Mark is telling us that once the Lord Jesus has begun his public ministry he was soon under pressure. There were the Herodians and the Pharisees who were watching his every move and were plotting to murder him. So the Lord chooses to move away from his little home in Capernaum and go to the lakeside, presumably sleeping under the stars with his disciples. But there is no escape from the people who want to see him. At the lakeside he is cornered, the focus of vast crowds, maybe tens of thousands of men and women, all anxious to meet him, many of them wanting to be healed. They gather from all points of the compass, from Judea, Jerusalem and Idumea in the south; from the regions across Jordan in the east; from around Tyre and Sidon in the north, and of course from Galilee in the west. Some have walked hundreds of miles to be there; Jerusalem itself was a hundred miles away, and the other places mentioned are much further. Mark's gospel has begun with a description of John the Baptist's ministry and how the crowds went out to him from Judea and Jerusalem. Mark is telling us that they came from much further afield to see the Lord Jesus because the greatness of the King must excel the greatness of his herald.
No publicity machine has been needed; the grapevine has been so effective. The crush is frightening as the crowds press in and in, "pushing forward to touch him" (v.10), so much so that our Lord is in physical danger. He is forced right back to the water's edge and one of the disciples – maybe Peter the fisherman – has a small boat ready to take Jesus away if the surging crowds actually push him into the lake. Today bodyguards have a car at hand with the engine running. Then there were no police and no one martialling the multitudes. So the Lord was under pressure, and the main reason people came flocking to him from everywhere was because he was able to heal the sick. The story had got around that there was an amazing person in Galilee who could cure anyone of anything. That had caused this excitement. Life expectancy was short, medicine was primitive, some doctors were excellent (according to their light and ability), but there was only so much that they could do. The possibility of healing an incurable illness by a man who lived a few days' journey away brought the masses along. As healthy people walked there they passed the blind, the deaf, sick children and some being carried by friends: they were all on their way to Galilee to be cured by Christ. Not a denarius had been spent on advertising, but thousands knew about him because the bush telegraph had been so effective. The whole place was being overrun; Christ was hunted down remorselessly by this pack of people.
So the Lord Jesus had begun his preaching a few months earlier by telling people that the rule and power of God – his Kingdom – was near, and then Christ manifested the actual presence of the Kingdom in this eruption of healing miracles. These signs and wonders couldn't be ignored. No one could close their eyes to all that was happening. It was absolutely gripping news, even to people who lived far from Galilee. When women went to the well to draw water or men gathered at the city gates in the evenings this was the theme on everyone's lips, "Did you hear what Jesus of Nazareth did yesterday?" In one place Dr Benjamin Warfield makes this classic observation: "Disease and death must have been almost eliminated for a brief season from Capernaum and the region which lay immediately around Capernaum as a centre. No wonder the public mind was thrown into a state of profound perturbation, and, the enthusiasm spreading, men flocked from every quarter to see this great thing, questioning with one another what it all meant" (B.B.Warfield, "Works," Volume 3, p.175).
At the same time the Lord was confronted with another source of opposition. Not now the scribes and Pharisees and Herodians but the demons and the kingdom of darkness. The crowds who harassed and pressed in on Christ contained many people who were possessed with evil spirits, and these people were falling down in the presence of Christ and shouting out, "You are the Son of God." (v.11). Christ was filled with the Spirit, and by the Spirit he was healing, and as he was engaged with men at that sort of level then these unclean spirits were drawn like hornets to him.
1. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MIRACLES OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
How important are the miracles of Christ? Would Christianity be more sensible and believable to the man in the street in Aberystwyth if we never mentioned them? Many believe that, in and out of the professing church. They say, "In past ages people were less scientific and more gullible, and that made it easy for them to believe in miracles. But in our scientific age, we're not so easily persuaded. We know that miracles are impossible." My own conviction is that the exact opposite to that is true. We live in an age in which anything is believed. Millions try to make contacts with the spirits of the dead; others sit under glass pyramids; they read their horoscopes each day, think Elvis Presley is still alive, believe in aliens coming from outer space who abduct people, see visions, read crystal balls, and believe in all kinds of miracles. That is the age we live in, whereas Jesus lived amongst very shrewd and sensible country people not bamboozled by the media as our civilization is.
As David Feddes nicely says, "Let's get real. The people back then may not have had all the scientific information we have, but they knew where babies come from. They knew people don't walk on water. And they knew that dead people stay dead. When Mary got pregnant with Jesus, how did Joseph react? Did he say, 'Hmm, another virgin birth – happens all the time'? Joseph didn't need a Ph.D. in biology to know where babies come from. He figured Mary must have been with another man, and he decided to break their engagement. Only after an encounter with an messenger from God did Joseph change his mind and accept that Mary was a virgin and that the baby she was carrying was a miracle child.
"When Jesus' disciples were out in a boat in the middle of a storm and saw him walking toward them on a lake, did they say, 'What else is new – yesterday a bunch of people were out for a walk on the waves'? No, they were astonished and couldn't figure out what was happening. They didn't need to know every formula of physics to appreciate that people don't walk on water. And when Jesus' friends found his tomb empty on the first Easter, did they yawn and say, 'Must be a resurrection – knew it all along'? No, they didn't need modern science to know that dead people tend to stay dead. Resurrection was the last thing on their minds that morning. They were afraid, and then they figured someone must have stolen the body, but who would want it, neither friend nor foe. And when Jesus appeared to some of the women and they told the news to Jesus' male followers, the men thought the women were out of their minds. They started to believe only after Jesus came to them and ate with them and convinced them that he was alive.
"It's nonsense to say that people back then found it easy to believe what people today find impossible to believe. Any miracle is impossible in terms of the ordinary patterns of nature; otherwise it wouldn't be a miracle. But things that are impossible in terms of natural patterns are perfectly possible if the God who designed those patterns takes direct action" (David Feddes, The Back to God Hour, "The Miracles of Jesus," October 2001, Volume 46, Number 10).
There are other people who are rather embarrassed by the sheer abundance and centrality of New Testament miracles. They like the great ethics of Jesus, they say, believing that it's his teaching and example that is important, but the miracles are to them like the works of a magician. They even say that the miracles detract from Jesus' religious insights and a philosophy of life. So they want us to get away from all this supernatural stuff and concentrate on Jesus' teaching of 'unconditional love.' But that is an option we don't have, to say that he was a fine man, even the best man this world has seen, who left the world a legacy of moral teachings, because this man had supernatural powers, and he claimed equality with God: "I and my Father are one," he said. In the Sermon on the Mount he not only gives great ethics, he makes extravagant claims, that one day all the world is going to stand before him and he is going to judge us all and allocate to each of us personally our eternal destinies. We're not given the option of making him just a good teacher. He is a religious maniac, or there's another possibility, that he is the ultimate deceiver from hell. If you discard both of those as impossibilities then there is also this, that we worship him as Lord and God.
From what Mark tells us in our text the miracles of Jesus mattered very much to his fellow countrymen. He was Mary's son, and he came from Nazareth and he appeared in many ways to be just an ordinary man, yet he healed these people, simply hundreds and hundreds of them. He was different from everyone else in his divine powers. People couldn't deny that lives were transformed by him, the blind saw, the cripple jumped with joy, the lepers were cleansed and the dead were raised. Even the Pharisees didn't deny that these things were happening every day. There were far too many such cases, thousands of them, to deny that they occurred. So some of the Pharisees said that his miracles did occur but it was by the power of the devil he did them. Other Pharisees were more cautious about saying something so evil. They didn't know the explanation, but they believed that abundance of miracles, 100% effective, could only be achieved by the power of God. Listen to these old familiar words from the beginning of John's gospel, chapter three: it is the account of one Pharisee, utterly perplexed, coming for a private audience with Jesus: "Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him" (Jn. 3:1&2). He was a Pharisee, but what struck him were two things, the amazing preaching of Jesus – "a teacher who has come from God" and the miraculous signs. Nicodemus disdained the view of today's liberal scholars who claim that Jesus didn't do miracles at all or that his miracles didn't matter. There were too many people, from both Jesus' friends and enemies, who knew the people involved before and after they had been changed by Christ, and they knew that this meant something was happening beyond the tricks of a magician and the powers of a human personality. Those miracles certainly mattered if it was you or your loved ones whose lives had been transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ.
This gospel of Mark was written about thirty years after the resurrection of Jesus, when most of the people involved were still alive. The extant manuscripts recording this gospel go back a long way, scraps of Mark exist which go back to within a hundred years of Mark's original writing. When you consider that the oldest manuscript of Caesar's Gallic Wars was copied a thousand years after Caesar wrote it (and it is considered a reliable source) you can see how authentic our account of Mark's journalism and reporting actually is. I am saying to you that scientists have no evidence at all that Jesus Christ didn't do any miracles. In other words, not one of his contemporaries wrote anything saying something like this, "There's such a fuss being made about the alleged power of Jesus of Nazareth to perform miracles. That man is a magician and a trickster. He never did a single miracle." There is nothing like that in existence. In the centuries that have followed the life of Christ of course we find many critics claiming that, but no one said such things when Jesus was alive. They couldn't; they would have become the laughing stock of the land. In every village in Galilee there were families who had members given new life by Christ. I am saying to you that the only written records of the life of Jesus all speak of the sheer prodigality of miracles which he did. His whole life was ablaze with miracles. Anti-supernaturalism may call itself the 'historical' view, but its peculiarity is that it has behind it no single scrap of historical testimony; the entirety of historical evidence contradicts it flatly. It is, in fact, historically impossible that a great religious movement which we call Christianity could have taken its origin and derived its inspiration from such an invention as a desupernaturalized Jesus Christ.
So these things did happen; there is no proof that they didn't. The onus of producing the evidence that they did not occur lies with the sceptic. "Set forth your case!" we say. We taunt you, "You have no evidence at all." These Gospel miracles are a reality that all the world has to reckon with. If Jesus Christ is more powerful than death itself, raising up Jairus' daughter, and the widow of Nain's son, and Lazarus also from the dead – the three we know of, and of how many others there is simply no room on the gospel scrolls to record them – then what must be the implications of all that for you and for me? I worship Jesus as my Lord and my God!
2. THE MEANING OF THE MIRACLES OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
We can make the same point this way: the living God was confirming his own words about Jesus, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," through these miracles. This is what Peter says to the people of Jerusalem at Pentecost: "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know" (Acts 2:22). Peter is proclaiming something like this, "We saw him still the storm and raise the dead. Only divine power could do that. These miracles of Jesus were the divine accreditation that he was sent into the world by God. You must come to the same conclusion. God was present and is at work in Jesus Christ. In his miracles he demonstrates who is the Lord of this creation in which we live.
