Jeff Ragan > Recent Status Updates

"'Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,' says the Lord. 'You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?' declares the Lord Almighty. 'Because of my house which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.'" - Haggai 1:7-10

"In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, & peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come & say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.' The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."-Mic 4:1-2

"...I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons & daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men & women, I will pour out my Spirit...I will show wonders in the heavens & on the earth, blood & fire & billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness & the moon to blood before the...great & dreadful day of the Lord." - Joel 2:28-31

"But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me. I cared for you in the desert, in the land of burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud, then they forgot me. So I will come upon them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk by the path." - Hosea 13:4-7

"Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." - Daniel 3:16-18

"If we have been reconciled by the death of Christ it necessarily follows that we shall be saved by his life - the one guarantees the other. But the fact that by the trespass of one the many died does not carry with it the assurance that by grace the many will reign in life" (389-90).

"...I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory...and I fell facedown. The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple." Ezekiel 43:1-5

"The Master said, A Knight whose heart is set upon the Wa, but who is ashamed of wearing shabby clothes and eating course food, is not worth calling into counsel." Book IV:9

"..the Eskimos still live as they have always done by hunting, though nowadays in indirect fashion, merely earning money by hunting instead of having to depend on it for food, clothing, and all their necessities" (421).

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God." - Ezekiel 36:26-28

"...O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live! - Eze 18:30-32

"I fully intend for this book to generate controversy. It is in the best interest of Texans and, frankly, all States of the United States if it does. Controversy and criticism create debate and discussion and, in turn, generate more questions. At this point in our history, everyone should be asking more questions, especially about how we are governed" (13).

"...the Genital Life we are adopting is minsanthropic, ultimately anti-woman, and not sustainable. The exchange relationship, on the other hand, is old. It is deeply human. It fosters love when navigated judiciously. And it remains the historic heartbeat, and the very grammar, of human community and social reproduction" (215).

"They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God." - Ezekiel 11:18-20

"I remember my afflictions and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'" - Lam 3:19-24

"The Chinese temple or palace seeks not to dominate nature, but to cooperate with it in that perfect harmony of the whole which depends upon the modesty of the parts...if we accept them willingly as architectural cameos expressing the most delicate of tastes in the most fragile of structural forms, then they take their place as a natural and appropriate variety of Chinese art..." (744).

"Confluent love may make for compelling films - manipulated narratives, really - but it will not serve persons, families, or communities well. Instead, it will be the source of profound relational inequality and solitude, navigated with aplomb only by the most successful. It will trade the limited but clear benefits of a monogamous marital system for the lure of constant desiring" (196).

"'The time is coming...when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel...It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt...This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time...I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." - Jeremiah 31:31-33

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." - Jeremiah 17:7-8

"Do not trust in the deceptive words & say, 'This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord! If you really change your ways & your actions & deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless, or the widow & do not shed innocent blood in this place, & if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place..." - Jer 7:4-7

"Duke Ai asked, What can I do in order to get the support of the common people? Master K'ung replied, If you 'raise up the straight and set them on top of the crooked', the commoners will support you. But if you raise the crooked and set them on top of the straight, the commoners will not support you" (Book II, 19; p. 84).

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live." - Isaiah 55:1-3a

"I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far off land a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do." - Isaiah 46:8-11

"Marriage as it has been conventionally understood...is a desired state into which very many young Americans hope someday to naturally and passively find themselves. They do not think of it as a pathway requiring their present-time discipline, discernment, sacrifice, self-control, and prudent judgment...Young Americans are not practicing to be married, but rather hoping to someday wake up in it" (174).

"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth." - Isa 42:1-4