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We call upon all former Navy SeaBees to join us for a conversation marking the 83rd anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Navy's Construction Battalions on March 5, 1942. Formed in response to the urgent need for military construction forces capable of working under combat conditions, the Seabees have since established themselves as an indispensable part of U.S. military operations. Before World War II, the Navy relied on civilian contractors to build bases and infrastructure. However, after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into the war, it became clear that construction crews needed to be able to defend themselves. The solution was the formation of Naval Construction Battalions—skilled builders trained as combatants. The name “Seabees” comes from the phonetic pronunciation of the initials “CB.” Seabees undergo rigorous training that combines construction expertise with military readiness. Initial training takes place at the Naval Construction Training Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, and Port Hueneme, California. Recruits learn essential skills like carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, heavy equipment operation, and demolition. In addition, they receive weapons training and instruction in defensive tactics, ensuring they can operate in hostile environments. Their motto, “We Build, We Fight,” reflects their dual purpose. During World War II, Seabees were deployed to the Pacific and European theaters, constructing airstrips, roads, bridges, and bases under combat conditions. They played a key role in the island-hopping campaigns of the Pacific, building the infrastructure necessary for advancing U.S. forces. In the Battle of Guadalcanal, Seabees constructed Henderson Field, a crucial airstrip that enabled the Allies to gain air superiority. At Iwo Jima, they worked under constant enemy fire, repairing airfields to keep American planes in the fight. By the war's end, Seabees had built over 400 advanced bases and countless facilities that proved essential to victory. When the Korean War erupted in 1950, the Seabees were once again called upon to provide critical construction support. They built airstrips, roads, and supply depots in challenging environments. One of their most notable achievements was the rapid construction of an airfield at Wonsan, which played a key role in supporting Marine and Army operations. Seabees also repaired and maintained infrastructure in war-torn areas, showcasing their ability to work in extreme conditions. In Vietnam, the Seabees operated extensively, constructing bases, airstrips, hospitals, and roads while also engaging in civic action projects. They built schools, hospitals, and bridges to help local communities, winning the support of Vietnamese civilians. One of their most daring projects was the construction of Khe Sanh Combat Base, a strategic stronghold. Seabees worked under enemy fire to complete the base, enabling U.S. forces to hold their ground during the pivotal siege of Khe Sanh in 1968. Since Vietnam, Seabees have continued to play a crucial role in military and humanitarian missions worldwide. They built infrastructure in the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, repaired damage from hurricanes and natural disasters, and provided disaster relief in Haiti and the Philippines. In Iraq and Afghanistan, Seabees built forward operating bases, roads, and medical facilities, ensuring U.S. and allied forces had the support they needed. We're grateful to UPMC for Life for sponsoring this event!
Today in History: King Jeroboam made up a new festival, similar to Sukkot (Tabernacles) in Jerusalem, so no one would leave his kingdom to go to Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 12:27–33). The day that Matityahu the Maccabee died (according to tradition, see the historical book 1 Maccabees 2:70). Before World War II, on November 9, 1938, the German Nazis attacked Jewish homes, stores, and synagogues. It became known as “Kristallnacht,” the “Night of Broken Glass.” This week's portion is called VaYera (He appeared). Think about: What Scripture spoke to you most today and why? Did you learn something about God, or something you need to do in your life? Daily Bread for Kids is a daily Bible reading podcast where we read through the Torah and the Gospels in one year! Helping young Bible-readers to study God's Word, while also discovering its Jewish context! THE KIDS' JOURNAL is available from https://arielmedia.shop BUSY MOMS who want to follow the Daily Bread readings on podcast for adults, can go to https://dailybreadmoms.com The Bible translation we are reading from is the Tree of Life Version (TLV) available from the Tree of Life Bible Society. INSTAGRAM: @dailybreadkids @arielmediabooks @dailybreadmoms Tags: #DailyBreadMoms #DailyBreadJournal #BibleJournaling #Messianic #BiblePodcast #BiblicalFeasts #Journal #biblereadingplan #Messiah #JewishRoots #Yeshua #GodIsInControl #OneYearBible #MomLife #MotherCulture #FaithFilledMama #BiblicalWomanhood #Proverbs31woman
In this episode, John Vervaeke, Iain McGilchrist, and Daniel Schmachtenberger dive deep into the metacrisis, unraveling its intricate layers. They discuss the role of hemispheric differences in shaping human experiences and worldviews, explore the contemporary meaning crisis, and analyze how human psychology intersects with global crises. Throughout their conversation, they stress the importance of shifting from extrinsic to intrinsic purposes, critique the dominance of the left hemisphere, and advocate for wisdom-based values. The panelists also ponder the potential for a new philosophical awakening, the reinterpretation of existing religions, and the necessity of holistic education. Importantly, they emphasize the significance of nurturing beauty, embracing awe, and recognizing our sacred obligation to protect our ever-evolving reality. The dialogue provides insights into how individuals can navigate this complex landscape and contribute to a wiser, more connected world. Iain McGilchrist: Iain McGilchrist is a renowned psychiatrist and writer known for his exploration of the brain's hemispheres. His seminal work, "The Master and His Emissary," delves into how the brain's structure affects human behavior, culture, and society, offering insightful perspectives on the cognitive underpinnings of modern challenges. Daniel Schmachtenberger: Daniel Schmachtenberger is a multidisciplinary thinker dedicated to addressing global existential risks. His work focuses on the intersection of technology, human psychology, and civilization dynamics. He is recognized for his deep insights into systemic health, generative societal design, and strategies for a sustainable and flourishing future. Glossary of Terms Metacrisis: A term encompassing various global existential risks and challenges. Meaning Crisis: The widespread feeling of lack of meaning in modern society. Relevance Realization: A cognitive process of determining what information is relevant in a given context. Resources and References: Dr. John Vervaeke: Website | YouTube | Patreon | X | Facebook Iain McGilchrist: Website | YouTube | X | Facebook Daniel Schmachtenberger: Website | Facebook | LinkedIn The Vervaeke Foundation John Vervaeke YouTube Awakening from the Meaning Crisis Books The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World - Iain McGilchrist How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization - Mary Eberstadt The Psychology of Belonging - Kelly-Ann Allen Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis - John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro, and Filip Miscevic Heidegger, Neoplatonism, and the History of Being: Relation as Ontological Ground - James Filler Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny - Robert Wright Quotes "What in the nature of human mind, in the nature of human conditioning experience, we might even find that the term psychology or cognitive drivers are insufficient, which is fine, has brought us here, and what might a different relationship to human mind, psychology, cognition look like that might allow a more viable, better future. Before World War II, there was no risk that we could very quickly destroy the entire habitability of human civilization. That was brought into being with very powerful technology, nuclear weapons. And for the first time ever, we had the ability to make a series of bad decisions and radically change the possibility space of the world" - Daniel Schmachtenberger "Where there has been a significant drop in IQ, the insult is almost always in the right hemisphere. So, it's very important that the right hemisphere should remain the position of the master. And as long as the emissary follows the direction of the master that sees more, it's very helpful and useful. It's a good servant of a very poor master." - Iain McGilchrist "The right hemisphere seems to be more in touch with presence, whereas the left hemisphere is more about re-presentation, representing something that is abstracted out of the living world." - Iain McGilchrist "The prevalence of meaninglessness in modern society can be linked to a lack of purpose and belonging, a critical factor in the development of the metacrisis." - John Vervaeke Chapters with Timestamps [00:00:00] Introduction to the Metacrisis [00:01:04] Defining Metacrisis and Initial Thoughts [00:08:26] The Role of Brain Hemispheres in Human Experience [00:21:29] The Meaning Crisis in Modern Society [00:30:45] Human Mind and Cognition in the Metacrisis [00:39:42] Exploration of Etiology and Psychological-Environmental Interrelations [00:58:26] Redefining Purpose: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic [01:08:16] Hemispheric Imbalance and Its Impact on Civilization [01:15:25] Rebalancing Power and Wisdom in Influential Figures [01:39:05] Navigating the Dance of Reason, Authority, and Power [01:53:19] Imagination in Rational Thinking [02:02:45] Philosophical Awakening and Global Issues [02:14:55] Human Responsibility in the Evolution of the Divine [02:34:15] Fostering Global Wisdom through Pluralism [02:39:25] The Intersection of Religion and Scale [02:55:29] Revitalizing Religion for Modern Challenges [03:05:56] Reimagining Education and Institutional Structures [03:14:24] Embracing Beauty and Sacred Obligation Timestamped Highlights [00:01:04] - Daniel Schmachtenberger introduces the metacrisis topic and its significance. [00:08:26] - Iain McGilchrist discusses the role of hemispheric differences in shaping human experience and worldviews. [00:21:29] - John Vervaeke addresses the meaning crisis and its implications in modern society. [00:30:45] - The panel delves into how the nature of human mind and cognition has contributed to the current state of the world. [00:39:42] - Exploring the roots of societal issues, highlighting the interplay between psychology and global crises, and the importance of relational human experiences. [00:58:26] - Discussion on the contrast between intrinsic and extrinsic purposes, emphasizing the need to shift focus from utility to deeper values like relationships, nature, and the sacred. [01:08:16] - The dialogue critiques the left hemisphere's dominance and its role in driving competitive, destructive outcomes, highlighting the need for a wisdom-based value shift. [01:15:25] - Exploring the interplay between power, wisdom, and the need to rediscover the sacredness of existence to foster meaningful connections and inspire change in influential individuals. [01:39:05] - Discussion on the Enlightenment's impact in differentiating reason from pure calculation, stressing the importance of maintaining reason as a balanced, experiential approach to life. [01:53:19] - The panelists discuss the importance of imagination and aspiration in rational thinking. [02:04:45] - Reflections on the potential for a new philosophical awakening in addressing global issues. [02:14:55] - The panelists explore the idea that humans have a role in responding to the divine, facilitating its evolution, and highlight the importance of our responsibility in this process. [02:34:15] - Vervaeke and McGilchrist advocate for fostering global wisdom by embracing pluralistic philosophies and emphasizing the role of individual and community models. [02:39:25] - Integrating differentiation in a potential new religion that aligns with existing faiths and addresses contemporary issues is discussed. [02:55:29] - How existing religions can be reinterpreted to address contemporary issues and foster wisdom development. [03:05:56] - A call for holistic, integrated education, breaking feedback loops hindering progress, and nurturing wisdom and sacredness in governance and society. [03:14:24] - Conclusion: The panelists emphasize the importance of nurturing beauty, embracing awe, and recognizing a sacred obligation to protect reality in our ever-changing world.
