it was a great time giving seminars about ways to use
the internet effectively to communicate "The Great
Commission."
Your Devoted Friend,
Howdy
P.S. If you have any questions write me or leave a comment...
Comment & Forward>>>
Comments:
Dear Friends,
Well we made it back safe & sound yesterday with all our luggage and on time. Miracles never cease. Now all we have to do is get over jet lag:O)
Germany is a beautiful land with a definite spiritual need. I learned that Saudi Arabia & N.Korea have a higher % of evangelicals than Germany or France.
While in France, Mrs. Howdy and I watched a bit of T.V. together during their prime time. One show (featuring Cindy Sheehan) was anti-American, another was anti-Israel, and a third was anti-evangelical Christian. No wonder the people are the way they are!!! France & Germany have a lower percentage of evangelical Christians than either Saudi Arabia or North Korea!!!
I must point out that almost everyone we met in both countries were very friendly to us.
There's much need for God in both great & beautiful countries...
Your Devoted Friend, Howdy
P.S. Pictures of our trip: http://xrl.us/na3i The music in the background is "Poor People of Paris" which certainly refers to them spiritually...
Listen to the audio broadcast! http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/ramhurl?p=pnm&f=/rhm/sounds/awwy/awwy5066.rm
It's usually the most watched event of the Winter Olympics every four years: the women's figure skating competition. At the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, a lot of America's hopes for a gold medal were riding on Sasha Cohen; especially after she managed a thin, first-place edge after the initial short program. Then came the decisive long skating program. Suddenly, all hopes of any medal seemed to disappear with a major fall early in her program. The TV commentators actually said, "Now it's going to a fight just be on the podium." With a major deficit in her score from her fall, Sasha Cohen could have easily lost heart. She didn't. She fought back with a strong and impressive showing in the rest of her performance. When the rest of the world's best had all skated, the young woman who had fallen - who seemed to have forfeited any hope of being a champion - stood on that podium with a coveted silver medal.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fallen Down But Finishing Strong."
There's someone listening today who knows the disappointment, and maybe even the shame, of a serious fall. Do you give up, or do you fight back? I could tell you which one Jesus is voting for.
You could look at what happened with Jesus' disciple, Simon Peter, to see what Jesus wants to do after you've failed. In Luke 5, beginning with verses 4-6, we see what happened after Simon's all-out fishing efforts had ended in a discouraging and total failure. Then Jesus came aboard and said, "'Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.' Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.'" Translation: "Hey, I gave it my best shot. I failed. What's the use of trying again, Lord?" Maybe you know that feeling.
But the story doesn't end there. Simon said to Jesus, "But because You say so, I will let down the nets."Translation: "I feel like giving up, but I'm going to get back in the game for only one reason. Jesus wants me to." This time there's one big difference. Jesus is in command. The result? "They caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break." Simon's greatest catch came right on the heels of one his greatest fishing failures, because this time he's not in command. Jesus is. Later, when this same man has shamefully failed his Savior by going AWOL when Jesus needed Him the most, he rebounds to great spiritual leadership - including the day he helped 3,000 people come to Jesus. Because Peter at the wheel ended up in his greatest crash, so in his shame, he gave Jesus the wheel, and Simon Peter finished a champion.
In the American League Championship Baseball Series in 2004, Boston pitcher Curt Schilling lost the first game to the New York Yankees. Then came the decisive fourth game of the seven game series. He came back with an overpowering performance that sparked the Boston run to actually capturing the World Series. Just before that fourth game, he had surrendered in a new way to the Savior he belonged to. He told the press, "In Game 1, you saw what Curt Schilling could do. In Game 4, you saw what God could do."
You've seen what you could do and it didn't have a happy ending. Now it's time to see what God can do. Jesus promises that "your sins and iniquities I will remember no more." (Hebrews 8:12) He's told us, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) Sounds like a fresh start, doesn't it - another chance? Simon failed, Moses failed, and yet God still had something very important for them to do for Him once they repented and surrendered their brokenness to Him. He wants to do that for you.
With Jesus, failure never has to be final. If you will, in the strength of Christ, fight back from your fall, you can still stand on heaven's podium and hear your Savior's cherished words, "Well done, My good and faithful servant."
