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Well, as I said this morning, I'm always sort of battling in my own mind all of the excellencies of the Word of God from which to choose and to pick. And I had some ideas about what we might do in the weeks ahead and the months ahead, didn't initially think I would go into the book of Jude, but realizing that it's been 25 years plus since I've done an exposition of this book, and realizing how critical it is and how important it is and how beautifully it ties in with 1, 2 and 3 John, that's why the Holy Spirit lined them up this way, I found myself unable to escape this wonderful opportunity and responsibility to open this book.
As you know, and as we've been saying in our study of 1 John and 2 John and 3 John, I'm very passionate about the truth, very passionate about divine truth, God's truth. My whole life is devoted to the truth. My whole ministry is devoted to the truth. It's driven by the truth revealed in the Scripture. Really I live and breathe for the truth. I realize that God has exalted His truth as high as His name. I know that He is the God of truth, that's how He identifies Himself. I know that Jesus Christ, the glory of God in human flesh, according to John, is full of truth. He is the way, the truth and the life. I know that Jesus said that the truth would set the sinner free from sin and death. The Bible is called the Word of Truth. Jesus said to His Father, "Your Word is truth." And in the Scriptures we are commanded to worship God in truth. We're commanded to obey the truth, to love the truth, to judge by the truth, to speak the truth in love, to walk in the truth and as we learned in John's epistle, to love in the truth. Literally, we are engulfed in the truth. That's why the church is called by the Apostle Paul "the pillar and support of the truth." We are responsible to hold up the truth, to wield the truth against all the speculations raised up against the knowledge of God. The church is to proclaim the truth, to bring deceived souls to the knowledge of the truth that saves and frees.
In our recent studies of the epistles of John, we saw in each of these three epistles the centrality of the truth. In 1 John chapter 5, for example, verse 20, at the very end of that letter, John writes, "We know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding in order that we might know Him who is true and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ; this is the true God and eternal life." And he mentions what is true three times in one verse. John in his first letter was concerned with the truth, the true gospel, the true believer.
And again in the second letter, as we remember how it opened, "The elder to the chosen lady and her children whom I love in truth, and not only I but also who know the truth for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever." In verse 4, "I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth."
And when we come to the third of the letters, it's the same emphasis. Verse 1, "The elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth." And verse 3, "I was very glad when brethren came and bore witness to your truth, that is how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in truth."
All three of those marvelous letters centered on the truth, the truth that is essential to justification and sanctification and the hope of glorification. In fact, the whole relationship that we have to God in all its fullness is based on truth. We hear the truth, we understand the truth, we believe the truth, we assent to the truth, we live the truth, we learn the truth, we proclaim the truth. Jesus said, "Thy Word is truth." And it is the Word that saves and sanctifies and gives the hope of glory. Truth then is more precious to us than anything, than everything.
As a result of the importance of the truth, the truth is always under attack. We've said that many times in our studies of those epistles and other studies as well. All through the millennia since the fall of Adam and Eve, God has been revealing His truth, His saving truth starting with the revelation that a true one would come and crush the serpent's head and provide true salvation from sin, death and hell. And the unfolding of the message of the truth is the real story of Scripture. Of course, all the way along Satan has done everything he could to obliterate the truth, to cover the truth, to hide the truth, to twist the truth to bring about lies and deceptions. One way or another the truth has always been under attack and there are sad, sad realities throughout the history of God's redeemed people, both Israel and the church, great sweeping eras of time when the people of God, so-called, abandoned the truth, lost heart for the truth, lost interest in the truth and failed to contend or fight for the truth.
It has been a long war against God and against His truth in which the devil has engaged and he has employed demons and he has employed men and women. Most effectively he has employed those people who are associated with the truth in some way. The deadliest assaults against the truth come from the inside. This is what we call apostasy. It is a defection..it is a defection. The most effective attacks against the truth come from those people who purport to know the truth and even to believe the truth. The greatest assaults against the truth don't come from the outside, they come from the inside, from apostates, defectors who name the name of Christ, or once named the name of Christ, and now are the enemies of Christ, who once affirmed their trust in God, belief in God, and affirmed the Scripture and have become the enemies of the Scripture. They're on the inside.
Notice verse 4 of Jude, "Certain persons have crept in unnoticed." Notice verse 12, "These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts, when they feast with you without fear." They're on the inside and they are deadly dangerous because they bring such devastating corruption from their position and their posture inside the church.
Jude is concerned about this issue. He is concerned about the most dangerous corruption that can occur against the truth, and that is on the inside. The long war against God certainly comes from the outside, comes from every false religious system on the planet. Second Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 to 5 talk about every speculation, every idea, every ideology, every theology, every religion, every philosophy, every viewpoint raised up against the knowledge of God, being a damning speculation. The spiritual war certainly has to be fought against those who attack from the outside. And the long war against God has not just been from the inside, believe me, it's been from the outside, but the most formidable blows against the truth come from the inside. Anybody will tell you that. The greatest danger to an army is from the inside, traitors, defectors, spies really working for the enemy who are trusted. Jude is concerned about this and he wants us to be concerned as well. He wants to engage us all in the battle for the truth, the long war for the truth. He wants us to be the defenders against the defectors.
And so, the call to us comes in verse 3 in this epistle. "Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation..." This apparently indicates that he started to write a letter in which he wanted to talk about salvation, a positive letter, an upbeat letter, a celebratory letter in the sense that he was going to celebrate with them the wonders of their common salvation. However, while he was making an effort to do that, it was interrupted and he said, "I felt the necessity to write to you..." and that necessity was a Spirit-inspired necessity, we would all agree, since the epistle is inspired by the Holy Spirit. "I felt it necessary to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, that you contend earnestly for the faith." That is a strong verb, contend earnestly, epagonizomai, agonizomai-to agonize, to fight, to struggle, to battle, to give great effort, to give great exertion. You add the prefix preposition and it intensifies it and it's a good translation "to contend earnestly," or to battle mightily, or to struggle powerfully for the faith. Faith being the body of truth, the word is objective, it's not subjective faith, objective faith. "I had some other things I want to talk about, I wanted to write you a positive letter, but I felt the necessity to write a letter under the compulsion of the Holy Spirit to engage you in the battle, in the fight, in the struggle, in the war against the faith, against the body of truth we know is the Christian faith."
And as I said, after finishing three letters of John so strong on truth, I kept getting pulled back to Jude, unable to move away from this particular section at the end of the New Testament at the end of the Bible, because here is this one little book tucked right in between John's three letters and the Revelation. In fact, John is the author of the Revelation, the human author. And so you had three epistles of John and then you have the Revelation that God gave to John in the series of visions that we know as the book of Revelation, and tucked in between the epistles of John and the Revelation given to John is the fourth shortest book in the New Testament. Second John, Third John and Philemon are shorter. It appears almost like an intruder into John's section, doesn't it? Why did God drop Jude in here?
It isn't an intrusion. By the providence of God who oversaw the organization of the books of the Bible, as well as the inspiration of them, it is dropped in the perfect place. It is the final of the eight general epistles written by Peter, John and James, as well. It is critically placed in the New Testament, critically.
Now we all know that Revelation is the finale, right? We all know that. Revelation is the end. Everything wraps up in Revelation. And the main feature of Revelation is the apokalupsis, the apokalupsis being the appearing of Jesus Christ, the Second Coming. In fact, the book of Revelation is called the Revelation to John here, but underneath that in the NAS it says it's the Revelation of Jesus Christ, so it's the Revelation to John about the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It's the apokalupsisto John about the apokalupsisof Jesus Christ. So we all know that there's nothing to add to Revelation. When Revelation is done, all that God wanted to say has been said because that takes you right out into eternity, right? It ends with the return of Jesus Christ, His Millennial Kingdom, at the end of which He defeats a final rebellion, Satan and the sinners on the earth, and the earth and its environs, the created universe as we know it, is uncreated, goes out of existence. The new heaven and the new earth which is the eternal state are created and we go on to eternal heaven and the ungodly, along with Satan and all those who were associated with him in demonic or human realms, go into the Lake of Fire forever, and that's the end. We know Revelation then focuses on the Second Coming.
Why is Jude dropped right in here? As we get to the end of the New Testament, John tells us, "Folks, you've got to understand how important the truth is. Paul taught the truth, James taught the truth, Peter taught the truth, Jesus taught the truth, the truth goes through the New Testament." John says, "You've got to be aware of what this truth is. You've got to hold to the true doctrine about Jesus Christ. You've got to hold to the true standard of what a believer really is. You've got to live the truth, love the truth, walk in the truth." That's what John is saying. And you've got to do that faithfully until Jesus comes. And then Jude jumps in and, in effect, says, "And don't expect it to be easy. Do not expect it to be easy. Before Jesus comes the truth will suffer immense and relentless and escalating assaults."
Looking at the big picture further, the beginning of the church age is described in the Acts of the Apostles. The end of the church age is dealt with in Jude which might be called the Acts of the Apostates. Acts describes the deeds and teaching of men of God, through whom Christ began to build His church. Jude, the last epistle, relates the deeds and teachings of apostates who will do everything they can to destroy the truth until the end of the church. Jude is the only book in the Bible entirely devoted to discussing apostasy all the way out to the end of the church age. So these 25 verses are the vestibule to Revelation. Revelation tells us how Christ comes to bring it all to an end. Jude describes for us the battle for the truth that's going to go on until the very end. And the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians gives us the indication that this apostasy as it gets closer to the coming of Christ, of course, is going to escalate into a great apostasy. He even calls it "The Apostasia,THE apostasy.
