text:
Let's open our Bibles this morning to Matthew chapter 21 for another wonderful and thrilling adventure with the Lord Jesus Christ in the week in which He was crucified. We have entered into the twenty-first chapter of Matthew and thus have come to the final week of our Lord's earthly life and ministry. On Friday He will die.
But our text today is on Tuesday, the day after His inauguration, His coronation, His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Monday, you'll remember, He had entered into the city of Jerusalem to the cries of "Hosanna, to the Son of David, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest," as tens of thousands of people hailed Him as the King, the Messiah, the deliverer, the Savior. It was a wonderful day in one sense because He was receiving praise that is due His name.
The procession on Monday had really begun outside the eastern gate as Jesus coming from Bethany had already gathered a large group of people with Him and another large mass of people inside the city were coming to meet Him. So the two groups surged together outside the eastern gate. And then the procession began and it went through that gate into the city. And the "hosannas" rang out for how long a period, we don't know, but the procession finally ended at the temple. In Mark 11:11, Mark tells us that Jesus came in that procession to the temple. And the procession ended there. And He returned to Bethany, there to spend the night with Mary, Martha, Lazarus and the twelve disciples.
It's now Tuesday morning. Another day has dawned. One day closer to Calvary. And on Tuesday, He goes right back to the same place He had left Monday night...back to the temple. And in verses 12 to 17, we find out what happened when He arrived there.
Now before we look at the text, let me just give you a little bit of a setting. At this particular time of Passover, as I mentioned last time, Jerusalem is literally teeming with people. It has swelled maybe three or four or five or more times its normal size. Pilgrims from all over that part of the world have pushed their way into the city to participate in the Passover. And the Passover tradition said that in order to celebrate the Passover, you had to be inside the city of Jerusalem. Now the only way that everybody could get into the city of Jerusalem was if they moved the boundaries because inside the wall the people could not be contained. So it was customary at Passover time to put out a little edict that extended the boundaries of Jerusalem to encompass at least the villages of Bethany and Bethphage and other surrounding areas.
Why? Because the city couldn't contain the pilgrims. The inns were all full. The homes of friends were all full. The people who would rent out a room were all filled up. The people who owned a home in Jerusalem which they only used during this season had come to use that home. The hospices run by Pharisees or Zealots or any other group were occupied. The open areas within the walled city were filled up with little tents and campfires where the people were settling in for the Passover season. And with all of that, there was still too many people to fill that city anymore and so they spilled out beyond the wall into the areas surrounding the city and sent up their tents and their camps. They stayed with friends in Bethphage, Bethany and other surrounding villages. And so, Jesus--along with a lot of other folks--and His twelve disciples were staying in a home in Bethany...the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
One of the places in the city that was most crowded with pilgrims was the temple. And although the Jewish law forbid that anyone should sleep in the temple, they were not allowed to do that, they would camp as close to it as they could. And so all around the temple precinct, the outer wall of the outer courtyard would be pilgrims and their tents and their little blankets sleeping out in the night. And some of them were sleeping in the buildings adjacent to the building that were owned by the temple proprietors. So the city is literally exploding with people. And the temple is the focal point of everything.
All week long it is alive with pilgrims, coming to see it, coming there to pray, coming into the court of the women to put their offerings in the trumpet-shaped receptacles that hung on the walls, coming with sacrifices and offerings of all kinds to give to God to seek cleansing from their sin, to deal with other kinds of issues as well. Ceremonial cleansings, purification rites, oh, the temple was the center of everything. And it is to the temple that Jesus comes and introduces us to one of the most amazing and marvelous scenes of this last week of His life.
Now as we approach verses 12 to 17, which is the temple encounter, I want us to look at it from a very special perspective. I want us to see it as the presentation of Jesus' Messianic credentials. I believe what He does is give the populous of Jerusalem and most specifically the chief priests and scribes a very clear testimony as to the nature of His Kingliness and the nature of His Kingdom. He makes a statement here that could never be misunderstood.
Now remember that from the first demonstration that really ever happened around Jesus in Galilee, when He revealed His great power, His miracle ability. The people had tried to take Him and make Him a king by force so that He would overthrow Rome and provide all that they needed socially and economically and militarily and so forth. And all through His ministry, He had resisted those attempts. Whenever they tried to make Him a king, He resisted that. And on Monday, as we saw last time, in a great statement about the nature of His kingship, He had ridden into the city for His coronation on the foal of a donkey, sitting on a used robe thrown over that donkey by one of the disciples while people threw tree branches and old clothes in His path. He was weaponless and His retinue was a group of common nobodies. And He was saying, in effect, the nature of My Kingdom is not as the kingdoms of this world. You see no pomp and glory, you see no earthly majesty, you see no military might. But still in their hearts, they hoped that He would do that, that He would overthrow the Roman yoke, that He would break the bands of the Roman oppressor, that He would free them to the nobility they themselves believed as Jews that they should have, the nobility that comes only to free people.
And just to be sure that they haven't missed His message, He enters into the temple and demonstrates to them again the nature of His kingliness and the nature of His Kingdom. And it is a far broader, a far greater demonstration even then was His lowly inauguration.
Now I want you to look at these verses and mark the kingly credentials of Christ. First of all, He showed He was on a divine mission...He showed He was on a divine mission. And that is simply pointed out in the first statement of verse 12, "And Jesus went into the temple of God."
Now, there are some manuscripts that eliminate "of God," some good manuscripts that eliminate it. There are some other good manuscripts that include it. It's one of the more difficult textual issues to try to resolve. And when those things come up, I tend to want to leave them in because I would not want to be guilty of taking something out that belonged there. I kind of enjoyed what Lenski said about this particular problem, that Lutheran commentator who's so excellent in his understanding of the New Testament. Lenski says, "The temple of God is never used in the New Testament as a phrase anywhere but here, so it seems unlikely that some scribe would put it in, but if you understand what Jesus is about to do, it makes all the sense in the world that He would have affirmed--that is Matthew would--that this was the temple of God when he's about to describe the utter ungodliness of its activities."
And so on the basis of a mixed kind of manuscript perspective and on the basis of it being certainly a fitting way to set up what happens, we would rather have it left in. And so, though it doesn't really make any difference as far as letting us know what temple it was, it says Jesus went into the temple of God. And I love that. He went to God's temple. Now this to say that He was on a divine mission. I mean, that was His turf, you understand that? I mean, if He had done what the people wanted Him to do, He would have gone to Fort Antonius because Fort Antonius because Fort Antonius housed the Roman army, the Roman garrison. Or He would have gone to the abode of Pilate and He would have started the military coup. He would have overthrown Pilate and all of his retinue or He would have eliminated the Roman army and liberated the land and the people. But He didn't go there. He didn't go there at all, He went to the temple of God. That was where He wanted to be.
You see, the temple is the issue, not Rome. You see, what is going on militarily, politically, socially, economically is not the major issue. And the Messiah did not come initially in His first coming to solve those problems, although believe me, beloved, He will in His Second Coming solve those problems, all of them. But before He comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to establish His own glorious and eternal Kingdom and to solve all problems that exist in the earth today, He first of all must come and be received by men in their own hearts. And so His first coming was as Savior before He could come as full and final glorious King in His Kingdom.
And so, His business is with worship now...not with society, not with politics. The temple is not the issue...or the temple is the issue, not Rome. Our Lord is not concerned with the people's relation to Rome, He's concerned with the people's relation to God. That's His focus.
And this ought to be abundantly clear to any student of the New Testament because when Jesus came the first time to Jerusalem, this is exactly where He went also. And if you go back to John chapter 2 and notice verses 13 to 17, you will find there how He began His ministry at a Passover. And the Jews' Passover was at hand. Jesus went to Jerusalem, found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting. And when He made a whip of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and overthrew the tables and said to them that sold doves, "Take these things from here, make not My Father's house a house of merchandise."
So, when He started His ministry, He started it at the temple and when He ends it, He ends it at the temple. Now I submit to you that He's seen a lot of things in the years intervening. He has seen social injustice. He has seen economic inequities. He has seen oppression by the Romans. He has seen deprivation. He has seen the poor suffering abuse. He has seen lot of things. But His mission never changes. His whole ministry here is given very clear perspective. He was concerned with how people worshiped, with how people worshiped. He was concerned with their relationship to God, not their relationship to earthly kingdoms. It wasn't so important to Him how it was with men and men as it was with men and God, you understand that? And so by going to the temple as the first official act after His inauguration, He is identifying for us clearly the turf, or the territory of His mission. Three years had not changed that purpose. He goes right back to the temple, even though He had passed and seen many things inconsistent with God's design and God's will, as it was between men and men, the priority thing was between men and God, for only when men are right with God can men be right with men. Many things needed a soldier, many things needed an army, many things needed a social reformer, but more than that, men needed God and they needed true worship and they needed to know God's standard and God's will, God's purpose for their relationship to Him.
Peter picked it up from the Lord and said it this way in 1 Peter 4:17, "Judgment must begin at the house of God." It begins at the house of God. As long as things were wrong in the house of God, they would be wrong in the nation. You see, the measure of any society is the relation it has to God. Worship is the issue. Read Romans 1, worship is always the issue. The problem with society is not that it has bad laws, the problem with society is not that it has human inequities. The problem with society is that it has abandoned God. And some would accuse us of being indifferent to the national political issues, indifferent to the social issues and the social scene, that is not true. We are not indifferent to those things but we know what Jesus knew and what Peter reiterated, that judgment must begin at the house of God.
Christ claim to cleanse the temple. I found myself as I was preparing this message, praying on several occasions, "O Christ, cleanse the church...cleanse the church," because that and that alone is the hope of the country, the hope of the nation, the hope of the world.
And what did He find when He came to the temple? What did He find? You know something? He had cleansed it once and it had gone back and reverted to exactly what it was the first time He came. You say, "Then why bother?" Because He came to the temple, listen carefully, to vindicate the holiness of God. The issue wasn't whether they reacted rightly, the issue was that they should see the holiness of God. It was the revelation of God's holy will and purpose. It demonstrated His vengeance against sin and desecration and blasphemy and false religion. When Jesus cleansed the temple, we realize there was no revival really, there was no real reform, there was no real renewal. They're right back three years later doing the very same thing when He came the first time, but that doesn't mean He shouldn't come, He should come because God must reveal how He feels about false religion. He must reveal how He feels about blasphemy. He must say very clearly and unforgetably how He feels about them who treat Him in a unholy way.
And, this was something God must have been used to because He sent the prophets so many times to call the people of Israel back from idolatry and often they had a rather immediate reform which degenerated ultimately into an even worse idolatry. But God never stopped doing that because God always must speak the truth and reveal Himself as holy...and reveal His hatred against sin. And so, He comes to the temple again and His purpose is to show again how God feels about the evils of men.
Now I want to help you to understand what went on. I want you to stand with Jesus in this scene. Now imagine the city of Jerusalem packed with people...chaos milling everywhere. And the temple is the focal point of all of it...masses of people there. And as Jesus comes to that place, this is what He faces...a great outer wall of colonnades and columns that surrounds the whole temple precinct, as Barclay calls it...the temple area. That is known as the 'heron(?), the temple in the large sense.
Through that main opening, He enters into the Court of the Gentiles. And it was called the Court of the Gentiles because anybody could come in there, even Gentiles. And once into the Court of the Gentiles, you would notice a gate. And that gate was called "The Gate Beautiful." You may remember a man begging at that gate in Acts 3. And inside that gate was the Court of the Women. And that was a place where the Jewish women could go and the Jewish men, but no Gentiles. In fact, there was a sign by the Gate Beautiful that said if a Gentile went in there, he lost his life.
