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Bluebird bio announces 1st commercial launch of ZYNTEGLO™in Germany
Deferasirox Accord: A new generic of Exjade recommended for approval by the EMA
FDA Approves Oxbryta™ (Voxelotor), the First Medicine Specifically Targeting the Root Cause of Sickle Cell Disease
Thalassaemia Month of Banyumas 2019 -"Banyumas Goes to Zero Growth of Thalassaemia 2023"
The Emirates Thalassaemia Society launches the 12th edition of the "What is Thalassaemia?"competition
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الرئيسية » Staff Members » Dr Michael Angastiniotis
Dr Michael Angastiniotis
TIF Medical Advisor
Born in Famagusta, Dr Michael Angastiniotis graduated in Medicine from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) in 1966, and obtained his DCH (Diploma in Child Health) in Paediatrics in 1976 from the Royal College of Physicians of Glasgow.
He received his graduate training in Paediatrics in Scottish Hospitals and Oxford and he returned to the U.K. for various courses, such as Thalassaemia (Biochemistry-Prenatal diagnosis), Genetics, and Haematology/Oncology.
Dr Angastiniotis has been a member of the Thalassaemia Control Programme from the outset (1971-72) and is Vice President of the Cyprus Society for Spastic Children. He is the Chairman of the Medical Records Committee and of the Committee for the Computerization of the Health Service.
Dr Angastiniotis is also Special Advisor and Consultant for the control of Haemoglobinopathies in the Eastern Mediterranean region. He is member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, and of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Human Genetics. He has published a great number of scientific articles, several of which on the topic of Haemoglobinopathies and Thalassaemia in particular.
Until retirement, Dr Angastiniotis was Director of the Paediatric Department of Archbishop Makarios III Hospital and the Thalassaemia Centre. Since 2004, he has been employed by TIF as Medical Advisor.
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Owing a home with a nice yard is a dream come true for millions of families worldwide. When we achieve this all important milestone we set out proudly and determinedly to keep everything neat and tidy and that includes our lawns. After a while though, keeping our lawns maintained becomes just another tedious chore and one we often put off for a week or two until we can no longer look at our overgrown yards. Unfortunately, when we let our grass get to the over grown stage, it becomes more difficult and time consuming to mow which in turn gives us the uneasy feeling of dread when we just think of having to do it all again next week, or the week after.
To save you from this weekend misery, we've looked at some of the best robot lawn mowers with a variety of features that will keep your lawn looking permanently immaculate so you can free up your precious time on the weekends and pursue more enjoyable activities like hiking with your family, going fishing or soaking up some sunshine as you relax at home while your lawn looks like it is being maintained by a whole crew of gardeners.
The Husqvarna 430X Robotic Lawn Mower is the Rolls Royce of automated lawn mowers. One thing that stands out with this mower is that it comes with a GPS navigator which takes the guesswork out of lawn maintenance, particularly if your yard is on the larger size or if your property is not fenced. All you have to do is program your property's boundary into the mower and let it get to work. This GPS navigation feature also makes it quite simple to let family or friends borrow your mower or if you move house sometime in the future.
Another aspect of this Husqvarna robotic mower that you will love is that it automatically detects your lawn's growth rate and adjusts its height to ensure all your lawn areas are mowed uniformly. You can also connect this mower to your smartphone for ease of operation, freeing up your weekends for fun and relaxation instead of tedious yard work. This is the best choice in robot lawn mowers in terms of functionality, looks and reliability. Be sure to also check out our list of robotic vacuum cleaners for more great items like this.
We've looked at dozens of robot lawn mowers and one of the best reasons to buy one of these times savers comes down to exactly that – saving you time. You want a mower that needs little or no supervision from you. If you need to follow it around, you may as well push around a traditional mower. This amazing piece of machinery also comes pre-programmed so you can get it working as soon as you bring it home with you. Keep this mower working every day and keep your lawn pristinely neat and tidy all year round. It's also blissfully quiet so you won't disturb your household or neighbourhood regardless of when your mower is working. It's also not as smelly as an old petrol operated lawn mower but rather battery powered making it emission free and environmentally friendly.
This Landroid Pre-Programmed Robotic Lawn Mower practically has a mind of its own. You can set it, then forget it! The AIA (Advanced Intelligence Algorithm) Technology ensures this particular mower can easily navigate its way over you entire lawn, up to a quarter of an acre. You won't need to think of anything other than enjoying your spare time because even if it rains, this mower has been designed to return to its base at the first sign of a shower or if the battery needs recharging so you'll find your mower where you left it. Our handy guide to the top robotic window cleaners features more great products like this.
The Robomow RS612 Robotic Lawn Mower is great value because it practically does the work of two machines. Not only will it mow your lawn to absolute perfection, its unique edge mode technology will also trim most of your edges as well. The wider cutting width also means it will get the mowing job done faster so you can focus on enjoying life instead of wasting your valuable free time on endless chores.
When it comes to mowing, this little smart home device is incredibly powerful and very sturdy so it can easily mow even the most overgrown lawns and it will do it quietly so you can relax in a nice shady spot in your yard with a cold drink. When it detects all the grass is all at the height you have programmed it for, it quietly returns to its base and switches itself off. This is a must have automatic lawn mower for the super busy person, or those with better things to do.
Flexible installation options and smartphone control.
Unique edge mode and wide cutting for faster mowing.
Able to mow high grass.
Automatic switch off when mowing completed.
Can cover 1/4 Acres of yard.
You could quite easily think your garden gnomes are taking care of your lawn for you if you own a McCulloch ROB 1000 Programmable Robotic Mower. Once you install your perimeter wire around the boundary of your property and any large objects like your house, a garden shed or vegetable garden, your mower is good to go and will only mow inside the area you have laid the perimeter wire. This automatic lawn mower is so incredibly quiet and you can operate it day or night and pretty much in any weather conditions without disturbing the neighbours. It is easy to install and once you get it programmed, you will never have to look at an overgrown lawn again.
The McCulloch ROB 1000 can take care of any yard up to a quarter of an acre and it doesn't mind a few inclines either. It cuts your grass so finely that the cuttings simply integrate back into the soil like an instant dose of fertilizer that will make your grass grow thicker and better. It will take care of your yard so perfectly and peacefully you will forget you bought it. In fact, the only time you will ever hear your mower is when its very loud alarm goes off if some pesky gnome tries to pick it up. And if your little gnomes let curiosity get the better of them and they flip your mower over, the rotating blades will immediately stop so their little fingers and toes won't get hurt. It's no wonder this is one of the most trusted brand of automatic lawn mower in Europe. Find more great products like this by checking out our guide to the smart doorbells.
This is another great Husqvarna robotic mower for mid-sized lawns of about a third of an acre, it can handle inclines of about 40% and will zip into and out of narrow pathways with complete ease. Just because you don't have an enormous expanse of a yard, doesn't mean you need to spend your precious free time doing constant yard work. And what do you do on rainy days? The grass still needs to be cut! With this auto mower, your grass will still get its regular mowing because this machine will continue working in any weather. Once you set your program to your desired mowing schedule, you can sit back and relax knowing your yard will always have that perfect manicured look.
Not only is this a great mower, it also comes with anti-theft technology rendering it useless to a would-be thief thanks to a very audible alarm and theft detection PIN code. It's also safe around your pets and little ones because the lift sensor automatically stops the blades if the mower is lifted or knocked over. Don't forget to also check our guide to the best riding lawn mowers for more great items like this.
Great for mid-sized lawns up to 1/3 acre.
For larger yards, you can't look past the Robomow RS622 Robotic Lawn Mower. No more watching your precious weekend flash buy in a blur of chores, this mower can be controlled from your smartphone so you can keep an eye on it while fishing, playing golf or relaxing by the pool at some faraway exotic resort. It is a slightly wider than standard mower and with a Smartmow feature, this mower is perfect for getting the job done faster. Built to last, this robot lawn mower will keep your grass lush and trimmed and is ideal for larger yards of up to half an acre.
Like other Robomow mowers, it has a built in sensor so it will send itself back to its base if it starts to rain and then back to work again when weather conditions are suitable again. Slight slopes and inclines of up to 35% are also no problem for this robust mower and it can also handle thicker and longer grass if needed. This also makes a great gift for gardeners.
Full control from your smartphone!
Up to 10% faster area coverage!
Programmed to protect itself from rain.
Ideal for yards up to 1/2 an Acre.
A great remote lawn mower should not only keep your grass perfectly trimmed, it should eliminate all the work for you by shredding the grass so finely as it mows, that instead of raking up the cuttings, the tiny bits of grass fall to the ground giving your lawn the best type of natural fertilizer which will make the new growth so much lusher. It comes with an easy to install boundary wire so your mower will now exactly which area needs its attention.
The GARDENA 4069 R80Li Robotic Lawnmower does just that. Your lawn will be so lavishly green, it will softer than a thick pile carpet in your home. This autonomous lawn mower runs on a lithium ion battery which is long lasting and energy efficient. It is also emission free so it's great for the environment too. When the battery starts to lose its power, the mower automatically goes back to the charger until the battery power is fully charged and ready to get to work again. If you need to clear the leaves before you tu0rn on the mower, check out our guide to the best leaf blowers.
