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To: long-gone who wrote (40709)	3/9/2001 9:13:02 AM
From: JDN	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 41369

Dear Long-gone: Ted Turner better pray that he is right cause if he is WRONG all his money isnt going to get him past the Pearly Gates. JDN

To: long-gone who wrote (40709)	3/10/2001 10:02:56 PM
From: DoublyBlessed	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 41369

RE: Ted Turner's comments PASS THE ASHES By Preston Parrish February 28, 2001 www.awakenings.org Ash Wednesday – what in the world is that? A day to clean out the fireplace after a winter of burning wood? A day for smokers to try quitting? If you don’t attend church – specifically, a church where Ash Wednesday is observed – those answers probably sound reasonable. But Ash Wednesday actually means much more to millions of Christians worldwide. Ash Wednesday gets its name from the centuries-old practice of dabbing ashes on one’s forehead as a sign of repentance. Traditionally, it is observed 40 days before Easter Sunday and marks the beginning of a period in which Christians especially focus on their need for the Savior. The ashes serve as a reminder of the sentence God pronounced in Genesis 3:19 after Adam and Eve sinned: "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Ashes represent repentance, or the act of sorrowing over and turning away from one’s sin, in many portions of Scripture. Abraham spoke of himself as "dust and ashes" (Genesis 18:27). Job repented "in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6). Daniel sought the Lord "by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes" (Daniel 9:3). In response to Jonah’s warning about God’s impending judgment, the king of Ninevah repented and "sat on the ashes" (Jonah 3:6). One interesting note about Ash Wednesday is that some churches obtain the ashes from palm leaves used during the previous year’s observance of Palm Sunday – the day of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem the final week before His death. This is meant to demonstrate that even our most noble acts have in them enough sin to crucify Christ. As Isaiah put it: "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away" (Isaiah 64:6). So what does all of this mean for you and me? Is it just a bunch of history and church tradition without merit for persons not involved in churches that observe Ash Wednesday? I don’t think so. In many ways, the practice of repentance has become in our day a lost doctrine of the faith. Too often the Good News is proclaimed without any acknowledgement that its "goodness" is accentuated by the horrible reality of the very real bad news that, apart from Christ, applies to us all: the wrath of God abides on us and we are dead in trespasses and sins (see John 3:36 and Ephesians 2:1). Yet salvation and repentance go hand-in-hand. And repentance and deepening intimacy with the Lord do too. So whether or not your church observes Ash Wednesday, this is a good time for you to reflect anew on your own helpless condition without the Lord Jesus, on ways you yet need to be conformed to His likeness, and on steps you can take to move in that direction. (It’s a good time for me to do so too!) Over the coming weeks do these things and your celebration of Easter 2001 will be especially blessed and glorious. Pass the ashes…and stay awake! Copyright 2001, AWAKENINGS, INCORPORATED. Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible.