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Now, tonight I just want to make a few comments before we get into looking at the Word of God together. I realize that in going through 1 John we are covering some familiar ground. But it's absolutely critical for us to do that carefully and thoughtfully and with appropriate depth and breadth. If you find the message of John to be somewhat redundant, that's exactly the way it is. In fact, you'll feel like you've been living deja vu all over again as we cycle our way through this epistle because John has a sort of a cyclical approach going back around the same things again and again, each time deepening and enriching our understanding. And, of course, one of the features of his writings, as it is throughout all of the New Testament is this matter of the message, this matter of the gospel.
As we come to 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2, we come to an absolutely critical verse of Scripture which embraces for us the wonderful and familiar reality of the gospel. What I'm going to say about this verse will be familiar to most of us. But I don't want to run by it without giving it careful attention because when I'm done this tape will stand alone and then it will become a couple of radio broadcasts, and then it will, down the road, wind up perhaps being translated into Spanish and preached all over the Spanish-speaking world in our Spanish-speaking outreach. And it might even get translated into Russian and be preached in Russia in the Russian language broadcasts that's going on over there and who knows where it might go from there. And so, I don't want to look lightly at verse 2, even though much of it is familiar to us. I want to give it a full treatment. If it's familiar to you, it will give you an opportunity to rejoice all over again in what the Lord has done in your life, even as it did in hearing the testimonies at Baptism tonight. There will be elements of it, I think, that will be fresh and new that will bring you some brand-new cause for rejoicing.
First John 2:2, "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world."
Let's start out to understand this verse very basically. The Bible teaches clearly that God is holy and mankind is not. Simple enough? God is holy and mankind is not. In fact, the Bible explicitly teaches that every person who has ever lived has broken God's holy Law. Every person who has ever lived has rebelled against God, has incurred therefore His just wrath. And, has been duly sentenced to eternal punishment. That is the universal bad news.
But on the other hand, there is good news. The good news, the gospel, is that God while being just and holy, is also gracious and merciful. And so He offers complete forgiveness for all violations of His Law. And He offers complete escape and deliverance from just punishment. To whom is this given? It is given to all who have saving faith in His Son Jesus Christ. For anybody who believes in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, who repents for sin and embraces Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness, forgiveness of all sin and deliverance from the penalty of sin, eternal damnation. And instead, there's the promise of eternal blessing and holy perfection. That is the gospel. That is the good news that follows the bad news.
God then, on the one hand, to borrow the words of Paul, is just. But on the other hand, He is a justifier of sinners. This is the great core of understanding the Christian faith. God is holy, God is just, God is also gracious and merciful. Because He is holy and just, He demands punishment for sin. And every sin must be and will be punished, every sin ever committed by every person. But on the other hand, God is also gracious and merciful and eager to forgive sin. How God satisfies His justice and His grace is the great scheme of redemption.
First John 1, if you'll back a moment to verse 7, says at the end of the verse that the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If you look at verse 9, it tells us that God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Twice, verse 7 and verse 9, we are told that there is offered for us cleansing from sin, cleansing from unrighteousness, that there is a possibility of escaping just punishment. Verse 1 of chapter 2 says if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
In other words, you can be forgiven and then because you are forgiven, because you belong to God's family, because you have been delivered from eternal punishment, you have been given a divine Advocate, your Divine Defense Attorney, as we noted last time. Whoever stands before the bar of God in the courtroom of heaven and pleads for you, this is Jesus Christ the righteous one, He is our Advocate with the Judge, with the Father who when the accuser comes into the courtroom of God and accuses us of sin, and it is true, we are sinners, when the accuser of the brethren, Satan, comes and accuses us of sin, Christ steps in to our defense and reminds the Father that we could never be held guilty because we have already been forgiven.
And then that poses the question, where we ended last time, how can He be an effective defender of those who are still sinning? We confess our sins, chapter 1 verse 9, if we say we don't sin, verse 10, we make Him a liar. So here we are saying we continue to sin. Jesus, even though we continue to sin, defends us before God. How can He be such an effective defender of those who confess to being guilty of breaking God's Law? If a criminal comes in to the court and says to the Judge, "I am guilty, I am guilty, I am guilty." What case does a Defense Attorney have?" Well he virtually has no case because the man has confessed his guilt. And yet in this courtroom, the only cases our Defender accepts are those in which the sinner confesses his guilt. How then can Jesus be a Divine Defense Attorney for those who are confessed sinners?
The answer comes in the second verse. "It is because He Himself is the propitiation for our sins." That's the answer. He could never be our Defender if He weren't our Propitiator. So here we are given the reason that our guilt has been removed. Here we are given the reason why Jesus can make a case for us, even though we are sinners. Here we are given the reason why we are not under condemnation, why we will never be punished. It is because He Himself, that is Jesus Christ the righteous One, is the propitiation for our sins. And I want to talk tonight about propitiation. Now don't wince and think we're going to go down into some theological depth that you won't understand. You will understand. This is not intended to be complicated, this is intended to be simple and clear so that a child can understand it. And it is vital to us to know this, to understand the propitiation that has been done in our behalf. It is critical to know it. It is one of the great doctrines of Christianity, this is the heart of our salvation. And it is vital to our understanding why it is that we are to pursue a life of holiness.
Now I want to talk about five aspects of propitiation and they're all here...the nature of propitiation, the necessity of propitiation, the agent of propitiation, the source of propitiation, and the extent of propitiation. Let's talk about the nature of it. What is the nature of it?
And for that, we look at the word. It says in verse 2 "the propitiation," what is that word? That's a long theological word, I daresay you've lived your entire life and no conversation have you ever had with anybody in the secular world in which he used, or she used, the word propitiation. It is a word that is isolated singularly to the Bible. Nobody ever uses it. It doesn't belong in our culture. It did belong in ancient cultures. It belonged in cultures way back in Old Testament times. It belonged in cultures in the New Testament era. It does belong in some cultures around the world, even today where there is a need for propitiation. Let me tell you what it means. It is a Greek word hilasmos, it simply means an appeasement...an appeasement.
We understand that word. We understand what it is for somebody who is angry to be appeased. We understand the word to placate, you know that word? To placate somebody, essentially it's a synonym. Another word you could use is the word "to satisfy." Somebody has established a standard and requires that you satisfy that standard. Or somebody has established a law and a punishment, and determines that that punishment must be satisfied. You have to satisfy what that law requires. This is hilasmos, this is appeasement, this is placation, this is satisfaction. Same word is used as we'll see later in chapter 4 verse 10.
Now there are related words to hilasmos, a verb hilaskomaimeans to make satisfaction for someone, to make satisfaction for someone. It's used in Luke 18:13 and it means exactly that, to make satisfaction, to satisfy some just requirement. It's also used in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 17 in the same sense.
There is another word, hilasterion, and that means a sacrifice of atonement...a sacrifice of atonement. How does that connect? Well a sacrifice was required to satisfy God, to appease God, to placate God's wrath. Hilasterion, that related word meaning a sacrifice of atonement used in Romans 3:25, is also used of the Old Testament Mercy Seat. Now follow very carefully. When God gave instructions for the building of the tabernacle and later for the temple, inside the large courtyard of the temple there was a holy place and inside the holy place was a Holy of Holies which was the place where God met with His people, it was a place where no one could go but a high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement and it represented the Holy of Holies, the dwelling place of God which was not available or open or accessible to any sinful human being. The high priest could only go once a year to placate God, to satisfy God, to appease God's wrath by the sprinkling of the blood of a dead animal, the sacrifice on the Mercy Seat. Inside the Holy of Holies was a box, the box was called the Ark of the Covenant. An Ark was simply a word for a container. Inside there was the Covenant. What Covenant? The Covenant of Moses, the Law, the Sinaitic Covenant was in the box, the Law of God was there inside the box. On top...the box was made out of gold, by the way, and you can read all about its dimensions, its proportions, and its features in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, it was made out of gold. It had a lid on the top made out of gold, that lid on the top of the Ark, or the top of the box, became known as the Mercy Seat, as the hilasterion, the place where appeasement took place. On each end of the little box there was a cherub, a cherub made out of one piece of solid gold with its wings going across the lid. Cherub were angels whose particular purpose was to guard, to be guardians of the holiness of God. And so they emphasized the holiness of God. Above the Ark was the Shekinah glory of God. Inside the Ark was the Law. And on the lid on the Day of Atonement was the blood sprinkled.
Now what is going on here is this. The Ark contains the Law. The Law is regularly by every human being, every day broken. The Covenant that God has made is violated. God is violated. His holy, just and good Law is violated. So inside the box is the broken Law. Above t he box is the Shekinah glory of God in all His majesty and holiness, accented and enhanced by the presence of the Cherubim who are the guardians of that holiness. How can then holy God be reconciled with violators of His Law? How can holy God be appeased for the violation of His Law? God determined that there would be a Mercy Seat, a place where appeasement could be made between the broken Law and holy God. And it was on that Mercy Seat that the blood was splattered on the Day of Atonement.