Cutting Height of .7″ to 2″ (2 to 5 cm).
Selection panel and display allow for easy setup.
Excellent cutting results, works during rain.
Anti-theft protection, low noise, emission free.
Autonomous, quiet, energy efficient and emission free!
The Robomow RS630 Robotic Lawn Mower is tough enough to handle a nice big yard of up to three-quarters of an acre. Its unique edge mode and wider cutting width, it takes care of a lot of your edges while it speeds through your yard until you have the perfect manicured lawn. But you won't be worried about how fast your remote lawn mower is working because you'll be too busy spending your hard earned quality time on more rewarding activities. Its powerful motor is so quiet you'll be able to take an afternoon nap while it works close by.
The features of this machine don't end with its speed or sound. It has a personalized PIN code rendering it useless if someone decides to walk away with it while you're not at home and it also stops the blades from turning in an instant if it is picked up or tipped over making it safe to operate around little people and pets. This is one mower that has the convenient features you want particularly when it comes to paying attention to your family's safety. Don't forget to also check our cordless lawn mowers review for more great products like this.
Easy to use and operate from your smartphone.
Personalized PIN code to deter theft.
Powerful, but still very quiet.
Up 3/4 of an acre of perfect mowing.
"Green Acres is the place to be …" Nice song, but not so nice if you have to mow those green acres every weekend over summer. If you are lucky enough to have a huge chunk of the great outdoors as your yard then the Robomow RX12 Robotic Lawn Mower is your saviour. This dynamo will mow 2000 square feet of lawn in the time it takes you to sit back and enjoy a football match on TV.
Once you set up the mower for your yard it will set itself to regular work and then come back to its base station to recharge and be ready for the next scheduled mowing. It comes with everything you need to keep your lawn looking neat and tidy. This really is the best automatic grass cutter for you rather large estate.
Covers 2000 sq. ft. lawn.
Charges at the base station between operations.
Quality – The best robotic lawn mower is one that is built to last. Yard work is hard work so we looked at mowers that are robust and can handle continuous use over lengthy periods. A good quality mower will see your lawn neat and tidy for many years, especially if you check it from time to time and change the blades when necessary.
Reviews – We checked the robotic lawn mower reviews on dozens of sites in our search of the best models so you don't have too. Word of mouth has always been an effective tool for consumers and now, thanks to the internet, we can get a much broader insight into the products we want to buy. There is no better way to check a products reliably than to read the reviews of people who already have some experience with the product.
Brand – We stayed away from cheap and inferior imitations and looked at the brands that have an international reputation of producing superior quality machines. The brands in our guide are reliable and known for thorough quality control.
Price – The average battery powered lawn mower is not exactly cheap but even so, we checked the best models in a variety of price ranges. The price varies depending on things like warranty periods, special features and the size of the yard it is capable of mowing. At the end of the day, it is better to pay a little more for a reliable quality machine to avoid frequent repairs and replacements in the future.
Ease-of-Use – The initial set up of your battery powered lawn mower may take a bit of time because you will either need to install a boundary or perimeter wire, or configure your property's boundary into the mower's GPS navigation. But once you do this, you really want to be able to sit back and relax with minimal effort required on your part. We chose models that require a little bit of work in setting up when you first bring your mower home, but then you want to let the mower do its job while you only check on it once in a while.
Quality of Cut – This is the whole purpose of purchasing any lawn mower but in particular with robot lawn mowers, you want a model that shreds the grass cuttings into fine particles that stay on the ground and act as a natural fertilizer that will promote a lusher greener lawn. You definitely don't want to have to run after your mower to rake up the cuttings. Furthermore, you want a uniform cut of your lawn so that it looks impeccable all the time.
Slope – Okay, so your automatic lawn mower will not climb mountains, but if you live on a larger property, chances are you don't have a completely flat yard. While most automatic mowers can handle slight inclines or slopes it's still a good idea to check for a model of lawn mower that can handle any slope or incline you have on your property to make sure it will do the job right for your whole yard.
Smart Perimeter Control – Depending on the brand and model of robotic lawn mower you choose to buy, your mower will either have GPS so you will be able to program the mower to only mow the lawn within the boundary of your yard, or your mower will come with a perimeter sensitive wire that you will place around your yard and secure with pegs or staples. Either way, you can be sure that your mower will not be crossing into your neighbour's territory.
Safety – Kids are naturally curious and it only takes a second of distraction and you will miss seeing them getting into all sorts of trouble, and animals may want to attack this foreign intruder that is running around the yard. While it's always best to keep the kids and pets away from any type of mower, the best robot lawn mower should have a safety feature that automatically stops the blades from spinning the moment the mower is picked up or flipped over.
Price – It's always natural to want to save money but at the end of the day, you get what you pay for. The old-fashioned mower is a lot cheaper, but it involves you pushing it to get the mowing done. The cost of your robotic lawn mower will depend on the size of your yard, the type of grass you have and the features you want or need. Of course, your budget is also an important consideration too. It's simple economics to decide what you are prepared to pay and also get as many of the features you want.
Q: What is a Robot Lawn Mower?
A: The simplest way to describe a robot lawn mower is that it is an autonomous robot that has been specifically designed to mow your lawn. All it takes is a little bit of programming and the robotic lawn mower will automatically and periodically do the rest of the hard work for you.
Q: How Often Should I Use a Robotic Lawn Mower?
A: How often you use your robotic lawn mower will depend on many factors. The first one being the type of grass you have and the height you prefer your grass to be. Keep in mind that some types of grass grow faster than others and all grasses will most definitely grow a little faster over the warmer months of the year. You can program a schedule into your mower and it will automatically set out to work accordingly, but many mowers also come with an override feature so you can get it working if your grass needs an earlier mowing. Some manufacturers recommend allowing your mower to do its job everyday as this will keep your grass at a consistent height making it easier to maintain and looking pristine every day of the week.
Q: Can I Use a Robot Lawn Mower While It Rains?
A: Some models of robot lawn mower work perfectly well in all weather conditions and that includes rain. This is a must have feature if you live in an area known for its frequent showers. Fortunately, even if your mower isn't compatible for wet weather mowing, it should still come with a sensor that will send it back to its base when it detects rain. The convenience of this is that either way, you don't necessarily need to sit around at home to keep an eye on your mower.
Q: Do I need to Buy Any Accessories For My Robotic Mower?
A: Some makes and models of robotic mower come with everything you need to set up and install your mower and get it working immediately. Other models require some accessories to be purchased such as the perimeter wire and staples. Check the specifications to see what, if any, accessories will be necessary to be purchased before you decide which mower you want to buy.
Q: Can I Control Robot Lawn Mower Remotely?
A: Smart technology is everywhere these days. We can operate and control so many of our modern conveniences using our smartphones like the heating in our homes or opening garage doors before we get home. Some brands and models of robot lawn mower also take advantage of this technology so you can control your mower remotely with the use of your smartphone. This would be a particularly useful feature if you are at work, on vacation or simply not at home while your mower is in operation.
Q: How Long Do Robotic Lawn Mower Batteries Last?
A: Once the robotic lawn mower batteries are fully charged they should be able to mow your lawn for anything from 60 to 90 minutes. Some models may even have a longer mowing time. This, of course, depends on the mower you have, the type of grass you have and how level your grounds are. In terms of the life expectancy of the batteries, they average about 2 years. The factors that determine the batteries life are the size and type of yard you have, frequency of use, and the type of mower you own.
Q: Does a Robot Recognise Obstacles and Objects On the Lawn?
A: Most of the newer robot mowers have sensors that recognise or detect obstacles and objects on the lawn and will, in most cases, simply go around them. However, some smaller objects, like small branches or fruit from trees, etc., may not be detected and the mower will simply mow over them. While this is not a problem for the mower, if you have harder objects like branches or pine cones that frequently fall on your lawn, it's a good idea to rake them up and remove them before the mower is in motion. Again, it's not such a big problem for the mower, but it could result in you needing to change the blades with a little more frequency.
Q: If I Don't Have a Fence, How Will a Robotic Lawn Mower "Know" Where the Edges of My Yard Are?
A: The perimeter control features of a robotic lawn mower will keep your mower working only in your yard. Depending on the make and model of your mower, it will either come with GPS technology that will be programmed into your mower so it "knows" when to stop at your property's boundary or, your mower will come with a perimeter wire which will send a signal to your mower to not go any further. If you decide to share your robot mower with a neighbour or family member, keep in mind that you will need to change the coordinates if you have a mower with GPS, but it's a lot more complicated and inconvenient if your mower uses a perimeter wire to control its movement.
Whichever way you look at yard maintenance it makes sense to consider buying a robot lawn mower. Our working lives mean that many of us leave quite early in the morning and return home late in the day. Having a robot lawn mower will it give you a superior looking lawn, it will, most importantly, free up your weekends for the activates that make life worth living like spending precious time with family, playing sport or even taking a short, weekend vacation.
We hope this guide will help you choose the best robot lawn mower for your yard and let you get with the serious business of enjoying your free time.


Facebook – What Do They Know, And Who Else Knows?
It's been all over the news, so we won't go over it, but the Cambridge Analytica scandal has meant that a lot of people have decided to delete their Facebook profile. However, that's not as simple as it sounds for many of us.
As bloggers, we need a Facebook profile to participate in various groups, run our blog Pages and if you're an Instagram user with a business account, you'll need a Facebook Page to connect it to.
Since it's not so simple as "delete your account", here are a few ways that you can check what is known about you, and what you could do to fix anything that concerns you.
First – head over to this page on the Facebook help pages which will tell you whether they believe your information was part of this leak.
Second – head over to the updated Apps and Websites page on Facebook. Facebook has updated this page to make it easier for you to delete any unknown or unused apps and logins – all those times you've logged into a website with your Facebook account? Those are listed here as well. Tick all the items that you no longer use or recognise, and tap that Remove button!
Third – Download your data. Click the down arrow in the top right of any Facebook page (next to the help icon) and select Settings, then click the link that says "Download a copy of your Facebook data." (at the bottom of the General Account Settings page, which should be the first page you see). Click "Start My Archive" and you'll be notified on Facebook when that's available to download. Make sure you download on a desktop computer, not a mobile device as it's a zip file full of HTML pages linked together to make browsing through your data easier. It's pretty surprising (and interesting!) to see what Facebook knows about you.
Fourth – Check out this article by Wired about deep diving into the settings that Facebook has. This includes how to control what adverts Facebook can show you which is always a bit creepy!


macs, movies, music, and Jesus!
Can someone give me Quicktime advice?
Sooo I'm looking for a GOOD search widget. I know there are a million out there, but you can't customize their channels! The best I've found is the JackofallWidgets, but to customize it you have to be able to get down and dirty with code. Yuck. If anyone is familiar with AcidSearch for Safari, that's along the lines of the kind of thing I'm looking for.
Actually, I thought of something related that may be of interest - since there's no security or limitations, some stupid students who only half-know what they're doing could conceivably, accidentally be messing around with important settings and deleting important system files. It wouldn't be the first time those nosey idiots have gotten their grubby cursors into places they shouldn't have been! Would that have enough impact to create this rendering problem even after a reinstallation?
I moved to a new state in March 2004 with an iBook and iPod of my own. Since that time, I've had the joy of seeing: 9 friends get iPods or Minis 2 friends get iBooks 1 friend get a PowerBook The question is - was it because I campaigned or because Apple's craftsmanship is so irresistable? I will vote with option two.
I've been having problems getting Final Cut Pro to render on my school's PowerMac G5. I've tried rebooting, deleting prefs, repairing permissions, even reinstalling, but the problem keeps coming back. Basically, when I select any sort of render command from the pulldown menu, a small "rendering" info box flashes for a second, but then disappears. No blue bar begins to fill up - nothing happens. In one of the pulldown menus there is a "settings" option. I think it's near or in the render menu. When I select "settings," FCP unexpectedly quits right away, every time. I think the two problems are related. Any suggestions? Thank you all very much!
I feel silly asking (being only barely a geek), but have you tried a force-empty trash? Hold down the option key while selecting "empty trash" from the Finder menu.


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We return in our study of the Word of God to the 21st chapter of Luke's gospel. Luke is the predominant historian of the New Testament, having written this gospel as well as the entire book of Acts. And, of course, the focus in Luke's writing is on the person and work of Jesus Christ and the spread of the gospel of Christ after His ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit.
But as we come to chapter 21 of Luke's gospel, let me just review for you where we are in the story of our Lord. It is Wednesday night. It is Wednesday night of Passion Week, the final week of our Lord's life and ministry before the cross. On Thursday, He will celebrate the Passover with His disciples. On Friday He will be crucified. And on Sunday He will rise from the dead. Following that, He will make appearances only to those who believe in Him, after which He ascends back to heaven to reign and to intercede. It is Wednesday of that final week.
On Monday, He came into the city. It is called His triumphal entry. He was hailed as potentially the Messiah although the same crowd that hailed Him as Messiah, by Friday are screaming for His blood; fickle, superficial, and shallow.
It was Monday that He came into the city. It was Tuesday that He went into the Temple and threw out the money changers for the second time in His ministry and said, "You have turned My Father's house, a house of prayer, into a cave of robbers."
The next day, Wednesday, He came back to the Temple, spent the whole day there teaching the crowds and being confronted by the leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians who tried to trap Him in His words so that they could have some reason to bring Him to the Romans for execution. He has managed to parry every blow they thrust at Him. He ended His day in the twilight and walked out of that Temple ground. Following Him were His own disciples. It was the last time He would ever set foot in that place until He comes again. And, in fact, when He comes again, His feet will land on the very Mount of Olives where He was sitting in the evening of that Wednesday, talking to His disciples about His Second Coming.
Everything looks grim. Everything looks disappointing. Everything looks as bad as it can get, even to the disciples. And yet they have a glimmer of trust and hope that somehow He is going to bring the kingdom. And so, He sits with them on the side of the Mount of Olives, the western side, looking at the eastern wall and the Temple Mount and He speaks to them about His coming in glory and judgment to reign.
What He tells them is it is not now, it is much later. He is going back to heaven and in the future He will come again to fulfill all kingdom promise and all judgment promise. They don't have that in their theology. Not two comings of Messiah, they thought it would all happen with one. Jesus makes clear the first time He comes to die, to provide the sacrifice for sin. The second time He comes to reign, to judge sinners and to reign with the saints.
And so, in this 21st chapter, Jesus speaks concerning His Second Coming. You might say this is Jesus' own sermon on His Second Coming. The full text of what He said will be brought to your mind if you compare the 13th chapter of Mark and Matthew 24 and 25. But we're in Luke so we'll look at the Lucan text.
Whenever you talk about the Second Coming, whenever you talk about prophecy, there is among many people the assumption that you're dealing with something that is just frankly dark, mysterious, hidden, secret, obscure and that maybe we shouldn't even spend much of our time dealing with it because it is so oblique, so hard to comprehend. Prophecy can be bizarre. I agree with that. It can be oblique, it can be esoteric. It can be made mysterious. But you have to work hard to do that because, frankly, the Bible is clear. I am one who believes that what the Bible says about the future is as clear as what it says about the present or the past, that what the Bible says about things to come is as clear about...as about what the Bible says regarding things that are.
And in order to understand its clarity, you must, first of all, assume its clarity. That's not a stretch, is it? Remember, the Bible is revelation, not mystery. It intends to end the darkness, to bring knowledge where there is ignorance. It is revelation. That is, it reveals, it discloses, it opens up. That is its purpose. When Jesus talks about the future, it is so that we can understand the future, not be confused by it.
But there is a foundational interpretive principle that you have to bring to bear on prophetic literature in Scripture just like any other element of Scripture, and it is this, we must interpret Scripture beginning with this foundational principle: How would the original hearers of this truth have understood it? How would they have understood it? Because it is first and foremost a revelation to them, which is then recorded for all the rest of us; it is intended to make clear the truth to those who heard it. And when it comes to prophetic text, as any other text, the truest interpretation will determine what the original hearers would have understood. And, frankly, while people have languished in confusion over this particular sermon of our Lord, I find it utterly unnecessary to do so. It is anything but obscure. It is anything but confusing. It is plain, straightforward, and simple if you just understand that He's talking to plain, straightforward, simple men.
When Jesus was speaking to the disciples, He was not speaking to the theological elite. He was speaking to fishermen, people working with their hands, uneducated, no rabbi, no scribe, no Pharisee, no one of any significance at all. They had a hard time believing almost anything He said. That's why He had to repeat it so many times. And even when they heard it, they...they couldn't quite trust in it and that's why Jesus identified them so often as "Oh you of little faith." No matter what He said, they seemed to be confused by it. They were not elite theologians. They were not gifted with some unusual ability to grapple with deep things. They were just plain people understanding things in a very plain way. In fact, the whole Bible was written for plain people.
You can make prophecy bizarre. Many people have worked hard to do it. You can make it esoteric, mysterious. And you can invent interpretations of prophecy that would have been inconceivable and incomprehensible to the mind of the disciples. And if they couldn't get it, then it's got to be the wrong interpretation because this was said to them. So here we join Jesus and His disciples again. And we feel at home because we're a lot like them. He speaks to them concerning the future. And He tells them in this sermon, in Luke 21, that He is coming again. That's in verses 25 to 28. That's kind of the high point of the sermon. In fact, you remember I pointed that out to you last time that in verse 27 He says you will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud and great glory. And He's referring to His Second Coming. So He does promise them that He's coming.
But He also...and He's already said this several times...He also promises them that there's going to be an intervening time before He comes. And He explains to them what is going to happen in the world during that time. He says He's coming. That's verses 25 to 28. But He says in the preliminary time, before He comes, there are going to be things that will happen and He lays them out specifically. These are preliminary to His coming and they go from verse 8 through verse 19.
Then in verses 20 to 24: an event that's going to happen right before He comes. So you've got the promise of His coming in the middle. You've got the preliminaries to His coming. And then starting in verse 29 to the end of the chapter, you have the preparation for His coming. So this is a very well thought out and well crafted presentation by Luke of Jesus' teaching.
