Two great talents brought together to create another beautiful magnificent masterpiece, “The Lord’s Prayer.”
Andrea Bocelli and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
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Category Archives: Education
The Isaiah 9:10 Prophecy: Is U.S. Under God’s Judgment?
Messianic rabbi reveals striking parallels between fall of ancient Israel, America
Posted: December 13, 20118:26 pm Eastern
© 2011 WND
WASHINGTON – A messianic rabbi from New Jersey is stunning audiences nationwide by revealing the striking parallels between the fall of ancient Israel and what he suggests are God’s early judgments of America.
Jonathan Cahn of the Jerusalem Center-Beth Israel Congregation in Wayne, N.J., says an otherwise obscure passage in the Book of Isaiah is since Sept. 11, 2001, being uncannily re-enacted in the U.S. just the way it originally played out in the time of the great prophet of Israel leading to the nation’s captivity and dispersions.
In a new book,“The Harbinger,”Cahn reveals what he calls “an ancient mystery that holds the secret of America’s future and the collapse of the global economy.”
Read “The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery That Holds the Secret of America’s Future” for yourself!
“Before its destruction as a nation, ancient Israel received nine harbingers, prophetic omens of warning,” he says. “The same nine harbingers are now manifesting in America with immediate ramifications for end-time prophecy.”
The key to decoding the harbingers, he says, is found in understanding the seemingly innocuous words of Isaiah 9:10 (King James Version), what it meant to Israel and how the history seems to be repeating itself in America today.
“The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.”
These words were first uttered by leaders in Israel and in response to a limited strike by Assyria on the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali – an attack the prophet makes clear is actually part of a limited judgment by God against apostasy. It wasn’t meant to destroy the nation, but to awaken it, according to most commentaries.
But, says Cahn, Israel didn’t take the cue. Instead, the response from the people in Isaiah 9:10 is one of defiance. The brick buildings were toppled, but they vowed to build bigger and better. The little sycamore trees may have been uprooted, but they vowed to plant bigger and better cedars in their place.
God, speaking through Isaiah, explains what will happen as a result of their pride and arrogance and failure to heed the harbinger: Bigger and more potent attacks will follow. Because neither the northern kingdom of Israel nor the southern kingdom of Judah truly repents, the first is eventually swept away by Assyrian invaders and the latter is carried off into captivity by the Babylonians for 70 years.
But what does this have to do with the United States of America – particularly what the U.S. experienced on 9/11 and since? Cahn has found some eerie parallels.
“In the aftermath of the attack, the nation was stunned,” said Cahn, “Everyone was trying to make sense of what had happened – this unprecedented attack on America. The very next day, September 12, then Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle presented America’s response to the world. And what did he say?”
Daschle said: “America will emerge from this tragedy as we have emerged from all adversity – united and strong. Nothing … nothing can replace the losses of those who have suffered. I know there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation. But there is a passage in the Bible from Isaiah that speaks to all of us at times like this.”
He then went on to read Isaiah 9:10:
“Daschle has no idea what he is doing here,” explains Cahn. “He thinks he’s offering comforting words to a grief-stricken people, but he is actually embracing the spiritually defiant and arrogant words of the children of Israel, proclaiming the ancient and ominous vow of the leaders of that nation. He doesn’t realize it, but he is actually inviting more judgment on the nation.”
It might be of some significance that Daschle, one of the most powerful men in the nation when he spoke those words, later fell into disgrace – to the point where he couldn’t even serve in Barack Obama’s Cabinet.
That might have been the end of the story – if no other top leader in the nation uttered those strange and obscure words after 9/11. But that’s not the case.
On the third anniversary of the attack, Sept. 11, 2004, another powerful U.S. senator running for vice president that year and who would famously run for the presidency four years later, gave a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus.
