Interesting Facts You Should Know

No One’s Ever Been Able To Explain These 13 Things. They’ll Give You Cold Chills.

2013-10-18T07:17:00.001-07:00

Whether you are a conspiracy theorist or not, you have to accept that a lot of stuff happens in the world that not many people understand. Below are some of the freakiest incidences that have yet to be properly explained.

Where’s Mulder and Scully when you need them?

The Mysterious Hinterkaifeck Murders: In Germany, 1922, the murders of six people at the Hinterkaifeck farmstead shocked the nation. This wasn’t just because of the gruesome nature of the case, but also because the case was so incredibly weird, and it remains unsolved to this day. Over 100 people were interviewed in the murder, but no one was ever arrested. No motive was ever established as to explain the murders. The previous maid had left 6 months earlier, saying the home was haunted. The new maid arrived only hours before the murders. It is believed that the perpetrator(s) remained at the farm for several days – someone had fed the cattle, and eaten food in the kitchen: the neighbours had also seen smoke from the chimney during the weekend. This photo depicts one of the victims as he lay in the house barn.

The Phoenix Lights: The Phoenix Lights were a series of widely sighted unidentified flying objects, seen by 1000s of people, observed in the skies over Arizona, Nevada in the United States, and Sonora, Mexico on Thursday, March 13, 1997.There were allegedly two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area. The United States Air Force identified the second group of lights as flares dropped by A-10 Warthog aircraft that were on training exercises at the Barry Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona. The lights were reported to have reappeared in 2007 and 2008, but these events were quickly attributed to (respectively) military flares dropped by fighter aircraft at Luke Air Force Base and flares attached to helium balloons released by a civilian.

Solway Firth Astronaut: Jim Templeton was in a marsh taking photos of his young daughter and after getting them developed there appeared to have been a Spaceman in full astronaut gear standing behind her. Except there wasn’t anyone else around while they were there. Even Kodak verified that it was not tampered with.
Solway Firth Astronaut: Jim Templeton was in a marsh taking photos of his young daughter and after getting them developed there appeared to have been a Spaceman in full astronaut gear standing behind her. Except there wasn't anyone else around while they were there. Even Kodak verified that it was not tampered with.

The Falling Body: As the Cooper’s move into their new home in Texas, they take a photograph of the family sitting together, but as the photo is taken, a body falls from the ceiling.
The Falling Body: As the Cooper's move into their new home in Texas, they take a photograph of the family sitting together, but as the photo is taken, a body falls from the ceiling.

Phantom thumb: A group of four kids posing for a picture, however, there appears to be a mysterious thumb next to the kid in black on the right, that does not seem to align with anyone’s body.
Phantom thumb: A group of four kids posing for a picture, however, there appears to be a mysterious thumb next to the kid in black on the right, that does not seem to align with anyone's body.

Battle of LA: A photo published in the Los Angeles Times on February 26, 1942 has been cited by modern day conspiracy theorists and UFOlogists as evidence of an extra-terrestrial visitation. They assert that the photo clearly shows searchlights focused on an alien spaceship; however, the photo was heavily modified by photo retouching prior to publication, a routine practice in graphic arts of the time intended to improve contrast in black and white photos. Los Angeles Times writer Larry Harnish noted that the retouched photo along with faked newspaper headlines were presented as true historical material in trailers for the film Battle: Los Angeles. Harnish commented, “if the publicity campaign wanted to establish UFO research as nothing but lies and fakery, it couldn’t have done a better job.”

Hessdalen Light: Unusual lights have been reported here since 1940s or earlier. Especially high activity of Hessdalen lights took place from December 1981 until the summer of 1984 when lights were observed 15–20 times per week. The frequency of the lights caused a gathering of numerous tourists staying there overnight to see the phenomenon.[1] Since then, the activity has decreased and now the lights are observed some 10–20 times per year. The Hessdalen light most often is a bright, white or yellow light of unknown origin standing or floating above the ground level. Sometimes the light can be seen for more than one hour. There are several other types of unexplained lights observed in the Hessdalen valley.

The Time Traveler: People believe that this photograph, taken in 1941 at the re-opening of the South Forks Bridge in Gold Bridge, Canada, is depicting a man in seemingly modern dress and style, with a camera that is advanced well beyond its time. The circle on the left illustrates a man with a camera typical to the time-period.

Black Knight Satellite mystery: Legend has it that in orbit around the Earth is a mysterious, dark object which dates back perhaps 13 000 years. Its origin and purpose are inscrutable, dubbed the “Black Knight” this elusive satellite has allegedly been beaming signals towards the Earth and inspected by NASA astronauts yet only a few on Earth officially know of its existence. The origin of the ominous name is part of the enigma; it is impossible to discover who first called it this or indeed why. Humans have only in the last 60 years had the technology to launch a man-made object into space so what is the logical explanation of tales of an alien intruder on our doorstep?

9/11 South Tower Woman: In these two photographs of the gaping hole the plane crashed into the South Tower of of the WTC on 9/11, you can see a woman standing on the edge of the hole waving. Her name is Edna Clinton, and the mystery many people say of these photos is that she actually was a survivor. People inquire how she was able to survive everything that happened at that location, then go on to make it out of the building.

The Skunk Ape: In 2000, two photographs said to be of the Skunk Ape were taken by an anonymous woman and mailed to the Sarasota County, Florida, Sheriff’s Department. The photographs were accompanied by a letter from the woman in which she claims to have photographed an ape in her backyard.
The Skunk Ape: In 2000, two photographs said to be of the Skunk Ape were taken by an anonymous woman and mailed to the Sarasota County, Florida, Sheriff's Department. The photographs were accompanied by a letter from the woman in which she claims to have photographed an ape in her backyard.

The Madonna with Saint Giovannino and a UFO: This painting is called “The Madonna with Saint Giovannino”. It was painted in the 15th century by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) and hangs as part of the Loeser collection in the Palazzo Vecchio. Above Mary’s right shoulder is a disk shaped object. Below is a blow up of this section and a man and his dog can clearly be seen looking up at the object.
The Madonna with Saint Giovannino and a UFO: This painting is called “The Madonna with Saint Giovannino”. It was painted in the 15th century by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) and hangs as part of the Loeser collection in the Palazzo Vecchio. Above Mary’s right shoulder is a disk shaped object. Below is a blow up of this section and a man and his dog can clearly be seen looking up at the object.

The Falcon Lake Incident: The Falcon Lake Incident is a reported unidentified flying object (UFO) encounter near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada claimed to have occurred on May 20, 1967 by Stefan Michalak. He had had taken a short vacation in Whiteshell Provincial Park to prospect veins of quartz near Falcon Lake when he spotted two cigar-shaped objects descending, one of which landed near him. Michelak says he saw a door open and heard voices from inside the object, after which he tried to make contact in English and other languages but got no response. He claims to have burned his hand while attempting to examine “colourful glass” found around the object and seen a grid-like exhaust vent that expelled gas that burned his clothing.

The truth is out there. Stunning Interesting World Facts You Should Know. Share if you want your friends to see something truly eerie for this Halloween.

Source: http://imgur.com/a/4h0wT

Myanmar has an approximately 1.2 million persons living with disability.

2013-10-11T18:52:00.005-07:00

The National Disability Survey indicated that Myanmar has a disability prevalence of 2.32 percent, translating to approximately 1.2 million persons living with disability, or one person with a disability in every 10 households.

The socio economic status of people living with disabilities is considerably lower than the national average, only 15 percent reporting any current livelihood, with less than 10 percent attending high school or having access to health care. People living with disability also have limited opportunities to participate in community life and activities, and are excluded from the benefits of programmes which could improve their quality of life.

Does the Bible tell us to confess our sins to a priest or to God?

2013-10-04T02:52:00.001-07:00

A Catholic person is taught to look for forgiveness by confessing all their serious or mortal sins to a priest. This official teaching is found in the Catholic Catechism, paragraph 1497, Individual and integral confession of grave sins followed by absolution (by a priest) remains the only ordinary means of reconciliation with God and with the Church. This brings to light the contrast between venial sin and mortal sin and who defines these terms. However, the real issue that needs to be addressed is, does the Bible tell us to confess our sins to a priest or to God.

Watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHAnpkD3Vp4&feature=share&list=UUrmx4dBUcHGLZsf026ZJu3w

What you should know about JUNK FOODS

2013-10-04T02:17:00.001-07:00

Junk food is typically defined as foods with little nutritional value that are high in calories, fat, sugar, salt, or caffeine. Junk food can include breakfast cereals, candies, chips, cookies, French fries, gum, hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, sodas, and most sweet desserts.b

The term “junk food” was initially used in the 1960s but was popularized during the following decade when the song “Junk Food Junkie” reached the top of the charts in 1976.h

The increase of junk food is directly associated with the increase in obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, certain cancers, tooth decay, and other diseases.b

In 1979, in what has become known as the “Twinkie Defense,” Daniel White said he killed San Francisco mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk because he ate too much junk food, such as Twinkies, candy bars, and cupcakes, which caused a chemical imbalance in his brain. He was still convicted and, in 1981, Congress outlawed the “Twinkie Defense.”h

Fats from junk food trigger the brain to want more food. This effect can last for several days.f

More than $2 billion of candy is sold for Halloween, more than any other holiday.h

junk food.

During Saturday morning cartoons, children see an average of 8 junk food ads per 10 minutes of cartoons

Almost 80% of food commercials aired on Saturday morning children shows are for junk food.h

Today the United States has a $23 billion candy market. Candy sales have continued to increase despite concerns with junk food and obesity.h

Hostess makes 500 million Twinkies a year.e

The agent that gives Twinkies their smooth feel, cellulose gum, is also used in rocket fuel to give it a slightly gelatinous feel.e

Cracker Jack originated in Chicago and was the first to use toys to target junk food to children.h

During the 1930s, extruded snacks were invented by an animal feed technician, Edward Wilson, whose Korn Kurls, an early precursor to Cheetos, became popular after WWII.h

A Children’s Food Campaign (CFC) survey found that some baby food has as much, if not more, saturated fats and sugar as junk food.i

Western diets often include snacking on junk food filled with sugar. Consequently, insulin remains high throughout the day, which can cause metabolic problems including type 2 diabetes.b Over 250 million people worldwide have type-2 diabetes, constituting more than 90 percent of global diabetes cases. Most people will eventually become disabled or die from the disease.j

Doughnuts most likely originated in Germany and were brought to New York by Dutch settlers who called them olykoeks (oily cakes). The hole in the center was developed by the Pennsylvania Dutch perhaps because the shape provided easier dunking in coffee or made it easier to fry the donuts more thoroughly. Dunkin Donuts sells 6.4 million donuts per day (2.3 billion per year).h

Annually, Americans buy nearly $2 billion in Easter candies, including 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies, 16 billion jellybeans, and 700 million marshmallow Peeps.h

For 3,000 years, natural licorice was used as medicine to treat ulcers, sore throats, coughs, and other diseases. The first licorice “candy” was an attempt to disguise the bitter flavor of the medicine, though now most American licorice “candy” does not have licorice’s historic therapeutic qualities.h

envelopes

Corn dextrin is not only an ingredient in many junk foods, it is also the glue on envelopes and stamps

Corn dextrin, a common thickener used in junk food, is also the glue on envelopes and postage stamps.e

Alloxen, a byproduct of bleaching white flour which is often found in junk food, leads to diabetes in healthy experimental animals by destroying their pancreatic beta cells.e

M&M’s were created by Forrest Mars (the son of the founder of Mars, Inc.) and his business partner, Bruce Murrie (the son of the president of the Hershey company). Because both their last names started with “M,” they called their new candy M&M’s. The original colors were red, yellow, green, orange, brown, and violet.h

Snickers is the most popular candy bar in America, due in part to advertising that highlighted its healthful aspects. In the UK, Snickers was initially named Marathon Bar because “snickers” rhymes with “knickers,” a British colloquialism for someone’s underwear.h

Mars, Inc, claims that the 3 Musketeers bar was named after its original composition: three pieces and three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. When the price of strawberries rose, the company dropped them as an ingredient in the chocolate bar.h

The Tootsie Roll is named after its creator Leo Hirshfield's daughter Clara, whose nickname was Tootsie. It was the first penny candy that was individually wrapped. During WWII, Tootsie Rolls were placed in soldiers’ ration kits because they could survive various weather conditions.h

Young women who eat a junk food diet are at a higher risk for developing Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).g

The Twinkie derived its name after bakery manager Jimmy Dewar saw an advertisement for the “Twinkle Toe Shoe Company” on a trip to St. Louis in the 1920s. They became the best selling snack cake in the United States after WWII and have appeared in many movies such as Ghostbusters (1984), Grease (1978), and Sleepless in Seattle (1993).h

“Conversation hearts” started in the 1860s, and currently the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO) produces about 8 billion Sweethearts per year, all within the six weeks before Valentine's Day.h

The creamy middle of a Twinkie is not cream at all but mostly Crisco, which is vegetable shortening.e

In 1891, William Wrigley Jr. began selling soap in Chicago. To increase sales, he gave away gum to his customers. When his gum became a hit, he decided to make and sell the now popular gum, which was later included in rations for soldiers.h

The most popular cookie in America is the chocolate chip cookie, which is attributed to Ruth Wakefield circa 1933.h

Junk food became a part of the American diet during the 1920s, but it was through television advertising after WWII that junk food became more ubiquitous and nutritionists subsequently became concerned.h

pregnant woman junk food

Eating junk food while pregnant or breast feeding raises the risk of producing obese children

Mothers who eat junk food while pregnant or breast-feeding have children who are prone to obesity throughout life. The children are also more prone to diabetes, raised cholesterol, and high blood fat.d

Female cockroaches that ate junk food in a research study became fatter and took longer to reproduce than cockroaches that ate a healthier diet.h

Researchers suggest that breast cancer rates in China are rising because of an increase in Western-style junk food and increasing unhealthy lifestyles.a

Additives and preservatives such as common food dyes and sodium benzoate can cause children to become more hyperactive and easily distracted than usual.h

Daily candy and junk food intake in children has been linked to violence later in life, though experts are not sure if it is the candy itself or the way it is given to children that creates the assocation.c

Vending machines were developed in the United Kingdom in the 1880s and were used to sell gum at train stations in New York. By 1926, there was one vending machine for every 100 people in America.h

Founded in 1927, 7-Eleven was once called Tote’m stores since customers “toted away” what they bought. In 1946, the name was changed to 7-Eleven to reflect its original hours of operation, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. 7-Eleven now sells about 144 million Slurpees, 33 million gallons of fountain drinks, 100 million hot dogs, and 60 million donuts and pastries per year.h

Today, Americans consume approximately 70 million “tator tots” a year. The film Napoleon Dynamite (2004) popularized them even more.h

-- Posted October 24, 2009

References

a “Breast Cancer Rates Jump in China: Experts Blame Unhealthy Lifestyles, Increasing Taste for Junk Food.” MSNBC.com. Oct 31, 2007. Accessed: September 24, 2009.

b Currie, Stephen. 2008. Junk Food: Health at Risk. Ann Arbor, MI: Cherry Lake Publisher.

c “Daily Candy in Childhood Linked to Violence in Adulthood.” Bio-Medicine.org. October 2, 2009. Accessed: October 3, 2009.

d DeNoon, Daniel J. “Moms Eat Junk Food, Kids Get Fat.” WebMC.com. June 30, 2008. Accessed: September 26, 2009.

e Ettinger, Steve. 2007. Twinkie: Deconstructed. New York, NY: Hudson Press.

f “Junk Food Makes You Eat More.” Telegraph.co.uk. September 15, 2009. Accessed: September 27, 2009.

g Lee, John, David Zava, and Virginia Hopkins. 2002. What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Breast Cancer: How Hormone Balance Can Save Your Life. New York, NY: Time Warner Book Group.

h Smith, Andrew F. 2006. Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

i “Some Baby Foods May Be Worse Than Junk Food.” MSNBC.com. May 4, 2009. Accessed: September 27, 2009.

j “Type-2 Diabetes a Massive Problem.” TheMedicalNews.net. September 24, 2007. Accessed: October 4, 2009.

