Take Back Your Life

2009-07-31T09:45:00.000-07:00

Be afraid...be very afraid

July 31, 2009

Ads Follow Web Users, and Get More Personal

For all the concern and uproar over online privacy, marketers and data companies have always known much more about consumers’ offline lives, like income, credit score, home ownership, even what car they drive and whether they have a hunting license. Recently, some of these companies have started connecting this mountain of information to consumers’ browsers.

The result is a sea change in the way consumers encounter the Web. Not only will people see customized advertising, they will see different versions of Web sites from other consumers and even receive different discount offers while shopping — all based on information from their offline history. Two women in adjoining offices could go to the same cosmetic site, but one might see a $300 Missoni perfume, the other the house-brand lipstick on sale for $2.

The technology that makes the connection is nothing new — it is a tiny piece of code called a cookie that is placed on a hard drive. But the information it holds is. And it is all done invisibly.

“Now, you’re traveling the Internet with a cookie that indicates you’re this type of consumer: age group X, income level, urban versus rural, presence of children in the household,” said Trey Barrett, a product leader at Acxiom, one of the companies offering this linking to marketers.

Advertisers and marketers say this specificity is useful, taking out the guesswork involved in online-only profiling, and showing products to the people most likely to be interested. Retailers including Gap and Victoria’s Secret are using this tactic.

But consumer advocates say such unseen tracking is troubling. On the old Internet, nobody knew you were a dog. On the new targeted Internet, they now know what kind of dog you are, your favorite leash color, the last time you had fleas and the date you were neutered.

“The industry’s love affair with persistent cookies has made it virtually impossible for users to go online without being tracked and profiled,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, in an e-mail message.

While Congress has been holding hearings on online privacy lately, the sessions have focused on online behavioral targeting. The industry has argued that no government intervention is needed, an argument that the Federal Trade Commission has so far accepted.

Consumers can avoid cookie-based tracking by deleting cookies from their computers or setting their browsers not to accept cookies. But few do, and privacy advocates say it is easy for companies to add cookies without users noticing.

For decades, data companies like Experian and Acxiom have compiled reams of information on every American: Acxiom estimates it has 1,500 pieces of data on every American, based on information from warranty cards, bridal and birth registries, magazine subscriptions, public records and even dog registrations with the American Kennel Club.

Patrick Williams, the publisher of the personal finance magazine Worth, recently asked Acxiom to find the names and addresses of 10,000 Americans from each of 11 cities who had houses worth more than $1 million, net worth of over $2 million, lived within a few miles of other rich people and subscribed to business publications.

“They are the scariest data research company around — they know far too much,” said Mr. Williams, who said he was very happy with the amount of information it gave him.

Companies like Acxiom and a competitor, Datran Media, make the connection between online and offline data when a person registers on a Web site or clicks through on an e-mail message from a marketer.

Datran’s cookies include 50 to 100 pieces of information. Both companies say cookie data is anonymous and generalized. Datran and Acxiom then sell advertising on Web sites like NBC.com, Facebook and Yahoo to companies that use their data.

For marketers, all this data is a boon. Beltone New England, a hearing-aid company, asked Datran to find people online who were 65 and over, owned a house, were head of a household, made more than $35,000 a year and lived in New England so it could show them ads. Datran also tested the same ads with a wider group of people.

“What was surprising was we found the majority of responders turned out to be women 35 to 40 who had elderly parents at home,” said Perry Ebel, Beltone’s director of marketing and business development. He said he was changing his offline marketing to include that group.

By using real-world data online, marketers can customize messages even further — showing different products to people with different shopping habits, whether it is in ads, an e-mail message or in semipersonalized Web pages.

Rodale, which publishes books along with magazines like Men’s Health and Prevention, uses Acxiom data to help determine which promotional e-mails to send to which customers. Offers aimed at women might be accompanied by an e-mail message offering a Father’s Day subscription to Men’s Health for him and a free book on losing belly fat for her. Young men might get another offer — a book on sex positions. Some marketers are using offline data more subtly — for example, showing a budget shopper a discount offer and a regular shopper a full-price section.

“The people who buy less frequently and are most price-conscious may get a better deal than someone who buys more frequently, who would buy anyway,” said Christopher S. Marriott, global managing director of Acxiom Digital, a division of Acxiom.

Of course, shoppers would have little reason to think their experience or their ads are being personalized based on their home value or Volvo ownership.

“It is a little Big Brother-ish,” said Betsy Coggswell, 49, a social worker in Fullerton, Calif., who shops online regularly. Still, she said, she wasn’t shocked. “Every time you put out information about yourself — people have got to understand — it’s going to be collected by somebody.”

Some online companies avoid matching online and offline profiles. In 2000, DoubleClick abandoned plans to connect online and offline data after a huge outcry. Google, which later acquired DoubleClick, has been conducting studies that connect the two areas, but it does not currently collect or serve ads based on such personal information without user permission, Sandra Heikkinen, a Google spokeswoman, said.

While Acxiom, Datran and some of their partners address their use of tracking in their privacy policies, such policies have become worthless, Mr. Rotenberg said. “Real transparency means that the user gets access to the information, not to a policy about the information,” he said.

Paul M. Schwartz, a law professor and privacy expert at the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, said the unwitting participation by consumers makes online marketing different from offline.

“Interactive media really gets into this creepy Orwellian thing, where it’s a record of our thoughts on the way to decision-making,” he said. “We’re like the data-input clerks now for the industry.”

2009-03-20T15:31:00.005-07:00

Is it for real? Cholesterol screening in toddlers and statins from elementary school age?

You’ve no doubt heard the news that “Obese kids may be candidates for cholesterol drugs.” New clinical guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics call for cholesterol screening in children from age two; low-fat dairy from age one in all kids; and cholesterol-lowering drugs, namely statins, for children as young as eight. These clinical guidelines have generated considerable controversy. But there’s something you need to know.

The controversy is not a matter of differences in opinions over the scientific evidence. This is a matter of the scientific evidence versus opinions and agendas.

To best understand the lack of evidence, misinformation and cognitive disconnects in these guidelines, we’ll go directly to the guidelines themselves and the evidence the authors cite.

For the rest of the article by Susan Szware click here.

2009-03-20T14:44:00.001-07:00

Dangers of Low Cholesterol? - So Why all the Statin Drugs?

Low cholesterol, as found in recent research, can be very dangerous to our health. So why aren't the doctors warning their patients about this danger? I hope not to believe that it is to promote the sale of statin drugs, but, at this point, I would not be surprised.

Scientists know that our brain is made up of at least half of cholesterol. Our bodies make cholesterol because it needs it to function, thinking included. So it would make sense to say that if you lower your cholesterol, or block off your body's ability to produce it, then it could greatly effect the way our brain functions.

OK, so the brain is in charge of the body right? The brain is up there giving instructions to tell our heart when to beat, our limbs when to move, our eyes to see, how to fight disease, etc, etc...and so how much sense would it make to deplete one of the main sources of energy that the brain consists of, that being cholesterol? This is confusing to me. It is confusing, not because my cholesterol is too low, but because statin drugs are being dispensed like candy to try to correct a problem that is, well, maybe not really a problem but perhaps something that is another one of those little "white coat" lies that keep you coming back.

Here is a link to an excellent article found on www.westonaprice.org that should be read if you want to discover more about the truth about the danger of low cholesterol...

Dangers of Statin Drugs: What You Haven’t Been Told About Popular Cholesterol-Lowering Medicines
by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD

The above article covers many important points, the first being that...

Cholesterol lowering medications, deplete that body's ability to produce COQ10. It is safe to say that almost all heart patients are put on statin drugs and yet the heart simply cannot function when depleted of CoQ10. Perhaps this is the reason why there have been more heart related deaths and disease since the introduction of statin drugs.

Almost all tests with rodents and statins have caused cancer and that the manufacturers of statin drugs are aware that they suppress the immune system. Wow, this is really not good news.

Many studies have linked low cholesterol with depression and anxiety.

Studies were done to determine as to whether or not the use of statin drugs to reduce blood cholesterol levels had any effect on reducing plaque in the arteries. This belief that high blood cholesterol causes arterial plaque is as common as grass, but according to this research, at the end of the study there was no statistical difference in the progression of arterial calcified plaque betweeen those who took statin drugs and those who did not.

Well, these comments are just the highlights. Please read the article and decide for yourself on whether or not low cholesterol is bad for you.

Also, see this article from Dr. Mercola's site entitled Cholesterol is not the cause of Heart Disease .

This is not to say that we should all go out and eat cakes and cookies to raise or blood cholesterol, but as for me, I have been doing research on how to raise my cholesterol with raw nuts, and healthy oils. I will update you on how it's going in the future.

DISCLAIMER - The information on this Weblog is provided for educational and informational purposes only. I am not a doctor and I am not attempting to prescribe, treat, or recommend and in no way is the information contained on this site intended to be a substitute for a health care provider's consultation. The contents is based upon opinions of each respective author. The reader is encouraged to make their own health care decisions that can be based upon research and then partnering with their own health care professional. If you are ill please consult a qualified physician or appropriate health care provider

Posted by Emjae Johnson

2008-12-17T10:35:00.002-07:00

Cell Phone Danger

by Martin Röösli and Harry Rudin

As we become more and more keen on cell phones there remains the open question of what effect these cell phones have on our health and well being. Some recent work in Switzerland sheds some light on these issues.

Our dependence on and investment in cell phones rise steadily. The annual sale of cell phones is approaching 1 billion units. Is the result of all the accompanying electromagnetic radiation going to have an effect on our health? Almost everyone has heard some 'anecdotal evidence' where there have been some undesirable effects on people: headache, concentration problems, irritability, insomnia, etc. But, can anything be said on a scientific basis? Some recent research from Switzerland has shed some light on the subject. More light is needed and some is coming.

The topic is difficult in itself and made more difficult by the enormous financial interests involved. Ideally, in a cold, scientific experiment, one should find a group of humans, some of whom would be subjected to the electromagnetic radiation produced by cell phones and their base stations for several years and some of whom in the group would not be exposed. All of them would be blind to exposure and they would not differ in terms of other factors influencing their health. One could carefully measure their health status and their well being, distinguishing between those exposed and those not exposed. Obviously this has not been done nor will it be done in the future.

While much material has been published with the objective of shedding light on the problem, many of the published studies have serious methodological limitations - leading to doubts concerning their validity. Reference [1] summarizes studies on mobile phone radiation and health-related quality of life, concluding, "The results are contradictory and the greater part of these studies is not able to address the issue of causality between exposure and outcome."

One of the first studies dealing with radio frequency electromagnetic field exposure was about the shutdown of the Swiss Schwarzenburg short-wave radio transmitter. While this took place back in 1998, a recently published paper [2] reports of measurements in the change in the melatonin produced by 54 volunteers living in the vicinity. The measurements showed that in the week after the shutdown, sleep quality improved and melatonin excretion increased by 15 percent, on average. (Melatonin plays an important role in regulating sleep-wake cycles because its production is inhibited by light and permitted by darkness. Melatonin is sometimes prescribed when suffering from jetlag.) However, the shut down date was known to the study participants. Thus, the authors state that "blinding of exposure was not possible in this observational study and this may have affected the outcome measurements in a direct or indirect (psychological) way."

In September, 2003, the Dutch TNO Physics and Electronic Laboratory announced the results of a study. They wrote: "The present study contributes to the research on finding a relation between electromagnetic fields and brain functions." Further, "Exposure to GSM-900 or GSM-1800 electromagnetic fields had no effect on well-being in either experimental group. However, exposure to a UMTS-like signal resulted in a small, but statistically significant impairment of well-being. Interestingly this effect was not only observed in individuals with self-reported health complaints attributed to daily life EMF exposures but also in a reference group without such complaints. This effect was found after only about half an hour’s exposure to what, by everyday standards, was a relatively high environmental field strength (1 V/m). In practice, while individuals in the vicinity of operational UMTS antennas will be subject to continuous exposure, the field strengths in question will be lower." Thus, the transferability of the 'TNO'-results to normal day-to-day environmental exposure is questionable. [3]

There was considerable criticism of the circumstances of this study including that by its authors themselves. These authors and others recognized the need to make a more careful repeat of the study. However, one result of the TNO study was a temporary and partial moratorium on the construction of new base stations in Switzerland, pending a more thorough study.

A Swiss scientific consortium was formed to carry out such a more thorough study. It was performed by a group of scientists from the University of Zurich, the University of Bern, and from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Several methodological improvements were implemented, including investigating a larger sample size and applying two different UMTS exposure levels, all yielding more robust results. The results were published on June 6, 2006. [4]

The effect of UMTS radiation found in the TNO study was not confirmed in the new Swiss study. It should be noted that the experiment had to do only with 45-minute UMTS-radiation exposure intervals (four of them separated by a period of one week) and radiation absorption in brain tissue was considerably smaller than during the use of a mobile phone. Thus, the authors concluded, "No conclusions can be drawn regarding short-term effects of cell phone exposure or the effects of long-term, base-station-like exposure on human health."[4] Nevertheless, several of the temporary and partial moratoria for the construction of new UMTS base stations in Switzerland were withdrawn, even though the question of long-term effects of UMTS radiation on humans remains open.

Meanwhile, the REFLEX study under Professor F. Adlkofer, was making measurements on isolated cells to see if these were effected by a high or low-frequency (power-line frequency) EMF (electro-magnetic field). Quoting from the report: "The main goal of the REFLEX project was to investigate the effects of EMF on single cells in vitro at the molecular level below the energy density reflected by the present safety levels."[5] The study showed that in certain human cell types there was indeed a significant increase in the number of single- and double-strand breaks in the DNA as a result of high [6] and extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields [5].

These results fascinated Professor Primo Schaer at the Center for Biomedicine at the University of Basel. In a talk at a meeting on June 29 of this year, organized by the Swiss Research Foundation for Mobile Communication, Professor Schaer gave a preliminary report on his own experiments which confirm the work in Vienna, showing that intermittent extremely low frequency fields can result in damage to DNA. At this point in time these research results are unpublished; but, when published, we will report on them here in ERCIM News. Professor Schaer emphasized that some DNA damages are repaired by the DNA repair mechanism. Thus, the observed genotoxic effects do not necessarily mean that EMF is carcinogenic for the human.

In conclusion, we now know that EMF does have some effects on humans and human cells. Since we still do not know what the effect is on our health and well-being, some degree of caution would seem to be called for.

References:

[1] Seitz H., Stinner D., Eikmann T., Herr C., Röösli M.; Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) and Subjective Health Complaints Associated with Electromagnetic Fields of Mobile Phone Communication: A literature review [of papers] published between 2000 and 2004.

Science of the Total Environment, 2005; 349 (1-3): 45-55.

[2] Altpeter, E.-S, Martin Röösli, M., Battaglia, M., Pfluger, D., Minder, C. and Abelin, T.;

Effect of Short-Wave (6-22 MHz) Magnetic Fields on Sleep Quality and Melatonin Cycle in Humans: The Schwarzenburg Shut-Down Study, Bioelectromagnetics,

Vo. 27, pp 142-150, 2006.

[3] Zwamborn, A.P.M., Vossen, S.H.J.A., van Leersum, B.J.A.M., Ouwens, M.A., Makel, W.N.; Effects of Global Communication System Radio-Frequency Fields on Well Being and Cognitive Functions of Human Subjects with and without Subjective Complaints. Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).

FEL-03-C148, 2003.

[4] Regel S.J., Negovetic S., Röösli M., Berdiñas V., Schuderer J., Huss A., Lott U., Kuster N., Achermann P. ; UMTS Base Station Like Exposure, Well Being and Cognitive Performance. Environmental Health Perspectives 2006, 114 (8): 1270-1275 (http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/8934/8934.html)

[5] Winker, R, Ivancsits, S., Pilger, A., Adlkofer, F. and Rudiger, H. W.

Chromosomal Damage in Human Diploid Fibroblasts by Intermittent Exposure to Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, Mutation Research, Vol. 585, Issues 1-2, pp. 43-49, 1 August 2005, http://www.verum-foundation.de/cgi-bin/content.cgi?id=euprojekte01

[6] Diem E., Schwarz C., Adlkofer F., Jahn O., Rüdiger H.; Non-Thermal DNA Breakage by Mobile Phone Radiation (1800 MHz) in Human Fibroblasts and in Transformed GFSH-R17 Rat Granulosa Cells in Bitro. Mutation Research, Vol. 583, (2), pp. 178-183, 2005.

