A Creation Momment - "Flawed Mimicry"

"Evolutionists Find Their Conclusions Flawed"

Genesis 8:17 - "Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh ... that they may breed abundantly in the earth…"
A surprising number of living things mimic other living things. We have done a number of programs on these wonders of God's creativity. However, evolutionary biologists discount such mimicry as any sort of wonder because in many cases the mimicry is imperfect. The biological term is "flawed mimicry."

Now evolutionary biologists admit that they may have to revisit their conclusions about flawed mimicry. Several species of orchid are known to mimic pollinators to attract their attention. An orchid called the ophreys orchid seeks to attract the males of several bee species by mimicking the scent of the female of the species. However, when scientists studied the exact composition of the pheromone mix used by the orchid, they found it wasn't quite the same as that used by the local female bees. So they labeled it flawed mimicry. However, as field scientists expanded their research, they made a surprising discovery. The orchids are able to change the pheromone mix of the scents they create to subtly change the scent they produce. In fact, the orchids were mimicking the scent of female bees some distance away. Why? Further research showed that male bees actually prefer so called out-of-town females to the local females.

What scientists thought was flawed mimicry is actually a fine-tuned design that can only be explained with intelligence.


Prayer:
Lord, do not allow Your people to be misled by the flawed conclusions of false science when it contradicts Your Word. Amen. Notes:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/32628/title/Better_than_a_local_lady, Rachel Ehrenberg, "Better than a local lady."

PUBLIC LAW 97-280 OCT. 4, 1982

Public Law 97-280

96 STAT. 1211

97th Congress

Joint Resolution

Authorizing and requesting the President to proclaim 1983 as The "Year of the Bible"

Whereas the Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in shaping the United States as a distinctive and blessed nation and people;

Whereas deeply held religious convictions springing from the Holy Scriptures led to the early settlement of our Nation;

Whereas Biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil government that are contained in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States;

Whereas many of our great national leaders-among them Presidents Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, and Wilson-paid tribute to the surpassing influence of the Bible in our country's development, as in the words of President Jackson that the Bible is "the rock on which our Republic rests";

Whereas the history of our Nation clearly illustrates the value of voluntarily applying the teachings of the Scriptures in the lives of individuals, families, and societies;

Whereas this Nation now faces great challenges that will test this Nation as it has never been tested before; and

Whereas that renewing our knowledge of and faith in God through Holy Scripture can strengthen us as a nation and a people: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is authorized and requested to designate 1983 as a national "Year of the Bible" in recognition of both the formative influence the Bible has been for our Nation, and our national need to study and apply the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.

Approved October 4, 1982

New Minnesota Conservator Reporting System First in Nation

Posted: Friday, August 06, 2010

Conservators appointed by courts to make financial decisions for adults found unable to manage their financial affairs can now complete their reports online. The new reporting and monitoring system, which was developed and piloted by the Ramsey County Probate Court, is being rolled out statewide as part of a Judicial Branch effort to improve conservatorship oversight and reduce administrative costs.

Letters are being sent to 4,200 conservators statewide urging them to begin using the new reporting system, which can be accessed through the Judicial Branch website. Use of the new system will become mandatory Jan. 1, 2011.

The Minnesota system, called CAMPERS (Conservator Account Monitoring Preparation and Electronic Reporting System) will provide a number of benefits to courts and conservators, including:

• Deter errors and possible exploitation
• Save conservator and court staff time and reduce paperwork
• Allow ready identification of overdue and incomplete reports
• Allow ready access to expense and receipt details
• Allow analysis across all or selected groups of conservators and conservatorships
• Improve court ability to audit accounts

Minnesota is the first state to develop a statewide conservatorship reporting and monitoring system and is being looked to as an example for other states. "The CAMPER system represents one of the most innovative practices in the conservatorship field nationwide," said Dr. Brenda Uekert, Director of the Center for Elders and the Courts at the National Center for State Courts.  "For conservators, it offers checks and balances through an automated system.  For the courts, CAMPER has the potential to improve the oversight and management of cases. Many states will be looking to Minnesota as a national model of how to improve the conservatorship process."

The Judicial Council has made improved oversight of conservatorships a Branch priority which can be achieved by centralizing and automating account processing and monitoring and assigning monitoring responsibility to specialized staff. The number of conservatorships is expected to grow as Minnesota's population continues to age.

Information about and access to the CAMPERS system can be found at www.mncourts.gov/conservators.  An instruction manual and tutorials are provided to assist conservators in registering on the new system and completing their reports.

In conjunction with rollout of the electronic filing system, the Judicial Branch will be conducting periodic standardized audits with an emphasis on deterring inappropriate or fraudulent conduct by conservators. Conservators may be required to submit documentation supporting their reports, including but not limited to bank statements, vouchers, cancelled checks, verification of funds on deposit, tax returns, and other documentation needed to verify deposits of income and receipt of payments.

 

Riding High on the Public Sector Gravy Train

Posted by Van Helsing 

No wonder Wisconsin's runaway Democrat State Senators chose Illinois to hide in. Their public sector union paymasters have that state well in hand, to judge by thecompensation a school superintendant named Harry Griffith receives:
That's $429,029 per year for an educrat who I'm guessing doesn't work any harder than you do, judging by the dismal state of Illinois schools, the majority of which fail to meet testing targets. Even after he retires he will still collect over $300,000 per year.
At least now I understand why Illinois recently saw the need to raise its income tax by a staggering 67%. After all, Griffith isn't riding that gravy train all by himself.
On a tip from Just TheTip. Hat tip: Gateway Pundit.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Steps on a Cockroach

Ayaan Hirsi Ali escaped from Muslim oppression in Africa and the Middle East only to meet up with it again in the Netherlands, where she became a member of Parliament, but was then driven out of the country by dhimmis after incurring the wrath of Muslims for daring to criticize their barbaric cult. Her autobiographical Infidel comes highly recommended.

Hirsi Ali has shown not only tremendous courage in standing up to the Islamic thugs who murdered her friend Theo Van Gogh, but an incredibly strong stomach in being able to sit through an interview with the gut-wrenchingly vile Avi Lewis of Canada's taxpayer-financed CBC. The interview featured a relentless barrage of cartoonish anti-American propaganda from the insufferably condescending Lewis, who accused America of being a theocracy where abortion doctors are routinely shot, "homophobia is rampant," etc., etc.

When Hirsi Ali effortlessly shot down his hyperbolic allegations regarding America's oppression of Muslims by pointing out that if Muslims really were oppressed, they would leave, Lewis started to lose his composure, sneering nastily:

Your faith in American democracy is just eh eh delightful.

Her calm reply:

It's the best democracy in the world. It's the best place to be.

On CBC, this constitutes blasphemy. Lewis was becoming visibly unhinged as he sputtered:

Tell that to the people who believe there have been a couple of stolen elections. That the democracy is completely broken.

When she countered his allegations that the USA is a plutocracy by observing that you can arrive penniless in America and become fabulously wealthy, Lewis completely lost his composure:

Is there a school where they teach you these American clichés? Is it part of your application process that you have to… I'm sorry… I'm so upset that I'm losing my cards here. I can't believe you just said that.

