Monday, April 21, 2014

Mon Apr 21st Todays News

Neville Wran is dead. Nearly 38 years of corruption has had an opening close. Only the baton of activity also long passed hands. They aren't stupid. They go into public life thinking they have something to offer. The party machine is evil. They are inducted into corruption. They can't leave it, but advance so they might put their personal stamp on things .. only their tools are corrupt. And those charged with keeping them honest aren't doing it. Some really disturbing things involved with Wran in his years in office .. the assassination of Donald McKay and the inability to prosecute those involved. The growth of Underbelly style organised crime. The smearing of the previous Askin Administration by inflating activity that was occurring under Wran. The disappearance of anti drug campaigners. The early release of criminals from prison to order. Corruption of the public service. The inability of NSW to develop infrastructure. Widespread public strikes. Only now is the second airport being built. A lucky break came with the election of Greiner. NSW sidestepped the late 80's crash thanks to prudent choices he made .. meanwhile ALP governments in Vic, SA and WA saw the collapse of credit unions and resultant issues that have still to be fully addressed today. But the media cheer team are pumping out revisionist history praising Wran. So I will add, Wran was very good. After he was caught being corrupt, he gave the tools to others. And shielded them. 

Nobody likes drought, famine or plague. It is understandable that people would do any responsible action to address it, but on this day in 1506 in Portugal, a crowd took steps that were harmful which did not address the problems. It was as if AGW believers had been transported into the past. Some claimed they had seen a miracle of Christ's face on the altar. A new Christian (converted Jew) made the reasonable claim that what was seen was the reflection of a candle. For the temerity of being right, the new Christian was kicked to death by the true believers. But the true believers were not finished. They wanted to end drought, famine and plague. So they found some 1900 new Christians and killed them too. History shows that the drought, famine and plague ended, but that wasn't because the crowd had murdered 1900 new Christians (Jews). It is and was an insult to Jews to call them Christians, or like Christians. They had been forced to convert by a political edict not dissimilar to AGW scientists today giving credentials to other AGW scientists. Today, AGW scientists are demanding we do nothing worthwhile, but spend a lot of money, addressing climate change. It is reasonable, then to charge such people with war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

 For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns My Step mum, Helen Pymble, My Sang Le, Peter Debnam and Jackey Luu. Born on the same day as the Queen and my step mother, across the years. That is right, the Queen wasn't born on her birthday. And this year, you weren't born on your birthday either .. you were born years ago.
Matches
Despatches
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CHOOSE ONLY ONE

Tim Blair – Monday, April 21, 2014 (4:42am)

A Sydney University campus newspaper survey asks:

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And here are your options: 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'CHOOSE ONLY ONE'
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STRIKE WHILE THE EARTH IS HOT

Tim Blair – Monday, April 21, 2014 (4:08am)

Bill McKibben has probably never cracked a decent joke in his entire life. That is as you’d expect. McKibben is an American academic who specialises in climate change, and such rigid types usually lack the fleetness of mind to knock out even a simple gag.
Key word: “usually”. A few weeks ago McKibben made up for decades of humour deficiency by devising a joke so brilliant that it verges on genius.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'STRIKE WHILE THE EARTH IS HOT'
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NON-REPORTER

Tim Blair – Monday, April 21, 2014 (3:44am)

Former Sydney Morning Herald political writer Margo Kingston recently complained to the Press Council about this newspaper. Kingston believed that two stories and a photograph, on page 17, were insufficient to cover the Federal Court’s dismissal of a sexual harassment suit brought against former speaker Peter Slipper by James Ashby.
For what it’s worth, the Press Council agreed with her. Yet Kingston’s previous inclination, as a member of Canberra’s press gallery, was to outright suppress information.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'NON-REPORTER'
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ONE OPTION IS SLIGHTLY LESS LIKELY TO RESULT IN ARREST

Tim Blair – Monday, April 21, 2014 (2:58am)