And so, into the Gate Beautiful, you'd go and you'd come into the Court of the Women with the trumpet-shaped receptacles for the receiving of the money that was to be given for certain reasons of cleansing and offering and so forth. And in the Court of the Women, the Jews would be gathered.
There was a gate in the Court of the Women called "The Nicanor(?) Gate. It was a gate made out of Corinthian bronze. It took 20 men to open and close...massive thing. And if you went through that gate, you came into what was known as the Court of the Israelites, the men could go in there. And the Court of the Israelites was where they would get ready to give their offerings. The men would take the sheep or the turtledove or the pigeon, whatever, or whether it was a grain offering or whatever kind and they would get it all prepared in the Court of the Israelites and they would take it to another gate which went into the Court of the Priests. And in the Court of the Priests was the offering...the burnt offering altar, the altar of incense and they could look through that opening as they handed the priests their sacrifice as he took it in and slaughtered it...or took it in and offered it.
And so, they would stand in that Court of the Israelites and watch as their offering was being made. From the Court of the Priests there was another little door. It entered into a 600 square foot courtyard, at the back of which was what was called the nahos(?), the holy place. It was a small little building which included in it the holy place and the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant was, separated by a veil into which the high priest could enter only once a year on the Day of Atonement.
The interesting thing about the temple was that it starts at a low point and all of this ascends until the nahos crowns Mount Moriah...so that there's a sequence of steps apparently going from court to court.
Now Jesus walks in the outer wall and stands in the Court of the Gentiles. And since it was the Court of the Gentiles, I guess the Jews felt if Gentiles could be there, so could anything else. And so they had filled it with just about everything else. It was known in those days as the bizarre of Annas...Annas being the high priest, a corrupt and vile man who saw the temple as a way to get power and wealth. He had a great idea. He and his priests sold concessions. In other words, you could buy space in the Court of the Gentiles. And there you could come and sell sheep, lambs, doves, pigeons, make money exchanges, sell oil, wine, salt and other requisites that go along with sacrifices.
And you paid dearly for those concessions because here's how the system worked. Every offering had to be approved by the priests, right? When you finally got into the Court of the Israelites and you brought what you were going to give, it had to be approved. And maybe they had approving stations even before you got that far in. But the priests had to say your sacrifice is okay, and the odds were that if you bought it outside the temple, it was not going to be approved. If you had raised a lamb way out where you lived and brought that little lamb in to be offered, they'd say that lamb is not acceptable, you must have a lamb purchased in the Court of the Gentiles. Go see So-and-so. And so you'd go to buy a lamb from him, only according to Edersheim, the great Jewish historian, you would pay ten times the value of that lamb. So you were extorted, you were fleeced to reverse the picture a little. You were taken by robbers.
Poor people, according to Levitical law, didn't have to bring a lamb because they couldn't afford lamb, so they were allowed to have a dove or a pigeon in the place of a lamb. And most historians feel that in today's currency, a couple of birds might be worth a nickel or a dime. But you would have paid four or five dollars for them there. And if you wanted to exchange your money because you had to have exactly a half shekel so you had to have the right change, and if you came from a foreign country with foreign currency and it had to be changed, you would pay twenty-five percent fee just to make small change.
And so, you can see that they would pay dearly for concessions inside the temple, right? Because they would work along with the priests to extort the people, to cheat the people. All this in the name of religion, if you can imagine. All this in the name of religion.
Jesus walks in, His eyes, His ears and His nostrils are filled with the sights and sounds and smells, a stench of a stockyard, the wrangling and haggling and haranguing of people bargaining over the price of animals...the noise the animals make, all the chaos of the crying animals being slaughtered, blood, it is a scene that's unbelievable. But this is Jesus' turf because this is the house of God. And it has been turned into a cave for robbers. And so He comes and sees this horrifying but familiar scene. And it says to us something so important, it says that Christ came first of all to deal with men on a spiritual level, you understand that? That's the point. He came to throw out corrupt worship and to bring in true worship. He is on a divine mission.
Second point, He has divine authority. He has divine authority. If we can't see that He's the Messiah because of His mission, boy, we ought to see that He's the Messiah because of His authority. Now listen, the most powerful thing going on in that country was the temple. I mean, the high priest was a powerful man. And the man who was next to the high priest was equally powerful. And the one who was the head of the temple police was powerful. And then you had all the orders of priests and I mean there were myriads of them. There was an organizational structure there that was very strong. And, I mean, if you walked passed the Gate Beautiful, for example, and you were a Gentile, the Romans had given them the right to kill you. They had plenty of power. They had great authority within the walls of that temple precinct area.
But they were about to meet somebody over whom they had absolutely no power. It says in verse 12, "Jesus went into the temple of God...and follow...cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves." Now if you think Jesus is just always some meek and lowly gentle person, maybe you ought to study this a little more deeply.
I don't know how many thousands of people were in there, I do know how those kinds of people, those kinds of extortionists, those kinds of money grubbing, money hungry people want to hang on to their money, I know how they want to hang on to their prosperity, I know how they wanted to hang on to their business there. I know how much the priests didn't want to be shamed and showed up in the face of the whole population. I know how much they didn't want their power challenged. I know how they would have thought themselves...the last thing that could have happened to themselves would have been to be made shameful in the eyes of the population of the city by some Galilean would-be Messiah, but that's exactly what happened. Against all of what you would think would happen, it happened. It simply says, "He cast out all them that sold and bought," just threw them all out. Not only the sellers but the buyers, too. He just threw everybody out of there that was involved in that enterprise. And the leaders, they couldn't stop Him. There was no way.
You say, "How did He do it?" I don't know, it doesn't say. It does say He threw them out. That's rather vivid. You say, "Well, maybe it was just His word, OUT." That could do it. That got Lazarus out of the grave. That also spoke the worlds into existence when creation occurred. So He could have done it with His word, but there was more than that because it also says He overthrew the tables of the moneychangers. He went through the place and started flipping tables and kicking them over. I believe He demonstrates not only His vocal authority, but His physical presence as well. You remember back in John 2, He made a whip and He threw them out by use of a whip. Maybe He made a whip again, or maybe He had the same whip.
What authority. He overthrew the table of the moneychangers. The word "moneychangers" in Greek is interesting, "makers of small change." They were sitting at their little stools with their little stacks of coins and He just started flipping them. Can you imagine those people hustling to collect every coin? And then He threw over the seats of those who sold doves. Guys sitting on a seat with a crate full of birds and He just started kicking over crates and knocking over stools and flipping tables and throwing people out of there. He cleared the place.
And then Mark adds a wonderful note. He says in Mark 11:16 that He wouldn't allow anybody to carry any vessel through the temple. And what was going on was probably pretty simply understood, the eastern gate of the city was where they would come in and just to the left of the eastern gate is the temple area. And if you were coming in the eastern gate, let's say you wanted to go to Zion and you had something you wanted to deliver or something you wanted to bring through there, the easiest way was not to go all the way around the temple but just to go through one of the side entrances to the general courtyard and go right straight through and just use it like a street. And they apparently were using the temple area just like a thoroughfare, a street like any other public street and He just stopped that immediately. And nobody carried anything through there.
It may also imply that nobody carried anything out of there. That they had to get thrown out and left all their debris there. Now if you can get all those people to split and run and leave their stuff behind, they're scared. Now this is the same Jesus riding on the colt, the foal of an ass, meek and lowly and humble.
What is the difference? Well, He came meek and lowly. He came as one who was to die in humility. But at the same time, He also gave a glorious demonstration of the reason for which He came and that is to change men from false worshipers to true worshipers. And so He went to the temple. He never used the same power He had to overthrow Rome, the only thing He wanted to do was clean up their corrupt worship. What power. I just wish I could have been there to see it. He kicked over everything, created chaos and they fled.
You say, "Well, why didn't they stop Him?" Why didn't they stop Him? They couldn't...they couldn't. I mean, they were pressed, the chief priests. They were really pressed because the crowd was hailing Him as the Messiah, for one thing. Secondly, the people hated the bizarres of Annas. By the way, they themselves started an insurrection that put them out of business, even before 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed. So the people were with Him. Plus, they couldn't handle Him. And for one moment, for one brief moment, the place was clean. No, I didn't say it was tidy, it wouldn't be very tidy, animals all over the place, birds all over the place, crates, stools, tables, money. It wasn't tidy, it was clean.
And later on in verse 23, the chief priest said, "By what authority doest Thou these things? And who gave Thee this authority?" Such a dumb question. As if He needed any other authority, as if He had to say, "Well, I've been sent by So-and- so and here are My papers...get out." They should have known by what authority, shouldn't they? So blind were they. And it makes us cry, "O God, send Christ again to cleanse the church. Send Christ again to cleanse the church because we have moneychangers in our temple." Luther had them. And the Reformation was born out of his terrible anxiety over the indulgences of the Roman Catholic Church.
We have moneychangers today even in the Protestant church, hucksters, corrupters of the Word of God who are in it for the filthy lucre. And we cry out for Christ to cleanse today as He did then.
There's a third credential that I want you to see in verse 13. He not only showed He was on a divine mission and demonstrated divine authority, but He revealed a commitment to divine Scripture. He revealed a commitment to divine Scripture. See, He vindicates what He does by this in verse 13. "He said unto them, It is written." And then He quotes Isaiah 56:7, "My house shall be called the house of prayer." And Isaiah adds and Mark also includes, "Of all nations." Matthew leaves it out because his audience is primarily Jewish.
But the Lord says I vindicate what I do because I am doing something consistent with the Word of God. Oh, that's so great. As Messiah He was always hooked to the Word of God. In John He says, "I never do anything that the Father doesn't show Me to do. I never do anything that the Father doesn't tell Me to do." Everything He ever did was consistent with the Word of God. He vindicates His anger by basing it on Scripture. He says, Isaiah said it, God said through him, "My house shall be called the house of prayer." See, the temple was to be a place of prayer. It was to be a quiet place, a place of worship, a place of devotion, a place of meditation, a place of contemplation, a place of confession, a place of prayer, a place of praise, a place where people went to commune with God, to seek God, to open their hearts to God, not to be a business, not a stockyard, not a crooked bank, not a thoroughfare for people carrying on their worldly business.
I'm reminded of 1 Samuel 1, Hannah, she went to the temple and Eli the priest sat on a seat by the post of the temple of the Lord. She went there to seek God. She was in bitterness of soul. She prayed to the Lord, she wept bitterly. She vowed a vow. Now that's what the temple was for. It was for a person to go and find some quiet, the court was where a Jew or a Gentile could go and seek God, a place of silence, a place of meditation, a place to vow a vow to God. And she was there, you remember, and Eli saw her lips moving and she found there the face of God that she sought. God wonderfully heard her prayer and gave her a child.
And you remember when the temple was dedicated in 1 Kings chapter 8 verses 29 and 30 and Solomon offered his prayer to God. And he said, "I pray to God that this place may be a place where Your people can come and confess and find forgiveness, a place of quiet, a place of confession." And I'm reminded, too, of the psalmist in Psalm 27 who identifies the usefulness of the temple with these words, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple." It's a place where we can see the beauty of the Lord and worship and where we can beseech Him, inquiring of Him there in His holy place. And they had turned it into a crooked bank, a stockyard, a thoroughfare...blasphemous.