This is really important to understand. God was angry with sinners. The Bible says God is angry with the wicked every day. And if God was going to forgive sinners and God was going to remove their judgment and deliver them from eternal damnation, He had to be appeased. He had to be satisfied. He had to be placated. Symbolically God demonstrated the need for that placation with the prescriptions regarding the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat, the flat lid atop the Ark was entirely gold and yet it was crusted after time with blood. Inside it was the broken Law. Above it was God. Therefore, in between the violators of His Law and Holy God must come an appeasement. And that appeasement is going to be a blood sacrifice. Each year on Yom Kippur, you know what that means? Yomis the Hebrew word for day, kippurfrom kapharmeaning to make atonement. It's the day in which atonement is made. And God required the high priest that time, only once, to go into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and splatter the blood of the sacrificed animal all over the lid between the broken Law and the Shekinah glory of His presence, to make atonement for the sins of...listen, Israel, Leviticus 16. We'll look at that a little later.
And when the blood was splattered on that increasingly bloodied gold lid, it became a Mercy Seat. It became the seat of mercy because it was there that God was satisfied. You understand that? It was there that God was placated. It was there that God was appeased. And so Exodus 25:22, God says, "There I will meet with you, from above the Mercy Seat, from between the two cherubim on the Ark of the testimony." That's where I'll meet you. I'll meet you there.
Sacrificial blood then changed the Ark of God's broken Law which therefore could be seen as an Ark of Judgment into a Mercy Seat. Now listen carefully. The animal blood didn't do it. The animal blood didn't do it. The animal blood did not actually propitiate God. The animal blood did not actually placate God. The animal blood did not appease God. But it symbolized and represented a sacrifice that would satisfy God. The whole sacrificial system prescribed in the Old Testament by God didn't satisfy Him. It didn't satisfy Him. If it satisfied Him, wouldn't have to keep doing it. The sacrifice of Yom Kippur, every year, every year, every year, year after year after year after year, all the sacrifices beyond that, all of the burnt offerings, all of the sin offerings, all of the trespass offerings, all of the other offerings offered millions of times through history never satisfied God. And listen to this, none of those sacrifices every paid for one single solitary sin. They just all pointed to the sacrifice that would. The nature then of propitiation, you understand. It is a sacrifice that satisfies God.
Let's talk secondly about the necessity for propitiation. Let me point you back to the verse. "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins," not for ours only, implied, but the sins of the whole world. Here's the necessity. Sins...that's the necessity. God, the offended holy Creator, whose Law was shattered and is continually shattered by sinners, must react justly in holy anger, wrath and judgment. And I say again what I said last week, cause it's so important, every sin ever committed by every person who has ever lived will be punished. They will all be punished. The question is how. If the sinner is to escape the punishment, if the sinner is to be delivered from the condemnation for his sin, then God has to be satisfied some other way, right? God's wrath will be satisfied. In some cases by sinners in eternal hell, paying a just penalty for their sins. For God's wrath will be satisfied. But in the case of others, His wrath over sin will be satisfied by a special sacrifice pictured in the whole Old Testament sacrificial system.
Propitiation then, listen very carefully, propitiation then is God-ward...it's God-ward. This is a theological term, this is a gospel truth, this is a principle that states God's wrath must be placated and that is at the core of salvation. That's not particularly popular today, not even popular today among many who call themselves Christians. To think of God for them is to think of simply God as love, not God as wrath and fury and vengeance and anger. But that is only part of God's nature, He is a God of punishment. If He didn't feel that way, if He wasn't angry about sin, He wouldn't be perfectly holy. So the punishment of sin which is the just penalty for violating God's holy Law and the pardon for sin which is the gracious forgiveness of God's grace have to come together. You understand that? Punishment and pardon have to come together. Justice and grace have to come together. Guilt and forgiveness have to come together. They come together in the sacrifice that propitiates God, that satisfies God. So that the same holy justice which is glorified in the eternal punishment of the sinner, may also be glorified in the eternal pardon of the sinner when God is satisfied by a just payment.
Let me say it another way. All the holy attributes of God once arrayed against us in wrath give way to all the holy attributes of God now arrayed for us in mercy. And God can't be changed from a God of wrath to a God of mercy unless He is placated, propitiated and satisfied. God wants to take the flaming sword of justice raised over our heads to strike us and melt it into a shield raised to protect us. And He can do that because there is a sacrifice that satisfied God, that paid the full penalty for sin. As I said, there are many liberal theologians that don't like this idea. They just want God to be love, love, love and that's all. And they're offended that we would consider God to be a God of anger, that we would think of God in any way like the gods of the pagans, capricious, angry, evil deities of the pagans who have to be appeased, who have to be placated by sacrifices, sometimes even human sacrifices. They read things like, well for example, the seventeenth chapter of 2 Kings verse 29, "Every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made...talking about the people who came into Samaria from all different nations...and the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak...those are the gods that these various people made...and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim." There...that's a pagan description, all these nations coming in have all these gods and actually to placate those gods, burned up their children as human sacrifices in an effort to propitiate, or to satisfy an otherwise angry deity.
And there are many people who read that and they say, "You're not going to make God like that. You're not going to make God the kind of God whose anger has to be appeased by sacrifice." But that's exactly what the word propitiate means, that's exactly why hilasterionis connected to the Mercy Seat and even translated Mercy Seat because that is precisely what God requires for the satisfaction and appeasement of His wrath against sin. Scripture makes it clear. He is holy. He is wrathful. He is vengeful. He is condemning. And He must be propitiated, He must be appeased and He must be satisfied. And He will only be satisfied when all sins have been paid for and the wages of sin is death.
The reality of propitiation is clear in Scripture. The nature of propitiation is clear in the terms that I've been giving to you. And the necessity of propitiation is also clear in Scripture. It is because of sin, it is because of sin. In John 3:36, there's no mistaking this. "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, he who doesn't obey the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him." The wrath of God abides on the one who rejects Christ. That's right because if you reject Christ then the only way that God can be propitiated for your sin is to punish you eternally. Romans 3 familiar words, verse 23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Having all sinned, we have all come, in the words of Romans 1:18, under the wrath of God. And Romans 6:23, "The wages of that sin is death." First Thessalonians 1:10 says, "Christ has come to deliver us from the wrath to come." As I said, in Psalm 7:11 it says, "God is angry with the wicked every day." And the same verse says, "He is a just God." In Ezekiel 18 verses 4, and I think it's down to verse 20, it says, "The soul that sins, it shall die."
Just a little footnote here. There's another word that sometimes you hear in connection with this subject and that's the word expiation. Have you ever heard that word, expiation? Ex...out of, expiation means to have something removed from us, guilt. It's a man-ward look. We do need expiation. We do need guilt removed from us. But there never can be expiation, guilt removed from us until there is propitiation, satisfaction brought before God. God has to be propitiated before we can be expiated. Satisfaction has to be brought to God before our sins can be removed from us.
This is not advanced theology, people, this is basic theology. This is the basic reality of our redemption which is sad to say unknown by I think many, if not most people, who claim Christ. And to many people it is shocking and it is troubling and maybe even offensive to think that God is so angry with sinners that He requires to be appeased. And if they do not acknowledge and accept the appeasement that has been offered for them, then they will get their own eternal punishment by which God will be satisfied. For some this is a stumbling block. It is a rock of offense. But propitiation is necessary because of our sins. They will be paid for, either by you or by someone else, the sacrifice that satisfied God. Without propitiation, then justice demands the sinner's everlasting punishment. With propitiation, mercy demands the sinner's everlasting blessing.
Let's go to the third point in our look at propitiation, the agent of propitiation. Verse 2, "He Himself is the propitiation," He Himself goes back to the end of verse 1, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He had to be righteous. He had to be sinless or He would not have been able to make an offering for someone else. He would have had to receive the judgment of God for His own sins, but He is Jesus Christ the righteous, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He is the righteous one, having no sin of His own, not having to pay for any sins of His own. He is the perfect Lamb without blemish and without spot. He is the perfect sacrifice. He is, again 1 Thessalonians 1:10, "Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." He is Himself the propitiation. I love that. He doesn't make propitiation, He IS the propitiation. He couldn't be our Advocate if He wasn't our propitiation. He alone made the sacrifice that satisfied God.
Isaiah 53:5 and 6, "He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being, or our peace, fell on Him. By His scourgings we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each one of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord...and here's the great statement...has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." Christ was punished for the sins we commit. Verse 8, "He was cut off out of the land of the living." Why? "For the transgression of My people." He was punished for other people's sins though He was innocent. In verse 9 it says of Isaiah 53, "He's done no violence, neither was there any deceit in His mouth." Verse 10, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He has put Him to grief, made His soul an offering for sin."
Isaiah's telling us this. God determined what sacrifice would propitiate Him. God determined what sacrifice would satisfy, placate and appease Him. And God determined that it would be the sacrifice of one who is perfect and therefore in the universe He was limited to one who would be man and die for man and God who would be holy and perfect, His Son. And so it pleased the Lord to bruise Him because God is not just angry over sin, He is not just vengeful, He is not just by character just, He is also merciful, gracious, forgiving. And so here is the principle of substitution. God demanded to be satisfied and God determined that the death of His Son would be that satisfaction. The death of Christ was the satisfaction of divine justice.
Many years ago I preached a message entitled, "Christ died for God." And it stirred no small controversy at the time, just when people saw the title. Songs have been written from that message, but it's true...Christ died to placate God, to satisfy God's justice. Ephesians 5:2 puts it this way, "Christ offered Himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." Second Corinthians 5:21, "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us." First Peter 2:24, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." First Peter 3:18, "Christ also died for sins, once for all the just dying for the unjust." And then 1 John 2:2, "He is Himself the propitiation for our sins."
It was vicarious, substitutionary and don't ever think this, Christ was not paying an atonement price to Satan, He was paying it to whom? To God. And His death was not just an example of Love and it was not just an example of humility, and it was not just an example of self-sacrifice, it was an actual payment to satisfy the justice of God.
And as I said earlier, all of the blood sacrifices of the whole Old Testament system never satisfied God at all. Turn in your Bible to Hebrews 7, they only looked forward to the one sacrifice that would. Turn to Hebrews chapter 7, this is so important to understand. Verse 26, "It was fitting that we should have a High Priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens," that's Jesus Christ. Listen, "Who doesn't need daily like those high priests in the Old Testament, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." Boy, what a great statement.
You know, Old Testament priests were basically butchers. They were up to their ears in blood. They spent all their time when they were in their courses, priests in Jerusalem, they spent all their time bloodied by animal sacrifices. It was relentless, week after week after week, year after year after year after year. Jesus was bloodied only once. He did once for all offer up Himself and that was the sacrifice that satisfied God.
Turn to chapter 9 verse 1, "The first covenant had regulations of divine worship and an earthly sanctuary. There was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which there was the lampstand, the table and the sacred bread, this was called the Holy Place. And behind the second veil there was a special tent or tabernacle called the Holy of Holies. Inside was a golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant, covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna and Aaron's rod which budded and the tables of the covenant, the Law. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the Mercy Seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things have been thus prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship. And they go into the second, only the high priest entering there, only once a year not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance."
So every year, every year, every year he goes in and he does it and he does it and he does it. Verse 9a says, "This is just a symbol...just a symbol because the gifts and the sacrifices offered cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience." Then verse 11, "But when Christ appeared as a High Priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not make with hands," that is to say not of this creation, "and not through the blood of goats and calves but through His own blood He entered that Holy Place once for all having obtained eternal redemption." He did what all of those sacrifices never did. He satisfied God.
Verse 13, "If the blood of goats and bulls and ashes of a heifer sprinkling those that had been defiled sanctified for the cleansing of the flesh," if they can do some kind of outward cleansing, "how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God cleanse your conscience, your inside, from dead works to serve the living God?"
So then verse 15 says, "Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant in order that since the death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." That's a marvelous point. Listen to this, even the people who lived under the first covenant weren't saved by the blood sacrifices. Those who were genuine believers, those who repented and believed were saved by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ which was pictured in those blood sacrifices. It is that glorious sacrifice of Christ that satisfies God.
Go to the tenth chapter and verse 4, this says it, verse 4, "It is difficult, it is...what?...impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin." There isn't any sin, not one sin ever taken away, ever expiated because God is never propitiated by an animal sacrifice. So what is God going to do? "Therefore when He comes into the world," that is Christ, "He says, Sacrifice and offering Thou hast not desired, but a body Thou hast prepared for Me." God had to prepare a body for His Son. God was not satisfied, didn't find pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. So, "I have come," says Jesus, "I have come to do Your Will." Verse 8, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast not desired, nor hast Thou taken pleasure in them." And by the way, all of those verses are taken out of the Old Testament. They're all quoted out of the Old Testament from the Psalms and the prophets. Even there it said this doesn't do it.
Well what does it? Verse 10, "We have been sanctified, separated from sin through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. "But He having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God." Verse 14 says, "By that one offering He perfected for all time those who are separated from sin, those who are sanctified."
God is so satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ that verse 17 says, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness of these things there's no longer any offering for sin." After Jesus Christ that was it, doesn't need to be, can't be any other offering. And that's exactly what John meant in 1 John 1:7 when he said, "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin, cleanses us from all unrighteousness." He is the agent of propitiation. He is the Propitiator.
Now turn to Romans 3...Romans 3, I want you to see this here in the marvelous language of the Apostle Paul. Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," that's a universal fact. All human beings have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are therefore under the just condemnation of God, no matter how religious we are, no matter how many sacrifices we may offer, we cannot offer a sacrifice that pleases God. We cannot propitiate God or appease God. Verse 24 then says, coming to our rescue, "We are then justified as a gift by His grace." Isn't that wonderful? It's a gift by His grace, "Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." How are we going to be justified who are sinners? It has to be a gift given to us and it must be this, it must be the redemption which is in Christ Jesus...listen to verse 25, "Whom God displayed publicly as a...what?...propitiation in His blood which is appropriated through faith."
God had to do that. He had to do that. Sin had to be paid for. So Paul says in the middle of verse 25, "This...this public crucifixion of Jesus, this propitiation in His blood was to demonstrate His justice." God couldn't just pass by sin without a sacrifice. It was to demonstrate His dikaiosune, His righteousness, His justice, same word. "Because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed." Since creation God had been forgiving sins, passing over sins of those who confessed and those who repented. And so somebody might say, "Well He's not very righteous if He forgives and forgives and forgives and forgives and forgives. And if all the blood of bulls and goats don't pay the price for sin, then where is the justice of God?" In order after all those centuries, all those millennia of forgivenesses, God then has to demonstrate that He us just and He demonstrates it in the propitiation of Jesus Christ. And it's upon Christ that He casts all His just wrath for sin against all who would believe.
So verse 26 says, "God demonstrates His justice so that He can be, verse 26, the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." How wonderful. This is a gift. All you have to do is put your faith in Jesus Christ. And God accepts His sacrifice for your sin. It is a gift by His grace through the apolutrosis, through the ransom price paid by Jesus as a propitiation. Peter says you weren't redeemed by perishable things like silver or gold, but with precious...what?...blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ.
So the nature, the necessity, the agent of propitiation. Just briefly, the motive...the motive. You need to know this now...the motive. Some people say, "Well, you know, God is hard, God is tough, God is angry, God is vengeful. But Jesus came along, gave His life and by that propitiation won God's love for sinners." Wrong. Look at chapter 4, 1 John 4 and look at verse 10, "In this is love, not that we love God, but that...what?...He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." It was not the propitiation of a loving Christ that won the love of God. Just the opposite. It was the love of God that sent Christ to be the propitiation. Yes God is just. Yes God is holy but He is also loving. And out of that comes His grace and mercy and forgiveness.
What was His motive? Love...love, self-sacrificing desire for one's well being even though we are utterly unworthy and undeserving. One last point, we've seen the nature of propitiation as a satisfaction to God. We've seen the necessity of propitiation, our sins. We've seen the agent of propitiation, He Himself, Jesus Christ the righteous. We've seen the motive for propitiation, the love of God. Now I want to mention the extent of propitiation and this is at the heart of this verse. "He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world." How are we to understand that? How are we to understand that? Stay with me now, just a few more minutes. This is critical.
Is this universalism? Does this mean that Jesus has literally propitiated God for the whole world? Does the whole world mean the whole world? Has Jesus actually satisfied God's justice for everybody who has ever lived? If so, then where is hell in that? Where is condemnation? Why are all the warnings and why preach the gospel?
It's not universalism. It is not telling us that the atonement was literally made for everyone. What is it saying? I'll tell you what it's saying. John was in particular Jewish and primarily wrote to a Jewish audience. In Galatians 2:9 the Apostle Paul describes his first meeting with the other Apostles. He writes, "When James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go to the heathen and they to the circumcision." Did you get that? So in Galatians 2:9, James, Peter and John make it clear that their ministry is to the circumcision, to the Jews.
