Abiding and Trusting in Jesus

By P. Amsterdam:

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The night before Jesus’ death, He spoke to His disciples about the need to abide in Him and the benefits of doing so.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.—John 15:51

He also states that He will live within those who love Him and obey His teachings.

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.—John 15:9–112

If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home [abode] with him.—John 14:233

Jesus said to abide in Him, to abide in His love, to have His words abide in you; all of these point toward our continually remaining in Him and His words remaining in us. It emphasizes the importance our connection with Him plays in our lives, that without it we can’t bear fruit; with it we will not only be fruit-bearing, but we will also have His joy in us.

The principle of “abide in Me and I in you” is the basis of our spiritual life, our relationship to God. It includes the time we spend reading God’s Word and other things that keep us connected to Him and deepen our relationship to God. It’s the communion and fellowship we have with Jesus, the time in prayer and praise, time spent listening to Him.

When we are connected to God through abiding in Him, we will have more peace and trust in His care and provision, even when faced with difficulties or challenges.

I can tend to worry. I worry about the future, about our children and grandchildren, and if they are going to be okay, and what the future holds. These and many other things weigh on me, wake me up at night, and I have to fight to put them into the Lord’s hands and have faith. So when I talk about this, I am preaching to myself as well.

Jesus told His disciples—those who were seeking first His kingdom and righteousness—that they shouldn’t be anxious or troubled or worried about the things of this life; that they should trust in God’s care, His knowledge of their need, and His ability to supply. He instructed them to not feel nervous or afraid about what may or may not happen in the future, but rather to live with peace of heart and mind, knowing that God is in control, that He has our best interests at heart, and that He loves us and will care for us. This doesn’t mean we don’t do our part to fill our needs, but it means that we’re not to fret and worry. It’s the principle of trusting in God and in His promises. It’s the principle of understanding that God is faithful, that what He promises He will perform, and that He, the God of the universe, loves us and will care for us.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.—Matthew 6:25–344

Jesus is saying we shouldn’t worry or be anxious about our food, our clothes, or our future. This doesn’t mean to be irresponsible and to never think about such things, nor that we shouldn't do anything about them, but He’s saying we aren’t to be anxious or fearful. God knows our needs. He’s promised that as we put things in the right priority by seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness first, He will take care of our needs. The concept is expressed well in the following anecdote:

It is related that Elizabeth I of England once commissioned a rich merchant prince of her empire to go on an important mission for the crown, promising him rich rewards for his services. The merchant sought to decline the appointment on the grounds that his business would suffer during his absence, but his sovereign assured him: “You go and look after my business, and I will look after yours.” On his return, he found that his queen had kept her promise: he was a richer man than he was before.5

As disciples, we are called to do God’s business. When we do, He will take care of us. Jesus taught this principle to His disciples in a practical manner when He sent the 12 out on their own, and then again when He sent the 72 out.

He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts.—Mark 6:86

Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.—Matthew 10:9–107

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He himself was about to go. And He said to them … behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals.—Luke 10:1–48

Jesus was teaching His disciples the principle of trusting Him for their needs. He wasn’t preaching against money. In fact, on the night before His death He told them they should take money, and a bag, and even a sword. Yet when He told them this, He reminded them that He was more than able to supply for them.

He said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.”—Luke 22:35–369

When His disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He taught them the Lord’s Prayer, which included Give us this day our daily bread.10 In other words, we are to pray for the basic needs in our lives. As opposed to being fretful or anxious, Jesus wants us to have peace in our hearts, to trust Him, to know that He can calm the troubled waters of our worries, that we can trust Him for our needs.

God doesn’t want us to be anxious, worried, or fretting, but to trust that as we do His will, as we abide in Him, as we give Him the right priority in life, as we follow where He leads us personally, He will care for us. He will give us peace of heart, mind, and spirit.

Originally published November 2011. Adapted and republished November 2015.
Read by Jason Lawrence.