This time, John Edwards’ entire speech was built on a foundation of Isaiah 9:10: “Today, on this day of remembrance and mourning, we have the Lord’s Word to get us through,” he said. He then read Isaiah 9:10. He went on to talk about how America was doing just that – rebuilding with hewn stone and planting cedars:
“Like Daschle, Edwards thinks he’s invoking inspirational and comforting words from the Bible, but he’s actually inviting judgment on America,” says Cahn. “He’s repeating the vow that provoked God to bring calamity on ancient Israel.”
Daschle and Edwards were hardly alone among U.S. leaders in making similar statements, as Cahn’s“The Harbinger”reveals.
But aside from such statements, which could be chalked up to political talk and coincidences, is there anything else linking Isaiah 9:10 to 9/11?
The book is full of shocking parallels. There was actually a very famous sycamore tree felled in the attack on the World Trade Center. It was replaced by trees in the same genus as the cedar. There have been many plans made to rebuild the twin towers bigger and better and a large “hewn stone” was actually quarried out of the Adirondack Mountains in New York and brought to Ground Zero as a cornerstone.
“The parallels are truly stunning,” says Joseph Farah, founder of WND, who is producing a video documentary about Cahn’s findings. “They are too numerous and too powerful to relate in news story form. In fact, they are overwhelming in their number and their exactitude. I am persuaded God is trying to tell America something and Rabbi Cahn has found the key to unlocking the message.”
Farah says events continue to unfold that seem to link directly to the message of Isaiah 9:10 right here in the United States.
Get Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s“The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery That Holds the Secret of America’s Future.”
Go Pack Go!! Tremendous Show of Patrioitism
You didn’t see this on the news channels. ESPN failed to show you Monday night this extravaganza of support for our military. Apparently their commercials were more important than showing this scene for about 5 second!!! It was stunning and only here in Green Bay could one see it. It took 90 people a whole week to prepare for this display.
Religious Persuasions by State – Amazing
GREAT MAY – (Different Religions by State)
I was fascinated with this map. Take a couple minutes and find out where the different religions are the strongest. Idaho was a bit of a surprise, but there’s a reason the south is called the Bible Belt.
This is very interesting!
This map gives you the percentage of Christians and all faiths in each state.
Click on here and see the different religions by state and elsewhere by holding cursor over a state.
Which Candidate Would You Pick?
Recently Human Events ran an interesting piece about the desirability and of various candidates running for president.
Candidate A:
Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists.
He’s had two mistresses.
He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
Candidate B:
He was kicked out of office twice,
sleeps until noon,
used opium in college and
drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.
Candidate C:
He is a decorated war hero.
He’s a vegetarian,
doesn’t smoke,
drinks an occasional beer
and never committed adultery.
Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Candidate B is Winston Churchill.
Candidate C is Adolf Hitler.
Something to think about while we wait for the perfect candidate.
What you do in bedroom private? Not to Obama
Look what the president now thinks is worthy of special treatment.
Posted: December 11, 2011
6:14 pm Eastern
By Dave Tombers © 2011 WND
Want a job with the federal government?
You may want to list your sexual orientation – preferably one of the alternative lifestyle choices – to enhance your chances.
That’s after an executive order signed by President Obama makes it a goal to hire people who reflect his ideals of “diversity and inclusion.”
Presidential Executive Order 13583, signed without fanfare on Main Street, has since been touted as an effort to strengthen America. It’s described by the administration:
A commitment to equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion is critical for the federal government as an employer.
By law, the federal government’s recruitment policies should “endeavor to achieve a work force from all segments of society.
One federal executive praised the order, saying the “United States is at its strongest when we embrace all of our talents, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
In a nine-page strategic plan launched by Obama’s signature, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, within the Office of Personnel Management, set a new bar for the recruiting, hiring, and retention of federal workers:
As the nation’s largest employer, the federal government has an obligation to lead by example.
It goes on to say, “In order to cultivate high performing organizations for the 21st century, the federal government must tap into the rich resources of our global community and ensure fairness and justice in the workplace.”
