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Yesterday, Congressman Brian Higgins participated in a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on potential U.S. military intervention in Syria. Higgins asserted claims American credibility is dependent on following through on threats of military intervention are misleading and false.
In his remarks, Higgins said, in part, "There's an issue I want to address, which has been referenced here and throughout this debate and it's that America's credibility is on the line in Syria. That America's credibility is on the line in Syria. Really? Not the America that I know. Not my America."
The full transcript of Higgins' remarks is below:
"Let me say this at the outset: The situation in Syria is that of a national civil war. It is sectarian and it's ethnic. This is not about freedom and democracy. There is no social contract, there is no preamble, there is no unifying vision for what Syria wants to become. This is a fight about control. A brutal dictator -Assad - and his militias and an opposition whose best fighters are al Qaeda and Islamic extremists bent on creating an Islamist state in Syria. So there is no good military option for the United States.
"But there's an issue I want to address, which has been referenced here and throughout this debate and it's that America's credibility is on the line in Syria. That America's credibility is on the line in Syria. Really? Not the America that I know. Not my America. The international community of 194 countries, an international community, but for Turkey and France, that says 'Yes, we agree with you, the United States, that Assad is a toxic murderer, go get him, just don't ask us to participate.' So the United States will enter another regional civil war for the third time in the past decade, essentially alone, again.
"The Arab League - 22 member states in the Arab world - whose strategic interests are tied to the stability of the region. Their response to Assad's murderous ways are convoluted and weak - pathetically weak - and you're telling me that America's credibility is on the line in Syria?
"The Arab-Muslim world, a civilization of 250 million people, who have been in a destructive war with one another, Shia and Sunni, about who is the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad's political and spiritual leadership since 632 - the 7th century. The Arab-Muslim community is a population of 250 million people, one half of which are under the age of 25. So Shia and Sunni are involved in the sectarian conflict against each other without any regard for the future of the children in that community. And America's credibility is on the line.
"Finally, the American people. The American people are sick and tired of war. Afghanistan and Iraq is as violent and as backward as it's ever been. $2 trillion, 6,668 American lives lost. Tens of thousands of young men and women coming back to this country both physically and mentally destroyed. America is underachieving. What the American people want is a strong, prosperous America. Richard Haass just wrote the book 'Foreign Policy Starts at Home.' We have to build nations, not in Afghanistan, not in Iraq, not nation build in those nations, but nation build right here at home, investing in the American people and the American economy. There are no good options for the United States here.
"I heard a spokesman from the White House say today that 'Why are the people opposed? "Well it's complicated." ' That's insulting. That is insulting. The American people are way ahead of Washington on this issue. They don't want a war in another part of the country that we cannot win, that we cannot litigate toward a successful end. They want to nation build in America.
"So I just think it's important we say that. American credibility is not on the line. We are the greatest nation in the history of the world. We have demonstrated greater generosity to the international community to the rest of the world than they will ever respond to us. So let's stop this nonsense about America's credibility on the line in Syria."


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Susan's Top 15 Picks for 2011
Susan's 15 Picks for 2011
These are all books that were published in 2011 that I read and liked. Since I like books with a Wisconsin connection, about half of the titles have a Wisconsin connection.
My Top Four, Alphabetically by Author
Baker, Ellen
I Gave My Heart to Know This
Set in Superior area, mainly in WWII. A young woman goes back to the family homestead after suffering her own heartbreak and uncovers family secrets dating back to WWII. A book about hopes, dreams, and family secrets and a good book for people who like historical fiction.
Kagen, Leslie
Good Graces
Set in Milwaukee in the summer of 1960. Sequel to Whistling in the Dark. Narrated by 11 year old Sally. Funny and nostalgic but with a serious story involving a cat burglar.
Mason, Bobbie Ann
The Girl in the Blue Beret
In 1980 commercial airline pilot Marshall Stone is facing mandatory retirement so he decides to go to Belgium and France where his plane crashed in WWII. He reconnects with people from the resistance movement who helped him. Haunting story about resistance members, their bravery and the deprivations they endured.
Revoyr, Nina
Midwest Booksellers Choice Award for fiction. Set in a city that resembles Marshfield in 1974. Nine year old Michelle (Mikey) is of Japanese-American birth and living with her grandparents after her parents' marriage broke up. Lots of big themes: racism, family, loyalty to friends, child abuse, poverty, working class values set against the turbulent 1970s. Reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird.
And the Rest, Alphabetically by Author
Auel, Jean M.
Land of Painted Caves
Last in the series about a young woman named Ayla who lived during the Ice Age. For people who enjoyed the other books in the series.
Bakopoulos, Dean
My American Unhappiness
Set in Madison. Thirty-three year old Zeke runs a nonprofit organization, and one of his projects asks people why they are unhappy. Zeke is an intellectual, ivory-towered liberal who loves his orphaned nieces and will do anything to get custody of them. He is both endearing and exasperating. Humorous.
Freeman, Brian
Bone House
Suspense set in Door County. Mark is a teacher who was accused of-- and exonerated of-- having an affair with a student. Now the student's sister is found murdered, and Mark is the prime suspect. But there are other suspects: the murdered girl's boyfriend, the dance coach at UW-Green Bay, and Harris Bone, the man who burned down his house and killed his family. You will just have to read the book to find out who did it.
Harbach, Chad
Art of Fielding
Set in Wisconsin at a fictional small college. A story of baseball and relationships. This book received excellent reviews and has received a lot of attention.
Harkness, Deborah
A Discovery of Witches
A mix of Twilight series for adults with a bit of Harry Potter, Physic Book of Deliverance Dane and the Da Vinci Code thrown in.
Henry, Sara J.
Learning to Swim
Troy Chance is on a Lake Champlain ferry when she sees a small boy dropped into the water. She dives in and rescues him. Why does no one miss him? Why does he only speak French? This was a book that I wanted to keep reading until the suspenseful conclusion.
Hunt, Rebecca
Mr. Chartwell
Set in London in 1964. Mr. Chartwell is Black Pat Chartwell, a big black dog that is the personification of depression. His job is to dog Churchill. Esther is hired to take dictation from Churchill before he retires and in doing that she finds strength to deal with her own unhappiness. A light touch in dealing with the heavy subject of depression.
James, Steven
The Queen
A thriller set in northern Wisconsin. The latest in the Pat Bower series. Suspenseful tale of conspiracy and espionage with details about law enforcement, but also philosophical discussions of God and forgiveness.
Nesbo, Jo
The Snowman
Scandinavian noir.
Rasmussen, Rebecca
Bird Sisters
Set in Spring Green. Two elderly sisters who now care for injured birds recall how their lives changed in 1947 when their cousin Bett came to live with them. Character-driven story.
Thomson, Keith
Twice a Spy
Sequel to Once a Spy. Drummond Clark was a CIA agent who now has Alzheimer's. Lots of action and humor.

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Human life and the fate of the world are both balancing between two primal powers – Life and Death. Our hero's destiny is to be a priest of the Death god, to be a respected guide of the One with whom everybody will meet. Sooner or later, similar end awaits a living person – no matter elf, human, orc or dwarf. But what Death matters against human will? Is it possible to overcome the boundaries set for the living? The answer and the path begins with the journey to the distant orc city for a magical artifact...
The path of necromancer.
The path of human...
The path of god?
Beltion: Beyond Ritual in a nonlinear third-person view Action/RPG game with the branching system of complementary quests.
Features :
- Literary and artistic constituents of the game world of our own design
- Non-traditional interpretation of artistic genre and setting canons
- Four independent systems of combat interaction, with possibility of combination
- Original main character: a necromancer priest
- A role-playing system of own design
- Original stylization of characters, weapons, equipment and locations
- Unique character development system using four types of human personality – sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, that allows the player to act in a most comfortable way
- Different solutions for problems – by communication, combat or magic
- There are over 44 humans and human-like creature models with more than 100 different textures. - - - 19 unique models of monsters and undead creatures with more than 30 different textures. The Monsters are all unique creatures and natives in the Beltion world; undeads can be the character's enemies or summoned allies; about a dozen of models of miscellaneous game world animals (dogs, cats, goats, etc.)
- More than three dozens of weapon types – swords, sabers, axes, hammers, clubs, halberds, spears, numerous crossbows. All variations with different combat specifications
- Wide range of Death Magic spells, including the variety of undead summoning
- Possibility of covert enemy liquidation in "stealth" type actions
- Different endings dependant on the manner of play
- Approximate playing time is about 60 hours
The player is completely free to choose what to do in the game world. He can fight, trade, communicate with the Beltion inhabitants, accomplish quests given by them, develop his own character, fulfill different rituals of Gods and Powers who inhabit the game world.
The player will be able to visit countries and cities of Beltion continent, meet different characters of several races, gather interesting information about their everyday life by reading books, taking part in conversations, watching ingame movies. The persons player cam meet differ not only by racial belonging, but also by social levels, from high-ranking officials and rulers to beggars, vagabonds and rogues. Sometimes a clever dialogue will gain him more than a fight. Due to the possibility of trade, the player is able to sell items he gathered to buy new armour, weapons, magic items and ritual objects.
The combat system combines close combat with spellcasting and stealth-infiltration abilities. Close combat weapons include common close-combat weapons like swords, sabers, axes, hammers, clubs, halberds; for ranged combat there is a variety of different crossbows, firing standard ordnance or magic bolts. Magic combines possibility of creatures summon, combat magic and indirect effects. It is also possible to act in special "stealth" mode, where weak enemies could be killed by one move, and strong ones could be ambushed with intricate traps.
Winning battles gives the player bonus points for upgrading his character and a possibility to pick up different enemies' items, that could be sold or used. Bonus points could be used on upgrading existing character's skills and combat movements or discovering new abilities.
During the game, player will meet different obstacles – forests, caves, mazes, mountains, as well as different enemies – animals, humans, undeads and other creatures. Every creature has its own combat style, and sometimes they act in groups, so the player will have to act smartly, using all his character's skills.
Rituals are one of the key elements of the game. By means of rituals, the main character will master new powers and proceed from being an obedient Death God slave to becoming a creature of supernatural powers. This will come with an ancient artifact that will be the way to his fate.
He can use some unique abilities like:
- gathering of souls from defeated enemies which serves for combat purposes (new spells development and amplification of existing spells, self-healing) and for the plot progress (soul questioning to obtain the information)
- necrovision or "ethereal sight" – a special viewing mode to observe incorporeal manifestations and entities, for example souls;
- an ownership of Necropolis – necromancer's keep where he can study to summon undeads, to perform rituals and enhance his own abilities. The Necropolis provides the basis for the personal teleportation system that the character can use to move from one point of the game-world to the other.
- The game system is based on a traditional RPG and Action/RPG genre combination of stats, abilities and items. The game process consists of completion of obligatory main quests and optional side quests, fighting with different enemies, character development, gathering and usage of souls.
- the stats reflects the character's physical and spiritual prowess: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Will and Perception. The stats are increasing during the game, affecting both combat elements (attack power, maximal health etc.) and non-violent character interaction (persuasion in a conversation, for example);
- the abilities are skills and techniques which can be learned during the game. Most of the abilities are combat-oriented – for example, summoning undead allies or poisoning the enemies;
- the items comprise the character inventory including armor, weapons, shields, rings and amulets. There are also items which affect the character's stats and there are quest items and items with trade value (books, gems, etc.).
More articles about Beltion: Beyond Ritual


text: Photo Galleries Battles of Bull Run (12) facebook twitter google+ ‹ › ‹ › The two battles of Bull Run (also called Manassas) were fought in the summers of 1861 and 1862 near a small stream named Bull Run, close to the railroad junction at Manassas, Virginia. Both engagements gave advantages to the Confederacy. Play Pause Fullscreen


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Google is pleased to announce its partnership with the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, and the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina, bringing a number of the museums' top works online with the innovative Google Art Project. The museums are the only two in the Southeastern United States to participate in the project.
The Google Art Project is a unique collaboration between Google and the world's most respected and acclaimed museums, enabling visitors to virtually explore museums, discover and view hundreds of artworks online at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share their own collection of masterpieces with a few clicks of a mouse.
"The SCAD Museum of Art provides SCAD students and visitors with a world-class public space to learn and grow in their understanding of art and design," said Laurie Ann Farrell, executive director of exhibitions at SCAD. "We're delighted to participate in the Google Art Project since this partnership broadens our reach, further expanding the walls of our institution to the global art community."
Angela D. Mack, executive director and chief curator of the Gibbes Museum of Art, also noted the opportunities that the partnership provides virtual visitors. "The mission of the Gibbes Museum of Art is to preserve and promote the art of Charleston and the American South. By participating in the Google Art Project, we are able to share treasures from our unique collection with art enthusiasts around the globe."
The partnerships are part of a major global expansion of the project, which counts a wide range of institutions, including the Tate Modern, MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Uffizi Gallery, among its 151 partners in 40 countries. In the United States, 29 partners in 16 cities are participating, ranging from regional museums to university galleries. All told, more than 30,000 high-resolution objects are now available with the project's expansion, up from the original 1,000 in only nine museums announced with the debut of the Google Art Project in 2011.
Artwork from a wide variety of cultures and civilizations is represented as well. "Google is committed to bringing all types of culture online and making it accessible," said Nelson Mattos, Google's vice president of engineering. "The Art Project demonstrates how the Internet helps spread knowledge."
A contemporary art museum, the SCAD Museum of Art presents engaging art exhibitions and installations from renowned and emerging artists, as well as works from the university's diverse permanent collection. The museum's collection also features holdings in costume and significant historical paintings ranging from the late 17th to 21st centuries.
Highlights from SCAD's collection showcased in the Google Art Project include Reclining Nude, 1977, by Romare Bearden; Odile and Odette IV, 2005-06, by Yinka Shinobare; Homeward Bound, 2010, by Wangechi Mutu; Madonna (self-portrait), 1975, by Cindy Sherman; and Marriage à la Mode (series of six etchings), 1745, by William Hogarth.
A major strength of the Gibbes collection is the portraiture, including some of the earliest portraits created in America. Examples from the Gibbes permanent collection that are on view in the Google Art Project include Henriette Charlotte Chastaigner (Mrs. Nathaniel Broughton 1700-54), 1711, by Henrietta Dering Johnston; Thomas Middleton of the Oaks (1753-1797), 1770, by Benjamin West; Dinah, Portrait of a Negress, ca. 1867, by Eastman Johnson; and April (The Green Gown), 1920, by Childe Hassam.
To view these pieces and the museums' other works available through the Google Art Project, visit googleartproject.com.
The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution conferring bachelor's and master's degrees at distinctive locations and online to prepare talented students for professional careers. SCAD offers degrees in more than 40 majors.
The SCAD Museum of Art is a premier contemporary art museum established expressly to elevate art and design education for SCAD students and art enthusiasts around the world. With intention and élan, the museum's distinctive, dynamic art experiences advance the SCAD mission and champion art in the public discourse.
Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the Gibbes Museum of Art opened its doors to the public in 1905. Located in Charleston's historic district, the museum houses a premier collection of more than 10,000 works, principally American with a Charleston or Southern connection, and presents special exhibitions throughout the year. In addition, the museum offers an extensive complement of public programming and educational outreach initiatives that serve the community by stimulating creative expression and improving the region's superb quality of life.


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Mark's new book, How to Bake Everything, got me thinking about what makes a full-on go-to recipe. Topmost, it's flavor—you take a bite and your first thought is WOW! Adaptability is also important; I like when you can simply swap ingredients in and out and the result is still delicious, only now in a totally different way. Easy changes are at the core of how Mark thinks about food and he's extended this approach to develop variations for baking. Lastly, recipes I make again and again are always forgiving, even when I need to go rogue.
A perfect example is the book's Lemon Cornmeal Cake. I absolutely love this cake: it goes together in less than 15 minutes, bakes up in 30, and you can serve it right out of the pan or flip it out onto a plate. It's intensely citrusy and not too sweet, making it wonderful for snacking (meaning I don't feel guilty when I eat most of it myself in a series of small slivers). The first time I made it just as written—well, not quite. I used my cast iron skillet as the pan and I "baked" it on my gas grill. It was fantastic. Continue reading


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James D. Hartzfeld, 72
James D. Hartzfeld, 72, Punxsutawney, died Wednesday, May 25, 2011, at UPMC-Presbyterian as the result of injuries sustained in a farming accident Monday.
He was born Nov. 11, 1938, in Luthersburg, a son of the late Eugene and Arvilla (Swartzlander) Hartzfeld.
Aug. 17, 1973, he married Kathleen L. (Bonsall) Hartzfeld, who survives.
Mr. Hartzfeld was a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve and a retired coal miner of 35 years. He enjoyed many years of taking care of the Bonsall Family Farm.
He was a member to the Troutville Trinity United Church of Christ, where he served as an elder and as the church cemetery caretaker. He was a charter member of the Brady Township Fire Department and was a former Henderson Township supervisor and auditor.
Mr. Hartzfeld was a member of the Brady Grange No. 1218, the Past to Present Machinery Association, the Over-50 Club of Luthersburg, and a Jefferson County Fair Board member. He enjoyed days filled socializing with many friends and family.
In addition to his wife, surviving relatives include two daughters, Sharon Smochek and husband Richard of Punxsutawney, and Karen Orner and husband Frank of Rockton; three sons, Randy Hartzfeld and wife Vicki of Punxsutawney, David Hartzfeld and wife Kelly of DuBois, and Daniel Hartzfeld and wife Renee of Warren; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; three sisters, Betty Price of DuBois, Mary Gilbert and husband Charles of Amherst, N.Y., and Rebecca Spencer and husband Alan of Luthersburg; and three brothers, Howard Hartzfeld and wife Mary Alice of Erie, Glenn Hartzfeld and wife Sandy of Luthersburg, and Llyn Hartzfeld and wife Donna of Luthersburg.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by three sisters, Viola Miknis, Roberta Berger, and infant Helen Marie Hartzfeld; and two brothers, Robert Hartzfeld and infant George Hartzfeld.
Friends will be received from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 27, 2011, at the the Goble-Baronick Funeral Home, DuBois.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 28, 2011, at the Troutville Trinity United Church of Christ with Pastor Mary Ellen Hoffman officiating.
Burial will follow in the Troutville Trinity United Church of Christ Cemetery.
Memorials may be placed with the Troutville Trinity United Church of Christ, P.O. Box 80, Luthersburg, Pa. 15848 and/or the Brady Township Fire Department, P.O. Box 157 Luthersburg, Pa. 15848.
Online condolences may be made at www.gbfuneralhome.com.


