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This past March, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, uncovered the coldest brown dwarf known so far (green dot in very center of this infrared image). Called WISE 1828+2650, located in the constellation Lyra, this chilly star-like body isn't even as warm as a human body, at less than about 80 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius). The blue dots are a mix of stars and galaxies.
Like other brown dwarfs, it began life like a star, collapsing under its own weight into a dense ball of gas. But, unlike a star, it didn't have enough mass to fuse atoms at its core, and shine steadily with starlight. Instead, it has continued to cool and fade since its birth, and now gives off only a feeble amount of infrared light.
WISE's highly sensitive infrared detectors were able to catch the glow of this object during its all-sky scan, which lasted from Jan. 2010 to Feb. 2011. WISE launched Dec. 14, 2009, and mapped the entire sky in 2010 with vastly better sensitivity thanits predecessors. It collected more than 2.7 million images taken at four infrared wavelengths of light, capturing everything from nearby asteroids to distant galaxies.
Since then, the team has been processing more than 15 trillion bytes of returned data. A preliminary release of WISE data,covering the first half of the sky surveyed, was made last April.
WISE observations have led to numerous discoveries, including the elusive, coolest class of stars. Astronomers hunted for these failed stars, called "Y-dwarfs," for more than a decade. Because theyhave been cooling since their formation, they don't shine in visible light and could not be spotteduntil WISE mapped the sky with its infrared vision.
Astronomers hunted these dark orbs, termed Y dwarfs, for more than a decade without success. When viewed with a visible-light telescope, they are nearly impossible to see. WISE's infrared vision allowed the telescope to finally spot the faint glow of six Y dwarfs relatively close to our sun, within a distance of about 40 light-years.
"WISE scanned the entire sky for these and other objects, and was able to spot their feeble light with its highly sensitive infrared vision," said Jon Morse, Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "They are 5,000 times brighter at the longer infrared wavelengths WISE observed from space than those observable from the ground."
The Y's are the coldest members of the brown dwarf family. Brown dwarfs are sometimes referred to as "failed" stars. They are too low in mass to fuse atoms at their cores and thus don't burn with the fires that keep stars like our sun shining steadily for billions of years. Instead, these objects cool and fade with time, until what little light they do emit is at infrared wavelengths.
Astronomers study brown dwarfs to better understand how stars form, and to understand the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system. The atmospheres of brown dwarfs are similar to those of gas-giant planets like Jupiter, but they are easier to observe because they are alone in space, away from the blinding light of a parent star.
So far, WISE data have revealed 100 new brown dwarfs. More discoveries are expected as scientists continue to examine the enormous quantity of data from WISE. The telescope performed the most advanced survey of the sky at infrared wavelengths to date, from Jan. 2010 to Feb. 2011, scanning the entire sky about 1.5 times.
Of the 100 brown dwarfs, six are classified as cool Y's. One of the Y dwarfs, called WISE 1828+2650, is the record holder for the coldest brown dwarf, with an estimated atmospheric temperature cooler than room temperature, or less than about 80 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius).
"The brown dwarfs we were turning up before this discovery were more like the temperature of your oven," said Davy Kirkpatrick, a WISE science team member at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "With the discovery of Y dwarfs, we've moved out of the kitchen and into the cooler parts of the house."
Kirkpatrick is lead author of a paper appearing in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, describing the 100 confirmed brown dwarfs. Michael Cushing, a WISE team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is lead author of a paper describing the Y dwarfs in the Astrophysical Journal. The Y dwarfs are in our sun's neighborhood, from approximately nine to 40 light-years away. The Y dwarf approximately nine light-years away, WISE 1541-2250, may become the seventh closest star system, bumping Ross 154 back to eighth. By comparison, the star closest to our solar system, Proxima Centauri, is about four light-years away.
"Finding brown dwarfs near our sun is like discovering there's a hidden house on your block that you didn't know about," Cushing said. "It's thrilling to me to know we've got neighbors out there yet to be discovered. With WISE, we may even find a brown dwarf closer to us than our closest known star."
Once the WISE team identified brown dwarf candidates, they turned to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to narrow their list. To definitively confirm them, the WISE team used some of the most powerful telescopes on Earth to split apart the objects' light and look for telltale molecular signatures of water, methane and possibly ammonia. For the very coldest of the new Y dwarfs, the team used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The Y dwarfs were identified based on a change in these spectral features compared to other brown dwarfs, indicating they have a lower atmospheric temperature.
The ground-based telescopes used in these studies include the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii; Caltech's Palomar Observatory near San Diego; the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii; and the Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, among others.
The Daily Galaxy via nasa.gov


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Chuck Wagon Chili
Yep. Chili. That's how the West was won.
Servings: 12
- 1 lb ground venison
- 1 lb diced venison
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 tsp. dried crushed red pepper
- 1 tsp. garlic salt; salt, to taste
- 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
- 3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 5 tbs. chili powder
- 2 cans of red beans (15 oz each)
- 2 cans of refried beans (15 oz each)
- 1 cup of water
- 1 can diced tomato (14.5 oz)
- 1 can of tomato sauce (8 oz)- 2 tbs. molasses
- Shredded mozzarella, for sprinkling
- Cornbread, a must!
1. Trim and remove silver skin from 1 lb of venison stew meat and cut into small bite-sized pieces.
2. In a large pot, heat up 1 tsp. olive oil and add in the chopped onions.
3. Once the onions soften, add the stew meat and the ground venison and brown. While the meat browns, break up the ground venison with your spoon to prevent large chunks.
4. Once meat browns, stir in the re-fried beans and red beans, liquid and all. You don't have to cook the venison all the way through before adding the beans. It will continue to cook later.
5. Stir in the crushed red pepper, garlic salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and chili powder.
6. Stir in the cans of chopped tomato and tomato sauce. Add water and salt to taste.
7. Then the molasses. Cover and simmer on low for one hour. If after the hour you still think the chili is too thin, take off the lid and continue to cook until thickened. Or you can do this before the hour is up.
8. Ladle chili in serving bowls and sprinkle shredded mozzarella on top. Enjoy with some corn bread and coffee.
Mr. Gingerbread Man had an accident.... :-)

subset: commoncrawl


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Ontario Linux Fest 2009 was this past saturday in Toronto. The event was a great success, many peoples were present. The Fedora booth was a really busy place with many participants asking informations about the project, the next version and playing with the 3 OLPC laptops that Karlie gave us. By the way, seeing Karlie talk about the OLPC project is a sure way to interest peoples, the enthusiasm she deliver is contagious. I am glad to have meet her in person.
All in all, it was a fun weekend. It was a good chance to meet peoples involved in the free software community and have some great talks with them.
Oh, and if you see Mel Chua, ask her about putting a temporary Fedora tattoo on her forehead 😉


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May 9, 2011
Over 850 Jobs Added to the Region and Millions in Increased Tax Revenue
Egg Harbor Township, NJ Atlantic City International Airport is an economic force in southern New Jersey. The airport today released the findings of an economic impact study that found a 37% increase in overall economic activity generated by the airport from 2007 to 2010. In addition, increases were found in each category including tax revenue, employment, visitors and visitor spending.
Researched and produced by the Center for Regional and Business Research at Atlantic Cape Community College, the 2010 report is a follow-up to a similar study that was conducted for the airport in 2008 based on 2007 activity. The study quantifies the economic activity that resulted from expenditures related to ACY such as visitor spending, airport operations, retail vendors and costs and capital investments, and found a growth greater than one-third since 2007, which directly affects employment and tax revenue.
This report illustrates the importance of opening up the region to new markets of tourists and visitors and expanding the capacity of Atlantic City International which we have succeeded in doing since the initial study was conducted in 2008, said Bart R. Mueller, executive director of the South Jersey Transportation Authority, the owner and operator of the airport.
Employment is a major factor in the airports role as an economic driver in the region, and the report found an increase of over 850 or 26% in airport-specific jobs. Over 4,000 regional full-time jobs were created and paid out in excess of 138 million dollars in wages and salaries.
Aviationrelated activities on the airport property are responsible for over 11,000 jobs, including those of the Federal Aviation Administration Tech Center, New Jersey Air National Guard 177th Fighter Wing, United States Coast Guard Air Station/Atlantic City and the Transportation Security Agency Federal Air Marshall national training center.
Increased activity at the airport since 2007 was responsible for a nearly 37% boost in tax revenue, bringing the total to $22.4 million. Payroll taxes and retail, recreational and leisure activities were included in this category.
Visitors to the region arriving by air increased significantly from 2007 to 2010, up 21.5%. The study found that over 40% of passengers who deplaned are not residents of the region.
Passenger traffic at the airport was up 31% in 2010 over the previous year and first quarter 2011 counts indicate that the trend will continue in 2011.
Increased air service has attracted more visitors overall and first-time visitors from markets that now have access to Atlantic City by air, including non-stop flights from Atlanta and Boston and an array of one-stop flights from cities across the U.S., said Mueller.
Additionally, the report found that using ACY as a departing and arriving airport resulted in saving nearly ten driving miles, which reduces the carbon footprint of travelers.
