Well, it's
been a very hectic week for me. My desktop computer system crashed on Friday,
December 28, giving me the blue screen of death. I went to open Internet
Explorer and I got a blue background
with white numbers and letters. I rebooted but the system wouldn't load after
BIOS. The operating system or registry got corrupted
somehow. It happens. Actually, I'm quite amazed that computers are as reliable
as they are. I'm running Windows XP on my desktop and prefer that operating system
because I have older programs. Can you imagine that for approximately 5,970
years of human civilization, that no one had a personal computer at home? Can
you imagine that they had no internet for 5,970 years of history? We are
living in exciting, perilous and frightening times of human history, that is,
the end times.
So I took my desktop computer to a repair shop and unfortunately the two techs didn't know what they were doing. I called the following Friday. After 7-days they not only still hadn't even started to fix anything, but they wiped out my primary C hardrive. In addition the technician said a worm virus had corrupted all my hardrives. He said it would take him a long time and that he'd call me the following Wednesday (January 9th). He said all my drives would have to be reformatted. I called another repair store and told the service tech the situation, and he felt confident that he could retrieve my files. He also said 7-days was ridiculous, and that he could finish my system in 2-3 at most.
So I kindly said "forget it" to the first shop and "I'll be there in an hour to get my system, even if it's in pieces." My computer was all messed up. I still paid them as agreed for their time and thanked them for looking at my system. At first they wanted me to wait until Monday to come get my computer, but I wanted to rescue what was left of my system before they totally butchered it. Enough was enough. I didn't get upset, never once, even though one of their techs erased thousands of my important Desktop files. They thought I would be angry, but I wasn't at all. Although I'm far from perfect, I was glad to be understanding that day. I figured, what's done is done, and getting upset won't accomplish anything. Something that Dr. Hyles often said stands out in my mind, "Be nice to everybody because everybody is having a rough time."
I was glad I took my system elsewhere. After just 30-minutes, the new tech retrieved my critical website files. I didn't lose any data. Although I did have safe website backups from late November, you can lose a lot of data in a month of changes. Lord willing, I have a lot to do this upcoming week when I get my system back. I'm going to try to use the back-up utility that comes with Windows, under Programs/Accessories. I also have Western Digital SmartWare, but I have to see if I can automatically schedule daily backups of my website data. I hope to find a practical solution. I've learned one thing clearly, that is, have multiple copies of your personal data on separate hardware, in separate locations, using different means and maintain two copies of your personal data at all times!
You can't work on a website from multiple computers, because then changes won't be consistent. So I want to be careful what changes I make to my website until I get my main system back, and then I need to reload dozens of programs and other software. Since my website is so large, it's a lot more difficult to backup and transfer data. It can get confusing fast.
Thus far I haven't seen any worm virus, but it's too early to tell. I'm still waiting to get my Desktop system back some time next week, Lord willing. The 32 GB in website files that were retrieved didn't have any viruses in them. I also had some USB external hardrives plugged in at the time my desktop computer crashed, and so far they've passed all the virus and malware scans by Microsoft Security Essentials and I also loaded "Comodo" on my laptop, which is a highly rated antivirus program. So it appears to have been an honest software crash as far as I can tell, but it's too early to tell for sure. I don't think it was a virus attack.
Fortunately I planned ahead and saved my websites to a separate physical hardrive, which is the only reason I'm getting some files back. My C drive where my operating system was located says "unallocated," which means I've likely lost the data on them. The shop is trying to recover them. I still don't know if my other hardrives are ok. I may have lost terabytes of files. Only time will tell what I've lost or saved. The operating system has to be completely redone on a new hardrive. The tech's installing a 256 GB hardrive that contains only flash memory chips and no moving parts to break or wear out over time. That's new technology that I didn't know existed. That sounds good to me. Still, crashes happen. I'm still learning as I go about websites and computers. I think computers are fascinating inventions.
