The “settlements” are often in the news, but rarely do you get a perspective or the other side of the story (surprise!). This article is extracted from “Myths and Facts” and presents realities that reporters (and politicians) forget. Must reading if you’ve ever thought that Israel is provoking the Arabs with the settlements and should pull out.

For Christmas my brother and sister-in-law gave me Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were, by Leland Ryken. I finished reading that earlier this summer and today took a few notes from it. Here are some quotes I found helpful:

Cotton Mather: “Is your business here clogged with any difficulties and inconveniences? Contentment under those difficulties is no little part of your homage to that God who hath placed you where you are” (p. 28).

Samuel Williard: “It is a rare thing to see men that have the greatest visible advantages…to be very zealous for God” (p. 62).

William Ames: “In form of expression, Scripture does not explain the will of God by universal and scientific rules, but rather by stories, examples, precepts, exhortations, admonitions, and promises. This style best fits the common usage of all sorts of men and also greatly affects the will by stirring up pious motives, which is the chief end of theology” (p. 149).

And that great old Puritan, Albert Einstein: “We live in a day of perfect means and confused goals” (p. 161).

This article in the Jerusalem Post is revealing, not for what it says about the particular group in discussion (JAMM; I’ve never heard of them before), but for what it says about the attitudes of others towards Jewish believers, including the attitude of the writer of the article (by the way she selects and arranges the material; the point of the article is to bring about the last sentence in the article). One essential assumption: you are not Jewish if you believe in Jesus. If the link goes bad with time, click here.

Some people (maybe only 2 or 3 of the 4 or 5 friends I have) have expressed an interest in what kind of email I get.  Well, just for example, in the last 24 hours I have received 8 emails from former IBEX students.  One was replying to my blog below about being a spammer.  Another was asking about where to find the website for our church.  A third was describing a particular stone down near the dorms that the guy wants me to find.  A fourth and fifth were from two guys who are helping me in various ways on BiblePlaces things.  A sixth was from a guy telling me about his new girlfriend (yes – an IBEX couple, post-semester hookup).

Now let me see if I can guess what will be in tomorrow’s email: 8 people asking who the sixth guy is. :-)  Sorry – I’m not telling.

The Biblical Archaeology Society is now advertising an update for its BAR Archive (2 years of the newest magazines).  What gets me is this line: “All you pay is a shipping and handling fee of $15.95!”

Now I happen to know a little about the costs of such, and I know that you can make, “handle,” and ship the CD for less than half of that amount.  So why the dishonesty?  Why not say that you can get the CD for $10, plus $5.95 s/h?  You can argue that $10 is a fair amount for the content, and that $6 is reasonable for shipping.  But why try to fool people in thinking they aren’t actually paying for the product?  I am not fooled.

“A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession!'” (Matthew 15:22).

“We see here, that affliction sometimes proves a blessing to a person’s soul.  This Caananitish mother no doubt had been severely tried.  She had seen her darling child vexed with a devil, and been unable to relieve her.  But yet that trouble brought her to Christ, and taught her to pray.  Without it she might have lived and died in careless ignorance, and never seen Jesus at all.  Surely it was good for her that she was afflicted (Psalm 119:71).”

“Let us mark this well. There is nothing which shows our ignorance so much as our impatience under trouble“  (J. C. Ryle, Matt 15).

Read this article (Iran threatens to wipe Israel off map, again) and then ask how the US/Israel can possibly not destroy Iran’s nuclear reactors now. This threat is an empty one, until Iran gets atomic weapons. Then, they can attempt it at any time. Krauthammer has a good recent editorial on the subject.

So here’s one for the spam books.  I replied today to a girl at the college who had written (me and others).  Her subject line was “living by Future Grace.”  My reply to her at her college address was rejected by the spam blocker.  So I tried again.  And then again from a different email address.  And a few more variations.  Then I analyzed the fine details of the blocking report more carefully.  Buried in the report was this: X-Barracuda-Block:  Subject (vi.*gra).  Yes indeed.  Because the (her) subject line contains these letters in this order – vi gra – the email was deemed inappropriate.  I wonder how many perfectly good subject lines I could come up with that would be blocked this way.  I wonder if the college keeps a log.  Interesting though that the college mail system let her send that email.  I guess it’s ok to send email about such products, but not ok to receive it.

Dangerous Place to Live
I see the news and it’s just crazy – so dangerous and life-threatening.  Why would anyone want to go there, let alone live there!  There should definitely be a State Department warning issued, advising that all travel be deferred.  Yes, I’m talking about Southern California – with all those fires. ;-)

Policemen, Heat, and more
This report by the UN (reported in WorldTribune.com) is not true. I saw Palestinian policemen on duty yesterday in Ramallah.

Today was 99 degrees here. This evening in the book I was reading written by a traveler here in 1855 said this: “July 15th was a very sultry day: we all retired early to our tents, fatigued with the heat.” 154 years later, but we can relate.

I have been sick for nearly 2 weeks but seem to be recovered now.

The new BiblePlaces Newsletter is out today.