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The following sermon transcript does not match the video version of the sermon—it matches only the audio version. Here's a brief explanation why.
John MacArthur routinely preaches a sermon more than once on the same date, during different worship services at Grace Community Church. Normally, for a given sermon title, our website features the audio and video that were recorded during the same worship service. Very occasionally, though, we will post the audio from one service and the video from another. Such was the case for the sermon titled "I and the Father Are One, Part 2," the transcript of which follows below. The transcript is of the audio version.
Let's open our Bibles this morning to Matthew Chapter 22, and I want us to look at a very interesting and wonderful portion of Scripture in our on-going study of Matthew, one, which again, reveals the beauty, wonder, majesty and the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to look at verses 23 through 33, but before we look specifically at the text I need to sort of set the scene a little bit for you so that text will flow. It's always fascinated me that mankind in general has such anticipation of resurrection. I mean it's just built in the very heart of man that there must be a life after life. James Dwight Dana, formerly of Yale University, said one time, "I cannot believe that God would create man and then desert him at the grave." And I think he gathered up in that statement the sense of future hope that really captures every heart, in every time, in every culture with very few exceptions. It beats in the human breast that there's life after life.
If you were to go back and pick up the very ancient Egyptian book of the dead you would find that it is filled with hope of a resurrection life. For example, in the tomb of Pharaoh Kiops sealed over five thousand years ago was discovered the solar boat, which he had built so he could sail through the heavens in his next life. In the ancient Greek religion very often a coin was placed inside the mouth of the corpse so that he could pay his fare across the mystic river of death into the land of immortal life. Some American Indians used to bury a pony and a bow and an arrow with a warrior so that he would be able to ride and hunt in the happy hunting ground. And the Norsemen provided very often a horse to be buried with a dead hero so that he could still have his triumphant ride in immortality. In Greenland Eskimo children, when they died, were buried along with a dog so that they wouldn't have to find their way through the cold wasteland without a guide. It's just part of man to anticipate life after life.
Benjamin Franklin, who was not a Christian, penned his own epitaph and as a boy I saw it in Christ Church in Philadelphia, and this is what Franklin wrote for his won epitaph. "The body of Franklin, printer, like the cover of an old book, it's contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here food for worms. But the work shall not be lost for it will appear once more in a new and more elegant revised and corrected by the author." See man feels the pull of the afterlife.
Now Jews were no different. It was part of Jewish thinking that there was life after life. If we study the Jewish writings around the time of Christ we find this is affirmed. For example, in non-biblical book called Second Maccabees, where we get an insight into Jewish history, their attitudes, philosophy, beliefs, we have quite an interesting section in that Second Maccabees about the idea of resurrection. There's a section in there that describes a man named Rassis, and he is an elder in Israel, and he is greatly upset about the fact that they are under the bondage and domination of the Greeks, and rather than fall into the hands of the hated Greeks, he decides to kill himself. So in front of a crowd, and standing up on a rock, he takes his sword and proceeds to disembowel himself and then he reaches in and tears out his bowels and throws them to the crowd. And Second Maccabees says, "So he died, calling on him who is lord of life and spirit to restore them to him again." Now that was something of the Jewish belief, that there would be another life, another physical life restored after this one was lost. And he thought that by taking his life he was escaping this life only to get life again in a better situation.
There is another interesting book and it is the book of Baruch, B-a-r-u-c-h. And it also expresses the Jewish hope. It says in the 50th Chapter of that book, "The earth then shall assuredly restore the dead, which it now receives in order to preserve them. It shall make no change in their form but as it has received so shall it preserve them. And as it is delivered unto them so shall it raise them. For then it will be necessary to show to the living that the dead have come to life again and that those who have departed have returned again." In other words, that expresses the Jewish belief that you would die and actually come to life in the very same form in which you die.
The Pharisees believed that whatever relationships, whatever situation, whatever marital condition, whatever physical defects, whatever physical deformities, whatever scars, are you ready for this, whatever clothes you had on when you died, that's exactly what you'd be like when you came in the next life. And Baruch expresses the fact that the reason that they believed that was so that when the resurrection happened the ones who were living would know it was a resurrection. If you came back in a different form they wouldn't know you'd been resurrected. They wouldn't know it was you. And then Baruch goes on to say eventually those people who were resurrected and after it was proven they were resurrected would then be transformed into the same splendor that angels have who would be made equal to the stars, they would be changed into every form they desire from beauty into loveliness, from light into the splendor of glory. But first you had to come back and stay awhile the way you were.
The apocalypse of Ezra and the apocalyptic writing of Enoch and many others convey the same resurrection hope. The resurrection is confirmed best of all to the Jews because God affirms it. In Psalm 16, is one of the most familiar and often used text by the Jews where it says in verse 9, "Wherefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices, my flesh also shall rest in hope for Thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave, neither will Thou permit Thine holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life." In other words, the hope that there would be no corruption ultimately, no ultimate death, but life after life. We find it also in Psalm 49:15, which says, "But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol or the grave, for He shall receive me." In Psalm 73:24, "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory." It's also in Psalm 139:8, the same idea. Hosea 6:1-2, they used to use. It talks about after two days on the third day He will revive us, make us alive. In Daniel 12, perhaps the most direct statement of all is made where it says there, Daniel 12:2, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
So here you have their tradition teaching; you have these non-canonical or apocryphial books, and you have the Bible and all of them come together to say there's life after life. Now the Bible didn't spell out how it was going to be, and so there was a lot of debate whether or not you'd have your old clothes or your new clothes, some believe you'd have the clothes you died in, and some believed you'd have different clothes, and there was a lot of discussion about the form, but so we can see from the writing of Baruch, they believed you would come back in the same form you left to make the point that you'd been resurrected and later on you'd be transformed.
Now all that's background as we look at Matthew Chapter 22. The Jews believed strongly in resurrection except one group. One group didn't believe in it. Verse 23 says, "The same day came to Him," that is to Jesus, "The Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection." Now they were at odds with all of Jewish culture, and they were at odds with all of Jewish theology. They did not believe in a resurrection. One group, and every time they are defined for us they're defined in those terms. In Acts 23:8, where they are mentioned for the last in the Scripture the apostle Paul stands before them and they are introduced this way: "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection neither angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both." So they were in a continually heated theological debate with the Pharisees who believed in resurrection and angels because they denied resurrection and they denied angels. And so they really were a very unusual group in Judaism.
Now keep in mind there were four major sects in Judaism: Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes. Essenes were sort of hermits down in the desert who spent all their time copying scrolls and most likely copies the Dead Sea Scrolls, which we have found. Then there were the Zealots who were political activists, who were very nationalistic, who were sort of the terrorists, who were giving trouble to Rome. And then there were the Pharisees who were the religionists. And then there were the Sadducees.
And I'll give you a little bit of information about them so you'll understand what's going on here. They were not many in number. They were a very small group. They were extremely wealthy and very influential. They were the aristocratic ruling class in Judaism. They were the highest echelon. In fact, the chief priests, the high priest, the noblests of the priests were Sadducees. We do not know where that word, Sadducee, comes from. The majority of the members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body in Israel were also Sadducees. So they had great power, they had great influence, they had great prestige, and they also were wealthy because it was they who ran the temple concessions, the money changing, the buying and selling of all sorts of things that went on there were under their power.
They were not popular with the people. first of all rich people who tend to do things for the expediency of their own personal gain don't tend to be very popular. Secondly, their theology was not the theology of the people, for it denied the resurrection. The Pharisees were more popular with the people, and so the conflict between the Pharisees and the Sadducees even added to their unpopularity. They had structural power, they had money power, they gouged the people with the money changing, they gouged the people with the selling and the buying of the animals for the sacrifices, they were not a popular group.
Now politically they were pro Rome, which even added to their unpopularity. They were pro Rome for this reason: they were fat cats. They sat in the place where they could really make it. They prospered in their role as priests. They prospered under the Roman tolerance. Rome let them have their way, Rome let them do what they wanted, Rome gave them the right to function as they saw fit; therefore, they did everything they could to maintain Rome's presence. They did all they could to seek Rome's confidence and Rome's favor. They knew their authority was a delegated permission from the Roman occupation and their wealth and their position and their control and their influence and power and prestige all that was dependent on Rome letting them stay where they were. And so they were pro Roman.
Because of this the people resented them, not only because of their wealth, but because of their political alliance. By the way they completely went out of existence in 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed because their power was only the power of money and the power of leadership, and once Judaism ceased to be self-governing in any sense and once the temple was destroyed and there was no more priesthood and no more power at that point they had no more reason to exist so they completely passed from history. They were connected to that point in time as influential aristocrats who stood in the place of priests; therefore, had some religious clout but more than that they were in the place of real rulers and those who profited off the people.
Now religiously I want to tell you a little about them. That's sort of where they were in the political picture. Religiously they would be hyper fundamentalists. They were very very much literalists when it came to the Scripture. For example, Josephus tells us that in the application of the law to the people when they had to render a judgment they were more savage than any other Jews. They were more narrow minded, more cruel than the Pharisees. The Pharisees, says Josephus, were more lenient in the application of the law, and that's true because the Pharisees wanted to get around the law so they invented all kinds of ways to beat the law, didn't they? I mean if the law said don't divorce, they'd figure out a whole lot of ways to divorce. They were very lenient, very lenient. But the Sadducees were absolutists. They were fanatics for the literal Scripture. They refused the oral law, they refused the traditions, they refused the scribble law, they refused everything but the Old Testament. They were very rigid and they prided themselves on being those who preserved and guarded the pure faith, the pure faith. So they resented the looseness of the Pharisees, they resented their oral tradition, their written tradition, all the stuff that grew up around the text. They were literally fastidious when it came to levitical purity and followed to the very letter all of the levitical order.
Now the key identification of their doctrine was that they denied the resurrection. You say, well if they were literalists in the Old Testament and you just read various Old Testament passages that speak of resurrection, how could they deny the resurrection? Here's how: they gave primacy and authority to the five books of Moses. Now hang on to that thought. They gave primacy and authority to the five books of Moses. They said all the rest of Scripture just comments on and reflects off the books of Moses, and since resurrection is not taught in the five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; therefore, we do not believe in resurrection. Some scholars go so far to say that the Sadducees only believed the books of Moses to be the word of God. I tend to think that would go beyond that, but that they would only see the rest of the books as commentary on the books of Moses; therefore, they couldn't be commenting on a resurrection if Moses never mentions a resurrection in his five books.
So they; therefore, denied the after life. Well if you've done that folks, you can live anyway you want here and now, right? I mean you might as well grab it all here because this is all there is. They believed that the body and soul went out of existence at death, no penalties and no rewards, no future, nothing, just non-existence. Therefore, they filled up their life with anything and everything they could to fulfill them. Now because they were somewhat limited by literal interpretation of the Scripture, they sort of used their religion to gain their profit. The supremacy of the Pentateuch caused them to deny the resurrection.
Now in debate with the Pharisees this must have been the big issue because in Acts 23, when Paul is sort of on trial he gets the Pharisees and Sadducees into a fight and it's a fight over the resurrection. Acts 23:8, that I read to you a moment ago. They must have fought over this a lot because it seems so stupid to the Sadducees that the Pharisees believed in a resurrection where people who died would come back the same way they die, in the same form, with the same relationships, in the same conditions, and all of that. So they mocked the Pharisees at that and they constantly must have confronted the Pharisees about will you give us an answer from Moses? Where in the Pentateuch does it say there's resurrection?
Now the Pharisees made a noble effort at it folks, where they had a real tough time coming up with a verse. And as far as we can tell they sighted two verses and these are the two that they sighted to answer the Sadducees claim that Moses never talks about resurrection. The first one was Numbers 18:28, says this: "Ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest." Now does that seem to talk of resurrection to you? You shall give therefore the heave offering to Aaron the priest. And their argument was since the verb is in the present tense; therefore, Aaron is still alive. Not a very strong argument I would say. And the other verse they used was Deuteronomy 31:16. Deuteronomy 31:16 says, "This people shall rise up, and the rest of the verse says go a whoring." So that verse doesn't really do it either. And they did site Deuteronomy 32:39, "I kill and I make alive," but all that means is that God is the author of life and death. So they were stymied. So this debate went on and on. The Pharisees were definite about resurrection. The Sadducees were definite that there was none.
Now though they disagreed violently on that, and listen they disagreed violently on their attitude toward Rome, the Sadducees were pro Rome, the Pharisees were angrily anti Rome. They despised each other because the Pharisees tended to be the lower class and they the higher class, so they've got social animosity, they've got political animosity, they've got theological animosity, but there's one thing they agree on and that is we must get rid of Jesus Christ. That they agreed on. You say, why did the Pharisees, well we know why the Pharisees cared. Why did the Sadducees care? Why did the Sadducees feel the need to eliminate Jesus Christ? Well let's look at our text and see the approach of the Sadducees.
The approach: the same day, what day is it? It's Wednesday. It's Wednesday of the week when our Lord was crucified. Two days and it's Friday and He'll be on the cross. Two more days and He'll be out of the grave. But it's Wednesday and Jesus has been teaching in the temple and He is stopped by these religious leaders who ask Him a series of questions and they desire to discredit Him. The first question came from a combination of the Sadducees and the Herodians and they wanted to get Him in trouble with Rome so Rome would take His life and He evaded that so marvelously, He indicted them instead. And so they sort of abandoned the idea they could get the Romans on His neck and the Sadducees now come same day Wednesday and they've got a question and the intent of their question is to discredit Him with the Jews. In other words if we can't get Him to say something that's insurrectionist, if we can't get Him to start a revolution that the Romans are going to have to squash by putting an end to His life, if we can't get Him in trouble with Rome, then let's discredit Him with all the people, and let's put Him in a position where He comes off a fool for what He believes and teaches and the crowd will immediately dissipate and see Him for what He is. And so the attempt here is to discredit Him as a teacher.
Now why do they feel this way? Well let me give you a little background, very briefly. We don't see the Sadducees appearing at all early in the life of Christ. They didn't really even have a messianic hope. That's kind of interesting isn't it? The Sadducees basically had no messianic hope. Why have a messianic hope if you have no life after death, right? So that's one of the reasons they were so utterly indifferent to the messianic claims of Christ. They didn't believe in a messianic hope. There was no life to come. So what was Messiah supposed to do for you? And as far as they knew they were living in the glory right there because they were making hay, prospering.
So they really had no part in the early life and ministry of Christ, but now they're very much involved. And the reason they have instantly become involved is because Jesus has just disrupted their business. One day before this day, on Tuesday, He had cleansed the temple, thrown out the moneychangers, thrown out the buyers and sellers of all the goods that were there, and now He is invading their territory and now they are involved.
And there's a second reason they're involved now. They see the crowds coming around Jesus. They watched on Monday when He rode into the city and the people threw palm branches and garments at His feet and they hailed Him as the Son of David, the Messiah, the Savior, the King, and all of this, and they see now that this man potentates a revolution. This man can lead the whole nation away. He can start something that the Romans will have to stop and when the Romans move in to stop this revolution in the Holocaust they can see themselves being trapped. In other words their own necks are on the line. Their own heads are vulnerable.
And so Jesus is not only personally violated their turf and their territory with the cleansing of the temple, but He has put them in a position to be brought under Roman domination with a firm hand if indeed a revolution breaks out. And to see the focus of this look at John 11 for a moment. In John 11:54, pardon me, we'll start at verse 47 and go down. But in John 11:47, it says, "Then gathered the chief priests and Pharisees a council." So the Sadducees and Pharisees got together and they said, "What do we do for this man does many miracles. If we let Him thus alone all men will believe on Him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." Now you see the heat? They're afraid He's going to start a revolution, He's going to lead the whole of the people after Him, attracted by His marvelous power, Rome's going to come in and a Holocaust will result, which will affect the power, prestige, wealth, opportunity of the Sadducees. "And one of them named Caiaphas, who was a Sadducee and was the high priest says He has to die." So verse 53 says, "From that day forth they took counsel together to put Him to death." So the Sadducees got in on the death plot with the Pharisees. When they saw the potential for Jesus to bring about a revolution, which could mean Roman intervention, the Holocaust of which could cause them to lose their careers or even their lives. And so they sought to kill Him. And then to add to that when on Tuesday He cleaned out their operation they were only doubly angry and ready to take His life.
