Monday, February 14, 2011

Battling Hemisphere's: Which Will You Choose?

There is a blog I check out a little too infrequently, but was glad I did today.  There is a fascinating entry on the brain and prayer/mediation and how it changes our brain. Encountering the Spirit

She has an entry about a book called, "Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform." The book talks about Attention Deficit Traits that we have in society today as a result of our hyperkinetic environment.  The frontal lobes of our brains are overloaded today with our fast paced world.  Our brains don't have the chance to slow down.

In reading her comments it also reminded me of life in Amstrongism.  We were/are constantly being bombarded with messages of unworthiness.  We are deemed to be creatures of of sin that are lower than the worms in the earth.  We have this picture presented to us of a pissed off angry old man sitting somewhere in heaven with his thumb ready to squash us for the latest infraction. Overwhelming lists of do's and don'ts are/were screamed at us continually.  We could and never will measure up.  Just look at a COG 'Passover' service.  It is a service designed to make you feel like dirt and contemptible in God's sight.  It is not an uplifting, powerful, glorious celbration of freedom that communion is designed to be.

Check out this amazing woman's story about the battling hemisphere's of her brain and how she actually felt them shut down during a stroke.





I want to leave you with this video, "Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight". Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one.

It's truly an astonishing story, at the end of which she says, with audible emotion and passion in her voice,
"Who are we? We are the life-force power of the universe, with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds. We have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world."

"Right here, right now, I can choose to step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere, where I am - we are - the life-force power of the universe. . . at one with all that is. Or, I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere, where I become a single individual - separate from the flow, separate from you."

"These are the 'we' inside of me. Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when?"

"I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemisphere, the more peace we will project into the world, and the more peaceful our planet will be."
Is this not the point of prayer? What is the point of religion and the spirituality that arises from a disciplined life of individual prayer if not increased compassion and deep inner peace which will positively impact and ultimately transform the world for the better with things like justice and mercy, reconciliation and walking humbly with God and each other?

Poor Lil' Joel Meeker Get's Raked Over The Coals For Deception



Lil' Joel has been called on the  carpet for his recent letter where he gave his reasons for leaving UCG.  It looks like Lil' Joel was not as forthright in his letter as he claimed:

Joel was fired not for “being open with members of the French association, and warning them...of remaining with UCG” (the latter of which is problematic enough), but over evidence that he was actively attempting to break the French association away from UCGIA. I had at first heard this from only one person on the Council but was able to hear further testimony on the matter at the UCG ministerial conference. At the suggestion of other Council and administration members, I spoke to people who were directly involved with the situation in France, who gave me a detailed account of recent events. In early December 2010, Joel was still a UCGIA employee and president of EDU-France (i.e., the UCG in France). I was told that at this time he met with with French association members and verbally proposed an amendment to the Rules of Association of EDU-France to remove the requirement that its president be a minister in good standing of UCGIA. This, he is reported to have told them, was to allow him to remain their pastor even if he was no longer employed by UCGIA. The retired elder in France then sent an email to Joel stating that such action would in effect be hijacking EDU-France and that he would have to ask UCGIA president Denny Luker for help in the matter—which he eventually did on December 21. (Such action would have left those in France who wanted to remain with UCGIA cut off without an official organization there, as it’s a hard and lengthy process to incorporate as a religious organization in France due to strict laws against foreign “sects.”) Denny then contacted Joel about the matter, but, as Denny stated to me, Joel said the French elder “misunderstood.” This was apparently subterfuge, because at this time or immediately afterward, again while still a UCGIA employee, Joel wrote a letter to French association members on December 23 seeking a vote to dissolve the French association! He stated that the French work should not go independent, so he would suggest alternate affiliation. Thus, Joel was clearly working against UCGIA while a UCGIA employee. He even stated within the letter that when this action became known he would likely be fired. And he was—after this letter was translated and sent to the UCG administration and to Larry Darden, the church's attorney. I spoke with Larry, and he verified this as well. And by email Larry confirmed to me: “Joel sent the letter to UCG members in France (and other francophone countries served by France) while he was still employed by UCGIA (he was discharged and credentials revoked AFTER the COE saw his letter of December 23). The letter was a ‘smoking gun’ with respect to his intention to leave UCG and try to engineer taking the assets of EDU-France with him using an ‘Extraordinary’ meeting of member[s] of that entity.” I have a copy of the Dec. 23 letter in French and the translation into English and am able to provide these as evidence of what took place. Again, in light of this letter, it is utterly stunning that Joel would merely say he was fired for being open with the French association and giving them a warning. He obviously did a lot more than that.
Read more of the letter here: Lil'Joel

