Friday, July 29, 2011

Good News! The Healing That Only God Can Bring!

An interesting article from www.ucg.org about healing as a gift from God. This follows this post about evolution's fallacies. For a free magazine subscription or to get this book for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.

Good News! The Healing That Only God Can Bring!


A commentary by Randy D'Alessandro


The world is full of sickness and disease - both physical and mental and emotional. Though many of mankind's greatest thinkers work daily to combat these illnesses, we are fighting a losing battle against death and disease. Jesus Christ and the healing authority of His Kingdom represent the only true cure for all sicknesses.





Source: Photos.comDo you remember the last time you visited somebody in the hospital? I do. As I walked the halls I observed the misery and suffering that each patient’s room seemed to house. Some were not seriously ill, but they were there nonetheless. The wished they could be somewhere, anywhere but there.



Others, however, were literally in a life and death struggle. The stakes could not be greater. In many cases the patients were surrounded by loving friends and family. In other cases the patients were facing the most critical moment of their lives with very few to be there for them other than the professionally-trained staff.



There are other types of hospitals designed to help those with other types of needs. Do you remember the last time you visited one of these facilities? I do. I remember wanting to cry as I witnessed people who were suffering, not due to physical challenges, but challenges of the emotions or the mind. Perhaps they were sensitive people deeply hurt by living in our very insensitive world. The world can be very cruel to such people—to the point where they need professional help just to get through the day.



Medicinal healing not enough

There is a need for another type of healing. However, you won’t be able to find any physical hospitals that would help those seeking this special healing. The healing I speak of here is the need for spiritual healing. With what we witness on a daily basis in global society there truly is a need for this type of healing. In truth, spiritual healing is foundational for each of the other types of healing.



Question: With our hospitals filled with state-of-the-art technology and highly trained professionals in their fields, is mankind truly receiving the care it really needs?



There is good news waiting for those with healing needs—and isn’t that really all of us? Don’t all of us need some type of healing at some level? The good news is that the hope for the healing of all of mankind does not rest in the hands of the men of science. As a matter of fact that hope does not reside in the hands of men whatsoever. The United Church of God proclaims to the world that real, lasting healing is coming—the kind of healing that only God can bring! Healing at every level of human existence! This healing will begin with the second coming of Jesus Christ. Several types of healing will take place.



Jesus Christ to heal the nations

There will be physical healing: “But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Malachi:4:2But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.). The word “sun” here means the sun that gives the earth its light and warmth. The metaphor is that of the healing powers the sun gives. In like manner, when Christ returns a significant part of His ministry is to aid in the total healing of mankind.



Jesus Christ will supply mental and emotional healing: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke:4:18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,). Here Christ is referring to His first coming, but also alluding to the work He will do at His second coming—the work of healing the brokenhearted and setting people free. Mankind has been held hostage by Satan, the god of this world. But the time is coming when mankind will be liberated physically, mentally and emotionally from the injuries inflicted by Satan. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John:8:32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.).



The end of sickness and disease

Last and most importantly, mankind will receive spiritual healing. Notice what God will do for mankind upon genuine repentance: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm:103:12As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.). Our sins are to be forgiven, and we are to be spiritually healed as a result. Paul says that even our conscience will be cleansed and healed so that we can pursue a new life (Hebrews:9:14How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?).



To read more about why sickness and suffering exist, please read our free booklet Why does God Allow Suffering? Then read about the cure in The Gospel of the Kingdom.



In addition to the fine literature and various media that is available through United Church of God we also have trained ministers who are available for personal counsel on this subject. At our web site http://www.ucg.org/  please reference the “Contact” tab and there you will find our congregation locator with a pastor in your area to be of service to you.

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“Evil” Israel Trains HAMAS’ Gaza Farmers to Grow Better Crops, Compete Against Israeli Farmers

A very interesting post from www.debbieschlussel.com about Israel and Hamas. This follows this post about Al-Qaeda in Libya.  This follows this post  about Miss USA 2010 and this article about the recent news about the former ban on offshore drilling which would encourage American energy independence and prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran   and Venezuela. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and read this very interesting book HERE!

“Evil” Israel Trains HAMAS’ Gaza Farmers to Grow Better Crops, Compete Against Israeli Farmers

By Debbie Schlussel



While you constantly hear the same old narrative that “evil” Israel is oppressing the poor HAMASnik people of Gaza, here’s what’s actually going on: Israel is giving educational training courses to Gaza’s HAMAS farmers so they can live to bomb and terrorize Israel yet another day. But don’t expect to see any of this in the mainstream media. And don’t expect Israel to provide this kind of training and these resources to its own people. Yet, all we hear about is how horribly Israel is treating these people who elected their own HAMAS government, a government that should be spending its own money helping its people, not Israel’s money. If there should be a floatilla about anything, the Israeli people should be protesting this enabling of sworn enemies of Israel. Why the heck does Israel have a “Directorate of Agriculture Coordination and Liaison in Gaza?” It’s frickin’ absurd. The soil in Gaza is no different from the soil in the rest of Israel, where farmers can also grow strawberries and flowers. Essentially, Israel is training the terrorists to compete with and defeat its own citizens on the crop market. Extremely Dumb. And despicable.











Stupid to the Nth: Israel Trains HAMAS Strawberry Farmers to Defeat Israeli Farmers



An educational program for Gaza Strip farmers:

The Coordination and Liaison Administration exports strawberries and flowers from the Gaza Strip to markets in Europe



Head of the Directorate of Agriculture Coordination and Liaison in Gaza, Uri Madar, held a conference with major Gaza Strip farmers on Wednesday, July 20th, preparing them for cultivation and export of crops for next year. An Israeli specialist attended the conference, teaching those present proper cultivation and pest-control methods.



Mr. Madar said that the program is, “Intended to help Palestinian farmers prepare for the November export season including soil preparation, crop treatment and appropriate use of pesticides and fertilizers. We hope to improve crop production after an unsuccessful year, where the crops were deemed inadequate by European consumers. The strawberry specialist thus presented the production process, taught of different types and uses of pesticides and fertilizers, and of post-picking treatment, which is the most important and delicate step.”



Lt. Col. Kobi Gertzvolf, Head of the Directorate of Financial Coordination and Liaison in Gaza, added that “we want to help Palestinian farmers properly grow and use pesticides to improve next year’s crops in both quality and quantity, in hope of increasing exports to Europe and thus improving profits and the Palestinian economy at the Gaza Strip.” He added that “it is evident that the participating farmers had a great time and learned a lot.”



I’m sure they had a great time. They voted for HAMAS AND they get the stupid Jews to teach them how to grow more and better crops so that they can make more money to give to HAMAS to spend on rockets and other attacks on Israel. Remember, these people support a government that has Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier, as a captive. And Israel rewards them for it.



