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God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Our self-abnegation is thus not for our own sake but for the sake of others. And thus it is not to mere self-denial that Christ calls us but specifically to self-sacrifice, not to unselfing ourselves but to unselfishing ourselves. Self-denial for its own sake is in its very nature ascetic, monkish. It concentrates our whole attention on self—self-knowledge, self-control - and can therefore eventuate in nothing other than the very apotheosis of selfishness. At best it succeeds only in subjecting the outer self to the inner self or the lower self to the higher self, and only the more surely falls into the slough of self-seeking, that it partially conceals the selfishness of its goal by refining its ideal of self and excluding its grosser and more outward elements. Self-denial, then, drives to the cloister, narrows and contracts the soul, murders within us all innocent desires, dries up all the springs of sympathy, and nurses and coddles our self-importance until we grow so great in our own esteem as to be careless of the trials and sufferings, the joys and aspirations, the strivings and failures and successes of our fellow-men. Self-denial, thus understood, will make us cold, hard, unsympathetic—proud, arrogant, self-esteeming—fanatical, overbearing, cruel. It may make monks and Stoics, it cannot make Christians.
B.B. Warfield

Sometime after the creation of the angels, Satan chose to rebel. We get a hint from other Bible passages in the Old Testament (e.g. Eze. 28:11-19; Isa. 14:12-15) that Satan’s pride drove him to try to exceed the greatness of God. When he and a third of the angels attempted to overthrow the Almighty, all of them were thrown out of heaven. Lucifer, one of the greatest and most beautiful of all the angels would be now known as the devil and the rest of the angels that rebelled would be known as demons. Their ambition, since they can no longer war directly with God, is an all-out attack on God’s people through their crafty, calculated and diabolical schemes. The warnings are all over the Bible. “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Though powerful and ruthless, we must remember that Satan is under God’s sovereign authority and will one day be cast in the “lake of fire” (Revelation 20:10). So through it all, the deceiver was even able to deceive himself!
Randy Smith

Roasted Oysters With Country Bacon

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CATEGORY CUISINE TAG YIELD
Dairy 4 Servings

INGREDIENTS

24 Fresh oysters, in their
shells
2 Plum tomatoes
1 Phyllo dough
1/4 c Olive oil
1 T Unsalted butter
3 Shallots, about 1/4 cup
peeled and finely diced
1/4 c White wine
1/4 c Heavy cream
1 T Chopped fresh tarragon
leaves
2 oz Bacon, cooked and chopped
1/2 c Steamed spinach, optional
Coarse salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a towel, grasp an oyster in the
palm of your hand. Press the oyster, rounded side down, on a firm
surface, still holding it with the towel. Shuck the oyster by wedg  ing
the tip of an oyster knife (regular knives are too thinbladed)  between
the halves of the shell, at the shell's narrowest end. When  the knife
tip is securely wedged, rotate the blade to pry open t he  shell. Slide
the knife blade along the length of the shell to open  completely.
Remove the oyster from the shell and reserve, along with  its juice.
From each pair of oyster shells, save the one tha t is  most concave on
the inside, and discard the one that is flatter.  Place the concave
shells in a pan of cold water and scrub inside and  out. Place the
clean oyster shells on a cookie sheet and set aside.  Dip the tomatoes
briefly in boiling water to loosen the skins, then  in ice water. Peel,
cut in half, remove and discard the seeds and  dice.  Lay out the
phyllo dough one sheet at a time on a clean work surface.  Brush the
sheet lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt,  crumble the
sheet like a piece of newspaper and place on a coo kie  sheet. Bake at
350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.  Have the sauce
ingredients measured and ready beside the stove. When  you are ready to
begin cooking the oysters, place the cookie sheet  containing the
oyster shells in a 350 degree oven. On the top of the  stove, melt the
butter in a hot saute pan until it begins to foam.  Add the shallots,
the oysters and their juice, and the white wine.  Cook the oysters f or
30 seconds, then add the heavy cream. Bring to  a quick boil, then
reduce to a simmer for just a minute more, or  until the oysters' edges
begin to curl. Add the tomato, tarragon, and  bacon. Heat fo r another
30 seconds, then remove promptly from the  heat.  Remove the oyster
shells from the oven and arrange six on each plate.  Spoon an oyster
into each shell and spoon a little of the sauce over  each. Top each
dish with top hat of crispy phyllo.  From Michael's Place Show # 1A25
Recipe by: Michael Lomonaco Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #534 by
"Master Harper Gaellon" <gaellon@inch.com> on Mar 21, 1997

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Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 398
Calories From Fat: 303
Total Fat: 34.2g
Cholesterol: 37.7mg
Sodium: 202.4mg
Potassium: 134.9mg
Carbohydrates: 17.7g
Fiber: 2g
Sugar: <1g
Protein: 4.1g


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