Now, you can be sure, too, that they rejected Jesus' teaching. They literally despised teaching about resurrection. And so do those who wish to be Hedonists of that sort. I mean if you want to live it all you can get out of it in this life and do whatever you want and fill up your cup to the brim right here and now, then you don't want anybody dumping on your that there's another life that you're going to have to make an account for. So they didn't want that and so when people preached the resurrection they were very upset. And in Acts Chapter 4, after the resurrection of Christ, the apostles were going along and preaching the Sadducees got them and put them in prison because they were so irated that they were preaching resurrection. And in Chapter 5, again they got them again and put them in prison and said, "We told you not to preach that. You've now filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and everybody's talking about resurrection." And they could see that would preciprecate the crowds turning against them because they didn't believe in resurrection and if everybody began to believe in resurrection they would be the teachers nobody would listen to. So the heat was really on them. The people were turning away from them and hearing Jesus and He was talking resurrection just as the apostles after Him did. The Romans might get upset and move in and they all might get devastated.
And so it's a difficult situation for them. They add to that He's cleaned out their temple. Now they were very hostile after this. In fact, Josephus says it was the Sadducees who murdered James, the brother of our Lord. That's how angry they were.
Now, here's there plan. They want to ask Jesus a question that will make Him look like a fool, to discredit Him with the people. You see if you can just discredit Jesus with all the people then He's lost His influence, then it doesn't matter what He teaches anymore, and then it's no threat with the Roman situation because if nobody listens to Jesus He's no threat anymore, right? So, if they can discredit Jesus with the Jewish people they've accomplished their goal. And they approach Him with what you could call a reductioascertivum in Latin, a logical absurdity. They asked Him a question that no doubt they had asked the Pharisees a myriad of times.
Let's approach the question in verse 24. We go from the approach of the Sadducees to the absurdity of the resurrection. Now follow this, most interesting. If they can't silence Him as a insurrectionist; they'll silence Him as a fool. And so they come to this absurdity saying, "They asked Him saying, 'Master,'" that's what Matthew Brodius calls polished scoffing. They wanted to discredit Him as a teacher, but they call Him teacher in a condescending flattering way. "Moses said," and you can note they quote Moses right, Sadducees, "If a man die having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother." Now that was what was known as the levirate law, l-e-v-i-r-a-t-e from a Latin word having to do with brother-in-law. That was a very historic Jewish law. By the way, it's taken from Deuteronomy 25:5-6, Deuteronomy 25:5-6.
Now the law said this: if a man marries a woman and he has no child, no male child, and he dies that man's name and family is not passed on. So an unmarried brother is to take over his widow to marry her to raise up a child and that firstborn son will be considered the child of the dead husband. That was the law. Now God gave that law in those ancient times to preserve the land in its tribal inheritance, to preserve the families. It was all about heritage. It was always all about maintaining the twelve tribes and their land and their territory and their heritage, maintaining a messianic line. And you can go all the way back to see that law applied before it was even given. You go back into the time before the law in the 38th chapter of Genesis in the time of the household of Judah, the son of Jacob, and you will remember that there was a situation where Onan, you remember the name Onan, Onan refused to comply and to raise up a child to his dead brother's wife, and the Bible said Onan spilled his seed on the ground. He refused to give a child to his brother's wife, to go in and become her husband, and take that role. And it says that God killed him, Genesis 38:8-10. God took his life, because in those early years in the formation of that people and keeping that identification pure that Messiah might come to His people, God maintained these kind of laws so that names and families could be passed on.
Now it had to be a single brother. It wasn't a polygamous situation, but he would go in and take up that wife has his own from her widowhood and raise up seed to her. The law then was originally given in patriarchal times to maintain the name of a family, the honor of a family, the estate of a family, the tribe, and all of that.
Another very beautiful illustration of that is the illustration of Ruth, isn't it? You remember Elimelech had two sons and Ruth had married one of the sons and that son had died. You remember his name was Obed and there was no child. And along came Boaz into her life and Boaz took her as his wife and raised up a child and we're very interested in that because you must remember that the line of Elimelech was the line of whom, of Messiah. And so that very idea of a near kinsman coming into the line to take up the place of a dead husband to raise up seed fits right into the line of Messiah Himself.
So that was a law well known to people. Now we don't know how in practice it was in time of Christ, but it was nonetheless something God gave for the patriarchal period. So they postulate Deuteronomy 5 and 6 and here comes their question in verse 25, and it is logical absurdity that they're after.
"Now there were with us seven brethren." Now when they say they were with us we don't know whether they mean personal acquaintance somebody they really knew or whether they're just telling a fairytale. They claim it's somebody they know, but sometimes you can tell a story so long you think it really happened. And sometimes you just don't tell the truth. But anyway they introduced this thing and they say there's this group of seven brothers. "And the first one he married a wife died. Having no issue, left his wife to his brother," according to the levirate law. Second died left it to the third, third left to the fourth, fourth died left to the fifth, fifth died left to the sixth, sixth died left to the seventh, and I'll tell you right now if I was the seventh I wouldn't be in town. I mean that's a lethal lady. I'm not sure what's going on, but everybody's dying real fast. But anyway, this is their question. So you can just see the glint in their eyes, see, and this little smirk on their face when they say in verse 28,"Therefore, in the resurrection whose wife shall she be?" See. Ha, ha. You see the stupidity of that? They're all going to come back the way they were when they died, right? So this gal's going to come back and be everybody's wife and you've got polygamy in the righteous eternal resurrect ional life. What an idiotic thought. And really it is idiotic and it must have stumped and stymied the Pharisees more often than they cared to acknowledge. He said they all had her. Whose wife will she be? If everybody comes back the same way with the same shape and form and relationships and even in the same clothes whose she going to belong to? And they think they've got Him because they believe He'll answer like the Pharisees because they know He's taught resurrection. It's been a part of His teaching. They know about the resurrection of Lazarus probably, or at least the claim. So they know Jesus believes in resurrection. They may have gotten the word on His message given in John 5, where He talks specifically about it, about what He said by the grave of Lazarus, "Whosoever believes in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die" and all that. "I am the resurrection and the life." They knew what He taught and so they figured, we got Him, we got Him. He's not going to have an answer for this and all the people are going to know that we're smarter than He is. And that'll discredit Him. From the approach to the absurdity to the answer, verse 29.
"Jesus answered and said unto them, 'You are mistaken. You do err,'" I'm going to stop there for a minute. I like that direct approach. You are wrong. You have just put your ignorance on display. Lensky says, "The bubble blown by the Sadducees is punctured." He really discredits them. You are mistaken and He uses the word planeo. We got our word planet from it. It means to cause to wander, to lead astray and it's in the middle voice reflective. It means you are causing yourself to wander. You are leading yourself astray from the truth. You are mentally cut loose from reality. That's really what He's saying. To put it in the vernacular, you are spaced out.
You remember in Jude 13, where the false prophets are called wandering stars to whom He's reserved the blackness of darkness forever? Well these guys have wandered off from reality and He says the reason is, "You don't know the Scripture and you don't know the power of God." I suppose if there were two things that they had advertised that they knew they would be the Scripture and the power of God, but He says, "You don't know the Scripture and you don't know the power of God." You don't understand God's word and you don't understand God's power. Had you known the Scriptures you would have know God promises resurrection. Had you known the power of God you would have known that God can raise people in a state where that's not going to be an issue. If you knew the power of God you would know that He wouldn't recreate people with the same problems here. He's not limited to that, as if God has spent all His creative power on the way we are and can't improve on it? If you knew the power of God and if you knew the Scripture you wouldn't be so spaced out in your thinking.
And so He directly moves into those two dimensions. First He talks on the issue of the power of God in verse 30. Watch this, this is very interesting. "For in the resurrection they neither marry or are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven." It doesn't say they are the angels, it says they're like them. We're never going to be angels, but we're just like angels. You say what are angels like? Spiritual beings, eternal beings who do not marry and do not procreate. Why not? Because they have a fixed number and since none of them ever die you don't need any to replace them. Why do you have sex, marriage, and reproduction childbirth in this life? To keep people populated because everybody dies and it's given to us for the perpetuation of the race. But the next life doesn't need that because nobody's going to die over there, so if nobody's going to die over there and it's a fixed number of redeemed nobody needs to be replacing anybody. Sex, marriage, reproduction, childbirth, all that is for this life only, not the next life. And you might be interested to know that some of the Jewish teachers including my Monidees even taught that there would be childbirth in the resurrection life. And so the Lord is saying look we're going to be different in the resurrection simply means in the state of life after death and the time of resurrection or the experience of resurrection or the life of resurrection, there will be no marrying or giving of marriage. No marriage in the next life, folks. None.
Now that hits people in this world two ways: some people say hallelujah. I mean I've had all I need. It's unfortunate, but some people do feel that way. Other people's anxiety is a little different. They're in a big hurry before the rapture because they're afraid they're going to miss something really wonderful and that true. But comparatively speaking we have to realize that the best of this life can't even begin to touch the life to come, so it's going to be no marriage so you know when you get to heaven there will be no people set apart for any other individual people. There will be no two people who have an exclusive relationship. There will be no intimacy in that sense, and I mean that in the sense of marriage. It could even extend from there to friendships. Nobody will be closer to anybody else because we'll all be perfectly close to each other and all perfectly intimate with the living God Himself.
So, He says in heaven we're going to be like angels. Now what kind of a God have you got that has to be stuck making over a bunch of people that were so messed up as the ones here? You don't have a God who has the power to create people who aren't going to have that problem? We're going to be like the angels. We're not going to be the angels, but be like them. And they were glorious eternal heavenly creatures whose number was fixed who never died and never reproduced. Marriage is necessary in this life for reproduction, preservation, propagation for the race. In have it will be as unnecessary for us as it is for angels. That's why Luke in his parallel passage says, "We will be equal to the angels." Equally deathless, equally spiritual, equally glorified, equally eternal, who have no longer any need to reproduce. The point is you Sadducees show nothing but your ignorance. Nothing but your ignorance that you can't believe in a God who could create a body for a resurrected life that would be greater than the one He created in this world. You have a weak, small, inadequate view of God.
Now Paul dealt with the same issue in I Corinthians 15. Apparently the Corinthians were struggling with this, what kind of body are we going to have? They were probably victims of years of Pharisaic Judaistic teaching too. We're going to come back in the same deal, same clothes, with the same relationships and all, and you remember in I Corinthians 15 Paul says look God's made all different kind of bodies, right? There are bodies of birds, bodies of creeping things, and bodies of animals and there are heavenly bodies, terrestrial bodies, celestial bodies, God's got one kind of thing for the sun and one kind of thing for the moon and one kind of thing for the stars and everything else that He made and it's all different, and listen, if God is the master of so much plurality and variety in the creating of bodies that are in this sphere, what in the world is He going to create in the next one? It's got to be something different too. We shouldn't think of God as confined or limited. If He can produce variety here there's yet variety beyond that, infinite variety, which we'll see demonstrated in the resurrection.
And so He says, "In that day this corruptible will put in incorruption, this mortal will put on immortality. We shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, right? So Paul may have been dealing with a residue of the same kind of teaching that you're going to come back the same way you left. He also used the illustration of seed. He said, "Seed dies and it comes back completely different. You couldn't look at a seed and tell what kind of a tree it would be, could you?" And so we're going to come back in a unique and marvelous transformed way. And how can you be so ignorant of God's power as to demand that God is unable to produce anything more than people as they are?
And then he says you're not only ignorant of the power of God, but you're ignorant of the Scripture. You're even ignorant of the Pentateuch, verse 31. Watch this: "As touching the resurrection of the dead, have you not read," that just so sarcastic, "have you not read that which was spoken to you by God?" Haven't you been reading your Scripture about the resurrection and he quotes in verse 32, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Stop there. You know where that's from? Exodus 3:6. That's the Pentateuch. You say, well wait a minute. Is that supposed to be a statement about resurrection? It is. Is indeed a statement about resurrection. He quotes Moses because that's what they demanded and the statement is an emphatic statement. In the Greek it'segome I am, present tense, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And the argument here is an argument of the verb tense. He doesn't say I was he God of Abraham, I was the God of Isaac, and I was the God of Jacob. You see in Exodus 3:6, Abraham was dead, Isaac was dead, and Jacob was dead already. How then can He say I am the God of Abraham, I am the God of Isaac, I am the God of Jacob, which is exactly what the Hebrew of 3:6 implies?
Well you can see it also in Genesis 26:24, Genesis 28:13, God says I am the God of Abraham and in both of those passages Abraham is already dead. And in Exodus 3:6, Exodus 3;15, Exodus 3:16, Exodus 4:15, God says I'm the God of Abraham, I'm the God of Isaac, I'm the God of Jacob, and they're already dead. And His point then, at the end of the verse, is God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, so if God says I am the God of these people they must be, what, alive, alive. God is not worshipped by corpses. He's not the God of people who don't exist. Who wants to be the God of people who don't exist?
Now note that each is individually singled out there, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and He's talking about personal intimate relationship of each of them. Now the genitive here of the God of, the God of, the God of, can be seen two ways. It could mean this: the God to whom Abraham belongs, the God to whom Isaac belongs, the God to whom Jacob belongs. Or it could mean the God who belongs to Abraham, the God who belongs to Isaac, the God who belongs to Jacob, and I like to see both. I am the God to whom Abraham belongs and who belongs to Abraham. I am the God to whom Isaac belongs and who belongs to Isaac. I am the God to whom Jacob belongs and who belongs to Jacob. In other words, I am the God who continues to have an intimate relationship of life and worship with these who are dead, which means they still must be, what, alive.
Profound, absolutely profound. He is not the God of dead mean. He's the God of the living, and if He said after they were all dead He was their God present tense now, and they belonged to Him and He belonged to them, then they were still some place. The unchanging, eternal, covenant keeping God who made His promises to His chosen will bring them to fulfillment and they are alive and they are alive to rise again, they are alive to enter the fulfillment of the covenant given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are alive to inherit all that was ever promised to them.
He devastated them. He'd done what the wisest Rabbi never had been able to do. He'd one what all the masterminds of the Pharisees had never been able to do. He came up with a verse. Came up with a verse, more than one verse right out of the Pentateuch. He was not fool. He made them look like fools.
There will be a resurrection. There will be a resurrection. They were about to see the first fruits of it, by the way, on Sunday. It was coming pretty fast. So we start with the approach, then we see the absurdity, then comes the answer from the Scripture and finally the astonishment in verse 33.
"And when the multitude heard this they were astonished." That is doctrine. Luke says, "Some of the Rabbi's, not Sadducees said,'Teacher thou has well said." This new Rabbi from Galilee answered the unanswerable question, gave the passage that none of the Pharisees or all of the Pharisees could discover, and it says, they were astonished, a very interesting word, ekpleso. It means to strike out of one's wits. They went out of their minds; it blew their minds. Amazing, astounding, marvelous, this Jesus Christ, hailed as king, hailed as Savior, hailed as Messiah, confronted by hate filled religious leaders who wanted Him discredited and dead. He's unaffected by their pecking assaults. And He only manifests greater glory, produces greater wonder and confounds His enemies. They'll be back for another shot in the next passage.
For your thinking, listen, three things that I see as great confidence builders in this text: one, I see here the majestic deity of Jesus. Oh it's so exciting to me to see Christ come up with things that no one else could ever come up with, answer questions that can never be answered, why, because this is the infinite mind of God, this is proof positive that this is God in human flesh. And so I see majestic deity revealed here and that's a confident thing to see. I mean I know in whom I have believed, right, and he is none other than Christ the Son of the living God. I see His deity in His profound wisdom.
Second thing I see is His commitment to Scripture. Oh how He loved the word, oh how He knew the word, just exactly the right one for the right situation. I bless God that He put His confidence in the word, because if Jesus leaned on the word that's a great confidence builder for me to lean on the word, isn't it?
And thirdly I see his affirmation of resurrection. Whenever I might be prone to doubt the resurrection I'm reminded that Jesus never doubted it for a moment, never for a moment, and affirms here that those who are dead are still alive because God is the God of the living. And so I'm encouraged with another view of Jesus as God, with another view of His dependence on Scripture, with another view of the hope of everlasting life. Instead of them discrediting Him, He discredited them and exposed Himself in all His majesty one more time.
Let's pray together. Our hearts thrill O Lord when we experience a scene like this. We're there, we just sense that we're there and we rejoice that the people were astonished at His teaching. May we be so astonished even as they were and less fickle for they were the same ones who cried for His blood. Deliver us Lord, from just being astonished, just being amazed, just marveling. Bring us to full faith in the Savior. Thank you for the confidence He gives us in Scripture and in future resurrection.