Just sickening. BTW, the pic above says it all. Wife #4,Hamida, is busy breaking her back in the field picking strawberries, while her hubby is inside planning the next attack against the “evil JOOOS” and assembling bombs with the strawberry profits.



And this isn’t the first time that Israel has enabled and trained its enemies to compete against its farmers. As I recently wrote, Israel trained West Bank Fatah farmers to grow cucumbers and compete against Israeli vegetable farmers. It’s disgusting.



Israel should stop enabling terrorist-supporting farmers. The world doesn’t notice. And when it does, it doesn’t care and still hates Israel, anyway. (Thanks to Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA for the tip.)



One other note: this is why I never buy flowers that say, “Grown in Israel.” Israel trained West Bank Muslims to grow flowers and compete against Israeli flower growers. While it is impossible to know where the flowers are from, usually they are grown by Muslims in the West Bank, who’ve now dominated the market, thanks to Israel enabling the enemy.

The fight against illegal immigration!

An urgent post from www.Alipac.us about ways of fighting illegal immigration. This follows this post about a recent Muslim illegal immigrant in Alabama and  this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso, where President Barack Obama recently bashed immigration enforcement! On a related note, you can read about Miss Kentucky Latina here, an interesting article about Jessica Alba here or another article about Salma Hayek here. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and you can read a very interesting book HERE!

The fight against illegal immigration!

Action Items...




#1



We need ALIPAC back in the fight to distribute information and coordinate calls to Congress. We must seek justice for all Americans regarding revelations that the Obama administration has been using our tax resources to provide thousands of assault rifles to the murderous crime cartels importing most of America's drugs and illegal immigrants.



Yes, I want ALIPAC to fight against this injustice and I'm donating now via..

http://www.alipac.us/content-9.html



#2



President Obama has decreed Dream Act Amnesty for illegal aliens via a memo ordering his Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton to order prosecutors to leave most illegal aliens alone. Congressman Lamar Smith is pushing legislation called the 'HALT ACT" which would stop Obama's illegal and unconstitutional Amnesty. We need to be back in action to support this legislation.



Yes, I want ALIPAC to return to action to support the HALT ACT. Donating now via...

http://www.alipac.us/content-9.html



#3 The Obama administration has authorized Mexican trucks to roll into America without inspection for drugs, weapons of terror, or illegal immigrants. This will replace many American truckers in their jobs. Here come the Mexican trucks! ALIPAC helped to successfully stop the trucks previously. Legislation has been filed to stop the trucks.



Yes, I want ALIPAC back in the fight supporting legislation to stop the Mexican trucks from rolling into America and I'm donating now via...

http://www.alipac.us/content-9.html



#4 The first electronic kiosks are being built on bridges to Mexico to allow vehicles to pass through the border without inspection for drugs, illegals, or weapons of mass destruction. They are opening the borders.



Yes, I want ALIPAC back in the fight against open borders immediately and I'm donating via...

http://www.alipac.us/content-9.html





#5 Alabama has now passed the strongest state illegal immigration legislation on the maps. Alabama lawmakers are also confident their bill will survive court challenge. ALIPAC has helped spread laws like this one as well as the Arizona (SB 1070) to many other states!



Yes, I want ALIPAC spreading this new law to other states and I'm donating now via...

http://www.alipac.us/content-9.html



#6 During this debt crisis battle, why are we not hearing more demands that illegal aliens and their supporting groups like La Raza face budget cuts instead of Americans who have paid into Social Security all their lives? ALIPAC would like to lead the way calling for more efforts to stop the theft of over 100 billion dollars a year.



Yes, I want ALIPAC demanding more security for our taxpayer resources and I'm donating today via...

http://www.alipac.us/content-9.html





Our fellow Americans, the globalist trap is sprung and those responsible for this betrayal of our nation are coming at us from every single direction right now.



We are ready and willing to fight, but we must have your support to stand.



Instead of engaging the enemies of America, we are forced to beg for our continued existence.



We need your help.



Sincerely,





William Gheen and The ALIPAC Team

http://www.alipac.us/

ERITREA – Mass arrests of Christians continue

A very interesting post from www.releaseinternational.org about Christians in the African country of Eritria, near Somalia and Ethiopia. This follows this post about Hugo Chavez who has been receiving care from Cuba. This follows this article about the recent news about the former ban on offshore drilling which would encourage American energy independence and prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran   and Venezuela. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and read this very interesting book HERE!


ERITREA – Mass arrests of Christians continue



Eritrean officials have arrested 90 Christians since May – and more than a quarter of them are college students, according to Release partners.



According to fresh, more detailed reports from Release Eritrea, the authorities detained 64 believers in Adi Abeyto, a village near the capital, Asmara, in May. Only six have since been released – and the rest are thought to be detained at a police station in Asmara or in the notorious Mitire military prison.



Last month, 26 students from Mai-Mefhi College of Technology, south-west of Asmara, were arrested – and, at the time of writing, they were apparently still detained at an unknown location. Release Eritrea sources suggest that some of the students may also have been transferred to Mitire Prison.



Mitire is a remote military prison, located between the town of Nakfa and the coast, where 'torture and extremely harsh treatment are rife', according to Release Eritrea. Of the 12 Christian detainees known to have died in Eritrea since 2002, three were at Mitire.



The precise motives for these latest detentions are unclear. Sources point out that previously college students have been arrested for refusing to take part in Independence Day celebrations. In 2006, a group of students detained for this reason were jailed for up to four years, then expelled from college and drafted into the army, reports Release Eritrea.



Scores of Christians were reportedly arrested in the first few weeks of this year in Asmara and in Nakfa (Prayer Alert, January 20, 2011).



In 2002, the Eritrean Government announced it would recognise only four religious communities: the Orthodox Church of Eritrea, Sunni Islam, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran-affiliated Evangelical Church of Eritrea. About 1,500 Christians are believed to be detained for their faith in Eritrea.



(Sources: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Freeeritrea.com; Release Eritrea)



• Pray for the immediate release of the 90 Christians detained in Eritrea since May – and of all believers imprisoned for their faith.

• Pray for President Isaias Afewerki and his government ministers, who continue to deny categorically that there is any religious persecution in their nation. Pray that they will end the current crackdown on Christians – and bow to international pressure to allow greater religious freedom.

Five (Fairly) Short Points about the Debt Ceiling Plans

A very interesting post from www.redstate.com about the debt ceiling plans. This follows this post about the Earned Income Tax Credit.  This follows this post about the House GOP's communication problem and this article about  the recent news about ending the ban on offshore drilling which would encourage American energy independence This is a key issue to prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran  and Venezuela. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and you can read a very interesting book HERE!

