THE INTERESTING
July 8, 2009
SECTION 1 – INTERESTING
INFORMATION WEEKLY ARTICLES
SECTION 2 –
SUMMARIES/BOOK REVIEWS/SPECIAL ARTICLES/CHRISTIAN LINKS
SECTION 1 – INTERESTING
INFORMATION WEEKLY ARTILCES
Blue Letter Bible: http://www.blueletterbible.org/
INTERESTING INFORMATION 7/8/09
The following material is provided for information purposes
only. Any conclusions or opinions
formed should be based on the principles as outlined in Acts 17:11. The material is intended for use as a
witnessing tool and to keep you informed so you will not be unaware (Luke
21:34) of what is happening according to Scripture.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: “Death is the last
chapter of time, but the first chapter of eternity” – Our Daily Bread
In this issue – Topics on
·
Is
Michael Jackson in Hell?
·
Obama
criticizes “Old Attitudes” about Homosexuality
·
·
Cash
is becoming extinct as Chips take off
·
Life
from Blood
·
Israel
population exceeds 7.4 Mil.
·
WORKING
AS TO THE LORD
"Pray for the deliverance of
“
“
“
INTERESTING ARTICLES……
WORLD’S LEADING INTERNET EVANGELIST CLAIMS MICHAEL JACKSON
IS IN HELL
( Excerpt)
LivePrayer.com
Founder Says What a Person Believes Matters...for Eternity
Christian Headline News – June 29, 2009 -- Pastor Bill
Keller, founder of LivePrayer.com, submits the
following and is available for comment:
In all of the intense media coverage after the death of pop
superstar Michael Jackson, the one thing that has driven me crazy has been
hearing over and over, often by high profile Christians, that
Michael is now at peace in Heaven. Really? I hear this
same thing whenever a famous person dies, regardless what they believed during
their life, as well as from people when a family member or close friend dies,
again, regardless what they believed during their life.
If this is true, than what is the use of the Gospel? If this is
true, why should anyone waste their time and effort telling people about Jesus?
If this is true, than the death of Jesus on the cross was a meaningless
exercise, his resurrection didn't need to occur, and people can believe
whatever they want during this life and make it to Heaven. THAT MY FRIEND IS
THE UNIVERSALISTIC LIE FROM HELL!!!
The fact is God made only ONE plan of salvation. There is only ONE
way to everlasting life and that is faith in Jesus Christ, the Jesus Christ of
the Bible. There are NOT many roads that lead to God, only one, the Jesus
road!!! You can't believe whatever you want and die and end up in Heaven. That
is a lie from Satan that is leading millions of souls to the flames of hell for
all eternity. WHAT YOU BELIEVE DOES MATTER!!!
It is arguable that Michael Jackson was the most recognized person
on the planet. Despite his vast fame and material possessions, Michael was
bankrupt in the things that really matter in life, joy, peace, contentment,
HOPE! Those things only comes through having a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ and living according to God's Word.
After his child molestation trial concluded, on June 17, 2005 I
wrote these words, "Even though he has been acquitted of the charges
brought against him, the moment he dies he will stand before The Judge, God
Himself. At that moment, if he dies without Christ he will be standing all
alone. There will be no high priced defense attorney, no family, no fans, only God who will judge him for his sins and cast
him into everlasting darkness. At that moment, if he has accepted Christ as his
Savior by faith, he won't be standing alone. Next to him will be the ultimate
defense attorney, JESUS CHRIST, who will tell The Judge that his sins have been
paid for and Michael Jackson will be ushered into God's presence for all
eternity."
Sadly, Michael grew up in the Jehovah's Witnesses cult. This is the
cult born out of the depraved mind of Charles Taze
Russell and denies the very deity of Christ. You can go to Google and type in
"cults Jehovah's Witnesses" and it will give you many websites to
document their false theology. However, Michael has not only followed the false
theology of the Jehovah's Witnesses, he made the choice to live his life in
rebellion to God and His Word and follow all kinds of false religions and
teachings.
During his 2005 trial for child molestation, instead of turning to
Christ for strength, he turned to a cult I have exposed and talked about, Kaballah which was popularized by singer Madonna, signified
by the "red string" bracelet he wore throughout the trial. He had
during his life several high profile spiritual advisors, Orthodox Jew Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and New Age tool
charlatan Deepak Chopra, a tool of Satan I have warned you about in past
Devotionals.
