"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
(2 Timothy 1:7)

Sound Mind

Dear Friends,

Greetings! The title of the first article below, "38% of Europeans are mentally ill" a study says, is almost beyond belief if it is true.

David, in Psalm 71, prayed, "In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion." (Psalms 71:1)

From Wilipedia we are told that confusion comes from a Latin word meaning confusĭo, -ōnis, a noun of action from confundere "to pour together", also "to confuse". It is of a pathological degree and usually refers to a loss of orientation. Orientation being the ability to place oneself correctly in the world by time, location, and/or personal identity. This is sometimes accompanied by disordered consciousness and often memory. This memory being the ability to correctly recall previous events or learn new material.

It is interesting that this definition states that confusion is the " loss of orientation". For a Christian, and mankind in general, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is or should be the central focal point of our life.

God is the center, or should be the center, of our focus, our Creator. Revelation 4:11 says, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." And what is one of God's pleasures? Jesus told us in Luke 12:32, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

If God is supposed to be the center of our lives, then not us, nor the pursuit of money or materialism, or Darwinism, or any other loves should take that place. If it does, then we become off centered, unbalanced, unstable, without the anchor which our souls require.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians said, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." (1 Corinthians 14:33) If God is not the author of confusion, then who is? Who is in charge of this world and its ensuing confusion? Well look at this verse.

"The devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it." (Luke 4:5-6)

If 38% of Europe's population is mentally ill could we conclude possibily that the cause of this could be a falling away from what is supposed to be the central focal point of our lives, faith, belief and love and God?

Paul again in his letter to the Romans, chapter one stated, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient."

The first step in achieving real mental stability is of course to receive Jesus Christ

into your life and heart. We invite you to make Him the center of your universe.

We must then "Gird up the loins of your mind." (1 Peter 1:13) which a Bible website Percentaustin.org describes as,removing anything that would hinder the free action of the mind in relationship to spiritual growth or progress.

CBS News

38% of Europeans are mentally ill, study says

The most common problems include anxiety disorders, insomnia, depression, alcohol and drug dependence and dementia, the study said. (iStockphoto)

(AP)  LONDON - Some 38 percent of Europeans, or 165 million people, suffer from mental illness or neurological disorders on a broad spectrum ranging from anxiety to dementia, a new study published Tuesday says. Most are not being treated, though some experts said many may not need psychiatric help.

Researchers drew on previous surveys of mental health and applied specific criteria to determine how many people had a disorder. The data covered more than 500 million people in the 27 European Union countries plus Switzerland, Iceland and Norway, according to the study paid for by the non-profit European College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

More than 90 different mental and neurological problems were considered, including those often found in children, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to those often found in the elderly, such as the dementia in Alzheimer's patients.

Using such a broad definition of mental health and neurological disorders might artificially inflate the problem, some experts said.

"Not all of these people require psychiatric interventions," said Matt Muijen, a mental health expert at the World Health Organization's European office in Copenhagen who was not linked to the research. "The 38 percent is indicative of stress in society, not necessarily psychiatric disorders."

Because researchers in other areas use varying definitions of what constitutes a mental health problem, it is hard to compare European rates to those elsewhere, he said. In the U.S., for example, the National Institute of Mental Health estimates about 26 percent of adults have some type of mental disorder.

The rates of mental and neurological disorders didn't appear to be rising, compared to a similar study in 2005. The most common problems include anxiety disorders, insomnia, depression, alcohol and drug dependence and dementia. Experts estimated only one-third of people receive treatment.

Other experts said the numbers of people with mental health problems appeared higher than what is commonly believed because most patients don't report their illness and because this study includes disorders in children and the elderly.

"Although the figure seems shockingly high, this is the most rigorous study done in Europe," said Graham Thornicroft, a professor of community psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London. He was not linked to the study.

"The real tragedy is that so few people with mental health problems receive treatment," Thornicroft said.

Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, one of the study's authors, said many patients still face discrimination and limited services when seeking treatment.

"Mental health disorders are Europe's largest health care challenge in the 21st century," he said.

The study was published in the group's journal, "European Neuropsychopharmacology," and presented at its annual meeting in Paris on Tuesday. None of the study's authors reported a conflict of interest.

Miracle Cures by Enlisting the Subconscious (Excerpted from a longer article.)

September 5, 2011

by Stephen Coleman

UNDERSTANDING THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND

Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard trained neuroanatomist, experienced a serious stroke affecting the left hemisphere of her brain. Her description of operating from the right brain hemisphere is quite similar to what I believe is the subconscious mind.

