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September 22, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

In between the Apostle Paul’s First and Second letter to Timothy we read one Psalm and one chapter of Jeremiah.

September 22: Psalm 107, Jeremiah 17 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Psalm 107. God to the rescue. It is a telling of four “saysos” as the Southerners used to say as they called for testimonials in their revival meetings: “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so“. The Israelites kept getting in trouble and finally cried out to the LORD, and He saved them out of their distresses. This is a remarkably positive Psalm.

Jeremiah 17. Judah’s sin was deep and worthy of punishment. Jeremiah gave a profound confession and delivered a beautiful prayer for deliverance. Then he reminded the people to keep the sabbath holy.

September 21, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

In between the Apostle Paul’s First and Second letter to Timothy we read one Psalm and one chapter of Jeremiah

September 21: Psalm 106, Jeremiah 16 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Psalm 106 is a follow-on of Psalm 105. While Psalm 105 tells of the story of God’s people from Abraham to Moses, Psalm 106 continues from the crossing of the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds) to the sins committed ,even to the child sacrifices to the gods of Canaan. The psalmist prayed for deliverance from the heathens and return and restoration of the promised land. The Psalm begins and ends with a Hallelujah (praise the LORD).

Jeremiah 16 tells of the Day of Disaster and ends with the promise that God will restore Israel.

September 20, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we read the last chapter of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy and one chapter of Jeremiah

September 20: 1 Timothy 6, Jeremiah 15 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

1 Timothy 6. Even if you are under the yoke of slavery, honor your masters. Don’t listen to those that teach error, and especially to those that think that with godliness comes financial gain. Remember: The Love of Money is the Root of all kinds of evil. The Apostle Paul gave final instructions to Timothy: Guard the Faith.

Jeremiah 15. More calamities awaited the people, for the LORD will not relent. Jeremiah felt dejected, but the Lord reassured Jeremiah.

September 19, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we read the fifth chapter of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy and two chapters of Jeremiah

September 19: 1 Timothy 5, Jeremiah 13, Jeremiah 14 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

1 Timothy 5 outlines the proper treatment of church members, honor the widows and honor the elders. Then Paul urged Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach’s sake.

Jeremiah 13. Jeremiah bought a linen belt, it got ruined. Then God told about wineskins. Both were object lessons for what was to befall Jerusalem, for pride precedes captivity.

Jeremiah 14. There as to be drought, sword, famine and pestilence, the people pleaded for mercy.

Climate change and droughts and wildfires.

History shows us there has always been climate change, from ice age to the Minoan temperature optimum to the Roman warm period to the dark ages to the medieval warm period to the little ice age to now. The question is, where does the climate go from here, how much will it warm from here, or will it start cooling again? One question is; will wildfires contribute to global warming, or will the smoke act as a cooling agent? The only way to give an answer as a scientist is to look at what the wildfire trends are. Wildfires have decreased 25% worldwide in the last 15 years! This is according to NASA:the full article is in https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145421/building-a-long-term-record-of-fire

One recent confession from the governor of California!

The question is then: Why are wildfires decreasing?

One possible exclamation, droughts are decreasing. Let us check:

No, there is no discernible trend in droughts.

Since the beginning of industrialization CO2 has risen about 50%. CO2 is the feed-stock for all plants and indeed the earth is getting greener!

Yes, most areas are getting greener. There are a few areas that are getting less green, such as the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, the South American Gran Chaco, the American South West and the edges of the Gobi desert. The global environmental challenges are still enormous, but thanks to the overall increased vegetation the earth can now feed an additional 2 billion people, not to mention provide livable habitat for many more animals.

What increased CO2 does to global temperatures will come in future installments.

September 18, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we read the fourth chapter of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy and two chapters of Jeremiah

September 18: 1 Timothy 4, Jeremiah 11, Jeremiah 12 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

1 Timothy 4. The Apostle Paul gave advice to Timothy and prophesied the coming great apostasy, but as a good servant of Jesus Christ he should not give in to it but be devoted to the ministry and let no man despise him for his youth.

Jeremiah 11. The covenant God made with the Israelis was conditional; God promised to be with them as long as they obeyed the commands, but they did not, so the covenant was broken. The chapter also describes a plot against Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 12, Jeremiah poured out his complaint. The LORD gave His answer.

September 17, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we read the third chapter of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy and two chapters of Jeremiah

September 17: 1 Timothy 3, Jeremiah 9, Jeremiah 10 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

1 Timothy 3. The Apostle Paul defined the qualifications of overseers and deacons, then he “waxed eloquent” about the great mystery of godliness. It is still a great mystery, but I like it and accept it by faith.

Jeremiah 9. “The weeping prophet” Jeremiah mourned for the people and the people mourned as they received judgment.

Jeremiah 10. The fight is spiritual: God versus idols. Yet, Jeremiah prophesied about the coming captivity of Judah, which led to Jeremiah’s prayer.

September 16, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we read the second chapter of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy and two chapters of Jeremiah.

September 16: 1 Timothy 2, Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah 8 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

1 Timothy 2. Paul reminded the believers to pray for all, including the people of authority. Then he explained the roles for men and women in the Church.

Jeremiah 7. The prophet reminded the reader that false religion is worthless, and proclaimed judgment on perverted religion.

Jeremiah 8 tells of the valley of slaughter, of sin and punishment and ends up with the question : “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?“

Climate change and wildfires. The problem is more due to forest management.

The natural life cycle of forests in the dry part of western United States is rejuvenation and growth, interrupted by forest fires. In fact, the lodgepole pine requires a fire to release the seeds in the cones. Without the fire they will not germinate. Forest fires every generation is the normal occurrence for the dry, western forests. Then in the 1930’s, to stop the wild fires they started forest management in earnest, dead trees removed and underbrush cleared, and wildfires were cut by over 90%. They also harvested a lot of good, mature trees, but that is a different story. The chart below tell the facts:

Forest fires were very few from the late 50’s to late 90’s. But with forest management comes a price. Nature can no longer support as many birds and animals as before, and some species were already vulnerable and close to extinction. So, partly due to the power of the Sierra Club and other organizations it was decided to return nature to its original state as much as possible. That would be fine except we no longer live in the 19’th century, when California had less than a million inhabitants. It now has 40 million inhabitants and use up all the water that rains on it and more. People have to live somewhere, so they make beautiful settlements in tinder dry forests. This is the problem out west. You can not have settlements in an unmanaged forest and get away with it, the fire will get you sooner or later. The solution is to set aside some forest lands for natural growth, but only where nobody lives and manage all other forests. Climate change has very little to do with western forest fires, there has always been years of droughts, interrupted by torrential rains. As it was in biblical times in Israel and Egypt, so it is in the American west.

September 15, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we read the first chapter of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy and two chapters of Jeremiah

September 15: 1 Timothy 1, Jeremiah 5, Jeremiah 6 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

1 Timothy 1 is a personal letter from the Apostle Paul to Timothy and it starts out with a personal greeting of encouragement and a warning about false teachers for there is no other doctrine. He encourages Timothy to remember to give glory to God for His grace and fight the good fight. An interesting fact in this letter: No slave trader will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Jeremiah 5. Good men were hard to find when not one was upright. God’s judgement was coming.

Jeremiah 6. Bad news. Jerusalem will be under siege.