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Consulting Orthopedists – Questions and Answers About Adult and Juvenile Scoliosis

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 11:20 pm

What is scoliosis?

Scoliosis is a disorder of the spine. It’s a disorder in which the vertebrae actually rotate, and a curve is created either in the upper or the lower back.

What causes scoliosis?

We have a number of observations, a number of findings, but there’s no unified theory. We’re hindered in that we can’t take all of the observations and put them into a road map that explains why one child with a curve goes on to need complex surgical care while and another with a curve that’s seemingly the same reaches adulthood and doesn’t need our services.

Is scoliosis hereditary?

Scoliosis is thought to be genetic. It’s a result of expression of multiple genes, but it has something that’s called variable penetrance, meaning that in each generation there is a variability in how strongly the genes are expressed, that is, how severe the curve is.

A valid question to ask is: Can it be passed on? Is it something that runs in families? And the answer is yes; scoliosis tends to run in families. It tends to run through generations in families, but to have variable effects in each generation. That is, you may have a mother with a mild curve who has a daughter with a very severe curve, or you may have a mother with a severe curve whose grandchildren then have scoliosis, but the intervening generation didn’t really have any significant problem.

Can you get scoliosis from an injury?

Children can get scoliosis as a result of a spinal cord injury. One of the categories for scoliosis — one of the causes — is a degenerative neurological condition that affects some unfortunate children. The other source can be trauma. Often we treat beautiful young kids who’ve either had a car accident or a motorcycle accident or some other trauma. And as a result of loss of the normal muscle control in the spinal cord, they then develop a deformity which is secondary to their spinal cord injury.

Can the spinal injuries be caused from viral or similar diseases?

Polio was one of the most common neurological causes of scoliosis. Certainly in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, when the great epidemics of polio on this continent occurred, it was very common to see children with scoliosis. Now I see many of those polio patients in my clinic with adult scoliosis as a result of their paralytic condition.

Are there environmental factors that contribute to scoliosis?

The research into the environment causes of scoliosis is ongoing, and while there are some provocative findings, I don’t think that we’ve established clear connections between a medication, a drug, or environmental factors yet.

What other factors contribute to the onset of scoliosis curvature?

The vast majority of patients with scoliosis fall under the category of idiopathic scoliosis. That means, simply, we don’t know what causes it. We don’t have the unified field theories that tell us the mechanism.

But there are those cases which are neurological, where there’s some kind of spinal cord or brain injury, cerebral palsy, polio myelitis — any one of these neurological disorders.

And there’s trauma — an induced spinal cord injury.

There are congenital abnormalities of the spinal cord and of the vertebrae which lead to scoliosis.

And finally there are the so-called developmental abnormalities, and those are the ones that are the most concerning to us. My way of describing them is that there are component parts which are made wrong at the factory — either the vertebrae are congenitally malformed or congenitally fused together, leading to very severe curves, or the underlying spinal cord is made incorrectly “at the factory.” And in some of these situations we are looking for links to drugs, medications, environmental features, environmental causes, which put children at risk when they are in the mother’s uterus.

Does scoliosis always show its face in childhood?

We think of scoliosis as being a childhood disease, and we were generally taught that it was such. And in fact, most commonly, scoliosis presents in the boundary between the juvenile and the adolescent stage — 9, 10, 11, 12 years of age. There is, however, adult onset or degenerative scoliosis, which we think develops as a result of disk degeneration, and probably is an entirely separate entity from what we commonly think of as adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Is the incidence of scoliosis the same among men and women?

The incidence of scoliosis in men and women is approximately the same. What’s very interesting, however, is that if you are female and you have scoliosis as an adolescent or young adult, the progression rate is seven to eight times more common among girls than it is among boys. And that fact is completely unexplained. We don’t understand yet what issues cause that differential progression.

Is scoliosis a progressive disease?

Information about scoliosis is changing. The accepted teaching used to be that once you reach adulthood, the curves become static and do not progress. And for most patients, that may still be the case.

However, there’s a subgroup of individuals where the curve continues to progress in adulthood, When I was in training we were taught that a 50-degree thoracic curve probably didn’t get bigger in adulthood. Well, now we know that it can. We were taught that 40-degree lumbar curves might not get bigger in adulthood, but I see in my office that they commonly do.

So there’s been an evolution in what is known about scoliosis. And one of the problems is that many general practitioners, internists and pediatricians, don’t have access to the latest information making care much more difficult and challenging.

What is the prognosis for a child with scoliosis?

The prognosis for most children who come to my office is generally very good. The majority of children who are identified as having scoliosis may not need complex treatments, but they do need to be evaluated. Most often, we can assure parents that either we need to observe their child in four to six months or, in fact their risk is so low that they really don’t need to come back.

What is the prognosis for an adult with scoliosis?

With adults the situation can be more problematic. I see adult patients, particularly women, who fall into one of several categories:

Often I see young women with very large curves who have no pain. I tell them that statistically the probability of the disease progressing is 80 or 90 percent, and that untreated, they may well have problems in later life. With these women we discuss their treatment options on a case by case basis.

I also see young women who have a history of scoliosis who were told their curves would not progress in adulthood. And the story goes something like this: “My curve was stable. I had no back pain. My first pregnancy wasn’t terribly complicated, but after my second pregnancy something happened.” Now pregnancy is a very complicated physiologic state. The hormone of pregnancy is progesterone, and what we believe is that women who have curves that were otherwise reasonably well compensated may progress under the influence of progesterone. That is, the ligaments become somewhat lax as they need to be for pregnancy and for the pelvis to develop appropriately for delivery. At the same time, the curve starts to progress, and so I’ll see these young women who’ve had several children and they’ll say, “You know, my body is changing. Something’s happened.” Some of those women are now experiencing pain.

Finally, there are women who come in and say, “You know, I had a small curve, and it has continued to progress throughout adulthood. Didn’t seem to be related to pregnancy, but now I’m 50, 52, 55, and I really have become deformed. The trunk has become deformed. My dresses are different. I don’t have a waistline anymore. My ribs are actually resting on my hip bones, and there’s really been a dramatic change in what I look like. But I’m here not because I’m worried about my cosmetics. It’s because I hurt. Because I have pain. It’s limiting my ability to live effectively.”

Do these adults require surgery?

It’s serious surgery. And so I think it’s critically important that before any patient has any operation of any kind that the physician sit down with that individual and explain what the risks and benefits to that procedure are. So I spend significant time in pre-operative conversations discussing what the risks are, what the benefits are, what the possibilities are, what my own personal experience has been over the last 15 years. My goal is to have the individual who opts for surgery have a complete understanding of the risks and the intended outcome.

How long is an actual surgery?

Scoliosis surgeries are complex, and there are many steps to each operation. The operation in children takes from two to three hours. In adults it takes a little longer, from about four to six hours.

Are two surgeries ever needed?

Adults do sometimes need more than procedure. That is they need some kind of procedure done from the front and from the back at the same time. Sometimes this can be done in a single combination operation, but other times it is best to separate the process into two procedures.

What happens after surgery?

What happens after the operation itself is done is a phase where technology and treatment options have now changed dramatically for the better.

After a routine scoliosis surgery patients are admitted to the intensive care unit where there is focused nursing care. It really is very comforting for both the patient and the family to know that there’s one nurse who is completely attentive to their needs. One of the things that we do emphasize is the appropriate management of pain. For pain we put a catheter, up against the spinal cord and we pump narcotic directly onto the cord. We treat the pain right where it exists and don’t have to make the patient so sleepy that they can’t follow requests or commands.

The day after surgery some patients may actually sit in a chair and take one or two steps. By the third day they’ll stand and walk, and by the fourth day will often be walking in the halls. After discharge, which is routinely on the fifth day, patients from out of town (and many from in town) are sent to the rehab hospital to spend another week regaining their abilities to do all of the activities of daily living.

After surgery, some patients need a brace. Modern braces are light thermo-plastic so they’re easily put on and taken off by the patient. You don’t have to sleep in them. You don’t have to bathe in them. And you wear them for about three months. It’s a far cry from the casts that individuals were put in years ago.

How long does recovery take?

If you talk to our patients, what you will hear is that there are milestones of improvement. There is the first week leading up to discharge from the hospital. And when a person can walk again and is eating regular food and putting on and taking off their brace, they really feel that they’ve made a great step forward.

Probably the second big milestone is discharge from rehab, and that’s typically about two to two-and-a-half weeks total time from surgery.

The next big independence is driving. Some patients start to drive as soon as a month.

After that the milestones become harder to define. And yet, there comes a moment when a patient returns to me and says, “You know, the pain medication you have me on is really too strong and I really don’t need it.” That’s a wonderful milestone to hear as a physician.

Three months seems to be when many people really regain control of their own lives. Many people go back to work about five weeks after surgery in a light-duty capacity. But there continue to be longer-term gains, and so we follow patients for years and review them at six-month or yearly intervals.

For adults in pain, what can you do?

The major reason I operate on adults with scoliosis is to manage or attempt to prevent pain. Pain is a terribly disruptive phenomenon in someone’s life. Pain disrupts your personal emotional life. It disrupts your relationship with your spouse. It disrupts your relationship in your work. It disrupts the relationship with your children. Pain can really ravage your life. So I think the most important job that I have as a scoliosis surgeon is to find surgical solutions to attempt to remove or alleviate pain.

How many physicians across the country specialize in scoliosis surgeries?

There are a small number physicians who specialize in Scoliosis in the United States. What’s unusual at Consulting Orthopedists is that we treat both children and adults. What we provide here is a continuum of care from infant to adult, and our commitment really is to be able to care for our patients throughout their life.

Why do so few doctors say adult scoliosis is treatable?

Scoliosis treatment technology has changed very rapidly and there are ways to treat these patients now. Unfortunately, there is a big information gap between the primary care physicians and the specialists around the country who treat scoliosis. I lecture to groups around the country — to pediatricians, to primary care physicians, to internists — to try to reeducate, to try to change some of the misinformation that’s out there. The reality is that in the 21st century that we can treat scoliosis in adults and we can treat it very effectively.

Talk about the staff at Consulting Orthopedists The core strength of Consulting Orthopedists is its staff. We have a dedicated group of individuals, including anesthesiologists, nurses, spinal cord monitoring individuals and implant specialists that work with the surgical team. Our operating time, our time for each case, has decreased and the benefit to the individual patient is that their outcomes are better.

