Sharing the full mystery of the cross—

 

 

Learning How To Pray!

 

What does the Bible teach about this subject of “Learning How To Pray” in light of the full gospel of the Kingdom (and not just the 2/3’s of the gospel currently taught in the modern church)?

 

In light of the full gospel message, I think the most important thing for a believer to actually take away about learning how to pray is this: Jesus Christ is God—to Him we should pray. 

 

What, you say, should we not be praying to the Father?

 

Should we not pray to the Holy Spirit?

 

Is there not a trinity?

 

Oh how difficult is it to be learning how to pray!?

 

No, not so.

 

For Christ is the visible manifestation of the Spirit God.

 

And in this Christ was the fullness of the Godhead.

 

And so this Jesus is the one and only to which we should pray.

 

So how hard is it to begin learning how to pray?

 

Not hard at all.

 

It is simple.

 

Pray to Jesus.

 

Learning How To Pray

 

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

 

The mighty God–this is Jesus.

 

The Prince of Peace–this is Jesus.

 

The government shall be upon whose shoulder–none but Jesus!

 

His name shall be called Wonderful–this is Jesus.

 

His name shall be called Counsellor–this is Jesus.

 

His name shall be call the eternal Father…

 

This to is Jesus!

 

Do not be led astray with mis-teachings regarding the trinity.

 

Jesus is God. God is the Father. The Father is Jesus.

 

“Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? (John 14:8-9)

 

Don’t be confused with mis-teachings about the trinity.

 

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” John 14:13-14

 

Ask in our Lord’s name, and that will He do.

 

Ask Jesus.

 

Pray to Jesus.

 

He is God.

 

It is no more difficult than that.

 

When you truly come to “see” Jesus, you will then see the Father.

 

When you truly come to “know” Jesus Christ, you will then come to truly know God.

 

When you are one with Christ, you will be one with the Father.

 

And unlike Philip (before he was converted), you will know the Father.

 

You will no longer ask of the Father, for standing before you He will be–Jesus.

 

Yes, Jesus is the visible manifestation of the invisible Spirit God.

 

Jesus is God.

 

The eternal Father.

 

Pray to Jesus.

 

To learn more of this great truth (this middle third of the Gospel of the Kingdom and learning how to pray) and what it means to you in your daily walk with the Lord, contact us today.

 

If you are receiving this information from a friend, you can register to receive your own copy and gain additional information at http://www.paulsprimers.com.

 

If you are already registered, please contact us to learn more about Paul’s Primers Academy and our online bible study courses where you gain the practical power of Christ in your everyday life as you learn to see Scripture in the light of the full Gospel of the Kingdom, not just the 2/3’s of the message presently taught in the modern church.

 

In the meantime, may our Lord and God, Jesus Christ—the one who first and for all mankind did complete the circuit of the underworld—shine His light upon you.

 

In this love of Christ,

 

Pastor Paul

 

*****

(c) Copyright – Paul Rakowicz. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

******

 

Sharing the full mystery of the cross… Learning How To Pray!

 

Lawson middle school yearbook is a public three year middle school located in Cupertino, California, USA. Lawson opened in August 2001 for the 2001-2002 school year. The school was named after Sam H. Lawson, founder of many events and groups in the city of Cupertino, including the Tournament of Bands, the Cupertino Lions Club and the Cupertino Historical Society. Sam Lawson also introduced the Turkey Trot and the sport of wrestling to Cupertino and encouraged the practice of sports.

In 2006, the students were mainly drawn from Collins Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, Garden Gate Elementary School,Faria A+ Elementary, and Eaton Elementary School, along with students from other schools in the Cupertino Union School District. Lawson’s official colors are maroon, navy, and silver. Lawson’s mascot is the thunder cloud. Their first principal was former Eaton Elementary principal, CC O’Donell. CC O’Donell retired after the 2005-2006 school yearbook ended. The current principal of Lawson is Karl Sonntag from Santa Clara Unified School District. The current assistant principal of Lawson is Jeff Bowman. Former assistant principal is Cellini.

On June 15, 2007, Lawson graduated the Class of 2007, its first graduating class, composed of approximately 250 eighth grade students. Lawson alumni usually elevate to high schools in the Fremont Union High School District(FUHSD) like Cupertino High School, Monta Vista High School, and Homestead High School yearbooks online. Most attend the first two school listed above.

 

 

Student Clubs

Sports Conditioning Club

Magic Club: This club meets every other Tuesday or Thursday. Its advisor is Mr. Nate Ramezane.

Tech (Scratchers) Club(Discontinued): This is a club dedicated to programming in Scratch environment. Its advisor is Mr. Jonathan Entous.

Chess Club:

E – Club: This club is dedicated to the environment. There is a WOW program where students walk, bike, or carpool and earn points and earn prizes. Its advisor is Mr. Sean Abell

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Electives

Lawson Middle School offers various electives for students.

Electives Wheel

Instead of taking a full-year elective course, students may choose to take Electives Wheel.In seventh grade and eight grade, there are two;Thunder Wheel and Lightning Wheel. Thunder wheel are for people who want to learn basic skills and lightning is for people who want to learn more advance skills. The electives wheel is a series of three trimester-long courses, covering Art, Woodshop, and Cooking.

