As we think about the sacrifice of Jesus, we often focus on the unbearable physical pain He endured.
But I want you to consider another way Jesus was made to suffer before His crucifixion. In the midst of Christ’s anguish, His friends turned their backs on Him.
Maybe you have friends or family members who have turned their backs on you. Maybe you’re struggling through pain and despair, and the people you thought you could depend on have disappeared.
As we think about the sacrifice of Jesus, we often focus on the unbearable physical pain He endured.
He was hit, flogged nearly to the point of death, and had a crown of thorns driven into His scalp. He was made to carry His own cross. Nails were punched through His flesh before He was hoisted into the air to suffocate in one of the most inhumane and cruel forms of capital punishment ever devised.
It’s hard to not focus on the pain He endured for us. But I want you to consider another way Jesus was made to suffer in the moments before His crucifixion. Consider the emotional pain Christ endured as those who were closest to Him turned their backs.
Of course, there was the moment when Jesus cried out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” —Matthew 27:46) as God the Father turned His face from His Son, which must have been the most crushing blow of all.
However, let’s look at the human element, Christ’s “inner circle.”
Jesus personally chose 12 disciples whom He poured himself into. These men could almost be considered His earthly family, surrounding Him, learning from Him, and serving in His ministry. Jesus loved them, and yet He knew—long before they did, in fact—that a couple of these men would publicly betray Him.
Judas, certainly, is the one that comes instantly to mind. After all, it was his betrayal of Jesus that ultimately led to the crucifixion. We’re told in Luke 22:3 that “Satan entered Judas…”
John 13:2 says that the devil put it into Judas’ heart to betray Jesus. Judas went to the chief priests and officers, accepted a payment from them and then actively plotted how to betray Jesus into their hands when there wouldn’t be a crowd around Him.
Judas’ treachery was the ultimate betrayal, directly resulting in a sham trial and the agony of the cross. But I wonder if the second betrayal might not have hurt just as much as the first.
Along with James and John, Peter was one of Jesus’ closest friends, whom He chose to be a witness to key moments in His earthly ministry. For instance, Peter was there for Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain and at Gethsemane on the eve of Christ’s sacrifice. He even drew a sword and tried to physically defend Jesus as He was being arrested (John 18:10).
Peter’s denial of Jesus—which, according to Mark, Jesus foretold prior to leaving for Gethsemane—must have stung deeply. As Jesus was being beaten and ridiculed (Mark 14:65), Peter was busy distancing himself from Christ (Mark 14:66-72). Three times people approached Peter to ask him if he was associated with Jesus, and three times Peter denied Him. “Then he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know this Man of whom you speak!’” (Mark 14:71).
In the midst of Christ’s anguish, His friends turned their backs on Him. What emotional pain this must have caused, even as Jesus knew it was coming and understood that it had to be!
Maybe you’re reading this, and it sounds a little too familiar. Maybe you have friends or family members who have turned their backs on you, or perhaps—like Judas—they were instrumental in causing the suffering you are now enduring. Maybe you’re struggling through pain and despair, and the people you thought you could depend on have disappeared. Maybe you’ve been hurt by others in the church. Bodily pain hurts physically, but emotional pain slices directly to your soul.
My friends, I’m here to tell you that people will let you down. People will turn their backs on you and cause you pain. But here’s the key—Jesus was forsaken, betrayed and crucified, but He conquered all of that! People are imperfect, but Christ is risen and victorious!
The Bible tells us not to put our faith into men or princes. Instead, this Easter place your eternity in the One Who endured scorn, pain, and—yes—betrayal from His friends, so that you may have a hope that extends far beyond the pitfalls and pains of this world.
69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.”
70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.”
72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
In the Bible, we see a man who will forever be linked to what we call Easter. He talked to Jesus directly, he evaluated Him, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to make a decision about what to do with Christ.
His name was Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor who oversaw the trial of Jesus.
He knew the truth, but he couldn’t take a stand one way or the other.
Easter exists because Jesus died for our sins and conquered the grave. We celebrate life at Easter, because death lost its sting with Christ’s triumphant resurrection.
Sadly, many have never experienced the true meaning of Easter. They may know of Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross, but they can’t or won’t make a decision about Him as their Savior.
In the Bible, we see a man who will forever be linked to what we call Easter. He talked to Jesus directly, he evaluated Him, and yet he, too, couldn’t bring himself to make a decision about what to do with Christ.
His name was Pontius Pilate, and Matthew 27:11-25 tells us a lot about this Roman governor who oversaw the trial of Jesus.
First, Pilate rejected Jesus’ own confession of who He was: the Christ, the Savior. Pilate asked the question and heard the truth (straight from the mouth of the Son of God), but he took it no further.
Second, Pilate rejected clear evidence. Pilate investigated Jesus and came to the conclusion that He was innocent, finding that He had committed no crime. Pilate realized that the only reason Jesus was on trial was the envy and hatred of the religious leaders, but he rejected that truth.
Third, Pilate gave in to pressure. Though he heard the claims of Christ and knew He had done nothing wrong, Pilate was compelled to sentence an innocent man to death because of the influence of the crowd.