Now this isn't like it's new to us. I mean, you can go back to the first book in the New Testament and the first great sermon that Jesus preached, The Sermon on the Mount, and in Matthew chapter 7 listen to what Jesus said in that sermon. "Beware of the false...what?...prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves, you will know them by their fruits." Beware of the false prophets. Jesus knew they were already around. They would come in the future against the truth of the gospel. In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew Jesus said, "Watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, watch out, beware." He said it again in verse 11, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they appear to represent Me, they appear to be a part of the Kingdom of God, they appear to be the very spokesmen and teachers of divine truth, beware, their influence corrupts."
And, of course, in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, when Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse which looks at the future, Jesus said in verse 11, "Many false prophets will arise, mislead many." So Jesus warned again and again. He said, "There will come a time when false christs, false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance." And Jesus was saying, "They're around now. Beware of them, they're here. They're Pharisees and Sadducees. And they're very dangerous because they say they represent Me and they represent the truth and they believe My Word and they're going to get worse and they're going to get more effective." Jesus said that.
He warned in the other parallel passages in the gospels of the same thing. You come into the book of Acts and in the book of Acts there are tremendous warnings about this same thing. For example, take Paul's warning in Acts chapter 20. "I know...in verse 29...that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you." That's always where the great war is most deadly. If the enemy can get inside the camp, his devastation is greatest. So I'm warning you, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock...from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. And your guardianship over the church means you've got to be aware of the savage wolves who want to infiltrate the church and destroy the truth.
You come in to the epistles, it's the same. You can hear it from the Apostle Paul, chapter 4 of 1 Timothy. The Spirit explicitly says, "In the latter times...that's now...since the Messiah has come, some will fall away from the faith. Pay attention, deceitful spirits, doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own consciences with a branding iron, they come into the church." They are demonic in their doctrine. They are devilish in their intentions. They have departed from the faith. They espouse or they purport to believe. They are hypocrites. They have no conscience. They will use you and abuse you. Paul is telling Timothy, "Timothy, you've got to counter this. How are you going to counter this?" He says, "Until I come, give attention to the reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them. Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching, persevere in these things." He engages Timothy in the spiritual battle for the truth. And in 2 Timothy it's the same thing. He writes in 2 Timothy chapter 3, "Realize that in these last days difficult times will come, dangerous seasons, literally. Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable," and he goes on with the list. "They'll hold a form of godliness though they have denied its power." They have all kinds of degrees, they purport to be theologians and teachers, they purport to have the secret true knowledge of God, but these men oppose the truth, they have depraved minds and they reject the faith.
And not only does Paul warn about these things but Peter warns about them, I'm not going to read it, 2 Peter, the whole chapter, chapter 2, and most of chapter 3. And John...John warns about them as well. First John chapter 4, "Do not believe every spirit, test the spirits to see whether they're from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world." And 2 John, do you remember this? Second John, "Many deceivers...verse 7...have gone out into the world and do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist, watch yourselves...watch yourselves."
James even talks about false teachers. False teachers who go so far as to harm the true representatives of the faith. And, of course, the book of Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 talks about false teachers that infiltrate the church. They literally get into the church, according to Revelation 2 and 3, and corrupt the church. They corrupted the church of Pergamos. They corrupted the church of Thyatira. They corrupted the church at Sardis. They corrupted the church as we all know of Laodicea. All the way to the end of the church age, churches are going to have to battle for the truth. And the most formidable war against that truth is going to come from the inside. All of this is prophesied, prophesied, prophesied, prophesied. And without Jude's letter, this whole development, I think, would be incomplete.
I could sum it up by quoting a text from Luke 18:8. In Luke 18:8 Jesus said, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth? That's an amazing statement. The world has been waiting for millennia for the incarnate truth to arrive. The world has been waiting since the Fall for God to send the true One. The world has been waiting for the truth, and finally the truth comes and the living truth, the Lord Jesus Christ comes and He opens His mouth and out of His mouth comes gospel truth, saving truth, the long-awaited freeing truth.
Immediate reaction? Rejection. All those centuries of waiting, all those millennia of waiting, when the truth comes it's rejected. The truth comes and first there's an initial response, like in the synagogue at Nazareth when their initial reaction was, "Wow! We've never heard anybody like this say anything like this." But before the day was over, they tried to kill Him. In a microcosm, that's exactly what happened in the nation. At first they were wowed by what He said, they were drawn to His teaching. But before it was all over they screamed for His blood. All those millennia waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. And He comes full of grace and truth and Jesus Himself before His life ends can see the direction this is going and says, "Will I find any faith on the earth when I come back?" He anticipates what He says in the inspired text of John 1, "He came unto His own and His own...what?...received Him not." They turned on the truth as soon as He came. They rejected the truth as soon as they heard it. All the ministry of Jesus over three years and when the believers were gathered in Galilee after the resurrection, He had spent over a year in Galilee with incredible miracles and teaching and there were 500 who believed. At least there were 500 who gathered. And after all the ministry in Judea and His resurrection, there were 120 in the upper room. And as the churches were founded and planted, the churches begin to defect. And by the time John writes the book of Revelation, you're at the end of that first century. John is writing around 96 and already five out of the seven churches in Asia Minor which had been the hot bed of apostolic ministry through Paul where those churches were planted, those churches are beginning to defect and there's only two of them left...the church at Smyrna and the church at Philadelphia that were still faithful. But the battle for the truth has been a very, very difficult battle.
And Paul looks ahead down the road in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and sees THE Apostasy, THE falling away that occurs just before Antichrist steps onto the scene during the time of the Tribulation. Paul warned Timothy, "People will not endure sound doctrine." In 2 Timothy he said, "They will want to have itching ears, they want to have their ears tickled by teachers who say what they want to hear. And they will not endure sound doctrine." And Peter said, "False teachers are going to come and they're going to bring in damnable heresies, denying the Lord that bought them." They're going to identify with Christ, they're going to identify with Him, they're going to identify outwardly with the gospel and with Christianity, but inwardly they will teach damning heresies. Jesus said it's coming. Paul said it's coming. Peter said it's coming. They all saw it coming.
Where does Jude fit in? Jude says, "It's here....it's here." And Jude describes it and defines it and calls us to the battle that has to stretch all the way to the end of the church age. The church can never stop fighting this battle. Jude brings the biblical panorama to its necessary climax. Jude says it's going to be this way, it is this way. He says, notice it, verse 4, "Certain persons have crept in unnoticed." Jesus says, "False prophets will come." Paul says, "False prophets will come." Peter says, "False prophets will come." And Jude says, "They're here." John says, "You're going to have to love the truth, you're going to have to battle for the truth. You're going to have to test the spirits because spirits are going to come that are deceiving spirits, they're going to lie." Jude says, "They're here. They've arrived and they're going to stretch all the way till the events of the book of Revelation, all the way." And that provokes the question on the mouth of the Lord, "Will He find faith when He comes? Will there be any true believers left?"
I mean, look at the world today. When I say Christianity, what do you see in the big name Christianity? The dominant individuals or the individuals that dominate Christianity in sheer numbers are non-Christians, true?
You take Christianity as a term defining a religion and most Christians are not Christians. And there is this small group of people willing to contend for the faith. We've been used to the fact that other evangelicals will join us in the battle, now they're abandoning the battle and embracing the non-Christians and calling them Christians. And so Jude is saying, "They're here, folks. They're not coming, they're here." They were here when he wrote and they're here now and worse than ever because evil men grow worse and worse, as Paul reminded Timothy. And the apostasy escalates and escalates and escalates. The longer Christianity exists in the world, the more corrupt it gets on the inside. It's not the true Christianity, but it's the people who say they're a part of it, whether you're talking about the sacramental sacerdotal kind of religions of works that call themselves Christians, whether you're talking about the ugly corrupting damning influence of liberal theology, the search for the historical Jesus, whatever aspect you want to look at, or whether you're talking about the TV con-men who do what they do for money, they're all a part of the corrupting apostasy inside Christianity. And Jude says it's here, and the truth is at stake and you need, verse 3, to join the force of those who would contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. That's the biblical faith.
This is a book about apostasy and I'm telling you, Jude has a big sweep, a really big sweep. Do you know that Jude mentions the fall of Satan? That's way back where the apostasy has its birth. Jude mentions Adam. Jude mentions Cain. And he mentions Enoch. And he mentions Sodom and Gomorrah. And he mentions Balaam and Korah. And he mentions Moses. I mean, he is sweeping across the history of this spiritual war. Now I don't know about you but I love big picture concepts that help me understand the sweeping saga of what God is doing in some condensed fashion. Jude is sort of Cliff notes on the long war against God, he just sweeps across all of it. It's really a monumental book and I think, sadly, it's a neglected book. The first commentary I ever wrote, some of you may have one stuck in a corner somewhere, many, many years ago, I don't even remember how many years ago, before I should have been writing commentaries, actually, the first commentary I ever wrote was on the book of Jude and the title of it was, Beware of the Pretenders...Beware of the Pretenders. And, folks, Christianity in our time is literally crammed full of pretenders who assault the truth. The waves of apostasy roll higher and higher and higher and higher as you get closer and closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And obviously we're closer now than we've ever been. They're characterized in 2 Thessalonians 2:10, "By all deception of wickedness." And the reason they are so wicked and deceiving, listen to this, is they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. You can't be saved apart from the truth, right? An inadequate gospel doesn't save. Believing the wrong thing doesn't save. Believing the wrong thing about Jesus, or the wrong thing about the means of salvation will not save. These people not only did not believe the truth, they did not receive the love of the truth, in fact they hate the truth. They are haters of the truth who creep in unawares, who are like reefs hidden below the surface that create shipwreck in the Christian environment. They say they believe, they don't.