David Feddes has drawn our attention to C.S.Lewis' book entitled "Miracles" and especially the fact that Lewis divides up Jesus' miracles into two categories, what he calls, "Miracles of the Old Creation' and 'Miracles of the New Creation.' I will give you this long quotation because it is helpful and comprehensive. Feddes says, "Lewis emphasizes that in Jesus' miracles we see an invasion of nature, but it's not a hostile invasion by some enemy of nature. No, it's an invasion by the One who is nature's designer and rightful ruler. Some religions teach that all physical things are evil or an illusion, and for such religions, the only proper miracle would be to break away from the patterns of nature and escape from the physical world entirely. If you want a religion that's purely spiritual, if you think the physical world is bad or unimportant, you'll care only about spiritual teachings; physical miracles won't have any significant place because the physical doesn't matter. But Christianity teaches that this physical world matters. It's created and kept by God, and it will be rescued and restored by God to a splendid newness and perfection. The miracles of Jesus are signs that he is indeed the God who is Lord of both the old creation and the new creation. In other words, they confirm that Jesus is the God the Son, and they announce what the future is going to be under his reign.
"In miracles of the old creation, Jesus does things that God has already been doing all along. Jesus does rapidly and directly and in miniature what God usually does gradually and indirectly and on a worldwide scale as Creator and Sustainer. Jesus' first miracle was to change water into wine at a wedding. This was remarkable, but don't forget that God changes vast amounts of water into wine every day. He just uses vines and natural processes rather than an instant transformation. Jesus took a little bread and fed more than 5,000 people with it. A miracle indeed, but think of what God is doing right now. Again this year the Creator will take a little grain, he'll transform it gradually with soil, sun, and water, and make of it enough to feed 6 billion people. We call it a miracle when the Lord fed 5,000, but when he feeds 6 billion, we tend to take it for granted. Psalm 104, written long before Jesus came, says that God "makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate – bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man… and bread that sustains his heart" (Psa.104:14-15).
"Much the same could be said for Jesus' miracles of healing. Jesus showed a deep concern for the bodily well-being of people he met, and he gave many of them healing right away from all kinds of diseases. In this way he showed himself to be the God described centuries earlier in Psalm 103:3 as the one who 'heals all [our] diseases.' We tend to overlook the fact that God created our bodies with marvelous capacities to heal themselves. When I get a scratch, I bleed a little, and then it stops. I don't sit around wondering why the blood doesn't just keep flowing until my body has no blood left. I take for granted that blood clots itself and skin heals itself. When I get over a cold, I don't ask why I didn't die of pneumonia. I take for granted that my immune system fights those germs. The astonishing healings of Jesus show us that he is the very Creator who also provides us with all the healings that we think of as rather ordinary.
"Or think of the miracle in which Jesus calmed the storm. His disciples couldn't help exclaiming, 'What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!' They could have found the answer to their question by looking in their Scriptures. Psalm 89:8-9 says, 'O LORD God Almighty; who is like you? You are mighty; 0 LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.' In the very act of stilling the storm, Jesus had already answered his disciples' question. What sort of man is this? He's no other than the Lord Almighty who rules the sea and stills its waves.
"When the Lord Jesus calmed that storm suddenly with a short command, he did in a direct and miraculous way something that he's constantly doing in ordinary ways. In the words of C. S. Lewis, 'God made Nature such that there would be both storms and calms: in that way all storms. . . have been stilled by God.' God controls even the weather itself, and he watches over each person who is affected by the weather.
"Maybe you've always thought of miracles as violations of the laws of nature. But Jesus' miracles aren't violations of the laws of nature. They are demonstrations by the Lord of nature. What we call 'the laws of nature' are really just the ordinary patterns by which creation operates, as ordered by the Creator. Those so-called laws are in no way binding on God himself. When God lived and walked among us in the person of Jesus, he did miracles to show his identity as the King of creation and as the Lord who is 'loving toward all he has made' (Psalm 145:13).
ii] Miracles of the New Creation.
"But Jesus' miracles did more than demonstrate that he is Maker and Master of the old creation. His miracles also reveal him as the Maker and Master of a new creation, and they give us a taste of that new creation. When Jesus changed water to wine, and when he fed a multitude with bread, he was giving a sign and a taste of an eternal banquet, in which he himself is our food. Jesus said, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry; and he who believes in me will never be thirsty' (John 6:35). We Christians celebrate this every time we feast at the Lord's Supper.
"When Jesus did his miracles of healing, he sometimes did rapidly what some processes of healing in the old creation do gradually – but he often did something brand new. He reversed the process of disease, decay, and death that grips the old creation poisoned by sin, and he gave a sneak preview of what he's going to do on a universal scale in the new creation. Jesus made paralyzed people walk. He made deaf people hear and mute people talk. He gave sight to blind people. He raised the dead. He gave glimpses of a day when 'there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,' when he makes 'everything new' (Revelation 21:4-5).
3. DELIVERANCE FROM DEMON POSSESSION BY JESUS CHRIST.
There is no doubt that once the Lord Jesus began his ministry in Galilee a great plague of demonic activity broke out and spread the province. This black death of evil spirits possessed many people, especially those who were more vulnerable through moral, psychological or physical weaknesses. Mark tells us of such a man in the very first chapter of his gospel, and again in our text above we are told, "Whenever the evil spirits saw Jesus, they fell down before him and cried out, 'You are the Son of God.' But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was" (vv. 11&12). Later on in this chapter he gives his apostles "authority to drive out demons" (v.15), and then chapter five of this gospel begins with the healing of a man with an evil spirit who was living in the tombs. There can be no doubt that all the gospel writers want us to be aware of this remarkable phenomenon, that when the Lord Jesus was in the land the activity of evil spirits was especially evident. There are in fact 52 references to demon possession in the Gospels and in addition to them there are references to this in the book of Acts.
We would expect nothing less than that. Let me illustrate it like this: think of a situation in London when the British Nazi party announce that it is going to hold a national rally on a certain Saturday. Their leader is going to be there and make an inspirational speech. They are going to use the occasion as a recruiting opportunity. What happens? Many of the anti-Nazis, far more than the Nazis themselves, go to that place from all over the south of England and protest about them, their beliefs and activities. They hold a counter-demonstration to break up the Fascist meeting. So it was here: it was this Lord of glory, the Son of God, who had consigned these fallen angels to hell, and kept them in its darkness awaiting judgment. When they heard that he had come to earth leaving the glories of heaven – a heaven which they had once known – and always having access to this world, they seized the opportunity of opposing and troubling Christ in his great redemptive mission. It couldn't have been otherwise. He had come to confront their kingdom of darkness and to establish his own everlasting kingdom, and they were intent upon thwarting his intention. We know that the kingdom of darkness of the god of this world is always in existence. Satan never relaxes his grip on sinners. Christ's presence on earth simply exposed the activity of these sinister forces.
The recently appointed Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, helpfully describes these principalities and powers in this way: "Calling these forces 'unclean spirits' is a convenient way of saying two things about them. First, they are non-physical powers that operate upon, and sometimes within, a person. Second, they defile the one they inhabit, making such a person behave in ways that are untrue to their calling as a human being. But these spirits know when they are in the presence of a power greater than themselves. They recognize in Jesus, not just a great healer, but a spiritual power and presence of an altogether different order from themselves. And so they yell out Jesus' real identity" (Tom Wright, "Mark for Everyone," SPCK, London, 2001, p.33). Dr Wright is an intelligent man, and he doesn't have the same theology as I have, but he is not prepared to rubbish these New Testament claims to pervasive demon possession.
It's often suggested that the simple people of Jesus' time looked at folk with learning difficulties, or these who had seizures, and they said, "Ah, those kinds of people are demon-possessed." Yet when we read the gospels we meet parents who are distressed at the epileptic fits of members of their families. They are quite aware that their loved ones have an organic disease not some spiritual or demonic problem. You notice this in Matthew 4:24, "People brought to Jesus all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed, and he healed them". You notice how they instinctively made the distinction between their friends and family members having seizures and those they knew to be demon-possessed.
Why should we take time to consider this matter? It is here in the Bible, of course, and that should be enough for us, but also because the apostle warns Timothy that "in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons" (I Tim. 4:1). We live in such times. The book of Revelation might even teach that before the return of Jesus Christ there may be another outbreak of unclean spirits. We also need to have a sensible grasp of this matter because of the fantasy dimension in Hollywood films and horror writing some of which is extremely popular and accomplished in its plots and drama. Books about evil powers sell in their millions.
We have to consider it because theological modernism has dismissed the entire New Testament approach. Emil Brunner, for example says so airily, "For the Fundamentalist, of course, this subject presents no particular problems. The Bible speaks of angels and of devils; in accordance with the Scriptures therefore, we can do so too. But for us this way is impossible" (Dogmatics, Vol. II, Lutterworth Press , London, 1952, p.135). Such liberals say that Christ chose not to correct the popular opinion of his day, but he did so with many other treasured opinions. Is the theme not important enough? Would Christ allow people to go on being deluded? Did he not say elsewhere that if something were not so he would have told them? Others say that Christ accommodated his language to the prejudices of his time, but in this instance it would to the extent of accommodating himself to what is a massive fabrication of falsehood. Then there is the whole liberal mistaken view that the actual God the Son had emptied himself of his omniscience and shared the muddled views of the people of his age, wandering around Galilee in gawking wonder at things that went 'Bang!' in the night. But if Christ is unreliable when he speaks about Satan and demons, when is he reliable, and why? Others say that Christ didn't actually cast out any demons but the gospel writers erroneously taught that he did. So the Scriptures themselves, from this perspective, are a very unreliable record.
Such attempts to find another explanation for the presence of demons in Galilee reflects the old cold rationalist approach to the supernatural. How quaint and out of touch it all seems in this age of seances, witches' covens, exorcisms and the absolute fascination with the occult. This characterises the time in which we preach the gospel. The best selling Christian books are those that deal with angels, spiritual wars, end time demon activities. Those liberals in the 20th century high age of cerebral modernism, were rationalist children of their time. For them the Christian faith was going to be explained and defended by grey-suited men meeting in 'Brains Trusts' and civilized discussions in book-lined rooms. The atmosphere would be reasoned; no power that walks in darkness would trouble it. But the Christ of the New Testament was confronted with the Devil. Demons cried out to him. His is another religion from liberalism. Goethe once said, "People don't know the Devil is there even when he has them by the throat." Christ transcended his time and ours.
Our own age has swung to another extreme and some religious people can see demons where there is just the cunning deceit and desperate wickedness of the natural heart. If a certain woman, for example, is judged to be demon possessed, while her problems are in fact the result of her own sinful behaviour, then her case is going to be deeply complicated. She is meeting men who speak with an intensity and certainty who tell her that she is possessed by an evil spirit. Then they attempt to cast out her nonexistent demons. Not only are such efforts futile, leading to her own hopelessness and despair, but it has shifted the focus away from the responsibility of this woman for her own behaviour. She begins to view herself as a helpless victim rather than as a guilty sinner. This results in her being confirmed in her sinful life patterns when the attempted exorcism fails, and the people trying to help her are reduced to fruitless prayer, and pity, and discouragement. I say that when we are confronted with bizarre behaviour our first response must be to attribute it to deceit, or long patterns of wickedness, and not to demons.
I had a letter this week from a former student here who has been in Botswana for many years. He describes the gloomy situation in the country thus: "Evangelism is very slow and so little fruit. 'Revival Crusades' abound and people are exhorted to have demons of witchcraft, jealousy etc cast out of them. People are told they are bound by demons and all they have to do is go up front and be prayed for. Sometimes Christ is not mentioned at all in sermons . . . People here get the impression that the demons alone make them sin, and all they need is to respond to the alter call or have someone put hands on them and all will be well. Sometimes I feel that this country will be the last to receive a true revival. The church we go to has some of these elements but one survives by 'switching off' when such things happen. There is nowhere else to worship. The health and wealth gospel is alive and active here, and is also preached in the crusades. People are promised that their bank accounts will be inflated, and there will be no more illness. 'Praise and worship' sessions may be little more than singing 'Amen! Alleluia!' many many times. Many churches depend on 'holy' water, charms and strings which members wear in order to protect themselves from evil. The Zion Christian Church people stamp on the ground in order to drive out the devil from their lives." This is a fair reflection of the Africa described to us as abounding in Christianity. What kind of Christianity?
We must avoid the error of equating unusual behaviour with demon possession. Keith Underhill and I were once in a small village in rural Kenya, and we had a meeting which lasted until 11 p.m.. The people then requested that they should stay in the small room a little longer and sing some hymns. They had traveled a distance and liked to be with one another. We weakly agreed, but it had been a long enough evening for everyone, and we should have forbidden it and urged everyone to go off to bed. But the two of us crawled under our mosquito nets and lay down while they sang and sang in this nearby hut. The singing got louder and louder, and the clapping, and then there were shouts and cries and noise. Then we heard them walk home between one and two in the morning talking excitedly. In the morning the leader Paul told us that they had cast evil spirits out of two women. "Who were these spirits?" we asked. "The spirits of their ancestors that trouble them," we were told. "How do you know that it was demon-possession?" we asked. "They fell on the floor and twisted themselves about." We told Paul firmly that he should know that after people die their spirits go to God and their destinies are secure, the righteous in heaven and the evil in hell. The former have no wish to trouble us and the latter are prevented by God. We told them that after five hours of meetings, ending in some hours of chanting and drumming, it was a wonder that they didn't all fall off their chairs in that little room and writhe on the floor. Since that time Paul has taken two more wives and now runs his own meetings where he has no biblical restraints on his activities or the 'exorcisms' that characterise such meetings.
Paul, this Luo pastor, was confident that the falling on the floor and the writhing about was certain evidence of demon possession. People can even claim that they themselves have demons. This is almost inevitably faulty self-analysis. I don't think we can come to such a conclusion based upon bizarre behaviour, our own depression, or even on what these people say to us. In the New Testament the accompaniments of demon possession are really very broad. Categories of illness predominate; they include convulsions, an orthopedic condition, self-injury, bizarre behaviour, isolation and withdrawal, deafness and dumbness, but Christians would be swift to affirm that being sick like that is certainly no proof that a person is demon-possessed.
i] There was a change in their personalities. When we are ill with convulsions, deafness and dumbness or whatever, our personalities don't change, not even when we have a mental illness. But during the life of Christ when there was demon possession there could be a change of personality. "The poor possessed person begins to act in a strange and unusual manner or is no longer able to function as he normally does, or is at times deprived of the normal use of his faculties. In other words, in the accounts of this condition we find that violence is at times manifested" (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "Not Against Flesh and Blood: the Battle Against Spiritual Wickedness in High Places" Bryntirion Press, Bridgend, 2001, p.62).
iii] There was given to these people unusual knowledge and information. See them in our text, "Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, 'You are the Son of God' (v.11). In the New Testament, it is striking how those with an unclean spirit were able to recognise our Lord. The Pharisees and scribes and Sadduccees and Herodians did not, but these people did. The women with a spirit of divination in Philippi had the insight to recognise that Paul and Silas were the servants of the most high God. So this demonic influence also gave a person a capacity above their own insight and knowledge.
iv] There was always the debased element, an element of uncleanness. That was not seen in ordinary illnesses that people had but it was present through the influence of an unclean spirit.
v] There was always a great variety in the influence of these evil spirits. We have one extreme case in Mark's gospel chapter 5 of the Gadarene demoniac, that man who couldn't be bound even with a chain. "He tore the chains apart, and broke the irons on his feet" (Mk. 5:4). He lived naked amongst the tombs and cut himself with stones. This was clearly a singular and horrible example of demon possession. No other people in the New Testament were like that. Others possessed by demons might have had some kind of sickness, but there are no symptoms at all given to us in the case of Mary Magdalene just the fact that a number of demons troubled her. So there were gradations amongst them.
The Lord Christ gave strict orders to these demoniacs not to tell who he was (v.12). Mark's gospel is about God revealing certain truths to men in his own way and in his own time, and what we have in the first section of this gospel is Jesus opening the eyes of his disciples by a variety of means to the fact of his own identity. Once you've seen that, of course, it becomes perfectly evident why he did not allow the demons to speak. "They are not," as Bengel put it, "the messengers, nor is this the time." Jesus says to Peter in Matthew's gospel that flesh and blood had not revealed Christ's Messiahship to him by his Father in heaven. That is utterly crucial. The Father himself does the work of the opening of the disciples' eyes in his own time. Peter learned who Jesus of Nazareth was from heaven, not from angels even, and demons are prevented from publicising the identity of Jesus even to his disciples until the time comes for the divine revelation to dawn upon them.
I have never come across a case of demon possession, but I am reluctant to say that it could not occur today. One sympathizes with the great R.L. Dabney who said that he did not feel qualified to affirm or deny it. We know that men and women can come under the influence of other people – as they do, for example, in hypnosis. There we see the case of one personality governing and controlling another. There have been preachers and religious leaders with that kind of natural charisma. They can mesmerize people so that an audience is swayed to act in certain way by the hypnotist. They will get out of their seats, they will swoon, they will even laugh in hysterics and weep, or they will make animal noises. The people are responding to the personality of the man. Think of the hypnotic power of a Hitler. When you see pictures of him today with that little moustache he seems a pathetic figure. How could cultured Germany – of all the nations of Europe – have come under the influence of such an evil creep? Well, you have to bring in this dimension of mesmerism. My point is this, that if men can come under the influence of other men it is surely possible for them to come under the influence of unclean spirits. People who dabble in the occult, in voodoo, in idol worship and sacrifice, those who seek to talk to the dead in seances are opening themselves to such fearful possibilities.
Dr Lloyd-Jones writes of one example he came across of a person he believed to be demon-possessed: "Here was a poor girl who was supposed to be paralysed, and many doctors had fallen in the trap of thinking that since she could not walk she had an organic disease. But they could not say which one it was, for none of the doctors could fit the paralysis into any known disease. Then it fell to my lot to see her – partly as a doctor, and partly as a minister – and what struck me immediately was that this was not an organic disease at all, but clearly a case of devil possession. How did I know that? Well, one of the reasons was that when I approached her bed with her doctor and her own minister, the expression on her face changed to something I shall never forget, and though she had not been able to walk for eight years, she began to make the most violent movements with her arms and legs and head, and this continued for ten minutes. Later, as the result of the conversion of two of her sisters, one after another, with a good interval between, that poor girl began to attend a place of worship – she was carried there at first – and finally she herself was converted. Nothing was ever said about her paralysis, but it just completely disappeared" (Lloyd-Jones, op cit, p.71).
Now I realise there would be other sound and reliable pastors who might have looked at that girl and seen some evil influence in her life, but who might not come to the same conclusion as Lloyd-Jones that she was actually demon-possessed, but like him who would go on to approach her by prayer and the word and who would finally see the same happy transformation of her that he reports. No experts in demon-possession exist. No other spiritual gift of delivering people from demons is possessed by anyone than what you as a Christian possess already. Take such persons to God in prayer! Address them armed with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and with the healing balm of Jesus' blood which is found in the gospel. Not one word will fall to the ground.
Doth make him, tho' a dragon, quit the field." (John Bunyan).
Trust in God and speak from your heart in his strength. Christians will come to different conclusions. There is no infallible guide in such cases anywhere and never will be, though plenty of sensible counsel from fellow pastors – we all have men we turn to when we feel out of our depth or entering uncharted waters. Such difference of opinion in diagnosis is not at all a disaster as long as the cure is pure. Dr. Lloyd-Jones made a judgment about the evil influence over this girl, and he was a discerning man not easily swayed by claims for the supernatural. For example, he said that he had never personally witnessed a miracle – though there were more than one man who wanted him to acknowledge such cases. I think it is significant that he cautiously mentions just this single case of a woman delivered from an unclean spirit.
What delivered her from the kingdom of darkness? Not bizarre ceremonies of exorcism. Not jiggery pokery. The testimony of people she knew who came to trust in Christ as their Saviour, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, the new birth, attendance at a gospel church on Sundays, the preaching of the word week by week, such things as these – the ordinary yet extraordinary means of grace – these things transformed her in body, mind and spirit.
There is another memorable case of the conversion of the medium or spiritist in the 1930s in the Forward Movement Hall in Sandfields, Aberavon, where Dr Lloyd-Jones was then the pastor. It is often quoted, and it is a salutary incident. Dr. Lloyd-Jones tells the story like this: "Here was a woman who made her living as a spiritist medium, earning her three guineas almost every Sunday night. One Sunday she was unable, because of a slight illness, to go and do what she normally did. As she was sitting in her house she saw people walking to a place of worship. Quite suddenly she thought to herself, 'What if I went with them? I wonder what they do there? I wonder what that place is like in comparison with what we do?" So she went to that place of worship, and that led to her conversion. She never again did what she had been doing before.
"But I want to quote to you her reply to my question, 'What did you feel like when you came to this service?' 'Well,' she said. 'this was what really convinced me and finally convicted me. When I came into this place I felt immediately that there was a spiritual power here, exactly as we have in our meetings. I was always conscious of power in our meetings, and I was conscious of power in your meeting, but there was one great difference. The power in this building here, in some indefinable way, seemed to me to be clean. I didn't think of it. I wasn't reasoning. I was just conscious of power and cleanliness and of purity such as I had never known before.' That is it. Spiritism is unclean … the mediums are not in touch with the spirits of the departed dead, but with evil spirits impersonating the dead" (Lloyd-Jones, op cit, pp. 54&55).
This Saviour appeared preaching that the Kingdom of God was near. He showed his kingly authority over sickness, the effect of sin, over death itself and over the devil. His apostle John says, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work" (I Jn. 3:8). He said, "Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it . . . believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father" (Jn. 10:37&38). Believe the miracles! Do you? God is in Christ and he is in his Father. What's your response to this Miracle man? Do you believe that Jesus is the God in whom we live and move and have our being? He can break the grip of sin and death in your life. He can translate you from the kingdom of darkness into his own kingdom. He will bring you into his renewed creation. This conqueror of the devil indwells every single Christian. So do not leave this place afraid because of the power of the god of this world, but with quiet thanks and praise that greater is he that is in you than the devil, all his legions and all his works. Walk in step with Jesus Christ through the days ahead and you have nothing to fear.


The match between Eibar VS Las Palmas is going to play in February 27,2016.
Before this match this two teams have faced for two times between this two teams .
They first met in January 8 and in this match Las Palmas got the victory by 3-2 goals .And they again met in January 14 and here again Las Palmas got the victory by 3-2 goals .
Though Eiber is in the 6th position on the table ,they already lost for two times with this team .So to see the over all condition it can be safely said that this match will be an exciting one.So I hope you all will be with us to be updated about the sports news.


Rates quoted are for two guests, additional guests charged at £10 per head per night - up to a maximum of 10 guests. "Other taxes" are compulsory and relate to state, local and tourist taxes which are currently 15%. Pool heating is charged at £15 per day. LATE DEALS AND FILL IN NIGHTS - GREAT DEALS - Please email your request with your contact telephone number.


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Mount Gordon is a  mountain summit located immediately west of the Continental Divide, in the Waputik Range of the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia, Canada. It is a glaciated dome situated in Yoho National Park, and is the highest point of the Wapta Icefield. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Baker,  to the northwest.

History

The first ascent of the mountain was made in August 1897 by George Percival Baker, J. Norman Collie, H. B. Dixon, Charles Ernest Fay, Arthur Michael, C. L. Noyes, H. C. Parker, and Charles Sproull Thompson, with Peter Sarbach as guide.

The mountain was named in 1897 by Charles Sproull Thompson of the first ascent party for John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, at the time Governor General of Canada from 1893 to 1898. After descending from the summit of Mount Gordon, Thompson fell into a crevasse and became lodged which required rescue by the team. Mount Thompson, six kilometres to the north of Mount Gordon, was one of several peaks named by this same climbing party.

The mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 1924 by the Geographical Names Board of Canada.

Geology

Mount Gordon is composed of sedimentary rock laid down during the Precambrian to Jurassic periods. Formed in shallow seas, this sedimentary rock was pushed east and over the top of younger rock during the Laramide orogeny.

Climate

Based on the Köppen climate classification, Mount Gordon is located in a subarctic climate zone with cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C.

See also

Geology of British Columbia
Geography of British Columbia

References

Three-thousanders of British Columbia
Canadian Rockies
Great Divide of North America
Mountains of Yoho National Park
Kootenay Land District

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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SLADE: 'It's Not A Good Point'
O's boss felt team could have made more of Brentford chance
ORIENT may have taken a point from high-flying Brentford thanks to Lee Cook's late leveller at Griffin Park on Tuesday, but manager Russell Slade wasn't satisfied with the draw.
Playing against 10 men for half an hour, Slade felt his side should have claimed the win, and said that if it hadn't been for poor defending, they would have taken maximium points home.
As it was they had to settle for the one, after Lee Cook backed up Martin Rowlands' stunning opener with a fine strike of his own to ensure a final 2-2 scoreline.
He said: "It doesn't feel like a good point at all. If Moons scores the penalty we win the game 3-2 anyway, but we've created six wonderful opportunities.
"We needed to do it consistently right in both boxes - to be ruthless in our own box, which we weren't and we've let in two soft goals, being bullied for the second goal.
"We needed to do it right in the opposing box as well - if we had done it right in both boxes, quite simply we'd have come away with the three points.
"They were two great strikes [from Cook and Rowlands], but then look at the goals Brentford have scored against us. We've been bullied to be frank, I'm really disappointed with that.
"We've got to be stronger and we've got to man up a bit in the box.
"I pride myself, and the team does, on getting those kind of things right and doing it properly. By and large we've done that all season but tonight - no.
"We've had to work very, very hard to get back in the game and the work ethic was phenomenal, and our attitude too. When we got the extra man we dominated and I think they were glad to see the end of the game."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I make art to inspire the mystical senses by using creativity as a ritual practice where I cast magic to create transformational talismans.
The work of an artist is in finding her strength to speak with her own voice and to shape her unique perspective into form. As an "Art Witch" my creative practices integrate my life experience as an artist, healer, and spiritual seeker. My journey has turned art making into a devotional practice where I meditate on emotional embodiment, integration of self and prayerful expression.
It is my joy to send art out into the world. My primary series are Beautiful Bodies were I use skeletons with a heart to remind people to "be in your body and see with your heart" and Portraits of Rivers where I celebrate the embodied resonance of rivers. I am also working of Goddess Meditations, a song-writing practice and soon a collection of zines and a tarot deck.
My mailing list contains information on my creative process and happenings.
I respect your privacy and promise never to share your information.
Enjoy my work and to support me?
Please a tip and donate a few dollars.
This work by Jenelle Leigh Campion is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


If the Rotundo shape is a little too aggressive for you, the ErgoSum is the answer. Unlike standard anatomic bars the ErgoSum bar offers a smooth continuous bend to keep the hand comfortable, no matter where in the drops you grip. Of particular note is the revolutionary quick bend upper curve feature where you mount your shift/brake lever. Thanks to the very tight curvature the rider can adjust the orientation of the lever over a wide range of angels, without having to move the lever far down the drop as is usually required. Rotation without translation - a small simple idea.


We traveled to Los Angeles this weekend for an early Christmas with our son and daughter in law. It was a beautiful weekend with sun and palm trees, the warmer temperatures a welcome change from an arctic freeze. Our East coast cold can chill the bones and the soul.
From eating our fill of great Mexican food to sharing an early Christmas, we made the most of our short time.
As parents, we watch our kids exit our homes to create homes of their own with nostalgia and some tears. Memories of toddler kisses and bedtime stories will never completely fade. Instead they remain, packed into the boxes our minds create for these things. But there is incomparable joy in watching our children "become." That is what we now get in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston.
As I grow older and watch my children enter into adulthood, I ponder a recurring theme of foundations and generations. This circle of life depends on both to be successful. To function well as adults we need secure foundations; foundations of nutrition, of physical nurturing, of spiritual guidance. A healthy new generation will not grow without a solid foundation.
Moments of connection with adult children are both hopeful and nostalgic, seeing a new generation 'become'on the foundations of the past.
When we are in the middle of building foundations, we make mistakes. There are times when we fail our kids and we fail ourselves; times when the foundations seem shaky, built on sand and not on rock. Still other times, by grace we get it right. We shake our heads in disbelief and amazement – it worked! The foundation is strong and secure, the next generation can build on what came before. But only a foolish parent takes full credit, refusing to see that this is all grace.
We travel back on a lonely Sunday night flight, the plane full of weary travelers, perhaps others like us who have traveled to see a new generation springing from an older foundation.
I look at the man by my side, and I am so grateful. We've navigated some rough waters together, some that threatened to drown us. But they didn't. Instead we travel together, united in our prayers and love for this next generation.
And so it is, foundations and generations–as old as the human race, reminding me that our journeys matter.
I'm still laying foundations…. what exhausting work it is! Your post gives me some hope! Thank you.
"But only a foolish parent takes full credit, refusing to see that this is all grace." So true, this and all you've said here Marilyn. It is bitter-sweet this watching-the-birds-fly-the-nest thing! I enjoy taking this journey along side you and your dear man. The man at my side and I feel blessed in just the ways you describe!


G Train to Get Less Bad Starting today.
Waiting for the G Train Will Become Slightly More EfficientNow it will tell you where to stand.
Sandy's Lingering Wrath to Close R-Train Tunnel for at Least a YearThe G train will take a lot of breaks, too.
The MTA Knows You Hate the G TrainAnd it's willing to change.
G and L Train Service Will Not Resume Until Sometime Next WeekA big bummer for Brooklyn.
The G Train Extension Will Live On After AllRejoice, South Brooklyn.
Will Cutting Off the G Train Also Cut Off True Love?Geographic undesirability set to rise.
G Train Service Has Been Interrupted. Forever.Not really. But this is a funny sign.
For the Second Year in a Row, the C Train Is Ranked the City's WorstThe Straphangers Campaign says taking the C train is only worth 55 cents.


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Bradley Williams was born in Ogden Utah. Williams pursued his interest at Utah State University (Logan, Utah) where he gained knowledge in oil painting, composition principles and work with an idea behind the work while working with Glen Edwards. He graduated in 1993 earning a bachelor's degree of Illustration and then a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in 1995.
After Finishing his work at the university, he moved his family to the New York Metropolitan area where he worked as an illustrator for book publishers and magazines and gaming art. It was at that time when Mr. Williams began to developing his love of teaching and sharing his knowledge with others and moved back to Utah to teach at Westminster Collage in Salt Lake City. Then he moved onto teaching at a local high school in northern Utah. He also started moving from illustrations to a fine art career by painting for exhibition in galleries and juried shows.
Brad has traveled across the United States including Alaska to National Parks and other locations and to Kenya and Tanzania in Africa to paint on location and gather reference to paint. He likes spending time in the Uinta Mountains and Yellowstone National Park to paint these rich untamed areas of wildlife and visual textures. Brad likes to paint what he experiences in life as he travels to find what inspire him. All of these trips have generated many wonderful images and strengthened his abilities as a painter to show light and color in his work.
His original works can be found in private collections across the U.S. A., The U.K., Hong Kong, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Australia and Canada.
Article: Southwest Art Magazine, September 2020
From a trip to Kenya Africa where I was able to make few friends
From a trip up in the Unitas Mountains of Utah


The 2017 QS World University Rankings has seen Politics and International Studies at ANU move from 8th place in the world to 6th place.
Focusing on the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ahead of a special summit to be held in Australia next year, Dr Davies said the regional organisation found itself in a bind.
"It's promised its citizens and subjects that ASEAN is now going to be people-centric, it's going to be socially responsible – yet there remains a significant gap in delivery," he said.
In Northeast Asia, the stakes of Australian diplomacy are substantially higher.
Dr Amy King from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre said, to date, sanctions against North Korea hadn't had much effect at all.
"I think this is a wicked problem that really confounds policy makers," Dr King said.
Australia needed to put itself in the mind of the players involved, even to the extent of considering North Korea's security concerns, and reconsider the impact of military exercises.
Regarding China, Dr King said even in the last three months, Australia's rhetoric was marked by negativity.
"Australia's really gone cold on this issue," she said.
China's increasing regional importance demanded a refresh in Australian considerations of China's Belt and Road Initiative and the relationship more generally, Dr King argued.
Mr James Batley, from the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia program, said with no coups, natural disasters or diplomatic fiascos recently, the South Pacific looked stable.
Significant events included the addition of new member states into the Pacific Islands Forum, the end of the Solomon Islands RAMSI operations in June and the July re-election of Peter O'Neill in Papua New Guinea.
Yet, Mr Batley was buoyed by increasing Australian government interest and visitation in the Pacific.
Professor Rory Medcalf, director of the National Security College, said sustained border tensions between India and China was the biggest story in South Asia in recent times.
"We're beginning to see new uncertainties enter South Asia," he said.
In lieu of any strategic or diplomatic conflicts, Australia and India's relationship was also entering a new phase, Professor Medcalf said.
With so many countries trying to engage with India, "we're struggling to find a really sustained positive agenda," he said.
Australia's relationship with the USA needs to be deeper, wider and avoid being personalised said the head of the Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy, Professor Geoffrey Wiseman.
"I think what we're seeing on the diplomatic side is the Trump administration moving in the direction of a military-centric foreign policy," he said.
According to the professor, diplomacy in general, and the US State Department in particular, were being sidelined.
"The Trump presidency will be characterised by a highly personalised, unpredictable and, dare I say, less great future over the next three and a half years," he said.


The statistic presents information about the most common multi-tasking activities carried out while watching video content in the United States in 2017, by device. During a survey, 72 percent of respondents stated that they checked social media unrelated to the video while watching video content on their smartphone.
This question was phrased by the source as follows: "When you are watching video content on a TV screen and using another device, what kinds of activities do you do on your device?"
*444 adults who use smartphone while watching TV; 347 adults who use computer while watching TV; 261 adults who use tablet while watching TV.
What type of device do you use parallel to watching TV?


Are you searching for used trucks for sale in or near Winter Haven Florida but you are unsure of just where to start looking? Then you need to head over to Kelley Winter Haven in Winter Haven FL. Kelley Winter Haven is proud to serve Winter Haven FL and the neighboring communities of Lakeland, Lake Wales, Plant City, and St. Cloud. We are committed to providing you with exceptional customer service and outstanding used trucks for sale in Florida. We do our best to make it easy for you to find a used truck that best suits your style.
When you come into our Winter Haven used car dealership, you will find that we have many makes, models, and body styles of used trucks for sale in Florida. With such a wide range used trucks for sale in Florida, you will find used 4×4 trucks, used diesel trucks, and even used lifted trucks for sale. All of our used trucks for sale go through a thorough inspection and reconditioning process. This is so you know you are getting the best of the best when you come to Kelley Winter Haven to check out our used trucks for sale in Florida.
Drivers all over Winter Haven FL and its surrounding areas of Lakeland, Lake Wales, Plant City, and St. Cloud love our quality used trucks for sale in Florida. You can too when you stop in at Kelley of Winter Haven FL today. With our excellent pricing and our fantastic assortment of used trucks for sale in Florida, you are certain to find a used truck that you will love at Kelley of Winter Haven FL.
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When you need a quality used Ford truck, you can count on us at Kelley Winter Haven to have just the used Ford truck for you. Whether it is used Ford diesel trucks for sale, used Ford 4×4 trucks for sale, used Ford lifted trucks for sale, or one of our other used Ford trucks for sale in Florida, we have the used Ford trucks for sale in Florida that you have been dreaming of owning. We have an experienced sales staff that is ready to walk you through the buying process. We are happy to answer any questions you may have about our used Ford trucks for sale in Florida at Kelley Winter Haven. We will then take you out for a test drive so ensure that it is the perfect match for you. Our Winter Haven used car dealership is worth the short drive from Lakeland, Lake Wales, Plant City, and St. Cloud FL. So, come to Kelley Winter Haven to test drive one of our quality used Ford trucks for sale in Florida today.
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British-born Sophie moves from England to India with her parents where her father becomes physician to a rich Maharaja and his zenana or harem. Exploring the palace where they live, 18-year-old Sophie meets a young Indian man called Jag, son of a palace servant. They soon become more than friends. The star-crossed lovers are torn apart and heartache ensues. Years go by, but their undying love remains until the end.
Excellent character development of Sophie in particular allows the reader to see her grow from a very young, untried girl to a strong, determined woman, tempered by heartbreak and suffering, who succeeds in finding closure in an unexpected way. India itself is a main character, finely drawn and enigmatic.
The author is skilled at building a tale that is both riveting and intricate. I learned a lot of interesting facts about India in this excellent historical novel filled with romance and suspense. Well-known figures such as Nehru, Gandhi, and Edwina Mountbatten make their appearances as India is divided or partitioned religiously and politically. Indian burial rites are described as are the condescending attitudes of the British expats toward Indians. The incredible wealth of the ruling class versus the poverty of the ordinary person is eye-opening.
Themes of friendship, family dynamics, the loss of innocence, and enduring love all feature in this story set against the backdrop of the political turmoil engulfing India at the time of Partition in 1947. I experienced a roller coaster of emotions - grief, compassion, heartache, sympathy, and internal turmoil - while reading this book. Keep a box of Kleenex nearby.
I highly recommend Under the Jewelled Sky.
Note: This book is rated P(mild) = Profanity.


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Mental health lived experience engagement framework
The framework guides policy makers to engage more meaningfully with people who have experienced mental illness and/or emotional issues, and those who care for them.
In Victoria, consumers who use Victoria's mental health system are included in policy decision making, along with their families and carers.
By putting people with lived experience at the centre of designing and delivering mental health services, we are able to ensure that they meet the needs of the people who use them which will keep more Victorians healthy and well.
The Victorian Government is proud to use the Mental Health Lived Experience Engagement Framework.
All staff across the Department of Health and Human Services are committed to upholding these principles. Together, we can build a more inclusive mental health system we can all be proud of.
Mental health lived experience engagement framework (Word, 369.9 KB)
Fees, charges & penalties
Reports, Reviews & Data
Strategies, plans and charters


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Pokey LaFarge at The Riverside in Newcastle, UK
Blues, Concert Reviews, UK
Rick Johnson of Mustard Plug
Of Mice & Men Release "How to Survive" Video and Announce New Headline Tour Dates
Bad Habit by Beth Blade And The Beautiful Disasters
Ramblin' Man Fair Announce New Wave of Artists to Festival
Gold & Shadow Set To Release Debut LP, Torch
In This Moment Announces UK Headline Tour
In This Moment starts 2015 with a bang, after the release of last year's 'Black Widow,'Â they're set for the UK for their first headline UK tour.
According to In this Moment's press release, Guitarist Chris Howorth said, "Hello UK! We can't believe it's actually happening, but not only are we are coming to play for you, we are actually headlining this time! To say we are excited is an understatement! This is the first time in our band's history we've been able to bring a headline show to our fans in the UK and Europe. And this isn't just any show, we are bringing you the 'Black Widow Tour'. Get ready to be infected!"
National Rock Review will be in attendance at In This Moment's show at the Metropolitan University in Leeds on March 1, to bring you all the action from the 'Black Widow' tour.
In This Moment:
Website | Facebook | Twitter
In This Moment Tour Dates:
28/2/15 – Glasgow – Garage, UK
1/3/15 – Leeds – Metropolitan University, Beckett SU, UK
2/3/15 – Manchester – Academy 2, UK
4/3/15 – Wolverhampton – Wulfrun Hall, UK
5/3/15 – London – KOKO, UK
Tickets on sale now at Livenation and Ticketmaster.
black widowChris HoworthIn This MomentMaria BrinkUK
Danny Leal of Upon A Burning Body
Mikey Carvajal of Islander
The Shires at the Sage Gateshead in Gateshead, UK
Communion Music Presents The Amazons & Another Sky at O'Meara, London


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thebestofchester
Find your five star business today
Life coach inspired to help women
Chester-based coach, author and speaker Ann Girling is set to bring her dream of helping women a step closer.
Ann is launching a series of workshops to help develop women's confidence, esteem and aspirations.
Ann said: "I passionately believe that a greater contribution from women can help to change the world. There is still a disproportionately low level of females in key leadership roles in large corporations and I think this is a mistake. I strongly doubt that we would have the level of economic crisis today if the banks had more women at the top."
Ann Girling is the founder of On The Threshold, a business bringing together Ann's twin passions for health visiting, her previous career, and coaching, which both strive to empower women. Through her own experience, she inspires other women to move forward and make powerful choices in their lives.
She added: "Women have incredible strengths which are rarely used to their advantage. All too often women are too busy managing their families, homes and careers so that they do not take the time to focus on themselves and harness their power. Through my own experiences, I have seen how powerful it can be when a little time is taken to nurture this. It can really change an ordinary life into an extraordinary life and this is my ultimate aim for my clients."
Ann started her career as a children's nurse straight from school. Years later, having suffered from post-natal depression, a miscarriage, stress and mental health issues, she took charge of her life and devoted herself to helping other women who have suffered traumatic events or illness to move forward and make better lives for themselves.
She created her company to combine her background in health visiting, her coaching qualifications and experience, and her passion for making a difference to women's lives. She provides personal development for women through one-to-one coaching and group workshops.
"Looking back it was clear that nurses were fantastic at looking after other people and not so good at looking after themselves, but at the time I always felt that I was invincible," she said.
At the age of 52 she decided to leave the NHS and set up her business which evolved into On The Threshold.
Ann works with women who have been breast cancer patients or who have experienced the trauma of miscarriage, post-natal depression, involuntary childlessness and other conditions. She also works with women who have been through significant life events which may include divorce or separation, redundancy and stress related illness.
Ann says: "I value the difference women make to the world, no matter how little they are listened to, how their emotional needs can be ignored and how stigma can be attached to the illnesses or experiences they have suffered. I see their caring and compassion, their fantastic leadership skills, how they manage home, family and work, and yet are not valued by our society. I also know how these experiences impact on their self esteem and confidence."
She regularly writes about her specialist subjects and is currently writing a book entitled Journey to Chocolate: Explorations of one 21st century Woman's Life.
The Threshold Workshops are a series of six, two-hour, group coaching sessions which provide the benefits of individual coaching but at a more affordable rate and with the company and support of other women. They will take place at The Barn Restaurant, Bridge Trafford, Chester CH4 2JR, on October 7, 14 and 21 and the November 4, 11 and 18.
For more information, visit: www.onthethreshold.co.uk/event-information or contact Ann on 01244 300391.
Paul D
Chester word of mouth specialist, promotes and markets the best businesses in Chester. Passionately supporting local businesses, organisations and events.
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text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home > FACULTY_SCHOLARSHIP > 21
Selling Mayberry: Communities and Individuals in Law and Economics
Gideon Parchomovsky, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law SchoolFollow
Peter Siegelman, Fordham University School of Law
The small village of Cheshire, Ohio was recently acquired in its entirety by the firm whose giant power plant, located at the edge of town, caused it serious pollution problems. Although the plant was worth substantially more than the town, this was not a simple Coasean bargain. This paper combines an ethnographic methodology with theoretical insights from law and economics to present an empirical and theoretic challenge to the standard account of nuisance disputes. We explore the transaction in detail and explain what prevented collective action and holdout problems that are usually thought to hinder bargaining with groups. Specifically, we show how incorporating the role of community into conventional theory offers a new understanding of the likelihood of holdouts, the importance of community dynamics, the interdependency of community-wide nuisance actions, and the role of the law of takings.
pollution, nuisance, property, torts, community, externalities, takings
California Law Review
92 Cal. L. Rev. 75 (2004)
Parchomovsky, Gideon and Siegelman, Peter, "Selling Mayberry: Communities and Individuals in Law and Economics" (2004). Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law. 21.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/21
Environmental Law Commons, Law and Economics Commons, Public Economics Commons


The Witness returns to Liquid Force's boat lineup for 2016. This board continues to be a fan favorite as a platform for progressing their riding. Its design places the rider in a centered, yet tail heavy position. This adjustment is to help riders transition from a continuous rocker to a more aggressive 3-stage rocker without being intimidated.The Witness features a flatter center curve increased speed and rail control while the exaggerated tip and tail help create more pop off the wake. Built with a PU Core, this construction creates a lightweight layup that is responsive and has a stiffer feel.Unlock your potential and take it to the next level with the Liquid Force Witness.


text:
Q: How to securely configure s3 for website access I want to setup an s3 bucket securely but provide public access to website assets such as images, pdfs, documents, etc. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to do this.
I have tried setting up a new bucket which has Block Public Access enabled. I assume this is the best way to secure the bucket but can't enable viewing/downloading of files in this bucket.
I expect to be able to view/download website files from a browser but always get an Access Denied error.

A: All content in Amazon S3 buckets are private by default.
If you wish to provide public access to content, this can be done in several ways:

*

*At the Bucket level by providing a Bucket Policy: This is ideal for providing access to a whole bucket, or a portion of a bucket.

*At the Object level by using an Access Control List (ACL): This allows fine-grained control on an object-by-object basis.

*Selectively, by creating a pre-signed URL: This allows your application to determine whether a particular application user should be permitted access

All three methods allow an object in Amazon S3 to be accessed via a URL. This is totally separate to making API calls to Amazon S3 using AWS credentials, which would allow control at the user-level.
Based on your description, it would appear that a Bucket Policy would best meet your needs, such as:
{
  "Version":"2012-10-17",
  "Statement":[
    {
      "Sid":"PublicPermission",
      "Effect":"Allow",
      "Principal": "*",
      "Action":["s3:GetObject"],
      "Resource":["arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*"]
    }
  ]
}

This is saying: Allow anyone to get an object from my-bucket
Note that the policy specifies which calls are permitted, so it can allow upload, download, delete, etc. In the above example, it is only allowing GetObject, which means objects can be accessed/downloaded but not uploaded, deleted, etc.
The /* in the Resource allows further control by specifying a path within the bucket, so it would be possible to grant access only to a portion of the bucket.
When using a Bucket Policy, it is also necessary to deactivate Block Public Access settings to allow the Bucket Policy to be used. This is an extra layer of protection that ensures buckets are not accidentally made publicly accessible.
If, on the other hand, your actual goal is to keep content private but selectively make it available to application users, then you could use a pre-signed URL. An example is a photo website where people are permitted to view their private photos, but the photos are not publicly accessible.
This would be handled by having users authenticate to the application. Then, when they wish to access a photo, the application would determine whether they are permitted to see the photo. If so, the application would generate a pre-signed URL that grants temporary access to an object. Once the expiry time is passed, the link will no longer work.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Our expert team is qualified and highly experienced in performing installations and repair work for any part of your home or business. Click on the links below to see some interesting design ideas that we could do for you.
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> Ben's requirements for inclusion into CVS.
> It also does not deal with anything other than DVB-S.
> and submit those changes sometime in the future.
This would be a terrific change if you were to do it!
As a DVB-T user could you fill me in with the issues as to why it ends up being DVB-S specific?  Could you perhaps send me your dvbchannel patch to have a look at to at least understand what you did to make it faster?


Required Minimum Distributions: Is There An Unintended Nudge?
But the catch is, of course, that one doesn't actually need to spend this money at all. The only rule is that one must pay the previously-deferred taxes on this money, by moving the money into an after-tax account. Once in this account, the money can sit indefinitely.
The Department of the Treasury is to review the rules on required minimum distributions from retirement plans to see if retirees could keep more money in 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts for longer.
This could allow retirees to spread retirement savings over a longer period of time.
-- because it suggests that retirees are unable to defer retirement-account spending in the current system. The reality is that it is entirely appropriate for there to be limits on the period of time over which retirees can continue to defer their taxes. To be sure, the proposed update to the RMD table would be in the form of an update to the underlying expected mortality rates, which were last updated in 2002, and it is likewise entirely appropriate for those mortality rates to be updated, not just as the result of a periodic executive order or new legislation, but on an annual basis, in line with accepted actuarial practice.
But, having said this, the new buzzword of retirement policy has become the idea of the "nudge" -- setting up 401(k) plans, for instance, with auto-enrollment to "nudge" people to save by making this the natural default.
Yet with the RMD, we've got a "nudge" in the wrong direction.
The RMD nudge may not mandate spending the RMD each year, but it surely creates the perception that the RMD can be taken as some sort of guidance regarding the amount that retirees should spend each year, regardless of whether this is the right decision for them taking into account their overall finances. Depending on an individual's overall financial picture -- the balance in their pretax accounts vs. other assets, their other retirement income such as Social Security benefits or pensions, debt levels, medical expenses and medical/long-term care insurance -- spending the RMD each year can result in over- or under-spending, either leaving insufficient money for future needs or resulting in an unneeded frugality.
Educated retirees who work with a financial planner likely understand this and have worked out customized spend-down strategies. But we can't assume that all retirees will have this, especially as an ever-growing share of the population has IRAs.
So what if we get rid of the nudge? What if 401(k)/IRA providers simply automated the RMD process so that it's invisible to their clients, for instance, by creating a mirror account and automatically transferring the required sum to an after-tax account? As it happens, this exists as an option (see, for instance, the Charles Schwab website and the Vanguard website) but must be specifically requested. What if providers implemented this as the default?
Such a default would solve another problem: failure to take the RMD is costly -- the IRS will assess a penalty of 50% of the missed distribution. Yes, one can request a waiver of the penalty, and the IRS will accept such explanations as serious illness or mental incapacity (so all is not lost if one discovers one's parents have missed this), but according to Kiplinger's (in 2013), the IRS still reported that 250,000 individuals missed RMDs in the years 2006 and 2007 (more recent data appears unavailable), so it's far better to have processes in place to avoid this in the first place.


text:
var config=require('../config.js').config;//用户配置
var fs=require('fs');
var logger=require("../util/log").logger;//日志
//datebase
var commondb=require("../db/common");
var postdb=require("../db/post");
var posttypedb=require("../db/posttype");
var userdb=require("../db/user");

function GetPagePost(pagenum,allpost,renderdata){
	var pagecount=Math.ceil(allpost.length/config.webconfig.postNum);
	//起始文章索引
	var firstindex=0;
	//结束文章索引
	var endindex=0;
	firstindex=pagenum*config.webconfig.postNum;
	if ((pagenum+1)==pagecount)
		endindex=allpost.length;
	else if(pagecount>0)
		endindex=(pagenum+1)*config.webconfig.postNum;
	renderdata.allpost=new Array();
	for (var i=firstindex;i<endindex;i++) {
		renderdata.allpost.push(allpost[i]);
	};
}
//

//首页
exports.index=function(req,res,next)
{
	var pagenum=0;
	var pagenumstring=req.params.pagenum;//第几页
	var catname=req.params.catname;//第几页
	if (catname==null) {
		catname='';
	}
	//第几页
	if (pagenumstring==null) {
		pagenum=0;
	}else{
		pagenum=parseInt(pagenumstring);
	}
	var renderdata={};
	renderdata.blogconf=config.webconfig;
	//查看所有分类
	commondb.GetAll('posttype',function(err,alltype){
		if (!err) {
			renderdata.catname=catname;
			renderdata.pagenum=pagenum;
			renderdata.category_list=alltype;

			if (catname=='') {
				//查找所有的文章(按时间排)
				commondb.GetAll('posts',function(err,allpage){
					if (!err) {
						GetPagePost(pagenum,allpage,renderdata);
						res.render('blog/index',renderdata);
					}
				});
			}else {
				//某一个分类
				postdb.GetPostByType(catname,function(err,alltype){
					if (!err) {
						GetPagePost(pagenum,allpage,renderdata);
						res.render('blog/index',renderdata);
					}
				});
			}
		}
	});
};

//关于
exports.about=function(req,res,next)
{
	fs.readFile('./about.md','utf8',function(err,filedata){
		if (err) throw err;
		var marktext=marked(filedata);
		res.render('about',{tag:'about',blogName:config.blogname,filedata:marktext});
	});
};
//梦想清单
exports.dream=function(req,res,next)
{
	fs.readFile('./dream.md','utf8',function(err,filedata){
		if (err) throw err;
		var marktext=marked(filedata);
		res.render('dream',{tag:'dream',blogName:config.blogname,filedata:marktext});
	});
};
//文章列表
exports.postlist=function(req,res,next)
{
	commondb.GetAll('post',function(err,result){
		if (!err) {
				var postlistarray=new Array();
				var yearArray;
				var yearString='';
				for (var i =0; i<result.length ; i++) {
					var createTime=result[i].createTime;
					var tempyearString=createTime.substring(0,createTime.search('年'));
					var datestring=createTime.substring(createTime.search('年')+1,createTime.length);
					var postdata={
							title:result[i].title,
							id:result[i]._id.toString(),
							date:datestring
					};
					if (tempyearString!=yearString) {
						yearArray=new Array();
						yearString=tempyearString;
						var yearData={
							year:yearString,
							yearArray:yearArray
						};
						postlistarray.push(yearData);
					};
					yearArray.push(postdata);
				};
				res.render('postlist',{tag:"postlist",blogName:config.blogname,postlistarray:postlistarray});
			}
	});
};

//链接
exports.links=function(req,res,next)
{
	fs.readFile('./links.md','utf8',function(err,filedata){
		if (err) throw err;
		var marktext=marked(filedata);
		res.render('links',{tag:'links',blogName:config.blogname,filedata:marktext});
	});
};

//文章
exports.post=function(req,res,next)
{
	var postid=req.param('id');//文章id
	if (postid==null) {
		res.redirect('/');
		return;
	};
	var o_id = new BSON.ObjectID(postid);
	postdb.searchPost(o_id,function(err,page){
		if (page!=null) {
				res.render('post',{post:page,tag:"index",blogName:config.blogname,md:marked,postid:postid});
		}else{
				console.log('cant find post');
				res.redirect('/');
				return;
		}
	});
};


text:
Q: Disable Android's VideoView requestAudioFocus when playing a video? I'm building an app that records and plays back video. I would like to do so without affecting background music playback, i.e. if I begin playing a video, I do not want to pause other apps' audio. However, on Lollipop, Android's VideoView class automatically requests audio focus when the private method VideoView.openVideo() is called:
AudioManager am = (AudioManager) super.getSystemService(name);
am.requestAudioFocus(null, AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, AudioManager.AUDIOFOCUS_GAIN);

Any suggestions on how to get around this?

A: Starting with Android SDK 26 you may want to use VideoView and
if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.Version_CODES.O){
     //set this BEFORE start playback
     videoView.setAudioFocusRequest(AudioManager.AUDIOFOCUS_NONE)
}

For older version, there's a workaround described here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/31569930/993439
Basically, copy source code of VideoView and uncomment following lines
AudioManager am = (AudioManager) getContext().getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE);
am.requestAudioFocus(null, AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, AudioManager.AUDIOFOCUS_GAIN);

A: I got around this with a stupid solution by copying whole source code of android.widget.VideoView of Lollipop and removing line you mentioned.
Make your own VideoView class. don't use extends VideoView since you can't override openVideo() method.
I don't recommend this as I thinking it's a temporary solution. VideoView Changed a lot between 4.1-5.0 so this can make RuntimeException on Android version other than Lollipop
Edit
I made approach MediaPlayer + SurfaceView as pinxue told us;
It respects aspect ratio within viewWidth and viewHeight.
            final String finalFilePath = filePath;

            final SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder = sv.getHolder();
            final MediaPlayer mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer();
            final LinearLayout.LayoutParams svLayoutParams = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(viewWidth,viewHeight);
            surfaceHolder.addCallback(new SurfaceHolder.Callback(){

                @Override
                public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {

                    try {
                        if(isDebug) {
                        System.out.println("setting VideoPath to VideoView: "+finalFilePath);
                        }
                        mediaPlayer.setDataSource(finalFilePath);
                    }catch (IOException ioe){
                        if(isDebug){
                            ioe.printStackTrace();
                        }
                        //mediaPlayer = null;
                    }
                    mediaPlayer.setDisplay(surfaceHolder);
                    mediaPlayer.prepareAsync();
                    mediaPlayer.setOnPreparedListener(new MediaPlayer.OnPreparedListener() {
                        @Override
                        public void onPrepared(MediaPlayer mp) {
                            if(isDebug){
                                System.out.println("Video is starting...");
                            }

                            // for compatibility, we adjust size based on aspect ratio
                            if ( mp.getVideoWidth() * svLayoutParams.height  < svLayoutParams.width * mp.getVideoHeight() ) {
                                //Log.i("@@@", "image too wide, correcting");
                                svLayoutParams.width = svLayoutParams.height * mp.getVideoWidth() / mp.getVideoHeight();
                            } else if ( mp.getVideoWidth() * svLayoutParams.height  > svLayoutParams.width * mp.getVideoHeight() ) {
                                //Log.i("@@@", "image too tall, correcting");
                                svLayoutParams.height = svLayoutParams.width * mp.getVideoHeight() / mp.getVideoWidth();
                            }
                            sv.post(new Runnable(){
                                    @Override
                                    public void run() {
                                        sv.setLayoutParams(svLayoutParams);
                                    }
                                });

                            mp.start();
                        }
                    });
                }

                @Override
                public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width, int height) {
                    if(isDebug){
                        System.out.println("surfaceChanged(holder, "+format+", "+width+", "+height+")");
                    }
                }

                @Override
                public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) {
                    try {
                        mediaPlayer.setDataSource("");
                    }catch (IOException ioe){
                        if(isDebug){
                            ioe.printStackTrace();
                        }
                    }
                }
            });

            if(sv.post(new Runnable() {
                @Override
                public void run() {

                    sv.setLayoutParams(svLayoutParams);///
                    sv.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);

                }})){

                if(isDebug) {
                    System.out.println("post Succeded");
                }
            }else{
                if(isDebug) {
                    System.out.println("post Failed");
                }
            }

A: The accepted solution does not guarantee compatibility across all Android versions and is a dirty hack more than a true solution.  I've tried all forms of hacks to get this working, yet none have worked to my satisfaction.
I have come up with a much better solution though - switch from a VideoView to a TextureView and load it with a MediaPlayer.  There is no difference from the user's perspective, just no more audio stoppage.
Here's my use case for playing an MP4 looping:
private TextureView _introVideoTextureView;
private MediaPlayer _introMediaPlayer;

...

@Override
public void onCreate(...) {
    _introVideoTextureView.setSurfaceTextureListener(new TextureView.SurfaceTextureListener() {
        @Override
        public void onSurfaceTextureAvailable(SurfaceTexture surfaceTexture, int width, int height) {
           try {
               destoryIntroVideo();

               _introMediaPlayer = MediaPlayer.create(SignInActivity.this, R.raw.intro_video);
               _introMediaPlayer.setSurface(new Surface(surfaceTexture));
               _introMediaPlayer.setLooping(true);
               _introMediaPlayer.setVideoScalingMode(MediaPlayer.VIDEO_SCALING_MODE_SCALE_TO_FIT_WITH_CROPPING);
               _introMediaPlayer.setOnPreparedListener(new MediaPlayer.OnPreparedListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void onPrepared(MediaPlayer mediaPlayer) {
                        mediaPlayer.start();
                    }
                });

            } catch (Exception e) {
                System.err.println("Error playing intro video: " + e.getMessage());
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void onSurfaceTextureSizeChanged(SurfaceTexture surfaceTexture, int i, int i1) {}

        @Override
        public boolean onSurfaceTextureDestroyed(SurfaceTexture surfaceTexture) {
            return false;
        }

        @Override
        public void onSurfaceTextureUpdated(SurfaceTexture surfaceTexture) {}
    });
}

@Override
public void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();

    destoryIntroVideo();
}

private void destoryIntroVideo() {
    if (_introMediaPlayer != null) {
        _introMediaPlayer.stop();
        _introMediaPlayer.release();
        _introMediaPlayer = null;
    }
}

A: You may use MediaPlayer + SurfaceView instead.

A: use audioManager.abandonAudioFocus(null)
If you look at the VideoView code you will notice it calls the method audioManager.requestAudioFocus with null for the OnAudioFocusChangeListener. When you register a listener with the AudioManager it uses this method to make an ID for the listener
private String getIdForAudioFocusListener(OnAudioFocusChangeListener l) {
    if (l == null) {
        return new String(this.toString());
    } else {
        return new String(this.toString() + l.toString());
    }
}

which generates the same ID every time you use null. So if you call abandonAudioFocus with null it will remove any listener that was added with null as the parameter for the OnAudioFocusChangeListener