And He says to them in verse 13, "But you have made it a den of thieves," or a cave of robbers. And that's another Old Testament quote from Jeremiah 7:11. You have made it...and He borrows the phrase from Jeremiah...a cave of robbers, where robbers hole up. Instead of being a place for true worshipers, it's a place where people can rob and be protected in doing it. You have made it a cave of robbers. They can come here and they're safe. Robbers used to hide in the caves. Jeremiah alludes to that in chapter 7 verses 4 to 11 where the robbers were hiding in the caves. And they were safe there, out of the way, unfound, secure. And he says you've provided a cave for robbers to hide in in the temple of God. And they can do their robbery right in the place they're hiding. Such protection of extortioners is blasphemous. Yahweh's house, God's house to be a temple to worship and pray and commune with Him, what a prostitution you've made of this.
There's a fourth thing I want you to see. He not only shows His divine mission, His divine authority, and His commitment to the divine Word, but we see Him as the Messiah because of His divine compassion. As I said, for a moment, the place was clean. And in that moment verse 14 comes to beautifully to us, "And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them." He's still there. He's standing there in the midst of all the debris and it's clean for a moment. And here come the blind and the lame who always hung around the temple anyway because that's where God was and that's where the people were and they needed to beg from the people and they needed to beg from God so that was the best place to be. And they, no doubt, filled the Court of the Gentiles, begging God and men for help. And when Jesus did that, you would have thought that they would have also gotten out of there one way or another. I mean, if the fury of Jesus was enough to dispense all the able bodied people, I mean, if they ran for their lives under His authority, we would think that these people would be cowering in some dark corner...scared to death. But not so, because ever and always in Jesus Christ is the perfect exhibited balance of holy vengeance and compassion.
And so, those who were guilty see His anger and those who are true seekers see His compassion. It's marvelous. And He stands in the temple and they come to Him. I love that. I love that. You see, if you want to see the compassion of God in Christ, you see it in His healing ministry. That's where you see it. That's where you see it. You see, one of the reasons there are ill people and disabled people is so that God in His mercy can dispense to them His compassion and thus reveal that element of His person. If there were no ill people, if there were no crippled people, if there were no suffering people, we would not see a dimension of God's character which is revealed to us. And keep in mind, for those that love Christ, all those disabilities are very, very temporary, aren't they? But they give God occasion to reveal to the world His compassion.
Do you think the Pharisees cared about those people? Do you think they cared that they were blind and lame? Listen, if the poor people came and were overcharged hundreds of times for a couple of pigeons, do you think they cared about the poor? They were making money off the poor. They were making money if they could off of anybody that possibly could come within the grasp, they didn't care. They were like Israel of old in many ways. They abused the poor and despised those who were infirmed. But not Christ...Oh, what credentials. God is compassionate.
You remember Matthew 11 when the disciple of John the Baptist comes and says to Jesus, "Are You the Messiah? John wants to know." Jesus says, "You go tell John that the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk, he'll know...he'll know." And as I told you then, you see, the Lord didn't heal just to display His power, it did do that. But that wasn't the only reason. He could have displayed His power a lot of ways. The reason He healed was to display His compassion, that God is a God of great compassion.
And what beautiful balance. We're not afraid of Christ. I know Jesus Christ some day is going to come to this world in great and devastating eternal judgment. I know Jesus Christ holds in His hand the keys to hell and death. I know Jesus Christ is the judge, given judgment by the Father. I know that He is the one who controls the eternal destiny of every soul. I know He has the right to send men and women to hell forever. And I know He can breathe out any judgment He wants any time on anybody, and yet I come to Him in absolute trust and confidence and love because I know that He loves me. Because in balance to that is His divine and merciful compassion.
And so we see them come and in compassion He heals them. And may I suggest to you that that's the truest kind of worship? True worship is in the name of the Lord meeting the need of someone, that is a far greater worship than a sacrifice, is it not? Sacrifices, sacrifices, sacrifices by the millions, but where was the worship of love to one in need?
And then another mark of divine credential, if you will. We see His divine mission, His divine authority, His commitment to the divine Word, divine compassion and also His divine power...and we can't ignore that. Verse 14 says that He healed them. I mean, that is a display of divine power. He just healed them all, the blind, the lame and they're probably only representative of the deaf and the dumb and whoever else was ill and begging. And He healed them in front of everybody that was left. And everybody else would have known very soon when they started running around town saying, "Hey, it's us, only now we see and hear and speak and walk." And even the chief priests in verse 15 saw the wonderful things that He did.
Wonderful...what's that? Wonderful things, thaumasios, the marvels, the miracles, the astonishing, amazing wonders that only God could do. Only God can create eyes. Only God can create legs. Only God can create eardrums where none exist. Only God can do that. Powerful testimony. We see the compassion of God, the power of God in His healing. He healed them.
There's another thing. And this maybe is the most important of all. Notice the end of verse 15, the chief priests it says at the beginning, and the scribes saw the wonderful things He did. And then at the end it says, "They were very displeased."
How could they be displeased? First of all, they could care less about the crippled people and the blind. They didn't care about those people. They had no thought for them at all. Of course we know they had not thought for them, there was no compassion in them. And a compassionate person intimidates an uncompassionate person. And a powerful person intimidates an impotent person, you understand that. So they are so intimidated. They are so angry. They are so resentful. They are so jealous.
The word used here "very displeased" is translated in chapter 20 verse 24 "indignation." It means fury. They were full of wrath. They were angry. They could have cared less about the healing of those people. The only thing they were mad about was Jesus Christ was putting Himself on display and they couldn't handle Him. They were such hard-hearted rejectors. I mean, if they would have just remembered Malachi, they would have remembered that He would suddenly come to His temple. But they wouldn't have Him as their Messiah, no way. He didn't check in with them. He didn't ask their advice on anything. He came from Galilee to add to that. And He kept confronting their sin as if they were sinners. He wouldn't recognize their righteousness. He wouldn't recognize their self-styled holiness. He blasted them with the fact that they were sinners and in need of something they did not possess and couldn't earn on their own and they rejected that. They were so locked into their self- righteousness. And all they could come up with was being jealous. He didn't fit their picture. Later on they cried, "We'll not have this man to reign over us. We don't care what He can do." They were just angry.
So, He gives Himself, demonstrates His kingliness, demonstrates the nature of His Kingdom and all they do is get mad. But there's one other thing that's so marvelous and this is the coup de grace, this is the high point. One other credential that I see in a positive sense, He accepted divine worship...He accepted divine worship. Look at verse 15, right in the middle, "And the children"...and the word there is boys in the Greek, boys, boys old enough to come to the Passover, the boys that were there. Maybe they were boys getting instructed in their first Passover, I don't know. But they were boys there, "Were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David." I mean, they got the message, right?
I mean, the astute erudite leaders of Israel may not have known who He was but it was pretty clear to the kids. Have you ever met an atheist kid? I never met one. Very simple for them to believe. I mean, the evidence was overwhelming. They had just seen somebody who healed people. They had just seen somebody throw out all of the corrupt and evil people in the temple. It was pretty clear to them who this was. And Tousou(?) the French painter has a magnificent painting of this in which he portrays all these boys with their arms locked like this, marching back and forth through the temple shouting in unison at the top of their voice, "Hosanna to the Son of David." Which just makes the chief priests livid. But that's true worship, see. All the garbage stops and some children worship the King.
Well, they said to Him in verse 16, "Hearest Thou what these say?" Are You listening to those children? Are You hearing what they say? You see, they wanted those children to stop, that's blasphemy. You can't worship this man in the temple of God. I mean, can you believe that? You could settle cattle at an exorbitant price, cheat people out of their money, do all the rest of the stuff but you couldn't worship the Messiah there? That will show you where they were. I mean, any true worship had to be stopped. The worship of the true God in the true form just could not occur in that place, and so they said, "Do You hear what they say?" And what they mean is, "Are You going to allow this?"
I love His answer. "And Jesus said unto them, Yes." I like that. "Yes, I hear it. Yes, I'm going to allow it. Yes." I imagine He smiled a little to think of the incongruity of this whole amazing event. You see, if the Lord can't get the praise out of the mature people, He gets it out of the immature.
You say, "Well, how could these kids be so perceptive?" Oh, we don't know really how perceptive they were. I'm sure they were perceptive enough to see that He had healed people and that's pretty overwhelming. You say, "Well, where did they get the idea that He was the Son of David?" Hey, what had been going on all day the day before? And kids learn from their parents, they were just echoing what they heard the day before only it was no problem for them, boy, it seemed really clear now. Mom and dad yesterday had been shouting hosanna to the Son of David, the one coming in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest. They had been praising Him as the King. And as far as these kids could see, it was pretty clear that that's who He was.
And you remember in Luke's account of the coronation day, the triumphal entry, the chief priests came and said, "You better tell these people to stop." And Jesus said to them, "If they don't sing My praises, or praise Me, the stone will...what?...cry out." Here He says the same thing. He quotes Psalm 8:2, they say to Him, "Do you hear this?" And Jesus says, "Have you heard this, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings," two Hebrew words used in Psalm 8:2 to refer to infants under the age of three because Hebrew mothers suckled their babies until they were about three, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Thou has perfected praise."
In other words, even little babies can simply and in an uncluttered way praise God. Now I don't know that we need to get into all the implications of that statement in its context in the Psalms...time doesn't allow us to do that. But for this text, I think what He's simply saying is this, if the...He's using that Psalm as an illustration of what is going on. If God will not be praised out of the mouths of the mature, He will be praised out of the mouths of the immature. God is going to get His praise to His Son, even if the stones have to cry out, as Luke 19:40 said. Like the stones, Christ is to be praised. Like the children, Christ is to be praised. Like people, they are to praise Him as well. He will get the praise either from mature people or infants or rocks if need be. He just alludes to that Psalm as an illustration of what is happening. And I say that so that you'll understand it isn't to say that these were zero to three-year-old babies all chanting together, "Hosanna to the Son of David." But rather an allusion to that principle there.
What a glorious event. And the fury of those leaders, simply because of their unbelief. All the evidence was in, even little children could see it.
There's one other thing, He gives His credentials, divine mission, divine authority, divine Word, divine compassion, divine power and divine worship, and one other thing. One other thing that proves He was the Messiah, it's this, He was rejected...He was rejected. Verse 17, haunting words, "And He left them." See it there? "And He left them." And in that simple physical act, there was a volume of truth. He left them, went out of the city to Bethany and He lodged there. He really left them. Because the next day in verse 23, they come and say, "By what authority do You do these things? And who gave You this authority?" And in verse 27 He gets around finally to saying, "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." He left them. He had nothing more to say.
It's reminiscent of Genesis 6 where the Bible says God's Spirit will not always strive with man. There comes a time when He leaves. Let's bow in prayer.
It may be that in your life Christ has revealed Himself, shown Himself to be a divine Savior on a divine and spiritual mission to clean your life and bring about true worship. It may have been that He comes with divine authority based on the Word of God, demonstrating compassion and power, all of these things we've seen. It may have been that He has revealed Himself to be worthy of worship. What's your verdict? Are you like the little children who in the wonderful simplicity of their youth, taking into their little hearts what they saw, could cry out "Hosanna, save now, O Son of David?" It was proof enough for them.
Or are you like the hard-hearted religious leaders who are only angry because He's making such claims on your life, because He's calling you to accountability, because He's confronting your sin? It's either one or the other. No middle ground. "He that is not with Me, is against Me. He that gathers is not together scattereth abroad." You either embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior or you refuse Him. You either stand with, as it were, in the symbolic sense the children singing His praises, or the religious leaders whom He leaves and to whom He has nothing more to say.
And so, our prayer as we close the service this morning is that you might hear the voice of the Spirit of God calling you to see and know and understand and embrace the Savior and that you might respond. Open your heart to Him even now, who came to die for you, to rise again for your salvation.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