So now the federal government apparently will be going overseas to hunt for workers who meet Obama’s ideals regarding sexual orientation or gender identity.
The policy aligns with a just-released report that the Obama administration intends to make the United States the global sex cop, with plans to try to intervene in the workings of other nations where homosexuality is not promoted as well as plans to create special provisions for homosexuals and those with other lifestyle choices to gain special admittance to the U.S.
Among the provisions is a specific call for the U.S. government to “enhance” its work to provide services to “LGBT refugees and asylum seekers.”
“Who knew when Reagan was talking about being a shining city on the hill the city would turn out to be Sodom,” said Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, an Illinois organization active in revealing the truth of homosexuality.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chimed in on the comprehensive, government-wide strategy regarding LGBT rights with a speech to the “global community” in honor of International Human Rights day.
“The Obama administration defends the human rights of LGBT people as part of our comprehensive human rights policy and as a priority of our foreign policy,” she said.
Clinton then announced the formation of a Global Equality Fund to help advance the policies. The U.S. will start the fund with “more than $3 million,” but Clinton urged all other countries to join in.
The White House website has a section devoted to informing the LGBT community of the “historic” efforts Obama has advanced for them: “The Obama administration has taken decisive actions and made historic strides to advance Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender equality and strengthen LGBT families and communities, and continues to do so.”
On this White House blog, John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, praises the efforts of the OPM and Obama to “institutionalize equality in the nation’s largest workforce.”
While recently visiting the LGBT center of Colorado, Berry said he has a strategy to “bring equality to the OPM, from dismantling the discriminatory policies of the past to actively encouraging lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals to work in and for our government.”
In another White House blog, Hilda Solis, secretary of the Department of Labor, announces how she and Obama have redefined federal rules regarding hiring discrimination.
In April, I issued an order to change my department’s equal employment opportunity policy to add gender identity as a protected category.
I did that because it was the right thing to do and because no one should be denied a job or a promotion because of their gender identity or how they choose to express it.
Solis also lists other achievements in her tenure as secretary of labor: “Last year, we announced that the Family and Medical Leave Act applies to loving families with two mothers or two fathers. If you act like a parent, do the work of a parent and raise a child like a parent, then you are a parent, as far as my agency is concerned.”
The concerted efforts by Obama to advance the LGBT movement are evident throughout the federal government that promised to bring “change” to America.
Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, touted several more accomplishments at a recent “Transgender Equality” awards ceremony.
I was proud to represent an administration that has done remarkable work to advance equality for transgender people.
Indeed, whether it’s the record number of transgender appointments President Obama has made to the federal government, the Office of Personnel Management’s announcement prohibiting gender identity discrimination for federal employment, or passing a hate crimes bill that represents the first-ever federal civil rights legislation to include the words ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity,’ the Obama administration has treated the fight for equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community not as an issue, but as a priority.
The “change” that Obama brought with him to Washington also apparently is spreading. Just ask former Macy’s employee Natalie Johnson of San Antonio.
She saw a man walking out of the fitting room reserved for women at the San Antonio, Texas, Macy’s and “politely told him that he could not go back in because it was for women only.”
She pointed out that Macy’s has a religious nondiscrimination policy and the actions violated her beliefs.
Macy’s fired her.
Matt Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel, says, “Macy’s has essentially opened women’s dressing rooms to every man.”
In a related development, a White House statement called the “Presidential Memorandum – International Initiatives to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons” instructs federal agencies to promote “rights” of LGBT persons. .
“In order to improve protection for LGBT refugees and asylum seekers at all stages of displacement, the Departments of State and Homeland Security shall enhance their ongoing efforts to ensure that LGBT refugees and asylum seekers have equal access to protection and assistance,” Obama wrote.
He explained that federal workers must be trained to help LGBT members in their desires.
Methanol Wins An Open Wager
Posted: 01 Dec 2011 12:42 PM PST
By Dr. Robert Zubrin(originally published in the National Review Online here).