Now just some interesting notes. You can read the introduction to the book of Jude in the Study Bible and it will give you an awful lot of material. Let me just share a few things with you.
Jude was written probably a few years after 2 Peter. If you look at 2 Peter, just three chapters, you will see that most of 2 Peter is devoted to apostasy, not all of it, and to false teaching. Some scholars feel that 2 Peter was written to a group of Christians, we don't know to whom, and Jude was sort of the sequel written to the same group. The two books are very closely related. Peter says get ready it's coming. Get ready, the mockers, the scoffers, the false teachers will come. For example, in 2 Peter 3:3, "Know this first of all that in the last days mockers will come...they will come." Peter says they will come. He describes them in chapter 2 in this really graphic way. But again it's future. Chapter 2 verse 1, "False teachers also arose among the people just as there will also be false teachers among you." He looks back in the Old Testament, they had false teachers and false prophets and he says they're going to come among you. Now remember, Peter's writing probably 68 A.D. before the destruction of Jerusalem, most scholars feel or he would have mentioned it. And he is then in the early years of the church. The Lord has been gone about 30 years. The churches have been planted. And Peter is saying the false teachers are going to come. They came in the past, they're going to come and they're going to secretly introduce destructive heresies. That's what they always do, they infiltrate, they come in, they corrupt the seminaries, they corrupt the Christian institutions, they corrupt the literature. They get into the church. They get into the media of the church. They do whatever they can inside the church to destroy the truth. They'll do it, he says, and many will follow their sensuality and because of them...listen to this...the way of truth will be maligned...the way of truth, the gospel, the truth. And again, truth is the issue. They do it for greed and he goes on to describe something of their character. Well we'll see that as we interact between Jude and 2 Peter.
But the point is this, writing in about 68 or 69, Peter says they're going to come, they're going to come. Jude, very close to that same period, after 2 Peter, perhaps just before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., writes to say they are here...they are here. They have arrived. There will come mockers, Peter said. There will come false teachers. Jude says they're here.
The church needs to know that, folks. We need to be aware of that. You cannot just accept everybody who says they're a Christian, or a Christian teacher, or a Christian theologian. Jude is not redundant. It is not just a repetition of 2 Peter, it is a fulfillment of 2 Peter. The apostasy has begun and it's going to go and grow until the Lord returns.
When I contend for the truth, when I battle for the truth, when I fight for the truth, when I give my life for the sake of the truth, and you do the same, we're doing what we've been commanded to do in that verse, that third verse, right? To earnestly contend for the truth. It's hard to find contenders, it really is today, very hard, very, very hard. I find myself a part of a shrinking little army. It use to seem to me that there were many, many fighting for the truth and I watch even people who at one time I thought were fighting alongside of me begin to abandon that mentality. That's one of the reasons why we said, you know, we can't just have a shepherds conference with three or four hundred people here, we've got to start a movement because we've got to build the army. We have a responsibility in this generation to raise a generation who is going to take the truth into the next one as the apostasy grows.
Peter speaks of this in future tenses. Jude speaks of it in present tenses. But we're going to see parallels between Peter's prophetic words and Jude's words of fulfillment. And that's why I say the best insight would tell us that Jude was written right after 2 Peter and right before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Now this book has high value to us today and this is what kept drawing me back to it because the apostasy was so serious in Jude's day that he called for this kind of contending for the faith and it's certainly more serious in our day because it's accumulated through all the centuries since that time. It has grown to massive proportions. There was no massive Catholic system in Jude's day. There was no proliferation of quasi-Christian heretical cults as in Jude's day. There was no development of liberalism in Jude's day. There was no mass of fake, phony false teachers who had reached the proportions of influence that those have today in television and radio and literature. Today it's so far beyond you couldn't...Jude would never even have conceived that you would have an apostate Christianity sweeping the world...sweeping the world.
Now a couple of other things to keep in mind. Jude's description of these false teachers is not doctrinal. He doesn't waste any time on their lies...why bother, right? I mean, you've only got 25 verses, be economical. He doesn't say, "Here's what they believe and here's why it's wrong. Here's what they believe and here's why it's wrong," because you couldn't do it and cover all the ground, right? Because as soon as you think you've dealt with the last heresy, guess what? A new one shows up. My friend Jerry Vines who preached here at one of our conferences a couple of years ago called me one day in his slow southern drawl and he said, "Johhhn, I have a problem."
I said, "Well, Jerry, what's your problem?"
He said, "Johhhn, I am writing a book on the contemporary heresy that plagued the church."
And I said, "Well, that's great."
And he said, "But, I can't finish my book."
I said, "What do you mean you can't finish it?"
"Because as soon as I have dealt with the last one, a new one appears."
I still haven't seen his book and that was three years ago.
Jude isn't going to get engulfed and Jude isn't going to get entangled in trying to sort out every heresy. You know what he does? He doesn't talk about their doctrine, he talks about their life...he talks about their life. He unmasks them. He says, for example, "They are...in verse 4...ungodly, who turn the grace if God into licentiousness." Hummm, they live lavish, sinful lives and say it's under grace. They deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. They will not live under the dominating Lordship of Christ. They are compared to angels that kept not their first estate. They're compared to the homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah. They are compared to those who went the way of Cain, those who can be bought to give their prophecies like Balaam. They're like clouds without water. They're like trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted. They're like wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam. They're wandering stars, verse 13, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. Verse 15 says that judgment is going to be executed on them because of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. They are grumblers finding fault, following after their own lusts, speaking arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of money. He never talks about their doctrine because you can tell them by these things. And that's what Jesus said, they're going to be...these false teachers are going to come like ravenous wolves, not sparing the flock. By their...what?...you shall know them. Not by their doctrine, well you can tell them by their doctrine, but they're too subtle for that. You're going to know them by their fruits. Jude's description of them has to do with life and conduct. It has to do with how they live. Bad doctrine, of course, is implied. It's just not described.
`To whom is Jude writing? We don't know. About whom is he writing? We don't know. But look at their lives, and this is what 2 Peter says in 2 Peter 2:10, "They indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires. They despise authority." Verse 12, "They're like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reveling in what they have no knowledge of." I mean, they're just corrupt. Verse 18, speaking arrogantly, words of vanity. They entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality. They're slaves of corruption, verse 19. Whatever it is that can enslave a man enslaves them...sex, materialism, whatever. And so this is a very important epistle. It's important for you and it's important for me to engage in earnestly contending for the faith. And as we go through this epistle together, we're going to see an exposure of these defectors and we're going to hear a call to be a defender of the truth and we're going to engage ourselves in this war.
At least let's look at the first word of this epistle. "Jude." I remember years ago when I taught Romans, the first sermon in Romans, "Paul...let me stop there," and we did for a while. "Jude." In Hebrew that's Judah, in Greek it's Judas. Isn't it interesting that a book written on apostasy bears the same name as the all-time apostate? The writer's name is Judas, that very name is cursed. Do you know anybody named Judas? Personally I don't like the name Jude because it's a form of that. I should like it more because I should associate it with this guy. But the stigma that Judas has left with it is so strong. But this is Judas, Jude, Judah. And God in His wonderful grace, of course, has chosen a man who has the same name to write the epistle on apostasy illustrated by the greatest apostate of all time, Judas.
This is a very different man, he is a bondservant of Jesus Christ. I like that. He is a bondservant of Jesus Christ. You know what that means, he is a slave to the Lord. He is also a brother of James, brother of James. Just who is this man? Well there are several men named Jude or Judas or Judah in the New Testament, several of them. Two of them are apostles. There is Judas Iscariot and Judas not Iscariot, you remember? And there are others. In Acts 9:11 there was a Judas of Damascus. And then there is Judas Barsabas. According to Acts 15 Judas Barsabas was a leading man in the early church who with Silas carried the decision of the Jerusalem council to Antioch. So there is Judas of Damascus who helped Ananias find Saul after his conversion. Then there's Judas Barsabas who was involved in the Jerusalem council and giving the basic decision of the council of Antioch. Then you have Judas Iscariot, the apostate. Then you have Judas not Iscariot. You know, he had other names? If you read Twelve Ordinary Menhis name was also Labbaeus and his name was also Thaddaeus. It's not any of those who are in view here, however. Here you see this Judas is the brother of James.
And who is James? James is the brother of our Lord. James is the Lord's half brother. That is to say, Joseph and Mary were mother and father of the half brothers, we call them that, of Jesus because Joseph was not the father of Jesus, so He was only a half brother being virgin born. But if you look at Matthew 13:55 it says there that Mary was the mother of Jesus and His brothers name were James and Joseph and Simon and Judas. James and Joseph and Simon and Judas...so we know this Judas who is the brother of James must then be the brother of the James who is the half brother of our Lord. Also in Mark chapter 6, I believe it's in the beginning of the chapter, yes in verse 3, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?"