text:
Statues and sculptures
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by simone August 03 2008
Israeli humor is hot these days, and Matthew Kalman, co-director (with David Blumenfeld) of Circumcise Me, a comic documentary starring Yisrael Campbell, is at the forefront of this trend. The film, which traces the life of Campbell, a Catholic boy turned Jewish comedian, is currently doing the film festival circuit, and in the near future, the directors hope to hold weekly showings at Jerusalem's Lev Smadar Cinema, which hosted the film's Israeli premier on July 3.
Can I get a brief genesis on the history of this movie ands how you got involved? I'm a reporter, and David [Blumenfeld] is a photographer, and we've been working together here in Israel for the last 10 years. A few years ago, we started doing a lot of documentary work. It was all about suicide bombers, the intifada, guys with masks, and it got grueling after a while. One day, we'd just finished interviewing a 16-year-old who wanted to blow himself up but was caught at a checkpoint before he made it to his destination. We went to interview him in jail, and on the way back, David said to me, "We've got to do something fun, something for ourselves." That night, I went to the opening of the Off the Wall Comedy Empire. I heard Yisrael Campbell perform his act, and I said to myself, "We've got our subject."
How did your past experiences in journalism influence this project? How did you find the transition from print journalist to documentary filmmaker? The thing about print journalism is that you have very little control over what actually appears in print. You don't choose the headline; you don't make the final editing decisions. There are many times where I'll focus on one thing and something else entirely will appear in the published version. Here, with this documentary, we have complete control over what actually appears on the screen. So it's much more creative. But it's also a much greater responsibility. When I write for a paper, I get up, do my work and then come home and turn on Seinfeld and it's no longer my responsibility. Here, David and I are completely responsible for how Yisrael is perceived by the world.
Yisrael Campbell's comedy is a major selling point, but his back story is also key to what you did with the movie. What kind of balance between profile and concert document were you trying to strike? This was a really easy film to make, because Yisrael is really funny, he's really talented, he already has a show, so all we really had to do was film him. What we wanted to do with this project is take his show, which has been performed to numerous audiences here in Israel, and make it accessible to people elsewhere, and not just to Jewish audiences but to a wide range of people. We had to explain the contexts in Campbell's show and take out the parts that had too much Hebrew (which meant removing some of the funniest parts of the show). We also wanted to tell as much as possible of Campbell's back-story using very elementary documentary techniques. For example, Yisrael's father only has a few lines but they are all about very transitional points in Yisrael's life and they help move the story along.
Finally, we want to show people who don't live here what this place is like, so we filmed Yisrael driving along the security wall and visiting the Hebrew University, so that people can visualize the places he refers to. At one point, you see him at the café where his friends were blown up. For me, that's the emotional highlight of the film. It's a very powerful image that you can't do in print. You can describe, but to actually see it, to see Yisrael sitting on the memorial, is very powerful.
How would you describe the role and presence of the city of Jerusalem in the movie? Jerusalem is definitely one of the characters in the movie. In that way, I think we were very influenced by shows like NYPD Blue. We consciously modeled some shots from NYPD Blue and Seinfeld - the scenes of Yisrael in the comedy club and in various Jerusalem locales. We stole nakedly from all of our favorite programs. There's a very fine comedy called Just Shoot Me, and we used that as inspiration too. In that show they zoom in on all these different magazine covers shots, and we did the same thing with tourist t-shirts. It was brazen thievery.
What sort of audience have you found is attracted to this film? Who needs it the most and how do you plan on getting them to see it? This is a feel-good film about Israel and therefore Jewish audiences love it, English-speaking Israeli audiences love it and we think Jewish audiences abroad will have the same response. They're fed up of seeing Israel only through images of violence. This provides an alternative. It's about the intifada but it's also about how life is lived here. As journalists here, we always have to cover death, but there's also a gallows humor and we wanted to capture that absurdist, Life of Brian-type humor with this film.
For example, the day after the cease fire began in Gaza about a month ago, I was doing an interview with some Hamas guys there – it was this heavy interview about Israel and the intifada and they were all dressed up with masks and machine guns. As soon as we shut the camera off, they took of their masks and one of them says to my cameraman, "Are you Indian?" He said "Yes," and all of a sudden this Hamas fighter, who's holding an M-16 and packed with grenades, starts singing this song to him, an Indian song that he wanted translated. The cameraman said he wasn't able to translate, so he called his mother in England and here is this Hamas guy in full fighting gear singing on the phone to my cameraman's mother. It's this sort of humor that we wanted to show with the movie.
We're billing it as the first – and possibly last – real intifada comedy.
What was it like doing production in Jerusalem? Is it a case of dealing with logistical nightmares in order to capture peoples and places that you could never capture elsewhere, or was it a more nuanced experience? Can you share an anecdote that sums it up for you in your memories? Jerusalem is a great place to be a reporter, it's a great place to film because people here are so used to having cameras and television crews around them at all times. It was almost like having a professional cast of extras to work with. We saw the guitarist who plays the theme song playing on Ben Yehuda St., and we asked him if he wanted to be in the movie. He said yes right away and it took him all of about five minutes to learn the theme song.
Meah Shearim was the only place where filming was a little dicey. They're more wary of cameras there. In fact, we had an alternate beginning to the film which showed Yisrael emerging from a group of charedim, but the other charedim in the crowd were none too happy about it, so we decided to cut that part.
Photo of Matthew Kalman courtesy of David Blumenfeld; photo of the Circumcise Me cast and crew courtesy of Melissa Blumenfeld.


