Ho'oponopono Emphasizes Responsibility

Ho'oponopono Emphasizes Responsibility
Most people would accept the notion that things happen in
life that are beyond an individual's control. This may be
especially true for life events that are perceived as
negative. There's a general acceptance among people that
ill fortune sometimes strikes, and that it sometimes
strikes people who aren't in any way deserving of having
bad things happen to them. While some people may curse the
skies when something especially negative occurs, most
people eventually accept such things as an unfortunate
element of life.

The ho'oponopono spiritual practice rejects the idea that
bad things happen arbitrarily. In fact, ho'oponopono states
that negative life circumstances come directly from people
themselves. To put it another way, ho'oponopono says that
people are responsible for all the bad that happens in
their lives. This approach is clearly out of the
mainstream, as it implies a couple of truths: that life is
not arbitrary; and that humans have a great deal of control
over their circumstances. This sort of thinking goes
against the generally accepted belief that humans are
limited beings subject to the whims of a powerful universe.

Ho'oponopono is actually a method that's been practiced for
generations. Ho'oponopono in its original form is a
Hawaiian technique that's used as a conflict resolution
between groups of people. This original ho'oponopono form
has been altered in a way that allows for connections
between an individual and a spiritual force. This offshoot
method of ho'oponopono is known as Self Identity Through
Ho'oponopono and is practiced and taught on an increasingly
wide scale. It is Self Identity Through Ho'oponopono that
claims humans are completely responsible; equally important
perhaps is that this ho'oponopono form says that humans can
change life circumstances for the better.

Though ho'oponopono certainly has its detractors, an
increasing number of people have embraced the ho'oponopono
method. There is some documented evidence that ho'oponopono
can help people reverse high blood pressure. There are also
myriad claims made by individuals that ho'oponopono has
helped them in numerous different ways. Some people claim
that ho'oponopono healed health problems. Others claim that
ho'oponopono improved their overall life quality
significantly. And still others claim that ho'oponopono
allowed them to heal others. While ho'oponopono may sound
like some form of worship or sect, it really is a secular
practice. Ho'oponopono does not emphasize worship or
spiritual penalties for acts performed.

Ho'oponopono equally doesn't guarantee some magical
transformation into a life of riches and perfect bliss.
People who regularly practice ho'oponopono will be the
first to tell you that the practice requires a consistent
effort. They also say however that the effort pays off in
multiple and unexpected ways.

----------------------------------------------------
Zinn Jeremiah is a freelance writer. Learn more about
ho'oponopono by visiting http://www.hooponoponohelp.com or
http://www.hooponoponohelp.com/god-help-me.htm .

The Holocaust And Law of Attraction

The Holocaust And Law of Attraction
This topic is used by people who don't believe in Law of
Attraction to try to prove their case. They say "if Law of
Attraction is real, did 6,000,000 Jews attract their own
death in the holocaust?"

It sounds like a great argument. All LOA gurus don't like
to deal with this argument. Even my own favorite author
who is a recognized leader in the LOA movement has
responded to this question at her seminars by saying to the
questioner who asked about the Holocaust..."why do you
choose to ask questions about such negative scenarios which
in turn, keeps you focused on resistance in relation to
your vibration?". Now I am paraphrasing what she said but I
have definitely caught the flavor of her response and IT IS
NOT AN ANSWER.

So where to start to give even a glimpse of a proper
answer. I must lay some foundational ground rule
assumptions. This all can be looked at as no more than my
opinion. I 'am not saying that this some written in stone
answer. It can also be looked at as perspectives of
"being'. However, I assure you it is not contrived.

Do adversaries of LOA believe that a human being is just a
higher animal form destined to die into nothingness? Do
they believe that the "being" that is human has any special
powers or is omniscient and omnipotent? In order to
understand my explanation, one would have to first believe
in this foundational assumption... that "beings" who are
human ARE endowed with powers that are omniscient and
omnipotent. That foundational belief can be quite a stretch
for those who argue against LOA.

O.K. so now, assuming, we have a very "Godlike" being
existing in a physical body. We of course must assume that
the "being" has NO LIMITATIONS while the physical body IS
LIMITED to physical laws.

More questions...Do you believe that you, as a human
"being", can manifest any circumstances at all in your own
life? Elsewhere, your life has been represented as your
"canvas". How others view your life is what they are seeing
and surmising from the canvas that you have created and are
demonstrating.

Now we must entertain areas that become even more
questionable to many and those are areas such as mass
manifestations, the mass mind, the sub conscious, the super
conscious and the choices to which any "being" has access.
The choices a being has, are infinite. A human "being" is
by no means a simple creature.

A person's life can be looked at as that individuals
"demonstration" or as stated ...his or her canvas. The
final stroke upon that canvas is the individuals type of
departure or "death OF the physical". There is no death for
the "being".

We have expressions like "the good die young" to quell our
sadness when we see young people die in a car accident or
in battle or die in some atrocious way. We question the
meaning of seemingly senseless deaths, senseless murders,
senseless illnesses, senseless disabilities or deformities
that babies carry at birth. It is all not senseless. These
ARE demonstrations. Could "beings" choose these horrific
demonstrations you ask?

Some believe these conditions are inflicted upon the
individuals by fate, luck, destiny or God. To believe that
is to believe that your life is controlled by outside
forces. To understand my answer to this question you would
have to believe in manifestation, mass manifestation,
freewill, and the omnipotent power of a "being" that is
human. You would need an understanding of the subconscious,
super conscious, and the mystical magic of this powerful
being's choices of demonstration.

Again this sounds like quite a stretch for the average
"human being". Can your imagination make these "stretches?"
The opinion of one's own self can be high or low or
anywhere in between. I, simply, choose ...extremely high.

For some individual being to make the choice that his
personal demonstration will contain such horrific or
atrocious "qualities" is unfathomable for most people. They
"believe" that no individual being would choose such a
seemingly ugly demonstration of life and death.

Let's face it, most people don't believe we choose our type
of death or control the time of our death because they do
not understand the "being". They have no connection with
their super consciousness and they look at life from quite
different perspectives than those that are mentioned here.

Even if you are going along with me purely for the sake of
your momentary entertainment, I realize your mind may be
spinning and flooded with questions and counter arguments.
You might ask and state simultaneously, "this is absurd, no
one would choose such horrible demonstrations even if they
could". My response to that is...Who are you to say what
the perspectives of an individual omnipotent being would be
and what reasons that being might have for making choices
that you as a "human" can not fathom. Now we are coming to
the point.

There is a difference between the physical human and the
all knowing "being". That understanding can take humans
many lifetimes of physical experience to achieve. That
understanding is contained by the "being" before and after
its physical birth and death. It is an awareness quest that
the "human" embarks upon. It has been called enlightenment.

As humans, many of us see death as a tumultuous event. As
beings we see death as no big deal. As beings we see death
as being no more tumultuous than going to sleep at night
and waking up in the morning. To the being it is not only
some simple, matter of fact, transition, but it is a
welcome transition because the being knows that it returns
to what has been called source or the non physical. That
place is adored by the being and feared by the human. I am
speaking of most humans and all beings.

So now, with all this foundational belief information....I
say these mass manifestations in situations like the
Holocaust do not put the "victims" at fault. Other evil
players, like Hitler, certainly played their part in
creating and bringing these events to fruition. Some people
with a distorted view of karmic retribution might say that
the evil players will reincarnate for eternal lifetimes as
a fly in stool. I am not going to get into explanations of
karmic lifetimes but I will say that justice does prevail
especially in the alternate realms. That justice has been
described elsewhere as self inflicted...the most
appropriate of all justice.

To the beings who participated, their choices were holy,
dignified and superior choices. They are, many times, the
choices that only the greatest beings and spirits could
make and they often appear as victimization.

These demonstrations are a way of going to war against
atrocity and teaching by example for generations to come.
These demonstrations expose the perpetrators and defeat
them in a way that no war could ever do. And mostly these
demonstrations are chosen on a super conscious level
totally unbeknown to the human personality. Only the being
knows the growth and expansion that it creates through
these scenarios. Only the being knows why it chose to be
the one to participate, possibly for reasons relating to
its own character and journey.

Step outside the "human" box for a few seconds and sense
your own omnipotence. At that moment you may sense the
magnificence of other beings that have gone before you, are
here now and are yet to come.

