I am an avid reader of Joel Rosenberg’s blog and you should be too. Joel Rosenberg is the author of the uncannily accurate predictive fiction works, The Last Jihad, The Ezekiel Option, The Copper Scroll and Dead Heat, all runaway best-sellers.

Yesterday, he highlighted and commented on an article which appeared in Haaretz (a leading Israeli daily newspaper).  From Joel’s blog …

The Messiah stories are particularly interesting to me. Iran, as I mentioned the other day, is running a new documentary TV series on Jewish, Christian and Islamic eschatology (End Times theology), consistent with President Ahmadinejad’s on-going call for the Muslim world to prepare for the “imminent” arrival of the Islamic Messiah, known as the Mahdi. The Israeli archaeological community, meanwhile, is currently abuzz over the discovery of a ancient stone tablet dated not long before the birth of Jesus that strongly suggests that religious Jews of the day were expecting the coming of a Messiah who would suffer, die, and be resurrected three days later. Most Rabbis and other Jewish scholars have long argued that the death and resurrection of a Jewish Messiah was a “Christian” invention, not part of long-established Jewish thought or Biblical teaching. But a front-page story in Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, just a few days ago has a lot of people asking: Are Jews really supposed to believe their Messiah will actually die and rise again, and was this really Orthodox religious thinking before the time of Jesus?

The Israeli archaeological community, meanwhile, is currently abuzz over the discovery of a ancient stone tablet dated not long before the birth of Jesus that strongly suggests that religious Jews of the day were expecting the coming of a Messiah who would suffer, die, and be resurrected three days later. Most Rabbis and other Jewish scholars have long argued that the death and resurrection of a Jewish Messiah was a “Christian” invention, not part of long-established Jewish thought or Biblical teaching. But a front-page story in Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, just a few days ago has a lot of people asking: Are Jews really supposed to believe their Messiah will actually die and rise again, and was this really Orthodox religious thinking before the time of Jesus?

I like to discuss science, God and the Bible online with self-professed atheists and skeptics. One of them (screen name “Notta_Skeptic” … but she is really) has been heckling me for a very long time now. She is an award winning science teacher and would describe herself as a former Christian.

I recently asked her what it would take to convince her that God exists. “What would you do if you were God,” I asked, “to convince people that you exist?”

She gave a surprising answer. She said …

Well, I think appearing in person would be a great place to start. Why not just show up in neo-natal intensive care units, lay hands on all the babies there, and miraculously cure them? Sure would go a long way towards convincing people that he/she/it/they actually cared about human beings, by showing compassion to the littlest and most vulnerable ones.
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?p=4784991#post4784991

!!!!!! What ?????!!!!! Does this throw any switches in anyone else’s brains besides mine?

Appear in person? That’s exactly what God did. Miraculously cure babies? Close. He healed lots of people. And He walked on water. And He fed the five thousand miraculously. And He raised the dead. And he fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies. And He himself was raised from the dead. And and and … !!!! Did most people believe in Him after going to all this effort? ……….. NO.

And the important question …

Does Notta_Skeptic believe in Him considering all this? Considering that God has already done almost exactly what she herself said would be convincing proof that He exists?

Only Notta can answer that one.

From Dale Mason, Vice President of Marketing and Media for Answers in Genesis International …

One unexpected but very interesting part of our time there in L.A. [for a meeting with the National Religious Broadcasters Association] was that when the chairman of Walt Disney Studios (Richard Cook) heard that we were coming, he asked us to stay and meet with several of their lead people (including their lead animator, Glen Keane, who is a believer). They had us on the lot until after midnight Tuesday. They gathered us in a posh, relatively small motion picture theater and announced to us that, basically, they have heard the collective voice of the Christian community and committed that, “going forward, there will no longer be profanity or sexual innuendo in Disney family films.” That’s a great start. Now the Church needs to help them understand that they need to remove the evolution that permeates so many of their productions as well. The bigger problem is that first the pastors need to be convinced to remove it from their pulpits! (God is in control.)” http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/aroundtheworld/#714

About Disney Studio Chief Richard Cook

This is from Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis International, on his blog …

Saturday, September 17th, 2005

You may remember me mentioning on my blog some time back about our visit to the Capitol Building in Washington DC (To Washington and Back). As Congress was not in session, we were able to go into the House Chamber. Around the the walls near the top there are sculptures of lots of famous people—but the one that stood out was Moses. Moses is the ONLY one who is seen face on and he is looking directly at the Rostrum. When the President gives a State of the Union address, Moses is looking right at him. I was able to locate a web site that shows you pictures of all the sculptures in the House Chamber—the following link takes you directly to the Moses sculpture—and you can then look at the others if you want to.

http://clerk.house.gov/histHigh/Virtual_Tours/Artifacts/moses.html

Moses—the law giver who looks over Congress but is not allowed in court rooms or public schools! The irony is stunning.

In my opinion, the display in the House Chamber is quite proper with all the lesser lawgivers facing Moses. This chamber was built during a time in our country when appropriate respect was given to the Bible and its heroes. In fact, the USA was built directly upon Biblical laws and principles, hence it’s great success.

http://info.answersingenesis.org/aroundtheworld/#330

Here is a quote from the latest Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report, p. 24, http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2004ar/2004ar.pdf

I can’t resist mentioning
that Jesus understood the calibration of independence far more clearly than do the protesting institutions. In Matthew 6:21 He observed: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Even to an institutional investor, $8 billion should qualify as “treasure” that dwarfs any profits Berkshire might earn on its routine transactions with Coke. Measured by the biblical standard, the Berkshire board is a model: (a) every director is a member of a family owning at least $4 million of stock; (b) none of these shares were acquired from Berkshire via options or grants; (c) no directors receive committee, consulting or board fees from the company that are more than a tiny portion of their annual income; and (d) although we have a standard corporate indemnity arrangement, we carry no liability insurance for directors. At Berkshire, board members travel the same road as shareholders.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Charlie and I have seen much behavior confirming the Bible’s “treasure” point. In our view, based on our considerable boardroom experience, the least independent directors are likely to be those who receive an important fraction of their annual income from the fees they receive for board service (and who hope as well to be recommended for election to other boards and thereby to boost their income further). Yet these are the very board members most often classed as “independent.” Most directors of this type are decent people and do a first-class job. But they wouldn’t be human if they weren’t tempted to thwart actions that would threaten their livelihood. Some may go on to succumb to such temptations.

Keep in mind, friends, this is the second richest man in the world, CEO of a public, global corporation, and the world’s most successful investor, and he’s quoting Jesus in his Annual Report! How many CEO’s do you run across that do that?

Most Americans know the first verse of the American National Anthem by Francis Scott Key, but how many know the 4th verse?

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Star Spangled Banner

NOTE: The graphic above is from a new book entitled America’s Lost Dream by Tom Dooley, illustrated by Bill Looney. I highly recommend this book for reading with your children.