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Is it possible to be an educated person without knowing about the Bible? That’s the question that was posed to thirty-nine English professors at some of our leading universities. Their answers should not come as a surprise, although given our culture’s “Christophobia” and the politically correct attitudes on campuses, they probably do.
The relationship between biblical literacy and education was the subject of a survey conducted by the Bible Literacy Project. The study, whose subtitle is “What University Professors Say Incoming Students Need to Know,” found that every professor surveyed agreed with the following statement: “Regardless of a person’s faith, an educated person needs to know about the Bible.” Every professor!
By way of elaboration, Professor George P. Landow, from my alma mater, the very liberal Brown University, said, “[Without the Bible] it’s like using a dictionary with one-third of the words removed.” Professor Ulrich Knoepflmacher at Princeton said that the lack of “Bible knowledge is almost crippling in students’ ability to be sophisticated readers.”
Case in point: A preparation workbook for the Advanced Placement Literature exam lists sixty-seven biblical allusions among the 105 allusions that it recommends students know. Yet, only 8 percent of public high schools teach about the Bible even as literature.
Then there’s the Bible’s central role in Western civilization. As David Kastan of Columbia said, “The Bible is the foundational text, certainly of the West . . . We need to know more, and we need to know it better.”
Given the Bible’s status, it shouldn’t be “too much to ask,” as Gordon Braden of the University of Virginia put it, for students to read what he called a “core Bible.” This would include “Genesis, Exodus, the Psalms, the four Gospels, and the Book of Revelation.” In Braden’s words, “If they have that, then we can get started.”
If leading academics agree on the importance of the Bible, regardless of one’s faith or lack thereof, why isn’t it being taught more? Why are we raising the first generation to have lost the biblical narrative that was second nature to prior generations in America?
The answer certainly is not for lack of a suitable curriculum. The Bible Literacy Project recently released a textbook called The Bible and Its Influence. The textbook has been well received, not only by evangelical leaders, but by Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish leaders as well.
The text enables students to learn about the role of the Bible in an accurate, scholarly, and constitutional way. It helps teachers and administrators feel more confident about their ability to do justice to our “foundational text.”
The problem lies in getting past the “Christophobia” I mentioned earlier. Whether the problem lies in overt hostility or a misunderstanding of what the law actually says, many schools are reluctant to teach the Bible.
That’s where you come in. There is overwhelming evidence of the need for biblical literacy in public education. You need to bring this evidence to the attention of those running your local school boards. You need to help them understand that the goal is not spreading a particular religion but preventing the spread of something far worse: a crippling kind of ignorance.
Over a period of several weeks of precious elementary school recesses, my circle of fellow fourth-grade friends set aside dodge-ball matches and swing-sets in order to go to court. There had been a rather serious disagreement between two of the girls in our group and sides were being drawn as quickly as notes could be passed between desks. Before things got any worse, the humanitarian among us reasoned that we had to intervene. It was decided that we would create a makeshift courtroom to get to the bottom of the mess. One of my friends was appointed judge; others were chosen to be witnesses or note-takers, prosecutor, defendant, or bailiff. I don't think we thought any of it was half as silly as it sounds now. In our minds we were doing what adults did to get at the truth. But in the end, it became one of those defining moments where one wakes from the innocence of childhood to find the world not as simple as first thought and the human heart capable of horrific things. The experience is strangely reminiscent of William Golding's stranded children in The Lord of the Flies.
In our courtroom I was called to be a witness. I was to tell the judge what I saw and what I knew to be true. I did so, and it felt like we were getting somewhere. But then another witness was called who insisted that she saw something completely different, and that I, in fact, was lying. I was heartbroken and confused. Sides were drawn, cases sharpened. As the days went by we became increasingly frustrated and vindictive. What we thought would be a simple solution that would lead us to truth and resolution became a hurtful, tangled mess of motive and slander--so much so, that a teacher intervened and our courtroom was forever adjourned. Among other things, I decided I could not go into law.
