PSA and You

Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed type of cancer in men, with lung cancer being the first. Luckily, prostate cancer also happens to be a type of cancer that responds extremely well to alternative cancer treatments. On the other hand, mainstream medicine has NOT had significant success bringing about long-term cures, especially once the cancer has metastasized, and this is largely because of some very important common misunderstandings about prostate cancer, the PSA, and the role of testosterone that have propagated throughout mainstream medicine. Oncologists have been duped with the wrong information. So if you are a man, you need to know the truth. Your life may depend on it.
First, here are some basics about prostate cancer. For most of the last century, prostate cancer has occurred primarily in older men and was long known for being slow-growing in most cases ¾ so slow-growing in fact that men over 65 could often simply live with their cancer without getting any treatment at all. This was because they had a good chance of dying of old age before dying from their cancer.

However, according to cancer treatment specialist, Dr. Contreras of the Oasis of Hope Hospital, recent years are showing more and more cases of aggressive (or fast-growing) prostate cancers being diagnosed. Plus, men of younger and younger ages are developing prostate cancer and the younger cases tend to have a higher incidence of aggressive forms. For those not familiar with diagnostic methods, when a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer a needle biopsy procedure can often indicate how fast-growing or slow-growing the cancer is. This rate of growth is given a number between 2 and 10 and is referred to as the ‘Gleason score’ or the ‘Gleason scale rating.’ (Two samples rated from 1 to 5 are added together.) 2 on the Gleason scale indicates the slowest-growing type of prostate cancer and 10 indicates the fastest-growing type. Typical prostate cancer Gleason ratings might be 3, 4, or 5. Ratings of 8, 9 or 10 are considered aggressive.

Since men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer at younger and younger ages and often face more aggressive forms of it today, they don’t have the luxury of being able to live with it as often as was common in years past. Thus, there are many more men today who MUST receive effective treatment or their prostate cancer will kill them. Unfortunately, the types of treatment offered by conventional medicine are very problematic. The four main conventional options are:

• Surgery
• Radiation
• Chemotherapy
• Hormone-Blocking Drugs

The surgical option involves removal of all or part of the prostate gland. This may sound good at first, but it is often an emasculating procedure with a high likelihood of some degree of impotence and incontinence occurring as a result.
Radiation may sound good, but can actually cause localized prostate cancer cells to mutate into more aggressive forms in some cases and provides no curative benefit once the cancer has metastasized. Chemotherapy has no long-term curative effect on prostate cancer, either, in most cases. That just leaves hormone-blocking drugs, and this is where the MOST ludicrous and dangerous misunderstandings occur in conventional prostate cancer treatment.

For much more detailed information, please read Chapter 20 of OUTSMART YOUR CANCER. In that chapter, I quote a lot of information from the late Dr. John R. Lee and refer to a booklet that is a must-read for every man regarding what PSA really is and how testosterone really interacts with prostate cancer. Dr. Lee does a remarkable job of explaining what men must know about prostate cancer and PSA, and he backs it up with ample references to scientific studies.

There is not enough room here to go into detail, but in a nutshell, Dr. Lee explains that the two biggest fallacies in mainstream medical thinking regarding prostate cancer, are :

(1) that it is beneficial to lower the PSA count as an integral aspect of
treatment, and
(2) that blocking testosterone will inhibit the growth of prostate cancer.
Unfortunately, both of these conventional dogmas are wrong.

Conventional Fallacy #1 : It is Beneficial to Lower the PSA Count as
An Integral Aspect of Treatment

Conventional doctors have long used the PSA count to measure the extent, or status of a man’s prostate cancer, yet they have also known that this is NOT a very accurate method. In fact, it is well-known that BPH or benign enlargement of the prostate gland due to inflammation or other causes will generally go hand-in-hand with a higher than normal PSA count even when there is no cancer present. So, a man with a high PSA count might have cancer or he might just have inflammation in the prostate gland for various reasons. Plus, malignant prostate cancer tumors which are ‘occult’ (meaning they occur on the outside of the prostate gland rather than inside it), do NOT raise PSA levels at all. In these cases, a man could have a raging malignant prostate cancer growing in his body and exhibit a totally normal PSA count. So, what is this all about?

In Hormone Balance for Men, Dr. Lee explains that the PSA has only recently begun to be understood in medicine. First of all, it is NOT something that only prostate cancer cells produce. It is produced by normal healthy prostate cells as well as cells of the breast tissue, believe it or not. (This may explain why some men who have had their prostate gland removed in its entirety may still produce a small amount of PSA.) Thus, even though PSA stands for ‘prostate specific antigen,’ it is not specific to the prostate gland alone and it is also not specific to the cancerous prostate cells. In other words, contrary to common perception, the PSA is NOT a true cancer marker.

One of the most important concepts you will learn from Dr. Lee’s booklet, and also from my Chapter 20, is that even your doctor may not understand that when normal healthy cells of the prostate gland produce PSA, it is simply in response to crowding (or pressure). For instance, an infection or any type of inflammation in the prostate gland will generally cause a rise in a man’s PSA production because the swelling causes pressure or crowding of the normal cells. Even manually massaging the prostate gland will often cause a rise in PSA production for the very same reason. Basically any significant or sustained pressure on normal healthy cells of the prostate gland will tend to cause those cells to produce more PSA. According to Dr. Lee, when PSA score rises due to cancer in the prostate gland, it is because the tumor, which is usually inside the gland, presses on the surrounding healthy cells as it grows â?? thereby crowding them. The crowded healthy cells of the prostate then respond by producing higher amounts of PSA. Why do healthy prostate cells respond this way? That is a good question because, when it comes to physiology, Nature generally has a very good reason for different actions taking place. And this is no different. The healthy prostate cells produce more PSA when they are crowded because the PSA compound actually helps fight the cancer! (See Chapter 20 for the fascinating explanation of it does this.)

So, with this understanding, it is clear that a man with prostate cancer would NOT want to artificially lower his own PSA production through the use of hormone-blocking drugs. By artificially blocking or reducing the production of PSA, a man is taking away one of his body’s own defenses against his cancer.