The subconscious can't distinguish between past and future. It is always in the present. It does not function with language but with  visualizations. It does not distinguish between self and others. It does not judge but accepts whatever it is told. It seems to remember every detail of our lives.

Have you ever forgotten a name and instantly you remember it? It was still there in the subconscious but momentarily could not be expressed verbally.

Hurts, traumas and strong emotions are impressed upon the subconscious mind. They remain there in present tense, even if the hurt happened decades ago.

Because the subconscious can't distinguish between others and self, people that criticize and judge are criticizing themselves. People holding onto rancor are poisoning themselves, hoping the perp dies. People with these problems can never be happy.

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ET and the sleeping church!

(An excerpt of a Post by lamarzulli)

September 6, 2011

We are being inundated with films (watch the Documentary below), TV shows, novels, not to mention the DISCLOSURE movement, all of which tell us that UFOs and their occupants are real, burgeoning and not going away.  I am just amazed at the sleeping church, that for the most part refuses to look into what I would call the Coming Great Deception.  It's coming folks - the disclosure of ET - and while we're still on this side of the revealing, it's easy to sit back and say, it's business as usual.  In other words, don't pay any attention to the endless reports, sightings, videos, de-classified documents, all of which are screaming at us to wake up and pay attention to what is going on.  I believe that we are in a period of time, unlike any other.  I believe that we are in the birth-pangs that we are warned will precede the Tribulation and conclude with the coming of the Rider on the White Horse!  The veil between the natural and the supernatural is thinning.  In the west we have been conditioned not to believe in the supernatural.  In our churches the supernatural is, for the most part, dumbed down, and reigned in.  Yet, if we were to take the supernatural out of our guide-book (i.e the Bible), what would be left?  A series of genealogies and battle reports.  We are told - warned - that at some point the Fallen One, will be cast into this dimension.  While we may debate how and when this will take place, one thing we can bet on, it will at some point happen, and when it does it will be self-evident and will be a game changer!

In my opinion, the revealing of the so-called extraterrestrial presence is the paradigm shift that will create a one world religious system that we are told will happen in the last days.  The major religions of the world will crumble in the wake of the revealing of  ET.  The sleeping church will be caught off guard and swept away.  What are you going to do if you wake up one morning and there's a three-mile wide ship hovering over your Seven- Eleven?  This coming weekend I will be in Ventura, California, at a MUFON meeting, presenting a special one hour, Power Point talk.  Most of the attendee's will have already come to terms with the UFO phenomena, so my task will be to present another paradigm for them to consider.  At least these people are awake and not sleeping....

Guardian.co.uk

US counts the cost of nine months of unprecedented weather extremes

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration, there have been 10 major disasters this year

John Vidal, environment editor

Monday 5 September 2011 16.46 BST

As deadly fires continue to burn across bone-dry Texas and eight inches of rain from tropical storm Lee falls on New Orleans, the US is beginning to count the cost of nine months of unprecedented weather extremes.

Ever since a massive blizzard causing $2bn of damage paralysed cities from Chicago to the north-east in January, nearly every month has been marked by a $1b+-weather catastrophe. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration (Noaa), there have been 10 major disasters already this year, leaving more than 700 people dead and property damage of over $35bn (£22bn).

In the past 31 years the mainland states have suffered 99 weather-related disasters where overall damages and economic costs were over $1bn. This year has seen three times as many than as usual.

Noaa will release its August data next week but Summer 2011 is expected to be the warmest on record. Chris Burt, author and leading weather historian, has complied a list of more than 40 cities and towns that have experienced record temperatures this year.

"So many heat records of various types have been shattered this past summer that it is impossible to quantify them," he said. "Not since the great heat waves of 1934 and 1936 has the US seen so many heat-related records broken as occurred this summer. The back-to-back nature of the intensity of the past two summers should raise some interesting questions, questions I am not qualified to address."

This year, the UN World Meteorological Organisation said 2010 was the warmest year on record, confirming a "significant" long-term trend of global warming and producing exceptional weather variations.

The insurance company Munich Re said in the first six months of the year there were 98 natural disasters in the US, about double the average of the 1990s.

"The increasing impacts of natural disasters, as seen this year, are a stark reminder of the lives and livelihoods at risk. Severe weather represents a very real threat to public safety," said Jack Hayes, director of Noaa's National Weather Service.

But the US is not alone. 2011 has seen the deepest drought in 60 years in the Horn of Africa which has contributed to a famine in Somalia and 10 million people affected in Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Uganda. Southern Africa, however, experienced unusually heavy rainfall.