I was reminded of this childish scene recently while reading Mark's account of the trial of Christ before the council of religious leaders. Seized from the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was taken to the courtyard. Peter followed from a distance and watched among the guards as the trial unraveled. Mark imparts, "The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.' Yet even then their testimony did not agree" (14:55-59).
What kind of a courtroom would this make? The expert witnesses from the same side are contradicting each other. The only thing they seem to agree on is that Jesus should be on trial. And yet, like a prosecuting attorney with an airtight case, the high priest exclaims: "Answer these charges!" In the middle of the chaos of conflicting words and motives, the high priest stood up and faced Jesus: "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?" (v. 60). I have often found myself wishing Jesus would have replied, "If you don't even know, why should I have to make sense of all of that?" But Jesus remained silent and made no answer.
In the midst of such a courtroom, it seems appropriate to pause in that silence. For though we put him to death more than two thousand years ago, he has been on trial ever since. Like the court scene I was a part of as a child, we have placed him before our makeshift gavels and made a mockery of truth. I remember moments when armed with fiery questions I have forced God to take the stand. No doubt my words made as little sense as Jesus's accusers that day.
From the waving of palm branches to the waving of fists demanding crucifixion, the culminating events of Jesus's life on earth bid us to see again that it is we who live our lives before the courts. Like Peter, we follow these events at a distance, looking in on a great trial, sometimes participating, sometimes denying him, sometimes seeing our role, and with a shock of recognition while the rooster is still crowing, falling on our knees in a court reversed: the Judge before us, our advocate entering our plea. Might it be in this position that we receive the final verdict.
Jill Carattini is senior associate writer for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
--------------------------- Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) "A Slice of Infinity" is aimed at reaching into the culture with words of challenge, words of truth, and words of hope. If you know of others who would enjoy receiving "A Slice of Infinity" in their email box each day, tell them they can sign up on our website at http://www.rzim.org/publications/slice.php. If they do not have access to the World Wide Web, please call 1-877-88SLICE (1-877-887-5423).
Dear Howdy, Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. Robert A.
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Howdy,
In reading the article on Icons of Evolution here is what I came up with:
from my readings in phil.of biology, evolutionists who disagree with the "evolutionary gradualism" are proposing a different objection entirely from those religious thinkers who object to it. "There are heterodox evolutinary theorists who challenge the standard gradualist view. Creationists try to adapt these challenges to the interests of their own cause." Philip Kitcher, Abusing Science.
I'm of the opinion that they are right. Articles on this issue that you have cited all force me to go back to my ucsd course in Philosophy of Biology. This is good, you are a "gadfly." For the past 6 months it has been hard for me to focus (since my mother's passing). I've been suppressing a lot of sadness and hurt perpetrated upon me by my sister. I am doing a lot of work on my feeling side, so consequently my intellectual side is lacking in energy.
Howdy, your many websites containing the emails and links are awesome. What kind of dog am I, since I am now a pavlovian specimen, conditioned and all...Am I one of the ones in the photos? Please forgive my weird mood. Howdy I love you. :-)
L.P.
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Dear L.P.,
The very One who created the heavens & the earth in six days is also the very One loves you dearly & Who can comfort YOU if you allow Him too!!!
Howdy
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Dear Howdy,
I enjoy reading your newsletter very much. However, I was disappointed to read the little blurb praising Martin Luther. Whatever one may think of the Catholic Church, especially in Luther's time (there was indeed a great amount of corruption from many high level individuals including the pope), he is not a praiseworthy person. As we all know, even those Christ left behind to propogate His Church were weak men with failings. So it is not proper to judge the worth of a church based on some sinful members. But praise of individuals should not be given to bad men such as Martin Luther. Philip O (GMU)
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In that critique of Martin Luther I am reminded of the lines from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar": "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
It is so easy -- and an example of cowardly reasoning -- to attack a long deceased leader, ignore his accomplishments and focus on whatever fault can be dredged up as having been committed by him.
I was graduated (BA, Psychology) from a Lutheran College. I only occasionally attended a Lutheran church, but in my studies of history and theology I naturally spent considerable time studying the life and ministry of Luther . . . and, of course, Calvin. I am a devout Calvinist, but not as devout a Lutheran -- yet I would be the first to concede that Luther is the father of present day Protestantism. While I personally lean more toward the reforms which Calvin promulgated, I cannot in the slightest ignore the work which Luther did.
