J. Peter Daniel

“Every action there will be an opposite (re)action” – familiar statement used by us frequently to justify our action.  One action will never revert.  But it will give more positive impact (effect).   In addition, the starting point of such an effect will become evident after the effect has been ignited.  This is known as ripple effect.  For instance, if you throw a stone on a pool then the water creates a small circle and later on it will become big and reach to the edge of the water. .

In line with, the believers have to live a life of ripple effect rather than be a reacting Christian.

1.  Cast your bread Upon the waters (Eccl. 11:1)

The world is moving fast into downward spiral.  Economic recession is an evident that people suffer without a job and a home.  The environment catastrophe is another area where scientists are predicting the end of earth’s life.   The end is eminent.  At this juncture, the first part of verse is requesting us to cast God’s word to this world.

The second part of the verse clearly mentions that the reward of what we are doing is not seen but it will be visible in near future.  For instance, the job satisfaction relies on getting reward after toiling for long hours.  But in God’s work, there is no way of getting the reward immediately.  Many people will get disappointed by doing God’s work.  The reason for the delay reward is that the ripple effect of preaching the Gospel will take long time to bear fruits in individual life.  Paul says that bearing fruit is equivalent to child labour.

As a believer, we have to preach the Gospel without seeking immediate returns.

2.  Evident of Ripple Effect:

One man can make an impact on others life by giving the Gospel to him.  The person who received the Gospel in turn spread the Gospel to others.  Similarly, it will happen till the end of the earth.  For that purpose, God has commanded us to preach Gospel and also make disciples.

Paul preached the Gospel to Timothy, Timothy to reliable men and it spreads to others (2 Tim 2:2).

Let us pass on God’s message and influence them to take up the God’s message and preach to others.  Let us pray that each believer has to make a ripple effect around the world.  These ripple effects surely bring the whole world to Christ.

J. Peter Daniel

Glocal youth vision

Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in

Skype: peterpearline

www. Glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com

www.kirubai.org

http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

Click here to read Ebook – The word and the world – J Peter Daniel. http://www.scribd.com/doc/29024441/The-Word-and-the-World-Peter- Daniel-J

‘Most Indian kids under online sex, violence threat’

New Delhi Seven out of 10 Indian kids have been exposed to nudity and violence, or have been asked by a stranger to meet them in person when they are online, security software-maker Symantec said.

According to Symantec’s Norton Online Family Report 2010, 77 per cent of Indian kids have experienced some ‘negative’ situation online, while only half of the Indian parents interviewed thought their children had such an experience.

For example, only 24 per cent of the parents interviewed thought it was possible for a stranger to try to add their child as a friend on a social networking site, but 55 per cent of the children surveyed said it has happened to them.

“This report provides a glimpse into the online lives of children and how tuned in parents are to their online activities,” Symantec Consumer Business Head Asia Effendy Ibrahim said.

The third edition of the report, which is part of a global survey of 2,800 children and more than 7,000 adults across 14 countries, examined the actual online experiences of kids compared to their parents’ perception.

Though parents have an idea of the amount of time their children spend online, only 45 per cent of parents realise their kids are having negative experiences, the study said.

“While parents are generally aware of the kid’s activities online, they underestimate the extent to which kids download music and videos. During the process, kids may be exposed to inappropriate content and may be encouraged to disclose personal details,” Symantec Country Sales Manager (India) (Consumer Products and Solutions) Gaurav Kanwal said.

These negative online experiences result in an emotional impact as well. While 41 per cent of the children surveyed felt angry, 40 per cent said they were upset by the experience and 35 per cent said they were afraid.

“Along with a variety of emotions like being scared or angry, we have also met kids who feel personally responsible for these negative experiences, especially downloading a virus or being scammed,” Ibrahim said.

Kids, however, now find it easier to talk to parents about their online activities.

“In addition to relying on their parents if something bad happened online, nearly nine in 10 report they follow family rules for Internet use,” Ibrahim said.

Symantec suggests that parents undertake an open discussion with their children and set rules for Internet usage.

“These days, a lot of softwares are available that allow parents to keep a tab on the activities of the kids online.

However, it is important to discuss it with them rather than forcing them,” Kanwal said.

Woman falls for SMS offer, loses Rs. 57 lakh

CHENNAI: A woman who responded to an SMS was relieved of Rs.57 lakh by a gang that operated from India and abroad.

The 52-year-old graduate of Mylapore, who was promised a huge prize money as part of the ‘World Cup Promotion Draw,’ deposited the money in different bank accounts over a period of one month, starting third week of May. After realising the fraud, she lodged a complaint with the police.

According to police sources, the woman received an SMS in May second week, stating that she had won a cash prize worth a few crores of Indian currency. She responded to the email account that was mentioned in the SMS.

Days later, the complainant received an email in which the accused persons said the money would be delivered in India after obtaining necessary clearance from different agencies, including the United Nations and the Reserve Bank of India. They communicated the movement of the person bringing the cash box and asked her to deposit her money in various bank accounts for obtaining clearance from the immigration and customs authorities. A majority of the accounts into which the woman deposited money, ranging between Rs. 87,000 to Rs. 7.5 lakh, were opened in ICICI Bank. When there was no trace of the prize money even after depositing Rs.57 lakh, the victim lodged a complaint with Commissioner of Police T. Rajendran last week who directed the Central Crime Branch to form a special team and investigate the case.

“A major portion of the money was deposited in the accounts of Zulfikar Zariar, Javed Khan and Imran Zari. We have written to ICICI Bank to share the details of these account holders. The money was drawn from ATMs across the country, including New Delhi and Mumbai. Video footage recorded by cameras in ATM machines could provide a clue to the identity of the suspects,” an investigator told The Hindu.

“One of the accounts from which emails were sent was ukembassyact@yahoo.com. When contacted, Yahoo asked us to get in touch with law-enforcing agencies in the United States to get the user details,” he said. Police suspect that the accused used fictitious names and documents to open bank accounts.

J. Peter Daniel

A human being has a very short memory.  We remember the incidences such as Tsunami, Twin tower crash, etc for only certain period or until another new catastrophe comes by.  People like to talk about the present new disaster rather than speaking about past incidences.  But we often recall the past incidences when the same incidence repeats itself again.   Whereas, the level of intensity subsides when the incidence precedes further.  This is human tendency of forgetting things. For instance, first page of the newspaper flash the fresh disaster happens in the world.  After some days it goes inside the state or regional or country column.  Sometimes it comes in the editorial for a long time.  Next it moves to the last paragraph of last page.  Finally it vanishes away.

The intensity of being with the Lord is very high when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour. After some years it just becomes a habitual thing to have quiet time and prayer.  Next it becomes a least priority in life and finally it eradicates from our life.  Due to this, we are not able to sensitivity to the sin or not able to differentiate between left and right hand. So we are coolly doing sin against God without any pricking from God’s word.  This is called spiritual numbness

I. David :

God chose David to lead His people.  He took him as a Shepherd and made him a  Soldier and from soldier to be the king of Israel after a great struggle with Saul.  During his journey, David sang lot of songs related to God’s statutes and commandments.  In Ps. 19:7(NKJV), he mentioned that the word of God converts the soul.

Such a Godly man sinned against God by having lusting another man’s wife Bathsheba (2 sam. 11) and also murdered Uriah by his strategic plan.  And even after his sin he had no regrets because his conscience was numb.  So God sent Nathan to warn Him using a beautiful illustration.  The story stimulates him to think about his life.  After that, he wrote a pertinent prayer in psalm 51.

Let us ponder on the various causes of spiritual numbness

a. Despising God’s word (2 San 12:9)

David was a worship leader at that time.  He wrote and composed a lot of worship songs.   His talent is revealed in the book of Psalm.   He had written a lot but he followed only a little.  In our life also we are studying the word of God but we are not applying it properly.   Sometimes, we are questioning the veracity of the Bible.

Let us read, meditate and implement the word of God in our day to day life.

b. Unsatisfactory Life (2 Sam 12:7,8)

David had a lot of legal wives and concubines.  He was not satisfied with this and he wanted to satisfy his desire with other man’s wife.  It shows his greed for having more.

Nowadays people are not satisfied with what they have.  They crave for more and more.  When we start to have more and more then it leads to gluttony, lust etc.

Let us ask God to give us satisfaction in what we are having.

c. Forsaken the first Love (Rev. 2:4):

The Ephesus church had forsaken the first love.  So God warned them to return back to Him.   David’s love for the Lord diminished because he despised God’s word.   So he had fallen from the summit.

Similarly, God requests us to think about our darkened past and how He brought us to His light. This will give you a joy of salvation and also a stimulate us to move forward in life.

Let us evaluate, think and remove the things which that induce spiritual numbness in our lives, so that we will be able to ask God to take away the numbness and give us His spirit to fight against sin. (Heb. 6:6)

*************

J. Peter Daniel

Glocal youth vision

Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in

Skype: peterpearline

www. Glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com

www.kirubai.org

http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

Click herer to read Ebook – The word and the world – J Peter Daniel.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/29024441/The-Word-and-the-World-Peter- Daniel-J

Seven tips for living a dynamic life…

1.      Accept every challenge as an invitation to expand your creativity and deepen your wisdom. Remember that each small victory is one step closer to a larger goal.

