“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”
(Revelation 12:12)
Great Wrath
Dear Friends,
Greetings! Wrath is defined as anger, fury, rage, also, not to be confused with divine chastisement.
Peter warns us that “your adversary (opponent, enemy, foe, opposer) the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”. 1 Peter 5:8
What have we, mankind, done to incur such hatred and anger from Satan. Is it only just irrational insanity of wanting to destroy God's creation, “except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” or is there an underlying reason behind this hatred.
We propose to answer this question, but before doing so we do want to be clear that this is a conclusion based on information found in a non canonical book.
You can decide what you think of the veracity of the argument put forth.
To begin we want to examine the definition “image” followed by some scriptures concerning images and idols.
From: Bible Study Tools
"Image" as object of idolatrous worship (translations about a dozen words, including maccekhah, "molten image" (Deuteronomy 9:12, etc.); matstsebhah, in the King James Version translated "image" or "pillar," in the Revised Version (British and American) always "pillar" (Exodus 23:24, etc.); pecel, "graven image" (Exodus 20:4, etc.); tselem, "image" (2 Kings 11:18, etc.); eikon, "image" (e.g. Revelation 14:9).
From: The King James Bible Page
“A representation or similitude of any person or thing, formed of a material substance; as an image wrought out of stone, wood or wax.
An idol; the representation of any person or thing, that is an object of worship. The second commandment forbids the worship of images.” (“And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.” Revelation 9:20)
One of the best known stories of idol worship or maybe it would be better to say the refusal of idol worship is the well known story in Daniel 3 about the fiery furnace.
“In his eighteenth year Nabuchodonosor the king made a golden image, its height was sixty cubits, its breadth six cubits: and he set it up in the plain of Deira, in the province of Babylon. And he sent forth to gather the governors, and the captains, and the heads of provinces, chiefs, and princes, and those who were in authority, and all the rulers of districts, to come to the dedication of the image. So the heads of provinces, the governors, the captains, the chiefs, the great princes, those who were in authority, and all the rulers of districts, were gathered to the dedication of the image which king Nabuchodonosor had set up; and they stood before the image.
Then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, ye peoples, tribes, and languages, at what hour ye shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and pipe, and harp, and sackbut, and psaltery, and every kind of music, ye shall fall down and worship the golden image which king Nabuchodonosor has set up. And whosoever shall not fall down and worship, in the same hour he shall be cast into the burning fiery furnace. And it came to pass when the nations heard the sound of the trumpet, and pipe, and harp, and sackbut, and psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the nations, tribes, and languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image which king Nabuchodonosor had set up.
Then answered Sedrach, Misach and Abdenago and said to king Nabuchodonosor...be it known to thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the image which thou hast set up.” Daniel 3:1-7,16,18
There are many such stories and examples in the Bible of idol worship.
One such idol was “Dagon”.
“Dagon was the chief deity of the Philistines, and the worship of this pagan god dates back to the third millennium BC. According to ancient mythology, Dagon was the father of Baal”, from “gotquestions.org”.
One account of Dagon can be found in 1 Samue,l chapter five.
Of course, the world today is absolutely filled with images and idols.
So, images and/or idols are something to be worshipped. We usually think of them in a negative light but are there any instances where images could be viewed in a positive light? There is.
An exemplary example of this is found in 2 Corinthians 4:4 where Paul refers to Jesus “who is the image of God”.
We as Christians do worship an image, Jesus, who is the image of God!
“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, [even] the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” Colossians 1:15
Let's examine a few other interesting verses.
“And God said, Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the flying creatures of heaven, and over the cattle and all the earth, and over all the reptiles that creep on the earth. And God made man, according to the image of God he made him, male and female he made them.” Genesis 1:26-27
“He that sheds man’s blood, instead of that blood shall his own be shed, for in the image of God I made man.” Genesis 9:6
“For a man indeed ought not to cover [his] head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 11:7
”For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” Psalm 8:5
It is interesting to note that several versions of the Bible do not use the word angels but instead use the word “God”. Other versions use the term “heavenly beings, a little less than divine, a little lower than yourself, and Young's Literal Translation uses the phrase “lack a little of Godhead”.
As is self evident we, mankind, were also created in the image of God.
How does all this figure in with the hatred Satan has towards us. We are now going to look at the book mentioned above called the Life of Adam and Eve.
