Monday, May 12, 2014

Mon May 12th Todays News

Reg Gasnier was born on this day, 1939, and died the day before (2014). As a Rugby League player, he had great timing too. Called Puff the Magic Dragon, he was a centre for St George club, which had eleven consecutive titles, six under Gasnier. Also born on this day was a great lady who did her greatest work in bed, Florence Nightingale (1820). Florence had acted as a nurse in Crimea, and set up a battlefield surgery. It was a failure in implementation, but a successful concept. In later life, it was her missives that she made from her bed which secured her legacy. But for me, the most poignant birthday cheer is for German Swiss holocaust survivor businessman Otto Frank. His daughter, Anne, kept a diary at the place they were hiding, and he found it after the war, Anne had died. He kept her memory alive by publishing her work. He lightly edited the work because he hadn't thought it right that his daughter's hatred should be broadened to all Germans when it was Nazi atrocity. In writing the diary, Anne would not have known the end. None of us does, until it visits us. We should live our lives with that faith. And if our lives are so unfairly cut short, we can point to the achievement, and not be remembered as victim to the accursed. 

Bolt has a tendency to write in terms favourable to the ALP. Another NSW Lib has decided to step aside for the next election after saying he believes he does not have clean hands because his election funding may have been corruptly obtained. That is a far cry from the Liberal Party being corrupt like the ALP. All it means is that particular member is more principled than any member of the ALP. A moment's thought on the issue would restore public faith in Liberal Government. It isn't a good look, but it is an example of how anti corruption process can function .. under a Liberal government. Apparently, it can't function under the ALP. And that is something that should worry Bolt. 
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 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 Eric Kalemen. You were born on the same day the oldest university in the Americas, The National University of San Marcos opened in 1551, in Lima, Peru. Apparently the Spanish needed personal trainers really quickly. Also, it was Mothers Day and you are a good boy.
Matches
Despatches
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THE PERCEPTION OF BIAS SHOW

Tim Blair – Monday, May 12, 2014 (11:50am)

Rumours abound of a possible conservative TV show on the ABC: 
Would be interesting to know if Jason Morrison 2GB shock jock turns up there too. They were focus grouping his name along with Tim Blair and Paul Sheehan at a session last week for a show hosted by a “expressed conservative commentator” to deal with the “perception of bias”. I was part of the research group. 
2GB’s Ben Fordham interviewed the prospective hosts last Friday. A distinct lack of enthusiasm was evident.
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LONG SLEEP

Tim Blair – Monday, May 12, 2014 (11:46am)

Vanessa Badham bids her readers good evening: 
Oh, twitter: may you march tonight into a gentle valley of green dreams. Bless you all. 
For once, Vanessa’s words were perfectly chosen: 
Known as “green dream”, NEMBUTAL is the drug vets use to euthanise animals. 
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MIKE KNOWS MONEY

Tim Blair – Monday, May 12, 2014 (11:41am)

The SMH’s Mike Carlton considers the appearance value of a former US president: 
I don’t think there’s a big demand for George W Bush … 
Think again, Michael: 
Former President George W. Bush has made good on his pledge to “replenish the ol’ coffers,” raking in a whopping $15 million in speaking fees since leaving office, according to a report.
No. 43’s standard speaking fee is reportedly between $100,000 and $150,000, and Bush has delivered almost 140 paid talks since leaving the Oval Office. 
By comparison, you can pick up some secondhand Carlton for just ten bucks.
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BUSINESS AS USUAL

Tim Blair – Monday, May 12, 2014 (10:38am)

