If you have lost a loved one, here are some thoughts about dealing with it.
"Personal calamity can challenge faith and belief. When you face loss and grief what can you do and to whom should you turn?"
Watch this program, read the transcript and request the free Bible Study aid booklet - "What Happens After Death?" at http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-program/christian-living/moving-beyond-tragedy . This was the program on WGN this morning.
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Are we ready for another disaster?
Uploaded by BeyondTodayTV on Dec 7, 2011
"America was caught unaware on December 7, 1941 and attacked by Japan. It was a failure to think outside the box. You can get the right spiritual intelligence for what lies ahead."
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Britain Decouples From Europe
"Britain appears to be de-coupling from the great train called Europe. Whatever the Euro project becomes it appears it will be without England.
The leaders of Europe have been meeting for two days in Brussels trying to get a handle on the rapidly deteriorating monetary crisis that has crippled the union. Germany, the de-facto leader of Europe, has pushed through a plan to change the treaty that binds together the 27 nation EU.
If agreed the member states would have to commit to a closer fiscal union at the cost of their sovereignty. The 17 members of the euro zone have agreed to run smaller budget deficits and will allow the European Court of Justice the right to strike down national laws that do not enforce fiscal discipline. This act alone is the largest transfer of national sovereignty over budget policy since the beginning of the European Union in 1960.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron will not agree to this new deal. The decision could leave Britain isolated from a major trading bloc and virtually ineffective in any future EU. This decision will create further tension within Britain between those who see their future with Europe and those who desire Britain to remain sovereign and apart. While many feel Britain will be able to maintain a status quo in terms of trade it is doubtful this will happen. Britain's voice will grow fainter and ineffective in the affairs of Europe. It will be isolated.
I doubt few leaders in Britain understand the consequences of this weeks actions. A new Europe is forming, one led by a very powerful and determined Germany. Europe will survive this crisis and become something very different from what we currently see. Other observers of Europe see a German led union further aligned with the interests of Russia and China. When this happens the interests of the United States and Great Britain will not be as influential. NATO as an alliance will become unnecessary and likely will fade away. A stronger European voice will be heard among the nations.
Europe does matter because Bible prophecy shows a final union of ten "kings" giving their power for a moment to a supra-national leader called "the Beast", (Revelation:17:12, 13). This global power will for a moment in time hold great influence in the world. Peace and security will be promised but the cost will be the loss of spiritual freedom.
We have talked for decades about this period and today we are watching it take shape in ways we have long anticipated. It would be a good time for you to review key points we make in our booklet, The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy"
From: http://www.ucg.org/blog/britain-decouples-europe/
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He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice. ~ John Stuart Mill
"It's not the things you do at Christmas, it's the Christmas things you do all year long".
"Christmas - What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks?"
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Christmas is big business
"Those Christmas bells chiming during the holiday season might be likened to cash registers ringing up millions of dollars in retail sales. Christmas is very big business and is thought to be great for the national economy.
But has anyone thought to ask whether this type of wild spending is really in people's best interests, either now or, more importantly, for their long-term spiritual well-being?
Should we be buying gifts others frequently don't want or need with money we don't have? It's a logical question.
Yet people will defend observing Christmas by countering that it's a celebration honoring Jesus' birth. If that's true, why buy gifts for others and not Jesus Christ? Is Christendom behind the presumptive trappings of a pre-Christmas season or is it being promoted by secular businesses for their own gain?
What's behind the magnetic pull of Christmas?
Clearly the Christmas season has a strong magnetic pull, but most people don't fully realize it or know how powerful it is. Every year a Christmas advertising onslaught tries to influence the public to spend, spend and spend some more."
http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn73/christmas.htm
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Free Literature, as Jesus directed:
December 9, 2011 - Steve Myers answers a viewer's question: "How and why does Beyond Today offer literature for free? Is there a way to get all the publications at the same time?"
