Sunday, June 29, 2014

Sun Jun 29th Todays News

It is her birthday today (1972), and she did not get to live very long. Even though, she left a stamp. Samantha Smith may have been just a pawn. She was a young schoolgirl asking for peace. She wrote to the then Soviet Premier .. and he responded, setting up a meeting with her. She became a goodwill ambassador, and was cast in a series. On routine flight with her father, the plane landed short into trees, killing all six on board. She was 13 when she died. 

 Today is also the reputed death date of Saul of Tarsus, who later became Paul. He was a dreadfully boring speaker who bored one person to death, for a time. He is also thought to have been stoned to death on mission. This last time was final, allegedly at Nero's order. It is thought the bone fragments found in the basilica in Rome belong to him. 

 But who cares for death when there is life? It is Squizzy Taylor's birthday in 1888. The idiot gangster died in 1927, having lived too long. However, today is not all gloom and doom. The burning down of the Globe Theatre in 1613 lightens the path. Father Francisco founded a mission in what is now San Francisco in 1776. Muhammad Ahmad called himself the Mahdi on this day in 1881, suggesting modern idiots are mere copycats. He might have been the Mahdi, but he died four years later. His great achievement was killing an excellent English General Gordon when the stars aligned with a socialist English government that ignored Gordon to death. The US Supreme court decided that the death penalty should not be arbitrary on this day in 1972. Meaning that court cases decided on coin tosses were retried. Not as expensive as it sounds .. none had been decided that way. In a Gillard like symbol of achievement, Isabel Peron became the first female President of Argentina two days before her husband died in 1974. A year later Steve Wozniak tested his first prototype of the Apple 1. Thirty two years later, 2007, Apple released the first iPhone. But the crowning achievement on this day was the US supreme court in 2006 declaring that criminal prosecutions of Gitmo detainees was wrong, paving the way for terrorists to strike again and again. 
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
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Happy birthday and many happy returns John Markham, Quan Hong Kiet and Michelle Le. Born on the same day, across the years. On your day in 1613, The original Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground after a cannon employed for special effects misfired during a performance of William Shakespeare's Henry VIII and ignited the theatre's roof. In 1776, The first privateer battle of the American Revolutionary War was fought at the Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet near Cape May, New Jersey. In 1967, Actress Jayne Mansfield, her boyfriend Sam Brody, and their driver were killed in a car accident outside of New Orleans, while her children Miklós, Zoltán, and Mariska Hargitay escaped with only minor injuries. In 1974, Isabel Perón was sworn in as the first female President of Argentina, replacing her ill husband Juan Perón, who died two days later. In 2007, Apple Inc. released the first generation iPhone, which revolutionized the smartphone industry and made the company one of the world's most valuable publicly traded companies. This says much about you. You battle against tremendous odds, and sometimes all your brilliance is let down by special effects. You know that two enormous air bags won't make a car much safer. And when you ask Siri about Peron it comes back with Madonna singing "Don't Cry for me Argentina." Ride the bumps and enjoy life!
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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Journalist jailed to silence critics

Piers Akerman – Sunday, June 29, 2014 (6:51am)

