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Do You Feel Lucky Today?
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“Good luck, bad luck, no luck and even luck that can follow you—is this really what controls your future?
Across the globe the seemingly harmless Irish tradition of having to wear green on March 17 so the luck of the Irish will be with you has saturated our society. What's all the fuss over a man called St. Patrick that has resulted in widespread partying and celebration?
Even more widespread is the concept of luck, a seemingly supernatural force that swings the odds of circumstances in people's favor or against them. Is this acceptable from a biblical perspective? Should we be wishing others "Good luck"?
As St. Patrick's Day comes around, it's a good time to take a hard look at luck.
Irish tradition
Throughout the past 1, 500 or so years, traditions have grown, folklore has spread, and "luck" has sprouted in our everyday language. The leprechaun and icons like the color green, the shamrock and the pot o' gold have all come to be associated with the celebration of St. Patrick's Day.
Legend states that St. Patrick used the shamrock or three-leaved clover to explain the Trinity. Its three leaves supposedly represented the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Eventually, the custom was adopted of wearing a shamrock on his feast day. (The Trinity doctrine, however, is unbiblical—for more information, request our free booklet Is God a Trinity?)
A shamrock is different from a four-leaf clover. According to Celtic tradition, when a four-leaf clover is found, it is said to represent God's grace, with the four leaves standing for faith, hope, love and luck.
Ironically, the real Patrick would probably have frowned on the traditions associated with his feast day—as well as the holiday itself.
What's with luck?
Of course, the concept of luck or fortune is not exclusive to Irish tradition. We find it throughout human history and throughout the world today.
We now hear phrases like "good luck with the job interview," or "good luck on that test." While many deem this merely an expression of hoping for the best outcome, not really believing in luck, others take the concept of luck more seriously.
Some things associated with luck seem harmless, like wishing on a star, shooting stars, wishing wells, lucky trinkets or fairies. But there are underlying issues here that need to be raised.
Over the years luck has become like a god in society. Luck seems to decide things like your fate, car accidents, test scores, the job hunt, pay raises or even the answer you'll be given about that date you want to go on this Saturday night. People believe luck controls things and that it provides different opportunities for different people. Decisions are even based on it. Consider that many skyscrapers have no 13th floor—as 13 is considered unlucky.
No luck with the Bible
Looking to the Bible, we find that it gives no credibility to luck. In the first of the Ten Commandments, God states, "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3). The intent of His command here is that nothing is to take a higher priority in our lives than Him! This first command warns us to not accept a religion or philosophy that teaches that our life and well-being originate or depend on anything other than the one true God.
As He often does, God colorfully portrays the utter foolishness of making gods of wood and stone, but the biblical nations of ancient Israel and Judah manufactured as many fake deities as the number of cities in the land of Judah (Jeremiah 2:27-28). "See if they can save you in the time of your trouble!" God taunted them and modern mankind (compare verse 28). Today our peoples still trust in worthless and inanimate things to save us—such as weapons, money and even actual idols by seeing power in crosses, religious statues and good luck charms.
God even laments over His people rejecting Him "and offering food and wine to the gods you call ‘Good Luck' and ‘Fate'" (Isaiah 65:11, Contemporary English Version). Any credit to luck is really a form of idolatry.
No luck at all
Maybe you've heard people say, "I know luck doesn't exist, but good luck anyway!" Perhaps they're conceding that there may be luck after all—or maybe they just don't know how else to wish someone well. They could simply say, "Do well" or "All the best." Or they could look to God, saying, "God be with you" or "God bless you" (yet only if He is truly sought).
After all, true power is with God, not with luck. As the Bible tells us: "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things … by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing … The Creator of the ends of the earth neither faints nor is weary" (Isaiah 40:26-28).
Using luck in our vocabulary and lives may seem harmless. But God is jealous for His people. He truly loves you and desires the best for your future. It does not please Him when we turn to fables and smooth phrases that announce our dependence on anything but Him. Everything we are and have ultimately comes from God. The only reliable assurance that our future is secure lies in our relationship with our Creator, not some ominous luck, wishes, stars or leprechauns.
God beats luck any day
God wants us to understand that we must never direct our worship toward anything He has created, or regard it as the source of our life and blessings. Worship only the Creator—never the creation. He is the sole miracle-working God who provides blessings, hopes and a promised future of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Rainbows, waterfalls, clovers, stars and the rest of the creation were created for us to enjoy and use as a wonderful and beautiful environment to live in. We don't bow down, pray or make requests to any aspect of the creation.
So where are you placing your trust, faith and hope? That's a vital question for each of us.
God's ultimate plan and desire for us is that we live forever in His eternal family and Kingdom: "Now we are children of God … we know that when He [Jesus Christ] is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
That is the purpose for which we have been created! Luck has nothing to do with it! Wishing wells, wishing on a star or making a wish when blowing out birthday candles simply skew and corrupt our relationship with our Creator.
There is one source of blessings. There is one way into the Kingdom of God. There is one sacrifice that removes the penalty of our personal sins. God alone is that true source—not luck!” From: Do You Feel Lucky Today? | United Church of God (ucg.org)
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St. Patrick & St. Patrick's Day“Who was this Patrick guy, anyway? Known as the patron saint of Ireland, he's an almost mythological figure in the Christian world, with tall tales of his legendary exploits known far and wide.
Theologian and historian James Moffatt said, “So much legend and fiction has been written about him that one is almost led to believe that there were two individuals—the real Patrick and the fictitious Patrick” ( The Church in Scotland , 1882, p. 140).
There are few hard facts about Patrick’s life, but we can draw some reasonable conclusions from what we do know.
Patrick is credited with establishing the Roman Catholic Church throughout Ireland. But does history match tradition? Moffatt commented, “He should not be placed where certain historians seem determined to assign him … He was in no way connected with the type of Christianity which developed in Italy” (ibid).