Latin America has suffered a series of disasters. More than 500 people died in some of Brazil's worst rainstorms and mudslides in January, and Columbia faced what it called its worst-ever natural disaster when months of rain and floods devastated the north of the country. Meanwhile Mexico and much of central America experienced one of their deepest droughts in many years.

Korea, the Philippines, parts of China have been racked with some of the worst storms in a century, with flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain .

2011 has also seen a series of major non-weather-related natural disasters. The worst, by some way, was the Japanese tsunami which killed at least 12,000 people and devastated the country. However, 6.2 or above earthquakes have hit New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan, the Fox Islands, Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Indonesia, Fiji, Thailand, Burma, Vanuatu, Argentina, Chile and Iran in the first six months of 2011. Smaller ones have hit Pakistan, Tajikistan, Tonga, and the Solomon Islands.

In addition the Arctic ice melt this year hit a record in July and is expected to the second or third greatest ever recorded, says the US national snow and ice data centre.

• This article was amended on 05 September 2011. The original stated the death toll for the Japanese tsunami was 1,200,000 instead of 12,000. This has been corrected

A year of US disasters - 2011 so far

• Hurricane Irene, August 20-29. Over $7bn and around 50 deaths.

• Upper Midwest flooding. The Missouri and Souris rivers overflowed in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. Damages: $2bn.

• Mississippi river flooding, spring and summer. Damages neared $4bn.

• Drought and heatwave in Texas, Oklahoma. Over $5bn.

• Tornadoes in midwest and south-east in May kill 177 and cost more than $7bn in losses.

• Tornadoes in the Ohio Valley, south-east and midwest on April devastate the city of Tuscaloosa, kill 32 and cause more than $9bn in damages.

• Tornadoes hit from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania 14 - 16 April. Toll: $2bn in damages.

• 59 tornadoes in midwest and north-east April 8-11. Damages: $2.2bn.

• 46 tornadoes in central and southern states 4 and 5 April. Toll: $2.3bn in damages.

• Blizzard late January paralyse cities from Chicago to the north-east. Toll: 36 deaths and more than $2bn in damages.

MSNBC

'Two suns' spotted in China defy explanation

The dual sunset comes just weeks after rumors of a second sun flooded the Net

A still from a video that purportedly shows "two suns" setting in China. One scientist suspects the apparition could be an optical illusion at sunset, rather than an all-out hoax.

By Natalie Wolchover

updated 3/5/2011

Weeks after a story shot across the Web claiming that the imminent explosion of a nearby star would result in the appearance of a second sun in the sky -- a story that was later debunked -- two suns were caught on camera yesterday in China. The suns -- one fuzzy and orange, the other a crisp yellow orb -- appeared side-by-side, one slightly higher than the other.

What's going on? Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to Space.com, asked Jim Kaler, the University of Illinois astronomer who squelched the excitement over the aforementioned exploding Betelgeuse and who has written books on the day and night sky. The double sun image is an effect of optical refraction, Kaler said, but it's a "pretty darn rare" one, and one not fully explained by science.

"I doubt it's been computer modeled," he said. "There must have been some blob of atmosphere somewhere that caused this truly spectacular phenomenon, which in a sense is a mirage."  [Amazing Sun Photos From Space]

Mirages appear when particles in the atmosphere refract, or bend, light. This typically happens near the horizon, where air is thicker, though, and mirages are usually aligned vertically above or below the original source of the light -- not beside it, like in the video. It's possible, Kaler said, that an unusually thick patch of atmosphere wandered in front of the sun to create the unusual effect.

Previous sightings of horizontally-aligned double images of the sun and moon are recorded in a book called "Light and Color in the Outdoors" (English edition: Springer 1993) by the famous Flemish astronomer Marcel Minnaert, which remains the most complete reference on double suns. "So many other instances have been reported that there is no longer any doubt about ... observations of sun and mock sun(s) being at exactly the same altitude," Minnaert wrote.

"The case of a mock sun 3 degrees and 25 arc-seconds to the left of the nearly set sun sounds incredible but has been recorded photographically." Indeed, Minnaert's description sounds nearly identical to the scene in question.

He goes on to state that the double or multiple image phenomena are produced by abnormal refraction, but that "it remains extraordinary that the images of the sun and moon were sharp and of the same size as the real sun and moon."

To check whether more has been learned about the double sun effect since the time of Minnaert's writing, Life's Little Mysteries consulted several atmospheric optics experts. None of them had ever seen anything quite like the effect shown in the video.

"This is not a common optical phenomenon that we're seeing here," said Grant Perry, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Institute for Satellite and Meteorological Studies. "I'm asking myself if this is an artifact of the lens, but if that were the case -- if it's reflections of the lens elements -- then the images would move in relation to each other as the camera moves," Perry said. "But that doesn't happen."

In terms of an optical explanation, he said, "You would have to assume it is particles of ice or something in the atmosphere aligned in such a way that they would refract the sunlight at that very small angle, but only in one direction. It would require some fairly peculiar characteristics."

Several related atmospheric optical effects are fully explained by science. Sun dogs, sunset mirages, sun pillars and sun halos are all relatively common and well understood. But not this effect.

"It's very intriguing," said Kaler.

This article was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to SPACE.com. Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @ nattyover.

Postal Service could shut down by winter

UPI - September 5, 2011

The U.S. Postal Service, facing a deficit that will reach $9.2 billion this fiscal year, could be forced to close this winter, officials say.

"Our situation is extremely serious," Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe said in a New York Times article published Monday.

Donahoe has been advocating spending cutbacks recently that would eliminate Saturday mail delivery, close as many as 3,700 postal locations and result in layoffs of 120,000 employees, nearly 20 percent of the Postal Service's workforce.

MailOnline

London is no longer an English city and that's how it got the Olympics, says John Cleese

By Hugo Gye

2nd September 2011

Mass immigration has turned London into a city that is 'no longer English', John Cleese claims.

The former Monty Python star says he now feels like a foreigner walking through the capital's streets.

California-based Cleese, 71, moved to the U.S. more than two decades ago, having grown up in Somerset.

Outspoken: John Cleese, pictured with new girlfriend Jennifer Wade, says that he no longer feels at home in London

The comic was asked what he thought about British culture and the recent London riots during an interview on 7.30, a television show in Australia, where he is currently on a stand-up tour.

He replied: 'I'm not sure what's going on in Britain. Or, let me say this - I don't know what's going on in London, because London is no longer an English city.

'That's how we got the Olympics.

'They said we were the  most cosmopolitan city on Earth. But it doesn't feel English.

'I had a Californian friend come over two months ago, walk down the King's Road and say, "Where are all the English people?"

'I mean, I love having different cultures around. But when the parent culture kind of dissipates, you're left thinking, "Well, what's going on?"'

Performer: Mr Cleese made his comments while promoting his appearance at the Sydney Opera House this week

Far-Right group the English Defence League seized on Cleese's comments yesterday, posting a link to them on its Twitter page. A spokesman for London mayor Boris Johnson said: 'If the King's Road is jam-packed with foreign tourists then that is something we should celebrate.'

And former mayor Ken Livingstone - currently standing for the post again - said: 'To stay competitive, London must be what New York is to the U.S., a global centre of business, culture and innovation, none of which can be achieved without people of all nations working and living here.'

Diverse: Areas of London like Whitechapel, pictured, are extremely multicultural

The comedian was praised by UKIP leader Nigel Farage for articulating 'what an increasing number of people in London are thinking'.

He added: 'For him to make these remarks shows a tremendous strength of feeling on this matter.

'Of course other cultures are welcome, but Mr Cleese is right to point out that it should not be at the expense of the parent culture.'

Of the eight million people who currently live in Greater London, 2.7million residents were born outside the UK, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the city.

Legend: The veteran funnyman is known for characters such as Basil Fawlty

Last year Cleese, a Liberal Democrat supporter, lamented the state of modern England, bemoaning a decline in traditional middle-class values, which he says has been replaced by 'a yob culture'.

He is now preparing to leave the U.S., where he has been living for 21 years, revealing that his decision was partly prompted by a fall in the amount of work he is offered in the States.

The Fawlty Towers star  initially moved to California in 1990.

Last year he bought an apartment near Bath so that he could be near to his new girlfriend, jewellery designer Jennifer Wade, and her family when he visited the UK.

It was seen as something of a homecoming for the star, who was born 33 miles away in Weston-super-Mare.

He said he now prefers visiting Bath than London, claiming: 'It feels more like the England I grew up in.' 

However, he says that he won't be returning to live in Britain permanently, because it would mean paying vast amounts in extra tax on divorce payments to his third wife, Alyce Faye Eichelberger.

He lost more than half his fortune in 2009 when a judge granted Miss Eichelberger £12.5million, as well as £600,000 a year in maintenance payments for seven years.

Instead, he says he is considering buying a home in Switzerland or Monaco.

