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

Esther 5, Esther’s Banquet, Haman’s rage against Mordecai.

From CBN’s “Esther: For such a time as this.”

Esther 4, Mordecai persuades Esther to risk her life to save the Jews.

Esther 3, Haman’s plot for genocide against the Jews.

According to 1 Samuel, God told Samuel to utterly destroy the Agagites, but Saul did not do so, so Saul lost his kingdom to David. Since then there was great animosity between the Agagites and the Jews.

Esther 2, Esther made Queen, Mordecai uncovers a Conspiracy.

And a great wedding banquet it was indeed.

At 99, after affecting millions on earth Billy Graham is finally gone home to meet his savior and also his wife.

The Rev. Billy Graham passed away this morning, the 21 of February at the age of 99. What a life this man had! And God even gave him the grace to give a “final” message on God’s grace, ending with the sinner’s prayer. I watched the moving messages, but with his passing it hit me; In the form of a Limerick:

He spoke to the millions on earth.

How much is a life like that worth?

In God’s eyes it’s the same

As that bum that just came

to the cross. Of God’s grace there’s no dearth.

Picture above: Sarah Palin congratulates Billy graham on his 95th birthday. Franklin Graham and Todd Palin are the other two. At the 95 year celebration Sarah Palin gave the tribute:

Esther 1, the Big Feast, Queen Vashti Deposed.

Esther 1, the Big Feast, Queen Vashti Deposed

The four beasts in Daniel: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea” (Daniel 7:2).

1: “The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle” (Daniel 7:4). “The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth” (verse 17). This first beast is representative of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. (Daniel 4:34–35).

2. The second beast in Daniel’s vision is “like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth” (Daniel 7:5). This beast represents the Medo-Persian Empire; the raising up of one side of the creature indicates that one of the kingdom’s parts (Persia) would be dominant. The three ribs in the creature’s mouth symbolize nations that were “devoured” by the Medes and the Persians. These three conquered nations are known to be Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt.

3. The third beast is “like a leopard,” except it has four bird-like wings on its back and four heads (Daniel 7:6). This beast is given authority to rule and represents Greece, The four heads are predictive of the four-way division of the empire following Alexander the Great’s death. Daniel’s vision of the ram and the goat gives further details of the second and third kingdoms (see Daniel 8).

4. The fourth beast is rising from the sea and is the most dreadful—“terrifying and frightening and very powerful” (Daniel 7:7). This fourth beast has “bronze claws” (verse 19) and “large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left” totally annihilating its prey (verse 7). The fourth beast has ten horns. This creature represents the Roman Empire, a mighty kingdom that indeed crushed all its foes.

After the fall of Rome, after the death of Muhammad in 632 A.D. the expansion of the Muslim Caliphates began and expanded until the decisive battle of Tours in 732 A.D, only one hundred years later.

The ancient City of Susa.

Mark 16, He is Risen, Mary Magdalene sees the Risen Lord, the Great Commission, Jesus sits down at the Right Hand of God.

Verses 9-20 does not appear in the earliest manuscripts, and may have been added at a later time to complete the Gospel.

Mark 15, Jesus Before Pilate, Barabbas, the Soldiers mock Jesus, Crucifixion of the King, Jesus’ Death, Jesus’ Burial.

Duccio interpreted the scene, between 1308-11, with this tempera on wood (entitled Christ Before Pilate Again). It is maintained at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Siena, Italy.