The Council Has Spoken!! This Week’s Watcher’s Council Results - Easter Passover Edition

JoshuaPundit on Mar 29 2013:

Alea iacta est…The Council Has Spoken!, the votes have been cast, and we have the results for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

This is an important week for a lot of reasons.

It was the week of the Pessah, the Passover, the time when Jews the world over fulfill the mitzva of retelling the story of the Exodus and their delivery from the house of bondage, a time to celebrate as free men and women their G-d-given freedom and to eat the unleavened bread, matzoh, to commemorate their ancestor’s journey and deliverance from bondage and slavery and the giving of the Torah at Har Sinai. It is a time, according to the Mishnah, when every Jew should conduct himself as though he personally was redeemed from bondage by G-d’s own hand.

This is also Holy week, culminating in Easter Sunday, the day Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. That too is a festival of freedom…freedom from sin, freedom of the soul and a promise of eternal life.

No, the rolling away of the stone does not only refer to a physical object.

Both holidays change their dates on our calendar from year to year..Passover because it is based on the centuries old Hebrew lunar calender, and Easter because the early Church fathers determined that Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon date of the year, which always occurs after Passover. But they always come close together.

It is fitting and appropriate that the two holidays should be linked in this way. Jesus had come to Jerusalem for the Passover ceremonies and the famous Last Supper was a Passover seder. The bread Jesus spoke of as recorded in the Gospels was none other than the humble matzoh, the unleavened bread the Hebrew made because they were ‘in haste to depart’ from Egypt and had no time for it to rise.

At this time, when freedom is under attack in ways and in places where we never supposed it ever would be, it is important to reflect on the message of Passover and Easter, and how that message can freee of from bondage…especially the chains we forge ourselves.

I and my fellow Council members wish you and yours Chag Pessah Sameach and a blessed Easter.

Speaking of the Holy Land, after 4 years of a fairly hostile and contentious relationship, President Obama finally saw fit to visit Israel as president.

This week’s winning piece, Narcissus In The Promised Land Redux: Obama Learns You Can’t Fool All Of The People All Of The Time over at Joshuapundit was my reaction to the president’s trip and what occurred. Here’s a slice:

I could almost pity President Obama for having his nose rubbed in the truth of Abraham Lincoln’s famous statement if the mess wasn’t so thoroughly of his own making.

President Obama got a friendly, if skeptical reception in Israel, because most Israelis are in fact pro-American.But Israelis, particularly sabras are noted for looking at deeds rather than words and schmooze.

While they appreciated President Obama’s fine words on America’s commitment to Israel as an ally, they also remember his previous hostility, his repudiation of agreements made with Israel by President Bush and his call for them to re-divide Jerusalem and retreat to indefensible borders.

And they notice that he chose to land in Tel Aviv rather than Israel’s capitol Jerusalem, that he chose not address Israel’s Knesset, that he was ‘too busy’ to meet personally with victims of Palestinian terrorism even if they hold American citizenship, that he refused to invite students at Ariel University to his speech to Israeli students…simply because their university is located in Judea ( AKA The West Bank), even though it’s on land Jews purchased legally before Israel was even a state.

And many of them also noticed this map of Israel put out by Obama’s State Department in spokesman Ben Rhodes’ offical statement..that shows a map of Israel on the pre ’67 lines, without the Golan, Judea and Samaria or East Jerusalem:

In the president’s speech to Israeli students, he somehow forgot that over half a million Israelis (including a lot of the students he was speaking to) live in what he still refers to as ‘settlements’, saying that “Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable, that real borders will have to be drawn,” and warning that Israel “must reverse an undertow of isolation”.

In other words, Israel building homes and infrastructure for it’s people – bad, hurts chances for peace. The Palestinian Authority’s constant incitement against Jews, funneling donor aid to Hamas and using it to pay salaries to convicted killers in Israeli jails, holding up the murderers of Israeli civilians as role models and heroes? The actions of a peace partner!