Plus, in an era when a lot of patients report that their doctors’ offices are very impersonal, we have not only managed to preserve our emphasis on patient care, but we really have built on that. I’m very gratified when a patient comes in and says, “You know, your staff has treated us so well.

Is scoliosis surgery covered by insurance?

That’s a very common concern: “Will my insurance cover the treatment?” Scoliosis surgery is an appropriate medical treatment and so it is covered by insurances. At Consulting Orthopedists we dealt last year with 106 different insurance companies nationwide. We, have significant skill at managing the maze that is the modern insurance company.

When you meet with scoliosis patients, what do you tell them?

Scoliosis patients bring two things to their initial office visit. The first is typically the physical pain of their deformity. But equally important is the emotional baggage from their prior experiences with scoliosis.

While early in my career the technical act of straightening the curve was extremely rewarding, as I’ve gotten older I find that the most rewarding part is often the interaction with individuals in the office.

As a result, as important as the physical part of the treatment is; so is understanding what the emotional issues the patient brings to the table: how they feel about themselves, how they feel about their cosmetic appearance, and matters like these.

What we’ve also created at Consulting Orthopedists is a way for new patients to be linked with previous patients who are at various stages of their journey of their recovery, and have them communicate with each other. It’s really valuable. Connecting potential patients with past successes has been one of the most powerful tools I have used to help my patients.

The exam room is still the most exciting part of this job. Patients come with preconceived notions. Some are skeptical. Some are hurt. Some are angry. I try to transmit my own personal excitement that I can aggressively address the deformity, and that I can successfully treat the pain that people bring with them in most cases.

Is there much scoliosis research going on?
What does the future hold?

There’s been a dramatic explosion in the amount of research that is done on scoliosis, both basic science and research into the cause of scoliosis and the clinical treatment.

We’re learning more and more about the fundamental molecular, genetic, and foundational causes. The future of scoliosis treatment lies in early genetic diagnosis, and biopharmaceutical treatment of the growth abnormalities that lead to curvature of the spine. I would hope in the future that we unlock the secrets of predicting which child will have a progressive curve, and more importantly, having pharmaceutical or genetic treatments that would really get rid of the need of implanting metallic hardware in individuals’ bodies to correct their curves.

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My Life as a Gypsy

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 10:08 pm

WHEN God paints his pictures you had better keep quiet. Look with your eyes, but keep your foolish tongue still!” My Aunt Lila counseled me in this way while I was still a young boy as we stood in awe of a particularly beautiful sunrise. This was typical Gypsy thinking regarding God and his marvelous creative works.

We believed in a Creator and had a sincere respect for him, even though in a simple, childish sort of way. Our philosophy of life was that the satisfying of our daily needs always depended on a Creator, God. Hence, we would never think of ill-treating the lovely creatures inhabiting the forests, streams, lakes and seas. They were his creations, and we were glad to recognize that fact.

A further part of our philosophy and way of life could be summed up in the old adage: “Tomorrow will always take care of itself!” For this reason our life was easygoing and generally peaceable. We would put forth effort to meet only present needs. With these satisfied, we would relax and enjoy life with our families and the closeknit society of our own people. We would use the world to make a living, but beyond that we would not involve ourselves with it. Its political squabbles were not our concern.

Life as a Gypsy Boy

From the East Anglia section of England, where I was born, I traveled with my aunt in a Gypsy group all over the British Isles. I was taught to have real respect for older persons, always addressing older males as “uncle” and older females as “aunt.” Never was I allowed to call them by their first names. In my later years I have always been grateful for the discipline given me whenever I was disrespectful of my aunt’s authority.

Gypsy children are never allowed to run loose, so I was not. My aunt loved me and kept me busy. She took me with her to pick watercress, mushrooms and berries, and the next day we would peddle these from house to house or take them to a nearby market.

Part of our making a living was for my aunt and me to go to farms to buy piles of manure. After putting it in bushel baskets, we would peddle it from door to door among people who had small flower or vegetable gardens.

During my early training, petty thievery was indulged in by my aunt and others in our camp. Hence, I learned dishonesty, including how to make shady deals to benefit myself financially. Once, while a youth, I befriended a lad whose parents were not Gypsies. His mother was dying of tuberculosis, and the family was so poor that they had little food to eat. Desiring to provide her with some strengthening nourishment, I took my friend along to a nearby chicken pen where we appropriated a nice plump hen. I gave it to my friend to take home, but the father made his son return the feathered booty to me upon learning that it had been stolen.

Early Religious Training and Views

My aunt’s simple faith in God always made a strong impression on my mind. At the end of day she would have me kneel beside her as she gave thanks to God as our daily Provider—even though we may have stolen a rabbit or the mushrooms, watercress and berries from other people’s property!

Most Gypsies with whom I was familiar belonged to a religious denomination, such as the Methodist Church, the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church, but my aunt had no use for organized religion in any form. Her attitude toward the clergy of various denominations was one of disgust for their hypocrisy. This influenced my own religious thinking for many years. To her, some priests were hypocritical “so-and-so’s”; money-grabbing clergymen she viewed as “unclean as a goose’s excrement,” and she did not mind telling them so.

She also instilled in my young mind a strong distaste for violence. Never will I forget the scolding she gave me one day. A lady to whom we were selling goods had asked me what I was going to be when I grew up. Having been attracted by the uniforms on men in the armed services, I told her that I wanted to become a soldier. My aunt told me she never wanted to hear me say such a thing again, and if I ever did appear at her door in a military uniform I had better just keep on traveling! She impressed upon me that no human creature had the right to shed blood in man-made wars.

While growing up I began to observe the hypocrisy of the clergy for myself. World War II was approaching, and it became very evident how they shared in recruiting young men for war. One approached my aunt to ask her to let me join, and she told him off in no uncertain terms.

The more I came into association with so-called religious people, the more I was impressed with the hypocrisy of world religion. Young men would get drunk and indulge in wild revelries on a Saturday evening and then go to Mass on Sunday morning. The fact that they supposedly got their sins forgiven, only to carry on in the same immoral way in the days preceding the next Sunday Mass, disgusted me.

A Different Kind of Religion

By 1942 I was married. One day I came home and my wife told me that two women had called and talked to her about the Bible and its promises for a better future. Being inclined to ridicule anything that smacked of religion, I showed no desire to discuss the matter. Later, in northern Scotland, a man called at our camp and played a Gramophone record for my wife while I was away. It really impressed her that the man had the courage to play a record exposing world religion as a snare and a racket. My wife gave the man a meal before he went on his way.

Later, when we were around Newcastle in England again, my wife suggested we try to find these people because she felt they had spoken the truth. But shortly afterward we moved to Canada, where I thought it might be possible to make a better living.

Rearing Children

Meanwhile, I was raising my family. I took my son along with me in my business, which was then buying and selling scrap metal. When enough scrap metal was collected to sell to a dealer, I would give my boy a pile of his own and let him deal it off, but under my supervision to make sure he did not get gypped. Thus he was trained to make his way in life.

My wife provided our daughter typical Gypsy training, teaching her to cook, wash clothes, mend and care for a baby so that she would eventually make a good wife for a Gypsy husband. My wife also trained her in peddling linens. She would take her to the warehouses when making purchases so she could observe how this business was transacted. In addition, an uncle taught our daughter how to become adept at making flowers out of wood. Thus when accompanying her mother from house to house, if the linens were not accepted, she would offer her “flowers,” making a little money for herself.

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Bible Versus Quran Versus Sciences, (57) the Second Glass of Wine

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 10:07 pm

In Genesis 9, the first glass of wine Biblically justifies Racism, Color discrimination and Slavery. Herein, the second glass of wine Biblically justifies.

Herein in Genesis 19, , the second glass of wine Biblically justifies committing adultery between the daughter and her father (Lot); a very shameful evil act that ended up with the creation of two big nations, Ammon and Moab.

The bible says that Lot’s daughter said: let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

This Biblical story contradicts with the science, the behavior, the social issues etc.

It is hard to believe that Lot did that and he never condemned what he had done.

Also, Abraham’s family and nation were not far from Lot and his daughters.

They could go there and marry and have kids without the need to commit adultery with their father, Lot.

Politically speaking, the Bible puts the two nations Ammon and Moab down because their root is the adultery between the daughter and her father; however, Ruth the Moabites was the grandmother of the Lord Jesus.

Minded with this Biblical story, in addition, many fathers in the Western countries committed adultery with their daughters.

You smart reader is invited to read the story of Lot in the Bible and the Quran to judge by yourself which of which.

Lot and His Daughters in the Bible

Genesis 19

1] And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

2] And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

3] And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

4] But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

5] And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

6] And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,

7] And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

8] Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

9] And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.

10] But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.

11] And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

12] And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

13] For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.

14] And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

15] And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

16] And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

17] And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

18] And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my LORD:

19] Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:

20] Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

21] And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.

22] Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23] The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

24] Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

25] And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

26] But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27] And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:

28] And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

29] And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

30] And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

31] And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

32] Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

33] And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

34] And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

35] And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

36] Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

37] And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

38] And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

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Lot and His Daughters in the Quran:

Lot’s nation was homosexual.

Allah told Lot to warn them and stop their evil acts but .they denied Lot.

Allah sent some Angels to Lot in the form of beautiful men.

Lot’s nation wanted to have sex with Lot’s guests.

Allah punished Lot’s nation and saved Lot and his daughters.

His daughters were more than two (at least three and may be more).

The Quran says that Lot’s nation was the first in the history of mankind to commit homosexuality. The Quran says that Allah left a sign for Lot’s nation; this sign needs serious scientists to dig for.

The Quran and Islamic teachings deny the Biblical story about Lot and his daughters.

The Quran consider Lot as a Messenger who had done his job perfectly.

The Quran describes Lot’s daughters as clean and pure and they never ever thought to sex with their father as the Bible claims.

Surah 7:80-84

[80] We also (sent) Lot: he said to his people: “Do ye commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you?

[81] “For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds.”

[82] And his people gave no answer but this: they said, “Drive them out of your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure!”

[83] But We saved him and his family, except his wife: she was of those who lagged behind.

[84] And We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): then see what was the end of those who indulged in sin and crime!

Surah 11:77- 82

[77] When our Messengers came to Lot, he was grieved on their account and felt himself powerless (to protect) them. He said: “This is a distressful day.”

[78] And his people came rushing towards him, and they had been long in the habit of practicing abominations. He said: “O my people! Here are my daughters: they are purer for you (if ye marry)! Now fear Allah, and cover me not with shame about my guests! Is there not among you a single right-minded man?”

[79] They said: “Well dost thou know we have no need of thy daughters: indeed thou knowest quite well what we want!”

[80] He said: “Would that I had power to suppress you or that I could betake myself to some powerful support.”

[81] (The Messengers) said: “O Lot! we are Messengers from thy Lord! by no means shall they reach thee! now travel with thy family while yet a part of the night remains, and let not any of you look back: but thy wife (will remain behind): to her will happen what happens to the people. Morning is their time appointed: is not the morning nigh?”

[82] When Our decree issued, We turned (the cities) upside down, and rained down on them brimstones hard as baked clay, spread, layer on layer.

[83] Marked as from thy Lord: nor are they ever far from those who do wrong!

Surah 15:57-74

[57] Abraham said: “What then is the business of which ye (have come), O ye messengers (of Allah)?”

[58] They said: “We have been sent to a people (deep) in sin,

[59] “Excepting the adherents of Lot: them we are certainly (charged) to save (from harm), – all –

[60] “Except his wife, who, we have ascertained, will be among those who will lag behind.”

[61] At length when the messengers arrived among the adherents of Lot.

[62] He said: “Ye appear to be uncommon folk.”

[63] They said: “Yea, we have come to thee to accomplish that of which they doubt.

[64] “We have brought to thee that which is inevitably due, and assuredly we tell the truth.

[65] “Then travel by night with thy household, when a portion of the night (yet remains), and do thou bring up the rear: let no one amongst you look back, but pass on whither ye are ordered.”

[66] And We made known this decree to him, that the last remnants of those (sinners) should be cut off by the morning.

[67] The inhabitants of the City came in (mad) joy (at news of the young men).

[68] Lot said: “These are my guests: disgrace me not:

[69] “But fear Allah and shame me not.”

[70] They said: “Did we not forbid thee (to speak) for all and sundry?”

[71] He said: “There are my daughters (to marry), if ye must act (so).”

[72] Verily, by thy life (O Prophet), in their wild intoxication, they wander in distraction, to and fro.

[73] But the (mighty) Blast overtook them before morning,

[74] And We turned (the Cities) upside down, and rained down on them brimstones hard as baked clay.

Surah 26:160-174

[160] The people of Lot rejected the Messengers.

[161] Behold, their brother Lot said to them: “Will ye not fear (Allah)?

[162] “I am to you a Messenger worthy of all trust.

[163] “So fear Allah and obey me.

[164] “No reward do I ask of you for it: my reward is only from the Lord of the Worlds.

[165] “Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males,

[166] “And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people transgressing (all limits)!”

[167] They said. “If thou desist not O Lot! thou wilt assuredly be cast out.”

[168] He said: “I do detest your doings:”

[169] “O my Lord! deliver me and my family from such things as they do!”

[170] So We delivered him and his family, all

[171] Except an old woman who lingered behind.

[172] But the rest We destroyed utterly.

[173] We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): and evil was the shower on those who were admonished (but heeded not)!

[174] Verily in this is a Sign: but most of them do not believe.

Surah 27:54-58

[54] (We also sent) Lot (as a Messenger): behold, he said to his people, “Do ye do what is shameful though ye see (its iniquity)?

[55] “Would ye really approach men in your lusts rather than women? Nay, ye are a people (grossly) ignorant!”

[56] But his people gave no other answer but this: they said, “Drive out the followers of Lot from your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure!”

[57] But We saved him and his family, except his wife: her We destined to be of those who lagged behind.

[58] And We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): and evil was the shower on those who were admonished (but heeded not)!

Surah 29:28-35

[28] And (remember) Lot: behold, he said to his people: “Ye do commit lewdness, such as no people in Creation (ever) committed before you.

[29] “Do ye indeed approach men, and cut off the highway? And practice wickedness (even) in your councils?” But his people gave no answer but this: they said: “Bring us the Wrath of Allah if thou tellest the truth.”

[30] He said: “O my Lord! help Thou me against people who do mischief!”

[31] When Our Messengers came to Abraham with the good news, they said: “We are indeed going to destroy the people of this township: for truly they are (addicted to) crime.”

[32] He said: “But there is Lot there.” They said: “Well do we know who is there: we will certainly save him and his following, except his wife: she is of those who lag behind!”

[33] And when Our Messengers came to Lot, he was grieved on their account, and felt himself powerless (to protect) them: but they said: “Fear thou not, nor grieve: we are (here) to save thee and thy following, except thy wife: she is of those who lag behind.

[34] “For we are going to bring down on the people of this township a Punishment from heaven, because they have been wickedly rebellious.”

[35] And We have left thereof an evident Sign, for any people who (care to) understand.

Surah 54:33-39

[33] The People of Lot rejected (his) Warning.

[34] We sent against them a violent tornado with showers of stones, (which destroyed them), except Lot’s household: them We delivered by early Dawn,

[35] As a Grace from Us: thus do We reward those who give thanks.

[36] And (Lot) did warn them of Our Punishment, but they disputed about the Warning.

[37] And they even sought to snatch away his guests from him, but We blinded their eyes. (They heard:) “Now taste ye My Wrath and My Warning.”

[38] Early on the morrow an abiding Punishment seized them:

[39] “So taste ye My Wrath and My Warning.”

Back to the main topic of my series of articles (1- 57); this is my question to you smart readers: “Is the Quran quoted from the Bible “?

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Aiding Psychiatry with Complementary Medicine – The Holistic Approach

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 4:20 pm

One of the most interesting and effective ways of treating mental health problems is by using special diagnostic methods such as channeling and bio-energy (bioenergy) to help make contact with the patient’s physical, mental, and spiritual components. In this way, the sources of the patient’s problem can be revealed, thereby enabling treatment to be carried out. Therapists should be experienced in using these diagnostic methods and know how to make sure that the patient feels safe and secure in the treatment environment. They should also
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What are Channeling, Bioenergy, and Healing?

Channeling

Channeling is a unique tool all of us possess. It enables us to receive accurate, reliable information at any given time in our lives. The nature of channeling is making contact with ‘god’, ‘energy’, ‘essence’, ‘spiritual guides’ or anything else we believe in, as opposed to making contact with the physical. (This is my definition based on my own personal knowledge and experience).

Today, there is still no scientific explanation as to the nature of the information received through channeling. Even modern physics, (Quantum mechanics) has tried to understand the nature of matter and anti-matter, i.e. that which is not quite matter yet is visible, for example, electromagnetic waves. These behave like massless particles and in scientific experiments have been seen in several places at once (Ben-Dov, 1996). Experiments such as these can give us some idea about the information source, channeling. Since we are dealing with energies, senses, emotions and feelings that are not related to material, it can be concluded that the mystical sources of knowledge (channeling) are found everywhere. It is therefore not important who we make contact with or who ‘sends’ us this information; what is important is the accuracy of the information and the person receiving it.

Bioenergy

Bioenergy is a diagnostic and treatment method developed by Rafi Rosen. At its core lies the idea that everything in existence possesses energy or energetic fields (orgones). These fields are not dependant upon matter or time and are found everywhere. A bioenergy diagnosis allows the cosmic or personal energy flow of people to be felt. Rafi Rosen developed a diagnostic method whereby the energy we are examining is sensed by the eyelids. We ‘call’ the energy to come to our hands, and then examine it. Bioenergy helps us to examine the state of the energy inside a person, its being, whether it is growing or is still, and whether the person has an excess or a lack of energy. A bioenergy diagnosis can provide the answers to almost any question. The organs of the body, cells, tissue, blood pressure, cancer growth, illness, and so on can be checked as well as emotional state, for example trauma and anxieties etc. Everything we undergo in life leaves a mark on our bodies. For instance, trauma leaves an area of weak energy on the body which can be sensed. When a person does something that feels good, his energetic fields become stronger and when he does something that feels bad or when he’s afraid, his energetic fields become weaker (Rosen, 1989).

Healing

Healing means: directing energy, using relaxation or any other therapy technique the patient finds suitable. The choice is in his hands. Healing energy can strengthen specific areas of the body or all of it. Strengthening energy (healing) can give a push to the body to heal itself as it releases the flow of energy to the body to cure illness, relieve physical pain, and ease mental hardship and so on. During the healing process, it is possible to direct energy to strengthen other people if they are interested or to send healing out to the world. Directing healing energy may be done through words, touch, music, and dance or through many other options depending on our imagination and experience.

What is holistic mental therapy?

Holistic complementary medicine views the soul as a part of the body that is impossible to examine or measure separately from the whole. A complete human being is the sum total of his parts that are connected together from the time of his creation until his death.

When I examine a person’s ‘soul’, I must remember that I am dealing with the specific energy or power connected to the body which influences and is influenced by every event in his life. From this, I have learnt that every one of life’s events has a strong impact on the body, soul, and spirit which constitute a person’s whole that is in a constant state of flux.

One of the ways to understand the concept of ‘the soul’ or ‘the connection between the body and soul’ is to view a person as a totality of emotions, feelings, energy, and a body then to try and examine how certain feelings and emotions are expressed within this totality. For example, if I feel sadness, what is its root? Where is it expressed in the body, and can I get in touch with it in order to examine its source? How can I assist it? What is it trying to tell me?

As another example we can use stomach ache. We would try and talk with the stomach area to find out what it is trying to tell us. Listening to the area that hurts can provide answers to the source of the pain: What caused the pain? How can we treat it etc.? In actual fact, listening prepares the gateway for healing. We are the body; we do not distinguish between the body parts. On the contrary, we create a therapeutic conversation which can reveal a great deal about ourselves and how we can treat ourselves. We discover that there is no single soul in any one place, rather there is a complex of feelings throughout our sensory organs creating one perfect totality which is constantly changing, every moment of our lives. It is therefore this that provides the possibility for change and recovery.

From my experience as a complementary medicine therapist, tools such as channeling, bioenergy, and healing help me tremendously in locating the source of the problem in the body and ‘talking’ with it. Sometimes this conversation alone – the information I read to the person or the silent channeling, and the conversation about every spoken or written detail – is enough to produce great relief which strengthens the person’s overall energy. Sometimes, this is the beginning of a lengthier process in which the sources of the problem are investigated: past cycles or dimensions, childhood, adolescence, family etc. At each stage, using the diagnostic methods above, we can check which genetic effects or event created the ‘energy block’ (pain, distress, or fear), reach the source of the problem, and treat it using appropriate therapeutic methods, as well as medical intervention to administer suitable medicines when and where needed.

It should be remembered that this treatment requires a lot of sensitivity to oneself and the ability to cope with the weight of emotions or feelings that surface during therapy. It does not suit all people at all stages of life since there are times when it is difficult to cope with certain feelings and emotions. Consequently, the therapist must diagnose this and only use this method when he is certain the patient can be helped without any ill effects.

Example of a Treatment Case

Orit (not her real name) is 60 years old and divorced with three grown up children. She called me and asked to come for treatment. She complained of pains all over her body and feared she was suffering from fibromyalgia. She told me she was being treated with painkillers. When I met Orit, I noticed she was under a lot of stress. She confirmed this and told me she had the feeling that she should be helping everyone else all the time, especially her daughter, and that she had no time to herself. Orit explained that she felt most of her pain in the shoulders which was bothered her tremendously. The medication she was taking did not really help and she did not want to take medication all the time since it made her feel a bit drowsy.

I tried to diagnose her through bioenergy and noticed straight away that all of her body parts were very tense, especially the shoulders. Such weak energy was an indicator that Orit obviously had gone through very traumatic events which ’caused her’ to become very weak.

Since it seemed obvious the problem was psychological with physical effects, I suggested an exercise in deep relaxation and Orit accepted the idea. I asked her to sit in a chair and not to do anything at all. Then I asked her to take deep breaths and to let me or the world help her. I told her she need not do a single thing except sit and let the world reach out to her (this is a relaxation exercise I developed which is the most powerful because none of us are taught to ‘do nothing’ – to just sit or lie down and let the world take care of us; it can therefore come as quite a shock when someone asks us to do this!)

When Orit began to relax and to see that nothing bad was happening to her, she allowed herself to enter the process and was amazed at what happened: suddenly the strong pains in the right shoulder were transferred to the left shoulder, then a few seconds later, they disappeared. Orit was very surprised. I asked her to stay seated so we could try and get rid of all the pains in her body.

During the process, I reminded her from time to time not to do anything, just to let us, the powers in the world, heal and strengthen her. A few minutes later, all of Orit’s pain miraculously disappeared. At the end of the procedure, Orit got up and excitedly said: “How did this happen? Will this continue at home?” I explained to her that she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders, and the moment she does something for herself too, she will feel better and that the majority of the pain should go away. I gave Orit several suggestions on what to do at home before she left.

A few days later, Orit called me and said that most of the pain had disappeared and that she was trying to go out more, spend time with friends, and to think more about herself.

Of course, Orit’s case is an exceptional one with regard to the direct connection between the mental stress derived from certain behaviours, thoughts and physical pain and their disappearance during the process of deep relaxation. In most cases, pain can be alleviated from a mental source and even cured, but this demands the patient’s cooperation during and after treatment in order to strengthen the patient and reduce mental stress.

Conclusion

One of the most creative and efficient ways to treat mental health problems is by using complementary medicine to make direct contact, using appropriate diagnostic and treatment methods, with the ‘parts’ of the patient’s being (physical, mental, spiritual). The source of the problem is then reached, allowing it to be released and the way paved for healing. It is of vital importance to make a thorough diagnosis and examination of the patient’s condition to see whether or not he can stand up to this method of treatment which touches the depths of a person’s emotions and feelings.

Author: Oren Nutovitz, Mental Health therapist. Complementary Medicine, web:

Bibliography

1. Rosen, R. (1989), The seventh sense and past reality, Tamuz Publications
2. Dr. Ben Dov (1986), The quantum theory, Dvir Publications

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THE SCALE OF THE ALMIGHTY

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 4:10 pm

THE SCALE OF THE ALMIGHTY
Dr. D. K. Olukoya

It is one thing to call yourself something; it is another thing for God to call you something.
One of our elders in the Lord said, “You may decide to call yourself a pastor or an apostle or an evangelist, but in the book of God, which is the only book that matters, He writes that you are a messenger.” It is not what you call yourself that matters; it is what God calls you.

Daniel 5:1-2: “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank the wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his wives, and his concubines might drink therein.”

The party went on for a long time. Then all of a sudden, probably because of the effect of alcohol, the king ordered his servants to bring the vessels that were taken from the temple in Jerusalem. At that level, he overstepped his boundary. I pray that you will not overstep your boundary, in Jesus’ name. He went too far. A person can go too far. He can push himself to a level where the Spirit of God no longer strives with him, a level where God gives up on him. At a time the Spirit would be urging you to pray, read the Bible, watch your temper, etc. But a time will come when the Spirit would no longer strive with you. Once a person gets to that level, destruction is certain. I pray, that that will not be your lot, in Jesus’ name.

Daniel 5: 3-7 : “Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God, which was at Jerusalem, and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: (Why did the fingers go to the plaister of the wall? Because there was some light there and the writing would be seen clearly. It was like watching a cinema show) and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him. (He knew that whatever that writing might be, it would not bring a good message) so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon. Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came all the king’s wise men, but they could not read the handwriting, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled and his countenance was changed in him and his lords were astonied.” They brought Daniel who said in verses 25-28, “And this is the writing that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. (Look at so many words crammed into one word.) TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”

At the time Daniel was interpreting the writing, it was too late for the king to change the situation. Those who would destroy his kingdom were already banging at the door, because he had gone down on the scale of the Almighty. He had failed completely on the balance of God.

We are in the habit of making one mistake or the other when we weigh things. But there is one balance in heaven which is absolutely perfect. It does not make mistakes. A pastor could make a mistake; he may say that you are the best person around and give you a spiritual assignment. But there is a balance in heaven which never makes mistakes. Other balances can get out of order. Their chains may break or one thing or the other may go wrong, so that when you measure something and it says it is one kilogram, the measurement is not really one kilogram. It may be less a little bit or more. But the balance of God never loses its judgment. In God’s balance, one kilogram is one kilogram. No mistakes.

The incident we are discussing happened in the kingdom of Babylon. Babylon was a paradise of architecture. In fact, in all the kingdoms or empires in the world, there was none greater in splendour than Babylon. The most elaborate structures of modern times that we see around are mere shadows of what was found in Babylon. The most sophisticated architectural design of these days would not compare to those in Babylon before its fell. Millions of men were employed to build the walls around the city which was 60 miles in circumference and had 25 gates of solid brass on each side of the square city. Some houses in Babylon did not join one another on the ground, but a bridge passed from house to house. It had many other fantastic structures. But as beautiful as it was, when it was weighed on the scale it was found wanting and it fell.

Our God has the knowledge that is beyond human reasoning. His ways of doing things are very strange to the human mind. God has His own way of detecting counterfeit or genuine services. If the service you are rendering to God now is counterfeit, He knows how to measure it. If it is for show, He knows. If you are just an actor, when He puts your acting on the balance, it will go down.

Many years ago, a sister prayed certain prayer points and God told her to just watch and see. All of a sudden, she saw a picture of rapture and everybody was being caught up. She was looking but could not go up, although she had attended a Bible college. At first she thought it might be because she was fat, but when she looked up she saw people double her size going. She tried to jump but something held her. She started crying and an angel came to her and said, “I want to show you your mark on the balance of the Almighty.” The angel gave her a piece of paper which read 22 per cent. It was completely inadequate, so she could not go anywhere.

When you are serving the Lord, He tries your service by fire. He has His own method of testing you. According to I Corinthians 3:13, if you are singing, it will be made manifest, if you are preaching, it will be made manifest. Whatever you are doing would manifest. If you like, do the work of God deceitfully, it shall be made manifest. If you like, be stealing materials from the house of God, it shall be made manifest. The day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire, which shall try every man’s work.

God has His own way of measuring our financial contribution. The way He measures is different from ours. Mark 12:43-44: “And he called unto him his disciples, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” God measures your tithes and offerings by how much you keep for yourself. So, you must take heed to yourself so that you do not offer the gospel to others, while you remain a stranger. Take heed so that you do not become a human signboard or a spiritual tout, shouting various bus stops, but never taking to take a seat inside the bus. Be careful beloved that you do not perish while you are warning others not to perish. Take heed so that after warning others to run away from hell fire you do not enter the place yourself. Do not be a tailor who goes about in rags while you are cutting and sewing clothes for people everyday. Think about it. God has His own way of measurement. He took three million Jews into the wilderness and took just two of them into the promised land. As far as His own judgement was concerned, that was a success. Man would say, what a fantastic failure but God was not worried. After all, the Bible says that God would not mind turning a whole nation into hell fire if necessary.

There is the story of that brother who was interpreting in the church and suddenly fell down and died. His wife sent to his people to come and bury him. On the fourth day, when they came to collect his body from the mortuary, they found tears in his eyes and all of a sudden, he opened his eyes and started talking. He said that immediately he died, he found himself in a pit of darkness, that the darkness was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. But inside there was a narrow path, so narrow that it took one leg to move at a time. He said that by the side of the narrow path was a wide road and there were lots of people on it but at the end of it was a big hole burning with fire. He said that the rate at which people including school girls were going inside was as if a tipper was dropping sand. But he did not find another person on the narrow path which he said, led to a very high mountain. He said that occasionally he would nearly fall but someone would appear before him and say, “Do not fall,” and he kept moving until he got to the top where there were angels who had one small television set, the size of a shoe polish can. He said that immediately one arrived there they asked his name. And on his mentioning his name, every sin he had committed, right from when he was an infant, would appear on the television set. He said that at a stage while they were relaying the sins of a certain man, including the incest he committed with his younger sister, the man cried: “Please, switch it off. I don’t want to look at it again. Switch it off because it is terrible.” However, anything that you confessed and called the blood of Jesus to cleanse would not be shown, unless you went back to the sin. When the angels switched off the television set and asked the man, “What is in your pocket?” he put his hand in his pocket and brought out anger. The angels said, “Since you call yourself a Christian, how come these things are in your life?” The man said, “I am sorry, it is the devil.” They shouted, “Lucifer” and all of a sudden, he showed up, laughing.

The brother said that he also heard the scream of another sister who had died in his church about three years back and used to sing a special number. This sister was boiling and shouting with her soprano voice in hell fire. When the brother heard it he started crying. That was when he shed the tears that his people saw at the mortuary.

If the Lord begins to weigh you today, where do you stand? That rich man said, “My soul, rejoice and be glad, I still have many years.” But God said, “This night, your soul shall be taken away from you.” All the things you had gathered, to whom shall they belong? All you had acquired by running around, who shall have them when you are gone?

I have often said that there are two places where sermons are effective: the cemetery and the leprosy colony. In fact, one of the best altar calls I have ever seen was at a cemetery. The preacher began: “Three days ago, this man was drinking Coke in my house. I did not know that in three days time, he would have gone. But he is here now. One day, whether you like it or not, whether you refuse to grow old, whether you are polishing your hair and carrying your body cream everywhere you go, one day, you will land here too. And other people will say, Oh, he has gone home. But who knows where you are going? Who really knows?”

God’s balance weighs many things. David’s father had many sons, some huge and handsome and some who looked respectable and holy. They seemed qualified to be the king of Israel, and Samuel almost made a mistake when he saw Eliab coming. He said, “Surely, this is him.” But the Lord said to him, “Look not at his countenance nor his frame for the Lord looketh not as man looketh, a man looketh at the surface but I the Lord, I look at the heart.” So, God had looked at the heart of all the sons of Jesse, weighed all of them and only David measured up. In fact, David was not allowed to come. He was the smallest son and was looking after the sheep. But Samuel said, “Go and bring him, we will not sit down till he comes.” And he remained standing with his anointing oil looking for the head to pour it on.

Many people lift up their hands and pray, “Anointing fall on me.” Some of them are goats and the heavens are saying, “You want anointing, but there are horns on your head, break the horns, so that you can become a lamb, then we can anoint you.” One goat would say, “No, anointing fall on me.” The heavens would say, “Okay, since we said, break your horns and you refuse, we will pour the oil on your horns.” Then the person will begin false prophecy. He would pray, pray and pray but two spirits will be quarrelling inside him. He would be preaching to thousands of people and at the same time he would be sleeping with a spirit wife. Two things would combine themselves in his life. He would sit down and read the Bible, up to the point that people will be saying that he is running mad, but at the same time, when he sleeps, he could be playing with masquerades. So, there are two conflicting things in his life.

The balance of God can weigh men and determine their integrity. Job 31:6 says, “Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.” God’s balance can weigh men of low degree and high degree. Psalm 62:9 says, “Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.” Vanity is zero. But the scripture says that somebody can weigh less than zero. There are many like that in the house of God. God is weighing you. He is looking at you and because He is looking at you, you are taking Him for a ride. That is because the Bible says that He does not want anybody to perish. He is long-suffering, so you take Him for granted.

Recently, before one girl died she came to see me, and she wrote a list of 40 men she had slept with. What pained me most was the last man. He was the one who converted her to Christianity in a holiness-preaching church. The man slept with her, who was a new convert not knowing that she had HIV. So, he signed a death sentence for himself. The same brother would jump forward and scream, “Without holiness, no man shall see God.” He would come forward and say, “Holiness is our watchword” and would sing in bass tone. But God is weighing him, and all those his songs will stand against him on the day of judgement. He will be asked, “Did you not sing these songs?” Did you understand what you were singing?” He will reply, “I sang. I understood.” The angels will now ask him, “Then what happened?” He will say, “I don’t know.” The angels will say, “Get him away, let him join the goats at the left side.”

In any church, there are two groups of people: the goat and the sheep. The goats go to the left hand while the lamb go to the right hand. A lamb is a foolish animal. It does what you want it to do. It appears like a fool, but it does not perish as easily as the goat.

God can weigh men of low degree and those of high degree. Eventually, some of the big men will realise that in heaven, unlike on the path of life, there is no first class person. No, it is not like the way things are done here. No angel can change what he has written about you because you say, “When I was in the world, I was living in a reserved area. God is weighing you everyday. If a person allows himself to get to zero level, the devil will come quickly and kill him and he will go to hell.

God’s balance can weigh the paths and the ways of men. It can weigh your path, the way you go, all the people you visit, the kind of relationship you have with your fiancée, etc. So, you can see that the balances of the Lord are very interesting. It is the same balance too that is written about in Job 28: “To make the weight for the winds, and he weigheth the waters by measure.” God can weigh the wind. In Proverbs 16:2 we also read about the balances: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirit.” He can weigh your spirit. I Samuel 2:3 says, “Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.”

Beloved, if you want to experience the power that the apostles experienced, you should examine yourself carefully. If God were to weigh your spirit now, do you think that you are up to the required standard? Some raise their hands everyday and pray, “O God, heal me, heal me, I will serve you till I die.” And God says, “Okay, receive your healing.” They collect their healing and that is the last day you see them in church.

God weighs our actions. If He weighs your actions now, do you think you will be up to standard? The scarcity of the power of God in any generation is not the fault of God but the unavailability of men and women that He can use. By the time God grabs a person and says, “I want to use this one,” He has seen that it is the kind of person He can use. If God were to weigh your integrity as a Christian, are you up to the standard? This is the question to ask yourself.

One of our ministers prayed for a certain rich man who had a bad leg and the Lord healed him. Later, the rich man gave the minister a very nice brief case which he was carrying about proudly. One day, he offended the man who gave it to him and the man began to speak against him and reported him to me. He said, “My wife used to prepare tea for this pastor. She used to do this or that for him. I used to carry him about in my car. He is an ungrateful person. I gave him a brief case.” At a point the pastor said, “G.O., what can I do?” I said, “This is why I warn you pastors running around some rich people? You see yourself now. Prostrate and beg him.” The pastor prostrated saying, “I am sorry sir,” and the man said,” That is all right. You can stand up.” This was a person who had no leg to walk and now he could walk.

If God was to measure your financial contributions, do you think you will be up to standard? Somebody prayed and the Lord blessed him with 20,000 dollars but to pay the tithe of 2,000 dollars was hard for him. He said, “It is hard.” Of course, the Lord allowed the devil to create problem that made him spend that money. Eventually devourers were released upon the money that he had thought was heavy. For a person to steal from God, he must be a fantastic thief and a dangerous person to live with. If your husband is stealing from God, you have married a dangerous man. If your business is stealing from God, it will soon become a graveyard, unless you quickly do restitution. If God were to weigh your financial contribution, where do you go? You are a student. Yes, they give you pocket money, you should pay tithe on it. If not, ordinary malaria can squander the pocket money.

If God were to weigh your zeal for lost souls, will you be up to this standard? If God were to weigh your spiritual activities in the church, do you think it will be up to standard? If God were to weigh your love for others, do you think it will be up to His standard? If God were to weigh your zeal for the house of God, do you think it will be up to His standard? Human beings may be dishonest about their balances or about their measurement cups. You can knock your cup inside, but not God’s. The balances of God will not make mistakes.

“Thou art weighed and found wanting,” were the words that came to Belshazzar. You may be born in the church or dedicated in the house of God. Your father may be a pastor, your mother may be a prophetess, but the day you are found wanting on that scale, that is it. Belshazzar did not get a second chance. His time was up, he had gone too far. His mistakes were many. He lived in pleasure and alcohol, just as some people who come to church are still drinking and saying, “I’m not a heavy drinker, the Bible doesn’t say, ‘Don’t drink,’ it says, ‘Don’t get drunk.” Is that really what it says? Such people are putting a curse on themselves. The Bible says, “If you want to be a prophet of God, a priest unto God, you should not drink. But if you want to perish, drink.” The book of Revelation says that if after you have read it and you decide to be doing evil, continue and if you decide to be doing good, continue. But behold, Jesus is coming quickly and His reward is with Him to give to every man according to his works. This means that after reading it you may continue in iniquity. The Bible says, “Give wine to those who want to perish.” If you insist on taking alcoholic drinks, all the prayer points, “I fire back every arrow of witchcraft” you are praying are only a joke. Demons will say, “Which arrow is he firing back? He drinks the arrow every night.”

Belshazzar loved alcohol and parties. There are some people who like going to parties. Some do not go, but they would send their children. Some put on their little girls trousers and earrings that they themselves do not wear and send them to a party. The earrings could be those they inherited from their grandmothers who died of cancer. They push their teenage daughters to parties and they come back and say, “This is my boyfriend.” You now say, “No, don’t do that kind of thing in our family.” But you pushed her too far.

Sometime ago, a woman pushed her daughter who was under 15 to me, saying, “This one is not serious, she doesn’t pray at home. When we pray at home, she sleeps.” Immediately I was about to pray, the Holy Spirit said, “She’s not sick, she’s pregnant.” I told her mother that she was not sick and that the reason she could not pray was that she was pregnant. The woman screamed, So, I said, “Madam, don’t cry, even you, you are with your fifth husband, so she has just collected your anointing.” When she heard me, she stopped crying.

Belshazzar cared very little about God. He decided to insult God. He was a proud man. He said, “Art thou Daniel of the Hebrew slaves that my father brought?” The man said. “Daniel would have said, “Yes, I am Daniel, but listen, I am not interested in becoming the third in command. The kingdom will fall anyway, but listen, your father, Nebuchadnezar, suffered. God threw him into the forest to suffer for seven years and made him eat grass like animals so that he might know that God is the ruler of men. You, the son, you were alive, you saw it and in spite of the fact that you saw it, you refused to learn from your father’s mistakes, so the hand that wrote the ten commandments of Moses now came down.”

There are two sins that the Bible says cannot be forgiven:
1. Sin against the Holy Spirit.
2. Willful sin.

Willful sins will attract punishment and sometimes without remedy. Sin against the Holy Spirit will attract punishment sometimes without remedy. When the Holy Spirit says, “Thus saith the Lord” and you say, “No, I will not follow it,” or “Thus saith the Lord, and you say, “It is a demon that is saying it,” there would be no remedy for your punishment. If you offend the Father, the Son will beg for you, or you offend the Son, you can ask the Holy Spirit for your forgiveness. But if you offend the Holy Spirit, you are finished. Belshazzar knew all these things but he continued in sin. Do you know that many churchgoers are like that? Since I got born again, I have learnt something from counselling. The sins that glue people to themselves are fornication and adultery. Such people feel sorry for themselves while hearing the word of God, only to fall back into sin soon after.

Forget the notion that it is only handsome men and beautiful women that commit fornication. No, that spirit has nothing to do with beauty and being handsome. Sometimes, it is easier to get a witch delivered, because once that anointing of fornication and adultery comes upon a man, he forgets that the person somebody is his house help. He forgets that this is the younger sister of his wife. He forgets that this one is his relative. He completely forgets that he has a family, that he has eight children to feed and that a new baby or wife will be an additional problem. When this anointing falls on him, he completely forgets that there is something called gonorrhea. He forgets its repercussion He does it and after about ten minutes, regret sets in. If the person has the Holy Spirit at all, he will be like someone mourning the dead. If he wants to pray, the Holy Spirit will not rise with him. If he reads the Bible, it will not be clear again. He goes for deliverance and prays only to fall back in sin again. Unless such a person cries unto the Lord now, the handwriting will soon be on the wall against him: “Mene, mene, tekel, peres upharsin” he is weighed and found wanting.

Somebody put in his room the emblem, ‘Angels on guard,’ Christian books, tapes of messages of holiness by men of God and he is committing sin in the same room. The Lord will not listen to excuses such as “everybody has weaknesses, my weakness is women.” He will not listen to excuses such as “there is a limit to human-endurance.” He won’t listen to excuses such as “I tried but I failed.” He won’t not listen to “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” He would not listen to any excuse. The only sin that God forgives is that not preplanned. Once it is a willful sin, it reduces your weight in the balance of God. Willful sins include anger, pride, lying, gossiping, bitterness, envy, backsliding, etc.

Every good word we say goes to the balance. All our spiritual actions go there. All our offerings go there. Every gesture we make goes there. Every help we render goes there. They all add up to help us against the day of reckoning. All the good things you do are increasing your weight in the balance of God. But when you begin to commit willful sin, it begins to cancel your weights and one day you may commit a single sin which can wipe off all the good you have done all your life. A single willful sin may make the balance to read zero. What do you weigh on the balance of the Almighty?

A man had a vision which revolutionized and revised his spiritual life. He had prayed many times asking for spiritual power. He did not see any changes in his life. He bought books on how to work on the supernatural and found that it did not work. He bought books on “Power from high,” He found that power did not come from anywhere. He tried fasting and prayer but before he broke his fast, somebody would bring food for him to eat in the dream. He broke his fast in the dream.

One night in his room, he prayed and saw a vision of an angel of God who came to him and showed him his mark recorded in heaven: Love 2 per cent, patience 1 per cent, gentleness 10 per cent, faith 5 per cent, self-control 3 per cent, evangelism 0 per cent, useful praying 10 per cent, holiness 1 per cent, doubt 30 per cent, love of praise 70 per cent, pride 69 per cent, useless praying 90 per cent, anger 90 per cent, bad thought 80 per cent. It was seriously below standard. The angel that came to show him the paper looked at him, shook his head, folded the paper, threw it at him and went away in anger. What do you weigh in the balance of the Almighty?

God has no regard for persons. Obedience is better than being religious. The Lord is looking for vessels to fill. Many vessels have disappointed Him. He is looking for people who will become His battle axe. So, if you are reading this magazine and you don’t have control over your thought, your balance may be reading zero, if you find it hard to break from any bad habit, your balance may be reading zero. If you cannot identify what you have done for the Lord, your balance may be reading zero. If your spiritual life is going up and down, your balance may be reading zero. If your main purpose of coming to the house of God is for prosperity and protection, your balance may be reading zero now. If you don’t have the joy of salvation, your balance may be reading zero. If you are not interested in soul-winning, your balance may be reading zero. If you have been avoiding paying your tithes or you have people you don’t greet or you keep malice against people, or you live a life of fornication, your balance may be reading zero.

If we have to go back to our roots, we must go back to the foundation and bring quality repentance unto the Lord, so that we can become what He wants us to become. Talk to the Lord about your life. Say, “Lord, what do I have? Where do I stand? I may have been calling myself one thing and you are calling me another. I don’t want to continue this life of nothing. Time is going. I am not getting any younger. Something must happen in my life. I know that this is not the best thing you have for me.

It can be very sad if you have been coming to the meetings of the old pathway and your life has not started to move in the old path. Settle it before the Lord. There are prayers to pray. But if as you are reading this message you have not given your life to Christ and you want to do so now, declare this loud and clear: “Lord, I thank you. I surrender my life to You. Forgive me my sins and cleanse me with your blood. I ask you to come into my life and make me a new person as from today. Thank you Jesus, in Jesus’ name.”

I have seen many people in the spirit struggling. If only they will allow the Lord to break off the horns of the goat so that they will become a lamb, the enemy holding onto that horn will have no more horn to hold. It is because there is horn on the head that the battle is still strong. The day you become what God wants you to become, all the warfare that you are fighting will surely come to an end and you would have victory over your enemy, and the enemy will have no landing place in your life again. But when you prepare a loophole for the enemy, he will take full position.

The Psalmist says, “The day that I cried unto the Lord, then shall my enemy turn back, this I know, for God is with me.” The reason some people are doing deliverance upon deliverance is because they refuse to depart from their sins. Some people will say, “Well, by the grace of God, I am living a life of holiness.” Holy life and there is malice in their lives. Holy life and there are people they don’t greet. Holy life when they are just holding their anger inside. Holy life and they are still stealing money from where they work. Holy life when they borrow money from the cooperative and they don’t want to pay back. Holy life when they buy things on credit and refuse to pay back. Don’t deceive yourself, bring quality repentance unto the Lord and your life will not remain the same.

PRAYER POINTS

1. O Lord, deliver me from the spirit of hell fire, in the name of Jesus.
2. O Lord, show me where I stand, in the name of Jesus.
3. My inner man, receive fire, in Jesus’ name.
4. Every witchcraft deposit in my life, die, in Jesus’ name.
5. Every power pursuing me out of the way of life, die, in Jesus’ name.
 

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What Is Going On With The Edward Cullen And Twilight Phenomenon?

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 4:06 pm

Chances are you have either read the Twilight series, you have the Twilight series memorized or you surely know someone close to you who has.

Many of you haven’t read the series because you’re usually in front of a craze like this and are ashamed to admit you didn’t read the series when Stephenie Meyer first wrote it in 2005 or maybe you haven’t read the Twilight series because it is kind of like being unique, like not having a tattoo or not being on Facebook.

The Twilight series is one of the bar none’s best literary series since C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia, and is up there tied with Harry Potter, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

How can that be said about Twilight and how in the world can it be compared to literary greats such as Narnia? Meyer’s Twilight series of four books; Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn has somehow managed to break down age barriers as well as the gender wall.

Girls, women and even men between the ages of ten and 100 are reading and becoming obsessed with Meyer’s romantic fantasy world that I like to call “Dawson’s Creek with Vampires”.

At the center of the fantasy world is Edward Cullen, the romantic, chivalric and handsome immortal man who is always saving the day. Yes, I agree Robert Pattinson played the part well and yes he had my 34 year-old knees shaking and I occasionally think about him while sleeping however the fictionalized character in the series is what has women across the globe swooning and comparing their significant others to Edward Cullen.

It’s reminiscent of the New Kids on the Block craze back in the early 1990s. It’s also reminiscent of the current Jonas Brother’s craze. Women everywhere are dreaming about this romantic and sexy vampire who manages to save his true love Bella, numerous times.

Edward was technically born in 1901. He technically ‘died’ at age 17 in 1918 however this is just when he became immortal. Therefore, he lived through the entire twentieth century soaking in the music, culture, literature and chivalry like a sponge.

He is a pure gentleman as he opens doors, gently kisses and caresses Bella, and they don’t even have sexual relations until readers are well into the Twilight series. When they do finally make love, Edward is as gentle and as caring as any woman would dream their partner to be. He is always concerned for Bella, he listens to Debussy and he can quote Shakespeare. Does it get more romantic than this?

Edward has famous quotations in the series which are quite possibly the most romantic things ever said to a woman in this century. Edward tells Bella “You are my heart now.” My favorite line from the movie is “You are like my own personal brand of heroin.” He also tells Bella from his heart that he has been looking for her for a long time. He says “And so the lion fell in love with the lamb….” This is his romantic and gentlemanly way of professing his love for her.

I was not happy with Edward’s character when he left her broken-heart in the woods in the beginning of the second book, New Moon. In fact, I cried and I don’t think I have sobbed that hard since my last break-up.

Edward leaves Bella because he just loves her that much he would rather suffer in heartbreak the rest of his life than further endanger her life. Don’t worry; they reunite and Twilight fans just accept the fact that you won’t like New Moon nearly as well as the other three books in the series.

The break-up is where the “Team Edward” versus “Team Jacob” controversy comes from. In her extremely unbearable heartbreak which nearly kills her, Bella turns to best friend – and werewolf – Jacob.

It is my opinion that the “Team Jacob” people cannot see that Edward left her out of love and he wanted his soul mate to be safe. I understand the “Team Jacob” people were so indebted to Jacob for ‘saving her life’ as she seriously nearly died of a broken heart.

Regardless of if you are Team Jacob or Team Edward you will learn to accept the fact that while Edward and Bella are truly soul mates, apparently so are their daughter, Renesmee and Jacob.

There are three specific parts in the first book, Twilight, that stick out in any woman’s mind as being the moments she fell in love with and then even more in love with, Edward Cullen.

Women are so prone to falling in love with the ‘Knight in Shining Armor’ and that is exactly what Edward Cullen’s character delivers. We women fantasize about being rescued from these situations and Edward makes it a reality. Well, a fictional reality.

Edward saves Bella from being completely crushed by a mini-van in the beginning of the series. He uses his speed to get from one end of the parking lot to the other, where Bella is and uses his immense strength to stop the mini-van from crushing her into her own vehicle. She is completely unharmed and does not have a scratch on her.

Meyer’s describes the adrenaline and the sexual chemistry that is going between the two during this scene and it takes everything we have to not start naming our first child Edward.

In another scene, Bella Swan is walking in a dark and unlit area in an unknown town. Some drunken guys are harassing her and the situation actually gets quite tense. There is a feeling that Bella is in real danger and could be assaulted or even raped. Suddenly out of nowhere Edward comes flying out of the darkness to save the day.

Bella is safely in his car within seconds and Edward gives the guys a visual warning that the reader can only pretend to comprehend the fear going through their veins.

Finally, the ballet-studio scene is the most romantic in such a sick way. Edward saves Bella from James, the bad vampire who is tracking her to kill her. Edward saves her once by getting James away from her and aiding in the killing of James, and saves Bella again when he goes against absolutely every instinct he has and sucks the venom from her blood without killing her.

To women and men everywhere, from ages ten to 100, Edward Cullen is the Romeo of the twenty-first century, without a doubt.

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Detangling Directives for Children With Dry Hair or From Mixed Cultures

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 1:06 pm

We tend to complain about our children’s hair not growing, breaking constantly, and manageability. With busy schedules we unconsciously neglect their hair and take it for granted until it begins to break like straw.

Yet we seem to take the time each day to moisturize our hands and bodies with lovely creams and moisturizers. We do this because we know that our skin will crack and get rough if it is not cared for. So why don’t we apply this same concept to our children’s hair?

We repeatedly use harsh styling gels or alcohol based hair sprays that dry their hair out immensely. We use relaxers also that tend to dry the hair out also. In addition, their braided or twisted hairstyles tend to be dry and brittle as well. All of these factors cause our children’s hair to tangle and break easily.

The variety of hair textures has an impact on the amount of tangling on a child hair, however hair that is moisturized and hydrated tends to tangle much less than dry and brittle hair. Whether a child has thick hair, coarse hair, curly hair, fine hair or mixed textured hair due to multi-racial parents; it must be cared for in the same manner.

When the hair and scalp are not moisturized with some sort of hair lotion or oil-based cream; the scalp can become extremely dry, rough, irritated and itchy. Sometimes the scalp will begin to form scabs and sores or even crack. Therefore hair growth is reduced due to the scalp being sore and damaged.

And in addition to not caring for our children’s hair externally, many of us do not assure that our children drink enough water to hydrate their bodies internally. Nor do they eat enough green vegetables and fruits to provide their growing bodies with natural vitamins.

The only solution to prevent dry hair is to change our way of thinking. The TAKE DOWN ®, Moisture Restoring Hair lotion is one of top selling products for moms to detangle matted hair. And also for children with multi cultural hair textures. It is a very strong cross over product, for all types of children and hair textures. This product line also offers great maintenance and styling products for ethnic hair.

We must value our children’s hair and stop taking it for granted. Our children should not be forced to wear hair extensions when they become matured adults. Especially if it is as a result of their parents not taking the time to moisturize their hair and scalp with alcohol free hair lotions or oil-based creams. Their God given natural hair is an important part of their self esteem and self worth.

If children wear braids or dreadlocks use leave-in conditioners, oils, or oil-based creams. Shampoo their hair weekly-dust and dirt prevents healthy hair growth. Take the time to massage these moisturizers in their hair 2-3 times a week; it will only take 10 minutes out of your day to care for their hair. Or show them how to massage their own heads after you apply the moisturizers- make it fun for them. That is even easier than moisturizing our hands/bodies daily!

Please incorporate more water in their daily diets, as well as more green vegetables and fruits in their weekly diets.

A good source of vitamins for healthy hair, skin and nails are Vitamin E, A, & D. When you take the time to love your child’s hair it will respond by getting thicker, healthier and longer. And their hair textures will become softer and shinier as well.

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Positive Personality and Attitude will take you far in Life

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 10:08 am

A) DEVELOPING POSITIVE PERSONALITY

1. Subconscious Programming :

Most of us sometimes get programmed / conditioned by a wrong messages that “ do not do that”, “don’t take the risk”, “you cannot do that” “you are not good in …” and so on…..
You can imagine the bad effect such message can have on any person.
Our Conscious Mind is like a watch man. And the Subconscious Mind is a store of all the previously programmed or conditioned information / knowledge/ beliefs. Now programming personality means putting positive beliefs/ information into the store with out the knowledge of the watchman (conscious mind).

Suppose you tell yourself that “you are good at Public Speaking”. And the store has stored based on peoples comments and experience that “you are poor in communication” “you can not speak well in public”, “you don’t have an impressive body language” …..
The watch man sees your sentence and compares it with the knowledge in its store and says “this information is wrong”. The watchman throws the new information away. He does not allow the new positive information into the store. This is the fundamental difficulty in changing personality & behaviour of a person.

Now the question is how and when we could programme our mind for positive personality traits without the obstruction of the watchman…

The answer is we can programme our mind for positive personality traits during the Twilight period just before sleeping and just before waking up. This is the time when the conscious mind is active enough to generate the positive traits for entering into store but inactive to judge/compare and will not obstruct to the positive traits to enter into the subconscious store house.

2. Reinforced Programming / Conscious Programming :

Auto suggestion and Repetition of the positive traits despite negative response from comparison with the store house also gives success in programming for personality traits.

Auto-suggestion is a statement made in the present tense, of the kind of person you want to be. Auto-suggestion are like a commercial about “Super You”, or “Future Super You” for yourself what you want to be or achieve. They influence both your conscious and subconscious mind in the long run shaping your personality and attitude.
Auto-suggestions are the conscious way to programme the subconscious mind for positive traits. It is the effective method of voluntary development of positive traits and attitudes.

Auto-suggestion should be mixed with emotions. All such reinforced / conscious programming which have been emotionalized (giving feeling) and mixed with applied faith, begin immediately to translate themselves into physical or real equivalent.

Auto-suggestive thoughts which are mixed with any of the feeling of emotions constitute a “psycho-magnetic” force which attracts other similar or related thoughts.

Our subconscious mind resembling a fertile garden spot, in which weeds will grow in abundance if you the seeds of more desirable crops are not sown therein. Auto-suggestion is the agency of control through which an individual can voluntarily feed his subconscious mind on thoughts of creative/ positive nature or by neglect permit thoughts of a destructive nature to find their way into the rich garden of mind. So Caution should be taken while programming your mind for positive traits only.

3. Defensive Approach :

One of this type of approach is protest or deny the negative traits at it’s very beginning of the entering in the subconscious store. And the second is to consciously avoid this type of environment or situation. In real life situation it is very difficult because it may lead to confrontation and argument or Inaction.

Another problem in this is that most of us have some negative traits previously in our store house due to our past experience and conditioning.

4. Imaginary Anchoring or Invisible Counselling Committee :

While watching a picture we anchor the Hero, placing ourselves in place of Hero. Similarly we can anchor Great men in imagination and let them shape our personality.

Another is the Invisible Counselling Committee comprising of great personalities of your choice. We can counsel from these great minds at times or situation. What decision or action he would have been taken in my situation..

Winston Churchill, the war time British Prime Minister was following this principle. He had his Imaginary Counselling Committee by the side of his Chamber. Many great decisions he used to take by following these principles.

I follow the habit of reshaping my character by trying to imitate some great personalities whose lives and life works have been most impressive to me. These personalities are Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Einstein,Narayana Murthy,Dalai Lama & Bill Gates. I held an imaginary council meeting with this group whom I called my “Invisible Counsellor”. In these imaginary council meeting I called on my cabinet members for the knowledge I wished each to contribute addressing myself to each members in audible words as follows :

Mahatma Gandhi, I desire to acquire from you the ideology of truth and Non-violence and devotion towards practicing these in every odd hours and to acquire the magnet leadership to attract millions to join in the peaceful struggle for freedom and Humanity.

Mother Teresa, I desire to acquire from you the ability to provide relentless humanitarian services to the most unprivileged, poor diseased and intense spirit to serve the mankind despite all odds.

 Abraham Lincoln, I desire to build into my own character the keen sense of justice, the untiring spirit of patience, the sense of humor, the human understanding, and the tolerance which were your distinguishing characteristics.

Napoleon Bonaparte, I desire to acquire from you, by emulation, the marvelous ability you possessed to inspire men and arouse them to greater and more determined spirit of action. Also to acquire the spirit of enduring faith, which enabled you to turn defeat into victory, and to surmount staggering obstacles.

Albert Einstein, I wish to acquire from you the Scientific Bent, ever inquisitive mind, the spirit to innovate and contribute to Humanity.

Narayana Murty, I want to acquire from you the ability to nurture the human resources and to give the society the magic formulae of success of wealth and fortune and helping people realize their true potential.

 Dalai Lama, I want to acquire from you the skill and understanding to motivate the people towards positive ends and to offer the world the blue print for positive and spirituall life.

Bill Gates, I wish to acquire from you the Brilliant Intelligence, Innovation, Intense drive to succeed, persistence, personal intensity and conscientiousness dimensions

5. Physical Action / Body Language Approach :

In general it is the positive practice or experiencing desired traits whether the desired perfection achieved or not.

It is generally said that our personality traits control our body language. But it is a fact that the reverse is also true. This means we can change our negative traits towards positive traits by consciously practicing the body language for positive traits.

6. Domino-effect. Direct exposure to good personalities or environment :

Here the direct environment is the driving force in shaping the personalities. When one constantly remains in direct contact with great personalities will enriches his own to be the one. Similarly the organization culture and structure also many times influences ones personality. Sometimes it is the guiding principle for job satisfaction / recruitment.

Caution should be taken while programming your mind for positive traits only. Because these processes give results for negative traits also. Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler both successfully applied these principles but one positively and other negatively.

B)POSITIVE ATTITUDE WILL TAKE YOU FAR IN LIFE

 One Dozen Lessons from Life

*1. Attitude is what Life is all about…….

Soldier: Sir, we are surrounded by enemies from all sides.Major: Excellent! Now we can attack in any direction.

*2. Everyone has heard about Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephoneNobody knows he did not make a call ever to his family.Because both his wife and daughter were deaf. That’s life- “Live for others”.

*3. The worst in life is “Attachment”.It hurts when you lose it.