Source: http://facts.randomhistory.com/interesting-facts-about-junk-food.html

Scientific Facts & Foreknowledge found in the Bible - Stunning Facts

2013-10-03T07:34:00.001-07:00

-Long time ago when technology has not yet existed people thought that the earth was flat, shapeless or ever expanding. But in (Job 26:7) it says, "He hangs the earth on nothing.
" and in (isaiah 40:42) ''circle of the earth''. Only recently when the technology has advanced, the scientists discovered that the earth free-floats in space, affected only by gravity. While other sources declared the earth sat on the back of an elephant or turtle, or was held up by Atlas, the Bible alone states what we now know to be true.

-There are mountains on the bottom of the ocean floor (Jonah 2:5-6). Only in the last century have we discovered that there are towering mountains and deep trenches in the depths of the sea.

-Incalculable number of stars (Jeremiah 33:22). At a time when less than 5,000 stars were visible to the human eye, God stated that the stars of heaven were innumerable. Not until the 17th century did Galileo glimpse the immensity of our universe with his new telescope. Today, astronomers estimate that there are ten thousand billion trillion stars - that's a 1 followed by 25 zeros! Yet, as the Bible states, scientists admit this number may be woefully inadequate.

-The number of stars, though vast, are finite (Isaiah 40:26). Although man is unable to calculate the exact number of stars, we now know their number is finite. Of course God knew this all along - "He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name" (Psalm 147:4). What an awesome God!

-The Bible compares the number of stars with the number of grains of sand on the seashore (Genesis 22:17; Hebrews 11:12). Amazingly, gross estimates of the number of sand grains are comparable to the estimated number of stars in the universe.

-God has created all mankind from one blood (Acts 17:26; Genesis 5). Today researchers have discovered that we have all descended from one gene pool. For example, a 1995 study of a section of Y chromosomes from 38 men from different ethnic groups around the world was consistent with the biblical teaching that we all come from one man (Adam)

-Origin of the major language groups explained (Genesis 11). After the rebellion at Babel, God scattered the people by confounding the one language into many languages. Evolution teaches that we all evolved from a common ancestor, yet offers no mechanism to explain the origin of the thousands of diverse languages in existence today.

-Origin of the different "races" explained (Genesis 11). As Noah's descendants migrated around the world after Babel, each language group developed distinct features based on environment and genetic variation. Those with a genetic makeup suitable to their new environment survived to reproduce. Over time, certain traits (such as dark skin color for those closer to the equator) dominated. Genesis alone offers a reasonable answer to the origin of the races and languages.

-Laughter promotes physical healing (Proverbs 17:22). Recent studies confirm what King Solomon was inspired to write 3,000 years ago, "A merry heart does good, like medicine." For instance, laughter reduces levels of certain stress hormones. This brings balance to the immune system, which helps your body fight off disease.

-Intense sorrow or stress is harmful to your health (Proverbs 18:14; Mark 14:34). Researchers have studied individuals with no prior medical problems who showed symptoms of stress cardiomyopathy including chest pain, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, and even heart failure - following a stressful incident.

-God has given us the leaves of the trees as medicine (Ezekiel 47:12; Revelation 22:2). Ancient cultures utilized many herbal remedies. Today, modern medicine has rediscovered what the Bible has said all along - there are healing compounds found in plants.

-Healthy dietary laws (Leviticus 11:9-12). Scripture states that we should avoid those sea creatures which do not have fins or scales. We now know that bottom-feeders (those with no scales or fins) tend to consume waste and are likely to carry disease.

-Olive oil and wine useful on wounds (Luke 10:34). Jesus told of a Samaritan man, who when he came upon a wounded traveler, he bandaged him - pouring upon his wounds olive oil and wine. Today we know that wine contains ethyl alcohol and traces of methyl alcohol. Both are good disinfectants. Olive oil is also a good disinfectant, as well as a skin moisturizer, protector, and soothing lotion. This is common knowledge to us today. However, did you know that during the Middle Ages and right up till the early 20th century, millions died because they did not know to treat and protect open wounds?

-The fact that God once flooded the earth (the Noahic Flood) would be denied (2 Peter 3:5-6). There is a mass of fossil evidence to prove this fact, yet it is flatly ignored by most of the scientific world because it was God's judgment on man's wickedness.

-Vast fossil deposits anticipated (Genesis 7). When plants and animals die they decompose rapidly. Yet billions of life forms around the globe have been preserved as fossils. Geologists now know that fossils only form if there is rapid deposition of life buried away from scavengers and bacteria. This agrees exactly with what the Bible says occurred during the global Flood.

-The continents were created as one large land mass (Genesis 1:9-10). Many geologists agree there is strong evidence that the earth was originally one super continent - just as the Bible said way back in Genesis.

-Continental drift inferred (Genesis 7:11). Today the study of the ocean floor indicates that the landmasses have been ripped apart. Scripture states that during the global Flood the "fountains of the great deep were broken up." This cataclysmic event apparently resulted in the continental plates breaking and shifting.

-Medical quarantine instituted (Leviticus 13:45-46; Numbers 5:1-4). Long before man understood the principles of quarantine, God commanded the Israelites to isolate those with a contagious disease until cured.

-Each star is unique (1 Corinthians 15:41). Centuries before the advent of the telescope, the Bible declared what only God and the angels knew - each star varies in size and intensity!

-Ice Age inferred (Job 38:29-30). Prior to the global Flood the earth was apparently subtropical. However shortly after the Flood, the Bible mentions ice often

-"By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen" (Job 37:10). Evidently the Ice Age occurred in the centuries following the Flood.

-Life begins at fertilization (Jeremiah 1:5). God declares that He knew us before we were born. The biblical penalty for murdering an unborn child was death (Exodus 21:22-23). Today, it is an irrefutable biological fact that the fertilized egg is truly an entire human being. Nothing will be added to the first cell except nutrition and oxygen.

-God fashions and knits us together in the womb (Job 10:8-12; 31:15). Science was ignorant concerning embryonic development until recently. Yet many centuries ago, the Bible accurately described God making us an "intricate unity" in the womb.

-DNA anticipated (Psalm 139:13-16). During the 1950s, Watson and Crick discovered the genetic blueprint for life. Three thousand years ago the Bible seems to reference this written digital code in Psalm 139 - "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect [unformed]; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."

-Incest laws established (Leviticus 18:6). To marry near of kin in the ancient world was common. Yet, beginning about 1500 B.C., God forbid this practice. The reason is simple - the genetic mutations (resulting from the curse) had a cumulative effect. Though Cain could safely marry his sister because the genetic pool was still relatively pure at that time, by Moses' day the genetic errors had swelled. Today, geneticists confirm that the risk of passing on a genetic abnormality to your child is much greater if you marry a close relative because relatives are more likely to carry the same defective gene. If they procreate, their offspring are more apt to have this defect expressed.

- Circumcision on the eighth day is ideal (Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 12:3; Luke 1:59). Medical science has discovered that the blood clotting chemical prothrombin peaks in a newborn on the eighth day. This is therefore the safest day to circumcise a baby. How did Moses know?!

-God has given us just the right amount of water to sustain life (Isaiah 40:12). We now recognize that if there was significantly more or less water, the earth would not support life as we know it.

-The earth was designed for biological life (Isaiah 45:18). Scientists have discovered that the most fundamental characteristics of our earth and cosmos are so finely tuned that if just one of them were even slightly different, life as we know it couldn't exist. This is called the Anthropic Principle and it agrees with the Bible which states that God formed the earth to be inhabited.

-The universe is expanding (Job 9:8; Isaiah 42:5; Jeremiah 51:15; Zechariah 12:1). Repeatedly God declares that He stretches out the heavens. During the early 20th century, most scientists (including Einstein) believed the universe was static. Others believed it should have collapsed due to gravity. Then in 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that distant galaxies were receding from the earth, and the further away they were, the faster they were moving. This discovery revolutionized the field of astronomy. Eisntein admitted his mistake, and today most astronomers agree with what the Creator told us millennia ago - the universe is expanding!

-Law of Biogenesis explained (Genesis 1). Scientists observe that life only comes from existing life. This law has never been violated under observation or experimentation (as evolution imagines). Therefore life, God's life, created all life.

- Light travels in a path (Job 38:19). Light is said to have a "way" [Hebrew: derek, literally a traveled path or road]. Until the 17th century it was believed that light was transmitted instantaneously. We now know that light is a form of energy that travels at ~186,000 miles per second in a straight line. Indeed, there is a "way" of light.

-Air has weight (Job 28:25). It was once thought that air was weightless. Yet 4,000 years ago Job declared that God established "a weight for the wind." In recent years, meteorologists have calculated that the average thunderstorm holds thousands of tons of rain. To carry this load, air must have mass.

-Jet stream anticipated (Ecclesiates 1:6). At a time when it was thought that winds blew straight, the Bible declares "The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, and comes again on its circuit." King Solomon wrote this 3,000 years ago. Now consider this: it was not until World War II that airmen discovered the jet stream circuit.

-Creation is made of particles, indiscernible to our eyes (Hebrews 11:3). Not until the 19th century was it discovered that all visible matter consists of invisible elements.

-Soil conservation (Leviticus 23:22). Not only was the land to lay fallow every seventh year, but God also instructed farmers to leave the gleanings when reaping their fields, and not to reap the corners (sides) of their fields. This served several purposes: 1) Vital soil minerals would be maintained. 2) The hedge row would limit wind erosion. 3) The poor could eat the gleanings. Today, approximately four billion metric tons of soil are lost from U.S. crop lands each year. Much of this soil depletion could be avoided if God's commands were followed.

-The Bible specifies the perfect dimensions for a stable water vessel (Genesis 6:15). Ship builders today are well aware that the ideal dimension for ship stability is a length six times that of the width. Keep in mind, God told Noah the ideal dimensions for the ark 4,500 years ago.

-When dealing with disease, clothes and body should be washed under running water (Leviticus 15:13). For centuries people naively washed in standing water. Today we recognize the need to wash away germs with fresh water.

-Sanitation industry birthed (Deuteronomy 23:12-13). Some 3,500 years ago God commanded His people to have a place outside the camp where they could relieve themselves. They were to each carry a shovel so that they could dig a hole (latrine) and cover their waste. Up until World War I, more soldiers died from disease than war because they did not isolate human waste.

-Oceans contain springs (Job 38:16). The ocean is very deep. Almost all the ocean floor is in total darkness and the pressure there is enormous. It would have been impossible for Job to have explored the "springs of the sea." Until recently, it was thought that oceans were fed only by rivers and rain. Yet in the 1970s, with the help of deep diving research submarines that were constructed to withstand 6,000 pounds-per-square-inch pressure, oceanographers discovered springs on the ocean floors!

-Joy and gladness understood (Acts 14:17). Evolution cannot explain emotions. Matter and energy do not feel. Scripture explains that God places gladness in our hearts (Psalm 4:7), and ultimate joy is found only in our Creator's presence - "in Your presence is fullness of joy" (Psalm 16:11).

-Blood is the source of life and health (Leviticus 17:11; 14). Up until 120 years ago, sick people were "bled" and many died as a result (e.g. George Washington). Today we know that healthy blood is necessary to bring life-giving nutrients to every cell in the body. God declared that "the life of the flesh is in the blood" long before science understood its function.

-The Bible states that God created life according to kinds (Genesis 1:24). The fact that God distinguishes kinds, agrees with what scientists observe - namely that there are horizontal genetic boundaries beyond which life cannot vary. Life produces after its own kind. Dogs produce dogs, cats produce cats, roses produce roses. Never have we witnessed one kind changing into another kind as evolution supposes. There are truly natural limits to biological change.

-Noble behavior understood (John 15:13; Romans 5:7-8). The Bible and history reveal that countless people have endangered or even sacrificed their lives for another. This reality is completely at odds with Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest.

-Chicken or egg dilemma solved (Genesis 1:20-22). Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This question has plagued philosophers for centuries. The Bible states that God created birds with the ability to reproduce after their kind. Therefore the chicken was created first with the ability to make eggs! Yet, evolution has no solution for this dilemma.

-Our bodies are made from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7; 3:19). Scientists have discovered that the human body is comprised of some 28 base and trace elements - all of which are found in the earth.

-The First Law of Thermodynamics established (Genesis 2:1-2). The First Law states that the total quantity of energy and matter in the universe is a constant. One form of energy or matter may be converted into another, but the total quantity always remains the same. Therefore the creation is finished, exactly as God said way back in Genesis.

-The first three verses of Genesis accurately express all known aspects of the creation (Genesis 1:1-3). Science expresses the universe in terms of: time, space, matter, and energy. In Genesis chapter one we read: "In the beginning (time) God created the heavens (space) and the earth (matter)...Then God said, "Let there be light (energy)." No other creation account agrees with the observable evidence.

-The universe had a beginning (Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 1:10-12). Starting with the studies of Albert Einstein in the early 1900s and continuing today, science has confirmed the biblical view that the universe had a beginning. When the Bible was written most people believed the universe was eternal. Science has proven them wrong, but the Bible correct.

-Scripture assumes a revolving (spherical) earth (Luke 17:34-36). Jesus said that at His return some would be asleep at night while others would be working at day time activities in the field. This is a clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night occurring simultaneously.

and..

-Origin of the rainbow explained (Genesis 9:13-16). Prior to the Flood there was a different environment on the earth (Genesis 2:5-6). After the Flood, God set His rainbow "in the cloud" as a sign that He would never again judge the earth by water. Meteorologists now understand that a rainbow is formed when the sun shines through water droplets - which act as a prism - separating white light into its color spectrum.