text:
Legal / Privacy
Welcome to Roadrunner Food Bank's website. Here you will find information that you may find helpful when using this site, Food Bank social media sites and other helpful links. If at any time you have questions, please contact us: at firstname.lastname@example.com or call 505.349.8865. Below you will find specific links when using this site and other legal information about our work.
– Food Distribution Policy
– Food Policy at Roadrunner Food Bank
– Good Samaritan Law
– New Mexico Statute on Protection of Food Donors
– Privacy Policy
– Site Map
– Social Media Policy
– Terms of Use
– USDA Non-Discrimination Statement

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Has anyone ever considered what really would happen if Ranma found a cursed drowned man and jumped in it? Really, the end result would likely not be what Ranma expects it to be. All one has to do is consider what happened to Pantyhose Taro when he used the water of another cursed spring on the cursed form he already had, bathing in another spring gave him tentacles on his transformed states back, it's that thought in mind that makes sure that Ranma would learn to regret using the spring of drowned man if found. If Ranma really did bath in a spring of drowned man male characteristics would blend together with his female form, the result would end with Ranma becoming an androgynous of some kind when ever he gets hit with cold water.
If you need a good example, look of the myth of Hermaphroditus.


text:
What if my UH Email Account is banished?
In rare circumstances, UH or an affiliate organization may request that an individual be banished. Banishment is permanent, results in account lockdown, and prevents a person from obtaining a new UH Email Account or UH Username and all cooperating affiliated campuses and departments. Requests for banishment should be sent to the ITS Security team. Requests will require substantiating evidence and a full explanation of why banishment is recommended. Requests will be investigated before a final recommendation is made and implemented. Legal action is also a possible outcome of the investigation.
This article is part of the UH Email Account Practices article.


