A television commercial a few years ago should a picture of an older woman lying on the floor and crying out “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” I wasn’t lying on the floor, but that’s how I felt between January of 2002 and May 2006. My life was a mess. After thirty-four years in ministry, how could I have just walked away from my wife and that ministry? And how could I possibly think that the Lord had anything at all to do with what I was doing? But He did.
Proverbs says “The righteous person falls seven times, but the Lord lifts them up.” You may be in for a number of surprises when you join me right now. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
My thanks to my precious friend Dorothy Baker for this most interesting fact. It is from BP’s Fuel For Thought, a website I highly recommend. BP is actually Pastor Brett Petrillo and he runs one of the most interesting Christian websites on the Internet.
“Ice Cream,” “You Scream,” “We all scream for Ice Cream!” I’m sure you’ve heard or participated in that kind of joyful holler. Vanilla ice cream, according to the major ice cream companies, is the number one choice of Americans. But did you know that vanilla ice cream defies the evolutionary theory?
How does it defy it? Ray will tell you right now.
My thanks to my precious friend Dorothy Baker for this most interesting fact. It is from BP’s Fuel For Thought, a website I highly recommend. BP is actually Pastor Brett Petrillo and he runs one of the most interesting Christian websites on the Internet.
VANILLA ICE CREAM DEFIES EVOLUTION ………
Nearly everyone has enjoyed a yummy bowl of vanilla ice cream.
It is a wonderfully delicious desert. However, vanilla ice cream wouldn’t even exist if
evolution were true.
Let’s start out with a little history.
Until more recent times, Mexico was the only producer of vanilla.
In the 1520s, a man by the name of Hernán Cortés traveled
down to Mexico and loved vanilla. So, he brought some back
with him to Europe. For the next 300 years, the Europeans
tried but were never able to produce vanilla.
See, vanilla grows up a tree as a vine. Eventually the vine
produces an orchid. In order to make the vanilla bean, the
orchid must be pollinated. The problem is, it only blooms one morning per year for
pollination. If it isn’t pollinated within
12 hours, it withers. To make things more difficult, a hood like membrane covers the part
of the vanilla orchid which produces pollen. This makes the production of the vanilla
bean very difficult.
In 1836, Charles François Antoine Morren traveled down to
Mexico to figure out why they weren’t able to produce vanilla
beans in Europe. As Morren was studying the vanilla orchids,
his attention was drawn to a little bee (the Mexican Melipona
Bee). This bee landed on the orchid, lifted up the little hood
like membrane, collected pollen, and then flew off to the next
flower. This bee was pollinating the orchids.After some time,
the orchid produced a vanilla bean.
To this day, the Mexican Melipona Bee is the only insect that
knows how to pollinate the vanilla orchid. This simple fact puts evolution in an extremely
difficult position. Without the Mexican Melipona Bee, we simply would not have vanilla
today. The bee
and the vanilla vine had to be made at the exact same time. Not
to mention, this bee had to be given specific information about
how to pollinate the vanilla orchid. Again, no other insect
knows how to do this. This bee had to be made, designed,
and purposefully created to pollinate the vanilla orchid, and
thus, produce vanilla.
So much of our world points to the Creator. As silly as it
sounds, even vanilla ice cream proclaims the glory of God.
So, the next time you sit down to enjoy a full bowl of vanilla ice cream, remember that you are enjoying a tasty treat which is
This is Ray Mossholder from the Campaign desk of Reach More Now. My thanks to the writers of ABC News and The Fix:
The calm before the storm has ended.
Hundreds of sleep-deprived journalists, operatives and curious onlookers arrived in New Hampshire overnight as soon as the Iowa Caucus was over, with another seven-day sprint ahead of them.
Those with momentum hit the ground running almost instantly. Marco Rubio and Bernie Sanders, touting their close finishes as victories, were meeting voters as the sun was still rising.
Surprise winner Ted Cruz held a town hall meeting later in the day, while Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton looked to re-set their campaigns.
Make no mistake, the race in New Hampshire is fundamentally different than Iowa. It’s moderate, it’s secular, and 40 percent of its voters are unaffiliated with either party, capable of pulling a ballot for either side. It also has two clear front-runners: Donald Trump has had a double-digit lead for months, while Bernie Sanders has shocked the political world by only seeing his advantage grow.
Behind Trump, a cluster of GOP challengers are in a dogfight for second, including Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. But don’t forget governors Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John Kasich haven’t given up.