Watch this BT Daily at http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-daily/bible/question-viewer-free-literature
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"I'M NOT TRYING TO MAKE YOU HATE CHRISTMAS, BUT I DO THINK YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT YOUR CELEBRATING EVERY YEAR AND GOING BROKE FOR...
THE FAMILY THING SHOULD BE EVERYDAY.. NOT ONE DAY A YEAR.. IS WHAT IT HAS TURNED INTO...
I SAY IT'S BETTER TO KNOW.. I STILL GET TOGETHER WITH FAMILY, I REALLY LIKE THAT PART OF CHRISTMAS, THE REST IS JUST STRANGE....
LIKE LIES PULLED OVER MY EYES AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW..."
http://wn.com/CHRISTMAS_EXPOSED!!!
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"Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it."
Deuteronomy 12:31-32
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Christmas Without Christ?
Some say Christ needs to be put back into Christmas.
But was He ever in Christmas to begin with? Learn the plain truth!
Short version:
"Do you have a love/hate relationship with the holidays?"
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Long version:
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Would Jesus approve of a merry Christmas?
"Does Christmas honor Christ—and does Christ honor Christmas? Would Jesus wish others a merry Christmas?
It's typical at this time of year to hear, "Put Christ back into Christmas."
But that would be impossible because Jesus Christ was never in Christmas.
Christmas only perpetuates a number of myths about Jesus Christ. One fact it masks is that He was actually the One the Israelites worshipped as God in the Old Testament (Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:2, 8; 1 Corinthians 10:4.
And as the God of the Old Testament, He gave explicit instruction that He was never to be worshipped with the practices the pagans used to honor their gods:
"When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.'
"You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).
We see here from Christ's own mouth what He thinks of anyone adopting and using pagan customs to worship Him—He calls it an abomination!"
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The Bible does show when Jesus was born:
"If Jesus Christ was not born on December 25, does the Bible indicate when He was born? The biblical accounts point to the fall of the year as the most likely time of Jesus' birth, based on the conception and birth of John the Baptist.
Since Elizabeth (John's mother) was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Jesus was conceived (Luke 1:24-36), we can determine the approximate time of year Jesus was born if we know when John was born. John's father, Zacharias, was a priest serving in the Jerusalem temple during the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5). Historical calculations indicate this course of service corresponded to June 13-19 in that year (E.W. Bullinger, The Companion Bible, 1974, Appendix 179, p. 200).
It was during this time of temple service that Zacharias learned that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a child (Luke 1:8-13). After he completed his service and traveled home, Elizabeth conceived (verses 23-24). Assuming John's conception took place near the end of June, adding nine months brings us to the end of March as the most likely time for John's birth. Adding another six months (the difference in ages between John and Jesus) brings us to the end of September as the likely time of Jesus' birth."
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On This Day:
Edward VIII abdicates, Dec 11, 1936:
"After ruling for less than one year, Edward VIII becomes the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. He chose to abdicate after the British government, public, and the Church of England condemned his decision to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson. On the evening of December 11, he gave a radio address in which he explained, "I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of king, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love." On December 12, his younger brother, the duke of York, was proclaimed King George VI.
Edward, born in 1894, was the eldest son of King George V, who became the British sovereign in 1910. Still unmarried as he approached his 40th birthday, he socialized with the fashionable London society of the day. By 1934, he had fallen deeply in love with American socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson, who was married to Ernest Simpson, an English-American businessman who lived with Mrs. Simpson near London. Wallis, who was born in Pennsylvania, had previously married and divorced a U.S. Navy pilot. The royal family disapproved of Edward's married mistress, but by 1936 the prince was intent on marrying Mrs. Simpson. Before he could discuss this intention with his father, George V died, in January 1936, and Edward was proclaimed king.
The new king proved popular with his subjects, and his coronation was scheduled for May 1937. His affair with Mrs. Simpson was reported in American and continental European newspapers, but due to a gentlemen's agreement between the British press and the government, the affair was kept out of British newspapers. On October 27, 1936, Mrs. Simpson obtained a preliminary decree of divorce, presumably with the intent of marrying the king, which precipitated a major scandal. To the Church of England and most British politicians, an American woman twice divorced was unacceptable as a prospective British queen. Winston Churchill, then a Conservative backbencher, was the only notable politician to support Edward.
