Deborah the judge Judges 4-5.

Deborah the judge Judges 4-5

JUDGES Israel was to be the example of God’s people Under Gods rule ….the Torah for the nations Conquest incomplete

JUDGES – ISRAEL’S TOTAL FAILURE
1-2 3-16 `17-21 Moral corruption by Caananites WORSENING TRAJECTORY OF JUDGES Israel’s failure of conquest Corruption of Israel’s judges Corruption of People of Israel

Judges 2 Cycle of Judges

JUDGES – ISRAEL’S TOTAL FAILURE
1-2 3-16 17-21 Epic battles –defeat evil Cycle of sin Othniel Jd 3a Gideon Jd 6-9 Jephtah Jd 10-12 Samson Jd 13-16 In those days there was no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes Character flaws of judges Ehud Jd 3b Deborah Jd 4-5 Israel’s failure of conquest Corruption of Israel’s judges Corruption of People of Israel

JUDGES JUDGES 5

Spiritual lessons from judges 4-5
The Lord always acts on behalf of His people The Lord moves in partnership with His people The Lord uses the weak to confound the strong The Lord uses women mightily in ministry

A. The Lord always acts on behalf of His people

God is the main actor Judges 4: 4-23 Cycle of Judges
15.And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword Judges 3:30 (ESV) So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years. Judges 4:1 (ESV) And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. Judges 4:4 (ESV) Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. God is the main actor Cycle of Judges Judges 4:2 (ESV) And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. Najib 15.And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword Judges 4:3 (ESV) Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

Role of the song Judges 5:3 (ESV) Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; to the Lord I will sing; I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.

Judges 5:4-5 (ESV) Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, yes, the clouds dropped water. 5 The mountains quaked before the Lord, even Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel.

Judges 5:31 So may all your enemies perish, O Lord
Judges 5:31 So may all your enemies perish, O Lord! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.”

Justice Mercy Sovereignty of god
He will be their God and they will be His people Covenant Justice Mercy Redemptive Long suffering Justice is redemptive his mercy is long suffering

Corruption of the judges
Hope beyond the judges New Covenant 1-2 3-16 17-21 Cycle of sin Corruption of the judges In those days there was no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes Davidic King Messiah Israel’s failure of conquest Corruption of People of Israel

New covenant Ezekiel 36:26-27 (ESV) And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

“our Lord and Master Jesus Christ
“our Lord and Master Jesus Christ willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. Martin Luther, “Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” (1517), Thesis 1 Martin Luther, “Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” (1517), Thesis 1 On the surface this looks a little bleak. Luther seems to be saying Christians will never make much progress in life. That, of course, wasn’t Luther’s point at all. He was saying that repentance is the way we make progress in the Christian life. Indeed, pervasive, all-of-life-repentance is the best sign that we are growing deeply and rapidly into the character of Jesus.

1 John 1:5-9 (ESV) This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

blessedness Psalms 32:1-2 (ESV) Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

We forget to remember Deuteronomy 8:11-14 (ESV) Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery

When does Israel sin? Warning Cycle of Judges Evil

We forget to remember Psalms 103:1-5 (ESV) Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Biblical concept of memory
Mental recall Remember Controlling consciousness. Having something so central to your consciousness that it controls how you act T Keller

Songs of moses Exodus 15 Deut 32 Psalm 90

Deuteronomy 32:44-47 (ESV) Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Jonathan Aitken mp I was there for 211 days – I counted them all. Every day I did far more praying, and thinking and Bible reading than ever before, because of the luxury of all the extra time If you don’t listen to God’s whispers, one day you’ll have to listen to God’s shouts Jonathan Aitken: How I found God in prison 28th June 2018 The former Conservative MP and Cabinet minister explains how an 18-month stint in prison led him to Christ and why he is now getting ordained in the Anglican Church I had spent 24 years in frontline politics when I made, to put it politely, a foolish mistake that revealed all kinds of flaws in my character and behaviour. I told a lie about who had paid a hotel bill in the Ritz. It was my hotel bill and I didn’t want journalists to find out, when they were on the trail, that it had actually been paid by a friend of mine, who is an Arab businessman. And so I said: “My wife has paid the bill”. And this foolish lie got me into deeper and deeper trouble; I repeated the lie under oath in court. And when my world fell apart there was a great cry that I should be prosecuted for perjury – which is perfectly fair. And so I was, and I pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to charges of perjury and was given 18 months’ imprisonment. My conversion God had been whispering to me for some time before I went to prison and there’s an old Christian saying that if you don’t listen to God’s whispers, one day you’ll have to listen to God’s shouts. And perhaps if you’re a rather arrogant, fairly successful person like I was, you sometimes have to get a great big divine kick up the backside before you move. For me it wasn’t a simple journey to faith. There wasn’t one moment when I said: “Hallelujah, I’m converted.” With me it was much more of a difficult, painful journey of stumbling, falling, sinning, backsliding, but all the while gathering momentum. All sorts of people helped me to gather momentum – pastors, friends, I went on an Alpha course (all of that was before prison). But while in prison, there were two or three special big changes. Firstly, to my surprise, I found that cells – as monks have found down the centuries – are a very good place to pray in. All that solitude, all that calmness – there’s noise outside your cell door, of course – but in the cell there was peace, and tranquillity and stillness, and I was able to think, and pray and read the Bible quite deeply. I was there for 211 days – I counted them all. Every day I did far more praying, and thinking and Bible reading than ever before, because of the luxury of all the extra time. Secondly, improbable people very often lead other people to God, and I got into, by coincidence, a prison prayer group consisting of some of the most unlikely characters I’ve ever met or am ever likely to meet again. The leader of the group was an armed robber, another guy was ‘the big dipper of Brixton’ – he was a specialist pickpocket, another man opened safes for a living, there were a couple of ‘lifers’ and a couple more burglars. It gave a new meaning to the Christian term ‘cell group’! Only God could have got the group together. But there’s something about the body of Christ in action. I still see the leader of the group Paddy - he and I remain good friends. I’m the godfather to his daughter. Leaving prison I often say to people that coming out of prison is harder than going into prison because you’ve really lost all your moorings, you’re not sure who your friends are and whether you’re going to get a job. I solved that problem in a rather unusual way. I sometimes joke that I went to the one institution in Britain that had worse food than a prison and worse plumbing than a prison. This was a distinguished Anglican theological college called Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. I became a full-time residential student there for over two years and took the exams in theology – that was a real turning point in my journey. I’ve had bucketfulls of cynicism poured over my head and at first I was slightly upset by this – that a good many people, especially in the media, would not believe that I might genuinely be a Christian. But as the years have rolled by, I’ve become more sympathetic to the cynics because, if I ponder what I may have been like if I’d heard a story of a parliamentary colleague getting into an embarrassing situation, being sent to prison and coming out saying: “I’ve found God and it’s all alright”, I’d probably have thought the same. I’ve learned an awful amount about forgiveness. The Christian faith is about loving your neighbour, loving God and then forgiveness. We have a forgiving God and I am constantly grateful for having been forgiven for some pretty rackety life choices and bad works. I think it’s a great joy that God and the Anglican Church is willing to forgive a wretch like me, a sinner like me, and are willing to ordain me. Return to prison God’s call is always mysterious and not easily explained. I have been going into prisons doing voluntary chaplaincy work for 15 years so it’s a world I know quite well, but I really hadn’t thought much about entering the ordained ministry. But about a year ago, mysteriously, insistent signals in my prayer life seemed to be saying: “You should think about this.” My immediate thought was: “Please God, don’t say that.” I felt there were pretty good practical objections – I wondered whether anyone would be willing to ordain me (but that didn’t bother me too much, I was willing to try), and more importantly, I’m quite old for this world – I’m 75 years old and that’s a late age to be starting a new career, a new Christian ministry. But I realised that only an ordained priest – which I will not be until next year - can give a blessing, can hear a confession and give absolution. So there are a whole range of duties a priest can perform much better with the authority of ordination. Finally, I was just moved to do it and so, here I am! Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom(1974–97), and a former Cabinet minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-months prison sentence, of which he served seven months. He was the president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Aitken was also a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.

B. The Lord moves in partnership with His people

Judges 4:10 (ESV) And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh
Judges 4:10 (ESV) And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him. Judges 5:13-15 (ESV) Then down marched the remnant of the noble; the people of the Lord marched down for me against the mighty. 14 From Ephraim their root they marched down into the valley, following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen; from Machir marched down the commanders,and from Zebulun those who bear the lieutenant's staff; 15 the princes of Issachar came with Deborah, and Issachar faithful to Barak;nto the valley they rushed at his heels.

Judges 5:18 (ESV) Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the field.

Judges 5:18 (ESV) Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the field. Judges 5:15-16 (ESV) Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. 16 Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds to hear the whistling for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.

Judges 5:17 (ESV) Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan; and Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, staying by his landings.

contrast Judges 5:24 (ESV) Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed.