AWARD-winning Australian journalist Peter Greste intended to cover the cauldron of Middle Eastern politics not ­become the story.
Yet with his sentencing to a seven-year term on a charge of reporting false news he has­ ­focused attention on the rotten Egyptian regime and the web of international alliances that are helping to prop up the goverment of President Abdel Fattah ­al-Sisi.
Greste has not committed any crime other than cover the news. But he was working for the Qatar-owned al-Jazeera which the Egyptians see as aligned to the repressive Muslim Brotherhood.
Al-Sisi’s military supporters toppled Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in a coup that was backed by the Saudis, who see the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to their hold on their kingdom.
Greste and his colleagues Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed are proxies in Egypt’s jihad against the Muslim Brotherhood.
In the first message relayed by his brothers Mike and Andrew since he was sentenced, Peter Greste said he would do everything possible to have the conviction overturned.
“Throughout this trial the prosecutor has consistently failed to present a single piece of concrete evidence to support the outrageous allegations against us,” he said.
“The verdict confirms that our trial was never simply about the charges against us. It has been an attempt to use the court to intimidate and silence critical voices in the media.”
Anyone who followed the farcical process would have to agree. The prosecution presented video material from networks about events that had nothing to with Egyptian politics or al-Jazeera.
Three prosecution witnesses recanted during the trial, admitting they didn’t know whether the three journalists had undermined national security.
Ten-year sentences were also handed to British journalists Sue Turton and Dominic Kane and the Dutch reporter Rena Netjes, who were tried in absentia. Court papers show Netjes’ name was spelled ­incorrectly and a wrong passport number cited, but that made no difference.
I’m not a great fan of al-Jazeera, which has been the terrorists’ channel of choice since Osama bin Laden favoured it with his videoed cave-mouth monologues, and have always thought its commentators took a view to the Left of that held by the biased BBC.
But Greste is a news reporter not a commentator and did his best to present the facts.
The question facing fair-minded people around the world is how to ensure that Greste and his colleagues are released as soon as possible.
Hysterical screeching from politicians like Greens leader Christine Milne is totally counterproductive and having anyone from the Greens or the Labor Party stand up and gibber about the free speech is disgustingly hypocritical given both parties’ attacks on courageous sections of the Australian press in recent years.
It’s probably best the ABC stays well out of the picture, too, given its role in damaging Australia’s relations with Indonesia and subsequent curtailment of beef exports and its work in assisting renegade US defector Edward Snowden publicise his theft of intelligence secrets.
The European Union gives Egypt more than $8.5 billion in assistance annually, and Saudi, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates give $12 billion. That’s not going to stop and any action taken unilaterally by Australia wouldn’t be ­noticed.
The best chance for Greste and his colleagues is for Australia to ask its international friends, the US, particularly, whether they will assist its diplomatic efforts. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has already spoken with the US Ambassador, the EU representative, ambassadors from the Gulf States, and the Latvian foreign minister — Greste’s parents Lois and Juris, are from Latvia.
The US, which supplies more than $1.5 billion in military and other aid annually, is unlikely to agree to any cutbacks as it sees Egypt as a valuable ally against the terrorists who constantly attempt to ­invade Israel, the only liberal democracy in the region.
But US Secretary of State John Kerry may be inclined to assist in working for the ­release of the journalists as Egypt made him look like a fool last week when it hosted him at an event at which he promised to release previously withheld funds and praised Egypt’s leadership transition and called for an improvement in its human rights record the day before the harsh sentences were announced. Kerry condemned them immediately as “chilling and draconian”.
From his cell, Greste sent the message: “We must all ­remain committed to fight this gross injustice for as long as necessary.”
This is not just about a journalist: every freedom-loving person should be as committed to righting this massive wrong.
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HOUSE, SHED, TREE, GRAVITY

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 29, 2014 (5:41pm)

Let’s see how this works out:

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YOU’RE IN TROUBLE, TODD CARNEY

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 29, 2014 (4:13pm)

Andrew Johns defends Cronulla Sharks player Todd Carney following the latest NRL outrage: 
Surely they couldn’t sack him for that … he is only doing it to himself. 
It turns out that they can sack him. Nate Myles and Julian O’Neill are now joined by Carney on the list of NRL players who have mistaken other objects for toilets – respectively a hotel hallway, a shoe, and his own mouth.
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UNCHANGED POLL CHANGES

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 29, 2014 (10:57am)

Melbourne street artist Sayraphim Lothian alleges electoral tampering at the frightbat poll: 
The original post has now been changed, a number of paragraphs have been removed entirely and some of the remaining language has been softened, it still remains as the latest in a long line of attacks on women who speak out about injustice and hate speech. 
She’s wrong. Nothing at all has been changed, removed or softened. It is as it ever was. You know, it’s possible that Sayraphim’s initial impression of the post was gained through hysterical Twitter overreaction, which could not be reconciled with the mild and inoffensive words she eventually read; so something must have been changed!
Incidentally, Margo is now winning. The tyrannical reign of Queenbat Clementine is over!
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LEFTY TOONISTS LOVE APES

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 29, 2014 (2:27am)

Fairfax’s David Pope may owe some primate credit to the Guardian‘s Steve Bell:

image image

Always with the apes. Fairfax’s John Shakespeare is also a monkey man. 
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The Bolt Report today, June 29

Andrew Bolt June 29 2014 (4:23pm)

On Sunday on Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…
Editorial:  Clive Palmer and Al Gore do each other a nice little favor. Journalists fooled.
My guest:  Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews on new plans to reform welfare and handouts.
The panel: former Gillard media advisor Sean Kelly and former Howard chief of staff Grahame Morris.
NewsWatch: Gerard Henderson.
Plus spin of the week, the dark side of al Jazeera and more.

