Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sun Nov 10th Todays News

The Abbott government has been stunningly effective very quickly. And the media who viciously attacked him have not got good explanations for it. But one can detect heaps of stretch marks on trumped up issues. One such issue involves a convicted terrorist and anti semite who regrets his confession. Another issue is on that of boat people. No one wants people to drown after subjecting themselves to piracy. Boats have stopped for three weeks recently. That is because of Abbott's effective policy reinstating a Pacific Solution Rudd had stopped. 
One can understand why so called moderates in the Islamic community have failed to speak out over their communities atrocities committed around the world on everyone, including other Islamic peoples. Speaking out can have one killed by stoning, hanging, crucifixion, disembowelling and result in the slaughter of their families and loved ones. It is gratifying to hear of a doctor asking for those who know of their loved ones involved in local shootings to speak out, because it is better to be in prison than dead. Quite so. 
It is heartbreaking to see little weight given a victim impact statement. Killing someone is a serious crime even if life for the killer was hard. It doesn't excuse AGW believers either, even though they have silenced their critics after stealing $trillions from the world economy and thrown the poorest deeper into poverty. Many will have died from deprivation as a result of their actions, and none saved for their belief. A very poor return from their religion. 
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns Lucidel Resto and Dean Koenig born on the same day, across the years, along with
Matches
Despatches
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I know what I sound like .. even so ..
[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul

Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

[Chorus x2]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
Lord, I'll worship Your holy name

Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
I'll worship Your holy name

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Redman
Matt Redman (born 14 February 1974[1]) is an English Christian worship leader, songwriter and author based in Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom.
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Change is in the wind on climate

Miranda Devine – Saturday, November 09, 2013 (11:40pm)

WHAT a delicious decision of the Abbott government not to send a minister to the latest U¬N climate-change conference. 
‘VICTIM’ HICKS JUST A SAD EXCUSE FOR A SOLDIER
DAVID Hicks is not a victim - he is the opposite.
But the convicted terrorist, aka one-time Muslim convert Mohammed Dawood, is trying to ‘’clear my name” by appealing against his 2007 conviction by a US military commission.
“Informally it’s already been recognised that my conviction is null and void. To have it done formally will help me move on with my life.”
Informally recognised? Pull the other one.
By September 2001, Hicks had been trained by terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba and groomed by Osama bin Laden. His traitor’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks which killed 3000 people, including 11 Australians, was to hotfoot it to Afghanistan to fight alongside his jihadi pals.
Just because he was ineffectual doesn’t reduce his culpability.
It just means he was a useless soldier.
GP AIMS TO BREAK CODE OF SILENCE
VICTIMS of southwestern Sydney’s organised crime wave were unfairly blasted by NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell for keeping silent in the face of threats from gangsters who thumb their noses at our feeble courts.
But now they’re fighting back.
Belmore GP Dr Jamal Rifi has organised a Facebook page called “Dob in a Gun”.
He tells patients: “Your son is better off in jail than in Rookwood Cemetery.”
ONCE AGAIN VICTIM IS FORGOTTEN
WHAT’s the point of a victim impact statement if it just gives the court
the opportunity to identify remorse in an offender?
Sentencing Thomas Kelly’s killer, Justice Campbell said he “could not help noticing” him weeping during the Kelly family’s anguished statements. Cruel irony that he factored those tears into what I believe was an unspeakably lenient sentence. 

G'DAY,

YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY STRUCK ME ABOUT THIS DISGUSTINGLY LIGHT SENTENCE FOR THE DELIBERATE MURDER (MANSLAUGHTER MY ASS) OF A WONDERFUL YOUNG MAN AT THE START OF HIS LIFE WAS....... I WAS NOT TOO SURPRISED!

