Sidestepping the Military Leviathan: Make Money, Not War

By Fred Reed, Fred on Everything, January 23, 2017

Is Washington really going to start a trade war with China, or is it just huffing and puffing for the position? I don’t know. Mr. Trump has inexplicably failed to brief me. A point worth bearing in mind:

The United States cannot compete commercially with a developed Asia, or China.

America has nowhere to go. It is a fully developed economy that cannot grow rapidly if it grows at all. America is also a country of only medium size with a population of a bit more than two hundred million who do all the brain work. It has a decaying system of education, declining living standards, and an economy crippled by huge military expenditures.

By contrast, China has a billion Han Chinese, intelligent government, a great deal of room to grow and high rates of doing so. The combined land mass, population, and economic potential of Asia are staggering. In differing degrees, Asian nations are growing.

Further, Eurasia is one continent, and China has land connections to all of it–”interior lines of communication,” as soldiers say. America does not. Beijing’s stated intention is to use this to unite Eurasia into one enormous commercial unit–which will not include guess who. Beijing can do this. It has the cash. China is the world’s leader in high-speed rail. As a competent dictatorship, it can decide to do things and then do them, while America often seems unable to do either.

Some time has passed since Beijing made its first rail shipment from Wuli on the Pacific coast through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, to Germany and then left to Madrid. It was clunky and a bit of a stunt. Now there are scheduled trains connecting many Chinese cities to the rest of Asia, including Europe. This will not rival sea transport in volume but will give a lot of places in Asia access to each other. Influence will follow. Watch.

This is bad news for Washington. Greater trade between Europe and the eastern part of the continent means less influence for Washington. It means potentially very much less influence. European nations have much to gain by trading with the incomprehensibly large markets, current and arriving, between Poland the Pacific. They have nothing to gain by remaining as sepoy states under American control. Their businessmen know it.

China, already the world leader in supercomputers both in number and performance, hopes to have an exascale machine by 2018, way ahead of the US. These are not people to underestimate.

This dismal reality looks to be behind the orchestrated billingsgate against Russia, the war drums being pounded about the South China Sea, and the obvious desire for war with Iran. These three counties are key to an economic union that, if not stopped, will dwarf the United States. While some hope that China will collapse because of internal problems, this is a thin reed upon which to bet the Empire. Washington knows it.

The Empire cannot afford to lose control of Europe’s governments, which will happen if heavy trade is allowed to develop with the Three Bugbears. Thus Washington’s hostility to all three–a hostility whose chief effect, note, has been to drive them together against America. Not good. The first rule of empires is Don’t let your enemies unite.

Here we come to a crucial difference between American and Chinese foreign policy. Washington’s approach to maintaining the Empire has consisted of military attack, threats of military attack, military occupation, and the imposition of sanctions. These are visibly declining in effectiveness. The US currently has sanctions against North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and Russia–none of which has produced the desired capitulation. Unless Washington comes up with something quick, presumably a shooting war or a trade war, its aircraft carriers will steam in circles, slowly rusting, while Asia grows.

Glimmerings of rebellion appear in many places. In the Philippines, Duterte is snuggling up to China. While Washington may kill him or twist his arm, twenty years ago this would not have been necessary. Malaysia recently bought Chinese naval vessels. Thailand has begun buying Chinese arms. Countries are slowly abandoning the dollar. German businessmen want to trade with Russia.

Trump now proposes sanctions on China, having said he would impose a tariff of forty-five percent on goods from there. Perhaps he was lying, bluffing, or posing in the standard manner of politicians. Maybe he wasn’t. I am not so foolish as to think I can predict the course of a trade war, but neither am I so foolish as to believe that Trump can.

He seems to have the instincts of a bully, which works or may work, with weak states like Mexico. China isn’t one. He has said that China needs the US more than the US needs China, and so China will surrender. This was also said of Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Russia. The US remains superior to China in all sorts of things, but a lot fewer than before. A trade war won might prove less desirable than a trade war not started. We remember Pyrrhus for a reason.

If only for reasons of vanity, Trump couldn’t let China get away with calling his bluff. Millions have died over wounded vanity. What could he do? Go to an all-out trade war? Again, risky. Proud countries dig their heels in. China is not without options. By simply turning to Airbus as exclusive provider to its large and growing market, it would wreak havoc on Boeing and its work force and perhaps marginalize the company. Add that Israel may not allow Boeing to sell to Iran, which would be a further blow.

It is interesting to consider recent PISA scores, which measure the academic performance of school kids. Math scores in order by country: Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, China. The US was well below average for the countries tested, though its scores are lowered by minorities. Headline: “NY Professor Says Algebra Is Too Hard, Schools Should Drop It.” On fairness, America leads in safe spaces, trigger warnings, puzzled diversity, and whimpering Snowflakes. Watch out, Beijing.

A trade war might come down to whose population can better tolerate want. The deplorables who shop at Walmart are already stretched pretty tight and would not react well to being further impoverished for what they would see as profits for the Establishment.

If I may briefly reveal my commie tendencies, maybe America ought to worry about its universities, roads, laboratories, and medical care instead of wasting its money on corruption, bombers, lunges for empire and dreams that 1955 is just around the corner.

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Nine years later, Greece is still in a debt crisis!

By Simon Black SovereignMan.com
March 22, 2017 Santiago, Chile

Sometimes you have to marvel at the absurdity of the financial universe in which we live.

On one side of the Atlantic, we have the United States of America, which triggered yet another debt ceiling disaster last Thursday when the US government’s maximum allowable debt reset to just over $20 trillion.

Of course, the US national debt is pretty much already at $20 trillion.

(That’s roughly $166,000 per taxpayer in the Land of the Free.)

This means that Uncle Sam is legally prohibited from ‘officially’ borrowing any more money.

But far be it from the US government to start living within its means. Sacrilege!

These guys have zero chance of making ends meet without going into debt.

Just last year, according to the government’s own financial report, their annual net loss totaled $1 TRILLION, and the national debt increased by $1.4 trillion.

And that was in a relatively stable year. There was no major war or financial crisis to fight. It was just business as usual.

This year isn’t going to be any different.

So, cut off from their normal debt supply (the bond market), the Treasury Department is resorting to what they call “extraordinary measures.”

They’re basically pillaging government employee retirement funds, and will continue to do so until Congress raises the debt ceiling.

It’s a repeat of what happened in 2015. And 2013. And 2011.

Pretty amazing to consider that the “richest” country in the world has to plunder retirement funds in order to keep the lights on.

Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said it perfectly when he quipped “How long can the world's biggest borrower remain the world's biggest power?”

Then, of course, on the other side of the Atlantic, we have Greece, which is now in its NINTH YEAR of a major debt crisis.

Incredible.

Greece has had nine different governments since 2009. At least thirteen austerity measures. Multiple bailouts. Severe capital controls. And a full-out debt restructuring in which creditors accepted a 50% loss.