Two years ago, one of Fairfax’s regional reporters suggested a journalistic innovation: 
As someone working in the media, I would love to see my fellow journalists and reporters put a ban on covering the views of climate change deniers. 
Many of the chap’s regional colleagues now face possible silencing themselves: 
More than 30 regional Fairfax Media newspapers, including the Illawarra Mercury, are under review for possible closure ...
The Australian has obtained details from two consultancy reports commissioned by Fairfax, which reveal between 30 and 65 of the company’s local and regional newspapers are on a “watch list” for closure …
A Fairfax spokeswoman yesterday confirmed the regional newspapers were under review but said no decisions had been made at this stage. “We announced that we were reviewing the structures of the regional business last year. We have made no decisions. It’s business as usual,” she said. 
A planned advertising campaign may also be cut: 
Fairfax asked some of its most senior journalists to take part in a new consumer brand campaign earlier this year.
Senior journalists Kate McClymont, Richard Baker, Nick McKenzie, Terry Durack, Anthony Dennis and Ardyn Bernoth were interviewed on camera about the values of Fairfax, the strength of its journalism and why they were so passionate about their jobs.
The campaign was classy and beautifully shot, involving about two dozen editors, writers and photographers.
But, sadly, at least two of this group, including travel editor Dennis, were last week told they needed to reapply for their positions, as Fairfax announced 70 redundancies. 
Just business as usual, folks.
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SCAMS SLASHED

Tim Blair – Monday, May 12, 2014 (10:11am)

Finally, some good news ahead of tomorrow’s budget: 
Among the biggest turkeys to get the chop will be the Labor government’s failed green schemes, many of which never got off the ground, all of which were a drain on taxpayers.
More than $1.3 billion will be saved when the axe falls on the preposterous renewable energy agency, which did nothing more than deliver more expensive power to consumers without any meaningful reduction in carbon outputs. The government will today announce its plan to chop the Australian Renewable Energy Agency which was created in 2012 by the Gillard government to provide taxpayers’ money to co-fund private sector renewable energy projects.
Another symbolic gesture to appease the Greens and members of Labor’s inner-urban branches but totally ineffectual. 
Further details here.
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ABC finally driven to report AWU scandal. UPDATE: Blewitt tells of cash for Gillard builder

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (2:15pm)

The dam has broken. The ABC’s AM program this morning reported at length on the AWU slush fund scandal which the ABC largely ignored.
The reason? Former AWU official Ralph Blewitt is to give evidence this morning to the royal commission into union corruption. Blewitt says he intends to say he was part of a fraud involving a slush fund he set up with Bruce Wilson, a former boyfriend of Julia Gillard, who gave legal advice on the creation of the fund.  (Gillard denies any wrong-doing and says she did not know of the fund’s involvement in any fraud.)
Watch Blewitt give evidence live here from 10am.
UPDATE
Odd. The early ABC AM report is not included on the program’s webpage.
UPDATE
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Ralph Blewitt, speaking calmly, has told the royal commission he took out either $10,000 or $20,000 from the slush fund in September or October in 1994 on the request of Bruce Wilson, an AWU official and then boyfriend of Julia Gillard.
He flew with the cash from Perth to Melbourne and went to Gillard’s Abbottsford home. Blewitt said Gillard was at the front of the house and told him Wilson was at the back. Blewitt went through and saw Wilson with three workmen doing renovations to either the kitchen or the verandah or both. Blewitt said Wilson asked him to give one of the workmen $7000, which he did before giving the balance to Wilson.
Asked if Gillard was present, Blewitt said no: “She wasn’t present at the time that I handed over the money to the contractor or builder.”
Gillard has previously said she did nothing wrong in advising her boyfriend on the creation of his slush fund, and says she did not know how he operated it. She said she believed she paid for her renovations herself.
UPDATE
One of the great mysteries has been where all the slush fund money went. Here’s a clue.
Blewitt says when he and Wilson were driven out of the AWU Wilson bought the lease of Rumbrellas, a popular bar and restaurant in Northbridge, Perth, and poured $350,000 in doing it up. Blewitt said he helped out his mate at the restaurant but Wilson spent too much time nightclubbing rather than managing his restaurant, got “ripped off” and went bankrupt.
UPDATE
If true, a strange way for lawyers to behave, it seems to me…
Blewitt told the royal commission he was later involved in a defamation action handled by Slater & Gordon against other AWU officials over a dirt sheet. He says he gave no instructions to Slater & Gordon to start it or to later discontinue it. His sole involvement was to sign papers sent to him in Perth. He says the lawyer involved was either Gillard or Bernard Murphy, now a judge.
UPDATE
THE Queensland union and ALP “godfather” Bill Ludwig has been accused of receiving a secret slush fund cash payment of $50,000 from the former boyfriend of ex-Labor prime minister Julia Gillard…
Mr Ludwig, who only recently retired, was the AWU’s Queensland secretary and national president, and a highly influential figure in the ALP when the $50,000 payment was allegedly made to him in September 1993.
Mr Blewitt alleged under oath today that he withdrew a cheque made out to $50,000 cash in September 1993 from the Perth bank account of the secret slush fund.
He said he then travelled to an AWU national executive meeting in Sydney to hand the money in person to Mr Wilson at the Camperdown TraveLodge hotel where the meeting was held.
When he asked Mr Wilson what the money was for, Mr Wilson told him that it was for Bill Ludwig – but did not give a reason…

