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Very good news cast http://www.i24news.tv/en/tv/replay/holyland-uncovered/x5wutei

I got this cheesy "baked spaghetti and meatballs" recipe from a relative--a poor man's version of lasagna--and topped it with chopped parsley. Ingredients include pasta sauce, mozarella & colby, chopped onions, minced garlic, sauteed spinach, Italian seasonings and meatballs, halved. The garlic knots just melts in your mouth. [And beets as a side dish.]

The resetting of the mind is a good thing, but it’s how you go about it. Freeing up your mind will leave you open to outside influences, and that includes demonic influences. That’s what you allow a hypnotist to do to you, when you free up your mind and they have some sort of control over you to make suggestions to stop smoking, etc. Medical use of opiates alleviate pain, but do they actually free up the brain in the same way as mushrooms? I don’t know, never having experienced drug taking, so I’m asking if it works that way. Because to me, physical pain relief using controlled amount of opiates is different from mind manipulating chemicals that alter your state of mind in ways that mushrooms or lsd do. I have taken anti depressants, but they don’t 'open your mind up', but dampen anxieties while lifting mood. That’s also not the same as a halucigenic trip. To my way of thinking, having lived with someone who took heavy drugs in his life and they affects of how it left him, and hearing your comments from you brothers who have escaped from drugs, it seems to buy more trouble than good. You can’t solve really entrenched problems in this system with man-made solutions. There’s always side-effects that you didn’t bargain for. In this case, too close to demonic influence to outweigh any benefits.

Fortunately we have all videos dubbed in portuguese from Portugal We have the same difference to Portuguese from Brazil than Britain English has to the American. And from Jan 2018 we'll have all wt's and g's translated in our mother tong As for "friends" it also seems strange around here ;) I just love the Britain accent, even the northern one (which is harder to understand) also love more the Scottish, Australian, and all other variants than the American one... Maybe for me the amount of American movies and TV shows had the opposite effect...

But still this is a poor example. Different drugs have different effects on the brain and psyche. Alcohol is also a drug but a certain measure of it is explicitly allowed and even praised in the bible. So you can't compare medicinal use of marijuana or the idea medically administered psylocibin to the abuse of crystal meth. In fact, I wouldn't even compare the recreational uses no matter what the circumstances. There's never ever once been a pothead as lost as a person who is addicted to crystal meth. There's a good reason why a large part of drug users (especially outside the USA) never end up on heroine, crack or crystal meth simply because it is a well-known fact these types of drugs destroy you entirely, and fast. Individual drugs have completely different effects on the human brain. So saying "I had a bad experience with passively smoking meth, so you shouldn't do medically administered xxxx" is an incorrect statement on so many levels. Again, all drugs have a bad effect on your psyche and open you up to bad things in some way. Do the demons not also use depression induced within an ADHD patient who gets depressed under the influence of methylphenidate / ritalin? Don't some people become fully incapable of dealing with issues once they're fully dependent on Xanax? This Watchtower article pretty much sums it up well https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102001011#h=7 So at the end of the day, we must individually weigh the pros and cons of any form of medicinal treatment (that is not directly opposed to biblical principles, such as the use of blood) based on each individual's conscience, while keeping a keen eye on how such treatments affect us on a spiritual level. I know a brother who suffers from bipolar disorder. When he loses it, he becomes "super-spiritual" and starts seeing Jehovah's hand in every day little things. Borderline delusions of grandeur, that kind of thing. He was so awkward that some people became scared of him. He said he could not refrain from witnessing to colleagues at any given moment. Not necessarily a good witness either. Some moments he fell into a total depression when things didn't go well (which was often related to his behaviour). About a year ago he started taking some medication that flattens the disbalances and peaks in his emotional state. He told me he feels somewhat like a robot now, but that from a reasonable standpoint he knows that he could not have gone on the way he was before, and yet it takes getting used to looking at spiritiual food in such a "mundane" state of mind. The medication clearly also takes away his extreme passion for the truth. But without it, he was slowly turning into a loonatic. These are the choices we all have to make on an individual level.