The purpose of the analysis is to demonstrate the benefits of public investment and spending to the region. These indicators help provide tax payers and decision-makers with tangible measures of the benefits of policies and projects undertaken by the public sector. The original report was completed in June 2008 in compliance with the economic analysis suggested by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
To view a copy of the report, please visit http://www.sjta.com/sjta/annual_report.asp
and click on 2011 Economic Impact Study. For more information about the Atlantic City International Airport, its carriers, and for a map of all the destinations, visit www.acairport.com.
About Atlantic City International Airport
Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) is located in the heart of southern New Jersey in Egg Harbor Township and twelve miles from Atlantic City. Owned and operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority, ACY sits on 5,300 acres of land and is a joint use airport. Today, ACY serves over 1.4 million passengers annually but projects significant increases as air service development initiatives attract new carriers and new air service routes. The FAAs William J. Hughes Technical Center is located adjacent to the airport site and houses the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Laboratory. ACY is home to the Air National Guard, the 177th Fighter Wing Jersey Devils and the U.S. Coast Guard. For more information, visit www.acairport.com.


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We come before the Lord now in our time of worship to hear Him speak. He speaks to us in His Word. And our text for this morning, again, is Matthew chapter 20, verses 20 through 28. Matthew chapter 20, verses 20 through 28. Let me read it to you to refresh your mind and give you a setting for the Lord's Word to you this morning. Beginning in verse 20:
Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshiping Him and desiring a certain thing of Him. And He said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto Him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand and the other on the left in the Kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink? They say unto Him, We are able. And He saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give. But it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared by My Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto Him and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your servant. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your slave; even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.
What a lesson for them and for us. The great men and the great women in God's Kingdom have always been those whose lives were marked by humble service, never the self-seekers, the glory seekers, those who sought to be lifted up to the prominent place. But always those who serve God with a heart of humility, selflessly.
Abraham, that very special and wonderful servant of God, said, "Behold now, I have taken to speak unto the Lord who am but dust and ashes." Isaac, Isaac was willing to die as an offering to the Lord if that's what God required. Jacob, Jacob who cried out to God, "I am not worthy of the least of the mercies and of all the truth which Thou hast shown unto Thy servant." Joseph, Joseph who dishonored, sold into slavery by his own brothers, humbly forgave those villainous brothers and never retained in his heart one ounce of bitterness or vengeance. Joseph, who it says in Genesis 50, when he saw his brothers wept and comforted them and spoke kindly to them. And there was Moses.
Moses, that humble servant of God who said, "Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" And Joshua who faced the Lord after the defeat that came because of a lack of faith on the part of the people, a lack of obedience. It says he tore his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face and put dust upon his head. And there was Gideon, that very special servant of God who said when called to lead his people, "O my God, where with shall I save Israel. Behold, my family is poor and the least in Manasseh and I am the least in my father's house."
And then there was David, a wonderful servant of God who knew his own frailty and wrote in 1 Chronicles 29 one of the great and humbling texts of all the Old Testament. "Praise be to You, O Lord God, of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the Kingdom. You are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from You. You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks and praise Your glorious name. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You and we've given You only what comes from Your hand. We are aliens and strangers in Your sight as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow without hope. O Lord our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building You a temple for Your holy name, it comes from Your hand and all of it belongs to You."
Those are the great heroes of the Old Testament. Every one of those that I just mentioned to you is listed in Hebrews chapter 11 as a hero, one who is great in God's Kingdom. And they were great because they served humbly, not because they sought prominence like James and John did here with their mother's help. And there were others, too. We cannot mention them all but I think of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, who it says in 2 Chronicles 32, humbled himself. And there was Manasseh, another king of Judah, of whom it says he humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And then I think of Josiah, king of Judah, who was told by God, "Because your heart was tender and you did humble yourself before God, and you tore your clothes and you wept before Me, I have heard your prayer."
And there was Job who was humbled and put on himself dust and ashes. And there was Isaiah who was so humbled he cursed himself and then he cried out, "I have a dirty mouth and I dwell amidst a people of dirty mouths." And it was just that kind of humility that God could use and so He called him to be a great prophet.
And there was Jeremiah who said, "Ah, Lord God, who am I to speak?" And then there was John the Baptist who was shocked that he should be asked to baptize Jesus Christ. And who cried out, "He must increase and I must decrease for it is He who is so worthy and I who am unworthy, even to unloosen the laces of His sandals."
And I think that John the Baptist may have been the greatest because he was the humblest. In fact, it's more than just a thought for Jesus said in Matthew 11:11, "There hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." And the reason he was the greatest was because he was the humblest. You see, the greatest is always the humblest in God's Kingdom, not so in the world. The greatest in the world come to greatness by the way that James and John sought to come.
Do you remember our study last time? They sought to come through political power play, through manipulating by virtue of who they knew. They sought to come by audacious ambition, self- seeking, self-promoting. And Jesus warned them that greatness in the Kingdom does not come by those means. It does not come by dominant dictatorship, He says in verse 25. It doesn't come by lording it over, as the pagans do. It doesn't come by charismatic control. It doesn't come by charming your way into greatness. Those are all the ways of the world, not God way...God's ways.
When we think of the great men of the New Testament after John the Baptist, our minds are drawn to two men that seem to dominate the scene. The first is Peter. And Peter found his greatness, I believe, in the expression of his heart in Luke 5:8 when he said to Jesus, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man." And in the heart of his humility was born his greatness.
And the greatness of the Apostle Paul is found in the fact that in chapter 20 of Acts and verse 19 he could say, "I have served the Lord with all humility of mind." It is always the humble heart. It is always the servant heart. It is always that slave perspective that ushers us into the greatness of the Kingdom. "It is reserved for those, Jesus said in Matthew 18:4, "who come as little children." For He says, "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."
And James reiterating that great Old Testament truth says, "God resists the proud but pours out grace to the humble." And so we learn a great lesson, beloved. Or we are reminded of a great lesson. And that is that greatness in God's Kingdom is reserved for those who are humble. And when it says in verse 23 that the honor of the Kingdom is reserved for those for whom it is prepared by the Father, it is for those who are humble that the Father has in fact prepared eternal glory and greatness in its maximum reality.
So, if we pursue greatness, we pursue it on the path of humility. If we pursue greatness, we pursue it on the path of service, we pursue it on the path of slavery. And that takes us, then, to verses 26 to 28.
Last week we looked at 20 to 25, how not to be great. Let's look at how to be great, verse 26 to 28. And I confess to you that I hold this in my own heart to be one of the most beautiful passages in the gospels. It is a simple passage. It is exceedingly clear. It needs very little interpretation, but may demand for our time and our age and our heart attitude, a great amount of emphasis and exhortation.
There are two things to notice in these three verses. The exhortation and the example...or, if you will, the precept and the pattern. The exhortation comes in verses 26 and 27 and the example is given in verse 28. Let's look at the exhortation in verse 26. "But it shall not be so among you." Stop right there.
In the world, people get their greatness by political power play, audacious ambition, dominant dictatorship, charismatic control. Not so with you. Jesus says to the disciples, you're in a Kingdom where that's all reversed. You remember John 18:36 where Jesus says, "My Kingdom is not of this world?" What did He mean by that? He meant My Kingdom doesn't operate on the principles that the kingdoms in this world operate on. It's the opposite. It is the very opposite.
In fact, it is a total reverse. In the world it's pyramidic. You get on top of the pile and you control everybody underneath you. In the Kingdom, the pyramid is inverted and you're on the bottom. And that classic Lutheran commentator, Lenski, says, "The great men are not sitting on top of lesser men, they are bearing lesser men on their backs." He's right. Jesus says it's not so among you...not so.
So, to begin with then, we do not seek greatness in the Kingdom as the world seeks its greatness. Sad to say many do. There are many like James and John and their mother. There are many who...who pursue the limelight of Christianity, who want to be on a part of the contemporary Christian personality cult, who want to be a part of the Christian super-star list, who want to seek the prominent place, the place of prestige and honor, the place of personality affirmation, the place of respect, a place of power and control where they can generate those kinds of creature comforts that minister most of their physical bodies and their psychological needs and so forth. And they may be esteemed by some to be great, but not so in God's Kingdom. And when the true evaluation is made in the end, they'll be far down the line from those who are the truly great whose lives were marked by humble selfless slavish service.
Now as you approach verse 26, you see that the standard is different. And then you hear this statement, "Whosoever will be great among you," and you can stop again with that phrase because that's a very important thing to comment on. It literally it says "whoever wishes among you to become great." And some have said at this point, "Well, isn't Jesus sort of accommodating a very ungodly ambition? I mean, for Jesus to say if you really want to be great, do this. Isn't that to acquiesce to someone's ambition? I mean, is it really right to want to be great? Is it right to seek a reward? Is it right to want to be a leader? Is it right to be rewarded and seek that? Is it right to seek exaltation?"