Contacted by The Australian, Mr Ludwig said he had no comment to make today but would be issuing a statement tomorrow.
And:
Mr Blewitt also fleshed out detail of payments allegedly made to the slush fund by the Thiess construction company in return for workplace safety services never provided at the company’s Dawes Hill Channel project near Perth.
In its first year of operation, the fund received a series of payments totalling $90,000 from Thiess after invoices sent by Mr Blewitt.
He said he knew the invoices were “false” but followed instruction from Mr Wilson at all times.
The commission also heard that money paid by Thiess was also used to buy a house in Melbourne’s Fitzroy on February 13, 1993, shortly before Mr Wilson moved to head up the AWU’s Victorian branch in 1993.
But Mr Wilson allegedly wanted to distance the purchase from himself and the AWU, so he allegedly required that the property be bought at auction in Mr Blewitt’s name.
The signatures of Mr Wilson and Ms Blewitt were on a document allegedly witnessed by Ms Gillard that handed power of attorney for the auction purchase to Mr Wilson…
Ms Gillard attended the auction for the Fitzroy property bought in Mr Blewitt’s name and did conveyancing work. She has said she never lived at the property.
Gillard has also said she witnessed documents correctly.
UPDATE
Bruce Wilson makes sure reports of today’s hearings go to the front of tomorrow’s newspapers by taking on a photographer:

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Why are so many journalists of the Left?

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (1:56pm)

I interview Roger Scruton, the foremost conservative philosopher today.
UPDATE
Hear Scruton speak at the following events:
Wednesday 14 May 2014
5.00pm for 5.30pm,
The Grace Hotel
77 York Street, Sydney

Thursday 15 May 2014
5.00pm for 5.30pm,
Pullman Brisbane King George Square
Corner Ann & Roma Street, Brisbane
NOTE: Bookings are essential and places limited. Go here for tickets.
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Another Liberal MP bites the dust

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (1:46pm)

Are the NSW Liberals no cleaner than Labor?
LIBERAL member for Newcastle Tim Owen will not contest the next election after admitting he “probably” received prohibited donations during his 2011 campaign.
The announcement comes after Mr Owen was named in evidence given to ICAC in relation to alleged “payments under the table”, although the anti-corruption body didn’t identify him as a target.
Mr Owen also said health issues had influenced his decision.
True, corruption in NSW Labor governments was of an unprecedented scale, but the Liberals have lost a moral edge. 
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Cheap art stolen. Age horrified

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (1:25pm)