text:
Kansas Weighs Taking Obama Off Ballot Over 'Birther' Accusations
Topeka, Kan. – The paths of President Barack Obama and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach are crossing once again.
But this time, it is not over immigration.
It is over the enduring assertion by so-called "Birthers" that Obama is not eligible to be president because they doubt he was born in Hawaii.
Kobach, who is an adviser to the Romney campaign on immigration policy, heads the all-Republican Kansas State Objections Board, which is considering removing Obama from the state's November ballot.
The issue -- which Kobach made a part of his election campaign in 2010 -- has been reignited by a claim from a Manhattan, Kan., resident that Obama is not eligible to be president because his father was from Kenya. The resident, Joe Montgomery, also questions whether Obama has a valid birth certificate.
"We have to take our responsibilities seriously," Kobach said. "Taking it seriously means that we make a decision with all of the evidence that can be obtained before we decide it."
Kobach, the architect of some of the most hard-line state-level immigration policies in the United States, including those of Arizona and Alabama, has been critical of Obama for what he says is the current administration's failure to address illegal immigration. Kobach also was the force behind a strict immigration component in the Republican party platform that was recently adopted at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Gabriela Domenzain said in statement: "From enthusiastically welcoming his endorsement to letting him write the most extreme republican platform on immigration in modern history, Mitt Romney has made it clear that Kris Kobach and him are partners in extremism."
The notion that Obama was born anywhere other than in Hawaii has long been discredited, and the White House released his long-form birth certificate last year. Hawaii officials also have repeatedly confirmed his citizenship.
The question isn't just the obvious 'what's the matter with Kansas?' but the more troubling, 'what's the matter with Romney and the Republican Party that they keep giving Kris Kobach an influential seat at the table'?
Kobach is an ardent voter ID proponent who during his successful 2010 campaign suggested Obama should produce his long-form birth certificate to quell doubts about his status. The board's other members are Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer.
The board, which would have the final say on the ballot absent a court challenge, plans to meet again Monday and may rule then. Time to make changes is running out, however, as ballots to overseas military personnel must be mailed before the end of September.
Romney critics assailed Kansas's move, calling it vindictive.
Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America's Voice, said in a statement: "The question isn't just the obvious 'what's the matter with Kansas?' but the more troubling, 'what's the matter with Romney and the Republican Party that they keep giving Kris Kobach an influential seat at the table'?"
"While Kobach's role in the Romney campaign may be unofficial, his relationship with Romney and the reins of power in the Republican Party are both longstanding and influential," Sharry said. "Most notably, Kobach persuaded Romney to embrace the concept of "self-deportation" and recently made a successful push for the RNC's 2012 platform to include a Draconian set of immigration proposals. Now, he is legitimizing the birther movement and considering the outrageous step of removing the sitting President's name from the ballot."
Kobach said the delay shouldn't be interpreted as the board giving credence to claims that Obama isn't eligible, but as a signal it wants to build a more complete record. He noted that the board doesn't have any document certifying the authenticity of the copy of Obama's birth certificate that is available online.
Montgomery, 51, said Thursday that he has been researching issues surrounding Obama's eligibility for the past four years. The same arguments Montgomery made have circulated widely on the Internet and among so-called "birthers," who doubt Obama's citizenship.
"I'm here to uphold the rule of law, and the Constitution of the United States," Montgomery said after his objection was considered. "Somebody has to do it."
Montgomery also argued that to be eligible for president, both of Obama's parents had to be U.S. citizens when he was born, another long-circulating claim that includes citations of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, some more than a century old.
Schmidt and Kobach, a former University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor, disagreed. Kobach said Montgomery was "trying to read too much in these very old decisions."
But the board said Thursday it wants certified documents from Hawaii. Kobach plans to have his staff contact officials in Arizona and Mississippi, which also have looked into such issues. Hawaii sent Arizona official verification of Obama's birth records.
In 2010, after Kobach made his comments about Obama's birth certificate in answering questions at a campaign event, an aide attempted to clarify Kobach's stance and said he didn't subscribe to "birther" theories. On Thursday, asked by reporters whether he personally doubts Obama's citizenship, Kobach said he wants to wait on making a statement until "we have the full factual record in front of us."
Kobach said it will be difficult for Montgomery to prevail, particularly because Kansas has a high legal standard for removing a candidate from the ballot.
But he said, "I don't think it's a frivolous objection."
Neither the Democratic Party nor the Obama campaign had a representative at the meeting, but Kip Wainscott, an attorney for the campaign, sent the board a letter saying Montgomery's claims were "without merit."
"These tired allegations are utterly baseless," Wainscott wrote.
Dakota Loomis, the Kansas Democratic Party's executive director, declined to criticize the board directly.
"It's just unfortunate that they have to take their time to have to deal with something like this," Loomis said.
This story contains material from The Associated Press.
Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatino
Like us at facebook.com/foxnewslatino


text:
Dave Young necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 135 diseños de 39 diseñadores freelance.
Bank on Yourself - http://www.bankonyourself.com
Bank On Yourself is a company that specializes in helping people achieve their financial goals and objectives. The plans use a little-known, but decades-old type of whole life insurance policy, combined with powerful financial principles not currently taught in schools or universities.
The company's mission is to educate Americans and help them achieve financial security and peace of mind.
Please visit http://www.bankonyourself.com for more information and a look at the current logo design.
Most people who are attracted to the Bank on Yourself methodology are somewhat aligned with the current Tea Party concepts of frustration with government and taxation, pride in self-reliance and disgust at corporate bailouts that should not have been necessary. (please understand Bank on Yourself is NOT affiliated with the Tea Party movement and is NOT a political entity).
MSNBC recently offered this series of portraits and stories about some of the Tea Party folks. The frustrations that many of these people are expressing are representative of how many Bank on Yourself clients feel about money.
Again, we are NOT a political organization, our values merely align with many of the values expressed by this movement.
Anybody who wants to be financially independent, no longer relying on traditional financial institutions or systems like the 401(k) and Wall Street. They've been burnt before and they want to protect their money, not subject it to loss via market decline and/or fees and mismanagement.
Self-reliant people who believe in living within their means. "They think federal spending, deficits and taxes are too high, and they think no one in Washington is listening to them"
- we trusted the government and our advisers
- we lost much of our savings and investments and then bailouts and
bonuses went to the people who trashed our money
- we are proud Americans
- we want to take control of the situation ourselves, rely on
- we have to rebuild our finances
- we want to do something, take action
- we feel frustrated, want something to change
- the idea of "opting out" of the current financial mess is attractive
to our audience. Think of Ayn Rand / Atlas Shrugged / Galt's Gulch
This logo must give an air of stability. Imagery that evokes U.S. currency, pride in being American, and self-reliance. The use of symbolism is preferred to any obvious or cliched use of dollar signs or the like.
See http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/201…symbolism/ for a great article and some examples regarding symbolism.
We've gathered a few logos that we like. See the examples here:
http://www.bankonyourself.com/logo-examples The password is 99d
Other things to keep in mind:
- no cartoons
- no clipart
- no stock photos
- feel free to choose a new font
- the logo must be perceived as strong and stable
- the logo needs to be bold but not flashy
- feel free to create a new color pallet
- need both CMYK and RGB versions
- we require the file to be in vector (ai or eps) format
- The logo will be used on a website design (perhaps another contest)
- The logo will be used on printed material, emails, PDFs and Video. It will likely find its way onto book covers as well.
- We will need both color and monotone versions
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text:
COLLEGE STATION (AP) - The following reports were compiled by AgriLife Extension Service for the week of April 24:
� South Plains: Parts of the region received scattered, light rain. Days were warm and windy, with a few fast-moving cold fronts but no major storms. Producers were pre-watering and doing field preparation for spring planting. Sunflower growers were planting, and wheat was either being irrigated for grain or cut for hay. Pastures improved slightly with recent showers, but more rain was needed. Cattle were in fair to good condition, with some ranchers still providing supplemental feed. Nowhere seemed to be safe from caterpillar infestation, including tomatoes in the AgriLife Extension variety trials in Burkburnett, which were completed devoured in three days. Commercial fruit and vegetable growers had an abundant strawberry crop. The peach crop looked good.
� Panhandle: The region was dry and windy. Soil moisture continued to be very short to short. Wheat varied from very poor to excellent condition, with most counties reporting poor to fair. Producers continued to irrigate wheat and prepare fields for spring planting. Corn planting began in a few counties. Rangeland and pasture conditions were improving. Cattle were in good condition.
� Rolling Plains: Rain fell "hit and miss" across the region, with accumulations ranging from 0.3 to 1 inch in some counties. Although the rain was welcomed, much more was needed in most areas. Pastures were in good shape, but ranchers worried that it was just a matter of time before forages started to play out. In some areas, producers were bailing the last of the winter wheat crop. There was enough winter rain so that wheat hay yields were good, which allowed ranchers to replenish hay supplies. But without more rains, they may have to supply supplemental feed year-round like last year. Livestock were in good condition coming off winter wheat and going back on pastures. Flies and insects were becoming a nuisance. Alfalfa growers took their first cutting, and yields were fair. Producers were listing cotton fields and pre-watering in preparation for planting. Peanut producers expected to begin planting very soon. In Wichita County , plants were stripped, tree leaves damaged and carports and patios littered by cutworms.
� Far West: The region had highs in the mid-to-upper 80s and lows in the mid-to-upper 50s. Most of the area remained dry, with the exception of Brewster County, which reported very limited showers. Also, in that county, AgriLife Extension personnel noted most of the cattle left were in poor to barely acceptable condition, and many will be shipped unless adequate rainfall is received. In Presidio County, no rain and windy conditions raised the danger of wildfire. Howard County reported that cotton farmers were ready to plant but were waiting for a good rain. In Glasscock County, growers finished planting watermelons. In El Paso County, fall-planted onions began to bulb, and alfalfa was growing. Terrell County remained under a burn ban. Throughout the region, producers still had to provide supplemental feed for cattle.
� Central: Days were warm and nights cool. Most oats and wheat were being harvested as silage or hay. There was stripe rust reported in some wheat; otherwise, area growing conditions remained good. Winter grasses and wheat were supplying grazing for livestock. Hay producers were fertilizing fields. Weeds were a problem in rangeland and cropland. Cattle were in excellent condition because the spring green-up started early and continued to be lush. Livestock producers were putting out bulls as the spring breeding season started. Armyworms were reported. Corn and milo were quickly growing with the warmer temperatures. Warm-season grasses greened up.
� Coastal Bend: Rain and damaging high winds were received late in the week. Cotton planting neared completion in most areas. Some crops remained very moisture-stressed; some cotton seedlings were dying. Farmers were fertilizing and cultivating crops. Wheat matured and was doing better than expected. Rangeland and pastures improved, and many producers were close to taking a hay cutting. Many were already harvesting oats, ryegrass and clover for hay. Warm-season grasses such as Bermuda, bluestem, and Bahia grass were greening up. Pecan growers were spraying for pecan nut case-bearer.
� East: The region had seasonally mild temperatures and 1 inch to 2 inches of rain. Hay baling was in full swing. Producers were planting new hay fields and pasture grasses. High fertilizer prices hampered hay and pasture management. Some producers were restocking herds. Fireblight damaged pear trees. Insects were reported on trees and ornamental plants.
� North: Most areas reported some rain, though typically 0.5 inch or less. Soil moisture was adequate to surplus. Temperatures remained mild from mid to late week, and field work resumed after the showers. Wheat and oats were fully headed out and continued to look very good. Corn planting was complete, with most fields emerged. Some farmers were starting to plant grain sorghum and soybeans where corn could not be planted in time because of earlier wet conditions. With lush pastures, livestock were doing very well. Stock ponds were full. Stable flies were on the increase and the mosquito population was exploding, plus there were reports of armyworms.
� South: Soil moisture was short to adequate throughout the region. In the northern counties, crop conditions were fair to good, with producers increasing irrigation. Potatoes and corn looked good, even those planted as dryland crops. Hay cutting and baling is taking place. Wheat was headed out, and its harvest was expected to begin soon. Rangeland and pasture conditions declined as soil-moisture levels dropped and daytime temperatures increased. Beef cattle remained in good condition. The eastern part of the district remained dry, and hot, windy conditions created harsh conditions for crops, pasture and rangeland. In the western part of the district, a good rain was needed to replenish stock tanks, but soil-moisture levels remained high, which benefited grass growth. Wheat and oats were in excellent condition and were rapidly maturing. However, lack of rain prompted onion, corn, cotton, sorghum and cabbage producers to irrigate earl y in the season. Forage availability was mostly fair but without rain could deteriorate quickly. Watermelon development was slowed by unseasonable cold conditions. The onion harvest started this week in early planted fields. The southernmost part of the district reported favorable conditions. There was ample moisture from scattered showers and some significant rains. High winds dried out some areas, with farmers irrigating cotton, grain and corn. The sugarcane harvest was completed, and the harvesting of onions and tomatoes was ongoing. Preparation for the melon harvest was under way. Livestock were in good condition.
� Southeast: Pasture conditions continued to improve. Crop conditions were generally rated as fair. In some cases, row crops were not doing as well as hoped due to wet conditions. In Liberty County, sugarcane borer moths were found in traps. Livestock were doing well at this point.
� Southwest: Pastures declined from lack of rain. Streams and rivers were already low going into summer. It was evident that many trees will not recover from last year's drought. In addition to live oaks and other oak trees dying, there was a die-off of cedar trees as well. Sutton County reported some cool-season vegetation was beginning to mature and turn brown. Cattle, sheep and goat prices were high in Uvalde County where producers were trying to restock. Gillespie County reported some restocking, but high prices and lack of rain in the last 30 days slowed the process. Most producers in Kendall County have not restocked because of poor pasture conditions. Cotton planting was nearly finished in Guadalupe County. Corn and milo still looked good. Wheat in Hays County also looked good.
� West Central: Very warm, windy weather took a toll on soil moisture. Conditions continued to decline in all areas. Producers were spraying herbicides to control weeds and preparing fields for cotton planting. Others were harvesting wheat and oats for hay. Most of both crops were being either grazed out or baled instead of being harvested for grain. Some summer forage crops were being planted. Rangeland and pasture conditions started to decline because of lack of rain for the last few weeks. Weeds continued to be a large problem on pasture and rangeland. Livestock remained in good condition. Pecans looked good, and producers were spraying orchards with zinc.