I know it makes people feel better when a famous person or someone
they know dies, though think that they are in Heaven. This is why I have
literally given my life 24/7/365 these past 20 years for the Gospel, because
the FACT is, those who die without Jesus will not be in Heaven, but in the
flames of hell for all eternity. What you believe matters, and based on what he
believes, Michael Jackson is not in Heaven, but in
eternal torment and punishment for his sins.
OBAMA CRITICIZES “OLD
ATTTITUDES” ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY, SAYS AMERICANS WILL CHANGE (Excerpt)
Baptist
Press – Jul 1, 2009 -- President Obama became the first chief executive
to host a White House ceremony celebrating "gay pride" Monday,
telling several hundred homosexual guests in the East Room that America still
has what he called "old attitudes" about homosexuality but that they
have "an ally and a champion" in the Oval Office.
The
June 29 ceremony marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots -- which
launched the modern-day "gay rights" movement -- and also Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month, which takes place each June and which
was recognized by an Obama proclamation at the beginning of the month.
Conservative
commentators were quick to note that the White House ceremony came only a month
and a half after Obama chose not to host -- as was a custom under the Bush
administration -- a White House event commemorating the National Day of Prayer.
Newsmax – Jun 29, 2009 -- A surprising
number of teenagers - nearly 15 percent - think they're going to die young,
leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behavior, new
research suggests.
The
study, based on a survey of more than 20,000 kids, challenges conventional
wisdom that says teens engage in risky behavior because they think they're
invulnerable to harm. Instead, a sizable number of teens may take chances
"because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake,"
said study author Dr. Iris Borowsky, a researcher at
the
That
behavior threatens to turn their fatalism into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Over
seven years, kids who thought they would die early were seven times more likely
than optimistic kids to be subsequently diagnosed with AIDS. They also were
more likely to attempt suicide and get in fights resulting in serious injuries.
Dr. Borowsky said the number of children with a negative
outlook was eye-opening.
Adolescence
is "a time of great opportunity, and for such a
large minority of youth to feel like they don't have a long life ahead of them
was surprising," she said.
The
study suggests a new way doctors could detect kids likely to engage in unsafe
behavior and potentially help prevent it, said Dr. Jonathan Klein, a
"Asking
about this sense of fatalism is probably a pretty important component of one of
the ways we can figure out who those kids at greater risk are," he said.
The
study appears in the July issue of Pediatrics, released Monday.
Scientists
once widely thought that teenagers take risks because they underestimate bad
consequences and figure "it can't happen to me," the study authors
say. The new research bolsters evidence refuting that thinking.
Fatalistic
kids weren't more likely than others to die during the seven-year study; there
were relatively few deaths, 94 out of more than 20,000 teens.
The researchers analyzed data from a
nationally representative survey of kids in grades 7 to 12 who were interviewed
three times between 1995 and 2002. Of 20,594 teens interviewed in the first
round, 14.7 percent said they thought they had a good chance of dying before
age 35. Subsequent interviews found these fatalistic kids engaged in more risky
behavior than more optimistic kids.
CASH
TO BECOME EXTINCT AS CHIPS TAKE OFF
Weekend News Today – Jun 17, 2009 --
CASH is accelerating down the path to extinction as new technologies threaten
to mark the end of loose change within a decade.
Bank and credit union bosses say cash won't
be alone, with wallets and credit cards also likely to disappear too.
They told The Advertiser's round
table forum that cash and cards will be replaced by computer chips embedded in
mobile phones, watches or other portable devices.
Australian Central chief executive Peter
Evers believes cash will be replaced for most transactions in five-to-seven
years.
"Cash will disappear as there will be
other forms of carrying cash, stored value in your phone or whatever it might
be. It will transfer automatically," he said.
"We're very
close in countries around the world. If you go in to Hong Kong or
“ I think
the Australian Payment Systems Board is very much on top of it and is trying to
move down a path, but hasn't publicly put things into place yet."
BankSA general
manager strategy and operations Chris Ward expects
"So you can't go and buy a bottle of
water from the deli with cash; you've got to go and buy it with your
chip," he said.
Savings & Loans chief executive Greg
Connor said the concept of the wallet would go.
"Whereas now we have a wallet and
purse, it will be a chip in your phone or your watch or something like that as
your access," he said.
Mr Evers said credit cards were on the way
out as well.
"The access to credit is still going
to be there through the mobile phone, but you don't need the card because
that's really only a means of identification," he said.
But
flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (Genesis 9:4)
Creation
Moments – Jun 2, 2008 -- The Bible teaches us that our physical life is
in our blood. It also teaches us that our spiritual and eternal life is
dependent upon the blood of Jesus Christ.
Your
heart pumps blood at a speed of more than three feet per second. This means
that any given red blood cell will make a full circulatory trip from your lungs
and back in only about a minute. But your heart is not the only hard working
part of your circulatory system. Your red blood cells live only about 4 months.
In that time, a red blood cell has made over 170,000 trips from your lungs to
bring oxygen to every part of your body. That means your body must constantly
replace red blood cells. So your body produces about 2 million new red blood
cells every second. Your body does this most efficiently by recycling the iron
from dead red blood cells into the new red blood cells. Iron, of course, gives
the hemoglobin in red blood cells the ability to carry oxygen.
As we
learn more about our circulatory systems, we see that physical life is a daily
gift from God. Yet, it was the life-blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ, shed on
the cross for us in His holy, innocent suffering and death that makes eternal
life possible for us.
Bridges for Peace – Apr. 30, 2009 -- On the eve of
A breakdown of the number reveals that 75.5% of the total population
are Jewish, 20.2% are Arab, and 4.3% are neither Jewish nor Arab. More
than 12,000 immigrants have arrived in
Interesting to
note is that the current Jewish population numbers approximately 5.6 million
residents, an encouraging number showing the rejuvenation that the Jewish
people have experienced since the Holocaust when an estimated 5.9 million Jews
were systematically murdered.
Tel Aviv, which is celebrating its centennial this year, was the
only city in
When we hear the word service used in a Christian context,
it can be somewhat vague. Does “service to God” mean preaching?
Teaching Sunday School? Praying for other believers?
Yes, yes, and yes.
But ministry is not
limited to church-related activities. Whenever divine resources meet human
needs through a loving channel, ministry takes place. “Serving the
Lord” can mean a boy helping an elderly lady carry her grocery bags. It
can also describe a woman taking a hurting friend out for ice cream.
We are even to regard
our professional tasks as work done directly for the Lord. (Colossians
3:22-24) “Christian
service” can also refer to a truck driver hauling produce. All service is
rendered to God, no matter who the recipient is.
Paul used the example
of slaves and masters—employees and bosses would be the modern
equivalent—to describe how Christians should labor. Obedience and
reverence mark the life of a believing worker. It’s possible to do
whatever is asked, follow all the rules, and keep smiling, but still lack a
crucial element of a servant: sincerity of heart.
It’s easy to
put on a good show to impress the boss but then complain about him later. The
greater challenge is to please God by committing to work well when no one is
looking or applauding. That’s what it means to serve wholeheartedly for
the Lord.
Everything we do that
touches other lives either glorifies the Lord or diminishes His name in front
of a watching world. What does your commitment to work tell others about Jesus
Christ?
In Touch Ministry
PRIOR ISSUE
INTERESTING INFORMATION 7/1/09
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: “Obedience is a test of love” - Charles Stanley
In this issue – Topics on
·
Huckabee laments lack of Morality in
·
Can
3rd
·
Teens: Oral Sex and casual Prostitution no
biggie!
·
Half
of Men arrested test positive for Drugs
·
Male
Hummingbirds are faster than Fighter Jets
·
Love
with eight arms
·
RECEIVING
THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART
INTERESTING ARTICLES……
HUCKABEE LAMENTS LACK OF MORALITY IN
Baptist Press – Jun 24, 2009 -- An absence of morality, not a
lack of money, is responsible for many of the problems facing the
"Wall Street did not melt down because it was a money problem," Huckabee said. "It melted down because there was a
moral problem, and it's high time we address that what really is breaking this
country is not a lack of money. It's a lack of morality, and without
righteousness and character our nation will perish."
Huckabee, a former governor of
"We are creating an entire nation in which people are increasingly turning
to a new god -- the god of government -- to do for us what we ought to be doing
for ourselves, starting with raising our kids, taking care of our families and
protecting and preserving life and the institutions of this great nation,"
Huckabee said.
Huckabee used the story of Abimelech,
the son of Gideon, in Judges 9 to warn about the dangers of concentrating too
much power in the hands of too few. Abimelech was a
power-hungry man who promised to simplify the lives of his followers. But
instead, Abimelech killed 70 of his brothers.
Placing too much power in the hands of too few is a sure way to collapse an
organization, Huckabee said, whether it is a church
or a nation.
