T.J.I.F.A.

THANK JESUS IT'S FRIDAY AGAIN!  
PASS IT ON ...& ON...& ON...& ON.
JUNE 20, 2003

TJIFA TAKES A MOMENT TO SALUTE THOSE WHO LEND US A HELPING HAND.  THOSE WHO "PASS IT ON & ON & ON."  WE THANK FRANKLIN'S PRINT SHOP ON COVINGTON HIGHWAY FOR A SUPERB JOB ON OUR SNAIL MAIL.  WE THANK INTEGRITY.COM FOR THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF OUR  WEB SERVER, READYWRITER.COM   WE GIVE GOD ALL THE PRAISE FOR THE RECIPIENTS OF OUR FAX  NEWSLETTERS .  WE KNOW THAT WITHOUT ALL OF YOU TJIFA COULDN'T WITHSTAND THE ONSLAUGHT FROM THE ENEMY.  ONCE AGAIN SALUTE!  AND A BIG THANK YOU!  

SUBJECT: THE FISH FACTS, AND REALITY

THIS WEEK WE LOOK AT AN ARTICLE WRITTEN IN U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT ABOUT THE SHORTAGE OF FISH IN THE OCEANS OF THE WORLD.  THEN WE LOOK AT WHAT GOD IS DOING ALL OVER THE WORLD.
 
NOTEWORTHY: TIMELY QUOTES FROM BMCC AND SOME INTERESTING THOUGHTS ABOUT CROSSWORDS AND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

FRIDAY'S WORD:  ECOLOGY

IN THE MIRROR: A CALL AND REASON  TO PRAY

O TASTE AND SEE:  HOW ABOUT SOME COLE SLAW FOR THE DAYS OF SUMMER COMING?    HELP YOURSELF.

LOOKING FORWARD
SEE YA NEXT TIME!

TER

THE FISH FACTS AND REALITY         

Psalm 23:1-3  The LORD is my Shepherd I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters; He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of Righteousness for His Name's Sake.  

In the U.S. News and World Report June 9, 2003, there is an article that informs us   that the fishing industry is waning because of the lack of fish in the oceans of the world.  It tells us that, "Heedless consumption in  the past decades has driven the Orange  Ruffy from abundance to scarcity in just a few years.  Only after the fish,  that can live over one hundred and fifty years,  had become a popular staple, did Scientists realize that Ruffies could not stand up to heavy fishing.  It takes decades to mature.              

This article mentions that in one place they started farming the Whiting and banned fishing, especially commercial fishing, for five years.  Now the Whiting population is back to high levels of normal again.  

It is supposed that this tactic, which seemed to work, be initiated on other species of popular catches, or demand fish also.  

The bare facts about popular fish is there is LACK.  The Ecologist are fiercely hunting a plausible plan to conserve the Ecological balance in the Seas and Oceans, and this may call for you to change your ‘fish eating' patterns.  Otherwise, this article says that we will be eating Jelly Fish and/or Barnacles.  
From the: June 9, 2003 U.S. News  and World report...Cover  story Fished Out " It's not too late to rescue the Oceans and keep seafood on our plates."  by Thomas Haden.

NOTE:  To anticipate lack or forecast insufficiency   is to believe that when you finish, whatever you have started, there is NO possibility of replicating, duplicating or creating again that which has gone on before.   

There may be some truth in this thought, but, REALITY sweeps in with the understanding that GOD Created.  And He is still Creating.  Everything that was created was created by the Hand of GOD plus NOTHING.  The ageless question  is...Is He still Creating?  David, in Psalm 51:10, asked GOD to," Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me."  Jesus spat on clay and the blind man received his sight; He created life out of death for Lazarus.  

I believe that GOD is still creating today.
TER  

Matthew 14:15-21:   

And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, This is a desert place and the time is now past; send  the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals.  But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart, give ye them to eat.  And they say unto Him, We have here but five loaves and two fishes.  He said, bring them hither to me.  And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven, He blessed and brake, and gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.  And they did all eat, and were filled; and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.  And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, and beside women and children.         

This great miracle is recorded in the Gospels. What is interesting in these records is that the MULTITUDES were hungry.  They didn't need a snack, they needed a meal.  He didn't ask His disciples for a ‘net' nor a fishing pole.  He didn't tell them to GO and FIND food for His flock.  Jesus wasn't concerned about the ecological standing of the Ocean or the Sea.  His command was "You, feed them."  Then He proceeded to look up, bless, brake and met the need of the multitudes.  

