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Let's open our Bible to Revelation chapter 14. We have before us a wonderful text, the opening five verses of this chapter which we began to peruse last Lord's day. Let me read it to you, Revelation 14:1, "I looked and behold the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb and no lie was found in their mouth, they are blameless."
Scripture has some marvelous descriptive terms for Christians with which all of us are familiar. It calls us children of God, sometimes translated sons of God. It calls us new creations. It calls us the elect. It calls us Christians. It calls us kings and priests unto God. It calls us saints and all of those terms have some special nuance of richness. And they indicate to us the elevated identity that we as Christians enjoy. But Scripture also calls us in another category some terms that speak of the triumphant nature of the Christian experience. We're called overcomers. We are called victors. We are called super-conquerors. Scripture even says that we are always triumphant in Christ. We who know the Lord Jesus Christ are the winners. We are the conquerors. We are the victors and we are the triumphant. There's a certain level of invincibility to us because of God's grace and power in Christ.
In spite of this identity as overcomers and winners and conquerors and super-conquerors, we still lose the battle to the world, the flesh and the devil. We don't have to but sadly we do. The question really then is...how can we live up to our identity? If we are overcomers, if we have overcome the world, if our faith is that which overcomes the world, if in the knowledge of the truth of God we have overcome the evil one, if we are no longer in bondage, slaves to sin in the flesh, why do we lose? What is the key? How can we be triumphant? What are the components that produce triumphant Christians?
I really think, in a wonderful way, that question is answered right here in this text. Here we meet an amazing group of men and this amazing group of a hundred and forty-four thousand men demonstrate to us the components of triumphant Christianity. They are a hundred and forty-four thousand Daniels, if they will, uncompromising, unflinching, undaunted and undefeated. And we ask the question...what made them so uniquely triumphant? And the answer we shall find right here in this text.
First of all, we've been asking the question already, last week, who are they? And I don't want to beg the issue but just to remind you, and also for those who weren't here to bring you up to speed, the hundred and forty-four thousand are a group of men chosen by God to preach the gospel to the world during the time of the Great Tribulation. At the end of the age, prior to the return of Jesus Christ, there will be a period of time called the Great Tribulation. The Lord will identify a hundred and forty-four thousand men who will preach the gospel all over the world. That is about three times the world missionary force for Christianity right now. This is a very large force and a very potent and powerful one.
As you remember, we first met them back in chapter 7. And I would invite you to just briefly remind yourself of that. We met them in chapter 7, down in verse 4. And there we see the number of the bond-servants of our God mentioned in verse 3 who are sealed, being one hundred and forty-four thousand. And they were sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel, that is twelve thousand from every tribe. And there were tribes listed there, therefore making a hundred and forty-four thousand.
Now they are introduced in chapter 7 in answer to the question at the end of chapter 6. The question in chapter 6, at the very end, is...who is able to stand? When the great day of the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb comes, when the day of the Lord hits, who is able to stand? And immediately we meet some people who are able to stand. They are sealed and protected by the living God Himself so that they can go through this period of time, survive the fury of forthcoming judgment described by the sixth and seventh seal, even surviving what is described in the seven trumpets and the seven-bowl judgments, all the way to the end until the Lord returns. And during the time of their life and the time of their survival, they will preach the gospel.
We know the effect of their ministry. Chapter 7 and verse 9, "A great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands." In great measure that redeemed community that has been martyred and taken to heaven is the fruit of the labor of these one hundred and forty-four thousand, as well as others, namely the two witnesses, the angel preaching the everlasting gospel and others who proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
Now remember, judgment has come to the earth. It's been going on on the earth for a long time by now, coming nearer to the end, we must be near to the seventh year of this kind of thing. There have been wars and famines and earthquakes and plagues and death and sin is now running rampant over the world without restraint. People are deceived in to false religion by the false prophet, deceived in to following the Antichrist. And then the false prophet gives up his world religion in favor of worshiping only the Antichrist who blasphemes God. Through all of this time Jews will be being massacred as will Christians. It's going to be a fearsome time of judgment. By the time you come to the sixth seal mentioned at the end of chapter 6, the Antichrist will have already abominated the temple, the world religion will have died and only the worship of Antichrist as God will be tolerated. The whole world will be deceived by the false prophet through a false resurrection and lying signs and wonders. The slaughter of Jews and Christians will escalate.
And during this time the sealed hundred and forty-four thousand will preach the gospel right up to the end. And I believe they will survive. That's the whole point of their being sealed. They are being protected so that they cannot be killed. And they will be the instruments in great measure by which God redeems a multitude of Gentiles who are described in Matthew, for example, chapter 25, where they are described as the sheep who enter the kingdom and Jews who will also enter the kingdom as indicated in Revelation chapter 12. So we've just reviewed that briefly.
Now among those who survive, there will be Gentiles who survive and are going into the kingdom alive, there will be Jews, of course, who survive and go into the kingdom alive. And among the survivors will be the one hundred and forty-four thousand. You can go back now to chapter 14, you saw them in chapter 7 being sealed at the time of the sixth seal, just before the day of the Lord which is the last series of terrible judgments. Now in chapter 14 you see them again and they're standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb. That is a picture of Christ having come back and they are there at His return ready to go with Him into the kingdom which means they have survived through the holocaust of that judgment.
I believe, as I said last time, it is most likely the hundred and forty-four thousand who will then go into the kingdom and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world during the kingdom period. They will no doubt continue to be the preachers in the millennium as they were uniquely in the time of Great Tribulation. They are the greatest preaching force the world will ever see. I don't want to beg the issue but I would like to mention to you that they are men. They are all men, all one hundred and forty-four thousand of them, because God has always set apart men for the preaching ministry. And we'll say more about that in a moment.
There they are in chapter 14 triumphant. They have survived the world's worst time of disaster and death. They have lived through things that we have seen already in the book of Revelation from even before the time they were sealed and then after the time they were sealed when things escalated, they survived even that and you can be sure the world tried to kill as many of them as possible but couldn't do it. They are all in tact, all one hundred and forty-four thousand of them at the end. God protected them and allowed them to preach through that time and I believe will allow them to preach the gospel to the people who are born during the kingdom who will need to be saved.
Now what was the source of their victory? How did they triumph? What was the secret of their invincibility? And that's what we see in the text. First of all, we looked at this last time, power...power. You will note there in verse 1 that they had the name of the Son of God, the Lamb, and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. In other words, they were identified as belonging to God and that identification was not only an identification of possession, but it was an identification of protection. In other words, they were sealed so that nothing could touch them, nothing could harm them. And they were, to borrow another Scripture, kept by the power of God. And herein lies the real key, the sovereign divine transcendent side of this, the God who promised and the God who possessed is the God who keeps. That's the divine side of triumphant Christianity, the one who makes a promise has the power to perfect it. They are standing there with the Lamb in His coming glory on Mount Zion in tact because the power of God sustained them. The rest of the world, you remember, bears a mark called the mark of the beast. That mark is in the foreheads or the hands of all those who reject the gospel and worship the beast. But this triumphant group also is marked with the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father because they belong to Him, He is their protector. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord. This is the foremost matter of their protection. It again reminds us that God keeps His own. Back to Philippians 1:6 which I have mentioned so many times to you, but it's such an important Scripture. There Paul says, "I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." God has the keeping power. It reminds me also of Jude in that wonderful testimony at the end of Jude which says, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless and with great joy." And the words of our Lord in John 6, that He would lose none who belonged to Him. And in John 10, "No one is able to pluck them out of His hand, His Father is greater than all." And all of those testimonies to God's keeping power come into play in triumphant Christianity. If we triumph, if we stand blameless in the end, if we are victorious, if we are overcomers, we can credit the power of God who is able to keep us from falling. And we looked into that last time.
Let's go to a second point tonight, and work our way through these. There is a second characteristic of triumphant saints. Characteristic number one is power, they experience the power of god. Number two is praise...praise. You'll notice how praise comes from them, very, very quickly in the scene. Verse 2, "I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters, like the sound of loud thunder and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps and they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders and no one could learn the song except a hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth."
