New form of body exercises gaining popularity

Physical therapies and body exercises

Regularly, some body technique is promoted. Since the 1980s, techniques have thus passed where the utmost of the body was demanded, while other techniques focused on just a few parts of the body. In addition, yoga techniques have come and gone only to reappear in a different form.

Photo by Cliff Booth on Pexels.com

In recent years, many even went so far as to make exercise an essential part of their lives or even came to adhere to a body cult. Thus, in the early 21st century, a kind of new religion or body cult began to replace traditional religions.

People wished to feel good in their skin and were willing to go very far in this and even invest a lot of time, energy and money in it. But there were also many who actually wished to distance themselves from money and matter. For them, materialism was the enemy of our society and dependence on the matter was reprehensible and one had to train the mind to become master of the body again, through appropriate exercises on both spiritual and physical fleets. Several people were convinced that all facts (including facts about the human mind and will and the course of human history) are causally dependent upon physical processes, or even reducible to them.

Because of the augmented stress in our industrialised world or so-called developed countries, a lot of therapies were also doled out.

Physical therapy is a professional career which has many specialties including musculoskeletal, orthopedics, cardiopulmonary, neurology, endocrinology, sports medicine, geriatrics, pediatrics, women’s health, wound care and electromyography. Neurological rehabilitation is, in particular, a rapidly emerging field. PTs practice in many settings, such as private-owned physical therapy clinics, outpatient clinics or offices, health and wellness clinics, rehabilitation hospitals facilities, skilled nursing facilities, extended care facilities, private homes, education, and research centers, schools, hospices, industrial and these workplaces or other occupational environments, fitness centers and sports training facilities

Fitness, a United States-based women’s magazine, focusing on health, exercise, and nutrition, launched in 1992.

As we entered this century, a lot of health mags found the publishing market while only fitness magazines left the magazine shelves. Though there appeared men’s and women’s magazines which also centred largely on well-being, body form, exercise, nutrition, health, and beauty. For a while, wellness was the fashion word. Lots of magazines presented several adverts for wellness farms and all sorts of wellness programs.

After all the years of hard, intense exercise with a lot of sweating, place was made for gentil exercises and feel good cures.

An aerobics class

All the brutal violence of the 80s with Aerobics, among others, now seems to have been pushed under the carpet for good. It has finally dawned on several people how bad such ‘good sweat and suffering’ programmes are bad for the body. It has taken several medics years to rid people of such techniques that do more harm than good.

However, a large part of the population has become aware that one has to take care of the heart and treat the body respectfully to know how to handle multiple things smoothly. One came to see that for doing cardio or cardio-respiratory exercise there is no need in such high intensity exercises but has to come to low-intensity enough that all carbohydrates are aerobically turned into energy via mitochondrial ATP production. Medium- to long-distance running or jogging, swimming, cycling, stair climbing and walking, have proven to be more effective and less damaging than the overpopular Jane Fonda Workout or Aerobics. The American actress, political activist, and former fashion model spawned imitators and sparked a boom of women’s exercise classes, opening the formerly male-dominated fitness industry to women, and establishing the celebrity-as-fitness-instructor model. The horrible “Feel the burn!”, became a common saying lots of people really started to believe, along with the proverb, “No pain, no gain.” The exercise motto that promises greater value rewards for the price of hard and even painful work, has been luckily now pushed in the corner. It is true that one has to put in the effort to achieve something and it is not all that simple. Effort is a must, but it should not be at the expense of a healthy body.

Something of a revelation to devotees of hard, intense exercise, Zone 2 is one of this year’s key fitness talking points. Influential US well-being podcasters such as the American neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and the Canadian-American physician Dr Peter Attia who focuses on the science of longevity, have been recommending Zone 2 to their many thousands of listeners.

In January 2021, Huberman started the “Huberman Lab Podcast”, focused on neuroscience and science-based tools.In those podcast s he gives attention to breathing/breathwork and the visual system influence the autonomic nervous system, stress, and other brain states, including sleep.

On his podcast Huberman said:

“Getting 180-200 minutes of Zone 2 cardio per week has enormous positive effects on longevity and general health.”

Stress, he says, is not just about the content of what we are reading or the images we are seeing. It is about how our eyes and breathing change in response to the world, as well as the cascades of events that follow. Both these bodily processes also offer us easy and accessible releases from stress. By doing body exercises the wrong way we build up negative stress.

If you need to run and catch your train, you want all the things that go along with stress to go pursue that train. But if the stress response is spontaneous or excessive, it can start to feel pathological.

In the previous decades those exuberant fitness programs won terrain because lots of women wanted to lose weight.

“Despite reaching epidemic proportions, obesity has been wandering in the wilderness of medical lexicon.”

says Attia.

