"Twenty-three British universities are contributing to a British provider of "massive open online courses" (MOOCs) by the name of FutureLearn. Backed by long-established expert, The Open University, which has been doing remote learning for 44 years, the British MOOC provider aims to compete with US outfits such as Khan Academy and Coursera."
A Thermometer of our times...not good.
"The highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto V was released at midnight yesterday, and to no surprise has managed to break the record for highest sales in 24 hours. Distributors Take-Two Interactive have announced that the game has managed to achieve a staggering $800m (£490m) worth of sales within the first day, and is certainly going to break the forecasted $1 billion within the week. The record was previous held by Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops which made $500m within 24 hours in 2009. The game also holds the title for the quickest entertainment product to achieve $1 billion in sales as they hit the mark by day 15."
A 2011 Supreme Court ruling recognized that video games, like other forms of art and entertainment, are protected by the First Amendment as a form of speech. “For better or worse,” Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the decision, “our society has long regarded many depictions of killing and maiming as suitable features of popular entertainment.” As such, Rockstar, the developer of Grand Theft Auto V, the latest entry in the long-running series, which was released today, could include a prolonged interactive depiction of torture without fear of censorship. Nevertheless, the “24”-esque scene, which requires players to rotate the game controller’s sticks in order to tug out the victim’s teeth with pliers, has inspired debate—not only over its artistic merit but also over whether such distressing interactions have any place in video games.
Video-game violence is, like all onscreen violence, an act of play. But the medium has a unique capacity to inveigle, and even implicate, its audience through its interactivity. When we watch a violent scene in a film or read a description of violence in a novel, no matter how graphic it is, we are merely spectators. In video games, whose stories are usually written in the second person singular—“you,” rather than “he” or “she” or “I”—we are active, if virtual, participants. Often the game’s story remains in stasis until we press the button to step off the sidewalk, light the cigarette, drunkenly turn the key in the ignition, or pull a yielding trigger. It is one thing to watch Gus Van Sant’s 2003 “Elephant,” a fictional film based on the 1999 Columbine High School massacre; it is quite another to inhabit the pixellated shoes of that atrocity’s perpetrators, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, as one does in the video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG.
It’s an issue all game makers face. They are, after all, small gods, constructing the rules and bounds of a reality. In previous Grand Theft Auto titles, for example, players were able to visit strip clubs, “kill” innocents and, in one notorious anecdote, pay for a prostitute and, after having sex with her, murder her to reclaim the money. In Grand Theft Auto IV, from 2008, which was game set in Liberty City, a fictional approximation of New York, players could hijack a helicopter and, if they so chose, fly it into a skyscraper. These particular actions are not stipulated by the game maker—they do not advance the player toward beating the game. But the world and its logic both facilitate them.
Last month, a user on a Grand Theft Auto V forum asked whether players would be able to rape women in the game. In the post, which was widely shared on social media, he wrote, “I want to have the opportunity to kidnap a woman, hostage her, put her in my basement and rape her everyday, listen to her crying, watching her tears.” This is alarming...
Your computer has a back door into it most likely...
"At the Linuxcon conference in New Orleans today, Linus Torvalds joined fellow kernel developers in answering a barrage of questions about Linux development. One question he was asked was whether a government agency had ever asked about inserting a back-door into Linux. Torvalds responded 'no' while shaking his head 'yes,' as the audience broke into spontaneous laughter. Torvalds also admitted that while he as a full life outside of Linux he couldn't imagine his life without it. 'I don't see any project coming along being more interesting to me than Linux,' Torvalds said. 'I couldn't imagine filling the void in my life if I didn't have Linux.'"
Tan, a Hemingway fan and the author of A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family, set out to find the recipe and try it. She reported her experiences this week on the Paris Review Daily blog. “I had made burgers before, countless times on countless evenings,” Tan writes. “This one was different; I wasn’t making just any burger — I was attempting to recreate Hemingway’s hamburger. And it had to be just right.”
