Just wanted to once again mention how much I LOVE our forum AND the "behind the scenes" guy, Jay!!!   This site is really very well designed.

LOVE IT!!!    

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

I'm starting the formatting for Ed's book on OT prophets, combining the book on minor prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. I'll post updates here as I go along.

As always, here's the library, with to the PDFs and current print books: https://library.radixfidem.org/

Enjoy the photos of the flashlight turning into the ambiguous red blob 

It was decently clear in Pittsburgh...only a few clouds here and there. The first few here were taken without night mode on, so Luna (the lady deserves a proper name) looks as she normally does, but maybe you can make out the shadow curve of the eclipse starting.

Interesting to note that before the eclipse, since the sun is shining directly onto Luna's surface, you don't see the shadows of the craters you normally do, when the light hits her at an angle. So even through our telescope it looks mostly light gray, and featureless.

One of the newer, and more fun, conspiracy theories, is that the millennial reign of the church happened after the fall of Rome (preterism), but also that the church established a kingdom in the East and Far East, called Tartaria. Tartaria is essentially the already-vague Tartary Empire, but juiced up a little more. 

Tartaria supposedly had spread into many areas around the world that previously thought, indicated by classical architecture all around the world that seems to share characteristics they shouldn't...mostly just their elaborate designs. It hints that the millennial church had superhuman abilities to design and create these buildings without the aid of industrial or space-age technology. These buildings, though. were literally covered up, or at least partially, by a great "mud flood" that sullied Tartaria's glory, just in time for the end of the 1000 year church reign. The theory also claims Tartaria's history was covered up in the historical sense, its true Christian nature denied by historians. Or denied by Satan. Satan is rather involved in this storyline.

Some videos are below. It's almost 100% nonsense, though here and there there a few interesting points that really aren't significant but are good to keep in mind. One crazy idea, I think in the "part 2" video (second one), is that some older coins dated after the first millennium, between 1000 AD up until the 1800s or so, the "1" is actually an "I." Coins stamped with 1766, for instance, would really be from 766. Just because.

Giant humans also feature nicely into this, which you can see in the 3rd video below.

I don't take this stuff seriously. It's more entertainment, a story, to me, than anything else. But it is something to take note of.

Cross-posting these from my blog here.

Finally, Jesus offers an explanation of His symbolic warning that the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Matthew is the only one who offers this parable.

There was a common trade of day laborers among the Hebrews. For centuries, the pay had been a half-shekel, but that worked out to be the same as one denarius in Jesus' day. The peasants who lived this way typically managed to make it through the year by working a little here and there on projects that required extra labor. But for most of their lives, the average peasant family survived on just what the men could make during the various seasonal harvests. Grapes ripened in mid-summer.

So the vineyard owner duly went out to the market square early in the morning and picked up all the available workers. They all agreed to work the standard 12-hour day for one denarius. We believe their workday was 6 AM to 6 PM. He told them where to report for work and went about his day's other business. Three hours into the workday (9 AM), he went and found another bunch, and directed them to his vineyard. As the day wore on, he did the same thing again at noon and 3 PM. Finally, he found more peasants standing idle at 5 PM that weren't there before, and so sent them off to his vineyard.

By custom, the pay of those who came later could be pro-rated. However, the owner was not like that. He knew that this was their livelihood, and cared about the Covenant welfare of his people. So, he had his paymaster call the last group first and pay them the whole day's wage. Those who had been working the whole twelve hours fussed about the obvious inequity.

The vineyard owner responded that he could be generous if he wanted. However, the Covenant provided for a certain shalom blessing, and that's what he wanted for everyone.

Too many people make the mistake of thinking this is about spiritual birth. That's missing the point. Jesus had just dealt with the Rich Young Ruler, and was teaching His disciples how to make sense of God's Covenant mercy and generosity, while at the same time being so hard on the wealthy and powerful. In the long run, the Covenant was to provide for a basic level of mortal welfare. Many have used the term "reasonable prosperity" to identify a part of what the Covenant promised in shalom.

The Law of Moses hammered hard on the issue of Covenant identity. The whole nation of Israel was one big family. While you might be a little guarded with folks you never met, and even your first cousins might try to defraud you, the Covenant was a great leveler. However, this moral principle was also something Jews commonly rejected, and this rejection was prominent in Jesus' day. It was especially so among those who had the wealth of the vineyard owner, but not his heart for the Lord. Thus, Jesus was warning that those who put themselves first in worldly terms would end up feeling short-changed by the actual covenant demands (as the Rich Young Ruler did). Those who were humble and just happy to be included in God's family were the ones who would come out ahead.

In the Kingdom of the Messiah, humility and service are the definition of leadership. Compassionate sacrifice is the true coin of the Realm.

Note: You need to understand that the way the paymaster gave the last to arrive their pay first does not explain the enigmatic statement Jesus used to introduce the parable; it's Hebrew humor injected into the answer. Puns and sarcasm are a critical part of the Hebrew sense of humor, and Jesus used them a lot.

I'm agreeing with Linda that we should pray that the Lord allow at least some of us to meet together sometime in the coming year. I have no idea what kind of logistics this calls for, but part of my prayers about mobility living point to this very thing. I'm sensing a very strong pastoral burden for all of you, and it's almost unbearable that we can't meet in the flesh. Let's pray that the Lord grant this extravagant request, and see what miracles He will do.

Hospital staffer volunteered that the ER has been swamped lately with either very ill people or broken bones. Staffer said, "alot of broken bones." 
I definitely got to see a busy ER day. People came in vomiting. Some came in wailing. One lady just was for hours in a wheel chair in enormous pain. A child screamed for an hour with a cut above her eye. One lady was repeatedly vomiting and doubled over in pain. People were in the hallways in beds because of no room availability.
I noticed everything was just dirty. Unknown liquid like substances on the waiting room floor I had to avoid.
However, staff was very nice to us. I have to say the doctor attending to my daughter was masked up like going into a war zone, the mask had all these filters and 3 head straps.
It all seemed like I had stepped in as an extra on the set of a dark comedy.

Was in the ER yesterday my daughter is in the hospital. This is my oldest daughter they are treating her for stroke protocol she was born with some challenges physically so we are always prepared. Her name is Love.
Might you pray with me that the Father will turn to her and have mercy on her and bring her out of her distress and look upon her affliction and her pain and forgive all her sin and that His most perfect will be done in the Lord Jesus name, amen.