The following is an excerpt from Soldiers in Training by Brother Daryl Coats.

Should we participate in the man made holiday of Lent?

An article in the September 15, 2006, edition of "Forward" tells of the sweet challah bread that is on every Rosh Hashanah table throughout the Jewish world. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and it is equivalent to the Feast of the Trumpets in the Bible.

"Kapparot, which is from the same Hebrew root as Yom Kippur and literally means "atonements", is a custom which aims to awaken the drive toward repentance while engaging in charity on the eve of Judaism's central day of prayer.

According to an article in Thursday's "Wall Street Journal," earlier this year on the day Muslims celebrate the willingness of Abraham to sacifice his son on Mt. Moriah (a son they claim was Ishmael), 25,000 sheep in Brussels, Belgium, had their heads turned to Mecca and were sacrificially killed by having their throats slit so that they would die from the shedding of their blood. Many of the Muslims will be eating their sheep for lunch that same day. Although home slaughters are illegal in Belguim, Muslims now make up over 15% of the one million people in the city of Brussels.

This chapter is called

Paul has already condemned the Gentiles for their wickedness in the first chapter of Romans. Here, he blasts the Jews because of their pride and false sense of righteousness. They are absolutely confident of their special position with God, but their confidence is in themselves and not in God.

In this chapter, the temple is nearing completion (compare Ezra 6:15 with Zechariah 7:1). Two men are sent to the house of God to pray and seek God

In this chapter, Isaiah describes difficult times in the history of God

The history of Israel demonstrates that they were often a people of doubt and rebellion against God. But that is also the history of all of God