I remember speaking one time on the subject of Christian rewards and the crowns on a college campus. And a student came to me afterwards and said, "I just really can't take what you said. You remind me of the guy in the Imperial margarine commercial who kept getting crowns and stashing them up in the cupboard. I mean, is that what you live in the Christian life for, just to amass some kind of crowns?" And he really did not understand whether or not it was proper or right, or he concluded it wasn't to seek to be great, to seek to be rewarded, to seek to receive from God something special in the time of judgment.
I tried to take him to the Word of God again and explain it to him, and I guess the best defense of it is the fact that Jesus here advocates it. Jesus never promotes a sinful ambition. And Jesus dealt with the sinful ambition of James and John but He reaffirmed that it wasn't wrong to seek to be great. It was only wrong to seek it for the wrong reason, that's all. I mean, even John said, "Look to yourselves that you lose not the things that you've wrought, but that you receive a full reward." And Paul said, "Run that you may win." And he also reiterated that we ought to be concerned that our works when they stand the test of fire at the judgment seat of Christ are not wood, hay and stubble, but gold, silver and precious stone. And that we so live according to 2 Corinthians that when we come to that day and face the Lord Jesus Christ, we may receive reward for the things done in the body, whether they be good or worthless. And John reminds us at the climax of the whole Bible that the Lord said, "Behold, I come quickly and My reward is in My hand to give you according to your work."
And so, it's not wrong to seek glory in eternity. It's not wrong to seek exaltation. The Lord has given us that as a goal. It's not wrong to seek that, it's only wrong to seek it for the wrong reason. It's only when you're motive isn't right, when like James and John, you seek it so you can lord it over the others, or you seek it so you can be more esteemed than others in this life, or you seek it so that you can have for yourself greater authority, greater power, greater comfort. It's not wrong to seek it, it's wrong to seek it for wrong and selfish reasons.
And let me add a note to that. If you seek it, if you seek greatness on God's terms, you will seek it on the track that He has ordained. And it's the track of suffering. And that sort of helps us to deal a little more honestly with the issue, for the path to glory is the path of suffering, it's the path of sacrifice, it's the path of slavery, it's the path of sacrificial selfless service. And so, if you seek the glory on that path, it is in itself a self-effacing seeking. You understand that?
Oh, there are those who seek the glory but would avoid the pain. There are those who seek the glory through the pain and they are the ones who seek it on God's terms. That's why the Apostle Paul says, you know, "I have done many things in my life, in effect, but all I want to be said of me when you take account," 1 Corinthians 4, "is that I was a faithful under-rower, that I was a third-level galley slave who pulled his oar, that's all. Because," he said, "that's a little thing with me whether men judged me. It's a small thing with me to be judged by men, it's even a small thing to be judged by myself because I tend to be bias in my own favor, I'm not objective so I don't listen to my own evaluation and I really don't care about people's evaluation. What I'm looking for is the day when the Lord brings to light the hidden things of the heart and makes manifest the secret things and then will every man have his praise from God."
In other words, only God can read motive. Only God can read the reason why we did what we did. But we can read a little bit from the outside because if a man seeks to give his life for Christ, if he seeks to spend himself, if he seeks to be the best teacher, or the best Christian, the best disciple he can be, if he seeks that in order that he may receive a reward, but willingly seeks it through the path of self-sacrifice, humility and suffering, then it marks a man with a pure motive, doesn't it? It marks a woman with a pure motive. So it isn't wrong to seek it.
In fact, in 1 Timothy 3, the Apostle Paul said if a man desires the office of an overseer, he desires a good thing. That's a good desire. I'm in the ministry today basically because I desired it. And someone said to me when I first came to Grace Church: how did you know you were called? And they've asked me that thousands of times since, but how did you know you were called to the ministry? And at that very point, I said, "I know because it's my desire. I want to do that." And I believe God has planted the desire there. And I believe the only way you know you're called into ministry is in the New Testament age is that you have the desire and it's affirmed by the church. First Timothy 3, "You desire it, it's a good thing." The church then looks at your life and evaluates whether you have the principles that would qualify you to serve in that in capacity. And so, the church comes together with the desire of the heart and says this is a man fitted for service. And you desire a good thing.
So, there's nothing wrong with desiring that. I desire for my life that I might give all that I have to serve Christ. I desire that through eternity I might be able to give Him the most glory that's possible. I want to fulfill my spiritual gifts. I want to maximize the potential I have for God. I want to so live my life that I can be an honor to God throughout all eternity. I don't want to lose any of that capacity by the forfeiture of sin in my life. Now you can judge in your own mind whether that's an ambition that I may gain some esteem for myself, or whether it's a desire to please the Lord I love who died for me. It's God ultimately who can measure the heart. But you can evaluate a little bit if you look at the sacrifice of life. If you don't see the sacrifice there, then it may not be as pure a motive as it ought to be.
But those are the conditions upon which the desire is legitimate. And I think that's what our Lord is saying in contrast to James and John whose desire was very selfish.
Now look at the end of verse 26. Because at the end of verse 26, He says, "If you want to be great, let him be your servant." That's the path. You know, people, you don't want to get tied down to this world. It passes awfully fast. And you don't want to waste all your time trying to pad your own case with creature comforts and psychological affirmation and making sure you're at ease and at peace and so forth and nobody's ruffling your feathers and you're not dealing with too much pressure, too much anxiety and so forth. You don't want to get caught in this culture's mad dash for leisure and so forth. Some people are wearing themselves out trying to relax, little question about that. You don't want to panic into that kind of a situation. What you want to do is spend yourself for the purpose of the Kingdom. You want to abandon yourself for the purpose that is eternal. And you want to give yourself away to that end.
And that's what I think He's saying here. You need to be a servant. We get letters all the time, I mean all the time, weekly, from people across the country, wonderful folks, godly folks, who would like to come and serve on our church staff. They would like to be a part here. They'd like to minister here. And they, no doubt, would be a tremendous blessing from God. They would be a great help to us. They would enrich us. And we would really cherish that opportunity. But we have established the simple principle in the Scripture and that is that you cannot lead until you have proven you can serve. You cannot be given the rulership role, you cannot be given the responsibility at the broad level until you have shown the humble...the humble heart of a servant. And so, we always respond to people by saying we appreciate the fact that you would consider us and desire to serve here, and we would like to suggest to you that we are not committed to just hiring people and bringing them here, but if you would wish to come on your own and serve among us, should God approve of the service you render, He might by His own will be pleased to lift you up to a place of responsible leadership.
Well, the truth is that's foreign to most people's understanding. But nonetheless, I believe that's the thing that is consistent with the Word of God. And many of these people have been so approved in the place where they minister, but it's hard for them to perhaps see the need to do that in another place.
Now the word for servant here is very interesting. The word is diakonos. We get the word "deacon" from that. And I suppose we all think "deacon" is a religious word. And in fact in our society it is. It has no other use in our society. But in the time of the New Testament, the word was a secular word. It had no religious use. It's not a word taken from pagan religion or something. It is a word that had to do with low menial service. You would hire a deacon to clean up your yard, take away your trash, serve a meal, collect the garbage, do some kind of menial job. It's just a...it's not a dishonoring term, it's just a low term in terms of social strata. It talks of the guy who simply serves, who simply does a menial job. It doesn't take a lot of education or training or skill, an unskilled kind of thing where a person willingly comes to serve. That's the word.
And the word was taken out of paganism, it was sanctified and it was made the most dominant word in the New Testament to speak of the service of Christians. It is the most dominant word. And it is not as though there were no other ones to choose from. There were a myriad of terms they could have chosen. They could have used the term "priest" which is somewhat an exalted term. They could have used the term archonwhich has to do with a ruler or a leader, one in a responsible place. There were terms, timea place of honor, an office of honor. There were words that had to do with a place of authority, but the chosen word by the Spirit of God was this word "deacon," menial service. And it's used with its cognate verb more than 50 times in reference to the service of Christians...lowly service. God is looking for those who come to serve. That's the right spirit.
I want you to look with me for a moment to a passage I moment ago alluded to. First Corinthians chapter 4, because I think it enriches our understanding of this. The Apostle Paul in this chapter has marked out his own attitude as a servant. He has spoken of himself in a humble way. In verse 1 he has called himself a servant only this time he uses the word hupereteswhich is a word referring to a slave who rode in a big ship underneath in the hull, a galley slave who did nothing but was chained to some kind of post and he pulled an oar in the darkness of the hull of a ship. And Paul says, "May it be said of me that I am a third-level galley slave, under-rower for Christ."
He really had the right perspective. He was so self-effacing, so humble. He was helped in his humility by the Lord leaving him with a thorn in the flesh and he was helped in his humility by God bringing all the pain and anxiety and suffering into his life. He was helped even in his humility by the failures that occurred in his life when he had tried to disciple people who bombed out on him like Demas and John Mark early in his life. I mean, he had enough failure to be sensible and realistic and enough success to know God was at work. But it was in that humility that he rightly evaluated himself and in chapter 3 and verse 8, or rather verse 5, he says, "Who is Paul? Who is he? Who is Apollos? They're nobodies, they're just servants, that's all." And Apollos was the greatest living Old Testament scholar and Paul was the greatest living new covenant scholar. And yet he says they're nobodies, just third level galley slaves for the sake of Christ.
