Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Jesse

Jesse from Jesse - David - Solomon.
Artist: MICHELANGELO Buonarroti.
Date: 1511-12.
Jesse or Yishai (Hebrew יִשַׁי/יֵשַׁי) is the father of the biblical King David mentioned in the Books of Samuel of the Hebrew Bible. David is sometimes called simply "Son of Jesse" (ben yishai). Jesse was the son of Obed, the grandson of Ruth.

In the Talmud it says Yishai was one of four men (the others are Benjamin, Amram, and Chileab) never to have committed a sin.

Prior to the time of Israel's first king, Samuel was sent, by God, to anoint Saul. Samuel spoke the words of the Lord to Saul:
'I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"
4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night. 1 Samuel 15:3-11
Saul's failure to obey the Lord resulted in his rejection as King of Israel. God sent Samuel to Bethlehem :
The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."
As such, Jesse is a crucially important ancestor, for it is through Jesse's son David, who would become Israel's second King, that Jesus would inherit the legal right to the thrown.

More...

Monday, August 29, 2011

Ariel

Ari'al, Shomron, Israel
The city of 'Ari'el (Hebrew: אֲרִיאֵל Arabic: اريئيل‎) is an Israeli settlement on the West Bank, in the Biblical region of Samaria near the ancient village of Timnath-serah. Established in 1978, its population as of 17,600 (2009), including 7,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union. It is the fifth largest Israeli community in the territories that Israel captured from Jordan of as a result of the Six-Day War in 1967. The Israeli Ministry of the Interior gave the municipality of Ariel the status of a city council in 1998.

Ariel is situated approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) (25 miles) east of Tel Aviv, 40 kilometres (25 mi) (25 miles) west of the Jordan River, and 60 kilometres (37 mi) (38 miles) northwest of Jerusalem. It lies southwest of Nablus/Shechem, north of Ramallah and southeast of Qalqilyah. The city is connected to the Tel Aviv area by the Trans-Samaria Highway and to Jerusalem by Route 60.

In Hebrew, Ariel (אֲרִיאֵל), literally means "Lion of God" or "lioness of God" (See also: 2 Sam 23:20, 1 Chr 11:22). "Ari" (Lion) in Hebrew is also a synonym for bravery and courage and it is also the symbol of the tribe of Judah. Ariel in the Hebrew Bible is one of the names for Jerusalem and the Temple of Jerusalem.

More...

Ariel - City with a Heart by CityAriel

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Liberty

Depiction of Jesus, reading the prophecy
of Isaiah concerning Himself
(Isaiah 61:1-2, Luke 4:16-19).
 1
 a) The condition of being free from restriction or control.
 b) The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing.
 c) The condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor.

2 Freedom from unjust or undue governmental control.

3 A right or immunity to engage in certain actions without control or interference: the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights.

[Middle English liberte, from Old French, from Latin lberts, from lber, free; see leudh- in Indo-European roots.][1]

freedom

  1. the state of being free, esp. to enjoy political and civil liberties
  2. exemption or immunity: freedom from government control
  3. liberation, such as from slavery
  4. the right or privilege of unrestricted access: freedom of the skies
  5. self-government or independence
  6. the power to order one's own actions
  7. ease or frankness of manner

oppression

  1. to burden with cruel or unjust impositions or restraints; subject to a burdensome or harsh exercise of authority or power: a people oppressed by totalitarianism.
  2. to lie heavily upon (the mind, a person, etc.): Care and sorrow oppressed them.
  3. to weigh down, as sleep or weariness does.
  4. Archaic. to put down; subdue or suppress.
  5. Archaic. to press upon or against; crush.
More...
also... Stars & Stripes by The Air Force Concert Band | Hymn to Freedom by Jazz GREAT Oscar Peterson


1. "Liberty" The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Ludwig Wittgenstein

(26 April, 1889 – 29 April, 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. As one of the twentieth century's most important philosophers, his influence has been wide-ranging.

Before his death at the age of 62, the only book-length work Wittgenstein had published was Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. He worked on Philosophical Investigations (1953), and in 1999 it was ranked as the most important book of 20th-century philosophy.