And so he introduces himself in the first verse as the brother of James which makes him the brother of Jesus. Listen to Galatians 1:19, Paul says, "I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother." So here again this James is identified specifically in Galatians 1:19 as the Lord's brother. He's the head of the Jerusalem church. Now what is so fabulous about this, so wonderful about this is the fact that these brothers of Jesus didn't believe in Him, remember that? In John chapter 7 it says they didn't believe in Him, and, of course, we know later they believed in Him, after His resurrection, remember that? Two of them then were used by the Spirit of God to write New Testament books; James writing the book of James, Jude writing the book of Jude. And both of them critical to the revelation of God. James also became head of the Jerusalem Council, as we well know.
You say, "Well how do you know that this isn't Judas, one of the...well, it wouldn't be Judas Iscariot, but maybe Judas not Iscariot, how do you know that? Verse 17, he says, "But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." And when he says that, he distinguishes himself from the Apostles so he's not an Apostle, so he wouldn't be the Jude who is one of the Apostles, he is rather not an apostle and the brother of James who is not designated as an Apostle either, and therefore we conclude he is the brother of the James who is the half brother of the Lord Himself. And so again, the wonderful grace of God reaches down and the brothers of Jesus who didn't believe in Him come to faith and two of them are selected to write books in the New Testament. The death, resurrection, the ascension of Jesus produced a tremendous change with regard to the relationships that these men had.
Somebody might say, "Look, why doesn't he say, 'Jude, a brother of Jesus Christ.' Why does he say a bondservant?" Because Jesus Christ went from being whatever He was on a human level to being what He was on a divine level and that is the Lord and Master of these men. Remember Jesus said in Mark 3 when His brothers and His mother came to search for Him and the people said they are outside looking for you? He said, "No," He said, "you don't quite understand." He said, "It's not about human relationships," I think it's Mark 3:35 and I'll read you what it says, "For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother." And even Mary at the birth of Jesus knew that this was her Savior. And so the relationships all changed and Jude views Jesus Christ not in some familial way but as his Lord and Master. From a human standpoint, he is the brother of James, but from a divine standpoint he doesn't say he's the brother or half brother of Jesus Christ, rather he's the bondslave of Christ. He who did not believe came to believe by the overwhelming testimony of the resurrection. And so the Lord chooses this remarkable man to write this account of apostasy.
Now sets the book up and our time is gone. Next time, next Sunday night, we're going to do verse 1 and 2. It's really important that you get the overview. And when you look at it, it all looks familiar but some of the most wonderful truth you will ever know is contained in verse 1 and 2, what we haven't looked at. And it's critical to your dealing with the book. Let me tell you why. Do you notice in verse 1, those who are called beloved and kept? Those who are called beloved and kept. What do you think the emphasis of those words is? Well simply stated, we could sum that up in the word "security," couldn't we? We are protected. And what Jude does to begin this book is to tell us you can go into the war, you can go into the foray, you can go into the battle for truth because you never have to fear. That's how he starts the book. You are the called. You are the beloved and you are the kept. Get in the war and don't be afraid.
Do you want to see how he ends it? Verse 24, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, He will make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy." You know, any time anybody goes to war, there's always the fear that you might die, right? There's always the fear that you engage in war, you may be a casualty. So Jude begins and ends with the fact that you cannot be a casualty in this war, you are the called, you are the kept, and you are the beloved and the Lord has committed Himself to keep you from stumbling and make sure when the battle is over you'll be standing in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy. And we're to look at that next time, our secure position. We fight and we can't lose. We battle and we can't be a casualty to the conflict.
Lord, we thank You for this wonderful book and tonight has just kind of set it up, I hope, in our minds and whet our appetites for what yet awaits us as its glories unfold for us. You have armed us in every way, all that is left is for us to be faithful and diligent. And I thank You so much for these people in this church who love the truth, who line up to get another Bible to be exposed to more of it. Lord, You have indeed raised a great front, a great force here for the truth. Thank You for that. And may this wonderful epistle equip us to be more effective than ever we could be in engaging in this battle with the confidence that we have nothing to fear from the enemy. We are the called, the beloved, the kept and You will keep us from stumbling as we engage this enemy and bring us in the end into Your presence. May we be faithful to this battle and enjoy the triumph that You promise, in Christ's name. Amen.
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Intel has announced updates to a number of its compilers, libraries, and cluster tools. In general, the upgrades focus on parallel programming support and optimizations. The tools that are part of the upgrades and the new version numbers include:
- Intel Compilers 11.1 (Fortran and C/C++, for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)
- Intel Integrated Performance Primitives (IPP) 6.1 (for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)
- IntelMath Kernel Library (MKL) 10.2 (for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)
- Intel Cluster Toolkit, Compiler Edition 3.2.1 (for Windows, Linux)
With the upgrades, support is included for the new AVX and AES instructions. AVX, short for "Advanced Vector Extensions," is a 256-bit instruction set extension to SSE and is designed for applications that are floating-point intensive. AVX can improve performance on existing and new applications that lend themselves to largely vectorizable data sets. Wider vector data sets can process up to twice the throughput of 128-bit data sets. The AES (short for "Advanced Encryption Standard") instructions set is the U.S. Government standard for symmetric encryption. It includes four instructions to facilitate high-performance AES encryption and decryption, and two instructions support the AES key expansion procedure. The Intel Software Development Emulator implements both AVX and AES and can be downloaded here.
Among other enhancements, Intel Compilers 11.1 provides support for Eclipse CDT 5.0 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (SLES11). Moreover, the Intel Parallel Debugger Extension added to Intel C++ Compiler, Professional Edition for Windows. This lets you step through a parallel region in serial mode during debug session, without rebuilding. You can also find data sharing violations and breakpoint when the occur, and identify re-entrant functions and, breakpoint when one is encountered. This works with OpenMP applications compiled with /debug:parallel from Intel C++ Compiler.
Upgrades to the Integrated Performance Primitives (IPP) 6.1 support:
- Deferred Mode Image Processing (DMIP) Framework that delivers pipelined parallelism, improving performance of pipelined image operations, especially on larger images. The 6.1 version introduces task parallelism and, Intel claims, as much as 250% multicore performance scaling.
- PNG codec has been added to Unified Image Codec framework with 300% faster encoding than open source reference implementation.
- Improved Visual Studio Integration . Intellisense autocompletes function names and exposes parameter details for inclusion of Intel PP functions.
- Processor optimizations for future AVX 256-bit CPU architecture. A set of 65 optimized functions is included which average a 50% speedup over Core i7 processor performance.
- Improved data compression deflate/inflate APIs provide better zlib compatibility. Supports broader set of zlib usage scenarios so more applications can take advantage of IPP zlib acceleration.
- New cryptography functions (RSA_SSA1.5,RSA_PKCSv1.5) added to support HDCP 2.0 standard.
- Texture compression, advanced lighting, and 3D geometric super sampling functions added for improved image processing performance.
The Math Kernel Library (MKL) 10.2 now includes support for Intel Xeon 5500 optimizations, .NET/C#, AVX, improved FFTs (Scaling for scaling factors 1/N, 1/sqrt(N), DFTI_FORWARD_SIGN, Radices mix of 7, 11 and 13. and optimizer real data transforms in Cluster FFT), single-precision support in PARDISO ("Parallel Direct and Iterative Solvers"), and more.

subset: commoncrawl


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Pontiac baby dies after being left in car
1:10 PM, September 13, 2013
A 16-month-old boy has died after being left in a car in Pontiac on Thursday, the second such case in metro Detroit this month and third death under similar circumstances this summer.
Deputies were sent to the 1600 block of Savanna just before 6 p.m. Thursday because a woman was screaming that her baby had been left in the car and was dead, according to a news release from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
The boy was taken to McLaren Oakland hospital in Pontiac, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy was planned for today.
The boy's mother told deputies the boy's father was watching him while she was at work during the day. She had left in the morning and returned in the evening.
The father, a 46-year-old Pontiac man, was questioned by detectives. The investigation is continuing.
Although the boy's cause of death has not been determined, at least two other children have died of heat stroke after being in a vehicle in metro Detroit just this summer.
Two-year-old James Nelson was found dead in a minivan in Shelby Township on Sept. 3. That investigation is continuing as authorities try to determine who placed the child in his vehicle seat. In addition, a 5-year-old boy died when he climbed into his grandfather's vehicle in Romulus in July, according to Amber Rollins, director and volunteer manager with KidsAndCars.org.
At least 10 children have died of heatstroke from being in a vehicle since 1995 in Michigan, according to Rollins.
Nearly three dozen children have died nationally this year from being in hot vehicles, officials have said, with one dying every nine days since 1998.


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Author Notes: I started making this rub after reading about cowboy food, they carried with them coffee, salt, pepper and sugar...and they grilled their steaks in cast iron pans...since I do not often find myself on the open range I have to make due with either my grill or during wet yucky weather, my oven. I've added a couple of spices and few non cowboy type extras.. though I'm pretty sure if the cowboys had chocolate stout they would've enjoyed it too. ... on the rare occasions when I have been forced to camp outdoors I've brought pre rubbed steaks with me to get a taste of the old west... If you have no chocolate stout available any dark beer will do, you can also sub red wine, but it will be very different. I like to use a pre heated cast iron pan because in conducts the heat well...and you don't have to turn the meat over —Aliwaks
Food52 Review: Ground coffee, smoked paprika, cumin, ancho chile and brown sugar form an earthy, flinty rub that smells appealingly of wood smoke. Aliwaks borrows a smart technique from Indian cooking and has you toast the spices over low heat before rubbing them on the steak. Then it's just a matter of searing it in a very hot iron pan and finishing the sauce with some chocolate brown stout, beef stock and a lump of butter. We recommend some corn pudding on the side. - A&M —The Editors
Serves: 2
nice, thick rib eye, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick, big enough for two
tablespoon ground coffee
tablespoons kosher salt (we used Diamond Crystal -- you may want to reduce the salt to taste, especially if using Morton's Kosher or other finer salt, see comments)
teaspoons dark brown sugar
teaspoon smoked paprika
tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
teaspoon ground cumin
teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (preferably Ancho chile)
cup chocolate stout (you'll have to drink the rest)
cup beef stock
tablespoon unsalted butter
sprig thyme
tablespoon vegetable oil (if you are the type to save bacon fat, by all means use it!)