Through a War, God Brings Revival to Syria Claire Evans 1/9/18
Through a War, God Brings Revival to Syria By Claire Evans 01/09/2018 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – For years, Syrian Christians had been praying for a revival. “But never did we imagine it would come because of war,” said one church leader. Seven years of civil war has left Syria in ruins. Many of those who came from Christian families left early on in the war, a cause of great despair as church leaders watched their congregants slowly disappear. As their country was slowly reduced to rubble, pastors did their best to help those in need. Many churches offered donated clothes and food packages to anyone who came to their doorstep in need of assistance. As time went on, the unexpected started happening. Muslims who came to churches for aid continued to sit in the pews, and they had many questions about Christianity. Hungry for the Gospel, many began to convert. A revival had arrived among Syrians. Like many other Muslim-background believers, Kalia had come to church looking for aid. She said, “We were given aid and prayers. [At first], I rejected the prayers. But later I wondered, how do Christians pray? So, I came again, with my sister, this time just to see.” Kalia’s conversion story is a remarkable one of God’s grace. Her family was comprised of shepherds living near Raqqa, her husband a “terrifying man from an extremist area” according to one eyewitness. They only fled when other armed groups, seeking to retake Raqqa from ISIS, began roaming the countryside. As they watched the groups kidnap women and conscript men, Kalia’s family knew they had no choice but to flee. After moving from place to place, the family finally made it to Lebanon. Desperate for help, Kalia started attending church and in time would convert to Christianity. Like many female Muslim-background believers, her husband responded with physical violence. But later, a serious illness left him on the verge of death, and the prayers of the church led to his healing as well as to the rest of the family’s conversion. Their son-in-law, who was studying Islam in Saudi Arabia, came to Lebanon to convict them of apostasy. Instead, he heard the Gospel and came to know Christ. Later, Kalia would say, “When we accepted Jesus, we knew that God had been working for us to meet him. He was talking to us, but we did not know.” If it were not for the civil war, they would never have been exposed to the Gospel. Before the war, there were many nominal Christians who had, as time went on, stopped going to church. But like their Muslim neighbors, they too sought out churches in order to receive aid. One such individual was a young man named Joseph. His family was made up of Orthodox Christians, but they had never heard the Gospel before the war nor did they regularly attend church. But one day, armed forces came to their village. His family was specifically targeted by the soldiers and his father was gunned down at their doorstep. Joseph, his mother, and his younger brother were forced to flee the village in order to save their lives. They arrived in Damascus, homeless and in complete poverty. They went to a local church for help and, as they received aid, heard worship music playing from the sanctuary. For the first time, they heard the Gospel. Today, the trauma of his father’s death has left Joseph unable to speak directly of the incident. But his face shines through the tears when he thinks of God’s grace throughout this experience. “God is so good, I am so thankful,” he whispers, his words full of emotion and conviction. For another family of Muslim-background believers, they came to know Christ because a stranger took interest in their welfare. Ali and Haya had fled Ghouta, Syria and came to Lebanon, only to be enslaved by their Shi’ite landowner. “He made us pick crops, but when we tried to leave he stopped us at gunpoint. Shortly after, my husband looked up in the sky and saw the shape of the cross in the clouds,” said Haya. It was foreshadowing of things to come. The stranger, who was a Christian, discovered the harsh and dangerous conditions of their enslavement, and helped them escape. By showing them the love of Christ, they became interested in the Gospel. Today, they host a house church for Syrian refugees who are Muslim-background believers and help disciple those who are newly converted. Without a doubt, the Syrian civil war has left a terrible impact on the country. The ruins lining the streets are a metaphorical image of how the conflict has completely transformed the lives of all Syrians. However, as these stories illustrate, the transformation within the hearts of so many Syrians is something quite different. Their joy at their salvation stands in stark contrast to the rubble that now lines the streets of Syria. Without a doubt, God has answered the Church’s prayer by bringing revival among Syrians

It’s Happening AGAIN: More Syrian Refugees Convert After Seeing Jesus in a Dream
CBM News 3/8/17 Syrian refugee Abu Radwan was born into a Muslim family, but after reportedly seeing Jesus appear to him in a dream, everything changed. It was a year and a half ago that Radwan, who is now in Beirut, Lebanon, with his wife and two children, converted to Christianity — an event that unfolded just months after the purported dream. “Of course it was a difficult decision. I was born into a Muslim family,” he recently said of his conversion, noting that his family fled Syria after the civil war began. “I started going to the church. I believed that Jesus was coming to help us, to save us.” Radwan’s story isn’t unique, as there are likely many other Syrian refugees who have converted from Islam to Christianity, though the move doesn’t come without profound risk. In fact, Radwan said he was recently stabbed while coming out of church, saying the culprits were Syrians from his tribe who disagreed with his conversion decision; he risks his life if he ever returns to Syria. Still, Radwan doesn’t have any regrets, saying he was relieved when Bishop George Saliba baptized him after his conversion. “If I die, now, here in front of the church, I will die in peace,” he told PRI.org. Saliba said he has baptized at least 100 Muslim refugees since the start of the Syrian civil war, though, as The Christian Post noted, additional reports on the ground point to many other conversions. As Faithwire noted back in November, an Iranian Christian pastor claimed at the time that there’s a stunning revival underway in his country, where he says the number of Christian adherents has increased from 100,000 in 1994 to 3 million today. Some claim that Jesus has been appearing in dreams and that those visions have helped spark the conversions. “Right now, you can see the results of the holy spirit,” Pastor Rahman Salehsafari told CBN News of the situation today in Iran. “You can see what the holy spirit is doing with people.” And, on a separate note, the pastor of a British church said in December that at least two Muslim refugees have converted to Christianity after purportedly having dreams about Jesus — dreams they say led them to attend a Christian church.

IRAN Christian adherents has increased from 100,000 in 1994 to 3 million today

The reason 18 Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death;
Judges 5:15-17 (ESV) Among the clans of Reuben where were great searchings of heart. 16 Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds, to hear the whistling for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben here were great searchings of heart. 17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan; and Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, staying by his landings. Sit around the campfire playing music Cannot be bothered Shipping business Hang around the beach (NIVAC OT - 22vol) In this case, noninvolvement equates with self-centeredness (NIVAC OT - 22vol) The issue of participation is raised in the song with evaluative, theological implications. Those who do not participate in the battle against Sisera are guilty of apathy and of indirect support of the enemies of God (and by implication their gods). The Lord expects his people to participate in the advancement of his kingdom. Noninvolvement because of self-centeredness is as unacceptable today as in Deborah/Barak/Jael’s time. (New American Commentary - Old Testament Set) Deborah asks why the Reubenite clans sat around their campfires/open hearths while musicians entertained them with shepherds’ pipes. This is an image of men who cannot be bothered; these pastoralists are indifferent to the wars of their sedentary countrymen on the other side of the Jordan 18 Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death;

Clint romesha medal of honor 2009
Everything we did that day, we didn’t do it because we hated the enemy. Combat is not a great thing to be in, and it’s not a motivation to hate, by no means. It’s a motivation to love your brothers.” 8 died and 27 wounded Romesha is the fourth living service member to receive the medal for either Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom. The Soldier earned the medal for actions Oct. 3, 2009, at Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan. On that morning, Combat Outpost, or COP, Keating, manned by only 53 Soldiers and situated at the bottom of a steep valley, came under attack by as many as 400 Taliban fighters. During the fight, the perimeter of COP Keating was breached by the enemy. Romesha, who was injured in the battle, led the fight to protect the bodies of fallen Soldiers, provide cover to those Soldiers seeking medical assistance, and reclaim the American outpost that would later be deemed "tactically indefensible." Odierno told those in attendance that Romesha embodies "the essence of a Soldier" and that he represents what every Soldier strives to be: "an individual who has earned the trust of all he associates with, one who possesses humility and selflessness that we all respect, (and) one who embraces esprit de corps and routinely demonstrates a dedication to his profession, with moral and physical courage that epitomizes the ethos of the American Soldier." Panetta said that as secretary of defense, he has learned that a Soldier's success depends not just on those other Soldiers around him, but also on the support of his family back home. That support, Panetta said, is something he has learned is critical to the success of today's military. "It's been my experience that every warrior who is out there who puts his or her life on the line -- that behind them is a family that supports and shares in the many sacrifices that come with serving this country," he said. "That love, that support, that sacrifice, is provided by the families of our service men and women; it is central to the strength of our military. We simply could not do the job that we are asked to do without our families." At COP Keating, the odds were stacked against American Soldiers -- nearly 400 to 50. But Panetta said the Taliban failed to take into account the dedication American Soldiers had to protecting their own and what was theirs. "That the Taliban failed to overtake COP Keating is, with those numbers, a testament to the bravery, the heroism, the warrior spirit, of the American Soldiers who fought to save it," he said. "They failed because of brave young men such as Clint Romesha, a combat veteran who had already served two tours of duty in Iraq and who distinguished himself above and beyond the call of duty on that day. They failed because he and his fellow Soldiers were determined to hold that post." After senior leaders spoke, Romesha and his wife Tammy were asked to step forward. Romesha was presented with a frame containing both his picture and a copy of his Medal of Honor citation. He and his wife then revealed the board that now contains his name alongside the names of other medal recipients from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. That board will be placed in the Hall of Heroes. Afterward, Romesha was able to address those in attendance at the ceremony. "Nearly 400 Taliban fighters surrounded the place me and 52 other members of Bravo Troop 3-61 Cavalry called home," Romesha said. "Four hundred Taliban versus 53 American Soldiers: it just doesn't seem fair ... for the Taliban." The normally shy Romesha drew a laugh from the crowd, during what had previously been a more solemn ceremony. But then he turned again to something very serious for him: the friends he lost in Afghanistan in "It was our home, and they simply couldn't have it," he said of COP Keating. "But you know the Medal of Honor is not often given when things went well on the battlefield. It tends to come at a price, and heroes are often revealed. Some say I am a hero. But it doesn't make sense, because I got to come home with few scars. Eight of my friends did not have that fortune. Eight of my brothers fought to survive for a place we had called home. And more importantly, they fought for their comrades. And in the end they gave their lives in their defense. Those eight amazing men, they are the real heroes." Included among those who died in the fighting that day in Afghanistan were, Staff Sgt. Justin Gallegos, Sgt. Christopher Griffin, Sgt. Joshua Hardt, Sgt. Joshua Kirk, Spc. Stephan Mace, Staff Sgt. Vernon Martin, Sgt. Michael Scusa, and Pfc. Kevin Thomson. "These aren't just names, they are some of the best troops; and my friends," Romesha said. With the Medal of Honor around his neck, and in a uniform he no longer needs to wear because he is now a civilian, he told those in attendance and the other Medal of Honor recipients that he would not let them down. "I will wear it with dignity and humility, in their honor," he said of the medal around his neck. "I vow to respect their memories and carry each of them in my heart for the rest of my life. It is on their behalf that I stand before you today as just a regular grunt. "There was no shortage of heroism at COP Keating that day," he continued. "And I am honored that some of the heroes of COP Keating are here with me today." He asked those other heroes, Soldiers in the audience who had fought with him that day as part of B Troop, 3-61 Cavalry, 4th BCT, 4th ID, to stand. "Thank you brothers, thanks for everything," he said. "You are the strength of our nation." The Army's latest hero finished his short remarks by saying he hopes he will always be able to make proud those who are the most important to him. "I pray that God and my family will always be proud of me," he said. "And know this: whether I wear a uniform or civilian attire, I am and always will be a Soldier for life."