So why do doctors love to see the PSA go down? Well, it’s because they are confused. They know that higher PSA scores tend to correlate with more cancer and lower PSA scores tend to correlate with less cancer. But they don’t understand the crowding issue or how the PSA compound itself helps fight prostate cancer. So they mistakenly think that lowering the PSA count means they are reducing the cancer. Conventional doctors today use drugs like Lupron or Casodex, which are very effective at lowering the production of PSA in the body and a subsequent lowering of PSA scores. However, by lowering the PSA artificially with hormone-blocking drugs, doctors may actually be promoting the growth of the cancer. (See Chapter 20 to find out how.)

Conventional Fallacy #2 : Blocking Testosterone Will Inhibit
the Growth of Prostate Cancer

One of the most shocking fallacies in conventional cancer medicine is the idea that testosterone promotes the growth of prostate cancer and thus testosterone must be blocked or reduced in a prostate cancer patient’s body. In Hormone Balance for Men, Dr. Lee goes into detail about how that medical fallacy got started and also presents ample scientific evidence that proves this idea is indeed a fallacy. One common-sense point is that prostate cancer has always been much less common in men between the ages of 18 and 25, which is when testosterone levels are typically at their highest. Common sense tells us that testosterone is not the culprit, and does not promote growth once a man has prostate cancer, but you don’t have to rely on common sense. There is plenty of scientific evidence to back this up.
Moreover, reducing testosterone level in a man’s body makes the man estrogen-dominant. This estrogen-dominance is the main cause of most of the side effects caused by commonly used testosterone-blocking drugs like Lupron, Casodex, and others. Enlarged breasts, hot flashes, and other side effects in prostate cancer patients are simply indications of estrogen-dominance. The bad news is that estrogen-dominance always promotes cancer growth! Naturally produced testosterone in men actually balances the estrogen and keeps a man from being estrogen-dominant.

In a nutshell, conventional doctors think they are reducing prostate cancer growth by blocking testosterone and artificially lowering the PSA count. But what they are REALLY doing by employing testosterone-blocking drugs is simply reducing the production of PSA in a cancer patient whose body is producing PSA as a defense against the cancer. This way of reducing the PSA count at all, and the resulting estrogen dominance that occurs when testosterone is blocked could actually promote the growth of the cancer. Thus, the use of testosterone-blocking drugs for prostate cancer is an extremely dangerous practice. It may be time for men with prostate cancer to ‘just say no’ to hormone-blocking drugs! And it may also be time for a fair comparison of conventional prostate cancer treatments versus what is available in alternative medicine to evaluate which methods are truly the most effective.

Tanya Harter Pierce, M.A. MFCC Author of OUTSMART YOUR CANCER: Alternative Non-Toxic Treatments That Work

http://outsmartyourcancer.com/about-the-author/articles-by-tanya/prostate-cancer-and-the-psa/ 

Addition Dr. Morris: To the uninitiated, everything is obscure. How did our forefathers live such long productive lives before all this knowledge about prostate cancer and the many other diseases-pathologies with which we are constantly barraged?
 
This writer has survived prostate cancer treatment-surgery and all its complications. If only I had known ahead of time what I faced with this surgery. These urologists who knew less about prostate cancer and its treatment than most of us.
When you reach my age and prostate cancer is diagnosed (never had a symptom, no elevation in PSA, from biopsy results, was advised to have my prostate excised.) Of course, we think we are getting rid of the cancer, but they always, leave a little nest of cancer cells with which you must continue to have treatment. These continued treatments bring in much money, particularly $2000 hormone shots. 

Dr. Jean Scott, famous California preacher, believed God would heal his prostate cancer and refused surgery. This brilliant preacher, one of the brightest men I have ever heard, pastor of the university cathedral in Los Angeles, died. There is no one who can advise you on what to do. My advice, go to well-informed doctors.
Those who spend more time with research-studying than they do on the golf course.

Now You Know

While the recent New York Times article, “Thousands of Toddlers Are Medicated for A.D.H.D., Report Finds, Raising Worries,” seems shocking, the actual numbers of infants and toddlers being prescribed psychiatric drugs dwarfs the 10,000 2-3 year olds being prescribed ADHD drugs.[1] The mental health watchdog, Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) says according to data provided by IMS Health, the world’s leading health information and analytics company, hundreds of thousands of toddlers are being prescribed far more powerful psychiatric drugs than just ADHD drugs, and most alarming of all is the more than 274,000 0-1 year olds prescribed psychiatric drugs.[2]

According to IMS Health’s Vector One: National and Total Patient Tracker Database for 2013 these are the figures for 0-1 year olds being prescribed psychiatric drugs:

•     249,669 0-1 year olds are on anti-anxiety drugs(such as Xanax, Klonopin, and Ativan).
•     26,406 0-1 year olds are on antidepressants(such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil).
•     There are 1,422 0-1 year olds taking ADHD drugs(such as Ritalin, Adderall, and Concerta).
•     654 0-1 year olds are taking antipsychotics (such as Risperdal, Seroquel, and Zyprexa).

While the CDC was correct in issuing their report on the 10,000 2-3 year olds (toddlers) being prescribed ADHD drugs, the number of toddlers on anti-anxiety and antidepressants is staggering in comparison:

•     318,997 2-3 year olds are on anti-anxiety drugs.
•     46,102 2-3 year olds are on antidepressants.
•     3,760 2-3 year olds are taking antipsychotics.

And as for other age groups, the numbers start in the millions with 0-5 year olds:

•     The total number of 0-5 year olds currently prescribed psychiatric drugs is 1,080,168.
•     The number of 6-12 year olds on psychiatric drugs is 4,130,340.
•     The number of 13-17 year olds taking psychiatric drugs is 3,617,593.[3]

The above are stunning data and, yet, the most egregious element of the ever-increasing number of America’s children being prescribed psychiatric drugs, is that the diagnosis needed in order to have the drugs prescribed, is subjective—there is no medical test to support or validate even one psychiatric diagnosis. As Allen Frances, a psychiatrist and former DSM-IV Task Force Chairman, stated, “There are no objective tests in psychiatry—no X-ray, laboratory or exam finding that says definitively that someone does or does not have a mental disorder. There is no definition of mental disorder. It’s bull…. I mean you just can’t define it.”[4]

According to the Final Statement from the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference on ADHD, “we do not have an independent, valid test for ADHD, and there are no data to indicate ADHD is due to a brain malfunction.”[5]

