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I've entitled these four verses "Living the Risen Life," Living the Risen Life. I think you can always tell a person at least their true character by what they seek to gain and what they really love it really never fails as a test. In fact you could easily evaluate your own character by approaching yourself that way. Ask yourself this question. What are the three things I am currently seeking most earnestly? You don't have to answer out loud and you don't have to write it down and turn it in. but think about it. What are the three things you currently are most seeking? That'll be a good monitor on whether you are preoccupation is heavenly or earthly. Godward or selfward. If that doesn't work, ask yourself this. What are the three things I love the most? And if you can't figure out how to answer that question ask yourself this one. What are the three things I think about the most? And that'll get to it. What's on your mind most of all? You see Jesus put it like this: where your treasure is there will your heart be also. You can always tell a man's true character by his mind preoccupation, what he thinks about or what she thinks about reveals where their treasure is. Where is your heart? Where is your life? Where is your concentration? Where is your thinking most of the time? What do you think about most of the time?
Now Paul's purpose in Colossians 3:14 is to help us to see where our concentration ought to be. Where we ought to be thinking and the key to the little passage is in verse 2. "Set your mind or your thinking on things above and not on things on the earth." Now what Paul says in this passage is very simple and very clear. The believer is to be heavenly minded. It's the same thing that Jesus said when he said, "put your treasure in heaven, because where your treasure is, is where your heart will be." It's the same thing that Paul said when he said, whatever is pure and just and holy and honest and so forth, think on those things."
What is your preoccupation? Paul says your preoccupation is to be on things above and not on things on the earth. Now let me put this in context for you here in the book of Colossians. Paul beginning in chapter 3 comes to the practical part of his letter. He's through with doctrine and the plymics or the argument against the false teachers for the most, part and he now is going to deal with the practical area of your life. Having established the true doctrine of our Christ, having settled the argument with the false teachers, get about living the Christian life, and get about living it like this with your mind set on things above and not on things on the earth. The power for living the Christian life then is to concentrate above, the upward look if you will.
Now we remember from chapter 2 in great length we discussed it, that spirituality according to the false teachers were something you pursued through four avenues. Human wisdom, and that could be as broad as the offerings of human philosophy. Legalism, mysticism or asceticism. We used those terms and defined them. And the errorists were saying true spirituality is found in Christ, plus human wisdom. Christ, plus keeping certain rituals and routines and manmade laws. Christ, plus certain visions and worshipping of angels and certain strange and wonderful and marvelous deeper or higher or whatever experiences. Or the ascetics said, true spirituality is Christ plus total self abasement, total self denial, total slavery of self to a poverty of life. And Paul says at the end of chapter 2 in verse 23, all they did with all of those ideas was satisfied their own flesh, in spite of all that appearance of wisdom. And it sounds good to say true spirituality is Christ plus human wisdom. Christ plus keeping rules and rituals. Christ plus visions, and marvelous and deeper and higher experiences. Christ, plus total self abasement and so forth. It sounds good, but all that does is pander the flesh because true spirituality is Christ, plus what, nothing! And the sooner you realize that, the sooner you are going to get your eyes off manmade rules, and manmade religions, and get your affections up there where they belong. The preoccupation of the believer is not to be with the rules and regulations of men, the wisdom of men, the visions and experiences of men, the self denial of men, the true occupation of the believer who wants to really know spirituality is to concentrate on the person of Christ. That's what he is saying.
And that really is the zest and condemnation of every system when Paul says at the end of it, all it does is Dander or indulge the flesh. Human philosophy, legalism, mysticism and asceticism can't make anybody better. It can't make anybody spiritual. It can't save anybody. It can't add any dimension to spirituality. It is powerless to deal with evil desire, it is powerless to deal with lust, it gives no victory over the lower nature. It is morally impotent. And underneath human philosophy, underneath legalism, underneath mysticism, underneath asceticism, flourishes all the vices. And the only way to divorce yourself from all of that is to take your mind and your heart and your thinking processes and your motives into the presence of Jesus Christ. Now remember that the Colossian Christians were being attacked, and they were being attacked by a group of heretics, false teachers. And they were saying, Christ is insufficient. Christ is not sufficient to save, or Christ is not sufficient to bring you to full spirituality it must be Christ, plus these manmade religious rules or approaches. But it is an old story that heaven born children gain nothing from earth born religion. Christ is all. And so Paul told point here, notice it now in chapter 3, verse 1, "if you be risen with Christ, seek the things above where Christ, sits..." If you want to experience victory over spiritual intimidation, if you want not to be threatened by all of this that is coming at you, trying to tell you that you are not spiritual because you don't have it, get your affections where they belong on the presence of Jesus Christ, He is all. And in his fullness is all The power and all the love and all the resource for Christian living. That was his point in chapter 2, verse 10. We've seen this again and again. You are complete in him, who is the fullness.
Now Paul has carefully shown that these false teachers who want you to think that spirituality is a matter of lofty wisdom or ritual or routine or special visions or all these other things. He has carefully shown us that this is dead wrong. You should avoid these kinds of approaches to spirituality because they are earth bound. They don't make it. And the positive statement on true spirituality is to simply take your heart and mind and let them ascend into the presence of Jesus Christ who sits on the right hand of the Father and dwell on him. As Paul would say it in Ephesians, live in the heavenlies. Stop being earth bound. Focus your constant attention on the all sufficient Christ Don't run around looking for a new rule, a new ritual, a new vision, a new deeper experience, a new higher experience, a new kind of self denial, a new particular human philosophy. Just focus on Christ, make your concentration there and leave it there and you'll experience what is sufficient for spirituality.
Now remember that the Colossians were being intimidated. These errorists were saying, you guys might think you've arrived spiritually, but you are not at all where you ought to be. You have been deluded. You haven't made it spiritually; you can't make it by Christ alone. You have to have these other things. You don't have the fullness of spirituality unless you have these extra things. And so Paul wants the Colossian to know that that isn't true. They have everything in having Christ. And so Paul lays down solidly the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of Christ, sufficiency in chapters 1 and 2.
Now watch this, having laid down solid doctrine that Christ, is all, Christ, is everything, Christ is sufficient. Then in chapter 3 He says now on the basis of that doctrine here is how you are to behave. Since Christ, is everything don't worry about human wisdom, don't worry about all that other stuff, just concentrate on him, he is all you need. But notice something, and we see it again and again. I am going to take some time to elucidate it because it'll indirectly get at the problem of spiritual intimidation that we have been talking about. Paul always goes from doctrine to behavior. In all the teaching of the Scripture in the New Testament, in all the epistles we find first great statements of truth and then a call to behave in accord with truth. Since Christ is the fullness of all that fill all in all. Since Christ is the head of the body, since Christ is the one in whom the fullness of the godhead dwells, since Christ is completeness, since Christ is sufficient, since Christ, is everything, chapter 3, focus on Chris. So you have a practical exhortation based on a clear doctrinal foundation. That's always, always Paul's approach. What we must do, now mark this, what we do, as believers must be based on solid doctrine.
Now notice, not on intimidation. That is his point. Don't be intimidated to do something that you know is not biblical. Paul wrote to the Galatians and said how in the world could you possibly get caught up in Judaism again. How could you possibly get caught up in legalism? now could you possibly buy that stuff when you know the gospel? You have departed from what you know is true, and that is incongruous. Your spirituality is based on what you know, on solid doctrine.
Now the intimidators they don't worry about that. They just come along and say, "well you are not spiritual if you don't do this and you don't do this and you don't do this", and make us feel guilty eventhough they can't defend it biblically. It is a dangerous thing when any believer pursues a kind of behavior that contradicts the Scripture. When you do that you are really stepping in to the fire. It doesn't matter that somebody may come along and say, "well I am sorry you are out because you haven't experienced this or you don't know this or you don't have the higher knowledge of the deeper life" or whatever or whatever, whatever. It doesn't matter what they say, it only matters what the Word of God says, and Paul has just said for two chapters, all you need is Christ, plus nothing. Don't be intimidated!
Now remember last Sunday night we told you that these four things are, you know, they are visible in our society. There are people who come along and say, "you Christians are," you know, "you are just fundamentalists. You don't know anything." You know, "you are so narrow minded, what you really need is to expand and understand some philosophy and pull in some human wisdom to go along with the word of God," and sometimes, you know, being a what's called a fundamentalist, a very straight, narrow orthodox evangelical, you can be intimidated. I have been accused of that, speaking on college campuses of being narrow minded and pigeonholing all of my Theology and being a biblicist you know, and I remember one time I spoke some where and they introduced me by saying, "We introduce to you John Mac Arthur, whose hope is built on nothing less than Scofield's notes and Scripture press." And, you know, so I mean I have been through that too, that kind of intimidation that makes you feel like a mental midget because you believe the Bible. You know, and you don't know everything about philosophy. And that is intimidating.
And then there are people in our society who would intimidate us along the line of legalism. There are many Christians who would say, "Well I don't care what you Teach and I don't care that you believe the gospel, you don't preach against this or you don say that people have to do this." And they get into all these little nitpicking legalistic things that they have developed as a system for spirituality. And they make you feel intimidated like you are not really spiritual because you don't follow the little list. And there are then, of course and we talked about this, the charismatic people who want you to be intimidated because you haven't had a vision. Or you haven't had an ecstatic experience, or you haven't met an angel or you haven't gone to heaven and come back. Or you haven't some very far out kind of thing, and you are just an average run of the mill every day normal Christian, and you haven't really gotten to the super saint level. And then there are the ascetics who would come along and say, "Well you can't own that car or live in that house and wear that coat and be a Christian." Poverty is Christianity Self denial, self abasement; there aren't any stripes on your back. And so we can be intimidated by the same thing the Colossians were being intimidated by. But mark it, don't ever be intimidated unless there is a reason for it and the only reason for it is that they are bringing up something that is biblical. If it isn't in the word, you just keep on doing what you are doing, and don't listen to them. And so the apostle Paul says, don't let them intimidate you, Christ is all you need. That's the Word of God! He is all, he is sufficient.
Now whenever you violate this principle, you get yourself in a lot of trouble. I want to give some illustrations to that. Turn your Bible to II Samuel chapter 6.
Now this is a story you may remember. It was refreshed in my mind as I was listening to a tape this week and the gentlemen who was teaching went over some of these things and really refreshed my mind on the impact of some of these stories, and I thought, well these will fit in well and I I'll share them with you. You remember the story, and I do as well. David the king desired, just making a long story short, desired to move the ark. He desired to move the ark and the covenant.
Now if you were to go back in the Bible to the fourth chapter of Numbers and the first 15 verses you would find there a very clear word about how the ark was to be moved. The ark was the representation of the presence of God. Remember the ark and the covenant. it had some rings on the side, they wereto be Dulled, put through the rings, the ark was never touched, the poles were run through the rings and they were to be carried on the shoulders of Levites, and nobody else and no other way was that thing ever to be transported. There wasn't any doubt about that. That is as clear as daylight. And so we begin in verse 3. David is moving the ark, "and they set ark of God on a new cart."
Now what in the world are they doing putting the ark on a cart? The Bible said they are to put the ark on the shoulders of the Levites, carrying it with poles so that they never touch it. It is not to be on a cart I think David thought, boy I am really doing God a big favor, not just a cart, but a new one. I am putting it on a new cart. "And brought it out of the house of Abinadab," and actually he got his cue from the Philistines. You remember back in the 6th chapter of I Samuel the Philistines had had the ark and they didn't like having the ark because they got tumors and plagues and all kinds of things, but they brought it back on the cart. So David took the lead of the Philistines and nut it on a cart. "And they brought it," verse 4, "out of the house of Abinadab which was in Gibeah accompanying the ark of God and Ahio went before the ark."
Now watch, oh they thought it was a great day, we are bringing the ark back. The ark is going to go back to the place where it belongs, Marvelous. "And so David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood and harps and psalteries and timbrels and cornets and cymbals." They were having a tremendous time. Worshipping and praising God. It was just great. You say, isn't God pleased with their worship? Isn't God thrilled with their praise, this is wonderful. "And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it for the oxen shook it." It's going along and they come to this Nachonus threshing floor and it bumps and it looks like it is going to fall, and old Uzzah, boy he is caught up in the worship of God and he reaches out, boy he doesn't want that ark to touch the ground. I mean that was an act of worship. That was an act of honor to that ark. He was doing what his heart told him to do. Don't let that ark touch the ground, that sacred thing. And verse 7 says, "The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and God smote hint there for his errorand he died by the ark of God."
