Legend or Historical Fact?*

Frontal and Dorsal Image on the Shroud of Turin

 

A legend is something that has been believed historically, but it is difficult to prove. The debate regarding whether certain events in scripture are fact or legend has caused division in the Church, and in the secular world. However, to falsely label these events as legend, ignores the fact that there is physical proof regarding the truth of the events as described in scripture. Jesus spoke about the danger caused by division, as the Pharisees slandered both Him, and the Holy Spirit. They accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan, rather than by the anointing of the Holy Spirit:
"Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand....But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you...He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad...all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men...I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified (Rom. 10:9-10), and by thy words, thou shalt be condemned."  
                                                                                      Mt. 12:22-37 (excerpt)
The religious leaders came to Jesus and demanded a sign from Him that would confirm His identity as the Messiah. Jesus rebuked them as an evil generation, those who seek after a sign, and told them that the only sign they would receive from Him would be "the sign of the prophet Jonas." He described His own coming death and resurrection from the heart of the earth as fulfilling the sign supplied by Jonah, who was in the whale's belly for three days and three nights (Mt. 12:38-40). Many in the Church and world today, and no doubt in Jesus' time as well, consider the scriptural account of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish (Jonah 1:17) to be legend. Jonah prayed to God from the place of death, "the belly of hell", and was spit out by the great fish by command of God, alive again (Jonah 2:1-10). Jesus confirmed this account not only as truth, but as prophetic regarding the Messiah, Himself. This sign of Jonah was also a sign of salvation to those  who witnessed it in Jonah's time, the people of Nineveh, who believed and repented at this unusual sign of Jonah, and were saved from destruction. Those who believe the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ are saved in this same manner. Those same believing people of Nineveh will rise up at the time of judgment to testify against those who disregarded this sign through unbelief (v. 41).
There are many accounts of men being swallowed by these giant creatures. A sperm whale, in particular, is capable of swallowing whole prey even much larger than a man.
Many, even in the Church, treat the story of Jonah as a legend only. Sadly, they find it equally difficult to believe in the resurrection of Christ. Scripture is not here to feed us legends, but truth.
Regarding the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, scripture prophesied that there would come a Servant of God who would suffer and die, not for His own sin, but for the atonement of others (Isa. 52-53):
"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."  Isa. 53:5
The following is also prophesied about this servant of God:
"So shall he sprinkle (NAZAH-spurt, spatter, sprinkle, startle, including pertaining to the blood of expiation (of sin) many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider."  Isa. 52:15
The verse above promises that there would be incontrovertible physical evidence of this atonement to be seen, even by those who had not been told of it. Many, including some in the Church, treat the Shroud of Turin as a legend. However, unbiased scientific studies could not find evidence of forgery, but of authenticity. The image visible on the Shroud  with its unique characteristics could not be re-created by any method. These are just a few of the characteristics of the image on the Shroud:
-The image is not paint or dye.
-The image is only on the very surface of the linen fiber, and does not penetrate the fiber.
-The image is a three-dimensional, photographic negative, the origin of which predates photography by hundreds of years.
-The linen fabric upon which the image rests, does not shown any evidence on its fibers that the fabric has been rubbed in any certain direction, so the image was not rubbed onto the fabric. 
-Neither chemicals, heat, nor water have any effect on the image.
-A scientist named Raymond N. Rogers proved that the previous carbon dating, which had  dated the Shroud to the Middle Ages, was done on a section of the Shroud that had been woven in to repair damaged sections of the linen. This weaving technique used to repair fabric is called "invisible weaving", making it difficult to detect to the naked eye.The fabric which had been carbon dated was made of cotton, rather than linen, and therefore could not have been part of the original Shroud.
All of these facts and much more, are found in the latest book by Dr. Kenneth Stevenson entitled, "NAZAH: White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling". (See below for the ordering information).
In these times of division in the Church, division within the nation that threatens to destroy it, with nations lining up against Israel according to prophecy, with the spread of sin, with signs of the end times all around us, we cannot afford to ignore the signs provided to us by God, or to dismiss them carelessly as legend. They are fact and truth. They are there to bring us to repentance, and salvation, and to rescue us from destruction.

 *The above is based upon the 2/24/19 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson.
 

To Contact/Submit prayer requests/Support the ministry/Order the book, "NAZAH":

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

http://endtimeschool.com/

To watch/hear Dr. Stevenson's complete message:

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

https://everlastingcovenant.sermon.net/main/main/21320220
 

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.