text:
10 Controversial Works of Art Using Live Animals
If you salivate at the sight of bacon, would you be OK with watching a squirming pig being tattooed? If the thought of eating animal flesh sickens you, do you hate the very idea of using live animals in art, or can you justify it if the art is good? Do you feel more sympathy for a horse, a dog, or a goldfish? Some calls are easier to make than others, but there's a bit of an ethical grey area when it comes to live animals in art. Check out our brief survey of works and the creatures that made them possible, and find your own gradient of sensitivity. Where do you stand?
Miru Kim, I Like Pigs and Pigs Like Me at Art Basel Miami
Artist Miru Kim spent 104 hours in a glass-encased hog pit inside of the Primary Flight Gallery at Art Basel 2012 for her performance I Like Pigs and Pigs Like Me. The makeshift pen was livestreamed as Kim imagined the life of a pig, mingling her flesh with the animals'. Nude and on all fours, she interacted with her companions, feeding, hugging, scratching, and rolling around with them. Though the two pigs were reportedly headed to a no-kill farm after the exhibit, an animal activist alleged they were sick and abandoned.


text:
Schedule installations now for Bloomington Gold Corvettes!
3 Item(s)
View as:
WindRestrictor® pursues the highest quality results with our products as well as our relationships with customers. We welcome your feedback on the experience you have with us as a team and on our products. We encourage you to drop us a line or drop by our facility in Dallas so we can meet you. Thank you for choosing WindRestrictor®!
Phone: 972.487.5987
Office Hours: Monday-Friday10AM-6PM(CST)
WINDRESTRICTOR®11885 Forestgate Drive Dallas, TX 75243


text:
Batgirl wrote:I am saddened to see you having these issues. I hope it does not take you away totally from us. I hope your health improves and things get easier for you.
Absolutely not! I have an Idris M to crew, and poison to mine, and many races to watch!
Thank you for your kind words. Improvements are slowly happening. I do look forward to having evenings and weekends for play though!
Dr. A


text:
Tax Bill Information
Woodstock's Mill Rate is 24.50 (FY 2018-2019)
We have a drop box on the sidewalk in front of the Town Hall that you can use to drop off tax payments or items for other departments within the Town Hall. When making payments, please use checks only.
We check this box every morning.
The following information may be of interest or may be useful to you regarding your upcoming tax bill(s).
The July 1, 2018 bills are based on the October 1, 2017 Grand List.
If the total tax is under $100.00, the tax is due in July in one payment.
If the total tax due is over $100.00, the amount is divided into two equal payments due July 1st and January 1st.
Bills are sent only once a year, in July. No additional bills are sent in January for the second installment.
Bills come in three parts. Keep the top part for your records; return the second part with the July payment and the third part with the January payment.
Interest will be charged as follows:
- July: Payment is due July 1, 2018. Interest will be charged if payment is not postmarked or in the office by August 1, 2018.
- January: Payment is due January 1, 2019. Interest will be charged if payment is not postmarked or in the office by February 1, 2019.
Interest is calculated at 1 1/2% per month on the unpaid balance. To calculate August interest, use 3%; September interest, use 4 1/2%; October interest, use 6%, etc.
There are three lake districts in Woodstock that charge additional taxes. Each district has its own Tax Collector for these additional charges. Please do not include payment for these taxes in the town tax payment.
There are three lake districts within the Town of Woodstock. Each district has their own Tax Collector and they follow the same tax calendar that we do for tax bills. Each district taxes real estate based on the assessment provided by the town.
If you have any questions regarding the taxing districts bills, please contact the Tax Collector listed below for your district.
Lake District #3
Quasset Lake Tax District
P.O. Box 134
Woodstock, CT 06281
Tax Collector: Julie Corden
Telephone: (860) 974-3197
Lake District #8
Lake Bunggee Tax District
P.O. Box 231
Woodstock, CT 06281
Tax Collector: Katie Rogala
Telephone: (860) 974-2819 X1
Lake District #7
Witches Woods Tax District
25 Crooked Trail
Woodstock, CT 06281
Tax Collector: Rande Chmura
Telephone: (860) 974-1354


