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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image

 Exodus 20:
3"You shall have no other gods before Me. 4"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5"You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God...

My wife has debilitating deformative Arthritis that leaves her in much pain.

.

 Since I work every day I can't really keep up the house cleaning.

To help with the house we have a cleaning lady come every other week to fully clean the house.

She brings one helper with her.

A few weeks ago she started bringing a new helper with her.

That is when something started to take place.

As an artist, I love art of all kinds.

I have a small ceramic sun that I purchased at the Pottery Shack in Laguna Beach CA.

I hung it on my front gate.

After a cleaning session the cleaning lady brings the sun broken in pieces to my wife and says she is sorry that it fell off when she closed the gate.

Now this strikes me as very odd because i had secured the sun so that it couldn't just fall off.

You would have had to put in some effort to take it off the gate.

Fast forward to the next cleaning session.

The cleaning lady comes to me and says, "I am sorry but the giraffe sculpture you had on the floor by the front door is broken.

My helper had an accident and broke it."

Now I am starting to wonder.

My wife was very upset because the sculpture was a memento of her trip to Africa that she had
brought back with her.

It was a hand carved Malachite work of art that she paid quite a few hundred dollars for and paid a lot to have the heavy object shipped to our city from Africa.

My wife was real upset and talked with the cleaning lady.

The cleaning lady told her that she has been having a problem with the helper breaking things in other clients houses.

At first I thought the cleaning lady's helper was envious of the people she was cleaning for and deliberately was breaking things as a result.

Especially because she always was silent and seemed angry when ever I would see her.

Then just the other day a light bulb went off in my head and i realized she may be in the cult of Jehovah's Witness. 

They misunderstand the above passage of Scripture and as a result absolutely forbid art of any kind.

The phrase “graven image” comes from the King James Version and is first found in Exodus 20:4 in the second of the Ten Commandments

 The Hebrew word translated “graven image” means literally “an idol.”

 A graven image is an image carved out of stone, wood, or metal.

 It could be a statue of a person or animal, or a relief carving in a wall or pole. 

The cleaning lady was breaking what she viewed as idols in my home.

Idols are objects that people worship, being false Gods.

Our art is not idols of worship for us!

 What does the Bible have to say about the arts?

 Happily, the Bible does not call upon Christians to look down upon the arts.

 In fact, the arts are imperative when considered from the biblical mandate that whatever we do should be done to the glory of God (ICor. 10:31).



We are to offer Him the best that we have-- intellectually, artistically, and spiritually.

 Further, at the very center of Christianity stands the Incarnation ("the Word made flesh"), an event which identified God with the physical world and gave dignity to it.

 A real Man died on a real cross and was laid in a real, rock-hard tomb.

 The Greek ideas of "other- worldly-ness" that fostered a tainted and debased view of nature (and hence aesthetics) find no place in biblical Christianity. 

The dichotomy between sacred and secular is thus an alien one to biblical faith. 

Paul's statement, "Unto the pure, all things are pure" (Titus 1:15) includes the arts. 

While we may recognize that human creativity, like all other gifts bestowed upon us by God, may be misused, there is nothing inherently or more sinful about the arts than other areas of human activity. 

 The Old Testament is rich with examples which confirm the artistic dimension.

 Exodus 25 shows that God commanded beautiful architecture, along with other forms of art (metalwork, clothing design, tapestry, etc.) in the building of the tabernacle and eventually the temple.

 Here we find something unique in history art works conceived and designed by the infinite God, then transmitted to and executed by His human apprentices.

God was not forbidding art.

What He was forbidding was the making of idols for the express purpose of worshiping them.

  Worshiping an idol is the equivalent of replacing God with a created thing.

  Just in case anyone thought God’s commandment to Moses excluded all visual images of anything as idols, check out Exodus 36:35-37:9 where, per the instructions of God, Moses has images of cherubim embroidered into the curtains of the tabernacle and statues of the same cast for the Ark of the Covenant.

 Obviously, then, it is not images that are an issue, but our relationship to images.

Yes we can have art and we can even have pictures of Jesus on our walls.

 The Incarnation is a game-changer.

Christ made visible the invisible God, and thus it is allowed that images of Him can be depicted in art.

Art is not about worshiping wood, paint, clay, it is about appreciating beauty and enjoying the gifts of creativity given to mankind.

I have art in my home not idols!