Celebrate Earth Day this week by murdering your girlfriend and turning her into compost. Or, alternatively, celebrate it by joining the 9th Annual Iowahawk Earth Week Cruise-In.
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THE CLOONEY EFFECT

Tim Blair – Monday, April 21, 2014 (2:50am)

Australian environmentalist Jon Dee believes George Clooney is killing the world with coffee: 
‘’George Clooney has almost single-handedly launched an entire new waste stream globally as a result of fronting the Nespresso adverts,’’ Mr Dee said. ‘’It shows the Clooney effect has undoubtedly been enormous in this. But George Clooney – for a guy who is so switched on to civil rights and other issues – to lead the charge in causing such such environmental damage and waste and other issues is really disappointing.’’ 
Dee plans to drag Nescafe, maker of Clooney’s caffeinated deathpods, before the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. There is no pleasure tiny enough to escape the scolding gaze of modern environmentalism.
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HAPPY MONDAY

Tim Blair – Monday, April 21, 2014 (1:37am)

They really do want us to live in trees. Speaking of them, shyster zillionaire Al Gore thinks we’re immoral, unethical and despicable, which is just about the nicest start to the week you could possibly wish for. And here’s some Mark Steyn to make it perfect. 
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NEVILLE WRAN

Tim Blair – Sunday, April 20, 2014 (11:04pm)

Former NSW premier Neville Wran has died at 87. Malcolm Turnbull farewells his long-time friend and business partner.
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What’s our reconciliation movement doing about this?

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (8:01am)

One of our most pressing race problems isn’t honestly debated. Another example:
THE owner of a Queensland outback pub has told how she spent a terrifying hour fearing for her life after a drunken mob armed with rocks and iron bars allegedly started a riot early yesterday morning.
Pam Forster, owner of the Dangi Pub in Urandangi – near the NT border – was serving Easter patrons when she was forced to turn away the group because they were drunk and trying to get cigarettes from patrons.
The accused group, who had crossed the border, then destroyed several cars and attempted to knock down the pub’s front doors…

“They were going to bash down the door and kill us,’’ [Forster] said. “It was frightening, they were carrying iron bars and throwing rocks....”
The alleged riot has reignited debate about the accessibility of alcohol in Aboriginal communities.
Two weeks ago in Perth:

A mass brawl broke out when up to 50 youths gatecrashed a wedding reception in Perth’s southern suburbs.
Bricks were hurled through the windows of Point Walter Cafe in Bicton as the youths tried to force their way into the venue on Saturday night…
The incident began when a number of youths were refused a cigarette by one of the guests attending the wedding reception…
Seven guests, including four men and three women, were injured in the violence and a number of them were treated at Fremantle Hospital.
The offenders, who were described as mostly dark-skinned males aged about 16 to 22 years old, fled the scene before police arrived at 9:10pm.
In Sydney last week:
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Big unions, big money, big questions

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (7:38am)

Australia is quickly learning we haven’t been the cleanskins we so long assumed:

EMPLOYERS will urge the Heydon royal commission to ­investigate allegations that ­unions are receiving lucrative undisclosed commissions after coercing companies into signing up to costly but inferior income protection insurance schemes.
The Australian Industry Group said yesterday unions were pressuring employers to sign up to insurance products that are more costly to com­panies and offer fewer benefits to employees, including union members.
In evidence to be given to the royal commission into union governance and corruption, the Ai Group accused unions of pushing the products in order to get big commissions from the companies.
It estimated that up to 30 per cent of the insurance protection money paid by an employer was paid as a union commission. Due to the significant commission, unions often refused to accept an employer’s offer to provide equivalent or better benefits to employees through an ­alternative provider, the Ai Group said.
I’d love also an inquiry into the money trail that runs through the great global warming scare.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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How can bad students make good teachers?