Now we're looking at the preliminaries to His coming. Let's pick up our Lord's words in verse 8. He said, "See to it that you be not misled for many will come in My name saying, 'I am He, and the time is at hand.' Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately." And He continued by saying to them, "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines. There will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves, for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. But you will be delivered up even by parents, and brothers, and relatives and friends and they will put some of you to death and you will be hated by all on account of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance, you will gain your lives."
Now the disciples had a very, very sort of well-defined eschatology that they were familiar with because it was the current eschatology of the Judaism of their day. They had hopes and expectations about the arrival of Messiah. In fact, that was the brightest hope in the heart of any Jew. And what did they expect? Well I have told you in the past. Let me just give you a brief summary.
They had an intense interest in the Messiah's arrival to set up His kingdom. And the Old Testament promised all kinds of elements in that kingdom and they were aware of them, that Israel would be restored to prominence, freed from its enemies, its enemies would be punished by the arrival of Messiah, who would set up the throne of David again and reign in Jerusalem. And there would be a transformation of the land itself, a river flowing out of Jerusalem to the east through the desert. The desert would blossom like a rose. It would change the nature of the world so that animals that were formerly enemies now became compatible and people would live long age. All kinds of things like that. They understand it would be dominated by righteousness and peace. They understood that Jews from all over the globe would be gathered together into the land and that the Lord would reign, Israel would be prominent and the Lord would actually reign from Israel over the whole earth. They were waiting for this to happen with the coming of Messiah. They knew Isaiah 9:6 and 7, that a Child would be born to us, a Son will be given to us, "the government will be upon His shoulders, and His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of peace."
They were familiar with the words of Isaiah. "There will be no end to the increase of His government, or of peace on the throne of David. And over His kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forever more, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." They knew all of that very well. They were very familiar with Isaiah 11:1 and 2: that a Messiah would spring from the stem of Jesse, a branch from His roots would bear fruit and the Spirit of the Lord would rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.
They were familiar with the words of Jeremiah in chapter 23, "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up for David a righteous branch and He will reign as King and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved. Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called, the Lord our righteousness."
They knew the words of Zechariah 14 that the day will come when the spoil that had been taken from them would be brought back to them. That living waters would flow out of Jerusalem. That there would be no more curse and Jerusalem would dwell securely. They were familiar with Daniel 2:44: that the God of heaven would set up a kingdom never to be destroyed and the kingdom not left for another people but for them, and it would last forever.
They expected their Messiah to come and establish a kingdom. They knew that before that kingdom there would be a time of Tribulation. There would be a time of judgment. There would be a judgment of Gentiles. There would be a judgment of rebels among the Jews. They knew there would be wars and catastrophes; there would be an escalation of iniquity. All of that is in the Old Testament; that the Lord would triumph over it all and establish the glory of His kingdom, save Israel. Salvation would spread to the world, and the Lord Messiah would reign and rule.
As far as they were concerned, the time was now. The time was ready. The time was ripe. After all, they were believers in the Messiah. He was here. And they knew the Messiah would have a forerunner, one like Elijah, and that was John the Baptist, and he had come as well and pointed to the Messiah and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." And now the Messiah is here and He entered Jerusalem triumphantly and several hundred thousand people hailed Him as the Son of David and gave Him hosannas with expectation that He would be that Messiah. But it's all fading very fast.
In the first place, He stripped the leadership of Israel publicly and openly by cleansing the Temple. He engaged in conversation with them and unmasked them as false. The people are turning away from Him. And He keeps talking about His death. He has stopped short of doing what they expected Him to do. When is the triumph going to begin? When is the glory going to come? When is judgment going to fall? When is the kingdom going to be established?
And that's what they asked in verse 7, "When will these things be?" And He has to tell them: not for a long time. Long being relative, they probably thought it was weeks, maybe months, maybe a few years. We now know it's as least 2,000 years. Yes He's coming. Yes He's coming. Yes every generation should be prepared for His coming. He lays that out at the end of this message. But for the beginning of it, He says there are some things you should expect. This is very, very important, folks, because you want to be sure that the plan that Jesus established didn't go bad. He ends up on a cross. The world gets worse. Somebody might say, "Wow, whoever Jesus claimed to be, He was not. Whatever He claimed to do, He did not do. The world hasn't changed since He came. It's worse than it is now every way you look at it."
Was that a surprise to Him? Not at all, and so, to secure us from being fearful or terrified, He explains exactly the way things will go until He comes; three things to expect. Verse 8, deceivers, deception, false Christianity will flourish. "Many will come in My name," many saying, "I am He, the time is at hand." "Do not go after them." And the Bible is clear about the proliferation of these false Messiahs and false apostles. I told you, Josephus says that after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there were so many people claiming to be the Messiah in the days after that, that Pilate was executing one a day. And it goes on today. False Christianity abounds and flourishes. It's larger than the true church.
Secondly, disasters, and we looked at that. Verses 9 through 11, wars and disturbances are further described in verse 10, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, global wars. Great earthquakes, plagues, famines, terrors like fire, hurricanes, winds, tornados, tidal waves, you name it. Great signs that come from heaven and we discussed those.
But the third thing...the first is deceivers, the second is disasters, and third is the distress of persecution. Before all these things, verse 12, "They will lay their hands on you and will persecute you." This had to be the biggest jolt that they had yet heard. I mean, the idea was the Messiah comes, sets up the kingdom and everything is good for us. What? The Messiah comes, doesn't set up the kingdom and it's going to be bad for us. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, it's going to be bad. And it's going to be bad and it's going to get worse and worse and worse until He finally comes. This is a total shock. This is outside the box of any of their thinking, totally unconventional, hard to believe.
And then He describes that persecution as being delivered to synagogues and prisons. That describes the Jewish persecution which was vicious against the early church, but ceased in 70 A.D. when Judaism was crushed by the Romans in the destruction of Jerusalem. But between the words of our Lord in 30 A.D. and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., forty years of Jewish persecution of Christians. Following the Jewish persecution came the Gentile persecution, referred to in verse 12, bringing you between kings and governors for My name's sake. And that has not stopped, that still goes on. Christians are still persecuted in the world today. And it escalates and escalates and escalates.
But then He gives us a hint about why. Verse 13, "It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony and don't worry what you're going to say, I'm going to help you by the Holy Spirit give you a good confession." The strategy, amazing strategy of the Lord is this. Between His first and Second Coming, fulfill the great commission. Between His first and Second Coming, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Between His first and Second Coming He gathers in the redeemed church.
And in order to expedite that, He brings persecution. What does persecution do? It does two things. One, it scatters the church. We see that in the book of Acts very early. The believers went everywhere because they were persecuted. They had to flee for their lives and with the fleeing came the spread of the gospel. Acts 8, Saul was in hearty agreement, putting him to death, that is Stephen, "and on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria."
Well isn't that what Jesus said to them in Acts 1? You are to preach the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world? Well to help them get to Judea and Samaria, they might not have gone unless they are persecuted and it's been that way, the persecution of the church is the scattering of the church. There's a second component in persecution: The persecution of the church demonstrates the triumph of saving faith. When you can survive the persecution and you can die a triumphant death, confessing Jesus Christ and not denying Him, there's a viability, a credibility, and a power to your testimony.
Let me put it another way. There is no other religion in the world that has a Foxe's Book of Martyrs, only Christianity. And there's no other religion on the face of the earth that's been persecuted anywhere close to the way Christians have been persecuted and the blood of the martyrs becomes the seed of the church. This is an evangelistic strategy. As the Lord gathers in His church by scattering His church through persecution and making their testimony powerful and viable and credible as they face death triumphantly and make a good confession of Christ, which the true believer does make because the Lord enables him by the Holy Spirit and He doesn't have to worry about what he's going to say, the Lord will show him what to say in that hour.
So, Jesus said you're going to be persecuted. You're going to be persecuted by the Jews. And they were. We went through the history of that last week. Then you're going to be persecuted before kings and governors. This is Gentile persecution. Let me talk about that for a little bit, give you some history.
The history of Gentile persecution begins in the book of Acts also. And it begins with the Romans. It begins with the Romans. The Romans persecuted Christians and they persecuted Christians for several reasons. Originally they left the Christians alone, according to Acts 18 verses 12 to 15. They left the Christians alone. Why? Because originally the Romans viewed Christianity as a sect of Judaism and Judaism was religio lecita, that is "legal religion." The Romans didn't see a particular threat to Judaism so it hadn't been banned. And they saw Christianity as simply a sect of Judaism and they left them alone originally.
However, it didn't take long for this to change dramatically. The influx of Gentiles into the church became a problem for the Romans. As Paul began to move and have an impact and as churches were being established and the gospel was penetrating the Roman world — Rome obviously dominating the world of the Mediterranean at that time — the Romans began to see Christianity as distinct from Judaism. For one reason, the Jews hated Christians. It didn't take Rome long to figure out that if the Jews hate Christians, then Christianity is not a part of Judaism. And so because of Jewish hostility toward Christians, because of the influx of Gentiles into the church, the Romans began to recognize Christianity as distinct from Judaism. Christianity they then outlawed. It became an illegal religion.
And there were several factors — and I think it's helpful to understand this — that led to this outlawing of Christianity and the subsequent persecution. So let me give you a little bit of that history.
