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You are now leaving The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration web site and are linking to another site that is not operated by the United States Department of Defense. The Department of Defense does not endorse this web site or the information, products, or services contained therein. The Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at other web sites.
Hagel Commemorates Vietnam Veterans Day
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 29, 2013 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who'd served in Vietnam as an Army noncommissioned officer, today issued a statement commemorating Vietnam Veterans Day.
The secretary's statement reads as follows:
"Today and this weekend, communities across the country commemorate Vietnam Veterans Day.
"This year we also mark forty years since the end of U.S. combat operations in Vietnam. On March 29, 1973, the last of our combat forces departed the country and the final release of American prisoners of war drew to a close.
"When Vietnam veterans reached their hometowns, many were not greeted with the appreciation and respect they very much deserved. In our time we must take every opportunity to thank all veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice.
"More than 1,600 service members remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. Their families still seek answers. Today, the Department of Defense reaffirms its commitment to take all steps to account for our missing personnel and bring closure to their families. And we salute and thank our Vietnam veterans and their families."
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Still seeking those two elusive Pit tickets for tomorrow's concert. I know they're out there, just waiting to come to me, lol. If you have or know of two, please send them my way. Going regardless but I would rather see the whites of their eyes than the view from the garden.
Much thanks! email@example.com
"I was taught to keep an open-ended life and never trap myself in nothin'
St. Augustine - 2 Tickets Needed!
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In spite of the name, Emsisoft Anti-Malware is also an antvirus tool – viruses having been grouped together into the malware category for the sake of convenience. The program's web pages points out that while the software may not be free, it is low cost and provides a great level of protection that is generally only found in more expensive security suites.
One of the key features of this program is that it boasts two scanning engines, the second of which is provided by security experts BitDefender. Having two scanning engines in place not only means that there is a far greater chance of detecting any threats before they become a problem, but it also reduces the risk of false positives. As well as the new BitDefender scanner, Emsisoft's own scanning engine has also been optimized for better performance.
Things get off to a great start right from the moment of installation. As soon as installation is complete, the latest viruses definitions will be downloaded and then your computer will be scanned for any viruses or malware that may already be lurking. Once this has been done you can then configure the various real time protection tools such as File Guard which checks the files that are downloaded, and Surf Protection which blocks access to malicious web sites.
There is also the Behavior Blocker component which can be used to effectively block unknown threats based on their behaviour – if suspicious activity is noticed, it can be stopped in its tracks. As well as real time protection, you can also perform scheduled scans of your system so you can be sure that you are always free from infection.
Emsisoft Anti-Malware 8.1 is a minor new upgrade. Changes include:
Lighter real-time protection: Reworked File Guard and Behavior Blocker routines to reduce resource usage significantly, making the software lighter and faster than ever before.
New Hybrid Updates: 95% less update traffic on average thanks to the clever combination of incremental and differential updates.
Broader PUP detection: Special treatment of potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), such as browser toolbars and buttons, allow for much more aggressive PUP detection and removal in the future.
Better Malware removal: Improved speed and precision when cleaning infections.
Improved accessibility: Optimized support for screen readers and braille lines.
A top-class protection tool that offers excellent performance at a very reasonable price.


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Collage artist Ed Spence uses hundreds of hand-cut pixels to interpret photographs. The original works, mundane scenes like floral arrangements and out-of-focus landscapes, are made infinitely more interesting with his additions. Spence abstracts the original image by organizing the tiny squares on top of it. In doing so, he presents his alternative and desired image.
Spence's works are modern-day pointillism, and the stippling effect made by squares rather than dots. While pointillism has existed since the late 1800's, the artist puts a modern spin on it by referencing pixels. It looks like this idea was born from our increasingly digital world.
Spence states that he uses a knife and ruler to dissect the information within the photograph. In other words, he chooses what to distort and enhance, which explains the way he pixelates his work. I started to view his collages assuming that he had precisely pixelated the original image. I quickly realized this was not the case. If you squint your eyes, sometimes Spence's pixels complete the image. Other times, colors and shapes don't really match up. There's an obvious disconnect between what I expect the image to be and how Spence wants to depict it. While pixels are often a warped but true representation of an image, the artist plays with this idea. Not only does he craft something analog that should be digital, but he skews what we'd come to expect from it. (Via iGNANT)


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Forums Added for the Droid DNA, Desire C and V, Galaxy Camera, AT&T and Sprint Optimus G
Recently, we added forums for various new devices. First up is the HTC Droid DNA. HTC's late 2012 flagship packs powerful specs, a remarkably high resolution screen, and sleek curves to make any gadget lover drool. Starting with the screen, the Droid DNA (and its Japanese cousin, the J Butterfly) packs the first 1080p mobile phone display. Given the 5-inch display size, this comes out to a remarkable 440 ppi. Not just pretty to look at, the Droid DNA also packs a punch thanks to its 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro, LTE connectivity, and 2020 mAh battery.
Next, we have the Samsung Galaxy Camera. While not a phone, the Samsung Galaxy Camera is an interesting combination of a high-resolution 16 MP pocket camera and a fully functional Android-powered mobile device. On the Android side, it's powered by a quad-core Samsung Exynos 4412 running at 1.4 GHz. It has a 4.8″ SC-LCD screen, packing a resolution of 1280×720. It comes with a full gig of RAM, and weighs in at a hefty 305 grams. On the camera side, the Galaxy Camera features a 16 MP BSI CMOS sensor. It also features a 28-48 mm (35mm equivalent) optical zoom lens.
Next up are the Desire C and Desire V. Both devices feature single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 processors, half a gig of RAM, and 4 gigs of internal storage. The Desire V's processor clocks in at 1 GHz, and it features a 4″ WVGA screen. The Desire C's processor comes in at 600 MHz, and it features a 3.5″ HVGA screen. Both devices are targeted at new smartphone owners looking for a budget-friendly device.
Finally, we have two US Carrier variants of the Optimus G, LG's late 2012 flagship phone. Powered by the top-of-the-line quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, the device is certainly no slouch. The speedy processor is backed by 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of ROM, a 4.7″ "True HD-IPS+" panel, LTE connectivity, and a 2100 mAh battery.
Looking to get in on the discussion? If so, be sure to head over to the new forums:
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Seahawks Insider Blog
Report: Favre staying retired
The Brett Favre watch appears to be over.
Jay Glazer of Fox Sports is reporting that Favre called Minnesota head coach Brad Childress to let him know that he would not be joining the team and will remain retired.
According to sources, Favre came to the conclusion in the last couple days that he did not have enough left in the tank to grind through a 19th season in the NFL. Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson will now compete for the starting quarterback job for the Vikings.
Minnesota is considered a Super Bowl contender this season, and the addition of Favre was considered by some NFL observers the final piece that would put them over the top.
The Seahawks will travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings on Nov. 22.


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"Crazy Ants" swarming in southeastern states
A threatening herd of Tawny crazy ants continues to spread across the southeastern United States. Dubbed "crazy" because of their unpredictable behavior and tendency to swarm, experts say they are a threat to the local ecosystem as well as expensive electrical wiring and circuits.
"You can stick your hand on the ground and they'll swarm all over and you'll look like a zombie," Austin resident Bill Leake told CBSNews.com. He first noticed the reddish-brown ants on his 10-acre property about five years ago. The property has always been infested with red fire ants, he says, but then one morning he noticed a long trail of much smaller ants.
"I thought nothing of it, but I started seeing more and more of that stuff," he recalls. "Within a few months we noticed we weren't being bit by fire ants anymore, but we also started noticing that those little ants were everywhere, in quantities far greater than we'd ever seen ants before.
First sighted in 2002, the tiny crazy ants were formally identified in 2012 as Nylandia fulva, a species indigenous to northern Argentina and southern Brazil. Scientists believe the ants were inadvertently transported here by people traveling from South America.
In the U.S., they are often referred to as Rasberry crazy ants, named for the Houston pest control operator who first spotted them. At first, "it was just something that looked a little different," Tom Rasberry told CBSNews.com. "The following year the numbers built from a few thousand to hundreds of millions."
University of Texas research assistant Ed LeBrun says they have since spread to about 50 counties across Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana, reports USA Today. They nest everywhere from crawl spaces and walls to electrical wires and small circuits. Researchers at Texas A&M University say they cause about $146.5 million in electrical damage each year.
