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And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee?...

And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and...

Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?...

And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria? And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramothgilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my...

And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in...

And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance...

Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it. 2 He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, “This is what Ben-Hadad says: 3 ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.’” The king of Israel answered, “Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours.” The messengers came again and said, “This is what Ben-Hadad says: ‘I sent to demand your silver and...

And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.I Kings 18: 17-19)After a three and a half year drought, which had brought the once prosperous nation...

And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.I Kings 18: 17-19)After a three and a half year drought, which had brought the once prosperous nation...

Dr. Michael Brown appeared on Monday's CBN Newswatch to discuss the rise of witchcraft in America. He says the rapid rise of witchcraft is very real and frightening. Newswatch is seen weekdays on the CBN News Channel. To view a programming schedule, click here. On Thursday, many little girls around the country will dress up as witches for Halloween. Just last week, it was reported by several media outlets that "thousands of witches" were gathering to cast a spell on President Trump, which they said was to prevent him from "harming the country." Should Christians take witches and witchcraft seriously?...

The New York Times reports that special counsel Robert Mueller “is scrutinizing tweets and negative statements from the president about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the former FBI director James B. Comey.” The Old Gray Lady did not divulge whether the special counsel also seeks the names of books checked out on the president’s library card. .... The investigation exposes the investigators more than the investigated. It reveals the umpires as partisan players. It demonstrates lawbreaking by law enforcers. It sows distrust in institutions heretofore beloved by the American people.

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian official and witnesses say Damascus is planting landmines along parts of the border with Lebanon.

NEW YORK – Recalling Dan Brown's bestselling novel "The Da Vinci Code," computer experts have discovered strange anomalies in the Obama birth record released by the White House. They include a different birth registration number that shows up in "hidden text," remnants of the short-form certificate apparently bleeding through the long-form and a "smiley face" in the registrar's stamp that does not show up on other recently issued Hawaii birth records. Curiously, in a simple process run by Optical Character Recognition software that reveals hidden text, the registration number 10611 turns up, instead of 10641, the number displayed on the...

Ahab and Jezebel '08

At the end of my previous column on Evan Maloney’s documentary “Indoctrinate U,” I invoked the American Association of University Professors’ 1915 statement on academic freedom. In the years since 1915, the AAUP has revisited the topic and issued new or qualifying definitions like this one, from the statement of 1940: Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.The problem is that it is not clear what is meant either by “relation” or “controversial.” What is...

At this year's International AIDS Conference, former president Bill Clinton fielded criticisms that he had not "done enough" about the HIV virus. In activist-speak, this means that he didn't throw enough of American taxpayers' money at the problem. Of all the criticism that could have been leveled against him, this is the most absurd. During Clinton's last year in office, the U.S. government spent $12.2 billion to fight AIDS. If it were possible to simply spend the disease out of existence, we would have done it long ago. If attendees of the conference wanted to challenge the former president, they'd...

2. Pujols is certainly an exciting player, but not even his two-homer, seven-RBI performance in Tuesday night's game against the Mets could hold the attention of every fan. Former President Bill Clinton caught the game at Shea Stadium, and a camera caught him snoozing during the eighth inning with the Cardinals clinging to a 7-6 lead. Fortunately, Clinton rose to the occasion for Carlos Beltran's game-winning two-run homer in the ninth, waking in time to high-five fans sitting around him. Indeed, Shea Stadium in this turnaround season has certainly resembled a place called Hope.

A southern Ontario bishop is urging Catholics to boycott an upcoming fundraiser featuring former U.S. president Bill Clinton, saying his views don't reflect the church's beliefs. Clinton is set to deliver a speech Nov. 8 during a $500-per-seat fundraising lunch for the Catholic Family Counselling Centre in Kitchener. But Rev. Gerard Bergie, the auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Hamilton, says Clinton is an inappropriate guest speaker, the Waterloo Region Record reported. Clinton's support for abortion, his marital infidelity and promotion of condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS go against Catholic Church doctrine, said Bergie. He...

He Saw the Roots of America's Welfare Problem As a conservative analyst who spent much of the 1990s working against most of Bill Clinton's agenda -- including even some aspects of his welfare reform proposals -- it pains me to say this. Bill Clinton was right. He deserves more credit for the passage of welfare reform than most conservatives probably care to admit. No, Clinton didn't play a major role in shaping the policy details of the landmark 1996 act. But he understood something about policymaking that many conservative strategists and policy wonks could stand to re-learn: It isn't enough...

WASHINGTON -- Former President Bill Clinton has been celebrating his 60th birthday at breakneck speed and he will be continuing to do so for months to come, according to news reports. Given the many laughs he has afforded me over the years, I hope he will proceed at a more restrained pace. I could not bear to see him make another run to the emergency room. The sudden whitening of his hair since his retirement from the White House and shrinkage of his once fleshy physique should admonish voluptuaries everywhere of the potential health threats from recreational sex.