Yet despite all these measures GREECE IS STILL IN A DEBT CRISIS.

Right now, in fact, Greece is careening towards another major chapter in its never-ending debt drama.

Just like the United States, the Greek government is set to run out of money (yet again) in a few months and is in need of a fresh bailout from the IMF and EU.

(The EU is code for “Germany”...)

Without another bailout, Greece will go bust in July-- this is basic arithmetic, not some wild theory.

And this matters.

If Greece defaults, everyone dumb enough to have loaned them money will take a BIG hit.

This includes a multitude of banks across Germany, Austria, France, and the rest of Europe.

Many of those banks already have extremely low levels of capital and simply cannot afford a major loss.

(Last year, for example, the IMF specifically singled out Germany’s Deutsche Bank as being the top contributor to systemic risk in the global financial system.)

So a Greek default poses as major risk to a number of those banks.

More importantly, due to the interconnectedness of the financial system, a Greek default poses a major risk to anyone with exposure to those banks.

Think about it like this: if Greece defaults and Bank A goes down, then Bank A will no longer be able to meet its obligations to Bank B. Bank B will suffer a loss as well.

A single event can set off a chain reaction, what’s called ‘contagion’ in finance.

And it’s possible that Greece could be that event.

This is what European officials have been so desperate to prevent for the last nine years, and why they’ve always come to the rescue with a bailout.

It has nothing to do with community or generosity. They’re hopelessly trying to prevent another 2008-style meltdown of the financial system.

But their measures have limits.

How much longer do Greek citizens accept being vassals of Germany, suffering through debilitating capital controls and austerity measures?

How much longer do German taxpayers continue forking over their hard-earned wages to bail out Greek retirees?

After all, they’ve spent nine years trying to ‘fix’ Greece, and the situation has only become worse.

For a continent that has been at war with itself for 10 centuries and only managed to play nice for the last 30 or so years, it’s foolish to expect these bailouts to last forever.

And whether it’s this July or some date in the future, Greece could end up being the catalyst which sets off a chain reaction on both sides of the Atlantic. 

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Why We Need ‘Useless’ People

Amy Julia Becker, Christianity Today, March 21, 2017

My daughter Penny is in the fifth grade. She just went away for the weekend with her best friend and her family for the first time. She wears glasses. She feels nervous around dogs. She loves reading and spelling and recently asked her Prayer Buddy at church to pray for her about learning how to add fractions. She is responsible, smart, talented, and loving. She also has Down syndrome.

Today is World Down Syndrome Day, a day to celebrate the approximately six million children and adults around the globe who have Down syndrome (also known as trisomy 21). Any website or book devoted to this topic lists a set of physical features, medical concerns, and potential disabilities common among people with Down syndrome, but it is hard for me to think in these generalities anymore. Rather, I am drawn to portraits of people with Down syndrome that demonstrate their distinctive traits. I love reading stories about their different interests, abilities, and friendships. And yet most people in our world still see Down syndrome as something both monolithic and negative–a condition to be eradicated rather than a group of individuals to be welcomed and loved.

Historically, people with Down syndrome were pushed to the margins of our society through institutionalization. In more recent years, with the advent of prenatal screening tests that indicate the likelihood of trisomy 21 in fetuses, more and more women have chosen to pursue those tests and, in many cases, to terminate pregnancies accordingly. Although the number is tricky to calculate, in the United States, the rate of babies aborted with Down syndrome is around 50 percent and is likely to rise with the increased use of these prenatal tests.

A similar story can be told in developing nations around the globe. According to recent reports in Iceland, not one child was born with Down syndrome between 2008 and 2012. In Denmark, with universal access to prenatal screening, one source estimates that 98 percent of the babies conceived with Down syndrome are aborted. The statements by public officials and medical providers throughout Europe overwhelmingly argue that people with Down syndrome cost too much and pose a burden to society.

This argument relies on utilitarian logic: If babies with Down syndrome are not going to be economically productive, it follows that they’re not worth bringing into the world. Moreover, if babies with Down syndrome are going to suffer, they should be aborted. As Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche community, writes, “Our desire to alleviate perceived suffering in the name of compassion easily leads to the destruction of people whom God has created and loves beyond all things.”

It’s tempting to respond in kind by using this same utilitarian logic. I can detail the accomplishments of people with Down syndrome (including my daughter) and in so doing argue that women should bring babies with Down syndrome into the world because they will bring us happiness, foster friendship and community, and contribute to the workforce. But the terms of the argument are the problem. Utilitarianism presupposes that our accomplishments determine our worth. It relies on a consumer culture of buying and selling–of putting a monetary value on human beings–rather than on a kingdom culture of giving and receiving, where grace and love are the bedrock truths of the universe.

Even though I am the mother of a child with Down syndrome, I often find myself defending my daughter’s skills and abilities rather than her inherent worth. In so doing, I play into the idea that I, too, am only worthy of life because I contribute something productive in the world. I devalue myself and everyone else around me when I start to see human beings as products to be measured.

What harm have we done to the image of God within each of us by placing a price tag on human life? And what’s the alternative model?

In a recent NPR interview with host Krista Tippett, the Irish poet Michael Longley made the statement, “Poetry is useless.” He waited a few beats before he explained, “Poetry is without use, but it is valuable.” As I listened, my mind moved from poetry to people. I thought of the many individuals who do not contribute in any measurable economic way to our society. Useless, others might say. A burden. A drain. And from a purely material, utilitarian way of thinking, they might be right. But anyone who believes in a purposeful Creator God would say that many human beings are indeed “useless,” and yet those same human beings bear inestimable value. In that way, people with disabilities are indeed like the words of a poem: Although they might not provide or produce clothing or shelter or food, they nonetheless convey beauty and meaning, truth and transcendence. They teach us what it means to be human.

While the Judeo-Christian tradition provides the foundation for our understanding of human dignity and ethics, Christian history also offers models of how these ethics might inform everyday life. There are many examples of countercultural, intentional communities like L’Arche, where people with intellectual disabilities and typical adults live together. More contemporary efforts include Friendship House–a new movement in which seminarians live with adults with intellectual disabilities. These communities and many others bear witness to the value of understanding our common humanity through relationships of mutual and reciprocal giving and receiving.

Of course, not everyone is called to live in an intentional community among people with intellectual disabilities. But we are all called to recognize the inherent worth of every human being we encounter and to live in a way that honors and fosters the image of God in others. Those in power, especially, need to adopt a posture of humility and vulnerability in order to be open to the gifts of those considered weak and useless in the eyes of the world. As Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor. 1:27).

“The mystery of people with disabilities is that they long for authentic and loving relationships more than for power,” writes Vanier in Living Gently in a Violent World. “They are not obsessed with being well-situated in a group that offers acclaim and promotion. They are crying out for what matters most: love. And God hears their cry because in some way they respond to the cry of God, which is to give love.”