There is a separate Electives Wheel, known as Exploratory Wheel, for sixth graders, covering Art, Technology, Public speaking, and Life Skills, such as learning how to advertise products. These are a few examples for there are more units.

 

 

Foreign languages

Lawson Middle School is also the only middle school with a program called CLIP (Cupertino Language Immersion Program) This program is for 6th to 8th graders with advanced Chinese instead of just starting to learn Chinese. CLIP students start school from 7:20 instead of 8:15 for more Chinese academics. Starting in 2010, Spanish I for beginners will be taught at Lawson. Also, CLIP is being discontinued for the 2010-2011 school year, so brothers or sisters of CLIP 6th graders in 2010 will have to go to Miller Middle School to continue their CLIP studies.

CLIP is also sometimes known as CHINESE LANGUAGE IMMERSION PROGRAM. Students who take CLIP will have to take CLIP for two periods a day, therefore forced to have CLIP as their elective.

Social Studies

Lawson has a Social Studies program designed to prepare students for today’s global world. It teaches different cultures, histories, and geographies. The classes are filled with simulations and activities instead of having students read and memorize facts all day. Students enjoy these simulations and learn at the same time .

Mathematics

Lawson has a mathematics course designed to challenge students. For sixth graders, two courses, Math 6 and Pre-Algebra, are offered. The placement is based on the student’s results on a placement test taken in 5th grade. Pre-Algebra is a math class for students that pass the placement test, taken in 5th grade. Math 6 is for the lower level students who fail to pass the placement test for pre-algebra. Over the summer of any year at Lawson, students may take a challenge test to skip a course in mathematics. Seventh graders take either Pre-Algebra A, Pre-Algebra AB, or Algebra I. Eighth graders will be assigned classes based on their seventh grade mathematics class, and their performance in it. Most Pre-Algebra A students advance to Algebra IA, while Pre-Algebra AB students advance mostly to Algebra I. Algebra I students will advance to Geometry in eighth grade. Lawson’s Mathematics constantly involves hands-on learning, involving experiments and creative assignments.

Language Arts

Lawson has an English class that teaches students the English language. Students were engaged in making movies, radio broadcasts, doing projects, and reading books. Technology from the EETT fund also helped to modernize Language Arts. Notebook computers in the classroom allowed students to better understand the material studied in the class through technology.

Science

Lawson’s science classes teach students about the world surrounding them. Students participate in hands-on experiments and activities to gain a deeper understanding of their curriculum. Students in sixth grade learn earth science, while students in seventh grade learn biology. Eighth grade students learn a wide variety of subjects ranging from electricity to astronomy to physics. The curriculum for eighth grade students is designed to prepare them for the high school science courses.

Music program

Lawson has a choir, three bands (beginning, intermediate, and advanced), and three orchestras (beginning, intermediate, and advanced). Students must be in a previous class to be eligible for a more advanced class; however, a student who demonstrates ability can audition for a higher class. All advanced music classes and students that have been in choir for two years or more take an annual trip to Disneyland, to perform in a studio.

Lawson’s music program makes many performances during the year for both the student body and parents. The students participating in the music program practice year-round for these performances.The first performance is the Lawson Boosters Concert. Beginning band and orchestra don’t participate. It is mainly to help the music program earn money. The year’s first official performance is usually the Winter Concert, followed by a Pops Concert. The last performance is the Spring concert.

Journalism & Yearbook

The Current

Lawson’s school newspaper, The Current, won first place in the 2007 Scholastic Corporation Press Association Contest. They were one of the three middle schools in the United States to win this special award. The Current is published by seventh and eighth grade students in the Journalism class. Originally an after-school club with fourteen members and one issue a year, journalism became an elective course in 2006-2007 and published three issues that year. Recently in the 2007-2008 school year however, journalism became an after-school club once again, with one circulation that year.

The Bolt

The Lawson Yearbook, first produced in the 2005-2006 school year by the Yearbook club, is entitled “The Bolt”. Yearbook became an elective class in 2006-2007. The Lawson yearbook is separated into 4 sections that cover the different aspects of the school year: Student Life, People, Sports, and Academics. It is published by Herff Jones.

The Lawson Yearbook staff produced a Video Yearbook for the first time in 2007. It will be in DVD format and a supplement to the regular yearbook, which was in full color that year. Due to technical difficulties, the Video Yearbook was not available for sale as planned, however, the video was broadcast over the school and each member of the yearbook staff received a copy. The 2008-2009 yearbook staff produced another video yearbook, which was available for sale for 5$.

Lawson Yearbook Themes

2006 – First Impressions Inspiration: This was Lawson’s first year of being a school

2007 – The Secret’s Out Inspiration: People knew that Lawson was a good school, and the secret was out

2008 – 3’s a Crowd Inspiration: This was Lawson’s third year in being a school and it was more crowded than thought so

2009- On Inspiration: Lawson Middle School was always on to something, and the student activities and curriculum kept going on.