Links:

TNO follow up study: http://www.mobile-research.ethz.ch/projekte.htm#18

EMF projects at the University of Bern: http://www.ispm.ch/index.php?id=814

Primos research group at the University of Basel: http://pages.unibas.ch/dbmw/biochemie/

Please contact:

Martin Röösli, University of Bern, Switzerland

E-mail: roeoesliispm.unibe.ch

Harry Rudin, Consultant, Switzerland

E-mail: hrudinsmile.ch

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March 30, 2008

Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking'

Brain expert warns of huge rise in tumours and calls on industry to take immediate steps to reduce radiation

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.

The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks.

It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.

Earlier this year, the French government warned against the use of mobile phones, especially by children. Germany also advises its people to minimise handset use, and the European Environment Agency has called for exposures to be reduced.

Professor Khurana – a top neurosurgeon who has received 14 awards over the past 16 years, has published more than three dozen scientific papers – reviewed more than 100 studies on the effects of mobile phones. He has put the results on a brain surgery website, and a paper based on the research is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in a scientific journal.

He admits that mobiles can save lives in emergencies, but concludes that "there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumours". He believes this will be "definitively proven" in the next decade.

Noting that malignant brain tumours represent "a life-ending diagnosis", he adds: "We are currently experiencing a reactively unchecked and dangerous situation." He fears that "unless the industry and governments take immediate and decisive steps", the incidence of malignant brain tumours and associated death rate will be observed to rise globally within a decade from now, by which time it may be far too late to intervene medically.

"It is anticipated that this danger has far broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking," says Professor Khurana, who told the IoS his assessment is partly based on the fact that three billion people now use the phones worldwide, three times as many as smoke. Smoking kills some five million worldwide each year, and exposure to asbestos is responsible for as many deaths in Britain as road accidents.

Late last week, the Mobile Operators Association dismissed Khurana's study as "a selective discussion of scientific literature by one individual". It believes he "does not present a balanced analysis" of the published science, and "reaches opposite conclusions to the WHO and more than 30 other independent expert scientific reviews".

Let’s face it. No one is ready to give up their cell phone, cordless phone or computer and the good news is you don’t have to thanks to BIOPRO Technology. BIOPRO is the first company to provide you with the most scientifically advanced, patented intervention technologies developed to target electropollution in a simple, easy-to-use, highly effective application. MRET® (Molecular Resonance Effect Technology) and ERT™ (Energy Resonance Technology) have been tested at respected laboratories and universities across the globe. Discover why so many people across the world are using BIOPRO and why you should, too.

2008-12-04T18:53:00.004-07:00

Now that we have moved beyond the elections and America has made it's will known (yeah, like that could happen) and we are heading hell-bent toward a total collapse of society as we know it, I thought we could change topic a bit and take a look at another area of our lives we are being lead, like the sheep we seem to be, inexorably into a forced collapse of our health and wellbeing by the very people we trust with our very lives...

Doctors are the leading cause of death in the US

By Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, Dorothy Smith PhD

A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of people having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed medicine is 2.2 million. ¹ Dr. Richard Besser, of the CDC, in 1995, said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics. (Click here for rest of article)

Click here for more articles about 'doctors' brought to you by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger.

Click here for more articles about 'doctors' brought to you by Dr. Mercola .

2008-10-04T09:42:00.001-07:00

As in all things harmful, just follow the money.

2008-09-30T22:57:00.001-07:00

Goodbye America. We'll miss you.

2008-09-12T11:27:00.001-07:00

Do I Have to Obey Orders From an Unconstitutional Government?

George Washington’s Blog
Friday, Sept 12, 2008

I am a loyal citizen of the United States of America, and I believe deeply in the vision of the Founding Fathers, the rule of law as enshrined in the Constitution, and the liberty that our forefathers fought and died for.

I have therefore felt a duty to obey the laws of the U.S. my whole life.

However, it is likely that the U.S. no longer has a constitutional form of government.

As the Washington Post noted in March 2002, Bush hid from Congress the fact that Continuity of Government (COG) plans were implemented on 9/11 and were still in effect many months later, and stated:

It was unclear yesterday whether any federal documents — prepared either by the current White House or by Bush’s predecessors dating to Dwight D. Eisenhower — specify whether congressional leaders should be told if the plan is put into effect. At least one relatively general document, a 1988 executive order entitled “Assignment of Emergency Preparedness Responsibilities,” said the White House’s National Security Council “shall arrange for Executive branch liaison with, and assistance to, the Congress and the federal judiciary on national security-emergency preparedness matters.”

The executive order, signed by President Ronald Reagan, is a precursor to documents outlining the contingency plans in greater detail, which have not been made public. Regardless of whether Bush had an obligation to notify legislative leaders, the congressional leaders’ ignorance of the plan he set in motion could raise the question of how this shadow administration would establish its legitimacy with Congress in the event it needed to step in for a crippled White House.

At least some members of Congress suggested yesterday that the administration should have conferred about its plans, which were first reported in The Washington Post yesterday.

“There are two other branches of government that are central to the functioning of our democracy,” said Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee. “I would hope the speaker and the minority leader would at least pose the question, ‘What about us?’ “

So What?

Remember that, in the summer 2007, Congressman Peter DeFazio, on the Homeland Security Committee (and so with proper security access to be briefed on COG issues), inquired about continuity of government plans, and was refused access. Indeed, DeFazio told Congress that the entire Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. Congress has been denied access to the plans by the White House (video; or here is the transcript). The Homeland Security Committee has full clearance to view all information about COG plans. DeFazio concluded: “Maybe the people who think there’s a conspiracy out there are right”.

And University of California Berkeley Professor Emeritus Peter Dale Scott has warned:

“If members of the Homeland Security Committee cannot enforce their right to read secret plans of the Executive Branch, then the systems of checks and balances established by the U.S. Constitution would seem to be failing.

To put it another way, if the White House is successful in frustrating DeFazio, then Continuity of Government planning has arguably already superseded the Constitution as a higher authority.”

Indeed, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said that “because of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the American public needs no explanation of [Continuity of Government] plans”.

What Does This All Mean?

Continuity of government documents probably require that Congress be notified of the details of implementation of COG plans. But since the executive is hiding such documents from Congress and the people, so we can’t be sure.

Regardless, the executive has failed to “establish its legitimacy with Congress” or the American people, because it is hiding the documents which created the COG emergency government and which give it emergency powers and specify its obligations.

In other words, even if the COG documents were harmless and say “we will coordinate with Congress and the courts and follow the Constitution”, the fact that the White House is hiding the documents, refusing to disclose what acts it has taken pursuant to extraordinary authority granted by the COG plans, and refusing even to say whether a COG government is still in effect renders the current government unconstitutional and illegal.

I consider myself a law-abiding citizen, and I cherish the Constitution, the rule of law, and the American form government established by the Founding Fathers.

But do I have any duty to obey the orders of a government that cannot even establish its basic legitimacy? A government which is itself violating the Constitution and the rule of law? A government that is trying to dismantle the vision that the Founding Fathers and everything that our forefathers fought and died for?

Do I have to obey illegal orders from an unconstitutional government?

This essay doesn’t even discuss spying on Americans, failure to comply with Congressional subpoenas, signing statements, torture, wars based on false intelligence, or the numerous other unconstitutional acts by this administration. It solely focuses on the unconstitutionality of the COG plans.

And it doesn’t even get into guessing what the Founding Fathers might have thought about this bunch of tyrants.

2008-08-24T16:09:00.002-07:00

Money As Debt

Do you want to understand how money is created and used in our society? Curious how we got into the financial mess we are suffering through globally? Take 45 minutes out of you day to watch this enlightening and informational cartoon created by Paul Grignon.

2008-08-16T10:43:00.001-07:00

In Lies We Trust

The CIA, Hollywood, and Bioterrorism

2008-08-15T07:56:00.002-07:00

Before the lies, before the coverup, before America went braindead, there was news coverage 'as it happened'. This was the last time the media could be trusted in it's coverage of 911.

2008-07-28T22:45:00.001-07:00

Yes Dorothy, there are terrorist's in the world...

2008-07-17T18:09:00.001-07:00

A very important 3 hour talk by David Icke

2008-07-11T16:39:00.002-07:00

It's been quite some time since my last post and much has changed in our lives: Stacey and I have amassed the money to buy our 35 foot Montana fifth-wheel and a big-ass Dodge Cummins Diesel truck and we are heading out on the road for the big adventure (which you can follow at our travel blogsite), Ron Paul has basically been pushed out of the Presidential race and our views concerning the importance of all things earthly have been transformed radically (more about that in the coming posts).

We have a new face, a new philosophy and a brand new bag. Welcome to the rest of our lives.

2007-11-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Talk by Naomi Wolf - The End of America

Click here for the Guardian article complete with the list of ten easy steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms.

2007-11-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

Ron Paul could be the last hope for America

2007-11-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

Libertarian Stan Jones of Montana TELLS TRUTH
Senatorial Candidate Warns Of World Government

2007-10-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

2004 Video proves we need Ron Paul as President

2007-10-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

Even the animal kingdom understands

2007-09-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

Rudy VS. Ron Paul & David Cross (Adult Language)

2007-09-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

THE CASE AGAINST MEDICAL LICENSING

"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an underground dictatorship... To restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others will constitute the Bastille of medical science.
All such laws are un-American and despotic and have no place in a republic... The Constitution of this republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom."

--Dr Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Licensing practitioners to protect the public and hold practitioners accountable is often taken for granted … Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman wrote:

"... I am persuaded that licensure has reduced both the quantity and quality of medical practice...It has reduced the opportunities for people to become physicians, it has forced the public to pay more for less satisfactory service, and it has retarded technological development...I conclude that licensure should be eliminated as a requirement for the practice of medicine."(1)

Nobel Prize-winning economist George J. Stigler of the University of Chicago wrote:

"As a rule, regulation is acquired by the industry and is designed and operated primarily for its benefit".(2)

Lori B. Andrews, Professor of Law and Norman and Edna Freehling Scholar, Chicago-Kent College of Law, wrote:

"Licensing has served to channel the development of health care services by granting an exclusive privilege and high status to practitioners relying on a particular approach to health care, a disease-oriented intrusive approach rather than a preventive approach....By granting a monopoly to a particular approach to health care, the licensing laws may serve to assure an ineffective health care system."(3)

Ron Paul, MD, a practicing obstetrician and a Congressman from Texas, wrote:

Let us allow physicians, hospitals and schools to spring up where they're needed, abolish the restrictive licensure laws, and simply invoke the laws against fraud to insure honesty among all providers of health care...That will make health care affordable for everyone..."(4)

The idea of deregulating health practitioners may seem extreme. Let us examine why it is not as radical as it may sound.

View the entire article here.

2007-09-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

Big Pharma and ADHD: Destroying our children for money

(Please, if you have children or even know anyone with children you owe it to them to watch this movie)

In the absence of any objective medical tests to determine who has ADD or ADHD, doctors rely in part on standardized assessments and the impressions of teachers and guardians while the treatments they administer leave little room for other causes or aggravating factors, such as diet, or environment. Hence, diagnosing a child or adolescent with ADD or ADHD is often the outcome, although no organic basis for either disease has yet to be clinically proven. Psychiatrists may then prescribe psychotropic drugs for the children without first making it clear to parents that these medications can have severe side-effects including insomnia, loss of appetite, headaches, psychotic symptoms and even potentially fatal adverse reactions, such as cardiac arrhythmia. And yet, despite these dangers, many school systems actually work with government agencies to force parents to drug their children, threatening those who refuse with the prospect of having their children taken from the home unless they cooperate.

If you found this informative I highly recommend you go here for more from Gary Null.

Psychiatric Drug Use In Toddlers Soars -- More Kids Ages 2 to 4 On Ritalin, Antidepressants

2007-09-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

Project Vote Smart

I am incredibly impressed with the amount of information this non-partisan research group puts at our fingertips. They have dedicated 16 years and several millions of dollars to researching and making available to you every aspect of your public officials actions. Do you want to find out your congress persons voting record on any given issue? Its here. What have they said (in congress or anywhere in print) about an issue? Yup, they have it here. If you care enough to vote you owe it to yourself to take advantage of their website...and then let everyone you love know about it as well.

2007-09-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

The Declaration of Independence

2007-09-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

A Call For JUSTICE

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Thomas PaineUS patriot & political philosopher (1737 - 1809)

The absolute, glaring sensibility of this statement, as well as the vital importance of holding to this foundational truth even in a time of ‘war’ (keeping in mind we are not in a constitutionally sanctioned war with anyone, least of all Iraq) makes this article absolutely essential reading. I would like to thank truthout for publishing this article first brought out in The Independent UK.

Al-Jazeera Man "Close to Death" at Guantanamo Bay
By Robert Verkaik The Independent UK
Thursday 13 September 2007

An al-Jazeera journalist captured in Afghanistan six years ago and sent to Guantanamo Bay is close to becoming the fifth detainee at the US naval base to take his own life, according to a medical report written by a team of British and American psychiatrists.

Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese national, is 250 days into a hunger strike which he began in protest over his detention without charge or trial in January 2002. But British and American doctors, who have been given exclusive access to his interview notes, say there is very strong evidence that he has given up his fight for life, experiencing what doctors recognise as "passive suicide", a condition suffered by female victims of Darfur.

Dr Dan Creson, a US psychiatrist who has worked with the United Nations in Darfur, said Mr Haj was suffering from severe depression and may be deteriorating to the point of imminent death.

He said the detainee's condition was similar to that of Darfuri women in Sudan whose mind suddenly experiences an irreversible decline after enduring months of starvation and abuse. He said: "In the midst of rape, slow starvation, and abject humiliation, they did whatever they could to survive and save their children; then, suddenly, something happened in their psyche, and, without warning, they would just sit down with their small children beneath the first small area of available shade and with no apparent emotion wait for death."

In June this year a Saudi man became the fourth prisoner to take his own life at Guantanamo Bay. Guards found him dead in his cell. Two Saudis and a Yemeni prisoner were found hanged in an apparent suicide at Guantanamo in June last year. A senior US officer caused outrage at the time by describing the suicides of three men as an act of asymmetric warfare and a good PR move on the part of terrorist suspects.

Mr Haj, 38, was sent on assignment by al-Jazeera television station to cover the war in Afghanistan in October 2001. The following month, after the fall of Kabul, Mr Haj left Afghanistan for Pakistan with the rest of his crew.

In early December, the crew were given visas to return to Afghanistan. But when Mr Haj tried to re-enter Afghanistan with his colleagues, he was arrested by the Pakistani authorities - apparently at the request of the US military.

He was imprisoned, handed over to the US authorities in January 2002, taken to the US military compound in Bagram, Afghanisatan, then Kandahar, and finally to Guantanamo in June 2002.

His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, of the human rights charity Reprieve, said his client had endured months of brutal force-feeding and lost nearly a fifth of his body weight during the hunger strike.

Mr Stafford Smith said: "The US military is rightly afraid of a fifth prisoner dying in their custody. But they wrongly respond by treating prisoners worse. Blankets and clothes are removed in case they are used to commit suicide. The harshest methods of forced feeding are deployed - Sami has suffered the feeding tube being forced down into his lungs by mistake several times."

The warning about the condition of Mr Haj coincided with the release of Guantanamo transcripts which describe the hostility between guards and their prisoners. The transcripts includes details of guards interrupting detainees at prayer, detainees flinging body waste at guards and interrogators withholding medicine.

Dr Hugh Rickards, a British psychiatrist, warned in his report that the level of Mr Haj's mental suffering "appears so acute that it is my duty as a medical practitioner to put this in writing to ensure appropriate assessment and treatment".

Dr Mamoun Mobayed, a British psychiatrist based in Northern Ireland, and a third member of the team who has also been given access to written notes of recent interviews with the prisoner, said there was also concern about the mental health of Mr Haj's wife and seven-year-old son, who was just one when his father went on assignment to Afghanistan.

2007-09-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

Are you taking Pharmaceutical Drugs?

You will want to check the side effects, food interactions and dangers of trusting your doctors advice. Mike Adams has put together a powerful tool for just this purpose.

Are you aware that:

Gemfibrozil has been shown to reduce both Co-Q10 and vitamin E levels with long term use to levels found in healthy men.
Chasteberry can theoretically interfere with Provera due to its hormonal properties.
You should avoid herbs with antiplatelet or anticoagulant properties like: angelica,anise, asafoetida, capsicum, celery, chamomile, clove, danshen, fenugreek, feverfew, garlic, ginger, ginkgo, ginseng (Panax), horse chestnut, horseradish, licorice, meadowsweet, prickly ash, onion, passionflower, poplar, red clover, turmeric, wild carrot, wild lettuce, and willow when using celebrex.
These herbs have cardiac properties which may increase cardiac side effects of Viagra: black hellebore, calamus, cereus, cola, coltsfoot, devil's claw, European mistletoe, fenugreek, fumitory, digitalis leaf, hedge mustard, figwort, lily of the valley roots, motherwort, pleurisy root, squill bulb leaf scales, white horehound, mate, scotch broom flower, shepherd's purse, and wild carrot.