On World Down Syndrome Day, I will not proclaim the usefulness of my daughter and the millions of other men and women with intellectual disabilities around the globe. But I will proclaim their value. In so doing, I proclaim the value of every human being created in the image of God.

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Dr. Sanford on Genetic Entropy

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Barcelona Home-Schooling Court Case, 1990-1994

In July, 1990, regional authorities in Barcelona, Spain, raided a Family International Community and forcibly apprehended 21 children, one only 8 months old. The authorities alleged that the children were abused and in need of state care. In a related case, the parents of the children were charged with illegal association, operating an illegal school, inflicting mental damage on their children and fraud.
Although no evidence of abuse was found, the children were forced to remain against their will in state custody for nearly 12 months.

In May, 1992, the First Section of the Provincial Appeal's Court ruled that there was no evidence that abuse had occurred and the children were returned definitively to the custody of their parents. The Catalonian Social Services Agency (Direccion General de Atencion a la Infancia de la Generalidad de Cataluña) appealed this ruling to the Constitutional Court. Their grounds for appeal was that the constitutional rights of the children to a state-sponsored education were being infringed upon, due to the fact that the children were being home-schooled and religiously indoctrinated according to the beliefs of their parents. In October 1994, the Constitutional Court found that the article of the Constitution guaranteeing education for minors did not carry an inherent meaning that such education could not be supplied privately by the parents outside of state institutions, and all appeals were dismissed.

June 29th, 1993, the parents were acquitted of all charges in the related criminal case. The District Attorney appealed this verdict of the Barcelona Provincial Court. On October 30, 1994, the Supreme Court of Spain rejected the appeal and upheld the findings of the Provincial Court.

Following are excerpts of the resolutions emitted:

BARCELONA, SPAIN MINORS COURT RESOLUTION

May 1992

Roll no.: 0160/92E Dennis Edward Molinsky

vs. Children's Welfare Dept.

First Section of The Provincial Appeal's Court

Ruling: Adolfo Oubina, Jesus Perez Burred, Jose Ma. Bachs Estany

LEGAL REASONING:

"If the Law is supposed to be in touch with the necessities of real life.., it must be employed with a great deal of common sense and care in so far as it implies a high risk of arbitrariness since it places extremely delicate appraisals such as that concerning a people's moral conscience in the hands of the Judge and his subjective criteria.

...the Constitution states that everyone has the right to education and that the public powers guarantee this right that parents have for their children to receive religious and moral education in accordance with their own convictions.

...the residential complex occupied by a religious community known as the "Family International" consisting of persons of both sexes, parents and children, that the Judge a quo had no hesitation in defining as a "sect .... in so far as it is made up of a group of people professing a doctrine that is different from that which is generally accepted" (an identical charge as that which led the Inquisitor Lucero to have the Archbishop of Carranza imprisoned as an Erasmian) and which is governed by a catechism which, according to the Attorney General's office - although no evidence at all has been presented in the case on this point - is full of religious teachings and beliefs of a marked monotheistic and hierarchical tendency.

These rules state that they reserve the right to educate the minors and young people that are born into, or join, the group, to the exclusion of state education. To this end they have established their own education plan including a number of subjects having to do mainly with this field and adopting an authoritarian approach, that is by imposing a series of moral, philosophical and religious convictions in accordance with their particular ideology over and above the mere passing on of scientific knowledge (...in fact no different from that which is the practice in schools run by religious orders in our own country) shying away from further education in favor of practical experience (which is similar to the recommendation made by the Ministry of Education in favor of Vocational Training).

Following the police operation, the police separated the children, most of whom are foreign and have little knowledge of Castilian, from the company of their parents and took them to a children's home run by the Generalitat. There they were put in the hands of a group of psychologists who, in a language which the children did not know, psychoanalyzed them twice for a prolonged period and issued reports cast in esoteric language designed rather to justify the operation than to describe any intellectual anomalies, which are completely non-existent.

With the situation of neglect raised in this way, despite the complete absence of any medical or juridical grounds.., on the basis of accusations that are really surprising because of their innocuousness such as asking Nestle, Gallina Blanca and "Don Pollo" for food, measures of intervention were requested which the Judge "a quo" appropriated, imposing without trial the punishment of being confined to Spain on a group of foreign children.., thus breaking up the natural harmony between parents and children and giving preponderant weight to intervention by the State in a tragical parody of the Areopagus of Sparta or the concentration camps of those empires that ceased to be when human dignity brought down the Berlin wall.

...and in the light of the fact that nothing unusual was found in any of the children beyond the natural bewilderment of someone who is living in a foreign country and is forcibly separated from their parents despite their tender years and is schooled in an unknown language, the supposed judgement of neglect should have been annulled, as it is hereby agreed to do, and the resolution completed with a statement to the effect that the parents are perfectly free to live with their children in whichever country they consider best and to orient them towards whatever moral, religious or philosophical convictions they believe to be appropriate to their intellectual and physical development without any other restrictions.

FINAL CONCLUSIONS:

The Court hereby decides: ...to annul the finding of neglect and the granting of legal custody to the Children's Welfare Department of July 10th, 1990."

BARCELONA, SPAIN PENAL COURT RESOLUTION

CHARGES LAID BY THE D.A.:

The D.A. asked for 203 years of prison for the 10 defendants, presumed members of the Children of God for the following crimes:

-Illegal association

-Foundation of an illegal school

-Psychic Damage

-Fraud

THE VERDICT:

The third section of the Provincial Court absolved all of the accused on June 29th, 1993. The verdict, of which the chairman has been the president of the panel, magistrate Jose Antonio Oscariz, (other members of the panel were G. C. Guilabert and A.I. Fernandez) makes a fiery acclaim of human freedom, "that makes it possible for individuals to choose, select and forsake".

ELEMENTS OF PROOF:

"During the first days of the month of July of 1990, the ten accused lived in a community in the town of Casteliar del Vailes, all of them adults, without any police record. The accused constituted a group or community that they called "Missionary Family" and was imbued with its translation of a religious and missionary spirit to be carried out in different countries... Its doctrine in the sense of establishing behavioral norms and lifestyle aids in the carrying out of a disciplined communal life, with the distribution of responsibilities.., but without any evidence of coercive behavior." ...and where they educated the 22 minors that lived with them in a manner such as the one "ruling the religious boarding schools and the classical pre-military schools of Prussian style".

The 43 page verdict does an extensive reasoning about the concept of the word "cult" from the etymological and the sociological point of view.

The Court admits that the CHILDREN OF GOD was founded by the American citizen David Berg, from his work, the Mo Letters, and that later on it was spread over several countries the world over. However, the court specifies that it is not relevant "nor even important, that such cult is still around with that same name, or under another denomination since having been dissolved or that from it's trunk members would split off forming other inter-connected branches", such as "the one called the Missionary Families"...