Finally, Pilate tried to cleanse himself from the death of Jesus. He knew that he had just condemned an innocent man to die, and he was responsible. In a symbolic gesture, he washed his hands and proclaimed the guilt for Christ’s death on the crowd instead.
My friends, Pilate had a decision to make. He knew the truth, but he couldn’t take a stand one way or the other. Instead, he asked a question: “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:22, NKJV).“What then shall I do with Jesus?” –Pontius Pilate
That’s the question that so many today, perhaps even you, have a hard time answering. In far too many situations, people know the truth but—like Pilate—they give in to the pressures of others and walk away from Jesus, putting the decision off for another day.
However, indecision is a decision. Making no decision for Christ, is making a decision about Christ. And it’s one that has eternal consequences.
If you have been putting off the decision to follow Christ and make Him the Lord of your life, now is the perfect time. Jesus’ death and resurrection, which we celebrate as Easter, paved the way for you. I encourage you to receive that hope and accept Him as your Savior today!
Ready to commit or recommit your life to Christ? Pray now.
22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!”
23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”
Good Friday is the annual holiday celebrated by Christians which precedes Resurrection Sunday — commonly called Easter Sunday. It is the day Jesus died on the cross. Jesus, who is God (John 1:1) and the Savior of the world, also called the Word of God (John 1:14), became flesh and lived among His creation. Jesus had amassed a great following during his time on Earth, but his closest followers, with the exception of Judas who betrayed him, were his disciples.
Until the time had come to pass, Jesus’ disciples did not fully understand what was to take place. On Thursday preceding Good Friday, Jesus instituted the Lord’s supper, which He would hold with his twelve disciples as the “Last Supper.” “Do this,” Jesus said, “in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19). It was during this time that Jesus announced the betrayal of one of his disciples, which was Judas.
Good Friday, Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss and turns him over to the chief priests and the elders of the people (Matthew 26:47-56) who then took him to be tried before Annas and Caiaphas, the chief priest where it was decided that Jesus would be handed over to the Roman government for the crime of blasphemy. It was Jesus’ own people who turned against Him.
Jesus would then stand before Pontius Pilate who sent Him over to King Herod where he would be mockingly dressed in splendid clothing (Luke 23:11) and sent back to Pilate to be sentenced to His crucifixion. Pilate would bargain with the crowds of Jews for the release of Barabbas, a notorious prisoner, in exchange for the sentencing of Jesus.
When Jesus was sentenced, He would then be forced to carry His own cross to Golgotha, where he would be raised up on the cross to be beaten and mocked for hours — until his last breath where he proclaimed “it is finished.”
So if the Savior of the world had to endure this, what makes Good Friday so good?
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Imputed righteousness and penal substitution — that’s what makes Good Friday so good.
The doctrine of imputed righteousness is one of the most important doctrines in Christianity — it is what sets Protestants apart from other religions, such as Roman Catholicism. Imputed Righteousness is the doctrine that the righteousness of Jesus, who lived a perfectly sinless life, is given to those who would believe in Him.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us…
But in order for Jesus’ righteousness to be imputed to us, our sins had to be imputed to Him. And this is where the other important doctrine of penal substitution comes in. Jesus, who knew no sin, would bear our sins on the cross where God would then pour out all of His judgment — His hatred and wrath — on His only Son, Jesus.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
A dark day in the history of Christianity — a day that would literally see a three-hour darkness over the land — would be a glorious day for those whom Jesus came to save. It was the day of the great exchange. The death of Jesus for the life of His people. The day that His people would be exonerated of their guilt of sin and in a legal exchange, God would declare His people righteous before Him.
This would be the day that Jesus would declare victory over sin and death.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
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The account in Acts 19 of seven Jewish exorcists who used the names Jesus and Paul in an exorcism, only to be attacked by the possessed man, leaves unanswered questions for biblical scholars. Who was the High Priest Sceva, the father of these seven? What would sons of a High Priest of Israel be doing in Ephesus? With some historical context from Josephus, with some additional information from rabbinic sources, and with some linguistic comparisons, the answers and the actual people involved may now have been found in this week’s Thinker Update……
THE SONS OF SCEVA’S BOTCHED EXORCISM – HAS SCEVA BEEN FOUND?
Summary: The account in Acts 19 of seven Jewish exorcists in Ephesus who used the names Jesus and Paul in an exorcism, only to be attacked by the possessed man, leaves some unanswered questions. Now, patterns of evidence point toward a real event with actual people who may at last be identified.
(Adapted from The Mystery of the Beloved Disciple, by Frederick Baltz)
And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. – Acts 19:17 (ESV)
Paul’s Powerful Ministry
Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, ministered in such a powerful way to the people of Ephesus in Asia Minor that his opponents started a massive riot to get it stopped. In those two years the local silversmiths were hurt economically as the demand for their idols of the goddess Artemis dried up. Magical books were publicly burned by the people who once used them, and now renounced them. Miraculous healings abounded. All this took place while Paul proclaimed “Christ crucified.”
