Today I have the pleasure of introducing two very exciting keynote speakers. We have Frida Afari. She is an Iranian-American librarian, translator, and writer. She has served as an adult librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library for over 20 years. Her work has included organizing many library programs on philosophy, literature, economics, feminism, U.S. history, and current world events. She is the 2023-2024 co-chair of the Penn Translation Committee and an active member of the American Library Association. Her book, Socialist Feminism, a new approach, was just published by Pluto Press. Today she will be speaking to us about confronting disinformation and book bans by cultivating critical thinking and empathy. We will also be hearing from Linda Powell. She is currently a professor, Amarita, of history and ethnic studies at Los Angeles Southwest College. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of California Los Angeles, respectively. Her master's program included history and ethnic studies with a special interest in African-American folklore. She is a writer, poet, and in the words of Bert Tolbrecht, a worker who reads, a long academic career of over 40 years includes teaching in the Los Angeles Community College District, tenure as department chair of behavioral and social science, passage program at UC Irvine, California State University Los Angeles, and numerous other conference and community engagements. Her topic today will be from critical thinking to critical race theory on earthing history. Hello. It is an honor and a pleasure to address San Francisco Bay Area public librarians about the future of libraries. We're discussing the future of libraries at a truly crisis-ridden and dangerous moment in history. The effort to ban books on gender and race from many U.S. and U.S. school and public libraries has been relentless in the past two years. In 2022, the number of attempts to ban or restrict library resources in schools, universities, and public libraries is on track to exceed record counts from 2021. And that record count in 2021 was 1,597 attempted book bans in 700 different libraries or library systems. It represented the highest number of attempted book bans since the American Library Association began compiling lists more than 20 years ago. At the same time, the spread of this information and misinformation through social media and various networks have been poisoning the environment in the U.S. and globally. The U.S. education system has been greatly challenged and weakened by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. All children have been impacted by the isolation and lack of in-person school instruction. Black, Latino, and Native American children in low-income and marginalized communities have fallen far behind. By some accounts, the pandemic has set schools back by two decades. U.S. children are also facing an unprecedented mental health crisis. Moreover, many are mourning the death of family members who are part of their support system. When it comes to higher education, enrollment, especially at the community college level, has massively declined because so many former college students have had to take on extra jobs and spend more time on helping their families. So I believe that in 2019, enrollment was at about 19 million and now it's about 15 million college and university students. Those public libraries are faced not only with the task of confronting book bans and disinformation but also represent the only side of truly free after-school education for children and continuing education for young adults and adults. In the recent past, U.S. public librarians have tended to focus on programming on book clubs and book talks, fun activities for children and teens, computer classes, small business instruction, life skills and pleasures, ranging from cooking and gardening to health, fitness, and music. All of these are necessary and need to be continued. However, I would like to argue that the challenge of our times demands a major rethinking of our focus and direction when it comes to programming. It demands a return to the historical concept of libraries and librarians as guardians of knowledge, memory, and truth. What is knowledge? Knowledge is not the same as information. Knowledge is information that has been tested and proven to be true factually and historically. Knowledge involves concepts and assumes receptive minds that are critical, inquisitive and willing to explore. Knowledge is not about dogma or slogans but learning that builds on previous accurate learning and understanding of history, philosophy, science, and expands the mind. Why do we need knowledge? Information by itself is like having a bunch of facts without connection. Knowledge allows us to create connections between facts. Knowledge is the process whereby we use conceptual frameworks to make sense out of facts or to draw out meaning. The main claim of the current assault on librarians and educators by the extreme right is that we are quote-unquote indoctrinating children and the public. The American Library Association in response has argued that libraries promote a plurality and diversity of views. This is definitely correct. However, emphasizing plurality and diversity is not enough to confront the assault. In my presentation today, I would like to argue that this information, bookbands, and the charge of indoctrination can only be truly confronted if public libraries become sites for cultivating critical thinking and if librarians see themselves not only as providers of information but as guardians of knowledge, memory, and truth. Let's look at what critical thinking means from the vantage point of Mary Ann Wolfe and Audrey Lord. Wolfe is currently a leading scholar of information and education studies. Lord was a renowned poet, writer, and also a librarian. So first, Mary Ann Wolfe on critical thinking. In her book, Reader Come Home, Mary Ann Wolfe, director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at UCLA, and professor in residence at the UCLA School of Information and Education Studies, has issued a challenge to all readers. She argues that with the transition from a literacy-based culture to a digital one in the 21st century, over-reliance on digital or screen reading has the potential for long-term damage to our memory, our ability for critical thinking, reflection, empathy, and democracy itself. Society, she argues, is at a hinge moment. On the one hand, over-reliance on digital mediums and media and their algorithms of distraction can change the brain's circuitry of humans and possibly diminish our distinctive human potential for critical thinking and reflection. On the other hand, if we build on the best characteristics of both print and digital mediums, we can develop what she calls bi-literate persons with quote, ever more sophisticated forms of cognition and imagination that will enable our children to leap into new worlds of knowledge. End of quote from her. End of quote from her. Developing ever more sophisticated forms of cognition and imagination requires the practice of what Wolf calls deep reading. What is deep reading? Deep reading begins with attention, remembering, following the sequence of the text narrative and drawing connections between the observations and questions gleaned. It requires putting oneself in the position of others. It is thus connected to empathy as both knowledge of and feeling for the other. In deep reading, and this is a quote from Mary and Wolf. In deep reading, we welcome the other as a guest within ourselves and sometimes we become other. For a moment in time, we leave ourselves and when we return, sometimes expanded and strengthened, we are changed both intellectually and emotionally. End of quote. In other words, deep reading leads to a deep understanding of the other. Deep reading requires that readers approach the text with internalized background knowledge, including conceptual frameworks that allow us to draw meaning, inferences, engage in critical analysis, evaluate the writer's assumptions, ideas, conclusions, and reflect on the whole process in order to arrive at new insights and thoughts. Our conceptual frameworks need to be flexible enough to be open to new ideas, changes, expansion, and enrichment. For a child, for example, a conceptual framework can consist of an understanding of concepts such as friendship, empathy, and fairness gained through picture books, early reading, and conversations with adults. For an adult, conceptual frameworks can include philosophical, psychological, and economic concepts and theories learned in school and through reading and conversation. Wolf argues that deep reading is the antidote to disinformation, manipulation, and demagoguery. When we do not read deeply and do not delve into complexities, we can become prey to simplistic answers, homogenization of thinking, and extremism. A democratic society requires the development of deep reading abilities and what she calls cognitive patience in all its members, young and old. It is toward the same that Wolf has written her book. She thinks we can build on the best characteristics of both print and digital mediums to develop biliterate use who are skilled in deep reading in all mediums and media. At the same time, it is the responsibility