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (7:12am)

Labor and the teacher unions convinced us more teachers (and thus smaller classes) were better. False: better teachers are better. But to lower class sizes meant hiring more teachers of lower quality.
Rita Panahi:
In South Korea teachers are recruited from the top 5 per cent of school leavers.
Compare that with Australia, where standards have dropped so low that, in 2011, teaching accounted for the highest proportion of university offers for students with an Australian tertiary admission rank of less than 50. Those academic failures, who could not get into any other course but teaching, will be graduating soon and coming to a school near you.
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First they came for the Catholics and sceptics

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (7:03am)

Culture wars

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FIRST they came for the Catholics and climate sceptics. Beware: the true bigots will next reach for your throat, too.
Attorney-General George Brandis, raised a Catholic, was right last week: “The Left haas embraced a new authoritarianism.”
They have given us a “new and illiberal climate of anti-intellectualism” so that “rather than winning the argument (they) exclude their antagonists from the argument”.
Brandis said he first realised this when Senator Penny Wong, Labor’s former climate change minister, falsely claimed the debate on global was over because “the science is settled”.
She wasn’t alone.
(Read full article here.) 
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Still waiting for justice from ICAC

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (7:02am)

Henry Ergas says ICAC’s form of justice hurts the good more than the bad:
… its two greatest victims have been Nick Greiner and O’ Farrell, who both resigned when their honour and credibility were impugned, while crooks have been left burdened only by damaged reputations they care nothing about.
For shysters such as Eddie Obeid, the opprobrium of public exposure matters little so long as ICAC allows them, as it too often has, to retain the spoils they have gained from plundering the public estate.
Nor is the harm that causes limited to its obvious inequity. Should the scoundrels remain ­secure in their luxury villas, while ICAC’s processes most severely punish the mistakes of good people, it will have undermined the very goal it exists to pursue.
UPDATE
That said, former Labor minister Barry Cohen says even little gifts tend to corrupt, although big gift corrupt absolutely. 
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Marxist Brendan O’Neill on the new green naggers - and the Left’s betrayal of free speech

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (6:56am)

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Even a bad election promise on pensions is still a promise

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (6:46am)

The Liberals made some foolish pre-election promises - but promises are promises:

THE asset test that allows older Australians with million-dollar assets to collect a part-pension is likely to be spared the budget axe.
Despite signals the government plans to increase the pension age to 70 as early as 2029, The Australian can reveal its ­expenditure review committee believes the assets test should not be altered in next month’s ­budget, with Tony Abbott strongly of the view that any changes would breach an election commitment…
The Australian Council of Social Service believes tightening the asset test so that couples with more than $1m in assets apart from their home did not qualify for a pension would save the budget $1.3bn in 2014-15 and $1.4bn in 2015-16.
But the Government should at least now prepare a mandate for change to take to the next election.
My own view on promises - even, damn it, the one to the ABC:


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China’s Christian conversion

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (6:25am)

Perhaps the most reassuring news to come out of China in years:
The 5,000-capacity Liushi church, which boasts more than twice as many seats as Westminster Abbey and a 206ft crucifix that can be seen for miles around, opened last year with one theologian declaring it a “miracle that such a small town was able to build such a grand church”.
The £8 million building is also one of the most visible symbols of Communist China’s breakneck conversion as it evolves into one of the largest Christian congregations on earth…

“By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon,” said Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule.
“It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change."…
In 2010 there were more than 58 million Protestants in China compared to 40 million in Brazil and 36 million in South Africa, according to the Pew Research Centre’s Forum on Religion and Public Life.
Prof Yang, a leading expert on religion in China, believes that number will swell to around 160 million by 2025. That would likely put China ahead even of the United States, which had around 159 million Protestants in 2010 but whose congregations are in decline.
By 2030, China’s total Christian population, including Catholics, would exceed 247 million, placing it above Mexico, Brazil and the United States as the largest Christian congregation in the world, he predicted.
Christianity is a bulwark against totalitarianism. Hence:
Christians are being urged by persecution watchdog group Open Doors to pray for the 33 people who are facing the death penalty in North Korea reportedly for their connection with a South Korean missionary…
In South Korea, however:
...until the 1990s, Buddhism was the leading religion in the country. However, now about 32% of the population identifies as a part of a Christian Church.
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Alarm, alarm