First of all, there were political motivations, political. The Christians allegiance to Christ was singular. It was dominant. And they obviously had an allegiance to Christ that was far about their allegiance to Caesar. This aroused suspicion that they were disloyal to the Roman state.
To maintain control over their vast empire...Now you remember, the Roman Empire is vast, surrounding the Mediterranean and moving eastward. The one thing the Romans asked...They gave great freedom to their nations that they colonized and conquered, but one thing they asked is that their subjects' ultimate loyalty to be the emperor. The emperor was the embodiment of the Roman state. And if you demonstrated loyalty to the Caesar, you were demonstrating loyalty to the Roman state.
Now keep in mind, in ancient times always there was a union of religion and state. In fact, the first nation in human history that did not have an allegiance between religion and the state is the United States of America. Prior to that, all civilizations had religion and the state joined inseparably. So there was a union of religion and state.
Refusal then to worship the Roman gods or the emperor was treason. It was treason. Well, the Christians refused to worship the emperor. They refused to worship the Roman gods. They refused to make the required sacrifice in worship to the emperor. They were therefore seen as traitors. Nothing was more serious to the Romans than traitor attitudes.
They also proclaimed the kingdom of God, which caused the Romans to suspect them of trying to overthrow the government. They had another King and they had another kingdom. Now the Christians knew they were under pressure, under duress, under persecution. So to avoid any unnecessary confrontation with Roman authorities, Christians began to hold their meetings in secret. Now we're still in the first century. They began to hold their meetings in secret and at night in clandestine places, often associated, for example, with the catacombs.
Well the Romans eventually knew they were doing this and that heightened the Romans suspicions, that if they have to do this in secret, they must be hatching some kind of anti-government plot. Furthermore, Christians generally refused to serve in the Roman army. This also caused them to be viewed as disloyal; plenty of political motivation for the persecution.
But in addition to that, there were closely tied religious motivations, secondly. The Romans had a very broad and somewhat tolerant attitude toward religion. They allowed their subjects to worship whatever gods they wanted to worship, as long as they also worshiped the Roman gods. Their...Their approach to religion was all inclusive and what bothered them about Christianity was Christianity was exclusive. Christians preached an exclusive message that there is only one true God, one Savior, and one way of salvation. And they not only believed that, but they propagated that. They preached that. They were evangelistic, trying to win converts among the nations that were part of the Roman world.
This went against the prevailing, dominant role of religious pluralism. Christians therefore were denounced, strangely, as atheists because they rejected the Roman pantheon of gods, because they would not worship the emperor as God, and because they didn't worship idols. And the Romans couldn't disassociate a god from an idol. If you had no idol, you had no god. They were atheists. And so, here are these subversive atheists, assaulting the unity and the peace of Rome with their exclusive God and exclusive message.
The secrecy of Christians also led to lurid, false rumors of gross immorality. They assumed that they were in dark places and secretive places doing wicked, evil things because that's what they did even in the open. That is, the Romans. They misunderstood what was meant by eating and drinking the elements during the Lord's Supper, which led to charges of cannibalism; that the Christians met to engage in lurid, immoral activity and eat each other.
They even attacked the Christian gesture of a holy kiss, which was an embrace, as best we can tell, cheek to cheek. That gave rise to false accusations of sexual misconduct. They painted a...a very, very evil picture of Christians, religiously. What kind of religion was that?
Socially they had another motivation, another category overlapping. The leaders of Roman society feared the influence of the Christians on the lower classes. You have to understand that there's no middle class in ancient world as there is still in some countries in the world, no middle class, typically Third World countries. You have no middle class, what you have is a mass of humanity that are poor. And you have a small group of elite people at the top who control all the wealth and have all the power and usually abuse the people who are poor. This is what foments revolution. This is why there was a Russian Revolution. This is why there was a French Revolution. This is why there...there is revolution typically anywhere in the world. The oppressed have the numbers. And finally they arise, get organized, and overthrow the elite.
Well the leaders of Roman society feared the influence of Christians on the lower classes because the Christians were drawing people from the lower classes. Remember 1 Corinthians 1? "Not many noble, mighty, lowly, the base, the lowly, the no-names, the nobodies," which is to say, there was a growing number of Christians who were from the slave population, ten to twelve million slaves in the Roman Empire. The wealthy aristocrats, easily threatened...easily threatened by the fear of slave revolt, feared that Christians were fomenting this revolt, particularly because Christians taught that there's neither bond nor free in Christ. And so they failed to recognize the status of the elite.
Haunted by the ever-present specter of the potential of the slave revolt, the wealthy aristocrats began to turn up the heat on Christians. And it is true Christians held themselves aloof from much of public life. Everything was connected to idols. If you went to a theatrical event, if you went to a sporting event, if you went to any kind of civil event, there would be idolatry involved in it. And there would be all the kind of behavior that went along with their evil idolatry. And so Christians just could not really engage in the activities of the culture. They were completely counter culture. They did nothing to accommodate the culture whatsoever. They couldn't, their conscience restrained them from doing that.
To put it in the modern vernacular, they had no interest in contextualizing. They couldn't participate because everything involved a sacrifice to a pagan deity. And so they threatened on every level: politically, religiously and socially.
One other factor probably should come into play, economic. There were economic reasons why the Romans went after the Christians. It's overlooked but the persecution of the early church had a lot to do with the dent that the gospel was making in the false god trade. You remember Acts 16? Paul cast a demon out of a girl, a slave girl at Philippi who was making a fortune for her masters by telling people's fortune. She was a medium for demons that were speaking through her and doing their demonic magic, as it were. And when he cast the demon out of her, they lost their source of income. Do you remember? The same thing happened... That's in Acts 16. In Acts 19 there was a riot at Ephesus and they tried to kill Paul because he made such a dent in the idol trade there. Remember his preaching of the gospel had caused people to burn all their idols and shut down the sale of idols? They went after him.
Early in the second century, Pliny, the Roman governor of Bithynia, lamented in a letter to Emperor Trajan that the spread of Christianity, he says, has caused the pagan temples to be deserted and the sales of sacrificial animals to plummet. You remember now, you're living in a superstitious time. People attribute plague, famine, and natural disaster and all the other things that happen in life, to the gods being unhappy. And the idea was the gods are unhappy because the Christians are forsaking them. And all of this is coming on us because all these Christians are forsaking the gods and the gods are mad. It prompted the Christian apologist Tertullian to remark, "If the Tiber reaches the walls, if the Nile does not rise to the fields, if the sky doesn't move or the earth does, if there's a famine, if there's a plague, the cry is at once, 'Christians to the lion.'" The gods were mad because of the Christians. For reasons, perhaps related reasons, Christianity became a hated and despised religious sect in the Roman Empire. In the...In his letter to Emperor Trajan, Pliny scorned Christianity. He said, "It's a depraved and extravagant superstition." And went on to complain, quote: "The contagion of this superstition has spread not only in the cities but in the villages and the rural districts as well," end quote. It's going everywhere.
Sure the gospel was penetrating, people were being converted. The church was growing. And it had a detrimental effect on Roman life. The Roman historian Tacitus, a contemporary by the way of Pliny, describes Christians as a class hated for their abominations. Suetonius, another contemporary of Pliny, dismissed them as a set of men adhering to a novel and mischievous superstition.
And so persecution came and it began to foment and it began to develop. The first official breakout of persecution is 64 A.D., the month of July, six years before the destruction of Jerusalem, under the Emperor Nero. You remember July of A.D. 64 a fire ravaged Rome, destroying or damaging much of the city. Popular rumors pinned the cause or the source on Nero himself. You remember Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Probably not accurate but Nero needed a scapegoat. He needed somebody that people already thought were responsible for bad things, and that was the Christians. And so he blamed the Christians already destroyed by the populace, began to savagely persecute them in an organized way. Christians were arrested, cruelly tortured, thrown to wild animals, crucified and doused with oil and put on sticks and lit as torches for Nero's garden parties at night.
This first, official, organized persecution basically was in the vicinity of Rome. But attacks on Christians began to spread and move wider. And they were unchecked by the authorities. According to tradition, both Peter and Paul were martyred under this persecution in the time of Nero.
Three decades later, you move into the 90s, the first century, during the reign of Emperor Domitian, another government sponsored persecution of Christians breaks out. We don't know a lot of the details but it extended all over the area around Israel and it went all the way to Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey. It was this persecution under Domitian that caught John the apostle and had him exiled to the Isle of Patmos. And among those martyred at that time was a man named Antipas, a faithful pastor.
One notable example of Christian martyrdom in that time is Polycarp, the aged bishop of the church at Smyrna, around 160 A.D. He was arrested for being Christian, tied to a stake and burned. And when asked to deny Christ, Polycarp said this, "Eighty and six years...eighty and six years have I served Him and He never did me any injury. How can I then blaspheme My King and My Savior?" And he died triumphantly.
It wasn't long until you had an empire-wide persecution, extending through the whole Roman Empire in the year 250 under Emperor Decius. Rome at that time faced serious internal issues, economic crisis, natural disasters, external issues, the incursion of barbarians. Decius was convinced that all these difficulties were coming again because of the Christians who were forsaking Rome's ancient gods. He issued an edict requiring everyone to offer a sacrifice to the gods and to the emperor and obtain a certificate attesting that they had done that. And if they didn't do that, they were to be imprisoned, tortured, and then slaughtered.