Any one who has gone into battle in war could have chosen
not to do so. There are a multitude of options available to
not experience that. Any one who, as they say, fought the
hard fight or took the higher road was definitely not
taking the easy way or path of least resistance. These
questions addressed here are a factor of perceptions. You
must look deep to find answers that strictly relate to the
"being" and not the human. When you look deep, you will be
amazed at the deceptions that the human creates. You will
be amazed at how the being operates in these seemingly
mystical and omnipotent ways even while in a physical body.

I want to say to my favorite author and LOA expert, that
you can not brush these historical incidents under the rug.
You can not tell people "oh don't ask that question and
don't think such negative and resistant thoughts". You are
not giving answers that way. You are just avoiding the
question. At times you too prefer the path of least
resistance. You worry sometimes that addressing certain
issues will be bad press for you. I say practice what you
mostly preach.

----------------------------------------------------
The author of this article is Seth Manne whose recently
published book "Manifesting The Ultimate: Perfect Health,
Massive Wealth, True Love and Infinite Happiness" delves
deeper into issues mentioned here regarding knowledge of
SELF. More on the book is available at
http://www.millionaireinternet.com

How Much Money Do You Make?

How Much Money Do You Make?
When young people discuss their jobs one of the first
questions is usually, "How much an hour does it pay?" I
know for a number of years that is what I looked at in
finding a new job; how much an hour would I earn?

Then, somewhere along the line I got into the annual salary
question, so instead of how much an hour, it became, "How
much a year?" There was a time in my life where my goal,
my dream and my vision was to make $40,000 a year. I
thought, at that time, if I could hit that mark I would be
very well off, having everything I could ever need.

But, married with two children and taking a full time job
in the early 90's for a salary of $24,000 a year was a
considerable distance from my goal. Yet, somehow that
figure of $40,000 a year seemed to be etched into my mind.
And I indeed attracted what I focused on. I soon hit my
major plateau, my pinnacle of earning.

Now here's the funny part. Not too long after reaching
that milestone in my life, I began to see that that figure
wasn't quite as abundant as I thought it was. Can you
relate? Have you ever been there before?

When you reach this juncture, there are two major
considerations that can either help you along your way or
hinder you.

First, you have to ask yourself honestly if you are greedy
and unthankful for what you have. And by the way, it is not
for anyone else to judge or decide if you are greedy and
unthankful for what God has blessed you with. Only you
know that. Religious people, and many times those who make
less money than you, are sometimes too quick to judge
others. It should be between you and God.

Having a desire to increase your earnings and thus increase
your quality of life is not being unthankful or greedy.

The second consideration that can either help you along
your way or hinder you is to ask yourself honestly if you
really can earn more than you are earning now. Your answer
to this question is the key!

You see, I knew what it took for me to go from 24 to 40.
But now I had my sites set on 60, maybe even 80? But the
question I had to answer was, "Do I have what it takes to
get to that amount?"

Be very careful with this question. Do not put yourself
into a boxed category, but rather, set your annual salary
in your mind first. The picture you carry of yourself is
what you will see happen in your life. That is the reason
some people never move any higher than 10 or 12 dollars an
hour. They would love to get an increase, but inside, they
see themselves as a 12 dollar an hour earner.

Where do you see yourself?

With this second consideration, get truly honest. Anyone
can simply state, "My goal is to make $95,000 a year!"
It's easy to say that, and there is nothing wrong with
having an annual salary goal. In fact, it is an excellent
idea!

But then you have to honestly figure out where you see
yourself right now. Do you really believe that you can
earn 95,000 a year? If not, then that is the part of the
consideration that you need to work on. I've said it so
many times that it sounds like a broken record: first
change what's on the inside and you will see the change on
the outside.

If you desire to see an increase in your earnings, then put
your focus on that amount, not the amount you are currently
earning. Then, set out to do whatever you need to do to
get there. It may be more education. It may be more
experience. It may be meeting certain people.

But, keep in mind that there are a lot of people who just
do a lot of activities, hoping it will lead to them to
success, but they still don't see any increase. That's why,
regardless of any action that you take, be sure that you
can see yourself earning the amount that you desire. If
you don't, then you will sabotage what you are doing on the
outside.

And, anytime you ponder these matters, keep in mind that
there are numerous verses in the Bible where God has
promised you prosperity. He truly wishes above all things
that you would prosper and be in health. It is His will
that you prosper. He is the Source, and the Supply of our
abundance. So talk to Him openly and honestly.
Acknowledge Him in your finances and He will direct your
paths.

----------------------------------------------------
Listen to one of Michael A. Verdicchio's Pep Talks at
http://www.MikesPepTalks.com/christians2free.html
Michael has a free newsletter called, THE PEP LETTER, at
http://www.christianinspirationalgifts.com/pepletter.html .
Michael is a husband, father, minister, author, and
broadcaster. He has been the voice on numerous productions
over the years.

Deborah and Barak

Deborah and Barak
Jabin king of Canaan.... The commander of his army was
Sisera, ... had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for
twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of
Israel.

... Deborah, a prophetess, ... sent and called for Barak
..., and said to him, "... the LORD God of Israel
commanded, 'Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with
you ten thousand men ... and against you I will deploy
Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots
and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver
him into your hand'?"

And Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will
go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!"

So she said, "I will surely go with you; nevertheless there
will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for
the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." ...

And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his
army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera
alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot ... to the
tent of Jael, the wife of Heber ... And ... she covered him
with a blanket.

... So [Jael] opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and
covered him....

Then Jael, ... took a tent peg and ... a hammer in her
hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his
temple, and it went down into the ground .... So he died.

Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day
... (Judges 4:2-9,15-21, 5:1, NKJV)

Notice first of all that Deborah was a prophetess, a female
prophet. The Lord is no respecter of persons, and considers
males and females equally (1 Samuel 16:7). As a prophet,
Deborah's ministry was to proclaim the messages of wisdom
and instruction she received from the Lord. People would
come from miles around to hear the wisdom of the Lord, and
have Deborah act is a judge in interpersonal disputes. In
the course of her ministry, she received a message for
Barak to lead a small Israelite army against Sisera, the
commander of Jabin's troops.

It was the Lord's intention to not only defeat the armies
of Sisera, but also to exalt Barak to the position of
military commander over the armies of Israel. However,
Barak was only willing to fulfill the Lord's command as
long as Deborah came with him. Barak knew that the Lord
was with Deborah, but he wasn't totally convinced that the
Lord was going to be with him and provide him success in
his battle with the armies of Sisera. He had faith, but he
also had unbelief, and unbelief lead to fear.
Unfortunately, his unbelief, caused him to miss the entire
blessing the Lord had planed. Yes, the Lord enabled him to
defeat the armies of Sisera, but he was not allowed to
personally kill Sisera himself. Instead of Barak getting
the full credit for the defeat of Sisera, an obscure woman
named Jael was honored as the one who actually killed
Sisera. In fact, in the celebratory song of victory after
the conflict, Barak had to share accolades with both
Deborah and Jael, all because of his limited faith mingled
with unbelief.

So what can we learn about faith from Deborah and Barak?
First, unbelief, severely limits faith. It causes us miss
the full benefits the Lord intends for us. Second, unbelief
leads to both fear and doubt. Unbelief causes us to
distrust the Lord, His intentions, and His ability to
deliver us through our trials. Third, the Lord has a
specific ministry chosen for each of us, which He expects
us to fulfill. The Lord expects us to fully commit to the
ministry He has given us, and invest our entire being and
all our efforts, even as Deborah fulfilled her ministry as
a prophets. The Lord expects us to limit ourselves to the
confines our specific ministry; Deborah had no intention of
going beyond the limits of her ministry as a prophet, but
acquiesced for the sake of overcoming Barak's unbelief,
doubts and fears in the conflict with Sisera.

----------------------------------------------------
Jon Straumfjord is the author of numerous articles about
the Seven Spirits of God and the God of the Bible. He is
also the creator of the website http://www.7-spirits.com ,
and is the author of the book "The Seven Spirits of God."

Law Of Attraction, The Holocaust And 911 Part 2 (conclusion)

Law Of Attraction, The Holocaust And 911 Part 2 (conclusion)
So you can see that firstly a human "being" in my
imagination is by no means a simple creature. A person's
life can be looked at as that individuals "demonstration"
or as stated ...his or her canvas. The final stroke upon
that canvas is the individuals type of departure or "death
OF the physical".

There is no death for the "being". We have expressions
like "the good die young" to quell our sadness when we see
young people die in a car accident or in battle or die in
some atrocious way. We question the meaning of those
seemingly senseless deaths, senseless murders, senseless
illnesses, senseless disabilities or deformities that
babies carry into this physical life.

They are not senseless. They are demonstrations. Could
"beings" choose those horrific demonstrations you ask.
Others believe these conditions and "demonstrations" are
put upon the individuals by fate, luck, destiny or God. To
believe that is to believe that your life is controlled by
outside forces. Frankly, by believing that you are actually
insulting your "self" and demonstrating an immense lack of
self worth.

So to understand what I am offering as an answer to this
question you would have to believe in manifestation, mass
manifestation and freewill. You would have to believe in
the subconscious, super conscious, mystical magic of this
powerful being's choices of demonstration, even if those
choices occur on a super subconscious level. Again this
sounds like quite a stretch for the average "human being".
The opinion of one's own self can be high or low or
anywhere in between. I, simply, choose ...extremely high.

For some individual being to make the choice that his
personal demonstration will be one containing such horrific
or atrocious "qualities" is unfathomable for most people.
They "believe" that no individual being would choose such a
seemingly nasty and ugly demonstration of life or death.

Let's face it most people don't even believe we choose our
type of death or control the time of our death because they
do not understand the "being". They have no connection with
their super consciousness and they look at life from quite
different perspectives than those that have mentioned here.

To them the answer they will receive here will not be
understood because of their perspectives of how they view
physical life and how they view physical beings. I realize
your mind may be spinning and flooded with questions and
counter arguments. You might ask and state simultaneously,
"this is absurd, no one would choose such horrible
demonstrations even if they could".

My response to that is...Who are you to say what the
perspectives of an individual omniscient being would be and
what reasons that being might have for making choices that
you as a "human" can not fathom. Now we are coming to the
point.

You must pretend and imagine you can understand the
difference between the physical human and the all knowing
"being". That understanding can take humans many lifetimes
of physical experience to achieve. That understanding is
contained by the being before and after its physical birth
and death and is an awareness quest that the human embarks
upon. It has been called enlightenment and has several
other definitions and names.

As humans, first of all, many of us see death as this big
bad tumultuous event. As beings we see death as no big
deal. As beings we see death as being no more tumultuous
than going to sleep at night and waking up in the morning.
To the being it is not only some simple, matter of fact,
transition, but it is a welcome transition because the
being knows that it returns to what has been called source
or the non physical. That place is adored by the being and
feared by the human. I am speaking of most humans and all
beings.

So now, with all this foundational belief information ...I
say these mass manifestations in situations like the
Holocaust or 911 do not make the "victims" have fault.
Other evil players like Hitler, in the case of the
holocaust, certainly played their part in creating and
bringing these events to fruition.

Some people with a distorted view of karmic retribution
might say those evil cause players will reincarnate for
eternal lifetimes as a fly in stool. I am not going to get
into explanations of karmic lifetimes but I will say that
justice does prevail especially in the alternate realms.
That justice has been described elsewhere as self
inflicted...the most appropriate of all justice.

The Jews made holy, dignified and superior choices. They
are, many times, the choices that only the greatest true
heroes can make and they often appear to create victims.
These demonstrations are a way of going to war against
atrocity and teaching by example for generations to come.

These demonstrations expose the perpetrators and defeat
them in a way that no war could ever do. And, mostly, these
demonstrations are chosen on a super conscious level
totally unbeknown to the human personality. However they
become memories not only for us but for those who
participated in the demonstration. Only the participating
being knows the growth and expansion that it creates
through these scenarios. Only the being knows why it chose
to be the one to participate, possibly for reasons relating
to its own character and journey.

I feel like I have gone out on a limb here to even attempt
to present this information to those who will only be more
enraged by what I have written here. I too sought out the
great gurus and proponents of Law of Attraction and no one
would provide an in depth answer.

You come to realize that so many people choose the path of
least resistance. They will not deal with situations or
scenarios that they deem as negative or resistant to their
flow of well being. It is always best to first look inside
for your answers and feel the magnificence of your own
"being".

It is refreshing to step outside the "human" box for a few
seconds and sense your own omnipotence. At that moment you
may sense the magnificence of other beings that have gone
before you, are here now and are yet to come. Any one
who has gone into battle in war could have chosen not to do
so. There are a multitude of ways and options available to
not experience that.

Any one who, as they say, fought the hard fight or took the
higher road was definitely not taking the easy way out or
path of least resistance. These questions addressed here
are a factor of perceptions. You must look deep to find
answers that strictly relate to the "being" and not the
human. When you look deep, you will be amazed at the
deceptions that the human creates. You will be amazed at
how the being operates in these seemingly mystical and
omnipotent ways even while in a physical body.

I want to say to my favorite author and all of her
following that you can not brush these historical incidents
under the rug. You can not tell people "oh don't ask that
question and don't think such negative and resistant
thoughts". You are not giving answers that way. You are
just avoiding the question because you can't seem to find
the words to describe the answer.

The words are inside but at times you too prefer the path
of least resistance. You worry sometimes that addressing
certain issues will be bad press for you. I say practice
what you mostly preach. I am not trying to fault you for
avoiding what is atrocious and not easily explained in a
short seminar. However, I feel that when someone is the
recognized leader of the Law of Attraction movement, they
should really not avoid issues because they are unpopular
or not quickly explained away.

----------------------------------------------------
Seth Manne is the inspired author of Manifesting the
Ultimate and a foremost authority on the "Seth Material".
He is also an expert in areas such as Parapsychology,
Metaphysics and Quantum Physics. More information at
http://www.millionaireinternet.com

Gideon

Gideon
Then the LORD ... said [to Gideon], "Go in this might of
yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the
Midianites. Have I not sent you?"

So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel?
Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the
least in my father's house."

So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened
bread ...

Then the Angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff
that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the
unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and
consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel
of the LORD departed out of his sight. (Judges
6:14,15,19,21, NKJV)

... the same night ... the LORD said to [Gideon], "... tear
down the altar of Baal that your father has, ... and build
an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock ... So
Gideon ... did as the LORD had said .... But ... by night.
(Judges 6:25-27, NKJV)

Then the LORD said to Gideon,"By the three hundred men who
lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into
your hand. (Judges 7:7, NKJV)

Now the Midianites and Amalekites, ... were ... as numerous
as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the
sand by the seashore in multitude. (Judges 7:12, NKJV)

Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies,
and he put a trumpet into every man's hand, with empty
pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. ... When I blow
the trumpet, ... then you also blow the trumpets on every
side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the LORD and
of Gideon!'" (Judges 7:16-18, NKJV)

After having enjoyed forty years of peace, the nation of
Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and suffered
torments from the Midianites and Amalekites for the
subsequent twenty years. Then the angel of the Lord came to
a teenage boy named Gideon, who was threshing wheat in a
wine press, concealing his activities from his enemies.
Gideon had heard stories about the Lord's mighty deeds, but
he neither knew the Lord, nor had seen him work. The Lord
told this timid boy to lead an army of Israelites against
the Midianites and Amalekites, and promised to empower him
to defeat his enemies.

After worshiping the Lord and destroying his father's idol,
Gideon asked the Lord to perform a miraculous sign for him
as a confirmation of His protection and guidance. First, he
asked the Lord to cause the morning dew to settle
exclusively on a bundle of wool. The Lord granted his
request, and, even though the surrounding ground was
completely dry, he was able to wring a bowl full of water
out of the wool. The Gideon asked the Lord to reverse the
situation, and the wool was dry while the ground was
drenched (Judges 6:36-40).

The Lord complied with Gideon's requests, but then greatly
increased the stakes of trusting the Lord: He pared an army
of 32,000 Israelites down to a mere three hundred men,
against an enormous army of perhaps hundreds of thousands.
In the end, Gideon and his men performed a prophetic act,
and all their enemies killed each other as they fled in
fear.

So what can we learn about faith from Gideon? First, age
has little or no bearing on faith (Matthew 10:15). Second,
exercised faith will naturally increase over time. Third,
the Lord encourages the growth of faith, by continually
increasing the demands on our faith. Fourth, the Lord
honors sincere requests for confirmation of his
instructions, but then requires an even greater exercise of
faith when confirmation is given. Fifth, our faith should
always be in the Lord Himself, and in His benevolence and
omnipotence, not in our own strength. Sixth, faith can
change things very quickly.

----------------------------------------------------
Jon Straumfjord is the author of numerous articles about
the Seven Spirits of God and the God of the Bible. He is
also the creator of the website http://www.7-spirits.com ,
and is the author of the book "The Seven Spirits of God."

LAW OF ATTRACTION, THE HOLOCAUST AND 911 Part 1

LAW OF ATTRACTION, THE HOLOCAUST AND 911 Part 1
This is the topic that you can search on the internet and
not find an answer that will satisfy you. This is the topic
that all those people who don't believe in Law of
Attraction use to try to prove their case. These non
believers use the argument that says "if Law of Attraction
is true and really worked, then are you telling me that
6,000,000 Jews manifested, chose, and attracted their own
death in the holocaust?"

Then the non believers go on to mention 911, slavery, young
children raped and killed, babies being murdered and any
atrocity they can put forth. They assert the following as
the base of their argument. "So if Law of Attraction were a
real law of the universe, then I must accept the belief
that all these atrocious death scenarios were chosen and
attracted by the victims. Are you saying that the victims
are to blame for their own deaths?

I must admit it sounds like a great argument and who could
possibly explain this? I, also, admit I searched and
searched all over the internet and could not find one LOA
guru who could explain this argument properly from the side
of the believers of Law of Attraction. All the great Law
of Attraction gurus don't really like to deal with this
argument and its corresponding set of questions.

It is almost comical to watch them try to sweep this one
under the rug. They know that any explanation that you
offer to all these Jewish people is going to infuriate them
and elicit rage and anger if you in any way try to tell
them that these Jews "attracted" this fate with their
vibration.

The same, of course, holds true with the loved ones of
those who died in the 911 holocaust or the descendents of
slaves. I call 911 a holocaust very properly but for
reasons that are really the subject of a whole other
article or book. Now also the parents and loved ones of
murdered children and babies are not going to accept that
these children and babies chose and attracted their
gruesome deaths through their vibration.

So this argument is the great debate and the great divide
between those who believe in Law of Attraction and those
who do not. Yet there really doesn't seem to be any great
debate going on because not one person has offered an
adequate argument on the side of those who believe in Law
of Attraction. And, their simplified answers or even no
answers that "insinuate" that these individual's vibrations
have indeed attracted these ugly circumstance scenarios,
even further infuriate those non believers and loved ones.

Now of course I choose not to offer some anonymous argument
on the side of Law of Attraction but I must tell you that
my name is Seth Manne and I' am the author of a new book
entitled "Manifesting The Ultimate: Perfect Health, Massive
Wealth, True Love and Infinite Happiness. Why on earth
would I tackle a subject like this which can stir the angst
of so many people? It is almost like it is the anti-thesis
of my own book. "This" would appear to be manifesting the
worst, atrocious, ugly, inhumane of possible circumstances
and scenarios...would it not?

At this point in the article I can not imagine how long of
an article this will be, but yet I choose to see it through
because I' am so extremely disappointed in all of the so
called experts out there who offer absolutely NO ANSWERS to
these pointedly great questions.

Even my own favorite author who is a channel for a group of
spirits has responded to this question at her seminars by
saying to the questioner who asked about the
Holocaust..."why do you choose to ask questions about such
negative scenarios which in turn, keeps you focused on
resistance in relation to your vibration?". Now I am
paraphrasing what she said but I have definitely caught the
flavor of her response and it is the old psychologist trick
of trying to answer a question with a question. It doesn't
sit well with the person asking the question and it is a
diversion to direct the topic elsewhere or try to get the
questioner to answer his own question. Regardless and
either way IT IS NOT AN ANSWER.

These gurus, authors and experts of Law of Attraction know
that this one question is a no-no because it seems to be a
no-win situation for proponents of this so called universal
law. It creates bad press, convinces no one and threatens
the validity of that which they teach and believe.

So now, here come I, to tackle this. First let me say, and
this has been said by the gurus, that these mass victims
did not create this knowingly. I know that that statement
has very little meaning to adversaries of Law of Attraction
and it even irritates me because it seems to be just more
avoidance of the issue and a dancing around and groping to
give some "sweep it under the rug" type of answer.

So where to start to give even a glimpse of a proper
answer? I must lay some foundational ground rule
assumptions. Understand that what I' am about to say can
be looked at as an "opinion emanating from my imagination".
I 'am not saying that this is FACT or some written in stone
answer. It could be looked at as just a figment of my
imagination. But for me this figment can contain a "flavor
of truth". It can also be looked at as perspectives of
"being'. However, I assure you it is not contrived. It is
the true essence of truth, through imagination, from one
person's understanding of the human condition.

This explanation is certainly too short to be a book and a
little long for an article but here we go. Question number
one is: do these adversaries of Law of Attraction believe
that a human being is just a higher animal form destined to
die into nothingness? Do they believe that the "being" that
is encased in this physical human body has any special
powers or is magical, mystical, omniscient and omnipotent?

In order to understand my explanation to what we will call
the Holocaust question, one would have to first believe in
this foundational assumption... that beings who are human
ARE endowed with powers and qualities that are magical,
mystical, omniscient and omnipotent. Now that foundational
belief is probably quite a stretch for those who argue
against Law of Attraction, but you will have to, at least,
pretend that you can go along with this first "imaginary
assumption" of mine to continue to understand my
explanation.

O.K. so now we have a very "Godlike" being existing in a
physical body. We of course must assume that the "being"
has NO LIMITATIONS while the physical encasement IS LIMITED
to physical laws. The human can not breath underwater or
flap its arms and fly in waking physical flesh life. We all
know that in the dream state or in our own imagination
there are absolutely no limitations.

The next question or assumption would be who among you
believes in reincarnation? When a baby is born into
physical existence, is not the being within the baby's
physical body already omnipotent and will merely reacquaint
itself with physical laws and physical life?

Now what type of "intended" physical life will it manifest?
More questions...Do you believe that you, as a human
"being", can manifest any circumstances at all in your own
life? Again, here if you don't believe you can, than for
the sake of this explanation you will have to pretend that
you can manifest (create) at least certain circumstances in
your own life.

Elsewhere, life has been explained as your "canvas". How
others view your life is what they are seeing and surmising
from the canvas that you have created and are presenting.
Your life and who you present yourself to be are your
choices, decisions, experiences and your personality.
Obviously your life is much more than just those four
things but I am symbolically abbreviating for reasons of
simplification.

Now we must entertain areas that become even more
questionable to many and those are areas such as mass
manifestations, the mass mind, the sub conscious, the super
conscious and the choices that any "being" to which every
being has access.

My imagination tells me that the choices a being has access
to are infinite and unlimited. We have not even gotten to
the answer to our question and the above mentioned areas
and your beliefs about them are critical to your
understanding or acceptance of the answer I will offer.
(END PART 1 SEE PART 2 CONCLUSION)

----------------------------------------------------
Seth Manne is one of the foremost experts regarding the
"Seth Material". He is an authority on Parapsychology,
Metaphysics, and Quantum Physics. Visit Seth's site at
http://www.millionaireinternet.com

Laying a Good Foundation for Health

Laying a Good Foundation for Health
In the western medicine world, we have lost touch with the
basic concept of true healing. We substitute a band-aid for
a cure and wonder why we don't feel better. People get ill
for many reasons. Each diseased state tells us that we are
ignoring some part of self, and change is necessary. While
many factors contribute to healing, and it happens on many
levels, all require attention throughout the entire healing
practice. Ignoring the body-mind (emotions and thoughts)
would not provide adequate and long-term good health.

Physical symptoms like headaches, swollen glands, sneezing
and colds, including more serious diseases like cancer,
communicate that there is a disturbance in the emotional
fabric of our being. Negative emotions like fear, doubt
and worry stop the normal flow of energy. These emotions
undermine us, and over the course of our lives cause
unexplained and crippling diseases that end up controlling
us.

The physical body falls apart because we fall apart
emotionally. Recent scientific studies have shown that
emotions sabotage everything—from simple success to
kidney failure. When we don't care for the "whole self,"
the physical body simply mirrors those effects. Over the
course of time, emotions like fear, anger and confusion
take their toll. Repressed anger diminishes the functions
of the liver. Hopelessness and despair play havoc with the
gall bladder. Fear plays havoc with the kidneys,
relationships and success. Confusion on the other hand,
keeps whirling thoughts spinning, creating a cloud of chaos
around us and we become imbalanced and ungrounded. Head
colds for instance, are a direct result of emotional
confusion. Long-standing negative emotional beliefs
deteriorate the entire physical being. A constant string
of repetitive negative words weaken and actually exhaust
the physical body.

To heal we must feel. We must identify the root emotional
cause of the disease. This process lays down a new
foundation for good health and begins with a new attitude
about being healthy. Any negative emotion causes us to
stay stuck in a false perception about our self.

How do we identify negative emotions? The easiest way to
identify negative patterns is to see them in family members
and friends. Examine other people's behaviors. Notice all
the things you like about them and all the things you don't
like, especially the things that make you angry, envious or
jealous. The people around you are actually reflections of
you. What you see in another person that bothers you or
angers you is a part of yourself that has not yet been
loved and healed. Begin by criticizing your dearest
friends. By doing this practice of looking at the faults of
friends and family you get in touch with the parts of you
that are out of balance and seek healing. This simple
exercise offers you an opportunity to look deeply at your
own emotional concerns and patterns. Once you locate
personal limitation it's time for change.

Emotional patterns are created when you place a judgment
upon an experience. To change, we must stay conscious of
our feelings in situations. Stay calm, make no
judgment—simply feel the energy. For example, let's
take anger because anger is one of the most profound
emotions and is easily felt. Imagine yourself in an angry
situation; stay completely present and deeply feel the
anger. Don't judge it—simply feel it. Now, love the
feeling that anger produces. Anger can be motivation. It
can be passionate. Change the negative charge that anger
produces; begin to embrace and love the feeling of anger
instead of repelling it.

Next begin to dialogue with the anger. Yes, that is
correct, strike up a conversation with anger. Ask it
questions like, "What are you teaching me?" or "Why am I so
angry all the time?" Permit the answers to come into your
conscious mind. As they do, you realize what the true
issue is. Sometimes in that moment of realization the
anger pattern can release. Other times it might take a few
more conversations for the anger to release. This method
allows the energy constriction caused by anger and other
emotions to release. Any blocked energy begins to flow
giving the physical body a chance to heal.

Even though healing begins with the emotions, the physical
body must be strong enough to support the emotional body.

Supplements: Supplementation is important because food
chemicals, pesticides and a hurried lifestyle play havoc on
our systems. Take no more than five different supplements
daily. I prefer liquids including Green-Magma and other
green drinks. If you don't feel immediate results, they are
not working.

Water: Only 5% of the American population gets sufficient
water each day. Diet drinks, high corn-syrup drinks and
coffee do not count towards proper hydration; in fact these
drinks cause gastrointestinal inflammation, kidney and
liver problems and an acidic environment. To properly
hydrate drink at least half of your body weight in purified
water by the ounce each day. For example if you weight 150
lbs. you need 75 ounces of purified water daily. Exercise:
The number one killer today is a stagnant lymph system
caused by a lack of exercise. Take a walk around the block
or take a yoga, chi-kung or Pilate's class.

----------------------------------------------------
Paula Muran is an awakened Spiritual Teacher, Medical
Intuitive/Empath, Author and Speaker and an expert at
reading energy. Pioneering the use of gemstones to heal
the emotional body, Paula created the Sovereign Light
System of Emotional Healing, authored the book Codes of
Light—The Power of Our Beliefs, produced and narrated
the best selling guided meditation on CD, Purify the Body
Temple and leads profound healing journeys around the
world. http://www.PaulaMuran.com

Passover and Easter's Common Theme: Courage Comes From Faith

Passover and Easter's Common Theme: Courage Comes From Faith
Spring brings with it not only flowers, sunshine and warmer
weather but two important religious holidays: Easter and
Passover. While Passover commemorates the Israelites
freedom from slavery in Egypt, Easter commemorates Jesus'
resurrection and ascension. These seem like positive
holidays, but the climax of the Biblical stories are
preceded by some fairly heavy topics that include such dark
topics as betrayal, crucifixion, slavery and plagues.

Embedded within the tale of Jesus' life and death and the
tale of the Israelite's fight for freedom and escape from
the Egyptians at the shore of the Red Sea lies the common
theme of faith and courage. I think this is most clearly
seen by looking first at the account of the parting of the
Red Sea. For just as Jesus lost faith in the Garden of
Gethsemane and briefly on the cross, the Israelites lost
faith as they stood on the shore of that huge body of water
and watched the Egyptian's approach. In both cases,
however, faith in God coupled with courage to move forward
with inspired action brought forth the miracles we now
celebrate each spring during Easter and Passover.

The Old Testament, or Five Books of Moses, says Moses
parted the sea with his staff, but the midrash, or a story
that fills in a gap in story, says that the sea didn't
actually part until a man named Nachshon actually walked
into the water. So, Moses raised his staff, but the sea did
not part. The Israelites stood on the shore of the Red Sea
with the Egyptian army approaching and no where to go but
into the sea. Afraid, they began to cry out to God, and in
their lack of faith, they cry out to Moses. Moses, however,
simply tells them to have both courage and faith.

And what does God say? Of all things, God says, "Why are
you crying to me? Tell the Children of Israel to travel."
In other words, while Moses reminds them to of the
importance of both faith in God and courage, God says,
"Stop looking to me for the answers. Get moving! Take
action!" That's an odd response to the Chosen People's
pleas for help, especially when they appear stuck between a
huge sea and an army.

Nachshon, however, understood God's response. He possessed
both faith and courage. He trusted that if he took action
that God would provided the needed miracle. He heard the
words, "Let them travel." He also knew that God's response
- "Why are you crying to me?" - didn't mean, "Figure it out
yourself." It meant, "You have the answer. You know what to
do. You have the tools." Nachshon knew what those tools
were - the power of his thoughts and his vision. If he
believed those waters would part, if he could see that
miracle happening and feel it happening - and if he truly
had faith that the waters would part- they would, indeed,
part.

Remember, God also told Moses to raise his staff and
stretch out his hand over the sea, and the sea would split,
but the midrash says that the sea did not part initially.
(Maybe Moses lacked faith at that moment...) It actually
didn't split until Nachshon walked right into that ocean up
to his ankles, up to his knees, up to his waist, up to his
shoulders, up to his chin, up to his nose. And just when he
thought he would drown, low and behold, the waters parted.
And then all the Children of Israel were able to travel to
safety. This one act ensured their liberation.

So, how does this story relate to Easter? Jesus' told his
followers of the miracles he performed, "These things and
more ye shall do." How could they also perform miracles? I
believe in the same way Nachshon parted the red sea - with
faith, surrender to God's will, knowing and trust that with
true belief and with inspired action we can manifest what
we want or what is right in the moment.

Jesus was, indeed, a Christ. I believe he was not the only
Christed being but a being so spiritually enlightened that
he knew how to connect thought and feeling and action and
manifest at will. He showed us that when we know what we
want and what we need, when we focus upon it, feel it, and
have faith that it will indeed come to us, miracles happen.
Manifestation occurs. And he told us that he was simply
providing an example of human potential.

Nachshon's faith wasn't that dissimilar from the faith
Jesus had on the cross or in the Garden of Gethsemane. Just
like the Jews who had a moment of fear and lack of faith at
the shore of the Red Sea, Jesus doubted his faith and the
will of God, or the Divine plan, in the garden and again on
the cross. In the garden he struggled with his will and
God's will, asking which one "shall be done?" On the cross
he asked, "Oh God, why has thou forsaken me?" In both
cases, he regained his faith and gave himself over to God's
will, to inspired action. On the cross, he surrendered not
just his will but his soul to God. By so doing, he was able
to achieve both his resurrection and ascension.

Both Nachshon and Jesus offer us beautiful examples of men
who had great courage and faith and were able to take
inspired action - action that was part of a Divine plan.
They provide examples of men - both Jewish men - who knew
how to focus thought, feeling and action to bring the
Divine creative forces into motion, thus creating miracles
in their lives and in the lives of those around them. And
that's something that both Jews and Christians - in fact
anyone from any religion or even from no religion - can
celebrate this season.

----------------------------------------------------
Nina Amir, the author of From Empty Practice to
Meaning-Full & Spirit-Full Prayers & Rituals...in 7 Simple
Steps and The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation, is currently
writing Setting a Place for God, A Woman's Guide to
Creating Sacred Space & Inviting the Divine to Dwell Within
It. For more information on her books and classes, go to
http://www.purespiritcreations.com or e-mail her at
namir@purespiritcreations.com.

Autistic Boy Miraculously Escapes Scalding

Autistic Boy Miraculously Escapes Scalding
You know how a movie will show you an accident in show
motion? What is about to happen is really bad and you know
that in reality it only took a spit second, but the film is
slowed down so it takes 10 to 20 seconds to show you the
entire event. That's how I felt as I was preparing supper
that evening.

