Samantha+Forester

= =  **Free Bible Study Guides and Lessons and MP3 Audio Downloads** [|**Survey of the Bible Series**]: In this series, we take an in-depth look at each book of the Bible in order to better understand the purpose and meaning of the Scripture. This series takes a chronological study of The Gospel of Luke by breaking down the book chapter by chapter. Contents of the study includes: Who was the intended audience for the Gospel of Luke? How does this book relate to other books in the Bible? and What truths can a Church Age Believer gain from this Gospel? [| Introduction to the book of Luke] [|1A John's birth] [|1B Christ's birth (Part 1)] [|1B Christ's birth (Part 2)] [|1C Mary Elizabeth] [| 2A Birth of Jesus] [|2B & 3A Jesus early life and John's Ministry] [|4 Jesus' Temptations] [|5 Some Disciples Called] [| 6 Jesus Chooses the Twelve and Teaches] [| 7A Centurion's Servant and the Widow at Nain] [| 7B John's Messengers] [| 8_Some Parables and Some Miracles] [| 9B_The Confession of Peter] [|9C_Jesus Predicts His Death and the Transfiguration] [| 10_Seventy Disciples and the Parable of the Good Samaritan] [| 11_Instruction in Prayer and Sign of Jonah] [|12_Jesus Teaches the Disciples] [| 13 Parables and Repentance] [| 14 Healing on the Sabbath and the Cost of Following Christ] [|15-16_Three Parables Illus the Jew Gone Astray and Follow Up Teaching] [| 17_Instruction_Lepers Second Coming] [|18_More Parables of Humility] [| 19_Addendum] [| 19_Zacchaeus and the Entry into Jerusalem] [| 20_Opposition from the Religious Politico Mafia] [|21_Jesus Prophesies Re Last Days] [| 22A The Setting for Jesus' Last Days] [| 22B Jesus' Last Week] [|22C_Judas' Betrayal and Peter's Denial] [|23_Jesus Tried and Executed] [| 24A_Jesus Resurrection and Appearances] [| 24B_Jesus Commissions His Disciples] This information above is an online bible study guidefor the book of Luke. The website is [|www.cotsk.org] = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =About the Book of Genesis= We do not know who wrote the Book of Genesis. And we do not know when that person wrote the book. There is an ancient tradition that Moses was the author. Modern Bible students have many other ideas. But we can see that Genesis is a very old book. Even the oldest books in the Bible refer to it (for example, Exodus 3:15; Job 28:25-29). The author was not merely collecting ancient stories. And he was not merely recording ancient history. In fact, Genesis is a very careful account, which teaches the main principles in the Bible. The author describes the nature of God. The author explains God’s plan for a perfect world. The author describes *sin and *sacrifice. He speaks about God’s promise to forgive. And, he speaks about God’s promise to send Jesus. The Bible teaches that the author was not merely setting out his own ideas. Instead, the author wrote by the Holy Spirit of God. =Chapter 37=
 * **[|Luke]** - The Gospel account of the life of Jesus Christ that was written to a single individual, Theophilus, with a major focus on the humanity of Jesus.