John was an Apostle to the Jews. The recipients of his epistles would be predominantly, if not completely, Jewish. He is saying to this Jewish audience, who completely understand propitiation because they understand the sacrificial system, they understand the function of the Mercy Seat, they understand Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. And what they understand about it is to be learned from several verses in Leviticus, listen to this, verse 17 of chapter 16, "When the high priest goes in to make atonement, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out that he may make atonement for himself, for his household...listen carefully...and for all the assembly of Israel." The Day of Atonement had limitations. It applied only to Israel, only to the people of Israel. It was a sacrifice for Israel. It went on for centuries as their unique Day of Atonement. John says here, "Jesus Himself is the propitiation, Jesus Himself is the sacrifice, Jesus Himself is the bloody offering upon the Mercy Seat of God and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world." The normal, national, limitation of the Day of Atonement for Israel is no more...no more. In the Jewish context, they understood Day of Atonement, they understood the language of propitiation. John is telling them that the sacrifice that Jesus offered is not just for the nation Israel, it's now for the world because the Lord is calling out a people for His name from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Jesus on the cross offered an atonement for those in Israel who would repent and believe and those throughout the world who would repent and believe. It is not a universal appeasement of God. Jesus didn't pay for the sins of Judas because when Judas died, he went to his own place to pay for his own sins. Jesus didn't pay for the sins of Herod. Jesus didn't pay for the sins of Pilate. Jesus didn't pay for the sins of Adolph Hitler. Jesus didn't pay for the sins of the mob that screamed for His blood. Jesus didn't pay for the sins of all that mass of humanity that show up at the Great White Throne and are cast into the Lake of Fire forever and ever where they will give their satisfaction to the offended Law of God. But He did pay for the sins of all who will believe in Israel and the world. The point is, it went beyond their normal provincial idea of propitiation. And He didn't just make salvation an option, He actually purchased salvation for all who repent and believe because they are called by God. It was an actual substitution.
Just to help you to understand that, one final passage. John 11, this is really an important text in this regard and will seal your understanding of this. John 11:51 and 52, and I have to set the setting but I'll do it quickly. In John 11:51 and 52 we have an important statement, but let's back up a little bit.
The Sanhedrin was meeting to plot Jesus' murder. And Caiaphas, who obviously was the high priest that year, verse 49, sort of states the reason. "Caiaphas," verse 49, "who was the high priest that year said to them, 'You know nothing at all. You know nothing at all.'" And he's really decrying their stupidity in his mind. Because verse 47, "The chief priests, the Pharisees got the council together, What are we doing, this man is performing many signs? If we let Him go like this, everybody is going to believe in Him and the Romans are going to come and take away our place and our nation." What's going to happen is there's going to be an insurrection, the Romans are going to see Him and the people that follow Him as a threat and the Romans are going to come in, there's going to be a war, people are going to die, we're going to lose our power. We're going to lose the position that we've gained under the Roman occupation. This could be a disaster. We could have a horrible situation.
And Caiaphas essentially says, "You don't know anything, you're all stupid." Don't you understand? Verse 50, "It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation should not perish." They were all concerned about the volatility of the political scene. The Zealots were stirring, you remember, the people against the Romans, messianic expectation was high. It did reach a fever pitch on Palm Sunday, as we remember. They were afraid the Romans would see this as an insurrection and a rebellion and that Jesus would be viewed as a new ruler and a new king and they were all following. And they would come in and there would be this horrible destruction and death. And the Romans would not only kill and slaughter people, they would also literally take away the power of the people who had been in the religious leadership. The Sanhedrin was afraid because they had courted the favor of the Romans and it was to their great benefit. They didn't care who Jesus was, they didn't care about His miracles. They didn't care about His message. They just wanted to maintain their peace with Rome, live their lives and stop any revolt that could be negative to their favorable circumstances.
So Caiaphas says it's better, it's expedient for us if we want to maintain our spot here that one man should die for the people to save the people rather than the whole nation perish. He's not talking theologically here. He's talking politically. If we get rid of Jesus, we'll save our nation and our position.
And then John gives commentary. Oh I love this, verse 51, "Now this he didn't say on his own initiative..." He said something so profound he didn't even know what he was saying. He said, "One man should die for the people and so the nation isn't going to perish." He actually declared that Jesus would die for sinners in their place and therefore by His death they would be delivered. He was talking in an earthly political way, he didn't even know what he was saying. But because he was the high priest, God used him to prophesy that Jesus...listen to this...was going to die for the nation. And listen to this, here's a direct parallel to 1 John 2:2, "And not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together in one the children of God who are scattered abroad." It's the same concept exactly. First John 2:2, that He is the propitiation for our sins as a nation, Israel. But not for ours only but also for all the sins of the world, or the sins of the whole world. Same thing here. Jesus dies not for the nation only, but for the children of God scattered abroad, Gentiles.
Please notice, He died for the children of God. He died for the children of God. Those God determined to be His children from Israel and from the whole world. So without even knowing it, Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus would die and that His sacrifice would propitiate God for the sins of all His children in the nation Israel and scattered over the face of the earth. And that's precisely what 1 John 2:2 is saying. The design of the atonement is the end of the atonement. Or to put it another way, the end of the atonement is the design of the atonement because whatever God wants to be the outcome will be the outcome. Whatever God purposes, He accomplishes. It's never ever thwarted. God designed an actual atonement for all the children upon whom He sets His love, then He affected that atonement in their behalf.
Listen to Isaiah 46:8, "Remember this and be assured, recall it to mind, you transgressors, I am God, there is no other, I am God, there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying My purpose will be established and I will accomplish all My good pleasure." God purposed a propitiation on behalf of His children and He accomplished it whether His children were part of the nation Israel, or the whole world.
Well, one final comment back at 1 John. Is this not a glorious redemption? Are you thankful? Are you thankful that you are named among the children of God from the whole world? Some of you are the children of God from Israel, are you thankful? If you're thankful then respond to this, "My little children, I'm writing these things to you that you may not...what?...sin." That's where you demonstrate your gratitude.
Father, again the Word comes to us with such power, it comes to us with such clarity, it comes to us with such compelling glory. We thank You. The love of Christ constrains us because He died for all and He died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. And so, Lord, it is our desire that because of this glorious propitiation we would manifest our gratitude by not sinning, by not abusing such generous eternal grace. May You be pleased with the lives we live in response to the glory of Your gift of salvation. In Jesus name. Amen.
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Lupus San Diego
Lupus Foundation of Southern California
Lupus is a chronic, inflammatory disease in which the body's immune system fails to serve its normal protective functions and instead forms antibodies that attack healthy tissues and organs. Lupus Foundation Market Research data show that up to 2 million people have been diagnosed with lupus, making it more prevalent than sickle cell anaemia, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis combined. Lupus affects 1 in every 185 Americans, and although it can occur at any age, and in either sex, 90 percent of people with lupus are women in their childbearing years, which severely disrupts family life. Many more women than men have lupus. It is three times more common in African American women than in Caucasian women, and it is also more common in women of Hispanic, Asian and Native American descent.
You can't catch lupus from another person. It isn't cancer, and it isn't related to AIDS.
Systemic lupus, is dubbed "America's least-known major disease" by the national Lupus Alliance because the cause is unknown, the cure equally elusive.
Too few people understand the seriousness of this confusing and incurable disease, including the individuals who have it. Lupus symptoms-such as achy joints, fevers, extreme fatigue, hair loss and skin rashes-often are ignored because they mimic those of less serious illnesses.
|Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
|Discoid Lupus Erythematosus
|Drug-Induced Lupus
|(eh-RITH-eh-muh-TOE-sus) is the most common form. It's some times called SLE, or just Lupus. The word "systemic" means that the disease can involve many parts of the body such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain. SLE symptoms can be mild or serious.
|Mainly affects the skin. A red rash may appear on the facial skin, scalp, or elsewhere on the body.
|Is triggered by a few medicines. It is like SLE, but symptoms are usually milder. Most of the time, the disease goes away when the medicine is stopped. More men develop drug-induced Lupus because of the drugs that cause it, hydralazine and procainamide, are used to treat heart conditions that are common in men.
Lupus is most common in women between the ages of 15 and 44. These are roughly the years when most women are able to have babies. Scientists think a woman's hormones may have something to do with getting Lupus. But it is important to remember that men and older people can get it too.
It is less common for children under age 15 to have Lupus. One exception is babies born to women with Lupus. These children may have heart, liver, or skin problems caused by Lupus.
Pregnancy can cause a flare in some women and should be discussed between the women and her doctor, and should be carefully considered and planned. With good care, most women with Lupus can have normal pregnancy and a healthy baby.

