Sunday, December 21, 2014

Sun Dec 21st Todays News

Cabinet reshuffle
  • Scott Morrison will be promoted to Minister for Social Services and be made part of the expenditure review committee 
  • Peter Dutton will be appointed as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. He will join the National Security Committee of Cabinet.
  • Sussan Ley will be promoted into Cabinet and become the Minister for Health and the Minister for Sport.
  • Josh Frydenberg will be appointed as Assistant Treasurer. After $2 billion in red tape reduction in just one year, he will be an important part of 2015 Budget preparations and will join the Expenditure Review Committee of Cabinet.
  • Christopher Pyne will become Minister for Education and Training and Senator Simon Birmingham will be promoted into the position of Assistant Minister for Education and Training. 
  • Ian Macfarlane will assume the title of Minister for Industry and Science.
  • Kevin Andrews will become the Minister for Defence. 
  • Steven Ciobo will be promoted to the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
  • Bob Baldwin will become Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and provide a strong focus on the Green Army programme.
  • Christian Porter will be appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister. 
  • Kelly O’Dwyer will be appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer in recognition of her work as Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics.
  • Karen Andrews, a former engineer, will take on the role of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science. 
Mr Abbot says 

I record my gratitude to Senator the Hon David Johnston who will stand down as Minister for Defence. Senator Johnston has done a fine job in restoring investment in the Australian Defence Force after six years of neglect and has effectively managed the deployment of Australian Defence Force personnel to Europe and Iraq.
Laurie Oakes dismissed the shuffle as being necessary but unlikely to change much the perception that the government can't pass legislation. 
Other news
Mother charged with killing 8 children highlights issues, it is dangerous to be a child of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island peoples. It is dangerous to be around drug users. The ALP's removal of the baby bonus is impacting on the lives of struggling families. 

 The testimony of the baby sitter suggests the mother had a relationship difficulty, possibly with one of the five fathers, and began to isolate herself months ago. She apparently had been a good loving mother, starting at a young sixteen or seventeen. But possibly became addicted to ice. In public policy terms it highlights how hard it is with the ALP cutting the baby bonus for struggling families and cutting back on specialist services from Aboriginal Intervention, isolating women carers and promoting drugs through feel good policy like harm minimisation. But the mother will have her own reasons for killing her own children and a niece. 

 Medical Marijuana is to go on trial in NSW who haven't worked out yet where they will source it. NSW are keen to implement a safe zero tolerance policy which protects the sick. Victoria's enthusiastic ALP aren't bothering with a trial. They want drugs in the community now. 

 Interim union report discredits former PM Gillard's testimony. ABC viewers not advised as the partisan ABC won't admit it. 

Report to authorities warned about Monis two days before his atrocity. The report was only about his Facebook page. Authorities treated the report seriously and it would not have changed the outcomes. It is worth noting that Islamic authorities are refusing to bury the body, but suggest putting it in sewage or at sea. The same Islamic authorities had accepted Monis when he wrote to soldier's widows. 

 Two NYC police are executed by an opportunist terrorist. The killer, Abdullah, had been wanted for murdering his own girlfriend. Media are reporting he has given 'reasons' for his act of terrorism, but they don't bear scrutiny. It is apparent he knew he was going to serve serious time and so he took police with him. No doubt ISIL will accept credit. 

 Extremist knifes police in France and is shot dead by police. No details are yet available as to the 'reason' for the attack, but probably ISIL will claim credit. 

 Reports of ISIL killing foreign supporters who don't fight well. The victims had tried to flee Raqqa, in Syria during fierce fighting. It has been verified at least one hundred were executed. Meanwhile Kurds report success in breaking a siege on a mountain where Yazidi civilians had been trapped. 
2013
A senior warmest is jailed, but the wheels of justice are slow, and they haven't been jailed for long enough, or for all the correct reasons. Warmism has cost the world economies $trillions and that money has come from the investment pool supporting the poorest people in the world .. rich people have increased their ownership of resources. There is nothing wrong with rich people getting money, but it is criminal to take from the poorest. Because of the poor business practice supporting AGW alarmism, poor people have gone without medication, food, electricity, water and opportunity. But the defence of the alarmist is that they are a fantasist who just liked having personal time. So what if billions of poor people suffer in the mean time? 