When Leake called a pest control company to deal with the crazy ants, the first manager tried to treat them with the usual fire-ant pesticides and bait, to no avail. After a few others failed to recognize the difference, Leake showed them a website explaining that typical treatments are no match for crazy ants. They must instead be managed with termite-strength pesticides.
As they continue to spread, the crazy ants are a threat to the southeastern ecosystem. Rasberry estimated that they kill 90 to 95 percent of insects and reptiles, as well as birds, on the properties they populate.
Even when he is able to eliminate them from an area, Rasberry said, they quickly return. The crazy ants are so hard to contain, LeBrun explains, because they form a network of colonies to create a super colonies. Red fire ants are easier to control because they form individual colonies with distinct boundaries.
The crazy ant follows a long line of ant invaders, LeBrun says. The first on record was the Argentine ant, which came through the port of New Orleans around 1891. The black imported fire ant was the next to arrive, first spotted in Mobile, Ala. in 1918. By the 1930s, the red fire ant staked its claim in the area. It has dominated ever since.
In a study published in April, researchers from Texas A&M University found that fire ants are able to fend off crazy ants in most situations. But that shifts when crazy ants are restricted to a low-sugar diet, as happens when fire ants consume most of the available food. When consuming a low-sugar diet, crazy ants become stronger and more aggressive, and able to defeat the fire ants.
When UT researchers recently investigated two crazy any invasion sites, they found the red ant population decimated -- a sign that the crazy ant may quickly reign supreme in the southeastern region.
According to USA Today, the crazy ants are also causing ecosystem problems in South America, where they have killed off other ant species and small animals; attacked the eyes, noses and hooves of cattle; and dried out grasslands.
On his acreage in Travis County, Leake has already seen the crazy ants take over parts of his vegetable garden, knock out other insect species and infest a few cars. But they have yet to wreak havoc on any expensive electrical items, he says.
And as far as Leake is concerned, taking over the red fire ant population, at least on his property, is a welcome change.
"It's wonderful," he says. "It's nice to walk around my yard barefoot. They may run over my feet, but they won't bite me."


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Diverging Route wrote:
Train 391 will depart 13 minutes later to eliminate a direct conflict with Amtrak and extend its final destination to Lowell (express BON-WOB-LOW).
MBTA3247 wrote:Looks like they're also using the change to eliminate a deadhead trip for the set that turns as Train 314 (unless I'm completely mistaken as to where the equipment for 314 currently comes from).
Also interesting that now almost all Worcester trains stop at Boston Landing. Only ones that don't are midday and peak hour expresses
Return to Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
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text: The Senior Bowl's 2019 Watch List includes more than 365 student athletes from nearly every level of college football. These are the players who we are looking to fill the 110 roster spots that form the North and South squads for the nation's premier all-star game. A player not on the initial list can be added to the watch list during the season and be invited to the 2019 game. Here's a look at the top seniors to keep an eye on this season:


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Miracle Mineral Supplement:
The Cancer Protocol is called Protocol 2000 ( MMS1 & MMS2).
Miracle Mineral Supplement: PROTOCOL 2000 is for cancer and other life threatening diseases. It basically is taking as many drops of activated MMS Miracle Mineral Supplement each hour as a person can take without becoming any sicker, or feeling worse, or developing diarrhea. It must be done for 10 hours a day, for 3 weeks or until well. It is best to start off with only one drop an hour and quickly build up to as many drops as you can take, again let me say without without feeling worse. Remember all drops must be activated as given below. Please take this to heart, do not make yourself sicker than you already are. Take as many drops as you can, but easy dose it. Making yourself sicker uses up energy and makes the recovery go slower.
The way you accomplish activation can be done in 4 different ways, any one of these methods of activation is acceptable: First, add your number of MMS drops to a clean dry glass, then activate as follows:
(1) (preferred method) add 1 drop of 50% citric acid for each drop of MMS that is in your glass, swirl or shake to mix, wait 20 seconds, add 1/2 to 1 glass of water or juice and drink.
(2) add 5 drops of 10% citric acid for each drop of MMS in the glass, and then shake or swirl to mix, wait 3 minutes, add 1/2 to 1 glass of water or juice and then drink.
(3) add 5 drops of vinegar for each drop of MMS in the glass, shake or swirl to mix, wait 3 minutes, add 1/2 to 1 glass of water or juice and then drink.
(4) add 5 drops of full strength lemon juice for each drop of MMS in the glass, shake or swirl to mix, add 1/2 to 1 glass of water or juice and then drink.
Do not use orange juice. Do not use juices with adde:d vitamin C or ascorbic acid added. Do not use concentrated juices that must have water added to them. Do not use nectars, that is juices made from grinding the pulp of fruits. Fresh juices are best.
Miracle Mineral Supplement. But if you don't want to make up a single dose each hour, you can make 10 doses in the morning, and keep the solution in a closed container all day. Just follow the above instructions multiplying all the figures by 10 and then put that liquid in a closed container. Take 1/10th of it each hour. Don't worry the MMS Miracle Mineral Supplement will last hours longer than is needed so long as you keep the lid on tight.
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Browsing Departments by Author "Ishikawa, Ibuki"
Now showing items 1-2 of 2
Insights from the Autrian School PerspectiveIshikawa, Ibuki (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify the source of competitive advantage in the resource based view of strategic management literature. In particular, it is argued that the source of competitive advantage is rooted in entrepreneur judgment. In this argument, this paper consists largely of three parts: firstly, a brief survey of the theoretical framework of the RBV of strategic management, particularly to identify critically the resource conception in the sense of what RBV scholars understand; secondly, to argue the significance of exploiting the Austrian perspective, especially focusing on Lachmann (1947,1956), Mises (1946) and Knight (1921) to improve the RBV framework; thirdly, to apply the Austrian perspective to the RBV and demonstrate that the source of competitive advantage is derived from entrepreneurial judgment per se, not the resource per se, and to discuss some possible future research avenues for further development. It becomes clear through this paper that a strategy is mainly seen as the quest for the entrepreneurial judgmental rent. The major insight of this paper is that taking the entrepreneur insight from the Austrian school of thought is the fruitful way to understand the source of competitive advantage. Jel Code: B25, D21, D81, M13 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7460
Files in this item: 1cbs forskningsindberetning smg 45.pdf (3.691Mb)
Foss, Nicolai Juul; Ishikawa, Ibuki (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The dominant view in the strategic management field is the resource-based view ("RBV"). It has often been observed that the RBV is lacking in the dynamic dimension. For example, processes of building competitive advantages by means of combining existing complementary resources in novel ways are not inquired into. We argue that the RBV may profitably draw on Austrian (Misesian) and Knightian insights in entrepreneurship and capital theory, particularly in its Lachmannian manifestation, in order to strengthen its dynamic components. We link the RBV and Austrian ideas in the context of the theory of complex systems pioneered by Herbert Simon. We draw a number of implications for strategic management from this synthesis, notably into resource value and sustainability of competitive advantage. JEL Code: B53, D21, L23, M1 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7458
Files in this item: 1cbs forskningsindberetning smg 46.pdf (330.1Kb)
Now showing items 1-2 of 2


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OFB in Brief
OFB in Brief
Indian Ordnance Factories is a giant industrial setup which functions under the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence. Indian Ordnance Factories, headquartered at Kolkata, is a conglomerate of 41 Factories, 9 Training Institutes, 3 Regional Marketing Centres and 4 Regional Controller of Safety.
Today OFB along with its 41 factories spread over India provide
Geographical Spread
There are 41 Ordnance Factories geographically distributed all over the country at 24 different locations. A visual idea of how our factories and headquarters are distributed can be had from our location map.
Our Product Range
Items produced in Ordnance Factories are highly sophisticated and complex in nature. Also the range of products is simply astonishing. Our products, as is evident from the list below, span across a wide and exhaustive range of requirements of any armed forces.
For details see Products.
Our products must be safe in handling, reliable and perform consistently during actual operation with equal efficiency under varying and extreme conditions of climate. The plant and technologies have been so chosen as to ensure high degree of quality and reliability and is a unique blend of old and the most modern stae-of-the-art CNC technologies. The manufacturing process covers wide spectrum of engineering - Mechanical, Electrical, Metallurgical, Chemical, Textile, Leather, Optics and Electronics.