Life of Adam and Eve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Life of Adam and Eve, also known, in its Greek version, as the Apocalypse of Moses, is a Jewish pseudepigraphical group of writings. It recounts the lives of Adam and Eve from after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden to their deaths. It provides more detail about the Fall of Man, including Eve's version of the story. Satan explains that he rebelled when God commanded him to bow down to Adam. After Adam dies, he and all his descendants are promised a resurrection.
The ancient versions of the Life of Adam and Eve are: the Greek Apocalypse of Moses, the Latin Life of Adam and Eve, the Slavonic Life of Adam and Eve, the Armenian Penitence of Adam, the Georgian Book of Adam,[1] and one or two fragmentary Coptic versions. These texts are usually named as Primary Adam Literature to distinguish them from subsequent related texts, such as the Cave of Treasures that includes what appears to be extracts.
They differ greatly in length and wording, but for the most part are derived from a single source that has not survived,[2]: and contain (except for some obvious insertions) no undeniably Christian teaching.[3] Each version contains some unique material, as well as variations and omissions.
While the surviving versions were composed from the early 3rd to the 5th century,[2] the literary units in the work are considered to be older and predominantly of Jewish origin.[3] There is wide agreement that the original was composed in a Semitic language[2]: in the 1st century AD/CE.[2]
No direct relationship can be determined between the New Testament and the Life of Adam and Eve, but the similarities suggest that Paul the Apostle and the author of 2 Enoch were near contemporaries of the original author of this work and moved in the same circle of ideas.[5]
References
1. French Translation: J.P. Mahé Le Livre d'Adam géorgienne de la Vita Adae in Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic Religions, ed. R. van den Broek and M. J. Vermaseren. Leiden 1981
2. Johnson, M.D. (1985). "Life of Adam and Eve, a new translation and introduction". In Charlesworth, J.H. the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2. ISBN 0-385-18813-7.
3. ISBN 0-19-826177-2.
5. J.H. Charlesworth the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Vol 2 ISBN 0-385-18813-7 (1985) pag 255
From the Life of Adam and Eve – from the end of “Penitence and Second Temptation” through the “Fall of Satan”.
Gustave Dorė Paradise Lost The Fall of Satan
11.2 What evil have we done to you? For it is because of your calumnies that we went out from paradise. Is it because we have caused you to be expelled that you are angry against us?
11.3 Or is it because of us that you were despoiled of your glory? Or is it, in some way, by our action that you are in such deficiency? Or are we the only creatures of God that you fight against us alone?
Satan reminds the human couple of events that transpired before, which they have no memory of (from the Armenian version):
12.1 Satan also wept loudly and said to Adam. “All my arrogance and sorrow came to pass because of you; for, because of you I went forth from my dwelling; and because of you I was alienated from the throne of the cherubs who, having spread out a shelter, used to enclose me; because of you my feet have trodden the earth.”
12.2 Adam replied and said to him,
12.3 “What are our sins against you, that you did all this to us?”
13.1 Satan replied and said, “You did nothing to me, but I came to this measure because of you, on the day on which you were created, for I went forth on that day.
13.2 When God breathed his spirit into you, you received the likeness of his image. Thereupon, Michael came and made you bow down before God. God said to Michael, ‘Behold I have made Adam in the likeness of my image.’
14.1 Then Michael summoned all the angels. and God said to them,’Come, bow down to god whom I made.’
14.2 Michael bowed first. He called me and said. ‘You too, bow down to Adam.’
14.3 I said, ‘Go away, Michael! I shall not bow down to him who is posterior to me, for I am former. Why is it proper for me to bow down to him?’
15.1 The other angels, too, who were with me, heard this, and my words seemed pleasing to them and they did not prostrate themselves to you, Adam.
16.1 Thereupon, God became angry with me and commanded to expel us from our dwelling and to cast me and my angels, who were in agreement with me, to the earth; and you were at the same time in the Garden.
16.2 When I realized that because of you I had gone forth from the dwelling of light and was in sorrows and pains,
16.3 then I prepared a trap for you, so that I might alienate you from your happiness just as I, too, had been alienated because of you.”
17.1 When Adam heard this, he said to the Lord, ‘Lord, my soul is in your hand. Make this enemy of mine distant from me, who desires to lead me astray, I who am searching for the light that I have lost.”