YOU KNOW THIS YOUNG MAN , THOMAS KELLY WAS A FELLOW STUDENT WITH MY SON.
NOW MY 18 YEAR OLD SON HAS JUST FINISHED HIS HSC AT THE KINGS SCHOOL AND HAS HIS WHOLE EXCITING LIFE AHEAD OF HIM......... YET, I STILL CAN'T BEGIN TO IMAGINE THE HORROR THAT THE KELLY FAMILY ARE DEALING WITH.
THERE GO US ALL BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD.

http://www.news.com.au/national/thomas-kelly-killer-kieran-loveridge-gets-four-years-jail/story-fncynjr2-1226755733724

GODSPEED
ZEG

FREELANCE EDITORIAL CARTOONIST/CARICATURIST
0414293765

www.facebook.com/zegtoons

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WE NEED VIDEO

Tim Blair – Sunday, November 10, 2013 (5:52pm)

Julia Gillard is serenaded during a lady day in Melbourne:

image

Ukulele accompaniment ... perfect.
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Fairfax’s daily hate session

Andrew Bolt November 10 2013 (6:49am)


Get the impression the Fairfax papers are a bit manic in their AbbottAbbottAbbott hatred?
Today:
image
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A Liberal PM should let MPs hire who they like

Andrew Bolt November 10 2013 (6:02am)


This is unwarranted interference in an MP’s right to hire and fire:

AN order from Prime Minister Tony Abbott for MPs to “sack your wives” from their offices to stop them double dipping has sparked warnings that some will defy the edict.
After previously issuing a warning to ministers not to rehire family members, Mr Abbott yesterday announced sweeping changes to parliamentary entitlements, including fines for MPs who pay back money they were not entitled to and an instruction to sack wives, children and in-laws on the taxpayer-funded payroll by January 1.

MPs should be perfectly entitled to hire a wife or husband. If my wife were an MP and hired me to run her office, she’d know she’d have someone she could rely on completely to have her best interests in mind. Plus it would be great to have your spouse share your career.
WA Labor Senator Glenn Sterle said he has no intention of sacking his wife, Fiona.
“I won’t be sacking any of my staff,’’ he said.
“My wife worked for a state MP for years and is more than qualified for the job.
‘’And you know what else? I like keeping our marriage together...”
Abbott should not give in like this to the populists. If MPs hire relatives who can’t actually do the job, they will be the first to suffer. 
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Too disadvantaged for much jail

Andrew Bolt November 10 2013 (5:38am)


image
Parents despair:

THE parents of Thomas Kelly, the teenager killed by a random king hit during a night out, have questioned why a 25-year maximum jail term exists for manslaughter after their son’s killer got just four years.
Angry at the light sentence given to 19-year-old Kieran Loveridge [above] by NSW Supreme Court Judge Stephen Campbell, Thomas’s parents Ralph and Kathy Kelly told 60 Minutes in an interview to air on Channel 9 tonight that the legal system is geared around “protecting the criminal”.
The Australian:
The lenient punishment prompted questions about why the murder charge that Loveridge, 19, had originally faced—which normally attracts at least 20 years in jail—was downgraded.
Mother Kathy Kelly howled with grief as judge Stephen Campbell passed the sentence in the NSW Supreme Court, saying it reflected Loveridge’s genuine remorse, his youth, early guilty pleas and social disadvantage—the latter a factor he said could be attributed in part to Loveridge’s Aboriginal heritage. 
The judge:
The offender was born on 9th March 1994. He was nearly eighteen years and four months old at the date of his offending, and is now nineteen years and eight months. Both parents are of Aboriginal heritage. I bear that in mind only for the purpose of reminding myself that it may be a circumstance relevant to a degree of social disadvantage in the offender’s upbringing.
31The offender’s father was involved in criminal activities and his mother had separated from the father at the time of the offender’s birth. The offender’s father was in gaol during the offender’s infancy. After his release, the offender’s parents attempted to reconcile and during that time the offender’s mother fell pregnant with his sister. However, his father abused drink and illicit drugs. He was occasionally violent and certainly abusive. On one occasion during the offender’s childhood, his father struck him across the face with a bamboo cane as punishment for a trivial misdemeanour.
32The offender grew up in his mother’s care and without the benefit of love, support and guidance from his father. He is apparently a talented junior rugby league player. He formed a close relationship with his football coach, and I infer from his mother’s statement, that man may have been something of a father figure to the offender. Unfortunately he died of cancer, which the offender’s mother states was very confronting for the offender.
33The offender completed primary school at Toongabbie without much trouble. His high school education has been fractured, partly due to an expulsion for his involvement in his juvenile criminal activities.
No further mention is made by the judge about Aboriginality or why that is a factor. 
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The monstrous ego of David Suzuki

