Coicidence or Connection

A few months ago a book was recommended that shows many connections between natural disasters and market crashes; and how the US treats Israel. Since i like to study the markets and am also a fan of controversies and conspiracy theories it caught my attention. The book is As America has done to Israel by John McTernan. He starts out by showing how we supported Israel in the earlier days of the new nation. But later during the reigns of four or five recent presidents we have been methodically telling Israel to give back land and settlements. Often on the same day or day after we do this bad things such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and market crashes happen! Is it just an interesting coincidence or is God really trying to get our attention? Perhaps monitoring this type of news can help the decision to go long or short the markets.

Exodus and Exile

We are living during very trying times lately and for several years now. I found an interesting introduction to Lamentations written in the Message Bible by Eugene Peterson that might have a parallel application to 'what in the world is going on anyway??' I will copy one paragraph:

"There are two polar events in the history of the Hebrew people: the Exodus from Egypt and the Exile into Babylon. Exodus is the definitive story of salvation into a free life. God delivered his people from Egyptian slavery (in about 1200 B. C.). It is a story of freedom. It's accompanied by singing and dancing--an exuberant experience. Exile is the definitive story of judgment accompanied by immense suffering. God's people are taken into Babylonian slavery (the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. marks the event). It is a time of devastation and lament. It is a terrible experience. The two events, Exodus and Exile, are bookends holding together the wide-ranging experiences of God's people that fall between the exuberance that accompanies salvation and the suffering associated with judgement."

We hear the Exodus story a lot in churches but rarely hear about the Exile. 2Kings 23 shows how bad things became in Israel before the judgement of exile. The way things are becoming in this country and world, are we ripe for judgement or exile ourselves?

This is kind of a negative posting, but it is something i just noticed this summer while reading and a light went on and it had to be written to remember it... Seventy years after the exile God was gracious and let a few go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple and the walls (Ezra and Nehemiah). Yet those who went back to the promised land were slaves and had to give their harvests to foreign kings. (Nehemiah 9 and check out v. 36, 37.) Maybe these difficult days can be explained by the exodus AND the exile story.

Yancey - What Good is God?

I have always liked reading books by Philip Yancey because he tackles the tough issues that most folks would rather ignore. In this one he talks about ten places he traveled to for speaking engagements. He shares background circumstances about the places and people he visited. Following each chapter is a talk he gave at each place. He really shows how God's grace and love can work in today's world.

reading through the Bible - - - FAST

A little over a month ago i found this mind expanding article about reading through the Bible faster than most people would even think about doing. Most folks have seen plans for reading it in a year, like that is a big accomplishment. This article shows how and why to read through in several months. Some audio Bibles are only about 70 to 80 hours in length, so an hour a day and you should be through in 3 months!

It is better news than what is happening in the world today, and there were some tough times recorded in the past that we need to recall. Also some answers and solutions to similar problems.