An Examination of Biblical Precepts Involved in Issues at Hand |
Contents
Not long ago, one of our church members asked me a question. "What should be the Christian attitude toward tattoos, or body modifications?" I put the following together to answer that question.
Observe: By definition, modification means changing. Back in my 1960s "muscle" car days, many of those street legal cars were modified; that is, changed from the original form. I enjoyed the drag races, and worked one year at the Clairmont Nationals Drag Race. The "modified stock" was one of the most popular classes. More recently, I heard someone say there was probably not a stock Harley Davidson on the road. Every one had been modified in some way. Of course, H-D urges such modifications as they greatly increase the profit.
Body modifications. The person is displeased with their God-given appearance, and seeks to change it. When even Christians are displeased with the way God made them, then how can we condemn those who are displeased with the way God made the plant and animal world. Has the Christian attitude toward physical modification over the past couple of decades resulted in plant modification over the past couple of decades, GMO? Are not both the sinful outworking of man's displeasure with God's design?
Those of my generation look on in amazement at the appeal of tattoos, as well as body piercing, to Christians. For many years, tattoos have been one of the world's mark of demonism, rebellion, or even of worldly "manhood". When my generation (70 in Aug), thinks of tattoos and piercing, we think of "bikers" (no, I don't have a tattoo nor piercing) and seminude "biker-babes".
(There was a man in my battalion in the service who was tattooed over every inch of his body, so he had to wear long sleeves at all times so the tattoos would not show. He was the only man with a sewing machine, and made some good money with it.)
In other words, satan worship through body modification has been common throughout history among those in rebellion against God, which results in rebellion against man. Therefore, we are left in amazement at the appeal of such openly demonic things to Christians.
The world exalts tattoos, and pastors have failed to condemn them for what they are. So these demonic activities have quietly been accepted by many who have professed Christ.
The world has dressed up tattoos. Rather than naked women and other openly wicked tattoos, tattoos are changing shape to hide their true nature pretty butterflies, flowers or other delicate things, and then those shapes are put in an inconspicious place. (Secret rebellion against God and man. See Jeremiah 6:20, which we will discuss at a later time.)
What does God, and secular history, say about body-modification?
Leviticus 19:28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
Print any marks Tattooing was probably practiced in ancient Egypt, as it is now by the lower classes of the modern Egyptians, and was connected with superstitious notions. Any voluntary disfigurement of the person was in itself an outrage upon God's workmanship, and might well form the subject of a law. (Barnes' Notes)
nor print any marks upon youby tattooing, imprinting figures of flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on various parts of their person. The impression was made sometimes by means of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab females of the present day and the different castes of the Hindus. It is probable that a strong propensity to adopt such marks in honor of some idol gave occasion to the prohibition in this verse; and they were wisely forbidden, for they were signs of apostasy; and, when once made, they were insuperable obstacles to a return. (See allusions to the practice, #Isa 44:5 Re 13:17 14:1). (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary)
nor print any marks upon you; Aben Ezra observes, there are some that say this is in connection with the preceding clause, for there were who marked their bodies with a known figure, by burning, for the dead; and he adds, and there are to this day such, who are marked in their youth in their faces, that they may be known; these prints or marks were made with ink or black lead, or, however, the incisions in the flesh were filled up therewith; but this was usually done as an idolatrous practice; so says Ben Gersom, this was the custom of the Gentiles in ancient times, to imprint upon themselves the mark of an idol, to show that they were his servants; and the law cautions from doing this, as he adds, to the exalted name (the name of God): in the Misnah it is said {h}, a man is not guilty unless he writes the name, as it is said, #Le 19:28; which the Talmudists {i} and the commentators {k} interpret of the name of an idol, and not of God: (John Gill)
After doing much research, I found the following to be true to both Scripture and history. So rather than "reinventing the wheel", I will present the "wheel" as these men have developed it.
If you do not want to follow the documentation, and it is quite clearly presented, I will quickly sum up the matter. Tattoos are clearly forbidden to God's people, with good reason. History tells us that tattoos are seen as bloodletting rituals to demonic gods. The numerous pin pricks are considered by the occultist as inlets for evil to enter the body. Moreover, there is no effort to deny nor even hide the satanic nature of tattoos by those involved in the industry.
Scripture, facts and history prove that tattoos are earthly, sensual and devilish. James 3:5, which brings us to,
Ephesians 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
I am confident that the vast majority of those receiving, even purchasing, tattoos have no clue of the horrendous demonic influence to which they are subjecting themselves. Paul tells us that Christians can, and do, give place for the devil to work in their lives. Scripture tells us that seeking after the things of this world given place to the devil, and tattoos are one of the more obvious ways place is given to the devil. Regardless of the motive behind a tattoo, the results are the same. They are demonic in origin, as well as in practice. Throughout history, tattoos spoke of and speak of worshiping the gods of evil of every description, as well as slavery
Observe:
Leviticus 19:28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
"But that is Old Testament. We are now under grace, not under law!"
Can you say then that the ancient demonic nature of tattoos no longer applies, though modern tattoo artist tells us it is? Does Christianity innoculate us against the works of the devil in our lives? Did Paul "miss speak" when he said, Neither give place to the devil, for there is no way a Christian can give place to the devil.
Now What?
Leviticus 5:4 Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. 5 And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing:
Once a sin has been revealed, it must be confessed, renounced and the blood of Christ applied to that sin. 2 Cor. 4:2. Otherwise, the power given to the devil will continue, and can even increase, because the enemy has been given our permission to work in us.
FACTS
(From History of Tattoos at http://www.squidoo.com/HESTORYOFTATOOS#module66318401)
* The traditional reasons for tattooing include:
* To connect with the Divine.
* As a tribute or act of sacrifice to a deity.
* As a talisman, a permanent amulet that cannot be lost. To provide magical or medical protection.
[Where does glorifying God fit in here?]
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME
Tattooing was only associated with barbarians in early Greek and Roman times. The Greeks learned tattooing from the Persians, and used it to mark slaves and criminals so they could be identified if they tried to escape. The Romans in turn adopted the practice from the Greeks, and in late antiquity when the Roman army consisted largely of mercenaries; they also were tattooed so that deserters could be identified.
Many Greek and Roman authors mentioned tattooing as punishment. Plato thought that individuals guilty of sacrilege should be tattooed and banished from the Republic.
Suetone, an early writer reports that the degenerate and sadistic Roman Emperor, Caligula, amused himself by capriciously ordering members of his court to be tattooed.
According to the historian, Zonare, the Greek emperor, Theophilus, took revenge on two monks who had publicly criticized him by having eleven verses of obscene iambic pentameter tattooed on their foreheads.
Hadrian's Roman soldiers had military tattoo'
It's a little known fact, but it would appear that all of the legionaries and some of the auxiliaries on Hadrian's Wall would have had a tattoo', says Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities Director of Archaeological Museums and Roman expert, Lindsay Allason-Jones.
The evidence comes from the Roman writer Vegetius, whose Epitome of Military Science, written around the 4th Century AD, is the only account of Roman military practice to have survived intact.
Vegetius recorded that a recruit to the Roman army "should not be tattooed with the pin-pricks of the official mark as soon as he has been selected, but first be thoroughly tested in exercises so that it may be established whether he is truly fitted for so much effort",' says Lindsay. (Source: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Epitome of Military Science, Chapter 8).
We do not know what this official mark looked like. It was possibly an eagle or the symbol of the soldier's legion or unit' , she said.
Lindsay has even unearthed evidence that the legionaries would have sported the tattoo on their hands. Aetius, the 6th century Roman doctor, recording that tattoos were found on the hands of soldiers, even documented the Roman technique for tattooing, which included first washing the area to be tattooed with leek juice, known for its antiseptic properties. Aetius even went so far as to document the formula for the tattooing ink, which combined Egyptian pine wood (especially the bark), corroded bronze, gall and vitriol with more leek juice. The design was pricked into the skin with pointed needles until blood is drawn', and then the ink was rubbed on.
The Latin word for "tattoo" was stigma, and the original meaning is reflected in modern dictionaries. Among the definitions of "stigma" listed in the Webster dictionary are "a prick with a pointed instrument", "a distinguishing mark cut into the flesh of a slave or a criminal", and "a mark of disgrace or reproach."
(STIGMA, n. [L., Gr., to prick or stick.] http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/word,stigma)
Thus, throughout history, tattoos have been a stigma, a mark of reproach upon a slave or criminal.
The oldest known description of tattoo techniques together with a formula for tattoo ink, is found in Medicae artis principes by the sixth century Roman physician, Aetius. He writes:
"Stigmates are the marks that are made on the face and other parts of the body. We see such marks on the hands of soldiers. To perform the operation they use ink made according to this formula: ..."
The Greek philosopher Bion of Borysthenes (circa 300 B.C.) described the brutally tattooed face of his father, a former slave, as "a narrative of his master's harshness."
During the early Roman Empire, slaves exported to Asia were tattooed "tax paid." Words, acronyms, sentences, and doggerel were inscribed on the bodies of slaves and convicts, both
as identification and punishment. A common phrase etched on the forehead of Roman slaves was "Stop me, I'm a runaway."
Tattooing of Slaves and Criminals in the Roman Empire
As Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, the tattooing of slaves and criminals was gradually abandoned. The Roman Emperor Constantine, who declared Christianity the official religion of the Empire in 325 AD, decreed that a man who had been condemned to fight as a gladiator or to work in the mines should be tattooed on the legs or hands, but not on the face, "so that the face, which has been formed in the image of the divine beauty, should be defiled as little as possible."
In 787 AD Pope Hadrian I forbade tattooing of any kind, and the popes who followed him continued this tradition. It is for this reason that tattooing was virtually unknown in the Christian world until the 19th century.
Tattoos are Marks of Satan!
By David J. StewartI was recently reading a ridiculous article from the Christian Tattoo Association (Oh Brother!). The author of the article is a professional tattoo artist, and he strongly attempts to defend his demonic craft with the Word of God. Despite all his ranting and raving, tattoos are sinful. The Bible states in Leviticus 19:28, "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD." The anonymous author of the article claims that God only condemns tattoos which are placed upon the body to invoke the attention of pagan Gods. (Sic.) However, tattoos are without question, marks of Satan. There are several proofs of this fact.
First, what types of people are operating tattoo businesses? Do you know of any Christ-honoring, Bible-believing churches who are willing to tattoo you? No. Tattoo shops are operated by some of the creepiest, weird looking, worldly people on the planet. Go into any tattoo shop and you'll likely meet some bald-headed guy with tattoos all over his body, and earrings in both ears. You'll likely see nudity in some of the images. Only a fool would say that God approves of befriending the world, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). Most professed Christians today have the exact OPPOSITE attitude, saying that we need to become more like the world if we are to attract them to Christ. The Word of God condemns such apostate thinking. God commands us to SEPARATE from the sinful world (2nd Corinthians 6:14-17), and not to help them by befriending their wickedness. Tattoos are worldly as can be, and the businesses that sell them are demonic. The simple fact that tattoos are always obtained from heathen worldly sources proves that they are of the Devil. There is nothing "Christian" about tattoos!
When you get a tattoo, you are IDENTIFYING yourself with the lost world, because that's where tattoos originated!!! Tattoos didn't originate from the Bible; but from the heathen unsaved world.
Second, what type of people usually get tattoos? There is a common trend nowadays amongst worldly women to have a tattoo placed on their lower back, just above their buttocks, and also on their ankle Tattoos are very common amongst prostitutes. Tattoos are very common amongst homosexuals. Tattoos are very common amongst witches and in the Goth crowd. Tattoos are very common amongst street gangs and punks I don't know of any Christ-honoring Christians who have had tattoos placed on their body. I do know some Christians who have tattoos on their body from their sinful past, and they have told me that Satan had control of their life before they were saved; but I don't know of ANY Bible-believing Christians who've been tattooed while close to the Lord. Say what you willtattoos have always been obtained from WORLDLY establishments.