The time had come for Hirsi Ali to stop pretending Lewis was mature enough to conduct a rational conversation, and to put him in his place:

I've lived in countries that had no democracy, that had no Founding Fathers […] so I don't find myself in the same luxury as you. You grew up in freedom, and you can spit on freedom, because you don't know what it is not to have freedom.

That about sums up the mentality of the liberal media.

US Jesuits agree to school sex abuse pay-out

Related Stories

An order of US Catholic priests has agreed to pay $166.1m (£103.3m) to hundreds of Native Americans sexually abused by priests at its schools.

The former students at Jesuit schools in five states of the north-western US said they were abused from the 1940s through the 1990s.

Under a settlement, the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, will also apologise to the victims.

The order had argued paying out abuse claims would cause it to go bankrupt.

"It's a day of reckoning and justice," Clarita Vargas, who said she and two sisters were abused by a priest at a Jesuit-run school for Native American children in the state of Washington, told the Associated Press.

"My spirit was wounded, and this makes it feel better."

The province ran schools in the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Most of the alleged victims were Native American. Much of the alleged abuse occurred on Native reservations and in remote villages, where the order was accused of dumping problem priests.

"No amount of money can bring back a lost childhood, a destroyed culture or a shattered faith," lawyer Blaine Tamaki, who represented about 90 victims in the case, said in a statement.

The pay-out is one of the largest to date in a series of sex abuse scandals involving the Catholic Church.

Japanese crisis hits world markets

Stocks follow Japan downwards after Nikkei's biggest drop since 1987 crash as tsunami and nuclear crisis hammer markets.

Last Modified: 15 Mar 2011 17:56 GMT

The German DAX was hard hit by the Japanese nuclear crisis on Tuesday, falling 5.1 per cent [Reuters]

Japan's stock market has plunged 10.6 per cent in the face of a worsening nuclear crisis, which has affected markets across the world.

The Nikkei has lost 16 per cent of its value since Monday, the benchmark's biggest two-day drop since the 1987 crash, as Japan warned of significantly higher radiation levels following explosions at quake-stricken nuclear power plants.

The Bank of Japan injected a further $97.8bn into the financial system in an attempt to calm the markets, a day after it fed a record $184bn into money markets and eased monetary policy.

The government has said it expects a "considerable" economic impact from the 8.9 magnitude earthquake, devastating tsunami, and subsequent nuclear crisis.

The catastrophe has also impacted on global markets, with some $247bn being wiped off the value of indexes of major European stock markets and shares in the region fell to their lowest in 14 weeks.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares finished the day down 2.2 per cent at a three-month closing low of 1,084.70 points. Germany was hardest hit in early European trading, with the DAX index down 3.19 per cent, while France's CAC-40 slid 2.51 per cent and Britain's FTSE 100 index fell 1.38 per cent.

US markets were also hit early in the session but pared losses later in the day with the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index both down by around 1 per cent.

Southeast Asian stock markets also dropped on Tuesday, with Singapore falling more than 3 per cent at one stage to its lowest level since last August. Indonesian shares also fell 1.3 per cent.

Investors across Asia are leaving risky assets such as equities and commodities because of uncertainty about world growth following the Japanese earthquake and nuclear crisis.

In Hong Kong the main index fell 2.86 per cent, Australia plunged 2.11 per cent, and South Korea shed 2.40 per cent.

Stocks in emerging markets also fell two per cent on Tuesday, with Russian and South African stocks plummeting amid news of radioactive leaks in Japan.

Meanwhile safe-haven assets, such as US Treasuries and the dollar, have soared. The dollar rose 0.8 percent against a range of major currencies, pulling away from last week's four-month low. The yen has also made gains because of its capacity as a safe haven asset.

Source:

Agencies

Could Harlem plan save Milwaukee's core?

By SUSAN TROLLER

The Capital Times
stroller@madison.com madison.com
(10) Comments
Posted: Thursday, January 7, 2010 6:45 am

Jehron Bryant watches at chess expert Garry Kasparov at a Harlem Children's Zone event.

Harlem Children’s Zone

"We're not interested in saving a hundred kids ... We want to be able to talk about how you save kids by the tens of thousands, because that's how we're losing them." -- Geoffrey Canada

Although saving children, one at a time, may be a noble goal, Geoffrey Canada believes in casting a wider net.

For a dozen years, the visionary educator and architect of the Harlem Children's Zone has been developing a system of family social support and educational innovations to show how it's possible to dramatically change the trajectory of an entire generation of poor and minority children in a 97-square-block area of New York City.

In his 2008 book about Canada and the Harlem Children's Zone, "Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America," author Paul Tough quotes Canada saying, "For me, the big question in America is: Are we going to try to make America a true meritocracy? Or will we forever have a class of people who essentially won't be able to compete, because the game is fixed against them?"

On Jan. 12, Canada will be in Madison as the keynote speaker for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's annual Wisconsin Promise Conference at Monona Terrace Convention Center.

Canada and the Harlem Children's Zone have been the subject of numerous national news stories in print, on radio and on television. His remarkable accomplishments in Harlem - where third-graders are scoring 100 percent at or above grade level on state-administered math tests and 94 percent at or above grade level in reading - are drawing enthusiastic attention from business leaders, educators and policymakers across the country, including Wisconsin.

Canada readily admits it hasn't been easy. His ambitious project that begins working with poor kids and their parents virtually from infancy has taken some wrong turns along the way, creating dustups with teachers and administrators who think he pushes too hard or overemphasizes test scores.

In fact, as Tough's book points out, even the Harlem Children's Zone had trouble signficantly changing the culture among middle schoolers who entered Canada's Promise Academy as sixth-graders with fixed ideas about how hard they'd be able or willing to work. But his vast experiment in what combination of factors is necessary to actually change the lives of poor children has caught the attention of everyone from President Barack Obama to school officials in virtually every urban district with a sizable achievement gap between white and minority students.

Locally, those concerned with the dismal statistics coming out of Milwaukee's public schools have an especially keen interest in Canada's approach. A recent national test that sampled the achievement levels of schoolchildren in 17 urban areas in America showed that Milwaukee ranked near the bottom of the pack on math scores for fourth-graders; in fact, students in just four other U.S. cities did worse than in Milwaukee. Among eighth-graders, only students in Detroit did worse. Milwaukee schools have an enormous achievement gap between black and white students, and graduation rates lag 20 points behind the state as a whole. Nearly 80 percent of the city's public school students are poor.

"We invited Geoffrey Canada to speak here about a year ago because we were very interested in his work in Harlem and what lessons he might have for us in Wisconsin and, particularly, for Milwaukee," says John Johnson, a spokesman for the Department of Public Instruction, in a recent interview.

Gubernatorial candidate and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is an enthusiastic Geoffrey Canada fan and is intrigued by the notion of developing children's zones in Milwaukee.

"I saw the New York Times Magazine story about the Harlem Children's Zone and I read Paul Tough's book," he says in a phone interview. "I was very interested in how these ideas could be applied to Milwaukee."

Barrett notes that last year, he and Gov. Jim Doyle, along with state Superintendent Tony Evers, established a Milwaukee Public Schools Innovation and Improvement Advisory Council to provide oversight, advice and support for Milwaukee Public Schools.