The Court considers that the group comprises a "community that adopts a lifestyle that bears the absence of any type of hitting or mistreatment", but admits that there is a tendency to "close up in itself" in whose members "show a love and tenderness that the prosecution's experts feel is excessive because it foments inter-dependence".

1. Illegal Association:

This has been the first trial in which the prosecution has asked that a group that's considered religious be declared illegal and that an order be issued for its dissolution. In the verdict the accusation is rejected, because this is usually reserved for clandestine groups "that endanger the security of the State". The magistrates add that it is not possible to place under the criminal charge of illegal association "groups in their peculiar mores and lifestyles, in their beliefs qualified as pseudo-religious".

"The term "sect" has a clear religious content, except when used with a political meaning, and it has little to do with the internal security of a secular state... In any case it can not be considered as a threat to the internal security of the Spanish state".

2. Foundation of an Illegal School:

The Judges denied that the defendants founded an illegal School. According to the Court, the defendants decided to educate their children "themselves according to their ideology and following techniques that are known in English speaking countries by the name of Home Schooling".

3. Psychic Damage:

The verdict affirms that there was no psychic damage inflicted on the 22 children... "The Court has not found in the defendants the will to cause damage to the minors" and assures that in none of them has been detected any abuse, although it has been found some "emotional instability". The tribunal affirms that this "can be attributed to the violent and drastic intervention and subsequent separation from their parents, and incommunication that was prolonged to about a month."

It points out that if parents should be punished because their children are not normal, "with the meaning that the experts give to this term, action should be taken as well against the gypsies or immigrants of other races, cultures and religions that differ from the predominant ones of their surroundings".

The Court understands that the children received classes which consisted of Biblical readings. "Such educational and formative methods, as well as way of life would not provoke psychological harm, even if there are difficulties in integrating with children of their own age in the Catalan cultural area and to successfully integrate with a postindustrial and competitive society."

4. Fraud:

The charge of fraud was rejected as well. The magistrates stated that the defendants had not cheated the people whom they asked for money, food or clothing. The accused did not hide their identity and the donors declared that they did not feel cheated.

"The ones presumed to be deceived, with rare unanimity, did not consider themselves cheated".

The developments of the trial were characterized by the sharp reminders of the president of the Court, Judge Oscariz, that they were not judging a "lifestyle or an organization". The verdict concludes by saying: The debate over the persecution of sects has not been resolved. The court believes there are two opposite positions: "That of extreme freedom and tolerance towards other ways of life and another interventionist tendency to make prevalent rational civilizational criteria".

Therefore:

"The final decision made by the Third Section of the Barcelona Provincial Court is: 'That we must acquit and we acquit the accused of the offenses'."

BARCELONA CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING

The First Courtroom of the Constitutional Court, composed of Mr. Justice Miguel Rodrguez-Piero Bravo-Ferrer, Chairman; Mr. Justice Fernando Garca-Mon Gonzlez-Regueral, Mr. Justice Carlos de la Vega Benayas, Mr. Justice Vicente Gimeno Sendra, Mr. Justice Rafael de Mendizbal Allende and Mr. Justice Pedro Cruz Villaln, has decided

IN THE NAME OF THE KING the following V E R D I C T

In the cumulative appeals numbers 1561, 1562, 1563, 1564, 1565, 1566 and 1567/1992, filed by the Generalidad de Cataluña [Catalonian regional government], as the guardian institution of the minors… against the rulings issued by the First Section of the Barcelona Provincial Court, dated 21st of May 1992, in the appeals numbers 163/1992, 157/1992, 159/1992, 161/1992, 162/1992 and 160/1992, filed against the ones dictated by the Examining Court number 19 of Barcelona, dated 6th of November 1991, in the proceedings numbers 517/1990, 510/1990, 512/1990, 511/1990, 515/1990, 514/1990 and 516/1990, ensued by the request of the entitled complainant in opposition to the declaration of neglect and assumption of the legal custody carried out by order of the Direcci0n General de Atencion a la Infancia de la Generalidad de Cataluña [Children's Welfare Department of the Catalonian regional goverment].

I. ANTECEDENTS

1. On June 17, 1992, it was registered in this Court the arrival of seven writs sent by the Generalidad de Cataluña, as the guardian institution of the minors… formalized the appeals against the rulings issued by the First Section of the Provincial Court of Barcelona, dated 21st of May 1992, in the appeals numbers 163/1992, 157/1992, 159/1992, 158/1992, 161/1992, 162/1992 and 160/1992, filed against the ones dictated by the Examining Court number 19 of Barcelona, dated 6th of November 1991, in the case numbers 517/1990, 510/1990, 511/1990, 515/1990, 514/1990 and 516/1990, ensued by the request of the entitled complainant in opposition to the declaration of neglect and assumption of the legal custody carried out by order of the Direccion General de Atencion a la Infancia de la Generalidad de Cataluña.

2. The facts in which the appeals are founded are, in concise form, as follows:

a) On July 23, 1990 the Direccion General de Atencion a la Infancia notified the Examining Court number 19 of Barcelona of the opposition of the parents of the minors, whose names were transcribed above, to the measures of protection adopted by the Generalidad regarding them, specified with the declaration of neglect and the assumption of the legal custody carried out by order of the Direccion General de Atencion a la Infancia.

b) The 6th of November 1991 the Court issued the rulings 510 to 516/1991, identical in its contents, rejecting the opposition against the declaration of neglect and the assumption of the legal custody carried out by the Generalidad.

The above-mentioned rulings, after focusing the legal problem on the extent and limits of the legal custody and, particularly, on the right of the parents to educate and train their children in accordance with their own convictions (2nd legal ground), they consider that the article 27.3 of the Constitution has to be confronted with the duties that the legal custody entails, and that when the given education substantially hinders or limits the minor's integral development, then we encounter an inadequate exercising of the parental rights and a possible situation of neglect, motive for the assumption of the legal custody by the official public institution (3rd legal ground); after considering as proved that the parents of the minors belong to a sect ("Children of God") facing penal proceedings, it reasons that the conduct of mental control and annulment of the capacity to analyze carried out by the parents has caused deficiencies in the minors in the areas of socialization and personal autonomy, reason why it considers that it results in a situation of neglect, exhibited, among other aspects, in the lack of schooling of the minors, and consequently declaring the measure of confinement of the minors legally right, though, to the request of the Generalidad, "due to the favorable evolution of the minors as a result of attending public school", it returns to the parents the mere guardianship of the minors.

c) The parents of the minors filed appeals against the above-mentioned rulings; appeals which were resolved in a favorable way by the verdicts (identical in its contents) numbers 157 to 163/1992, of the 21st of May, by the First Section of the Barcelona Provincial Court. The Court concluded that, even though the legal custody has to be used in the benefit of the children and in accordance to their personality, determining what is the interpretation of such an ambiguous sentence is something which has to be considered on a case by case basis and respecting as well the right of the parents that their children receive a religious and moral education in accordance with their own convictions (art. 27.3 Spanish Constitution); in its opinion, there wasn't enough evidence to prove that the "Children of God" community was a sect, and it esteemed that the teachings were imparted to the minors without neglecting the ones considered as basic and mandatory, "free schooling according to the legal ordinances of some of the home countries of the children, and, after all, alike to the one imparted in the religious schools within our country". Lastly, it points out that the confinement in Spain was imposed on a group of foreign children, "breaking the natural harmony between parents and children and giving superior authority over it to the state", and that, conclusively, "the religious freedom of the parents and the right to choose the education of their children should prevail".