Here we see that immediately when the hundred and forty-four thousand are on the mountain with the Lamb, they begin to join in the heavenly song of redemption. With all the devastation, with all the trouble, with all the rejection, all the hostility, the hatred and the animosity they've had to endure, you might think they might be a bit on the haggard side, a bit on the sorrowful side like Israel in captivity in Babylon, it says, of course, in Psalm 137 that they hung their harps on the willow trees because there was nothing to sing about. But not this group. They praise the Lord with joy for their protection and their triumph. And they are actually joining in to a heavenly chorus. Let's follow it starting in verse 2, "I heard a voice from heaven." Now that is not something new to the reader of the book of Revelation, that occurs numerous times. We find it back in chapter 10 a couple of times, chapter 14 and also in chapter 18. A familiar thing to hear a voice from heaven. And it tells us the voice was like the sound of many waters. You remember that I described to you in the past that that is to indicate that it was loud, it was continuous, it was very loud. And he adds to let us know that's what he's saying, "Like the voice, or the sound, of loud thunder." Now that description may fit chapter 1 and verse 15 where the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ is described as a voice like the sound of many waters, it could well be the voice of God but I think it's even more than that. The voice of God and all the hosts of heaven singing God's glorious praise for redemption. I think that's the song of redemption.
We ask, "Who in heaven is doing this? Who in heaven would be singing this?" Chapter 5, chapter 5 and verse 8, here we meet twenty-four elders. We have endeavored through this study of Revelation to point out that they are most likely representatives of the church. They would be symbolic of those saints who are in the presence of the Lord from the church. They fall down before the Lamb, they have harps and bowls full of incense and they sang a new song. Here's their song, "Worthy art Thou to take the book and break its seals for Thou wast slain and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth. And then he looks and the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and elders, and the number is murion of murions, thousands upon thousands and tens of thousands times tens of thousands. And they're all saying, `Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.' And then every created thing in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them again says to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, `Be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.'" And so this escalating chorus goes. Over in chapter 7 we see those who were saved out of the Tribulation added to it. In verse 10 they cry out with a loud voice, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb and all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, `Amen, blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.'" And this is all of the great tribute of heaven to the God of redemption, thunderous praise coming out of heaven.
And John hears this thunderous heavenly praise. And then he also adds, "The voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps." Now this great voice takes on a musical tone. Here we find musical instruments. We don't find them in Revelation chapter 4 in the praise, or in Revelation chapter 5 in the praise, or as I just read you in Revelation chapter 7, but now all of a sudden, music. Somebody has suggested that there was music before the Fall and there won't be music until the Lord Jesus returns and removes the curse and sets up His Kingdom. Maybe this is when the music starts again. The harpists playing on their harps. This is not thunderous judgment, that mitigates the tone of it all, the harps, this is thunderous joy because the Lamb has returned and is standing victorious.
Harps are mentioned, by the way, about forty times in the Old Testament and they are associated with joy. As I noted earlier, when the Israelites in Babylon had no joy, they hung their harps on the willow trees and didn't play them. Here at the glorious return of Jesus Christ to earth to set up His kingdom from Zion, all heaven bursts into the music of praise. And there is a marvelous time of praise.
By the way, back in chapter 5 verse 8, it does say that the twenty-four elders had a harp. And it may be that this is the same harping from the twenty-four elders in heaven. And as I suggested to you, however, it seems to be a louder and more forceful and dominant kind of harping here, the sound of harpists playing on their harps, that may be...I don't want to overstate the case, it may be simply a reference back to the twenty-four elders playing their harps. But here we do know this, the Lamb has come to the throne, He stands on the mount and heaven bursts into the praise and the music that they've been waiting to offer to the Lamb for a long, long time and it's so grand and so great that it finds its way all the way to Mount Zion.
Look at verse 3, it tells us the nature of the song. "They sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth." Nobody could sing the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. Why?
Well, let's work our way through this and see if we can't answer the question. I don't think it's intending to be too complicated. We know this, heaven can rejoice over redemption. Angels can rejoice over someone else's redemption. How do we know that? Because in Luke chapter 15 we have three illustrations of that. Back in Luke 15 which is a familiar passage of Scripture, you have in that chapter the very familiar story of the prodigal son. But you have a couple of other stories that our Lord tells. The first is about a man who loses one of his sheep, brings it home, says to his friends and neighbors, "Rejoice with me." And then it says there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons. Then a lady lost a coin. She found it. She calls her friends and neighbors again. And in the same way she calls them together to rejoice and the Lord says there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. And then the story of the prodigal. The whole celebration is meant to be a celebration of God and the holy angels.
It is not to say that holy angels cannot rejoice in redemption. They can't experience it but they can certainly rejoice in it.
Here is heaven overflowing again, not over one sinner who repents but over the fact that the whole redemptive work up until the return of Christ is accomplished. The church is certainly leading out in the song of redemption, the elders are playing their harps. The Tribulation saints are singing their new song of redemption, as chapter 7 verses 9 and 10, all of the redeemed can sing the song of redemption first hand. And by the way, the song of redemption is first mentioned back in the Psalms. In Psalm 33, "Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones, praise is becoming to the upright. Give thanks so the Lord with the lyre, sing praises to Him with the harp of ten strings, sing to Him a new song, play skillfully with the shout of joy." And the new song is always the song of redemption, the song of salvation. You find that new song in numerous psalms. Psalm 40 verse 3, "Has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God." Much later in the Psalms, in Psalm 96 I think it's verse 1, just be sure about that, similarly it says, "Sing to the Lord...yes...a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth." Psalm 144, Psalm 149. So the new song in the Old Testament Psalms was the song of redemption, the song of a soul made new. And so they sang, it says, a new song. Not just the twenty-four elders. Certainly the twenty-four elders, of course, they were singing it. But it isn't limited to them. They sang a new song before the throne, probably refers to the redeemed, the "they." But the four living creatures are there, the elders as well. So the scene is just a conglomeration, very hard to sort it out. Some people get kind of picky here, trying to pick and choose exactly who's doing what. But I think the best thing to understand is you have all of the heavenly voices joining in on the new song. Some who have personally experienced redemption, that is saints and some who are rejoicing in God's glorious redemption, namely angels. All the redeemed around the throne, they've waited for this moment, they've waited for the Lamb to stand on Zion and now the song begins to cascade over the walls of heaven and comes all the way down to earth.
And he says the only ones who can learn the song on the earth are the hundred and forty-four thousand who have been purchased from the earth. Only the redeemed, only those purchased by Christ's blood. Only those who have experienced redemption.
Henry Morris writes an interesting note about this. He says, "Although the words of the song of the hundred and forty-four thousand are not recorded, it surely dwells in part, at least, on the great truth that they had been redeemed from the earth, because that's what it says there. Although in one sense all saved people have been redeemed from the earth, these could know the meaning of such a theme in a more profound way than others. They had been saved after the Rapture, at that time in history when man's greatest persecutions and God's greatest judgments were on the earth. It was such a time that they like Noah had found grace in the eyes of the Lord and had been separated from all that dwell on the earth. Not only had they been redeemed spiritually, but precursively, as it were, they had been redeemed from the very curse on the earth, being protected from pain and death by the guarding seal."
So it says there in verse 3 no one could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. Now there's a technical problem there, what about the rest of the living saints who are going to go into the kingdom, Jews and Gentiles who weren't among those...those hundred and forty-four thousand, could they also learn the song? Well it's not necessary to exclude those others. I don't think the intention here is to say that only the hundred and forty-four thousand could learn the song and not any other believer, but rather any other unbeliever. It's somewhat of a difficulty.
The point is this, heaven is singing about God's redemption. Now here are the hundred and forty-four thousand standing on the mountain, exuberant with joy, they have come through all of this. They have literally been redeemed from the earth, that is spared from the judgment. And they are there to sing the new song. Some of that song, by the way, is given in chapter 15. It says in verse 3, "They sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God and the song of the Lamb," and here's part of it, "Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God the Almighty, righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations, who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name, for Thou alone art holy, for all the nations will come and worship before Thee for Thy righteous acts have been revealed." And they encompass the song of Moses in with the song of the Lamb, it's all about God's majesty, God's power, God's redemption and God's kingdom.
Now again, this is a somewhat difficult passage to try to dissect every little piece. And I don't know that the Spirit of God expects us to be able to comprehend that. We do know that all of heaven is cascading with a song of praise to the redeeming God and the hundred and forty-four thousand now join that and it's not really a song that anyone can sing except those who have been redeemed, those who have been purchased from the earth. And it may well be that it's only the hundred and forty-four thousand, as I said earlier and read from Morris, because they were the ones uniquely purchased because they were delivered through all of the time of Tribulation when they were the target for deadly destruction by the Antichrist and his empire.
Now, praise then and power mark those who are triumphant. And I'll just extrapolate off of this for a moment, if I can. I'm trying to hurry a little bit to get through this. To extrapolate a little off of that and say this, the principle I want you to draw from this is one that is really not explicit but implicit. If we are to be triumphant believers, if we are to have the kind of character and the kind of staying power, the kind of triumphant experience that the hundred and forty-four thousand will have, in just a small way, I think it must be through the power of God that we do that and we must do it with hearts that are filled with praise. I really believe triumphant Christians are Christians who praise God, whose hearts are immediately ready to burst forth in praise when God shows Himself powerful. And I would venture to say that these hundred and forty-four thousand have experienced a praising heart through all of the time of their trials because that's the nature of triumphant believers.