That committee recently completed a report, analyzing Milwaukee's readiness to compete for President Barack Obama's national school reform initiative, Race to the Top, which pledges more than $4 billion to schools ready to take on reform efforts.

The committee's recommendations include establishing children's zones in Milwaukee, similar to those Canada developed in Harlem.

The report's executive summary calls for initially establishing these zones in Milwaukee neighborhoods where there are struggling schools, and eventually establishing a citywide Milwaukee Children's Zone. These zones would provide comprehensive, systemic help for children and their families in the areas of academics, housing, nutrition, health care and other key social supports.

Barrett says Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently told him he believes that mayoral control of the Milwaukee Public Schools could be helpful in developing a children's zone system there.

"He said specifically that the biggest benefit in mayoral control is the ability to align and coordinate the various services necessary to help a large number of kids," Barrett notes. "That would include things like public housing, public safety, health and medical services, and, of course, education."

Whether Barrett, or the next mayor of Milwaukee, will be given that kind of control is uncertain. Turning over responsibility for Milwaukee's schools to the mayor's office is definitely on the wish list for the Race to the Top initiative coming out of the governor's office, but there's been little enthusiasm from the Legislature and active resistance from some Milwaukee School Board members, some Milwaukee legislators, other local officials and the teachers union.

How to pay for a children's zone program in Milwaukee is also likely to be an issue.

In Harlem, Canada has had both public and private backing for his efforts, including large-scale funding from philanthropists and business backers with deep pockets.

There are no estimates so far of what it would cost to replicate Canada's model in Milwaukee, but Barrett cautions that no matter how promising the children's zones may be, "adequate, sustainable funding will be key." Milwaukee schools already get more than $500 million in state aid every year. Barrett also notes that if children's zones prove successful in Milwaukee, there might be a place for them in other urban Wisconsin districts where there are significant achievement gaps, including Madison, Racine and Beloit.

There's no doubt that the failures of the state's largest school district, as well as the general malaise of Milwaukee's economy, have a chilling effect on the economic welfare of the entire state. Improving the grim status quo is needed, many believe, to improve future economic prospects for Wisconsin. But for people like Canada, it's also a moral issue. Whether those impulses, both lofty and practical, will be sufficient to overcome natural resistance to an ambitious new program remains to be seen.

Canada's approach has been bold, and has charted new territory. From the beginning, his goal has been to develop a programatic, standardized approach to helping children succeed that can be broadly applied and replicated anywhere in America where a culture of poverty holds children back.

"We're not interested in saving a hundred kids. Even 300 kids," Canada explained in Paul Tough's book. "Even a thousand kids to me is not going to do it. We want to be able to talk about how you save kids by the tens of thousands, because that's how we're losing them. We're losing kids by the tens of thousands."

What Canada has done in Harlem, and what other cities, including Milwaukee, are contemplating doing with their own children's zones, is a large-scale effort that literally changes the way poor children grow up.

In Harlem, Canada's effort has focused on changing the way families raise their children - more emphasis on conversation between children and adults and less on physical punishment, for instance. There's a wide range of services, from parenting advice at Baby College, to help with housing or substance abuse or domestic violence.

In the Children's Zone, Canada has transformed the way schools operate by lengthening the school day and school year so students don't fall behind at home, or during the summer. In addition, there is an insistence on highly motivated, effective teachers and administrators, plus strict accountability when it comes to student learning and test performance.

According to Canada, it's possible to reshape the very nature of impoverished neighborhoods when there's an expectation for excellence in education, beginning with preschool and continuing every step of the way. By making a commitment to getting all kids prepared for college or post-high school training, the future holds good jobs, not unemployment or a revolving door between risky behavior and prison.

Real change is only possible, Canada says, when all students, not just a few lucky exceptions, are given the tools to excel. Although he acknowledges that students benefit enormously from a good support system at home, he also believes an effective educational system can be flexible and comprehensive enough to compensate for a poor home life.

Canada sometimes describes his system as a "conveyor belt," beginning in infancy and continuing through preschool, elementary, middle and high school. The promise he has made to parents and students in Harlem is that the conveyor doesn't stop until their young people are competing successfully against their middle-class peers, prepared for college or other post-graduate successes.

"There's just no way that in good conscience we can allow poverty to remain the dividing line between success and failure in this country, where if you're born poor in a community like this one, you stay poor," Canada told Tough. "We have to even that out. We have to give these kids a chance."

Copyright 2011 madison.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted in Local_schools on Thursday, January 7, 2010 6:45 am Updated: 3:23 pm. Geoffrey Canada, Harlem

Wisdom Of Solomon 15 - Idolatry the root of Mortality!

"For to know thee is perfect righteousness: yea, to know thy power is the root of immortality. "

The Wisdom of Solomon 15:1 But thou, O God, art gracious and true, longsuffering, and in mercy ordering all things,
The Wisdom of Solomon 15:2 For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy power: but we will not sin, knowing that we are counted thine.
The Wisdom of Solomon 15:3 For to know thee is perfect righteousness: yea, to know thy power is the root of immortality.
The Wisdom of Solomon 15:4 For neither did the mischievous invention of men deceive us, nor an image spotted with divers colours, the painter's fruitless labour;
The Wisdom of Solomon 15:5 The sight whereof enticeth fools to lust after it, and so they desire the form of a dead image, that hath no breath.
The Wisdom of Solomon 15:6 Both they that make them, they that desire them, and they that worship them, are lovers of evil things, and are worthy to have such things to trust upon.
The Wisdom of Solomon 15:7 For the potter, tempering soft earth, fashioneth every vessel with much labour for our service: yea, of the same clay he maketh both the vessels that serve for clean uses, and likewise also all such as serve to the contrary: but what is the use of either sort, the potter himself is the judge.
The Wisdom of Solomon 15:8 And employing his labours lewdly, he maketh a vain god of the same clay, even he which a little before was made of earth himself, and within a little while after returneth to the same, out when his life which was lent him shall be demanded.

The Wisdom of Solomon 14 - Idolatry is the beginning of spiritual fornication!

"For the devising of idols was the beginning of spiritual fornication, and the invention of them the corruption of life. " 


The Wisdom of Solomon 14:1 Again, one preparing himself to sail, and about to pass through the raging waves, calleth upon a piece of wood more rotten than the vessel that carrieth him.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:2 For verily desire of gain devised that, and the workman built it by his skill.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:3 But thy providence, O Father, governeth it: for thou hast made a way in the sea, and a safe path in the waves;
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:4 Shewing that thou canst save from all danger: yea, though a man went to sea without art.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:5 Nevertheless thou wouldest not that the works of thy wisdom should be idle, and therefore do men commit their lives to a small piece of wood, and passing the rough sea in a weak vessel are saved.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:6 For in the old time also, when the proud giants perished, the hope of the world governed by thy hand escaped in a weak vessel, and left to all ages a seed of generation.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:7 For blessed is the wood whereby righteousness cometh.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:8 But that which is made with hands is cursed, as well it, as he that made it: he, because he made it; and it, because, being corruptible, it was called god.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:9 For the ungodly and his ungodliness are both alike hateful unto God.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:10 For that which is made shall be punished together with him that made it.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:11 Therefore even upon the idols of the Gentiles shall there be a visitation: because in the creature of God they are become an abomination, and stumblingblocks to the souls of men, and a snare to the feet of the unwise.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:12 For the devising of idols was the beginning of spiritual fornication, and the invention of them the corruption of life.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:13 For neither were they from the beginning, neither shall they be for ever.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:14 For by the vain glory of men they entered into the world, and therefore shall they come shortly to an end.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:15 For a father afflicted with untimely mourning, when he hath made an image of his child soon taken away, now honoured him as a god, which was then a dead man, and delivered to those that were under him ceremonies and sacrifices.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:16 Thus in process of time an ungodly custom grown strong was kept as a law, and graven images were worshipped by the commandments of kings.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:17 Whom men could not honour in presence, because they dwelt far off, they took the counterfeit of his visage from far, and made an express image of a king whom they honoured, to the end that by this their forwardness they might flatter him that was absent, as if he were present.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:18 Also the singular diligence of the artificer did help to set forward the ignorant to more superstition.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:19 For he, peradventure willing to please one in authority, forced all his skill to make the resemblance of the best fashion.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:20 And so the multitude, allured by the grace of the work, took him now for a god, which a little before was but honoured.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:21 And this was an occasion to deceive the world: for men, serving either calamity or tyranny, did ascribe unto stones and stocks the incommunicable name.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:22 Moreover this was not enough for them, that they erred in the knowledge of God; but whereas they lived in the great war of ignorance, those so great plagues called they peace.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:23 For whilst they slew their children in sacrifices, or used secret ceremonies, or made revellings of strange rites;
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:24 They kept neither lives nor marriages any longer undefiled: but either one slew another traiterously, or grieved him by adultery.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:25 So that there reigned in all men without exception blood, manslaughter, theft, and dissimulation, corruption, unfaithfulness, tumults, perjury,
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:26 Disquieting of good men, forgetfulness of good turns, defiling of souls, changing of kind, disorder in marriages, adultery, and shameless uncleanness.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:27 For the worshipping of idols not to be named is the beginning, the cause, and the end, of all evil.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:28 For either they are mad when they be merry, or prophesy lies, or live unjustly, or else lightly forswear themselves.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:29 For insomuch as their trust is in idols, which have no life; though they swear falsely, yet they look not to be hurt.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:30 Howbeit for both causes shall they be justly punished: both because they thought not well of God, giving heed unto idols, and also unjustly swore in deceit, despising holiness.
The Wisdom of Solomon 14:31 For it is not the power of them by whom they swear: but it is the just vengeance of sinners, that punisheth always the offence of the ungodly.

The Wisdom of Solomon 13 - On Idolatry and they that practice it!

The Wisdom of Solomon 13:1 Surely vain are all men by nature, who are ignorant of God, and could not out of the good things that are seen know him that is: neither by considering the works did they acknowledge the workmaster;
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:2 But deemed either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the violent water, or the lights of heaven, to be the gods which govern the world.
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:3 With whose beauty if they being delighted took them to be gods; let them know how much better the Lord of them is: for the first author of beauty hath created them.
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:4 But if they were astonished at their power and virtue, let them understand by them, how much mightier he is that made them.
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:5 For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seen.
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:6 But yet for this they are the less to be blamed: for they peradventure err, seeking God, and desirous to find him.
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:7 For being conversant in his works they search him diligently, and believe their sight: because the things are beautiful that are seen.
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:8 Howbeit neither are they to be pardoned.
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:9 For if they were able to know so much, that they could aim at the world; how did they not sooner find out the Lord thereof?
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:10 But miserable are they, and in dead things is their hope, who call them gods, which are the works of men's hands, gold and silver, to shew art in, and resemblances of beasts, or a stone good for nothing, the work of an ancient hand.
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:11 Now a carpenter that felleth timber, after he hath sawn down a tree meet for the purpose, and taken off all the bark skilfully round about, and hath wrought it handsomely, and made a vessel thereof fit for the service of man's life;
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:12 And after spending the refuse of his work to dress his meat, hath filled himself;
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:13 And taking the very refuse among those which served to no use, being a crooked piece of wood, and full of knots, hath carved it diligently, when he had nothing else to do, and formed it by the skill of his understanding, and fashioned it to the image of a man;
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:14 Or made it like some vile beast, laying it over with vermilion, and with paint colouring it red, and covering every spot therein;
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:15 And when he had made a convenient room for it, set it in a wall, and made it fast with iron:
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:16 For he provided for it that it might not fall, knowing that it was unable to help itself; for it is an image, and hath need of help:
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:17 Then maketh he prayer for his goods, for his wife and children, and is not ashamed to speak to that which hath no life.
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:18 For health he calleth upon that which is weak: for life prayeth to that which is dead; for aid humbly beseecheth that which hath least means to help: and for a good journey he asketh of that which cannot set a foot forward:
The Wisdom of Solomon 13:19 And for gaining and getting, and for good success of his hands, asketh ability to do of him, that is most unable to do any thing.

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON - In reflection of Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami!

"For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seen"


- "Blessed is the wood(Calvary's Cross) whereby righteousness cometh.But that which is made with hands is cursed, as well it, as he that made it: he, because he made it; and it, because, being corruptible, it was called god.For the ungodly and his ungodliness are both alike hateful unto God.
-For that which is made shall be punished together with him that made it.
-Therefore even upon the idols of the Gentiles shall there be a visitation: because in the creature of God they are become an abomination, and stumblingblocks to the souls of men, and a snare to the feet of the unwise.
-For the devising of idols was the beginning of spiritual fornication, and the invention of them the corruption of life.
-For neither were they from the beginning, neither shall they be for ever.
-For by the vain glory of men they entered into the world, and therefore shall they come shortly to an end.
-For the worshipping of idols not to be named is the beginning, the cause, and the end, of all evil.
-For insomuch as their trust is in idols, which have no life; though they swear falsely, yet they look not to be hurt.
-Howbeit for both causes shall they be justly punished: both because they thought not well of God, giving heed unto idols, and also unjustly swore in deceit, despising holiness.
-For it is not the power of them by whom they swear: but it is the just vengeance of sinners, that punisheth always the offence of the ungodly.
-For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy power: but we will not sin, knowing that we are counted thine.
-For to know thee is perfect righteousness: yea, to know thy power is the root of immortality.
-For neither did the mischievous invention of men deceive us, nor an image spotted with divers colours, the painter's fruitless labour;
-The sight whereof enticeth fools to lust after it, and so they desire the form of a dead image, that hath no breath.
-Both they that make them, they that desire them, and they that worship them, are lovers of evil things, and are worthy to have such things to trust upon.
-For the potter(The Almighty God), tempering soft earth, fashioneth every vessel with much labour for our service: yea, of the same clay he maketh both the vessels that serve for clean uses, and likewise also all such as serve to the contrary: but what is the use of either sort, the potter himself is the judge.

The Word of God - a revealer of mysteries!

Japan: A fragile country at the mercy of nature

1 Thessalonians 5:1 -  But of "the times and the seasons", brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you...

The world is reacting with shock at the huge quake and tsunami that has devastated Japan, but people there have learnt to expect natural disasters.


The first indication was a humming and a rattling.

Hundreds of upturned beer glasses on wooden shelves, shook from side to side, then knocked into each other. Conversation dimmed then stopped completely. Faces looked from one to another across the plates of tempura and sushi.

"Quick," shouted the barman, "turn off the gas."

It was my first experience of a tremor, just a few days after I had gone to live in Japan. And it was typical - everyone trying to gauge just how serious this quake was going to be.

When should we get up and try to run outdoors? Or would we have to dive under the tables? Or seek safety under a door frame - which we all knew was the strongest part of the room?

It is no coincidence that tsunami is a Japanese word

After a few seconds the tremor subsided, the conversation picked up, the sushi chef started wielding his heavy knife on the chopping block.

Just a few seconds later, a white subtitle appeared on the TV in the corner - it was on all channels - indicating the size of the quake and the location of the epicentre.

It was not the "big one". But everyone knew that one was coming.

The question was: when?

Tradition held that animals and fish would act strangely ahead of a quake - carp, for example, would jump out of the water.

The Japanese government even sponsored an experiment to monitor carp activity to see if they could be used to predict tremors.

Japanese people live with an ever-present expectation of natural disaster - floods, hurricanes, fires, and most of all earthquakes and the massive waves they can generate.

Hell on earth?

It is no coincidence that tsunami is a Japanese word.

The native religion, Shinto, is animist - speaking of the divine nature of trees and mountains, of goddesses who emerged from deep clefts in the rocks. The very earth can seem alive.

The islands sit on a massive fault line and the classic image of the country is the perfect volcanic cone of Mount Fuji.

Boiling hot water steams up from cracks in the rocks, exploited for the natural hot springs that are one of the country's great wonders.

Schoolchildren still commemorate the victims of the Kanto earthquake

In the town of Beppu you can see pools of foul-smelling sulphuric waters that emerge from the earth. But the big draw is the dark red pool guarded by statues of ferocious, boggle-eyed deities. It is called Jigoku - Hell.

All Japanese know that at any time the powers of the earth can turn against them.

In 1923, the great Kanto earthquake devastated Tokyo.

Fires raged across a city built of wooden houses, killing an estimated 140,000 people.

Since then the population on the Kanto plain has grown massively in an interconnected series of cities from the mountains down to the sea.

Everyone knows that the pressure between the tectonic plates deep underground will be released sometime.

Everyone prepares. Schools and office workers take part in earthquake drills. And these are dramatic.

The authorities bring along a mock-up of a living room, complete with a sofa and a dining table, with one wall missing so you can see inside.

The whole room is mounted on a machine on a truck and gently the mechanism rocks the room from side to side - simulating the usual tremors that you feel every few days.

Curtains sway and plates slide across tables.

The movement gets stronger and stronger, wilder and wilder. Crockery smashes, the furniture is hurled about furiously.

Just watching, you can feel the panic rising in your stomach. And this is just a mock-up of a moderate quake.

Extraordinary resilience

An ever-present sense of disaster is deeply woven into traditional ways.

Japanese culture has long-prized fragility, impermanence, transience.

The cherry blossom is the most prized of all expressions of nature because it achieves such a brief perfection before falling carelessly.

Samurai - so it was said - gave up their lives with similar carelessness, because their honour was more important.

The earthquake has caused extensive damage to homes and roads

Zen teaching praised the way bamboo's flexibility gave it a special strength.

Subjected to force it sways and bends. It does not snap.

The Japanese traditionally built their houses lightly out of wood and it is said this is so they would sway in an earthquake rather than simply collapse.

The city of Tokyo has shown extraordinary resilience.

In March 1945, a couple of decades after the great earthquake, American B29s dropped incendiary bombs on the city of wooden houses.

The resulting firestorm killed 100,000 people in the course of a single night.

Waiting for the "big one" is a part of Japanese life and the carp, it turns out, are no help. They have no better idea of when a tremor will strike than the rest of us.

Unhurried Lifestyle - Living green, Venetia truly is at home in Kyoto

By KRIS KOSAKA

Special to The Japan Times

Venetia Stanley-Smith Kajiyama, or Venetia to her many fans, personifies natural, country living in her popular NHK program "Neko no Shippo, Kaeru no Te," but her first two months in Tokyo exemplified neon lights and city swing as a go-go dancer at a Shinjuku disco.

Venetia Stanley-Smith Kajiyama tends to herbs in the garden of her home in Ohara in suburban Kyoto. COURTESY OF TADASHI KAJIYAMA

It was 1971, and Venetia admits cash motivated her unlikely occupation. "I was looking for a singing job, but the owner told me if I wore a T-shirt and shorts and danced for three sets, he would give me ¥5,000."

Newly arrived, Venetia desperately needed to eat and find a place to stay, but the memory clearly pleases her now. "I stood on a little platform in the middle of the disco, and every time I did anything, everyone on the floor copied me. If I moved right, the whole dance floor moved right. There was some kind of innocence there."

The allure of Tokyo waned quickly, however.

"I had a very typical, romantic image of Japan," Venetia recalls, and a fellow ex-pat traveler who was based in Kyoto convinced her to move west toward the temples, shrines and natural beauty in the Japanese countryside.

Venetia now thrives in this countryside, her home an old farmhouse in Ohara in Kyoto's suburbs, with a sprawling herb and cottage garden, what she calls "a triumph of informality." Her books on herbs and environmentally sound living, along with her television show, showcase the natural beauty of a conscientious life in the country.

Venetia has lived in the Kyoto area ever since 1971, minus a few years traveling around Japan. The area finally tamed the wanderlust of a woman who sees life as nothing so much as a journey and who started her travels at a young age.

Venetia attended kindergarten in Spain, and her father lived in Switzerland while she was based with her mother in Britain. "We were always flying from one place to another, from a young age going off somewhere in a plane."

She admits she struggled to become comfortable with her privileged upbringing. "From when I was 7 or 8 years old, I felt totally out of place with the situation I was born into. My mother was part of the jet set . . . my stepfather used to play golf with Sean Connery . . . but I just felt 'what's all the fuss about it?' "

The Stanley-Smith family can trace its ancestors to the Battle of Hastings, and her descendants carried the title of Lord Curzon, enjoying the entitlement and glamour of England's peerage system. "My mother was very concerned that I should marry a duke or something, so she put a lot of pressure on me, which of course forced me in the completely opposite direction."

England in the late 1960s meant Mod fashion, Jimi Hendrix and a burgeoning fascination with Eastern philosophies. Venetia, then an aspiring singer who toured during her vacations from school with such bands as Sounds Incorporated, an opening band for The Four Tops and The Beatles, accepted a twist of fate as confirmation a singing career was not in her future.

"Our main song was 'Scarborough Fair,' a very old English madrigal we had turned into a folk song. We had even signed a contract with Island Records to record it, but as soon as we made our demo disc, Simon and Garfunkel released the same song. What are the chances they would find that exact song, and do it so much better, with a full orchestra? I felt it was a huge sign that music was not what I was supposed to do."