Before World War II, the U.S. Navy relied on an ad hoc system to manage logistical support for its ships. The scale and geography of the war in the Pacific nullified earlier ways of acquiring and distributing sufficient materiel. This booklet explores the ways in which the Navy conceptualized and implemented overseas logistics from the age of sail through the Pacific War. These processes, both in their planned form and actual operation, reveal two significant themes: (1) logistics is line work; and (2) preparation and planning ahead of time are critical for the successful execution of operations, without which the Navy struggled to supply forward-deployed personnel. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/publications/publications-by-subject/logistics.html All opinions expressed here are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the Krulak Center, Marine Corps University, the United States Marine Corps, or any other agency of the U.S. Government. Enjoyed this episode? Think there's room for improvement? Share your thoughts in this quick survey - all feedback is welcome! The survey may be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenRutN5m31Pfe9h7FAlppPWoN1s_2ZJyBeA7HhYhvDbazdCw/viewform?usp=sf_link Intro/outro music is "Epic" from BenSound.com (https://www.bensound.com) Follow the Krulak Center: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekrulakcenter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekrulakcenter/ Twitter: @TheKrulakCenter Bluesky Social: @thekrulakcenter.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brute-krulak-center-for-innovation-and-future-warfare
This week Pastor Jeff Cranston and Tiffany Coker are discussing the Old Testament book of Leviticus. They will explain how under the Old Testament law, people were kept from God due to their sinfulness and uncleanliness. Yet, through different sacrifices, rituals, and cleansings found in Leviticus, God was not giving up on his people as he worked to draw them near. We will learn more about the symbolism behind blood throughout Leviticus, which serves as a reminder of our own sinfulness before God yet also speaks of Jesus. We are discussing the Old Testament book of Leviticus, It is often seen as a difficult book to understand, but with our conversation today, we hope to provide a better understanding of its importance and how it points to Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice.[00:04 - 06:42] The Fascinating Story of the Bradley Brothers' Stash • A marble bust of a dower-looking man was found in 2018 at a Goodwill store in Austin, Texas, and was later identified as a 2000 year old Roman bust. • Before World War II, two brothers stashed 30 wads of five and one pound notes totaling 130,000 pounds (over 2 million US dollars today) in their high[06:42 - 13:45] Uncovering the Deeper Truths of Leviticus• The book of Leviticus was written by Moses between 1446 and 1406 BC• Leviticus contains instructions and laws to help the Israelites worship and live as God's holy people• Chapters 1-6 deal with sacrifices, 7-10 with priests, 11-15 with laws, and 16 with the Day of Atonement • Genesis shows us humanity ruined,[13:45 - 20:45] Discovering Christ in Leviticus• Priest foreshadowing Christ can be found in Leviticus• Law shows us how much we need Jesus• Major theological themes include holiness, feasts, Passover, Pentecost and Jesus• Sinfulness, fallen condition, and blood are also major themes• God's holiness and mercy are highlighted throughout the book • Sin separates us from God, and our physical bodies make us unclean and unacceptable to God[20:45 - 25:41] Exploring Leviticus• Under the Old Testament law, humans were separated from God due to their sinfulness and uncleanliness. • God provided a way for them to be reconciled to Him through sacrificial offerings. • Blood is a major theme in Leviticus, reminding us of our own sinfulness before God and the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. • Justification and sanctification are discussed in Episodes 54 and 55 of Kitchen Table Theology. • The real power of theology is not only knowing it but applying it.Key Quotes: "Doctrine is rightly received when it takes possession of the entire soul and finds a dwelling place in shelter in the most intimate affections of the heart." - Pastor Jeff Cranston "Genesis shows us humanity ruined, Exodus shows us humanity redeemed, and Leviticus shows us humanity worshiping."Resources Mentioned:Article: "6 Unexpected Treasures Found in Curious Places"https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/treasures-in-strange-placesWhich Translation of the Bible I Prefer: Episode 29 - https://kitchentabletheology.buzzsprout.com/1011436/5735002-029-bonus-which-translation-of-the-bible-i-preferJustification: Episode 54 - https://kitchentabletheology.buzzsprout.com/1011436/8389400-054-justificationSanctification
The Kraków district of Kazimierz is home to the city's Jewish history and heritage. Before World War II, there were almost 60,000 Jews living in Kraków, around one quarter of the city's total population. After the Holocaust, the history of Kraków's Jews all but comes to a standstill, although just before the fall of communism in 1989, a Jewish cultural festival starts to take place in Kazimierz. Fast forward to 2008, and the UK's Prince Charles – now King Charles III – arrives in Kraków to take part in the opening of the Jewish Community Centre. Now, the Jewish community in Kraków continues to grow, and a deeper understanding of Kraków's Jewish heritage has also called for an updated history of the life and times of Kraków's Jews. Debrief host John Beauchamp sits down with Edyta Gawron and Michał Galas from the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Jagiellonian University, the authors and editors of ‘Not only Kroke', a chronicle of sorts which covers a millennium of Jewish history in Poland's southern city, the former Royal Capital.
Taiwan is a country about half the size of Maine with about 17 times the population of that state. Taiwan sits just over a hundred miles off the coast of mainland China. It's home to some 23 and a half million humans, roughly half way between Texas and Florida or a few more than live in Romania for the Europeans. Taiwan was connected to mainland China by a land bridge in the Late Pleistocene and human remains have been found dating back to 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. About half a million people on the island nation are aboriginal, or their ancestors are from there. But the population became more and more Chinese in recent centuries. Taiwan had not been part of China during the earlier dynastic ages but had been used by dynasties in exile to attack one another and so became a part of the Chinese empire in the 1600s. Taiwan was won by Japan in the late 1800s and held by the Japanese until World War II. During that time, a civil war had raged on the mainland of China with the Republic of China eventually formed as the replacement government for the Qing dynasty following a bloody period of turf battles by warlords and then civil war. Taiwan was in martial law from the time the pre-communist government of China retreated there during the exit of the Nationalists from mainland China in the 1940s to the late 1980. During that time, just like the exiled Han dynasty, they orchestrated war from afar. They stopped fighting, much like the Koreans, but have still never signed a peace treaty. And so large parts of the world remained in stalemate. As the years became decades, Taiwan, or the Republic of China as they still call themselves, has always had an unsteady relationship with the People's Republic of China, or China as most in the US calls them. The Western world recognized the Republic of China and the Soviet and Chines countries recognized the mainland government. US President Richard Nixon visited mainland China in 1972 to re-open relations with the communist government there and relations slowly improved. The early 1970s was a time when much of the world still recognized the ruling government of Taiwan as the official Chinese government and there were proxy wars the two continued to fight. The Taiwanese and Chinese still aren't besties. There are deep scars and propaganda that keep relations from being repaired. Before World War II, the Japanese also invaded Hong Kong. During the occupation there, Morris Chang's family became displaced and moved to a few cities during his teens before he moved Boston to go to Harvard and then MIT where he did everything to get his PhD except defend his thesis. He then went to work for Sylvania Semiconductor and then Texas Instruments, finally getting his PhD from Stanford in 1964. He became a Vice President at TI and helped build an early semiconductor designer and foundry relationship when TI designed a chip and IBM manufactured it. The Premier of Taiwan at the time, Sun Yun-suan, who played a central role in Taiwan's transformation from an agrarian economy to a large exporter. His biggest win was when to recruit Chang to move to Taiwan and found TSCM, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Some of this might sound familiar as it mirrors stories from companies like Samsung in South Korea. In short, Japanese imperialism, democracies versus communists, then rapid economic development as a massive manufacturing powerhouse in large part due to the fact that semiconductor designers were split from semiconductor foundry's or where chips are actually created. In this case, a former Chinese national was recruited to return as founder and led TSMC for 31 years before he retired in 2018. Chang could see from his time with TI that more and more companies would design chips for their needs and outsource manufacturing. They worked with Texas Instruments, Intel, AMD, NXP, Marvell, MediaTek, ARM, and then the big success when they started to make the Apple chips. The company started down that path in 2011 with the A5 and A6 SoCs for iPhone and iPad on trial runs but picked up steam with the A8 and A9 through A14 and the Intel replacement for the Mac, the M1. They now sit on a half trillion US dollar market cap and are the largest in Taiwan. For perspective, their market cap only trails the GDP of the whole country by a few billion dollars. Nvidia TSMC is also a foundry Nvidia uses. As of the time of this writing, Nvidia is the 8th largest semiconductor company in the world. We've already covered Broadcom, Qualcomm, Micron, Samsung, and Intel. Nvidia is a fabless semiconductor company and so design chips that vendors like TSMC manufacture. Nvidia was founded by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem in 1993 in Santa Clara, California (although now incorporated in Delaware). Not all who leave the country they were born in due to war or during times of war return. Huang was born in Taiwan and his family moved to the US right around the time Nixon re-established relations with mainland China. Huang then went to grad school at Stanford before he became a CPU designer at AMD and a director at LSI Logic, so had experience as a do-er, a manager, and a manager's manager. He was joined by Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, who had designed the IBM Professional Graphics Adapter and then the GX graphics chip at Sun. because they saw this Mac and Windows and Amiga OS graphical interface, they saw the games one could play on machines, and they thought the graphics cards would be the next wave of computing. And so for a long time, Nvidia managed to avoid competition with other chip makers with a focus on graphics. That initially meant gaming and higher end video production but has expanded into much more like parallel programming and even cryptocurrency mining. They were more concerned about the next version of the idea or chip or company and used NV in the naming convention for their files. When it came time to name the company, they looked up words that started with those letters, which of course don't exist - so instead chose invidia or Nvidia for short, as it's latin for envy - what everyone who saw those sweet graphics the cards rendered would feel. They raised $20 million in funding and got to work. First with SGS-Thomson Microelectronics in 1994 to manufacture what they were calling a graphical-user interface accelerator that they packaged on a single chip. They worked with Diamond Multimedia Systems to install the chips onto the boards. In 1995 they released NV1. The PCI card was sold as Diamond Edge 3D and came with a 2d/3d graphics core with quadratic texture mapping. Screaming fast and Virtual Fighter from Sega ported to the platform. DirectX had come in 1995. So Nviia released DirectX drivers that supported Direct3D, the api that Microsoft developed to render 3d graphics. This was a time when 3d was on the rise for consoles and desktops. Nvidia timed it perfectly and reaped the rewards when they hit a million sold in the first four months for the RIVA, a 128-bit 3d processor that got used as an OEM in 1997. Then the 1998 RIVAZX with RIVATNT for multi-texture 3D processing. They also needed more manufacturing support at this point and entered into a strategic partnership with TSMC to manufacture their boards. A lot of vendors had a good amount of success in their niches. By the late 1990s there were companies who made memory, or the survivors of the DRAM industry after ongoing price dumping issues. There were companies that made central processors like Intel. Nvidia led the charge for a new type of chip, the GPU. They invented the GPU in 1999 when they released the GeForce 256. This was the first single-chip GPU processor. This means integrated lightings, triangle setups, rendering, like the old math coprocessor but for video. Millions of polygons could be drawn on screens every second. They also released the Quadro Pro GPU for professional graphics and went public in 1999 at an IPO of $12 per share. Nvidia used some of the funds from the IPO to scale operations, organically and inorganically. In 2000 they released the GeForce2 Go for laptops and acquired 3dfx, closing deals to get their 3d chips in devices from OEM manufacturers who made PCs and in the new Microsoft Xbox. By 2001 they hit $1 billion in revenues and released the GeForce 3 with a programmable GPU, using APIs to make their GPU a platform. They also released the nForce integrated graphics and so by 2002 hit 100 million processors out on the market. They acquired MediaQ in 2003 and partnered with game designer Blizzard to make Warcraft. They continued their success in the console market when the GeForce platform was used in the PS 3 in 2005 and by 2006 had sold half a billion processors. They also added the CUDA architecture that year to put a general purpose GPU on the market and acquired Hybrid Graphics who develops 2D and 3D embedded software for mobile devices. In 2008 they went beyond the consoles and PCs when Tesla used their GPUs in cars. They also acquired PortalPlayer, who supplies semiconductors and software for personal media players and launched the Tegra mobile processor to get into the exploding mobile market. More acquisitions in 2008 but a huge win when the GeForce 9400M was put into Apple MacBooks. Then more smaller chips in 2009 when the Tegra processors were used in Android devices. They also continued to expand how GPUs were used. They showed up in Ultrasounds and in 2010 the Audi. By then they had the Tianhe-1A ready to go, which showed up in supercomputers and the Optimus. All these types of devices that could use a GPU meant they hit a billion processors sold in 2011, which is when they went dual core with the Tegra 2 mobile processor and entered into cross licensing deals with Intel. At this point TSMC was able to pack more and more transistors into smaller and smaller places. This was a big year for larger jobs on the platform. By 2012, Nvidia got the Kepler-based GPUs out by then and their chips were used in the Titan supercomputer. They also released a virtualized GPU GRID for cloud processing. It wasn't all about large-scale computing efforts. The Tegra-3 and GTX 600 came out in 2012 as well. Then in 2013 the Tegra 4, a quad-core mobile processor, a 4G LTE mobile processor, Nvidia Shield for portable gaming, the GTX Titan, a grid appliance. In 2014 the Tegra K1 192, a shield tablet, and Maxwell. In 2015 came the TegraX1 with deep learning with 256 cores and Titan X and Jetson TX1 for smart machines, and the Nvidia Drive for autonomous vehicles. They continued that deep learning work with an appliance in 2016 with the DGX-1. The Drive got an update in the form of PX 2 for in-vehicle AI. By then, they were a 20 year old company and working on the 11th generation of the GPU and most CPU architectures had dedicated cores for machine learning options of various types. 2017 brought the Volta, Jetson TX2, and SHIELD was ported over to the Google Assistant. 2018 brought the Turing GPU architecture, the DGX-2, AGX Xavier, Clara, 2019 brought AGX Orin for robots and autonomous or semi-autonomous piloting of various types of vehicles. They also made the Jetson Nano and Xavier, and EGX for Edge Computing. At this point there were plenty of people who used the GPUs to mine hashes for various blockchains like with cryptocurrencies and the ARM had finally given Intel a run for their money with designs from the ARM alliance showing up in everything but a Windows device (so Apple and Android). So they tried to buy ARM from SoftBank in 2020. That deal fell through eventually but would have been an $8 billion windfall for Softbank since they paid $32 billion for ARM in 2016. We probably don't need more consolidation in the CPU sector. Standardization, yes. Some of top NVIDIA competitors include Samsung, AMD, Intel Corporation Qualcomm and even companies like Apple who make their own CPUs (but not their own GPUs as of the time of this writing). In their niche they can still make well over $15 billion a year. The invention of the MOSFET came from immigrants Mohamed Atalla, originally from Egypt, and Dawon Kahng, originally from from Seoul, South Korea. Kahng was born in Korea in 1931 but immigrated to the US in 1955 to get his PhD at THE Ohio State University and then went to work for Bell Labs, where he and Atalla invented the MOSFET, and where Kahng retired. The MOSFET was an important step on the way to a microchip. That microchip market with companies like Fairchild Semiconductors, Intel, IBM, Control Data, and Digital Equipment saw a lot of chip designers who maybe had their chips knocked off, either legally in a clean room or illegally outside of a clean room. Some of those ended in legal action, some didn't. But the fact that factories overseas could reproduce chips were a huge part of the movement that came next, which was that companies started to think about whether they could just design chips and let someone else make them. That was in an era of increasing labor outsourcing, so factories could build cars offshore, and the foundry movement was born - or companies that just make chips for those who design them. As we have covered in this section and many others, many of the people who work on these kinds of projects moved to the United States from foreign lands in search of a better life. That might have been to flee Europe or Asian theaters of Cold War jackassery or might have been a civil war like in Korea or Taiwan. They had contacts and were able to work with places to outsource too and given that these happened at the same time that Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan became safe and with no violence. And so the Four Asian Tigers economies exploded, fueled by exports and a rapid period of industrialization that began in the 1960s and continues through to today with companies like TSMC, a pure play foundry, or Samsung, a mixed foundry - aided by companies like Nvidia who continue to effectively outsource their manufacturing operations to companies in the areas. At least, while it's safe to do so. We certainly hope the entire world becomes safe. But it currently is not. There are currently nearly a million Rohingya refugees fleeing war in Myanmar. Over 3.5 million have fled the violence in Ukraine. 6.7 million have fled Syria. 2.7 million have left Afghanistan. Over 3 million are displaced between Sudan and South Sudan. Over 900,000 have fled Somalia. Before Ukranian refugees fled to mostly Eastern European countries, they had mainly settled in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Uganda, Germany, Iran, and Ethiopia. Very few comparably settled in the 2 largest countries in the world: China, India, or the United States. It took decades for the children of those who moved or sent their children abroad to a better life to be able to find a better life. But we hope that history teaches us to get there faster, for the benefit of all.
