Russia Report #3.
I do love to help the Russian people. Since I started traveling to Russia in 1991 as an active counselor and counselor trainer I have seen the people grow in grace, economic security, openness to others and healthy interpersonal relationships. The church leaders are stronger and the local expression of Christian charity is growing---slowly, but surely. However, the works of mercy and charity are facing two major challenges:
1. The ability to actually help widows, orphans and needy people is still largely dependent upon people from other countries.
A. During the Communist Era 80% of the GNP was spent upon military and space development. This left very little for schools, health care, mental health, family life, etc. Secondly, the Socialists were and are callous toward the poor, downtrodden, sick and needy.
B. The economic infrastructure was not developed along efficient and effective lines and this left Russia without a viable source of income. The Socialists refused to build factories, stores or other places that operated on supply and demand principles. Now that they are competing with the rest of the world the old unwieldy system is woefully ineffective and most of them have closed down completely leaving the common people in abject poverty similar to that which we in the USA experienced during the Great Depression.
2. The needs are overwhelmingly large and intractable. Alcoholism, smoking, extremely poor diets and ruinous risk lead to many early deaths. The Communists did not allow their schools to train therapists or doctors that actually counseled people. This left the people with a national death wish and a nationalized but horrible health care.
There is also a strong resistance by the government to any charitable works. The officials demand bribes, high taxes and tough rules that kill or severely hinder the church and charitable groups from doing good works.
Pray for God to change that mind set.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Russian Report #2.
The story about health and welfare in Russia is still bad, very bad. That is what originally got my attention way back in the early nineties. At a conference I heard about the extremely high rates of alcohol and drug abuse among the Russian people due to the despair and brutality of their Communist captors.
Although the needs of the people of the Russian Federation are great helping them spiritually, emotionally and relationally is the key to almost all future progress. People who are falling down drunk cannot care for their children so millions have been abandoned and the orphanages are overflowing with beautiful children.
Christians who suffer from the dysfunctions of past addictions and present struggles cannot lead churches with love, truth and power unless they are healed and restored to sanity and sobriety. The seminaries and Bible schools are filled with former addicts who have come to faith in Christ but who cannot find peace and healing.
People who are high cannot work and produce an economic recovery so there are thousands of abandoned factories and millions of starving families.
Men that fall asleep from dope cannot rear their children so there is an epidemic of divorce, abuse and needy children.
In Moscow, a city of 7 million population and 4 million addicts there are only about 30 regular Alcoholics Anonymous Groups. That is less than one group for over a million addicts. On a normal weekday morning one can see hundreds of men and women walking to work from the subways drinking beer and vodka while drawing deeply on a smoke. As Steve said, "That is the breakfast of champions."
In all of Russia, population 190 million, there are fewer groups than we have in Cincinnati.
The churches in our networks have set up hundreds of Christian 12 step groups, Renewed Thinking, Listening with Apples of Gold and Family Healing Groups that help young people and adults break the cycle of addiction and return to responsible parenting, work and family life. They are earning a living, volunteering at their churches and helping others recover. This is a widening spiral of good works, right thinking and family reconstruction.
A few seminary leaders and denominational leaders are interested in how we can help them train Pastoral Counselors and establish ministries of health and family restoration. PRAY for them to have wisdom as they consider our proposals.
Look at the first photo on the www.liferoute.ru web site to see a photo of a key seminary that is praying about asking us to set up their graduate program in Christian Psychology.
The story about health and welfare in Russia is still bad, very bad. That is what originally got my attention way back in the early nineties. At a conference I heard about the extremely high rates of alcohol and drug abuse among the Russian people due to the despair and brutality of their Communist captors.
Although the needs of the people of the Russian Federation are great helping them spiritually, emotionally and relationally is the key to almost all future progress. People who are falling down drunk cannot care for their children so millions have been abandoned and the orphanages are overflowing with beautiful children.
Christians who suffer from the dysfunctions of past addictions and present struggles cannot lead churches with love, truth and power unless they are healed and restored to sanity and sobriety. The seminaries and Bible schools are filled with former addicts who have come to faith in Christ but who cannot find peace and healing.
People who are high cannot work and produce an economic recovery so there are thousands of abandoned factories and millions of starving families.
Men that fall asleep from dope cannot rear their children so there is an epidemic of divorce, abuse and needy children.
In Moscow, a city of 7 million population and 4 million addicts there are only about 30 regular Alcoholics Anonymous Groups. That is less than one group for over a million addicts. On a normal weekday morning one can see hundreds of men and women walking to work from the subways drinking beer and vodka while drawing deeply on a smoke. As Steve said, "That is the breakfast of champions."
In all of Russia, population 190 million, there are fewer groups than we have in Cincinnati.
The churches in our networks have set up hundreds of Christian 12 step groups, Renewed Thinking, Listening with Apples of Gold and Family Healing Groups that help young people and adults break the cycle of addiction and return to responsible parenting, work and family life. They are earning a living, volunteering at their churches and helping others recover. This is a widening spiral of good works, right thinking and family reconstruction.
A few seminary leaders and denominational leaders are interested in how we can help them train Pastoral Counselors and establish ministries of health and family restoration. PRAY for them to have wisdom as they consider our proposals.
Look at the first photo on the www.liferoute.ru web site to see a photo of a key seminary that is praying about asking us to set up their graduate program in Christian Psychology.
Russian Report # 1.
Thanks to all who prayed and supported Steve's and my trip. The flights were smooth and we made most of the connections. Jet travel sure is glamorous with those 10 hour trips with 300 people on a crowded steel box surrounded by sneezing adults and crying kids. Welcome to modern travel. Despite these challenges our health was good and we avoided the viral infections so prominent in Russia.
Our time in Russia was fruitful. We had the sense before going that our 15 years of ministry trips there and bringing people here were about to "TIP" into a broader opportunity for leadership development. Our goal has always been to set up a training program and process that enabled nationals to expand their effectiveness and reach. Many things point to that happening with this trip.
Our first week was spent in a Roman Catholic retreat center just outside Moscow. We have met there three times and it is a great place of peace and quiet to study, pray, train leaders and experience God's presence. We celebrated Pentecost/Trinity Holy Day in the chapel with Brother Michael preaching a great sermon on Unity in the Spirit.
Our ministry in Russia is unique in that it includes folks in the leadership team from Russian Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal, Charismatic and Reformed backgrounds. In Russia that is almost miraculous. The Communists did almost everything possible to divide and conquer the faith community and they are still recovering. Our ministry is a strong leader in developing fellowship across denominational lines in our groups, classes and training sessions.
We spent several days of learning and small group work empowering over 20 men and women leaders who already have key positions in their local and regional ministries. Some are clergy, some teach in seminaries and schools, some are lay leaders, some are professional counselors and all are influencers.
Our topic that first week was "Advanced Counseling Skills" and we showed them how to move beyond 12 step groups and addictions to deal with other issues. They are amazingly open and eager to learn and apply their insights to their personal lives and ministries. Their healing testimonies are incredible and encouraging.
(See www.liferoute.ru for more information.)
Thanks to all who prayed and supported Steve's and my trip. The flights were smooth and we made most of the connections. Jet travel sure is glamorous with those 10 hour trips with 300 people on a crowded steel box surrounded by sneezing adults and crying kids. Welcome to modern travel. Despite these challenges our health was good and we avoided the viral infections so prominent in Russia.
Our time in Russia was fruitful. We had the sense before going that our 15 years of ministry trips there and bringing people here were about to "TIP" into a broader opportunity for leadership development. Our goal has always been to set up a training program and process that enabled nationals to expand their effectiveness and reach. Many things point to that happening with this trip.
Our first week was spent in a Roman Catholic retreat center just outside Moscow. We have met there three times and it is a great place of peace and quiet to study, pray, train leaders and experience God's presence. We celebrated Pentecost/Trinity Holy Day in the chapel with Brother Michael preaching a great sermon on Unity in the Spirit.
Our ministry in Russia is unique in that it includes folks in the leadership team from Russian Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal, Charismatic and Reformed backgrounds. In Russia that is almost miraculous. The Communists did almost everything possible to divide and conquer the faith community and they are still recovering. Our ministry is a strong leader in developing fellowship across denominational lines in our groups, classes and training sessions.
We spent several days of learning and small group work empowering over 20 men and women leaders who already have key positions in their local and regional ministries. Some are clergy, some teach in seminaries and schools, some are lay leaders, some are professional counselors and all are influencers.
Our topic that first week was "Advanced Counseling Skills" and we showed them how to move beyond 12 step groups and addictions to deal with other issues. They are amazingly open and eager to learn and apply their insights to their personal lives and ministries. Their healing testimonies are incredible and encouraging.
(See www.liferoute.ru for more information.)
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Last Blog Until June
The Air Conditioner went out this week and I can't get my laptop to open Outlook. It is time for an international ministry trip. Maybe it is my paranoia but every time I leave for Asia, Russia or Scandinavia some major appliance or ministry machine breaks down.
But living with heat and humidity brings back many memories of our childhood. Karen and I both grew up when there was no AC and neither got indoor plumbing until our teen years. As we talk about the "Good old days" we have many good laughs but let's face it, we do not want to go back to them for very long.
Living and overcoming Adversity is an essential ingredient of joy. Far too many of us have ADD: Adversity Deprivation Disorder from rarely if ever facing and overcoming difficult times. One of the reasons international travel does not overwhelm me is due to the fact that I grew up in poverty and had to work hard with my hands to get out of the situation.
The Russian people face many difficulties and challenges. Pray that Steve and I will be able to help them face and overcome them through the Lord.
Russian Trip Itinerary
May-June, 2006
Gary Sweeten and Steve Griebling
I was mulling over the past 15 years of ministry in Russia and thanking the Lord for allowing us to be involved in a global revolution of democracy. The Bolsheviks raped, pillaged and stole everything they could from the people they dominated after the 1917 Revolution. The march toward democracy has just begun and it will take many more years of godly, compassionate and strategic interventions before Russia will gain its rightful status as a modern nation.
The Russians have suffered from all three levels of emotional/ spiritual assaults.
Shock: An occasional intervention of an assault
Trauma: A pattern of assaults
Abuse: A chronic series of assaults.
Level 1. Shocks leave Victims with ice cubes in the soul that are frozen in fear, anxiety, depression and a desire to deaden their pain with alcohol and drugs.
Level 2. Trauma leaves Victims with souls likened to a block of ice; deadened and numb and looking for relief though any emotional, spiritual cult or drug remedy.
Level 3. Abuse leaves its Victims in an inner state of “Perma-Frost” that never thaws without the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
The Russian people, especially Christians, were chronically abused, leaving millions in a state of Perma-Frost”. Life Way Ministries establishes partnerships with groups to train leaders to “Heal the broken hearted and setting the captives free.”
One of the most powerful insights to come from my years of travel is seeing the awesome response of the Christian community to tragedies around the globe. Every plane to Asia, Russia, Africa and the Gulf is packed with Christians paying their own ways to minister to hurting people they do not know and from whom they expect no reward.
In Russia alone Christians send billions of dollars each year in goods, money, spiritual support and travel. If it were not for churches small and large, ordinary Russians and their small churches would be in terrible shape. Were it not for compassionate Christians almost no good orphanages, drug treatment or prison ministries would exist.
The same is true in Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India, etc. It was also true for Ground Zero and the Gulf. In none of these places do we see food, ministries, hospitals and workshops sponsored by “The American Atheist Society” or “The Free Thinking Assoc.” Neither Playboy nor Penthouse sponsor the orphans they help produce.
It is Christians and only Christians that reach out to a troubled world in massive numbers. Of course there are bad church leaders who abuse and misuse their power but the Lord has a plan for them. The tiny minority of believers spread evil while millions from every denomination spread the good news in word and deed.
On my high school Internet chat there are several atheists who arrogantly and ignorantly argue that faith is always destructive. Their self-deceit has few bounds and it is useless to tell them the truth. I do pray for them. However, we who follow Jesus Christ ought to thank God daily for the way He is constantly and increasingly sending compassionate Christians to spread the love of Christ through word and deed.
Life Way’s Mission in Russia
We establish centers of training and healing so the local believers can reproduce themselves and spread the good news of Jesus as the Great Physician to every corner of that huge nation. We also speak at large gatherings but focus mainly on equipping pastors, psychiatrists and counselors how to integrate the love, truth and power of God into their work.
Several hundred groups, churches and ministries from all around the USSR have attended our training over the past 15 years. They use our materials and training throughout the year.
Take a look at my blog to get some ideas about the people and places we will see and have seen before. http://garysweeten.blogspot.com/ Go to http://www.liferoute.ru/ to read in both English and Russian about the team and a very small bit about what they are doing to establish a Christian attitude in the former USSR. They recently changed their local name from Lifeways to Liferoute. The new name sounds better in Russian, they say. It also keeps them safer by making no connection between them and our American ministry.
Monday, May 29-Flight on Delta to Rome, arriving Tuesday.
Tuesday, May 30-Flight on El Italia to Moscow.
Tuesday, May 30, arrive at SVU Airport and go directly to the Retreat Center
Wednesday, May 31 Rest and preparation for training retreat
Wednesday evening-Saturday Noon June 3 Training Retreat on Christian Counseling
Sunday, June 4-Preach (Perhaps twice)
Monday, June 5-Leaders Team Meeting
Tuesday, June 6-Meeting at Moscow Evangelical Seminary
Wednesday, June 7-Men’s Group Ministry
Thursday and Friday June 8-9 Myers-Briggs Training @ St. Damian Orthodox Church
Saturday, June 10-Steve Returns to Cincinnati via New York on Delta
Sunday, June 11-Preach
Monday, June 12-Leadership Meeting
Tuesday, June 13-Gary Returns to Cincinnati via New York on Delta
Pray for our stamina, wisdom, protection, health and God’s power.