of teachers and librarians to teach children and use what she calls digital wisdom. That is how to evaluate what they have read online and how to make sure they are paying attention and remembering what they have read. Like David Olin, Los Angeles Times book critic, Wolf calls deep reading, quote, an act of resistance, some quote. While she remains fearful that the deep reading brain will be short circuited in future generations, she thinks that if we humans rise up to the challenge of the current hinge moment in history, we will be able to build on the human brains, quote, pluripotential capacities to embody all of our species exponentially growing intellectual, affective, and moral faculties. End of quote. Let's move on to another scholar and activist, Audrey Lord, black feminist poet, writer, and librarian, whose various essays address critical thinking in diverse and creative ways. Lord, similar to Wolf, calls on us to engage in deep reading and comprehend and develop empathy for the other. Lord also helps us see what it means to go beyond pluralism and truly engage in critical thinking and hence develop empathy for the other. For her critical thinking is far more than tolerance of the other to whom we are indifferent. In a letter written in 1984 and addressed to the organizers of a conference on the lives of American woman, she wrote, difference must be not merely tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic within the interdependence of mutual non-dominant difference. She further clarified what she meant by non-dominant difference in another essay, also written the same here, where she argued that racism, sexism, heterosexism, and homophobia represent an inability to recognize the notion of difference as a dynamic human force, one which is enriching rather than threatening to the defined self when there are shared goals. So, Lord is making a distinction between dominant differences and non-dominant differences which are not about racism, sexism, homophobia, but rather the notion of difference as a dynamic human force which is enriching when there are shared goals. Lord challenged the distorted view of relationships that lead from disagreement to destruction. She wrote, quote, this jugular vain psychology is based on the fallacy that your assertion or affirmation of self is an attack upon myself or that my defining myself will somehow prevent or retard your self-definition, unquote. Instead she envisioned, quote, moving together as self-defined persons toward a common goal. Anything short of this was to Lord an oversimplified approach and an incomplete vision. For her critical thinking was not an academic question but a skill for survival and creating a world in which people do not simply tolerate each other but come together through shared knowledge and understanding and help each other flourish as caring and empathetic human beings. This is what Lord saw as the mission of librarians. What we see in both Wolf and Lord is an appropriation and further development of the concept of humanism with its roots in the Socratic method of dialogical or dialectical reasoning and the Aristotelian ethical concept of seeing the other not simply as a mere means but as ends in themselves. However, unlike the ancient Greeks or some of the later European humanist thinkers who limited their concept of humanity to property men and accepted slavery and the oppression of women, Wolf and Lord see humanism as a philosophy of critical thinking and empathy that can liberate the ordinary public and especially the marginalized and the underserved. Now I would like to devote the rest of my presentation to discussing how critical thinking can translate into library programs and partnerships. So this this section is titled library programs that promote critical thinking, democracy and empathy. The year 2022 marks the 90th anniversary of the publication of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a work depicting a future in which a caste-based misogynistic totalitarian state capitalist system rules the world. The family and emotional love have been abolished, embryos start in test tubes, fetuses grow in incubators, babies and children are raised and ideologically conditioned by the states. Thinking and reading of books are banned but unlimited use of drugs and sex are promoted. In his Brave New World Revisited published in 1958, which includes Huxley's reflections on his book, Huxley has argued that he views this type of authoritarianism as more viable than that depicted in George Orwell's 1984 in which more force and brutality is used to promote dictatorship. Whether the future of humanity will be like Huxley's Brave New World or Orwell's 1984 or a combination of the two, there is no doubt that a dystopian authoritarian system ruling the whole world is not so fantastical given the current global rise of authoritarianism and neo-fascism. Given these very ominous possibilities, I would argue that for librarians, organizing programs that promote critical thinking and empathy is the most practical response. Here I would like to offer ideas for four types of focus areas for programs. Philosophy, world literature, feminism and current world events. So first philosophy. During my 20 years or over 20 years as an adult librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library, I conducted philosophy classes that were popular and mostly well attended. For these classes, we relied on videotape lectures from the teaching company on the great ideas of philosophy, masters of Greek thought and Plato's Republic. The teaching company offers a variety of videotape courses and gives permission to libraries to use their courses for programs. In the various philosophy series that I organized, each session started with showing a 30 minute lecture and then continued with 45 minutes of facilitated discussion. I usually took about 15 minutes of the facilitated discussion time to further clarify and explore the themes of the reading and the lecture before questions and comments from other participants. These classes taught us a great deal about the principles of critical thinking and allowed us to discuss those principles in relationship to the questions of the day. For instance, Plato in his Republic argues that democracy is based on arbitrariness and lacking critical thinking and principles leads to tyranny. He says that it leads to the rise of demagogues who use the populist language of being for the people to promote their own self-interest. Our library discussion on Plato's Republic led us to conversations on how to teach democracy and distinguish between a thinking democracy and a thoughtless democracy. It led participants to the conclusion that critical thinking is a necessary part of being human if we want to survive. Discussions on philosophy and critical thinking also need not be limited to adults. Thanks to books such as Philosophy for Kids and Philosophy for Teens which come with guides for discussion and exercises, it is possible to have truly exciting and fun philosophy programs at the library for younger age groups. Whether it's with courses from the teaching company or books on philosophy for kids and teens, we as librarians can take responsibility for facilitating these discussions if we have time to prepare for them. If not, we can reach out to local educators or retired educators who are often willing to do the preparation and act as facilitators free of charge. The second topic I would like to propose is the World Literature Discussion Series. Librarians are very good at having book discussions, whether through in-person book clubs or via Zoom. What I would like to emphasize here is the need for a consistent and persistent attention to world literature and global non-fiction in order to promote knowledge of and empathy with other cultures and peoples. Some works in the latter category are originally written in English. For example, Azar Nafici's Reading Lolita and Tehran which gives readers a powerful understanding of what happened in Iran after the 1979 revolution and recounts the efforts of an English professor to promote critical thinking through discussing world literature with her students even as the religious fundamentalists took over the country. This book will in fact face a renewed interest now with the current mass protests of Iranian women against the compulsory hijab and for women's rights free speech and against a religious fundamentalist government in Iran. There are other relatively recent translated works of literature or non-fiction which deserve special attention. Works such as Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Read about 16th century life in Ottoman Turkey or the works of Andrei Kurkov and acclaimed Ukrainian writer who writes in Russian or the works of the Egyptian feminist Nawal al-Sadawi who wrote in Arabic or the selected writings of Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo. As the 2023 co-chair of the PEN translation committee I'm currently involved in an effort to create a speakers bureau for the committee. The translation committee is part of PEN International a 70-year-old organization of writers devoted to free speech and human rights. The speakers bureau includes stellar translators who have translated a variety of works of world literature and are willing to offer