- Mix the coffee, salt, paprika, peppers, and cumin together and toast lightly in pan until fragrant (alternatively you can toast whole spices then grind). Mix the spices with the sugar to make the rub.
- Spread the rub all over the steak and let sit for awhile, if you do it the night before you'll have stronger flavor but if you do it right before serving it'll be good, too. (If you pre-rub and set it in the fridge, be sure to bring it up to room temperature before searing, so you do not shock the meat.)
- Heat a cast iron pan until it's really really hot -- a drop of water flicked into the pan should sizzle and bounce. Add vegetable oil, wait a few seconds until the oil heats up, then place the steak in the pan. It should sizzle; leave it there, do not touch it at all for 3-4 minutes. It should be browning on the bottom. Then place it under a hot broiler and broil to medium rare or desired doneness.
- Remove the steak and let rest on a warm plate, cover with aluminum foil.
- Add the thyme sprig to the pan and let it saute a bit till it gets nice and fragrant. Pour in the chocolate stout and deglaze the pan. Add the beef broth, whisk together and reduce by half over medium heat.
- Remove the thyme sprig and whisk in the butter. Season to taste.
- Slice the steak on the bias and drizzle the sauce over top. This is yummy with creamed spinach and hash browns or a baked potato and a nice big salad.
- Your Best Broiled Steak Contest Winner!
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes:
Beef|Chocolate|Coffee|Cumin|Paprika|Rib|Thyme|Cast Iron|Winter|Entree


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|Ben Liebenberg / NFL
|Cam Newton would still go No. 1 to the Panthers if the draft was held again today, but a lot would change after that.
This has been a really good season for rookies making an impact. There are obvious cases like Cam Newton as well as several other good first-round picks and under-the-radar guys who have contributed.
As we near the midway point of the season, a common practice around the league is for teams to a do re-draft to see how their evaluations from April stack up now that we have two months of games to better assess players. Have rookies exceeded, met or failed to meet expectations? Most importantly, teams attempt to figure out what character or talent traits have led to a player succeeding or failing so that any potential trends can be used in future evaluations.
With that, I've taken a detailed look at the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft and predicted how teams would pick now. There's a different look to the top 10, including three quarterbacks now going in the top five, and things really start to shift toward the middle of the round.
1. Carolina Panthers
Actual pick -- Cam Newton
Adjusted pick -- Same: Newton has exceeded all expectations and should set multiple rookie passing records. With Newton at the helm, the Panthers have scored just nine fewer in points through eight games than they did all of last season.
|Ted S. Warren / Associated Press
|The way Andy Dalton has played for the Bengals, he's outplayed his second-round draft status.
2. Denver Broncos
Actual pick -- Von Miller
Adjusted pick -- Andy Dalton: There's no doubt that Miller is a good player. He has six sacks, but the Broncos are a quarterback away from being a potential playoff team in that division. Despite being 2-5, Denver has talent and Dalton gives them a better chance to win. He's another rookie QB playing above expectations. Dalton's not flashy, but is smart and steady.
3. Buffalo Bills
Actual pick -- Marcell Dareus
Adjusted pick -- Same: Dareus is the primary reason the Bills are giving up nine fewer points per game this year. At this time last year, they were 0-7 and now they're 5-2. He played really well against Washington (2.5 sacks) and is starting to assert himself in Buffalo.
4. Cincinnati Bengals
Actual pick -- A.J. Green
Adjusted pick -- Same: The Bengals lost their three top receivers from last season and Green has provided a go-to option in the passing game. He has 33 receptions and five touchdowns. They have five wins already after finishing with four last year. Green and the rest of the draft class have played a major role in that accomplishment.
5. Arizona Cardinals
Actual pick -- Patrick Peterson
Adjusted pick -- Christian Ponder: History says it's far easier to find a corner than a quarterback. Ponder has played really well in his two starts and his lack of arm strength would be mitigated by the fact that the Cardinals play indoors. He's very smart and recognizes things quickly. Peterson has started seven games and taken back two punts for touchdowns, but when you have continued issues under center that has to be your top priority. This also would have allowed the Cardinals to bypass the Kevin Kolb trade.
6. Atlanta Falcons
Actual pick -- Julio Jones
Adjusted pick -- Same: Jones is still the guy here. You could very easily flip Green and Jones. Even though Jones has been hurt, he leads the Falcons in average yards per catch (14.3 yards). He's also a good blocker, which is important in Atlanta's run-based offense.
7. San Francisco 49ers
Actual pick -- Aldon Smith
Adjusted pick -- Same: Smith is a pass rush specialist. He looks like Jevon Kearse when he came into the league and had 14.5 sacks as a rookie. If Smith was a horse, the way he runs make him look like Secretariat compared to going up against a bunch of plow horses.
8. Tennessee Titans
Actual pick -- Jake Locker
Adjusted pick -- Patrick Peterson: With Matt Hasselbeck playing well and the team in the playoff race, the Titans can afford to bypass a QB for the future and go after the best player still on the board in Peterson. The LSU product is a solid corner and gives Tennessee someone to pair with Cortland Finnegan. Peterson also brings another dimension with his ability in the return game.
9. Dallas Cowboys
Actual pick -- Tyron Smith
Adjusted pick -- Nate Solder: The difference is Smith will be good, but Solder is ready to play right now because he was a five-year player and has more experience. Solder's stronger and more polished.
10. Jacksonville Jaguars
Actual pick -- Blaine Gabbert
Adjusted pick -- Same: He's started the bulk of their games and moved the team well at times. He's mobile and has a good arm but needs to work on accuracy. The Jaguars also have to get him some more weapons.
11. Houston Texans
Actual pick -- J.J. Watt
Adjusted pick -- Von Miller: Miller falls here. It's not necessarily because of anything he's done wrong, but he's a great fit for the 3-4 in Houston as opposed to the 4-3 in Denver. He's an excellent pass rusher and can make plays after dropping back.
12. Minnesota Vikings
Actual pick -- Christian Ponder
Adjusted pick -- Jake Locker: The Vikings still go with a potential QB of the future. Locker's the guy they really wanted all along and he would be playing now on a struggling team and learning on the job. No one realized he played hurt last season, which hurt his stock. Locker has good poise and arm strength.
13. Detroit Lions
Actual pick -- Nick Fairley
Adjusted pick -- J.J. Watt: Watt is probably better suited for a 4-3 defense because he's a more effective rusher with his hand on the ground. He shows good effort and is one of those guys who never quits. Fairley is talented but has struggled to make an impact due to injury.
14. St. Louis Rams
Actual pick -- Robert Quinn
Adjusted pick -- Adrian Clayborn: Quinn had a good game last week in the win over the Saints, but hasn't done much else. Clayborn has seven starts and is a good pass rusher (three sacks) who gives effort on every play.
15. Miami Dolphins
Actual pick -- Mike Pouncey
Adjusted pick -- DeMarco Murray:While Pouncey has been good, he's a center and Miami needs someone to put some juice in the offense. Reggie Bush was supposed to be that guy, but Murray is capable of having a big game every week. Murray's not only a runner with quickness and acceleration but is also a good receiver.
16. Washington Redskins
Actual pick -- Ryan Kerrigan
Adjusted pick --Same: No need to change here. Kerrigan has seven starts playing a new position, 3-4 linebacker as opposed to defensive end. He has taken to the position naturally, making plays in space.
17. New England Patriots
Actual pick -- Nate Solder
Adjusted pick --Tyron Smith: So Solder and Smith flip positions. Smith is 20 and is going to be very good. But he lacks the strength and experience to be successful at this point. Eagles DE Jason Babin killed him last week with a few spin moves.
18. San Diego Chargers
Actual pick -- Corey Liuget
Adjusted pick -- Phil Taylor: This is a breaking point as far as the talent level dropping a bit. Everybody before this point has Pro Bowl potential off what we've seen so far. The Chargers opt to go for Taylor over Liuget because he could be a nose tackle, which is a bigger priority in the 3-4. Taylor has seven starts and three sacks. He's played above expectations and is more powerful than Liuget.
19. New York Giants
Actual pick -- Prince Amukamara
Adjusted pick --Same: He's still trying to come back from a broken foot, but has the potential to be a solid starter when he gets healthy.
20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Actual pick -- Adrian Clayborn
Adjusted pick -- Jabaal Sheard: With Clayborn already off the board, Sheard is another solid 4-3 end option. He has seven starts and gives you good effort and is an excellent pass rusher.
21. Cleveland Browns
Actual pick -- Phil Taylor
Adjusted pick -- Nick Fairley: The Browns would be without their top two draft picks in this scenario. Fairley is another guy who has been limited due to injury, so I'm basing this off his play at Auburn as an inside pass rusher with good quickness.