The Air Conditioner went out this week and I can't get my laptop to open Outlook. It is time for an international ministry trip. Maybe it is my paranoia but every time I leave for Asia, Russia or Scandinavia some major appliance or ministry machine breaks down.
But living with heat and humidity brings back many memories of our childhood. Karen and I both grew up when there was no AC and neither got indoor plumbing until our teen years. As we talk about the "Good old days" we have many good laughs but let's face it, we do not want to go back to them for very long.
Living and overcoming Adversity is an essential ingredient of joy. Far too many of us have ADD: Adversity Deprivation Disorder from rarely if ever facing and overcoming difficult times. One of the reasons international travel does not overwhelm me is due to the fact that I grew up in poverty and had to work hard with my hands to get out of the situation.
The Russian people face many difficulties and challenges. Pray that Steve and I will be able to help them face and overcome them through the Lord.
Russian Trip Itinerary
May-June, 2006
Gary Sweeten and Steve Griebling
I was mulling over the past 15 years of ministry in Russia and thanking the Lord for allowing us to be involved in a global revolution of democracy. The Bolsheviks raped, pillaged and stole everything they could from the people they dominated after the 1917 Revolution. The march toward democracy has just begun and it will take many more years of godly, compassionate and strategic interventions before Russia will gain its rightful status as a modern nation.
The Russians have suffered from all three levels of emotional/ spiritual assaults.
Shock: An occasional intervention of an assault
Trauma: A pattern of assaults
Abuse: A chronic series of assaults.
Level 1. Shocks leave Victims with ice cubes in the soul that are frozen in fear, anxiety, depression and a desire to deaden their pain with alcohol and drugs.
Level 2. Trauma leaves Victims with souls likened to a block of ice; deadened and numb and looking for relief though any emotional, spiritual cult or drug remedy.
Level 3. Abuse leaves its Victims in an inner state of “Perma-Frost” that never thaws without the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
The Russian people, especially Christians, were chronically abused, leaving millions in a state of Perma-Frost”. Life Way Ministries establishes partnerships with groups to train leaders to “Heal the broken hearted and setting the captives free.”
One of the most powerful insights to come from my years of travel is seeing the awesome response of the Christian community to tragedies around the globe. Every plane to Asia, Russia, Africa and the Gulf is packed with Christians paying their own ways to minister to hurting people they do not know and from whom they expect no reward.
In Russia alone Christians send billions of dollars each year in goods, money, spiritual support and travel. If it were not for churches small and large, ordinary Russians and their small churches would be in terrible shape. Were it not for compassionate Christians almost no good orphanages, drug treatment or prison ministries would exist.
The same is true in Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India, etc. It was also true for Ground Zero and the Gulf. In none of these places do we see food, ministries, hospitals and workshops sponsored by “The American Atheist Society” or “The Free Thinking Assoc.” Neither Playboy nor Penthouse sponsor the orphans they help produce.
It is Christians and only Christians that reach out to a troubled world in massive numbers. Of course there are bad church leaders who abuse and misuse their power but the Lord has a plan for them. The tiny minority of believers spread evil while millions from every denomination spread the good news in word and deed.
On my high school Internet chat there are several atheists who arrogantly and ignorantly argue that faith is always destructive. Their self-deceit has few bounds and it is useless to tell them the truth. I do pray for them. However, we who follow Jesus Christ ought to thank God daily for the way He is constantly and increasingly sending compassionate Christians to spread the love of Christ through word and deed.
Life Way’s Mission in Russia
We establish centers of training and healing so the local believers can reproduce themselves and spread the good news of Jesus as the Great Physician to every corner of that huge nation. We also speak at large gatherings but focus mainly on equipping pastors, psychiatrists and counselors how to integrate the love, truth and power of God into their work.
Several hundred groups, churches and ministries from all around the USSR have attended our training over the past 15 years. They use our materials and training throughout the year.
Take a look at my blog to get some ideas about the people and places we will see and have seen before. http://garysweeten.blogspot.com/ Go to http://www.liferoute.ru/ to read in both English and Russian about the team and a very small bit about what they are doing to establish a Christian attitude in the former USSR. They recently changed their local name from Lifeways to Liferoute. The new name sounds better in Russian, they say. It also keeps them safer by making no connection between them and our American ministry.
Monday, May 29-Flight on Delta to Rome, arriving Tuesday.
Tuesday, May 30-Flight on El Italia to Moscow.
Tuesday, May 30, arrive at SVU Airport and go directly to the Retreat Center
Wednesday, May 31 Rest and preparation for training retreat
Wednesday evening-Saturday Noon June 3 Training Retreat on Christian Counseling
Sunday, June 4-Preach (Perhaps twice)
Monday, June 5-Leaders Team Meeting
Tuesday, June 6-Meeting at Moscow Evangelical Seminary
Wednesday, June 7-Men’s Group Ministry
Thursday and Friday June 8-9 Myers-Briggs Training @ St. Damian Orthodox Church
Saturday, June 10-Steve Returns to Cincinnati via New York on Delta
Sunday, June 11-Preach
Monday, June 12-Leadership Meeting
Tuesday, June 13-Gary Returns to Cincinnati via New York on Delta
Pray for our stamina, wisdom, protection, health and God’s power.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Guard Your Heart
It is very difficult to live a transparent life when we are in a church "leadership" situation. In my last piece I mentioned the Jimmy Swaggart problem from several years ago. Jimmy, I once read, came to the Lord as a youth of 10, was "filled with the Spirit" at 11 and was "called to be a preacher" at 12.
This means that he was placed in a position of moral and spiritual "leadership" as a pre-teen. That is contrary to good sense, scripture and psychological wisdom.
1 Timothy 3
1 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
The part here about "rearing his children with respect" uses the term that means "a balance between assertiveness and servanthood". In order to rear children with semnotes or dignity we must have it ourselves, and that takes a lot of time and experience. This means that we need to be in our forties or fifties-elders- before we become leaders.
By that time a spiritual person has an opportunity to develop transparent, open, mutually vulnerable relationships with others, including his wife and kids. This means that he is able to share his temptations and carnal desires openly so God can change them. Keeping our hearts covered and the soul hidden is the most dangerous thing we can do.
Find someone you can trust to speak with. "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed." James 5
It is very difficult to live a transparent life when we are in a church "leadership" situation. In my last piece I mentioned the Jimmy Swaggart problem from several years ago. Jimmy, I once read, came to the Lord as a youth of 10, was "filled with the Spirit" at 11 and was "called to be a preacher" at 12.
This means that he was placed in a position of moral and spiritual "leadership" as a pre-teen. That is contrary to good sense, scripture and psychological wisdom.
1 Timothy 3
1 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
The part here about "rearing his children with respect" uses the term that means "a balance between assertiveness and servanthood". In order to rear children with semnotes or dignity we must have it ourselves, and that takes a lot of time and experience. This means that we need to be in our forties or fifties-elders- before we become leaders.
By that time a spiritual person has an opportunity to develop transparent, open, mutually vulnerable relationships with others, including his wife and kids. This means that he is able to share his temptations and carnal desires openly so God can change them. Keeping our hearts covered and the soul hidden is the most dangerous thing we can do.
Find someone you can trust to speak with. "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed." James 5
Duplicity
In a Postmodern world facts do not seem to be very important, even to many Christians and some Pastors. Do you remember the scandal about Jimmy Swaggart? He was a famous TV preacher who took a very hard stand against sexual immorality, drinking and other moral indescretions. Then he was caught with a hooker in a sleazy motel. Duplicity!
As a therapist I have been trained to watch for the telltale signs of duplicity, avoidance, denial and defensiveness in people. When I heard Jimmy Swaggart vehemently preach against psychology, counseling and therapists I smelled a rat. As Will Shakespeare said, "I think he protests too much." He was afraid of being found out.
One day I was looking at a magazine advertisement for the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College and noticed a photo of text books, one of which was written by a prominent Christian psychologist. I asked a friend who worked for the college about the Freudian slip and he answered that they taught couneling and psychology at the school but Swaggart had to deny it on camera lest he lose financial supporters. Duplicity.
Many years ago the famous pastor Gordon McDonald wrote a best selling book called, Ordering your Private World. We discussed it as a staff at College Hill Pres. It was awful. He proposed a rigid, legalistic self control that had a hard edge on it. I smelled a rat. A short-time later his mistress went public and exposed his immorality. He protested too much. He and his wife later wrote a book telling about their wonderful family life and parenting skills but failed to mention his adultery at the same time. Duplicity.
Duplicity leads to death, especially when we deceive ourselves.
I can remember a bit of an old rhyme.
What a web we all do weave when at first we do deceive.
The truth shall set you free.
Has it set you free? Do you have a testimony?
In a Postmodern world facts do not seem to be very important, even to many Christians and some Pastors. Do you remember the scandal about Jimmy Swaggart? He was a famous TV preacher who took a very hard stand against sexual immorality, drinking and other moral indescretions. Then he was caught with a hooker in a sleazy motel. Duplicity!
As a therapist I have been trained to watch for the telltale signs of duplicity, avoidance, denial and defensiveness in people. When I heard Jimmy Swaggart vehemently preach against psychology, counseling and therapists I smelled a rat. As Will Shakespeare said, "I think he protests too much." He was afraid of being found out.
One day I was looking at a magazine advertisement for the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College and noticed a photo of text books, one of which was written by a prominent Christian psychologist. I asked a friend who worked for the college about the Freudian slip and he answered that they taught couneling and psychology at the school but Swaggart had to deny it on camera lest he lose financial supporters. Duplicity.
Many years ago the famous pastor Gordon McDonald wrote a best selling book called, Ordering your Private World. We discussed it as a staff at College Hill Pres. It was awful. He proposed a rigid, legalistic self control that had a hard edge on it. I smelled a rat. A short-time later his mistress went public and exposed his immorality. He protested too much. He and his wife later wrote a book telling about their wonderful family life and parenting skills but failed to mention his adultery at the same time. Duplicity.
Duplicity leads to death, especially when we deceive ourselves.
I can remember a bit of an old rhyme.
What a web we all do weave when at first we do deceive.
The truth shall set you free.
Has it set you free? Do you have a testimony?
Monday, May 22, 2006
Mr. Putin's Speech
From the Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114825039030459010.html?mod=opinion&ojcontent=otep
In the State of the Union speech, Mr. Vladimir Putin focused on a critical issue in Russian life.The key problem he addressed was the decline in the Russian population, which has dropped from 148.7 million in 1992 to 143.5 million in 2003. The U.N. estimates that it could fall to 101.5 million by 2050.
Earlier contractions of Russia's population were brought about by the massive losses associated with World War I, the civil war, famine, the repression and purges of the 1930s, and World War II. The current demographic decline is the result of a declining birth rate and a high mortality rate.
To address the former, Mr. Putin announced income subsidies of up to $9,200 for women following the birth of a second child, beginning in 2010. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the money could be used for taking a mortgage, paying for a child's education or adding to a pension account.
This will not work. With so many people of child bearing and rearing age doing drugs and alcohol the number of healthy adulst is falling rapidly. Additionally, many of the parents are truly unfit to rear children due to excessive use of drugs and alcohol.
We have been helping change this situation ever since the Lord told Steve Griebling and Tom Fruth that we were to move toward the East from Norway to minister. Now there are several hundred people that are sober, straight and living responsibly. Their numbers grow every month and multiply every year.
Pray for Steve and me as we return to Moscow to take the Liferoute team deeper into ministry and healing. (www.liferoute.ru) They have turned a corner in organizational and ministry structure but have some distance to go before they are able to be totally self supporting.
During our prayer time last Friday the Holy Spirit spoke with Ada Halter and said to emphasize the "Royal Blood Line" so we will do just that.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Inflation and Gasoline Prices
When I was a kid my dad liked to reminisce about "The good old days". He nearly always concluded his stories with a pithy comment that, "The good old days, weren't...Good."
He was fond of saying that back in the depression we could buy a bushel of corn for a quarter. When we said that the corn was cheap he would laugh and reply, "No it wasn't. Nobody had a quarter. Now everybody does."
Dad was a rabid union man who was constantly talking about the need to improve the working conditions and pay of blue collar people. But he also understood that inflation was the cruelest tax of all for it secretly robbed poor and middle class families of their hard earned pay. It is not possible to compare the price of corn from my childhood with today's price unless we also look at inflation.
Gasoline prices today are about the same as they were when I began to drive in the 1950's.
There's also the question of affordability. Adjusted for inflation, gasoline prices today are roughly where they were in the 1950s -- but per-capita real income then was no more than half of what it is today. Which means that for a typical driver 50 years ago, gasoline was really twice as expensive, in terms of the bite it took out of his budget, as it is now. (Jeff Jacoby)
We in America are very fortunate to live in such a rich nation. The folks in Europe pay a lot more for gas than we do and it is all because of taxes to the governments that do not want the people to drive.
So, enjoy your automobiles and trucks and SUV's. Gas is cheap.
When I was a kid my dad liked to reminisce about "The good old days". He nearly always concluded his stories with a pithy comment that, "The good old days, weren't...Good."
He was fond of saying that back in the depression we could buy a bushel of corn for a quarter. When we said that the corn was cheap he would laugh and reply, "No it wasn't. Nobody had a quarter. Now everybody does."
Dad was a rabid union man who was constantly talking about the need to improve the working conditions and pay of blue collar people. But he also understood that inflation was the cruelest tax of all for it secretly robbed poor and middle class families of their hard earned pay. It is not possible to compare the price of corn from my childhood with today's price unless we also look at inflation.
Gasoline prices today are about the same as they were when I began to drive in the 1950's.