Life
Ludwig Wittgenstein was born in Vienna on 26 April 1889, to Karl Wittgenstein and his wife Leopoldine Kalmus. His father was Jewish and his mother Roman Catholic. He was the youngest of eight children, born into one of the most prominent and wealthy families in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Ludwig was born in the Palais Wittgenstein at Alleegasse 16, now the Argentinierstrasse, near the Karlskirche (St. Charles's Church, Vienna). There were nine children in Ludwig's family. There were four girls: Hermine, Margaret (Gretl)—who was analysed by Sigmund Freud in the early 1930s—Helene, and a fourth daughter who died as a baby; and five boys: Johannes (Hans), Kurt, Rudolf (Rudi), and Paul, who became a concert pianist despite losing an arm in the war, and for whom a number of composers wrote works for left hand (the most famous of which was Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand). Ludwig was the youngest of the family. Ludwig's father became an industrialist and went on to make a fortune in iron and steel. Ludwig's mother was an aunt of the Nobel Prize laureate Friedrich von Hayek. The Wittgenstein children were baptized as Roman Catholics—the faith of their maternal grandmother—and Ludwig was given a Roman Catholic burial upon his death.

More...

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Bartholomew

(Greek: Βαρθολομαῖος "son of Tolmai" or "from Ptolemais" (of Aramaic origin: בַּר bar (Aramaic) son + תַּלְמַי Talmai = "furrowed") from תֶּלֶם telem = "furrow," from an unused root word meaining "to accumulate," often identified with the Nathanael of John 1:45-1:51.

The name Nathanael (Greek: Ναθαναήλ) is derived from the Hebrew: נְתַנְאֵל - Nĕthane'l "given of God" from נָתַן - nathan and אֵל - 'el "god, god-like one, mighty one," which is shortened from אַיִל - 'ayil "ram, ram (as food), ram (as sacrifice), ram (skin dyed red, for tabernacle)). Based on this meaning, many have assumed it was not a given name, but a family name.

Bartholomew (Nathanael) was born in Cana of Galilee (John 21:2).
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." John 1:45-46

He was listed as one of Christ's twelve disciples (Matthew 10:2-4; Acts 1:13).

More...



Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Second Temple

This was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem which stood between 515 BCE and 70 CE. During this time, it was the center of Jewish worship, which focused on the sacrifices known as the korbanot. Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was destroyed in 586 BCE when the Jews were exiled into the Babylonian Captivity. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its Second Temple circa 70 CE, ending the Great Jewish Revolt that began in 66 CE.

After the return from captivity, under Zerubbabel and the high priest Jeshua, arrangements were almost immediately made to reorganize the desolated Kingdom of Judah after its demise seventy years earlier.

The accession of Cyrus the Great of Persia in 538 BCE made the re-establishment of the city of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple possible. According to the Bible, when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem following a decree from Cyrus the Great (Ezra 1:1-4, 2 Chron 36:22-23), construction started at the original site, which had remained a devastated heap during the approximate 70 years of captivity (Dan. 9:1-2). After a relatively brief halt, brought about by peoples who had filled the vacuum during the Jewish captivity (Ezra 4), work resumed circa 521 BCE under the Persian King Darius (Ezra 5) and was completed during the sixth year of his reign (circa 515 BCE), with the temple dedication taking place the following year.

Around 20 BCE, Herod the Great renovated the Temple, which became known as the Temple of Herod or Herod's Temple.


More...

Jerusalem Temple 3D Model

Monday, August 22, 2011

Abaddon

Abaddon (Greek: Ἀβαδδών Abaddōn, of Hebrew origin: אֲבַדּוֹן 'abaddown, meaning "place of destruction, destruction, ruin, Abaddon").
And they had a king over them, [which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [his] name Apollyon. (Rev 9:11 KJV)

καὶ ἔχουσιν ἐφ᾽ αὐτῶν βασιλέα τὸν ἄγγελον τῆς ἀβύσσου ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἑβραϊστὶ Ἀβαδδὼν καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ ὄνομα ἔχει Ἀπολλύων (Rev 9:11 Textus Receptus)

In Biblical poetry (Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11), it comes to mean "place of destruction", or the realm of the dead, and is associated with Sheol. Abaddon is also one of the compartments of Gehenna.

