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Holiday stress. Winter colds. New Year's resolutions to eat better and live a healthier life. There are a thousand reasons to turn to natural remedies for a host of complaints at this time of the year. But be forewarned: you're going to find a dizzying variety of herbal supplement products at your pharmacy or local health food store. Just trying to decide which one to buy can cause confusion, irritability, and mental fatigue — possibly some of the same symptoms that brought you to the store in the first place!
The recent resurgence of herbal medicine is both blessing and curse. We're fortunate to have so many potent natural remedies easily available; their number grows daily. But we're unfortunate not to have easy access to information that will help us make the right choices. Which herb is best, say, for a sinus infection? Federal laws prevent manufacturers from providing straightforward dosage/benefit statements on their product labels, so you have to somehow figure out what to do yourself. Once you determine the herb you need, should you use capsules or tablets, liquid tinctures or extracts, or a tea? Should you look for the herb by itself or in combination with other herbs? How much should you take and for how long? Is there any danger in taking herbs with other medications? Is one brand or herbal preparation better than another? If three or four different brands or varieties of an herb are available, how do you choose?
Unless you read a lot of books or magazines on the subject, or get recommendations from a knowledgeable friend (or, better yet, from a trained herbalist), you'll just have to do your best at deciphering the fine print on the product labels.
In thinking about how to explain the intricacies of herb labeling, I went to my local health food store and selected every echinacea product available in capsule form — seven products in all. Echinacea is one of the most popular herbs, so I thought it would make a useful example. Looking at the variations in content, information, terminology, manufacturing processes, claims, and dosages made me appreciate anew how confusing the world of herbal supplements has become. Here's what I found:
"Echinacea ( Echinacea purpurea ) helps promote general well-being during the cold and flu season."
"Well researched in Europe, this herbal supplement is commonly used to promote well-being during the cold and flu season."
"Nutritionally supports healthy immune function."
"Echinacea is a popular herb, especially during the cold season."
In each case, an asterisk refers to the following statement at the bottom of the label, one that is dictated by law: "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."
In fact, there's a great deal of solid research on the effectiveness of echinacea. German studies have shown that, when taken at the onset of colds or flu, it boosts the immune system by enhancing the activity of white blood cells, that during such times, it's wise to take as much as 1,000 mg three times a day, and that, after taking it for two weeks, it's best to discontinue use for a few days. Too bad our current laws don't allow manufacturers to say so.
Beginning in March 1998, all new products had to not only avoid making claims about curing disease, they could not mention any disease in relation to the product — including the name. This meant no more tricky product names such as "ArthriCure" or "Cold-B-Gone." And after March 1999, all existing products whose names include a disease condition must be renamed and all nutritional information must be included on the label. If credible research exists, the FDA may not prohibit the manufacturer from making reasonable claims, so long as the claims are stated in terms of structure and function rather than curing disease. For example, a product label for ginkgo can say, "Increases microcirculation to the brain." It cannot say, "Cures Alzheimer disease" or "Cures tinnitus." A product label for hawthorn can say, "Promotes heart health." It cannot say, "Cures angina pectoris."
Why are the labels so confusing? They could have been worse. One of the strongest grass-roots campaigns in the history of this country resulted in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. The government was faced, on the one hand, with a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiative to control and limit consumer access to such dietary supplements as herbs and vitamins, and, on the other hand, with a public outcry against such limitations. During the months that this issue was being considered, congressmen received more mail from concerned constituents than they had received on any issue in history except for the Vietnam War.
The resulting act bowed to the will of the people in that it allows the unrestricted sale of herbs, vitamins, minerals, and other substances such as hormones and amino acids — so long as medical claims are not made for these products by their manufacturers. Manufacturers can allude to the possible usefulness of an herb and consumers have to make personal judgments — based on research, reading, or hope — to decide which herb to use.
Since there are so many options available, and such a lack of clear information on the packaging, I'll continue with the example of the seven different echinacea products I examined to let you see how I would pick what I think is the best product out of the lot.
(1) I'd decide if I want a whole-plant product or a standardized extract. Let's say I choose whole-plant products because of the potential synergy among their various compounds.
(2) I'd look for a product made from the echinacea root rather than the aboveground parts, because I feel the root has higher concentrations of useful components (this is not necessarily true for other herbs). Roots are also less likely to be adulterated with other plants that look the same when dried. Products made from echinacea root tend to be more expensive, though, because the plant has to grow for four years to develop a harvestable root. Taking the root destroys the plant.
(3) I'd prefer a product made from E. purpurea to one made from E. angustifolia, simply because most of the research has been done on the former.
(4) I would want an organically grown product, because I'm concerned about pesticides — both for my own health and that of the environment. (If the herb I'm buying is endangered in the wild, as goldenseal is, I would try to choose a product that was cultivated, not wildcrafted.)
(5) Even though I'm a vegetarian and prefer capsules made from cellulose to ones made from animal-derived gelatin, this wouldn't determine my choice, because only one product had cellulose capsules.
Of the seven echinacea products I looked at, two almost fit my requirements. One was made from organically-grown herb and root of E. purpurea, but there's no way of knowing how much herb and how much root. One was made of organic root of E. angustifolia. For the same number of capsules, one cost $8.29, the other $15.98. So it would come down to weighing the value of my species of choice, amount of root, and price. What would you do?