book talks to public libraries either in person or via Zoom. For example, Sandra Smith has translated various books of the Ukrainian Jewish novelist Irena Nemirovsky and also most recently Simone de Beauvoir's Inseparables, a book which is appropriate for both an adult and a young adult audience. Smith is available to speak about any of her translations or these and other French writers in general. Jeremy Tiang a Chinese translator novelist and playwright who has offered is also another another possible candidate who is offered to speak about the folktale Nine Colored Deer which they have translated from Chinese. Such a partnership with PEN can greatly enrich library programs. The third topic that I would like to propose a series topic that I would like to propose is feminism and women's rights. So this would be a feminism discussion series. Whether it's reproductive rights or the Me Too movement against gender violence or gender identity and gender orientation, feminism is a hot and timely topic to discuss. The fact that the extreme right is banning books on these topics and accusing librarians of pedophilia, unquote, should be even more of a reason for us to address these issues in rational and thoughtful ways. According to a poll from the National Public Radio and Ipsos earlier this year, only 18% of US parents said their child school taught about gender and sexuality in a way that clashed with their family values. 19% said the same about race and racism. Thus in fact most parents in the US are supportive of the teachers and librarians who educate their children. This means that the majority of parents in the US are not offended by the mission of libraries to promote diversity and critical thinking. It means that we librarians should not be intimidated by the bullying minority. In that spirit I would like to propose that public libraries hold discussion series on the future of feminism and women's rights and allow the public to learn about the basic ideas of women's rights as well as the different themes within feminism today. In my book Socialist Feminism A New Approach, which was just published by Pluto Press, I have examined the contradictory developments within global gender relations in the past 40 years and have also critically evaluated four series of gender oppression. The book comes with a free of charge online workbook study guide which contains key terms and study questions for classrooms, community and library study groups or by individuals. It also serves offers and extensive bibliography. In addition books such as Unbound by Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too movement or collections such as Abolition Feminisms by Alicia Bieria or Black Feminist Reader by Joy James and Tracy Sharply Whiting or Profit and Pleasure by Rosemary Hennessey among others can be illuminating resources. I hope these books and others can be useful for librarians who want to organize discussions on the future of feminism and gender equity. So this is the last section, the last type of program that I would like to propose current world events discussion series. Whether it is climate change seen in the increasing fires in California or immigration or the war in Ukraine or the state of the economy, there are topics that the public is hungry to hear discussed in a coherent thoughtful, informative, analytical manner and not just with sound bites or quick tidbits on the news interrupted by commercials. Thanks to some excellent Pan America videos on media literacy, librarians can make media literacy a regular feature of programming whether for adults or teens or children. Media literacy or teaching people how to spot misinformation and disinformation is only part of the task however. We also need regular discussions on topics in the news with a librarian or a local educator, facilitator who is qualified has done enough research to present the facts and the main issues and can offer a couple of suggested readings and discuss the issue in a thoughtful and informative manner. So just to sum up in the end, in all the above proposed program series, the learning objectives will be threefold. First, identifying and comprehending the basic principles of critical thinking and how it relates to promoting democracy and empathy. Second, applying the basic principles of critical thinking to an understanding of human rights and current world events and third, articulating and formulating the process of engaging in respectful and constructive conversations that address differences and controversial issues by reaching out for solutions. So thank you for this opportunity and I hope this presentation has helped motivate us all to take responsibility for cultivating critical thinking as we shape the future of libraries in these momentous times.


Alrighty, we have an awesome construction update from Caroline's today. So thank you to Caroline's fans only for the footage. And boy, did he get treated to something special, which you'll see after this clip. So this is the dorms that they're working on over at Caroline's. Not much significant to look at, just some pre-work it looks like. Again, I'm Canadian, so when I'm in Toronto, Canada, I don't necessarily know all the details that's going on in her park, and I'm gonna make mistakes here and there. But for the most part, people do update me very well. So again, thanks to Caroline's fans only, go check them out on Facebook. So as you can see, the coast is coming along nicely. They have two of their vertical loops done, and they got the weather, I don't know the actual word for it, but they got the weather kind of sheets on top of the roofing for the station going up and the queue line roof for the freedom, or the flyers. So that weather permitting strips, I guess, is what they're called, is being lined up on the roof. So that's awesome. Here's some awesome shots from behind the construction fence from Caroline's fans only of Copperhead Strikes. So this is awesome. The shots look absolutely beautiful, and super excited to see this project. Honestly, I'm really excited to see the theming for this coaster because one of the awesome aspects of the coasters coming to the Cedar Fair chain in 2019 is their theming. So totally can't wait to see that. Obviously, I'm gonna be there in March when it opens for media day, so I'm excited for that too. But yes, look at that sunset and the setting of the copper tones on the track on this coaster. It looks absolutely stunning. Cannot wait to see it. This thing is supposed to have some really awesome tight turns on it, thus the lower speed of the launch. So it's got a lot of hang time incorporated into that as well, but look at this shot. The track is definitely more brown than copper, in my opinion, I will say, especially up close. I did notice that a bit ago when the track started to arrive. I did notice that it was more brown than copper. That's totally okay. Still looks awesome. I'm definitely not a brown track tone hater. I definitely like Yukon Stryker, Val Raven and Copperhead. But yes, what's going on over at Hurler is regular maintenance. So let's not get too excited. It's not RMC Hurler. It looks like they're retracking Hurler. So that's awesome. Anytime they're improving an attraction, even if it's just regular maintenance, is awesome. So when you go to Carolin's next year, expect a smoother turn on Hurler, which is awesome. So I hope you guys enjoyed this construction update. And don't forget to hit that like button, subscribe if you haven't, and share this video for others to enjoy. Thanks so much, guys. Have a great one. Bye.


Can you hear me? Hi, Karen, can you hear me? You can hear. Alright, thank you. Nice display picture, Anand. Okay, good morning guys. I hope you all are doing well. You're doing well. Sira, how are you doing? You weren't well last week. You weren't well last week.  Yeah? All okay now? Amazing. Awesome. Okay, I hope you guys online are doing well. Nina, Karen, Shiv, Kumar. Okay, great. So yeah, we've been going through this course on ministering divine healing. So we are in chapter seven and we'll get started with chapter seven. Then we'll see where we finish today. Okay, so out of the six chapters that we've completed, tell me a couple of things that you've learned that you remember. I'm not doing a memory test. What I'm asking is of the six chapters that we've covered or in these six chapters we've covered, what's the one or two things that kind of stood out to you that you feel like you'll be carrying with you after you graduate and go? God's nature to heal everyone, okay? Sorry, Francis. Everybody can minister healing and deliverance, yeah? Thank you. What else? He is God. He wants to do whatever he wants to do. Very good. Okay, what else? You can tell me more than one point. Just because I said, okay, one point. Healing and deliverance depends on the person of Jesus and not in the methods or in the process. Yeah, that's a very important point. Okay, what else? Vimal, anything? The fullness of God is expressed in the person of Jesus Christ. Yes, yeah, thank you, Vimal. Everything, sorry. Right, everything we do is dependent on who he is and not on us. Yeah, thank you. Okay, anything else? Anand? Okay, yeah. You know what my next question is. So what else? So Anand says some seven principles. Yeah, the will of God, the