And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. – Acts 19:11-12 (ESV)
Next, in Acts 19:13—20, Luke relates the account of seven men who were sons of a High Priest named Sceva. They seem to have wanted to match Paul’s miracles with powers of their own.
Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered allof them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. – Acts 19:13-16 (ESV)
Eustache Le Sueur – The Preaching of St. Paul at Ephesus. (public domain)
Who Was The High Priest Sceva?
A survey of modern commentaries soon shows that few consider the existence of an Israelite High Priest named Sceva likely. No High Priest by that name is known to us. Further, the Latin scaeva (scaevola) means left-handed, and no satisfactory explanation has been offered for why this should designate any particular known High Priest. Scholars have reached various conclusions: (1) Luke or his source is mistaken, and the person Sceva has no basis in fact; (2) Sceva was a Jewish priest of a high, but different, rank; (3) Sceva was a priest, but of a different religion; or (4) Sceva was a charlatan, lying about whom he in fact was.
The story of Sceva’s sons does not fall within the “we” passages of Acts. That suggests Luke wasn’t there when it happened. The story came to Luke, told and retold, before he committed it to writing. We might wonder whether Luke himself would vouch for every detail of the story, since there were no guarantees against embellishment or inaccuracy. Still, Luke the historiographer included this story because he believed it to be sound as well as important.
A petalon (plate of gold) was worn on the High Priest’s turban with the inscription ‘Holy to the Lord’ – Exodus 28:36. Josephus wrote that during the first century it was the only item still in use that was the original to the time of Moses. Recreation with Old Hebrew lettering by Fred Baltz. (credit: Fred Baltz)
But what would a Jewish High Priest or his sons be doing in the city of Ephesus, far from the Temple in Jerusalem? Even in Judea there were multiple risks of contracting ritual defilement. How much more in the world of the Gentiles? And what business would any High Priest have there? On this point we have an item of information that deserves notice. It is a quite relevant report of High Priests traveling far from home. Josephus relates it in Antiquities XX 118-136, and War II 232-246. (See evidence that may have come from a High Priest on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.)
An Account of Traveling High Priests
Severe hostilities erupted between the Samaritans and the Jews in Judea in the year AD 50, requiring Roman military action to restore order. The Roman legate in Syria, Quadratus, sent a group of Jewish leaders, a group of Samaritan leaders, a tribune named Celer, and the former Governor, Cumanus, to Rome. There they would all stand trial before the Emperor, who would determine whom to punish and how. King Agrippa, last ruler of the Herodian dynasty and vassal of Rome, took the Jews’ side as the trial proceeded. Emperor Claudius fixed the blame on the Samaritans. The Samaritan representatives lost their lives, Celer was sent back to be killed publicly in Jerusalem, and Cumanus was exiled. The Jews were set free to return home. (Herod’s dance floor that doomed John the Baptist has been found)
Josephus reports in War II that Quadratus “…sent up to Caesar, along with two other persons of the highest eminence, the high priests Jonathan and Ananias, Ananus, the son of the latter, and some other Jewish notables, together with the most distinguished of the Samaritans.” Who were these two persons of the highest eminence, and the other notables? They were surely of the Jerusalem aristocracy, and were likely from high priestly families themselves, families other than Jonathan’s. All these people bore responsibility as some of the leading decision-makers in Jerusalem. That’s why they had to stand trial.
The parallel account in Antiquities names only Ananias and Ananus, but also includes “their followers.” So it was this unspecified number of additional Jewish leaders, along with Jonathan, Ananias, and Ananus who stood before Claudius in Rome in the year AD 50 or 51.
It is quite likely that the exonerated party of Jewish leaders returned to Jerusalem through Ephesus. A large Jewish colony existed there. Ephesus was one of the world’s greatest cities, and shipping lanes connected Rome to Ephesus. From Ephesus one could travel to Judea by water or by land.
Luke says there were “traveling-around” (perierchomenōn) Jews who were exorcists. This has often been translated: “itinerant.” Perierchomai is a rare word in the New Testament. Of the four instances, two come from Luke, both in Acts. Besides 19:13 which we are considering now, 28:13 employs the word to describe purposeful travel to Sicily by ship—a far different thing from itinerant wandering about.
We must ask whether perierchomai in 19:13 might have originally reflected the purposeful travel of Sceva’s sons returning to Jerusalem from Rome among that party of Jewish leaders Josephus tells us about. At any rate, the presence of a party of High Priests in Rome is documented by Josephus immediately before Paul’s extraordinary Ephesian ministry which began in AD 52. Remarkably, their return to Jerusalem would most likely have taken them through Ephesus, placing them in that city while Paul was there.
Adventures – Rope and Rigging
The names of the actual High Priests are known to us from Josephus’ history, and helpfully presented with their years in office by E. Schürer and J. Jeremias. Four families in Jerusalem constituted the aristocracy from whom all the High Priests came during Herodian and Roman times. They were each powerful and wealthy. One of these was the House of Kamit, or Kamithos. The Talmud relates in multiple places that the House of Kamithos produced seven sons, each of whom at some time served as High Priest. (b. Yoma 47a; T.Yom iv.20; 189; Lev. R. 20.7 on 16.1—2 (Son. 20.11, 263); j.Yom. i., 38d.6; j.Meg. i.12, 72a 49; Tanhuma ahare mot 7, 117a.24.) The Talmud does not give their names, but it nevertheless stands in Jewish tradition that Kamithos had seven sons, and this can be said of no other person in any of the four families.