Here is Papa’s favorite recipe for pan-fried hamburgers, as reported by Tan:
Ingredients–
1 lb. ground lean beef
2 cloves, minced garlic
2 little green onions, finely chopped
1 heaping teaspoon, India relish
2 tablespoons, capers
1 heaping teaspoon, Spice Islands sage
Spice Islands Beau Monde Seasoning — 1/2 teaspoon
Spice Islands Mei Yen Powder — 1/2 teaspoon
1 egg, beaten in a cup with a fork
About 1/3 cup dry red or white wine
1 tablespoon cooking oil
What to do–
Break up the meat with a fork and
scatter the garlic, onion and dry seasonings over it, then mix them into
the meat with a fork or your fingers. Let the bowl of meat sit out of
the icebox for ten or fifteen minutes while you set the table and make
the salad. Add the relish, capers, everything else including wine and
let the meat sit, quietly marinating, for another ten minutes if
possible. Now make your fat, juicy patties with your hands. The patties
should be an inch thick, and soft in texture but not runny. Have the oil
in your frying pan hot but not smoking when you drop in the patties and
then turn the heat down and fry the burgers about four minutes. Take
the pan off the burner and turn the heat high again. Flip the burgers
over, put the pan back on the hot fire, then after one minute, turn the
heat down again and cook another three minutes. Both sides of the
burgers should be crispy brown and the middle pink and juicy.
Always use "speaker phone" and never hold your cell phone up to your brain...
Cell Phones ARE NOT SAFE for your brain.
My goal here is to try to make you and your loved ones aware of the
extreme dangers posed by these microwave-emitting devices. Brain Tumors
are On the Rise.In the past few years there has been a drastic increase in the number of people getting brain tumors (not to mention other cancers and disease states like Autism, ADHD, CFIDS and so on). Brain tumors are now the number-one cause of death in children in Australia and the United States (and I imagine many other countries also).
It is now being predicted by epidemiologists that within the next ten years we will see at least a 1,000 percent increase in this disease state. A major brain-tumor epidemic is just around the corner. It saddens my heart to watch all the children with their cell phones glued to their ears; they have no idea what they are in for in years to come.
Brain tumors don’t develop overnight, excess exposure to radiofrequency radiation may take 10 – 20 years before the full scope of the problem is known. The cell phone industry is just now entering the front end of that time period. If there is a problem, by the time governments take effective action to ensure cell phones are safer the damage to an entire generation will already be done.
The potential problem to our children and current young adults is staggering, since they have grown up attached to cell phones. Any damage cell phones cause will be worse in children, as their brains are still developing.
Nobody questions the fact that cell phone radiation is entering the brain of the user. The debate is on how problematic the radiation is.
Cell Phones 'Excite' Your Brain
When in use, cell phones emit an electromagnetic field. Different parts of the brain communicate via electrical signals. And people tend to press cell phones to their heads when making calls.
The researchers say they have "shown definitively" that talking on a cell phone increases electrical activity on the side of the head where the cell phone is held. The effect mostly wears off within an hour, they say.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/26/health/webmd/main1752783.shtml
Cell Phone Cover-Up – Is Your Brain at Risk?
http://www.wellnessresources.com/content/articles/cell_phone_cover_up_is_your_brain_at_risk/
Ministry of a Prophet
In
spite of the fact that prophets were vital to God’s purposes in the Old
Testament, the need for them today has been called into question
because of the presence of the gift of holy spirit in every believer.
There is a distinct difference between the manifestation of prophecy and the gift ministry of a prophet.
Many
people are familiar with the ministries of apostles, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers. However, if we are to have everything that the
Lord wants us to have as his Body, we must understand the ministry of
the prophet and have prophets functioning in the Church.