17.2 At that time Satan passed away from him.
17.3 Adam stood from then on in the waters of repentance, and Eve remained fallen upon the ground for three days, like one dead. Then, after three days, she arose from the earth.
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Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter one said; “What is that which has been? the very thing which shall be: and what is that which has been done? the very thing which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
It has also been said of the devil he has no original ideas, all his ideas come from something God has said, or done.
If the account of his fall in The Life of Adam and Eve is correct Satan refused to bow before the image of God. And if this account is true it would give understanding to the hatred Satan has towards us!
Could his refusal to obey God's command because of his pride also have provoked him to say “I will go up to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will sit on a lofty mount, on the lofty mountains toward the north: I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:13-14
If the above account is correct it is understandable that his ultimate goal in the book of Revelation, chapter thirteen, is to get man to bow and worship before his image of the antichrist the Satanically possessed world leader of the End Time. What a reversal of truth!
“And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:14-15
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“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” 1 Corinthians 15:45
“Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” John 10:34
Have a great week ahead,
Robert
Why Satan Fell
From Bible commentator David Guzik
Perhaps because he rejected God’s plan to create an order of being made in His image (Gen. 1:26), who would be beneath the angels in dignity (Heb. 2:6-7a; 2Pe. 2:11), yet would be served by angels in the present (Heb. 1:14; 2:7-8; Psa. 91:11-12) and would one day be lifted in honor and status above the angels (1Co. 6:3; 1Jo. 3:2). Satan wanted to be the highest among all creatures, equal to God in glory and honor, and the plan to create man would eventually put men above angels. He was apparently able to persuade one-third of the angelic beings to join him in his rebellion (Rev. 12:3-4, 7, and 9). If this is the case, it explains well Satan’s present strategy against man: to obscure the image of God in man through encouraging sin and rebellion, to cause man to serve him, and to prevent the ultimate glorification of man, (Guzik’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Isaiah 14).
Having fallen from God’s presence Satan then deceived the very ones who were created in God’s image and likeness and in whom God had breathed the breath of life. As a result God spoke of the Seed of the Woman to save them and of the seed of Satan who would strike the Redeemer’s heel but would ultimately be destroyed. With this pronouncement in mind Satan set out to overcome the judgment that he faced by distorting the seed of mankind through whom the Promised One would come.
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RAWSTORY
There appears to be a secret temple buried in the ancient city where 'Indiana Jones' filmed
June 11, 2016 · 10:15 AM EDT
By Christopher Woolf
The ancient city of Petra, Jordan, is well known as the backdrop for dozens of Hollywood movies, from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" to "The Mummy Returns."
Well, fiction aside, it looks like there really is a secret temple buried here.
Archaeologists have found a huge monument beneath the sand, just a few hundred yards from the city center. And they say the millions of visitors and thousands of archaeologists who’ve been to the city over the last 200 years have missed some amazing remains.
Petra is a magical place, described by poet William Durgon as "a rose-red city half as old as time." It includes temples and tombs; narrow entrances through high red cliffs; and a 7,000-seat theater carved into the side of a mountain. Besides featuring in dozens of movies, Petra is visited by half a million tourists every year.
According to the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, multiple structures have been found, but one is literally monumental. Like much of ancient Petra, the monument is partly hewn out of the red-tinted sandstone hills that the city was built on.
The biggest feature is a giant rectangular platform. It’s about as wide as a football field and about half as long (61 x 53.5 yds).
On top of that, supported by a mass of columns on one side and a set of giant stone steps on the other, is a second smaller platform — about the length of an Olympic swimming pool (50 x 48 yards).
And on top of that is a relatively small, square structure, which is also supported in part by columns.
But none of the details can be seen just yet, because nothing has been excavated.
A drone image of the newly-discovered platform monument Credit: I. LaBianca/Journal of the American Schools of Oriental Research
The discovery was made using satellite imagery, in an effort supported by the BBC and Digital Globe. Archaeologists used Google Earth Pro to search for potential overlooked structures in and around Petra. They then used drones to hone in on likely sites, with cameras and ground-imaging sensors. Finally, a team of experts "ground-truthed" the area several times.
No one knows the monument’s purpose yet, but the researchers suggest a ceremonial use, possibly religious. It's oriented to the east, and not toward the city center. Its builders — the Nabataeans — are believed to have incorporated an element of sun worship in their religion.