I'm working from my laptop now, using Windows 7. I bought it when I went for my second neck surgery in 2010. FrontPage has been crashing since I've reloaded my website files for some reason. Today I went to Start/Programs on Windows 7 and selected "Troubleshoot compatibility" by right-mouse-clicking on the program name, which found service pack 2 to be causing trouble and repaired the problem. The older FrontPage program is incompatible with Internet Explorer. I just upgraded to Internet Explorer 9. So far so good. Before the Microsoft fix, FrontPage would crash every time I tried to create a hyperlink on a webpage. Now it's working, knock on wood. So I finally was able to upload my recent section today. That's one reason (amongst numerous) I like to publish recent articles out 10-15 days in advance, in case something like this happens. So new web visitors won't wonder what happened if there hasn't been an upload for a week or so. Plus, I like doing things differently just to be unique as an individual.
My recent section is my daily online pulpit and I take it very seriously. Presently about 500 people per day visit my recent webpage. Amen! That's more people in one day than 90% of churches have visit in an entire year's time. I give God all the credit, for He has put this labor of love into my heart over the past 10-years since 2002. It is my privilege to help others in the Lord.
If you need a free antivirus program, I read a PC WORLD magazine today that reviewed different anti-virus programs. On this website, MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS received a very high rating. It's totally free without expiration nor need for registration.
If you'd like to download my entire website(s), you can do so easily with a $49 program called, "TELEPORT PRO." I use it from time-to-time to download other websites that want to archive. When websites vanish, it is a blessing to have a clone copy of that website on my hardrive (minus any new added files since you've downloaded it of course).
Account Suspended... Again?
Jesus-is-Savior's account was suspended on New Year's Day. For some unknown reason my steel guitar gospel music songs (MP3 recordings) became very popular in the new year, perhaps being featured in a forum (or something). The bandwidth usage was excessively high according to my web-hosting company, so they pulled the plug and suspended my account until I removed the 30 or so files. Lord willing, I'll re-upload the files elsewhere when I get my desktop system back. But this time I won't have a streaming-audio M3U file for them, because that's where the bandwidth goes up quick. I recommend that my web visitors download my music files while they're available if you want them (and thank you to those who have expressed an interest in my music, that makes me happy). Hopefully that will work.
TECHNICAL NOTE: For anyone curious on how to create a streaming audio file: You can create a streaming-audio file by simply placing the address to an MP3 (or other sound file) into a notepad text file, and then renaming the extension from .txt to .m3u; thus, designating it as a streaming-audio file. The extensions are easily renamed within Microsoft FrontPage, but on the desktop you won't see file extensions. So I rename them within FrontPage (which is now sold as Microsoft "Expression Studio"). Here's an article on how to see your file extensions for Windows 7 (they're usually hidden). Once visible you can right-mouse-click and rename the txt extension to m3u. The system asks if you're sure with a warning, and you say "yes." Put the HTTP URL address (website address) of your favorite mp3s or sound files in the file and save it. That's it. When you double-click to open the file it will play in a media player. Streaming-audio is great, allowing a file to begin playing immediately instead of waiting for the entire sound file to download into your browser's temporary folder. If you list multiple sound files within the m3u file, they will all play consecutively. The full web address of the file(s) must be placed within the m3u file for them to work. Of course, if you have Windows Media Player you can create playlists and don't need to create an m3u file. I'm just sharing this information with other web builders, or for those in a search engine looking for such information.
Also, the way that you can download an mp3 hidden in an m3u file is simply to download the m3u file to your computer (I usually download to the desktop), and then right-mouse-click, choosing "open with." Select Notepad or WordPad and you'll see the address of the MP3 you want. Paste the address into Microsoft Word, FrontPage or other webpage creation programs and hit "enter" to make it a hyperlink. Save it as a webpage. Open your new webpage. Now right-mouse-click to download the song. Or just play the song and copy/paste it from your browser's temporary file folder.
