Ray begins reading the final three chapters of the 17th book in the 40 book series of Left Behind-The Kids: Nicolae’s Speech, Reason to Kill, and Death in the Stadium. Those titles alone should show you this will be a very tense three chapters. Taylor Graham who flew Judd, Lionel, and Mr. Stein, to Israel, has moved out of the stands at the packed Teddy Kolleck Stadium with one goal on his mind. Judd has realized what that goal is and has left Lionel and Mr. Stein in the stands to stop him.
Meanwhile, Z has brought notebooks and pens to Vicki and those in the schoolhouse. They are seated watching events at the stadium over a television set, waiting for Tsion Ben Judah to speak to the crowd including many of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. Mark has left the group and is now on his own with the Lord. Ray picks the story up at this point.
As Nicolae Carpathia stepped to the podium Judd slipped from his seat. “If I’m not back before this ends, stay here,” Judd said to Lionel. Taylor Graham was still moving when Judd caught up to him.
“What are you doing?” Judd whispered.
Taylor whirled, ready to fight. When he recognized Judd, he rolled his eyes and put a finger to his lips. “I came to hear Carpathia.”
“Fellow citizens of the Global Community,” as your potentate, I welcome you to Israel and to this great arena, named after a man of the past, a man of peace and harmony statesmanship.”
Judd knew what Nicolae was doing. He was trying to win the crown by talking about a well-known Israeli.
And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.
Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!” All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.
As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant.
They asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
“But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.”
When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them.
Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him.
And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?”
And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute;
and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.”
And He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”
They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.
And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
“It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
And Jesus said to him, ” ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.”
After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!”
But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up.
When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?”
And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it.
For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.”
But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.
They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?”
But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest.
Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
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In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them,
“I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.
“If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”
And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?”
And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.”
And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people.
They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.
And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.
About four thousand were there; and He sent them away.
And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.
The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him.
Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.
And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.
And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.
And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?
“HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.”
And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him.
Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?”
And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.”
Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.
And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?”
They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”
And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”
And He warned them to tell no one about Him.
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
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Love Does by Bob Goff Chapter 5 The Rearview Mirror
I used to think I could shape the circumstances around me, but now I know Jesus uses circumstances to shape me. A fter high school, I went to Humboldt State University because I wanted to be a forest ranger. Actually, I took one of those aptitude tests in high school and slanted all of the answers so the school would report to my parents that if ever anyone was born to be a forest ranger, it was me. What I anticipated most about being a forest ranger is that you live in the woods, you get a green truck, you get a badge, and, to top it all off, you get a hat with a wide brim.
After reading the test results I had rigged, my parents had to agree that I was meant to be a forest ranger, and my mom took me to the mountains where the forest rangers live. Where are the girls? I thought. This was the first indication that my research had perhaps been flawed. Forest rangers didn’t live in the woods the way I had envisioned either. They lived in green concrete dormitories with cots lined up in rows under fluorescent lights. Their greatest adventure, it seemed, was giving tickets to people parked in the wrong places. They played cards a lot and ate TV dinners. I had envisioned something a bit woodsier and manly, I suppose. Guns, moose heads, snowshoes leaning up against a large stone fireplace, a pile of beef jerky on the table . . . something along those lines. What I learned is that most forestry majors at the university go to work for forest products companies like Georgia Pacific or Weyerhaeuser and manage the cutting down of the forests to make paper or wrappers or those sorts of things. I was discouraged, but it was too late to change schools, so I went to Humboldt as a forestry major.
Love Does by Bob Goff Chapter 5 The Rearview Mirror
Today With Ray 8/24/2015 Is Wall Street about to lay another egg???
The Dow plunged 1,000 points on open but Apple’s stock is green.
Shares of Apple recovered in Monday afternoon trading after slumping badly along with the broader market as investors fretted about a weak economy in China.
The stock, which was at one point the worst performer of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is now the best performer. It is up around 2%, even as the broader index is down more than 180 points. Two other tech firms – Microsoft and Intel – were the only other stocks trading in positive territory among the 30 shares that make up the DJIA.
Apple has depended on China for growth in recent years, so it made sense the shares would be hit by concerns that a weak economy there could result in fewer gadget sales. But the upward move could be because some investors sensed a buying opportunity. Apple’s shares are trading at around $108 apiece currently, the lowest level since January. The stock has lost around 20% of its value in the past month.
The recovery could also be attributed to a rare move by CEO Tim Cook to reassure investors. Cook sent an e-mail to CNBC’s Jim Cramer, telling the host that Apple’s growth remained “strong” through July and August with growth of iPhone activations accelerating in recent weeks.
The U.S. is home to 5% of the world’s population, but has had 31% of the public mass shootings worldwide between 1966 and 2012, according to a new study. A lot of that has to do with gun ownership, researchers found
Toronto’s police chief said authorities would focus on finding the hackers responsible for leaking more than 30 million email addresses and credit card numbers from Ashley Madison, a Canada-based website that helps married men and women arrange affairs
Deez Nuts, the third-party candidate for President running to shake up America’s gridlocked political system, is a 15-year-old high school boy in Iowa named Brady Olson. He is “frustrated with the two-party system,” he told TIME
South Korea has agreed to halt propaganda broadcasts at noon Tuesday after North Korea expressed regret over a recent land mine blast that maimed two South Korean troops, the countries announced after three days of intense talks aimed at pulling the rivals back from the brink of war
A Louisiana trooper died after he was shot by an apparently stranded motorist who stood over the officer and told him afterward, “You’re lucky — you’re going to die soon,” state police said. Senior Trooper Steven Vincent, 43, died at a hospital in Lake Charles
The details emerging about what happened on the Amsterdam-Paris train deepened Europe’s sense of vulnerability. And while E.U. governments vow to tighten security, the quick responses of citizens will likely be essential in averting future attacks
The judge who oversaw Colorado theater shooter James Holmes’ trial gave an impassioned defense of the jury and the trial after the mother of one of the wounded said Holmes’ life sentence showed more concern for Holmes than for the victims
Students across the country will see many changes on campus this fall in response to new state and federal regulations that have recently gone into effect, governing how schools respond to sexual assault and educate students about the issue
In Stephen Colbert’s first week hosting The Late Show, beginning Sept. 8, the guests will include Amy Schumer, Elon Musk, Scarlett Johansson and Stephen King, in addition to previously announced guests Jeb Bush and George Clooney
Store-bought ground beef often contains a variety of bacteria that can make humans sick and is resistant to the drugs used to treat it, according to new data from Consumer Reports. While most bacteria in meat can be killed when cooked, many Americans prefer rare meat
The group, which is now made up of Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan, has mutually agreed to take at least a year long break from the band to pursue their own projects
Today With Ray 8/24/2015 Is Wall Street about to lay another egg???