As it turns out, Patrick probably wasn’t even Catholic! His belief system was evidently quite different than that of continental Europe.
It’s probable that Patrick even honored God’s seventh day Sabbath! “It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor” (ibid).
Other historical records and Patrick’s own writings reveal him to have been closer to biblical instruction than to traditional Christianity. Part of the Bible’s teaching includes rejecting the use of pagan practices in the worship of the true God (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).
The real Patrick likely wouldn’t even have approved of observing his own namesake holiday! This holiday on March 17 was supposedly to commemorate his death, but that date was in fact the time of the Roman Bacchanalia—celebrating the god of wine and partying. It seems the pagan party goes on in another guise. Bear that in mind when March 17 comes around. Forget the leprechauns, and put God first!” Read the related article “Do You Feel Lucky Today? above.
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How to Keep David Letterman (and yourself) Off the Operating Table
by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD March 1, 2011
“Last Friday night Barbara Walters television special highlighted six celebrities and their thoughts and emotions surrounding their open heart surgery. Barbara Walters, Robin Williams, and Charlie Rose had valve surgery, while President Clinton, Regis Philbin, and David Letterman had bypass surgery for coronary artery disease. Few would challenge that the stage of illness of these celebrities did not require surgical intervention. The real eye-opener of the show was David Letterman’s remark that he fully expected a second bypass operation in the future. The sober resignation to an inevitable recurrence is what we must challenge vigorously.
Let’s be clear: coronary artery disease is a food borne illness and need never exist. If the gifted surgeons identified in the television special had opened their offices in rural China, the Papua Highlands of New Guinea, Central Africa or among the Tarahumara Indians of Northern Mexico, they would need to take on second jobs. Why all the empty waiting rooms? These cultures have a plant based nutrition no coronary artery disease, and no need for bypass surgeons or stents.
The key to our vascular health is the innermost single layer of endothelial cells which line our blood vessels. Those cells produce nitric oxide molecules, which smooth blood flow, enlarge blood vessels on demand, inhibit inflammation in the blood vessel wall, and most importantly prevent the formation of blockages or plaque.
So how does nitric oxide fail?
Every time we eat a western diet of oils, dairy, meat, fish, poultry, and caffeine in coffee we injure our endothelial cells and deplete our protective level of nitric oxide. Autopsies of 20 year olds dying of accidents, homicides, and suicides confirm coronary artery disease is now ubiquitous (albeit still in an early stage.) Continued nutritional insult to endothelial cells leads to plaque blockages, chest pain, heart attacks, strokes, and the need for stents and bypass surgery. Cardiologists agree these procedures are a temporary patch job and have nothing to do with the cause of the disease.
What about cholesterol? Cholesterol is an innocent bystander in plant based populations with healthy uninjured endothelium and copious amounts of nitric oxide. Once nitric oxide levels fall with the introduction of the western diet, the endothelial tissues become sticky allowing cholesterol to burrow into the vessel wall, creating plaque buildup and blockages, and impeding blood flow.
Lowering cholesterol is helpful, but the key is to avoid eating foods that further injure the endothelium. That has been the focus of our counseling goal with patients since 1985. It is also why we have been able to successfully treat this disease through dietary intervention in hundreds of patients with the technique described in my book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. With this dietary approach the endothelium can rapidly recover its nitric oxide production, halt disease progression, and often achieve significant disease reversal. As a result, patients rarely require stents or bypasses.
Note to David Letterman: Your fate is on your fork.
Why don’t physicians offer the plant based nutrition option to their patients?
1. They are not taught nutrition and are unfamiliar with the efficacy of a plant based approach.
2. They don’t have time for patient nutritional counseling.
3. They often lack the skill set for behavioral modification.
4. Insurance support for counseling is sparse.
5. The status quo offers a handsome income stream.
The cure for the coronary artery disease epidemic is not a pill, a procedure, or an operation. The cure is to empower the public with nutritional literacy and to make each individual the locus of control when it comes to protecting their health and vanquishing this food borne illness.
Since the time of Hippocrates there has been a covenant of trust between the physician and the patient. Informing patients of the causes of their disease is a crucial part of that trust. In the case of coronary artery disease, that conversation is not taking place. While stents and bypass surgery may be lifesaving in an emergency, all too often at the first sign of disease, these invasive procedures are employed, with all the associated morbidity and mortality.
We perform 1.2 million stents annually in the United States, with a mortality of 1% and procedural heart attack rate of 4%. This translates to 12,000 deaths and 48,000 heart attacks every year. We perform 500,000 bypass operations with a mortality rate of 3% and similar procedural stroke rate. This totals 15,000 deaths and 15,000 strokes annually. Over a decade these procedures result in 270,000 deaths, 480,000 heart attacks, and 150,000 strokes.
More than forty years ago brilliant pioneers set the interventional mode of cardiology treatment in motion. Back then it was all we had. However, today with an understanding of this disease causation we have the powerful option to halt and prevent this epidemic. This can never happen while symptomatic therapy reaps enormous financial rewards. Change would also be disruptive for powerful institutions. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), which subsidizes the animal food industry, constructs a food pyramid for the public every five years laden with nutrition suggestions that further promote, rather than prevent, disease. The $5 billion stent and $25 billion statin drug industry are hardly anxious to see this epidemic go away. Few interventional cardiologists or cardiac surgeons are seeking fewer patients.
As heart-warming as Barbara Walters’ television special on celebrity heart surgery was, just imagine a one-hour primetime special devoted to educating the public that coronary artery disease—our number one killer—need never exist and that our fate is in our hands. Maybe David Letterman could host.” From: https://www.dresselstyn.com/site/letterman/
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