Five (Fairly) Short Points




Posted by Michael Hammond (Profile)


 House Republicans are walking into an enormous trap. The Boehner plan is sufficiently similar to the Reid plan, in virtually all important respects, that its passage will lead to the following compromise:



• The adoption of Boehner’s ten years of sham cuts,which will be ephemeral beyond fiscal year 2012. Even John McCain said tonight that Gramm-Rudman (whose “sequestration” provisions are the enforcement mechanism for Boehner) became worthless because Congress just started declaring emergencies.

•A commission which will report out large tax increases which cannot be filibustered. The “deciders” on the commission will be six Pelosi/Reid people and one squish Republican, who will be corralled into submission by:

•A “trigger” which will make the pressure currently being applied to Congress seem small by comparison.

(2) Unless you can guarantee that it will go to the states, a guarantee of a losing vote on the balanced budget amendment is worthless.



(3) Dick Morris is correct that if Tuesday comes and goes, with only a shut-down of unessential government agencies, the American people will see Obama’s fear-mongering for what it is.



(4) Furthermore, as 2008 taught us, the GOP can sell all of its principles and spend the better part of a trillion dollars and the stock market will still continue to fall –- particularly since Standard & Poor’s is about to downgrade the U.S. for being too timid in debt reduction.



(5) Finally, Obama is currently reeling from his poor stewardship. For Republicans to capitulate and give him a “compromise” will reset him on a glide path to reelection. The liberal media is currently “spinning” that Republicans have won, but, after they lose, their surrender will be reported for what it was.



by Michael E. Hammond, former General Counsel Senate Steering Committee 1978-89.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Case Against Evolution

An interesting article from www.ucg.org showing the fallacies of evolution. This follows this post about the Bible's uniqueness. For a free magazine subscription or to get this book for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.


The Case Against Evolution


"If you would like to dig more deeply into the case against evolution, we recommend the following books, many written by people with science backgrounds.



Many excellent books detail scientific findings and conclusions that compellingly demonstrate the impossibility of evolution as an explanation for the variety of life on earth. It's also helpful to remember that evolution cannot offer an explanation for the origin of our magnificent universe; evolution seeks to explain only how life proliferated in a universe that already existed.



If you would like to dig more deeply into the case against evolution, we recommend the following books, many written by people with science backgrounds:



• Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution

Michael Behe, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, 1996. Demonstrates that the minute building blocks of life—cells and their myriad components—are far too complex for their codependent parts and processes to have evolved without an outside, intelligent design at work.



• Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life

Alister McGrath, professor of historical theology, Oxford University, 2005. Professor McGrath, a former atheist himself who holds a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics, takes on the assumptions of popular evolutionary proponent Richard Dawkins and the atheistic worldview he promotes.



• The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World

Alister McGrath, 2004. Professor McGrath traces the history and rise of modern atheism, fueled in large part by Darwin's theory of evolution, and how it has influenced the world.



• What Darwin Didn't Know

Geoffrey Simmons, M.D., 2004. Dr. Simmons dissects the theory of evolution from the perspective of a medical doctor, giving compelling reasons why evolution cannot explain many aspects of the human body. As he notes in the introduction, if Darwin's Origin of Species were submitted to a scientific publisher today, it would likely be rejected due to the author's woefully incomplete understanding of cellular biochemistry, physiology, genetics and other branches of science that deal with the human body.



• Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing

Edited by William Dembski, 2004. Dembski, who holds Ph.D.s in mathematics and philosophy, brings together essays from intellectuals of various fields who not only explain the scientific weaknesses of Darwinism, but contend that the best scientific evidence actually argues against Darwinian evolution.



• Mere Creation: Science, Faith & Intelligent Design

Edited by William Dembski, 1998. A collection of academic writings from the fields of physics, astrophysics, biology, anthropology, mechanical engineering and mathematics that challenge Darwinism and offer evidence supporting intelligent design in the universe.



• Evolution: A Theory in Crisis

Michael Denton, M.D., Ph.D., senior research fellow, University of Otago, New Zealand, 1996. A molecular biologist, Denton examines features of the natural world that mutation and natural selection cannot explain and shows the impossibility of transitional forms required for Darwinian evolution to have taken place.



• Creation and Evolution: Rethinking the Evidence From Science and the Bible

Alan Hayward, Ph.D., 1985. Written by a British physicist, an insightful book on the pros and cons of the evolution-vs.-science controversy.



• The Neck of the Giraffe: Where Darwin Went Wrong

Francis Hitching, 1982. Points out many of the problems in the traditional view of evolution.



• Darwin on Trial

Phillip Johnson, professor of law, University of California, Berkeley, 1993. Shows that the weight of scientific evidence argues convincingly against the theory of evolution.



•Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law & Education

Phillip Johnson, 1995. Discusses the cultural implications of belief in evolution—that is, that the philosophy behind Darwinian evolution has become in effect the dominant established religion in many societies.



• Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds

Phillip Johnson, 1997. Written specifically for older students and their parents and teachers to prepare them for the antireligion bias inherent in most advanced education.



• Objections Sustained: Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law & Culture

Phillip Johnson, 1998. Compilation of essays ranging from evolution and culture to law and religion.



• Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of the Human Fossils

Marvin Lubenow, 1992. Documents the serious problems with the supposed links between man and apes.



• Shattering the Myths of Darwinism

Richard Milton, 1997. A science journalist and noncreationist, Milton reveals the circular reasoning Darwinists must rely on for their arguments while discussing data widely acknowledged in scientific circles.



• Tornado in a Junkyard: The Relentless Myth of Darwinism

James Perloff, 1999. A self-professed former atheist offers an easy-to-read view of evidence contradicting Darwinism, including many quotations from evolutionists and creationists. (The title is taken from a British astronomer's assessment that the likelihood of higher life-forms emerging through random mutation is comparable to saying a tornado sweeping through a junkyard could build a Boeing 747 airliner.)



• Not by Chance: Shattering the Modern Theory of Evolution

Lee Spetner, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. Demonstrates that a fundamental premise of neo-Darwinism—that random mutation created the kinds of variations that allowed macroevolution to take place—is fatally flawed and could never have happened as Darwinists claim.



• Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth?

Jonathan Wells, Ph.D., Yale University and University of California, Berkeley, 2000. A post-doctoral biologist documents that the most-used examples Darwinists call on to support evolution are fraudulent or misleading.



• The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design

Jonathan Wells, Ph.D., 2006. Dr. Wells shows that the best scientific evidence, far from supporting Darwinism, actually supports intelligent design.