2007-09-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

Keith Olberman on 9/04/07-I want to have this mans children

2007-09-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Why do the Aussies get it and we don't?

2007-08-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

Think our government came out of nowhere? Watch this short movie from 1946.

2007-08-20T19:34:00.001-07:00

Summit Prompts Super Government Fears

08-20-2007 Washington Times By Jon Ward - OTTAWA -- President Bush's two-day summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, beginning today in nearby Montebello, is raising fears among some conservatives that the three governments are planning a European Union-style super-government.

Concerns about such an agreement and where it could lead started on Web sites and among talk-radio hosts, picked up by CNN commentator Lou Dobbs and gained traction among some of the House Republicans who successfully derailed Mr. Bush's immigration-reform plan, which critics described as an amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens in the United States. READ MORE

China To Install Sensors Along NAFTA Highway

08-19-2007 WND Jerome Corsi | Radio sensing stations to track traffic and cargo up and down the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway corridor are being installed by Communist China, operating through a port operator subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa, in conjunction with Lockheed Martin and the North America's SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc.

The idea is that RFID chips placed in containers where manufactured goods are shipped from China will be able to be tracked to the Mexican ports on the Pacific where the containers are unloaded onto Mexican trucks and trains for transportation on the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway to destinations within the United States. READ MORE

Behavior Detection Officers Watching Travelers

08-20-2007 Mcclatchy WASHINGTON | Next time you go to the airport, more eyes may be following you than you notice.

Reading your body language. Studying the facial cues of the passenger in front of you. Scanning for signs of bad intentions, the watcher could be the attendant who hands you the tray for your laptop or the one standing behind the ticket checker. Or even curbside with the baggage attendants.

Called behavior detection officers, they are part of recent security upgrades, Transportation Security Administrator Kip Hawley told an aviation industry group in Washington last month, "a wonderful tool to be able to identify and do risk management prior to somebody coming into the airport or approaching the crowded checkpoint." READ MORE

Partnership viewed as a threat to sovereignty

Montreal Gazette | August 20, 2007 SIKANDER HASHMI A coalition of Canadian, American and Mexican energy workers' unions and nine lobby groups yesterday denounced the Security and Prosperity Partnership discussed by leaders of the three countries in Montebello, as a threat to each nation's energy sovereignty.

The Montebello meeting is a trilateral effort to increase security and enhance prosperity among the three countries through greater co-operation and information sharing. READ MORE

Head of GAO Issues Dire Warning to President Bush: Learn From the Fall of Rome

Jeremy Grant Financial Times August 14, 2007 - The US government is on a 'burning platform' of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country's top government inspector has warned.

David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country's future in a report that lays out what he called "chilling long-term simulations".

These include "dramatic" tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.

Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were "striking similarities" between America's current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including "declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government". READ MORE

2007-08-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

Take two aspirin and boycott Bayer in the morning.

2007-08-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

How Gullible Do They Think We Are?

(from an article by Cosmicbear published in 2002)

Imagine, if you will, going on a blind date set up for you by a dear and trusted friend. You arrive on time at the specified restaurant, dressed to kill: new clothes, fresh haircut; you are looking sharp and feeling good…and no one shows up. The next day you call your friend who is quick to explain your date’s reason for not showing, whether it was work or traffic or whatever. But the person is truly sorry and wants to meet you tonight, at the same place and time, if that meets with your approval. Lets say you agree, and you are there on time ‘dressed to the nines’ once again, and again your date is a no show.

How many times would you put yourself through this scenario before you began to question this person’s veracity, or your friend’s integrity, for that matter? In a very real sense this was the position the early Church found themselves in concerning the promise of the return of their leader, Jesus. In the study of the Gospels we see the early followers expecting him to come back soon, and the longer it took the more elaborate the later writers explanations became, until finally they had to strip the Old Testament Scriptures of all sense and reason in order to establish a time frame for the still eminent return of their hero.

Down through the centuries there have been multitudes of Church leaders that have set hundreds of dates, and each and every one has been wrong. To name a few:

1889-The Jehovah’s Witnesses claimed, “The ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty’ (Rev.16:14) which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced.” The Time Is At Hand pg. 101.
1897-also, “Our Lord, the appointed King, is now present, since October 1874 A.D.” Studies in the Scriptures Vol. 4, pg 621, 1897 ed.
1916-“The six great 1000-year days beginning with Adam are ended, and the great 7th day, the 1000 years of Christ’s reign, began in 1873.” The Time Is At Hand pg. 2.
1920-“Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old.” Millions Now Living Will Never Die pg. 89.
1931-it seems some had come to their senses, as stated in the publication Vindication pg. 338 and 339; “There was a measure of disappointment on the part of Jehovah’s faithful ones on earth concerning the years 1914, 1918 & 1925, which disappointment lasted for a time…and they also learned to quit fixing dates.”
Or did they?
1966-“Six thousand years from man’s creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975 C.E. (Common Era).” Life Everlasting pg 29.
1968-“There are only about 90 months before 6000 years of mans existence on earth is completed. The majority of people living today will probably be alive when Armageddon breaks out.” KM 3/68

One has to wonder, how can there still be so many Jehovah’s Witnesses. I don’t care how much I love my friend; if that ‘date’ has not shown up in over a hundred years, chances are my friend is a liar.

However, this line of thought isn’t strictly limited to this little section of Christianity. It has become a focal point of most fundamentalist theology since J.N. Darby took the first wobbly steps toward modern day dispensationalism in the nineteenth century. The majority of Christian Denominations today have developed rather extensive doctrinal statements concerning the end times, many of them disagreeing on nearly every point. It seems the only point they agree on is that Jesus will return to earth. In the clouds? Maybe. On the Mount of Olives? Perhaps. When? Your guess is as good as mine…literally. Aside from the Seventh Day Adventist’s of the nineteenth century and the ‘pre-tribulation rapture’ movements that have filled the Christian bookshelves and airwaves since the early 70’s, this ‘date setting’ trend has become popular in any religion that is based on an eschatological (1) basis, including many aspects of the New Age movement.

For instance, in a magazine called Connecting Link, in issue 22, dated January/February of 1994, we find on pgs. 24 and 25, an advertisement by I AM AMERICA out of Payson Az., which publishes a bunch of books concerning earth changes prophesied to occur some time in the future which were channeled from St. Germain, Sananda, and an army of other masters of the Spiritual Hierarchy through Lori Wilkins Toye and her husband Len. They have also created a map of the United States showing the end result, including a new shoreline just above Phoenix. In the ad the question is asked, “When will this happen?” The answer they give is, “The unique message of this map goes beyond predicting earthquakes, volcanoes and sinking lands. It isn’t concerned about when this is going to happen, rather what are we going to do with our choices now.” This would seem to be the appropriate response to any question regarding the timing of ‘god’, or the Universe, or anyone claiming to speak for them. But let’s hold our applause. In their book New World Atlas, which was published in 1991, we find very specific timelines for very specific catastrophes. For instance, on December 17, 1988, concerning the sinking of central Oregon, it is stated, “They are indicating the first event occurring in the year 1992…and the final events are in 2000.” In a session on December 21, concerning the sinking of the Rockies near Denver, “Q-So that mountain range will not be there by 2000 then? A-No.” There are several other predictions with precise times stated, but these two will make my point. It comes as no surprise, then, that between the time the book was published and the advertisement came out in the magazine, about three uneventful years, the authors had to scale down the importance of the dates for the sake of credibility.

In 1986 Yvonne Cole began channeling a group of ET’s known as the Ashtar Command. In the early 90’s they (or ‘she’) made it known through an endless succession of articles in the Connecting Link that in the latter part of 1994 they would be unveiling themselves to humanity using the latest technology. As they were already in contact with the national leaders throughout the world, this coming out party would be broadcast with their full approval on every TV and radio station worldwide. These messages were carried for a couple of years in the Connecting Link magazine. The excuse they gave in 1995 was that we weren’t ready for such a grand event.

This next article, also from the January/February issue of Connecting Link, is under the title ‘News Bulletin from Mission Control.’ Now mind you, this is a direct quote from a person that expects you to take this seriously, although if I wrote a comical sci-fi novel I would have included this as part of the plot line. “The governing extraterrestrial councils of this planetary mission have interceded in the official schedule of catastrophes and have changed the changes. Instead of catapulting California into the ocean, a decision was recently made to keep it. In a close vote it was decided to preserve California “as is” and turn it into a theme park-a place to take your children on a tour of the old civilization and scare them, after you explain to them what “being scared” means.” Alright, so maybe Ashtar Command and Mission Control couldn’t decide what to do with California and therefore neither did anything and they both decided to take a vacation with Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

These are some of the questions we need to ask ourselves: How many times do we allow someone to lie to us before we no longer trust them? If someone is channeling information that proves to be false, could they simply be hearing voices in their heads? If thirty people channel thirty energies and get thirty totally conflicting sets of facts, do we just pick a name out of a hat to see which is right? Is there a right or wrong? Do we have to give up our reasoning faculties to be spiritual? Can someone you trust in most things simply be wrong about something without losing your respect?

I will leave you with this quote from a little book called The Key, published by A Center for the Practice of Zen Buddhist Meditation. “A rat in a laboratory learns very quickly not to go down the tunnel if there is no longer cheese at the other end. A human being will continue to go down the tunnel even though there’s never been any cheese at the end.”

Note (1) - (es·cha·tol·o·gy n. 1. The branch of theology that is concerned with the end of the world or of humankind. 2. A belief or a doctrine concerning the ultimate or final things, such as death, the destiny of humanity, the Second Coming, or the Last Judgment.)

For a Catholic take on the Rapture go here.

2007-08-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

Light up your life with electrolytes

“All cellular structures become alive through electrolytic activity. Life begins with electrolytes. Trace minerals carry the life force in our bodies more than any other substance.” Dr. Bernard Jensen

Summer is upon us now, with its heat and activity; vacations and fun; travel and play … did I mention the heat?

Although proper nutrition is important any time of year it is vital during the hot summer months. An imbalance of nutrients (specifically the minerals and trace minerals) in our blood stream and cellular structure can lead to a wide variety of symptoms and maladies which would include:

• irregular heartbeat (tachycardia)
• irritability
• fatigue
• lethargy
• heavy, labored breathing
• muscle twitching and/or seizures
• nausea, abdominal cramping, and/or vomiting
• headache
• edema (swelling)
• muscle weakness and/or tremor
• paralysis
• disorientation
• slowed breathing
• seizures
• coma
• death

These macro and micro minerals are commonly known as ‘electrolytes’ and are often called the spark of life. Technically, electrolytes are substances that become ions in solution and acquire the capacity to conduct electricity. These ionized molecules are found throughout the blood, tissues, and cells of the body. These molecules, which are either positive (cations) or negative (anions), conduct an electric current and help to balance pH and acid-base levels in the body. Electrolytes also facilitate the passage of fluid between and within cells through a process known as osmosis and play a part in regulating the function of the neuromuscular, endocrine, and excretory systems.
The serum electrolytes include:
• Sodium (Na). A positively charged electrolyte that helps to balance fluid levels in the body and facilitates neuromuscular functioning.
• Potassium (K). A main component of cellular fluid, this positive electrolyte helps to regulate neuromuscular function and osmotic pressure.
• Calcium (Ca). A cation, or positive electrolyte, that affects neuromuscular performance and contributes to skeletal growth and blood coagulation.
• Magnesium (Mg). Influences muscle contractions and intracellular activity. A cation.
• Chloride (CI). An anion, or negative electrolyte, that regulates blood pressure.
• Phosphate (HPO4). Negative electrolyte that impacts metabolism and regulates acid-base balance and calcium levels.
• Bicarbonate (HCO3). A negatively charged electrolyte that assists in the regulation of blood pH levels. Bicarbonate insufficiencies and elevations cause acid-base disorders (i.e., acidosis, alkalosis).

With that in mind, it may cross your mind to ask, “But don’t we get these in the foods we eat?” The simple answer would be…no! Unless your diet consists primarily of fresh, raw or lightly cooked organic fruits and veggies, or take a high quality food based multiple vitamin/mineral supplement, chances are you are starting off the summer with a moderate to severe shortage of electrolytes. Below you will see the results to a study presented in THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE Volume 7, Number 2, 2001, pp. 161–173 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. titled:

Nutritional Quality of Organic Versus Conventional Fruits, Vegetables, and Grains
VIRGINIA WORTHINGTON, M.S., Sc.D., C.N.S.
Results: Organic crops contained significantly more vitamin C, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus and significantly less nitrates than conventional crops. There were non-significant trends showing less protein but of a better quality and a higher content of nutritionally significant minerals with lower amounts of some heavy metals in organic crops compared to conventional ones.

Conclusions: There appear to be genuine differences in the nutrient content of organic and conventional crops.

But these findings aren’t anything new. Below are some quotes from a Senate Document #264 released in 1936:

"Do you know that most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until the depleted soils from which our foods come from are brought into proper mineral balance ?"

"The alarming fact is that foods-fruits and vegetables-grains now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contains enough of certain minerals, are starving us...no matter how much of them we eat!"

"Laboratory tests prove that the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, the eggs and even the milk and meats of today are not what they were a few generations ago. No man of today can eat enough fruits and vegetables to supply his system with the minerals he requires for perfect health..."

"It is bad news to learn from our leading authorities that 99 percent of the American people are deficient in these minerals, and that a marked deficiency in any one of the more important minerals actually results in DISEASE. Any upset of the balance, any considerable lack of one or another element, however microscopic the body requirement may be, and we sicken, suffer, and shorten our lives".

"We know that vitamins are complex chemical substances which are indispensable to nutrition, and that each of them is important for the normal function of some special structure of the body. Disorder and disease result from any vitamin deficiency. It is not commonly realized, however, that vitamins control the body's appropriation of minerals, and that in the absence of minerals they have no function to perform. Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use of minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless".

"Our soils which are seriously deficient in trace minerals, cannot produce plant life competent to maintain our needs, and with the continuous cropping and shipping away of those trace minerals and concentrates, the condition becomes worse".

Your next question will undoubtedly be, “How can I protect myself and my family during the summer months?” Here are a few general suggestions and products that can help you beat the heat:

• For general health everyone needs to consume half their body weight in ounces of pure delicious water. This means, if you weigh 100 pounds you should drink 50 ounces of water per day. Naturally you will need more according to your physical activities and general health. For instance, anyone that suffers from respiratory ailments can expel as much as 4 quarts of water per day through their mouth and unless they are replenishing this liquid they can suffer dehydration and electrolyte depletion.
• Organically grown fruits and vegetables, predominately the ‘greens’, provide much in the way of a balanced mineral profile. Eating lush, cooling salads and raw or lightly cooked varieties of veggies is a delicious way to stay cool as well as recharged.
• Alacer’s Emergen-C and Electro Mix…nearly everyone knows this company.
• I would like to take a minute to introduce you to Cellfood by Lumina Health. Cellfood is a proprietary super-energized complex concentrate of 78 trace minerals, 34 enzymes, 17 amino acids, electrolytes and dissolved oxygen held in a negatively-charged suspension utilizing deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen. Its inventor, the legendary Everett Storey, called Cellfood an electromagnetic equation. Since the blood and lymph fluid are colloidal and negatively charged, the synchronicity between Cellfood and these vital fluids assures the bioavailability of Cellfood's nutrients to every cell in the body. It not only provides the nutrients the cells require, it also provides oxygen.

Visit you local health food market for these supplements and organic produce, preferably local grown.

2007-07-20T10:13:00.001-07:00

Of the Religion of Deism Compared with the Christian Religion

By Thomas Paine, American Revolutionary Leader

Every person, of whatever religious denomination he may be, is a DEIST in the first article of his Creed. Deism, from the Latin word Deus, God, is the belief of a God, and this belief is the first article of every man's creed.

It is on this article, universally consented to by all mankind, that the Deist builds his church, and here he rests. Whenever we step aside from this article, by mixing it with articles of human invention, we wander into a labyrinth of uncertainty and fable, and become exposed to every kind of imposition by pretenders to revelation.

The Persian shows the Zend-Avesta of Zoroaster, the lawgiver of Persia, and calls it the divine law; the Brahmin shows the Shaster, revealed, he says, by God to Brahma, and given to him out of a cloud; the Jew shows what he calls the law of Moses, given, he says, by God, on the Mount Sinai; the Christian shows a collection of books and epistles, written by nobody knows who, and called the New Testament; and the Mahometan shows the Koran, given, he says, by God to Mahomet: each of these calls itself revealed religion, and the only true Word of God, and this the followers of each profess to believe from the habit of education, and each believes the others are imposed upon.