Now let's look at a third principle, and that is the principle of purity. And this is kind of getting us now into the heart of it. I want to bring you to verse 4 and 5 because I think that's what's most helpful to us.
The third component here is purity. And you see it at the beginning of verse 4. "These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste." The religion of the beast, the worship of Antichrist I really believe will be a retrogression, I guess you could call it a retrogression, or maybe not because it's perhaps common even today, to times when religion was sensual, when religion was sexual, when religion was perverse, when religion pandered to every evil lust. Like the fertility cults of old, like the prostitutes who supposedly could buy prostitution and sexual involvement with an individual draw them to the deity himself, I believe in Antichrist's world sexual sin will run rampant. Certainly with the restraints off, with the furious judgment of God on and God abandoning society to its sins, it will be a gross and immoral and evil time. If you think it's bad now, you can't even conceive of what the onslaught of deviation sexually might be like in that period of time. But these hundred and forty-four thousand who triumphant, have not been defiled with women.
They provide an illustration for us, nothing more. They are an illustration of God's keeping power. They are an illustration of praise in the midst of tremendous difficulty. And they are an illustration of purity. They will not defile themselves with women. Now that is the reason we know they are men. And that's just a good reminder that God has designed that men represent Him as the proclaimers of His truth. These men will not be defiled. The word for defilement simply means to soil or to stain or to desecrate. The phrase "with women" leads to the conclusions that the issue here is sexual purity. And that's going to be some remarkable kind of behavior given the world of that day.
Frankly, it's pretty remarkable behavior even in the world of today, isn't it? If you tried to find a hundred and forty-four thousand pastors today who hadn't defiled themselves with women, you might have to look for a long time. A hundred and forty-four thousand, twelve thousand out of every tribe who have not defiled themselves with women. Some people have made this a more general sort of idea that it means they will detach themselves from the corrupt system. That's possible as a meaning. But I think the idea here is simply stated as sexual purity because it's repeated, they have kept themselves chaste. Obviously they will not be corrupted by the system, that kind of goes along with it all. Obviously they're not going to be polluted by the Antichrist's satanic system. But beyond that, they will not even be defiled in the sexual area. Surely they're not going to have intercourse with the Antichrist's system. That's obvious. They've already, like many other believers, denied the mark of the beast. Of course they're not going to engage in intercourse with the Antichrist system, but I think they're going to go beyond that, and they're going to be pure. Some have suggested that this means there are a hundred and forty-four thousand single men who have never been married. Sex within marriage doesn't defile anybody. Hebrews is very clear, isn't it, in chapter 13, the bed is undefiled. But what it means is there are a hundred and forty-four thousand morally pure preachers without the moral defilement of the culture around them, they will stand apart. It literally says they're parthenoi, they're chaste. They have resisted the seduction of harlots as well as the harlot system. And they've maintained purity.
God has tremendous, tremendous plans for these men, triumphant men. And I really believe that the standard for us is the same. If one is to be a triumphant Christian, they must experience the keeping power of God. They must live a life of praise no matter how difficult it is and they must maintain purity. Whenever I hear of someone in the ministry who falls into sin and impurity and in so doing say...Well, you know, it's very difficult in this culture, we have to be understanding. I want to think about the hundred and forty-four thousand who living in the middle of Satan's empire will not fall. You can imagine what a force they'll be, can't you?
A fourth point about being a victor here, power, praise, purity, partisanship. It's hard to find that word with a "p" by the way. Partisanship, verse 4, "These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They're partisans, to the party of the Lamb. They're the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. The Oxford Dictionary defines "partisan" this way, an adherent, a supporter, one who supports his cause through thick and thin, a blind unreasoning prejudicial and fanatical adherent. That is them. They are partisans. Partisanship, says the dictionary, is the practice of being completely loyal. These triumphant one hundred and forty-four thousand are partisans, at any cost they are loyal to the Lamb. They allow no rivals, no refusals, no restraint to mar their dedication to Him. Does He need somebody to stand on the steps of the Vatican and cry out against the marriage of Christendom to the beast? They'll do it. Does the Lord need somebody to...to confront the Antichrist himself or the false prophet or any of his henchmen at any function and roundly denounce him and denounce his policy and denounce his witchcraft? They'll do it. Does the Lamb need an evangelist to go to the corners of the world and proclaim the gospel? They'll do it. To climb the highest mountain, to cross the desert sands, to blaze evangelistic trails through steaming jungles? They'll do it. It doesn't matter what the beast does. It doesn't matter how he goes after them. It doesn't matter how he sends his forces to kill them. None of it matters. They are undaunted. They are undeterred. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. Devotion. And that kind of partisanship is exactly what Jesus asks us to do. I heard it twice in the testimonies in baptism tonight that people said, "I want to obey whatever the Lord asks me to do." I mean, that's just basic. You find that all throughout the New Testament Scriptures. I don't need to beg the issue, it's repeated over and over again. You heard it from the gospel of John in chapter 15...or chapter 14 verse 15, "If you love Me you'll keep My commandments." It's just common knowledge to any Christian.
Jesus said to His disciples, "If you want to be My disciple, take up your cross and follow Me." He said to the rich young ruler, "Come follow Me." He said to the Apostle Peter after his reinstatement in the end of the gospel of John, "Follow Me." Same thing He had said at the very beginning, He had to say it years later because of Peter's wavering. Paul even said, "Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ." This makes for real winners who will follow the Lord at any price, at any cost no matter what it means. And in John 21, Jesus said to Peter, "Somebody is going to take you where you don't want to go, and somebody is going to tie you up and bind you and you're going to lose your life for My sake." And Peter's question was immediately, "Well what's going to happen to John?" And Jesus said, "That's none of your business, you follow Me." The winner, the one who triumphs, and Peter eventually did, the one who is standing when the smoke clears is the one who is so partisan to the Lord Jesus Christ that nothing deters. And then a fifth thought here that certainly illustrates what is necessary to be a winner in the spiritual life, purpose...purpose. This is marvelous. "These have been purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." They have been purchased. There's that redemptive language again, bought with a price. First Peter 1, "Bought with a price not of silver and gold but of the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without spot and without blemish." They were redeemed. But notice this, they were redeemed, purchased out from among men as firstfruits to God.
Now what is firstfruits? Well if you go back in the Old Testament you find that firstfruits is just a term for offerings. When you grew a crop, when the crop was harvested, you took the firstfruits that came in, the first part harvested, and gave it to God as an offering, consecrated, devoted to the service of God. And what he is saying is these people are like firstfruits offerings. They are given to God in special dedication. All the rest of it should be used to the honor of God, all of us should be used to the honor of God, all of us should serve God. But some of us are unique in our service rendered. Some of us are consecrated uniquely and especially to divine duty. And I think that's the intent here. First of all, that's the primary intent that they are set apart. You can go back into the Old Testament and you can read about how God designed that the firstfruits be set apart unto Him as a special sacrifice and a special offering. Deuteronomy chapter 26, I won't take the time to read it but you can read it in the first eleven verses there.
And I think he sees the hundred and forty-four thousand as a special group of men out from all the rest of saved people, offered to God for unique service. Not like all the rest. After all, there were only a hundred and forty-four thousand of them. Not everybody fit into that at all.
So as those who had been given to God in the unique way, they're like an offering. They're like a special sacrifice, dedicated to God and offered to Him for divine service. This is not just a normal group of folks, but a group offered in special consecrated service to the Lamb. That's the purpose of their life. They have one purpose for their life. They will serve the Lord, they will proclaim the gospel out of a pure life to a perishing and hating world. That kind of focus and that kind of purpose, that kind of decisiveness, that kind of clarity of life goal, I think, is so much the part of one who is to be a winner. Now you may not be selected for that special service, but the pattern is still the same. Whatever level of service you render to God should so consume you that it becomes your life purpose and nothing can deter you from it. The thing that keeps you going, the thing that keeps you from falling into sin, the sin that keeps you disciplined and moving toward your goal is the fact that you know that this is why you live and breathe. And that's true of all of us, not just the specially called like the hundred and forty-four thousand. So they illustrate a certain level of devotion and dedication to us that may be helpful in helping us to look at what makes people winners.
Now there's one other possible note here, and again this chapter has so many options. It's...I haven't shared them all with you because you can't be profited by going in to every conceivable option, but there's a lot of very sort of challenging issues in interpreting this. Some would suggest this, and I'll give it to you because you may want to think it through, that the idea of firstfruits is not so much just the offering, but the idea of representation. Representation in this sense, the firstfruits given to God were indication that there was more to follow. Sometimes the idea of firstfruits has that. For example, 1 Corinthians chapter 16, I'll give you an illustration of that in verse 15, "I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stephanos that they were the firstfruits of Achaia." Now what he means there, most likely, is that they were the first people converted in Achaia but there would be more to come. The firstfruits being representative of more to come. Some similar note, I think it's found at the end of the book of Romans. Yes, it talks about Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the firstfruits, or the first convert to Christ from Asia. Now there would be then more to follow.
And some would suggest to us then that the hundred and forty-four thousand are the firstfruits of Israel. They're there and that's only a beginning indication of the redemption of all of Israel. The problem with that particular viewpoint is that the redeemed Israel would have already been redeemed by this time, but then you could argue the hundred and forty-four thousand had been redeemed a lot earlier before they were sealed, and at that time the were the firstfruits of what would come. And that may be legitimate.
In either case, whether you see them purely as the firstfruits because they are uniquely devoted to God, or the firstfruits because they are an indication of what is to follow, it is very clear that the heart of their life was one thing, one purpose, and that was to toil on behalf of the living Lord no matter what the cost. They were winners because they had purpose. They lived for one great consuming purpose. They were given to God for service. They were given to the Lamb to preach His gospel.
To add another "p" to our little list, and you are definitely getting the abridged version tonight, to add another "p" to our list, precision...precision. Verse 5 says, "No lie was found in their mouth." That is to say they were precise. There was precision in what they said. There was no sloppiness, there was no exaggeration, there was no overstatement, there was no understatement, they spoke precisely God's truth.
Now there's an interesting Old Testament verse that ties in with this, Zephaniah 3:13, looking ahead at the time of Israel's restoration it says this, "The remnant of Israel will do no wrong and tell no lies, nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths." There the prophet Zephaniah saw the very same thing, that there would be a great group of Jews in the end who would be known for their precision in speaking the truth of God. They will never fall over into lies, certainly it means they will never propagate Satan's lie, obviously. The whole world will be head deep in lies and head deep in deception. Second Thessalonians 2 verses 9 to 11 where we have gone numbers of times points that out, the whole world will be deceived with lying wonders, but these men will not. They will speak the truth. They will speak precisely the Word of God. They will be accurate, appropriate without wavering, without equivocating, or without altering the Word of God. That's another mark on their lives that makes them triumphant. And certainly that's a wonderful example to us. The Bible is repeatedly warning us about lies and about our conversation.
And there's one last point, and I'll close with this. Let's call it perfection...let's call it perfection. They triumphed because of power, praise, purity, partisanship, purpose, precision, perfection. This is amazing. They're blameless. I read one writer this week, among many, who suggested that they are sinless. I mentioned to you last Sunday night that some among the Seventh Day Adventists have suggested that it will be sinless people. There's no reason to assume that because there's nobody who can be sinless. If they're people, they're not sinless. And they are people, they're twelve thousand Jews out of every tribe and if they are human beings, and they are, they cannot be sinless. But they are sanctified. And when it says they are blameless, it is the kind of blamelessness that the Apostle Paul affirmed that he had even before he was a Christian when he says in Philippians 3, "According to the law, blameless." In other words, they will have such impeccable reputations that there is nothing in their lives of a sin for which they could be held culpable and responsible publicly. Not sinless, but sanctified...living holy lives, godly lives.
You know, when we were saved it was because God wanted us to be holy and blameless before Him, so says Ephesians chapter 1. We were saved to be holy. Peter told us, "Be holy, even as your Father in heaven is holy." The Lord wants to present to Himself as a bride a church that is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that is holy and blameless. Paul said to the Corinthians, he wanted to present them to Christ as a chaste virgin. It's talking about sanctification. It's talking about the perfection of holiness, not absolute, ultimate and complete sinlessness, but maturity, virtue, godliness. All Scripture is inspired by God, says Paul to Timothy, profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect. What kind of perfect does he mean? Mature, blameless. They'll not be sinless. But they'll be sanctified, godly, Christlike men. And they stand triumphant.
You know, they're really not the only people who have ever lived like that. There were some other conquerors. Listen to Hebrews 11. "What more shall I say...verse 32...about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight." There have been some triumphant believers through the centuries. These men are the most unique of all.
What I've tried to do and I hope it's been a little bit successful, is to see this as more than just a prophetic scenario, but to recognize that these are actually human beings and that they came by God's grace and His power and His plan to a place in their lives where they could triumph over the most wicked, vile, culture in the history of the world because they called on God's power, they were filled with God's praise, they pursued purity, they were partisans to Jesus Christ their divine leader, they live for one purpose, to sacrifice their lives as an offering to God. They were precise in always speaking the truth. And they grew to spiritual maturity. What exemplary men they are. And I believe they provide for us a most unique and a most interesting pattern for what being...what is really...what it is like, I should say, to be a spiritual super-conqueror or overcomer.
In conclusion I'll say this. No wonder they bring the world's greatest spiritual awakening. I believe that the indication of chapter 7 verses 9 to 12 is that during the Tribulation time under the ministry of these men there will be the greatest revival the world has ever known. No wonder the force and the power of their lives is unequalled in all of human history. And I hope they can serve, though they are so unique, as a model for all of us to enter into the triumph that is really ours in Christ if we choose to follow their path. Father, we thank You for tonight. It's been a wonderful service. We thank You for the testimonies and the music. We thank You for the fellowship we've enjoyed. And, Father, there's so much in this text that is prophetic and future and distant and it has a certain fascination and it speaks to us of Your great power. But, Lord, we want to make it practical, too. These are people and what gave them triumph and what gave them victory and what caused them to stand when the smoke cleared and still they were in the presence of the Lamb was the fact that they followed a path of victory that's been laid out for all of us. Help us to walk in it, to experience in some way the kind of triumph that will belong to them. Help us, Lord, to be able to sing the song of redemption maybe just a little bit like they sing it because we know what it is to live against the grain of the culture and to see Your power delivering us from it. Help us, Lord, to see ourselves as offerings to You with the purpose of proclaiming Your truth. And though we may not be called as preachers, we certainly are called to be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto You which is our act of spiritual worship.
I pray in this generation, Lord, if it can't be a hundred and forty-four thousand, please could it be some who would be faithful, who would not be defiled with women but chaste, who would follow the Lamb wherever He leads, who would be willing to speak only the truth and never lies.
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Nationwide Auto Insurance in Tuscaloosa, Alabama From Michael D Noe
Whether you're changing vehicles or simply searching for better coverage this policy term, let Michael D Noe answer all your auto insurance questions. Our agents can ensure your policy meets all applicable Alabama requirements, while also pointing out areas where gaps in coverage may occur. We can help find your sweet spot between stronger coverage and affordable costs. You won't find a more knowledgeable, friendly source for personalized auto insurance in Tuscaloosa.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Writing letters to Santa is a timeless Christmas tradition. It's also great to introduce kids to the dying art writing letters. Both Macy's and the US Postal Service are working to do just that this holiday season, with a little help from old St. Nick.
Every Macy's around the country has a special letterbox in "Santa's Post Office." After writing, children can drop their letters to Santa off and send them on their way to the North Pole. Macy's also donates $1 to the Make-a-Wish foundation for each letter received, up to $1 million – so far, they've received over 345,000 missives.
Plus: How Elf on the Shelf Saved Christmas
Writing letters is all well and good, but nothing beats receiving a piece of bona fide snail mail. Now, once your kids send off their letter to Santa, they can even get a response directly from the man himself. The US Postal Service is running their "Letters From Santa" program, allowing kids to receive letters that are postmarked from the North Pole. The service is provided at no cost, apart from the purchase of postage.
Simply compose a letter to your child as if it were written from Santa Claus. Put it in a stamped, sealed and adressed envelope. Place the addressed letter into a larger envelope and ship it to this address:
All letters shipped to Anchorage before December 10 will be delivered back to your child by Christmas. It's an adorable way to see surprise in their faces when they receive a letter stamped from the North Pole, written by Santa himself.
These are just two ways out of many to keep the spirit alive. What are some of your favorite ways stoke the holiday charm? Leave a comment.


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Plan Your Visit
Admission Hours & Directions What to See Tours & Activities Where to Eat Tips for Your Visit Accessibility Group Reservations
Plan Your Visit Discover The Home of George and Martha Washington
Open 365 Days a Year, Mount Vernon is located just 15 miles south of Washington DC.
The Estate
The Mansion Gardens & Landscapes The Tombs Pioneer Farm Distillery & Gristmill Historic Trades Museum Virtual Tour
The Estate There's So Much to See
From the mansion to lush gardens and grounds, intriguing museum galleries, immersive programs, and the distillery and gristmill. Spend the day with us!
George Washington
Biography of George Washington Key Facts The Man & Myth Martha Washington French & Indian War The Revolutionary War Building the Constitution The First President Slavery Religion
George Washington Farmer, Soldier, Statesman and Husband
Discover what made Washington "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".
Did you Know?
Did you Know?
The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been maintaining the Mount Vernon Estate since they acquired it from the Washington family in 1858.
Ace Your American History Class
Ace Your American History Class
Need help with homework? Our Digital Encyclopedia has all of the answers students and teachers need.
Washington Library
Washington Library
The Library of the First President
The Library of the First President
The Washington Library is open to all researchers and scholars, though by appointment only.


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Let Me Fill You In
Our last newsletter was filled with so much news, I had to save some tidbits for later. Now is later, so let me catch you up. Cheryl Johnson, our artist in Maine, has been working on a series of small Teaser puzzles featuring each of the United States. Our goal is to design them at a size and difficulty level that will appeal to everyone. Of course, we started with Vermont. We're incorporating the state bird, flower, and flag into each puzzle as well as Teaser pieces representing what the state is known for. Did you see the Stave clown? Get ready to travel our beautiful countryside, discovering new things along the way. Once you own your home state you know you're going to want them all!
Mouse Pad is Susan Greenleaf 's new Teaser puzzle. As you can see, it's a play on words so I think it will appeal to all those who are keen on computers. And all you critter lovers will laugh when you see the techno-savvy mice. These little housemates will have you keyed right in to joining them in their mouse pad.
We've been brainstorming with Stave artist, Susan Berry, and we're coming up with great ideas to incorporate into our new Limited Edition puzzle based on the lost city of Atlantis. This project is right up Susan's alley and she's already working on preliminary sketches. Steve has sent the first prototype to our ace Tester in Delaware so we should be hearing groans of frustration very soon! The puzzle is shaping up beautifully with lots of neat twists and turns to keep you befuddled and puzzled. Steve's trickery and Susan's artwork make this a puzzle not to be missed!
We've also got Steve's new 4- sword Teaser prototype out to test. I cut the first prototype and I had to put it back together with a cheat sheet. I can't wait to hear the feedback on this new challenge. We gave Molly Delaney the AOK to begin painting our new 2- way Trick kitty design but then promptly pulled her off that project to ask her to work on something else. Don't worry. We'll let her get back to it very soon! Do you have any suggestions for its title?
Is That Small Enough?
Waaaaay back when, like in the mid-80s, we offered a cute little puzzle called Blue Mum by artist Piet Mondrian. It was done totally in soft blue with only a few different shades. What made this puzzle so special? It was cut in 100 mini pieces. Instead of our usual two pieces per square inch it had three! Our puzzlers loved it and our cutters did, too. It's your lucky day because we're bringing our Minicut style back! Keep your eye out for news of our Mini-cut revival as well as other cutting styles you may have never seen.


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Empowering Excellence in Government through Great People.
We lead and serve the Federal Government in enterprise human resources management by delivering policies and services to achieve a trusted effective civilian workforce.
Review the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Handbook
Answering your questions about Healthcare and Insurance
Manage your retirement online.
"...The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall serve as the Suitability and Credentialing Agent..." ~Executive Order 13467, as amended
"...primary executive branch service provider for background investigations..." ~Executive Order 13467, as amended
OPM's Human Resources Solutions organization can help your agency answer this critically important question.
Developing senior leaders in the U.S. Government through Leadership for a Democratic Society, Custom Programs and Interagency Courses.
Visit this federal site to search for our regulatory notices, proposed and final rules.
See the latest tweets on our Twitter feed, like our Facebook pages, watch our YouTube videos, and page through our Flickr photos.
A pay plan is a two-digit alphabetical code used to identify Federal civilian pay systems. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approves pay plan codes for agency use. OPM-approved pay plan codes are found Part A of the Guide to Data Standards. For the purpose of Federal civilian personnel data reporting requirements, this manual defines "pay plan" as "a particular table or array of pay rates prescribed by law or other authoritative source that establishes the basic pay rates for certain employees." The term "pay plan" is intended to include other terms such as pay system, pay schedule, pay scale, pay rates, basic pay schedule, statutory pay system, wage schedule, wage system, wage schedules and rates, regular wage schedule, and special wage schedule and rates.
Pay plan codes are used to identify important information about an employee's pay system and the authority governing the pay of an employee's position. For example, a pay plan may help identify whether an employee is in-
Pay plans also are used to provide statistical information about Federal employees. Pay plans are reported to and used in such systems as OPM's Central Personnel Data File (CPDF), Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI), FedScope, and agency payroll and human resources processing systems.
Of note-
The following pay plan codes are used for General Schedule positions:
AL (Administrative Law Judge)ES (Senior Executive Service)EX (Executive Schedule)SL (Senior level positions)ST (Scientific and professional positions)SV (Transportation Security Administration)VN (Department of Veterans Affairs nurses)
Requests for pay plan codes must be submitted in writing to the address shown below and include the number and types of covered employees, the desired pay plan codes, a description of how the codes would be applied, and the legal authority for the pay plan.
Brenda L. RobertsDeputy Associate Director for Pay and LeaveEmployee ServicesU.S. Office of Personnel ManagementRoom 7H311900 E Street, NW.Washington, DC 20415
Fax to: 202-606-4264Telephone: 202-606-2858Email: email@example.com
Brenda L. RobertsDeputy Associate Director for Pay and LeaveEmployee ServicesU.S. Office of Personnel ManagementRoom 7H311900 E Street, NW.Washington, DC 20415
Fax to: 202-606-4264Telephone: 202-606-2858Email: email@example.com
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Muscular structure of rugby player, illustration
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DWTS Season 10 Rumors – Things that Make You Go Hmmm
The thing that's making me go "Hmmmm…." right now is this:
My question is – if it's something she's getting ready to work on, why wouldn't SHE announce it…unless it's seriously in the entertainment business. You know how they like to announce their own stuff. 🙂 Anyway, there's been a lot of pushing around the 'net for Melissa to take Samantha's place on DWTS since Samantha left DWTS. This pushing has been by Melissa fans, of course, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. I even sort of jokingly suggested it myself in a previous post! IF…and it's a BIG IF because I don't think that the producers pay that much attention to fans (because LOTS of celebs have huge fanbases, frankly)…if DWTS is Melissa's announcement, what do you think of it? Is there something else Melissa has been rumored for and I've missed it? I read her twitter page back several days and I didn't see anything.
Whatever is going on, I wish Melissa tons of success. I don't think I would actually have an issue with her taking Samantha's place. She'd do better than Sam and Paula combined (although that bar is set pretty low 🙂 ).
Don't anyone freak out – I could be TOTALLY off base on this speculation.


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Updated: Male body recovered along Merrimack River in ManchesterBY PAUL FEELY
New Hampshire Union Leader
January 20. 2013 6:20PM
MANCHESTER -- Police recovered the body of a male on the banks of the Merrimack River off Riverdale Avenue Sunday evening, the same area where a 22-year-old city man disappeared last November.
Manchester Police Sgt. Steven Mangone said Sunday night he was unable to confirm the identity of the body until an examination was completed by the state Medical Examiner's office. That examination was expected to be concluded sometime Sunday night.
"The body had been in the water some time," said Sgt. Mantone. "We were unable to make a positive identification due to the level of decomposition. I wouldn't want to speculate on the identity of the individual, or the the cause of death at this time."
Police and fire crews responded to 280 Riverdale Ave. just after 5 p.m. Sunday, on a report of a body found in the river. Initially a rescue boat was called for, but it was waived off due to the location of the body along the river bank.
The same Riverdale Avenue neighborhood was the site of an extensive search in late November for Kody Sharp, 22, a resident of the street who was reported missing. The man, described as 6 foot,?1 inch with short blonde hair and blue eyes, was last seen outside a home on the secluded street at 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 25.
At the time, members of the New Hampshire State Police and the Manchester Fire Department assisted the Manchester police in an extensive search of the Riverdale Avenue area, which includes steep, wooded embankments along the River. There were no signs of Kody at the time.
Neighbors gathered outside the home at 280 Riverdale last night were crying as they awaited word on the identity of the body.
"Kody was my neighbor, he was such a good kid," said a woman who asked that her name not be used. "He was a good kid, a good man."
Two fire trucks and four Manchester police cruisers were on scene for over two hours Sunday night. The road was blocked at 280 Riverdale Ave., with only residents being allowed to pass. The neighborhood was in darkness during the initial stages of the investigation due to an area power outage.
The last of the cruisers pulled away after the coroner's office left with the body at about 7:15 p.m.
As of 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Sgt. Mantone said he could not comment whether the body recovered belonged to Kody Sharp, without positive identification from the Medical Examiner's Office.
"I have to wait until we have a confirmation from them before we release more on this," said Mantone.


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NHIAA Div. IV Girls' Basketball Championship: Familiar end for Groveton, BurkeBy MARK LABORE
New Hampshire Union Leader
March 02. 2013 8:17PM
PLYMOUTH - Sparked by the double-double performance of Makenna Burke and an stingy defense that held one of the division's top-scoring teams to 25 points below its tournament average, Groveton captured the Division IV girls' basketball championship with a convincing 60-40 victory over North Country rival Colebrook Saturday at Plymouth State University's Foley Gymnasium.
Burke, who recently reached the 1,000-point career milestone, scored 27 points and hauled down 12 rebounds. Her point production was four points shy of the division's championship game tournament record of 31 scored by Epping's Kerry Bascom, who went on to star at the University of Connecticut, in 1985.
"Makenna ended her high school career in a great way," said Groveton coach Tim Haskins, whose teams have won five of the past six division titles. "She really stepped up during the stretch run and into the playoffs. The 27 points is one thing, but don't forget the rebounds and she was helping to bring the ball up court against the Colebrook pressure."
It was the fourth state basketball title for Burke, who also played for the Eagles as an eighth-grader.
The fourth-seeded Eagles established themselves late in the first quarter with an 8-0 run and followed with a 20-6 second period advantage to take and 32-17 lead into the locker room at the half.
They weren't seriously challenged the rest of the game.
Groveton hustled the ball up the floor on each possession and worked the ball into the paint where Burke and Sadie Conroy, and later in the second half Becca Rogers, tallied their points.
"We ran the ball in the second quarter and we had a match-up to get the ball inside to McKenna," said Haskins. "When she was covered, we had some other players like Conroy and Rogers getting the ball and scoring points."
Conroy and Rogers each closed with 10 points as the Eagles beat Colebrook's full court pressure and tallied transition baskets.
Ten of Groveton's final 14 points came from the free throw line to put the game on ice.
"Free throws had been our Achilles Heel much of the season, but we shot close to 60 percent today (20-of-34)," said the Groveton coach.
Colebrook opened the game with a Josee Brunault coast-to-coast layup and her three-pointer midway through the first gave the No. 3 Mohawks a 7-4 lead. Alexyss Lawson added a free throw for an 8-4 advantage that evaporated with Groveton's 8-0 burst.
Colebrook never led again.
"The girls worked so hard to get to this game," said Colebrook coach Steve Cass. "We wanted to get them into foul trouble, but we didn't take it to the rim, and that failed to produce the fouls. And rebounding was no friend to us."
Groveton outrebounded its foe 25-14 in the pivotal first half and 44-36 through the entire game.
The Mohawks beat Groveton twice during the regular season when the Eagles, who opened with an eight-game win streak, lost four of five games and fell to 9-4.
"We righted the ship with a home win over Littleton, and since that game we have been playing great basketball," said Haskins. "Defensively, we keyed on Brunault and (Erica) Cass and did a reasonably good job of it.
"Our defense was pretty much the same as the last four or five games in anticipation of this game," Haskins added.
Brunault led Colebrook with 15 points. Cass added nine, all on three-point field goals. Emily Brosseau (two) and Kalin Belanger also tallied three-pointers for the Mohawks.
Conroy also had 10 rebounds to complete her double-double.
The teams last met in the division championship game in 2009 when Groveton eked out a 48-46 win.
Both teams concluded their seasons with 18-4 records.
Division IV girls' championship game
At PLYMOUTH
Groveton 60, Colebrook 40
Groveton: Sadie Conroy 4-2-10; Jena Wheelock 0-4-4; Makenna Burke 8-11-27; Talia Bedell 3-1-7; Becca Rogers 5-0-10; Tanisha Singer 0-2-2. Totals 20-20-60 Three-pointers: none
Colebrook: Josee Brunault 5-4-15; Emily Brosseau 2-0-6; Alexyss Lawson 1-1-3; Kalin Belanger 2-0-5; Erica Cass 3-0-9; Kacie Riendeau 0-1-1; Nakea Cross 0-1-1. Totals 13-7-40 Three-pointers: Brunault, Brosseau 2, Belanger, Cass 3
Groveton (18-4) 12 20 14 14 - 60
Colebrook (18-4) 11 6 16 7 -- 40


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My husband and I were lucky enough to spend our honeymoon - 6 years ago - in Thailand. Everything about the country was a revelation for me, from the stunning beauty of Bangkok's gold-leafed Temple of the Emerald Buddha, to the friendliness of the people, to the eggplant. (Yes, the eggplant.) OK, the food in general was amazing: our first foray into the streets of Bangkok led us to a vendor cooking Pad Thai - a perfect balance of the Thai culinary quadrangle of salty, sweet, tangy and spicy and topped with raw banana flower, it was nothing like the Pad Thai I'd had stateside. Other gastronomic mind-blowers included the best fried chicken I've ever had, thrown (thrown!) to us from a woman on a dock as our ferry pulled away and a Thai curry with eggplant so fiery that the chef came out of the kitchen to apologize. We accepted her apology with our eyes and noses streaming, ears clogged and grinning wildly from the transcendental experience that really, really spicy food brings.
But what was super cool was checking out the fruit and vegetable markets, seeing and tasting unfamiliar stuff like dragon fruit, longan and eggplant in colors and sizes I'd never seen before. The most common eggplant in Thailand seemed to be a variety called (appropriately) Thai eggplant (or Lao eggplant, depending on where your loyalty lies), globe-shaped and green-and-white striped. Other common Thai varieties are long, skinny and light green and teeny tiny "pea eggplant" that grows in grape-like clusters. Since that trip, I've become obsessed with growing esoteric varieties of the infamous nightshade, the endless different shapes, colors and tastes of which are staggering. Last year I grew Striped Togo eggplant (a.k.a., Ethiopian eggplant), which are small and oval and turn bright orange with green stripes when ripe, and Udumalapet eggplant, an orange-and-purple Indian variety. This year, though, I'm reliving our honeymoon by growing round Thai eggplant for quick stir fries. Admittedly, it's nothing like the transcendental experience of Thailand, but it'll do in a pinch - until we can make our way back.
A Brief History of Eggplant
The Chinese thought eggplant caused uterus injury, the Persians blamed it for everything from pimples to leprosy and those kooky Medieval Europeans ascribed the fruit to "melancholy" and anger.
Botanically classified as a fruit, eggplant is native to a wide area stretching from India to Southeast Asia and into southern China. The first documented writing about it comes from India as early as 300 B.C.E., where it was probably cultivated for both food and as a medicinal plant. The Chinese were also early adopters of the fruit as a source of both food and medicine - eggplant is discussed in a Chinese plant atlas from the 2nd century C.E. (Can we just take a moment here to marvel at the fact that there was a Chinese plant atlas in the 2nd century?) Eggplant quickly spread to Japan and Korea, and then to the Persian Empire. The Muslim expansion in the 8th and 9th centuries brought eggplant to the Mediterranean, where it has become firmly entrenched in the culinary culture of Spain, Italy, Southern France and the Middle East. The fruit finally made its way across the globe to the Americas during Spain's expansion in the 15th century.
Early eggplant consumption was viewed with much ambiguity, as eggplant-adopting cultures frequently ascribed all sorts of health problems to eggplant in their culinary and medicinal writings. The Chinese thought eggplant caused uterus injury, the Persians blamed it for everything from pimples to leprosy and those kooky Medieval Europeans ascribed the fruit to "melancholy" and anger. It was thought that many of these eggplant-induced troubles could be mitigated through liberal salting and rinsing prior to cooking, a culinary technique that is still in existence today - although the usefulness of this is debatable (see "To Salt or Not to Salt," below).
The first American recipe comes from Mrs. Mary Randolph's seminal 1860 cookbook The Virginia Housewife, in which Mrs. Randolph describes two preparations for "the purple ones": the first a dish of breaded and fried eggplant slices, the other a recipe for meat-stuffed whole eggplant.
Factual Nibbles
- Eggplants were originally termed "mad apples" in Europe, in keeping with the unimaginative European propensity to name every vegetable some variation of "apple" (tomato = "love apple," potato = "Devil's apple," etc.).
- The genetic variation of eggplant is amazing: check out this picture from India, where eggplant (or brinjal, as it is called on the Subcontinent) is known as the "king of vegetables."
- Despite the word "eggplant" being synonymous with a deep purple color, some early eggplant cultivars were, in fact, white and egg-shaped. Eggplant is called aubergine in most of the rest of the English-speaking world.
- The world's largest organic baingan bharta (for the record, my favorite eggplant dish) was cooked in New Delhi, India in 2011, as a protest of the introduction of genetically engineered eggplant in India.
- Eggplant Parmesan supposedly induces labor. It is unclear if this is: a) true and b) due to the eggplant or to some other ingredient in the dish.
Eggplant Cultivation
Like its brethren tomatoes, potatoes and peppers, eggplant is part of the geographically wide-ranging and economically important Solanum (nightshade) family. China leads the world in eggplant cultivation, followed by India, Egypt, Iran and Turkey. US production doesn't even come close: the US grew over 70,000 tons of eggplant in 2010, while China grew over 28 million tons the same year. Their tropical origins means that eggplant require a great deal of sunlight and heat to grow.
Environmental Impact of Eggplant Growing
International production of eggplant is highly concentrated between China and India - the two countries produce over 83 percent of the world's eggplant. Chinese production of the fruit is environmentally problematic, because monocropping, large amounts of chemical fertilizer and liberal application of pesticides is pretty much the norm. Indian eggplant production is also not without environmental controversy. Between 2006 and 2009, Mahyco, an Indian seed company, in partnership with Monsanto (both already infamous for creating and marketing the controversial genetically engineered (GE) Bt cotton in India), developed a GE variety of Bt eggplant designed to resist common eggplant-destroying insects. However, after scientists, farmers and the general public raised concerns, along with widespread protests, a moratorium on Bt eggplant was called in India in 2010. This moratorium appears to be indefinite - or at the very least, has yet to be lifted - and seems to have set a precedent, potentially halting the development of other GE fruits and vegetables in India.
Although US production of eggplant is globally negligible, in eggplant-growing states such as Florida, the crop is often monocropped and a number of pesticides are used to control common pests and fungi. The Environmental Working Group's 2012 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce lists eggplant as number 41 (out of 49 ) for pesticide residue. (See our vegetable rule of thumb.*) Check with your local farmer to learn about his/her methods to be sure.
Eggplant Characteristics
When Is Eggplant in Season?
Eggplant is a warm-weather plant, so in most parts of the country local eggplant is only available in mid-summer through early fall. Super fresh is best - the fresher the eggplant, the less bitter its flavor.
Eggplant Nutrition
Admittedly, eggplants aren't the most nutritious members of the nightshade family - they're just OK sources of manganese, thiamin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin K and folate, and they are fairly high in fiber and low in calories. But the skin of the eggplant - especially purple varietals - is where the nutritional magic happens. Eggplant skin has potent antioxidant properties, some of which may even help with the control of type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Too bad that a lot of classic eggplant recipes call for removing the nutritious skin!
What to Look for When Buying Eggplant
Eggplant comes in many different colors and sizes, from the common large, teardrop-shaped purple variety to long and skinny Asian varietals. Regardless of size, shape or color of the fruit, look for glossy, unblemished skin and a very firm texture when (gently) squeezed. Larger eggplant tends to be more bitter than smaller-sized specimens.
What To Do with Eggplant
Storing Fresh Eggplant
Eggplant doesn't like the cold - it's a tropical plant, after all - and so doesn't keep well in the refrigerator for longer than 2-4 days, depending on how soon after harvest it is purchased. Longer storage = bitterness. If you plan to cook your eggplant right away, leave it out on the counter.
Cooking Eggplant
Eggplant is a multitalented fruit, equally at home on the grill as in the deep fryer. The most famous eggplant dishes tend to fall into one of four categories: the pureed (see: baba ganoush and baingan bharta), the fried (see: eggplant parm), the stewed (see: ratatouille - for the record, my most hated dish ever, though this one looks good) and the stuffed. Eggplant's classic culinary companions are other members of the nightshade family, including tomatoes and peppers, both sweet and hot. The fruit also pairs spectacularly well with garlic and onions, and is a natural with basil, oregano and parsley.
Pro Tip
Eggplant oxidizes (turns brown when exposed to air) fairly quickly, so cut it right before you plan to cook it. A squeeze of lemon juice will help stop the browning if you
To Salt or Not to Salt?
Many of us grew up believing that salting eggplant keeps the resulting eggplant dish from being either too bitter or too oily. The thinking is that this "disgorging" (gross term, I know) process draws out the bitter juices from the fruit and keeps the eggplant from soaking up too much oil. (Because one of its famous culinary proclivities is its spongy texture, eggplant tends to soak up lots and lots of oil.) The marvelous food scientist Harold McGee confirms what our Italian grandmas have been saying: salting eggplant does, indeed, keep the fruit from soaking up too much oil in the cooking process, by partially collapsing its cell walls. McGee says salting probably does not help reduce the bitter taste that some eggplant has. If you tend to find eggplant too bitter, choose smaller-sized, very fresh specimens.
Eggplant Recipe: Eggplant "Fries" with Honey
The first time I had eggplant fries was at Poppy restaurant in Seattle. The fries were crunchy and amazing, sprinkled with course sea salt and drizzled with honey. I'm pretty sure the restaurant deep-fried their eggplant fries, but the recipe below, adapted fromThe Endless Meal, calls for oven baking to cut down on fat and calories. And keep the skin on the eggplant to get all of those excellent antioxidant benefits! Instead of honey, eggplant fries are also delicious with a yogurt dip, or try the chipotle mayo in the original recipe.
Olive or other vegetable oil (or cooking spray)
1 medium purple (Italian) eggplant
1 cup course dry breadcrumbs
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1⁄3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 large eggs
Flavorful honey, such as orange blossom or lavender
Course sea salt
1. Preheat the oven to broil (or the hottest your oven goes up to, if you don't have a "broil" option). Brush a medium baking sheet with oil (or use cooking spray).
2. Leaving the skin on, cut the eggplant into ½ inch thick French-fry shapes.
3. In a shallow dish or pie plate, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, a generous pinch of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until very well combined.
5. Dip an eggplant "fry" into the eggs, letting the excess drip off, then coat in breadcrumbs. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with all eggplant "fries."
6. Broil for 4-5 minutes on one side (or until golden brown), then flip and broil 4-5 minutes on the other side.
7. To serve: drizzle with honey and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Eat immediately.
Stretching Your Fresh Food Dollar Though Preservation
Eggplant can be blanched and frozen, but the result will be pretty mushy (which could be fine for recipes like baba ganoush where the eggplant is pureed anyway). Serious Eats has lots of other ideas for preserving an abundance of eggplant, including making and freezing eggplant dishes like caponata and making a delicious-sounding eggplant pickle that can be canned or stored long-term in the refrigerator.
(*Vegetable rule of thumb: We think that first and foremost, in terms of nutrition, people should eat lots of fruits and vegetables whether they are organic or not. The EWG's guide is a handy list, but we will point out here that the impacts of pesticides are not limited to your ingestion of them - agricultural chemicals also affect farmworkers and local waterways, both good reasons to buy organic, even those vegetables that carry a light pesticide load. Also, it has been demonstrated that produce grown by small-scale farmers, even those who are not certified organic, tends to have a lighter pesticide load than its industrially-produced counterpart, owing to industry's tendency toward large monocrops.)
This post was originally published in August 2012.


text:
|Other BSD and UNIX/UNIX-like Any other flavour of BSD or UNIX that does not have a section of its own.
|View Poll Results: what linux distro do you use and/or like?
|Redhat / Centos
|Voters: 145. You may not vote on this poll
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My personal experience with it involves kernel panics, kernel panics, more kernel panics, and then some.
# cat conf1.conf conf2.conf conf3.conf [...] > httpd.conf
But both of them seem to be trying to be BSD with a Linux kernel ... If I want to use BSD I would use ... BSD ... Not BSD with a Linux kernel ...
Anyway ... I installed CentOS, so far it seems rather nice, other than the fact that 1680x1050 resolution doesn't work (odd ... But seems morel like Xorg issue than CentOS).
It seems to be pretty desktop oriented, no gcc by default for example, Windows-style pop-up ``balloons'' for updates, etc.
UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that would also stop you from doing clever things.
RE: what linux distro do you use and/or like?
My personal favorite nis Ubuntu due to the fact that i has support for almost any architecture (I.E. Sparc) and its ease of use and flexibility.
Google Linux is a Green Horns Best Friend (GHBF).
Windows = a 32 bit extensions to a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a four bit processor written by 2-bit monopolistic software company founded by a .3-bit Harvard Drop out, who can't stand one respectable bit of competition.
If I believe something to be immoral a will not keep quite and let my voice of annoyance be heard loud and clear.
CentOS is RH based--the default install is, oddly enough for a desktop user, and has no gcc by design. One has to choose to install development tools during install.
Basically, what you need is
yum -y install gcc gcc-c++ make kernel-devel
This should pull in the other necessary programs.
The reason I say oddly enough is that RH is aimed, so they (RH) say, at the server market, conceding the desktop to Ubuntu. On the other hand, one can argue that adds security to not put compilation tools on a server, and it turns into a bikeshed discussion.
My biggest complaints against RH are the gaps in their docs, and their increasing focus on their GUI tools. An RHCE friend who has worked for them comments that they take great pride in those tools.
CentOS often seems more concerned with proper documentation and QA than is RH. For a Linux server, I consider it an excellent choice.
There's a few articles of mine on their wiki. (Not always credited, usually the name on an article will be the last person who edited it--for example, I got an email from someone about their FreeNX article, because I'd done a very minor edit at the end.)
Ubuntu, though it might be, in many cases, for those who hate Windows, in many other cases, it's for the guru who is just tired of having to configure the system to get the basic things working, and simply wants a base where he can do the more interesting things. I know a few like that.
Whatever you want to say about Ubuntu and Mark Shuttleworth, I think that they have probably done more for OSS (as in open source, not the thing we all like better than alsa) than just about anyone. He's brought it into the mainstream, and it's probably one reason that so many of these hardware manufacturers are shipping with Linux. That can only help the BSD group too, meaning that there will be more drivers. Perhaps it's because I'm not a programmer, but I have less against binary blobs than many folks, as long as it will work.
I'm not saying this is a good choice on my part, it's just my personal feeling. It may come back and bite me one day if it turns out that they have hidden stuff phoning home, but at present, it seems there are enough knowledgeable people integrating the blobs so that that isn't an issue at this point.
As FloridaBSD says, Ubuntu does have flexibility with its ease of use. Additionally, its popularity means that one will almost always be able to find someone to help solve a problem.
I've used over twenty linux distributions and haven't found any of them to be as flexible as FreeBSD. Ubuntu may do well in the ease-of-use department, but it masks much of the underlying functionality. To a lot of their users, that's acceptable because they are looking for a replacement to Windows without a huge learning curve. However, I don't agree that "its popularity [necessarily] means that one will almost always be able to find someone to help solve a problem." I previously defined Ubuntu's target users; with that definition in mind, you can bet that if a difficult problem arises, then a lot of the users won't know how to solve it because they never truly learned about Linux or Unix. There's nothing wrong with that until you hit that sort of a problem, and at that point, only knowledgeable users can help you. By the way, check out Ubuntu forums. The Ubuntu community is one of the worst I've seen with tons of members that truly don't know what they are talking about. I had an argument with one user about how a server should not run X unless absolutely necessary. He and his cronies were trying to make the case that X on a server is perfectly acceptable and normal.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
Last edited by ninjatux; 5th August 2008 at 05:59 AM.
You will find a lot of input here: http://wiki.osx86project.org
Compatibility lists, what hardware works and so.
Generally I put Mac OS X CD, created partition for Mac in Mac installer, then hit install, reboot, done.
Mac computer is currently nothing more then x86 Intel based box with s/BIOS/EFI nothing more.
There is also project called EFI-X: http://www.efi-x.com/index.php?language=english which allows ou to run unmodified Mac OS X on x86/amd64 but I did not have time to try that.
religions, worst damnation of mankind
"If 386BSD had been available when I started on Linux, Linux would probably never had happened." Linus Torvalds
Linux is not UNIX! Face it! It is not an insult. It is fact: GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not UNIX".
vermaden's: links resources deviantart spreadbsd
@ninjatux. Well, let's be flexible in our definition of flexible. In this case, I meant easily used by the beginner and still usable by the more advanced.
In the sense that I think you're using the word, configurable, you won't get an argument from me. However, though I've used many different Linux distributions, I've probably spent more time learning how to configure the BSDs, so I could easily be wrong. (For example, I don't do that much configuring of CentOS, choose some packages here, stop some services there, and then go to putting in the applications.)
As for Ubuntu forums, yes, there are far more beginners than experts there, but the number of experts seems sufficient--it's just that there's a lot of silliness to wade through before finding an answer. I remember coming across a thread of someone who had a problem--seeing that the thread was 20 posts long, I didn't think it would need me to post the solution. (A simple with thing with sound on Acer laptops at the time, which as been fixed since.)
However, looking at the thread, I saw that no one had given the right answer.
On the other hand, and I guess this fits in with Ubuntu's stated mission, to bring Linux to the masses so to speak, I see amazing patience with the silly beginner questions on that forum. I also see that the beginners gradually answer the person with even less knowledge, so it seems to be a good community, despite the sometimes overwhelming numbers of newcomers.
Wubi is an installer that dual boots Ubuntu with Windows. I installed it on this notebook last Sunday. As of this morning it wouldn't boot into Ubuntu anymore and I may have lost some work. I admit there is something wrong with this notebook but it does boot into Windows.
If you aren't familiar with it, it puts Ubuntu into a compressed folder in Windows. You can install/uninstall through Windows just like any other program.
If anyone has a guess, I'm on a notebook Compaq Presario 2525 and I get an Axiom PXE boot problem saying a network cable isn't installed. I've had this issue for a month or so. Usually powering down/up fixes it.
Read the comments, and you'll see why I don't want to have much to do with Linux. No doubt, some of those people won't be able to even hold a candle to people who have used other Unix's. The Linux community is just too misinformed and misguided.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
Glancing through the comments, I don't see what got you so annoyed. You must have read them more closely than I did.
I'm sure that your right, some of the people wouldn't be able to connect the cables, but I guess that we should beware of spreading FUD. There's lots of very knowledgeable Linux users out there.
I agree with Scottro. There are some of the usual fan-boy responses from the young and naive, but also some by people who seem to know what they are doing.
For me, I don't choose a product based on who uses it. I choose based whether it works for me or not. Heavens, I drive a Benz. Does that mean I'm a rich, insufferable snot? I can assure you the former at least is not true.
I don't choose a product based on who uses it, either. If I were to, then I wouldn't have bought a Mac. However, if you look at some of the comments, it seems that a lot of those people are completely oblivious to what Linux, and in the general sense Unix, is all about, yet they use it. I don't care what somebody uses, but I expect them to be knowledgeable about what they use.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
Yes, I flipped through a few and can see why he got irritated.
With all due respect to the knowledgeable youngsters out there , I do get very frustrated when I realize the f'n idiot I've been arguing with, and can't understand how anyone can think that way, is still in school and never had a full-time job.
Agreed. Anyone worried about the Microscoft tax clearly has never paid the bevy of taxes an employer does for an employee.
(added) That wasn't part of this particular discussion, but often it is.
After trying several distributions, i found that Arch Linux was the best choice for me - after FreeBSD of course.
Last edited by mutex; 10th August 2008 at 03:57 PM. Reason: typo
I have jumped around through a few Linux distros in my time.
So far I've yet to find one that makes me as happy as FreeBSD in terms of package management, which is fairly important.
1) Arch Linux -- I like that in theory they offer both binary and source options like FreeBSD, but it's very immature -- the system is extremely awkward if you go source and (silent) broken dependencies seem very common. Overall, Arch is good in theory but needs ~3+ years before it is mature.
2) Debian. Debian was how I found out that I hate binary-only distros. Lasted about 6 hours on my machine.
3) Gentoo. Gentoo would be a lot better if I had a tinderbox or a faster processor, but at 1.6GHz I'm wasting a lot of time. Portage is good but not great. Very few binaries (outside of OO and Firefox) and upgrading frequently silently breaks dependencies, which is a big pet peeve. It's what I currently run. I'm less than satisfied, though.
4) (K)Ubuntu. We run this at work. I like that everything Just Works(tm). This is what I recommend to all Linux noobs. The KDE interface is less intimidating for people who are migrating from Windows. I'd never run it on my home machine though, because as I said I hate binary-only package systems.
5) Slackware. This is the next one I need to try out. I hear a lot about it and have never loaded it up. It'll probably eventually replace my Gentoo after I back Gentoo up (I am *not* rebuilding that from scratch on this slow processor )
FreeBSD addict since 4.2-RELEASE.
My FreeBSD wiki.
My main desktop is Ubuntu, Vista, XP (have to have the windows)
My media server is Mint
Laptop is Arch (could't get OpenBSD running on it)
Works system is xubuntu (only one that worked really well on a p3 500 so far)
I have talked about moving to *BSD, my wife doesn't like the idea
other distro's I have used: Mandrake, Gentoo, Red Hat, Fedora, Frugalware, Vector, and soem security based ones.
Debian turned 15 yesterday.
I guess my party invitation was lost in the mail.
Nope, she is more a windows user then Linux and wasn't thrilled when i installed Linux either
So, divorce her and marry this girl instead
The power of plain text? It can control an entire OS
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