When it comes to the psychiatric drugs used to treat ADHD, these are referred to as “kiddie cocaine” for a reason.Ritalin (methylphenidate) Adderall (amphetamine) and Concerta, are all considered by the federal government as Schedule II drugs—the most addictive.[6] ADHD drugs also have serious side effects such as agitation, mania, aggressive or hostile behavior, seizures, hallucinations, and even sudden death, according to the National Institutes of Health.[7] And the Food and Drug Administration still mandates that all labels for ADHD stimulants state “Long-term effects of amphetamines in children have not been well established.”[8]

As far as antipsychotics, antianxiety drugs and antidepressants, the FDA and international drug regulatory agencies cite side effects including, but not limited to, psychosis, mania, suicidal ideation, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and even sudden death.[9]

In summary: Yes, the recent report of the CDC on the number of toddlers being prescribed ADHD drugs is shocking, but it is nowhere near the actual figure of infants, toddlers, and children being drugged. Being shocked is a good place to start, but action is required to protect the weakest among us. As John F. Kennedy stated,”Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” It is time to start protecting our children and it starts with informing parents. For more information visit the Parents Know Your Rights page.

–

About Citizens Commission on Human Rights: CCHR is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious mental health watchdog. Its mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. CCHR has helped to enact more than 150 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive mental health practices.

By Kelly Patricia O’Meara - May 21, 2014

http://www.cchrint.org/2014/05/21/10000-toddlers-on-adhd-drugs-tip-of-the-iceberg/

Addition (Dr. Morris):

When will pastors, parents and even poets get excited about the above information? You read and hear about the dilemma of children's mental anguish and anxieties leading to every type of problem everyday. Why are our prisons, mental institutions and even schools filled with patients and people trying to solve mental problems? Big pharma has provided the drugs and we know that thirty to forty percent of all children are now "drugged." The psychologists are wanting to write prescriptions. Can we even imagine what life will be like for those who think they have a need for drugs; legal or otherwise.

Parents, teachers and others that have found that children are more easily managed as zombies.

Astro-turf

                                 Blessed Assurance

        Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! 

        O what a foretaste of glory divine! 

        Heir of salvation, purchase of God, 

        born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. 

                                    - Fanny J. Crosby

            I still remember the days when my wonderful mother was canning or freezing corn. I would take those luscious, fresh corn shucks out to our pasture, where our beautiful cows were anxiously awaiting their treat.

            You can't fool animals about food. They recognize God's food-- not some synthetic. God talked to us about sheep.

                        My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  And I give              unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man                                  pluck them out of my hand.

                                    John 10:27-28

           

            These sheep, which are really rather dumb animals and have a great need for a shepherd, know fresh, luscious grass. You cannot fool them with astro-turf. They are not going to eat fake, synthetic grass. They would probably be amazed if their shepherd ate a fast-food, synthetic product. They would be amazed if a shepherd, one who had graduated from field chores to the race track, would feed a prized horse fake, synthetic food, such as is served in many restaurants and found in many grocery stores.

            We are saved by grace, through faith, and that is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. He knows our needs, even our wants, and He is anxious to care for us. The tragedy is that most who pretend to believe on Him, fail to trust Him. They refuse to claim their adoption-- heirs of the creator of the universe.

            When I was much younger, in my college days, I would watch a young couple-- at that time boys danced with girls, if there was any of this foolishness of same-sex attraction, it was kept in a closet. Back then I had eyesight. Often it seemed that one of the two was hearing the music, moving to the music, enjoying the music, while the other was just going through the motions, being dragged along. So it is in our spiritual, physical, and political activity. It is not difficult to recognize a patriot, a real Christian, one who has a physical hold on life and living.

            I was in a large public relations office in Brooklyn, NY. There was a sign that read, "Perception is reality." This is not true. You can always pick out the pretenders.

            Two men were fishing in the snowcapped mountains of Alaska. One day they spotted a Grizzly bear, and the bear spotted them. Again, a couple. One man took off his boots and put on his sneakers. The other said, "What are you doing? We cannot outrun that bear."

            The other said, "I just have to outrun you."

            When will we awaken our belief system, even our perception, to what is happening in our world? You can tell how great a problem is by what it takes to solve it. God knew, from the very beginning, what it would take to solve the problems of the world-- even giving as a sacrifice, His only son, not for just my rotten sins, but for the sin of the world, every one of them, those of commission, those of omission, and even those we know nothing about, that only a holy God can identify.

            You cannot tell lost people anything that they have not already heard, no need to flog them with more Gospel Truth. If God wants them, He will draw them to Himself.

                        No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I                             will raise him up on the last day.

                                    John 6:44

            The best news anyone can give about me, your writer, to perhaps someone who has not seen or heard from me in a long time, is, "He has been beaten up on every side-- the aggravations of making a living, thieving employees, unconcerned family members and associates, living in a world of blindness-- but he is still faithful." Your greatest obligations in life are not at the church-house, the schoolhouse, your workhouse, even staying out of the jailhouse. Your greatest obligation in life is to have a thick skin, and live your faith during the weekdays, as well as on Sunday-- letting others see Jesus in you anytime, anywhere. A great preacher said, "A real Christian is the same everyday and any day. He is the same at midnight in a city where no one knows him, as he is in his hometown at midday, where everyone knows him." He knows the thrill of a hymn, the sound of scripture, and can move to the tune. He knows that Satan always pays in counterfeit, fakery, falsity. The real Christian does not seek the mountain peak, but a lofty plateau from where he can reach down and help others.

            I hear talk of full-time Christian ministry. Every Christian, who knows the saving grace of Jesus Christ, is a full-time minister. Likewise, every patriot recognizes the decadence of false government. I have found that most liberals are conservatives who have had great trouble with crooked government. I have found that most hypocrites are former church members, who could not tolerate the malingering pretentions in pulpits and pews. Life is a battlefield, not to be fought from air-conditioned foxholes.

            In a time before telephones, paved roads, and automobiles, there were preaching Sundays, a time when a preacher would come for a visit to a church. At other times the men of the church fulfill the pastoral duties-- visiting the sick, burying the dead, the teaching and prayer service ministry. My father would say that the preacher had it good, just to deliver God's precious word. On a Sunday, at about the time he got his Sunday shoes on, some pig would always root under a fence, or a cow would jump another fence.  Let us never forget the precious activities of the chose men and women of God "of whom the earth is not worthy." (Hebrews 11:38)

Veterans

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."