In the 30s, scholars and policymakers concluded that the Versailles Treaty that ended World War I was one of the prevalent causes of World War II. Before World War II was over, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were looking past the war to focus on establishing an international monetary system. Still, today there are a lot of misconceptions, even among people who follow monetary history, about how the exchange theory system worked. Jim Rickards is an American investment banker, lawyer, economist, op-ed contributor, and author. His books include, Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis, The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System,and now available for pre-order, Sold Out: How Broken Supply Chains, Surging Inflation, and Political Instability Will Sink the Global Economy. Jim joins me on this episode of The Wiggin Sessions to share his knowledge about pre and post war currency standards, the Bretton Woods system, and why the US dollar was pegged as the international currency. Plus, what happened to end the gold standard in 1971. Join me for Part 2 of my conversation with Jim for a look at the difference between a recession, a depression, and a financial crisis and why the US dollar rallies during inflationary periods (like the one we are in now.) Key Takeaways Jim shares the background and the forty-four nations that met at the Mount Washington Hotel to participate in the Bretton Woods Conference. Why the US dollar was pegged as the international currency A look at the 3 Bretton Woods institutions: the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization that still operate today How trade deficits led to a run on Fort Knox and the depletion of the US gold stores How the Smithsonian Agreement devalued the US Dollar Connect with Jim Rickards Paradigm Press Jim on Twitter Jim on Facebook Connect with Addison Wiggin Consilience Financial Be sure to follow The Wiggin Sessions on your socials. You can find me on— Facebook @thewigginsessions Instagram @thewigginsessions Twitter @WigginSessions Resources Sold Out: How Broken Supply Chains, Surging Inflation, and Political Instability Will Sink the Global Economy The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System Bretton Woods Conference Jim Rickards-Democracy, Cryptocurrencies, and Global Control-EP40 Jim Rickards – Insider Reveals Predictions and Opinions About The Great Reset, Global Elite, And The Potential Coming Chaos - EP17
It's a national religion for some, heresy for others. Today we look at house prices.But we do not consider property through the window of the estate agent's, but rather through the prism of an 18-year cycle, one that was brought to public attention by economist Fred Harrison is his cult classic Boom Bust: House Prices, Banking and the Depression of 2010. He published it in 2005 so, if you're into forecasting, that's some title…Cycles are often what you want them to beBefore we start, let me issue my usual disclaimer on cycles. Cycles exist everywhere: the seasons of the year, night and day, the life cycles of plants and animals. They exist within our own bodies in the form of circadian rhythms. They exist, sort of, in markets too – there are good times and bad times, bull markets and bear markets, four-year presidential cycles, commodity super-cycles and more. Mining companies, in particular, go through clear cycles – perhaps phases is a better word – from exploration and discovery, through development and mine building, to actual production.I'm a keen observer of hype cycles. How much of this story is known? How much more hype is left in the tin? Or is this story now tired?And cycles can make for good copy. Kondratiev made his name pedalling them. We like reading about them because they bring a veneer of certainty where there is in fact, often none.But cycles – especially in markets – are also arbitrary, random and uncertain. It's easy for an academic to look back at history, find a pattern and declare it a cycle. When real life doesn't fit the model, you'll hear something like: “Well, the war upset the cycle”, or “they printed loads of money, so the cycle didn't work out” or whatever. Cycles in markets are not fixed and predictable in the same way as the days and weeks of the year. And they are not so apparent in real time - only in the rear view mirror.You get the point. There is a certain amount of salt to pinch when it comes to cycles.Nevertheless they are useful instruments. I know some who swear by them, especially Harrison's, whose book was clearly brilliant in its forecast. I remember thinking in 2005: “This market is nuts. It has to crash”. Many felt the same way, including many of the brightest minds in the City. A whole website - housepricecrash.co.uk – sprung up around the theme. Many of us were certain the game was about to end. Then I stumbled across this brilliantly prophetic article by Harrison in MoneyWeek saying, “No, we are a couple or three years from the top”. He was right. After last week's missive on house prices versus gold, I was thinking about our distorted property market and the spectre of rising interest rates. The thought occurred to me that we must be close to Harrison's next peak. Lo and behold, Merryn Somerset Webb interviewed him in the latest MoneyWeek podcast.Harrison's short answer is that 2026 will see the top of the market. We have another three years, in other words.A quick guide to the 18-year property cycleLet me quickly explain how his thinking works. His idea – and it is more about land prices than it is house prices, though the two tend to rise and fall together – is that property tends to see 14 years of price growth, followed by four years of decline.Broken down an 18-year cycle might something like this:Harrison says he can follow prices back some 200 years to find this clear 18-year cycle at play. I don't have all the data to cross check back that far, but I do have the data going back to 1951 (care of Nationwide), so let us at least check that. Before World War II, property was not the overpriced monster it is today. Home ownership was lower (sub-25% most of the time – most people rented from private landlords) and mortgages hardly existed (they only really reared their heads in the 1930s), so the cycle, even if visible, would not have been as pronounced as it is in today's debt-ridden fiat era.The top of the last cycle (in the UK) actually came in the third quarter of 2007. The average house price then fell from £183,000 to £149,000 in the first quarter of 2009. It would be 2012 before the market properly got going again.There was definitely a buying window during that 2009 to 2012 period, but prices, especially in London, did not fall by anything as much as many buyers were hoping. That's mostly because there were few forced sellers, because interest rates were slashed. Had there been, then house prices would have come down by a lot more. They fell by a lot more than 18% if you were a foreigner, however, as the pound lost a good 30% in the foreign exchange markets (measured mostly against the US dollar).Go back 18 years and you have the crash of 1989-94. Prices peaked in the third quarter of 1989 at £63,000, before falling to £51,000. Things got going again in the mid-to-late 1990s. The pound lost a lot of value in the forex markets then too.The cycle is working well.Going back 18 years further takes us to 1971-72. The 1970s were a horrible decade economically, but housing was not the worst place to be. Houses were a better inflation hedge than cash. And between 1970 and 1973 house prices actually doubled. After 1973 they positively rocketed.So we are going to declare that Harrison's cycle did not work here. (I'd be interested to hear what Fred has to say about that. There's bound to be an explanation).However go back another 18 years to the early 1950s, and house prices did see declines, before the market took off in the second half of the decade and into the 1960s.Here are UK house prices since 1951, with the cycle peaks market by red arrows.Going back further, I guess World War II upset the cycle. The recession of the early 1920s hurt house prices, then from 1926 to 1939 house prices rose a little, but by so little the market would be better described as flat. They went from £619 to £659. Mortgages barely existed and prices were much more relative to the amount of cash people had. Mortgages saw to that.Six hundred quid for a house! How money has been debased. It's £274,000 now. House price crash 2026? It could happenAll in all I'm going to give the cycle an A-minus. It is not perfect, but, like many cycles, it is a useful guide. And a scenario of higher prices going into 2025-26, followed by a slump, is something I can very much envisage.So if you're looking to buy, start getting your finances in place now. If the slump is anything like 2008, you'll have to move quickly. If it's like 1990-95 you'll have plenty of time.I'll be re-evaluating in 2025, but my own experience when it comes to buying your own home (investing in real estate is different) is that you have to move when the time is right for you, to the place that best fits your circumstances. Trying to second guess the market can lead to unhappy outcomes. House prices only ever go up! And if they do go down, they won't come down as much as you want them to. And one final tip – period property keeps its value better than new build.Thanks for reading. Please subscribe if you haven't already, and check out my paid letter. Lots more great content on its way. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe
Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 393, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Andrew Johnson 1: Andrew Johnson succeeded this man as president, having served as his vice president for only 6 weeks. Abraham Lincoln. 2: Johnson was the first president to whom the House of Representatives did this; the Senate acquitted him in May 1868. impeached. 3: With no formal education, Andrew didn't learn these 3 often-linked basic skills until he was a teenager. reading, writing and arithmetic. 4: A senator from this state, Andrew Johnson was the only Southern senator who refused to secede with his state. Tennessee. 5: Johnson's secretary of state, he negotiated the purchase of Alaska for a cool $7.2 million. William Seward. Round 2. Category: Crossword Clues "D" 1: Bram Stoker novel you can "count" on(7). Dracula. 2: Samson's locks-smith(7). Delilah. 3: Greek gelt(8). drachmas. 4: Perry Mason's Street(5). Della. 5: "American Tragedian" Theodore(7). Dreiser. Round 3. Category: Silk 1: Silkworms spin their cocoons by moving their heads in this numerical pattern figure skaters make on ice. a figure eight. 2: Before World War II, the biggest use for silk in the U.S. was to manufacture these for women. stockings. 3: During World War II, silk was used to make the canopies of these; today they're usually made of nylon. parachutes. 4: One silkworm is the larva of the Bombyx mori moth; "mori" comes from Morus multicalus, the scientific name of this tree. the mulberry tree. 5: In the 500s A.D. this Byzantine emperor known for his code sent 2 monks to China to learn the secret of silk. Justinian. Round 4. Category: Major Musical Works 1: Opus 51 of this man portrayed in the movie "Impromptu" is an impromptu in G flat major. Chopin. 2: This first season of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" is in E major. "Spring". 3: Tchaikovsky called this work of his in E flat major "loud and noisy", and he never even heard it with fireworks. "The 1812 Overture". 4: "Scene by the brook" is the title of one movement of this Beethoven symphony in F major. the 6th symphony. 5: Bach to Bach works, Nos. 3 and 4 in this group of 6 concertos, are in G major. the Brandenberg Concertos. Round 5. Category: Elizabeth Taylor 1: When asked what she wanted on her tombstone, she replied, "Here lies Elizabeth. She hated to be called" this. Liz. 2: This man married her in Montreal and then again in Botswana. Richard Burton. 3: Elizabeth Taylor was the first star to earn a million dollars for a film, for this 1963 title role. Cleopatra. 4: On January 15, 2001 this man who has been married 7 times interviewed Ms. Taylor on TV. Larry King. 5: On New Year's Eve 1999, Queen Elizabeth awarded her this title. Dame. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!