Big story in The Age:
A tall, thin person with a ponytail broke into a display home on Smith Street, Collingwood and stole an artwork by the Melbourne artist known as Miso…
The stolen work, titled Moon (Walking to all my friends’ houses in the world) I, was stolen on Sunday, May 4 at around 3.20am and its owner and creator are pleading for its return.
The ethereal work maps out every friend’s house that Miso - real name Stanislava Pinchuk - has walked to in the space of a year and was purchased from her solo show last year.
The 1.2 by 1.6 metre work was painstakingly created with thousands of tiny pin pricks on white paper. The National Gallery of Victoria holds its sister piece.
“It is not a work I can remake,” said Miso, who learned of the theft while receiving treatment in hospital for a broken arm…
Andy Dinan, director of Port Melbourne’s MARS Gallery, purchased the work for $5500 after falling in love with it at Miso’s solo exhibition in October.
Just $5500? For that size? Yet an artist with such little public demand has a work in the National Gallery of Victoria?
Reader Andrew has other questions:
This takes up a whole page!!! 
But it has all the elements that appeal to the core readership of the Age.  A thief with a ponytail… Smith Street, Collingwood… a work of art ..  stolen… an enigmatic title “Moon (Walking to all my friends’ houses in the world) I,”!! ...  It is “ethereal” ... “thousands of tiny pin pricks on white paper” ...  an artist who doesn’t paint under her real name but is now named after a Japanese fermented soy paste.
And its worth $5500.
Hell , about 20 Holdens worth at least $5500 are stolen every day in Epping or Broadie or Frankston or Noble Park ... but what does The Age care? 
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Labor dead to its duty

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (10:20am)

SO let’s check what Labor has said about things the Abbott Government plans in Tuesday’s Budget to dig us out of this financial hole.
A temporary deficit tax on higher earners?
“Bad idea,” snaps Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. “Labor will have no part of it.”
A rise — maybe just 1c a litre — on the fuel excise, to help save us from the 10 more years of debt Treasury predicts?
It’s “regressive”, objects Labor’s Transport spokesman, Anthony Albanese, and a hit “bigger than the carbon price”.
Well, how about charging people maybe $6 for doctors’ visits, to stop health costs exploding by the projected 70 per cent over the next decade?
“Poorer people will be unfairly hit,” howls Shorten. “We do not support a new GP tax.”
Then how about slowing the boom in disability pensions — now costing $15 billion a year — by checking if younger pensioners can do at least some work, as the Government suggested on Saturday?
“Why would you be punishing them?” complains Labor’s health spokesman Catherine King.
Surely the Government should at least raise the pension age to 70 by 2035, as Treasurer Joe Hockey announced, with the pension bill now soaring past $36 billion a year?
“Unfair,” declares Shorten. “Don’t pick on the pensioners.”
(Read full article here.)  
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Gardeners like Mathias Cormann know how to prune

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (9:47am)

A fascinating detail from Phillip Hudson that points to a great thing about this country and the chances it gives:
THE last time a new Coalition government prepared a tough-love budget, union-led protesters smashed down the doors of Parliament House in an ugly riot…
Back then Tony Abbott was an ambitious parliamentary secretary. Joe Hockey was a fresh-faced backbencher.
And Hockey’s wingman for this budget, Mathias Cormann, was a newly arrived ¬migrant with a Belgian law degree working as a gardener at Perth’s Presbyterian Ladies College.
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Too sensitive now for deep cuts

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (9:46am)

Henry Ergas puts the Budget cuts in context – but says our culture isn’t one that accepts much pain any more:
“IT was not intended to make anyone giggle,” treasurer Arthur Fadden said of his ‘‘horror budget’’ of September 1951…
Slashing spending and increasing taxes, Fadden’s budget had shocked the economy back on track. Even by today’s standards, the fiscal turnaround was immense, all the more so as some 60 per cent of the change came from expenditure reductions; a spending cut affecting the same share of government outlays now would eliminate Labor’s deficit at a stroke.
The 1951 budget required extraordinary political courage, but Fadden’s Australia was a different country. Post-war prosperity had neither healed the scars nor eliminated the culture of sacrifice forged by years of depression and war. And with communism in Europe and Asia threatening a global conflagration, Australians were prepared for hardship.
Today’s voters, in contrast, have been shaped by 23 years of continuous growth.  
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The price of hysteria

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (9:45am)

It’s too easy to sue and the demonisation of males has gone way overboard. Children now pay the price:
GROWING numbers of men are shunning teaching careers for fear of being falsely accused of child-sex offences.
More than 50 South Australian schools had no male teachers last year ...
Australian Education Union state president David Smith said members were reporting more reluctance from young men about joining the profession…

“Quite frankly, there are concerns about (men’s) safety regarding vexatious accusations...”
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The kind of racism the Left lets pass

