This is a great first step

WASHINGTON -- Human rights activists and advocates of open government are cheering U.S. President Barack Obama's decisions to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and to signal the start of a new era of clean government by signing strict new rules on transparency and ethics.

His actions on January 21 -- his first full day in office -- overturned policies enacted during the administration of George W. Bush that cloaked the government in secrecy and prevented reporters from obtaining information. Obama declared that his administration is making a "clean break from business as usual."

With a stroke of his pen, the new U.S. president froze the salaries of his top aides, limited the influence of lobbyists, and opened government agencies to public scrutiny.

It was a fulfillment of his campaign promise to change the way Washington operates and make government more accountable to the people.

"Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," Obama said. "Our commitment to openness means more than simply informing the American people about how decisions are made. It means recognizing that government does not have all the answers and that public officials need to draw on what citizens know."

'That Era Is Now Over'

Obama's two executive orders and three presidential memorandums reversed controversial policies enacted by his predecessor, George W. Bush, that made it easier for the government to deny requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act and to keep secret the papers and records of former presidents.

...the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism, and we are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values.Obama called the Freedom of Information Act "perhaps the most powerful instrument we have for making our government honest and transparent, and for holding it accountable." He said he expects members of his administration to carry out not just the letter, but the spirit, of the law.

"For a long time now, there has been too much secrecy in this city. The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed," Obama said. "That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known."

Obama signed the orders in a room filled with his cabinet members and new staff, and told the group that public service is about "advancing the interests of Americans," not themselves.

That philosophy underpinned his decision to eliminate what is known as the "revolving door" in Washington, a lucrative practice rife with conflict-of-interest concerns that involves former government officials working as lobbyists, and former lobbyists working in government.

Obama said he decided to freeze the salaries of his top aides because most Americans have had to make financial sacrifices and his administration should not be exempt from the same hardship.

'Optimistic Start'

Ann Weismann, chief counsel of Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility In Government -- a Washington group that promotes ethics and accountability in government -- said Obama has set a clear tone of transparency by taking such sweeping action so quickly.

"We were especially thrilled that he [signed] all of these openness initiatives on his first day of office," Weismann said. "It just really highlights the serious commitment he seems to have and his administration will have towards transparency. So we thought it was an enormously important and optimistic start to the administration."

She said for the past eight years, the Bush administration had thrown up "a blanket of secrecy" around its actions and the work of governmental agencies, and Obama has made a "radical break" with the past.

"There was essentially a presumption of withholding during George W. Bush's administration, his eight years in office. And his attorney general had issued a memorandum that said, 'We'll defend your withholding'," Weismann said. "I think what this is signaling is the complete opposite, which is the presumption of disclosure, and really the burden now is going to be not on the [Freedom of Information Act] requester, but on the agency, in the process, to justify why it needs to withhold something. So I think it's a 180-degree shift."

Batteries Not Included

How many time have we bought something and then we read batteries not included?
Then we make another trip to the store and make another purchase, and buy the batteries.
This is a good analogy of life itself.
We are born into this world, bone of the flesh. It looks like we have everything we need.
Yet there always seems to be something missing.
We think life should not work like this, life is too hard, to depressing, to difficult.
Then we hear about the new birth, the second purchase.
Being born of the spirit, seeing God for who he is, and our life in a whole new light.
Receiving the power source that will see us through the hard times in life.
Lift us above the difficulties.
You must be born again, because at your first birth the batteries were not included.

If you give your child a toy, and you do not tell them about the batteries, they will play with the toy, they will know something is missing, but what is missing,
and how would the toy work if it had the power it was designed to have.
It is our job as parents and grandparents, to make sure our kids know about the second purchase. The second birth.

This year let's all live with the light shining through us, so everyone can see there is a power source. Let the world see us using it to guide our lives.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the lord shall be saved.
God Bless

A Rich Man

A rich man is a man.
That his wife loves him.
His children respect him.
His grandchildren admire him.
and His community trust him.

What more would anyone want.

Are you a Bible believer? a little test.

The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
That says that the word and Jesus Christ are one.
Let me ask a few questions.
The answer to all questions are yes or no.
The answer for all Christians should be yes.

Do you believe the bible?
Do you believe in a real heaven?
Do you believe David was king of Israel?
Do you believe that Jesus ministry changed the world?

These may be a little harder, because the world can not accept or explain these,
they take faith to believe.

Do you believe Jesus was born of a virgin?
Do you believe Jesus healed the blind man?
Do you believe Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead?
Do you believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Do you believe in creation?

These are the hardest, because they take more than just believing,
they take sacrifice on your part. Faith without works is dead.

Do you believe as a Christian you should turn your cheek when assaulted?
Do you believe in attending Church?
Jesus said forsake not the assembling together.
Do you believe in tithing your income, that is 10%.
The Bible say where have we robbed God in our tithes and offerings.
Do you believe in telling others about Jesus Christ?
Jesus gave the great commission to everyone.
Have you been baptized, since you believed?
One the day of Pentecost three thousand were saved, baptized, and added to the church.

If you answered yes to all the questions, then you do believe the Bible.
If you answered no to any of the questions,
then you can not honestly say you are a Bible believer.

The Bible is a book that you either believe it is Gods book, or you do not, there is no in-between.
Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
If you choose which Scriptures you believe, and some you do not,
then you have done what Revelation warns against.
You have added to, or detracted from the Bible, and there is a Stern warning against doing that.

I pray that all believe the Bible.
I pray that all who say they believe the Bible, honestly do, even when it calls for sacrifice.

Election of President Elect Obama

I am an American, I count it a privilege to have the right to vote.
I will pray daily for President Elect Obama, as I have for the Presidents before him.
I pray God will give him wisdom, and a clear path to follow.
We are all Americans, we are all different.
With those differences, we become what America is all about.
I Believe God has had and will continue to have his hand on America.
The freedom of speech has given us the ability to be the greatest nation in the world.
May God help the mending of relationships, that have been strained,
because of differences, in our views of who has the best policies for America.
Blessed are the peace makers, it is time to accept the election, and move forward.
The road ahead is not easy, it is never easy,
it will take a united America to face the challenges ahead.
United we will stand, divided we will always fail.
May God Bless President Elect Obama.
May God keep him safe, is my sincere prayer.
May God Bless America.

Jett born at 23 weeks, 1 Lb 7 Ozs, he is now 9.