There's also the question of affordability. Adjusted for inflation, gasoline prices today are roughly where they were in the 1950s -- but per-capita real income then was no more than half of what it is today. Which means that for a typical driver 50 years ago, gasoline was really twice as expensive, in terms of the bite it took out of his budget, as it is now. (Jeff Jacoby)
We in America are very fortunate to live in such a rich nation. The folks in Europe pay a lot more for gas than we do and it is all because of taxes to the governments that do not want the people to drive.
So, enjoy your automobiles and trucks and SUV's. Gas is cheap.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Things My Mother Taught Me
My Mother taught me LOGIC... "If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can't go to the store with me."
My Mother taught me MEDICINE... "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."
My Mother taught me TO THINK AHEAD... "If you don't pass your spelling test, you'll never get a good job!"
My Mother taught me ESP... (Extrasensory Perception)"Put your sweater on; don't you think that I know when you're cold?"
My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE... "What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you... Don't talk back to me!"
My Mother taught me HUMOR... "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT... "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."
My mother taught me ABOUT SEX... "How do you think you got here?"
My mother taught me about GENETICS... ?You are just like your father!"
My mother taught me about my ROOTS... "Do you think you were born in a barn?"
My mother taught me about the WISDOM of AGE... "When you get to be my age, you will understand."
My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION... "Just wait until your father gets home."
My mother taught me about RECEIVING... "You are going to get it when we get home."
And my all time favorite thing- JUSTICE... "One day you will have kids, and I hope they turn out just like YOU. Then you'll see what it's like."
My Mother taught me LOGIC... "If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can't go to the store with me."
My Mother taught me MEDICINE... "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."
My Mother taught me TO THINK AHEAD... "If you don't pass your spelling test, you'll never get a good job!"
My Mother taught me ESP... (Extrasensory Perception)"Put your sweater on; don't you think that I know when you're cold?"
My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE... "What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you... Don't talk back to me!"
My Mother taught me HUMOR... "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT... "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."
My mother taught me ABOUT SEX... "How do you think you got here?"
My mother taught me about GENETICS... ?You are just like your father!"
My mother taught me about my ROOTS... "Do you think you were born in a barn?"
My mother taught me about the WISDOM of AGE... "When you get to be my age, you will understand."
My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION... "Just wait until your father gets home."
My mother taught me about RECEIVING... "You are going to get it when we get home."
And my all time favorite thing- JUSTICE... "One day you will have kids, and I hope they turn out just like YOU. Then you'll see what it's like."
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Our Goal
Life Way's purpose is to Create a vibrant learning/growth community that models and empowers others to be competent in character, relationships, thinking, family life and leadership.
We want to see lively, healthy, growing families and communities pursuing mental, emotional and relational wholeness through the release of truth, talents and character leading to wisdom that blesses the people around them.
We envision transformed communities, families and individuals that build healthy relationships, a renewed mindset and continued growth to be a channel of love, mutual respect and commitment to care for one another.
God by His grace is moving among the churches of all kinds. Many people are coming to Christ and experiencing eternal life and profound relief from guilt and shame. However, Jesus warned in Luke 8, that the seed may fall on rocky soil withless fruit than we had expected.
The words of Jesus to His disciples point us to the way forward for the 21st Century for God's truth is as relevant now as it was 21 centuries ago.
The seeds that fell among the thorny soil are those who have heard the word of God but go on with life chocked with worries, riches and pleasures of this life. The result is that we cannot bring them to fruitful maturity. Luke 8:14
Bringing believers to fruitful maturity means that they multiply themselves a hundred fold. The Greek term for this process puts the pressure directly on church leaders. It is not the responsibility of the new born Christian but our pastors, teachers and minister to show us how to deal with those worries, riches and pleasures of life.
We are in the midst of a crisis of these three issues. Unless the church learns how to deal effectively with them we shall never bring people to mature fruitfulness and multiplication.
Several years ago I was discussing evangelism and church growth with an Asian leader who noted that only 20% of newly converted believers actually stayed in the church for six weeks. This meant a dropout rate of 80%! The church would more quickly if we put as much energy into discipleship, pastoral care, and pastoral counseling/healing as we do with preaching about outreach.
We look at outreach and healing as well as growth into mature multiplication.
The Reformation-Theology is renewed but ecclesiology stays mired in the same tired, dead bureaucracy. It is half-way there.
A New Reformation-All God's people do both word and works by returning to the First Century paradigm that integrates both order and ardor.
Life Way's purpose is to Create a vibrant learning/growth community that models and empowers others to be competent in character, relationships, thinking, family life and leadership.
We want to see lively, healthy, growing families and communities pursuing mental, emotional and relational wholeness through the release of truth, talents and character leading to wisdom that blesses the people around them.
We envision transformed communities, families and individuals that build healthy relationships, a renewed mindset and continued growth to be a channel of love, mutual respect and commitment to care for one another.
God by His grace is moving among the churches of all kinds. Many people are coming to Christ and experiencing eternal life and profound relief from guilt and shame. However, Jesus warned in Luke 8, that the seed may fall on rocky soil withless fruit than we had expected.
The words of Jesus to His disciples point us to the way forward for the 21st Century for God's truth is as relevant now as it was 21 centuries ago.
The seeds that fell among the thorny soil are those who have heard the word of God but go on with life chocked with worries, riches and pleasures of this life. The result is that we cannot bring them to fruitful maturity. Luke 8:14
Bringing believers to fruitful maturity means that they multiply themselves a hundred fold. The Greek term for this process puts the pressure directly on church leaders. It is not the responsibility of the new born Christian but our pastors, teachers and minister to show us how to deal with those worries, riches and pleasures of life.
We are in the midst of a crisis of these three issues. Unless the church learns how to deal effectively with them we shall never bring people to mature fruitfulness and multiplication.
Several years ago I was discussing evangelism and church growth with an Asian leader who noted that only 20% of newly converted believers actually stayed in the church for six weeks. This meant a dropout rate of 80%! The church would more quickly if we put as much energy into discipleship, pastoral care, and pastoral counseling/healing as we do with preaching about outreach.
We look at outreach and healing as well as growth into mature multiplication.
The theology
1st Century - The Equipping Paradigm is established
Luke 4: 18 Jesus' Call and Mission
Luke 6 Jesus chooses the 12 to continue His mission
Luke 8:4-15 Parable of sowing and maturity in good soil
Luke 9 Jesus sends the 12 out with Power to do the Mission
Luke 10 Jesus sends the 72 out with Power to multiply the Mission
Matthew 28: 18 Jesus sends the apostles out to make disciples of all nations
Acts 2 The Mission is activated in small group fellowship
Ephesians 4: 11 The universal Equipping Process is outlined
Early Church history-The process impacts the ancient world
The Reformation-Theology is renewed but ecclesiology stays mired in the same tired, dead bureaucracy. It is half-way there.
A New Reformation-All God's people do both word and works by returning to the First Century paradigm that integrates both order and ardor.
What Do We Do?
There is great confusion about our work and our ministry and I can understand why. We do several things, or, I ought to say, we keep our focus on doing things that develop whole persons and that requires that we do many different things.
Steve Griebling and I set off for Moscow on May 29 for about two weeks of personal ministry, consulting and training. I have been involved in developing a "Whole Person Ministry" in Russia since 1992. I get a lot of question about what kinds of things we will do.
Do you preach at local churches? Yes
Do you help set up healing ministries? Yes
Do you help set up counseling ministries? Yes
Do you help set up evangelism ministries? Yes?
Do you help set up ministries for families? Yes
Do you help set up Alcohol and drug treatment centers? Yes
Do you take medical assistance? Yes
Do you minister to pastors, priests and leaders? Yes
Do you help churches develop the structures necessary to educate and counsel people? Yes
Do you teach Listening, Rational Christian Thinking, Family systems and Breaking Free? Yes
A focus on the whole person requires that we establish ministries in and outside churches that target every dimension of concern to God.
Leaders come from all over the former USSR to learn and return home to establish groups, classes, ministries and outreaches in mission groups, Bible Schools, Seminaries, churches, prisons, etc. Thank God for the courageous men and women who are giving everything to serve Christ in a difficult situation.
We need your prayers and support. Ministry in Russia is getting more difficult and expensive.
There is great confusion about our work and our ministry and I can understand why. We do several things, or, I ought to say, we keep our focus on doing things that develop whole persons and that requires that we do many different things.
Steve Griebling and I set off for Moscow on May 29 for about two weeks of personal ministry, consulting and training. I have been involved in developing a "Whole Person Ministry" in Russia since 1992. I get a lot of question about what kinds of things we will do.
Do you preach at local churches? Yes
Do you help set up healing ministries? Yes
Do you help set up counseling ministries? Yes
Do you help set up evangelism ministries? Yes?
Do you help set up ministries for families? Yes
Do you help set up Alcohol and drug treatment centers? Yes
Do you take medical assistance? Yes
Do you minister to pastors, priests and leaders? Yes
Do you help churches develop the structures necessary to educate and counsel people? Yes
Do you teach Listening, Rational Christian Thinking, Family systems and Breaking Free? Yes
A focus on the whole person requires that we establish ministries in and outside churches that target every dimension of concern to God.
Leaders come from all over the former USSR to learn and return home to establish groups, classes, ministries and outreaches in mission groups, Bible Schools, Seminaries, churches, prisons, etc. Thank God for the courageous men and women who are giving everything to serve Christ in a difficult situation.
We need your prayers and support. Ministry in Russia is getting more difficult and expensive.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Crash
I watched the movie Crash on DVD this week. It is powerful, violent, racially shocking, surprising, disturbing and very revealing. I think every Christian leader needs to watch it and think about its implications.
The people in Crash were fragile, defensive, reactive to the slightest slight, angry, racially divided and away from God. They blamed others, jumped to conclusions, refused to take personal responsibility fot their own sins and accused others of being to blame.
Some were heroes, some were crooks, some were courageous some were scared, no one was pure. All were weak and all were strong. All were human.
Many years ago the book Lord of the Flies showed what would happen if a group of kids were lost on a deserted island. They became hardened, selfish, punitive and heroic, courageous, bitter, defensive, gracious and merciful. All at the same time.
Crash is the modern version of that book. It shows the human condition without Christ, the love of God and the redemption of a caring community.
Anyone associated with ministry will recognize themselves and others in this film. I could see my sins, fears, prejudices and anger in the characters. I could also see my hopes and faith.
Watch it if you have the courage.
I am human and I need God's constant attention to forgive, strengthen and make me better.
Gary Sweeten
I watched the movie Crash on DVD this week. It is powerful, violent, racially shocking, surprising, disturbing and very revealing. I think every Christian leader needs to watch it and think about its implications.
The people in Crash were fragile, defensive, reactive to the slightest slight, angry, racially divided and away from God. They blamed others, jumped to conclusions, refused to take personal responsibility fot their own sins and accused others of being to blame.
Some were heroes, some were crooks, some were courageous some were scared, no one was pure. All were weak and all were strong. All were human.
Many years ago the book Lord of the Flies showed what would happen if a group of kids were lost on a deserted island. They became hardened, selfish, punitive and heroic, courageous, bitter, defensive, gracious and merciful. All at the same time.
Crash is the modern version of that book. It shows the human condition without Christ, the love of God and the redemption of a caring community.
Anyone associated with ministry will recognize themselves and others in this film. I could see my sins, fears, prejudices and anger in the characters. I could also see my hopes and faith.
Watch it if you have the courage.
I am human and I need God's constant attention to forgive, strengthen and make me better.
Gary Sweeten
God is Still Working Today
I sometimes post an article or remarks about God's present ministry among us. I am constantly amazed that there are many Christians that firmly believe the scripture but refuse to acknowledge God's miraculous power in contemporary day to day activities.
Because my life and ministry focus on healing and growth I am surrounded by sickness, pain, dysfunction and difficulties. If I could not call upon God to bring relief and hope I would leave this field. Thankfully I call upon God daily for myself, my family and my friends. He answers in His own way but He answers in a good manner.
I received the followinng e mail from an old friend as a follow-up to his request that I pray for his cousin. His good news is exciting and faith-building.
Gary Sweeten
Praise the Lord! God is still doing miracles. Thank you Lord!
On Monday, May 1st, 2006, Jeff got word from his doctor that tests show no cancer in his body. We have been praying in many ways for a cure for Jeff.
Jeff's body has been revaged by the Multiple Myeloma and still needs a lot of healing and strength. He has been lovingly and skillfully cared for by a wonderful staff of medical doctors and nurses. Even they have been praying for Jeff's cure. And we will continue to pray for him--but it's time to thank the Good Lord and all those who have been praying.
With love and appreciation for all your concern and prayers,
Jeff's parents _________
Can you stop for a moment to thank God for His mercy and grace to this young man and his family? I do not know him but I rejoice because he is rejoicing.
I sometimes post an article or remarks about God's present ministry among us. I am constantly amazed that there are many Christians that firmly believe the scripture but refuse to acknowledge God's miraculous power in contemporary day to day activities.
Because my life and ministry focus on healing and growth I am surrounded by sickness, pain, dysfunction and difficulties. If I could not call upon God to bring relief and hope I would leave this field. Thankfully I call upon God daily for myself, my family and my friends. He answers in His own way but He answers in a good manner.
I received the followinng e mail from an old friend as a follow-up to his request that I pray for his cousin. His good news is exciting and faith-building.
Gary Sweeten
Praise the Lord! God is still doing miracles. Thank you Lord!
On Monday, May 1st, 2006, Jeff got word from his doctor that tests show no cancer in his body. We have been praying in many ways for a cure for Jeff.
Jeff's body has been revaged by the Multiple Myeloma and still needs a lot of healing and strength. He has been lovingly and skillfully cared for by a wonderful staff of medical doctors and nurses. Even they have been praying for Jeff's cure. And we will continue to pray for him--but it's time to thank the Good Lord and all those who have been praying.