Before World War II, the building on Leszno 2 housed the headquarters of the Union of Jewish Stage Artists (Yidisher Artistn Fareyn). It was founded in 1919 to support Jewish directors and actors and to defend their rights. On the face of the building was a clock created by the watchmaker Epstein. All the residents of the neighbourhood adjusted their timepieces to the clock, which worked perfectly until the bombing of Warsaw in 1939. The address also housed a number of cinemas as well as the luxurious Bar Central, run by the renowned restaurateur Izaak Gertner. Gertner's restaurant was closed down at the beginning of 1940. In its place, a year later, the Sztuka Café was established – the largest and most famous café in the Warsaw Ghetto. It was a venue available to a small group of wealthy and polonised elites. The cream of Polish-Jewish entertainment performed at the Sztuka, including Andrzej Włast, Władysław Szpilman, Pola Braun, Wiera Gran and Marysia Ajzensztadt, a young artist dubbed the ‘nightingale of the ghetto'. Further reading: Artists of the Warsaw Ghetto // on Culture.pl ‘Tango Milonga': The Remarkable Journey of a Polish Interwar Hit // the story of Andrzej Włast's most influential song, on Culture.pl Władysław Szpilman // bio on Culture.pl Wiera Gran // bio on Culture.pl Marysia Ajzensztadt // bio on Culture.pl 8 Remarkable Yiddish Books from Poland // on Culture.pl From ‘Last Sunday' to ‘Last Shabbos': Poland's Legendary Jewish Tangos // on Culture.pl The Lost World of Yiddish Films in Poland // on Culture.pl The Rise & Fall of Polish Song // on Culture.pl How to listen: Unseen is available as a downloadable podcast, although it is best experienced through the Echoes geolocative storytelling app available for iOS and Android. After loading the app, search for soundwalks in Warsaw and you'll find Unseen.
Blizzards. Severe snowstorms, accompanied by high winds and low visibility, can be terrifying to endure. Before World War II, blizzards were especially menacing to people because the lack of forecasting technology allowed storms to appear without warning. People had to live through a blizzard with what they had on hand because help would not be accessible immediately. Communications, such as phones, were not readily available until 1920, and even then, only thirty-five percent of homes had them. Outlying rural areas were the last to obtain indispensable services, and these regions certainly lacked what we consider essential today. Even during a short commute, one could find oneself in the wild. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/in-the-wild/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Blizzards. Severe snowstorms, accompanied by high winds and low visibility, can be terrifying to endure. Before World War II, blizzards were especially menacing to people because the lack of forecasting technology allowed storms to appear without warning. People had to live through a blizzard with what they had on hand because help would not be accessible immediately. Communications, such as phones, were not readily available until 1920, and even then, only thirty-five percent of homes had them. Outlying rural areas were the last to obtain indispensable services, and these regions certainly lacked what we consider essential today. Even during a short commute, one could find oneself in the wild. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/in-the-wild/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
By Davy Crockett Since the dawn of the sport of ultrarunning more than a century ago, a unique breed of ultrarunner has existed which I will call the "self-promoter." They were skilled in using their running talents to gain fame and fortune, mostly by doing "stunts" rather than participating in competitions. There is nothing inherently wrong with seeking to make a living this way. Before World War II, most ultrarunners were "professionals" who lived off winnings, wagers, and gate receipts from doing stunts. But sadly, many self-promoters would make false claims, play on the sympathies of a gullible public, and some would resort to fraud and thievery. When telling the history of the sport, these stories of self-promoters must be delicately pointed out so that their achievements can put in their proper place. Caution must be used to sort through a multitude of claims to find the legitimate. In 1985, Gary Cantrell (of Barkley fame) warned the sport about this type of runner who would step forward to claim an undeserved spotlight for gain, disrespecting the entire sport. Ultrarunning historian, Andy Milroy, explained that there were indeed some true scam artists that were quite skilled at their craft. “Many of the rest were delusional who believed they had run the distances claimed. Most saw it as an easy meal ticket.” Self-promoting practices crept into 100-mile history and had a place in it, good or bad. Typically, once the runner received some fame, they performed self-promoting stunts to gain local or national attention, often in the guise of raising money for charity. Some were scammers who were hard to detect at the time, and they were mostly adored. Others were legitimate talents who figured out creative ways to shine the spotlight on their accomplishments. Patterns of behavior of these runners have been similar over the decades. Most of these ultra-distance runners had true talent, would become serious self-promoters, and then would shy away from true competition against the best in the sport. Instead of competing, they put on stunts that would impress others. Their goal was typically to get their names in the Guinness Book of World Records, which during the 1970s had low standards of verification. These runners often claimed their own created "world records," sought after speaking engagements, and inspired many with their stories (with a little or a lot of fiction sprinkled in). Occasionally a skeptical reporter would find out that many of their accomplishments were actually falsified, that they claimed feats that never happened. Not all self-promoters were frauds, but most of the frauds were self-promoters who claimed they were the best ultrarunners in the world. Past Examples Over the years, many self-promoting stunt artists gravitated toward accomplishing walks or runs across America, or even the entire world in record times, or doing other such amazing accomplishments. In the early 1900s an army of "globe trotters" showed up in towns nearly every month in the Midwest United States, claiming to be on amazing journeys on foot, seeking lecture opportunities and free room and board. More than 90% of them were frauds. (See episodes 23, 40, and 41). Some runners just made claims about things they did in long-past years that were impossible to verify at the time. An early example was Dumirtru Dan (1890-1978), who became a Romanian hero in the late 1960s. He claimed that he walked 60,000 miles in 1910-1916, all over the world in an "amazing race" of hundreds of runners. He spent the latter years of his life touring, increasing his fame, lecturing, and teaching children about geography using his tales. He was kind and loved by all. Years after his death, nearly $100,000 was spent for a room in a museum about him, his grave was made into a shrine, and an endurance race is still named after him. But sadly, no one took the time to verify his impossible claims, most of which never happened.
History that reads like a thriller; The Good Assassin: How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) by Stephan Talty is the untold story of an Israeli spy's epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice—a case that altered the fates of all ex-Nazis. Before World War II, Herbert Cukurs was a famous figure in his small Latvian city, the “Charles Lindbergh of his country.” But by 1945, he was the Butcher of Latvia, a man who murdered some thirty thousand Latvian Jews. Somehow, he dodged the Nuremberg trials, fleeing to South America after war's end. By 1965, as a statute of limitations on all Nazi war crimes threatened to expire, Germany sought to welcome previous concentration camp commanders, pogrom leaders, and executioners, as citizens. The global pursuit of Nazi criminals escalated to beat the looming deadline, and Mossad, the Israeli national intelligence agency, joined the cause. Yaakov Meidad, the brilliant Mossad agent who had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann three years earlier, led the mission to assassinate Cukurs in a desperate bid to block the amnesty. In a thrilling undercover operation unrivaled by even the most ambitious spy novels, Meidad traveled to Brazil in an elaborate disguise, befriended Cukurs and earned his trust, while negotiations over the Nazi pardon neared a boiling point. The Good Assassin uncovers this little-known chapter of Holocaust history and the pulse-pounding undercover operation that brought Cukurs to justice. Renee Garfinkel is a Jerusalem-based psychologist, writer, and Middle East commentator for the nationally syndicated TV program, The Armstrong Williams Show.. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com or tweet @embracingwisdom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/van-leer-institute
History that reads like a thriller; The Good Assassin: How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) by Stephan Talty is the untold story of an Israeli spy’s epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice—a case that altered the fates of all ex-Nazis. Before World War II, Herbert Cukurs was a famous figure in his small Latvian city, the “Charles Lindbergh of his country.” But by 1945, he was the Butcher of Latvia, a man who murdered some thirty thousand Latvian Jews. Somehow, he dodged the Nuremberg trials, fleeing to South America after war’s end. By 1965, as a statute of limitations on all Nazi war crimes threatened to expire, Germany sought to welcome previous concentration camp commanders, pogrom leaders, and executioners, as citizens. The global pursuit of Nazi criminals escalated to beat the looming deadline, and Mossad, the Israeli national intelligence agency, joined the cause. Yaakov Meidad, the brilliant Mossad agent who had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann three years earlier, led the mission to assassinate Cukurs in a desperate bid to block the amnesty. In a thrilling undercover operation unrivaled by even the most ambitious spy novels, Meidad traveled to Brazil in an elaborate disguise, befriended Cukurs and earned his trust, while negotiations over the Nazi pardon neared a boiling point. The Good Assassin uncovers this little-known chapter of Holocaust history and the pulse-pounding undercover operation that brought Cukurs to justice. Renee Garfinkel is a Jerusalem-based psychologist, writer, and Middle East commentator for the nationally syndicated TV program, The Armstrong Williams Show.. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com or tweet @embracingwisdom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
History that reads like a thriller; The Good Assassin: How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) by Stephan Talty is the untold story of an Israeli spy’s epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice—a case that altered the fates of all ex-Nazis. Before World War II, Herbert Cukurs was a famous figure in his small Latvian city, the “Charles Lindbergh of his country.” But by 1945, he was the Butcher of Latvia, a man who murdered some thirty thousand Latvian Jews. Somehow, he dodged the Nuremberg trials, fleeing to South America after war’s end. By 1965, as a statute of limitations on all Nazi war crimes threatened to expire, Germany sought to welcome previous concentration camp commanders, pogrom leaders, and executioners, as citizens. The global pursuit of Nazi criminals escalated to beat the looming deadline, and Mossad, the Israeli national intelligence agency, joined the cause. Yaakov Meidad, the brilliant Mossad agent who had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann three years earlier, led the mission to assassinate Cukurs in a desperate bid to block the amnesty. In a thrilling undercover operation unrivaled by even the most ambitious spy novels, Meidad traveled to Brazil in an elaborate disguise, befriended Cukurs and earned his trust, while negotiations over the Nazi pardon neared a boiling point. The Good Assassin uncovers this little-known chapter of Holocaust history and the pulse-pounding undercover operation that brought Cukurs to justice. Renee Garfinkel is a Jerusalem-based psychologist, writer, and Middle East commentator for the nationally syndicated TV program, The Armstrong Williams Show.. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com or tweet @embracingwisdom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
History that reads like a thriller; The Good Assassin: How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) by Stephan Talty is the untold story of an Israeli spy’s epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice—a case that altered the fates of all ex-Nazis. Before World War II, Herbert Cukurs was a famous figure in his small Latvian city, the “Charles Lindbergh of his country.” But by 1945, he was the Butcher of Latvia, a man who murdered some thirty thousand Latvian Jews. Somehow, he dodged the Nuremberg trials, fleeing to South America after war’s end. By 1965, as a statute of limitations on all Nazi war crimes threatened to expire, Germany sought to welcome previous concentration camp commanders, pogrom leaders, and executioners, as citizens. The global pursuit of Nazi criminals escalated to beat the looming deadline, and Mossad, the Israeli national intelligence agency, joined the cause. Yaakov Meidad, the brilliant Mossad agent who had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann three years earlier, led the mission to assassinate Cukurs in a desperate bid to block the amnesty. In a thrilling undercover operation unrivaled by even the most ambitious spy novels, Meidad traveled to Brazil in an elaborate disguise, befriended Cukurs and earned his trust, while negotiations over the Nazi pardon neared a boiling point. The Good Assassin uncovers this little-known chapter of Holocaust history and the pulse-pounding undercover operation that brought Cukurs to justice. Renee Garfinkel is a Jerusalem-based psychologist, writer, and Middle East commentator for the nationally syndicated TV program, The Armstrong Williams Show.. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com or tweet @embracingwisdom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
