the pleasant land, they believed not His word: But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD …They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. Thus they provoked Him to anger with their intentions” (Psa. 106:7, 13-14, 19-22, 24-25, 28-29).

God explicitly commanded Israel to cast out and utterly destroy all nations that occupied the Promised Land (Canaan). Above all, His people were not to make political alliances with them or marry into their families (Deut. 7:1-3, 5, 16). “For they will turn away your sons from following Me, that they may serve other gods” (vs. 4).

But the Israelites thought they knew better than God. They decided to do things their own way. “They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them: But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils [demons], and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions” (Psa. 106:34-39).

To wake them up and get them back on track as the model nation He had originally intended, God gave Israel over to their enemies. Israel repented and cried out to God. God rescued them. With their bellies full and lives protected, the Israelites went back to pursuing other gods. God punished Israel again. Israel repented and cried out to God.

And so went the deliverance-idolatry-punishment-repentance cycle (vs. 40-46), until finally, God had no other choice but to divorce unfaithful Israel (Jer. 3:6-11).

He used the Assyrians, one of the most brutal warrior nations in history, to invade, conquer, enslave and relocate the entire northern kingdom of Israel (II Kings 17). Having “disappeared” from history, the modern-day descendants of those ten “lost” tribes are unaware of their true identity even to this day.

Later, God sent the southern kingdom of Judah (mainly the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi) into Babylonian exile (II Kings 24 and 25). Because they kept (at least physically) the true Sabbath, which is a special sign that identifies the one true God and His people (Ex. 31:12-18), the Jews were able to retain their true identity.

The Israelites were severely punished because they lusted after pagan customs, rituals, traditions and practices. As you can see, God does not take paganism lightly.

Why Paganism Is Wrong Just why does God hate anything that resembles pagan customs? Is it possible to “whitewash” or “Christianize” pagan practices and make them clean? Is it okay to practice pagan customs as long as you “worship God”?

Notice what God says in Leviticus chapter 18. After rescuing Israel from slavery, God warned them not to practice the customs they had picked up in Egypt, or learn the ways, customs and traditions of the Gentile nations that they would encounter in the Promised Land (vs. 1-3). Instead, God commanded Israel to follow His ways (vs. 4-5).

God then describes the pagan ways of these ungodly nations in great detail. In verses 7-20, He condemns all kinds of heterosexual sex relations that fall outside the holy boundaries of marriage—incest, fornication, adultery, etc. In verses 22-23, God condemns homosexuality and bestiality. Together, these sins break down and destroy the family unit that God had so lovingly created and instituted.

Notice what God links to these perversions: “And you shall not let any of your seed [children] pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD” (vs. 21). God ties in the perverse sexual practices of ungodly, pagan nations with human sacrifices—parents offering the lives of their children to pagan gods!

The Bible shows that Israel not only disobeyed God and wholeheartedly embraced the sexual immorality of the Gentiles, they even went a step further.

“And they have turned unto Me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. But they set their abominations in the house [the temple at Jerusalem], which is called by My name, to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin” (Jer. 32:33-35). (To learn more about these child sacrifices to Molech, download from our website our sermon Santa Claus is Molech and our booklets The True Origin of Christmas and The True Origin of Easter.)

Imagine. Israel committed a sin so vile, so disgusting, that it even shocked God! But that was then. What about today? Surely, parents do not sacrifice their children to pagan gods today—or do they?

Do not be so certain. Perhaps their lives are not being sacrificed—but what about their innocence?

Parents today expect their little ones to “fall in love” and have boyfriends and girlfriends. They think it is “cute” when little boys and girls hold hands and act like a couple, sneaking a kiss or two when no one is watching. Some parents get worried when their kids do not show romantic interest in the opposite sex. They constantly ask them, “Do you have a boyfriend yet?” or “Who’s your girlfriend?”

Yet these same parents are surprised when their teen-aged “little girl” gets pregnant. Or catches a sexually transmitted disease. Or gets an abortion behind their back.

St. Valentine’s Day is just one of many tools the “god of this world” (II Cor. 4:4) uses to get parents to sacrifice the innocence of their children.