subset: commoncrawl


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He could have easily been talking about the surrounding drama.
But Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill was speaking in a football-only sense as well, after his team lost a bizarre 22-19 decision to the previously winless Buccaneers last night.
"It's tough, but the more and more adversity hits you in the face, the more you have to step up and face it," Tannehill said, via Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald. "[But] we can't keep dropping games."
It would be easy to blame the whole thing on the Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin story, which has engulfed them in the past two weeks.
But that would excuse a lot of bad football, and seems far too convenient an excuse.
The loss was their fifth in their last six games, and came to a team that was 0-8 and finding ways to lose.
The Dolphins allowed long drives, gave up sacks when they couldn't afford to and a safety, missed a two-point coversion, Tannehill threw a late pick and they ran for a grand total of 2 yards.
"The biggest thing I was disappointed was our lack of a running game," Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said. "I told the team: 'There's a lot of football left to be play. November and December will determine who moves forward."
Who's part of the Dolphins moving forward will be as interesting as anything, but after the way they played last night, it's hard for many of their players to make a convincing case.


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Icici Bank Ltd is one among the leading bank in Chennai. Icici Bank Ltd has flourishing their functioning since 1954 till now. K. V. Kamath brings fist Icici Bank Ltd branch in banking sector in 1954. Icici Bank Ltd is now located in almost all states of India.
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The Museum of the American Railroad features one of the nation's most extensive and significant collections of items from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Included are locomotives, passenger & freight cars, an interlocking tower, and numerous supporting artifacts & archival material. Featured below are key pieces of rolling stock in the Museum's Historic Santa Fe Collection.
The Museum was fortunate to have had a close relationship with the Dallas office of Santa Fe's Public Relations Department. Dating back to the mid-1960s during the Museum's formative years, requests for donation of items were nearly always favorably met by the railroad. Due in large part to the efforts of L. J. (Lenny) Cassell, Director of the Dallas PR office and Tom Murphy, Assistant Director, with the blessing of Bill Burke, Director of the Chicago PR office, the Museum now exhibits a superlative assemblage of Santa Fe Railway history.
The Museum continues to enjoy the interest and support of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway through its local operations and Corporate Offices in Fort Worth, Texas. We are pleased and honored to represent the rich history and heritage of BNSF and its predecessor lines, including Santa Fe, Burlington, Fort Worth & Denver, Colorado & Southern, and Northern Pacific.
The Historic Santa Fe Collection includes:
Brill RPO/Baggage Motorcar M-160, 1931
EMD FP-45 Diesel-electric Locomotive #107, BNSF #97, 1967
EMD F-7A Diesel-electric Locomotive #49, (created from CN #9167), 1952
ALCO PA-1 Diesel-electric Locomotive #59L, 1948
Pullman Heavyweight Parlor-Club Car #3231, 1914
Pullman Heavyweight Barber Shop Lounge Car "San Bartolo," 1926
Pullman Lightweight Coach Observation Car #3197, 1940
Budd Lightweight Lunch Counter Diner #1550, 1948
Budd Lightweight Lunch Counter Diner #1554. 1948
Budd Lightweight 10-Roomette-6 dbl Bedroom Sleeping Car "Pine Ring," 1950
Topeka Shops, Class CE-1, all-steel Caboose #999311, 1949
Interlocking Tower #19 (GC&SF/MKT), 1903


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IFS for iPhone
Free Katana iOS Version 1.0 Full Specs
Publisher's Description
From Katana:
CDIFS, as a high-end shopping destination, combines shopping, leisure, dining, entertainment and art which includes many international top luxury brands like Lane Crawford, various kinds of restaurants, an ice rink, IMAX 3D cinema etc. CDIFS is also dedicated to local art and cultural events. CDIFS will become the most important spot in Chengdu bringing continuous surprises to customers and tourists. The main features of the App are: featured news, directory, shop categories and information, floor plans, locate me, parking assistant, member information, customer services and information.


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Iran's Latest Aggressive Censorship Plan: Block All Audio & Video Files
from the seems-a-bit-excessive deptIt's no secret that the Iranian government has a bit of an uncomfortable relationship with the internet. First of all, it's trying to build its own internet, at which point it supposedly would like to block out that "other" internet completely. It's also pretty aggressive in censoring various sites it doesn't like. Over the past few days, it's apparently gone a step further. While there were plenty of reports about it blocking YouTube, someone who prefers to remain anonymous sent over this story, saying that Iran's Filtering Committee (IFC) has started blocking all kinds of audio-visual files, based on filetype:
Then, on October 4, 2012, the IFC began preventing files hosted on servers outside Iran from entering the country by blocking specific file extensions. At the time of writing, this policy applies to all MP3, MP4, AVI and SWF files. This kind of filtering was used after the controversial presidential elections of 2009, amidst harsh crackdowns on freedom of information, and coincides with Iran's current economic crisis and the ensuing protests.Apparently, those blocks do not apply to those files hosted within the country -- just those from foreign sites. Still, that's a pretty extreme move: blocking all of those files takes away a significant part of the audio-visual part of the web. The article highlights a number of Iranians complaining on Twitter about how these blocks are having a severe negative impact on what they do. Still, it's yet another warning for what happens when a government can aggressively filter the internet in extreme ways.
Filed Under: audio, avi, blocks, censorship, iran, mp3, mp4, swf, video


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UPDATE: With about an hour to go in trading, Facebook has posted a solid, but hardly spectacular debut on Wall Street. During the day, the company's stock price reached as high as $45, fell back to near it initial price and had been in the $40 range.
Meanwhile, stock in social games developer Zynga has been hammered by investors who were hoping for a far bigger pop from Facebook. Trading in Zynga shares was halted twice and its price is off about 12.5 percent.
LinkedIn shares were down about 6 percent.
UPDATE (6:50 a.m. PDT) With the push of a button, Mark Zuckerberg rang Nasdaq's ceremonial opening bell to signal Facebook's first day of trading, but if you missed the live video, you didn't miss much. It was about as exciting as watching grass grow.
Facebook wouldn't allow any outside media to the private event. And Nasdaq's four-minute video feed didn't show any speeches Zuckerberg or any executives may have given, just some sweeping multi-camera shots of the big crowd of happy, cheering employees.
Of course, they had reason to be happy – several millions of reasons.
Nasdaq will stream live video of the birth of its hottest new stock, Facebook, starting Friday morning with the ceremonial bell ringing ceremonies from the social network's headquarters in Menlo Park.
Nasdaq changed the Timeline cover photo of its own Facebook page to welcome Facebook, which priced its highly anticipated IPO at $38 per share.
And Nasdaq posted an invitation to "Watch the Facebook IPO live from the NASDAQ page." For your convenience, we've also embedded the video player below.
VentureBeat reported the ceremonies would start about 6:15 a.m. Pacific time, 15 minutes before the opening bell. You might see CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other employees looking a little bleary eyed after holding an all-night hackathon.
Facebook shares won't begin trading until about 90 minutes after the bell, which is normal for an IPO of this size.