The 19-year-old Venetia yearned for deeper meanings, and between family tensions and a shelved singing career, she like many in her generation searched for answers in the East.

"I always felt there was something I was supposed to be doing," Venetia says, and she found a connection when she heard about a boy, only 12 years old, teaching in India. After several serendipitous meetings in London with his followers, Venetia decided to travel to India herself, to hear Prem Rawat in person.

Joining a group of travelers, Venetia stayed in India for 10 months at Prem Rawat's ashram, learning his "Knowledge" meditation and teachings. Rawat, encouraged that young people were coming from Europe and America to be taught by him, decided to spread his message overseas and asked Venetia to accompany him and his followers to Europe. However, she yearned for more time away from England and decided instead to travel further East to Japan.

Venetia's path to Japan wended across land, through Thailand toward the sea. She constantly relied on the kindness of fellow travelers. From Hong Kong to Taiwan to Kagoshima, chance meetings and the generosity of strangers aided her, and from Kagoshima, Venetia hitchhiked to Osaka. She finally stopped to ask for help, unsure even where Tokyo was located.

"I went to a police box in Osaka, and the policeman on duty advised me to take a train. When he finally understood I had no money, he put me into a police car," she recalls. "I thought I was being arrested, but he drove me to the motorway, pulled over, set out a flashing red sign and began stopping trucks until he found a truck that was going to Tokyo. The driver took me onboard, and bought me my first meal in Japan."

Although Venetia's visit to Tokyo lasted only two months, her adventures in Kyoto have stretched into a lifetime. She taught English conversation, married a Japanese man and started a family. Eventually she opened her own school in 1978, thanks to hard work and the kind donation of key money from one of her students.

Venetia settled in the city, near her school, Venetia International in Sakyo Ward, but she longed for a more natural setting. As it turned out, the country life of her future started with a cup of tea.

She had made it a practice from the beginning to serve tea at her school, traditional British or herbal. Gradually, she started growing her own herbs in small pots lining the windows of her city kitchen.

The herbs represented a small piece of home. "I thought I would one day go back to England," Venetia recalls, and she worked hard to educate her three children at international schools or abroad.

A difficult marriage eventually could not withstand the strains of her pressured, busy life, and Venetia and her first husband divorced in 1986. She spent six years as a single mother, working full time, before she met her second husband, Tadashi Kajiyama, a writer, mountain climber and alpine photographer. The couple welcomed their own child, Eugene, in 1994.

Her fourth pregnancy, at 43 years old, encouraged Venetia to deepen her knowledge about herbs. "My sister sent me a book on herbal remedies, and I realized there was so much more I could do with herbs." In 1996, Venetia finally realized her lifelong dream of country life when the family moved to Ohara, about 40 minutes from central Kyoto.

Venetia started running classes for herb remedies or alternatives, for everything from toothpaste to shampoo. "After we moved into the Ohara house, we realized everything we used, every artificial product went right back into the stream outside our house. I realized I had to do something more natural," she explains.

Searching for recipes in use during preindustrial England, Venetia used trial and error to discover the best and most natural homemade products. Meanwhile, she and Kajiyama were slowly constructing a cottage garden to match her dreams.

It took six years and 132 sq. meters to complete the garden, Venetia carefully enriching the soil with handmade compost and planting her herbs. News of the garden's beauty spread, and Venetia and Kajiyama started a column for the Kyoto Shimbun. It was a popular Sunday feature that ran from 2000 to 2003. The Japan National Gardening Contest invited Venetia to submit her garden in 2002, and she won first place.

After the award, NHK came to film her garden frequently, and with the success of her first book, "Venetia's Ohara Herb Diary," which has sold more than 140,000 copies, she got her own program, which premiered in April 2009.

Fans of the show which NHK broadcasts six days a week in Japan and internationally under the English title, "At Home with Venetia in Kyoto" embrace her unhurried lifestyle and attention to her garden and herbs.

The most popular part of the show, according to NHK statistics, is when Venetia reads an original essay in English, but she insists the show's success has little to do with her. "It's a combination of many elements. The cameraman is absolutely amazing . . . the narrator is perfect, the music, composed by a Japanese woman living in Spain, is beautiful . . . but it is also something to do with Japan now, I think. I realize there are a lot of articles about people being depressed or can't find a job, but at the same time there is a real desire to take care of nature, a true belief in eating healthy the show itself relaxes people."

Venetia, humbled by the chance to share her simple lifestyle, says she feels the most pleasure when the show connects with others in their daily lives. "The most exciting thing for me is when people call or write to share how they are actually making and using the natural products. Housewives in Japan still take time for these kind of details, and they are trying to make their own families and their own environments safe by using natural products."

Note: Her books and popular TV show showcase beauty of a conscientious life in the country!

The importance of noble character - Imam Ghazali

2/24/2011 - Religious - Article Ref: EM1102-4507
Number of comments:
By: Staff
Emel*

Imam Ghazali may have lived over 900 years ago, but in the true spirit of Islam his work, analysis and thoughts are as relevant today as they were when the scholar waited for his ink to dry on the paper he wrote on in the 11th century.

We may like to think of ourselves as continually evolving over hundreds of years as the world around us also transforms, but essentially, we are the same as our ancestors. We have similar hands and feet, eyes and ears, a heart, lungs, a mind and a soul.

Ghazali's analysis of people and society is based on the Qur'an, the hadith and Islamic history. His ability to break down complex information and ideas about our very nature make his books a powerful tool, which are breathtaking to read. People of all faiths have over the centuries talked about Ghazali's brilliance, but the impact can only be fully felt when his books are opened and his thoughts are shared.

On the basic subject of a person's character, he writes: "Goodness of character was the attribute of the master of messengers, and is the fruit of the pious and self-discipline of the people of constant worship. Bad character is a mortal poison, which set a distance between man and the proximity of the Lord of the Worlds, and induced him to follow the path of Satan the accursed. Foul characteristics are the very sickness of hearts and the diseases of the soul, constituting an illness which deprives man of everlasting life. It is reported that the messenger of God (may God bless him and grant him peace) was once told that a certain woman fasted all day and prayed all night, but was possessed by bad character, so that she injured her neighbors with her words. 'There is no good in her,' he said, 'she is of Hell's people'. It is also reported that the last of God's prophets said 'You will not be able to suffice all people with your wealth; suffice them therefore with a cheerful face and a goodly character.'"

So what is good character? In his search for the answer, Ghazali turns to a host of ahadith, including, 'A man once asked the Prophet of God about character, and he recited His statement: Hold to forgiveness, and enjoin kindness, and turn aside from the ignorant ones. Then he said, 'It is that you should seek reconciliation with those who avoid you, give to those who withhold from you and forgive those who deal with you unjustly.'