You say, what is the deal? I'll tell you what the deal is. God doesn't want your worship unless it goes along with his word, and his word is, 'don't touch the ark!' You see the point? God didn't accept it. There are people who would say, "Well how can you criticize the Pentecostals or the charisma tics or, they are worshipping God. They are trying to love God and they are trying to worship God and they are trying to praise God, surely God wouldn't let them into error in that area." Or you can ask yourself the same question. Why did God let that ark bump on Nachon's threshing floor? You tell me. God could have stopped that. He could have flattened out the , but it was a lesson for all times, that God is worshipped only when his word is obeyed, and when Uzzah touched the ark he disobeyed because no man, no time, under no circumstances, was to touch the ark. You understand? You do not ad-lib your worship. You do not decide, well I am just going to worship God in a whole new way that I have just experienced. God isn't interested in that. And God's anger was kindled and Uzzah dropped dead, Poor fella. Dear guy, just doing his thing, going along, having a great time, singing, celebrating, and hits a bump, and oh his heart just, he reached out, he did what his emotions told him. Listen if his mind had been ruled by the Word of God, he would have kept his hand back and he would have been alive. But he was ruled by his feelings. That's very dangerous. Don't worship God with your feelings independent of his Word. You see? Maybe God wanted the thing off the ark so that The Levites could pick it up and carry it the right way. Who knows.
But so often these people who would intimidate us will come along, "well we're worshipping God, we're just praising God, this is our way of doing it." God isn't interested in your way, he is interested in his own way. And David, he felt bad, verse 8. "David was displeased because The Lord had broken forth in anger against Uzzah and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah, to this day in memory of him, and David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, "how shall the ark of the Lord come to me?"
Now I am stuck, how am I going to get this thing where it is supposed to be So David wouldn't remove it, he left it in The house of Obededom for three months and the whole time it was there the Lord blessed, verse 11, "the Lord blessed Obededom," and he had a tremendous time. He kept his hands off the thing. They just had a great time and David said, this is ridiculous, why should I leave that deal up there and Obededom is happy, getting all the blessing? I am getting it down here. "So David went and brought the ark from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness." And apparently they brought it the right way. "And it was that when they bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces," and there is the idea, they who bore the ark, they did it right, "they sacrificed oxen and fatlings, and David then danced before the Lord with all his might."
And he was out there. In fact he had his linen ephod. He took off all his kingly stuff and he is just out there hooping it like one of the normal guys, just one of the gang, hooping it up and having a great old time. And they brought the ark and the Lord was shouting and the sound of trumpet.
Now you have the same thing in verse 15 that you have in verse 5. One is acceptable and one is not, because one is in accordance with God's revealed truth and one isn't, you see? God does not want people who ad lib their worship to him in their own prescribed method. He wants worship that is consistent with his revelation. And so just because somebody comes along and says, "well we're worshipping God that way, our hearts are right, our motives are right,' so were Uzzah's. But he just didn't have enough knowledge of the Word of God to protect himself from God's chastening.
Let me show you another illustration. I Samuel 15. Now it basically gives you the same thought. I Samuel 15. This is the story of Saul, and he had a similar situation. Samuel said to Saul 15:1 of I Samuel, I Samuel 15:1 Samuel said to Saul, "The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel now, listen to the voice of the words of The Lord." Now that is the basic thing in the life of anybody. Listen to the words of the Lord! Listen, because that is the criteria of blessing. Listen. "And so the Lord said, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt and now go and smile Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have, spare them not but slayboth man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." God says you go and you kill every Amalakite. Father, Mother, children, babies, ox, goats, sheep, cattle, everything. Kill them. And God was removing a cancer from the world. "And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, ten thousand men of Judah, Saul came to the city of Amalek, laid wait in the valley, and Saul said unto the Kenites, go depart, get you down from among the Amalekites or you are going to get it to." Might as well get out while the getting is good, "for you show kindness to the children of Israel when you came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites," and Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur." In other words, from border to border. "And he took Agag the king of Amalekites alive."
Now that is a terrible mistake that he just made, isn't it? God said, wipe out everybody. He took Agag. Why? Because it was an act of pride. He wanted to drag the vanquished king into town and show off his victory. The Bible says he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites and utterly destroyed the people with the edge of the sword. "But", that's bad, that word, "Saul and the people spared Agag." Why? Because it was nice to have the guy around so he could gloat over him. "And they spared the best of the sheep, the ox, the failings, lambs, and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse, they utterly destroyed."
Now God told him what to do, he said wipe it all out. What did Saul do? He kept some back. "Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel," in verse 10, "it repenteth me," and incidentally the Hebrew word here has not so much to do with the change of mind, but grief. "It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments, and it grieved Samuel and he cried to the Lord all night."
Now there is a sensitive man. You know what made Samuel cry? A man who didn't obey God's word. "And when Samuel got up early and meet Saul in the morning, Saul came to Carmel, behold he set him in a place and is gone about and passed on down to Gilgal," verse 13, "and Samuel, came to Saul, and he said, 'blessed be thou the Lord,' Saul said to Samuel. I have performed the commandment of the Lord, oh Samuel it's so good to see you, I have done what God said. Samuel said, 'oh yeah. How come I hearthe bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen," What's going on? And Saul said, "What's going on?" And Saul said, "Hey they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord thy God."
Ahh, terrific. How can you knock that kind of motive? He is going to worship God. That's wonderful Saul. What an idea. Saul has a better idea, better than God. God had a good idea, but Saul came up with a wrinkle even God hadn't thought of. How wonderful. Why just slaughter them all, we can sacrifice him to God, we'll have a worship service. Fabulous. Samuel said to Saul, "Stay and I'll tell you what the Lord said to me this night. He said, 'stay on.' "And Samuel said when you were little in your own sight," when you were a nobody, "were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel, didn't the Lord make you what you are when you were a nobody? And the implication is who gave you the right to usurp the authority over the God who made you what you are, "And the Lord sent you on a journey and set 'go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and gith against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil and did evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said to Samuel, wait a minute I have obeyed the voice of the Lord," He is very persistent.
"I went the way which the Lord sent me and I brought Agag the king of Amalek and utterly destroyed the Amalekites and the people took the spoil, the sheep and the oxen, the chief of the things," and you notice now 'that it isn't such a good idea he has left himself out and he is blaming the people. I mean it's an act of worship, and you know somebody would come along and say, "Oh I know it isn't, I know but this, it may not be, oh but it is, I am worshipping God in my own way, and if you don't do it, if you don't experience this, oh you are missing the greater blessing." So what is the response in verse 22, "and Samuel said this, has the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice as much as in", what, "obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams." You are a lot better off to obey the word of God than come up with your own independent sell styled system of experiential worship.
I don't want you to be intimidated by people who come along and say, "well oh we have an experience of worship, it's not like yours. Marvelous things happen. We reach out and the Lord appears to us and all kinds of mystical things are going on," and you are sitting there saying, "Well I can't find them in the Bible." Well the Bible says, God doesn't want your styled self invented worship, he simply wants your obedience, and to rebel against that, verse 23, "is as the sin of witchcraft." If you are going to disobey, the Word of God, you might as well go see a medium, and play around with occult. And the reason I say this simply this, these people today who are claiming to have all these worship experiences that cannot be defended biblically they may be sincere, and they may have the right motive like Uzzah and Saul did, but they are wrong, and the response was Samuel said to Saul, "you will no longer be king, it's over for you." You say, that's serious, Yeah, that is serious.
Let me make you to another illustration, I Kings, 13. This is a most fascinating story. You remember that after the reign of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel split into two parts, the northern kingdom with ten tribes and the southern. The northern kingdom was ruled by Jerobom the first and the southern kingdom by Rehoboam and there was the splitting of the kingdom because of the sin of Solomon. And when Jeroboam took the ten tribes and established the kingdom in the north he was afraid that the northern people would not maintain an allegiance to him. If they were always going to the south to the temple to worship, they would keep their roots in the south. So he decided that he'd have to build a couple of worship places up in the north. So he, verse 29 of chapter 12 says, "he set the one in Bethel and the other in Dan." The problem with that is God didn't want his worship going on in Bethel and Dan, did he? Where did he want it? In Jerusalem, in the temple.
In verse 30 he says of chapter 12, "it became a sin, for the people went to worship before The one even in Dan, and he made a house of high places," he build a Temple, "he made priests of The lowest of the people who were not the sons of Levites." He just picked out a few poor folks and made them priests. You can't do that. Priests are out of the tribe of Levites, worship goes on in Jerusalem, you don't ad-lib it. You don't just say, "We have a great idea, we'll do our own thing up here." If it isn't scriptural, you don't do it. And verse 32, in the middle there says that he did the same thing in Bethel. "And he was sacrificing the calves," and he went through the whole Jewish deal, sacrifices, priests, the altars, the whole shot; only going on in Bethel and Dan. They had no business going on there. So God said, I have to send somebody up there to straighten it all out. Chapter 13, "Behold there came a man of God,"
Now this is a man of God, a prophet, he is a preacher, and he goes all the way out of Judah to go to the north because apparently there wasn't a prophet in the north who would do this. "So he goes out of Judah, by the Word of the Lord, comes to Bethel, and he happens to arrive when Jeroboam is in there doing his thing with the altar. He is in there worshipping God and burning his sacrifice! And this is a bold young man. He walks up and says in verse 2, "He cries against the altar in the word of the Lord and said, 'oh altar altar."
Now this is going to get Jeroboam's attention, because he is there worshipping this guys busts in and shouts out, "Oh altar altar saith the Lord, behold a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the priest of The high places who burn incense upon thee and men's bones shall be burnt on thee." Altar you have had it. There is coming a man Josiah, and he is going to burn bones on you and the ultimate desecration for a Jew is to touch a dead body, right? And to burn the bones of a dead person on an altar was to desecrate it and pollute it for good. And this man of God says, "your altar's Jeroboam have had it, because three hundred years from now a man is coming by the name of Josiah who is going to dig up dead bones and burn them all over your altar." 'You want to read II Kings 23 you can read the story. And just to make sure Jeroboam didn't say, huh, funny joke, who is this guy, get him out. Verse 3 says, "And he gave a sign the same day saying, 'this is the sign which the Lord hath spoken,' to prove it's going to happen, "behold the altar shall be torn down and the ashes that are on it poured out." That altar is going to fall down and the ashes too. "And it came to pass when king Jeroboam heard The saying of the man of God who had cried against the altar in Bethel, he put forth his hand from the altar and said , 'lay hold on him,' and his hand which he put forth dried up so that he couldn't pull it in again. Paralyzed. "And immediately the altar was torn down and the ashes poured out, exactly according to the sign which The man of God had given to the word of the Lord." God says, "you don't invent your own worship. You obey my prescription." "And the king answered and said to the man of God, treat now the face of The Lord thy God and pray for me that my hand maybe restored. And the man of God besought the Lord and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before."
But I'll tell you one, thing, he never forgot it. "And the king said to man of God, come home with me" verse 7, "and refresh yourself and I'll give you a reward." I want to be on your team. "The man of God said to the king if you will give me half your house I am not going to go home with you." "I wouldn't eat your bread and I wouldn't drink water in this place, because it was told by the word of the Lord, saying eat no bread, drink no water, and don't come again by the same way that you went." I have one commitment in my life, obey the word of God. "So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came." This guy is right on.
Now you know, it would have been an honor to be invited to eat with the king. He could have been a hero. And he could have figured, well you know the king has heard and he seems to be repented. I think if I go in there, I'll compromise a little on God's word and I'll witness to the king. No, he says, I'm not interested in witnessing to you. I am not interested in doing anything with you. God told me not to mess around with you just To get out of here and to get out of here a different way Than I got here. Goodbye.
