“Fake news!  Fake news!”  Just about the whole world has heard those words hurled at media in recent weeks by a head-of-state.  And media has fought back in what would look like a protracted word war.  That war is even threatening to escalate into physical violence!

Who’s to tell what’s fake and what’s real?   Why do some people talk about “true facts” — insinuating that there are “false facts?”  But a “fact” is fact because it is true!  The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines “fact” as “something that truly exists or happens.”  Otherwise, the thing is mere “fiction”  — not real or actual.  Fake!  A product merely of one’s imagination!

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John 3:16 — that famous quote from the “beloved disciple” of Jesus Christ (John 13:23; 21:20-24) — declares:  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”   Yet the same apostle John also wrote:  “Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

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As many people reckon time, a new year — 2017 — has just broken.  [See:  “Happy New Year!”]  For many, this also is a time to make “New Year’s resolutions,” a time to change — usually for the better.  But, as many ruefully find out while the days, weeks and months roll by, those resolutions are soon forgotten and fall by the wayside.  “Maybe next year again?” they console themselves.

Why do men need to change, whereas God says, “I do not change” (Malachi 3:6)?  Just what does God mean by that?

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It is that time of the year again — the “Christmas season.”  Many call this time a “season of giving” — a season when people “give gifts” to each other.  And because people do that, it is also a season of buying — and selling!  Many commercial companies realize their greatest profits during this season more than at any other time of the year.

Preachers often bemoan the fact that, while the people are “exchanging gifts” with each other, they forget to give to the cause of Jesus Christ, who many say is the “reason for the season.”

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The month of November this year 2016 has been a crucial month for the people of the United States of America (U.S.A.) as they voted for their new president and other officials.  Through the ever-watchful eyes of the multi-media, the whole world had been witness to the colorful proceedings of the campaign by the two political parties for their presidential and other bets.  Now the election is over.  Many are happy about the result, but many also are not happy.

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And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy in their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:10.)

Practically everybody has heard about people who kidnap another person and ask for a huge sum of money as ransom in exchange for the kidnapped person’s freedom or release.  Unless ransomed, the kidnapped person could end up either as a slave to the kidnappers, being sold to others or, at worst, dead.  At best, however, the duly constituted authorities could hunt down the kidnappers, apprehend them or execute them, and rescue the kidnap victim.

The late founder and pastor-general of the Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong, wrote about Satan the devil having held captive or “kidnapped” the world, the entirety of mankind.  [See this link:  https://herbert-armstrong.org, click ENTER HERE and select “Books & Booklets,” and scroll down to the booklet titled “A World Held Captive.”  See also:  Where Did the Devil Come From?]

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Humanism affirms that there is an innate or natural “goodness” in man, that every person has dignity and worth.  However, a number of people — from serious to humorous — have tried to calculate how much a human being is worth, from a merely chemical perspective.

Almost all are agreed about the top seven chemical elements that compose the human body:  65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, 1.5% calcium, 1% phosphorus, and 0.35% potassium.  The chemical value placed on these and other elements in the human body varies from $1 to $160  or more [see:  www.datagenetics.com/blog/april12011/ and several other websites under Google search on “chemical worth of man”].

Chemically worth a little under $2,000 at best, man is “cheap.”  And thus a lot of people so regard human life:  cheap and expendable.

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Just about every society on earth has its prison houses or jailhouses (gaols, to the British).  To most people it has seemed simply logical that, in order to contain the damage done by criminal elements in society, they have to be restrained in some place where society will be safe from them.

Some societies, or some eras, have even gone to such an extreme as to place erring or undesirable individuals in some dank, damp and dark dungeon — a hole in the earth.  Even before medieval lore and now computer games, people like Joseph had been given the dungeon treatment in Egypt (Genesis 40:15; 41:4).  So had the prophet Jeremiah been treated centuries later (Jeremiah 37:16 – 38:13).

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Today anyone who talks about “law” is almost immediately labeled a “legalist” or one who engages in “legalism.”  It’s so easy for this to happen because the word “legal,” says the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, means “of or relating to the law.”  It also means “conforming to or permitted by law or established rules.”

The word “legal” comes from the Latin root lex (law) and the derivative form legis or legalis.  From this form we also derive the word “legislature,” which the same dictionary defines as “a group of people with the power to make or change laws.”  That group of people is said to have the power to “legislate”  — to make laws, particularly for a political unit.  “Legislation” is the act of making laws and rules, as well as changing or amending them.  This same dictionary defines “legalism” as: “strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code.”

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