Newsletter 80

Newsletter 80 June 2005

Don’t Let Your Bible Bleed!

If you are a Bible student, you mark your Bible. Students habitually mark their favorite books. However, many pens bleed through thin paper contained in most Bibles. For years, I have recommended BIC Accountant’s Fine Point ink pens for Bible marking. An alternative is the Micron Pigma Fadeproof Bible Pen, which comes in black, red, blue, and green. These are ideal for writing in the margin of your Bible. The ink is permanent and pens will not clog or dry out like most mechanical pens. Even through the thinnest paper, pigma ink will not easily feather or bleed. It is water-based and quick drying, fade resistant, waterproof, and chemical resistant. The black Micron pen is .20mm, and the other colors are .25mm. Giving & Sharing will order you a set of four pens (black, red, blue, and green), for $15 postpaid to North America, $20 International.

Children of Carthage

In ancient Carthage, children were treated very badly. In 300 B.C., Carthage was the center of a rich trading empire, Rome’s rival. Its citizens were wealthy, cultured, and educated, yet remarkably callous about taking human life. Unwanted orphans and widows were killed “to reduce the amount of poverty and suffering in the city” (When Nations Die, Jim Nelson Black, p. 164). Carthaginians burned thousands of their own children to appease their patron goddess, Tanet.

Frequent public sacrifices “took place in front of a bronze statue of the god, with arms outstretched over a blazing fire; the child slid down over the arms and fell” into the flames (Phoenicians and the West, Aubet, p. 211). The necropolis at Carthage contains more than 20,000 urns with charred remains of infants and children.

Jim Nelson Black says, “Isn’t the rite of abortion our culture’s sacrifice to the gods of materialism and greed? The Phoenicians killed many thousands of children . . . . But in the entire history of Carthage or of Rome, they never killed 30 million in the name of ‘a woman’s right to control her own body’,” (Black, p. 166). Carthage continued its barbaric practice of murdering children until the day it was destroyed by Rome in 146 B.C. Will our society today, which permits far greater evil, follow suit?

— by Douglas S. Winnail, condensed from the March-April 2005 Tomorrow’s World, by Living Church of God, PO Box 3810, Charlotte, NC 28227-8010.

Evolution: Fact . . . or Fallacy?

What is the theory of evolution? What do scientists and experts say about the “big-bang” theory? How did our universe get here? Where did we come from? Does it matter? Lloyd W. Cary’s article, “Evolution: Fact . . . or Fallacy?” quotes many scientists who support Special Creation. The fossil record, our only documentation of whether evolution actually occurred, lacks any transitional forms, and all types appear fully-formed when first present. Recent DNA research has confirmed that the chances that useful DNA molecules could develop without a Designer are apparently zero.

The Bible affirms that God is the Creator, and He did not use macro evolution to produce today’s myriad of life. Cary’s quotes from scientists, plus his comprehensive list of Scriptures showing God is the Creator make this article an essential part of your library. “Evolution: Fact . . . or Fallacy?” 20 pages, is available for a donation of $2 postpaid from Giving & Sharing. Or, see our website at www.giveshare.org/evolution.

Keeping Your Mind Alert

It is easy to let your mind vegetate: just watch lots of dumb television shows, don’t read books, listen to dull sermons, and you will become a cabbage head. Some believe that exposure to lots of aluminum contributes to the prevalence of Alheizmer’s disease.

But if you want to keep your mind alert, word puzzles, the television game show “Jeopardy,” and the card game “Quiddler” may help you exercise your cranial muscles. You have never heard of “Quiddler”? Let me introduce you to our favorite moderate mental exercise game.

Now, I do enjoy chess, but chess is for mental heavyweights. I am just average, and chess makes me mentally exhausted, particularly because I do not enjoy being trounced, and I have trouble planning my next move, let alone six moves ahead.

Quiddler^TM is a mental game for the rest of us. It is the treadmill of mental exercise equipment: almost anybody can do it. Quiddler^TM is a card game where you build short words. There are 118 cards with one or two letters on each card. Each card has a point value, from 2 to 15 points, depending upon the difficulty of the letter (A is 2, Q is 15). The object is to score the highest number of points by combining the cards in your hand to form words.

Rules of Quiddler^TM are simple. The game can be played from one to eight players. You may obtain Quiddler^TM at many stores, or on the Internet at www.setgame.com, or call 800-351-7765.

We highly recommend Quiddler^TM. “For bodily [and mental] exercise profiteth [for a] little [while]: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come,” I Timothy 4:8.

Giving & Sharing Orders

Items ordered from Giving & Sharing may be shipped from either our bookstore in Missouri, our helpers in Oklahoma and Wyoming, or directly from a supplier.

Worship Service Planning Cards

The Holy Spirit should guide us in everything we do, especially our Sabbath services in worship of the Almighty. But, does that mean that there should be no planning for the Sabbath School, no planning for the song service, no planning for the sermon? Are we to just arrive at whatever time we are “moved by the Spirit,” and discuss any topic that comes to mind? Human beings do not work that way. Schools cannot work that way. A certain amount of structure and planning is essential. Add to the planning, the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, and the service works well.

In order to assist Church elders or Hosts in conducting Sabbath Services, we have prepared worship service planning cards. This is a handy planning tool to write down ahead of time, who is going to lead songs, which songs will be sung, who will give the opening prayer, sermonette, announcements, special music, sermon, closing hymn, and closing prayer. If you save the cards, you will have a history of what happened each Sabbath, and make sure that certain tasks (such as prayers) are spread around to different individuals.

Go to: www.giveshare.org/BibleStudy/sabbath-service-plan.pdf, and print out a sheet of four cards. Make copies. Or, write Giving & Sharing for a free sheet.

— by Richard C. Nickels Ω