Mission Faithwalk

                The LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.              "Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD , the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it. In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe t...

Title: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Author: Khayyam, Omar and Fitzgerald, Edward Publisher: NY: Random House Copyright: 1947 Stars: 1        This is a collection of quatrains of Persian poetry translated into English poetry. In the first edition, there were 75. In the third, there were 101. They are basically celebrations of wine, women, song, and rebellion published in Victorian England that created a stir because of a coterie of fans. I am not one of them.         There are two quatrains from the first edition that I found noteworthy: #51 The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ Moves on: nor for all they Piety nor Wit     Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. and #69 Indeed the Idols I have loved so long Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong:      Have drown'd my Honor in a shallow Cup And sold my Reputation for a Song ...

Title: How The West Really Lost God Author: Eberstadt, Mary Publisher; West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press Copyright: 2013 Pages: 246 plus index ISBN 978-1-59947-379-6 Stars: 4         I'll grant that this book tends toward a scholarly style, but it's not as difficult to read as some other "serious" works have proven to be. I think it a useful book in terms of both its theory and its list of reference works that I now need to find and read. She spent (perhaps) too much time trying to make absolutely sure to be fair to both sides, or perhaps too much time trying to make sure that others were aware of her lack of bias, but the material itself was interesting.        The book presents an interesting theory, that the natural family and religion are vital to one another, and (albeit it not as effectively) that they are vital to the survival of society.  I wish she would have added a couple hundred pag...

But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord ’s anger burned against Israel.           Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.           When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.”   So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,   who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water. ...

            Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD'S house. But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.             At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this ci...

        So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. O n the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord . Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”     ...

      Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.         Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”          So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” And he ordered the army, “Advance ! March around the city, w...