*4. The best thing is “Loneliness”because it teaches you everythingand when you lose it..you get everything.

*5. Life is not about people who act true to your face..it’s about the people who remain true behind your back.

*6. Egg broken from outside ….”A life ends”.Egg broken from within….”Life begins”.”Great things always begin from within.”

*7. It’s better to lose your ego to the one you love than to lose someone you love to your ego.

*8. A relationship does not shine by just shaking hands during good times but it blossoms by holding firmly in critical situations.

*9. The more the pain you get in your life, more you become valuable…….

.Heated Gold becomes ornaments,

.Betted Copper becomes wires

.Depleted stone becomes statue

*10. Why do we have so many temples and churches, if God is everywhere?……….”Because air is every where but we need a fan to feel it”.

*11. Tolerance is the greatest gift of the mind…….It requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance one self on a bicycle….

*12. When you trust someone trust him completely without any doubt…..At the end you would get one of the two:Either a lesson for your life or a very good person.

 

 

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How can I get my 2 year old daughter to drink milk?

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 10:08 am

Since we have been weaning her off her bottle and giving her nothing but luke warm water in her bottle. She will not have anything to do with her milk. I have tried chocolate strawberry vanilla all the flavors I can think of. I know she needs her calcium Help!!

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Seroquel Q&A

  • Posted on January 15, 2010 at 10:07 am

Abilify quiz!?
I have only been taking Abilify for a few weeks (I switched from seroquel, which made me gain weight.) and I own two questions. First, how do you suggest that I combat this restless urge to move all the time (which I’m experiencing as a side-effect of abilify) and is Abilify stronger than seroquel? I ask this because my doctor took me off…

Another seroquel put somebody through the mill?
Okay, ive asked 2 other questions on seroquel and im sorry to be so annoying about the subject, but im the kind of person that get really paranoid about side effects of medications. My question is, anyone that has be taking this… what side effects if any have you had? Im taking 100mg at night for bipolar, my…

ANy experience beside seroquel?
ANy experience with seroquel? I have ptsd and the doc put me on seroquel and clonasapam, along with librax. The librax is for ibs. The others are from clincial depression that I am suffering from where I hold been very ill for 3 months, and the lack of gusto, etc has made it much worse. I am wondering if anyone…

ANy experience next to seroquel?
I have ptsd and the doc put me on seroquel and clonasapam, along with librax. The librax is for ibs. The others are from clincial depression that I am suffering from where I have be very ill for 3 months, and the lack of energy, etc have made it much worse. I am wondering if anyone after waking…

Any information of side effects of inhaling xanax and seroquel?
a friend started crushing and inhaling seroquel and xanax, i am worried about her and the side effects. I cannot find anything online that deals with this problem. any information would be helpful. thank you Well. I am verbs and sober now but I wasnt always. Generally the side affects will be the…

Any ladies or guys prescribed Seroquel; how did/does it affect you? cargo gain?
If you will, specify which type of nervous condition it was prescribed for. first of all i was prescribed zyprexa. I gained 25-30 pounds surrounded by a month! So I went back to my doctor and she prescribed me with seroquel. Almost immediately I lost adjectives the…

Does seroquel assist beside this?
i have a stress problem where i get stressed easley and some times badly and I’m wondering will seroquel support with it? I take seroquel to sleep at night because of a impossible insomnia problem…one side effect is that you feel really sluggish the next day…the best thing is not to resort to drugs because most medication have side effects,…

Does seroquel grounds confusion?
Actually, Seroquel makes me LESS confused. I have trouble thinking clearly and understanding the element about what is real and what isn’t. Seroquel has helped me take better. Yes it does…smashed up my truck and was out for 2 days.. – OMG YES, especially if you are mega dosed! It also takes away emotion… the bad…

Does seroquel manufacture you sleepy?
Yes, definitely, although more so in some people than others. Doctors do prescribe it for insomnia sometimes. For me it is prescribed for that as well as other bipolar symptoms and I’ve done ably taking a small dose about 2 hours before I want to sleep. I’ve been on it for maybe 4 or 5 years and appropriate usually 100…

Does seroquel own smaller number side effects than risperdal?
My son who has Asberger/Autism has been on Risperdal for 4 years to control temper tantrums and irritability. He is 16. His MD desires to switch him to Seroquel because he says it does not cause weight gain as much as Risperdal does. My son has be doing very well on Risperdal, it really…

Does seroquel show up on drug test?
Of course it messed you up. Seroquel is a antipsycotic and is use to treat the manic phase of bipolar disorder. Pleasedo not take medicines not given to you by your personal doctor. It might, my 5 year old brother in law take it to “calm” him down. I don’t know why you would take it.

Does seroquel treat bipolar- depression successfully?
Recently i have just been proposed the diagnosis of manic depression, or bipolar. My psychiatrist wants to put me on Seroquel, an antipsychotic (the category heading is scary to me) and am very hesistant about going on such a powerful drug. Id just resembling some feedback from those who have my type of bipolar (depressive) about Seroquel.

Does the med seroquel make one gain bulk?
yes i take the 25mg and before i got on them i weighed 135 pounds immediately i have been on them for at least 2yrs and i weigh 189 pounds now yes, google seroquel nd see the side effects

I’ve be taking seroquel xr 400mg for a month presently; I lost the bottle. Will it hurt me to stop cold turkey?
As with any drug that helps with mental disorders, it is not clever to just “stop”. You must gradually drop dosage, otherwise you will go into a meltdown, and manic withdrawls. Source(s): I take seroquel, and other…

Ive read that you put on alot of consignment using >Seroquel ?
but ive never found if you can lose weight aswell, ive just started using seroquel and im already, >fat lol and i dont wanna put like anutha stone or 2 on do i. – i use Seroquel 400mg’s a light of day and I think your right, I have put on…

Ive taken seroquel for 8 years immediately and when i forget to filch it at darkness i wake up up vomiting. why do i do this?
i took this when diagnosed bi-polar to help me sleep. i cant sleep at all now if i don’t take the pills. i take 50mg a night. I was on Seroquel for a long time for bipolar/OCD/ADHD/OCP, but…

Lexapro Seroquel And Marijuana?
When I was 15, i took 20 mg lexapro. 150 mg seroquel and smoked weed every few days. Can this cause permanant damage? TAhere was a time when i thought i be hearing things and i always thought ppl were talking in the order of me. Things are getting a bit better tho. What caused the paranoid thinking…(I was Not high…

Medication?? bipolar?? seroquel vs. zyprexa?
I know how seroquel can make someone feel. Is Zyprexa like Seroquel? I know both can be used to treat bipolar but do they have like side effects or is Seroquel stronger? – I hated both! Zyprexa was significantly less sedating than Seroquel, but it has its own problems – it made me stutter & although it didn’t…

Mixing seroquel and concerta next to marijuana?
Well I started taking seroquel two nights a go. I took it once . I also take 1-2 Concerta everyday. Well I was told not to ingest any other drugs . But I smoked some weed, i’ve smoked weed pretty regularly for the past three years, I weight 110 pounds . At some point I…

My children are on depakote and risperidone they hold ben havin discouraging side effects to the meds.?
they are bipolar whats the next medication for them? – Expect a MAJOR weight gain Depakote. Seroquel and lithium also cause extreme wieghtgain. Ugh the horror. I was using depakote and seroquel and i go from 186- 224. i hated my body. Plus…

My 12 year antediluvian daughter take seroquel for mood disorder and we a moment ago found out that..?
My mom used to take that too. She stopped because her cholesterol. It probably does cause high cholesterol. My advise turn on something lighter. Not as strong. And if your daughter has a addicting personalty get her off those pills ASAP. They are highly addicting. Well for…

My daughter is 8 yrs outdated and she be put on seroquel she developed tremors will these jump away?
Whats wrong with Dr’s putting a 8 year dated on Seroquel That drug is powerful , I can’t take it cause I can’t stay awake while taking …

My dr prescribed me seroquel for a sleep aid but after researching it im startled to purloin it is it a accurate sleep?
is it usually used as a sleep aid as well as a antipychotic med? is this normal? I didn’t have a prescription, but i got one form my BF’s mom who is really psychotic..ok I took only ONE and this is…

My med seroquel is making me gain counterbalance . my doc threw welbutrin contained by the mix .will that assistance?
wellbutrin is an antidepressant and its a big side effect is decreased appetite. Ask your doctor about mortal put on Topomax. Not next to the weight gain persay, but it will up you a little as welbutrin kinda makes a lot of…

Ok so I own be on seroquel 400mgs for 2 months and decide to stop is thereanythingI should study out for?
decrease it gradually every few days or discuss with doctor how to do this. abruptly stopping meds can hold serious consequences physically and mentally. Source(s): RN

ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO TAKE SEROQUEL?
okay so, ive been reading up on the drug seroquel, which ive been taking for 3 years. Every summer i have about 3 seizure a day. I read a response to an article saying her son was heat intolerant. I meditate that may be the reason i have seizures only during the summer. What going on for you? How…

Overdose on seroquel, lorazepam, & hydrocodone?
My cousin is 17yo and just OD-ed. She took 15 seroquel, 3 lorazepam, & 5 hydrocodone. The ambulance just came and got her!! She doesn’t live next to her parents cuz her “mother” is a DRUNK and her step father is a meth head. So she lives with her aunt & uncle. Her “parents” live 2 hours away…

Overdose on seroquel?
Ive got 23,000 miligrams of seroquel sitting in front of me and im really tempted to take them adjectives and go to sleep. Im so depressed and cant seam to find help here in southern MN. I dont want to call 911 any and i guess i just need someone to talk with online on a day after day basis. Im a…

Overdosing on seroquel give somebody the third degree?
Sorry I posted this a few minutes ago, but I am just adding that it was an overdose of seroquel I tried and not alcohol or anything else. I attempted suicide when I was younger, almost 7 years ago and I don’t really remember what happened. I remember arriving at the hospital strapped on a…

Please aid me, I’m on Seroquel?
It causes diabetes and I take it for bipolar. Have any of you gotten off it? How? How do you get past its sell-by date psych meds? Thanks in advance I have diabetes and I take a low dose of seroquel. Not everyone can receive off their psych meds. For me, trying to do that would be like…

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