But when the divine gift of reason begins to expand itself in the mind and calls man to reflection, he then reads and contemplates God and His works, and not in the books pretending to be revelation. The creation is the Bible of the true believer in God. Everything in this vast volume inspires him with sublime ideas of the Creator. The little and paltry, and often obscene, tales of the Bible sink into wretchedness when put in comparison with this mighty work.

The Deist needs none of those tricks and shows called miracles to confirm his faith, for what can be a greater miracle than the creation itself, and his own existence?

There is a happiness in Deism, when rightly understood, that is not to be found in any other system of religion. All other systems have something in them that either shock our reason, or are repugnant to it, and man, if he thinks at all, must stifle his reason in order to force himself to believe them.

But in Deism our reason and our belief become happily united. The wonderful structure of the universe, and everything we behold in the system of the creation, prove to us, far better than books can do, the existence of a God, and at the same time proclaim His attributes.

It is by the exercise of our reason that we are enabled to contemplate God in His works, and imitate Him in His ways. When we see His care and goodness extended over all His creatures, it teaches us our duty toward each other, while it calls forth our gratitude to Him. It is by forgetting God in His works, and running after the books of pretended revelation, that man has wandered from the straight path of duty and happiness, and become by turns the victim of doubt and the dupe of delusion.

Except in the first article in the Christian creed, that of believing in God, there is not an article in it but fills the mind with doubt as to the truth of it, the instant man begins to think. Now every article in a creed that is necessary to the happiness and salvation of man, ought to be as evident to the reason and comprehension of man as the first article is, for God has not given us reason for the purpose of confounding us, but that we should use it for our own happiness and His glory.

The truth of the first article is proved by God Himself, and is universal; for the creation is of itself demonstration of the existence of a Creator. But the second article, that of God's begetting a son, is not proved in like manner, and stands on no other authority than that of a tale.

Certain books in what is called the New Testament tell us that Joseph dreamed that the angel told him so, (Matthew i, 20): "And behold the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."

The evidence upon this article bears no comparison with the evidence upon the first article, and therefore is not entitled to the same credit, and ought not to be made an article in a creed, because the evidence of it is defective, and what evidence there is, is doubtful and suspicious. We do not believe the first article on the authority of books, whether called Bibles or Korans, nor yet on the visionary authority of dreams, but on the authority of God's own visible works in the creation.

The nations who never heard of such books, nor of such people as Jews, Christians, or Mahometans, believe the existence of a God as fully as we do, because it is self-evident. The work of man's hands is a proof of the existence of man as fully as his personal appearance would be.

When we see a watch, we have as positive evidence of the existence of a watchmaker, as if we saw him; and in like manner the creation is evidence to our reason and our senses of the existence of a Creator. But there is nothing in the works of God that is evidence that He begat a son, nor anything in the system of creation that corroborates such an idea, and, therefore, we are not authorized in believing it.

What truth there may be in the story that Mary, before she was married to Joseph, was kept by one of the Roman soldiers, and was with child by him, I leave to be settled between the Jews and Christians. The story however has probability on its side, for her husband Joseph suspected and was jealous of her, and was going to put her away. "Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was going to put her away, privately." (Matt. i, 19).

I have already said that "whenever we step aside from the first article (that of believing in God), we wander into a labyrinth of uncertainty," and here is evidence of the justness of the remark, for it is impossible for us to decide who was Jesus Christ's father.

But presumption can assume anything, and therefore it makes Joseph's dream to be of equal authority with the existence of God, and to help it on calls it revelation. It is impossible for the mind of man in its serious moments, however it may have been entangled by education, or beset by priestcraft, not to stand still and doubt upon the truth of this article and of its creed.

But this is not all. The second article of the Christian creed having brought the son of Mary into the world (and this Mary, according to the chronological tables, was a girl of only fifteen years of age when this son was born), the next article goes on to account for his being begotten, which was, that when he grew a man he should be put to death, to expiate, they say, the sin that Adam brought into the world by eating an apple or some kind of forbidden fruit.

But though this is the creed of the Church of Rome, from whence the Protestants borrowed it, it is a creed which that Church has manufactured of itself, for it is not contained in nor derived from, the book called the New Testament.

The four books called the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which give, or pretend to give, the birth, sayings, life, preaching, and death of Jesus Christ, make no mention of what is called the fall of man; nor is the name of Adam to be found in any of those books, which it certainly would be if the writers of them believed that Jesus was begotten, born, and died for the purpose of redeeming mankind from the sin which Adam had brought into the world. Jesus never speaks of Adam himself, of the garden of Eden, nor of what is called the fall of man.

But the Church of Rome having set up its new religion, which it called Christianity, invented the creed which it named the Apostles's Creed, in which it calls Jesus the only son of God, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary; things of which it is impossible that man or woman can have any idea, and consequently no belief but in words; and for which there is no authority but the idle story of Joseph's dream in the first chapter of Matthew, which any designing impostor or foolish fanatic might make.

It then manufactured the allegories in the book of Genesis into fact, and the allegorical tree of life and the tree of knowledge into real trees, contrary to the belief of the first Christians, and for which there is not the least authority in any of the books of the New Testament; for in none of them is there any mention made of such place as the Garden of Eden, nor of anything that is said to have happened there.

But the Church of Rome could not erect the person called Jesus into a Savior of the world without making the allegories in the book of Genesis into fact, though the New Testament, as before observed, gives no authority for it. All at once the allegorical tree of knowledge became, according to the Church, a real tree, the fruit of it real fruit, and the eating of it sinful.

As priestcraft was always the enemy of knowledge, because priestcraft supports itself by keeping people in delusion and ignorance, it was consistent with its policy to make the acquisition of knowledge a real sin.

The Church of Rome having done this, it then brings forward Jesus the son of Mary as suffering death to redeem mankind from sin, which Adam, it says, had brought into the world by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. But as it is impossible for reason to believe such a story, because it can see no reason for it, nor have any evidence of it, the Church then tells us we must not regard our reason, but must believe, as it were, and that through thick and thin, as if God had given man reason like a plaything, or a rattle, on purpose to make fun of him.

Reason is the forbidden tree of priestcraft, and may serve to explain the allegory of the forbidden tree of knowledge, for we may reasonably suppose the allegory had some meaning and application at the time it was invented. It was the practice of the Eastern nations to convey their meaning by allegory, and relate it in the manner of fact. Jesus followed the same method, yet nobody ever supposed the allegory or parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the Prodigal Son, the ten Virgins, etc., were facts.

Why then should the tree of knowledge, which is far more romantic in idea than the parables in the New Testament are, be supposed to be a real tree? The answer to this is, because the Church could not make its new-fangled system, which it called Christianity, hold together without it. To have made Christ to die on account of an allegorical tree would have been too barefaced a fable.

But the account, as it is given of Jesus in the New Testament, even visionary as it is, does not support the creed of the Church that he died for the redemption of the world. According to that account he was crucified and buried on the Friday, and rose again in good health on the Sunday morning, for we do not hear that he was sick. This cannot be called dying, and is rather making fun of death than suffering it.

There are thousands of men and women also, who if they could know they should come back again in good health in about thirty-six hours, would prefer such kind of death for the sake of the experiment, and to know what the other side of the grave was. Why then should that which would be only a voyage of curious amusement to us, be magnified into merit and suffering in him? If a God, he could not suffer death, for immortality cannot die, and as a man his death could be no more than the death of any other person.

The belief of the redemption of Jesus Christ is altogether an invention of the Church of Rome, not the doctrine of the New Testament. What the writers of the New Testament attempted to prove by the story of Jesus is the resurrection of the same body from the grave, which was the belief of the Pharisees, in opposition to the Sadducees (a sect of Jews) who denied it.

Paul, who was brought up a Pharisee, labors hard at this for it was the creed of his own Pharisaical Church: I Corinthians xv is full of supposed cases and assertions about the resurrection of the same body, but there is not a word in it about redemption. This chapter makes part of the funeral service of the Episcopal Church. The dogma of the redemption is the fable of priestcraft invented since the time the New Testament was compiled, and the agreeable delusion of it suited with the depravity of immoral livers. When men are taught to ascribe all their crimes and vices to the temptations of the devil, and to believe that Jesus, by his death, rubs all off, and pays their passage to heaven gratis, they become as careless in morals as a spendthrift would be of money, were he told that his father had engaged to pay off all his scores.

It is a doctrine not only dangerous to morals in this world, but to our happiness in the next world, because it holds out such a cheap, easy, and lazy way of getting to heaven, as has a tendency to induce men to hug the delusion of it to their own injury.

But there are times when men have serious thoughts, and it is at such times, when they begin to think, that they begin to doubt the truth of the Christian religion; and well they may, for it is too fanciful and too full of conjecture, inconsistency, improbability and irrationality, to afford consolation to the thoughtful man. His reason revolts against his creed. He sees that none of its articles are proved, or can be proved.

He may believe that such a person as is called Jesus (for Christ was not his name) was born and grew to be a man, because it is no more than a natural and probable case. But who is to prove he is the son of God, that he was begotten by the Holy Ghost? Of these things there can be no proof; and that which admits not of proof, and is against the laws of probability and the order of nature, which God Himself has established, is not an object for belief. God has not given man reason to embarrass him, but to prevent his being imposed upon.

He may believe that Jesus was crucified, because many others were crucified, but who is to prove he was crucified for the sins of the world? This article has no evidence, not even in the New Testament; and if it had, where is the proof that the New Testament, in relating things neither probable nor provable, is to be believed as true?

When an article in a creed does not admit of proof nor of probability, the salvo is to call it revelation; but this is only putting one difficulty in the place of another, for it is as impossible to prove a thing to be revelation as it is to prove that Mary was gotten with child by the Holy Ghost.

Here it is that the religion of Deism is superior to the Christian Religion. It is free from all those invented and torturing articles that shock our reason or injure our humanity, and with which the Christian religion abounds. Its creed is pure, and sublimely simple. It believes in God, and there it rests.

It honors reason as the choicest gift of God to man, and the faculty by which he is enabled to contemplate the power, wisdom and goodness of the Creator displayed in the creation; and reposing itself on His protection, both here and hereafter, it avoids all presumptuous beliefs, and rejects, as the fabulous inventions of men, all books pretending to revelation.

2007-07-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

Globalists To Formally Propose Merger Of U.S., Canada, Mexico
July 6, 2007
Globalist political heavyweights are preparing to formally propose to Congress the merger of the U.S., Canada and Mexico into a North American Union at the end of summer after they held secret meetings to devise a plan that will be presented to representatives of all three governments. "A powerful think tank chaired by former Sen. Sam Nunn and guided by trustees including Richard Armitage, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Harold Brown, William Cohen and Henry Kissinger, is in the final stages of preparing a report to the White House and U.S. Congress on the benefits of integrating the U.S., Mexico and Canada into one political, economic and security bloc." Full Story

2006-12-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

Rainforest Villages Unify to Protect and Preserve their Land, Traditions and Way of Life

Deep within the Amazon Rainforest in Peru lies a river known as the Rio Pisqui. This isolated river begins at the foot of the Andes and flows to the Rio Ucayali. Along its banks live a number of native communities. For these communities, the future has been changed forever by the official formation of the Rio Pisqui Federation, also known as FECONACURPI, an acronym for Federaction do Communidades Nativas de la Cuenca del Rio Pisqui, and translated as “Federation of Native Communities of the Pisqui River Basin.” The federation consists of 10 communities along a 100-mile stretch of the Rio Pisqui, and is a major step in the unification and empowerment of these communities.

The establishment of this federation legally empowers these 10 villages to have greater sovereignty over the region. It grants them greater authority to protect and preserve the land, plants, animals and bodies of water there, as well as their traditional knowledge and way of life. Part of their objective is to also provide better education for their children and advocate for laws favoring native communities.

April 26, 2006 - The Founding Decree of the Rio Pisqui Federation is Established

The process of establishing the Rio Pisqui Federation was initiated by six native leaders from the region, and involved years of careful consideration and discussion. The first, major milestone in the process was reached on April 26, 2006 when the Founding Decree of the Rio Pisqui Federation was composed. This document, under rights clarified in Peru’s political constitution, established 10 Indigenous communities along the Rio Pisqui as comprising a unified body. The objectives and goals were set forth and a 17-member board of directors was elected on this day.

The Objectives and Goals of the Rio Pisqui Federation

The Founding Decree outlines the specific objectives and goals of the federation. These include, among others:

Protect and promote the integrity of the region while conserving its natural resources
Promote bilingual education while maintaining ethnic identity
Renew and strengthen traditional and spiritual medicine, including medicinal plants, healers, practices and songs
Protect traditional knowledge.
Watch over the social dignity and integrity of the native community and its members, food, shelter, health, education and labor
Strengthen ties between the communities of the Rio Pisqui, as well as with other native communities and national and international sectors.
Work toward a constitution of a native Amazonian organization
Promote the organizing of multi-communal enterprises creating a consciousness of solidarity and efficiency.
Promote community work and participation through incentives.

The Ten Communities of the Rio Pisqui Federation

Neuvo Eden, La Cumbre, Manco Capac, Charasmana, Tupac Amaru, Vencedor, Irazola, Santa Rosa, 9 do Cotubre, Tres Unidos

June 24, 2006 - Amazon Herb Representatives Help Celebrate the Founding of the Rio Pisqui Federation

After the creation of the Founding Decree, Amazon Herb Company Founder and CEO John Easterling was invited to Nuevo Eden to “swear in” the 17-member board of directors of the new Rio Pisqui Federation. Easterling was invited due to the contributions Amazon Herb Company has made to several native communities in the area including sustainable business partnerships, solar radios and a radio station, naturopathic health care, water filters, and legal support against tree poachers. Upon his return to the USA, Esterling received a formal letter of appreciation from the Rio Pisqui Federation.

Here are the contents of that letter:

June 24, 2006

Mr. John Easterling
Amazon Herb Company

Dear Sir,
As soon as we returned from our business trip to the city of Iquitos, the first thing I am doing is to take the pleasure in writing you these few words of gratitude and to once more express our deepest gratitude for the many attentions received from your worthy company. Words do not suffice to express that your kindness and supportive spirit have eternally sealed our gratitude.

Thank you for all that you and your worthy company have done for us. My only desire and good fortune game me the opportunity of having you in our Native Communities of the Pisqui River, and I know that we will never be able to repay the exquisite care of which we have been the object.

Your friend, Hidelfonso Del Aguila Flores, President of the Federation fo the Rio Pisqui, affectionately greets you.

Reprinted from Amazon Spirit, August 2006 issue, published by The Amazon Herb Company.

2006-11-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

Following serious FDA failures, Congress may reward the agency with even more money, regulatory power

by Jerome Douglas

(NewsTarget) Various consumer and patient groups joined with a leading cardiologist to urge quick action from Congress to allow the FDA to gain more power than it has now in order for it to require new warnings on medicines and drug post-approval studies. In addition, witnesses from these groups lobbied for a boost to the FDA's budget.

Sheila Burke, co-chair of an Institute of Medicine panel, said "The absence of that [budget increase] would leave the agency starved for resources ... with unclear authority in terms of being able to deal with the industry." Burke indicated that major reforms to improve the FDA's oversight of medicines after they reach the market was needed in light of recent drug safety concerns similar to Merck's pulling of arthritis pill Vioxx from the market in September 2004.

After Vioxx and other safety controversies, "the American people no longer trust the FDA to protect their health," said Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steve Nissen. Nissen added that Congress needed to act in order for the FDA to rebuild public trust. FDA spokeswoman Kristen Neese said, "The FDA has done considerable work over the past two years to improve our approach to drug safety, and we are committed to taking additional steps."

"Giving the FDA more money without serious reforms and new accountability is like giving crack to a drug addict," said Mike Adams, a consumer health advocate and frequent critic of the FDA. "This agency's utter disregard for public safety poses a threat to the lives of Americans that far exceeds the threat of any terrorist group.

"FDA-approved prescription drugs have killed over half a million Americans since 9/11, and now this Congress wants to give it even more money and power. It indicates just how utterly corrupt our government has become when it comes to making decisions that impact the profits of Big Pharma.

"The problem at the FDA is not a lack of funding," Adams said, "It's a lack of honesty and ethics."

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2006-10-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

Amazon Herb Company review: John Easterling, rainforest herbs and more

by: Mike Adams

In this report, I'm going to share with you why I'm so excited about the Amazon Herb Company and what it means for you, your health, our community, and our planet. Recently I had the honor of attending a live presentation by Amazon John, also known as John Easterling, the founder of the Amazon Herb Company I've been watching this company for some time, reading their materials and interviewing a few of their distributors, but I've wanted to meet the founder and find out what kind of character and energy he brings to the equation.