With love and appreciation for all your concern and prayers,
Jeff's parents _________
Can you stop for a moment to thank God for His mercy and grace to this young man and his family? I do not know him but I rejoice because he is rejoicing.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Your 100 Most Influential People
Time Mag is always coming up with some scheme to sell their rag and this time it is by compiling a list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The list is included below and I would almost bet that you do not know ½ of them.
I certainly do not know that many and, of those I do know few have influenced me at all. Take Tom Cruise; please take Tom Cruise. How is he one of the most influential people in the world? He abandons his wife and children for a very young girl and for that he is famous?
Here is my request. Who has been influential in your life this year? Family members are not allowed to be nominated. God, although very influential, will be assumed to be important. Maybe it is your tax man or the mechanic that saved you $10,000.00 by fixing up your old car.
Time’s Nominees
Artists & Entertainers
· J.J. Abrams
· George Clooney
· Dixie Chicks
· Ellen DeGeneres
· Nicolas Ghesquiere
· Wayne Gould
· Philip Seymour Hoffman
· Arianna Huffington
· Ang Lee
· Renzo Piano
· Rain
· Rachael Ray
· Jeff Skoll
· Matt Drudge
· Stephen Colbert
Scientists & Thinkers
· Mike Brown
· Kelly Brownell
· Nancy Cox
· Richard Davidson
Leaders & Revolutionaries
· Muqtada al-Sadr
· Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
· Hugo Chavez
· George W. Bush
· John McCain
· Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
· Ayman al-Zawahiri
· Hillary Rodham Clinton
· Pope Benedict
· Condoleezza Rice
· Wen Jiabao
Heroes & Pioneers
· Bono
· Michelle Wie
· Wynton Marsalis
· Angelina Jolie
· Bill Clinton & George H.W. Bush
· Steve Nash
· Orhan Pamuk
· Elie Wiesel
· Jan Egeland
Builders & Titans
· Vikram Akula
· Tom Anderson & Chris DeWolfe
· Franz Beckenbauer
· The Flickr Founders
· Sean Combs
· Jamie Dimon
· Brian France
· Tom Freston
· Huang Guangyu
Offer your nominees by May 28, 2006
Time Mag is always coming up with some scheme to sell their rag and this time it is by compiling a list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The list is included below and I would almost bet that you do not know ½ of them.
I certainly do not know that many and, of those I do know few have influenced me at all. Take Tom Cruise; please take Tom Cruise. How is he one of the most influential people in the world? He abandons his wife and children for a very young girl and for that he is famous?
Here is my request. Who has been influential in your life this year? Family members are not allowed to be nominated. God, although very influential, will be assumed to be important. Maybe it is your tax man or the mechanic that saved you $10,000.00 by fixing up your old car.
Time’s Nominees
Artists & Entertainers
· J.J. Abrams
· George Clooney
· Dixie Chicks
· Ellen DeGeneres
· Nicolas Ghesquiere
· Wayne Gould
· Philip Seymour Hoffman
· Arianna Huffington
· Ang Lee
· Renzo Piano
· Rain
· Rachael Ray
· Jeff Skoll
· Matt Drudge
· Stephen Colbert
Scientists & Thinkers
· Mike Brown
· Kelly Brownell
· Nancy Cox
· Richard Davidson
Leaders & Revolutionaries
· Muqtada al-Sadr
· Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
· Hugo Chavez
· George W. Bush
· John McCain
· Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
· Ayman al-Zawahiri
· Hillary Rodham Clinton
· Pope Benedict
· Condoleezza Rice
· Wen Jiabao
Heroes & Pioneers
· Bono
· Michelle Wie
· Wynton Marsalis
· Angelina Jolie
· Bill Clinton & George H.W. Bush
· Steve Nash
· Orhan Pamuk
· Elie Wiesel
· Jan Egeland
Builders & Titans
· Vikram Akula
· Tom Anderson & Chris DeWolfe
· Franz Beckenbauer
· The Flickr Founders
· Sean Combs
· Jamie Dimon
· Brian France
· Tom Freston
· Huang Guangyu
Offer your nominees by May 28, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Another Flight to Moscow
I am excited about our latest planning for a trip to Moscow to train leaders. It will be my 15th.
Steve Griebling and I leave Memorial Day and fly to New York and then to Rome before touching down in Moscow. We will stay about two weeks. It is a long but the least expensive route.
Galina has hired a new person to make our Russian web site a bit more attractive. And, they have changed the name of the site to make sure the Ruskie officials do not discover that they are connected to a U.S. Mission group.
http://www.liferoute.ru/
I always travel there as a "Tourist" but they often scan US files of non-profits to see who is traveling there and if we are giving money to the Russians.
"Why do they care," you ask? First, they want to know everything about their people and foreign influences. Remember, their current President was head of the KGB.
Second, money. $$$$ Taxes. If they thought we were sending money to their ministries it would be very costly. Maybe even more than we give in taxes would be taken from them.
Third, the government is paranoid.
Keep us in your prayers.
Gary and Steve
I am excited about our latest planning for a trip to Moscow to train leaders. It will be my 15th.
Steve Griebling and I leave Memorial Day and fly to New York and then to Rome before touching down in Moscow. We will stay about two weeks. It is a long but the least expensive route.
Galina has hired a new person to make our Russian web site a bit more attractive. And, they have changed the name of the site to make sure the Ruskie officials do not discover that they are connected to a U.S. Mission group.
http://www.liferoute.ru/
I always travel there as a "Tourist" but they often scan US files of non-profits to see who is traveling there and if we are giving money to the Russians.
"Why do they care," you ask? First, they want to know everything about their people and foreign influences. Remember, their current President was head of the KGB.
Second, money. $$$$ Taxes. If they thought we were sending money to their ministries it would be very costly. Maybe even more than we give in taxes would be taken from them.
Third, the government is paranoid.
Keep us in your prayers.
Gary and Steve
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
The Eve Center
The summer abortion recovery group will begin in the evening
June 6th
Please refer any one interested in the 10 weeks program to telephone:
513 - 985-9959. A group leader will contact her shortly after that.
We maintain the highest level of confidentiality so her information will be treated as such just as our other calls. She need only call for the HEART program and leave contact information.
A formal notice will be released soon: We are very excited that HEART Inc. will be moving under the administration of the Eve Center as one of the Eve Center programs. This merge of resources and talents will continue a path of excellence in providing Helping and Educating in Abortion Related Trauma for women in the greater Cincinnati region.
Thank you for your referrals. God's blessings to you all.
Cinny Roy
Founder & Director
www.evecenter.org
"We've been where you are."
The summer abortion recovery group will begin in the evening
June 6th
Please refer any one interested in the 10 weeks program to telephone:
513 - 985-9959. A group leader will contact her shortly after that.
We maintain the highest level of confidentiality so her information will be treated as such just as our other calls. She need only call for the HEART program and leave contact information.
A formal notice will be released soon: We are very excited that HEART Inc. will be moving under the administration of the Eve Center as one of the Eve Center programs. This merge of resources and talents will continue a path of excellence in providing Helping and Educating in Abortion Related Trauma for women in the greater Cincinnati region.
Thank you for your referrals. God's blessings to you all.
Cinny Roy
Founder & Director
www.evecenter.org
"We've been where you are."
Monday, April 24, 2006
Women and Financial Power
According to Mike Davidson, Head of Marketing for State Farm Insurance, the following statistics about women will shake us from our stupor about females in America.
Women:
Control 60% of the wealth
Influence 89% of all major household expenditures
Have sole or partial ownership of 87% of all homes
Own 10.6 million businesses or 40% of the total number of privately owned businesses
By 2026 13 trillion dollars will be inherited with 90% going to women
Some 37% of women and 22% of men have no plan for retirement or inheritance
Daily Devotional
Each day I receive a devotional that stimulates me to faith and good works. I sometimes share them with you. If you want to receive them, contact Chuck Clark. chuck@stationedhere.com
As a scientist I have been challenged many times by Christian friends and pastors who have a tendency to reject analytical thinking. Some even see medicine and psychology as enemies of God and the Bible.
On the other hand, as a person that believes in god and His works I have been treated with disrespect by some people who consider themselves to be "scientific" and anti-religious. Both extremes have found me to be objectionable. That is why I like this article.
CALL UPON THE LORD AND HE WILL ANSWER
Monday - April 24, 2006
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3
Robert Boyle was founder of the Royal Society in London and is sometimes called the father of modern chemistry. He was born at Lismore Castle, in Ireland on 25 January 1627. In 1643, he became a Christian while studying in Switzerland. Boyle was the first scientist to perform controlled experiments and to publish his work with elaborate details concerning procedure, apparatus and observations. He assembled the first "research group", invented the vacuum pump and litmus paper. In 1662 developed Boyle’s Law that states: “Under conditions of constant temperature and quantity, there is an inverse relationship between the volume and pressure for an ideal gas.”
Boyle had a deep commitment to Christ. In 1677, he provided funding for the translation of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts into the Malayan language.
He believed there were things we could never know, but that God's purposes were not completely inaccessible to us. He began each day with prayer and Bible reading and he believed that during prayer and worship the Lord revealed His greatest secrets. Boyle recommended that scientists do their experiments on Sundays, as part of their Sabbath worship.
In his will, Boyle left an endowment to provide sufficient income for an annual lectureship to combat atheism, they became known as the Boyle Lectures.
Are you faced with a difficult problem? Take it to the Lord, He will give you wisdom on how to deal with it. Today in prayer, look to Christ for the answers to today’s problems and He will answer.
“God denies a Christian nothing, but with a design to give him something better.” Richard Cecil
“‘So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?’ The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, ‘Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.’” 1 Kings 3:9-12
Each day I receive a devotional that stimulates me to faith and good works. I sometimes share them with you. If you want to receive them, contact Chuck Clark. chuck@stationedhere.com
As a scientist I have been challenged many times by Christian friends and pastors who have a tendency to reject analytical thinking. Some even see medicine and psychology as enemies of God and the Bible.
On the other hand, as a person that believes in god and His works I have been treated with disrespect by some people who consider themselves to be "scientific" and anti-religious. Both extremes have found me to be objectionable. That is why I like this article.
CALL UPON THE LORD AND HE WILL ANSWER
Monday - April 24, 2006
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3
Robert Boyle was founder of the Royal Society in London and is sometimes called the father of modern chemistry. He was born at Lismore Castle, in Ireland on 25 January 1627. In 1643, he became a Christian while studying in Switzerland. Boyle was the first scientist to perform controlled experiments and to publish his work with elaborate details concerning procedure, apparatus and observations. He assembled the first "research group", invented the vacuum pump and litmus paper. In 1662 developed Boyle’s Law that states: “Under conditions of constant temperature and quantity, there is an inverse relationship between the volume and pressure for an ideal gas.”
Boyle had a deep commitment to Christ. In 1677, he provided funding for the translation of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts into the Malayan language.
He believed there were things we could never know, but that God's purposes were not completely inaccessible to us. He began each day with prayer and Bible reading and he believed that during prayer and worship the Lord revealed His greatest secrets. Boyle recommended that scientists do their experiments on Sundays, as part of their Sabbath worship.
In his will, Boyle left an endowment to provide sufficient income for an annual lectureship to combat atheism, they became known as the Boyle Lectures.
Are you faced with a difficult problem? Take it to the Lord, He will give you wisdom on how to deal with it. Today in prayer, look to Christ for the answers to today’s problems and He will answer.
“God denies a Christian nothing, but with a design to give him something better.” Richard Cecil
“‘So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?’ The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, ‘Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.’” 1 Kings 3:9-12
Friday, April 21, 2006
Russian Hospitality is Warm and Delicious
Arthur Gasch, (The only male) Galina (In a gold sweater) and Betty Gasch (Blue over red) enjoy a wonderful meal with some of the caring ladies in a Baptist Church. This church hosts a weekly recovery group and some of the ladies help Galin minister around the country.
Arthur Gasch, (The only male) Galina (In a gold sweater) and Betty Gasch (Blue over red) enjoy a wonderful meal with some of the caring ladies in a Baptist Church. This church hosts a weekly recovery group and some of the ladies help Galin minister around the country.
Fruit of the Russian Ministry
These beautiful Russian believers are from Russian Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. It is a miracle that they can work together to bring peace, healing and wholeness to "The broken hearted" and they are "setting the captives free".
They are learning to show great compassion and love to hundreds of churches throughout the former USSR.
Life Way's ministry is uniquely interdenominational in Russia.
These beautiful Russian believers are from Russian Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. It is a miracle that they can work together to bring peace, healing and wholeness to "The broken hearted" and they are "setting the captives free".
They are learning to show great compassion and love to hundreds of churches throughout the former USSR.
Life Way's ministry is uniquely interdenominational in Russia.
Arthur Gasch and Galina Chentsova 
Arthur and Betty spent ten days with Galina and her team sharing, ministering and praying for the people. Betty's book has been translated into Russian and is a very powerful estimony to the power of the Great Physician to heal, deliver and restore.
Her book is available from Life Way Ministries with all proceeds going to the work in Russia.
Arthur and Betty spent ten days with Galina and her team sharing, ministering and praying for the people. Betty's book has been translated into Russian and is a very powerful estimony to the power of the Great Physician to heal, deliver and restore.
Her book is available from Life Way Ministries with all proceeds going to the work in Russia.
Marina and Betty Gasch
Marina and her husband Michael are key leaders
among Baptists. He teaches at their local seminary,
pastors a church and heads the men's recovery
ministry in the Moscow Region.
Marina is an attorney, heads women's work among the Baptists and is finishing her Master's in Theology. She regularly leads recovery groups and teaches leaders with Galina.
Marina and her husband Michael are key leaders
among Baptists. He teaches at their local seminary,
pastors a church and heads the men's recovery
ministry in the Moscow Region.
Marina is an attorney, heads women's work among the Baptists and is finishing her Master's in Theology. She regularly leads recovery groups and teaches leaders with Galina.