 Evidence is that 2013 was the coolest in history .. in cultural terms .. being the 17th consecutive year of no warming. Obama admits he screwed up, but if you want him to fix what he did, then you are screwed. If you want to see what Obama could do to the best parts of the US, visit Tasmania. If you want to see what Obama is doing to the rest of the US, visit Detroit. 
Historical perspective on this day
In 69, the Roman Senate declared Vespasian as Roman emperor, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors. 1124, Pope Honorius II was elected. 1140, Conrad III of Germany besieged Weinsberg. 1237, the city of Ryazan was sacked by the Mongol army of Batu Khan. 1361, the Battle of Linuesa was fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the forces of the Emirate of Granada and the combined army of the Kingdom of Castile and of Jaén resulting in a Castilian victory. 1598, Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflicted a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile. 1620, Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims landed on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In 1826, American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declared their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion. 1832, Egyptian–Ottoman War: Egyptian forces decisively defeated Ottoman troops at the Battle of Konya. 1844, the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers commenced business at its cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement. 1861, Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. 1872, Challenger expedition: HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain George Nares, sailed from Portsmouth, England. 1879, world première of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark. 1883, The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment, the first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army, were formed: .

In 1907, the Chilean Army committed a massacre of at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in Iquique, Chile. 1910, An underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, England, killed 344 miners. 1913, Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword puzzle, was published in the New York World. 1919, American anarchist Emma Goldman was deported to Russia. 1923, United Kingdom and Nepal formally signed an agreement of friendship, called the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923, which superseded the Sugauli Treaty signed in 1816. 1936, first flight of the Junkers Ju 88 multi-role combat aircraft. 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre.

In 1941, World War II: A formal treaty of alliance between Thailand and Japan was signed in the presence of the Emerald Buddha in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand. 1946, an 8.1 Mw earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō, Japan, killed over 1,300 people and destroyed over 38,000 homes. 1951, Libya became an independent country. 1962, Rondane National Park was established as Norway's first national park. 1967, Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, died in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the transplant. 1968, Apollo program: Apollo 8 was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans. 1969, the United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 1973, the Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opened. 1979,  Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia was signed in London by Lord Peter Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.

In 1988, a bomb exploded on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270. 1992, a Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashed at Faro Airport, killing 56. 1994, Mexican volcano Popocatépetl, dormant for 47 years, erupted gases and ash. 1995, the city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control. 1999, the Spanish Civil Guard intercepted a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid, Spain. 2004, Iraq War: A suicide bomber killed 22 at the forward operating base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers. 2012, the world was predicted to end on December 21, 2012 according to some calendars. 2012, The Walt Disney Company completed its acquisition of Lucasfilm and of the Star Wars franchise.
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This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406
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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

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR
Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns to those born on this day, across the years, along with
December 21: December solstice (23:03 UTC, 2014); Yaldā, Yule, and other winter solstice festivals (Northern Hemisphere); Summer solstice (Southern Hemisphere).
The Rochdale Pioneers' first store
Our Republic of Fredonia will live forever. We co-operate. Nepal is sovereign. We don't discriminate. We erupt. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2014
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Portrait of McCay, c. 1901
Sir James McCay (1864–1930) was an Australian general and politician. As a member of the Victorian Parliament (1895–99), he championed federation and women's suffrage. He became a member of the first Australian Federal Parliament in 1901 and was Minister for Defence (1904–05), where his long-lasting reforms included creating the Military Board. In World War I, McCay commanded the 2nd Infantry Brigade of the Australian Army in the landing at Anzac Cove, during the Gallipoli Campaign. He was later wounded in the Second Battle of Krithia and sent home, but returned to command the 5th Division, which he led in the Battle of Fromelles in 1916, dubbed "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history". His failures in difficult military operations made him a controversial figure who earned the disfavour of his superiors, and his efforts to succeed in the face of insurmountable obstacles earned him the odium of troops under his command, who blamed him for high casualties. After the war, McCay resumed his old job as Deputy Chairman of the State Bank of Victoria; his other public roles included commanding the Special Constabulary Force during the 1923 Victorian Police strike. (Full article...)
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Interim union report shreds Julia Gillard’s version

Piers Akerman – Saturday, December 20, 2014 (11:19pm)

THE damning interim report of the royal commission into trade unions gives Julia Gillard a scathing character reference, of which followers of “our” ABC have been kept ignorant. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Interim union report shreds Julia Gillard’s version'
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STOP THE BLUDGERS

Tim Blair – Sunday, December 21, 2014 (7:32pm)

The big news from today’s cabinet reshuffle: boat-stopper Scott Morrison takes over as minister for social services. Christine Milne is horrified: 
“Putting Scott Morrison in charge of Social Services will send shivers down the spines of people across the country,” she said.
“Scott Morrison and the word compassion don’t go in the same sentence.” 
They just did.
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Post by Prager University.