2.      Honor your commitments in all things. Dare to build a legacy of integrity.

3.      Build a support network. Seek the support of others who appreciate you and will encourage and assist you in achieving your goals.

4.      Create a healthy self-nurturing environment. Balance activities that nourish body, mind, and spirit. Balance provides the energy to live passionately, joyfully, and actively.

5.      Look backward to learn, and look forward to achieve. Expand your horizons to include new goals for a day when you have achieved your current goals.

6.      Expect and accept only the best. Do not settle for something that does not align with your values or purpose.

7.      Express gratitude daily. Allow the rarity of each day’s beauty to fill your moments with memories to treasure throughout your life.

“Toys”

Capitalism – He who dies with the most toys, wins.

Hari Krishna – He who plays with the most toys, wins.

Judaism – He who buys toys at the lowest price, wins.

Catholicism – He who denies himself the most toys, wins.

Anglican – They were our toys first.

Greek Orthodox – No, they were ours first.

Atheism – There is no toy maker.

Polytheism – There are many toy makers.

Evolutionism – The toys made themselves.

Church of Christ, Scientist – We are the toys.

B’Hai – All toys are just fine with us.

Amish – Toys with batteries are surely a sin.

Taoism – The doll is as important as the dump truck.

Mormonism – Every boy may have as many toys as he wants.

Voodoo – Let me borrow that doll for a second…

7th Day Adventist – He who plays with his toys on Saturday, loses.

Church of Christ – He whose toys make music, loses.

Baptist – Once played always played.

Jehovah’s Witnesses – He who sells the most toys door-to-door, wins.

Pentecostalism – He whose toys can talk, wins.

Existentialism – Toys are a figment of your imagination.

Confucianism – Once a toy is dipped in water, it is no longer dry.

Non-denominationalism – We don’t care where the toys came from, let’s just play with them.

Thanks to

Rev. Dr. J.N. Manokaran, Managing Director,
Trainers of Pastors International Coalition (TOPIC)
6B1 Doshi Flats, 59 Chetty Street,
Ayanavaram, Chennai 600023
91-44-26602864
http://glocalleadersnetwork.com/main/

782 mn Indians would be living on under USD 2 a day by 2015: WB-IMF

A whopping 782 million Indians will be living on less than USD 2 a day by 2015, a joint report by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund said in Washington on Friday.

The report titled ‘Global monitoring report 2010: The MDGs after the crisis’, said the number of poor Indians living on less than USD 2 would decline to 686 million by 2020. But the report adds that by the turn of the next decade as many as 268 million Indians will be living on less than USD 1.25 a day, while in 2015 the figure would be 295 million.

These figures, however, are almost double the revised number of the poor in the country which is pegged at around 400 million.

The report says China reduced its poverty rate from 60 per cent to 16 per cent, as the absolute number of extremely poor fell from 683 million to 208 million between 1990 and 2005. On the other hand, “India reduced the share of its population living in poverty from 51 per cent to 42 per cent, but because of population growth, the number of poor people actually rose from 436 million to 456 million (between 1990 and 2005),” it said.

With the pre-crisis surge of growth in the Sub-Saharan Africa nations, the proportion of Africans living on less than USD 1.25 a day fell from 58 per cent in 1990 to 51 per cent in 2005, but the absolute number of the poor rose from 296 million to 388 million. Despite Africa’s recent progress, the pace of economic growth is still not fast enough there to cut the 1990 poverty rate by half in 2015, it said.

The new analysis of maternal deaths in 181 countries found a significant decline globally, with the aggregate maternal deaths decreasing by over 35 per cent from about 526,300 in 1980 to 342,900 in 2008.

More than half of all maternal deaths are concentrated in six countries – India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Congo.

“All told, maternal deaths for every 1,00,000 live births decreased markedly from 422 in 1980 to 320 in 1990 and to 251 in 2008. The yearly rate of the decline in the global maternal mortality ratio since 1990 was 1.3 per cent (with an uncertainty range of 1.0-1.5),” it said.

With regard to poverty reduction, the report said, “The two large countries, China and India, are exceptions in the sense that, despite their starting points in income and poverty rates, poverty reduction has been rapid not just because of the high growth rates but also because the poverty gap and the average income distance from the poverty line have been relatively low.”

*******************

J. Peter Daniel

The world is going through a tremendous economic recession.  Highly qualified person has started  working in low paid and low level job to sustain his family.  Many families have sold their houses and moved into units.  In Education sectors too, many schools have been closed and asked their parents to move their children to some other schools. The children also affected by the change of circumstances, situation, low level comfort and some are missing their old friends.  This shows that the repercussion of the economic recession.

The people are aware of the economic recession in their life.  In industries, it is evident that the employees are interested to see their boss to bring new job to the company which has not happened in the past.  Some times, the boss brings very low margin order and squeezes the workers to make huge profit.

In spiritual era, believers are not able to understand their spiritual recession in their life.  It is better to see what some of the indications of spiritual recession from the disciple’s life before and after crucification.

1.  Recession in Prayer Life:

Jesus has gone to Gethsemane to pour out His life to God before undergoing the pain, persecution on the cross.  He pleaded to God for doing His will in His life.  At that time, He requested disciples to pray for Him(Lk. 22:40).  But they have slept.  He pleaded them for three times (Math 26:40-43) but their eyes were swollen and red Lk. 22:45).

The recession of prayer life is immediately evident in the forth coming event.

a. Fear of soldiers (Math 26:56) Betrayal Judas entered into the garden with the soldiers to capture Jesus Christ.  While, they asked about Jesus Christ, all the disciples engulfed in the fear. They all vanished within micro seconds.

b. Fear of servant girl: “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” (Math 26:33) – Challenger Peter has denied Jesus Christ three times before the servant girl (Lk. 22:56). It is a pathetic situation of Peter because of lack of prayer, fear engulfs him.

Do you have fear in your life?  Are you not able to stand for the Lord?  Are you not able to witness and tell about the Christ to Others?  Do you have of fear of yourself?  Answer for this is… you have to increase your prayer time.

2.  Recession in Fellowship with Him:

Jesus was taken to Pilate to question and enquire him.  At that time, Peter was following Him from the distance (Lk. 22:54).  He didn’t like to follow Him closely. He became a spectator of court activities. He was not able to acknowledge Him before others.  It has become a trap for him to deny Christ Jesus for three times.  Peter cried and repented for his backsliding life.

Coming back from the backsliding life is a difficult one.  Let us see what he was doing after Jesus’ resurrection.  He is the person who has gone inside the empty tomb to verify and certify His resurrection. Recession in following him, made him to do two things which affected him as well as others.

a.  Revert back to old life: If you are not following Him whole heartedly then you are following your old life.  In Luke 5:11, Peter had left his own profession (net, boat), his family, friends, colleagues and followed the source of blessing Jesus Christ. He bought his own brother and other disciples to God.  In Jh. 21:3, after resurrection of Jesus Christ, he has gone back to his old profession.

The pulling of old life will be there in our life due to the sinful nature.  But we should not allow the things to happen in our life.  For that we always have to follow Him – 24X7 calling.

b. Revert back others to old life. Peter was an attractive leader.  When he came to the Lord he bought others to Him.  But in his backsliding life, He pulled others for old previous life.

Christian spiritual life should be a growing one.  It should not have recession at all.  If you have recession then you have to check your life and correct it then and there.  Otherwise you will fall and you will become a person for others to follow their old life.

3. Recession in obeying His mission:

Peter and his disciples have gone back to their profession.  So, Jesus Christ has done the same miracles again to restore him back to His fold.  After the miracles, Jesus asked exactly three times equivalent to three times denial of Jesus Christ about his love towards Him.  In response to peter’s answer Jesus repeated three times about his responsibilities of tending the sheep in this earth.

a. Forget His love: Peter loved Jesus Christ more than the other disciples.  His reaction and his temperament show when he answered to Jesus Christ’s questions.  He rebuked Jesus Christ when He revealed about His death.  But here his love is in the recession stage.

Let us think about ourselves and evaluate how our love is when we accepted him as a Saviour and the present stage.  Is there difference then the spiritual recession has started in your life.

Let us come to the Lord and tell, Yes you know Lord that I loved you.

b. Forget His call: Jesus called peter as Cephas, it means stone (Jh. 1:42).  In Matt 16:17-20,  Jesus commissioned Peter after revealing who He is -  “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

But, Peter forgot His calling and went back to do his old mission.

God has called us to do His great work.  Let us think about ourself, why are we not doing His mission.  It may be due  to the materialistic blessings, comfort life, busy life or lazy to follow him, no time to set apart for His work, married so no need to his work for one year, no concern for the dying soul, fear of people, ashamed to do,  it is a work of Pastors – excuses.

During the Easter, let us take a decision that we will follow Him at any cost, Obey His Mission and pray for the nations know that Jesus is the Saviour and Lord.

*************

J. Peter Daniel

Glocal youth vision

Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in

Skype: peterpearline

www. Glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com

www.kirubai.org

http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

Book: “The World and the World”

STRANGE FRIEND

A while ago, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger…he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn’t seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to

leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home… Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn’t permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked… And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents’ den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?………

We just call him ‘TV.’

(Note: This should be required reading for every household!) He has a wife now….We call her ‘Computer.’

Their first child is “Cell Phone”.

Second child is “I Pod”

Glocal News

Free slumber classes for teenagers

Adam Gabbatt

Parents have struggled for years to encourage children to go to bed on time. In Scotland, however, all the family should be enjoying sweet dreams in the future, as pupils are to be given lessons in how to sleep. The charity Sleep Scotland is providing classes free of charge in a pilot scheme at three schools in Glasgow in an attempt to tackle problems caused by a lack of sleep.

Glasgow city council estimates that as many as one in four teenagers are not getting the appropriate nine hours of slumber a night, and said there was “increasing evidence” suggesting a link between lack of sleep and obesity, lower academic achievement and depression. Jane Anstell, the director and founder of Sleep Scotland, said lack of sleep among U.K. teenagers was a “huge problem”.

“We started off working with kids with special needs with sleep problems,” she said. “And basically in my teenage clinic I felt I’d got a lot of kids who maybe didn’t have ADHD or Asperger’s — they had total sleep deprivation.” Ansell said the classes could help improve teenagers’ behaviour. Nikki Cameron, a sleep counsellor at Sleep Scotland, put together an outline for the lessons and offered them to the council using funding from Children in Need. Here are Sleep Scotland’s top tips for better sleep:

— Make sure you have a substantial main meal at a regular teatime.

— Restrict homework, exercise and computer games to the early evening.

— The hour before bedtime should be for relaxing and bathing, and should include no stimulating activities.

— Switch off the computer, mobile and television before having a bath. Try listening to music, radio, or read a book.

— Avoid chocolate, caffeine, additives, alcohol and nicotine before bedtime. Have have a warm milky drink instead.

— Your bedroom should be quiet and dark; make sure it is a media—free zone.

— Keep to a regular bedtime.

— In order to have a good sleeping pattern it is important to be consistent. This also includes having a set waking time. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2010

http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/16/stories/2010031655821100.htm accessed on 16 March 2010

*******************

J Peter Daniel

“It is undemocratic that the Congress is still led by a Gandhi. But it’s the reality… My position gives me certain privileges. It is a fact of life in India that success in politics depends on who you know or are related to. I want to change the system.” – anti- dynasty statement 2008 and  unpredictable idiom of political discourse by Rahul Gandhi  who will be king by virtue of being born into the Nehru-Gandhi family, attack the very basis of his political legitimacy.  Just like Rahul  Gandhi, we need more people to think out of the box so that awareness will come and the people’s monotonous thinking will go off.  This will bring many changes  in India.

In the spiritual era, believers are not thinking of bringing gospel to the 21^st century generation in a different approach.  My brother Rev. Dr. J.N. Manokaran has quoted like this “Sing 18^th century songs, Use 19^th Century Methods, Have 20^th century mindset and reach 21^st century people, will we succeed?”.  Now the need of the hour is that God has to raise young and energetic people with a renewed vision of reaching out the present generation.  In nutshell, we need a person who can think out of the box to bring good news to the post-modern generation.

In Bible, we see David’s characters that have seen outside of the box to bring changes in their own generation.

David approaches Goliath:

Saul and his soldiers were sitting comfortably in one mountain to see that Goliath was coming to Ellah valley, giving his famous speech for forty days.  His speech was focussed on defiling the living God of Israelites.  Saul and co. listened and did nothing against Goliath due to fear of his appearance and talent that he possessed.   Saul and co. also had garments like Goliath.  But, none has approached to fight with Goliath.

It was then, David came to the battle field to see the welfare of his brother.  But he saw the sickness of Israelite soldiers and the defying living God voice from Ellah valley.  David decided to fight against Goliath (1 Sam. 17:32).

a. Saul gave his tools and techniques (2 Sam 17:38):

Saul gave his own tunic to David for fighting with Philistine.  This was the approach of Saul’s soldier over many years.  They were surrounded by the thinking of, going to war means using all protection and weapons to fight the opponents. But the verse says that David removed all these things and went to the battle field with his own tools and techniques.

b. David used different Techniques:

David knew out to swing the sling only, not used to the hi-fi battle field equipments.  He went by trusting God with 5 stones and one sling without proper tunics of soldiers.  He won the battle in flying colours.

David used different approach to face the giant Goliath but the end result was same.  In the 21^st century, we have to approach the people with different methodology and present the same Gospel.

In this juncture, I like to prescribe one methodology to win the present generation to Christ.  Firstly, we have to think a little bit out of the box to find out the need of the people. Secondly, we have to give the proper feeding according to the need such as, finance management (saving with a limited salary), Personality development, interpersonal relationship, career guidelines. Thirdly, we have to invite them for Christmas / Easter.  Slowly, the people will come to know about the Lord Saviour Jesus Christ through our life.

*************

J. Peter Daniel
Glocal youth vision
Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in
Skype: peterpearline
http://glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com
http://www.kirubai.org
http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

Haters

A hater is someone who is jealous and envious and spends all their time trying to make you look small so they can look tall. They are very negative people to say the least.  Nothing is ever good enough! When you make your mark, you will always attract some haters… That’s why you have to be careful with whom you share your blessings and your dreams, because some folk can’t handle seeing you blessed…

It’s dangerous to be like somebody else… If God wanted you to be like somebody else, He would have given you what He gave them!  Right?

You never know what people have gone through to get what they have… The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don’t know my story…If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, you can rest assured that the water bill is higher there too!

We’ve all got some haters among us!

Some people envy you because you can:

a) Have a relationship with God

b) Light up a room when you walk in

c) Start your own business

d) Tell a man/woman to hit the curb (if he/she isn’t about the right thing)

e) You are a strong person and don’t let people run you over

f) You have a strong and loving marriage and they can’t get in-between spouses to spoil it

Haters can’t stand to see you happy. Haters will never want to see you succeed.

How do you handle your undercover haters? You can handle these haters by:

1. Knowing who you are & who your true friends are *(VERY IMPORTANT!!)

2. Having a purpose to your life: Purpose does not mean having a job. You can have a job and still be unfulfilled. A purpose is having a clear sense of what God has called you to be. Your purpose is not defined by what others think about you.

3. By remembering that what you have is by divine prerogative and not human manipulation.

Fulfill your dreams!  You only have one life to live…when it’s your time to leave this earth, you want to be able to say, ‘I’ve lived my life and fulfilled my dreams, Now I’m ready to go HOME!

When God gives you favor, you can tell your haters, ‘Don’t look at me…Look at who is in charge of me…’

Cigarette-holding Jesus in school book triggers row: Pictures of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette in one hand and a beer can in another, in a book for primary classes have triggered a row in Meghalaya and the state government is now contemplating legal action against the New Delhi-based publisher. The objectionable pictures of Jesus Christ found in the cursive writing exercise copies at a private school in capital Shillong were brought to the notice of the influential church by some guardians. “We are shocked and hurt by this act where Jesus Christ has been portrayed in a highly objectionable manner. We condemn the total lack of respect for religions by the publisher,” Dominc Jala, the Archbishop of Shillong, said. New Delhi-based Skyline Publication produced the copies meant for students of Class 1. “Just imagine students at such an impressionable age being dished out objectionable images which are nothing but blasphemous,” said T. Jrwa, another church leader. The Meghalaya government acted swiftly and confiscated all copies from the school and from book shops. “Although private schools are not bound by the prescribed text books of the Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education, still we took immediate action by seizing all the copies and if deemed fit we might even take legal steps,” said Meghalaya Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh. An estimated 72 percent of the 2.32 million people in Meghalaya are Christians. (http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/cigarette-holding_jesus_in_school_book_triggers_row.php accessed on 19 February 2010.)

Italians turning to astrology to beat recession: Report

At unease due to recession, Italians are increasingly turning to astrology and fortune telling to get rid of their financial woes.

A new report by European Consumers Association has revealed that Italians are spending millions of Euros a year to seek advice from astrologers and fortune tellers, instead from banks and brokers, on financial matters.

In fact, according to the report, more than 30,000 Italians are paying between 20 and 600 Euros each day to tarot card readers and fortune tellers for financial advice, amid rising unemployment and gloom over the state of the economy.

Southern Italy is the most superstitious part of the country but it is the north and centre where most money is spent — a reflection of those regions’ wealth compared with the underdeveloped south.

The inhabitants of Lombardy, the region which includes Italy’s financial capital Milan, spend the most on fortune tellers and card readers, splashing out 90 million euros a year. Next comes Lazio, the region which encompasses Rome, the report says.