We have requested that the cleaning lady not bring her helper anymore...

Fast-Food CEO Invests In Machines Because Regulation Makes Them Cheaper Than Employees

Fast-Food CEO Invests In Machines Because Regulation Makes Them Cheaper Than Employees

The CEO of Carl's Jr., Andy Puzder, has been inspired by the 100-percent automated restaurant, Eatsa, as he looks for ways to deal with rising minimum wages.

 "With government driving up the cost of labor, it's driving down the number of jobs," he says. 

"You're going to see automation not just in airports and grocery stores, but in restaurants." 

Puzder doesn't believe in [the progressive idea of] raising the minimum wage. 

"Does it really help if Sally makes $3 more an hour if Suzie has no job?

 If you're making labor more expensive, and automation less expensive -- this is not rocket science," says Puzder. 

What comes as a challenge is automating employee tasks.

 This is where he draws the line and doesn't think that it's likely any machine could perform such work. 

But for more rote tasks like grilling a burger or taking an order, technology may be even more precise than human employees. 

"They're always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there's never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case," says Puzder in regard to replacing employees with machines.

 Eatsa, the mostly automated healthy, fast food bowl shop based in San Francisco, has inspired the CEO of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s to rethink the traditional workforce—by replacing all humans with robots.

  "You pay with a credit or debit card, your order pops up, and you never see a person."

 "With government driving up the cost of labor, it's driving down the number of jobs," he says, predicting the automation trend will likely extend beyond the restaurant industry.  "You're going to see automation not just in airports and grocery stores, but in restaurants."

"Millennials like not seeing people," said the CEO. "I've been inside restaurants where we've installed ordering kiosks ... and I've actually seen young people waiting in line to use the kiosk where there's a person standing behind the counter, waiting on nobody." 

***

If that is true then the Millennials are shooting them selves in the foot.

They live at home until in their 30's because they can't get a job.

 Where as the baby boomers were out of the house at 18.

***

The technology is insane now.

We can drive fuel cell cars right now that emit pure drinkable water.

There are vehicles that drive themselves around on our roads this very moment.

So it won't be long before your job is engineered to run by AI and robots.

Believe me the incentive is there big time.

Workers compensation is way over priced and the overhead of unemployment along with liability and health insurance.

Less paper work with AI and robots.

More control over operations with precision and reliability.

Thank God we in the service industry are safe for the moment.

Cleaning houses, maintenance on buildings and homes, doing yard work, washing windows, and cleaning pools will be human performed for the time being.  

***
 


Entrust To Faithful Men

 Lately we have seen some leaders of large churches fall down.


They honestly had what it takes to build those large churches.

Even so they were lacking in the prime ingredient that God highly regards in all of us.

It is not how much we are anointed, it is not how well we can teach, it is not our personalities,and it certainly is not the greatness of the gifts that we walk in in the Lord.

So then what is this prime ingredient that is in us that so pleases the Lord?

Today's lesson will address these things; so read on if you want to know the answer...


 ***

  Several things happen when you move into a new realm in the spirit.


On the new level the battles will be much more bitter and more disrupting to principalities and powers.

The churches enter into a greater burden for prayer and intercession, and the intercession is more effective.

Another thing takes place with the coming of a new level; you find that your old level of dedication is inadequate.

  A new level demands a new level of love in order for the Body to function.

If you have greater revelation, you must have greater love.

If I do not know much about an individual and his needs, I am not being tested to judge him; but if I know a great deal about him, I have to be moved by greater love, or I will find myself becoming critical of him and judging him.

God does not give you revelation over a man in order for you to judge him.

The Spirit of the Lord shows you his need for a positive reason; you are to help the brother and have a greater love for him.

  The same thing is true of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

For some time we have been able to prophesy and sing psalms, but suddenly the prophecies are not adequate for the level we are on.

The gifts are not moving as efficiently as we need them to move on a new level.

So the question is often raised, "How do I go about getting a greater ministry? How can I see my ministry function in the level upon which I am walking now?"

We are always trying to catch up to the new open doors that the Lord lays before us.

  I find this is true in my own case.

I have never appropriated so much from the Lord as I have recently.

I understand something now that I have not previously seen.

When a new level of utterance begins to come, I find that I am assaulted harder than ever before.

Lately, I find that I am depending completely on the Lord for strength, for the ability to speak and to be able to function on the level that God sets before me.