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (6:11am)

Tim Blair reports that 16 years of non-warming has alarmed alarmists even more alarmingly:
Lately they’ve become louder and crazier than ever, presumably out of panic as the whole global warming issue continues to cool.
Alarming examples follow.
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Adam Bandt should be careful about the TV ban he wishes for

Andrew Bolt April 21 2014 (12:02am)

Global warming - dud predictions, Global warming - propaganda

WHOOPS. Acting Greens leader Adam Bandt really shouldn’t want the wrongheaded banned from television.
Bandt last week dismissed Attorney-General George Brandis’s plea for warming sceptics to be included in debates, sneering: If someone said “two plus two equals five”, would you insist on giving them as much airtime in the media as someone who said “two plus two equals four”?
But who actually argues “two plus two equals five”?
Here are some people who, under Bandt’s illiberal rule, should not be allowed on TV.
(Read full column here.) 
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Henderson: September 11 turned Carr against Israel

Andrew Bolt April 20 2014 (12:20pm)

Gerard Henderson offers a deeply disturbing insight into the anti-Israel leanings of former foreign minister Bob Carr:
The date was September 17, 2001. The occasion was the dinner to announce the winners in the 2001 NSW Premier’s History Awards. Carr was premier of NSW at the time and was ­delighted that the famous American documentary maker Ken Burns had accepted his invitation to present the prizes at the dinner in Sydney.
It turned out that Burns was a last-minute scratching from the event. It was around a week since al-Qa’ida’s terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, 2001. Air transport from the US had been disrupted…
At the start of the dinner Carr came over to talk to me… To my surprise, Carr seemed quite shaken by the 9/11 attack. He said to me that he had now come to the conclusion that the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 had been a mistake.
Carr stated his belief that the Arab world would never accept the creation of a Jewish state and that Islamists would continue to target Western nations.
From around late 2001, I noticed a change in Carr’s attitude towards Israel.
There was also the political factor. There are numerous references in his diary to the importance of the Muslim Arab vote, especially in Sydney’s western suburbs.
Which, if accurate, suggests that Carr is his own way is an enabler of terrorism. He shows terrorists that killing people is a very effective way of changing a politician’s mind - particularly on Israel.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Numbers don’t lie

Andrew Bolt April 20 2014 (12:18pm)

If far Left is one and hard Right is five (and far Right is off the chart), how biased is the ABC’s Insiders?
Oh.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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4 her, so she know-how I see her


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The graph ignores the debt spending .. totalling $621 billion on top of the income averaged from the last Liberal budget - ed
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Each morning, like clockwork, they board the subway, off to begin their daily routine amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.

But these aren't just any daily commuters. These are stray dogs who live in the outskirts of Moscow Russia and commute on the underground trains to and from the city centre in search of food scraps.

Then after a hard day scavenging and begging on the streets, they hop back on the train and return to the suburbs where they spend the night.

Experts studying the dogs, who usually choose the quietest carriages at the front and back of the train, say they even work together to make sure they get off at the right stop – after learning to judge the length of time they need to spend on the train.

Scientists believe this phenomenon began after the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, and Russia’s new capitalists moved industrial complexes from the city centre to the suburbs.

Dr Andrei Poiarkov, of the Moscow Ecology and Evolution Institute, said: “These complexes were used by homeless dogs as shelters, so the dogs had to move together with their houses. Because the best scavenging for food is in the city centre, the dogs had to learn how to travel on the subway – to get to the centre in the morning, then back home in the evening, just like people.”