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Moving into a new home, milestone birthdays, entering a new stage in life, graduating, opening a business…
In our busy lives, we often downplay these special moments as ordinary. But these are the moments that herald big changes in the life of the individual. They deserve to be marked and celebrated.
These are everyday changes, but they don't happen to YOU everyday.
Rituals are our way of honoring important life passages. Celebrating these events connects us to our spiritual side and brings us together as a community.
Some of the ceremonies that we can create together include:
- Becoming a Parent
This is perhaps one of the most defining moments of a life. Formally noting and celebrating this event is a powerful experience. This is your opportunity to tell the world (or just yourself ) what your deepest emotions and dreams are for this new arrival.
- Baby Welcoming
When a new child comes into the family through birth or adoption, a formal welcoming ceremony is a beautiful way of interlacing his or her distinct personality and spirit into the family.
- Home Blessings and Housewarmings
These type of ceremonies send the message to yourself, your family and your community that a significant change is taking place, and that this change truly matters. The tone of a housewarming ceremony can vary from "spiritual," to interfaith to entirely secular, and can incorporate elements from many housewarming traditions.
- Family & Coming of Age
Whether it is the transition from child to teenager, from teenager to young adult, becoming a parent or an "elder," every culture has a set of ceremonies or ritual acts that announce significant new stages along life's path. I help create family and community ceremonies where these transitions are acknowledged, celebrated and revered.
- The Empty Nest
When children leave the home for college or their own homes, it marks a significant life change for the parents and the life of the home as well as for the children. Together we can create a ceremony that acknowledges this emotional transition and which help prepare a path for new possibilities to emerge.
The possibilities are endless. If you have an idea for a ceremony or have an occasion that you believe needs to be celebrated or marked, let's talk, I know together we can create a ceremony that speaks to the moment. A ceremony that tells your story. A ceremony that is "waiting to be told."


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Tony nominee Haydn Gwynne will take on famed British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opposite Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II in the upcoming West End play The Audience. Directed by Stephen Daldry, Peter Morgan's play will run February 15, 2013 through June 15 at the Gielgud Theatre. Opening night is scheduled for March 5.
In addition to Gwynne, the cast will also feature Robert Hardy as Winston Churchill and Paul Ritter as John Major. Further casting will be announced shortly. The Audience follows the reign of Queen Elizabeth II from 1952 to the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. For 60 years the Queen has sat with all of England's Prime Ministers for private, weekly meetings at Buckingham Palace. The Audience hopes to break the silence on these highly secretive meetings. Morgan wrote the screenplay for the hit 2006 film The Queen, which also starred Mirren as Elizabeth II. Mirren won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the Queen of England.
Gwynne earned a Tony nomination for Billy Elliot, having previously originated the role of Mrs. Wilkinson in the musical's West End production. She is currently on tour with Duet for One. Her other theater credits include Richard III, Becky Shaw and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Harder has previously played Churchill in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years. His stage credits include Hamlet, Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear. Ritter recently appeared in the National Theatre's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. His other stage work includes The Hothouse, The Reporter, The Coast of Utopia and Coram Boy.
The Audience will feature design by Bob Crowley, lighting by Rick Fisher, sound by Paul Arditti and video by Ian William Galloway.


