Global Education or Global Propaganda?

The percentage of Christians in Pakistan is 1.6% (some say 2%), yet Muslims burnt a Christian village on 6-30-09 in Pakistan. The percentage of Muslims in the USA is only 0.6% (according to Newsweek 4-13-09), yet we are afraid to simply teach history to our children. Who are we afraid of? or, are we just clueless? Why does "global education" only result in "global propaganda"? Read this blog and then check your local school's libraries for wonderful books about Islam (there should be several) and grab a textbook while you are there. Is it education or propaganda? Are we afraid or are we just stupid?

Read this article concerning Islam in American textbooks. Remember, the Muslim world is known to be removing facts such as the Holocaust's occurrence and the Jewish Temple's existence from their student's textbooks. To the victor go the spoils which includes the privilege of recording history. We are clearly playing the part of the loser in this battle.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0422/p09s01-coop.html

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Also note, the Pakistan government has already began paying for damages to the Christians caused by the Muslims on last week on June 30, 2009. Read it here:
http://www.ucanews.com/2009/07/08/government-compensates-attacked-christians/

An Email from Pakistan

I have three times put comments on Facebook and then deleted them concerning an email I received from Pakistan. I tried to comment after I opened an email from a man from Pakistan who has received Generation Word material and is familiar with our website. I will now try to express myself in this blog and hopefully will let it set here in cyberspace. (Our website, and a previous blogsite, has been under attack from the Middle East, Turkey, for about three years now. I don't need their virus or their hackers.) This email from Pakistan contains the details of what this man witnessed:

The attack took place on Tuesday (June 30, 2009) in the village of ______ near ______. Radical Muslims allegedly went on the rampage after a local Muslim cleric accused Christians of blaspheming against Islam’s holy prophet Muhammad and encouraged local Muslims to kill them. Around 100 homes were petrol bombed or demolished, while others were looted and vandalized. The mob assaulted many of the women and young girls in the village, throwing acid at some of them. Christians continue to face persecution in Pakistan . . . other women and girls who have been traumatised by this acid attack and the destruction of their homes. Muslim People cut the electricity and they don’t giving water and food material Christian people of that village they are crying for help. Burnt Houses Can not Be Record Because Of Muslim People Occupied The Area. And They Did Not Allow Anyone To Go There, Even Big News Channels Are Silent. And government too silent. Please tell this news to all people of your country and if it possible convey this message to your government we have video of this incident. This incident was preplan. Muslim want to threat the Christian people here in Pakistan. This Is Real Islam. Please its our request to your people needy try to help them and pray for them they are waiting the miracle. Local people try to help them but this time they need lots of help because they have no home no shelter no food no water no electricity. Must try to help them. Because we have no hope on others here in Pakistan.

My heart is torn with compassion and fierce anger. What can I do? Send them another copy of the "Framework" book? Maybe a CD about "Questions and Answers" from Bible class? Reply with an email of support? Tell them I will pray? All of this has its place and time, in fact, I will continue with these very practices. But, what can I do about a girl who has been splashed with acid? or, the community has been burnt with fire? Even the Muslim hospitals turned these people away and let them suffer.

These are the violent acts of a people who worship an impotent god (allah) and a false prophet (mohammad). They have no power and they have no truth. This is why the followers of this wicked religion must provide their own acid and their own fire and bring judgment with their own sword. Just like in the days of the Judges and in the days of Elijah the false god's and false prophets had no power themselves.

Remember Gideon? He tore down the altar of Baal and all of the Baal worshippers wanted to kill him but the leading priest of Baal said, "If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar." That day the community changed Gideon's name to "Jerub-Baal" which means "let Baal contend". Gideon began using the name Jerub-Baal himself and was proudly called by a name that reminded everyone, including Baal, that Gideon was still alive and waiting for Baal to avenge himself. Baal never did. Gideon grew old and died an old man never having met with Baal's wrath. Why? Because Baal is a false God. He has no power unless his deceived followers act for him. Baal has no hell to send the unfaithful to because he has no fire of his own. (Judges 6) So, Jerub-Baal lived long and died old of natural causes.