There was no lack!  There were even twelve baskets full taken up when everyone was satisfied.
Jesus is portrayed in this passage as "The Good Shepherd," He makes His flock to sit in green grass, then anoints them with prayer, feeds them and their cup runs over.  

GOD made the Oceans and supplied them with fish a plenty.  GOD knows every single fish who will feed the bears, lions wild things and men.  His math is so awesome that he even calculated how many we'd need until the end of time...  Which draws out the question: Are we in the last days?  Are food sources dwindling because there will be no need for it? Is Jesus really coming Back?  

This isn't a suggestion that the Ecologists are wrong, indeed, they're probably  factually correct. Anyone reading this Newsletter today, may take the assumption that we are against Ecologists...NOT SO!  

Health Food advocates and Nutritionists  have encouraged us to eat FISH.   Now, we are told that the fish population is waning.  We had to stop eating hamburgers, because the Cows went "Mad."  And now, the fish reserves have been depleted by bad fishing habits, and greedy consumers.  Whew!        

The Good News...There's no lack for the Child of GOD. [Phil.4:19]
Jesus called His Disciples to be Fishers of Men. [Matt.4:19]    (Not Fishers of Fish)

We won't always be here.  The Bible says, there is a day coming.  A day of tribulation and LACK.  There's coming a day,  according  to Revelations8:9,  when; "and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died;" and in vs.11 we read, "and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter."  No matter how many fish we have saved or farmed, the fish won't be consumable.      

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.[Matt.12:34]   To preach lack and insufficiency is to believe in yourself.  To believe in yourself is to ignore the Grace of GOD and His Sovereignty.  When you believe in lack and your ability to control it, you also have a disbelief in the Power of GOD to maintain that which He has created.

You don't really believe that we are here for a short time. You also may have a hard time with the second coming of Jesus Christ and the extreme possibility that this earth and all there is in it is obeying the voice of GOD, as we march toward the end.  So in your rebellion you scream "Let's save the Fish!"  Instead of telling your brother about Christ and getting him SAVED from the  disaster  that is progressing with every tick of the clock and every breath that you breathe.      

The facts are that the fish are dwindling in number from the Oceans and Seas of the World, according to the Ecologist.  The Reality is that there may not be a need. Only God Knows!
 
Looking Forward
See Ya Next Time

TER


NOTEWORTHY:  

For those who believe in GOD, no explanation is necessary.  For those who do not believe in GOD no explanation is possible.
From the movie - "The Song of Bernadette."  

When you live every hour
By the Grace of His Power
And you know He will guide you aright,
Then day in and day out Faith is stronger than doubt,
And Faith puts your worries to flight.  
By Gilbert

"Feeding your faith will starve your doubts."  Unknown

Submitted by: BMCC
---------------------------

New findings about Alzheimer's Disease:
Reading books  playing games, like cards and checkers, doing crosswords and other puzzles ; going to museums and watching television and listening to radio, those,  and other activities , that stimulate the mind may cut the risk of Alzheimer's disease.  Researchers asked more than 800 Alzheimer's  people age 65 and older how  often they participated   in mentally challenging activities.  Four years later, the people who had reported more mental activity, were less likely to have the disease.  Physical activity had no impact on risk.  

This study doesn't prove that Crossword Puzzles will ward off Alzheimer's Disease.  If Alzheimer's starts ten years before its diagnosed, it's possible  that the people who didn't read, do puzzles etc., already had an early form of the disease that was too mild for the researchers to detect when the study began.  

But it doesn't hurt to keep your mind moving.      

From:  Health Action Newsletter-May 2003


FRIDAY'S WORD: ecology; ecol*o*gy; (noun) science concerned with the interaction of organisms and their environment

IN THE MIRROR: In watching Nightline News last week, I found myself with greater than normal concerns. Secular news and commentary has caught my attention more than usual, because there is more going on in the world in recent history than any decade that I'm aware of. When I learn of two major factions vowing the destruction of the other, there's no question in my mind to seek God's face to see where the human race is really headed.

As I write, I'm not writing to just the American population, but to a people, created  by God; people who the Bible says are "made in the image of God; people who may have a different complection, or come from a  societal  backround unlike the one you or I came up in; people who are heterogeneous, and yet in all, a people.  

Yes, my message speaks largely about a war, but one where so many innocent people, like the readers of this newsletter will be innocently caught up. You may see my statement as being way off track, but I'm thinking of my children, my children's children, and every generation to follow. They are a part of  us even now.