  You will have to do the same thing.

Pastors will find that they need a greater anointing.

Brothers will find that to prophesy and minister will require a greater meeting with the Lord.

Therefore it is essential that the Lord remind us of the basic truths.

  How does a man come into a greater gift?

By the extreme faithfulness of his heart to walk in each level.

There is no short cut.

God will not give you a greater ministry or gift until you are faithful with what He has given you.

Four times in the New Testament a man named Tychicus is mentioned.

Tychicus was part of the early apostolic company.

Twice Paul referred to him as the beloved brother and faithful minister- in Ephesians 6:21 and Colossians 4:7.

  In the Old Testament also, we can trace the theme of faithfulness to God ( Daniel 6:10 ) .

Moses was a man faithful in all of his His house ( Hebrews 3:2 ) .

The prophecies about Samuel show how faithful he was.

Abraham was faithful before God.

In the New Testament, Epaphras, Onesimus, Paul, Sylvanus, Gaius, and Timothy are mentioned.

The principal quality that is mentioned is their faithfulness.

It does not say that they were great prophets.

Instead , when the Word of God wants to commend a man, the only reference we find about him states, "This man was faithful."

  If the man was not reputed to be faithful, then they speak about his ministry.

After John Mark caused the separation of Barnabas and Saul on the second missionary journey, Paul sent for him saying, "He is profitable to me for the ministry" ( II Timothy 4:11 ) .

He could use him to minister.

  As far as I can recall or discern, not very many men had any qualification mentioned except that they were faithful to it.

Paul wrote to Titus: "For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order what remains..." ( Titus 1:5 ) .

He was implying that because Titus was a faithful man, he would faithfully do what God set before him to do.

It is not the greatness of the gift you are walking in that matters.

God is looking to see if you are faithful.


After speaking about Apollos, Peter, and himself, Paul wrote  in I Corinthians 4:1,2: Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

(King James reads "faithful," which is a synonym.)

  A steward of the mysteries of God should be found faithful to the Lord.

This is required.

I am giving my whole life to the word that God has given me, and I am very much in awe at the vast extent of it.

The revelation keeps coming on an ever-increasing depth.

In my own estimation, the ministry of the word that is coming now is the most important thing that God has committed since the days of the early Church.

And I say that very humbly.

  Other ministries may move in many things, but the foundation word of the Kingdom that has been coming for years is very important.

I feel that I am a steward of the mysteries of God.

God has made the word alive.

When people hear it or read it, they recognize that truths are being revealed to them that they have never seen before, God is bringing a new depth of revelation.

  I suppose there may be people who could surpass me when it comes to actual knowledge of the Scriptures, but I have been faithful.

I have been a faithful steward of the mysteries which God has committed to me.

This is what God requires.

He does not look for superior intelligence or superior gifts.

If you are faithful, God will bless you and bring you into what He has for you.

It will be exceedingly precious.

The gifts of God in their greatness and magnitude are not lavished upon those who have the greatest human ability.

  There is the constant pressure of the enemy to bring discouragement.

Does he try to tell you that you do not have a ministry?

No.

Does he try to tell you that you cannot prophesy and worship?

No.

Does he tell you that the walk with God is false?

Once in awhile he does, but usually the people do not accept that sort of thing.

He tries to put pressure on you for one reason: he wants you to become discouraged so you will be unfaithful to the Lord.

He knows that he can at least contain you, if not utterly defeat you, if you are not faithful to the Lord.

  We have heard much about the judgment seat of Christ ( and frankly, it is not just applicable to the time of Christ's coming; I think we are constantly before His judgment seat ) .

What does He judge us for?

Will we be judged for our sin?

On that final day, you will already have applied the blood of Jesus Christ to your heart for your sins.

The judgment for sin has been transferred to the cross of Jesus Christ.

He died in your stead and took care of all the past sins and even of the sin condition in your heart as you endeavor to walk by faith with the Lord.

His death also made possible an instant deliverance and forgiveness for every sin that you would commit in the process of seeking for His righteousness and perfection.

What then remains that you can be judged for?

If all your sins are transferred to the Lord and there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, then what will you be judged for?

  You must understand that your present existence is the occasion of testing and of judgment to determine your position in the Kingdom that is to come.

If you have been faithful, then He will make you a ruler over many cities ( Luke 19:17 ) .

It is the faithfulness of your heart that He looks upon.

In this hour, the ministry of authority can only be committed to faithful men.

  You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others.

Timothy was to commit the things he had learned to faithful men, because a faithful man will take what is committed to him and enlarge upon it.

God will increase it and that man will be able to teach others also.

  Paul goes on to speak about the by-products of a faithful heart.

 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

  And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 

 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 

No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 

Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 

 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.
 
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 

 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 

10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
    we will also live with him;
 
12 if we endure,
    we will also reign with him...
II Timothy 2:1-12.

Whatever suffering comes, whatever God lays before you, you are going to endure it faithfully.

  I can look back upon years in which we had nothing at all, yet we were faithful even during some hard times.

I can remember , as a young evangelist in the middle of the depression, becoming very discouraged; we were barely able to keep body and soul together.

We always seemed to be poor and the objects of charity.

It was very difficult.

About the time things got a little better, the Lord would lead us to start a new church.

God prolonged the hardship and sacrifice year after year.

Now a life of sacrifice means nothing to us, and God blesses in an outstanding way.

  I believe God allowed these testings for a purpose.

Today He sees that I am a faithful steward.

Has He committed to me a lot of riches?

No- yet in a sense He has.

He has committed to me the administration and faithful stewardship of a great deal of money and property and equipment.

Much of what we have today in the way of facilities was given to us because God counted a lot of us faithful.

God gave us the faithfulness and wisdom to see that every dollar was administered with a faithful stewardship.

We have completely outgrown the Living Word Building; every inch is being used as efficiently as anyone could devise.

What are we doing there?

We are actually moving a world.

Before long, The First Principles will be printed in Japanese and in a second Philippine dialect.

  The Word is going out with anointing.

Yet we constantly feel the pressure to withdraw from the intensity of the battle.

To get the pressure off, all you have to do is walk away from a walk with God.

The pressure will lift and you will feel fine for a while, until it dawns on you how defeated you really are.

  You are a soldier on the front line.

You are to suffer hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, not entangled with the affairs of this life.

You want to please Him.

You want to be faithful.

There will be a time to build palaces and a time to sit under your fig tree.

There will be a time to beat your sword into a plowshare and your spear into a pruning hook, but right now is not the time.

Now is the time to get the sword and go out as a good soldier of Jesus Christ until this battle is ended.

Do not collect extra baggage and possessions that will not be important.

  What do we do next?

We are going to be faithful to the Lord.

We will walk in what God sets before us without murmuring or complaining.

We are going to do His will.

  I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service ( he means "ministry" ) , I Timothy 1:12.

The apostle Paul was not chosen by the Lord for his excellence of ability.

At no time did he ever lean upon what he had known or learned before.

He was able to forget those things which were behind ( Philippians 3:13 ) .

When he stood before a congregation such as the Corinthians, he said, "I was with you in much weakness and trembling.

I did not want your faith to stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" ( I Corinthians 2:3,4 ) .

He wanted to be faithful in ministering the anointing of the Lord.

He wanted to speak with the anointing of the Spirit in order to bring forth spiritual results that would stand.

He was very careful not to use the wisdom of man because the cunning of man could also bring deception to them.

He said, "The Lord strengthened me" ( II Timothy 4:17 ) .

  Paul was able to endure hardships and he encouraged young Timothy to do likewise.

As a soldier, Paul endured shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonments, hunger, nakedness, and great peril.

Men tried to assassinate him.

He was beaten unmercifully.

Where did Paul get the strength to endure all of that?

An ordinary man would have perished.

He said, "The Lord has strengthened me because He counted me faithful" ( I Timothy 1:12 ) .

A man is only required to be faithful to the Lord.

If you are faithful, you will never face anything that God will not give you grace to meet.

However, you will become the source of your own defeat if you are an unfaithful man.

When you draw back from the thing God sets before you, you cut off the life line of divine virtue and strength.

But if you are faithful and do not turn aside, God will bless you and strengthen you.

  Your position in the Kingdom that is to come will be based upon your faithfulness in this transition period now.

God is the One who is called Faithful and True, and as you set your heart to be faithful, you will appropriate His faithfulness.

  Are you now aware of your own vacillation and wavering?

As the word comes, telling us to be faithful, are you thinking of the ups and downs in your walk before the Lord?