Andrew Bolt November 10 2013 (5:34am)


Money quote:

The real lesson of this mockery of a mock trial was what it said about the objectivity and openness of Suzuki nation… They claim persecution while suggesting their opponents should be silenced.
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Obamacare: a great way to demonstrate to millions Obama lied

Andrew Bolt November 10 2013 (5:29am)


I don’t think lying when that many people know you’re lying is a smart move:
Even as President Barack Obama sold a new health care law in part by assuring Americans they would be able to keep their insurance plans, his administration knew that tens of millions of people actually could lose those their policies.
“If you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep your plan. Period,” Obama said as he pitched the plan, the unqualified promise he made repeatedly.
Yet advisers did say in 2010 that there were large caveats and that anyone whose insurance plan changed would lose the promised protection of being able to keep existing plans. And a report in 2010 said that as many as 69 percent of certain employer-based insurance plans would lose that protection, meaning as many as 41 million people could lose their plans even if they wanted to keep them and would be forced into other plans. Another 11 million who bought their own insurance also could lose their plans. Combined, as many as 52 million Americans could lose or have lost old insurance plans.
James Taranto:
There is ample evidence that the plans to be sold on the vaporware exchanges will frequently, perhaps usually, be poorer values than the canceled ones. And the 5% figure is very much a lowball estimate. Among others, it excludes people who’ll lose employer-provided insurance or see it downgraded as a result of ObamaCare’s mandates and incentives, as well as those affected by Medicare cuts.
But for the sake of argument, let’s accept the 5% figure as the number of Americans Obama now acknowledges having victimized with his “If you like your plan, you can keep it” swindle. The U.S. population is just over 317 million (that includes children, but so does the population affected by the ObamaCare cancellations). Five percent of 317 million is just under 16 million people.
Imagine if Bernie Madoff had swindled 16 million people.
No, that doesn’t quite do it justice. Imagine if Bernie Madoff had swindled 16 million people, many of whom never agreed, or had any desire, to do business with him in the first place.
(Via Instapundit.
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The Bolt Report today

Andrew Bolt November 10 2013 (12:37am)


On The Bolt Report on Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.

With Christopher Pyne, John Roskam and former Labor Senator John Black.
And the rudest tweet of the week.

The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.  
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The wait is over! Watch the official trailer for 'The Day of the Doctor' now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS1cNjJSGQs
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Vergina Red, Greek beer.
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Lol US broadcasting standards - ed
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A Princess Cut Trilogy Diamond Engagement Rings with a diamond set band......This design also suits round brilliant cut diamonds — atDiamond Imports.
www.diamondimports.com.au
Buy wholesale diamonds, diamond engagement rings and certified diamonds online at wholesale diamond exchange prices from Diamond Imports Australia.
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4 her
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Roma Downey
"Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.”
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Pastor Rick Warren

3 of the most creative women in America together last night: @KayWarren1 @Oprah @RealRomaDowney
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If God was small enough for me to completely understand him, he wouldn't be big enough for me to completely trust him.
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Larry Pickering

TALKING TOUGH IS NOT ENOUGH

Tony Abbott: "... and if any boat ever set out from Australia to Indonesia to enter that country illegally, we would do our damnedest to stop it." Well that’s pretty tough talk to a Liberal Party Conference but did the Indonesians hear that expression of gross unfairness?

The Fairfax press this morning is still insisting this boat debacle was a “mid-ocean” backdown. It was certainly a backdown but it was not “mid-ocean” and that’s what makes the difference.

We have international maritime obligations on the open sea, but not within Indonesian waters once we have established that a distress call was a sham and we have informed Indonesian authorities.

Although within sight of their shoreline, the Indonesians chose not to respond to the distress call, leaving the onus on Australia to deal with the false mayday.

