(no title)

Too big to fail? Maybe Bank of America is not too big

Posted on July 18, 2011 by elizabethprata

I’m not posting a lot of my own stuff this week, but I wanted to point you toward Michael T. Snyder’s blog entry today:
“Too Big To Fail?: 10 Banks Own 77 Percent Of All U.S. Banking Assets “

His blog entry contains a devastating amount of information that concludes with saying the ‘too big to fail banks’ are likely to fail soon, one of which is Bank of America. And even as I finished reading the essay, the first third of which I posted below, then I read this news: “Bank of America needs 50Billion or may go bankrupt“

And of course, there was a bank run and a stocks shedding.

Here is Michael T. Snyder’s excerpt of today’s blog entry, I recommend it in its entirety.–

“Back during the financial crisis of 2008, the American people were told that the largest banks in the United States were “too big to fail” and that was why it was necessary for the federal government to step in and bail them out. The idea was that if several of our biggest banks collapsed at the same time the financial system would not be strong enough to keep things going and economic activity all across America would simply come to a standstill. Congress was told that if the “too big to fail” banks did not receive bailouts that there would be chaos in the streets and this country would plunge into another Great Depression. Since that time, however, essentially no efforts have been made to decentralize the U.S. banking system. Instead, the “too big to fail” banks just keep getting larger and larger and larger. Back in 2002, the top 10 banks controlled 55 percent of all U.S. banking assets. Today, the top 10 banks control 77 percent of all U.S. banking assets. Unfortunately, these giant banks are also colossal mountains of risk, debt and leverage. They are incredibly unstable and they could start coming apart again at any time. None of the major problems that caused the crash of 2008 have been fixed. In fact, the U.S. banking system is more centralized and more vulnerable today than it ever has been before…”
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theology

Jerusalem: IMAX tour over God’s city

Posted on July 17, 2011 by elizabethprata

Jerusalem, O Jerusalem! See a mindblowing tour from IMAX over Israel to the city at the “middle of the world” –Jerusalem. (6 min)

flash eucharist mob

Flash Eucharist: Just set up a golden calf and dance naked around it, why don’t you?

Posted on July 16, 2011 by elizabethprata

Count the violations. Go on, count. How many blasphemies can you count in 3 minutes?

OK, first let’s soberly and studiously look at the meaning of the Lord’s Supper from GotQuestions.org:

“A study of the Lord’s Supper is a soul-stirring experience because of the depth of meaning it contains. It was during the age-old celebration of the Passover on the eve of His death that Jesus instituted a significant new fellowship meal that we observe to this day. It is an integral part of Christian worship. It causes us to remember our Lord’s death and resurrection and to look for His glorious return in the future.”

“The Passover was the most sacred feast of the Jewish religious year. It commemorated the final plague on Egypt when the firstborn of the Egyptians died and the Israelites were spared because of the blood of a lamb that was sprinkled on their doorposts. The lamb was then roasted and eaten with unleavened bread. God’s command was that throughout the generations to come the feast would be celebrated. The story is recorded in Exodus 12.”

“During the Last Supper—a Passover celebration—Jesus took a loaf of bread and gave thanks to God. As He broke it and gave it to His disciples, He said, “’This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you’” (Luke 22:19-21). He concluded the feast by singing a hymn (Matthew 26:30), and they went out into the night to the Mount of Olives. It was there that Jesus was betrayed, as predicted, by Judas. The following day He was crucified.”

“The accounts of the Lord’s Supper are found in the Gospels (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:17-25; Luke 22:7-22; and John 13:21-30). The apostle Paul wrote concerning the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. Paul includes a statement not found in the Gospels: “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). We may ask what it means to partake of the bread and the cup “in an unworthy manner.” It may mean to disregard the true meaning of the bread and cup and to forget the tremendous price our Savior paid for our salvation. Or it may mean to allow the ceremony to become a dead and formal ritual or to come to the Lord’s Supper with unconfessed sin. In keeping with Paul’s instruction, we should examine ourselves before eating the bread and drinking the cup.”

“The Lord’s Supper/Christian Communion is a remembrance of what Christ did for us and a celebration of what we receive as a result of His sacrifice.”

So who is qualified to oversee the Lord’s Supper?
“Christians universally agree that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ and should be observed as an ordinance in the church by His followers. It was to the Corinthian church that Paul wrote instructions concerning the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Paul later wrote to Timothy about the qualifications for church leaders, bishops/elders and deacons (1 Timothy 3:1-13). In the original language the word “deacon” comes from a verb that means “to serve,” probably in the sense of waiting on tables, but it also came to be used to signify a broad range of service in the church. Because of the connotation of table service in the word deacon and the centrality of the Lord’s Supper in the worship of the early church, there is strong indication that serving the communion elements was an important function of deacons.” [And church leaders are males].

“From this we can conclude that designated church leadership conducted the Lord’s Supper in the early church; however, there is no Scripture specifically given with “how to” instructions. Therefore, it would seem reasonable for the leadership, if there were an insufficient number of deacons present, to appoint laymen to serve.”

“More important than who serves communion is the attitude with which it is both served and received. First Corinthians 11:27 goes on to say that those who take the elements in an “unworthy manner” are guilty of sin against the body and blood of Christ. An unworthy manner can mean the taking of the elements by those who do not belong to Christ or taking them in a flippant or irreverent manner. It can also mean using the ceremony as a means to be seen before the eyes of men to be exalted by them. Verse 28 gives the criteria for both serving and participating in the Lord’s supper. We are to examine ourselves before we partake and be sure our hearts are right before the Lord. Then both the servers and the receivers can be sure of pleasing God when they participate in His communion.”

So knowing all this, with Scriptures to back it up, how many violations can you count? How patient He is to endure all this blasphemy and idolatry and perversion! How longsuffering! Soon enough, His name will at long last be recognized by one and all as the Holiest. Until then, we have righteous anger at the profaning of His spotless name and His holy ordinances … and we also have a deep love for those who know not what they do, because surely, the Lord’s anger will be unleashed on them many times over.
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israel, manasseh tribe, prophecy

"Lost" tribe of Manasseh given go-ahead for return to Israel

Posted on July 16, 2011 by elizabethprata

I’d written on June 27 about the “lost” tribe of Manasseh were captured by the Assyrians and carted off in the 8th century BC. They are now living in the far hinterlands of northeast India, near Burma, and have for 2700 years practiced the Jewish faith precisely as the original tribe did when they were captured.

For several years now, a representative has been appealing for aliyah, being allowed to return, en masse. They were making good progress until a few years ago when previous Prime Minister Ehud Barak inexplicably stopped all petitions and refused to hear them. In June of this year they had another meeting which was better received. The Rabbinical council acknowledged that this group is of the Manasseh tribe, and all that then remained was the go-ahead for the process to begin for them to return to Israel. That permission was granted this week.

Resolution to Bring Bnei Menashe Home
“The government has decided to draft a resolution to bring India’s Bnei Menashe populace home to Israel, after years of lobbying by the Shavei Israel Organization. The 2,700-year-old group, which claims its ancestry from the Lost Tribe of Menashe, has maintained many of the laws and traditions written in the Torah.The resolution, backed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, is expected to go to the Cabinet by the end of this month.”

We often think of miracles of the blind suddenly seeing, cancerous tumors disappearing, tornadoes missing one particular house though devastation is all around. But this is a miracle too. It is a fact that by the second generation all displaced cultures begin assimilating. All displaced cultures absorb the culture around them. They lose their language, or it begins to be peppered with phrases from the culture in which they live. Maintaining perfect mirror-like images of the original culture, though thousands of miles away from their homeland has never occurred in all of anthropology- except the Jewish people. This is truly a miracle, a 2,700 year old miracle! If you are interested, here is an article from Haaretz newspaper from 1999, tracing the Manasseh Tribe’s winding history to the place they live in now:

Bnei Menashe in India

“Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind.” (Ezekiel 39:28)

As we read the rest of the news, particularly as it relates to Israel, please ponder the miracle that this is. His providential care is eternal. His promises from centuries ago hold in perfect truth until the day of their fulfillment. That means His promises for us, too, His church and bride, also are eternal, timeless, and perfect. He is mighty, not losing even one of His sparrows, whether they are in exile in the mountains of India for 2700 years, or are in the rolling hills of Georgia, He knows where all His children are, and He will not leave any one behind.
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end time, judgment, lightning

48 years apart: Lightning strikes kill dad, son

Posted on July 15, 2011 by elizabethprata

It might be time to review what God has to say about lightning…

A story out of NJ today:

“HAMMONTON, N.J. – July 14, 2011 (WPVI) — The story seems almost unbelievable, but the bark blown off an old sycamore tree is a reminder this tragedy is all too real. It was in a Hammonton backyard that 54-year-old Stephen Rooney was struck by lightning at a family barbeque July 3rd as he stepped away from the crowd to light a cigar. The party host, Rooney’s cousin and next door neighbor, Funzi Digerolamo, says a giant bolt shook the yard. “Hit the tree, went up the tree. It electrified all through the root system of the tree at that time so he was standing right in the electric field,” Digerolamo said. Digerolamo’s son Scott was blown right off a bench, but survived. Steve Rooney died five days later.”

“Just before he was hit, Rooney downplayed concerns about the lightning. “He had just said that lightning doesn’t strike two people in one family right before it happened, not long before it happened, he said that,” neighbor Paula Weisbecker said. Lightning is not supposed to strike twice, but in this case it did.”

“Steve Rooney’s father George was also killed by lightning 48 years ago when Steve was just a 5-year-old boy. The odds of this happening to a father and son are astronomical. Everyone is stunned that a bolt of lightning could claim them both, almost 5 decades apart.”

Why TV cooking shows have morphed into adventure programs

Posted on July 15, 2011 by elizabethprata

I’ve been talking about two things lately. First, are the increasing superlatives that must be attached to describe the events we’re seeing in the world. Because Jesus likened the time to birth pangs, we know that birth pangs get worse and worse, more and more painful as the big event nears. The weather is record shattering, this flood is the worst ever, this tornado outbreak is the biggest in history. Yet the superlatives keep getting attached to the events in ever bigger form as the events grow larger and records keep getting shattered. It is an upward spiral that eventually will bring everyone down.

The second thing I’ve been mentioning is ever-deepening sin. Sin’s depths know no bounds. In 1969, Charles Manson was discovered to have led a bevy of mind-controlled females and males into committing the Tate/LaBianca murders in California. Nine people died and it absolutely shocked the country. Nowadays if there aren’t at least nine killings on a television show the ratings dip. As one sin becomes passe, another worse one has to take its place. There is simply no where else to go for the rush except to top it and try and repeat the rush next time.

This deepening of sin and its combined adrenaline rush is played out in television show titles. I was noticing on the television listings about the nature of the titles of reality shows. The Food Network for example. In decades past, the shows used to feature gourmet chefs who were galloping, or were frugal. The titles were benign, inoffensive, charming. The very first cooking show on television was James Beard in 1946. (no, not Julia Child, she came along more than a decade later, in 1962). Beard’s show was simply called “I Love To Eat.”

Nowadays we have gone from:

Top Chef … to … Chopped …to… Iron Chef …to… Extreme Chef. Where once upon a time, people were content to simply sit still for half an hour and watch a competent chef teach them something new, we watch quick-edits of chefs running in the desert and dodging hailstones while extracting ingredients from a block of ice or using a Swiss Army knife as a lone cooking utensil, being are pushed to their physical and mental limit. All for a good pasta.

In 2003 “The Restaurant,” a reality show featuring two owners at odds with each other, was compelling enough to spawn more restaurant shows, each with a more adrenaline-rush name:

Hell’s Kitchen … to … Restaurant Nightmares… to …Restaurant Battle …to … Restaurant Impossible. Impossible! As each television season unveils a new show, the names have to be tougher, the people participating in them have to be rougher, the fights bigger, the injuries worse. And these are the cooking shows. In order to lure increasingly jaded audiences, they entice them with teasers promising blood, crashes, fisticuffs. Again, I’m talking about cooking shows.

In 2000, The History Channel aired a 46-minute episode titled “Ice Road Truckers” as part of the ‘Suicide Missions’ series. The IRT episode became a break out show on its own. After four years, Ice Road Truckers alone wasn’t good enough (not enough of them sank beneath the cracking ice to drown their drivers in a frozen lake?) so we got IRT: Deadliest Roads in the Himalayas with constant quick-cuts to crushed vehicles at the bottom of precipitous inclines.

The shows titles and of course their material are getting more extreme. I think if we looked at a prime time television line-up schedule from 1965 and then looked at one now we’d be shocked at the mentions of extreme, death, deadly, etc. Like this- What’s after ‘Fear Factor’? “Terror Factor”?

The only place to go is down. Television is rapidly becoming more and more shallow, nasty, and polluted. However, being a mirror for our culture, it is only reflective of the people who watch it and our descent into sin is also rapid, polluted, and nasty. It is a progression James 1:15 aptly describes: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” The lust he describes is not just a sexual lust, it is a coveteousness, desire, sensuality that seeks to fill the emptiness inside. That emptiness is a place just waiting for Jesus, His light, His holiness, His righteousness. But if they do not accept Jesus, they continually seek to fill it with ever deepening poisons and perversions.

Unbelievers say that they are free. They are not, they are slaves to their lusts. The television schedule shows us that, plainly. But Jesus is the INSTANT answer to the need for that emptiness to be filled. He is waiting to fill it. You will be a participant in His plan to regenerate you from the inside out. He replaces lusts and poison and depravity with light and holiness and righteousness. You feel fresher. You no longer seek and seek and seek the next high, because you have finally found the ultimate High: Jesus.
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bible jesus, end times, pelosi compares obama to job

Pelosi says that Job is nuthin’ compared to Obama

Posted on July 14, 2011 by elizabethprata

And the biblical allusions just keep on coming. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today in referring to the debt limit talks, that Obama has more patience that Job. Really, WAY more. Her transcribed comments:

“I want to commend the president – I have never seen – Job is no place compared to this president in terms of patience,” said Pelosi at a press briefing on Thursday. “He [Job] doesn’t even begin because this president has demonstrated a level of patience, not only during the meetings but as respect, respectful of the suggestions that are made by all parties at the meeting, in his preparation for the meeting, and his coming back to address concerns that are expressed by others.”

Article here, at CNS, and video below

So Job doesn’t even begin to compare to Barack Obama. Wow. Just wow. Well, maybe she’s right. Let’s check

Obama sat through four meetings, feeling attacked by Republicans. Job was attacked by satan, the most evil being in heaven or earth.

Obama lost time on the golf links, and planning his birthday bash.
Job lost all his herds and all his children in one day.

Obama goes home to a loving and supportive wife.
Job went home to a wife that urged him to “curse God and die.”

Obama has all the possessions he wants or needs.
Job lost everything he had.

Obama worries about graying hair.
Job worried about finding enough potsherds to scratch the pus-filled boils on every inch of his body.

Obama has friends who say he is the greatest man alive.
Job’s friends told him he was a scummy sinner that deserved what he got, including dead children.

I could go on but you get the idea. Let’s cut to the chase. Here’s the truth. Obama has petulance. Job had patience. Obama has the spirit of antichrist. Job has eternal glory in the bosom of God. I guess Pelosi is right. Obama and Job do not compare.
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earthquake english channel, end time

Earthquake hits English Channel

Posted on July 14, 2011May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’d written a couple of weeks ago of a bizarre tsunami that occurred along the southern English coast, accompanied by widespread reports of static electricity. It was said at the time, “Experts said the phenomenon, which was felt from Penzance in Cornwall to Portsmouth, was likely to have been caused by a landslide on the continental shelf under the sea.”

Today an earthquake hit the English Channel. BBC reports:

“An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.9 has struck in the English Channel, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said. The quake had a depth of 10km and its epicentre was south of Portsmouth, according to the BGS. Residents in parts of West Sussex reported buildings shaking for a few seconds at about 0800 BST. Sussex Police, Solent Coastguard and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said they had not been called out to any incidents related to it.”

‘Largest since 1734’
“David Kerridge, from the BGS, said it was the biggest incident of its kind in the area for nearly 300 years. He said: “This is the largest earthquake in this area since a magnitude 4.5 event in 1734. “Historically, there have been two other significant events nearby – a magnitude 5.0 earthquake in 1878 and a magnitude 4.3 earthquake in 1750.” It should be noted that French seismos have the magnitude at 4.6, which WOULD make the quake the biggest in that area and almost the biggest ever.

Think about all those people in the English Channel train tunnel when an earthquake hits. Here is a seismic map:

I have no idea if the English tsunami two weeks ago and the Channel earthquake today are related. But I thought they were interesting, happening in nearly the same location and within a two-week time frame of each other. And here we have yet another superlative: the ‘largest in 300 years’. These birth bangs will progressively get bigger, worse, taller mightier than the one happening before, until they run out of superlatives because the event will exceed man’s ability to comprehend it. (Luke 21:26, Revelation 15-16).

Denver had a terrible storms last night. I read the twitter stream of people talking about it. They were terrified, many natives noting they had never seen the like. Here are the results from today’s news:

“Boulder Creek surge sets off sirens as latest storm wreaks havoc
“Sirens blared and Boulder residents were ordered away from the creek as a 4-foot surge of water rolled into town Wednesday night, part of another wild weather night in Colorado. The Front Range, from Pueblo to Wyoming, roiled amid thunderstorms, lightning, hail and flooding for the second night in a row — and the eighth straight day of heavy rain. Most parts of the metro region have recorded at least three times their normal rainfall for this point in July.”

But that was only the water. Let’s talk about the hail. The hail was so bad it damaged 12 planes and they shut down the airport, stranding 1000 people.

“More than 1,000 airline passengers — including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — were forced to spend the night at Denver International last night after a severe storm forced numerous flight cancellations. The storm brought a 15-minute period of golf-ball-sized hail, which damaged some aircraft at the airport, The Denver Post reports. Some of the damaged planes had to be taken out of service, which complicated efforts to accommodate disrupted passengers.”

You may not know that this was the 8th day in a row such storms plagued the people in Colorado.

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crime, end of days, end time, holy spirit, prophecy, restrainer

Copper thievery and sinful conditions

Posted on July 14, 2011 by elizabethprata

Sin doesn’t end. Sin doesn’t settle. Sin doesn’t shrink. It expands, creeping bigger, more, deeper. A lie in your mind changes to a lie out loud, to two lies, to a tangled web … There is no end to Jesus’ love and conversely, there is no end to sin. The heights of Jesus love are mirrored by the depths of sin, and sin can go pretty deep.

Jesus, Paul, and Peter outlined the specifics of what was to come at the end of the age (in the Tribulation). But they all also taught about moral conditions that would be upon humanity. Jesus said “love will wax cold”, (Mt 24:12); Paul said they will be brutal, unloving, and without self-control (2 Timothy 3:3); Peter said the truth will be blasphemed and covetousness will rule (2 Peter2:2-3) just to give a few examples.

Jesus also said that the Tribulation will be a time like the days of Noah. In the days of Noah, the evil of man was so great that he only had evil thoughts, continuously. (Gen 6:5) That is 100% sin saturation! We are not at 100% saturation of evil now, but we are sliding down the hill quickly. After believers are removed from the earth at the rapture (Gen 6:3) and the ministry of restraint of the Holy Spirit is removed, (2Thessalonians 2:6) evil will have free reign to unleash whatever it will. It will be pretty bad. Jesus said that unless He cut short the days, no one would be left alive on the earth, it will be so evil and violent. (Mt 24:22).

So let me give you an example of the descent of sin. We are not in the Tribulation now, but we do have to move from the level of earthly sin we’re in now toward that 100% mark and I believe we are seeing the speeding up of it now, in this time just prior to the rapture.

The metaphor of deepening sin is encapsulated in an example of the copper thieves.

Copper thievery is a sin that has always plagued us. But it has spiked exponentially, said police in Alabama. “Record copper prices have caused a surge in U.S. copper thefts, plaguing law enforcement and local governments and prompting states to pass new laws. “Since the beginning of the 2004 spike in copper prices, copper theft and copper prices have been directly linked,” a 2010 U.S. Department of Energy study on copper wire thefts said.”

Thieves used to take coils from constructions sites, empty houses, when no one was around. Then they began stealing copper from churches. They graduated to gutters, and these kind of bandits are called “gutter grabbers.” Most often the house is occupied, the thieves not caring if people are about. They they moved on up to larger booty: transformers. In this article titled, “Antioch Copper Wire Thieves Reach New High – Or Low” you see, the lows just keep getting lower. “Just days after Pacific Gas and Electric lamented the ongoing and widespread theft of copper wire from its Antioch power poles, the utility is now revealing that a particularly brazen thief – or thieves – stole an entire transformer from a power pole.”

The booty is getting bigger, and so is the personal risk, both to the owners of the copper and to the thieves. More of them who attempt to steal copper from live wires are getting fatally electrocuted.

So then they ‘graduated’ from transformers to whole air conditioning units, attached to houses where the people are living. Stealing the unit puts the people inside at risk, of course. In a heat wave people die. Stealing the scrap metal or copper from live gas lines means houses explode, sometimes with the people inside them. These thieves sunk even lower, stealing the AC unit from an animal shelter, putting all the puppies and kittens at risk.

So in a short time we have gone from a constant of petty wire thievery at abandoned homes or constructions sites, to huge AC units attached to homes, churches and non-profit centers, and from pipes to gutters to entire transformers that black out whole neighborhoods. But we don’t stop there.

These thieves stole an entire irrigation system in Modesto CA. “Thieves crushed a grape crop when they took off with the tools that help a local vineyard to grow. Grape grower Frank Rashid was on track for a record-breaking year. “See how beautiful?” said Rashid, gesturing toward his grapes.But in an instant, thieves crippled all of his hard work. “A lot of trouble for me, [and] the grapes; I can lose the crop, you know,” said Rashid. Bad guys stole the grape irrigation system worth more than $10,000.”

Copper thievery has gotten so persistent and so bad that there are states proposing laws regulating the sale of the metal. Copper thievery has risen sharply in Winston-Salem, with “more copper thefts in Winston-Salem in the first six months of 2011 than there were all of last year, city police said.”

The boldness of the copper thieves, the size of the booty, the heightening of danger, are examples of a downward progression in sin and evil in these last days. This progression is in all sins and crimes of course. We’ve gone from child abuse, to child abuse and kidnapping, to child abuse, kidnapping and murder, to child abuse, kidnapping, murder and dismemberment. Embezzlement is no longer perpetrated by a furtive, mealy-mouth man in some back cubicle at a tiny company. That sin’s depths were revealed to us in the Bernie Madoff schemes where he boldly made off with billions. Petty shoplifting is a thing of the quaint past, now we have whole mobs storming stores in full view of security guards and grabbing all that they can. Each and every sin on earth is getting deeper, worse, more corrupt.

The point is, you don’t want to be here when there is NO restraint. Things are this bad now but soon there will be free reign to plunder, steal, be brutal and selfish and the sanctity of life will mean nothing.

By His grace He died to save us from our sins. He will forgive you your unholy crimes if you ask him with penitent heart. He is sending these signs and warnings to us now to let us know the era is drawing to a close. He will remove His bride from the earth, He will send the Holy Spirit into retreat, He will allow satan full capacity to do his worst. You really don’t want to be here when that happens. And you don’t have to be. Just turn to Jesus.
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fibonacci

Glory Window in the Thanks-Giving Square Chapel

Posted on July 14, 2011 by elizabethprata

The “Glory Window” of the Thanks-Giving Square Chapel in downtown Dallas, Texas:
photo source here

“The most prominent and recognizable feature of Thanks-Giving Square is the Chapel of Thanksgiving, a small, spiral tower that features an enclave for prayerful thanks. Inside the chapel, the spiral is topped with stained glass “Glory Window”, one of largest horizontally mounted stained-glass pieces in the world. The window was designed by Gabriel Loire of Chartres, France to feature brighter colors as the spiral reached its apex, becoming brighter as it reaches the center. Philip Johnson and Burgee Architects designed the Chapel of Thanksgiving in 1976. The spiral shape of the window is inspired by the spiralled shape of the chambered nautilus.”

Glory Window in the Thanks-Giving Square Chapel

What is it about the chambered nautilus that makes it so beautiful, compelling, and sought-after? The BeachChair Scientists says:

“Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.”
Oliver Wendall Holmes (1804-1894)

“The above is only an excerpt from the poem, “The Chambered Nautilus” by Holmes published in 1858. But, it begins to hint at the marvel of this magnificent cephalopod. The chambered nautilus has become breathtaking subject matter for generations of artists and has become a commodity on the commercial trade industry.”

“The chambered nautilus is a squid that lives inside a shell marked with a brown and white zebra pattern. As the squid grows, the shell grows with it and creates compartments which are used as gas chambers and help the cephalopod rise or sink in the water column. The inside of the shell is lined with an iridescent pearl. In the last chamber of the shell are almost 90 tentacles and large eye peering out. Predators of the chambered nautilus include sharks, turtles and octopus.”

“What makes the chambered nautilus so mysterious and sought after?”

“Is it is mother of pearl that line the inside of this creature’s shell?”

“Is it that it represents a far off species only found tropical Indo-Pacific?”

“Most likely, I think it is that the inside compartments of the nautilus each mirror its smaller and larger part exactly and the animal is an example of the golden rectangle found in nature.”

“This harmonic progression is an illustration of Fibonacci’s sequence. This is a sequence where the first two numbers in the series are added to create the third number for a series of number that begins 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 and so on forever. This proportional pattern can be seen all over in nature: flower petals, pinecones and even galaxies. Below is an illustration of the proportion as it relates to the chambered nautilus.”

Image – http://2muchfun.info

See, when we respond to the beauty of the interior of the chambered nautilus we are responding to the orderliness and beauty of God’s creation. He patterned it. He ordered it. He made it lyrical, poetic, beautiful. This beauty is not only captured in the iridescence of the shell, or in the stateliness of a pine tree, or the symmetry of a wave, but in the math behind these exterior aesthetic qualities that please us. Oftentimes we don’t know why we like them so well, but we do. There is an orderliness in the Fibonacci sequence that satisfies, somehow. We are responding to this:

“because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” (Romans 1:19-20)

We are responding to God when we acclaim the beauty of the orderly creation.
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