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Abuse isn't just about bruises. Not all forms of abuse leave bruises where we can see them,Domestic Violence Speech in 2018 . Although physical abuse is terrifying and needs to be addressed immediately there are other forms of abuse that can cause significant damage. One type of abuse that is very difficult for outsiders to detect is financial abuse. Marriage should be a partnership but when one spouse completely dominates the finances to the point that the other spouse has no control and no options financial abuse may be occurring.
What Are Signs of Potential Financial Abuse?
Every married couple handles their finances differently. In some cases one spouse handles the majority of the finances. They manage the accounts, pay the bills and deal with creditors. That does not by itself equal financial abuse.
Financial abuse occurs when one spouse is treated like an irresponsible child and Domestic Violence Essay Introduction . They are cut off from funds and their knowledge about the couple's finances is severely limited. Some signs of financial abuse include:
•Strict Allowances. This isn't an amount that the spouses have agreed to limit themselves to but is instead a set amount that is grudgingly handed out from one spouse to the other and is all that will be given.
Documents, documents, documents. Written evidence is incredibly strong and can range from credit card bills showing that there is a credit card but that you aren't named on it to emails from your spouse that show the financial abuse.
Other witnesses can be incredibly powerful on your behalf. Financial abuse is hard for people outside the relationship to detect. So when someone credible comes in and tells the judge that it is happening and they can see it the judge will listen and Domestic Violence Education .
Domestic Violence Speech in 2018 ?
When you have a brief encounter with a narcissist, you might not realize that the person has a personality disorder which is typified by being very self-absorbed and lacking in empathy for others. However, when you are a target of narcissistic abuse, and are in a relationship with this person, your every day life becomes confusing and painful.
Before getting into ways you can rebuild your self-esteem, let's take a moment to describe the behavior of a narcissist for those who might not be clear about what the term means. An individual with narcissistic personality disorder goes through life with an overwhelming need to be validated all the time, and told they are wonderful, smarter than anyone else and are entitled to only the finest treatment by everyone. They take offense easily, and get angry quickly if they interpret a remark as being an insult. In their craving for attention and approval, they are usually adept at being charming when they want something from someone else, and then if they are refused will have an almost instant transformation into being very angry. They are quick to judge other people as inferior, and enjoy using phrases that are racist, demeaning and derogatory of other groups of people.
For example, a narcissist, feeling he is superior to everyone else, will commonly say things like, "The masses are asses!"
While some people like to say that a narcissist is someone with excess self-love or vanity, that really doesn't do more than give a surface definition. To know more, you have to understand a bit about how this disorder began, and it is typically stated in definitions of the disorder that it began with trauma early in childhood, during the phase when the child should have been developing a healthy sense of self. Instead, the child formed the opinion, usually as a result of abusive treatment including neglect, that he was not good enough the way he was and needed to create a "perfect" persona to show to the world to gain that all-important approval the child craved.
4. Are you still breathing? A relationship with a narcissistic abuser can feel devastating, but notice that you are still alive, and that means there is more for you to do and enjoy in this life, free from abuse. Part of your birthright is that you deserve to enjoy a life that you truly love wherein you make your dreams come true and feel happier than you ever believed possible. You can achieve this switch from victim to victorious by refusing to let the abuser win. Dismiss all those negative things he or she assaulted you with.
5. Every day, repeat this affirmation to yourself several times, out loud if possible so that you hear a voice telling you this: "I do enough, I am good enough, I am enough." Use the power of positive affirmations to build high self-esteem so that you will gradually replace those old negative statements that you accepted as true just because an abuser said them so often with great authority.
It is not an overnight process to rebuild your self-esteem when you have been repeatedly abused by a partner or parent with narcissistic personality disorder, but don't give up. Keep your focus on building a life for yourself where you only attract loving people and loving events to you, and you will soon find yourself smiling and enjoying peace of mind and glowing, healthy self-esteem.
Victims of Narcissistic Abuse - Waht Are Ways to Rebuild Your Self-Esteem?
Domestic Violence charges are treated differently than most other criminal cases because from the outset of the charge, not the conviction, it is very likely that you will have your home and your children taken from you. We are supposed to have a criminal system where you are innocent until proven guilty but as you will discover that is not the case with Domestic Violence charges. This survival guide will help explain the system you're up against and how to get through it.
- Do not plead guilty at Arraignment. Arraignment is the first formal court appearance in a criminal case. During this hearing, you will be formally notified of the criminal charge against you and given the opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty. DO NOT PLEAD GUILTY! This is obvious in cases where you do not believe you've done anything wrong but is also true in cases where you do think you've done something wrong. There is no benefit in pleading guilty up front but there may be costs in doing so.
Some inexperienced people mistakenly believe that if they plead guilty at arraignment, they will get a lighter sentence than if they plead guilty later. This is incorrect. The reverse is much more common; you will likely get sentenced harder if you plead guilty up front.
If you decide to plead guilty later, the Judge will not use the fact that you pled not guilty initially against you. By pleading not guilty at Arraignment, what you are really saying to the Judge is that you want a chance to see what evidence the Prosecutor has and if you feel it is sufficient to prove your guilt then you want a chance to negotiate with the Prosecutor for a better outcome.
- Pre-Trial No Contact Orders. In most criminal cases, a Judge will issue an order directing the Defendant not have any contact with the alleged victim. In Domestic Violence cases, that order can be extended to the victim's home, place of work, and children. These orders are issued before there is a finding of guilt and can render a Defendant homeless. If you work at the same place as your spouse then you might just find yourself out of a job too. Whether or not the children were involved with the incident, you can be prohibited from seeing them.
Stipulated Orders of Continuance / Pre-Trial Diversion Agreements
These are contracts, nothing more. You make an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office to do (and not do) certain things, like entering a Domestic Violence Treatment Program and stay out of trouble. If you comply with the contract, the case is dismissed.
Reduced Charge
It is often possible to get a Domestic Violence charge re-filed as a different, less serious, charge. The factors involved are: the facts of the current case, the Defendant's criminal history, and the position of the alleged victim. Examples of reduced charges are: Disorderly Conduct or Simple Assault without the DV tag.
- Only the State can bring criminal charges. With any criminal charge, including Domestic Violence, only the State can bring the charge - not the alleged victim in your case. This means that even if the person labeled "victim" wants the No Contact Order or the entire case to simply go away, they don't have the power to dismiss it; only the Prosecutor does
- Joint Bank Accounts. Be aware that some Victims Advocates are advising alleged victims to drain joint bank accounts. This advice leaves Defendants in the impossible position of becoming suddenly homeless due to the no contact order and penniless.
- Gun Rights. Conviction for a crime labeled Domestic Violence will forfeit your rights to own or possess firearm for the rest of your life. This is true even in cases where no gun was used, threatened, mentioned or even owned by the defendant.
Because of the nature of Domestic Violence charges, you need to find an attorney that understands the complexity of these charges and what you can do about them. If you have questions specific to your case, please give me a call. I do not charge money for an initial consultation and I can answer many questions over the phone or via email.
Copyright © The Cahoon Law Office - All Rights Reserved.