2010- From Inside Out : Exposing the unique parts of lawson that outsiders do not notice

 

Most Christians visit church every Sunday. Alright not really most, but nonetheless a substantial majority. A young Christian has been to hundreds of sermons and gospel readings by the time he or she turns into an adult. Ask her or him how many times he or she has heard the actual clergyman have a discussion about universal salvation, and he or she will tell you not very often. It is uncommon for a Christian pastor to speak about universal salvation. Why? To put it simply, the topic is too comprehensive to go over in a single sitting. If the sermon went the distance, many people would grow board, yawn, and simply leave.

What is it about universal salvation that turns Christian pastors off? Well, it’s because to talk about universal salvation is usually to dig deep within the words of the Bible text. Take notice, universal salvation is not about God saving each religion. That thing right there is Universalism. Universal salvation is far away from universalism. It appears to be exactly the same, but those two are completely different things.

What is universal salvation?

Universal salvation is the notion that all people, each and every individual on Earth–a businessman, a house wife, a priest, a convicted murderer, the President of the United States–will be rescued by Jesus Christ by way of the love of God. Yes, even that unpleasant old lady next door.

Do you get the “other meaning” of the message. As a consequence of everybody being rescued by Jesus Christ, no one is sure to end up in hell. Merely being alive and breathing is a ticket to the kingdom of God, to the gates of heaven, and there is practically nothing the fires of hell is going to be able to do anything whatsoever about it.

Let’s look at some Bible Verses and Quotes referring this topic.

“Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.” (Romans 5:18)

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men-the testimony given in its proper time.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6)

“But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:32)

“…(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10)

The Bible states it evidently that God’s love “brings life for all men”. The salvation that is offered with the coming of Jesus Christ encompasses all. The problem is that a majority of Christian believers are not ready to accept this Biblical reality, because it means you could be a non-Christian and still be rescued. Alternatively non-Christians would be fired up to hear this. Yet the Bible holds the truth, no matter what everyone wants, that all people will be saved by Jesus Christ in due time.

As a true Christian we must accept this fact. It is written in the Bible Verses and Quotes after all. God’s love affects us all, Christian and non-Christian alike.

If you believe in reincarnation, there are ways for you to figure this out today. There are some individuals out there who practice reincarnation as part of their religion, but others are simply curious. Whatever group you fall into, the answers lie in everything you do in this lifetime. However, you must take advantage of the clues you get along the way, and these are just a few ways you can go about doing it.

 

Keeping Track of Everything

 

Now, we know there are a lot of people out there who keep some sort of journal. Whatever it’s about today, we recommend starting another one for your reincarnation adventure. If you truly believe that your past lives are working against your future, write down everything you do throughout any given day. In the beginning it may not feel like much, but there will be pieces of the puzzles you can pick up when you least expect it.

 

Just look at your life today and see if you can find any clues. It might be the slightest detail, which is why you should jot down events, animals, reactions to situations, colors, anytime you felt dj-vu, and a host of other things. Basically the more you write down, the better chance you have of finding something.

 

When you wake up in the morning, think about the dreams you had last night. One thing to keep in mind is that our dreams tend to bring out past lives clearer, so remembering them is important. So the next time you come across a symbol or event that would never occur today, it’s possible you knew this in a previous life and it tried to surface in your dreams. We understand this can be difficult, but if you tell yourself you want to learn about your past lives before going to sleep, it can definitely help.

 

Using PLR Therapy

 

Obviously this will depend on your finances, but if you have the capability to see a therapist we definitely recommend it. If there was any sort of regression in your past life, they will help you bring it to the forefront. While you can go to several different places, the International Association for Regression and Research and Therapies or International Association of Past Life Therapists is recommended.

 

Experiencing the Meditation Phenomenon

 

While meditation can do wonders for learning more about a past life, some people find it difficult to trust the enlightenment. If you’re going to take this route to find clues, you have to trust your own feelings before you can understand them.

 

Whatever you find, don’t forget to write it all down. There are going to be times when you feel as though you’re daydreaming or seeing images come and go. The trick is to tell yourself you can do it. If you don’t, then you won’t. It’s a simple process if you take the positive route.

 

Probably the biggest thing to meditation is finding that one thing that would put your mindset in the proper place. To get started you may need something like the flame of a candle to focus in on, or even a ticking noise from a grandfather clock. If it works the first time, make sure you record it the second time around. This way you can teach yourself at home.

 

Another option is to take advantage of binaural beats. This allows you to hear different frequencies in each ear and results in relaxing you completely. It’s been said that you can experience the same state of mind as a Zen monk by using this technique, but that’s a debatable subject.

 

While all this is great, you have to find a place that is quiet and peaceful. If you don’t, there will be too many distractions.

 

So get yourself in a positive frame of mind before you even begin. Look for a comfortable place to start your meditation and allow yourself to relax the muscles and quiet the mind. You will notice that there will be times when certain thoughts creep in that are somewhat negative. When this happens you just have to let them go. It’s going to take some practice, but in the end you’ll be able to form a positive meditation whenever you want throughout the day.