The issue is love Judges 5:23 (ESV) Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord, curse its inhabitants thoroughly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty

esther Esther 4:14 (ESV) For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

George scott “I do not see those with two legs going.”
Conclusion: The story is told of a one-legged schoolteacher from Scotland who came to J. Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission society, to offer himself for service in China. J. Hudson Taylor asked him, “With only one leg, why do you think of going as a missionary?” “I do not see those with two legs going.” That’s how George Scott responded and that’s why George Scott was accepted as a missionary to China. Is your weakness a stumbling block to you? What are you using as an excuse not to serve God? Deborah could have claimed her womanhood as an obstacle. Barak could have claimed weakness as a worthy reason not to serve. “I do not see those with two legs going.”

C. God uses the weak to confound the strong
Deborah (NIVAC OT - 22vol) God is proving here what he proves many times over: He uses the weaker things (or what the world considers the weaker things) in order to confound the wise and mighty. He will bring down the arrogant and abusive Jabin and Sisera in his timing.

The strong Judges 4:2-3 (ESV) The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

Judges 5:6-7 (ESV) In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travelers kept to the byways. 7 The villagers ceased in Israel; they ceased to be until I arose; I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.

Deborah Judges 4:4-5 (ESV) Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. Judges 5:7-8 (ESV) I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel. 8 When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates. Was shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel? No standing army

barak Judges 4:6-8 (ESV) She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh- naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” (NIVAC OT - 22vol) Barak. If Ehud was no Othniel, then Barak is no Ehud. Barak’s unwillingness to go and fight even though he has tangible assurance through God’s prophetess is serious. While this fact documents the continuation of the moral declivity of the major/cyclical judges, it especially reveals the reluctance to believe God’s promise. Even though Barak gains the victory, he expends much time and energy trying to obtain the prize he has already forfeited. This is one of the sad truths testified to in the Bible as well as throughout the history of the church. God in his goodness is constantly looking for opportunities to give good gifts to men and women. Yet because of their lack of faith, they forfeit these blessings that God would freely give. In the case of Barak, he loses the opportunity to truly be used of God. True, he does win the battle, and this is a testimony to his faith (this is why he is listed in Heb. 11:32). But this is not completely what God had in mind to give him. When Christians fail to trust God, demanding assurance when God, in fact, has already spoken, they lose out on the opportunity to be used by him to the fullest extent.

The battle Judges 5:19-21 (ESV) The kings came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan, at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; they got no spoils of silver. 20 From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera. 21 The torrent Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. March on, my soul, with might!

Mt Tabor Sisera Barak

Mount Tabor Jezreel valley

jael Judges 4:11 (ESV) Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh. Judges 4:17 (ESV) But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. Numbers 10:29-32 (ESV) And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the Lord has promised good to Israel.” 30 But he said to him, “I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” 31 And he said, “Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. 32 And if you do go with us, whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same will we do to you.”

Deborahs song---contrast
Jael Israelites in Meroz Jael Queen Mother v 23 v 28-30 v 24-27

jael Judges 5:23 (ESV) Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord, curse its inhabitants thoroughly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Judges 5:24 (ESV) Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed.

Sisera’s mother Judges 5:28 (ESV) Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’

Sisera’s mother Judges 5:29-30 (ESV) Her wisest princesses answer, indeed, she answers herself, 30 ‘Have they not found and divided the spoil?— A womb or two for every man; spoil of dyed materials for Sisera, spoil of dyed materials embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?’ Whats the deal with the dyed material?

Sisera’s retreat Mt Tabor Sisera Barak

Judges 5:26-27 (ESV) She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen's mallet; she struck Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple. 27 Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—dead. (NIVAC OT - 22vol) It simply adds to the mystery of divine providence, demonstrating implicitly what the following verses explicitly affirm: God is able to incorporate the free activities of human beings into his plan for his own glory and for the salvation of his people. (NIVAC OT - 22vol) The two foreshadowings of Jael in 4:9 and 4:11 seem designed to demonstrate yhwh’s control over events in the story. (NIVAC OT - 22vol) Like Ehud, Jael accomplishes the victory over God’s enemy. Her willingness to risk her life is in greatly heightened contrast to the Israelite tribes who choose to remain at home, to play it safe. Contrast with Meroz

#MeToo?

Judges 3:31 (ESV) After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.

Hebrews 11:32-34 (ESV) And what more shall I say
Hebrews 11:32-34 (ESV) And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

1 Corinthians 1:25-29 (ESV) For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Psalm 2 Psalms 2:1-3 (ESV) Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

Psalm 2 Psalms 2:4-6 (ESV) He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

Irony This whole Judges cycle is framed around the actions of women: Deborah leads Israel under Sisera’s oppression, seen most horribly in how he treats Israel’s women; and Jael, another woman, is the means by which his reign of rape and terror is ended. After making the lives of many women hellish nightmares, it is two women who bring him down; there is a great irony that the man who used women as objects is killed by a womanly object.” In that culture, it was the woman’s responsibility to put up and take down the tents. So, Jael was used to swinging that hammer. This woman was not stupid! When she saw Sisera come to her tent on foot, she knew that he had been defeated in battle. She also knew that if she was caught hiding him in her tent, she might be put to death with him when Barak found them. She saw that Israel had come out on top in the battle and she wanted to be found on the right side when the dust settled. Jael was a wise woman!

d. The lord uses women in ministry

Deborah as judge Judges 4:4 (ESV) Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. . In 4:9 it is stated that Deborah was “judging” or “leading” Israel (the words are the same). Of all the judges, Deborah (except for Othniel) This had been going on for some time. If women are never to be in positions of social leadership, why was Deborah clearly called by God as both a prophet and a judge? Given the spiritual state of Israel at the time, most see Judges not as illustrating well God’s ideal for His people. Quite probably, then, Deborah’s judgeship demonstrates, not how God endorses female leadership, but rather just how far from God’s design and purposes Israel had strayed. In any case, it is difficult to accept the case of Deborah as normative, in light of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary

Old testament WOMEN IN MINISTRY
Miriam Ex 15 Prophetess Huldah 2 Kings 22 Prophetess Deborah Judges 4-5 Prophetess and judfge Esther, Ruth and Naomi Important in development and spiritual formation of Israel

New testament WOMEN IN MINISTRY
Samaritan woman Ex 15 Evangelist Mary n Martha Mary Magdalene, Mother of James and John, Salome Witness of resurrection Pricilla Taught Apollos Acts 18:26 Phoebe Deacon Rom 16:1-7 Women prophets 1 Cor 11 Daughters of Agabus Prophets…Acts

Contentious issue: Women in leadership
Egalitarian Patriarchy Deborah

Women are the same as men

Queen hastshepsut Ancient Egypt: Artefacts belonging to first woman pharaoh Hatshepsut found By Sanskrity Sinha February 13, :29 GMT The mummified remains of Queen Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's most famous female pharaoh, lie in a glass case after at the Cairo Museum Getty Images Researchers at the University of Winnipeg in Canada claim to have found what they believe are belongings of an ancient Egyptian queen. The artefacts were found among a collection of 450 ancient relics at the university. University alumnus Luther Sousa identified two wooden objects — one, a miniature hoe, and the other a set of miniature rockers — in the collection which he believes belonged to Queen Hatshepsut, the first ever woman pharaoh to rule ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut is said to be one of the most powerful female monarchs who ruled for 21 years from 1479 to 1458 BC. She declared herself pharaoh after the death of her husband-brother Tuthmosis II. Why advertise with us The objects marked with distinctive hieroglyphs were first discovered in a foundation deposit at the funerary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, about 630km south of Cairo, in the 1880s. "The glyphs strongly suggest that the objects belonged to Queen Hatshepsut from the 18th dynasty of ancient Egyptian kings," Sousa said in a statement. "The writing includes her cartouche, as well as the name of the location of Hatshepsut's temple." Sousa said the hieroglyphs on the artefacts matched with those on similar objects of the 18th dynasty currently held by The Garstang Museum of Archaeology at the University of Liverpool. The university acquired the artefact collection, named Hetherington, in the early 1900s. "The circumstances of the acquisition of the collection are a mystery, but what is known is that the objects are authentic," the university stated. "They were sent to the University in at least two shipments, one in 1903, and another after 1925, most likely through the Egyptian Exploration Society," it added. The morturary temple of Queen Hapshepsut in Luxor Reuters The Hetherington collection's curator Val McKinley said Queen Hatshepsut's artefacts were "a remarkable find". The other objects in the collection represent several dynasties of ancient Egypt and were excavated from multiple sites, McKinley said. Some of the artefacts include lamps, storage jars, domestic dishware, stone cutting and scraping tools, bone game pieces, funerary figurines called shabtis, and brass figurines of Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of the dead, he said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Made History By Bringing Baby Neve to the U.N.
UK PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY DANCES ONTO STAGE FOR CONSERVATIVE CONFERENCE SPEECH × By ELI MEIXLER September 25, 2018 New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made history again this week, becoming the first female head of state to attend the United Nations General Assembly with her infant. Ardern arrived in New York with her partner Clarke Gayford and their three-month-old daughter Neve Te Aroha, the Guardian reports. When Ardern delivered a speech Monday at the Nelson Mandela peace summit, Neve enjoyed a front-row seat from Gayford’s lap. “I have the ability to take my child to work, there’s not many places you can do that,” Ardern said, according to the Guardian. Ardern, 38, became New Zealand’s third female prime minister and the world’s youngest female head of state in October 2017. Read more: Jacinda Ardern Is on the 2018 TIME 100 List In June, Ardern became only the second sitting world leader to give birth while in office, after former Pakistani prime minister Benzir Bhutto. Ardern said she discovered the pregnancy within a week of her election victory last year. She returned to work from six weeks of maternity leave early last month. Ardern’s dual roles as mother and head of state have prompted a steady stream of sexist criticism. “I’m not the first woman to work and have a baby,” Ardern told skeptics shortly after announcing her pregnancy. Her work-life balance was again questioned last month when breastfeeding baby Neve necessitated an extra flight in order for Ardern to both attend to her newborn’s needs and appear at the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru. Some creative last-minute negotiations allowed Adern’s family to accompany her to New York this week for the general assembly. On Monday, Gayford posted a photo of Neve’s official U.N. identification, which reads “first baby.”