text:
All you scrapbook fanatics are going to love these. The girls at camp took this idea and ran with it. I wish I had photos of all their great plaques. These subway tile nameplates to stick on your bedroom door were inspired by a reader, Josie, who asked me for suggestions for what to do with some leftover white tiles that were given to her. I thought of the ceramic nameplate that I've had since I was a child, and decided white subway tiles would make excellent nameplates. We decoupaged scrapbook paper and added stickers, rhinestones, ribbon, etc., but you can use whatever artist's medium your heart desires. Paint? Glitter? Knock yourself out. Read more »
I anticipated that this these pillows might not be as well-liked as the other camp crafts because hand stitching is rather time consuming. Surprisingly, these fleece alphabet pillows were very popular at girls camp.
I got the idea from a book titled 101 Crafts Under $10 from the editors at Butterick. Their craft is called "Felt name pillows." The Butterick editors ironed the rest of the name in smaller letters onto the pillow, which I loved but decided was too difficult for camp purposes. We used fleece instead of felt because it's softer and cheaper.
The hardest part (for me) was drawing and cutting out each letter of the alphabet in cardboard for the girls to trace onto the fleece, but you won't have to make the whole alphabet.
Mostly everyone made a pillow out of their first initial, but I thought it would be cute to make "X" and "O" (kiss and hug) pillows. I used red embroidery floss on the "X" and charcoal floss on the "O" so they coordinate. Read more »
These paracord bracelets were a hit at girls camp. As you can see, even some of the male camp leaders joined in. I got the idea from Stormdrane at Instructables.com. His tutorial is excellent, but although the site pictures two-color bracelets, he doesn't explain how to make a two-color bracelet. I wanted to keep it simple for camp anyway, so we made one-color bracelets. However, a few innovative girls at camp figured out one way to make them, so I'm passing the info on to you. I also improved upon the final step to better prevent the bracelet from unraveling. This bracelet takes about 45 minutes to make.
By the way, paracord bracelets are also known as survival bracelets. They're a convenient way for soldiers and hikers to always have eight feet of 550 parachute cord (which easily supports many times one's own body weight) literally on hand. Check out Stormdrane's Blog for more amazing paracord projects. I'm planning to make the adjustable paracord watch band myself.
UPDATE 10/2011: Check out the fabulous video tutorials for making other survival bracelets, keychains, and sinnets at TyingItAllTogether's YouTube Channel. Thanks to Austin for sharing this information! Read more »
After volunteering for girls camp, I needed a couple weeks to recover. Now I'm back. I planned to take lots of photos at camp, but instead I ended up spending every moment teaching the girls how to make duct tape wallets. By the end of the week, I was seriously sick of duct tape wallets. But the girls loved them, so it was worth it. A friend sent me these photos that she took at camp. (That's me in the gray sweatshirt in the first photo.)
Because of the green tarp roof on the makeshift quonset hut that we called The Craft Shack, everything looked green tinted. It reminded me of the Mr. Big song "Green Tinted Sixties Mind." Admit it, you know you loved Mr. Big. :)
Anyway, duct tape wallets are certainly not a new thing, and I probably don't need to tell most of you how to make one. But when I was searching for instructions online, I couldn't find one easy-to-follow tutorial for a simple duct tape wallet. Plus, friends have asked me for the instructions for my wallet design. Though I developed this pattern myself, I'm told it's not exactly original, but here it is. This wallet takes about 45 minutes to make. Read more »
Just a quick note to let you all know what I've been up to. I'm volunteering as the crafts director at a girls camp this week. So, for the past couple months, I've been preparing all the crafts and buying supplies for about 90 teenage girls to make cool stuff. I've kept the projects secret in case any of the girls read my blog…but now that they are soundly sleeping, I'll fill you in. These are the projects I have planned: duct tape wallets, resin pendant necklaces, alphabet fleece pillows, yo yo headbands and pins, door name plates made from subway tiles, and paracord bracelets. I hope the girls have as much fun making them as I have. The picture above is our Craft Shack. Needs some work, I know, but I think it'll be great. I'll post lots of pictures and share all the crafts with you when I get back. Have a great week!


text:
The Rendition Project
The Rendition Project is a collaborative research initiative run by Prof Ruth Blakeley at the University of Sheffield (and previously, the University of Kent) and Dr Sam Raphael at the University of Westminster. Working closely with a number of other organisations, in particular the legal action charity Reprieve and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, this project aims to bring academic expertise to bear in order to research the CIA's rendition, detention and interrogation (RDI) programme.
The Rendition Project is at the forefront of efforts to investigate and understand the use of rendition, secret detention and torture by the CIA and its allies in the "war on terror". Through this website users can access:
- The most comprehensive account to date of the fate and whereabouts of each of those detained and tortured within the programme
- The world's largest public database of rendition flights by CIA aircraft
- Detailed analysis of more than 60 renditions of individuals to secret detention and torture
- Material on the complex web of companies which helped operate a network of rendition aircraft and secret prisons
The extensive analysis on this site is underpinned by an unrivalled body of primary material, such as prisoner testimonies, declassified documents, flight records, company invoices and court documents. Together, these help to build an unparalleled picture of the CIA's torture programme, and are located in the same place for the first time.
The Guardian has described The Rendition Project as a 'groundbreaking research project which sheds unprecedented light on one of the most controversial secret operations of recent years'. Our team's work in the field has generated significant impact, supporting cases heard at the European Court of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, sparking a Scottish police investigation into rendition flights, assisting a range of legal teams representing former and current prisoners, and featuring in documentaries and numerous news reports.
More than anything, we are indebted to those organisations and individuals that led the way in uncovering the use of rendition, secret detention and torture in the "war on terror", and to the former prisoners who have agreed to tell their stories.
The Rendition Project has been funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and is accredited under the Global Uncertainties programme.
NEW: UN calls on UK to launch judge-led inquiry on rendition and torture
UN Committee on Torture recommendation welcomed by NGOs
UK Guidance to security services on torture not fit for purpose
Our submission to government consultation on torture policy
CIA Prisoner Database
Our prisoner database allows for detailed analysis of entry/exit dates into the RDI programme, prisoner nationalities, capture locations and post-CIA destinations
Rendition Flights Database
We have compiled the world's largest public database of aircraft and companies associated with the RDI programme
Rendition Circuits
We have identified more than 60 specific renditions to torture and secret detention


text:
Fox's Doocy learns the hazards of not vetting guests
Blog ››› ››› BROOKE OBIE
In typical Fox & Friends fashion, Steve Doocy hyped the Tea Party Express's cross-country tour that is kicking off in Searchlight, Nevada this weekend, with the stated goal to "kick Harry [Reid] out of the Senate" in the November mid-term elections. Following a segment with Bernie Goldberg -- who discussed how the mainstream media "tarred the entire [Tea Party] movement" unfairly -- Doocy set out to portray the Tea Party movement as being unfairly "marginalized" and discredited. He challenged this "mainstream media biased coverage" by hosting "former 'Saturday Night Live' star" and Tea Partier Victoria Jackson.
Unfortunately, Doocy appeared to be unaware of what Jackson has been up to since she left SNL in 1992 -- you know, how she's said that Obama "bears traits that resemble the anti-Christ" and shares "so many similar qualities" with Adolf Hitler (i.e.: "Obama's current attitude toward Israel is in question. Hitler did not support Jews.").
Not surprisingly, the interview went south in record time:
DOOCY: So, are you ready to join the tea party people?
JACKSON: I am the tea party people. We're beginners at this political activism and it's all new to us and it's kind of cute 'cause we're shy, we hold up our signs like this, you know, despite what they say about us, I have never done anything like this, but we have to because the president is a Communist.
Panic! What to do, what to do? It's not like she's called Obama a Communist before on national television. How could we have seen this coming? Oh, wait, right.
Doocy did what he could to recover, though, saying that Obama "is not a Communist," and quickly tried to change the subject to how the Left has tried to "diminish" the Tea Party as something illegitimate. But Jackson just refused to play ball, explaining that she had learned about Obama's communism from Doocy's Fox News colleague Glenn Beck:
DOOCY: Now, he is not a Communist. But you just pointed out that you hold up signs and stuff like that and people make fun of you. What do you think about how some on the other political side have tried to diminish or, you know, or marginalize the Tea Party people?
JACKSON: Well, I guess they're afraid of the power of our passion and our numbers and, you know, you might not say Communist, but I watch Glenn Beck and he's taught me well. Progressive is the new word for Communist, but it's the same goal as government control of everything and it's very obvious that Obama is trying to do that. And I don't want to brag, but I sort of called it before he was elected and when I was on O'Reilly and I said he was a Communist and I got a lot of hate mail, but I got some that said I was a prescient which means "a prophet."
Doocy tried again to change the subject, but Jackson got in a final jab: "Our government is all evil right now and someone's got to do something." Doocy ended the interview with an awkward wave to Jackson. But only Doocy's facial expression can sum up this interview appropriately:
For Fox's attempt to paint the Tea Party as the epitome of credibility using Victoria "I am the Tea Party People" Jackson: epic fail before 9 AM.
- Network/Outlet
- Fox News Channel
- Person
- Steve Doocy, Victoria Jackson
- Show/Publication
- FOX & Friends
Instructions for signing up and claiming your comment history are located here.
Updated rules for commenting are here.


text:
After calling Kmart Customer Service and several local stores to find out more information about Kmart Double Coupons, I finally found out some details about the Doubles Event!
- Starts today and ends 6/25/11
- You must use your Shop Your Way Rewards Card (FREE to sign up for)
- Manufacturer Coupons doubled up to .99
- There is a limit of 4 like coupons
- Not valid on Kmart coupons or Kmart Pharmacy coupons
To see if your store is participating please check here! Again just to verify I would call your local store and check that they are participating before you make the trip! This is not a promotion that was advertised in the Kmart Sunday ad, it was an email promotion sent to only Shop Your Way Rewards Card holders.
I am working on a list of match-ups from this weeks ad. As I find additional deals I will add them to the match-up list! let me know if you find any great deals and I will add them to my list!


text:
A serger trims the seam and encloses the seam allowance or edge of the fabric, inside a thread casing, all in one step.
For a really good overview of what this beauty can do, check out the Wikipedia entry.
FYI for all your fabric and thread needs, head over to our friends at Our Social Fabric.