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Man not expected to survive past infancy overcomes obstacles
24 years ago, Matthew Cowie's mother gave birth to his twin sister, not knowing she was still pregnant with Matthew.
"Matt was a twin and his sister passed away when she was 10 days old, and he survived," said Jamie Cowie, Matthew's grandmother.
His family was told time and time again that he wouldn't survive "twin-twin transfusion syndrome," a rare condition when twins share a placenta, causing blood to flow unevenly between the babies.
"He's had 21 brain surgeries," Jamie Cowie said. "He had open heart surgery when he was 4 days old. They told us he wouldn't survive that surgery."
But he did survive. And after his father died, Matthew's grandparents raised him.
Matthew has played in the Kiwanis Miracle League, which helps Iowans with disabilities, since it started in Des Moines 10 years ago.
That's when he reconnected with a familiar face, Miracle League announcer Al Knudsen, or "Headphones."
"Matt was Al's very first Make-A-Wish child," Jamie Cowie said.
"I remember his grandma saying he wasn't expected to make it and here it is almost 20 years later and he's thriving," Knudsen said.
Knudsen, along with the rest of the Miracle League team, want Matt's story to be told because he's overcome every obstacle in his way. They say he has a loving spirit like no other.
"We are very proud that he is ours," Jamie Cowie said. "All we want for him is to be happy and obviously he is."