It didn't last long, however. By July of the next year, 251, Decius died in a battle. Persecution didn't end. Jump from 251 to A.D. 303. Fifty-two years later the most violent empire-wide persecution came under an emperor named Diocletian. It was an all-out attempt to exterminate the Christian faith. He issued a series of edicts ordering churches to be destroyed, all copies of the Bible to be burned, all Christians offer sacrifice to the Roman gods or be killed. It wasn't until the Edict of Milan — Constantine was part of that — in 313 that that persecution ended, ten years of it. And then by 324, Constantine had established Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire.
Did that end persecution? No. The Holy Roman Empire, the false form of Christianity, began to persecute the true church. In the most massive persecution yet came during the Middle Ages. When I say massive, I mean massive. According to historian John Dowling, a reputable historian, the Roman Catholic Church put to death 50 million heretics between A.D. 606 and the mid-1800s, many of them true Christians, 50 million. Murderous was that period of time.
The Reformers came along, denounced the Catholic system of indulgences and works righteousness. In the time of the Reformation, the 1500s, the response from Rome was vitriolic and violent, and, of course, added to the 50 million that were slaughtered during that time. Godly leaders like Jan Hus, Hugh Latimer, William Tyndale, Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, many others, martyred for their faith. It was Hus, secured to a stake where he would be burned, said with a smile, "My Lord Jesus was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake. Why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?" When asked to renounce, Hus declined saying, "What I taught with my lips, I now seal with my blood," and gave testimony to the glory and honor of Christ and the truth of the gospel in his death. And that's what Jesus said would happen. It will turn out for your testimony because the Spirit will show you what to say.
The triumph and testimony of Jan Hus has been the cause of the conversion of who knows how many countless thousands through history. He died — by the way — singing a hymn, as the flames engulfed his body.
No other religion has this history. In many places in the world today, believers continue to be persecuted. Muslim- and Hindu-controlled countries, especially Africa and the Middle East, especially murderous toward Christians; though other nations such as communistic states are also antagonistic and during the development of communism, Christians were massacred wholesale. 1997, an article in the New York Times reports, quote: "More Christians have died this century simply for being Christians than in the first nineteen centuries after the birth of Christ." Twentieth century, more Christians died than in the nineteen centuries before, New York Times, February 11, 1997.
In addition, an incalculable number of faithful believers have been rejected by their families, hated by their parents, hated by their siblings, by their friends, arrested, beaten, persecuted short of death, all on account of loyalty to Christ. There's a relatively new book called The New Persecuted, published in 2002. A Roman Catholic journalist, Antonio Socci: He estimates that in the 2,000 years of church history, seventy million Christians have been martyred. The number is likely much greater since he minimizes the number of those executed under the Roman Catholic Church. God knows. I don't know how many but the numbers are staggering.
He also says that of these seventy million Christians, two thirds have been killed in the last hundred years. He claims that an average of 160 thousand Christians have been killed every year since 1990; 160 thousand a year since 1990.
So was our Lord right when He said you can expect this in the time between My first and My Second Coming? He was right about the wars. He was absolutely right about the earthquakes and the plagues and the famines that they would increase and escalate and become worse and worse and worse. And we see it played out just the way He said it. Don't think for one split second that the purpose of Jesus failed at the cross. Don't think that what He intended to do didn't come to pass. He laid out exactly what would happen and that's the way it is in the history of the world. And it's going to get worse, not better. If you think persecution of believers is going to go away, you're wrong. The church is going to continue to be persecuted because it's going to continue to be scattered for purposes of evangelism. And it's going to continue to have to give its testimony of triumph in the face of persecution so to demonstrate its truthfulness and validity, and persecution will continue and get worse.
Let me jump all the way to the book of Revelation chapter 6, as we close, and take you into the future time called the time of tribulation when persecution will reach its greatest point. Come into chapter 6 of Revelation, you're in the time of tribulation. The church has been raptured. The gospel has been preached to the world after the rapture. The gospel has been preached with power by two witnesses, preached with the supernatural means by an angel flying in the heaven preaching the everlasting gospel, been preached by 144 thousand Jews, twelve thousand from every tribe. The results are the greatest revival in human history. People are being converted. And when they're being converted in the time of tribulation because Antichrist rules the world, they're also being persecuted, persecuted like never before. Many of them are martyred.
We meet them in chapter 6 verse 9. "He broke the fifth seal." This is the angel breaking the judgment in the time of tribulation. "I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained."
Now you've got the people who were slain and killed. When? During the time of the tribulation. They are given a white robe, and to rest a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been should be completed also. God knows it's going to happen. He even knows the exact number of those who come to faith in Christ after the rapture of the church who will be then martyred.
Chapter 7 and verse 9, "After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count from every nation, all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands, crying with a loud voice saying, 'Salvation to our God that sits upon the throne and the Lamb.'" Here is a group of people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation gathered around the throne. They have been saved. They're crying out about salvation. They're celebrating the work of the Lamb. Who are these people? Verse 14, "Who are they?" Verse 13 he asks the question, "Where did they come from?" I said, "My Lord, you know." He said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the Great Tribulation. They've washed their robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb and they are now before the throne of God serving Him day and night."
These are the martyrs of the time of the tribulation, those who were slaughtered for their faith. Two witnesses in chapter 11, verse 7, two witnesses, God sends two amazing witnesses. Chapter 11 verse 7, "After they had finished their testimonies," their testimony concerning the gospel, "the beast that comes out of the abyss," the Antichrist, "will make war with them and overcome them and kill them." Chapter 12 verse 17, "The dragon," meaning Satan, "is enraged with the woman," the woman represents Israel, "and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus." One of the greatest slaughters in the time of the tribulation is going to be the Jews that Antichrist will kill who will have come to faith in Christ.
Chapter 13 verse 7, speaking again of the Antichrist, the great blasphemer that dominates the world at that time: "It was given to him to make war with the saints and overcome them and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, every one whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain." He's going to rule the whole word, that is everybody who is not in the Lamb's Book of Life, and he's going to make war with the saints. They're going to be killed, martyred, gathered under the altar from every tongue and tribe and people and nation crying, "How long, oh Lord, how long, how long until You come and bring judgment on those who kill Your people?"
False religion has killed millions and millions and millions of people through the centuries. The final system will even be more deadly in the future. We don't expect persecution to go away. It will keep going like this until the Lord comes to judge.
Why? Because God spreads His gospel through persecution. Because God gives testimony to the strength of saving faith and the glory of the gospel through martyrdom and through suffering.
Now let's go back to Luke 21 and close. Here is the end of this on persecution, however. Verse 17 says, "You'll be hated by all on account of My name." That is exactly the way it's been through the history of the world. "Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives." Powerful statements and I'm going to tell you what they mean next Sunday. Let's bow in prayer...and they're absolutely important words.
As we bow our heads in prayer for just a moment, I don't know how to make the message any more urgent than the Scripture makes it. I'm not intending to do that. Except to drive it home to your own heart and say this, look, history is not random, it's not cyclical. It has a beginning and an end. And it is prewritten by God and Jesus knew exactly the way history would go. He didn't expect to come and build some wonderful religion that everybody would embrace. He knew better than that. He knew the truth would be so exclusive that it would be hated; so narrow, so defined that it would be despised, even inside families. And that's exactly the way it's been.
This has led to the spread of the gospel. It has led to the opportunity to proclaim the gospel in the direst of situations. And this kind of persecution short of death even leads to the strengthening of believers who are made perfect by their trial and who are given assurance because tested faith is assured faith. When your faith stands the test, then you know it's the real thing.
So the Lord has His purposes in our suffering, purposes of dependence, purposes of evangelism. The question comes down to you. This is the truth. Look at history. Jesus knew exactly what would happen, and it did. It is and it will be this way. This is God who is speaking here. And when He says He's the only Savior, that's the truth. That's the truth. You must turn to Him and Him alone. Do that today.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Story and photos by Hal Goodtree.
Cary, NC – I stopped by the new Walmart Neighborhood Market last week and had a quick look around. Here's my take on the new store at the corner of High House and Highway 55.
Walmart's new store, a supermarket initiative, occupies the old Kroger space near West Park. Just last year, the very same spot was at the center of a massive controversy swirling around the potential tenancy of an immigration (ICE) facility.
ICE went away, thanks to a well-organized effort by the West Park HOA and Cary officials. It was with a sigh of relief that most in the community greeted the news that another tenant had stepped forward with plans for the former Kroger store. It's a big property and had sat vacant for a number of years.
Last Thursday was bright and sunny. I had just dropped my younger daughter off at gymnastics. Approaching the corner of High House, I could see shoppers going in and out of the new Walmart store. I darted into the parking lot to have a look for myself.
Everything was clean and shiny as I approached the brand new Walmart Neighborhood Market. Balloons decorated the entrance and happy greeters were in abundance. I certainly felt welcome and part of the excitement.
With a whoosh, the doors opened in front of me.
I had heard that Walmart Neighborhood Markets were "smaller" stores. Smaller than an aircraft carrier perhaps, but my impression walking through the front door was "big." It is certainly smaller than a Walmart Superstore or Sam's Club, but it feels every bit as large as the largest supermarkets in Cary.
