It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

     “It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” argh!  Argh!  ARGH!  I really dislike this song.

     However, as I heard it play on the radio today I realized how true it is.  It really does describe very accurately how Christmas looks.

     It really does look very much like when the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  Who realized then the great miracle that the Lord was working as the Word was being made flesh to save us?  With all of the hustle and bustle of Caesar’s decree, with all of the business to transact, with all of the family affairs to conduct, who was really noticing the birth of the promised Seed of salvation?

     Who had room for the Lord? Who had room for the holy family?

     Yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

     This year I heard the first so-called Christmas song on the radio already before the end of October.  This week I heard a radio announcer say, “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s Christmas season.”

     We have not even concluded the Trinity season.  Advent does not begin till this Sunday.  The Christmas season does not begin until the Christ Mass.

     But how many people care anymore?  For most people the season of Christmas is over when the presents under the tree have been opened.  The day that the season begins is the day that people cast aside their notions of Christmas.

     The season of Advent, the season of preparation for the blessed coming of the Lord to save the world from sin, that wonderful season is counted as a time for buying and selling.

     Yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

   

     And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.  (Luke 2:1-7)

     Nevertheless, both at that time as well as today, a few have had a different view of Christmas.  Even today a few do grasp the meaning of this first Advent of the Christ.  Yes, a few are glad for the season of Advent and its wonderful focus upon our great need for the gift of salvation that was nurtured within the womb of the virgin and delivered to the world wrapped in swaddling cloths. For a season the holy catholic Church falls to her knees, confessing her great need for the forgiveness that the child born of Mary would purchase with His lifeblood.

     Yes, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  It has always been a tiny few who understood and were gathered by the Spirit to the means that the Lord has ordained for the imparting of His grace to those who have gathered to receive it.  As most look elsewhere for meaning and hope and purpose and goodwill, the saints humbly gather to the one place that it is readily accessible and they do receive that which their hearts desire.

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Impatience!!!

Why is it that we may on some occasions spend 30-45 minutes or more wandering a store, perhaps even asking questions of a sales person for 10 minutes or more, but when we get to the checkout line we suddenly imagine that 5 minutes is an outrageous amount of time and a terrible imposition?

To see this in the more extreme manifestation, observe how people often act in the parking lot after investing hours at a concert or sporting event or other entertainment.



* * *


On the other hand, I have found that if the other people in line allow me to enter into a friendly conversation with them that the time in line becomes almost insignificant.

In fact, I have observed that people’s scowls often turn to smiles and their eyes brighten and that even sometimes, when we finally get to the register that it seems as though the time of our encounter was too short.


:)   :)   :)

Some things are simply too REAL to be funny!

Alternative Cancer Treatments

Today I found a link for:

The Complete Guide to
Alternative
Cancer
Treatments

It is a PDF file of a 474 page book.  It seems to be worth the read.

I learned of this book from this site.

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Living Faith

Today I visited a blog that I occasionally read because reading the posts there often moves me to dig more deeply into what the Spirit has given us in His blessed doctrine in His Holy Scriptures.  The blogger very often says much that sounds right, because parts of the truth are presented.  Yet these things only sound right to those who do not listen for the truth as a whole.  The truth cannot be broken apart with only part of the truth being embraced and told.  If this is done, what is told is not the truth, but only part of the truth.  The statements made are true insofar as they reach, but without the rest of the truth these true statements are false.  The various articles of the truth cannot stand alone.

I share this not as an attack upon anyone, but so as to remind us all that this false premise that the truth can be in any way truncated is truly a false premise that causes us to cling to a faith that is powerless to save us.  This false premise manifests itself in the ways that we express ourselves concerning the faith and life as Christians.

In We are Christians not Faith-ians the blogger attempts to address a very serious faux pas or false step among those who profess to be Christians.  The issue that Pr. McCain attempts to address is truly a serious issue.  It is good that he and others recognize this and desire to correct the misstep.

However, if one is careful in reading this post, one observes that the true problem is not really addressed. McCain’s concern is the misunderstanding of what it is that makes one a Christian and gives absolute assurance of one’s salvation and security in that salvation.  This is a valid concern.  He makes some valid points regarding this concern.  He attempts to direct his readers to the true definition of the faith in which true believers have their hope.