5 Things No One Knows Are Ridiculously Catholic, But Should.

2013-10-03T02:07:00.001-07:00

As Catholics, we try not to be smug. We really do. But the world makes this task exceedingly difficult when they take our stuff. The truth is that Western Civilization owes its very existence to the Catholic Church, what with the saving efforts of her monks during the Dark Ages, her development Scientific method, the University System, the agricultural advances of the monasteries and – of course – the wealth of art and literature the Church has inspired and produced. But I want to focus on a few things we never, ever get credit for.

1. The Super Evil F-The-Man Dark and Twisted Upside-Down Cross of Satan Who Is Scary
Look, the most evilest, baddest, worstest, church-burning statement a man can make!

gaaarr!!
A statement spearheaded by St. Peter who – being the first Pope and all – was of course just about as stick-it-to-the-Christian-sheep as you can get.

gaaaarr?
This is awkward.

2. Bob Freaking Marley

An inevitable conversation I have with my pothead friends:
“I love Bob Marley man. He was, like, all about freeing your soul. No judgement, just finding that inner peace, you know? Happiness, easy feelings-”
“-The Seven Sacraments-”
“-doing whatever feels right in you heart-”
“Which for Bob, was the adoration of The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.”
“Wait…”
“And going to confession. And firmly believing and defending the fact of a Triune God.”
“…dude, I’m high, and you’re throwing out all these words at me…”
“Yes. Yes I am.”
Bob Marley died baptized into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Somehow, his t-shirts never seem to display the most important decision of his life. Perhaps they wouldn’t have quite the same ring to them.

No, wait, actually I like that way more.
Now granted, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is not Roman Catholic – if anything it is stricter and even more full of Mary-loving, angels, Saints, relic veneration and all the rest. But they hold the Catholic sacraments, and are with The Church in most everything except apostolic succession. (And even then, it’s simply the lack of recognition of the Roman Pontiff.) The point is that this man converted away from Rastafarianism, with all it’s weeeeeeed maaaaan, and towards an orthodox faith. So when I see those shirts, I pray for the legend’s soul, and I ask him to pray for me, that I might spend eternity singing softly with him.

3.That Mask With The Beautifully Shaped Eyebrows!

The taking on of the ‘Guy Fawkes mask’ as the symbol for anarchy, and hence the symbol for the hacker group Anonymous, is funny. On the surface, I understand the connection. Guy Fawkes was a man who tried to blow up the English Parliament. Alright, that sounds pretty darn anti-government-yeah-freedom-wooh! But as soon as you move an inch deeper – oh, would the world move but an inch deeper – it gets ridiculous.
See, Fawkes did try to blow up the English Parliament in the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605. But he made this attempt for the purpose of reestablishing a Roman Catholic monarchy in England. He wasn’t an anarchist, he was a Catholic who didn’t pay attention in his moral principles class.
Thus, when I see Anonymous doing their thing, my immediate reaction is “wow, what radical, slightly frightening commitment to the Roman Pontiff, to his infallibility as sucessor of the Apostle Peter, and what complete confidence in the ability of the Roman Catholic Church to guide the politics of the world!” Then I correct myself.

4. Vampires.

Sexual tension. Furrowed brows. In. a. river.
It’s a sad state of affairs, that we have no idea what a vampire is. We went from possessed soul to sparkling Abercrombie model in the blink of an eye. Am I the only one who woke up a few years ago, shocked to find that while I was sleeping vampires had become misunderstood angst-balls of fluff?
The real vampire is essentially the anti-Eucharist. As my friend Eleanor Donlon, assistant executive editor for the ever-excellent Dappled Things, writes:
…In a dark mirroring of the [Eucharist], Dracula is a super-physical being in whom a supernatural power is lodged. The Eucharist is the ultimate transformative and life-giving agent (John 6:58); vampyres consume blood to perpetuate an undead eternity. The blood on the cross was given willingly (John 15:13); vampyre victims do not submit of their own volition. They are hypnotized, entranced, or otherwise reduced to an altered state of consciousness. Dracula as Satan is thus elaborately developed: engaging in an anti-sacrifice and an Anti-Eucharist, Dracula is the Apocalyptic Anti-Christ who comes to collect souls and set up an alternative eternity to that promised in the New Testament.
Now they’re sexy and unbearably boring. Reason #549,890 for the world to become Catholic – Twilight never would have happened.

5. Dranky-dranks.

If you’re still reading this, chances are you’re drunk as all hell. If this is the case, you should be thanking the Roman Catholic faith.
Red wine is a sacrament. The French Benedictine friars gave us champagne. Chartreuse is still made by the Carthusian monks. Jägermeister is under the patronage of Saint Hubertus and Saint Eustace. Buckfast Tonic Wine – known affectionately as ‘Wreck the Hoose Juice’ in Scotland – was made by Benedictines. Frangelico was originally created by a hermit and is shaped like a Franciscan. Good beer was brewed almost exclusively by monasteries up until the twelfth century. You’ve got the Crusades to thank for the fact that we aren’t under Islamic Prohibition. And Catholics were a great source of alcohol during the American Prohibition – we were allowed to keep our vineyards running for communion wine. Catholics bootleged like nobody’s business. (It was the general outrage of the Irish Catholics – who must have thought the Apocalypse upon them – that helped end Prohibition.) We have beer blessings. Catholic teaching has only ever asserted the goodness of the grape and the grain. As Hillare Belloc versed:
“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s always laughter and good red wine.
At least I’ve always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!”

The Latin – and I have this on the strictest authority – means ‘”bottoms up!”
So there. 5 things. It appears to me – and I could certainly be wrong – that living Catholicism is just better, plain and simple. I plan on making a few more of these; if you have any suggestions, hit me up.

Blood sucking hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide

2013-10-02T06:23:00.001-07:00

1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body – laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5 times

2. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth

3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300 years

4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons

5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent of 8,000 one megaton bombs

6. Blood sucking hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide

7. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 166.94 mph, by Fred Rompelberg

8. We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine

9. 65% of those with autism are left handed

10. The combined length of the roots of a Finnish pine tree is over 30 miles

11. The oceans contain enough salt to cover all the continents to a depth of nearly 500 feet

12. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol [JFrater is planning to move there in the near future]

13. Polar Bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump over 6 feet in the air

14. 60-65 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor

15. Polar Bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur

16. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life

17. A single rye plant can spread up to 400 miles of roots underground

18. The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds 430 degrees C during the day, and, at night, plummets to minus 180 degrees centigrade

19. The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours

20. Butterflies taste with their hind feet, and their taste sensation works on touch – this allows them to determine whether a leaf is edible

The Secret of 500-year-old mummies of sacrificed Inca children reveal

2013-10-02T05:54:00.001-07:00

Her body is so perfectly preserved that it is hard to believe this girl died more than 500 years ago.

But what is even more remarkable is that scientists today have been able to learn the secrets of her death – by analysing her hair.

The 13-year-old Incan girl was heavily dosed with alcohol and coca leaves, which form the basis of cocaine, before being left to die of exposure high in the Andes as a sacrifice.

Known as the Ice Maiden, she is one of three children found in stone tombs on a mountain in Argentina.
The girl, the eldest of the three, was found cross-legged, with her head slumped forward and her hands resting in her lap.
She wore a feather headdress over her tightly braided hair and there were coca leaves between her teeth and balled up behind her cheek.

The children were discovered in 1999.
They are believed to have been sacrificed in a ceremony called capacocha, a ritual thought to have been used to instil fear and help control members of the rapidly expanding Inca empire.

Analysis of the children’s hair, which still contains a chemical fingerprint of their diet, shows that all three were plied with drugs and alcohol to subdue them in the months before they died.

Amounts were particularly high in the 13-year-old girl, perhaps because she showed more resistance.

The chemical analysis was carried out by researchers at the University of Bradford, and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers said the coca leaves, which release a mild stimulant when chewed and sucked, would have helped her cope with the demands of altitude.

The chicha, an alcoholic drink made from fermented maize, would have helped her deal with the cold.
But it could also have hastened her death by stopping her from shivering.
There is no evidence that the girl, known as the Llullaillaco Maiden after the mountain in northwest Argentina, was brutally killed.

Instead, it is thought she died of exposure. Priests would have waited for her to fall unconscious before placing her in a burial chamber.

Dr Andrew Wilson, from the University of Bradford, said: ‘We think it likely that the Maiden was selected for sacrifice 12 months before her death, after which her treatment changed, corresponding to the sharp rise in coca consumption.
‘She was then probably involved in a series of rituals, involving consumption of coca and alcohol in the build up to her sacrifice.

‘Both substances were controlled, were considered elite products.

‘The fact that in her final weeks the maiden shows consistently higher levels of coca and alcohol use compared to the younger children suggests there was a greater need to sedate her in the final weeks of life.’

Stunning Interesting Fact - Natural Black Chicken

2013-10-02T05:34:00.001-07:00

Did you know there was such a thing as black chicken? And I don’t mean as in dark feathers, but black skin, bones and even internal organs. There are actually several black chicken breeds in the world, especially in Asia, but the most popular of all has to be the Chinese Silkie.

Silkies are beautiful birds, covered in fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like silk, but underneath all that fluff they are far less attractive. Their skin is a dark-bluish color, the flesh is dark beige and the bones and some internal organs are pitch black. Although in the Western world silkie chickens are sold mainly for ornamental purposes, in countries like China they are considered a super food and are appreciated for their deep, gammy flavor. Called “wu gu ji” or “black-boned chicken”, the silkie has been prized for its medicinal value ever since the seventh or eighth century. Chinese women consume it after they have given birth to get a boost of energy, but it’s also said to have a positive effect on the yin, blood, lungs and stomach. Silkie meat is rarely roasted. To take full advantage of its curative properties, the Chinese mainly use it to make an amber-colored broth laced with ginseng , dried wolfberries and jujubes.

According to a genetic study published in 2011, the unique trait of silkie chickens, known as fibromelanosis, is caused by an unusual genetic mutation characterized as “a complex rearrangement that leads to increased expression of Endothelin 3, a gene which is known for promoting the growth of pigment cells”. The massive expansion of pigment cells not only makes the skin and bones black, but also causes dark internal organs. Another interesting thing about silkies is their high content of carnosine, a naturally occurring peptide which is sold as a dietary supplement. People take it to increase muscle mass, ward of the effects of aging and alleviate diseases like diabetes or autism. Studies have shown the black chicken is one of the richest sources of carnosine.

If you’re wondering how black chicken meat tastes, most people say it’s no different than traditional chicken, but some say it’s a little sweeter. So, would you embrace the dark side and feast on the dark flesh of a silkie?

Controversy over Cardinal Mahony’s conclave vote reaches Vatican

2013-10-01T07:36:00.001-07:00

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The controversy over Cardinal Roger Mahony’s vote in the conclave that will elect a new pope has now reached the Vatican, with at least one cardinal musing aloud that the former archbishop of Los Angeles should consider staying home.

Mahony, who led the nation’s largest archdiocese from 1985 to 2011, has been accused of hiding sexual abuse by priests and was recently sidelined by current Archbishop Jose Gomez.

Gomez announced that Mahony would no longer have any “administrative or public duties” after a court-ordered release of 14,000 pages of internal church records showed Mahony and others actively tried to shield abusive priests from prosecution. Gomez called the records “brutal and painful reading.”

Nonetheless, the 76-year old cardinal remains a bishop “ in good standing” and retains the right to vote for the future pope until he reaches age 80. Gomez has since said he supports Mahony’s vote in the conclave.

On Monday (Feb. 18) Italy’s main weekly, the Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, put the so-called “Mahony affair” on the home page of its website, quoting the petition by left-leaning group Catholic United calling the prelate to “stay home.”

The magazine also asked its readers to share their thoughts on whether Mahony should attend the conclave. Within hours, the magazine received hundreds of answers via its website, overwhelmingly asking the cardinal not to come to Rome.

“Cardinal Mahony should not only stay home from the conclave but retire to a life of prayer in a monastery,” read one typical comment. “It seems inconceivable to me that he doesn’t feel the moral duty to abstain from the conclave,” read another.

By Tuesday, Mahony’s case was on the front page of most of the main Italian newspapers, prompting the first reactions from within the Vatican.

In an interview with the daily La Repubblica, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the former head of the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs and the pope’s envoy charged with reforming the disgraced Legionaries of Christ, said that “it will be up to (Mahony’s) conscience to decide whether to take part or not.”

De Paolis stressed that there is no formal procedure to stop Mahony from attending the conclave.

“The common practice is to use persuasion. There is no more that can be done. Cardinal Mahony has the right and duty to take part,” he said. “This is a troubling situation but the rules must be followed.”

According to De Paolis, only “someone with great authority” could advise “through a private intervention” that the retired Mahony not take part.

On Tuesday, the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, a former No. 3 official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as saying that “if his presence creates difficulties or embarrassment, then I think it could be opportune to renounce.”

“But the decision is up to him and his conscience,” Girotti added.

La Caramella Buona, an Italian group for victims of sexual abuse, also called on Mahony not to attend the conclave.

But in a Monday tweet, Mahony signaled his resolve to come to Rome. “Count-down to the Papal Conclave has begun. Your prayers needed that we elect the best Pope for today and tomorrow’s Church,” Mahony wrote.

The tweet sparked dozens of reactions online, with Twitter users calling his decision “shameful.” “Please recuse yourself for the good of the Church,” asked @bobshineproblem.

In a Monday post on his blog, Mahony also discussed the difficulty of “never rationalizing what is happening in our lives, never protesting misunderstandings, and never getting angry because of false accusations.”

“That is so difficult for us human beings. It is certainly difficult for me on my journey,” he added.

(Source: religionnews: http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/19/controversy-over-cardinal-mahonys-conclave-vote-reaches-vatican/)

The long history of intrigue and controversy of Vatican Uncovered

2013-10-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

Pope Benedict is fighting the worst crisis of his papacy, but his problems are only the latest in a long history of controversies and intrigue in the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.

The "Vatileaks" scandal, in which the pope's private papers are alleged to have been pilfered by his own butler, pales in comparison to the scandals of centuries past when popes were accused of violence, nepotism and sexual excesses.

Pope Benedict has angrily charged that "totally gratuitous" accounts in the media "offer an image of the Holy See which does not correspond to reality."

Archbishop Angelo Becciu, the third-ranking official in the world's smallest state, bemoaned the "distorted image" presented of the Vatican and said the internal debates revealed by the documents were perfectly normal in any organization.

"We are not mummies," he said with the kind of historical allusion that seems to come naturally in the corridors of the world's oldest continually operating institution.

But the allegations have caused a sensation round the world and defied Vatican attempts to play down their importance.

Italian newspapers have devoted pages and pages to the crisis, often with graphics showing the exact layout of the pope's apartment or a bird's-eye view of Vatican City, although written reports have often been highly speculative in the face of the Holy See's deep secrecy.