Despite poor showings in Iowa, they’re very much in the thick of it here, and the gloves have come off between them as they fight for their political lives. Rand Paul is attempting to persuade the independent-minded New Hampshirites to cast their ballots for him, looking to capitalize on what his camp calls a solid performance in Monday night’s Iowa caucuses.
And while Iowa momentum goes a long way, there’s an old saying here: “Iowa picks corn. New Hampshire picks presidents.”
Voters here say they’ll make up their own minds, and that they’ll take their time to do it. Perhaps, they say, a debate three days before the primary could turn the tide. Storylines will grow and develop over the next few days, but Granite Staters will deliver a reality check next Tuesday night.
BEDFORD, N.H. — Marco Rubio’s surprisingly strong showing in the Iowa caucuses reshuffled the already intense competition here in New Hampshire among the Republican establishment candidates, leading some to sharpen their attacks on the freshman senator from Florida ahead of next week’s primary.
The sense of urgency was on display here Tuesday as New Jersey Governor your meal we had last night needs to get on the rest of the list only that but most people do Chris Christie belittled Rubio’s toughness, his intelligence and even his manhood.
“Maybe he’ll do more than 40 minutes on a little stage telling everybody his canned speech that he’s memorized,” Christie said to reporters, mocking Rubio’s tightly controlled campaign appearances. “This isn’t a student council election, everybody. This is an election for president of the United States. Let’s get the boy in the bubble out of the bubble.”
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, meanwhile, expanded his line of attacks beyond Donald Trump to include Rubio, and Senator Ted Cruz the winner of Monday night’s Iowa caucus. Bush said at a town hall meeting in Rindge that Rubio, 44, and Cruz, 45, did not have the “life experience” to be president and questioned whether either had ever sacrificed his personal ambition for the public good.
For the past six weeks, the four mainstream GOP candidates — including Ohio Governor John Kasich — have looked to New Hampshire as their proving ground. But the calculus of all four was changed by Iowa, where the three with gubernatorial experience each finished in low single digits while Rubio surged to within one percentage point of Trump, who came in second.
Iowa is over, so where do the candidates go now?
The Fix’s Chris Cillizza explains where Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz and other presidential candidates stand after Iowa’s caucus and what’s next going into the New Hampshire primary. (With only one week until the New Hampshire primary and the potential that voters here could effectively eliminate some candidates from the nomination battle, the stakes are high and the tone is increasingly confrontational.)
Steve Duprey, a Republican National Committee member from New Hampshire put it this way: “It is dog-eat-dog, hand-to-hand combat up here,” said Steve Duprey, a Republican National Committee member from New Hampshire. “These guys are going to be scrapping it out until the final minute. At stake is a ticket out of New Hampshire.”
In past election years, New Hampshire Republicans have not followed the lead of Iowa in making their choices. Mike Dennehy, a New Hampshire-based GOP strategist, said the dynamics of the race among the establishment candidates here could be affected by the order of finish in the Hawkeye State.
“I think this year is different,” Dennehy said. “There are so many candidates this year that they are looking for help, and I think Iowa did that last night.”
That puts enormous pressure on Bush, Kasich and Christie.
“The establishment candidates who have gone all in in New Hampshire are making their last stand,” said Republican strategist Steve Schmidt. “Bush, Kasich and Christie have to knock Marco Rubio down in New Hampshire and steal his spot for a rationale for their campaigns to exist.”
The voters of Iowa have spoken. At the caucus last night, Ted Cruz received 24% of their vote, Donald Trump 21%, and Marco Rubio 20%. Doctor Ben Carson was fourth with 10%. So, you may think Ted Cruz will be the Republican candidate from Iowa at the Republican national convention in July. But it ain’t necessarily so. Eight years ago Mike Huckabee won Iowa and four years ago Rick Santorum did. Ted Cruz could find that winning last night won’t mean anymore for him than for those two. Especially for Iowa, there are miles to go before their state voting stops.
The Iowa delegates who were themselves elected during last night’s caucus could still change their minds and choose someone entirely different by the time they go to the national Republican convention. In the meantime they will attend county conventions in March. Participants at those conventions will whittle the delegates down and select the ones who will represent a single candidate at district conventions in April. Then when they finally all get together in May (Republicans) or June (Democrats), they will select the delegates who will actually attend their parties national convention in July. And at any stage during this entire process the Democrat delegates can choose a candidate different from the one they caucused for. Republicans are bound to the specific candidate they are finally elected to represent.