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NEW BEDFORD — A federal appeals court Wednesday swept aside a lawsuit by this city and Gloucester challenging the new system of regulating the Northeast fishery.
NEW BEDFORD — A federal appeals court Wednesday swept aside a lawsuit by this city and Gloucester challenging the new system of regulating the Northeast fishery.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down every one of a number of arguments the cities and their co-plaintiffs in the industry made in their appeal.
The court upheld a 2011 lower court decision in the suit brought by the two ports as well as fishermen and fishing groups. Broadly speaking, the court ruled that the government stayed within the letter and spirit of the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Act, which was designed to end overfishing in the Northeast.
Mayor Jon Mitchell said late Wednesday that he had not seen the ruling but was disappointed. "We'll take our time now to go through the opinion and see what our next steps are," he said.
"The point of pursuing the lawsuit was to help ensure that regulations that NOAA comes down with are fair and consider the very real ramifications that they might have on the fishing industry," Mitchell said.
"We will continue to make that point in other venues, including Congress," he said.
Former mayor Scott Lang said Wednesday night that he believes the city's arguments were valid and well presented. But he acknowledged that overturning government regulators' decisions is hard to do.
"It's extremely difficult to flip it in the courts," Lang said.
He added that he was pleased that the court at least took time in its more than 60-page ruling to sift through the arguments thoughtfully, if narrowly.
Attorney Pamela Lafreniere, who represents fishermen and worked on the lawsuit from the beginning along with the city, declined to comment.
The city's attorney, John Markey, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
From the outset, the fishing industry's fear was that the new sector management system would put many boats out of business and lead to consolidation of the fleet into bigger boats with multiple permits purchased from smaller ones.
That, in fact, turned out to be the case. But the court ruled that contrary to the lawsuit, the New England Fishery Management Council did indeed adequately take into account the economic effects.
It said that Magnuson-Stevens, however, anticipates that economic harm doesn't outweigh the interests of conservation.
Magnuson-Steven's "advisory guidelines make clear that these obligations are subordinate to the (act's) overarching conservation goals," said the court.
The dispute is over Amendment 16 to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which put in place "catch shares" and a fishing cooperative system for fishing boats to work in groups to manage what they are allowed to catch.
The law was implemented in May 2010 and the lawsuit was filed that June.
The cities charged in their lawsuit that what the fishing regulators put in place was a quota system in thin disguise. That would have required a two-thirds referendum approval of the plan by the fishing region affected.
The court also ruled that the government acted within its authority, and conceded that a challenge to that is difficult under law.
"The Secretary's judgments here were derived from the record, rational, and not based on any error of law," said the ruling.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.


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Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall was dropped as an endorser of the athletics apparel company Champion after he expressed doubts on Twitter about whether Osama bin Laden was really behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and criticized people who celebrated bin Laden's death. That was more than a year ago, but Mendenhall is still engaged in a legal battle with Champion's parent company, and he's comparing himself to Charlie Sheen as he argues that his contract was violated.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Mendenhall's lawsuit against HanesBrands, Inc. argues that Sheen was allowed to keep working as a celebrity endorser for the company after he expressed similar doubts about whether bin Laden was behind 9/11. Mendenhall's lawyers want to see documents that show how the company has treated "endorsers such as Mr. Sheen."
"If HBI treated Mendenhall differently than other endorsers without a good reason to do so, this evidence would be relevant to show that HBI's termination was unreasonable and arbitrary," Mendenhall's lawyers argued in a motion to compel the company to produce the documents. Mendenhall's lawyers add that there were "similarities between the public's response to Mr. Sheen's comments and those made by Mr. Mendenhall."
HanesBrands argues that Sheen's former contract with the company is irrelevant to Mendenhall's case because Mendenhall signed a different morals clause than Sheen did, and it's Mendenhall's morals clause that the company invoked when it dropped him as a sponsor.


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Dec 01, 2010
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech volleyball head coach John Blair has announced a pair of talented signees for the 2011 season, both coming from Ohio to join the Golden Eagle program.
Ellen Conti, a 6-0 middle, and Madison Keyes, a 6-0 middle, have signed national letters of intent to play at Tennessee Tech.
"We've added two outstanding, all-around volleyball players, who bring not only athleticism and knowledge but are also great individuals whose character and commitment will be invaluable to this team," Blair said.
A native of Grove City, Ohio, Conti was a four-year starter for the varsity volleyball program at Grove City High School. She was named the teams Most Valuable Defensive Player her freshman year and was named the team's MVP her sophomore season.
"Ellen is a real versatile player," Blair said. "She has just started to tap her potential as a player."
As a junior, Conti was named a team captain and was named to the second team all-Ohio Capital Conference. A year later as a senior she was named first team all-Ohio Capital Conference and first team all-district. She also played three season of varsity basketball in which she was named second team all-Ohio Capital Conference her junior season.
"I am really excited to play for Tennessee Tech," Conti said. "I liked the size of the campus and it is close to home."
Conti's accolades were not confined to the courts as she has excelled in the classroom as well. A National Honor Society member, she was also named a Scholar Athlete all four years at Grove City high School and received the Ohio Capital Conference Leadership award.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Keyes spent four seasons as a member of the Sycamore volleyball team, three of which she started in. She led her team in blocks her sophomore and junior seasons. During her senior season she led her team in kills and finished second in blocks, en route to being named second team all-conference. During her junior and senior seasons her team finished second in the Greater Miami Conference.
"Madison is a great athlete," Blair said. "We believe she has a ton of potential and we are excited to see how far she will go as a player."
Keyes is also a three-year varsity track and field athlete and plans to participate in a fourth this spring. She led her team in the high jump event her sophomore and junior seasons en route to being named third team all-conference her junior season. She also participated in the 100 and 200-meter dashes.
"I really liked the campus and I wanted to play for an experienced coach like coach Blair," Keyes said. "I really liked the nursing program here as well and its one of my main goals is to graduate with a nursing degree."