When will banks give loans: Joe Nocera Oct 24,2008

“Chase recently received $25 billion in federal funding. What effect will that have on the business side and will it change our strategic lending policy?” Oct. 17, just four days after JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, agreed to take a $25 billion capital injection courtesy of the United States government, when a JPMorgan employee asked that question. It came toward the end of an employee-only conference call that had been largely devoted to meshing certain divisions of JPMorgan with its new acquisition, Washington Mutual. Which, of course, it also got thanks to the federal government. Christmas came early at JPMorgan Chase.The JPMorgan executive who was moderating the employee conference call didn’t hesitate to answer a question that was pretty politically sensitive given the events of the previous few weeks. Given the way, that is, that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had decided to use the first installment of the $700 billion bailout money to recapitalize banks instead of buying up their toxic securities, which he had then sold to Congress and the American people as the best and fastest way to get the banks to start making loans again, and help prevent this recession from getting much, much worse. In point of fact, the dirty little secret of the banking industry is that it has no intention of using the money to make new loans. But this executive was the first insider who’s been indiscreet enough to say it within earshot of a journalist. (He didn’t mean to, of course, but I obtained the call-in number and listened to a recording.) “Twenty-five billion dollars is obviously going to help the folks who are struggling more than Chase,” he began. “What we do think it will help us do is perhaps be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling. And I would not assume that we are done on the acquisition side just because of the Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns mergers. I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way and obviously depending on whether recession turns into depression or what happens in the future, you know, we have that as a backstop.” Read that answer as many times as you want — you are not going to find a single word in there about making loans to help the American economy. On the contrary: at another point in the conference call, the same executive (who I’m not naming because he didn’t know I would be listening in) explained that “loan dollars are down significantly.” He added, “We would think that loan volume will continue to go down as we continue to tighten credit to fully reflect the high cost of pricing on the loan side.” In other words JPMorgan has no intention of turning on the lending spigot.It is starting to appear as if one of Treasury’s key rationales for the recapitalization program — namely, that it will cause banks to start lending again — is a fig leaf, Treasury’s version of the weapons of mass destruction. In fact, Treasury wants banks to acquire each other and is using its power to inject capital to force a new and wrenching round of bank consolidation. As Mark Landler reported in The New York Times earlier this week, “the government wants not only to stabilize the industry, but also to reshape it.” Now they tell us.Indeed, Mr. Landler’s story noted that Treasury would even funnel some of the bailout money to help banks buy other banks. And, in an almost unnoticed move, it recently put in place a new tax break, worth billions to the banking industry, that has only one purpose: to encourage bank mergers. As a tax expert, Robert Willens, put it: “It couldn’t be clearer if they had taken out an ad.”Friday delivered the first piece of evidence that this is, indeed, the plan. PNC announced that it was purchasing National City, an acquisition that will be greatly aided by the new tax break, which will allow it to immediately deduct any losses on National City’s books. As part of the deal, it is also tapping the bailout fund for $7.7 billion, giving the government preferred stock in return. At least some of that $7.7 billion would have gone to NatCity if the government had deemed it worth saving. In other words, the government is giving PNC money that might otherwise have gone to NatCity as a reward for taking over NatCity.I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel as if we’ve been sold a bill of goods.The markets had another brutal day Friday. The Asian markets got crushed. Germany and England were down more than 5 percent. In the hours before the United States markets opened, all the signals suggested it was going to be the worst day yet in the crisis. The Dow dropped more than 400 points at the opening, but thankfully it never got any worse.There are lots of reasons the markets remain unstable — fears of a global recession, companies offering poor profit projections for the rest of the year, and the continuing uncertainties brought on by the credit crisis. But another reason, I now believe, is that investors no longer trust Treasury. First it says it has to have $700 billion to buy back toxic mortgage-backed securities. Then, as Mr. Paulson divulged to The Times this week, it turns out that even before the bill passed the House, he told his staff to start drawing up a plan for capital injections. Fearing Congress’s reaction, he didn’t tell the Hill about his change of heart. , he’s shifted gears again, and is directing Treasury to use the money to force bank acquisitions. Sneaking in the tax break isn’t exactly confidence-inspiring, either. (And let’s not even get into the less-than-credible, after-the-fact rationalizations for letting Lehman default, which stands as the single worst mistake the government has made in the crisis.)On Thursday, at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman, Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, pushed Neel Kashkari, the young Treasury official who is Mr. Paulson’s point man on the bailout plan, on the subject of banks’ continuing reluctance to make loans. How, Senator Dodd asked, was Treasury going to ensure that banks used their new government capital to make loans — “besides rhetorically begging them?”“We share your view,” Mr. Kashkari replied. “We want our banks to be lending in our communities.”Senator Dodd: “Are you insisting upon it?”Mr. Kashkari: “We are insisting upon it in all our actions.”But they are doing no such thing. Unlike the British government, which is mandating lending requirements in return for capital injections, our government seems afraid to do anything except plead. And those pleas, in this environment, are falling on deaf ears.Yes, there are times when a troubled bank needs to be acquired by a stronger bank. Given that the federal government insures deposits, it has an abiding interest in seeing that such mergers take place as smoothly as possible. Nobody is saying those kinds of deals shouldn’t take place. But Citigroup, at this point, probably falls into the category of troubled bank, and nobody seems to be arguing that it should be taken over. It is in the “too big to fail” category, and the government will ensure that it gets back on its feet, no matter how much money it takes. One reason Mr. Paulson forced all of the nine biggest banks to take government money was to mask the fact that some of them are much weaker than others.We have long been a country that has treasured its diversity of banks; up until the 1980s, in fact, there were no national banks at all. If Treasury is using the bailout bill to turn the banking system into the oligopoly of giant national institutions, it is hard to see how that will help anybody. Except, of course, the giant banks that are declared the winners by Treasury.JPMorgan is going to be one of the winners — and deservedly so. Mr. Dimon managed the company so well during the housing bubble that it is saddled with very few of the problems that have crippled competitors like Citi. The government handed it Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual because it was strong enough to swallow both institutions without so much as a burp. Of all the banking executives in that room with Mr. Paulson a few weeks ago, none needed the government’s money less than Mr. Dimon. A company spokesman told me, “We accepted the money for the good of the entire financial system.” He added that JP Morgan would use the money “to do good for customers and shareholders. We are disciplined to try to make loans that people can repay.”Nobody is saying it should make loans that people can’t repay. What I am saying is that Mr. Dimon took the $25 billion on the condition that his institution would start making loans. There are plenty of small and medium-size businesses that are choking because they have no access to capital — and are perfectly capable of repaying the money. How about a loan program for them, Mr. Dimon?Late Thursday afternoon, I caught up with Senator Dodd, and asked him what he was going to do if the loan situation didn’t improve. “All I can tell you is that we are going to have the bankers up here, probably in another couple of weeks and we are going to have a very blunt conversation,” he replied.He continued: “If it turns out that they are hoarding, you’ll have a revolution on your hands. People will be so livid and furious that their tax money is going to line their pockets instead of doing the right thing.
Let’s hope so

Now Enforce It.

RIN 3235-AK06"Naked" Short Selling Antifraud RuleAGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission.ACTION: Final rule.
SUMMARY: The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") is adopting an antifraud rule under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") to address fails to deliver securities that have been associated with "naked" short selling.
The rule will further evidence the liability of short sellers, including broker-dealers acting for their own accounts, who deceive specified persons about their intention or ability to deliver securities in time for settlement (including persons that deceive their broker-dealer about their locate source or ownership of shares) and that fail to deliver securities by settlement date.DATES: Effective Date: October 17, 2008.

Judas

Some thing we may want to keep in mind about Judas.
He was chosen by Jesus, in Matthew 10,
I wonder what he was thinking when Jesus called his name?
I wonder if he thought this guy lines up with my political views, I want Israel to be a independent state, not subjects of the Roman empire. Jesus will make this happen.
I wonder what Judas thought when he saw Nicodemus come to Jesus in John chapter 3.
Maybe he thought this was good now they have someone with some money to help with his personal agenda, and missed the message about being born again.
I wonder what Judas thought when he saw Jesus talking to the woman at the well,
perhaps he thought the Samaritans would be strong in numbers when the rebellion to Rome startes.
I wonder what Judas thought when he saw the lame man walk, and the blind man see,
maybe he thought many of these illnesses are just psychological, and Jesus is a good motivator.
I wonder where Judas was when Jesus walked on the water, I guess he was just asleep in the boat.
Judas the one who betrayed Jesus, the one who hanged himself,
Judas was there all the time, but missed the true purpose of Jesus ministry.
He missed it and it cost him eternity.
How many go to church today and never get the message, they are asleep in the boat,
because they are looking for a political angle, or a financial angle, or even just a friendly place to be.
The message of the church today has not changed the gospel.
You must be bone again, you must submit to him totally.
Do you want the abundant life? The peace that passes all understanding.
Ask him into your heart today, and put him first, do not try to change the Bible or the message,
allow the Bible and the message to change you.