It is clear that names varied in spelling and pronunciation. Kamithos is a Greek form of the name Kamit. Schürer gives the following variations of the name found in extant literature: Kamithos, Kathimos, Kathāmos, Kamathei, Kamei, Kamā, Kamudos, Kamoidi, Kemidi, Kemedā. The High Priest Joseph Cabi’s name may also be derived from Kamit. So, there are ten or eleven variants of the name that we know of, maybe more.
The meanings of Skeua and Kamilos are similar: ship’s rigging. (credit: Joe Mabel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Kamithos as a word was not recognizable as any particular thing. However, kamilos was an actual word with a particular and peculiar referent: ship’s cable. Note how similar kamilos is in pronunciation to Kamithos, listed above. Skeuā, different from Skeua (Sceva) by only the length of the final vowel, means “equipment, household furnishings, especially of a ship’s gear…the tackle or rigging of a ship.” (Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich Lexicon) The meanings of kamilos and skeuā are essentially the same.
Simply put, skeua is a synonym for kamilos, and a homonym for skeuā. One can see how the name Kamithos might have become Skeua with the retelling of the story across languages and time. Then, the seven sons of Sceva were actually the seven attested sons of Kamithos, the only High Priest who had seven sons. They were returning from Rome to Jerusalem through Ephesus after standing before Caesar’s tribunal.
Casting Out Demons
But would a High Priest or his sons resort to using Jesus’ name in exorcising demons? One surviving incantation for exorcising demons includes the name Jesu among many others to be pronounced over the possessed person, though that incantation is from later than the First Century, and comes from circles far distant from Jerusalem’s High Priesthood. Still, Luke and Mark relate that even during Jesus’ ministry there were persons who used Jesus’ name without being his followers. We must remember that the use of Jesus’ name did not necessarily constitute faith in Jesus, or acceptance of his teaching. It was all about the power of the name itself. (The possible site of Jesus’ trial has been discovered in Jerusalem.)
One of the many representations of a demon from the ancient world. Neo-Assyrian head of Pazuzu c.600-700 BCE. (Eltringham Collection. Antiquarius2012, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.)
All three Synoptic Gospels tell of a charge brought against Jesus by some Pharisees: he casts out demons by the prince of demons, Beelzebul (Matt. 12:24//Mark 3:22//Luke 11:15.) If, in their thinking, Jesus could be a false prophet, yet have power over demons, we must acknowledge the possibility that a priest might pronounce the name for its power’s sake, while rejecting any allegiance or devotion to Jesus himself.
Conclusion
So, we have found patterns of historical and linguistic evidence that affirm the unusual account in Acts 19, a story that has seemed to many people just a fable about no actual persons. Here is additional reason for confidence in the factual integrity of the Acts of the Apostles. Keep thinking.
TOP PHOTO: The theater at Ephesus, scene of the riot over Paul. (credit: Omar hoftun, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
NOTE: Not every view expressed by scholars contributing Thinker articles necessarily reflects the views of Patterns of Evidence. We include perspectives from various sides of debates on biblical matters so that readers can become familiar with the different arguments involved. – Keep Thinking!
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BY MICHAEL SNYDER/END OF THE AMERICAN DREAM MARCH 25, 2022
The biggest problems are fertilizer and energy. The energy price to run the tractors, to run the trucks, to run everything else. And the price of phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. Those are the three major things we use to make fertilizer… this is causing so much stress on the farmers that farmers all around the world are not planting their fields.
When I started warning of an emerging global food crisis a number of months ago, many out there assumed that I must be exaggerating things. Sadly, I was not exaggerating one bit. The soaring price of fertilizer, extreme global weather patterns, shocking crop failures and an epic global supply chain crisis had combined to create a “perfect storm” even before the war in Ukraine began.
Of course the war has made things far worse, because Russia and Ukraine collectively account for about 30 percent of all worldwide wheat exports under normal conditions. For a while, the mainstream media and our leaders in Washington were in denial about what was happening, but now everyone is finally admitting the truth. In fact, at this point even the Biden administration is conceding that a global food crisis is here…
The White House confirmed Monday they expect certain parts of the world to suffer a food shortage as an effect of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We do anticipate that higher energy fertilizer, wheat, and corn prices could impact the price of growing and purchasing critical food supplies for countries around the world,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
I am glad that the White House is talking about this.
Hopefully it will get a lot more people to understand the seriousness of the crisis that we are now facing.
According to Psaki, the poorest parts of the planet are expected to be affected the most…
She said food shortages were not expected to hit the United States, but rather countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
This is what I have always said. Those at the bottom of the economic food chain will be hit the hardest at first.
But we will feel a lot of pain too.