Remember Elijah on Mt. Carmel? (1 Kings 18) Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal assembled to pray for fire to come from their god. They prayed, they sang, they danced, they offered sacrifices which included cutting themselves but nothing happened. Elijah taunted them saying, "Shout louder! Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or on a trip or in the bathroom ('busy' in the NIV is the translation of the Hebrew which means 'relieving himself' which refers to a bathroom experience.)" Then Elijah offered a simple prayer to YHWH and fire fell from the sky and burnt up the sacrifice, the altar and the dirt around it. The Christian God has his own fire!

"Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink . . . Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Paul writing in Romans 12:19-21) We serve a God who is Real, He is Powerful, He does See, He will Judge, and He has his own Fire in Hell. Jesus said, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

In the fifth century AD the barbarians invaded the Roman Empire, but the ultimate result of these events was that the barbarians came in contact with the Christian faith. The barbarians were converted and Europe was saved from itself when it accepted Christianity. Even Rome persecuted the Christians from 70-312 AD and without lifting a sword, setting a fire, or pouring acid on the Roman children, the Christian faith overcame the Roman persecution. Rome itself became Christian.

islam must spread its empty, dead religion by force. You submit or you die. Christianity has Truth and with Truth comes power and authority. We do not convert the unbelievers by force; that would be oppression not conversion. We convert the heart by confronting it with Truth. This Truth does not violate the human will, but speaks to it. Jesus said, "The Truth will set you free." It is not our job to bring the sword, the fire (or, the acid!?), but to speak and live the Truth. Many, many of the muslims are and will continue to flee islamic oppression, impotent allah and lying mohammad as they hear and see the Truth of the Living God and of the Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is pursuing the muslim world with Truth, Love and Grace. And, we speak and live for Jesus. There is revival among the muslim. They can only respond with fire, sword and acid since they have no truth to reply with.

Our God will provide his own fire and his own Hell. I do not fear the fire of islam or the hell of allah since they do not exist. This fact has been proven by the muslims themselves since they have to provide their own fire (and, acid?!) to convert or punish the Christians. Pouring acid on woman and children!??! What is that prove? They are the deceived cowards.

(Now that I have posted this blog, I anticipate some form of cyber-fire or internet-acid. My boys who are in the US Marines and a computer engineer in the US Air Force have explained clearly to me that nothing on the internet is "protected" and everything is accessible to those who want it. I assume that the cowards of allah can see this if they want, so why hide it. Why fear those who can only burn the body but can't touch the soul, when I know the God who can throw both body and soul into Hell.) My God brings his own fire. I speak his truth.

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

If You Want to Learn, Start Teaching

Many times people have asked me where I received my Bible training. Then they wait to hear the name of some familiar, prestigious seminary and hope they are doctrinally aligned with it. I have seen the hope in their eyes as they ask the question because if I say I was educated at "(fill in name of great school here)" they will be relieved to know someone, somewhere told me everything I know and that I am simply parroting information. The basic assumption is that if you go to a great school with great teachers then you will attain their great knowledge. That is how, it is assumed, people learn. Well, this is not the best way to learn, in fact, it is very, very slow and ineffective, thus, the pathetic condition of Bible knowledge and Christian understanding today (we could throw the public schools into that same pile, but they already have standardized testing to humiliate them.)

Teaching and learning go together.

• The best way to learn is to teach.
  
• The best way to understand is to explain.
  
• The best way to know is to help somebody else know.
• The best way to study for a test is to write the test.
• The best way to know the truth is to debate against someone who disagrees with "truth"

This has been proven over and over in studies and in experience. When people ask me where I received my Bible education I tell them it began in the fifth grade Sunday school classroom as a teacher. I learned so much there I began to teach whenever and wherever I could. Obviously, I have read a lot of great authors/books (including God's best seller, the Bible), listened to a couple (there are not many) great pastors, and sat up late into the night arguing with friends and foes about "truth" and doctrine. But, the greatest place of learning for me was in front of people while I was teaching. Why is this true? Well here is some information from another writer (Armen, 5/25/2009):

Memory Retention Percentages Are Based On Pressure
You learn 90% of what you teach to others because big pressure is on you at that time to not seem clueless while explaining the content. There is pressure on you here, since you would appear foolish if you offered to teach something and didn't have the concept understood. You learn 80% of what you experience because you do it on the spot, and have to correct errors during the process or it won't work out. The pressure is on you there to continue through until you complete the procedure. You remember 70% of what you discuss with others because you have solid comprehension to be able to respond to others and their possible arguments or comments. This goes on for the other points. The more pressure there is on you to know the material, the higher the probability that it will be encoded into your cognition.