"Therefore the fundamental good traits of character are four in number: wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. By 'wisdom', we mean a condition of the soul by which it distinguishes true from false. By 'justice', a condition of the soul by which it controls anger and desire. By 'courage', we refer to the irascible faculty of the intellect, while by 'temperance' we have in mind the disciplining of the intellect and the Law. It is from the equilibrium of these four principles that all good traits of character proceed. When the intellect is balanced, it brings forth discretion, excellence and an understanding of the subtle implications of actions and the hidden defects of the soul. When unbalanced, in excess, then cunning, swindling, deception and slyness result. An example is thus: 'Courage' gives rise to nobility, endurance, dignity and suppression of rage. When unbalanced, this same trait came give rise to recklessness, arrogance, conceit, pride and quickness of anger. 'Temperance' is a quality that gives rise to generosity, modesty, patience and tolerance, but in excess it leads to greed, cupidity, ostentation and immorality."

"All human traits constitute branches of Wisdom, Courage, Temperance and Justice and a perfectly just equilibrium in these four has been attained by no one but the emissary of God; other people are of divergent degrees of proximity and distance from them."

Even though Ghazali identifies the various aspects of character, he also considers the excuses people use for not adopting good character and changing traits about themselves. He tackles this issue head on.

"Know that the man who is dominated by sloth will consider unpleasant any spiritual struggle and discipline, or any purifying of the soul and refinement of the character. He will claim that the traits of a man's character cannot conceivably be altered, and that human nature is immutable. Firstly, he will say that character is the form of the inward in the same way that the created form of man is the form of the outward. No one is able to alter his external appearance: an ugly man cannot render himself handsome, and vice versa; and thus a person who is ugly on the inside, cannot change. Secondly, he will assert that goodness of character proceeds from suppressing one's desire and anger, and that he has tested this by means of a long inward struggle which demonstrated to him that these things are part of one's character and nature, so busying oneself with such struggling is profitless and a waste of time.

To such an objection we would say: Were the traits of character not susceptible to change, there would be no value in counsels, sermons and discipline, and the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) would not have said, 'Improve your characters!' It is possible to improve the character even of an animal: a falcon can be transformed from savagery to tameness; a dog from mere greed for food to good behavior and self-restraint, and these constitute a change in character."

Ghazali practically informs us that certain human traits like anger and desire cannot be entirely suppressed or dominated, but we can make these characteristics obedient and submissive through means of self-discipline and struggle. He says we must Endeavour to control these traits as "we have been commanded to do, for it constitutes the means of our salvation and our coming to God."

However, Imam Ghazali believes we have been weakened when it comes to dealing with ourselves because we have been "plunged into the desires of the world and fallen into slumber." This was his view of Muslims over 900 years ago, since then we have seen the rise and fall of a Muslim empire; Muslim scientists and philosophers leading the world through their knowledge; and Islam spreading to every part of the world.

It is evident that Ghazali was able to identify the tiny roots of a widespread problem centuries before it would take root in the form we have today. The world may be a very different place to the one it was hundreds of years ago, but our personal challenges and distractions have remained enclosed within us, still waiting to be challenged - with the help of the books we are still fortunate to have.

Source: Emel Magazine

Asterix, Obelix and Ullrich. The cartoon doping affair

Respect style. Respect a sense of flair, humor, symbolism and history.

Because whatever ever else you can say about Dope Doc #1, Eufemiano Fuentes, he’s got his whimsical side. Sure, call him dirty, a slime-ball, liar and cheat. He’s all those things and more, probably a bad dresser and a cheap tipper. But never question his sense of humor.

Here’s a man who sets up secret code names for himself and faithful servant Merino Batres using the character names of the most famous cartoon in French history. Asterix, the smart one, and Obelix, the bumbling hulk. The Adventures of Asterix began in 1959 and to date has 34 books in the series. No French boy grows up without these two.

Yes, Operacion Puerto was just such an adventure, a wild and secret ride around the world of doping. What else would you call a man with 100 bags of blood in the fridge? A man coding the bags by naming them after the name of the rider’s pet. Stop and appreciate the style, the irreverence and playfulness. Yes, drugs are bad but the sly humor cannot be beat.

And while you’re at it, consider that Mr. Ullrich was swinging by Eufemiano’s placeto get ready for the biggest bike race in the world: The Tour de France. He was visiting a French cartoon character to prepare for the French race. How amusing symbolic is that?

Our hats are off to Mr. Fuentes. The man has some ethical issues he needs to resolve. But there’s no denying we need his style and humor.

Imam Ghazali & the Pursuit of Happiness

By Tam Hussain

Nine hundred years after the death of Abu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazali, we find ourselves in a conundrum. We live in a world fraught with bloodshed, economic strife, and social disintegration. We live in an abundance of material wealth side by side with abject poverty – often in the same country, the same city; we are technologically advanced but emotionally infantile – often within the same person; our desire for more scorches the Earth, and in the process we hasten our own termination. Our soul flutters uncomfortably as it searches for satisfaction – often in transient forms that only succeed in heaping greater misery. We confuse ugliness with beauty; have difficulty discerning between right and wrong; eschew justice in the pursuit of pragmatism. In such circumstance, can anyone provide an antidote to our modern world?
Understandably, it is difficult to see how a medieval scholar born in a small town in Tus, Eastern Iran in 1058 can come to our assistance. Ghazali’s world was very different from ours where Abbasid caliphs contended with Fatimid caliphs and real power lay with the sultans. True, the period witnessed the giant intellects of Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Omar Khayyam, and many others. For sure, their discourse was different from ours: they argued about Aristotle and practiced medicine based on the four humours, whilst we argue about the philosophy of Richard Branson and clone sheep. Whilst one can easily see Ghazali’s contribution to medieval Islamic civilization, it is more difficult to do so with modernity. Ghazali’s father determined that his son should dedicate himself to the service of Islam, and though orphaned at an early age young Ghazali’s keen intellect ensured that he studied in the best institutions of Islamic jurisprudence. By 1077, he had studied under giants such as the theologian and jurist Al-Juwayni. By 1091, he was lecturing at the prestigious Nizamiyya in Baghdad to hundreds of students, and by the end of his career he had authored over seventy works. But why should Ghazali offer something to the modern world? Because in his writings, especially his autobiography The Deliverance from Error we get an insight into the nature of man.

Love and Lyrics - Samir and Aja

Husband and wife duo, Aja and Samir from Hip-Hop group The ReMINDers, talk about how their love and passion for music synched them together in perfect harmony.