It is striking and distressing to see how several fat people have been added in recent years. Notwithstanding so many fitness programmes and all kinds of diet items and drinks, obesity has increased enormously. (Today the definitions of overweight and obesity are based primarily on measures of height and weight—not morbidity.) Since obesity is often the on-ramp to cancer, heart disease and even Alzheimer’s, we sincerely need to do something against this worrying increase.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity varied across countries, across towns and cities within countries, and across populations of men and women. In China and Japan, for instance, the obesity rate for men and women was about 5 percent, but in some cities in China it had climbed to nearly 20 percent. In 2005 it was found that more than 70 percent of Mexican women were obese. WHO survey data released in 2010 revealed that more than half of the people living in countries in the Pacific Islands region were overweight, with some 80 percent of women in American Samoa found to be obese. {Encyc. Britannica}

The fattening population has everything to do with culture and lifestyle habits among which eating and exercise habits are the main ones.

People need to be aware that it is not about being physically engaged to the point of giving up. On the contrary, one should exercise in a balanced way and not overload the body. It comes down to finding the right balance.

Zone 2 training means exercising at a level of exertion where your body is working, but not very hard – at this level your body is able to use fat as fuel rather than carbohydrates. As you work harder and move up into Zone 3 and beyond you will switch to using carbohydrates, a quite different state in which your heart, lungs and muscles are under stress and will need time to recover. (You know this switch is happening when breathing becomes harder and you are gasping or panting.)

Thanks to its turbocharging effect on our cells’ mitochondria Zone 2 cardio exercises have a very positive effect on the metabolism, improving blood sugar levels and reducing insulin resistance.

The cardio is linked to lower rates of a whole raft of diseases including type 2 diabetes, dementia, stroke and heart disease.

Dr Richard Blagrove, senior lecturer in physiology at Loughborough University, says:

“In terms of both health and performance, Zone 2 training can be really advantageous. I don’t feel bad about getting on my stationary bike and reading a book for an hour.”

Photo by Rui Dias on Pexels.com

Yes, even in a simple and not too strenuous way, one can train their body and work on it. Of course, it is even better to get out now and then, say twice a week, to fully focus your mind on movement in, say, a beautiful green environment. Though such ‘biking’ can lay down an “aerobic base” before one goes training further and build to more intense modes of exercise for competition later in the year.

For the rest of us, Zone 2 can be transformative.

Blagrove points out.

Former professional cyclist and fitness coach at ATP Performance Andy Turner lost 24kg through this kind of movement.

“Zone 2 makes you better at utilising fats as a fuel source and it can help level out your blood sugar. Longer-duration aerobics work can sometimes be forgotten, now it’s all about time-efficient, 30-minute, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).”

HIIT cannot be done every day without strain and risk. It can take 48 hours or more for your body to recover from a session and unsurprisingly this does not speed up as you grow older, whereas Zone 2 provides its many benefits in a sustainable way.

Zone 2 works best in a mix with some high-intensity training – three Zone 2 sessions a week with two HIIT blasts is a good mix.

Zone 2 is the place where your body is working, but not very hard. Technically this is 60-70 per cent of your maximum heart rate, but I would recommend an easier way, namely to check the Talk Test. If one trains properly and performs breathing correctly, one should be able to simply converse without getting out of breath. If you were to call someone during a Zone 2 workout, you should be able to use complex sentences, not just sentiments such as “Help!” or “Taxi!”.

I hope now some more people will put aside that wrong thought of having to suffer to have some successful training. One should not do penance for having sinned by going to a dinner or party. Physical exercise should never continue as a punishment. It should be an enjoyable activity so that it is also a liberating activity.

Always take of your body, because it is the only one you got.

Photo by Chevanon Photography on Pexels.com

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Preceding

Happy First Day of Spring: Spring Cleaning!

What would you do if…? Continued trial

”For The Moment Of Happiness”

Anxiety Management During Pandemic Days~

7 Ways To Boost Your Immune System in Lockdown

Be it in May or September: Run the race

Do you have painful creaky knees

Reasons to be cheerful

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Additional reading

1. Strength of older people can be boosted by resistance training
2. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
3. The focus of multiculturalism in Europe on Muslims and Jews
4. Why are we surprised when Buddhists are violent?
5. Spreading good cheer contagious

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“Celebrate” – channelled spiritual message from The Circle of The Light of The Love Energy – Channelled by Kay Meade.

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6. How to Squeeze Fitness into Your Day?
7. Relaxation or exploitation? The commodification of yoga as a colonial practice
8. How do you prepare for yoga as a beginner?
9. Today: “Now we have to understand…how we can tune our mind to Infinity. ” – Yogi Bhajan
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13. I Tried Nude Yoga…And It Was Nothing Like What I Expected (via Yoga Journal)
14. Kicking it old school on Fitness Friday
15. My Day At The 3rd Lehurutshe Annual Mandela Cycling & Sports Day
16. CHA Celebrates 10 Years of Helping Residents Lose Weight, Lower Blood Pressure and Reduce Cardiovascular Risk
17. Fitness Tips: Monitoring Aerobic Exercise Intensity
18. Step Aerobics Routines You Can Do At Home
19. Exercise #18 – Leg Warmers and Raving Lunatics
20. Aerobic Training Workouts That Benefits Your Entire Body
21. Aerobics and ale
22. Looking On For More
23. Today’s Health Tip ~
24. Sprint Triathlon Training 101
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26. Pilates et yoga : comment choisir ?