History that reads like a thriller; The Good Assassin: How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) by Stephan Talty is the untold story of an Israeli spy’s epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice—a case that altered the fates of all ex-Nazis. Before World War II, Herbert Cukurs was a famous figure in his small Latvian city, the “Charles Lindbergh of his country.” But by 1945, he was the Butcher of Latvia, a man who murdered some thirty thousand Latvian Jews. Somehow, he dodged the Nuremberg trials, fleeing to South America after war’s end. By 1965, as a statute of limitations on all Nazi war crimes threatened to expire, Germany sought to welcome previous concentration camp commanders, pogrom leaders, and executioners, as citizens. The global pursuit of Nazi criminals escalated to beat the looming deadline, and Mossad, the Israeli national intelligence agency, joined the cause. Yaakov Meidad, the brilliant Mossad agent who had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann three years earlier, led the mission to assassinate Cukurs in a desperate bid to block the amnesty. In a thrilling undercover operation unrivaled by even the most ambitious spy novels, Meidad traveled to Brazil in an elaborate disguise, befriended Cukurs and earned his trust, while negotiations over the Nazi pardon neared a boiling point. The Good Assassin uncovers this little-known chapter of Holocaust history and the pulse-pounding undercover operation that brought Cukurs to justice. Renee Garfinkel is a Jerusalem-based psychologist, writer, and Middle East commentator for the nationally syndicated TV program, The Armstrong Williams Show.. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com or tweet @embracingwisdom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
History that reads like a thriller; The Good Assassin: How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) by Stephan Talty is the untold story of an Israeli spy’s epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice—a case that altered the fates of all ex-Nazis. Before World War II, Herbert Cukurs was a famous figure in his small Latvian city, the “Charles Lindbergh of his country.” But by 1945, he was the Butcher of Latvia, a man who murdered some thirty thousand Latvian Jews. Somehow, he dodged the Nuremberg trials, fleeing to South America after war’s end. By 1965, as a statute of limitations on all Nazi war crimes threatened to expire, Germany sought to welcome previous concentration camp commanders, pogrom leaders, and executioners, as citizens. The global pursuit of Nazi criminals escalated to beat the looming deadline, and Mossad, the Israeli national intelligence agency, joined the cause. Yaakov Meidad, the brilliant Mossad agent who had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann three years earlier, led the mission to assassinate Cukurs in a desperate bid to block the amnesty. In a thrilling undercover operation unrivaled by even the most ambitious spy novels, Meidad traveled to Brazil in an elaborate disguise, befriended Cukurs and earned his trust, while negotiations over the Nazi pardon neared a boiling point. The Good Assassin uncovers this little-known chapter of Holocaust history and the pulse-pounding undercover operation that brought Cukurs to justice. Renee Garfinkel is a Jerusalem-based psychologist, writer, and Middle East commentator for the nationally syndicated TV program, The Armstrong Williams Show.. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com or tweet @embracingwisdom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
History that reads like a thriller; The Good Assassin: How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) by Stephan Talty is the untold story of an Israeli spy’s epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice—a case that altered the fates of all ex-Nazis. Before World War II, Herbert Cukurs was a famous figure in his small Latvian city, the “Charles Lindbergh of his country.” But by 1945, he was the Butcher of Latvia, a man who murdered some thirty thousand Latvian Jews. Somehow, he dodged the Nuremberg trials, fleeing to South America after war’s end. By 1965, as a statute of limitations on all Nazi war crimes threatened to expire, Germany sought to welcome previous concentration camp commanders, pogrom leaders, and executioners, as citizens. The global pursuit of Nazi criminals escalated to beat the looming deadline, and Mossad, the Israeli national intelligence agency, joined the cause. Yaakov Meidad, the brilliant Mossad agent who had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann three years earlier, led the mission to assassinate Cukurs in a desperate bid to block the amnesty. In a thrilling undercover operation unrivaled by even the most ambitious spy novels, Meidad traveled to Brazil in an elaborate disguise, befriended Cukurs and earned his trust, while negotiations over the Nazi pardon neared a boiling point. The Good Assassin uncovers this little-known chapter of Holocaust history and the pulse-pounding undercover operation that brought Cukurs to justice. Renee Garfinkel is a Jerusalem-based psychologist, writer, and Middle East commentator for the nationally syndicated TV program, The Armstrong Williams Show.. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com or tweet @embracingwisdom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Before World War II, Herbert Cukurs was a famous figure in his small Latvian city, the “Charles Lindbergh of his country.” But by 1945, he was the Butcher of Latvia, a man who murdered some thirty thousand Latvian Jews. Somehow, he dodged the Nuremberg trials, fleeing to South America after war’s end. By 1965, as a statute of limitations on all Nazi war crimes threatened to expire, Germany sought to welcome previous concentration camp commanders, pogrom leaders, and executioners, as citizens. The global pursuit of Nazi criminals escalated to beat the looming deadline, and Mossad, the Israeli national intelligence agency, joined the cause. Yaakov Meidad, the brilliant Mossad agent who had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann three years earlier, led the mission to assassinate Cukurs in a desperate bid to block the amnesty. In a thrilling undercover operation unrivaled by even the most ambitious spy novels, Meidad traveled to Brazil in an elaborate disguise, befriended Cukurs and earned his trust, while negotiations over the Nazi pardon neared a boiling point. Today’s guest, Stephan Talty, is author of The Good Assassin, which uncovers this little-known chapter of Holocaust history and the undercover operation that brought Cukurs to justice.
Today we learn about the International Sauna Association. Risto has been taking sauna since one month old. He has always been interested in taking good saunas. His wife tells him that he is “married to sauna.” He built two saunas in Zambia. Jijijjimjilbang was very popular in Korea, but they are disappearing as a public bathing place. The definition of sauna: “Sauna is a room, wood paneled, where you have a stove and stones, temperature measured at shoulder level, 80-100 degrees (175 – 212 degrees f). Relatively low humidity, which is controlled by introducing water onto the sauna rocks.” Risto has visiting many saunas in the United States. We are trying to get standards for sauna to avoid misleading information about what sauna is and what sauna is not. The biggest player in the sauna space are from Germany. If you try to sell “infrared sauna” in Germany, you will get fined. At a recent spa exhibition in Germany, the Intabad Exhibition Organization authorities forced a Chinese exhibitor to take down their signs saying “infrared sauna” and rename them “infrared cabin.” It is much cheaper to build an infrared thing. Less electricity. You are creating the heat in your body in an entirely different way. Harvia is a public company based in Finland. 25% of their business is in the space of steam rooms and infrared cabins. They are in a better place to define the meaning of sauna vs. Risto: “I am getting old, so it’s important for me to choose good saunas.” Our mutual friend, Mikkel Aaland: “In America, 90% of the saunas are bad, and the other 10% are worse.” Before World War II, there were 350 public saunas in Helsinki. Today there are a few. The urban sauna revival in Finland is . The Cultural Sauna in Helsinki is built on the tradition of older public saunas. Uusi sauna is new. Operated by Kimmo. Aarla. The original Helsinki public sauna 1927. Why is wood fired sauna preferred? You can have a good electrical sauna, but you need many stones. Electric saunas produce positive ions. When you put water on the hot iron, there is coming lots of positive ions, which are making you tired. Professer Graeffe wrote a study in 1974 about positive ions. When water is hitting hot iron. The best stove is a smoke sauna. No iron at all. Electrical toasters. Swedish company Tylo was destroying this market. Very quick heating. You are heating air, not mass. Slowly they were using more stones. Beauty companies are selling masks that create negative ions through water. The masks are “making you 20 years younger.” Do you get tired when you sauna? Bad ventilation! The first law of Loyly: your feet are above the stones. And the height of your ceiling is such that you can use vihta (whisks). Saunas are built too low. There must be enough air to help with circulation. A big crack along the bottom of the door. 10cm or 5″ Architects are not following the rules and standards for good sauna building standards. The Finnish Sauna Society Founded in 1937, from people looking to build sauna for friends. Financing was obtained by the government as two weeks out of the year the saunas are available for use by other people. 4,500 members. One of the largest societies in the World. All private people. Membership can be applied for. No rules for membership, except you must know two members who have been members for at least 5 years. 40,000 visitors per year. Members can bring up to two guests per session, except Fridays are visitors only. George Bush Senior was there. The previous US Ambassador, Bruce Oreck 6 years the ambassador of Finland, is a real sauna lover. He hates the US sauna. He especially loves the smoke sauna. Everywhere he goes he talks about sauna. Though both have ear rings, it is best not to mix up the body guard and the ambassador. 4 smoke saunas. Each one different from the other. 2 wood fired saunas. Single heat. 1 electrical sauna. The idea is that this is for handicapped people. People are coming to Finnish Sauna Society for the smoke saunas. The allure of the smoke sauna The stones are heated directly by fire underneath, until the stones are red hot. The fire is then allowed to burn out from the fire chamber below, and all ash and coals are removed. The sauna hot room is then washed, cleaning the benches from 75-90 degrees c. #3 is the cherished savusauna, getting hotter than 120 degrees c. 6:30 am., the stoves are lit. At around 11:30 am the fires end. 1 pm saunas open. Until 9pm or 10pm. 1,000 kilos of stones. Thermally insulated. The sauna stoves are below. There is a lot of heat capacity in these saunas. The stones have to be hot enough in order to burn off all the hydrocarbons. The heating is stopped when the rocks are hot enough, 650 degrees c. To heat a smoke sauna is something you have to learn. In terms of construction and operation. A smoke sauna can burn down. If there is a lot of carbon on the walls, and air can pass, it can easily become reddish. If air passes, hydrogen and oxygen mix, creates a chemical reaction: an explosion. A sauna wall can ignite a fair distance away from the stove. No reddish carbon on the wood walls. Are there any smoke saunas in the United States? UL standardization is making it quite difficult to build smoke saunas. Saunas around the world Japan – sauna is very popular. Germany: there are over 10,000 public saunas. Mongolia, Japan, China has a very old type of smoke sauna, in a cave. “Mongolian hot flame sauna.” A very good sauna. They are burning stones inside this cave. Wet sand on the floor. The walls are very thick. Plenty of heat capacity. You are getting very good loyly. Russia is the biggest country for sauna. 7-10 million saunas. Comparable to the Finnish sauna. The original Russian Banya is very near to the Finnish sauna. There are many very nice public saunas in St. Petersburg. Many Russian Banyas in Russia are controlled by the Russian mafia. In Japan, sauna has been related to prostitution. Same in China. Australia: Sauna is very popular. There are many Finnish immigrants in Australia. Sydney and Melbourne, where there were 350,000 Finnish immigrants, moving. Canada has a reasonable sauna culture. There is a different culture than in the United States. The first Loyly is always important Risto’s favorite part of a sauna session: It is common in Finland to have a nap after sauna. Less common now, but still very traditional. Dating back to when Risto was a small child, he would take a 20 minute nap after sauna. I have not seen any good mobile sauna. Most are bad. They are too low. Your feet are freezing. The Finnish Sauna Society has commissioned a mobile sauna. It his a high structure. We want to make a very good sauna. Almost Heaven barrel sauna is not good. (sorry!). Sit in Nature after sauna. It has to be quite quiet. The loyly is good and you have good company. I am having sauna quite a bit with my wife. Luckily she likes sauna. Research work regarding sauna health benefits Dr. Jari Laukkanen’s work: “If you go to sauna often enough, and taking sauna hot enough, you are decreasing risk of Alzheimers. Most plausible reason: our veins are more flexible. They think that Alzheimer is coming because your veins in your head are getting stiffer and stiffer. Sauna keeps your veins in flexible position. Results are showing clearly that sauna is helping men. 2,300 men. You cannot find a control group in Finland to test sauna benefits vs. a control group. Residual benefits of sauna: you are joking more, relaxing more. This clearly has a benefit. 2010 Sauna Congress in Japan: a Japanese researcher has been showing images of the human heart and his work. 1-3 months in his hospital, patients who have had heart attacks are having sauna 90 minutes per day. After this treatment, they are showing normal hearts. There are several other people who are doing similar things (sauna studies). A guy in Austria. A Russian lady has been doing much of the same research. All these results are in the same direction. This sauna going is healthy. If you are going too often or too hot, that’s not good either. Logic and reasoning as it relates to “sauna health benefits.” Different from Infrared cabins. Yes, softer veins is a physical benefit. Cold water: the temperature variation. Is this contributing to sauna health benefits. Sitting outside, ensuring you are completely cooled down, this is also a health benefit. Financing for sauna studies: it is difficult to secure funding. Sauna congress in US. Finnish Embassy and North America Sauna Association. New York or Washington, DC. Finnish Embassy. The traditional sauna culture is important. People don’t have enough time. 2 1/2 hours is the minimum. Young people have to be online all the time. We are looking to have Finnish sauna added to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Many important people within ISA. We are sauna lovers. We are doing this kind of work all over the World.
BEFORE WORLD WAR II, the Ku Klux Klan was an important social and political force in Key West. And Manuel Cabeza ran afoul of that force. A native Conch and World War I veteran who was said to fear no one, Cabeza was deeply in love with a black woman, a well-known madam with whom he lived. In those days a white man might have a black mistress, but he was supposed to keep it strictly a backstreet affair. Manuel lived quite openly with his lover and so, a week before Christmas, 1921, the Klan visited him, bearing tar and feathers. Manuel fought with them and, during the struggle, managed to rip the masks off several of the faces so that he would later be able to identify them. Tar-and-feathering was not only excruciatingly painful, it often resulted in the victim's death. But Cabeza was tough and by Christmas Eve was recovered enough to take his revenge. He hired a taxi and began patroling Old Town, looking for the three men he had recognized. He caught up with William Decker, manager of one of Key West's large cigar factories on Duval Street. Cabeza fired a shot through the window of Decker's car, killing him. The taxi rolled on. But at the corner of Whitehead and Petronia, a group of Klan members caught up with Cabeza. According to newspaper accounts, "gunfire was exchanged." There was a standoff until two sheriff's officers arrived and Cabeza agreed to accompany them to the county jail. The sheriff called in Marines from the naval base (how about that for backup help?) to protect Cabeza from the Klan, but by midnight dismissed them, believing that all was quiet on the Key West front. Within an hour, five automobiles loaded with masked Klan members pulled up at the jail, and with pistols drawn, ordered the diminutive sheriff to let them in. The Klansmen proceeded to the second floor of the jail and beat Cabeza senseless with blackjacks. Then they dragged him down to the street, tied him to the rear bumper of the lead car and paraded him through the streets of Key West. Then they took him over to Flagler Avenue where they hanged him from a tree and riddled his body with bullets. This was the gruesome sight that greeted hundreds of Key Westers on Christmas morning of 1921. No one was ever arrested. This episode is brought to you by 43 Keys Media. You can learn more about us at http://43keys.com
Rabbi Daniel Lapin and his wife, Susan, take a lighthearted look at movies. Before World War II, about 0.3% of movies released were what we would call “horror movies”. By 1968, over 2% of movies were horror movies, by 2000 it was 4%, and by 2015 it was 12%. By then, zombies were taking over the (entertainment) world. To date, Hollywood has produced 1,000 more zombie movies than cowboy movies. The Walking Dead? Really? When did the zombie craze really take off? It was 1962. Yes, there’s that date again. Could there be any meaningful correlation between the extirpation of Judeo-Christian Bible faith from everyday life and the rise of zombie horror taking its place? As religion’s ability to help us cope with death declined, did we turn to “zombie-porn”? Michael Jackson, the boy who never grew old, and his music video 'Thriller'. The arrival of ten-minute movies - for your phone! - brought to you by Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg. If you don’t consciously “choose life”, the automatic default is death. From abortion to euthanasia, what a large crowd of people does matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Before World War II, German people, like many people in Europe and elsewhere migrated to different parts of Europe to live, create communities and raise families. In our discussion of race tonight Lena talks about her German origin family who had no participation in the German army at all, and indeed were living in Hungary for generations. Post WWII this family and their whole village were evaculated from their farms, homes, lands, animals, friends and forced to move to Germany with nothing simply because they were German ethnic and German Speaking. Let's Talk About Race.
Yiddish is a language developed among the Jewish population of Central Europe in the 9th century as a mix of their Biblical Hebrew, and the German and other modern languages of the day. Before World War II, it was spoken by upwards of 13 million people. Today, in the US, it is estimated to only be spoken by less than 200,000. The scarcity of spoken Yiddish today makes it an especially unusual choice for the script written by American director and native English speaker Joshua Z. Weinstein on his new film “Menashe.” And that wasn’t the only—ahem—unorthodox choice that was made. The movie was filmed with almost all untrained actors from within an insular ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, and the script was developed alongside its star, a man who had never seen a movie in a theater. Perhaps even more surprising is that the feature not only made it into this year’s Sundance Film Festival, but got renowned Executive Producer Chris Columbus on board just before the event, and afterwards landed a deal with A24, which distributed last year’s biggest indie hit, “Moonlight.” Editor-in-Chief Liz Nord met up with Weinstein, along with the film’s cinematographer and co-producer Yoni Brook, and lead actor Menashe Lustig, at Sundance just after the film premiered. They discuss the unique production, camera techniques, and their unlikely success in making a film about a widowed man trying to convince his traditional community that he is capable of caring for his young son.
As the school bells begin ringing for the start of another school year, let's pause for a moment and think about something that we often don't reflect on. Just what is school for? Is it to get a job? To evolve our brain? To connect with other intellectuals? Or what? We've built a culture that sends its children to school for, at minimum, 20 percent of their life expectancy and we value education on a beautiful visceral level. We're willing to spend more on a college tuition than a home mortgage without the guarantee that a degree will even put a roof over our heads. But do we ever stop to really consider, what is school for? So I'd like to begin that conversation and ask you: What do you think school is for? Just leave a comment below or reach out at mark@yourlop.com. *** A Brief History of School We hunted and gathered as storytelling animals and schooled each other around the campfire. Our grandparents were our teachers. Then we developed more nuclear families and farmed. School was in the home or in a community center, mostly for men to teach them the trade. Women were taught how to be women (an attractive catch for a man, a nurturing mother). Beyond the teenage years, higher education didn't really exist for the average person. The average person had to worry about food, shelter, and water and focus on providing for the family to survive. Now, in a land where we can get enough calories from a bar that's dispensed from a vending machine, we've moved beyond building sustenance and could then ask ourselves: what is my purpose? It's allowed for an intellectual evolution where people all around the world dig deep within themselves to create an enriching life that serves a deeper, more existential purpose. It's truly a beautiful time to be alive. Enter modern-day higher education. Reaching back all the way to Socrates, higher education used to be for the elite or the privileged. (Of course, there were some vagabonds who ditched material possessions to live a minimal monk-like life in search for a higher understanding of life.) Before World War II, college was only for the elite. And it wasn't a place to help people get a job. It was a place for intellectual stimulation, philosophy, the study of literature, and elitist fraternity. No one took out student loans. After WWII, the U.S. government began to give loans to soldiers to go to college and during the Vietnam War era, college for the masses began. It became a new normal, a new tradition. Counter-culture movements spread throughout college campuses inspiring radical thinkers like Steve Jobs to “think different.” College became the go-to place to be the change you wanted to see in the world. As Nelson Mandela put it, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” College was the vehicle to help someone improve their social ranking and achieve the American Dream. Since you could learn anything (with a loan, of course), you could become anything you wanted to be. Or so many were told. That worked for a bit... until the present. We've tipped the scale in the other direction and push our children through school with the best of intentions, but have lost a sense of why we're doing it. Incredible teachers and school leaders struggle to motivate children and help them live extraordinary lives in a school system that worked well for the factory-based industrial economy, but falls flat to help our children thrive in our current economy. And people don't really have much of a choice in the public setting, especially since modern-day trends to have both parents work full-time make it difficult to return to a more personalized homeschool instruction. While there are great options in online schooling (and some not-so-good), that's not possible for many working families. But don't take my word for it. Harvard lecturer Tony Wagner's research suggests that more and more students are dropping out of school, not because they can't perform well, but, rather, because they are bored. Krishnamurti pushes us in Think on These Things to consider that education is “not just about passing examinations, take a degree, get married and settle down,” but also to dive in and discover the extraordinary beauty of life. Education is everything but the high-stakes testing which saturates The Common Core. Seth Godin argues in Stop Stealing Dreams that we need to transform education: “If school's function is to create the workers we need to fuel our economy, we need to change school, because the workers we need have changed as well.” —- Going Back To School I can't tell you how many of my former students, friends, and those I interview consider going back to school — myself included. Academia is a beautiful place. I love school. I love learning and something tells me you do too. But do we really need to pay another 100k to get that doctorate? Will that slip of paper really affirm that you are brilliant? Will it land you that job? Will it help you create something that matters? —- As the bells continue to ring this year, join me in thinking on these things. When we connect our dots looking backward, our school years will undoubtedly play a major role in shaping our lives. But we could do better for our future generation. As Wayne Dyer put it in The Power of Intention, “Creation acts upon the everlasting possibility that anything that is thought of, can be.” So let's embrace a deeper sense of what's possible. Let's work to help make this possibility happen.
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
You're in a business meeting. Is it bad manners to take out phone to send or read a text? A new study suggests that how you feel about mid-meeting texting differs depending on your age and sex. Grant and Martha offer book recommendations for readers and writers on your gift list. And why do people from Boston sound the way they do? Plus, how translators translate, sky vs. skies, caboose vs. crummy, gentleman cows, orey-eyed, and an entire rap song without the letter E.FULL DETAILSA new study finds that 20-somethings think it's okay to text and read emails during meetings, and men are more likely than women to approve.Orey-eyed, meaning "enraged," comes from the Scots language. Orey dates at least as far back as the 1700s, and has meant many different things, including "drunk," A TV meterologist in Morehead, Minnesota wonders about the word sky. Is it incorrect to use it in the plural? We often refer to the skies over a large area, as in the skies over Kansas.This week's quiz from John Chaneski is a fill-in-the-blank game.How do translators of literature decide which words to use? B.J. Epstein, a Chicago native now living in the UK, is a translator with an excellent blog on the subject called Brave New Words.You think you look sexy saying Cheese! as a photographer snaps away? Better yet, try cooing Prunes!Train conductors sometimes refer to the caboose as the crummy. The name may derive from the idea of crew workers leaving crumbs and other garbage all over the back of that last care. Gandy dancers are railroad maintenance workers whose synchronized movements while straightening tracks resemble dancing.E.B. White knew a thing or two about artfully declining an invitation.The word doppich means "clumsy or awkward" is used primarily in Southeastern and South Central Pennsylvannia, and goes back to a German word for the same. Another handy word with Pennsylvania Dutch roots: grex, also spelled krex, meaning "to complain." Speaking of the language of that area, Grant can't wait to get his hands on Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels. For this year's holiday book recommendations, Grant goes with his son's current favorite, Valley Cats by Gretchen Preston, while Martha enthusiastically recommends Quack This Way, a transcribed conversation about writing and language between Bryan Garner and David Foster Wallace.The stereotypical Boston accent is non-rhotic, meaning it drops the "r" sound. Before World War II, such lack of rhoticity was considered prestigious and was taught to film and radio actors to help them sound sophisticated.Is it okay to use the term hospitalized? A journalist says a professor taught him never to use the term because it's unspecific and reflects laziness on the part of the writer.Andrew Huang of Songs To Wear Pants To has met his listeners' challenge and written a rap song without the letter "E."A caller from Amherst, Massachusetts, says that her grandmother, born in 1869, never called a bull a bull, but instead simply called it the animal. This kind of euphemism, along with gentleman cow, supposedly helped avoid the delicate topic of the bull's role in breeding. This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words comes from National University, which invites you to change your future today. More at http://www.nu.edu/.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2013, Wayword LLC.
