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By Tyson Thorne

March 6, 2019
 

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"Media" used to mean "print media" like books and newspapers, but the world has grown. Today media can also mean radio, television and movies delivered to personal computers, tablets and cell phones. As the world's best selling book of all time the Bible continues to make headlines, both good and bad, across all forms of media. Jack Phillips wins again, a church in West Virginia burns to the ground but the Bibles and crosses within survive without damage, and in a personal note it's been a week of locusts, locusts and more locusts and a surprising — if not alarming — discovery.

Christians celebrated the victory of Jack Phillips in court, the Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a gay marriage. He stated at the time that he would make the couple any other cake they desired, but it would violate his conscience to bake them a wedding cake. The couple sued for discrimination and the Supreme Court upheld Phillip's right to follow his conscience and his religion. What a lot of people do not know, is that days after that victory a woman called Phillips and requested he bake her a cake celebrating her trans-gender surgery. Of course he said "no" and another law suite was filed — this time by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom took up Jack Phillips' case and, thankfully, the state backed down.

"This is the second time the state has launched a failed effort to prosecute him," Kristen Waggoner, senior vice president of the ADF, concluded. "While it finally appears to be getting the message that its anti-religious hostility has no place in our country, the state's decision to target Jack has cost him more than six-and-a-half years of this life, forcing him to spend that time tied up in legal proceedings."

Government is intended to end abuses of power, not be the author of such. Shame on the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

A fire broke out early last Sunday morning at Freedom Ministries Church in Grandville, West Virginia. By the time firefighters arrived the building was ablaze. At one pint the heat became so intense the emergency crew had to retreat and work their way back with fire hoses. So you can imagine everyone's amazement when the fire was out and firemen found the following:

BiblesNotBurned

Amazing.

I've spent a lot of time over the last two weeks studying the book of Joel. Tomorrow's post is an excerpt of my notes on the prophetic book. If you are not familiar, a locust plague is the primary event discussed. Last week, in a completely unrelated discussion, a friend of mine asked about John the Baptist who, as we all know, ate locusts and honey. I told my friend something I believe I've even mentioned on this site and elsewhere, that John probably didn't eat the locust bug, but rather the fruit of a "locust tree" which grows legumes that taste a bit like chocolate. John the Baptist was Jewish, and Jews are forbidden to eat insects, so this seemed like a reasonable explanation of the passage. So with all this talk about locusts you can imagine my surprise when I learned that an immense locust swarm is heading for Israel. I read the news report and discovered something alarming.

I was wrong. It doesn't happen often, but when it does I own up to it. While it is true that Jewish dietary laws exclude bugs from the menu, locusts and grasshoppers are exceptions. Leviticus 11.22-23 states:

"These you may eat from them: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, the grasshopper of any kind. But any other winged swarming thing that has four legs is detestable to you."

Since the locusts are kosher, some in Israel are excited about serving locust with a Seder dinner this coming Passover. Even so, if I were John and could choose between eating an insect or a legume that taste's like chocolate, I'm going for the legume. Chocolate and honey, two great tastes that go great together. Besides, legumes don't have legs that might get stuck in one's beard.

All I can say is: As for me and my house, we will not eat bugs!