Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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"Then God said, let there be lights in the firmament of Heaven to divide day from night, let them be for signs and seasons, for days and years. Then, God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, and He made stars, also. God saw it was good so the evening and the morning were the fourth day." Genesis 1:14-19 Nine times in history, blood moons fell on Jewish feast days, moedim (mo-ed-eem, plural in Hebrew). Blood moons came at Passover and... Full story
Collecting information upon some thing or some one can be beneficial, such as a doctor obtaining as much medical history that is available on a patient. On the other hand, collecting personal information can be harmful, especially if it is on individual citizens, or communal groups of citizens that will be used to "monitor" their activities, even if those activities are peaceful and legal. That is something done in socialist, fascist and communist countries. (In reality there is so little... Full story
One of the words we often hear around Christmas time is the word 'noel,' which simply refers to the birth of Christ. One of the songs we sing at Christmas time is called The First Noel. That song tells the story of Christ's birth and the events that followed it. The birth of Christ is the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. The lyrics of the First Noel can teach us many things about giving this time of year. For example, the first ones to hear the good news of Christ's birth were poor shephe... Full story
This article will be short and sweet. Well, sweet to some and not so sweet to others. December 25 is the day that has been chosen for the majority of the world's citizens to celebrate a holiday we call Christmas. For many, especially in Western cultures (America and Western Europe) Christmas is that time of year we take a break from our workaday world. During this break time various cultures celebrate it in various ways and for various reasons. Many days prior to December 25 most of us spend an... Full story
It was just at midnight when the Love of God came as an ordinary baby, placed in a manger filled with hay, in a cave, in the little town of Bethlehem, Judea. Mary and Joseph may not have heard the Heavenly Host of stars and angels announce Love's arrival to the shepherds who, then, went looking for the Sign, (Signature of God) but these new parents knew His Name. "Immanuel. God with us." Isaiah 9 proclaims: "Unto us a Child is born; a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulders.... Full story
December 16 marked the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, when colonial Bostonians dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded three ships-Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver-split open 340 chests filled with tea, and dumped their contents into Boston's harbor. This defiant act was directed as a protest against Parliament's insistence that the consignees of the tea in the American colonies pay an import tax, to keep afloat the struggling British East India Company, which brought the tea to the... Full story
"Wow!" "Amazing!" "Unbelievable!" These are the kinds of expressions that come to my mind whenever I hear about the current efforts to defeat the petition drive to put the EPIC Option Consumption Tax on the ballot for 2024. The EPIC Option Consumption Tax is the fix for our broken tax system, and those who oppose putting it on the ballot are undermining the right of the citizens to make that choice for themselves. Two years ago, I was visited by a couple of nationally acclaimed economists. The... Full story
Henry Kissinger, the great American statesman who has died at age 100, stands accused by his critics of many things, but perhaps the most outlandish is that he bears responsibility for the killing fields of Pol Pot's Cambodia. Implementing a radical communist vision drawn from Mao and especially the Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot and his comrades killed roughly a quarter of the country's population through execution and starvation resulting from forced collectivization and population transfers.... Full story
"Write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he who reads it may run with it," Habakkuk 2:2. Christmas cards create a vision. Notice, the Babe is in a manger of hay, Mary and Joseph are reverent and attentive. The shepherds, lambs and cattle are quiet in the barn. The star shines. Three kings, who came from afar, present little boxes of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And, we assume, because of the vision we see, all this took place in the little town of Bethlehem. Not quite! Artists... Full story
Some are addicted to alcohol. Some are addicted to various narcotics, while others are addicted to various perversions. Our nation and world has increasingly become addicted to these and other things to the extent that we have all but passed the national fatality level. Most of us are aware of the various drug addictions that plague our fellow Americans. In every part of the nation there are young and old who are addicted to the junk that is pouring over our so called sovereign borders. The... Full story
Evelyn DeMers, age 103, of Sidney, NE, passed away at SRMC Extended Care in Sidney on Thursday, November 30, 2023. Cremation has been held and a Memorial Service will be held at a later date. Memorials can be made to the Night of Hope or Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. You may view Evelyn's Book of Memories, leave condolences, photos and stories at www.gehrigstittchapel.com. Gehrig-Stitt Chapel & Cremation Service, LLC is in charge of Evelyn's care and funeral arrangements. Evelyn was born March 1... Full story
The COVID-19 pandemic is over. It has been over for quite some time, and now we are beginning to see what kind of damage some of our bad government decisions have done to our economy, to our society, and to our workforce. The government shutdowns that occurred during the days of the pandemic have done more to harm the United States of America than any other emergency situation since 9/11 some 22 years ago. Historians will likely remember the COVID-19 pandemic as the most important and... Full story