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Post by Daniel Bogo.

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Post by Robert Clark MP.

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Post by Daniel Maynigo.

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=== Posts from last year ===

DON’T THROW A SANDWICH, MAN

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 21, 2013 (3:18pm)

Someone is unhappy:

image
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WARMY JAILED

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 21, 2013 (2:35pm)

Climate change official John Beale is going to the big house after claiming to be a CIA spy working in Pakistan so he could avoid his real job: 
In September, Beale pleaded guilty to theft of government property and agreed to pay $886,186 in restitution and to forfeit another $507,207. On Wednesday he was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison …
Beale was no low-level bureaucrat, unknown to senior officials and operating in the depths of the agency. He was among the EPA’s most senior, most highly paid officials, one entrusted with formulating the agency’s most controversial policies. Thus the consequences of his EPA tenure go far beyond the specific fraud for which he will now go to prison …
Beale’s attorney John Kern says his client “has come to recognize that, beyond the motive of greed, his theft and deception were animated by a highly self-destructive and dysfunctional need to engage in excessively reckless, risky behavior.” Mr. Kern adds that Beale was motivated “to manipulate those around him through the fabrication of grandiose narratives” because of “his insecurities.” 
He’s a typical warmy, in other words, with his community’s usual fantasy addictions: 
Beale secured a coveted handicap parking spot at the workplace he wasn’t going to by claiming to have malaria, which he didn’t, from serving in Vietnam, where he’d never been. 
So what did Beale get up to during all his years of office dodging? 
When Huvelle asked Beale what he was doing when he claimed he was working for the CIA, he said, “I spent time exercising. I spent a lot of time working on my house.”
He also said he used the time “trying to find ways to fine tune the capitalist system” to discourage companies from damaging the environment. “I spent a lot of time reading on that,” said Beale. 
The former EPA climate guru now has another 32 peaceful months to continue his research. Summary from Michelle Cottle : 
In the case of Beale’s fabulism, bigger really was better. At least, that is, until it landed him in federal court. But, hell, it took them 20 years to catch him. Just think of all the fun he had in the meantime. 
Warmies have had fun for at least 20 years, much of it using public money. A terrible reckoning now draws nigh. 
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ONE COOL YEAR

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 21, 2013 (1:23pm)

This year was the best in history, according to the Spectator. And here’s one reason why: 
2013 marks the 17th year of no warming on the planet. It marks the first time that James Hansen, Al Gore’s guru and the one whose predictions set off the global warming scare, admitted that warming had stopped. It marks the first time that major media enforcers of the orthodoxy — the Economist, Reuters and the London Telegraph – admitted that the science was not settled on global warming, the Economist even mocking the scientists’ models by putting them on “negative watch.” Scientific predictions of global cooling – until recently mostly shunned in the academic press for fear of being labeled crackpot – were published and publicized by no less than the BBC, a broadcaster previously unmatched in the anthropogenic apocalyptic media. 
(Via the GWPF)
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NEEDS MORE ACTION

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 21, 2013 (1:17pm)

Throw in a few special effects here and there, and Stephen Chow’s latest could really be worth seeing:



(Via David Thompson) 
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CAUSE AND EFFECT

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 21, 2013 (12:45pm)

An unintentional but completely accurate admission from Barack Obama: 
The president described the health care roll-out as his biggest mistake: “Since I’m in charge, obviously we screwed it up.” 
He should probably seek a less demanding form of employment.
UPDATE. The President’s latest genius idea to sell Obamacare involves a hipster in a onesie:

image

(Via Iowahawk, who writes: “I’m sipping hot cocoa in my plaid footsie jammies and ready to talk about insurance ... laaaaadies.")
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RADIO TIM

Tim Blair – Friday, December 20, 2013 (8:31pm)

Tonight on 2GB with Michael McLaren we discuss the latest leftoid meltdown.
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TOASTIE THROWN

Tim Blair – Friday, December 20, 2013 (1:42pm)

