When trying to assess problems of this world, we tend to look upon some nations as bad and others as good. However, Scripture clearly states that the “prince of this world” (Satan) is behind them all. [Jn. 14:30, 1Jn. 5:19]
While showing Him “all the kingdoms of the world,” Satan said to Jesus, ‘I will give You all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want.” [Luke 4:6-7] Jesus didn’t argue; He knew that when Adam and Eve sinned, they forfeited their authority over all the earth to Satan. Regardless of what we want to believe, the “god of this present evil age” (Satan) is determined to use every nation for opposing the Kingdom of God. [Ps. 2:1-3]
God’s prophet, Samuel tried his best to warn of the disastrous results of seeking a human king for hope and solutions to problems. In stark contrast to God who longs to give everything, a king enslaves by taking everything! [1 Sam. 8:10-18]
Samuel foresaw where it would all end,
“When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.” Vs. 18
“But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” … The LORD answered, “… give them a king.” Vs. 19-22
When God, said, “Give them a king,” He was not blessing this role. Instead, because of man’s sinful nature He ordered it! Since then, every earthly nation has had a “king” who rules them, but never The King.
Jesus has never been in the business of defending any earthly nation. Instead, He has always been in the business of demolishing them so that He can save His people and build His Kingdom which “is not of this world!” [John 18:36] Jesus came to establish a Kingdom that would stand apart from and against all the kingdoms of this world. Why? Because all the kingdoms of this world stand against Him!
“The descendents of Abraham [those who believe in Jesus] admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” [Heb 11:13-16]
Who are the people of God’s nation? They are not those of any particular geographical location. Rather, they proclaim no allegiance to any earthly kingdom; nor are they shaken when the depravity of this world is exposed. They are confident that Father, God uses all things for their good and His glory! It is those who believe and are blessed with the hope and security of their citizenship in heaven! These are His Nation!
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people He chose for His inheritance. [Ps.33:12]
Whole-Heartedly,Bonnie
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
HEALTH - Vaccines: How Informed Are You?
I noticed the Public Health warning about “Whooping Cough” in last week’s Diagonal Progress. There is plenty of information available encouraging vaccinations, but let’s consider why you may want to personally further investigate before being vaccinated. “Informed consent” should be the basis of every medical treatment; vaccinations being no exception.
According to the warning, Whooping Cough (a.k.a. pertussis) is “highly contagious” and can be “life-threatening” for infants. Adults were urged to have their children and themselves vaccinated. While we don’t want to deny that pertussis can be frightening and sometimes fatal disease, let’s put this into its proper perspective:
According to the 2001-2003 CDC
(Center for Disease Control and Prevention) report,
there were 51 infant deaths as a result of pertussis.
While I certainly don’t want to minimize those deaths,
that number is small compared to 100,113 vaccine damage events
affecting children 0-9 years within that same period.
Of those related to pertussis, 4620 were hospitalized,
526 were disabled and 1201 died!
http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/PREVIEW/MMWRHTML/mm5450a3.htm
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/idbsprd
Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
When studies began to reveal that childhood vaccines laced with mercury may have caused neuro-development disorders, speech difficulties, ADD and autism in thousands of children, it is documented that the government and Big Pharma scrambled to hide information. Yet, “phasing-out” mercury-laced vaccines from 1999-2002 didn’t seem to affect the number of incidences. Were the government and Big Pharma innocent after all? No! While they were “phasing-out” mercury; they were “phasing in” aluminum!
In June 2000, Dr. Tom Verstraeten, CDC epidemiologist, commented to concerned scientists: “The results [for aluminum] were almost identical to ethylmercury because the amount of aluminum [in vaccines] goes along almost exactly with the mercury.” Dr. John Clements, WHO vaccine advisor, stated, “Aluminum is not perceived, I believe, by the public as a dangerous metal. Therefore, we are in a much more comfortable wicket in terms of defending its presence in vaccines.”
(http://mercola.fileburst.com/PDF/Aluminum_in_Vaccines.pdf)
According to product inserts and CDC immunization schedules, babies receiving the recommended immunizations are injected with nearly 5mg of aluminum by 18 months, 20-50 times more than what is determined as “safe!” A 2008 CDC Chart of Vaccines reveals a myriad of other harmful ingredients.
(http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf)
The adverse affects of these ingredients can be found at http://poisonevercure.150m.com/ingredients.htm.
You can also find information on state laws, informed consent, medical and religious exemption forms, etc. at http://www.nvic.org/.
Despite citizen and congressional opposition and concern, Sec. 304 of the Homeland Security Act was forced through the Senate on Nov. 13, 2002. All liability from the pharmaceutical industry and health officials for the injuries and deaths which result from vaccines has been removed. Additionally, U.S. military may now be used to enforce the administration of vaccines or other “substances” ordered by the Secretary of DHHS, just as state militia may lawfully arrest, quarantine and forcibly vaccinate individuals.
(http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/asets/hr_5005_enr.pdf )
Those Searching for the Whole-Hearted Life recognize that:
“A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of Truth."
Albert Einstein
Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie
According to the warning, Whooping Cough (a.k.a. pertussis) is “highly contagious” and can be “life-threatening” for infants. Adults were urged to have their children and themselves vaccinated. While we don’t want to deny that pertussis can be frightening and sometimes fatal disease, let’s put this into its proper perspective:
According to the 2001-2003 CDC
(Center for Disease Control and Prevention) report,
there were 51 infant deaths as a result of pertussis.
While I certainly don’t want to minimize those deaths,
that number is small compared to 100,113 vaccine damage events
affecting children 0-9 years within that same period.
Of those related to pertussis, 4620 were hospitalized,
526 were disabled and 1201 died!
http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/PREVIEW/MMWRHTML/mm5450a3.htm
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/idbsprd
Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
When studies began to reveal that childhood vaccines laced with mercury may have caused neuro-development disorders, speech difficulties, ADD and autism in thousands of children, it is documented that the government and Big Pharma scrambled to hide information. Yet, “phasing-out” mercury-laced vaccines from 1999-2002 didn’t seem to affect the number of incidences. Were the government and Big Pharma innocent after all? No! While they were “phasing-out” mercury; they were “phasing in” aluminum!
In June 2000, Dr. Tom Verstraeten, CDC epidemiologist, commented to concerned scientists: “The results [for aluminum] were almost identical to ethylmercury because the amount of aluminum [in vaccines] goes along almost exactly with the mercury.” Dr. John Clements, WHO vaccine advisor, stated, “Aluminum is not perceived, I believe, by the public as a dangerous metal. Therefore, we are in a much more comfortable wicket in terms of defending its presence in vaccines.”
(http://mercola.fileburst.com/PDF/Aluminum_in_Vaccines.pdf)
According to product inserts and CDC immunization schedules, babies receiving the recommended immunizations are injected with nearly 5mg of aluminum by 18 months, 20-50 times more than what is determined as “safe!” A 2008 CDC Chart of Vaccines reveals a myriad of other harmful ingredients.
(http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf)
The adverse affects of these ingredients can be found at http://poisonevercure.150m.com/ingredients.htm.
You can also find information on state laws, informed consent, medical and religious exemption forms, etc. at http://www.nvic.org/.
Despite citizen and congressional opposition and concern, Sec. 304 of the Homeland Security Act was forced through the Senate on Nov. 13, 2002. All liability from the pharmaceutical industry and health officials for the injuries and deaths which result from vaccines has been removed. Additionally, U.S. military may now be used to enforce the administration of vaccines or other “substances” ordered by the Secretary of DHHS, just as state militia may lawfully arrest, quarantine and forcibly vaccinate individuals.
(http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/asets/hr_5005_enr.pdf )
Those Searching for the Whole-Hearted Life recognize that:
“A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of Truth."
Albert Einstein
Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie
Thursday, February 12, 2009
HEALTH: BIG PHARMA - MONEY TALKS
Ready for a visit?
Let’s address a question I posed two weeks ago regarding health care: “Have you ever speculated why doctors take patients off medications which seem to be effective in order to determine if ‘new and improved’ medications might be better?”
Shall we begin our discussion with money? “Money talks,” you know.
“Big Pharma” is a name which represents pharmaceutical and biotech companies with annual revenue in excess of $3 billion, and/or Research and Development expenditure in excess of $500 million! Approximately 30 companies fall into this category. These numbers make even the oil and gas industry profit margins seem small!
According to Big Pharma, they invest all of their drug revenues into research and development, claiming that every new drug requires $800 million in research to develop. However, further investigation reveals that each new drug requires less than $100 million to bring to market! In fact, the vast majority of drug research is funded by taxpayer dollars through grants to research universities.
I wonder… where does all that money go!
Although most health-care practitioners and drug-representatives are oblivious to what is going on, the activity “behind the scenes” at executive levels must be exposed.
* The CEOs of these giant companies stuff their pockets with $134 million in annual salaries, with an additional $115+ million in annual stock option bonuses!
* Flipping through periodicals or T.V. channels, one can quickly surmise that allocating large sums of money for directly promoting pharmaceuticals to consumers must be a worthwhile investment. Studies indicate that many folks who view these “infomercials” become convinced that they’re experiencing these publicized health problems. Together with those already being treated for them, they clamor for the newly improved remedy, which their physician is typically happy to prescribe.
* Because medical people tend to be very busy, Big Pharma spends 90% of its $21 billion annual marketing budget on clever schemes for catching their attention! Although medical personnel purport that the following “little perks” have no influence over their “scientific” decision making, drug marketing strategy studies and articles written by concerned medical professionals indicate otherwise:
· “Drug Reps” are sent into health-care facilities, offering gimmicky items and providing nice meals while introducing the new wonder-working drug.
· Large quantities of “free” drug samples are also offered. At first glance, this appears quite generous. However, once a doctor has dispensed all these samples, patients are presented with a prescription for the costly, new miracle drug.