It is our endeavour to manufacture world class products without compromising with the safety aspects of products and processes. Adherence to safety standards is given highest priority and a well laid down safety norm as well as diaster management plan exists in the organisation.
The prime customers of Indian Ordnance Factories are the Indian Armed Forces. Apart from supplying armaments to the Armed Forces, Ordnance Factories also meet the requirement of other customers viz. Central Paramilitary Forces and State Police Forces in respect of Arms, Ammunition, Clothings, Bullet Proof Vehicles and Mine Protected Vehicles etc. Increase in volume of Export, as an extension to its functioning remains an important objective of Ordnance Factories.
For more details, please follow this link: Customers.
Adoption of Integrity Pact in Ordnance Factories Organization More...


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Burgh Castle
At Burgh Castle you can explore the best preserved Roman monument in East Anglia. In fact, this is one of the most impressive Roman buildings to survive anywhere in Britain. The Burgh Castle fort was probably called Gariannonum by the Romans. During the 3rd and 4th centuries AD it was one of a chain of 'Forts of the Saxon Shore', sited at intervals around the coast of south-east England. There are other Saxon Shore forts in Norfolk at Caister-on-Sea and Brancaster. The forts protected Britain from attacks by raiders and pirates from across the North Sea, and may also have guarded harbours and merchant shipping.
During its long history this has also been the site of a Norman castle, and perhaps of an early Christian monastery. Visitors can enjoy the site at any time, and a series of interpretation panels and disabled-friendly paths are provided for your benefit. The parish church stands close by and is also very interesting.
Burgh Castle is more than just a historic site. It is rich in bird, animal and plant life and stands within a natural environment which can teach us much about East Anglia's constantly changing climate and coastline. From this peaceful, secluded place, visitors can enjoy wonderful views westward over the rivers Yare and Waveney and across the expanse of Broadland.
The site was bought by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust in 1995. The Trust's landholding extends far beyond the Roman fort itself, and totals 37 hectares/90 acres. This ensures that the large area outside the defences occupied by the buried remains of the Roman civilian settlement or vicus is included in the area under Trust control. The remains of the fort itself are in the guardianship of English Heritage. The entire area owned by the Trust is open to the public free of charge.
Burgh Castle Almanac 2018-2020
Burgh Castle Almanac is an archaeology, creativity and wellbeing programme based at Burgh Castle Fort and Time and Tide Museum. The project is run by the Restoration Trust, in partnership with Norfolk Archaeological Trust and Stonham, supported by Access CT and Norfolk Museums Service. It is part of the Broads Authority's Water, Mills and Marshes Landscape Partnership, www.watermillsandmarshes.org.uk a Heritage Lottery Funded project that aims to help people make the most of unique heritage sites and landscapes in the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads.
For more information on Burgh Castle Almanac see the project website: https://burghcastlealmanac.org
Burgh Castle Fort Life: Life outside the walls project 2016
click on image above to open Gallery
Guided tours 2019
The Burgh Castle site lies c. 6km south-west of Great Yarmouth and c. 5km west of Gorleston. It is in a dramatic position close to the southern edge of Breydon Water, overlooking the confluence of the rivers Yare and Waveney. A circular all-access route around the fort includes a boardwalk along the Angles Way: download the map here
Getting there
by boat: there is a public landing stage on the east bank of the River Waveney, a short distance north of the Burgh Castle Marina and Caravan Park.
by road: the site is 5km west of Gorleston-on-Sea. Leave the main A12 (Yarmouth-Lowestoft) road at the junction with the A143 (Diss and Beccles). Follow signs to Burgh Castle and Gorleston as you leave the A12. At the first roundabout that you encounter after leaving the A12 take the first exit, signed to Burgh Castle and Bradwell. Follow this road out of the built-up area; when nearing Burgh Castle village, give way and turn right at a T junction where it joins Mill Road (following the brown sign and finger post indicating Burgh Castle). Shortly after passing the Queen's Head pub on the right, turn left into Butt Lane. A very short distance along this road, you will see the Burgh Castle car and coach park on the right-hand side. SatNav: NR31 9QB.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CAR PARK IS LOCKED AT 6.00PM. Access to the site is available dawn to dusk on foot. No motorbikes are allowed on site.
by bus: First Eastern Counties' Service 5 (Yarmouth-Burgh Castle via Bradwell) stops outside the Queen's Head (NB. the stop itself is not marked). The journey takes about half an hour. From here it is a very short walk along Butt Lane to the site entrance. For up to date timetable information, please visit http://www.travelineeastanglia.org.uk.
walking: visitors may follow the Angles Way long-distance path from Great Yarmouth to Burgh Castle along the southern shore of Breydon Water. Total distance c. 6km – this is a very enjoyable walk.
- keep your dog on a lead March 1 - July 31 to protect wildlife
- at all times make sure your dog is under close control and in sight
- don't let your dog approach other dog walkers or pedestrians uninvited
- keep to paths and don't allow your dog to run through long grass
- clear up after your dog
There are no toilet or other facilities at the site itself. Two small open-sided structures in the car park area, housing interpretation panels, offer some shelter from bad weather. Sometimes there are displays in the church. The Burgh Castle pub (the Queen's Head) is nearby, at the junction of Church Road and Back Lane.
A major access and interpretation scheme has been created by the Trust, with funding and collaboration from Natural England and English Heritage. Interpretation panels in the car park area and around the fort provide information for visitors. A timber viewing platform overlooking the rivers and marshes is an ideal spot for observing wildlife, appreciating the remarkable view and imagining how different this landscape would have been in Roman times. An all-weather path around the property is wheelchair friendly, and disabled users can open gates with the help of RADAR keys (available for the registered disabled). The Trust is especially grateful to Natural England for their generous funding for these works. The footpath system allows disabled visitors to reach as far as the river.
The Trust's comprehensive guidebook to the site and to the other Saxon Shore forts in Norfolk is available from local shops.
More information about Burgh Castle
The changing coast
East Norfolk in Roman times
Burgh Castle's setting has changed a great deal over the last 2000 years. In Roman times sea levels were much higher than they are now and the coastline quite different. The fort would then have stood on the eastern edge not of low-lying grazing marsh, but of an inland 'Great Estuary' which covered the whole of present-day Broadland. Large ships might have docked next to the fort and sailed up the rivers Yare, Waveney and Bure to reach Venta Icenorum (Caistor St Edmund), Brampton and other important places.
Sea levels and weather patterns are always changing, and ongoing climate change might lead to water levels rising again. One day, might the remains of the fort once again look out over an inland sea?
Roman Fort
This fort was one of a series of at least nine Roman coastal forts in eastern and southern England known as the Forts of the Saxon Shore. The earliest of these were built sometime after AD 200. The later Roman period in Britain was a turbulent time, when life in East Anglia was affected more and more by seaborne raiders from the Continent. The present defences at Burgh Castle date to around AD 300. The fort formed part of an administrative network that included much of Europe, extending from Britain as far as Egypt, Palestine and Turkey in the east. This reminds us that Roman East Anglia was closely connected to a very much wider Roman world, and was an important part of a great empire.
The forts' roles probably changed over time. Raiding increased during the 4th century AD. Perhaps the forts were first intended as defended trading or market centres, or as naval bases protecting merchant shipping. The network of forts was linked by a line of coastal signal stations. Some of these have been recognised, while others have now fallen into the sea. There were two other Saxon Shore forts in Norfolk, at Brancaster (in north-west Norfolk), owned by the National Trust and at Caister-on-Sea, to the north of Burgh Castle on the opposite side of the Roman-period 'Great Estuary', now owned by English Heritage. The Burgh Castle and Caister forts could well have been part of the same defensive system.
This section of the outer face of the wall is quite well preserved. A bastion is visible in the centre of the picture.
The Saxon Shore forts were under the control of one official, the Count of the Saxon Shore, who commanded soldiers from across the Roman Empire. The Burgh Castle fort was large enough for between 500 and 1000 foot soldiers, or up to 500 mounted soldiers and their horses. Burgh Castle was garrisoned by Equites Stablesiani, and the remains of an iron cavalry helmet were found at the site, similar to helmets found in Holland and Romania dating from the 300s AD.