 

  

To order "NAZAH": https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8     http://endtimeschool.com/  

 

                                           

 



Are You in the Valley of Decision?*

 

This is a call to the Ekklesia, the called out assembly of God's people, to a day of new beginnings across this land. Many in the Church are compromising the truth, and this compromise will destroy us. Laws are being currently considered in our nation that many believe could eventually prohibit the sale of the Bible. We are at a moment in time when each of us will have to decide if we will stand for the Truth, which is His Word, or compromise, and deny it. Are you one who is in this valley of decision? The prophet Joel wrote that multitudes will be in this valley as the day of the LORD comes (Joel 3:14). The prophet Hosea spoke the word of the LORD to God's people for them to return to the LORD, and he even provided them the effective words to speak to God:

"O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity .Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously:so will we render the calves (meaning sacrificial offering) of our lips." Hos. 14:1-2

The LORD goes on to promise in these verses that He will heal our backsliding, and love us freely. His anger will turn away from us (v. 4). The LORD says that  wisdom, understanding, and prudence teach that "the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein."

The ways of the LORD are found in His Word. As God appointed Joshua in the leading of the people into the promised land, He commanded him:

"Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."   Josh. 1:7-8

Prosperity and success have their foundation in not only the knowledge of the Word of God, but in the fact that His people are to meditate upon His Word. In meditating upon the Word of God, it becomes part of us. David wrote in Psalm 1 that those who delight in the law and meditate upon it day and night are blessed. They are like a tree planted by the water-ever living, green and fruitful. He prospers in whatever he does. The ungodly, the sinners, and the scornful do not live in this same blessing. Those who turn away from this knowledge of God, fall further into the ways of destruction. The apostle Paul also warned of this in Romans 1. As the people of God have indeed rejected God in their knowledge regardless of these warnings, it cannot be denied that we have seen the proliferation of all of these things that result from that reprobate mind today:

"...unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful..."   Rom. 1:29-31

Even knowing that all of these things result in death, those who have turned away from the truth still do them, and have pleasure in seeing others do them (v. 32).

Jesus said that as the day of His coming approaches and is revealed, we will see the same conditions that existed before the destruction by the flood in Noah's generation, and the destruction by fire of Sodom in Lot's generation (Lk. 17:26-30). We are seeing, especially in America, these very same conditions, as God's people have turned away from, and compromised the truth, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding found in God's Word.

The prophet Ezekiel wrote the word of the LORD to His covenant people about the iniquity of "thy sister (intimate connection, together with, resemblance, like, each to the other) Sodom (burning, conflagration)" before the fire from heaven fell upon it, and that condition of iniquity sounds very much like the condition of America today:

"...pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters (children branches, like quality or condition), neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy...they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore, I took them away as I saw good."  Ezek. 16:49-50

Have God's people today become like their sister Sodom and her daughters, as they had previously? The LORD also speaks through Ezekiel that as His people remember their covenant with God, and remember their own ways with shame, He will establish His everlasting covenant again with them (v. 60-63). The LORD makes that same promise of healing, forgiveness and restoration upon the whole land with the repentance of His people in 2 Chron. 7:14 and 1 Jn. 1:9.

Psalm 11 talks about the wicked enemy who takes deadly shots at the righteous, and asks the sad question, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" The psalmist, King David, says to "Trust in the LORD". The LORD is still on His throne, and He sees the hearts of both the wicked, and the righteous, and their ends are very different.

The people of God need to remember the covenant He has made with us through the costly blood of His Son, Jesus, who gave us His righteousness, because we didn't have any of our own. The condition of our nation indicates that many of the ekklesia have entered into the valley of decision. It is time for His people to decide whether they will choose the way of the LORD.

I believe this can be the day of a new beginning for the ekklesia, and for this nation, depending upon that choice.

 

 *The above is based upon the 2/17 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson.

To Contact/Submit prayer requests/Support the ministry/Order the book, "NAZAH":

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

http://endtimeschool.com/

To watch/hear Dr. Stevenson's complete message:

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

https://everlastingcovenant.sermon.net/main/main/21320220
 

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.