HMAS Ballarat determined that the boat was not in distress and left the scene, as it should have done.

Upon responding to a further call, HMAS Ballarat found the boat’s engine had been disabled. [Indonesian search and rescue vessels had still not arrived, nor did they intend to.]

We again informed the Indonesians of the situation and again they refused to act, saying they would not accept the boat being returned to an Indonesian port.

Okay, this is what should have happened:

There is little doubt the people on this boat were the very same people who had been returned to Indonesia on two previous occasions.

We had no right to be in Indonesian waters without reason. It was found that the boat’s distress call was false and we quite properly departed the scene after again informing the Indonesians of the situation.

Responding to a second call the Australian crew discovered the boat’s engine had been sabotaged. This was also reported to the Indonesians who continued to ignore the call.

As there were no lives at risk and the boat was seaworthy, our responsibility had ended there as would have an Indonesian patrol boat attending a false distress call from a boat off the Gold Coast.

HMAS Ballarat should then have drained the fuel, leaving sufficient only to return to shore if the engine had miraculously become serviceable, and left. But they didn’t leave and the Indonesians knew they wouldn’t.

This petty game of brinkmanship has to stop. As The Pickering Post has reported ad nauseam, this is not a regional problem, it is an Indonesian Immigration and Customs problem.

They know who these people are and what their intentions are. It’s a problem of bribery within the Indonesian system, including the military.

The Daily Telegraph tried to justify Abbott’s capitulation suggesting he needed focus on the Carbon Tax Repeal Bill. Instead Fairfax and the ABC have been handed the opportunity to re-state their case that a naive Abbott cannot turn boats around.

He can, he should and he must! We have no reason to fear Indonesia, no other country will side with them in this matter, but our allies will side with us.

It’s time Abbott righted the wrong of this Rudd inspired treachery and Indonesian bastardry.

Thank Christ he is now making noises in that direction... albeit to a Liberal Party Conference.

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"Why do you pursue me when I've done no harm?" -David
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Sarah Palin
It was wonderful to see so many inspiring and patriotic Iowans tonight at the Faith & Freedom Coalition dinner. They join other hard working Americans as the wind beneath the wings of our great republic, and their hard work and activism make a difference! 

Photo by Michelle McCormick
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Death toll in Philippines typhoon could reach 10,000, local authorities say
LOCAL PHILIPPINE OFFICIALS say that as many as 10,000 people could be dead, mostly by drowning and from collapsed buildings, after one of the strongest typhoons on record devastates central Philippines.
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Want to know why I am fighting so hard for Israel right now and always?
Because:
"What we do today, right now, will have an accumulated effect on all our tomorrows. " ~Alexandra Stoddard
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Like  Tweet  Pin  +1 Web Version    Forward 
Breaking News - 590x148
To receive daily Breaking News Video Updates click here and sign upBreaking Israel News
Screen Shot 2013-11-08 at 1.26.52 PM
There have been a wave of terror attacks in Judea and Samaria since early in the week. On Monday, five firebombs were thrown at a bus carrying several passengers at about midnight, among them Bayit Yehudi MK Orit Struk.
On Wednesday, terrorists fired on IDF soldiers near Modi'in and attempted to run one down.
An attack occurred yesterday at Tapuach Junction in Samaria, when a terrorist opened fire with a flare gun on Israeli civilians at a hitchhiking stop in the direction of Jerusalem. Soldiers of the IDF's Givati Brigade shot the terrorist dead, while no Israelis were hurt.
Terrorists, said the MK, appear to be heeding US Secretary of State John Kerry's threats of an intifada terror war on Israel if it doesn't make concessions. Kerry made the threats on Thursday, warning that Israel would undergo "chaos" and be internationally isolated if it doesn't create a Palestinian state in its midst.
That same Thursday night, in addition to the Tapuach attack, terrorists opened fire on IDF soldiers outside the city of Modiin and attempted to run over an officer with their car.
Later Thursday night, IDF soldiers foiled another terrorist attack, this time carried out by a knife wielding PA terrorist who was shot dead trying to stab soldiers at a checkpoint near Bethlehem.
Meanwhile, Friday morning, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at an Israeli car near the Gush Etzion city of Efrat in Judea. The firebomb left two people lightly wounded.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on Thursday evening said the Arab Palestinian conflict calls for long term thinking and probably has no imminent solution, rejecting Secretary of State John Kerry's threats of a third intifada.
Tekoacar
Terror Attack: Two Injured in Gush Etzion from Molotov Cocktail, Couple's car was completely burned down
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November 10Remembrance Sunday in theCommonwealth (2013); Remembrance of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (09:05 EET/07:05 UTC, Turkey)
Henry Morton StanleyDavid Livingstone
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]