The Palace of Culture
The Communists knew they needed to replace the symbols of the church's rituals with their own places of "sanctuary". They did it with "Palaces of Culture" that were very nice but a far piece away from palaces and their culture was dancing, music and lectures on socialism.
Now these "palaces" are run down and worn out but very expensive to rent.
The Communists knew they needed to replace the symbols of the church's rituals with their own places of "sanctuary". They did it with "Palaces of Culture" that were very nice but a far piece away from palaces and their culture was dancing, music and lectures on socialism.
Now these "palaces" are run down and worn out but very expensive to rent.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Pastor Paul Bane of Brentwood, TN
Pastor Paul spoke Good Friday evening, about the power of the cross to bring forgiveness. He led all of us through a time of reflection and searching to see what sins might lurk below the surface that we could leave forever on the cross.
Each of us was given a 16 penny nail and the opportunity to drive it into the wooden cross with a hammer. The photo you see is the result.
Although some suggested they needed a bucket full of nails, Christ nail's and shed blood are everything we need for salvation and complete forgiveness.
Pastor Paul spoke Good Friday evening, about the power of the cross to bring forgiveness. He led all of us through a time of reflection and searching to see what sins might lurk below the surface that we could leave forever on the cross.
Each of us was given a 16 penny nail and the opportunity to drive it into the wooden cross with a hammer. The photo you see is the result.
Although some suggested they needed a bucket full of nails, Christ nail's and shed blood are everything we need for salvation and complete forgiveness.
Pastor Tom Smith
Tom and Deb left Cincinnati 12 years ago to return to southern Illinois to minister at First Community Church-now Grace Community Church and farm with his father.
Grace Church has powerful preaching, dynamic worship and a wonderful healing ministry.
Tom also opened Grace Counseling Center and uses his gifts to bless the entire region.
Before returning to Illinois Tom and Deb were creative force for God in Cincinnati. First as campus pastors at U.C. then as founding pastors of Fellowship Christian Church.
Many people have come to know Christ through their ministries.
Tom and Deb left Cincinnati 12 years ago to return to southern Illinois to minister at First Community Church-now Grace Community Church and farm with his father.
Grace Church has powerful preaching, dynamic worship and a wonderful healing ministry.
Tom also opened Grace Counseling Center and uses his gifts to bless the entire region.
Before returning to Illinois Tom and Deb were creative force for God in Cincinnati. First as campus pastors at U.C. then as founding pastors of Fellowship Christian Church.
Many people have come to know Christ through their ministries.
Easter Joy
Karen and I had the joy of being back home in Illinois for an old fashioned revival meeting at Grace Community Church pastored by Tom and Deb Smith. Revivals are rare nowadays let alone around Easter but the Lord drew them to schedule it during Holy Week.
It was very successful in many ways. Believers in the region were revived; members were deeply touched; several non-believers met the Lord and were baptized before and during the time of the revival.
Easter Is a time of great happiness for us who believe. I trust all of you were blessed by the Lord and were reminded of the great privilege we have to be called "The Children of God".
Gary Sweeten
Karen and I had the joy of being back home in Illinois for an old fashioned revival meeting at Grace Community Church pastored by Tom and Deb Smith. Revivals are rare nowadays let alone around Easter but the Lord drew them to schedule it during Holy Week.
It was very successful in many ways. Believers in the region were revived; members were deeply touched; several non-believers met the Lord and were baptized before and during the time of the revival.
Easter Is a time of great happiness for us who believe. I trust all of you were blessed by the Lord and were reminded of the great privilege we have to be called "The Children of God".
Gary Sweeten
Monday, April 10, 2006
A New Jesus Movement?
I hope so
In 1970 Karen and I stumbled into what is now known as the Jesus Movement. We had moved to Cincinnati to take a position at U Cinci from southern Illinois after I received a Masters' Degree in Higher Education. We found a Southern Baptist Church here and got deeply involved in helping build a new sanctuary and educational wing. Later we taught the College and Career Singles group and it was a great experience with great people. For awhile, then things got a bit sticky.
I was working on a doctorate in Counselor Education and began to learn about the power of self directed groups to bring change in the lives of the participants. I also attended Yokefellow Conferences and met D. Elton Trueblood and other pillars of the lay equipping movement. Third, I went to the InterVaristy Christian Fellowship's training on "Inductive Bible Studies".
I had a transformational experience that showed me that helping ordinary people encounter God and the Bible personally rather than through the agency of a clergyman or elder. I knew this was superior to becoming dependent upon someone else to tell us what God said rather than read it for ourselves.
I started using Inductive Methods to teach our Youth Group and we also met in homes rather than the church. That was too much for some of the Deacons who asked me to leave the church. Having been a Baptist all my life it was very painful to get the "Left foot of fellowship" from my brothers. But, as it turned out, God used it to introduce us to the Jesus Movement.
Now a new wave of prayer and revival is hitting the campus.
I am ecstatic that God is on the move among young people again.
Gary Sweeten
I hope so
In 1970 Karen and I stumbled into what is now known as the Jesus Movement. We had moved to Cincinnati to take a position at U Cinci from southern Illinois after I received a Masters' Degree in Higher Education. We found a Southern Baptist Church here and got deeply involved in helping build a new sanctuary and educational wing. Later we taught the College and Career Singles group and it was a great experience with great people. For awhile, then things got a bit sticky.
I was working on a doctorate in Counselor Education and began to learn about the power of self directed groups to bring change in the lives of the participants. I also attended Yokefellow Conferences and met D. Elton Trueblood and other pillars of the lay equipping movement. Third, I went to the InterVaristy Christian Fellowship's training on "Inductive Bible Studies".
I had a transformational experience that showed me that helping ordinary people encounter God and the Bible personally rather than through the agency of a clergyman or elder. I knew this was superior to becoming dependent upon someone else to tell us what God said rather than read it for ourselves.
I started using Inductive Methods to teach our Youth Group and we also met in homes rather than the church. That was too much for some of the Deacons who asked me to leave the church. Having been a Baptist all my life it was very painful to get the "Left foot of fellowship" from my brothers. But, as it turned out, God used it to introduce us to the Jesus Movement.
Now a new wave of prayer and revival is hitting the campus.
For more information go to http://www.theburningheartcontract.com/
I am ecstatic that God is on the move among young people again.
Gary Sweeten
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Needed: Christian Leaders with Vision, Vitality, Values and Veritas
No one seems to doubt the notion that we are deep in the middle of a time of social regression. Life in families, corporations, schools and religious groups are staggering from the weight of unethical, immoral and risky behavior. Nations have faced such times before and have been brought to sanity and equilibrium again by key leaders.
Some people think we can be educated out of the dilemma. That the explosion of knowledge will suffice in leading our nation and the entire western world back to health and vitality. I disagree. Hitler's Nazi's were highly educated. Stalin's scientists were very knowledgeable but something was mission. Respect for the soul of humanity.
We need high quality, well educated, Christians who will give themselves to leading the charge for a better world. Who have a great Vision to bring godly change to a hurting society and use their skills to bring about those changes.
Christians who are Vital, energetic, interested, open to others and excited about the future. They will be risk takers and fearless because of their faith when interacting with people of every religion and political persuasion.
Christians who have great Values and ethics who want to make their companies better places to work and their communities better places to live.
Veritas, the search for truth is also desperately needed.
I've learned something about the history of Veritas this year. Originally it was paired on the (Harvard) University's coat of arms with the University's real motto Christiansti Gloriam. Veritas meant divine truth, truth reached ultimately not through reason but through faith. PRESIDENT LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS' COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, HARVARD COLLEGE 2002
To find such men and women we need centers of growth and leadership development. Places where we can nurture mature, successful people from business, industry, education and the church and discover together how to be positive change agents todaythe futureuture.
Pray with me about finding the people and funding the centers.
Gary Sweeten
No one seems to doubt the notion that we are deep in the middle of a time of social regression. Life in families, corporations, schools and religious groups are staggering from the weight of unethical, immoral and risky behavior. Nations have faced such times before and have been brought to sanity and equilibrium again by key leaders.
Some people think we can be educated out of the dilemma. That the explosion of knowledge will suffice in leading our nation and the entire western world back to health and vitality. I disagree. Hitler's Nazi's were highly educated. Stalin's scientists were very knowledgeable but something was mission. Respect for the soul of humanity.
We need high quality, well educated, Christians who will give themselves to leading the charge for a better world. Who have a great Vision to bring godly change to a hurting society and use their skills to bring about those changes.
Christians who are Vital, energetic, interested, open to others and excited about the future. They will be risk takers and fearless because of their faith when interacting with people of every religion and political persuasion.
Christians who have great Values and ethics who want to make their companies better places to work and their communities better places to live.
Veritas, the search for truth is also desperately needed.
I've learned something about the history of Veritas this year. Originally it was paired on the (Harvard) University's coat of arms with the University's real motto Christiansti Gloriam. Veritas meant divine truth, truth reached ultimately not through reason but through faith. PRESIDENT LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS' COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, HARVARD COLLEGE 2002
To find such men and women we need centers of growth and leadership development. Places where we can nurture mature, successful people from business, industry, education and the church and discover together how to be positive change agents todaythe futureuture.
Pray with me about finding the people and funding the centers.
Gary Sweeten
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Response to Christianity Today Magazine
In the latest CT online blog there was a good article about ways to prevent pastors and leaders from getting involved in sexual sin. Doing so is badly needed for many well-known preachers have fallen over the past few years.
However, I think the CT article was fairly shallow and failed to deal with the real issues that arise from the heart. Mark 7:15 ff
He summoned the crowd again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile."
When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them, "Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
"But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles.
From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile."
For over 30 years I have ministered to Christians of all maturity levels and now focus almost exclusively on pastoral and counseling with leaders. The suggestions, as good as they are, are not nearly enough nor do they get to the root of the problem. James 1 says
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
Evil desire is from Epithumia: A Wounded heart/hole in the soul/ sickness of the soul
Dragged away-A force of great power pulls at us
Enticed to do destructive things
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
After the wounded heart conceives an evil/destructive idea, sin, missing the mark is born. As the sinful behavior grows and develops it gets stronger and more controlling of life. This considered to be a compulsion.
When it is full grown it bring us death of soul and body.
Overwhelming sexual temptation leading to destruction arises from a deeply wounded soul. It does not arise from good clean lust, healthy sexual desire, but from a sickness of the soul. It is not caused by the Internet, magazines, beautiful women or a lack of male accountability.
I have ministered to several hundred men and women involved in compulsive sex. I have never ministered to one involved in pornography, masturbation or adultery that had an ongoing vital heart experience with the Holy Spirit. Nor with his wife. They are always hiding their anger, bitterness and a deeply wounded soul. The porn/masterbation compulsion is more related to angry punishment of a woman and the release that it provides momentarily than to sex.
The formula I use in ministry is AB = C + D
Addictive Behavior = Compulsions plus Dependency
Compulsions are any behavior pattern that arises from inner discomfort and gives momentary relief to that pain. The inner pain can be guilt, shame, rejection, anger, unforgiveness, etc. For Christians, of course, pornography makes the innr guilt and thus the pain increase. Many people have compulsive behavior but are not Addicts for they are not also Dependent.
Dependencies are habitual behavior designed to get a high. Sex, cocaine, food, etc can all give us a high. Many people are sexually Dependent but are not addicts.
When one is both reducing inner pain and getting high we consider them to be addicted. Healing demands that we remove the inner pain by biblical means of reconciliation, marital counseling, forgiveness, healing, etc and show people how to get "high" biblically. After this, accountability groups will work.
New legalisms will not work to treat Christians caught in the web of sexual lust. Only by working on the inner life will we succeed. It is the heart that matters not the internet or Playboy Magazine. I see miracles happen all the time.
Shalom,
Gary R. Sweeten, Ed. D.
In the latest CT online blog there was a good article about ways to prevent pastors and leaders from getting involved in sexual sin. Doing so is badly needed for many well-known preachers have fallen over the past few years.
However, I think the CT article was fairly shallow and failed to deal with the real issues that arise from the heart. Mark 7:15 ff
He summoned the crowd again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile."
When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them, "Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
"But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles.
From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile."
For over 30 years I have ministered to Christians of all maturity levels and now focus almost exclusively on pastoral and counseling with leaders. The suggestions, as good as they are, are not nearly enough nor do they get to the root of the problem. James 1 says
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
Evil desire is from Epithumia: A Wounded heart/hole in the soul/ sickness of the soul
Dragged away-A force of great power pulls at us
Enticed to do destructive things
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
After the wounded heart conceives an evil/destructive idea, sin, missing the mark is born. As the sinful behavior grows and develops it gets stronger and more controlling of life. This considered to be a compulsion.
When it is full grown it bring us death of soul and body.
Overwhelming sexual temptation leading to destruction arises from a deeply wounded soul. It does not arise from good clean lust, healthy sexual desire, but from a sickness of the soul. It is not caused by the Internet, magazines, beautiful women or a lack of male accountability.
I have ministered to several hundred men and women involved in compulsive sex. I have never ministered to one involved in pornography, masturbation or adultery that had an ongoing vital heart experience with the Holy Spirit. Nor with his wife. They are always hiding their anger, bitterness and a deeply wounded soul. The porn/masterbation compulsion is more related to angry punishment of a woman and the release that it provides momentarily than to sex.
The formula I use in ministry is AB = C + D
Addictive Behavior = Compulsions plus Dependency
Compulsions are any behavior pattern that arises from inner discomfort and gives momentary relief to that pain. The inner pain can be guilt, shame, rejection, anger, unforgiveness, etc. For Christians, of course, pornography makes the innr guilt and thus the pain increase. Many people have compulsive behavior but are not Addicts for they are not also Dependent.
Dependencies are habitual behavior designed to get a high. Sex, cocaine, food, etc can all give us a high. Many people are sexually Dependent but are not addicts.