Although it is rare, leaking confidential documents is nothing new. Secret papers from the First Vatican Council of 1869-1870, which defined the doctrine of papal infallibility, ended up in German newspapers.

A highly sensitive papal commission report approving artificial birth control was leaked in 1967, a year before Pope Paul VI rejected its findings and issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae upholding an earlier ban on contraception.

The privacy of the pope's own apartment has also been violated before. In 1958, papal doctor Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi managed to snap pictures of Pope Pius XII on his deathbed and sell them to gossip magazines in Italy.

"I was not surprised at all when I heard about it," Frank Coppa, a Church historian at St John's University in New York, said about the "Vatileaks" scandal.

INTRIGUE ENCOURAGED BY VATICAN STRUCTURE

Intrigue seems encouraged by the Vatican's organizational model, which borrowed from Renaissance royal courts and shields its inner workings from outside scrutiny.

A remnant of the time when the popes were also temporal rulers over Rome and parts of Italy, the tiny city-state is headquarters for the 1.2-billion-strong Roman Catholic Church, the world's largest. As the Catholic saying goes, "the Church is not a democracy."

"The Vatican has an unmatched capacity to draw a veil of secrecy over its doings," said Thomas F.X. Noble, a papal history expert at Notre Dame University in Indiana.

"It lacks the kind of transparency that we associate with government and corporations in the modern world."

A case in point is the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, which - despite recent progress in embracing the Internet and livening up its drab format - waited almost a week before mentioning that papal butler Paolo Gabriele had been arrested for stealing documents that allege corruption in awarding infrastructure contracts.

In recent decades, the culture of secrecy helped mask the clerical sexual abuse of minors and the quiet reassignment of predator priests. It has also prompted charges that the Vatican bank laundered money and secretly funded projects abroad.

But all this is nothing compared to more ancient scandals.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Renaissance popes bribed their way into office, openly kept mistresses and families and appointed young nephews as cardinals.

Alexander VI, whose pontificate from 1492 to 1503 is generally agreed to have been the worst ever, was said to have presided over more orgies than Masses.

He came from the notorious Borgia family, who have been accused of adultery, rape, incest and murder. Alexander is said to have died from eating a poisoned apple.

Sixtus IV built the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican archives during his 1471-1484 pontificate, but also made six of his nephews cardinals and was involved in a murder plot.

One of the nephews, Julius II, was patron to renowned artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael between 1503 and 1513 and commissioned St Peter's Basilica.

But the budgetary wizardry he used to finance it backfired disastrously. He raised funds by selling indulgences to reduce punishment for sinners, a practice that so shocked Martin Luther that he broke with Rome and launched the Protestant Reformation.

Source: (Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/01/us-vatican-butler-intrigue-idUSBRE8500WS20120601)

Top 25 Most Popular Conspiracy Theories

2013-05-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

We humans love drama. We love it so much that whenever we find it our initial reaction is to immediately tell someone, and if we don’t find any we make it up and tell someone anyway. Besides, what would the world be without UFO’s falling from the sky, shadow governments watching our ever move, and big brother trying to keep you down. These are the top 25 most popular conspiracy theories out there. (list included below video)

Some things in life are certain. Like for example the fact that on November 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was shot twice while riding through downtown Dallas in his presidential convoy. Other things can be a bit more hazy. While Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of killing him and an official investigation declared him to be the lone assassin, it seems that a majority of people even today (70% in fact) are not buying it. Was there another gunman? Did the CIA want revenge for the Bay of Pigs? Were mobsters upset that his brother was cracking down on organized crime? Perhaps the world will never know.

Big Pharma
We love to hate drug companies. They make insane profits off of expensive products that people literally can’t live without. Not surprisingly this is also fertile ground for budding conspiracy theorists with many accusing the pharmaceutical companies, along with other medical providers, of conspiring to keep people sick by not disclosing various cures that have already been found.

The Reptilian Elite
Popularized by former BBC sports writer David Icke, his theory posits that anyone holding a position of power or influence is actually a blood thirsty, extra-terrestrial, shapeshifting reptile. Since then he has written several books on the topic and not surprisingly been awarded the title “paranoid of the decade”.

Fluoride
There are only a few countries that fluoridate their water supplies – the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia – Although it is done for health reasons and to prevent tooth decay in the population numerous theorists have generated resistance by claiming that the water fluoridation is all part of a shady mind-control scheme put on either by communists or some insidious elite.

Paul McCartney
To conspiracy-inclined beatle fans, Paul is not only dead, he has been dead, since 1966, meaning he never had any of those kids, never got in a fight with Yoko Ono, never went vegetarian, and when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1997, well, that was a stand in. So how could anyone believe that someone who is still very much alive is actually dead? Maybe its not too far from believing that someone who is actually dead is still alive, which brings us to…

Elvis and Tupac
Although not directly related, the concept is similar. Elvis died in 1977 and Tupac in 1996, which not surprisingly doesn’t keep some people from passionately believing they are still with us.

Princess Diana
While most conspiracy theories are supported by your run of the mill average joes, this one had some serious weight behind it. The father of Dodi Al-Fayed, who was in the car with Diane when their drunken chauffer failed to escape pursuing paparazzi, claimed that the car accident was actually a set up by British Intelligence acting on behalf of the Royal Family. Although the claims were found to be baseless it was all the fuel the conspiracy flame need to keep its fires burning.

Pearl Harbor
Although for most of us it was a surprise, the conspiracy theorists claim that for a select few …it wasn’t. Particularly for President Roosevelt, who having advocated for war against Germany finally had found his opportunity. Of note, proponents often point out that none of the Navy’s three Pacific aircraft carriers were in port that day.

Shakespeare
For years people have suggested the true identity of the world’s greatest author wasn’t really Shakespeare of Stratford. Why? Well ,there isn’t a whole lot of biographical information concerning his life which is what led some conspiracy theorists to believe the works were actually written by William Stanley or Francis Bacon.

Pan Am Flight 103
On December 21 1988 flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland killing everyone on board and 11 residents of the town as well. Although Libya has recently claimed responsibility for the attack, of all the items on this list flight 103 has probably been responsible for spawning the greatest number of conspiracy theories.

Chemtrails
When the exhaust from a plane’s engine hits the cold air and begins to condense it leaves a vapor trail also known as a contrail. Some people, however, exercising their paranoia are convinced that the government is spraying chemical agents at its citizens from 30,000 feet hence the name, chemtrail.

Everlasting Lightbulb
Similar to the idea of Big Pharma keeping its disease curing drugs to itself, some people have theorized that the lightbulb industry is keeping the eternal glow of their everlasting lightbulbs from the masses simply to increase their profit margins.

War For Oil
Although there have been numerous reasons, both real and contrived for the invasion of Iraq, none has been more influential than the idea of it being a war for oil. It seems, however, that if it really were the sole reason, the government would have simply gone ahead and cut a deal without all the expensive explosions.

Global Warming
Although it is undeniable that the average temperature of the climate system has increased in recent years, the reason for the increase is a bit more controversial. Is it cyclical, man made, are the thermometers broken? It seems as though there is no consensus and everyone is pointing the conspiracy finger at everyone else.

Jesus and Mary
As the basis for the plot of the Da Vinci code, the idea that Jesus wed Mary and now has a physical bloodline made for a good performance at the box office. The theory itself, however, is loosely based on excerpts taken from the Gnostic Gospels whose authenticity is still being disputed.

Peak Oil
There are some who believe that peak oil is a fraud put forth by the oil industry as a method of keeping prices high. Supposedly the companies are holding massive reserves under wraps to maintain the illusion that oil is scarce.

McCarthyism
Although today the term is often used to describe the act of making an accusation without proper evidence, it finds its origins in the red scare of the 40’s when Senator Joseph McCarthy went on a rampage, accusing numerous high level officials of being associated with the Communist party and ruining numerous careers in the process.

Subliminal Advertising
It’s a very broad theory that suggests governments and companies alike embed hidden messages in advertisements and other media in order to subconsciously affect a person’s decisions and desires. While it’s true that subliminal stimuli are effective when it comes to priming one’s senses, they are not capable of the complete brain control like many proponents fear.

Phantom Time Hypothesis
In 1991 Heribert Illig came up with the idea that large parts of history were complete fabrications, particularly Europe during the Early Middle Ages (AD 614-911). Proponents of his theory believe that this was accomplished primarily by the alteration and misrepresentation of physical evidence.

New World Order
Between Zionist occupations, shadow governments, Freemasons, and Illuminati there is a lot that falls into this umbrella category. By and large though, all these conspiracy theories are tied together by one train of thought – someone is trying to take over everything.

The Moon Landing
In one of the most popular conspiracy theories of our time proponents argue that the moon landing was actually an elaborate hoax and all the pictures supposedly taken hundreds of thousands of miles away were actually taken in studios right here on Earth.

The Holocaust
It seems crazy, and it is, but there are actually people out there who believe the Holocaust never happened. They claim that there was no government policy against Jews, that gas chambers were never used, and that the actual number of Jews killed was many times less than the historically accepted figure of 5 to 6 million.

Area 51/Roswell
Ever since an unknown object crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 there have been hundreds of conspiracy theories put forth concerning its true nature. Along with Area 51, which the US government didn’t even acknowledge existed until 2003, these theories have formed the backbone of our culture’s obsession with aliens and UFO’s.

9/11
The theories range all the way from US government officials turning a blind eye to various agencies actually assisting with the attack. Certain groups like the 9/11 Truth Movement have led to these ideas becoming very popular and they insist that there is no way the towers came down because of jet fuel alone.

Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory
It sounds complicated, but its really not. The premise is simple – everything is a conspiracy….which ironically includes the conspiracies themselves.

Ghost, Invisible and Mysterious City, Biringan Samar Leyte

2013-05-19T07:19:00.001-07:00

Somewhere between the towns of Gandara, Tarangnan, and Pagsanhan, all of Samar, lies an invisible metropolis. It is called Biringan City. It’s a famous city, known to many people in the area, yet it is nowhere to be found for interested visitors.

Why, its appearance had been limited to a small number of people. Not everyone could see it. There seems to be a chosen few only who are allowed to behold the city’s grandeur. And these are usually ordinary folks doing ordinary chores. Moreover, those who claim to have seen it were able to do so only in the dead of the night, not during daytime.

Accordingly, this majestic metropolis is comparable to cities like New York, Hongkong, Singapore, etc. but people would only talk of it in private, hushed like they have seen witches or something. Just the name of it generates fear as though it were a horrible place.

Because while it is said to be extremely beautiful—consisting of high-rise buildings, cathedrals, elegant structures, magnificent edifices—people likewise know it is inhabited by non-human beings, hence scary indeed.

Among those who claim to have seen it are fishermen, farmers, passers-by, and victims of demon possessions. Those who have heard about it from far away places, on the other hand, include car dealers, salesmen, and department store owners.

The fishermen who saw it spread the word that from the wide seas they were fishing, they caught sight of this magnificent city, glowing in the dark, brilliant with multi-colored lights, and equipped with sophisticated facilities, obviously enjoying highly-advanced technology that may not be possessed by the most advanced cities in the world. Such observation is echoed by the rest of those who got the “chance” to see it. They have the same awed impressions of that city rising to the skies.

Those who simply heard of this place from afar are mostly businessmen who claim to have had costumers buying their products, like cars, for delivery to a city whose name they are not familiar with, and which they could not find in the country’s map. The purchases had been voluminous yet the delivery had been to a place that exists only in name.

Perhaps the majority of people testifying to have been there, right in this city, have been the victims of demon possessions. While their bodies are indwelt and controlled by evil spirits, their soul and spirit (entire consciousness) is being brought by demons (appearing in human form) into this city, making it appear that this place is a city of demons.

There, according to former victims, the people’s skin between the nose and the upper lip is flat, unlike ours which has a miniature canal on it. The cars are colored black, and so are the buildings. Their favorite food, too, is colored black. This is the food that human visitors ought to avoid accordingly, or else they would become a citizen of this city and would be unable to come home.

True or not, these stories form part of our folktales. The city of Biringan may just be a product of imagination, but one is always welcome to investigate the reality and falsehood of its existence. Better yet, one can run as mayor of that highly-urbanized city.

Source:http://leytesamardaily.net/2010/09/ghost-city/

The asteroid will sail past the Earth at 9.59pm (UK time) on May 31

2013-05-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

The 'QE2' asteroid nine times bigger than the iconic ship set to sail ‘just 3.6million miles away’ from Earth
The asteroid will sail past the Earth at 9.59pm (UK time) on May 31
It will be scanned by scientists using a 230ft wide dish telescope

An asteroid nine times larger than the QE2 is due to sail past the Earth later this month.
Luckily, the giant space rock will get no closer than 3.6 million miles, or 15 times the distance between the Earth and the moon.
Scientists have named the asteroid 1998 QE2 but the name has nothing to do with the transatlantic Cunard liner - it follows a code used for newly-discovered asteroids by the US Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The asteroid is believed to be about 1.7 miles long, or nine times the length of the Queen Elizabeth 2.
It was discovered on August 19, 1998, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (Linear) programme near Socorro, New Mexico.
The object makes its closest approach to Earth at 9.59pm on May 31

Scientists plan to scan it with radar using a 230ft wide dish telescope at the Goldstone Observatory in California’s Mojave Desert.
Even from a distance of nearly four million miles, the researchers expect to resolve features on the asteroid as small as 12ft across.
Chief investigator Dr Lance Benner, from the American space agency Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said: ‘It is tremendously exciting to see detailed images of this asteroid for the first time.

With radar we can transform an object from a point of light into a small world with its own unique set of characteristics.’
The asteroid will not make a return trip to the Earth for at least another two centuries.
In 2016 Nasa will launch a robotic sample return mission to one of the most potentially hazardous known near-Earth objects (NEOs), the asteroid (101955) Bennu.
The asteroid, which measures a third of a mile across, comes within 500,000 kilometres of the Earth every six years.
Scientists have calculated that in 2182 there is a one in 1,800 chance of the object colliding with the Earth.

How can the transmission of HIV be prevented?

2013-05-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

What is HIV?

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. A virus can only survive by living in the cells of another organism. HIV is a type of virus called a retrovirus: It incorporates itself into the genetic material of cells called 'CD4 white blood cells', which are part of the immune system. This process is called 'reverse transcription', and it enables HIV to replicate. This leads to destruction of the CD4 cells and damages the immune system.

What is AIDS?

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. A syndrome is a set of signs and symptoms that occur together, as a result of a specific cause. The syndrome of AIDS is caused by HIV. However a person infected with HIV may not necessarily progress to having AIDS.

HIV causes AIDS by damaging the immune system and making the body vulnerable to 'opportunistic infections'. These are called ‘opportunistic’ because the weakened immune system gives them the ‘opportunity’ to take hold. These infections can cause death in people were severely weakened immune system.

AIDS was first diagnosed in 1981. Since then HIV and AIDS have spread rapidly and cases have been reported in more than 150 countries. At the beginning of 2004 it was estimated that nearly 42,000,000 people were living with HIV and AIDS.

In Australia at the beginning of 2004, more than 20,000 people have been diagnosed with HIV infection. Over 8000 of these have been diagnosed with AIDS, and nearly 6000 people have died from AIDS related illnesses.

More statistics about HIV and AIDS...

How is HIV transmitted?

Unprotected sexual contact or sharing drug injecting equipment are the most common causes of HIV transmission. Sexual contact that may transmit HIV includes vaginal and anal sex, and with lower associated risk, oral sex.

In a some cases, HIV can be transmitted from pregnant mother to child. This is called ‘vertical transmission’. The risk of vertical transmission can be reduced if the mother uses anti-HIV drugs during pregnancy and delivery. In Australia breast feeding is not recommended for mothers infected with HIV because of the risk of HIV being transmitted through breast milk.

Healthcare workers and emergency personnel are at low risk of acquiring HIV from workplace exposure to HIV (for example by needlestick injury). A drug treatment regime called Post Exposure Prophylaxis (‘PEP’) has been shown to be effective in preventing seroconversion to HIV in these circumstances.

Blood products have been screened for HIV in Australia since 1985 and receiving transfusions of blood products is considered safe.

There is no evidence of transmission of HIV through ordinary social contact. HIV is not transmitted through sharing of plates, cups, cutlery, swimming pools or toilets, kissing, coughing, sneezing or spitting . The necessary conditions for HIV transmission (see below) are not present in these situations.

The principles of HIV transmission

Transmission of HIV is dependant on a number of conditions being fulfilled. Understanding these conditions gives a better understanding of how HIV is transmitted:

Firstly there must be a source of HIV infection. HIV exists in certain bodily fluids of persons infected with HIV. These include blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk.

Secondly, there must be a way for HIV to be transmitted to the bloodstream of an uninfected person. Sexual contact, or sharing drug-injecting equipment are the most common routes of HIV transmission.

Thirdly, there must be a person susceptible for infection. HIV transmission only takes place from one human to another. Mosquitoes, for instance cannot become infected with HIV and pass it on to humans.

Finally, a sufficient amount of HIV must enter the blood of an uninfected person for infection to be established. If insufficient HIV enters the bloodstream, transmission of HIV infection will not occur.

If these conditions are not fulfilled, HIV transmission does not take place.

Stages of HIV infection

Seroconversion and primary illness

Some people can become infected with HIV without knowing it. Other people may experience a short ‘seroconversion’ illness between two and six weeks after becoming infected. The symptoms of this illness may be quite non-specific and include tiredness, fever, diarrhoea, rash, and ‘flu like symptoms. These symptoms are common in other illnesses and so may not be remarkable at the time of the illness.

Asymptomatic HIV infection

Following seroconversion there may be a period of months or years during which HIV infection damages the immune system but does not manifest in outward signs or symptoms. Some people may however experience a persistent swelling in the lymph nodes. This period is known as ‘asymptomatic infection.’ During this time there is a constant battle taking place between the immune system and HIV.

Symptomatic HIV infection

Indications of symptomatic HIV infection may include lack of energy, fevers and night sweats, persistent thrush in women and prolonged bouts of diarrhoea.

Late stage disease (equivalent to AIDS)

During advanced stages of HIV infection, a person may develop any of a number of infections which are considered as indicators of AIDS. These are the conditions on which a diagnosis of AIDS, in a person who has HIV, is based. They include:

Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS)
Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia (PCP)
Toxoplasmosis
Cytomagalovirus disease (CMV)
Candidiasis (thrush) in the oesophagus, throat or lungs

Testing and diagnosis of HIV

HIV infection is detected by a blood test for HIV antibodies. Antibodies to HIV will not be detectable immediately after HIV infection, because it takes a while for measurable quantities of HIV antibodies to be produced by the immune system (up to three months). This period is known as the ‘window period’. An antibody test taken during the window period therefore may not be accurate. This is important to remember, especially when making decisions about safe sex.

It is standard procedure to offer people pre and post HIV test counselling to the seeking an HIV antibody test. This is regardless of the outcome of the test. Counselling is done to explain the implications of the test results.

More information about testing and diagnosis...

Treating HIV and AIDS

In Australia, treatment of HIV and HIV related illnesses have usually followed four principles:

Targeting the virus itself, using antiviral drugs.
Treating and where possible preventing the individual opportunistic infections which result from damage to the immune system. caused by HIV.
Restoring or rebuilding the damaged immune system.
Treating and alleviating the symptoms of HIV disease.

In the 1980s and the early 1990s there were not a wide range of drugs available to target HIV itself, and those that were available often had limited effectiveness and unpleasant side effects. In the latter 1990s there was a surge in the variety and effectiveness of anti-HIV drugs available in Australia, and the outlook since then has been more optimistic.

It is now common practice to combine several different classes of anti-HIV drugs in a treatment regime. This has significantly improved the outlook for people living with HIV and AIDS, although problems with side effects are still reported.

Treatments are also available to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from pregnant mother to child, and where exposure to the risk of HIV transmission has occurred.

A significant addition to effective anti-HIV drugs has been the development of accurate tests to monitor the activity of HIV in a person’s body. CD4 cell counts measure the number of CD4 cells in the blood. Viral load tests measure the amount of HIV in the blood. Together these have been very useful in determining how to best use anti-HIV drugs in treatment.

More information about HIV/AIDS treatments...

Preventing transmission of HIV

HIV Transmission can be prevented by:

Practicing safe sex: this means using condoms with water based lubricant for vaginal and anal intercourse. Oral sex presents a lower risk for HIV transmission, and this can be reduced by using condoms and dental dams
Not sharing drug injecting equipment: this includes syringes, spoons, filters, water, water containers and tourniquets. Sterile equipment for injecting drugs is freely available through needle exchange programmes.
PEP (Post-exposure prophylaxis). This is a course of anti HIV drugs which may prevent transmission of HIV after a risk exposure.
Infection control in health and care care settings: there are a number of standard guidelines that are followed in these settings to prevent infection (not just with HIV). These are effective in preventing HIV transmission.
Infection control in other settings: tattooing , body piercing and hairdressing procedures are required to comply with infection control guidelines, and standards for sterilising equipment.
Prevention is better than cure: understanding the information in this document can help you to practice HIV prevention.

Why the Egyptians only had sex in the summer

2013-05-18T08:32:00.002-07:00

Why the Egyptians only had sex in the summer: Researchers find key time for conception was in July and August to coincide with the Nile flooding

Ancient Egyptians mainly had sex in July and August meaning there were 20 per cent more births in March and April than in other months of the year
Most deaths among women of childbearing age occurred in these months
Beliefs about impact of Nile floods on fertility may explain birth patterns
Conception rates were lowest in January because Egyptian Christian beliefs discouraged sex during Advent and Lent

Ancient Egyptians primarily had sex in the summer, new research reveals.
The most popular time for love-making was July and August meaning that 20 per cent more babies were born in March and April than in other months.
As a consequence, most deaths among women of childbearing age also occurred in these months.

Archaeologists working at a cemetery in the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt excavated 765 graves and were able to establish the month of each person’s death because the graves were all pointed towards the rising sun.
Live Science reported that they uncovered the graves of 124 babies that had died 18 to 45 weeks after conception – putting these two pieces of information together enabled the researchers to piece together the most popular time for love-making.
The findings are particularly surprising because in other ancient Mediterranean cultures fewer babies are thought to have been conceived during the hot summer months because the heat lowered libido and possibly affected sperm count.

It is thought that in ancient Egypt beliefs about fertility and the Nile flood may have been responsible for the baby booms.
The residents of the Dakhleh Oasis believed that the river was the key to their land’s fertility and the floods occurred during the summer months meaning that there were widespread celebrations.
The researchers believe that the peak in spring births continued until the 1920s or 30s.

In contrast, conception rates fell to annual lows in January and this is believed to have been because Christian believes required abstinence during Advent and Lent.
Additionally, it is thought that early Egyptian Christians were encouraged to avoid sex on Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Finally, it is believed that some form of contraception must have been in use and it is thought that recipes including crocodile dung were so unpleasant that they put people off intercourse altogether.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2326247/Why-Egyptians-sex-summer-Researchers-key-time-conception-July-August-coincide-Nile-flooding.html

2013 Egyptians targeted with blasphemy charges

2013-05-18T07:39:00.001-07:00

CAIRO (AP) — The pale, young Christian woman sat handcuffed in the courtroom, accused of insulting Islam while teaching history of religions to fourth-graders. A team of Islamist lawyers with long beards sang in unison, "All except the Prophet Muhammad."

The case against Dimyana Abdel-Nour in southern Egypt's ancient city of Luxor began when parents of three of her pupils claimed that their children, aged 10, complained their teacher showed disgust when she spoke of Islam in class. According to the parents, Abdel-Nour, 24, told the children that Pope Shenouda, who led the Egyptian Coptic Church until his death last year, was better than the Prophet Muhammad.

Blasphemy charges were not uncommon in Egypt under the now-ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak's regime, but there has been a surge in such cases in recent months, according to rights activists. The trend is widely seen as a reflection of the growing power and confidence of Islamists, particularly the ultraconservative Salafis.

"Salafis are the engineers of these stories," said Abdel-Hamid Hassan, a Muslim and the head of the parents' council at the primary school where Abdel-Nour teaches. Hassan's daughter was among several students who denied any wrongdoing by Abdel-Nour.

"If the pope himself came here from the Vatican and tried to spread Christianity among us, he would fail. We learn about our religion starting from the age of 5," he said, alluding to the allegation against Abdel-Nour, since withdrawn, of "spreading Christianity."

Criminalizing blasphemy was enshrined in the country's Islamist-backed constitution that was adopted in December. Writers, activists and even a famous television comedian have been accused of blasphemy since then. But Christians seem to be the favorite target of Islamist prosecutors. Their fragile cases — the main basis of the case against Abdel-Nour's case the testimony of children — are greeted with sympathy from courtroom judges with their own religious bias or who fear the wrath of Islamists, according to activists.

The result is a growing number of Egyptians, including many Christians, who have been convicted and sent to prison for blasphemy. In at least one celebrated case, the offense was clearly provocative: Seven Coptic Christians living in the United States received death sentences in absentia for producing an anti-Islam film that sparked waves of protests by ultraconservative Islamists in front of U.S. embassies across the Arab world on Sept. 11, 2012.

But rights groups say the vast majority of blasphemy cases are merely attempts by Islamists to crack down on their opponents. "Islamists are using the law to hunt down critics to the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Christians are the weakest," said Medhat Klada, a Switzerland-based Coptic Christian activist whose organization Copts United tracks such cases. "The numbers of Christians implicated is unprecedented," he added.

Many believe that restrictions on freedoms are more severe under Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's first freely elected president, than during his predecessor's 29-year reign. Under Mubarak, "you might have had 50 cases, which means a case or two a year on average, but now you have like 10 cases in a year," said Mamdouh Nakhla, who leads The Word Group for Human Rights and focuses on Christian-related persecution.

Freed Tuesday on nearly $3,000 bail after almost a week in detention, Abdel-Nour is due to stand trial on May 21. Her family refused several requests by The Associated Press to speak to her. Her father, Ebid Abdel-Nour, said: "She is innocent. God be with us. She can't talk because she is in very bad condition."

Emil Nazeer, a Christian activist who visited her, says she is suffering a "nervous breakdown." Rights advocates see cases like Abdel-Nour's as politically motivated persecution. They say the verdicts tend to be harsher in southern Egypt, where Islamists are particularly powerful and Muslims are more conservative.

"Any move or word by a Christian is enough to get the rumor mill working," said Amr Ezzat, a prominent researcher in Islamic groups at the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). "Rumors quickly spread in villages or the towns where the radar of Islamist activists detect them and turn them into a rallying cry under the pretext that Islam's supremacy is endangered."

Salafis advocate an uncompromising and literal interpretation of the Quran, believing society must mirror the way the prophet and his immediate successors ruled in the 7th century. Some Salafi-based political groups are at odds with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group from which Morsi hails, while others are avid supporters of his government.

Part of the Salafis' antagonism toward Christians is rooted in the belief that they were a protected group under Mubarak's regime while they, the Salafis, were persecuted. Now empowered, they may be out to exact revenge on the Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people.

The Egyptian Federation for Human Rights, led by former judge Naguib Gibrael, detects a trend in the number of lawsuits and court rulings leveled against Christians and school teachers in particular over the past year.

Gibrael, a lawyer who is representing Abdul-Nour, says it's his 18th case defending Christians — several of them teachers — detained over insulting Islam. He says his 17 other clients received three to six years in prison. They go to appeals courts, hoping for retrials or lighter sentences.

Another rights group, the EIPR, said it chronicled at least 36 blasphemy cases in 2011 and 2012, including more than 10 convictions, and that Christian school teachers were frequent targets. "Teachers are an easy target," said Gibrael. "Any two students can say anything about their teachers. Islamist teachers collect signatures, and quickly Islamists move a case, then terrorize the court by holding protests and besieging the court building until the judge issues a verdict. I have seen it all," he said.

In Cairo, public figures who have lately faced blasphemy accusations or trials like movie star Adel Imam were all cleared, thanks to media attention, lobbying by rights groups and heavy police presence.

In rural areas, according to EIPR researcher Ishak Ibrahim, even those acquitted or otherwise cleared of blasphemy accusations face social or administrative punishment, with some forced by villagers to leave their homes, pay a fine or get demoted or suspended by their state employers.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood likes to project itself as a more moderate Islamist group when compared to the ultraconservative Salafis, but they still play a role in the blasphemy cases. The top Brotherhood leader in Luxor, Abdel-Hamid el-Senoussi, is a lawmaker and the head of the legal team representing the families whose children testified against Abdel-Nour.

He acknowledged that two investigations by the school found no justification for the children's claims, but said he does not trust those findings. "They just want to avoid discord. But we prefer to get to the bottom of it," he said. "Even if the court clears the teacher and rules that she is innocent, she must be fired from the school."

"There are people who want to mess up with the ship of the nation and this teacher is one of them," he said. For him, the penalty for contempt of religion is not harsh enough. "I prefer 10 years imprisonment and, in case the judge clears the defendant, a fine that goes toward the upkeep of places of worship."

"Anyone who insults religions must be punished to deter further assaults," he said.

Source: http://www.mail.com/int/news/world/2094702-egyptians-targeted-with-blasphemy-charges.html

The 13 Most Evil U.S. Government Experiments on Humans

2013-05-18T04:25:00.001-07:00

1.Mind Control, Child Abuse - Project MKULTRA, Subproject 68

This is the stuff of nightmares.