Thirdly, not one Christian in the entire Bible ever received a tattoo. Not one! Jesus never wore a tattoo! None of the Apostles wore tattoos. How ridiculous and absurd to claim that God approves of tattoos, when Leviticus 19:18 clearly prohibits such demonic practices, "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD." Having lived in Chicago for most of my life, and having evangelized to the inner-city for over 20 years, I can assure you that tattoos are marks of Satan. Tattoos are common amongst criminals, street gangs, and prostitutes. As I've mentioned, I've never known a God-fearing Christian to go get a tattoo. The origin of the tattoo is paganism.
Fourthly, tattoos are popular today because of the rock-n-roll idols who wear them. As seen in the photo above from one of Ozzy Osbourne's band members, rock-n-roll music and tattoos are synonymous. You won't seen any popular heathens carrying God's Word; but most of them have tattoos!
To allow a tattoo to be imprinted on your body is to defile your flesh with a mark of Satan. Please consider this important thought ... If God wanted us to have marks on our body, He would have put them there. If God wanted people to smoke cigarettes, then He would have put a chimney on top of our head. Marks on the body have always been associated with sin and slavery. It's crazy! Satan would love to murder children; but people abort their own children voluntarily. Satan would love to destroy our health; but people smoke them selves into a wheelchair voluntarily. Satan would love to place his mark upon us; but people do it voluntarily. Satan inspires people to destroy themselves, and people are stupid enough to do it. Frankly, getting a tattoo is stupid. A lot of people don't like themselves, and getting a tattoo identifies them with the lowlifes of this world. In a strange way, it makes them feel accepted. Many people get tattoos to identify, relate, and find acceptance with the worldly crowd.
Fifthly, what types of images are tattooed on people. Many of the images are snakes, dragons, grim reapers, naked women, curse words, skulls, and other vile images. I realize that some people legitimately want a tattoo to remember the death of a loved one, and many of the images are not vulgar; however, the FACT remains that tattoos originated with the wicked. Our bodies belong to God, and we should not desecrate the sacredness of the body. The believer's body is holy, sanctified unto the Lord. We read in 2nd Corinthians 6:20, "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." If God approved of marks on the body, then He would have said so in the Bible. Since the Bible clearly states that it was a heathen practice in Leviticus 19:28 to get a tattoo, we would be sinful and foolish to think otherwise. The bottom line is that tattoos are far more POPULAR amongst SATAN'S CROWD!
Sixth, where are people getting tattoos? Many tattoos are nowadays being placed in the genital and private places on the body. There is a definite sexual connection with the tattoo industry. In addition, it is wickedness for a male tattoo artist (which most of them are) to look upon a female's naked body in order to paint a tattoo upon her. We are living in a sex-perverted generation, where fornication is so commonplace that many men and women have lost respect for their bodies. This is especially true of women. Such women are far more likely to commit further whoredom, get tattoos, and live in sexual sin. The fact that many people are getting tattoos in their private places speaks volumes concerning the nature of tattoos.
Seventh, tattoos are an unwise decision for health reasons. Here's some FACTS that the local tattoo shop WON'T dare tell you...
FDA Warnings for Healthy Consumers
The U.S. Food and Drug administration lists the following risk warnings concerning tattoos. [2]
Infection. Even with the use of a new needle, tattooing equipment is still difficult to sterilize. When equipment which is not sterile is used, there is an increased the risk of transmitting blood-borne disease such as hepatitis or REV. Because of these infection risks, the American Association of Blood Banks requires a one-year wait between getting a tattoo and donating blood.
Allergic reactions. Although allergic reactions to tattoo pigments are rare, however when they do occur, they may be particularly troublesome because the pigments can be hard to remove. Occasionally, people can develop an allergic reaction to tattoos they have had for years.
MRI complications. There have been reports of people with tattoos or permanent makeup who experienced swelling or burning in the affected areas when they underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Removal problems. The most common problem with tattoos is costumer dissatisfaction. Despite advances in laser technology, removing a tattoo is a painstaking process, usually involving several treatments and considerable expense. -SOURCE http://www.lymphnotes.com/article.php/id/211
I just underwent an MRI for herniated disks in my neck. I sure am glad I don't have any tattoos.
We are living in apostate times, when Satan is conditioning the masses to receive the coming antichrist. [Notehe lost me here. What he said above is true, but the antichrist has been here since Christ. Read 1, 2 & 3 John.] To no surprisehomosexuals are trying to justify their abominations with the Bible, witches are quoting the teachings of Jesus in an attempt to silence Christians, professed "Christians" are trying to justify Satan's rock music with the Bible, feminists are promoting godless "feminist theology," professed Christians are trying to use the Bible to justify tattoos, etc. It is disgraceful. Let us be diligent to expose the evils of tattoos. No Christian should ever receive a tattoo mark on the body, because tattoos are marks of Satan. Romans 8:5 states, "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." Tattoos are of the flesh, and of the Devil. The only people saying otherwise are the Devil's gang, the worldly crowd. As the church goes further into apostasy, so will the world continue to redefine God. It is NO coincidence that fornication, abortion, idolatry, covetousness, feminism, rock-n-roll, witchcraft, lesbianism, and tattoos have become popular in recent decadesthis is because of the apostate condition of America's Christians. Most of America's preachers have stopped preaching hard against sin, and have gone the greedy way of Balaam. Rise up oh Christian!
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Apostasy/tattoos.htm
Another article:
Terry Walkins (http://www.biblebelievers.com/watkins_tattoos/pagan. html)
"Ye worship ye know not what. . ." Jesus Christ, John 4:24
Throughout history the tattoo bears the mark of paganism, demonism, Baal worship, shamanism, mysticism, heathenism, cannibalism and just about every other pagan belief known. The tattoo has NEVER been associated with Bible Believing Christians And whenever and wherever, in history Christianity appears tattoos disappear. The only exception 20th century, lukewarm, carnal, disobedient, Laodicean Christians.
The birth of the tattoo has always borne the fruits of pagan religion and mysticism. Without exception, research after research, study after study, book after book, the roots of the tattoo never wavers. The following documentation is just a small (very small) drop of the ocean of research documenting the pagan and demonic source of the tattoo.
Please remember. . . The following documentation is from pro-tattoo books simply documenting the obvious spiritual and religious link to the tattoo. These are not Christian writers trying to paint a negative portrait of the tattoo. No matter how much the carnal, rebellious, Christian desires to justify their perverse reasoning for "marking" themselves with the forbidden demonic tattoo, the facts are loud and clear, backed by tons of research and documentation by the leading pro-tattoo authorities on the planet the foundation, origin, meaning and purposes of the tattoo is pagan demonism, shamanism, Baal worship, and occult mysticism. A tattooist in many cultures is also a shaman, magic-man, priest or priestess. According to the dictionary a shaman is a "intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds, using magic to cure illness, foretell the future, control spiritual forces, etc." (www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0648969.html)
"Tattooing is often a magical rite in the more traditional cultures, and the tattooist is respected as a priest or shaman." (Michelle Delio, Tattoo: The Exotic Art of Skin Decoration, p. 73)
"In Fiji, Formosa, New Zealand and in certain of the North American Indian tribes, tattooing was regard as a religious ceremony, and performed by priests or priestesses." (Ronald Scutt, Art, Sex and Symbol, 1974, p. 64)
"The actual tattooing process, which involved complex ritual and taboos, could only be done by priests and was associated with beliefs which were secrets known only to members of the priestly caste. . . Hambly concluded that historically tattooing had originated in connection with ancient rites of scarification and bloodletting which were associated with religious practices intended to put the human soul in harmony with supernatural forces and ensure continuity between this life and the next." (Gilbert, Steve, Tattoo History: A Source Book, p. 158)
The tattooist, shaman or the occult priest many times uses the tattoo as a point of contact, or inlets into the spiritual world. The tattoo is much more than just a body decoration. It's more than just a layer of ink cut into the skin. In fact, the tattoo in every culture, in every country, up until the 20th century, was a vehicle for pagan spiritual and religious invocations. Even today, in many countries (including the United States), the tattoo is believed to be a bridge into the supernatural world.
Famous witch and author Laurie Cabot writes of the tattoo:
"The origins of tattooing came from ancient magical practices. . . " (Laurie Cabot, Power of the Witch, cited in Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated by Dr. Cathy Burns, p. 301)
"According to Amy Krakow in her chronicle The Total Tattoo Book, tattooing has had well-defined roles: marking a rite of passage at a stage of life, calling the spirits, proudly, defiantly or sneaky showing who you are via body art."
"Many native tribes practiced therapeutic tattooing. The Ojibwa, for instance, tattooed the temples, forehead, and cheeks of those suffering from headaches and toothaches that were believed to be caused by malevolent spirits. Songs and dances that were supposed to exorcise the demons accompanied the tattooing ceremony." (Gilbert, Steve, Tattoo History: A Source Book, p. 90)
"Tattooing is about personalizing the body, making it a true home and fit temple for the spirit that dwells inside it. . . Tattooing therefore, is a way of keeping the spiritual and material needs of my body in balance." (Michelle Delio, Tattoo: The Exotic Art of Skin Decoration, p. 8)
Among today's latest tattoo craze is "tribal tattoos", which are pure paganism. Tribal tattoos are designs that bear serious symbolic mystical and occult meanings. Tribal tattoos, especially, are possible channels into spiritual and demonic possession.
"When the designs are chosen with care, tattoos have a power and magic all their own. They decorate the body but they also enhance the soul." (Michelle Delio, Tattoo: The Exotic Art of Skin Decoration, p. 13)
"The reasons why puncturing the skin should be regarded with some degree of awe are not far to seek, for in the first place, there is the drawing of blood, which to the savage world over is full of significance as a rejuvenating and immortalizing factor. There is in addition to the opening of numerous inlets for evil to enter. . ." (Hambly Wilfrid D. 1925. The History of Tattooing and its Significance, p. 233, cited in Gilbert, Steve, Tattoo History: A Source Book, p. 162)
Rolling Stone magazine describes famous tattoo artist Paul Booth during his tattoo as, ". . allowing his clients' demons to help guide the needle." (Rolling Stone magazine, March 28, 2002, p. 40)
"Burmese tattooing has been associated with religion for thousands of years. Tattooing among indigenous North American groups including the Arapaho, Mohave, Cree, and Inuit (Eskimo) is rooted in the spiritual realm as well." (Laura Reybold, Everything you need to know about the dangers of tattooing and body piercing, p. 15)
"Skulls imprinted on skin abound, and depictions of the Grim Reaper are commonly seen... These images, indelibly marked on the skin, reflect uncertainty about the future, and sublimate the pervasive fear of the unknown. Possibly, at the same time, to wear a death's figure on one's body may be an invocation of whatever undefinable forces of nature and the cosmos that exist, in an attempt to protect the wearer from such a fate." (Henry Ferguson and Lynn Procter, The Art of the Tattoo, p. 76)
Ronald Scutt, Ronald Scutt, Art, Sex and Symbol, 1974 in his exhaustive book, Art, Sex and Symbol, 1974, covers a great deal about the history and culture of tattoos. Scutt documents that most of the time tattoos are connected to spiritual, religious and mystical purposes. The following documentation is from Scutt's book:
"In fact tattooing is much more likely, in view of its subsequent development, to have had a mystical significance, or to have been used as a status symbol, the red ochre carrying an association with blood and life." (p. 22)
[Tattooing] "In association with sun-worship, megalithic building, ear-piercing, serpent worship, . ." (Ibid.)