So, what do I, Ray Mossholder, think of the three Republicans who placed way above their opponents last night? I’m going to be honest, but I welcome you to disagree with me. And I will welcome your comments after I give this report. To me, the first place winner, Ted Cruz, appears highly knowledgeable, a great debater, extremely sincere, and absolutely passionate for America and for the Lord. But it’s not amazing that Cruz won in a “Christian” state like Iowa. What would be amazing if he even shows up in the top three in basically nonreligious New Hampshire’s primary this coming week. A caucus is every bit different from a primary. At a the conclusion of a primary, the winner will be the candidate when that state goes to the national convention unless their candidate suspends their candidacy or dies beforehand.
The Republican’s Trump card is named Donald. And Trump admittedly is a wildcard. He is used to doing whatever he wants to do. He is in no way a typical Republican and easily shmoozes with both sides of the aisle. He is used to buying people just like he buys towering buildings. He is the top in making deals. His well-worth-reading books tell exactly how and why he does each transaction, always to get only the best. He is rude and absolutely defiant of political correctness. He is thin-skinned and the fights he picks with certain people, like Megyn Kelly of Fox News, leaves me wondering what he would say about Putin or other world leaders that could start a war. Nevertheless, I have looked into his background and found him greatly loved by those who work with him. He neither smokes nor drinks alcohol. Even those who have been fired by him have nothing bad to say about him. Nor do his first and second wives. Everyone who knows him well says that he keeps his word even when it costs him. Yes he is vain, but name me any politician who isn’t. I always have to keep in mind that voting for a president shouldn’t be a number of things: It shouldn’t be done because he or she was the best debater, or the best looking, nor the person with the best personality. It should be the one with the best track record who has proven without a shadow of a doubt that they carry through with their promises. I like Trump’s position on the issues that matter. You can easily read them by going to reachmorenow.com and clicking Campaign 2016 at the top of the front page. The Donald has a proven track record of getting things done with a minimum of cost. That could save our nation from bankruptcy.
One last thing – don’t think that Donald Trump would make all the decisions as president without sending out a team of experts to see how things could be done the best and most cost-effective way. That’s how he always does things. He doesn’t just go pick some building and turn it into a casino. He sends out a highly knowledgeable and skilled group of people to bring him back the information he needs in order to make a final decision. He said that most clearly when he spoke about getting a group of the best military generals together and having them tell him what should be done with Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Isis, etc. He would do that with every issue important to America. Although his way of speaking shows he thinks a whole lot of himself, he relies on the best minds in making any big decision. Also, it says a lot to me that pastors like Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress and President of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Junior, have endorsed him.
So what do I think about the man who came very close to tying Mr. Trump? I believe Marco Rubio may well be our president sometime in the future when he becomes his own man. I’m captivated by so many things about him. He speaks fluently on every issue, his sincerity seems as compelling as his words are, and he is the face of a movie star. He outspokenly proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord. But Rubio is “owned” and “operated” right now by the Republican moderate elite. They are the same talented group that chose Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney as their official candidates. We know how well those three did. The biggest question I have about Marco Rubio is and his silver tongued oratory be trusted.
And how about the Democrat vote? Well, Martin O’Malley suspended his campaign after realizing once and for all that he couldn’t even get his foot in the door of his party. And the whole state of Iowa brought the race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders tighter than a corset. Although Hillary claimed victory, the Democratic Party said the vote was too close to call. And since I’m being honest about the election, I simply can’t figure out how any knowledgeable American could vote for either a Socialist like Bernie Sanders or a scandal ridden woman with a dangerous thyroid condition like Hillary Clinton. Again, I gladly welcome your comments.
So that’s my take on the horse race until today. I’ll try to remember to keep you posted when I find significant items. Ultimately, I know God will choose who He knows is the one America deserves. Right now in the way we Americans are behaving, that could be very frightening!
This is Ray Mossholder from the news desk of Reach More Now in Fort Worth, Texas. I’m sharing news from The Week, a news gathering service that will give you a heads up about what’s happening in the news today.
From the Chicago Tribune
1. Candidates make last-minute pleas for votes ahead of Iowa caucuses
Iowa voters kick off the 2016 presidential primary season as their state holds the nation’s first caucuses on Monday . The presidential contenders in both parties made pleas for support. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump called his nearest rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, a “total liar,” while Cruz said voters “deserve more than just a battle of petty insults.” Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton said she was her party’s best bet to beat the GOP nominee. Her main rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, promised “one of the biggest political upsets” ever.