So my music files will still be available, if they don't cause the same bandwidth problem, but you'll have to wait a few seconds for them to open. If you have a high-speed internet connection they should open fairly quickly, perhaps not even noticeably without delay if your connection if very fast. Albeit, dial-up connections will require a long time to load. It's best to right-mouse-click and download the files, then you have them and can listen to them without hesitation. I appreciate the kind words and encouragement that many of you have expressed in e-mails previously concerning my music, thank you.
To make matters strange, one of my
web visitors (bless his heart) wrote to the hosting company to defend me,
asserting that the hosting company should raise their limits. I really
appreciate knowing that I've got lots of Christian (and also non-Christian)
friends alike around the world who appreciate my humble and diligent labors.
What happened was that the web-hosting company thought he was me, and thought
I blew them off by not remedying the problem. The gentleman even stated that
he was not the owner of the website, but someone dropped the ball and assumed
he was me. I'm the only administrator. I've already spoken to the web-hosting
company and it was a new employee that sincerely made a mistake, which we all
do at times (me quite a bit).
God Is Still On His Throne
Sometimes things go wrong in life so fast, so horribly, so painfully, that to avoid self-implosion you just have to let everything go into God's hands. So you just become 100% humbled and take the pain, abuse, loss, affliction and misery as it piles up over you like stones upon a dead corpse. That's what's happened to me over the past 10 years. Now I look at life totally different, which few people can understand. Just as the apostle Paul had despaired even of life itself, and said he had been resurrected by Christ, so have I also been in the same dire straits. That's why I was very calm and understanding when they ruined my computer. This life is only temporal and God is my heavenly Father, Who owns the cattle-on-a-thousand-hills. Psalms 50:10, "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." Isn't that beautiful! So the next time you eat any meat (like a rib-eye steak, my favorite), realize that it's God's gift to you and me, because all the animals in the world belong to God. To kill an animal for food or clothing is Biblical and permissible, but to deliberately be abusive or cruel to any animal is a sin that brings God's judgment.
God will provide! The heathen world worries about future provisions. I hate when heathen people say that a married couple shouldn't have more than one or two children unless they can financially put them through college and give them all the spoils of life. A century ago families had 10-15 children and no one worried about college. That's insane!!! It's a lack of faith in God. The command by God to replenish the earth has NEVER STOPPED. You cannot show me even one Scripture that says to limit the number of children you have. The entire agenda of population control is unbiblical, totally. It's not too many people that cause starvation; but rather, wicked men who burden poor farmers with high taxes, regulations that prohibit farmers from accessing local water supplies; it's urbanization, tyranny and the control of madmen in fascist governments that cause starvation.
Truly free people can survive just
fine. It's when you herd people into big cities by the millions that they
cannot take care of themselves anymore. Urbanization (building the big cities)
has destroyed civilization. In 1860 there were only 30,000,000 people living
in the United States, and they made it just fine. There were no big cities
back then. In 1900 Las Vegas had a population under 1,000 citizens. People
were able to survive. Farms were mainstream. Today, a very frightening
situation is developing where tens-of-millions of people rely 100% upon trucks
to deliver food to their supermarkets. There are thousands of things that
could go wrong. No wonder Jesus foretold in Matthew 24 of coming future wars,
pestilences and famines. Add to that the coming genetics nightmare and it's a
hopeless scenario. Mad scientists are playing God now and our youth are going
to pay for it in the future. God only knows what unholy monstrosities will be
unleashed by nature in response to man's genetic carelessness with God's
creation. Genesis says that everything that God made was "very good"; yet man
thinks he can do better. Good luck with that!
Keep A Smile On Your Face In The Lord
God has been so good to me, despite all my afflictions, which Jesus said we'd suffer in this world (John 16:33). I want to love people more and more, and one of the best ways to show forth God's love is to be understanding when things go wrong or people are unkind. It's not easy sometimes dealing with people. Sometimes people gang together against a person. I've had that happen to me all my life, and so have all faithful Christian people. The Bible teaches that Satan tries to devour us (1st Peter 5:8); and to steal, kill and destroy our life (John 10:10); and to deceive us (Matthew 7:15).