He makes a very valid point when he says:

Do not confuse faith in faith, with trust in Christ. There is a key difference.

What he is expressing is that the individual’s personal faith is not the faith that regenerates the person into the kingdom of God.  A common way in which this faux pas is expressed by those who profess to be believers is to call this “personal faith in Christ as one’s personal Savior.”  If one pays attention, the problem with this becomes “self” evident.

In this regard, consider this question:

Does a person who believes tell oneself,
“I must believe”?

McCain writes: “Never look to your subjective feeling that there is faith in your heart.”  And again he says:

Salvation rests on objective realities that have absolutely nothing to do with feelings or emotions. Faith is merely and only the receiving hand God gives us and into which He pours His good gifts, it is not the cause of our salvation.

We are Christians, not Faith-ians.

His warning against the feeling that people mislabel as faith is certainly correct.  But does that really get to the issue?

He says that faith is not the cause of our salvation.

How then will one respond to those who object to this quoting the Lord Jesus saying: “Your faith has saved you”?  How will one respond to the many “by faith” passages in the New Testament Scriptures, especially in the epistles of St. Paul?  For example, how many times does St. Paul write that we are justified by faith?  Actually, he writes “out of faith.”  Does this not call to remembrance what the Lord Jesus teaches Nicodemus concerning Baptism in John 3 and what St. Peter declares in 1 Peter 3?

Can we really say that faith is not the cause of one’s salvation?

Is this really even the issue?  Could it be that the real issue is one of a false definition of faith being embraced?  Could it not be that the real issue is what is taught by the author to the Hebrews?
 

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  (Hebrews 12:2)

Is not the real issue the one whom we count as the worker of faith for us?  Is it not true that the problem is not really that we count faith as the cause of our salvation, but really that we only give lip service to counting God and His means of grace as the cause of our faith?  Additionally, is the problem not also that we look to our personal faith rather than the faith of Jesus in which all true Christians have their being?

St. Paul writes: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”  (Romans 1:17) This is a quote from Habakkuk 2:4,

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

The Septuagint translation gives an interesting insight as one observes how they translated this text:

If he should draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him: but the just shall live by my faith.

With Hebrews12:2 in mind, does this not bring clarification to the issue under consideration?

Does this not bring to the fore that the real issue is not whether we are Faith-ians, but rather, whose Faith in which are -ians?

When a person understands the life of being a Christian from this perspective, it changes the person’s entire understanding of life as a Christian.

It is notable that McCain does not even mention the means of grace in this article.  Some of those who commented mentioned them, but this seems not to be what McCain had in his mind as he wrote this.

Perhaps this is because the means of grace are not regularly thought of by people as the means of faith.  It is common, especially among those who call themselves Lutherans, to speak of faith as God’s gift and the work of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel and through the Sacraments, but then to look away from them as if what has been said is not what really matters.  A powerful example of this is the way that 1 Corinthians 11:28 is misapplied concerning the Sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord.  This misunderstanding and misapplication leads to people and entire churches counting one’s personal faith as the cause of worthiness for coming to the table of forgiveness and life in God’s kingdom.

But the apostle is teaching the opposite.  He is teaching that a man, as the head of his wife and household should examine himself, that is, his household, to be certain that they recognize their need for the body and blood of their Lord so as to be moved by the faith that He has worked in them to come to the table, and that this man also examine himself to be certain that the table to which he brings his family is truly the table of the Lord and not a table of adulteration of the Sacrament.

When people share in this understanding, what is taught is that each head of each household should be instructed and reminded to look back with his entire household daily to the promises made in their baptism, that is, God’s promises made in their baptism.  Looking back to one’s baptism causes one to realize that being a Christian is not the product of one’s faith, but rather one’s faith is the produce of being remade to be a Christian.  Perhaps this point should be repeated.

Looking back to one’s baptism causes one to realize that being a Christian is not the product of one’s faith, but rather one’s faith is the produce of being remade to be a Christian.

This realization then moves the person to rise up from the false reliance upon one’s own faith so as to approach the Table of the Lord’s Remembrance, where he remembers whom He has made us to be and with His body unites us with Him in His remembrance and renews us again in the forgiveness and life in His blood.

This is how God works His grace in us and for us, which we perceive through the faith that He engenders in us.  Then we simply say “Amen” to what He has done, as He continually gives and teaches it to us anew through His means of grace so that we do remember that He is the Father and we are the needy children.  Then we rejoice in the doctrine that St. Paul very carefully sets before us:

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

    For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:  it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:4-10)

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Johnny Cash - Hurt

Today I viewed a movie that included this Johnny Cash song at the end:



As I heard this song I heard Johnny’s broken heart as well as the broken hearts of many people in the world, some whom I know closely.  Some are very dear to me personally.  Some I care for dearly, even though barely knowing them.  Yet their pain is steeped into my memory and beyond, even into my heart and soul.

This song, especially the final stanza, made me think of the sad theft that has occurred in most of what is today called Christianity.

The full lyrics are listed at Lyrics.
Here is the last stanza:

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

These words very powerfully resonate with the false doctrine of most of what is considered to be Christianity today.  These words reflect the image of humanity lost in self-reliance, knowing nothing of God’s pure grace.  Most Christians confess this very same empty doctrine of works righteousness.  Sinful man cannot keep himself.  Sinful man is blinded to the way so that he seeks where he may, but never finds the way that he seeks.

I have watched those I love allow to be brushed from their sacred heads their everlasting crowns of life, to be exchanged for flowery temporal wreaths placed upon their whitewashed tombs, tabernacles of clay.  Those who once rested securely in the promises of their baptism now seek to find their own way, calling their own decisions and their own efforts at godliness the way of the Lord.  Those who once humbly confessed the faith of Jesus have turned to boasting of their own faith in Jesus.  Those who once longed for the blessed Communion of the body and blood of the Lord now trust in the fellowship of coffee and donuts.  Once they professed the creeds, but now they promote tolerance of mixed confessions.  Where they formerly united in the historic liturgy and rich proclamation of the ancient hymnody, they now divide themselves into multiple worship services of diverse style and focus, even bragging of the blended nature of their contemporaneity with the world. Their own personal witness has been elevated in superiority over the doctrine and practice of the apostles.

“Judge not lest ye be judged,” and “I cannot judge another person’s heart,” has become the mantra by which all who profess the holy catholic Church are judged and condemned as “unloving” and “intolerant.”

Yes, this song by the Man in Black is a very sad song.

Sadder still is the song of those who reduce the Gospel to a nondescript guideline of how personal faith in Jesus and seeking to live a good life, or at least a better life and treating others with some level of respect, is how Christianity and the Church is rightly defined.  This song is far sadder even than Johnny’s, for Johnny at least realized that his way was not the right way.




Johnny Cash - Hurt

Hurt (3:37)

A Permit to be Homeless?

Let's see.

First the government and the big bankers and businesses put people out of work and foreclose on their homes, making them homeless.

Without an address the homeless often cannot find employment.

Without employment, after their time for staying in a homeless shelter is used up, they have no place to stay and no money for food.

So what is really being done when permits are required for the homeless?

They are being told that they have no right to live.

How many people are only a paycheck or two away from this?

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Do You Honestly Believe God?

Is your God a liar?

     If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  (1 John 1:8-10)

Do you profess to be a Christian?  Do you confess to believe in Christ as your Savior?

Is your sin big enough to need a savior?  Or do you just need a little help?  Are you just needing a push in the right direction?

Those who truly look to Christ as their Savior do not have any little sins.

For example, the sin of praying is taken very seriously by one who truly trusts in Christ.

Do you understand what this means?  Do you understand why your praying is sinful?

According to this passage from John’s letter to those whom he identifies as his little children in the faith, if you imagine that your prayers are without sin, you deceive yourself and call God a liar.

Consider when you pray.  Let’s take the prayer that the Lord Jesus gave us to pray.  When you pray the Our Father, does your mind wander?

Do you pray this prayer perfectly with absolute and undivided attention to the Lord?

If you say that you do, then don’t even bother reading any farther.

But if you answer honestly, then this passage from the Scriptures will be received with great joy and thanksgiving in your heart, soul, and mind.

If you realize that even your best efforts at prayer and worship fall short and are of their own merit nothing but idolatry, then these words recorded by St. John will be wonderful words to you.  For these words are written for real sinners, of whom Isaiah and St. Paul declare that all of our righteousnesses are as bloody rags, corrupt and to be burned forever.  If your best deeds are such, then you will hear what the Holy Spirit is revealing in this text.

Here the grace of God is declared for us all to hear, that God, the faithful and just one, will forgive us our sins when we honestly acknowledge them so that we confess them.

It is a very sad matter that this text is usually proclaimed as though it were a cause and effect scenario, as though God forgives us because we confess our sins.  Most people hear this as though we must confess our sins in order for God to be willing to forgive us.  Most preachers proclaim this as though God forgives us because we humble ourselves and confess our sins.

The truth is far more wonderful!

The truth is that we confess our sins because God forgives us.  We confess our sins because God has declared us to be forgiven in Christ.  Thus, when we hear this wonderful good news and are converted by the Holy Spirit so that we believe it, we no longer are afraid to come to God.  Instead, we now acknowledge God’s forgiveness in Christ and come to God through Christ, confessing that we need to hear His holy absolution.  We hurt because of the knowledge of our sinfulness and we confess this to God who readily and lovingly declares to us yet again, “Yes, My Son has taken your sins so that they are no longer accounted to you.  Your sins have all been forgiven you even from eternity.  Go forth in the blessedness of this forgiveness.”

The Gospel teaches us that in Christ our sins are forgiven.  When we hear this, when we truly hear this, our hearts are changed.  We are regenerated from unbelievers to believers.  When we believe God, we cannot call Him a liar.  When we believe God and His gracious declaration in connection with Christ, we want to be baptized into Christ and to be made to be partakers of this Holy Communion of God in the body of Christ.  The Gospel works this in us.  Then we see that of our own thoughts, words, and deeds, we sin against God continually.  Knowing this, we come and confess our sins so that we can hear Him say again and again and again, “I forgive you.”

We need to hear this.  This is how God sets us free.  We come to Him with hearts burdened with sin and He divorces us of our sins.  He sends our sins away from us.

As we hear the truth concerning Jesus, we believe what He has accomplished for us.  Our natural response is to confess our need for His forgiveness.  His response is to declare it to us as often as we need to hear it.

God does not demand that if we want to be forgiven we must confess our sins.  Rather, He promises that when we confess our sins we will actually hear His forgiveness.

God promises that His forgiveness is purely by grace through faith.  If we insist that we must somehow make ourselves worthy first by believing or by inviting Him into our hearts or by confessing our sins, or by examining ourselves, or by anything else, we call Him a liar.  This is the opposite of believing Him.  This cuts us off from receiving His forgiveness.  This is not because He refuses to grant it, but because we refuse to receive it as it must be received, by grace, through faith, as an absolute gift, purchased and won for us by Christ and made available to us in Christ.

This knowledge of God’s honest proclamation of grace through faith is cause for everlasting thanksgiving or Eucharisting, which in essence is the very life of the Church.

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Bye Bye for Now

For now, Wichita water can say Bye Bye to fluoridation.

Amazingly, the deceitful propagandists with their exorbitant spending did not win the day.  Enough people were aware of the facts and were unwilling to be swayed by dishonest dentists, doctors, and pharmacon pushers that the addition of this poison to our drinking water was voted down by 60% to 40%.

Therefore, those who want to poison themselves may do so, but the rest of us are safe from forced fluoridation.  At least until the Obama and his health czar or other administrative tyrant somehow make it a national mandate.

At least we should not be getting any more phone calls from the ADA calling us liars for presenting the facts that even the FDA and CDC openly admit.

It is a little victory, but nevertheless cause for giving thanks to God.

Election Day

Tomorrow Americans will be voting concerning various political issues, including who will be the President for the next four years.

I have met a few people who think that Obama is the right choice.  I am amazed at their reasoning when they try to explain.

I have met many more who think that Romney is the lesser of two evils.

In talking with people I have heard many people say that they would consider voting for a third party candidate, but that such a candidate cannot win.

Huh?

I’ve seen polls that indicate that those claiming to be independent of the two lock-step parties are as much as 40%.

If everyone one who claims to be independent really meant it and voted for say, Gary Johnson, he would be the next president elect.

If everyone who said, “He can’t win” voted for him, guess what?

I don’t agree with Gary on everything, but hearing him speak and reading his positions, he seems to me to take the Constitution very seriously.  He has a good record.  He is every bit as pro-Life as Romney.

You think otherwise?

Read what Romney’s site says:

Values: Marriage, Family, Life.

First notice that this is stated in the third person.  This is written by someone other than Romney.

Next notice that he makes no statement of any actual plan for action.

The boldest statement made is:

“He will protect the right of health care workers to follow their conscience in their work.”

How?

Every statement indicates that he intends to point his finger at someone else and claim no responsibility himself.  Read what his propagandist writes for him.  See if he ever actually commits to anything.  Anything at all.

Gary Johnson at least speaks in the first person or simply states the points that he believes.  Johnson says basically the same regarding protecting life that Romney says.  He says that all life is precious and must be protected.  He furthermore limits a woman’s choice to viability of a fetus.  So if this is pressed regarding what viability actually means, then the fetus would be protected from conception.  This is not his current stand, but he indicates protection for those he counts as viable as necessary.  This is actually more than Romney states as his intended actual action.

But then, what Republican president has actually done anything more than claim to be pro-Life.  What president has actually done anything about it?

On the other hand, pro-Life presidents have pressed for the Patriot Act and the TSA and Homeland Security and other horrific acts.

Johnson says: Civil Liberties:

• The PATRIOT Act should be repealed, which would restore proper judicial oversight to federal investigations and again require federal investigators to prove probable cause prior to executing a search.
  
• Habeas corpus should be respected entirely, requiring the government to either charge incarcerated individuals with a crime or release them.
  
• The TSA should take a risk-based approach to airport security. Only high-risk individuals should be subjected to invasive pat-downs and full-body scans.
  
• The TSA should not have a monopoly on airport security. Airports and airlines should be encouraged to seek the most effective methods for screening travelers, including private sector screeners. Screeners outside of government can be held fully accountable for their successes and failures.

This is a very good start.  Imagine if we had a president who actually tried to accomplish these things.

At least pro-Life people would not be labeled as terrorists and arrested for speaking out.

What did either of the Bushes do?  What does Romney actually commit himself to do?

Johnson is on the ballot.  Voting for him is easy.  Voting for him is casting a true NO vote to the way the lockstep parties have been leading us.  That may be a long way from what a great option would be, but it would be a step in the right direction.

If anyone thinks that the Patriot Act is a small issue, wait till that person is arrested without Habeas Corpus.  Suddenly very little else will matter.

Sadly, Johnson admits that he does not know much about the NDAA, but since he desires to repeal the Patriot Act, he would surely also want to repeal its big brother.

At any rate, it will surely be interesting to see how many people are truly independents, and how many are merely noise makers.

Drink this!

Drink this,
it’s good for you!





The American Dental Association and Wichitans for Healthy Teeth, keep calling me and telling me this.



It makes me very unhappy.

I don’t want to have Sodium Fluorosilicate or Sodium Silicofluoride or any other toxin added to my drinking and bathing water.  I don’t want my garden plants to be soaking up this toxin to grow in my vegetables.  I don’t want the birdies to which I give water to drink this either.

The ADA and the Witch-itans for toxic waste keep trying to convince the people that fluoridating the water is something that this good for us all and for the children.  They want us to believe that the warning labels that the FDA requires on toothpaste containers is unnecessary and that families should not be made to be overly concerned about fluoride ingestion of their little ones.

Add it to the water and drink it!  It is good for your teeth!

(It is bad for the environment, but don’t concern yourself about that.  It is a regulated toxic substance, but that should not concern you regarding the water that YOU and your CHILDREN drink.)

“Vote YES for fluoride!” they say.

They call people who warn against fluoride as a dangerous toxin LIARS.

But what about the labels that the companies who make and sell and distribute this stuff say?

Check out what Darwin Chemical says at Sodium Silicofluoride 99% technical Grade.

And see what Orca Chemicals says on their Safety Data Sheet.

And let’s see what Solvay Fluorides, LLC says on their Material Safety Data Sheet.


Shall we select and highlight the Darwin Chemical’s product description?

(Note what the listed applications are.)

Sodium Silicofluoride 99% technical Grade
Sodium Silicofluoride 99% min Technical Grade

Catalog Number:      Q137

Definition:
     Sodium Silicofluoride, also called Sodium Fluorosilicate, is a white, odorless, tasteless, free-flowing powder.

CAS Number:
      16893-85-9

Application:      This material is used in a wide range of applications such as: fluoridation, laundry soaps, opalescent glass, vitreous enamel frits, metallurgy (aluminum and beryllium), insecticides and rodenticides, chemical intermediate, glue, leather and wood preservative, moth repellent and manufacture of pure silicone.

Technical Data:      Loss on drying at 105ºC 0.30 max
     Assay (on dry basis) 99.0 min
     Free acid content (based on HCL) 0.10 max
     Water insoluble matter content: 0.40 max
     Heavy metal content (based on Pb) 0.02 max
     Iron content (Fe) 0.02 max
     Particle size (based on 250um sieve) 90 min

Packaging & Handling:
      Packed in 25 Kg or 40 Kg bags.

     This product may be fatal if inhaled or swallowed. Irritation to the eyes, nose, throat, and skin can result from contact with this product.

Carefully read MSDS before using this product.

Remarks:      DOT Shipping Classification Class 6.1 (Keep away from food)
DOT Shipping name Sodium Fluorosilicate
UN 2674
Packing Group III
Label Keep away from food

Two items especially grab my attention:

     This product may be fatal if inhaled or swallowed. Irritation to the eyes, nose, throat, and skin can result from contact with this product.

     Keep away from food


But the Witch-itans for Healthy Teeth say, “Add to the drinking water.  It’s safe!”


Who is calling whom a Liar?

Fluoride Is Good for You - Can You Trust Your Dentist?

The American Dental Association is ramping up its efforts to promote fluoridation of Wichita’s water.

The Phone has been ringing with a recorded message from a dentist who calls those who are opposing this toxic substance/medication being forced upon the public LIARS!

Yes, she actually calls anyone presenting the truth about fluoridation LIARS!

Guess who she claims as the authoritative source for this claim.

The MEDIA!

She actually makes the claim that every time that the MEDIA has checked the scientific evidence that the MEDIA has found it to be false.

She claims that “Fluoride Is Good for You!”

Does she give any actual scientific evidence for this claim?  Does she give any actual evidence that counters the warnings about what fluoride actually does to people who consume it?

Why would a dentist act this way?  Why would the ADA make such an effort to promote this toxic waste being added to our water?

Do these dentists have anything to gain?  Is it possible that they gain something by this?

Have you heard of Fluorosis?

Definitions of fluorosis are easily found on-line, such as the CDC’s article: Community Water Fluoridation.

Some photographs of fluorosis are also available, such as these:









Wow!  What wonderful smiles drinking fluoride can produce!  Guess who people turn to in the hope of correcting this when it happens?

Could it be their dentists?  Do dentists make any money from this?  Hmm?  Does the ADA benefit from this?

Here is the definition from medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com:

fluo·ro·sis
n.
An abnormal condition caused by excessive intake of fluorine, as from fluoridated drinking water, characterized chiefly by mottling of the teeth.


fluorosis /flu·o·ro·sis

1. a condition due to ingestion of excessive amounts of fluorine.
   
2. a condition in humans due to exposure to excessive amounts of fluorine or its compounds, resulting from accidental ingestion of certain insecticides and rodenticides, chronic inhalation of industrial dusts or gases, or prolonged ingestion of water containing large amounts of fluorides; characterized by skeletal changes such as osteofluorosis and by mottled enamel when exposure occurs during enamel formation.

Sadly, fluorosis is only one of the effects of ingestion of too much fluoride.  Some are far worse.

But the ADA and many dentists want us to believe that adding fluoride to our drinking water is a good idea.

The published list of those dentists and other medical professionals who have endorsed this can be viewed at Medical Community Endorsements.

At Endorsing Organizations another list of the organizations is listed.

Is your dentist or other health care provider listed?

Did you know that some dentists and health care providers refuse to be members of these organizations because of these issues?

Yes!  There actually are people who are standing up for us and saying NO to the organizations who claim to be looking out for us but are really promoting things that are only good for their own business interests.  Some of these people have faced persecution from their peers, yet they continue to act according to their consciences and for the good of their patients.

Is it time that people start asking more questions of their health care providers?  Could it be that we should stop giving blind trust to “professionals” and should learn more about these issues ourselves?

Did you know that the ADA actually has a web page called Statement on FDA Toothpaste Warning Labels, where the ADA announces that they are trying to persuade the FDA to remove the requirement to warn people about the dangers of swallowing fluoride?

Can you believe this?  Even the FDA and the CDC, with their shabby record, still warn the public against the dangers of fluoride ingestion, but the ADA publically declares that they want them to stop.

Could it be that it is time to reward those brave and honest professionals who stand against the pressure of their peers to go along to get along?

To whom do you really want to give your trust?

Reformation Day —God’s True Purpose for His Church

When I was a teenager, our family needed to clear some acreage of the briars and palmettos and undergrowth and to level the ground for seeding.  We had a small tractor with various implements.  My father entrusted much of the work to me as the eldest son.

The work included pulling out various palmettos and stumps, plowing and then discing.  One day I was discing through some very tricky areas between the pine trees.  Often the passages were very narrow between the trees.

On one pass through a particularly narrow gap, a large stinging insect attacked and stung or bit me on the back of my shoulder.  It felt as though someone stuck me with a red hot fire iron.

I jerked in response to the pain, thereby turning the wheel slightly, and running the front right wheel of the tractor into one of the pines.  I broke the axle.

I was in pain.  I needed to tend to my shoulder.  But I also was hurting because I broke the tractor.  I had broken my father’s trust.  I broke his tractor.  I felt guilty, ashamed, and afraid.

When Dad came home I told him how I had let him down.

He responded, “Let’s see.”  Upon examining it he said, “Well, we’ll have to fix it.”

After we fixed it, which did cost for the repairs, again he entrusted me to do the work at hand, reminding me to be careful.

This is much like the Lord’s way of dealing with His children, only God’s is even better.  Not only does He deal with us with compassion, love, and forgiveness, not only does He fix what we have broken, not only does He take away our guilt and shame and fear, not only does He entrust to us again the work of His kingdom, but He also empowers us through the gift of the indwelling of His Holy Spirit and through the continual nurturing of His Holy Communion.

Sadly, those to whom the most precious work of preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments has been entrusted keep forgetting this as His true purpose for His Church.  And so, as has happened time and time again in previous times, the focus becomes shifted to what we must do rather than what our Heavenly Father does for us.  The preaching becomes “How to” sermons.  The precious Gospel is reduced to commandments that we must keep, such as “You must believe” and “You must repent” and “You must commit your lives to Jesus” and “You must make Jesus the center of your life.”

But the Gospel is the proclamation of what God does for us through His Church and His means of grace.  Through the pure preaching of the Gospel Jesus comes to us and with Him the Holy Spirit, and we are regenerated as the water of Baptism is poured over us in connection with this preaching of Jesus through which the Holy Spirit works and enters into us and makes us to be His tabernacles on earth.  God Himself works the repentance or changing of heart and mind that we need so that we know Him for who He really is.  God committed His life to us, through the gift of His Son, Jesus, so that we would not have to rely upon our weak and faltering personal faith and commitment to Him.  He makes His commitment to us the cause of our salvation and redemption and justification and sanctification.  God makes us the center of His life in His body, the Church.  He makes us the very reason for the Church’s existence, that in His Church He may come to us and commune with us as His precious saints.  He proclaims us to be saints and comes to us to reclaim us again and again and again through the holy absolution and through the Holy Supper.  He makes Himself to be the very foundation of our life so that we don’t have to commit ourselves to Him or try to make Him our focus.  He does this for us through the continual activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives, who is poured out to us and into us in our baptism.

Then the work that He entrusts to us is not a burden that we must strive to fulfill.  Rather, our very lives are made to be the fulfillment of the work entrusted to us as we live as His beloved children, turning again and again to His forgiveness and renewal, rejoicing in His goodness, mercy, and love.  Through this the world sees God’s work done in us and for us and occasionally someone actually asks us to give the reason for the hope in which we live.  Then we joyously may share with them the good news that they, too, are God’s children whom He wishes to have rejoined to Him in His everlasting kingdom of righteousness and blessedness.  Then they too may received the free gift of the new life that is in Christ Jesus in His body, the Church, the household of God.

This is the joyous focus of Reformation Day.  When this is how the Reformation is understood, every day is Reformation Day and the rejoicing truly never ceases.

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