Petra was abandoned after earthquakes and Arab conquest nearly 1,400 years ago. The quakes and the region’s famous sandstorms eventually buried the monument.
The Nabataeans who built Petra started as a nomadic people in the transitional zone between Arabia and the "fertile crescent" of what’s now Iraq and Syria. Academics disagree about whether the Nabataeans spoke Aramaic or Arabic or both. Thanks to trade wealth, they expanded into more fertile areas and built a kingdom, of which Petra was the capital, that lasted for several hundred years. It was absorbed by the Roman Empire at the beginning of the 2nd century.
The monument is estimated to date from the mid-2nd century B.C.E., and its construction would have required a massive effort. But then, nothing in Petra is done on a small scale.
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CE
WHY ELON MUSK IS ADVOCATING FOR BRAIN CHIPPING THE HUMAN RACE
ARJUN WALIA
JUNE 10, 2016
Would you ever chip yourself? The idea of human microchipping, once confined to the realms of science fiction and conspiracy theory, has fascinated people for ages, but it always seemed like something for the distant future. Yet patents for human ‘implants’ have been around for years, and the discussion around chipping the human race has been accelerating recently.
Remember when credit and debit cards went from smooth plastic to microchipped? That could be you in a few years, as multiple corporations are pushing to microchip the human race. In fact, microchip implants in humans are already on the market, and an American company called Applied Digital Solutions (ADS) has developed one approximately the size of a grain of rice which has already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for distribution and implementation.
Elon Musk has now weighed in on the debate, referring to microchips as a ‘neural lace,’ and arguing that they will be “the thing that really matters for humanity to achieve symbiosis with machines.” Musk has expressed his concern that artificial intelligence might one day take over humanity and possibly treat us like a second class species. He believes the only way to prevent this type of future is this neural lace.
The neural lace would be a type of brain implant that would grow into the brain and allow neurons to be programmed, strengthened, and even enhanced, essentially augmenting human intelligence.
It’s hard not to see ulterior motives in anything corporations do. We have been lied to so often and our interests neglected so many times times that it’s difficult to trust anyone these days, and considering the recent Edward Snowden leaks, it seems only natural to question whether chip implants could be part of some mass surveillance agenda, or some other type of intelligence motive that the general public will be kept in the dark about. It’s important to not label these ideas as mere conspiracy theories, because then we shut ourselves off from the truth. We stop thinking about ideas and considering new information because we’ve already labelled them. I am not at all suggesting that Elon Musk is part of some possible agenda we are not being told of, but, it’s important to remember that a possible trillions of dollars are being put into operational black budget programs, and we don’t even know what they are. But as we’ve seen so far, these programs involve the use of human beings, so it’s important we know about them.
If it came down to it, and we were required to have chip implants to replace our social security IDs, licenses, credit cards, etc., and we were unable to purchase a home, buy groceries, and otherwise participate in modern life, would you allow yourself to be chipped? What would you do?
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The Sun
SPY NATION? US Navy ‘discussed plans to fit humans with microchips and track their every move’
Officers met with "transhumanist" presidential candidate to talk about controversial surveillance technology
EXCLUSIVE
BY JASPER HAMILL
16th June 2016, 12:52 pm
The US Navy has held meetings to discuss highly controversial technology which could one day allow the government to track the movements of every single citizen in the country, The Sun has learned.
A number of naval officers visited the home of an American presidential candidate and “transhumanist” called Zoltan Istvan, who believes human beings should be fitted with technology to boost their brain power or enhance physical attributes.
Istvan said they discussed the possibility of implanting humans with chips fitted with global positioning (GPS) technology.
We have seen correspondence between Istvan and Vice Admiral James Wisecup, who has retired from full time service to work in a Navy department called the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group which is dedicated to devising “revolutionary warfare concepts”.
In his letter, Vice Admiral Wisecup said the meeting broadened “our understanding… of the merger of humans and machines”.
“Your personal perspectives were interesting and timely as we begin our research process,” he wrote.
“You have had a direct impact on our viewpoints for future concepts.”
Istvan believes human life could be enhanced if we all agree to have computers or chips fitted to our bodies and brains.
Zoltan is an outspoken believer in the merging of humans and technology
He has even suggested technology could one day allow people to live forever and travelled around America in an “immortality bus” mocked up like a coffin to promote his ideas.
