Bible Studies in the Life of Paul (Historical and Constructive)

in a case like this. He could not be content to bide his time. Either the claims of Christ were true or false. If false, then they were doing harm and His doctrine and teaching must be eradicated at any cost. All the aggressive forces of the Jews found a champion in this Saul of Tarsus. Drastic measures were at once inaugurated. There was to be no more temporizing. The cruelty and thoroughness of the persecutor, in his work, are shown in his instituting a house to house canvass seeking for the Christians and sparing neither age nor sex (Acts 8:1, 3).

In the first persecutions the Jews had been content to arrest and imprison those who publicly preached Christ, but now the policy was changed and Christianity was to be exterminated root and branch. All believers in Christ were to be hunted out.

The character of Saul, the arch persecutor, is shown in the characterization of him by Luke, when he represented him as breathing out, "threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1)

World’s Biggest Diamond Mine – Mirny (Mir Mine)

World’s Biggest Diamond Mine is located at Mirna, Eastern Siberia, Russia. The mine is 525 meters (1,722 ft) deep and has a diameter of 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

The mine is so big and giat that the airspace above the mine is closed for helicopters because of a few incidents in which they were sucked in by the downward air flow. To give an idea how big it is here is is a fine illustration.

This giant truck, BELAZ (200-220 ton payload ) (see Figure 1), looks like small spot on next picture (see Figure 2). The truck in the picture, one of the biggest in the world, is just a small point in comparison to the diamond mine.

The town is strictly off limits to outsiders without a special permit and the authorities regard any foreigners with considerable suspicion. BBC Reported about this here

History:
The mine was discovered on June 13, 1955 by Soviet geologists Yuri Khabardin, Ekaterina Elagina and Viktor Avdeenko during the large Amakinsky Expedition in Yakut ASSR. They found traces of volcanic rock kimberlite which are usually associated with diamonds. This finding was the first success in the search for kimberlite in Russia, after numerous failed expeditions of the 1940s and 1950s. For this discovery, in 1957 Khabardin was given the Lenin Prize, which was one of the highest awards in the Soviet Union.

The development of the mine had started in 1957 in extremely harsh climate conditions. Seven months of winter per year froze the ground into permafrost, which was hard in winter, but turned into sludge in summer. Buildings had to be raised on piles, so that they would not sink in summer, and the main processing plant had to be built on a better ground found 20 km away from the mine. The winter temperatures were so low that car tires and steel would shatter and oil would freeze. During the winter, the workers used jet engines to defreeze and dig out the permafrost or blasted it with dynamite to get access to the underlying kimberlite. The entire mine had to be covered at night to prevent the machinery from freezing.

1,000-year-old fishing trap found on Google Earth

Britain's most ancient fishing trap has been discovered off the coastline of Wales after research carried out on Google Earth.

The 853ft (260m) long construction is thought to have been built 1,000 years ago, around the time of the Domesday Book, using large rocks placed on a river bed.

Scientists believe large numbers of people worked together to erect the trap and it allowed them to catch plentiful numbers of fish for their supper.

The trap in the estuary of the River Teifi, near Cardigan, West Wales, lay undiscovered for a millennium until a strange underwater shape was spotted from a plane flying overhead.

Archaeologists were called in and looked at the area using Google Earth.

They found a huge V-shape was clearly visible on the satellite images and divers were sent down to examine the structure.

The discovery has given them a fascinating glimpse into how medieval communities survived through hunting and fishing.

Fish swam into the estuary but became trapped by the outgoing tide before being hooked out using nets.

Dr Ziggy Otto, a marine environment lecturer at Pembrokeshire College who examined the trap, said: "A large, underwater structure was identified on aerial photographs and there can be little doubt that this rather impressive, and quite apparently man-made, structure is an ancient fish trap.

"Its age is unknown but because of its now entirely sub-tidal position this fish trap is very old, possibly dating back more than 1,000 years, when the sea level was lower.

"It would have taken a number of fishermen to work on a structure of this size. The fish were herded into the trap and when the tide went out they would be scooped out with nets."

The trap is believed to have been made from locally quarried rock, or possibly boulders carried in by glaciers during the last Ice Age.

A recent exploratory dive at the site, near Llanelli, revealed that the structure is about one metre wide and protrudes about 30cm above the underwater sand.

Scientific diver Jen Jones, who undertook the first exploratory dive with Dr Otto, said: "This fish trap is probably the oldest man-made structure in Wales ever to be scientifically investigated by way of scuba-diving. It has now metamorphosed from an entirely man-made structure to a naturally functioning reef."

Louise Austin, head of heritage management at the Dyfed Archaeological Trust, said: "Fish traps were a widely used means of catching fish in the past which made a significant contribution to the economy of many coastal and estuarine communities. Today only a few are known to survive in Wales."

Google Earth was launched four years ago and uses images obtained from satellite imagery and aerial photography superimposed on a globe.

It allows computer users to zoom in on cities, houses and natural features.

Last month some observers thought they had spotted the outline of a vast city on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, leading to speculation that it could be the lost city of Atlantis.

However, the criss-crossing lines located 600 miles west of the Canary Islands were later explained as an "artefact" of Google Earth's map making process.

Sea floor terrain data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor - the lines people saw turned out to be the path of a boat gathering data.