"These marks [tattoos] are believed to be associated with the worship of the sun-goddess Neith" (p. 24)
"Be that as it may, primitive tribes were certainly convinced that the spirit, having escaped from the body at death, retained a replica of its earthly tenement. They therefore used tattoo marks as a means of identification in the next world and a passport to future happiness." (p. 63)
"The Mohave Indians in the Lower Colorado instituted chin tattooing for both sexes because it was believed that a kind of Judge looks over each one who comes to Sil'aid (Land of the Dead) and if a man don't have marks on his face, He sends him down to where the desert rats are." (p. 63)
"Among other Indian tribes there was a conviction that on the journey heavenwards to the Many Lodges' they would be stopped by an old woman and examined for the presence of tattoo marks on the forehead, chin or wrists. If absent, the luckless warrior would be pushed off a dizzy height to fall back to earth with no hope of ever gaining readmittance to the spirit world." (p. 63)
"Hindus in Begal believed that without tattoos parents would not be able to recognize their children in the next world." (Ibid.)
Then there is the ghastly fate of the untattooed Frijan women:
struck down by the souls of their own sex and without further ado served up as food for the gods." (p. 64)
"Yet the worship of the sun-god Baal had involved the marking of the hands [tattoos] with the divine token in a mystic attempt to acquire strength." (Ibid.)
According to survey and statistics, Scutt lists the reasons why people get a tattoo and the number two reason "to secure a place in heaven".
"Reasons for getting a tattoo:
2. To secure a place in heaven.
5. To propitiate malignant spirits at time of death.
6. To acquire special characteristics through totemism and ancestor worship.
9. To make the body sexually interesting." (p. 13)
Dr. Hambly, probably the greatest tattooist historian and researcher that ever lived, writes over and over, that tattoos are based on pagan spiritual and religious rituals. Any serious and honest study of the origin and foundation of the tattoo will clearly expose a demonic and supernatural intent of tattoos.
Tattoo enthusiast and historian, Steve Gilbert, in his popular, Tattoo History: A Source Book, cites some of the historical facts Hambly found in his extensive research.
[Hambly] "retailed a wealth of examples which he had culled from field work by anthropologists in many parts of the world. Tattooing was supposed to: prevent pain; protect against gunshot wounds; cure illness; confer superhuman strength; preserve youth; enhance the supernatural powers of a shaman; ensure the survival of the soul after death; identify the soul in the hereafter; attract good luck; protect against witchcraft; ensure the protection of a deity; confer occult powers; prevent drowning; exorcize demons; ensure the protection of a totemic animal or spiritual guardian; record a pilgrimage to a holy place, etc.. .
Hambly reported that previous investigators had often been misled because obtaining information as to the religious and magical uses of tattooing was fraught with difficulties. In the myths of many cultures tattooing was of divine origin. The actual tattooing process, which involved complex ritual and taboos, could only be done by priests and was associated with beliefs which were secrets known only to members of the priestly caste. Anthropologists were often misled because their informants either did not know or would not reveal the secret significance of the rituals and taboos. Hambly concluded that historically tattooing had originated in connection with ancient rites of scarification and bloodletting which were associated with religious practices intended to put the human soul in harmony with supernatural forces and ensure continuity between this life and the next." (p. 158)
THE TATTOO'S GREATEST ENEMY . . THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
In the pages of history, whenever and wherever "tattooing" pagan tribes were converted to Christianity, without exception, one of their first pagan practices to "pass away" [ 2 Corinthians 5:17] was the tattoo. Why? Because, unlike today's disobedient carnal "tattooed" Christians (or so-called?), the converted pagan KNEW the tattoo was against the Word of God. The Holy Spirit quickly "told" the converted pagan no tattoo.
"Just as occurred in other cultures with tattoo traditions, when these pagan tribes were converted' to the Christian religion, their spiritual and cultural rites (which included tattooing, piercing and scarification) were outlawed. . ." (Jean-Chris Miller, The Body Art Book : A Complete, Illustrated Guide to Tattoos, Piercings, and Other Body Modifications, p.9)
Amazing When the Lord Jesus Christ enters in the tattoo goes out.
"Whenever missionaries encountered tattooing they eradicated it." (Gilbert, Steve, Tattoo History: A Source Book, p. 101)
"While these and other body modifications continued to be practiced underground as a way for non-Christian people to identify each other, God forbid you got caught and your mark was revealed." (Jean-Chris Miller, The Body Art Book : A Complete, Illustrated Guide to Tattoos, Piercings, and Other Body Modifications, p.11)
I have many friends who before they were saved received a tattoo. And without exception, everyone of them is ashamed, and as much as possible they cover it. But before they got saved like the pagan tribes they proudly displayed their tattoo. And let me add most of the time, this is before they've read Leviticus 19:28, or before anyone even told them a tattoo is wrong. After receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit, they KNEW the tattoo was displeasing to their God. What about you?
A booming testimony to the author of the tattoo is recorded by Steve Gilbert:
"When Cortez and his conquistadors arrived on the coast of Mexico in 1519, they were horrified to discover that natives not only worshipped devils in the form of statues and idols, but also had somehow managed to imprint indelible images of these idols on their skin. The Spaniards, who had never heard of tattooing, recognized it at once as the work of Satan." (Gilbert, Steve, Tattoo History: A Source Book, p. 99)
Even though, these Spaniards "had never heard of tattooing" they "recognized it at ONCE as the work of Satan".
And some of today's carnal, rebellious and disobedient Christians (or so-called Christians?) gibber-gabber nonsense about "marking themselves for Jesus".. .
TATTOOS. . . AND TODAY'S CIVILIZED SOCIETY
Somebody says, "Sure that was back in the dark ages. That was in heathen lands. Today that has all changed. Nobody connects any kind of ritualistic or pagan spiritual rituals to a tattoo."
Yes. . . They do.. .
These tattoos act as protective and empowering talismans for the wearer. There are even some body artists who perform ritual tattoos, piercing, brandings and cuttings. They may suggest you consult your astrological chart to pick the right time to get your body art. They will bum incense, light candles, ..." (Jean-Chris Miller, The Body Art Book : A Complete, Illustrated Guide to Tattoos, Piercings, and Other Body Modifications, p. 29)
"Some tattooists in the West are experimenting with ritual tattooing. This method of working incorporates doing a ritual to create a sacred space in the area where the tattoo is positioned. Often incense is burned and the gods invited to bless the proceedings." (Michelle Delio, Tattoo: The Exotic Art of Skin Decoration, p. 75)
TATTOOS: THE CUP OF DEVILS
1 Corinthians 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
Spring has sprung. It is nice to see spring creep up the mountains Spring reaches the valleys about two weeks before it reaches us, and we get spring about two weeks before the tops of the surrounding mountains. We enjoy watching spring creep up the mountains, and fall creep down. We can see the Eastern Continental Divide from where our county road comes out on US 48, a new 4 lane highway with two lane roads over the mountains on both ends.
The humming birds are humming. On April 28th, they looked through our window to make sure we saw they had returned. The swallows are swooping again, even in our back porch that is recessed into the house. Two pairs of Baltimore Orioles are tugging at broken pieces of binder twine we used to support our new trees from the brutal winds. We found that they like colored string, so we put out some colored threads for them. The fruit trees and blackberries have set a good amount of fruit. The pears, crab-apple, apple trees, and blackberries were overflowing with young fruit. This is the third year for them. The apple and crabapple trees are to bring the deer in close enough to provide our meat (from our living room windows). They like pears, but they really like the garden (hence the electric fence) and the White Oak in our back yard. The cherry tree just got its blooms, but not the new persimmon tree; the peach tree had very few blooms, and the fruit fell off of it.
The tree frogs are astoundingly loud, and will sing when it is cool. Right now, they sing during a nice day, but as the summer comes on, they will sing only in the cool evenings.
About this time last year, we got a hard freeze, 29 degrees, and lost all the fruit. The Lord protected us from the late freeze this year, but did need to light wood stove, 5/20/11.
We planted a good number of evergreens, trying for a wind break on the north side of the house, but have not had much success in getting them to prosper. Bettie fertilized them and they are slowly coming back.
The huge beautiful maple tree was struck by lightning last year, and the power company cut it down. We finally got around to cleaning up the wood from our yard. We still have a nice large oak on the road side of the property to the north, and a huge hickory nut tree on the road side to the south. Every locust tree on the place has been struck by lightning. We planted a red maple tree (and two hybrid elms) to replace the destroyed tree. It looks like it will grow well this year.
I asked an elderly man when we were in Louisiana, "You will never see the fruit, so why do you plant them?" His response: "If only those who knew they would enjoy the fruit planted trees, there would be no trees planted." So my goal from that time on has been to plant trees, particularly fruit trees. Properly located trees increase the value of property.
Garden time is here. We use raised beds because though the soil is very rich, it is so full of rocks that it is nearly impossible to plough it up and get all the rocks out of it. In fact, when the rocks are removed, there is not enough dirt left to refill the hole. So we had to purchase some top soil from the valley to fill holes and make our garden beds.
Bettie likes to start her own plants from Heirloom Seeds. Good source, Baker Seed Company. I noticed that Lowe's now has organic seeds (organic by definition is non GMO, though it is impossible to not have cross pollination. New-borns are not appearing with GMO poisons in their bodies). I assume some of those are Heirloom, from which you can save seeds for the next planting. One of our men mentioned to the local hardware store that they should stock heirloom seeds. They did this year, making the seeds quite inexpensive.
Field peas, Purple Hulls, are mighty good, and they have a long bearing season. We tried black plastic over the beds this year, and will plant what we can through the plastictomatoes, broccoli, cabbages, peas, &c. We will see how this works. We will need to put in irrigation, which we can get at Lowe's. We have been warned even by Wal-Mart of exceedingly high food prices coming this summer.
Rain. It has been difficult to get the garden in because of the rain. (The wind was so strong it blew my wind gauge off its high post. Broke it.) Obviously, being on a mountain ridge, there is no problem with high water, though the rain does wash away any landscaping we try to do.
Our neighbor across the road, really the only house we can see clearly from our house, gave us some wild turkey he killed. He had cut out the breast, and skinned them. We had him over to help enjoy them on the grill. Good stuff.
Gas
How can we say nothing about gas? The powers that be have intentionally seen to it that the prices would get out of reach. In the 70s, 30% of our oil was imported, and 70% domestic. Now, 70% is imported and 30% domestic. The "powers" have made it so difficult to produce domestic oil, that the oil companies must import.
Ethanol... Avoid ethanol for your small engines if at all possible. It will destroy their carburetors, which are not cheap to replace. At the very least, use the highest grade, and do not let the gas sit in the engine. Run it out of gas before you park it. The refinery in Roanoke VA makes real gas available. The only place we can get it is at Southern States in Harrisonburg, VA, an hour away. Yet we go there to get the gas for our small engines, and for our vehicles when possible. We have a good number of 5 gallon cans that make the trip with us, so we very seldom purchase gas in WV. Besides, this last time I got gas there, it was 30¢ a gallon cheaper than in WV. The government pays the refiners 45¢ a gallon to blend in the ethanol. The small engine repairmen know the problem, and have complained to the "powers", but though the ethanol is costing the consumers multiplied millions of dollars in repairs, not to mention the reduction in gas milage, they" will do nothing about it. The corn industry has invested too much in lobbying to get the subsidies to let common sense get in the way. They have bought Congress, making Congress another branch of the ethanol industry.
Do the math.
