This week we feature our Gallery of Great Choke Artists:

Poor Gus. Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden (1594-1632), disdained the steel armour offered by his aides at the Battle of Lützen, saying: “The Lord God is my Armour!” Yes, the Battle of Lutzen was indeed in 1632.

Peter Crawford’s self-defence in a New York court suffered slightly after he asked the key witness: “Did you get a good look at my face when I snatched your bag?”

Rommel decided that he could go home to celebrate his wife’s birthday because Normandy was so quiet in June 1944.

This was Sir William Preece, chief engineer of the General Post Office, in 1876: “The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.”

t took 177 years to build, but the Pisa’s famous tower began to lean less than a decade after construction began. The enormous project was planned on unstable soil, and had a shallow three metre foundation which couldn’t support the structure’s weight. After extensive renovations, the tower has now stopped moving for the first time in its history.

Maj Gen John Sedgwick (1813-1864) was unimpressed by Confederate sniper fire at the Battle of Spotsylvania. “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance!” Five points for the first person to identify when the battle took place…

And topping our list, Captain Edward J. Smith, captain of the RMS Titanic, the largest passenger steamship in the world, was popularly believed to be unsinkable. The huge loss of life that occurred when it crashed into an iceberg in 1912 was due partly to an inadequate supply of lifeboats, and partly to design flaws – including an unreliable system of watertight compartments, and poor quality rivets in the ship’s hull. 

Exasperated? So was Paul at the Galatians. His chastisement of the Galatians might be made today as Snap out of it, you knuckleheads. What were you thinking? 

Sources:
BBC Magazine
Daily Telegraph

Paul Rebukes Peter

Galatians 3:1-5	First comes the argument of personal experience. They became Christians by faith, and they knew it. And Paul calls them out with this chastisement.
Galatians 3:6-9	Next comes the comparison of their faith with Abraham’s, appealing to the Old Testament, thereby knocking the argument that salvation required following the Law out the door. Because the Judaizers needed reminding that Abraham’s salvation came before there was a Law to keep. Gen 12:3And that includes Gentiles, because, in a real sense, Abraham was a Gentile
Galatians 3:10-14	Now comes the clarification that the Law brings a curse. Even the OT ends the old Covenant by the reminding of a curse. Mal 4:6 Deu 21:23
Galatians 3:15-18	Paul now closes the door on the argument that the the Law supersedes the promises made to Abraham. Then he focuses in on the distinction was made to one person, one seed, vs seeds. That seed is Christ Jesus. He is quoting Gen 22:17-18Paul is a Biblical literalist!
Galatians 3:19-23	The Law was necessary to show the pitiful human sinner his depraved and utterly helpless position. Good thing I’m not one. What!?Shut up everyone – The Law closes the door on self-righteousness AND justification by works, since no one can keep the Law perfectly. Jesus made this clear when the Pharisees wanted to stone the adulteress and He made the famous offer “Let the sinless one cast the first stone John 8:3-11Ordained by angels – See Deu 23:2 Acts 7:53
Galatians 3:24-29	Tutor here is literally child conductor.

Cult Spotlight – Islam

Islam in a Nutshell:

Source: carm.org