"It is not wise for pastors to believe that all of the power should rest
solely in them," Huckabee said. "The
purpose of the pastor is not to retain power but to embolden and empower those
to whom he is equipping, so that they will in fact do the work of the ministry.
"We today need to recognize that real leadership is not about bringing
power to ourselves, but it is about bringing power to those that we are to
serve."
Huckabee acknowledged the challenges that come with
serving as a pastor. He led a Southern Baptist church for 12 years before
assuming public office, and told pastors he understood how difficult their work
often is.
"The toughest politics I ever faced was not running for president or
running for governor or lieutenant governor, it was being a pastor in a
Southern Baptist church," Huckabee said.
"Folks, them are some tough politics out there if
you've never experienced it."
CAN
Christian Headline
News – Jun 23, 2009 -- According to Islamic tradition, the Dome of the
Rock, built in 691, marks the spot where Muhammed
ascended to Heaven.
But according to
Jewish tradition,
Until now Jewish
tradition has assumed that destruction of the Dome of the Rock was a
precondition for the building of the third and last
However, in an
article that appeared in 2007 in Tehumin, an
influential journal of Jewish law, Frankel, a young scholar, presented a
different option.
His main argument
is that Jewish doctrine regarding the rebuilding of the
This prophet would
have extraordinary authority, including the discretion to specify the
Frankel considers
the scenario of a holy revelation given to an authentic prophet that the
However, both
Muslims and Jews have expressed opposition to the initiative.
Sheikh Abdulla Nimar Darwish, founder of the
Islamic Movement in
"Why are we
taking upon ourselves the responsibility to decide such things?" Darwish said in a telephone interview with The Jerusalem
Post. "Even Jews believe that it is prohibited to rebuild the
"The mahdi will decide whether or not to rebuild the
Darwish warned against any attempt to rebuild the
"As long as
there is a Muslim alive, no Jewish Temple will be built on Al-Haram Al-Sharif [the
In contrast,
Baruch Ben-Yosef, chairman of the Movement to Restore
the
"Anybody who
says anything else simply does not know what he is talking about," he
said. "A prophet does not have the power to change the law which
explicitly states the location of the
Ben-Yosef also rejected the idea that rebuilding of the
"All you need
is a Sanhedrin," he said.
Mainstream
Orthodox rabbis have opposed attempts to rebuild the
The Chief
Rabbinate of
However, several
grassroots organizations such as the Movement to Restore the Temple, and
maverick rabbis, including Rabbi Israel Ariel, head of the capital's Temple
Institute and a leading member of the revived Sanhedrin led by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, have called to
take steps to renew the sacrifices on the Temple Mount and rebuild the Temple.
WorldNetDaily – May 30, 2009 -- They don't give
their names, but viewers what these teens are saying is shocking parents.
"I ended up
having sex with more than one person that night and then in the morning I was
trying to get morning-after pills," one of the girls said. "I was,
like, 14 at the time."
It's just one of
dozens of stories from teenage girls in a new documentary by Canadian filmmaker
Sharlene Azam that aims to
shed light on the secret, extremely sexual lives of today's teens.
After four years
researching for the documentary, Azam told "Good
Morning America" that oral sex is as common as kissing for teens and that
casual prostitution -- being paid at parties to strip, give sexual favors or
have sex -- is far more commonplace than once believed.
"If you talk
to teens [about oral sex] they'll tell you it's not a big deal," Azam said. "In fact, they don't consider it sex. They
don't consider a lot of things sex."
Evidence of this
casual attitude may be seen in the fact that more than half of all teens 15 to
19 years old have engaged in oral sex, according to a comprehensive 2005 study
by the Centers for Disease Control's
STUDY FINDS HALF OF MEN ARRESTED TEST POSITIVE FOR DRUGS
Half of the men arrested in 10
Weekend
News Today – May 29, 2009 -- Not only do the findings show "a clear
link between drugs and crime," they also highlight the need to provide
drug treatment, says Gil Kerlikowske, director of the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which will make the data
public Thursday.
Assessing
offenders for drug and mental health problems and providing treatment is
"important if you want to stop recidivism and recycling people through the
system," says Kerlikowske, who supports drug
courts that offer court-ordered drug treatment.
"There's
an opportunity when someone is arrested to divert them to treatment if they
need it," says Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug
Policy Alliance Network, a group that supports legalizing marijuana and
treating drug use as a public health issue. "But people shouldn't have to
get arrested to get treatment."
In
2008 researchers interviewed and obtained urine samples from 3,924 men arrested
in 10 metropolitan areas:
In
Marijuana
is the most common drug in every city where testing was done except
Methamphetamine
use is concentrated on the west coast where 35% of the men arrested in
Heroin
use is highest, at 29%, among men arrested in
Positive
drug tests declined since 2007 among men arrested in
Cities
and states need more resources for drug treatment, says Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, which
advocates for alternatives to incarceration.
"If
you just want drug treatment, in some places you are better off getting
arrested and going to drug court," Mauer says.
"The
federal resources that have gone into the drug war have been heavily oriented
toward police and incarceration rather than treatment. We need to shift that
use of resources," he says.
MALE HUMMINGBIRDS, SWOOPING IN AN EFFORT TO IMPRESS FEMALES,
ACHIEVE SPEEDS “FASTER THAN FIGHTER JETS”, ACCORDING TO STUDY
WorldNetDaily – Jun 15, 2009 -- A US researcher
has captured the birds' dives with super-fast cameras. He lured them into their
impressive displays using stuffed models of female birds.
The feathered acrobats reached speeds of almost 400 body lengths
per second.
The findings are reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal
Society B. Christopher Clark from the
When measured relative to the length of their bodies, the birds'
top speed, he said, was "greater than [that] of a fighter jet with its
afterburners on, or the space shuttle during atmospheric re-entry".
Jet fighters, however, are able to out-accelerate the little birds.
In the latter stages of their dives, when they spread their wings
to pull up, the hummingbirds' "instantaneous acceleration" was, said Mr Clark, "greater than any organism previously
recorded undergoing aerial manoeuvres".
And that was all without the help of a powerful jet engine.
The study, Mr Clark said, was an example
of how such displays, triggered by the prospect of a mate, could be used to
study the very limits of animals' abilities.
O
Jerusalem,
Creation
Moments - Feb. 14, 2007 -- While many people think that the octopus is an ugly
creature, the octopus is intelligent. The mother octopus puts a lot of love and
effort into the care of her young.
Fertilized
octopus eggs are about the size of a grain of rice. They are connected in
clusters on slender stalks. Once her eggs are ejected and fertilized, the
mother octopus hangs the threads containing her eggs from the roof of her home.
It could be a rock cave or even a dark, enclosed man made structure. By the
time she is done hanging her eggs, she will have almost 20,000 ivory capsules
strung around her.
But
now her real work begins. Until the eggs hatch, mother octopus will give up
food, concentrating on nothing but cleaning her eggs of any material that might
result in a fungus or parasite infection. She cradles the eggs gently in her
arms, brushing each of the 20,000 eggs, and sometimes washing them with jets of
water. There is nothing else she can do for her young, but this care receives
her single minded attention.
It
is rightfully said that one cannot create something he doesn't have. If one
does not have love, he cannot create love in others. Therefore the Creator of
the octopus must know a great deal about giving individual love and care to a
multitude of individuals. The Bible is our Creator's own personal description
of His love for you and me. Whether you know the personal care and love of your
Creator or you don't, you can learn the depth of His care for you through Jesus
Christ in the pages of the Bible.
The
Lord is to be the greatest passion of a believer’s life. A person who
claims to love God should give a relationship with Him priority over
possessions, vocation, and even other relationships. Yet some people miss the
true message of Psalm 37:4 because they focus only on the part that says they
can get what they want. The qualifying statement attached to that promise is a
call for devotion to God: “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give
you the desires of your heart” (emphasis added).
Believers
can and should savor pleasures. The heavenly Father wants His children to use
the resources He gives as a way to enjoy life (1 Timothy 6:17). For instance,
God has made it possible for me to travel and photograph some beautiful places.
But the key to enjoying life is to delight in Him above all else. God’s
rightful place is as Lord of our life; to give anything else that position puts
us at risk.
The
human heart is naturally selfish and often destructive. Without God as top
priority, we will likely be governed by the pursuit of earthly goods. But when
He is our first love, those warped cravings are replaced by desires that fit
His will and purpose for us.
King
David, a man who faced great tragedy and heartache, understood from experience
that a heart devoted to the Lord also knows delight and blessing. Psalm 37 was
his encouragement for us to seek God as diligently as he had done. Take
David’s words to heart, and let the Lord be your obsession. You will be
amazed at how He will bless you.
In
Touch Ministries