If you did, you might want to check out The Encyclopedia of Arda. It’s like having a web-based guide to Middle-Earth but with a Movie Goer’s Guide for The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. The Guides detail all the differences between the books and the movies. You’ll be very surprised at what was left out and what was added to the stories!
Reuters has a story about an AOL employee, Jason Smathers, who stole 92 million screen names from AOL and sold them to an Internet marketer, Sean Dunaway of Las Vegas. Smathers made at least $85,000 and Dunaway, who resold the list to others, made over $100,000. It looks like these two guys could spend up to 5 years in prison and have to pay a $250,000 fine. Pathetic…
Are you quick to judge others? Think about it for a moment. Do you actually enjoy talking about someone behind his or her back or even talking about a group of people? If you do, this chapter will be a tough one for you. For in this chapter Paul speaks out against those who condemn others yet do not recognize the sinful habits that they themselves practice…
The Message, a paraphrase, puts verse one this way: “Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors.” That sure sounds like childish behavior but Paul isn’t speaking about kids on the playground. He is talking about you and me and all those who, by comparing themselves with others, try to minimize their own misdeeds. The Pharisee in Luke 18:11 comes to mind. “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”
“But I don’t do that.” I know; neither do I. “Seriously, I don’t do that.” Ok, ok. Let me keep going.
I think we all tend to lean in that direction at one point in our Christian walk. It’s so easy to do because when things are going well for us we often times become complacent and complacency can lead to prideful thinking or arrogance. What happens when we become satisfied with ourselves? Yep, we start comparing our accomplishments with those of others. And when we lift ourselves up we usually do so by stepping on the accomplishments, or lack of accomplishments, of others. It’s a vicious cycle and it’s easy to get caught up in it. Believe me…
Verses 7-11 says, “7To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11For God does not show favoritism.” (NIV)
It’s important to realize that since God doesn’t favor one person over another we shouldn’t do it either. He loves us all the same and doesn’t want us to do that which destroys others or ourselves. This world is all about relationships and the sooner we realize that the better. Do good towards others by showing them God’s love in the way we conduct ourselves in front of them. Don’t be like those about whom God spoke (through Ezekiel) when He said, “Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: I am bringing you back again but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, which you dishonored while you were scattered among the nations.” (Ezekiel 36:22-NLT)
Here it is, the 3rd Sunday in June and that means it’s Father’s Day. Tomorrow is the first day of summer. Maybe you’re blessed to have a father who lives near you but I live 1,900 miles away from my parents and that makes treating my dad to Sunday dinner difficult…
That’s not to say that it’s impossible. No, just highly improbable given both of our current financial situations. I would love to be able to give my dad a hug on Father’s Day. It’s been a long time. Ten years, maybe? I can’t remember for sure and it makes me sad that I cannot remember. I do remember the last time I hugged my dad. That was less than a year ago when I flew home for my paternal grandmother’s funeral. I writing about Father’s Day and to me that was Father’s Day.
My dad is a bi-vocational pastor of a small church in Memphis, TX. And as I write this, I know he is preparing the morning message for his congregation. Well, I’m sure he’s already prepared the message so I suppose I should say that he’s getting ready to deliver the message. He has a heart for those people and would love to be a pastor full-time if only he could afford it. If I could support him financially in such an endeavor I would.
I have always wished that my parents were able to come here to New England to see where I live but it’s always been financially unfeasable. I live 1,900 miles away. MapQuest tells me that it’s 29 hours of driving. That sounds about right because back in 1997, at the time, the five of us drove there and back. I saw many parts of the country that I never thought I’d see. Adventures like that can be fun for the whole family (usually) and sometimes straining.
So, what I thought I’d do this year, today, is propose to my dad that I either pay their way up here to spend a few weeks with me. Either by plane or by driving. I know my mom’s not too fond of flying so I’m open to them taking three days to drive up here if they want to take that route. Maybe taking the train would be possible. I doubt they’ve ever done that. Hmmm… Looks like the nearest stations is a few hundred miiles away in OKC. They might have to fly out of OKC anyway. I don’t know. Three days driving, two days riding the train or eight hours flying is up to them. I just want to get them here.
The whole point to this is I want to share my life with my parents and allowing them to experience my part of the country sounds like a good first step. What do you think?
Have you honored your father today?
Today, the Supreme Court decided that Michael Newdow could not sue to remove the pledge from his daughter’s school since he does not have the legal authority to speak for her. Newdow’s daughter only lives with him 10 days a month and his mother, Sandra Banning, has exclusive legal custody under a state court order. The girl’s mother, a born-again Christian, has stated that she has no problem with the pledge.
Interestingly, even though this ruling leaves the door open for future cases against the pledge, Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices O’Connor and Thomas all believe that the pledge, as it now stands, is not unconstitutional.