 

Once you start seeing mental images, keep track of it all. When you’re finished with your meditation, be sure to write it down. These thoughts may be the key to resolving something in your life, which is the most important part to reincarnation. Granted you won’t always be able to tell if these come from your past lives or the one you have today, but some of the information could lead to new findings.

 

It’s an amazing thought, but there are times when people in your family knew each other in a previous life. Granted, the relationship back then could have been different, but the connection was still there.

 

At the end of the day you just need to believe in reincarnation. Since you’ve made it this far we imagine you do. If you plan on trying regression, you’ll be able to get some extremely beneficial information about your past lives. It could be the first step to finding all the answers you need.

“Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.”

Those of you who have been listening to me preach for some time will have heard me mention Will Willimon – a man who has very much been my preaching mentor.  I have only met him in person once, but I have spent a relatively enormous amount of time reading his preaching guides and listening to his lectures on how to preach.  And Will Willimon’s key strategy in preaching, which has become the basis for so much of my own pulpiteering (if that’s a word) can be summed up in four words that he is fond of quoting, namely: ’stick with the weird’.

And if you haven’t heard me mention this before many of you will no doubt nonetheless discern how this principle operates in my treatment of Biblical passages – that my approach to the Biblical narrative is generally not to avoid the difficult bits, but rather to focus in on those aspects of a passage that do not seem to fit easily, that are uncomfortable, or that are just downright weird.

And then you come across a passage like today’s reading – the story of the transfiguration – where the whole thing is just completely weird, and it is hard to know what to do with it!

“And as Jesus was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.”

Jesus shone! What are we supposed to make of that?  How did He do it?  Why would Jesus want to do it?  Was it all just a part of some strange dream of the disciples, and if it wasn’t a dream what point was Jesus trying to make, if any?

Of course these sorts of questions aren’t unique to this particular passage.  There are lots passages and lots of stories about Jesus that are, at first, difficult to penetrate.  And yet we who are experienced in dealing with the Scriptures know that there are methods for unlocking seemingly difficult texts, and the starting point is generally looking at other pieces of Scripture which pick up on similar themes.

And so with this particular story of the transfiguration, our starting point might be to look at other persons who are transfigured in the Bible and compare the nature of their transfigurations to Jesus’ transfiguration, such that we might begin to see what transfiguration in general is all about, and hence what Jesus’ transfiguration in particular has to teach us.

The problem we have though when we start to look at the other transfiguration accounts that occur in the Bible is that there aren’t any.  There are no other transfiguration stories.  There are no other people who were transfigured at all!

Yes, there was Moses, who we are told had a ‘radiant face’ after his encounter with God (Exodus 24:39) but it is hardly a strong comparison. There’s no suggestion there that he was ’shining like the sun’ or that his clothes were transformed such that they were ‘whiter than any fuller could bleach them’, let alone that he shared in any of the other strange elements of this story.

In other words, when it comes to transfiguration stories in general in the Bible, there just aren’t any!  This account pretty much stands alone, and for that reason it is hard to have much of a clue as to what to make of it.

One comfort in this of course is that the disciples didn’t seem to have a clue what to make of it either!  On the contrary, the three characters who shared the experience with Jesus behaved like rabbits caught in the headlights, not knowing what to say.

I’m not sure what it was that was going through Peter’s mind when he made the suggestion about setting up the three tents, but then again it’s not clear that Peter understood what he was talking about either.  It seems to have been one of those moments that you look back on later, kicking yourself, and thinking of all the much more intelligent things you could have said if only you’d had the presence of mind at the time to say them.

It was difficult for the disciples to work out what was going on with Jesus that day, and it remains difficult for us two thousand years later to work out exactly what was going on with Jesus that day.  He seems weird, impenetrable, and not like us at all, suggesting that perhaps there is a dimension to Jesus that is far more mysterious, more powerful, and more glorious than we might have otherwise imagined!  Let us hope so, for if we are going to deal with the struggles of this life and with the evils of this world we will need a Jesus who is more than just an inspiring brother and a spiritual buddy.

As some of you know, I’ve spent a lot of time and energy this last week trying to help coordinate a campaign to prevent my friend, Sheikh Mansour (our local Iranian Muslim cleric), from being deported by the Australian government.

Now I know that there will be some people who question why I should be pouring my time into supporting someone who should be considered both ethnically and religiously my enemy, but that’s OK.  Plenty of people questioned Jesus over His support for Samaritans and Romans and Syrophoenicians, who supposed to be His ethnic and religious enemies, so I’m not too worried about that.  What does worry my though is that the further I get in to this case, the more I sense the presence of evil deeply embedded in our legal and governmental systems.

Q: Mansour is to be ingloriously deported from our country as a security risk? Why?  
A: I’m sorry, we can’t tell you!
Q: But isn’t it only fair that a man be told what he is accused of?  
A: Yes, it is fair, but as the High Court has ruled, Mansour is not entitled to procedural fairness or natural justice because he is not an Australian citizen!
Q: But I thought the purpose of the law was to deliver justice, regardless of whether you were black or white, rich or poor, Australian or Iranian?  
A: Yes it is, but not if you’re a terrorist!
Q: But what makes you think that this quiet and gentle man is a terrorist?  
A: I’m sorry. We can’t tell you!