 

 

 

In God We Trust-Or Do We?*

 

As we see the signs of the end times as prophesied in scripture, manifesting around us, it is important to heed God's repeated warning to His people. We say that we trust in God, but there are many indications, even among believers, that we are relying and trusting in the wrong things in these challenging times. This is the admonition of the LORD:

"The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee...in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfill all thy petitions. Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD or God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen and stand upright..."  Psalm 20 (excerpt)

This psalm of David tells us that the name of the LORD is a greater defense and power than the military might of men and nations. Military strength, alliances and defensive walls do not guarantee safety and security. Our trust and hope cannot rely upon them. There is a warning associated with this kind of dependence on natural strength. Again the LORD says:

"Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen because they are very strong; but they look not unto the holy one of Israel, neither seek the LORD."   Isa. 31:1

At the time, Egypt was the strongest military might on earth, much as the United States is today. Israel would make alliances with Egypt, depending upon Egypt to protect them from attack. If we are looking to "Egypt" for protection, we are not looking to the LORD.

 Often we in the church depend upon political leadership, or political parties, to solve the terrible problems that are plaguing our nation. The LORD warns against this false reliance:

"Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God, which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all therein is: which keepeth truth for ever...the way of the wicked he turneth upside down."  Ps. 146:3-6, 9

Jeremiah elaborates on the curse associated with trusting men for safety and prosperity in this fashion, and the contrasting blessing for those whose trust is in God:

"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land (ruined, permanently barren land which cannot support life) and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful (anxious, concerned, fearful) in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."  
                                                                                                      Jer. 17:5-8

We must guard against the trusting of men rather than God. When we do this, we are departing from our relationship with God. It is an easy trap to fall into, because Jeremiah tells us that our hearts, being wicked, can deceive us in this matter, but the LORD sees exactly where we have placed our trust (v. 9-10).

While we may understand the pitfalls of placing our trust in man and his words and might, there is another danger we may not consider. Man places trust in his religious systems. The LORD placed Jeremiah at the door of the house of the LORD to proclaim to those who were entering to worship:

"Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these."   Jer. 7:4

The LORD said that only if the people thoroughly amended their ways and their doings, could they continue to dwell in their place (v. 3, 5). The people of Judea and Jerusalem depended on the fact that the temple of God being there in their city would protect them from the threatening enemy. However, they continued to live in whatever fashion they chose. A building, even one dedicated to God, cannot save. A religious system, and religious traditions and rituals, cannot save. Salvation is received through a personal relationship with God by the atoning blood of Christ. God had this relationship with man in the beginning before sin destroyed it, and He gave His Son in order to provide a way of restoring this broken personal relationship. Recently, at a conference of leaders representing the various world religions, the Pope made the statement that all of the religions represented there worship the same God. This is not the truth. There is only one way and one name, Jesus Christ, Yeshua haMashiach, by which we may be saved. The Church is not a building. It is the living body of Christ, the "ekklesia", the called out assembly of God's people: called out from darkness and into His light, called out from death into life. The LORD is calling His people to thoroughly amend their ways. Jeremiah wept over the condition of the people of God, calling them an adulterous assembly of treacherous men (Jer. 9:2). The LORD said:

"...they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me...through deceit, they refuse to know me."  Jer. 9:3-6 (excerpt)

The LORD is calling His people to return to him, because He is merciful:

"Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion."   Jer. 3:13-14

The LORD promised that He will provide pastors, according to His heart, which shall feed His people with knowledge and understanding (v. 15).

This pastor has had the same message for many years. That message is from 2 Chron. 7:14:

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

In God we trust - or do we? We are being called by God to search, and thoroughly amend our hearts.

 

*The above is based upon the 2/10 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson.

To Contact/Submit prayer requests/Support the ministry/Order the book, "NAZAH":

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

http://endtimeschool.com/

To watch/hear Dr. Stevenson's complete message:

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

https://everlastingcovenant.sermon.net/main/main/21320220
 

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scoffers Beware*

 

This is a follow up on the theme we discussed last week. We discussed the new abortion law that New York State has enacted that reaches a new level of wickedness. Scripture teaches that man is encouraged in this kind of wickedness because they think that the judgment of God has not come, and will not come. Peter warned that these are scoffers who will come in the last days:
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."  2 Pet. 3:3-4
Peter wrote that these scoffers of judgment deliberately ignore that fact that God had indeed sent devastating judgment previously in the form of the flood, and Peter assured that fire is now reserved for the judgment that will come against ungodly men (v. 7).
Though some mock the idea of the universal flood, physical evidence, including the fossil record, is abundant indicating that large land masses were indeed flooded by water.
Jesus also warned that in the last days, it would be as the time of Noah, and Sodom and Gomorrah in regard to judgment of mass destruction (Lk. 17:26-30).
Peter taught that those who scoff at the judgment of wickedness do so in pursuit of their own lusts (desire/craving for what is forbidden, of those who seek forbidden things). New York State, and the United States have become these scoffers of which Peter warned as they enacted these wicked statutes because of the lusts of men, and because they feel falsely secure in the belief that there will be no judgment from God. For this, these scoffers should beware of the warnings of scripture.
Peter went on to warn as we have noted previously, that God is slow to judge, not because He is slack in performing His word, but because He desires to give men the time and opportunity to repent, not willing that any should perish in judgment (2 Pet. 3:9).  
We have an excellent example in scripture of this patience regarding judgment. After God entered into a solemn covenant with Abraham and his promised future descendants, He spoke to Abraham prophetically regarding the land which would be given to Abraham's seed. The habitation of the promised land would be delayed until the fourth generation of Abraham's seed. This delay would be because "the iniquity (perversity, depravity, crimes, great guilt) of the Amorites ("prominence, publicity") is not yet full." (Gen. 15:13-16). The judgment against the tribes of Canaanites for their iniquities, would be delayed until it had grown so great, that it could be wait no longer.
What was involved in the iniquity of these Canaanite tribes? We get a detailed description from the book of the Apocrypha, The Wisdom of Solomon, Chapter 12. We do not treat the books of the Apocrypha with the same weight as scripture, but as they line up with the scriptures and bear witness to the scriptures, we can gain insight from them. These books were written during the time of the Old Testament, before the birth of Christ, and at one time they were included in the King James Bible. As an example of the value of the information these books can contribute, this is a quote from 2 Esdras 7:28 (KJV):
"For my son Jesus shall be revealed with those that shall be with him, and they that remain shall rejoice within 400 years."
Regarding the Amorites mentioned by God to Abraham, and their iniquity before God, The Wisdom of Solomon says, in part:

"Whom thou hatedst for doing most odious workes of witchcrafts, and wicked sacrifices;
And also those mercilesse murderers of children, & deuourers of mans flesh, and the feasts of blood;
With their Priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and the parents that killed with their owne hands, soules destitute of helpe:
That the land which thou esteemedst aboue all other, might receiue a worthy colonie of Gods children.
Neuerthelesse, euen those thou sparedst as men, and didst send waspes forerunners of thine hoste, to destroy them by little and little.
Not that thou wast vnable to bring the vngodly vnder the hand of the righteous in battell, or to destroy them at once with cruel beastes, or with one rough word:
But executing thy iudgements vpon them by little and little, thou gauest them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a naughtie generation, and that their malice, was bred in them, and that their cogitation would neuer be changed....
But they that would not bee refourmed by that correction wherein he dallied with them, shall feele a iudgement worthy of God.
For looke, for what things they grudged when they were punished, (that is) for them whom they thought to be gods, now being punished in them; when they saw it, they acknowledged him to be the true God, whome before they denyed to know: and therefore came extreme damnation vpon them."

The iniquity of the Amorites, for which judgment came, though delayed for the chance for repentance, included very much the same iniquity that we see practiced in our land now, including the "merciless murderers of children". The above excerpt from The Wisdom of Solomon confirms scripture in that the judgment would come little by little in order to provide an opportunity to repent.  However, in a warning to be taken today also for the scoffers of these last days, judgment would not be delayed indefinitely, and would surely come.
An important truth for the people of God to know and understand in all of this, the LORD strongly expressed to that fourth generation of the children of Israel when it was time for this judgment to fall on the Amorites, that they would prevail over the Amorites not because of their own righteousness, but because God was righteous in His judgment against the "odious" iniquity of the Amorites:
"Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying,  For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth not this good land to posses it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people."   Deut. 9:3-6
In The Wisdom of Solomon, the murder of the children, whether sanctioned by those in authority, or by the parents themselves, was odious. In Scripture it is called an abomination (Prov. 6:16-19). Judgment, though delayed, should not be mocked or scoffed upon, but the longsuffering of the LORD towards us should be used as the opportunity it is-the merciful opportunity extended to us for repentance for ourselves, our state, and our nation before it is too late. "The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."


*The above is based upon the 2/3 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson.

To Contact/Submit prayer requests/Support the ministry/Order the book, "NAZAH":

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

http://endtimeschool.com/

 

To watch/hear Dr. Stevenson's complete message:

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

https://everlastingcovenant.sermon.net/main/main/21320220
 

 

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.