Joseph and his brothers
Joseph was 17 years old. He was looking after the *flock with his brothers. He was helping the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph told a bad report about them to his father. So Joseph replied, ‘Here I am.’ So Joseph went to find his brothers. He found them at Dothan. **v18** The brothers saw Joseph a long way off. They planned that they would kill him when he came. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =Theater review: UCLA Live's 'Medea' at Freud Playhouse= September 24, 2009 | 1:00 pm Euripides' “Medea” taps into primal emotions that frighten and fascinate us in equal measure. Try as you may to interpret the tale of a wife who, having sacrificed everything for her husband, murders their children to punish him for his unfaithfulness, there’s a mystery, a strangeness at the heart of this shocking crime that is ultimately irreducible.
 * v1** Jacob lived in the country called Canaan. His father had lived there too.
 * v2** This is the story about the things that happened to Jacob’s family.
 * v3** Israel had many children. But Joseph had been born when Jacob was an old man. So Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved his other children. Jacob gave to Joseph a special long coat with sleeves. **v4** Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved all Joseph’s brothers. They hated Joseph. They were angry whenever they spoke to him.
 * v5** Then Joseph had a dream. His brothers hated him much more when they heard it. **v6** Joseph said to them, ‘Listen to the dream that I have dreamed. **v7** Look! We were binding bundles of corn in a field. Then my bundle got up and it stood up. Your bundles of corn came together round my bundle of corn. They *bowed down to my bundle.’
 * v8** Joseph’s brothers said to him, ‘You will not rule over us. You will not be the master over us.’ So they hated him much more because he had had that dream. And they hated him because he had told them about it.
 * v9** Then Joseph dreamed again. He told his brothers what he had dreamed. He said, ‘Listen. I have dreamed again. This time the sun, the moon and 11 stars were *bowing down to me.’
 * v10** Joseph told that dream to his father and brothers. His father was angry with him. His father said, ‘This is a bad dream that you have had. Do not think that I, your mother and your brothers will *bow down to the ground in front of you.’ **v11** Joseph’s brothers were jealous because of him. However, his father remembered what Joseph had said.
 * v12** One day, Joseph’s brothers went to their father’s *flock near Shechem. **v13** Israel said to Joseph, ‘Your brothers are feeding the *flock at Shechem. Come. I will send you to them.’
 * v14** So then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Go now. Look to see if your brothers and the *flock are well. Come back and tell me.’ So Israel sent Joseph from the valley called Hebron. Joseph went to Shechem.
 * v15** A man found Joseph while Joseph was wandering in the fields. The man asked, ‘What are you looking for?’
 * v16** Joseph replied, ‘I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding the *flock.’
 * v17** The man said, ‘They have gone away. I heard them say that they were going to Dothan.’
 * v19** The brothers said to each other, ‘Here comes this dreamer (Joseph). He is a master in that. **v20** Come now. We will kill him. Here are some pits (large holes in the ground). We will throw Joseph into one. Then we shall say that a wild animal ate him. His dreams will not help him then!’
 * v21** Reuben heard that. The other brothers wanted to kill Joseph. But Reuben stopped them. He said, ‘Do not kill him.’ **v22** Reuben then said, ‘Do not hurt him. Throw him into this pit (large hole) here in the desert. Do not hurt him.’ Reuben planned to rescue Joseph. And then he would take Joseph back to his father.
 * v23** So, when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his special coat. He was wearing the long coat with sleeves. **v24** The brothers seized Joseph. They threw him into a pit (large hole). The pit was empty. There was no water in it.
 * v25** Then they sat down to eat. They looked up and they saw a group of *Ishmaelites. The *Ishmaelites were coming from Gilead with their camels. They had loaded their camels with gum, *balm and *myrrh. The camels were going to carry those things down to Egypt.
 * v26** Then Judah said this to his brothers. ‘We could kill our brother and we could cover up his blood. But we will not get any reward if we do that. **v27** We will sell our brother to the *Ishmaelites. We will not hurt him. He is our own brother. He is a member in our family.’ Judah’s brothers listened to him.
 * v28** Then those *Midianite traders went by. The brothers pulled Joseph up. They took him out of the big hole. They sold him to the *Ishmaelites. The price was 20 *shekels of silver. Those traders took Joseph to Egypt.
 * v29** Reuben went back to the big hole. He saw that Joseph was not there. He was very upset. And he tore his clothes. **v30** He went to his brothers. And he said, ‘The boy has gone. I am in trouble.’
 * v31** Then they took Joseph’s coat. They killed a goat. They held the coat while they lowered it into the goat’s blood. And then they lifted it out again. **v32** The brothers sent the long coat with sleeves to their father. When they came home, they said, ‘We have found this. Look to see whether it is your son’s coat.’
 * v33** Jacob knew that it was Joseph’s coat. He said ‘It is my son’s coat. A wild animal has eaten him. It is certain that an animal has torn Joseph to pieces.’
 * v34** Then Jacob tore his clothes. He put rough cloth on his body. For a long time, he showed how sad he was about his son. **v35** All Jacob’s sons and daughters came to comfort him. But Jacob refused to receive comfort. He said, ‘No, I shall go down to the place where dead people are. But I shall still be sad about my dead son then.’ So Joseph’s father wept for him.
 * v36** Meanwhile Joseph was in Egypt. The *Midianites had sold him to Potiphar. Potiphar was the captain of the guard. He was an officer of *Pharaoh.
 * This information above is from the website [|www.easyenglish.info], a website that breaks down the stories in the bible along with other forms of literature and makes them more easily understood to their readers.**