When I was a younger man I used to think that we lived in a wonderful country where everybody was given a fair go, but it’s just not true.  You can get justice, but you have to be an Australian citizen, and frankly, you have to be a white Australian citizen, and quite frankly, you have to be a white Australian citizen with money!

And in case you think I’m just being cynical on this last point let me tell you of one good friend who went to get some advice from a lawyer recently as to how he might defend himself through the legal system. The lawyer gave him 20 minutes of his time and charged him $1,600 for those twenty minutes, and the advice this lawyer gave my friend as to how he should try to defend himself through the courts was that he shouldn’t bother.

And I’m convinced that it’s not just a case of there being a lot of particularly nasty lawyers (the 90-something percent of the fraternity giving the rest of the guys a bad name).  And I’m convinced that it’s not just a case of bad judges or poorly defined laws or corrupt police or political interference or bureaucratic bungling. It is all of those things and it is more!  It is the system, and it is the evil embedded deeply within the system that corrupts and infects and perverts and deforms, and takes even the best of intentions and moulds them into actions that destroy human life.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”, says St Paul (Ephesians 6:12), and it is true!

I see those ‘principalities and powers’ doing their corrosive work in the case of my friend Sheikh Mansour just as I see them tearing away at the flesh of my dear brother Mordechai Vanunu in Israel, just as I saw them at work in the case of four entirely separate men that I have been trying to support over this last week, each of whom are struggling to get access to their children!

Why?  Because they have difficult partners and are enduring painful relationship breakdowns?  Sure!  But it’s more than that too. It is the system, and it is the evil embedded within the system, and it is the principalities and powers at work through that deeply embedded evil, tearing up and bringing down, sowing discord and whiteanting reputations, “turning justice into wormwood” as the prophet Amos once put it (Amos 5:7) “and casting down righteousness to the earth”.

And it is insidious, and it is painful, and it is enough to drive us to despair and make us want to throw it all in, but then we look up and we see Jesus, transfigured – mysterious, glowing, breath-taking, glorious!  

And His glory shines above it all, and around it, and through it all, and we sense that somehow in the midst of all this pain and ignominy and corruption and death, that yet there is hope!

The transfiguration of Jesus.  I don’t understand it and I don’t have many clues as to how or why He did it, and yet I cling to it!  For I need a Jesus that is bigger than my own imagination, and  I need a Jesus who can rise above the principalities and powers and all the forces of evil that tear away at our world.  I need Him in His glory.

As John, one of the other disciples who shared that experience with Jesus, wrote many, many years later:  “We beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
We beheld His glory!  And that vision of His glory makes us strong – straightens the feeble knees and lifts the falling hands, and so we battle on, bathing in His glorious light!

First preached at Holy Trinity Dulwich Hill, February 2010
Hear the original audio of this sermon in the Fighting Fathers Audio Sermon library

 

Rev. David B. Smith
(the ‘Fighting Father’)

Parish priest, community worker,
martial arts master, pro boxer, author, father of three
www.fatherdave.org     

Fighting Father Dave
Get a free preview copy of Dave’s book,Sex, the Ring & the Eucharist when you sign up for his free news letter at www.fatherdave.org

mortgage refinance Church growth is a sign of a healthy well-balanced church. A big portion of a church’s budget can be easily spent on trying to reach those in the local community with the Good News of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.

I will never forget the time, years ago, when I was looking for a new church home for my young and growing family. During the process, I visited quite a few churches in the community. One Sunday I visited a church that initially looked wonderful. The church had a nice cheerful sign out front, modest landscaping and a facility that appeared to be well maintained. I attended the service and really enjoyed the sermon. The people were friendly; I thought I might have found the church I was looking for.

juegos futbol A religious, but non-Christian, person sacrifices the virtues in their life and lives a life full of commandments without governing themselves by moral values, without practical expressions of solidarity or mercy. A true Christian, on the other hand, knows that the commandments lead to an expression of these virtues in daily life, knows that by studying biblical stories and drawing out the lesson, we start to reproduce the values which God tries to promote and emphasize by means of these stories. When someone demonstrates a religious and fanatical life without understanding true Christianity, finally this fanatacism and religiosity results in fatigue, scepticism and this scepticism produces indifference and boredom, which at the same time leads to cynicism and apostasy. Sadly, this is the state that many people are in.

Each one of us is free to make our own decisions, as for myself, I make the following:

- I choose to be a man of integrity and decide to conduct myself with honesty in absolutely everything I do.
- I choose to believe God that I am loved, forgiven and protected by Him.
- I choose to try to build a family which always acts in accordiing to moral values.
- I choose to live a life full of social sensitivity, dedicating the majority of my efforts to help and produce well being for those who suffer, for the needy, for the poor, for the minorities
- I choose to always speak the truth, even though this has meant and continues to mean, that people who decide to love me may turn into enemies.
- I also choose to forgive those who offend me and continue living for Christ and for others.
- I choose to be bold and not to waste time complaining and thinking about what could have been that didn’t happen.
- I also choose to bless and respect everyone who thinks and acts in different ways to how I act.
- I choose and decide to defend my convictions with absolute solidarity and in a gentle manner.
- I choose to be responsible and in my position as pastor of this ministry, to defend Centro de Vida Cristiana against whatever attitude or person which could stop us from continuing to be a ministry built on virtues and social sensitivity.
- I choose to offer an attitude of loyalty, sincere care and support to my friends and to all of those who surround me.
- I choose not to ask those around me to do things or partake in activities that I would never want to be asked to do or that would make them feel bad or miserable.
- I also choose to try with all of my strength to be a good son, a good husband, a good father, a good Christian and a good citizen.
- I choose to be a person who realises their faults, inabilities and mistakes, and to correct myself, change direction and ask for forgiveness when I understand that there is a need to do so.