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““Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"So walk ye in him."
Colossians 2:6
If we have received Christ himself in our inmost hearts, our new life will manifest its intimate acquaintance with him by a walk of faith in him. Walking implies action. Our religion is not to be confined to our closet; we must carry out into practical effect that which we believe. If a man walks in Christ, then he so acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in him, his hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflex of the image of Jesus; and men say of that man, "He is like his Master; he lives like Jesus Christ." Walking signifies progress. "So walk ye in him"; proceed from grace to grace, run forward until you reach the uttermost degree of knowledge that a man can attain concerning our Beloved. Walking implies continuance. There must be a perpetual abiding in Christ. How many Christians think that in the morning and evening they ought to come into the company of Jesus, and may then give their hearts to the world all the day: but this is poor living; we should always be with him, treading in his steps and doing his will. Walking also implies habit. When we speak of a man's walk and conversation, we mean his habits, the constant tenor of his life. Now, if we sometimes enjoy Christ, and then forget him; sometimes call him ours, and anon lose our hold, that is not a habit; we do not walk in him. We must keep to him, cling to him, never let him go, but live and have our being in him. "As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him"; persevere in the same way in which ye have begun, and, as at the first Christ Jesus was the trust of your faith, the source of your life, the principle of your action, and the joy of your spirit, so let him be the same till life's end; the same when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and enter into the joy and the rest which remain for the people of God. O Holy Spirit, enable us to obey this heavenly precept.

Evening

"His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."
Isaiah 33:16
Do you doubt, O Christian, do you doubt as to whether God will fulfil his promise? Shall the munitions of rock be carried by storm? Shall the storehouses of heaven fail? Do you think that your heavenly Father, though he knoweth that you have need of food and raiment, will yet forget you? When not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father, and the very hairs of your head are all numbered, will you mistrust and doubt him? Perhaps your affliction will continue upon you till you dare to trust your God, and then it shall end. Full many there be who have been tried and sore vexed till at last they have been driven in sheer desperation to exercise faith in God, and the moment of their faith has been the instant of their deliverance; they have seen whether God would keep his promise or not. Oh, I pray you, doubt him no longer! Please not Satan, and vex not yourself by indulging any more those hard thoughts of God. Think it not a light matter to doubt Jehovah. Remember, it is a sin; and not a little sin either, but in the highest degree criminal. The angels never doubted him, nor the devils either: we alone, out of all the beings that God has fashioned, dishonour him by unbelief, and tarnish his honour by mistrust. Shame upon us for this! Our God does not deserve to be so basely suspected; in our past life we have proved him to be true and faithful to his word, and with so many instances of his love and of his kindness as we have received, and are daily receiving, at his hands, it is base and inexcusable that we suffer a doubt to sojourn within our heart. May we henceforth wage constant war against doubts of our God--enemies to our peace and to his honour; and with an unstaggering faith believe that what he has promised he will also perform. "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief."
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Today's reading: Jeremiah 46-47, Hebrews 6 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 46-47

A Message About Egypt
1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:
2 Concerning Egypt:
This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:
3 “Prepare your shields, both large and small,
and march out for battle!
4 Harness the horses,
mount the steeds!
Take your positions
with helmets on!
Polish your spears,
put on your armor!
5 What do I see?
They are terrified,
they are retreating,
their warriors are defeated.
They flee in haste
without looking back,
and there is terror on every side,” declares the LORD.
6 “The swift cannot flee
nor the strong escape.
In the north by the River Euphrates
they stumble and fall....