You know, we are living in a thin-skinned, characterless, hot-tempered, society today in America. Women are taught to file for divorce at the first sign of mistreatment. That's so shallow. Many men have the same shallow attitude toward marriage. People leave their church at the first sign of trouble, criticism or disfavor with another person or the pastor. That's shallow. Everybody wants a perfect relationship, a perfect church experience, a perfect romance, a perfect doctor, a perfect car, a perfect college, perfect children, perfect parents, perfect friends, and so on. Life is IMPERFECT! Marriages all have troubles, serious troubles sometimes, but divorce is so shallow. Jesus even gave us an example of shallow Christians in Luke 8:12-15 in the parable of the sower and the seeds. The second group are the seeds that fell upon shallow ground, grew small roots, and when the winds of persecution started to blow, they were uprooted and gone. Jesus contrasted this group with the seeds in verse 15 that fell on fertile ground, which grew strong roots deep into the earth and nothing could uproot them.
Everything that you see in America today attacking the family, God and country is intended to prevent families from establishing strong roots that are unmovable. Instead, we are living in a nation of shallow people, with shallow philosophies, with shallow relationships, with shallow morality and shallow character. It's hard to find honest and good people these days. Jesus said in Luke 8:15 that a believer with a good and an honest heart keeps God's Commandments and brings forth much fruit. In sharp contrast, everything is so crooked and dishonest these days. All the commercials on television have fine print at the bottom, which has taught our culture by influence that it's ok to be shady. Nearly every company today promotes their product or service with bold, bright, colorful and attractive advertising; but then hide the limitations, exclusions and restrictions in small fine print buried out of sight. It's shady! Unfortunately it's the American way (and it's also the sinful way).
I love the Bible because there's no fine print. God is bold and upfront, speaking the truth without apology nor compromise. God is brutally honest with mankind. Most people try to lure others into their religious group by dipping-their-sails, compromising, trimming their message, hiding their beliefs and not being totally upfront. God never does that. The Lord tells you exactly what to expect before you become a Christian, which is why the world hates the Bible so much. It's actually quite amazing how many unsaved people know very much about the content of the Bible; yet they don't believe the gospel message.
I've been saved now for over 32 years and if I've learned anything it's that the Christian life is all about CARING! Every Christian continually fights a battle between selfishness and caring. Every day we have to make ourselves care. Most people don't care. Others are paid to care, but they really don't care. A godly Christian will take abuse, tolerate the hardships, endure the problems, hang in there!!! Anyone can quit! Anyone can stand up for their rights and go elsewhere! But to stay when there's no reason left to stay is the Lord in us. Don't quit your imperfect church (as long as it is a King James only genuine Bible-believing church). Don't quit your imperfect marriage! Don't quit your imperfect friends! Don't discard your imperfect parents! Don't discard your imperfect children! Don't quit on God because of this imperfect world!
Someone stole some of my laundry this week while at the Laundromat. I adopted a philosophy a very long time ago and that is, "I'd much rather live with the pain of being hurt and cheated by others, than to live with the guilt of hurting or defrauding others myself." I think that's a good attitude to have. A person may be unkind to me, but I'm not going to be unkind to them. I can live with being cheated, but let them be the cheater, not me. I would rather be defrauded than to defraud. I would rather be hurt than to hurt. That's the main thought that I counsel myself with when people hurt me, that is, they have to answer to God, not me. Nobody likes to be hurt or defrauded, but let the evil come by another's hand and not mine. Your spouse may file for divorce one day, but don't you do it. I can live with someone quitting and walking out the door on me, but I wouldn't want to live with the heartache of doing something like that to someone else.
