The Lord is clearly interested in beauty. Some form of the word is used 76 times in the Bible. We are told that God "hath made every thing beautiful in his time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). He so highly exalts the proper concept of beauty that He often associates it with holiness (Psalm 29:2; 96:9; 110:3). Unfortunately, men tend to pervert beauty as they do all that they touch. God reminds us that outward "beauty is vain" (Proverbs 31:30) and human "beauty is a fading flower' (Isaiah 28:1). Men corrupt beauty and make the "beauty of a man" a focus for idolatry (Isaiah 44:13). Eventually, man's perverseness causes his "beauty to be abhorred" (Ezekiel 16:25). The very concept of what is beautiful is no longer recognizable.

Today's how-to, from www.wikihow.com provides in-depth information about a creative way to obtain stuff without spending any money. Are you interested? It is called "dumpster diving". No, I'm not kidding. Here are some tips and warnings for those of you who are chomping at the bit to take your first dive.

Bullet List

Note: What follows is an introduction I just wrote to a lesson on Mark 6:1-26 entitled "Changes in the Ministry of Christ." I thought it might be an encouragement to someone who is presently going through some great changes.

Are instruments allowed in the worship service? What should be the purpose of the music in a worship service? All of this and more is covered in this article.

Alfred Edersheim wrote a major life of Christ called "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah." Edersheim's Jewish heritage gave him interesting insights into many of the beliefs and ways of life during the time of Christ. In his book (Vol.11, p.12), he wrote of the Jewish traditions concerning the defilement of hands and the accusation that Jesus did not keep these traditions (as recorded in Mark 7:1-9).

About two weeks ago (I cannot find the exact date), a construction worker was digging up a peat bog somewhere in Ireland for the purpose of creating commercial potting soil when he saw something in the bog. That something turned out to be an ancient selection of psalms in Latin that has been dated to around 800AD-1000AD. The discovery has been called a miracle find because of the unlikely chance that it would be preserved in a peat bog and the equally unlikely chance that it would be discovered.

I was seeking last night for a word of encouragement from the Lord and He gave me this. Psalm 119:83 ? ?For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes.? Bottles in Bible times were most often made of animal skins. In the smoke, they would dry out and lose their softness. Troubles to the saint are like smoke to the bottle. We cannot see the way to go and we dry out and lose our ability to adjust. But we still have the compass of God?s precepts. We must not forget them. They will keep us on solid ground even when we are in the smoke.

For centuries, the Romans controlled the Western world. Their many advantages included their military, their commerce, their administration, and their transportation systems. The Roman legion was feared by many. However, most people do not know that one of the greatest advantages of the Roman army was what is known as the marching camp.

"Kapparot, which is from the same Hebrew root as Yom Kippur and literally means "atonements", is a custom which aims to awaken the drive toward repentance while engaging in charity on the eve of Judaism's central day of prayer.

As I was watching a local meteorologist, a.k.a. "weather guy," explain a recent cold snap in our area, a beautiful picture of a mountain was displayed on the screen. In order to resolve any confusion on the part of the viewers he noted that the white on the trees was NOT snow but what he called "hoar frost." HOAR FROST? I thought that the scholars, a.k.a. King James Bible critics, said that hoar frost was an archaic, obsolete term that made the King James Bible difficult to read and understand. I was on a web site recently that cited 419 words and phrases (including hoar frost) from the King James Bible. That list, like many others was designed to show that your King James Bible ought to be rendered in "modern English." Apparently that term is NOT archaic, obsolete, or indecipherable, and the author of that list LIED!