Sudha Mehta looking at prophesies, False Prophets and Teachers #2 Toxic people and wars

Sudha Mehta thinks all around the world today people are seeing conditions get worse day by day, and many would like to know what is ahead and that is what he wishes to address in some of his writings on the net, in his One Way Studies.

The Book of books teaches us to be diligent and to acknowledge those who work hard among us, who care for us in the Lord and who admonish us. In a Christian community, there should be those who warn and kindly reprove and exhort those in the community. The apostles urged their followers already to be as brothers and sisters, warning those who are idle and disruptive, encouraging the disheartened, helping the weak, and being patient with everyone. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-20)

According to Mr. Mehta and us, this is a

Recipe for Christian living. No matter the time or the circumstance!

Do this and you will walk in a blessed life, again “No matter the time or the circumstance! 

Circumstances can be bad, sometimes really, really bad! Yet here is what Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 10: 13 No temptation (trial) has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.(ESV) {Wolves and Sheep}

In the previous posting we mentioned already the danger of so called leaders or teachers, that hide amongst the people, and are not easily recognised by the general laity. For Mr. Mehta

they are just as, or even more dangerous than someone speaking false teaching overtly. These are the true wolves in sheep’s clothing. {Wolves and Sheep}

We can check how those preachers or pastors act and should be careful with murmurers (grumblers) who complain [of their lot in life], going after their own (evil) desires [controlled by their passions] trying to be in control.

False teachers and christs aim to misdirect people away from the revealed truth of the Bible. (Matthew 24:4,5)

False teachers and christs look to glorify themselves instead of God. Their only purpose is to take advantage of you. (Jude 1:16)

False teachers and christs are controlling and dictatorial. They will move to isolate you from others including family and friends if necesary in order to control you. (Jude 1:16) {Wolves and Sheep}

What should worry us most is how certain pastors use the name of God or the name of Christ to mislead people. Sometimes they even go so far as to tell they are chosen by God to do his work here on earth.

Mehta writes

False christs and teachers will want to control your children as well, seeking to indoctrinate your whole family in their way. They use the name of God to control every facet of your life, but their own life is not surrendered to God.  They are arrogant and follow in their own lusts. (Jude 1:16) {Wolves and Sheep}

Most striking are the news reports that we receive here in Europe of preachers in mega-churches who, without any shame, rip off money from less fortunate people and enrich themselves wonderfully with all kinds of luxury products, cars, and even aeroplanes.

Mehta continues

If you know the Bible, you will discover that these are toxic people and divide families, disrupt churches and mislead the weak and the vulnerable. As Jude says:

Jude 1: 16These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.

17But you, beloved, remember what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ 18 when they said to you,

“In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.”

19These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit.(BSB)

So, know the Word, follow the truth, pray for discerment and steer clear of such leaders, prophets, teachers and pastors. Gather together with others and study, get to know the One who created you. {Wolves and Sheep}

Concerning what happens in the world, Mehta writes

I think we all can agree that in all of human history wars have been happening since the beginning. In a rudimentary form, Cain waged a war against Abel, killing him. Left to his own devices, and indwelt by a sin nature that corrupts, man has an innate desire to push the limits and conquer. This desire stems from a number of things like pride, jealousy and covetousness which is a desire to own what belongs to someone else. It is a quest for power over others, a demonstration of a lack of contentment . . . in short all things that come from Satan, NOT from God.

…

According to sources such as Necrometrics, in the 20th Century wars took a toll as never before. While the numbers vary, deaths related to wars, and warring activities resulted in unimaginable loss of human life, young and old. {Wars and Rumors of Wars}

The last few centuries the world has undergone several battles. The seem to be part of humankind/ So how would we know when other times will start?

We have to know that man shall not be able to escape what is foretold in the Scriptures. In that Book of books there are prophecies given which shall be fulfilled whatever man shall try to do. It is written down in that Book of books, the Bible, that there will be terrible times in the last days. We shall be able to see how people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, lovers of material gadgets. Their interest shall go more to worldly things instead of to spiritual matters. But their character shall not be for the better, having to cope with boastful, proud, abusive and disobedient people. We also shall come to see that in that particular time people shall not be very grateful, and missing that so needed love. The world shall be full of unforgiving, slanderous people, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, but false, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

3 But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].

² For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.

³ [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.

⁴ [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.

⁵ For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them]. (2 Timothy 3:1-5 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)

God with his prophets asks us to look … and Jesus adds

“look up because redemption is coming?!”

We would love to see that redemption and the wonderful promised world coming soon.

Truth is all of us would love to live forever in a Utopian world where there is no war, or dissension of anykind, ever. We would all love to be at peace with our neighbors, and have the children play without fear outside, no matter where we live.