exercise of faith, the flow of compassion, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, okay? The methods Jesus used. The nature of Jesus is revealed. Okay, the nature of Jesus is made. Yeah, okay. Yeah, awesome. The principles, okay? Anything else? Sri Radha? Sorry Vijay, we were saying something about humility. Yeah, humility, okay? Nikhil, anything? Minister. Okay, so Nikhil used to think, we have another mic that can go around. So Nikhil was saying that he used to think that only pastors can minister healing and deliverance. Okay, but now everyone can, every believer can. Okay. All right, Sri Radha, I have not forgotten you. Bolo. May I just help and encourage people to believe in Jesus more? Yeah, absolutely. All right, I will thank you all for sharing because I'm sure there's more than just one point that we can just take away even after you graduate, especially after you graduate because everything that you learn here and if you don't do it after you graduate and go out of these compound worlds is useless. Okay, Bill Johnson says, Bible study without Bible experience is useless. Okay. Bible study without Bible experiences are useless. Okay. So you can study everything about the Bible and about the things that Jesus did and whatnot. He has called us to do something more. And if you don't walk in that, just waste. Okay. So let's look at chapter seven, getting into it. This chapter looks at the practical guidelines on ministering healing. Okay. Practical guidelines. Now I want to start off by turning our attention, our focus on the title of this chapter itself. It says practical guidelines, not rules. There's a difference. Okay. There's a difference between rules and guidelines. Rules is like, you have to have to follow this. Right. There's the old saying, no rule is rule even for a, okay. But guidelines are saying, okay, hey, all of this will help you. You can try this out. It's not saying you have to do this. Okay. So practical guidelines on ministering healing. Now we are going to learn a few ways to minister healing, but everything that we will learn about ministering, it's the same for receiving healing as well. So I can just change the title of this chapter and say practical guidelines on receiving healing. All of these points are the same. We'll remain the same. Okay. So everything that we are about to learn in this chapter is not only about us learning how to minister, but also to receive. And I think it's very important for us to learn to receive in any aspect of our lives. Okay. And I'm sorry, I keep bringing this up, but then I've seen there's a lot of Christians, only these Christians do, especially worship leaders of musicians. After the worship service, whenever you go and tell them it's like brother or sister, it's a wonderful worship. You sang really well. It's like, oh, no, brother, it's not me. It's all God. No, no, no. Shai is coming.  And I'll be like, it wasn't that good. But the thing is, it's very important for us to learn to receive. Say, thank you. Praise God. You know what I'm saying? Because if we don't learn to receive, we will not have a crown to give before the king. If we don't learn to receive honor, we will not know how to give honor. Or you will not have a crown to give before the king. You know what I'm saying? So as much as we are Christians, leaders and ministers, we are being equipped and trained to minister, it's also very important for us to learn to receive. Right? It's, we can give so many examples of it, like even help. Sometimes it's like, can I help you? Like, no, no, I can do this on my own. Like my son is like, I want to hold your cycle. Like, no, don't leave me. I can do this on my own. Even receiving help talks about our humility. You know what I'm saying? Like, why should I take from him? Why should she help me? Why should I receive healing from him? I can do this on my own. Do you see a tinge of pride in it? Yes. And so just being able to receive things in life in a beautiful way is very important. Okay. So ministering healing and receiving healing, all of this will come into the same aspect of it. Okay. Are you guys with me? So what we're going to attempt to learn in this chapter is different methods, different ways, as it says, different guidelines. But again, what we've seen is it's not in the process or in the methods, but it is all about the person of Jesus. Okay. So here's the first, let's go. Here's the first guideline is one through personal faith in God. Okay. How do we minister healing or how do we receive healing is one through personal faith in God. Right. So let's look at the notes. It says God has declared that his word is medicine to our body. Okay. Is another mic ready? Okay. I just, if you don't mind, just keep it so that when you read it, those online, we don't have another corded mic. Okay. Never mind guys. So let's see if you can get that ready for the next class. I'll read most of the scriptures. Proverbs four, right? Okay. Proverbs chapter four was 20 to 22. Don't get distracted by them. Proverbs chapter four was 20 to 22. It says, excuse me, my son, pay attention to what I say. Pay attention guys. Okay. My children. Okay. My son, pay attention to what I say. Turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight. Keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to one's whole body. Okay. Yeah. So God has declared that his word is medicine to our entire body. And when faith is mixed with the word that we receive, God's power is released. So with his word, where we take his word, right? Why do we do this declaration every Sunday? This is God's word. This morning also you all did, right? Yeah. I heard it. Right. So God has declared that his word is medicine to our entire body. And when faith is mixed with the word that we receive, God's power is released. I heard it. Right. Every day and every Sunday, every week after week, we declare it. Isn't it? Okay. Why is it important to declare his word when it mixes with our faith, it releases the power of God? Are you with me? Yes. Let's try and do one demonstration. Okay. Prince, you have the mic with you. Okay. Can you use the mic? Okay. So what I'd like you to do is in your mind, start counting between one and 10. I'm not going to read his mind, guys. He's like, who is going to read his mind? Okay. I'll say start. And that's when you start counting one and 10 in your mind. Is that okay? All right. Start. What's your name? Prince. Okay. What were you thinking? Which number were you when I asked you your question? Four. Okay. So you can be thinking one thing. This is just a very simple example, right? You can be thinking one thing, but you declared something else. He was counting between one and 10. But when I asked the question, he said what? The context is different. So the point is you can be thinking anything you want in life, whatever, like you can only he knows what you're thinking, right? But let's say, for example, you're going through something and you really don't like what you're going through a storm in life and whatnot, right? You're thinking that you're negative. You're feeling oppressed. You're feeling depressed and whatnot. But you declare something else. His word is life. He sent his word and healed my disease. What are you doing? You're thinking something else, but it doesn't matter.  Are you with me? And so that is what's happening here is you are mixing God's word with faith and that releases the power of God over you, right? And verse after verse, scripture after scripture, we have his word releases life. His word is life. He sent his word and he healed and healed our diseases by his stripes. We are healed. It may be looking like something very different, but you're declaring something very different. Are you guys with me? Yes. No. Are you understanding? Okay. So first guideline is through personal faith in God. Okay. So you can have faith in God for your own healing. Example, the woman with an issue of blood. That's in Matthew chapter nine. Okay. You can have faith in God for your own healing. The two blind men or one of the 10 lepers. And you can also have faith in God for healing of others. Okay. So faith in God can be expressed in a variety of ways. Believing and speaking. Okay. Can someone read Romans chapter 10 verse nine and 10? Prince, if you don't mind, since you have the mic, Romans chapter 10 verse nine and 10, we all know that verse Romans chapter 10 verse nine and 10. It's okay Prince. You found it? Okay. Go ahead. Thank you. So believing in your heart and declaring it. Is it? Excuse me guys. Okay. It's expressed in one by believing and speaking confessing. And the second thing is believing and acting on that faith. Okay. You just can't say. So we call this as exercising your faith. Isn't it? Yes or no. Exercising. Faith. Say everybody say exercise. Faith. Okay. So how many of you would believe if you say, if I tell you that I'm sitting guys, I'm working out. I'm working out right now. Am I? I'm doing pull-ups guys. Seriously. Trust me. I'm doing push-ups. Can't you all see? Guess what I'm saying, right? We all seem to like the idea of faith. We like the idea of exercising faith, but we don't exercise. I mean, all of us like the idea of waking up early, going to the gym or going walking, staying fit and have some kind of a pack instead of a family pack. You know what I'm saying, right? Okay. We all like to believe that. It's a good idea. What an idea, Satji. Right? But we don't act on it. We all like the idea of it, but this is what Christian life is all about. It's not enough that you just like the idea. It's not enough that you like the idea of Christianity. It's not enough to like the idea of the cross. It's not enough to like the idea that you like the word of God. It's not enough for you to have, you know, say, I like the idea that I love Jesus and not show it in your actions. Waste. Absolute waste. It is not enough to say that you only like this idea. So what I'm trying to say is, it's not enough to say that you have faith and not act and not declare it. Are you guys with me? Right? It's, I mean, it's, it's an expression of obedience.  