Nothing wrong with big. I like choices when I do my food shopping. But there's nothing particularly "neighborhood-y" about the new store. I took my bearings and walked around.
Walmart Neighborhood Market has everything you'd expect in a Cary supermarket – nice looking fresh baked goods, a large produce section, and aisle upon aisle of packaged goods. All your favorite brands are there. There's a deli, a meat department and a fish counter.
In fact, Walmart Neighborhood Market looks like a lot like a slightly less fancy Harris Teeter. Slightly. It's very Harris Teeter-like.
First impression – if you like Harris Teeter but think it's too expensive, you may like Walmart Neighborhood Market.
Of course, the point of discount stores is to save money. I do most of the food shopping in my family and I'm finely attuned to prices. Okay, I'm cheap. I prefer frugalista, but whatever.
My second impression – things were not so cheap at Walmart Neighborhood Market. I expected big discounts, but the savings were modest.
Big brand names predominate the store – Nabisco, Kellogg's, P&G products. You'll save a little bit at Walmart, but branded products always command a premium.
Typical offering – 2 for $4.99 on chips at WNM, 2 for $6.00 at H/T.
The truth is, I've been ruined by Aldi. Now that's a discount supermarket. Chips, cookies, cereal are mostly under $2.00. Coffee is $3.99-$5.99. They have a nice German roast we enjoy at my house.
If you want to save money, Aldi is the place to go in Cary. Walmart Neighborhood Market can't touch them.
Positioning is the art and science of deciding where your product fits into the cosmos of your competitors. Full disclosure – I did a lot of work for P&G and General Foods during my previous career as an ad guy. I'm finely tuned to the intricacies of positioning.
I was surprised by the positioning of the Walmart supermarket. Much closer to Harris Teeter than Aldi. That puts them on a par with Kroger and Lowes. Maybe Food Lion.
This is a tough spot. Ask Food Lion. Value shoppers are going to Aldi. Quality shoppers are going to Harris Teeter, Whole Foods and Fresh Market. The retailers in the middle are caught in a squeeze.
The pitch may be to leverage Walmart's popular brand and traditional customers into grocery sales. Like Target or Dillard or Starbucks, Walmart customers are loyal and believe the store delivers on its brand promise ("save money, live better").
Walmart shoppers will not be disappointed in the new supermarket. It delivers a surprising upscale shopping experience and you'll save a few bucks over Harris Teeter.
I doubt they will steal many Harris Teeter customers. They may pressure Food Lion and Lowes. Aldi has nothing to worry about.
More Walmarts on the Way?
Talk is circulating that Walmart is set to occupy the old Food Lion on Harrison and Maynard. That's right across the street from Aldi and a Harris Teeter, putting a third supermarket at that one intersection. Now that's going to be interesting.
Also circulating is news that Walmart may open a third supermarket in the area at the corner of Davis Drive and Morrisville-Carpenter Rd.
This all makes perfect sense. Many marketers go big when they decide to get into a market, opening several locations close together to maximize savings on distribution and warehousing.
In any event, choice is good. We are fortunate in Cary to have lots of choices and the newest ideas in retailing all across our town.
Here in littletown ( Sycamore Ga) America, We are so happy that Wal mart will soon have a market in Ashburn,Ga. The only grocer in our county really puts it to the unfortunate people who have to walk to the store and then face the very expensive food prices. There a few foodmarts in the next "big town" but that is 18 miles down I75.
So, come on Wal mart.
Morrsiville Wal-Mart grocery store opened today in Morrisville, at site of former Ace Hardware.
Free ice cream samples from Blue Belle!
Manager Maurice told me they provided about 100 jobs.
Another one opens soon in former Northwoods Food Lion at Maynard and Harrison.
New store in Morrisville has a mini deli with sliced to order meats, etc., rotisserie chickens, etc.
Much easier, safer access by car compared to 55 & High House store.
Went to H-T further up Davis Dr. to use some doubled coupons on some much higher-priced stuff.
The three H-Ts near these two stores have some real competition, which is great for the consumer.
This store has faster checkout (more staff) than the bigger store over in Apex near US 1!
However, all staff seem so new and they often (2X) miss scanning coupons properly.
Produce is excellent quality for price paid!
Waiting for the Publix on Harrison to open!!!
I've shopped in this new hwy 55 wal mart 5 or 6 times now and although the prices are good, the customer service is terrible. It seems as though management has gone out of their way to hire people with no social skills who have no business interacting with the public. With 2 harris teeters and a lowe's food very close by, and the chick-fil-a example of customer service influencing those stores, cary shoppers will definitely notice the difference. If you like people who are clearly annoyed with being at work and who can muster no more than a gesture and a grunt, then this wal mart grocery is for you. If you like eye contact, and friendly people speaking in sentences, then go across the street to HT or down the block to lowe's. The old adage that "you get what you pay for" is very apparent at the new wal mart.
I stopped in the new Walmart neighborhood market. Fairly nice, but I usually shop at Harris Teeter. Prices didn't impress me as being any great savings. The Walmart market is nice, but I wouldn't go out of my way to shop there. There wasn't much to make it stand out as unique.
While I applaud the effort to bring in a tenant that will use the space in a shopping center that desparately needed a jolt in traffic, it saddens me that there are still people out there that are comparing Harris Teeter prices to Walmart. There is no offense intended in this reply, just an educational enlightenment. When I first moved to North Carolina from New York, all I ever heard from the local masses was how expensive HT was and how you were better off at Food Lion or Kroger or Walmart.
It took me about a year to discover that HT is actually among the best places to save money and make your budget stretch. While regular prices at HT compared to others may be a bit higher, that scenario drastically changes when you take 1/2 hour out of your week to grab coupons and plan out your shopping trip. Those that know – we are not "extreme couponers"; we are "highly educated in the ways of how coupons work" – know that you can score anywhere from $40-$150 worth of groceries for $15 or less – depending on the sales – if you take a fraction of time in your week to plan.
Walmart does not offer any coupon doubling or customer incentive plans where HT does. I have yet to see any sale or offer in any Walmart where I can walk out the door with $50 worth of groceries and have only paid $8.40 (that includes tax).
So while I may peek into the new WM to see what all the hub-bub is about, I will still go across the street and save 80% or more on what I need at HT.
Lots of accidents there with people turning left from HT and WM at the same time, across fast heavy traffic. Go behind Blockbuster and to the light at Westpark is the best bet. It seems WM is trying to push out HT…hope it doesn't happen. But I've been in several small towns lately and have seen the negative impact of Walmart's buying power. It's sad to see the smaller guys pushed out when they can't compete.
The thing is this. Other stores CAN compete with Walmart. They can either do it with customer service OR they can stop trying to be Bigpockets McGee and pass some of the money they're making to the customer in terms of lower prices.
Don't blame WalMart for the decline of the small mom and pop shops. If you want someone to blame, you should look back to shopping malls, before that look at stores like Sears. Mom and pop shops and quaint little downtowns have been closing up well before 1962 when Walmart opened their doors. It is just natural evolution of the market. People want to make as few stops as possible while spending as little as possible.
One of the staff at the liquidating hardware store on Davis Dr. told me last week that Wal-Mart would occupy their store AND the long-vacant, never-occupied adjacent storefront!
Wal-Mart's produce selection, quality and pricing really gives them a local competitive edge, I feel.
That corner suffers from poor traffic flow for those exiting on to southbound RT 55 with a load of groceries.
Tried today at 4 PM on a Sunday! Yuck.
Thanks for the nice and informative post. I truly enjoyed reading it. I'll add the new WNMs to my "frugalista" comparison shopping in the Cary-Morrisville area.
Walmart is definitely coming to the old hardware store at Davis and Morrisville Carpenter. I call the town a few weeks ago and they already have issued a building permit for it.
Thanks for sharing the info, Lee.


Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Speaker of the House John Boehner, and Chief Justice John Roberts walk into a bar.
You know the punch line: "Is this some kind of joke?" Not today, because there's a serious question for one of the three -- "What should we write on this passport?"
But which one should you ask?
That's the question raised by Zivotofsky v. Clinton, argued yesterday in the Supreme Court. The stakes in the case seem small -- whether the words "Israel" or "Jerusalem" should be written in the "Place of Birth" blank on a child's passport. But constitutional cases often wrap important issues in seemingly trivial guise.
United States foreign policy for the past sixty years has been not to recognize the sovereignty of any one country over the contested city of Jerusalem. Initially, the city was divided; but Israel captured it all in 1967 and shortly afterwards proclaimed it as the "undivided capital" of the country. Meanwhile, the international community, including the United States, insists that the "final status" of Jerusalem can only be determined as part of a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute.
American supporters of Israel have long demanded that the U.S. recognize Jerusalem as the capital. In 2002, Congress added language to the State Department's appropriation bill urging the U.S. to move its embassy and directing the State Department, which issues U.S. passports, to allow American citizens born in Jerusalem to choose between "Jerusalem" and "Israel" in the "Place of Birth" blank. When the appropriations bill reached his desk, President George W. Bush signed it, but issued a "signing statement" that said that the Jerusalem section "impermissibly interferes with the President's constitutional authority to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs and to supervise the unitary executive branch." Since then, the State Department has ignored it.
