Today's Readings and Stuff -- 28 June 2012

I had hoped to be more upbeat today.  That is difficult to attain, on a day that a part of your country died.  I am, of course, referring to the SCOTUS decision on Obamacare.  I find it a challenge to maintain a good attitude when referring to the whole thing.  I expect mendacity on the part of Obumble.  I expect the most vile sort of treachery from the national level (and, generally, the lower level as well) dogs of the Democrap Party.  I had, wrongly, expected more from SCOTUS.  I guess any bunch that includes crapheads foisted off on us by Obumble and Clinton, the Rapist-in-Chief, should be expected to evidence a studied indifference to the the Constitution.  We had hoped for better.  We were wrong.
"Put not thy faith in princes" is a good policy.
What happens next is anyone's guess. 
This will not turn out well.
The representative federal republic we received from our ancestors is no more.  What will replace it I do not know.  But it's gone now.  Pity.

This coming Sunday, July 1 2012, has been designated as a day of prayer.  Be a good day to do just that.  And yes, there are no bad days for it, but special observances are not a bad thing.   "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and seek My face and pray ..."  is a worthy admonition.  Time to get serious about that.

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The Old Testament reading for the day is chapters 13, 14, and 15 of Job.  I don't see here any expectation by Job of some government agency to help him.  Nor should we.

Job 13

1	Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.
2	What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.
3	Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
4	But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
5	O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
6	Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
7	Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
8	Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
9	Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?
10	He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
11	Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?
12	Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
13	Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
14	Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
15	Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
16	He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
17	Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
18	Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
19	Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
20	Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
21	Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
22	Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
23	How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
24	Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
25	Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
26	For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
27	Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
28	And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

Job 14

1	Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.
2	He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
3	And doth thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
4	Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
5	Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
6	Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
7	For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
8	Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
9	Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
10	But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
11	As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
12	So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
13	O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14	If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
15	Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.
16	For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
17	My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.
18	And surely the mountains falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.
19	The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
20	Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
21	His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
22	But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

Job 15

1	Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
2	Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
3	Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
4	Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
5	For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
6	Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
7	Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
8	Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
9	What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
10	With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
11	Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
12	Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
13	That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
14	What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15	Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
16	How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
17	I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
18	Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
19	Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
20	The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
21	A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
22	He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
23	He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24	Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25	For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
26	He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
27	Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
28	And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
29	He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
30	He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
31	Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
32	It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
33	He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
34	For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
35	They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

This evening, verses 26-40 of Acts 8.  Word is getting around to all the corners of the earth.

Acts 8:26-40

26	And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
27	And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
28	Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
29	Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
30	And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
31	And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
32	The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
33	In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
34	And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
35	Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
36	And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
37	And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38	And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
39	And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
40	But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.