I'd rather die first than ever divorce anyone. I'd die first! A parent may disown you, but don't you disown them. I can live with being betrayed, disowned, slandered, condemned, divorced, abandoned, cheated and hurt by others, as long as it didn't come by my hand to hurt others. People who do such things have to give account to God. I'd rather be a victim that to hurt anyone. I have great peace in my soul when I think of all the horrible things that people have done to me in my life, knowing that they did those evil things to me, and not me to them. I can live with that. When someone steals my laundry, I feel happy that they did evil to me and not me to them. I can live with that.
Someone stole my car years ago from
my home. The Chicago city pound (one of many) called me a week later and I
went walking through their lot with tens-of-thousands of cars. All you could
see were a sea of cars as far as the eye could look. It was quite a view to
behold. I must have walked for two miles in the mud, there and back, searching
for my car's location. The car was totaled. I cried, because I was tired and
someone had done me wrong. But I'm thankful that they hurt me, and not me
them. Whoever stole the car ran it hard into a telephone pole, popped the
trunk and stole some kites I had bought for the kids and some other items. I
signed the car over to the pound as junk. It was beyond repair. The entire
suspension was twisted and the front smashed severely. I only had liability
insurance. It was an old car, but it was all I had and cost me $10,000 between
losing the old and buying another used vehicle. I'm just glad that they did
that to me, and not me them. I want to spend my life helping others while
others are hurting others. That's what God wants us to do, that is, live for
others. Philippians 2:3-5, "Let nothing be done through strife or
vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on
the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus."
The Constant Daily Challenge Of Being A Caring Christian In An Uncaring World
I hear people often say to others things like... get a lawyer, file a complaint, call the police, give it back to them, et cetera. That can backfire and make things worse sometimes. People are people are people. I've learned that it's best to leave vengeance in the Lord's hands, as the Bible teaches in Romans 12:19. Anybody can stand-up for their rights, and I have plenty of times in my life; but I have often regretted that I didn't just let a matter be. People go by what they hear, which is carnal human nature. So when you complain, word gets around and then you make enemies. It's much better to perform an act of kindness for a troublemaker, rather than complain about them. The Bible says in Jude 1:22, "And of some have compassion, making a difference." Sometimes an act of kindness touches a person's heart; but at other times they let us know in an unkind or malicious way that they don't accept our love, nor do they like us. They may not accept your kind deed, but at least you did the proper thing in God's eyes. It's never wrong to be nice to others in a spirit of trying to help them in the Lord. But if you complain about people instead, they'll have it in for you. The Bible says that if you rebuke a scorner (critical person), they will hate you. So as I grow older in the Lord, I'm finding myself wanting to return kindness for hate, because people are just following the carnal flesh, the world and the Devil. If we only love those who love us back, what reward is there in Heaven?
Early in December, I gave some Christmas cards to some people who have been mean and unkind to me without cause, and I hand wrote Luke 2:11 in each card (as I always do in every Christmas card), and gave them a gospel tract each. I wanted to share the gospel with them and show my sincerity. It was like casting pearls before the swine. In response they were mean to me again the next time I saw them weeks later, giving me a hard time to let me know that my kind gesture of giving cards meant nothing to them. I can live with that. I would rather them be unkind to me, than me to them. They've never given me a Christmas card. They've never shown any concern for my soul. They've never made any effort to be nice to me. So it's a one-way street with them (as is often the case in the Christian life, that is, we give and the world takes). I am nice to them, but they are mean to me. Very few people have ever been truly humbled in life, but it's the best thing that could ever happen to anyone (Psalms 119:67,71). Americans are so sinfully proud, arrogant and stubborn toward God and righteousness. A person cannot accept God, but reject the Bible; for to do so is to deny Jesus Christ, Who is the living Word of God (John 1:1-3,14; Revelation 19:13).