On August 2, I published an open wager on National Review Online. I offered to bet up to ten people $10,000 each that I could take my 2007 Chevy Cobalt, which is not a flex-fuel car, and, running it on 100 percent methanol, get at least 24 miles per gallon on the highway. Since methanol averages less than half the price of gasoline — and can readily be made from coal, natural gas, or any kind of biomass without exception — this would demonstrate superior transportation economy from a non-petroleum fuel that is producible from plentiful American resources.
Unfortunately, no one took the bet. That fact alone says a lot. Of the 7 billion people on this planet, there are about a million or so who know a great deal about cars. Clearly, not one of them was sufficiently doubtful that it could be done to put his money on the line. Although it left me short a nice chunk of easy cash, the refusal of anyone to accept my challenge should have settled the matter. But some people, while refusing to take the bet, still demanded that I conduct the test anyway. I did, and here are the results.
First, I ran the car on 100 percent methanol. This required replacing the fuel-pump seal made of Viton, which is not methanol compatible, with one made of Buna-N, which is. The new part cost 41 cents, retail. In order to take proper advantage of methanol’s very high octane rating (about 109), I advanced the timing appropriately. This dramatically improved the motor efficiency and allowed the ordinarily sedate sedan to perform with a significantly more sporty spirit. As measured on the dyno, horsepower increased 10 percent. With these modifications complete, I took my Cobalt out for a road test. The result: 24.6 miles per gallon.
When I first made the bet, many commentators thought that I would aim for high-efficiency performance with high-octane fuel by increasing the compression ratio of the engine (which is how race-car drivers using methanol have done it for the past half-century). However, with modern cars using electronic fuel injection, this is unnecessary. Instead, the necessary changes to the engine can be made simply by adjusting the Engine Control Unit software. Thus, except for switching the fuel-pump seal as noted above, no physical changes to the car were required.
Other critics commented that while I might be able to achieve good fuel economy, the idea was impractical because the emissions would not be acceptable. In response, I had the car tested for emissions with 100 percent methanol (M100), 60 percent methanol (M60), and ordinary gasoline (i.e., E10, which contains about 10 percent ethanol), and for comparison, did mileage tests for these alternatives as well. The results of all these tests are shown in the table below.
It can be seen that, far from failing to meet emissions standards, the Cobalt running on methanol was extremely clean, beating both the strict Colorado emissions standards and the national EPA averages by an order of magnitude. The complete elimination of carbon-monoxide emissions when using M60 is particularly remarkable — so much so that I initially thought it was an experimental error caused by faulty equipment at the emissions test station. I tested it again at a different station and got the same result.
Returning to the subject of fuel economy, this can be evaluated by dividing the miles per gallon by the pre-tax spot price of the fuels in question in order to obtain the pre-tax miles per dollar shown in the table above.It can be seen that when methanol is used, fuel-economy improvements of 40 percent can be achieved.(The spot price shown in the table is the New York Harbor spot price of gasoline and the non-discounted Methanex spot price, both averaged over the past year.)
These results should not be too surprising. Methanol contains about half the energy content of gasoline, but its high octane allows it to be burned more efficiently, and thus obtain two-thirds of the mileage. The fact that the Cobalt could easily be made to use it should be no shock either: While not a flex-fuel car, the Cobalt uses the same E-37 computer and the same engine as GM’s HHR, which is a flex-fuel car. In fact, all GM cars sold in the U.S. for the past five years use either the E-37 (for small cars) or the equally flex-fuel-capable E-38 (for larger cars), and so all are capable of flex-fuel operation provided they are programmed correctly. The same is true at Ford, whose cars, whether flex-fuel or not, indiscriminately use the same “black oak,” “green oak,” or “silver oak” computers. Without question, the same must be the case for European and Japanese cars as well, since all are sold in Brazil, where flex-fuel capability is mandatory.