Now, the only way, verse 11, he ran into another preacher. Well for a lot of people this is a problem. For a lot of preachers, they run into other preachers, and that is very intimidating. You know, we who are preachers get intimidated by other preachers. Watch what happens. There was an old prophet. There was an old preacher and a young preacher now. "And his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. Well this old prophet, boy you know, he had, he was a true prophet. Both of them were, He was a trooper. He must have thought, oh isn't that wonderful, what a bold young man. Oh how marvelous that he would do that. Why didn't I have the courage to do that? Why didn't God call me, oh that young man, would I ever like to meet that guy? Boy would I like to have some fellowship with that young man of God. And so sent for him. And he sent his sons, "go get him, saddle the ass, and he saddled the ass and he rode out" in verse 14, "he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak." He is just resting on his way back to Judah. "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am." He said, "Then come home with me and eat bread." Boy, held been walking a while, hungry, thirsty, a place to rest. He said "I may not return with you, nor go in with you, neither will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place." He sounds like a record. That's the same line he gave before. God told him, God told me what to do, I am doing what God told me to do, I am not going to discuss it any longer.
You might say, "Well ohhh, we've got to fellowship with everybody." No, God drew some lines for him. But what could it hurt. God doesn't want him to create his own ministry. He wants him to obey the one God gave him. But watch how he is intimidated. "It was said to me" verse 17, "by the Word of 'the Lord," that settles it. And he said to him, the old man, "I am a prophet also like you. I am a I am a preacher."
Now watch this intimidation. "And an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord saying, 'bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water." Is that ever intimidating. "Come to my house. I can't, God said not to. But an angel came to me and told me that you are supposed to. That's very intimidating. Somebody will say to you, "Ohh, I know the Bible doesn't talk about that, but I had a vision. I had a direct word from the Lord, an angel came to me." And just remind yourself of Galatians 1, "if an angel comes and preaches anything other than what you know to be the word of God let him be," what, "accursed." That is a devil dressed up as an angel of life. What happens is, this young prophet is now in the dilemma of accepting the known word of God revealed or believing that God is speaking through somebody else's experience. You see. What did he do? Verse 19, "He went with him and ate bread in his house and drank water." But he acted in direct violation of God's Word because he was intimidated by an older prophet who was also a preacher, a true prophet, who was also a preacher. A true prophet who probably had a wonderful ministry who said an angel told him this, and he forsook what he knew was the truth of God and opted out for experience. Beloved that's exactly what's going on today. People are turning away from the word of God that is clear and they are buying everybody's vision, and everybody's experience is a criteria.
You want to know what happens. Verse 23, skipping some thoughts, but verse 23, "It came to pass after he had eaten bread, after he drunk, he saddled for him the ass, that is for the prophet whom he had brought back, and when he was gone a lion met him in the way an slew him." You know what happened to the young many God sent a lion and a lion killed him. You say, "Why did God do that?" "His carcass was thrown in the way," and I want you to see something interesting, "and the ass stood by it and the lion stood by it. Want to know something. The lion didn't eat the body, and the lion didn't attack the ass. You know why? God wanted you to know that, because that was not a hungry lion that was a divine agent of judgment. God took the life of that prophet that fast, why? Because he set somebody else's experience over what he knew was the word of God. That's a dangerous thing to do, you see? That's not the criteria. You don't invent your own worship activities, you don't invent your own selfstyled religion, and you don't take somebody else's experience am authoritative if it violates what you know to be the revelation of God. And people may come along and say, "I've had this experience, and I've had this experience, and I've had this experience," and all you have to say is, "yes, but I have this word from God." And that satisfies. You do not need to be intimidated by the people who want to tell you, you are missing some experiences. Or you have to step out and believe God for these things.
A man came to me after last Sunday night. Several people came to me last Sunday night. But one man in particular, and he said, "The reason you don't experience these things is becauseyou don't believe." And I said, "I don't believe what?" I don't believe that I'll experience something other than the word of God says is for me to experience. And my Bible tells me clearly that these things that people are claiming are not for today, and I am not going to let their experience intimidate me because I am not about to walk out of here and get eaten by a lion. Have to take care of my wife and kids and all you people.
And how did it happen? Verse 26, "And the prophet who brought him back from the way heard Thereof he said, It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of The Lord, therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion which has torn him and slain him." You want to hear something interesting? God seemingly did not hold the old prophets ignorance nearly as accountable as the young prophets knowledge. For somebody who is reared in that and they don't know anything about it, there is less of a chastening from God perhaps than for somebody who knows better, and opts out, turning his back on God's truth for somebody's experience. Very serious truth. See, Christians you don't need to be intimidated by human religion. You just bank on the word of God, to obey it is better than your own self styled kind of sacrifice, or self made religion we are not looking for spectaculars, we are looking for obedience. We have already experienced the radical change in our lives, so radical that I can't imagine anything more radical. We have entered a new life, and everything we need is already ours. And what is Paul saying, and I'll tie this in with Colossians. You won't believe it but I will.
What is Paul saying? He is saying, "Look, you don't need to be intimidated. You accept what the word tells you you have,' and what does the word tell you you have, in Christ, you have," what, "everything." "But my God," said Paul in Philippians, "shall supply," what, "all your needs according to his riches by Christ Jesus." By Christ Jesus all his riches are yours. You are complete in him. Such a powerful truth.
What is true spirituality? Look at it in Colossians 3. True spirituality is just to concentrate on Christ. Christ consciousness. I used to tell the story of the old Indian who came to church and sat on the front row week after week and somebody went up to him one week and said, "Tonto," or whatever his name was, "why do you come early and sit there?" He said, "Me come early, me sit down, me think Jesus." I like that. Preoccupation of the Christian is Christ. "If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God," "Set your thoughts on things above and not on things on the earth for you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appear, then you shall appear with him in glory." Listen what he is saying in all of that is Christ, is everything. Your whole life is wrapped up with Christ. Focus on him. It's all there. It's all yours. And don't let anybody intimidate you with any manmade experiences, or manmade rules, or self styled religion. This is a call to true spirituality and true spirituality means you look up and you see Christ.
II Corinthians 3:18 1 would just draw to your attention. II Corinthians3:18 says this, ,But we all, with unveiled face, the veil is removed in Christ, beholding as in a glass or a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Now that verse might tangle you a little. Let me tell you what it means. As a believer you have one preoccupation, you just focus on Christ, and as you focus on Christ, and are lost in his glory imperceptivity the Spirit of God begins to transform you into his image, from one level of glory to the next level of glory, to the next level of glory, to the next level of glory. That's true growth. True maturity. True spirituality. That's the only contemplation a Christian needs. A Christians doesn't need to contemplate human philosophy. A Christian doesn't need to become a legalist and sit around looking at all kinds of lists of rules. A Christian doesn't have to be a mystic and sit in a corner and contemplate his naval till something ecstatic happens. A Christian doesn't need to be in an aesthetic. A Christian needs to concentrate on Jesus Christ and as we concentrate on Christ, imperceptivity the Spirit of God does his work and that's what the verse is saying. We are changed into the same image by the Holy Spirit.
You say, "But John how do you concentrate on Christ? You have to lift your mind out of the world and set it on the things above." I told you last week that Marvin Ford said that he went to heaven and came back. You know what the Christian has to do, go to heaven and stay there. Get your mind up there and leave it. Get your mind on Jesus Christ, and keep it. You say, "but how do you do that?"
Look at Colossians 3. We're going to finish this sermon next week.
Don't worry about it. Colossians chapter 3, verse 16. How do you do it? You say, "How do I concentrate on Christ?" Here is how: "let The Word of Christ do what, dwell in you richly." You want to contemplate Christ, get in the book. And the more you study the word, and the more you are saturated by the word, and the more the word controls your thinking, the more the word dominates your Thoughts, the more Christ is in the front of your mind. Dear old Uzzah, if he had been pouring over the word, and he knew the word, and the word had governed his life, when the emotions started to react toward that thing, he would have stopped. And there are Christians today who if they were really saturated by the word of God and really knew God's word, when their emotions tend to reach out for something it'll stop, and they'll do what they know the Bible teaches to do. Not what their emotions would charge them to do, even though their motives might seem at the time so good. So you let the word of Christ dwell in you.
Now as you study the Bible, and as you work through the word of God, as you read it, and as it saturates your own life, then Christ moves up into the conscious mind, and you begin to get your head into the heavenlies. And you are sort of suspended. That was what Paul meant when he said in the Ephesians "We are blessed with all spiritual blessings," where, "in the heavenlies." And some Christians go around saying, "Oh, I don't know where all the blessings are." You know why, you are mulling around in the muck. You need to get yourself in heaven and stay there. Get up there, and I'll tell you something. Once you have taken that step, and once you have really made that commitment to think Christ and to concentrate on Jesus Christ, and to pour your thoughts into Christ, and allow Christ to be the center of your life, then you are going to see some things in your life that you never saw before. You are a Christian and say, "Well you know I accepted the Lord a long time ago, but it never really did anything, and boy I heard this guy or I made his commitment or something, and boy since Then, fantastic." What happened? Well they got up in the heavenlies. They entered the throne room and they started paling around with Jesus. They got out of the gutter. They got their minds of material things, and they put their thoughts in heaven.
Tohlemy used to teach that the center of the solar system was the earth and everything revolved around it. Remember? Tohlemy theory. The earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves around the earth. 1300 years that lasted. Can you believe that? 1300 years the world believed that. Finally, Capernicus came along, and said, no, the sun is the center of our solar system and everything goes around that. What's the center of your solar system? The earth or the sun? The earth or the Son of righteousness?
Where is your focus? What are the three things that you love the most, think about the most, and want the most? You know what the one thing you need is? Christ and the focus on him, and to concentrate on him. That's all. He's sufficient. Don't be intimidated by anybody else's self made religion. Christ is all you need, and you have all of him there is and I really believe, and I know in my own life, it isn't just that you, you know it is not like we're saying there is a second great work and all of a sudden you get zapped and you have this, but there is a time in your life when you come to the point I think where you say, " I am ready to live in the heavenlies. I am tired of fiddling around in the mud, I want to get up there where I belong and enjoy some of the blessings that are up there for me." And once you get a taste of it, from there on, the life begins to mean something.
Dr. Barnhaus used to tell a story of when he was on the mission field visiting a young couple. And they weresitting around having tea, and they were just newlyweds. And they went right to the mission field, and they were discussing what their engagement was like and the courtship and all that stuff you know. And the young man said, "Well," he said, "you know she would never let me kiss her until we were married.", and they kind of chuckled about that. Well that's wonderful. But he said, "After we got married and I got the first kiss the rest came easy." I really think that in a sense if a Christians ever really begins to experience what God has for him by living in the heavenlies and getting his mind off the world and his mind on the Son, that the rest comes easy because you begin to see what is there. And it is tragic to see so many Christians piddling around in the world and trying to reach out for the world's definition of a religious experience to make them happy when all they need to do is drop all of that stuff, concentrate on Jesus Christ, and as key are lost in him, and as they gaze on him, and are transformed into his image from one level of glory to the next, they begin to experience what God intended when he said you'll be blesses with all the blessings in the heavenlies.
Now we, are going to see how that all works out when we get back to the third chapter and go verse by verse through these 4 verses. That was just the introduction. Let's pray: Thank you Father for our fellowship tonight. For just the opportunity to begin to think about some great things. I am thankful to you that we don't need to be intimidated. I am thankful to you that we don't have to wander around trying to figure out whose, experience is valid and what we can do that is legitimate and who is right and who is wrong, but that we can just hold to the word of God that we can just hang on and know it is true. Help us to be like that young man of God. Say, "no, God's word said to do it and I am going to do it. And help us never to come to the place where we let anybody intimidate us with a vision or with anything else. But help us to realize that we cling to the book, and if it isn't allowed for in the word of God the word of God is clear, and we are going to obey.
We thank you Father that you have told us to be obedient to your word and not to follow our own fancies, our own experience, our own self designed worship. Make us biblical. May we as that have bibliene blood. May the word pulse right through us, and we know that as we study the word Christ, becomes real. As Christ becomes real we begin to know what his fellowship means, and to partake of his riches. And we come to be in his image. Work your work in us by the spirit, help us to be satisfied That Christ is all, Christ, is all in all. The word is enough to reveal all that he is, to be satisfied with that, to rejoice in it, to grow in it, to revel in it and to share it with others. We pray in Christ's Name, Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