Here's why this is important (and it's also why I am now such a strong advocate of the Amazon Herb Company, even though I'm in no way affiliated with it). When we consume nutritional supplements, we're actually consuming more than the chemical constituents found in those supplements. Foods are more than just the sum of their parts. Foods actually carry a homeopathic element. This element is present in all foods, herbs, supplements or anything you ingest into your body.

It is imprinted onto those foods and supplements by the people who come into contact with them during harvesting, production and marketing. And so it is the intention, mindset and character of these individuals that become imprinted in these products that we ultimately absorb into the cells of our body. Therefore, if we consume nutritional supplements that are manufactured by companies with nothing more than a profit motive, then we absorb the energy of greed (along with the chemical constituents of those nutritional supplements).

In contrast, if you take an herb that has grown in its native natural environment, that has been harvested with care and with sacred intention by those who consider that land to be their home and by people who impart positive intentions onto that plant, and then if that plant is prayed over and imprinted with even more positive intention, and then finally packaged and marketed by a company that also has positive intentions because of the character of its founder, then you have a very different nutritional supplement than the supplement from the greedy company, even if these two supplements contain the exact same chemical constituents. There's a lot more to supplements than just what's listed on the label.

The science behind vibrational nutrition

If you're interested in the science behind this, take a look at a book called, "The Hidden Messages in Water," which discusses the ability of intention and emotion to alter the crystalline shape of frozen water crystals as photographed under a microscope. This book, authored by Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto, shows photographs of various water crystals after having been exposed to different emotions. As the book demonstrates, you can make water look chaotic and dysfunctional by imprinting it with the emotions of hate, greed, anger, or fear. In a similar way, you can make water take on a structure of organization, symmetry, and balance by imprinting it with emotions such as compassion or love. And it is indeed these emotions that are imprinted into the Amazon Herb products.

(Another great book on the subject of homeopathy, by the way, is, "The Memory of Water: Homeopathy and the Battle of Ideas in the New Science" by Michel Schiff. It describes how conventional medicine has pulled out all the stops to discredit homeopathy through deceit and distortion rather than facing up to the hard science that quite solidly proves homeopathy to be a real phenomenon.)

A company leader with the right intention

What I saw recently, in watching John Easterling, demonstrated to me beyond any doubt that these positive, healing intentions are pursued and shared by the founder of the Amazon Herb Company. That's quite remarkable, because I've seen other companies (especially those who use a word-of-mouth distribution model) get lost in the quest for material gain. All too often, some organizations are only about making a buck and growing a bigger organization in order to generate more revenues.

That's the wrong mindset to be ingesting into your body. Greed is a derivative of fear, and fear creates contraction and restriction. Fear causes your body to tense up and restrict its natural flow, and that's part of the cause of a lot of disease we see today. Many diseases are actually the result of stagnation from an energetic point of view. When things aren't moving correctly, whether it's lymph fluid, or your blood, or energy through your nervous system, then you are experiencing disease. But when things are moving well, you're experiencing a state of health. And what causes things to move? Openness, sharing, love, compassion. These kinds of intentions. And these are the emotions that are imprinted in the Amazon Herb products.

So, yes, I'm an advocate of the Amazon Herb Company. But not for the reasons you might have supposed. It's not that they have a great product line, even though they do. It's not that the company is doing a lot of good things for the rainforest, even though that's also true and that's a very important part of their success equation. But I think the primary reason is because it creates a product that has energetic qualities that far surpass any other commercially available nutritional supplement I've ever encountered. What that means is that these products have the ability to alter the way your body metabolizes energy.

Your body is made of energy

If all of this begins to sound a little bit New-Agey, don't fret, it's actually easy to understand from a technical point of view as well. That's because your entire body is nothing but vibrating energy. In fact, if you ask any physicist, he or she will tell you that even the apparent mass in your body is nothing more than probability waves of orbiting electrons that actually have no particles whatsoever. From a technical point of view, your body is 99.999% empty space. There's almost nothing really there!

We also know that homeopathy is very real; this has been scientifically proven through randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled studies, and it has been repeated again and again in various trials conducted on populations around the world. (Recent anti-homeopathy headlines you may have seen in the news were based on a meta-study that cherry-picked unsuccessful homeopathic clinical trials while ignoring successful ones.)

Energetic shifts are accelerated by Amazon Herbs

The implications of all of this are immense. I believe this helps explain why so many people who are using the Amazon Herb products describe the shifts in their health being not just physical but also emotional and energetic in nature. You hear this time and time again if you actually sit down and listen to the people who are using the Amazon Herb products. They will tell you, yes, their aches and pains vanished, and, yes, they were able to overcome chronic disease with these herbs, but more importantly they will describe how their emotions changed. Suddenly they began to feel happy or they felt calm for the first time in years, or they felt grounded and in touch with themselves. These are the kinds of things you hear from people that have undergone an energetic shift, not just a biochemical shift. Thus, it all makes sense, because that's the way in which these herbs are harvested, and that's the intention being imprinted throughout the Amazon Herb organization.

I'm a fairly good judge of character. As an owner of a software company, I've dealt with a lot of people over the years. I've also done a fair amount of work in vibrational medicine, healing through intention, Reiki and so on. I've also learned to listen to my intuition. So I have a fairly good sense of what dominant intentions people are carrying around when I have the chance to observe them and interact with them. One of the most obvious negative energetic postures I notice in people from the conventional medical community is their lack of humility. All too often, their egos get in the way and they carry a belief that they are the most intelligent people in the world, therefore they're the only people qualified to talk about anything related to health.

Sadly, this is a dominant mindset in the conventional medical community, and it's one of the first things I watch out for in assessing whether an individual is coming from a place of personal credibility. With this in mind, I was quite intrigued to watch Amazon John and to recognize that he's a person who is not at all driven by ego. In fact, he's quite humble and he understands full well, just as I do, that we are mere messengers and all we can do in our lives is serve as conduits for the healing gifts of nature. John understands that we are not the originators of these healing gifts, and we deserve no credit for creating them, because it is nature that created them. John sees himself as a facilitator, a bridge between the rainforest and Western civilization, and he explained that role with a great degree of honesty and forthrightness about his own journey.

Honoring a person's life journey and life purpose

The other thing that's important to note in assessing the character of people you'd like to have around you is to learn about their personal journey. What difficulties did they go through and how did they arrive at their current beliefs? How did they acquire the paradigms under which they presently operate? The kind of people that you want to be around, at least in my experience, are people who have been able to confront their own distortions and replace them with new beliefs about their role in the universe.

That's a bit nebulous, so let me explain it a little further: to confront your own illusions means to question your current beliefs about the world around you. Each of us has our own constructs, our own version of reality in which we live and operate, and none of those versions of reality are actually real. They are stories that we tell ourselves, they are patterns in which we function and get along with our lives. But people who are true healers and wise, mature adults are people who are able to face those distortions, question them and arrive at a new, expanded understanding. It doesn't necessarily mean they arrive at the "truth," it just means they expand their awareness and are able to continue on their life journey with this new awareness in an ever-expanding spiral pattern, much like the shell of a marine creature.

This spiral grows and expands as the person's awareness expands. And what I learned about Amazon John was that, early in his life, he was a treasure hunter -- a literal treasure hunter! He would travel to Peru and search for gems, stones and ancient artifacts, and bring them back to the United States to find buyers. At the time, his belief was that these were the treasures of the rainforest. But what we see in John today is a man who recognizes that those treasures were illusions -- that the true treasures of the rainforest were hidden in the plants all this time. These are the treasures of nature, the wealth provided by the healing potential of these plants. And he was able, through a personal transformation process requiring several years, to question his own distortions and arrive at a new understanding of what treasure really means. Today, through the Amazon Herb Company, he is able to communicate that new vision of what treasure really means to the Western world.

That kind of shift in thinking requires a tremendous amount of courage, self-honesty and humility. This is not the kind of personal transformation that you will typically find in the conventional medical community. To many in organized medicine, credibility comes from passing the right exam and graduating from the right school, taking the right tests, getting the right credentials, and so on. But to me, credibility comes from taking a journey and demonstrating that you have the character necessary to be an adult, to grow up, mature, expand your awareness and question your present beliefs. And then, if you're really good, to be able to form new beliefs that better serve the interests of yourself, your community, and the world at large. And that, as I see it, is the path along which Amazon John is traveling.

(By the way, for many people, this sort of empowering shift in beliefs only emerges following a health crisis. All too often, we aren't willing to change our beliefs unless we're facing imminent death, it seems.)

The Amazon Herb products

You'll notice I've said all of this and I haven't even mentioned the Amazon Herb products. Most people who talk about the Amazon Herb Company are focused on the products, and there's nothing wrong with that: they are outstanding products and I'll get to those in a minute. But I consider it to be most important to look at the founder of the company and what that means for the character of the organization and the energy of its products. This is a man who understands the economics of sustainable revenue models for the rainforest; he understands what it means to give back to a community and he understands the business challenges of bringing this to a population here in the United States.

But let's talk about the products for a minute, because that's what gets most people excited about this company. And when it comes to these products, I can speak far more freely about them than Amazon John can. That's because the current regulatory environment in the U.S. does not allow any principal of a company that manufactures these products to make health claims about these products. For myself, on the other hand, since I have absolutely no financial ties with this company whatsoever, and I'm not a distributor of the company, and I'm not being paid to write any of this, I can tell you what I honestly think about these products. And here it is: based on what I've learned from spending more than 5,000 hours studying nutrition and the healing gifts of nature, I believe that these products can not only help prevent nearly every major chronic disease we are seeing in modern society today, but that they can also reverse many of those diseases, especially the early stages of those diseases.

Beyond that, I believe that these products have the potential to even alter the mindset of our population, to bring greater calm and reduce aggression in our population. You see, these products operate at many different levels: the biophysical level, the biochemical level and the bioenergetic level.

Amazon Herb products operate at three levels

At the biophysical level you have products like Fiberzon, which help support peristaltic action in the digestive tract and help clear out waste products that far too many people have sitting around in their large intestine for days at a time. If you can't eliminate waste products from your body, then you are essentially poisoning yourself by reabsorbing your own waste rather than getting rid of it.

At the biochemical level, there are a great many phytochemicals and phytonutrients in the Amazon Herb product line. You'll find a variety of herbs like chanca piedra, una de gato (also known as cat's claw), graviola, jatoba and a great many other herbs that are biochemically active. They demonstrate anticancer activity, immune system enhancement, protection of the liver, the pancreas, the endocrine system, the nervous system, and so on. These phytonutrients help eliminate toxins and protect the body from parasites, bacteria and viruses, and other invaders. These biochemical effects are well-documented if you actually look at the scientific literature on these herbs. This is where most of the potency of these products gets recognized: the biochemical level.

Then there's the bioenergetic level, and that's what I spoke about earlier. And that's what sets these supplements apart from practically everything else on the market. Sure, you can buy cat's claw at any health food store, but where else can you buy cat's claw that has been harvested from its natural environment, that has been blessed by the native peoples from Peru who are harvesting this as part of a sustainable revenue model to protect their homeland, that has been packaged and marketed by a company headed by a person who imparts the intention of healing into his company and product line? Where else can you find an herb like that? Yes, you can find that from local herbalists who make their own healing remedies in small batches, but I don't think you can find it commercially available on a large scale anywhere other than the Amazon Herb Company.

Reversing chronic disease with Amazon Herbs

So you have herbal products that operate on all three levels. With that in mind, you might ask, "What can these products really do? How can they really help me?" And that's a multipart answer. My belief is that these products can actually reverse early stage cancers; they can reconfigure your nervous system; they can eliminate toxins from your system, they can boost immune system function and protect you from viruses; they can boost the antioxidant level in your tissues and circulating in your blood; they can even help reverse heart disease.

They can do all of these things and many more, including providing health benefits for diabetics via blood sugar regulation, reducing insulin resistance, supporting the pancreas and so on. And yet there is a danger in looking at the miracle class properties of herbs like this and relying on them alone to solve your health problems.

Don't get caught drowning in a victim mentality

This is something I've mentioned frequently even when I get excited about herbal products, and that is: to truly heal, you have to look at what decisions in your life got you to the point where you are today. If you're suffering from a chronic disease like heart disease or cancer or diabetes or osteoporosis, then you got there by making a series of decisions over a period of years or decades that had a specific outcome. This outcome is what you are living today. These decisions typically involve how much physical exercise you wish to pursue, what foods you choose to consume, what beverages you drink, what prescription drugs you choose to put into your body, what environments you choose to live in and so on.

These choices got you to where you are today. Along those lines, it is self-deception to suppose that one product or one line of products is going to release you from the responsibility of making good decisions from this day forward. This is where a lot of people get distracted with any herbal product. They think that they're going to be "saved" by these products. What they're thinking, perhaps, at a subconscious level is "Gee, I've spent my whole life damaging my body and now I have this cancer, but thank God this new anti-cancer product is going to come along and save me, and so I'm just going to take that and keep doing all these other bad things in my life that gave me cancer in the first place."

I strongly encourage you to avoid adopting that victim mentality. I encourage you to challenge yourself and begin the healing process (if you haven't already) by altering your lifestyle at the same time that you begin taking a line of nutritional products like these from the Amazon Herb Company. Because what you will find is that no product can replace your choice, no product can make decisions for you. In fact, that thinking is probably what got you into a health problem in the first place, because you may have thought that prescription drugs were going to be the miracle cure for you, and now you've found out that drugs don't cure you, they actually kill you (60,000+ Americans killed by Vioxx alone, according to a study published in The Lancet. And that's just one prescription drug out of thousands...).

The cure for all disease starts within

So now you're looking for a real cure, but if you're looking outside yourself for that cure, that's a mistake. The cure to your health problem is inside you, starting with your beliefs and self responsibility. If you address your own distortions, your own beliefs and your own behavioral choices, and start with that as your foundation, and then add these healing herbs from the Amazon rainforest, you will find that these two strategies multiply each others' effects. And then you will have initiated a sequence of healing effects in your own body that are multiplied by the biophysical, biochemical and bioenergetic healing potential of these herbs and you will be able to overcome practically any disease or condition imaginable.

I don't care if it's chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or fibromyalgia or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or any of these other so-called diseases that are actually nothing but illusions -- they're just names given to a pattern of symptoms because doctors don't know what's wrong with you. I've met so many people who say "I have CFS" and they feel so comfortable that they've been labeled with this disease... they identify themselves with having that disease. What they need to do is get rid of that label and challenge it by saying, "You know, maybe I don't have these diseases. Maybe these are just a bunch of symptoms caused by eating foods containing a lot of toxic ingredients and not taking care of my health."

If you've read any of my work, you know that I study food toxicology and share a lot of information about that, and I can tell you that if you're eating the conventional foods in America, you are poisoning your body. You don't have chronic fatigue syndrome, you have a toxic biochemistry because you've been consuming toxic foods with those ingredients like sodium nitrite, artificial colors, and hydrogenated oils ... the list goes on and on. (See GroceryWarning.com for more.) If you truly want to heal yourself and you want to be successful with the Amazon Herb Company, it's time to get honest with yourself and stop consuming these poisons. Start questioning your beliefs and reformulating them into ones that serve your long term health interests, and then supplement with good nutrition, with healing herbs and with healing foods (garlic, broccoli, berries, raw nuts, etc.)

The Amazon Herb product line can be a very successful part of that transformation. But even those products, as potent as they are, and as much as they are blessed with the energy of healing, even they cannot overcome your own self-sabotage if you choose to pursue the mindset of conventional medicine and American food consumers.

The Amazon Herb product line is a great way to initiate the health transformation process, partly because of the energetic component of these herbs. You will find your energetic shifts to be far easier when you are supported by these herbs.

A community of healers and leaders

If you want to join a community of true healers, people who have a calling to healing themselves and helping heal those around them, then I invite you to get involved with the Amazon Herb Company. This is a company with an energy like no other company I've ever witnessed. I've experienced it first-hand in meeting so many of the people who are involved in this company and talking with Amazon John in person. And if you're really ready for a change that goes beyond just losing weight, eliminating pain, ending inflammation or overcoming some symptom in your body, if you're ready for a true transformation that involves your body, your mind and your spirit, then this is the company for you.

Did I mention that you can earn an honest living with this company? Frankly, the financial component should be the last thing you consider. That's why I haven't even brought it up until now. But this company has a word-of-mouth marketing compensation plan that's very generous and rewards people who share the good news about these products. What a great deal -- you can actually make a living, a good living, while you are sharing information that can help heal and transform the lives of people around you. At the same time, the side effect of all of that is that your actions help create a system of economic renewal for the rainforest that make it more valuable alive than dead. It's a win/win situation for everyone involved. You win, the people around you benefit, the rainforest benefits, the native populations in Peru benefit by being able to earn an honest living by harvesting native plants in their natural environment, and you also win by sharing the energy and intention of healing at many levels.

