Archive for the ‘Articles that caught my attention’ Category

Let us not esteem worldly prosperity or adversity as things real or of any moment, but let us live elsewhere, and raise all our attention to Heaven; esteeming sin as the only true evil, and nothing truly good, but virtue which unites us to God.

May 21, 2010

My Daily Prayers and Readings for 05/21/2010

< >< My Prayer >< >

Abba Father, Lord Jesus, in the Spirit, one God the Abba Father, Christ Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me, for one walk in and with Jesus.

My mind is cluttered with all the thoughts and feelings from today’s readings and an article that I believe You brought to me yesterday titled ‘Knowing God or Knowing All About Him’. But You know this as You know everything about me, what has happened and what will happen; the only unknown is me and what will I do with the freedom of choice that You have given me. Well I can only hope and pray the prayer from the article “I pray that I would learn to Know You, rather than strive to Know More About You”.

For I have felt and feel the connection, I feel Your wisdom and truth, I believe more in the unseen than the seen; knowing that in the Spirit through Jesus lies the answer to this prayer.

This I pray in Jesus name, asking that You bless me and mine for fulfillment of Your will; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

< >< Today’s Jesus Calling Daily Devotion >< >

May – “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.” Psalm 29:2

Today – I, THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, am with you and for you. What more could you need? When you feel some lack, it is because you are not connecting with Me at a deep level. I offer abundant Life; your part is to trust Me, refusing to worry about anything.

It is not so much adverse events that make you anxious as it is your thoughts about those events. Your mind engages in efforts to take control of a situation, to bring about the result you desire. Your thoughts close in on the problem like ravenous wolves. Determined to make things go your way, you forget that I am in charge of your life. The only remedy is to switch your focus from the problem to My Presence. Stop all your striving, and watch to see what I will do. I am the Lord!

ROMANS 8:31-32, MICAH 7:7

< >< Knowing God or Knowing All About Him >< >

“My prayer is that you would learn to Know God, rather than strive to Know More About Him”

Read article Knowing God or Knowing All About Him – May 20, 2010 by Bob Regnerus Click

< >< Today’s Mass Readings >< >

Audio Link

Reading 1 Acts 25:13b-21

King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea

on a visit to Festus.

Since they spent several days there,

Festus referred Paul’s case to the king, saying,

“There is a man here left in custody by Felix.

When I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and the elders of the Jews

brought charges against him and demanded his condemnation.

I answered them that it was not Roman practice

to hand over an accused person before he has faced his accusers

and had the opportunity to defend himself against their charge.

So when they came together here, I made no delay;

the next day I took my seat on the tribunal

and ordered the man to be brought in.

His accusers stood around him,

but did not charge him with any of the crimes I suspected.

Instead they had some issues with him about their own religion

and about a certain Jesus who had died

but who Paul claimed was alive.

Since I was at a loss how to investigate this controversy,

I asked if he were willing to go to Jerusalem

and there stand trial on these charges.

And when Paul appealed that he be held in custody

for the Emperor’s decision,

I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20ab

R.          (19a)  The Lord has established his throne in heaven.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

and all my being, bless his holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits.

R.          The Lord has established his throne in heaven.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he put our transgressions from us.

R.          The Lord has established his throne in heaven.

The LORD has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

Bless the LORD, all you his angels,

you mighty in strength, who do his bidding.

R.          The Lord has established his throne in heaven.

Gospel Jn 21:15-19

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them,

he said to Simon Peter,

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

He then said to Simon Peter a second time,

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

He said to him the third time,

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time,

“Do you love me?” and he said to him,

“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,

you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;

but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,

and someone else will dress you

and lead you where you do not want to go.”

He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.

And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

< >< Today’s Video Reflection >< >

Let us not esteem worldly prosperity or adversity as things real or of any moment, but let us live elsewhere, and raise all our attention to Heaven; esteeming sin as the only true evil, and nothing truly good, but virtue which unites us to God. — St Gregory Nazianzen

< >< Online Sources for Devotion Scripture References & Daily Mass Readings >< >

Link to Devotion Scriptures unless noted from New International Version BibleGateway.com

Links for today’s readings from USCCB using the New American Bible or

Links for today’s readings from EWTN using the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

For audio link to today’s readings from USCCB using the New American Bible click:

http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_05_21.mp3

For link to today’s video Reflection http://www.usccb.org/video/reflections.shtml

< >< Other sources of inspiration on God’s Word >< >

EWTN

Moody Radio Online

Today in the Word Radio Online

Today in the Word

Today in the Word – Today’s Devotional

< >< Bible Online >< >

BibleGateway.com

< >< One Walk >< >

Follow what I am thinking, listening and reading visit www.RichardAngulo.com

Follow what I am doing, visit www.raagroup.com

BreakPoint: The Bounty and Goodness of Our God, 11/22/07

November 26, 2007

I thought you might be interested in this…

If this email does not display properly, please view our online version.