Tools For Modern Day Apostles Volume II

These items are vital tools for Ambassadors of World Peace!
You too can talk to Mrs. Sadat about a world that is ready to be spanked!
Well, I guess that one came true........


Regency Silver Bowl  1818
Paul Storr
$15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $27,600.00

Regency Silver Soup Tureen, cover and liner
Paul Storr, 1814
$30,000-50,000
Sold for $28,750.00

 
Regency Silver-Gilt Wine Coolers
Paul Storr, 1813
$60,000-90,000
Sold for $107,000

George III Silver Tureen and Cover and Stand
Paul Storr, 1809
$40,000-60,000
Sold for $51,750.00

Regency Silver-gilt Centerpice
Paul Storr, 1818
$30,000-50,000
Three Bacchic Nymphs
Sold for $48,300.00

Twelve Regency Silver-Gilt Dinner Plates
Paul Storr, 1815
$30,000-50,000
Not listed as sold
Regency Silver Gilt Salver
Paul Storr, 1815
$2,000-3,000
Sold for $1,950.00


Duke of Norfolk's Coronation Cup
Paul Storr, 1831
$20,000-30,000
Sold for $18,400.00

Regency Silver-gilt Serving Tongs Made For The Prince Regent
Paul Storr, 1811
$6,000-8,000
Sold for $10,350.00

George III Silver Gilt Centerpiece
1803
$15,000-25,000
Sold for $40,250.00


George III Silver-gilt Centerpice
Paul Storr, 1808
$20,000-30,000
Sold for $52,900.00

George III Silver Wine Collers
Paul Storr 1798
$25,000-35,000
Sold for $48,300.00

George III Silver Epergne
1770
$8,000-12,000
Sold for $12,650.00

Charles II Silver Caudle Cup
1667
$3,000-5,000
Sold for $3,680.00

Six Queen Anne Silver Fluted Dishes
1713
$30,000-50,000
Sold for $74,000

Sunday, February 13, 2011

What Gives Our Lives Meaning?





What Gives Our Lives Meaning?



Dennis Diehl - EzineArticles Expert AuthorOne of the downsides, or so I am told, about losing faith in faith is that when you allow that to happen, you lose all meaning in your life.  It doesn't occur to some that it is not meaningful to base a life on something others say is just around the corner, over the next hill or to shortly come to pass and it isn't.  Sincere people who always look to the future for fulfillment and do not live in the present, which is the only real time there is, run the risk of almost having a life, but falling short.



How often in the last 50 years have you and I heard, "Time is short?"   Time can't be short of course, but what that meant was that our time is short or that this time in history is short or mostly that the gap between now and second coming has now grown short and soon it will all be ok.  Of course, "time is short," and "the things which must shortly come to pass," has been 2000 years in the making.  Humans don't see 2000 years as short.  Three to Five seems to be what short means to the piously convicted and  that "almost here" will occur in their short time span of life.  



The Apostle Paul just knew time was short.  He told the single to stay single, the married to think as if they weren't, the young women to think about Jesus and the young men to leave the young women alone.  The problem turns out to be that Paul was very wrong.  Time was not short and once he woke up to that fact, he left the scene bragging how he had kept the faith (the one he made up from his own view of the Cosmic Christ,) and that he had made it big time.   I wonder how many lives and relationships his "time is short" phase ruined?