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (9:18am)

The racism of a Labor speechwriter and friend of Bob Carr will, of course, be excused or ignored by the Left:

Bob Ellis contributes to national harmony on his blog on Friday: 
THERE is growing evidence that Joe Hockey is the dumbest Australian politician ever … It is not his country, of course. Though born here, he has a Middle Eastern way of looking at things. He believes the heathens do not deserve help, and if the children throw stones, well, rubber bullets is what they will suffer in return. He believes inequality is deserved. It is in his DNA. If this is unfair, I am sorry. I do not wish to be unfair.
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It shouldn’t be this hard to call Boko Haram Islamic

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (8:51am)

EXACTLY what do the Left think those Boko Haram jihadists are doing in Nigeria?
I thought it was as obvious as a bomb in a bus. Boko Haram has declared war on Christians and on Western education, and demanded all western Africa be put under sharia law.
It’s since murdered thousands of civilians, bombed churches, massacred schoolboys and enslaved girls, including more than 200 abducted from a boarding school last month.
And their leader insists his faith made him do all this, even sell girls as slaves: “Allah says I should sell.”

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In other words, we have yet another Islamist terrorist group on our hands.
Even China now has them, with one group knifing 29 commuters to death in Kunming’s railway station two months ago, all of which suggests something in Islamic teaching may perhaps give its followers more licence to violence than is safe for the rest of us.
Take the selling of girls captured in a jihad. As the Koran consulted by Boko Haram says: “We have made lawful to thee ... those (slaves) whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war.”

But this latest kidnapping is so startling that many of the Left have finally had to notice a conflict that has risked them having to say hard things about Islam.
(Read full article here.)  
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Sea ice grows. What do alarmists say now?

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (7:33am)

Global warming - dud predictions

If vanishing sea ice was evidence of global warming, what does increasing ice mean? Can’t wait to hear the scaremongers explain this away:
ANTARCTIC sea ice has expanded to record levels for April, increasing by more than 110,000sq km a day last month to nine million square kilometres.
The National Snow and Ice Data Centre said .... “This exceeds the past record for the satellite era by about 320,000sq km, which was set in April 2008,...”
Increased ice cover in Antarctic continues to be at odds with falling Arctic ice levels, where the summer melt has again pushed levels well below the average extent for 1981-2010… [But] the April Arctic minimum was 270,000sq km higher than the record April low, which occurred in 2007.
Together, that leaves us with above-average sea ice:

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Shorten’s web of money

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (7:25am)

How Bill Shorten built a web of power with union members’ money - legally, he insists:
BILL Shorten participated in the labour movement’s campaign donations carnival as a union boss, making payments to some key Labor figures aligned to his Victorian Right faction and an eclectic range of ALP politicians in other states.
While some of those who ­enjoyed the Australian Workers Union’s largesse under the now Labor leader’s watch went on to become senior ministers or powerful numbers men, others became engulfed in scandal.
The Australian has analysed the political donation returns Mr Shorten signed and submitted to the Australian Electoral Commission when he was secretary of the Victorian branch of the AWU and the union’s national secretary…
In most cases, Mr Shorten specified the name of the candidate towards whose campaign the AWU made the donations, which ranged from $250 to $5000 and were made between 2002 and 2005.
The list of Victorian state MPs comprises ALP former deputy premier Rob Hulls, former ministers Lisa Neville and Candy Broad, former Speaker Judy Maddigan, former parliamentary secretary Luke Donnellan, powerful numbers man Hong Lim, and Marlene Kairouz, all of whom are from the Right except Ms Broad, who is non-aligned.
Again, Shorten says this was legal. But the royal commission into union governance and corruption is bound to be interested in how all this kind of stuff works and why.
(Via Michael Smith.) 
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Super fund leaked personal information to union: claim

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (7:12am)