In
spite of the fact that prophets were vital to God’s purposes in the Old
Testament, the need for them today has been called into question
because of the presence of the gift of holy spirit in every believer. On
the Day of Pentecost, God began to unveil something He had hidden from
mankind (and the Devil)—the Administration of God’s Grace (Eph. 3:2).
Today, in the Administration of Grace, the Lord Jesus Christ seals with
holy spirit every person who gets born again (Eph. 1:13). That means
every Christian has the ability to hear from God and prophesy (Acts 2:17
and 18,. 1 Cor. 14:5 and 24).
For many people, the immediate reaction to hearing that every Christian can prophesy is to think that prophets are no longer necessary. However, a more detailed study of Scripture (and indeed, the evidence of correct practice in the Church) reveals that is not the case.
For example, Ephesians 4:11 says
that the Lord has placed prophets in the Church along with the other
ministries of apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Furthermore,
there are other verses in the Church Epistles that mention prophets,
such as 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Titus 1:12. Acts confirms what the
Church Epistles teach, and shows that prophets were active and important
in the Church (Acts 11:27, 13:1, 15:32, 21:10).
Surely the Lord would
not have specifically placed men and women in the Church with the gift
ministry of a prophet if they did not perform a distinctly different
role than other Christians who were operating the manifestation of
prophecy.
In contrast to the manifestation of prophecy
every Christian can operate, the gift ministry of a prophet is a
specific calling of the Lord on a person’s life. Thus the call to be a
prophet is a job assignment, given to someone whether he wants it or
not. The Old Testament scriptures make this very clear.
Isaiah knew he
was called from birth: “…Before I was born the LORD [Yahweh] called me;
from my birth he has made mention of my name” (Isa. 49:1b).
Amos
describes the call of God upon his life: “…I was neither a prophet nor a
prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of
sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD [Yahweh] took me from tending the flock
and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel’” (Amos 7:14 and 15).
In
regard to prophets in the Church, the book of Acts confirms what
Ephesians and Corinthians state doctrinally, that the Lord selects and
specifically calls some men and women to be prophets. Prophets were
important in the establishment of the church at Antioch, the first
church recorded that was composed of both Jews and Gentiles (Acts
11:27).
It was the prophet Agabus who foretold that there would be a
severe famine in the Roman world during the reign of Claudius Caesar
(Acts 11:28; this famine is documented in secular Roman history).
Prophets were vital in getting the revelation from the Lord to set apart
Paul and Barnabas and send them on their first missionary journey (Acts
13:1-4).
The prophets Judas and Silas are specifically mentioned as
exhorting and confirming the disciples in Antioch (Acts 15:32-KJV). It
was Agabus the prophet who so graphically portrayed what would happen to
Paul in Jerusalem (Acts 21:10 and 11). In fact, the only foretelling in
Acts is given either by prophets or by the apostles Peter and Paul.
The
book of Acts and the Church Epistles show clearly that the Lord still
works through called prophets. They are not “just another believer
because every Christian can prophesy,” as some have stated. Evangelists
still exist in the Church even though every Christian can share his
faith, there are still pastors even though every Christian can help
people who are hurting, and there are still prophets in the Church even
though every Christian can manifest prophecy.
Prophets are charged with
being spokesmen for God just as they were in the Old Testament, and
today they speak also for the Lord Jesus Christ. Once we understand that
the ministry of a prophet is the Lord’s doing, and that they are very
important to the health and wellbeing of the Church, we should be very
interested in recognizing who they are and what we can do to help them
in their job of being spokesmen so we can have the word of the Lord
among us in a more powerful way.
Now that we know
the difference between the manifestation of prophecy and the ministry of
a prophet, we need to understand how that difference plays out in the
Church. All prophecy, whether from a Christian operating the
manifestation of prophecy, or from a called prophet, will be as the
Spirit gives utterance (Acts 2:4-KJV).
All true words of prophecy come
from God or the Lord Jesus Christ, never from the speaker’s mind. In the
case of the manifestation of prophecy, the Lord limits himself to
giving words of “…strengthening, encouragement, and comfort” (1 Cor.
