Page 1 of Joel Kontinen's writing

1. Why Did We Start Celebrating Mother’s Day in the West? It is probably no surprise that celebrating Mother’s Day has strong Christian roots. Contrary to what some skeptics would claim, Christianity has a lot to say about the equality of all people. Writing to the Galatians, the apostle Paul... (posted by Joel 13 days 12 hours ago.)

2. 100 Years Ago: Titanic - The Unsinkable Ship That Sank Humans have probably had great expectations from the dawn of their history. Ships have played a major role in achieving some of them. Some of their aspirations have not yielded so great fruit, however. One such example is the ship everyone has... (posted by Joel 41 days 9 hours ago.)

3. Medieval Prophecy on the Last Pope: Are We Running Out of Time? A prophecy attributed to Saint Malachy (1094-1148), Bishop of Armagh, Ireland, gives a list of 112 popes from AD 1143. What is interesting is that the current pope Benedict XVI is no. 111 on the list. It also seems that many details of the... (posted by Joel 62 days 9 hours ago.)

4. Gianna Jessen - The Abortion Survivor Who Should Be Dead But Is Very Much Alive October Baby , a soon-to-be released movie, is inspired by the true story of an abortion survivor. In April 1977, a 17-year old mother had an abortion that left the baby alive. The abortion clinic doctor, who was supposed to dispose of the... (posted by Joel 69 days 12 hours ago.)

5. Academic Paper: Killing Newborn Babies Should Be Allowed Killing newborn babies is not a recent invention. The ancient Canaanites and Spartans knew how to dispose of unwanted tiny humans who had managed to survive until birth. In our time, slaughtering babies has usually been restricted to the... (posted by Joel 76 days 9 hours ago.)

6. Big Earthquake Coming to the U.S. East Coast, Prophet From Kenya Predicts David Owuor, a former PhD scientist with a background in molecular genetics and cancer research, has in recent years made a number of spectacular predictions about catastrophes that he says will soon take place. On his website Dr. Owuor is... (posted by Joel 90 days 9 hours ago.)

7. Are There Flying Saucers at the Bottom of the Baltic Sea? Last week, CNN and some UK papers reported on a large disk-shaped object that was found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden. The Daily Mail’s article on the discovery was titled ‘ It's either the Millennium... (posted by Joel 111 days 8 hours ago.)

8. Hugo Chavez: USA Is Spreading Cancer to South American Leaders Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is known for his extraordinary views. Some of them have been rather tame. He has, for instance, banned singing in the shower to prevent anyone using too much water. More recently, however, he has aired more... (posted by Joel 139 days 10 hours ago.)

9. Dangerous Word? Pakistan Bans the Use of Jesus in Text Messages Jesus is a dangerous word. Or at least this is what the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has decided as it has banned the use of this name in text messages. It recently drew up a list of 1,600 words that Pakistani officials judged to be... (posted by Joel 174 days 11 hours ago.)

10. Christianity, the “Mischievous Superstition” that Conquered the World Christianity, the “Mischievous Superstition” that Conquered the World The Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (AD 56 – ca. AD 117) was definitely no fan of Christianity. In his Annales he described “a most mischievous... (posted by Joel 188 days 10 hours ago.)

11. The Most Discriminated Against People in History They were persecuted in ancient Egypt, Persia and almost everywhere they went. Many rulers sought to destroy them as a people but none ultimately succeeded in their evil schemes. They were often singled out as the cause of misfortune, and others... (posted by Joel 202 days 9 hours ago.)

12. When Spiritual Laws Caught Muammar Gaddafi Many dictators and terrorists have assumed that they are above all laws. However, history tells us that they were not. Nicolae Ceausescu, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi all met their end in a way that can only be characterised... (posted by Joel 216 days 9 hours ago.)

13. When Being A Christian Can Be Extremely Dangerous While we might often associate Christianity with images of green pastures and still waters, it can be extremely hazardous to be a follower of Jesus Christ in Muslim or communist countries. Jesus’ way led to the cross. About 200 million... (posted by Joel 230 days 8 hours ago.)

14. Man Shall Not Live By Bread Alone – The Importance of the Word of God Most people tend to put more emphasis on the things of this world than on spiritual issues. However, the Gospels indicate that we should prioritise the eternal over the temporal. Luke’s Gospel tells us what Jesus did when He was hungry: ... (posted by Joel 244 days 9 hours ago.)

15. Why We Should Keep Our Eyes on Jesus The author of the Letter to the Hebrews exhorts us: ” Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising... (posted by Joel 251 days 9 hours ago.)

16. What God Taught Me About Judging a Worship Style I Didn’t Like Recently, I visited a Charismatic church where I had never been before. The service was quite unlike the ones I was used to, the worship leaders played their music too loud, and a couple of other elements were also distracting me. In addition, a... (posted by Joel 272 days 7 hours ago.)

17. Iranian Perspective on UK Riots: It’s an Uprising Against an Oppressive Monarchy Truth does not have a very high priority in the propaganda wars. Following the North African and Near Eastern uprisings in predominately Muslim countries, the Iranian government has come up with its own version of the cause of the recent riots in... (posted by Joel 279 days 10 hours ago.)

18. Psalm 83 and The Arab Uprising - There Might Be a Connection Some scholars think that there might be a connection between the recent Arab uprisings in the Near East and that what they interpret as a yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecy in Psalm 83. Written 3,000 years ago, this psalm describes a scheme by... (posted by Joel 293 days 9 hours ago.)

19. China Acquires African Farmland – And Causes Famine? The French news agency AFP recently reported on the causes of the famine in the Horn of Africa that is threatening to take the lives of twelve million people in Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda. It stated that Germany’s Africa... (posted by Joel 300 days 10 hours ago.)

20. A Christian - a Friend of the King of Kings In His farewell address to the disciples, Jesus said these words that might revolutionise our thinking of who we are - if we really understand what they mean: “ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is... (posted by Joel 307 days 10 hours ago.)

21. News of the World, Money, Hacking and Morals It’s not often that journalists have to write the obituary of their own newspaper but that happened last week when the British tabloid News of the World informed its readers that their source of celebrity gossip and other news items would be... (posted by Joel 314 days 9 hours ago.)

22. When My Twitter Account Was Hacked Social networking sites are valuable assets, at least for a blogger. However, last week I learnt the hard way that we can never be too careful about them. Perhaps it was just laziness, but I chose a very short password for my Twitter account... (posted by Joel 328 days 13 hours ago.)

23. A Lesson From Elijah: Only The True God Answers Prayer At a time of great apostasy in Israel, the prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, saying, “ Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God... (posted by Joel 342 days 8 hours ago.)

24. Why Jesus Didn’t Return or What Harold Camping Got Wrong May 21 st , 2011 came and went but contrary to what Harold Camping had predicted, Jesus did not return to planet Earth on that date. What went wrong? Mr. Camping was not the first one to predict a date for Christ’s return. In the first... (posted by Joel 363 days 10 hours ago.)

25. Osama bin Laden’s Three Wives – Living Under The Same Roof With Their Husband Osama bin Laden’s recent death has brought to light some not-so-well known facts about him. The British daily Guardian reports that for five years he lived in a large home with three wives and nine children in Abbottabad, Pakistan.... (posted by Joel 1 year 5 days ago.)