So, create pressure when you want to learn. I have always referred to this pressure as a concentration level. My students are concentrating on the information, but not nearly as diligently as I the teacher am. I discovered this back in 1986. While the students were learning 10-30% of what they heard me say (I use a lot of animation, scribbling on the board, etc. to push into the 30%), I was learning and remembering 90% (on a good night, of course.)

A popular quote by William Glasser says “We learn… 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we see and hear, 70 percent of what we discuss with others, 80 percent of what we experience, and 95 percent of what we teach to someone.” The percentages might be somewhat off, but they are close enough to actual values to internalize this information for future learning.

If you seriously want to learn the Scriptures, church history, theology, apologetics, or whatever, then start a class, find a class, start an arguement or find someone who disagrees with you and start talking. It may be painful at first. My wife remembers me coming home from class in 1986 and crying as I sat in our living room because I could not effectively teach a 20 minute Bible class. It was very, very painful in many ways, but after a few weeks I learned some things and found a groove. Since then I have easily taught well over 4,000 hours of Bible classes. (That would be the same amount of time as verbally instructing a group non-stop, 24 hours a day from January until July.) Of course, I didn't teach non-stop because for every hour of teaching I probably spent three hours in study and research because I was under pressure to perform intelligently and communicate efficently.

If you want to learn start teaching.

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Have You Ever Read Second Samuel 18-20?

I am going to try to communicate quickly the week of chaos and confusion in David's kingdom when Absalom, his son, claimed the throne of Israel.

1. Absalom and his general, Amasa, march into Jerusalem with the support of people from all twelve tribes. Israel proclaims Absalom as their king. David is out.
   
2. David flees leaving behind the priesthood, the ark of the covenant, and some of his best advisers in Jerusalem. David's personal body guard and the military forces with Joab flee with David.
3. The next day David's forces engage Absalom's forces. General Joab kills Absalom. (So far so good. This is fairly simple: General Joab and King David have defeated General Amasa and Prince Absalom. The kingdom is secure . . . but, now it gets confusing, even for David's military . . . )
4. David is upset when he is told Joab had killed Absalom to end the civil war despite the fact David's military had won the battle securing David's kingship.
   
5. David fires General Joab for killing Absalom (the enemy) and replaces him with Amasa, the defeated rebel general of Absalom.
   
6. The tribe of Judah, David's tribe, rushes to welcome David back to his throne with out inviting the other eleven tribes to join them. The other tribes were ready to welcome David back, but were upset that the tribe of Judah did not involve them in the "ticker-tape" parade welcoming David back.
7. The northern tribes (Israel) express their disappointment to the southern tribe of Judah who "responded even more harshly than the men of Israel" (2 Sm. 19:43).
8. This causes Sheba, a troublemaker from the tribe of Benjamin in Israel, to sound a trumpet and challenge the legitimacy of David as king. All of the northern tribes (Israel) join with him and a second civil war in less than 72 hours now breaks out.
9. David orders his new general, Amasa, to organize his troops within three days to pursue Sheba. Now remember, Amasa was leading a civil war against David and fighting David's military less than 48 hours earlier. Now Amasa is to organize and lead David's troops into this second civil war.
   
10. Israel is still trying to figure out who is king: David or Absalom?
    
11. The military is trying to figure out who the general is: Joab or Amasa?
    
12. Nobody really knows who the enemy is or who the good guys are anymore. (The Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, Amelekites, Ammonites, even the Arameans, all the way up to the Euphrates River, have been subdued by David.) The enemy that was just defeated was the king's own son who was supported by members of David's own royal staff. Now David's faithful military have been placed under the command of the rebel general Amasa and ordered to attack Israel. All this has occurred in about 72 hours.
    
13. When David's troops are assembled (3 days later) under the leadership of Amasa, the former General Joab shows up and secretly kills Amasa. As David's forces begin marching under the leadership (they think) of the rebel General Amasa against their own land of Israel they march by Amasa's corpse. Groups of soldiers continue to stop in the road by Amasa's corpse in confusion since he is suppose to be the general who is up front leading them into the battle. They do not realize Joab has regained his position.
    
14. David's troops are now marching for David against Israel under the leadership of a general David had fired but they think they are following the rebel general they had just defeated in a civil war earlier in the week.
    
15. Amasa's corpse is removed and hidden in the ditch and David's men march to the northern border of Israel to attack an Israelite city where Sheba fled.
16. Joab, the fired general who murdered David's general to regain his position, begins to besiege the northern city of Abel-Beth-Maacha. While in the process of battering in their walls a wise women looks down from the wall and asks, "What are you doing?" When Joab responds by saying they are fighting the rebel forces of Sheba, the wise woman says, "Give me a minute," and soon returns to the wall with Sheba's head. When she throws the head down to Joab this civil war ends and the men return home.
17. General Joab went back to King David in Jerusalem and they lived happily ever after . . . until David ordered Solomon to kill Joab after Joab had made Solomon's older brother, Adonijah, king before David had died . . . but, that is a story from First Kings.

So, what's the application of these verse? We live in a great land of the United States of America. Throughout time and around the world there are some crazy things happening. Thank God for his mercy on us today in America.

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Early Christian "Church"

The early church had no holy buildings or sacred objects. The people were simply believers in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the truth that had been revealed by God. Because of Christ the people themselves were holy, they were the sacred, they were the priests. The people were the church. They met in homes to worship, learn and fellowship. A home in Dura-Europos (Fort Europos) near the banks of the Euphrates River still shows frescoes of Biblical scenes: Peter walking on the water, paralytic being healed, women at the grave, plus David and Goliath. A wall had been removed in this house to open up room for up to 70 people to meet. This private home that doubled as an official meeting place of believers (the church) dates to around 232 AD. Christians were meeting here in a Roman fortress city right next to an active synagogue which has also been excavated.
















Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Paul and the Ark of the Covenant

Paul's tomb appears to have been authenticated. This is not surprising:
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=101410036559&h=t0XR6&u=O_yFs&ref=mf

But, the announcement about revealing the Ark of the Covenant last Friday was retracted today. Something is going on . . . or, then again, maybe not . . . this is both surprising and confusing:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=102532

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

America, Your King is Coming!

While I was running today I began to pull some thoughts together from the last couple of weeks of Bible school. The Old Testament book of Judges records some of the most ridiculous episodes recorded in biblical history. In those days people seemed to have no idea what God's will was or who the true God was. Indeed, they were very spiritual or religious. They feared curses and went out of their way to keep the ignorant vows they had made, but, as 1 Samuel 3:1 says,

"In those days the word of the Lord was rare."

The book of Judges ends by saying,

"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."

The government in the days of the Judges was the government Moses and Joshua had set up under God's direction. It was a representative form of government based on local leadership. Each family was represented in a clan and each clan was represented in the tribe. The leadership of the 12 tribes would then make national decisions. But, within 3 and 4 generations after Moses the people had wandered from God's truth and embraced the philosophies (called "idols" or "false gods") of the Canaanites.

The book of Judges is filled with unbelievably stupid decisions by individuals. This culminates in some of the most un-taught chapters of the Bible. In these chapters the national leadership can only be described as pathetically incompetent. The political and military decisions that the leaders of the tribes of Israel made would consistently take a very bad situation and manage to make it unbearably worse.

The only answer for an ignorant people who can not make the right decision to govern their own families, clans and tribes is to find someone to think for them. The people asked Samuel for a king. Samuel resisted by saying God doesn't want you to have a king because he wants you to govern yourself and follow him. But, the situation is obvious and God agreed with the people's diagnosis of their own incompetence and said:

"Listen to them and give them a king." (1 Samuel 8:22)

When people at the personal, local and national level prove to be so ignorant and undisciplined in governing themselves, God will provide a king to lead the people in their private, local and national lives. The failure of our national "group-thinking" ability proves that our representatives have no idea what to do which reflects on us as local governments and as individuals. America, behold, your king is coming!

