August 9, read through the Bible in a year.

In between Ephesians and Philippians we read two Psalms and three chapters of Isaiah.

August 9: Psalm 70, Psalm 71, Isaiah 2, Isaiah 3, Isaiah 4 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Psalm 70, of David, a short,  urgent petition for deliverance, full of praise.

Psalm 71. This Psalm has the same theme as Psalm 70, but is much more detailed. It is of an older man, strong in faith, most probably David.

Isaiah 2. The famous chapter containing “beating swords into plowshares” “study war no more” and the Day of the LORD is introduced.

In Isaiah 3 the prophet proclaims judgment on Jerusalem and Judah.

Isaiah 4. “In that day”. This refers to the Messianic reign after the Day of the LORD. “The Branch” is introduced.

The real reason Donald Trump got the Ellis Island Medal of Honor award. A Limerick.

Awards from the Island of Ellis

The Democrat racists are jealous

Donald Trump shared the prize

with Ms. Parks; they tell lies.

He’s racist, that’s now what they tell us.

In 1986 the Ellis Island Medal of Honor was given for the first time. It is an American award founded by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO), presented annually to American citizens whose accomplishments in their field and inspired service to our nation. Among the very first recipients were:

Joe DiMaggio: An American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak. He is also widely known for his marriage and lifelong devotion to Marilyn Monroe.

Victor Borge: A Danish and American comedian, conductor, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in the United States and Europe. His blend of music and comedy earned him the nicknames “The Clown Prince of Denmark,” “The Unmelancholy Dane,” and “The Great Dane.”

Anita Bryant: An American singer and political activist. She scored four Top 40 hits in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including “Paper Roses“, which reached #5 on the charts. She was also a former Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and was a brand ambassador for the Florida Citrus Commission (which marketed orange juice) from 1969 to 1979. In the 1970s, Bryant became known as an outspoken opponent of gay rights in the US. In 1977, she ran the “Save Our Children” campaign to repeal a local ordinance in Dade County, Florida that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This involvement significantly damaged her popularity and career in show business.    In spite of her downfall defending traditional family values she was recognized at this event.

Muhammad Ali: born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. From early in his career, Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial, and polarizing figure both inside and outside the ring. He converted to Islam and as such refused to be drafted into the military.

Rosa Parks: An activist in the Civil Rights Movement, whom the United States Congress called “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”. On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake‘s order to give up her seat in the “colored section” to a white passenger, after the whites-only section was filled.

Donald Trump:  Why was he honored? It started with a challenge. He watched the unfinished Wollman Ice-Rink and made a challenge to then Mayor Koch. Always humble, he said: (Paraphrased) You have spent six years and twelve million dollars on that ice rink and it is not even half finished. I can finish it less than six months for under three million dollars! Koch replied: It is yours, but you have to pay for it yourself!

What happened?

Donald J. Trump refurbished the Central Park -skating rink two and a half months ahead of his own six-month schedule and $750,000 below his own projected $3 million budget, having taken over the project after the city spent six years and $12 million unsuccessfully trying to get the job done.

”He built the most fabulous rink I have ever seen,” said Vera Banchet, watching her daughter skate. ”I saw Trump on TV again last night. If I may say so, he is not one to hide his light under a bushel.”

Skaters on opening day energetically thanked the New York developer, awarding him with praises and complimenting him on the work he performed for the city.

After renovation of millions of dollars in low-income real-estate and numerous community involvement achievements such as the Wollman Ice-Rink, Donald Trump had etched his name from Trump Tower onto the hearts of the downtrodden minorities in many New York boroughs. On October 16th, 1986 this was rectified with the presentation of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. The criteria Trump faced for the award had five major categories:
  1. Integrity
  2. Passion
  3. Gravitas
  4. Humanitarian
  5. Ethnic Heritage.             This is the real Donald Trump.

August 8, read through the Bible in a year.

Today we read the last chapter of Ephesians and first chapter of Isaiah.

August 8: Ephesians 6, Isaiah 1 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Ephesians 6. Children, obey your parents, bondservants do everything as unto God, put on the whole armor of God and pray in the spirit always for all the saints. Paul then adds a final greeting, and so ends the inspirational letter to the Ephesians.

Isaiah 1. No other book of the Bible has so many fulfilled prophecies. Read it and marvel! Use the lists as reference.

What is the importance of 8/8?

Tomorrow, August 8 is my birthday. Hooray!! I have lived a long and fruitful life, and am thankful for every extra day God has granted me here on earth. 8/8 has always been a number of interest to me, so if anything else happens on that day I take notice. On Monday Frank Figliuzzi, the former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence and a regular contributor to NBC News, told MSNBC’s Brian Williams that President Trump’s decision to fly flags at half-staff until Aug. 8 may very well be a tip of the cap to white supremacist groups. Here’s what he said:

The president’s either getting really good advice and rejecting it, or he’s getting really bad advice. We have to understand the adversary and the threat we’re dealing with, and if we don’t understand how they think, we’ll never understand how to counter them, so it’s the little things and the messaging that matters.