Matthew's tiny fingers s-l-o-w-l-y reached out and touched
the boiling water as it dripped through the holes in the
colander. I froze. Next I saw his entire hand under the
colander. I was stunned and it seemed like it took
f-o-r-e-v-e-r for me to set aside the pan of fresh cooked
green beans.

"Oh, my God!" I screamed, as I grabbed his tiny wrist.

Erick, the eldest of our five kids heard the commotion and
came running to see what had happened. I sent him across
the street to see if any doctors were attending a church
function at that moment.

"Cold water!" the command came from somewhere deep inside
me. As quickly as I could, I turned on the cold water tap
and held his tiny hand in it.

"Please God," I prayed, "Let there be a doctor there who
can tell me what to do."

Poor Matthew! Born with Down's syndrome and, as I
suspected, autism, his sense of self was so undeveloped he
never cried as a baby. At nine months of age he underwent
heart surgery and the only sound he made during his
recovery was quiet grunting. I had to plead with the
nurses to give him an analgesic—they did not believe
he was in pain: "Because he isn't crying," they said. The
nurses could not understand that he had never cried, even
as a newborn—he never cried when he was hungry or in
wet diapers. I did every thing for him according to a
schedule. Matthew received only one dose of Tylenol while
in the hospital for heart surgery. Can you imagine?

Today he did not cry. He was oblivious to the heat of
scalding water upon his tender skin.

My thoughts raced ahead to possible treatment for a burn
and how he might react to having his hand bandaged. I knew
he would not understand how important it would be to keep
bandages in place! What will we do? Oh, hurry, Erick,
bring help!

"There are no doctors at the church," Erick reported.

My heart was pounding so hard! What could I do for him
now? As I continued to pray and ask God for help, I caught
sight of a canister sitting on top of the refrigerator.
The label said, "Liquid bandage." I gently dried Matthew's
hand and sprayed the liquid bandage all over his hand.

Closing my eyes, I prayed once again, "Please God, show me
what to do!" When I opened my eyes, I held one of
Matthew's hands in each of mine. I held them next to
eachother—wondering if I was just imagining things:
Both hands were the same normal color. There was no way to
tell for sure which hand he had placed in scalding water.
They were both normal. There were no blisters, not even
redness—not at that moment and not later.

I don't know how to explain what happened that
day—other than by praying for help and guidance
Matthew was granted a miracle.

What this event did for me is also difficult to put into
words. It felt like someone was orchestrating events
beyond my control—events designed to prove that
miracles can and do happen—to ordinary
people—today!

----------------------------------------------------
Discover how you can manifest miracles in your life.
Rebecca, founder of the Law of Attraction Training Center
(http://www.lawofattractiontrainingcenter.com ) and author
of Law of Attraction for Business, has used her unique
blend of rational and intuitive gifts to masterfully assist
thousands of people in the art of deliberately creating the
life and business they truly want.

6 Factors Leading to a Miraculous Recovery from Herpes Encephalitis

6 Factors Leading to a Miraculous Recovery from Herpes Encephalitis
"Three men have died from herpes encephalitis," my
physician husband told me. "We're having a little epidemic
here."

A request had just come through our church's prayer chain:
"Pray that God will heal a 12-year old boy who is in a coma
from herpes encephalitis."

There was something about the severity of this situation
that called for more than a glib compliance with the prayer
request. Besides, I have a "truth and justice" voice inside
me that does not allow me to comply with something I do not
believe is possible. Knowing the low survival rate for
herpes encephalitis, I did not believe at that time
recovery could be possible.

I could not pray as I was told. However, I did pray, "God,
show me how to pray for this child." Next, I held my
closed Bible between the palms of both hands, suspended all
thinking and allowed my thumbs to open the book
intuitively. I know. I know. People say you are not
supposed to do that. They argue, "What if you are told to
do something totally out of context?" Well, I was asking
God how I should pray for this boy and at that time in my
life, the only way I could be certain the answer was coming
from God, was to look in the Bible.

"Show me how to pray," I whispered as I opened the book.
As I glanced over the two pages of Psalm 27, verse 13
seemed to stand out to me:

"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would
see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the
living."(NASB)

What could this mean? Was this a promise from God that the
boy would live? I spoke a soft prayer, "God, if this is
really you speaking through this verse, then I believe he
will be healed." I decided to keep this to myself since it
seemed to fly in the face of rational facts, and it felt
safer to keep it inside my heart.

A few days later I was at the hospital with one of my kids,
when I saw the boy's mother. We went for coffee and I asked
her, "So how is he?" Sadly, she shook her head and
replied, "The doctors say there is little hope. He is
brain-dead or will be soon."

At that moment I remembered the Bible verse, so I asked the
mother, "What does God say?" Her eyes lit up and a smile
stretched across her face. In a hushed tone, she
whispered, "Now that's another matter! God tells me that
all is well. But I'm his mother. Maybe that is just
wishful thinking."

"Maybe not," I pulled a small Bible from my purse. "Listen
to this verse I was drawn to while praying for your son."
I read it slowly and carefully, so she could receive the
full meaning behind it. "I would have despaired unless I
had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in
the land of the living." When I was done, our eyes met; we
both stood up and embraced each other!

"Let's keep this as our secret," the mother suggested.

"I agree. It is our secret." I promised.

Her son did not die. Gradually he came back to life. It
was a long journey, but today he is alive and well. I
remember seeing him when he was about 19 years old —
he had such a sweet expression on his face that I wondered
if he had been with angels. I also found out that he could
drive a car and had his driver's license. I was told he
went downhill skiing with his friends on weekends. He
missed about a year of school and had to learn how to read
all over again, but in the grand scheme of things, that is
very little.

As I look back upon this miracle — one of the first
miracles in which I participated -- I see a number of key
factors were at work:

1. Acceptance of the diagnosis was a big step. Often
people simply do not want to accept what is presenting in
the moment. Denial and suppression are never constructive.

2. Integrity was vital. My desire for truth led me to seek
a higher level of information. Sometimes it seems easier
to go along with the crowd, but this experience taught me
to pay attention to the resistance I feel when confronted
with someone's "wishful thinking."

3. I trusted my intuition. Intuition is our built-in
guidance system. Some people get a "gut feeling"; others
get "goose bumps"; while some folks seem to have a
"knowing." In this case, my intuition drew my attention to
that specific Bible verse.

4. I carefully guarded this precious spiritual insight. If
I had tried to tell the doctors, "God told me the boy will
live," and they reacted negatively to this message, they
could have created doubt in my heart and it's possible the
boy might have died instead. 5. Power was multiplied
exponentially when two of us agreed. "If two of you on
earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for
you by my Father in heaven." (Matthew 18:19) David R.
Hawkins in Truth vs. Falsehood, page 38, states that one
person vibrating in unconditional love counterbalances the
negativity of 750,000 people in a negative state, how much
more powerful are two people? 6. We celebrated the signs
along the way toward the completion of this miracle!
Sometimes a miracle occurs in a moment. Other times, it
takes months or years to fully unfold. I remember
celebrating with gratitude each milestone this young man
reached during his lengthy recovery. His mother and I kept
our secret with each other...until now.

Looking back on this miraculous event, I can clearly see
how the affirmation we are using during "A Year of
Miracles" is precise and true:

Even though this situation looks bad (or hopeless or
endless) I am opening a Window of Possibility to an
unexpected outcome.

When two people hold open a Window of Possibility, even the
impossible becomes possible and miracles happen.

----------------------------------------------------
Rebecca Hanson is the Founder of the Law of Attraction
Training Center. She is a natural teacher and mentor to
students from around the world. Learn how you can apply the
Law of Attraction to have a fuller more enriching life,
through the Certified Law of Attraction Practitioners'
Program, a 65-hour audio course at:
http://www.lawofattractiontrainingcenter.com/programs.html .

Don't call me a racist! (thoughts on Obama's speech)

Don't call me a racist! (thoughts on Obama's speech)
As a freelance missionary, a social critic, and (I should
add) a self-professed moral failure; I watched Obama's
speech this morning with great interest. I couldn't help
but thinking to myself that I was witnessing a profound
moment in history, something that would have been
unthinkable 40, 30, or even 20 years ago. I've never
publicly endorsed a political candidate and I don't plan on
doing so here (to be quite frank, I have some serious
disagreements with the Senator on a variety of issues), but
what I heard in the Senator's speech this morning was a man
who is both Caucasian and African-American (howbeit
African-American in a non-traditional sense) pleading with
members of both races to look past their prejudices,
abandon the politics of discontentment, and unite under a
common vision for the good of all.