This was after all, a man who thought marriage was so one could avoid fornication.  I still say Paul was a repressed gay man, but I spare you.



The entire New Testament, mostly written by Paul was very wrong about it's view of meaning.  Meaning in life for the characters in the NT was to make it into the Kingdom.  To hang in there.  Those who asked, "where is the promise of his coming?" were vilified and.  They were the "scoffers" whose end would be very very bad.  I guess it never occurred to anyone they were right.  The price for noticing that time was not short, Jesus had not returned as advertised by Paul and others and people were getting old enough to die in the faith was being told  their god was their belly and their end would be destruction.  Only when or if the Apostle declared that time was not short after all could the lucky brethren say it too. But you didn't think it before the guru gave you permission or he did not get the credit for coming up with it. 



However, the scoffers were correct in their observations. I can't find any apology from the Apostle Paul to the brethren at the end of his life for misleading them or for telling to be and act in ways that were going to cost them big time later as life ground on and Jesus still had not been given permission by God, who only really knew when, to return.  



If only God knows the day and hour, how come so many guys think they do too?  Oh I forgot, of the day an hour knows no man, but that does not mean we can't know the month or year.  Silly me.  





I still am enjoying watching the very Two Witnesses of Revelation, Mr. and Mrs. Ron Weinland (Ron I knew you when you were a kid, what happened to your mind?) come unglued.  Ron can't even get his sound systems to work consistently or his appendix to behave.  How is he going to come to strike the entire earth with fire, plague and fleas? 
 How does the COG manage to give birth to so many odd minister types? 



 I used to swim against Dave Pack. Could never beat the boy so I concentrated on beating my own times in events. What happened to that kid?  Was I really sitting in a hot tub in Chicago in the 70's with the future true and only Apostle of God on Earth and didn't know it?  Naw.....  What happens to people?  And who are the people that follow them and insist on hurting themselves with their continued support of said prophets, priests, apostles and kings?  



So back to the question.  Once you lose faith in the Plain Truth, which really would better to have been called the Present Truth, what meaning can your life possibly have?
The bottom line is that we actually assign our own meanings to life.  We even do that when we think we have found the one true way to be and think Biblically.  We find that for us and assign that as our meaning.  For others, it is meaningless to them.  



This is a very big topic, so I won't pretend to address all it's many aspects.  But I'd like to give one example of how life can have real meaning to any individual who has lost "the big picture,"  "the faith" or finds himself "off track" as we always used to hear when the work of the church was put back on another wrong track.  



Church of God members have been around on so many final gun laps that most have simply run out of  final lap bullets. That's not their fault, nor has it been mine. 



I just want to leave you with a story that spoke to me for some reason.  Maybe it touched the raw nerve of abandonment or resentment gone crazy.  Perhaps it raises the fact for me that I have failed myself in some important areas and let others down in my life.  The story made me feel like anything can be fixed if those who want to wish to.  It touched my "what is the meaning of all these crazy experiences?" button.  It's a Sunday morning. It's very quiet and it's just me and my new dog Chewy sitting here.  Well she is sitting her and it is actually me, not her doing the writing :)  I have eyes full of tears and a heart that just wants to understand what the hell happened over all those years?
So this story gives me meaning.  It must or I would not have reacted to it as I have. Perhaps it will give you some meaning, in the present,  as well...




 James 2:15-17:
"If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?  So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."
...and please, don't someone say, "it only says if they are a brother or sister in the Church...please don't say that...The last phone call I ever got from WCG when asking about retirement etc, the minister on the other end said, "no, but we will be praying for you and wish you the best..."