The president says that we will fly our flags at half-mast until August 8, that’s 8/8. Now I’m not going to imply that he did this deliberately, but I am using it as an example of the ignorance of the adversary demonstrated by the White House. The numbers 8/8 are very significant in the neo-Nazi and the white supremacy movement. Why? Because the letter ‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and to them, the numbers 8/8 stand for ‘Heil Hitler.’

So we’re going to be raising the flag back up at dusk on 8/8. No one’s thinking about this. No one’s giving the advice, or he’s rejecting the advice.”

In my more than seventy years of reading, listening to radio, watching television and watching old WWII movies I have never once encountered that my birthday equated “Heil Hitler”. Neither has anyone, even in jest thrown it at me.

Such is the hatred for President Donald Trump that some grasp for anything, no matter how far fetched to find some connection between him and racism and white supremacy, or in this case Neo-Nazism.

August 7, read through the Bible in a year.

Today we read the fifth chapter of Ephesians and the last two chapters of Song of Solomon.

August 7: Ephesians 5, Song of Solomon 7, Song of Solomon 8 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Ephesians 5, Paul gives good advice:Walk in love, walk in light, and walk in wisdom, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” Then Paul gives Godly advice on marriage  and likens it to the relationship between Christ and the church.

Song of Solomon 7 is full of expressions of praise.

Song of Solomon 8. And so is love renewed in Lebanon. This shows that God’s love is complete, and does indeed include the sensual. This too is the gift of God.

 

August 6, read through the Bible in a year.

Today we read the fourth chapter of Ephesians and three chapters of Song of Solomon.

August 6: Ephesians 4, Song of Solomon 4, Song of Solomon 5, Song of Solomon 6 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Ephesians 4. Paul urges the believers to walk in unity, because there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God, even though there are different spiritual gifts. He reminds them they are children of light, do not grieve the spirit, and “do not let the sun go down on your wrath“.

Song of Solomon 4. The bridegroom praises the bride.

Song of Solomon 5. The Shulamite’s troubled evening.

Song of Solomon 6. The bridegroom and friens praise the Shulamite’s beauty.

 

August 5, read through the Bible in a year.

Today we read the third chapter of Ephesians and the first three chapters of Song of Solomon.

August 5: Ephesians 3, Song of Solomon 1, Song of Solomon 2, Song of Solomon 3 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Ephesians 3. “The meaning of the Greek word mysterion is a truth hitherto hidden from human knowledge or understanding but now disclosed by the revelation of God.”  With that in mind this chapter reveals the mystery of Christ,  its purpose  and the appreciation of the mystery.

Song of Solomon 1. The Song of Songs stands unique in the Bible. It has no obvious religious content, just beautiful poetry. But it fits with the theme of love permeating the Bible. It starts with the Banquet.

Song of Solomon 2, the Banquet, the Beloved’s Request.

Song of Solomon 3, a Troubled Night, the Coming of Solomon.

August 4, read through the Bible in a year.

Today we read the second chapter of Ephesians and the last four chapters of Ecclesiastes.

August 4: Ephesians 2, Ecclesiastes 9, Ecclesiastes 10, Ecclesiastes 11, Ecclesiastes 12 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Ephesians 2. This is the famous chapter explaining that we are saved by grace through faith and brought near by His blood. Furthermore, Christ is our peace and our cornerstone. There is much more in this chapter.

Ecclesiastes 9. Death comes to all,  and wisdom  is better than folly.

Ecclesiastes 10. Yes indeed, wisdom is better than folly.

Ecclesiastes 11 explains the value of diligence. One advice: Seek God early in life.

Ecclesiastes 12. “Remember now thy creator in the days of your youth“. “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

August 3, read through the Bible in a year.

Today we read the first chapter of Ephesians and three chapters of Ecclesiastes.

August 3: Ephesians 1, Ecclesiastes 6, Ecclesiastes 7, Ecclesiastes 8 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Ephesians 1. This letter is a wonderful explanation of the Christian Gospel. Paul starts out with a greeting, then explains what it means to get redemption in Christ and ends up with a prayer for spiritual wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 6. Vanity is the theme, this time the vanity of desire.

Ecclesiastes 7. There is value in practical wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 8. Obey authorities for God’s Sake, and yes, this too is in Ecclesiastes: “Eat, drink and be merry.” It fits with the theme of vanity.

 

August 2, read through the Bible in a year.

In between Galatians and Ephesians we read one Psalm and three chapters of Ecclesiastes.

August 2: Psalm 69, Ecclesiastes 3, Ecclesiastes 4, Ecclesiastes 5 (click on the chapter to begin reading).

Psalm 69, of David. When you get that sinking feeling, this Psalm lifts you back up, “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.”

Ecclesiastes 3. There is a time for everything. The gift of God is that He has set eternity in our hearts, yet injustice seems to prevail.

Ecclesiastes 4. There is oppression but no comforter, there is vanity of selfish toil. There is value in having friends “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken,” yet, popularity passes away.

Ecclesiastes 5. Fear God, keep your vows. There is vanity in amassing riches, even vanity in seeking honor.