In Revelation 9:11, it is personified as the demon Abaddon, "Angel of the Abyss", rendered in Greek as Apollyon; and he is described as king of the locusts which rose at the sounding of the fifth trumpet. In like manner, in Rev. 6:8, Hades is personified following after death to conquer the fourth part of the earth.

Abaddon is one of the infernal names used in Satanism, and is first in the list—only as it comes first alphabetically—and means "the destroyer."

More...

Prophecy In The News Special On Apollyon Rising 2012

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Albrecht Dürer


The Revelation of St John: 4.

The Four Riders of the Apocalypse
Albrecht Dürer (German pronunciation: [ˈalbʀɛçt ˈdyʀɐ]) (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528) was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since. His well-known works include the Apocalypse woodcuts, Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation. His watercolours mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that medium. Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, have secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatise which involve principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions.

Dürer was born on 21 May 1471, third child and second son of his parents, who had between fourteen and eighteen children. His father was a successful goldsmith, originally named Ajtósi, who in 1455 had moved to Nuremberg from Ajtós, near Gyula in Hungary. The German name "Dürer" is derived from the Hungarian, "Ajtósi". Initially, it was "Thürer," meaning doormaker, which is "ajtós" in Hungarian (from "ajtó", meaning door). A door is featured in the coat-of-arms the family acquired. Albrecht Dürer the Elder married Barbara Holper, the daughter of his master, when he himself became a master in 1467.

More...

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Shiite Muslims

The core Religions in the
Middle East (2006)

©M. Izady, 2006
Shī‘a Islam, also Shi‘ite Islam or Shi‘ism (Arabic شيعة šīʿa), is the second largest denomination of the Islamic faith after Sunni Islam. Shias adhere to the teachings of Muhammad and the religious guidance of his family (who are referred to as the Ahl al-Bayt) or his descendents known as Shi'a Imams. Muhammad's bloodline continues only through his beloved daughter Fatima Zahra and cousin Ali which alongside the prophet's grandsons are the Ahl al-Bayt. Thus, Shi'as consider Muhammad's descendents as the true source of guidance while considering the first three ruling Sunni Caliph (the head of state in a Caliphate) a historic occurrence and not something attached to faith. The singular/adjective form is šīʿī (شيعي.) and refers to a follower of the faction of Imam Ali according to the Shia ideology.

Shia Islam, like Sunni Islam, has at times been divided into many branches; however, only three of these currently have a significant number of followers. The best known and the one with most adherents is the Twelvers (اثنا عشرية iṯnāʿašariyya) which have a large percentage in Iran 90% and Iraq; the others are Ismaili, Sevener, and Zaidiyyah. Alawites and Druzes consider themselves Shias, although this is sometimes disputed by mainstream Shias. The Sufi orders among the Shias are the Alevi, Bektashi, Kubrawiya, Noorbakhshi, Oveyssi, Qizilbashi, Hamadani and Fatimid orders and denominations. Twenty percent of Turkey's population is Alevi while Lebanon and Syria have a large presence of Druze and Alawites.

More...

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Rebekah

Rebekah (also Rebecca, also Ribqah Hebrew: רִבְקָה or רִבְקָה, "ensnarer, to tie; to bind; captivating") was the wife of Isaac and the second matriarch of the four matriarchs of the Jewish people. She was the mother of Jacob and Esau. Rebekah and Isaac were one of the three "pairs" buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, together with Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Leah.

According to the account in the Book of Genesis, Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel and the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham's brother. She was the sister of Laban, who would later become the father of Rachel and Leah, two of the wives of Rebekah's son Jacob.

The news of her birth was told to her great-uncle Abraham after the latter returned from Akeidat Yitzchak (the Binding of Isaac), the episode in which Abraham was told by God to bring Isaac as a sacrifice on a mountain.