Many American adults are like brats who never matured. It's epidemic across our nation. The spiritual influences in childhood and the teenage years set the course for life. Today's adults grew up listening to Madonna, Jimmy Hendrix and Ozzy Osbourne. They were schooled without the Bible. They grew up watching TV all day and playing video games. Thus, we live in a dunghill culture of selfish, undisciplined, self-indulgent, brats. America has deteriorated into an immoral sewer, a cesspool where all the sewer pipes meet. The evil heart of mankind can be so cruel and rotten.
Here's one example of how decadent our culture has become in America. I just read this week about a famous Rock band guitar player in California, who after being married only 2 months, ran off in adultery with another man's wife. I won't mention his name, although it's mainstream news. The adulterous woman dresses like a whore and has been featured lewd and nude in Playboy. Although the husband was crying on FoxNews over his cheating wife, FoxNews defended the guitar player, making the abandoned husband look bad instead. The newsmedia plays God, deciding who to angelify and who to demonize. The truth is that they're all a bunch of immoral, spoiled, cheating, wicked, brats, who need God. Woe unto the nation that forgets God!
Nothing spiritually important to God is taken seriously anymore. People have a flippant attitude toward God and the Bible. There used to be a day when telling someone that you were a Christian meant a lot, but now they despise you for it. Hardly anyone fears God (Romans 3:18). A person cannot even begin to grasp life until they first become a born-again Christian by receiving the gospel as full-payment for their sins. Oh, so very few people are truly saved, as Jesus warned in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
Heathens don't love the Lord. So it doesn't surprise me that they don't have love, as Jesus said the world wouldn't (John 15:19). There's no games like the games some people play, and it's sinful. There's even books written on the subject of how to annoy and get under people's skin, which are sinful to publish, deliberately antagonizing others. I fail often to be all that the Lord expects of me, but each time I rebound with a determination to do better, which is Biblical. 2nd Corinthians 10:5-6, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
The world hates Christians because
we genuinely follow Christ. Sometimes I'd like to give people a piece of my
mind and tell them what big jerks they are, but that's exactly what
instigators want. So I keep quiet, pray for my enemies, and overcome evil with
good, overpowering their cruelty with love and kindness. That is God's way!
The world seeks personal revenge, vindication and holds a permanent grudge;
but as Christians we ought to let God avenge us, and always forgive those who
seek our forgiveness, and humbly pray for those who don't care, loving them
unconditionally with God's love. We all have a day of reckoning coming after
we die (Hebrews 4:13; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Hebrews 9:27; Romans 14:10-12).
Thank You For Your Prayers For My Health
My neck has been hurting so bad all week. I just cannot express in words the heavy burden of surviving day-by-day with constant ripping-neck-tension and aching, agonizing, sore, dull, constant toothache-like pain where the bone is located in back of the neck. It's stiff all the time, but it's not muscle stiffness. I get atrophy (lack of mobility) in my neck, often banging my bald head while getting into my car, because my neck tends to become stiff each night while sleeping. I have to do neck stretching exercises. My neck is hurting badly now as I type. I'd like to take more Oxycontin, but my body dehydrates from the medications and I can only take a certain limit. I even asked my doctor to cut back on the Oxycodone a bit last visit. I've lost 38 pounds over the past few months, just by not eating more than 1,000 calories a day. That means you can eat one decent meal per day, but no more, and you will lose weight. You'd be surprised how little changes can have big effects on your weight. and overall health. I feel good eating good. Despite my relentless pain, tingling, burning and sedation from the multiple medications, I am doing as good as can be expected.
I heard Pastor William Grady in Michigan say in a sermon several months ago that he's lost 47 pounds over the last year by eating 5 pickles a day and a can of chicken-pot-pie soup. So I went and bought a bunch of garlic dill pickles (which contain zero calories). A few pickle brands have a small amount of calories, but the entire jar of pickles is only 105 calories. So pickles are a great diet food when you're snack hungry.