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|Home | About | Contact | Vitamins for Schizophrenia
December 24, 2004
Olanzapine vs. Haloperidol?
Effectiveness and Cost of Olanzapine and Haloperidol in the Treatment of Schizophrenia: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Robert Rosenheck; Deborah Perlick; Stephen Bingham; Wen Liu-Mares; Joseph Collins; Stuart Warren; Douglas Leslie; Edward Allan; E. Cabrina Campbell; Stanley Caroff; June Corwin; Lori Davis; Richard Douyon; Lawrence Dunn; Denise Evans; Ede Frecska; John Grabowski; David Graeber; Lawrence Herz; Kong Kwon; William Lawson; Felicitas Mena; Javaid Sheikh; David Smelson; Valerie Smith-Gamble
JAMA, Nov 2003; 290: 2693 - 2702.
Article 2:
Article 1 is a study that came out last year which challenges the conventional wisdom that the newer medications are inherently better than properly dosed older medications. While many studies are funded by pharamaceutical companies and tend to favor newer medications in their outcomes, this study was designed to give both the newer medications (olanzapine/Zyprexa) and an older medication (haloperidol/Haldol) a fair chance to be dosed as the clinician in the study wanted to and was given a liberal ability to utilize medications to treat the common side effects. The authors wanted to determine if the newer medications were more effective, had fewer side effects and what the difference would be in overall costs to the Veterans Affairs System for patients on either treatment. Olanzapine costs over $4000/year versus approximately 20 dollars per year for haloperidol. However, if it is true that there is better efficacy and/or fewer side effects from the newer medication (i.e. if it reduced the number of hospital days for the average patient per year) it would make fiscal sense as well as clinical sense to prescribe it automatically and as a first line treatment. However, if that was not the case, then perhaps the conventional wisdom required challenging.
The data prior to the study was already controversial. A leading authority on the quality of research, the Cochrane group, did an analysis where they looked at all the data regarding the differences between olanzapine and haloperidol. While most studies published favored olanzapine, the Cochrane group found that there were sufficient flaws in enough of the studies that they advocated restraint and a more cautious approach. They found that with the number of patients who left studies early, it was hard to draw a strong conclusions that olanzapine was in fact better.
To put their question to the test, the authors recruited approximately 300 patients in the VA system. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either 5-20mg of olanzapine or 5-20mg of haloperidol. The pills looked identical so that the study could be blinded (to help eliminate potential bias.) Also, patients on haloperidol were given 1-4mg of benztropine (Cogentin) automatically, while the olanzapine patients received a placebo. However, both groups could add more active benztropine if there were side effects that warranted such treatment. The authors recorded data on clinical response, side effects, quality of life and overall costs to the VA and to society for the patients. They also tested patients for memory and other tests of their ability to think.
Ultimately, the authors found that the group that received olanzapine and the group that received haloperidol were nearly identical. There were statistically significant differences in a few areas though. The group that received olanzapine performed better on 2 memory tests and also reported less akathisia (severe restlessness) than the group on haloperidol. However, the olanzapine group had a significantly higher amount of weight gain, problems with cholesterol and with diabetes than did the haloperidol group. Lastly, the costs for the olanzapine were significantly higher than the haloperidol group.
The authors conclude that the difference between the groups, being so minimal, means that it is likely that starting a patient with haloperidol and well managed benztropine is an acceptable alternative to starting directly with the more expensive medication. However, they note a few limitations to this study. First, it was conducted exclusively at the VA and with a predominantly male population. This may limit the ability to generalize the results to the overall population. Second, there were many patients recruited who did not participate and many that dropped out of the study after they started. While they followed many of the dropouts, there were some lost to follow-up. This can skew the data towards finding less of a difference between the groups, though the patients that dropped out were equally in the olanzapine and haloperidol group. Also, there were overall about half of the number of patients they initially wanted to recruit. While they did have enough to make their statistics meaningful, they would have been able to make stronger arguments with more patients. Lastly, the overall cost/benefit analysis is still unknown. While the costs were higher with olanzapine, it is hard to determine the overall costs to society and to the patients or the VA. Additionally, the side effect profiles are different between the medications. For some, weight gain is not an issue or can be managed more by diet than for others. While for other patients, having movement or cognitive effects can be more debilitating. It is also possible that the use of benztropine may have contributed to some of the cognitive flattening seen in the haloperidol group as benztropine can have a negative effect on cognition (ability to think.) However, these are all reasons why the debate rages strongly as to the best way to start a patient on antipsychotic medication. It is not right or wrong to start on haloperidol or any other medication first, as long as the patient and physician work closely to assess that the started medication is in fact right for that patient. If it isn't, it is important to know that it is ok to switch to something that works better, especially if a full trial does not work on an original medication. However, once a medication works, it is useful to stick with it rather than change based on these results especially. Lastly, it goes without saying that this article was/is quite controversial. However, it is an interesting perspective and one that is not frequently presented.
Funding/Support: This study was supported by Lilly, which provided study drug and placebo, and the VA Cooperative Studies Program.
Role of the Sponsor: Employees of Lilly (Alan Breier, MD, Robert Obenchain, PhD, and John Kreuger) participated in the study design and commented on the analyses and on the manuscript. The analyses and writing of the manuscript were carried out by the authors independent of the sponsor.
Article 2 is a very interesting discussion of the factors that may have caused the results of studies that compared haldol with newer antipsychotics to come out so strongly in favor of the newer drugs. While there is always excitement, and also financial pressures from pharmaceutical companies, when new drugs come out, perhaps the excitement got in the way of the best science.
The second article describes a research concept called "effectiveness vs. efficacy." When a drug has "efficacy" it means that it can be demonstrated under controlled circumstances to work better than a comparator drug. To demonstrate "effectiveness" a drug must demonstrate that it works better than a comparitor in regular use, in essence, how it would be used in the general community. In order to perform cleaner reserch, many patients or other treatments must be excluded when doing a trial such that there are only few variables being manipulated and an explanation can therefore be lent to those manipulations. What Rosenheck argues in article 2 is that most trials that compared new antipsychotics with haldol failed to utilize cogentin (an anti-side effect medication) appropriately and therefore patients placed on haldol often had unnecessarily, and unfairly, high levels of side effects compared with what they might have had if they were treated more appropriately. On the flip side, the use of Cogentin (benztropine) is associated with mental slowing, often a side effect that patients do not tolerate. However, as noted above, newer medications have greater cost and have other side effect (weight gain, etc.) Overall, this research is helpful as we have more experience now with the newer medications. Maybe it is not such a bad thing to use older medications, if they are used appropriately? What will work for some patients will not for others and so it is important to keep the factors in mind that will make one medication, and its inherent possible side effects, a better choice for the individual, rather than contemplating the benefits for an entire population at once.
Click here to look up this article on PubMed
Click here for article 2 abstract on PubMedPosted by Jacob at December 24, 2004 05:49 AM | TrackBack
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subset: commoncrawl