Ask the Lord to cleanse you and minister that precious fruit of the Holy Spirit which is faithfulness.

Turn your heart away from the thing that would cause you to waver when the pressure is on.

If you would weary with the foot soldier, how will you contend with the horsemen ( Jeremiah 12:5 )?

If we stumble now in these days, what will we do when the pressures are increased a hundredfold?

Let us be faithful now so that we will have the strength to endure when that day comes.

Prayer The Atomics Of God

The Atomics Of God!

 
2 Corinthians 10:4
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

Zechariah 4:6
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Ephesians 1:9
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

Luke 18:1
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

“The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity.

If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge,

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!’”


~J. Hudson Taylor

http://www.cai.org/bible-studies/fasting-and-prayer-atomic-power-god

Nehemiah, through prayer, rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in record breaking time.

Get ready to break some records and to defy odds.


 I encourage you to continue to bombard Heaven with breakthrough prayers.

 Let them explode like atomic bombs within the enemy's camp.

Prayers that are released by faith and through fasting are like missiles and take on the form of spiritual atomic bombs, causing nuclear-type explosions in the realms of Heaven and Earth.

Matthew 17:21 says, "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Blast your way into victory over the attacks of the enemy. Ascend into the realm of power.

The higher you go in God, the more dangerous you become to the enemy.

As you pray, show no mercy to the enemy and take no prisoners!

Lift your voice and unleash the atomic power of prayer.

The atomic bomb began as a concept and idea. Einstein postulated that if the atom is split, it would create tremendous exponential energy.

 Like an atomic bomb, God's power has been split between Heaven and Earth.

While He maintains power over the heavens, according to Psalm 115:13-16, He has given man power and dominion over the earth realm.

Psalm 115:13-16 clearly states, "He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. 

The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

 Ye are blessed of the LORD which made Heaven and Earth. 

The Heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the Earth hath he given to the children of men."

Prayer is one of the ways this power is activated.

Bombard the heavens and use it as a spiritual nuclear weapon against the enemy.

In the book of 2 Samuel 23:13-16, we read of David's quest to quench his thirst.

He had a divine desire for that which God had prepared for him before the foundation of the world:

"And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim.

 And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

"And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! 

And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David."

In this text, the enemies of David had set up a barricade to prevent him from getting what really belonged to him.

 His military generals broke through and blasted their way through barricades in order to confiscate that which belonged to David from the hands of the enemy.

John 10:9-11 (King James Version)

9
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

11
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Jesus has prevailed!

 He redeemed us from the hand of the enemy, and has obtained for us and given unto us eternal life everlasting.

John 7:38
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Share that living water Jesus has given us at great personal cost to Himself!

Storm the gates of hell to populate heaven.

Share this gift of life without end, that Jesus has purchased with His own blood, with others.

And...

~'P' 'R' 'A' 'Y'~

Are You A Defeated Warrior Today?

Any student of the Bible is very familiar with the story of David and Goliath.


Surfer51
How did a young shepherd boy take down a mighty warrior?

How did he overcome the challenges and obstacles surrounding him?

David's victory was against all odds and highly improbable at best.

He shouldn't have won, but he did.

David coped with a situation that held an entire army of experienced men at bay because of their own fears.

 There are dynamics here about successful and unsuccessful people. What looks like suffering and adversity to one person looks like opportunity to another person.

David was not entering into the situation blindly.

 He knew what his own skill set was.

 He knew how to take out predators of the flock with his sling and stones.

He had many hours, while out in the pastures, to hone his skill and accuracy with the leather sling he used.

The only thing standing between predators and the flock was David.

David relied on his abilities to do his job well.

 He trusted in the Lord to be his strength, to make him strong to the task of a shepherd.

The tipping point is always one's outlook of the challenges surrounding one's self.

There are many pressures presenting obstacles to what God has called anyone of us to do for Him.

It is never a smooth journey to the goals that Almighty God has called us to.

Life is real and full of stuff challenging us, do we fear, do we run, or do we take a stand in the strength of the Lord and move forward towards the goal?

Taking out the obstacles and clearing a path for others to follow?

Great men of God do that you know.

They overcome every obstacle in their own path and meet the challenges head on so they can become what God has chosen them to become.

While others sit on the side lines full of fear and worry.

David was discriminated against and went through adversity to arrive at his powerful moment in time.
The results sounded down through the centuries to us.