Although the publishers of this booklet do not agree with every conclusion presented in these books, we think they present a persuasive and compelling case that the theory of evolution is fundamentally and fatally flawed.

Defrauding the American Taxpayer - The Earned Income Tax Credit EITC and Low Wage Jobs

A very interesting post from www.Vdare.com about the Earned Income Tax Credit. This follows this post about the Gang of 6 debt plan. This follows this post about the House GOP's communication problem and this article about  the recent news about ending the ban on offshore drilling which would encourage American energy independence This is a key issue to prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran  and Venezuela. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and you can read a very interesting book HERE!


Defrauding the American Taxpayer - The Earned Income Tax Credit


EITC and Low Wage Jobs

Part 5 of 7

By Edwin S. Rubenstein

For The Social Contract

April, 2011

At $60 billion a year, EITC spending dwarfs that of TANF (cash welfare.) Twenty-five million taxpayers filed for the credit in tax year 2008. They received an average $2,044.

Good news for the working poor, you say? That’s what liberal activists would have us believe. So would George W. Bush, the Heritage Foundation, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, and the disciples of economist Milton Friedman. No doubt many of the program’s conservative supporters are motivated by genuine admiration for its virtues; but activists for the poor, finding themselves in such strange company, would do well to ask themselves: is there a catch?

Maybe there is. Even more ominous than conservative support for EITC is the sorry record of the program’s closest historical parallel: the “Speenhamland system.” an obscure law in force in England between 1795 and 1834. Like EITC, Speenhamland linked welfare to work. Upper class eighteenth century Englishmen were no more eager to subsidize idleness than their 21st century American equivalents.

And also like the EITC, Speenhamland was an attempt to raise earnings without placing a burden on employers. If wages fell below a certain level, government made up the difference; as wages rose, the government benefit fell.

Employers soon discovered they could “game” the system by cutting wages below what workers were really worth to them. Before Speenhamland they would have gotten what they paid for: mediocre, malnourished, resentful workers. Or none at all. But with the country taking up the slack, they had nothing to fear.

The Poor Law Commissioners' Report of 1834, summarizing the failed program, called Speenhamland a "universal system of pauperism".

 http://www.thesocialcontract.com/

“In the long run the result was ghastly,” wrote economic historian Karl Polanyi in his 1944 classic “The Great Transformation.” “Wages which were subsidized from public funds were bound eventually to be bottomless.” The result was that, as Notre Dame University Teresa Ghilorducci puts it, “The government subsidized wages so much they went broke.” [J.W. Mason, “Is the Earned Income Tax Credit as good as it looks?,” City Limits, June 2002. http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=2768 ]

EITC, like Speenhamland, rewards employers who pay workers sub-standard wages. To see this perversity at work, imagine that the economy consists of two companies producing widgets. Employer #1 hires moderately skilled workers at $10/hr., but he produces 10 widgets per worker per hour.

Employer #2 hires only the least skilled workers. In the absence of the EITC subsidy, assume that no worker would take the job for less than $7.50/hr. But workers on his less sophisticated assembly line produce only 5 widgets per worker per hour – half the productivity of employees of employer #1.

The result will be employer #1 will have to pay $1 in wages for every widget produced ($10/hr. for 10 widgets per hour), while employer #2 will have to pay $1.50 for every widget produced ($7.50/hr./5 widgets per hour.)

In this labor market, low-wage employer #2 will be unable to compete with his more productive, higher-wage competitor. Curtains for employer #2.

Now introduce an EITC program that adds, say, 50 cents to every dollar of wages.

Theoretically, employer #2 could offer his workers only $5/hr., since they would receive an added $2.50 from the government. So workers at #2 will stay on the job, and he will produce widgets at $1 per widget – the same cost as employer #1.

Increase the EITC subsidy rate even more, and employer #2 will be able to drive his more technologically advanced, higher wage competitor out of business.

Bottom line: low wage subsidies like EITC destroy high-wage jobs.

This is somewhat of a simplification: in the real world, employers do not cut wages a dollar for each dollar of wage subsidy. But employers have learned how to exploit a system that is ripe for exploitation - a system in which government subsidizes low-wage jobs while taxing moderate wages.

Walmart, for example, launched an aggressive campaign to “educate” its workers about the EITC program a few years ago. "The momentum behind it is education - ways our employees can save money and live better," a company spokesperson said at the time. https://www.just-food.com/article.aspx?id=102932

Yet the nation’s largest employer pays its non-supervisory employees about $18,000/ year, far less than half what GM workers were paid thirty-five years ago, adjusted for inflation. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12699486/paul_krugman_on_the_great_wealth_transfer

And Walmart is notorious both for how few of its workers receive health benefits and for the stinginess of those benefits.

GM, by contrast, does not “educate” its employees on the virtues of EITC – for this reason: it pays them too well to qualify.

Gary Gereffi, Professor of Sociology at Duke University, deconstructs the vastly different business philosophies of the two companies in a Frontline interview: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/interviews/gereffi.html

Gereffi: “Wal-Mart is the biggest, most respected company in the United States, but it's very interesting to compare Wal-Mart with General Motors, which was the best known, largest, most respected company 50 years ago. I think these two models are radically different models. The Wal-Mart model is premised on global efficiency. The General Motors model was premised on having workers that could afford to buy the products that they made.”

Frontline: “Are you suggesting here that Wal-Mart is pushing prices so low and pushing wages so low that it may, in fact, eventually bankrupt its own customers because they won't be making enough money to go shopping?”

Gereffi: “Wal-Mart is pushing wages down to a level where the people that work in Wal-Mart stores are going to be forced to buy in Wal-Mart stores, because they can't make enough money to buy goods elsewhere in the economy.

“The traditional model of American capitalism from the mid-20th century was that American corporations were respected because they were globally efficient, but they also paid their workers a good wage so that workers could become consumers and part of the middle class of American society. I think we've lost that model today….”

Our take: The EITC enables Walmart, McDonalds, and other low-wage employers to continue their policies of employee exploitation; it does nothing for high-wage, high productivity companies like GM. As the EITC subsidy increases, so will the fraction of U.S. businesses built on low-wages rather than high-productivity.

EITC from the employee’s perspective


Consider a household with three children in 2011. For each dollar earned up to $12,780, the government kicks in an extra 45 cents. Between $12,780 and $16,690 the benefit is the same, $5,751, neither increasing nor increasing with additional earnings. So if this hypothetical two-child household earned the minimum wage in 2008, they would receive an extra $5,751 after filing their income taxes.