Dr Poiarkov told how the dogs like to play during their daily commute. He said: “They jump on the train seconds before the doors shut, risking their tails getting jammed. They do it for fun. And sometimes they fall asleep and get off at the wrong stop.”

The dogs have also amazingly learned to use traffic lights to cross the road safely, said Dr Poiarkov. And they use cunning tactics to obtain tasty morsels of shawarma, a kebab-like snack popular in Moscow.

With children the dogs “play cute” by putting their heads on youngsters’ knees and staring pleadingly into their eyes to win sympathy – and scraps.

Dr Poiarkov added: “Dogs are surprisingly good psychologists.”

SOURCE : http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2372125/Wild-dogs-that-commute-from-suburbs-to-scavenge-in-city.html
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New way to serve potatoes, love it!!

Just mash potatoes plain with butter or you can add yummy ingredients like cooked bacon, cheese, parsley, green onion, garlic, etc. Stuff in to a greased muffin tin, run a fork along the top and brush with melted butter or olive oil. Bake at 375 degrees or until tops are crispy and golden.

Yes we still need carbs in our diet even when we are trying to lose weight so this is a great way to stick with portion control!!!

Also remember there are varying sizes in muffin pans so you can choose the serving size!! Using mini muffin tins you can turn this into a healthy alternative to chips or wedges too. You still get the soft potato centre with the crunch on the outside without all the fat!!!!

PLEASE SHARE :) To SAVE this recipe, be sure to click SHARE so it will store on your personal page.

For more healthy recipes, tips, motivation and fun, join us here: Lifestyle Transformationhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/459145480814206/
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I feel the dichotomy drawn is bad. I feel that Islam is badly served by terrorists and leaders. It is sad that their leaders only rarely defend their religion and not those terrorists in the name of Islam. The Uncle of the Boston Bombers was right to do so, few Islamic leaders have done so. I don't blame Islam. I look forward to the day when Islamic leaders rise who are not spineless cowardly murderous thugs. One indicator will be a willingness to have peace and collaboration with Israel .. an apology for past transgressions would be good too. I'll understand if they wish to spit on the face of Jimmy Carter for endorsing a view of Islam for which believers must be ashamed. - ed
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Check out this timeline of 65 years of Israeli inventions from our book, Tiny Dynamo--reprinted here by The Times of Israel!http://bit.ly/118DgwG
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Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

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Holidays and observances[edit]

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““Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 1 Corinthians 15:55-57
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death."
Hebrews 2:14
O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil's power over it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Ask grace from God the Holy Ghost, that by an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of thy Redeemer's death, thou mayst be strengthened for that dread hour. Living near the cross of Calvary thou mayst think of death with pleasure, and welcome it when it comes with intense delight. It is sweet to die in the Lord: it is a covenant-blessing to sleep in Jesus. Death is no longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going home to the many mansions where the loved ones already dwell. The distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not so. We are not far from home--a moment will bring us there. The sail is spread; the soul is launched upon the deep. How long will be its voyage? How many wearying winds must beat upon the sail ere it shall be reefed in the port of peace? How long shall that soul be tossed upon the waves before it comes to that sea which knows no storm? Listen to the answer, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." Yon ship has just departed, but it is already at its haven. It did but spread its sail and it was there. Like that ship of old, upon the Lake of Galilee, a storm had tossed it, but Jesus said, "Peace, be still," and immediately it came to land. Think not that a long period intervenes between the instant of death and the eternity of glory. When the eyes close on earth they open in heaven. The horses of fire are not an instant on the road. Then, O child of God, what is there for thee to fear in death, seeing that through the death of thy Lord its curse and sting are destroyed? and now it is but a Jacob's ladder whose foot is in the dark grave, but its top reaches to glory everlasting.

