INFORMATION ON KABBALAH
(Jerusalem) Through meditation on the “cosmic energy” emitted by the Hebrew alphabet, the (Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre’s) site says, adherents can gain “inner peace, financial prosperity, power and pleasure”, amongst other things. Despite its obvious Jewish character, this westernised version of Kabbalah has attracted a panopoly of non-Jewish celebrities, such as Britney Spears, Demi Moore, Elizabeth Taylor and Mick Jagger.

The Kabbalah of Madonna – ancient Jewish mysticism or New Age mumbo-jumbo?
August 11, 2004. AFP – Top Stories

Comment: This is closer to Bibliolatry (worship of the Bible), than what others accuse some Christians of. The power of God’s Word does not emanate from the letters, but from the message God gives us through his Word. The Holy Spirit works through those words.

QUOTE

The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.

Luther, Martin

ILLUSTRATION

CyberKnife was developed to pinpoint tumors and blast them from every angle with radiation, the goal being to confine the attack to cancerous tissue only.

…Brain tumors provide a nice steady target, but a cancerous growth in the respiratory system, which can move up to 2 inches back and forth as a person breathes, present more of a challenge—even to CyberKnife.

Now, Cihat Ozhasoglu of the University of Pittsburgh and colleagues have developed Synchrony, an add-on program for CyberKnife that allows it to follow the tumor to within a few hundredths of an inch as it moves.

As the CyberKnife trains its intense X-ray beam on the tumor, another weaker X-ray source takes real-time pictures of the patient’s torso. Synchrony records the tumor’s movements and tells CyberKnife when and where to direct the therapeutic beam.

Because the new setup zaps hardly any healthy tissue, doctors can ramp up the radiation dose to 10 times what is used when treating lung tumors with conventional methods.

Carey, Bjorn. Robotic Surgeon Attacks Moving Tumors
July 25, 2006. Science.com

Comments: This makes a good illustration for how God's Word serves as sword, cutting right to the problem (Hebrews 4:12). Sin manifests itself in many ways. We try to dodge the point of God's holy Law with justifications and excuses, but the Word doesn't let us squirm out of the way. Out with the cancer!

Christ heal us and help us not to return to our sin!

(Sydney) A new (Australian) government-funded study is investigating the possibility of harnessing bruised or spoilt bananas -- deemed not worth selling to consumers -- to provide energy for 500 homes. Bananas would be combined with bacteria to produce methane. Pipes would take the gas to a turbine which could be plugged into the main electricity grid. “It’s like a big stomach. You open the lid, you put the stuff in and seal the lid and...away you go,” said Heidrich (Australian Banana Growers’ Council Chief Executive). “Essentially it’s just like a big composting bin. It’s a waste product and currently we’re not doing anything else with it. This would harness the electrical capacity that it can bring,” he said.

Forget Splitting Atoms, Split a Banana for Energy
June 1, 2004. Reuters – Oddly Enough.

Comment: We can find purpose in the most worthless stuff in this world, while God give us his precious word, which has the incredible capacity for energizing us for good, by giving us eternal life. And yet, this gift is often treated no better than old bananas.

NEW TOPIC - POWER OF THE BIBLE (Here's an illustration)

Rebecca and Abigail Bates lived on the coast of Massachusetts, near a little village named Scituate. Their father was the keeper of the lighthouse, which stood at the entrance of the harbor and warned ships away from the rocky coast.

One day Rebecca and Abigail were up in the tower, polishing the great glass that sent the light far over the sea. Their father and mother had rowed across the bay to the village, leaving the lighthouse in their daughters’ care. As they polished away with all their might, they noticed a strange ship creeping around a point. It stopped and lowered two little boats, which turned and started toward land.

At that time people feared every ship they did not know, for the year was 1814 and America and England were at war. British ships often sailed right into harbors and sent their soldiers ashore to attack the villages. The British had already made one raid on Scituate’s harbor, and had burned ten vessels before putting back to sea.

Now Rebecca and Abigail stood frozen in the lighthouse, peering down and holding their breath while they waited to see what these two strange boats would do. Closer and closer they crept, until finally they entered the harbor. They were full of British soldiers!

The girls looked along the shore. No help was to be seen. What could they do? If they could only warn the townspeople! But they had no boat, and there would be no time to run to the village, for it was a long way around the bay.

Rebecca grabbed her sister by the sleeve.

“Listen, Abigail,” she cried. “Here’s what we two girls are going to do.” And she began whispering into her ear, as if the British might hear her plan as they rowed swiftly across the water.

The sisters raced down the winding staircase and across the lawn to their house. Abigail snatched up a drum, which her father had brought home to mend just the other day. Rebecca grabbed a fife, and they slipped out of the house toward the beach, crouching behind bushes and sandhills to keep out of sight.

The British boats were now quite close, and the soldiers were preparing to leap ashore. Suddenly the order was given to halt. The soldiers listened closely. From behind a clump of cedar trees came the beating of a drum, and then the squeak of a fife. It was not skillful, but it was loud and clear -- the strains of “Yankee Doodle” floated over the sands.

“The militia has seen us coming!” cried the British soldiers. “They will attack us as soon as we land!” They turned their boats around and rowed for their lives, back to their ship.

A moment later the villagers spotted the British boats. They raised a great alarm, and all hurried toward the lighthouse.

When they reached the point, they found only Rebecca and Abigail Bates, sitting on a rock, watching a faraway ship put to sea. A drum and fife lay beside them.

The “American Army of Two” had won the day.

SOURCE: http://www.lighthouse.cc/scituate/history.html
Provided by: Sermon Central

Comment: When it comes to battling the devil and his allies, we must arm ourselves with the simple sound of God’s Word. Though it seems to men something antiquated and powerless, our foes know its power and tremble with fear. The militia is at hand. They don’t fear us, they fear God and his weapons.