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Would Calvin Have Tolerated Me?

John Calvin will continue to be in the news for the next month as we approach the 500th anniversary of his birthday (July 10, 1509). John Calvin was a brilliant and insightful interpreter of Scripture who advanced the reformation and laid the foundation (if not the entire structure) for protestant theology. Since that time he has been ushered into a reformed state of sainthood that places his person and his teaching above reproach by common men such as myself. Calvin was clearly one of the most gifted thinkers and writers of church history and I would be utterly speechless in an attempt to defend a contrary theological position in his presence. All though I am aware of this, and have his books, including his 22 volume commentary set, I often find myself wondering, "What was Calvin thinking?" Some of his ideas, interpretations and applications miss the context of the Scripture. By saying this I know many will think I have just blasphemed and committed the unforgivable sin. But, that leads me to my main point. I do not think I could have sat through a Calvin lecture in Geneva in the 1500's (or, a Calvin-parrot-preacher in 2009) with out wanting to debate at least one of his positions. Likewise, I do not think I could have been an honorable citizen in his city.

First, a doctrinal example: His commentaries on the Old Testament prophets consistently replace the historical references to Israel with a spiritualized reference to the church. Thus, all meaning is lost. This interpretation error is recovered with the hermeneutic principal: One correct interpretation and then, and only then, you have many applications. But, if you miss the correct interpretation you are forced to error in your application, also. This is why Mosaic law of Israel replaced the Canon Law of the Catholic church in Geneva during this time.

Second, some church, or civil issues: Calvin attempted to set up a church state in Geneva, Switzerland in 1536 but was rejected by the citizens. He returned in 1541 and during the next 14 years he worked to impose his version of liturgy, doctrine, morality, church organization and civil obedience on the city. These are some of Calvin's regulations for Geneva and its surrounding villages in 1542:

• There were four positions established for governing the church - pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons. The elders (or presbyters) were laymen appointed to watch over the morals of their fellows.
• The office of the elders was to watch over the conduct of every individual, to admonish lovingly those whom they saw doing wrong or leading an irregular life. . . they were distributed in each quarter of the city, so that they could have an eye on everything.
• The elders would assemble once a week with the ministers, on Thursday mornings, to see if there be any disorders in the Church and discuss together such remedies needed . . . . If any one in contempt refused to appear before them, they would inform the council, who would then supply a remedy.
• "The whole household shall attend the sermons on Sunday, except when some one shall be left at home to tend the children or cattle."
• "If there is preaching on week days, all who can must come, - unless there be some good excuse, - so that at least one from each household shall be present . . . . Should any one come after the sermon has begun, let him be warned. If he does not amend, let him pay a fine"
  
• "Let the churches be closed except during service, so that no one may enter them at other hours from superstitious motives. If anyone be dis­covered engaged in some superstition within or near the church, let him be admonished. If he will not give up his superstition, let him be punished."
• "Those who are found to have rosaries or idols to adore, let them be sent before the consistory, and in addition to the reproof they receive there, let them be sent before the coun­cil. Let the same be done with those who go on a pilgrimage. Those who observe feasts or papistical fasts shall only be admonished. Those who go to mass shall, besides being admonished, be sent before the council, and it shall consider the propriety of punishing the offenders by imprisonment or special fines, as it judges best."
• "If any one sings indecent, licentious songs, or dances, he shall be kept in prison three days and then sent to the council." Indecent singing could be punished by piercing the singers tongue. (A penalty in the 1500's is now fashionable in 2009.)
  