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Engagement leads to trust, which leads to results
Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations and NGOs on Facebook.
Facebook is about friendships. It's about reconnecting with old friends and keeping up with close friends.
Facebook is not about buying things or getting the lowest price. There are already websites for that, like Amazon and eBay.
Facebook is relational, it's not transactional. Continue reading


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Here is a guy that is showing people how to do just that. He is using "garbage" to build homes. So they may not look like something you could do in your favorite HOA but, they are still a house. It sure would beat sleeping in your car.
Check this out Recycled Houses
Watch on youtube.com
So, what do you think?
Would you live in a house like this?


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allSnap is a small system tray app that makes all top level windows automatically align like they do in programs such as Winamp or Photoshop.
WARNING: there is still no good reason why this should not crash your computer!
Source now on GitHub http://github.com/iheckman/allsnap
|allsnap v1.50: Beta
|Can run 64 and 32 bit, doesn't?? crash in Windows 7
This program works through window hooking. Hooking is a technique that Microsoft
suggest you only use in debugging because it can interfere with any other
program on your system.
So use at your own risk.
You could try the 64bit version. You can now run both new versions at the same time to cover all windows/programs (will make it nicer later).
Sometimes another process will not release the file snap_libA.dll or snap_libW.dll when allSnap closes. This makes the uninstaller unable to delete the dll. If this occurs, try closing all open programs and deleting the file and directory manually.
Here is an incomplete list of windows allSnap cannot affect:
This causes the strange effect of windows that can be snapped to, but not snap themselves.


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On the most sacred Jewish holiday of the year -- Yom Kippur -- we literally imagine our own funeral. Men traditionally wear a white sash that will also serve as their burial shroud. The purpose is to picture our own death in a way that helps us live more fully.
What if, however, we could not only imagine our death, but choose it. And what if that choice seemed the right and dignified thing to do. This acute question faces those suffering from terminal illness. It has entered the public spotlight in the case of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman with terminal cancer who moved to Oregon so she could take advantage of the state's death with dignity law. This law allows physicians to prescribe lethal drugs a patient can choose to take.
Amidst the enormous public attention to Brittany's story, the religious voice has been noticeably absent. Typically strident religious voices would be amongst those to quickly condemn her choice
. They were amongst the most vociferous opponents of Oregon's law when it was implemented in 1997. Perhaps their absence speaks to a generational shift, or at least a recognition of the complexities of the issues involved.
As a spiritual leader and son and grandson of physicians, I am torn. I believe passionately in the value of life and imperative to seek and give healing. Yet, I have seen the misery and sheer pain felt by so many in the late stages of terminal illness. I have also seen the simple comfort brought by simply having the choice--even if one does not make it--to end one's life in such conditions.
Jewish tradition has a nuanced approach to this challenge. Thoughtful rabbis and scholars disagree. What is clear, however, is the various factors that matter in making the decision. Here are four of them:
1. Quality of Life: A Jewish legend tells of a rabbi with terminal illness. He was in great pain. Yet, so long as his students stood and prayed around his bed, however, he could not die. They served as the ancient equivalent of a ventilator.
His housekeeper saw the great pain he was in. She knew the students would never stop praying. So she took a pot and threw it out the window. The shattering sound of its land distracted the students from their prayers, and the rabbi died. She knew, better than his own students, that the rabbi would not want to live with such pain. Her actions made her the hero of the story.
2. Personal Choice: The Talmud teaches that "Everything is foreseen, but the freedom of choice is given." In other words, we have free will. This freedom comes with limits. We cannot destroy property or harm others, even if we may the legal right to do so. Scholars also disagree on how much we freedom we have over own bodies. Some argue the freedom is minimal, since our bodies ultimately belong to God. Others say we are stewards of our bodies, and thus have the freedom to choose how we take care of them. The bottom line is that no text clearly prohibits a terminal patient from hastening his or her death. We have some choice in the matter.
3. Unforeseen Consequences: The Bible is filled with small deeds leading to big consequences. Joseph's brothers, for example, sell him to slave traders. This action ultimately results in his becoming Prime Minister of Egypt. We don't know all the results of all of our choices. Caution needs to accompany vision in passing laws dealing with life and death.
4. Different Opinions: An old joke says that when when two Jews argue, they express at least three opinions. Our tradition cherishes debate. So does American democracy. No group can claim it has a monopoly on moral truth.
When it comes to end of life dilemmas, views often lose their nuance and perspective. Let's not let stridency stifle our thoughtfulness. Rather, let our disagreements enhance our empathy.
As my teacher and America's incoming Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, Rabbi David Saperstein puts it, "Good moral people can differ. But the one sin from all of our religious traditions is to close our eyes to injustice and close our ears to suffering."


