Power, prosperity, and pleasure are generally considered the American Dream, but too much materialism can lead to a culture where hearts turn inward and individuals become more concerned for self rather than others. We have this situation in our country today. Materialism has replaced spirituality. The problem is not confined to the United States. For example world-wide denominations are dealing with major schisms as church bodies in prosperous regions seek to change established doctrine that are barriers to what their people want. A spiritual culture provides established principles and beliefs that provide a solid foundation. A material culture emphasizes people's current wants and desires. Trivia and feeling become the focus of decision leading to nano-values that do not satisfy. This leads to addiction. The answers to addiction are well known today and are found in various "12-step" programs. The programs emphasize that head-knowledge is not enough. Hearts must be changed through repentance, commitment to a higher power, and a system of accountability. On Fire for God II provides practical background information and a Leader's Manual for launching groups patterned after "12-step" programs and Class Meetings John Wesley used 250 years ago. His church "had drifted into a trifling worldliness." The Class Meetings "turned out to be the primary means of bringing millions of England's most desperate people into the liberating discipline of Christian faith." (Quotes from John Wesley's Class Meetings
In the heart of the Delta, between the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, the small town of Isleton boasts a fascinating history as well as the popular Crawdad Festival that draws thousands to the area each year. Built primarily by farmers who found the reclaimed marshland perfect for their agricultural endeavors, the community also became a center for Chinese customs and life when immigrants began to establish themselves in the area in the 1860s. The Chinese were soon followed by other ethnic groups, including Japanese, Philippino, Portuguese, and others who joined them in farming the land, working in the canneries, and raising their families. Though much smaller today than at its peak just prior to World War II, Isleton has made great efforts to preserve its unique character, and today many of its structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This Commentary is based on the Founding Fathers' belief in a Creator. For 200 years a majority attended church, children sang "This is my father's world," and adults responded with "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." They believed it was God's world and He was the source of all blessings. This has dramatically changed. Aided by mass communications; big business, government, high tech, and education have used modern technology to influence thought and action away from God's plan. Materialism replaced spirituality. The commandment to "love God and your neighbor" has changed to "ignore God and fault your neighbor." Many believe our lust for power, prosperity, and pleasure is so strong today it cannot be reversed. This Commentary believes otherwise but it will require the quality of leadership exhibited by our Founding Fathers, a quality rarely seen today. On Fire For God uses the wisdom of the Founders and biblical principles to go on the attack as did Jesus when He said, "I came to cast fire on the earth" and "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." Controlled fire, as when heating, cooking, lighting, and melting to purify, can be a powerful positive force to remove the dross from our lives to provide the leadership needed to return to God's plan for our nation. Check out our website: merehumanity.info for guidelines on starting On Fire for God small groups.
Our culture today is in disarray. Time honored values have been replaced by nano-values with the theme, "You only go around once, get all you can." The change in values corresponds to the breakdown of family values, especially beginning in the 1960s. Our founding fathers believed in the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God. Biblical values such as honesty, unselfishness, caring, sharing, and hard work were the pillars of our nation. These authentic values however are not natural for humanity. They distinguish man from animals and must be taught, modeled, and caught. The family is God's institution for passing on these values. Grandparents who lived through the Great Depression, WW II, and the 1950s understand it took authentic values and principles to make a nation great. This commentary is written to encourage grandparents who lived through these times to fight today for freedom as did the Greatest Generation in the '40s. They fought an enemy who was visible. Our enemy is largely invisible, it is our addiction to materialism that is replacing spiritual values as our reason for being. Materialism has no reputable right or wrong and relies on feeling to replace facts. It is quicksand and a false foundation for a nation. Grandparents arise! Be the watchmen on the wall to warn of danger. Steep yourself in the truth. Be clear on God's plan for man. Speak up when lies are passed off as truth. Expose deception. Let God use you to restore his values to your family and to the nation. Grandpa's Guide to Parenting is a call to restore the Founder's foundation.
Where the waves of the Pacific Ocean wash up against the quiet neighborhoods of San Francisco, Ocean Beach has endured as a popular destination for tourists and San Francisco residents alike. At water's edge is the Cliff House restaurant where visitors can look down upon the remains of the Sutro Baths, a 19th-century indoor pool complex. Just south is the famous Golden Gate Park with its two stately windmills, followed by the well-loved San Francisco Zoo. But a century of change has altered the landscape and the attractions of Ocean Beach, making way for new developments and reflecting the evolution of the city of San Francisco itself.
This book is about God's love--pure, wholesome, unselfish Godly love that is available in unlimited amounts to anyone. Although the book was written from a Christian perspective, the principles of loving one another apply regardless of your belief.Mere Humanity aids in getting this love into the heart so we "want to" be what we were created to be.Mere Humanity tells "why" God's plan isn't normal living today and "what" to do about it. Every person we meet provides an opportunity to bless others and in return be blessed.Satan is having a field day. His "I, me, mine" worldview is a path to loneliness, to despair, and, too often, to death. Our Creator's plan is for abundant and everlasting life.Mother Theresa transformed her world. You can transform yours. Read the book, form a study group if you feel led to do so, build a team to nurture one another, and change your world.For more information, check out our website: merehumanity.info.