Dear friend: The heart of God is a heart full of love for you personally, for me personally, for all of those who suffer. His love is so great, even to such an extent that he gave his only Son, so that all who believe in him shall not perish, but have eternal life, because God didn’t send His Son to condemn the world but he sent him so that the world could be saved through Him. In his salvation, in his love, he has decided to offer an even higher virtue and this virtue is freedom. We have complete liberty whether we choose God or not. We have complete freedom whether we choose to opt for his reign or not.

Every person has freedom to choose and therefore has the responsibility for their own lives. It is not possible to put the blame on no-one at all because we are given a choice and are therefore responsible for our decision whether or not to follow God. We should choose because the reign of God over your life manifests itself in an expression of virtues and sensitivity to the needs of society from the point on decision onwards.

Through my years in CVC, I have seen many marvels, many blessings, many miracles, many families restored; tens of thousands of people helped in different ways, poor people fed, people giving up drugs and alcoholism; people who lived for themselves and to accumulate, compete or try to excel who now live helping others by means of their profession and resources; people bound by pornography and lust, attitudes which damage and insult people, who are now free. In times when, according to the statistics, in North America and Europe, only half of marriages last and of those only half live in such a way which actually conforms with the promises made at the start, couples and families which were at breaking point have learnt, in our counselling sessions, to forgive each other, to carry out fundamental changes, they have been restored in an integral manner. Mature or young women who sought to have abortions have been informed and helped in such a way that we have saved the lives of hundreds of children who were not killed by their own mothers. We have also touched the lives of thousands of young people, encouraging them not to abandon their education, warning them about the danger of drugs, helping them to reach their goals in life, to achieve the greatest level of education possible. We have served hundreds of abandoned or semi-abandoned children, giving them food, love, accommodation, medical attention, toys, clothes, education, etc., etc., etc.

Because of all of this and much more, our ministry of promotion of values and social sensitivity, is without a doubt a real alternative of benefit to society and its needs. This is a ministry which promotes values and sensitivity in the individual, within families, within societies, in pubic, in businesses, etc., These are the needs of a world which is constantly fighting and in a state of war, due to a lack of these fundamental values in their personal objectives and dreams, creating and promoting more and more competence.

property management  The scriptures of Hinduism are vastly distributed among its followers, and have a very strict relevance to the daily activities. The two most common forms of scriptures are Sruti (the revealed) and Smriti (the remembered) texts. The basic fundamentals of these scriptures are Sociology, Mythology, Philosophy and Theology. All these scriptures are in fact a guide to the attainment of the Dharma or the rightful living. The Vedas and the Upanishads are the most important of scriptures of Hinduism.

We live together in a generation which has moved away from God in their hearts and from the virtues and solidarity with those around them. However, in the midst of this generation, there is a remainder, who cry out and say: Lord, I don’t care what the others are doing, I want to be faithful to you, I want to be a man or woman of values, of sensitivity, I want to stand true and persevere until the end.

For Christians, it is fundamental to be followers of Jesus Christ, followers of what is proclaimed in the Gospel. If we make Him Lord, not only do we call Him Lord, but we also put him above all other things, we love Him, and make Him the most important person in our lives, we place Him in first place in our lives, we crown Him as God over our lives; this is what it is to be a Christian! This is what it means to make Jesus the Lord!

The teachers should care about children and teach in fun and creative ways. Teachers should use every tool at their disposal to make their lessons meaningful and invite the children to explore all the wonders that God has to offer. Children’s Sunday school should be a fun and exciting place to visit.

Maps of the various children’s classrooms and children’s worship center should be predominantly displayed within the entrances into the children’s area. This allows parents to locate the area in which their children belong and reassures the children that they will not be lost in the shuffle You can be published without charge. You can to republish this article in your website or blog. Please provide links Active.

Kenneth Copeland Ministry is a Christian institution founded by Kenneth Copeland, a native of Lubbock, Texas, and a former recording artist.  The idea of creating a Christian institution come about when Ken Copeland known Oral Roberts, a co-pilot and the founder of the college where he enrolled in. He then proceeded to be a Christian as he named it, and made his very own Christian ministry to its fullest.

The actual Christian group became eminent in 1970s, which afterwards branched out worldwide in the lands of Australia, Africa, Canada, United Kingdom and Ukraine.  He then also started a television program called “Believer’s Voice of Victory” in 1979.  Because of the speedy adaptation of the population, even prison inmates of almost twenty-three countries became totally faithful.