Isn't it? Every day for seven days, one go one round around it. On the seventh day goes seven times around the wall. Now you tell me, is there a power in them walking around the wall? Are they releasing some kind of power? They obeyed and they expressed their faith. Isn't it? And that unleashes the power of God to bring down walls. Isn't it guys? And so that's what faith is. It's all about believing what God has done for you, what he's doing for you. You speak it. You have to speak it and then act on it. Okay. This is for you and for those around you. Remember this is, this can be two summons. You can preach the same sermon two different Sundays, change the title, same notes, how to minister healing. Part one, how to receive healing. Part two, same sermon notes. Are you guys with me? Right? So one is also what's the first point guideline is through personal faith in God. Look at that. It's through personal. It begins with you. Personal. Right? You build that relationship with them, that personal relationship, that intimate relationship with him. It all begins with that relationship, that intimate relationship. Isn't it? Okay. So it's the same thing for exercising your faith for yourself and for others. The second guideline is through the prayer of agreement. Through the prayer of agreement. Okay. In the notes it says Matthew chapter 18 was 18 and 20. Matthew 18 was 18 and 20.  And whatever you lose on earth will be lost in heaven. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Okay. So again, we do this being in agreement while releasing our faith and exercising our God given authority. What is the authority guys? What is authority? What is our God given authority? Tell me. Everybody, all of you, I keep saying we all like the idea that we've, you know, God is given as authority. What Jesus has done on the cross. What Jesus, the authority that Jesus had, he's given to us. Yeah. Okay. So what is that? There is no agreement to what Nikhil is saying. And we are talking about having agreement. Look at them Nikhil and ask them, agree with me guys. Tell them. Tell. Not just him. Okay. If there's another similar word for agreement, what would that be? A similar word for agreement. Okay. So we came in agreement. Sorry. Covenant. Okay. Unity. Yeah. Yeah. Covenant. Yeah. Covenant. Unity. It's all similar, right? In the new church, in the new testament, you see the time and time and time again. It says believers gather together in one accord. In one accord. In unity. In unity. Sorry. Sorry. Consent. Consent. Consent. Okay. So you like you're giving them consent. Is that what you're saying? Oh, right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. You're saying something. Right. The agreement covenant. I just reminded of this one thing of covenant. God. See God is a covenant keeping God. No. I've got a so good that he made a covenant with a man while he was sleeping. While he was sleeping. Who's that man? The jacker. Okay. Okay. You can read about this, but Solomon, right? He's dreaming. The man is sleeping. Get what I'm saying? He is sleeping. And God makes a covenant with the man who is sleeping in his dreams. I mean, okay. So that should say something about our God. Right. So, so, so say the least that there is power in agreement. Then when two or three are gathered together, when we come together, what is, what is the difference between our gathering or any of the get together? The world has parties. They all have the others. They all have come together to barbecue. What is the difference? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Right. So verse 20 in Matthew chapter 18, it says, we are gathered together in my name. That's the whole thing. That's right. When we are gathered together in his name, that is the differential equation. Okay. So there is power in agreement through the prayer of agreement. And that's the second guideline. Next one is through the prayer of faith through the prayer of faith. Okay. James chapter five was 14 and 15. James chapter five was 14 and 15. Anyone among you sick, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anything, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Verse 15, and the prayer of faith will save the sick. And the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Okay. So verse 14, is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him. Verse 15, and the prayer of faith will save the sick. John 14, 14 is if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Matthew 21, 22 and whatever things you ask in prayer, believing you will receive. Okay. So in James, of course, we know that they call for it says James is writing called the elders of the church and let them pray for you release a prayer of faith. But we also know that you sure the leaders of the church can pray for you. The elders of the church can pray for you minister healing. But if there's one another thing that we've learned is that all believers can minister healing and deliverance. Isn't it? Yes, you agree, right? It's not just for pastors or teachers or healing evangelists, et cetera, et cetera. Okay. Some and there are these small questions that come up. For example, in the same verse in verse 14, it says, let them pray over him anointing him with the oil in the name of the Lord. I've had questions being asked. Okay. He passed a, uh, uh, which oil? Like granite oil, olive oil, you know, like, okay. So in keeping keep on, he just chose one, you know, how much? Next question.   It's just a symbol. It's just, um, the water was there. Water was there. Use water. You know, it's, it's, uh, yeah, it's not really about the process or the method. Okay. So through the prayer of faith. Um, okay. And the next guideline. Okay. So what we've covered so far, three things. One is through personal faith in God, through personal faith in God, you can pray for yourself. You can pray for others as well through the prayer of agreement through the prayer of faith. And then now we go on to the next one is the word of command. Okay. We are in like, in this fourth principle so far, but there seems to be like three recurring things that's common. Um, one is the word of God. One is faith and one is acting on that faith. All of these principles, if you look at it, it's just these three ingredients, different way. Right. Word of God and faith. Right. So through a word of command, Matthew chapter eight was 16.  Um, can someone read Psalm chapter 33 verse six. I'm sorry. Sam 33 was six. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Nice. Easy. Right. Okay. Okay. So by the word of the Lord. Okay. What is another scripture that we read before was Matthew Tea chapter eight was sixteen. Right? They brought to him many who were demon possessed and he cast them, cast out the spirit with the word select one plural, not words. What's the word, you know? Uh, so. There is power in the authority that he's given to us, and through the word of command is another guideline for us to minister healing and to receive healing. Okay, let's look at Luke chapter four, verse 38 and 39. It says, now he arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house.  So he stood over her, that is beside her, and rebuked the fever, right? He rebuked the fever and it left her, and immediately she arose and served them. Immediately she arose, she just didn't arise, but she served them. This episode, this thing is nicely captured and chosen if you've seen the series, that's very nice. Okay, so what we are being encouraged to do is, again, from the life of Jesus, we don't see Jesus being intimidated. It's like, oh, demon possessed, oh, seven demons, six demons in one body. I don't know what to do. He was not intimidated. He was not shaken. He was not afraid. He's just, with a word, he cast them out. With the word, he rebuked the fever. Okay, once again, guys, in everything that we learn, just keep reminding yourself that you can do this. Don't just like its idea. Don't just like the idea or that, okay, there is power in the word and command. Don't just like it. Exercise it, release it. Okay, and that exercise is also, it's not just for, you use all these guidelines for those who have cancer or some deadly disease. Person has a headache, release it. Person has a stomach ache, release it. Leg ache, whatever it is. Toothache, okay. You get what I'm saying? You start building your faith in the smallest things. Are you with me? You start making that a habit. You know, we all learn about discipline, right? Or integrity. Let's say for example, let's say a person is addicted to pornography. You know what I'm talking about? A person is addicted to pornography.  