UPDATE
Transcript of the interview with Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews:

THE BOLT REPORT
29 JUNE 2014
INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN ANDREWS
ANDREW BOLT, PRESENTER: The Government, last year, set up a review into reforming welfare payments, a review headed by Patrick McClure, former head of Mission Australia. Its interim report is released today and says taxpayers are now handing other Australians income support worth $100 billion a year. And what a tangle of handouts, around 20 different payments for pensioners, students, widows, the jobless, the sick, the disabled, partners, carers, students, whatever. Plus, 55 different supplement payments. Joining me is social security minister, Kevin Andrews. What a mess! What are you going to do about all of that?
KEVIN ANDREWS, SOCIAL SERVICES MINISTER: Well, as you described it, you can see how complex it has become, Andrew, and that’s because it’s been ad hoc decision on ad hoc decision over years and decades, and it’s time to try and simplify it, and what Mr McClure has done is provided a proposed new simple architecture for welfare in Australia.
ANDREW BOLT: How much could that save us, of that $100 billion?
KEVIN ANDREWS: Well, people just have trouble finding their way through the system, that’s a huge cost. It’s difficult to administer. There’s 4,000 pages of legislation, so -
ANDREW BOLT: So, your idea is to make it easier for them to claim welfare? I thought we were handing out too much!
KEVIN ANDREWS: No, not easier to claim it in the sense that, you know, people should just be able to rort the system, but people should
be able to understand the system, and what we’re proposing is four, four basic streams of payments. The aged pension, people who have got a genuine disability and an incapacity to work, working age payment, which also encourages people to get into work where they can, and then a payment around having children.
ANDREW BOLT: Right, OK, and you reckon that’ll save us a bit of money?
KEVIN ANDREWS: It will certainly save money if you can, if you can simplify the system. It’ll save government money, but if the administration of it is so complex, we just have to do something about it.
ANDREW BOLT: Now, this report to you from McClure says, “Income management could be considered for disadvantaged young people who don’t have a job and need more skills”. Are you going to start controlling how young unemployed spend their dole?
KEVIN ANDREWS: What we’re doing now, we’ve got trials in parts of Australia, which started in the Northern Territory, to income manage for people in situations where they need that.
ANDREW BOLT: That‘s traditionally been, almost exclusively, Aboriginal recipients –
KEVIN ANDREWS: Well, the trials, the trials in other parts of Australia, for example, in Shepparton, in Victoria, and other parts of Australia, it’s not exclusively for indigenous people. It’s broader than that, and our view is, that, where it’s appropriate, it shouldn’t be related to race, or whether a person’s indigenous or not, it should be related to their circumstances. Now, this is something which we are committed to, we are rolling out a new program this year, or starting one in Ceduna, in South Australia and through this process, we hope that we’ll be able to roll it out more nationally.
ANDREW BOLT: So, at the moment, around 24,000 people are on it,
again, many Aboriginal. You expect that number to rise?
KEVIN ANDREWS: I do, because we‘ve got to get the architecture of this right, as well. Part of it is costly to do, because of the counselling and the case management aspects of it. But, one of the things we are looking at, and which the Forest Report is looking at, is a more widespread use of, essentially, a basics card.
ANDREW BOLT: So, if you’re young and unemployed, how would that look?
KEVIN ANDREWS: Well, it’d look in terms of, there are certain things which you can spend your money on, and certain things which you can’t.
ANDREW BOLT: So, they want to go to the bottle shop, and you say, what?
KEVIN ANDREWS: We would say, you can have a card, a bit like a debit card now, that precludes certain expenditure on that card. So, you could, for example, preclude expenditure on alcohol.
ANDREW BOLT: Oh, so, you get a card, you go to the bottle shop, and they say, “oh sorry, transaction declined”.
KEVIN ANDREWS: Yes, and you would know that. So, just like, you know, when you go, some cards that you use to fill up your car with petrol, it will enable you to put petrol in the car, but won’t enable you to go and buy something else from the shop, associated with the service station. So, that technology is there, it’s a question of how you can roll it out in relation to welfare.
ANDREW BOLT: All young unemployed, or young unemployed who are having trouble?
KEVIN ANDREWS: Well this is what, this is what we are having the consultations about. We’re waiting – Mr Forest has given his draft report in relation to this, so –
ANDREW BOLT: So, possibly, all young unemployed?
The videos of the shows appear here.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The Bolt Report today, June 29'
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Leyonhjelm promises a great fight

