Where’s the Proof That Mindfulness Meditation Works?

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Scientific American reports that the highly touted technique that allegedly relieves stress and pain has very little scientific evidence backing it. Bret Stetka informs us that “only around 9 percent of research into mindfulness-based interventions has been tested in clinical trials that included a control group.”

The concept of mindfulness involves focusing on your present situation and state of mind. This can mean awareness of your surroundings, emotions and breathing—or, more simply, enjoying each bite of a really good sandwich. Research in recent decades has linked mindfulness practices to a staggering collection of possible health benefits.

Tuning into the world around you may provide a sense of well-being, an array of studies claim. Multiple reports link mindfulness with improved cognitive functioning. One study even suggests it may preserve the tips of our chromosomes, which whither away as we age.

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Is the Great Commission best fulfilled by preaching the Gospel or by Christians ‘being the Gospel?’

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20 (NASB) 

The passage above is best known as our Lord Jesus’ Great Commission to the Church. This is what we are to be about. I heard a survey taken at a Christian bookseller’s convention a few years ago in which one of the questions asked was something like, “Is the Great Commission best fulfilled by preaching the Gospel or by Christians ‘being the Gospel?’” Well over half of the answers given were affirmative for the latter rather than the former. That was not surprising after the rest of the survey results were revealed though. The overall lack of depth of real Bible knowledge and doctrine in that group was indeed telling. From that discussion it became apparent that most of those responding to the survey actually believed that their performance as Christians had more to do with evangelism than actually preaching the Gospel itself. View article →

Pro-Life Students Should Have Same Rights as Superstar Athletes

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Shouldn’t pro-life students have the same rights as superstar athletes? Clearly they don’t. According to Kristan Hawkins, student voices that favor life over abortion are forcible being silenced. LifeZette has the story:

The uproar over Vice President Mike Pence’s decision to leave the Colts-49ers game after some NFL players took a knee during the national anthem again highlights the intense cultural debate over free speech that seems of utmost importance to the media and activists. Yet not all “speech” is treated as equal in coverage and attention.

Over the last few weeks, the free speech rights of students on college campuses have been violated, as peaceful chalk messages from students have been destroyed, flyers pulled down, and permits for new pro-life groups and speakers slow-walked through the approval process to prevent voices from being heard.

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Why Doesn’t God Just Talk To Me?

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From Berean Research:

“Will you at least whisper, Father. Or give me a sign…something, anything personal so I’ll know it’s you.”

In the following piece over at TheoLatte, Dan DeWitt appeals to professing believers to consider the ramifications of God actually speaking to His people in any way except through the Holy Spirit inspired scriptures. For example, “what happens if God says something contradictory to someone else? Who is the judge? Are you? Are they? Who decides?” The answer is that we’d need an “external reference point by which to help judge each other’s claims.” Ever considered that, brethren? Dan has. Which is why he tackles the ongoing debate over whether God’s sheep receive special revelation. He writes:

Why doesn’t God just talk to me? Have you asked that before? Why should it require hundreds of years, a bunch of dead old guys from who knows where, and something called a “manuscript tradition,” for you to hear from God?

So, here’s a few reasons why it’s better for you that God has chosen to speak to you through his Word rather than waking you up in the middle of the night with an audible, “Hey you! Get out of bed and listen up!”:

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Collective consciousness to replace God

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The statement was made by Dan Brown, author of “The Da Vinci Code,” a book of pure fiction that was made into a movie starring Tom Hanks. In the book Brown attacks the reliability of Scripture, the deity of Christ and pretty much everything else about Christianity. He wrote: “Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false” (p. 235). So with the stage now set, Reuters’ columnist Douglas Busvine’s has a written a piece on Brown’s latest book: 

Humanity no longer needs God but may with the help of artificial intelligence develop a new form of collective consciousness that fulfils the role of religion, U.S. author Dan Brown said on Thursday.

Brown made the provocative remark at the Frankfurt Book Fair where he was promoting his new novel, “Origin”, the fifth outing for Harvard “symbology” professor Robert Langdon, the protagonist of “The Da Vinci Code”, a book that questioned the history of Christianity.

“Origin” was inspired by the question “Will God survive science?”, said Brown, adding that this had never happened in the history of humanity.

