Graduating and a New Path


Today I complete my final class and have obtained my Bachelor of Science in Accounting. This has been a goal for many years and I smile thinking about it. I also started reading Dr. Al Sears book, The Doctor's Heart Cure. I have decided that I have that living my life in obesity is no longer an option for myself. I had to think about what course I was going to take to achieve health and I decided on Dr. Sears because I believe his system works. In many ways similar to Robert Atkins fame with a few tweaks.
Why a Heart Cure? Heart disease runs in the family and I wanted to make sure I had a system designed for my heart. Also, I think Sears' workout routine is the correct type. I will report on my progress as I continue this journey and new adventure in my life.

Relationship or Principles?

How do we relate to Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit? Do we relate based upon relationship or do we relate based upon principle? Christ said that He is in us and He is in the Father thus through Christ we are in the Father. So the desire of God is to bring us into the relationship that exists within the Holy Trinity. So the answer is we are in a relationship not based upon principles but upon the desire of the Father to show you His deep intimate love.

Now while living upon the earth God has established principles upon which to live. The Law of Sowing and Reaping is one such principle. The Law of Confession is another. Thus to move forward in the world we confess the written word of God, Christ being the Word of God. So the starting principle for believers is discovering Who I Am in Christ and What I Possess in Christ. The important key is to discover this within the relationship that exists within the Holy Trinity.

College Level Success Course

I was thinking about how I should develop a college level course on Success or maybe a degree in Success. Any suggestions would be helpful. The introductory class would be called, Success: An Introduction. The textbook would be The Success Principles by Jack Canfield.
Other classes would consist of:
Personal Finance – Basic finance
Wealth – The Millionaire Next Door
Leadership - John Maxwell
And the list could go on and on.

I think the basic principles for success could be laid down with people. The problem I have is no multiple answer or true and false tests. I find the best way to learn is choose a topic in the book and write a three page paper on the topic. Think about it you studied a book like The Success Principles and wrote a paper on each chapter what you could learn. The paper would need to be centered on how do I apply this principle to my life or what idea have I learned that can be applied to my life. Another basic textbook could be The Art of Achievement by Tom Morris. By combining philosophy with success Morris has produced a winner of a book.

Quoted by Pat Buchanan

"The United States is declining as a nation and a world power with mostly sighs and shrugs to mark this seismic event," writes Les Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, in CFR's Foreign Affairs magazine. "Astonishingly, some people do not appear to realize that the situation is all that serious."

The Keynesian ‘Economist’ Interviews Ron Paul

You can tell the regime is worried when an establishment organ like the Keynesian ‘Economist’ magazine deigns to notice Ron’s fight against the Fed. Why are they doing that? Because he is actually changing the climate of opinion, with the assistance of the Fed’s boom and bust, on the central bank. Never, since 1913, have regular Americans been interested in the Fed. We are supposed to be bored by it. Yet the Fed is the biggest rip-off operation in the history of mankind, and the enabler of world wars, the garrison state, and the massive welfare state. How great to have the best-known back-bencher in American history alerting people, young people, especially, to the evils of central banking, fiat money, and inflation, and to the importance of Austrian economics. Lew Rockwell

An Important Breathing Exercise (www.Mercola.com)



Introduction to Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking - a hero of mine

CONFLICTING WORLDVIEWS
by Neil Anderson

Colossians 1:13
For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son

The Western world today sees reality in two tiers. The upper tier is the transcendent world where God and angels--as well as ghosts and ghouls--reside, a world which is understood through religion and mysticism. The lower tier is the empirical world, which is understood through science and the physical senses. In two-tier mentality, the spiritual world has no practical bearing on the natural world; we have excluded it from our understanding of reality. Most attempts at integrating theology and psychology include only God and humanity (fallen and redeemed) and exclude the activity of Satan and demons.

In stark contrast to the secularism of the West, two-thirds of the inhabitants of the world hold an Eastern worldview. They live and operate believing that spiritual forces are an everyday reality. These people appease their gods with peace offerings and perform religious rituals to ward off evil spirits. To the common people in Third World nations, religious practice or superstition has more practical relevance in daily life than science.

It is easy for those of us raised in the West to dismiss the Eastern worldview as inferior on the basis of the "success" of the Western world. But both are worldly systems and neither reflects biblical reality. The West tries to ignore the reality of the spiritual world and the East tries to appease it or naively enter into it. The Bible clearly depicts the reality of the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. God's Word tells us we can have victory over the former by being transferred into the latter.