22. Indianapolis Colts
Actual pick -- Anthony Castonzo
Adjusted pick -- Same: Quarterback would have to be a consideration, but the top-tier options are all gone. Castonzo is right where he should be. He had four starts before he got hurt and played well.
23. Philadelphia Eagles
Actual pick -- Danny Watkins
Adjusted pick -- Stefen Wisniewski: Wisniewski's been a big surprise. He has blocked well in both run and pass and is one of the reasons why the Raiders have the second-ranked rushing attack. He's a strong, tough football player and has more experience than Watkins.
24. New Orleans Saints
Actual pick -- Cameron Jordan
Adjusted pick -- Same: He doesn't have any sacks, but has started every game for the Saints. Jordan plays on the strong side, which limits his chances to get sacks. He's been very solid vs. the run.
25. Seattle Seahawks
Actual pick -- James Carpenter
Adjusted pick -- Same: He's been playing right tackle out of necessity, but his best position is probably guard. He could be moved to the interior at some point and be a Pro Bowl player.
26. Kansas City Chiefs
Actual pick -- Jonathan Baldwin
Adjusted pick -- Same: He had a breakout game vs. the Chargers. His broken hand slowed him down to start the season. Baldwin's a big guy who runs good routes and has excellent speed for his size (6-foot-4, 228 pounds). He doesn't look that fast until he runs right by you. There's very little difference between Green, Jones and Baldwin.
27. Baltimore Ravens
Actual pick -- Jimmy Smith
Adjusted pick -- Same: He's been hurt, but from what we saw in preseason and some limited action is a good cover corner. Smith's going to be a starter and has Pro Bowl potential.
28. New Orleans Saints
Actual pick -- Mark Ingram
Adjusted pick -- Same: I almost took Stevan Ridley here. Ingram is a solid power back and a nice option on the goal line. But with little flash to his game, he will never be a star.
29. Chicago Bears
Actual pick -- Gabe Carimi
Adjusted pick -- Same: Carimi has been out since Week 2. In his brief stint as a starter, he made a difference on that offensive line. He's really strong and has really good hands. He's best suited to stay at right tackle and should be a strong starter going forward.
30. New York Jets
Actual pick -- Muhammad Wilkerson
Adjusted pick -- Same: He's started seven games and exceeded expectations. Wilkerson has good size and athletic ability, which should make him a viable part of that defense for years to come.
31. Pittsburgh Steelers
Actual pick -- Cam Heyward
Adjusted pick -- Corey Liuget:Liuget is strong and shows flashes of being able to make big plays. Consistency in his game hasn't been there yet and that needs to improve. Heyward hasn't gotten on the field, and I like Liuget better.
32. Green Bay Packers
Actual pick -- Derek Sherrod
Adjusted pick -- Danny Watkins: Sherrod has upside but doesn't have a lot of experience or strength. Watkins is a tough, hard-nose guy. See what the Eagles did against the Cowboys as proof of that.
Players dropping out of the first round
Robert Quinn (originally drafted 14th), Mike Pouncey (15th), Cam Heyward (31st), and Derek Sherrod (32nd).
Players moving into the first round
Andy Dalton (35th), DeMarco Murray (71st), Jabaal Sheard (37th), Stefen Wisniewski (48th).


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Dr of BBQ My new Charcoal Grill it's an all Stainless Steel unit and is 37 inches wide, sitting on a trailer with a detachable tongue. It is a head turner and the food sales from this unit are great becuase people walk up at events to look at it and buy what ever were cooking on it.
Barbeque barn the barbeque barn
BlakkmoonNot a weberIt's a BRINKMANNI think wally world still sells them, though not the same quality as back then.It's a fantastic grill.36 inches wide.Heavy gauge stainless.5 separate burners ALL CAST IRON.... not today's fake stainless garbage.CAST IRON grills.It weighed in at 300 pounds.And it only cost $300.I sold my carts, but the new owners still have the same unit on there.I also bought one for the back yard and it's still in operation.


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Dr. Pat Baccili
Dr. Pat Baccili helps individuals and organizations break through their limiting Crust so they can reach their unlimited potential. Her specialty is assisting people face t...Find out more »
Yvonne Oswald
Yvonne Oswald is a National U.S. award winning pioneer in the field of personal growth. Voted a 2010 Woman of Influence and Inspiration by the Ministry of Government Service...Find out more »


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1. After hearing for weeks about how the Ravens have become an offensive team, the defense seized Sunday's victory, but that doesn't mean that its issues have been resolved.
There was no official news conference or a photo opportunity for the passing of the torch, but it is clear the Ravens, the rowdy bunch of renegades who were the last line of defense for the argument that defense wins championships, are relying more than ever on their offense to win football games. This sea change didn't happen overnight. The construction of this offense began back in 2008, when the Ravens chose quarterback Joe Flacco and running back Ray Rice with their first two draft picks. Since then, they have slowly modernized the offense, assembling nimble linemen, explosive wide receivers, and a pair of athletic, pass-catching tight ends around them. At some point this offseason -- maybe due to the major injury to linebacker Terrell Suggs or to the advancing age of fellow defensive cornerstones Ray Lewis and Ed Reed -- coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron decided it was time for the Ravens to open up the offense and stop relying on the defense to prop them up. In the first four weeks of 2012, the Ravens recorded more total yards than they ever had in the first quarter of a season, but their defense also surrendered more yards than it ever had through the first four weeks. On Sunday, though, this proud Ravens defense, one that seems to have grown tired of all the talk about its demise, showed that is still capable of carrying the Ravens to a victory when the offense has an off week. The Ravens recorded four turnovers -- though three were giveaways more than they were takeaways -- and kept the Kansas City Chiefs out of the end zone in a sloppy, but fast-paced 9-6 win in Kansas City. They weathered three drives in the red zone, including one where the Chiefs had 1st-and-goal from their 1-yard line, and held them to two short field goals by kicker Ryan Succop. But, while the Ravens defense did save the day for a Ravens offense that mustered just 298 total yards, that unit also did little to quiet preexisting concerns about it while adding another one back to the fix-it list. The Chiefs, a bad football team that is still looking for its first lead of the season, had a simple game plan entering Sunday's game, and that was to ride running back Jamaal Charles until the wheels came off or until they fell so far behind the Ravens that they had to abandon the run. The latter never happened because the Ravens offense got off to another slow start, and that allowed to the Chiefs to run the ball 50 times for a whopping 214 rushing yards against a Ravens defense that had allowed just 2.7 yards per carry combined in their previous three games. Charles became the first player to run for more than 100 yards in the first half against the Ravens since James Allen of the Chicago Bears did it in October 1998. But the Ravens finally figured out a solution -- it helped that the Chiefs didn't really have a Plan B to give them other problems to solve -- and held Charles to 15 rushing yards in the second half by readjusting the pre-snap alignment of their front seven and putting their linebackers closer to the line of scrimmage to plug up running lanes. Still, the Chiefs, who entered the game with the NFL's top-ranked rushing attack, shredded the notion that the Ravens defense remains elite when it comes to stopping the run. And we didn't see enough of Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel, who was replaced by Brady Quinn late in the fourth quarter after Ravens defense tackle Haloti Ngata knocked him out of the game, to draw any new conclusions about Baltimore's struggling pass defense. They held the Chiefs to 124 yards through the air -- and picked off a pair of Cassel's passes off deflections -- but the Chiefs only threw the ball 18 times. In those limited amount of snaps to pressure the quarterback, the Ravens didn't get a single sack. And overall, the Ravens allowed the Chiefs to move the chains with six conversions on third-down plays. The defense once again bent, but it didn't break, which is why the Ravens were able to sneak out of Arrowhead Stadium with an ugly win. But I saw nothing that convinced me that they won't snap a few times later this season, especially with so many quality quarterbacks left to play. The good news is the offensive guys know they owe the defense one, and they are now more than capable of paying them back.
Christopher T. Assaf, Baltimore Sun
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Two UW Law School alumnae are featured in "O, The Oprah Magazine" for their unconventional community service organization.
Pamela Hart '02 and Megan Senatori '01 founded Sheltering Animals of Abuse Victims, or SAAV. In the article, Senatori explains that most domestic abuse shelters will not accept pets, and that many women delay leaving abusive relationships because they do not want to abandon their pets.
SAAV not only provides a home for such pets, it also works to raise awareness of the connection between animal abuse and domestic violence.
The "O" article is not available online, but is on newsstands now.
Submitted by UW Law School News on October 22, 2010
This article appears in the categories: Alumni, In the Media


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"We're a lot tougher than we were when we had an open face to the world. I don't have as many flowers in my hair, but I am still moved when I sing with this band." — Bono
November 8: Auckland
November 9: Auckland
November 12: Brisbane
November 15: Melbourne
November 19: Adelaide
May 25: Bangor
December 24: Dublin
December 5: Miami
November 19: Hollywood
November 13: Berlin
June 18, 1992: Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
June 18, 1997: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA
June 18, 2005: Twickenham Stadium, London, England
June 18, 2011: Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, CA
June 18, 2012: Bord Gais Energy Theater, Dublin, Ireland
June 18, 2017: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
See more concerts in the London area.
Attendance: 20,000
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VIDEO: Pau Gasol scores 19 points and grabs seven rebounds in the Lakers' recent win over the Kings
HANG TIME WEST – There are the assumptions and the speculation that Kobe Bryant's extension increases the possibility Bryant favorite Pau Gasol will get an offer to remain a Laker. And, that obviously, Gasol will jump at the chance because him as a free agent, hat in hand, will be a sad sight.