One of the primary factors that is causing this new global food crisis is the price of fertilizer. This is something that Glenn Beck commented on during one of his shows this week…
“Now, the bigger problems are fertilizer and energy. The energy price to run the tractors, to run the trucks, to run everything else. And the price of phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. Those are the three major things we use to make fertilizer … this is causing so much stress on the farmers that farmers all around the world are not planting their fields. They are reducing the acreage, because without fertilizer, you’re not growing much. So why plant all those fields?” Glenn continued.
Beck is entirely correct that conditions at the end of the year will be worse than conditions at the beginning of the year.
At this point, we are still eating food that was grown last year.
By the end of the year, we will primarily be eating food that was grown this year, and this year a lot less food will be grown than originally anticipated.
The head of the UN World Food program, David Beasley, is telling us that what we are facing is unlike anything that we have seen since World War II…
“Ukraine has only compounded a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe,” said David M. Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, the United Nations agency that feeds 125 million people a day. “There is no precedent even close to this since World War II.”
Beasley has no idea how we are going to be able to feed everyone.
In fact, he is warning that his agency will soon be forced to make some very harsh choices…
The World Food Program’s costs have already increased by $71 million a month, enough to cut daily rations for 3.8 million people. “We’ll be taking food from the hungry to give to the starving,” Mr. Beasley said.
Reading that should chill you to your core.
But here in the United States, most will not start paying attention until it starts to affect them personally.
The good news is that nobody in the U.S. is currently facing starvation, but without a doubt the cost of food is going up. For example, just check out what has been happening to lunch prices…
As of March 1, the average price of wraps is up 18 percent, sandwiches are up 14 percent, salads are up 11 percent and burgers are up 8 percent over last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from payments company Square.
Menu prices at restaurants overall have seen the highest increase since 1981, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with prices skyrocketing in major cities, including San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas.
Needless to say, this is just the beginning.
Like I said, we are still eating what has been previously harvested.
By this time next year, things are going to look completely different.
If you want to be ahead of the curve, I would recommend stocking up at your local grocery stores while you still can.
I know that food prices may seem high now, but the truth is that they are never going to be lower than this ever again.
So take advantage of these food prices while they are still reasonable.
There has not been a global famine in any of our lifetimes, and so we don’t know what that would look like.
But Glenn Beck is warning that “hundreds of millions of people will experience famine by the end of the year”.
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, is executed
March 21, 1556. By Jesús Vico and Beatriz Camino.
On this day in 1556, Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), was burned at the stake after being accused of heresy by Queen Mary I. He was the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury and an advisor to King Henry VIII and Edward VI. He also played a major role during the English Reformation by establishing the basic structures of the Church of England.
Early years and entry into royal service
Thomas Cranmer was born in 1489 in Nottinghamshire into a family who was minor gentry. As his parents didn’t own enough land to give to all their children, Thomas joined the clergy. He then went on to Cambridge and joined a fellowship at Jesus College in 1510. However, he lost it after he married the daughter of the keeper of a local tavern. After his wife passed away in childbirth he was reaccepted by the college and focused on his studies. He entered the church in 1523 and became an outstanding theologian.
Cranmer’s entry into royal services took place in 1529 when King Henry VIII ordered him to write a propaganda treatise in order to facilitate his divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. After it was finished, Cranmer travelled to Italy to defend its argument before the Pope in 1530. Even though the discussion did not lead to any resolution on the matter, he was appointed grand penitentiary of England. Two years later, he served as an ambassador to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in Germany with the aim of becoming closer to the Lutheran princes. During this time, he made his first contact with Continental Reformers in Switzerland and married the niece of one of their leaders in spite of his priest’s orders.
Archbishop of Canterbury
In 1533, Cranmer was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry VIII. Right after it, he proceeded to declare the King’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon void and married him to Anne Boleyn, who was already pregnant. During these first years, he started to introduce small reforms in the Church of England. He began to drift slowly in the direction of Protestantism and abandoned the traditional Roman Catholic belief in transubstantiation. Moreover, he showed his support for the translation of theBible into English, which was made compulsory in the parishes in 1538, and published the firstofficially authorised vernacular service, the Exhortation and Litany.
After King Edward VI ascended to the throne following King Henry’s death, Cranmer was able to take full control of the Reformation of the Church. He wrote a complete liturgy, the Book of Common Prayer, and introduced several changes in the areas regarding the Eucharist, clerical celibacy and the use of images in places of worship.