After the Binding of Isaac, Sarah, Abraham's wife, died. After taking care of her burial, Abraham went about finding a wife for his son Isaac, who was already 37 years old. He commanded his servant (whom the Torah commentators identify as Eliezer of Damascus ) to journey to his birthplace of Aram Naharaim to select a bride from his own family, rather than engage Isaac to a local Canaanite girl. Abraham sent along expensive jewelry, clothing and dainties as gifts to the bride and her family. If the girl had refused to follow him, Abraham stated that Eliezer would be absolved of his responsibility.

More

Sunday, August 14, 2011

History of Ancient Israel


The Merneptah Stele
The history of Ancient Israel and Judah is known to us from classical sources including Judaism's Tanakh or Hebrew Bible (known to Christianity as the Old Testament), the Talmud, the Ethiopian Kebra Nagast, the writings of Nicolaus of Damascus, Artapanas, Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus supplemented by ancient sources uncovered by biblical archaeology including Egyptian, Moabite, Assyrian, Babylonian as well as Israelite and Judean inscriptions.

It was also subject to domination by adjacent empires, beginning with Egypt in the late 3rd millennium BCE.

Traditions regarding the early history found in later works such as the Kebra Nagast and commentaries of Rashi, Philo of Alexandria, and numerous others, (besides of course, the Tanakh) refer to the early inhabitants as the sons of Shem and also speak of an invasion by the people known as Canaanites (see also Canaan) descended from Ham.

The Book of Jubilees states that the land was originally allotted to Shem and Arphaxad (ancestor of the Hebrews) when it was still vacant, but was wrongfully occupied by Canaan and his son Sidon. Jubilees makes this, then, the true justification for the later war to drive out the Canaanites.

The Kebra Nagast, however, speaks of the Canaanites (see Canaan) invading existing cities of Shem and Ibn Ezra, similarly notes that they had seized land from earlier inhabitants. Rashi mentions that the Canaanites were seizing land from the sons of Shem in the days of Abraham.

True History of the Founding of Israel
As pointed out in a May, 2011 article by Palestinian Media Watch, the common incantation that Zionists stole Palestinian land is a false claim.

Abstract:

"The Zionist gangs stole Palestine ... and established the state of Israel" - this quote, from an official PA 12th Grade schoolbook, is an accurate depiction of how the PA educates its population to view the establishment of the State of Israel. Presenting the creation of the state as an act of theft and its continued existence as a historical injustice serves as the basis for the PA's non-recognition of Israel's right to exist. In order to create an ideological basis for this, the PA denies there was an ancient Jewish history in the Land of Israel and also distorts modern history, presenting Zionism as a demonic Nazi-like phenomenon. In order to explain what made Jews come to Israel, since they claim there was no historical connection to draw them, Zionism is presented as a colonialist movement created by the West to further its interests.

First, the countries of Europe wanted to rid themselves of the Jews and needed a place for them. They also wanted a foreign body in the heart of the Arab world to serve Europe's colonialist aims. For these reasons, they sent the Jews to "steal Palestine." Israel is further demonized through images and descriptions, such as "the foster child of the Nazis," "an organized terror state," "the cruelest enemy," etc. Accordingly, the idea of the State of Israel ceasing to exist is presented as the achievement of justice.

Today, following the establishment of a Fatah and Hamas unity government, many countries are demanding that Hamas recognize Israel's right to exist as a condition for the world's recognition of their new government. Ironically, this very condition is violated daily by the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas.

The report:

1. "The Zionist gangs stole Palestine"
2. Not recognizing Israel's right to exist
3. Establishment of the State of Israel presented as "colonialist" plan
4. Demonic images and descriptions of the State of Israel
5. Justice will be achieved when Israel ceases to exist

The Rest of the Report

Daniel Pipes also answers the veracity of the "Zionists stole Palestinian land" claim in his article, "Not Stealing Palestine but Purchasing Israel," saying:

"No, it is not. Ironically, the building of Israel represents about the most peaceable in-migration and state creation in history. To understand why requires seeing Zionism in context. Simply put, conquest is the historic norm; governments everywhere were established through invasion, nearly all states came into being at someone else's expense. No one is permanently in charge, everyone's roots trace back to somewhere else.

