Barnabas, Man of Encouragement.
We can learn how to be better sources of comfort by studying the “Son of Encouragement,” Barnabas—a man so gifted with this quality that the apostles literally named him after it!”
Barnabas, Man of Encouragement - Life, Hope & Truth
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Has Religion Lied to You?
Transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/DkrdU0Pmn9U
“Is it possible your religion has misled you about God? Is it biblical? You need to know.
[Steve] “What does guacamole have to do with religion? Well not much it seems, but something made a connection for me a while back. I had heard that if you didn't want your guacamole to turn brown, you should put the avocado pit right in the dip.
Sounded right to me, seemed good. I think my mom even believed it; so I was pretty sure.
But I didn't take the time to look into it. Leaving the pit in the dip had little effect! I was putting a pit into my guacamole for no reason, and I ended up looking silly until somebody pointed me in the right direction. Think of the guacamole I could have saved! I believed something, without looking into the truth of the matter.
Now that's where religion comes in. Somebody lied to me about guacamole, which isn't very serious. But, when it comes to religion, it is serious. What if somebody lied to you and it prevented you from really knowing God? That would change everything!
I remember my first attempt to make a guacamole dip. Mixed it up, got it done, set it aside for what seemed like just a moment. And when I was ready with chip in hand, it looked disgusting - it had turned brown. There was no way I wanted to eat that.
Then I heard about leaving the avocado pit right there in the dip to keep it from turning brown. Would it really keep the guacamole from spoiling or was it just an old wives' tale, a myth? I thought it just might work.
Well, it didn't. It still turned brown but just a little slower. The pit did block the air from oxidizing the guacamole, but overall - it was a myth and it really prevented me from finding the real solution. My guac was still ruined and nobody told me that lemon or lime juice was the answer to preserving that guacamole!
Now have you ever been in that kind of situation? You thought something was true. You may have even told others about it. But then you learned, you were wrong. Boy that makes you feel stupid, to realize that you got caught up believing something that's just not fact.
Now it can be something silly like the pit in the dip or it can be something very serious. Now, are you sure you know the difference?
There have been widely accepted practices that have hurt people and turned out to be myths. Could it also be true in religion? Now it is true: what you don't know can hurt you.
We interviewed some people on the street and asked them about religion. So I asked, how do you determine what's right and wrong?
> That's a good question. Everybody has their own thoughts and they're privileged to that. You know, it comes from inside. So, it's a spiritual thing.
>> The way I see it, there's really no wrong way to worship, it's just a matter of what you believe in, and what makes you feel good inside about being a better person and what's gonna help you get to the Holy Land.
[Steve] Is there right and wrong? How do you decide what to believe? Is it good enough to choose for yourself? Or do you go to the Source?
> I think that everybody has to weigh things in their own heart, when you hear things, and put them into your life and use them in your life. So what you think is right and wrong.
>> I don't know, you know. It's kind of difficult. It's just one of those things growing up that, you know, I kind of grew up to believe, and grew up to think.
[Steve] If you've always believed something, do you assume that's good enough or should you find the truth of the matter?
> We sort of, take those, the Bible as a guideline. So I don't, you know, there's really no right or wrong.
[Steve] Really? There are so many ideas out there about what to believe and what's good for you. Whether we learned it from childhood or picked it up along the way. Some ideas are helpful and good for you and work, yet others are like the avocado pit in the guacamole dip - they're just a myth. They really don't work. Do you know the difference?
The Bible tells of a time: "…when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear" (2 Timothy 4:3, NLT).
What do you want to hear? Without real understanding, a myth could sound good but you could be fooled. That's not much of a problem when it's a minor chip dip, but if you're not careful it could be something serious - deadly serious.
Now imagine if you lived several thousand years ago. Do you know how you would have been treated for a headache? How about a fever? Well whether you were an Egyptian or a Greek, your doctor would administer the preferred treatment of choice. What was it? Bloodletting.
The doctor would actually bleed you by opening a vein with a lance or a sharp piece of wood. The cut would cause your blood to flow, and he would drain several ounces of blood until you fainted.
At one time, all the scholarly experts believed that illnesses were caused by an overabundance of blood. Even thousands of years later, physicians throughout the Roman Empire practiced bloodletting as a common remedy. Before long, it flourished in India and in the Arab world as well.
Just think of the hundreds and hundreds of thousands in which bloodletting contributed to their death! Yet, all the experts believed in it, and practiced it.
It even continued into the Middle Ages. And by that time, do you know who would cure you of your ills? Back in those days, it was your friendly neighborhood barber. They did much more than just cut your hair.