Another interesting fact is that this ruling came on the 50th anniversary of the addition of the words “under God” to the pledge. The U.S. Congress adopted the June 14, 1954, law in an effort to distinguish America’s religious values and heritage from those of communism, which is atheistic.
Ever wonder where Flag Day came from? I did and looked around and found the following write-up at USFlag.org.
The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America’s birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as ’Flag Birthday’. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as ’Flag Birthday’, or ’Flag Day’…
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.
Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as ’Flag Day’, and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.
Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children’s celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: “I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself.”
Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson’s proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.
This and lots of other interesting US Flag facts can be found at USFlag.org.
The following remarks were made by President Ronald Reagan at the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast in Dallas, Texas on August 23, 1984. His words are outstanding and are worthy of study and reflection.
Or you can listen
to it here.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, very much. And, Martha Weisend, thank you very much. And I could say that if the morning ended with the music we have just heard from that magnificent choir, it would indeed be a holy day for all of us.
It’s wonderful to be here this morning. The past few days have been pretty busy for all of us, but I’ve wanted to be with you today to share some of my own thoughts…
These past few weeks it seems that we’ve all been hearing a lot of talk about religion and its role in politics, religion and its place in the political life of the Nation. And I think it’s appropriate today, at a prayer breakfast for 17,000 citizens in the State of Texas during a great political convention, that this issue be addressed.
I don’t speak as a theologian or a scholar, only as one who’s lived a little more than his threescore ten — which has been a source of annoyance to some — [laughter] — and as one who has been active in the political life of the Nation for roughly four decades and now who’s served the past 31/2 years in our highest office. I speak, I think I can say, as one who has seen much, who has loved his country, and who’s seen it change in many ways.
I believe that faith and religion play a critical role in the political life of our nation — and always has — and that the church — and by that I mean all churches, all denominations — has had a strong influence on the state. And this has worked to our benefit as a nation.
Those who created our country — the Founding Fathers and Mothers — understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion.
The Mayflower Compact began with the words, “In the name of God, amen.’’ The Declaration of Independence appeals to “Nature’s God’’ and the “Creator’’ and “the Supreme Judge of the world.’’ Congress was given a chaplain, and the oaths of office are oaths before God.
James Madison in the Federalist Papers admitted that in the creation of our Republic he perceived the hand of the Almighty. John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, warned that we must never forget the God from whom our blessings flowed.
George Washington referred to religion’s profound and unsurpassed place in the heart of our nation quite directly in his Farewell Address in 1796. Seven years earlier, France had erected a government that was intended to be purely secular. This new government would be grounded on reason rather than the law of God. By 1796 the French Revolution had known the Reign of Terror.
And Washington voiced reservations about the idea that there could be a wise policy without a firm moral and religious foundation. He said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man (call himself a patriot) who (would) labour to subvert these . . . finest [firmest]1 (FOOTNOTE) props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere Politician . . . (and) the pious man ought to respect and to cherish (religion and morality).’’ And he added, “. . . let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.’’
(FOOTNOTE) 1White House correction.
I believe that George Washington knew the City of Man cannot survive without the City of God, that the Visible City will perish without the Invisible City.
Religion played not only a strong role in our national life; it played a positive role. The abolitionist movement was at heart a moral and religious movement; so was the modern civil rights struggle. And throughout this time, the state was tolerant of religious belief, expression, and practice. Society, too, was tolerant.
But in the 1960’s this began to change. We began to make great steps toward secularizing our nation and removing religion from its honored place.
In 1962 the Supreme Court in the New York prayer case banned the compulsory saying of prayers. In 1963 the Court banned the reading of the Bible in our public schools. From that point on, the courts pushed the meaning of the ruling ever outward, so that now our children are not allowed voluntary prayer. We even had to pass a law — we passed a special law in the Congress just a few weeks ago to allow student prayer groups the same access to schoolrooms after classes that a young Marxist society, for example, would already enjoy with no opposition.
The 1962 decision opened the way to a flood of similar suits. Once religion had been made vulnerable, a series of assaults were made in one court after another, on one issue after another. Cases were started to argue against tax-exempt status for churches. Suits were brought to abolish the words “under God’’ from the Pledge of Allegiance and to remove “In God We Trust’’ from public documents and from our currency.
Today there are those who are fighting to make sure voluntary prayer is not returned to the classrooms. And the frustrating thing for the great majority of Americans who support and understand the special importance of religion in the national life — the frustrating thing is that those who are attacking religion claim they are doing it in the name of tolerance, freedom, and openmindedness. Question: Isn’t the real truth that they are intolerant of religion? [Applause] They refuse to tolerate its importance in our lives.
If all the children of our country studied together all of the many religions in our country, wouldn’t they learn greater tolerance of each other’s beliefs? If children prayed together, would they not understand what they have in common, and would this not, indeed, bring them closer, and is this not to be desired? So, I submit to you that those who claim to be fighting for tolerance on this issue may not be tolerant at all.