Andrew Bolt June 29 2014 (11:34am)

David Leyonhjelm takes up his seat in the Senate next week and promises plenty that’s good:
The first of July 2014 will be my first day as a Senator, representing NSW and the Liberal Democratic Party. I hope history will say it was the day we got to work putting Godzilla back in its cage....
Godzilla is that blundering monster that our governments have become, with their hands in our pocket and noses in every room of our house....
In my term in Parliament, I want to convince Australians to reconsider whether handing their money over to the government is better than keeping it themselves. I want them to understand that disapproving of something does not justify it being prohibited or heavily regulated. I want them to understand the connection between the liberties they care about and the liberty of others, and to understand that individual freedom is universal, precious and must be fiercely protected…
We need more people in the Senate intent on putting Godzilla back in its cage, but in the meantime I will bring argument, reason, pleading and occasionally, blackmail, to the fight.
(Thanks to reader Streetcred.) 
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Tax axe safe: John Madigan denies he’d vote against the carbon tax repeal.

Andrew Bolt June 29 2014 (6:34am)

The carbon tax is gone, despite claims that Ricky Muir might break free from Clive Palmer’s grip:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has the numbers to abolish the carbon tax. Democratic Labour Party senator John Madigan said on Friday he would back the carbon tax repeal bills, scotching reports that an alliance of three could frustrate the Abbott government’s number one priority vote in the new Senate.
Senator Madigan told Fairfax Media it was an ‘’absolute crock’’ that he would join Victorian senator-elect Ricky Muir and South Australian independent Nick Xenophon in making their support contingent on the government retaining Labor’s $1.6 billion automotive transformation scheme…
‘’I have never spoken to Ricky Muir or anyone associated with Ricky Muir and I resent people putting words in my mouth,’’ Senator Madigan said.
He said the DLP had gone to the election promising to stand against the carbon tax and that position had not changed, even though he was concerned about what funding cuts to the auto scheme would do to jobs as local car manufacturers cease production by 2017.  Senator Xenophon said he had not come to a decision on the carbon tax…
Mr Muir, who is due to meet with the government’s Senate leader, Eric Abetz, next week, said through a spokesman he was concerned at the potential for thousands of job losses in the auto sector but had not made any decision on how he would vote.
Readere Peter of Bellevue Hill adds:
AB, it appears most of the elements of Peter van Onselen’s story on Friday were simply wrong.
Still, it got a good run. 
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It’s the duty of extremists to fit in, not ours to give in

Andrew Bolt June 29 2014 (5:48am)