            "I was day tripping to Vancouver from Seattle 
and stopped in for lunch at a little cafe. 
From my window I saw a young teenage girl out in the cold, 
squatted down in a closed up business's doorway, 
holding a small bundle in her arms. 
She was panhandling, people were mostly walking by ignoring her. 
She looked just broken.
I finished up my meal and went outside,   
went through my wallet and thought I'd give her $5 for some food. 
I got up to her and she was sobbing, 
she looked like she was 14-15. 
And that bundle in her arms was a baby wrapped up. 
 I felt like I just got punched in the chest. 
She looked up putting on a game face and asked for any change, 
I asked her if she'd like some lunch.  
Right next door was a small quick-Trip type grocery store, 
I got a can of formula for the baby (very young, maybe 2-3 months old.), 
and took her back to the cafe though I'd just eaten. 
She was very thankful, got a burger and just inhaled it. 
Got her some pie and ice cream. 
She opened up and we talked. 
She was 15, got pregnant, parents were angry and she was fighting with them. 
She ran away. 
She's been gone almost 1 full year. 
I asked her if she'd like to go home and she got silent. 
I coaxed her, she said her parents wouldn't want her back. 
I coaxed further, she admitted she stole $5,000 in cash from her Dad. 
Turns out $5,000 doesn't last long at all, 
and the streets are tough on a 15 year old. 
Very tough. 
She did want to go back, 
but she was afraid no one wanted her back 
after what she did. 
We talked more, 
I wanted her to use my phone to call home but she wouldn't. 
I told her I'd call and see if her folks wanted to talk to her, 
she hesitated and gave bad excuses but eventually agreed. 
She dialed the number and I took the phone. 
Her Mom picked up and I said hello, 
awkwardly introduced myself and said her daughter would like to speak to her. 
Silence, and I heard crying. 
Gave the phone to the girl and she was just quiet listening to her Mom cry, 
and then said hello. And she cried. 
They talked,  she gave the phone back to me,
I talked to her Mom some more. 
I drove her down to the bus station and bought her a bus ticket home. 
Gave her $100 cash for incidentals, 
and some formula, diapers, wipes, snacks for the road. 
Got to the bus, and she just cried saying thank you over and over. 
I gave her a kiss on the forehead and a hug, kissed her baby, 
and she got on the bus. 
I get a Christmas card every year from her. 
She's 21 now and in college. 
Her name is Makayla and her baby was Joe.



Now let me ask you a question - would you feel like your life has meaning if you could do something like that for another human being?  This person spent a few hours, and a few dollars, and he changed not one but two lives, and probably the lives of her parents as well. 

 
You might be thinking, "How can I possibly duplicate that?" 

 
It would not be that hard to find someone to help. It would give you a good dose of meaning in life...





Vital Tools For Modern Day Apostles (UPDATED)


Updated with final auction prices


More important tools 
that every modern day Apostle needs 
to 
preach the gospel 
about 
"A Strong Hand From Someplace."



Click on picture once to enlarge, then again for x-large closeup's


 Victorian Gilt Centerpiece  1888
Goddess Ceres in a field of wheat
$8,000-12,000
Sold for $23,300.00





Victorian Silver Four-light Candelabra  1857
$20,000-30,000
Sold for $57,500.00




 Victorian Silver-mounted Frosted-glass Claret Jug and Stand 1845
$4,000 - 6,000
George IV Silver Egg Cruet 1820
$2,500 - 3,500
(HWA had this on his breakfast table in the kitchen for his soft boiled eggs)
Sold for $27,600.00 






 Victorian Silver-gilt and Agate Desert Service 1854
$3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $4,370.00




 Victorian Silver Vase 1874
$2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $2,700.00
Edward VI Silver-gilt Warwick Vase
$5,000 - 8,000
Sold For $5,650.00



George IV Silver-gilt Wine Coolers 1826
$50,000 - 80,000
Sold for $74,000.00



Regency Silver Salver 1813
$7,000 - 10,000
Sold for $24,150.00



George IV Silver Tea and Coffee Service
$10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $16,100.00




Important Regency Silver-gold gilt Candelabra 1812
$80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $222,500.00