![\"Catacomb](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/12\/Good_shepherd_02b_close.jpg\")
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Mann tracht un Gott lacht<\/em> is an old Yiddish proverb that means \u201cMan Plans and God Laughs.\u201d\u00a0 I was scheduled to be down in southern California by about now.\u00a0 I was to speak at my sister-in-law\u2019s funeral in San Gabriel on Friday and then, thereafter, to visit with people in Santa Barbara on Saturday and to speak two or three times there in Santa Barbara on Sunday.\u00a0 Alas, though, my house has been a den of illness over the past week or two.\u00a0 After heroic resistance on my heroic part, it suddenly began to hit me after dinner.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re all<\/em> sick.\u00a0 And today, about noon, one of us (though not yet all of us) tested positive for COVID-19.\u00a0 So the fireside and other activities in Santa Barbara have been cancelled and I\u2019ll miss the funeral for my brother\u2019s widow.\u00a0 I\u2019m very disappointed, and I\u2019m terribly, terribly sorry to mess up the events that have long been planned in Santa Barbara.\u00a0 My most hardcore critics will take deep pleasure in this,<\/em> though:\u00a0 I feel physically miserable<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are three new items from the Interpreter Foundation.\u00a0 I hope that you occasionally take the time to enjoy at least a few of these:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Conference Talks:\u00a0 \u201cHow John\u2019s Gospel Portrays Jesus as the Way of the Temple,\u201d<\/a> presented by John S. Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n This talk was given on Saturday, 25 October 2014, as part of the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s 2014 Temple on Mount Zion Conference<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The New Testament in Context Lesson 18: \u201cI Am the Good Shepherd\u201d<\/em>: John 7\u201310<\/a><\/p>\n In the 2 April 2023 Come, Follow Me<\/em> segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye, Spencer Kraus, and Hales Swift discuss New Testament lesson 18, \u201cI Am the Good Shepherd\u201d covering John 7\u201310.<\/p>\n The other segments of the 2 April 2023 radio show can be accessed at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreter-radio-show-april-2-2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard every Sunday evening from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640.\u00a0 If, for some reason, that doesn\u2019t for you \u2014 perhaps because you aren\u2019t in the Salt Lakc Valley \u2014 you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n As he regularly does, Jonn Claybaugh has prepared a concise set of notes for followers of the Interpreter Foundation who are students and\/or teachers of the Church\u2019s \u201cCome, Follow Me\u201d curriculum:\u00a0 Come, Follow Me<\/em> \u2014 New Testament Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 18, April 24 \u2014 30: John 7\u201310 \u2014\u00a0\u201cI Am the Good Shepherd\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a really important scientific discovery \u2014 and, I think, persuasive evidence that the cultural practices of American Latter-day Saints are true<\/em>:\u00a0 \u201cIce cream might have surprising health benefits, Harvard research suggests:\u00a0The frozen treat might be good for your heart\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n And, if the word of the Deseret News<\/em> isn\u2019t good enough for you, consider this recent article in The Atlantic<\/em> that was written by David Merritt Johns:\u00a0 \u201cNutrition Science\u2019s Most Preposterous Result: Studies show a mysterious health benefit to ice cream. Scientists don\u2019t want to talk about it.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n This development puts me in mind of a scene from Woody Allen\u2019s 1973 film Sleeper<\/em>:<\/p>\n Dr. Melik<\/span>: This morning for breakfast he requested something called \u201cwheat germ, organic honey and tiger\u2019s milk.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Aragon<\/span>: [chuckling<\/span>] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.<\/p>\n Dr. Melik<\/span>: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or . . . hot fudge?<\/p>\n Dr. Aragon<\/span>: Those were thought to be unhealthy . . . precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.<\/p>\n Dr. Melik<\/span>: Incredible.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I now share with you a few links on a topic of current heated controversy:<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Republicans Did Not Start the Culture War over Transgenderism: The movement to preserve sex-based rights is defensive in nature.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe\u00a0New York Times<\/i> fabricates a history of the transgenderist culture war\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cDamning Leak Reveals Matt Walsh Knew What A Woman Was This Whole Time\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMale Athlete Barred from Competing in Australian Women\u2019s Basketball League\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHasbro Introduces New \u2018Transition Me Elmo\u2019 Doll\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Mature Enough\u2019: Undercover Video Reveals Docs Routinely Approve Puberty Blockers for Kids as Young as Eight\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cGirl Too Young For Tattoo Offered Irreversible Gender Surgery\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cTransgenderism Is the New Blackface: If blackface is racist, then \u2018womanface\u2019 is sexist.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cScientists At Budweiser Attempt To Discover How Many Beers It Would Take For Dylan Mulvaney To Pass As A <\/a><\/p>\n And, well, what the heck:\u00a0 \u201cMormon Wishes He Drank Beer So He Could Boycott Bud Light\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n You will notice, perhaps, that I\u2019ve interspersed satirical articles here with serious articles.\u00a0 There was no deliberate design in this.\u00a0 I simply couldn\u2019t reliably tell them apart.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I was really pleased to see this story; moreover, I knew the founders of the Cairo Branch and was happy to see something of their history in print in the Church News<\/em>:\u00a0 \u201cElder Uchtdorf Visits Cairo\u2019s English and Arabic Branches: Combined sacrament meeting evidence of \u2018universal gospel of Jesus Christ and the global Church of Jesus Christ,\u2019 Apostle says\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And now, in closing, I offer a infuriating trio of links that I\u2019ve recently found in the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poison Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122:<\/p>\n \u201cElder Rasband Provides Update on T\u00fcrkiye and Syria Earthquake Relief Efforts from Germany: To date, the Church of Jesus Christ has contributed more than US$13.5M in aid to earthquake victims.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cBYU-Pathway Connect Program Grows Rapidly in DR Congo:\u00a0\u201cWherever you are, develop a deep desire to learn.\u201d\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
James Tissot (d. 1902); Wikimedia CC public domain image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a>
Catacomb of Priscilla
(circa AD 250-300)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/a>