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Cisco Common Crypto Hybrid Module (C3M-hybrid) is FIPS certified!
The Global Certification team is pleased to announce the Cisco Common Crypto Hybrid Module, C3M-hybrid, has been awarded FIPS validation #1668 and is complete! The C3M-hybrid module leverages AES-NI (C3M, #1643, completed in 2011). This is the first crypto module that leverages AES-NI.
The Cisco Common Cryptographic Module (C3M) is a software library that that can be utilized by many Cisco products. The module provides FIPS validated cryptographic algorithms, including advanced (Suite B) cryptography requested by USG, for services such as sRTP, SSH, TLS, 802.1x etc. Once the FIPS validated C3M is integrated into our products, GCT can engage the FIPS lab to write letters of compliance. In the future, leveraging this FIPS validation while performing HW validation will reduce cost, time and effort.
FIPS-140 is a US and Canadian government standard that specifies security requirements for cryptographic modules. A cryptographic module is defined as "the set of hardware, software, and/or firmware that implements approved security functions (including cryptographic algorithms and key generation) and is contained within the cryptographic boundary." The cryptographic module is what is being validated.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.
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Steve Pollock
Nice job Clint!


text:
Category : Template.
Topic : Invoice template for cleaning business free. Author : Brisa Wells.
Posted : Fri, May 17th 2019 12:04 PM.
Format : jpg/jpeg.
There are many different ways this template can look. The most important thing is that it has all the necessary data on the form and can be filled out fast and easy. Most of the time these invoice templates are simple excel files that add all the billed positions together and show the amount of taxes that are included in the total due payment. Most of the time you can make a very simple invoice template yourself, but these forms look unprofessional and cheap.


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After having introduced their switchable dynamo (in my opinion a solution in search of a problem), at the 2011 Taipei Cycle Show SP announced what would be the lightest generator hub, the SD-8 (disc brake)/SV-8 (rim brake). These two hubs, however, only are rated to a power output of 2.4W in a 622mm wheel, making them not street-legal according to the German StVZO requirements. However, they also announced a slightly more heavy model rated at 3W, the PD-8 and the PV-8. The technical specs and the prototype tests by Wouter sounded promising, and when Wouter's shop, Gambiet Fietsen, offered them for pre-order in September I went in for two generators, one disc, one rim. The disc one will replace my Shimano DH3-N80 on the Cross-Check which I unfortunately messed up while trying to re-grease the bearings, and the PV-8 will be part of a second front wheel for Gunnar, finally allowing me to turn him into a real brevet bike.
The hubs arrived yesterday, at a total price of 180 Euro shipped. The actual wheelbuilding will have to wait for a little while longer, but I wanted to share some pictures and impressions.
|PV-8 in its original packaging. I'm not sure if all the color and spoke count variants are or will be actually available.
|The hub looks quite similar to the current SON 28...
|...but it does have the same terminal as Shimano hubs
|Here you can see the German K-certification wave, making the generator street legal in Germany
|The weight pretty much exactly matches the claimed weight.
SP claims that the new generators do not only excel in weight, but are also "the most efficient" generators (this refers to the 2.4W ones) and their product sheets has a couple of graphs that show the generators to be more efficient than the SONdelux. I'm somewhat skeptical about those claims and am very much looking forward to some independent testing.
Measuring the dimensions of the hubs is a bit tricky with the tools I have and I've only been able to find the manufacturer's numbers for the 2.4W version. Probably they're going to be the same for the 3W, but I'll confirm this with Wouter or measure myself. The bearings are sealed cartridges and I'm not sure if they are user-replaceable.
I think that's all I can say for now. Once I have the wheels built up and ridden them a bit, I will post an update.
Update 2011-12-16:
In the meantime I've found the website of SP's distributor, and their catalog lists the relevant dimensions as follows:
|PD-8 (non-disc/disc side)
|Spoke P.C.D.
|Flange diameter
They also have "replacement instructions" on their site that might contain instructions on how to replace the bearings. Unfortunately, the document is corrupted, though, and can't be opened. I've sent them an e-mail and we'll see if I hear back.
[1] If I remember correctly, the Velo Orange switchable dynohub got some bad reviews. At any rate, they no longer seem to sell it.
[2] There is also a 2.4W version, called SD-8/SV-8, suitable for those on small-wheeled bikes or those who don't care about the extra power/street legality in Germany.