Menachem Zivotofsky, Jerusalem-born, turned 9 on October 17. His American-born parents are suing to require the State Department to write "Israel" for his place of birth. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia dismissed the case. Two of the three judges held that the case is a "political question," meaning that the two political branches should work it out and that courts have no role to play. The third judge, Senior Judge Harry T. Edwards, said that deciding such questions was clearly an executive power.
Article II, the sketchy outline of executive power, says that the president "shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers "; the only other mention of foreign affairs is the grant of power to make treaties "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." Beginning with George Washington, presidents have construed the "receive ambassadors" clause as a grant of power to determine which governments are recognized and what the nation's policy toward them shall be. By the 20th Century, it had become hornbook law that the president is "the sole organ of the Nation in its external relations."
Congress's claims authority over passports, drawing from an inferential power (initially shared with the states) to prohibit the "migration or importation of... persons" (meaning slaves) into the U.S.; an exclusive power to "establish an uniform rule of naturalization"; and the power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations." Though Congress now authorizes the issuance of passports, the federal government in the early republic issued them with no statutory authority.
Menachem Zivotofsky's lawyers argue that the "place of birth" designation of a passport is for identification only, and doesn't implicate the "recognition power." In addition, his brief argues, the United States allows persons born in Israel proper who object to that listing on their passport to have only the city of birth listed; it is unfair, they imply, to discriminate against Americans born in Jerusalem who do want "Israel" on their passports.
These arguments don't seem very strong. Discrimination is the essence of foreign policy, and asking the Supreme Court to hold that a specific act of policy will have what Zivotofsky calls "negligible or trivial impact" on American foreign policy seems like an invitation to go where even self-confident Justices fear to tread.
In its amicus brief, a group of members of Congress ask the Court to ignore the "political question" issue and redefine the foreign relations power, holding, in particular, that Congress has "plenary authority over passports and documentation of birth abroad."
From a transcript of Monday's argument, it seems to me that the Congressional argument is the only one that has a chance of winning. And that chance seems slim. What the Court would have to hold is that Congress can determine any instance of American foreign policy by statute. As Justice Scalia asked Nathan Lewin, Zivotofsky's lawyer, "It seems to me you are not arguing for a co-equal congressional power, you are arguing for a superior congressional power." Lewin was reluctant to confront this aspect of the case. He argued that what Zivotofsky was asking was "trivial ... all that happens with this statute is the 50,000 American citizens have the same passport as 100,000 other American citizens who were born in Tel Aviv or Haifa." They need that because "they are being denied a certain sense of self-respect that they feel they should be able to have in terms of their own identification."
Chief Justice Roberts asked, "So we are supposed to decide whether or not the executive is correct in saying that it's a significant problem. And he says that, but we know foreign policy better; we don't think it's a big deal." Could a decision for Zivotofsky really be cabined to "trivial" matters or issues of self-respect? What, Justice Scalia asked, if Congress voted to allow passport applicants to list their birthplace as "Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East"? Lewin said Congress would have the power to do that.
Solicitor General Donald Verilli, arguing for the government, told the Court that specifying place of birth was "an exercise of the Executive's exclusive recognition power." After some back and forth about what the text actually says (spoiler: the word "exclusive" isn't in there, nor is "recognition"), Verilli qualified: "If the reception clause were not in the Constitution -- but we had the same history that we have now and the same functional considerations about the need for it being in the control of the executive," the government would still argue that the power was exclusive to the president.
The case presents the Court with four options, three of them seemingly unappetizing. Second, it could hold that the case presents a "political question," which federal courts do not have jurisdiction to hear. Unappetizing. Justice Sotomayor said to Verilli, "If we call this a political question and don't address the merits, the outcome is that the president is saying he's entitled to ignore the Congress. I don't know what kind of message that sends, but it's a little unsettling that a Court charged with enforcing the laws passed by Congress are basically saying we are not going to determine whether this law is constitution or unconstitutional." Perhaps recognizing this problem, the government did not push the "political question" hard either in its brief or in the argument.
Next, the Court could hold that Congress can direct the executive in passport matters as long as the direction would have "trivial" effects on foreign policy. This might invite dozens of foreign policy disputes -- about other matters claimed to be "trivial" -- to slither into the Court's in-basket. Unappetizing. Finally, as Lewin finally conceded on rebuttal, "this case can be a vehicle for an authoritative clarification of the roles of Congress and the president in conducting the nation's foreign affairs" -- with a victory for his client presumably creating a fairly radical departure in the way foreign policy is handled. If that prospect is appetizing the Court, that hunger doesn't appear in the transcript.
Finally, the Court could resolve the constitutional issue and hold that the power to designate the contents of a passport belongs to the executive. Of the four, that seems least bad, both from a constitutional point of view and from the point of view of the Court's struggle to avoid being pulled into day-to-day executive decisions. That doesn't mean five Justices won't decide to take a leap into a new world of foreign affairs law. But it would be quite a leap, and the Justices seem to be looking carefully before making it.


text:
Dreaming in Turtle
Peter Laufer's latest book, Dreaming in Turtle, is called "a masterpiece of nature writing" by professor of biological sciences at the University of Southern California and author of The Last Tortoise, Craig Stanford.
The book is a fascinating exploration into the world of turtles across the globe; Laufer charts the lore, love, and peril to a beloved species.
Dreaming in Turtle is a compelling story of a stalwart animal prized from prehistory through to today―an animal threatened by human greed, pragmatism, and rationalization. It stars turtles and shady and heroic human characters both, in settings ranging from luxury redoubts to degraded habitats, during a time when the confluence of easy global trade, limited supply, and inexhaustible demand has accelerated the stress on species. The growth of the middle class in high-population regions like China, where the turtle is particularly valued, feeds this perfect storm into which the turtle finds itself lashed. This is a tale not just of endangered turtles but also one of overall human failings, frailties, and vulnerabilities―all punctuated by optimistic hope for change fueled by dedicated turtle champions.
"Peter Laufer takes us into the world of turtles, and allows those slow, steady, clumsy, primitive throwbacks-to-the-dinosaurs to capture our imagination, sympathy and love. Land and sea, as varied as you and me, they are thought to have spiritual powers and to bring positive energy and good health. And who wouldn't want to be able to disappear into one's shell occasionally? As Laufer explains, we all have a turtle story."
— Rich Minner, producer, NBC Today Show
"Wonderfully episodic...Turtle rescue stories mix with tales of patrolling beaches to protect sea turtles and of catching smugglers, while tales of Fred, Laufer's box turtle, provide an emotional connection."
— Booklist
Tagged: Peter Laufer, Dreaming in Turtle
In Memory of Carl Ernst
Vote for the Environment


What you REALLY want for Christmas! 4.78 acres of hunting land backing up to the Nicolet National Forest! Nicely wooded, and ready for you to add a hunting cabin or camping site. Secluded but close to everything, including lakes, rivers, snowmobile trails, ATV trails. Groceries and bait are just a few minutes away! Adjacent lots 3 and 6 also available.
The world of real estate has been a wild ride for me. Armed with zero knowledge at all, aside from the prescribed classes and passing a test, I hit the ground running, and never looked back. In my first year in real estate, I was chosen the Bunbury and Associates corporate realtor of the year by the owners of the company for my strong showing of 17 closings. In year four, I reached my ten-year goal of cracking the top 5% of the South Central Wisconsin MLS in terms of volume. I also got my broker's license that year, just because I could. I was chosen from all the realtors in Wisconsin as one of three Top Producers, and presented in a panel at the 2018 Realtors Convention.
I believe much of my success in real estate is seated in the fact that I don't believe real estate is a sales industry. Instead, I understand that being a realtor is a service job, and strive to serve my clients to the very best of my ability. With the strong backing of my brokerage, my sense of humor, and the belief that Realtors don't sell homes, they help their friends realize their dreams, I have helped hundreds of people successfully buy and sell homes.
I believe in sharing my time and talent with those around me. I sit on the boards of several local non-profits, including a mental health and addictions golf outing, a social services annual ball, the realtors association board, and a pet rescue; I work with my local community outreach, I volunteer with the local swim and dive teams at major meets, and am the lifeguard captain for Ironman Wisconsin.
I am an alumnus of THE Ohio State University and credit my English degree with my penchant for precise spelling, punctuation, and syntax. I (and my eight adopted dogs) are strong advocates for animal rescue.
My dream job is selling homes to amazing friends and finding homes for homeless dogs. I am lucky to be able to realize my dreams every day.


The morainic hills of Canavese, very sunny and with draining soils, since two thousand years produce renowned wines of ancient lineage. Due to their limited production, these wines are purchasable only locally. A few hundreds metres from Villa Morenica you can make a visit to 4 producers of the very ancient erbaluce, straw yellow wine obtained from grapes that enclose the light of the sun. Either you can buy a bottle of canavese rosso, or, perhaps, give yourself the pleasure to try the thrill of the erbaluce spumante or the pleasure of the passito di Caluso, even in the liquoer version.
Ask the keeper of Villa Morenica suggestions about the wines and where to buy them.