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Is Your Community Financially Savvy?
Become an Affiliate
Becoming a Financial Beginnings affiliate begins with a passion for empowering youth and adults to take control of their financial futures. Pursuit of a new affiliate ultimately results in the launch of a new nonprofit in your state. Before proceeding, please consider the following:
- Are you located in Oregon or Washington? If so, affiliates are already in operation and are always seeking new volunteers, supporters, and potential partners. Please contact them directly via the information provided above.
- Are you seeking downloadable materials for small-scale use, such as to share with your classroom or with your children? Financial Beginnings programs are available for download at no cost. Simply select the program and then enter your email to access your download(s).
- Are you seeking employment with Financial Beginnings? Although new affiliates work towards the eventual hiring of paid staff, launching a new affiliate is spearheaded primarily by volunteers for the first 6 to 18 months.
Still interested in learning more about opening a Financial Beginnings affiliate in your area? Fantastic! Please proceed to learn more and complete a basic inquiry to get started. We look forward to connecting with you!


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Are all the Stears variants linked?
Anyone who researches their history understands that you have to look at variations in spelling of surnames because literacy levels were low and names were often written as they were heard. Add to this the different dialects and you're left with all sorts!
The question however got me thinking; Are there areas where certain spellings are more prominent than others?
To investigate this I used the fabulous service provided at http://www.wykes.org/dist/ to create the following distribution maps for each of the variants. The maps are based on the data from the 1841 and 1851 England and Wales Census's and records where they were living (not where they were born). If you hover over the maps you will be able to zoom in and out as required
As you can clearly see from these maps, STEARES is only found in Kent, and later the spelling moves into the neighbouring county of Middlesex.
In 1841 this spelling is only found in Hampshire and Yorkshire, the Hampshire chap having being born out of county. By 1851 there is only one recorded instance in Sussex.
Again, this is a very low frequency spelling that is confined, in 1841, to a few counties in the south of England and one occurrence on the Chanel Islands. In 1851 there appears to be some migration of the spelling into Lancashire.
There are only two recorded STEIRS and they are both found in Middlesex.
It is very clear to see from these maps that the main clusters are found in Yorkshire, Hampshire and Middlesex. In 1851 these clusters remain in Yorkshire and Hampshire, however the Middlesex cluster appears to have moved out into Kent.
The main clusters in 1841 were in Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent. This remains the case in 1851 when they have also spread into the neighbouring county of Sussex with most being located in Brighton.
Working Hypothesis
The hotspots for all variants are Yorkshire and Middlesex, with a spread into Sussex, Surrey and Kent in 1851.
To me this suggests that there are at least two distinct starting points of the surname in England; to the north lies the STEARS, and to the south east lie the STEERS, STEERES, STEARES, STEIRS and STIERS.
Of course there are instances where the same person is registered at birth as STEER, baptised as STEERS, and buried as STEARS!!
In order to make a more certain conclusion more analysis must be done, and this is something that I will be revisiting at a later date.


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CD 12.00 $ Add to cartDownload from: Artist Store
Socalled's new album The Season is the original cast recording of the musical "The Season" composed by Josh "Socalled" Dolgin. The performance which happened one time at POP Montreal in the fall of 2011 was a puppet-heavy indie musical fable for the 21st century, featuring some of Montreal's finest dancers, musicians, singers, actors and artists including Katie Moore, Yves Lambert, the Narcysist, Joe Cobden & Richy Ly, in an original, genre-bustin', one-night-only production. The story is about a close-knit crew of forest animals as they prepare for winter and the oncoming hunting season and are faced with a new threat: an infestation of aliens from another planet. A forbidden love develops between Bear, a bear, and Tina, a feisty, fiery, helpful little red furry thing from beyond the stars. Will their love survive? Listen to the album which features all the original voices along with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's harpist Jennifer Swartz, the string quartet The Warhol Dervish, drummer Jamie Thompson and bassist Patrice Agbokou. The overture was orchestrated by original JB Fred Wesley and the album was recorded by Grammy award winner Mark Lawson at Arcade Fire's Petite Église studio in Farnham, Quebec. The album artwork was hand painted by Socalled himself, so prepare yourself for a Socalledmusical experience like no other!
Liste des pistes
1. The Season Overture
2. The Season Theme
3. Shooting Star
4. Tina's Theme
5. Chippin' in
6. Meteor Shower
7. Bear And Tina's Ballet
8. Ekh! Onomics
9. Second Act Overture
10. Work Hard (At What Comes Easy)
11. Baskatong Song
12. Together (Alone)
13. What Does It All Mean
14. What Does It All Mean (Strings Only)


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Items where SHU Author is "Whittle, Richard"
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Jump to: Article | Conference or Workshop Item
Number of items: 10.
SMITH, Peter, WHITTLE, Richard and GRIFFITH, Peter (2012). LawSync: navigating the 'blue oceans' within the 'emerging' legal services markets. Legal Information Management, 12 (3), 203-209.
WHITTLE, R. and BELL, M. (2002). Between social policy and Union citizenship: the Framework Directive on equal treatment in employment. European law review, 27 (6), 677-691.
WHITTLE, R. (2002). The Framework Directive for equal treatment in employment and occupation: an analysis from a disability rights perspective. European law review, 27 (3), 303-326.
WHITTLE, R. (2000). Disability rights after Amsterdam: the way forward. European human rights law review, p. 2000.
WHITTLE, R. and COOPER, J. (1999). Enforcing the rights and freedoms of disabled people: the role of transnational law (Part II). Mountbatten journal of legal studies, 3 (1), 3-32.
COOPER, J. and WHITTLE, R. (1998). Enforcing the rights and freedoms of disabled people: the role of transnational law (Part I). Mountbatten journal of legal studies, 2 (2), 3-30.
Conference or Workshop Item
WHITTLE, R. (2005). EU disability policy and the equal opportunity principle. In: 'Working for an inclusive society', EDRC national conference, Malta, 15 September 2005.
WHITTLE, R. (2003). Health and safety law and the right to non-discrimination on grounds of disability – the EU Dimension. In: Seminar of the EC Legal Expert Group on combating discrimination on grounds of disability, Brussels, Belgium, 29 March 2003.
WHITTLE, R. (2001). Why is a European Law on Disability Discrimination important. In: Inclusion Europe, Brussels, Belgium, 22-23 November 2001.
WHITTLE, R. (2001). The concept of disability discrimination and its legal construction. In: 'Discrimination and affirmative action on the labour market - legal perspectives' (in preparation of the Swedish Presidency of the European Union), National Institute for Working Life, Sweden, 6-7 November 2001.


