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

Taking a pause between the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles we read two Psalms and three chapters of Judges today.

April 16: Psalm 25, Psalm 26, Judges 12, Judges 13, Judges 14 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Psalm 25, of David. “Unto Thee, o LORD do I lift up my soul.”

Psalm 26, of David. A Psalm where David asked God to judge him on his merits based on faith.

Judges 12 records Jephthah’s Conflict with Ephraim where they killed people based on their accent. After that three more people, Ibzan, Elon and Abdon led Israel.

Judges 13 tells of bad times for Israel for forty years. Then came a glimmer of hope, the birth of Samson.

Judges 14. Samson started out great, but then he took a Philistine as his Wife.

Does lockdown work to flatten the curve? Look at Sweden versus Great Britain.

Conventional wisdom told us in the Coronavirus pandemic that the only way to stop the hospitals from being overrun and the healthcare system collapsing was to enforce “social separation” between people and shut down the ecnomy, allowing only “essential workers” to go to work. Initially Italy, Spain and France had their hospitals overrun with people and their death rate from COVID19 is over 10%. This made all European countries enforce draconian rules to protect what was left. All countries except Sweden that is. They let people go to work, encouraged working from home, limited gatherings to less than 50 people and practiced “social separation” at restaurants, but kept them open. United Kingdom locked down their country on March 23. How much worse did Sweden fare? They both have about the same number of tests per capita, about 1/2%.

They both seem to have the same rate of increase, and are leveling off

The death rate, a lagging indicator also seem to come down for both countries.

There is one country, Norway, which is similar to Sweden that is doing much better. They took the approach of early testing and contact tracing, and their death rate per person is one quarter of Sweden’s. But the early outbreak occurred in the ski areas and traveling hubs, a younger and fit segment of the population.

Belgium on the other hand has a death rate of over three times as many as Sweden, a country having about the same population as Sweden, and they tested nearly twice as many people! The big difference there was that nearly half of all deaths so far has occurred in nursing homes.

The conclusion: Go back to work, start up the economy again, test and protect the most vulnerable. Most people will get it anyway, and most of them will not even know they had it, and for most of the rest it will be about the same as the regular flu. Give Hydroxychloroquine and Z-pack and Zinc for 5 days to all that want it, including all in the risk zone. It  must be under a physician’s supervision, not because of the Hydroxyxhloroquine, that has never killed anyone when taken in approved doses, but the Z-pack can make heart arrhythmia more severe.

 

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

Well do a 5 day study in the Old Testament as we move from Luke to Acts, enjoy!

April 15: Psalm 23, Psalm 24, Judges 11 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Psalm 23, of David. Probably the most memorized Psalm of them all. Do it, if you can.

Psalm 24, of David. This time the Psalm is illustrated with pictures. Enjoy!

Judges 11 describes the glorious victory and tragic vow of Jephthah.  Jephthah’s Daughter is forever memorialized.

April 14, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today  we finish up the gospel of Luke with the glorious resurrection and the events that followed. The chapter in Joshua tells of the consequences of  worshiping false gods.

April 14:Luke 24,  Judges 10 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Luke 24, this is it, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most important event in the Christian calendar!  Later that day two dejected disciples met someone on the Road to Emmaus and finally realized they had met Jesus.  then Jesus appeared to the Disciples back in Jerusalem. The Gospel of Luke ends with the Ascension, but that event is better described in the Acts of the Apostles, also authored by Dr. Luke.

Judges 10 Things went from bad to worse with Tola, Jair and Jephthah as leaders, so Israel was again oppressed. They finally repented and got rid of their false gods.

April 13, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today’s chapter of Luke contains the Good Friday message, read it carefully and ponder. The chapter in Judges is a lesson in how not to behave.

April 13: Luke 23,  Judges 9 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Luke 23. This is it, the second most important day in the Christian calendar. Jesus was on trial before Herod and Pilate. Pilate was trying to wiggle out of sentencing Jesus by setting one condemned prisoner free on Passover. The crowd chose Barabbas over Jesus, Pilate reluctantly gave in, so Jesus was sentenced to be crucified.   On the cross Jesus said the famous “Seven Last Words”, (taken from the four gospels), then he died and was buried before sundown.

Judges 9. The Bible tells it as it is, warts and all. So it is with the story of Abimelech’s Conspiracy and the parable of the trees. All the evil led to Abimelech’s Downfall. A take home from this chapter is his last words, after his skull was cracked by a millstone, dropped by a woman. “Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him.”

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

This is the first day of the week. The Tomb is empty.

The churches are empty.

Let that sink in.We are the church.

The church building is not the church.

More people than ever may hear the message of the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ today than ever in history thanks to the internet.

Read the words Of Gamaliel in Acts 5: “34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men (apostles) be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

So it is. The Coronavirus and the forces that unleashed it will be defeated, and the message of Christ will prevail.

 

April 12, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today’s chapter of Luke tells the first half of Jesus’ last day before his death. The chapter in Judges tells the rest of the story of Gideon, the part never preached. Read it as history.

April 12: Luke 22,  Judges 8 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Luke 22. Judas agreed to betray Jesus, it was Passover so Jesus commemorated   the Last Supper with his disciples, after which they went to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed. While they were there Jesus was betrayed, arrested and taken to the house of the high priest. Waiting outside, Peter disowns Jesus three times before the cock crowd. Jesus was interrogated during the night and before daybreak the Sanhedrin had heard enough, and were ready to sentence him to death, but only the Romans had the right to execute the sentence.

Judges 8.  Gideon Defeated the Midianites,  the story is getting complicated but read it anyway. After the great victory Gideon made an Ephod from the Ishmaelites’ golden earrings and this became a snare to them all. Finally Gideon died and immediately after the Israelites fell back into idolatry, worshiping Baal.

April 11, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

April 11: Luke 21,  Judges 6, Judges 7 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Luke 21, 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, the destruction of Jerusalem, the coming of the Son of Man and finally the parable of the fig tree.

Judges 6. Things were going bad for Israel, the  Midianites oppressed them, God called Gideon, Gideon was reluctant but after speaking with the Angel of the LORD Gideon destroyed the altar of Baal. God wanted Gideon to defeat the Midianites but again Gideon was reluctant, so he demanded the sign of the Fleece (twice). God provided the sign, so in

Judges 7 eighty-two thousand men gathered to fight. God said that was too many, reduce their number, and in two steps they were whittled down to  Gideon’s Valiant Three Hundred men. With that “army” and God the Midianites were defeated.

April 10, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today there are four chapters to read, enjoy!

April 10: Luke 20,  Judges 3, Judges 4, Judges 5 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Luke 20, 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 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.”

Judges 3. The cycle of straying from the LORD and coming back to Him  began for the nations remaining in the land. Israel does evil in the sight of the LORD and He raised up Judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and during their time there was peace in the land for 40, then 80 years

Judges 4. Every now and then God raises up a woman to lead the people. Deborah was such a woman and judged the people of Israel.

Judges 5 is all about the Song of Deborah. Read it and enjoy!

April 9, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today’s chapter in Luke starts the “Holy Week”, Joshua is finished, so we begin reading the first two chapters of Judges.

April 9: Luke 19, Judges 1, Judges 2 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Luke 19 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.)” Following that started what is called “Holy Week”, beginning with the triumphal entry. Seeing Jerusalem, Jesus wept over it and after entering Jerusalem Jesus cleansed the Temple.

Judges 1 describes the continuing conquest of Canaan, and the Israelites’ incomplete conquest of the land.

In Judges 2 God decried Israel’s disobedience, the author recorded the death of Joshua, and chronicled Israel’s unfaithfulness and sin.