But once the family’s income exceeds $16,690 – hardly enough to support four persons – their EITC payment starts to “phase-out.” For this unfortunate family, this means they lose 21.06 cents of EITC for every additional dollar of income. Add in Social Security and income taxes, and in some states more than 50 percent of any pay hike is lost to higher taxes and lower credits – a higher marginal tax rate than the wealthy pay.

Why earn more if the government takes over half of the increase?

Why invest time, effort, and money to improve your work skills?

If poor families are rational, they will respond to the work disincentives of EITC by working less. Data backs this up. Around 77 percent of EITC recipients have incomes that fall in the flat or phase-out range of the credit. Economists generally agree that most of these folks will work fewer hours, and devote less time and effort to improving their work skills and education, because of the negative EITC incentives. http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~scholz/Research/EITC_Survey.pdf

In the short run, the EITC is effective in moving people out of poverty. But over the long haul, the program enables employers to offer less to workers, who because of the program’s perverse incentives, may be satisfied with less. As a result, the program originally envisioned as a transfer to low-wage workers has become a transfer to their employers.

EITC v. the minimum wage

“The minimum wage law is most properly described as a law saying that employers must discriminate against people with low skills." – Milton Friedman

Here the great conservative economist give voice to what has become the conventional wisdom among free market libertarians: Minimum wage laws hurt the poor.

Their argument runs like this: In a free market, wage levels will always reflect a worker’s value to the firm – their “marginal productivity. Employers who try to pay workers less than their true worth will only lose them to competitors. They either match the competitive wage, or go out of business. Their former employees will find work. But minimum wage laws interfere with this process. Many unskilled, uneducated workers simply do not contribute enough to a firm’s bottom line to justify receiving the minimum wage. They are its victims rather than its beneficiaries.

Or, as Friedman cheekily observed: “It has always been a mystery to me why a youngster is better off unemployed at $4.75 an hour than employed at $4.25.''

In fact, the conservative critique does not hold up in practice. A number of studies, notably by economists Alan Krueger and David Card in their book Myth and Measurement, have found that raising the minimum wage leads to increased employment for the poor because it encourages higher productivity and creates more spending in the poor communities themselves. http://books.google.com/books?id=VDNI0Uy86J8C&pg=PP11&lpg=PP1&dq=%22Alan+Krueger%22+%22Myth+and+Measurement%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html

More recently, a study of state minimum wage laws finds that “wages are higher and employment is no lower” in states with a higher minimum wage than those without. The median minimum wage was $1.40 (more than 25 percent) higher than the federal minimum in states that had raised their minimum wage. [Paul Wolfson, State Minimum Wages: A Policy That Works, Employment Policy Institute, 2006. http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/11/29/minimum-wage-increase-does-not-cost-jobs/ ]

Conservative objections to minimum wage laws, and their love for the EITC, has influenced public policy. As evidence, the following: Bad news for the poor: EITC displaces the Minium Wage, 1975-2008(2008 dollars)$500$700$900$1,100$1,300$1,500$1,700$1,900$2,100$2,3001975198519952005$0.00$1.00$2.00$3.00$4.00$5.00$6.00$7.00$8.00$9.00Average EITC credit(left axis)Minimum wage (rightaxis)

Since 1975 the average EITC benefit, adjusted for inflation, has increased by 154 percent, while the minimum wage has declined by 22 percent. Even with its sharp expansion, however, the EITC fell notably short of offsetting the drop in the minimum wage. Minimum wage families with children saw their real disposable income decline


during the nearly thirty-five year period in which EITC has been in existance. http://www.upjohninstitute.org/publications/newsletter/H-S_103.pdf

Raise the EITC even more, you say? That would merely increase the government subsidy to low-wage employers. It is unconscionable, in this economy, for the federal government to underwrite businesses that exploit poor workers.

The obvious answer is to increase the minimum wage to a level where the EITC subsidy is no longer necessary

But what about the conservative rejoinder – that in a laissez faire economy where there is no minimum wage, wages will always reflect a worker’s productivity?

The marginal product theory holds true in a labor market comprised of many small employers, each competing for the same pool of labor, each too small to influence the market wage. This model may have obtained when Adam Smith first articulated it. It was still revelant in the 19th and early 20th century U.S. But today, with the market for low-wage labor dominated by the likes of Walmart and McDonalds, it breaks down..

Gereffi again:

“Wal-Mart is also having a negative impact on employment in the retail sector. Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the United States after the federal government. But Wal-Mart is also very well known for being a non-union company and pushing non-union conditions on its workforce. ... It pays its workers at a minimum pay scale with very few fringe benefits. Because Wal-Mart's the largest private employer in the United States, whatever Wal-Mart does in terms of the labor market, all other businesses have to follow. So Wal-Mart is really determining the direction in which the U.S. labor market is moving.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/interviews/gereffi.html

Walmart, and its enabler, the EITC

EITC and Immigration

The same business groups that tout the virtues of EITC also support mass immigration. That should come as no surprise: the influx of unskilled, un-educated foreign workers depresses wages for all American workers – foreign and native-born alike. Lower wages mean higher profits, higher share prices, and a net transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars from the pockets of workers to employers.

EITC and immigration share joint responsibility for one of the most pernicious economic trends of our time: the obscene income gap between rich and poor in the U.S. George Borjas, an economist at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, estimates that “almost half the decline in the relative wage of high school dropouts may be


attributed to immigration.” Black Americans in particular are big losers, with immigration reducing the income of the average native black person about $300 per year. [Peter Skerry, “How Immigration Re-Slices the American Pie,” The Washington Post, October 28, 1999]

The EITC reinforces the negative impact of immigration by subsidizing low-wage employers and eroding the work incentives of their employees. One must also consider the direct impact EITC has on the number of immigrants entering annually. As the most accessible, generous, and immigrant–friendly of all federal benefits, it undoubtedly ranks high among factors considered by potential entrants.

Mass immigration in the modern (post World War II) era dates from the Immigration Reform Act of 1965. Prior to that law only about 250,000 immigrants a year entered the country; By the 1990s the country was admitting more than 800,000 legal immigrants a year, with an additional 300,000 to 500,000 aliens entering and staying in the country illegally.

During the decade of the 1990s, 47 percent of U.S. civilian labor force growth was due to immigration. This represented the largest influx of foreign workers ever to enter the U.S. in a given decade—substantially exceeding the number who came here during the Great Wave of 1890 to 1910. [Andrew Sum, et al., Foreign Immigration and the Labor Force of the U.S., [PDF] Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, July 2004.]

But records are made to be broken, and nowhere more so than in immigration. During the first decade of the 21st Century (2000 to 2009) foreign-born individuals accounted for:

33 percent of U.S. working-age population growth

47 percent of U.S. labor force growth

99 percent of U.S. employment growth. (In other words, immigrants displaced Americans).