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There's been no attempt at making a map of this region of the world for CC before, or at least, none that I know of. So here's a solution to that problem.
Required Info:
Mapmakers: MrBenn and ZeakCytho
Territory Count: 54. 2 neutral starts, and 4 starting positions each with 3 territories
Bonuses: 11 regions and 1 'capital'
Gameplay Notes: Standard/Classic gameplay based on the geographical and political boundaries of the Balkan Peninsula. Kosovo, part of the Serbia continent, is worth +1 if held on its own and starts neutral. Both territories in Bosnia are coded as starting positions (for different players)
Current Version:
Small Map:
Large Map:
File Links:
XML: http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/9/2259283//Balkans03.xml
Small: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans11S.jpg
Large: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans11L.jpg
Previous Versions:
XML: http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/9/2259283//Balkans02.xml
Small: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans10S.jpg
Large: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans10L.jpg
XML: http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/9/2259283//Balkans01.xml
Small: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans09S.jpg
Large: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans09L.jpg
Small: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans08S.jpg
Large: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans08L.jpg
Small: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans07S.jpg
Large: http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans07L.jpg
MrBenn wrote:http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans04s.jpg
I've been playing around with the legend area; I think it's less "stuck on" than previously, but I don;t know if the hex/flag motif is a bit overkill?
Is it slightly clearer to indicate the total bonus for Serbia as +5, and highlight the Kosovo +1 slightly differently? I've never been a fan of overly wordy text legends...
The border between Burgas and Thrace has been widened to make it more obvious.
The Bulgaria bonus could flit between a +3 and a +4; I'd prefer to leave it slightly higher, and if there is outcry once the map hits beta, knock it back down to 3.
MrBenn wrote:http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans03s.jpg
There are a couple of small changes that have been made, which I'll try and remember to list here:
The Western side of the map offered very good expansion opportunities, which worked out at a +8 that could be defended with 2 territories. To help even this out, the river between Raska and Bosnia is no longer impassable - this doesn't alter the number of territories that need to be defended for any individual bonus, but helps to reduce the bloc. Additionally the bonus for Croatia has been dropped to 3. This makes the bloc bonus 12 terrs at +7 with 3 defending places; which is not as over-powered as previously.
On the Eastern side of the map, the bridge between Dobrudja and Varna has been changed to a path between Dobrudja and Burgas. This makes Bulgaria slightly easier to defend. It's a tough choice between dropping Bulgaria back to 6 terrs, but in the end I decided to leave it at 7, as adding an extra territory to Greece seemed to make it more like Asia but without the big bonus to go with it. Additionally, I think that Bulgaria needs to be +4 to make the West of the map balance with the East. On this Eastern side you can now get +6 bonus with 4 borders and 11 terrs; not quite as good as on the West, but there's likely to be a bit more competition over in the West from the start with the larger number of small bonuses.
As far as Greece goes, I've removed the sea route to Makedonia to reinstate the bottleneck, which I actually like- as Ian said, this offers the possibility for somebody to build within Greece and stand a chance of actually holding the bonus. Depending on territory numbers I might consider adding Corfu as a territory, although I would then want to bump Greece back up to a +6 bonus.
MrBenn wrote:http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans02.jpg
OK... Here's a quick update to show how things might work if I knock Crete off the bottom. I've also shaved a bit of headroom from the top which makes the map a lot shorter, and personally I think it looks quite a bit better because of it.
Gameplay-wise I've bumped Romania back up to 6. Keffalonia has been added to replace Crete (to keep the territory count the same), and I've shuffled some of the attack routes around a bit. I was a little worried about Attica becoming the gateway to half of Greece, which is why I've got rid of the bottleneck there. How does this look now?
[/quote]MrBenn wrote:http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj320/bpawley/Balkans01.png
I've added a couple of paths to clarify attack routes around the islands, and have reduced the Greece and Romania bonuses to 5; hopefully this should be enough to pick up the gp stamp.
I think I've fixed all of the gfx issues that I picked up on before the map stalled; the biggest thing I've spent time working on is a new title for the map (which I think works a lot better than the old one, although it' could probably do with a few tweaks)
The biggest task on the to do list, is to work out what do do with the legend and minimap(s), and to work out what's going on with the sizing - the following image isn't the size that the map will end up at...
Old Versions by ZeakCytho:
Version 13(Large)
Version 12(Large)
Version 11(Large)
Version 10(Large)
Version 9(Large)
Version 8(Large)
Version 7(Large)
Version 6(Large)
Version 5(Large)
Version 4(Large)
Version 3(Large)
Version 2(Large)
Version 1 (Large)[/spoiler]
I'd like to thank qwert and Yamakasi for helping me determine some territory names via PM.


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Geraldine de Haas, "The Jazz Lady" was born in Newark, New Jersey on January 16, 1935. As a young woman, de Haas sang and toured with her brother and sister as Andy and the Bey Sisters, initially starting out in the Miami club scene in 1958. When they returned to New York after several months, they went to several auditions that promised them a few weeks of club dates in Spain and London. However, their music proved wildly popular, and they went on a whirlwind tour all across Europe that lasted a year and a half. While the trio was in Europe, they became the featured act at the world famous Blue Note in Paris, and were featured in a jazz film directed by Roger Vadim. De Haas and her siblings returned to the United States in 1960, and began performing at jazz clubs and festivals across the country, and made several recordings, as well. The trio finally disbanded in 1966.
The early 1970s found de Haas joining the Free Street Theater in Chicago, and her theater career continued over the next two decades, with performances in Hair, Showboat and To Be Young, Gifted and Black, and numerous jazz performances, as well. She also began producing events during the 1970s, and in 1983, she presented the first Jazzfest at the South Shore Cultural Center in Chicago, which continues on to this day. De Haas also earned her B.A. in music education in 1980 from Chicago State University, and has taken other courses to continue her education since. In 1981, de Haas founded Jazz Unites, Inc., to further the growth and appreciation of jazz, and to educate people through the use of jazz. Since 1993, she has served as the president, CEO and artistic director. Over the course of her career, she has shared the stage with such jazz legends as Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and her favorite, the late bass player Ray Brown.
I rediscovered this recently languishing in my collection and found myself really enjoying it - I hope you're the same.
1) Summers Of My Life - Summer's Gone
2) Love Is A Lonely Song
3) Wheels Of Life
4) Everything's Been Changed
5) How Can Anything Be Beautiful After
6) Your Love
7) Keep On Walkin'
8) We Made It Happen
9) While We're Still Young
10) My Way


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Johannes Friedrich FISCUS was born in 1707 in Palatine, Germany.[1] Secondary sources suggest that Freidrich married his first wife, Anna Elisabeth Schwind, in Germany about 1729 and that the couple had seven children: Maria Margaretha (1730), Anna Cunigunda (1734), Barbara (1736), Maria (1742), Eleonore Margaretha (1746), Jacob Frederick (1748) and Elisabeth (Liesel) (1750).[2] Their daughter Maria Margaretha may have died in childhood.
In 1743, 36-year-old Friedrich and Anna Elisabeth decided to move their young family to America. They traveled aboard the Loyal Judith. The ship, under the direction of Captain James Cowey, left Rotterdam and traveled to Philadelphia by way of Cowes. The travelers arrived in Philadelphia, September 2, 1743. Also on the ship was a 48-year-old man named Gerhart Fishkes. This was likely Friedrich's brother.[3]
Freidrich and Anna settled in Lancaster County Pennsylvania where their children Maria, Eleonore Margaretha, Jacob Frederick and Elsabeth were born.[4] Freidrich's wife Anna died young, probably shortly after Elsabeth's birth in 1750. Friedrich remarried Eva Marie (maiden name unknown) sometime before 1758.[5] The couple had two children, a son Johann Adam (1759) and a daughter also named Eva Marie.[6]
The family left Pennsylvania and moved to Bethania in Rowan County, North Carolina sometime between Adam's birth in 1759 and January 1763, when Friedrich is first mentioned in the Moravian minutes.[7] This area of Rowan County became Surry County in 1771. The Fiscus family may have been members of the Moravian Church but at the least they interacted with the Moravian Community.
Friedrich died January 19, 1772 at the age of 65.[8] His death was recorded in the Bethabara Diary of January 1772, "Br. Ernst, from Bethania, informs us that last evening the elder Fiscus, who has lived behind Bethania, passed away, trusting in Jesus".[9] Eva Marie was left a widow with her two teenage children. Friedrich's children from his first marriage were probably all out of the house by this time. In his will, Friedrich left to his 24-year-old son Fredrik "my plantation I now live on containing one hundred and twenty-eight acres more or less, situate lying and being on Mill Creek, adjoining to the land of Michael Houser and to the land of John Shore, deceased together with good right and deed for the same". He also left to his son Fredrik, "two horses, two cows, two sheeps and all the hoggs belonging to me, one loom and all the taklings belonging to the same, one saddle, and one half wagon and all the horse teers thereto belonging and all the housal goods whatsoever". Freidrich provided for Eve saying that "It is my will that my wife Eve Fishcus after my decease shall have liberty to live upon my place with my son Fredrik Fishcus and my son shall be obliged to maintain her all her life time and find her sufficient meat drink and necessary apparel and all the necessaries belonging to her subsistence whatsoever…. If in case it should happen that my wife Eve Fishcus could not peaceably and quietly live with my son Fredrik, then the said Fredrik Fishcus shall be obliged to give unto my wife Eve Fishcus yearly and every year as long as she remains widow twelve bushels of wheat, one hundred weight of pork and fifty pounds of beef, 50 butter and all other necessaries as aforesaid whatsoever". Friedrich also left to Eve "One brown mare to her own property". Friedrich allowed that his son Frederik was to pay to his siblings Adam and Eve the sum of twenty pounds as soon as they reached legal age. In the event that Frederik died without heirs, the plantation would revert to Adam. Friedrich willed that the rest of his cattle, horses and sheep were to be divided equally among the children from his first wife. Friedrich appointed his son-in-law, Michael Hauser, executor of his will.[10]
Not long after Friedrich's death, the American colonies went to war to gain their independence from England. Friedrich's son Adam served in the Revolutionary War in the North Carolina and Virginia Continental Line. He was living in Moraviantown in Stokes County at the time of his enlistment.[11] He later moved to Washington County, Indiana.
When her daughter Eve married Jacob Helsebeck around 1781, the widowed Eva Marie went to live with the young couple. The Bethania Diary of the Moravian Records records in May 1783, "Br. Philip Schaus came with three horses, and we rode with him to his plantation, stopping at the younger Hilsebecks, where only the wife and her mother, old Mrs. Fiscus, were at home".[12]
Eva survived her husband by 14 years and died in February 1786 in Bethania. Her funeral was recorded in the Bethania Diary for February 25th. "I held the funeral of the widow Eva Marie Fiscuss, who lived in this neighborhood. She had suffered much from a growth on her head which could not be cured".[13] The funeral was also recorded in the diary of the neighboring community of Salem, "In the neighborhood of Bethania, Br. Beck held the funeral of a widow, Eva Marie Fiscus, who was well known to the Brethren and Sisters. She had a bad growth on the head, which caused her much pain and could not be healed, so all thanked the Saviour that her end had come".[14]