The defensive walls survive almost to their original full height, although a parapet (now missing) protected soldiers patrolling the wall top. The defences were strengthened by a series of projecting bastions, sited at the corners of the fort and at intervals along the walls. These huge 'drums' of masonry were added when the walls were half built. In the middle of the top of each bastion there is a hole in the masonry, which may have held the central support of a timber structure or (perhaps less likely) a large catapult.
The scene in Roman times was very different in many ways. The west wall of the fort has vanished – probably it collapsed down the steep slope below. The walls were once faced everywhere in flint and tile. This has mostly been taken away to be used in other building work, except in parts of the south wall. We know little about the buildings that lay within these defences because there has so far been little excavation. They could have been of timber or stone.
Vicus – civilian settlement
Plan showing the location of the fort, motte, vicus and church.
Today the fort appears to stand in splendid isolation, surrounded by open meadows, but in Roman times this was not so. Air photographs and surveys have shown that there was a large civilian trading settlement – or vicus– on the land to the east of the fort. This was built in timber and no longer survives, but would have dominated the landscape across which visitors walk to the fort today. It was a busy, noisy place, and probably provided essential services to the fort itself. This was a very important part of the Roman-period landscape. Archaeologists continue to learn more about it from air photographs and survey work.
An Anglo-Saxon monastery?
After the Romans left Britain, the abandoned fort was reoccupied in the Anglo-Saxon period. Timber buildings and over 160 burials excavated at the site in the 1950s and 60s may date to c. AD 700–900. Burgh Castle has often been linked with Saint Fursey, a missionary from Ireland who was involved in converting East Anglia to Christianity.
Some of the many Anglo-Saxon graves excavated at Burgh Castle (Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery)
Fursey was given land around AD 630 to build a monastery at a place called Cnobheresburh. This may have been at Burgh Castle but we do not know for certain. The monastery might have been at the nearby Saxon Shore fort at Caister-on-Sea, where many Anglo-Saxon burials have also been found. Early Christian monastic communities elsewhere in Britain sometimes chose abandoned Roman fortifications to settle within. Perhaps the Burgh Castle and Caister forts were both settlements of this kind, regardless of which of them was actually Fursey's Cnobhesburh.
The round-towered Church of St Peter and Paul lies immediately to the north of the Trust's Burgh Castle property. While the present fabric is of medieval date it probably originated in the later Anglo-Saxon period. The walls contain some re-used Roman tile. It lies close to the site car park and is well worth a visit.
The Norman Castle
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, much property was taken from its English owners and given to followers of William the Conqueror. Many of these barons built castles in their new lands. In the late 11th or 12th century a small castle was built in the south-west corner of the fort. All that survives today are the remains of the motte, or mound, which once had a timber keep on top.
The motte re-used part of the southern defences of the Roman fort and the big gap was cut through the south wall for the surrounding ditch. The mound was mostly flattened, and the ditch filled in, during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. However, its outline can still be seen clearly at the southern end of the fort.
Norfolk Heritage Explorer
Find out more about Burgh Castle using the Norfolk Heritage Explorer website. http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MNF10471.
Further reading
Gurney, D., 2002. Outposts of the Roman Empire, A guide to Norfolk's Roman forts at Burgh Castle, Caister-on-Sea and Brancaster (Norfolk Archaeological Trust)
Excavation report. Much of our present knowledge about Burgh Castle derives from excavations in the 1950s and 60s.
Johnson, S., 1983. Burgh Castle: Excavations by Charles Green 1958–61, East Anglian Archaeology 20
Other books
Bidwell, P., 1997. Roman Forts in Britain (London: English Heritage)
Davies, J.A., 2009. The Land of Boudica: prehistoric and Roman Norfolk (Norwich: Heritage/Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service)
Gurney, D., 2005. 'Roman Norfolk', in T. Ashwin and A. Davison (eds), An Historical Atlas of Norfolk, 3rd edition (Chichester, Phillimore), 28–9
Johnson, S., 1976. The Roman Forts of the Saxon Shore (London: Elek)
Pearson, A., 2002. The Roman Shore Forts (Stroud: Tempus)
The Fursey Pilgrims are dedicated to studying the life and works of St Fursey, who may have been associated with Burgh Castle. Their events sometimes include lectures and historical symposia. www.furseypilgrims.co.uk.


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As Congress wrangles with plans to avoid the fiscal cliff, the tax deduction for charity donations is getting the tightest scrutiny of its nearly 100-year history.
Alarmed Minnesota nonprofit leaders are in Washington this week, lobbying to preserve the deduction that supports one of the most vibrant nonprofit sectors in the nation.
"About 860,000 [Minnesotans] reported making charitable donations on their taxes in 2010," said Jon Pratt, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, who was among those in Washington Tuesday for "Protect Giving" day on Capitol Hill.
"People donate because they are generous, but the amount is determined by tax policy."
Deductions for charitable contributions totaled more than $38 billion in 2010, including $3 billion in Minnesota. While proposals to limit the tax break have been made before, including in President Obama's budget proposals, the basic line-item deduction has burst into the national spotlight in the current federal deficit talks.
It has become a hot topic in the media, blogosphere and on social networking sites. It has sparked urgent pleas by nonprofits and foundations, asking their supporters to contact Congress. Nonprofit coalitions have forged alliances. Think tanks are cranking out research about an area of taxation that had attracted relatively little attention before.
"This could be the largest debate we've ever had over charitable deductions," said Eugene Steuerle, a veteran tax policy expert at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based research group that is scrutinizing the proposals.
"But it's not clear where the debate will go," he added, "because it's a subset of a much larger debate about the budget and tax policy in general."
The issue is being watched closely in Minnesota, home to more than 5,000 nonprofits, including hospitals, schools, museums and a myriad of health and social service agencies.
"We have such a large nonprofit sector, and such a rich history of individuals willing to support them, that a loss in the deduction would weaken the quality of life here," said Frank Forsberg, a vice president at Greater Twin Cities United Way, who is part of the Protect Giving crowd in Washington.
$50 billion at stake
Few people argue that the charitable deduction should be scrapped. The problem is, it diverts about $50 billion a year from the tax rolls, according to the Urban Institute.
It is being eyeballed for cuts along with the mortgage deduction and the state/local income tax deduction. But it's the smallest of the lot. Minnesota taxpayers deducted $3 billion for charity donations in 2010, compared to $8.3 billion for mortgage interest and $9.3 billion for state and local taxes, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
Obama would cap charity deductions for people in the highest income-tax bracket at 28 percent, down from 35 percent today. That would affect individuals with incomes of about $200,000 and couples with incomes of $250,000.
Someone in that tax bracket who donates $1,000 to a hospital, for example, would get a $350 tax break today. Under Obama's plan, the person would get a $280 break.
Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney had proposed putting one cap on all deductions combined, mentioning a $25,000 limit. A proposal by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., last month offered a $50,000 cap.
However, the wealthiest Americans could pay $40,000 -- or more -- in local and state taxes alone. That would leave little if any room for deductions for charity, said Chuck Marr, director of federal tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington.
Another idea being floated is creating a "floor" on charitable donations, or a minimum donation amount in order to claim the deduction.
Congressional Republicans have not gelled around a specific proposal yet, Marr said.
"I think there are two different possibilities," said Steuerle. "One is that it [the deduction] gets folded into an attempt to cut deductions in general. The second scenario is that it gets exempted."
But even if charities get exempt this time around, the issue won't go away. Said Steuerle: "This budget crunch we're in will last a decade. It will put pressure on all our programs."
Warning supporters
Leaders of Minnesotan charities are pondering how to keep their budgets afloat while facing this new threat.
Joe Selvaggio, a seasoned fundraiser among Minnesota millionaires, plans to e-mail his wealthiest donors to encourage them to give more this year in case the deduction is reduced "or isn't around."
"People are worried about this," said Selvaggio, founder of the Minneapolis-based MicroGrants. "Even people who don't mind paying taxes, they hire hard-driving attorneys to save them every dime. So the tax deduction is important."
The deduction is particularly important for the rich, who benefit disproportionately. The roughly 50,000 Minnesota households with adjusted gross incomes of more than $250,000 claimed 28 percent of the state's charitable deductions in 2010, according to the state Revenue Department. That amounted to $900,000.
Meanwhile Minnesota's largest nonprofits, such as Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, worry about any changes in the deduction formula -- for the rich or middle class.