Women account for about 53 per cent of those weighing financial decisions on a roll of the dice or the turn of a tarot card, with an average age of 42, according to the report, produced with research from Telefono Antiplagio, an Italian voluntary service which helps victims of con artists.

“Italians are very susceptible to trying their luck on anything esoteric and they are extremely superstitious,” ‘The Daily Telegraph´ quoted Carlo Climati, who wrote a book on superstitious beliefs, as saying.

Indian-origin girl crowned Australia’s brainiest student

Mon, Feb 1 04:15 PM

Melbourne, Feb 1 (ANI): A 14-year-old girl of Indian-origin has been crowned as Australia’s brainiest student in a battle of neuroscience knowledge in Sydney.

Uma Jha, from Perth’s Shenton College, in inner-west Shenton Park, outsmarted more than 4000 competitors from across Australia to bag the title.

The 2010 Australian Brain Bee Challenge is designed to test high school students on a range of topics, including intelligence, memory, emotions, sleep, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke.

Uma has to compete against other state winners in the national final of the competition, which included a brain-teasing anatomy exam, doctor-patient diagnosis and a neuroscience quiz.

“The competition was tied right up until the end and it was a really nerve-wracking finish,” News.com.au quoted Uma as saying after the event.

“I’ve never won a national science competition before, so it’s amazing,” she added.

However the hard work does not stop here for Uma. She will now travel to California for the International Brain Bee Challenge in August. (ANI)

*******************

J. Peter Daniel

“A cat closes her eyes and think that the world is blind”- a saying in Tamil Nadu.  The meaning is very simple that the world hasn’t seen whatever we are doing in the dark. This is one way of fooling ourself in uttering the statement like this.   For instance, Rathore, DGP killer has been punished for molesting Ruchika, budding tennis player, 19 year old girl, committed suicide aftermath of this incidence.

He had done the mistake and did a lot of things to escape from the ‘law’ coverage area.   But nothing has been worked out in his favour. What he had done in the room that has been brought out in to the world.

In our spiritual life also, we like to be in the non coverage area of the Lord to hide our mistakes.  In addition, we try to run away from his presence just like the contemporary sales man who used to switch off the phone or try to be away from the coverage area to avoid unnecessary call.  But, this is not possible, because David told in Psalm139:7-10, “7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.  God will bring out the incidence that we want to dump it in non coverage area.

Let us glance how God has brought King David’s sin from the non coverage area to the coverage area and his confession.   In that incidence, God has used two prominent people to bring him back to God’s coverage area.

A.  A loyal servant, Uriah:

Joab and his soldiers were in the battle field and fighting with Ammonities and Rabbah.  But David remained in Jerusalem without any work.  He got up from the bed and walked around the roof of the palace to see the woman bathing.  He sent his messengers to get her to his bed.  He slept with her and sent her back.  After some days, Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite sent the message that she was pregnant.  The message had shocked him.  He wanted to conceal by sending her husband to sleep with her to avoid his name to be in the picture.  He wanted Uriah to be the father of his child (On those days there were no facilities of testing DNA).

But the things haven’t gone as he thought.  Uriah, didn’t go to his house instead he spent the night with the masters servant room.  David called Uriah and enquired about the reason for not going to the house.  Uriah, committed David’s soldier told that the time is not for enjoying when my masters are in the battle field.  After that, David planned a strategic to kill Uriah.  He did it with the help of Joab by sending him to forefront of the battle field and retreat from him, that he was killed by Ammonites.

Here, we see that God has intervened to bring the mistakes of David by not allowing Uriah to enter into his house.  If he would have entered into the house, things would have gone in the favour of David.

B. The prophet, Nathan:

After killing Uriah, David has decided to put everything aside. He thought that the things were away from God’s coverage area.  But, God sent Nathan to warn him with a beautiful story.

2 Sam 12:1-7

The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,  but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

God has used two persons to bring David to His coverage area.  In our life also, we think that we can run away after sinning against God.   But, God will make the situation and warn through the people and incidence to bring you back to His fold.  God has no coverage problem.  He is everywhere to monitor and guiding you.  Let us come to His presence, feel His presence and follow His presence.

J. Peter Daniel

Glocal youth vision

Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in

Skype: peterpearline

http://Glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com

www.kirubai.org

http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

I was forced to eat human excreta by Christians: Dalit youth

Published on Thu 14th Jan 2010 13:13:23

Dindigul (TN), January 14: In a shocking case of caste discrimination, a dalit has alleged that he was forced to eat human faeces by a group of ‘high caste Christians’ for walking with chappals in their street in the district.

The dalit youth, in his complaint to Batalagundu police inspector, said “a group of high caste Christians forced human faeces into my mouth after beating me for walking with chappals in their street”.

Sadayandi, who is from Indhira Nagar in Meikovilpatti in Dindigul district, claimed the incident occurred on January 7 when a group of more than 10 ‘caste christians’ stopped him and asked if he was not aware of the “order” that dalits should not walk with chappals in their street. Then they asked him to remove his chappals and slapped him with it, he said.

“One of them suggested that I should be fed human excreta       http://www.zopag.com/news/i-was-forced-to-eat-human-excreta-by-christians-dalit-youth/12695.html)

Let Catholic weekly use the word Allah, Muslims urged

Kuala Lumpur, January 4: The Malaysian government has urged Muslims across the country to remain calm, and respect the High Court’s verdict to allow Catholic weekly ‘Herald’ to use the word ‘Allah’.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Jamil Khir Baharom, said that the groups should be patient and allow the matter to be resolved through the legal process.

“I will meet the NGOs soon to hear their views and to discuss the matter further with them,” The Star Online quoted Baharom, as saying.

On Thursday, Judge Lau Bee Lian had ruled that use of ‘Allah’ was constitutional as long as the periodical was confined to educate the followers of the Christian faith.

However, former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad didn’t agree with the High Court’s decision.

“This is because ‘God’ in other religions is translated as ‘Tuhan’ in Bahasa Melayu or Arabic, not ‘Allah’. Allah specifically refers to God in Islam. If they understand that, they would use the word ‘Tuhan’, not ‘Allah’,” he said after presenting a keynote address at the Malay Undergraduates Convention at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu.

http://publication.samachar.com/pub_article.php?id=7276124&nextids=7274885|7276124|7276125|7276126|7274881&nextIndex=2

Saudi schoolgirl to get 90 lashes for carrying mobile:

A 13-year-old schoolgirl in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 90 lashes and two months in prison for carrying to her classroom a mobile phone equipped with a camera. The girl, who has not been named, was sentenced to 90 lashes in front of her classmates followed by two months in detention. A Saudi court pronounced the judgement after she was caught with a cell phone equipped with a camera. The gadget is banned in girls’ schools in the country, (http://www.hindustantimes.com/Saudi-schoolgirl-to-get-90-lashes-for-carrying-mobile/H1-Article1-500399.aspx accessed on 22 January 2010

*******************

Peter Daniel

A Rear mirror is used to view a vehicle that is coming behind us.  It is installed at center line of the vehicle near to the driver’s seat, second mirror on right hand side and third mirror on the left hand side.   The driver has to glimpse the mirror to align his vehicle according to the need and press on towards his destination.   Sometimes he has to adjust the vehicle by steering the wheel to left or right with the glance of the rear mirror.

The use of the rear mirror is minimal and for few moments.  Some of the drivers glare on the rear mirror and forget to see the front view.  It leads to an accidence and loss to the property of others.  For instance,   the driving school instructor has instructed one of the students to look both the rear mirror often to navigate the car according to the rear vehicle. He also mentioned to the student not to look only rear mirror but used it for few moments.

In believers life’s journey, many times we have been dwelled in past glorious experience, emotional hurts, bad experience which has curtailed us to see the future properly.  In addition, the bad experience has become a focal point in our life.  The past incidences have to be considered as a rear mirror to look and learn from the incidence.

Paul in his experience he has written a lot of principles related to looking forward and move forward in a Christian journey.

I. Press on:

Paul wrote in Phil. 3:4-9 as an accountant by providing loss and gain statement.   He considered his experience, confidence in the flesh, status, religious knowledge, zeal for traditions etc. in the loss column and excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, Knowing the power of His resurrection and fellowship of His suffering in the profit column.   At last, Paul mentioned that he is putting all the loss behind of him and reaching forward to the profit of knowing Him.

In Jesus life also, He never mentioned about His miracle to any one or in His preaching.  He kept His focus on saving the world from sin.  Just like Jesus, we have to put behind past glory which we have done for the Lord, scars and experience behind and think about Him and move forward.

II. Press toward the upward call:

The road has a lot of humps and bumps that have to be crossed to reach the destination.  It may blur our vision when we are travelling in bump or hump.    But we have to press on towards the destination without turning back.  In Phil 3:14 Paul asks us to focus on upward call of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  His call is moving upward to Him.

Many of Christian believers are living without purpose even though they are born again.  The life without purpose is just like tree with green leaves without fruits.  As a believer, we ask God to give us a vision to move forward according to His call.