My figures here may be wrong, but consider what common sense says: Our 02 Toyota Camry, 5 speed, gets 35 mpg with real gas, and only 30 mpg with ethanol, staying a little under the speed limit with both. Thus, ethanol costs us 5 mpg, which is at least a 15% reduction in mpg. Ethanol supposedly makes up 10% of the gas. Now figure. Since ethanol requires at least 15% more gas than real gas, and makes up 10% of the fuel we use, ethanol requires at least 5% more imported oil than does non-ethanol gas. Obviously, the issue is not "foreign oil dependance"; rather the issue is government subsidies for the ethanol industry. It costs "us" 5% more crude with ethanol than without. The refiners get 45 cents per gallon for blending ethanol in their gas, and no doubt a good portion of that goes to buy the congressional votes to keep the ethanol mandate. Congress voted to re-authorize the ethanol subsidies last year, using the foreign oil excuse. Stupidity reigns. How did your congressperson vote on the subsidy? 2012 elections are coming up. We must get rid of those who sell their votes at our expense.
Prostate... Not good news. Quite enlarged, but probably no cancer. What to do about it? The VA in our area does not have a good reputation concerning prostate problems. You would think they would, considering the number of men they treat. Yet that is all I have for medical care.
Skype
We have had some people join our Sunday services through Skype when they are unable to attend their church. Let me encourage you also to do so, if you have no biblically based church to attend. Services start at 10:30 AM EDT, each Sunday. We do not pass the offering plate, so maybe we are not a real church.
Free Studies
We have been trying to clean up around here, which involves disposing of things accumulated over the years.
Some years ago, I printed a lengthy 300 page "take home" study in Deuteronomy, based loosely on RJR's Institutes of Biblical Law, I. Of course, it emphasizes the Law as given through Moses, as well as the Grace so clearly presented in both Testaments.
I have got to clean our storage area, so I will send the study, with the answers to you for simply the postage. You can order it through Paypal on our web site.
Free Will?
In political speech, I "mis-spoke" in the last mailing concerning "free will". ("Mis-spoke" is a convenient term that allows people to avoid responsibility :1) Let me define that a little as I believe Scripture does. All men are far from free, but are in bondage to sin from birth. All of his actions and thoughts from that time forward reflect that bondage. So, far from being free, he is in bondage to the lusts of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life.
His evil deeds reflect that bondage. However, through faith in the Son, he can be made free from the demands of sin and the resulting death through the new birth. But that freedom cannot be freedom to serve the flesh, eye or pride, or he is back in bondage. The redeemed have the freedom, power and desire to do right, which is God's grace at work.
In other words, there is no such thing as "free will"; one is either servant to sin or a servant to the Lord God. There is no "neutral" ground of "free will".
Bettie's oldest daughter and her family of 9 children (10th one on the way) went to Kenya, from where her husband has easier access into the Sudan where he works with Brad Phillips and Persecution Project.
Election
Bettie and I work the polls here in our county. WV governor Manchin refused to appoint someone to fill out Byrd's senatorial term, which ends in 2012. The constitution is so vague in this area, that it was open to whatever one wanted to do, and Manchin wanted that seat so he could run as an incumbent in 12. So he held a primary and general election for senate, which he got. Then rather than the next in line remaining as acting governor until 12, he also wanted a special election so he could run for governor in 12 as an incumbent. The primary was Saturday, May 14, 2011, with the "general" to be in October. It costs 8 million per election. That is for 4x8 million, 32 million so Manchin could be senator. Politics is an expensive game, and the tax payer ends up financing the game.
The polls. We are not supposed to talk politics as workers, but with the polls open 13 hours and only 61 voters, it was hard not to talk politics. That Saturday was my first personal experience with a "yellow dog democrat". I was amazed at the total rejection of anything that would cast a "dark light" on any Bemocrat. Being in this part of WV, I can understand the thinking of the "yellow dogs", since Lincoln, a Republican, invaded this part of VA to start his war against an independent nation. Tradition retains a strong hold on everyone.
Firewood
It's time to start thinking about firewood for 12-13. A couple of issues ago in the Moneychanger, Franklin Sanders ha a note about the joys of using a chain saw and a sharp chain. I must agree with him. It certainly is a joy to use a good chain saw with sharp chain,. A friend had the new power line from the coal fired power plant at Mt. Storm to the DC area placed through his property. The company cut 17 acres of good hard wood. The owner did not sell the wood, but will let others come cut it for firewood. The power company cut thousands of acres of hard wood, and much of it is left rotting away. Though I have access to all the standing locust trees I have time and strength to cut, it is so much easier to get the wood from the hue piles of logs.
Tornadoes in Alabama
Two years ago, Bettie's daughter's family lived in the area hard hit by the tornadoes in Alabama. We visited them for a few days while they were there, and we stayed in a log home not far from them. Next to the log home were the Lees with 13 children. In fact, one time when Jennie's van would not start, the oldest Lee boy came over to help start it. The tornado destroyed everything in that area, but only minor damage to the log home where we stayed. The Lees lived in a converted barn, where they had an "open door" for anyone. Their home was totally destroyed. (The south has very few basements because of the high water table.) Hearing the tornado approaching, the family gathered in their den, and Mr. Lee put himself on top of several members of the family to protect them. He was killed when the house collapsed, but the rest of the family survived. However, two of the girls sought safety under a piano, which collapsed on their legs. It was many hours before any help could get through, and the girls probably suffered nerve damage in their legs. From what I understand, tornados are considered "acts of God", and are basically uninsured. As Christians, we know that all things are acts of God. If you would like to help, here is a link to the church where the Lees attended. The church was unharmed.
Help the Lees? http://www.christchurchbranchcove.org/tornado-relief
No right to resist illegal cop entry into home
By Dan Carden dan.carden@nwi.com, May 12, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS I Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.
In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry.... (http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govtand-politics/article_ec169697-a 19e-525f-a532- 81b3df229697.html)
Pastor Chuck Baldwin
Is Osama bin Laden really dead? I don't think there is any question about it. In fact, bin Laden has been dead for several years. While Americans are rejoicing over the death of Osama bin Laden, they need to be infuriated at the death of America, because that is what this so-called "War on Terror" is accomplishing (http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/ baldwin648.htm)
An Ode to English Plural
We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of ma3n is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England .
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly,
boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and
Get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English should
be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a Recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship...
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can bum up as it bums down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out, and
In which an alarm goes off by going on.
And in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?
-copied-
[As I said last time, one can find any assessment of the situation one is looking for. Here is another view. This article was combined from the two New American articles by Mr. Hiserodt. F Sanders put the following together. Let me add: my oldest daughter lives in the Dayton OH area. They just sold a house, and their realtor is a Christian. He has a good friend who works at Wright Patterson AFB. The friend told him that the government is building several new sensors to detect the radiation from Japan. She complained to him about her cell phone service, and he told her that both the phones and the towers, as well as other electronic equipment, are being influenced by the radiation. He could say no more because his friend was under secrecy orders. Drudge Report, "JAPAN NUKE NIGHTMARE: Three meltdowns and now cracks in the containment vessel..." TEPCO now admits that reactors 1-3 suffered nuclear fuel meltdowns after the March 11th earthquake, and massave amounts of highly radioactive water also leaked from the structures. 5/25/11. Note that typically the truth of massive disasters is not revealed until long after the public concern has quieted.]
Ed Hiserodt is an engineer and one of my oldest friends. No, wait, I don't mean my friend with the greatest age, but my friend for the longest time. Back in my late twenties when I knew almost enough to screw the cap off a ketchup bottle, Ed adopted me, introduced me to the philosophy of freedom, and tried to teach me the rigorous service of truth, especially scientifi c truth in an age of political science (think global warming, environmentalism, alternative energy, & nuclear power). As another contribution to the perpetual war for truth, a few years ago Ed wrote a book on radiation hormesis.
Oh, and Ed also helped teach me to laugh, especially at the enemies of truth. Bewildered by news reports from Japan that imply without ever providing any understandable measurements we will all shortly be radioactive toast, I asked Ed for an article to bring into rational focus the radiation effects from the nuclear plants damaged by the tsunami. He has my most sincere thanks for this enlightening and entertaining contribution. F. Sanders
The situation in Japan is grim. Estimates of the dead or missing and by now this latter group must be moved into the dead column is above 25,000 souls A halfmillion residents are homeless with many in danger of starvation since many roads and railroads have simply disappeared. Yet the world's media pays only lip service to the plight of the Japanese citizen. Rather, it focuses almost entirely focused on the disabled nuclear reactors and the "leaks" of radiation that have had, and will have, virtually no effects on human health.
In the last few weeks we have read reports of foreigners scrambling to leave Japan, of seawater levels seven-and-ahalf million times the "legal" limit, and now the news that recovery of bodies is being hampered by their radiation contamination.
Surprise! Many of the expatriates "escaped" to areas where the naturally-occurring background radiation was even higher in some cases much higher than the area they were fleeing. On 1 April Stuart Biggs and Yuriy Humber, reporting for Bloomberg news, compared Tokyo's current background radiation measurements with other areas. The article quoted Bob Bury of the UK's Royal College of Radiologists, "The situation in Japan looks set to follow the pattern of Chernobyl, where fear of radiation did far more damage than the radiation itself."
LEGAL LIMITS?
What about the concentration of Iodine 131 in seawater? First ask, What is any legal limit founded on? The "normal" concentration of this isotope in seawater is zero, as only relatively tiny amounts are produced in nuclear reactors, and these for all intents and purposes have ceased to exist after 90 days. To bandy huge numbers for no other purpose than to create fear is, well, common for today's journalism. Analyzing the msnbc.com story "Japan faces another dilemma: Radiationcontaminated bodies," we should remember that exposure to radiation does not make one radioactive, e.g., you don't become radioactive from an X-ray. So any contamination must settle out from the atmosphere onto the bodies. That raises other questions. How do they know? How do the tiny radioactive particles know to zero in on corpses while avoiding the surrounding area? The real irony comes from the land of Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, and Governor Moonbeam where nuclear terror has galvanized many denizens into action. UConn Physics Professor Emeritus Howard Hayden points out in his newsletter that the joke is on the Californians, who are trying to block radioactive iodine accumulation by gobbling down potassium iodide (KI) pills to saturate their thyroids.
Whoops. The "K" in KI pills is potassium, a small percentage of which is radioactive Potassium 40. In an attempt to avoid barely detectable amounts of the radioactive isotope of iodine, Iodine-131, they are ingesting easily measurable amounts of bone-seeking Potassium 40. Actually this radiation won't bother them either, but the pills are not benevolent to the digestive system and produce the same symptomsnausea and crampingas real radiation sickness.
WHY THE OUTCRY?
Fear of radiation is a learned behavior. Because we cannot sense radiation others must tell us that we are in danger. The media is only too glad to supply plenty of information on radiation's dangers and this is nothing new. Professor Bernard Cohen of the University of Pittsburgh looked at the NY Times Information Bank and found that from 1974 to 1978 about 120 stories per year appeared on automobile accidents that killed altogether some 200,000 people. Wait! There were 200 stories per year on radiation that killed no one. Do you know anyone who died or was sickened by radiation? Do you know anybody who knows anybody who was such a victim? It's a million to one that you don't.
TAUGHT TO FEAR
Ignorance offers another foot for fear: most people don't know what amounts of radiation are dangerous and where we might encounter them. How do we quantify radiation and relate that to the harm it might cause us? First, remember that we are talking about ionizing radiation, not microwave, infrared, or ultraviolet. Ionizing radiation arises only from a nuclear reactions, X-rays, cosmic rays, or emissions from elements either naturally radioactive or made radioactive by exposing them to neutrons in a nuclear reactor.
A HANDY MEASURE: FURLONGS PER FORTNIGHT
Our first hurdle is to understand how to measure radiation exposure. Unfortunately there are two systems and each has different units to express intensity. In the United States the terms more commonly used by medical professionals are the "rad" and the "rem."