Sacred chants are Ada Franklin’s power and her medicine. By saying them, she can remove warts, stanch bleeding, and draw the fire from burns. At age twenty, her reputation as a faith healer defines her in her rural Pennsylvania community. But on the day in 1953 that her family’s barn is consumed by flame, her identity as a healer is upended. The heat, the roar of the blaze, and the bellows of the trapped cows change Ada. For the first time, she fears death and—for the first time—she doubts God. With her belief goes her power to heal. Then Ada meets an agnostic named Will Burk and his pet raven, Cicero. Fire Is Your Water is acclaimed memoirist Jim Minick’s first novel. Built on magical realism and social observation in equal measure, it never gives way to sentimentality and provides an insider’s glimpse into the culture of Appalachia. A jealous raven, a Greek chorus of one, punctuates the story with its judgments on the characters and their actions, until a tragic accident brings Ada and Will together in a deeper connection.
Jim is a retired captain with the Ventura County Sheriffs Department in California after nearly 31 years of service. During that time, Jim spent 6 years in detectives, investigating all matter of crime from burglaries to murder. Jim is the author of three other published books, one optioned screen play and an anthology of short stories which is soon to be published. He makes his home in Northern California and Idaho. Braden Mckinley was born in 1942 in Western Pennsylvania and schooled locally. In 1962 he married his high school sweetheart, Nancy. He joined the Ventura County Sheriffs Department in 1965, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant before accepting an appointment as Chief Investigator with the District Attorneys Office. He retired in 1993. He has produced or performed in a hundred stage plays and a television series. He makes his home in California.
Here, in a pictorial history, Jim Shaughnessy turns an eloquent photographer's eye to the Delaware & Hudson, the line that began in 1823 as a canal system to transport Pennsylvania coal to New York State. The D&H extended from Montreal to the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania. It was active for 170 years, when the route was sold in 1993 to the Canadian Pacific Railway Corporation. The line made early railroad fame by importing from England the famous Stourbridge Lion, the first steam locomotive in America. This occurred during a great expansion into gravity, an interesting phase which took advantage of the mountainous terrain. The nineteenth century saw a period of economic growth and amalgamation, which was shaped by extremely able and ambitiou company presidents. Eventually the D&H advertised itself as "the Bridge Line to New England and Canada." Mountainous terrain around the coal mines challenged the line with heavy grades, so it was natural for one of its presidents, L. F. Loree, to be fascinated with experimental traction power. The many Loree locomotives, leaders in progressive design, are pictured and described herein. Because a good railroad history is always an economic history of a region, this book will surely please historian, too. Delaware & Hudson is a definitive work, encompassing the mining of the region and detailing the steamboat operations on Lakes George and Champlain. Syracuse University Press is pleased to reissue this exemplary study of a railroad. Delaware & Hudson has—and will—continue to raise the standards for all future railroad books.
The First In-Depth Biography of America’s Last Five-Star General He was known as “the G.I. General”— humble, self-effacing, hard-working, reflecting the small-town virtues of the America whose uniform he wore. But those very virtues have led historians to neglect General Omar Bradley—until now. Bestselling author Jim DeFelice, in this, the first-ever in-depth biography of America’s last five-star general, tells Bradley’s full story, and argues that the neglected G.I. General did more than any other to defeat Hitler in World War II. While General George S. Patton has garnered much of the glory, General Dwight David Eisenhower has claimed much of the world’s respect, and British General Bernard Montgomery has kept the Union Jack flying, as DeFelice proves, it was the unassuming Bradley who actually developed the strategy and the tactics that won the war in Europe. Meticulously researched, using previously untapped documents and unpublished diaries and notes, Omar Bradley: General at War reveals: Why Bradley, not Patton, deserves most of the credit for America’s victories in North Africa How Bradley—first Patton’s subordinate, then his superior—was one of Patton’s great defenders, while also recognizing his weaknesses, and tried to cover up the infamous slapping incident How Eisenhower panicked—when Bradley didn’t—during the early stages of the Battle of the Bulge, delaying an American counterattack that could have saved thousands of lives Why Bradley was a radical innovator in the use of combined air, armor, and infantry power How Bradley, contrary to those who like to portray him as a staid counterpart to Patton, was one of the most ardent practitioners of fast-moving offensives Why Bradley expected the Germans might use radiological weapons at Normandy Provocative, thorough, original, Jim DeFelice’s Omar Bradley: General at War deserves a place on the shelf of every reader of World War II history.
The paperback edition of the extremely popular The Men of No Property is a study of the popular dimensions of Irish radicalism in the age of the French revolution. It focuses on the lower-class secret society, the Defenders, and the more familiar face of radicalism in this period, the Society of United Irishmen. Particular attention is paid to the vigorous traditions of street protest in eighteenth-century Dublin. The picture which emerges is of a revolutionary movement which was both more radical in its rhetoric and objectives and more popular in its social base than has previously been allowed.
This 248 page book is an exciting documentation of the innovative period of the '60s and '70s when the rhythm of popular music was changed forever. Featured here are biographies, interviews, discographies and rare archival photos of more than 20 great drummers of R&B, funk and soul, including the drummers of James Brown, Earth, Wind and Fire, Otis Redding and Sly and the Family Stone. the true originators of the modern hip-hop beats tell their stories, and the history of the funk comes to life. Appropriate for music fans of all kinds, and all drummers: beginners thru advanced.
John Davidson came to the North Carolina back country circa 1751 as a young man, with his sister and widowed mother. Typical of Scots-Irish settlers, they arrived with little more than basic farming tools, determined to make it on their own terms. Davidson worked hard, prospered, married well and built a plantation on the Catawba River he called Rural Hill. The Davidson's were loyal British citizens who paid their taxes and participated in colonial government. When the Crown's overbearing authority interfered, independence became paramount and Davidson and his neighbors became soldiers in the Revolutionary War. After the war Davidson managed his plantation, created shad fisheries, helped develop the local iron industry with his sons-in-law and was an early planter of cotton. His sons and grandsons, along with their slave families, continuously increased and improved the acreage and became early practitioners of scientific farming. Drawing on public documents, family papers and slave records, this history describes how a fiercely independent family grew their lands and fortunes into a lasting legacy.
When a 10-foot tall purported "petrified man" is unearthed from a backyard in upstate New York in 1869, the discovery immediately turns into a spectacle of epic proportions. News of the giant spreads like wildfire, and well over a thousand people come to view him in the first five days alone!Everyone has their own idea of his true origin: Is he an ancient member of the local Onandaga Indian tribe? Is he a biblical giant like Goliath? Soon the interests of world-renowned scientists and people from around the globe are piqued as arguments flare over who he is, where he came from, and if he is real--or just a hoax. In a riveting account of how the Cardiff Giant mystery snowballed into one of America’s biggest money-making spectacles--and scams--Jim Murphy masterfully explores the power of 19th-century media and the unexpected ripple effect that a single corrupt mastermind can produce when given a stage.
Human Rights Law in Scotland, Fourth Edition provides essential practical guidance to the Scottish legal profession. Written by two distinguished authors, the work explores the impact of human rights legislation in Scotland and provides a comprehensive review of ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) jurisprudence and relevant domestic legislation and case law as well as an overview of Strasbourg enforcement machinery. The fourth edition of this highly regarded work has been fully updated to reflect legislative changes to the Scotland Act 2012 (amending the Scotland Act 1998) and coverage of two new Protocols to the ECHR, as well as new case law and developments in jurisprudence. This highly regarded title is essential reading for legal practitioners, government agencies, students and others who require a clear and up-to-date guide to the application of European human rights law in Scotland. Previous print edition ISBN: 9781847665560
This book tells the story of a First Nation’s single-minded quest for justice. In 1958, the federal government leased part of the small Musqueam Reserve in Vancouver to an exclusive golf club at below market value. When the band members discovered this in 1970, they initiated legal action. Their tenacity led to the 1984 decision in Guerin v. The Queen, whereby the Supreme Court of Canada held that the government has a fiduciary duty towards Indigenous peoples. Jim Reynolds, who served as one of the legal counsel for the Musqueam, provides an in-depth analysis of this landmark case and its impact on Canadian law, politics, and society. By recognizing that the Musqueam had enforceable legal rights, the Guerin case changed the relationship between governments and Indigenous peoples from one of wardship to one based on legal rights. It was a seismic decision.
My short literary novel is about one woman's life. It begins as this large, red-haired woman is fishing from a pier that extends into the bay. She lights a cigarette, shifts the pole to her other hand and sighs with contentment for being alone this Sunday morning. Her mind scrolls back to her childhood as the third of four daughters of a southern mid-west farmer. She recalls the wonder she always felt toward her daddy, because he was tall and red-haired like she was, though none of his children were. He taught her that there was no shame in being poor - that some people just naturally were poor. Her memory replays the scenes of trauma of attending a neighbor's funeral service, the thrill of going to town for new school shoes, her graduation from 8th grade, and going to work in the nearby town of French Springs. Her meeting Elmer, their subsequent marriage, her loss of their first baby, his becoming involved with the idea of Unionism, and their moving to the West Coast. She remembers, but doesn't take much stock in people she has met who have told her that human's, through their minds, have more control of their lives than they think. She remembers too her second miscarriage, her husbands death, years of despair, including disappointing love affairs. But on this Sunday, Wilma is content. She subsists on a dish-washing job. She is 54 years old, overweight and alone. But she still believes that some people are just naturally supposed to be that way, so she is content.
An aging, wicked-tongued actress finds new life through the friendship of a young man employed in the retirement home where she resides. He helps her escape, and they embark on a road trip to Mexico, where the elderly actress revives and the young man finds himself opening up in unexpected ways.
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