The Bounty and Goodness of Our God
A Thanksgiving Story

November 22, 2007

It has become the worst drought in the history of the Southeast. The ground is parched; crops are dying. And last week, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue decided to do something about it. He urged Georgians to pray for desperately needed rain.

Despite much ridicule and some protest, last week, Gov. Perdue led a prayer vigil on the steps of the State Capitol. Praying along with him were pastors from several denominations and hundreds of Georgians.

Gov. Perdue may not have realized it, but he was following in the steps of our Pilgrim fathers and mothers nearly 400 years ago: Joining together with neighbors for prayer was a familiar ritual for the Pilgrims. For example, in April of 1623—three years after the first Pilgrims landed—the transplanted Englishmen and women planted corn and other crops. A good harvest was essential to their survival. But in the weeks following the planting, it became clear that a dry spell was turning into a drought.

Pilgrim father Edward Winslow recorded their distress in his diary. “It pleased God, for our further chastisement,” he wrote, “to send a great drought; insomuch as in six weeks . . . there scarce fell any rain.” The crops began to shrivel up “as though they had been scorched before the fire . . . God,” Winslow wrote, “which hitherto had been our only shield and supporter, now seemed in His anger to arm Himself against us. And who can withstand the fierceness of His wrath?”

The Pilgrims decided the only solution was to humble themselves before God in fasting and in prayer. They appointed a day of prayer and set aside all other employments.

Winslow describes what happened next. “In the morning,” he wrote, “when we assembled together, the heavens were as clear, and the drought as like to continue as it ever was.” But by late afternoon—after eight or nine hours of prayer—”the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered on all sides,” Winslow wrote. The next morning brought “soft, sweet and moderate shows of rain, continuing some fourteen days.” The needed rain was “mixed with such seasonable weather,” he wrote, “as it was hard to say whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived, such was the bounty and goodness of our God.”

This dramatic answer to prayer was a witness to the local Indians. As Winslow notes, “The Indians . . . took notice . . . all of them admired the goodness of our God towards us, that wrought so great a change in so short of time, showing the difference between their conjuration and our invocation on the name of God for rain.”

The harvest that fall was abundant—and the Pilgrims survived yet another year.

Today is Thanksgiving—the day on which we recall the three-day celebration in 1621 in which the Pilgrims invited local Indians to join them in thanking God for His blessings on them—not, as some school children are taught today in class, giving thanks to Indians. And Americans ever since have been celebrating this, an occasion recognized and enshrined by Congress. We ought to take time to thank God for His manifold blessings on us today.

By the way, the day after Governor Perdue prayed on the Capitol steps, rains swept the state—nearly an inch in places. But the drought has continued. So, as we give thanks today, let’s remember those in the drought-stricken Southeast and ask the Giver of all good gifts to bless the land with rain.

click here for more information

ANNOUNCEMENT

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone here at BreakPoint!

FEATURED RESOURCE

BreakPoint WorldView magazine is now available for FREE online. Sign up today!

GREAT BOOKS

Sign up for the Great Books Audio CD Series, a monthly audio program presenting foundational worldview readings.

ONLINE FEATURE
BreakPoint WorldView: “ Always Winter?: C. S. Lewis and Hope for the Visual Arts” by Jerry L. Eisley

THE POINT

The Point Radio: A Glutton for Contentment

From everyone at The Point: God’s blessings to you and your loved ones this Thanksgiving!

Listen to Today’s Point Radio Broadcast


For printer-friendly version, simply visit http://www.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT01MjQxNDUmcD0xJnU9LTEmbGk9MTk1MzE4NQ/index.html and click on Today’s Commentary. The printer-friendly link is on the left-hand column.

Copyright (c) 2007 Prison Fellowship

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

“BreakPoint” is a daily commentary on news and trends from a Christian perspective. Heard on more than 1000 radio outlets nationwide, “BreakPoint” transcripts are also available on the Internet.

BreakPoint is the worldview ministry of PFM (formerly Prison Fellowship Ministries): 44180 Riverside Parkway, Lansdowne, VA 20176.