When one is both reducing inner pain and getting high we consider them to be addicted. Healing demands that we remove the inner pain by biblical means of reconciliation, marital counseling, forgiveness, healing, etc and show people how to get "high" biblically. After this, accountability groups will work.
New legalisms will not work to treat Christians caught in the web of sexual lust. Only by working on the inner life will we succeed. It is the heart that matters not the internet or Playboy Magazine. I see miracles happen all the time.
Shalom,
Gary R. Sweeten, Ed. D.
Putting Lives in Peril
Aiming to Be 'Very, Very Sick'
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
April 7, 2006; Page A1 Wall Street Journal
DURBAN, South Africa
Zolile, a 25-year-old single mother, is one of the lucky few here who receive advanced anti-AIDS drugs free from the government. The pills work just the way they're supposed to, boosting her immune system, relieving her symptoms and restoring her health as long as she takes them twice a day.
That's why she stopped taking them a month ago.
Her decision represents an unexpected twist in South Africa's AIDS crisis. The South African government gives Zolile antiretroviral "cocktails" to make her healthier. It will also give her a $130-a-month disability grant -- but only if she gets sicker than she is now. And if she takes the drugs, she probably won't get sick enough to qualify for the cash.
For Zolile, the right choice was painful but clear. "I want to get sick so the doctor will give me a grant, and my children will have healthy food," she says, speaking on condition that her family name not be used. "Even if I die, my children will be better taken care of."
Medical workers, activists and academics in South Africa have been startled to discover that a number of impoverished AIDS patients are making the same decision, risking death in order to secure welfare assistance.
"Poverty and hunger are capable of driving people to do the unthinkable," says Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, head of the anthropology department at Durban's University of KwaZulu-Natal, who has studied the issue.
Why are people shocked? We have known for centuries that the way we treat human behavior will cause rewarded acts to get stronger and punished acts to get weaker. South Africa is rewarding sickness and punishing health yet they are "shocked" when people follow the rewards.
Common sense tells us that this will usually happen so we need to devise ways to offer quick rewards for those who act responsibility. The personal motivation to get better is more important than any miracle drug or heroic doctor. This, along with the positive support of family and friends is essential to good health.
Aiming to Be 'Very, Very Sick'
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
April 7, 2006; Page A1 Wall Street Journal
DURBAN, South Africa
Zolile, a 25-year-old single mother, is one of the lucky few here who receive advanced anti-AIDS drugs free from the government. The pills work just the way they're supposed to, boosting her immune system, relieving her symptoms and restoring her health as long as she takes them twice a day.
That's why she stopped taking them a month ago.
Her decision represents an unexpected twist in South Africa's AIDS crisis. The South African government gives Zolile antiretroviral "cocktails" to make her healthier. It will also give her a $130-a-month disability grant -- but only if she gets sicker than she is now. And if she takes the drugs, she probably won't get sick enough to qualify for the cash.
For Zolile, the right choice was painful but clear. "I want to get sick so the doctor will give me a grant, and my children will have healthy food," she says, speaking on condition that her family name not be used. "Even if I die, my children will be better taken care of."
Medical workers, activists and academics in South Africa have been startled to discover that a number of impoverished AIDS patients are making the same decision, risking death in order to secure welfare assistance.
"Poverty and hunger are capable of driving people to do the unthinkable," says Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, head of the anthropology department at Durban's University of KwaZulu-Natal, who has studied the issue.
Why are people shocked? We have known for centuries that the way we treat human behavior will cause rewarded acts to get stronger and punished acts to get weaker. South Africa is rewarding sickness and punishing health yet they are "shocked" when people follow the rewards.
Common sense tells us that this will usually happen so we need to devise ways to offer quick rewards for those who act responsibility. The personal motivation to get better is more important than any miracle drug or heroic doctor. This, along with the positive support of family and friends is essential to good health.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Thanks for Homeland Security
From The Opinion Journal
Arms are for hugging? Not at Greenmeadow Elementary School in Maynard, Mass., where a family "is outraged after their 5-year-old daughter was forced to write a letter denouncing hugging after a classmate embraced her," according to Boston's WCVB-TV:
Brenda Brier and Michael Marino pulled their daughter, Savannah, out of school early Wednesday. The couple was angry after a meeting with officials at the Greenmeadow Elementary School in Maynard, where Savannah is in kindergarten.
At issue is a hug Savannah said she got on the playground from a friend named Sophie. Savannah hugged Sophie back. The hugs resulted in Savannah having to write a letter, complete with teacher corrections, that read, "I touch Sophie because she touch me and I didn't like it because she was hugging me. I didn't like when she hugged me."
"She said, 'I'm really sad that I got in trouble for hugging,'" Brier said.
"I can understand if boys are playing rough or kids are pulling each other around--that's one thing. But when kids are being affectionate, I mean hugging, hey, they shouldn't be disciplined over it and they shouldn't be lying in letters making the kid say the opposite that they don't like to hug," Marino said.
The school superintendent says there was a "dispute of the facts between a hug and a lifting of a child off the floor. . . . One girl bear hugged another girl and lifted her off the ground. The aide who was monitoring told the teacher. The teacher asked several students to write a note to their parents and describe what happened."
Zero Tolerance for Crime
From The Opinion Journal
Arms are for hugging? Not at Greenmeadow Elementary School in Maynard, Mass., where a family "is outraged after their 5-year-old daughter was forced to write a letter denouncing hugging after a classmate embraced her," according to Boston's WCVB-TV:
Brenda Brier and Michael Marino pulled their daughter, Savannah, out of school early Wednesday. The couple was angry after a meeting with officials at the Greenmeadow Elementary School in Maynard, where Savannah is in kindergarten.
At issue is a hug Savannah said she got on the playground from a friend named Sophie. Savannah hugged Sophie back. The hugs resulted in Savannah having to write a letter, complete with teacher corrections, that read, "I touch Sophie because she touch me and I didn't like it because she was hugging me. I didn't like when she hugged me."
"She said, 'I'm really sad that I got in trouble for hugging,'" Brier said.
"I can understand if boys are playing rough or kids are pulling each other around--that's one thing. But when kids are being affectionate, I mean hugging, hey, they shouldn't be disciplined over it and they shouldn't be lying in letters making the kid say the opposite that they don't like to hug," Marino said.
The school superintendent says there was a "dispute of the facts between a hug and a lifting of a child off the floor. . . . One girl bear hugged another girl and lifted her off the ground. The aide who was monitoring told the teacher. The teacher asked several students to write a note to their parents and describe what happened."
Zero Tolerance for Crime
Russian Ministry is Difficult and Long-Term
My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good. Jeremiah 4:22
In 1932 and 1933, a famine engulfed the Ukraine. The unfortunate fact is it did not have to happen. Stalin himself proclaimed that "nobody can deny that the total yield of grain in 1932 was larger than in 1931." Food was available. However, the state systematically confiscated most of it for its own use. His decision and the brutal actions of his henchmen condemned millions of people to their grave.
The roots of the man-made famine began in August 1932, when the Communist Party received the legal right to confiscate grain from peasant households. In August, a law was enacted that carried a death penalty for the theft of "socialist property" so anyone caught taking a handful of grain from a government silo or a collective farm field could be executed.
To prevent peasants from abandoning collective farms in search of food, a system of internal passports was put into effect. In November 1932, it became law that the government's quota was collected first and then remaining grain was distributed to the peasants.
The result was millions died of starvation on the collective farms.
In 1933, Mendel Khataevich, a Stalin supporter in Ukraine and the leader of the grain-procurement program, proudly stated: "A ruthless struggle is going on between the peasantry and our regime. It's a struggle to the death. This year was a test of our strength and their endurance. It took a famine to show them who is master here. It has cost millions of lives, but the collective farm system is here to stay. We have won the war!"
Steve Griebling and I am returning to minister once again in Moscow, Russia the first two weeks of June. The work there is slow going but progress is happening. We are helping the Christians all around the former USSR heal the wounds caused by 70 years of state organized terror.
But that is not all. We are helping them establish a vision of a better, more humane Christ centered future. The pagan socialist philosophy of the Communists had no respect for human life so they did not care if people died by the millions. We are teaching them that every person has been created in God's image and is worth somethinof fr now and for an eternity.
Pray for us and for Lifeways Russia, Galina's ministry name. If you are led, also consider sending Life Way Ministries, Inc a tax deductible donation to help us accomplish that vision.
My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good. Jeremiah 4:22
In 1932 and 1933, a famine engulfed the Ukraine. The unfortunate fact is it did not have to happen. Stalin himself proclaimed that "nobody can deny that the total yield of grain in 1932 was larger than in 1931." Food was available. However, the state systematically confiscated most of it for its own use. His decision and the brutal actions of his henchmen condemned millions of people to their grave.
The roots of the man-made famine began in August 1932, when the Communist Party received the legal right to confiscate grain from peasant households. In August, a law was enacted that carried a death penalty for the theft of "socialist property" so anyone caught taking a handful of grain from a government silo or a collective farm field could be executed.
To prevent peasants from abandoning collective farms in search of food, a system of internal passports was put into effect. In November 1932, it became law that the government's quota was collected first and then remaining grain was distributed to the peasants.
The result was millions died of starvation on the collective farms.
In 1933, Mendel Khataevich, a Stalin supporter in Ukraine and the leader of the grain-procurement program, proudly stated: "A ruthless struggle is going on between the peasantry and our regime. It's a struggle to the death. This year was a test of our strength and their endurance. It took a famine to show them who is master here. It has cost millions of lives, but the collective farm system is here to stay. We have won the war!"
Steve Griebling and I am returning to minister once again in Moscow, Russia the first two weeks of June. The work there is slow going but progress is happening. We are helping the Christians all around the former USSR heal the wounds caused by 70 years of state organized terror.
But that is not all. We are helping them establish a vision of a better, more humane Christ centered future. The pagan socialist philosophy of the Communists had no respect for human life so they did not care if people died by the millions. We are teaching them that every person has been created in God's image and is worth somethinof fr now and for an eternity.
Pray for us and for Lifeways Russia, Galina's ministry name. If you are led, also consider sending Life Way Ministries, Inc a tax deductible donation to help us accomplish that vision.
The Brain and Romance and Sex and the Bible
Why would God tell us humans not to engage in promiscuous sexual relationships? Is God, the Creator of sex and procreation a killjoy that enjoys seeing His creatures crave something He forbids them to have? Well, the more we learn about the brain the more sense God and His word make
The deep limbic system of the brain is the core of memories, feelings, motivation, bonding and so forth. Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist out west, writes about the importance of the limbic system on his we site. www.amenclinics.com (I have added some of my comments.)
Whenever two persons are sexually, neurochemical changes occur in both their brains. These chemicals cause limbic, emotional bonding. Limbic bonding is the reason casual sex doesn't really work on a whole mind and body level.
Two people may decide to have sex "just for the fun of it," yet something occurs on another level that they did not want at all. Sex placed an emotional bond or connection that is hard to break. One person will form an attachment and will get hurt when the affair ends. It is usually the woman because the size of a female's limbic system, in comparison to the rest of her brain, is larger than a mans. Thus, she is more likely to get limbically connected.
For thousands of years God's laws and social conventions protected women from this kind of suffering by strict rules against promiscuity. Since the Seventies and Women's Liberation females have insisted on having promiscuous sex as much as men and the results have been emotionally devastating for females.
Losing a spouse is traumatic in a different way than losing any other type of loved one. Once you have made love with a person, having the connection broken through death can be extraordinarily painful because there is a "deep limbic connection." The spouse has become part of the chemical bond of that part of the brain and it takes time for that bond to dissolve. Your deep limbic system misses the person's touch, voice and smell. As scripture says:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH."
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. I CO 6:15-20
Now that passage makes more sense and the pagans in Hollywood and politics have been put to shame because of the damage they are doing to people. No wonder there is so much depression and confusion among otherwise well off women. They have voluntarily given away portions of their hearts to anonymous men hoping to be "free" and independent but it has brought about destruction and self slavery.
Why would God tell us humans not to engage in promiscuous sexual relationships? Is God, the Creator of sex and procreation a killjoy that enjoys seeing His creatures crave something He forbids them to have? Well, the more we learn about the brain the more sense God and His word make
The deep limbic system of the brain is the core of memories, feelings, motivation, bonding and so forth. Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist out west, writes about the importance of the limbic system on his we site. www.amenclinics.com (I have added some of my comments.)
Whenever two persons are sexually, neurochemical changes occur in both their brains. These chemicals cause limbic, emotional bonding. Limbic bonding is the reason casual sex doesn't really work on a whole mind and body level.
Two people may decide to have sex "just for the fun of it," yet something occurs on another level that they did not want at all. Sex placed an emotional bond or connection that is hard to break. One person will form an attachment and will get hurt when the affair ends. It is usually the woman because the size of a female's limbic system, in comparison to the rest of her brain, is larger than a mans. Thus, she is more likely to get limbically connected.
For thousands of years God's laws and social conventions protected women from this kind of suffering by strict rules against promiscuity. Since the Seventies and Women's Liberation females have insisted on having promiscuous sex as much as men and the results have been emotionally devastating for females.
Losing a spouse is traumatic in a different way than losing any other type of loved one. Once you have made love with a person, having the connection broken through death can be extraordinarily painful because there is a "deep limbic connection." The spouse has become part of the chemical bond of that part of the brain and it takes time for that bond to dissolve. Your deep limbic system misses the person's touch, voice and smell. As scripture says:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH."
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. I CO 6:15-20
Now that passage makes more sense and the pagans in Hollywood and politics have been put to shame because of the damage they are doing to people. No wonder there is so much depression and confusion among otherwise well off women. They have voluntarily given away portions of their hearts to anonymous men hoping to be "free" and independent but it has brought about destruction and self slavery.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Sex and the Married Christian
Back in the Dark Ages when I was wandering around the UC Campus trying to corral the leftists I was confronted by a member of the Weather Underground who accused believers of hating sex. I stopped right in front of him and replied that of every religious group Christians were the most romantic. He scoffed loudly and said we were a bunch of prudes who gave us sex for church.