In contrast to that, he indicts the haughty proud boastful honor-seeking Corinthians in verse 8 as if to say who do you think you are? This is dripping with sarcasm. Now you are full. Now you are rich. You have reigned as kings without us. Aren't you something? Then he says pensively, "I would to God you did reign. I wish it were true that you were what you think you are." And then he goes on with the sarcasm. "I think that God hath set forth us the Apostles last as it were appointed to death for we're made a spectacle unto the world and angels and men, we're fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We're weak but you are strong, you are honorable and we're despised even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and buffeted and have no certain dwelling place and labor working with our own hands; being reviled we bless, being persecuted we endure it, being defamed we entreat, we are made as the filth of the world and the off scouring of all things to this day."
In other words, he says you just don't know where true greatness is. You're puffed up and proud and think you're honorable and think you're wise and think you're strong and you're not. You think you're kings, you think you reign and you don't. We who are apostles who are buffeted and abused and mistreated and do it for the sake of the Kingdom, we are the ones who are truly exalted. Paul understood that.
Oswald Saunders writing in his wonderful book Spiritual Leadershipquotes William Law as saying, "Let every day be a day of humility. Condescend to all the weaknesses and infirmities of your fellow creatures. Cover their frailties, love their excellencies, encourage their virtues, relieve their wants, rejoice in their prosperities, compassion at their distress, receive their friendship, overlook their unkindness, forgive their malice, be a servant of servants and condescend to do the lowliest offices of the lowest of mankind."
And he also quotes Samuel Brengle(?) who wrote in his diary, "If I appear great in their eyes, the Lord is most graciously helping me to see how absolutely nothing I am without Him and helping me to keep little in my own eyes. He does use me but I'm so concerned that He uses me and that it is not me by which the work is done. The axe cannot boast of the trees that it cuts down. It could do nothing but for the woodsman. He made it. He sharpened it and he used it. The moment he throws it aside it becomes only old iron. O that I may never lose sight of this."
And so, the heart of the servant is the heart that truly pursues greatness. The next verse, verse 27, basically reiterates the same thing only makes the contrast even more stark. "And whosoever," this for emphasis, "will be chief," and here the word is protos, it means first, "whoever will be first, let him be your doulos," and now He uses a word of even lesser nobility than diakonos, this word means bondslave. "Whoever would be first, let him be your slave." Boy, when you said that word in the context of the New Testament, they understood something, didn't they? We hear the word "slave," we don't understand much because we don't have slaves. But they did. They knew what it was to see slaves whipped and beaten. They knew what it was to serve in the terrible kind of conditions that many of them served in. They knew that. And yet, for them it became a graphic demonstration of how committed they should be to serving one another to find the true place of greatness.
It's a tremendous illustration in their world. You are to be a slave. And I think Paul looked at his life in that way. He knew that his life was not his own, that his master was in charge. He said, "If I live, I live. If I die, I die. Both unto the Lord. So whether I live or die, I'm the Lord's." He was a slave bound to Christ. Over and over again he said that. He calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ. He even said to the Corinthians, "Death works in me that life might work in you." He said, "I go through all of the things I go through for your sakes." Slavishly did he fulfill his responsibility before God for the sake of others. And you can know that in the back of his heart, he knew that some day there would be a reward, some day he would enter into his glory and some day he would receive that great weight of glory which was so much beyond that light affliction that he told the Corinthians about. Sure he did it seeking to be exalted. Sure he did it for those reasons, but he did it that the Lord might be glorified in his exaltation and that was demonstrated by his willingness to go through the path of pain to get there.
And I see a lot of people who want the path to glory but they don't want the pain. And they build Christian institutions around them and organizations around them. And they build their little world around them to insulate and to pad them and to promote them and to exalt them. And you see very little of the pain and very little of the suffering. And I look at my own life, too, and I wonder sometimes if my own motives can remain pure. All of us need to ask that question. And Paul becomes for us a wonderful illustration of one who sought the glory but he was also willing to bear the pain.
Oswald Saunders writes, "Scars are the authentic marks of faithful discipleship." It was said of one leader, "He belonged to that class of early martyrs whose passionate soul made an early holocaust of the physical man."
One of the most beautiful of all the writings of Amy Carmichael is this poem, listen to it: Hast thou no scar, no hidden scar on foot or side or hand? I hear thee song is mighty in the land. I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star. Hast thou no scar? Hast thou no wound? Yet I was wounded by the archers spent, leaned me against the tree to die and rent by ravening beasts that encompassed me, I swooned. Hast thou no wound? No wound? No scar? Yes, says the master, shall the servant be and pierced are the feet that follow Me, but thine are whole, can he have followed far who has no wound? No scar?"
Well, the cost of greatness is humble service, selfless service. Do you wish you could get this across to young Christians, especially young men who go out in the ministry that they would not fear the hard place but seek it? Not seek the comfortable place, but the uncomfortable one? That they may receive that greater weight of glory? Time is so short and eternity is so long. And the cost of greatness may be persecution, it may be death. In some cultures more so than in ours. But even in ours there is a price to pay, the cost of humble suffering service. The true path to glory I think is marked by loneliness. And that's a suffering of sorts. There is a certain loneliness, there is a certain being apart from the social scene. There is a price of quietness to pay.
Tozer once said, "Loneliness is the price of saintliness." You just are so consumed by that which God has called you to that you lose some sight of the whirling of the world around you, even the good things sometimes cannot be fully enjoyed because deep in the heart is this...this mandate of God that you should accomplish His goals for eternity. There is loneliness involved in that. And most people don't understand the burden that's borne in the pursuit of glory along the path of suffering.
I think, too, there is weariness there. Fatigue is the price of pushing past mediocrity. I never met a man who was abandoned to the cause of God who wasn't tired and weary..or a woman. And criticism is another part of the pain. You can expect to be misunderstood and misrepresented, misjudged, wrongly evaluated, accused. And to handle that without self-defense, without self-justification means that you bear the burden between you and the Lord and perhaps someone close and dear to you. There are those pains in the path to glory, but they are but momentary light affliction for the weight of glory that is forever.
And so, he who seeks to be first...and that's not wrong. I don't know about you but I would want to be all that God would want me to be. I would want to be known as one who served Him with my whole heart. That's not wrong. And for the right reasons to seek that, you must then be a slave, you must give your life away.
Out in the world, the people who are great are the ones who can manipulate the most folks, who can ambitiously sell...seek self-glory, who can dominate others, who can charm others into doing things they need done for them. But that's not how it is in God's Kingdom. I think William Barclay put it rather succinctly when he says, "The world may assess a man's greatness by the number of people whom he controls, and who are at his beckon call, or by his intellectual standing and his academic eminence, or by the number of committees of which he is a member, or by the size of his bank balance and the material possessions which he has amassed. But in the assessment of Jesus Christ, these things are irrelevant," end quote. And what is relevant is his humility.
Ask yourself the question: what sacrifice do you make to serve Christ? What sacrifice? What pain? Or do you demand mostly to be served? And if it's uncomfortable, you're not willing to do it. Those are very important questions that we need to face every day. So, the exhortation is very clear. Let's look at the example.
And if you can resist the exhortation, and you really love the Lord Jesus Christ, I question whether you can resist the example because it comes with such clear impact. "Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve," stop right there.
Here's our example. You say you love Christ. You say you abide in Him. First John says if you say you abide in Him, you ought to walk as He walked. And His life was utterly abandoned, as an act of humble selfless service on behalf of others. For He thought it not robbery, something to be grasped to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant, was found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, was obedient unto death even the death of the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ went through the greatest humiliation ever. God became man. The sovereign of the universe, the sovereign of all eternity came to be a victim of sin. The greatest humiliation of all. And that's why in the Kingdom He's the greatest. He is the greatest, the most exalted because He was the most humbled. And He is the example.
Even as...those two words mark Him as the example. He is called the Son of Man. That's the Messianic term drawn from Daniel 7:13 used more than 80 times in the gospels by Christ to refer to Himself. It speaks of Him as the incarnate one, the Messiah, God in human flesh. And He came not to be served. He didn't come like other kings come. And that's what kind of confused Pilate who said, "Are you a king?" And in effect what he's saying is, "You don't look like a king and You sure don't act like one. I mean, You've been abused and maligned and mistreated and You don't do anything. You don't retaliate. And it's obvious that You don't have any Kingdom, it's obvious You don't have any possessions, You don't have anything." And all He did have was a robe on His back. "I mean, are You a king?"
By all standards there was no way that He could be a king. And that's when Jesus replied and said, "Well, you don't understand because My kind of Kingdom isn't your kind of kingdom." Most kings demand to be served. This king came to serve.
In fact, in Luke 22:27, one of the most beautiful statements ever came out of His mouth, He said, "I am among you as one who serves." I am among you as one who serves. And you see it when He washes the feet of the disciples. They are so self-seeking that they will not wash each other's feet and so the Lord takes off His outer garment, puts a towel on His waist and then He washes their feet. Oh what humility. And He is the pattern. What an example.