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The new indoor practice and training center is OPEN!
Club Fitting / Coaching / Simulator Available Year Round
At the Jane Frost Golf Performance Center you are a unique individual and your goals will be reached by finding the correct blueprint for how you create your best golf shots. There is no cookie cutter approach in our coaching. The guidance and improvement strategies will be based solely on your dreams, goals and aspirations.
We enjoy working with anyone of any skill level who shows a real desire to improve and to learn more about this game of a lifetime.
All appointments can be made online so CLICK HERE and reserve your lesson time today with any of the great coaches at The JaneFrost Golf Performance Center.
Keep Swinging!
- Jane
New Student Assessment
Come meet Award winning Teacher Jane Frost and her Team for a 90 Minute game assessment appointment for the GCA introductory price of $195.
During your visit to the NEW Performance Center your game will be evaluated for the following elements:
Full Swing / Short Game / Club Fitting / Golf Fitness / Mental Concentration
During your evaluation Jane will utilize state of the art Technology to create your blueprint for improvement. FlightScope; ForeSight; GASP Lab Video; BodiTrak; K-Vest; SAM Putt Lab and FocusBand / Opti / ThinQ / Golfers Profile are all options that may be used for a thorough evaluation.
At the conclusion of your appointment Jane will offer options for pursuing your improvement starategy that match your goals and resources.
The entire team at The Jane Frost Golf Performance Center is dedicated to creating progress in a fun and encouraging environment.
All appointments can be made online so CLICK HERE to book your New Student Assessment TODAY!
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Beach Break Live has today announced its biggest, best and boldest line-up to date, which features some of music's brightest stars and hottest new talent. Taking place from 14th – 18th June in Pembrey Country Park the four-day extravaganza will welcome the mighty Chase and Status, who will be performing live on Friday, grime maestro Dizzee Rascal who will be topping Saturday's bill and Friendly Fires, who will raise the roof on Sunday, closing what is without doubt the most exciting festival line-up of the summer. With tickets priced from just £109, Beach Break Live will be buzzing with festival goers enjoying the epic line-up and four fun-filled days in the sun which will see everything from Roller Disco's to The Celtic Games.
After Beach Break Live gave Chase and Status their first ever headline show in 2010, the duo have risen to global stardom pioneering drum and bass in the UK singles chart and bringing the genre to the forefront of the music industry. They will be joined by multi-talented producer and artist in his own right Labrinth, who shot to fame in 2011 with his numerous collaborations and hugely successful singles 'Let The Sun Shine' and 'Earthquake'. BRITs Critics Choice-nominated Maverick Sabre will stun the crowds with his beautiful voice while hotly tipped London band Clement Marfo & The Frontline will be skanking down in their uniquely urban style. The coveted Delilah will no doubt be performing her single 'GO' which has received huge critical acclaim and resonated with fans across the UK. Dubstep chart toppers Nero will bring hits such as 'Me And You' and 'Promises' to the Beach Break Live Dance Stage.
As with Chase & Status, Beach Break Live is hugely excited to be welcoming the return of another festival favourite, BRITs awards winner Dizzee Rascal who will headline The Dell Main Stage on Saturday. Having stuck with Beach Break through the infamous 2009 site move to perform his first ever headline festival show, Dizzee returns as the notorious icon of the UK grime and urban scene to blow the minds of 20,000 festival goers in Wales. Festival goers will be going 'Bonkers' for everything Beach Break this year, from Zorbing down the 8-mile beach to horseriding through the waves, this festival offers everything fun in one place.
DJ Fresh, who has just reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart, will be showcasing his new live tour, which includes a full band and a tonne of technology as a back drop to his hard hitting bass lines. Since 2010 Wretch 32 has been steadily rising up the charts thanks to breakthrough singles from his hugely successful album 'Black and White'. 2012 is set to continue that trend, if not garner even more success for the grime MC when he performs at this year's Beach Break Live 2012. Embarking on UK tours this February, Beach Break is delighted to be welcoming both Manchester indie rockers The Whip and lyrical genius Ghostpoet to the festival for the first time while the newly appointed BBC Radio 1 contingent Benga [live] and Skream will be offering up the kind of cutting edge drum 'n' bass that has seen them become two of the most talked about DJs and producers in the business.
The infamous Ghetto Blaster stage is returning yet again to Beach Break Live, true to form artists will be keeping festival goers up into the small hours with a mash up of unique dubstep from Toddla T, Rinse FM's very own Oneman and Glasgows champian DJ and Numbers label founder, Jackmaster, will be spinning the decks with a frenzy of electronic bass and beats. Blawan will also be joining the boys on the Ghetto Blaster stage, hotly tipped producer of 2011 will no doubt be bringing even more to the dance table in 2012. Festival circuit pros DJ Parker, DJ Cheeba and DJ Moneyshot will be spinning the decks in Chai Wallah whilst rising talents Mystery, SDM, MTD and Dutty Dan will also be performing around the site. Propaganda will be starting the post main stage party in the ActionAid tent every night, with some secret DJ sets to top it off!
With the highly anticipated second album from Friendly Fires tantalisingly close to being released, there's little doubt that the St. Albans trio will be a festival highlight for many a Beach Breaker in 2012 when the boys close proceedings on the Dell Main Stage on Sunday. They will be joined by Beach Break regular and rapidly rising singer songwriter Ben Howard while Merlin's Forest is set for the ultimate drum 'n' bass takeover when the one-and-only Hospitality unleash their collective on Sunday. High Contrast, Netsky, Camo & Krooked, Danny Byrd and more will take to the decks for what promises to be a unforgettable show.
Editors Notes
Beach Break Live has become the destination for thousands of Students over the last five years, now in its sixth successful year the team are still striving to make it bigger and better than ever. A brief foray in TV stardom on the Dragons Den to the near miss of the infamous 'Zoo Break Live' has lead to a sell-out 20,000 student celebration of the end of exams and the beginning of the summer.
Press Information
CHASE AND STATUS [live]


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Reviewed by April P. (age 10)
I like mystery stories because they are suspenseful and they make me feel like I want to find out what happens next. The author gives clues so I can crack the case, too! The author sometimes makes it so suspenseful that I want to keep reading. I like dogs and this mystery is about a dog.
I recommend this book to kids who like mysteries. If you like to solve mysteries this book gives you clues so you can be detectives, too.


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LAS VEGAS – Cain Velasquez reclaimed the UFC heavyweight championship Saturday night, battering Junior Dos Santos on the way to a lopsided unanimous decision in UFC 155.
Velasquez (11-1) took early control of the rematch of his only career loss, flooring the champion with a big right hand midway through the first round. Velasquez spent most of the match stalking and pounding on Dos Santos (15-2), who never fully recovered from the first-round shot that left him bruised and woozy.
"I was so tired, but I had to endure," Velasquez said. "My coaches and everybody helped me so much. He's tough, too. … It feels so good to get this. This is my wife's Christmas present. I promised her I would do this."
Velasquez won every round on every judge's scorecard in the UFC's traditional year-end event in its hometown. The three judges scored the bout for Velasquez 50-45, 50-44 and 50-43. The Associated Press also favored Velasquez 50-44, giving a 10-8 advantage to Velasquez in the first round.
Dos Santos took the UFC belt away from Velasquez in November 2011 in just 64 seconds, earning a first-round stoppage victory with one vicious overhand right in Anaheim. Velasquez refused to a blame a knee injury for his only defeat, but in the rematch, he demonstrated exactly what he can do at full strength.
Velasquez immediately showed the rematch would be a different fight, pursuing Dos Santos from the opening bell and backing up the champion. Velasquez then floored Dos Santos with that huge right to the head midway through the round, and Dos Santos had to cover up in the corner while barely surviving an onslaught of strikes and ground-and-pound.
Velasquez went to work on the ground in the second round, and the former Arizona State wrestler repeatedly got the boxing specialist into bad positions. Dos Santos struggled to regain his rhythm after the early knockdown, and Velasquez managed another takedown early in the third round before repeatedly tagging the champion with shots that left his face swollen and puffy.
Dos Santos' Brazilian fans attempted to rally him with chants of his nickname, "Cigano," in the final rounds, but Velasquez was relentless. At the final bell, he collapsed on his back at the center of the cage, pointing skyward with both hands.
"His game was very effective, and tonight he was better than me," Dos Santos said. "It's not usual for me to take a punch, but he walks forward all the time. His takedowns, his grappler game is very effective, so congratulations for him."
Jim Miller won a narrow unanimous decision over Joe Lauzon in a sensationally bloody fight on the undercard at a packed MGM Grand Garden, and rising middleweight Costa Philippou stopped Tim Boetsch in the third rounds. Yushin Okami grappled his way past Alan Belcher, and Derek Brunson easily beat veteran Chris Leben.
Dos Santos' win over Velasquez last year in the UFC's first fight on American network television catapulted the hard-punching Brazilian heavyweight into an international spotlight and kept him unbeaten in his meteoric UFC career. Dos Santos defended his title against Frank Mir earlier this year and got a lucrative sponsorship deal with Nike while emerging as one of the promotion's most likable stars.
Both fighters injured their knees in the month leading up to their first fight, but stayed in the bout because of its importance. Both claimed they were in ideal health for the rematch, although Dos Santos will need a few months to get back to that state after this beating.


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CULTURE- FRIDAYS UPDATE- Copycats: Proud to be in the Beatles men's club
Many local folks are probably already familiar with Abbey Road since they're a popular party act at events like Fridays After Five and First Night. But things have changed since the last time they were on stage: new drummer Billy Ballard played his first show with the local Beatles cover band on New Year's Eve.
"Besides knowing how to play the drums, I think the other requirement is that you have to be interested in trying to duplicate the drum parts like Ringo did," says lead guitarist Paul Olko. He particularly likes Ballard's work on "Here Comes The Sun": "The drum parts are very intricate, but he gets them so exactly right," Olko says.
That's important, because even though the members of Abbey Road don't bother trying to look like the Beatles (which would be very difficult given that there are five members), they do try to nail it sonically. "We're not doing 'our own versions' of the songs," says Olko. "We continue to try to remain true to the records as the Beatles did it. The only alterations we make to the music is that some songs faded out, so we create our own ending."
To that end, Olko says, they all play carefully chosen instruments, including his Gretsch Country Gentleman archtop guitar and Ballard's' replica of Ringo's drum kit.
It's a pretty intense level of fanaticism– "There's a beautiful coffee table book about the kinds of instruments the Beatles used," Olko says. "There's a whole chapter on drum heads!"
But Olko says the others make him feel right at home. "Being in a band like this is like belonging to a Beatles men's club," he says. "Instead of going out and playing poker, I go play Beatles music."
Abbey Road performs at Fridays After Five on May 16, around 5:30pm in the Charlottesville Pavilion.


text: Panache Kids Designer Clothes for Children Boutique: With names like D&G, Dior, Lelli Kelly, Ralph Lauren, Birkenstock, Jottum, Juicy Couture & Converse Kids. It's designer clothes sale time and back to school with designer school shoes. Panache Kids underwent a major upgrade in 2012 which included a brand new design, and state of the art shopping cart software.