The most feared warrior GIANT was taken out by a kid.

Not any ordinary kid, a shepherd boy who had faith in his God.

A kid who believed his God to be as real as the breath he relied in.

 Goliath was over ten feet tall and David was only 5'11'' in height.

What faces you today?

How are you reacting to what faces you?

 What is your own attitude?

Are you on the side lines proclaiming that your life is over?

I know a man of God who sits in his home feeling like that about himself in defeat right now.

Don't feel bad, an entire army of warriors felt that way.

But one kid showed them their error, he was the tipping point!

The man of God is just that.

He leads others on to victory in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Brant Baker was like that, always pointing others to Jesus Christ.

Nothing can ever stand in the way of the man of God.

He is a leader, he is a way pointer.

Others are encouraged by him.

Others get unstuck and start moving in the right direction when the man of God is around.

The man of God trust in the Lord and is anointed to do what he has been called upon to do.

 If he sits on the sidelines with the defeated warriors then nothing happens and Goliath wins the battle.
David vs goliath


Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The UK Is About to Legalize Mass Surveillance [Update] (vice.com)


On Tuesday, the UK is due to pass its controversial new surveillance law, the Investigatory Powers Act, according to the Home Office. 


The Act, which has received overwhelming support in both the House of Commons and Lordsformally legalizes a number of mass surveillance programs revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013.
It also introduces a new power which will force internet service providers to store browsing data on all customers for 12 months.
 Civil liberties campaigners have described the Act as one of the most extreme surveillance laws in any democracy, while law enforcement agencies believe that the collection of browsing data is vital in an age of ubiquitous internet communications.
 "The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 will ensure that law enforcement and the security and intelligence agencies have the powers they need in a digital age to disrupt terrorist attacks, subject to strict safeguards and world-leading oversight," a statement from the Home Office reads.
 Much of the Act gives stronger legal footing to the UK's various bulk powers, including "bulk interception," which is, in general terms, the collection of internet and phone communications en masse. 
In June 2013, using documents provided by Edward Snowden, The Guardian revealed that the GCHQ taps fibre-optic undersea cables in order to intercept emails, internet histories, calls, and a wealth of other data.
Update: "Snooper's charter" bill has become the law. The home secretary said:

"The Investigatory Powers Act is world-leading legislation, that provides unprecedented transparency and substantial privacy protection. 
"The government is clear that, at a time of heightened security threat, it is essential our law enforcement and security and intelligence services have the power they need to keep people safe. 
The internet presents new opportunities for terrorists and we must ensure we have the capabilities to confront this challenge. 
But it is also right that these powers are subject to strict safeguards and rigorous oversight."
***

Here is why it is totally ridiculous to think that we are being kept "safe" by allowing the watchers to intrude into our privacy.


The bad guys are not us and the bad guys are using a method of communication that is all but impossible to detect or prevent. And it is not the internet.

It Will Soon Be Illegal To Punish Customers Who Criticize Businesses Online (arstechnica.com)


Some consumers have been sued for posting negative reviews on Yelp.


That is soon to come to an end.
Congress has passed a law protecting the right of U.S. consumers to post negative online reviews without fear of retaliation from companies. The bipartisan Consumer Review Fairness Act was passed by unanimous consent in the U.S. Senate yesterday, a Senate Commerce Committee announcement said
The bill, introduced in 2014, was already approved by the House of Representatives and now awaits President Obama's signature. 
The Consumer Review Fairness Act -- full text available here -- voids any provision in a form contract that prohibits or restricts customers from posting reviews about the goods, services, or conduct of the company providing the product or service. 
It also voids provisions that impose penalties or fees on customers for posting online reviews as well as those that require customers to give up the intellectual property rights related to such reviews.
 The legislation empowers the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the new law and impose penalties when necessary. 
The bill also protects reviews that aren't available via the Internet.

India Unveils the World's Largest Solar Power Plant (aljazeera.com)

A Much Cleaner Earth

Kamuthi in Tamil Nadu, India is now home to the world's largest solar plant that adds 648 MW to the country's generating capacity. 