There was a time when adding flex-fuel capability to an automobile increased its cost by about $100. This is no longer true. Now almost all new cars already have flex-fuel hardware, and could easily be marketed as flex-fuel vehicles. Yet the automakers have failed to do so. This is an extraordinary disservice to the nation, because it is preventing us from meeting our fuel needs using our own resources. The United States has only about 4 billion tons of oil reserves, but over 270 billion tons of coal, unknowably vast supplies of natural gas, and by far the world’s most powerful agricultural sector — all of which could be used to produce methanol. Yet instead of being able to put these assets effectively to use to meet our transportation needs, we are being forced to buy 5 billion barrels per year of imported oil. At $100 per barrel, this is costing us $500 billion per year, a deduction from our GDP equal to that required to support 5 million jobs, at $100,000 annually per job.
The Open Fuel Standard bill (H.R. 1687) would remedy this situation by requiring automakers to activate the flex-fuel capabilities of their vehicles. This would open the market to fuels producible from plentiful domestic resources not under cartel control, free us from looting by OPEC, create millions of jobs, slash our deficit, reduce the flow of income to the Islamists, and cushion us from counter-effects should forceful action be required to deal with threats such as the Iranian nuclear-bomb program. Introduced by Reps. John Shimkus (R., Ill.) and Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.), its current bipartisan list of sponsors includes liberals such as Jim McDermott (D., Wash.), Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.), Steve Israel (D., N.Y.), and Howard Berman (D., Calif.) to conservatives Dan Burton (R., Ind.), Roscoe Bartlett (R., Md.), Tom Cole (R., Okla.), and Allen West (R., Fla.), as well as many in between. It is a bill clearly in the national interest, and should be supported by everyone from left to right.
By eliminating the artificial incompatibility between the vehicles we drive and the fuels we can make ourselves, the Open Fuel Standard bill will unchain the Invisible Hand, creating a true free market in vehicle fuels. Those reluctant to embrace it need to answer the following questions:
- In whose interest is it that Americans should continue to be denied fuel choice?
- In whose interest is it that America’s vast natural-gas, coal, and biomass resources remain unusable as a source of liquid vehicle fuel?
- In whose interest is it that America continue to give hundreds of billions of dollars each year to foreign potentates bent upon our destruction, instead of paying our own people to make fuel out of our own resources?
- In whose interest is it that a foreign cartel retains unlimited power to raise the cost of our fuel?
- In whose interest is it that we remain in the power of our enemies?
Finally, should their interests be allowed to prevail, or should ours?
The fault, dear reader, is not in our cars, but in ourselves, that we are tributaries. We can set ourselves free, but action is requaired.
— Dr. Robert Zubrin is president of Pioneer Astronautics, a member of the Steering Committee of Americans for Energy, and author of Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil. His next book, Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudoscientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism, will be published by Encounter Books in February.
Wages
Wages for the political office listed below are for life.
Salary of retired US Presidents ………….. $450,000
Salary of house/Senate Members ………..$174,000
Salary of Speaker of the House ………….. $223,500
Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders …….. $193,400
Average salary of a soldier DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN ……….. $38,000
Average income for Seniors on SOCIAL SECURITY ……………….. $12,000
I think we found where the cuts should be made!
“Where’s the line to see Jesus?”
Sometimes I have the feeling that as Christians we play into the hands of those who have it their way with Christmas. It’s rather humorous that a Jewish individual is the largest producer of “Keeping Christ in Christmas.” Every year it makes his Hanukkah celebration.
Here’s the story of a new Christmas song that emphasis the real meaning of our Christmas season.
While at the mall a couple of years ago, my then four year old nephew, Spencer, saw kids lined up to see Santa Claus. Having been taught as a toddler that Christmas is the holiday that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, he asked his mom, “where’s the line to see Jesus”?