The rad measures radiation energy absorbed by matter,
While the rem (Roentgen equivalent man) measures not only the amount of radiation, but also its biological effect on humans.
For gamma radiation and X-rays, the types that interest us here, the two terms rad and rem are equivalent. A rem, however, is a large dose of radiation; hence, to avoid lots of leading zeros, the term we will be using is the millirem (mrem), 1/ 1000th of a rem.
The International System (S.I.) of radiation measurement uses two other terms. The "gray" (Gy) is equal to 100 rads and the "sievert" (Sv) is equal to 100 rems. I loath to add this complication, but many current news stories foreign and domestic cite radiation in mSv a millisievert that is 100 times the exposure of a mrem, i.e., 1 mSv = 100 mrem.
So we now have a yardstickthe millirem (mrem) that we can use to compare different levels of radiation. Table 1 shows a few examples of how much exposure you get from various activities:
WHAT AB OUT MUTATIONS?
Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing survivors were forced to participate in a huge epidemiological study of long term radiation effects. The 86,572 individuals (including fetuses) within a 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) radius were required to carry a "Health Handbook" that recorded even the slightest details of the victim's health history. Of particular concern was the expectation of thousands of mutations in future births.
But they never showed up. While exposed fruit fl ies are mutated in odd ways (extra legs, eyes, etc.) humans are either not so susceptible, or the degree of mutation is so small as to be lost in the host of common mutations. Zbigniew Jaworowski, a member of the U.N. Scientifi c Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), commented, "In 1958 UNSCEAR had no doubts about major genetic defects in the world population that could be caused by nuclear test fallout, and estimated them as high as 40,000.
But now the Committee has learned that even among the children of highly irradiated survivors of atomic bombings no statistically signifi cant genetic damage could be demonstrated (UNSCEAR 2001)".
WHAT ABOUT DELAYED EFFECTS? CANCER?
Aside from radiation sickness and death caused by extremely high doses, the only other known negative effect of radiation on humans is an increased risk of cancer. While certainly real, this threat seems to be as overblown as the rest of the radiation fear -m ongering. Professor John Cameron, University of Wisconsin Medical School, points out that there were only about 400 excess cancer deaths among the tens of thousands of individuals exposed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Wait. Why then do we hear terrifying reports of the huge number of cancer deaths we can expect from Chernobyl and from the recent tragedy in Japan? Because of a discredited statistical tool known as the Linear Number Threshold theory, or LNT.
Here's LNT at work: Assume a 100% fatal dose of aspirin to be 100 tablets (about correct for a 200 pound man). LNT estimates along a straight line, so it predicts that 50 tablets would cause a 50% mortality, 10 tablets a 10% mortality, and a single tablet would cause death in one percent of the users or your death if you took 100 tablets during your lifetime. While nobody believes this holds true for aspirin, we are told that it does for radiation.
How, then, do the fear-mongers calculate those thousands of deaths? Very large doses of radiation such as 100,000 mrem are carcinogenic. For this example assume that this dose increases cancer risk by 10 percent. If we use LNT and extrapolate this along a straight line to zero, then at 1,000 mrem we have a one percent increase. At 10 mrem the increase is only 1/100th of a percentcertainly a tiny fraction. Now comes a hypothetical release of radiation that blankets the country of Japan with a dose of 10 mrem. With 127,000,000 people and a mortality of 0.01 percent, the LNT predicts 12,700 excess cancer deaths.
Will there be bodies piled in the street? No. Do adherents to the LNT have any evidence of these deaths? No. They hide behind the 19 million cancer deaths that would normally occur, since their prediction amounts only to 0.07 percent of that total. Who is to prove them wrong?
The shameful lie of LNT causes huge outlays to "protect" against trivial amounts of radiation and is the primary spawning ground of a fear of nuclear powerpromoted, in my opinion, by the radical environmentalists that wield enormous power in our federal and state governments, academia, the media, and, sadly, some of our country's scientifi c and professional organizations.
RADIATION HORMESIS?
Oddly enough, while a very large radiation dose may kill you, a little may actually make you healthier. (Remember the J-curve with wine drinking? Those who drink one glass of wine a day are healthier than those who drink none, those who drink two healthier than those who drink one, and so on through eight or nine glasses. Then the curve hooks and turns up as greater daily doses of wine negatively affect health.)
A-bomb survivors' lives produced outlandish and unexpected evidence. Those who received doses of 10,000 mrem in a split second have the lowest relative risk of death compared to the general population. The cancer risk actually decreases for those in a higher radon environment no matter what the EPA would have you believe. This phenomenon a low dose of a harmful agent is therapeutic while a large dose is harmful is known as hormesis. In pharmacology this is stated as dosis solum facit venenum "The dose makes the poison."
FORECAST
Back in Japan, once pumps are fully operational and structural damage is repaired, the level of radiation from venting the containment vessels and from uncovered spent fuel cooling ponds will quickly drop as will airborne particles. Within a few months the Iodine 131 deposited on the ground will decay to zero, rendered harmless by its short halflife. Some Cesium-137 will remain detectable on the ground, but at present it appears to be only a tenth that from Chernobyland that was on the same order as natural radionuclides in the soil. Antinuclear activists will predict thousands of cancer deaths based on the LNT which will not happen, but never mind. Terror, not truth, is their objective. As we already see, the Fukushima "disaster" will become another rallying cry against nuclear power. Few will remember that the plant stayed generally intact after withstanding an earthquake with six times more energy than the worst case predicted and a tsunami that wasn't even slowed down by a protective sea wall.
Wonder how those fancy windmills would have stood up to that?
(Endnotes)
1 The Energy Advocate, PO Box 7609, Pueblo, CO 81007
2 The rate of exposure microsieverts per hour is also commonly used and is equivalent to 876 mrem/year.
3 Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas. It appears almost everywhere in varying concentration, and is the largest source of radiation exposure to the public.
The Moneychanger. "Our goal is to help Christians prosper with their principles intact in an age of monetary & moral chaos." Franklin Sanders, P.O. Box 178, Westpoint,TN. 38486, phone (931) 766-6066 or 888-218-9226. the-moneychanger.com, a good source for real money.
Consider??
From Newswithviews.com
Tragedy In Japan Affects World Population, Part 2
Leuren Moret thinks that the Katrina hurricane, Christ Church earthquake in New Zealand and Fukushima earthquake and tsunami were all a form of warfare against mankind to decrease the population that used HAARP technology. [http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/] HAARP is an outgrowth of Nikola Tesla's productive research. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnRPZOUVhJ41
Controlled vibration in the ionosphere is focused to produce earthquakes at chosen sites. Peculiar blue lights in the skies have been observed immediately prior to the earthquakes. The New World Order controls the media in the USA and has done so since at least 1890. Their admitted purposes include lowering the world population. This could be easily brought about in the USA by failing to mention hazardous levels of radiation being detected by radiation monitoring equipment. The U.S. world news the night that Japanese physicist Michio Kaku mentioned complete meltdown of all 3 reactors did not mention this tragic event!!! ...
http://www.newswithviews.com/Howenstine/james188 htm
"THE NEW CONSERVATIVE' SAVIORS OF AMERICA' Bill 0' reilly, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt, Carson Daly, Stephen Colbert, Morton Downy Jr., Dennis Miller, Tim Russert, Roman Catholics. John Ziegler a recovering Roman Catholic' who labels himself an agnostic. Ann Coulter who speaks at homosexual conferences and lashes out viciously at those who have the audacity to reprove her. Michael Medved, Mark Levin, Dennis Prager, Michael Savage, Laura Schlesinger Jewish. Fox News a cable news channel owned by a pornography distributor that promotes conservative' politics in the midst of a dose of the fleshly pop culture. Scott Brown posed nude in a magazine during his modeling career and has refused to renounce it. Glenn Beck a New Age Mormon who believes man can be the divine I Am' and says homosexual marriage is not a problem for America." Friday Church News Notes "Paul Blanshard made the following statement in the 1976 edition of THE HUMANIST MAGAZINE: I think that the most important factor moving us toward a secular society has been the educational factor. Our schools may not teach Johnny to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is 16 tends to lead toward the elimination of religious superstition. The average American child now acquires a high school education, and this militates against Adam an Eve and all the other myths of alleged history." Friday Church News Notes via CHRISTIAN NEWS (2 articles)
"Lights were dimmed and discs were spinning as the first couples arrived at the Dickinson College's Moulin Rouge dance party. (P) Some of the same-sex couples swept in wearing ostentatious designs. Others wore simple jeans and T-shirts to the event for lesbian, gay , bisexual and transgendered students. (P) Jonathan Ontiberous hurried across the floor to take care of a last detail. (P) He taped signs, hastily printed on yellow sheets, over the words Men' and Women' on restroom doors. Signs stated, This is a all-gender bathroom.' (P) As president of Dickinson's Spectrum Club for LGBT students, Ontiberous wanted students to be comfortable. They could change clothes, put on a bit of lip gloss or just use the facilities without confronting an example of society's disregard for their needs. (P) Soon, he won't have to bother with temporary signs. The Carlisle (Pa.) campus is permanently converting some restrooms across campus for unisex use. Single stall restrooms that were designated Men' or Women' will sport the international unisex sign showing a man and a woman. (P) The private college is among the first in the mid-state to make gender-neutral restrooms available for LGBT staff and students." THE PATRIOT NEWS (Will churches be next to follow? JMH) (We have no problem with handicapped)
"Abraham was called of God to separate himself from the corrupt society of his generation and to dwell in the place of God's choice for his habitation. His cooperation in obedience resulted in God's miraculous gift to him of a son in old age. Abraham proved the extent of his faith by a willingness to sacrifice this son, in accordance to God's command, this worthy patriarch was given God's oath-bound promise of blessing for his posterity, and through them, special benefits to all nations on earth. (P) It should also be remembered by all Christians that the Bible was prepared for our use when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost' (2 Peter 1 :21 b). These 35 to 40 Holy Men of God' who wrote the 66 books of the Bible were, with the exception of Luke, God's scribes from the Commonwealth of Israel. So it is that Christianity is indebted to God and to the [Old Testament, ed] Jews for the gift of God's Word. (P) The 5th book of the New Testament sets precedents for Christian attitudes toward Israel. New Testament apostles were directed by the Holy Ghost in establishing Jewish- Gentile relations." SATISFYING PORTION (Edited for brevity)
"The Associated Press on July 30 reported that Anne Rice, author of various religious novels and books, has publicly renounced Christianity, saying she refuses to be anti-gay and antifeminist and that I quit Christianity and being Christian.' The February 2010 issue of the Northern Landmark Missionary Baptist reported that the Focus on the Family ministry had recently promoted Rice and her books on its radio broadcast. This paper suggested caution in promoting such questionable converts to Christianity as Rice. (P) Over the years evangelical Christians have promoted and lionized such big-name celebrity born again' converts such as Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Eldridge Cleaver, Bob Dylan, Jane Fonda, Mel Gibson, etc. only to be embarrassed and disappointed when such converts repudiated the true faith or failed to live up to their billing. Our uncritical acceptance of dubious professions of faith by worldly celebrities only promotes easybelievism and encourages ordinary people to be content with their own weak and possibly false professions of Christian faith." Northern Landmark Missionary Baptist
The article Most Christians Cannot Explain Their Faith,' in Christian Post June 3, 2010 reveals that most Christians are not able to defend their faith on a Scriptural basis. The faith of most Christians, even that of many pastors, will not stand up to intellectual scrutiny,' according to renowned apologist Josh McDowell. This is a concern because pastors' inability to present biblical truth comprehensively and relevantly has led to children from Christian families leaving the church, research has shown. In the United States, the age of which nearly all such children leave church has decreased to 18 years. (P) During the past 6 years he asked hundreds of Christians and leaders why they see themselves as Christians. Again no one gave him an intelligent' answer. In the past 17 years he has asked over 4,000 pastors, leaders and parents why they believe the Bible is true. A mere 6 came close to giving an intelligent answer.' McDowell noted. (P) 95 % of Christians gave disappointing responses when asked why they believe Jesus is the Son of God. Asked why the Bible is true and historically reliable, Christians replied that it was what they had been taught by their church or parents. A common response to both questions was that it is what I believe.' McDowell responded, That's voodoo thinking Where did we ever get that crazy idea that something is true just because we think it? If that is true, then there will never be heresy. Everybody would be right.' On one occasion 13 youth pastors at a large convention were unable to reasonably answer the apologist's question. Finally one young person stood up, walked toward him and told him he knew the answer. The young man promptly held up his Bible and said, Because I believe it.' And to McDowell's dismay, all the youth pastors applauded him Mc Dowell said, Young man, do you know the difference between you, me and the majority of Christians in the world?' To you it is true because you believe it. For me, I believe it because it is true." O Timothy via Northern Landmark Missionary Baptist.