                                                                        -- George Washington

            This writer is a totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected, medical officer veteran of the Korean War era. I have been honored to stand at the 25th anniversary celebration at Normandy, where thousands of our finest Americans died; honored to stand at the large cemetery in Manila, Philippines, where 18,000 are buried, to have visited Arlington many times, where thousands are buried. The recent disclosures regarding veteran's care is not news to many of us. I was honored to have served my country, and since, to have been fortunate enough to travel most of the world. I know the pride of saying, "I am American," with its warts, as well as its thrills.

            I was born in poverty on the parched earth of Easter North Carolina's tobacco fields. I know the sweat and hard work of parents and ancestors. I know what it was like to work an entire day to make one dollar. In the blight of the America in which I grew up, life was built around hard work, frugal living, the church-house, and the schoolhouse.

           

            I graduated from a small country school, with 13 in my graduating class. Concerned educators, seeing my possibilities, got me into the university at Chapel Hill. Back then there were no scholarships or grants. I still feel now, as I felt then, that I had died and gone to heaven-- all that knowledge. I worked at night so that I could go to school during the day, and worked my way through eight years of education, selling bibles door-to-door in the summer, covering every pig path in Eastern North Carolina. I matriculated through eight years living on one dollar per day. I graduated without owing any money, and since then, now at the age of 84, I have invested 50 cents of every dollar I have made. This has enabled me to live without help from anyone. Even the NC Commission For The Blind told me recently that they had never heard of me. I can say, with all honesty, that until recently, this blind veteran has never received anything from the V.A.-- not even a white cane, not one minute of rehabilitation.

            The greatest concerns of any blind person are robbery and fire. I still put cement blocks to the interior of my doors each night. Living alone, I take care of myself, totally.

            I jumped through every hoop to pass the boards, necessary to gain my commission as an Army officer. I had hoped that my diligence in life, hard work, hard studying, frugal living, would pay off in social and financial acceptance. I have brought the plight of the disabled veteran to the attention of many people in written letters, published articles, as well as speaking on radio talk shows. Speaking before a college group recently, I said, "The greatest sorrow involved in my disability has not been spending most of my life in blackness, the poverty I grew up in, the struggle to obtain my education, but the fact that I never received much encouragement." This blind veteran introduced Senator Jesse Helms at many meetings, yet he wrote me once and told me to apply for food stamps. I hear from many disabled veterans, "Bring their attention to power brokers, opinion molders." Rep. McIntyre (NC 7th), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, actually told me that I was not in his district. Sen. Burr, ranking member of the Senate Veterans Committee, and I am sorry to say, Rep. Walter Jones (NC 3rd) are unconcerned with my letters. I could give many examples of personal harsh treatment at VA facilities, mostly at the VA hospital in Durham, NC. I have this on tape: the chief of staff telling me, "We do not need your suggestions; we are just waiting for you to die." This is after I suggested that they have volunteers to help blind patients navigate the maze of clinics, such as they have at the Duke University Hospital - Eye Center, right across the street. At one time, I was physically able to travel the whole day. Able to pay someone $100 to drive me there, but the driver was completely lost, attempting to get me around. Durham opened a satellite clinic in Raleigh. The VA doctor there told me, "Your record is flagged. It says that you are a trouble maker," and he refused to do anything for me. At that time, and for about 40 years, I was using the fee-basis method of paying for treatment, whereby I could go to a private doctor, and the VA would pay the bill. Likewise, any meds prescribed by the private physician (Wilmington Health, etc.), were send directly to me from the VA's pharmacy in Salisbury, NC. All of this has been cut out. I am no longer in the program. The difficulty I encounter in getting meds from the VA's pharmacy in Fayetteville, NC, is a matter of record (blood pressure, eye problems, etc.)

            Through years of sick-care and struggles involving the VA, I have gone through ten eye surgeries at Duke, Massachusetts General, etc. Alone, with no family, trying to take care of myself (food, clothing, etc.), it has been my Christian faith, and nothing else, that has kept me from ending it all. I well understand why so many veterans commit suicide. One surgery, across from the VA in Durham, at Duke, Dr. Banks Anderson Jr.,  the best surgeon, was trying to save a shadow of vision. I was in the corner room on the second floor, right across from the VA hospital. Vietnam protestors were surrounding the VA facility. A black nurse came into my room, and, in great detail, told me how much she despised veterans. She punctuated her remarks by spitting in my face. No one at Duke, or at the VA hospital, did anything about the incident. Considering what I went through to be able to serve in Army hospitals, what I have lived through since, in a world of unconcerned people, perhaps I would have been better off if I had not been such a good student, if I had not worked so hard for my education, if I had not been such a good citizen.

Frankenstein Science on Memorial Day 2014

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

                                                Philippians 4:13

            It is truly amazing what Jesus can do with his hands. One small boy's mother, knowing that boys get hungry, sent him off to hear the great preacher, Jesus, with a small lunch-- just loaves and fish. We know what Jesus did with that lunch. D.L. Moody, founder of Moody Bible Institute and the great Moody church in Chicago, had a third grade education. He said, "God will see what one man, completely yielded to him, can do."

                 

            Most days, on the Mall, Washington, DC, tearful parents and children who never saw their father, stand with flowers and cards, before the great marble slabs on which 58,000 names of the fallen, dead of the Vietnam War, are etched. These people know about Memorial Day.

            In one of the most tragic and horrendous battles of the Civil War, a battle in which 17,000 were killed, the Battle of Cold Harbor (on the Virginia line), men and horses were killed-- strewn across the countryside. A wounded officer, with the rank of colonel, walked by a young boy, 17 years of age. The boy looked up and said,  "Colonel, are we winning?" Those, both sides, North and South, the 613,000 killed in the Civil War, knew about Memorial Day.

            In the same house, in which I now live, but 30 years ago, I put an American flag in my front yard. Two women of the Wimble Square HOA came to my front door, and told this blind, 100% disabled, service connected, medical officer veteran of the Korean War, that the home owners association did not allow for me to put a flag in my front yard. Just as those who have never honored our blessed Lord, in memorial at his communion table, some people, even to this day, have no concept of memorializing anything or anyone. I heard a talk show host say, just yesterday, "I am not religious, do not believe in God, but surely God has given up on America. No one living today, who was living 50 years ago, could believe what has happened my country." Like so many patriots, this writer so loves his country, but so despises his country's government.

            BUT, it is not difficult to, on land, love and honor someone who jumps into the river and saves you from drowning. From the revolution to the present, we stand on the shoulders of those who saved us. With our cynicism, brought on by the decadence of government, we must remember our blessed Lord, who told his disciples to cast out into the deep (Luke 5:4). It will not be the silliness of Oprah or the Obama-types, who will save our country. It will not be the "airs" of the blue bloods / elitists/ the one percenters. It will not be the lust for power or things that will make us whole again (Jeremiah 19:11). But, it will be the fundamentals and absolutes of right and wrong-- the recognition of hypocrisy-- that will open our blinded eyes, and give us vision of what's happening, before it's too late.

            Just think, more munitions of war, terror from the sky, were dropped in Iran and Afghanistan by unmanned drones, than were dropped by manned planes in the Kosovo War (1998-99). Just think, our young warriors are "anointed" with psychotropic drugs, 6 months before going to war. The greatest ambition of military planners in today's military warfare, is artificial intelligence-- "high brass" trying to decide if robots have the judgment to differentiate from civilian and military targets. Which is better? Robots or human warriors dominated by toxic molecules.

            As with Obama's American healthcare, Big Pharma is in control. Daily, we hear of the horrors of sick-care with the Veteran's Administration. With government, civilian or military, there is unlimited money to spend with Big Pharma. There are unlimited patients, with which to experiment. Now, more soldiers die from suicide, than are killed by the enemy. Of those who return, 22 veterans commit suicide every day. 91 million Americans are taking anti-depression, anti-despair, psychotropic drugs, 8 million school children are on mind-altering drugs. 91% of all school children who visit a counselor, leave with a drug prescription. This is FRANKENSTEIN SCIENCE-- the "doping" of America, its warriors, its children. Now you can understand why Big Pharma has spent $2.7 billion on lobbying. There are 4 pharmaceutical lobbyists in Washington per congressperson.

            WHEN will the hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing citizen realize that his taxes are paying for buildings and equipment (hospitals, courthouses, government office facilities) in which doctors, lawyers, and others work to make big salaries for themselves-- while the stressed citizen is treated like dirt when he enters one of these facilities.

            When you have politicians, doctors, warriors, drugs, you have what these people and things can do. We realize and recognize the decadence around us. In the history of the world, God has often started over. Can we believe that a nation, America, that has come so far, has fallen so fast? My Lord of glory and mercy has the ability to start over with us. Those who fought for our great nation buried, wrapped only in the flag which they served, believed in the integrity of this country. On this Memorial Day, help us to believe in the integrity of America.

Shattered

Broken Promises

By David Kirby

"...I have seen them in the foyers of theaters,   

coming back late from the interval   

long after the others have taken their seats,   

and in deserted shopping malls late at night,   

peering at things they can never buy,   

and I have found them wandering   

in a wood where I too have wandered....."   

            One does not live very long in this world of broken things, stuff, self, sex, without realizing that you cannot change anything that has already happened.

            Only a blind person knows the amount of glass, the amount of liquid, from anything that has fallen and broken on the floor. Only a mother or grandmother knows the sorrow of a child or grandchild who has sinned/ failed.

            One of my dearest friends, a single mother, raised two sons. She worked night and day to send them through college. The youngest, a dentist, died early, leaving one grandson. The older son gave her another grandson. Both sons, both grandsons, were drug addicts.

           

            In other articles, I have talked about my business involving antiquarian books, and other items, which I sell online. A man from another state called me about an antique silver tea service, which I was attempting to sell. In the course of conversation, I told him that one of my best friends in school-- I believed-- practiced in his city. He was amazed and said that he had been one of his best friends, that they played in a band together. He said, "He is probably the most talented man I had ever known." You realize his problem, that he died recently. I asked about his wife and he said, " I will have her call you."

            In just a few minutes, the man's wife was on the phone. She told me of my friend, the doctor's, great success, his large practice, his two sons, who were both doctors, having attended medical school in North Carolina. She said, "Gambling captured him. It became more important than his business or his family. He was found dead in a hotel in Las Vegas."

            Most people subscribe to the local paper so they can keep up with the obituaries. It is the only time many names appear in newsprint, and we wonder what type of baggage many take to the grave.

            It is not just addictions which enslave so many. Shackles of alcohol, chemical dependency, which cause an individual to lose, not only his own self-respect, but the respect of his family and friends. So many lives, with so much promise, are shattered, ship-wrecked on the rocks of satanic deception.

            Then there are those whose lives are shattered by divorce, not just the two parties involved-- two who were so happy at the marriage altar. Often, each thinks that with freedom, they will be fulfilled. As one lawyer said to me, "Each woman for whom I obtain a divorce, thinks she will be a debutant. Each time I see her, she looks worse and worse." This is just the couple; think of the children. And then there are the grandparents, many times an attempt to shatter relationships.

            One doctor, a pediatrician, told me, "I can always diagnose, so easily, sicknesses of children in a family divorce. I tell the mother, 'Don't ever disparage the child's father.' Your child knows his genetics. You may not still love the father, but your child does."

            Perhaps the most shattered lives I have ever encountered are that of those that have left the prison system. As if it is not bad enough just to be tarnished from having been there, now have to pick up and start over-- to start over with nothing. Perhaps this is the reason that there is so little rehabilitation, that so many are reincarcerated.

            A former employee of mine, jailed on a minor drug charge, said, after his release, that his family and friends would have nothing to do with him. One of my cousins, an enlisted man in the Army, went to sleep during guard duty. He spent time in the stockade. On his discharge, he told me that his family and friends would have nothing to do with him. They would have never known of the matter, but he was honest enough to tell them-- the reason he could not get the military benefits of most veterans.

            In the past 23 years, 2.5 million people have died from prescription drugs-- many mistakes of doctors. Will we ever know how many people die in surgery from doctor's mistakes? Yet, in every town, a "pill hill" (an area of fine homes, where doctors live). How many lives have been shattered by incorrect prescriptions, wrong medications, a faux diagnosis. This doctor gets so sick of hearing people talk about a "second opinion." It is difficult enough to get a first opinion. Never do you hear the word "cure," only the word "treatable."

            Most of us have little magnanimity/ generosity for those we find on barstools at happy hour, people spending their time in casinos, even those in a movie theatre. When I was in Leningrad, Russia, for the first time, so many drunk Russians on the streets. I said to a news man from New York, "We will never know how important it is for our fellow human beings to escape." Only when you wear another man's shoes, do you understand what he goes through in his daily life. We all need empathy, a generous spirit in others. Help us to show understanding to those around us, who are probably carrying a burden we know nothing about.

            Most of us do not appreciate our parents until we look back at what they faced. The golden rule seems much more attractive when we realize our personal needs.

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

                                                                                                Luke 6:31

Mother's Day 2014

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

                                                            -Abraham Lincoln

 

            I am not a professional writer. I went to school for a long time, but for other things. But, as in all my blogs, I have something to say-- certainly something about Mother's Day. I have never known anyone who could not talk about their mother. In a military hospital, every wounded man talks about his mother. Every homosexual boy talks about his mother-- I have never known a gay male to talk about his father. I am a world traveler, and have visited every continent. From one side of the world, to the other, one thing is constant, one unforgettable, inerasable, human emotion: mother-to-child, child-to-mother, love for each other. Skin color, age, sex, or economic standing makes no difference; love is always present.

            I was in the jungle of Rwanda, Africa, when I met a pregnant pigmy mother. She was holding one baby with one arm and another with her other hand. I said to her, "You are a wonderful mother." She understood, and I knew these were probably some of the only kind words she had ever heard.

            At Mt Hagen, in the highlands of New Guinea, at a Sing-Sing festival, to a pregnant mother, decked out in her bird-of-paradise feathers, holding twin babies, I said, "You are a marvelous mother." She understood. Every mother understands these words, and I use them often when I speak of her child: You have done a good job.

            In Africa, mothers, will walk for miles, with water jugs between them, or on their heads, searching for water for their children. I once made some women in India very mad. They nearly whipped me. In a land, where sacred cows get more concern than children, I said, "You see these peasant women heading to the fields, pregnant. She will squat in the field, have the baby, tie it into some cloth, put it onto her back as a papoose, and then continue working all day. There is nothing to having a baby, or motherhood."

            I am probably the only grandchild, paternal or maternal, who remembers my grandmothers. When my grandmothers were in their caskets, my mother in her casket, I always looked at their hands, hands that had cared for their children and grandchildren, hands that had cared for the sick, hands that had delivered babies, and laid out the dead. The poor people in the community, those unable to send for a doctor or undertaker, always called on my mother or grandmother to deliver the babies, to care for the dying or dead. 

            I was raised in Eastern North Carolina which was, in my childhood, a desert of poverty. Women worked in cotton mills, pushing looms all day long. I saw my own mother work all day, stringing green tobacco onto sticks, in order to make one dollar. One of my male employees told me about his mother, dragging him on a cotton picking sack, as she picked cotton. Most of us came from mothers/grandmothers who never knew the experience of a manicure, never experienced the shuffling of playing cards in a bridge game. These women never had their names on the society page, their names only in their obituary. They only knew hard work and hard times, always with the goal of expressing love which only a mother can show.

            Injustice in America has sunk as low as the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean (lowest depth of the Pacific Ocean). Bullies in costume, both on the streets and behind judicial benches, harass and make miserable the lives of tax paying, god fearing, hard working citizens as the criminals take over the streets. Political mediocrity has placed political hacks in positions of prominence (shackled to politicians, never do wells, they can only get jobs as political appointees, in liquor stores, post offices, and as magistrates of the law, where, in their own jurisprudence, they collect worthless checks, etc.) I was in one of these magistrate's offices, early one morning on some type of business. The magistrate said, "Doctor, I will be with you in a few minutes." An older white-haired couple sat in front of his desk. A young man, of about 18, was brought in, barefoot, handcuffed, and only wearing trousers. He was either a grandson, or a child of their old age. They were trying to bail him out of jail, putting up their house as bond. This irascible magistrate told them that they would have to get a real estate appraisal. I must get much older before I will ever be able to forget the sorrow in this mother's eyes.

            Most mothers I have known never knew about tattoos, would never believe that a mother would have an abortion, would never believe that two males, or two females, would marry. They would never believe that young beautiful faces, male or female, would submit to piercing of any type. The only piercing they knew anything about was the piercing of the side of our blessed Lord, in the presence of his mother. Yesterday, today, and forever, I wish I were able to express my feelings about many things, especially the God-given gift of motherhood. In a world of misinformation, government controlled deceit. Can any human mind think of anything more important than the God-given sense of motherhood. If only young people, raised in ghettos, could live on the farm and see the "mothering" of animals, a cat transporting a kitten in her mouth, chicks peaking out from under a mother hen's wings. Just think, more ghetto-babies are aborted than born.

            On a ship to the Arctic, I met a woman who had lost both breasts to breast cancer. She told me about her cosmetic surgery, the surgery building up tissue for breasts. She said, "I am so thankful that God spared me this tragedy until I could have my babies and breast feed them, give them the natural immunity which they so deserve." Jesus said that he had come that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) That abundant life comes to each of us by motherhood.

Your Future

Your Future

(The Four Part Process Leading to Sustainable Development  October 10th, 2009)

https://americanpolicy.org/2009/10/10/the-four-part-process-leading-to-sustainable-development/  

By Tom DeWeese  

So how is this wrenching transformation being put into place? There are four very specific routes being used.

In the rural areas it’s called the Wildlands Project. In the cities it’s called smart growth. In business it’s called Public/Private Partnerships. And in government it’s called stakeholder councils and non-elected boards and regional government.

The Wildlands Project was the brainchild of Earth First’s Dave Foreman and it literally calls for the “re-wilding” of 50% of all the land in every state – back to the way it was before Christopher Columbus set foot on this land.

It is a diabolical plan to herd humans off the rural lands and into human settlements. Crazy you say! Yes. Impossible? Not so fast.

From the demented mind of Foreman, the plan became the blueprint for the UN’s Biodiversity Treaty. So now the scheme is international in scope.

But how do you remove people from the land? One step at a time.  Let’s begin with a biosphere reserve. A national park will do. A huge place where there is no human activity. How about Yellowstone National Park? Then you establish a buffer zone around the reserve. Inside the buffer only limited human activity is allowed. Slowly, you squeeze until you squash that human activity.

Once accomplished, you extend the area of the biosphere to the limits of the former buffer area – and then you create a new buffer zone around the now larger biosphere and start the process over again. In that way, the Biosphere Reserve acts like a cancer cell, ever expanding, until all human activity is stopped.

And there are many tools in place to stop human activity and grow the reserve.
Push back livestock’s access to river banks on ranches. 300 feet ought to do it. When the cattle can’t reach the stream, the rancher can’t water them — he goes out of business. Lock away natural resources by creating national parks. It shuts down the mines — and they go out of business. Invent a Spotted Owl shortage and pretend it can’t live in a forest where timber is cut. Shut off the forest. Then, when no trees are cut, there’s nothing to feed the mills and then there are no jobs, and — they go out of business.

Locking away land cuts the tax base.  Eventually the town dies. Keep it up and there is nothing to keep the people on the land – so they head to the cities. The wilderness grows – just like Dave Foreman planned.

It comes in many names and many programs. Heritage areas, land management, wolf and bear reintroduction, rails to trails, conservation easements, open space, and many more. Each of these programs is designed to make it just a little harder to live on the land – a little more expensive – a little more hopeless. Now tell me how they can deny that the process is herding people into human habitat areas?

In the West, where vast areas of open space make it easy to impose such polices there are several programs underway to remove humans from the land. Today, there are at least 31 Wildlands projects underway, locking away more than 40 percent of the nation’s land (Dr. M: "87% of all land in Nevada is now federally controlled"). The Alaska Wildlands Project seeks to lock away and control almost the entire state. In Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana parts of North and South Dakota, parts of California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Texas, Utah, and more, there are at least 22 Wildlands Projects underway. For example, one project called Yukon to Yellowstone (Y2Y) – creates a 2000 mile no-man’s land corridor from the Arctic to Yellowstone.

East of the Mississippi, there are at least nine Wildlands projects, covering Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Watch for names of Wildlands Projects like Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Appalachian Restoration Project and Piedmont Wildlands Project.

The second path is called Smart Growth. After they herd you into the city, they have more plans for you in regimented and dense urban communities.

They put a line around the city and tell you no growth can take place outside that line. Urban sprawl, they say disdainfully. They refuse to build more roads as a ploy to get you out of your car into public transportation, restricting mobility.

(Dr. M: "It is almost impossible to do anything anymore without a license or permit.")

Because there is a restriction on space inside the controlled city limited there is a shortage of houses, so prices go up. That means populations will have to be controlled, because now there is a shortage of land.

Cities are now passing “green” regulations, forcing homeowners to meet strict guidelines for making their homes environmentally compliant, using specific building materials, forcing roof replacements, demanding replacement of appliances, and more. In Oakland, California, such restrictions, with compliance demanded in just a matter of a few years, will cost each homeowner an estimated $36,000. The Cap N Trade bill contains a whole section on such restrictions for the nation.

Third, inside the human habitat areas, government is controlled by an elite ruling class called stake holder councils.

These are mostly Non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, who, like thieves in the night, just show up to stake their claim to enforce their own private agendas. The function of legitimate government within the system will be simply to enforce the dictates of the councils.

The councils are unelected, but all powerful. They are controlled by a small minority in the community, but they are all powerful. They will make you ask permission (usually denied) for anything necessary to live in the community.

They destroy business. They dictate the number of outlets a business may have in a community, not matter what the population demands. For example, in San Francisco there can only be seven McDonalds. Period.

They can dictate the kind of building materials you can use in your home – or whether you can build on your property at all. Then, if they do grant a permit for building, they might not decide to let you acquire water and electricity for your new home – and they may or may not give you a reason for being turned down.

They can dictate that you get the proper exercise – as determined by the government. Again, San Francisco is building a new federal building – the greenest ever built. The elevators will only stop on every third floor so riders are forced to use stairs – for their own health, of course.
These councils fit almost perfectly the definition of a State Soviet: a system of councils that report to an apex council and then implement a predetermined outcome. Soviets are the operating mechanism of a government-controlled economy.

The fourth path is Public/Private Partnerships. Today, many freedom organizations are presenting PPPs as free enterprise and a private answer for keeping taxes down by using business to make a better society.

In truth, many PPPs are nothing more than government-sanctioned monopolies in which a few businesses are granted special favors like tax breaks, the power of eminent domain, non-compete clauses and specific guarantees for return on their investments.

That means they can charge what they want and they can use the power of government to put competition out of business. That is not free enterprise. And it is these global corporations that are pushing the green agenda.

For example, using government to ban its own product, General Electric is forcing the mercury-laden green light bulb on you, costing 5 times the price of incandescent bulbs. Such is the reality of green industry.

PPPs are building the Trans Texas Corridor, using eminent domain to take more than 580,000 acres of private land – sanctioned by the partnership with the Texas government. And PPPs are taking over highways and local water treatment plants in communities across the nation. PPPs controlling the water can control water consumption – a major part of the Sustainable Development blueprint.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the root of the “Free Trade” process and the fuel for PPPs between international corporations and government, thereby creating an “elite” class of “connected” businesses – or what Ayn Rand called “the power of pull.” Success in the PPP world is not based on quality of product and service, but on who you know in high places. To play ball in the PPP game means accepting the mantra of Sustainable Development and helping to implement it, even if it means going against your own product. That’s why Home Depot uses its commercials to oppose cutting down trees and British Petroleum advocates reducing the use of oil.
It is not free enterprise, but a Mussolini-type fascism that will only lead to tyranny. And it’s all driven by the Agenda 21 blueprint of Sustainable Development.

https://americanpolicy.org/2009/10/10/the-four-part-process-leading-to-sustainable-development/

Addition: Dr. Morris

Eight years ago, in one of my office buildings, I leased to a nest of these tree huggers. In the nest, was a group reclaiming all land possible, and that famous bird group National Audubon Society, and fellow travelers. These were, without a doubt, the most liberal-socialist people I have ever encountered. They hated everyone who did not agree with them and made a total mess of my property even though they had claimed to be environmentally friendly.

As you witness, first hand, the takeover of your country, by those who have not fired a shot, remember it is easy to enslave the passive- those who simply don't care, those willing to compromise, those who have forgotten their principles. Remember, Hitler's Nazi's did it first: Putting chemicals into the water supply (flourides/chlorides) to enable complacency.

Solitary Confinement

Tongue Can Tell

The love that Jesus had for me,
To suffer on the cruel tree
That I a ransomed soul might be,
Is more than tongue can tell!

His love is more than tongue can tell!
His love is more than tongue can tell!
The love that Jesus had for me
Is more than tongue can tell!

                                   

                                    -Jane E. Hall

            The reason why we are so sure of our faith is that after 2000 years on this side of the cross, the word of God found in holy scriptures, every act of goodness-kindness, absolute of intelligence, proves that the grace of God is the only matter that has withstood the test of time. For the unbeliever, enjoy the present-- this is as good as it will ever get for you. Technology has changed the world, but human nature has only worsened.

            When this writer walked into one of the marvels of the world, St Paul's Cathedral, London, there was a marble, life-size statue of Jesus. More than a statue, your new birth, the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, his righteousness, is the only thing that changes a life. If you do not have the new birth, if you have not the Spirit of Christ, you're none of His. (Romans 8:9) You must have His life, His energy. When you do, whether judicial or jury (often bigots and idiots are too stupid to know what they're doing), your attitude changes towards prisoners in jails, as well as prisoners in other facilities, and those in the solitary confinement of their own home.

            The feet of Jesus nourished the good earth around the Sea of Galilee, where He walked and preached Himself. The human mind can know the satisfaction and confidence of living with this spirit embedded-implanted  in your very existence. Your writer is a totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected, medical officer veteran.  I have become a cynical American, with good reason. The VA, the most inept agency of government, never provided this blind veteran with a white cane. 50 years ago, I asked the VA for a reading machine. This year, they finally provided me with a machine that reads audio books. Never have I enjoyed such a blessing. Why did not someone who professed an interest in my life and well fare, make those arrangements anyway. My favorite author of secular books is John Grisham. Perhaps because my son's mother was from Oxford Mississippi, where John Grisham also lived, and where he, like she, graduated from Ole' Miss. His judicial mind enthralls us with legal thrillers. Some of the characters, who are imprisoned (in factories for hate) tell us about solitary confinement and its total isolation from human contact, reading material, electronics (radios, TV's, telephones). Some stay in solitary confinement for years, and we expect them to maintain their sanity. It was learned long ago that babies without human contact die immediately. It was learned long ago that plants that have no contact with wind, and the natural things around them, will die immediately. Dr. James Dobson said on one of his programs that 89% of the elderly in nursing homes never have a visitor. Perhaps this is why they die within a few months.

            Every sheep needs a shepherd. We know that in sickness and death, we are very much alone, in solitary confinement. Just as critical are the disabled-- those of us who are blind, deaf, or crippled have a very lonely existence. Those of you who have been isolated by your opinions, should understand what it is like to be isolated by disability. "Out of sight, out of mind." In a world of carefree living, avoiding the negatives, there are many thousands of people who live publically acceptable lives, yet are ungodly. The public sees them as completely acceptable, and yet are very un-God-like in their attitudes. The two first men born in the world, to the two first parents, were Cane and Able. Able was acceptable to God, and Cane was not. Yet, Cane survived, and we are all descendants of Cane. Able sought to satisfy God, Cane wanted to satisfy his self-- and so it is, through the millenniums, and even until today. Do you ever feel in a state of solitary confinement in your value system? Your morals? Your beliefs? The grace of God extends to his own, a faith system based on actions, based on beliefs, and sustained by confidence. The separation from God is the wrath of God-- real solitary confinement. Those responsible for justice (government, law enforcement, judicial) will some day face justice. Those responsible for punishment, those so willing to punish others, even confine others to a solitary existence, will someday face punishment.

            One of my good friends wanted to teach his two sons about his faith in Christ, the grace extended to us by the sacrificial redemption of Christ. Most of us cannot conceive of what our blessed Lord endured. So, when His sons were to be punished, he would take off his shirt, remove his belt, and force his sons to beat him with the belt. He said, "I have never seen so many tears. They really understood what our blessed Lord did for us. It cured their sinfulness."

            Jesus knew solitary, aloneness. On the cross He showed His need for sharing His condemnation with another. He was crucified between two thieves and to one thief He shared His destiny.

And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."

                                                                                                            Luke 23:43

            Only in the gospel of Matthew, you find two blind men, pleading with Jesus for their sight. Only another blind person can understand sightlessness. Most trauma of the body or soul cannot be shared. No doctor has ever felt a patient's pain. No mother has ever felt another mother's disappointment. There are many things we must endure in isolation. The apostle Paul said, "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory." (Philippians 4:19) This promise is secure in isolation, in solitary confinement, or anywhere else. Many of us are often very alone in the midst of a crowd-- even around family members. Don't think you are abnormal-peculiar when others avoid you. All of my life I have felt alone because I was chosen by God to be different. I was never accepted by those who were indifferent to the value-system-character-savior entrusted to me. You realize this when you walk up to a group that stops talking when you get there. They know that you do not want to hear their dirty jokes, their fowl language. I still remember walking up to a group of men on the street in front of church, always talking about things other than what was happening in the building they were about to enter (ball games, politics, raunchy gossip). Often the pastor would be standing there with them, because he was one of them. I can still see these men, and even the pastor, smoking their cigarettes and throwing them to the street before they entered God's house.

            Jesus' first miracle, in Cana of Galilee, at a wedding, He, His mother, and His disciples were there. I remember Cana as being just a small-dusty, remote village. They ran out of wine, and Jesus' mother told the "servers," "Do whatever he tells you." They filled the 120 gallon water jugs to the brim-- not halfway, and without questions. The evolutionists would say that it took millions of years for the water to turn to wine, but those in attendance proclaimed that the best wine was served last. (John 2:10) AND so it should be with us, those who know and trust in the redemption of a Christ who rose from the dead. In solitary confinement, perhaps in solitary belief, in a solitary relationship with the creator of the world, we know the best is at last.