When little boys and girls draw each other’s names in a lottery and send Valentine cards and gifts to each other, declaring their “love,” they are learning the first stages of intimate relations that the Creator God designed specifically for emotionally mature adults. Instead of embracing the carefree innocence of youth, growing up without the headaches and heartaches of adulthood (finding a job, paying bills, marriage, raising a family, etc.), children today are taught to lust after each other. They are caught up in a daily drama of “If-you-loved-me-you’d-sleep-with-me; I’m-pregnant; It’s-not-mine, she-had-an-abortion.” By the time they reach adulthood, virtually every shred of innocence, sincerity and moral decency has been stripped from them. Emotionally drained, they have world-weary, “been there, done that” attitudes. And their lives are just beginning.

This is why we live in a world where a teen-aged virgin is a rare find. Where what used to be called “shacking up” and “living in sin” is now simply “living together.” Where sex is nothing more than meaningless physical recreation—no emotional attachments, no cares, no concerns. Where people change sex partners as conveniently as they change clothes. Where unmarried twenty- or thirty-something’s have had at least five sexual partners—and that is considered a low number, especially in the United States. Where men are not referred to as “my husband,” or “my fiancé,” but as “my second baby’s father.”

How pathetic!

Satan has deceived the whole world (Rev. 12:9) in multiple ways—especially when it comes to intimate relationships. St. Valentine’s Day is just one of his tools for deception. (To learn more about this great deceiver, read Who Is the Devil?)

“Come Out of Her, My People” Concerning the near future, when man’s Satan-influenced world is about to collapse, God declares, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils [demons], and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed [increased] rich through the abundance of her delicacies” (Rev. 18:2-3).

Concerning this pagan, satanic system, God commands true Christians,“Come out of her, My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues” (vs. 4).

St. Valentine’s Day originates from the ancient paganism of this Satan-influenced world. It is designed to deceive mankind by appealing to fleshly, carnal desires—or, as the Bible calls them, the works of the flesh.

“Now the works of the flesh are manifest [made obvious], which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry…drunkenness, revellings, and such like” (Gal. 5:19-21). Do any of these sound like Lupercalia to you?

Ultimately, “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” A true Christian is focused on God’s soon-coming kingdom (Matt. 6:33) and the world to come—not on the fleshly cravings of this world. A true Christian must strive to “put off the old man” and actively imitate the perfect, righteous example of Jesus Christ. A Christian knows that he must actively come out of this world, out of its pagan-infested customs, practices and traditions.

Christians do not celebrate St. Valentine’s Day!

Have a blessed day and weekend. May Yeshua the Messiah bless you, Love, Debbie

[jewish-privilege]

In October 2015, I found myself in a frightening situation: My name and face on a Neo-Nazi website identifying me as a Jew along with several hundred other Jews in politics, civics, and philanthropy. The website, which I will not name, warned its readers that Jews were too influential in American life; that we were a corruptive influence on America. While it didn’t advocate actually killing me, I was marked as a person to be silenced.

“How likely are these people to actually kill me?” I asked the expert at the Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-hate group that researches white supremacist groups. I had called them seeking answers. My husband was sitting beside me, his face full of fear. I felt a tiny kick, a flutter inside me, my hands dropping to my belly. “I should probably mention that I am 8 months pregnant.”

There was a pause at the end of the line. “It’s very rare for these threats to escalate offline,” the nice man began. “They want to scare you. They want to scare you so much you decide that you never want to write again. That’s their goal. What you decide to do next is a personal decision.”

You can see that I decided to keep writing. But thinking back on the advice he gave me, it almost seems quaint: In the four years since those threats, especially since the 2016 election, white supremacists spewing anti-Semitic hatred have marched in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us,” shot up synagogues in Pittsburgh and California, and murdered gay Jewish student Blaze Bernstein. Anti-Semitic assaults are up 105% since 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit on American anti-Semitism. More Jews have been killed in anti-Semitic violence around the world in 2018 than in the last several decades, according to the Kantor Center, based out of Tel Aviv University, which researches and analyzes global anti-Semitism. In New York City, a major center of Jewish culture and life, the NYPD has reported an 82% spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes in 2019. In fact, Jews are reporting the highest number of religion-based hate crimes — this is particularly troubling given that Jews are only approximately 2.2% of the U.S. adult population.

And while the majority of incidents and assaults are committed by white supremacists on the right, there has been a concerning spike in incidents and rhetoric from the left wing, too...

As a child growing up in Boston, I knew anti-Semitism existed. I even experienced it from time to time — including when my childhood synagogue was defaced with a swastika. But overall I felt safe in America... I was grateful for a country that had provided Jews with peace and prosperity. America was a rare safe place for us.