That strangeness is taken to a new level in [|UCLA Live’s] whirligig production, which opened Wednesday at the Freud Playhouse with an unsteady [|Annette Bening] in the title role. As directed by Lenka Udovicki, a European auteur making her U.S. debut, this “Medea” often seems, frankly, bizarre — an unfortunate consequence of the stylistic flourishes and textual liberties that keep hijacking the spotlight from the actors. The tragedy, translated by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael, is arrayed on a raked stage covered in sand. A rusty shanty serves as Medea’s home in Corinth, the land from which she's about to be banished by King Kreon (Daniel Davis), who doesn’t trust what this menacing woman might do to his daughter, now that she’s taken Jason to her marriage bed. Richard Hoover’s scenic design, in addition to reminding us that the Greek city is surrounded by water, suggests that Jason’s royal wedding — the self-serving act that got him into all this trouble — might really be a last-ditch effort to upgrade his family’s miserable living conditions.

 But let’s not get too bogged down in the whys and wherefores of transplanting the drama to a low-rent stretch of beach. The more you attempt to logically parse Udovicki’s bold choices, the more likelihood you’ll end up frustrated by their incoherence.

Take for example Bjanka Adzic Ursulov’s costumes, which mix postmodern MTV with vintage wear. The 12-person chorus is decked out like backup dancers at a Janet Jackson concert, lacking only conspicuous head microphones to make it seem as if they’re intoning lines from Euripides’ classic album “Rhythm Nation 431 BC.” Bening, on the other hand, dolled up like a fancy 19th century witch, occasionally invokes Stevie Nicks with a wounded expression and traumatized shock of short-cropped hair. Should I mention the Britney Spears-like cameo of Kreon’s daughter, a vitally important character who doesn’t actually appear in Euripides’ original? More baffling still is Mary Lou Rosato’s Corinthian Woman, a Beckettian hobo, wearing a pilot hat and waving a fly swatter as she delivers the worried nurse’s introductory ramble that conveniently brings us up to date on all the soap-opera-ish goings on. Why not, à la Winnie in “Happy Days,” bury her up to her neck in a mound? Only an academic reactionary would insist on hewing to more conventional stagecraft, especially since workable traditions for Greek tragedy have so far eluded us. A director is certainly within her rights to re-create the visual and aural palette of such a familiar canonical work as “Medea.” And to give credit where credit is due, Udovicki does conjure some marvelous shadowy effects with her lighting designer Lap-Chi Chu, and John Coleman’s sound design ominously melds with an exotic score performed by onstage musicians. But the theatrical world, however audaciously constructed, shouldn’t regularly upstage itself — or it if does, it should have some thematic resonance. Udovicki’s tactics are, for the most part, too self-conscious to startle us into new ways of appreciating the text. With the exception of how she approaches Jason (Angus Macfadyen), normally portrayed as a shameless heel rather than a victim of his own sorry sexual opportunism, the production’s surprises are mostly interpretive duds. “Medea” unfolds as a series of manipulations and confrontations. It requires an actress to be simultaneously fierce and cunning, for even when passion overwhelms Euripides’ protagonist, she’s still computing her retaliatory machinations, still concealing (as best she can) her rancorous intentions behind a thin facade of defenselessness. Bening seeks to find the character’s human dimension, laying bare her vulnerability as a foreigner in a Greek land with a hesitancy of manner and speech. Despite the ghoulish wailing that precedes the actress’ entrance, it’s an inwardly directed performance in a play that requires robust theatrical and vocal command. Medea’s touted shrewdness is never made convincing; nor is her prosecutorial fury. Most awkward are the moments when the staging compels Bening to amp up her acting. When Macfadyen’s Jason, resembling a lusty and somewhat trimmer cousin of Luciano Pavarotti, guiltily appears before her, Udovicki has her star toss a bucket of water to express a wife’s backlogged rage. If that clichéd gesture engenders cathartic thrills, then you’ll no doubt love the fun house window revealing just what happens to Kreon and Jason’s little minx of a bride — a breach of classical decorum, which preferred the violence to be reported rather than depicted onstage, but very much in keeping with this production’s love of graphic flamboyance and obviousness. -- Charles McNulty //Photo: Top: Annette Bening and chorus. Bottom: Angus Macfadyen and Bening. Credit: Michael Lamont//
 * "Medea."** Freud Playhouse, UCLA, Westwood. 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 18. $80 and $110. (310) 825-4401. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.
 * __This is a review from the theatrical performance of Medea from the Los Angeles times. It interested me to see the influence this story still has in our current time.__**