Forfeiting our comforts to meet others needs, that's service. And it says His service extended in verse 28 to the giving of His life. The ultimate act of service--to die on behalf of someone else, the voluntary act of ultimate self denial. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man...what? Lay down his life for his friends. And you're My friends if you do whatever I command you, He said, John 15:13 and 14.
I was kind of encouraged the other day, in a way, by...what I read in the paper about the very heroic act of Joe Delaney, who was a very excellent running back for the Kansas City Chiefs, saw some little boys drowning and even though he knew he couldn't swim well, he dove into the water to try to save the little boys. And it's difficult to save one person because they tend to want to drown you along with them. And he had three on his hands. And the result was that he drowned, two of them ultimately drowned and one was saved. And it was wonderful to see a young man at the height of his career who had heard all the accolades of the crowd, who had lived in the euphoria and the fantasy world of professional athletics, then made almost into a God and yet he saw himself as one who served. And with all that he had to protect for himself, he gave his life, as it were, to save some little boys, or to try.
The world seems to understand so little of that kind of selflessness that they, I think, rather quickly passed off his heroics, lest it become too intimidating in a selfless self- consuming kind of society.
But Jesus sets the pattern for us. He gave His life on our behalf. The passage could end there. And all we would really need to hear at this point would be that Jesus is our pattern. He gave His life in service, we must do the same. If we want to be great, we do so by selfless abandonment. But the passage can't end there. And the reason it can't end there is because if it does there will be a misunderstanding. And the misunderstanding will be that Jesus died only as an example of selflessness, that Jesus died only as an example of one who was willing to humble Himself for others' sake, that He died only in an effort to try to demonstrate humility.
But there's more than that. And so, the Spirit of God adds a new teaching in the New Testament, never heretofore given to this point. And it is this, that He gave His life not just as an example but as...what?...as a ransom. And here we are introduced for the very first time in the New Testament to the redemption work of Christ, the substitutionary vicarious ransoming redeeming act on the cross. It is not only an example, yes, He gave Himself as an example. There's no question about that. An example of selfless sacrifice. Peter makes it very clear in 1 Peter 2 that Christ suffered for us leaving us an example. There's no question about that. But Peter also says it was more than example, "Who by His own self bore our sins in His own body." More than example, His death was ransom, redemption. Oh, what a great truth.
The word "ransom", you see it there? Lutron, only used twice in the New Testament. Here and Mark 10:45. Lutronis the price of the release of a slave. You have a slave, he wants his freedom, lutronwas whatever the price was to free him. We were slaves of sin, death, Satan, the flesh, the world, hell. Christ paid the lutronto release us. And now we know as Romans 8 says the glorious liberty of the sons of God. What a great thought. His death was not only an example, it was a ransom. He paid the price for our sin to release us. There was a price a slave could pay to be released. But a slave, for the most part, could never earn it because a slave was paid only the wage to sustain his life. How could he also amass enough money to buy his freedom, when all that he received was given just to sustain the bare necessities? And so, we could no longer...or could no more buy our freedom than a slave could. Someone else had to come and pay the price. Christ did it. He became the ransom.
And though the word lutron, that noun form, is only used twice in the New Testament, other related and varying forms of that root are all over the New Testament. And at least, I think I counted 83 times in the Old Testament. The idea of ransom and redemption is a very, very common idea in Scripture. First Corinthians 6, for example, says we are bought with a...what? With a price. We have been redeemed. That's what that means. We have redemption. It's in Galatians, Ephesians. It's in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Romans, Corinthians.
Peter, I think, sums it up wonderfully. First Peter 1:18, he says, "You are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold," you weren't purchased out of your slavery by silver and gold, "but by the precious...what?...blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot, without blemish."
So, the passage then comes to a wonderful climax in the fact that the Lord Jesus is not only our example, but He's our redemption. He's our ransom who purchased us from sin.
Now I want you to notice in verse 28 the word "for" because it, too, is a very important theological term. It is the word ante, we get our word "anti" from it. It means as over against something, or an exchange for something, or in the place of something. And what He is saying here is He's a ransom in exchange for many. In other words, it was His death for our death, His life for our life, His sin bearing for our sin bearing. He was our ransom.
Then the word "many." People wonder, "What do you mean by many? You mean He only died for a few? You mean many means some that are outside that ransoming capability? Is this teaching a limited atonement?" No, it is not. Many is simply an expression referring to all, but it is used in a contrasting way as over against one who gave the sacrifice, many--by contrast--are ransomed. It's simply used to demonstrate contrast.
And that's not uncommon. Look for a moment at Romans chapter 5 and I'll show you something very important. Romans 5, it says in verse 12, "Wherefore as by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin; so death passed on all men for all have sinned." Now it's saying then that when Adam sinned, death came on all men for all have sinned. So we know he's talking about all men.
Now you go down to verse 15. It says in the second sentence, "For if through the offense of one, many are dead." Well, we just heard how many? All. So "many" then when used in a contrasting context is substitute for the word "all." To demonstrate contrast, one...many. And in verse 19, "As by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners." Well, we know the "many" there means "all." So, again I submit to you that the "many" here is simply used in the contrasting terms here and has reference to everyone.
I believe Christ provided a ransom for all. And the Scripture points that out in many, many passages. He has been ransomed for all of us. We need but appropriate that.
Now, beloved, because of what He did, Philippians 2 which is the commentary on this passage says God has highly...what? Exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God. Now what happened was because He was so humbled and because He offered Himself in selfless service, God so highly exalted Him. It is proportionate. In proportion to His humility is His glory. And that is the principle you must learn. Greatness in the Kingdom, capacity for glory in the Kingdom is in direct proportion to humility and selfless service rendered.
Simple and yet profound truth. And if your spiritual life is on target, then you will seek that eternal weight of glory and you will desire it with all your heart which will cause you to serve Christ with a whole heart and to take the path even though it means pain or suffering that brings about that eternal weight of glory. Let's bow in prayer.
Lord, we study these grandiose truths, we study the wonder of what You are saying and we feel so far away from the standard. We feel so short. We could almost wish that we could suffer more when what You're asking is that we serve more and the suffering takes care of itself. And if we do not suffer and if there is little pain, then perhaps there is little service. So, Lord, help us to seek to be great for Your glory and to seek it through the path of humble service as our Lord did.
Yes, our Lord said glorify Me with the glory I had with Thee before the world began. Yes, He sought the glory. But willingly through the path of suffering. May we be so seeking that Your name would be glorified and that we through all eternity might receive that eternal weight of glory by which we can with full capacity praise you forever and ever and ever.
Our Father, we pray that You'll draw into the prayer room when we dismiss all who should come, that Your work might be accomplished in every heart. Bring us back together tonight with anticipation of what You have for us. And may we serve as our Savior served that we may know that eternal weight of glory that brings honor to Your name. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
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The Cytoband file format is used to specify the cytobands for an imported genome. IGV uses this file to draw the chromosome ideograms for the genome.
A cytoband file is a five-column tab-delimited text file. Each row of the file describes the position of a cytogenetic band. The columns in the file match the columns of the CytoBank table in the database underlying the UCSC Genome Browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu/):


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2014 Academy of Country Music Awards Nominees Announced
The 2014 Academy of Country Music Awards nominees have been announced! Tim McGraw and Miranda Lambert lead the race, with seven nominations apiece.
McGraw made quite a splash, finding himself in the running for Album of the Year, Single Record, Vocal Event and Video of the Year. He also received nods for his production efforts in the Album, Single and Vocal Event categories.
Lambert's third consecutive nomination for Entertainer of the Year and eighth for Female Vocalist helped her rise to the top of nominees, with nods also in Single Record, Song and Video of the Year. Additionally, the sassy songstress is a double nominee in Vocal Event of the Year for 'We Were Us' and 'Boys 'Round Here.'
Hot on their heels is Keith Urban who garnered six nods and Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves who received five 2014 ACMs nominations, along with Lee Brice, Blake Shelton and Taylor Swift — whose collaboration with McGraw and Urban on 'Highway Don't Care' rounded out her list.
Last year's Entertainer of the Year, Luke Bryan, is up for the award again (along with two other nominations), and his name sits alongside an impressive selection of stars vying for the evening's biggest prize, including Lambert, Shelton, George Strait and Swift.
The 49th ACM Awards will be hosted by country's funny guys Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan and will air from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 6 at 8PM ET on CBS.
2014 Academy of Country Music Awards Nominees:
Entertainer of the Year
Luke Bryan
Miranda Lambert
Blake Shelton
George Strait
Taylor Swift
Male Vocalist of the Year
Jason Aldean
Lee Brice
Luke Bryan
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban
Female Vocalist of the Year
Sheryl Crow
Miranda Lambert
Kacey Musgraves
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Vocal Duo of the Year Nominees
Big & Rich
Dan + Shay
Florida Georgia Line
Love and Theft
Thompson Square
Vocal Group of the Year
Eli Young Band
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
The Band Perry
Zac Brown Band
New Artist of the Year
Brett Eldredge
Justin Moore
Kip Moore
Album of the Year
Blake Shelton, 'Based on a True Story…'
Luke Bryan, 'Crash My Party'
Florida Georgia Line, 'Here's to the Good Times'
Kacey Musgraves, 'Same Trailer Different Park'
Tim McGraw, 'Two Lanes of Freedom'
Song of the Year
Gary Allan, 'Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)'
Lee Brice, 'I Drive Your Truck'
Miranda Lambert, 'Mama's Broken Heart'
Blake Shelton, 'Mine Would Be You'
Darius Rucker, 'Wagon Wheel'
Single Record of the Year
Florida Georgia Line, 'Cruise'
Tim McGraw (Feat. Taylor Swift and Keith Urban), 'Highway Don't Care'
Lee Brice, 'I Drive Your Truck'
Miranda Lambert, 'Mama's Broken Heart'
Darius Rucker (Feat. Lady Antebellum), 'Wagon Wheel'
Video of the Year
The Band Perry, 'Better Dig Two'
Kacey Musgraves, 'Blowin' Smoke'
Tim McGraw (Feat. Taylor Swift and Keith Urban), 'Highway Don't Care'
Lee Brice, 'I Drive Your Truck
Miranda Lambert, 'Mama's Broken Heart'
Carrie Underwood, 'Two Black Cadillacs'
Vocal Event of the Year
Blake Shelton (Feat. Pistol Annies and Friends), 'Boys 'Round Here'
Florida Georgia Line (Feat. Nelly), 'Cruise (Remix)'
Tim McGraw (Feat. Taylor Swift and Keith Urban), 'Highway Don't Care'
Darius Rucker (Feat. Lady Antebellum), 'Wagon Wheel'
Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert, 'We Were Us'
Songwriter of the Year
Rhett Atkins
Rodney Clawson
Ashley Gorley
Luke Laird
Shane McAnally


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Exegesis has Consequences
Ideas have consequences. Since the dawn of Western philosophy, we have witnessed the good, the bad, and the ugly of this axiom. From the influence of John Locke upon the founders of America, to the disastrous results of the influence …Read More
Grammatical Fallacies
God's Word comes to us in words. These words are human words: chosen by particular human beings in particular circumstances to communicate a particular message. Of course, the words of Scripture are also divine words. Each one of them …Read More
The Importance of Sound Exegesis
A Bible scholar walks into a friend's kitchen and sees a magnet fixing a diet plan to the refrigerator door. It reads, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you … to …Read More
Interpreting Hermeneutics
My first appointment today was with a seminary student of mine who also attends our church. He is a sharp student in his early forties who left a lucrative career in order to pursue God's call to pastoral ministry …Read More
Logical Fallacies
Logic (from the Greek word logos, "reason") is the "science that deals with the principles and criteria of validity of inference and demonstration, the science of the formal principles of reasoning" (Merriam-Webster). While theology, as the study of God, transcends …Read More
Word-Study Fallacies
At my seminary, I often teach the introductory Greek course. On the first or second day of class, at least one student and I will have the following typical conversation during one of the breaks: "Dr. Cara, is it not …Read More
Dragons and Holiness
The incredible imaginative power of the human mind connects us. If I mention standing ankle deep in the ocean, many of you can picture this image (and maybe feel the dizziness as you watch the water rush past your feet …Read More
Thinking Like Jesus
Several years ago, I was asked to give a convocation address at a major theological seminary in America. In that address, I spoke about the critical role of logic in biblical interpretation, and I pleaded for seminaries to include courses …Read More
And all the people said … "Amen!" The "amen corner" has had an important place in the life of the church throughout the ages. However, it is rare to find such a spot among Presbyterians. We are known as God's …Read More
The Bible is a blessed book. It begins with blessing. It ends with blessing. It's about blessing. Even more, it is a blessing. But all of this begs a question: what exactly do we mean by the word blessing? Count …Read More
In the language of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the church comprises the "whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be, gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof" (25.1). This is otherwise known as …Read More
God's Hammer
Sometimes, indeed often, we build and maintain our paradigms for our own comfort. Our worldviews are usually less the result of careful, dispassionate, sober-minded analysis and more the result of self-serving, special pleading, rationalization of our sin. We believe not …Read More
Problematic Analogies and Prayerful Adoration
Ask any children's Sunday school teacher what the most difficult thing to teach is and he will almost certainly tell you: "The doctrine of the Trinity, that God is one but exists in three persons." Ask them how they …Read More
We Believe the Bible and You Do Not
Not too long ago, in an effort to get a better grasp of the Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper, I was reading the chapters on the sacraments in Francis Pieper's Christian Dogmatics, and I ran across this …Read More


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This glass Cocktail Mixer advertising Beefeater Gin is marked: Beefeater / The Gin of England in bold red lettering. In very good condition, without chips, cracks or fleabites it measures 6 3/4 inches tall, 3 5/8 inches across the rim and 2 7/8 inches across the base. An addition to any Bar...
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As we all know, couriers can be very hard on freight. As a precautionary measure, we are offering our customers the option of purchasing these protective overwrap boxes. The boxes are 150 lb kraft (brown color). The idea is that when the order is shipping, the printed master carton is put inside this box. UPS/FedEx/USPS will inevitably scuff up the outer carton but when the printed master carton is removed from the over wrap box, it will look nice and new
— Ships from H: WA, CA, CO, MI, TN, PA, FL USA.


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Here's another leaked Ice Cream Sandwich for HTC Rezound called RUU 3.11.605.1. Thanks to Scrosler of XDA Developers Forum who leak the said ROM. With this ROM you can enjoy the new Sense 3.6 UI of HTC plus you don't have to worry rooting it because it's already rooted.
If you want to try this rom,just follow the simple steps below.
- Make sure that your phone battery is charge at least 60%
- Backup your phone data into your computer.
- Turn on USB Debugging, on your homescreen tap Menu> Settings> Application> Development. Then, make sure that USB debugging is checked.
- HTC Rezound with CWM recovery
- USB Data Cable
- Computer
- First, download the Stock_Rooted_ICS_4.0.3_Leaked_RUU_3.11.605.1.zip and PH98IMG.zip on your computer.
- Then, connect your device to the computer using your USB Data Cable.
- Next, copy the zip files you downloaded earlier to the root directory of your SD card.
- Disconnect your phone to the computer.
- Turn off your phone.
- Go to bootloader mode, your phone will automatically detect the "PH98IMG.zip" file that we transferred and will update your phone automatically.
- Go to Clockworkmod recovery.
- Once you're in the recovery, do a nandroid backup by selecting backup> backup and restore> then backup to start saving your old ROM. (This will make a full backup of your existing ROM, and save it to the SD card. You can restore from this backup, if something gets messed up with the installation.)
- Now do a full wipe by selecting Mount and Storage then wipe the following:
- Format System
- Format Data
- Format Cache
- Go back to main menu and select advance then wipe dalvik-cache.
- From the main menu select install zip from Sd card> choose zip from Sd card> then select the Stock_Rooted_ICS_4.0.3_Leaked_RUU_3.11.605.1.zip to start flashing the ICS rom.
- Finally, go back to main menu and select Reboot system now.
Congratulations, you have successfully updated your HTC Rezound to the latest leak Ice Cream Sandwich Firmware.


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By KATHRYN FLAGG
BRISTOL — The cement floors and creaking garage door betray the space's original purpose — but the photographs, paintings and sculptures arranged throughout the new Gallery at 85 North Street in Bristol signal the little building's wholehearted transition from storage space to fine art forum.
The gallery is the latest addition to Bristol's blossoming arts scene, and the darling of artists Karla Van Vliet and Kit Donnelly. The Bristol residents celebrated the opening of the seasonal summer and fall gallery on July 4.
"We wanted to bring our philosophy into the world," said Van Vliet.
She and Donnelly, who have been friends since meeting in an artists' critique group several years ago, began concocting plans for the gallery while Donnelly was staying with Van Vliet at her home on Bristol's North Street, just a quick jaunt from downtown. Both women have been artists for decades — and wanted not only to generate business, but also foster a space for artists and art lovers in town to congregate.
So the two turned their eye on the garage on Van Vliet's property, which at the time was crowded and dim. But with artists' eyes attuned to possibility, Van Vliet and Donnelly envisioned clean white walls and gracefully mounted fine art.
"We started dreaming about what we could do with this space," said Donnelly.
The garage is no stranger to the business of beautiful things. Frances Jeffers, who owned the home at 85 North St. for 40 years before Van Vliet took up residency, ran a flower and vegetable business out of the garage. A Bristol fixture, she plied her customers with well-tended plants and homegrown charm.
The latest business venture, Donnelly said, is a nod to "independent, entrepreneurial women."
By LEE J. KAHRS
BRANDON –– Robert Martin has worked at Vermont Tubbs for almost 30 years, but at the end of the day Friday he and roughly 90 of his co-workers will be out of work as the furniture manufacturing plant closes its doors.
Despite the efforts of local and state officials to keep Vermont Tubbs afloat in Brandon, the company's new owners announced last week that the furniture manufacturing plant would be closing its doors July 18.
"We feel terrible for the employees and their families," said Janet Mondlak, executive director of the Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce. "This is a huge loss for Brandon. We feel helpless, and if there is anything we can do for any of the employees, we will."