Utterly disgraceful if true, and another reason to distrust giving unions power over superannuation funds:
Industry superannuation fund Cbus allegedly leaked the private financial details and home addresses of hundreds of non-union workers to the ­militant construction union as part of an industrial campaign.
The allegations will be forwarded to the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Privacy Commissioner by Lis-Con, the construction company targeted by the campaign.
A Fairfax Media investigation has obtained a leaked database with the private details of more than 400 Cbus superannuation fund members – most of whom are not union members – and which was allegedly given to the NSW Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) branch secretary Brian Parker without the knowledge of the workers involved.
A signed statutory declaration, provided to Fairfax Media by a union whistleblower who assisted Mr Parker after he allegedly obtained the leaked information, states that it was used to help formulate an industrial campaign against a company that had been fighting the CFMEU in legal cases in several states…
Fairfax Media has confirmed that the database was used by the NSW CFMEU to call the private phone numbers of employees of a construction firm, Lis-Con, who were living in South Australia, Queensland and NSW....
Relations between the company and the union became extremely hostile when the company’s management lodged defamation writs against the CFMEU in Queensland and Western Australia.
The union whistleblower told Fairfax Media: “They were a company the union wanted to squash. The leaked information was intended to put enough pressure on them so the word would get out that they were not a company contractors should use."The construction workers were quizzed about their entitlements in an effort to get them to put pressure on the company’s management…
Fairfax Media is not suggesting the Cbus board knew of the leaking of the members’ details to the NSW branch of the CFMEU and a Cbus spokesman says the allegations would be the subject of an internal investigation.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Cutting the waste

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (7:08am)

Good:
MORE than 70 government agencies will be scrapped or merged in a budget plan to eliminate waste…

The “smaller government” program acts on confidential findings by the Department of Fin­ance that the federal bureau­cracy has swelled to almost 1000 entities, ranging from big agencies to obscure committees.
Better, because green means waste:
... the government will announce in tomorrow’s Budget that it will legislate to axe the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), created in 2012 by the Gillard government to co-fund private sector renewable energy projects…
It had originally been given the power to administer $3.1 billion in grants to help fund renewable energy projects, which was then reduced down to $2.5 billion.
The government confirmed that $1 billion will be left in a fund to honour those projects that had already been committed and contracts signed, but the remaining $1.3 billion will be booked as a budget saving.
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Remembering what passed for a government under Labor

Andrew Bolt May 12 2014 (5:17am)

We’re meanwhile reminded of an alternative way to run a government:

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd and his ministers Peter Garrett and Mark Arbib will be grilled on their role in the botched $2.8 billion insulation program from Monday…
Derided by critics as a Liberal Party witch-hunt against Labor, the royal commission has so far not unveiled any “smoking gun” evidence that implicates the upper echelons of the Rudd government for shortcomings in the program…
But there has been a number of questions that keep re-emerging following evidence of senior bureaucrats and representatives of the insulation industry. These include: why were safety standards for installers watered down before the roll-out of the scheme on July 2009?  And, more important, why were warnings about deaths in a similar scheme in New Zealand ignored?…
Mr Arbib will give evidence on Monday, followed by Mr Garrett on Tuesday and Mr Rudd on Wednesday.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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4 her, so she can see how I see her


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Frank Einstein
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Pastor Rick Warren

Sometimes I want to whisper to leaders I watch,"Please stop trying so hard to be cool and just #love people."
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How is this for hypocrisy? Bush didn't deny aid to consulates under siege while dancing with Beyonce. He didn't order men to their deaths while cutting costs as part of his re-election campaign. He also didn't cover up his decision making .. And he hasn't been personally abusive.
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Norge airship in flight 1926.jpg
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]