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CALYPTO Announces New President and CEO Sanjiv Kaul
Calypto® Design Systems, Inc., the leader in Electronic System Level (ESL) hardware design and Register Transfer Level (RTL) power optimization, today announced that Sanjiv Kaul has joined the company as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Sanjiv brings a vast amount of experience and expertise to Calypto having held executive management and strategic marketing roles over the last 30 years including work at Synopsys, Frontline, Cadence/Valid Logic and Daisy.
"Calypto is in a very exciting juncture today and is in the strongest position in the history of the company," said Sanjiv Kaul, President and CEO at Calypto. "It has just completed a very successful year where Calypto achieved strong growth, record deals and substantial cash in the bank. With our best bookings year ever it is clear that Calypto is the number one player in the ESL hardware design and RTL power optimization space. As SoCs get ever more complex, design teams across the world are adopting Calypto's solutions to improve their design productivity. The merger of the original Calypto with the Catapult team from Mentor was the right strategic decision. The need for Calypto's HLS and RTL Power optimization has never been stronger and will continue to accelerate."
Sanjiv is passionate about finding fundamental changes in the market, knowing the right technology to answer to those changes, and then championing the technology along a successful adoption curve. While at Synopsys, Sanjiv was Sr. VP and GM for a number of high-profile products including Physical Compiler that enabled Synopsys to become the leader in the RTL synthesis to GDSII flow. He was also the Marketing Director for the launches and early market success for PrimeTime and Formality. Sanjiv is applauded for an approach to marketing and general management that is very realistic and results-oriented, building a solid franchise based on real value and customer satisfaction. After leaving Synopsys, Sanjiv was involved with several startups as Founder, Chairman, CEO, Investor and Board member.
About Calypto's Products
Catapult High Level Synthesis, Calypto's SLEC (Sequential Logic Equivalence Checking) and PowerPro platforms are used by seven out of the top ten semiconductor companies and over 100 leading consumer electronics companies worldwide. Calypto's products enable electronic system level design by engineers to dramatically improve design quality and reduce power consumption of their system-on-chip (SOC) devices.
About Calypto
Calypto® Design Systems, Inc. is the leader in ESL hardware design and RTL power optimization. Calypto, whose customers include Fortune 500 companies worldwide, is a member of the ARM Connected Community, Cadence Connections program, the IEEE‐SA, Synopsys SystemVerilog Catalyst Program, the Mentor Graphics OpenDoor program, Si2 and is an active participant in the Power Forward Initiative. Calypto has offices in Europe, India, Japan and North America. More information can be found at www.calypto.com.
Catapult, Calypto, PowerPro and SLEC are trademarks of Calypto Design Systems Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Contact Information
Calypto Design Systems1731 Technology Drive
Suite 340
San Jose, CA, 95110
tele: 408.477.8166
fax: 408.850.2321


text:
There's obviously a lot of debate and excitement over the potential role of tablet devices in the enterprise. Some see these devices replacing large swaths of the PCs in use, while others say they will primarily be used as secondary devices.
A survey of 53 North American IT decision makers, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell and Intel, finds that IT leaders seem to be leaning toward the latter perspective. But while it's true that the average tablet device still leaves a lot to be desired in content creation and accessing applications that are not touch-enabled, the growing popularity of the devices suggests that one day soon they might take their place alongside PCs and smartphones as standard-issue IT equipment. To what extent those devices will actually be used, however, remains to be seen.
Social Networking Redefines Landscape for Job Seekers Many job seekers are growing nervous about the potential career fallout from personal content on social networking sites.
Seven Key Trends that Are Shaping the Future of the Green Data Center By 2015, global investment in energy efficient data center technologies will represent 28 percent of the $150 billion data center infrastructure market.
Seven Employee Monitoring Tips for Small Businesses Seven critical employee monitoring approaches for SMBs to protect their intellectual property and to maximize employee productivity.
Related Topics : Stimulus Package, IT Market Analysts, Supercomputing, Performance Management, Request for Proposals
Selecting the perfect consultancy firm may seem daunting, but keeping these five tips in mind will help organizations get off to a good start. ... More >>
Robotic hardware combined with cognitive intelligence and cloud computing capabilities signifies a host of new opportunities across many industries. ... More >>
Here are five key business areas in which service management can help streamline the infrastructure and process challenges of M&As. ... More >>


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Scalpers Lay Siege to iPad Mini in Beijing
The release of Apple Inc.'s iPad Mini on Friday at its flagship store in Beijing was missing the massive and unruly crowds reminiscent of some the company's previous product launches in China, but scalpers were still out in force despite rules making it tougher for them to buy most of the stock.
Apple is requiring Chinese customers to participate in an online lottery one day in advance to buy the wifi-version of the iPad Mini at its seven retail stores in China. Those selected, however, are limited to two iPad Minis each and must bring photo identification.
The Cupertino, Calif. company instituted the iReserve system in China after a near-riot occurred during the release of the iPhone 4S in January, leading police to seal off part of the flagship store in Beijing's high-end Sanlitun Village mall. The state-run Xinhua news agency later blamed the chaos on a clashes between rival groups of scalpers vying to buy up as much of the stores limited supplies of the device as possible.
On Friday morning, Apple's Sanlitun store opened to no crowds, but a large group of scalpers was standing a hop and skip from the store entrance collecting iPad Minis from Chinese customers in exchange for cash. Behind them, on a nearby bench, sat tall stacks of the devices.
In a sign of how unruly such launches can still be, one group of scalpers surrounded a Wall Street Journal reporter who was trying to film the scene, angry at what they said was an invasion of their privacy. After the reporter pointed out that they were conducting business in a public place, they proceeded to kick, swat and push him as Apple and mall security stood by.
Asked why he didn't intervene, one Apple employee replied that he couldn't protect people outside the confines of the store. "I suggest you don't film here, or film from farther away," he said.
Apple declined to comment. The Sanlitun Village mall did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Li Yongqiang, 18, said he wasn't picked in the lottery to purchase the iPad Mini but still arrived at 8:30 a.m. to observe the atmosphere. Mr. Li said scalpers met with a crowd of about a hundred outside the Apple store to discuss the process of purchasing the iPad Mini. The crowd appeared to be predominantly made up of customers there to purchase the product on behalf of scalpers, he added. It's not clear how the scalpers were able to get so many of their people selected for the lottery.
Despite all that effort, however, analysts are divided as to whether the iPad Mini will be a winner in China. Mark Newman, a senior analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said global reception of the iPad Mini has been modest and Chinese consumers might be lukewarm to the new device due to the availability of similar but cheaper products from competitors. The lowest-priced model of the iPad Mini retails for 2,498 yuan ($401) in China.
"Most Chinese consumers have a modest disposable income, and a lot of them are going for cheaper offerings," Mr. Newman said. "We believe the mass market is more interested in specs rather than brand--similar to what we've seen for smartphones in China."
But David Wolf, chief executive of marketing consulting firm Wolf Group Asia, said the device would make it appealing to consumers in China who either can't afford the full-sized iPad or want something more portable. "This will do better than some of the naysayers suggest," he said. "Apple is going to make the iPad technology available to a market that either couldn't afford it or couldn't fit it into their lives."
One of a handful of non-scalpers to get his hands on the iPad Mini in Sanlitun on Friday, Zhang Aobo said he was a fan of the device's reduced size. "I think it's really good," he said. "It's very small and light, and easier to use than the iPad."
Another Apple customer seen trying out a display model of the new iPad Mini in Sanlitun said it was too early to say whether he would buy it. "I'm more interest in the fourth-generation iPad because it has better specs," Gao Yang said, adding that he wasn't thrilled with the screen resolution of the iPad Mini, which lacks the ultra high-resolution Retina display available on the full-sized iPad.
Apple is by far the dominant seller of tablet PCs in China, boasting a 71.4% share of the market in the third quarter of this year, according to technology research firm Analysys International. Rival Samsung Electronics Co. – whose Galaxy Note is aimed at the same market segment as the iPad Mini -- was a distant second with just 3.5% market share, the firm said.
That dominance may simply reflect its status as a first mover, Mr. Newman said. Globally, Apple's market share for tablet PCs is expected to fall from 86% in 2010 to 58% in 2012, according to Sanford Bernstein's research. Apple's global market share for tablet PCs could fall to as low as 46% by 2015, the research shows.
Mr. Wolf agreed that Apple was bound to lose ground to competitors. "We are going to be seeing a bigger selection of tablets in the Chinese market, and when that happens, I'm comfortable that Apple won't be seeing 70% market share on an ongoing basis," he said, adding that a declining slice of the pie might not put much of a dent in Apple's profits with the pie itself set to grow going forward.
(NOTE: The iPad Mini launched in China on Friday, December 7. A photo caption in an earlier version of this post mistakenly identified the date at December 14. Thanks to a reader for pointing out the error. This version also corrects a typo in the headline.)
-- Wayne Ma, with contributions from Josh Chin
Like China Real Time on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.