That's right, the swirling red line on the barber pole - that represents the blood itself, the white - the tourniquet, and the pole represented the stick that patients would squeeze in their hand in order to dilate their veins so the blood would flow!
Believe it or not, this practice continued right up to recent history. Bloodletting was also popular in early America! Even the Surgeon General in the Continental Army, one of those men who signed the Declaration of Independence, thought that arteries were the key to disease and recommended high levels of bloodletting.
When George Washington, the United States' beloved first president, developed a throat infection, he called for a doctor to bleed him. The result? He did not get better. Four hours later, the specialists were summoned again and removed another quart of blood. No improvement.
Then the trained doctors bled President Washington for a third time that same morning. And as we'd expect, Washington continued to become weaker and weaker. Later that afternoon, he died.
The famous president died from the treatment for a throat infection - after nine pints of blood were drained from him - that's about 35 percent of all the blood in his body.
Now the amazing part is that Washington's doctors used medical practice, what they believed would save his life. I mean after all, bloodletting was taught in medical school. It was written about in important books. It was the respected treatment at the time. Everyone believed it. Washington himself believed in it - believed it in his heart, that it was right. But it wasn't and it cost him his life. As I said earlier, what you don't know can hurt you.
Now there is a religious connection. There's something in mainstream Christianity that you don't know is hurting you.
There is something that's taught in seminary schools, something that's written about in important books. It is a respected teaching of this time. Most Christians do believe it in their heart, but like the myths and false remedies - it doesn't make it right.
In fact, the apostle Paul warned the young minister Timothy. He said: "…keep safe what God has trusted you with. Turn away from foolish talk. Do not argue with those who think they know so much. They know less than they think they do. Some people have gone after much learning. It has proved to be false and they have turned away from the faith…" (1 Timothy 6:20-21, NLV).
Could it be that some Christians have turned away? Is it possible that your learning, your lifestyle, your religion has unknowingly led you away from God?
Well here's a tough question: Do you really know God or could something be interfering with your relationship with your Creator?
So many have a difficult time explaining and portraying God. There seems to be a common belief that God cannot be understood. This idea became evident when we interviewed people on the street.
How would you describe God, if you had to tell, tell us what or who God is, how would you describe that?” Continued at: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-television-program/has-religion-lied-to-you
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Can You Reverse the Progression of Coronary Heart Disease?
“YES. HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CHANGES CAN HALT - AND EVEN REDUCE - PLAQUE BUILD-UP IN THE ARTERIES. THEY CAN ALSO FEND OFF HEART DISEASE PROMOTERS LIKE TYPE 2 DIABETES AND HYPERTENSION.
Plaque build-up in our arteries usually happens over many years. Often, we don’t even know the damage is taking place. But boy oh boy, the end result - a heart attack - comes fast and furious. Learn how to stop and very possibly reverse arterial damage.
So effective is the Pritikin lifestyle in reversing risk factors for heart disease that Medicare now reimburses for Pritikin’s diet-and-exercise programs for qualifying individuals with a history of cardiovascular events.
Can I halt the progression of heart disease?
Yes. To understand how, here’s a little background on how heart disease happens.
Most heart disease results from atherosclerosis, which is cholesterol build-up, or plaque, in the inner walls of our arteries. Plaque can burst or rupture, which triggers blood clots that can block blood flow to the heart. The result is a heart attack.
If the plaque ruptures in arteries that lead to the brain, the result could be a stroke.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that with healthy lifestyle changes like diet, exercise, and smoking cessation, and, if needed, medications, many people are able to stabilize atherosclerosis, making plaque less likely to rupture.
How did I get plaque in the first place?
Plaque is caused by the piling up of LDL “bad” cholesterol and other apoB-containing lipoproteins in the artery walls, resulting in injury and inflammation.
Collectively, these many damaging forms of cholesterol are known as non-HDL cholesterol.
But keep in mind that cholesterol is not the only contributor to plaque build-up. Other plaque producers include type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as precursors of these conditions, such as pre-diabetes (a fasting blood glucose of 100 to 125 mg/dL).
The more of these risk factors you have, the more plaque you likely have, and the more inflamed – and damaged – the inner walls of your arteries become.
Some factors that promote plaque build-up, such as genetics, age, and gender, are beyond our control.
How to reverse the progression of coronary heart disease | 7 key steps
But many other factors we can control. Here are 7 key steps for halting coronary heart disease:” Continued at: https://www.pritikin.com/your-health/health-benefits/reverse-heart-disease.html
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This is my 2500th post, and it won't post right!!
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