Garrote

(Choking)

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11 (KJV)

This writer could not tell you how many times he used the above verse when asked to pray in public places, even at the church house. In God's answer book, His manufacturer's handbook, everything tells us that good is upward, evil is downward among the many things with which we are daily choked, the bottomless ocean of information, addictions and heathen actions of our fellow man, cruelty of terrorism, in this post Christian world, what is there about me, and I am only responsible for me, that would attract people to Christianity, a saving knowledge of our Blessed Lord.

When we leave the church house on Sunday, do we actually take our faith into the workplace on Monday? Your government and society does not want you to do so. Prosperity is more than just making money. Barriers must be broken down in learning the best version of yourself and honoring Creator God. You are not stuck where you start. Everyday we learn of some individual, even in this post Christian world, who has honored the world with their lives. Read about Dr. Condoleeza Rice and her climb from the ghettos of Alabama. Learn about Governor Bobby Jindal and his rise from poverty into political relevance.

"But just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." (1 Corinthians 2:9)

In the post Christian world of regulations and controls, where Satan has been very effective in brainwashing the minds of even our children (television, state controlled education), the adventure of the Christian life is not very popular. Who needs God when you have the government? To the Germans, one of the most advanced civilizations on Earth, Mr. Adolf Hitler said, “The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.” In other words, 'I already have your children'.

In the struggles of living, at least in America, where 50% of the population still works for a living, the average family is choked with survival. You pay high taxes but still must home school your own children. You pay your taxes but still must compete with government subsidized competition. You pay your taxes but are still choked by licenses-permits-threats. You pay your taxes but law enforcement seems to favor the criminal. We all remember the song "Choices":

I've had choices since the day that I was born

There were voices that told me right from wrong

If I had listened, no I wouldn't be here today

Living and dying with the choices I've made

Responsible living has become a necessary task which offends the world. Even the Christian wants a "bell-hop" God, just available when you need him. Giving to God and our fellow man is just an add-on not a necessity. We think God and our fellow man appreciates our tips, government makes sure that the ne'er-do-wells live well, takes care of all their needs (health, housing, college grants etc.) so they can spend their money on their wants. A person with character chokes on the excuses of counterfeits, Satan has always paid off with counterfeits. Today's world is choking-struggling with counterfeit education, food products, even spirituality.

One of my cousin's widow, he had died unexpectedly, and shortly after that their son was killed in an automobile crash, told me of the way her pastor would visit her always bringing their conversations around to sex. She became so disappointed-disgusted that she stopped going to church. When she died, she asked that this pastor not have anything to do with her death. Jesus does not need cowards to carry his cross. 

That old wheel is gonna roll around once more

When it does it will even up the score

Don’t be weak: as they sew, they will reap

Turn the other cheek and don’t give in

That old wheel will roll around again

The Christian faith is 90% raw courage, we are not afraid to live and certainly not afraid to die. It is so important that we not become choked, even strangled, by the cares of this world. 

19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. Mark 4:19 (KJV)

It is not a choice, it is an obligation, to love as Jesus loved, because He told us to love one another (John 13:34). In our busy lives we forget to love one another, even our own friends and family. Recently, one of my friends told me about the death of his father. His father was dying in a hospice facility. He said, "I sat with him day after day. At the end, the nurse said to me, 'He's leaving us.' His limbs were getting cold. I reached over and kissed him on the forehead and walked out of the room. Now why did I not kiss him while he still had presence of mind? Why did I not tell him I loved him before he died?" You see, he had choked back the most important message-meaning of life, God, for God is love. 

Santa Has Come To Town

Forwarded from a friend...

READ THIS CAREFULLY.....

Did you receive your Medicare Handbook for 2015 yesterday? If you have already received yours in the mail please turn to page 12 and go down to the bottom of the page and read Find out what you pay for Medicare (Part A and Part B) . It states that the premium and deductible amounts were not available at the time of printing. It further states you may call 1-800-633-4227 to get the most up-to-date info.

I did just that and talked with a Medicare representative. She told me that they probably would not have those figures in until the end of the first week or possibly the second week of November.

Now, let that sink in!

As soon as she stated that to me I replied , "My, isn't that convenient for the Obama Administration to actually hold off on those figures until after the 2014 election results."

There was dead silence on the other end of the line. I told her thank you and that I would call back.

You see on our Social Security increase for next year we are only receiving an increase of around 1%. Even the military are getting just over 1%. You can bet after the November 4th election the increases for Medicare A & B will be greater than any 1%. That is why they are delaying what the increases will be. Because if they had put it in that handbook, any elderly would be voting against the Democrats.

So anyone voting for the Democrats in the forthcoming elections deserves to get the increases that are coming after November 4th.

Addition Dr. Morris: 

This totally blind, 100% disabled service connected, medical officer veteran of the Korean War era, could become very discouraged and depressed.

I never thought Obama would be elected president the first time, and certainly did not think he would be elected the second time. It seems that with the country in the condition that it is in, there would be no political competition at all in this election. Yet, we are told that $4 Billion has been spent on the midterm elections, November 4, 2014. In North Carolina, we are told that $100 Million has been spent on just the senatorial race. This is almost inconceivable. I voted yesterday. Arrangements have been made for early voting and the disabled can just drive up and a voting official comes out to handle the paperwork and ballots. It took almost one hour, the voting official was so inept when handling the votes cast by me and my driver, a state of complete confusion with the official. I just hope that my ballot gets counted. 

In my lifetime, there has been a total metamorphosis, the change in my country has been almost incomprehensible. It was just a few years ago that we were completely unfamiliar with the term "trillion". Now, my country is in debt over $17 Trillion AND when all future obligations and entitlements are considered the figure is nearly $70 Trillion... a debt that can never be repaid.

The word sacrifice is a very unpopular word. You never hear it anymore, not from pastors OR politicians. When I think of the sacrifices that have been made for my country, my own ancestors, one of North Carolina's first families to settle, what they sacrificed to build the homes, schools, churches. 

Those of us who have known those who have worn the uniforms realize men and women much better than us (over 165,000 buried on foreign soil), died thinking they were dying for the greatest experience in government and liberty the world has ever known. They would not recognize what has happened. My parents, grandparents, great grandparents (and I was fortunate enough to know mine, most children born in America today have no knowledge of their family), knew nothing but hard work and hard times... and they were land owners. I still think of the sharecroppers-tenant farmers-millworkers (particularly the black people who were subjected to every form of bigotry), the trials and tribulations they endured. Have our educators (particularly universities), have our pastors, have our politicians (elected and appointed) become so desensitized, so unconcerned in their thinking, so inconsiderate of history, that they are just willing to stand by and see a great nation just fail and fall, as did the Roman, Greek, and other civilizations?

For the Christian, even in America today, we take humble umbrage in the fact that greatness lies ahead for us, what could be better than heaven? For the unsaved, nothing is going to get any better in America or anywhere else.

Junkyard Dogs

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. - Psalm 24:1-4

Most "Christians" truly are Atheists. You can train a parrot to talk, or, like Edgar Burgen, most repeat phrases of "God-talk" like Charlie McCarthy or Mortimer Stern. I have found that most Atheists base their disbelief on the hypocrisy of Church-goers. They can always consistently point out the inconsistencies in the lives of others, particularly professing Christians. There are two things which Atheists cannot explain and to which most church members are indifferent... that God is the caretaker of planets, that God instilled in humanity a basic knowledge of good and evil. I don't care how much one does not believe anything, or whether he is a Jew-Muslim-Buddhist-Hindu or even Christian believer. One knows when one is doing acts of evil and one knows when one is doing acts of good. Before Noah's flood, there was such a breakdown, evil,  everyone doing what was right in his own sight, Genesis 6:5-6, that God decided to destroy them all, start over with one man and his family. Modern man, descendants of Ham, Japheth, and Shem, sons of Noah. 

Sin is bad in the eye,
worse in the tongue,
worse still in the heart,
but worst of all in the life!

Sin and punishment are linked together with chains of adamant!

The first step to mercy--is to see our own misery.
The first step toward Heaven--is to see ourselves near Hell.

Join the human family, even those who feed from the bread of life, we all have our doubts and fears. We have choices to make. One of God's greatest gifts to mere mortals, is freedom. This is something the world, flesh-devil, cannot understand. All he asks from the Christian is trust. Because we have not been willing to trust him, because we feel that Madison Avenue knows best, because we are even envious of the way unbelievers act-dress-talk, because we think we can fool Him-play games with him-that His place of worship is just a country club with a steeple because we feel He needs us more than we need Him, He will continue to tolerate our sin AND, since the world has difficulty differentiating between the believer and the nonbeliever, the world wants no part in our commitment. Christianity has even become despised, perhaps more despised than false religions. IF Christ were Lord of Life, those who trust him-His message-His redemption, would not be ashamed to share it with nonbelievers. The Christian church has become a civic club, much like other civic clubs, Rotary, Kiwanis, Civitan. It has become a place for fellowship, and perhaps some vocal harmonizing.

SO, the unbelieving world has decided that Christianity should be kept in their house of worship (WORTH-SHIP) obviously the Christian does not think much of its worth. So the world says, "Just keep your belief out of the marketplace-public square, just keep your belief out of the schoolhouse, courthouse."

Taxpayers pay for a chaplain to lead a Christian prayer at the beginning of each Congressional session, this has been done since 1777. The chaplain is paid and there probably are some Christian believers among the Congress. There have been Christian presidents in the history of our country. One has the right to suspect several, the communism of FDR, the language of Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson, the perversion of Clinton, the Sunni-Muslim traits of Obama, the New World Order feelings of both Bush 41 and 43. Most children would like to look up to the president of the United States. It was stated long ago that America would never be conquered through its oceans, that it would implode. Americans are the first society to vote enslavement. The first thing North Vietnam Communist leaders said when Saigon was taken from the Americans, "We must rid this city of American decadence."

We think of real sinners as having the morals and values system of a junkyard dog. There are no morals without God. Forgiveness is God-centered. Unbelievers do not believe in forgiving. Unbelievers want vengeance. "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." - Romans 12:19. Deceit is a large part of today's world. Long ago, lies became the DNA of diplomacy and good manners. Compromise is so easy. We forget that there are sins of omission as well as commission. How thankful the Christian should be that God, in his tender mercy, has forgiven us not only for our sins, present, past and future, but for all those sins which we are not aware.

God created the world and everything in it with perfection, with minimalism. Just a minimal distance separates the beautiful from the ugly, the perfect from the imperfect. There is a great price to pay when someone else possesses your thoughts... in conversation, or in print. The mystery of the world, what makes sin so delicious. We know that it is all in the mind, every sin, every grievance, starts there. Sin takes its toll, one never recovers. The sins we want to forget, we remember, the wonderful things we want to remember, we forget. Perhaps the greatest attraction of sex, health is sex... the inner reaction of male and female, brain chemistry changes.

Frank Sinatra once said, "I did it my way". We may think we did it our way but the omnipotent hand of God was always present. In this age of flight, think of one pilot not knowing the location of another plane... at take off, at landing, even in the vastness of the sky. The creator-designer of the universe, the caretaker of all the planets, is still in charge, still boss, whether you, as a mere mortal, trust him or not.

Bait in the Trap

Your cheatin' heart

Will make you weep

You'll cry and cry

And try to sleep

But sleep won't come

The whole night through

Your cheatin' heart will tell on you...

Your Cheatin' Heart - Hank Williams

A cowboy who has been bitten by a rattlesnake will flinch when he sees a piece of coiled rope. This writer's own father was bitten by a rattlesnake as a young boy, on our farm, on a path, at night, in a time of slow transportation-few doctors, he almost died. He knew the physical entrapment of an animal, I never knew him to not wear shoes outside again. Usually animals are caught by a trap of some type, usually through the seduction of bait. When Caesar crossed the Hellespont, eastern edge of the Mediterranean, after an African War, many of the strange animals which Europe had never seen, were caught and brought back to Italy in strange cages because they were caught in traps by bait, lions caught in large camouflaged dug-outs (We don't know how Caesar's famous giraffe was captured, this tall animal which was marched all the way from Rome to Paris with peasants lining the roads on both sides to see such a sight). Rats, order Rodentia, who have a genome just five percent away from Man (more recent estimates place the similarity at 97.5% of working DNA), species Homo Sapiens, do not have the mental ability to stay out of traps... nor does the rat's close relative man. Even a dog, caught in a steel trap, who had to eat away his own leg to escape the trap will get caught in a similar device again. Over and over, we see men fall into the entrapment of sin, not just sex or greed but the well known sins of pride, anger, envy, lust, gluttony, laziness. Men still try to find answers to their problems at the bottom of a bottle when they have seen so many destitute drunks. More and more, everyone becomes addicted earlier in life... addicted to sex, money, designer drugs, enticing foods, lifestyles of the rich and famous which they cannot afford.

It started with our first parents, Adam and Eve, placed in a garden of perfection, they chose the spirit of death instead of the spirit of life, the seduction of power. Satan and 30% of the angels in Heaven had been kicked out of Heaven by God because of the seduction of power. God set up his perimeters for man immediately, after all, he is boss, "Don't touch that tree." BUT, from that time until this day, man has an insatiable desire for power, ask any politician... so many low people in high places.

The world's greatest tragedy, men and women climbing the ladder of power and success, falling for any bait, even seducing and enticing others with bait, just to get to the top of the ladder. I have known so many who got there, just to find at the end of life that they had their ladder placed against the wrong building. "What is the profit of a man to gain the whole world only to forfeit his soul." - Mark 8:36

This writer, on the staff of a large army hospital, a two-star general dying of cancer said to me, "You are the only young officer with whom I can talk. In all my years of military achievement, many chaplains assigned to my units, not one ever spoke to me about my eternal soul." He related the torture of the military climb, which he knew I could understand. He related how his own wife had "circulated" herself at the officers club... to help him up the ladder of rank. He related how he had ignored his own children. He said, "Now, at the end of the line, I have nothing, except a soul condemned to Hell." He believed that he was condemned to Hell, never knowing that God had provided a plan of redemption-salvation for him... THAT HE WAS NOT CAUGHT IN A TRAP.

How careless to wait until the end of life to realize that you are the bait in the trap. Every day of life is a blessing but not one day can be guaranteed. Like the 300,000 species of plants, there are 900,000 species of insects, it is constant warfare to protect your plants from insects. Think of the species of germs that can permeate your body, kill without warning. Just one bolt of lightning has more heat that the sun. Surely you have seen how a lightning strike can vaporize a tree. "14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." - James 4:14. You may put on your socks this morning but the funeral director may take them off tonight. Don't get caught in the trap of planning too far ahead. Remember from God's operating manual (the Holy Bible), he tells us about one man, wealth management, "Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.""- Luke 12:18-19. 

Christianity is not complicated, just tough. I have watched too many so-called "Christians" just playing games with God. Most do not understand that we are on the battlefield. The famous writer C. S. Lewis, who came to Christ late in life, in one of his books "The Screwtape Letters", told how Uncle Demon was advising his young nephew demons, "These Christians do not realize that we are even around." Most Christians do not realize that we are at War, want to operate from air conditioned foxholes... powdered and perfumed, pampered, puffy pillowed pews. "Don't bother me about those stinking poor people on the outside." The spiritual world, like the secular world, has learned to just swallow anything. A drone can drop a bomb to kill one man, but we believe what they tell us when they say that they cannot drop munitions in the right place, give General Dynamics a check for $600 Million for more materials of war. We are flushed and blush at the young couple who kill their small baby a few weeks after birth, but just take in stride the millions of babies killed just before birth. One father was changing his tire, on a busy highway, his distraught daughter on the inside of the car said, "I want to change channels." We have several generations addicted to the magic of the talking box, that life is more fantasy than reality.

70% of the world's lawyers are in America. America imprisons more people than the rest of the world together, 25% of the worlds prison population is here in America. Yet, America is known as a Christian nation. We send more foreign missionaries to the far corners of the Earth than any other country. My only child and his wife were foreign missionaries for many years (now teaching at a seminary). They professed that America needs missionaries more than other parts of the world. When this writer was a child, we visited relatives, few had radios, television yet to be invented. I enjoyed hearing old people talk, in the home of one Aunt, there was a large ornate picture. The scene was an old home with people sitting on the front porch. Under the picture, these words, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." - Matthew 5:8.

For the world of sick care, the big three bringing most Americans to their death: heart attacks, cancer and stroke. Too many of us have heart trouble... the traps of life.

Masquerade Party

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. (Psalm 2: 1-7)

Oh, let us beg for grace to lie as clay in the hands of Infinite Wisdom

(Joseph Milner, 1780)

Resignation to the divine will is one of the last and highest attainments of the Christian life. It is what is ultimately to be aimed at, as essential to comfort here--and happiness hereafter.

The Scriptures, daily meditated on, will supply us with instruction.

When we have genuine love to God, we shall be led to such an acquiescence in His wisdom and goodness--that we shall choose His will to take place, rather than ours. And the thought of how soon all things shall be set right in eternity, and that He will make all things work together for our good in this life--will reconcile the mind to anything that God pleases.

You will not mistake me, I hope, as if I suppose all true Christians have learned all this lesson completely. Far from it! These things are learned but in measure, and not without much conflict and opposition from sinful nature all along, and much imperfection.

And though it is not easy to confine the Spirit's operations by rules--yet this seems the general order of Christian virtues:
1. repentance,
2. faith,
3. love,
4. sweet resignation to God's will.

In Christ Himself, this resignation was perfect, "Not My will, but may Your will be done!" (Luke 22:42), and as far as we can trust in Him for grace--so far we may receive grace out of His fullness.

Oh, let us beg for grace to lie as clay in the hands of Infinite Wisdom, who knows how . . .
to humble our pride,
to bend our proud wills, and
to conform us to the likeness of His beloved Son.

Addition Dr. Morris:

I still remember as if yesterday, worship service, First Baptist Church, corner of University and Franklin Streets, Chapel Hill. Of course I had come from the poverty of Eastern NC, dirt roads, no power or phone lines, blacks and whites eeking out of existence, treating one another with humility.

I was sitting behind Dr. J. T. Dobbins, one of my chemistry professors, four distinguished black citizens entered the church and took a seat. The white church went into an uproar, on this liberal campus, remember, this was in 1949. The pastor called a meeting of the deacons, these Black-Americans were probably visitors to the campus, wanted to worship God in a church. Dr. Dobbins turned around to me and said, "I wonder what would happen if Jesus walked in."

From then until now, it has been interesting to watch the hypocrisy of modern so-called religion... 20,000 denominations, each giving similarity of message. There is nothing as pitiful as a wasted life, nothing as sad as a life of pretense, especially, playing games with God. The caretaker of the planets, who has the very hairs on your head numbered (Luke 12:7), most certainly knows if you are serious about him. Someone told me recently that many church members, at a worship service (worth-ship) sit right there on the pews texting on their smartphones, reading messages on their cell phones.

The oldest form of make believe is acting... going into the character of someone else. In remote areas of the world, masks were used. This world traveler brought back masks from all over the world, even Dogon masks from Mali, masks from the islands of New Guinea. The walls of my den were at one time covered with masks (I have sold them on eBay). So, regardless of civilization, man has always been interested in pretending. As a young man, I enjoyed plays at the great Playmaker Theater in Chapel Hill, on Broadway and even locally at the oldest civic theater in this country, located here, Thalian Hall in Downtown Wilmington, NC. My grandparents said that there was nothing they enjoyed more than seeing children in the community, on the school house stage, dressed in crepe paper doing characters of make believe. There is a time when make believe should end. We yearn for the genuine, whether in the White House, in the State House, the local school house or local courthouse. We want real people with real values not low-life politicians in high-places, sunshine patriots and packaged preachers.

Rainmaker of Liberty

(A Veteran's Day Tribute)

"Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." - Aleksander Solzhenitsyn

This old veteran, old warrior (84), was chosen by God, not only for salvation, but to see the world... a world for which men have fought and died.

Ancient pagans as well as terrorists of the 21st century, axis powers of evil (Nazi and Asian Armies of WW2), and even the progressive Atheist in America, all think that the smoke from warfare, the sounds from warfare, have put so much smoke in God's eyes that he cannot see the horrors of war, that he has not turned up his hearing aid so he can hear the horrors of war. Men have always lived in a world where breeds of badness move in. Explaining the horrors of war is like explaining red to someone who is colorblind. And yet, we expect our young, sensitive children to return from war unscathed after having seen their best friends picked up piece by piece on the battlefield. There are more suicides among veterans than any other group of Americans. Across America, more people die from suicide than from car crashes... most of these are veterans. In the state of Oregon, where suicide is legal, over 1,000 people buy the suicide packets of prescription drugs each year. The suicide promotion campaign in America is called "Compassionate Choices".

Studying the history of wars, I have found that most start because people and nations are trapped by acceptance, sometimes without question, of the value system of others. In warfare, we invest in the enemy, strengths which they do not possess: 

16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. - Isaiah 59:16 King James Version (KJV)

In warfare, as in daily life, we often forget the real, thinking only of appearance. Pride is the beginning of every sin, nation or individual. Satan laughs when we plan, trembles when we pray. As we find in this marvelous verse Isaiah 59:16, God must "WONDER" why mankind, especially believing Christians, do not use the awesome power of prayer. All of my long life, I have heard people talk about "they and us". We are so afraid of the "theys" of this world. The "theys" are the tears which God sowed amongst the wheat... the weeds, destructive sinful forces of the world. I still remember the day my Daddy showed me the root structure of a weed... how it would choke the good plant. Many of us saw the destruction of weeds-munitions of warfare. AND, many, those who did not give the supreme sacrifice, came back to live with warfare. 

My Daddy's brother, called to the war in WW2, left a young wife on their farm. I can still see she and her younger sister hitching up the mules, bringing in the harvest; corn, beans, cotton. He was gone to war, there was no one else to do it. After the war, as well as while he was in the war, she worked in a hospital. Coming home, he, a disabled veteran, laying at home, she would take her lunch hour from the hospital and go home to feed him... get him to the bathroom etc.

To the uninitiated, everything is obscure, even war, even the Democratic way of life. In one of Stalin's Five Year Plans, Joseph Stalin, who slaughtered 50 Million fellow Russians to establish Communism, was at a Farmer's house on one of his trips through Russia, the farmer complained of controls, government regulations. Stalin said to the farmer, "Bring me one of your chickens." He took the chicken, jerking out all the chicken's feathers, then threw the chicken on the floor. The dazed-bloody chicken began to wobble around. Stalin said to the farmer, "Watch." In his hands, Stalin offered the chicken some grains of corn. The chicken gratefully ate the corn from Stalin's hand. The Russians, Chinese, Cubans, others, have fought for this way of life! This writer was asked to speak at an old veteran's funeral, I had known this truck driver for many years, a committed Christian, who left Christian tracts, a printed Christian message of salvation, across the Nation. The funeral was at Saint's Delight Holiness Church, a very large white clapboard church in a tremendous grove of oak trees out in the country. The church and the yard were filled with a tremendous crowd. I remember saying, unlike the person in the Jefferson Starship song, popular on the radio at that time, "This fine veteran knew from where he came, what he was fighting for in the south pacific."

When our Blessed Lord was laid in a cold, dark tomb, the enemy rolled a great stone and placed a seal. They paid soldiers with money to guard, making sure he would not escape. You see, often unbelievers know more than believers. His disciples, even his friends, were surprised at his resurrection... that first Easter morning. Even after the large sums of money paid the guards, pessimists-Atheists have said that the guards were asleep, certain death awaited any Roman soldier who slept while on guard duty. 

Many of us remember how little soldiers were paid in historic wars. Many of us remember the "pounding" of preachers (church-members bringing food for the pastor). Defending our Christian-Democratic way of life today, too many preachers on the golf courses, too many warriors using robots... and we think we will stay free. God's greatest gift, our redemption through his son, REAL liberty.

Living close to my own beach house (Wrightsville Beach, NC), my accountant and his wife were dog-sitting for his sister in their beach home. My accountant, graduate of the Naval Academy, retired naval officer, one of the finest men I have ever known. The dog acted up, Jane took the dog outside, a distraught woman ran down their pier. A woman had fallen into the sound near the ocean from their boat. My accountant, Michael Brown, grabbed his flashlight, at age 67, ran down to his kayak and went paddling out into the water, searching. Law enforcement rescuers had not arrived. The tide was moving out. Michael, almost totally deaf, with his flashlight, spotted the floating body. He could not get her into his kayak, but jumped in the water and swum to the shore with her. After the rescuers got there, she was revived and is still alive. GOOD NEWS, THERE ARE STILL REAL MEN WHO MAKE REAL DECISIONS.

Whoopsie or Woopty

"Confuse the meaning of words and you can confuse the mind." - Vladimir Lenin

Remember, George Orwell once said, "If you want to know your future, think of a large boot stomping you into the ground." In the daily trials of life, just living, and we all say this to God real often, "Do my prayers mean anything?" We think with every newspaper headline, every news broadcast, how can things get any worse? Our national and personal financial condition, warfare in the Middle East, another global epidemic from Africa... this time Ebola. The almost daily encirclement of our ideas of decency and integrity by picayunes, low life people in high places.

Remember, when our Blessed Lord was on this Earth, God, Himself, who created the Earth and everything in it, as his feet nourished the dirt around the Sea of Galilee, one-third of the world's population were slaves and most of the people around him were ruled by hypocrites using the judgment of religious laws.

Even Satan told Jesus, that if He would bow down and worship him, that he would give him the entire world:

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4:8-10)

Jesus knew how to put Satan in his place. From the garden, when our ancestors, Adam and Eve chose the spirit of death instead of the spirit of life, Man has bowed down to Satan. We have bowed down to Satan in our homes by what we see (television, computers, and other technological advances), by what we hear (music with every vulgarity to which the demonic world admires), abusing our bodies with tattoos and piercings, our digestive-metabolic systems with every toxicity of man's composition, the usage of drugs, pornographic images, conversations with rotten language which children love to imitate. And then, we have the audacity to think and say, "Why does God allow bad things in the world?"

I remember one of my lawyers saying, almost in every sentence, "This is not a perfect world." He wanted to justify all injustice, criminality by imperfection. I remember one of my secretaries, every time she was corrected about anything, she would say, "I am not perfect." The fact that the world and everyone in it isn't perfect, doesn't satisfy-justify our doing the best of which we are capable. I have expressed more times than I can count, "You do the best with what you have." Everyone does not have a high I.Q., the most beautiful Rose comes from a thorn bush. The thorns do not lessen the beauty of the flower.

Would it not be wonderful if every human being had perfect features? What the world considers as beauty, good looks, is usually a matter of millimeters... the small or large distance between the eyes, the small or large length of the nose, the small or large proportions of the chin, and with most men and women, their hairline. Life is often measured with a second hand of the watch, a few seconds from or before a fatal crash. One's future is often measured by one or two numbers on a lottery ticket. A great piece of music is often judged successful by one or two notes, a book by a few choice words, a canvas painting by an unusual color or stroke combination.

103 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

From nothingness to somethingness, God created everything. IT IS HIS BUSINESS, none of our business, WHAT HE CHOOSES TO DO. Be thankful that he drew you to Him, chose you to honor and serve Him, without reservations, no questions asked, a free gift of love, a blank check.

I do not understand why some of us were born in poverty, not good-looking, not real smart, not real clever. The great consolation, the reason for my discipleship, he loved me anyway... with all my warts, scars, bitterness, imperfections.

Having traveled the world, I do not understand the inequities such as the dark-poor-undeveloped continent of Africa, with all its undeveloped resources, which is now coveted by the industrialized world. 300 years ago, the North American continent would have been coveted by an industrialized world... with all our natural resources, from shore to shore.

In that desert, in that temptation, Satan showed it to Jesus, a world of bounty (particularly America), fields of great crops, store shelves filled with food and other goods, technological conveniences to make living easy and yet Man, unlike the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), has found he has a taste for hog slop, instead of the good food-redemption-forgiveness at his Father's house.

Get A Move On, Outside

O there’s sunshine, blessed sunshine,

While the peaceful, happy moments roll;

When Jesus shows His smiling face

There is sunshine in my soul.

Low vitamin D levels linked to increased disease disability in optic nerve damage
Posted on September 13, 2014 by Vitamin D Council

A new study has found that patients with neuromyelitis optica have lower vitamin D levels than healthy controls and that low vitamin D levels are associated with an increase in disease related disability.

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a medical condition in which the optic nerve and spinal cord become inflamed and damaged. NMO has many different causes, with no known cure. Certain cases of NMO can be considered an autoimmune disease when the immune system mistakenly attacks a protein that the body makes.

There is an extensive amount of scientific literature that shows patients with autoimmune diseases have lower vitamin D levels and that within these patients, lower vitamin D levels correlate with increased disease related disability and disease activity.

Therefore, researcher working out of the United Kingdom and South Korea wanted to investigate the relationship between autoimmune NMO, vitamin D status, and disability related to NMO.

They collected blood samples from 51 autoimmune NMO patients and 204 healthy controls and compared the vitamin D levels between the two groups.

The researchers then recorded the disease related disability in NMO patients by using the expanded disability status scale (EDSS). EDSS is a method of quantifying disability in NMO patients.

Results showed vitamin D levels were significantly lower in NMO patients compared to healthy controls and that vitamin D levels were negatively associated with EDSS scores, meaning patients with lower vitamin D levels had greater disease related disability.

“It remains to be determined whether low vitamin D levels predispose to NMO and/or modify disease severity, or are secondary to neurological disability. In either case the results could also be of relevance to other neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis as well as NMO,” the researchers concluded.

The researchers call for future studies that administer vitamin D supplementation to patients with NMO and see how it affects the development of the disease.

Source

Min, J. et al. Low Levels of Vitamin D in Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder: Association with Disease Disability. PLOS ONE, 2014.

Addition Dr. Morris:

The more I study health, supplements, holistic care the more I realize the importance of sunlight in my life.

In my lifetime, human beings have moved inside and there is more sickness than ever before in history. Children no longer choose to play outside in the sun, rather, to stay inside with air conditioning, video-board games, television. Even when the fortunate ones go to the beach, parents instead of using some control over their sunlight dosage just cover their bodies with sunblock. The body needs vitamin D, essential in the battle of every disease from Alzheimers to Diabetes, and the best source of vitamin D is God's great provision of sunshine.

There was also a time when the elderly would sit outside in the sun enjoying not only sunshine but fresh air. I wish I could go to one nursing home where the patients were treated to a daily exposure to real sunlight. It does no good at all to sit behind sunlight filtered by glass or plastic. During the winter months, usually November through March, the body starves for sunshine. People below the 34th parallel, say, Atlanta, Georgia, enjoy much more sunlight than those in the northern climes. But, as always, in this time of big pharma-big medicine, making big bucks from big sicknesses, like your food intake, like exercise, like abuse from alcohol, your doctor will seldom mention these subjects to you. Healthcare people (doctors, hospital CEO's) do not buy houses on "pill hill", do not have several Mercedes in the driveway, from the resources of healthy people. The longer I live, the more I am convinced that God provided every chemical found in edible food that we need for good health. The body has a remarkable ability to heal itself, if it gets the right raw materials... nourishment. The colorful vegetables growing in your garden, just as the colorful flowers (colors beyond mans ability to duplicate or describe) are in vegetables because God, who created it all, knew the exact formula-calculation needed between Earth's elements, Earth's water supply and Earth's sunlight. Exercise is essential for health, metabolism of everything going on in God's chief creation. Get a move on, outside, in the sunlight!

Don't Panic, Wash Hands

In every life we have some trouble

When you worry you make it double

Don't worry, be happy

-Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry, Be Happy

More dangerous than any nuclear bomb, more debilitating than any sabotage of the nation's electric grid: biological warfare.

To the uninitiated, everything is obscure: dumbed down public school systems, the satanic acquisition of our values system, the need to "just be happy," if it feels good, do it. Our broken culture is ripe for a public health disaster. This army medical officer, was assigned to staff the army hospital at Fort MacClellan, Alabama. One of my first orders, after a few days there, to inspect the hospital. Now I was a brash, ambitious first lieutenant and I thought when the commander told me to inspect the hospital, that was what he meant.

So, with tissues in my pockets, I inspected the hospital from stem to stern. Really, if a hospital is not clean, what can you expect from other places? As a poet said, "If gold rusts, what do you expect iron to do?" In the wards, I found brooms in the closets. I said to the ranking Sergeant, "what are these brooms doing here?" He said, "We sweep the floors." I said, "You do not sweep floors in a hospital, you mop them. You do not do anything in a hospital which disturbs the microbiology harboring there."

In the mess hall, I found there was no soap in the washrooms. I said to the mess officer, "It is essential that cooks keep their hands clean, especially after using the toilet." Checking the coffee urns was like checking the urinals in many bathrooms. Everything was a matter of neglect. I will not go into detail into everything, but my report went all the way to the Pentagon AND the Army almost closed down that hospital. I can assure you I did not win any popularity contests there. The mess officer never spoke to me again the entire time I was there.

I persuaded one of the housekeepers, in a local hospital, responsible for cleaning the rooms to stick a piece of tissue on the handle of commodes in various rooms and areas in the hospital, because, she had told me that the handles of the commodes, unlike the seats and tops, were never cleaned. Just think of it, every person, regardless of disease using toilet paper and then putting their hands on that handle. One after another. Then and there, I decided and talked about such on the radio, "If one wants to go into the most dangerous place on Earth, go to an American hospital. If you do not die while you are there, perhaps you can escape and come home."

It was learned long ago that the owner of a restaurant should stay close to his cash register. Have you ever watched the owner of a cash register making change, fiat bills holding on themselves every disease known to man (money is the dirtiest thing in the world), and then immediately reaching over and touching someones plate or glass or some other form of service. The dirtiest item in a restaurant, the one item that has caused more disease than all microbes found in food served, the salt and pepper shakers. Most are never washed, handled by everyone. In a time of fast food, when every minute and penny determines the bottom line, customers are expected to care for themselves. When you find a "sticky" table, you can well imagine how many microbes you are eating.

With all our knowledge of bacteriology, epidemiology, and other public health statistics, we seem to go backwards instead of forwards. More people sick now from more strange diseases than ever before. When the military decided they could no longer utilize a mostly blind medical officer, I was retired. Still young, ambitious, having spent most of my life preparing for my profession, one doctor asked me to come in and work with him, just doing the things I was able to do. I spent a few hours in his office observing. This "old schooled" practitioner, who attempted to treat everything, would have his hands in one patient's mouth and go directly to another patient's eyes. I never saw him wash his hands. The most dangerous body parts God created, those things at the end of your arms, your hands. They are so magnificent when coordinated with your eyesight, can accomplish intricate surgery, create wonderful music on an instrument, when used for caressing can give comfort to the sick and dying, BUT, indiscriminately handling doorknobs, stair rails, and anything else one needs to touch, can distribute more microbes than any warfare biological laboratory. There will be an Ebola vaccine because we know how vaccines have "wiped out" pneumonia, influenza and many other contagious diseases. There are more deaths from flu now than ever and Ebola, like flu, will mutate and strew itself all around the nation.

No, there is no need to panic, panic will not do anyone any good. Yes, it is good to wash your hands very often but there is nothing to replace common sense, and there is so little common sense. Get over this idea of political correctness-discrimination-racism, when an epidemic of any type breaks out anywhere, survival depends on control. I was raised on an eastern North Carolina tobacco farm, and so was my father and his father. We did not have any of the conveniences of the world. Mostly self-sufficient. My father said that in all his years on that farm, other than a school bus or a mailman, he had never seen a government agency vehicle of any type on that road where all three generations had lived, such as law enforcement, public health, help of any type in a time of disaster such as a tornado. Young people have matured thinking that calling "911" will solve all of their problems. Hard times bring out the best in the human psyche. The Christian church under persecution in Communist China, has grown faster than the Christian Church with all the Democracy of Taiwan.

Shade Trees

Psalm 63:3 King James Version (KJV)

3 Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

Trials no less than comforts--are the tokens of God's love. All is regulated by His infinite wisdom. You will find cause to praise Him even for the severe afflictions.

Cisterns must be broken--but the fountain of living waters is always full and always flowing!

Gourds must wither--but the tree of life has shade and fruit sufficient for us all, and at all times!

Creatures must die--but the Lord lives!

Creatures are like candles; while they burn--they waste away; and when they are extinguished, those who depend upon them are covered with darkness. But the Lord is a Sun to His people, and His bright beams of consolation can well supply the lack of the candlelight of creature comforts!

"I know, O LORD, that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. May Your unfailing love be my comfort." Psalm 119:75-76

At a meeting of Christian friends recently, I asked the question, "In my writings, do you object that I mix current events into God's word and God's message?" I do not want the cross of our Blessed Lord to become a BULLETIN BOARD on which we pin all our frustrations, our wants, needs and fears. The poet has written, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." God knows all about my disability, the frustrations I go through in just living, much less getting things done. He knows what I go through with repairs on buildings, the daily challenges of running a business. I do not believe God objects to my asking him to assist me in keeping all those A/C units running in rental properties, finding people to work on buildings. I ask him, with humility, to keep water pipes from bursting, electrical wiring from wearing out. When you are blind, you must depend on other's eyesight to advise you about everything. I have found, over the years, that most of my employees do not inform me about anything because they know I might tell them to "take care of it". Everyone just wants to go through the motions in order to get a paycheck. With everything in life, not just my frustrations, every person who is productive, those on whom the employer must depend (no person can run a business by himself) must realize that cheating the one who pays you, in any way possible, leads to your spending a life walking around with a bag with holes in it, Haggai 1:6 "You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes." God is a perfect accountant. Living a life of integrity is not complicated, just tough, regardless of your position on the ladder. You can be sure that you will not go very far up the ladder, even working for someone else, when you have no investment-risk involved you lose sight of all honesty. If sighted, you see yourself in the middle.

I come from a time before air conditioning, even electric fans. We so prized shade trees that around our old country home where both me and my father were raised, were eight giant oak trees. They had been planted by my great grandfather. These great trees gave shade during the hot summer months. I still picture the shade trees in the pasture, where the cows and mules found shade from the hot sun. Under shade trees, one of the rewards of relief from hard work that instilled in many of us, life's character.

In my lifetime (84), people just want comfort, can no longer appreciate the escape from hardships and trials. We always knew that working in the hot sun would result in rest under the shade trees. In a day, I am told, where people ride around in air conditioned cars with an ice drink in one hand and a cell phone in the other, music blasting from a radio, government handouts and subsidies, no shame or concerns about anything, WHO NEEDS GOD?

My parents were children during the Great 1918 Flu Epidemic when one hundred million people died around the world. God warned us to beware of the little foxes. Song of Solomon 2:15 King James Version (KJV): "15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." We have so many little foxes called viruses, that are spoiling everything. There are no cures for viruses. I understand China is concocting new, better armed viruses for biological warfare. You see, in biological warfare, just life is destroyed, the enemy keeps all the wealth of buildings and THINGS. I still remember my grandmother telling me about the death of Aunt Caddy, my great Aunt for whom my own mother was named. Aunt Caddy was the teacher at the two room school, which all the children in the community attended. When she got the 1918 Flu, my grandmother said Aunt Caddy heard them building her coffin in the barn because everyone knew when they got that flu that they would soon die. Dr. Hayes who was brave enough to venture into the community, died from the flu. With all of our knowledge and comfort, let us not forget the shade tree of salvation, redemption which God has provided for his own.

Fool's Gold

Jeremiah 32: 17-18

17 Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

18 Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name.

The Earth does not wobble at the death of one man. The earth does not go off its axis at the death of one million men. Although men, their personalities are the best God has to offer. Like Fool's Gold, fakery, God must be greatly embarrassed by many of us (The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold, hence the well-known nickname of fool's gold. A real pretender but has no real value.)

For many years, this writer owned a very fine condo apartment on Manhattan's East Side. I was never a New Yorker, never felt like a New Yorker, always lived and maintained my homes in the south, but since I could afford this extravagance, and since it was an excellent launching pad for my world travels, at an energetic-enigmatic time in my life when I was truly concerned with personal-egotistical advancement, this pied-a-terre served me well. I lived on Beakman Place by the United Nations... on the corner, just across the street from the South Korean embassy, just across the street from famed composer Irving Berlin. I enjoyed "hobknobbing" with the elitists in this area of the city, although I was not one of them (I, too, can act-pretend, I felt I was stranded on an island of sanity in a sea of heathenism, these diplomats had a right to their lifestyles. I was flirting with Fool's Gold).

Among my several philanthropic causes, the New York-based Volunteer Services for Children (an organization that provides shelters for homeless children). I was attending a meeting of the national group at the Hilton hotel on Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Ave.), though completely blind, I had no difficulty getting to the building, up the escalator, into the correct assemblage. But, during the meeting, going to the Men's room, I became disoriented and wound up in another meeting. Of course, I dress well, can fit into any group. The meeting into which I ventured was a group of communist union workers. They were having coffee and donuts and one man invited me to join them, actually brought me a cup of coffee and a donut. Several talked with me and since I had on my veteran's DAV cap, with my rank, insignia and medical caduceus, attracted much attention. I guess they thought I was one of them. Later, men on either side, invited me to join another scheduled meeting in another part of town. One said, "Gus will be there." Of course, he was talking about Gus Hall, chairman of the American Communist Party. Always seeking a new adventure, I got right in the taxi cab with them. The meeting was held on the West Side of Manhattan in a large warehouse-type building. Unaware why they had invited me, probably thinking I was a very disgruntled American. During the meeting, they discussed burning down my country, that with the winds just right in the city it was a matter of cigarette lighters lighting curtains or bedspreads from an open window. They pointed out that snipers would shoot out the tires of all firetrucks. "That in a matter of minutes, most cities would have fires, particularly in old, historic wooden buildings, that would burn an entire city to the ground." This is what the communist had in store for us... even fifty years ago. Can we even imagine what enemies have in store for my country with today's radical groups, armed biologicals, nuclear suitcase bombs? It should be evident to anyone with an IQ above their shoe size that the enemy is invading... across the borders, through every airport terminal. IF, with missiles on top of the White House, sharpshooters and guards around the White House, one man can climb the fence, run across those large plush grounds, get inside our nations home of the president through an unlocked front door, traverse most of the mansion, perhaps the NSA, IRS, CIA, FBI insteal of lowly Americans should spend more time on that type of security. In a time of drugged bureaucrats and political low-lifes (very low men and women in very high places), can there be hope for the survival of hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing citizens. In recent warfare, since WW1, 90% of all casualties were civilians. The bureaucrats have underground tunnels, most of our men in uniform have weapons but for the rest of us, good luck.

God does not blame anyone for jumping out of a burning building but we all have a hunger for life. We need to get this matter of guilt and shame corrected in our thinking. Babies murdered in the abortion process, kicking and squirming before birth, are anxious for life. Perhaps the female, married or unmarried, who is the only one blessed by God to give birth is ashamed to be an unwed mother, but most victims of abortion would tell you that this is nothing compared to the guilt involved in taking that life. Do we actually think that a holy God of justice will allow a nation so blessed, as has been America, to kill 53 million babies just since the infamous supreme court decision of 1973. To allow a greedy military industrial complex to manufacture weapons that have destroyed so many lives in so many countries, that has provided the God-given chemicals and knowledge to conjure the illegal designer drugs which have left so many lives in shambles. Technology which has brought the worst man can offer into every home (pornography, desensitization to violence) and then think that we will escape, even the Christian's have a responsibility for not allowing the Christian message to be polluted by the Madison Ave. culture and designs of the world.

Technology has made life much better for all of us, but human nature has not changed. We are so busy chasing after fool's gold, the fakery of this world. Perhaps the two matters that bother me most, in regards to dealing with my fellow man. I cannot stand the public spanking of a small child. Give any child, particularly your child, the personal privacy even from a very early age of private discipline. The other traumatic matter at the other end of life, most of the time, the public display of a dead body (remember I did not say a person, I said a body). If a Christian, the person in a far better place, would not return. For the unsaved, death is truly death, emotional scar tissue. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. This is real gold.

Thinkism

Proverbs 23:7King James Version (KJV)

7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

There are many -isms that should be -wasms. Socialism, Communism, Nazism, Fascism, even Nihilism. Genus Homo (Human Being) is the only member of the animal kingdom who has the ability to think-reason-make predetermined decisions. In my lifetime (84) I have personally seen human beings dumbed down by a secular-state news media who are determined to do all of the thinking for you. We call such, "Stinking Thinking." Satan is in control of such thinking, it should be very obvious to anyone with an IQ above their shoe size. Madison Ave., the world, flesh devil, would have you believe that government knows best... that government knows best with your values judgment, political correctness, the necessity to be popular. There was a time we called such "controls" brainwashing. We have seen the cheapening of life (abortion, euthanasia), the greatest gift in God's creation. It is beyond the comprehension of this writer, one who has spent his entire life in science and healthcare. That those who should know the "magnificence" of the human body, even a rudimentary knowledge of epidemiology, could not with certainty COMPREHEND THE HORRORS OF A VIRUS.

June 20, 2014: The Centers for Disease Control sign is seen at its main facility in Atlanta, Georgia. (Reuters)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on Tuesday that a patient being treated at a Dallas hospital has tested positive for Ebola, the first case diagnosed in the United States.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas officials said in a statement Monday that an unnamed patient was being tested for Ebola and had been placed in "strict isolation" due to the patient's symptoms and recent travel history.

Presbyterian Hospital says it's taking measures to keep its doctors, staff and patients safe.

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said that the patient arrived in Texas from Liberia earlier this month and exhibited no symptoms. The patient sought care last Friday and has been hospitalized in isolation since the weekend. Frieden said that officials don't believe there is any risk to anyone who was on the flight at that time.

State health officials say no other cases are suspected in Texas.

The hospital had announced a day earlier that the patient's symptoms and recent travel indicated a case of Ebola, the virus that has killed more than 3,000 people across West Africa and infected a handful of Americans who have traveled to that region.

The CDC has said 12 other people in the U.S. have been tested for Ebola since July 27. Those tests came back negative.

Four American aid workers who have become infected while volunteering in West Africa have been treated in special isolation facilities in hospitals in Atlanta and Nebraska, and a U.S. doctor exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone is under observation in a similar facility at the National Institutes of Health.

The U.S. has only four such isolation units but the CDC has insisted that any hospital can safely care for someone with Ebola.

According to the CDC, Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus.

Jason McDonald, spokesman for the CDC, said health officials use two primary guidelines when deciding whether to test a person for the virus.

"The first and foremost determinant is have they traveled to the region (of West Africa)," he said. The second is whether there's been proximity to family, friends or others who've been exposed, he said.

U.S. health officials have been preparing since summer in case an individual traveler arrived here unknowingly infected, telling hospitals what infection-control steps to take to prevent the virus from spreading in health facilities. People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but symptoms can begin up to 21 days after exposure. Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.

God wanted me to sense the world. Though sightless, I could smell, hear and understand matters that were described to me. I remember going to the hospital on Easter Island, not one patient in the hospital, so careful were these people in keeping an island of healthiness-righteousness in a sea of paganism and disease (an island five hundred miles off the coast of South America in the Pacific Ocean). In my eight around the world trips, I found that in many countries, anyone even suspected of a disease was isolated... prohibited from entering their country. I saw a large group isolated in Israel. With all this so-called scientific competence of America, we would dare allow disease to enter, via airports overnight. In most of the world, there are few hospitals, fewer nursing homes etc. The people have an acquired immunity to most diseases they come into contact. Plus, they do not live such sanitized-sterilized lives.

I was in almost every African country, will never recover from their sick-care system. What was called a hospital, a building with mats on the floor... families outside cooking on open fires (I will never forget all that smoke). Themselves cooking for and taking care of their loved one in the so-called hospital. It's just the grace of God that most people do not succumb to any disease in these places. But, is it any better here? We allow just about anyone to enter at our airports... the mad rush to just get through and grab a cab. Anyone, when ill, difficulty in getting diagnosed, visitors in and out of the hospitals bringing in on their shoes, clothing, every type of germ. Anyone ill enough to be in the hospital, should not have visitors. This writer was astounded at a local hospital, actual carpeting in corridors, draperies on windows, stuffed chairs in rooms. It would seem that the "scientist" managing these facilities were attempting to harbor every germ possible. But of course, big pharma, big medicine, big sick-care staffing, big houses on "pill hills", do not get rich from healthy or dead people, only sick people. The objective is to keep as many people sick as possible, keep everyone taking as many medications as possible. This is the reason America spends more on sick-care than any other nation, why there is never a cure for anything... ONLY TREATMENT. As it spreads, and it surely will spread, people and projects will get rich from Ebola.