Today's New Testament reading: Hebrews 6

1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And God permitting, we will do so.
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. 7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned....
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Abdon

[Ăb'dŏn] - servile, service or cloud of judgment.
  1. A son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, Abdon judged Israel for eight years, and because of a plurality of wives, had forty sons and thirty nephews, who rode seventy ass colts (Judg. 12:13-15). Perhaps the same as Bedan in 1 Samuel 12:11.
  2. A Benjamite in Jerusalem (1 Chron. 8:23).
  3. The first-born of Jehiel from Maachah (1 Chron. 8:30; 9:36).
  4. A son of Micah sent with others by king Josiah to Huldah the prophetess to enquire of Jehovah regarding the Book of the Law found in the Temple (2 Chron. 34:20). Called Achbor in 2 Kings 22:12. Also the name of a Levitical city in Asher (Josh. 21:30; 1 Chron. 6:74).
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November 9, 2011
It's Time to Do Something!
Today's Truth
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:11, NIV).
Friend to Friend
I could not tear my eyes away from the television screen as the 33 miners began to emerge from the depths of what could have been their mass grave. The men had been trapped for more than two months in the collapsed Chilean copper mines nearly half a mile underground. Everything I have read or heard about the tragedy is extraordinary.
The miners survived the early days by rationing food and working together as a team. Each man was assigned a job, one of which was to maintain peace and harmony until they were rescued. The selfless mining supervisor who insisted on being the last to leave his underground prison showed the world what it really means to put others first. I was amazed at the selflessness of the rescue worker who became the initial guinea pig for the rescue capsule and then chose to stay behind - alone - while the world celebrated above.
I wonder how long it will take us to forget. How long will we remember that the world came together to save a group of strangers? Will the powerful lessons of their rescue make any difference in the way we treat each other?
We all know what it is like to be trapped in a pit of some kind. It is probably not a collapsed mine, but pits are all basically the same.
Our world has collapsed under the weight of fear and pain.
No one seems to care. In fact, a lot of people have written us off as a lost cause.
People are too busy to recognize or understand our hopelessness.
Darkness prevails and rescue seems impossible.
We are wounded, sick and tired.
Civil war rages in our souls as we struggle to obey God instead of giving in to sin.
I truly believe that every day is filled with divine appointments - opportunities to rescue people who are trapped in some kind of pit. We miss the emptiness reflected in the eyes of the sales clerk or simply choose to ignore the homeless man begging for money so he can buy food. After all, we are in a hurry and have more important things to do. The sales clerk would probably be embarrassed if I said anything and that homeless man would probably just use the money I give him for drugs or alcohol.
The ringing phone is someone in need but we don't care enough to answer. Our neighbor does not know God but her life is a mess and we really don't want to get involved. Instead of taking action and doing what we know God wants us to do, we decide it is enough to pray for that neighbor and leave the messy part of God's work to someone else.
I am so guilty of walking away from someone in need instead of running to their rescue. I am in pain, too, and my pain is more important than theirs. I may not actually say those words, but I don't have to. My actions are blatant illustrations of my own egotism and self-absorption.
I do not want to be like the priest who nonchalantly strolled by the wounded and bleeding man lying on the road. I want to be like the Good Samaritan who stopped and saved the wounded man's life. I want to be "God with skin on."
One day, just as rescue workers descended into that Chilean mine, Jesus Christ will descend into this broken world and rescue us from the pit of human frailty. Until then, let's be His hands and feet. Let's love Him so much that we just have to do something about it.
Let's Pray
Father, I come to You today with a heart of praise for the way You meet every need in my life and how You constantly rescue me from the darkness. I want Your heart, Lord. I want to be Your hands and feet to the people You place in my path. Give me eyes to see their need and the courage to do something about it. Please guard my heart against pride and selfishness. I want to please and honor You alone.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Now It's Your Turn
It is sometimes hard to love someone in need, but God calls us to look beyond their rough exterior and see the pain hidden there.
Read Ephesians 4:2. "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Notice the action words. What would your daily life look like if you took action and lived out this verse?
Is there someone in your life who is hurting? How can you ease their pain?
Is there someone in your life who is wounded? How can you help them heal?
Is there someone in your life who has fallen into some kind of pit? How can you help rescue them?
Make a specific plan to meet a specific need in someone's life today. Then do something about it!
More from the Girlfriends
We are living in tough times. It is easy to get so wrapped up in our own problems that we fail to see the needs of others. Today, I am issuing a challenge to all of us, girlfriends! Look around. Find someone in need and take action. We are never more like our Father than when we love and serve someone in His name.