The last percentage may seem implausible. It is not. BLS data show the Great Recession took a horrific toll on native-born workers. After peaking at 123.1 million in 2007, native-born employment fell to 118.3 million in 2009. That decline offset the entire growth in native employment over the 2000 to 2007 period. While foreign-born employment also declined during the recession, the reduction was a fraction of job gains recorded in the first seven years of the 21st Century.

Bottom line: all the net new jobs created during the first decade of this century were for immigrants.

The 1996 to 2009 period saw substantial increases in both the number and share of immigrants in the U.S. labor force:

The Immigrant Labor Force, 1996-2009 (BLS data)10.012.014.016.018.020.022.024.026.01996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200910.0%11.0%12.0%13.0%14.0%15.0%16.0%Millions of workers (left axis)% of U.S. labor force (right axis)

The immigrant labor force (foreign-born individuals working or looking for work) numbered 14.4 million in 1996; by 2009 it had grown by more than one-half, to 23.9 million.

The foreign-born share of the labor force also increased – from 10.8 percent in 1996 to 15.7 percent in 2007. During the Great Recession, as immigrants lost jobs and returned home, the foreign born share of the labor force declined slightly - to 15.5 percent in 2009.

Even more important than quantity: the decreased quality of recent immigrants. In 1960 the average immigrant man living in the U.S. earned about 4 percent more than the average native man. By 1998, the average immigrant earned about 23 percent less.

The worsening economic performance of immigrants is due mainly to a decline in relative skills of the more recent cohorts. The newest immigrants arriving in the country in 1960 were better educated than the average native; by 1998 the newest arrivals had nearly two fewer years of schooling. As a result of this growing native/immigrant education gap, the relative wage of successive immigrant waves also fell. Immigrants entering around 1960 earned 13 percent less than natives; by 1998, the newest immigrants earned 34 percent less. http://www.cis.org/articles/1999/back1199.htm

The diminished quality of post-1965 entrants reflects fundamental changes in criteria for admission. The 1965 law repealed the national origins system, which granted visa mainly to persons living in the U.K., Germany, and other Western European


countries. In its place, the law made family ties to persons already living in the key factor in determining whether a visa applicant is admitted to the country.

One notable consequence: the increased Mexicanization of U.S. immigration. This phenomenon’s downside is neatly captured by Professor Borjas:

“…In 1940, 0.5 percent of all male high school dropouts were Mexican immigrants. Even as recently as 1980, only 4.1 percent of male high school dropouts were Mexican immigrants. By 2000, however, 26.2 percent of all male high school dropouts were Mexican born.”

How much does immigration reduce the income of native-born Americans?

Professor Borjas finds that every 10 percent increase in the U.S. labor force due to immigration reduces native wages by about 3.5 percent.[George Borjas, “The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration in the Labor Market,” NBER, June 2003.]

In 2009 foreign-born workers accounted for about 15.5 percent of the U.S. labor force. Thus if Borjas is right, immigration has reduced average earnings of native workers by about 5.4 percent (15.5/10.0 X 3.5 percent).

Among native high-school dropouts – roughly the lowest tenth of the labor force – the estimated impact is even larger, reducing their wages by an estimated 7.4 percent.

Immigration, plus the negative incentives of EITC, poses insurmountable economic obstacles to many uneducated natives.

Taiwan’s fighters intercept Chinese jets pursuing U.S. reconnaissance plane

A very interesting post from www.bigpeace.com about Chinese jets chasing American planes. This follows this post about China's negative reaction to the Dalai Lama meeting Barack Obama. This follows this article about the recent news about the former ban on offshore drilling which would encourage American energy independence and prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran   and Venezuela. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and read this very interesting book HERE!


Taiwan’s fighters intercept Chinese jets pursuing U.S. reconnaissance plane




Gen Chen Bingde, China’s chief military officer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Taiwan sent two F-16 fighters to intercept Chinese Sukhoi-27 jets purusing a U.S. reconnaissance plane into Taiwanese airspace on Monday. The two Chinese jets quickly turned around, rather than risk a collision such as occurred in 2001, killing the Chinese pilot. In that incident, the U.S. crew were detained for 11 days in a major diplomatic row. Telegraph



China’s state-run news agency says that the blame for the incident lies with the U.S. for “such provocative flights, which can and will cause grave damage to relations between the two countries.” Chen Bingde, the General Chief-of-Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, has criticized the US naval drills in the South China Sea and attempted arms sale to Taiwan, and also urged the US to reduce or halt its military surveillance near China’s coast. Xinhua

Muslim Illegal Alien on Revoked Student Visa Threatened to Kill Obama

An urgent post from www.debbieschlussel.com about a Muslim illegal immigrant. This follows this post about Rick Perry's stance on the Dream Act and  this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso, where President Barack Obama recently bashed immigration enforcement! On a related note, you can read about Miss Kentucky Latina here, an interesting article about Jessica Alba here or another article about Salma Hayek here. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and you can read a very interesting book HERE!

And Remember when contacting public officials to please be firm but respectful. Any over the top messages could result in law enforcement action against you. Just let these senators know that you are aware of what they have done and that you intend to remove them from office in the 2012 elections.

Muslim Illegal Alien on Revoked Student Visa Threatened to Kill Obama

By Debbie Schlussel



If you are smart, you will not comment in support of the threats of Muslim Uzbek illegal alien Ulugbek Kodirov, unless you want the Secret Service visiting you. Kodirov, 22, whose 2009 student visa was revoked–and yet he lurked on American soil, expressed interest in assassinating Barack Obama.







“Religion of Peace” Jihadist Sought to Kill President Obama



Kodirov’s threats are of interest to me because he is a great example of the danger of student visa holders in our midst, a danger I’ve warned about a gazillion times and then some on this site. This student visa violating Muslim lived at a Birmingham, Alabama extended stay hotel. Those generally aren’t cheap. I’d love to know who was paying for him to live there and what his source of income was, since student visa holders aren’t legally allowed to work here. Who was helping this jihadist to survive on American soil? Read Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)/Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent John D. Osborne.



More:



A 22-year-old illegal immigrant from Uzbekistan was charged today with threatening the life of President Obama after purchasing a machine gun from an undercover federal agent in Alabama.



Ulugbek Kodirov, whose 2009 student visa was revoked last year, allegedly outlined his plan to an FBI informant beginning July 9, according to court documents. In subsequent meetings with the informant, Kodirov expressed interest in assassination plots that included using explosives and “shooting the president from long distance,” the court documents stated.



While living at a Birmingham motel, Kodirov allegedly expressed support for Islamic extremists and told the informant that he “did not care if he lost his life killing the president.”