"We're in a growth industry," said CEO Tim Marx, referring to the boom in demand for emergency housing, food and family services. "And now you're reducing funding on the public side [the government] and the private side."
One of those leading the charge on Capitol Hill is the Rev. Larry Snyder, the former head of Catholic Charities in the Twin Cities who now is president of Catholic Charities USA. He heads a coalition of 18 of the nation's largest nonprofits, which is fighting attempts to tap charity donations to pay for the budget deficit.
"Catholic Charities [across the country] gets about $1 billion worth of philanthropic support," said Snyder, one of the keynote speakers Tuesday. "I don't know where people think we will make this up. Yes, we get funds from the government. But it doesn't fund full fare."
Jean Hopfensperger • 612-673-4511


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The National Library of Australia has opted for an open source platform to drive its newly unveiled search engine.
Called, Trove, the search engine provides access to more than 90 million items about Australians and Australia, sourced from more than 1000 libraries and cultural institutions across the country.
The project's team of five developers used SOLR 1.4, which internally uses Lucene 2.9, for the main bibliographic search database and the web page archive, and MySQL 5 for managing all data relationships.
"That was something that was pretty important to us, we didn't want to go and build something in-house," Trove manager, Rose Holley, said. "We wanted it to be shareable when we were finished."
Holley said the search engine evolved out of the library's newspaper newspaper digitisation program, which began two years ago and runs off Lucene 2.9 "natively".
That program involved the use of Optical Character Recognition software to automatically convert old newspaper images into digital text. The small fonts and uneven printing of many of the newspaper pages made conversion difficult and not always accurate. As a result, more than 5000 online users helped corrected text and subsequently the top correctors were slated to receive Australia Day awards for their efforts.
"If that was successful then our master plan was always to transfer the rest of our service into that infrastructure," Holley said. "So the infrastructure for the newspapers service is the same for Trove."
The project team also opted for Jetty as a web server, Nginx as the http front-end / reverse proxy, Java Server Pages (jsp) for the newspapers part of the site, and Restlet and FreeMarker for the remaining portions of the service.
Additionally, one of the main steps taken was to use Solid State Disks (SSDs) – four Intel X-M25 160GB drives in each machine – for the Lucene indices to achieve the necessary performance. Trove issues more than 8000 i/os per second to the SSDs, which the team says would be expensive to achieve with even the fastest SAN setup.
The Trove website, meanwhile, is split into eight searchable categories:
- Books, journals, magazines, articles
- Pictures and photos
- Australian newspapers (1803 – 1954)
- Diaries, letters, archives
- Maps
- Music, sound and video
- Archived websites (1996 – now)
- About people and organisations
Unlike Google search, which provides a list of websites for search results, Trove displays links to items.
"We are searching across meta data mostly from cultural heritage organisations," Holley said. "We have over a thousand organisations that have been providing their data. Obviously libraries have been looking to standards of data sharing for several years and we use a mechanism called OAI – the Open Archives Initiative.
"Whereas Google is trolling meta data for a website, we are doing a similar thing for data but for unique Australian objects, many of which are objects that cultural heritage institutions have digitised. Most of them you wouldn't normally be able to find on the web through Google search because they are in the deep web or some database that wraps them up.
"So we don't hold the actual items here, just the meta data. People search across that and when they find an item they want to see they follow the links and that will take them to where that object is."
One of the big approaches for the Trove team was a concept called, 'find and get'. In short, this means having no 'dead ends' on the search engine, or always providing users with a place to go.
"A lot of people are only interested in getting it immediately, so that means it has to be digital or online," Holley said. "That check box right next to the search box, only online, is really crucial for us. But there is a lot of stuff that are physical objects – we have the whole of the Australian national bibliographic database in there as well, which is basically books. If it is not online, then there will be options to find it at your local library or to purchase it. It doesn't matter what the format is, we are making a big effort not just to offer purchasing books, but other items like music."
The National Library has relationships with many bookshops already and is open to discussing further deals with other retailers. Many of the book shops open up their databases for Trove to index in search results.
One of the next steps for the Trove team is to roll out forums within the search engine site to enable users to interact and also provide further context around links and items.
The other thing is to get more content into Trove. This includes from galleries, museums and government data, which may become more accessible should the Government 2.0 Taskforce recommendations be implemented across agencies.
"Also, for example, people like the ABC," Holley said. "They are people we have an eye firmly on. What we want is for any member of the public seeking information on, about, or by Australians or Australia to come here to find that."
Try out the Trove search engine.


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Hope College senior Jeffrey R. Skaff of Flint has been selected to receive a 2009 Fund for Theological Education (FTE) Undergraduate Fellowship.
FTE Undergraduate Fellowships recognize students who have gifts for leadership and are exploring the possibility of ministry as a vocation. As an FTE Undergraduate Fellow, Skaff will receive $2,000 for tuition, other educational expenses or a self-designed experience related to the exploration of ministry. He will also attend the 2009 FTE Conference on Excellence in Ministry, "Becoming Rich toward God: Pastoral Leadership and Economic Justice," which will run Wednesday-Sunday, June 17-21, at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va.
FTE Undergraduate Fellows are selected competitively from a pool of applicants from across the U.S. and Canada. They must be nominated by a professor, school administrator, pastor or campus minister; hold a minimum 3.0 grade point average; have an interest in exploring ministry as a vocation; and demonstrate leadership in a church or school community.
Dr. Kristen Deede Johnson of the Hope faculty, who is associate director of the CrossRoads Project, director of studies in ministry and assistant professor of political science, nominated Skaff for the fellowship award, which is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.
Skaff is majoring in religion, and is involved in the college's Lilly Scholars program for students considering seminary, the Pew Society focused on presenting university-level teaching as an avenue to Christian service, the Pre-Seminary Society and the religion departmental club. His activities have also included the student-organized Dance Marathon fund-raiser for Helen DeVos Children's Hospital and serving as a volunteer tutor with the Children's After School Achievement (CASA) program.
He is a 2006 graduate of Carman-Ainsworth High School. He is the son of Richard and Kimberly Skaff of Flint.
The 2009 FTE Undergraduate Fellows were chosen by a national committee of theological educators and church leaders. FTE awards the fellowships to increase the number of highly capable young people exploring or preparing for ordained ministry as a profession. Fewer than seven percent of clergy in most denominations today are under age 35, and interest among seminary students in congregational ministry has declined over the past five years.
"In today's economy, the need to support young people who aspire to serve the church and the common good is an essential investment," said the Rev. Ellen Echols Purdum, director of FTE Ministry Fellowships. "Congregations and entire communities need the intellect, leadership gifts and compassion that these candidates will bring to local challenges, spiritual, social and economic."
The Fund for Theological Education is an ecumenical advocate for excellence and diversity in pastoral ministry and theological scholarship. It awards $1.5 million in fellowships to gifted young people from all denominations and racial/ethnic backgrounds. Since 1954, FTE has awarded nearly 6,000 fellowships in partnership with those committed to the future of quality leadership for the church. More information about FTE fellowships may be obtained at www.thefund.org.


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The best music from How To Make It In America Seasons 1 & 2November 30th, 2011 by @E_Wish1 | Album/Mixtape/EP Review, Reviews |
Last week, Season 2 of HBO critically-acclaimed series How To Make It In America wrapped. It was a great season with lots of interesting, life changing events occurring to all of the characters. With a great season came amazing music which is a big reason why the show is so successful. Scott Vener really chose the perfect songs at the right moments of each episode. Below are my 10 favorite tracks from Season 2. In addition, the 10 best tracks from Season 1 will be included as well. Enjoy!
Season 1 [Download]
Season 2 [Download]


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We return in our study of the Word of God to the book of Jude. And as I said at the very outset, though this is a rather short epistle as biblical books go, it is deep and high and wide. There is much here to absorb. This epistle is about contending for the faith. Verse 3 is the key verse. "I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith." The Christian faith which was once by means of inspiration delivered to the saints. We are in a war to protect the truth.
This epistle looks particularly at those who assault the truth from inside the church. This is not about attacks from the outside, but the inside, the much more devastating, the much more subtle, the much more destructive assault on the truth from those who profess to know the truth. We have to battle inside. It's as if we are in a fortress and ready to defend that fortress and its contents from those who would attack from the outside, all the while having to face an insidious eruption of rebellion on the inside so that we are always fighting on two fronts.