To think our diplomats helped him get out of trouble with Saudi Arabia, where his brother remains jailed:
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says a West Australian man is being investigated after appearing online in a video railing against the West, entitled ‘The Status of Women in Islam’…
In the video, Junaid Thorne appears in front of a version of the black flag of Jihad popular across the Middle East, including with the Sunni insurgent group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which is also known as ISIL.
“ISIL is a prescribed terrorist organisation and it is an offence to support or promote or engage with terrorist organisations and can be punishiable by severe penalties,” Bishop said.
Mr Thorne is not known to have vocalised his support for ISIL…
West Australian Noongar man Thorne is known to authorities after Saudi Arabian authorities jailed then freed his brother on terrorism-related offences…
In a video speech, delivered mostly in English but partly in Arabic, he rails against injustices being perpetrated against Muslims, calling for Muslim men to “defend our sisters”.
“Look at other parts of the world. Our sisters being raped by filthy Jews and Christians,” Thorne says in the video.
Would we have had a deal had a politician warned beforehand that taking in Muslim immigrants came with an obligation to dump Israel and turn against the West - or risk danger?
Dr Yassir Morsi, researcher at the International Centre for Muslim and Non-Muslim Understanding at the University of South Australia, last week on 3AW rationalised a hatred and a threat that he should have deplored:
A lot of young Muslims… feel, without taking that leap, without taking that jump to go and fight [with jihadists overseas] that their own sense of worth has to be won through themselves and not through showing faith to a state [Australia] which they feel hasn’t shown any faith to them and continually, globally, politically, has not given the time to express their concerns about issues such as Israel, Syria, so forth. It is just a complete lack of faith in the system and when that happens they’ll go beyond it… Come on, you don’t feel that people of minority status just feel a little bit alienated? That news to you, really? … A lot of Muslims feel it…
[Many Muslims] have their own coorrdinates and world view about the way the world should be run but when that’s matched by an inability by our existing political institutions and politicians to represent great concerns that a lot of people have then I don’t think we should be surprised that there are some Muslims out there who have no loyalty to Australia. I’m not quite sure what the shock is… There is plenty of anger out there…
Loyalty here should be seen two ways…
I agree people should show a level of concern for their neighbours and their country… If you want young Muslims to feel that they ought to have loyalty to Australia then there are a series of issues that need to be addressed one of which is of course dealing with the fact that many of them don’t feel represented....  from historical grounds, to inequalities to xenophobia and racism…
I think this discussion about loyalty favors one side. It comes out of this idea that Australia is a host, we’ve given you hope, we’ve given you opportunity, why have you turned on us?
Morsi confirms what is usually denounced by his sort as xenophobia - that immigrants, particularly of Muslim countries, cannot be assumed to be loyal to their new country, and can switch their allegiance to what we’d agree are terrorist groups. Morsi suggests the answer is Australia should change. Many Australians would have a neater and safer solution.
About Morsi, note we pay him to peddle victimisation policies that put the responsibility for change on Australia, and not jihadists:


His main area of research is the critical analysis of contemporary racism and Islamophobia. He looks at the struggles facing Muslim minorities living in a secular, postcolonial and liberal west.
Yassir was president of the University of Melbourne Islamic society as well as the peak student body in Victoria. He has been an active member of the Muslim community engaging with young Muslims in numerous community projects.
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That pleading woman in Gillard’s office

Andrew Bolt June 29 2014 (5:04am)

I’m not surprised poor Shorten thought it crass:
Author Mary Delahunty was “embedded’’ in the Prime Minister’s office for six months to write the book ["Gravity — Inside the Prime Minister’s office during her final year and last days"] at the request of Ms Gillard and chief of staff Ben Hubbard. But her presence infuriated staff who were worried she was recording private conversations.
Her book suggests they shouldn’t have worried, an unabashed Labor supporter, Ms Delahunty is an unabashed supporter. At one stage in the book she grasps the hand of Bill Shorten begging him to stick the course with Australia’s first female Prime Minister. Ms Delahunty writes the approach makes him grimace.
Et tu, Brute?
Ms Gillard also reveals that the decision of Senator Penny Wong to defect to the Rudd camp was a body blow that sealed her fate and has a jab at Labor frontbencher Jason Clare.
“Yesterday when Minister Jason Clare came in to tell her he could not vote for her, she asked why,’’ Delahunty writes.
“It’s about my seat,’’ Clare replies. “No,’’ she countered. “It’s about principle.”
“Senior Minister Penny Wong came to her in tears. She, too, was abandoning Gillard. Why? “It’s the South Australian seats,’’ Wong replies.
“I knew then that I’d lost it,’’ Gillard said.
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Post by David Daniel Ball.

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June 29: Ramadan begins (Islam, 2014); Feast of Saints Peter and Paul(Christianity, Gregorian calendar)
Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]

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“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Looking unto Jesus."
Hebrews 12:2
It is ever the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan's work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, "Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus." All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that "Christ is all in all." Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee--it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee--it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument--it is Christ's blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by "looking unto Jesus." Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.
"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."