Even back then I knew he was wrong but I had no real data to back me up. Then in 1988 Redbook Magazine did a research study on sex and marriage and discovered, to their shock and chagrin, that the more religious people were more romantic by far. The re-d-d the study ten years later and left off the questions about religious preferences. When the data do not support your thesis dump the data and keep your thesis.
Now Opinion Journal follows up on some dumb statements by a leftist film director.
Christianity and sex have never been good friends," Dutch director Paul Verhoeven said in a story we cited yesterday. We didn't dwell on that quote, but it seems worth doing so now. It seems an odd point, given that in the Bible, God enjoins his creations to "be fruitful." Until we perfect cloning, there's only one way to do that.
A reader calls our attention to this 1999 Slate article:
When University of Chicago researchers set out to discover which religious denominations have the best sex, they learned that the faithful don't do all their shouting in church. Conservative Protestant women, their 1994 survey found, report by far the most orgasms: Thirty-two percent say they achieve orgasm every time they make love. Mainline Protestants and Catholics lagged five points behind. Those with no religious affiliation were at 22 percent. (Unitarians may not wish to read any further.)
The main topic of the Slate piece is the burgeoning market for Christian sex advice books: "Evangelicals may not want their children to study sex ed in school, but they are not afraid of studying a little sex ed in their bedrooms," writes Mark Oppenheimer:
Perhaps the most notable quality of the Christian sex business is that it is evangelical, not puritanical. It is very pro-sex--as long as sex takes place in the context of marriage.
And that's the point. When Verhoeven says "Christianity and sex have never been good friends," what he means by "sex" is not sex but uncommitted sex--the weird anti-ideal of the sexual revolution.
The idea of sex without strings attached has, to be sure, a certain allure. But as a practical matter it is simply unworkable for most people. It's emotionally messy and requires more effort than it's worth. It seems obvious that you'll have more and better sex if you go to bed every night with someone you love. To do that, you don't have to be Christian, but it doesn't hurt.
The Opinion Journal is a free online commentary with some of the best writing and the most interesting articles I know. They consistently punch holes in the pretentious and arrogantly ignorant statements of the loony left.
I hope you see the irony in these guys attacking us for hating sex when it is they that put themselves in bondage for a mess of pottage.
Back in the Dark Ages when I was wandering around the UC Campus trying to corral the leftists I was confronted by a member of the Weather Underground who accused believers of hating sex. I stopped right in front of him and replied that of every religious group Christians were the most romantic. He scoffed loudly and said we were a bunch of prudes who gave us sex for church.
Even back then I knew he was wrong but I had no real data to back me up. Then in 1988 Redbook Magazine did a research study on sex and marriage and discovered, to their shock and chagrin, that the more religious people were more romantic by far. The re-d-d the study ten years later and left off the questions about religious preferences. When the data do not support your thesis dump the data and keep your thesis.
Now Opinion Journal follows up on some dumb statements by a leftist film director.
Christianity and sex have never been good friends," Dutch director Paul Verhoeven said in a story we cited yesterday. We didn't dwell on that quote, but it seems worth doing so now. It seems an odd point, given that in the Bible, God enjoins his creations to "be fruitful." Until we perfect cloning, there's only one way to do that.
A reader calls our attention to this 1999 Slate article:
When University of Chicago researchers set out to discover which religious denominations have the best sex, they learned that the faithful don't do all their shouting in church. Conservative Protestant women, their 1994 survey found, report by far the most orgasms: Thirty-two percent say they achieve orgasm every time they make love. Mainline Protestants and Catholics lagged five points behind. Those with no religious affiliation were at 22 percent. (Unitarians may not wish to read any further.)
The main topic of the Slate piece is the burgeoning market for Christian sex advice books: "Evangelicals may not want their children to study sex ed in school, but they are not afraid of studying a little sex ed in their bedrooms," writes Mark Oppenheimer:
Perhaps the most notable quality of the Christian sex business is that it is evangelical, not puritanical. It is very pro-sex--as long as sex takes place in the context of marriage.
And that's the point. When Verhoeven says "Christianity and sex have never been good friends," what he means by "sex" is not sex but uncommitted sex--the weird anti-ideal of the sexual revolution.
The idea of sex without strings attached has, to be sure, a certain allure. But as a practical matter it is simply unworkable for most people. It's emotionally messy and requires more effort than it's worth. It seems obvious that you'll have more and better sex if you go to bed every night with someone you love. To do that, you don't have to be Christian, but it doesn't hurt.
The Opinion Journal is a free online commentary with some of the best writing and the most interesting articles I know. They consistently punch holes in the pretentious and arrogantly ignorant statements of the loony left.
I hope you see the irony in these guys attacking us for hating sex when it is they that put themselves in bondage for a mess of pottage.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Back to Basics
Almost anything in Christianity can be abused and misused. As a Christian that is also a therapist who opened a Christ-centered psychiatric hospital I can testify that I have heard every story about weirdos in religion that you can imagine. The pagan docs at the hospital
where I set up my program treated me like a leper. Nevertheless, all these ideas are biblical and true. Additionally, the ideas worked to heal and deliver people in need.
I find that my ministry of late has taken a turn back to the beginning of the Jesus Revolution and waiting on God to move to guide, direct, heal and speak to us. Now, however, I am not working with college students but burned out elders, pastors and leaders. They began in the Spirit but went off into theoretical theology and got rutted in lively orthopraxy, dead orthodoxy or mixed up spirituality. In any event they have done so much in their own minds and striving to perform instead of flowing in and with God. YUCK!
As I listen and help them re-connect to the Spirit of God, they are coming alive with dreams, visions, words, discernment, directives, nudges and insights of great creativity. I think every mature Christian over 40 needs to reconnect with that first love and awe of God's Spirit and be
rejuvenated. As that happens the gifts of the Spirit as well as the fruit are stirred up and the community comes together in unity around His words and works.
It seems to me that the "Prophetic" in Charismatic life became another "Performance" by a special breed of people who carried their "words" around in a little black satchel like a doctor doing house calls. This was also the way all the Spiritual Gifts' ministry ended up: as a work not a flow of the Spirit. Intercessors became "work" of a few mystics along with the "Prophets". Preaching, teaching, healing, pastoral care, evangelism all became works that people "Pulled out of their black satchels" and used in a public service.
I disagree with this kind of ministry. I think we need to recover the dynamic of the community seeking God and receiving His direction according to His good will by using anyone He wants in the group. But, it is key to recognize that any one of the group can hear and share His leading.
I teach individuals and small groups how to wait on God and listen for His still small voice. It is exciting and the members experience personal faith at a very deep level.
I am seeing people with whom I work as a coach/counselor dream real dreams and have real visions. They are being led by God's Holy Spirit to take loving actions toward their in-laws and husbands. I am seeing reconciliations and healings. God is at work in the people not because of my brilliant insights but as a result of waiting upon and hearing Him.
Do you know any mature leaders who are worn out, burned out or defeated and deflated? Tell them to call me.
Gary Sweeten
Almost anything in Christianity can be abused and misused. As a Christian that is also a therapist who opened a Christ-centered psychiatric hospital I can testify that I have heard every story about weirdos in religion that you can imagine. The pagan docs at the hospital
where I set up my program treated me like a leper. Nevertheless, all these ideas are biblical and true. Additionally, the ideas worked to heal and deliver people in need.
I find that my ministry of late has taken a turn back to the beginning of the Jesus Revolution and waiting on God to move to guide, direct, heal and speak to us. Now, however, I am not working with college students but burned out elders, pastors and leaders. They began in the Spirit but went off into theoretical theology and got rutted in lively orthopraxy, dead orthodoxy or mixed up spirituality. In any event they have done so much in their own minds and striving to perform instead of flowing in and with God. YUCK!
As I listen and help them re-connect to the Spirit of God, they are coming alive with dreams, visions, words, discernment, directives, nudges and insights of great creativity. I think every mature Christian over 40 needs to reconnect with that first love and awe of God's Spirit and be
rejuvenated. As that happens the gifts of the Spirit as well as the fruit are stirred up and the community comes together in unity around His words and works.
It seems to me that the "Prophetic" in Charismatic life became another "Performance" by a special breed of people who carried their "words" around in a little black satchel like a doctor doing house calls. This was also the way all the Spiritual Gifts' ministry ended up: as a work not a flow of the Spirit. Intercessors became "work" of a few mystics along with the "Prophets". Preaching, teaching, healing, pastoral care, evangelism all became works that people "Pulled out of their black satchels" and used in a public service.
I disagree with this kind of ministry. I think we need to recover the dynamic of the community seeking God and receiving His direction according to His good will by using anyone He wants in the group. But, it is key to recognize that any one of the group can hear and share His leading.
I teach individuals and small groups how to wait on God and listen for His still small voice. It is exciting and the members experience personal faith at a very deep level.
I am seeing people with whom I work as a coach/counselor dream real dreams and have real visions. They are being led by God's Holy Spirit to take loving actions toward their in-laws and husbands. I am seeing reconciliations and healings. God is at work in the people not because of my brilliant insights but as a result of waiting upon and hearing Him.
Do you know any mature leaders who are worn out, burned out or defeated and deflated? Tell them to call me.
Gary Sweeten
The keys to happiness are simple — grow up, get married, have children, go to church and try to forget about the wilder days of youth.
Only 52 percent of Americans say they are "very happy" with their lives, according to a Scripps Howard/Ohio University survey of 1,007 adult residents of the United States. Forty-three percent said they are "fairly happy," 3 percent said they are "not too happy" and 2 percent are undecided.
That might not seem sufficiently ebullient for a nation that embraces the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right. But the survey found Americans with particular lifestyles more likely to say they have found contentment. While wealth has a modest impact on well-being, other social factors appear to have greater influence.
"It's a lot of fun to see what the correlations are for happiness," said Glenn Van Ekeren, an elder-care executive in Omaha, Neb., who has published three books on the secrets to happiness.
One of the most important things Americans can do to improve the odds of being happy, the survey found, is to get married. Sixty percent of married people are very happy, compared with 41 percent of singles, the poll found.
Most people who have children said they are very happy in life, while most people who had never been parents said they are only "fairly happy" or "not too happy." Even among single people, having children in their lives increased the odds they will be happy.
An even stronger factor is the power of organized religion — any religion — on a sense of well-being.
Protestants, especially self-identified "born again" evangelicals, reported a high rate of contentment. Sixty percent of people who had recently attended worship services said they are very happy, compared with 46 percent who had not done so.
The survey found that people of different races, regions and urban settings are about equally likely to be happy.
There was a link between wealth and joy, with the happiest group in the middle brackets of $60,000 to $80,000 annual household income. People in disadvantaged homes were less likely to report contentment.
Scripps Howard Newspapers
Only 52 percent of Americans say they are "very happy" with their lives, according to a Scripps Howard/Ohio University survey of 1,007 adult residents of the United States. Forty-three percent said they are "fairly happy," 3 percent said they are "not too happy" and 2 percent are undecided.
That might not seem sufficiently ebullient for a nation that embraces the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right. But the survey found Americans with particular lifestyles more likely to say they have found contentment. While wealth has a modest impact on well-being, other social factors appear to have greater influence.
"It's a lot of fun to see what the correlations are for happiness," said Glenn Van Ekeren, an elder-care executive in Omaha, Neb., who has published three books on the secrets to happiness.
One of the most important things Americans can do to improve the odds of being happy, the survey found, is to get married. Sixty percent of married people are very happy, compared with 41 percent of singles, the poll found.
Most people who have children said they are very happy in life, while most people who had never been parents said they are only "fairly happy" or "not too happy." Even among single people, having children in their lives increased the odds they will be happy.
An even stronger factor is the power of organized religion — any religion — on a sense of well-being.
Protestants, especially self-identified "born again" evangelicals, reported a high rate of contentment. Sixty percent of people who had recently attended worship services said they are very happy, compared with 46 percent who had not done so.
The survey found that people of different races, regions and urban settings are about equally likely to be happy.
There was a link between wealth and joy, with the happiest group in the middle brackets of $60,000 to $80,000 annual household income. People in disadvantaged homes were less likely to report contentment.
Scripps Howard Newspapers
The Power We Christians Have to Control People Is Awesome
The Loony Left gives us who believe in Christ and morality a lot of power. Just think, we are the hidden power behind everything they hate and despise; especially refraining from promiscuous sex. According to the Opinion Journal Report,
"Basic Instinct 2" is bombing at the box office, and the man who gave us its big-BO precursor is having delusions of censorship, Reuters reports:
Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million worldwide) attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.
"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."
Scribe Nicholas Meyer, who was an uncredited writer on 1987's seminal sex-fueled cautionary tale "Fatal Attraction," agrees, noting that the genre's downfall coincides with the ascent of the conservative political movement.
"We're in a big puritanical mode," he said. "Now, it's like the McCarthy era, except it's not 'Are you a communist?' but 'Have you ever put sex in a movie?' "
According to Reuters, " 'Basic Instinct 2' limped into 10th place upon its arrival this weekend, grossing just $3.2 million," which is not bad for a movie that isn't allowed to be shown.
Can you imagine anyone in his right mind complaining that there is no sex in America? That movies, TV, books and magazines are regularly censored if sex is mentioned? Wow! Don't you feel much better now that you discovered from this guy that all sex has been taken out of society? (Take your anti-paranoid meds Mr. Movie Man.)
The Loony Left gives us who believe in Christ and morality a lot of power. Just think, we are the hidden power behind everything they hate and despise; especially refraining from promiscuous sex. According to the Opinion Journal Report,
"Basic Instinct 2" is bombing at the box office, and the man who gave us its big-BO precursor is having delusions of censorship, Reuters reports:
Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million worldwide) attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.