· All-expenses-paid trips to conferences at luxury resorts all around the world are promoted as “medical education.” Offering required continuing education credits, Big Pharma chooses the class content. For several hours a day, the attendees are “educated” on the latest and most exciting pharmaceutical and biotechnical developments which of course are only available through…. Big Pharma. The remainder of the “educational” time is spent enjoying the amenities of the locale.
Big Pharma has a pretty loud voice; wouldn’t you say? I wonder…does it wield far too much “money power” to be restrained? Stay tuned!
Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie
Thursday, February 5, 2009
HEALTH & HEALING
I’m anxious to share what’s on my heart this week!
Last week, I offered a few questions regarding health-care for the purpose of “getting your juices flowing.” As we begin to gather our thoughts about and responses to these questions, I believe it is important that those of us who are professing Christians evaluate our typical reactions to health concerns. I have found that one or a combination of the following is our most common first response:
1) Medication / professional health-care
2) prayer / anointing oil for physical healing
I find it interesting that most Christians will take steps toward quick relief from illness before they even consider asking God to show them why they are experiencing it. I wonder why? Do we assume God desires for us to be quickly relieved of the distress regardless of whether or not our life-style and/or spiritual condition might be responsible for the illness in the first place?
Perhaps our first response to illness should not be:
“This requires medical attention” or
“this requires divine healing”: but rather ,
"this requires the wisdom and guidance of God!”
Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. As the Great Physician, God can and sometimes does use the caring hands of physicians, the amazing properties of health remedies or even an instantaneous, miraculous answer to prayer to bring healing. However, just because God is capable of and sometimes does use these methods this does not mean that we should expect them to be His answers in all circumstances.
For example, have you ever considered that God may have life-saving insights which He desires to reveal if only we would reach toward Him for wisdom instead of quick relief? If we were to ask Him for insight, it is very possible He would reveal that our illness is related to such things as:
· poor diet
· stress
· chemicals in our home
· spiritual weakness (i.e. unforgiveness or unrepentance)
A few years ago, I experienced health problems which became so severe that I had difficulty raising my arms above my head. Ongoing general discomfort prevented adequate sleep. Doing the simplest task for a few brief moments resulted in exhaustion and reading even average sized print required a magnifying glass. Most alarming was that my memory became so foggy that I was unable to keep even the simple steps of a recipe organized in my mind. I was frightened and knew I needed help.
I could seek “professional health-care.” I could request prayer and anointing for physical healing. I could request God’s presence in the suffering, recognizing that it may be only here that the necessary physical and spiritual changes will transpire. What should I choose?
Could it be that God’s response to our illness is based on a panoramic view which we do not have? Could it be that offering physical healing is not His greatest concern for us, but spiritual healing is? Could it be that in His wisdom, He uses that which we suffer to lead us into the spiritual fullness which He so desires for us? If so, isn’t it essential to seek His wisdom and guidance prior to pursuing any particular course of action?
Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie
Last week, I offered a few questions regarding health-care for the purpose of “getting your juices flowing.” As we begin to gather our thoughts about and responses to these questions, I believe it is important that those of us who are professing Christians evaluate our typical reactions to health concerns. I have found that one or a combination of the following is our most common first response:
1) Medication / professional health-care
2) prayer / anointing oil for physical healing
I find it interesting that most Christians will take steps toward quick relief from illness before they even consider asking God to show them why they are experiencing it. I wonder why? Do we assume God desires for us to be quickly relieved of the distress regardless of whether or not our life-style and/or spiritual condition might be responsible for the illness in the first place?
Perhaps our first response to illness should not be:
“This requires medical attention” or
“this requires divine healing”: but rather ,
"this requires the wisdom and guidance of God!”
Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. As the Great Physician, God can and sometimes does use the caring hands of physicians, the amazing properties of health remedies or even an instantaneous, miraculous answer to prayer to bring healing. However, just because God is capable of and sometimes does use these methods this does not mean that we should expect them to be His answers in all circumstances.
For example, have you ever considered that God may have life-saving insights which He desires to reveal if only we would reach toward Him for wisdom instead of quick relief? If we were to ask Him for insight, it is very possible He would reveal that our illness is related to such things as:
· poor diet
· stress
· chemicals in our home
· spiritual weakness (i.e. unforgiveness or unrepentance)
A few years ago, I experienced health problems which became so severe that I had difficulty raising my arms above my head. Ongoing general discomfort prevented adequate sleep. Doing the simplest task for a few brief moments resulted in exhaustion and reading even average sized print required a magnifying glass. Most alarming was that my memory became so foggy that I was unable to keep even the simple steps of a recipe organized in my mind. I was frightened and knew I needed help.
I could seek “professional health-care.” I could request prayer and anointing for physical healing. I could request God’s presence in the suffering, recognizing that it may be only here that the necessary physical and spiritual changes will transpire. What should I choose?
Could it be that God’s response to our illness is based on a panoramic view which we do not have? Could it be that offering physical healing is not His greatest concern for us, but spiritual healing is? Could it be that in His wisdom, He uses that which we suffer to lead us into the spiritual fullness which He so desires for us? If so, isn’t it essential to seek His wisdom and guidance prior to pursuing any particular course of action?
Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie
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