text:
Select the configuration from the configuration list. Click Configurations tab to get the list of available configurations.
Select the virtual server from the virtual server list. Click Virtual Servers tab to get the available virtual servers for the selected configuration.
Click General tab. Configure the following settings.
Enabled — Whether the virtual server is enabled at runtime.
Document Root — The document root path for the virtual server, where the virtual server's data will be stored. This includes exploded web application directories and log files.
Hosts — You can enter more than one URL host, separated by commas.


text:
By Kasey Jachim
I am sure most of you have seen Obama's latest campaign hate speech. Instead of listing his accomplishments (ummmm, Obamacare and doubling the national debt), he chose to tear into Mitt Romney. His disregard for civility regarding Romney, Conservatives, Congress, the Constitution, and even voters never ceases to amaze me. Obama recently asked his supporters to help him win another term by voting. Not just to vote for him, but to seek revenge by voting against the evil Republican. "Voting is the best Revenge" is his latest mantra.
In contrast to this petulant, narcissistic, finger-pointing, Bush-blaming man-child, Governor Romney gave supporters a positive list of his past accomplishments in business, the Olympics, and as Governor of a Democratic state. He laid out his plans and even said he would begin day one by accepting responsibility and not blaming his predecessor! Rather than counter Obama's whiney appeal with another negative message, Mitt Romney is asking voters to "Vote for Love of Country" not revenge!
The following ad contrasts the main differences between the two men:
Which man would you rather vote for? I know who I want – the man with a positive message who will cross the aisle and bring America back to the standard of excellence we are used to! The man who is actually PROUD of America – Mitt Romney. Pray and vote – I can see him in the White House from my back yard!
Related articles
- Romney: Vote for 'Love of Country' Not Revenge (pjmedia.com)
- The choice is clear: Revenge or love of country? (twitchy.com)
- Obama campaign explains voting as 'revenge' remark (politico.com)
- Reuters runs cover for president's 'vote for revenge' statement, attributes to Romney also (twitchy.com)


text:
Praveen Kumar
Professor - Cullen Distinguished Chair and Professor
Praveen Kumar is the Cullen Distinguished Chaired Professor of Finance, Chairperson of the Department of Finance, and Executive Director of the Gutierrez Energy Management Institute (GEMI) at the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. Professor Kumar received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University and his A.B. and M.P.A. from Princeton University. Prior to joining the UH faculty, Dr. Kumar served on the faculty of the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University.
He is the recipient of:
- University of Houston Excellence Award for Research and Scholarship
- University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award
Dr. Kumar's research interests focus on the role of information in financial markets, corporate finance and governance, financial market microstructure, energy finance and risk-management, and industrial organization. His research has been widely published in the top scholarly journals in finance, economics and management, such as the Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, American Economic Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Management Science, Rand Journal of Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Strategic Management Journal and the Journal of Monetary Economics. It has also been discussed in major business publications like BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.
He has received numerous awards for his research such as the Chicago Board of Trade Awards for the Best Paper in Options and Futures by the Western Finance Association and the McGraw-Hill Award for the Best Finance Paper by the Association of Business Disciplines. Dr. Kumar also serves as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Corporate Governance: An International Review, a leading interdisciplinary and international journal of corporate governance.
Dr. Kumar has taken a leading role in the establishment of the Gutierrez Energy Management Institute at the Bauer College of Business. He is an expert in the evaluation and financing of energy projects, especially in the valuation of embedded options, and in the analysis of industry structure and competitive advantage in the oil and gas industry. Most recently his research in energy finance has focused on the valuation of and risk-management approaches to the development of unconventional sources in oil and gas. He is a co-developer of one of the first graduate courses on the practice and future of carbon and emissions trading to be offered in business schools. He has also lectured for top executives in major energy corporations and consulted with leading investment banks, international lending institutions such as the World Bank, and regulatory agencies such as the CFTC.
Research Interests
- Analyses of the Impact of Asymmetric Information on Asset Pricing
- Corporate Financial Policies and Governance
- Market Microstructure
- Incentives and Strategy Design in Organizations
- Industrial Organization
Areas of Expertise
- Corporate Finance
- Real Options
- Investments
- Industrial Organization
- Contract Theory
Selected Publications
- "The Product Market Effects of Hedge Fund Activism," (with H. Aslan), Journal of Financial Economics, 119, 226-248, 2016
- "Capital Investment, Innovative Capacity, and Stock Returns,'' (with D. Li), Journal of Finance, Forthcoming, 2015.
- "Boom and Gloom," (with P. Povel et al.), Journal of Finance, Forthcoming, 2015.
- "CEO entrenchment and Corporate Hedging: Evidence from the Oil and Gas Industry," (with R. Rabinovitch), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 48, 887-917, 2013.
- "Information Manipulation and Rational Investment Booms and Busts," (with N. Langberg), Journal of Monetary Economics, 60, 408-425, 2013.
- "Strategic Ownership Structure and the Cost of Debt," (with H. Aslan), Review of Financial Studies, 25, 2257-2299, 2012.
- "Voluntary Disclosures, Corporate Control, and Investment," (with N. Langberg and K. Sivaramakrishnan), Journal of Accounting Research, 50, 1041-1076, 2012.
- "Lemons or Cherries? Growth Opportunities and Market Temptations in Going Public and Private," (with H. Aslan), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 46, 489-526, 2011.
- "Managerial Agency and Bond Covenants," (with S. Chava and A. Warga), Review of Financial Studies, 23, 1120-1148, 2010.
- "Estimation Risk, Information, and the Conditional CAPM: Theory and Evidence," (with S. Sorescu, R. D. Boehme, and B. Danielsen), Review of Financial Studies, 2008 (Lead Article).
- "Corporate Fraud and Investment Distortions in Efficient Capital Markets," (with N. Langberg), Rand Journal of Economics, 2008.
- "Who Monitors the Monitor? The Effect of Board Independence on Executive Compensation and Firm Value," (with K. Sivaramakrishnan), Review of Financial Studies, 2008.
- "Optimal Patenting and Licensing of Financial Innovations, " (with S. Turnbull), Management Science, 2008.
- "Takeovers, Market Monitoring, and International Corporate Governance," (with L. Ramchand), December 2007, Rand Journal of Economics, 2008.
- "Agency Costs and Corporate Investment: The Role of Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance," (with S. Kang and H. Lee), Journal of Business, 2006.
- "Intertemporal Price-Quality Competition and the Coase Conjecture," Journal of Mathematical Economics, 2006.
- "Managerial Entrenchment and Payout Policy," (with A. Hu), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 2004.
Contact Info
- Phone:
- 713-743-4770
- Email:
- email@example.com
- Room:
- Website:
- Visit Web Site
Stanford University
Princeton University
Princeton University
See also
Bauer Directory Profile Management


text:
OS Deployer automates the disk imaging and deployment process. It helps administrators capture images of different OS versions and store them in a network share, to create different deployment templates for various employee roles, and deploy the images to the new systems all from a central management console.
With central image capturing and deployment capabilities, OS Deployer reduces support, training and management costs by standardizing your entire organization on one or more operating systems. OS Deployer creates an exact disk image of the given system including standard configuration, operating system, configuration files and all applications that can be deployed to multiple systems simultaneously, making it ideal for rapid bare-metal provisioning.
Supported OS : Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 2012, and Windows 2012 R2.
Capture the master image of your computer, including OS and applications. This can be done offline or online using our computer image software.
Automate the deployment of OS to provision new computers or repair OS quickly.
Create and maintain different deployment templates to match the user roles or departments.
Our computer image software maintains a single master image irrespective of the hardware to which it is being deployed.


text:
Earlier this year Paternoster released Steve Holmes' new book The Holy Trinity: Understanding God's Life in the Christian Doctrine in Historical Perspective series edited by Alan Sell. Steve has been at work on the doctrine of God for some time now and this book, as Karen Kilby's blurb on the back cover notes, can be viewed as both a textbook for historical theology and also an 'intervention' in recent debates about the doctrine of the Trinity. The volume certainly endeavors to canvas the historical and modern developments in a level-headed manner and yet, insofar as contemporary trinitarian doctrine must heed the wisdom of our theological forebears, it cannot help but call into question a number of the more recent proposals.
At the end of the book, there is a seven-point summary of patristic trinitarianism that includes, among other things, divine simplicity, the limitations of human speech about God, and the persons being distinguished by the relations of origin alone. Here is the provocative last paragraph of the book:
In our accounts of a Trinitarian revival, we wanted little or nothing to do with such strictures. As a result, we set out on our own to offer a different, and we believed better, doctrine. We returned to the Scriptures, but we chose (with Tertullian's Praxeas, Noetus of Smyrna, and Samuel Clarke) to focus exclusively on the New Testament texts, instead of listening to the whole of Scripture with Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Daniel Waterland. We thought about God's relationship with the creation in the economy, but we chose (with the Valentinians, Arius, and Hegel) to believe that the Son must be the mode of mediation of the Father's presence to creation, instead of following Irenaeus and Athanasius in proposing God's ability to mediate his own presence. We tried to understand the divine unity, but we chose (with Eunomius and Socinus) to believe that we could reason adequately about the divine essence, instead of following Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and John Calvin in asserting divine unknowability. We addressed divine simplicity, and chose (with Socinus and John Biddle) to discard it, rather than following Basil and the rest in affirming it as the heart of Trinitarian doctrine. We thought about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but chose (with Sabellius, Arius, and Eunomius) to affirm true personality of each, rather than following Augustine and John of Damascus in believing in one divine personality.
We called what we were doing a 'Trinitarian revival'; future historians might want to ask us why.