The CIA-ran Project MKULTRA paid Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron for Subproject 68, which would be experiments involving mind-altering substances. The entire goal of the project was to probe examination into methods of influencing and controlling the mind and being able to extract information from resisting minds.

So in order to accomplish this, the doctor took patients admitted to his Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal and conducted "therapy" on them. The patients were mostly taken in for issues like bi-polar depression and anxiety disorders. The treatment they received was life-altering and scarring.

In the period he was paid for (1957 - 1964) Cameron administered electroconvulsive therapy at 30-40 times the normal power. He would put patients into a drug-induced coma for months on-end and playback tapes of simple statements or repetitive noises over and over again.

The victims forgot how to talk, forgot about their parents, and suffered serious amnesia.

And all of this was performed on Canadian citizens because the CIA wasn’t willing to risk such operations on Americans.

To ensure that the project remained funded, Cameron, in one scheme, took his experiments upon admitted children and in one situation had the child engage in sex with high-ranking government officials and film it.

He and other MKULTRA officers would blackmail the officials to ensure more funding.

2. Mustard Gas Tested on Soldiers via Involuntary Gas Chambers.

As bio-weapon research intensified in the 1940's, officials also began testing its repercussions and defenses on the Army itself.

In order to test the effectiveness of various bio-weapons, officials were known to have sprayed mustard gas and other skin-burning, lung-ruining chemicals, like Lewisite, on soldiers without their consent or knowledge of the experiment happening to them.

They also tested the effectiveness of gas masks and protective clothing by locking soldiers in a gas chamber and exposing them to mustard gas and lewisite, evoking the gas chamber image of Nazi Germany.

EFFECTS OF LEWISITE: Lewisite is a gas that can easily penetrate clothing and even rubber. Upon contact with the skin, the gas immediately causes extreme pain, itching, swelling and even a rash. Large, fluid-filled blisters develop 12 hours after exposure in the form of intensely severe chemical burns. And that's just skin contact with the gas.

Inhaling of the gas causes a burning pain in the lungs, sneezing, vomiting, and pulmonary edema.

EFFECTS OF MUSTARD GAS: Symptomless until about 24 hours after exposure, Mustard Gas has mutagenic and carcinogenic properties that have killed many subjected to it. Its primary effects include severe burns that turn into yellow-fluid-leaking boils over a period of time. Although treatment is available, Mustard Gas burns heal very, very slowly and are extremely painful. The burns the gas leaves on the skin are sometimes irreparable.

It was also rumored that along with the soldiers, patients at VA hospitals were being used as guinea pigs for medical experiments involving bio-warfare chemicals, but that all experiments were changed to be known as "observations" to ward off suspicions.

3 .U.S. Grants Immunity to Involuntary-Surgery Monster

As head of Japan's infamous Unit 731 (a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II), Dr. Shiro Ishii (head of medicine) carried out violent human experimentation of tens of thousands during the Second Sino-Japenses War and World War II.

Ishii was responsible for testing vivisection techniques without any anesthesia on human prisoners. For the uninitiated, vivisection is the act of conducting experimental surgery on living creatures (with central nervousness) and examining their insides for scientific purposes.
So basically, he was giving unnecessary surgery to prisoners by opening them all the way up, keeping them alive and not using any anesthetic.

During these experiments he would also force pregnant women to abort their babies. He also played God by subjecting his prisoners to change in physiological conditions and inducing strokes, heart attacks, frost bite, and hypothermia. Ishii considered these subjects "logs".

Following imminent defeat in 1945, Japan blew up the Unity 731 complex and Ishii ordered all the remaining "logs" to be executed. Not soon after, Ishii was arrested. And then, the respected General Douglas McArthur allegedly struck a deal with Ishii. If the U.S. granted Ishii immunity from his crimes, he must exchange all germ warfare data based on human experimentation.

So Ishii got away with his crimes because the US became interested in the results of his research.

While not directly responsible for these acts, the actions of the American government certainly illustrated it was more than willing to condone human torture for advancements in biological warfare that could kill even more people.

Not a surprise, considering its past resume. Ishii remained alive until 1959, performing research into bio-weaponry and probably thinking up more plans to annihilate people in different, Dr. Giggles-esque ways to his dying day.

4. Deadly Chemical Sprays on American Cities

Showing once again that the U.S. always tends to test out worse-case scenarios by getting to them first and with the advent of biochemical warfare in the mid 20th century, the Army, CIA and government conducted a series of warfare simulations upon American cities to see how the effects would play out in the event of an actual chemical attack.

They conducted the following air strikes/naval attacks:

- The CIA released a whooping cough virus on Tampa Bay, using boats, and so caused a whooping cough epidemic. 12 people died.

- The Navy sprayed San Francisco with bacterial pathogens and in consequence many citizens developed pneumonia.

- Upon Savannah, GA and Avon Park, FL, the army released millions of mosquitoes in the hopes they would spread yellow fever and dengue fever. The swarm left Americans struggling with fevers, typhoid, respiratory problems, and the worst, stillborn children.

Even worse was that after the swarm, the Army came in disguised as public health workers. Their secret intention the entire time they were giving aid to the victims was to study and chart-out the long term effects of all the illnesses they were suffering.

5. US Infects Guatemalans With STDs

In the 1940's, with penicillin as an established cure for syphilis, the US decided to test out its effectiveness on Guatemalan citizens.

To do this, they used infected prostitutes and let them loose on unknowing prison inmates, insane asylum patients and soldiers. When spreading the disease through prostitution didn't work as well as they'd hoped, they instead went for the inoculation route.

Researchers poured syphilis bacteria onto mens' penises and on their forearms and faces. In some cases, they even inoculated the men through spinal punctures.

After all the infections were transmitted, researchers then gave most of the subjects treatment, although as many as 1/3 of them could have been left untreated, even if that was the intention of the study in the first place.

On October 1, 2010, Hilary Clinton apologized for the events and new research has gone on to see if anyone affected is still alive and afflicted with syphilis. Since many subjects never got penicillin, its possible and likely that someone spread it to f*ture generations.

6. Secret Human Experiments to Test the Effects of The Atomic Bomb

While testing out and trying to harness the power of the atomic bomb, U.S. scientists also secretly tested the bomb's effects on humans.

During the Manhattan Project, which gave way to the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, U.S. scientists resorted to secret human testing via plutonium injection on 18 unsuspecting, non-consenting patients.

This included injecting soldiers with micrograms of plutonium for Project Oak Ridge along with later injecting three patients at a Chicago hospital. Imagine you're an admitted patient, helpless in a hospital bed, assuming that nothing is wrong when the government suddenly appears and puts weapons-grade plutonium in your blood.

Out of the 18 patients, who were known only by their code-names and numbers at the time, only 5 lived longer than 20 years after injection.

Along with plutonium, researchers also had fun with uranium. At a Massachusetts hospital, between 1946 and 1947, Dr. William Sweet injected 11 patients with uranium. He was funded by the Manhattan Project.

And in exchange for the uranium he received from the government, he would keep dead tissue from the body of the people he killed for scientific analysis on the effects of uranium exposure.

To the left is a video on the Manhattan Project.

7. Injected Prisoners with Agent Orange

To the left is a video of what the effects of Agent Orange can do to children of parents affected, or even exposed, to it.

WARNING: video may be disturbing, but is a reality of what Americans used as biological warfare during Vietnam and what we, as Americans, VOLUNTARILY injected into people for "testing" purposes... with the help of a very popular American company.

While he received funding from the Agent Orange producing Dow Chemical Company, the US Army, and Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Albert Kligman used prisoners as subjects in what was deemed "dermatological research".

The dermatology aspect was testing out product the effects of Agent Orange on the skin. For the effects Agent Orange had on the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Needless to say the injecting of, or exposure to, dioxidin is beyond monstrous to voluntarily do to any human. Kligman, though, injected dioxidin (a main component of Agent Orange) into the prisoners to study its effects.

What did happen was that the prisoners developed an eruption of chloracne (all that stuff from high school combined with blackheads and cysts and pustules that looked like the picture shown to the left) that develop on the cheeks, behind the ears, armpits, and the groin -- yes, the groin.

Kligman was rumored to have injected 468 times the amount he was authorized to. Documentation of that effect has, wisely, not been distributed.

The Army oversaw while Kligman continued to test out skin-burning chemicals to (in their words) "learn how the skin protects itself against chronic assault from toxic chemicals, the so-called hardening process" and test out many products whose effects were unknown at the time, but with the intent of figuring that out.

During these proceedings, Kligman was reported to have said, "All I saw before me were acres of skin ... It was like a farmer seeing a fertile field for the first time."

Using that analogy, it's easy to see how he could plow straight through so many human subjects without an ounce of sympathy. Yee-haw.

8. Operation Paperclip

While the Nuremberg trials were being conducted and the ethics and rights of humanity were under investigation, the U.S. was secretly taking in Nazi scientists and giving them American identities.

Under Operation Paperclip, named so because of the paperclips used to attach the scientists' new profiles to their US personnel pages, N***s who had worked for in the infamous human experiments (which included surgically grafting twins to each other and making then conjoined, removing nerves from people's bodies without anesthetic, and testing explosion-effects on them) in Germany brought over their talents to work on a number of top secret projects for the US.

Given then-President Truman’s anti-Nazi orders, the project was kept under wraps and the scientists received faked political biographies, allowing these monsters to live on not only American soil, but as free men.

So while it was not direct experimentation, it was the U.S. taking some of the worst people in the world and giving them jobs here to do unknown, horrible experiments/research.

9. Infecting Puerto Rico With Cancer

In 1931, Dr. Cornelius (that’s right, Cornelius) Rhoads was sponsored by the Rockefeller Institute to conduct experiments in Puerto Rico. He infected Puerto Rican citizens with cancer cells, presumably to study the effects. Thirteen of them died.

What’s most striking is that the accusations stem from a note he allegedly wrote:

"The Porto Ricans (sic) are the dirtiest, laziest, most degenerate and thievish race of men ever to inhabit this sphere... I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off eight and transplanting cancer into several more... All physicians take delight in the abuse and torture of the unfortunate subjects."

A man that seems to be hell-bent on killing Puerto Rico through a cancer infestation would not seem a suitable candidate to be elected by the US to be in charge of chemical warfare projects and receive a seat on the United States Atomic Energy Commission, right?

But that’s exactly what happened. He also became vice-president of the American Cancer Society.

Any shocking documentation that would have happened during his chemical warfare period would probably have been destroyed by now.

10. Pentagon Treats Black Cancer Patients with Extreme Radiation

In the 60’s, the Department of Defense performed a series of irradiation experiments on non-consenting, poor, African-American cancer patients. They were told they would be receiving treatment, but they weren’t told it would be the "Pentagon" type of treatment: meaning to study the effects of high level radiation on the human body.

To avoid litigation, forms were signed only with initials so that the patients would have no way to get back at the government.

In a similar case, Dr. Eugene Saenger, funded by the Defense Atomic Support Agency (fancy name), conducted the same procedure on the same type of patients. The poor, black Americans received about the same level of radiation as 7500 x-rays to their chest would, which caused intense pain, vomiting and bleeding from their nose and ears. At least 20 of the subjects died.

11. Operation Midnight Climax

Here's a government experiment that, when you Google it, has completely different image results than web results.

Operation Midnight Climax involved safe houses in New York and San Fransisco, built for the sole purpose to study LSD effects on non-consenting individuals.

But in order to lure the individuals there, the CIA made these safe houses out to be, wait for it, Brothels.

Prostitutes on the CIA payroll (yes, there was such a thing) lured "clients" back the houses.

Instead of having sex with them, though, they dosed them with a number of substances, most famously LSD. This also involved extensive use of marijuana.

The experiments were monitored behind a two-way mirror, kind of like a sick, twisted peep show.

Furthermore, it's alleged that the officials who ran the experiments described them as..." it was fun, fun, fun. Where else could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, rape and pillage with the sanction and bidding of the All-highest?"

The most horrifying part was the idea of dosing non-consenting adults with drugs they couldn't possibly know the effects of.

Embedded is a video of a soldier talking about Operation Midnight Climax and his experiences with the C.I.A. and the U.S. Government.

12. Fallout Radiation on Unsuspecting Pacific Territories

After unleashing hell upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States embarked on numerous thermonuclear bomb tests in the Pacific in response to increased Soviet bomb activity. They were intended to be a secret affair. However, this secrecy would fail.

Detonated in 1954 over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device the US ever set off. What they didn't expect was for the fallout from the blast to inadvertently be blown upwind onto nearby residents of other islands. The suffering included birth defects and radiation sickness. The effects were greater felt in later years when many children whose parents were exposed to the fallout developed thyroid cancer and neoplasms.

This created Project 4.1, a study to examine the effects of radiation fallout on human beings. Essentially,it was the latest in a long string of studies where humans act as guinea pigs without giving consent and a project remembered by the US as a way to gather data that would otherwise be unobtainable. The US moral standard that history best remembers is that even though the radiation fallout on the people of the Marshall Islands was an accident, it might as well have been intended.

In addition, perhaps as nature's way of adding insult to injury, a Japanese fishing boat was caught in the fallout. The fishermen all fell ill and one died, making the Japanese livid that the US was still affecting them with nuclear devices.

13. Tuskegee

The recent uncovering of the US exposing Guatemalans to syphilis brings back to mind this infamous study. In between 1932 and 1972, researchers recruited 400 black share-croppers in Tuskegee, Alabama to study the natural progression of syphilis.

But the scientists never told the men they had syphilis. Instead, they went around believing that they were being treated for "bad blood" disease as researchers used them to find out the extent of syphilis symptoms and effects.

In 1947, penicillin became the standard cure for syphilis. But along with withholding information about the disease, scientists also "forgot" to tell their subjects that what they were being treated for had a cure. And so the study continued for nearly 30 years more.

Once it was discovered, the backlash to the study was so fierce that President Bill Clinton made formal apology, stating he was sorry that the government "orchestrated a study that was so racist". Sadly enough, it would be horrific, but one of the more docile evil human experiments ever conducted by the U.S. Government.

Source: http://www.ranker.com/list/the-13-most-evil-u-s-government-experiments-on-humans/robert-wabash?page=3

The Bible has the Highest Morality Code

2013-05-17T06:08:00.002-07:00

I do not just say that the Bible is a book of the highest standards of moral. It is what the book says and the book itself can prove it. There are so many books regarding moral that now exist in the world. But the Bible is above them all. And it can be proven by the teachings of the Bible.

We do not refute that there are other books that teach morality and there are other religious books regarded as sacred by those people who believe in them who teach also morality. But why do I say that the Bible is a book of the highest form of morality there is that exists on earth? First of all, the Bible is a book wherein the words of God are written. Of course not all the words in the Bible are the words of God, but there are specific words of God in the Bible, and those are very much discernable because the Bible says so. Whenever there is a quotation coming from God, you will be familiarized with the introductions of all the Bible writers before they write the sacred words of God: “And God said,” “Thus God said,” “God said,” “The Lord spake unto,” etc. So if we read closely, the Bible is a book that contains pronouncements from God Himself. This is proven by the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 1:1-2,which reads –

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

The verses clearly state that God has spoken unto the fathers in diverse manners and times and places and has spoken unto us in these last days by sending His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, during His ministry on earth, said in the book of John 12:49 –

“For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.”