Charlotte Whitton, 1896-1975 Mayor of ottawa
“Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.” Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good,” stated Charlotte Elizabeth Whitton, the first female mayor of a major Canadian city.

WOMEN TASKEd OVER WHEN THERE IS NO CHOICE
Marissa Mayer CEO The unique challenges facing this group are made amply clear in a couple of recent books about two of them: Marissa Mayer, of Yahoo, and Mary Barra, of GM. Both ascended within decidedly male-dominated industries, and both took the controls of companies in crisis, reinforcing the belief that woman leaders often face a “glass cliff”—they get to run the place only when it’s about to fail. The books take very different approaches to their subjects, and the contrast illuminates at least some of the resistance women face on their way up the ladder. When Mayer took over as the head of Yahoo, in July 2012, she inherited a business that seemed beyond rescue.

Pope Francis confirms finality of ban on ordaining women priests

Gender differences are post Fall
Galatians 3:28 (ESV) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gender differences are post Fall

Judges 5:6-7 (ESV) In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travelers kept to the byways. 7 The villagers ceased in Israel; they ceased to be until I arose; I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel. She is not a military leader She sought the help of Barak Other judges fight their own battles ,…Samson , ehud She conveys prophey like a lot of pwmen prophesy but not exert leadersghip

he was not born a slave, a gentile, or a woman
Galatians 3:28 (ESV) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Pertains to salvation Galatians 3:26-29 (ESV) for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Pauline balance 1 Corinthians 11:3-5 (ESV) But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 (ESV) Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

Contentious issue: Women in leadership
Egalitarian Complementarian Patriarchy We are not what we do …you an be a doctor or police man Off duty …..exactly the same Election day one man one vote MVA you bleed the same There is a diffreewnce between roles and value

Modern day Jael "I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. God did away with all my fear...It was time for someone to stand up--or, in my case, sit down. I refused to move” Known as the “Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement,” Rosa Parks was a seamstress and civil rights activist who became famous for her refusal to obey a bus driver’s demand that she give up her seat to a white male. Her arrest for civil disobedience triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which launched one of its organizers, Martin Luther King, Jr, to the forefront of history. In her book Quiet Strength, Parks says this about how God helped her the fateful day she refused to give up her seat. "I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. God did away with all my fear...It was time for someone to stand up--or, in my case, sit down. I refused to move.

Fanny crosby Oh, what a happy soul I am, although I cannot see! I am resolved that in this world Contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy That other people don’t, To weep and sigh because I'm blind I cannot, and I won’t! 8. Fanny Crosby Slide 8 of 20 Fanny Crosby, though totally blind, wrote more than 9,000 hymns, many of which are among the most popular in today’s church denominations. Concerned that her name would be too prevalent in the hymnals, she was forced to use multiple pen names instead. Publisher and hymn writer William B. Bradbury was unhappy with the quality of many of the hymns that were submitted to him for publication. He heard of Fanny's talent, and after verifying her ability, promptly hired her to write hymns for his company, telling her, "While I have a publishing house, you will always have work!" Fanny knew she needed God's help in this new endeavor, and once described her hymn writing process this way: "It may seem a little old-fashioned, always to begin one's work with prayer, but I never undertake a hymn without first asking the good Lord to be my inspiration." And God provided inspiration from all areas of Fanny's life. While passing by a prisoner, she heard the man cry, "O Lord, don't pass me by," which quickly became the hymn "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior." When her friend Howard Doan played a melody for her and said, "See if it says anything to you," her joyful reply was, "Why, that says, 'Safe in the arms of Jesus!'" Within a half an hour, she had finished the poem. Her most famous hymn, "Blessed Assurance," is a personal testimony of her salvation. (Christianity.com) 6. FANNY CROSBY HER LIFE Fanny Crosby wrote nearly 9,000 hymns, many which are still sung every Sunday in churches around the world. Fanny was born in 1820 right outside of New York City. She lost her eyesight at six weeks and lived the rest of her life blind. Crosby was a composer of spiritual and secular music, a writer of patriotic and political songs, a lyricist, and a poet as well as a writer of hymns. She wrote her first poem at just eight years old and put into verse how she would never feel sorry for herself because of her blindness . . . Oh, what a happy soul I am, although I cannot see! I am resolved that in this world Contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy That other people don’t, To weep and sigh because I'm blind I cannot, and I won’t! Fanny wrote for presidents and politicians, Christians and non-Christians, and devoted her life to the musical arts. HER MINISTRY Fanny Crosby faced many hardships in her life, but they didn’t deter her from her calling to create some of Christianity’s most famous hymns. Perhaps it was through the struggles the songs were birthed. Fanny once said, “Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I was born blind? Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.” What an outlook Fanny had on this life? She did not allow her blindness to paralyze her gifts. Instead, she answered the call of the Lord and wrote the music of Heaven. In 1835, just before her 15th birthday, Crosby enrolled in the New York Institute for the Blind where she spent years as a student, and then as a graduate student. When a cholera epidemic hit New York City in November of 1849, Fanny stayed at the school to nurse the sick. It was during this time that she became depressed. According to Bernard Ruffin, the author of Fanny Crosby, “Fanny became increasingly introspective over her soul’s welfare. She began to realize that something was lacking in her spiritual life. She knew that she had gotten wrapped up in social, political, and educational reform, and did not have a true love for God in her heart.” Fanny re-devoted her life to the Lord and went on to write some of the world’s greatest hymns. When you read the following words of her most famous hymn, you read the words of a woman who knew the Lord intimately and who found His great love for her . . . HER LEGACY The legacy of Fanny Crosby lies in hymnals all across the world. Funny enough, Fanny did not start writing hymns until she was in her forties. This gives great comfort to my heart as I near forty! No matter how old you are, God’s purpose for your life will prevail no matter where you are or how old you are. God had a purpose for Fanny Crosby to write His word into music; she answered the call in her forties and became America’s Hymn Queen. Of her writing process, she said, “It may seem a little old-fashioned, always to begin one's work with prayer, but I never undertake a hymn without first asking the good Lord to be my inspiration.” That is our answer as well, my friends. No matter what task we are undertaking, we must first go to the Lord in prayer asking Him for inspiration. He will open our eyes and open our hearts to see things that will inspire us to answer His call for our lives. For Fanny, who died a month before her 95th birthday, she refused to let her blindness be a stumbling block to the call on her life. She saw her blindness as a blessing and gave us Heaven’s music right here on earth.

Audrey wetherll Jojohn son
Bible Study Fellowship (also known as BSF) is an international Christian interdenominational or parachurch fellowship of lay people offering a system of structured bible study. It was begun in 1959 by Audrey Wetherell Johnson, a British evangelist to China.[2]

I am not a man nor a minister, yet as a mother and a mistress I felt I ought to do more than I had yet done. I resolved to begin with my own children; in which I observe the following method: I take such a proportion of time as I can spare every night to discourse with each child apart." 2. SUSANNA WESLEY Her Life She was born January 20, The 25th of 25 children, Susanna Wesley, was a woman of infinite strength. She never preached a sermon. She never published a book. She never founded a church, and yet, her life and legacy still speak. Her Ministry Susanna Wesley married Samuel Wesley in 1688, and together they had nineteen children. Among her children were John and Charles Wesley who stand among the leaders of the Christian faith. Susanna experienced many hardships in her life. Her husband was jailed due to poor financial decisions. He left her for a period leaving her with the children. Their home was burned down twice, and yet, Susanna continued to teach her children the ways of the Lord. Susanna was the primary source of education for her children. She taught each of them. She once wrote to her husband, "I am not a man nor a minister, yet as a mother and a mistress I felt I ought to do more than I had yet done. I resolved to begin with my own children; in which I observe the following method: I take such a proportion of time as I can spare every night to discourse with each child apart." (SOURCE) It is no question that her sons Charles and John learned about their Heavenly Father through their earthly mother. Her Legacy As I said earlier, Susanna never did any of those things that one would associate with greatness. She was a mother and housewife, and that was her greatest legacy. Because of her tutelage, she raised two sons who grew up to become pillars of the Christian Faith. It was her son John who said, "I saw that giving even all my life to God (supposing it possible to do this and go no further) would profit me nothing unless I gave my heart, yea, all my heart, to Him." I am sure he learned this at his mother's knee. Preacher Andy Stanley said, "Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do but someone you raise." This was most certainly true for Susanna Wesley whose children became the father's of the Methodist faith. Her legacy lies in her children, and because of their influence on the world, her voice still speaks. I pray that through this series, you will find ordinary women who answered an extraordinary call. I pray that you will also see yourself in these women. All of them have accepted God's plan and purpose for their lives and as a result; changed the world. Your name could be next for the generations ahead of you to learn from.