Take your Bibles and open to Matthew chapter 10. We'll be looking now at the commands that Jesus gave, the marching orders, one could say, to the twelve as he sends them out on mission. You've heard before, and it's a common proverb, that a 1000-mile journey begins with the smallest step. We have in the instructions that Jesus gives here in Matthew 10, the beginning of an incredible march, the advance of the Gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth. This is the first indication we get, the clear indication that Jesus is going to entrust to His people to the ministry of reconciliation. He gives to his twelve apostles that ministry. That 2000-year advance has been irresistible, it's been fruitful, it's advanced, it's been sweet as individual hearts have been conquered by the Gospel message to the salvation of their own souls, and it continues even to this present day. As a matter of fact, I believe that it's accelerating as we reach the end of the age. I don't have any idea, I'm not standing here to say that we are the final generation, but I do perceive a great acceleration of the Gospel in our time. We know that World War II, for example, was a terrible tragedy, we know that many millions of people were killed, but yet through it all, the sovereign hand of God overruled it for good. I'm thinking right now specifically of the island of Irian Jaya [Papua New Guinea]. Before World War II, many Americans had never heard of it, didn't know anyone even lived there. But because our soldiers were sent there, and soldiers from other lands were sent to fight there, all of a sudden after the war was over, there came a thought, "Why can't we who have gone as soldiers of our respective nations, go as soldiers of the cross and bring the Gospel to Papua New Guinea? So the Gospel went. We have the story, for example, of Don Richardson recorded for us in Peace Child of how the Gospel was taken there. All of this, in fulfillment of the prophecies from the Old Testament, and then the specific commands that Jesus gave in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 42:1-4, Jesus is spoken of there when God the Father speaks of His Son and says, "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, my chosen one in whom I delight. I'll put my Spirit on Him and He will proclaim justice to the nations." In Isaiah 42:4 it says, "In His law the islands will put their trust." Well, could it be that Papua New Guinea (Irian Jaya) and some of these other islands that are now hearing the Gospel for the first time were in Isaiah's mind or in God's mind when Isaiah wrote that prophecy? We have here in seed form in Matthew 10, the entire advance of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and it's an exciting, thrilling chapter. We're going to look today at the scope of that mission, we're going to look at the strategy of the mission, we're going to look at the supplies of the mission, and we're going to look at the support of the mission. We're going to try to learn what God would have for us to learn. For us, we have to understand that the mission has not changed. It has been passed on from generation to generation. The twelve apostles are dead, they've gone on to be with the Lord, and they passed on this ministry to their disciples. Their disciples are dead, they've gone on to be with the Lord, and so it has passed on eventually to us. We are responsible for this generation; we're responsible to evangelize the people in this age. This is our time and this is our opportunity to pass it on to the next generation, if the Lord tarries. The Scope of the Messenger’s Mission We see in verses 5and 6 the scope of the mission that He gives to His apostles at that time. It says, "These twelve, Jesus sent out with the following instructions: Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans; go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." I want to connect this to the context that we've been noticing here in chapter 10 of Matthew, and the instructions given at the very end of Matthew chapter 9, in which Jesus saw that the people were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus says, "I'm going to send you out to the lost sheep of Israel." There's a direct connection between the two. He sends them out in fulfillment of the compassion and the love that He has for them. He sees that they're harassed, He sees that they're helpless, they're like sheep without a shepherd, and they need the ministry of the Gospel. The first thing He tells them there in Matthew 9 is that they should ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest field. Then He prepares and sends out these twelve to go as laborers into the harvest field. The scope of the mission here is to Jews only. It says," These twelve, Jesus sent out with the following instructions: Do not go among the Gentiles, or enter any town of the Samaritans; go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." This is the initial phase of the advance of the Gospel, the advance of the Kingdom of God, and it is to the Jews first. This was Jesus' self-conscious mission in the days of His incarnation. He was not sent, at that time, to minister to the Gentiles. He's going to show that later on in Matthew 15, to a Canaanite woman, who comes to Jesus looking for healing for her demon-possessed daughter. He doesn't speak a word to her, though this Canaanite woman, this Gentile woman, follows and intercedes and begs, He does not answer a word. The disciples come up and say with a disparaging attitude, I believe, "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us." And Jesus says at that time, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." Jesus, in the days of His incarnation, was sent specifically to the Jews. He sends the apostles out also specifically to the Jews. The apostle Paul, when he went out on his missionary journey, would go first, always, to the Jews. He would go to the synagogues, and he would speak first to the Jews. In Acts 13:45-46, it says when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, "We had to speak the Word of God to you first." Do you hear that? That's what he says strategically. Paul, in every town, wherever he would go, he would go first to the Jews. "We had to speak the Word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles." Paul articulated this very principle in Romans 1:16, in which he says, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile." He sends the twelve out first to the Jews, to the lost sheep of Israel. But you should not misunderstand; Jesus always had the Samaritans and the ends of the earth in mind. He had the Samaritans and the ends of the earth in His mind even at this point. We know that Jesus ministered to the Samaritans. Even though He said, "Do not go to any town of the Samaritans," He ministered to the Samaritans. In John chapter 4, it said that He had to go through Samaria. A very interesting expression in John 4, "He had to go there." Why did He have to go there? Because there was a woman waiting for Him by the well, and He was going to speak to the Samaritan woman, and He was going to bring her into the Kingdom of God and not only her, but her whole village. When they hear her witness and testify to Jesus' power, she says, "Come and see a man who told me everything that I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" The whole town comes out, and at some point they listen to Jesus, they hear His words, they believe, and the entire community believes in Jesus Christ. They say to the woman, "It's no longer because of what you said, but because of what we have heard from this man that we believe that Jesus is the Messiah." Jesus clearly, even in the days of His time on earth, have the Samaritans in mind. The Samaritans were a kind of a mixed group of people; they were of Jewish ancestry, but they had intermingled with the Gentiles and had married with those that were still in the land. They were despised by the Jews, but they were clearly a stepping stone, eventually, to ministry, to the Gentiles and to the whole world. Not only did Jesus have the Samaritans in mind, He really had the uttermost parts of the earth in mind as well. Christ was always thinking about us, He was always thinking about the Gentiles. And so, "To the Jew first", was just a stepping stone, through Samaria, eventually to the uttermost parts of the earth. God speaks to His Son in Isaiah 49:6, saying, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, and bring back those of Israel that I have kept." Just stop right there. "It's too small for you just to be a Savior for the Jews, that's not enough, I've got a bigger purpose for you." This is the Father speaking to His own Son. "It's too small a thing for you just to be the Savior of the Jews. I will also make you," He says, "A light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the Earth," including Irian Jaya, I might add. To the ends of the earth, the salvation is going to come. And so this was prophesied at His birth by Simeon, that godly Jewish man who's waiting for the Messiah, and it had been spoken to him and promised internally by the spirit that he would not die before he saw the Lord's Messiah, before he saw the Christ. The baby comes, and the Spirit testifies, "This is the one." Simeon goes and takes that little baby, Jesus, into his arms, and he prophesies over him, praying and saying, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light of revelation for the Gentiles, and for glory to your people, Israel." Simeon saw it too; Jesus was too big for just one nation. He's Savior for all the ends of the earth, for every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. Jesus knew that even in the instructions He gives here to His twelve. He says in Matthew 10:18, "On my account, you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles." In Matthew 10, Jesus is thinking about the Gentiles, but there's a process, there is a procedure to how He's going about it, but for now He's sending them out only to the lost sheep of Israel. This very thing Jesus prophesies later on in Matthew 24:14. He says, "This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come." In the great commission Jesus says, "All authority in Heaven and earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I'm with you always, even to the very end of the age." Jesus is thinking about the Gentiles, but at this point He narrows the scope of the ministry. The disciples are not permitted to go and speak to the Samaritans. Just an editorial comment; I think they weren't ready to talk to the Samaritans. I think they were still prejudiced against the Samaritans. I think they still wanted fire from Heaven to come down and destroy this Samaritan village. They went into town to buy food and never once opened their mouth and witnessed to the Samaritans. It wasn't time yet for the apostles to go. In Acts 8, they would go, but not yet. The time had come just for a narrowing of the scope of the ministry. Jesus says, "I want to send you to the lost sheep of Israel." Here, I think about Isaiah 53:6, in which the prophet says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him, on Christ, the iniquity of us all." Jesus is truly the shepherd who gathers back the lost sinners, not only from Israel but from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. Every single one of us is burdened by sin. You've come in this day, and you've already committed sins today. It's not that I know you personally, I just knowing human nature and the Scripture. You've committed enough sin since today to send you to eternity in Hell, and yet the grace of God flows through the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and there is no other Savior. Jesus is going to send them out with this message to the lost sheep of Israel, that there is a shepherd who will gather them back in, there is a sacrifice, a lamb of God, who will die in their place for their sins, if they'll only believe. We see in the scope of the mission, I think an important strategic principle; we are not called to go to every single nation on the face of the earth. I mean “we” being each of us individually. We can pray all over the world, we can have a worldwide global focus in our prayer, but we have our own scope of ministry, we have our own field assigned to us. There is a scope to what God calls us, calls each group of people, each local church to do. We see the scope of the twelve's ministry right from the start. The Strategy of the Messenger’s Mission Secondly, we see the strategy of the mission, and the strategy is simple, it's going to be the preaching, the proving, or the demonstrating of the Kingdom. Matthew 10: 7-8 says, "As you go, preach this message: The Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons." We see the preaching and the proving or the demonstrating. First the preaching, the apostolic task was centrally the proclamation of the message. They were called upon to preach the message. What was the message? The Kingdom of Heaven is near. The center of their proclamation was the Kingdom, the Sovereign God who rules over all things. We've been saying all along that the Gospel of Matthew is written to convince us that Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. He is the One who rules over Heaven and earth. Therefore He has called, He has sent to call, all of us to a full obedience to His sovereign rule, a glad obedience. Therefore, I believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is wherever Jesus is gladly obeyed by the power of the Spirit, from an internal transformed heart — that's the Kingdom of Heaven. The message is that the Kingdom of Heaven is near, it's very near you. The Word of God that we are proclaiming, it's very near you, it's in your mouth and in your hearts, the word of faith that we are confessing. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your hearts that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” That Kingdom is near, it's very close to us, if you will, simply reach out and take it. Later, after the death and resurrection of Christ, the Kingdom would come even more alive in vivid color. The historical events had already happened, Jesus' blood had been poured out on the cross. Jesus' tomb had been emptied on the third day. The crucifixion and the resurrection now would be the center of their preaching, the apostolic preaching of the cross, and they would proclaim the cross and the empty tomb to the ends of the earth. But at this point, they're just told to proclaim this message, "The Kingdom of Heaven is near." But not only were they called to proclaim, they were also called to prove or to demonstrate Kingdom power by doing miracles. "Heal the sick," He says, "Raise the dead. Cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons." I was talking to my children recently, and they said, "It would have been really exciting to be Jesus." I said, "Why is that?" Because they could do all these great... “He could do all these great miracles. Everywhere He goes, He gets to heal people, raise the dead and all that." I said, "So you think Jesus had kind of an easy life?" Well, they thought maybe He did. I said, "Do you realize that in every place where He was healing, there was immediate opposition, people standing in his face wanting to kill him?" Yet there must have been for Jesus, a special joy in freeing from bondage those who were so bound. For example, on a Sabbath, He heals a Jewish woman who's been bound over and kept in chains through her physical infirmity for many years. Even though He's opposed at that moment, there's a delight in freeing her from her bondage. The disciples, when they came back from this mission trip couldn't get over that the demons were subject to them in Jesus' name. They were so thrilled. They said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, rejoice not that the demons are subject to you in my name, but rather that your names are written in the book of life in Heaven." So you think, "Why, I'd like to do a miracle. My Evangelistic ministry would just take off if I could just do a miracle." Imagine if you're involved in workplace evangelism, and you just go and try to witness, and you find out that somebody's got some kind of infirmity. If you could just heal them, everybody would listen to your message. I’ve thought that myself. Actually, it's not far wrong from why Jesus gave the apostles authority to heal. Everywhere they went, they were demonstrating the power of the Kingdom, and huge crowds would gather as a result. It says in Acts 5:15-16, people used to bring the sick on the streets and lay them on beds and mats, so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed. Peter's shadow just falling on people as he passed by. I believe that was the point, the point was to demonstrate the Kingdom, to give a context for the proclamation of the Gospel in order that people might hear it. It says in Acts 8:6, when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. I think that's the point; the miracles give a context, a platform for the proclamation of the Gospel. So, it's the proclamation, but it's also the proving of the Kingdom. It also demonstrates God's compassion and His love. He would have us healed, He would have us freed from all effects of sin, just not yet. It says in Revelation chapter 21, "There'll be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain." What's the next part? "For the old order of things has passed away." It hasn’t passed away yet folks. We're still under the time of death, and mourning, and crying, and pain. It's not going to be a river of miracles, it's not true what the “health and wealth” people tell you, that if you're not healed, it's because of a lack of faith on your part. I say rather, it's because that the old order of things is still here, but someday, it's going to be past. The miracles were given as a kind of a first fruits of what that would be like, to be free from all death and mourning, and crying and pain. The Supplies of the Messenger’s Mission We see the mission of the apostles. First, the scope, to the Jew only at that point. And then the strategy, the proclamation and the proving or demonstrating of the Kingdom. Next, we see the supplies for the mission in verses 8-10, traveling light and depending on God. I like this better, "traveling light and trusting in God”. You can use the word "depending". Either way, we're called to travel light and to trust in God. The twelve were sent out. In verses 8-10, "Freely you've received," it says, "freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts. Take no bag for the journey or extra tunic or sandals or a staff, for a worker is worth his keep." They were to travel free, they were not to be encumbered by the weight that we encumber ourselves with. They were to be, first of all, free from greed. In verse 8, it says, "Freely you have received, freely give." Do you realize how much money they could have charged for this healing ministry? Do you realize how much money people will pay to be healed? They'll pay almost anything. Greed can drive a whole healing system. And they could have commanded probably any price. But Jesus said, "Don't you dare do it, because I am giving you this healing power freely. Freely you have received, freely give. Not only have I given you healing power freely, I've given you everything freely. The grace of the Gospel is free of charge. I have forgiven your sins freely. I'm going to give you Heaven and an inheritance with me freely. I'm going to give you the indwelling Holy Spirit freely. I'm going to give you membership in a local church where there's other believers freely. I'm going to give you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms freely. Freely you have received, freely give." That's why He says, "Don't charge anything for what you're doing." Healings were to be done free of charge. They were also to be free, not just from greed, but from material anxiety. In verse 9 Jesus says , "Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts." Those are the three kinds of metals that were stamped into coins. The gold, the most valuable, the silver of intermediate value, the copper of the lowest value. He said, "Don't take along anything, not even any copper coins." Later He's going to say, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? You won't even be able to buy two sparrows with the money you carry with you. Travel light, travel free, travel free from material anxieties." What does this mean? First of all, Jesus lived this way. In Matthew chapter 8, one man wanted to come and follow Jesus, and Jesus said, "Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay His head." Jesus traveled and ministered in the same way. He wanted them to be free from material anxiety. If they were carrying huge bags of gold, or silver, or copper, perhaps they would be robbed on the way. When you have possessions like this, you're always anxious on how to protect them, how to keep them safe from harm. It's something that you're carrying with you. He said, "I want you to be free from that burden, so please carry no money, travel light." In verse 10 He says, "Take no bag for the journey or extra tunic or sandals or a staff, for the worker's worth his keep." Don't carry along bunches of stuff. Don't carry all this equipment I was reading about the Queen Mary, a luxury liner that was fit to carry 1,957 people in comfort and luxury across the ocean. It sailed on its maiden voyage May 27, 1936. But once World War II started and America got involved, the Queen Mary was converted to a troopship. As it was converted to a troopship, the number of passengers it could carry went from 1,957 to, at one point, over 15,000. 