Then there is the reality: Gasol, he made clear to NBA.com, could be the one to decide to break up.
While he is definitely interested in staying and his affection for the organization is obvious, the player about 6 1/2 months away from free agency said his hopes to win another championship will weigh heavily on what he does in July and may weigh greater than than the opportunity to stay in a familiar setting or to make more money. Especially since there may be another familiar setting out there awaiting the 33-year-old power forward.
"There's different factors you have to take into account," Gasol said. "The financial factor. That I've been with this franchise, for what I've been through, the loyalty I have to them. And also the chances of winning a championship. Those three are the most. What percentage I will give or prioritize, we'll see when the opportunities come along. But I would like to first be in a position to win a championship again and enjoy the last few years of my career and be in a good position to do so."
If the projections come true and the Lakers are clearly not a contender, would that increase the chances of leaving?
"If there's possibilities of being in a place that has those type of chances, it's something I will think about," he said. "But, again, I'm not in that position yet. I'm here. We're just kind of guessing here. We'll see. We'll cross the bridge when I get there. No rush."
The only thing Gasol can say with certainty is that he will not consider a return to Europe. Maybe some day, as a full-circle finish to a career that started in his native Spain, but not in the foresseable future.
The other return? Memphis has not been ruled out.
The Grizzlies are a great financial unknown and team unknown, as well. They face a pending Zach Randolph decision about whether to pick up his $16.5-million option for next season or pass that up in hopes of his stated desire to get a longer deal to stay.
But a return to Memphis does have the obvious emotional appeal for Gasol: the presence of brother, Marc. Plus, Memphis was Pau's first NBA home, for 6 1/2 years before the trade to the Lakers. And, a future with Randolph (in the final season of the current deal or under a new contract), Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Tony Allen is a positive starting point to a playoff team.
"It's appealing," Pau Gasol told NBA.com. "One of the best centers in the NBA, one of the best interior players, is my brother. There's a lot of attractive factors there. But who knows if that's even a possibility or if that will ever happen. Right now, I'm just trying to focus on (the Lakers' opponents) and staying healthy and playing a very successful year so this team and others will have the certainty and the confidence that I am a difference maker, that I am an elite player and I have a lot of years in me."
Gasol is shooting just 41.7 percent, on early pace for a clear career low and a fifth consecutive season of decline, but is also rebounding at a high rate (9.5 boards per game in just 30.3 minutes, an increase from 2012-13), has a personality that fits in any positive locker-room environment, is a talented passer, and has mountains of playoff experience. Teams will be interested, to where he can't say whether the Lakers will get a home-town discount on the next contract.
"It depends on the circumstances and the scenarios," Gasol said. "If I don't have all the cards, if I only have one, two cards, I can't really make a decision then. I'll wait to see what happens. There might be the possibility of an extension that is attractive enough for everyone. That wouldn't be out of the question. But it's kind of appealing to be in a position of free choice at the end of the season."


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Impeccably styled black and white stripes band this 3-light pendant chandelier in crisply tailored luxury.More Details >
This drum shade pendant chandelier features an exclusive pattern printed on high-quality canvas. The design has a simple, modern look great for kitchens, dining rooms, or other spaces. A white acrylic diffuser at the bottom of the shade prevents glare. Includes extra cable and cord so you can adjust hang height. U.S. Patent # 7,347,593.


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You see the following error code when you use your Xbox One console:
This means that your console is not connected to Xbox Live.
Solution 1: Check the Xbox Live service status
If you see any alerts here, wait until the service is up and running and try again:
Solution 2: Troubleshoot your Xbox Live connection
To resolve this problem, see the Xbox One Disconnect Solution.
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Ontario is ensuring businesses in the province continue to stay ahead in the innovation economy, and attract investment and top talent, by supporting a new institute for artificial intelligence (AI) with a specific focus on deep learning and machine learning.
Ontario's highly skilled workforce, competitive business climate and recognized culture of innovation make the province an ideal home for the Vector Institute for artificial intelligence. The institute will work to produce, retain and attract top talent in the field and generate further investment from companies looking to hire experts and expand their AI divisions.
Collaborating with established businesses, start-ups and academic institutions, the institute's work holds great promise for solving some of the biggest health, social and economic challenges of our time. Artificial intelligence can deliver improvements as diverse as accurately diagnosing an illness earlier, to protecting people against consumer fraud.
Ontario's investment in the Vector Institute will help:
Staying on the cutting edge of technology and leading global innovation is part of Ontario's plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.
"Artificial intelligence and deep learning are, in fact, all about people. We will harness these cutting-edge technologies to improve everyday life in Ontario, while also attracting the world's best talent to our province. These investments strengthen our position as a global leader in the innovation economy, which is critical to creating more well-paying jobs and shared prosperity for the people of Ontario."
–– Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario
"Ontario is, and will remain, a leader in the innovation and knowledge economy, and by accelerating artificial intelligence development and research our government is demonstrating our continued commitment to improving the lives of all Ontarians. The Vector Institute will help Ontario shape homegrown solutions and stay at the forefront of AI innovation, making improvements from food safety to how we teach our children or better care for our loved ones when they are sick."
— Reza Moridi, Minister of Research, Innovation and Science
"The Vector Institute is a great example of how we're partnering with the private sector and academic institutions to make sure Ontario is driving innovation. It's more important than ever that we take steps to stay ahead when it comes to R&D and commercialization in a highly competitive knowledge-based economy. Investments like these will help diversify our economy and create jobs of the future that will be increasingly in demand."
— Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Growth and Development
"The opportunities for new discoveries in the field of deep learning are very exciting, and the applications are endless. Now is the time for us to lead the research and shape the future of this field, putting neural network technologies to work in ways that will improve health care, strengthen our economy and unlock new fields of scientific advancement. And with the Vector Institute collaborating with institutes in Montreal and Edmonton we can do that here in Canada."
— Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, Chief Scientific Advisor, Vector Institute
Highly Skilled Workforce Strategy
This website is provided for your convenience. If you'd prefer to call or email, my staff and I would be happy to hear from you.
The Ford government's attack on Francophonie in OntarioNovember 21, 2018
Delivering a Plan for Care and OpportunityMarch 28, 2018
Helping Families Save Money and Fight Climate Change At HomeDecember 13, 2017
Making Auto Insurance More AffordableDecember 06, 2017
Call for nominations


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News editor
Marion County Commission approved bonuses and merit-based raises for full-time county employees on Friday.
Every full-time employee is to receive a $100 year-end bonus, and every full-time employee whose evaluation determined they met expectations will receive a 1 percent pay raise, effective Dec. 21. Marion County has 102 full-time employees, County Clerk Carol Maggard said.
With taxes and benefits figured in, the bonuses will cost the county a total of $11,693. Maggard said the exact financial cost of the raises was unclear. The commission planned to announce the bonuses at the county Christmas party on Saturday.
Road loan decreased
The county amended a loan agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation for road construction on 330th between Tampa and K-15. A previous agreement allowed for a loan of up to $2 million. The actual amount borrowed was $1,684,650.
Sales tax receipts up
General sales tax received for September was $61,137, up 16.2 percent from the same time in 2011. Through 11 months, the county has received $606,860 in general sales tax, up 2.3 percent from 2011. The sales tax for the jail raised $54,219 in September, bringing the year-to-date amount to $538,230.
In other business:
- Health Department employee Lori Bebermeyer will assume duties as a home childcare surveyor. With the extra responsibilities, she will receive a raise from $2,014 to $2,361 per month. The decision was announced after a five minute closed session to discuss personnel.
- Cooperative Grain & Supply of Hillsboro will supply the county with 14,550 gallons of fuel for $48,940. Cardie Oil Company of Tampa bid $49,520.
- Maggard met with the commission in closed session three times for 15 minutes each to discuss personnel matters.
- The commission met Monday for performance reviews of appointed department heads.
The next commission meeting is scheduled for Monday.


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How the Phoenix Suns shoot—and score—on social media
Here are seven social media tips the basketball team shared from our Disney conference.
*This is a live blog from our 6th Annual Social Media for PR and Corporate Communications Conference at the Walt Disney World Resort. Please excuse any typos.
Jeramie McPeek, vice president of digital for the Phoenix Suns shares the basketball team's winning social strategy.
Build a social team "I think of social media like a [sports] team. Every team member has their own individual goals and value," says McPeek.
McPeek knows that employees are valuable brand ambassadors. Employees are active on Twitter. The TV production department has a social media presence, the dancers have accounts, as well as other key players in the Phoenix Suns world. This keeps the Suns present on social 24/7. McPeek took building a social team a step further and recruited a group of fans to be social media ambassadors who took pictures during games and posted updates to social media platforms. The Suns thanked them for their engagement with a special 'tweet suite' at the arena—an exclusive area for the lucky winners to watch the game and receive other perks.
Be social Ask your fans questions. The Phoenix Suns ask a lot of questions on Facebook. They pose questions like, "What's your favorite music to hear in the arena. What's your favorite concession?" and more to keep fans interested, active and engaged.
The Suns also share fan photos on Twitter. The social media team chooses the best photos and tweets them from the @Suns Twitter account, posts them to their blog or offers the winners prizes.
Before games, the social team often tweets a #fansrollcall hashtag to engage fans and ask them where they're watching the game from.
McPeek and team also hosted a Twitter casting call to encourage fans to tweet to be casted in a Suns commercial.
Entertainment When the apocalypse was almost upon us (see the end of the Mayan Calendar) McPeek and team took a tongue-in-cheek approach to the publicized 'event.' They tweeted saying, "Tomorrow night's game could be last game" and asked Suns players, "What does it mean if the earth comes to end"? They wrote a blog on the topic, tweeted and posted it to Facebook and received a lot of fan engagement.
McPeek explains that a big part of entertaining Suns fans is creating exclusive content. The social media team tweets pictures from the locker room, Instagram pictures from being on the road, interviews and other behind-the-scenes content that fans can't get from local Suns coverage or ESPN.com.
Experiment "If something doesn't work, there's always the delete button," says McPeek about social media. "If a channel on social doesn't work, you can move away from it."
What McPeek and team don't shy away from is having fun with fans on social. The Suns were the first team in the NBA to hold an @Suns Twitter tweetup (an in-person meeting of people who have previously connected on Twitter) in 2009. They offered fans discounted tickets to games, prizes and the opportunity to meet one of the team's players. The social media team has also used this strategy on Facebook.
The Suns were also the first team in the NBA to stream tweets along the bottom of TV broadcasts of the game. They did this for two seasons but decided it was too cumbersome to continue. The Suns also screen tweets in their arena.
Another innovative step McPeek took was to hire a social media sideliner. The sideliner spends the season joining broadcasters and using social media to share the scoop on the Suns with fans.
Inform The Suns focus on keeping fans up-to-date on the team. They use social to inform fans of breaking news, statistics, if a player has a career night, and more. McPeek and team post about game broadcasts, new merchandise, community initiatives, PR initiatives and other information that they know fans will find useful and interesting.
Reward McPeek knows that it's all about the fans. His team offers giveaways—they gave away 1400 tickets to social media fans one season. They offer opportunities to meet players, be in team photos and much more.
Listening "We are constantly listening to fans," says McPeek.
McPeek noticed that a fan sent out a tweet and photo complaining about a bad seat at a Suns game. His followers sympathized with him and started tweeting as well. McPeek took this as an opportunity. He responded by offering the disgruntled fan a special seat in a suite in the arena.
As it turns out, this fan is a big name in social media with many followers. He responded saying he was happy and gave kudos to the Suns. Ah, the power of managing social media well.
————————- BJ Emerson, VP of technology for Tasti D-Lite and Planet Smoothie gave our #RaganDisney attendees the scoop on driving customer engagement through social media. How well does your company listen to customers? Do you retweet flattering tweets? Do you monitor for mentions of your brand name? Emerson challenges communicators to go a step beyond and bridge the gap between the online and physical experience.
Emerson works with Tasti D-Lite, a New York-based frozen dessert company, to help spread enthusiasm about the brand through the customer experience.
He employed four strategic, and very doable, tactics.
Celebrate with fans A customer was became mayor of Tasti D-Lite on Foursquare and shared their enthusiasm with the cashier. The cashier said, "What does that mean?" Emerson emphasized that the cashier—and the company—missed an opportunity to engage with and reward a loyal fan.
The cashier could've celebrated with the new Tasti D-Lite 'mayor.' She's a loyal customer. The cashier could have provided incentive and said, "Tomorrow, you might be ousted as mayor, you better come back."
People like prizes Emerson was monitoring mentions of Tasti D-Lite on Twitter and noticed a fan tweet about potentially buying from the dessert company later in the day. He offered her a Tasti D-Lite coupon and she continued to tweet about the positive interaction. This simple and easy way of engaging with a Tasti D-Lite fan generated a very positive online review for all to see through Twitter.
Create a fun environment for fans In 2010 of January, Tasti D-Lite launched a program where patrons could register their loyalty cards online. In doing so, they enabled a connection between their loyalty account and Twitter, Foursquare or Facebook. The participant is then prompted to pick from a dozen creative messages. When they swipe their card, a message goes out to followers about the purchase.
Tap into the passion "What are your customers passionate about as it relates to your brand and your service?" asks Emerson
Tasti D-Lite people love the flavors. Emerson visited a Tasti D-Lite stores and noticed that an employee had a number of Post-its with phone numbers on them. When he asked about the Post-its, the employee explained that many patrons had asked him to call when their favorite flavors were in stock. Emerson, inspired by this story, launched a 'flavor alerts' by location app. Fans can sign up to receive text or email messages to know when favorite flavor is on deck.
How Disney creates magic through storytelling Here are six ways to tell your story well. Theron Skees, director of creative development for Walt Disney Imagineering, opened our social media and PR conference with a bang.
He shared his tops tips for creating a powerful story that people won't forget.
Keep your message in mind—always
All of the 140 disciplines at Disney—creative, design, PR, etc.—are in support of telling Disney's story.
"We're always supporting our story," says Skees. Disney makes sure to, "Never lose sight of the purpose: to surprise and delight guests daily."
Don't wait for others to tell your story
Walt Disney was innovative. He wanted to do something that had never been done before. He knew that to do this, he had to communicate his message well.
Thankfully, Disney loved—and understood—the idea of synergy. He had a clear understanding of the different brands and divisions within the company and how to communicate with them.
But Disney also kept external relationships in mind. He actively reached out to brands like GM, Coke, and others to help tell Disney's story.
Challenge the "thinking of the day" Disney was a disruptive thinker. Skees says, "We can get stuck in the thinking of the day." Disney didn't.
He pulled himself out of the "typical" way of thinking. People called Disney's idea of changing film-making "Walt's folly." But he pushed forward and made his films a great success.
Keep moving, keep doing
"I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment," said Disney. Skees says Disney loved challenges and was always creating, always busy. Continuing to explore breeds new ideas—it clearly did for Disney!
Be an optimist "It's about telling stories that bring out emotions. That's what creates lasting memories for our guests," explains Skees. He touches on the touching story of Bambi (gets me every time!) and explains that it's stories like these that draw people to Disney.
Technology is not a replacement for the story Disney Parks is known for creative rides and innovative use of technology to help tell a story. Skees emphasizes that technology is medium for storytelling, but it's not going to create the story. This is something to consider when using social and branding: The story always comes first.
(Image via)
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Education: State Continues To Make Same Mistakes
Early on, it looks as if the Common Core standards will find itself in the same place as No Child Left Behind – a rushed, underfunded road to the perfect education paved with good intentions that led nowhere.
The idea behind the Common Core Standards is a good one – have students reach the same educational benchmarks, taught in roughly the same way, regardless of school district or state lines.
Adopted by 45 states, the Common Core does not set in stone the specific curriculum a school should use, but has several key concepts every student should learn each year. Those concepts are aligned to a rigorous set of standards. Common Core advocates say students will learn more if lesson plans and textbooks are all made more complex and difficult through required high standards – and that the best way to improve education across the United States is to have the same standards and guidelines for as many school districts as possible.
A story in Monday's Post-Journal detailed some of the problems area schools are having implementing curriculums that meet the Common Core standards. School officials say they can't afford to buy enough new textbooks and library materials because the state reimbursement for textbooks is far too low. Falconer officials say getting some recommended novels will be difficult because they are out of print. Jamestown is looking at the possibility of putting off textbook replacement in other areas to buy Common Core-applicable books.
The quality of education is only as good as the books schools use and the teachers who teach the material. September seems too early to move to the Common Core system. It's unfair to teachers and the children they educate to rush a new system when schools can't get textbooks and when teachers haven't been properly trained in the new standards.
The higher standards are wonderful, but fall prey to the same problems that have befallen education for the last 20 years – too little money, too little planning and rushed implementation.
This is a mistake New York doesn't have to make again.


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Remove a G Suite service
If you don't want anyone in your organization to use a particular G Suite service, remove it from your Admin console. You can remove many core service such as Gmail, Calendar, Hangouts, and so on. You can also remove services you added from the G Suite Marketplace.
When you remove a service, none of your users can access it. However, you can add the service back later and they won't lose any existing data. If you remove Google Drive, for example, users lose access to their online documents. But if you add Drive back again their documents are restored.
Remove a service for everyone
Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
- From the Home page, click Apps.
- Click the type of service you want to remove (G Suite or Marketplace apps).
- Click the service you want to remove.
- Scroll to the bottom and click the Uninstall link.
For some services you might need to go to a separate sub-page, for example, by clicking General Settings or Advanced Settings.
The service is removed from the list of services in the Admin console.
Turn off a service for some users
To remove a service for some users but not others, don't remove the service as described above. Instead, turn it off for select organizational units. For steps on doing this, go to Control who can access Google services and click the service you want to turn off.


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Bifur was a companion to Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield on the Quest of Erebor. He arrived at Bag End in the company of his brother Bombur, and cousin Bofur. He fought and survived the Battle of Five Armies. Bifur was a descendent of Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, but was not of Durin's line, which means that he was of either the house of the Firebeards or Broadbeams. Which most of the population of these two Houses dwelt for nearly all of the Second Age, and for nearly two thousand years of the Third Age in Khazad-dûm.
It is possible that Bifur fought in the Battle of Dale during the War of the Ring.
The name of Bifur originates in a medieval poet collection Edda and the list of dwarves in Völuspá, where it is written as Bívurr.
|Members of Thorin and Company
|Thorin · Balin · Dwalin · Fíli · Kíli · Dori · Nori · Ori · Óin · Glóin · Bifur · Bofur · Bombur · Gandalf · Bilbo Baggins