Yes, that’s the looking glass world our Narcissus lives in, where his warped perceptions become ‘what everyone knows’.

Trying as usual to have it both ways, the president also said it was time for the Arab world to “take steps toward normalizing relations” with Israel and that “Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state, and that Israelis have the right to insist upon their security”.

How that’s going to be accomplished with the borders he proposes the president did not elaborate on.And that’s especially telling in view of the reception the president got in Ramallah from the Palestinians before he spoke to the students.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Sultan Knish with Night Falls on Civilization submitted by The Noisy Room. All I can say is read it for yourself.

OK, here are this week’s full results. Gay Patriot and Rhymes With Right were unable to vote this week, but neither was subject to the mandatory 2/3 penalty

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 votes! Joshuapundit –Narcissus In The Promised Land Redux: Obama Learns You Can’t Fool All Of The People All Of The Time
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Right Planet – Think About It
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Bookworm Room- While it’s not government’s role to advance morality, it’s also not its role to advance immorality
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Razor -The Day After: When Iran Successfully Tests The Bomb
• Third place with 1 vote – The Noisy Room - Islamic Dogs of War – The Use Of Gang-Rape to Subjugate Infidels and Those that Resist
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote –  Gay Patriot-Our pathetic debate on gay marriage
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator-King Abdullah of Jordan knows what the Obama administration is too blind to see!
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – A Response To Mayor Bloomberg On Infringing Upon Freedom
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! –It’s Easter! To Liberals it is ‘Hate a Christian’ Week
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – Gay “marriage”: Before the high court now
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote –  GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Ottmanic – Little Satan Hook Up
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi – To the Americans
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote –  Simply Jews – On questioning professor Joseph Levine

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Sultan Knish- Night Falls on Civilization submitted by The Noisy Room
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Caroline Glick –The Meaning and Consequences of Israel’s Apology to Turkey submitted by The Watcher
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Reason.Com – How Debt Ruins Systems submitted by The Razor
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes - Carl Cameron/Zen Pundit - Close reading, Synoptic- and Sembl-style, for parallels, patterns submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fourth place with 1 vote Taki’s Magazine  -The Irrational (Yet Perfectly Understandable) Nature of Blood Vengeance s submitted by Joshuapundit
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes - Right Truth – The Near-Martyrdom of Lars Hedegaard submitted by The Political Commentator
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Philosemitism – The Very Real Jewish Exodus From France submitted by Simply Jews
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Flashpoints – What to Make of Syria’s Chemical Weapons Claim? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - CNS News – CBO: America Will Never See Full Employment Under Obama submitted by VA Right!
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Breitbart.com – Jim Kerry’s ‘Cold Dead Hand’ Blames Charlton Heston For Country’s Gun Violence submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Buckhorn Road – Feinstein’s fascist firearm follies fall in flames… but the fight is far from finished submitted by The Colossus Of Rhodey
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote  -Andrea Neal/IndyStar.com – Left, right unite against Common Core submitted by The Right Planet

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – Retired Army Captain Warns “DHS Acquisitions are a ‘bold threat of war’ Against the American People”
• Liberty’s Spirit – Obfuscated History
• The Pirate’s Cove – Settled Science: The Planet Is No Longer Warming

See you next week! Because of Easter Sunday, this week’s Forum will not appear, but don’t forget to tune in a week from this Monday AM for the Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

Wishing you all a Happy Easter and/or Passover

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The Greatest Story Ever Told…

I was looking for words for my Easter greeting and then received the following in my inbox… it was exactly what my husband Tim and I had been talking about on our walk earlier in the day.  I couldn’t write or say it better: 

Many of us grew up celebrating Easter as the holiday where a cute little bunny rabbit brought chocolate and other delicious treats for everyone to eat. All we had to do was look diligently for the eggs hidden around the house and eventually it would lead us to the only thing we cared about: that giant basket of goodies.