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Mike Montgomery Mongoose Truck
Parked toMike Montgomery Mongoose Truck
byBaja Designs
Mike Montgomery destroying the night, with his 51" and 37" OnX Arc Series LED Light Bars.
Vehicle Info: 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
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Garage Total Chaos
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We come to the time in the Word of God this morning with great joy in our hearts as we return to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. As you know, we are working our way through this masterful epistle of the beloved Paul. We're learning so much about ministry and so much about spiritual life because this really does come from his heart.
And as we have come to the last verse of chapter 3 and then on in to the first six verses of chapter 4, we're in a little series entitled, "Looking at the Face of Jesus...Looking at the Face of Jesus." Let me read this text for you so you'll have it in mind, beginning in chapter 3 verse 18: "But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the Spirit. Therefore since we have this ministry as we received mercy we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus' sake for God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who is shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."
The Christian life, as we noted last time, is, after all...is blown away and the truth remains a life related to Jesus Christ in a very personal and intimate way. In fact, this is the distinction of the new covenant. The gospel of the new covenant is that God may be personally and intimately known to us because He is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ to look fully into the face of Jesus Christ and we find to be a saving and a sanctifying look. It is that look which saves, it is that look which brings about growth.
We suggested to you last time that the Scripture is very clear that the Christian life is all about gazing at the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. It is a Christ-centered life. It is a Christ focus, the vision is Christ at all times in Christian experience. And that's the way it began. Even our Lord Jesus Himself described salvation in these terms when in John chapter 6 and verse 40 He said, "This is the will of My Father that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life." Eternal life belongs to those who see Christ, who see Him for who He is and who is revealed in Him, namely God the Father. Jesus Christ is the one in whom the fullness of the Godhead is expressed visibly. Jesus Christ is the one full of grace and truth, that grace and truth which is the very glory of the Father.
So, new life begins when we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And growth in that new life continues as we look at the face of Jesus. Christian life then again I say after all is blown away and the truth remains is a life related to Jesus Christ in a very personal and intimate way.
The song writer many years ago captured this truth when he wrote these familiar words, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." There is great truth in that. There is biblical truth in that. There is profound truth in that. The Christian life is gazing at the glory of Jesus Christ and watching the things of this earth grow dim. The Christian life is looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, fixing our eyes on Him as Hebrews 12:2 says it. As we run the faith race with endurance, free from entanglements and besetting sins, we do so with our eyes on Jesus Christ.
A more modern chorus that we often sing puts it this way: "Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus, to reach out and touch Him and say that we love Him." Your spiritual condition is measured by your gaze at the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
That's how it all started when you were saved. And I hope that vision is unsullied and unhindered and unobstructed and the constant focus of your life every day. A vision of the Lord Jesus at one point in time lifted the veil of spiritual ignorance and brought you to the knowledge of the truth in your heart. The vision of Jesus Christ dispelled the fog of confusion that was produced by your sins so that you could see the work of God in salvation and reach out to receive the blessing of the gift that He offered you.
If you're a Christian at some point in time you saw Jesus. You beheld the Son, to borrow His own words, and you received eternal life. You looked into His face and you saw in His face the revelation of the glory of God. You saw God, you saw who He was and what He required and what He provided and you believed and were saved.
Let's go back and talk about the Apostle Paul since this text is really a personal testimony of his. And let's remember that Paul had never seen Jesus physically. Unlike the other Apostles, he was an Apostle sort of out of due season. He was a unique Apostle who had never seen Jesus physically during His earthly ministry. The first vision he ever had of Jesus was a blinding, blazing vision of His glory on the Damascus road. There were several other visions of the glorified Christ after that but up until the time of his conversion he had never seen Jesus. And yet in 2 Corinthians 4:16 he says, "He knew Christ after the flesh." What did he mean by that? He had never seen Jesus, how did he know Him after the flesh? He simply meant he knew the historical story of Jesus. I knew the human Jesus. I was familiar with the historical information and data about him.
In fact, you want to know something? He was so familiar with the life of Jesus, so familiar with the history of His life, so familiar with His teachings that Jesus had become the focus of his whole life even though he wasn't a Christian. In fact, he knew enough about Jesus so that Jesus dominated his life, not in a positive sense but in a negative sense. He knew enough about Jesus to hate Him with a passion and to hate everything that Jesus stood for and to literally devote his life to the persecution, the imprisonment and the execution of the followers of Jesus. So even as an unbeliever, Jesus was the focal point of his life, Jesus after the flesh, the historical Jesus, the earthly Jesus. He knew Him well enough, he saw Him clearly enough to hate Him. What he never saw with his physical eyes he saw with his mental eyes and rejected.
But wonder of wonders, one day on the Damascus road he came to see Jesus not with his mind and not with his physical eyes but with his heart. He came to see with spiritual eyes. And for the first time he looked into the face of Jesus spiritually. He didn't see Him physically because the blinding glory literally left him without sight. And in his blindness his heart saw Jesus for the first time as He really was. He looked into the face of Jesus with spiritual eyes and he was so totally transformed that Jesus was still the consuming passion of his life but it wasn't the hate for Jesus, it was the love for Jesus that drove him. It reversed completely the direction of his whole life and for that matter the direction of the whole world. He became the notable, most notable describer of Jesus that ever lived. He became the greatest advocate for spiritual sight that ever lived. So well and so clearly did he see the face of Jesus that he became the number one articulator of who He is and why He came and what He will do. He wrote 13 epistles of the New Testament. He founded churches all over the known world, led myriads uncountable to Jesus Christ and is still doing it through the impact and power of his letters. With his physical eyes he never saw Jesus. He thought he saw Jesus with his mind but he was wrong. One day in his physical blindness he saw the pure face of Jesus and the blinding glory of God and he says it was, in Acts 26:19, a heavenly vision. That's the vision of Jesus that counts.
I've never seen Jesus nor have any of us, obviously, because He's been long gone from this earth. But whom having not seen we yet love because though we have not seen Him in the physical sense we have seen Him with the spiritual eyes. It's wonderful that people who never saw Him physically can see and know Him spiritually. And that's the story of salvation. But it's so tragic to think back to the fact that there were so many people who were alive when Jesus walked on the earth who saw Him physically but never understood Him. They saw Him with their physical eyes and they never saw the glory of God at all. They looked into the face of Jesus but never saw the glory of God. It was there all the time, manifestly there. He was in the world, the world was made by Him and the world...what?...knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. There they were looking into the face of the revealed glory of God and they never saw it.
How sad. A.T. Robertson writes in his book The Glory of the Ministry, "Many persons had looked on the face of Jesus while in the flesh who did not understand Him. There was beyond doubt a wondrous fascination in the face of Jesus that no artist has succeeded in putting upon canvas. The pictures of Jesus are either too effeminate or too crude. No face has ever so haunted and baffled the greatest artists. This face was really human but free from the taint of sin and disease. No specter of the past looked through those eyes, no shadows of forbidden secrets flitted past. Pity, unutterable compassion looked out of the depths of purity and unsullied strength. Untarnished truth looked out on a world of lies. The noblest impulses of man met the shock of hate and envy. The clear light of heaven's love gazed longingly at the suffering and the sinning. Those eyes could flash with terrific power upon hypocrites who used the livery of heaven to serve the devil in. Before His wrath, men slunk away like cowed beasts guilty and condemned. But the penitent and the contrite saw a new hope as they looked in the face of Jesus. There were some who could never forget the thrill of joy which came to their hearts as they gazed into that face. At moments they could be amazed at the struggling emotions in His countenance. There were three who beheld His majestic glory on the mount. But not all men could see all this in the face of Jesus. The rabbis were angered to desperation as they saw that calm and powerful face. Its very innocence enraged them," end quote.
What a face...what a face. But for Paul, finally he looked in to the face of Jesus and saw the reality. And so has everyone who has come to Christ, so has everyone born again under the new covenant. It is a coming to see the face of Christ. And in that face the glory of God revealed.
Famous blind preacher named Matthison wrote these words about Paul, he said, "Remember the Christ whom Paul first saw was the Christ of heaven. He never gazed upon the man of Galilee. His earliest vision was the vision of a Jesus glorified, not on the road to the cross did Christ meet him. He came to him panoplied in heavenly splendor. What his inner eye beheld was the Christ of the future, a Christ of majesty, a Christ if power, a Christ who came clothed in the lightning and wreathed in the conqueror's robe. That was the first Christ Paul's soul saw. It is wonderful that it should have been the first Christian image in his writings."
Well that famous blind preacher had seen into the secret of Paul's heart, hadn't he? He saw Jesus. He saw Him on the road to Damascus. He saw Him not with his eyes but with his heart and he never stopped gazing at Him as long as he lived. And even when he came to the very end in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and he takes up his pen for the very last time and writes his last letter and waits to be executed, he identifies himself as a member of an association of people who love His appearing. He has seen Him all his spiritual life with the eyes of his heart and he longs to see Him with those glorified physical eyes. And he will, and so will all of us.
Once Paul saw Christ on the Damascus road, he never again took his eyes off Jesus. And that's why he was the man that he was. That's where all of his strength and power came from. That's where the truth came from, that vision, that look, that perception. That's where courage and boldness came from. That's where virtue came from and wisdom. He never took his gaze off Jesus Christ. He said to the Philippians, "This one thing I do, I press toward the goal." And who was the goal for him? Jesus Christ, the prize of the upward call. His whole life was focused on following Christ and following Christ and following Christ. And he said on several occasions, "Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ." He never took his eyes off Christ.
And, beloved, it is that glorious vision of God revealed in Christ that is the essence of new covenant blessing. It is that which the Old Testament saint never saw. It is that reality which sets the new covenant apart. The veil is gone and we see Christ and we see the glory of God blazingly revealed in His fullness in the face of Jesus Christ. And Paul says I came to that vision and I've never left it. Jesus is my vision and my focus, the object of all of my life. And he found in looking into the face of Jesus Christ strength for every issue, grace for every need.
And that is the plea of the great text before us. The plea of this text is to hear the testimony of a man who had an indomitable life, who had a successful spiritual life, who was mightily used by God, who enjoyed peace and comfort and tranquility and hope in the midst of turmoil because he never took his eyes off Jesus Christ. That is the plea of this text to call us to that same vision to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and find a glory sufficient for every issue of life.
Now remember, we've already learned that at the time in which Paul writes this, he is no doubt in the greatest turmoil and distress of his own personal ministry. The accumulated difficulties of this period of time are heavier than any other time. Not only the external persecution, the threat of death which was already around him in an endless way, every turn he took was potentially the last turn. But also this burden of carrying the pain of defection in the church, people leaving sound doctrine, falling into sin, being disobedient and add to that the unending character assassination that was going on against him to totally discredit and destroy him. All of this mounted accumulated stuff had placed him under a burden which was more than he could bear. He even says, "I was depressed." But he never lost his vision of Christ. And as he turned to look at the face of Jesus in the midst of all of this he found joy, he found hope, he found reassurance, he found confidence.
And he gives us his testimony here but it's the testimony or should be of every new covenant believer. And that's why it starts in chapter 3 verse 18, "But we all..." This is not something isolated only to the Apostle Paul, anymore than the glory of God on the face of Moses was isolated to him. This is for all of us. We can all now behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus as 3:18 and 4:6 both say. This section is bracketed in verse 18 and down in verse 6 with the same concept, the glory of God is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ into whose face we now look by faith. And in that face we find the glory of God revealed and it is a sufficient glory to sustain us in every issue of life.
So we're talking then about looking into the face of Jesus, aren't we? And I told you last time, first of all it is a clarifying look. Go back to verse 18 of chapter 3. "We all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." Contrary to the old covenant with its shadows and its pictures and its types, we now without a veil, without a hindrance can look directly right into the glory of the Lord revealed to us in the mirror of Jesus Christ who is the theme of Scripture. God is on display and He's on display in Christ. And there's nothing hindering us. There's no veil. There's no obstruction. We're out of the shadows. We're into the reality. We're out of the types and the pictures, we're into the reality. And as we look clearly into the face of Christ, we see the glory of God and we see that He is sovereign, He is able, He is trustworthy for all the issues of life. The new covenant vision of Jesus Christ is a clarifying look.
Secondly, we said it is a transforming look. And this is just review. The middle of the verse says we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory by the Holy Spirit. As we look at the face of Jesus Christ we begin to become like Him. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. Maintaining that look makes us like Him. That's why Paul says I press toward that. That's the one thing I do, I never take my eyes off Jesus because as I gaze at Him the Holy Spirit makes me like Him, moving me from one level of glory to a higher, to a higher, to a higher, ever increasingly like Him.
That old blind preacher that I quoted a moment ago, Matthison, said this and it's a beautiful thing. He said, "As Paul looked at Jesus there happened a strange thing, the picture crept into his own soul." The picture crept into his own soul...it is a transforming look.
And then thirdly we said it is a strengthening look. Therefore...verse 1 says...since we have this ministry, as we received mercy we do not lose heart. Because of the overwhelming privilege of new covenant calling, because of the overwhelming privilege of being redeemed by grace, because of the tremendous privilege of being called to ministry all from God, all amazing, all undeserved to the chief of sinners, because of all of those privileges, how could I lose heart...he says. New covenant privilege compels me.
Remember now, the word "lose heart" means to abandon oneself to cowardly surrender. And under the heat of the battle as he was assaulted and assassinated in terms of his character, as he was attacked on every front, as his life was jeopardized and his people were defecting and those who he loved most were breaking his heart, he never lost heart. Why? Because he never got his ego tied up in all of that. He was always aware he was the chief of sinners. And anything that God ever gave him was all pure grace anyway. And he just remained utterly overwhelmed by the privilege of being a new covenant person, as well as a new covenant preacher. And the basis of his courage was not the appreciation of men, it wasn't the success of his efforts, the size of his church, it wasn't a pain-free life. The basis of his courage was the privilege of gazing into the face of Jesus Christ and seeing the full blazing glory of God. The basis of his courage was a fresh vision of mercy and grace to save and call a wicked sinner like him. And what did he deserve anyway?
So he found as long as he gazed at the beauty of Jesus Christ, he found in that not only a clarifying look, but he found in that a strengthening look as well as a transforming look. Now that takes us to a fourth point and this is an important one. Gazing into the face of Jesus Christ is a purifying look...it is a purifying look.
This is indicated to us in verse 2 by these words, "But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness." We'll stop right there.
Paul says from the start when the chief of sinners was saved there was a renouncing, there was a renouncing. Well what do you mean a renouncing? Well the word basically means to turn from, turn away from. I just turned my back on that stuff. I wanted no part of it from the start until now. From the very beginning when I first saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ on the Damascus road, in that moment when I saw that everything I had achieved in my works was skubalon, filth, rubbish, dung, manure as he calls it in Philippians 3...when I saw that all of that stuff was filth and I saw Christ and in Him was beauty and glory, in Him was righteousness and power and peace, in Him was sympathy and compassion and eternal hope, from that moment on I renounced the things hidden because of shame and walking in craftiness. And he also adds, and we'll say more about that in a moment, "adulterating the Word of God."
From the very start he says I was committed to purity. When I saw the glory of God purely revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, it was a vision of holiness, it was a vision of righteousness, it was a vision of virtue, it was a vision of purity. From that moment on he devoted his life to the pursuit of godliness. And from that moment on, I can promise you, he hated sin. Read about it in Romans chapter 7. "O wretched man that I am," he says, "who will deliver me from the body of this death? There is in me a principle of sin and I despise it, I loathe it, I hate it. Who will deliver me from it?"
No, there is a renouncing that happens at salvation, a real renouncing. And Paul is simply testifying to that renouncing. When a person is born again and when they really see the vision of the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, they understand who God is, what He requires, what He's done in Christ, the provision of salvation and they see the vision and believe and receive eternal life, at that moment there is a renouncing, there is a turning from sin and a devoting of one's life toward the pursuit of godliness. And so, he is confessing to that reality of renunciation, turning away.
There's a little footnote I need to give you here, very important. I'm quite confident that these specific things that he mentions here are the very things that the false apostles in Corinth were accusing him of. I think in their attempt to sully his reputation and to destroy his character and to eliminate any trust that the people had in him, they were saying these things. "There's a secret life of this man, you don't know about it." They were saying things like, "You know, underneath this is a sinful man, there's a lot of wickedness in his life and it's under the surface and it's hidden and you don't know it." And I think they were saying also that he walks in deceit, he is a deceiver, he is a crafty fellow, he's very deceptive, he's very manipulative. They were trying to destroy people's confidence in him by questioning, of course, his character. And I am confident they also accused him of adulterating the Word of God. It may have been that some of them were carrying a Judaizing message and saying he's eliminated the law of God. He's turned his back on the inspired truth that was given in the Old Testament and now he twists and perverts even the teaching of Jesus. I think these are the very things the false apostles were accusing Paul of doing. And that's why he picks these out. And he says at the beginning, "We have renounced the things hidden because of shame." Listen, from the moment of my salvation on, I turned my back on a second hidden life."
You can believe he had one. You can believe while he was running around like a pious Jew who was keeping the law outwardly and blameless outwardly and a Pharisee in towing the line and walking the mark, having been circumcised, keeping the Jewish traditions, zealous and all of those things that he lists there in Philippians 3, you can believe that while he was doing that on the outside he was wretched down underneath and there was some hidden shame in his life. There was hypocrisy of a profound level because this was no Old Testament believer, this was no Christian man, this was no Old Testament saint either because even the Old Testament saints were saved by grace through faith and he certainly believed in salvation by works, and that doesn't save anybody, never did.
So here was a man who knew what it was to be running around as a pious Pharisee, holding up the standard of Judaism and killing the people who threatened Judaism, while underneath there was a life of shame because legalism cannot restrain the flesh, it never could, it never will. And a false means of salvation doesn't transform anybody. But the point at which he came to Christ he renounced that hidden life.
That's what happens when you're saved. You turn your back on that old life, that hypocritical life underneath the sort of good citizen life on the outside that you may have maintained even as a non-Christian. You turned your back on the secret things that are hidden because of their shame. He says I renounced all that stuff. I turned my back on that when I came to Christ, I don't have a secret sinful life. They may be accusing me of it but I don't have that. That doesn't mean that sin never crept into his life but when it did he dealt with it, confessed it and asked the Lord to help him turn from it. It doesn't mean that he didn't feel the plague of sin hanging on but it wasn't a willful second hidden life of shame that he was conducting. There was no secret sinful life.