The Prosecuting Attorney, through writings dated November 14, 1992, solicited the refusal of the appeals. The Prosecuting Attorney reasons that we find ourselves before a question of ordinary legality without any Constitutional dimension whatsoever --to determine whether or not a situation of neglect of the minors exists-- well solved by the Court of Appeals. In his opinion, the article 27 of the Spanish Constitution has not been broken as it has not been proven that the minors did not receive an education that tends to the full development of the human personality in accordance with the religious and moral convictions of the parents.

The Prosecuting Attorney, in writings registered on May 3, 1993, considers that the impugned judicial rulings do not break the article 27 of the Constitution. The fundamental right to education assigns to the public powers the obligation to collaborate and to help in the application of this fundamental right; that precept declares, firstly, the right of the parents to have their children receive the religious and moral education that is in accordance with their convictions, establishing right after that the gratuity of a basic education as well as a series of obligations that entails a mandatory service on the part of the State, so that the lack of a unique way or avenue established to acquire this finality implies that any means whereby this can be obtained is in accordance with the fundamental right, without the paths established by the State being exclusive or excluding, so that, in the event of not following the State's avenue, it can't be asserted that the right has been infringed upon. The article 27.4 --continues the Prosecuting Attorney-- does not mean that the education has to be performed in the manner established by the State, as it can be done in another way as long as the results obtained are the same, and this is, indeed, what the Provincial Court affirms that has happened, without the difference in the procedure of receiving the schooling in itself signify the infringement of the fundamental right. The Provincial Court considers that, in spite of the fact of the nonexistence of school attendance, the integral education and formation had not been neglected; the impugned rulings interpret a legal term such as the article 154.1 of the Civil Code, and they do it in a reasonable and founded manner, and, therefore, within the realm of its competence and function.

II. LEGAL GROUNDS

1. For the correct delimitation of the object of the present appeals we must remember, briefly, which have been the incidents of the proceedings that have concluded in the judicial rulings that are now being impugned and which have been the reasons and the allegations around which the terms of the appeals filed by the Generalidad de Cataluña have been articulated.

The parents of the minors opposed the measures carried out by the Generalidad de Cataluña. Such opposition was dismissed by the rulings of the Examining Court number 19 of Barcelona; in the opinion of the Court, the minors were in a situation of neglect and it was appropriate, consequently, that the regional Administration would assume their custody. After filing an appeal before the Provincial Court of Barcelona, the First Section ruled revoking the ones from the lower court, leaving without effect the administrative measures that had been adopted. In the opinion of the Provincial Court, the minors were not neglected nor did they suffer from any disturbances in their processes of physical, intellectual, spiritual or moral formation. In regards to their schooling, the Court points out that their educational formation, which was performed outside of the official educational system, was insured by their own educational system, perfectly accepted in the realm of freedom designed by the Constitution.

J U D G E M E N T

Considering all that's been exposed, the Constitutional Court, BY THE AUTHORITY THAT THE SPANISH CONSTITUTION CONFERS TO IT,

Has decided

To reject the cumulative appeals numbers 1561, 1562, 1563, 1564, 1565, 1566 and 1567/92.

Let this ruling be published in the "Official Bulletin of the State".

Issued in Madrid on the third of October nineteen ninety four.

Supreme Court Ruling Excerpts

Appeal Number: 3032/93. Verdict number 1669

October 30, 1994

Judged presiding: Enrique Ruiz Vadillo, Jose Antonio Martin Pallin and Justo Carrero Ramos

We find ourselves in the presence of a community of people, made up of adults and children, who have adopted a lifestyle that differs from the generally accepted norms… Not a single element is found that could allow us to declare the existence of any intention to hurt their children or the other children of the community.

They avoid sending their school-aged children to official institutions of learning, public or private, choosing to teach them themselves using the method that in the Anglo-Saxon countries is known as "home school"… To proclaim the superiority of one educational system over another would inevitably lead us to apply value judgments based on psychological, sociological, cultural and moral presuppositions that open up a never-ending debate which, in any case, should remain in the scientific realm, bearing in mind also its clearly political connotations.

Judges cannot enter into the sanctuary of personal beliefs, except when external behaviors originating from a particular ideology negatively affect legally protected rights.

JUDGEMENT: THAT WE MUST DECLARE AND DO DECLARE THAT THERE IS NO ROOM FOR THE APPEAL for infraction of law filed by the Prosecuting Attorney against the ruling dictated on June 29, 1993, in the case followed… for the crimes of illegal association, foundation of an illegal teaching center, psychic damage and fraud.

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Creation Without Compromise

By Donald Rowe - Professor of Biblical Languages at American University of Biblical Studies and Christ Theological Seminary. Dr. Rowe writes, "There is a great deal of difference between a Christian with an opinion, and a truly Christian worldview based on scripture. Because a person is a Christian does not mean he is thinking Biblically." page 288 from his book Creation Without Compromise.

https://creationsuperstore.com/product/creation-without-compromise-book-donald-crowe-cmi/#

This book shows the devastating compromise of not anchoring our thinking on the Bible, and how we can avoid falling into the same trap today. - CMI

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Texas woman changes homeless man’s life after he stood on same street corner for three years

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith, The Independent, March 14, 2017

A woman has helped to change a homeless man’s life in a matter of months by setting up a Facebook page, after discovering why he stood on the same street corner every day.

Ginger Sprouse, who runs Art of the Meal in Clear Lake, Texas, drove past 32-year-old Victor Hubbard on the corner of El Camino Real and Nasa Road 1 four times a day, no matter the weather.

The corner was the last place Mr Hubbard saw his mother and he would wait there for her to return. He was homeless and suffering from mental health issues when Ms Sprouse first started to offer him help, and had been waiting on the corner for three years.

“I began to get more and more concerned as I knew winter was coming and I thought, ‘So what’s going to happen now?’” Ms Sprouse told MyBayArea Radio, explaining that she had started visiting Mr Hubbard on her lunch break and they had struck up a friendship. “So he and I started talking about maybe how would he feel about sometimes coming to my house to get out of the bad weather, and that’s how we started.

“It’s been quite the journey,” she said.