From the Washington Post
2. Two Virginia Tech students charged over 13-year-old girl’s death
Two Virginia Tech engineering students have been charged in connection with the abduction and murder of 13-year-old cancer survivor Nicole Madison Lovell from Blacksburg, Virginia. Authorities arrested freshman David Eisenhauer, 18, at his dorm on Saturday. He was first charged with abduction, and hours later charged with first-degree murder after police found Lovell ‘s remains in North Carolina.On Sunday, police arrested sophomore Natalie Marie Keepers, 19, for allegedly assisting with disposal of the body.
From the New York Times
3. ISIS claims responsibility for bombings that killed 70 in Syria
The Islamic State on Sunday claimed responsibility for bombings that killed at least 70 people in near the Syrian capital, Damascus. The attack targeted a bus carrying Shiite Muslim militia members, and took place near Syria’s holiest Shiite shrine. The violence threatened to further complicate already postponed peace talks under way in Geneva.
From the Huffington Post
4. Sanders gains on Clinton in fundraising with record donations
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign said Sunday that it had raised $33.6 million in the last three months of 2015, thanks to more than 3.25 million donations — a record number of contributions for a presidential candidate at this point in a campaign. He raised $20 million in January alone with average online contributions of $27. Hillary Clinton raised a little more — $37.4 million — to lead Democrats in the quarter. Ben Carson led Republicans with $22.6 million, although most of that came before he began falling in the polls.
From Reuters
5. Iranian commanders get medals for seizing U.S. Navy boats
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, awarded Fath (Victory) medals to the Revolutionary Guard’s naval chief and four commanders for the capture of 10 U.S. sailors last month. Two small U.S. Navy boats strayed into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. Iran freed the crews a day after the boats were seized. The Revolutionary Guard said it determined that the American boats entered Iranian waters by mistake. From BBC News
6. Boko Haram torches village, killing 86
Boko Haram militants killed at least 86 people in an attack on a Nigerian village, survivors said Sunday. Members of the Islamist extremist group reportedly torched huts, and witnesses said they heard children being burned alive inside. The insurgents have killed thousands of people and driven more than two million from their homes over six years of fighting. From Reuters
7. Greece’s lenders to review progress on economic reforms
On Monday Greece’s lenders, the International Monetary Fund, and the euro-zone bailout fund are due to start a review into the debt-burdened nation’s progress in implementing the economic reforms required under its third bailout. Athens is counting on a speedy positive review to lift economic confidence and start new debt-relief talks. From the San Francisco Chronicle
8. Justice Department to review San Francisco police after fatal shooting
The Justice Department is expected to announce Monday that it will conduct a “comprehensive review” of the San Francisco Police Department following the Dec. 2 shooting of Mario Woods, a 26-year-old black man. Police Chief Greg Suhr requested the review, which will be done by a federal agency that helps local police improve community relations. Woods’ family and the American Civil Liberties Union had asked for an investigation by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which can impose reforms. From Bloomberg
9. Pentagon confirms U.S. ship sailed close to Chinese island in disputed waters
The Pentagon confirmed over the weekend that it sent a warship, the USS Curtis Wilbur, to within 12 nautical miles of a South China Sea island claimed by China in waters also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. The U.S. said the ship was on a “freedom of navigation” mission to challenge China’s attempt to assert its authority over the disputed waters.
From USA Today
10. Freely elected lawmakers but are you doing take office in Myanmar
On Monday Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, swore in members of its first freely elected parliament since the military took power more than 50 years ago. The National League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, trounced the military’s allies in November elections, winning two-thirds of available seats. The military holds 25 percent of the seats in parliament, however, effectively giving it veto power over any changes to the constitution.
And finally from Reddit, here’s a story with a ring to it………
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (UPI) — The father of a curious 14-month-old boy said his wife’s missing wedding ring finally turned up when a doctor X-rayed the baby’s stomach.
“My wife couldn’t find her wedding ring yesterday. We decided to have our baby X-rayed just in case,” Redditor Williamclarkgriswold wrote on the website.
The Reddit user shared the X-ray photo showing the ring in the baby’s stomach.
He said the baby, the couple’s third child, had shown previous interest in the ring before it vanished.
“We’ve fished it out of his mouth before. She had it on the bathroom counter while getting ready. He must have grabbed it,” the man wrote.
The dad said doctors sent the family home, expecting the ring to resurface through natural means.
The Redditor later shared a second picture showing the ring free of the baby’s bowels, but covered in the rest of his diaper contents.
He said his wife is still planning to wear the ring.
“I assume we’ll give it a good washing first,” he wrote.