14:3). However, that is not the case with the ministry of a prophet.
Called prophets speak the message the Lord gives them, whatever it may
be. Both the manifestation of prophecy and the ministry of a prophet are
used by the Lord in the Church today (Eph. 4:11).
A
quality the prophet must have is the courage to deliver God’s message
no matter what the content. Because the fallen nature of man is
constantly bringing him downward, a good portion of a prophet’s work
comes in the form of reproof and correction. This can easily be seen by
reading the prophetic books and noting what the prophets said. Things
are no different now in the administration of Grace than they were in
the Old Testament. The sin nature of man exerts a strong influence,
which is why there is so much reproof and correction even in the Church
Epistles.
Speaking
words of reproof and correction is rarely a blessing. The heavy nature
of many prophetic utterances is why revelation from God was often called
a “burden.”
The prophet must also develop the wisdom to
deliver his message the way the Lord would have it delivered. This means
that he must endeavor to have the heart of the Lord for people.
Because
prophetic utterances can have a huge impact on the one receiving the
message, it is very important that the prophet deliver the message with
the same heart as the Lord would if he were here personally. That does
not mean that the message will always be gentle (“…Get behind me,
Satan!…” was hardly gentle), but it does mean that it will be delivered
the way the Lord would have it delivered.
It is a very difficult task to distill to doctrine the communication that a prophet receives by revelation and how it should (or perhaps should not) be communicated to others. The mature prophet knows that sometimes the Lord communicates to him in a manner that is meaningful only to him, and a literal recitation of it would only be misunderstood by a listener. In such cases, the prophet gives the Lord’s message, and not the literal vision or revelation he received, so that the listener gets the message that the Lord meant for him.
Just as prophets get lauded
and praised when their prophecies are a blessing, they are derided and
persecuted when their prophecies are unexpected or unwanted. Prophets
must accept this in order to forestall temptations of disobedience, self
pity, envy, bitterness, and hardheartedness, and to be able to see and
hear clearly the revelation that the Lord wants communicated.
Each
prophet must develop his own relationship with the Lord Jesus so that
the Lord can communicate to him in a way that he understands, even if
others do not. There will be times when it would be detrimental for the
prophet to repeat exactly what the Lord gives to him because the images
would be misunderstood. Each prophet must learn from experience how to
correctly understand the messages and images he receives from the Lord,
and then prophesy to others in a way that is helpful and appropriate.
There
has always been spiritual advice available, both good and bad. That is
why the Bible mentions and forbids the practice of divination,
consulting mediums, astrology, etc. (cp. Deut. 18:9-13). Kings have
always surrounded themselves with men who claimed to have supernatural
knowledge. Pharaoh of Egypt is one example (Gen. 41:8) and
Nebuchadnezzar is another (Dan. 2:1-3). Even though the majority of the
sources of spiritual advice most people today know about are demonic,
there is also spiritual advice available from the true God.
Where
are the prophets who call out the ministries in our churches? Where are
the prophets who advise our army and our government, and indeed, give
personal advice and direction so people will see that there is a God in
heaven? In Amos 3:7, God said, “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” Yet, today,
much happens without any prophetic input at all. Every Christian can
hear from the Lord, and should push himself to do so. But we also need
to pray and ask the Lord to continue to add prophets to the Church so
that we can have more of his words and wisdom as it applies to specific
situations.
“Lord Jesus, if it was God’s heart in the Old
Testament not to act without telling His prophets, that must be your
heart today. Yet there are so many areas in which we are blind and deaf.
Has our sin driven you away from us? Have our efforts to know you been
half-hearted and self-serving? Help us to be deserving of your active
participation in our lives. Help us to want to hear clearly from you.
Lord Jesus, raise up and energize a company of prophets, men and women
who will boldly and clearly bring your words to your Church.
Amen.”
No comments:
Post a Comment