"Emerging church leader Brian McLaren proposes 12 step programs to deprogram' Biblical Fundamentalists from their old fashioned way of thinking. (P) He has targeted children and grandchildren of fundamentalists. In other books, Mclaren likens Fundamentalists to Pharisees. (P) He thinks salvation may be a process rather than an event and says that the practice of accepting Jesus as their personal Savior' is not getting the gospel right.' He calls the literal, imminent return of Christ `pop-Evangelical eschatology.' (P) He rejects the substitutionary atonement of Christ, the infallibility of the Bible and the eternal judgment of hell. These are the types of century old habits' that Mclaren wants Christians to break out of through psychology and group therapy." CHRISTAIN VIEW OF THE NEWS
From HITE' S HOME MISSION OUTREACH James M. Hite 816 E. Birch St., Palmyra, Pa. 17078-2704
I do not know how many people I have met who claim to be saved, yet their lives are anything but what is required of Christians. Here is part of an e mail I received from Rich Salzer, 3/ 30/11:
I am going to a liberal Preterist Church in Virginia Beach, Va.... Every time I bring up the subject of the Khazars (Tom says you cover this well in D.o.t.C.V.), he gets squeemish. He also said in the Q & A session last week, when one of our I-Net listeners e-mailed in that it doesn't matter if somebody is a homosexual, as long as they are saved? What?! Can you believe it? I almost walked out then. I mean, I like the guy, but he says many complimentary things about the khazars all the time and doesn't differentiate between biblical Judeans and modern day jews'. I really hoped I had found THE church for me, but I need your OPINE if you know ... and what I should do. Sigh...
Rich Salzer c/o, Historical Review Library
It seems that the average professor of Christ seems to think that if someone says he or she is a Christian, then sodomy, adultery, fornication, as well as lying and cheating are OK.
As I have previously pointed out:
1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
The world sees no conflict with professed Christians being involved in fornication, adultery and sodomy. However, the word of God is clear that those who continue in these practices shall not inherit the kingdom of God. They are not Christian, no matter how nice they may act in public, nor how much we might like them.
Society has promoted sinful life-styles as simply alternative life-styles, but no matter the name, they are sinful, and shall result in an eternity in the lake of fire:
Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Dear Bro Need
Thank you so much for all the Biblical Examiners. I read them cover to cover.
I got a settlement - so I'm able to make a donation for the Examiner. I've been taking care of an 83 y.o. lady with CPOD from smoking. She was given 6 months and lived 16'/2. So I'm without a job.
But God is good. I have money to live on for a while Johnny wants me at home more & algebra was starting to get out of hand. So, for now, I' m at home, teaching 9th grade and all is well. I live frugally. And God is so good. He keeps my car running, ets.
Look forward to your letters.
Heidi, Astoria OR. (She has no internet, so we send her hard copies.)
Isaiah 3
In Isaiah chapter 3, men have abandoned their responsibility, and women have taken over, v. 12. He follows v. 12 with v. 16, and his condemnation of haughty women and the way those women dressed in order to attract the evil desires of men to themselves. Make your own connection.
Women
In order to keep up with community news and to have a voice in the radio devotions, and other areas, I joined the Moorefield Ministerial Association. It is made up of a good number of the ministers in the Moorefield area. There are all kinds of people in it, including a Catholic priest. Because the group is very small, it has given me an opportunity to speak at various functions. The president of the MMA this year is a man, and his introductory message was as straight on salvation through the blood of Christ as any message I could preach.
There are, obviously, all kinds of "ministers" who attend. The large Brethren church is co-pastored by a husband and wife. I went to a funeral there, and they preached the man into heaven because he liked to have pizza parties with his grandkids! !
There are several "Pastorettes". One is the "pastor" of the large Presbyterian church in Moorefield, which was one of the strongest in northern Virginia before the War Between the States. The Methodist church about 1/2 mile up the road from us has a "Pastorette", who cares for a total of 4 churches. We attended a funeral of the last original Bean of Bean Settlement where we live. There were several pastors who spoke at the funeral, including a Lutheran male pastor. Sadly, the man was the most foolish of them all, and the pastorettes presented Christ the best.
All of that to say this: The amount of women "pastoring" churches is disquieting.
Of course, female dominance is not only evident in the "religious" realm, but it is becoming more common in the political realm. Many women are being elected to office, and the current administration has continued the former administration's use of women in most of the areas of national authority. Sadly, it was a woman who grabbed national attention, Palin, rather than a man.
Then in the retail area: The daughter of one of our church members worked for Tractor Supply as an assistant manager. She said that it is extremely difficult to get men to fill their sales positions. And when they do get some young men, they are undependable. She told of one who sat in the parking lot drunk, and would not come in to work. Wal-Mart. Have you noticed how many women work there? The other day, we went into our local Wal-Mart, and we did see one man "on the floor". Moreover it seems that very few Wal-Marts have male managers.
What is going on?
Obviously, sin is taking a great toll on Western Civilization. As men serve sin, the Lord promised that women would take over. Notice how much "harder" women in authority are than men who are in authority.
In Isaiah three, we see that the men refuse to fulfill duty of godly leadership. As a result, the Lord raises up child-like men and women to fill those places that are men's responsibility. Their exaltation caused the women to be lifted up with pride because they were now doing what the men should have been doing. The Lord of hosts spoke His judgment against the men, 2:10-3:3.
Then he speaks his judgment against the women
As we consider the Lord's description of women in authority, I am not anti-female. I am simply pointing out what the Lord says about the women who are replacing the men in society. The death of a society cannot be laid to women in authority; rather, it must be laid at the feet of men who will not take their God-defined position of authority.
Isaiah 3:16ff. The prophet speaks for the Lord, the Lord also saith, as he speaks harsh words against the women of Zion, the covenant people. What is in their heart will come out.
These definitions are not original with me. They are primarily from Keil-Delitzsch's (K-D) commentary on Isaiah:
haughty.. Their inner pride over doing the men's job comes out. necks.. "They walk with extended throat, i.e. bending the neck back, trying to make themselves taller than they are, because they think themselves so great." (K-D)
Note that this would be a passage against high heel shoes on women, if the heart's purpose is pride by making herself
wanton eyes... deceiving with their eyes, marg. Keil is worth repeating here. "They also went winking the eyes, i.e. casting voluptuous and amatory glances with affected innocence, which is all the more inappropriate, because blackening the eyelids with powder of antimony was regarded in the East of the Old Testament as indispensable to female beauty,..."
Thus we see that the eye shadow' of our day is as old as are feminine wiles. Isaiah compared eye shadow to the winking of the eye or wanton eyes when it is used to attract attention to the eyes rather than to the inner man, as instructed by the Apostle Peter:
1 Peter 3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
The word of God requires that men (and women) control their eyes and their hearts. This passage condemns women who darken their eyes to enhance "their female beauty." It is copying the Babylonian definition of beauty and has God's judgment against it in Isaiah.
[Keil adds a footnote: "Also b. Sota 47b: Since women have multiplied with extended necks and winking eyes, the number of cases has also multiplied in which it has been necessary to resort to the curse water.' (Num. v. 18) In fact, this increased to such an extent, that Johanan ben Zakkai, the pupil of Hillel, abolished the ordeal (divine-verdict) of the Sota (the woman suspected of adultery) altogether. The people of his time were altogether an adulterous generation.]
The parallel is evident. As the women of the West, even Christian women, have enhanced their "female beauty" with paint, clothes, jewelry, high-heel shoes and every other means imaginable, adultery has become rampant.
walking and mincing as they go. Or, tripping nicely, marg. Keil, "taking short steps, just putting the heel of one foot against the toe of the other (as the Talmud explains it)."
In the middle east at this time, the women wore the family wealth in the form of gold and precious jewels. No man, unless in the time of war, would think of touching a woman, therefore the wealth was safe.
The Lord is referring to the very costly foot rings worn above the ankles connected by chains. These chains were probably ornamented with bells, as is sometimes the case now in the East. These bells would tinkle when they walked. They stepped in such a way as to make the ankle-rings knock against each other, displaying their wealth.
They tripped along. Tripping is a child's step. Although well versed in sin and old in years, the women of Jerusalem tried to maintain a youthful, childlike appearance. They therefore tripped along with short, childish steps. The women of the Mohammedan East still take pleasure in such coquettish tinklings, although they are forbidden by the Koran, just as the women of Jerusalem did in the days of Isaiah. The attractive influence of natural charms, especially when heightened by luxurious art, is very great; but the prophet is blind to all this splendour, and seeing nothing but corruption within, foretells to these rich and distinguished women a foul and by no means aesthetic fate."
This is another interesting fact. How sad, and even revolting, to see older women attempting to look and act like young women. How many women do we know that refuse to grow up. Their dream seems to be to stay forever as a teenager. Maybe they missed out on their teen years or on the freedom of a young person. Who knows why they want to remain young, but it is evident that they do. And if they cannot remain young, they try to relive their youth, and maybe even their missed youth, through their daughters.
This whole indictment against the women goes on, down to v. 24. There will be many more things covered as we go.
V. 17. The Sovereign Ruler of all would smite the crown of their head, from which long hair was flowing, with scab; and Jehovah would uncover their nakedness, by giving them up to violation and abuse at the hands of coarse and barbarous foes, the greatest possible disgrace in the eyes of a woman, who covers herself as carefully as she can in the presence of any stranger... (K-D)
Notice that it is the Lord who turns these dainty ladies who are so proud of their looks, over to the enemy as the spoils of war. These pagan soldiers then do as they please with them.
V. 17 should give us some idea of what the Lord thinks of women who "enhance their female beauty" in order to attract the untoward attention of others. Again, Peter says the same thing as he condemns those things that attract attention to self rather than to the inward man, 1 Peter 3:3-6. (My Bible gives this passage in Isaiah [3:16-24] as the cross reference to Peter.)
Peter gives us the requirement, and in his typical fashion, Isaiah gives us a point by point description of the problem and what God thinks about it.
V. 18-23. Keil reads thusly: On that day the Lord will put away the show of the ankle-clasps, and of the head-bands, and of the crescents; the ear-rings, and the arm-chains, and the light veils; the diadems, and the stepping-chains, and the girdles, and the smelling-bottles, and the amulets; the finger-rings, and the nose-rings; the gala-dresses, and the sleeve-frocks, and the wrappers, and the pockets; the hand-mirrors, and the Sindu-cloths, and the turbans, and the gauze mantles.