Is this right for me?

If you're out there reading this and you don't know if the Amazon Herb product line or business opportunity is right for you, then keep reading (and remember, I am not involved with this company in any way, so this is not some clever solicitation). Perhaps you're skeptical about all the good news. I think you're right to be skeptical because it's important to be a discerning, thinking person who intelligently evaluates each opportunity. Let me share something very personal. I wouldn't be spending hours of my time writing about this with absolutely no compensation if I didn't feel passionate about what this can do for the world. This information is something of tremendous value to my readers and to society at large.

The Amazon Herb Company is making a lasting difference. I've been to Peru, I've hiked through the Andes Mountains, I've seen the dwellings in which the local people live -- houses made of mud bricks, basically. I've been approached by children in poverty on the streets of Lima and Cuzco who are desperate to sell me anything as long as they can earn a few cents for the day. The Amazon Herb Company helps give these people new choices, new freedoms and a new future.

I've walked through parts of the Amazon rainforest and I've admired the engineering of nature, up close and personal, one plant at a time. There's a miracle at work in nature. And the Amazon Herb Company helps deliver that miracle to the people in the Western world who need it most.

I've seen people suffering from chronic diseases, spending their life savings on conventional medical treatments, forfeiting their quality of life and time with loved ones. And I've seen others reverse those diseases with medicinal herbs, healing foods, and a transformation in personal beliefs and personal responsibility. The Amazon Herb Company can help people overcome chronic disease and expand their understanding of the true healing potential found inside each of us.

I want to see the Amazon Herb Company succeed

Part of the reason I'm doing this is because I want to see the Amazon Herb Company succeed. I want to see this product in the hands of 10 million Americans in the next 3 years. I'd like to see tens of thousands of acres of rainforest in Peru as part of this program to grow and harvest herbs and bring them to the United States where they can help save lives. And frankly, I'd like to see Amazon John and the other principals of his company receive tremendous rewards for having the courage to step forward and do this, and I don't mean just financial rewards, I mean recognition -- the kind of global recognition that says these are pioneering people who have done something deeply significant for mankind. Nobel Prize recognition.

If I can have a small role to play in this, in multiplying the reach of this company, then I'm more than happy to take on that role. Nothing would make me happier than to have this article read by 10 million people. Nothing would make me happier than to see the smiles on the faces of Peruvians, knowing that their native lands are being protected and that they have a sustainable economic revenue model that not only brings them financial wealth, but that also allows them to share their healing wisdom with a society that desperately needs it -- and that society is ours.

In our modern society, if we want to have any hope whatsoever of overcoming chronic disease, we have to get in touch with nature. We have to embrace companies like the Amazon Herb Company, companies that are doing everything right to recognize and leverage the healing gifts of nature. And that, ultimately, is why I have decided to openly endorse this company. It is a company whose values I share, it is a company with a vision that is aligned with global healing, and it is a company that I think is already accomplishing tremendous good in the world. And yet it has only begun to grow. That's why I invite you to get involved. Be part of it. Be part of something that's bigger than any of us individually. Be part of something that can significantly change the planet at many levels: our cities, societies, our mindset, our sustainable ecosystems... even in our economic thinking and free market theories about what it takes to be financially viable. This is a company that's expanding the paradigms in all those areas, and if you miss out on this opportunity, you'll miss what might be the most exciting and transforming experience of your life.

By the way, if you're already a distributor with the Amazon Herb Company, feel free to use this entire article as part of your educational material. You can run off copies, if you like, or copy this in an email.

I also have a free downloadable ebook about the Amazon Herb Company. Click here to read 3 Steps to Success With the Amazon Herb Company. This is a 3-step guide I wrote to help AHC distributors be more successful. It's yours free.

If you're interested in getting involved with the Amazon Herb Company, you should talk to the person who told you about this article. Or, if you don't know anyone with the company, here's who I recommend [existing AHC distributors, you can replace this entire paragraph with your own contact information]:

Brad Chappell, phone: (520) 808-9022, or email AmazonHerbs@cosmicbear.ws

Finally, let me add in a couple of legal notes. This article was unsolicited and is not endorsed in any way by the Amazon Herb Company. Anything mentioned here about their products is simply my own opinion, and not their official position. I received no funds or free products in exchange for writing this article, and I am not a distributor of the Amazon Herb Company, nor is any person in my family a distributor. I receive no commissions of any kind from the sale of Amazon Herb products. This article is offered as an exercise of my Free Speech rights, through which I am offering information and views on products, people and organizations that I feel are important to cover for reader interest.

Thanks for reading!

2006-09-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

A Free Book On ADHD- compliments of Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

Dear readers,

In the last 30 years, the field of psychiatry has transformed childhood into a disease through the label of ADHD. That's exactly what Dr. Fred Baughman, a pediatric neurologist and fellow of the American Association of Neurologists explores in this downloadable interview from Truth Publishing.

Dr. Baughman is one of the few neurological experts that is willing come forward with the truth about ADHD and the mass drugging of America's children. Have you ever wondered why other countries don't have this explosion of mental illness in their kids? Have you ever wondered why people in your parent's generation didn't have these problems? The answers are all right here in this interview.

Plus, Dr. Baughman shares his latest book on the subject, and a DVD warning to parents about the latest epidemic of childhood diagnosis, who is profiting from it, and how the label could hurt their child for life -- not to mention the risk of heart attack, stroke, drug abuse and all the other side effects that children on ADHD drugs experience.

Read all this and more in "Live with Dr. Fred Baughman," available for downloading now at:

http://www.truthpublishing.com/FredBaughman.html

Dr. Baughman shares startling facts such as:

What group wants four out of every ten children diagnosed as ADHD
How brain "disorders" lack an objective standard
Why an ADHD-labeled child will have trouble getting healthcare coverage, getting a job, or getting into the military
How diseases are created by a "show of hands"
How parents, teachers and school districts are getting paid for ADHD diagnoses
How many psychiatric experts are owned by the pharmaceutical industry
The law the Bush Administration put into action that will REQUIRE your child to be screened for ADHD
Adult ADHD "recruiting" centers where 80 percent are diagnosed as ADHD
How the FDA lobbied another country to keep dangerous ADHD drugs on the market after fatalities occured
Why your grandparents were never diagnosed with ADHD
What percentage of kids walk out of their first psychiatric visit with an ADHD diagnosis
How taxpayers foot the bill for every ADHD diagnosis

You'll want to pass this information on to everyone you know with children or grandchildren, so they don't become just another vehicle of profit for the drug industry. The risks are just too great, and too many parents and children have suffered already.

Download "Live with Dr. Fred Baughman" right now and read it for yourself:

http://www.truthpublishing.com/FredBaughman.html

To your health,

- Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

Is the vegetarian diet right for you?

2006-07-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

THE EVOLUTION OF A MYTH

Along with the unjustified and unscientific saturated fat and cholesterol scares of the past several decades has come the notion that vegetarianism is a healthier dietary option for people. It seems as if every health expert and government health agency is urging people to eat fewer animal products and consume more vegetables, grains, fruits and legumes. Along with these exhortations have come assertions and studies supposedly proving that vegetarianism is healthier for people and that meat consumption is associated with sickness and death. Several authorities, however, have questioned these data, but their objections have been largely ignored.

As we shall see, many of the vegetarian claims cannot be substantiated and some are simply false and dangerous. There are benefits with vegetarian diets for certain health conditions, and some people function better on less fat and protein, but, as a practitioner who has dealt with several former vegetarians and vegans (total vegetarians), I know full well the dangerous effects of a diet devoid of healthful animal products. It is my hope that all readers will more carefully evaluate their position on vegetarianism after reading this paper. (This is just a bit of an article by Dr. Byrnes. To see his research on each of these issues please follow this link.)

MYTH #1: Meat consumption contributes to famine and depletes the Earth's natural resources.
MYTH #2: Vitamin B12 can be obtained from plant sources.
MYTH #3: Our needs for vitamin D can be met by sunlight.
MYTH #4: The body's needs for vitamin A can be entirely obtained from plant foods.
MYTH #5: Meat-eating causes osteoporosis, kidney disease, heart disease, and cancer.
MYTH #6: Saturated fats and dietary cholesterol cause heart disease, atherosclerosis and/or cancer, and low-fat, low-cholesterol diets are healthier for people.
MYTH #7: Vegetarians live longer and have more energy and endurance than meat-eaters.
MYTH #8: The "cave man" diet was low-fat and/or vegetarian. Humans evolved as vegetarians.
MYTH #9: Meat and saturated fat consumption have increased in the 20th century, with a corresponding increase in heart disease and cancer.
MYTH #10: Soy products are adequate substitutes for meat and dairy products.
MYTH #11: The human body is not designed for meat consumption.
MYTH #12: Eating animal flesh causes violent, aggressive behaviour in humans.
MYTH #13: Animal products contain numerous harmful toxins.
MYTH #14: Eating meat or animal products is less "spiritual" than eating only plant foods.
MYTH #15: Eating animal foods is inhumane.

Click here for the full article by Dr. Stephen Byrnes

2006-06-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Farmgirl Fare

I came accross this blog and realized this was the life I want. This is also what a 'blog' is supposed to be; clear, well written, fun, informative, intertaining and personal.

My rantings tend to be a bit pedantic and preachy and cover areas of life that this lovely soul would probably never need to concern herself with as I believe her life is probably quite full and complete with the living of life in its natural beauty. Yes, I am a bit jealous.

Take some time to spend on her site, get nostalgic, learn a few things and meet her barnyard companions. I know you will have a wonderful time.

2006-06-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

"WE DON'T SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE, WE SEE THEM AS WE ARE." The Talmud

I came across this blog as it is the Blogsite of the Month for June at Blog Advance. I have not given much thought to this subject for a couple of years (although I am convinced the research clearly leans toward these conclusions) as I realized my giving energy to the emotions it was creating within me really had nowhere to be released.

You can generally convince people of small, seemingly inconsequential injustices being done to them, but to convince them of life and time changing plots against humanity on such a massive scale is too much for most people to even contemplate. It isn't a matter of researching and believing the government's line, it's a matter of it physically and emotionally hurting to even consider such a thing. It is easier to roll over and go back to sleep and force it out of our minds than to face the facts.

This became evident to me last week when the Pentagon released the videos from the gate taken on 9/11 showing the plane smashing into the side of the Pentagon. Why did it take them this long to release them when I have seen the exact same footage for the past 4 years on sites as proof of conspiracy?

Check it out and draw your own conclusions and then let me know what you think.

Canada Wants The Truth Too: Reopen 9/11 Investigations

2006-05-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Keeping the internet safe for your family

I can’t express how excited I am to be affiliated with Kiosk.ws, especially now. Joel Therein and his crew have created a safe haven for our children on the internet. The internet can be a rich source of education and expansion of understanding for growing minds. Children can gain access to knowledge of cultures and traditions they would not have available anywhere else. Now they can enjoy those experiences in a safe, controlled environment.

Parents, this is absolutely free of charge.

Go to KidSafeLand.com and watch the Canadian Television interview.

Finally a safe online audio and video chat system free of predators and hackers. Monitoring your children's online chatting for their safety and your comfort.

The key features of our KidsSafeLand.com
online chat system.

· Allows parents to sleep with ease

· No one can chat who is not verified

Parents can monitor all online activity
Chat Logs are kept in a password protected folder that can be stored for parent supervision
Monitored by real people in our office
KidsSafeLand.com will record all audio conversations that
your children have and save them in a password protected directory on your computer, that you, only the parent has access to.
KidsSafeLand.com will also automatically send all text chat conversations to a predetermined email address set by you, the parent.
KidsSafeLand.com is a moderated system by real people who care about our children!
All audio, video and text streams are completely encrypted and password protected. This product is so secure that we even have political governors using a slightly different version of our product to conduct political meetings!

· And more...

2006-04-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 5 of 5)
as presented by the early church

The gospel of God’s Grace.

Acts 20.24: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (N.I.V.)

The English word grace translates the Greek word ‘charis’ which means ‘undeserved and unmerited favor’. However, more than merely God viewing mankind’s failings and saying ‘I forgive them’, charis denotes God acting to set things right, regardless of man’s sins. It is the hand of God extended in love to personally execute each stage of redemption, with the exception of forcing man to believe. Why, even the faith is a gift from God. (Eph. 2.8)

For the purposes of our study, we will limit ourselves to the relationship between the gospel message and God’s revelation of His grace.

In Acts 20, Paul is addressing the church in Ephesus before going on to Jerusalem. Verse 21 states, “…solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus verse we opened with, showing that he understood ‘the gospel of God’s grace’ to be almost solely concerned with tearing down the wall of division between the Jews and gentiles for the purpose of extending salvation to all peoples.

In the book of Romans, Paul expands and clarifies this issue throughout the first 11 chapters. It doesn’t take a degree in theology or 4 years of New Testament Greek to follow Paul’s logic; only to twist it to read the way dispensationalists force it to read.

If you can read English and have at your disposal a reputable translation of the Bible (or preferably several) then you will be able to understand exactly what Paul is trying to say.

Right off Paul states the issue clearly. In Chapter 1 verse 16, Paul says:

“For I am not ashamed of the good news (gospel), for it is God’s power for the salvation of everyone who has faith, of the Jew first and then of the Greek.” (Goodspeed) (also 2.7-16)

Romans 3.22-24 states:

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justifies freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (N.I.V.)

Furthermore, 4.16 says:

“Therefore, the promise (verse 13) comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law (2.17-24) but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.” (N.I.V.)

Please notice; Paul is stating that the promises to Abraham, which were given before the law was given through Moses, were meant for the Jews AND the gentiles and found fulfillment ONLY through Christ and ONLY in the church of God. This is not meant to sound anti-Semitic, which has been a term used against the Amillenialists form time to time. God has clearly included everyone under His condemnation as being sinful, Jew and gentile. He ahs also included everyone under His canopy of grace, Jew and gentile. The only requisite for inclusion in this grace is faith in Christ. Not bloodline, not national origin or religion; only faith in the resurrected Messiah.

I have touched only briefly and lightly in Romans. In order to receive the full brunt of the weight of what I am saying you will need to read the first 11 chapters, carefully and more than once. Not because the truths are hard to come by but because a faulty mind set is difficult to dispel. When I was introduced to this concept it was slow work, wading through the ocean of misconceptions I had learned in the 18 years I had been a believer. But once I realized I had been led astray of the full truth by the many (so called) Bible scholars I had trusted to teach me, the scriptures no longer held any mysteries or seeming contradictions. And you, too, will find it richly rewarding, if you take your blinders off and allow the scriptures to be their own interpreter.

We find an interesting statement in Galatians 5.4:

“You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (N.I.V.)

From this verse, as well as those studied in Romans, we see that the Jewish legal system, the Mosaic Law, is the antithesis of God’s grace. The law was given to the Jews through Moses; grace was given to the whole world through Jesus Christ.

According to Galatians:

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law…in order that the blessing to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” (3.13, 14 N.I.V.)

“What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.” (3.19)

“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (3.29)

Listen to what Paul has said. Christ redeemed us in order that the blessing to Abraham might come to the Gentiles! Did Jesus fulfill all he set out to accomplish? Did Jesus leave some portion of his work of salvation to be consummated at some future date? Paul certainly didn’t think so.

· The gospel of the grace of God can be summed up like this.

· God revealed Himself to mankind through a few men in ages past.

· He chose a lineage for His son, the Messiah, to proceed through.

· In Abraham God found the blood line of the savior (Isaac, Judah, David, etc.) as well as the qualifying factor for salvation: Faith.

· The law was enacted to show how wicked the sinfulness of man was and to lead the Jews to Christ, and mankind with them.

· The grace of God was revealed in the act of God sending His son to die as penalty for our sins; the sins of all mankind, Jew and gentile.

The clear teaching of scripture is that salvation was always meant for all peoples, but God chose the children of Israel, Abraham’s descendants, to proclaim that good news. As Galatians 3.7, 8 says:

“Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”” (N.I.V.)

By the grace of God the ‘dividing wall of hostility’ was destroyed, Jew and gentile reconciled to God and a ‘new man’ created in Christ. (Eph. 2.11-18) This was God’s eternal purpose, (1.4, 5) and the Jews of Jesus’ time rejected it and bore the condemnation of Christ and the judgment of God.

“Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute form city to city, that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechia, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.” (Matt. 23.34-39 N.A.S.)

