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“St. John the Baptist: Born to Forerun” (Luke 1:57-80)Merry Saintjohnthebaptistmas! “What?” you say, “What did he say?” I said, Merry Saintjohnthebaptistmas! You heard me right. If we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ, on December 25, then six months before that, which is today, we should celebrate the birth of his predecessor, his forerunner, St. John the Baptist. So, Merry Saintjohnthebaptistmas! Six months out from Christmas. But Christmas is December 25, and today is only June 24, not the 25th. How come we’re celebrating on this day? Well, it’s just a little quirk in the calendar. In the old Roman...

Israeli archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills on Wednesday, including an unusually well-preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks...

HIRBET MADRAS, Israel – Israeli archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills on Wednesday, including an unusually well-preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks. The Byzantine church located southwest of Jerusalem, excavated over the last two months, will be visible only for another week before archaeologists cover it again with soil for its own protection. The small basilica with an exquisitely decorated floor was active between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D., said the dig's leader, Amir Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority. He said the floor was "one of the most...

Archaeologists in Israel believe they may have stumbled upon the tomb of the biblical Prophet Zechariah in a newly discovered church. The church, which is more than 1,300 years old, contains massive marble columns as well as exquisite mosaics, the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement. Archaeologists believe that the church, uncovered in Hirbet Madras in central Israel, is the location marked on the Madaba Map as the tomb of Zechariah, according to Haaertz. "The researchers believe that in light of an analysis of the Christian sources, including the Madaba Map, the church at Hirbet Madras is a memorial...

Featured Term (selected at random):BENEDICTUS The song of thanksgiving of Zechariah at the birth of his son, John the Baptist (Luke 1:68-79). It is addressed to God in gratitude for fulfilling the Messianic promises, and to the child who is to be the forerunner of the Messiah. In the Western Church it is sung or recited liturgically at Lauds or morning prayer. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Obama does not understand the reality of Israel's situation, senior Israeli official says on Friday.Asked why he gave a strong rebuttal to U.S. President Barack Obama's speech on the Middle East, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Friday on board his plane to Washington: "There are things that can't be swept under the carpet." As Netanyahu arrived in the U.S. ahead of his meeting with the American president later in the day, a senior Israeli official said that Obama does not understand the reality of Israel's situation. In a high-profile Middle East policy speech on Thursday, Obama supported continued...

The hill-top church was destroyed by an earthquake some 1,300 years ago and lay partly buried until detectives from Israel's Antiquities Authority, pursuing a gang of antiquity thieves, noticed an elaborate doorpost poking through the earth. The robbers got away -- they were caught a few months later at a site nearby -- but after weeks of digging, archaeologists uncovered the remains of the church. It was about the size of a basketball court and contained fallen marble pillars and a nearly pristine 10-meter-long mosaic floor. Beneath the church's altar is a burial chamber that the Antiquities Authority said may...

THE NATIONS GO MAD…ZECHARIAH 12 Posted on June 30, 2010 by billrandles “In that day says the Lord ,I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. …In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place-Jerusalem.”( Zechariah...

JERUSALEM AS A HEAVY STONE ON THE ROAD by bill randles In a previous article , “A Cup of Trembling” , I pointed out the amazing prediction of Zechariah 12:1-2 . In the last days, Jerusalem would become a point of international contention, ultimately drawing the whole world into the strife. In continuance of this theme, I would like to give a brief exposition of the rest of this chapter of scripture. “And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples;all who would heave it away will surely be cut...

“Luke’s Lead-up to Christmas: The Nativity of St. John the Baptist and the Song of Zechariah, the Benedictus” (Luke 1:57-80)When last we left Zechariah, he was doing his best Marcel Marceau impression. In other words, he couldn’t speak! He was making signs and gestures to try to communicate. In other words, there were no words! Zechariah had been struck mute, unable to speak, because he had not believed the words the angel Gabriel had spoken to him, telling him that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a child, even though they were both old and had been...

“Luke’s Lead-up to Christmas: The Annunciation of St. John the Baptist” (Luke 1:1-25)In a few weeks we’ll be hearing one of the most familiar and well-loved passages in the Bible once again, and that is the Christmas Gospel, from Luke chapter two. But the fact that there’s a chapter two must means that there’s a chapter one before it. There is. And Luke chapter one is Luke’s lead-up to Christmas, his account of the events leading up to the birth of Christ. That’s going to be our theme for this series of midweek services, as well as for the last...

The Great Rift Valley extends some 4,000 miles southward from Syria north of Israel, through the Gulf of Aqaba, through Ethiopia, and all the way to Mozambique in southeast Africa. It harbors a giant fault, which has been under investigation as a model for sea floor spreading. A recent geologic event rent a gaping crack through the desert of Ethiopia, causing safety concerns for locals. These crustal plate motions may foreshadow rifting events further north in the Great Rift Valley...

End-Time Prophecy Of Zechariah And The Neutron Bomb An Introduction "The Prophetic Visions of Zechariah" provides a glimpse "above history and time", peering into Israel's immediate and far distant future. Zechariah, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel was a priest as well as a prophet.  His prophetic writings focus primarily upon the restoration of the second temple in Jerusalem after the 70 year Babylonian captivity, but also foretells the coming of the Messiah to suffer an atoning death and later to reign as King over all the Earth. On the 24th day of the 11th month (Shebat), in the second year...

From Mr. Mom's Mailing List (742) Watching... - November 17, 2004 Zechariah 9: 8 But I will defend my house against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch. Believe it or not, yesterday I learned a lesson in watching by observing the Bighorn sheep behind my house. It's mating season, and my husband and I are blessed to live exactly where the entire life cycle of the sheep takes place. They give birth to their babies on our land in the spring, and in the fall the big rams come out...

A. The vision of the Lord, Satan, and Joshua the High Priest. 1. (1-3) The Angel of the Lord stands against Satan on Joshua’s behalf. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. a. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest:...

The "wages' (sakhar, "hire" or "reward"), which He actually sought from them for all His Shepherd care, was, as the commentators rightly understand, the spiritual fruit of his labours -- repentance, faith, true heart piety, humble obedience, and grateful love. This is brought out clearly in the Lord's parable of the Vineyard, which is Israel, to whom He first sent His servants, and then His own Son, "that He might receive the fruits of it." And although He has every right to demand this "hire," He leaves it to His professed people upon whom such bounteous care and attention has...

THE REAL NEWS Before September 11th, JTF Knew But Bush Didn't? The latest questions about what President Bush knew or should have known before September 11th naturally ignore the fact that JTF predicted for years that the Muslim terrorists would return to destroy the World Trade Center. President Bush did not need his daily CIA briefing to know what to expect. He could have received a chillingly accurate prediction by simply watching JTF television programs dating back at least to September 1994. Indeed, JTF television viewers were "ahead of the curve" (to use the silly parlance of our not very...