Many are still celebrating Easter in a similar fashion. It's become tradition - it's just what we do. This year I have a radical suggestion: start a new tradition. Something that goes much, much deeper than a furry rabbit & candy.

Now don't get me wrong - I'd be lying if I told you there was no chocolate involved in my Easter weekend. I'd also be lying if I told you there were no Peeps or other marshmallow-y related food products. Or jelly beans. Or Twizzlers. There's nothing wrong with having a little egg hunt & candy at Easter - it's fun. But there is something wrong when Easter becomes all about the bunnies and the eggs and the chocolate.

Easter is actually The Greatest Story Ever Told - yet mankind has managed to water it down to an opportunity to devour a few extra M&M's and are actually 'offended' when they hear it. How could that be? What's offensive about this: The very first Easter weekend - three days that changed the world forever - took place over 2,000 years ago. Mankind was lost, floundering - headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock - and suffered greatly in doing so. He didn't have to - but He did. That is why we celebrate.

And that is why we need to start a new tradition this Easter - whether you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan, still thinking about it (come on already!), etc - because the holiday has nothing to do with chocolate. It's about showing love. Instead of just pounding some creme eggs & jelly beans - reach out to a friend or neighbor or total stranger. Get to know them - and look for ways you can help them. Donate your time. Donate some food. Whatever it is, just find a way to help someone in need.

America's woes are easily solvable with that one, powerful, incredible word: love. That is why we are gathering this summer for Restoring Love in Dallas at Cowboys Stadium - to remind people of our greater purpose and stir us to action. It's also why I have great hope - because I know the American people & what we are capable of when we put our minds, and more importantly our hearts, to something.

I look forward to hearing about your new Easter tradition - one that I believe will save the country.

Have a great Easter!

Laus Deo, 

Glenn Beck - April 6, 2012 (A man who has been demonized and could use our prayers as well!)

If you don’t know the story make it a goal to go to a church on Easter Sunday or an Easter pageant, watch a video, pick up the Bible or ask someone to tell you the story… It could change your life, even if it doesn’t convert you.  As Glenn says… It is a story of love.

I grew up a Christmas-Easter Catholic; my parents were burnt out Catholic school survivors from Europe, where the nuns ruled the classroom and the church had a lot of affect over their lives… until the Nazis took over. My husband occasionally went to church with the neighbors when he was a child and neither of us went to church regularly until we found a church together and re-dedicated our lives at age 40.  Yet because life was different when we grew up, we had enough of the basics and knew enough of the teachings that God and tradition were always part of our lives and decisions.  ‘He’ was at the center of American life.

The 14 years we spent involved with our children in the Glory of Easter (and Christmas) pageants and other church activities were some of the best of our lives.  They gave each holiday real meaning… not just baskets, bunnies, presents, trees, parties and celebrations.

Happy Easter

What Easter Is Really All About~

Audio Message:  Epic Easter with Glenn Beck, featuring Jesus, Pink Floyd & lasers  -  Beautiful job!!

(Below)

Jesus' Death - 60 seconds to understand
60 seconds with God...
For the next 60 seconds, set aside whatever you're doing and take this opportunity and then share it!
Let's see if Satan can stop this.

THE (SCIENTIFIC) DEATH OF JESUS

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.

At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus, unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.

Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.

The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed.

There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.

The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist, that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breathe.

Both of His feet were nailed together.

Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross.
Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain, so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breathe.

Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage. 
Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.
Yes, over 3 hours!

Can you imagine this kind of suffering?

A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. 

He was simply pouring water from his wounds.

From common images, we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side... 

But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body.

A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even large nail 
hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. 

But before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and beaten. 

The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. 

The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. 

The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp. 

Most men would not have survived this torture.  

He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds.

The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood. 

Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood; 

He had three nails hammered into His members; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest. 

All these without mentioning the humiliation…

He passed after carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, here His hands were nailed).

Jesus had to endure this experience, so that you can have free access to God.
So that your sins could be "washed" away.
All of them, with no exception!
Don't ignore this situation.

JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU!

For you, who now read this.

Do not believe that He only died for others (those who go to church or for pastors, bishops, etc).

He died for you! It is easy to pass jokes and false witness statements by e-mail, but when it comes to God, sometimes you feel ashamed to forward to others because you are worried of what they may think about you.

Accept the reality, the truth that JESUS IS THE ONLY SALVATION FOR THE WORLD.
God has plans for you, show all your friends what He experienced to save you.

Now think about this!

May God bless your life!

All you have to do is:

1.   Simply pray for the person who shared this message to you: 

2. Then copy and send this message to 10 people... More if you wish.

3. 10 people will pray for you and you will make that many people pray to God for other people.

4. Take a moment to appreciate the power of God in your life, for doing what pleases Him.

If you are not ashamed to do this, please, follow Jesus' instructions. He said (Matthew 10:32 & 33):

"Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before My Father in heaven; but whosoever denies Me before others, I also will deny before My Father in heaven."

If you believe, share this message...

But send it only if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Yes, I love God.
He is my source of life and my Savior.
He keeps me alive day and night.
Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."  Philippians 4:13.

This is the simple proof.

If you love God and you are a believer and trust in salvation through Jesus Christ,
share this to all those you love.

Video: Crucification and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 'Obama drafting potential new peace proposal'   =  the peace treaty in Jerusalem significance in the Bible

Thursday, April 21, 2011 1:37:30 PM · by 444Flyer · 10 replies

JPost.com ^ | 4-21-11 | Staff

White House officials  are working furiously on new negotiation plan, 'New York Times' reports; Clinton calls for immediate resumption of talks. US President Barack Obama's advisers are working to draft a fresh potential Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The conceivable proposal will address the four major sticking points which have repeatedly foiled negotiations in the past three decades, the Times said. Those include the right of the return for Palestinian refugees, a desire which Obama will likely declare untenable, as well as the bifurcation of Jerusalem. Obama's plan was tipped to call for the division of Jerusalem,...

I love dying Easter Eggs, and making baskets for the kids dressed in their new Sunday best as much as the next Mom, Grandma, Aunt, God-Mother or neighbor!  But let us make sure that they understand that new clothes, Easter eggs, baskets of goodies and the Easter Bunny are the fun and entertainment for Easter… not the reason for or the essence of Easter. 

If we are not taking our kids to church or Sunday school and teaching them what Christianity and the birth and death of Christ is all about, we are cheating them.  We are not doing our job as parents, grandparents and most especially Christians!!  That then rolls over to American youth not understanding the Judeo-Christian principles that the Founding Fathers of America used as a basis for the American Bill of Rights, Constitution, foundation of law and the standards for American society.  When we stopped taking our kids to church and let the Progressives re-write American history, we started to lose the country and foundation for Freedom that we knew and loved.  If you understand the Bible and true American history (from Original sources), you know that America was a God inspired nation.

One of the greatest gifts we ever received was our family being part of the casts of Glory of Easter and Glory of Christmas for the Crystal Cathedral for over 8-years, and then our daughter went on to fly several more as one of the Angels, during her college years.  It was a five week daily commitment for Easter and my husband portrayed one of the thieves on the cross who died with Christ.  There was not a day that passed that our hearts were not touched as the scene of Christ’s death was enacted.  And being part of sharing that with others and then greeting many of the audience members after the show was much more of a gift than the time spent or schedule inconveniences that people always questioned, commented on or used as excuses not to get involved themselves.

This Easter and Passover Season freedom of religion, Christianity and Judaism has been under attack not only around the world but here within the United States.  It is something that we cannot ignore!! Freedom of religion is one of the cornerstones of America and the primary reason the Pilgrims and others came here from England.  Prayer is one of our greatest weapons… if we use it!  Do you remember the story of the women of Brazil credited for saving their country by banding together in prayer?

Let us all remember and celebrate the true meaning of Easter today!!