Whether you have taken them recreationally or you have taken them in this controlled experiment there are still these reports from both sets of groups of spiritual significance. In the controlled experiment 31% viewed it as the most spiritually significant thing they had done in their life. Magic mushrooms can only be controlled so much in an experiment but what this figure and I am telling you from personal experience is that the drugs direct influence and connection to spiritual matters is real and therefore something that a Christian should think very carefully about. If hypnotism is ruled out for opening your mind to the spirits then mushrooms of the hallucinogenic kind should be carefully considered as being possibly/probably dangerous too.

You are right LSD is not really explainable. I remember my friends doing £100s of pounds worth of cocaine and wasting their money trying to get wasted. I spent £2.50 and was in another world for a day. Experiences can range from intense self discovery to the hurrendous think your going to end up in a mental asylum experience. Acid can take you to some dark places. Thankfully it isn't really that addictive. That would be a lethal mix. Glad you came out the other end though brother. Those permanent memories that seem to be etched on your brain from your trips thankfully go to the back of your mind. I assume you can pull them out and remember them with vivid detail at any given moment. The colours and the visuals were what I used to do it for. Thankfully that is long gone and well behind me. I don't normally like even talking about it as it's like digging up past trauma. Thankfully I get my kicks from the ministry and true spiritual things now. I do treat the ministry as exciting and like an adventure and I love investigating new avenues of service which i feel stems from my past investigative nature. I can also relate to householders who have drug issues and find publishers and pioneers take me on their more complicated calls to see if I can find common ground with them. Sometimes it works.

As there are so many different American regional accents, along with ethnic types, I really like the variety as displayed in the JW media. The only area where I feel slightly uncomfortable is when there are modern day dramas. This is because the turn of phrase, vernacular, and general style are, very often, decidedly American. On occasion when there are English accents, they are generally not regional, sometimes sound "mid-Atlantic" and seem to adopt an American stance in an American setting. The American influence seems to homogenise everything English it comes in contact with. As I tend to use these dramas to illustrate real life situations, the Amercanisation of everything actually detracts from the realism as the experience in UK by far of American culture is in a fictional setting. I always have to adapt the material and bring it to "English" life. I have had some negative reaction to the "American-ness" in the ministry. However, I'm only saying this to contribute to the discussion. The content is the priority and minor criticisms about "American influence" are usually easy to overcome.

Thank you very very much for sharing. Hugs!

Really sad news, and every time we read of another tragedy like this it tops the one before. This one happened when a truck bomb exploded in a busy shopping and commercial district aiming maximum carnage - over 200 killed, hundreds more badly injured with the death toll expected to rise. Mogadishu's mayor Tabid Abdi Mohamed also visited those wounded in the blast, saying he lacked words to describe what he had seen. "What I have seen at the hospitals I have visited is unspeakable," he said, calling on everyone to help in the rescue efforts. It is unfortunately a common occurrence in this war-torn country, but wicked men here have" been advancing from bad to worse" in ways that we can no longer get our heads around. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/10/16/mogadishu-truck-bomb-toll-rises-least-200-deadliest-attack-record?cx_cid=newsdaily-edm-2017

One of my son's is giving a public talk in my congregation Sunday, December 10, 2017! Though this isn't his first public talk, it's his first Sunday talk in my congregation. I'm sooo proud of him! My baby boy!

We had our CA today and several congregations from Napa were there. The CO gave an update on the status of fires, how many friends were affected and what is being done to help them, here, I'll let him explain. CO-Fire Update-10-15-17.mp3

The good thing is that there are local audio/video teams set up all over the world now, so producing a drama with Australian accents in an Australian environment is no longer impossible. Maybe it will be done sooner than we think.

And that’s how it feels for me in Australia too, Eoin. My children had trouble relating to the Americanism of the dramas because it sort of felt like an American soap opera. Like I said earlier, though it grated at first, I don’t notice the accents now because of the appreciation of the spiritual food.

Very encouraging afternoon B.Study. This person has been in and out of two hospitals this week. She was strong enough for her study this afternoon, and I got ready for it, pronto. Got a relatively-new-sister in the loop and she joined the study. B.S. expressed how much she loves her study and meeting the friends and has talked about what she's learning to a para medic and a family member. She said it has also positively changed her life and outlook in ways we can only imagine. Other sister exchanged some ultra-positive input and offered an endearing closing prayer. Sometimes Jehovah gives us just what we need times three.

Perhaps I have a neuroses, I don't know know. I do know the fork with food on it must be clear for the the food to taste good. I'm not saying I would never eat if it were not plastic and clear, but food is not enjoyable if it is not eaten on clear plastics. That's just a way of life. Oh and I do wash and spray them with vinegar after each use and use them again so there is no waste. Now wooden cutlery as in forks and knives...<fainted>. I prepare and stir soups with wooden serving spoons but the taste always makes me feel like I'm back in the 1700s.

That is what I’m saying. But the hallucinations are not what you are after when using them in a medical setting. You are also not excepted to set yourself in contact with the spirit realm. I feel the discussion is getting a bit circular, and that’s unnecessary, so let’s stop here.

But if you hallucinate and you feel like you have a connection to the Divine or spirit world you are dancing with the spirit realm. What's the difference? It isn't something that is a possible side effect of shrooms, it is the effect of them. You are therefore opening your mind up to not a hypnotist on earth but something probably much more dangerous. That's why the reasoning book I quoted earlier said this:- rs Drugs ....many who use drugs are involved in spiritistic practices or associate with those who are, because a blank mind or one that experiences hallucinations is easy prey to the demons. Compare Luke 11:24-26. We then are left with the question should a Christian knowingly take something that will make him feel like he is connected with the Devine or spirit world even in a controlled setting? Connection with the spirit world is something detestable to Jehovah.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) Should we use a medication even if clearly effective that takes us so close to and even dances on the boundary of doing something that Jehovah hates? It's not like the feeling is optional when you have taken Psilocybin.

I respectfully disagree. Opening up your mind is a large part of Psilocybin and feeling like you are coming into contact with a higher, spirit world is a common effect that the user will experience. Hence why Shamans and the Occult use them.

While I agree that there is a difference in medical and non medical uses of drugs and therapies and there is a use that is clearly unscriptural and a use that needs to be decided in light of the scriptures and the individuals condition. There are still techniques, therapies and in this case drugs that need to be examined even more carefully by a Christian, than a person of the world. The slave have provided us with various articles and guidance with regards to spiritism, contraversial therapies and drugs. The literal meaning of the Greek word phar·ma·kiʹa, rendered “practice of spiritism,” is “druggery.” This is because in sorcery use of certain types of drugs involved incantations and appeal to the spirits. This is especially practiced among shamans and the occult and heavily linked with psychadelic drugs. Some of the earliest pictures of people taking drugs are pictures of shamans with mushrooms. Its interesting that the reasoning book mentions the link between hallucinations and being easy prey for demons. The slave also has recognized that these feelings of approaching God, hallucinating and freeing of ones mind is opening up a way to the demons. Now you might say "but this is in a controlled environment" the "dose is monitored" and "there has been reports of succesfull results" But is that our primary basis for whether a procedure or therapy is ok or not? The dose 25mg is a medium dose which will produce psychadelic effects, hallucinations and in many cases a feeling of "approaching God" "higher and broader thinking" and an "opening of the mind" This dose would be no joke and would feel like an access portal to the incomprehensible spirit world. Would this be something even a very sick Christian would want to do? With regards to the other 2 points, hypnosis is said to have beneficial effects in controlled situations. So hypnosis is ok then, right? Well no not really, why? So many of the things mentioned in the article could be linked to the loss of control and the access to the unconscious drives that magic mushrooms invoke. Thats why I was thinking of hypnotism when discussing this topic of pschadelics. I really want this drug to be a viable solution for a witness with severe depression. I can think of a few lovely brothers It could work wonders for. However do bible principals come into the equation. The more I talk about it the more I feel they probably do.

Our area does not appear to be threatened by the Atlas fire any more. It went from 3% containment to 45% containment on Friday. The voluntary evacuations and the advisory notifications have been cancelled. The satellite thermal detection shows only a few hot spots. Unfortunately the shifting wind has made things worse in Santa Rosa. There was a new evacuation order yesterday. Charles Shultz was from Santa Rosa and the news has reported that some of his Peanuts memorabilia was lost in the fire. Sister Margaret Keane (Big Eyes) lives in the Napa area and I heard that some of her original work was destroyed in the fire.

This is what I was thinking - if you were sleeping, you would open your eyes first.

eyes

So we just visited Fredricksburg Texas area for the wine tour. Awesome deal. In September ( I think it was) I bought a wine trail pass for 70.00 per couple. (http://texaswinetrail.com/store/item/texas-wine-month-passport) Covers a wine tasting at over 40 different wineries, 4 wineries each day. Pays for itself on the first day. Perfect chance for a non wine connoisseur such as myself to try out some higher quality wines on the cheap. Also a great way to celebrate your wedding anniversary AND the annual meeting (very nice local congregation).

What they feel is one thing, but what’s really going on in your brain is a whole different thing. Of course, isolating the potent chemical and using it in the proper dose in a controlled environment is wildly different from abusing “Magic mushrooms”. A medical study will show what happens, if it has any long lasting negative effects, and how the beneficial effects work. It will also show how to best use the chemical. It will probably never be an over the counter pill you can take at home, but who knows...

Unlocked by saying Shibʹbo·leth correctly.

Let me say first off that I’ve never done crystal meth on my own will. I just used that experience as an example of how the demons can attack you if your mind is “open” to their influence no matter what your intent was. I have been harassed by demons when I didn’t invoke them. I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

Which is where I see the dangers. Spiritual may mean spiritism. At least that's my experience. It can be good, but it can also open up your mind for bad things. It's not a given that the thoughts and inspirations are only of a good nature. I had some profoundly "spiritual" moments during my bible study phase on marijuana, but I also had some weird and creepy notions.. say of the New World or eternal life. Who is to say these kind of mental "enlightenments" can also not come from the one who keeps transforming himself into "an angel of light"?

American accents dont bother me, and i actually think you hear quite a diverse range of accents on JW broadcasting. What i will never get used to is hearing brothers and sisters referred to as 'the friends'. I dont think that will ever be adopted in the UK!

Thanks Brother Michael, that is interesting. I also notice that the Bible Reading Schedule for 2018 takes us from Matthew to Acts, this will allow for a more detailed study than previously, in 2013 we covered from Matthew to Revelation.

The meeting of President Trump with his military was the same night that Belshazzar met with his military.The night of October 5. Sure is a coincidence and does not mean absolutely nothing is just coincidence. This autumn feels different. The world is falling apart but Jehovah's organization continues to move forward and up. Truly we can not give up now more than ever. Only a love and an unshakable faith along with loyalty, endurance and courage will help us to continue and pass the final test. The undeserved kindness of Jehovah will be with all those who are loyal to him.

It is undisputed that the study was small, that more studies are needed. No serious medical professional will recommend a drug that has been tested on only 20 people.

I have been reading this thread and have yet to comment. I might mention I have never done any recreational drugs. However, I was prescribed Xanax (Alprazolam) when I was treated for Prostate Cancer. I have never had morphine, but I know JW's who have while in the hospital. It seems that there was some discussion here equating the "magic mushrooms" to these two drugs. Let's see: Alprazolam (Xanax) was first released by Upjohn in 1981. Morphine was first isolated between 1803 and 1805 by Friedrich Sertürner. This is generally believed to be the first isolation of an active ingredient from a plant. Merck began marketing it commercially in 1827. Morphine was more widely used after the invention of the hypodermic syringe in 1853–1855. Sertürner originally named the substance morphium after the Greek god of dreams, Morpheus, as it has a tendency to cause sleep. So, Xanax has been used in the medical field for 36 years and was only approved after multiple testing. Morphine has been used in the medical field for 190 years, No telling how much testing was done prior to it's use, but it is safe to say it has been well tested by now. With the wide recreational use of "magic mushrooms" and all the problems that has resulted in and the lack of long term medical testing .... well, Personally, I am not sure I would want to use, recommend or defend a drug that has only been tested on 20 people in a medical setting.