Germanic tribes, Central Asian hordes, Russian tsars, and Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors remade the map. Modern Greeks have only a tenuous connection to the Greeks of antiquity. Who can count the number of times Belgium was overrun? The United States came into existence by defeating Native Americans. Kings marauded in Africa, Aryans invaded India. In Japan, Yamato-speakers eliminated all but tiny groups such as the Ainu.

The Middle East, due to its centrality and geography, has experienced more than its share of invasions, including the Greek, Roman, Arabian, Crusader, Seljuk, Timurid, Mongolian, and modern European. Within the region, dynastic froth caused the same territory – Egypt for example – to be conquered and re-conquered.

More...

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Syria

Syria (Arabic: سوريا ‎or سورية ), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية ), is a country in the Middle East, bordering Lebanon to the west, Palestine to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north. The modern state of Syria attained independence from the French mandate of Syria in 1946, but can trace its historical roots to the fourth millennium BC; its capital city, Damascus, was the seat of the Umayyad Empire and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire.

Isaiah 17: An Oracle Concerning Damascus

Syria has a population of 19 million, of whom the majority are Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims, as well as 16% other Muslim groups, including the Alawi, Shiite, and Druze, and 10% Christian.

Since 1963 the country has been governed by the Baath Party; the head of state since 1970 has been a member of the Assad family.

Syria's current President is Bashar al-Assad, son of Hafez al-Assad, who held office from 1970 until his death in 2000.

Historically, Syria has often been taken to include the territories of Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and parts of Jordan, but excluding the Jazira region in the north-east of the modern Syrian state. In this historic sense, the region is also known as Greater Syria or by the Arabic name Bilad al-Sham (بلاد الشام ). Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel administers the disputed Golan Heights to the southwest of the country; a dispute with Turkey over the Hatay Province has subsided.

The name Syria comes from the ancient Greek name for the former colonial territories of Assyria such as Canaan and Aram.

At the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Arabia to the south and Cilicia to the north, stretching inland to include Mesopotamia, and having an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including from west to east Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene, "formerly known as Assyria" (N.H. 5.66).

By Pliny's time, however, this larger Syria had been divided into a number of provinces under the Roman Empire (but politically independent from each other): Judaea (or "Judea" and later renamed Palestina in AD 135—the region corresponding to the modern states of Israel and Jordan and the Palestinian territories) in the extreme southwest, Phoenicia corresponding to Lebanon, with Damascena to the inland side of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria (or "Hollow Syria") south of the Eleutheris river, and Mesopotamia.

More...

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Reality Check

If you have been paying attention, you are aware that some very preternatural things have been happening recently. It does not matter where you are located, you have been effected.

We have seen an increase in weather-related problems, problems in Damascus, where authorities have unleashed a brutal crackdown in an effort to put down a four-month-old uprising. Activists expect protests to escalate during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began August 1, 2011. (Isaiah 17:1, 14; Jeremiah 49:23-27; Amos 1:3-5; Zechariah 9:1-8).
To me, it comes as no cooincidence that, no sooner than I said this:

"I would like to see the body of Christ come together for the purpose Christ commanded. In light of the situation(s) we are seeing around the globe, it behooves us to come together now as a people -- we are, after all, children of God and not children of this world. We actually are a family, and there is an unmeasurable period when we will be together. The people who who have been lead astray, through deception, ignorance, selfishness, etc., are the ones we should be reaching.
"Jesus said,
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” ~Mark 2:17.

It is a tough message to internalize, but, put it into context today and see what this does to your comfort zone"

than did God put this before my eyes:
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Which I read at The Endrun Project.

You should read it → http://bit.ly/Endrun-RethinkingReality2011

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Hermit

Michelangelo
The Torment of Saint Anthony,
c. 1487-88
A hermit (from the Greek ἔρημος ēremos, signifying "desert", "uninhabited", hence "desert-dweller"; adjective: "eremitic") is a person who lives to some greater or lesser degree in seclusion from society.