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Forward this email to a Friend.


Subscribe to BreakPoint.

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BreakPoint: The Bounty and Goodness of Our God, 11/22/07

November 26, 2007

I thought you might be interested in this…

If this email does not display properly, please view our online version.

The Bounty and Goodness of Our God
A Thanksgiving Story

November 22, 2007

It has become the worst drought in the history of the Southeast. The ground is parched; crops are dying. And last week, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue decided to do something about it. He urged Georgians to pray for desperately needed rain.

Despite much ridicule and some protest, last week, Gov. Perdue led a prayer vigil on the steps of the State Capitol. Praying along with him were pastors from several denominations and hundreds of Georgians.

Gov. Perdue may not have realized it, but he was following in the steps of our Pilgrim fathers and mothers nearly 400 years ago: Joining together with neighbors for prayer was a familiar ritual for the Pilgrims. For example, in April of 1623—three years after the first Pilgrims landed—the transplanted Englishmen and women planted corn and other crops. A good harvest was essential to their survival. But in the weeks following the planting, it became clear that a dry spell was turning into a drought.

Pilgrim father Edward Winslow recorded their distress in his diary. “It pleased God, for our further chastisement,” he wrote, “to send a great drought; insomuch as in six weeks . . . there scarce fell any rain.” The crops began to shrivel up “as though they had been scorched before the fire . . . God,” Winslow wrote, “which hitherto had been our only shield and supporter, now seemed in His anger to arm Himself against us. And who can withstand the fierceness of His wrath?”

The Pilgrims decided the only solution was to humble themselves before God in fasting and in prayer. They appointed a day of prayer and set aside all other employments.

Winslow describes what happened next. “In the morning,” he wrote, “when we assembled together, the heavens were as clear, and the drought as like to continue as it ever was.” But by late afternoon—after eight or nine hours of prayer—”the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered on all sides,” Winslow wrote. The next morning brought “soft, sweet and moderate shows of rain, continuing some fourteen days.” The needed rain was “mixed with such seasonable weather,” he wrote, “as it was hard to say whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived, such was the bounty and goodness of our God.”

This dramatic answer to prayer was a witness to the local Indians. As Winslow notes, “The Indians . . . took notice . . . all of them admired the goodness of our God towards us, that wrought so great a change in so short of time, showing the difference between their conjuration and our invocation on the name of God for rain.”

The harvest that fall was abundant—and the Pilgrims survived yet another year.

Today is Thanksgiving—the day on which we recall the three-day celebration in 1621 in which the Pilgrims invited local Indians to join them in thanking God for His blessings on them—not, as some school children are taught today in class, giving thanks to Indians. And Americans ever since have been celebrating this, an occasion recognized and enshrined by Congress. We ought to take time to thank God for His manifold blessings on us today.

By the way, the day after Governor Perdue prayed on the Capitol steps, rains swept the state—nearly an inch in places. But the drought has continued. So, as we give thanks today, let’s remember those in the drought-stricken Southeast and ask the Giver of all good gifts to bless the land with rain.

click here for more information

ANNOUNCEMENT

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone here at BreakPoint!

FEATURED RESOURCE

BreakPoint WorldView magazine is now available for FREE online. Sign up today!

GREAT BOOKS

Sign up for the Great Books Audio CD Series, a monthly audio program presenting foundational worldview readings.

ONLINE FEATURE
BreakPoint WorldView: “ Always Winter?: C. S. Lewis and Hope for the Visual Arts” by Jerry L. Eisley

THE POINT

The Point Radio: A Glutton for Contentment

From everyone at The Point: God’s blessings to you and your loved ones this Thanksgiving!

Listen to Today’s Point Radio Broadcast


For printer-friendly version, simply visit http://www.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT01MjQxNDUmcD0xJnU9LTEmbGk9MTk1MzE4NQ/index.html and click on Today’s Commentary. The printer-friendly link is on the left-hand column.

Copyright (c) 2007 Prison Fellowship

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

“BreakPoint” is a daily commentary on news and trends from a Christian perspective. Heard on more than 1000 radio outlets nationwide, “BreakPoint” transcripts are also available on the Internet.

BreakPoint is the worldview ministry of PFM (formerly Prison Fellowship Ministries): 44180 Riverside Parkway, Lansdowne, VA 20176.

Privacy Policy.

Forward this email to a Friend.


Subscribe to BreakPoint.