The trick to losing weight is to try not to eat more than your cravings want. If you pig-out and blow your diet, that's ok, just don't eat again until you're really hungry. Since you ate a lot of food, you shouldn't be hungry for at least a day afterwards (I mean really hungry). If you take advantage of those times when you're not hungry, you'll lose weight. You get hungry when your stomach begins to go empty. If you always fill it, you'll never lose weight. So I hold off all day on eating until late, then I eat one meal no more than 1,000 calories. You can eat a nice meal for 1,000 calories. Almost all value meals from Wendy's, Taco Bell or McDonalds are under 1,000 calories with Coke, fries and a sandwich. But you cannot eat anything else for the day except low-calorie foods like pickles, tomatoes or vegetables. I balance them out. I eat vegetables and oatmeal most days, and I'll reward myself once or twice a week with fast food. Salads are great! The Wendy's BLT Cobb Salad is 600 calories. You get blue cheese, lots of chicken, tomatoes, carrots and lots of lettuce. Don't add the salad dressing and it's only 400 calories total. I add drops of salad dressing just to flavor the salad, but I don't use most of it.
Another trick is to eat half a bag of boiled vegetables (I buy frozen veggies) when you're hungry, and that way you won't be so hungry for other foods that contain a lot more calories. Vegetables are super low in calories. The whole bag of frozen carrots is about 120-150 calories, and it's good for you.
I diet all wrong according to most experts, but it works. I don't eat anything all day, looking forward to that one decent meal at the end of the day. If I eat early, then I'll eat again later, and I won't lose weight. So I don't eat all day, that way I can't eat more than I intended. My motivation to diet is looking forward to that one nice meal at the end of my day, or the next day if I can hold out from munching. I stopped drinking sodas daily and now drink pure water, Green Tea and V-8 juice. I drink soda once or twice a week, but rarely finish the whole drink. Don't let the food companies decide how much food you eat. You eat what you want and save the rest for later. You don't have to eat everything that the restaurants put in front of you. No wonder America is so obese, everything is super-sized these days, loaded with carbohydrates (which all converts into sugar, energy, which the body stores if there's an excess). Rice and potatoes all turn into sugar (stored fat) in the body.
Drinking lots of water and eating more vegetables will help anybody lose weight. Moderation is the key word. It takes 20-minutes for the stomach to say, "I'm full." Although some people say to eat slow, I don't do that. I pre-decide how much I'm going to eat, which always fills me up at 1,000 to 1,500 calories. Sometimes I eat more than 1,000 calories for the day, so I eat less the next day to compensate. If you ruin your diet today, fast tomorrow. It works for me. The important thing is to consistently keep fighting your weight, trying to cut-back here-and-there. Choose unsweetened Green Tea (zero calories) with your meal instead of a 200 calorie Coke. Just one little Payday candy bar is 90 calories. To lose weight you have to stop snacking so much. My main thought is 1,000 calories a day total. The body burns 2,000 to 4,000 calories day, depending on a person's level of activity. Little changes to diet make a big difference over time.
I stopped taking Lyrica at night with the Ambient and Oxycontin, because I was blacking-out, standing for hours semi-conscious. It was scary. Doctors don't warn you about taking the multiple medications that they prescribe together, but it can be deadly. Doctors should be held more accountable, but they're not. Truly, you are your own best doctor. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Most people on high-blood-pressure medication simply need to change to a higher fiber diet with less sodium, and lots of water and some walking for exercise. America's drug-crazed society didn't just happen by coincidence; but rather, it's a cleverly devised fraudulent industry to profit at the expense of people. The statistics reveal how many innocent people have been killed by potentially deadly drugs that they didn't really need, but they trusted their doctor.
I was
prescribed Soma, Flexeril, Robaxin and Skelaxin (at different times) by
careless doctors because I told them I had chronic neck tension. All those
drugs are muscle relaxants. It wasn't
until 7-years after my health afflictions began that I, not the doctor, went on the
internet and discovered a test to see if it was really muscle tension or
something else. I took all those drugs for nothing! An EMG test revealed that
the tension is being caused by something within my neck, not the muscles.