Previously, the Topaz Solar Farm in California, which was completed two years ago and has a capacity of 550 MW, held the title. Aljazeera reports:

The solar plant, built in an impressive eight months, is cleaned every day by a robotic system, charged by its own solar panels.
 At full capacity, it is estimated to produce enough electricity to power about 150,000 homes. 
The project is comprised of 2.5 million individual solar modules, and cost $679 million to build.
 The new plant has helped nudge India's total installed solar capacity across the 10 GW mark, according to a statement by research firm Bridge to India, joining only a handful of countries that can make this claim. 
As solar power increases, India is expected to become the world's third-biggest solar market from next year onwards, after China and the U.S.
***

Nice to see them buck the fossil fuel energy proponents.


1973 Gas Shortage
The fuel cell cars are now on the horizon.
They use abundant hydrogen derived from water and only exhaust pure clean water that you could water your house plants with or you can safely drink it yourself.
Expect to see them appearing on a road near you.
The Toyota Mirai was the first to emerge on the scene and it is totally awesome!!
Mirai means future in Japanese.

Religious Experiences Have Similar Effect On Brain As Taking Drugs, Study Finds (cnn.com)

A new study published in the journal Social Neuroscience finds through functional MRI scans that religious and spiritual experiences can trigger reward systems like love and drugs.

"These are areas of the brain that seem like they should be involved in religious and spiritual experience. 

But yet, religious neuroscience is such a young field -- and there are very few studies -- and ours was the first study that showed activation of the nucleus accumbens, an area of the brain that processes reward," said Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, a neuroradiologist at the University of Utah and lead author of the study.

 CNN reports:For the study, 19 devout young adult Mormons had their brains scanned in fMRI machines while they completed various tasks.
 The tasks included resting for six minutes, watching a six-minute church announcement about membership and financial reports, reading quotations from religious leaders for eight minutes, engaging in prayer for six minutes, reading scripture for eight minutes, and watching videos of religious speeches, renderings of biblical scenes and church member testimonials. 
During the tasks, participants were asked to indicate when they were experiencing spiritual feelings.
 As the researchers analyzed the fMRI scans taken of the participants, they took a close look at the degree of spiritual feelings each person reported and then which brain regions were simultaneously activated. 
The researchers found that certain brain regions consistently lit up when the participants reported spiritual feelings. 
The brain regions included the nucleus accumbens, which is associated with reward; frontal attentional, which is associated with focused attention; and ventromedial prefrontal cortical loci, associated with moral reasoning, Anderson said. 
Since the study results were seen only in Mormons, Anderson said, more research is needed to determine whether similar findings could be replicated in people of other faiths, such as Catholics or Muslims.
***
OK so that may be true of the Mormon cult.
But I wonder if it is true for the Body of Christ, the Christian believers?

Calvary Chapel Is Now Officially Divided Against It's Self!

Surfer51
The Calvary Chapel Association has sent out this email blast to Calvary Chapel pastors…with the notable exceptions among the signees of Skip Heitzig, Ricky Ryan, and Wayne Taylor.
If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Mark 3:25. 
It appears that Chuck Smith has seen the full extent of his Calvary Chapel family with his own eyes as I had prophesied to him personally, face to face on a Sunday morning while at Calvary Chapel Of Costa Mesa, with several pastoral witnesses present.
And now the Calvary Chapel house is officially collapsing as predicted. 
It has run it's course and now is slowly sliding down the mountain top.
Others will certainly be taking it's place soon enough.
Pastor Chuck Smith
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. John 4:23.
For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 
You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war." 2 Chronicles 16:9.

The Condition Of The Church Pastor Brant Baker Shekinah Fellowship Of Long Beach California.



It Is YOUR Phone and your conversation, so why would you want perfect strangers observing and recording your data?

What you're looking for is chat with end-to-end encryption — where only you and the recipient can decrypt the messages. 


To use the passing-a-note-in-class analogy, you and your friend both have a unique way to confirm you are who you say you are — in real life, handwriting; on the internet, a public key. 

The note is then encrypted using a randomly-generated cipher, which then is also encrypted and can only be decrypted with the receiver's private key.

 Admittedly, the analogy kinda breaks down here, but the end result is that this system ensures that messages sent to a single person can only be read by that person only.

So:

Which is best?

 If unflinching privacy is your aim, then Open Whisper Systems's Signal, is the industry gold-standard.
 
Oh and did I mention that it is completely free?

You really should check it out.

Here is why it is totally ridiculous to think that we are being kept "safe" by allowing the watchers to intrude into our privacy.

The bad guys are not us and the bad guys are using a method of communication that is all but impossible to detect or prevent.