1 ESV.
2 NKJ.
3 NIV.
4 ESV.
5 Good Thots, Commitment, 53.
6 NKJ.
7 NIV.
8 ESV.
9 ESV.
10 Matthew 6:11 ESV.

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A Luz do Seu Amor

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Palavras de Jesus

(Observação de Maria Fontaine: Se você estiver passando por um daqueles dias ou semanas difíceis, aqui estão algumas palavras de Jesus para animá-lo e ajudá-lo a passar por essas nuvens e pela chuva do desencorajamento, e ver que a luz do sol do amor de Deus sempre brilha atrás das nuvens. Não importa o quanto as coisas pareçam escuras ao seu redor, você pode superar a escuridão com louvor, até não haver mais espaço para a sombria tristeza!)

Tem sido um dia e uma semana difícil, com “problemas por todos os lados, e cada tarefa fica cada vez mais pesada”, e apesar de você tentei por “ver alegria e beleza”, “o dia seguiu enfadonho, cinza e sombrio.”

Eu realmente sinto muito por isto e me condoo de você. Em cada vida, um pouco de chuva deve cair, e às vezes parece mais como uma chuva torrencial do que uma garoa! Você olha para cima e vê nuvens escuras e um céu sombrio que se espalha no horizonte.

Mas isso nunca dura para sempre, você sabe. Na verdade, essas nuvens de chuva e a própria chuva não passam de uma fina camada de tristeza quando comparada aos milhões de quilômetros de sol, calor e luz acima de você, e que só estão fora de sua vista por um tempo. A chuva e as nuvens passarão, seu dia será novamente ensolarado, e a previsão do tempo para a eternidade é de céu azul e um mar de rosas para sempre!

Há muito pelo que ser grato, mesmo em meio à tempestade; e Me louvar pelo bem ajuda a levar a chuva e as nuvens embora. Você pode ser grato se estiver tão por baixo ao ponto de só poder seguir para cima; as coisas só tem como melhorar. Pode estar grato pelas nuvens e a chuva, as provações e as lágrimas que ajudam o seu espírito a crescer.

Pode estar agradecido caso sinta-se uma bagunça, porque assim sabe que só Eu posso fazer qualquer coisa boa através de você. Pode estar grato por em você, na sua carne, não habitar nada de bom, porque então há mais espaço para Eu viver, mexer e operar através de você.[1]

Em tudo dê graças. Louve-Me em meio aos problemas e erros, defeitos e fracassos, suas fraquezas e faltas. Louve-Me pelo Meu amor, cuidado, ajuda, misericórdia, graça e salvação. Ao fazer isto, o céu sombrio vai clarear, a chuva vai parar, e o sol vai despontar, e o Sol da Justiça enviará raios de paz, esperança e força cheios de calor e consolo para você, iluminando o seu dia e o seu caminho!

*

A felicidade do Espírito está muito acima dos prazeres efêmeros que este mundo oferece, porque a felicidade do Espírito sempre estará com você, mesmo durante as noites mais solitárias e os momentos mais sombrios.

A felicidade deste mundo é passageira; ela vem e vai com circunstâncias e o que o cerca, com as coisas que você vê, sente e vive. Mas a minha alegria duradoura vem de saber que sou o seu Salvador e que o amo e velo por você; essas verdades nunca mudam.

Minha alegria eterna é tão constante como o sol. Quando o sol desaparece no horizonte durante a noite, você se preocupa achando que ele foi embora para sempre? Não, sabe que ele ainda está lá, apenas fora de vista por um tempo. A noite vem e você não pode ver o sol, mas nunca duvida de sua existência, ou de que ele vá nascer pela manhã. Minha alegria interminável está sempre presente e é para sempre, como o sol.

Quando a escuridão cair sob o seu espírito e você perder de vista a felicidade, esse é o momento de confiar até despontar a manhã, até você ver e sentir o sol do Meu amor novamente. Nunca duvide. O dia vai raiar.

*

Você não pode fazer o sol brilhar num dia de chuva, mas pode mudar o clima ao seu redor.