The word "shame" there, aischune, means ugly, disgraceful. Has to do with secret immoralities, secret hypocrisies, things that are hidden deep down in the darkness of our life that nobody sees. Boy, it's such a low blow to accuse somebody of that. For those false apostles to go into the city of Corinth and say, "Well, he's got a secret life. He's got a hidden iniquity. There's a whole life of shame down under the hypocritical surface of this man and you don't know about it." What a terrible thing to say, that his life is filled with hidden disgraceful underhanded things that are deeply personal and shameful. Paul says no. "At the time of my vision of Jesus Christ I renounced those things, I got rid of that hypocritical life, it's a thing of the past. It's gone."
One who looks into the face of Jesus at salvation will renounce such things. Another word for that is repentance, folks, repentance. And as those things may creep back into our lives through the flesh, daily looks into the pure face of Jesus Christ in the Word and in prayer lead us to shun them and send them racing back out. No he says, I didn't do that.
Nor he says, "Walking in craftiness." Here's another thing they accused him of...craftiness, panourgia, interesting word. Panourgiawas a word used to describe, get this, someone willing to do anything to accomplish his goals. A panourgiawas someone who would do anything to achieve his goals. In other words, he had no scruples, he had no standards, shrewd,l unscrupulous, mean. It's even implied in Luke 20:23 that it means trickery. He'll do anything, any kind of deception. Satan is the arch purveyor of this panourgia. He did it with Eve in the Garden. That very word is used in chapter 11 verse 3...a person willing to do anything. A person who because he wants to achieve a certain goal will twist and pervert and manipulate. Paul says I haven't done that. I haven't done that. There's not deception in my life. They were saying he's a deceiver, boy, does he deceive, he's manipulating you, he wants money, he wants sexual favors, he wants power, he wants influence and he's twisting and manipulating you any way he can, this is a clever man, this is a wily fox, this man is doing everything he can to twist and pervert. He's...he's really after you.
It wasn't true. There was nothing deceptive about him at all. In fact, you know something, he was so open and so plain in everything he said, it would be hard for people to believe that, I would think. I mean, after all, everything he said was just plain, I mean just plain, straightforward. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, "I didn't come to you with superiority of speech or of wisdom," there's a lot in that statement. You see, because that's a Gentile world...and follow this now...in the Gentile world they were in to wisdom, the deep mystical, magical wisdom. That's where Gnosticism came from which is the secret knowledge and only the ascended masters can reach the secret knowledge. We have that same gnosticism incipient, for example, in modern-day Masonry and in a number of the New Age kind of cults of today where there is supposedly an elevated mystical magical level and when you reach that mystical magical level you understand the secret things, you become part of the initiated. They used to think in ancient pagan religions, the Babylonian mystery religions that grew up and developed in to the various things in the Hellenistic world of the time of the New Testament that somehow they could ascend into the other world, they could by sexual orgies or by terrible kinds of eating to the point of vomiting and indulgences and by drunkenness and Bacchanalian feasts that they could somehow induce a high that would elevate them into the mystical land where they would know the secret things. They were in to secret knowledge. Why? Because it appealed to human pride.
It always appeals to human pride to be in the in group. And here came Paul and he didn't have anything to say about wisdom and his speeches weren't very fancy, he just said I proclaim to you the testimony of God. I told you what God said. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that was it. I didn't want your faith to rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God. You could say about Paul he was a plain preacher, very clear, straightforward and very non-deceptive. It was just so straightforward.
You know, part of the reason that Paul was attacked was because of this. It was because he was so plain. And he was so open and he held nothing back and there weren't any secrets. He just put it all out there and it was all clear and there was very, very little question about what he meant. And when they attacked him and assaulted him, it didn't change anything. He didn't compromise. He didn't alter anything. He just spoke as plainly and as straightforwardly and as simply as he had always spoken.
And frankly, the false teachers didn't like it. They didn't like that. They didn't like his plainness, they didn't like his clarity. They didn't like his straightforwardness. They wanted a greater subtlety. They wanted to keep the truth shrouded in more appealing and more palatable terms. First of all, very plain preachers are very offensive. And secondly, they make it seem like religion and truth is a very plain thing. And these guys, one, didn't want to offend people because they wanted to get rich off them. That's what false teachers always do. And secondly, they wanted to give them something that appealed to their ego, something that appealed to their cultural orientation so they would be more likely to buy into it. You know what happened to Paul? A lot of people rejected him. So they wanted to find a way to market the message that would make them wealthy and gain a lot of followers. So they decided you better be subtle, you better shroud the truth in more appealing and palatable terms. And the false apostles in Corinth saw themselves, no doubt, as first-century marketing experts who were selling a new product. And part of selling that new product was veiling the truth a little bit and adding some magic and some mystery. They felt if it was going to sell well they had to package it in the genre of first-century consumerism. And the first century religionists like their religion a little magical and a little mystical and a little secretive. And so the false apostles were going to succeed in making money and in the collecting a lot of converts if they could kind of tweak their message a little bit so that it was popular and trendy.
Boy, nothing new under the sun, is there? Their preaching had to be fashionable and admired and had to show the contemporary Gentiles some secret knowledge. The approach had to be appealing. And no emphasis on flat plain doctrine, repentance, sin, judgment, hell, the cross. They're not going to buy that. I mean, look, they're not going to buy that, Paul. And they even confront him with that...they're not going to buy that. And in verse 3 he says, "Well, if our gospel is veiled, don't blame the gospel blame the perishing and their minds that have been blinded by Satan," verse 4. It just drove them batty that Paul was so plain, so straightforward. They were trying to entice people with their cleverness. And they were the ones who had the secret life of shame. And I think that's implied right in here. And when he says we have renounced the hidden...the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness...the "but" there could be translated because it's ala, "on the other hand," and actually be a comparative between himself and the false teachers. They're the ones with the secret life of shame, they're the ones with the deception. They've cleverly veiled the hard truth, you know.
Paul, on the other hand, straight, open, clear, truth of the gospel...and surely they were saying to him, "Look, most people reject his preaching, it doesn't sell, people aren't buying, it's too plain, it's too open, it's too offensive." Well in any case he was open and he was bold, he was unthreatened, he was strong in his message and there was no secret life, there was no hidden shame and there was no deception.
You can't look into the face of Jesus Christ and come away a deceiver. You can't look into the face of Jesus Christ and come away with a secret life you'll cultivating. You can't look into the face of Jesus Christ and be cowardly and weak. You look into the face of Jesus Christ, God becomes clear to you and you become transformed into the image of Christ, you're going to be strong, you're going to be pure. That's how it is. And you can tell when someone's looking into the face of Christ because it will show up in their life.
Now there's a fifth thing and I want to give that to you, the last point. Looking into the face of Jesus is a truth-loving God...it's a truth-loving look. It is certainly a purifying look and a strengthening look, but it's also a truth-loving look. When you look into the face of Jesus Christ you're looking into the face of the truth. Jesus said, "I am the truth...I am the truth." When a person becomes a Christian he falls in love with the truth. That's...that's exactly what 2 Thessalonians 2:10 says that people are going to be judged and perish because they didn't receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. Being saved means loving the truth.
What happened when you came to Christ and the first time you saw Him? You fell in love with the truth. Not only the truth incarnate but the truth revealed. Truth became the issue in your life, the love of the truth. And look what Paul says, now, go back to verse 2, "At the time of my salvation I renounced the things that are hidden because of shame, that secret underlying life of hypocrisy, I renounced any deception, any deceit for the clear, straightforward, honest integrity that you've seen." And he said, "I renounce adulterating the Word of God and turned rather to the manifestation of truth." The false apostles were busy adulterating the Word of God, by the way, so the comparison is still here. Back in chapter 2 verse 17 he calls them hucksters, kapelos(?) of the Word of God who operate not out of sincerity. They're con-men. They're cheating people. They're charlatans and frauds. And he says I have renounced that.
They may have accused him of adulterating the Scripture by taking out some of the Mosaic part. They may have accused him of adulterating the gospel somehow with his simple message of grace. They said he made the message too simple and too straightforward and too unclever. And he denied the deep things, the secret things of God. And he made the message overly simplistic like those people today who would tell us somehow there's a lot of spiritual secrets and some mystical psychology that we need to learn before we can unscramble the complications of our life and to say there's sufficiency of Christ is an over-simplistic statement. Boy, have I heard that.
There are always those people who will accuse the one who is faithful to the Scripture of adulterating it. By the way, the word "adulterating" means "to tamper with...to tamper with." It's...it's used in extrabiblical places to speak of diluting wine with water. The idea is of simplifying or diluting or watering down. Paul says I don't water down the truth. I don't water down the truth to make myself clear. I don't dilute it with any human philosophy, any human wisdom. I just proclaim the pure unadulterated, unmixed, simple truth of God. People want clever subtleties. They will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, 2 Timothy 4:3 and 4 says. Paul says I'm not interested in that. I preach the pure and undiluted, untampered gospel, the uncluttered truth of grace, the new covenant of Jesus Christ, His person and His work. And he said I believe the truth will do its work.
Well what do you mean? Look what he says in verse 2, tremendous. He says, "I'm not adulterating the Word of God but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience." What's he saying? He is saying, "Look, I know something and what I know is that God has programmed men with a conscience." It's a God-given gift according to Romans chapter 2 verses 14 and 15. The law of God written in the heart is the conscience. And it bears witness to the truth. God has put it in every human being. And Paul says God put the truth in the human heart so when I confront the human heart with the truth, it rings true in the conscience. That's the point. Because the conscience is God-given and the conscience reacts to what it hears on the basis of the truth that God has placed in the fabric of human life. Men are born so much aware of truth that they're without excuse, Romans 1 says. So Paul says I'm not trying to sucker people into the gospel, I'm not trying to invent some clever magical mystical way to get them in. I'm not in to marketing techniques that kind of soft sell the deal to make them buy. I'm telling you this, they are programmed with a certain amount of divine knowledge that is in them. It will be activated by their conscience when it's confronted.
And so what's my job? To speak simple, clear, plain, undiluted, untampered, uncluttered truth and it will activate the human conscience...if in fact there's enough conscience left to be activated. Some have destroyed their conscience, we know that. But he relied only on the truth preached with no deception and no cunning. It doesn't need cunning. It doesn't need cleverness.
The great theologian Hodge wrote, "He knew that the truth had such a self-evidencing power that even where it was rejected and hated it commended itself to the conscience as true. And those ministers who are humble and sincere, who are not wise in their own conceit but simply declare the truth as God revealed it commend themselves to the consciences of men," end quote.
I'll tell you something. When you look at the face of Jesus Christ you're going to see the truth...simple, straightforward truth. And you're going to love that truth. And you're going to be committed to proclaiming that truth. That's all there is to ministry really. That's all there is to preaching...the love of the truth. You can check the progress of a Christian by whether they love the truth. Those who are content with human ideas, those who can sit under preachers who peach human wisdom, contemporary insights and the cunning and the plotting and planning of men to solve human problems, those who are concerned about their own ingenuity reveal a low commitment to the love of the truth which is a condition of retarded spiritual growth. Paul says by the manifestation of the truth. What do you mean manifestation? Open, clear, exposition of the truth, by transparent fidelity to revelation without tampering, without diluting, he speaks the truth. And the faithful preacher's world, beloved, is a world of biblical truth. That's our world. That's where we live and move and have our being. We live for that for clear, pure doctrine which is the foundation of faith and obedience. And so it should be for every Christian. You should love the truth and your heart should cry out for the truth and you should long for the truth and hunger and thirst for the truth as babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow by it.
I love to be where there are congregations of people who love the truth. I love to see people coming and crowding and jamming in to places to hear the truth. That signifies to me that God has done a work in their hearts because they have the love of the truth. And I love to hear preachers who passion is to preach the truth because they believe in the truth and they see the truth revealed in Jesus Christ. They understand the power of the truth as it confronts the conscience. It's not your cleverness that's going to reach somebody, even if you witness to them. It's not the subtlety and the cunning and the cleverness of your presentation that's going to cause somebody to be converted, it is going to be when the truth hits the conscience. And the conscience is already prepared because the truth is in the human heart. And people hear the truth and it rings in their conscience with conviction. And that's what the Spirit of God moves in on to activate saving faith.
Even where people reject the truth it still has a way of gripping. And that's why they run from it. That's why they're hostile. Why is there an anti-Christian movement in the world? Because the preaching of the simple truth of the Scriptures causes either a reaction of acceptance, belief and conversion, or hostility because people don't like their conscience assaulted.
So, Paul says I am committed to the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves...he uses the editorial "we" here, it's less personal and doesn't want to be thought of as pridefully defending only himself...by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience. The straightforward nature of his preaching brought conviction. And that's the point. That is crucial to salvation. That is crucial to sanctification. You can't just sort of baby people along. Before they're saved they need to be confronted with saving truth. When they're saved they need to be confronted with sanctifying truth. And there is no other purpose for the preaching and teaching of God's Word than that.
The faithful preacher then becomes the master of men's hearts. Not because of some ability he has but because he speaks the truth and the truth cuts deeply. The Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the diving asunder of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, Hebrews 4:12 says. Nothing penetrates and cuts like the Word of God. And if people are offended by the cut, then that's the purpose.
And he says I do all this, at the end of verse 2, in the sight of God. I do all this in the sight of God. My accountability is to God. First Corinthians 4:3 he said it doesn't matter to me what you say about me, it doesn't matter to me what anybody says about me, it doesn't even matter what I think about myself, the one who judges me is the Lord. I seek God's approval. So here is a noble preacher, characterized by integrity, no deception...characterized by fidelity, no alteration...characterized by intelligibility, no obscuring...and characterized by humility, no adulation. Integrity, fidelity, intelligibility and humility, some marvelous components for the true preacher. He sought God's approval. He said I do it in the sight of God. The only one I'm going to answer to is Him. That's a look at his motive. He's the only one to whom every preacher and every believer is bound to answer.
So with every believer we love the truth because God loves truth and God is truth and Christ is truth. And as we look at the face of Christ, it is a truth-loving look. If you love the truth, it's because you're looking into the face of Jesus. You cannot look into the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus and not be consumed with love of the truth and conviction by the truth. That is the commendation or the condemnation of every preacher...a preacher whose love and loyalty is to the truth is to be commended. One who is not is to be condemned.
And I'll tell you, those who are gazing at the face of Jesus love the truth and with all of its power they are endeavoring to apply it in their life. And he says that he does all of this in the sight of God. I mean, that's the ultimate. No God, no consequences. No consequences, no conscience. And the problem we're having in our culture today is the vanishing conscience because it's directly related to the vanishing God. If there's no God there's no consequences. If there's no consequences, why worry. But where there is God and where there is belief in God and where there is love of God, there will be love of truth and love of obedience to that truth.
And I'll tell you, throughout the history of the church the most powerful people in the life of the church have been those who have been most clear in articulating the truth. They always make the greatest impact and have the greatest affect. The history of the church turns on those who live and proclaim truth that convicts the conscience. And if you want to be a powerful Christian, that's the way you're going to have to live as well.
So, keep your eyes on Jesus, to know Him deeply. To gaze at the glory of God revealed in Him is a clarifying look, a transforming look, a strengthening look, a purifying look and a truth-loving look. That's what it's all about. That's what ministry is all about. That's what Christian living is all about. That's what Paul's life was all about. He never took his eyes off Christ. He said, "For to me to live is Christ." He doesn't mean by that that Christ was a source of his life, though He is. He doesn't mean He lives in Paul, though He does. He doesn't mean his life is controlled by Christ, though it is. He doesn't mean he submits to Christ obediently, though he does. He means Christ is his life. He lives to serve Him, to speak with Him, to fellowship with Him. He has no conception of life apart from Christ. That's the simple direction of every life in Christ.
I want to close with a verse, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, because I think this sums up what Paul's fear was. Second Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 Paul says this, and he really does sum up his concern in this whole letter, "I am afraid...he says...I am afraid..." Now wait a minute, let's go back and find out what's led to this fear. He says in verse 2, "I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy, I betrothed you to one husband that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin." Okay, you're the bride of Christ and I want to give you to Christ as a pure virgin. I want you to be singularly and solely devoted to Christ. I mean, that's obviously what...what a marriage is all about, right? It's all about a woman saying I am yours and yours alone. I am singularly and purposefully and permanently devoted to you. So he says when I brought you to the knowledge of the gospel, I betrothed you to one husband with the purpose that you would devote yourself to that one and that one alone as a pure virgin...in other words, you would never adulterate yourself, you'd never commit an act of fornication on the spiritual level, you would never deviate from the single devotion of purity to your husband. But verse 3, "I'm afraid, I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his panourgia, his craftiness, your mind should be led astray...here it is...from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ."
Do you see the point? My concern for you, Paul says, is that you're going to be an unfaithful bride, that you're going to be distracted by other lovers and that you're going to deviate from single, wholehearted devotion to Jesus Christ. And, beloved, we go right back to where we started. When all is blown away and you get down to the heart of Christian living, it is a singular devotion to Jesus Christ. That's what it is. It is looking into the face of Christ...single minded, pure, loyal love to Christ, undivided attraction and undivided affection. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Paul says I am afraid that you would be led astray, deceived by the serpent from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Yes they accused him of being simple but it was that simplicity that is the message of the new covenant.
Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word again and for its power, its clarity. We thank You for this beloved man Paul who as an instrument of the Holy Spirit was inspired to write things that are so potent, so clear, so straightforward. Lord, we thank You that there aren't any hidden magical mysterious things but that everything is open and clear. Lord, give us eyes to see Christ. If there are some in our midst this morning who have not seen Him for the first time, who may know Jesus after the flesh, that is like Paul knew Him before his conversion, they know He existed and a few facts about His life, maybe enough to even make them mad, may they see Him with the spiritual eyes and may they in looking at the face of Jesus see the glory of God revealed and be transformed.
And I pray for those who are Christians who have seen the face of Jesus and in His face Your glory revealed, but have led all kinds of distractions come in to life and maybe have even been deceived from simplicity and devotion to the vision of Christ. O Lord, call us back, fix our eyes on Jesus and may we ever and always with our hearts gaze at His glory. May He be the constant focus of our thoughts. May He be the friend not only who sticks closer than a brother who is so utterly aware of us but of whom we are equally aware. Help us to live in the light of His presence and see in Him the fullness of Your glory which is more than enough to sustain us through the issues of life. Grant us that by Your Spirit and we pray in Christ's name. Amen.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