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The fear of God and its fruit

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13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NASB) 

The total lack of the fear of God is what marks the ungodly. (Romans 3:18) On the other hand, genuine believers in scripture are described as those who do fear Him. Tragically, when moral issues between professing Christians and the unchurched are compared there is very little difference. There is the same level of divorce, adultery, pornography, dishonesty, etc.; in both groups. This should not be so. View article →

Do you have the ‘spirit of Jezebel’?

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Many of us in discernment have been accused by charismatics of having the “spirit of Jezebel” because we attack their error and stand for God and His truth. Glenn Chatfield of The Watchman’s Bagpipes tells the story of the wicked Jezebel and discloses the truth of who really possesses the Jezebel spirit. He writes:

Many false teachers and their followers, especially of the Word of Faith cult, rail at those who expose their false teachers by claiming the nay-sayers have “the spirit of Jezebel.”  This supposedly identifies the nay-sayers as false teachers opposing God.  But let’s look at who Jezebel was, what her evil was, and how that applies to today’s claims of having her “spirit.”

Pastor Bob Liichow, of Discernment Ministries International, wrote an article about this issue in his August “Truth Matters” apologetics letter.  The information he provided needs to be spread among believers so as to be able to address the false teachings about “the spirit of Jezebel.”

The End Of The Road For American Truckers Is Coming Into View

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One-third of America’s $700 billion trucking industry goes to compensate drivers, providing a rich target for Technocrats. UPS, for instance, has increasingly moved from being a trucking company that uses technology, to being a technology company that has some trucks. About 3.5 million people are employed in the U.S. trucking industry. — Technocracy News Editor

According to The Guardian:

Jeff Baxter’s sunflower-yellow Kenworth truck shines as bright and almost as big as the sun. Four men clean the glistening cab in the hangar-like truck wash at Iowa 80, the world’s largest truck stop.

Baxter has made a pitstop at Iowa 80 before picking up a 116ft-long wind turbine blade that he’s driving down to Texas, 900 miles away.

Baxter, 48, is one of the 1.8 million Americans, mainly men, who drive heavy trucks for a living, the single most common job in many US states. Driving is one of the biggest occupations in the world. Another 1.7 million people drive taxis, buses and delivery vehicles in the US alone. But for how long? Having “disrupted” industries including manufacturing, music, journalism and retail, Silicon Valley has its eyes on trucking.

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Charismatic Hippies Take a Knee for Racial Disharmony at D.C. Event

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Pulpit & Pen News has the story:

They billed the event as a “Holy Spirit Woodstock.” The term hippies might be a broad brush to describe the charismatics flocking to the National Mall to take part in the ecstatic mind-altering worship experiences led by New Apostolic Reformation gurus like Lou Engle, but it’s hard to deny that the experience-driven, rhapsodic worshipers have something in common with the intoxicated celebrations in 1969 New York.

Steven Kozar writes of the futility and pointlessness of such a vaguely-objectiveless event at Messed Up Church. Describing the attendees singing nonsensical songs and blowing shofars to “blast away the darkness, Kozar writes…

Let’s be honest, folks, nothing is really happening here. Many of these people are wearing t-shirts from the last “world-changing” conference or rally that they attended. This is sad, delusional and useless activity being passed off as a “revival.” Do these people really believe that darkness has now been officially driven out because they gathered and clapped and stomped and chanted?

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All things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. 10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. 11 “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.” Psalms 95:7-11 (NASB)

Preaching or teaching from God’s Word is nothing to trifle with. The responsibility that goes with each is eternal. Those who minister through the Word will be held accountable. We must ask each time we preach or teach, “Did I treat what is Holy as it deserved? Have I fallen into doing my ministry perfunctorily?” Those of us who teach must never do so in a way that is in any way motivated by anything other than our love and devotion for our Lord. Yes, there will be circumstances that we respond to and use as inspiration or input, but, even in that, we do a tremendous disservice to our Lord if we don’t go to Him in prayer first before we respond, write, preach, or teach. While the leader has a huge responsibility to minister by the Spirit, those who hear the truth from God’s Word will also be held accountable. View article →

Why the Brownsville Revival was a demonic revival, run by Satan’s servants

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By Churchwatcher

This article’s title may seem extreme, but Christians MUST scrutinize the spiritual nature of the so-called Brownsville Revival, (also known as the Pensacola Outpouring or Father’s Day Outpouring). This event was heralded as a crowning achievement by many Apostles and Prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) cult. They claim this revival came from God Himself.

Furthermore, NAR Apostles like Michael Brown used this event as if it had a greater authority than scripture itself to justify his NAR-centered theology, arrogantly calling that which was demonic, of God.

The proof is in what they say and teach. Firstly, Apostles of the NAR attribute the origins of this revival not to God but to David Yonggi Cho, a dangerous false teacher (and a good friend of Apostle Michael Brown). Cho listened to a demon who gave him ‘pagan’ revelation (Japanese Buddhism) under the guise of Christian doctrine – this demonic entity speaking to Cho audibly. It was through this spirit’s revelations that Cho boasts of his extra-biblical revelations which he calls the teachings of the Fourth Dimension, on which he built his church (not Jesus).

And it is through this demonic spirit that he prophesied the Toronto Blessing and the Pensacola Outpouring.

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Francis Chan and Todd White Headline Upcoming IHOP Festival of False Teaching

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From Berean Research:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. – Psalm 19:1

Museum of Idolatry (MoI) includes a video trailer that promotes International House of Prayer’s (IHOP) annual convention, Onething 2017.  In the video we see IHOP- KC founder Mike Bickle shouting to the crowd: “God is raising up a church that is going to be prepared to be the vessels of His glory, to release His glory into the earth this very hour of intense darkness…” So, those who attend Onething will come away prepared to “release God’s glory into the earth”? Is there a verse to back this up? asks museum curator, Steven Kozar.  Why should we be concerned about a gathering of young people who want to get together to celebrate God? For one thing, IHOP’s teaching is built on a contemplative foundation and because of this, much deception has occurred. (Source)

In this piece over at MoI, Kozar deals with Francis Chan‘s return to Onething and his association with Mike Bickle, Todd White and other NAR wolves:

Francis Chan has been a very respected Evangelical pastor and author for over a decade now, but he has taken a very deliberate turn towards the “Signs and Wonders” New Apostolic Reformation-version of Christianity in recent years. Chan does not teach the extreme Word of Faith doctrine at all, in fact, he’s been really clear about wanting to stay away from man-centered false teaching altogether. He is to be commended for much of his Bible-based teaching, but that makes it even harder to understand his willingness to partner with IHOP and Todd White.

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Former Megachurch Minister Refuses to Exclude Profanity From Social Media Post: ‘I Will Not Sanitize This’

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Christian News reports on disgraced pastor Perry Nobel’s latest attempt to draw attention to himself:

A former megachurch pastor who says he has been struggling with guilt since being fired last year due to problems with alcohol abuse recently refused to exclude profanity from a social media post that transparently expressed how badly he feels about his sins and the consequences of his choices. His language has generated a variety of reactions, including concern from those who note that profanity is not to proceed from the mouths of those who profess Christ.

“I know it’s harsh, but I will not sanitize this article to appease those who may be offended at the language and want a scrubbed and safe version of Christianity that simply doesn’t work for the world!” Perry Noble of NewSpring Church in Anderson, South Carolina recently wrote on social media.

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These things I have spoken to you that you not be caused to stumble

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

1 “These things I have spoken to you that you not be caused to stumble.” John 16:1 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

In John 16:1 (above) when our Lord spoke of the “things” He spoke of in order that believers “not be caused to stumble,” He was referring to John 15:18-25, which is the fact that those who are truly in Christ will be hated by the world just as our Lord was. Our Lord made it an imperative that we understand that this is true, but also that we do not have to contend with this alone. In John 15:26-27, the promise of the Helper, the Holy Spirit, is given again. Those who have the Holy Spirit are genuine believers and they bear witness about Christ because that is what the Holy Spirit does. In this post we will look at John 16:1-15 and the truths about the promise in v1 as well as the difference between Kingdom fruit and worldly fruit. View article →

Pastor as Overseer of Worship Music

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According to Joshua Jenkins, the pastor’s role is to be an overseer.  One of the areas he’s responsible to oversee is the worship music of the church, says Jenkins. Why? Because the songs we sing during worship “are of utmost theological importance, second only to the ministry of the Word from the pulpit.” Therefore, “It is unbiblical and ecclesiastically illegal for a congregation, committee, or other party to strip the pastor of this responsibility, since it is God who gave it to him.”