It turns out that Guardian columnist Van Badham’s capacity for indulgent hysteria was inherited from her father: 
When I was 13, my dad left one job after he had been offered another one – and the new job fell through. My parents had only just taken out a mortgage, and now dad was unemployed ...
The events which pushed dad into unemployment were entirely beyond his control – just like Holden’s collapse is not to blame on its workers – but he was humiliated by them anyway. He was a man who defined himself by a willingness to work hard, and his ambitions were simple: to look after my mother and provide his only child everything he could to realise her dreams. When he became unemployed the two simple pillars of his character – his self-belief and role as a provider – were annihilated by forces beyond his control.
I can now write about this openly only because my beloved father is dead. He was a fantastically resilient man who never cried but with the sense of personal failure that accompanied the disappearance of his income, he talked about killing himself. He raged at my mother for staying with him. He raged at me and when I made him a cheese toastie as a peace offering, he hurled it against the wall. I had failed to comprehend that my acts of charity were corroding any self-esteem he had left. 
Or maybe he just didn’t like crappy sandwiches. Throw it on the ground! Anyway, for how long did this fellow endure what Badham describes as the “horrific stress of unemployment” and “the soul-shattering destruction of pride that goes with unemployment”? How long did it take before this victim of vicious capitalism found another job? 
A total of six weeks. 
UPDATE. The extract above is now expanded to give even greater insight into Van’s family tragedy, which basically goes like this: Dad quit his job. Then his new job didn’t happen. A month-and-a-half later, he got a job somewhere else. In the meantime he threw away a sandwich. This took place 22 years ago. The end. 
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About Tasmania. A beautiful warning

Andrew Bolt December 20 2013 (9:49pm)


In Tasmania:
- the Tasman Peninsula, simply lovely and made lovelier still by not being wilderness, is marred only by the world’s biggest collection of “for sale” signs outside homes, abandoned housing lots, holiday houses and farms.
- even the Penitentiary at Port Arthur, built by convict labor, is more beautiful than almost anything built in Hobart in the past 50 years by free men, under the instruction of the best-educated architects.
- the MONA museum, built with a gambler’s money, is a rare example of indifferent art being made to seem twice as good by the building and the élan of the founder and his curators. The museum is actually the work of art, with the art works just components of the whole. Some of the art is, literally, shit.
- if Hobart’s city council had not been so keen to improve the city Hobart would be even better. I cannot believe many of the newer buildings are more handsome than what they replaced.
- Hobart’s museum caught a dose of the illness that virtually killed Melbourne’s museum.  Objects are displayed with a bower bird’s eye for pretty and shiny. Explanations at times are minimal. Attitude is often rated above knowledge. The Aboriginal section has been handed over to Aboriginal curators for fashionable preaching about identity and dispossession. Lots of space is wasted. Little European settlement history is covered, although there is some interesting stuff on the great Mawson. Convicts are described as the “dispossessed” who in turn dispossessed Aborigines.
- there is a nice display on the Tasmanian tiger. I am sad it’s extinct but am less sure why it really matters. If Tasmanians worried less about such things, would the state have done a lot better? It has the oldest surviving Catholic church in Australia and the oldest stone bridge. Its colony was something when Melbourne was nothing. Now it is our poorest state. Memo to Greens: you can’t eat scenery.
- a local paper interviews six women who all complain about the lack of Christmas decorations. All are friends and relatives of Middle Eastern background, and one has the surname Mohamed.
- the art work in the Tasmanian art gallery that best sums up a gorgeous state led astray by its elite is an illuminated photograph of an artist who, having shaken the hand of a token Aboriginal then hangs himself apparently for being white.
- Nearby a video installation shows another whie artist who has taken off his clothes, stuck feathers or fluff on his well-fed body and now is filmed stumbling awkwardly on unshoed feet in the bush. It is unclear what he seeks. Civilisation? A grant? I am, however, certain he did find his clothes again and spent the night in a comfortable bed. He was pretending.
- a lot of people are out of work on this island. Most of the place has been turned into a national park. That is great for artists wanting to hobble around the bush naked, with just a few feathers glued to their hide. It is less good for people wanting to cut down some trees to make furniture, houses and paper.
- Daci and Daci is a most excellent bakery and cake shop. I recommend the pistachio and rose water meringue.
- if I had to hide myself somewhere beautiful to write a book or flee the madness of contemporary culture I would probably choose the Tasman Peninsula. I just wish I knew more about boat engines. But that would bore me. 
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Service dog stays with 7-year-old girl through surgery
www.foxnews.com
When 7-year-old Kaelyn Krawczyk went in for surgery at Duke Medical Center on Wednesday, she had a special friend accompany her into the operation room – her service dog, JJ.
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A PR executive posted an 'outrageous, offensive' joke on Twitter before boarding a plane
www.news.com.au
A PUBLIC relations professional in the US is in real strife after posting an incredibly offensive comment on twitter overnight.
Former PR exec? - ed
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Uganda enacts life in jail for gays
www.bbc.co.uk
Uganda's parliament passes a bill to toughen the punishment for homosexual acts to include life imprisonment and force people to report gay activities.
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Study: Average Person Becomes Unhinged Psychotic When Alone In Own House
www.theonion.com
Citing a range of behavior that experts could only describe as “profoundly disturbed,” a new study released by Cornell University’s psychology department Thursday revealed that most otherwise normal people transform into complete psychot...
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UK marks 25 years since Lockerbie bombing
www.news.com.au
BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has paid tribute to the "fortitude and resilience" of people affected by the Lockerbie bombing.
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Ant hill devoured by scorching-hot metal
www.news.com.au
WHEN this man poured molten aluminium onto an ant hill, he probably had no idea he was about to create something that looked this amazing.
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Discarded food could feed the world: Pope
www.news.com.au
THERE is enough wasted food to feed all the hungry people in the world, Pope Francis says in a video dedicated to recyclers.
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11 compliments that women actually find insulting
www.news.com.au
A COMPLIMENT is the perfect ice breaker. It's friendly, fun - and by its very nature, complimentary.
You have a strong right hand? - ed
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Italian serial killer captured in France
www.news.com.au
ITALY'S justice minister says a serial killer who failed to return to prison after a two-day good-behaviour pass has been recaptured in France.
Character reformed? - ed
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Jimmy Kimmel has named the funniest video of 2013
www.news.com.au
IF THIS doesn't make you laugh, nothing will.
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Duke University scientists find women need more sleep than men
www.news.com.au
FROM the vault: This story is so important, we're running it again.
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Sabrina (actress) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
Norma Ann Sykes (born 19 May 1936), better known as Sabrina, was a 1950s English...See more
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Michelle Malkin
Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx quietly deletes late-night attacks on Phil Robertson, but Twitchy is forever!http://twitchy.com/2013/12/20/nikki-sixx-quietly-deletes-late-night-attacks-on-phil-robertson-but-twitchy-is-forever/
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Join us for a free dinner seminar & learn how your bed can help overcome your problem.
Is Snoring an Issue?
www.events.wenatex.com.au
Click the link and fill in our booking form to book in your complimentary dinner seminar.
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Sarah Palin
A Christmas Call to Action…

