Sunspots 881

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

The Arts: Relevant shows us lots of strange church buildings. Some of them are spectacular, if strangely so.

Christianity: Christianity Today reports that over 20 million people stopped reading the Bible during COVID.

Computing: NPR discusses the state of Twitter. It turns out that it's not among the 10 most widely used social platforms, worldwide.

Health: Gizmodo reports that it is becoming more difficult, perhaps impossible in a few cases, to stop a gonorrhea infection.

Humor: (or something) WSPA-TV, and other outlets, have posted a video of a good-sized bear crossing a street on a pedestrian walk, in broad daylight, in  Asheville, NC.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading. 

With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray, excerpt 123

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post in this series is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. In this excerpt, Murray continues a discussion about prayer and the Trinity. His book is based on Mark 11:22-24. 

Lord God! how low has sin made man to sink. And how terribly has it darkened his mind, that he does not even know his Divine destiny, to be Thy servant and representative. Alas! that even Thy people, when their eyes are opened, are so little ready to accept their  calling and to seek to have power with God, that they may have power with men too to bless them.
Lord Jesus! it is in Thee the Father hath again crowned man with glory and honour, and opened the way for us to be what He would have us. O Lord, have mercy on Thy people, and visit Thine heritage! Work mightily in Thy Church, and teach Thy believing disciples to go forth in their royal priesthood, and in the power of prayer, to which Thou hast given such wonderful promises, to serve Thy kingdom, to have rule over the nations, and make the name of God glorious in the earth. Amen.

Sunspots 880

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: Ken Schenck has published "explanatory notes" on Bible passages relating to Holy Week. Here's one of these.

Environment: (and politics) Gizmodo reports on a scientist who finally decided that "...  It's not political to tell the truth" about climate change.

Gizmodo reports that sea urchins are dying off rapidly. They are important members of reef communities. The reason for the deaths is unclear.

Finances: Gizmodo reports on how much the very rich pay in income taxes.

Science: (or something) A man with over 100 snakes in his house, several of them poisonous, was found dead in the home, according to Gizmodo and multiple sources.

ListVerse tells us a lot about the tiny, and extremely resilient, animals known as tardigrades.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

 

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, Excerpt 122

 I know -- today is Easter. He is risen!

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post in this series is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. In this excerpt, Murray continues a discussion about prayer and the Trinity. His book is based on Mark 11:22-24.

Church of the living God! thy calling is higher and holier than thou knowest. Through thy members, as kings, and priests unto God, would God rule the world; their prayers bestow and withhold the blessing of heaven. In His elect who are not just content to be themselves saved, but yield themselves wholly, that through them, even as through the Son, the Father may fulfil all His glorious counsel, in these His elect, who cry day and night unto Him, God would prove how wonderful man’s original destiny was. As the image-bearer of God on earth, the earth was indeed given into his hand. When he fell, all fell with him: the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together. But now he is redeemed; the restoration of the original dignity has begun. It is in very deed God’s purpose that the fulfilment of His eternal purpose, and the coming of His kingdom, should depend on those of His people who, abiding in Christ, are ready to take up their position in Him their Head, the great Priest-King, and in their prayers are bold enough to say what they will that their God should do. As image-bearer and representative of God on earth, redeemed man has by his prayers to determine the history of this earth. Man was created, and has now again been redeemed, to pray, and by his prayer to have dominion.

Sunspots 879

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Science: Gizmodo reports that dog facial muscles are constructed so that the faces are attractive to humans.

Gizmodo also posted videos of squid, almost instantaneously changing color for camouflage purposes.

NPR on why some smells (like ripe peaches) are appealing

Gizmodo also reports that the planet Neptune is getting colder, and astronomers don't understand why this is so.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, Excerpt 121

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post in this series is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. In this excerpt, Murray continues a discussion about prayer and the Trinity. His book is based on Mark 11:22-24.