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Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto: The Journal of Emmanuel Ringelblum
McGraw-Hill, 1958 - Jews - 369 pages
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In looking for the reality of the Jewish Ghetto's during WWII, I cannot think of a better source than an eyewitness account. It's harsh, it's real, it's biting, and a true testament to a time in history where humanity really did to seem to fail completely. Read full review
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Notes From The Warsaw Ghetto: The Journal Of Emmanuel Ringelblum
Emmanuel Ringelblum
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text: Victor Perez: Sk8lamps Page Content Between Terminals A-East and BMarch 9, 2012 - October 8, 2012 A former skateboarding professional, Philadelphian Victor Perez had broken or damaged more than a few skateboards during his career. Once called the "original Cherry Hill SkatePark destroyer and legend," his reputation as a fast skater took him to the West Coast where he skated in demos and promoted skateboard safety. But after skating for many years, Perez looked for other opportunities. He decided to move to Florida where he worked at a bike and skateboard shop designing window displays. Interested in art from a very young age, this experience rejuvenated his artistic inclinations. While in Florida, Perez also opened his own gallery to promote work by contemporary local artists. In 2003, Perez moved back to Philadelphia and he realized that after years of exhibiting work by other artists, he wanted to create his own work. Still skateboarding occasionally, he looked at his broken board and wondered how he could re-use it. He hated the thought of throwing it out. That's when he developed the idea to make lamps out of worn or broken skateboards. Called Sk8lamps, Perez's unique lamps are a logical result of his collective passions for skateboarding and the visual arts with the added environmental benefit that the lamps are made from otherwise discarded materials. He refers to his creative process as "upcycling" rather than recycling because as he says he is "making it better, stepping it up." www.inkoperated.com/custies/sk8Lamps


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Charting the Course for Future U.S.-China Relations
By DipNote Bloggers on March 20, 2017
On March 18, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Beijing, China during his first trip to the East Asia and Pacific region. Secretary Tillerson held meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and President Xi Jinping to discuss a range of bilateral and multilateral issues, including strategic coordination to address the advancing nuclear and missile threat from North Korea.
During his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the Secretary followed up on last month's telephone conversation between President Trump and President Xi, noting that it paved the way for continued productive high-level engagement. In remarks after their meeting, Secretary Tillerson discussed the long history of our bilateral relationship, as well as the need to forge a constructive and results-oriented path moving forward. "Since the historic opening of relations between our two countries more than 40 years ago, the U.S.-China relationship has been guided by an understanding of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation. It is important that the leaders of our two countries engage in further dialogue to develop a common understanding that will guide our relationship for the next half-century," he said.
In addition, the Secretary underscored the importance that both the United States and China -- the world's two largest economies -- played in promoting stability and growth, emphasizing that our two countries should have a positive trading relationship that is fair and mutually beneficial. Secretary Tillerson also addressed the importance of safeguarding stability and security in Northeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, noting that efforts made over the last 20 years had not yet succeeded in curbing the threat posed by North Korea's illegal weapons programs. He went on to add, "Because China's stated policy is denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, we renewed our determination to work together to convince the North Korean Government to choose a better path and a different future for its people."
Secretary Tillerson and Foreign Minister Wang Yi also discussed the importance of upholding a rules-based order in dealing with maritime disputes and freedom of navigation and overflight. They also discussed other strategic issues of concern, and Secretary Tillerson made clear that the United States will continue to advocate for universal values such as human rights and religious freedom.
In his discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Secretary Tillerson reiterated the high value President Trump places on the communications the two leaders have had thus far, and noted in particular their recent conversation during which they shared positive exchanges about improving the relationship between the United States and China.
Both President Xi and Secretary Tillerson agreed there are opportunities for greater cooperation between China and the United States. Looking to the future, Secretary Tillerson shared his hope that further dialogue will help our two countries achieve a greater understanding and lead to strengthened ties.
Secretary Tillerson also conveyed that President Trump anticipates welcoming President Xi Jinping to the United States for further discussions that will chart the course for future U.S.-China relations.
Editor's Note: This entry is also published on Medium.com/StateDept.
For more information:
- Secretary Tillerson's Meeting With President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China.
- Secretary Tillerson's remarks With President Xi Jinping Before Their Meeting.
- Secretary Tillerson's remarks Before His Meeting With Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi.
- Secretary Tillerson's remarks With Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a Press Availability.
- Secretary Tillerson's remarks Before His Meeting With Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.


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Uphill battle for Obama on Syria
President Barack Obama faces a clear uphill battle in swaying skeptical lawmakers of the merits of military action in Syria, as top officials were dispatched to Capitol Hill Sunday to make the administration's case.
In response to concern from a swath of lawmakers, Senate Democratic aides are drafting new language for an authorization of military force in Syria, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said Sunday.
Story Continued Below
The administration's proposal is too open-ended — a complaint many lawmakers aired Sunday — Leahy said after leaving the classified briefing. The current version wouldn't garner his support, but he indicated that a more tightly written draft might.
( Also on POLITICO: W.H. to Congress: Help protect Israel)
"I know it's going to be amended in the Senate," said Leahy, who is the longest-serving Democrat in the chamber.
Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) are overseeing the revisions to the authorization of force measure, which seek to narrow the scope for any U.S. military mission in Syria, Democratic sources said.
It is unclear when the revised proposal will be released, or what reception it will get from the White House. Obama administration officials drafted their own resolution that was sent to Capitol Hill on Saturday without congressional input, and it was clear from the moment that it was unveiled that party leaders in both chambers would seek to change it.
( Also on POLITICO: Navy ships on hold, still ready to attack)
On Sunday, a senior administration official said their strategy in selling the Hill on military action "will be to flood the zone." The official noted that President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough all made calls on Sunday to individual lawmakers and would again hit the phone lines on Monday. On the Labor Day holiday, a conference call was also planned for House Democrats with administration officials.
Obama will also meet on Monday at the White House with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has expressed skepticism that a limited military strike in Syria will change the balance of power there. The president will also meet with the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate foreign relations, armed services, and intelligence committees at the White House on Tuesday.
The administration will make the case that failing to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for using chemical weapons in the region "risks emboldening Assad and his key allies – Hezbollah and Iran," the official said, adding that "anyone who is concerned about Iran and its efforts in the region should support this action."
( PHOTOS: Syria: Where politicians stand)
A new authorization of force resolution would need to strike a balance, ensuring that it is specific enough to win over congressional votes but also give Obama flexibility in any military action.
"The administration's concern is that if you don't give us enough leeway, we can't fulfill what we need to do, which is to discourage the Assad regime from holding onto those weapons," said Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), who said he believed the resolution as currently drafted is too open-ended.
Dozens of lawmakers flowed into a secure Capitol Hill auditorium on an otherwise sleepy Sunday during the summer recess, eager to hear from administration officials on why the United States needs to respond to the Syrian crisis. Seventy lawmakers attended, according to one source with an informal list.
After the members-only briefing, several lawmakers emphasized that Obama has more to do to win their vote.
( PHOTOS: International response to Syria)
"I sense pretty much zero support for boots on the ground and in fact a great deal of skepticism for limited strikes," Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) told reporters. "There are profoundly unanswered questions about effectiveness, about what happens next."
He added: "I'm a long way from being a yes vote on even a narrow resolution."
Rep. Michael Burgess also said he remains unconvinced on the need for action. "I have to tell you, in my mind, it's far from settled," the Texas Republican said after the briefing. "Certainly the mood of the district that I represent is: 'Do not do this.' And I honestly did not hear anything that told me I ought to have a different position."
Before the briefing, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said he'd "probably be leaning no" if an authorization vote were held today. "I think it's going to be very tough. I think a lot depends critically on how persuasive the president can make the case," he said.


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We're pleased to announce that the call for Makers for the Mini Maker Faire Melbourne event is officially open!
We're especially keen to receive submissions from Makers interested in:
- demonstrating or presenting things they have made.
- running workshops to show others how to make things or use tools.
- exhibiting products or services they can offer the community.
For those Maker's who have already indicated their interest and have been waiting for the green light from us, we thank you for your patience and welcome you submissions.
Note also that we'll be making the announcement of the venue and opening the ticket registration process tomorrow, Friday 16th December 2011.
Makers, please provide as much information as you can on the entry form to help us understand your requirements and to balance the event with a good range of projects. If you'd like to submit more than one proposal — for example, an exhibit table and a workshop or presentation — it would help us out if you could submit one entry form per proposal.
Please have a read of the content on the Maker page to better understand some of things we're looking for from submissions.
If you aren't sure about your submission, please feel free to ask questions on your submission, or drop us an email at: info (at) makerfairemelbourne (dot) com.