"two thousand three hundred and twenty-five miles, and preached one hundred and seventy-eight sermons." HER LIFE Jerena Lee was born on February 11, 1783, in Cape May, New Jersey. She was born a free girl and went to work as a maid at a young age. As a teenager, she moved to Pennsylvania and attended a worship service at Bethel Church. There, the founder of the A.M.E Church, Bishop Richard Allen, was preaching. Although she didn't grow up in a Christian household, the sermon that Richard Allen preached so filled her heart with the Holy Spirit that she gave her life to Christ. HER MINISTRY In 1807, Jerena heard God's voice calling her to preach the Gospel. However, she was afraid to speak up because, at the time, only men preached. One night, she gained the courage to ask Bishop Richard Allen to minister. He turned her down because the A.M.E Church had a ban on female preachers. Although she was turned down, her spirit would not let go of the call of God on her life. Twelve years later, in 1819, Jerena was at another worship service at Bethel when the guest preacher got up to speak. He suddenly lost his words unable to finish the sermon. The door opened. Jarena had a choice. She could walk through the door that would give her a chance to preach God's word, or she could continue to sit letting her gift remain dormant. Jarena BRAVELY stood up and finished the guest preachers sermon. Bishop Richard Allen did not rebuke her. Instead, he noticed God's call on her life and allowed her to preach the word. Jerena was finally released to preach the word, and she could not be silenced. HER LEGACY In a world where women were silenced, Jerena's voice was strong, powerful, and mighty. She was the first woman authorized to preach in the A.M.E Church. Even though she was allowed to preach, she still faced incredible hostility because she was black and a woman. But the word of God cannot be silenced, and she continued with her calling. In one of her journals, Jarena wrote that in one year alone, she traveled "two thousand three hundred and twenty-five miles, and preached one hundred and seventy-eight sermons." A writer, a woman, and a preacher for over twenty years, Jarena Lee is a trailblazer for women in ministry. Her legacy shows us that you may face opposition, you may be rejected, your voice may be silenced, but if God has a calling on your life, and you are willing to follow, anything is possible. 1783 New Jersey

challenge

Three kinds of people Judges 5:23 (ESV) Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord, curse its inhabitants thoroughly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. those that wonder what happen, those that watch things happen, and those that make things happen Join the the battle in against a beaten enemy Just like us to day Satan is beatn on the run Victory is assured What are you doing ? I cnnot do it But we have Deborah, Barak, Jaekl, Shamgar Not perfect PKR fighting The Curse of Meroz There are three types of people in the world—those that wonder what happen, those that watch things happen, and those that make things happen. Thus it is with the Church of God today. There is a rich mixture of the three classes here mentioned. There is nothing wrong with any of these classes; they seemed to be involved in some type of activity. However if we analyze the activities that the wondering person, watchful person, and the working person are engaged, we will discover that the most productive is the working person. Nonetheless, if you were to really look at the three categories of individuality, you will soon find that each has a character flaw. The wondering person is that “thinker” or “dreamer” to busy contemplating and in awestruck over the things that he could possibly do and not really at thought at the potential he could exploit of his/her self. The watchful person is that “spectator” or “couch potato” and is usually the one who asks the question “Did you see that?” That spectator is missing out on the opportunities that would be accessible to him if he weren’t so busy watching others take the advantage. Then there is the working person that “busy bee;” yes, he has a flaw too. He is so busy working and carrying on that he isn’t aware of what’s going on neither does he have time to reflect on anything that he just may have accomplished. I noticed that if they were somehow connected and amalgamated, they would form a total package, a complete individual. For if you take the person who wonders what happens, who watch what happens, and make things happen and could somehow throw them in a huge human mixing bowl, you will come out with a person who wonders at what he has watched happen so that he may be able to know how to make things happen. [INTRODUCE TOPIC & PRAY] Paul, in so many words, illustrates this point when he talks about the body of Christ. In I Corinthians 12:13-27 [READ]. We are parts of the body of Christ. You and I. We have been placed here by God. It would be highly embarrassing if the feet of Christ were to travel to an evangelistic outing and when they got there the mouth wouldn’t say anything. The eyes aren’t the only organs of the body that rejoice in what is being watched. The body of Christ is a single unit composed of many components that come together to perform a singular goal. Today, it is evident that the coagulation of the body is broken. Not broken in so much that each body part is doing something separate from the body but that when the body has asserted itself and has placed itself in a position to do something, it may find itself suffering from atrophy which is caused by some uselessness of certain faculty parts. Atrophy sets in because that body part is not connected to the Head, which is the center of control the nerve endings cease to function in that body part. So the body part sits there useless and inoperable ready to wither and become deformed. Preach Better with PRO Add your to get started, plus get updates & offers from SermonCentral. Privacy Policy. In the days of the Judges of the children of Israel, we find that when it came time to perform the children of Israel experienced some atrophy in the body. In Judges 5:23, we find this vindictive statement: Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. This curse came in the middle of a beautiful song of deliverance and praise sang by Deborah, a prophetess and judge of Israel. There is a certain deliberation going on in the mind of this fearless leader, which causes her to pause in the height of celebration over a decisive victory and prophetically recalls the angel of the Lord cursing Meroz and its inhabitants. Deborah and Barak had gained a great victory in the Plain of Esdraelon and along the skirts of the mountain of Little Herman. Their enemy Sisera, captain of the Canaanite host, had fled away completely routed and this fierce strong leader of a woman who “judged Israel in those days,” and captain of the Israelite army, Barak, sang a splendid, proud song of the triumph. In it they recount the tribes who had come up to their duty, who had shared the labor and the glory of the war. And then, in the midst of the torrent of song, there comes this other strain of fiery indignation. One town, or village, Meroz, had hung back. Hidden away in some safe valley, it had heard the call, which summoned every patriot, but it knew it was in no danger. It had felt the shock of battle on the other side of the hills, and nestled and hid itself only the more snuggly. “Curse ye, Meroz, saith the angel of the Lord; curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” It is a fierce vindictive strain. It bursts from the lips of an exalted furious woman. But it declares one of the most natural indignations of the human heart. Meroz is gone. No record of it except this verse remains. The most ingenious archaeologists have been unable to unearth this small Naphtalian City because they don’t know where to dig. But the curse remains. The violent outburst of the contempt and anger which men feel who have fought, suffered, and agonized, and then see others who have the same interest in the result which they have, come out cool, unwounded, and unscathed from their safe hiding places to take a part of the victory which they have done nothing to secure. Meroz stands for that. The word Meroz comes from an uncertain derivative. There is no meaning in the word itself. It sometimes happens that a man or a town passes completely away from the face of the earth and from the memory of men, and only leaves a name which stands as a sort of symbol or synonym of some quality, some virtue or perhaps a vice, forever. “Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.” (Psalm 44:14) You know how we do it. “Man look at that Benedict Arnold!” So Meroz stands for that shirker for him who is willing to see other people fight the battles of life, while he simply comes in to take the spoils. No wonder Deborah and Barak were indignant! Their wounds were still aching; their people were dead and dying all around, and here was Meroz, idle and comfortable, and yet, because she was part of the same country, part of the same body of Christ assured them benefits of the great victory as much as any. This cowardly and idle town had not come “to the help of the Lord.” The horror of the thought of what would have been the consequences if the children of Naphtali and Zebulon had lost. And here sat this village, whose weight perhaps might have furnished just what was needed to turn the doubtful scale; here it sat through the critical and dreadful day, looking on and doing nothing. The Spirit of God moved upon Deborah and caused her to recount the prophetic denunciation by the angel of the Lord on Meroz. In the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 2, page 336, we read these comments: No other verse in the book of Judges [5:23] constitutes so severe a warning to the members of the church today as the one here curses those who refuse to help in time of crisis. In the face of a crying need of laborers, many professed Christians are content to follow there leisurely, selfish course, refusing to render any assistance to the Church of God as it engages in battle with Satan. They say that the work of the church is to be performed by the ministers, and accept no responsibility for themselves. The curse of Meroz rests upon these unfaithful Christians unless they turn from their listless non-cooperation. Many people in the community and in the world are what Meroz was in Palestine. There is an everlasting struggle going on against wickedness and wretchedness. It never ceases. It never changes. It shifts from one place to another. It dies out in one form only to be resurrected in some other shape. Evil appears only to tire, and the enemy gives way, but it and he never stops its struggle with the good in the world and the cause of God. The sadness of it all, is how few people engage in the struggle for right, how many who stand apart and wish it well but never expose themselves for it nor do anything to help it. I truly believe that Faith Community has enough potential to add more souls to the kingdom of God and fill this place to its capacity. But it is going to take some effort. The sin of Meroz for which it was curse is pure inaction. Theirs was not a sin of commission but a sin of omission. I believe it was James who said “to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin.” (James 4:17) They merely did nothing. We hear so much about the danger of wrong thinking and the danger of wrongdoing. There is the other danger of doing nothing at all. Christ illustrates this in Matthew 25:41-46 [READ]. Do you know what righteousness is? Right doing! You can’t escape that definition. You can come in here and say “Jesus, Jesus” all you want to, but if you are not allowing the Holy Ghost to do some right doing in you, you are just an idle person. You’re a nominal Christian, only in name. Righteousness means to do right. The goats were sentenced to everlasting damnation not because they did the wrong thing but because they failed to do the right thing. It is hard for people to feel that there is danger in that but it is the worst of harm and danger. The trouble comes, from the low condition of spiritual vitality from the lack of emphasis, and lack of vigor in the whole conception of this life. When this happens what can revive him? What can put strength and vigor into ones life? The profound verse of I John 5:12, says this: He that has the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life. This simply states that if a person has Christ, that is to say loves and serves Jesus because He has redeemed him into the family or body of Christ, he really lives, vigor and vitality come into him, and responsibility lays hold upon him. The work for the world becomes his work. God’s tasks become his tasks. The enemies of God become his enemies. This along with another passage of scripture says: The thief [the Devil] cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) When Jesus has redeemed a person, and that person knows his redemption and wants to serve Jesus in gratitude, the individualism, atrophy, and uselessness of the soul is gone. Jesus lives all through and through the man, and wherever Christ needs him he is ready to go; and wherever there is good work to be done, he does it. The great majority of Faith Community is useless to Jesus in the work of the church, and surprisingly most are perfectly contented in their uselessness. The gardener came and said to the dresser “…cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?” (Luke 13:7) “It is just taking up space. I could have grown another tree there.” God’s justice is still telling the dresser to cut it down; why cumbereth it the pew. Oh thank God for Jesus and his love and longsuffering because he responds “Father, my blood!” And the curse is stayed another 3 years. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he would turn from his ways, and live…Yet saith the House of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn from all your transgressions [even the sin of doing nothing]; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. (Ezekiel 18:23, 29-32) He that hath the Son hath life and he that does not have the Son does not have life!” Plain! What a loving and merciful God we serve! Too many Switzerland’s in the Christian world. People with the attitude I don’t have to say or do anything. Christ has done it all and the preachers are doing it all for me. I’ll just sit and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Totally useless! Christ in Matthew 12:30 stated that there are no spiritual Switzerland’s in the warfare of good and evil, but “he that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” Many cannot remember one useful thing they have ever done, but they can tell you a lot about what somebody else has done. Many have never stood for a good cause, but hide behind the cause of others. Many have never remonstrated against an evil but stand in the background yelling “that’s right.” Many have never helped a bad man get better but have been so influential in the fall of a good man. A merely useless person, and contented. It has been said that the only persons who have committed the perfect crime are Christians, because we leave no evidence behind of our being on the scene. The curse of Meroz is alive and well and living in the Church of God today. Theologically we term it the spiritual era of Laodicea. Cowardice, false humility, and indolence characterize the curse. These traits do not necessarily make us bad people, just useless people. We will quickly take a look at the three characteristics of the curse of Meroz. First cowardice, the most reprehensible of them all. Most would indignantly resent anyone calling us a coward, but as one writer put it, “This vice is wonderfully common.” We need moral courage, the antithesis of cowardice, to do just what we know we ought to do, without being the least hindered or distorted by the presence of persons who we know will either, hate or despise or ridicule us for what we are doing, this is rare indeed. It’s lacking in the Church. Shun cowardice because just as sure as you begin to allow the Spirit of God to work on you the devil will make sure he puts someone in the way to discourage you from doing what you are suppose to be doing. Face it. This is a war, and the enemy is not just going to allow you to walk into his territory and take his treasure. The curse of Meroz does not effect him he’s using it to effect us. Paul told Timothy that he should not cower to the members of the church because he is young. (I Timothy 4:12) “Make full proof of thy ministry…Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with longsuffering and doctrine… do the work of an evangelist.” Timothy wasn’t an evangelist but Paul told him to do the work of an evangelist. You may not be eloquent in speech, or hold mass degrees, but God is able to take you, and give you the moral courage to try. When Barak saw Sisera’s 900 chariots of iron and beheld his 10,000-foot soldiers, he doubted the ability of his hosts, but he had the moral courage to fight, and God sent Deborah to insure him of his victory. Let’s go there! Judges 4:6-9 You may not be able to preach or sing, but how hard is it to go and tell somebody that Jesus loves, died, and is coming back to claim his own. You don’t need Deborah hold your hand for you to do that. You don’t need me to go with you to do that. Go get Sisera!! The arm of flesh will fail you; Ye dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel armor, And, Watching unto prayer, Where duty calls, or danger, Be never wanting there. Don’t allow your excuse to be that I was afraid, “I haven’t ever knocked on somebody’s door, what if they slam the door in my face.” [TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES AND CLICK ‘EM] Shake the dust from your feet, pray for them and be own your way. Allow God to exhibit that moral courage through you and shun cowardice. Tell the devil he is a liar and that there is someone out there who wants to hear this message. The second characteristic of the curse is false humility. Humility is good when it stimulates; it is bad when it paralyzes the active powers of a person. It may do either. Perhaps Meroz’s problem was not fear or cowardice. Perhaps Meroz was driven by a conscious weakness causing them to not participate. Meroz may have looked at itself, its little self, its poor self, its insignificant self. It heard the summons of the trumpet, but asked these questions, “Who are we? What can we do? What strength can we add to the host of Israel? What terror can we strike in the foe?” So Meroz let the battle go through without her help. The same spirit echoes today in Faith Community. Some are hiding behind a perception of assessed feebleness; you believe that that you can do so little, therefore you content yourself with doing nothing. You have convinced yourself that why should we give anything at all when all we have is so little. Our word carries so little weight, so I won’t say anything at all. First, you do not know the power of God or what He is able to do through your littleness. He created the world in six days and rested on the Seventh, and he did that absolutely from nothing. Barak forfeited his blessing for having defeated a mighty foe in Sisera to a woman. Judges 4:9,17-22 [READ] Jael allowed humility to stimulate her into action instead of paralyzing her into uselessness. She being a very insignificant woman of her day used that to entreat and slay Sisera in her tent. She went out of her way to be helpful to Sisera, and when Sisera was sleep she went out of her way to help the God and the host of Israel. She could have waited until Barak arrived but the moment was then and she would not risk him getting away so she fastened him to the floor of the tent. Not only did Barak miss his blessing but the citizens of Meroz had the opportunity to receive the honor of slaying Sisera but because they felt they were to little they did nothing at all. The inhabitants of Meroz, on path of the retreating hosts of Sisera, refused to render assistance in any form. With the aid of these men the pursuing Israelites could probably have prevented any of the Canaanites, perhaps even Sisera, from escaping the field of battle. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 2, page 336 Jael did what Meroz could have done and what Barak and Deborah could not do in battle. Yes, Faith Temple, City Temple, and Grace Temple are large and have a lot of resources. And yes their membership equals ten Faith Community’s, but the same God that works in those churches works in this one. City Temple may be the hand on the body of Christ, and Faith and Grace Temple may be fingers on the hand of the body of Christ, but even fingers have fingernails, so what if Faith Community only measures up to a fingernail on the body of Christ at least you aren’t nubs on the fingers of the Devil. And besides, you can’t peel fruit with fingers but you can do some hurting with those nails. Do the work of an evangelist you fingernails of Christ! Many judge by the size of things, but God judges by the fitness of a thing. We call it presumption and prideful for a person to think that there is a high position that he only and no one else can fill. Is it not even more of a presumption to think you can do nothing. The first supposes that God exhausted himself when he made you. The second supposes that God made a hopeless blunder when he made you. I’ve got news for you “God don’t make no junk.” As a matter of fact my Bible says that when he created us he said that “was good,” not just good, but Genesis 1:31 says, that it was “very good.” So come out of that mousy shell and stand up for Jesus. You are somebody in Jesus. That third trait of the curse is indolence. You better term it as laziness. I need not spend a lot of time here not that it isn’t important but it’s so simple. It is mere indolence, mere laziness. Enjoy the spoils but not the battle. I want to go to heaven but I don’t want to knock on doors. The story is told of a church where everybody thought somebody would go and work in the Lord’s vineyard but nobody went. And you know what’s so unusual about this church? The most popular member was nobody because he is the one who did everything. Laziness is characterized by sleep. We are so sleepy. What a terrible condition that has befallen the Church of God! How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. Proverbs 6:9-11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans 13:11-14 Read Christian Service, page 82 If you are not going to fight, you better leave while the going is good. One way or the other you are going to go. If you are not going to battle, you are going go out those doors. The Church militant will become the Church triumphant. The shaking that is going on right now among God’s people, is going to shake those shirkers, those spectators, couch potatoes, thinkers and dreamers out or they are going to either collaborate or leave the ranks at once. You are not going to just sit around God’s house and do nothing. Useless person! The citizens of Meroz may not have been fearful, may not have had assessed themselves feeble. They were merely chillin’, as the young people like to say. We have a job to do and it is no time to fall asleep on the job. [Read Christian Service page 91, paragraphs 1] Isn’t that your purpose for coming to Church? Not just to come here and look pretty and sophisticated, not just to come here to hear what the preacher is going to say, not to see what sister and brother so and so is going to wear, your purpose of coming here is to learn how to witness, to be a better witness, and to fellowship and strengthen the brethren. You’re not going to sit around God’s house and do nothing! I don’t care how old you are. You are not going to sit around God’s house and do nothing. I don’t care if you are black, white, rich, or poor. In conclusion Church, Meroz was cursed because of its uselessness. The sources of which are cowardice, false humility, and indolence. They are chains that bind the vigor and energy and the work of God, the strength of these chains is almost immeasurable. Who can break these chains? Nothing can do it but the power of Jesus! When a person understands the life and cross of Jesus, and really knows that he is redeemed and saved, his soul leaps up in love and wants to serve its Savior; then he is afraid of nobody; and however little his own strength is he wants to give it all; and the cords of his self-indulgence snaps like cobwebs. Then he enters the new life of usefulness. And what a changed life that is! To be working for God however humbly is a joy to have part in the service of God as the sun, stars, angels, archangels, with strong and patient and holy men and women. To be, in some small corner of the field, stout, and brave and at last triumphant in our fight with lust, cruelty, crime, falsehood, ignorance, unbelief, to help prepare a people to meet God in peace. To here Jesus says, “Well done!”