Many Christians either exclude the supernatural from their worldview altogether or consign it to the transcendental tier where it will have no effect on their lives. By doing so they not only exclude God's power from their theology and practice, but they also explain all human failure--even that which is induced by demonic influence--as the result of psychological or natural causes.

Prayer:

Lord, I accept the worldview presented in Your Word. Help me deal victoriously with the reality of demonic forces in my world.

Addiction and Wealth Building

Do not confuse high income with high net worth. Many are high income/high consumption when it comes to money thus you have people earning six figures who have very little net worth but many toys in which to indulge. Also I do not include home equity in this equation when discussing wealth. As we have seen over the last nine years people used their home equity to buy more toys and other things not needed. People who are millionaires are frugal they don't go for the latest fad investment but stay with the tried and true.

Thinking about this has helped me discover how much the Prosperity Gospel has it wrong. The gospel preached by these people lacks any discipline except to tithe the the minister preaching the prosperity message. It is based upon high income/high consumption living not the importance to thrift and sound investment. If a person could learn to earn a high income while living a frugal life think of the possibilities. Ok back to addiction. How does an addiction create a poverty consciousness within ourselves that prevent us from achieving not only our financial goals but all goals. Is it the shame an addict lives with that creates the underachievement? What happens to an individual that wastes their life addicted to that thing or things that needs to be hidden or denied? Is the reason the Christian church is imploding in America because of the 50% addiction rate to pornography by ministers and laymen and over 20% of laywomen.

Wealth Building Books Part 2

If You Want to be Rich than do What Rich People Do

Sounds reasonable but why does everyone seem to complicate this. I suppose if I want to be a millionaire then I should study millionaires such as The Millionaire Next Door. I keep thinking that God will just drop money in my lap but He never does. High income/high consumption does not equal high net worth. I think that was eye opening for me because I have attempted to be frugal but have never succeeded. There has always been something to spend my money on and that is the difference as to why I am not a millionaire. The Millionaire Next Door is an academic study written by researchers. What other books would fall within the category of wealth building books?

On are I have forgotten about with millionaires is that they all have BUDGETS. Yes, the word us middle class people refuse to mention. Now I have known high income/high consumption people who had budgets but never became wealthy and it income wasn't high enough then the credit card came out. That seemed to work when home mortgages were being used to finance lifestyles.

When thinking over the wealth building goals I have it really does start with two things. The first is dealing with any addictions and the second is taking the time to create and live by a budget. I heard Dave Ramsey say when you create a budget it will not work the first month or the second but slowly it will take shape allowing the person to fly.

Thomas Jefferson Quotes


When we get piled upon one another in large cities,

As in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those
who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the
world.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the
government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of
taking care of them.

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results
from too much government.

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and
bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against
tyranny in government.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the
blood of patriots and tyrants.

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of
ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

Thomas
Jefferson said in 1802:
'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our
liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever
allow private banks to control the issue of their currency,
first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and
corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the
people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on
the continent their fathers
conquered..'

Wealth Building Books Part 1

Recently I reread an article by Michael Masterson about Wealth Building books. I am not going to re-list his categories but I thought I would highlight the ones I thought were interesting to me. One thing I have discovered is that if you have any type of addiction these books will not work. As it is hard to build wealth while feeding the addiction with money. One category his lists is Academic studies, such as The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley. I am presently reading this book and have discovered several things.

The first is the need to be frugal with your money. Just because a person has a high income does not mean they are wealthy as many high income people are also high consumption oriented. If fact many millionaires are people who follows the rule, "Pay Yourself First." What people forget is rule number two, "Don't Lose Money." Thus people blindly placed their money into 401k's because the stock market was heading higher. I guess rule number three would be, "If You Don't Understand it, Don't Invest."

Have I followed these rules? Nope and that is why I am not a millionaire. As an aside if you have the chance go to www.earlytorise.com and subscribe. The wealth of information that comes out has no seconds. As Ben Franklin said, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man Healthy, Wealthy and Wise." The should be the motto of all would be millionaries. I guess the next book to read wil be Ben Franklin's book "The Way to Wealth."