Naked Short Selling That Toppled Wall Street

October 2nd, 2008 by Mark Mitchell
The Wall Street Journal stated in a lead editorial last week that the SEC was“reasonable” to “clamp down” on naked short selling. Well, that was progress ofsorts, though one wonders how it could have taken all these years for thenation’s most important newspaper to suggest that it might be “reasonable” toput an end to criminal activity that has eviscerated hundreds of companies anddestroyed countless lives.And now that this criminal activity has been implicated in the Humpty Dumptyingof our financial system, one grows wistful for the golden age of journalism wheneditorialists (people working for famous newspapers, not just cyber weirdos)would express a little outrage, demand that heads roll – muster something betterthan “reasonable” to describe the limpid “clamp down” of an SEC that bows inoily servitude to the very short-sellers who manhandled our markets.Alas, The Wall Street Journal is not angry about the scandal of naked shortselling. To the contrary, it devotes most of its editorial to tut-tutting theSEC for taking the mild step of requiring hedge funds to disclose their shortpositions. This, the Journal laments, means the government wants to “slap ascarlet letter on short sellers.” And (shed a tear) hedge funds will now have to“worry that their strategies will be put on display for the world to see.”Might the world like to see which hedge funds are employing the strategy ofillegal naked short selling – offloading huge chunks of stock that they do notpossess – phantom stock – in order to drive down prices? No, nothing to seethere, says the Journal. Having thoroughly investigated the matter, theeditorialist reports that there is “no evidence of widespread naked shorting offinancial stocks in this panic.” Indeed, the Journal assures us that there is noevidence that short sellers have engaged in any market manipulation whatsoever.That is a mighty bold claim. As the Wall Street Journal itself reported, the SEChas ordered two dozen hedge funds to turn over trading records as part of itsinvestigation into possible short-seller manipulation of six big financialinstitutions — American International Group, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers,Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, and Merrill Lynch.The SEC has never in history prosecuted a major case against a short seller, andthere is no reason to believe that it is actually going to nail someone now. Butit is not difficult to see why the SEC feels that is has no choice but toinvestigate.Read the rest of this story at http://americandream2009.angelfire.com

Naked In Wonderland Patrick Byrne

Recent concerns about short-selling have culminated in a regulatory flurry of emergency orders and amendments. What should be of concern, however, is not short-selling per se: As its devotees frequently remind us, short-selling is a vital and legitimate market activity. What should be of concern are specific types of stock manipulation that cloak themselves within legitimate activities such as shorting, and which, in one way or another, rely upon loopholes in our nation's system of stock settlement. "Settlement" is the moment in a stock trade when the seller receives money and the buyer receives stock. Our settlement system has gaping loopholes that allow sellers to sell shares but fail to deliver them. In such cases, the system creates IOUs for shares, and lets those "stock IOUs" circulate in the expectation the seller will soon correct his error. This is harmless--as long as the IOUs are inadvertent, temporary and few. Manipulators are exploiting these loopholes, however, selling stock they do not intend to deliver. This is often referred to as "naked short-selling" (short-selling because they feign selling borrowed shares; naked because they don't really borrow shares, but instead deliberately rely on loopholes to generate and hide stock IOUs). However, naked short-selling is just one form this manipulation takes. Other forms include failed long-sales, abuse of the option-market-maker exception, failed offshore deliveries and ex-clearing abuses. The common denominator of these manipulations is that they flood the system with stock IOUs that are deliberate, persistent and massive.By whatever name, these actions create small, medium and large problems. The small problem is that stock IOUs corrupt corporate democracy because the system has trouble distinguishing real stock with real votes from stock IOUs with fake votes. In 2006, Bloomberg Markets wrote, "A robust market for stock loans puts into circulation billions of borrowed shares that can create multiple votes that corrupt corporate elections." Bloomberg quoted Registrar & Transfer CEO Thomas Montrone: "It is an abomination. ... A lot of the time, we have no idea who's entitled to vote and who isn't. It's nothing short of criminal." Bloomberg suggested arbitrageurs are exploiting this, and concluded that until it is fixed, "double and triple voting on one share will continue to make a mockery of shareholder democracy." The medium problem is that manipulators selling millions of stock IOUs drive down share prices: If they choose the right target (e.g., a large financial firm already weakened by exposure to the mortgage crisis, or a small biotech company sipping at capital as it develops drugs), this can crash the firm. According to former Undersecretary of Commerce for Economics Dr. Robert Shapiro, "There is considerable evidence that market manipulation through the use of naked short-sales has been much more common than almost anyone has suspected, and certainly more widespread than most investors believe." His research turned up at least 200 companies that were destroyed, for "a combined market loss of more than $105 billion." Shapiro added, "we believe that this type of stock manipulation has occurred in many hundreds and perhaps thousands of cases over the last decade. ... Illicit short-sales on such a scale or anything approaching it point to grave inadequacies in the current regulatory regime." The large problem is that unsettled stock trades create systemic risk. Imagine that a hedge fund generates IOUs on 5 million shares of a $1 stock and carries this as a $5 million liability. To settle these IOUs, the fund must obtain stock. However, the act of buying 5 million shares of a thinly traded stock forces its price up (i.e., a "squeeze"). The fund must pay more than $1 per share, so the $5 million liability balloons. The Securities and Exchange Commission has revealed that, during the second quarter of 2008, there were $14.9 billion in stock IOUs at just the tip of the non-settlement iceberg. The commission refuses to reveal (and, in fact, may not know) the size of the whole iceberg. Public data suggests the entire bucket may be over $150 billion; settling it would cost more than $150 billion, but perhaps far, far more. Our settlement system lies within a black-box called the Depository Trust & Clearance Corporation. The DTCC is essentially unregulated, but is owned by those who benefit from seeing these activities continue--investment banks, which in return for prime brokerage fees, enable manipulative hedge funds. When these loopholes began to be exposed this winter, Wall Street started to eat its own. In a moment of Shakespearean irony, Bear Stearns--with its legendary willingness to provide cover to manipulative hedge funds--became the target. Stock IOUs in Bear Stearns spiked, as they subsequently did in Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people ), Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ), Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM - news - people ) and Freddie Mac (nyse: FRE - news - people ). In an absurdity worthy of Lewis Carroll, the SEC promulgated a temporary (and now expired) emergency order against doing to these and 16 other firms what has been illegal for seven decades: selling non-existent stock and deliberately relying upon stock IOUs. That the 19 companies protected included prime brokers widely thought to be enabling naked shorting against other firms may only be described as "Kafkaesque." Since its Aug. 12 expiration, four of the 19 firms have been lost. The rest of the financial market balances on a precipice as the SEC temporizes, adopting half-measures with Nerf penalties, draconian measures (such as forbidding all shorting in financial stocks), contradictory measures (re-opening the option-market-maker exception for financial stocks), and "don't ask, don't tell" measures (such as yesterday's, requiring option-market makers not to sell puts to someone they think is increasing a net short position in a financial stock). While the SEC performs its best headless chicken imitation, we must not be distracted from the fundamental problem: Our system is rife with unsettled trades that are deliberate, persistent and massive. Commenting on this last year, Warren Buffett's partner, Charles Munger, said, "Those delays in delivering sometimes reflect tremendous slop in the clearance process. It is not good for a civilization to have huge slop. Sort of like how it isn't good to have a lot of slop in nuclear power plants." Charlie Munger is known for many things, but careless word choice is not one of them.Patrick M. Byrne is the chairman and chief executive officer of Overstock.com and writes for DeepCapture.com. http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/09/23/naked-shorting-trades-oped-cx_pb_0923byrne.html

True Assets

Calculating Your Net Worth
How does a person calculate their net wort?Many would say you start with real assets, the house, car, bank accounts.Then subtract your liabilities.What are your real assets? What is first on your list?Let's take a look at our real assets, the things you do not want to loose.The things you would never put a price on.Family, wife, husband, children, grandchildren, parents, friends.If you have ever lost any of these you know exactly what I am talking about.I have lost a brother, a grandson, and some really close friends.I have learned these are real assets, these are of real value. They can never be replaced.Money comes and goes, cars rust, houses need continual upkeep.Family and friends need our time, or values, or attention.Take some time and assess your true net worth.With these assets, there are few liabilities.

Short Selling abuse

It is so simple, but those wanting to feed off the beast can not see it.
If you own it you can sell it, if you do not own it, you have no right to sell it.
If you have a purchase agreement to buy it, you can sell it, but you must deliver,
no exceptions.
If you sell a company short and it goes BK, your debt becomes a asset to the owners of that company,and all debt needs to be collected. No more canceling stock in any company until all settlements are collected.
It is so simple, a preacher can understand it.
When you through ethics out the window, you only have anarchy left.
Oh; but we must make a market, tell me the difference between enron,
and the way the market is now doing business.
Everyone would love to sell things they do not own.
Hypothetically, if I know a restaurant that looks like it will fail. can I sell that restaurants equipment to you, and not own the equipment?
Then when when the restaurant goes BK, I owe you nothing.
Only in the stock market does it work that way,
IMO end it and end it now

I wrote this Jan 27th, look at wall street now.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Change the laws that govern our market
Can the US stock market be cleaned, can it restore the confidence needed to bring a vibrant market to earnest investors. A good market is built on rewarding companies that are successful, Rewarding investors that placed they earning in those companies.There is a old saying build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.That is true of a private company, where the owner has complete control over earnings and expenditures. A private company knows its worth. If you sell a private company, how would you set a price, 2 1/2 times the gross income, 3 times the net. That would be entirely up to the seller, the owner seller has absolute control.In a public company it is different. If you own stock in a private company, and you do not want to sell, and say no one that owns shares in the company wants to sell. Then you would think as the demand for your company goes up so would the price per share.It isn't like that in the public market, see a broker can sell your shares to someone else, just by borrowing your shares. What if you do not want to loan them, no problem, he can borrow them and sell them anyway. That alone will devalue your ownership by 50%. They call that making a market. I call it making up a market. Selling something they do not own, so they can make commissions on a sale. The price goes down, you can not take that much loss, so you sell. The reason you sold for a loss was because someone without your permission, already had sold your shares.
Then there is the selling of shares you don't own. The short selling adds even more shares to the market, yet no one has sold, this is all buying, you buying first, then the market maker selling your shares they borrowed without you knowing, or approving, the short sellers see the price going down, and they jump in. They have no investment in the company and the own no shares, they sell with a promise to buy at some future time. The price continues to go down, and it picks up speed.The snowball rolls so fast that the short sellers, continue to sell, they may sell as many as 20 time the amount of total shares in the company float. The company fails. Those who have shorted never need to buy anything, the company has failed, those who invested lost all, to those who never invested, but just sold with a promise to invest later walk away with the money.
Let's do some math. Company A, has 1000 shares for sale. 500 preferred shares not for sale.you and a few friends buy 1000 shares, yep you own it all. $1 a share.The company does well, more people want to buy, but you do not want to sell.The price per share goes to $2, then $3, then $4 you still do not want to sell.The market maker sells anyway, he doesn't need your approval, he just borrowed your shares.Now he sells 1000 share that you own, for $4 a share to me. You did not sell, so you get no money, where does the $4000 go? good question. The answer to that is why they borrow your shares, and help destroy your company.It get even worse. The price drops to $3 because the number of shares have doubled.That attracts Short sellers, now they do not own anything, but they can sell shares in your company, after all, there needs to be a market, a unfair, a unethical, and a totally manipulated market. The short sellers sell 2 thousand shares, the price goes down even further to $2 a share, as long as it goes down the short Sellers sell. Why not, they get the money and have not invested anything in your company.That attracts another group, they see that the company is falling fast, so they sell short as long as anyone is buying they are selling. They may sell as much at 20,000 shares. How can they do that, there never was more than 1,000 shares and they were not for sale. no mater it is called making a market. The key is to drive the company into receivership and share prices into sup penny, yes sub-penny. now the parts per share is $.0001 and they buy all they shares they sold for $4,$3,$2, $1,$.50,$.10,$.01$.001, they buy all 21,000 share back.Most investors would love to buy something for $.0001 and sell for $4, but that is almost impossible, but selling for dollars and buying for pennies, is going on unchecked in our market every day.One more point, what if you still do not sell you 1000, and the other investor, that would be me, that paid $4 did not sell, then they would fail to deliver, and someone would be in trouble.First of all the failure to deliver laws as seldom enforced, and when they are it is always too late.Just in case there is a problem, the off shore hedge funds they usually naked short a company out of business, cut a deal with the owner of the 500 preferred shares, and in the fine print you will see that preferred shares can be converted to common shares, at the rate to 1000 to 1.Now you have plenty enough to knock out any real investors.The problem is most of this is looked on as legal in our market. The US market is not designed to build companies, it is designed to destroy the investors, and in so doing destroying the company.The laws we have need to be governed by ethics, a law with not ethical enforcement is not a law at all it is just a license to rob.We need some real changes, or our market is lost, people are catching on, and the investment dollars will soon dry up. and there will be no one left to rob.

Baggage Claim Oct 9th-12

To my family and friends,

It is has been my great joy to be theater director at our church.

Our production of "Baggage Claim, A Modern-day Parable" is opening
on Oct. 9th and will continue through Oct. 12th.

This powerful and compelling play is preceded by a full service meal which is accompanied by a live jazz band.

As most of you know, my background is in live theater, and I've had the pleasure of receiving professional training. My cast is comprised of folks from all walks of life, and varying degrees of acting experience. I am proud of their work.

I invite you to come with your friends, and enjoy a wonderful meal served by our gracious wait staff, listen to jazz by a band that should have a recording contract! and witness a performance that you won't soon forget!

We are selling tickets, now, and seating is available for meal and show, or show, only.

To learn more about the play and to purchase tickets, please visit our website at http://www.heritagechurchofgod.org/

Or, you can call me at 419-283-4813.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Brinda


sales@ducatdirect.comhttp://ebay.ducatdirect.com/

Palin Politics

I am not much into politics, I think we have better things to do.
To see any person being crucified for their Christian belief, like a Christian can not hold office because they have faith in a living God should upset every Christian living.
No matter what political side you set on, no Christian should be put down because of their faith.
Most know me as a believer in the kingdom of God, and believing that God has the rule over any king or kingdom, so who sets as president is neither here nor there to me. Both seem to sell out, and both parties have their share of crooks.
To set back and tolerate a person being tagged as a Christian as being a bad thing, or disqualifying one to serve this country is over the line. Way over the line.
Yes it offends me as a born again Christian. It should offend you too.
The presidential race should be about the issues, and neither candidate has addressed the nationalizing of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac .
I do not like a presidential candidate owning a brewery either, alcohol has been and still is one of the worst things that has hit this country. Now I have offended both the Republicans and Democrats, so be it. If you are offended, your politics are stronger than your faith, God help us all.
You see I am non partisan. I am Christian first, and last.
What the media is saying and doing to Sarah Palin is a disgrace.

Kingdom of God

John the Baptist came preaching, as recorded in Matthew chapter three verse two.“Repent ye: for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” The scripture then reports in Mark chapter one verses fourteen, and fifteen. “Now after that John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye; and believe the gospel.
John and Jesus spoke very clearly about the kingdom of God. The term kingdom is used throughout the New Testament, and is refereed to more than one hundred times.
The term born again, sanctification, and kingdom have all been used to divide Gods people, but all of these term if understood should, and will bring unity to all believers.
There never has been any argument about the preaching, or message of John the Baptist referring to Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the messiah. He is the king of kings. When the angle in Luke chapter one verse thirty-three said. “He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” All Christians agree Jesus is king of the everlasting kingdom.
The controversy has always been that man has tried to make this kingdom of God an earthly kingdom. Jesus spoke very plain on this subject, in Luke chapter seventeen verses twenty, and twenty-one.“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, low here: or low there: for, behold the kingdom of God is within you.”
The kingdom is not a worldly kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom headed by Christ, and made up of born again believers.
Jesus even cleared up for us when the kingdom would be setup. In Matthew chapter sixteen, verse twenty-eight Jesus said. “Verily I say unto you, there is some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.” In Luke twenty-one verse thirty-two. “Jesus said verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till ALL be fulfilled.
The point that Jesus made here is so clear that it leaves no room for any other interpretation than the obvious. The only point that might be challenged, is how long a generation is, but I am sure that in our wildest imagination a generation could not reach two thousand years. The number we would probably come up with would be more like forty years. The number of years the children of Israel were in the wilderness. Then Jesus said some shall not even taste death, till they see the son of man in his kingdom.
The words that Jesus spoke while hanging on the cross were, it is finished, but some may question, if it was finished or not. Jesus being the messiah had fulfilled all the prophecies. Jesus stated this in Luke chapter eight verse thirty-one. “Then he took unto him the twelve and said unto them, Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the son of man shall be accomplished.” Jesus was the word that was made flesh. The New Testament is a testimony of his life, and teachings. The cross was the final defeat for Satan, and when Jesus said it was finished, it was over the scriptures had been fulfilled.
If we can see what it is to be born again, and sanctified unto God, it will not be hard to understand what Jesus was talking about in Luke chapter eleven, and verse twenty. “The kingdom of God is upon you.” Jesus had finished his work. Pilot had asked Jesus art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered thou sayest. He is defiantly the king, but a king without a kingdom is no king at all. The kingdom of God is here now it is within the heart of every believer, and has been sense Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament. John speaking through the spirit in revelation chapter one verse nine. “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom.” John knew he was in the kingdom at that time, he also knew the Christians he was addressing were also in the kingdom. Luke also speaks on this subject in the eighteenth chapter, and the verses’ twenty-nine, and thirty. “And he said to them, verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or parent, or brother, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of Gods sake, who shall no receive many times more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” Notice the phrase in this present time. Jesus is speaking of the kingdom being already in existence and the believers being part of it then, and there. Jesus speaking again in Luke chapter twelve verse thirty one.“But rather seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not little flock; for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”We are not to be waiting on the kingdom of God, we are to be seeking it, and it is the father’s good pleasure to give it to you.
Still there are some that do not believe that Jesus fulfilled all the prophecy as he said he did. They believe that Daniel’s seventh week must be fulfilled at some later date, and Jesus must return to do that. I chose to take the word of Jesus rather than that of man on this subject. The problem is if Jesus did not fulfill the prophecy then he wasn’t the messiah, and it really wasn’t finished when Jesus said it was.
How then do we deal with the woman in Revelation chapter twelve, where she is with child, and cried travailing in birth, and pain to be delivered? Then in verse five the scripture says she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations, and her child was caught up to God, and to his throne. There cannot be any doubt that this is talking about Jesus Christ. Then we read in verse ten “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brothern is cast down. Salvation, strength, and the kingdom is come, now notice how all three are used together. The word travail, or tribulation coming before the kingdom could be scriptural. Let us take some time and explore this. The whole creation groaning together from the time John the Baptist started his ministry until the time Jesus completed his ministry. The bible even tells us that when Jesus died the graves opened, and the sun turned black. The spiritual warfare had to be beyond description. The day heaven, and hell meet. Jesus was victorious. Man could live again not under the law of discipline, but in the kingdom of God. If you need to fit in the seven years, I believe this is a very good place to do that.
Another word we hear is millennium. The word millennium means a thousand. Some theologians use it to refer to a period of time for an earthly kingdom. Jesus answered this himself and so did the angle of God, and every Christian knows in his heart, that there is no end to the kingdom of God, not in a thousand years, or ten thousand years. The kingdom of God cannot be put in a box.
The question then comes up about Revelation chapter twenty, verse two.“He laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit; and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should not deceive the nations any more.” This verse means what it says Satan cannot deceive the nations, because the kingdom of God cannot be deceived. Satan lost his power over this world when Jesus defeated him on the cross, and if this did not happen at the cross than what did happen to Satan there, does he have the same power he did before, or are his movements limited, and where are they limited? These are not only limited, but totally powerless in the kingdom of God.
The next word is Armageddon as referred to in Revelation chapter sixteen the sixth angle poured out his vial upon the Euphrates, an three unclean spirits like frogs came out of the dragon’s mouth, they are the spirits of the devil. These go forth to the kings of the earth to gather them together to battle. This is taught by some to take place at the end of the tribulation. Now it is the belief that the church will be in heaven at this time. Then what is to take place is that, Jesus is to lead an army consisting of the Christians in heaven, and these dear saints will come out of heaven, and fight earthly men, and kill then. The slighter will be so bad that the blood will run as high as the bridle on the horses.
If I believed in soul sleep I would have an easier time trying to understand this line of thinking, but I don’t believe in soul sleep.
Paul tells us to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. When our body dies, we go directly to heaven to be with the Lord, and he will wipe away every tear.
In John chapter fourteen Jesus says let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. Heaven is a place. We go directly there. We do not pass through purgatory, or limbo. The reference to Jesus coming to take us to heaven is referring to our physical death.
Then after we are in heaven, having communion with the saints, listening to the angelic choir sing. Then we are to take up a sword, and fight a battle that Jesus has already won.
The New Jerusalem as spoken of in Revelation chapter twenty-one, verse ten. “The angle carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” We need to remember that John saw this city, and the angle made no mention of it being an illusion. Then in the sixteenth verse it tells us the length, breath, and height, all fifteen hundred miles each. The scripture tells us in the book of Galatians chapter four, verses twenty-five, and six. “For this is Agar in mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children, but Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Notice verse twenty-six Paul says the Jerusalem which is above, that is in the present tense, and the same verse says which is the mother of us all, again in the present tense. The New Jerusalem is already in place, and has been throughout the kingdom age. Christians may be in this natural world, but we are not of this world.

Stock Manipulation

If it seems odd to you that respected and influential news publications would urge the government to provide get-out-of-jail-free cards to criminal stock manipulators…well, welcome to the Deep Capture team. We’ve witnessed a lot of freakish journalism during the past few years, but it never ceases to amaze.
A nice example can be found in the latest Barron’s magazine, where the lead editorial chides the SEC for issuing an emergency order to “stop unlawful manipulation” that threatens to crash the American financial system.
According to Barron’s, the SEC “waved a newspaper and swatted the imaginary fly of naked short-selling. It made a big noise, but there’s no dead bug.”
That word “imaginary” has a ring of familiarity. “Seeing shadows on the wall,” is how Bethany McLean of Fortune magazine once described concerns about naked short sellers. “Seeing UFOs” was the phrase employed by CNBC’s Herb Greenberg, then writing for MarketWatch. But in the face of all the evidence, those journalists have been silent on the issue for months, and now everybody from the Secretary of the Treasury on down says that illegal naked short-selling is an abomination.
Certainly, there is nothing “imaginary” about the SEC data showing that as of March 31, $8.7 billion worth of stock had “failed to deliver.” Most of those failures were the result of illegal naked short selling – hedge funds and their brokers offloading stock that they had not, and never intended, to borrow. Experts agree that there is at least ten times more of this phantom stock in parts of the system – such as “ex-clearing” – for which the SEC provides no public data.
Barron’s is right, there’s “no dead bug” – naked shorting is alive and well. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be swatted. Maybe the SEC just needs a better newspaper – something other than the limpid Barron’s.
But wait. Here’s a newsflash: Naked short selling is good clean fun – nothing illegal about it. “Aggressive short-selling isn’t a crime,” Barron’s writes. “Even naked short-selling – selling shares before borrowing them – hasn’t been against the rules. Until last week, a short-seller could enter a naked trade in almost any stock if his broker had reasonable grounds to expect that an adequate number of shares could be borrowed by the day of settlement.”
That is technically true, but its is plainly disingenuous for Barron’s to suggest that the SEC is cracking down on legal behavior. The problem, as Barron’s editors surely know (they do cover Wall Street, don’t they?), is that short-sellers and their brokers routinely offload stock without having “reasonable grounds” that they can borrow it. That is why more than $8 billion of stock “fails to deliver” on a typical “day of settlement.” Moreover, the data shows that most of this phantom stock is targeted at specific companies, and that much of it remains undelivered for months, even years, at a time.
In an earlier issue, Barron’s itself described the case of Cal-Maine Foods, the country’s largest egg producer, noting that, “Of the 55% of Cal-Maine’s stock that’s available to the public, more than 100% is sold short. That suggests short sellers…are executing sales before taking the normal step of securing shares to borrow.”
There is no legal gray area where hedge funds are allowed to sell more of a company’s stock than actually exists. This sort of naked short selling is not some technical glitch. It is illegal market manipulation. It is clear-cut fraud. And it is happening on a massive scale.
That is why the SEC seems to want to crack down. Its emergency order protects only 19 big financial firms, but hopes are high that the Commission will extend its protection to the many companies, such as Cal-Maine, that are far more seriously affected. The hedge fund lobby and Barron’s will whine loudly, but it seems like common sense that short-sellers market-wide should be required to pre-borrow (i.e. have real stock) before they dump it on unsuspecting investors.
Really, I challenge Barron’s, or anybody else, to name just one expert (people working for hedge funds don’t count) who has published a study casting doubt on the thesis that naked short selling is routinely used to illegally manipulate markets – with potentially catastrophic consequences. I have yet to come across any such expert, and there is no evidence that Barron’s has either. Indeed it’s editorial contains no facts or data – just platitudes.
It’s only real-world example is the much-discussed demise of Bear Stearns. Short-sellers, we are told, had nothing to do with the bank’s collapse. All the rumors were true. The only falsehoods were told by Bear Stearns spokesmen, “who declared that everything was hunky-dory.” That’s how it happened – take Barron’s word for it.
Ugh. This “debate” is like arguing over how many Froot Loops are in the box. It’s absurd – let’s just take them out and count. We did that, and the number we got was 1.2 million. That’s the number of Bear Stearns shares that were sold on March 12, but remained undelivered after the 3 days allotted for settlement. The shares were undelivered because they were as fake as the Froot in your Loops.
And note that the increase in phantom shares on March 12 was at least ten times the increase in the total volume of trading in Bear Stearns stock, suggesting that selling of real shares was comparatively light. In other words, there was no panic among investors until after those 1.2 million phantom shares (and probably a lot more in ex-clearing) flooded the marketplace, creating the illusion that somebody was panicking. .
That afternoon, CNBC, working from information provided by a hedge fund, reported (as if it were fact) the bombshell that Goldman Sachs had cut off Bear’s credit. This was the first time the media had reported anything so drastic about the bank. And the report was completely false. Message to Barron’s editors: the rumors were not true. May I humbly suggest that you investigate this.
The truth is that on the morning of March 12, Bear Stearns was an unhealthy company, but it had $17 billion in cash, and few people believed that it was on the brink of collapse. Nobody had cut off its credit. No major clients had pulled out their money.
The next day, everybody pulled out their money. Bear Stearns was gone. What was the trigger? I’m open to other suggestions (Barron’s provides none), but it seems quite obvious there is only one explanation: A whole lot of phantom stock (the illusion of panicked selling) on March 12, combined with a well-timed media atrocity that afternoon, precipitated a real panic the following day.
We can assume that the SEC agrees with this version of events. That is why it believed that rumor-mongering naked short sellers had the potential to destroy 19 big financial firms. Maybe those 19 institutions are all bad companies. Maybe they should all be out of business. If so, let them fail naturally and gradually. Don’t allow law-breaking hedge funds to manufacture mass hysterias that could crash the financial system.
It’s hard to say why Barron’s doesn’t grasp this, but perhaps it is significant that it felt compelled to include in its editorial a little disclaimer about the magazine’s relationships with short-sellers. The editorial notes with apparent pleasure that Barron’s is “sometimes known on the Street as ‘Bear-ons’….[and] it prides itself on offering accurate negative news about companies as much as it does about passing on accurate good news. Good news is plentiful, and therefore cheap. Bad news has to be dug up….Short-sellers read Barron’s with special interest, and they also make good sources of information that our reporters can check and publish if true.”
I’d be hard pressed to provide a better description of what plagues certain segments of our financial media. Start with the appalling notion that “good news” is “cheap.” The way I see it, all news is equally valuable – so long as it’s true and interesting. It’s a bit rich to suggest that good news is more “plentiful” when short-sellers have become such “good sources of information.” In any case, interesting, nuanced truths usually contain some good news, some bad. And they tend to be discovered by independent thinkers who do their own research, not by some ping-pong headed note-taker who bounces between the conniving short and the corporate VP of Puff until deadline comes and confusion reigns, but one thing is certain – the editor has decreed that good news is “cheap.”
Even worse than the bias for bad news is Bear-on’s implicit assumption that because short-sellers are “good sources of information,” the government (and the media?) should leave them alone, even if they’re committing crimes. There is nothing wrong with journalists talking to short-sellers. But while they’re at it, they might ask some short-sellers why their target companies are buried under heaping piles of phantom stock.
Barron’s has worked closely with some pretty dastardly shorts while obligingly keeping its nose out of their shady business dealings. Short-seller David Rocker, for example, was a popular source and Barron’s columnist while he was conspiring with a disreputable outfit called Gradient Analytics. Gradient advertised itself as providing “independent” research, but former employees say its falsehood-laden hatchet jobs were often dictated by Rocker, who illegally traded ahead of them, while one of Gradient’s managers was accumulating multiple aliases and fake IDs to hide his activities.
Most of Rocker’s short targets appeared on the SEC’s list of companies victimized by excessive levels of phantom stock – purely coincidence, no doubt, but Barron’s might have asked him about it.
For a long time, Barron’s editor Cheryl Straus Einhorn published a steady stream of biased stories that generated financial rewards for associates of her husband, a hedge fund manager and master of distortion named David Einhorn. Meanwhile, Barron’s couldn’t get enough of the “good information” provided by short-seller Anthony Elgindy, a gun-toting, Mafia-connected goon who was well-known for selling phantom stock, bribing FBI officials, extortion, blackmail – you name it.
Barron’s has since fired Ms. Einhorn, Elgindy is now doing 11 years in a federal penitentiary, and Rocker slunk into retirement in Florida (and got a “homestead exemption” protecting his assets from seizure) after the government issued him with a subpoena.
Fortunately, Barron’s still has some “good sources of information” and no doubt they are all model citizens. But the latest editorial shows that the magazine is as reluctant as ever to publish the bad news about short-sellers’ crimes.
Funny that – with good news being so “cheap” and all.
Mark Mitchell is the former editor of the Columbia Journalism Review’s on-line review of business journalism. He has also worked as an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal in Europe, and as a correspondent for Time magazine in Asia, and the Far Eastern Economic Review.
http://yourstockworld.com/2008/08/08/stock-market-crash-newspaper-editorial/

Fear

Fear is a great motivator, the problem is it usually motivates us in the wrong direction.
Fear will control our lives if not confronted.
What can help over come fear, faith.
Faith will confront fear and they can not exist together, it is like water and oil, they do not mix. Faith in knowing God will and can take care of you, he knows your circumstances,
he has your best interest at heart.
Let's say you have a fear that your are going to get laid off from your job.
If the boss sends you a letter stating that your job is secure, then the faith in what the boss has written will overcome that fear.
God has sent us a letter that says that he cares for us, and he has our names in the palm of his hands. Believing what God has told us, will help to overcome the fear, and stop the worry.
Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there.
Trust God

Heaven or Hell

The Bible teaches of two distinct places which are eternal.
One is Heaven, it is reported the 9 out of 10 Americans believe in Heaven.
Heaven is seldom preached about, but it seems that the song writers have found a great way to express what Heaven is going to be.
The Devil will not just come out and say there is no Heaven he will just try to make it boring, and unattractive to those who want to experiance life. The truth is that Heaven is exciting, beautiful, satisfying, and completes life itself. In Christ you have the abundent life.
Hell on the other hand is a place that is spoken of even more than Heaven in the new testament, yet it seems that few really believe that it exist. How can anyone doubt one place without doubting the other. How can one choose to believe in one destiny and totally ignore the other.
To me that would not fit into logical thinking, yet that type of thinking is done today,
even in many so called Bible believing churches.
Both Heaven and Hell are motivators, they motivate us do better, to live better, and they teach us that there is an accounting for how we live.
If we can catch the concept of heaven and hell we will live a life more compelling to what real Christianity is supposed to be, and the rewards for our commitment will follow.
God Bless you as you contemplate the reality of Heaven and Hell.

A great statement

“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”“Since man created government to help secure and safeguard [inalienable] rights [from God], it follows that man is superior to government and should remain master over it, not the other way around.”Ezra T Benson, Former Secretary of Agriculture

For our troops

This offer expires when you do

While on vacation I saw a young boy wearing a t-shirt with a neat saying on it.
It said.
Salvation and redemption is your for the asking,
This offer expires when you do.
I thought that was one of the most original statements I have ever seen.
It is also a true statement.

Catching Wild Hogs

There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.
The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government.
In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, ” Do you know how to catch wild pigs?”
The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke.”You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground.
The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence.
They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, AND THEN you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.
Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom.
They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how To forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushingus toward communism/socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.
WE ARE SLOWLY AND UNWITTINGLY BEING TAKEN CAPTIVE LOSING OUR FREEDOMS JUST A LITTLE AT A TIME.

Healing

(Mat 12:15 ) But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;(
Mat 14:36 ) And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
(Luke 6:19 ) And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
(Mat 8:16 ) When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
(Luke 4:40 ) Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them
(Acts 10:38 ) How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him

Woman at the well: John 4:1-30

V-4 he must needs go through Samaria
1 People of samurai 2 why did he need to go
Rejects Seeker
V-7 he ask give me to drink
Shows his humanity, to give us his divinity
We must see him as Jesus, to receive him as Christ.
His humanity is under attack/movies/books
V-8 why do u ask me for water?
Jesus is always asking sinners to take a look at him.
V-11 you have nothing to draw with!
The first thing a sinner does when they see what Jesus did on cross, is ask how does that help me.
V-14 ask and you will never thirst again.
A well springs up inside of you refreshing you
V-15 she ask GIVE ME THE WATER
Jesus answers NO or go tell your husband
What he is saying is repent first.
Easy believe-ism today, but you must repent
V-18 Jesus has a way of letting us know who we are
Remember asking Jacob what his name was? Or Peter he would deny him?
V-19 she started to get it.
V-22 you worship you know not what
The world worships, rock stars, ball players, politicians, preachers, money.
V-25 I know messiah cometh
The world believes, but Jesus is the only way to heaven.
V-26 I AM HE
V-28 she left her water pot
Perhaps she forgot it a lot of things get forgot when u get saved. All my sins/old places you hung out
Perhaps she thought it would hinder her. Lay aside every weight that so easily besets you.
Perhaps she thought Jesus had need of it. You become a giver.
Perhaps she took the whole well with her.
V-29-30 she was a soul winner.
She testified, a sure sign a sure sign of being saved.

Raising Children, and Grandchildren

Give your kids music lessons, on any instrument they ask to take lessons on.
They may not learn to play it, but they will learn to appreciate good music.
They will learn how hard it is, to learn to play a instrument, and they will appreciate those who have mastered the instrument.My dad bought me a guitar , and I took lessons,
I did not learn how to play it.
My dad bought me a Hawaiian guitar, I took lessons, I did not learn how to play it.
Then I wanted a trumpet, he said nothing about the other two instruments setting in my room, he bought me a trumpet, I did not learn how to play it.
What I did learn.
I learned to appreciate those who do play, I know the sacrifice they made to learn how to play,
I love good musicians.
I played baseball and football in school, I do not play now, but I love to go to the games.
I appreciate the game.
I will buy my grandchildren any instrument they want to take lessons on,
I will buy ball, art, mechanical, and fishing equipment,
I will buy lessons on almost anything, gymnastics, music, art, swimming, karate,
but Never
will I buy fads,
I do not want them to be like all the other kids, I want them to be themselves.
IMO; when we buy into the fads with kids, we are allowing a 9 year old to teach them their values.
Parents should teach values to their children.
Now if you buy them every thing little Johnny has down the street, so they can be like little Johnny, it could be really hard to get your influence back if Johnny goes bad.
You gave Johnny that influence over your child.
Teach your kids, what is good, spend time with them, buy them things that will teach them,
not things that make them part of a instant gratification group,
that at some point, you will do everything you can to get them out of that group.

Raising kids is not easy, and we learn so much, when it is too late.
I do have good kids and grandkids, I love them dearly.
I have seen that many of there misjudgments, they have made,
I allowed them to be taught by others.
When My kids were young it was the Guess jeans group.
I wished many times I would have just guessed again.

Giving parent

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play. *Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together. *Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles. *Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck and I will buy you one if he comes by. *Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned. *Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them. *Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald's and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.. *Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you. *Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry. *Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars. *Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows. *Just for this evening when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given. *I will think about the mothers And fathers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly, and screaming inside that they can't handle it anymore. *And when I kiss you good night I will hold you a little tighter, a ittle longer. It is then, that I will thank God for you, and ask Him for nothing, except one more day.............. <>

Pope St. Leo I (AD 390-461) Delivered on Easter,

I. We Must All Be Partakers in Christ's Resurrection LifeIn my last sermon, dearly-beloved, not in- appropriately, as I think, we explained to you our participation in the cross of Christ, whereby the life of believers contains in itself the mystery of Easter, and thus what is honoured at the feast is celebrated by our practice. And how useful this is you yourselves have proved, and by your devotion have learnt, how greatly benefited souls and bodies are by longer fasts, more frequent prayers, and more liberal alms. For there can be hardly any one who has not profited by this exercise, and who has not stored up in the recesses of his conscience something over which he may rightly rejoice. But these advantages must be retained with persistent care, lest our efforts fall away into idleness, and the devil's malice steal what God's grace gave. Since, therefore, by our forty days' observance we have wished to bring about this effect, that we should feel something of the Cross at the time of the Lord's Passion, we must strive to be found partakers also of Christ's Resurrection, and "pass from death unto life," while we are in this body. For when a man is changed by some process from one thing into another, not to be what he was is to him an ending, and to be what he was not is a beginning. But the question is, to what a man either dies or lives: because there is a death, which is the cause of living, and there is a life, which is the cause of dying. And nowhere else but in this transitory world are both sought after, so that upon the character of our temporal actions depend the differences of the eternal retributions. We must die, therefore, to the devil and live to God: we must perish to iniquity that we may rise to righteousness. Let the old sink, that the new may rise; and since, as says the Truth, "no one can serve two masters," let not him be Lord who has caused the overthrow of those that stood, but Him Who has raised the fallen to victory.
II. God Did Not Leave His Soul in Hell, Nor Suffer His Flesh to See CorruptionAccordingly, since the Apostle says, "the first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is from heaven heavenly. As is the earthy, such also are they that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such also are they that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, so let us also bear the image of Him Who is from heaven," we must greatly rejoice over this change, whereby we are translated from earthly degradation to heavenly dignity through His unspeakable mercy, Who descended into our estate that He might promote us to His, by assuming not only the substance but also the conditions of sinful nature, and by allowing the impossibility of Godhead to be affected by all the miseries which are the lot of mortal manhood. And hence that the disturbed minds of the disciples might not be racked by prolonged grief, He with such wondrous speed shortened the three days' delay which He had announced, that by joining the last part of the first and the first part of the third day to the whole of the second, He cut off a considerable portion of the period, and yet did not lessen the number of days. The Saviour's Resurrection therefore did not long keep His soul in Hades, nor His flesh in the tomb; and so speedy was the quickening of His uncorrupted flesh that it bore a closer resemblance to slumber than to death, seeing that the Godhead, Which quitted not either part of the Human Nature which He had assumed, reunited by Its power that which Its power had separated.
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III. Christ's Manifestation After the Resurrection Showed that His Person Was Essentially the Same as BeforeAnd then there followed many proofs, whereon the authority of the Faith to be preached through the whole world might be based. And although the rolling away of the stone, the empty tomb, the arrangement of the linen cloths, and the angels who narrated the whole deed by themselves fully built up the truth of the Lord's Resurrection, yet did He often appear plainly to the eyes both of the women and of the Apostles not only talking with them, but also remaining and eating with them, and allowing Himself to be handled by the eager and curious hands of those whom doubt assailed. For to this end He entered when the doors were closed upon the disciples, and gave them the Holy Spirit by breathing on them, and after giving them the light of understanding opened the secrets of the Holy Scriptures, and again Himself showed them the wound in the side, the prints of the nails, and all the marks of His most recent Passion, whereby it might be acknowledged that in Him the properties of the Divine and Human Nature remained undivided, and we might in such sort know that the Word was not what the flesh is, as to confess God's only Son to be both Word and Flesh.
IV. But Though It is the Same, It is Also GlorifiedThe Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, dearly. beloved, does not disagree with this belief, when he says, "even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know Him so no more." For the Lord's Resurrection was not the ending, but the changing of the flesh, and His substance was not destroyed by His increase of power. The quality altered, but the nature did not cease to exist: the body was made impassible, which it had been possible to crucify: it was made incorruptible, though it had been possible to wound it. And properly is Christ's flesh said not to be known in that state in which it had been known, because nothing remained passible in it, nothing weak, so that it was both the same in essence and not the same in glory. But what wonder if S. Paul maintains this about Christ's body, when he says of all spiritual Christians "wherefore henceforth we know no one after the flesh." Henceforth, he says, we begin to experience the resurrection in Christ, since the time when in Him, Who died for all, all our hopes were guaranteed to us. We do not hesitate in diffidence, we are not under the suspense of uncertainty, but having received an earnest of the promise, we now with the eye of faith see the things which will be, and rejoicing in the uplifting of our nature, we already possess what we believe.
V. Being Saved by Hope, We Must Not Fulfil the Lasts of the FleshLet us not then be taken up with the appearances of temporal matters, neither let our contemplations be diverted from heavenly to earthly things. Things which as yet have for the most part not come to pass must be reckoned as accomplished: and the mind intent on what is permanent must fix its desires there, where what is offered is eternal. For although "by hope we were saved," and still bear about with us a flesh that is corruptible and mortal, yet we are rightly said not to be in the flesh, if the fleshly affections do not dominate us, and are justified in ceasing to be named after that, the will of which we do not follow. And so, when the Apostle says, "make not provision for the flesh in the lusts thereof," we understand that those things are not forbidden us, which conduce to health and which human weakness demands, but because we may not satisfy all our desires nor indulge in all that the flesh lusts after, we recognize that we are warned to exercise such self-restraint as not to permit what is excessive nor refuse what is necessary to the flesh, which is placed under the mind's control. And hence the same Apostle says in another place, "For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it;" in so far, of course, as it must be nourished and cherished not in vices and luxury, but with a view to its proper functions, so that nature may recover herself and maintain due order, the lower parts not prevailing wrongfully and debasingly over the higher, nor the higher yielding to the lower, lest if vices overpower the mind, slavery ensues where there should be supremacy.
VI. Our Godly Resolutions Must Continue All the Year Round, Not Be Confined to Easier OnlyLet God's people then recognize that they are a new creation in Christ, and with all vigilance understand by Whom they have been adopted and Whom they have adopted. Let not the things, which have been made new, return to their ancient instability; and let not him who has "put his hand to the plough" forsake his work, but rather attend to that which he sows than look back to that which he has left behind. Let no one fall back into that from which he has risen, but, even though from bodily weakness he still languishes under certain maladies, let him urgently desire to be healed and raised up. For this is the path of health through imitation of the Resurrection begun in Christ, whereby, notwithstanding the many accidents and falls to which in this slippery life the traveler is liable, his feet may be guided from the quagmire on to solid ground, for, as it is written, "the steps of a man are directed by the Lord, and He will delight in his way. When the just man falls he shall not be overthrown, because the Lord will stretch out His hand." These thoughts, dearly-beloved, must be kept in mind not only for the Easter festival, but also for the sanctification of the whole life, and to this our present exercise ought to be directed, that what has delighted the souls of the faithful by the experience of a short observance may pass into a habit and remain unalterably, and if any fault creep in, it may be destroyed by speedy repentance. And because the cure of old-standing diseases is slow and difficult, remedies should be applied early, when the wounds are fresh, so that rising ever anew from all downfalls, we may deserve to attain to the incorruptible Resurrection of our glorified flesh in Christ Jesus our Lord, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever. Amen.

Seven Words of Christ on the Cross

First Word: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing": Lk.23:34. - Second Word: "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise": Lk.23:43. -
Third Word: "Jesus said to his mother: "Woman, this is your son". Then he said to the disciple: "this is your mother": Jn.19:26-27. -
Fourth Word: "And about 3 o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice: "Eli, Eli, lema sabackthani?" which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?": Mt.27:46, Mk.15:34. -
Fifth Word: "I thirst": Jn.19:28. -
Sixth Word: "It is finished", "it is accomplished": Jn.19:30. -
Seventh Word: "Jesus, cried out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit": Lk.23:46.