Kodirov was arrested July 13 after the alleged machine gun purchase, the court documents state.



Hmm . . . I guess the Obama Muslim outreach didn’t work out too well.



Although ICE agents caught Kodirov, there are many others like him in our midst about whom we don’t know. As I’ve repeatedly noted on this site, thousands of Muslim alien student visa holders come here, don’t ever enroll and/or attend class, and they disappear in our midst to do their damage. That we catch some of them is mere luck, although in this case, the HSI/ICE agents are to be commended for their hard work and successful investigation.



And that begs another question, why was ICE–not the FBI, the lead agency investigating terrorism–the lead agency in this case? Clearly, our government doesn’t think Kodirov is a terrorist, despite his expressed Islamic extremism and desire to murder President Obama?



If this isn’t a terrorist, who is? Oh, yeah, I forgot–it’s average White guys.








Al-Qaeda members part of new Libyan government recognized by U.S.

A very interesting post from http://www.jihadwatch.org/ about Al-Qaeda in Libya. This follows this post about an American politician helping Hamas. This follows this post  about Miss USA 2010 and this article about the recent news about the former ban on offshore drilling which would encourage American energy independence and prevent money from going to hostile countries such as Iran   and Venezuela. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and read this very interesting book HERE!

Al-Qaeda members part of new Libyan government recognized by U.S.


But they say they've renounced al-Qaeda, so all is well. They couldn't be lying, of course. And if they've renounced al-Qaeda, that must mean they're moderate, right? That must mean they've renounced jihad, and Islamic supremacism, and the oppression of women, and dhimmitude, and the denial of the freedom of speech and the freedom of conscience, and are practically by now registered Democrats, right?



"Exiled Islamists Watch Rebellion Unfold at Home," by Souad Mekhennet and Eric Schmitt for the New York Times, July 18:



LONDON — Abu Sohaib spends most of his time online these days, following the news from his native Libya. He is in constant contact with friends on the ground there, helping them map out strategy to fight the rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

“I would like to be there myself; I tried to go,” he said, pausing to look at the car keys in front of him. “But Tunisia and Egypt wouldn’t let me in even after their revolution.”



Abu Sohaib, his nom de guerre, is on a watch list for suspected terrorists not only in Libya and its neighboring countries, but also in some European countries. He is a senior commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a former militant organization that once was aligned with Al Qaeda. The New York Times is withholding his real name because he said he fears for his safety.



Today, members of the group have renounced Al Qaeda and are part of the mosaic of rebel fighters united under the umbrella of the Transitional National Council, the opposition leadership that the United States formally recognized as Libya’s legitimate government on Friday.



American, European and Arab intelligence services acknowledge that they are worried about the influence that the former group’s members might exert over Libya after Colonel Qaddafi is gone, and they are trying to assess their influence and any lingering links to Al Qaeda.





Oh, great. Then all is well. As if anyone in the American, European and Arab intelligence services would even dare to ask the right questions of these people they're "assessing," or even know what these questions would be.



The group, whose fighters number more than 500 men, including many with combat experience in Iraq or Afghanistan, was part of the social fabric of eastern Libya, its leaders say. Its members’ relatives are in Benghazi, the wellhead of opposition to the government in Tripoli. Its fighters opposed Colonel Qaddafi in the 1990s, were captured and died in Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. They hid from Qaddafi security forces in the caves in Darnah until the Libyan revolution. In short, many Libyans say, the men are seen not as an alien, pernicious force but as patriots.

They fought in Iraq and Afghanistan for the jihad and against the U.S. Now we've recognized them as the government of Libya and are helping them out.



Libyans have held positions in the Qaeda ranks in the past, with the most prominent men being Abu Laith al-Libi and Abu Yahya al-Libi. “It is easy to change a name and say, ‘We are not part of Al Qaeda,’ but the question is if they have changed their ideology and I doubt it,” said a senior Arab intelligence official.

An American intelligence official who follows North Africa said that dozens of the former group’s members trained and fought alongside militants in Pakistan’s lawless tribal region.



Abu Sohaib insists that he and his brethren have severed ties to Al Qaeda and have warned the terrorist group it is not welcome in Libya. “It has been made very clear to them, that it is better for them to stay out of the country,” he said....



The formal American recognition of the rebel leadership allows the rebel government access to $30 billion in Libyan assets held in the United States. Of that, however, only about $3.5 billion is in liquid funds, and the rest in real estate and other Libyan government investments, State Department officials say. It is unclear how and when the money will be distributed to the transitional government, and what oversight mechanism will be placed to monitor it....



The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group was formed in 1995 with the goal of ousting Colonel Qaddafi. Driven into the mountains or exile by Libyan security forces, the group’s members were among the first to join the fight against Qaddafi security forces, although the new transitional leadership has sought to distance itself from the fighters because of their past ties to Al Qaeda. “We wanted to live in a country in which we can live and promote Islam the way it should be,” said Abu Sohaib. “We are sure Islam is good for everyone.”





Except non-Muslims, women, apostates, etc. etc. etc.



Abu Sohaib is a soft-spoken man in his mid-40s, well built and well trained, as his biceps show under his checkered chemise. He has lived for many years in Britain; before that he had been to Saudi Arabia and also Afghanistan and Pakistan. “There was a time when the British wanted to hand us over to Muammar el-Qaddafi , though they knew we would be tortured,” he said, staring at his hands.

He was in Afghanistan and Pakistan waging jihad. And now we are helping out his compatriots.



That distrust of the West still gnaws at other members of the group. A 36-year-old Libyan associated with the fighting group who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Salah and who travels between Europe and Libya said: “We start to question the true intentions of the West in Libya. If they would have wanted to kill Muammar el-Qaddafi, they could have done it several times. I guess this is about making as much money with oil and weapons deals as possible.”...

As always, Islamic jihadists and Islamic supremacists express their lack of trust of the West, not the other way around. The assumption is always that they control the moral high ground. This is another manifestation of the same phenomenon that we see after every jihad plot in the U.S.: law enforcement and media reassuring the Muslim community, instead of the other way around.



“Isn’t it interesting how they were hunting us for years and were working with Muammar el-Qaddafi?” said Abu Sohaib, referring to the United States, which after Libya disbanded its unconventional weapons program in 2003 worked closely with Libyan authorities to combat terrorism. “Now we are cooperating with NATO and the West, those who used to put us in jail.”

Yes, it's very interesting.

Posted by Robert

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Why the Bible is Different

An interesting article from www.ucg.org about the Bible's uniqueness. This follows this post about the origins of Christmas. For a free magazine subscription or to get this book for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886-8632.