This had been man’s destiny from the first. Scripture not only tells us this, but also teaches us how it was that God could entrust man with such a high calling. It was because He had created him in His own image and likeness. The external rule was not committed to him without the inner fitness: the bearing God’s image in having dominion, in being lord of all, had its root in the inner likeness, in his nature. There was an inner agreement and harmony between God and man, and incipient Godlikeness,  which gave man a real fitness for being the mediator between God and His world, for he was to be prophet, priest, and king, to interpret God’s will, to represent nature’s needs, to receive and dispense God’s bounty. It was in bearing God’s image that he could bear God’s rule; he was indeed so like  God, so capable of entering into God’s purposes, and carrying out His plans, that God could trust him with the wonderful privilege of asking and obtaining what the world might need.
And although sin has for a time frustrated God’s plans, prayer still remains what it would have been if man had never fallen: the proof of man’s Godlikeness, the vehicle of his intercourse with the Infinite Unseen One, the power that is allowed to hold the hand that holds the destinies of the universe. Prayer is not merely the cry of the suppliant for mercy; it is the highest forth-putting of his will by man, knowing himself to be of Divine origin, created for and capable of being, in king-like liberty, the executor of the counsels of the Eternal.
What sin destroyed, grace has restored. What the first Adam lost, the second has won back. In Christ man regains his original position, and the Church, abiding in Christ, inherits the promise: ‘Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’ Such a promise does by no means, in the first place, refer to the grace or blessing we need for ourselves. It has reference to our position as the fruit-bearing branches of the Heavenly Vine, who, like Him, only live for the work and glory of the Father. It is for those who abide in Him, who have forsaken self to take up their abode in Him with His life of obedience and self-sacrifice, who have lost their life and found it in Him, who are now entirely given up to the interests of the Father and His kingdom. These are they who understand how their new creation has brought them back to their original destiny, has restored God’s image and likeness, and with it the power to have dominion. Such have indeed the power, each in their own circle, to obtain and dispense the powers of heaven here on earth. With holy boldness they may make known what they will: they live as priests in God’s presence; as kings the powers of the world to come begin to be at their disposal.  They enter upon the fulfilment of the promise: ‘Ask whatsoever ye will, it shall be done unto you.’  

Sunspots 878

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: (or something) Relevant describes how well-meaning people have followed being against sex trafficking into conspiracy theories like QAnon.

Finances: NPR reports that large corporations are avoiding paying damages by spinning off a subsidiary to take over the lawsuits, and then declaring that the subsidiary is bankrupt, even though the parent corporation has plenty of money, and, in some cases, has done plenty of damage.

Science: (or something) A flamingo that escaped from a zoo in Kansas in 2005 has been spotted in Texas, according to NPR. Another source says that the bird was identified by a video, which showed its leg band number.

Gizmodo reports that the human genome has been almost mapped (about 20 years ago, we were given the impression that that had been done. About 8% of the human genome was not sequenced at that time.)

The Scientist reports that some fish can react to "more objects than before," or "less objects than before," indicating perception of quantities.

The Scientist also reports that Chicago-area birds are nesting a few weeks earlier than they did a century ago, probably because of climate change.

And The Scientist reports that dwarf mongooses punish bullies by shunning them.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

 

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, excerpt 120

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post in this series is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. In this excerpt, Murray continues a discussion about prayer and the Trinity. His book is based on Mark 11:22-24. 

In accordance with such a destiny was the position he was to occupy, and the power at his disposal. When an earthly sovereign sends a viceroy to a distant province, it is understood that he advises as to the policy to be adopted, and that that advice is acted on: that he is at liberty to apply for troops and the other means needed for carrying out the policy or maintaining the dignity of the empire. If his policy be not approved of, he is recalled to make way for some one who better understands his sovereign’s desires’ as long as he is trusted, his advice is carried out. As God’s representative man was to have ruled; all was to have been done under his will and rule; on his advice and at his request heaven was to have bestowed its blessing on earth. His prayer was to have been the wonderful, though simple and most natural channel, in which the intercourse between the King in heaven and His faithful servant man, as lord of this world, was to have been maintained. The destinies of the world were given into the power of the wishes, the will, the prayer of man.

With sin all this underwent a terrible change—man’s fall brought all creation under the curse. With redemption the beginning was seen of a glorious restoration. No sooner had God begun in Abraham to form for Himself a people from whom kings, yea the Great King, should come forth, than we see what power the prayer of God’s faithful servant has to decide the destinies of those who come into contact with him. In Abraham we see how prayer is not only, or even chiefly, the means of obtaining blessing for ourselves, but is the exercise of his royal prerogative to influence the destinies of men, and the will of God which rules them. We do not once find Abraham praying for himself. His prayer for Sodom and Lot, for Abimelech, for Ishmael, prove what power a man, who is God’s friend, has to make the history of those around him.