Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

March 11, read through the Bible in a year.

Today there are only 2 chapters to read.

March 11: Mark 11, Deuteronomy 4 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Mark 11 starts what is called the Holy Week with the Triumphal Entry. The next day Jesus curses a fig tree (symbol of Israel) and clears the Temple. Following morning the fig tree is withered, and all marvel. Finally, Jesus authority questioned.

In Deuteronomy 4 God promises the people they will enter the promised land, but if they are disobedient they will be scattered all over the earth. Obedience means no idolatry “for the LORD, your God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God”. Three Cities of Refuge are mentioned, and a short summary of God’s Law.

March 10, read through the Bible in a year.

Today there are three chapters to read.

March 10: Mark 10, Deuteronomy 2, Deuteronomy 3 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

In Mark 10 Jesus explains the Christian concept of Marriage: One man, one woman, one lifetime,^“6But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. ⁷For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; ⁸And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. ⁹What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Then Jesus blesses the little children and says that “, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” The Rich Young Ruler asks what he must do to receive eternal life, but he cannot do what is necessary, so Jesus says ” It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Jesus then predicts his resurrection. James and John want to be great, but Jesus points out that Greatness comes by Serving and finally Jesus heals Bartimaeus.

Deuteronomy 2 tells of the first 38 years of wandering in the the Desert, the generation entering the desert has died off, then with the help of God King Sihon is Defeated.

Deuteronomy 3 tells how King Og Defeated and the Israelites conquer the land East of Jordan but Moses is forbidden to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land.

Climate Change – or a remarkably stable climate? A Limerick.

It’s freezing around the North Pole.

Let’s implement climate control.

No more milk, no more beef

double speak, our belief.

Global Governance is our goal.

Yesterday, March 8 the Great Lakes ice concentration hit 80 percent

Lake Superior and Lake Erie both had an ice cover of over 95%, Lake Huron over 90%. Only Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario lagged with 60% and 40% ice cover.

This has happened only seven times in the last 45 years that the maximum ice cover has exceeded 80%. And if one looks at a graph, there seems to be no trend whatsoever.

But we just had a bad tornado outbreak in Alabama, and one more is expected. Isn’t that a sign of climate change?

Historically, strong tornadoes are declining.

And until this week the trend was down even further

So, tornadoes are down. How about wild fires?

Wildfires used to be much worse before modern forest management (Smokey the bear was the symbol) was initiated. Recent environmental concerns has led to a reversal of proper forest management “to save the environment”.

What else does increasing CO2 bring? Take a look at all disasters.

Image result for disaster statistics

There seems to have been a strong increase in reported disasters. Could it be that the reporting got better after year 2000, after which we see a slightly declining trend.

Image result for death rate from disasters

We seem to be able to handle disasters better. It was much worse a long time ago. Or – the climate is getting more stable.

Could it be that increasing CO2 is good for the climate?

Check out https://lenbilen.com/2017/04/20/earth-day-2017-real-climate-change/

Or maybe https://lenbilen.com/2016/11/22/climate-change-is-on-balance-good-a-limerick-and-explanation/

What do you think? We have enormous environmental challenges, and pollution. CO2 is not a pollutant, but will help delay the coming of the next ice age.

March 9, read through the Bible in a year.

Today there are only two chapters to read, but they are big.

March 9: Mark 9, Deuteronomy 1 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Mark 9 begins with the Transfiguration and an explanation on Elijah, he had already come. Then a boy with an evil spirit is healed and the disciples ask why they could not drive out the evil spirit. Then Jesus predicts his Death and Resurrection but the disciples so not understand, instead they argue among themselves who is the Greatest. Jesus picks up a little child as an object lesson and explains what it means to be a servant of all. Jesus teaches Unity, not division, “whoever is not against us is for us.” Jesus warns of the dire consequences of offenses and tells them to be Salt with savor and be at peace with each other.

Deuteronomy 1 starts with the command to leave Horeb and enter Canaan. Leaders are appointed and spies sent out, but Israel’s refuse to enter the land. The penalty for Israel’s rebellion is that no one would enter the promised land except Caleb and Joshua.

March 8, read through the Bible in a year.

Today there are five chapters to read.

March 8: Mark 8, Numbers 33, Numbers 34, Numbers 35, Numbers 36, (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Mark 8 begins with Jesus feeding the four thousand, the Pharisees are still looking for a sign, but Jesus warns of the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod, all very confusing for the disciples; they are still not thinking in the spiritual realm. Jesus heals a blind man at Bethsaida, then follows Peter’s Confession and Jesus predicts his death.

Numbers 33 is a reciting of Israel’s Journey from Egypt, and provides instructions on how to conquer Canaan.

Numbers 34 defines the Boundaries of Canaan and mentions all the leaders appointed to divide the land.

Numbers 35 names the Cities for the Levites and defines the six Cities of Refuge.

Numbers 36 tells about the Inheritance of Zelophehad’s Daughters and why the Israelite women must marry within their tribe.

Long live the Amish! – Off the grid.