There will always be, according to the Word of God, assaults on the truth from the inside and the Bible calls this, at least in one aspect, apostasy, that is a departure from the faith among those who have professed it, who have known it. We know that in the last days, as we are certainly in the last days, there will be the apostasy. Second Thessalonians 2 verse 3 says, "The day of the Lord will not come until the apostasy comes." Jesus even predicted at the end of the age that there would be a falling away from the faith. As we know as well, the Apostle Paul warned about this departure from the faith. The Apostle John warned about this defection and this departure from the faith. And John went to great lengths, as we learned in the three epistles, to help us discern our own true spiritual condition and recognize spirits that are not of God, but are rather the spirit of error, not the Spirit of truth. Apostasy is characterized by denial of the truth. It can be a denial, for example, of God's reality. It can be a denial of the true nature of God. It can start there. Anyone who calls himself a Christian and denies the true nature of God has defected from the truth. They are those, according to 2 Timothy 3:5, who hold to a form of godliness but deny its power. They want you to believe that they belong within the realm of the true faith, but in reality they have denied true godliness and its power. They are, in fact, not at all lovers of God, writes Paul in that same passage.
It can also be a denial of Christ, an attack on the person of Christ. Second Peter 2 says, "Denying the Master or the Lord, who bought them." It then may be a defective theology. It may be a defective Christology. It can be a denial even of the coming of Christ, such as those scoffers and mockers in 2 Peter 3 who say, "Where is the promise of His coming?" A denial of the person, a denial of the work, a denial of the return of Christ. This too constitutes a kind of apostasy.
It can be a denial of the Christian faith at any point and we are reminded that we should expect this. The Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4 says the Spirit explicitly tells us that in later times some will fall away from the faith. That is the content of the Christian gospel. So it may be an attack on God. It may be an attack on Christ. It may be an attack on the gospel, the way of salvation. And in its place comes doctrines of demons propagated by deceitful spirits by means of the hypocrisy of liars who are unconscionable. It is then always to be understood as a denial of sound doctrine. That's why in 2 Timothy 4 we read, "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. They will turn away their ears from the truth, turn aside to myths." It always includes a denial of holy living. These who deny the true faith are lovers of self, lovers of money, 2 Timothy 3, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God who again have a form of godliness but without power.
This apostasy, this denial of the true God. or the true Christ, or the true gospel, or the true faith, sound doctrine, shows up in their lives because apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, the flesh cannot e controlled. And so people who deny the Christian gospel do so not because of intellectual reasons, but because of moral reasons. Men love darkness rather than light, so look closely and by their fruits you will know them and their fruits will always be corrupt. Sometimes this corruption takes the form of a superficial kind of righteousness, a superficial kind of spirituality, an external kind of spirituality in which holiness is equated with as 1 Timothy 4 says, forbidding marriage, holiness is equated with celibacy such as we see in the Catholic Church and are learning that celibacy is no holy posture to take. Or as among the Jews, holiness may be equated as 1 Timothy 4:3 says with abstaining from certain foods. That is to say there are legalistic approaches to this kind of apostasy in which men on the surface appear to be more holy and therefore truer in embracing the Christian faith, when the fact of the matter is, those external things are no evidence of holiness at all but rather of a misguided legalism.
But on the other hand, apostasy sometimes takes the form of outright, blatant iniquity. Apostates, it says, in the eighteenth verse of Jude are those who walk or follow after their own ungodly lusts.
So, apostasy takes the form of denial. Denial of the true God, denial of the true Christ, denial of the true gospel, denial of the true doctrine, denial of holy living, denial of morality. And we would certainly conclude that they in the end deny necessarily the authority of Scripture in their lives. Such people are not eager to have the Word of God imposed upon them.
This apostasy rises up inside the church. We have people in the church today who deny the true God and have created a God of their own whom they call the true God. We have those within the framework of Christianity in the...mark this carefully...the visible church, not the invisible church, within the visible church who deny the character and nature of Christ, who deny salvation by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone, who deny sound doctrine, who deny the true and biblical doctrine of sanctification, who deny true spirituality, who live lives filled with ungodly lust and who do not submit to the Word of God.
Now, this is nothing new. This is very old. There have always been apostates and they've been a part of the visible people of God. As with regard to the nation Israel, not all Israel is Israel, remember? Paul says in Romans 2:28 and 29, "He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, he is one who is one inwardly." And there was a difference between redeemed Israel and natural Israel, or physical Israel. And there is a great difference between the visible church, the church you can see, the church that is identified as such, and the invisible church. That is a distinction that theologians have always made. Those who are true believers make up the invisible church. That is to say that the world cannot see when they look at the congregation of the church or those who call themselves Christians, they cannot see who is the real church and who is not. They can see only the visible church, not the invisible church. It does not yet appear what we shall be. The glorious manifestation of the true sons of God has not yet appeared. So mingled with the visible church, hidden as it were in the visible church is the invisible church. And if we have a difficult time sorting out the wheat from the tares, we could well nigh be sure that the world couldn't do it. And that's why it makes being a Christian so difficult because we have to explain away things that the visible church does that the invisible church would never do. So apostasy has always been around, there's absolutely nothing new about it.
Now, let's go back to Jude. Going back to Jude we remember that he began with a greeting, "Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved of God and kept for Jesus Christ." In the opening then he identifies the invisible church, the called, the loved and the kept. And to them he says, "May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you." He affirms then in verses 1 and 2 the true believers. And then in verse 3 he speaks of his very important mission in this letter. "I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." He calls upon the invisible church, the true and living church, to go to war for the truth because, verse 4, "Certain persons have crept in unnoticed." They are in the church, inside the visible church. "They have come in unnoticed, they were those long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, they are ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ."
You have seen a very clear illustration of that in the ordination of the Episcopalian Bishop Robinson who is a blatant and outspoken homosexual who is a licentious, lascivious, ungodly man denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ who has come into the church, the unwitting, stupid and ignorant visible church has ordained him to Christian ministry. And he is a man marked out for condemnation by God. Not everybody in the visible church is as blatant as that. That's fairly easy to spot. It's the subtleties that we sometimes miss. It's the nuances on the person of God, or the person of Christ, or the gospel that we can't really discern because the church has such a deficient immune system.
And so, we have seen a greeting and a warning and a description of the problem, the subtle infiltration of apostasy and their strategy. We come now to verses 5 to 7 and in verse 4 it says, "These apostates are marked out for condemnation because they are ungodly," that is they do not know God and there are moral overtones to the term "ungodly." It is not just what they don't believe, it's how they behave. "Because they turn the grace of God into licentiousness, as it were, believing that they have been given grace by God they can live anyway they want. And they blatantly deny truly our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ because they are absolutely disobedient to His Word." So we have...we have seen this pronouncement that the apostates are going to be condemned.
And then in verses 5 to 7 we move into a section on their destruction. It's interesting to me that Jude starts the letter with this treatment of the condemnation and the destruction of apostates. Why does he do that? Because this entire letter is not only written to call us all to war to defend the faith, but it constitutes the most direct warning to apostates sitting in the church. And there's no sense in waiting to the end to get the earning out. That's why immediately after calling us to war in verse 3, in verse 4 he talks about the condemnation of these ungodly apostates. And to make that warning clear, Jude selects three incidents from history in verses 5 through 7, three incidents. One involving the Jews, one involving the Gentiles and one involving the angels in the order of the Jews, the angels and the Gentiles. Here you have three historic accounts of God dealing with apostasy which demonstrates how God reacts to it no matter who it is, whether it is Israel, chosen people, whether it is angels, or whether it is Gentiles, apostates are doomed.
Now in 2 Peter chapter 2, before we look at these specifically, I want you to turn over to verses 4 to 8 because in that particular section of 2 Peter you have a very similar text and you'll certainly want to compare the two. In 2 Peter 2 verses 4 through 8, Peter also speaks of the destruction of apostates. Chapter 2 verse 1, it says they are bringing swift destruction upon themselves, these false teachers who secretly introduce destructive heresies and deny the Master who bought them. That is an echo of Jude verse 4. Peter was writing of the same matter and because of them Peter writes in verse 2, "Many follow their sensuality," always they're driven by sensuality. People reject the gospel because they do not want to give up their sin. And because of them the way of the truth is maligned. That is true. You have people inside the church, apostates inside the church who call themselves true teachers, who call themselves representatives of Christianity who bring terrible, terrible criticism upon Christianity. They exploit people, it says in verse 3, but their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep. They're going to be destroyed. So Peter says the same thing Jude says.
