Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
As it has been doing for many decades, Hopewell Mennonite Church is having Summer Bible School again.
This year’s edition is next week, June 17-21.
Our sign went up last night:
Maybe you call it Vacation Bible School
With a hat tip to Joel C. Rosenberg . . .
Vladimir Putin, the Czar of Russia, has offered to put Russian troops on the Golan Heights — the mountain range controlled by Israel but claimed by Syria — to serve as U.N. peacekeepers between Syria and Israel, now that the government of Austria has decided withdraw its participation in the peacekeeping force.Putin and Netanyahu.
Putin has spoken directly by phone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the offer, and presumably would not have made it without first discussing the idea with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
If both sides agree, this would put armed Russian soldiers on the northern mountains of Israel for the first time in the modern history of the State of Israel.
The move might also have prophetic significance.
BREAKING: Putin offers to put Russian troops on the Golan Heights
Does Israel need armed Russian troops looking down on them from the Golan?
Would a “UN” Russian beachhead like that be a good deal for Israel?
I answer both negatively.
As Mark Roth said, he who dances with a bear gets eaten. 😯 Or was it, only dunces dance with bears? Both.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
And for ours, as we rush headlong to Armageddon.
PS: In case you didn’t know, Joel C. Rosenberg has written some pretty interesting books, including the recently released Damascus Countdown.
I was on my evening stroll (instead of my usual fast-paced walk), still headed in the general direction of my wife’s last-known-to-me general location. (No, the photo is not where I was at the time; four minutes earlier, I was there.)
It was raining. Somewhat to kinda breezy. Not particularly warm. I was wearing my big winter coat, oversized hood umbrellaing my head, hands drawn up into the sleeves.
I heard a car approaching from behind. Slowing down, it was. Read it all
Or maybe we’re the bourgeoisie. Or the upper crust. (I’m just using those terms for the anyhow, OK?)
I just want to say that in my home congregation, we all sing. Even the men. Maybe it’s because we are a conservative Mennonite church. We sing four-part a cappella (you know, with no musical instruments).
In fact, once a quarter we have a Sunday afternoon men’s singing time, using Hymns We Love #3. And then in the evening we have a singing service for everybody. With fingerfood snacks in between.
I thought of that several days ago when I read this article: Read it all
Tonight I heard that “sin has consequences.”
So do grace and love.
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20).
“Love covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12).
Sin, repented of and properly dealt with, needs no further review and regurgitation.
When we insist on consequences over grace and love, we sow for a bitter harvest.
I don’t wish that harvest on anyone. Especially on myself.
So which will matter most to me in my relationships with those who fail?
Let me allow grace and love to triumph in my heart!
“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.
— Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) April 20, 2013
Following an intense manhunt that caused chaos in Massachusetts and riveted the rest of the nation, law enforcement finally captured the second Boston Marathon bombing suspect on Friday night.
Following a short standoff in the backyard of a residence in a Watertown neighborhood, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was taken into custody and arrested by Boston Police.
Praise God, the authorities have the young Tsarnaev! (Yes, young; he’s only six months older than my youngest!)
This afternoon I prayed for Dzhokar a bit. (And for others involved.) I prayed he would be captured alive and with no further deaths and mayhem. (Yes, yes — of course he deserves to die. That’s not the point of this post, OK?)
I prayed for this young fellow because The Authority — the King of Kings — still seeks for him. (Apparently, Allah presently has this alleged terrorist, aka Boston Bomber #2.)
The Good Shepherd looks for a lost lamb for whom He gave His life!
How many followers of Jesus will pray for this young man’s redemption?
If you are a Christian, will you pray for his salvation?