Yes or no? He or she will do it when he or she is alone, when nobody can see, right? And now that's like, it's gone somewhere because now that's questions your integrity and your self-control. It questions, it shows, it displays. Okay, you do not have self-control to overcome the temptation or whatnot. Are you with me? But what I've learned is, you don't just appear on the top of the mountain right away, you climb. Isn't it? So the smallest decisions that you make in life shapes your habits and shapes your disciplines. That is, okay, in the smallest thing, even if nobody is seeing, even if nobody comes on time, I will choose to be there on time. Are you with me? It's the most simplest thing, but what is happening? You are training your mind. You're training your spirit, your inner mind that it doesn't matter what others think. So then when you're being tempted, saying, okay, it's okay, nobody's here. Doesn't matter if nobody's here. I'm not gonna do it. Are you guys with me? So like through a word of a command, it's in all of this, just don't let it be an idea. Exercise it. Declare in the smallest thing, in the smallest trivial things that you think, okay, because in all of this, there is God is powerful and also God is absolutely good and is incredibly beautiful that he wants to see you well. We've seen that it's his nature to see his whole. He is good, isn't it? Another personal thing in my life, it's not related to healing or anything, but this is just a testimony of, just God is beautiful in his own way. One day my dad asked me to take his car and get it washed. And I said this, right? Yeah, and I will never forget that story. I mean, and I was so disappointed at the end of the day where I forgot to take his car for wash and I just looked up to the heavens and said, Lord, what am I gonna do? I don't wanna lie to him. And then it starts pouring. It's like he made the whole city of Bangal to get rain just because, you know, he made me feel that way, isn't it? And that's how good he is. He's incredibly good. He's so good. So, and I think it will give him pleasure when we exercise this authority. Are you guys with me so far? Yeah, I hope everybody online is also doing well and still alive. All right, let's move on. Through the laying on of the hands, again with anointing of oil or with a word of command. Now, what's the name of this chapter? Practical guidelines for ministering healing, isn't it? Also receiving whatnot. And we've also learned some of the principles, seven keys, seven principles to minister healing and whatnot. Now, you will see time and time again, there will be a combination of two, three things that will be used to minister healing, right? So when we pray, sometimes you will just pray, you know, you will release a word of power, word of authority, word of command. If possible, you will even lay your hands on them. So you're not just laying your hands on them. While you're laying your hands on them, you're declaring the word of commandment. Like I rebuked this fever to leave. While you're doing that, you're also exercising your faith. While you're exercising your faith, you are also speaking faith. You see what I'm saying? So when you're ministering healing or receiving healing, it's not just one thing that is happening. It can happen, but more than one thing is happening at a time. Are you with me? There's power of agreement. So when I'm praying for Prince or whoever it is, okay? So I'm agreeing with you. You are agreeing with me. There's a power of agreement. My faith is being exercised. His faith is being exercised. I'm ministering, he's receiving. You get what I'm saying? So I am praying for him. He's praying for himself. So there's a combination of so many things that's happening at one given point. So like what this point is saying here is, through the laying on of the hands with the anointing of oil or with the word of commandment, different process. So let's look at a couple of scriptures what to say. Matthew chapter eight verse three. Then Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing. So what's happening? He put out his hand, touched him, is coming in contact with him and then saying I am willing to be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Okay, now something about leprosy that the historically that you have to realize in the context of the church and history vice is it was not a disease, it was a curse. So that's why here they're saying immediately the leprosy was cleansed and not healed. And I'm not gonna go too much into detail about this. And the first time it happens is in numbers chapter 12 when God calls Aaron and Moses and his sister Miriam. So, you know, Moses, right? You know, Moses had a brother and a sister, right? Yes or no? Aaron and Miriam. So what this, so once upon a time this dude called Aaron has been talking bad about his brother, what this Moses fellow, he doesn't know what he's doing and his sister was a joint.  God is always watching. Yes or no? Apparently they didn't get that news. So, and God says, Moses, Aaron and Miriam come outside. It's like calling to the principal's office. Has anyone been there? Come to principal's office? I've gone there many, many times. It's not a nice feeling, right? And so, I mean, so the whole thing of, let's say it starts there, you can go back and read. So it's, it was like a curse and so it's not a disease. So yeah, that's a little bit of a side note. Okay, so Jesus touched and he spoke. Matthew chapter eight was 15. So he touched her hand and the fever left her and she rose and served them. Now, see here, this verse, he just touched her. It doesn't say he spoke. Oh, he said anything. Are you with me? Okay, so he touched her and the fever left her. Then he touched their eyes saying, according to your faith, let it be to you. One more scripture, we move on.  So this is talking basically about the methods, different process. If you come to the next page, it talks about a ministering healing through laying on of the hands can be done in several ways. For example, if you're looking at your notes or PDF, it's one of the pages, it says laying on of hands along with the prayer of faith in the name of Jesus, laying on of hands and issuing a word of command in the name of Jesus, laying on of hands along with the prayer of faith and anointing with oil, laying on of hands and anointing of oil in the name of the Lord. And no verbal prayer may necessarily be made. Okay, so many different ways to minister and receive healing by laying on of the hands. And this is one of the most common ways, isn't it? So what are some of the common ways that we've learned so far? What are some of the common ways that we've learned so far, guys? Digital. Okay, one of the common thing is what we've just learned is laying on of the hands, isn't it? Okay, the next passage in your notes, it talks about when the sick touch you.   We see that in Matthew chapter nine was 20. And suddenly a woman who had the flow of blood for 12 years came from behind and touched the hem of his garment, Matthew 14 36. And begged him that they might only touch the hem of his garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well. Okay, so there are times when people may reach out and touch us in faith. Okay, because people recognize that there's God's anointing over your life. And they just want to touch you. And so their touch is their act of faith and their contact with the power of God. God honors their faith in doing this and they receive their healing. Okay, are you all with me so far? Any questions? Yes. A little loud on, I'll be here. I want to pass the mic, please here. When we are seeing all these practical guidelines of ministering and healing. When we are observing all these practical ways of God's guidance to ministering and healing. So can we consider anything the greater one like Kasi? When we are praying personally with our own faith. Is it the greater one or see, on the second one we saw like agreement. So can we consider this agreement is greater than the personal faith? So we used to see like when people are agreeing for one thing. So can we consider like this God will do this healing little more fast or it depends on the personal faith. So yeah, okay. So basically what you're asking or saying is if is one guideline more important than the other if it is more powerful or more powerful, okay. I wouldn't say that one is better than the other. Like I said, in the beginning of this class itself, these are guidelines. It's not rules, right? So rules says that, okay, you should do this. You should religion says you should do this. You should do this and only then you will attain this, right? But relationship says, okay, these are just certain guidelines. It's good that you can follow. Again, it's not saying you have to do this. Are you with me? See, I'm just saying that with the next point. I'm just kind of mixing that with the next point that says through the announcement of faith is another point. I didn't want to get there but then through the announcement of faith is one of those points, isn't it? Is what saying, just look at the verse. It says, then Jesus said to the centurion, go your way and as you have believed, so let it be done for you. All