Trial for heresy and execution
When King Edward passed away, the Archbishop showed his support for Lady Jane Grey as successor following the King’s wishes. Even though Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland, she was deposed nine days later and succeeded by the Roman Catholic Mary I. Cranmer was then accused of treason and imprisoned, thus putting a stop to the Reformation. He was then forced to sign a recantation several times to discourage his followers. Despite this, he was sentenced to be burnt at the stake in 1556. Before he died, he disavowed his recantation and stuck first his right hand, with which he had signed the document, into the fire. The Archbishop was later declared a martyr and his death is narrated in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Throughout the centuries, his legacy has lived on within the English Church through the Book of Common Prayer, which is still considered one of the most important works of the Anglican Church.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill [1874-1965], the 20th-century’s greatest man, saved the free world in WW II with his stirring, rousing speeches and stiff spine. He refused to hand Britain over to Hitler, even though Parliament and influential members of the royal family wanted capitulation.1
From his backbench seat as a Member of Parliament in 1935, Churchill kept his fingers crossed: “We cannot tell whether Hitler will be the man who will once again let loose upon the world another war … or whether he will go down in history as the man who restored honour and peace of mind to the great Germanic nation…”2
The reality turned out to be that Nazi strongman Adolf Hitler [1889-1945] was a man who “let loose war upon the world.” The Führer, deceitfully, signed a secret decree on February 26, 1935, authorizing the founding of the Reich Luftwaffe, a new German air force, in clear violation of the Versailles Treaty that prohibited militaristic buildup in Germany.3
The Gathering Storm, the first volume of Churchill’s monumental six-volume account of the struggle between the Allied Powers in Europe in opposition to Germany and the Axis, chronicles the tragedy: “Up till 1934 at least, German rearmament could have been prevented without the loss of a single life. It was not time that was lacking …
“It is where the balance quivers, and the proportions are veiled in mist that the opportunity for world-saving decisions presents itself.”4
The former Prime Minister is buried in a nondescript grave beside St. Martin’s Church in Bladon, England, a final resting place he selected himself. We visited the church and graveside when we originated and orchestrated in 2014 Mike Huckabee’s Reagan, Thatcher, Pope John Paul II Tour with Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada pastors and spiritual leaders. https://vimeo.com/116587082
In view of the leadership of Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, and Kevin McCarthy, our own present time in the U.S. appears to be a throwback to the situation and circumstances of 1935-1939, a period where the balance quivers and the magnitude is veiled in mist.
To compound the threat of nuclear war by Russia and Vladimir Putin the last few weeks, our nation rushes full-speed and full-scale toward the full release of pagan secularism’s destructive force. After having switched horses in midstream [changing religions in the 20th century], the nation has made a “new covenant” with the heathen gods of secularism.
The process was greatly accelerated by secular-tainted exclusions and prohibitions, such as the 1962 banishment of prayer to Jehovah God in Engel v. Vitale, the 1963 dismissal of the Bible from public education in Abington School District v. Schempp, and the 1980 removal of the Ten Commandments from public schools, courthouses, and government buildings in Stone v. Graham.
This was followed in 2015 by the absolute height of absurdity when the U.S. Supreme Court with some hand-waving pulled out of its hat the constitutional “right” to homosexual intercourse and marriage in the Obergefell v. Hodges case.
Last week at the 2022 NCAA women’s 500-yard freestyle swimming championship in Atlanta we finally may have arrived at a bridge too far to cross. During this championship a biological male, who moved from a ranking of #554 in the 200 yd freestyle in men’s swimming to #1 in women’s swimming, won the women’s 500-yard freestyle swimming Championship.5,6
Revelry kicked into high gear throughout the secular state, among its custodians and factotums, and its allies in Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Media, and Big Government as they worshipped secularism’s golden calf, elated at the successful conversion and induction of the last 3-4 generations of young Americans into their irrational, idolatrous ideology.
America is currently in need of those who can decipher what God is saying to His church and her current moral and spiritual need. According to pastor and ‘modern-day prophet’ A.W. Tozer [1897-1963] this requires “the ability to appraise the religious scene as viewed from God’s position, and to tell us what is actually going on.
“Where is the man who can see through the ticker tape and confetti to discover which way the parade is headed, why it started in the first place and, particularly, who is riding up front in the seat of honor?
“The soundness of current Christianity is assumed by the religious masses as was the soundness of Judaism when Christ appeared. People know they are seeing certain activity, but just what it means they do not know, nor have they the faintest idea of where God is or what relation He has toward the whole thing.
“One hundred years from now historians will know what was taking place religiously in this year of our Lord; but that will be too late for us. We should know right now.
“If Christianity is to receive a rejuvenation it must be by other means than anything now being used. If the church is to recover from the injuries she has suffered there must appear a new type of preacher. The proper, ruler-of-the-synagogue type will never do. Neither will the priestly type of man who carries out his duties, takes his pay and asks no questions, nor the smooth-talking pastoral type who knows how to make the Christian religion acceptable to everyone. All these have been tried and found wanting.
“Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes [and I pray God there will be not one but many] he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce, and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom. Such a man is likely to be lean, rugged, blunt-spoken and a little bit angry with the world. He will love Christ and the souls of men to the point of willingness to die for the glory of the one and the salvation of the other. But he will fear nothing that breathes with mortal breath.”7
God willing, may such “old prophet type” Gideons and Rahabs soon come forward.
While the world has been obsessively focused on crude oil and gasoline in recent weeks, we instead alerted readers to a far more dire scenario playing out in diesel, a source of energy which is absolutely critical in keeping the “just in time” world running on time.