WND

Russia, Iran now linking up

Pair set up strategic ties over security, terror, drug trafficking

Posted: September 05, 2011

WASHINGTON - Despite centuries of antagonism, Russia and Iran have decided to enter into discussions to form an alliance to enhance their security cooperation, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Even while Russia has agreed to some United Nations sanctions over Iran's nuclear development program, discussions toward a strategic alliance have been under way for months already, according to informed sources.

And more discussions about that relationship, and to address a range of threats, are to take place at the highest levels of government.

"This involves new threats such as international terrorism, drug trafficking and others," according to Russian Security Council director Nikolai Patrushev, who recently was in Tehran. "We have agreed on cooperation between our security council staffs."

While Russia has been a major weapons supplier and was the prime contractor for Iran's first nuclear energy reactor at Bushehr, the security arrangement would be the first high-level security cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. Such security cooperation would mean Russian assistance in getting Iran to join the six-member Asian Security group, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, which was established in 2001. In addition to Russia, members of the SCO are China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

"We have addressed regional cooperation and intend to consolidate regional security mainly under the aegis of the United Nations," Patrushev said.

The development of a strategic alliance comes as pressure is mounting for either Israel or the United States to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, which Westerners believe are being used to develop nuclear weapons.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin already has served notice on Western countries not to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

Christian Science Monitor - - The deadly dilemma of Libya's missing weapons - -

Human Rights Watch discovered several weapons-storage sites in Libya where surface-to-air missiles are missing, raising concerns that the weapons could arm an Iraq-style insurgency.

Large mortar shells sit unguarded, and boxes that once held anti-aircraft missiles and other heavy weapons are strewn about arms depots around Tripoli on Sept. 7.

Ben Hubbard/AP

By Scott Peterson, Staff writer / September 7, 2011

Tripoli, Libya

As Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) hunt for and collect the weapons that fueled Muammar Qaddafi's war machine, they are quickly learning that some choice pieces of his vast stockpile of mines, mortars, and explosives are missing.

At newly discovered weapons-storage sites, thousands of shoulder-held surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) are unaccounted for. At one unguarded facility, empty packing crates and documents reveal that 482 sophisticated Russian SA-24 missiles were shipped to Libya in 2004, and now are gone. With a range of 11,000 feet, the SA-24 is Moscow's modern version of the American "stinger," which in the 1980s helped the US-backed Afghan mujahideen turn their war against the Soviet Union.

With Libya already facing great uncertainty in the post-Qaddafi era, seepage from unsecured weapons stores could further threaten its nascent revolutionary government by arming a loyalist insurgency - or providing regional rebel groups and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb with a lethal arsenal.

"If these weapons fall in the wrong hands, all of North Africa will be a no-fly zone," says Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), who has brought a number of weapons-storage sites to the NTC's attention.

"That's the Western concern," Mr. Bouckaert tells journalists at the site, noting the interest of Al Qaeda affiliates and regional insurgents in being able to easily target aircraft. "But what poses the biggest danger to Libyan people - as we know from Iraq - is what's laying right behind you ... all of these tank shells and mortars, because that's what people turn into car bombs."

Libya's vast weapons cache

HRW played a similar role in Iraq, where it identified unprotected weapons sites to US forces on the ground. Many of those arsenals were never protected, and provided the firepower for years of insurgency.

The sophistication and vast size of Libya's military hardware - and the fact that it was widely dispersed during the NATO airstrikes - complicates the effort to control it, as the Tripoli Military Council, which is tasked with handling security in the capital, consolidates its grip just 2-1/2 weeks after the fall of Colonel Qaddafi.

"So Western intelligence agencies have been calling us for information about the SAMs; [but] they're not too interested in the stuff that's going to hurt the Libyans, which is what's still here to loot," said Bouckaert.

"The SA-24 is on the top wish list of Iran; the US tried to block its transfer from Russia to [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez because they were afraid it was going to get into Iranian hands a few years ago," he adds. US reporting from that 2009 sale - including WikiLeaks cables - also emphasized the dangers of the SA-24 being passed on by the anti-American Mr. Chavez, to boost FARC rebels in Colombia or drug lords in Mexico.

Empty cases

At an education ministry book-storage and printing facility in southern Tripoli that was turned into a makeshift weapons depot, the long green shipping crates for the shoulder-fired SA-24 - along with crates that once contained older versions, the SA-7 and SA-14 - were found empty. It is adjacent to a Khamis Brigade base commanded by and named after one of Qaddafi's sons.

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Until next week...

Almondtree Productions

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."

(Isaiah 26:3)