In the face of popularity as a writer, televangelist and the originator of these ministries; Kenneth Copeland still was subjected under condemnation by a few of the analysts.  These people questioned his true purposes and would link up his ambitions to the likes of money-spinning and earthly intention.

Through the years, because it was established, it has created into an estimate of numerous followers from over 120 countries up to now.  More than a few progresses were noted in dysfunctional families and some icons within the politics and entertainment industries started to be believers.  Indeed, along with strong conviction, they made it possible to build service centers which do their highly regarded preaching.  This particular move earned continuous supports from treatment facilities, orphanages and churches therefore making them accommodate more starving souls.

Following a decade, the Ministry had developed qualified advisors who reach out to persons to educate and uphold moral attitudes and support cleanse their lives and preserve Christianity at its best.  Each unit in the society was adequately attended to and given special consideration specifically the youngsters and those couple who need spiritual restoration.

A home for the forgotten kids and orphans was also constructed to provide an environment to accept them like that of a family in order that later on, these kids would not go off track the proper way and practice to be nice Christians.

Adult counseling is also practiced with the ministry.  For the first couple of years, they concentrate more on recovering defunct affairs between couples, for it appeared to be the real cause of shattered home, child rebellion and violence in general.  Additional attention was given,   specifically to the ones who subject themselves to merely following the written concepts of the organization but ignore the essence of its totality and existence. Challenges about success and religion were also encountered especially from the poor and aptly handled Bible-reading sessions to aid complete spiritual mending.

Aside from its goals, the ministry geared to modify from time to time its fundamental principles into more healthy and meaningful inscriptions practiced by a body of dedicated people. Up to now, it has developed a conviction that made numbers of its followers create a profound direction within their lives.  Evangelism indeed started to be a basic foundation of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries.

When I read all the negative comments about Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard on line, guised to be the “Truth About Scientology” I have to laugh.

What’s with these people anyway? What kind of people are they?

I’ve actually met a few of these devoted anti-Scientologist, and without naming names let’s just say every single one of them that I have personally met is absolutely NUTS!

REALLY NUTS! (And notice I don’t even qualify that statement.)

Sometimes you have to evaluate the source of the opinion before you pay any attention to what it has to say.
And yeah, I know, they have these “ex-Scientologist” and guys “who use to work for Scientology” but that is not what I am talking about here when I say evaluate the source of the opinion.

Who were these people, before they were Scientologists, before they use to work for Scientology?
Take my cousin , for instance. He is a good case study of an anti-Scientologist and I know him well. He was an “ex-member” of the church and even worked for them for awhile.

The most important thing you should know about my cousin is that before he was a Scientologist, before he was an “ex-Scientologist”, before he was a “person who use to work for a Scientology church” he was first and foremost a person whom we would commonly call NUTS!

Get it. He was NUTS, NUTS, NUTS … long before he was exposed to Scientology. And along the way to becoming a Scientologist he went to architectural school, chiropractic school, became a Buddhist monk, got married and divorced, and you know what? He doesn’t have anything nice to say about those experiences either.

Now how do I know he was nuts? Well, simply put he tried to commit suicide a few times, failed at all those above career attempts, failed at being a Scientology minister, and ended up by the time he was in his 30’s living with his mom, collecting welfare as his only source of income, and spending all of his welfare checks at the horse races, trying to win a fortune. He lived with his mom like that for about 30 years until she died.

My cousin had an awful attitude towards the Church of Scientology. You know, all the usual stuff you hear from the lips of gossip and scandal mongers.

But even though he hated Scientology and hated the church and its organization, when I came along after graduate school, he taught me all about Scientology auditing and wanted to audit me and wanted me to audit him.

Now the things he taught me about Scientology “auditing” (various self improvement procedures) were interesting. I had just spent four years in graduate school studying psychology. And after my cousin started teaching me about Scientology, I began to wonder why no one had ever shown me this book called “Dianetics” which was written in 1950 and had a better explanation of the mind than anything I had ever read in my entire 8 years of studying psychology.

I thought this was very weird and felt a little…. no actually…. a lot, betrayed by my education. Wasn’t school supposed to be a place where you go to learn about stuff? To gain knowledge. I didn’t think that universities and teachers were suppose to hide knowledge from you.

But back to my cousin….

Now I did think it was more than a little odd that he wanted desperately to practice this thing he so vehemently hated. But I knew my cousin was indeed more than a little odd and it was a very interesting topic for me so I went along with it.

Now this is where it gets good.

My cousin trained me to audit him and we worked together for about three months. Within two weeks he was telling me I was a natural and was already a better auditor then he was. (Sadly, he was right. He had four years of training, but I was already a better auditor than he was. I could even tell.)

Then I started reading his books. (I had to in order to learn how to do the auditing procedure.) And as I read the books I began to realize that my cousin was doing everything wrong. He was misinterpreting everything and wasn’t doing anything right.

So it turns out, not only was my cousin NUTS, he was STUPID!

I on the other hand had had a full scholarship to a top graduate school, had earned nearly a 4.0 GPA in four years of Graduate School in Psychology, and was a card carrying member of MENSA. It would appear, I was anything but stupid. (At least book wise.)

Anyway, I was tolerant of him in the beginning, but after about 3 months when I realized he had no idea of how to apply the procedure correctly, I told him he could not audit me anymore. I told him I would continue to audit him, but I would not allow him to audit me because he really didn’t know what he was doing.

Well that relationship lasted about another week after that, then he said let’s just call it off. I got the idea that if he couldn’t waste my time by doing Scientology incorrectly on me, he had no real interest in getting better himself.
So when I ended it with my cousin, it left me in an odd position. I was very interested in Scientology, but all the gossip and innuendos had me more than a little scared to pursue it.

My cousin had a half dozen books or so. I initially resolved my dilemma by asking him f I could borrow his books, and he let me. I read them all. Hmmm…nothing weird here…but I began to see where his upsets and ineptitude came from – he had a lot of misunderstandings of the things he had read and studied.

Then I ran out of books….. but I had to have more, so despite my fears, I went down to the local Church of Scientology, ran in and bought a few more books, and then ran out again. (I actually did this for months and months until I had systematically read all the available books.)

After a quite exhaustive personal research into Scientology (by reading all the books myself) I came to a conclusion. – There was not one thing I had read in any of the Scientology books that I disagreed with or would consider weird. But there were two things I knew for sure about my cousin. My cousin was NUTS and STUPID.

Hence, I let go of all the lies and misconceptions my cousin had told me and walked into a Church of Scientology and told them what had happened. My experience with the Church from then on was very positive and the Church was very much like you would have predicted from the books that I had read and the opposite of all the lies and inaccuracies that my cousin had portrayed.

So you see when I read all the negative comments about Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard on line, guised to be the “Truth About Scientology” I still have to laugh. These are just more NUT CASES and IDIOTS like my cousin. (Unfortunately my cousin has no monopoly on being NUTS and an IDIOT!)

And believe me, I have met more than a few of these anti-Scientologists over the years. In all cases, they have either never read Scientology for themselves and just operate off of what other people have told them about Scientology ( I call this THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF ALL FACTOR) or they have read books or worked for the organization themselves and like my cousin have misunderstood almost every single thing they have read. ( I call this THE PLAIN OLD IDIOT FACTOR.)

Scientology is one of the sanest philosophies around. It may not be right for everyone, but it may be right for you. And given the magnitude of the help it can give someone, it certainly is worth a little investigation to find out if it IS or ISN’T right for you.

And if you are not an IDIOT or NUTCASE, then you will get the point of this story.

When I went to graduate school in psychology I had 8 or 10 buddies who were simultaneously going to Medical School. One of those guys was like me. He got almost straight A’s in his courses. Most of my buddies got straight Bs, and a few got all Cs or worse.

Now whom would you want operating on you or diagnosing your case? The guy who got straight A’s or the guy who got straight C’s?

With regard to any philosophy or profession, there are going to be people who are A students and get it and people who C students and probably don’t get half of it right but manage to “pass” anyway. And of course their will always be our D and F students who fail miserably but have the freedom to talk about their experiences anyway.

Every profession, whether it is auto-mechanics, salesmen, computer programmers, or Catholic priests, has its share of IDIOTS and NUTS who somehow get licensed to represent the profession. Do you see pages and pages of websites about the “Truth About Auto Repair” condemning all Auto mechanics and listing anyone who has ever had their car repaired? – Well, they probably do have some….but I think you get the point.

Yeah, there does seem to be a good number of Catholic priests who have been exposed as perverts, but does that mean we should condemn Christ and Christ’s philosophy and make a list of anyone who has ever been in a Catholic church and post it on the Internet?

You can’t judge a Religion, a philosophy, a profession by the misdeeds of the IDIOTS, NUT CASES, and CRIMINALS who somehow get involved. This is America. We can’t put up a sign at the local community college, or the local Catholic church, or the local church of Scientology saying “NO IDIOTS ALLOWED.” (Even though we sometimes might like to!)
The correct way to evaluate something, is not to listen to what all the idiots have to say, but to read the source materials yourself (if they are available to you) and make your own decision.

I think we all remember the recent “Weapons of Mass Destruction” fiasco. Some times source materials are not available, but that is not the case with regards to Scientology. Scientology books are everywhere and easy to evaluate.
When you rely on other people’s opinions about things, or information “in the news” you are exposed to 1) a lot of opinions or information that can be based on evil intent (lies) designed to manipulate you, or 2) less viscously, you are exposed to opinions and information based on the simple stupidity of all those people out there who aren’t that bright and like my cousin simply get it all wrong.

So don’t be an idiot. If you want to know the “Truth About Scientology” don’t read other people’s opinions about it, pick up a source book and read about it yourself.

The only thing that matters here is YOU. Will Scientology help YOU as it has helped others?

I don’t know. But I do know the only way for you to truly find out is to read the source books yourself, and make your own decision and not listen to what I or anyone else has to say about it…….

…….Well, excuse me now, I have to get go back to laughing at all those on-line anti-Scientological idiots. After all life is supposed to be fun, and laughing IS a fun thing to do.