She created a Facebook page called “This is Victor” as a way for the community to get to know Mr Hubbard better and to take part in getting him the help he needed. In her first post Ms Sprouse wrote: “I drove by Victor’s corner at least four times a day. I listen to people talking around town and keep hearing, ‘Someone needs to do something about that guy’. So, I will be the organiser and hope that we as a community can be ‘someone’ together.”

Since taking action in December, Ms Sprouse has managed to get Mr Hubbard into mental health clinics, helped him off the streets and has given him a job in her business’s kitchen. A GoFundMe page raising money to help with Mr Hubbard’s living costs has seen more than $15,400 (£12,700) donated and over 200 people showed up to a recent block party to show their support for the man they had seen on the same corner every day.

“She came around and she kind of saved me. It’s like grace,” Mr Hubbard said of Ms Sprouse on KHOU.com.

The Facebook page has been liked by more than 15,000 people and has a stream of comments from locals expressing their relief that Mr Hubbard is receiving care, while updates are regularly posted by Ms Sprouse, including videos about his improvements and messages he has recorded for his friends.

The community has also responded by helping Mr Hubbard get clothes, eye tests and to be seen by doctors, and the local fire station has vowed to oversee his medication needs. Ms Sprouse and her family are currently working to get him sheltered accommodation.

Since the publicity of the Facebook page and community project, Ms Sprouse was able to get in touch with one of Mr Hubbard’s uncles and was eventually able to help him see his mother again.

“I got to talk to her and I really feel like I accomplished something,” Mr Hubbard told the TV station.

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Christianity ‘exploding’ in Bangladesh, despite persecution

By Mark Ellis, GodReports, March 14, 2017

Sandwiched between India and Myanmar, Bangladesh is the third largest Muslim-majority country in the world. Often beset by floods, cyclones and tornadoes roaring through the Bengal Delta, it also has the sad distinction of ranking number one in the world for children suffering malnutrition.

Bangladesh is 89% Muslim and nearly 10% Hindu, according to the Joshua Project, with Christians numbering less than one percent.

One ministry leader, who recently completed a fact-finding trip to the country, believes Christians are being undercounted. “Christianity is much larger and growing, especially in the rural areas,” says Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International (CFI).

On his trip, Jacobson interviewed scores of indigenous Christian pastors, street evangelists, missionaries and converts to Christianity. “According to them, Christianity is on the increase and the growth is a cause of concern for the Muslim majority,” he notes.

“As a result, persecution is on the increase against the fast growing, mostly underground Christian church.”

One 60-year-old pastor, a former Muslim, reported to Jacobson that 20,000 Muslims have converted to Christianity among the hill tribes of northeast Bangladesh in the last 12 months. This pastor faces many hardships, has been beaten numerous times, and must pay bribes to police to continue his ministry.

Another pastor and Muslim convert to Christianity told Jacobson that in his district more than 6,000 have converted to Christ since 1991. This pastor has been targeted for assassination by ISIS. He told CFI, “Of course I am afraid, but when I think about my spiritual life I am not afraid. We continue to preach no matter what.”

Jacobson believes the under-reporting of believers is because most tallies only count “traditional Christians,” i.e., people born into the Christian faith who attend government-approved churches.

“But ‘converts,’ those who change their religion from Islam to Christianity are not counted and no surveys have been made,” he contends.

Jacobson says the number of Christians in Bangladesh may be as high as 10 percent of the population.

“If the 10 percent number is correct, there are at least 15,600,000 Christians in this Muslim majority nation. Evidence seems to support the claims,” he notes.

Babul, a Muslim who converted Christianity in 2013, once worked as a day laborer. After his conversion, Babul’s life was threatened and he was disowned by his family. He had to go into hiding in the jungle to survive. After eight months in the jungle, some Christian converts helped him. He is now a “street preacher” and faces many hardships to share the gospel. He has been beaten numerous times but sees it as a badge of honor.

“The young like me, are converting,” Babul told Jacobson. “Many more are interested. Especially young people, they are interested in Christ. But they think about the cost of converting and it is high because they have to leave everything. But many are interested in Christ.”

Bakar, a Christian convert told CFI, “Christianity is really growing in Bangladesh. The next generation is becoming Christian. We believe that Bangladesh will become a Christian nation one day. Islam has no mercy, no compassion, no love. It has nothing to offer. Christianity offers the assurance of eternal life, it offers hope.”

Dennis Edwards: Jesus said the Gospel would be preached in all the world, and then the end would come. As the West experiences the "falling away" predicted by Christ and the apostles, the East is embracing the truth they find in Jesus even under the atheistic regimes in China and elsewhere and in predominantly Muslim countries like Bangladesh. Please remember to pray for these dear brethren who accept Christ knowing in doing so their lives may soon end. And support missions. 

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The World Is Completely Unprepared for a Global Pandemic

Ranu S. Dhillon, Devabhaktuni Srikrishna, David Beier, HavardBussinessReview, March 15, 2017

In 2003 a doctor with SARS unknowingly infected several guests while staying at a Hong Kong hotel, and overnight the virus reached across the globe. China is currently battling a bird flu that kills nearly half of the people infected. If Ebola, which transmits through fluids, were spread by air, or if Zika, which has reached over 50 countries, were as deadly as Ebola, we would be facing an unprecedented catastrophe. An uncontrolled outbreak or bioterror attack could result in a contagion that kills over 30 million people.

We fear it is only a matter of time before we face a deadlier and more contagious pathogen, yet the threat of a deadly pandemic remains dangerously overlooked. Pandemics now occur with greater frequency, due to factors such as climate change, urbanization, and international travel. Other factors, such as a weak World Health Organization and potentially massive cuts to funding for U.S. scientific research and foreign aid, including funding for the United Nations, stand to deepen our vulnerability. We also face the specter of novel and mutated pathogens that could spread and kill faster than diseases we have seen before. With the advent of genome-editing technologies, bioterrorists could artificially engineer new plagues, a threat that Ashton Carter, the former U.S. secretary of defense, thinks could rival nuclear weapons in deadliness.

The two of us have advised the president of Guinea on stopping Ebola. In addition, we have worked on ways to contain the spread of Zika and have informally advised U.S. and international organizations on the matter. Our experiences tell us that the world is unprepared for these threats.

We urgently need to change this trajectory. There is no border wall against disease. Pandemics are an existential threat on par with climate change and nuclear conflict. We are at a critical crossroads, where we must either take the steps needed to prepare for this threat or become even more vulnerable. It is only a matter of time before we are hit by a deadlier, more contagious pandemic. Will we be ready?

Dennis Edwards: Of course the unspoken solution is some kind of "higher government" that can implement a global solution. Maybe they are implying we need to give more power to the United Nations as the USA under Trump is acting unilaterally to the world's disadvantage. We hear the call constantly for World Government, i.e., a righteous world government. Unknown to many, the Bible predicts such a government, which comes in peaceably, helps the poor, may even help solve the Middle East problem, or try to. But in the end, rather than bringing great solutions, it brings in the most horrendous period of world history, spoken of by Jesus as the Great Tribulation. Every day we move closer and closer to these shocking events. Are you ready?

