The Merriam-Webster word of the day for Saturday, May 17th was "incandescent" a noun which M-W defined as such:

• a : white, glowing, or luminous with intense heat  b : marked by brilliance  especially of expression  c : characterized by glowing zeal : ardent
• a  : of, relating to, or being light produced by incandescence b : producing light  by incandescence

The Merriam-Webster word of the day for Monday, May 12th was iconoclast, a noun which M-W defined as:

1 : a person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration 2 : a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions

The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for Tuesday, May 13th was "attitudinize", a verb meaning to assume a certain posture. Here is what M-W had to say about it:

The English word "attitude" was first used in the 17th century to describe the posture of a sculptured or painted figure. The word was borrowed from French and formed from the Italian word "attitudine", meaning "aptitude" or "natural tendency". By the early 18th century, "attitude" was also being used for the posture a person assumed for a specific purpose. And by mid-century, "attitudinarians," people who study and practice attitudes, were being talked about. The verb "attitudinize" followed in 1784.

Rand Abdel-Qader, a 17 year old Iraqi student, was beaten to death by her father .  Her crime?  Speaking to a young man whom her father did not approve: a British soldier.

The local police? Rather than arresting him they congratulated him.

His community? Rather than condemning him they are providing support to "disappear" in Jordan for a few weeks "until the story has been forgotten".

This is the religion of peace?   That upholds the faintest whiff of dishonor over life?

Today I was reading through the secular news and nothing jumped out at me as particularly substantial and worthy of comment. So I turned to www.worldnetdaily.com to see what was news from a Christian perspective and this article on blood moon eclipses definitely piqued my interest.

Pastor Mark Biltz has studied solar and lunar eclipses and how they may play into end-times prophecy.

I disagree with many things taught in the Catholic church but opposition to abortion is not one of them.  I received an email that pointed to these powerful videos.  I was sick to my stomach when I viewed this... not only by the procedure itself but by the number of people that have died in the manner described.

Here is a brief blurb from the page:

If you’re going to take a position on abortion, then you’re going to  have to come clean about what it is. We are no longer going to let you obscure  or trivialize the issue. Whether people agree with you or not, you owe it to  them to be honest about what you’re talking about. Therefore we issue this  simple call to honesty: We will describe abortion to you, and you tell us if  that’s what you’re talking about.

Normally I would say "enjoy" as I referred you to another site but with this one I cannot offer that.  Instead may I say "be exhorted to take action".

http://www.priestsforlife.org/action/abortion-procedure-revealed-2.htm

As the saying goes "art imitates life" but it seems that recent events may put a new spin on that phrase with art imitating death.

Yesterday there was significant uproar online surrounding reports that Aliza Shvarts, a Yale art student, artificially impregnated herself and then used an herbal "abortifacient" substance to cause abortions multiple times over a 9 month period for an art project.

Today, however, the NY Sun and other sources including the Yale Arts Library Blog are reporting that Yale officials are claiming that the horrific events never actually occurred but are part of the student's "performance art" and that the events described were simply "creative fiction".

Fox News reports that a Georgia State University economist has found that divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing is costing U.S. taxpayers over $112 billion [yes, with a "b"] per year. As a child of divorce I recognize that, while there is a financial cost to society, the greater (and less quantifiable) cost is in the damage it does to the children in those situations.

The most significant part of that damage is stunting of spiritual and personal growth of the children who do not have both parents in the home modeling proper man-woman, husband-wife, father-child, mother-child relationships. Granted, even in homes where both parents are present, there is not always proper modeling of those relationships but the complete absence of one parent or the other makes it especially difficult for the remaining parent.

A dear brother shared this with me and I thought it definitely worth sharing! :)

The Computer Engineer's Haggadah -------------------------- >> Release ISRAEL ISRAEL running in slave mode, cannot release

>>Set ISRAEL;mode=master Pharaoh already running in master mode, cannot change ISRAEL

>>Set Pharaoh;mode=slave Command ignored

>>Load Moshe Done

>>Deactivate Pharaoh Pharaoh account hard locked;cannot be deactivated

>>For i=1 to 10 do plagues Are you sure? Y Done

As we draw into the final week before the moed of Pesach/Chag HaMatzot we should give heed to the instruction found in the Torah:

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

-Exodus 12:15

As always, the physical commandment provides us with a picture of the spiritual truth.  Both should be obeyed.  We should clean the leaven from our homes both physically and spiritually.