In a piece over at For the Church, Joshua Jenkins lays out what the pastor’s responsibility is when it comes to overseeing worship music. He writes:

Most people would typically understand and agree that one of the pastor’s main responsibilities is the weekly preaching and teaching from the pulpit. Further, most would agree that the pastor is the overseer of the doctrine that is taught in the church, although it is most likely within the bounds of the confession or doctrinal statements already laid out by the church.

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Is Christianity on a ‘great spiritual migration’ to a new religion?

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From Berean Research:

In a piece entitled The Great Migration, Dr. Peter Jones warns us that Progressive Christians see Christianity as “malfunctioning” and are hell bent on “saving” that “old time religion.” And Emergent Church guru Brian McLaren (who we thought had slithered into obscurity) thinks he’s the guy who’s destined to save us from the “Supreme Being of violent and dominating power.”

In his piece over at truthXchange, Dr. Jones presents McLaren’s grand scheme to oust the Trinity and “embrace a grander, inclusive God who demonstrates solidarity with all.” Sadly, we must take Brian McLaren’s attempt to revise Christianity seriously. Dr. Jones explains why:

Berlin is a very different city today than the Berlin my daughter Eowyn and her husband David met when they moved there as church planters. They now find themselves preoccupied daily with a large immigrant population. Eowyn writes of her contact with a woman who said: “’I want to change religions. Mine leads to death and destruction. The God you describe is so lovely!”

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Roman Catholic Dioceses Nationwide Being ‘Consecrated’ to ‘Immaculate Heart of Mary’

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According to Christian News:

A number of Roman Catholic dioceses nationwide—and also globally—have been consecrating themselves to the “immaculate heart of Mary” throughout 2017, a practice that evangelicals say is unbiblical and gives to the earthly mother of Jesus the devotion that should be bestowed to Christ alone.

“We are uniting ourselves to her who opens up the way for God to enter, and we are uniting our hearts to her immaculate heart, the one heart that is perfectly united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” James Johnston Jr. of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri told the National Catholic Register.

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See our Research Paper on the Roman Catholic Church

You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Revelation 3:1 (NASB)

My brethren, the message from Revelation 3:1-6 goes contrary to most of what is taught in Evangelicalism today. The church at Sardis had a name that it was alive yet our Lord bluntly said that even so, they were spiritually dead. Since 2006 when I became involved in this ministry, I have seen good friends like the late Ken Silva, along with all of those associated with him, denigrated because we stood firm with what God’s Word says about what constitutes real Christianity and what doesn’t. When we point out that certain ministries do not measure up, we are called divisive, haters–and many other ugly things–and then some of our critics resort to worldly things such as lawsuits and even denial of service. Excuse me, but how can anyone justify this and call it Christian behavior? View article →

Mike Huckabee brings star power and a shot of news to TBN’s Christian lineup

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Mike Huckabee has a long list of accomplishments. For one thing he was the governor of Arkansas. Before he became governor he was a SBC pastor. Huckabee also hosted his own show on the Fox News channel, now he’s a Fox commentator. You may remember him as one of many GOP candidates in the 2008 and 2016 primaries. Huckabee’s newest venture is to host a TV show on TBN, the “world’s largest religious network.”

According to pastor-teacher John MacArthur “TBN has been dominated by faith-healers, full-time fund-raisers, and self-proclaimed prophets spewing heresy.” In other words, TBN is dominated by heretics. Heresy spewers include Kenneth & Gloria Copeland, Benny Hinn, TD Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Paula White and Joyce Meyer. Faith teachers such as these are notorious for fleecing the Christian flock. TBN is rightly referred to by some as Trinity Blasphemy Network.

This begs the question. Why does it not bother Mike Huckabee that he’s linking arms with a “religious network” that shamelessly airs programs hosted by wolves in sheep’s clothing who prey on Christ’s sheep?

Tennessean has the story:

Mike Huckabee’s weekly talk show premieres Saturday on Trinity Broadcasting Network, representing a programming shift for the Christian television giant.