As a reminder, here are some of the articles we have published on the topic in recent weeks, many even before the Ukraine war:
Diesel Is The U.S. Economy’s Inflation Canary – Feb 8
U.S. Diesel Stocks Set To Fall Critically Low – Feb 18
China Asks State-Owned Refiners To Halt Gasoline, Diesel Exports – Mar 10
Global Diesel Shortage Raises Risk Of Even Greater Oil Price Spike – Mar 12
Fast-forward to today, when our warning was echoed by the heads of one of the largest commodity trading houses and the biggest independent oil trader who were speaking at the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland on Tuesday.
The corporate leaders estimated that as much as 3 million barrels of oil and its products a day could be lost from Russia as a result of sanctions, in line with previous estimates, and warned that global markets face a squeeze on diesel with Europe most at risk of a “systemic” shortage that could lead to fuel rationing.
“The thing that everybody’s concerned about will be diesel supplies. Europe imports about half of its diesel from Russia and about half of its diesel from the Middle East,” said Russell Hardy, chief of Switzerland-based oil trader Vitol. “That systemic shortfall of diesel is there.”
Those imports mean that Russian supplies account for about 15% of Europe’s diesel consumption, according to the FT which carried their comments.
Hardy said the shift to more diesel consumption over gasoline in Europe had helped to create shortages of the fuel. He added that refineries could boost their diesel output in response to higher prices at the expense of other oil-derived products to shore up supply, but warned that rationing was a possibility.
Torbjorn Tornqvist, co-founder and chair of Geneva-headquartered Gunvor Group, added: “Diesel is not just a European problem; this is a global problem. It really is.”
Tornqvist also warned that European gas markets were no longer functioning properly as traders faced huge demands from banks for cash to cover hedging positions. “I think it’s broken. It really is,” he said. “I never thought that somebody could say ‘ah, gas has fallen below 100 per megawatt hours is really cheap’.”
Gas futures linked to TTF, Europe’s wholesale gas price have swung from about €70 a megawatt hour before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to about €230 two weeks ago and then slid below €100 this week. Before May 2021, European gas prices were below €20 a megawatt hour.
As noted last week, Europe’s largest energy traders called on governments and central banks to provide emergency liquidity support to keep gas and power markets functioning as sharp price moves triggered by the Ukraine crisis have strained commodity markets. Hardy said that to move a cargo equivalent to 1 megawatt hour of liquefied natural gas priced at €97, traders must provide €80 in cash, straining their capital requirements.
Worse, confirming that Europe faces an even colder winter, Tornqvist said European utilities would struggle to fill gas storage for next winter given the “paralysed” state of the spot market for gas unless policymakers stepped in to provide guarantees to protect buyers against price swings.
But going back to diesel, Bloomberg’s Javier Blas tweeted a handful of the scariest quotes from the energy CEOs at today’s FT commodities summit:
Trafigura CEO Jeremy Weir: “The diesel market is extremely tight. It’s going to get tighter and will probably lead into stock outs,” referring to when fuel stations run dry.
Gunvor CEO: “Europe is so short of diesel.”
Vitol CEO: “The thing that everybody’s concerned about will be diesel supplies.”
Needless to say, without diesel, not only will traffic in Europe grind to a halt, but much if not all US truck-based logistical support and supply chains will soon be paralyzed. The consequences for the global economy will be dire.
Originally published at Activist Post – reposted with permission.
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Judges 7:20 King James Version (KJV) And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.
An Independent Christian Publication, Standing for the Verbal Inspiration of the Bible, the Deity of Christ, His Blood Atonement, Salvation by Faith, New Testament Soul Winning and the Premillennial Return of Christ; Opposing Modernism (Liberalism), Worldliness and Formalism.
The Amen Corner
There exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage…we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained. -George Washington
Some people are like blisters. They show up when the day is ended and the work is done. -Dr. Shelton Smith
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes, a principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. -Thomas Jefferson
If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions. -Charles Spurgeon
Sin makes earth a suburb of Hell.
A man with no sense of religious duty is he whom the Scriptures describe in such terse but terrific language as living “without God in the world.” Such a man is out of his proper being, out of the circle of all his duties, out of the circle of all his happiness and away, far, far away, from the purposes of his creation. -Daniel Webster
Force may subdue, but love gains; and he that forgives first wins the laurel. -William Penn
Money may buy cars and clothes, but it can buy neither character nor class.
Most churches are like an ailing lung with only a few cells doing the breathing. -Dr. Curtis Hutson
There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have and think they have enough – a cheap Christianity which offends nobody and requires no sacrifice – which costs nothing and is worth nothing. -J. C. Ryle
People say, “These days God does not want people to die for Him but to live for Him.” Find me chapter and verse for that. If you follow Jesus, it is Calvary, Gethsemane, shame, reproach. First the cross, then after awhile, the crown. -Dr. John R. Rice [I disagree with Dr. Rice’ aforementioned exegesis, based on Philippians 1:21 “To LIVE is Christ, to die is gain.” If we truly live for Christ, then we will do all that he said. I believe he is straining gnats over semantics. Pastor Steve].
Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in your friends and they will die and leave you; trust in money and you may have it taken from you; trust in reputation and some slanderous tongue may blast it; but trust in God and you will never be confounded in time or eternity. -D. L. Moody
So here we are in a shooting war with Russia. We are supplying the weapons, and the Ukrainians are doing the fighting and dying. But make no mistake. In addition to arming the Ukrainians, by our sanctions, we have declared economic war on Russia and, reportedly, are also using our satellites to target Russian troops for death and destruction. We are in this war just as surely as if Americans were on the ground pulling the triggers.
And, as this goes on, the question becomes how will it play out? Will Russia retaliate with cyberattacks to disrupt our domestic power grid, pipelines, transportation, financial institutions or other infrastructure? Will it unleash chemical or biological agents? Will it use tactical nukes to speed up the rumbling of Ukraine’s cities? How will we respond if Russia pursues any of these options? And how close are we to that one misstep that could cause events to spiral out of control into nuclear conflagration?
How did we get here?
The answer is simple. The titular head of the Biden regime is weak, corrupt, and mentally incompetent. None of this is or has been a secret. All of it has been on embarrassing display before the entire world and was disastrously demonstrated by Joe Biden’s witless and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan as well as his astoundingly moronic prewar assurance to Vladmir Putin that the United States would not militarily oppose an invasion of Ukraine.
What are the Biden family’s benefactors in Ukraine and Russia getting for their money? Whose interests is the Biden regime serving?
Biden’s caretakers have tried to hide and explain away his glaringly obvious unfitness for office. During the 2020 presidential campaign, he was kept out of public view. As our purported president, his public appearances have been marked by his inability to extemporaneously speak in a coherent manner. He even struggles to read off a teleprompter and frequently appears to be confused and lost in a mental fog.
Nevertheless, the Biden regime has been aided and abetted by corporate media eager to do their bit to mask Biden’s deficits. Similarly, none of the corporate media have questioned or investigated the Biden family’s murky financial dealings in Ukraine, Russia, and China.
In this regard, the Biden regime has been assisted by our intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies that kneecapped Donald Trump’s presidency based on lies concocted by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign while dismissing as Russian disinformation the evidence of the Biden family’s corruption contained on Hunter Biden’s laptop computer.
Joe Biden was installed in the Oval Office by a process that had all the features of the color revolutions that our deep state has so successfully fomented around the world. On election night, the vote count was mysteriously halted. There followed an avalanche of mail-in ballots of unknown provenance. The corporate media promptly declared Biden the winner, and denounced anyone who dared to publicly question this outcome. Those who persisted in challenging the result were smeared, banned from social media, and canceled. Many have been sued in court or had their livelihoods threatened or destroyed.
And with that, it was mission accomplished. America’s color revolution had succeeded in installing a drooling fool in the Oval Office.
Today Russia has decided to exploit Biden’s obvious weaknesses. But how long will it be before Communist China, North Korea, Iran, Islamic terrorists, narco states and every other malign element take advantage of the unprecedented opportunity presented by Biden’s weak and semi-comatose leadership?
We must face facts. Donald Trump, the only President in this century who did not get us into a war and whose policies produced a thriving economy, American energy independence, and stable foreign relations, has been replaced by a literal idiot who has wrecked our economy, opened our borders, and undermined our national security. And now, in his most remarkable achievement to date, he has gotten us into a shooting war between two countries where in each he and his family have surreptitiously reaped untold wealth.
The fact is that we have gone to war on behalf of a country where, according to a U.S. Senate report, the Biden family has had questionable financial dealings and are fighting yet another country where Elena Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of Moscow and reputedly the wealthiest woman in Russia, made a 2014 wire transfer of $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton LLC, a company co-founded by Hunter Biden. In 2015, then Vice President Joe Biden was seen having dinner in Georgetown with Ms. Baturina. Unlike other oligarchs, she reportedly has not been subject to the U.S. sanctions which were imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
All of which gives rise to certain unavoidable questions. What are the Biden family’s benefactors in Ukraine and Russia getting for their money? Whose interests is the Biden regime serving? What covert influences may be in play and what effect, if any, are they having on our involvement in and conduct of the war?
These are vital and troubling questions. We are staring at the possibility of getting into a nuclear war over a conflict that does not directly or immediately affect our national security or survival. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is vile, cruel, and evil, but it does not pose an imminent threat to the United States.
Moreover, why is the Biden regime giving precedence to the invasion of Ukraine over the ongoing invasion of the United States through our southern border? How is it that the Biden regime is allowing and promoting the invasion of our nation while – at the risk of nuclear world war – it has maneuvered us into an armed conflict over the territorial integrity of a country that abuts Russia?
Is this a case of misdirection? Is the Biden regime using this war to distract us from the disaster at our southern border and the wanton and mindless destruction of our energy independence and economy?
Don’t expect any of our leaders or corporate media to pose or seek answers to these questions. But consider this. The fate of the world is in the hands of a man who is literally and demonstrably a weak-willed and mentally disabled dimwit with highly questionable financial interests on both sides of the war in Ukraine as well as in Communist China which is on the verge of coming to Russia’s assistance.
What could possibly go wrong?
George Parry is a former federal and state prosecutor. He blogs at knowledgeisgood.net and may be reached by email at kignet@outlook.com.
Even Steven 