The figure of Napoleon has long been an object of fascination, but the new Ridley Scott biopic makes one wonder why. The film, perhaps inadvertently, partakes of the spirit of the times. The so-called Great Man theory of history -- that it is exceptionally talented men who bend events to their will -- is out of favor. Accordingly, the movie renders the stereotypical great man, Napoleon, as doltish and uninteresting. No man is a hero to his valet, goes the old saying. But can't he at least be a h... Full story
Channukah is celebrated, this year, December 7-15. Christians know little about this event, as it is found only in the Apocrypha of the Bible. It took place at the time of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) and is considered a Christmas story only because it falls in our December. Channukah will overlap December 25 in 2024. The account is not unlike that of the war that broke out in current Israel, October 7, 2023. The Year was 148 BCE. The Persian empire has fallen and Irael is sandwiched between... Full story
Abraham Lincoln faced an absolute calamity on March 4, 1861, the day when Chief Justice Roger Taney administered the oath of office to Lincoln at his inauguration. Already seven states from the South had seceded, or withdrawn, from the Union because voters had elected Lincoln President of the United States. Southern voters believed that Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery into western territories, like Kansas and Nebraska. South Carolina voted to secede on December 20, 1860, forty-four... Full story
EvaJean "Jean" Petroff, age 93, of Sidney, NE passed away peacefully in her sleep on Monday, November 27, 2023 in Sidney, NE. A private Graveside Service will be held at the Greenwood Cemetery in Sidney. Friends may stop at the Gehrig-Stitt Chapel on Thursday, November 30th from 1-6:00 P.M. to leave condolences for the family. There will be no visitation. Memorials are suggested to the Congregate Meals c/o Cheyenne County Community Center. You may view Jean's Book of Memories, leave... Full story
Have you heard about the new contract extension for the University of Nebraska's Athletic Director? If you haven't, you might get a little overwhelmed by the numbers. I was surprised by the tremendous increase in salary plus the guarantee of future bonuses. Trev Alberts is a former UNL football player who now serves as the Athletic Director at UNL. According to his new contract extension, his annual base salary will go up from $800,000 to $1.7 million, and it will increase again to $2.1 million... Full story
The old conventional wisdom was that the U.S. couldn't be too pro-Israel for fear of inflaming "the Arab street." The new conventional wisdom will have to be that we can't be too pro-Israel for fear of inflaming "the Western street." The Arab street, a hoary cliche of commentary on the Middle East for decades, was a reference to public opinion in the Arab countries, with the strong implication that if we offended it, the result would be massive anti-Western demonstrations and perhaps violence. W... Full story
"Moreover, Brethren, we make known to you the Grace of God in our Lord, Jesus (Messiah) Christ, though rich, became poor that you, through His poverty, might be made rich." 2 Corinthians 8: 1, 9 Apostle Paul goes on to relate the joy and comfort that comes with a certain grace: the grace of giving. Grace is a gift and giving is a grace. We often say that grace represents unmerited favor and that is true. However, God's grace is to treat us as if sin never existed in our lives, so He is free to s... Full story
Probably the most frequently asked question is "Why?" As children we bombarded our parents with such questions as... "Why do I have to do this?" "Why do I have to do that?" among others, and probably the most frequently asked was: "Why me?" Today many are bewildered at the current state of the world in general, and the state of America in particular. Why are things so confused and chaotic? Why does it seem that things are getting worse? The simple answer is: human nature. From early in our... Full story
It may seem to you like America has lost its way. The pilgrims must have had similar thoughts (but in a much more literal way) when they had to lower the sails on the Mayflower and go adrift at sea for a while. Despite all of their hardships, though, the pilgrims eventually reached Cape Cod and returned thanks to God for bringing them to a whole new world. Hardship and tribulation can easily cause us to adopt a negative attitude towards life. So, during times of hardship I am often reminded of... Full story
The celebrated author Ta-Nehisi Coates is not reliable regarding things he's spent considerable time thinking about here in the U.S., so it's presumably a mistake to put much stock in his newly formed opinions about matters he barely knows anything about. He proved as much in an interview about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the other day on Democracy Now! At the outset, Coates announced his opposition to "complexity" and "complication," and left little doubt about his sincerity in that... Full story
Thanks to my dad I became a student of history. It seems like a lot of today's parents are so busy making a living, they don't have time to share their personal and family history with their kids. Yes, I know it's rather difficult these days for us average (non-millionaire) parents. Dorothy and I experienced that even to the point of total bankruptcy and losing everything, yet we still raised 5 kids and adopted a 6th. Nonetheless, thanks to my dad I learned to share my personal history with my... Full story
Throughout the year of 1864, President Abraham Lincoln believed that he would lose the election in November. He admitted in August, "I am going to be beaten, and unless some great change takes place, badly beaten." The odds were stacked against him. Plenty of voters in the Union had reason to despise, even hate, Lincoln. The war that had begun in April 1861, at Fort Sumter, had turned into a ghastly event, full of fury, fever, horror, and madness. The human wreckage was colossal, on a scale... Full story
Rising home values continue to create problems for people living in our state. While Nebraska's statewide valuation rate increase of 12.9 percent for the last 12 months is significantly less than the national average of 20.7 percent, the current situation is still not good for people living in Nebraska. So, today I would like to highlight some of the problems affecting those looking to purchase a home in Nebraska. Homeowners have been defaulting on their mortgage loans at an alarming rate in Neb... Full story