Samir
Aja and I first met in 1998 when I moved to Colorado. I was born in Belgium originally but my father was in the military, so we travelled around a lot. Our families became good friends and thus our friendship blossomed.
Aja’s family is full of so many wonderful people, so my first impressions were definitely positive. Her brother was roommates with my friend and her father would shop at the store I worked at. Both are incredibly genuine, loving people so it came as no surprise that Aja was just the same. She has a wonderful sense of humour and that’s the first thing that attracted me towards her. We also shared similar interests; both of us were paving our own individual paths in the entertainment industry, and had a great interest in history. I also identified a deep-set spirituality in Aja; she had a lot of faith in God and that was another attribute of hers that I admired. I had already converted and had been practicing Islam for some years before I met Aja. Though she wasn’t following any particular religion, I recognised her spirituality as being a strong component in building and developing our relationship.
Sometime later, Aja moved away for college.Upon her return, we began to interact a lot more. We moved in the same social circles and had the same hobbies; music was and remains a tremendous part of both our lives. We were still relatively young when we decided to get married – I was 24 and Aja was 22. The process was, of course, a little different for us as both our families aren’t Muslim but they were very understanding.
The actual ceremony itself was really intimate and private. It wasn’t particularly large or lavish, but it was stress-free and the focus was on our union. A lot of the times, people have big, glamorous weddings but unfortunately, their marriages don’t last very long. I’ve seen that when the union between two people is the focus of the ceremony, then the marriage itself is blessed and healthy.
Marriage is a process of discovery; about yourself and your partner. Having to share your living space, your schedule, your day-to-day routine – it takes a while to adjust. Having said that, the patience and consideration you invest during that process definitely pays off once you’ve found your rhythm and are in sync with one another. Aja and I worked really hard individually too, so it felt good to see each other when we returned home!
Married life is definitely a lot better than what I had expected. We’re both from a background where we’ve seen a lot of divorce; I was raised by a single mother, so we were determined to build a marriage with a strong foundation. Having children is also a life-changing experience; watching our children grow is a wonderful thing and has definitely strengthened our relationship. I have so much respect for Aja; her strength never ceases to amaze me, especially after having three children.

Aja
The first thing I noticed about Samir was his genuine smile. He was studying Philosophy and Religion at the time and had a great air of certainty and decisiveness about him. I had always said to myself that if I ever found someone who looked genuine and was happy with what they were doing, that was the person I needed in my life.
As our families were good friends, I had the opportunity of really getting to know Samir well. I had moved away for college but when I returned to Colorado, I really began to think about marriage. I knew Samir was Muslim and that his faith meant a lot to him. Having observed him for years, I learnt a lot about Islam. I became Muslim because of the example he set; he always spoke so respectfully to everyone, listened intently and smiled constantly.
The wedding day was stress-free? As if! Samir had gone to work on a music project in Virginia and was flying in on the actual day of our wedding. He was supposed to arrive at 11.15am and the ceremony was arranged for 4.30pm. He arrived that day at 11.30pm! As we had kept the entire thing quite intimate, I only had to make a few calls to let everyone know that we needed to postpone until later in the day, so it wasn’t too hard to facilitate. But I went to the airport in my wedding outfit to pick him up!
Being married has given me a great insight on gender relations and the wisdom behind some of the roles assigned to us by God. There is great strength to be found in acknowledging that someone can be stronger than you. That realisation doesn’t take anything away from you but is actually a mark of strength in itself. Similarly, knowing where to apply your strength is equally important as well as learning when it’s applicable, which for me is my children and my family. I have learnt how to harness my strength and not waste and exert my energies on trivial matters. That’s not to say the process has been easy; I am naturally a proactive individual but I’ve had to learn to take a step back sometimes, which has made happier and so much more balanced as a person.
One thing that always gets neglected when talking about marriage, is sharing every inch of your personal space with someone. For me, having left something on the floor and then to have someone come long and say, ‘Are you going to pick that up?’ was a huge adjustment! And once your mind gets going, there’s no stopping it: does he think I’m showering too long? Does he think I use too much milk? It’s endless! But with time and patience, things slowly start to fit into place and you develop a new routine in tandem with your partner.
I love Samir’s sincerity; not only are his words sincere but his actions too. He’s also a great dad. He’s become somewhat of an example to our friends and family. When we had our first daughter, he’d take her to the barbershop with him. Everyone would laugh because it didn’t make much sense but he didn’t care. Then we had our second daughter, and he began taking them both! He’s very caring and always concerned about the kids’ feelings. These were qualities I recognised in him a long time ago but I guess they’ve magnified since our children were born.

GADDAFI - "There is NOTHING hid, which shall not be manifested - Mark 4:22"

Acts 8:9-13 | Isaiah 47:8-10 | Mark 4:22 | Daniel 2:10 | Exodus 7:10-12

It has been revealed by Al Jazeera news network today, that Gaddafi has been dealing with Witchcraft, sorceries and ritual magic. Just as Simon bewitched the people of samaria, so did Gaddafi to his people for these last 42 years.

The First book is about The Talmud

The second one is about "Kabbalah"

The third one is titled "The Clan of Satan"

The fourth one is titled "The 72 secrets of the Jewish Magic"

The fifth one is titled " Facts about Souls duplication and the 6th sense"

The sixth book is titled "Spirits and Ghosts."

Note: In biblical numerology, the #6 is the number of the BEAST, the number of a man, Revelations 13:17-19

Note: "Kabbalism is a system of Jewish mysticism and magic and is the foundational element in modern witchcraft. Virtually all of the great witches and sorcerers of this century were Kabbalists." -William J. Schnoebelen, The Dark Side of Freemasonry

But there was a certain man(Gaddafi), called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one(Gaddafi):

To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.

And to him they had regard, because that of longtime(42 years of Gaddafi rule) he had bewitched them with sorceries.

But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.

Like Isaiah the prophet said in - Isaiah 47:8-10, Gaddafi's day of reckoning has arrived. Like the prophet says that - "Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me....".

This is what Gaddafi has been saying for 42years, but now his days of sorceries and deception have been exposed, they are over (Mark 4:232). His judgement is ready and ripe....Just like the rod of Aaron swallowed up the rods turned serpents of the magicians of egypt so will the word of God (Jesus) swallow up all the sorceries of this world, there will be NO ESCAPE.

We all (sons of god and sons of satan) know this to be true as we watch the revolutions taking place in the middle east today.....That man of sin is being revealed and Jesus in the book of revelation, which words are -

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel.. - Rev 1:1"

Just as the LORD smote the Egyptians because they had no "blood (blood of the lamb,who was Jesus)" on the two door posts of their house, so is the "destroyer", such is the case in Libya today. The blood of Jesus is our cover, it is time to repent, be baptized and be filled with the Holy Ghost and continue to live a sanctified Holy and overcoming life - Anything less will mean no guarantee of safety or life in these last and evil days. The LORD warns us in the book of Revelations saying -

"Woe to the inhabiters of the earth (LIBYA) and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time" - Revelation 12:11-12" .

How does one explain the amount of deaths taking place in Libya daily. Well, the prophet Isaiah tells us that for the sorceries and enchantments in the nation, death will come as judgement - quick and vicious. With the revelation of Gaddafi's dealings with the occult, this comes with no suprise to those who have an ear to hear what the Holy Ghost is saying to those who will hear -

"these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments" - Isaiah 47:8-10

The conclusion of the matter of Gaddafi is EXACTLY what the scriptures says would happen to folks like him. For the fear and suffering that he has inflicted into his people, the same is happening to him right now.

"And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see - Deutronomy 28:66-67".

More in-depth reading:

1. YouTube exposing of Gaddafi's Witchcraft, black Magic and Sorceries books:

- http://feb17.info/videos/witchcraft-and-sorcery-books-found-in-the-palace-gaddafi-in-bayda/

2. Pastor Peters DVD exposing sorceries and how they are tied up to political leaders/systems:

- http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9xmq8_dc-street-sorcery-pt-3_lifestyle

- http://www.dcstreetsorcery.com/

3. False religions exposed

- http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/false_religions.htm