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“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” -Ephesians 4:32
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"I am with you alway."
Matthew 28:20
It is well there is One who is ever the same, and who is ever with us. It is well there is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life. O my soul, set not thine affections upon rusting, moth-eaten, decaying treasures, but set thine heart upon him who abides forever faithful to thee. Build not thine house upon the moving quicksands of a deceitful world, but found thy hopes upon this rock, which, amid descending rain and roaring floods, shall stand immovably secure. My soul, I charge thee, lay up thy treasure in the only secure cabinet; store thy jewels where thou canst never lose them. Put thine all in Christ; set all thine affections on his person, all thy hope in his merit, all thy trust in his efficacious blood, all thy joy in his presence, and so thou mayest laugh at loss, and defy destruction. Remember that all the flowers in the world's garden fade by turns, and the day cometh when nothing will be left but the black, cold earth. Death's black extinguisher must soon put out thy candle. Oh! how sweet to have sunlight when the candle is gone! The dark flood must soon roll between thee and all thou hast; then wed thine heart to him who will never leave thee; trust thyself with him who will go with thee through the black and surging current of death's stream, and who will land thee safely on the celestial shore, and make thee sit with him in heavenly places forever. Go, sorrowing son of affliction, tell thy secrets to the Friend who sticketh closer than a brother. Trust all thy concerns with him who never can be taken from thee, who will never leave thee, and who will never let thee leave him, even "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever." "Lo, I am with you alway," is enough for my soul to live upon, let who will forsake me.

Evening

"Only be thou strong and very courageous."
Joshua 1:7
Our God's tender love for his servants makes him concerned for the state of their inward feelings. He desires them to be of good courage. Some esteem it a small thing for a believer to be vexed with doubts and fears, but God thinks not so. From this text it is plain that our Master would not have us entangled with fears. He would have us without carefulness, without doubt, without cowardice. Our Master does not think so lightly of our unbelief as we do. When we are desponding we are subject to a grievous malady, not to be trifled with, but to be carried at once to the beloved Physician. Our Lord loveth not to see our countenance sad. It was a law of Ahasuerus that no one should come into the king's court dressed in mourning: this is not the law of the King of kings, for we may come mourning as we are; but still he would have us put off the spirit of heaviness, and put on the garment of praise, for there is much reason to rejoice. The Christian man ought to be of a courageous spirit, in order that he may glorify the Lord by enduring trials in an heroic manner. If he be fearful and fainthearted, it will dishonour his God. Besides, what a bad example it is. This disease of doubtfulness and discouragement is an epidemic which soon spreads amongst the Lord's flock. One downcast believer makes twenty souls sad. Moreover, unless your courage is kept up, Satan will be too much for you. Let your spirit be joyful in God your Saviour, the joy of the Lord shall be your strength, and no fiend of hell shall make headway against you; but cowardice throws down the banner. Moreover, labour is light to a man of cheerful spirit; and success waits upon cheerfulness. The man who toils, rejoicing in his God, believing with all his heart, has success guaranteed. He who sows in hope shall reap in joy; therefore, dear reader, "be thou strong, and very courageous."
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Pharaoh

[Phā'raōh] - sun, great house or the destroyer. This was a title used as the general description of the sovereign of Egypt, both with and without the personal name attached.Pharaoh is an Egyptian term derived from Phra, meaning the sun, to which the Egyptians likened themselves. This is why we often see them represented with a disc or figure of the sun upon their heads. The Pharaohs of Bible times are as follows:
  1. The one who took Sarah from Abraham (Gen. 12:15-20 ).
  2. The one who reigned when Joseph was prime minister(Gen. 37:36; 40-50).
  3. The one who was king of Egypt when Moses was bornand in whose palace Moses was brought up (Exod. 1and 2).
  4. The one who was king when Moses was fully grown(Exod. 2:15).
  5. The one who persecuted the Israelites, and whom Moses and Aaron challenged ( Exod. 3:10, 11; 4:21, 22; 5-18).
  6. The one who reigned in the days of Solomon and whose daughter Solomon married (1 Kings 3:1; 7:8).
  7. The one who was king in the days of Isaiah (Isa 19:11; 30:2, 3; 36:6).
  8. The one who was father of Bithiah, wife of Mered, of the tribe of Judah (1 Chron. 4:18).
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Today's reading: 2 Kings 13-14, John 2 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 2 Kings 13-14

Jehoahaz King of Israel
1 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD by following the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit, and he did not turn away from them. 3 So the LORD's anger burned against Israel, and for a long time he kept them under the power of Hazael king of Aram and Ben-Hadad his son....

Today's New Testament reading: John 2

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4 "Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you...."


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