Luke 21:1-24. There is giving and then there is giving. Jesus watched the people give their offerings in the Temple with his disciples, and from that he taught us a lesson about the widow’s two mites. After that he told about the signs of the times, the end of the age and the destruction of Jerusalem.
2 Kings 1. God Judged Ahaziah. Elijah the prophet delivered the messages from God, and so Ahaziah died, left no heir, so Joram, son of Ahab became king.
2 Kings 2. Elijah was taken up to heaven, Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, and received it because he witnessed Elijah’s ascension.
Luke 20:20-47, continuing Holy Week, it is now Tuesday, Jesus was teaching in the Temple and his authority was questioned. Standing in Solomon’s colonnades the religious leaders tried to entrap Jesus so they asked him: “Is it legal to pay Taxes to Caesar?” You know the answer, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.” After that it was the Sadducee’s turn: What about the Resurrection? Jesus answered with scripture: “How can David call his descendant Lord?” Jesus finally warned the people: “Beware of the teachers of the Law.”
Proverbs 5 tells of the perils of adultery and does not mince words.
In addition he signed one Executive Order restoring Science to the Golden Standard: Free from politics!
In the presentation of the Executive Orders the CEO of Oklo, James DeWitte mentioned that we are restarting a technology that has been inactive for over 40 years. This can only mean he meant without saying so the Oak ridge Molten Salt Thorium reactor. It was going great, but President Nixon wanted to go with the fast breeder reactor and move nuclear development to California, so they started to badmouth the MSR. One false accusation was that it was unreliable and needed to be shutdown frequently. The real reason was it was routinely shut down on weekends to save money and personnel. The Molten Salt Reactor does not have a poison time after shutdown as does conventional power station but can be scaled up and down including small power stoppages. I see this as an advantage. Anyhow, this is what Mr. DeWitte said:
One of many new options
There are only a few fissionable options, Uranium 233, Uranium 235 and Plutonium 239. Uranium 233 is produced by bombarding Thorium 232 with neutrons. Plutonium 239 is produced by bombarding Uranium 238 with neutrons.
Right now only 0.5% of the mined uranium is used. The rest goes to nuclear waste. Molten Salt reactors can use the nuclear waste as raw material and use the other 99.5% of the available energy. Another exciting use of Plutonium is when we finally dismantle the nuclear arsenal and burn it for peaceful use. And there is four times as much Thorium as there is mine-able Uranium, enough for thousands of years!
This is the beginning!
Here are 30 reasons why Thorium is a superior source for nuclear power:
Luke 20:1-19, continuing Holy Week, it is now Tuesday. Jesus was teaching in the Temple and his authority was questioned. Standing in Solomon’s colonnades he taught the parable of the wicked wine dressers. The religious leaders tried to entrap Jesus, but were afraid of the people.
1 Kings 20. Ahab defeated the Syrians and he did it twice. After that Ahab made a treaty with Ben-Hadad, and that led to the prophecy of Ahab’s Condemnation.
1 Kings 21. Naboth was killed for his vineyard and for that the LORD condemned Ahab.
1 Kings 22. Micalah prophesied against Ahab, Ahab therefore disguised himself for protection but died in battle by a stray arrow. Jehoshaphat became King of Judah, followed by Ahaziah.
Luke 19:28-48. Jesus entered what is called “Holy Week”, beginning with the triumphal entry. Seeing Jerusalem, Jesus wept over it, and after entering Jerusalem Jesus cleansed the Temple.
1 Kings 19. After the fantastic victory at Mount Carmel Elijah fled from Jezebel, the “exhibit A” of names of evil women featured in literature and films. He fled, got strengthened by an angel that fed him a meal that gave him enough strength to go all the way to Mount Horeb. There he heard “The Still Small Voice.” God reminded Elijah that “I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” Leaving Mount Horeb Elijah met Elisha and called him to follow Elijah.
Luke 19:1-27 starts with the story of Zacchaeus ( a wee little man), then is recorded Jesus’ parable of the minas. One take home from that parable is: “Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)”
1 Kings 18. This chapter alone makes the reading of all of 1 Kings worthwhile. Elijah met Obadiah and sent a message to King Ahab. When they met, Elijah challenged Ahab to a competition: Four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of Asherah against Elijah alone on Mount Carmel to see whose God is victorious! You know the rest, enjoy reading!
Luke 18 starts by Jesus telling the parable of the persistent widow, meaning we should always pray, then he added: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” After that he taught us humility with the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector, reinforced by Jesus blessing the little children, “for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these”. A rich young ruler wanted to inherit eternal life but was not willing to pay the price to follow Jesus. With men it is impossible to have eternal life , but all things are possible with God. Then Jesus predicted His death, and finally a blind beggar received his sight.
1 Kings 17. With Baal worship in full swing Elijah prayed for a multi-year drought. He then went into the wilderness, finding a brook and was fed by ravens. But the brook dried up so he went to a widow in Zarephath. He asks her for water and some bread. That was the last of the flower she had, but she gave it to Elijah anyway. Later the widow’s son died and Elijah revived him. The jar of flour and the jug of oil never emptied as long as Elijah was in the house, miracle upon miracle!
Luke 17. Jesus told about the consequences of sin, the importance of faith and the call of duty. Then is recorded the story of ten lepers healed but only one came back and thanked Jesus, and he was a Samaritan! Finally Jesus spoke of the Coming of the Kingdom of God and the end times.
Not much good in 1 Kings 14, it tells of judgment on the house of Jeroboam and his death, and Rehoboam taking over power and his death.
1 Kings 15, the evil king Abijam reigned in Judah. After his death Asa became king over Judah and he was a good king. Meanwhile in Israel Nadab reigned, and after him Baasha both doing evil things in the eyes of the LORD.
1 Kings 16 displays a depressing list of kings over Israel, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, one worse than the other, finally culminating with Ahab, the worst of them all, setting up Baal worship in Israel.
Luke 16. Jesus told the parable of the unjust steward to show it is not enough to follow the practices of the land, one must be above reproach in spiritual things, even if you are following the Law and the Prophets to the letter you will fail. He ended with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
1 Kings 12 tells of the revolt against Rehoboam and Jeroboam’s Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan. They were put up so Rehoboam didn’t have to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice.
1 Kings 13. From Judah came a Man of God with a message. It did not go over well, so through lies and intrigues the Man of God was killed by a lion. One quote from this chapter: “After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.” Large portions of the Old Testament describes how not to worship, let this be a warning to us.
Luke 15 is deceptively simple. Just three parables; the lost sheep, the lost coin, and finally the lost son. The parable of the lost son is the most famous story of redemption in the Bible.
In 1 Kings 10 the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon and praised him “The half had not been told”; of Solomon’s great wisdom and wealth.
1 Kings 11. Solomon’s heart turned from the LORD, ( blame the foreign women and their idolatry; which he joined). It records Solomon’s adversaries, Jeroboam’s rebellion, and Solomon’s death.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 