gOATS wondered and watched
Matthew 25:41-43 (ESV) Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me The goats were sentenced to everlasting damnation not because they did the wrong thing but because they failed to do the right thing. The second characteristic of the curse is false humility. Humility is good when it stimulates; it is bad when it paralyzes the active powers of a person. It may do either. Perhaps Meroz’s problem was not fear or cowardice. Perhaps Meroz was driven by a conscious weakness causing them to not participate. Meroz may have looked at itself, its little self, its poor self, its insignificant self. It heard the summons of the trumpet, but asked these questions, “Who are we? What can we do? What strength can we add to the host of Israel? What terror can we strike in the foe?” So Meroz let the battle go through without her help. The same spirit echoes today in Faith Community. Some are hiding behind a perception of assessed feebleness; you believe that that you can do so little, therefore you content yourself with doing nothing. You have convinced yourself that why should we give anything at all when all we have is so little. Our word carries so little weight, so I won’t say anything at all. First, you do not know the power of God or what He is able to do through your littleness. He created the world in six days and rested on the Seventh, and he did that absolutely from nothing. But Deboarh was a woman, Jael used a tent peg, Shamgar used an ox goad Moses used his stick

DNA content 3.2 billion base pairs 16 billion base pairs

“You take away a piece of junk DNA, and the mouse dies,” Rinn said
. “You take away a piece of junk DNA, and the mouse dies,” Rinn said. “If you can come up with a criticism of that, go ahead. But I’m pretty satisfied. I’ve found a new piece of the genome that’s required for life.” In December 2013, Rinn and his colleagues published the first results of their search: three potential new genes for RNA that appear to be essential for a mouse’s survival. To investigate each potential gene, the scientists removed one of the two copies in mice. When the mice mated, some of their embryos ended up with two copies of the gene, some with one and some with none. If these mice lacked any of these three pieces of DNA, they died in utero or shortly after birth. “You take away a piece of junk DNA, and the mouse dies,” Rinn said. “If you can come up with a criticism of that, go ahead. But I’m pretty satisfied. I’ve found a new piece of the genome that’s required for life.” Is Most of Our DNA Garbage? Moths in the lab of T. Ryan Gregory at the University of Guelph.CreditCreditJamie Campbell for The New York TimesBy Carl Zimmer March 5, 2015 112 T. Ryan Gregory’s lab at the University of Guelph in Ontario is a sort of genomic menagerie, stocked with creatures, living and dead, waiting to have their DNA laid bare. Scorpions lurk in their terrariums. Tarantulas doze under bowls. Flash-frozen spiders and crustaceans — collected by Gregory, an evolutionary biologist, and his students on expeditions to the Arctic — lie piled in beige metal tanks of liquid nitrogen. A bank of standing freezers holds samples of mollusks, moths and beetles. The cabinets are crammed with slides splashed with the fuchsia-stained genomes of fruit bats, Siamese fighting fish and ostriches. Gregory’s investigations into all these genomes has taught him a big lesson about life: At its most fundamental level, it’s a mess. His favorite way to demonstrate this is through what he calls the “onion test,” which involves comparing the size of an onion’s genome to that of a human. To run the test, Gregory’s graduate student Nick Jeffery brought a young onion plant to the lab from the university greenhouse. He handed me a single-edged safety razor, and then the two of us chopped up onion stems in petri dishes. An emerald ooze, weirdly luminous, filled my dish. I was so distracted by the color that I slashed my ring finger with the razor blade, but that saved me the trouble of poking myself with a syringe — I was to supply the human genome. Jeffery raised a vial, and I wiped my bleeding finger across its rim. We poured the onion juice into the vial as well and watched as the green and red combined to produce a fluid with both the tint and viscosity of maple syrup. After adding a fluorescent dye that attaches to DNA, Jeffrey loaded the vial into a boxy device called a flow cytometer, which sprayed the onion juice and blood through a laser beam. Each time a cell was hit, its DNA gave off a bluish glow; bigger genomes glowed more brightly. On a monitor, we watched the data accumulate on a graph. The cells produced two distinct glows, one dim, one bright, which registered on the graph as a pair of peaks. One peak represented my genome, or the entirety of my DNA. Genomes are like biological books, written in genetic letters known as bases; the human genome contains about 3.2 billion bases. Print them out as letters on a page, and they would fill a book a thousand times longer than “War and Peace.” Gregory leaned toward the screen. At 39, with a chestnut-colored goatee and an intense gaze, he somewhat resembles a pre-Heisenberg Walter White. He pointed out the onion’s peak. It showed that the onion’s genome was five times bigger than mine. ADVERTISEMENT “The onion wins,” Gregory said. The onion always does. But why? Why does an onion carry around so much more genetic material than a human? Or why, for that matter, do the broad-footed salamander (65.5 billion bases), the African lungfish (132 billion) and the Paris japonica flower (149 billion)? These organisms don’t appear to be more complex than we are, so Gregory rejects the idea that they’re accomplishing more with all their extra DNA. Instead, he champions an idea first developed in the 1970s but still startling today: that the size of an animal’s or plant’s genome has essentially no relationship to its complexity, because a vast majority of its DNA is — to put it bluntly — junk. The human genome contains around 20,000 genes, that is, the stretches of DNA that encode proteins. But these genes account for only about 1.2 percent of the total genome. The other 98.8 percent is known as noncoding DNA. Gregory believes that while some noncoding DNA is essential, most probably does nothing for us at all, and until recently, most biologists agreed with him. Surveying the genome with the best tools at their disposal, they believed that only a small portion of noncoding DNA showed any evidence of having any function. You have 4 free articles remaining. Subscribe to The Times But in the past few years, the tide has shifted within the field. Recent studies have revealed a wealth of new pieces of noncoding DNA that do seem to be as important to our survival as our more familiar genes. Many of them may encode molecules that help guide our development from a fertilized egg to a healthy adult, for example. If these pieces of noncoding DNA become damaged, we may suffer devastating consequences like brain damage or cancer, depending on what pieces are affected. Large-scale surveys of the genome have led a number of researchers to expect that the human genome will turn out to be even more full of activity than previously thought. In January, Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, made a comment that revealed just how far the consensus has moved. At a health care conference in San Francisco, an audience member asked him about junk DNA. “We don’t use that term anymore,” Collins replied. “It was pretty much a case of hubris to imagine that we could dispense with any part of the genome — as if we knew enough to say it wasn’t functional.” Most of the DNA that scientists once thought was just taking up space in the genome, Collins said, “turns out to be doing stuff.” Editors’ Picks China Is Detaining Muslims in Vast Numbers. The Goal: ‘Transformation.’ 76 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump Workers Overdose on the Job, and Employers Struggle to Respond Image T. Ryan Gregory in his lab at University of Guelph.CreditJamie Campbell for The New York TimesFor Gregory and a group of like-minded biologists, this idea is not just preposterous but also perilous, something that could yield bad science. The turn against the notion of junk DNA, they argue, is based on overinterpretations of wispy evidence and a willful ignorance of years of solid research on the genome. They’ve challenged their opponents face to face at scientific meetings. They’ve written detailed critiques in biology journals. They’ve commented on social media. When the N.I.H.’s official Twitter account relayed Collins’s claim about not using the term “junk DNA” anymore, Michael Eisen, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, tweeted back with a profanity. The junk DNA wars are being waged at the frontiers of biology, but they’re really just the latest skirmish in an intellectual struggle that has played out over the past 200 years. Before Charles Darwin articulated his theory of evolution, most naturalists saw phenomena in nature, from an orchid’s petal to the hook of a vulture’s beak, as things literally designed by God. After Darwin, they began to see them as designs produced, instead, by natural selection. But some of our greatest biologists pushed back against the idea that everything we discover in an organism had to be an exquisite adaptation. To these biologists, a fully efficient genome would be inconsistent with the arbitrariness of our genesis, with the fact that every species emerged through pure happenstance, over eons of false starts. Where some look at all those billions of bases and see a finely tuned machine, others, like Gregory, see a disorganized, glorious mess. In 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson published a short paper in the journal Nature setting out the double-helix structure of DNA. That brief note sent biologists into a frenzy of discovery, leading eventually to multiple Nobel Prizes and to an unprecedented depth of understanding about how living things grow and reproduce. To make a protein from DNA, they learned, a cell makes a single-stranded copy of the relevant gene, using a molecule called RNA. It then builds a corresponding protein using the RNA as a guide. This research led scientists to assume that the genome was mostly made up of protein-coding DNA. But eventually scientists found this assumption hard to square with reality. In 1964, the German biologist Friedrich Vogel did a rough calculation of how many genes a typical human must carry. Scientists had already discovered how big the human genome was by staining the DNA in cells, looking at the cells through microscopes and measuring its size. If the human genome was made of nothing but genes, Vogel found, it would need to have an awful lot of them — 6.7 million genes by his estimate, a number that, when he published it in Nature, he admitted was “disturbingly high.” There was no evidence that our cells made 6.7 million proteins or anything close to that figure. Vogel speculated that a lot of the genome was made up of essential noncoding DNA — possibly operating as something like switches, for example, to turn genes on and off. But other scientists recognized that even this idea couldn’t make sense mathematically. On average, each baby is born with roughly 100 new mutations. If every piece of the genome were essential, then many of those mutations would lead to significant birth defects, with the defects only multiplying over the course of generations; in less than a century, the species would become extinct. Faced with this paradox, Crick and other scientists developed a new vision of the genome during the 1970s. Instead of being overwhelmingly packed with coding DNA, the genome was made up mostly of noncoding DNA. And, what’s more, most of that noncoding DNA was junk — that is, pieces of DNA that do nothing for us. These biologists argued that some pieces of junk started out as genes, but were later disabled by mutations. Other pieces, called transposable elements, were like parasites, simply making new copies of themselves that were usually inserted harmlessly back in the genome. Junk DNA’s recognition was part of a bigger trend in biology at the time. A number of scientists were questioning the assumption that biological systems are invariably “well designed” by evolution. In a 1979 paper in The Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin, both of Harvard, groused that too many scientists indulged in breezy storytelling to explain every trait, from antlers to jealousy, as an adaptation honed by natural selection for some essential function. Gould and Lewontin refer to this habit as the Panglossian paradigm, a reference to Voltaire’s “Candide,” in which the foolish Professor Pangloss keeps insisting, in the face of death and disaster, that we live in “the best of all possible worlds.” Gould and Lewontin did not deny that