It all happened in ONE day, and that day was yesterday, December 3rd 2013.
Firstly Federal Judge, Steven Rhodes, ruled that the City of Detroit could file for bankruptcy protection from its creditors. The figure involves a staggering 10 billion dollars in unfunded pension obligations to thousands of city public workers. Other debts amount to a further 10 billion dollars or more.
Secondly, the global educational stats were published which rank American students 75th among the nations in math; 68th in science and 45th in physics. Need we add that the top places belonged to Chinese and Far Eastern students.
Thirdly, in a poll conducted nationwide, over 50% of the respondents believed "that they were witnessing the decline of America as a world power"
Let us then return our thoughts to the City of Detroit.
Before her bank accounts were empty Detroit's churches became empty. And as her churches became empty they were converted into mosques.
Now Detroit has the distinction of having almost as many Mosques as churches and of being the largest city in American history to file for bankruptcy.
Could it be that there is a connection between the two and, more alarming, could what is happening in Detroit be a harbinger of what is to come for the United States of America?
Jubilate.
Ian
Without a doubt Christmas is my favorite time of the year.Sixty some years ago it was about my unrestrained eagerness to get my hands on whatever gifts were coming my way.
But times have changed.
My joy these days is in the clearest of understandings of the miracle of God's gift, to myself and all mankind, of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. The wonder of it all dawns with renewed freshness upon my heart as this most blessed of Christian Feast days approaches.
I say "Christian", for this is what Christmas is, a holy day with Christ at the very heart of it.
If the pagans, commercialists, secularists, capitalists and their ilk wish to bow down to the Molech of Materialism, by all means let them.
But let them also name their own feast day and celebrate at a different time of the year to those of true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let them "Keep their hands off Christmas", leave the creches in the market squares, the teaching of the traditions in our school rooms,
The carols on the radio and "Merry Christmas" banners in the malls and object not to lawn signs that proclaim:
"JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON"
For we defy anyone to provide proof that He isn't.
Jubilate.
Ian
Last week there was a truly cyber-age story.
James Howells, an ordinary guy from South Wales, discovered to his horror that he had thrown his old hard drive into the trash; a drive that contained $ 7,000,000 of bitcoin currency.
You may ask what a "bit-coin" is.
In it's simplest form it is a new type of trading currency that has been circulating through the inter-net for the last five years.
One "coin" is worth about $1,000 and, since Howells had invested in 7,000 of them, he threw out about seven million dollars when he put his hard drive in the garbage.
The trove is now under a mountain of trash in the Newport City dump, available to any one who wishes to start digging.
But there is a moral to the story.
Jesus said " What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world but lose his own soul."
Like cyber bit-coins the human soul has no weight or measurement.
A minute after death the human body weighs exactly the same as it did two minutes before. But something fundamental has happened. The soul of the man has departed. His "bit-coins" have been cashed in.
Make sure that before that moment comes you deposit your treasure safely in the Hands of Jesus Christ.
Jubilate.
Ian