Hosted by the two-time Republican presidential candidate and taped just outside of Nashville, “Huckabee” will offer news commentary and feature political, musical and religious guests. Its look at current events from a practical and Biblical world view is a departure from TBN’s typical lineup flush with well-known Christian ministers, like Joel Osteen.

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Oprah Magazine: God’s ‘in’ Abortions?

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From Berean Research:

Here’s a cold hard fact. Close to sixty million innocent babies have been butchered in the one place they should be safest — their mother’s womb. In this piece over at Herescope,Pastor Larry DeBruyn and Sarah Leslie shred the new counternarrative to the abortion debate embraced by the Oprah Winfrey establishment as well as “Christian” celebrities like The Shack author William P. Young: abortion is a sacred and divine right. Yes, you heard me correctly. Professing Christians, with Oprah’s help, are putting forth the narrative that abortion is a sacred and divine right. Let that sink in, brethren.

“Sacred Oneness”—a Deadly Counternarrative! 

Humane theology was the foundation of Dr. George Tiller’s practice. It dictates that alleviating suffering is a Christian’s sacred responsibility. If God is in everything, and in everyone, then God is as much in the woman making a decision to terminate a pregnancy as in her Bible. —Dr. Willie Parker, MD, Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice[1]

Because of his “oneness” worldview that God is “in” everyone and everything is “in” God, Dr. Willie Parker believes that God sanctions aborting-killing of babies. The Oprah Magazine quotes him as having written in his book,

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Presbyterian Megachurch ‘Pastor’ Says God Isn’t Male, Denies Exclusivity of Christ

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According to Pulpit & Pen News:

Shannon Johnson Kershner is the impastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, a 5,500  member megachurch. The church just happens to be the second-largest church belonging to the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America (PCUSA). In a podcast with the Chicago Sun, she recently denied that Jesus is the only way to Heaven.

Known as the “Exclusivity of Christ,” this doctrine teachers that the only means of salvation is through Christ. This is a benchmark doctrine of virtually all Protestant Christian thought, and is enshrined in Reformation theology as Sola Christus. Denying the Exclusivity of Christ is tacitly a form of Universalism or pseudo-Universalism, which teaches that ultimately, everyone (or most) will be saved whether or not they come to Christ for their salvation.

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He laid down His life for us so what should we be doing?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16 (NASB) 

What differentiates a genuine Christian from one whose religion is only skin-deep? Jesus said that He knows those who are His. He calls them His sheep who hear His voice and follow Him. (John 10:27) He also called them His disciples. He gave us the requirements for being His disciple in Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34 and Luke 9:23 where he said that if anyone desires to follow Him they must deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow Him. If we combine these two views then we learn that our Lord’s sheep, His disciples, are those who hear His voice, deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow Him. This is telling us that genuine Christians are those who humble themselves before their Lord, die to self, submit to Him as Lord, obey Him, and emulate Him as He leads. View article →

Abide in Me, and I in you

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4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:4-10 (NASB) 

For the first 20 or so years of this walk I was in a very immature spiritual state. I was utterly convinced during that time that my worth as a disciple depended upon my performance, my learning, my obedience, et cetera. With that mind-set it was a very horrible experience at times since I was on a roller coaster ride of obedience and backsliding. What amazed me during that period was that I was looked at as one of the more mature believers at our church. I knew better. That all changed in 2004 and 2005 as God drew me into the light and drastically changed that ‘mind-set.’ It was as I learned and held to the truth that our salvation is all according to God’s will not ours that I began to have peace and freedom. He chose us according to the good pleasure of His will, not according to our abilities or any other inherent attribute we may have. With this remaking of my mind-set came the ending of that cycle of obedience and backsliding. It was as if it had been put to death. View article →

Forty percent of cancers linked to obesity, overweight

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Following is the correct link to the article:

According to Fox News:

An unhealthy diet may affect more than just your waistband, a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ‘Vital Signs’ report shows. In a press release on Tuesday, the CDC stated that 40 percent of all U.S. cancer diagnoses can now be linked to overweight and obesity.

The study presents daunting results, as nearly two-thirds of American adults are currently defined as overweight or obese.

“A majority of American adults weigh more than recommended – and being overweight or obese puts people at higher risk for a number of cancers – so these findings are a cause for concern,” said Brenda Fitzgerald, CDC director. “By getting to and keeping a healthy weight, we all can play a role in cancer prevention.”

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