I would love to hear your story! How did God use you to meet a need in the life of someone? How did someone meet your need?
Need help learning how to study the Bible? Join women across the world in Mary's weekly online Bible study, Light for the Journey, and find out. Already feeling the stress of the approaching holidays? You need Mary's book, Escaping the Stress Trap, for practical steps to dealing with and managing stress. Need a friend? Connect with Mary on Facebook or through email.
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Renee Swope
November 9, 2011
He Is There
Renee Swope
"Now he had to go through SamariaÖ and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?'" John 4:46-7 (NIV)
What was He doing there? She didn't know who He was and couldn't help but wonder why He was talking to her, a Samaritan woman.
When He spoke, she heard gentleness in His voice. Kindness and humility in His simple request for a drink. In His eyes she saw acceptance, not judgment; love, not hate.
Many of us know her as the Samaritan woman, but I like to call her Sam. It makes her feel more like the real woman she was. A woman just like us who struggled with hurts, rejection and loneliness.
One thing I love about her story is found in our key verse where it tells us Jesus "had to go through Samaria." Theologians would tell us Jews considered Samaritans to be the scum of the earth and would do everything to avoid them. In fact, usually they would travel around Samaria-but not Jesus.
He had to go through Samaria. Perhaps it is because He knew Sam would be there.
Now typically, women came to the well in the morning or early evening. They traveled together in the cool of the day, avoiding the scorching heat of the sun since they would be carrying heavy jars filled with water back to their homes. But not Sam; she walked there all by herself in the hottest part of the day.
Instead of avoiding the scorching heat of the sun, many believe Sam went to the well at noon to avoid the scorching pain of others' rejection and judgment. The weight of the water-filled jar in the heat must have been almost unbearable; but the weight of her neighbors' words, reminding her of her failures, was more than she could take.
You see, Sam had been married five times. In her culture women could not divorce their husbands, so she had been discarded by five men. And, she was now living with a man who didn't think she was worth committing to.
When Jesus met her, Sam was running errands and running away from those who knew all about her flaws and failed marriages. Knowing she was running from the very thing that reminded her of her imperfections, Jesus timed it so she would run into Him and find perfect love.
He initiated conversation and asked her for the one thing she had to offer: water. It wasn't much, but it was a starting point. Sam could have filled her jar and headed back home, returning to her busy day. Yet she stopped and listened. She let Him speak into the broken, hurting, empty places of her heart.
Jesus intentionally met Sam in one of the loneliest parts of her day. And in the same way, He wants to meet us in the midst of our sometimes lonely and often imperfect lives, when our disappointments, pains and failures try to confirm our self-doubts.
Jesus is there waiting for us to come to Him.
He is there when we're going through the motions, aware of what needs to be done, but unaware of how we're going to do it.
He is there when we can't stop criticizing ourselves for blowing it the day before; when we go to work and wonder why we're even there.
He is there during endless days filled with diapers and laundry, wondering if we'll ever find meaning in the monotony.
He is there when we come home to an empty house and wonder why we don't have a family, or come home to a teenager who belittle us and a husband who ignores us.
Jesus sees our hearts and knows the pain of our loneliness, disappointment and rejection. Today He is pursuing us, inviting us to come to Him to receive the perfect love He offers - love that is patient and kind, love that keeps no record of wrongs, love that won't give up on us.
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, will you stop and talk to Him? And then, will you quiet your thoughts so you can listen to His?
Dear Lord, thank You for pursuing me. I want to know and rely on the love You have for me, and live in the security of it! When I feel afraid, insignificant or alone today, help me turn to You and remember You are there! In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
This devotion is taken in part from Chapter 2 of Renee's book, A Confident Heart: How to Stop Doubting Yourself and Live in the Security of God's Promises.
Want to read the rest of Chapter 2 Because God's Love is Perfect, I Don't Have to BeClick here to download it for FREE! (For a limited time only.)
Visit Renee's website to sign up for her online Bible study of A Confident Heart, beginning in January. Also, be sure to enter her give-away that includes a Starbucks gift card and more!
When you buy resources through Proverbs 31 Ministries, you touch eternity but supporting the many areas of hope-giving ministry we provide at no cost through a purchase.
Application Steps:
How does it make you feel to know Jesus understands, and He is still there with you in every moment of every day? When do you need His assurance and presence most?
Reflections:
"Jesus is the only One who can meet our deepest need to be pursued, accepted and delighted in simply because of who we are. We can offer nothing but our presence, and He will desire us just the same." From A Confident Heartby Renee Swope
Power Verses:
Jeremiah 31:3, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." (NIV)
© 2011 by Renee Swope. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.Proverbs31.org
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The Danger in Being a Christian: It began as a Jewish sect; fierce persecution only helped it spread