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My Heart Christ's Home by Robert Boyd Munger

In Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, we find these words: 

"That (God) would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith" (Ephesians 3:16). Or, as another has translated, "That Christ may settle down and be at home in your hearts by faith." 

Without question one of the most remarkable Christian doctrines is that Jesus Christ Himself through the presence of the Holy Spirit will actually enter a heart, settle down and be at home there. Christ will make the human heart His abode. 

Our Lord said to His disciples, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). It was difficult for them to understand what He was saying. How was it possible for Him to make his abode with them in this sense? 

It is interesting that our Lord used the same word here that He gave them in the first of the fourteenth chapter of John: "I go to prepare a place for you .. that where I am, ye may be also." Our Lord was promising his disciples that, just as He was going to heaven to prepare a place for them and would welcome them one day, now it would be possible for them to prepare a place for Him in their hearts and He would come and make His abode with them.

They could not understand this. How could it be? 

Then came Pentecost. The Spirit of the living Christ was given to the church and they understood. God did not dwell in Herod's temple in Jerusalem! God did not dwell in a temple made with hands; but now, through the miracle of the outpoured Spirit, God would dwell in human hearts. The body of the believer would be the temple of the living God and the human heart would be the home of Jesus Christ. It is difficult for me to think of a higher privilege than to make Christ a home in my heart, to welcome, to serve, to please, to fellowship with him there. 

One evening I invited Jesus Christ into my heart. What an entrance He made! It was not a spectacular, emotional thing, but very real. It was at the very center of my life. He came into the darkness of my heart and turned on the light. He built a fire in the cold hearth and banished the chill. He started music where there had been stillness, and He filled the emptiness with His own loving, wonderful fellowship. I have never regretted opening the door to Christ and I never will - not into eternity! 

This, of course, is the first step in making the heart Christ's home. He has said, "Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20). If you are interested in making your life an abode of the living God, let me encourage you to invite Christ into your heart and He will surely come.

After Christ entered my heart and in the joy of this new relationship I said to Him, "Lord, I want this heart of mine to be Yours. I want to have You settle down here and be perfectly at home. Everything I have belongs to You. Let me show You around and introduce you to the various features of the home that you may be more comfortable and that we may have fuller fellowship together."

 He was very glad to come, of course, and happier still to be given a place in the heart. 

The Library 

The first room was the study - the library. Let us call it the study of the mind. Now in my home this room of the mind is a very small room with very thick walls. But it is an important room. In a sense, it is the control room of the house. He entered with me and looked around at the books in the bookcase, the magazines upon the table, the pictures on the walls. As I followed His gaze I became uncomfortable. Strangely enough, I had not felt badly about this before, but now that He was there looking at these things I was embarrassed. There were some books were there that His eyes were too pure to behold. There was a lot of trash and literature on the table that a Christian had no business reading, and as for the pictures on the walls - the imaginations and thoughts of the mind - these were shameful. 

I turned to Him and said, "Master, I know that this room needs a radical alteration. Will You help me make it what it ought to be? - to bring every thought into captivity to you?"

"Surely!" He said. "Gladly will I help you. First of all, take all the things that you are reading and looking at which are not helpful, pure, good and true, and throw them out! Now put on the empty shelves the books of the Bible. Fill the library with Scriptures and meditate on then day and night. As for the pictures on the walls, you will have difficulty controlling these images, but here is an aid" He gave me a full-size portrait of Himself. "Hang this centrally," He said, "on the wall of the mind."

I did, and I have discovered through the years that when my thoughts are centered upon Christ Himself, His purity and power cause impure thoughts to back away. So He has helped me to bring my thoughts into captivity. 

May I suggest to you if you have difficulty with this little room of the mind, that you bring Christ in there. Pack it full with the Word of God, meditate upon it and keep before it the immediate presence of the Lord Jesus. 

The Dining Room

From the study we went into the dining room, the room of appetites and desires. Now this was a very large room. I spent a good deal of time in the dining room and much effort in satisfying my wants. 

I said to Him, "This is a favorite room. I am quite sure You will be pleased with what we serve." 

He seated Himself at the table with me and asked, "What is on the menu for dinner?" 

"Well," I said, "my favorite dishes: money, academic degrees and stocks, with newspaper articles of fame and fortune as side dishes." These were the things I liked - worldly fare. I suppose there was nothing radically wrong in any particular item, but it was not the food that should satisfy the life of a real Christian. When the food was placed before Him, He said nothing about it. However, I observed that He did not eat it, and I said to Him, somewhat disturbed, "Master, don't You care for this food? What is the trouble?" 

He answered, "I have meat to eat that you do not know of. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." He looked at me again and said, "If you want food that really satisfies you, seek the will of the Father, not your own pleasures, not your own desires, and not your own satisfaction. Seek to please Me and that food will satisfy you." And there at the table He gave me a taste of doing God's will. What a flavor! There is no food like it in all the world. It alone satisfies. Everything else is dissatisfying in the end. 

Now if Christ is in your heart, and I trust He is, what kind of food are you serving Him and what kind of food are you eating yourself? Are you living for the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - selfishly? Or are you choosing God's will for your meat and drink? 

The Living Room 

We walked next into the living room. This room was rather intimate and comfortable. I liked it. It had a fireplace, overstuffed chairs, a sofa, and a quiet atmosphere. 

He also seemed pleased with it. He said, "This is indeed a delightful room. Let us come here often. It is secluded and quiet, and we can fellowship together." 

Well, naturally as a young Christian I was thrilled. I couldn't think of anything I would rather do than have a few minutes with Christ in intimate companionship. 

He promised, "I will be here early every morning. Meet me here, and we will start the day together." So morning after morning, I would come downstairs to the living room and He would take a book of the Bible from the bookcase. He would open it and then we would read together. He would tell me of its riches and unfold to me its truths. He would make my heart warm as He revealed His love and His grace He had toward me. These were wonderful hours together. In fact, we called the living room the "withdrawing room." It was a period when we had our quiet time together. 

But, little by little, under the pressure of many responsibilities, this time began to be shortened. Why, I'm don't know, but I thought I was just too busy to spend time with Christ. This was not intentional, you understand; it just happened that way. Finally, not only was the time shortened, but I began to miss a day now and then. It was examination time at the university. Then it was some other urgent emergency. I would miss it two days in a row and often more. 

I remember one morning when I was in a hurry, rushing downstairs, eager to be on my way. As I passed the living room, the door was open. Looking in, I saw a fire in the fireplace and Jesus was sitting there. Suddenly in dismay I thought to myself, "He was my guest. I invited Him into my heart! He has come as Lord of my home. And yet here I am neglecting Him." 

I turned and went in. With downcast glance, I said, "Blessed Master, forgive me. Have You been here all these mornings?" 