The plant closure comes just six weeks after the company was sold to Brownstreet Furniture, a New Hampshire-based manufacturer of high-end wood furniture. Although new owners Kyle and Adam Tager had initially said they would wait 90 days before making any decisions about the Tubbs plant, the Vermont Department of Labor was informed of the closing July 10. Calls to Tubbs and Brownstreet for comment were not returned.
BSF Transitions issued a press release late Friday saying that it faced the same economic pressures that the previous Tubbs owners faced and that those pressures drove BSF to move operations to Whitefield, N.H.
Martin, 60, works the rough mill machine at the plant. He and his wife, Patty, live in Brandon. Martin said he has seen the company change owners many times in his years at the plant, but last week's announcement surprised him.
"I didn't see it coming," he said. "Everything was going good. Orders were coming in and going out. I assumed everything was fine."
By JOHN FLOWERS
RIPTON — Ripton officials on Thursday were optimistic their community would soon see basic mail service return to their community, while around a half-dozen people have expressed interest in filling the town's vacant postmaster position.
Ripton Town Clerk Sally Hoyler said plans call for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to provide funding to resurrect delivery and mail handling at the Ripton Country Store, where those services were offered until late last month. However, any financial transactions — like buying stamps — would still have to be handled at the East Middlebury Post Office, which has been handling all mail functions for Ripton since the USPS abruptly closed the tiny community's post office late last month.
"I think it's important we get service back as quickly as possible," Hoyler said. "Getting service back soon works in our favor."
In an interview on July 9, Hoyler said she hoped service could be restored within days.
Hoyler said plans call for Ripton's most recent postmaster, Bonnie DeGray, to be re-installed in her position on an interim basis. Other part-timers would be trained to fill in for DeGray during hours she will be unable to cover because of other commitments, according to Hoyler, who is one of the likely fill-ins. DeGray could not be reached for comment.
This interim setup would be in place for roughly 60 days, at which time the USPS hopes to name a new postmaster, according to Hoyler.
Ripton's post office closed after DeGray's contract expired and the USPS could not negotiate a new pact satisfactory to both parties. For reasons the USPS has declined to explain, the postal service did not seek another new postmaster before closing the Ripton Post Office.
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The following script will create a folder on the D: drive named as today's date in numeric format, this is great if you need to schedule your PC to run Backups on a specific time of the day and provide you with several versions of My Document folder, you could send them to your Dropbox folder, Mega, etc.
-----> Save the script bellow as MYDocs.bat and run it.
set myDate=%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%%date:~10%
mkdir D:\%myDate%
robocopy "c:\users\%username%"\Documents\ D:\%myDate% /e /R:1 /v /np /eta /w:2 /PURGE /XD TEMP >c:\users\%username%"\Desktop\MYDocs.txt
backup my Documents, batch script, command line, create folders by date, create unique folder name, Documents, dropbox, Mega, my documents backup, Robocopy, script, synch, Win7 backup, Windows


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Star Wars Lightsaber Umbrellas
This IS the umbrella you've been looking for.
- Hold on to the Lightsaber hilt and protect yourself from the rain.
- Anodized shaft in the appropriate color of the saber blade.
- Carrying sheath (with shoulder strap) included.
Beyond the Outer Rim, spins a stormy planet. Long, long ago, climate change led to all the continents being submerged - forcing the inhabitants to build cities on stilts. The planet is, of course, known (by the few who know) as Kamino. Apart from always being rainy, it's a place famous for two exports: clones and Star Wars Lightsaber Umbrellas. While we can't sell you any clones (against Republic Law), we sure can sell you the 'brellas!
These Star Wars Lightsaber Umbrellas are just freaking awesome. The hilts have been scaled down a bit, so they are very comfortable to hold. And while the shafts don't light up, they are anodized (and a little sparkly) in the proper blade color. The canopy part even has the saber owner's affiliation insignia (Jedi or Imperial) silk-screened on it. These Star Wars Lightsaber Umbrellas are ready to turn heads while keeping yours dry! If you don't use one of these Star Wars Lightsaber Umbrellas, you will get wet when it rains. And then Vader will sadly bellow, "Nooooooooo!"
Star Wars Lightsaber Umbrellas
- Each umbrella has a different Lightsaber hilt (slightly scaled down for easier use).
- While it doesn't light up, each shaft is anodized in the proper color for the saber's blade.
- Each umbrella part has silk-screened insignia (either Jedi or Imperial) of the corresponding faction of the saber's owner.
- Choose yer saber:
- Yoda - green shaft - Jedi insignia
- Darth Vader - red shaft - Imperial insignia
- Obi-Wan - blue shaft - Jedi insignia.
- Carrying sheath (with shoulder strap) included.
- Fully licensed Lucasfilm collectible.
- Dimensions:
- Canopy Diameter: 47"
- Total Length: Vader/Obi-Wan: 39"' - Yoda: 28.5"


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I Am Divine (2013)
When a drag queen like Divine, notorious for eating poop onscreen, becomes a Hollywood A-lister, the glittering queendom of John Waters's underdog cinema will finally be be realized. We're not there yet, but this documentary on the life of this trash-film chanteuse, born Harris Glenn Milstead, shows that we've been a lot closer than you might think. Determined to become the world's first overweight, openly gay megastar, the famously generous queen followed onscreen success with turns as NYC nightlife royalty, a world-renowned disco star, and a top-billed theater actor. Divine/Harris even eventually made the tricky transition into playing male roles in Hollywood. Who knows where Milstead's trajectory would have gone if he hadn't died at 42, the night before Divine was scheduled to film a guest appearance on Married…With Children (which would have been epic)? Watch this flick if you have a seemingly implausible yet totally possible vision you must share with the world. —Caitlin D.
The Fifth Element (1997)
This is one of those movies I watched over and over again as a child, but every time I see it now it still feels like the first, which is especially strange considering how much it visually references many of its famous sci-fi predecessors, including Blade Runner and Star Wars. Unlike those two films, though, The Fifth Element has a strong female heroine. Her name is Leeloo, and she is a divine humanoid who is one of five elements (the other four are stones) that, together, are the only thing that can stop an evil force that appears on Earth every 5,000 years. In the year 2263, Leeloo's task is to recover the four stones from space and bring them back to Earth to stop the force. I admit: It's kind of cheesy. But Milla Jovovich's performance as Leeloo, as well as visual details like the costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier, make for something I can get lost in time and time again. —Eleanor
My Cat From Hell (2011–present, Animal Planet)
Jackson Galaxy, aka the "Cat Daddy," is more than a cat whisperer: He is a cat behaviorist, a cat aura-reader, a fixer of cat problems, and, by extension, a counselor for humans. My Cat From Hell is his reality show, in which he visits the homes of people who have out-of-control cats, and, over a period of about a month, helps them adjust their cat's behavior so everyone can live together peacefully. It might sound like a basic premise, but most of these felines are extremely disturbed: They attack their owners, pee in the house, try to kill their fellow house cats, run around screaming and mewing like they are possessed, and tear apart everything in sight. Generally the cats' behavior controls the lives of their owners, too, with roommates and lovers on the verge of moving out, spouses on the edge of divorce, and happy couples scared to have babies or even, in one third-season episode I just watched, sleep in the same bed. Jackson, who is a "musician by night," drives around Los Angeles in his baby-pink 1950s Cadillac by day and rolls into these people's homes with his full-sleeve arm tattoos, goatee, wild glasses, tiki-bar wardrobe, and guitar case filled with cat toys, and HANDLES THE PROBLEM. No matter how insane a cat seems, Jackson's rockabilly ass can watch its behavior for, like, 30 minutes and know exactly what is wrong and how the owners can fix it. It's truly uncanny; he is a real-world beastmaster. Often the problem with the cat is that it just needs to be played with more, which is totally unbelievable. Who doesn't play with their cats? Isn't that kinda the whole POINT of having one? In one episode, Jackson stays up all night in night-vision goggles (LOL!) and safe-traps a feral cat so he can get it neutered, which in turn stops his clients' housecat from spraying indoors. Like, what? How does he know these things? He is a cat MAGICIAN. I almost wish my cats had issues so I could have him come over and just, like, hang out. The best part, though, is that he's a true humanitarian, always making sure the cats have a safe home, are neutered or spayed, and don't get declawed or subjected to inhumane behavior. Sometimes, he even cries. SO WILL YOU. —Julianne
I Like Killing Flies (2004)
HOLD UP, THIS DOCUMENTARY IS NOT ABOUT FLIES OR KILLING THEM. It's actually about a diner in New York called Shopsin's and its chef/owner, Kenny Shopsin. His menu has about 800 items crammed onto it, and it looks like a perzine because it is covered with looooong lists of crazy- and delicious-sounding dishes like bacon pumpkin cookie-dough pancakes and photos of Shopsin's children, grandchildren, and staff. What I love about this movie is that it shows how the menu and everything else about Shopsin's restaurant are part of one person's very specific vision. The original space (it's since moved) was so tiny that Shopsin had a long list of rules to keep it from getting too cramped. There's a great scene in which passersby read a sign out front that forbids parties of five or more from entering, splitting up to form smaller parties, or in fact EVER COMING IN. Just go away, parties of five. This kind of policing wouldn't get a free pass if his food weren't so great and so creative—I had the mac and cheese pancakes the other day and basically passed out because they were so good—or if his restaurant weren't also about the people he loves and his love of cooking. Definitely watch this if you're a fan of food and/or of going your own way no matter what. —Estelle
Charmed (1998–2006, the WB)