As a white American evangelical, I've clearly grown up on
one side of the discontentment divide. My politically
conservative Christian background has taught met to
emphasize personal responsibility in the political sphere,
but eschew racism in the private sphere. The way this
usually translates on the white side of the discontentment
divide goes something like this: "I'm sick and tired of
black people (and other minorities) getting special
treatment just because of what my ancestors did. If there
are racial inequalities in our country between black people
and white people, then it's their own damn fault and-for
the love of God-I'm sick and tired of being called a
racist!"

Given my racial and socio-economic status, I can understand
this sentiment very well and, ironically, Obama seems to
understand it too, which is why he didn't condemn this type
of thinking outright in his speech. Rather than pointing
his finger at white discontentment as an example of
systemic racism, Obama put the blame on special interest
groups and corporate greed. While one can easily disagree
with this analysis, depending on whatever side of the
political divide you find yourself on, it's not so easy to
dismiss the fact that, for the first time that I can think
of, a formidable black candidate for the President of the
United States has officially given voice to white
discontentment-without using the wrath provoking word
"racist."

To further drive home the point, Obama spoke of his white
grandmother who loved him, cared for him, played a
significant role in raising him, and occasionally gave
voice to racially insensitive stereotypes. Obama's point,
which was in no uncertain terms relevant to the current
Jeremiah Wright debacle, is simply this: people are more
complex than than the sum of their racial discontentment.

The hallmark of the speech for me was when Obama addressed
the history behind the current economic and achievement
divide between black people and white people in the U.S.A.
I've known for a while that the violence in the ghettos,
the breakdown of the black family, and whatever other
deficiencies currently present in black culture aren't
simply a matter of black inferiority verses white
superiority, but there are historical factors that have
produced the situation today. The problem has been that
I've never been able to explain these historical factors to
the average discontented white male (including myself).
This is where the speech struck the deepest note in me:

"Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we
arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, 'the
past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past.'
We do not need to recite here the history of racial
injustices in this country, but we do need to remind
ourelves that so many of the disparities that exist between
the African American community and the larger American
community today can be traced directly to inequalities
passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under
the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were and are inferior schools. We still
haven't fixed them 50 years after Brown Vs Board of
Education and the inferior education they provided, then
and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap
between today's black and white students. Legalized
discrimination, where blacks were prevented often through
violence from owning property, where loans were not granted
to African American business owners, where black home
owners could not access FHA mortgages, where blacks were
excluded from unions, or the police force, or the fire
department, meant that black families could not amass any
meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That
history helps to explain the wealth and income gap between
blacks and whites and the concentrated pockets of poverty
that persists in so many of today's urban and rural
communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men and the
shame and frustration that came from not being able to
provide for one's family contributed to the erosion of
black families, a problem that welfare policies for many
years may have worsened. And the lack of basic service in
so many urban black neighborhoods, parks for kids to play
in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick up,
building code enforcement, all helped create a cycle of
violence, blight, and neglect that continues to haunt us."

In sum, I didn't agree with everything that Obama had to
say in his speech (especially when it came to his one-
sided statement putting the blame solely on radical Islam
and none on Israel for the current problems in the Middle
East), but, on the whole, I think it was an important
speech that everyone in our nation needs to hear. Rather
than just playing to one side of the racial divide, Obama
challenged white people to understand the roots of black
anger and black people to get past their anger and take
personal responsibility for their lives. Perhaps there
really is something to this "removing the plank from your
own eye" business a humble carpenter from Nazareth stated
so beautifully 2,000 years ago.

----------------------------------------------------
Aaron Taylor is the founder of Great Commission Society, a
missionary organization dedicated to serving indigenous
ministries working in the least evangelized areas of the
world.
http://www.greatcommissionsociety.com-Website
http://www.aarondtaylor.blogspot.com-Blog

Who Threw the Stone?

Who Threw the Stone?
In the Academia Gallery in Florence Italy stands
Michelangelo's statue of David. If you have seen it, or
pictures of it, you know it depicts David with his sling,
shortly before taking on Goliath. It is truly an awesome
sight.

My wife and I recently returned from a wonderful trip to
the Tuscany area of Italy which included some time in the
beautiful city of Florence. When we visited the city back
in 2001, our local city tour guide was a lady named
Francesca. And this time, once again, to our delight, our
guide was Francesca.

I have been told that there is no one who explains the
statue of David better than Francesca. She's been doing it
for quite awhile now. She is in her eighties. She is very
knowledgeable. She is also very passionate and outspoken.
She was flattered that we remembered her.

And as our group stood there in the Academia Gallery,
gazing at this 17 foot masterpiece, Francesca pointed out
many, many details. But what I found to be most
interesting was her interpretation what Michelangelo was
trying to convey in this sculpture.

She told us that the artist was doing something different
than what the other artists of his time were portraying.
Michelangelo was not showing David victorious, but rather
showing him before the encounter.

She pointed out that David showed a little apprehension,
but that he was focused and determined. She had us take
note of his neck and the blood in his vein.

And then she said, "David had to throw the stone. God
didn't throw it for him. Yes, God can and will help, but
He will not throw the stone!"

That statement is so accurate! People so many times forget
that God has given all of us free will. He will not
overstep our free will decisions. Yes, He is more than
willing to help, but it is still up to us to believe and
accept His help.

Francesca was making an important point that is contrary to
the thinking of many Christians. Far too many are waiting
for God to do it. People say things like, "If God really
wants me to have this or do that, then He is going to have
to do it." But if that is true, then what about free will?

It's like one evening on the trip to Italy, a huge dinner
was prepared for our group. We all arrived and were
welcomed to the restaurant. The atmosphere was very warm
and friendly.

The abundance of food was staggering!

And yet, no one was forced to eat. We all made up our own
minds to feed our own faces! Our host had done everything
they could in making all of it available, but it was still
up to us, by our free will, to decide to eat.

The Bible says that God feeds the birds. How does He do
it? Does He go around every morning with a big bucket of
worms? Does He then open their little beaks and stick the
worms in? How silly! God feeds the birds by providing for
them through the food chain. But it is still up to the
birds to go out and get it.

And so it is with us! God has given us promises us and He
has well provided for us. He has promised and He has
provided. But He is not going to overstep our free will.
That means He is willing to do His part but we must also be
willing to do our part.

God was involved in helping David, but God didn't throw the
stone at Goliath. That was David's job. If David hadn't
thrown the stone, he would not have defeated Goliath.

Yes, by all means, we believe and expect God's help. But it
is by our own free will that we take the action that is
necessary having confidence and trust in His help.

----------------------------------------------------
Listen to one of Michael A. Verdicchio's Pep Talks at
http://www.MikesPepTalks.com/christians2free.html
Michael has a free newsletter called, THE PEP LETTER, at
http://www.christianinspirationalgifts.com/pepletter.html .
Michael is a husband, father, minister, author, and
broadcaster. He has been the voice on numerous productions
over the years.

Shake Up Your Teaching With A Different Room Arrangement -- or No Room At All!

Shake Up Your Teaching With A Different Room Arrangement -- or No Room At All!
Does the room configuration match what you're teaching, and
the discussion you want to have?

Let me encourage you to be willing to change the room or
seating layout -- or even go to another place! -- if it
helps people get engaged and learning.

Here are three creative options you can explore:

1. Auditorium-style seating arrangement

Many church rooms are set up in rows and ranks of rows.
While this puts you at the center of attention, that can
actually hinder interaction and dialogue.

If the group is smaller, don't let them spread out. If you
can't move the seats around, then rope off all but one
section so people are sitting closer together. (This also
makes it easier for them to hear you, and for you to make
eye contact with everyone.)

Switch the chairs around to make a smaller grouping of
seats. In many cases, sitting in a circle promotes more
conversation and back and forth. (Work proactively to make
eye contact with everyone.) You don't have to have one
circle, either -- try putting people into 2 circles, and
ask them to work through different questions, then cross-
share as a larger group.

If you're working with a younger group and it's not
awkward, trying sitting on the floor for a while. Some
conversations just go better like that!

2. Awkward placement of home furniture

The furniture layout in some home study situations puts
people at odd angles. Joe and Shirley are sitting on the
couch, at right angles to you, and kitty corner to Sandy in
the rocking chair, and practically behind Mike and Sarah on
the love seat. Everyone politely leans around to see, and
half of you wind up with strained neck and shoulder muscles!