Weight Loss Help

I found this about William Banting:
http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/banting.html
Doug Kaufman's Phase One Diet
http://knowthecause.dnnspeed.com/Resources/tabid/56/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/184/What-is-the-Phase-One-diet.aspx
Funny video about Tattoos:

Finally, several weeks ago I had the chacne to hear Jimmy Moore talk about his upcoming book, 21 Life Lessons. You might want to check out Jimmy's website:
http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/

Why I left Church and am Happier for it

I was listening to a radio show talk about a Lutheran minister caught in adultery. Is this the reason why people stop going to church or is there a simpler explanation? My reasons are quite straight forward. I made the mistake of becoming a golfer with the minister who lead the group to which I belonged. If you are unfamiliar with ministers you discover that they have two traits that others don't possess. The first is they are God's reps on this earth so you better not question them, no matter what. The second is ministers enter the ministry, though mine was more by default, because they really are screwed up in the head. I think my minister had serious mental issues. Having watched the clowns on TV I think the trait is common.
I personally had no choice but to get out. About two years before I "left" the group I was golfing with said minister when I made the mistake of questioning something he was going to teach. All I said was "I'm just not convinced." High crime and treason committed. And I admit it too. The said minister proceeded to give me the silent treatment for the remainder of the round. Two weeks later in the group he announced his teaching had been confirmed by the Holy Spirit after some doubts. He was looking right at me when he said it. That was when I knew it was time to leave but I didn't, why because of fear. I had been trained by said minister that he had the anointing, so I stayed.
All it caused me was increasing boredom with his teaching. I discovered that only in his own mind was he a good teacher. Have you ever listen to the same teaching said different ways for 17 years. I did.
Then one joyous day Christ set me free.

The Millionaire Next Door

I am currently reading “The Millionaire Next Door”. I realize its 13 years late but I wonder if anyone listened to what was said. I found the fact that there is really no correlation between high income and wealth because high income usually translates into high consumption not building wealth. There are two types of millionaires discussed in the book. The first are those people with high incomes or who inherited the money compared with those who built there wealth either by frugal living and budgeting or by building a business.

For many years I was part of the prosperity gospel scene. One thing that always stuck out was that these preachers never taught the importance of budgeting and saving to build for the future. It was always expected that God would drop the lottery winnings in your lap, that unexpected income. What foolishness it was. If I had had taken the time to learn from people who had built wealth instead of people who could speak in public I may have true wealth and financial independence instead of still dependant upon my weekly paycheck.

IT TRULY MATTERS WHO YOU ACCEPT AS TEACHERS!!

Declaration of Independence

Living in a Fantasy Nation

I hear that Obama plans on telling the Russians the Cold War is over. Who thinks the Cold War is still being fought? The United States continues to expand NATO into former Russian territory; the United States has over 700 military bases overseas. We truly live in a fantasy nation. Once the Cold War ended the United States should have begun shutting down the Empire. We have has spend trillions of dollars maintaining this Empire. We have killed millions of people. We have bankrupted ourselves with the printing of money. Both Bush I and II should be sitting in prison next to Bernie Madoff for the crimes against humanity they have committed. And I see Obama is heading in the same direction.

Belief Systems

Curious thing about humans and the belief systems they develop to survive the dull drums of life. Solomon talked about the vanity of life, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity”. We go through life doing the same thing every day, “what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” We go through life doing the same thing over and over again. We arise in the morning to work, eat and sleep. Everyday the same, on weekends we tend the yard, cut the grass, etc.

We medicate ourselves with drugs, alcohol and sex to make it through life. We cheer for “our team” to avoid thinking about the boredom of life. But in the end we know that is was all in vane as we will die and be forgotten in this life for who remembers that people of yesteryear. And if they were lucky enough to have had a picture taken we ask, “Do you know who this person was?” And everyone says “no”. Man strives to build a legacy only to have his descendants squander it. We strive for knowledge and wisdom only to discover, “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow”.

To realize that the same end awaits both the fool and the wise, as Solomon said, “For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool!” Prior to this verse Solomon says, “The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.” But what is the goal of it all? As Solomon says, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

Only God can give us the ability to enjoy this cycle of toil that exists in life. Christ came so that we could enjoy in this life those things that are meaningless in the next life. I did digress from the point I was attempting to make. In order to survive this life we have each person has a belief system. Some are developed on our own while others are taught to us by parents and teachers, etc. I have noticed when a person with another belief system comes along it is anathema.

All Scripture is from the English Standard Version, the book of Ecclesiastes chapters 1-2.