"Yes," He said, "I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you." Then I was even more ashamed. He had been faithful in spite of my faithfulness. I asked His forgiveness and He readily forgave me as He does when we are truly repentant. 

"The trouble with you is this: you have been thinking of the quiet time, of the Bible study and prayer time, as a factor in your own spiritual progress, but you have forgotten that this hour means something to me also. Remember, I love you. I have redeemed you at great cost. I value your fellowship. Now," He said, "do not neglect this hour if only for my sake. Whatever else may be your desire, remember I want your fellowship!" 

You know, the truth that Christ desires my companionship, that He loves me, wants me to be with Him, wants to be with me and waits for me, has done more to transform my quiet time with God than any other single fact. Don't let Christ wait alone in the living room of your heart, but every day find some time when, with your Bible and in prayer, you may be together with Him. 

The Workroom 

Before long, He asked, "Do you have a workroom in your home?" Down in the basement of the home of my heart I had a workbench and some equipment, but I was not doing much with it. Once in a while I would play around with a few little gadgets, but I wasn't producing anything substantial or worthwhile. 

I led Him down there. 

He looked over the workbench and what little talents and skills I had. He said, "This is quite well furnished. What are you producing with your life for the Kingdom of God?" He looked at one or two little toys that I had thrown together on the bench and held one up to me. "Are these little toys all that you are doing for others in your Christian life?"

"Well," I said, "Lord, that is the best I can do. I know it isn't much, and I really want to do more, but after all, I have no skill or strenghth to do more."

"Would you like to do better?" He asked. 

"Certainly," I replied. 

"All right. Let me have your hands. Now relax in me and let my Spirit work through you. I know that you are unskilled, clumsy and awkward, but the Holy Spirit is the Master-Worker, and if He controls your hands and your heart, He will work through you."And so, stepping around behind me and putting His great, strong hands over mine, controlling the tools with His skilled fingers He began to work through me. 

There's much more that I must still learn and I am very far from satisfied with the product that is being turned out, but I do know that whatever has been produced for God has been through His strong hand and through the power of His Spirit in me. 

Do not become discouraged because you cannot do much for God. Your ability is not the fundamental condition. It is He who is controlling your fingers and upon whom you are relying. Give your talents and gifts to God and He will do things with them that will surprise you.. 

The Rec Room 

I remember the time He asked me about the playroom. I was hoping He would not ask about that. There were certain associations and friendships, activities and amusements that I wanted to keep for myself. I did not think Christ would enjoy them or approve of them, so I evaded the question. 

But there came an evening when I was on my way out with some of my friends, and as I was about to cross the threshold, He stopped me with a glance and asked, "Are you going out?" 

I replied, "Yes."

"Good," He said, "I would like to go with you." 

"Oh," I answered rather awkwardly. "I don't think, Lord Jesus, that You would really want to go with us. Let's go out tomorrow night. Tomorrow night we will go to prayer meeting, but tonight I have another appointment." 

He said. "That's alright. Only I thought that when I came into your home, we were going to do everything together, to be close companions. I just want you to know that I am willing to go with you." 

"Well," I said, "we will go someplace together tomorrow night." 

That evening I spent some miserable hours. I felt wretched. What kind of a friend was I to Jesus when I was deliberately leaving Him out of my associations, doing things and going places that I knew very well He would not enjoy? When I returned that evening, there was a light in His room, and I went up to talk it over with Him. I said, "Lord, I have learned my lesson. I can't have a good time without You. From now on we will do everything together." 

Then we went down into the playroom of the house and He transformed it. He brought into life real joy, real happiness, real satisfaciton, new friends, new excitement, new joys. Laughter and music have been ringing through the house ever since. 

The Hall Closet 

There is just one more matter that I might share with you. One day I found Him waiting for me at the door. An arresting look was in His eye. As I entered, He said to me, "There is a peculiar odor in the house. There is something dead around here. It's upstairs. I think it is in the hall closet." 

As soon as He said this, I knew what He was talking about. Yes, there was a small closet up there on the landing, just a few feet square, and in that closet, behind lock and key, I had one or two little personal things that I did not want anyone to know about and certainly I did not want Christ to see them. I knew they were dead and rotting things left over from the old life. And yet I loved them, and I wanted them so for myself that I was afraid to admit they were there. 

Reluctantly, I went up with Him, and as we mounted the stairs the odor became stronger and stronger. He pointed at the door. "It's in there! Some dead thing!" 

I was angry. That's the only way I can put it. I had given Him access to the library, the dining room, the living room, the workroom, the playroom, and now He was asking me about a little two-by-four closet. I said to myself, "This is too much. I am not going to give Him the key." 

"Well," He said, reading my thoughts, "if you think I'm going to stay up here on the second floor with this odor, you are mistaken. I will take my bed out on the back porch. I'm certainly not going to put up with that." Then I saw Him start down the stairs. 

When you have come to know and love Christ, the worst thing that can happen is to sense His fellowship retreating from you. I had to surrender. "I'll give You the key," I said sadly, "but You'll have to open the closet and clean it out. I haven't the strength to do it." 

"I know," He said. "I know you haven't. Just give me the key. Just authorize me to take care of that closet and I will." 

So with trembling fingers I passed the key to Him. He took it from my hand, walked over to the door, opened it, entered it, took out all the putrefying stuff that was rotting there, and threw it away. Then He cleaned the closet and painted it, fixed it up, doing it all in a moment's time. Oh, what victory and release to have that dead thing out of my life!

Transferring the Title 

Then a thought came to me. I said to myself, "I have been trying to keep this heart of mine clear for Christ. I start on one room and no sooner have I cleaned that then another room is dirty. I begin on the second room and the first room becomes dusty again. I am so tired and weary trying to maintain a clean heart and an obedient life. I am just not up to it!" 

So I ventured a question: "Lord, is there any chance that You would take over the responsibility of the whole house and operate it for me and with me just as You did that closet? Would You take the responsibility to keep my heart what it ought to be and my life where it ought to be?" 

I could see His face light up as He replied, "Certainly, that is what I came to do. You cannot be a victorious Christian in your own strength. That is impossible. Let me do it through you and for you. That is the way. But," He added slowly, "I am not owner of this house. I am just a guest. I have no authority to proceed, since the property is not mine." 

I saw it in a minute and dropping to my knees, I said, "Lord, You have been a guest and I have been the host. From now on I am going to be the servant. You are going to be the owner and Master and Lord." 

Running as fast as I could to the strongbox, I took out the title deed to the house describing its assets and liabilities, location and situation and condition. I eagerly signed it over to belong to Him alone for time and eternity. "Here," I said. "Here it is, all that I am and have forever. Now You run the house. I'll just remain with You as a servant and friend." 

He took my life that day and I can give you my word, there is no better way to live the Christian life. He knows how to keep it in shape and deep peace settles down on the soul. May Christ settle down and be at home in your heart as Lord of all!

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