Be willing to pick up the couch or chairs and move them
around. Reassure the host that you don't care about the
dust bunnies and kids' toys that were under the couch :-).
Pull the furniture closer together if necessary. Get
everyone seated comfortably and fairly close together. This
can really help with good dialogue.

3. Too-familiar meeting place

If you've been meeting in the same place for a long time,
try something completely different. Go to a local
restaurant. Go to someone's house. I know one group that
went to a hotel lobby. Take a walk together and talk as
you go. Jesus did that, right? Read the Bible passage
together, and then take a walk together. If you have a
small group, take a long car ride and stop at a picnic
location.

You may find that getting into a different environment will
breathe fresh life into your group study!

I hope these three examples give you some creative ideas.

If you're willing to shake up the seating arrangement,
you'll find that people are often more receptive to the
truth of what you've been teaching.

----------------------------------------------------
Looking for more information about Bible teaching? Glenn
Brooke is the author of 3 books and has coached over 10,000
Bible teachers around the world. Get a free package of
helps for Bible teachers
==> http://www.teachtochangelives.com/gift

Are You Out of Touch with Reality?

Are You Out of Touch with Reality?
There is no lack of information these days about
self-esteem. Books, classes, seminars and web sites are
full of suggestions to help you with your self-image. But,
is what you believe about yourself true reality or is it
false reality.

Most people will agree that the clear picture that you have
of yourself in your mind is who you really are. That
picture may be based on what others think or say about you,
what job or occupation you have, your education or social
standing, or even your bank account. Simply put, your
self-image is based on information that you have accepted.
But, is it the true reality of who you really are?

Just because someone chooses to base their self worth on
facts or circumstances about themselves does not mean that
that is their true reality. It may be the reality that
they have chosen for the moment, but it isn't necessarily
true.

For example, if someone has no money in the bank, they may
choose to accept that they are a poor person. Their
self-esteem would be very low, based on the lack of money
that they have. They can accept that reality, and live in
it. But does having no money make you a poor person? If
that were true then anyone who has a low bank balance would
be destined to be poor, and we know that is not the case.

Your current reality is your reality because you have
accepted it. Your opinions of yourself, your self-image,
your self-esteem and your self worth are all dependent on
who you think you are at this moment. It may be your
reality at this moment, but could it be a false reality?

Suppose a person thinks that they are George Washington
living in 1776. We would all readily agree that they are
out of touch with reality. But for them, as delusional as
they may be, because of what they have accepted in their
minds, that is their reality.

The Creator designed all of us to have free will. It is
your freedom of will that allows you to accept any reality
you want to, whether it is a true reality or a false
reality.

The amazing part is that God never intended for people to
fail! He designed us to be successful and to live
abundantly. Whenever a Christian thinks less of himself
than what God thinks of him, that person is truly out of
touch with reality. And again, your reality will be
whichever reality you choose to accept.

So, what is God's opinion of you? How does He really see
you? As a Christian, in His sight you are righteous, which
means you are right in His sight. Nothing can separate you
from His love. He is on your side so that you can be
victorious in every situation in life. Now that is true
reality.

You can accept what God has said as your reality, or look
at the current facts and circumstances around you and
accept that instead. Whatever reality you accept in your
life, is what you will continue to see manifested.

People who see themselves as failures consistently fail.
People who see themselves as not smart rarely gain new
knowledge. People that go around saying, "I never get a
break," seldom do.

The thoughts you have allowed in your mind, develop roots
in your heart and become your core beliefs. These core
beliefs then form your self-worth. But, because it all
starts with a thought, you can begin to change your reality
by first changing your thoughts.

Why not accept who God says that you really are? Why not
accept and expect His help and direction in every category
of your life? You can change the facts and circumstance in
your life by changing your reality!

You really are who He says that you are. You really do
have what He says that you have. And, you really can do
all that he says that you can do.

That is true reality!

----------------------------------------------------
Listen to one of Michael A. Verdicchio's Pep Talks at
http://www.MikesPepTalks.com/christians2free.html
Michael has a free newsletter called, THE PEP LETTER, at
http://www.christianinspirationalgifts.com/pepletter.html .
Michael is a husband, father, minister, author, and
broadcaster. He has been the voice on numerous productions
over the years.

Is He Wiling?

Is He Wiling?
Most Christians recognize God's power and ability. They
believe that He is able to do all that He has promised to
do and more! Most would readily agree and believe that
there is nothing too hard or too big for God.

But many times, Christians have a difficult time believing
that He is willing to do it for them, personally. And if
you are not convinced and certain that God is willing to do
it for you, then do you really believe and trust Him?

Why is it that we sometimes think that God is not willing
to do it for us personally? What is it that causes us to
doubt His willingness? Why would we not accept that He is
willing?

The answer is feelings of being unworthy or undeserving.
What I have done to deserve it? What have I done to earn
it? Much of this kind of thinking is due to sin
consciousness and condemnation.

But, when you really think about it, what is it that we
could do, or refrain from doing, that would earn His
willingness to provide for us what He has promised? That
is a big part of the answer, because far too many
Christians base their self worth on how much they do or do
not do!

Many Christians subtly believe that their righteousness and
worthiness in God's eyes is dependant upon their actions.

If that were true, we wouldn't have needed a savior! It
was the completed work of Christ that makes us right and
worthy in the sight of God.

The Scriptures are clear in saying that as a Christian,
nothing can separate you from God's love. That is why His
love for you is unconditional. He put no conditions on it!
Your actions do not have anything to do with how much He
loves you. Nothing can ever separate you from His love.

Nothing!

He doesn't love you any less today than He did yesterday.
He doesn't love you more when you are praying. He doesn't
love you any less when you are messing up. His love for
you is unconditional! Nothing can separate you from His
love.

Part of the problem in not accepting His willingness to
perform His Word for us personally, is in not accepting
what He has done for us in the completed work of Christ.

Have you ever had a couple of days go by where you prayed a
lot, and did things for others, and really felt that you
were "walking for Him?" At those times, how confident were
you to go to God and ask for the things you needed? You
were probably pretty confident, right? But, why was that?

It was because your actions made you feel worthy and right
before God. That is an indication that you believe your
self worth, your being right in God's eyes, is dependant
upon your actions. And that's why when you have a period
of time where you are falling short or messing up, you have
very little confidence to go to God and expect His help.

The Bible says that the Christian is righteous. That is not
just a nice sounding spiritual word. Understanding what
righteousness means will help you greatly in accepting
God's willingness to bring His promises to pass in your
life.

Simply put, it means that you are just, or, right! It is a
state of being right or just according to an established
legal standard. In this case, the legal standard is the
justice of God.

In other words, in God's sight, in His high court, you are
right; you are just; you belong! You can now stand before
God without any sense of guilt, shame, or condemnation.
You have been made right. He made you right!

No wonder the Bible says that you are lovely and acceptable
in His sight and holy and without blame before Him! It has
nothing to do with your works. It has everything to do
with the completed work of Christ.

Can you see how accepting the righteousness Christ
accomplished for you and believing it is true can have a
dynamic impact on your self worth and your self esteem?

Do you feel unworthy to open your refrigerator and get some
food? No, of course not! You belong in your own house! It
is right for you to be there!

The same is true with God. You belong in His presence; you
are right being there because he made you right! You are
righteous.

Not understanding or believing that we are right in His
eyes plays a major part in our accepting His willingness to
bring His Word to pass for us personally.

If we choose to get persuaded that His love for us in
unconditional, and, that we are right in his sight, we will
begin to accept that He is willing to bring his Word to
pass for us personally.

The promises of God come to pass for us when we believe
God. We may very well believe that He is able, but if we
don't really believe that He is willing, then we will not
believe that He will.

Why not believe what the Bible says about you and accept
God's unconditional love, and believe that you are already
righteous in His eyes? It will have a dynamic impact on
your acceptance that He is not only able to do for you what
He has promised, but that He is also willing to do it for
you personally.

----------------------------------------------------
Listen to one of Michael A. Verdicchio's Pep Talks at
http://www.MikesPepTalks.com/christians2free.html
Michael has a free newsletter called, THE PEP LETTER, at
http://www.christianinspirationalgifts.com/pepletter.html .
Michael is a husband, father, minister, author, and
broadcaster. He has been the voice on numerous productions
over the years.