When John Kennedy was running for President in 1960, he said that his church would not dictate his Presidency any more than he would speak for his church. Just so, and proper. But John Kennedy was speaking in an America in which the role of religion — and by that I mean the role of all churches — was secure. Abortion was not a political issue. Prayer was not a political issue. The right of church schools to operate was not a political issue. And it was broadly acknowledged that religious leaders had a right and a duty to speak out on the issues of the day. They held a place of respect, and a politician who spoke to or of them with a lack of respect would not long survive in the political arena.
It was acknowledged then that religion held a special place, occupied a special territory in the hearts of the citizenry. The climate has changed greatly since then. And since it has, it logically follows that religion needs defenders against those who care only for the interests of the state.
There are, these days, many questions on which religious leaders are obliged to offer their moral and theological guidance, and such guidance is a good and necessary thing. To know how a church and its members feel on a public issue expands the parameters of debate. It does not narrow the debate; it expands it.
The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality’s foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they’re sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive.
A state is nothing more than a reflection of its citizens; the more decent the citizens, the more decent the state. If you practice a religion, whether you’re Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or guided by some other faith, then your private life will be influenced by a sense of moral obligation, and so, too, will your public life. One affects the other. The churches of America do not exist by the grace of the state; the churches of America are not mere citizens of the state. The churches of America exist apart; they have their own vantage point, their own authority. Religion is its own realm; it makes its own claims.
We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship. We mandate no belief. But we poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. We court corruption when we leave it bereft of belief. All are free to believe or not believe; all are free to practice a faith or not. But those who believe must be free to speak of and act on their belief, to apply moral teaching to public questions.
I submit to you that the tolerant society is open to and encouraging of all religions. And this does not weaken us; it strengthens us, it makes us strong. You know, if we look back through history to all those great civilizations, those great nations that rose up to even world dominance and then deteriorated, declined, and fell, we find they all had one thing in common. One of the significant forerunners of their fall was their turning away from their God or gods.
Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
If I could just make a personal statement of my own — in these 31/2 years I have understood and known better than ever before the words of Lincoln, when he said that he would be the greatest fool on this footstool called Earth if he ever thought that for one moment he could perform the duties of that office without help from One who is stronger than all.
I thank you, thank you for inviting us here today. Thank you for your kindness and your patience. May God keep you, and may we, all of us, keep God.
Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 9:26 a.m. at Reunion Arena. He was introduced by Martha Weisend, cochair of the Texas Reagan-Bush campaign.
I remember with great clarity my father’s emotion when Nelle Reagan, my grandmother passed away. Until today I didn’t understand the feeling of loss and pain which comes when a parent leaves you. For this reason I will not be making any public statements at this time…
I pray that as America reflects the passing of my Dad, they will remember a man of integrity, conviction and good humor that changed America and the world for the better. He would modestly say the credit goes to others, but I believe the credit is his.
What I will remember is a man that changed my life. He was always there for me when I needed him. He had a way of putting everything into perspective, and I believe that his determination and perseverance came from his relationship with the Lord. He played an important role in pointing me to God.
I am secure in the knowledge that he is with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in heaven. The greatest gift my father ever gave me was the simple knowledge that I would see him in heaven one day.
Mr. Michael Reagan
Did you know that ZIP, as in zip code, is an acronym? It stands for Zone Improvement Plan.
“Why does God allow bad things happen to good people?” “If there really is a God, why does He allow little children to suffer?” “If there is a God where is He and why doesn’t He just show Himself to everyone now and prove His existence?” Those are tough questions and I’m sure most of you have met people who have asked those very questions. Those kinds of questions are nothing new. In fact, Peter tells us that “in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” (vv. 3b-4)
How would you answer the “Where is God” question? Peter answered it this way: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (vv. 8-9). Those are insightful words indeed. What would you expect from a man that learned the words of life from the very Creator of Life, Jesus Christ.
Peter reassures his reader that God is in control and to not worry about the future. In fact, he reminds us that we should “recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.” (v. 2) There is hope and we should think about this because it will “stimulate you to wholesome thinking.” (v. 1) So what do you think about during the day? Are you distracted by unwholesome speech and inappropriate jokes or are you thinking about what you read in your quiet time? You do have a quiet time don’t you? That was more of a reminder to myself than anything else! Living daily in the Word is essential to the spiritual health of the believer and I don’t know about you but I would do well to remember that.
And about those who distort the Word. Those people bring judgment upon themselves by deliberately forgetting that with the same Word with which He created the world, He will judge the world and all those do evil in the sight of God. (vv. 12b-13) He is faithful; He will complete what He started even though it may seem a long time in coming. God hasn’t forgotten about you or me or anyone else. The Lord is preparing a place for us (John 14:2-3): a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1). What did Peter say? “So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation…” (vv. 14-15a)
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