Now, and for the remainder of history, only a remnant of the Jewish nation will be saved, and that only through faith, just as the gentile nations.

“In the same way then, there has come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” (Romans 11.5, 6 N.A.S.)

2006-04-15T22:03:00.000-07:00

The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 4)
as presented by the early church

The promises fulfilled.

Acts 13.23, 33 read, “WE tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.” (N.I.V.)

As gentile believers in the 20^th century, 2000 years removed from the incarnation of Christ, steeped in history and traditions far removed from the simpler Jewish lifestyle of that time, it doesn’t really surprise me that we tend to relegate most of the Old Testament scriptures to a time and a people either long gone or still in the future.

Deeply embedded in dispensational thinking is the idea that God had done something unique, almost unheard of, in building His church. One would get the impression from talking to them that the church was almost an afterthought, something God was pressed into because His chosen ones, the Jews, were rejecting His Messiah. Or that God, because of their rebellion, was forced to set them aside for a while to concentrate on the church, only to return to them after he was finished with the gentiles.

This simply is not true. This is contrary to the clear teaching of scripture and takes some pretty fancy footwork to make the Bible even LOOK like this is what is taught.

Using Acts 13 as a springboard, lets see what scripture has to say on the subject of the church and the Jewish nation, and what part this plays on our study.

Beginning at verse 13 we find Paul preaching on the Sabbath in the Synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. He addresses himself to the ‘men of Israel’ (v.16) and ‘children of Abraham’ (v.26) as well as the gentile converts to Judaism. He begins with an encapsulated history of the nation of Israel up to the advent of the Savior, his death at the hands of the people of Jerusalem and their leaders, and his being raised by God from the dead.

Verse 39 sums up the point of Paul’s message:

“Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses.” (N.I.V.)

Paul and Barnabas are invited back to speak on the following Sabbath, which is recorded in verses 44-48. This time news of Paul’s preaching had spread and almost the entire city came to hear him. This angered the Jews because this was a predominately gentile city in a gentile country, Galatia in Asia Minor.

Verses 45-47 read, “But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were very jealous, and they contradicted what Paul said and abused him. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out plainly, and said, “God’s message had to be told to you first, but since you thrust it off and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the heathen. For these are the orders the Lord has given us: I have made you a light for the heathen, to be a means of salvation to the very ends of the earth!”” (Goodspeed)

The message of Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection as fulfillment of prophecy is the good news, the gospel; but no less is the message that the good news of salvation was to be extended to the Gentiles as fulfillment of prophecy. All inclusive salvation, complete with birthrights and full privileges of sonship.

Acts 3.25, 26 reads, “You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ To you first, God, having raised up his Servant Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you you’re your iniquities.” (N.K.J.V.)

Peter here was addressing the Jews in Jerusalem long before his dealings with Cornelius and his revelation concerning calling anything unclean that God called clean. This is true. However, this narrative was compiled by Luke, a Gentile believer and close companion of Paul. Furthermore, although Peter may not have understood all the implications, he certainly knew God was desirous of somehow extending salvation to the Gentiles as he had surely heard the stories of the prophecies regarding the Christ (Luke 2.32, 3.6), his ministry before meeting Peter (Luke 4.24-27), as well as the years he spent physically traveling with Jesus, listening to his teachings (Matt. 8.10-13, 21.42-44, 23.35-39).

The importance of Acts 3.25, 26 is expanded in the teaching of Paul, not only in Acts, (26.6, 28.20, 28) but in nearly every epistle or letter he wrote he deals with this truth. However, possibly nowhere does he deal with it more bluntly or forcefully than in Galatians, written to the same people he was addressing in Acts 13.

Paul begins his letter by making sure the Galatian believers (most of whom were gentiles) understood how thoroughly believing his gospel and following Christ were intertwined. If you followed another gospel, a different gospel than taught by Paul in the beginning, you were turning away from Christ (1.6-9).

“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even though we, or an angel form heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” (N.A.S.)

He goes on to state that the gospel he taught had not come to him through learning, not taught to him by men, but came to him be revelation of Jesus Christ (1.11, 12) with the purpose of outreach to the gentiles (v. 16).

Chapter 2, verses 11-21, give us not only an example of the deception of not being ‘straightforward about the truth of the gospel’ (v. 14), but also gives us some indication of the problem the Galatian churches were facing: Jewish legalism.

Paul destroys the arguments for legalism with his gospel, which in brief states:

· We have died to the law to live in Christ. (2.19, 21; 3.19)

· We are saved by faith and heirs of the promises of God through Abraham. (3.6, 8, 14-18)

· We, as believers, ‘are sons of Abraham’ (3.7), ‘sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus’ (3.26), ‘Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise’ (3.29)

What an incredible revelation. We, as gentile believers, are joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8.17), but even more:

“…as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Rom. 8.14) “…those who are the children of the flesh (the Jews), these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” (Rom. 9.8) “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” (Gal. 3.7) “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal.3.29)

I hope you can see the importance of what Paul is saying. There are no promises or salvation for the nation of Israel outside of Jesus Christ! God has taken the believing Jews (the remnant) and believing gentiles and, through Jesus, has made a new man of the two, reconciling us both in one body through the cross. (Ephesians 2.14-22)

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” 14-18 (N.I.V.)

2006-04-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 3)

as presented by the early church

The gospel of peace through Jesus Christ.

Acts 10.36 reads, “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” (N.I.V.)

Without delving deeply into the similarities between the Greek word ‘eirene’ and the Hebrew ‘shalom’, I will comment briefly.

According to the book “Christian Words” by Nigel Turner, “In the LXX…eirene was ‘health’ and ‘well being’, in the sense of abatement of Gods wrath, with spiritual security. Almost always it rendered shalom, peace, welfare, prosperity – especially peace with God.” He goes on the say, “Christian Greek takes a step forward when eirene becomes personalized as no less than our Savior Himself, who is our peace, reconciling Jew with Gentile, and both with God.” (Eph. 2.14)

This is the aspect of peace we will pursue now; how this relates to the gospel. To put the passage we opened with in context, Peter was praying and received a vision of unclean animals (animals the Jews by tradition were not allowed to eat), mingled with clean animals, being lowered from heaven in something like a sheet. When told to take and eat he responded, “Surely not, Lord…I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice speaking to him replied, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times, and as Peter was reflecting on this, three men form a gentile centurion, Cornelius, came to the house seeking Peter. The Holy Spirit instructed Peter to go with them for he had sent them, himself.

The remainder of the story, as well as the message preached, are contained in Acts 10.9-48 and repeated in 11.1-18. The importance of the story for our study les in the fact that this was the beginning of God’s direct revelation to the Jewish believers that God’s purpose in Christ was:

“…through him to reconcile to God all things on earth or in heaven, making this peace through his blood shed on the cross.” (Colosians 1.19,20 – Goodspeed)

How this relates to the gentiles is stated in Col. 1.21-23.

“Once you were alienated from God…But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight…” (N.I.V.)

In the book of Ephesians Paul gives us the clearest presentation of this truth. Chapter 2, beginning at verse 22, reads:

“…therefore, remember that formerly you who are gentiles…were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away (gentiles) and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…” (N.I.V.)

This had been one of those verses in scripture that troubled me as a pre-millennialist; that I just wasn’t able to justify with my pre-tribulation theology concerning the plan of God for the nation of Israel. How is it possible that this means anything other than exactly what it says? All those areas that we as gentiles, non Jews, were missing out on concerning God, we are included in because of the loving grace extended through Christ. All the blessings, all the promises, all the freedom of access to God of the chosen people, these are amplifies and extended to all people, regardless of national, social or sexual barriers. (Gal. 3.28)

Please, let me clarify this point. I am not calling anyone ignorant for believing in the current Millennialism. It’s not a matter of intelligence, but rather of perception. It’s a known fact that there are primitive tribes of people who were unable to ‘read’ a photograph simply because they had never been exposed to one. In much the same way, we have our perceptions structured by the input we receive from the people we put our trust in to teach us the truth. The greater the trust, the less likely we are to verify the facts for ourselves and the more vehemently we will safeguard THEIR truth.

Paul, here, is stating clearly, emphatically, that the Jews and the gentiles are part of a new work of God, and yet a work whose beginning actually predated the Mosaic Law. As Eusebius, the early Church historian, has stated; “Should anyone, beginning from Abraham, and going back to the first man, pronounce those who have had the testimony of righteousness Christians in fact, though not in name, he would not be far from the truth. For as the name Christians is intended to indicate this very idea, that a man, by the knowledge and doctrine of Christ, is distinguished by modesty and justice, by patience and a virtuous fortitude, and by a profession of piety towards the one and only true and supreme God; all this was not less studiously cultivated by them than by us. They did not, therefore, regard circumcision, nor observe in types and symbols, because these things do not belong to Christians.”

Through Christ, God no longer limits His election to the Jews but had taken the steps necessary to include the gentiles in His election.

But it goes farther than that. He actually destroys everything that stood as a barrier between the two; alienation from citizenship, exclusion from the promises and denial of relationship with God. Each of these areas are dealt with in Christ, opening up salvation to the gentiles on exactly the same level as the Jews. But instead of the gentiles being required to convert to Judaism as they had in the past, God placed salvation on a new level; faith in the good news of Jesus Christ. The gentiles needed faith, the Jews needed faith. The same faith was required for the salvation of all nations, peoples and tribes.

But was this new? Did God do something unheard of and totally unexpected? The early church evidently didn’t believe so. Again Eusebius states, “…we should plainly suppose, that the first and most ancient religion known, that of those pious men that were connected with Abraham, is the very religion lately announced to all in the doctrines of Christ.”

In Ephesians 3, from verse 5 on, Paul states there is a mystery that God has revealed to him. That this mystery had been revealed to men in other generations but not as fully as to Paul and his fellow apostles and prophets, because their knowledge was through revelation by the Spirit of God at the fullness of time. Jesus had said on the cross, “It is finished.” This was the time for the mystery to be revealed, brought to light. What is this mystery?

“This mystery that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus.” (v.6 N.I.V.)

Please note, we are not sharers together of the promise of Christ, in the plural, but rather we are joint participants in the many facetted promise of God, which finds its culmination in Christ Jesus. Throughout the Old Testament we find figures and symbols of Christ and glimpses of the glory of the age he would usher in. But these were merely shadows. The reality is in Christ. God’s promises find their completion in Christ Jesus.

How can we think or say we are preaching the gospel if we don’t mention this incredible truth? This IS the gospel, part and parcel. And what’s more, though this was ‘kept hidden in God,’ (v.9) nevertheless it has always been part of God’s eternal purpose (v.11).

Jesus Christ is our peace, and “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”

GENTILES AS HEIRS

Acts 15.9, 14-18; 26.22, 23; 28.28

Romans 2.28, 29; 3.21, 22, 28, 29; 4.3, 11-17, 23, 24; 8.16, 17; 9.24-26, 30-32; 10.12; 11.7, 11, 19, 20; 15.8, 9, 12, 16, 25, 26

1 Corinthians 2.7; 12.12, 13

2 Corinthians 6.16

Galatians 3.7, 8, 13, 14, 26-29; 5.6

Phillipians 3.2, 3

Colossians 1.19-22

JESUS, OUR PEACE

Romans 5.1, 2

Colossians 3.15

John 14.27; 16.33

Phillipians 4.7

2006-04-08T06:58:00.000-07:00

The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 2)

as presented by the early church

The nearness of the Kingdom.

Matthew 4.17 reads, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘repent for the kingdom of heaven is near’.” (N.I.V.)

Schofield in his notes remarking on this verse states, “The biblical term ‘near’ is never a positive affirmation that the person or thing said to be near will immediately appear, but only…has the quality of immanency.” This was meant to show that the kingdom of God was not established on earth with the first advent of Christ, but rather was still a future hope, to be established at his second coming. However, the Emphatic Diaglott (a Greek interlinear New Testament) reads, “Reform; for the Royal Majesty of the Heavens has approached.” And further, J.N. Darby, C.I. Schofield’s mentor and the father of the modern day dispensational thinking, translates the verse, “…the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.”

Schofield continues, using as his justification for his argument, “When Christ appeared to the Jewish people, the next thing, in the order of revelation as they understood it, should have been the setting up of the Davidic kingdom.”

In the Messianic tradition there were several verses that described the relationship between David, the King, and the son of David, the coming heir. In Amos 9.11,12 we find a verse of scripture no scholar will deny as being a Messianic prophecy. Schofield’s heading reads, “The Final Restoration of Israel” with the subheading, “The Lords second advent and the establishment of the Davidic kingdom.”

“In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair it’s broken places, restore it’s ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name…” (N.I.V.)

Schofield has this referenced to Acts 15.16,17, wherein James is quoting from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament used freely by the early church), and reads, “…that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name…” (N.I.V.)

Here James is quoting Amos to show that, “…God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name…” And that, “with this the words of the prophets agree.”

Is it possible the scriptures could declare Christ has ‘set up’ the Davidic kingdom, that the early church saw that kingdom as being a present reality in some way, and Schofield simply ignored it? And the editors of his Study Bible ignored it as well?

Misunderstanding the Bible is easier than one would think. Just ask anyone who has come out of a Christian cult (Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, etc). All Christian cults specialize in twisting the scriptures, and millions follow those teachings primarily because this was what has been drummed into their heads as truth. Unfortunately, it’s no different with the church. If the people we respect and trust to teach us the truth have been taught a lie and accepted it as truth and we accept their word as truth without searching the scriptures ourselves, then we find ourselves being sent into battle with a bent and rusty sword.

It is quite clear that the New Testament interpretation of the Old Testament scripture is the correct one, and according to Acts the verses in Amos were in reference to God’s future plan spoken of by Peter in Acts 15.7-9:

“…God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe, so God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” (N.K.J.V.)

Since this is the only New Testament reference to Amos 9.11,12 we should draw all interpretive conclusions from Acts 15. The apostle James is clearly claiming this prophecy has been fulfilled at the first advent of Christ and therefore, to look for a future fulfillment is to go beyond proper biblical exegesis.

Schofield, in his notes, attempts to relegate this prophecy to ‘the time after the world-wide witness when Christ will return’. However, scripture is very clear that Peter viewed this prophecy as being fulfilled at the first advent, not some future day when Christ comes in judgment.

Isaiah 16.5, as cross-referenced from Amos 9.11, reads:

“A throne will even be established in loving kindness, and a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David…” (N.A.S.) Also, Isaiah 9.7 states, “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom…” (N.A.S.) (see Luke 1.32,33 for the fulfillment of these verses)

Now, as to the time when God would ‘restore David’s fallen tent’ and establish the throne of David, can we ascertain from scripture when this will take place? If the prophecy is still future we are left with no clue, aside from other verses that predict the same event. As these verses are drawn together we begin to gain some insight as to a possible timetable. However, if the prophecy has already come to pass, the New Testament writers were always very careful to make that fact known.

In Acts 2, verses 29-36, Peter is preaching to the multitude on the day of Pentecost. After quoting from David in Psalm 16.8 concerning the resurrection of Christ, Peter states:

“Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn to him with an oath, of the fruit of his loins to set upon his throne; he seeing {it} before, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither has he been left in Hades nor his flesh seen corruption…Having therefore been exalted to the right hand of God…Let the whole house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (30, 31, 33, 36 from J.N. Darby)

This clearly states that Jesus HAS ascended the throne of David, having been exalted to the right hand of the Father. God HAS MADE him Lord, indeed Lord of lords and the Messiah of Israel.

Furthermore, in Acts 13.32-34, we find this truth to be intrinsically embedded in the gospel message.

“We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus…The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words: I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.” (N.I.V.)

What I have set out to prove, in brief, is that scripture teaches Christ did indeed establish the Davidic kingdom, at his resurrection, and therefore Schofield’s prerequisite to Christ’s return has already been met. But even more importantly, that the gospel message intrinsically contains the fulfillment of prophecies concerning the kingdom of heaven as having drawn near, as being a present reality. It’s up to us to search the scriptures, with the aid of the Spirit of truth, and find how God expects us to live until Christ returns to bring all things to completion.

Mark 1.15 “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn nigh; repent and believe in the glad tidings.” (J.N. Darby)

2006-03-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 1)

as presented by the early church

The gospel is for all people.

Luke 2.9.10 says, “Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.”” (N.K.J.V.)

John the baptizer had gone before Jesus with a mission to the children of Israel as stated by the angel Gabriel to Zecheriah, Johns father, in Luke 2.16.17, “Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God…to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” John the baptizer was not sent to the gentiles, only to the house of Israel, to prepare their hearts for the Messiah. However, through the Jews rejection of their Savior, Jesus, the gospel of salvation was passed on to the gentile nations.