As we have entered into New Year, let us put behind all the sorrows, happiness, scars and press on to reach the destination with the help of His call and vision.

J. Peter Daniel

Glocal youth vision

Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in

Skype: peterpearline

http://Glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com

www.kirubai.org

http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

GYV

Wish you

A

Happy New Year 2010

93 pc of Brits to skip the church on Christmas

London, Dec 25 : A new survey has revealed that almost 93 per cent of Britons would be skipping the church on Christmas Day.

They would either be spending Christmas eating turkey, drinking champagne or opening presents – but will not attend the church.

The study by Opinion Matters only 11 per cent had the intention of attending Midnight Mass last night on Christmas Eve, while 86 per cent said they sent Christmas cards.

Daily Express columnist Ann Widdecombe told Express.co.uk: “If you”re not going to church on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day then why are you celebrating Christmas?”

“What does Christmas mean if you are not going to church?” she asked.

The survey also showed that a huge 87 per cent of 16-24-year-olds are opting out, compared with only 72 per cent of over 55s.

Widdecombe said political corre”Political correctness is surpressing Christianity. You can no longer say what you think because you be accused of offending other faiths,” she added.

Women are more likely to attend church over Christmas than men.

Only 11 per cent of men said they would spend the holy day there, compared with 14 per cent of women.

Rector Thomas Holme said low numbers of church attendance are down to secularisation.

“The country has become much more secular,” he said

“”When am I going to church?” is still very much down on the list of thoughts at Christmas.

“I am not encouraged by the future of the church and organised religion – it is in decline,” he added.

Giant spiral UFO over Norway baffles experts:

The appearance of a huge spiral of light over Norway yesterday morning has left experts stunned and bewildered as to its origins. Thousands of awe-struck Norwegians bombarded the Meteorological Institute with questions about the incredible light, which could be seen in the pre-dawn sky for hundreds of miles. Experts believe the space spectacle, which has been dubbed ‘Star-Gate’, is an entirely new astral phenomenon, though the world’s top scientists and the military have admitted they are baffled. Theories about the light being a misfired Russian missile, meteor fireball, never-before-seen type of northern light, ‘black hole’ and even alien activity were all proposed. Witnesses across Norway, who first glimpsed the space show at 8.45am, all described seeing a spinning ‘Catherine wheel-style’ spiral of white light, centred around a bright moon-like star. A blue “streaming tail” appeared to anchor the spiral to earth, before the light “exploded” into a rotating ring of white fire. The spiral spectacle, which lasted for two minutes, was seen by vast swathes of the Scandinavian country’s almost five million population, with sightings as far north as Finnmark to Trondelag in the south. Norway’s most celebrated astronomer, Knut Jorgen Roed Odegaard, said he had never seen anything like the spiral before. Chief Scientist Erik Tandberg, at the Norwegian Space Centre, said that he too was “totally amazed” by the spiral. He agreed with many other experts that a missile from Russia could have caused the spiral pattern, something the Russian military have strongly denied. Meanwhile, Nick Pope, former UFO analyst for the Ministry of Defence, added that the Norwegian sighting was a “real mystery”.

97,000 kids tested with AIDS from 2007-2009

The highest was in Andhra Pradesh with 22,559 children testing positive for the disease followed by 21,835 in Maharashtra and 15,082 in Tamil Nadu.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Trivedi said: “The government has taken several steps to protect children from HIV infection.

“Identification, counseling and prophylactic treatment to HIV positive pregnant women and new born babies, diagnosis of HIV positive children and spreading public awareness.”

‘Two persons die of TB in India every 3 minutes’

Wed, Dec 16 05:55 PM

Ranchi, Dec. 16 — Two persons die of tuberculosis (TB) in India every three minutes, and India is one of the 22 high TB burden countries in the world, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) TB Report-2009, published recently.

This was informed by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Trivedi in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday in reply to a question from Jharkhand’s RS member Parimal Nathwani. Trivedi also informed that there were 16 other countries in the world with a higher rate of TB incidences than India.

Responding to a query from Nathwani, the minister said, NGOs, private TB service providers, corporate hospitals, medical colleges etc were being actively involved in the fight against TB. Schemes under the Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) were available since 2000 for involvement of the NGOs and private providers, Trivedi said and added these schemes had been further revised in 2008 to make them more flexible and in line with the newer initiatives.

*******************

J. Peter Daniel

Swine flu has aroused the panic level higher all over the world.   People are cautioned via Media and other contemporary technologies.  The talk of the town is also swine flu rather than anything else.  The schools are closed to curb the spreading of this disease.  The precaution measures are implemented effectively by arranging mask and guidelines for protecting from the diseases.

Recently, I went to school for paying fees for my children.  I was screened by the paramedical staff before entering into the school.  I wondered how the people are afraid of a tiny virus that has the capability of endangering human life.

In this world, we are thinking of protecting our body from the attack of virus.  But we are reluctant to take any precautionary measures to prevent the attack of evil around us.   Many a times, we are not scared of evil virus which is producing within us and also not aware of the evil flu that passes on to our offspring.

Let us see how the instruction of swine flu that will help us in escaping from the evil flu.

1.  Keep one meter gap from the affected person:

The ministry of Health in Bahrain has advised us, to keep one meter distance from the sick patients and to instruct the people to avoid hugging anyone even a child as well.  Everyone has obeyed and followed the instructions without fail.

God has given a lot of instructions to deal with evil flu, which damages our spiritual life and takes away our eternal life.   In Ps.1.1, God has commanded us not to walk, stand and sit with evil person.  It means, we have to avoid them completely.

Paul said to flee from evil, sexual immorality (I Cor. 6:18), Idolatry (I Cor. 10-14-15),  evil desires of youth (2Tim 2:22).  In the Bible, we see that Joseph fled away from the youthful lust and sexual immorality.   Just like him, we have to run away from evil flu. One of the Bible teachers requested the youth congregation to follow 3:3:3 formulas when speaking with opposite sex.  He explained that we have to keep 3 steps distance from the person, 3 (Physical) persons (Should not say God is there) has to be there and 3 minutes conversation is allowed.  This formula is applicable for the married ones too.

2. Take precautionary Measures:

Swine flu has the capability to pass on to the next person via coughing, sneezing etc.  To avoid this, the government has recommended safety precaution method of providing masks and using sanitizer.  Similarly, the precautionary measures have been spelled out in Bible to fight with evil flu.    First, the word of God will protect us from the evil.  That’s why, meditating and delighting in the word of God is more important than anything in this world (Math4:4, Ps. 1: 2).  God instructed Moses to educate the Israelites to teach the word of God to the children by talking with them, when they are walking, lying down, getting up and tie them as symbols on hands, doorframes (Deut 6:5-9)

Secondly, we have to pray to God to deliver us form the evil one and also not to lead in to temptation.  These two prayer points are important in everyday walk of our life.  Thirdly, we need to have fellowship with fellow brethren to escape from the evil flu.  God has asked us to commune with one another, share the burden with one another.  This will give us boosting to move forward in our spiritual journey.

Let us come to the Lord to get His guidance to flee from evil and also to protect from evil temptation and forces.  If we live like this we will surely cast away evil flu from our life.

J. Peter Daniel
Glocal youth vision
Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in
Skype: peterpearline
http://Glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com
www.kirubai.org
http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

GYV

Wish you

A

happy Christmas

and

Happy New year 2010

Who will reach out Indian students in other countries like USA, Australia, Canada, and Germany………… Are you able to go as a tentmaker / student missionary?

Indian students in US cross 100,000 mark: The number of students from India enrolled in US universities and colleges crossed 100,000 for the first time ever this year As the number of international students at colleges and universities in the US increased by 8% to an all-time high of 671,616 in the 2008/09 academic year, students from India made up 103,260 of the overall number, according to the Open Doors report, which is published annually by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in collaboration with the US government. The Indian numbers went up 9.2 per cent from 94,563 in 2007/2008 to cross 100,000 for the first time to retain its position as the top place of origin for international students in the United States. China remained in second place, although there was a sharp 21 per cent spike in students from China, going up from 81,127 last academic year to 98,235 this year. South Korea (69,000 to 75,000) remained in third place. This is the eighth consecutive year that India has remained in the top spot. In course of a preview of the forthcoming visit to Washington of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next week, Indian officials said on Monday that Indian student inflow contributed nearly $ 3 billion to the US economy last year. Overall, international students contribute $17.8 billion to the US economy, through their expenditures on tuition and living expenses, according to the US Department of Commerce. The largest growth this year was seen in undergraduate enrollments, which increased by 11%, compared to a 2% increase in graduate enrollments. This growth was driven largely by increases in undergraduate students from China, suggesting that increased affluence is enabling Chinese to send their children to US for undergrad education, where there is typically less scholarship and funding. According to Open Doors 2009, universities in California hosted the largest number of foreign students with 93,124, up 10%, followed by New York with 74,934, up 7%, and Texas with 58,188, up 12%. The New York City metropolitan area continues to be the leading city for international students, with 59,322 enrolled in area schools, up 8%. The Los Angeles metropolitan area is in second place with 42,897 international students, up 11%. For the eighth consecutive year, Open Doors reports that the University of Southern California hosted the largest number of international students, this year reporting 7,482. New York University held in second place with 6,761 international students, and Columbia University, also holding steady in third place, hosted 6,685. Rounding out the top five 2008/09 host institutions are University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (6,570 students) and Purdue
University (6,136 students). Open Doors reports that 171 US campuses each hosted more than 1,000 students. The top ten most popular fields of study for international students in the United States in 2008/09 were Business and Management (21% of total), Engineering (18%) and Physical and Life Sciences (9%), Social Sciences (9%), Mathematics and Computer Science (8%), Health Professions (5%), Fine & Applied Arts (5%), Intensive English Language (4%), Humanities (3%), Education (3%), and Agriculture (1%). There was also a significant 20 per cent uptick in the number of American students studying in India, part of the an overall growth in American students going abroad for academic purpose. The number of Americans studying in India rose from 2627 in 2006/2007 to 3146 in 2007/2008, making India the 17th in the list of countries for US students. The top five spots went to UK, Italy, Spain, France and China, the last of which had more than 13,000 American students.

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Indian-students-in-US-cross-100000-mark/articleshow/5240338.cms accessed on 23 November 2009)

Lady doc held for swindling Re. 7.5 crore Tsunami aid fund:  A lady doctor and her nephew were arrested by Chennai police for allegedly swindling Rs 7.5 crore, which was disbursed by a US-based funding agency to a Church of South India (CSI)  church in Royapettah for tsunami rehabilitation work.  Police have also confiscated two luxury cars, valued at Rs 18 lakh each, which the accused is believed to have purchased through the funds. A hunt is on for the doctor’s parents, who were office-bearers of the CSI church, for their complicity in the fraud. A US-based NGO Episcopal Relief Development had given Rs 17.63 crore to the CSI church in Royapettah for rehabilitation of tsunami-affected people living in coastal Chennai. “Recently new office-bearers assumed responsibility of administering the church and approached the US funding agency for more money to complete the ongoing rehabilitation work. However, officials at the ERD sought the account summary for the money allotted earlier and the work done till date. The church secretary Moses Jayakumar asked his predecessor Pauline to submit the accounts, but she refused claiming that the ERD funds were allotted to her in individual capacity and argued that she was not accountable to the church office bearers. This led to a tussle and an internal audit carried out by the new office bearers revealed a mismatch in funds allotted and the rehabilitation work completed to the tune of Rs 7.5 crore. Immediately, Moses Jayakumar lodged a complaint with the Chennai police commissioner T Rajendran seeking an investigation into the fraud,” a senior police officer said. The central crime branch police conducted a probe during which it came to light that Pauline and Sathyamurthy had engaged their daughter Dr Benedicta and her nephew Robert Sunil as consultants for the Tsunami rehabilitation project. “Both Benedicta and Sunil were entrusted with the funds and were also paid in the order of Rs 80,000 to Rs 90,000 per month in addition to other emoluments including luxury cars for official use. “Nearly Rs 7.5 crore meant for building houses for displaced fishermen, buying fishing nets and boats were siphoned off in this manner,” the officer said. While Benedicta and Sunil have been picked up, Pauline and her husband are missing. (A Selvaraj, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/city/chennai/Lady-doc-held-for-swindling-Rs-75cr-tsunami-aid-fund/articleshow/5113896.cms accessed on 12 October 2009)

* Thanks to Rev. J.N. Manokaran for sending email reg. above news.

*******************

J. Peter Daniel

“Just a tiny prick on the wound; initially, it will be painful; after that, it will be alright” the Nurse informed the patient named Maran in the treatment room.  Actually, he had come to the Hospital with a swelling on his right thumb.  The damage had occurred when he had tried to close the main door in his house.   Initially, he didn’t care about it.  After a week, it developed into swelling which was posted for operation.

While the nurse was conversing with him, a Doctor in white coat entered the room with a stethoscope.  Quickly, he explained the procedure step by step to Maran.  His heartbeat had gone up when he listened to the words of knife, scissors, stitching, etc.   Slowly, the Doctor finished the procedure and prescribed medicines for alleviating the pain.  After a week, Maran entered the Doctor’s cabin and showed his healed hand and expressed his gratitude to the Doctor.  Moreover, Maran quite forgot the prick and the pain.

This episode teaches lessons related to life.  The outward appearance of the swelling is actually indication of inward damage.  The cure of the swelling depends on the healing of inward part.  For complete cure, the swelling has to be operated to remove the pus as well as administer antibiotic medicine to suppress the virus and bacteria.

Similarly, the world has been immersed with evils such as social injustice, casteism, terrorism, drug addiction, immortality, debauchery, same sex marriage, rivalry among brothers, divorce, accumulation of wealth in one place and poverty in another.  The outbursts of evils are due to the inward selfish attitude of people.  For instance, gratification of sexual desire leads a father to rape his own daughter of nine years with a help of his wife and greed for wealth leads one to kill his own son to get rid of a curse, and so on.

These evils are like the wound and have disturbed whole human race.   People try to undo past, present and future ‘karma’ by doing a lot of outward religious activities.  It hasn’t either cured their inner turmoil or delivered them from evil.  It has aggravated the problem instead of alleviating it.  One of the scholars said that he wanted to do good things but he was doing evil.  He wanted to escape from this but no one can do it.  Who will help this type of a wretched person?

We have tried our best to untangle ourselves from the spider’s web but ended up with a new problem.  In the end, we feel lonely and depressed because of our attitudes haunt us day and night.  It may be a relationship problem, emotional hurt, hurting others, cheating, etc.

We have to realize and accept our inability to deal with our own problems. The acceptance of inadequacy helps us realize that we need a specialized physician who can clean and transplant our heart. The human doctor cannot perform this type of operation because they have studied to treat the patients physically. In this operation, we need a doctor who is flawless and sterile from all those evils.

If you are in this situation, it is better to start searching for a specialized Doctor; just we are finding out the right Doctor for our kind of disease.  The first question is how to recognize such a person?  First of all, the person should not have done any evil or sin in one’s life time on earth.  Secondly, the birth of the person should be different from other persons’.  Otherwise, the inborn nature of evil comes as a default. Thirdly, the person should endure hardship and death just as we do. Fourthly, the person has to face the consequence of death. Fifthly, the person has to resurrect from death.

Second question comes, who is that person?  It is better to analyze the criteria. The fifth point deals with the resurrection as per the sequence. The word ‘resurrection’ has not been attached with any leader. It has been credited only to Jesus Christ who has resurrected and is living today. His tomb was left open. He came to this world with the purpose of delivering a people from power and presence of sin. He lived and died for us. His birth was unique and different from normal.

Third question rises, what do we have to do?  For instance, the doctor should get permission from the patients before touching them. Similarly, Jesus Christ is being standing at the door of our life and knocking at our heart. He will not enter unless until we open the door because the key is with us. Once we open our heart to Jesus Christ, then He will come and dwell and dine with us. We have to confess our sin as well as confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord who has incarnated as human after setting aside all His power and glory. He substituted our place on a cross. He was buried on the same day and kept in the borrowed tomb which was guarded by the soldiers. On the third day, the stone was rolled away and Jesus Christ was raised and revealed to many people before going to heaven. He promised that He will come back as He has gone up to heaven.

The following prayer, done silently, will help you feel the burden rolling away from you. Moreover, you will feel the presence of God and power of God.

“Lord, I believe You came to this world to die for me and my sin. I often try to act as though I am a saint but I am a sinner when compared with your holiness.  I accept my sinfulness. I have to die but you have died for me and paid the penalty of my sin.  Thank You, Lord Jesus for being my substitute. Lord, please accept me as Your child and give me a new heart, new life, new thoughts, new purpose, new Spirit and a new vision.  Do come into my heart and be the Master of my life. Please give me a peace which can’t be given by this world. Give me a heart to seek You and know You more. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Amen.

This prayer makes you feel His presence in your life.  You have to continue to be in touch with God reading the Word of God (The Bible) and praying to Him about everything going on in our minds and life, and have fellowship with like-minded people who have accepted Him just like you.

P.S. You can use the above article as tract for distributing among patients

J. Peter Daniel
Glocal youth vision
Kingdom of Bahrain
Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in
Skype: peterpearline
www. glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com
www.kirubai.org
http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

I.  A touching story by a girl.

“When I was a little girl, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had  made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.

On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of fruits and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if  anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his toast, smile at my mom, and ask me how my day was at school. I don’t remember what I told him  that night, but I do remember Watching him smear butter and jelly on that toast and eat every bite!

When I got Up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad For burning the toast. And I’ll never forget what he  said: ‘Baby, I love burned toast.’

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if He really liked his toast burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, ‘Debbie,  your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she’s real tired. And besides-a little burnt toast never hurt anyone!’ You know, life is full of  imperfect things…..and imperfect people. I’m not the best housekeeper or cook.