Then he refers to N.W. Schroder's work (1745) as the best explanation of these articles of female attire. Quoting Keil:
"Normally Isaiah did not go into such minute detail as he did here with this attire:
But in this instance, the enumeration of the female ornaments is connected with that of the state props in ch.iii, 1-3, and that of the lofty and exalted in ch.ii, 3-16, so as to form a trilogy, and has its own special explanation in that boundless love of ornament which had become prevalent in the time of UzziahJotham. It was the prophet's intention to produce a ludicrous, but yet serious impression, as to the immeasurable luxury which really existed; and in the prophetic address, his design throughout is to bring out the glaring contrast between the titanic, massive, worldly glory, in all its varied forms, and that true, spiritual, and majestically simple glory, whose reality is manifested from within outwards.
In fact, the theme of the whole address is the way of universal judgment leading on from the false glory to the true."
Then Kiel gives following definitions as the most likely understanding of each.
V.18. Ankle-clasps: these were rings of gold, silver, or ivory, worn round the ankles. They made a tinkling sound when she walked, v. 16. Cauls ... Head-bands, or frontlets, were plaited bands of gold or silver thread worn below the hair-net, and reaching from one ear to the other. Round tires... Crescents were little pendants of this kind, fastened round the neck and hanging down upon the breast. Such ornaments are still worn by Arabian girls, who generally have several different kinds of them; the hilal, or new moon, being a symbol of increasing good fortune, and as such the most approved charm against the evil eye.
V.19. Ear-rings: These are refered to in Judg. viii. 26 as an ornament worn by Midianitish kings Arm-chains: chains worn upon the arm, or spangles upon the wrist, answering to the spangles upon the ankles. Fluttering veils: these were more expensive than ordinary veils worn by girls.
V.20. The bonnets or Diadems which are only mentioned in Scripture as being worn by men (priests, bride-grooms, or persons of high rank). Stepping-chains: the chain worn to shorten and give elegance to the step. Girdles: dress girdles, such as were worn by brides on their wedding-day. Smelling-bottles: holders of scent. Perfume to attract attention to themselves. Amulets: gems or metal plates with an inscription upon them, which were worn as a protection as well as an ornament.
V.21. Finger-rings: from the word meaning, to impress or deal, signet-rings worn upon the finger, corresponding to what was worn by men upon the breast suspended by a cord. Nose-rings: were fastened in the central division of the nose, and hung down over the mouth: they have been ornaments in common use in the East from the time of the patriarchs down to the present day. Genesis 24:22.
V. 22. Gala-dresses are dresses not usually worn, but taken off when at home. Sleeve-frocks: the second tunic, worn above the ordinary one. Wrappers, broad cloths wrapped round the body, such as Ruth wore when she crept in to Boaz in her best attire. Pockets were for holding money, which was generally carried by men in the girdle, or in a purse.
V. 23. Hand-mirrors, (Glasses): "the Septuagint renders this... Lacedaemonian gauze or transparent dresses, which showed the nakedness rather than concealed it; but the better rendering is mirrors with handles, polished metal plates." Sindu-cloths, veils or coverings of the finest linen. Turbans, the head-dress composed of twisted cloths of different colours. Gauze mantles, delicate veil-like mantles thrown over the rest of the clothes.
Note the reference to revealing or see-through clothing.
Stockings and handkerchiefs are not mentioned.
Isaiah mentions 21 (3x7) different ornaments "of a bad kind, especially for the husbands of these state-dolls." In other words, even though they had husbands, they were desiring to have other men lust' after them, so they dressed to attract the attention of other men.
Isaiah pronounces a terrible judgment against those who dress to draw unlawful attention to themselves with their physical "beauty", vv. 24-26.
How many Christian girls, women and even married women dress with the intention of attracting the attention of the opposite sex? This is totally a sinful motive, and requires God's judgment. Boys and girls, men and women are to dress to please the Lord, not to please the world.
Isaiah gives the point by point description of the immodest apparel condemned by 1 Peter 3:3, 4.
Point of significance: Though there is a great deal about the dress of women that draws unlawful desires to themselves, there is nothing about the dress of men. I have heard it mentioned, which this seems to confirm, that women (their actions, words, dress), reflect the spiritual temperature of a society more than men do. It shows more of a deterioration of society when women dress to arose desire, than it does when men do.
If this is true, then we see all around us the seriousness of God's words here in Isaiah.
Isaiah 3:24. We are told that the Lord will remove all of those things that women use to attract unlawful attention to themselves. He will replace them with the worse of evils. I do not understand how a woman can not know that her sensual dress draws the wrong attention to herself. What little advertisement I seefor women's clothing, it is easy to understand that the purpose of that clothing is to draw lust to the wearer.
Speaking to the outwardly beautiful women of Jerusalem, Isaiah tells them that because of their desire to draw lustful attention, they will be "turned into wretched-looking prisoners, disfigured by ill-treatment and dirt" They wanted lustful attention, and they will get it from the pagan army to which God is going to deliver them.
Their gala life will be replaced with one of mourning. Burning instead of beauty. The beautiful jewels on the forehead used to draw attention will be replaced with a burn that will attract attention.
They had worked hard to make themselves beautiful and attractive to the men, now the Lord gives them over to the desires of a conquering army. The worst possible things imaginable will come upon them.
V. 25. The men who these women worked so hard to attract to themselves, will fall in warfare. In other words, everything that these women worked so hard to gain, is removed: their beauty, their clothing, their pride, and here, even their mighty men.
V. 26. The judgment is against Jerusalem. No doubt these women used to parade around here in the gates, the public places. They showed off what they had to offer to cause the men to desire them. God judged the wickedness with a pagan army. This army killed the men and stripped the women of all they were proud of. Now, instead of going to the gates to show off, they went to mourn.
She being desolate shall sit upon the ground. She is brought down from her lofty place, from her place of glory, and now sits on the ground in mourning. Keil points out that after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, Rome struck medals which depicted Jerusalem as a woman thoroughly broken down, and sitting under a palm-tree in an attitude of despair, with a warrior standing in front of her. Note that Rome's destruction of Jerusalem took place when all the men of the Israel were to be gathered in that city.
4:1 goes with the above. A vast number of the men are killed, v. 25. This leaves the women with no men. In their pride, they had dressed to attract menthe more men they could get to lust after them, the better. Now there are not enough men to go around and seven women pursue one man.
Their pride is destroyed, and they cast themselves upon any man who is available. They are willing to become one of his wives and even support themselves (releasing the man from any obligation under the law to support them), just so they can say that they have a husband to have children by.
Observe:
First, the time frame seems to be up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem, because 4:2 starts talking about the glory of Christ, the church.
Second, I find this passage, 3:16-4:1 unusual in that it talks about women. This is the only place that I can think of where there is this much attention given to detail concerning the dress and manner of women, and then judgmentis pronounced against them.
Third, it is very significant that Isaiah is referring to women among the covenant people of God, and not the pagan women that followed the invading armies. We would expect the pagans to dress and act like this, but the Lord is not pronouncing judgment upon them. He is speaking against professed Christian women who are dressing and acting like the pagans. They are dressing to attract men to them, instead of dressing to please the Lord.
Fourth, Peter brings this instruction and condemnation over into the Gospel Church. God's anger and judgment against this manner of dress did not end with the Old Testament era.
Fifth, the principle is obvious. God is speaking against those women who dress to emphasize and to attract attention to their feminine beauty, drawing unlawful attention of men, rather than dressing to attract God's attention in a good way.
Serious consequences came to pass upon the women of Isaiah's day. What will take place in our day against the same sins Isaiah confronts?
Grand Rapids, Michigan (CNN) I saw someone at the airport the other day who really caught my eye.
Her beautiful, long blond hair was braided back a la Bo Derek in the movie "10" (or for the younger set, Christina Aguilera during her "Xtina" phase). Her lips were pink and shiny from the gloss, and her earrings dangled playfully from her lobes.
You can tell she had been vacationing somewhere warm, because you could see her deep tan around her midriff thanks to the halter top and the tight sweatpants that rested just a little low on her waist. The icing on the cake? The word "Juicy" was written on her backside.
Yeah, that 8-year-old girl was something to see all right. ... I hope her parents are proud. Their daughter was the sexiest girl in the terminal, and she's not even in middle school yet...
See httplIwww.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/19/granderson.children.dress/
Parents. Don't dress your girls like tramps is crude reality & words, but church people and professing Christians are doing this too. It is a sad day when the secular voice' is sounding the alarm and the Christian voice' continues to be conspicuously silent.
Copper wire
After having dug to a depth of 100 feet last year, New York scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.
Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, a California archaeologist dug to a depth of 200 feet and shortly after, a story in the LA Times read: "California archaeologists' discovery of 200 year old copper wire, have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the New Yorkers."
One week later, A local newspaper in Texas reported the following:
"After digging as deep as 300 feet in his pasture near Lubbock, TX, Bubba, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Bubba has therefore concluded that 300 years ago, Texas had already gone wireless."
Just makes you proud to live in (or be from) Texas, doesn't it?
-Copied-
Jeremiah 6:16
God told Judah to walk in the old paths; that is, the paths of their fathers as established by God.
Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Psalms 119:105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
The people say, We will not walk therein.
Observe: The choice is clearly offered to the people, life or death. Some years previously, the same choice had been given to Israel, and Israel chose death. Though knowing what happened to her sister, Israel, Judah followed the same path to judgement.
2 Peter 3:3-7, Ecc 8:11, Rom 2:4, 5.
We certainly cannot blame Judah for turning his back on the law-word of God, for that is a natural inclination of all men. Though we know the facts of God's judgment for what happens to others, because it has not happened to us speedily, we are confident in our wandering from his path.
We fail to take into account that it is riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering of God meant to lead us to repentance. But instead of returning to the path of righteousness, we continue to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath. The day of wrath does not have to be the day of final judgment. It can be any "day" when the Lord allows his wrath to come against those who ignore his path.
Forgetting the past, and assuming the future
"It takes about three generations for people to forget."
FUMIHIKO IMAMURA, professor in disaster planning at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, on stone markers, some more than 600 years old, in Japan that warn not to build below those points because of the danger of tsunamies. The small village of Aneyoshi escaped damage from the March tsunami because all of the homes are on ground above one such tablet. (World, 4/23/11. P. 16.)
How stupid can WE be. Just because something has not happened within our lifetime, or even within the last few hundred years, does not mean it is not going to happen. And thus "wise" men build nuclear power plants on serious fault lines. Two are built on major fault lines in California. We must also add that "wise" men build their lives as though there is not judgment, because there has been no judgment in memory.
[http://geocommons.com/maps/57960, http://conservativeamerican.org/environment/could-it-happen-heremap-of-us-fault-lines-nuclear-power-plants/
Obama and GE.
GE, though reporting record profits, pays no taxes, through the legal means of Tax Avoidance. GE and Obama have a close relationship, with Obama enjoying the financial support of GE chief, Immelt. Obama chose Immelt to lead his board of economic advisers.
GE is the primary supplier of nuclear power plant reactors, produced with large government subsidies. Since the events with the GE reactors in Japan, there are many who are calling on the US NRC to examine the safety statice of those GE reactors here, especially those built on serious fault lines. E.g., "Calif. of most concern for US nuclear plants near fault lines".
The Diable Canyon Power Plant is only 150 miles west of Bakerfield and 200 miles from LA. It is built on an 85 foot high bluff overlooking the Pacific ocean. It is only a half mile from a newly discovered, two years ago, major fault line. When concerns were raised about the dangerous location, the NRC and the owners of the plant, PG&E say the plant is safe, and will withstand a 7.5 quake, the maximum considered possible for the site. But that assessment was made before the fault line was discovered.
NRC's response to those concerns"NRC spokeswoman Lara Uselding said she did not know of a single case in which a U.S. reactor was damaged by a quake."
"To University of Southern California professor Naj Meshkati, an expert on earthquakes and nuclear power plants, the risk is not the massive plant structures but the reliability of backup systems that failed in the Japanese tsunami.