We would love to see an end to all rioting, and violence from the mobs. It would be great if no stray bullet ever hit and killed a loved one asleep in the bed or crib. No driveby shootings. {Wars and Rumors of Wars}

The World be so much better if there were no drug cartels ruling our inner cities, no mothers weeping over their child’s coffins whether the death occured from an overdose, a bullet or a knife.  We all want a place where children are not abused physically or sexually, where women are not beaten for causing some little displeasure to their husbands, where lives, young and old are not sold in underground makets for profit. {Wars and Rumors of Wars}

Lots of people think there shall come an end to the world, but they do not know God’s Plan. In that Plan there is no end to the world. No human being shall be able to destroy the earth totally. Its foundations can never be moved.

⁵ You laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever. (Psalm 104:5 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)

⁴ One generation goes and another generation comes, but the earth remains forever. (Ecclesiastes 1:4 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)

We should take the words of the Bible to our heart

Isaiah 2: 4b They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.(NKJV)

The Bible tells us not even in the animal kingdom will there be a hint of danger:

from wildbranches.blogspot

Isaiah 11: 6“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.(NKJV)

Photo from pinterest

I cannot imagine a more peaceful world. Can you?!

Weapons will be destroyed and there will be peace. An era without guns that so many of you long for will come. The above Scripture speaks in the language of the Old Testament assuring us of a time of peace in the future. The signs of turmoil today merely point to this time coming. Jesus said to look up, for in truth God is our only hope.  {Wars and Rumors of Wars}

Today a lot is going on that should worry us. Perhaps we are coming very close to a prophesied time.

Prophecy is the roadmap that gives us all the signs we need to follow. It lends clarity to life and the world around us. If we understand prophecy, we can avoid the pitfalls, the sharp bends in the road, and cliffs that lead to dangerous falls.  It gives us hope when things do not look good for we know He will not abandon His children. Prophecy is a roadmap as well as a timeline, so we have an understanding of things from a higher perspective.    {Wars and Rumors of Wars}

What is happening the last few weeks is something we could have seen in a lesser threatening form in the period of the Cold War.

This is a war of a different sort and one that we see riseing quickly today. It isn’t that it hasn’t always been an issue all around the world all along, it has . . . but  where progress had been made to bring peace, it has been lost for the most part.

The word nation in this text derives from the word “Ethnos.” So, nation refers to ethnicity! This breaks it down to racial issues of the day. Ethnic hostility is growing around the world at a rapid pace. {Nation against Nation}

photo from finacial express.

There is a simmering hostility just under the surface, trust is eroded in all sectors . . . no one wants to be called a racist and everyone is afraid to be labeled one. Truth be told most people aren’t racists, and yet fear makes everyone more suspicious of everyone else. There is a palpable tension in the air. More in the cities than in the country, but nonetheless, it exists. Whether it is the color of your skin, the shape of your nose, the size of your body, many find reason to take offense, and destroy someone’s life by shaming them in return, “canceling” them, and so much more. {Nation against Nation}

…

The intensity of emotions in politically charged discussions is hard to watch. Families are divided, brothers and sisters do not speak, parents are shunning children, friendships are ending . . . the list goes on. {Nation against Nation}

These race wars and rioting we see today are actually incited in good measure by those people who have no love for God and His creatures. They are the adversaries of God (Satan) who not only war amongst themselves for superiority, but also raise and incite trouble amongst other human beings and bring damage to nature (plants and animals).

Though wars have always been part of human history, the Scriptures tells us that they will increase near the end times and give enough warnings concerning the signs of such times.

Jesus adds to the list by telling His disciples (and us) that in this time we will also see a sharp increase in famines, pestilences, earthquakes. These will not be limited to one or two places but will be scattered throughout the world. If you have watched any news at all, you know these things are happening, and perhaps you yourself have been impacted as well.

There are famines in many countries today. People have seen famines through the centuries, it is not a new phenomena, but you will see more of this as time goes on. I just read a report that China is hoarding grain, and by now they are hoarding 52 percent of the world’s grain supply. Do they know something we don’t, or are they planning something we are yet unaware of?

Inflation is hitting virtually every country, prices are rising fast and people’s income is not going to keep up. Supply chains are faltering or breaking in different lands. The Bible tells us a time is coming when a day’s wages will barely buy you the day’s bread!

Revelation 6: 5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”(NKJV)

This verse 6 in today’s language describes conditions of famine for the masses. It also tells us the rich will not be impacted. In other words two classes of people will remain, the rich and the poor. It will be the poor that will work hard and suffer most. In Jesus time, a denarius was the average wage for a day’s work for a laborer. A time is coming when a full days wage will only be enough to buy one quart of wheat to make bread for one day for the family, or three quarts of barley (which was a cheaper grain at the time). So, if you have a small family, you may make wheat bread, but if you have a few children, better to buy barley.

The oil and the wine are luxuries the common man will no longer afford, but the rich will enjoy. Yes. for the common man it will be a famine.

Nothing breaks down a society like fear for their lives. So, what better to cause a breakdown than pestilence (a pandemic)? Add to that all the variants and questionable efficacy of the vaccines, and you have the perfect scenario for chaos.

Covid is a pestilence. It is Worldwide and is impacting virtually everyone in every nation. There will be more pestilences! This is not the only one. Get used to it, this is the “New Normal!” Rest assured life will never be what it was before Covid. You will have periods of relief, but they won’t last!

As for earthquakes, as I have said before there is a huge uptick in the number of earthquakes around the world. This also relates to volcanic eruptions, which impact the climate as well. Undersea earthquakes cause tectonic shifts that cause Tsunamis, that also affect the climate. So, yes! While the politicians are busy creating fear in the name of climate change, they are unaware of the real Climate Change that is coming soon. Addressed in Scripture . . . coming in the near future, it is not the result of man’s mismanagement of the planet, rather it is the wrath of God whose patience has nearly run out at this point. {Nation against Nation}

Natural disasters around the World shall augment.

Their intensity will grow, and they will come in quick clusters. Like labor pains when a woman is birthing a child.

Matthew 24: 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.(ESV)

Even though we see a convergence of all kinds of natural catastrophies, wars, ethnic divisions, false messiahs and more, Jesus assures us that these are but a sign of end times, it is not the end itself yet. {Climate and Much More!}

Today, we have come into an era where

The leaders/ pastors and false prophets themselves have sold out to Mammon and in some cases debauchery and revelry. They have managed to reimagine Christ according to their own wanton desires for influence and power, and have misled many. So, the love of many has grown cold. They have lost all understanding and the power (2 Timothy 3: 5) of that Name, the Name forever to be lauded with ernest love for His sacrifice. {Climate and Much More!}

Real lovers of God do know that they should not give their heart to this world and to all those pagan holidays (a.o. Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc.) With the knowledge that we should never give our hearts to this world or to any of the things in it, we shall be able to look at the things of the world as something that passes, being limited in existence.

One of the many signs is that man shall love the world more than the heavenly Father. We can clearly see that the whole world system is based as it is, on men’s primitive desires, their greedy ambitions and the glamour of all that they think splendid, which is not derived from the Father at all, but from the world itself.

The world and all its passionate desires will one day disappear. But the man who is following God’s will is part of the permanent Who cannot die.

With peace of mind, full of trust in the Most High, we cannot but watch the world go round in a bad way. But we must not let this spoil our hopes for better times. For the One True God, Who is an Almighty Immortal or Eternal Spirit, will let those who practice the spiritual come to Himself and to His aid. True believers will be allowed to rest in Him.

Let us have faith in God’s promisses.

¹⁷ And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever. (1 John 2:17 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)

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Preceding

Sudha Mehta looking at prophesies, False Prophets and Teachers #1 Counterfeits

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Additional reading

1. Why believing the Bible
2. Prophecies over coming days
3. Today’s thought “Do not harm … until” (December 24)
4. As you see the Day approaching
5. To be prepared and very well oiled
6. Looking into the Future
7. Matthew 24 about temples or Houses of God and the end of the age
8. Matthew 24 about temples or Houses of God and the end of the age
9. Matthew 24:4-8 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Answer: Part One – Beware Being Misled
10. Matthew 24:29-35 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Answer Part Two – Sign 2: The Parousia. A Sign after the Great Oppression
11. Matthew 24:42-51 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Stay Awake!
12. Signs of the Last Days
13. Signs of the last days when difficult times will come
14. Sign of the Times and the Last Days #1 The Son of man revealing
15. Sign of the Times and the Last Days #2 Wars, natural disasters, famine and false Messiahs
16. Today’s thought “Disaster after disaster: behold it comes” (September 11)
17. Towards a Third World War or not

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Related

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2. The Salvation Of Israel
3. War on the Arabian Peninsula? What are We to Make of It?
4. The Mark
5. We have no need to fear the things coming this year leading to the End of Years. But simply FEAR GOD and FOLLOW JESUS faithfully every day enduring to the End of the World (Matthew 24:1-36) (Revelation 11:18).
6. When Will Jesus Come?
7. How to Prepare for Persecution
8. Wars and Rumors of War…Russia Moves into Belarus
9. Do Not Fear the End Times Part 131: Be Christian or Be Roman
10. 1st the tribulation and then the 2nd coming of Yahshua!
11. Part 3; The End Times, The Book of Revelation
12. Science infiltration on human race: end times invasion (part2)
13. And Then the End Will Come
14. The Day Of Judgment is the Day of the Lord, the Day of Christ, the Last Day of habitation of life on this earth, The End of the World (Matthew 24:36) (Revelation 11:18, 20:11-15).
15. A Picture of Bible Prophecy from the Golan Heights
16. Consumed with the Vision
17. The ‘End Of Days’ is rising on the horizon: Be Prepared for the beginning of the End Of Years (Matthew 24:1-31)!
18. False Christs, False Prophets
19. Daniel’s 70th Week
20. “HP Lovecraft & The War Of The Worlds” – November 3, 2021
21. KTF News – China plans to have 1,000 nuclear weapons within 10 years
22. Invading God’s Holy Temple: The human upgrade
23. The Cost of Complaining

Francis Fukuyama and ‘The End of History?’

American political scientist, political economist, and author Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama in 2015

The American writer and political theorist Francis Fukuyama wrote

“Human beings never existed in a pre-­social state. The idea that human beings at one time existed as isolated individuals is not correct.”

In his seminal 1989 essay ‘The End of History?’ he also wrote

‘What we may be witnessing is the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.’

Fukuyama trying to convey silent messages through stories about the evolution of democratic societies he continued

‘With the fall of the Soviet Union the struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one’s life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands.’

The End of History and the Last Man is a 1992 book by Francis Fukuyama, expanding on his 1989 essay “The End of History?”, published in the international affairs journal The National Interest.

Fukuyama did not suggest that the end of history meant the end of wars or conflicts, but rather that capitalism and Western-style liberal democracy were the culmination of human political development and would not, and could not, be transcended. He beliefs that the triumph of liberal democracy at the end of the Cold War marked the last ideological stage in the progression of human history. The initial political challenge having to escape beyond tribalism and the “tyranny of cousins”.

For Fukuyama, tribal organisation responds to structural imperatives in social evolution but also blocks the path to further development. The early account of the origins of state-like forms relies heavily on Lawrence Keeley’s military-focused argument in War Before Civilisation (1996) and does not consider the evidence assembled by Keith Otterbein in How War Began (2004): that warfare greatly declined in importance following the hunting to extinction of the larger mammals. Keeley himself grants that early settlement cultures, such as the Natufian,

“furnish no indication of warfare at all”. {Robin Blackburn– The Origins of Political Order: From Pre-Human Times to the French Revolution, By Francis Fukuyama}

We can see that in the West the majority prefers a capitalist system and in several industrialised countries people are a lot afraid of what smells social or communist. Fukuyama thinks that all states are going to adopt a form of capitalist liberal democracy. It was an argument contested from almost the moment he finished writing his essay.
The rise of Islamism, the unleashing of ethnic conflicts, the challenge posed by China – a myriad developments, his critics suggested, questioned the presumption of an end of history.

Donald Trump’s Presidential victory was one of the signs how politicians would easily be able to lure people in false ideas, by their words. The last few years we have seen a seemingly unstoppable rise of populist forces throughout Europe.

Many will probably see how in the quarter of a century since Fukuyama wrote his essay, politics, particularly in the West, has indeed shifted away from ‘ideological struggle’ towards

‘the endless solving of technical problems’.

The broad ideological divides that characterized politics for much of the past two hundred years have been eroded. Politics has become less about competing visions of the kinds of society people want than a debate about how best to manage the existing political system, a question more of technocratic management rather than of social transformation.

What might more come to an end is the believe of people in political systems and in politicians. Lots of people are convinced that politicians are not listening to them and are mostly just working for themselves and trying to get the best paid job.
The majority of politicians have lost connection with the ordinary people who want to feel as if they are justly recognised and that their voice can be heard. The last few years they feel more they are mocked at, nobody taking their voice seriously. Politicians should come to know that this desire to experience both personal and collective recognition is inescapable to the modern human condition.

Liberal democratic states that Fukuyama so vigorously defended in “The End of History” have not responded well to the challenges of pluralism.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, few believed in an alternative to capitalism, not seeing that the Soviet Union was not really the best representative of communism, because it had more dictators than real communist leaders. Communist parties crumbled, while social democratic parties remade themselves, cutting ties to their traditional working class constituencies while reorienting themselves as technocratic parties. Trade unions weakened and social justice campaigns eroded.

It seemed that not only in Europe social movements and political organizations eroded,  and the far-right movements gained space. Local people wanted to become recognised and wanted to look upon social change through the lens of their own cultures, identities, goals and ideals.

Many sections of the working class have found themselves politically voiceless at the very time their lives have become more precarious, as jobs have declined, public services savaged, austerity imposed, and inequality risen. Many also came to see all those immigrants as a danger for their own position, their jobs and income as well as being afraid of loosing their culture.

Having their world coming to an end.

Lots of people in charge of the working of society did not see the discontent many their votes expressed.

Prominent alt-rightists were instrumental in organising the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017. Here, rally participants carry Confederate battle flags, Gadsden flags and a Nazi flag.

In Europe and America, people have become disaffected with the old order and felt more attraction for those who promised heaven on earth and for them “a great nation” again. Many of the opposition movements that give voice to that disaffection of the labourers, are shaped not by progressive ideals but by sectarian politics, and rooted in religious or ethnic identity. The Islamist AKP in Turkey or the Hindu nationalist BJP in India are the equivalents of the Front National in France or the alt right, far-right, white supremacist, white nationalist, white separatist, anti-immigration and antisemitic movement in America and Europe.

Those growing right-wing and far- or extreme-right-wing groups should make us aware of the severity of the present political situation. We are witnessing a globally disinformation movement which is creating more hatred and racism as well setting up people against others for wrong reasons.

The current tumult is the result of struggles for recognition that remain unshaped by progressive movements, of ideological struggles in a post-ideological world.

Demand for recognition of one’s identity is a master concept that unifies much of what is going on in world politics today. In his new book: Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment Francis Fukuyama looks at the new layers of meaning of the voters or citizen’s identity.

Fukuyama believes that the focus on self separates people from their communities. The demand for identity cannot be transcended and therefore people must begin to shape identity in a way that supports rather than undermines democracy.
When coming to know the self one can not ignore the connection with religious feelings. One aspect of wisdom is recognizing your need for The One Being outside man.

Christianity succeeds in diminishing family ties when the Church takes a strong stand against practices which enhanced the power of lineages such as cousin marriage, divorce, adoption and marriage to the widows of dead relatives. The looser family pattern favoured by the practices of Latin Christianity have the effect of channelling assets to the Church itself (eg through widows’ bequests). Fukuyama further urges that “contrary to Marx, capitalism was the consequence rather than the cause of a change in social relationships”. Yet he soon acknowledges that

“the most convincing argument for the shift has been given by the social anthropologist Jack Goody“,

an authority whose work could be seen as a distinctive fruit of Cambridge Marxism. {Robin Blackburn– The Origins of Political Order: From Pre-Human Times to the French Revolution, By Francis Fukuyama}

Fukuyama has the idea that the individualistic sense of identity comes to the fore during periods of modernisation in which people fled from rural areas into the cities and were confronted with a mass of different dialects or languages, religions and cultures and were aware of a sense of the difference between where they were and where they are now. Today in some way many people seem to be lost or are so much afraid of such confrontation they do hope their politicians can solve that problem of difference between the inhabitants of their villages, cities and countries.

Fukuyama notes the ways in which questions of identity politics have come to be regarded as synonymous with the right. Donald Trump supporters are animated around the removal of Confederate statues and the president’s lack of defence to political correctness is a significant mobilising force on the right.

Intimidation and efforts to control people have become the present day norm for many politicians, who gain a lot of popularity because many fall for their lies. That virus threatening democracy has not only infected the United States but also the European Union. As such we may see that identity politics has become the political form of cultural fragmentation of these days, and is corrosive of some features of an effective democracy – social cohesion, talking with strangers and working across the aisle.

According to me the politicians do have to give an identity to the people again and have to show them that we all have more in common with each other than what divides us.

It is a “we” who are the same, and not a “we” who are strangers dwelling together despite our differences. {Jeff Rich – Identity Crisis – some theses on identity politics}

History shall continue and show how man tries to find different political solutions and ways to govern a country. Man shall have to find a way to make it that by the globalisation more and more people would be going to see the richness of a multicultural society, instead of fearing it.

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Read also

1. Our political systems and juggling with human laws
2. Declaration of war against Islam and Christianity
3. Declining commitment to democracy : What’s going on around the world ?
4. Collision course of socialist and capitalist worlds
5. Subcutaneous power for humanity 2 1950-2010 Post war generations
6. The Free Market (and all that) did not bring down the Berlin Wall
7. Common Goods, people and the Market
8. Pushing people in a corner danger for indoctrination and loss of democratic values
9. Populism endangering democracy
10. An European alliance or a populist alliance
11. British Parliament hostage its citizens for even more months
12. American social perception, classes and fear mongering
13. United in an open society relying not on command and control but on freedom
14. Capitalism and economic policy and Christian survey

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Further related

1. The Origins of Political Order: From Pre-Human Times to the French Revolution, By Francis Fukuyama
2. What Do We Mean When We Say Something Is Political? — Recommended Readings
3. The Sisyphean Task at the Core of Identity Politics
4. The origins of political order by Francis Fukuyama
5. Fukuyama has a new book on identity
6. Little Theories
7. The Decline of Liberalism
8. Identity
9. Identity Crisis – some theses on identity politics
10. We’re in This Together Now 
11. Two Books by Francis Fukuyama
12. What Fukuyama got right.
13. From ‘End Of History’ To ‘End Of Democracy’ – Why Fukuyama Now Likes China
14. “Echoing Margaret Thatcher’s dictum that ‘there is no alternative’ …
15. Global Battleground: A World between Geopolitics and Globalization
16. Social Psychology and Religious Behavior
17. Francis Fukuyama and technology
18. Eurasianism: The Struggle For The Multi-Polar World
19. The trouble with liberalism
20. The End of the End of History?

Hope – History the proof that humans have the capacity to make their hopes come true

Alive

History is the proof that if humans have the audacity to hope they also have the capacity to make their hopes come true.

Almost all the people who were responsible for a breakthrough were once labelled insane because they believed in something considered to be impossible. Our world is a materialistic sphere which encourages actions rather than speculations because guesswork cannot pay bills.

Every discovery starts with a wild conjecture which receives more criticism rather than appreciation. It’s not an easy task to implement something which lies on the spectrum of so-called impossibility. But even in a world like this, there are some people who would choose to be a dreamer rather than a skeptic realist; I am one of them. I believe there’s only a thin line of skepticism between possibility and impossibility which can be erased with hope; where there’s hope there’s a possibility.

If our ancestors hadn’t…

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A book of life and a man born more than two thousand years ago

We may live at a time when the climax of human history is approaching fast though many do not see it how certain things where foretold already long ago and are becoming a reality we can not escape today.

Today not many “thirsts” for the living Christ. That ‘living water’ is there for all of us but many do feel hungry and thirsty and do not see the precious meal which is set in front of them. The Lamb which has been slaughtered some two thousands years ago may be put in the cupboard by many to rot in oblivion.

Are you some one who understand the kind of symbolic language when there is spoken of the one who thirsts and ‘out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38)?

On December 24 Christadelphians read about

“a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the lamb clothed in white robes … crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb’” (7:9-10). “The lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (verse 17).

Bilbao-Loiu airport, Biscay, Spain. Olentzaro, Christmas tree, Santa Claus and elf. Photographer: Javier Mediavilla Ezquibela Date: January 6, 2005. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As many say they celebrate the birth of the saviour they took a Christmas tree in the house and have their mouthful of Santa Claus who brings gifts to many families. But about the most precious gift mankind received not much is talked. In our readings in the book of Revelation we are lead to a description of the ultimate climax of human history – we read of visions, largely, but not entirely, in symbol, picturing God’s judgements. For Christadelphians this “Time of the year” is a time for looking at the opening of “the book of life” (3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12,15; 21:27). The seventh and only other reference to “the book of life” in the New Testament is in Philippians (4:3).

We may wonder who is written down in the “Book of life“. I think many would love to see their name in it. Jesus name was in it already long before Abraham was born. God had promised him already in the garden of Eden. And he was present some ages later to do not his own will but the Will of God. In which way are we wiling to do the will of God? Do we prefer to keep to those human traditions, which keep celebrating those pagan feasts?

Though the redeemed ones are, first of all, an exclusively Jewish band, we must not be afraid, Jesus died for all people and as such we also have the opportunity to become one of a’ great multitude out of all nations’. but not everybody shall be there in the end to enjoy the entrance of the small gate. There shall only be a selection drawn out of such environment to comprise the true Israel of God (Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 2:11-13) that we should consider how we shall be able to be a part of it. It will be possible when we know the Way, Jesus Christ, and when we are willing to follow his teachings. Today we do find lots of people who say they are Christian, but they do not follow the teachings of the master teacher rabbi Jeshua. They prefer to keep to human doctrines, like the trinity dogma and others. This often makes it difficult for people to come to see the truth, because their ears are full of puss created by false teachings and for them it seems so difficult for taking the words of the Bible just for what they are saying. It looks too simple, too easy to be the truth. But the easy thing is the easiest way to come there at the real truth. When believing those words like they are written in the Holy Scriptures, those Bible readers shall find that everything becomes clear and then they shall be pleased to pay their respects to the Lamb, because of the victory they have obtained. In the last book of the Bible they are represented as celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkoth, and as praising the Lamb for the salvation they have received. In answer to a question put by John, their character and nature are described. (Revelation 7: 9-17)

In the readings of today  we are warned about a mighty and ruthless destroyer as in Isaiah 28:2 (Revelation 9:6-13) the apostle John speaks of the serious nature of the affliction, and to its concentration on one of the tripartite divisions of the Roman Empire. It also can be related to the first plague on Egypt (Exodus 7:17) but it warns us for the days to come.

The apostle looked first at the Western Empire but then turns to the Eastern Empire which shall be very important in the Last Days. when we do know that nearly all prophesies foretold in the bible became a reality, why should not the prophesies  concerning the Last Days not be fulfilled?

The falling star, the bottomless pit, the smoking furnace, the army of locusts, and the king who leads them to battle, symbolise the up-rise of Mahomet and the Saracens in 622, and their attacks against the eastern Roman, or Byzantine Empire, but it also counts as a warning for what has happened in the past shall come back over mankind and in the land of Euphrates and Tigris (Iraq and Iran) shall start a war which shall be the beginning of a time when religions will come up against each other. Does that not sound familiar?

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Preceding article

Solstice, Saturnalia and Christmas-stress

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Additional reading

1. Who is on the Lord’s side
2. Actions to be a reflection of openness of heart
3. Looking for wisdom not departing from God’s Word
4. Getting to know the Truth
5. Christianity is a love affair
6. The importance of Reading the Scriptures
7. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #6 Words to feed and communicate
8. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4
9. Ember and light the ransomed of Jehovah
10. Jesus begotten Son of God #1 Christmas and Christians
11. Jesus begotten Son of God #2 Christmas and pagan rites
12. God’s Special Gift
13. Creation gift of God
14. Apple of Gods eye
15. A New Jerusalem
16. Armageddon, har and megiddo, an action or a place
17. Times of the Gentiles
18. OT prophesies and the NT fulfillment of them
19. National Natural Disaster and Bible Prophecy

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