Here's the choice: will we succumb to politically correct Thought Police and let the intolerants stifle freedom? Or will we be just a little bit brave and take a stand to protect the heart of America, which beats with freedom? The latter will make you Happy, Happy, Happy! This Duck Dynasty controversy is another reminder of the chilling effect we see with the right to express a faith-filled opinion that some may disagree with. It's the issue addressed in "Good Tidings and Great Joy." Here's a nice video about the book by CBN noting how the book is a Christmas "call to action" to inspire us to be fearless. Be empowered in expressing the positive message of faith on something greater than self, and please don't cower or hide because of intolerants who would marginalize any expression of faith (even non-controversial ones like a simple Nativity scene!):http://cbn.com/tv/2914888991001
Sarah Palin: 'War on Christmas' Tip of Greater Battle
www.cbn.com
Sarah Palin: 'War on Christmas' Tip of Greater Battle
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“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” Luke 2:1, 4-5 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love."
Jeremiah 31:3
Sometimes the Lord Jesus tells his Church his love thoughts. "He does not think it enough behind her back to tell it, but in her very presence he says, Thou art all fair, my love.' It is true, this is not his ordinary method; he is a wise lover, and knows when to keep back the intimation of love and when to let it out; but there are times when he will make no secret of it; times when he will put it beyond all dispute in the souls of his people" (R. Erskine's Sermons). The Holy Spirit is often pleased, in a most gracious manner, to witness with our spirits of the love of Jesus. He takes of the things of Christ and reveals them unto us. No voice is heard from the clouds, and no vision is seen in the night, but we have a testimony more sure than either of these. If an angel should fly from heaven and inform the saint personally of the Saviour's love to him, the evidence would not be one whit more satisfactory than that which is borne in the heart by the Holy Ghost. Ask those of the Lord's people who have lived the nearest to the gates of heaven, and they will tell you that they have had seasons when the love of Christ towards them has been a fact so clear and sure, that they could no more doubt it than they could question their own existence. Yes, beloved believer, you and I have had times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and then our faith has mounted to the topmost heights of assurance. We have had confidence to lean our heads upon the bosom of our Lord, and we have no more questioned our Master's affection to us than John did when in that blessed posture; nay, nor so much: for the dark question, "Lord, is it I that shall betray thee?" has been put far from us. He has kissed us with the kisses of his mouth, and killed our doubts by the closeness of his embrace. His love has been sweeter than wine to our souls.