Today, that’s different. The baby I was pregnant with is now a thriving, rambunctious toddler. But when we tour Jewish preschools, my first question isn’t about education philosophy, recess or student teacher ratios — it’s always about security. In just a few short years we’ve gone from history to fear.

To understand what can be done, first we need to understand what it is: Anti-Semitism is the hatred of Jews as a distinct people, as opposed to anti-Judaism that targets our religious beliefs and practices. Anti-semitism is a conspiracy theory. It depicts Jews as a cabal secretly controlling the world for evil ends, hurting innocent people to further greedy, cruel agendas. How those agendas manifest changes based on your worldview. If you are far left, it may be that Jews are imperialists who start wars to enrich themselves. If you’re a white nationalist, it’s that Jews are the ringleaders of the White Genocide. If you’re Minister Louis Farrakhan, it’s that Jews were the secret orchestrators of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Anti-Semitism is an ancient, chameleonic monster. It adapts to circumstances and seemingly new excuses for age-old prejudices to take hold. This is especially true in periods of political and economic insecurity.

...It doesn't help that we are also living in an era when conspiracy theories can so easily spread (from anti-Obama birtherism to Pizzagate to QAnon). President Trump and his cohorts on the far right capitalize and promote them, fomenting hatred and division through fake news and an assault on the truth. They accuse prominent Jews like George Soros of treacherous crimes, while consorting with and justifying white supremacists and their actions (“very fine people” Trump called them.). They act shocked and appalled when fear mongering, the mainstream legitimization of white nationalists, and dangerously lax gun control leave them with blood on their hands (as it did at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue).

And yet while I fear anti-Semitism on the right will lead to more violence, I fear anti-Semitism on the left will cause that violence and hate to go unchallenged. As American Jews face rising hate crimes and domestic terrorism, progressives have grappled with a string of unsettling scandals. At first, it was the way left wing groups downplayed anti-Semitism. In the wake of the 2016 election, for example, the Women’s March conspicuously left anti-Semitism off its unity principles, while left wing groups erased it as a core issue in Charlottesville, and were silent during hundreds of JCC bomb threats. Then it got worse. The anti-Semitism scandal surrounding Women’s March leadership unfolded over several tense months, during which they publicly associated with anti-Semitic Farrakhan and engaged in anti-Semitic dog whistling and bullying.

This controversy was followed by statements by freshman Representative Ilhan Omar, in which she fell into anti-Semitic tropes referencing dual loyalty, foreign allegiance, and Jewish money in her criticisms of Israel. Omar had many defenders who dismissed the charges because Omar herself faces Islamophobia and racism. But such tropes do feed the beast. As Ilhan Omar struggled to contain criticism and put forth multiple apologies for her comments, David Duke, the Grand Wizard of the KKK, came to her defense dubbing her the “Most Important Member of Congress.” It’s not to say that Omar should be held accountable for the words of David Duke. But it does indicate the way anti-Semitism — be it from the left or the right — can connect to amplify the threat.

While the Women’s March has taken positive steps to mend fences, like expanding Jewish leadership in the organization and including Jewish women in their Unity Principles, and Omar and the New York Times have apologized, the situations have led to increased division as anti-Semitism continues to spread, and becomes a political wedge issue, all of which creates increased danger for the Jewish community. In a time of increased concern about Jewish security, these scandals have had a devastating emotional impact on the Jewish community. We were taught by our grandmothers to watch for signs of danger — hateful words from across the political spectrum is one of them.

Over the past three years, I have seen anti-Semitism break and undermine strong community relationships and budding movements for justice. This what anti-Semitism does: It attacks democracy and transparency, giving authoritarian actors scapegoats for national problems. It endangers women, people of color, and immigrants as it strengthens and animates white nationalism, xenophobia, and extremist movements.

American Jews know this intrinsically and are frightened. The jump from hate speech to exterminatory violence has been a short one in the history of global Jewry. Many of us were taught about the dangers of anti-Semitism and how quickly it could rise against us from very young ages, especially for those of us who had family who were Holocaust survivors or who endured violence against Jews in the Middle East or Soviet Union. We need Americans to listen to our fear and take a stand.

The first step is to call it out when we see it in our houses of worship, living rooms, libraries, college campuses and kindergartens. This doesn’t mean we dismiss or “cancel” our friends, families, colleagues, and community leaders who engage in anti-Semitism. It means we tell them they are wrong. We educate. Jewish history is over 5,000 years old, and learning what narratives have been used to oppress Jews can be lifesaving. And then, let’s build relationships between communities that are under attack and frightened.