Despite the seemingly united front against him, Edward could not be dissuaded. He proposed a morganatic marriage, in which Wallis would be granted no rights of rank or property, but on December 2, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin rejected the suggestion as impractical. The next day, the scandal broke on the front pages of British newspapers and was discussed openly in Parliament. With no resolution possible, the king renounced the throne on December 10. The next day, Parliament approved the abdication instrument, and Edward VIII's reign came to an end. The new king, George VI, made his older brother the duke of Windsor. On June 3, 1937, the duke of Windsor and Wallis Warfield married at the Château de Cande in France's Loire Valley.
For the next two years, the duke and duchess lived primarily in France but visited other European countries, including Germany, where the duke was honored by Nazi officials in October 1937 and met with Adolf Hitler. After the outbreak of World War II, the duke accepted a position as liaison officer with the French. In June 1940, France fell to the Nazis, and Edward and Wallis went to Spain. During this period, the Nazis concocted a scheme to kidnap Edward with the intention of returning him to the British throne as a puppet king. George VI, like his prime minister, Winston Churchill, was adamantly opposed to any peace with Nazi Germany. Unaware of the Nazi kidnapping plot but conscious of Edward's pre-war Nazi sympathies, Churchill hastily offered Edward the governorship of the Bahamas in the West Indies. The duke and duchess set sail from Lisbon on August 1, 1940, narrowly escaping a Nazi SS team sent to seize them.
In 1945, the duke resigned his post, and the couple moved back to France. They lived mainly in Paris, and Edward made a few visits to England, such as to attend the funerals of King George VI in 1952 and his mother, Queen Mary, in 1953. It was not until 1967 that the duke and duchess were invited by the royal family to attend an official public ceremony, the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to Queen Mary. Edward died in Paris in 1972 but was buried at Frogmore, on the grounds of Windsor Castle. In 1986, Wallis died and was buried at his side."
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Dec 11, 1941:
Germany declares war on the United States
"On this day, Adolf Hitler declares war on the United States, bringing America, which had been neutral, into the European conflict.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor surprised even Germany. Although Hitler had made an oral agreement with his Axis partner Japan that Germany would join a war against the United States, he was uncertain as to how the war would be engaged. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor answered that question. On December 8, Japanese Ambassador Oshima went to German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop to nail the Germans down on a formal declaration of war against America. Von Ribbentrop stalled for time; he knew that Germany was under no obligation to do this under the terms of the Tripartite Pact, which promised help if Japan was attacked, but not if Japan was the aggressor. Von Ribbentrop feared that the addition of another antagonist, the United States, would overwhelm the German war effort.
But Hitler thought otherwise. He was convinced that the United States would soon beat him to the punch and declare war on Germany. The U.S. Navy was already attacking German U-boats, and Hitler despised Roosevelt for his repeated verbal attacks against his Nazi ideology. He also believed that Japan was much stronger than it was, that once it had defeated the United States, it would turn and help Germany defeat Russia. So at 3:30 p.m. (Berlin time) on December 11, the German charge d'affaires in Washington handed American Secretary of State Cordell Hull a copy of the declaration of war.
That very same day, Hitler addressed the Reichstag to defend the declaration. The failure of the New Deal, argued Hitler, was the real cause of the war, as President Roosevelt, supported by plutocrats and Jews, attempted to cover up for the collapse of his economic agenda. "First he incites war, then falsifies the causes, then odiously wraps himself in a cloak of Christian hypocrisy and slowly but surely leads mankind to war," declared Hitler-and the Reichstag leaped to their feet in thunderous applause."
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Yesterday:
Just tended to my critters and hung around the house.
And tried not to look at the things I should be doing, instead of being on this computer:
So that was it for yesterday!
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