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People who run wine competitions around the U.S. must wish they never heard the name Robert Hodgson.
Earlier this year, he published a study in the scholarly Journal of Wine Economics (who knew?). He concluded something that many winemakers and critics have long suspected: which medals wines get at competitions depends at least as much on who does the judging as on the wine itself.
Over four years, Hodgson tested 65 panels of judges at the California State Fair Wine Competition by slipping three samples from the same bottle into large judging flights.
The results? Fewer than half of the panels consistently gave the same wines the same medal. In one extreme case, a panel rejected two samples of a wine and awarded the third a double gold.
Individual judges performed far worse than the groups. Just 10% of them consistently voted the same medal to the same wine.
Last week, Hodgson stomped his other foot. In a new article that's lighting up online discussion groups nationwide, he examined over 4000 wines entered in 13 major wine competitions. His devastating indictment:
The probability of winning a Gold medal at one competition is stochastically independent of the probability of receiving a Gold at another competition, indicating that winning a Gold medal is greatly influenced by chance alone.
Among 2440 wines entered in more than three competitions, 47% (1142) took at least one gold medal. For those, like me, who frequently question the medal madness, that number alone calls the entire process into question.
Wherever Hodgson looked, he found inconsistencies. Among them:
Hodgson drew three conclusions:
Blogger Joe Roberts (1 Wine Dude) has since lobbed a few grenades in Hodgson's direction, calling his statistical analysis "pseudo-science" and "bordering on being totally irresponsible".
One major issue: lumping together 13 competitions may illuminate inconsistencies among them, but obscures whether those inconsistencies exist simply because the study compares some competitions that do a great job picking top wines with others that don't.
Meanwhile, other wine writers like Alder Yarrow at Vinography are saying "I've always told you so" when it comes to wine competitions.Around here, the advice has always been: Drink what you enjoy, or get advice from folks whose palates you trust. Always keep in mind that most competitions exist for wineries to use as marketing tools, not for consumers to trust as buying guides.
Early results from an experiment by Chateau Margaux's Paul Pontallier indicate that screwcaps may age red wine better than natural cork -- plus eliminate any risk of corked bottles, as reported in The Drinks Business.
The 2011-2 mild weather was healthy for Michigan's vineyards, but it's played havoc with state winemakers who leave grapes on the vine in hopes that they'll freeze for the production of icewine, reports AP writer John Flesher.
Recently-deceased Korean dictator Kim Jong Il was a wine geek (and reputed alcoholic) with a 10,000-bottle cellar, according to ex-Slate wine columnist Mike Steinberger. Kim earlier gave up Hennessy Cognac on doctor's orders.
Warming climate may help cooler grape-growing regions -- like England -- but could damage places like Napa, writes jounalist John McQuaid in Yale's environmental magazine.
Western Farm Press reports that Cornell Prof Miguel Gomez is studying how smaller wineries can jointly create a successful cool-climate wine region. He'll look at emerging areas in Michigan, New York and Missouri.
Here's one for some Michigan entrepreneur to try! A just-opened Long Island outlet mall store will sell nothing but New York State wines. Starting inventory at Empire State Cellars: 400 labels from 150 wineries.
Want a refresher about Michigan wine history and potential? Get a quick two page cheat-sheet by Layne Cameron in Western Farm Press, and make some allowances for the MSU-centricity (the author's employer).
Links to wine news from Michigan and elsewhere. Use the Contact Form to let us know what should be here.


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Cristin Richard is in the movement of artists whose work is related to the body and identity. Her work examines the human condition and the fact that the body is physically and mentally determined in this condition. It is thus the window of our relation to the world. She transcribes her own personal story through impulses to existential questions.
In this particular work, The Political Aesthetics of the Skin, Richard plays with fashion, sculpture, performance and social commentary in order to bring forth these beautifully made gowns that resemble the look and feel of human skin.
Here, Richard is interested in examining the body, personal identity, as well as sculptural objects in a subtle but powerful way. She explores these themes by creating sculptural dresses that resemble skin color and skin textures made out of animal intestines. Richard's usage of organic material, is what gives her looks the means to exist as throughly manipulated pieces, an obvious detail that makes her fashion garments have more of a sculptural feel than just regular fashion pieces. After creating the dresses, the Detroit based artist puts together an elegant performance that include women of several skin shades; she purposely finds models that perfectly match the dresses' skin color tones. Although her pieces are wearable and highly fashionable, here, the dresses go beyond trends.
With the idea of fashion as sculpture, Cristin Richard blurs the line between fine art and fashion. She believes that fashion allows one to create a second skin. It provides an escape that is rooted in the truth to one's own identity. One can transform themselves into whatever makes them feel good, allowing them to approach society in their own unique way. Through these observations, the artist develops and analyzes the subject of the appearance of one's self, and also that of one another.


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Formalizations of Commonsense Psychology
The central challenge in commonsense knowledge representation research is to develop content theories that achieve a high degree of both competency and coverage. We describe a new methodology for constructing formal theories in commonsense knowledge domains that complements traditional knowledge representation approaches by first addressing issues of coverage. We show how a close examination of a very general task (strategic planning) leads to a catalog of the concepts and facts that must be encoded for general commonsense reasoning. These concepts are sorted into a manageable number of coherent domains, one of which is the representational area of commonsense human memory. We then elaborate on these concepts using textual corpus-analysis techniques, where the conceptual distinctions made in natural language are used to improve the definitions of the concepts that should be expressible in our formal theories. These representational areas are then analyzed using more traditional knowledge representation techniques, as demonstrated in this article by our treatment of commonsense human memory.
Full Text:PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1609/aimag.v25i4.1784
Copyright © 2018, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (www.aaai.org). All rights reserved.


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Shop Local…Shop Chamber! The Urbandale Chamber has made it easy to find businesses in the area. The businesses reflected in this list support the Urbandale community through their Chamber membership. You can search by business type, alphabetical, keyword or contact! If you prefer a pdf of the directory, you may find it here:
Restaurants - Chinese
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POTTSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA -- Bekins Complaint. I used Bekins Moving & Storage out of Pottstown PA for an interstate move. To make a very long story short, never never never use this company! They let me down in almost every way possible. I paid for them to pack, store my belongings, and complete the move. The best part of the service was the quote produced in a professional manner. The salesman seemed sincerely concerned about the quality of the service that would be provided.
As soon as he had the sale, though, he didn't care at all about my experience. Even when I emailed him with my concerns based on how the packing went, and later when I emailed him about billing and other issues, he just passed the buck. Never helped me to resolve anything. The first day two guys came to pack me. I was surprised they didn't send more people. Seemed like a lot to get done in one day for 2 guys. The packing was one of the worst aspects of the move. So much of my stuff ended up broken, damaged, ruined from the horrible way it was packed.
I could give you a list several pages long of everything they wrecked. Clothes (they packed a medium box full of my shoes, boots, purses just thrown in any which way—expensive accessories ruined with being bent and creased), technology (they packed my main computer by putting in on its side on the bottom of a medium box with all the peripherals tossed in on top—this computer never worked once I got it set up even after taking it in and paying to have it fixed—have had to replace it) art (broken glass due to horrible packing) household goods (a big lamp shade crushed—lots of crushed boxes in my shipment).
I wouldn't even pack a friend's stuff for free the way I paid these guys to pack my stuff. The movers were unprofessional. They showed up in street clothes (thought they would be wearing uniforms) that hung under their butts. Spent the day having to look at their underwear-covered butts. They had a loud argument in the parking lot at one point. They did not protect the furniture before putting it on dollies and I have permanent marks on furniture from this. The movers on the delivery end weren't great either. As soon as they arrived, one of them broke a torchere on the truck and tried to fix it himself without telling me. This lamp has never worked properly since.
They tried to give me things off the truck that weren't mine. They started bringing stuff in without getting me set up with the inventory first. If I hadn't asked, I don't think they would have done it. The office staff of Bekins Moving & Storage of Pottstown made mistake after mistake. Started off by depositing a check that I had gotten advance approval for them to hold for 2 days. Billing errors for the storage every month. Speaking of storage, things that got stored like my dressers which still had the clothes in the drawers had sawdust in all the drawers. It looked like they had been stored in a barn.
I had to wash all the clothes and completely clean out all the furniture, dressers, armoires, etc. Just what you want to have to do when you are trying to move in. I asked many times for the owner of that franchise to contact me. I asked numerous times for his contact info. I never got a response. When I went to Bekins at the corporate level (sent them a detailed letter with what had happened, pictures of all the damage) they were completely unsympathetic. Just kept telling me I should have bought the expensive insurance. I kept telling them I didn't think I had to pay for insurance to protect me from their services.
To me, the extra insurance is in case the storage building burns down or the truck has an accident. I still don't think a consumer should have to buy expensive insurance so that when the company destroys the goods they have been hired to professionally pack and move the consumer can get paid for it. Corporate Bekins sent me a check for a couple hundred dollars which didn't cover a fraction of the damage they did. Do not use Bekins in Pottstown PA. If you have a problem (and you will) they won't care and won't help.
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA -- We got a quote from Bekins. Guaranteed. I told estimator everything goes! Except washer dryer. And a hutch, light fixtures, everything else goes. First day they had people show up they began packing by breaking items, packing garbage cans that were full. Throwing wet towels in a box with new drapes causing dye to run. All ruined. They had a manager come. He supposedly fired guy on location. When they arrived a day late they called and said they underestimate our load weight. But it was a guaranteed estimate. They stated they needed another 5 thousand dollars or they would dump our stuff in a parking lot.
Keep in mind we spent an extra 1,000.00 buying their top insurance pkg.. Arguing with manager. They said we kept adding things. I asked "how do we add if I say everything goes?" They said they'd put it in storage for us only if we rented 3 units so it was easy for them to drop off. So we did. The truck driver refused to go over things as we unpacked them. Because we noticed damaged items immediately. We no longer have one piece of furniture, etc. that isn't broke, damaged or scratched. It cost us another $500.00 to go to arbitration. Part of their contract agreement. It came back as 'sorry, can't help.'
Found out later they are the ones who do that as well. They flat out told us on phone. If we refused to pay their extra fee, they would refuse our damage claim. They damaged everything. Over 11,000.00 worth. They are so crooked. After you have no legal rights. An attorney said we were screwed because we went along with their arbitration terms in contract. After moving again ourselves, met new landlord's brother. He said he worked for Bekins. It's almost a requirement to either be a drug addict or alcoholic. He said it's a joke and would never recommend anyone to use Bekins.
We really got shafted as we paid them 12,000.00 to move us from Calif. to Montana. We lost a ton of valuables nonreplaceable. Everything was brand new as that was our first big house and just bought it all. We lost everything! I think a tornado would have been gentler on our items. Oh but the garbage they packed and moved made it unharmed, I. Perfect shape. So I guess they deserved that credit. Please people. Save your money and possessions. Stay away from Bekins!!! Too much to list of what happened. But you get the main idea. Good luck moving and god bless!!
Oh my God, this was the worst day of my life. I had moved from Portland to Austin. Was told by the estimator that my stuff was guaranteed to be in Austin within 5 weeks, and if not they'd pay me or something. Well it was late, and then Bekins told me I didn't qualify for any reimbursement. But that whole thing is small compared to my experience with the delivery of my household in Austin.
The driver was on the road and kept calling me to tell me where he was. I thought 'oh how polite and considerate'. But then he started asking me to find people to help unload, and to rent a U-Haul for him. As well he kept whining about having to use a U-Haul instead of drive his truck right into the apartment complex. Anyway, like someone who is desperate to get their stuff (something about sleeping on an air mattress for 5 weeks), I rented a U-Haul, told him where to park, and tried to line up some help to unload. I met the driver, went to pick up the U-haul with him and basically did whatever I could to help.
The delivery people I got on Craig's list did not show up. The driver had a bad knee. I had to help him unload into the U-Haul and then from there into my apartment. A bunch of furniture was left in the garage downstairs, so I had to hire another company to come and bring that up. I called Bekins and they basically blamed me for the problem by saying that I should have called them. Well I emailed the idiot who did the estimate, and he couldn't have cared less.
I also complained via the Better Business Bureau, and Bekins would not admit any wrongdoing. They kept harping on the thing about being the lateness of the shipment and how some stupid rule means they don't have to pay me for the lateness. They totally did not want to address how they royally screwed up the delivery. I wanted compensation of $800 and they said something like 'well we only pay our laborers $10 per hour'. I guess they thought that it wasn't a big deal that I was forced to work for them. It's like saying "OK, you need to pay us $200 an hour for our labour, and by the way we are hiring you as one of our workers - we'll pay you $10 per hour."
And an aside on BBB - don't trust what THEY say - Bekins has an A+ rating with them! That was a wakeup call for me - I think I'd rather read consumer reviews than trust BBB. Bottom line - avoid Bekins.


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Fellowships and National Awards
Explore an introduction to fellowship opportunities (PDF)
The Center for Global Education advises CMC students and alumni for a number of national fellowships and scholarships. These awards include Fulbright, Truman, Rhodes, Marshall, Goldwater, Udall, and Gates-Cambridge. The awards range from full to partial funding and can support public service, independent projects, and post-graduate study in the U.S. and abroad.
We administer competitions for sophomores, juniors, and seniors that require institutional nomination to external programs, and also advise students regarding their applications for direct-apply fellowships (fellowships that don't require a nomination from CMC).
Resources available to you through the Center for Global Education include:
- counseling on which fellowship opportunities fit you best;
- guidance on the application process;
- providing feedback on your personal statements and project proposals;
- interview preparation;
- sources for finding fellowships, writing applications, and asking for letters of recommendation.
For assistance, please contact:
Brian Davidson
Director of Fellowships Advising
(909) 607-4477
Heggblade Center 206
More information about the slideshow
Above Fulbright photo, pictured from left to right: Taryn Akiyama (2014), English Teaching Grant, Turkey; Chloe Hauenstein (2014), Research Grant, India; Laila Heid (2014), English Teaching Grant, Brazil; Minger Bropleh (2014), Research Grant, South Korea; Grant Gaither (2014), English Teaching Grant, Spain; and Monica Cason (2014), English Teaching Grant, Poland. Not pictured: Emmy Mildenberg (2014), English Teaching Grant, South Korea, and Ian McGinnity (2010), Research Grant, Armenia.
Gavin Landgraf '14 was awarded a highly-competitive George J. Mitchell Scholarship to study natural resource economics at National University Ireland, Galway. To read more: Gavin Landgraf '14 among only 12 in nation awarded Mitchell Scholarship


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Metal Art Products
PDJ Cutting and Fabricating is a family-owned business specializing in metal art creations for the home and garden. Owners Patrick and Deanne Weier started PDJ Cutting and Fabricating in 2009 and have been growing ever since. Together they design, create, produce and market their unique metal art items, some of which can be personalized. Using a computer numeric controlled (CNC) plasma cutter, they create distinctive yard and garden art, welcome signs, and outdoor and rustic décor items.