“A bunch of navy officers came to my house and one of the main topics was this chip implant strategy,” Istvan said.
He told us the Navy is worried that soldiers could enter service with chips already implanted into them and is “struggling to create policy” around this issue.
“You can imagine how challenging that would be if someone had a non-authorized chip implant on a nuclear base, so policy has to be created and created soon.
“I helped the US Navy do some policy work on this issue.”
However, is is likely the Navy has not fully disclosed why it is interested in fitting humans with microchips.
Would microchips free us from fear… or destroy our freedom?
Microchips are already fitted to pets, but not to humans.
For some people, the thought of being “chipped” conjures up an image of a nightmarish world where the state carries out constant surveillance on its citizens.
But Istvan believes microchipping humans could have some major benefits. He claimed it could allow parents to know if their child was in danger and could even have allowed investigators to find the body of Lane Graves, who was killed in an alligator attack, in a matter of minutes.
“As a father of a two and five year old, I’m a big believer in the future that all children will get chipped, perhaps like all children get vaccines in the US,” he continued.
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SPUTNIK
The New Cold War - NATO Plans 40k Force, Bases on Russia's Border
© REUTERS/ Ints Kalnins
23:49 15.06.2016(updated 01:44 16.06.2016)
The military alliance has called for permanent bases on Russia’s border manned by 4,000 troops and an additional 40,000 rapid deployment force, but how will the United States pay for their latest round of war mongering?
On Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that NATO will deploy four 'robust' international battalions to Poland and the Baltic states to counter fears of 'Russian aggression.'
The program, to be agreed to by NATO leaders at the July 8-9 summit in Warsaw, calls for permanent bases along Russia’s border, with nearly 4,000 permanently-stationed troops to function as a "tripwire," and an additional 40,000-troop NATO Response Force that can be deployed into combat within days.
NATO’s plans to establish a permanent force along Russia’s eastern flank, a violation of the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act, has been viewed by Moscow as the latest provocative measure by a Western alliance that gives every appearance of clamoring for a return to the Cold War.
The ramp-up follows the unprecedented Anaconda-2016 war games in Poland, featuring over 30,000 troops, led by German forces on the 75th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
Both Poland and Romania have been leading the charge for NATO expansionism along Russia’s border, claiming that regional security is in peril following violent political unrest in Ukraine. Both Warsaw and Bucharest are demanding a troop presence and calling for missile-defense shields.
Polish and Romanian leaders have aptly employed Russophobic rhetoric to strengthen their domestic hand and also look to benefit their national economies by garnering increased military investments to create local jobs.
One year ago, as the drumbeats of the new Cold War began, Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned that "some countries are simply taking advantage of people’s fears with regard to Russia and they just want to play the role of front-line countries that should receive some supplementary military, economic, financial or some other aid."
President Putin went on to blast the ‘Russian aggression’ talking point, saying, "I think that only an insane person and only in a dream can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack NATO."
Nonetheless, Moscow now faces an increasing military buildup on their borders, by NATO leaders with either designs to incite conflict or profound misconceptions about Russia’s intentions.
On Wednesday, Radio Sputnik interviewed foreign policy analyst Dr. Martin McCauley to discuss NATO’s inflammatory posture toward Russia and what it holds for the future.
"From the American point of view, they would like NATO to have a more expansive global role and to be able to get member states to spend more of their own money," said Dr. McCauley. "The other members are reluctant to spend more, despite US calls for each country to put forward at least 2% of their GDP for defense."
The analyst stated that most European member states remain content with allowing the United States to foot the bill, allowing for national funds to be used for domestic, economic, and political concerns. Currently, only Britain has committed to spending 2% of their GDP on defense, whereas other key NATO allies, like Germany, contribute less than 1.3% of their economic output to the alliance.
"If you look at Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland, they are the countries calling for more investment and a greater NATO presence, leading to the permanent battalions of 4000 troops to be stationed on Russia border," said the analyst. "These countries are also calling for a total force of 40,000 later on, which almost certainly will be confirmed during the NATO summit in Warsaw next month."
"The big question is, who is going to pay for this?" asked Dr. McCauley. He observed that both Eastern and Western Europeans intend to spend as little as possible on defense, while relying almost solely on American military beneficence, but the status quo has been disrupted by Republican frontrunner Donald Trump’s arguments that, "America has spent too much money already and that NATO is past its sell-by date so it is up to Europeans to spend more."