You are talking about abusing magic mushrooms, not about a controlled medical use of psilocybin to solve a particular medical issue that is very difficult to solve by other means. These two things are very different uses altogether and should not be confused. One is prohibited by law in many countries and by scripture, the other is not.

If a government bans our literature from being distributed, the app will vanish from the app store. This already happens in China. Apple and Amazon devices are the worst for this (only way to get around the code signing is to jailbreak), and Google devices are not much easier.

With all the changes going on I feel as though Jehovah is gently nudging the GB in the way they should lead us. Less printing of magazines, no yearbook... Maybe our future is paperless. Oh! Maybe with an encrypted JW app during the last days, if our publications are confiscated. That would be awesome. I feel bad for many of us creatures of habit, at the pace we are going. We need to keep up with Jehovah's organization and hold on tight! Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

If you decide to experiment with boxed wine, I suggest that you write the date that you open it on the side of the box. Then check that against the date it runs out. I was surprised to find out that it didn't last as long as I thought it would. ..

My own personal speculation on why the weekly Bible reading has been reduced from covering the full Greek Scriptures in a year to covering only the Gospels and Acts this year is that the Bible reading will include study notes. So while we in the congregation study less material, the brothers in the Writing Department have time to work on releasing further books of the Study Bible. In line with this educated guessing, I'm sure we'll get Acts released probably a month before we start studying it at the midweek meeting, and Romans by late 2018. And obviously, the Study Bible will also be translated in further languages as time allows. The study notes we will be considering at the meetings are translated in the MWB reference sheet. From translating a few to translating all of them there's a small step in my opinion. At least when it comes to major languages ;)

Almost any medication can be either dangerous or useless if you do not suffer from the affliction it is supposed to help. Any side effects will have to be examined and weighed against the benefits, just like with any medical treatment.

While I’ve never done mushrooms, I did do 3 hits of some powerful LSD once which is also a hallucinogen. The experience started off great but then ended up being the worst drug experience I’ve ever had. I had scary hallucinations and visions for over 10 hours. I was scared and thought I would never snap out of it. I wouldn’t recommend doing any drug for any said benefits. Any temporary “benefits” are not worth the permanent brain damage. Plus, drugs are a good way to loose your relationship with Jehovah.

It may be added that you should NEVER self medicate with these substances, and that what has been studied is an active component of said mushrooms.

Yup, exactly 2 years from now in October 2019, it will be exactly 100 years since October 1919...

Looking ahead that means we will have more time for the rest of the Greek Scriptures. I have always felt that we rush through that part of the bible. So much is contained in the letters from Paul and the others. And this year we can take a more in depth study into the Gospels and Acts. And with our new change in the ministry, this is going to be great. More than a coincidence I think.

It gives me great pleasure to know that a whole year will be dedicated to learning about Jesus. How he imitated Jehovah, his personality, his teachings, his interactions with humans, his mercy, his humility, his earthly family, Jehovah's support for him during his ministry and in the final days/hours before he died.....indeed, just as John was inspired to write:

Jerry said that four people from his congregation were at the concert, but are all safe.

1. cookies 2. oatmeal raisin cookies 3. chocolate chip cookies 4. Authentic NYC cheesecake 5. My mothers lasagna 6.crisp nectarines 7. Gyro 8. Turkey pizza 9. Hungarian goulash 10. Calabrese Salami mmmm...ok fine, not necessarily in the right order

1. Chocolate cake w/ chocolate frosting 2. Brownies 3. Milk 4. Chocolate chip cookies 5. Artichokes 6. Avocados 7. Greek chicken salad 8. Carne asada burrito 9. Pizza w/ fresh Mozzarella 10. Tomatoes and cottage cheese

Sorry, can't help it...with my current bias of almost all things Eastern Africa... Tu'um, tu'um! / ጥዑም፡ ጥዑም! (= delicious, delicious!)