And then, Peter gives three illustrations. God didn't spare angels when they sinned, when they apostatized, defected, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment. Second illustration, He didn't spare the ancient world. That is the world before Noah, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. And thirdly, He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter. Peter says there are three historic judgments of apostasy, those who knew the truth and defected from it, the angels, the human race up to the Flood, and Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now let's turn to Jude. Jude uses three illustrations and two of them are the same. Verses 5 through 7, "Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord after saving a people out of the land of Egypt subsequently destroyed those who did not believe, and angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper abode He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day; just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire." These are three illustrations...the Jews, the angels and the Gentiles of Sodom and Gomorrah. And in each case there was destruction, judgment and the punishment of eternal fire, illustrations of God's inevitable and inexorable judgment on apostasy.
And the warning needs to be made very clear. There is a hell, it is forever, it is a burning place of horrific torment, and you will go there forever if you defect from the faith. And the more you know of the Christian faith, the hotter your hell will be when you reject it, as we will see. Better you never heard the gospel than to have heard it and rejected it. Better you never were taught the Word of God than to have been taught it and rejected it.
Now these three illustrations are well known to us and to the readers, and that's why in verse 5 Jude begins by saying, "I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all." It isn't as if he has to go into a lot of detail, these are very familiar stories. And we know them well, as Jude's readers knew them well. But there is somehow a penchant for forgetfulness among us, is it not so? There is a rather continuous decay of our knowledge, demanding reminders especially when we're talking about apostasy, we need to be reminded of its seriousness.
Illustration number one is with regard to Israel in verse 5. "I desire to remind you though you know all things once for all that the Lord after saving a people out of the land of Egypt subsequently destroyed those who did not believe." That little phrase "now I desire to remind you," tells us they had information about this. They had certainly the Old Testament account which was very, very familiar to them, to all who came out of Jewish background. The most familiar of all stories in the Old Testament was the story of God delivering the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. It was the most frequently told story. It was the story marked out by the Passover which was the highest occasion in the Jewish year. God's redemption of His people out of Egyptian slavery and bondage was the greatest of all stories. He says, "I desire to remind you." This is just to put you in memory. The word actually is to remind, but surely they had not only the knowledge from their Jewish background, but the Apostles and whoever had taught them certainly had reiterated this as well. It was Jesus Himself who transformed the Passover into the Lord's table and that transition must have been taught to them. They were very, very familiar with this story but how important it is to be reminded since, as I said, we are prone to forgetfulness. Drop down to verse 17 and you'll see a reminder of that again, "But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." And there again Jude is calling upon them to go back and to remember something that they had previously heard. In 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter follows that same pattern. Look at 2 Peter 1:12, "Therefore I shall always be ready to remind you of these things even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you, but I consider it right as long as I am in this earthly dwelling to stir you up by way of reminder."
Any teacher knows that. Any teacher knows that. Though you know all things once for all...better yet...though you knew it all once. Now since it is a reminder, that's important, there's no need to get extensively involved in the record. Just jog the memory. All of us who teach do this. And Jude is simply refreshing them about two basic facts...the fact of deliverance and the fact of destruction. "The Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who didn't believe." Some manuscripts read, "Jesus." But the Lord is the best attested manuscript. "The Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, destroyed the very people He had saved."
Let's go back and think about that story just briefly. It's told in Exodus 6 through 14, that section, you don't need to look at it, just remind you of what it is.
And you remember what happened, the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt. They had been there by the time they left for 400 years. They were out in a section called Goshen. Life was very difficult for them, became more difficult for them as time went on. They were asked to make bricks without straw and it was a very, very difficult time. God raised up Moses in Pharaoh's court. God brought him to prominence. Moses had to flee after he killed an Egyptian who was harming one of his people. He fled to Median, he was there in Median. God put him back together in the scene of the burning bush, called him to go back, lead his people out. He confronted Pharaoh. Pharaoh hardened his heart and eventually God hardened Pharaoh's heart. A series of plagues took place. Finally the last plague was the death of the firstborn and the only way you could avoid having the firstborn in your house killed was to put blood on the doorpost and the lintel and offer the sacrifice and eat the Passover. Then there was the Exodus as the people went out of the land, as the Red Sea opened they passed through the Red Sea, the army of Pharaoh followed and the sea closed in and drowned them all. An entire nation of people out of Egypt were moved, up to two million of them headed for the promised land that God had originally pledged to Abraham, reiterated to Isaac and to Jacob.
Now at the time of the Passover, those people believed God. When God said to them, "You put the blood on the door and I'll pass by and you'll live," they did it. They did it. And they kept that Passover. And God rescued them out of Egypt. God's mighty power fulfilled God's great promise and led Israel out of Egypt, headed north toward the promised land of Canaan after 400 years of being out of their land, the land where Abraham had originally come when God had first called him. But the very same Lord who delivered Israel, it says, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. Subsequently in the Greek is deuteronfrom which we get Deuteronomy, it means second. The first time He delivered them, the second time He destroyed them. The first time He came to save, the second time He came to destroy. That parallels Jesus Christ. The first time He comes to save, the second time He comes to destroy. And, of course, the story of Israel's unbelief is told in Numbers chapter 14 and you will remember that once they got out in the wilderness, they began to complain and to grumble and to murmur and they began to call upon Moses even to take them back to Egypt. They were an unfaithful people. Numbers chapter 14 they said, "Let's appoint a leader and return to Egypt." They did so many sinful things in doubting God, they even worshiped the golden calf, you know all those terrible stories of their defection.
In verse 22 of Numbers 14, God says this, "Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs, you were all there in Egypt. You saw, you saw the plagues, you saw all ten of the plagues which I performed in Egypt in the wilderness. Yet you have put Me to the test these ten times." And if you follow the record since they left Egypt, I listed in the MacArthur Study Bible ten different events that demonstrated their unbelief. God's counting and ten times you've put Me to the test and not listened to My voice. "Therefore shall...you shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it."
Now what was the event that triggered this? They got right to the edge of the promised land, to Kadesh. They sent the spies into the land. The spies came out, said, "We can't conquer that land, they're giants in there." There were only two of the spies that said, "Let's go, God's on our side." They were Joshua and Caleb, right? And so God says, down in verse 28, "As I live, this is what I'm going to do to you, your corpses shall fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men according to your complete number from 20 years old and upward who have grumbled against Me." Everybody 20 and up, and I think I could calculate about one-point-two, or three million people were going to die in the wilderness, the rest would have been under that age. You will not come into the land which I swore to settle you.
Verse 32, "Your corpses shall fall in this wilderness and your sons are going to be shepherds for 40 years in this wilderness and it's going to take 40 years for all of you to die out according to the number...verse 34...of the days which you spied out the land, 40 days for every day you'll bear your guilt a year." Forty years for forty days and you're going to die out and none of you will go into the land except for two, Joshua and Caleb. And Aaron because of his sin died in the wilderness and Moses because of his sin of disobedience, striking the rock rather than speaking to the rock, never went into the land either. Because of unbelief, God destroyed them all in the wilderness. They all died. They never saw the promised land.
Well what is the point here? It's just an illustration of the fact that people who were given spiritual opportunity who are called to believe the truth about God, to trust in God, to put their faith in God, who know enough to do that, who see enough to do that and defect will find the same God that gave them that opportunity will be the same God who destroys them. The historical illustration makes it clear here that Jude is describing people who are outwardly identified with the people of God, who professed the knowledge of God, who have some knowledge of God, who showed some interest in Him, who professed to know Him, belong to Him. But abandoned their confidence in God, abandoned their trust in God, became unbelieving and were therefore destroyed rather than ever entering the place of blessing.
This is a terrifying warning, folks, to apostates, to people today, those of you who come all the way to the edge of the truth, who see it and understand it, who experience it in the lives of the people around you, and you do not believe. God's judgment on Israel at this point is a model for His judgment on apostates in the visible church. And well over a million bodies died in the wilderness, never to see the land of milk and honey, the land of blessing. And it says there in verse 5, "God subsequently destroyed those who did not believe." That's the issue always. They came all the way up to the edge, but didn't really believe. And again I say, visible Israel was not the true Israel and the visible church is not the invisible church. And many, many people will go to hell from a pew, some of you, no doubt, as well. The analogy is sobering, if not frightening.