Informz for iMIS

Amazing Grace the movie

November 18, 2007

 

http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/#

 

Other links

http://www.theamazingchange.com/clapham.html

http://www.myspace.com/lc2lc

http://www.world-changers.info/                                       

 

Breakpoint ‘A better hour’

http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7232

 

 

Peace be with you / Richard

 

Amazing Grace the movie

November 18, 2007

 

http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/#

 

Other links

http://www.theamazingchange.com/clapham.html

http://www.myspace.com/lc2lc

http://www.world-changers.info/                                       

 

Breakpoint ‘A better hour’

http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7232

 

 

Peace be with you / Richard

 

Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

July 13, 2007


By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent

Last Updated: 2:14am BST 13/07/2007

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/stylesheets/portal/images/yourview/form.gif Have your say     http://www.telegraph.co.uk/stylesheets/portal/images/yourview/comments.gif Read comments

The sound of unbridled joy seldom breaks the quiet of the British Museum’s great Arched Room, which holds its collection of 130,000 Assyrian cuneiform tablets, dating back 5,000 years.

 

A fragment of cuneiform - Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

This fragment is a receipt for payment made by a figure in the Old Testament

But Michael Jursa, a visiting professor from Vienna, let out such a cry last Thursday. He had made what has been called the most important find in Biblical archaeology for 100 years, a discovery that supports the view that the historical books of the Old Testament are based on fact.

Searching for Babylonian financial accounts among the tablets, Prof Jursa suddenly came across a name he half remembered – Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described there in a hand 2,500 years old, as "the chief eunuch" of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.

Prof Jursa, an Assyriologist, checked the Old Testament and there in chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, he found, spelled differently, the same name – Nebo-Sarsekim.

Nebo-Sarsekim, according to Jeremiah, was Nebuchadnezzar II’s "chief officer" and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city.

The small tablet, the size of "a packet of 10 cigarettes" according to Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, is a bill of receipt acknowledging Nabu-sharrussu-ukin’s payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon.

The tablet is dated to the 10th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 595BC, 12 years before the siege of Jerusalem.

Evidence from non-Biblical sources of people named in the Bible is not unknown, but Nabu-sharrussu-ukin would have been a relatively insignificant figure.

"This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find," Dr Finkel said yesterday. "If Nebo-Sarsekim existed, which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power."

Cuneiform is the oldest known form of writing and was commonly used in the Middle East between 3,200 BC and the second century AD. It was created by pressing a wedge-shaped instrument, usually a cut reed, into moist clay.

The full translation of the tablet reads: (Regarding) 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/11/ntablet111.xml

For the best content online, visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

July 13, 2007


By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent

Last Updated: 2:14am BST 13/07/2007

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/stylesheets/portal/images/yourview/form.gif Have your say     http://www.telegraph.co.uk/stylesheets/portal/images/yourview/comments.gif Read comments

The sound of unbridled joy seldom breaks the quiet of the British Museum’s great Arched Room, which holds its collection of 130,000 Assyrian cuneiform tablets, dating back 5,000 years.

 

A fragment of cuneiform - Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

This fragment is a receipt for payment made by a figure in the Old Testament

But Michael Jursa, a visiting professor from Vienna, let out such a cry last Thursday. He had made what has been called the most important find in Biblical archaeology for 100 years, a discovery that supports the view that the historical books of the Old Testament are based on fact.

Searching for Babylonian financial accounts among the tablets, Prof Jursa suddenly came across a name he half remembered – Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described there in a hand 2,500 years old, as "the chief eunuch" of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.

Prof Jursa, an Assyriologist, checked the Old Testament and there in chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, he found, spelled differently, the same name – Nebo-Sarsekim.

Nebo-Sarsekim, according to Jeremiah, was Nebuchadnezzar II’s "chief officer" and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city.

The small tablet, the size of "a packet of 10 cigarettes" according to Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, is a bill of receipt acknowledging Nabu-sharrussu-ukin’s payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon.

The tablet is dated to the 10th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 595BC, 12 years before the siege of Jerusalem.

Evidence from non-Biblical sources of people named in the Bible is not unknown, but Nabu-sharrussu-ukin would have been a relatively insignificant figure.

"This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find," Dr Finkel said yesterday. "If Nebo-Sarsekim existed, which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power."

Cuneiform is the oldest known form of writing and was commonly used in the Middle East between 3,200 BC and the second century AD. It was created by pressing a wedge-shaped instrument, usually a cut reed, into moist clay.

The full translation of the tablet reads: (Regarding) 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/11/ntablet111.xml

For the best content online, visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk