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Tensions Push Oil Up Thursday night’s oil prices placed West Texas Intermediate crude over $104 per barrel and Brent crude over $110. The price jumps reflect increased political tensions between the US and Iran and military attacks by both sides. A U.S. shortage of refining capacity sent diesel prices upward even more than crude prices. Interest Rates, Heads Up? Expectations have increased that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its meeting next week. Thursday, the US Producer Price Index showed a jump of 1.1% for final demand goods. The consumer price index was ...

Bible Truth or Tradition: Who is the creator of the heavens and the earth?

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭1,27‬. The singular personal pronoun “He” indicates that God is one person. “Do you thus repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?” Deuteronomy‬ ‭32‬:‭6‬ “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,” Psalm‬ ...

ASK AUGUSTINE

Is Christianity inclusive or exclusive, and how is that reflected in our styles of worship? Contemporary worship styles of worship seem to focus their presentations aimed at finding a theological and cultural lowest common denominator to attract and engage the greatest number of people; hence such styles of worship clearly indicate the inclusiveness of Christianity. As a result, in contemporary worship services there seems to be no need to be a Christian to understand almost everything that was said or sung. So why sing ”Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” when one does not know what ...

September 11 seems like yesterday in New York City

Smoke still rose from the ruins of the World Trade Center, and the smell of nearly 2,000 deaths lingered miles uptown. A reporter asked New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani whether he worried that the city's Muslim neighborhoods would be attacked in revenge for that Islamist-inspired atrocity. ...

A society of strangers

"True is it that we have seen better days." -- William Shakespeare Pearl Harbor brought out the best in the American people. We responded by pulling together for a major mobilization when an act of war landed on our soil in 1941. That December day, which Franklin Roosevelt eloquently ...

EMPTY NEST

Coming home from the emergency room, with my knee swelled up like a basketball, felt like aging 10 years overnight. I could hardly walk, and the steps I managed to make with the injured stiff leg, like Chester on Gunsmoke, made me feel like an old man. I'm 78 going on 90. Fortunately I had my deceased brother's cane to use, but it is hardly adequate. I should be using his walker, the green tennis ball covers on the feet reminding me of slippers and the slippery fall I took. I noticed a huge old-man liver spot on the back of my hand where I had evidently smacked it going down. Ugh. People ...