For a further understanding of that analogy, turn to Hebrews chapter 3...Hebrews chapter 3. And this is one that cannot be avoided because it strengthens this same truth. And we can look down at verse 7...well, verse 6 is a good place to start. "We belong to Christ...he says...Christ is faithful as a Son over his house whose house we are, we belong to Christ, we're the invisible church, the true church, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our home firm till the end," if you don't defect. "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me as in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tried Me by testing Me and saw My works for 40 years, therefore I was angry with this generation and said they always go astray in their heart and they did not know My ways as I swore in My wrath they shall not enter My rest. Take care, brethren...Jewish brethren in this case, written to the Hebrews...lest there should be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God."
In fact, verse 13 says, "You better encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today, as long as you have a day lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance, sure to the end. While it is said, today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me. For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses and with whom He was angry for 40 years, was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest? That is the land of Canaan, but to those who were disobedient." And verse 19, "And so we see they were not able to enter because of...what?...unbelief...unbelief."
And then in chapter 4 verses 1 and 2, "Let us fear therefore," you better be afraid, "while you still have a promise remaining of entering His rest, be afraid that any one of you should seem to have come short of it, for indeed we have had the good news preached to us, just as they also. But the word they heard didn't profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, as I swore in My wrath they shall not enter My rest." You'll never enter heaven unless you believe. And you only have today. Do not harden your hearts as those in the wilderness with whom God was angry, who died without ever entering the promised land. And their hearts grew harder and harder and harder as they continually resisted the truth.
The book of Hebrews is filled with such warnings. Turn back to chapter 2 verse 3, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" There is no way to escape the judgment of God. Verse 2 says, "Every transgression, every disobedience will receive a just reward, a just recompense and you will not escape if you neglect the salvation that is in Christ and Christ alone." You see it in verse 4 of chapter 6, "For in the case of those who have been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, and made partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good Word of God, tasted the power of the age to come," and here we're referring to the apostolic power at the very ministry of Jesus, to those who were enlightened, their minds received the truth. They tasted the heavenly gift of salvation in Christ. It was there for them to taste. They tasted the power of the Holy Spirit working through Him, they tasted the good Word of God in His teaching. They tasted the power of the age to come in His miracles. Having tasted all that, experienced all that, been enlightened by all that, if they don't come all the way to faith but fall away, it's impossible to renew them again to repentance. They're damned.
There's another warning in chapter 10. This is the same, striking in its language. Verse 26, "If we go on sinning, it is the sin of unbelief in view, if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth..." How do you sin against the truth? By what? By not believing it. "If you go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer remaining a sacrifice for sin." There's no way then that you can be saved. All that is left, verse 27, is a certain terrifying expectation of judgment. If you do not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is no other sacrifice for sin and all you can expect is the terrifying reality of judgment and the fury, verse 27, of a fire which will consume the adversaries. And then verse 29, "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and regarded as unclean the blood of the Covenant by which He was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace."
One thing to be ignorant, it's something else to know the truth and trample it. It's something else to be exposed in some way being superficially cleansed by the presence of that truth as an unbeliever in a marriage is sanctified as God blesses the marriage. It's superficial, it's on the surface, but it's nonetheless an exposure to that. If you've had that exposure, and you insult the Spirit of grace, your punishment will be far worse than someone who never heard the truth. And verse 30 says, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." And verse 31 says, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." There are few passages in Scripture that are more sobering and frightening than that. You are already in a dire situation. You are here tonight, the potential of your eternal punishment has been elevated to a level of severity beyond what it wouldn't have been if you'd never come. To reject the gospel now when you understand it, and you know it and you've heard it in the waters of baptism and from me, to reject that gospel now will bring upon you a severer damnation then if you had never heard. If you are a part of the church, if you have been exposed to the gospel, if you have experienced its transforming power in the lives of people around you and you will not receive the truth but defect from the truth, if you are an invader in the church, a hypocrite, a phony, if you are here for the purpose of attacking the faith, attacking the truth, and I'm not talking just about this congregation tonight, but anyone who ever hears this message who was associated with Christianity, you are elevating the agony of your eternity immensely. You will never be in the land of promise. You will never know heavenly bliss. And your hell will be far more horrific.
This is Jude's warning to the apostates. You've had the privilege of knowing the truth and you now face a severer doom. Have you ever asked yourself what makes people do this? Why do people defect? Why do they come all the way up to the truth and walk away?
I think Jesus helped us with that in the parable of the soils, don't you? He said there was a certain kind of ground that was hard. The seed went in. There was a spouting up of life. But when the sun came out, it was burned and died. This is persecution. Some people just don't want to pay the cost. They're just not willing to suffer for Christ, they're not willing to take up their cross and deny themselves. In some cases, as Jesus said, in the weedy ground, it's the love of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. In some cases, it's just hardened unbelief. But always it's the love of iniquity. And again I go back to what Jesus said in John 3, "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are...what?...evil." So hold your sin all the way to hell, but if you're holding it under the hearing of the gospel, your hell will be severer in proportion to your exposure to the truth.
There is no stronger warning in Scripture. If you are in the church visible and not the church invisible, you fit into this category. If you've come all the way to the edge and by love of your iniquity will not abandon your sin and embrace Christ, you are virtually an apostate in the church. You may not have teaching influence, you may not have ministry influence. You may not be the bishop of anything, but you are virtual apostate, a defector from the faith you know to be true the power of which and the truth of which you've seen. We will contend for the true faith. We will proclaim the true faith against the insidious invasion of error in the church. But we also know that there are people in the church who are in the category of defecting from the faith to which they've been exposed who are not dangers to the church, but are deadly dangerous to themselves.
To the Israelites were given this immense privilege, to be led out of bondage like so many of you, all the way to the place where they experienced the power of God, the wonder of God, the might of God, the goodness of God, the grace of God. They saw God's ability to deliver. They saw God's ability to destroy in the drowning of the Egyptian army. And they were headed to a land of promise. But their faith in God was superficial and shallow and self-protecting and dishonoring and at the first disappointment in their little plans, they no longer trusted God. And they all died in the wilderness and never entered the promised land.
If you have been exposed to the truth, the promised land awaits you, the glory of heaven awaits you. This is not...this is not a false offer, it's a true offer if you will come all the way to faith in Christ, Christ alone and do not defect and join those apostates who do have influence, who have subtle influence and who are responsible for the corruption that occurs in the visible church.
Well, that's only one illustration out of three. But a sobering one. Next time we'll talk about the second illustration, equally startling illustration of the angels who apostatized as well. Pray with me.
We thank You, Lord, that one of the ways in which you demonstrate Your love to us is to warn us in language that is inescapably strong and firm and even frightening. We thank You for holding nothing back. We thank You for expressing what must be expressed. We thank You for the doctrine of hell. We thank You for the reality of hell. We thank You that You have, as it were, given us a glimpse of it. We thank You that You've shown us where we will go and the severity of the punishment that awaits us if knowing the truth we turn from it. We thank You for the mercy of warning and we ask, O God, that there would be a response to that, that out of fear and love for the One who gave His life for us, we would turn from our sins and embrace Christ, our only ark of safety through the waters of judgment, our only escape from the fires of torment. We grieve, our God, as we look at the visible church, those who name the name of Christ, who are apostate, defectors from the faith, liars, false teachers, corrupters, polluters because of whom the way of truth is maligned, agents of hell, and we will contend against their corruption of the truth about You and the truth about Christ and the truth about the gospel and the truth about sound doctrine, and the truth about holiness and morality and authority. But at the same time that we fight the war to protect the truth, we are very aware of the churches filled with people who on the surface appear not to be major threats to the church, but are in deadly danger, being cast into a torment of hell because they have rejected the truth themselves. And may we be eager and willing at all times as Hebrews 3 tells us to say to people, "Today and today, and today, and every day, day after day, harden not your hearts," as the people of Israel did in the day that they tested God and were shut out of the promised land. Lord, we have a responsibility to first believe and then to warn and we would be faithful to this. We thank You, Lord, that You have given us path through the midst of judgment into Your glorious presence by abandoning our sin and embracing Christ. I pray that Your Spirit would work that mighty miracle in our hearts. We pray for the sake of Christ. Amen.
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