Today's reading: Acts 8
Acts 8:1 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
In some countries, a person who becomes a Christian forfeits a good education and job. And in a few countries, a person who converts risks his or her life. One church historian estimates that more Christians were martyred in the twentieth century than in all preceding centuries put together.
Yet, strangely, more often than not, intense persecution of Christians leads to a spurt of growth in the church. An ancient saying expresses this phenomenon: "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church."
The First Big Advance
For a while, the new faith enjoyed popular favor. But very soon it involved grave risk. In the book of Acts, the persecution that produced the first Christian martyr, Stephen, ironically brought about the advance of Christianity outside its Jewish base. Forced out of stormy Jerusalem, the scattering Jewish Christians turned to other races and ethnic groups. Philip preached first to the despised Samaritans, and then crossed racial barriers by helping to convert an official from Ethiopia.
Acts documents a dramatic change in the faith. What had been viewed as an offshoot of the Jewish religion, a "sect of the Nazarenes," began to encompass people from other religions, races and cultures. Before long, the center of church activity moved from Jerusalem to the city of Antioch. There, people coined the word Christian, indicating how separate the new faith had become. Never again would it be considered "just a Jewish thing."
Breaking the Jewish Mold
As Luke tells it, the transition to other ethnic groups required some adjustments. Jewish disciples balked at letting go of their centuries-old traditions and allowing the church to be flooded with non-Jews.
Peter, one of the most loyal Jews, explained his dilemma this way, "Who was I to think that I could stand in God's way?" (Acts 11:17). A direct, unmistakable vision from God (see Acts 10:9-23) overcame Peter's resistance to accepting non-Jews, and later a decisive church council settled on a policy toward them (see Acts 15:1-21).
As the pages of Acts turn, whole provinces and cultures open up to the gospel. The faith that had been guarded by a small knot of intimates, all Jews who knew Jesus personally, broke out into a rough world of soldiers, sorcerers, merchants and antagonists from other religions. This process was not without its bloody and frightening moments.

Life Question

  • If severe persecution were to come to the church in your region today, what would happen to your faith?
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Today's reading is from theNIV Student Bible
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At Issue - Identity

Today's reading: Exodus 1:15–21
“Hi, my name is _____. I work as a _____.” Meeting anyone new requires this exchange of information. Our society tells us that our identities are wrapped up in our jobs. Essentially, we are what we do. There are two dangers in this thinking: 1) At some point you’re going to fail at what you do—and then who are you? 2) At some point who you truly are (God’s child) is going to conflict with what you do—and then what do you do? Because the midwives knew who they really were, they feared the Boss more than the king. In any job, remember who you are.
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True Identity: The Bible for Women
by Zondervan


The Bible that helps you see yourself as God sees you! Find your true identity in Christ through your relationship with him.
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