Evening

"Fight the Lord's battles."
1 Samuel 18:17
The sacramental host of God's elect is warring still on earth, Jesus Christ being the Captain of their salvation. He has said, "Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Hark to the shouts of war! Now let the people of God stand fast in their ranks, and let no man's heart fail him. It is true that just now in England the battle is turned against us, and unless the Lord Jesus shall lift his sword, we know not what may become of the church of God in this land; but let us be of good courage, and play the man. There never was a day when Protestantism seemed to tremble more in the scales than now that a fierce effort is making to restore the Romish antichrist to his ancient seat. We greatly want a bold voice and a strong hand to preach and publish the old gospel for which martyrs bled and confessors died. The Saviour is, by his Spirit, still on earth; let this cheer us. He is ever in the midst of the fight, and therefore the battle is not doubtful. And as the conflict rages, what a sweet satisfaction it is to know that the Lord Jesus, in his office as our great Intercessor, is prevalently pleading for his people! O anxious gazer, look not so much at the battle below, for there thou shalt be enshrouded in smoke, and amazed with garments rolled in blood; but lift thine eyes yonder where the Saviour lives and pleads, for while he intercedes, the cause of God is safe. Let us fight as if it all depended upon us, but let us look up and know that all depends upon him.
Now, by the lilies of Christian purity, and by the roses of the Saviour's atonement, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, we charge you who are lovers of Jesus, to do valiantly in the Holy War, for truth and righteousness, for the kingdom and crown jewels of your Master. Onward! "for the battle is not yours but God's."
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Nimrod 
[NÄ m'rŏd] - valiant, strong or he that rules.
A son of Cush, son of Ham. Nimrod was a mighty hunter and a potent monarch whose land bore his name (Gen. 10:8, 9; 1 Chron. 1:10;Micah 5:6).
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Today's reading: 2 Samuel 9-11, Luke 15:11-32 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 2 Samuel 9-11

David and Mephibosheth
1 David asked, "Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?"
2 Now there was a servant of Saul's household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?"
"At your service," he replied.
3 The king asked, "Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God's kindness?"

Today's New Testament reading: Luke 15:11-32

The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything....
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Knowing Him - An Easter Devotional

ANOTHER COUNSELOR

If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.... All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ( John 14:14-17, 25-27)
There must have been sorrow, anxiety, and hope in the air as Jesus talked on and on with his disciples about his upcoming departure. This “upper room discourse” in the Gospel of John (chapters 13-17) was Jesus’ final word to his disciples on the night he was betrayed.
In it he spoke about “another counselor” who would come to them. This is a word that means advocate, comforter, one who comes alongside. Thinking of God the Holy Spirit as our advocate is indeed one of the most comforting thoughts a human being could have. Who else would you want with you when your go through life’s victories and life’s struggles? Who else could work in the innermost recesses of our thoughts and feelings, helping us to make good choices, have a proper disposition, giving us confidence when we need it.
When Jesus said “another Counselor”, he was also teaching his disciples that what he was doing among them and for them was to be that kind of advocate. He had filled them with truth and hope, with a vision of who God is and a humbling concept of who they were. Now he would leave them–a sorrowful prospect– but in all these ways God would still be with them.
None of us were in that upper room, yet if Jesus stood among us today, he would give the same assurance.
Ponder This: What kind of counsel or comfort or advocacy do you need from God at this time in your life?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Resources
About The Author - Mel Lawrenz serves as minister at large for Elmbrook Church and leads The Brook Network. Having been in pastoral ministry for thirty years, the last decade as senior pastor of Elmbrook, Mel seeks to help Christian leaders engage with each other. Mel is the author of eleven books, the most recent for church leaders, Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement.
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Today's Lent reading: John 17-18 (NIV)

View today's Lent reading on Bible Gateway
Jesus Prays to Be Glorified
1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
"Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began....
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Today's Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9

4 The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
5 The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
9 It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me.
Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.

New Testament Reading: John 13:21-35
21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me."
22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means."
25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?"
26 Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, "What you are about to do, do quickly." 28But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 "My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."


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