Granted, he was anti-semitic in his later years. But if you want to get down to the plain and dirty -- consider the taped comments by Billy Graham while he was agreeing with Richard Nixon in his tirades against the Jews. Do those comments destroy all the good results of Billy Graham's evangelistic ministry? I think not.
So I would have to weigh all the good that Martin Luther accomplished against his dislike of the Jews, and I think the good far outweighs the bad.
But more importantly -- what is the point of it?
There is always this response to that sort of thing: "I admit that I don't understand it . . . but one of the first things I am going to do when I get to Heaven is ask Luther about it."
Jerry (Board of Directors)
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Howdy, I like all of the jokes that you send, i never have gotten through a whole page of them, cuz there are sooo many!! its ok but they're funny, and they make me laugh a lot! well, i live in California, in the USA, obviously, and thats all! talk to you later!
kari
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Dear Howdy, As one from Texas, "Howdy" is used quite often and not just by Aggies from Texas A & M. And since we are on the subject, the UNC jokes are the same down here in Texas, but we call them Aggie Jokes. So, should I be offended too? I think not. Keep up the good work. See Ya'll Later. Sar
Please note that our policy allows for us to receive threats on alternate Tuesdays when the Moon is waning only...
There's a lot of talk these days about Biblical prophecies being fulfilled and about the signs that precede Christ's return. But when you're little, all this talk about how things are going to end can have an interesting effect. One friend of ours told me recently about how his little boy told him, "Daddy, I sure hope Jesus comes real soon." His Dad asked him why, and the little boy responded, "Well, I'm really looking forward to sitting on Jesus' lap, and I'll be seven pretty soon. And if Jesus doesn't come soon, I might be too old to sit on His lap!" Dad was glad to be able to give his son the good news - "Son, you are never too old for Jesus' lap."
Now, for someone who's listening today, that's a reminder of a fact that could be crucial for your emotional survival right now.
Maybe you've been wounded in a relationship lately, you've experienced a very painful loss. Maybe a security blanket you've depended on has been taken away. Someone who's listening today is feeling very lonely, broken, confused, maybe unlovable, or even unloved. When you were little and felt like this, you may have had a parent's lap you could run to for safety and comfort. But you're all grown up now, and you're really hurting inside.
What a father told his little boy is very important for you right now - "You are never too old for Jesus' lap." There is wonderful news in our word for today from the Word of God for all of us who have had human love let us down sometime - which is every one of us. In Zephaniah 3:17, God says, "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
Now, the children understand it best I think. You can see it in their faces when they sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know." Years ago one of the world's leading theologians was lecturing at a seminary, and he concluded with a question-and-answer session. One of the seminary students - thinking he was being profound - asked the theologian what was the deepest spiritual truth he had ever studied. The theologian paused momentarily and then he answered, "Jesus loves me, this I know." It is that simple fact that needs to be the refuge for your hurting or broken heart right now.
The Lord God is with you! He's mighty to save you! "He will quiet you with His love." He is the loving Lord who wants to gather you up in His lap and remind you how much He cares about you; that there is nothing you can do to make Him love you more - and nothing you can do to make Him love you less. He just loves you, no strings attached. It has nothing to do with deserving His love. You can't. He just loves you!
But because you're all grown up now - you're tough and sophisticated, self-sufficient, you can handle it - you may not be allowing yourself to crawl into Jesus' lap, to pour out your deepest feelings to Him, to open yourself up to a healing flood of His grace. If you don't, the hurt you're feeling is probably moving you to one of four tragic emotional alternatives - you're either starting to turn hard, to pity yourself, to shut down, or to give up - all of which will just make you more lonely and isolated.
Now, this is a time for you to allow yourself to be that wounded child, crawling into the lap of the one who loves you most. As Corrie ten Boom said, "Don't wrestle, just nestle." Let Jesus remind you of who you really are because you belong to Him, of how much you're really worth and of His power to heal earth's deepest hurts. You really are never too big for His lap.