There were eight seasons of Charmed, and in pretty much every episode of every season, Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) bumps into someone and seems like she is being electrified. But actually, she's having a very clear premonition of things that could happen to that person! Sometimes Phoebe, who is a WITCH, sees people being hurt or killed by demons; in other instances she sees outcomes for them that are more mundane, like being wrongly found guilty in a trial. Then she and her witchy sisters Piper and Prue/Paige (the former was killed off after three seasons, then the latter arrived and it was like, "There's a half-sister! Isn't that convenient!") use the "Power of Three" to save the day. —Brodie
A Patch of Blue (1965)
My father and I shared many bowls of buttery popcorn (and tears) while watching Sidney Poitier's films during my teen years. Poitier, the first African=American to win an Academy Award for best actor, gave a series of breakthrough performances in the '60s that helped shift widely held racial and cultural stereotypes. A Patch of Blue focuses on the blossoming friendship between Poitier's character, Gordon, and Selina (Elizabeth Hartman), a young, blind white woman from an abusive and bigoted family. Based on the book Be Ready With Bells and Drums, the overarching message of Selina and Gordon's story is "love is colorblind," a concept that was so controversial at the time that a scene depicting a short kiss between them was edited out for audiences in the American South. In spite of the tumultuous lives Gordon and Selina lead, their optimistic and inspired time with each other transcends social and physical barriers. I believe that seeing with our hearts gives us a more true vision than our eyes have alone. A Patch of Blue helps bring that notion to life. —Jamia
The Cell (2000)
This sci-fi thriller came out right at the beginning of the millennium, when things like the internet, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality were just beginning to dominate our entire lives the way they do today. So there was an excess of imagination in movies like The Matrix, eXistenZ, and The Thirteenth Floor, all of which depicted virtual reality. But none was as beautiful, or as terrifying, as The Cell, directed by Tarsem Singh, whose every film (Immortals, Mirror Mirror) and music video (including REM's "Losing My Religion" and En Vogue's "Hold On") looks like living conceptual art, brushed in broad, fantastical strokes. Jennifer Lopez was on the rise when she starred in this, and it's one of her most enthralling moments. She plays a social worker who uses virtual reality to delve into the minds and memories of coma patients to try to awaken them, but her treatments go awry when she enters the subconscious of a comatose serial killer (Vincent D'Onofrio) to try to find his last victim before it's too late. The thoughts of a serial killer are scary enough, but imagined by Singh, they're terrifying. The man's sadistic impulses are illustrated in highly stylized, very dark scenes replete with rope-bound dolls, sharp-teethed ghosts, a demonic overlord—all sorts of symbols that are at once familiar and completely new. Singh's eye is a singular and precious thing, but you might want to watch this with the lights on! —Julianne
Logan's Run (1976)
This dystopian sci-fi movie first drew me in because it was filmed in what is possibly the coolest-looking shopping mall I have ever seen. Its entire aesthetic is a fantastic reference to the kind of sweet-on-the-surface-but-dark-underneath cult imagery that was so popular in the 1970s (and that we still love). The story is about an overpopulated world in which all humans are free to roam through their lives—albeit in a strictly controlled, enclosed environment—without having to work. The catch is that no one can live beyond the age of 30, when they're killed off in a kind of competitive ritual called Carousel. Logan's job is to go after "runners"—people who try escape their looming fates. By the end, Logan starts to re-evaluate his role, and to consider bigger questions like society versus nature and dystopia versus utopia. What I find most inspiring about this movie is the way it juxtaposes a polished yet bleak man-made world world with a vision of the natural world coming back to reclaim what belongs to it. I even made my own version of the runners' ankh necklaces, except with a Venus symbol to represent my own sense of freedom. ;) —Eleanor
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012)
I first watched Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry last January when I was staying with relatives in the suburbs of L.A., in the midst of depression. I was feeling really uninspired and adrift and had basically run away to the opposite side of the country to escape things, though I soon realized that you can't run from your own head. This documentary really helped me understand how strong we all are just to survive from day to day. The kind of unbending, unshakable resolution Ai Weiwei has as an artist and political dissident is really inspiring. He is an enemy of the Chinese government because he follows the will of his community and his art. It reminds me of the kindness and strength art can give someone, and how that person can in turn extend that strength to a community and the world. There's this one line that Ai Weiwei says directly into the camera that I take with me everywhere: "I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility. From this perspective, I am still very much an optimist." This is coming from a man who watched his country's government tear down his studio, who was held in detention, and whose work has been called an insult to his culture. If he can keep going and believing in the good of the world and of people and the value of art, then so can I. —Arabelle
The Punk Singer (2013)
I saw this documentary about Kathleen Hanna—frontwoman of Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and the Julie Ruin, and one of the people who helped launch the Riot Grrrl movement—in a cozy indie theater in Seattle on its opening night in December. It introduces Kathleen when she's a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where she put on feminist fashion shows and did spoken-word poetry. Old photos and footage of her performances are interspersed with recent interviews with Kathleen, as well as with people who have known her or been impacted by her art (including Tavi!). One of the first things Kathleen says in the movie is that she used to want to be a writer, then the author Kathy Acker told her to be in a band instead because she'd find a larger audience that way. Kathleen found an audience with Bikini Kill, but she also faced so much hate for her outspoken feminism that it nearly destroyed her as an artist. Her work with Le Tigre revived her, but then a mystery illness, which was ultimately diagnosed as Lyme disease, nearly knocked her out again. The Punk Singer perfectly illustrates Kathleen's journey and the power of artistic vision—how it helps us survive and how it changes the world. Whether you're into Kathleen's music or not, I think anyone, especially people who make art, will be blown away by this film. The theater where I saw it was sold out, and when it ended, everyone applauded. My friend and I had planned to meet up with people after, but we couldn't. We needed time together to discuss all the empowerment, fury, and hope that the movie had stirred up in us. —Stephanie
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
When this film opens, our teen-boy wizard-hero is having distressing fever dreams over the death of Cedric Diggory at the hands of Lord Voldemort. They're just the first of MANY intense vision-related examples I picked up on when I recently rewatched this movie. It is the most hormonally charged chapter in the Harry Potter series: Harry gets his first kiss and deals with unexplained "YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"-style anger at his friends. He eventually works out that the feelings are coming from Voldemort and being channeled through himself. Harry's strength in this film is in his ability to see through Voldemort's eyes, and to use that connection to get the one-up on him. —Brodie
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
It almost feels a little condescending to recommend 2001: A Space Odyssey, because even if you haven't seen it from start to finish, you probably already know a lot about it, if only via references like this one or this one. It's one of those films that will always be on those "Top 100 Movies to See Before You Die" lists, but I think that can sometimes be a turnoff because it makes entertainment feel like homework. This movie is absolutely worth seeing, though. Like most of director Stanley Kubrick's work, it is a visual and auditory feast, particularly for its time (I still can't believe it was made in 1968!). It's almost 50 years old, and the year 2001 came and went differently than the movie predicted, but the competition between humankind and computers that it foresaw seems more relevant now than ever. —Eleanor ♦


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Add to Calendar
09/26/2018 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
We are so excited for an awesome year of Youth Group! All youth in 6th-8th grades are welcome! We will meet from 6 – 7:30 pm on Wednesday nights.
If you would like to join us for fellowship, Next Door Pub Pizza, & Bittner's Donuts, Dinner will be served from 5:30-6pm. Friends welcome!


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By Michael Virtanen
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Thirteen states have settled an investigation into improper lending with a court agreement that is expected to provide $92 million in debt relief for 17,800 U.S. military personnel.
Deceptive practices by Rome Finance Co., more recently doing business as Colfax Capital Corp. and Culver Capital LLC, based in California and Georgia, included failing to accurately disclose charges and interest rates, New York's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday. Authorities also alleged the lenders helped retailers inflate prices, with repayments taken from soldiers' paychecks.
Authorities say military personnel will keep financed merchandise like computers and gaming systems with debt forgiven, including $2.2 million for more than 550 New York residents.
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also investigated. The states involved are Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont.
Signed settlement documents were filed last month in federal bankruptcy court in California. The lending companies filed for reorganization in 2008 in a case that was converted last year to a liquidation proceeding.
"Rome Finance lured service members in with the promise of instant financing on expensive electronics, then masked the finance charges with inflated prices in marketing materials and later withheld key information on monthly bills," said Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "Today, their long run of picking the pockets of our military has come to an ignominious end."
Jeremy Katz, attorney for the bankruptcy trustee, declined to comment Tuesday about the announced settlement. He said the bankruptcy case isn't over yet.
Published: Thu, Jul 31, 2014