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Floating & Massages
Enjoy complete relaxation in a unique way
Relax during your stay
Situated just a few houses down the street is the Ambassade Hotel's float and massage centre 'Koan Float'. All hotel guests are invited to make time for themselves with a soothing float session or a peaceful massage to become completely relaxed. Guests are entitled to special discount prices; please ask hotel staff for reservations or for more information.
Floating is a unique form of relaxation. Imagine yourself floating weightlessly on a cushion of warm salted water, drifting away from all the stress and fatigue of daily life. The floatation cabin is located in your own private room. It is designed to eliminate external stimuli such as sound, visuals, gravity and changes in temperature. Each private float-room is equipped with shower facilities. Towels, a bathrobe and personal care products are all included, so you don't need to bring anything else with you to Koan Float.
A float session will give you a unique feeling of weightlessness and a relaxing experience unlike any you've had before. It is one of the most efficient ways to overcome jetlag symptoms. Scientific research has shown that one hour of floating is as beneficial as four hours of sleep. You will feel reborn afterwards!
Besides floating, Koan Float offers you a choice of fifteen types of relaxing massages including classic relaxation massage, shiatsu massage, hot stone massage and pregnancy massage. Please take a look at the website for more information about each of the specific types of massages. Floating and massage make a perfect combination, but you can opt for a separate massage session as well.
Floating sessions and massages are available in 45-minute sessions, 60-minute sessions, or longer by request. Please do not hesitate to ask the hotel staff for any additional information, or feel free to visit the float & massage centre. Koan Float is open daily from 9.30 AM to 11 PM.
Guests enjoy special rates for floating and massages. You can book your float in advance or during your stay at our reception.
Float & Massage Centre Koan Float
Herengracht 321
+31 20 5550333
Visit the website for more information: www.koanfloat.nl


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Recovery 108 with Gratitude & Grit
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Start: 6:30 pm
Length: 1 hr 30 mins
"Gratitude & Grit – Recovery 108" A yoga class for addiction recovery, is a now being offered Wednesday evenings at Sage Hills. There is an epidemic of drug dependence, mental illness and phobic conditions that are globally apparent. Yogi Bhajan predicted this over 30 years ago and gave clear and precise Exercises, Meditations, Diet to create a Whole recovery process with profound results of recovery and re-establishing your dignity, strength and connection to happiness. Meditation will be used to alleviate many kinds of physical and mental afflictions. Medical Science is beginning to recognize the effects and is even creating methods to delineate and measure all of it's parameters. If we are not addicted to smoking, eating, drinking or drugs, then we are subconsciously addicted to acceptance, advancement, rejection, emotional love, etc. All of these lead to insecure and neurotic behaviors, often with a feeling of mental & physical hopelessness and despair that is seemingly unbreakable. These are 3000 year old secrets that will be revealed to you in these classes and group experiences. We will be changing the neuron patterns of the brain to affect the compulsive behavior in a positive and renewable manner. Dietary recipes and suggestions will be given to support the body's physical recovery. Meditations and breathing patterns will be taught clearly and precisely to offer support and guidance while going about your daily lives and routines. Daily or consistent physical exercise will be encouraged – walking, swimming, or gardening, along with simple yoga exercises to maintain and build your grit and stamina. The Best Therapy is to Shred the Blocks that are preventing you from "Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Holy and Just Be You!" You will have an opportunity to reconnect with your Spirit and establish your inner Gratitude of Intuitively knowing your Soul Purpose in this life. All are welcome! All Ages and no previous experience in Yoga is required.
Admission: by donation $5 to $11 suggested
Click here for more details.Sage Hills Self Elevation Station
6232 West Sage Hills Drive
Cedar City, UT 84721
Presented by: Mandeep


text:
These are Harry Potter memes we thought were really...
Why Star Wars Is Better Than Harry Potter
- by moonchild6901
- Rating:
- Published: 26 Dec 2015
- Updated: 9 Mar 2016
- Status: Complete
We may not have a lightning scar or a geeky hero, but we have stuff even better. Why Star Wars is better than Harry Potter. Any Potterheads who might take offense to this, you've been warned.
Join MovellasFind out what all the buzz is about. Join now to start sharing your creativity and passion
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Web Hosting Requests forum where hosting companies can respond, based on your requirements. Use this to find the best web host for your particular needs.
There are currently 1 users browsing this forum. (0 members & 1 guests)
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Devshed is a Developer Shed Property, Owned by Brett Tabke. Thanks to
Jim Boykin, CEO of Internet Marketing Ninjas for taking care of our community from 2012-2017!
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text:
Live For Speed S2 is a serious racing simulator. No arcade modes, no steering aids - YOU have to do the driving. In S2 you can race alone or against the AI, but the real fun is to be found online, in multiplayer mode. Racing against real people is simply the best thing and LFS makes it easy for you to do so. There are also several online racing leagues you can take part in, if you are looking for something with a more competitive edge.
This is a demo for Live For Speed: S2 giving you a chance to try out this title.
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.


text:
Hercules Appointed Bulldog Master Distributor
Hercules Sealing Products is pleased to be appointed as the Authorized Master Distributor of Bulldog® Engine Gasket products for the United States and Latin America. Hercules now stocks and maintains a large inventory of Bulldog® gasket and transmission products. Gasket sealing products such as head gaskets, pan gaskets, front and rear cover gaskets, crank shaft […]Read more


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stepfather Noticed The Body Of..
stepfather U Have An Erection..
Devious fancy of NOT naughty..
SW-215 stepfather To Upright..
I viist my girlfriend daddy..
poor girl's daddy to sell the..
Not her Stepdaddy...F70
Fuck NOT my dad out in the..
Reiko Kobayakawa and Parent in..
Jealousy of the dad
educator was surprised to..
Speculation of naughty tutor
OH! daddy! 2


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BATON ROUGE — With Louisiana expected to receive somewhere between $2 billion and $6 billion from fines paid as a result of the 2010 BP oil spill, queries about eligible uses by state government have cropped up.
BATON ROUGE — With Louisiana expected to receive somewhere between $2 billion and $6 billion from fines paid as a result of the 2010 BP oil spill, queries about eligible uses by state government have cropped up.
Can the money be used to feed a starving state budget that is expected to lose more than $1.3 billion next fiscal year?
"On the surface, the answer is no," said Chris Macaluso, coastal outreach coordinator for the Louisiana Wildlife Federation. "But there is concern that it might be used for other needs not connected to the coast. Look what happened last year."
During the 2012 regular session, lawmakers added a provision to state law requiring that any BP fine money be deposited into the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund, but only after failing to add more flexibility in how the money can be spent.
Louisiana is getting a share of the Clean Water Act fines because Congress passed the RESTORE Act last year.
Earlier this month, a federal judge signed off on $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines for Transocean for its part in drilling the exploded well.
BP has also already paid $4 billion in criminal penalties, and its civil fines could exceed $21 billion.
As the money becomes available, 80 percent will be placed in the federal Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund, and 20 percent will go to the federal oil-spill efforts.
From the federal trust fund, 30 percent will be used by the recently-created Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council to implement a comprehensive recovery plan for the five affected states.
An additional 30 percent will be channeled to the states in a manner that is consistent with the comprehensive plan.
Another 5 percent is for research, technology programs and grants.
But it is the remaining 35 percent, which Louisiana must share with the four other Gulf states where oil washed up, that is drawing scrutiny.
Louisiana's share of that pot could range from $300 million to more than $1 billion.
According to staffers from the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu, where the RESTORE Act originated, Louisiana's share comes with eligibility requirements spread out over 10 areas.
While the eligible uses only apply to the area within Louisiana's coastal zone, plus 25 miles, the seafood and tourism marketing categories could potentially result in money being distributed in northern parishes.
Landrieu said Louisiana's coast is in line to receive the lion's share of money out of the federal trust fund, "but we need the funds to get to work on restoration."
Eligible uses under the RESTORE Act include:
-- Restoration and protection of the natural resources, ecosystems, fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches and coastal wetlands.
-- Mitigation of damage to fish, wildlife and natural resources.
-- Implementation of a federally approved marine, coastal or comprehensive conservation management plan, including fisheries monitoring.
-- Workforce development and job creation.
-- Improvements to state parks in coastal areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
-- Infrastructure projects benefitting the economy or ecological resources, including port infrastructure.
-- Coastal flood protection and related infrastructure.
-- Planning assistance.
-- Promotion of tourism in the Gulf Coast region, including recreational fishing.
-- Promotion of the consumption of Gulf Coast seafood.
With only a simple majority vote needed to reverse the state law liming the oil-spill money, state Rep. Simone Champagne, R-Jeanerette, said she will ask the Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment in the spring with the same language that exists now in statute.
She said it is a stronger form of protection, since it would take a two-thirds vote of the Legislature and voter approval to change the constitution.
The regular session convenes April 8.
Jeremy Alford can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.