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Cuba says travel changes not enough
HAVANA – Cuba said Sunday that the Obama Administration's decision to lift some travel restrictions on students, academics and religious groups and make it easier for Americans to send money were positive steps, but not nearly enough while Washington maintains its 48-year trade embargo on the island.
The changes announced last week mean that students seeking academic credit and churches and synagogues traveling for religious purposes will be able to go to Cuba. Any U.S. international airport with proper customs and immigration facilities will be able to offer charter services to the island.
The plan will also let any American send as much as $2,000 a year to Cuban citizens who are not part of the Castro administration and are not members of the Communist Party. Previously, only relatives could send money.
"Though the measures are positive," Cuba's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Sunday, "they are well below what was hoped for, have a limited reach and do not change (U.S.) policy against Cuba."
The ministry said most of the changes simply bring U.S. policy back to where it was during the Clinton Administration, before President George W. Bush toughened restrictions. They do not alter Washington's trade embargo, which Cuba refers to as a "blockade."
"These measures confirm that there is no will to change the policy of blockade and destabilization against Cuba," the ministry said. "If there exists a real interest in widening and facilitating contacts between our peoples, the United States should lift the blockade and eliminate the restrictions that make Cuba the only country in the world to which North Americans cannot travel."
Under the embargo, American tourists are still prohibited from visiting Cuba and most trade with the island is barred.
Obama had previously made it easier for Cuban-Americans to visit family and send money home, and cultural exchanges had greatly expanded under his watch. Still, relations between the Cold War enemies remain frosty, in particular over the detention of an American subcontractor held in Cuba since December 2009 on suspicion of spying.
The changes, announced by the White House on Friday, will be put in place within two weeks. They do not need congressional approval.


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Activist Ye Haiyan who offered free sex to the poor barred by China from visiting Australia
Chinese authorities have barred one of the country's most prominent women's rights activists from attending an international AIDS conference in Australia, prompting outcry from human rights and health advocates.
Ye Haiyan, 39, had planned to depart for the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne on Wednesday, but said she was told she had been placed under a travel ban, meaning she could not board her scheduled flight.
Ms Ye, who lives in Wuhan, is best-known for campaigning for the rights of sex workers including calling for the legalisation of the profession in China, where prostitution is prevalent but illegal.
In 2012, she offered sex for free to impoverished farmers and migrant workers for a day in a run-down brothel. She catalogued her experiences in her highly read blog to highlight the plight of both prostitutes in rural China – some who make as little as $2 a client – and low-income men who are too poor to marry or even maintain relationships.
"I've been engaged in this [activism] for nine years, what I'm happiest about has been to see the change in attitude [toward sex work] in civil society," she told Fairfax Media. "But the government's attitude in this regard is still unchanged, the issue of sex workers' rights is still unresolved."
In Melbourne, Ms Ye was slated to make a presentation on the experiences and rights abuses of Chinese sex workers at sessions preceding the formal conference, which kicks off Sunday and will see former US president Bill Clinton, musician and activist Sir Bob Geldof and thousands of AIDS researchers and community leaders attend.
"An important thing to realise is that a large percentage of this conference's content and focus is on human rights for affected communities including sex workers," Janelle Fawkes, the chief executive of the Scarlet Alliance, Australia's national peak body for sex workers, said. "There's a focus on the way in which barriers which limit human rights to sex workers … and how that impacts on a country's HIV responses."
The International AIDS Society said it was "very concerned" by the decision by Chinese authorities to block Ms Ye from travelling to Melbourne.
"Activists and representatives of key affected populations are a pivotal part of the International AIDS Conference and its program," it said in a statement. "We therefore ask that the decision to bar Ye Haiyan from travelling be reversed."
In May last year, Ms Ye again garnered national attention – and the wrath of authorities – when she organised a demonstration against a local school principal and government official accused of raping and sexually assaulting six schoolgirls in a hotel in Hainan.
Ms Ye was physically assaulted in her residence after the protest, evicted from her rental home, and has been harassed consistently since, disrupting her work. Chinese authorities generally have little tolerance for shows of organised dissent and she believes it was the organised demonstration that ultimately led to her being black-listed from overseas travel.
Despite being unable to travel to Melbourne, Ms Ye said she would "continue to have a voice" in advocating for the important changes that need to occur to protect the rights of Chinese sex workers. She said sex workers worried about carrying condoms because police often use them as evidence against them if caught. If sex workers were hurt, they dare not report the crime for fear of revealing their occupation. Sex workers have also become collateral damage, she said, in the government's politically motivated anti-vice campaign, most prominent in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Dongguan.
"The protections available to sex workers are too small, I hope more people will understand," she said. "I will continue to have a voice. I will continue to tell the government that they are wrong."
Human Rights Watch's China director Sophie Richardson said blocking Ms Ye from travelling served to "deny people in China access to the latest thinking and most effective strategies in combating a serious public health challenge".
"Why wouldn't the Chinese government want all the help it can get in tackling HIV?" she said.
with Sanghee Liu
Philip Wen is the China correspondent for Fairfax Media.


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Updating the 2012 WR ClassPosted: January 13, 2012 Filed under: 2012 Top Players Available | Tags: 2012 NFL Draft, A.J. Jenkins, Alshon Jeffery, Arkansas, B.J. Cunningham, Conner Vernon, Derek Moye, DeVier Posey, Dwight Jones, Greg Childs, Jarius Wright, Jarret Boykin, Jeff Fuller, Jermaine Kearse. Chris Owusu, Joe Adams, Jordan White, Juron Criner, Justin Blackmon, Kendall Wright, Lance Lewis, Marquis Maze, Marvin Jones, Marvin McNutt, Miami, Michael Floyd, Mohammed Sanu, Nick Toon, Risard Matthews, Rueben Randle, Ryan Broyles, Ryan Swope, T.Y. Hilton, Tavarres King, Texas A&M, Tommy Streeter, Travis Benjamin Leave a comment
Today I will take a look at the WR class quickly while I work on getting a 2 round Mock Draft out there. Look for that to publish later tonight or tomorrow at some point.
This class has 33 draftable WRs but the facts of past drafts tell you that 18 to 23 WRs will be drafted. That means their will be 10 or more UDFA WRs that will be worthy of making a roster.
1. Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State – Blackmon has emerged as the clear #1 WR in this draft and should be a top 5 draft pick come April. The Vikings, Rams, and Browns will target him from 2 through 4.
2. Mohammed Sanu, Rutgers – I have Sanu over Jeffery and Floyd and that will draw a lot of criticism. However, Sanu clearly performed better than both of them this year, and by a wide margin. He has better hands than both. Runs better routes than both. Has more speed than both and is a smarter player than both. Just because he doesn't have 6'4″ size does not matter to me. He is 6'2″ 215 pounds and has the potential to be stud in this league. He just broke Big East WR records that Larry Fitzgerald held with out a QB that should have been starting on any other Big 6 conference team.
3. Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina – Jeffery is fantastic player that suffered from awful QB play. He should still be a top 15 to top 20 pick but if he had good QB play, he could have been a top 5 pick. The team that lands him is going to get him a fantastic player that could be a top 5 WR in the NFL.
4. Michael Floyd, Notre Dame – Floyd came into the year with tons of character questions but he straitened out his act this year and performed fantastically. He should be a mid first round pick and provides a special player with 6'4″ height and 4.4 speed.
5. Kendall Wright, Baylor – Wright is a burner that can also be a dangerous kick returner. Because of his speed and route running along with his value as a KR, I see him as a late first round pick this year to a team in need of a #2 WR and KR prowess. I think he will end up at Houston or New England come April.
See the rest of the incredibly deep and talented WR class after the jump.
6. Nick Toon, Wisconsin
7. Dwight Jones, UNC
8. Marvin McNutt, Iowa
9. Tommy Streeter, Miami
10. Rueben Randle, LSU
11. T.Y. Hilton, Florida International
12. Jordan White, Western Michigan
13. Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma
14. Ryan Swope, Texas A&M
15. Jeff Fuller, Texas A&M
16. Joe Adams, Arkansas
17. A.J. Jenkins, Illinois
18. Juron Criner, Arizona
19. Jarius Wright, Arkansas
20. DeVier Posey, Ohio State
21. B.J. Cunningham, Michigan State
22. Jarret Boykin, Virginia Tech
23. Marquis Maze, Alabama
24. Jermaine Kearse, Washington
25. Chris Owusu, Stanford
26. Tavarres King, Georgia
27. Greg Childs, Arkansas
28. Lance Lewis, East Carolina
29. Risard Matthews, Nevada
30. Derek Moye, Penn State
31. Conner Vernon, Duke
32. Marvin Jones, California
33. Travis Benjamin, Miami