It is quite clear from scripture, both Old and New Testaments, that this was not only foreseen by God but actually designed by Him, purposed before time itself.

First, lets look at what Luke, the gentile physician, had found in his research and placed in his gospel account. According to the angel in 2.10, the gospel he brought the shepherds concerning Christ the Lord was for “all people.” That this salvation was not intended strictly for the Jews is confirmed by the story of Simeon in Luke 2.21-35. Simeon was ‘an upright, devout man who was living in expectation of the comforting of Israel…the Lord’s Messiah’.

After his circumcision the parents of Jesus brought him into the temple in Jerusalem to fulfill the law in presenting him to the Lord. Simeon had been led of the Spirit to be there and, taking Jesus in his arms said:

“Now, master, you will let your slave go free in peace, as you promised, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have set before all the nations, a light of revelation for the heathen, and a glory to your people Israel.” (Verses 29-32 from E.J. Goodspeed)

Cross-referenced with Isaiah 9.2, 42.6 and 49.6 we find a few of the many prophecies concerning Gods promise of ‘a light of revelation for the heathen’. Furthermore, we find, according to Isaiah 60. 1-2 that God expected Israel to be a light to the gentiles (also Isaiah 2.3, 45.22-25 and 49.22,23).

We find no time in history where the Jews actively participated in God’s plan for the gentiles. Rather, we find the Jewish nation becoming increasingly exclusive until finally they wouldn’t even eat with the gentiles.

However, we do find the fulfillment of these prophecies in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the subsequent rejection of the Messiah by the Jews.

Paul, in Acts 13.14-41, was preaching the gospel to the Jews and gentiles in Antioch. Verse 26 states:

“Brothers! Descendants of the house of Abraham, and those others among you who reverence God! It is to us this message of salvation has been sent.” (E.J. Goodspeed) The gentiles present where converts to Judaism (v. 43) as Paul felt strongly that the gospel should be addressed to the Jews first as Gods ‘chosen people’.

But we read in verses 44-47:

“The next Sabbath almost all the town gathered to hear God’s message. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were very jealous, and they contradicted what Paul said and abused him. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out plainly, and said, “Gods message had to be told to you first, but since you thrust it off and judge ourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the heathen. For these are the orders the Lord has given us: “I have made you a light for the heathen, to be the means of salvation to the end of the earth’.” (Goodspeed)

So we find the basic principle of biblical interpretation; the New interprets the Old, the clear interprets the obscure, Paul clearly stating that his proclamation of the promises in the gospel to the gentiles was under direct order of God as stated in the prophetic writings.

As this subject is such a vital part of the gospel and takes up so much thought in the writings of the early church, I will be expounding on this idea in later portions of this work, so rather than repeating the same things over and over, I will leave off here.

(This is a part of a book I was working on in the late 80’s shortly before I became convinced of the intellectual absurdity of the Christian religion in its entirety. This series of articles do accurately portray my final conviction of what the New Testament writings actually portray as the message, purpose and mission of the groups of followers of ‘the way’ that were accepted as the Orthodox Church. They are presented here purely as a catalyst for shaking some fundamentalist minds awake as I believe this to represent the clearest biblically based and verified interpretation of the New Testament. )

2006-03-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

Ten principles of Creation Spirituality:

The universe is basically a blessing, that is, something we experience as good.
We can and do relate to the universe as a whole since we are a microcosm of that macrocosm and that this relationship "intoxicates" us. (Aquinas)
Everyone is a mystic (i.e., born full of wonder and capable of recovering it at any age; of not taking the awe and wonder of existence for granted.)
Everyone is a prophet, i.e., a "mystic in action" (Hocking) who is called to "interfere" (Heschel) with what interrupts authentic life.
That humans have to dig and work at finding their deep self, their true self, their spirit self; thus the role of spiritual praxis and meditation and community confrontation which can itself be a yoga. If we do not undergo such praxis we live superficially out of fear or greed or addiction or someone else's expectations of us. That salvation is best understood as "preserving the good." (Aquinas).
That the journey that marks that digging can be named as a four-fold journey:
Via Positiva: delight, awe, wonder, revelry
Via Negativa: darkness, silence, suffering, letting go
Via Creativa: birthing, creativity
Via Transformativa: compassion, justice healing, celebration
Everyone is an artist in some way and art as meditation is a primary form of prayer for releasing our images and empowering the community and each of us. Art finds its fulfillment in ritual, the community's art.
We are all sons and daughters of God; therefore, we have divine blood in our vein, the divine breath in our lungs; and the basic work of God is: Compassion.
Divinity is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent, as much Godhead (mystery) as God (history) as much beyond all beings as in all beings.
That we experience that the Divine is in all things and all things are in the Divine (Panentheism) and that this mystical intuition supplants theism (and its child, atheism) as an appropriate way to name our relation to the Divine and experience the Sacred.

2006-03-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

Declaration of Evolution

--- When in the course of organic evolution it becomes obvious that a mutational process is inevitably dissolving the physical and neurological bonds which connect the members of one generation to the past and inevitably directing them to assume among the species of Earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them, a decent concern for the harmony of species requires that the causes of the mutation should be declared.

We hold these truths to be self evident:

That all species are created different but equal;
That they are endowed, each one, with certain inalienable rights;
That among them are Freedom to Live, Freedom to Grow, and Freedom to pursue Happiness in their own style;
That to protect these God-given rights, social structures naturally emerge, basing their authority on the principles of love of God and respect for all forms of life;
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of life, liberty, and harmony, it is the organic duty of the young members of that species to mutate, to drop out, to initiate a new social structure, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its power in such form as seems likely to produce the safety, happiness, and harmony of all sentient beings.

Genetic wisdom, indeed, suggests that social structures long established should not be discarded for frivolous reasons and transient causes. The ecstasy of mutation is equally balanced by the pain. Accordingly all experience shows that members of a species are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, rather than to discard the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, all pursuing invariably the same destructive goals, threaten the very fabric of organic life and the serene harmony of the planet, it is the right, it is the organic duty to drop out of such morbid covenants and to evolve new loving social structures. Such has been the patient sufferance of the freedom-loving peoples of this earth, and such is now the necessity which constrains us to form new systems of government.

The history of the white, menopausal, mendacious men now ruling the planet earth is a history of repeated violation of the harmonious laws of nature, all having the direct object of establishing a tyranny of the materialistic aging over the gentle, the peace-loving, the young, the colored.

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to the judgment of generations to come.

· These old, white rulers have maintained a continuous war against other species of life, enslaving and destroying at whim fowl, fish, animals and spreading a lethal carpet of concrete and metal over the soft body of earth.

· They have maintained as well a continual state of war among themselves and against the colored races, the freedom-loving, the gentle, and the young. Genocide is their habit.

· They have instituted artificial scarcities, denying peaceful folk the natural inheritance of earth's abundance and God's endowment.

· They have glorified material values and degraded the spiritual.

· They have claimed private, personal ownership of God's land, driving by force of arms the gentle from passage on the earth.

· In their greed they have erected artificial immigration and customs barriers, preventing the free movement of people.

· In their lust for control they have set up systems of compulsory education to coerce the minds of the children and to destroy the wisdom and innocence of the playful young.

· In their lust for power they have controlled all means of communication to prevent the free flow of ideas and to block loving exchanges among the gentle.

· In their fear they have instituted great armies of secret police to spy upon the privacy of the pacific.

· In their anger they have coerced the peaceful young against their will to join their armies and to wage murderous wars against the young and gentle of other countries.

· In their greed they have made the manufacture and selling of weapons the basis of their economies.

· For profit they have polluted the air, the rivers and the seas.

· In their impotence they have glorified murder, violence, and unnatural sex in their mass media.

· In their aging greed they have set up an economic system which favors age over youth.

· They have in every way attempted to impose a robot uniformity and to crush variety, individuality, and independence of thought.

· In their greed, they have instituted political systems which perpetuate rule by the aging and force youth to choose between plastic conformity or despairing alienation.

· They have invaded privacy by illegal search, unwarranted arrest, and contemptuous harassment.

· They have enlisted an army of informers.

· In their greed they sponsor the consumption of deadly tars and sugars and employ cruel and unusual punishment of the possession of life-giving alkaloids and acids.

· They never admit a mistake.

· They unceasingly trumpet the virtue of greed and war.

· In their advertising and in their manipulation of information they make a fetish out of blatant falsity and pious self-enhancement.

· Their obvious errors only stimulate them to greater error and noisier self-approval.

· They are bores.

· They hate beauty.

· They hate sex.

· They hate life.

We have warned them from time to time to their inequities and blindness. We have addressed every available appeal to their withered sense of righteousness. We have tried to make them laugh. We have prophesied in detail the terror they are perpetuating. But they have been deaf to the weeping of the poor, the anguish of the colored, the rocking mockery of the young, the warnings of their poets. Worshipping only force and money, they listen only to force and money. But we shall no longer talk in these grim tongues. We must therefore acquiesce to genetic necessity, detach ourselves from their uncaring madness and hold them henceforth as we hold the rest of God's creatures - in harmony, life brothers, in their excess, menaces to life.

We, therefore, God-loving, peace-loving, life-loving, fun-loving men and women, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the Universe for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the Authority of all sentient beings who seek gently to evolve on this planet, solemnly publish and declare that we are free and independent, and that we are absolved from all Allegiance to the United States Government and all governments controlled by the menopausal, and that grouping ourselves into tribes of like-minded fellows, we claim full power to live and move on the land, obtain sustenance with our own hands and minds in the style which seems sacred and holy to us, and to do all Acts and Things which independent Freemen and Freewomen may of right do without infringing on the same rights of other species and groups to do their own thing.

And for the support of this Declaration of Evolution with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, and serenely confident of the approval of generations to come, in whose name we speak, do we now mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor." --- Author: Dr. Timothy Leary, Ph.D. Courtesy: Hyperdimension

2006-03-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

A Beginner's Guide to RSS

A few months ago, I quietly launched an RSS feed for my business newsletter, Increase Your Reach: Infuse Your Marketing with Technology. RSS is a relatively new, alternative format for publishing information online. With RSS, the reader has all of the control over when, how and where they read your content. The language of RSS, called XML, creates a "feed" which someone with an RSS reader can tune in to by subscribing from an RSS reader. You may have seen a little orange XML icon on Web sites - that is the standard link to a RSS feed. Click this one and you'll see what the guts of a feed looks like: This kind of link is what you would subscribe to, as I will explain in a moment.

It is really quite simple - think of the feed as a like a Web page, and the reader as like a browser. What makes it different is that whenever the RSS subscriber wants to read they can go into their reader and quickly see what is new, scan headlines, and read only what interests them. So, unlike the Web, where you have to go looking for a site, and can never be sure what is updated and when; or email newsletters, which are hindered by spam, RSS provides information that is targeted, filtered, and by completely by choice.

There are a number of different reader options - some integrate with the mail software like Outlook, some stand alone, and others are Web based. Likewise, there are a number of formats and paths to creating a feed. One Web site which compiles all of these options is 2RSS.com.

Basically, RSS format is similar to HTML in that it can actually be edited in a simple text editor like Notepad, but as with Web page design, there are many tools cropping up to make it easier for someone to create and publish a feed. In your RSS file, you simply would add a title or headline, a short description, and a link to the item on your site, and publish the feed (upload it). This can be either a manual or automated process, depending on how you go about it.

I use an RSS reader based on the Web called Bloglines.com. Within my account, I can search for and subscribe to feeds from sources which I value. Likewise, if I see a site with an RSS feed, I can copy the address and paste it into Bloglines, and instantly be subscribed. I have set up a folder system to organize the feeds and could set up alerts if I wanted to.

By having my feed subscriptions based out on the Web, I can access them either on my desktop, laptop, or on my smart phone. By scanning headlines, I can very quickly plow through more incoming information than ever. I catch up on reading while waiting for appointments or standing in line, during TV commercials and riding in the car - which allows me to absorb even more information each day (in my mind, this is a good thing).

Many RSS feeds are generated from blogs, where business owners, publishers and industry experts share their thoughts, articles, and observations and then automatically publish to a RSS feed, alerting the audience to a new entry. I probably will not ever go see what is new on a particular blog each week, but if my RSS reader flags me that something interesting has appeared, I would, so by offering this service, they have gained another reader.

From the business owner's side, there are a number of ways RSS can be used to publish information and reach customers. You could use an RSS feed to announce "what's new" on your Web site, highlight new products, or stir up hot topics in a discussion forums you moderate. If you keep a blog, you can use RSS to push your new entries to interested parties, instead of waiting for them to come. Subscribers to your feed will see in their reader that you have done something new, read the summary and come check it out if it matters to them.

My opinion of this latest publishing format is mixed, maybe because it parallels the 1994-1996 period of the Web, when people first started publishing online. Even text based Web sites were cool then, and rare enough that there were only limited of sources of information to choose from. But the industry grew and became commercialized, the Internet changed. Legitimate email is now buried in spam, and without a good search engine (and sometimes even with!), you can't find things easily or quickly. So I do like how RSS pushes the information to me based on my desire to see it, and organizes it so I can quickly scan it and pick out the chunks that matter. But eventually, if RSS becomes popular, this could change. For example, a popular RSS publisher could certainly decide to allow paid sponsorship of his or her feed, opening the door similarly to the first banner ads and spam. Likewise, there could ultimately be so many RSS feeds that it becomes hard to choose and find what matters. But again, the beauty of it is that you can fine tune and filter what you want to be fed, as you go. This is why some people believe RSS might be a major component of the Web experience of the future.

RSS is not yet widely adopted - it is popular with geeks, bloggers, and more recently, media and businesses, but many excellent information sources do not provide an RSS feed yet. I get a number of email newsletters (when they are not caught in the spam filter) which never are read because I file them for "later." If they published headlines in RSS, I would be likely to return to their site more often. I'd like to see more news outlets publish in RSS. In these situations, they would increase readership by being more accessible and providing this alternative delivery format.

From a publisher's perspective, there are other considerations. You never know who is subscribed to your feed, the way you do an email newsletter, because it is done outside of email, which identifies the reader to some extent. However, if your goal is to reach as many people as possible, without caring about statistics like "click through rates," you can potentially reach many more interested people through a feed than a newsletter. An unknown reader can turn into an interested prospect just as easily as one whose name you have in a database.

Anonymity is part of the allure to the consumer - the readers subscribe when they want, leave when they want, and contact you when they want, without leaving tracks. From a marketer's perspective, this might appear to be a bad thing but for a business whose goal it is to reach a broad, willing audience, it could be a solution. Other positive marketing scenarios to consider would be using RSS as a way to attract more people back to your site regularly (where you sell to them), create a broader recognition of your brand, products and services, and develop yet another communication channel with your customers.

As with the Web, RSS still has a lot of evolving and growing to do, and standards to shake out in how to implement and receive feeds. But I believe it is definitely something to be aware of, and explore depending on the type of business or organization you have. If nothing else, as a busy business owner, it might be a way to filter the information you receive online so you can keep up on things more efficiently!

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Eileen Parzek is an award winning graphic designer and writer providing digital and print graphic design and web design services. Always found at the intersection of information, creativity and technology, her business, SOHO It Goes! Business Design Studio (www.sohoitgoes.com) helps small businesses make a big impression.

2006-03-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

Just to get this new blog off to a good start I thought I would dive right in and look at why I am in Network Marketing. Many think we are the equivalent of a used car salesman. Fortunately we are gaining in reputability thanks to facts and figures such as these:

Did you know?

Over the past 10 years Fortune 500 companies have laid off 4.4 million workers! This workforce reduction has caused a record number of people to seek home-based careers.

Market research shows that 24 million people currently operate either part-time or full-time businesses from their home and home-based entrepreneur numbers are expected to grow at unprecedented levels over the next 10 years.

Vast technological improvements within the past 5 years in computers, internet, fax and telephone technologies, as well as downsizing within the traditional job market have lead to this explosive trend.

What's it take to be happy? Here are some facts most people don’t know about working at home.

86% of home-based business owners are happier running their own business instead of working for someone else.
84% recommend working from home to others.
84% plan to still be running their own business in five years.
29% work at home with other family members.
60% think their businesses are doing as well or better than they expected.
76% expect their home-based business’ revenues to grow this year.

Can you earn any money with a home based business?

20% of home entrepreneurs reported that their businesses grossed between $100,000 and $500,000 last year. (Remember the 80/20 rule?)
14% paid themselves annual salaries of $50,000 to $250,000.
Did you know that less than 20% of Americans are self-employed, but they control over 66% of all the wealth in American?
Did you know that self-employed people are four times more likely to become millionaires than those who work for others?

Also check out this article by Paul Zane Pilzer.

2006-03-10T14:59:00.000-07:00