Dr. McCauley suggested that there is a sharp divide among European countries on whether Russia poses enough of a threat to justify a significant increase in defense spending, with countries like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary arguing that there is no risk of Russian invasion and no justification for the expenditures, while Poland and the Baltic states claim that Moscow presents an immediate threat.
The analyst posited that the United States and Poland will likely be forced to increase their defense spending disproportionately, as they will have a hard time convincing Europeans of 'Russian aggression.'
Dr. McCauley pointed out that protests against NATO deployments in Greece, a country in a fiscal crisis, are a result of military spending increases that have forced drastic cuts to domestic necessities. The analyst expects similar uprisings across Europe for the same reasons, as the EU economy faces additional shocks in years to come
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RT
Switzerland withdraws longstanding application to join EU
Published time: 16 Jun, 2016 06:54
Edited time: 16 Jun, 2016 06:55
Denis Balibouse / Reuters
The upper house of the Swiss parliament on Wednesday voted to invalidate its 1992 application to join the European Union, backing an earlier decision by the lower house. The vote comes just a week before Britain decides whether to leave the EU in a referendum.
Twenty-seven members of the upper house, the Council of States, voted to cancel Switzerland’s longstanding EU application, versus just 13 senators against. Two abstained.
In the aftermath of the vote, Switzerland will give formal notice to the EU to consider its application withdrawn, the country’s foreign minister, Didier Burkhalter, was quoted as saying by Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
The original motion was introduced by the conservative Swiss People’s Party MP, Lukas Reimann. It had already received overwhelming support from legislators in the lower house of parliament in March, with 126 National Council deputies voting in favor, and 46 against.
Thomas Minder, counsellor for the state of Schaffhausen and an active promoter of the concept of “Swissness,” said he was eager to “close the topic fast and painlessly” as only “a few lunatics” may want to join the EU now, he told the newspaper.
Hannes Germann, also representing Schaffhausen, highlighted the symbolic importance of the vote, comparing it to Iceland’s decision to drop its membership bid in 2015.
“Iceland had the courage and withdrew the application for membership, so no volcano erupted,” he said, jokingly.
Switzerland’s longstanding application to join the EU has not had a significant impact on the country’s politics for more than 20 years, as its accession negotiations have been suspended since 1992 in the wake of a referendum to join the European Economic Area, when the Swiss voted down the idea of closer ties with the EU.
Some politicians even argued that the vote was an unnecessary formal procedure that didn’t make much sense as Switzerland is no longer regarded by the EU as an official candidate to join the bloc.
Filippo Lombardi, from the Christian Democratic People’s Party, said that it was “not very clever to discuss it once again,” calling the debate about Switzerland’s accession at this stage “a bit ridiculous,” Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported.
Switzerland, never a member of EU, shares free trade with the union and free movement of people as part of the Schengen zone.
The timing of Switzerland’s reassurance of its sovereignty and independence from the EU institutions, if accidental, may come in handy for campaigners in the UK advocating a British exit from the EU. Polls show the UK’s referendum on EU membership, to be held in a week on June 23, as being extremely close, with Leave slightly in the lead.
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The JB Bardot Archives
New Alzheimer’s Treatment Fully Restores Memory Function
Posted by JB Bardot
Australian researchers have come up with a non-invasive ultrasound technology that clears the brain of neurotoxic amyloid plaques – structures that are responsible for memory loss and a decline in cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients.
If a person has Alzheimer’s disease, it’s usually the result of a build-up of two types of lesions – amyloid plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques sit between the neurons and end up as dense clusters of beta-amyloid molecules, a sticky type of protein that clumps together and forms plaques.
Neurofibrillary tangles are found inside the neurons of the brain, and they’re caused by defective tau proteins that clump up into a thick, insoluble mass. This causes tiny filaments called microtubules to get all twisted, which disrupts the transportation of essential materials such as nutrients and organelles along them, just like when you twist up the vacuum cleaner tube.
As we don’t have any kind of vaccine or preventative measure for Alzheimer’s – a disease that affects 343,000 people in Australia, and 50 million worldwide – it’s been a race to figure out how best to treat it, starting with how to clear the build-up of defective beta-amyloid and tau proteins from a patient’s brain. Now a team from the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at the University of Queensland have come up with a pretty promising solution for removing the former.