natural selection was a powerful force, but they stressed that it was not the only explanation for why species are the way they are. Male nipples are not adaptations, for example; they’re just along for the ride. Gould and Lewontin called instead for a broader vision of evolution, with room for other forces, for flukes and historical contingencies, for processes unfolding at different levels of life — what Gould often called“pluralism.” At the time, geneticists were getting their first glimpses of the molecular secrets of the human genome, and Gould and Lewontin saw more evidence for pluralism and against the Panglosses. Any two people may have millions of differences in their genomes. Most of those differences aren’t a result of natural selection’s guiding force; they just arise through random mutations, without any effect for good or ill. When Crick and others began to argue for junk DNA, they were guided by a similar vision of nature as slipshod. Just as male nipples are a useless vestige of evolution, so, in their theory, is a majority of our genome. Far from the height of machine-like perfection, the genome is largely a palimpsest of worthless instructions, a den of harmless parasites. Crick and his colleagues argued that transposable elements were common in our genome not because they did something essential for us, but because they could exploit us for their own replication. Gould delighted at this good intellectual company, arguing that transposable elements behaved like miniature organisms, evolving to become better at adding new copies to their host genomes. Our genomes were their ocean, their savanna. “They are merely playing Darwin’s game, but at the ‘wrong level,’ ” Gould wrote in 1981. Cells are gathered from spiders for DNA studies at the lab of T. Ryan Gregory at the University of Guelph.CreditJamie Campbell for The New York TimesSoon after Gould wrote those words, scientists set out to decipher the precise sequence of the entire human genome. It wasn’t until 2001, shortly before Gould’s death, that they published their first draft. They identified thousands of segments that had the hallmarks of dead genes. They found transposable elements by the millions. The Human Genome Project team declared that our DNA consisted of isolated oases of protein-coding genes surrounded by “vast expanses of unpopulated desert where only noncoding ‘junk’ DNA can be found.” Junk DNA had started out as a theoretical argument, but now the messiness of our evolution was laid bare for all to see. If you want to see the genome in a fundamentally different way, the best place to go is the third floor of Harvard’s Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, in a maze of cluttered benches, sequencing machines and microscopes. This is the lab of John Rinn, a 38-year-old former competitive snowboarder who likes to ponder biological questions on top of a skateboard, which he rides from one wall of his office to the other and back. Rinn is overseeing more than a dozen research projects looking for pieces of noncoding DNA that might once have been classified as junk but actually are essential for life. Rinn studies RNA, but not the RNA that our cells use as a template for making proteins. Scientists have long known that the human genome contains some genes for other types of RNA: strands of bases that carry out other jobs in the cell, like helping to weld together the building blocks of proteins. In the early 2000s, Rinn and other scientists discovered that human cells were reading thousands of segments of their DNA, not just the coding parts, and producing RNA molecules in the process. They wondered whether these RNA molecules could be serving some vital function. As a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, Rinn decided he would try to show that one of these new RNA molecules had some important role. After a couple years of searching, he and a professor there, Howard Chang, settled on an RNA molecule that, somewhat bizarrely, was produced widely by skin cells below the waist but not above. Rinn and Chang were well aware that this pattern might be meaningless, but they set out to investigate it nevertheless. They had to give their enigmatic molecule a name, so they picked one that was a joke at their own expense: hotair. (“If it ends up being hot air, at least we tried,” Rinn said.) Rinn ran a series of experiments on skin cells to figure out what, if anything, hotair was doing. He carefully pulled hotair molecules out of the cells and examined them to see if they had attached to any other molecules. They had, in fact: they were stuck to a protein called Polycomb. Polycomb belongs to a group of proteins that are essential to the development of animals from a fertilized egg. They turn genes on and off in different patterns, so that a uniform clump of cells can give rise to bone, muscle and brain. Polycomb latches onto a number of genes and muzzles them, preventing them from making proteins. Rinn’s research revealed that hotair acts as a kind of guide for Polycomb, attaching to it and escorting it through the jungle of the cell to the precise spots on our DNA where it needs to silence genes. When Rinn announced this result in 2007, other geneticists were stunned. Cell, the journal that released it, hailed it as a breakthrough, calling Rinn’s paper one of the most important they had ever published. In the years since, Chang and other researchers have continued to examine hotair, using even more sophisticated tools. They bred engineered mice that lack the hotair gene, for example, and found that the mice developed a constellation of deformities, like stunted wrists and jumbled vertebrae. It appears very likely that hotair performs important jobs throughout the body, not just in the skin but in the skeleton and in other tissues too. In 2008, having been lured to Harvard, Rinn set up his new lab entirely in hopes of finding more hotair-like molecules. The first day I visited, a research associate named Diana Sanchez was dissecting mouse embryos the size of pinto beans. In a bowl of ice next to her were tubes for the parts she delicately removed — liver, leg, kidney, lung — that would be searched for cells making RNA molecules. After Rinn and I left Sanchez to her dissections, we ran into Martin Sauvageau, a blue-eyed Quebecer carrying a case of slides, each affixed with a slice of a mouse’s brain, with stains revealing cells making different RNA molecules. I tagged along with Sauvageau as he headed to a darkened microscope room to look at the slides with a pink-haired grad student named Abbie Groff. On one slide, a mouse’s brain looked as if it wore a cerulean mustache. To Groff, every pattern comes as a surprise. She once discovered an RNA molecule that created thousands of tiny rings on a mouse’s body, each encircling a hair follicle. “You come in in the morning, and it’s like Christmas,” she said. John Rinn in his lab at Harvard.CreditJamie Campbell for The New York TimesAs the scientists find new RNA molecules that look to be important, they are picking out a few to examine in close molecular detail. “I’m totally in love with this one,” Rinn said, standing at a whiteboard wall and drawing a looping line to illustrate yet another RNA molecule, one that he calls “firre.” The experiments that Rinn’s team has run on firre suggest that it performs a spectacular lasso act, grabbing onto three different chromosomes at once and drawing them together. Rinn suspects that there are thousands of RNA molecules encoded in our genomes that perform similar feats: bending DNA, unspooling it, bringing it in contact with certain proteins and otherwise endowing it with a versatility it would lack on its own. “It’s genomic origami,” Rinn said about this theory. “In every cell, you have the same piece of paper. Stem cell, brain cell, liver cell, it’s all made from the same piece of paper. How you fold that paper determines if you get a paper airplane or a duck. It’s the shape that you fold it into that matters. This has to be the 3-D code of biology.” To some biologists, discoveries like Rinn’s hint at a hidden treasure house in our genome. Because a few of these RNA molecules have turned out to be so crucial, they think, the rest of the noncoding genome must be crammed with riches. But to Gregory and others, that is a blinkered optimism worthy of Dr. Pangloss. They, by contrast, are deeply pessimistic about where this research will lead. Most of the RNA molecules that our cells make will probably not turn out to perform the sort of essential functions that hotair and firre do. Instead, they are nothing more than what happens when RNA-making proteins bump into junk DNA from time to time. “You say, ‘I found it — America!’ ” says Alex Palazzo, a biochemist at the University of Toronto who co-wrote a spirited defense of junk DNA with Gregory last year in the journal PLOS Genetics. “But probably what you found is a little bit of noise.” Palazzo and his colleagues also roll their eyes at the triumphant declarations being made about recent large-scale surveys of the human genome. One news release from an N.I.H. project declared, “Much of what has been called ‘junk DNA’ in the human genome is actually a massive control panel with millions of switches regulating the activity of our genes.” Researchers like Gregory consider this sort of rhetoric to be leaping far beyond the actual evidence. Gregory likens the search for useful pieces of noncoding DNA to using a metal detector to find gold buried at the beach. “The idea of combing the beach is a great idea,” he says. But you have to make sure your metal detector doesn’t go off when it responds to any metal. “You’re going to find bottle caps and nails,” Gregory says. He expects that as we examine the genome more closely, we’ll find many bottle caps and nails. It’s a prediction based, he and others argue, on the deep evolutionary history of our genome. Over millions of years, essential genes haven’t changed very much, while junk DNA has picked up many harmless mutations. Scientists at the University of Oxford have measured evolutionary change over the past 100 million years at every spot in the human genome. “I can today say, hand on my heart, that 8 percent, plus or minus 1 percent, is what I would consider functional,” Chris Ponting, an author of the study, says. And the other 92 percent? “It doesn’t seem to matter that much,” he says. It’s no coincidence, researchers like Gregory argue, that bona fide creationists have used recent changes in the thinking about junk DNA to try to turn back the clock to the days before Darwin. (The recent studies on noncoding DNA “clearly demonstrate we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ by our Creator God,” declared the Institute for Creation Research.) In a sense, this debate stretches back to Darwin himself, whose 1859 book, “On the Origin of Species,” set the course for our understanding natural selection as a natural “designer.” Later in his life, Darwin took pains to stress that there was more to evolution than natural selection. He was frustrated to see how many of his readers thought he was arguing that natural selection was the only force behind life’s diversity. “Great is the power of steady misrepresentation,” Darwin grumbled when he updated the book for its sixth edition in In fact, he wrote, he was quite open-minded about other forces that might drive evolution, like “variations that seem to us in our ignorance to arise spontaneously.” Darwin was certainly ignorant about genomes, as scientists would continue to be for decades after his death. But Gregory argues that genomes embody the very mix of adaptation and arbitrariness that Darwin had in mind. Over millions of years, the human genome has spontaneously gotten bigger, swelling with useless copies of genes and new transposable elements. Our ancestors tolerated all that extra baggage because it wasn’t actually all that heavy. It didn’t make them inordinately sick. Copying all that extra DNA didn’t require them to draw off energy required for other tasks. They couldn’t add an infinite amount of junk to the genome, but they could accept an awful lot. To subtract junk, meanwhile, would require swarms of proteins to chop out every single dead gene or transposable element — without chopping out an essential gene. A genome evolving away its junk would lose the race to sloppier genomes, which left more resources for fighting diseases or having children. The blood-drenched slides that pack Gregory’s lab with their giant genomes only make sense, he argues, if we give up thinking about life as always evolving to perfection. To him, junk DNA isn’t a sign of evolution’s failure. It is, instead, evidence of its slow and slovenly triumph. Carl Zimmer writes the Matter column for The New York Times. He is the author of 13 books, including “Parasite Rex” and “Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea.” John Rinn Harvard

I was watching the program Malaysia’s forgotten forests which was a fascinating expose on the many wonderful plants and animals in the Malaysian forests There was the beautiful orchid mantis with definitely roles for male and femals they mate for 2 weeks Then the Horn bill, they mate for life and the female will find a hole in the tree to make a nest and will look after the chicks. Off and on you will see the bits of vegetation get gthrown out of the nest as she does the spring cleaning. The male however forgages for food and it is estimated he makes 500 trips a day to bring a single berry abnd regurgitate it out. The partnership was beautiful , each had a role and the team brough glory to God

God reveals his glory in every aspect of creation
Genesis 1:27 (ESV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:31 (ESV) And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. The Christian worldview is clear at this point. The Bible presents gender as part of the goodness of creation. God reveals his glory in every aspect of creation, and this is abundantly true with respect to the two sexes. God glorifies himself in creating humanity in his own image, both male and female. To deny or confuse this distinction is to deny God the glory that is his due. And, that which brings God's greatest glory will also bring us greatest joy. Given the spiritual state of Israel at the time, most see Judges not as illustrating well God’s ideal for His people. Quite probably, then, Deborah’s judgeship demonstrates, not how God endorses female leadership, but rather just how far from God’s design and purposes Israel had strayed. In any case, it is difficult to accept the case of Deborah as normative, in light of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary

Deborah the judge Judges 4-5.

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