...This is what we need to do for each other: Come together to fight not just anti-Semitism but racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia. If we learn each other’s histories, warning signs and dangers and fight for each other, we can make the monsters afraid of us. 

[frederickwiddowson]

The Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early church, by Luke the physician - Acts 6:1-7 comments : choosing the seven, including Stephen

Acts 6:1 ¶  And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2  Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3  Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4  But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: 6  Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7  And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

 If Ananias and Sapphira weren’t enough to throw a monkey wrench into communism, then the murmuring and complaining of the Greek Christians against the Jews would. Their complaint was that their own widows were being neglected. Every church at some point, because it is composed of fallible human beings, although hopefully saved human beings, who will argue and whose self-centered egos will sow discord and there is often favoritism and cliques, the in-crowd, will have these problems. This can lead to people being neglected or perceiving that they are being neglected. If this is typical human behavior, even saved human behavior on this scale imagine how hopeless communism would be on a national scale.

 The twelve Apostles were already overworked and needed help and so they could focus on the ministry of the word they needed deacons to assist them with the care of the congregation. I am reminding of Moses and how he was in danger of being crushed by his responsibility. He took the advice of his father-in-law, Jethro, to keep from burning out.

 Exodus 18:13 ¶  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. 14 And when Moses’ father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? 15  And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God: 16  When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. 17  And Moses’ father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. 18  Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. 19  Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: 20 And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. 21  Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: 22  And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. 23  If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. 24  So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said. 25  And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. 27  And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

 Seven men are chosen to oversee service to the congregation in the way of physical needs. Most commentators report that these and those who follow after them were called deacons. There are later listed certain requirements and restrictions for deacons.

 1Timothy 3:8 ¶  Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; 9  Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10  And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. 11  Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. 12  Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13  For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

 Roman documents suggest that the early church had female deacons as well.

 Pliny the Younger was the governor Bithynia in what we know today as Turkey, geographically Asia Minor. He wrote a letter about Christians to the Emperor Trajan around 115AD. Here is the content of what we have today. Paul could not go to Bithynia but Peter may have gone there.

Acts 16:7  After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.

1Peter 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

Here is one translation from the Latin between the two men.

“Pliny the Younger to the Emperor Trajan

It is my practice, my lord, to refer to you all matters concerning which I am in doubt. For who can better give guidance to my hesitation or inform my ignorance? I have never participated in trials of Christians. I therefore do not know what offenses it is the practice to punish or investigate, and to what extent. And I have been not a little hesitant as to whether there should be any distinction on account of age or no difference between the very young and the more mature; whether pardon is to be granted for repentance, or, if a man has once been a Christian, it does him no good to have ceased to be one; whether the name itself, even without offenses, or only the offenses associated with the name are to be punished.

Meanwhile, in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians, I have observed the following procedure: I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.

Soon accusations spread, as usually happens, because of the proceedings going on, and several incidents occurred. An anonymous document was published containing the names of many persons. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, when they invoked the gods in words dictated by me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with statues of the gods, and moreover cursed Christ--none of which those who are really Christians, it is said, can be forced to do--these I thought should be discharged. Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. They all worshipped your image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.

They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations. Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.

I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to consult you. For the matter seemed to me to warrant consulting you, especially because of the number involved. For many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms. But it seems possible to check and cure it. It is certainly quite clear that the temples, which had been almost deserted, have begun to be frequented, that the established religious rites, long neglected, are being resumed, and that from everywhere sacrificial animals are coming, for which until now very few purchasers could be found. Hence it is easy to imagine what a multitude of people can be reformed if an opportunity for repentance is afforded.

Trajan to Pliny the Younger

You observed proper procedure, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those who had been denounced to you as Christians. For it is not possible to lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they are to be punished, with this reservation, that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it--that is, by worshiping our gods--even though he was under suspicion in the past, shall obtain pardon through repentance. But anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution. For this is both a dangerous kind of precedent and out of keeping with the spirit of our age.”(1)

(1)   http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/pliny.html. (accessed 3.28.2018).

  Female deacons were also present in the early Baptist churches of the seventeenth century.(2)

 (2)   McBeth, H. Leon. The Baptist Heritage (Kindle Location 780). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition.

 Laying hands on someone to confer a blessing or authority was established a long time prior to this.

 Deuteronomy 34:9 ¶  And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.

 Notice how what was in the beginning thought to be merely a sect of Judaism was cutting into the company of the priests.