Thank You For Everyone's Prayers And Friendship
As I mentioned a couple weeks back, expect account suspensions and things to
happen. It's all part of having a large website. Some web visitors have
suggested moving elsewhere, but moving to another web-hosting company won't
solve the problems. If there's a complaint of copyright infringement (which
are extremely rare thankfully), the account would be suspended anywhere I'm
certain due to legal issues and worries. I think my web-hosting company has
done a good job overall. I sent them a thank you letter recently on behalf of
my 50,000 daily web visitors, for the thousands of life-changing sermons they
leniently allow. It's the heart of this labor of love. I don't pay hardly
anything for this website, $200 per year I think (and that includes the domain
name and a fee to back-up all my files). All of my websites combined total
under $450 a year.
I'm still waiting to get my desktop computer back, Lord willing by the middle
or end of the week. I hope the data on the other drives didn't get corrupted.
If so, I do have backups of most of it, but my video files of sermons and my
steel guitar will be gone. Well see. I'd appreciate your continued prayers for
my ministry and me personally, thank you. One day at a time. It's been really
hectic lately. I'm eagerly looking for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but if not, this life is so short and will soon be over for all of us. It is
tragic how arrogant human beings can become in a mere 15 to 25 years of life.
God's Word has been here since before the beginning of time (Psalms 119:89),
given to man over the centuries by a loving God. As the saying goes, "When all
else fails, read the instructions." Most people have never even read the
Bible. It's hard to grasp that less than 600,000 of the 120,000,000 people
living in Japan profess to be Christians. There are over 1,600,000,000 Muslims
worldwide, who all reject Jesus as the Son of God and the Christ. There are
more people alive today than all of history combined. Sadly, Hell hath enlarged herself as the Bible teaches in Isaiah 5:14. Notice
what God says will happen to "mean" people.
Isaiah 5:14, "Therefore hell hath
enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and
their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
And the mean man shall be brought down,
and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be
humbled: But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is
holy shall be sanctified in righteousness." Judgment day is coming. There's a
lot of mean people in this sinful world, and God is waiting for them at
eternity's door. And so the battle between good and evil rages. Ultimately, good always
prevails over evil, because the world passes away with each succeeding
generation; but God is ageless and eternal. God never changes (Malachi 3:6;
Hebrews 13:8). The same God who condemned the sin of homosexuality in His Law
4,500 years ago during Moses' time, still condemns it today in 2013 in the
same Bible. Men always change, but God never changes. I ask for your earnest prayers for this
ministry and me daily. This ministry is much bigger than me, it's about the
Lord Jesus Christ, Who is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE (John 14:6)!
HEAR YE HIM! “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation
22:20). I love you all in the Lord,
whoever you may be!
Tomorrow's Guarantee of God's Provision 1st
Thessalonians 5:25, “Brethren, pray for us.”
Ye Must Be Born Again!
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You Need HIS Righteousness!
Did you ever stop to realize that there were over a billion people alive in
1863 at the time of the Civil War, who are all dead today, every one of
them!!! Time killed them all. The Bible teaches that the world passeth away
and the lusts thereof (1st John 2:15-17); but
believing the gospel is God's will to
obtain eternal life (John 6:40). When I stop to consider the shortness of this
earthly life, and the infinite expanse of eternity, I am humbled and compelled
to live for God. Look at all the shallow things that people pursue in life. I
think one of the saddest tragedies is a young woman who forfeits motherhood to
make money in a career. That's the dumbest thing you'll ever do with eternity
in view. America is a disaster today. Everything is backwards, wrong and
corrupted. It's just the thing to do nowadays to forfeit motherhood, or become
a mother at age 14 and never get married. The system's goal is to do
everything possible to destroy the family unit; thus, hindering a family from
establishing strong deep roots; to destroy personal individuality, loyalty to
country, faith in God, respect for parents and rob youth of all moral
integrity.