It is March 6 2019, a cold morning in Intercourse, Pa. The temperature is 19F and the snow is still deep. There it is! A recently built Amish homestead with the telltale clothesline, but also a small wind turbine and four solar panels to provide

electricity. Contrary to popular opinion the Amish do not shun electricity, they just want to be left unconnected to the “English”, in other words, live off the grid. Their desire to be independent force them to be resourceful and innovative, since they also follow the law of the land whenever possible. So it was, when the farms were mandated to refrigerate the milk before pickup they installed electric coolers. The electricity was generated by diesel generators, so bingo, they could get electricity for their workshops as well, and turn from primitive hand work to fully modern wood workshops, I know, they provided a first class kitchen for our home in Intercourse. They had a problem, federal law mandated headlights on their buggies to be street legal. The propane lights with gas stockings burned well, but were too fragile to last the bumpy buggy rides so they installed car headlights running on car batteries. They had to be charged often, and it became quite expensive, so the Amish in 2003 made the first commercially available LED headlights for their buggies, thereby extending battery life nine-fold for a marine deep-charge lead-acid battery, from six hours to 100 hours.

Even at 120 dollars a piece it made economic sense. How do you charge batteries? This is where the solar panels come in, they are used to charge the batteries. When the sun doesn’t shine the wind may blow, a reasonable backup. Now they have 12 volt electric power. The next step was to wire the house and install 12 V LED lights and provide 12 volt DC or 24 volt AC outlets for small appliances. The lights are done, the appliances are still run the hard way, diesel engines providing compressed air, which run their wells with jet-pumps and in their hand mixers they take out the motor and replace with a compressed air motor. The LED lights beat kerosene lamps any day for efficiency, and even a compressed air driven refrigerator is much more efficient than a kerosene driven refrigerator.

So if the grid goes down for an extended period of time, who is better off? The Amish are far ahead of us in preparation for catastrophes.

And the Amish do get together and fellowship for any reason, but mostly for their Sunday services, which are held in the upper room of their workshops, or in the kitchen for the women and the basement for the men. The horse-drawn pew-mobile is in the picture above, to the right. This is a tell-tale sign who has the service next time.

March 7, read through the Bible in a year.

Today there are four chapters to read.

March 7: Mark 7, Numbers 30, Numbers 31 , Numbers 32, (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Mark 7, what is clean and what is unclean? Jesus explains. An example of Great Faith: The Canaanite woman, and the healing of her daughter. Then Jesus heals a deaf-mute man, and the people say: “He has done everything well.”

Numbers 30 is short, and it deals with what the Law says about vows.

Numbers 31, Vengeance on the Midianites, Return from the War, Dividing the Spoils.

Numbers 32, The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh decide to settle East of Jordan.

March 6, read through the Bible in a year.

Today there are three chapters to read.

March 6: Mark 6, Numbers 28, Numbers 29, (click on the chapter to begin reading)

In Mark 6 Jesus proclaims ” A Prophet is not without honor, but in his own hometown, and among his own kin. Jesus sends out the Twelve, and they are amazed and do healing too. John the Baptist is beheaded, by the way the name Salome is not in the Bible. but beheading still fascinates many. Then comes the feeding of the Five Thousand, and after that Jesus walks on the Water.

Numbers 28 is all about offerings, the Daily Offerings, Sabbath Offerings, Monthly Offerings, Offerings at Passover and Offerings at the Feast of Weeks.

In Numbers 29 the offerings continue, Offerings at the Feast of Trumpets, Offerings at the Day of Atonement and finally Offerings at the Feast of Tabernacles.

March 5, read through the Bible in a year.

Today there are three chapters to read.

March 5: Mark 5, Numbers 26, Numbers 27, (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Mark 5 is full of action. On a hillside east of the sea of Galilee a demon possessed man meets Jesus and recognizes him as “The Son of the Most High God” and begs him not to torture him. The demons in the man ask Jesus to send them into a herd of pigs, about 2000 or so. Jesus lets the demons go into the swine, and they promptly rush down the hill and into Lake Galilee and drown. This was too much for the people living in the area, so they beg him to leave. Jesus does so, and he meets Jarius, who has a daughter that is dying. Going to Jarius’ house a large crowd followed them, and a woman with a bleeding issue for twelve years touches his garment. This Jesus notices, and says to the woman “Daughter, your faith has healed you”. While still at a distance from Jarius’ house the news comes that Jarius’ daughter is dead, they were too late. Jesus ignores them, saying: “Be not afraid, only believe.” Then he tells the child “Talitha koum”, she rises up, and that is the end of the chapter.

Numbers 26 contains the Second Census of Israel.

Numbers 27 defines inheritance laws, and it is decided that Joshua shall succeed Moses.

Where is spring? Punxsutawney Phil promised an early spring. A Limerick.

How wrong was old Phil Punxsutawney?

This winter is long and outdrawney.

With the climate change lie

and no shadow came by

he believed, but it was just balawney.

Does this look like spring to you?

Image result for today's current temperatures

And the cold snap has just started. Look at the Great Lakes Ice!

Lake Superior may freeze over totally!

And look at the snow pack!