So, the pronouncements of the Lord Jesus Christ are words of God. Now, how do we discern, how do we know that the word came from God? There is a very distinct quality of the word of God in the Bible. In the book of Proverbs 8:8-9 we read –

“All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.”

So there is nothing perverse, there is nothing wrong, no contradiction whatsoever with the words coming from the mouth of God. Another distinct quality of the word of God was preached by the Apostle Paul in I Thessalonians 2:3-4

“For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.”

We must, at this juncture, notice what the Apostle Paul said, that as they were trusted by God to speak they speak. And what they speak is not of uncleanness, deceit or guile. Meaning, the words of the Lord are without deceit, without uncleanness or guile. They are simple, straightforward truth containing no contradictions whatsoever. Another quality of the word of God is in the book of Hebrews 4:12 –

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

On verse 13 it says –

“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

Meaning, the word of God in the Bible is quick or alive; it is powerful, it is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it pierces to the hearts and thoughts. It knows the thoughts and hearts of men. And no human secret cannot be made manifest by the power of the word of God. By these qualities we will know if what we are reading in the Bible, or in any other book that was written on this earth, are the true words of God or not. The word of God works. In the book of I Thessalonians 2:13, the Apostle Paul said –

“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

It is clear in the verse that the word of God is not just like the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works unto you that believe. So the power of the word of God is manifest unto the believers. It works among the believers. It does things to those that believe. And what the word of God can do is manifest among the believers. And what does it do? In the book of James 1:21 –

“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

The word of God is powerful to blot out all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness in a man. It renews a creature. The word of God has a power to renew; it regenerates and it is proven among those who believe. Let us read in the book of I Peter 1:23 –

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”

The word of God is able to make a man a new being. It is an agent by which a man can be born again. It is likened in the Bible to a seed which is not corruptible. Nobody can corrupt it. Nothing can corrupt the word of God. After knowing all these things, let us analyze from the written word of God in the Bible the morality that is being taught by God’s words. In the Bible it says, in Matthew 19:5-6 –

“And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

I want you to please notice the word twain, or two. A man shall cleave to his wife, not wives [twain, only one partner]. And this is the highest standard of morality among married people. Let us read. Hebrews 13:4 says –

“Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

So marriage is confined to only two contracting parties: the man and the woman, or the husband and the wife. There is no such thing in the Bible as marriage to more than one. It is not allowed. But there are religious books that say that you can get more than one wife. It’s directly contradicting the pure words of God in the Bible. And the very good example is the Book of Mormons. In their Doctrine and Covenants they have this to say:

According to Joseph Smith, which I will call a false prophet, this is a revelation that he received from God. I know that Joseph Smith has his god and his god is not the God of the Bible. I do not even want to call this group The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. With the standards of morality in the Bible the Mormons cannot be considered saints. Pardon me for saying these words.

Saints in the Bible are those who obey the rules of sainthood. And one of those rules is to have only one wife. Having two wives will not make marriage honorable and the bed undefiled as Hebrew 13:4 says. Marrying more than one woman defiles the bed. Let us read in the book of Romans 7:2-3, it says –

“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”

So it is clear in the verse that if a woman, or in the case of the man also, marries another while the husband or the wife is living, the woman will be called an adulteress, likewise the man. It is clear in the book of Matthew 19:9 –

“And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.”

Marrying another when one of the parties is still living will fall into adultery. Of course there may be millions who believe in the Book of Mormons and nobody can question the integrity of these people. There are judges, there are lawyers and there are statesmen who belong to this group of people who believe that plurality of marriage, as taught in the Book of Mormons, is a true revelation from God. But it is not. It contradicts the word of God in the Bible. In the Bible, especially for bishops, or those that preach the gospel of Christ, only one wife is allowed. I Timothy 3:2 says –

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;”

So if you get two wives then you are not blameless. Just like what happened to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the first two leaders of the Mormon Church that exists now in so many parts of the world. Brigham Young had 25 wives; 48 for Joseph Smith. They did not even abide by the revelation that they claim to have received from God. The revelation alleges that you can have only ten wives. But because of their greed for women and their lust, Joseph Smith had 48 and Brigham Young 25. Why do I say that the standard of morality in the Bible is far more excellent than any other book of religion, especially if we are going to compare it with the Book of Mormons? First, you have to know my intention. I’m not trying to destroy anybody’s reputation. But I have read that there was an apostle of the Mormon Church who claimed that their Book of Mormons is more correct and excellent than the Bible. This is what they have to say:

Although it was said before my time, before I was born, I’m concerned about this for my fellowmen. Why? This is a blasphemous statement because it places the words of Joseph Smith far more superior than the word of God, and that is blasphemy. God tells us the highest standard of morality in the life of a married person – to have only one wife. Joseph Smith tells us that it can be ten, especially if they are virgins. But Joseph Smith himself did not follow such revelation. He accumulated 48 wives and most of them were not virgins. They were wives of his co-ministers in their church. Imagine, is there morality in there? Let us ask a former Mormon member. What is the first problem they encounter when they abide by the wrong teachings of the Book of Mormons? Number one is jealousy.

[youtube=http:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCuLDghfT_U]

We are informed by the Bible and it was mentioned earlier that the word of God is a discerner of truth. It pierces to the thoughts and to the heart of a man. What is jealousy according to the Bible? The Bible defines jealousy as wisdom from demons. It is satanic. Let us read in the book of Proverbs 6:34 –

“For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.”

Jealousy is a form of anger or rage that will spare not when it finds time for vengeance. History bears evidences and proofs of this powerful word of God. There are those who kill their husband or their wife because of jealousy. No Mormon member will say that they do not feel this human emotion, jealousy. And this is something that Mormons cannot hide. It was a confession from a former member of the Mormons. If you are under one roof and there are ten wives, you are wives of only one man, you will see the unfairness and the inequitableness of the treatment because no man can treat ten wives equitably and exactly fair. Jacob or Israel had only four wives but his love is more on Rachel than the other three. And there was jealousy also among the children of Israel. It’s the reason why Joseph the Dreamer was sold or maltreated by his eleven brothers, because of jealousy. Jealousy in polygamy is very rampant not only among the wives but also among the children. If you are one of the ten wives of your husband and each of you has five children then you will be a family of more than fifty. How can jealousy be prevented among those fifty coming from different wombs? So polygamy and the plurality of marriage give way for satan because jealousy came from satan. James 3:16, 15 (Revised Standard Version) says–

“For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

This wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.”

If you must believe, it is better to believe in James the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ than to believe in the false prophets of the Mormons. Jealousy is devilish. It’s satanic and it is the product of the plurality of marriage or polygamy. Proving once again that what God have said is the utmost truth about human passions and human emotions. And if you have only one wife and living by the standards of God’s word, a loving husband to your wife, and a wife that subjects herself to her husband, Ephesians 5:23-28 :

“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.”

Then the family ties and values are intact and there is no place like home if the home is where the word of God and its morality dwells. Coming home to a home with women competing to be a desirable wife for only one man and with children competing to be heirs of the riches of only one man is just like coming home to hell. You may comment and suggest and add to what has been laid in this article.

May God bless you.
Source: Eliseo Soriano

Iconography and Iconology in World Religions and Faiths

2013-05-17T01:33:00.001-07:00

Iconography and iconology are interdependent sciences concerned with the visual arts and architecture as reflections of a culture. Broadly speaking, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. In the strict sense, iconography classifies and describes the attributes of persons, ideas, or institutions as they appear in art (for example, the style and use of two keys as the symbol of St. Peter), and iconology explains their significance (for example, the reason for the choice of the keys). Both may deal with secular art but are especially associated with religious art. Since popular movements in the past were rarely literate, many religions owe much of their appeal to images. Often the iconographic forms of one religion will be adapted by another.

Ancient Polytheisms

The religion of the Great Mother, which flourished in western Asia in Neolithic times, was reflected in pottery figurines concerned with fertility—heavy-breasted and deep-thighed females and bulls. In the Fertile Crescent after 3000 B.C., numerous local divinities associated with cosmic powers were represented in bas-relief and sculpture—at first by nonhuman symbols (such as an ibex for the water god, Enki, and a bundle of reeds for the fertility goddess, Inana) and later in human form. Lion-bodied, human-headed, winged sphinxes represented minor deities. The many-storied ziggurats, symbolizing the planets, were believed to be the earthly homes of the gods.

Egyptian gods, also having a mixture of local and cosmic significance, appear in bas-relief, sculpture, and painting with human bodies and animal heads, indicating their origins as "totem" animals, believed to be the divine ancestors of clans. Examples are Ptah, the creator, in the form of a bull; the cow-headed Hathor, a mother goddess; and the hawk-headed Re, the sun-god, identified with the pharaoh, who was also symbolized by sphinxes without wings. The Egyptian fascination with death as the gift of new life is reflected in the pyramids (royal tombs) and in tomb paintings portraying life in the next world.

Greek and Roman gods were generally represented by statues or reliefs of ideally beautiful men and women. They were often associated with symbols, such as the helmet of Athena, the war goddess, or the lyre of Apollo, god of the arts.

Judaism and Islam

Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Islam, struggling against belief in a multiplicity of older deities worshiped in anthropomorphic or zoomorphic form, opposed such portrayals of their supreme gods. The Zoroastrian god of light and truth, Ahura Mazda, was worshiped in the altar fire in an empty hall and was indicated in art by a winged sun disk.

The making of graven images was forbidden to the Jews by the Law of Moses, which was reinforced by the triumph of austere piety at the Council of Jamnia (about 100 A.D.). What has been called "the repressed sense of visual beauty among the Jews" found its outlet chiefly in ornaments connected with the Scroll of the Law, such as silver crowns, breastplates, pointers, finials, and embroidered curtains. These objects often bore the basic symbols of Judaism—the menorah (7-branched candlestick), the two tablets of the Law, the lion of the tribe of Judah, and later the 6-pointed star of David.

Islam is, if anything, stricter than Judaism in proscribing the depiction of living beings in religious art. Mosques, however, are almost inevitably of great architectural beauty and are decorated with geometric designs and with texts from the Koran in the ancient Kufic script. Religious usage determines the characteristics of a mosque—minarets (towers) for the call to prayer; fountain or well for ritual ablutions; mihrab (niche) in the direction of Mecca; and mimbar (pulpit). The crescent, once a symbol of the Turks, has come to be associated with Islam.

Christianity

At first the church, continuing the Jewish distrust of iconology and fearful of persecution, resisted any attempt to picture Christ. It illustrated His natures by symbols—a lamb (an ancient Hebrew "totemistic" symbol); Orpheus (a classical symbol); the lion of Judah; the Good Shepherd; fish, phoenix, or pelican; His monogram; and later the cross. However, the early Christians, asked to imagine the historical Jesus making His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, for example, found it nearly impossible not to picture Him, to think of Him as looking like something. Sometimes, under classical influence, they represented Him as an Apollo-like youth. In characteristic Byzantine representations, hedged about with the Biblical caution (Isaiah 53:2) that Christ must have "no beauty that we should desire him," He is a calm, bearded, older man, often the Pantocrator enthroned and holding a book, symbolizing His divine office as ruler and teacher.

Gradually Biblical figures and saints, distinguished by haloes and personal symbols, such as the lion of St. Mark, appeared in Christian painting, mosaics, stained glass, fabrics, and eventually sculpture, long feared as especially conducive to idolatry. Crucifixes, portraying Christ on the cross, reluctantly adopted from the 7th century on, gave Christianity some of its best and worst art. Churches were often built in the form of a cross and focused on the celebration of the chief sacrament at the altar.

Oriental Religions

The vast array of gods in Hindu sculpture and painting often have several heads and arms making conventional gestures (mudras) and holding certain objects, such as a lotus, the whole figure symbolizing different aspects of the single divinity they share. The kindly Vishnu appears frequently in two popular incarnations—Prince Rama and the hero Krishna. The awesome Shiva may be represented by a figure dancing out the rhythm of the universe or by the lingam, a phallic symbol.

Buddhist inconography includes the Bodhi tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment; the Wheel of the Law, which he taught; and the lotus, which is the universe that he illumines. Buddha, at first represented by such symbols, later appears as a serene monk whose canonically determined features and gestures symbolize his exceptional powers. Important Buddhist monuments are the stupas, great dome-shaped structures of Indian origin, containing relics and symbolizing the death of Buddha. These inspired the pagodas of China and Japan.

In the rich iconography of Chinese art the basic Taoist symbol is a circle composed of two complementary curved figures—yin (darkness, female) and yang (light, male), indicating the union of primal forces to create the universe. The eight trigrams, combinations of broken (yin) and solid (yang) lines, represent natural phenomena. Especially popular are images of Kuan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy.

Dissecting The Worst Mass Murder in American History

2013-05-16T15:37:00.002-07:00

Last April 16, 2007, A student of Virginia Tech killed 32 people and injured further 29 before committing suicide, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. The shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, of South Korean heritage who moved to the United States at age eight, and a senior majoring in English at Virginia Tech.

People around the world ask the ultimate question: WHY?

I must say that we expect for more. WORSER! Why? So, many people are asking why these incidents should happen. What is unknown to many people in these times of modern technological information which can be obtained in a matter of seconds worldwide is that there is something existing on this earth that can answer and explain why things are happening this way, especially in these times. We have it available — even in the web — THE BIBLE. In the book of 2 Timothy 3:13, the Bible has this to say:

“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”

A deceiver being deceived is not a common but an extraordinary scenario. This deception must have come not from humanity itself but from another supernatural power that hates humanity. The Bible introduces to us his person. In Revelations 12:9 it says:

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Satan, the devil, hates humanity. John 8:44 records the words of the Lord Jesus:

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

I confidently ride in public utility vehicles like buses, taxis, jeeps….even airplanes. Of course, I trust God. He owns life and the only power that can legally take it as He said in Deuteronomy 32:39 —

“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.”
But we have to consider also, speaking of prudence, (trust is not based on prudence but on faith) the one holding the control of a motorized vehicle. The norms that man has that instinct in him to preserve his life under all normal circumstances makes me a little comfortable and reliable in riding public utility vehicles. Under normal condition no man will kill himself, so I believe that logically, a driver will not intentionally bump the bus I am riding. But if somebody like Cho who is willing to kill himself; and taking into account the intelligence in him, which we can clearly discern from what he have said and recorded about his feelings and beliefs, we must conclude inevitably that Cho is under the deception of Satan. But why do we have to expect more? The answer, again, is in the most informative book being neglected; and even being defamed by its enemies — THE BIBLE.