Evening

"But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods."
Exodus 7:12
This incident is an instructive emblem of the sure victory of the divine handiwork over all opposition. Whenever a divine principle is cast into the heart, though the devil may fashion a counterfeit, and produce swarms of opponents, as sure as ever God is in the work, it will swallow up all its foes. If God's grace takes possession of a man, the world's magicians may throw down all their rods; and every rod may be as cunning and poisonous as a serpent, but Aaron's rod will swallow up their rods. The sweet attractions of the cross will woo and win the man's heart, and he who lived only for this deceitful earth will now have an eye for the upper spheres, and a wing to mount into celestial heights. When grace has won the day the worldling seeks the world to come. The same fact is to be observed in the life of the believer. What multitudes of foes has our faith had to meet! Our old sins--the devil threw them down before us, and they turned to serpents. What hosts of them! Ah, but the cross of Jesus destroys them all. Faith in Christ makes short work of all our sins. Then the devil has launched forth another host of serpents in the form of worldly trials, temptations, unbelief; but faith in Jesus is more than a match for them, and overcomes them all. The same absorbing principle shines in the faithful service of God! With an enthusiastic love for Jesus difficulties are surmounted, sacrifices become pleasures, sufferings are honours. But if religion is thus a consuming passion in the heart, then it follows that there are many persons who profess religion but have it not; for what they have will not bear this test. Examine yourself, my reader, on this point. Aaron's rod proved its heaven-given power. Is your religion doing so? If Christ be anything he must be everything. O rest not till love and faith in Jesus be the master passions of your soul!
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Joab

[Jō'ăb] - jehovah is a good father.
  1. A descendant of Caleb the son of Hur, a Judahite (1 Chron. 2:54).
  2. Son of Seraiah, grandson of Kenaz, associated with valley craftsmen (1 Chron. 4:13, 14).
  3. An Israelite whose posterity went up from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:6; Neh. 7:11).
  4. One whose descendants went up from Babylon with Ezra ( Ezra 8:9.)
  5. The son of David's half-sister, Zeruiah. This nephew of David became the most overbearing captain in his uncle's army (1 Sam. 26:6; 2 Sam. 2; 13).

The Man Who Was Overambitious

Joab was the first person to be thought of in Joab's mind. His apparent devotion to David had one objective, namely that he himself should have first place. He loved self. He murdered those who stood in the way of pre-eminence as the leader of Israel's hosts (2 Sam. 3:27 ). Alexander Whyte says, "Had it not been for David, Joab would have climbed up into the throne of Israel. . . Even the king himself was afraid of his commander-in-chief. The sovereign took his orders meekly from his subject." In his own well-read and picturesque way, Dean Stanley describes Joab aptly as the Marlborough of the empire of Israel.
W. O. E. Osterley gives us the following summary of Joab's life and labors:
I. He was a skilled general, proven by the number of victories he gained (2 Sam. 2:12-32; 10; 11:1; 12:26-29; 20:4-22; 1 Chron. 11:6-9).
II. He was loyal to the house of David as his whole life of devoted service illustrates (2 Sam. 12:26; 14:1; 18:20; 19:5-7).
III. He was guilty of vindictiveness and ruthless cruelty. The treacherous and bloodthirsty acts of which Joab was guilty constitute a dark blot upon his character (2 Sam. 3:22-27; 18:14; 20:9, 10; 1 Kings 11:16).
The tragedy is that in spite of all his abundant energy, boldness, ability, shrewdness and common sense, he never manifested any real faith in God. The nearest he came to such a faith is to be found in 2 Samuel 10:12, where his trust was more in "Providence" than a personal resting in the God of Israel. Full of self-confidence, ambition and selfishness, Joab never got far away from his own interests.
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Today's reading: Job 11-13, Acts 9:1-21 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Job 11-13

Zophar
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 "Are all these words to go unanswered?
Is this talker to be vindicated?
3 Will your idle talk reduce others to silence?
Will no one rebuke you when you mock?
4 You say to God, 'My beliefs are flawless
and I am pure in your sight.'
5 Oh, how I wish that God would speak,
that he would open his lips against you
6 and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 9:1-21

Saul's Conversion
1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5 "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6 "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
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