Publishing in Science Translational Medicine, the team describes the technique as using a particular type of ultrasound called a focused therapeutic ultrasound, which non-invasively beams sound waves into the brain tissue. By oscillating super-fast, these sound waves are able to gently open up the blood-brain barrier, which is a layer that protects the brain against bacteria, and stimulate the brain’s microglial cells to activate. Microglila cells are basically waste-removal cells, so they’re able to clear out the toxic beta-amyloid clumps that are responsible for the worst symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
The team reports fully restoring the memory function of 75 percent of the mice they tested it on, with zero damage to the surrounding brain tissue. They found that the treated mice displayed improved performance in three memory tasks – a maze, a test to get them to recognise new objects, and one to get them to remember the places they should avoid.
“We’re extremely excited by this innovation of treating Alzheimer’s without using drug therapeutics,” one of the team, Jürgen Götz, said in a press release. “The word ‘breakthrough’ is often misused, but in this case I think this really does fundamentally change our understanding of how to treat this disease, and I foresee a great future for this approach.”
The team says they’re planning on starting trials with higher animal models, such as sheep, and hope to get their human trials underway in 2017.
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Natural News
Garlic's healing properties are so intense that it is 100 times more effective than antibiotic treatments
Thursday, June 09, 2016 by: Sarah Landers
(NaturalNews) Garlic has been used for thousands of years all over the world, and modern science is now backing up its medicinal properties. A recent study by researchers at Washington University has found that garlic can be up to 100 times as effective at treating bacterial infections as most mainstream antibiotics, as reported by Natural News.
Garlic is not just antibacterial, but it is also packed full of antioxidants that work to improve your overall health. It is high in sulfur, which can help to detoxify your system and remove unwanted toxins, as well as removing other substances that make your body more vulnerable to infection.
Health benefits of garlic
According to Natural Health 365, aged garlic extract has shown significant promise in its ability to reverse the deadly buildup of plaque in arteries. A study conducted at the independent biomedical research facility LA BioMed, Torrance, California, has proven that adding aged garlic extract supplement to diets reduces the amount of soft plaque – known as low-attenuation plaque – that has built up in the arteries of patients.
Participants in the study were already known to be suffering from metabolic syndrome, which carries with it a number of cardiac disease risk factors. And this isn't the only amazing way that garlic can improve your health. Here are some more reasons to eat garlic:
Garlic is full of antioxidants that fight cancer-causing free radicals
Garlic contains allicin, which is an antioxidant that removes infectious pathogens from the skin – preventing acne
Raw garlic can help control hypertension – again thanks to allicin
Garlic contains sulfur compounds that shorten the life span of the common cold
The anti-cancer properties of garlic can reduce the risk of lung cancer by nearly 50 percent for nonsmokers
Garlic thins the blood and reduces the risk of blood clots
Garlic's anti-inflammatory properties ease the pain of osteoarthritis
Include more garlic in your diet
Now that you know the reasons why you should eat more garlic, here is a great recipe. This tasty and filling soup is loaded with healthy and helpful ingredients that are high in Omega-3 fatty acids and great for your overall health. Here is what you'll need to include in your next grocery shop:
Ingredients:
5 bulbs of garlic
2 Tbs of butter
2 Tbs of olive oil
2 large onions
1 Tbs of fresh thyme
8.5 ounces of chicken broth
1 bunch of parsley
3 cups of bread, chopped
1 cup of sour cream
Preparation:
Chop tops off garlic and coat in olive oil. Chop thyme, parsley and bread. Preheat the oven to 180 decrees.
Wrap garlic bulbs in tinfoil and bake for an hour and a half. Then allow the garlic time to cool.
Heat two tablespoons of olive oil and butter in a pot on medium heat.
Add onions and cook for ten minutes.
Once garlic has cooled, mash it with a fork and add to the pot. Then add herbs and chicken broth.
Cook on low before adding bread and cooking for five more minutes until bread cubes soften. Pour into a blender and process until smooth. Add sour cream, salt and pepper to taste – then serve and enjoy!
Sources include:
Blogs.NaturalNews.com
NaturalHealth365.com
TruthWiki.org
Science.NaturalNews.com
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