What I’ve learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults – and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences – is the one of  the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting marriage relationship.

And that’s my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your married life and lay them at the  feet of GOD. Because in the end, He’s the only One who will be able to give you a marriage where burnt toast isn’t a deal-breaker! We could  extend this to any relationship in fact – as understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!! “

“Don’t put the key to your happiness in someone else’s pocket.”

II. Helicopter Parents:  Parent types:  1) Helicopter:  parents hover overhead, rarely out of reach, whether their child needs them or not.  2) Rotor Blade: The overfly fussy parent, fidgeting constantly over their off spring.  A lot like the rotor-blades of a chopper.  3) Curling:  As in the Olympic ice sport of curling, parents who try to ‘sweep ice’ (obstacles) out of their child’s path.  4) Black Hawk: Like the US military helicopters, aggressive parents who will do whatever it takes for their child’s success.  Today, parents need counseling.  They should understand that every child cannot be forced to excel in everything, and that a child needs unstructured play time. Children should be given space to take charge of their life.  ‘Parental anxiety’ is predominant worrying for the best environment for their children.  In a generational shift three factors are true:  First, parents will be highly involved in their children’s lives; Second, parents opt for fewer children, wait longer to have them and are more affluent, so they tend to micromanage children’s lives and have trouble letting go;   Third, An outward sign of economic anxiety, parents want to prepare their children for fierce competition they are likely to face in an uncertain job market.  In an effort to be aware of every aspect of their child’s life, and therefore control it a lot of parents take the ‘friend’ approach.  Unfortunately, buddy parents often turn overprotective due to lack of faith, and time for their child.  Hovering can frustrate children and make them stifled, and some react to become ‘rebel’.  Setting boundaries is a good practice, with freedom to move within those limits.  Here are some signs to recognize: 1) Quick fixers: Always opt for shotgun solution to suit their child.  If the child does not like a teacher, parents will demand the principal replace him or her.  2) Ranters & Ravers: Loudly complain about anything that doesn’t go their child’s way: always crib about unfair treatment or about losing out to those with better contacts.  3) Attention seekers: Believe the world revolves around their child.  If their kids want to run up and down airplanes aisles, so be it.  Be expected to ooh and aah over them.  4) Rule bakers:  Show little respect for the views and needs of others, or fo authority.  They always side with their child, no matter how poorly behaved or bratty.  5)  A telltale sign:  Parents masquerading as their child online.  There needs to be a balanced between protective parenting and permissive parenting.  The household needs to be a democratic set-up.  Parents should be authoritative, but not authoritarian, they need to discuss disciple and responsibilities.   (Nandini Narayan & Sharmi Ghosh Dastidar, India Today 21 September 2009, p. 60-64)

Half of world’s hungry live in India:

India is high on the hunger map. Despite the government’s tall promises on the food security bill, nearly 50 per cent of the world’s hungry live in India and the global economic crisis may add more as food prices decline. Nutritional and health indicators are also extremely low.

About 35 per cent of India’s population – around 350 million – do not know where their next meal will come from. Nearly nine out of ten pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 years suffer from malnutrition and anemia.

Though many hope that the economic recession, will not last more than a year or two, there is one segment that is going to feel its impact lifelong. A majority of children below five in the country whose health may be compromised forever. Experts warn that the country cannot afford to wake up when its too late, when shocking figures start showing up in health data.

Balamma carries leftovers from the home where she works as domestic help for her two children. Her two-year old toddler, crying in hunger usually gets his first meal at noon. Balamma’s husband Krishna has not been keeping well and getting work as construction labour has been very erratic recently. “It’s very difficult, even when we have to buy oil and dal once a week. I don’t give the children any milk because I can’t afford it,” she says.

In India, 40 to 45 per cent of the children under five are already undernourished and stunted in growth. And 70 per cent of the children consume less than 50 per cent of the micronutrients they are supposed to consume. This deprivation, made worse by economic recession could be a healthy future lost forever for an entire generation.

Dr B Sesikeran, Director of National Institute of Nutrition says, “Even those marginally better nourished, will be pushed into the undernourished bracket because of the economic recession. That is a major concern.”

For children less than two years old, this will leave a lifelong imprint.

Dr G N V Brahmam, community data expert on nutrition, says, “Diet survey have shown intake of protective foods like pulses, leafy vegetables and other vegetables is very, very low. Midterm solution is to fortify foods with micronutrients because we are not able to meet through balanced diets.”

Nutritionists point out that this is nothing less than an emergency and existing infrastructure must be quickly geared up to meet the challenge. http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/hunger_crisis_a_future_lost.php accessed on 16 October 2009

Humor

Gloria Greenwood

From half way across the store, I could hear a mother calling for her son: “Jimmy, Jimmy!”  I turned a corner into another aisle and found a sis-year-old playing by himself.

“Are you Jimmy?” I asked.

“Yes”

“Didn’t you hear your mother call?”

“Yes”

“Aren’t you going to go to her?”

He shook his head.  “She ‘s not hysterical yet.”

Note: Item II and III has been taken from Glocal Urban Vision – Rev. J. N. Manokaran – http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

J. Peter Daniel

“Brother, Pray, God will deliver you from all your problems” – usual statement comes forth from the Christian believers after listening to the problems or issues of person.  It is just like telling indirectly, look after your problems by yourself.   It is easy to wash our hands by pointing towards the direction to God.  It is true to focus the problem to God.  But there are certain times or situations, people come to us with guilt of doing some mistakes or seeking solution for their own problems in their life.  It has to be dealt properly otherwise it will aggravate their problem, sometimes it leads to depression.

In Bible, we see in two occasions the same statement has been used to send the person away by washing their hands.

1. Judas, the betrayer: Matt 27:3-5

Judas was purchased by the chief Priests to execute their schemes.  Planned move of capturing Jesus Christ was worked out beautifully.  So they were very happy. At that moment, Judas went to meet high priest to confess his own sin and guilt.  But the high priest who is in the position of counselling and interceding for others has used Judas just like a disposable cup and uttered the word, “what is that to us?”

The chief priests have forgotten their duties and sent him with his own guilt. He committed suicide.  If the high priest could have counselled him then there might be a change in his life. Many times, just like a high priest we forget to take some time off to counsel others when they are coming to us with a need.   In addition, we are not giving adequate counselling to the people according to their needs.  For this, we need to have closure walk with a Counsellor Jesus Christ who can put His word in our mouth to counsel the counselee.

2. Pilate: Matt 27:24-26

Pilate has tried his level best to release Jesus Christ from the accusation of Jews.  His wife also warned him not to do anything against Jesus Christ.  But he was not able to do so, due to the persistent shouting from high priests.  At last he washed his hands and handed over Jesus Christ to their desires by uttering the same word “You see to it”.

As Christians, we have to stand out for the truth and contend for faith.  Instead, of  we are giving in to the whimsical of the world pressures that leads to give up our values, ethos, vision and mission of God’s calling in our life.

We have to evaluate ourself and see whether we are standing out for the justice or giving up our values to the pressure of this world.

Let us take a stand for Christ, counsel the friends with the help of the counsellor and bring many to His fold.

J. Peter Daniel

Glocal youth vision

Kingdom of Bahrain

Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in

Skype: peterpearline

www. glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com

www.kirubai.org

http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

Integration of Maintenance

J. Peter Daniel

A word ‘Maintenance’ is used until the life time of the equipments.  The other related words such as  ‘design’, ‘sales’, ‘purchase’ and ‘Execution’  are for a limited occasion.  For instance, the word ‘sales’ would be used until selling the equipments. The word ‘Execution’ would be used until the completion of the project.  In addition, the maintenance is an integral part of sales, design and Execution.   It should not be segregated or viewed as a separate section.

Maintenance has to be decided during the initial discussion of procuring the equipments.  Some of the companies quote the rate less, when compare with other companies.  But they will catch up with the price of other companies by way of quoting high for spare parts and annual maintenance contract.  At that time, there would be less chance for negotiating or downsizing the cost.

Secondly, the provision for maintaining the equipments  are very important to discuss in the initial stage rather than waiting until handing over the equipments to the maintenance department.  In many occasion, the maintenance department blame the project department for excluding the provision for accessing the units.  To avoid such incidence, we have to involve maintenance personnel up to some extent of sending the equipment drawing to get their opinion about it.  It will surely ease the tension.

Thirdly, the aesthetic look is mostly hiding the need of providing proper provision for maintenance.  The architecture desires for aesthetic look in each and every areas.  For instance, the architectural engineer wanted to keep the light at the centre of the toilet.  The centre point is exactly located at access panel.  It is not possible to install the light.   The option is to reduce the size of the panel or move the light.  In other way, whether we have to think of aesthetic look or maintenance.

Fourthly, the compromise attitude possesses a big problem in later stage.   It starts with squeezing all the services in one small space.  In later stage, it is impossible to unscrew or reach the damage parts in the equipments or pipeline in the shaft.