"While such a large quake and killer wave is unlikely in California, the plants face similar dangers in backup equipment.
" "If someone says this cannot happen here, they should really ... take a very hard look at some of their assumptions," Meshkati said."
(http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/ 118132414.html)
We can rest assured that when the choice comes down to safety and the lives of multitudes of people or money, money will win.
And because nothing has happened in US recorded history, all things will continue as they were from the beginning. 2 Peter 3:4.
Red Alert
By Thomas Williamson
The Christian Reader web site posted an article in the June, 2010 edition entitled "Why Marriage is Declining" by Elysse Barrett. This article contains observations on the decline of Christian marriage, that portend alarming implications for the future of our movement as a whole.
Barrett, age 25, makes the shocking statement that "My generation as a whole is not getting married. Certainly, there are some romances and marriages amongst my friends, but they are too few and far between. No one, it seems, can find the right one,' and even if they think they have, guys and girls both are too comfortable with waiting around for something to happen.' Unfortunately, a vigorous pursuit of a spouse is looked down upon, or at the least marginalized, and often rebuffed. Guys aren't expected to look for a girl until they are ready,' and girls aren't expected to have any help in making it clear that they are available. Singleness is viewed as a very blessed gift that one must never seek to change, or at the least as an individual concern not a familial or community concern."
Some will say that this is a good thing. After all, are not singles more holy than married folk?
Actually, the Bible does not teach that it is more holy or blessed to be single as opposed to being married. Meanwhile, there is massive statistical evidence showing that the majority of unmarried professing Christians are falling into immorality and indulging in pre-marital sexual activity prior to marriage. The voice of experience teaches us that, for the most part, singles are not more holy than married Christians and that huge numbers of so-called Christian singles are failing to meet the basic, minimal standard of holiness taught in 1 Thessalonians 4:35, For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour: Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God. "
In 1 Corinthians 7:2 Paul is quite blunt as to why he recommends that Christian singles get married: "To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband."
Meanwhile, we hear a lot about how the Muslims of the world are winning the demographic war and are poised to take over the planet due to their higher birth rate. But we hear very little about the practical solution for dealing with the high Muslim birth rate. Shouldn't we be doing whatever we can to help Christian singles to meet, mate and marry, and to have children, so that they can be fruitful and multiply and ensure the growth and numerical success of our movement in generations to come?
Among some fundamentalists, there seems to be an unspoken, unwritten attitude that it is better for young people not to marry, because that way they will be more holy. This attitude, if not dealt with, may prove to be the doom and death knell of our movement. If we do not reproduce and have children, we will die out and be replaced on the face of the earth by Muslims, Catholics, Mormons and other groups that are willing to get married and have children.
Barrett attacks the notion that singles are more holy: "In an attempt to give singles a place in the Christian community often times being single is not only normalized, but viewed as the `holiest state of existence.' However, from a historical and Biblical perspective, being single,' especially as an extended state, is not considered healthy or normal. While singleness is certainly not to be despised, and in rare occasions the Lord will even call a person to be single for a short time - or for a lifetime - this calling is few and far between. From Genesis to Revelation, the primary mode of living as unto the Lord and spreading the gospel is in the context of marriage and families....
"Unfortunately, pop-Christianity implies, and sometimes outright states, that being in the state of singleness allows for knowing and serving God better... . Unfortunately, because it is often viewed as a more holy state, I have seen young people -guys and girls alike - turn away from pursuing marriage for intensely selfish reasons, and use the holiness of singleness' as an excuse....
"We ought to recognize, both individually and corporately, that singleness is a no more holy state than marriage, and that marriage should be pursued as the normal state of being for which we have been created."
Barrett also recognizes that, as a matter of the preservation and survival of our movement, we have to encourage marriage: "Historically, entire communities recognized that for their community to continue in the future it was incumbent upon them as a whole to see the next generation married. If a person were to remain single the entire community viewed it as their failure. Today, if a person is single, it is viewed as HIS or HER problem, not the community's. What a radical change in thinking I No wonder they're known as the good ol' days.' ... Begin thinking with a community mind-set. Realize that a person's pursuit of marriage has a direct impact on the sustainability of the future of your community, belief system, and our culture. If Christianity and Christian culture is to wake up to many more sunrises, it will be because of the choice of individual people to pursue counter-cultural living, even if that means going counter to pop-Christianity."
Of course, the Bible promises that there will always be true Christians, true Christianity and true Christian churches on the earth (Daniel 2:44, Ephesians 3:21, 2 John 2, etc.) But God has chosen us as human instruments of His will, to perpetuate the Church and true Christianity for generations to come. What we do today will help to determine whether fundamentalist Christianity is the dominant faith 100 years from now, or just a persecuted, despised fringe sect.
So what should we do to turn things around and promote marriage and child-bearing among Christian singles? Barrett recommends prayer, that singles be willing to settle for a mate that is less than totally perfect, and that they consider long-distance relationships if necessary to find a mate. She suggests that singles find themselves a mentor or advocate who can help them assess the fitness of potential partners for marriage.
I would add another suggestion -it's time to practice matchmaking. While this is not a mandate of Scripture, we have examples of it in the cases of Isaac and Rebekah, and of Ruth and Boaz. Matchmaking will help to overcome the reluctance of Christian men to take the lead in aggressively courting a woman who is attractive to them - such conduct in this day and age might lead to charges of sexual harassment and stalking, unless there are some advance assurances that the woman will be receptive to their advances.
Obviously, there should be no matchmaking of persons who indicate that they do not want to be specifically matched with another person, or that they are not currently interested in romance in general. We are not to deal with this crisis by pressuring anyone to get married, or by pressuring married couples to have more children.
However, we need to create a climate and environment within our movement that is more friendly to the process of mating, and more friendly to the raising of large families by those who are married.
Sometimes, Christian young people are made to feel guilty and ashamed for having a romantic interest in the opposite sex, as if there was something unnatural or unsanctified about such an interest. If we communicate such attitudes to our young people, that may explain why so many of them leave us for less restrictive churches, or drop out of church entirely.
In Deuteronomy 21:10-13 we have a regulation dealing with what a young Israelite man should do, if he sees "among the captives a beautiful woman, and bast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife." He is not told to be ashamed of himself for harboring such unworthy emotions, or to go take a cold shower. The bottom line is, "thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife." There is not even a hint here that it would be the slightest bit unspiritual for a man to prefer a beautiful woman as opposed to an ugly woman.
The emphasis in the Bible is on getting married, not on staying single. Proverbs 18:22 says, Whoso findeth a wife fmdeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord." But in some churches, singles are subjected to stern lectures about how they are not supposed to search for a mate, and are warned about all the bad things that could happen to them if they get married. This attitude is going to have to change, or else we are going to breed ourselves out of existence as a viable religious movement.
If you want to do something constructive about the decline of attendance in our churches, and about the worldwide rise of Islam due to their higher birthrate, then take some Christian singles under your wing and help them find a mate. Spare them the pious, moronic lectures about how "all they need is the Lord," and instead do the Lord's work by helping Christians find a Christian spouse. Otherwise, they may wander off and marry a non-Christian, as so many do nowadays, and that will not help the cause at all.
Would you rather have the Christian girls in your church coming to prayer meeting and wailing an endless chorus of "Please pray for my unsaved husband to get saved" or would you rather have them coming to church at the side of their Christian husbands, with lots of charming little children in tow? Think about it, and act accordingly.
By e-mail, 4/17/2011
Thank you, Ovid! That was an interesting read!
As an Army trained Nuclear, Chemical, Biological Defense officer who used to calculate the fallout patterns from nuclear bomb scenarios, I think you are greatly exaggerating the threat of Fukushima to North America.
My friend, Dr. Cham Dallas, also a devout believer, monitored the environment, people and animals around Chemoble for 20 years after the disaster and was surprised to find that there was not an increase in birth defects or harmful mutations among people or animals Psalms 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
There was an increase in thyroid cancer, which was also what the studies on the Japanese population after WWII found. The radioactive iodine has a very short half-life and is all gone in 30 days - provided that the source of the contamination is stopped.
Even if Fukushima is as bad or worse than Chernoble, it does not pose a significant threat to North America. It is a good idea to be taking iodine supplements right now though. My doctor recommends Lugol's solution, which I take anyway.
Please keep in mind that during the Cold War the fear of nuclear radiation was used by the powers that be to terrify us of nuclear war. This was a very effective means of directing fear, discontent and aggression toward the Russians, and the Russians were doing the same thing to keep their population placing the blame for all problems on the West.
When I went through NBC school, which took a year after college, I was quite surprised to learn how small the fallout zones from multi-megaton nuclear bombs actually was. Nuclear war is bad. But it won't be the end of the world, even if it does happen.
This world belongs to Jesus Christ, and He will not let us turn it into ash and cinders.
God be with you,
Lilly's Letter, 4-18-11
I hope you are not in the mood for a warm, fuzzy shot in the spirit today. If so, while today's article will help you focus and in many cases refocus on the importance and sureness of God's justice, I doubt if any warm fuzziness abides in my rumination today.
As a student of the of the practice of lawmakers making laws for the peasants that differ from the laws that govern the high and mighty politicos, I find a heart sickening refusal to deal with the biblical solution to what is a major flaw in certain laws under which I, a confessed peasant must live.
The Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, recently signed a law that abolishes the Death Penalty in his state. He did so, not on moral grounds as he does not find the infliction of death reprehensible for crimes defined by civilized society from time immemorial, but rather was deeply troubled by the unfair manner in which the decision in his fair state was being reached. Former Governor George Ryan had reached the same conclusion several years ago.
Jennifer Grant wrote an insightful piece in Christianity Today, which you may read in its entirety here:
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/women/2011/04/ rethinking_the_death_penalty.html
MS. Grant pointed out the Governor's thinking on the subject by quoting him:
"Since our experience has shown that there is no way to design a perfect death penalty system, free from the numerous flaws that can lead to wrongful convictions or discriminatory treatment, I have concluded that the proper course of action is to abolish it." MS. Grant quotes figures from The Death Penalty Information Center which show in the last 38 years 130 people have been found to be innocent after spending years on death row. The arguments today are not about the moral/legal right to exact the ultimate penalty, but whether it is currently abused in such ways that innocent people are being put to death. Some of the reasons more people are discovered to be innocent are issues such as eyewitness error, false confessions by mentally ill persons, DNA and most horrific of all, prosecutorial misconduct. It is true to state that more and more cases of prosecutorial misconduct are being discovered. Believe it or not Moses deals with such sadistic behavior in Deuteronomy 19:18-20:
And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.
I am not among those, some well- meaning that on the whole say, "Well, I don't mind if an innocent person is executed." Innocent blood will cry from the ground weather it is the blood of innocent unborn children via the scalpel used as an implement of execution or the false testimony of a witness or, God forbid the deliberate maneuvering of prosecutorial misconduct.
Larry Lilly , 2011 Use with credit
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I am hearing some "chatter" about the 501(c) (incorporation) trap set by the state to silence churches, and keep them in line with the PC line. I really have heard nothing from a biblical standpoint.
I have a book, Church Inc., that deals with the theological issue of the 501(c)3. It has copies of the Indiana yearly filing form that agrees to reveal all to the state in exchange for tax exempt status. $6 post paid.
Big to-do about the endtimes, and another false prophet exposed again. It is amazing how folks continue to invest in such foolish speculation. My publisher is selling Death of the Church Victorious for $15.99 + postage. Therefore, ordering from me will be $17 post paid.
New, up to date Online Bible. $45, postpaid. Use Paypal on our web site.
Sewing? My wife has a girls simple dress pattern, downloadable at practicallyprettybydesign.com. Easy to make, and very practical.