15,000 soldiers were carried across the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary. You may say, "Well, I would think if I owned a luxury line like that, I would want to try to make as much money as I could and I'd try to get 15,000 people on board before the war." Would they have come? No way, because they're coming with baggage, they're coming with 50 or more boxes or satchels of all the things that they would need. They would need state rooms and big room. Luxury liners, right? There's no time for luxury when it's wartime. They stripped everything out that was not essential, and they put in bed after bed after bed. You had barely enough room to get your body in , and you could touch the rack right above you. There was just enough room for a certain number of people to sleep at a time, and they had to sleep in shifts. Everything had been stripped down. This is what they call "war time austerity". It seems to me that the Gospel calls us to similar wartime austerity, and it's a call that is so often unheeded. To go from being able to carry 2,000 approximately paying passengers to 15,000, means that everything that's not necessary was stripped out. “Take no bag for the journey, no extra tunic, no sandals, no staff.” There was a time, I remember, when we were going overseas as missionaries. We had a yard sale. We stripped ourselves of everything. We were totally liquid at that point. We had money in our belts, that's true, but we didn't have much else. I noticed at one point- I'm always in the habit of patting my pants to be sure that my wallet is there and my keys as well - my wallet was there, but my keys weren't there. And then I realized, "Wait a minute, I don't have any keys. I have no keys. We sold both our cars, we've moved out of our home, we have no keys left." And that became kind of a symbol to me of traveling light. I will say this, we did have four big Rubbermaid Action Packers filled with all kinds of stuff, and that was a challenge to get through Narita Airport in Japan. We didn't travel as light as these men did, but we were stripped down, we had almost nothing, except our clothing and the basic necessities. The key principle here is that ministry is to be supplied or supported by those who benefit. "The worker is worth his keep." You don't need to carry along all this baggage, because as you're doing the work of the ministry, the worker is worth his keep. This is a very, very important principle. In Matthew 10: 40-42 He's going to talk about a cup of cold water. It says, "He who receives you, receives me, and he who receives me, receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet, because He is a prophet, will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man, because he is a righteous man, will receive a righteous man's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." These verses are so frequently taken out of context -verse 42, especially, the cup of cold water. Clearly, Jesus is talking here about support for those that are going out to preach the Gospel. Anybody who receives or takes care of those world traveling messengers will receive a reward, just as they will. The worker is worth his keep means, you don't need to carry all this stuff, because out there, there are going to be people who will benefit from your ministry and they will materially support you as you do it. The same principle is taught by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:7-14. He says, "Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses, 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.'" He goes on from there to make it very plain what he's talking about. He says, "Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar get their share from what is offered on the altar?" 1 Corinthians 9:14, "In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the Gospel should receive their living from the Gospel." This is the principle, those who receive the spiritual benefit of the ministry should materially support those who give the ministry. It's taught over and over in many places, and that's what Jesus means when He says, "The worker is worth his keep." They are to go depending or trusting in God. They are basically to put into practice what Jesus taught earlier when He said, "Do not worry about your life, what you'll eat or drink, or about your body, what you'll wear. The pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His Kingdom, and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you as well." They're to go out without a tether. It's like, you're out in the space shuttle and you're supposed to go out and there's no line, just going out and trusting in God to provide for your needs. What kind of faith does that take? Support for the Messenger’s Mission We've looked already at the scope, and the strategy, and the supplies of the ministry. We see the support for the mission in verses 11-15, “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it. If it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your word, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that town." We see here the problem of lodging, where are they going to stay? There were individual inns. You remember that Joseph and Mary were turned out from the inn. There was a place you could go from time to time and pay for lodging, but these were few and far between, so there was going to be a problem of lodging. We know that hospitality is taught many places in the Bible. Abraham and Sarah entertained three strangers one day, not realizing that they were angels. Lot entertained the exact same angels who had come to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. It says in Hebrews 13:2, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." In the New Testament, we have a command which I love, "Offer hospitality without grumbling." Does that verse not tell you how little human nature has changed in 2,000 years? Offer hospitality without grumbling. Why? Because taking somebody into your home messes up your routine. It's a burden in one sense, if you look at it the wrong way. Peter said, "Don't look at it the wrong way, but offer hospitality without grumbling." 3 John 5-6 says, "Dear friend, you are faithful in what you're doing for the brothers even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God." It was for the sake of the Name that they went out. John, in 3 John is talking about messengers of the Gospel who have gone out to preach, and these folks that John is writing to have taken the messengers in. They've accepted them in, they've put them up. They've provided for their needs. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. In verse 8, “We ought, therefore, to show hospitality to such men, so that we may work together for the truth." So you see, hospitality supports the ministry of the preaching of the Gospel. The standards and the search are listed in verse 11, "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave." “Worthy” means righteous person, an upright person, somebody who keeps the commands of God, somebody who's welcoming to your message. What this shows me is kind of the human-ness of the messengers. Don't go and stay somewhere where the people hate you and hate your message. Rather, go in a place where after a day of preaching, after a day of proclaiming the Gospel, you have a place of refuge to be renewed and refreshed. Be renewed, therefore, and refreshed by staying at the home of a worthy person, search for a worthy person and stay at his house. Luke adds more, saying in Luke 10:7-8, "Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you." Don't complain about the food as long as it's nourishing and healthy, eat it, whatever they set before you. I remember right before we went as missionaries to Japan, we had a prayer time together, and all the missionaries were crying and encouraging each other and praying, and some were concerned about an ailing parent, or something that they might never see again, etcetera. But I couldn't get out of my mind one thing in particular, and when my chance to share my prayer request came, I said, "We're going to Japan, where they eat fish, and I hate seafood. So pray for me that I might somehow be given grace to eat the seafood, and thank the people for it." I wasn't a month after we got there that we helped a Japanese man put his ceiling fan in, and he took us out to eat, and there was no McDonalds, no Kentucky Fried Chicken, we went out to Japanese food. And there before me was a plate of Sashimi, raw fish, staring me in the face. And I liked it, God gave me grace. It says in Luke 10, "Whatever they set before you, eat it," and implied, be thankful for it, be grateful for what you eat. Jesus also says, "Do not move around." In Luke 10 again, "Do not move around from house to house. Don't try to find a better place, that's not the point. Find a worthy family or a place to stay and then just set up there and stay there as long as you're in that area. Let that be a place of refuge, a place of good fellowship, place of comfort for you." In 1 Timothy 6 it says, "If we have food and clothing, we'll be content with that. We're not looking for a luxury, we're not looking for the best place to stay, we're looking for a godly family that will support us and care for our ministry. If we have food and clothing, we'll be content with that.” "Now, as you enter the home," in verse 12 it says, "Give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it." This is somewhat of a Jewish ritual, but a sense of saying Shalom or peace to everyone in this house. If the home is deserving, the peace will stay there. There's a sense almost of Joseph's blessing. Everywhere Joseph[Old Testament] went, there was a blessing coming, whether it was Potiphar's house, or the blessing that came on the jailer. Eventually, all of Egypt under Pharaoh were blessed by Joseph. Everywhere that Joseph went there was a blessing. It seems in the same way, everywhere that these messengers of the Gospel go, there is a blessing coming to the house that will support them. He says, "Let your peace rest on that home if it's deserving." This is exactly the context of verse 40-42, "He who receives you, receives me, and he who receives me, receives the one who sent me." Anybody who takes you in, it's like they're receiving me, and anyone who receives me, it's like they're receiving the one who sent me, and that's God the Father. So they will never lose their reward.” This, I believe, is kind of in seed form, the eventual full understanding of the body of Christ. The body of Christ has varied ministries. Some are what we could call support ministries. They support the proclamation or the preaching of the message. I believe all of us are called to witness, no question about it, but some are specially called out with the gift of evangelism, or say, as missionaries. And the body is to support them materially. The body is to pray for them, to give them money or other resources that they need, to give them a place to stay when they need it. He says you'll never lose your reward. One is not more important than the other. The eyes should do not say to the foot, "I don't need you." The hand should not be jealous of the mouth, because it's not a mouth. But every part of the body has its role to play. The cup of cold water, even something that small, will not be forgotten. He speaks here of freedom for the rejected in verse 13 - 14. He said, "If the home is not deserving, let your peace return to you." Then He says, "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your word, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town." What does it mean, "Let your peace return to you"? “Don't let it bother you, don't let it trouble you if the home is not deserving. Don't get ruffled in your spirit because they won't welcome you or accept you. They're the ones with the problem, and they're going to have a huge problem if they will not repent, so if any home does not welcome you, they won't listen to you, don't let it bother you, let your peace return to you. Walk in the peace that God gives, because you're out on mission from Him. Don't let it bother you when they don't welcome you, when they don't accept you.” Then He says, "If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that home or town." My missionary instructor, Christy Wilson, was a missionary in Afghanistan who did work there for 20 years. He was one of the most compassionate, loving men I've ever seen in my life. He helped to set up hospitals there, preached the Gospel, taught the people. His wife, Betty was a godly woman, and the two of them ministered together. They were evicted by the communists who were in the very government that the Russians invaded to support. When the communists took power, they evicted Christy Wilson and his wife Betty from Afghanistan. They did everything they could to stay, but they would not welcome them or listen to their words. At the airport right before they got on the plane, they took their shoes off and clapped them together and then put their shoes back on. They shook the dust off their feet and they moved on. It's not a burden for the messenger when you're rejected, it really isn't. It really is a burden for the one who does the rejecting because judgment is coming. He said, "I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that town." This is a terrible curse. The basic idea is that when a king sends out messengers, if the messengers are rejected and treated scornfully, then the wrath of the king may fall on that country or city that rejects them. He says it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. It gives an indication, by the way, of a certain grading of punishments on Judgment Day. And this is a fearsome thing for America. The more you know of the Gospel, the more you know of the truth and reject it any way, the more judgment will come upon you on Judgment Day. The less you know the truth, the less you know the Gospel and reject it, the less judgement comes on you on Judgment Day. Isn't that what Jesus is saying here? It'd be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah because they had less proclamation of the truth than that home or town or village had. It's a fearsome thing. America is supersaturated with the proclamation of the Gospel. Evangelical churches in every community. There is television, print media and radio - a supersaturation with the Gospel, and yet still hearts reject. “It'll be more bearable on Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that town.” He says, "Listen, don't take revenge, don't be concerned about that, leave all of that to God, you shake the dust off your feet and move on." Application What application can we take from this? First of all, look at missionary zeal. Let me ask you, what do you live for? Are you delighting in spreading the Gospel of God's glory? The twelve apostles are dead. So also are their successors. The Ministry has been passed on to us, the ministry of reconciliation. Are you living with missionary zeal for that same Gospel message that Jesus Christ gave to His twelve Apostles? Second of all, missionary methods. The missionary methods are still the same, the preaching and the proving of the Kingdom. We are to display Christ's compassion. When we do an inner city ministry like tutoring, when we reach out in some way and try to show ministry to their physical bodies and their felt needs immediately. This is the proving of the Kingdom. We're not necessarily called on to do great miracles at this point, but we're called to prove the compassion. But nobody is going to be saved by our good deeds to them. They get saved by hearing the preached message, so we must proclaim the Gospel message that Jesus died on the cross, shed His blood, and was raised from the dead on the third day. Thirdly, materialistic hindrances. Are you, are we, am I traveling light or are we accumulating? You know, you think about one of the wealthiest men in the Old Testament, Abraham. He owned a lot of stuff, didn't he? But he also lived in a tent. Do you know what that means? He could move around, right? Can you imagine moving around from place to place with the things you own? Can you imagine what that would be like? Once you set up in a place with a foundation, it's easy to begin accumulating. Americans have to especially be careful that we do not put mill stones around our necks and be unable to advance with the Gospel. I want to speak especially to college students. One of the biggest dangerous is, you have a zeal for the Kingdom of God and for mission work but then you get out and start getting into debt bondage, whether mortgages or credit card payments or other things, and you cannot travel light for the Gospel. Don't do it. If God is calling you to mission service, keep yourself free and clear, travel light. Finally, the missionary supply. How have you used your material benefits, your home, your money, your life, to support those who are specially called to go out as missionaries?