Before we go any further, I would like to instill something within you to already give you a clear perspective as to where we want to go with what God has given me. There's a passage of scripture that everybody who has embraced Jesus Christ need to hold foremost regardless of multiple news briefs on any event. 11Timothy1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and a sound mind." So by ‘fear' being a ‘spirit', it's good to know you have a greater ‘Spirit' operating within you, and having an in-depth knowledge of God's word, we're supposed to triumph when it comes to our most formidable anxieties.

Galatians 6:7 tells us, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."  Read in  context of the lives of so many people God has allowed me to come to know in my Christian journey; this is one of the most comforting scriptures in the Bible. Why? ... I'm glad you asked!

Take a real good look around you, and you will see the products and the results of the seeds you have sown over the years, one minute at a time, one hour at a time, one day, one week, one month, year, etc.; but they all started out as the little acorn that one day became the tall oak tree. Seeds that were sown, and found an area of fertilization, a place in which to grow, whether by human nature, or godly character, it grew.

When you look into your own life and admit that everything "good" didn't turn out good, and everything "bad" ultimately didn't turn out bad; ... factor in God's grace, His  omniscience , His sovereignty,  and you'll have an improved perspective on your own life's analysis.

In Max Anders book, 21 UNBREAKABLE LAWS OF LIFE, published in 1996, he shares some very interesting views that will be very helpful in light of the disparaging news that may come across your path. It's true that we are going to be caught in the fallout, or the aftermath; (of the world events) and to imply that there's some immunity, or exemption waiting especially for you/us, is just not realistic.( I'll mention all the innocent lives lost just this year alone, and then I'll go on.)

All that God has given us in His word is never meant to "scare," But only to "prepare."
Just the identical way that we've learned from a child up to prepare for the next inevitable level in life, we must not forget, or forsake our next level in Eternity.

I'm sharing something right now for every Christian, and for the person who may read this, and still think they can afford to deny the obvious existence of the Bible. It's found in chp. 19, Set Free by the Truth.

"If we abandon the belief that absolute truth exists, we destroy the credibility of the Bible.  The Bible not only declares that absolute truth exists, it claims to be absolutely true itself, down to the last single letter.  If you deny the existence of  absolute truth, you deny the truth of the Bible and everything it teaches.
If the Bible is wrong in its claim to be absolutely true, how can we trust it to be true in anything it says?  If the Bible has one mistake in it, who's to say it doesn't have two or two hundred?
What do we lose when we lose absolute truth?  We lose the Bible and all that it teaches about GOD, Jesus, Life and Death, Heaven and Hell.  We lose hope for life after death."    

I say in conclusion, and in view of Gal.6:7, WE MUST PRAY .These are the seeds that we can apparently sow now, only to see them save our children in the generations to come. S.L.C.

O TASTE AND SEE!  

COLE SLAW


1   MEDIUM SIZED HEAD OF CABBAGE
1   MEDIUM ONION CHOPPED  
2   CARROTS PEELED AND CHOPPED
DASH GARLIC POWDER
1/4   CUP APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
1    TSP SALT
2  TBLSPS  SUGAR
1/8    TSP BLACK PEPPER
1   TBLSP VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

DIRECTIONS:

CUT CABBAGE IN HALF THEN IN FOURTHS; SLICE THINLY WITH SHARP KNIFE THEN CHOP CROSSWISE- OR CHOP FINELY.
ADD CHOPPED ONION AND CHOPPED CARROTS.     MIX THROUGHLY BY TOSSING. SET ASIDE.
IN SMALL BOWL PLACE ALL OTHER INGREDIENTS EXCEPT OIL

STIR UNTIL SUGAR IS NO LONGER GRAINY, THEN ADD OIL.  
POUR GENEROUSLY OVER ENTIRE CABBAGE MIXTURE- TOSS.  PLACE A LID OVER MIXTURE AND SHAKE WELL. (THIS DISTRIBUTES DRESSING OVER ENTIRE MIXTURE.)  
PLACE IN REFRIGERATOR AND LET COOL.
DEPENDING ON SIZE OF CABBAGE - SERVES MANY AS A SIDE DISH.

NOTE: YOU MAY WANT TO POUR RANCH DRESSING OVER YOUR INDIVIDUAL SERVING AS A CREAMY TOUCH.  YUM.  YUM.

W.H.S.