Fifthly, the provision for  maintenance of unit  is not providing small opening to touch the Unit that is located above the false ceiling.  Actually, the maintenance provision should be given for removing the unit for doing major repair work and also replacing the unit.

Maintenance is integrated with the other related works; “Designing, ‘Procuring” and “execution”.  Maintenance is the centre and the focal point. It portrays the importance of focussing maintenance in each and every stage.  In addition, the design, Purchasing and execution have linked with each other.  It is obvious that the three stages are equally important that has to be focus on maintenance.

—Article Published in Al-Mohandis Issue 50 – Bahrain Society of Engineers Sept. 2009

The Nature of Success

Set Realistic Goals

When I was a freshman in college I learned an unforgettable lesson.

I was having a rough week when there was a lot to do and very little time to do it. I was overwhelmed. I panicked.

That night a friend stopped by my dorm room. When I told him my problem, he said, “Mac, I’ll share something with you that my grandmother told me a few years ago. She said to always remember: ‘Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.’I said, “Bob, here I am drowning in work and your lifeline is a quote from your grandmother. Come on!”

After he left, however, those twelve little words kept dancing in my head. I took out a piece of notebook paper and listed all the things I had to do in the next three days. That night I began knocking them off one by one.

Three days later I took out that paper and marked through the last thing on the list. It felt great! And then I took out another piece of paper and wrote down the words: “Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.” I then folded the paper and put it in my wallet. As many of you know, I’ve been collecting quotes ever since.

You see, over the years I’ve learned that success doesn’t come cascading like Niagara Falls; it comes one drop at a time through short-term, realistic goals.

Experts on motivation disagree on a lot of things, but one thing they all agree on is that your levels of motivation are directly tied to your expected probabilities of success. In other words, if you believe you can do something (the goals are realistic), you’re likely to be highly motivated. If, however, you think you can’t (because the goals are unrealistic) your motivation level falls greatly.

The lesson here is to continue to dream big dreams, but realize that the short-term goals that take you to the next plateau are the real keys to success.

******************

J. Peter Daniel

The trend of the younger generation is to have victory in all the fields. They are not able to accept the word ‘failure’ or ‘defeat’ or ‘loser’.  This has been clearly indicated in the cricket scenario.  The cricketers will be praised when they win.  But they will be ruined when they fail to win.  The failure is a bitter pill that will take long time to digest it.

As a Christian believer, it should not take longer time to digest it.  If it is so, then first, it will raise a lot of doubts about God, besides anger against God and starts to blame ourselves and finally it ends up in depression.   For instance, my family has prayed for my driving license everyday. The younger one has prayed everyday in family prayer.   Test date has come. I failed on the test.  I have to reappear again after two month.  I informed to my wife about the failure.  She took it at the right sense.  After some time, I received SMS from my wife’s phone stating that I am a loser with crying smiley.  I was angry with the message and answered it that the failure is not final.  I went home and found that my elder daughter has sent the message to me.  I talked with her for 10 minutes about what made her to send the message.  She told that God is not answering our prayer. I explained her that God will provide everything according to His will not by our own desire. Later on, I understand that God has allowed the failure to teach my daughter about the Great truth of God’s way of answering our prayer.   Ultimately, I am a winner even though I failed in the driving test.

In Bible, we are seeing that failures are a way for teaching the people to use them for God’s future ministry.  Moses drove away to wilderness after murdering Egyptians.  God trained him for forty yeas wilderness life that has helped him to lead the people in wilderness for forty years.  There were ups and downs in David’s life.   He was chased for 40 years by Saul, after God anointed him as a king. This experience has given him a support when he fled from his palace due to Absalom.  He learnt how to be in high position and also abased when the situation called for.  Joseph was in wilderness and Potiphar’s house.   He learnt the life as a slave as well as to manage Potiphar’s house that has made him to manage the food grains for whole country.

We have to understand that God allowed certain things in our life that will be painful in the beginning stage but it will be good to us as well as to others in a long run.  (Rom. 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”).

Let us consider failure as a stepping stone of our spiritual growth.   So, we move forward with a hope of growing in to perfection.

J. Peter Daniel

Glocal youth vision

Kingdom of Bahrain

Email: peterpearline@gmail.com / yahoo.co.in

Skype: peterpearline

www. glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com

www.kirubai.org

http://www.glocalleadersnetwork.com

Psalm 23
(For the Work Place)

The Lord is my real boss, and I shall not want.
He gives me peace, when chaos is all around me.
He gently reminds me to pray and do all things without
murmuring and complaining.

He reminds me that He is my source and not my job.
He restores my sanity everyday and guides my decisions
that I might honor Him in all that I do.

Even though I face absurd amounts of e-mails, system
crashes, unrealistic deadlines, budget cutbacks, gossiping
co-workers, discriminating supervisors and an aging body
that doesn’t cooperate every morning, I still will not stop—
for He is with me! His presence, His peace, and His power
will see me through.

He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me.
He claims me as His own, even when the company threatens
to let me go. His Faithfulness and love is better than any bonus check

His retirement plan beats any 401k there is!
When it’s all said and done, I’ll be working for Him a whole lot longer and for that, I BLESS HIS NAME!!!!!!

Are You Blessed?

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness……….you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation…….you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep…you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace……. you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married……..you are very rare, even in the United States.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful…..you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you prayed yesterday and today……..you are in the minority because you believe God does hear and answer prayers.

If you can read now, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

If you are still regretting over anything today, make yourself understand that you are blessed more than many people around you.

Try cheering them up in some way, you will be satisfied more with your life. Bless you.

China bans controversial electric-shock therapy for Internet addicts

Tue, Jul 14 06:05 PM

Beijing, July 14 (ANI): The Chinese Health Ministry has ordered a halt to the controversial electroshock therapy, which it was useing to treat teen Internet addicts. The ministry has said that the therapy, which was administered by a clinic in Linyi, Shandong province, is not safe. There is still a fierce debate over whether electroshock therapy was appropriate for young internet addicts or not. “We have no clue whether this freaky treatment has side-effects,” said Kong Lingzhong, editor of a domestic Internet addiction-themed portal.

The Shandong clinic stopped giving shock treatment to teenagers as soon as they received the Health Ministry’s notification, Yang Shuyun of the clinic said. She, however, emphasized that the program led by Dr. Yang Yongxin was not exclusively about electrotherapy, and said it had important medical and psychological elements too.

More than 3,000 young people were being tricked or forced into in to the four-month long course. To enroll their children, parents or guardians had to sign a contract acknowledging that they would be given electric shocks of up to 200 milliamperes. The treatment cost 6,000 yuan per month. Patients were considered “cured” or “reborn” once they admitted to their addiction. It was reported that shocks were given if patients broke any of the center’s 86 rules, which included prohibitions on eating chocolate, locking the bathroom door, taking pills before a meal, and sitting in Dr. Yang’s chair without permission.

Details of the treatment first became public when former patients wrote about their experiences online.

Internet addiction is a growing problem in China, which now has nearly 300 million Internet users, including many adolescents who spend several hours each day playing computer games. (ANI)

India can have over 300 new hypermalls by 2011: Study

Indian cities have the potential to have over 300 new hypermarkets by 2011, mostly in tier-I and tier-II cities, according to a joint study by global auditor KPMG and the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Assocham).

The study, Reinventing India’s Retail Sector, said, “Even in 2008, 212 towns had sufficient market potential for hypermarkets for break-even existence. It is a different matter that this potential is yet to be realised.”

Organised retail is growing at 20 per cent annually, and encouraging mall building, which would ultimately amount to the creation of hypermarket chains, it added.

According to Assocham president Sajjan Jindal, given the expected growth in income and consumption in the 25 leading cities, five or more hypermarkets are feasible in every city even in 2009.

“Going forward, in 2011, this number is anticipated to grow to 52 cities as a few tier-III towns will also gain the market potential to support five or more hypermarkets,” he said.

Jindal said after 2011, organised retail would grow at 15 per cent as enough competition will have emerged by then.

UK to crack down on ‘tantriks’, ‘babas’

LONDON: British authorities are cracking down on the many ‘tantriks’, ‘babas’ and psychics who prey on the fears and desires of the Asian community by promising them remedies, everlasting love and good fortune.

Most newspapers published in Indian languages here carry hundreds of advertisements from such individuals, promising ‘100 per cent guarantee’ of love and riches, or promising to cure cancer and lift curses. The soothsayers industry is said to be worth 40 million pounds every year.
Now, authorities in the east Midlands town of Leicester, better known as ‘Little India’, have announced  a campaign against such ‘babas’ and ‘tantriks’, most of whom have origins in the Indian sub-continent.

Deputy mayor Manjula Sood said: “I have heard of people being asked for 500 pounds and more for prayers  or talismans. They think a curse will be placed on them if they refuse.

One recently came to Leicester and took a room at a hotel where she charged clients 500 pounds for 10-minute sessions.”
Resham Singh Sandhu, chairman of the Sikh Welfare and Cultural Society, said the Sikh community was lobbying with newspapers to stop publishing advertisements from such people.

******************