In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament (i.e., the forty years wandering in the desert that was meant to bring about a change of heart).

In the Christian tradition the eremitic life is an early form of monastic living that preceded the monastic life in the cenobium. The Rule of St Benedict (ch. 1) lists hermits among four kinds of monks. In addition to hermits that are members of religious orders, modern Roman Catholic Church law (canon 603) recognizes also consecrated hermits under the direction of their diocesan bishop as members of the Consecrated Life.

Often, both in religious and secular literature, the term "hermit" is used loosely for anyone living a solitary life-style, including the misanthrope, and in religious contexts is sometimes assumed to be interchangeable with anchorite / anchoress (from the Greek ἀναχωρέω anachōreō, signifying "to withdraw", "to depart into the country outside the circumvallate city"), recluse and solitary. However, it is important to retain a clear distinction between the vocation of hermits and that of anchorites.

More...

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Dr. Wayne Grudem Alliance Defense Fund - Q&A with Dr. Wayne Grudem "Politics according to the Bible" and "Why Theology is Important" 1-3

Dr. Wayne Grudem, Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary, speaks on Politics according to the Bible and Why Theology is Important.

"Politics according to the Bible"





Dr. Grudem is a co-founder and past president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.[1]

Grudem also edited (with John Piper) Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (which was named “Book of the Year” by Christianity Today in 1992). Zondervan released his new book, Politics According to the Bible on September 23, 2010.[2]  He has served as President of the Evangelical Theological Society (1999), and as a member of the Translation Oversight Committee for the English Standard Version of the Bible. He also served as the General Editor for the ESV Study Bible.[3]


See Also:
"Why Theology is Important"
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Friday, August 05, 2011

Money, A Biblical Perspective

The bible has quite a lot to say about money and finances, which is evidence that these principles are something God considers important for us to be aware of.

Money
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:10 NIV)

The money changers
The narrative of Jesus and the Money Changers occurs in both the Synoptic Gospels and in the Gospel of John, although it occurs close to the end of the Synoptic Gospels at:

Mark 11:15–19, 11:27–33,
Matthew 21:12–17, 21:23–27 and
Luke 19:45–48, 20:1–8

The story of Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers in the Temple is related. Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Passover, the first of three in John, the others being John 7, where he goes to the Feast of Tabernacles, and the final Passover during which he is crucified. He enters the Temple courts and sees people selling livestock and exchanging money.


More

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Cantillation

The ritual chanting of readings from the bible in synagogue services.

The chants are rendered in accordance with the special signs or marks printed in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh) to complement the letters and vowel points. These marks are known in English as accents and in Hebrew as טעמי המקרא ta`amei ha-mikra or just טעמים te`amim. (Some of these signs were also sometimes used in medieval manuscripts of the Mishnah.) The musical motifs associated with the signs are known in Hebrew as niggun and in Yiddish as טראָפ trop: the equivalent word trope is sometimes used in English with the same meaning.

A primary purpose of the cantillation signs is to guide he chanting of the sacred texts during public worship. Very roughly speaking, each word of text has a cantillation mark at its primary accent and associated with that mark is a musical phrase that tells how to sing that word. The reality is more complex, with some words having two or no marks and the musical meaning of some marks dependent upon context. There are different sets of musical phrases associated with different sections of the Bible. The music varies with different Jewish traditions and individual cantorial styles.

The cantillation signs also provide information on the syntactical structure of the text and some say they are a commentary on the text itself, highlighting important ideas musically. The tropes are not random strings but follow a set and describable grammar. The very word ta'am means "taste" or "sense", the point being that the pauses and intonation denoted by the accents (with or without formal musical rendition) bring out the sense of the passage.

There are two systems of cantillation marks in the Tanakh. One is used in the twenty-one prose books, while the other appears in the three poetical books of Psalms, Proverbs and Job.


More...
 

Subscribe

 

Blog Archive

LifeNews.com

Desiring God Blog

Youth for Christ International