My sister mentioned this to my dad, who immediately became inspired and jotted words down to a song in just a few minutes. After putting music to the words, and doing a quick recording at home, he received a great response from friends. He sent the song off to Nashville without much response, except for a Christian song writer who suggested adding a bridge at the end of the first chorus. My dad then asked if I wanted to record the song to see what we could do with it. I listened to the song, made a few changes to the words to make it flow better, and we headed to Shock City Studios.
It was at the studio where Chris, owner and producer, rewrote the 2nd verse and part of the chorus… with goose bumps and emotions high, we were all hopeful and felt like we had something special. The demo was recorded in just under 2 hours and sent off again to Nashville… still no response.
Then 2 weeks before Christmas last year, my cousins Greg and Robbie decided to do a video to see what we could accomplish on YouTube. The first day we had 3000 hits and it soared from there. We received e-mails, phone calls, Facebook messages from people all over asking for the music, CD’s, iTunes, anything… we had nothing. After a couple of meetings with Chris following the amazing response, we got serious. We headed back into the studio this past spring… this time with guitars, drums, bass, pianos, choirs… the real deal…. and here we are today.
Getting iTunes set up, a website put together, and loving that thousands upon thousands of Christians have come together… remembering the true meaning of Christmas. Out of the mouths of babes come profound truths that many adults can not understand. Hopefully Spencer’s observation will cause people all over to reflect on the love of Jesus, and that one day we will all stand in line to see Him. We are most thankful to our Heavenly Father to have this chance to share our music with you. Merry Christmas everyone.
See and hear “Where’s the Line to See Jesus?”
Seventy Years Ago Today
SEVENTY YEARS AGO TODAY was the historic bombing of Pearl Harbor that thrust the U.S. into World War II. The Japanese force consisted of six carriers with 423 planes. At 6 a.m. the first Japanese attack wave of 83 planes took off. Eighteen U.S. ships were hit. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy,” in reference to the attack. Casualties included 2,402 service personnel, (1987 were Navy sailors attached to the ships and installations under attack) and1,282 people were wounded.
In the early 1900′s the U.S. Navy established a Service School to train Navy Bands. Navy Band 13 was so called because it became the 13th Band to graduate from the School. These Navy Bands were sent as a unit to shore bases or to larger Navy ships to be available to play when music was required at reviews, ceremonies, memorials, or for general entertainment. The band members were sailors first and considered part of the ship’s company, with assigned ship-board duties. In addition however they were also required to be available to play as a band when called upon.
In 1940 Navy Band 13 in late 1941 they were transferred to the USS Dobbin AD – 3, a Destroyer Tender. On December 7, 1941 the USS Dobbin was moored north east of Ford Island in Pearl Harbor with five Destroyers tied up alongside. The area was known as Battle Ship Row and the ships moored there were primary targets for the attacking Japanese planes.
Although taking fire from the attacking planes, the crew aboard the USS Dobbin was able to launch their ship’s small craft to pick out of the water over 200 sailors from the severely damaged USS Raleigh and from other nearby ships.
During the evening of December 7th and on through the night, one of the Band 13 members was at his General Quarters duty station monitoring radio traffic on the bridge of the USS Dobbin. As the night wore on he could see across the water the flickering lights from the torches of a Navy Salvage Team trying to cut through the steel plates on the bottom of a capsized ship in an attempt to rescue crew members trapped inside the hull. While he watched he could hear someone trapped inside the hull pounding on the hull with a hammer. As he listened, the beating appeared to be a rhythmic pattern, and it was repeated over and over but it wasn’t Morse code, it was something else. Then it suddenly came to him and he recognized it as something that he and his band mates had played on so many occasions. The unknown sailor was beating to the rhythm of the Navy Hymn “Eternal Father strong to save, Oh hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea!”
As the band member watched the Salvage Crew at work with the torches through the night of December 7th he could hear that beat, strong at first, but becoming weaker as the hours went by. Finally, before the Salvage Crew could cut through the steel plates, the hammer strokes finally stopped and those that had been trapped were lost.