2 Timothy 3:1-6 says:

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts…”

These are the evils that we must expect to witness in these last days. ‘Last days‘ because the advent of the newscaster of the good news is near. There will be a better world tomorrow. This is the only hope for humanity. All evil will be ended; and evildoers will be paid what is due them, when the Lord of Glory comes in power in that blessed day. After the storm, there is a bright day ahead; and I believe, if you will believe in the Bible, we will all see that day.

God Bless

Source: Eliseo Soriano

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail Against It

2013-05-16T10:52:00.002-07:00

Words written or spoken express something physical or spiritual, but they are realities. Words of God create or cause the existence of things.

GENESIS 1:3 (KJV)

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Words called nouns or names came to use to describe the nature or character of something that exists physically and spiritually.

GEN 2:19 (KJV)

And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

Sometimes words or names are mere inventions of undisciplined human minds to express some make-believe things or fables.

TITUS 1:14 (KJV)

Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.

ECCLESIASTES 7:29 (KJV)

Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

After creating humans, God created an entity out of humans, which He called the Church.

EPHESIANS 2:10 (KJV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The word “we” refers to the Church to whom the Apostle Paul was writing his epistle. What constitute the Church created by God in Christ Jesus?

I CORINTHIANS 12:28 (KJV)

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

The composition of the true Church came from God, the persons, the offices, and their functions are all God ordained. The words or names that describe the person that comprise the Church came from God, like the words apostles, prophets, and teachers. This is the Church established or created by the Lord! This is the true Church, the recipient of the promise and guarantee of the Creator that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”!

MATTHEW 16:18 (KJV)

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Is this the Catholic Church? Let us study the evidential facts and figures from the scriptures!

THE OFFICE AND PERSON OF THE POPE, LEADER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, IS NOT BIBLICAL!

The word “pope” according to Catholic authorities means, “father”.

Although Catholic authorities say that Peter was the first pope, no records in history, in archaeology or in the Bible will prove that Peter was once a pope! The apostles, including Peter were prohibited by the Lord Jesus Christ to use the title “father” or “teacher”.

MATTHEW 23:8-9 (KJV)

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Arguments to the contrary based on illogical reasoning and distorted personal opinions are passed off as truth by the Catholics but the final authority is the word of God, which never said that there has been such an office in the true Church.

The truth of the matter is that the Catholic Church invented the word “pope” only in the 11th century many hundreds of years after the death of the apostles. Allegedly, the pope is the recipient of the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven being handed down from one pope to another in an undisturbed or unbroken succession! Is that reality or just mere fantasy???

Source: Eliseo Soriano

Greatest Religious Crime What are those?

2013-05-16T10:25:00.003-07:00

The date May 21, 2011 will be long remembered like the fall of 1975 when the Jehovah’s Witnesses, through the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, predicted the coming of the Armageddon. Predictions by self-appointed prophets are old story being repeated again and again.

(ECCLESIASTES 3:15) “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.”

The saying “history repeats itself” is true. Human beings may die but the spirit of error since its inception to the world is still here!

(I JOHN 4:6) “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”

Such spirit of error dwells in people who love to believe a lie more than the truth.

(II THESSALONIANS 2:11-12)

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The spirit of error which provoked the Seventh Day Adventists to predict that the coming of Christ will be on March 21, 1844 and then again on October 22, 1844 which both failed, is the same spirit that is now working within the group of Harold Camping that says that 21 May, 2011 is the end of the world!

I do not know if I will still be alive on May 21, 2011 but one thing is sure: this is another deception from the spirit of error that worketh in the children of disobedience.

(EPHESIANS 2:2) “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”

Maybe most of you will still be alive come May 21, 2011 to see the fulfillment of one of the most important predictions of the Bible:

(I JOHN 4:1) “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

(MATTHEW 24:24) “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”

Part of obedience is to believe on what we are taught to believe. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher of Christian belief or faith, once said:

(MATTHEW 24:36) “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

Christian faith must be firmly established on the revealed truth, the word of God taught by the Lord Jesus Christ.

(JOHN 17:17) “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

The truth is, “regarding that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only!” Anybody giving an exact date on this God-appointed day will fail!

(THE ACTS 17:31) “Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

(THE ACTS 1:7) “And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”

Heeding to these teachings of the Lord, a God-fearing preacher will never set a definite date for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

These are false prophets!

William Miller initially set the day for the return of Jesus Christ in 1843. When the second coming failed to occur, he set another date for March 21, 1844, which also failed and then another date for October 22, 1844, which again failed. The effect on the Millerite movement was a major disaster, and the failure of the return of Jesus Christ to appear was called the “Great Disappointment.” The failed prophecies of William Miller proved that he was a false prophet, not only because of their failure, but also because of the fact that he contradicted Scripture which says that only God knows the time of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

(Source: http://www.ondoctrine.com/10sevadv.htm)

“End of the World” Prophecies

1914 was one of the more important estimates of the start of the war of Armageddon by the Jehovah’s Witnesses (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society). They computed 1914 from prophecy in the book of Daniel, Chapter 4. The writings referred to “seven times”. The WTS interpreted each “time” as equal to 360 days, giving a total of 2520 days. This was further interpreted as representing 2520 years, measured from the starting date of 607 BCE. This gave 1914 as the target date.

1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994 were other dates that the Watchtower Society predicted. 1975 looked likely as it was computed as the 6000th anniversary of the creation of Adam in the Garden of Eden in 4026 BCE. They interpreted Psalms 90:10 as defining the length of a generation to be 80 years. Since 1914 plus 80 equals 1994, they predicted Armageddon would occur around that year. The latest estimate was 6000 years after the creation of Eve, for which no date can be determined with any accuracy.

(Source: http://www.preteristarchive.com/StudyArchive/t/theory_false-prophets.html)

(DEUTERONOMY 18:22) “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

The word translated here presumptuously is זדון – zâdôn which means arrogance.

It is the height of arrogance or boastfulness to directly contradict the written word of God in the Bible! William Miller, Ellen G. White, The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Bang-Ik Ha, Harold Camping and many more are a gang of false prophets committing a syndicated crime which can be considered as the Greatest Religious Crime in the history of humanity!

Why do I believe that such false predictions constitute the greatest religious crime? It is because of these false preachers and prophets that there will be blasphemers and scoffers!

(II PETER 3:3-4)

3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Those who slaughtered the Jews and Christians in the past have committed an abominable crime against God and humanity, but the souls of the murdered Christians were not imperiled! But the greatest crime that can be committed by religious teachers is to endanger the salvation of souls due to misleading doctrines and beliefs!

The rise in number of scientists that reject the Bible is due to these scientists’ frustrations in false religions led by these false prophets. The increasing number of atheists worldwide is also caused by the imprudent interpretations of the Scriptures by these blind religious leaders! Is there any other crime greater than these crimes against God and humanity?

(MATTHEW 15:14) “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”

It would have been better and harmless if Harold Camping went on just camping rather than preaching!

Source: Eliseo Soriano

25 Science Facts You Should Know

2013-05-16T08:17:00.002-07:00

Despite the fact that the scientific methods have been used since the start of the Middle Age, the first traces of modern science have started during the 16th and the 17th century, the so called Early modern period.

The astronomy estimates there are more than 100 billion galaxies in the Universe, and our own galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy, has alone between 200-400 billion stars. So if an average galaxy has around 300 billion stars you can imagine the incredible number of all stars in our universe.

Africa is considered to be an origin of today’s modern humans. According to the currently dominant theory Homo sapiens arose in Africa and migrated out of the continent around 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, replacing populations of Homo erectus in Asia and Neanderthals in Europe.

The recent estimates say that there are more than 310,000 plant species on our planet.

The oldest animal fossils (some sort of early sponges) originate from South Australia and are more than 665-million-year-old.

People (and other hominids) have been using rocks for more than 2 million years.

Up to now, scientists have identified more than 500 different dinosaur species. The smallest dinosaurs had the size of a chicken.

The dinosaurs have gone extinct around 65 millions years ago probably due to very large meteorite hitting our planet.

Our planet formed more than 4.5 billion years ago and it is estimated that it took around one billion years for life to develop on Earth.

Oceans cover most of our planet, approximately 71% of our planet.

Sputnik one that was launched in 1957 by Russians was the first Earth orbiting satellite.

In 1947, a pilot Chuck Yeager was the first person to pass the speed of sound, flying the aircraft called Bell X-1.

Planet Mars is called „Red planet“because of iron oxide which is prevalent on its surface and gives it a reddish look.

The fastest wind speed ever recorded was 318 mph, in one of the tornadoes that hit the City in May, 1999.

The world's longest rain streak happened in Hawaii in Kaneohe Ranch, Oahu, where there was rain for 247 straight days from August 27 1993 to April 30 1994.

The world's biggest Earthquake in history occurred in Chile back in 1960. This earthquake had a magnitude of 9,5 and killed more than 1650 people.

It is believed that the greatest volcano eruption in history occurred in Toba, Sumatra, around 71,000 years ago. This eruption was so powerful that it produced some 2800 cubic kilometers of ash and it is also believed to have caused major decline of human population to around 10,000 individuals.

Around 80% of tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean but the possibility for tsunami is present in every larger water body, including the lakes.

Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan is the highest unclimbed mountain in the world with an elevation of 7,570 meters and a prominence of over 2990 meters.

The jackfruit, widely cultivated in tropics, is the largest tree-born fruit, weighing up to 80 pounds (36 kg), up to 36 inches (90 cm) long and up to 20 inches (50 cm) in diameter.

The blue whales are considered to be the largest animals on Earth in history. These huge animals can weigh up to 150 tons and reach length of more than 30 meters.

The largest tree on Earth is General Sherman, in Tulare County, California. This gigantic sequoia is 83.8 meters (275 ft) tall, has a diameter of 7.7 meters (25 ft), an estimated bole volume of 1,487 cubic meters (52,513 cu ft), and an estimated age of more than 2500 years.

World's largest salty lake is Caspian sea that covers an area of 143,200 square miles (370,886 km2) and the world's largest freshwater lake is Lake Superior that covers an area of 31,700 mi2 (82,103 km2)

The lowest temperature ever recorded on our planet was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F; 184.0 K) at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica July 21, 1983. The highest temperature ever recorded was 36° Fahrenheit (58° C) in Libya, back in 1922.

An African Hunting dog can run at 50mph for up to 4 hours.

Aliens; Fallen Angels sent to Deceive?

2013-05-15T09:42:00.002-07:00

UFO and Alien Phenomena; Extraterrestrial or Interdenominational?

Do UFOs aliens and ghosts exist, or are they a figment of man's imagination? If they are real, where do they come from?

Many UFO reports seem to pertain more to accounts of 'poltergeists' in which objects fly around the room and strange sounds are heard, rather than to solid items of nuts and bolts in our physical realm. It is one of the many reasons the explanation of UFOs as extraterrestrials from space does not fit these experiences. There appears to be a number of accounts that deal with 'aliens' referring to religion, God, and even the Bible in odd ways.

Demonology has been around for thousands of years, and it includes the study of monsters and demons who have seemingly coexisted with man throughout history. Thousands of books have been written on this subject by educated clergymen, scientists and scholars, and untold numbers of well documented demonic events are readily available to every researcher. The manifestations reported are very similar to the UFO phenomenon itself. Victims of demonic possession suffer similar medical and emotional systems as are reported in UFO abductees.

The Devil and demons can, according to the literature, manifest themselves in any form and can physically imitate anything from angels to horrifying monsters with glowing eyes. Strange objects and entities materialize and dematerialize in these reports, just as the UFOs and their occupants appear and disappear, walk through walls, and perform other supernatural feats.

A large part of available UFO literature is closely linked with mysticism and the metaphysical. It deals with subjects like mental telepathy, automatic writing, and invisible entities as well as phenomena like poltergeist manifestation and possession.

Modern global belief in flying saucers and their occupants is identical to an earlier belief in the fairy world. The entities described are largely indistinguishable from the elves, sylphs and lutins of the middle ages. I believe UFOs are real, but the represent a demonic delusion projected from hell itself. Today's gray aliens are yesterday's fairies dancing in the meadows. Our ancestors knew what those images were of fallen angels operating in the realm of Satan. Today, since they wear jumpsuits and claim to come from other galaxies, more people are willing to believe them in our time of technological progress. In fact, the amount of people who currently believe there is life in outer space has increased by around 10% per decade in the last several decades.

A great many of these abduction accounts tell of heinous experiments and even sexual acts upon people who are treated as lab rats. The UFO and abduction experiences reported seem to live in a realm of shadows that represent and incredible delusion to humanity. UFOs seem to be large scale violations of the second law of thermodynamics in which energy is arranged to take on enough force that it appears to look like matter, although it is really just a concentration of energy, not matter in the traditional sense.

Demons, as fallen angels have retained great power, such as the manipulation and restructuring of matter, as well as the ability to influence or control human consciousness and experience through classic possession. It is interesting that the Bible calls Satan the "ruler of this world" John 12:31, and the "prince of the power of the air" Ephesians 2:2.

Because they are now appearing in a new modern guise should tell us something about their purposes. Demons are trying to deceive men in the historical context of the day in which they appear. Aliens from a far away world would have no need or purpose to deceive or trick humans by appearing in different disguises. Fallen angels, in a war against God, to steal the souls of man, however, would certainly do this.

Four million people in the United States alone have claimed to have been kidnapped against their will and subjected to medical examination procedures aboard alien spacecraft alone with bizarre sexual encounters. This phenomenon is occurring all over the world, and if true, is a far cry from the benign and friendly contacts that have been claimed in previous years.

In fact these so called alien's plan could be to eventual reveal that THEY created us, and we are a genetic experiment, and that THEY wrote the Bible and performed all the miracles in it. Also they are hear to safe of from ourselves, ie; nuclear war and the hundreds of other man made disasters happening on the planet at this moment. It is a plan to re-arrange all of mankind's concepts and to further weaken and or destroy any and all faith left in God.

This insidious thought process has worked it's way into mainstream thinking today, with no question. I have heard many people proclaim that this idea could be exactly what has happened. You will easily find News media, movies, and the internet pushing this sort of belief. Even the latest India Jones and the crystal skull has this type of plot line. People are assaulted with various belief systems all day long without even realizing it in today's realm of instant information.

This is still a good thing, but as with all things, one must put high scrutiny on any and all ideas. Is any of this true? I cannot know for sure. It is damn interesting however. The fact is, something is most certainly happening in the world with regards to UFO and abduction reports. It is a phenomena that can be and has been seen my millions in first hand knowledge or by viewing recordings of unknown objects both on film, and in some cases even radar.

Military encounters have been reported as well, with nuclear launch codes being changed while a craft was overhead. I do not find these reported entities as being 'benign' as has been reported in some cases. The entire situation is one of stealth, deception, and great fear and horror in the case of abductees.