Why the Bible is Different


Many writers authored the Bible and the perceptive reader gradually becomes aware of one great mind at work permeating its pages from Genesis to Revelation.



Throughout its long and difficult journey, the Bible has successfully withstood the many assaults leveled against it. Forbidden in the Middle Ages, bombarded with higher criticism during the 19th century and grossly neglected in the 20th, the Bible nonetheless continues to offer humankind sure hope and guidance.



As author David Ewert put it, "the Bible has resisted not only the ravages of time but also repeated attempts of the enemies of God to obliterate it" (From Ancient Tablets to Modern Translations, p. 16).



Although many writers authored the Bible, the perceptive reader gradually becomes aware of one great mind at work permeating its pages from Genesis to Revelation. No wonder the apostle Paul reminded early Christians that the Holy Scriptures are the "oracles of God" (Romans:3:2Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.). They are divine utterances.



When God revealed His will at Mount Sinai, He commanded Moses to codify and pass on this Word to the people (Deuteronomy:5:31But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.; 6:1; 17:18; 31:24-26). Eventually the Scriptures were habitually read aloud in the temple at Jerusalem and elsewhere. Citizens could hear, understand and act accordingly. For instance, we find Jesus Christ had ready access to the Scriptures and read them aloud in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke:4:16-22[16]And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.[17]And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,[18]The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,[19]To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.[20]And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.[21]And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.[22]And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?). The audience there marveled at Christ's gracious words as He applied Isaiah's prophecy to Himself.



Later the apostles were inspired to write letters to the Church, often explaining the Holy Scriptures. With other writers and followers of Christ, they also penned the accounts of Christ's life and work that came to be commonly known as the Gospels. God saw to it that these unique writings were preserved for later generations (2 Peter:1:15Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.).



Centuries later, after the invention of printing and translation of the Scriptures into popular languages, the common people increasingly gained access to the Holy Bible. Today this Book of books is accessible in almost all nations. Yet the secular thought patterns of our modern age often act as a powerful restraint on reading and understanding its pages.



The basic thinking of today's world often turns people away from the Bible. This is why magazines and study courses properly explaining and expounding God's Word are absolutely necessary. We need to read the Bible with godly understanding!



How does God communicate with His creation?

"It is he who fashions the mountains, who creates the wind, and declares his thoughts to mankind . . . His name is the Lord, the God of Hosts" (Amos:4:13For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name., Revised English Bible).



By creating man in His own image, God ensured that communication would be possible. Then with God's help, human beings are able to understand and respond to His spiritual purposes.



When God wanted His people to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian captivity, was He able to accomplish His purpose by transmitting an important message to an ancient king who could carry out this task?

"Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing . . ." (Ezra:1:1Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,).



God can communicate with anyone He chooses, even worldly kings and rulers like Cyrus. Solomon once commented, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes" (Proverbs:21:1The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.; compare Ezra:6:22And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.; 2 Chronicles:36:22-23[22]Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,[23]Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.).



How did God reveal the truth about His Son's divine identity?

"Jesus answered and said to [Peter], 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew:16:17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.; compare verses 13-16).



Far more important than messages to unbelieving kings, God has revealed His precious truth to His apostles and prophets—who in turn preserved it for future generations (compare Amos:3:7Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.; 2 Peter:3:2That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:; Ephesians:2:19-20[19]Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;[20]And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;). Today our understanding of God's Word is based on this same written revelation (2 Peter:1:19-20[19]We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:[20]Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.). Spiritual illumination of the Scriptures continues down to our present age (compare John:17:20Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;; Matthew:28:20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.).



What was one of the main ways that God disclosed His truth to the early Church?

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts:2:42And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.).



The term doctrine simply means "teaching." It relates directly to God's Word. The apostles' teaching summarizes the Christian way of life. Those early first-century congregations did not at first possess the books we now call the New Testament.



However, they did have specially chosen apostles who taught them from the Hebrew Bible as well as continually repeating the things they had learned firsthand from Jesus Christ (compare Luke:6:12-13[12]And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.[13]And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;; Matthew:28:18-20[18]And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.[19]Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:[20]Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.). Their authority came directly from Christ. "He who receives you receives Me," said Jesus (Matthew:10:40He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.; John:13:20Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.).



Christ's chosen apostles were given a unique role as first-generation witnesses—a function not assigned to any succeeding generation. Jesus told them, "And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning" (John:15:27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.). And the apostle John wrote: "This is the message which we have heard from Him [Jesus Christ] and declare to you . . ." (1 John:1:5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.; compare Ephesians:3:4-5[4]Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)[5]Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;; Acts:1:22Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.; 1 Corinthians:15:1-8[1]Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;[2]By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.[3]For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;[4]And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:[5]And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:[6]After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.[7]After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.[8]And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.).



Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the early apostles and their converts actually lived the New Testament before it was put into writing. Their lives composed the flesh, bone and sinew of what later would become the written New Testament.



Summing up the experiences of these apostolic witnesses, John wrote: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ" (1 John:1:1-3[1]That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;[2](For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)[3]That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.).



What are God's intentions for man?

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah:29:11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.).



God uttered these encouraging words to a nation in Babylonian captivity centuries ago, but they apply equally as well today. His Word offers a message of hope and a bright future, both for individuals and entire nations.



God's words apply today just as well as when they were first recorded long ago. Human nature is timeless. The men and women of old were of "like passions" (James:5:17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.; Acts:14:15And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:, KJV). They weren't some different breed of humanity. The things that happened to them were for our learning, encouragement, hope, comfort—and sometimes as a solemn warning (compare 1 Corinthians:10:11Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.; Romans:15:4For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.).



What does God guarantee about His Word?

"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah:55:10-11[10]For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:[11]So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.).



God does not speak His Word in vain. It will accomplish His great purpose on earth!



What does God require in order that He might share additional knowledge?

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know" (Jeremiah:33:3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.).



We must first have a spiritual hunger for God's Word (Matthew:5:6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.). Then, through reading and studying the Bible, we can discover basic truths about God and His revealed way of living. We can also see them amply demonstrated by real events in the lives of His chosen servants. These biblical teachings and examples illuminate His character and illustrate His will for us (compare Proverbs:3:1-6[1]My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:[2]For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.[3]Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:[4]So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.[5]Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.[6]In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.). We can trust God to direct our lives into right paths as we give Him our heartfelt obedience. Wrote author John Stott: "The Bible is the prism by which the light of Jesus Christ is broken into its many beautiful colors." Christ is the living Word of God!



During what time frame is the Word of God to be our guide?

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah:40:8The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.).



The certain destiny of God's Word has been prophesied for thousands of years (compare Psalm:119:89For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven., 111, 142, 152, 160). Jesus Christ said: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Luke:21:33Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.).