Evening

"Call the labourers, and give them their hire."
Matthew 20:8
God is a good paymaster; he pays his servants while at work as well as when they have done it; and one of his payments is this: an easy conscience. If you have spoken faithfully of Jesus to one person, when you go to bed at night you feel happy in thinking, "I have this day discharged my conscience of that man's blood." There is a great comfort in doing something for Jesus. Oh, what a happiness to place jewels in his crown, and give him to see of the travail of his soul! There is also very great reward in watching the first buddings of conviction in a soul! To say of that girl in the class, "She is tender of heart, I do hope that there is the Lord's work within." To go home and pray over that boy, who said something in the afternoon which made you think he must know more of divine truth than you had feared! Oh, the joy of hope! But as for the joy of success! it is unspeakable. This joy, overwhelming as it is, is a hungry thing--you pine for more of it. To be a soul-winner is the happiest thing in the world. With every soul you bring to Christ, you get a new heaven upon earth. But who can conceive the bliss which awaits us above! Oh, how sweet is that sentence, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" Do you know what the joy of Christ is over a saved sinner? This is the very joy which we are to possess in heaven. Yes, when he mounts the throne, you shall mount with him. When the heavens ring with "Well done, well done," you shall partake in the reward; you have toiled with him, you have suffered with him, you shall now reign with him; you have sown with him, you shall reap with him; your face was covered with sweat like his, and your soul was grieved for the sins of men as his soul was, now shall your face be bright with heaven's splendour as is his countenance, and now shall your soul be filled with beatific joys even as his soul is.
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Today's reading: Micah 1-3, Revelation 11 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Micah 1-3

1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you,
listen, earth and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign LORD may bear witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem
3 Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling place;
he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
4 The mountains melt beneath him
and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope.
5 All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,
because of the sins of the people of Israel.
What is Jacob’s transgression?
Is it not Samaria?
What is Judah’s high place?
Is it not Jerusalem?

Today's New Testament reading: Revelation 11

The Two Witnesses
1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want....
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Lazarus [Lăz'arŭs]—god hath helpedor without help.
  1. The beggar in the parable of the rich man. This is the only instance where Jesus gives a name to a parabolic character, and there was an idea in early times that it was not a parable but a story from real life (Luke 16:19-31).
  2. The brother of Mary and Martha of Bethany whom Jesus raised from the dead (John 11; 12:1-17).

The Man Who Lived Again

Alexander Whyte comments,
Lazarus of Bethany comes as near to Jesus of Nazareth, both in his character, and in his services, and in his unparalleled experience, as mortal men ever come. Lazarus'name is never to be read in the new Testament till the appointed time comes when he is to be sick, ...to die, and to be raised from the dead for the glory of God. Nor is his voice heard. Lazarus loved silence. He sought obscurity. He liked to be overlooked. He revelled in neglect...The very Evangelists pass over Lazarus as if he were a worm and no man.
I. He is the subject of the greatest and most startling miracle of the gospel story.
II. He was the friend of Jesus, being loved by Him. Jesus wept at his grave.
III. His resurrection threatened the life of Jesus. The Sanhedrin were determined to put Him to death.
IV. His attendance at Simon’s banquet excited the enthusiasm of the people (John 12:9, 17, 18).
After his presence as an honored guest at Simon’s house, Lazarus vanishes from the gospel story. Of all men, he should have stood by Jesus at His trial and crucifixion. Doubtless Lazarus was forced to flee, seeing that the infuriated elders determined his death (John 12:10, 11). With a deep affection for his Friend, Lazarus would withdraw more for His sake than for his own. He felt his presence only increased the Master’s danger.
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