A maioria das pessoas sente-se mais feliz e animada em um dia de sol e calor do que num dia tempestuoso. Você pode ser caloroso e encorajar as pessoas ao seu redor com os “raios” ensolarados ou as boas vibrações que envia aos outros. Mas se andar por aí com uma nuvem de problemas e tristeza, provavelmente vai criar um “sistema de pressão” que fará chover, abafará e escurecerá o dia de todos ao seu redor.

Então carregue consigo uma atmosfera calorosa e ensolarada onde quer que vá. Deixe o sol de seu semblante feliz brilhar sobre os outros e alegrá-los. E quando não se sentir feliz—quando estiver sob pressão ou sentindo-se debaixo de uma grande nuvem—clame a Mim para Eu afastar essas nuvens e incidir a luz do Meu amor em seu lugar.

O sol está sempre brilhando onde Eu estou. Sempre tenho raios calorosos suficientes para enviar a você, e quero que os absorva e reflita para os outros. Vamos fazer tempo bom!

*

Se estiver se sentindo para baixo, tente cantar uma canção. Se conseguir cantar em voz alta, então cante em voz alta. Há algo sobre cantar em voz alta, mesmo se não sentir vontade, que ajuda a tirá-lo da fossa. Mas mesmo se as circunstâncias não permitirem que você cante em voz alta, então cante em seu coração, e vou alivia sua carga e os pesos.

*

Celebrai com júbilo ao SENHOR, todas as terras.
Servi ao Senhor com alegria;
E entrai diante dele com canto.
Entrai pelas portas dele com gratidão,
E em seus átrios com louvor;
Louvai-o, e bendizei o seu nome.

Salmo 100:1–2,4

Publicado no Âncora em novembro de 2015.


[1] Romanos 7:18.

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Truth in the Story of Christmas

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John Dickson

John Dickson is Director of the Centre for Public Christianity, and an Honorary Associate of the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University (Sydney).
View all resources by John Dickson

There are enough question marks over the Christmas story for dogmatic sceptics to have a field day at this time of year, but the core historical realities are not easily swept away.
Despite the Sceptics, There is Real Truth in the Story of Christmas

It is common at Christmas to hear 'experts' questioning the Gospel accounts. Writers such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Michel Onfray and Bishop John Shelby Spong make their pronouncements with something approaching glee: there is not a skerrick of evidence outside the Gospel of Luke for a census at the time of Jesus's birth; Matthew's hovering star over Bethlehem is a fiction; and the virgin birth is the neurotic invention of a church trying to distance the Son of God from any association with sex.

Then there are questions about the date of Jesus' supposed birth. December 25 was a pagan festival until it was hijacked, we are told, by a church desperate for relevance. Evidence that the starting point of the Western calendar, AD 1, cannot have been the year of Jesus's nativity helps the sceptics' case, and we are left with the impression that perhaps Jesus never lived at all. Maybe the whole thing is a fable with no more credibility than Santa Claus. And, like that story, thinking adults ought to grow out of it.

But while much of this is factually correct, it is ultimately wrong. Take the absence of corroborating evidence for the Roman census, the visit of foreign Magi or the great star. The sceptics would have us think, if these things really did take place, there would be mention of them in other sources. But scholars of antiquity often note we probably have in our possession less than 1 per cent of the literary works that existed in the first century. Ninety-nine per cent of our evidence is lost.

...we probably have in our possession less than 1 per cent of the literary works that existed in the first century. Ninety-nine per cent of our evidence is lost.

“As every student of ancient history is aware”, Professor Graham Stanton of Cambridge University writes, “it is an elementary error to suppose that the unmentioned did not exist.” With only 1 per cent of the evidence to hand, it is foolhardy to deny something just because it appears in a single source.

As recently as June 2004, a large public pool mentioned only in John's Gospel – and so doubted by some – was uncovered during sewerage works in Jerusalem.

It is true there is no corroborating evidence for the finer details of the Christmas story but it is wrong, and wrong-headed, to turn this into evidence that they are untrue. People are free not to trust what the Gospels report, but this is a choice based on a preference, not an argument arising from evidence.

What, then, of the problems with dating Christmas? It is true December 25 marked the recovery of the Invincible Sun for ancient pagans, and about AD 330 this date was adopted by the Roman church as a celebration of Christ's nativity.

Christianity was fast becoming the dominant faith in this period and so, rather than cancel a happy festival, Christians decided to transpose it into a more appropriate religious key. In any case, when this date was adopted there was no suggestion that Jesus was actually born on December 25, any more than it is now believed all horses are born on August 1.

The year of Jesus' birth is a little more complicated but no more suspicious. According to Matthew and Luke – Gospels written independently – Herod was still alive at the time of Jesus' birth. From firm dates provided by the first century writer Josephus, we know Herod died in early 4 BC. This means Jesus was born some time before that – between 6 BC and 4 BC.

The man who gave us the calendar distinction between BC and AD, an Italian mathematician and archivist named Denis the Little, got the calculation slightly wrong. In AD 525 Pope St John asked Denis to sift through the available sources and propose the most likely anno Domini, or ‘year of the Lord’. He missed the mark by about five years – not bad considering his limited resources.

We now know the exact dates for figures such as Herod, so can more accurately date Jesus' birth.

But none of this should add to the repertoire of reasons to be suspicious about the Jesus story. After all, there is a larger point which seems to be lost on some sceptics.

Historians agree there really was a ‘first Noel’, a date somewhere between 6 BC and 4 BC when a famed teacher and healer named Jesus (soon to be hailed Messiah) was born in humble circumstances. Only an arbitrary kind of scepticism can deny this.

The Virgin Birth, of course, cannot be decided by historical argument. This one involves philosophical assumptions. If you hold that the laws of nature are the only things regulating the universe, then no amount of evidence could convince you that Mary conceived “of the Holy Spirit”.

If, however, like most Australians, you accept there probably is a law-giver behind those natural laws, then such an idea is not philosophically insurmountable. After creating a universe, fashioning another 23 chromosomes would be a walk in the park for the Almighty.

The traditional Christmas story won't be going away. It will continue to be a source of wonder and hope for millions of believers and curious alike.

What the historian can confidently say about this strange claim in Matthew and Luke is that, whatever inspired it, it certainly had nothing to do with an awkwardness about sex. Ancient Judaism, from which the Gospels drew their influence, celebrated sex. The Jews wrote a whole book of the Bible about it (Song of Songs). The curiosity for the historian is that, in a culture comfortable with the idea of‘sacred seed’, the Gospels say Jesus was born without it.

Sceptics will continue to mock. That's their right and preference. But such cynicism is not a natural consequence of a sober examination of the historical realities. The traditional Christmas story won't be going away. It will continue to be a source of wonder and hope for millions of believers and curious alike.

© 2010 Centre for Public Christianity


This resource is reproduced here by the kind permission of the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX). CPX seeks to promote the public understanding of the relevance of Christianity in the 21st century.
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Death Is Nothing At All

Written by Henry Scott Holland (27 January 1847 – 17 March 1918) was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford




All is well.

While at St Paul’s Cathedral Holland delivered a sermon in May 1910 following the death of King Edward VII, titled Death the King of Terrors, in which he explores the natural but seemingly contradictory responses to death: the fear of the unexplained and the belief in continuity. It is from his discussion of the latter that perhaps his best-known writing, Death is nothing at all, is drawn.

Dennis: To the Christian death is swallowed up in victory because Christ has gotten the victory over death through his resurrection. "Oh, death where is thy sting." Death doesn't have a sting, because Christ has died that we may all have access to everlasting life with him.

Here's Paul's beautiful chapter explaining the meaning of Christ's death and resurrection:

1 Corinthians 15 King James Version (KJV)

15 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:

14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.

16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:

17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.

21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.

28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?

31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?

36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:

37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:

38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:

44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.

48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

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The IMF Just Entered The Cold War, Forgives Ukraine's Debt To Russia

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/09/2015 21:49 -0500

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Authored by Michael Hudson, originally posted by The Saker, author of The Essential Saker: from the trenches of the emerging multipolar world,

On December 8, the IMF’s Chief Spokesman Gerry Rice sent a note saying:

“The IMF’s Executive Board met today and agreed to change the current policy on non-toleration of arrears to official creditors. We will provide details on the scope and rationale for this policy change in the next day or so.”

Since 1947 when it really started operations, the World Bank has acted as a branch of the U.S. Defense Department, from its first major chairman John J. McCloy through Robert McNamara to Robert Zoellick and neocon Paul Wolfowitz. From the outset, it has promoted U.S. exports – especially farm exports – by steering Third World countries to produce plantation crops rather than feeding their own populations. (They are to import U.S. grain.) But it has felt obliged to wrap its U.S. export promotion and support for the dollar area in an ostensibly internationalist rhetoric, as if what’s good for the United States is good for the world.

The IMF has now been drawn into the U.S. Cold War orbit. On Tuesday it made a radical decision to dismantle the condition that had integrated the global financial system for the past half century. In the past, it has been able to take the lead in organizing bailout packages for governments by getting other creditor nations – headed by the United States, Germany and Japan – to participate. The creditor leverage that the IMF has used is that if a nation is in financial arrears to any government, it cannot qualify for an IMF loan – and hence, for packages involving other governments.

This has been the system by which the dollarized global financial system has worked for half a century. The beneficiaries have been creditors in US dollars.

But on Tuesday, the IMF joined the New Cold War. It has been lending money to Ukraine despite the Fund’s rules blocking it from lending to countries with no visible chance of paying (the “No More Argentinas” rule from 2001). When IMF head Christine Lagarde made the last IMF loan to Ukraine in the spring, she expressed the hope that there would be peace. But President Porochenko immediately announced that he would use the proceeds to step up his nation’s civil war with the Russian-speaking population in the East – the Donbass.

That is the region where most IMF exports have been made – mainly to Russia. This market is now lost for the foreseeable future. It may be a long break, because the country is run by the U.S.-backed junta put in place after the right-wing coup of winter 2014. Ukraine has refused to pay not only private-sector bondholders, but the Russian Government as well.

This should have blocked Ukraine from receiving further IMF aid. Refusal to pay for Ukrainian military belligerence in its New Cold War against Russia would have been a major step forcing peace, and also forcing a clean-up of the country’s endemic corruption.

Instead, the IMF is backing Ukrainian policy, its kleptocracy and its Right Sector leading the attacks that recently cut off Crimea’s electricity. The only condition on which the IMF insists is continued austerity. Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, has fallen by a third this years, pensions have been slashed (largely as a result of being inflated away), while corruption continues unabated.

Despite this the IMF announced its intention to extend new loans to finance Ukraine’s dependency and payoffs to the oligarchs who are in control of its parliament and justice departments to block any real cleanup of corruption.

For over half a year there was a semi-public discussion with U.S. Treasury advisors and Cold Warriors about how to stiff Russia on the $3 billion owed by Ukraine to Russia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund. There was some talk of declaring this an “odious debt,” but it was decided that this ploy might backfire against U.S. supported dictatorships.

In the end, the IMF simply lent Ukraine the money.

By doing so, it announced its new policy: “We only enforce debts owed in US dollars to US allies.” This means that what was simmering as a Cold War against Russia has now turned into a full-blown division of the world into the Dollar Bloc (with its satellite Euro and other pro-U.S. currencies) and the BRICS or other countries not in the U.S. financial and military orbit.

What should Russia do? For that matter, what should China and other BRICS countries do? The IMF and U.S. neocons have sent the world a message: you don’t have to honor debts to countries outside of the dollar area and its satellites.

Why then should these non-dollarized countries remain in the IMF – or the World Bank, for that matter. The IMF move effectively splits the global system in half,between the BRICS and the US-European neoliberalized financial system.

Should Russia withdraw from the IMF? Should other countries?

The mirror-image response would be for the new Asian Development Bank to announce that countries that joined the ruble-yuan area did not have to pay US dollar or euro-denominated debts. That is implicitly where the IMF’s break is leading.

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In praise of slowness: why being slow and deliberate wins in a world obsessed with speed

Xiao Xu, Bit of News, December 8, 2015

People are born and married, and live and die, in the midst of an uproar so frantic that you would think they would go mad of it.–William Dean Howells, 1907

“These days, even instant gratification takes too long,” Carl Honoré joked to a roomful of TEDTalk audiences.

Honoré is the author of In Praise of Slowness, a book that tries to bring back the artful style of “slowness” in our cult of speed. Honoré examines how we can channel our minds to a more productive path when confronted with information overload.

In his book, Honoré writes: Remember who won the race between the tortoise and the hare. As we hurry through life, cramming more into every hour, we are stretching ourselves to the breaking point.

We complain about the lack of time, yet we constantly seek stimulations that detract us from our main goals. When we live in an age where a diverse palette of stimulations lure us–“media-drenched, data-rich, channel-surfing, computer-gaming age”–it becomes a chore to focus on anything longer than 30 seconds. There’s something unsettling about the constant craving for the new without any regard for the things we already have.

I’m personally guilty of this too. In the time it took for me to draft this article, I got up to boil a pot of coffee, watched an episode of Friends, made an omelette, and cleaned my room twice. So many things to do, in so little time!

While he encourages us to slow down, Honoré says the book isn’t a “declaration of war against speed”. He concedes that technology has made our life more convenient–“Who wants to live without the Internet or jet travel?” The problem comes when speed and stimulation become addictions, and when a society of improving conveniences becomes one of “turbo-capitalism”:

“The problem is that our love of speed, our obsession with doing more and more in less and less time, has gone too far,” Honoré writes, “it has turned into an addiction, a kind of idolatry.”

This idea is encapsulated by the timeless truism: everything in moderation. It’s fine to rush when it makes sense, but don’t forget that the unconditional worship of “faster is better” often makes us forget that there’s a price to pay.

No time for that novel you got at Christmas? Learn to speed-read. Diet not working? Try liposuction. Too busy to cook? Buy a microwave. And yet some things cannot, should not, be sped up. They take time; they need slowness. When you accelerate things that should not be accelerated, when you forget how to slow down, there is a price to pay.

Honoré writes that when we rush through our days, we not only fail to connect with new ideas, we fail to connect with people around us. “Inevitably, a life of hurry can become superficial when we rush,” says Honoré, “we skim the surface, and fail to make real connections with the world or other people.”

“All the things that bind us together and make life worth living–community, family, friendship–thrive on the one thing we never have enough of: time.”

Mohatma Gandhi echoed the sentiment six decades earlier: “There is more to life than increasing its speed.”

A life of fast and furious can also damage children, who most of all need time to play and mess around in a creation fashion.

Living like high-powered grown-ups leaves little time for the stuff that childhood is all about: messing around with friends, playing without adult supervision, daydreaming. It also takes a toll on health, since kids are even less able to cope with the sleep deprivation and stress that are the price of living hurried, hectic lives.

Psychologists who specialize in treating adolescents for anxiety now find their waiting rooms packed with children as young as five suffering from upset stomachs, headaches, insomnia, depression and eating disorders. In many industrial countries, teenage suicides are on the rise. And no wonder, given the burden many face at school.

So what are we supposed to do? Do we just throw our hands up and give up all the technology that make our lives faster and infinitely more convenient? Not so, says Honoré. The key is to enjoy the fast conveniences of modern life, but slow down occasionally to do things you enjoy:

Despite what some critics say, the Slow movement is not about doing everything at a snail’s pace. On the contrary, the movement is made up of people like you and me, people who want to live better in a fast-paced, modern world. That is why the Slow philosophy can be summed up in a single word: balance. Be fast when it makes sense to be fast, and be slow when slowness is called for. Seek to live at what musicians call the tempo giusto–the right speed.

In a way, the Slow movement ties nicely together with being mindful, which has surprising benefits such as improving your decision-making skills, decreasing high blood pressure, and making you more attractive. “Slowing down” is really another way of giving your complete and sincere attention to current moment. Focus on the now to the point that you enjoy every bit of time. Life is incredibly short, and some want to rush through it, thinking it allows them to accomplish more and more. But they have it backwards: when life is limited, take the time to slow down and enjoy what you’re doing. After all, this is all the time that you get.

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