right, so what Jesus is doing is just announcing it. He's not touched it. There's no agreement that is happening but then there's an exercise of faith. Centurion comes and says, Lord, I am a man in power. I know that you are a man in power as well. So just say the word. So there's just an exercise of faith. That's the common denominator here. It's this exercise of faith, basically. And so, and why I wanted to bring to this point is we can't limit God and put in a box and say, okay, he will work only through this, only through that. Right now, you can speak to a person in another country or another state, another city and over the phone or an SMS. So like, I declare and I pray this over you. How many of you do this? I've done that, right? I'm declaring, you know, healing over you in the name of Jesus. I typed out an SMS or a message and I sent it. What am I doing? I'm announcing the faith, really. And so, am I going to say, okay, just because I didn't get a chance to lay my hands on you and pray God is not going to heal you? No, right? And so that's my conclusion is not one method is better or powerful than the other. It's all comes down to your faith and how you're willing to exercise it. I mean, see, people used to say like, I mean, when we are agreeing together, so it gives the power for that prayer and all. So people used to tell like, I mean, if you are praying for another one thing to be healed or some miracle. So if the group of people combined and prayed people used to tell like, it will be more powerful than this one prayer. And the other thing is, see, when a person, I'll give you an example. A person is suffering from a disease from many years. So some of the pastors used to tell like, if you come to me, I'll pray and you will be healed. I don't know that the testimonies are real or not. So when people see I am the one who have a disease from years, I have the own faith on God. I'm praying since years on that. But on the time when someone told me, when you go there, you'll be healed. I went to that pastor. So he prayed and I got healed. So what we have to consider here. So I don't have faith or the prayer what I am doing don't have power. Or they have to consider like, the person who is praying the pastor have a more power. Right. So is it about power or is it about faith? See, I'm praying since years, I have faith on God. I'm praying for the, not even a miracle only. If anything in my life. But if I go to someone, it's happened. I mean, we used to listen so many testimonies on this. Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, how we can consider these things. So see, now you still went, right? That's you exercising your faith. The woman with the issue of blood, she came. And then the Bible says the power went out of Jesus and healed her, right? So what is happening here is that you are recognizing that this person is anointed, right? And there's another passage I think which we will get to there eventually is once in the, in acts, once there is witness that Peter's shadow healed a person, then they brought a bunch of crippled and so that Peter's shadow will continue to heal them. You get what I'm saying is that they brought, they came and that they are, it's their way of expressing faith. Expressing faith is one thing. And they're also recognizing, okay, this man of God is carrying the anointing of God. Are you with me? And so it's again, it's not one thing is more than the other. It's you came in faith and you recognize that there is power and you got healed. That's how kingdom works basically. So I really don't know how to, how else to answer that. Yeah. Okay. So you've been praying for yourself and you don't receive healing as well. Okay. I mean, we don't have the answers, right? We don't know why it doesn't happen. I mean, that's the answers. That's another thing that we've learned in this course is that we don't know. Sometimes it may happen, sometimes it may not. Are you with me? So we don't know the answer, but then not knowing of the answer, we should not say that this is better than the other. It's okay to just accept that I don't know. And instead of wanting to know the answer, just rejoice in the fact that you've been healed. Instead of finding out why you did not happen when I prayed, we start going down the rabbit hole, as we say it, keep digging, digging, digging, keep going down and down and down, but instead rejoice in the healing. And I would approach it that way. So you'll see the question is valid. The question is genuine, but I think there has to come a point where we have to look at certain situations more than the question. For us, we can understand how things work and how these healings are all happening. So we as believers, we know how things happen and how it works. So when we are coming to the unbelievers and Gentiles, so so many people have these testimonies when we go there and I got healed and all. So some of the people only focusing on these miracles and healings. Like if you come to us only, you'll be healed and all. So we as believers, we can understand what's going on, but if we come to the Gentiles or unbelievers, they don't know, right? So that's what my concern. So, I mean, what is important in there that they need to know, what do they need to know? If we're praying also, like people are not telling about these things like, if you pray, I mean, if you have your own faith, they're not telling like this. If you come to us and you're... So it's just, okay. So what you're saying is that they're not being told that you can also pray for yourself. Is that what you're saying? Only if you come to me for prayer, I, yeah, that is, yeah, that is not right, I would say. In the earliest chapter, the first or the second chapter, we learned one of the reasons why we, the church doesn't move in the supernatural as much as the wrong teaching is one of the points, isn't it? We need to teach about this. This is a very important subject. Healing and deliverance is very important. And like you said, there are so many testimonies of people coming to Jesus after they were healed. So many countless, isn't it? And so it's our responsibility to teach about it as well, to talk about it. And to tell them that you can also do it. You don't just come to me so that I become famous. You know what I'm saying? And so even in that, when a person prays for it, you pray and immediately you've got the glory. You give God the glory, isn't it? You don't take the credit. You get what I'm saying, okay. And say, I healed, I did this, my ministry did this. That's when it starts getting very ugly. I mean, all the time, okay. Kenina says, the prayer of it, when these guidelines take time. Okay, you know what? Is it okay if we just take the break? We'll come back and address these questions. Is that okay? So I think we take our break and we'll come back. See you guys.


Generally accepted among Egyptologists and other researchers is the belief that the Egyptian Great God has his inspiration in the rising and setting sun. Atom, Ra, Osiris, Horos, and pretty much all the great gods of the dynastic Egyptians are explained as symbols of the solar orb being either the sun of day or the sun during its night journey. Of the Egyptian Great Father there is no better representative than the one mighty Atom, whom Egyptologists usually regard as a sun god shining at night and he is the acknowledged alter ego of the primal son Ra, founder of the lost golden age. The coffin text says that the great god lives, fixed in the middle of the sky upon his support and this refers to Atom whom the imminent Egyptologist Rundle Clark calls the arbiter of destiny perched on the top of the world pole. The Egyptian creation legend states that when Atom came forth alone in the beginning he stood motionless in the cosmic sea. His description was the firm heart of the sky. To the Egyptians Atom was the chief or center of the movement of the universe at the celestial pole. For the Egyptians knew the pole as the midst or heart of heaven, the single immovable point around which the movement of the stars occurred. Rundle Clark tells us that the celestial pole is that place or the great city. The various designations show how deeply it impressed the Egyptian imagination. For if God is the governor of the universe and it revolves around an axis, then God must preside over the axis. Clark writes that no other people was so deeply affected by the eternal circuit of the stars around a point in the northern sky. Here must be the node of the universe, the center of regulation. The Egyptian hieroglyph for Atom is a primitive sledge signifying to move to the God of the cosmic revolutions the Book of the Dead proclaims held to the Atom Lord of Heaven who give us motion to all things. But while moving the heavens, Atom remained at rest or in one spot. Moreover and contrary to nearly every universal opinion, the great God Ra has little in common with the solar orb. Unlike or every moving sun, Ra stands at the stationary midst or heart of heaven. He is the motionless sun who rests on his high place. According to inscriptions his home is the polar zenith. May your face be in the north of the sky. May Ra summon you from the zenith of the sky. My father ascends to the sky among the gods who are in the sky. He stands in the great polar region and learns the speech of the sunfolk. Ra sets his hand on you at the zenith of the sky. The notion that Ra rises and sets in one spot is inseparable from the vision of Ra as the Lord of Hete, rest. In fact, the God does not literally rise or set at all. With the phases of day and night, his light comes forth and recedes. The God comes out and goes in. When we say today that the moon comes out at night, we do not mean it rises in the east. We mean simply that the moon grows bright. Precisely the same meaning attaches to the Egyptian words, which so often receive the translation for the word rise rather than a moving sun. Ra is the central pivot round which the lesser gods revolve. The God King Osiris, an obvious counterpart of the primeval sun Ra, is the God of firmness or stability. He is always a passive figure. And according to Wallace Budge, as a cosmic God he appears as a motionless director or observer of the actions of his servants who fulfill his will. Osiris, the stationary heart of heaven, beautiful as the God of the motionless heart, proclaims the Book of the Dead. The hymns to Osiris as the Lord of Hete, rest or as the resting heart. One Egyptologist after another seeks to understand the imagery in terms of a night sun resting in an imagined underworld. However numerous Egyptian sources show that the place of rest is the motionless center and summit. Osiris is exalted upon his resting place or in the heights. The hieroglyphs portray a column of steps leading to the polar zenith and it is here that the hymns locate Osiris. Hail, O Osiris, thou hast received thy scepter and the place whereon thou art to rest and the steps are under thee. It is also futile to interpret Osiris rest or motionless heart as mere symbols of death. The state of rest, one must remember, belongs to the living or resurrected Osiris. For the text applied to term Hete rest to Osiris im ankh as a living being. It should be clear to all who consider the language of the hymns that the unmoving heart means the unmoving God. For the heart is the God as when the text describes the heart upon its seat. Osiris, the motionless heart is the central stationary sun. O still heart, thou shyness for thyself, O still heart. The stationary sun, the sun at the polar zenith, also occurs under many other names in Egyptian religion, including but not limited to Horos, the firm and stable God who takes his place at the zenith of the sky. Therefore in the hieroglyphs all the Egyptian great gods appear as firmly seated figures. This immovable posture which corresponds to divine imagery in many other lands is no accident. The seated or resting God is the unmoved mover that the Egyptians conceived in the cosmic center as the source of celestial motion. It is clear from the terminology of the center. The heart of heaven is ab, a word which has the concrete meaning of center or mist, but ab also conveys the sense of lively motion. In the later usage the determinative appears to depict a human figure turning around while standing on one foot in one place at rest. Denoted by the word ab is the resting but ever-turning heart of heaven. Similarly, while the term men means fixed or abiding, in reference to the god of the stable center and summit, men nenen means to go around. To the great god as the steadfast center or foundation stone of the cosmos, the Egyptians gave the name Ben Ben, but Ben alone is a verb of motion and particularly of going around. This dual seemingly paradoxical relationship of motion and rest occurs throughout the Egyptian text and becomes intelligible only when one recognizes the central sun, the unmoved mover, as the source of the imagery. I am the air, the primary power of motion and of rest reads the book of the dead. Though the words have a modern sound, they express the literal sense of the hieroglyphic text. It is in the root character of every polar god to move while at rest. Inseparable from the Egyptian motion of rest is the concept of silence. The motionless center of the heavens is the still place or region of silence, but those experts who connect the solar orb with the great god have nothing to say concerning such language. The god who stands at rest in the silent region is raw, the sun god par excellence, yet the entire concept contradicts the image of our wandering sun. What often prevents generalists from perceiving the stationary character of the primeval sun is the translator's unfortunate habit of substituting vague and intangible terms for literal meanings. Wallace Budge follows a common practice when he renders a hymn to raw in these words. Omage to thee, O thou who art in peace. And from such terminology one could hardly be expected to formulate a clear concept of the god. But the phrase in peace actually conceals a vital meaning, for the Egyptian original is em hetet. Literally the hymn celebrates the god who shines at rest or while standing in one place. Shining over the golden epic before dramatic events would be perceived as cosmic entities battling in the sky, eventually assimilating into stories. Sparking worship and faith as prehistoric people try to make sense of something they try to document in the way of understanding that has been lost to history. But what do you guys think about this anyway? Comments below and as always, thank you for watching.


Coordinators. Coordinators, and, but, so, or, nor, for, yet. Connect elements of equal importance. Subject plus verb, comma, but subject plus verb. A comma is normally used. Subject plus verb and verb. No comma is necessary. Subject or subject plus verb. Noun and noun. Adjective and adjective. Phrase and phrase can be used in a series. A comma, B comma, C comma, or D. Examples. He drinks coffee, but she drinks tea. Subject plus verb, comma, coordinator subject plus verb. Gary lives in Ohio, and Dina lives in Michigan. She loves to dance, so she bought a studio. You could buy a car, or you could put the money in the bank. When there is a new subject and verb, the comma is used before, not after, the coordinator. John and George both play football. Two subjects. Paul listens to music and reads books. Two verbs. John, Paul, George, and Harry are classmates. Series. Four is also commonly used as a preposition, yet can sometimes be used as an adverb.


Hi, my name is Lisa and I'm the Vietnam Vegan and I'm a Brandon Baster for Produce Made Simple. We're here to encourage you to eat more fruits and veggies and what better way to do that than to stuff them in dumplings! To start off this recipe, you'll be finely dicing your vegetables. The easiest way is to first finely slice your vegetables, then lay them flat and cut into matchsticks, then turn again to cut into a fine dice. The more uniform your vegetables are, the better it is for the final dumpling texture. For carrots, you can use a julienne peeler and then slice those into a fine dice. You could also use a food processor for the cabbage, carrot, and mushroom and then cut the ginger, onion, and garlic by hand. In a large mixing bowl, combine vegan ground meat, all of your diced vegetables, aromatics, toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, and pepper and combine well. As you're folding the dumplings, be sure to cover both your dumpling wrappers and your folded dumplings with a damp towel just to make sure that they don't dry out. To fold the dumplings, apply water to the edge of one half of the wrapper. Add about a teaspoon in the mixture to the dumpling and pleat in a half moon shape with about five pleats per dumpling. Try to squeeze out as much air as you can out of the dumplings because as they cook, if there's any extra air in the dumplings, they might puff up and burst while cooking. As this makes a lot of dumplings, you can flash freeze on a sheet and transfer to an airtight container to freeze for about two to three months. To cook the dumplings, heat a large nonstick pan over a medium heat. Add one tablespoon of vegetable oil to the bottom and rotate the pan to coat the bottom. Arrange the dumplings around the pan, pleats up. Let cook until you start seeing the bottoms are nicely browned, about three to four minutes. Add one quarter cup of water around the edge of the pan and cover to continue cooking until most of the water is evaporated. To make the dumpling sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. You can omit the sriracha if you prefer no spice. Remove the lid and let any excess moisture cook off from the bottom of the pan. Drizzle one teaspoon of toasted sesame oil around the edge of the pan and turn the pan to distribute some of the oil. Let cook until the bottoms are nice and crispy. Remove and transfer to a plate. And here they are. I'm actually so excited that we're done because I really want to eat them. It obviously looks like a lot of work because there's a lot of chopping and stuff, but, you know, once you get into the groove of it, it's just really easy to just make a bunch. You can flash freeze a whole pan and then put it in the freezer. Once they're all frozen, transfer to like an airtight container and then you have dumplings whenever you want and they are delicious. The delicious dipping sauce. Gotta go all in one, two, three. Mm-hmm. For the full recipe, go to producemadesimple.ca or click on the link in the description. Please like, comment, and subscribe for more Produce Made Simple.