"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."
Scribe Nicholas Meyer, who was an uncredited writer on 1987's seminal sex-fueled cautionary tale "Fatal Attraction," agrees, noting that the genre's downfall coincides with the ascent of the conservative political movement.
"We're in a big puritanical mode," he said. "Now, it's like the McCarthy era, except it's not 'Are you a communist?' but 'Have you ever put sex in a movie?' "
According to Reuters, " 'Basic Instinct 2' limped into 10th place upon its arrival this weekend, grossing just $3.2 million," which is not bad for a movie that isn't allowed to be shown.
Can you imagine anyone in his right mind complaining that there is no sex in America? That movies, TV, books and magazines are regularly censored if sex is mentioned? Wow! Don't you feel much better now that you discovered from this guy that all sex has been taken out of society? (Take your anti-paranoid meds Mr. Movie Man.)
Zero Tolerance for Truth in School
At one time in my life I was a teacher. I loved the children and I enjoyed teaching them. It was very hard work but teaching kids how to be good citizens was well worth the effort. Now schooled have a different mission. They are trying extremely hard to teach kids how to lie, deceive and hide the truth.
Read this article.
Honesty doesn't pay: This seems to be the lesson officials at Indianapolis Stonybrook Middle School wish to send their charges. The Indianapolis Star reports:
Elliot [vogue], 14, said he was walking to the school entrance in the brisk weather March 3 and had placed his hands in his coat pocket when he felt the Swiss army pocketknife in the pocket.
"I went straight to the office right inside (the front door)," he said.
He said he handed the knife to Teri Donahue, the school's treasurer, and told her he had brought it to school by mistake.
As a result of Elliot's actions, the school's principal, Jimmy Meadows, suspended Elliot for the maximum 10 school days as allowed by law and recommended Elliot be expelled. A confidential expulsion hearing is scheduled for April 10.
As the family's lawyer says, "Their message is to be dishonest, take more chances."
The common sense that at one time ruled the school day has seemed to disappear from the scene. I cannot imagine why a school principal would take such a radical and stupid action. These kinds of things are happening on a regular basis and no one seems to be learning any better.
Once, while flying back to the USA from Russia I discovered a Swiss knife in my carry on luggage. I do not know how it got there but I quietly slipped it into a safe and hidden place unit I could put it in my checked luggage. I intuitively knew the crew would go nuts and put me in chains if I actually turned it in to them.
I was reared in a fundamentalist Baptist home but I never, ever ran into the kind of legalistic, narrow minded thinking there that I am seeing every day in American schools and airports. When will people raise up and demand changes from the people we elect, select and pay to serve us?
I hope Elliot's family sues the school district and wins 10 million dollars to teach the board and administration a lesson they should have learned in kindergarten.
At one time in my life I was a teacher. I loved the children and I enjoyed teaching them. It was very hard work but teaching kids how to be good citizens was well worth the effort. Now schooled have a different mission. They are trying extremely hard to teach kids how to lie, deceive and hide the truth.
Read this article.
Honesty doesn't pay: This seems to be the lesson officials at Indianapolis Stonybrook Middle School wish to send their charges. The Indianapolis Star reports:
Elliot [vogue], 14, said he was walking to the school entrance in the brisk weather March 3 and had placed his hands in his coat pocket when he felt the Swiss army pocketknife in the pocket.
"I went straight to the office right inside (the front door)," he said.
He said he handed the knife to Teri Donahue, the school's treasurer, and told her he had brought it to school by mistake.
As a result of Elliot's actions, the school's principal, Jimmy Meadows, suspended Elliot for the maximum 10 school days as allowed by law and recommended Elliot be expelled. A confidential expulsion hearing is scheduled for April 10.
As the family's lawyer says, "Their message is to be dishonest, take more chances."
The common sense that at one time ruled the school day has seemed to disappear from the scene. I cannot imagine why a school principal would take such a radical and stupid action. These kinds of things are happening on a regular basis and no one seems to be learning any better.
Once, while flying back to the USA from Russia I discovered a Swiss knife in my carry on luggage. I do not know how it got there but I quietly slipped it into a safe and hidden place unit I could put it in my checked luggage. I intuitively knew the crew would go nuts and put me in chains if I actually turned it in to them.
I was reared in a fundamentalist Baptist home but I never, ever ran into the kind of legalistic, narrow minded thinking there that I am seeing every day in American schools and airports. When will people raise up and demand changes from the people we elect, select and pay to serve us?
I hope Elliot's family sues the school district and wins 10 million dollars to teach the board and administration a lesson they should have learned in kindergarten.
Islam and Imperialism
A great article in today's online Opinion Journal from the Wall Street Journal. otep@djoj.opinionjournal.com
I have long argued that Islamic current aggressive attacks on the USA have little or nothing to do with America's current or foreign policies. In fact, it has little to do with America other than we are seen by Islam as Christians who defeated them in the Crusades. However, the rage, hatred and shame associated with the USA predates our founding by many years.
Take a look at this paragraph from the Journal article.
Like their Arab predecessors, the Ottomans were energetic empire-builders in the name of jihad. By the early 16th century, they had conquered Syria and Egypt from the Mamluks, the formidable slave soldiers who had contained the Mongols and destroyed the Crusader kingdoms.
Under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, they soon turned northward. By the middle of the 17th century they seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe, only to be turned back in fierce fighting at the gates of Vienna in 1683--on September 11, of all dates.
Islam has always been aggressive imperialists since the days of Muhammad. They always will be for it is in their DNA by his statements and calls to expand Islam around the world. The largest Islamic nation is not Arabic but is Indonesia and it has the most radical imperialists.
A great article in today's online Opinion Journal from the Wall Street Journal. otep@djoj.opinionjournal.com
I have long argued that Islamic current aggressive attacks on the USA have little or nothing to do with America's current or foreign policies. In fact, it has little to do with America other than we are seen by Islam as Christians who defeated them in the Crusades. However, the rage, hatred and shame associated with the USA predates our founding by many years.
Take a look at this paragraph from the Journal article.
Like their Arab predecessors, the Ottomans were energetic empire-builders in the name of jihad. By the early 16th century, they had conquered Syria and Egypt from the Mamluks, the formidable slave soldiers who had contained the Mongols and destroyed the Crusader kingdoms.
Under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, they soon turned northward. By the middle of the 17th century they seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe, only to be turned back in fierce fighting at the gates of Vienna in 1683--on September 11, of all dates.
Islam has always been aggressive imperialists since the days of Muhammad. They always will be for it is in their DNA by his statements and calls to expand Islam around the world. The largest Islamic nation is not Arabic but is Indonesia and it has the most radical imperialists.
Churchgoers Live Longer
By Robert Roy BrittLiveScience Managing Editorposted: 03 April 200611:29 am ETThere are many things you can do to increase your life expectancy: exercise, eat well, take your medication and ... go to church.A new study finds people who attend religious services weekly live longer. Specifically, the research looked at how many years are added to life expectancy based on:
Regular physical exercise: 3.0-to-5.1 years
Proven therapeutic regimens: 2.1-to-3.7 years
Regular religious attendance: 1.8-to-3.1 years
The role of religion The study, which is actually a review of existing research from the three categories, does not reveal what the link between faith and health might be."Religious attendance is not a mode of medical therapy," said study leader Daniel Hall, a resident in general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
"While this study was not intended for use in clinical decision making, these findings tell us that there is something to examine further."Hall is also an Episcopal priest."The significance of this finding may prove to be controversial," he said. "But at the very least, it shows that further research into the associations between religion and health might have implications for medical practice."
In a telephone interview, Hall speculated that the social aspect of religion could play a role in the results: "There is something about being knit into the type of community that religious communities embody that has a way of mediating a positive health effect," he told LiveScience. Perhaps, he said, being involved in a religion "can then decrease your level of stress in life or increase your ability to cope with stress." Another possibility: "Being in a religious community helps you make meaning out of your life," Hall suggested.
The findings are detailed in the March-April issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.Cost-effectiveHall also looked at the cost of these three approaches, examining typical gym membership fees, therapy costs from health insurance companies and census data on average household contributions to religious institutions. The estimated cost of each year of additional life apparently gained by each method:
Regular physical exercise: $4,000
Proven therapeutic regimens: $10,000
Regular religious attendance: $7,000
By Robert Roy BrittLiveScience Managing Editorposted: 03 April 200611:29 am ETThere are many things you can do to increase your life expectancy: exercise, eat well, take your medication and ... go to church.A new study finds people who attend religious services weekly live longer. Specifically, the research looked at how many years are added to life expectancy based on:
Regular physical exercise: 3.0-to-5.1 years
Proven therapeutic regimens: 2.1-to-3.7 years
Regular religious attendance: 1.8-to-3.1 years
The role of religion The study, which is actually a review of existing research from the three categories, does not reveal what the link between faith and health might be."Religious attendance is not a mode of medical therapy," said study leader Daniel Hall, a resident in general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
"While this study was not intended for use in clinical decision making, these findings tell us that there is something to examine further."Hall is also an Episcopal priest."The significance of this finding may prove to be controversial," he said. "But at the very least, it shows that further research into the associations between religion and health might have implications for medical practice."
In a telephone interview, Hall speculated that the social aspect of religion could play a role in the results: "There is something about being knit into the type of community that religious communities embody that has a way of mediating a positive health effect," he told LiveScience. Perhaps, he said, being involved in a religion "can then decrease your level of stress in life or increase your ability to cope with stress." Another possibility: "Being in a religious community helps you make meaning out of your life," Hall suggested.
The findings are detailed in the March-April issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.Cost-effectiveHall also looked at the cost of these three approaches, examining typical gym membership fees, therapy costs from health insurance companies and census data on average household contributions to religious institutions. The estimated cost of each year of additional life apparently gained by each method:
Regular physical exercise: $4,000
Proven therapeutic regimens: $10,000
Regular religious attendance: $7,000
Monday, April 03, 2006
Lose it to Gain it
One of the many paradoxes in life is the one taught below by Jesus. The Master Teacher had spent day and night for over three years with a group of men He chose to carry on His ministry. He took them aside and began to teach them about His destiny. After hearing Jesus clearly tell what was going to happen to Him, Peter goes into one of his patented "Foot in mouth" drills.
Mark 8:31
Jesus, then began to teach the Disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this,
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for me and for the gospel will save it.
As a pastor to pastors I can relate numerous stories about leaders who have lost their souls by working so hard to save them. These folks all started strong with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Their passion for God and His word led them to pursue "Full Time Ministry". Things went well for awhile but then they hit the wall.
The western models for a successful ministry are all distorted by capitalism and the Protestant work ethic. The only worthwhile way to prove one's Personhood in the Professional Ministry is to build a bigger barn, get more people in the barn and have them sacrifice their livelihood paying for the barn.
The pastor of a large church told me several years ago that his board was unhappy that they were no longer growing at the same rate as they had when they added two thousand people in a few years. He was scared and anxious. Fear of man filled his heart. He did not know who he was if he was not a success in their eyes.
When Performance equals Personhood burnout cannot be far behind.
I suggested that he needed to slow down and worry less about noses, numbers and nickels and concentrate on recovering his deep relationship with the Holy Spirit.
"But, I will be fired," he said.
He was to fearful of human disapproval and had no fear of God. It was not long before he came to me and asked for an anti-depressive medication. I suggested that he take a sabbatical and learn how to pray again. "Too risky," he said.
He may have thought it was risky but failure to connect with God after 40 is by far a greater risk. In fact, I think it is fear to face God that drives us to try to please men. But it does not work. When we try to save our soul through hard work, worry and weariness we are destroying our souls. Not eternal destruction but spiritual and emotional destruction today.
36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
What good is it to gain the pulpit of the largest church in town and lose your inner life of the kingdom? Who do you trust more? Your works or the Works of the Holy Spirit?
One of the many paradoxes in life is the one taught below by Jesus. The Master Teacher had spent day and night for over three years with a group of men He chose to carry on His ministry. He took them aside and began to teach them about His destiny. After hearing Jesus clearly tell what was going to happen to Him, Peter goes into one of his patented "Foot in mouth" drills.
Mark 8:31
Jesus, then began to teach the Disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this,
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for me and for the gospel will save it.
As a pastor to pastors I can relate numerous stories about leaders who have lost their souls by working so hard to save them. These folks all started strong with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Their passion for God and His word led them to pursue "Full Time Ministry". Things went well for awhile but then they hit the wall.
The western models for a successful ministry are all distorted by capitalism and the Protestant work ethic. The only worthwhile way to prove one's Personhood in the Professional Ministry is to build a bigger barn, get more people in the barn and have them sacrifice their livelihood paying for the barn.
The pastor of a large church told me several years ago that his board was unhappy that they were no longer growing at the same rate as they had when they added two thousand people in a few years. He was scared and anxious. Fear of man filled his heart. He did not know who he was if he was not a success in their eyes.
When Performance equals Personhood burnout cannot be far behind.
I suggested that he needed to slow down and worry less about noses, numbers and nickels and concentrate on recovering his deep relationship with the Holy Spirit.
"But, I will be fired," he said.
He was to fearful of human disapproval and had no fear of God. It was not long before he came to me and asked for an anti-depressive medication. I suggested that he take a sabbatical and learn how to pray again. "Too risky," he said.
He may have thought it was risky but failure to connect with God after 40 is by far a greater risk. In fact, I think it is fear to face God that drives us to try to please men. But it does not work. When we try to save our soul through hard work, worry and weariness we are destroying our souls. Not eternal destruction but spiritual and emotional destruction today.
36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
What good is it to gain the pulpit of the largest church in town and lose your inner life of the kingdom? Who do you trust more? Your works or the Works of the Holy Spirit?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)