• Sins were dealt with as crimes (no pleasure on Sunday, no work on Sunday, no extravagance in dress) and punishments included excommunication from church followed by banishment from the city.
• Blasphemy could be punished by death. This occurred to John Servetus, (photo below) a theologian and physician, who disagreed with infant baptism (Calvin did not) and did not believe in the Trinity (Calvin did). (Servetus was the first to discover pulmonary circulation which refers to the blood circulating through the lungs and changing color as it picks up oxygen.) Servetus was tried and found guilty of heresy and burned alive. A negative account of the trial is here. According to church historian Philip Schaff (History of the Christian Church Volume VIII, page 692 ) John Calvin had said seven years before this execution:

"Servetus lately wrote to me, and coupled with his letter a long volume of his delirious fancies, with the Thrasonic boast, that I should see something astonishing and unheard of. He offers to come hither, if it be agreeable to me. But I am unwilling to pledge my word for his safety; for if he does come, and my authority be of any avail, I shall never suffer him to depart alive." (a letter to Farel, Feb. 13, 1546)

Nine years after the execution Calvin said (Philip Schaff, VIII, page 690) :

"Servetus suffered the penalty due to his heresies, but was it by my will? Certainly his arrogance destroyed him not less than his impiety. And what crime was it of mine if our Council, at my exhortation, indeed, but in conformity with the opinion of several Churches, took vengeance on his execrable blasphemies? . . . posterity owes me a debt of gratitude of having purged the Church of so pernicious a monster."

Servetus died in the fire praying, "Jesus, Son of the Eternal God, have mercy on me."

Happy Birthday, John! Today I'll read your books, but if I were in Geneva around the 1550's I would have been a blasphemer, a heretic and a criminal. Today, in 2009, I consider you a very brilliant tyrant. (P.S. - I believe in the Trinity. Don't light the fire yet.)

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Athanasius' Timely Observation

I am continuing to write the Generation Word's Online Bible School tests and am working in chapter 31 of the Framework for Christian Faith book on as test that will cover the years 313-590 AD of church history. I have again come across a quote by Athanasius from the time of Constantine's son Constantius. It was a time of Christian oppression and pillage of the Heathen. Athanasius, the bishop from Alexandria, Egypt, said:

Satan, because there is no truth in him, breaks in with axe and sword. But the Savior is gentle, and forces no one, to whom he comes, but knocks and speaks to the soul . . . For the truth is not preached by sword and dungeon, by might of an army, but by persuasion and exhortation.

According to Athanasius, those who spread their religion by using the sword instead of free will and faith are agents of Satan. Can you make your own application of this to historical and contemporary world situations?

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Books and a Series of Book Reviews

I would like to do a brief review of fifteen books written between 1513-1963. My blogs will actually be reviewing the work of Benjamin Wiker, PH.D. and his book 10 Books that Screwed up the World. I think many people wonder how did we ever learn to think and reason in modern Western Civilization in a way that is so contrary with reality. I hope to categorize some of these thoughts and expose the radical contradictions that exist between these ideas themselves, not to mention the contradiction they have with truth and reality. You may not agree with me, but I certainly wish you didn't agree with Machiavelli, Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx, Mills, Darwin, Nietzsche, Lenin, Sanger, Hitler, Freud, Mead, Kinsey and Friedan. Several of these I have addressed in my own book Hope for America's Last Generation. Some of you may agree with the basic premise of some of the fifteen authors mentioned above. That is fine, . . . OK, whatever. But, others may not realize how dangerous a bad idea is. If ideas have consequences, then bad ideas have bad consequences. Wiker writes a quote from Thomas Carlyle who said,

There once was a man called Rousseau who wrote a book containing nothing but ideas. The second edition was bound in the skins of those who laughed at the first edition.

I am not against reading these books, in fact, I own copies of most of them. I recently purchased and read the 1912 edition of A Civic Biology by George William Hunter, PH.D. (Google it. I will eventually blog about the contents in this book.) Most do not know this book by its title, although most have heard of turmoil it caused. Very, very few people actually know what is contained in this (clue) high school text book:

. . . epilepsy, and feeble-mindedness are handicaps which it is not only unfair but criminal to hand down to posterity. The science of being well born is called eugenics . . . If such people were lower animals, we would probably kill them off to prevent them from spreading. Humanity will not allow this, but we do have the remedy . . .

To stop our decline we must read these books, understand them, and be able to identify their perverted, malignant logic when we hear it roll out of the mouths of politicians, religious leaders, educators and others who claim to know the way to the Land of Utopia.

Here are some critics and few supporters of the book 10 Books that Screwed up the World. Many do not like it and mock the authors values, education and world view. I disagree with those who mock this book and disregard their insults:

• http://www.stuartgeiger.com/wordpress/reviews-and-responses/2008/05/12/review-10-books-that-screwed-up-the-world-by-benjamin-wiker/
• http://www.chronwatch-america.com/articles/2938/1/Ten-Books-That-Screwed-Up-the-World/Page1.html
• http://freethoughtfortwayne.org/2009/05/29/open-forum-friday-ten-books-screwed/
• http://au.christiantoday.com/article/a-review-of-10-books-that-screwed-up-the-world-by-benjamin-wiker/4286.htm
• http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=417
• http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=247x25414
• http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=247x25414
  

See Benjamin Wiker discuss his book on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNy5hO-ylM4

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com/

Secret Things and Revealed Things

This is my response to a Facebook (www.facebook.com/galyn) question:

The Satan question is a tough question. It goes back before the beginning of time. (It may be part of Satan's accusation against God before the world as we know it.) The answer again has to do with free will and with God revealing who he is. It is an abstract answer and we will never fully wrap our minds around it. For God to reveal who he is he created free agents (in this case) who would then respond to God's nature. Satan chose to rebel which simply moved God's plan forward. Independent of my answer being correct or making sense, God is still in control and God is still good. There will always be questions (I have questions and some apparently conflicting ideas) but we know enough about God and about Truth to place faith in God and move on in faith. Indeed, to have any faith at all you must have some questions answered and something to believe in. But, eventually we all run into a wall that we can no longer see past or understand. This is where we say with the Apostle Paul, "We live by faith, not by sight."

"The SECRET THINGS belong to the Lord our God, but the THINGS REVEALED belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." Deuteronomy 29:29

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Hadrian's and Antoninus Pius' Statues from 135 and 138 AD

I mentioned tonight in class a stone fragment in the southern wall of the temple mount in Jerusalem. This photo is the southern gate that contains the stone fragment from the base of a Roman statue. I did not realize this stone was there when I was photographing the gate. The stone and the inscription is in the blue box in the photo below.

The very top stone in the very upper right corner of this photo is a piece of stone from the base of a statue of Antoninus Pius that stood on the temple mound. The stone contains an inscription. Hadrian would have had the statue set on the temple mount along with the Temple of Jupiter that he built after his defeat of the Jews in 135 AD.

Hadrian’s inscription reads:
TITO AEL HADRIANO
ANTONINO AUG PIO
P P PONTIF AUGUR
D D

Translation of Latin:
To Titus Ael[ius] Hadrianus
Antoninus Aug[ustus] Pius
the f[ather] of the f[atherland], pontif[ex], augur.
D[ecreed] by the D[ecurions]



The Roman Temple of Jupiter was torn down by Constantine. The stones were used later by the Muslims to build the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. This inscription was found and placed upside down to replace a broken stone above this gate.

Hershel Shanks (archaeologist and editor of Biblical Archaeology Review) says:

"Hadrian erected an equestrian statue of himself on the Temple Mount. The anonymous fourth-century pilgrim known only as the Bordeaux Pilgrim reports that he saw two statues of Hadrian on the Temple Mount when he visited the site. The Bordeaux Pilgrim probably mistakenly identified the second statue; Hadrian's successor, Antonius Pius (138-161 AD), probably added an equestrian statue of himself, which the Bordeaux Pilgrim saw. . . It is quite possible the the Bordeaux Pilgrim saw this inscription when it was part of a statue on the Temple Mount. But he misread it. Antonius had been adopted by Hadrian and named as his successor in 138 A.D. Thus, Antoninus's name included the name of Hadrian. The Bordeaux Pilgrim apparently looked only at the first two lines and concluded that it was a second statue of Hadrian. Both had a thick beard and looked much alike when they were older. (Notice the images of their statues below). Some modern scholars have made the same mistake and read the same inscription now in secondary use as referring to Hadrian instead of Antoninus. They apparently focused on the name Hadrianus, ignoring the following name, Antoninus.

Hadrian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antoninus Pius

For more information or to see the photos I took of the southern side of the temple mount go to http://www.generationword.com/Israel/jerusalem_sites/southern_wall.html

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com