If I had preferred a standardized extract, the choice would be less complicated. The reasons for choosing one might be product purity (the extracting process eliminates bacteria, fungi, and a variety of other contaminants), consistency (I would know just how much of one of the major active ingredients each capsule contains), and convenience (I wouldn't need to take as many pills per day). Of the products I looked at, two were standardized to 4% echinacosides. Both were made from E. angustfolia (not my species of choice). They cost about the same ($20.95 and $21.95). My scientific conclusion: flip a coin.
Okay, I'll confess. What I would really do is choose a tincture, not a capsule, form of supplement. It would taste awful, but I feel that it would be faster-acting. I've never minded if medicines tasted terrible, as long as they went down quickly.
Not only are hundreds of different herbs available in the marketplace, they come in a bewildering variety of forms. Should you buy a tea, a tincture, or a capsule? Which is better, or does it matter? Understanding the different preparations and how they're made will help you make informed choices. (If I seem to be emphasizing capsules in this discussion, it's because that's the form in which 80% of all herbal supplements are sold. This is not necessarily because they are better.)
Let's look once again at our echinacea example. It can be prepared in any of the following ways, and these do not exhaust all of the possibilities.
Harvest and dry all above-ground parts (stems, leaves, flowers), grind and sift, then form into tablets or capsules.
All these processes result in products with some active ingredients that can stimulate the immune system against colds and flu. But which is better? Is there really any way to know? One of the biggest controversies among herbalists and medicinal manufacturers is whether preparations made from whole herbs are superior to extracts, and whether whole-herb extracts are superior to standardized ones.
Those who advocate whole-herb preparations argue that there are many, many compounds in any given herb, and that they act synergistically to provide the maximum benefit to the user. Those who advocate standardized extracts argue that without a rigorous process of concentrating and measuring one or more compounds in the product, you don't really know what you're getting. Both of them are right.
The concentration of medicinal compounds in herbs varies. For instance, a teaspoon of dried peppermint leaves is powerful enough to make a tea that's very effective in calming an upset stomach. But a tea made from a teaspoon of ginkgo leaves would have no value at all in restoring your memory. It takes many, many pounds of ginkgo leaves to make a single effective dose (and the doses must be repeated regularly over time). So how do you know if the ginkgo product you've just bought is concentrated enough to do any good? The manufacturer probably has standardized it. For ginkgo, standardization means that a product contains approximately 24% glycosides. However, most herbs that are standardized don't require the concentration that ginkgo does and are frequently standardized for other reasons, often for the manufacturer's research purposes.
Tea. This is the most familiar, most traditional herbal preparation. What you buy is dried plant material — leaf, flower, bark, root, seed, berry. What you do with it is use hot water to extract some of the material's active components. Some herbs, such as peppermint, chamomlle, and sage, lend themselves very well to this process. Others — ginkgo leaf, for example — could be boiled all day and not yield anything useful. Hard or woody plant parts need longer steeping or soaking to make an effective tea.
Tincture. The active compounds in some herbs are not water soluble, so they are steeped in alcohol instead, the result being a simple extract. Tinctures are sometimes called extracts or liquid extracts. They are taken in small amounts — droppersful or teaspoonsful — mixed with water. If you can't tolerate alcohol, some herbs are extractable into other liquids, such as glycerine.
Tablet. A controlled quantity of finely milled herbal material is compressed into shape and given a thin coating.
Look up "tonic" in the dictionary, and you'll see synonyms such as restorative, invigorant, stimulant, booster, refresher. The best known tonic herb in the Western world is probably ginseng. It's also been one of the most controversial, because it has a long history of use, but no one has been able to prove precisely what it does. That's because its action is nonspecific. It doesn't cure any particular disease in any measurable way. But it does enhance energy and general health, improve concentration and sensory discrimination, and subtly regulate a range of body functions — metabolism, blood pressure, oxygen uptake, and more. It sounds miraculous, doesn't it?
And there are other herbs that have the same benefits — Siberian ginseng ( eleuthero ), mushrooms such as maitake and reishi, and gotu kola, to name a few. You might see these also referred to as adaptogens, which means that they build resistance to physical stress by strengthening the immune, nervous, and/or glandular systems. Sure, you can be a healthy vigorous individual without taking them, but why not optimize your odds?
There are other herbs that have good, general preventive effects that don't fit neatly into any of the categories above. They do, however, have specific effects on certain body systems, either as preventives or curatives. These include the herbs that I take every day — ginkgo biloba for brain function, bilberry for eyesight, milk thistle for the liver, and garlic for high blood pressure and cholesterol.
One final thought: using herbs for serious health problems instead of going to a qualified health practitioner — whether a trained herbalist or a medical doctor — is not what I advocate. For any serious disease, get the help of experts; don't try to treat yourself. But you can foster your own good health and resistance to disease in a conservative, responsible way. I think of herbs as a nutritional insurance policy.
For a concise list of ailments, their conventional treatments, and herbal alternatives, refer to our Herbal Substitutes for Common Pharmaceuticals Table.
AMERICAN GINSENG: General tonic, adaptogen
ASTRAGALUS: General tonic; boosts energy
BILBERRY: Improves circulation; repairs veins
CHINESE GINSENG: General tonic; boosts energy
GARLIC: Lowers cholesterol; anticancer agent
GRAPESEED EXTRACT: Antioxidant
GINKGO BILOBA: Antioxidant; improves circulation and memory
GOTU KOLA: Improves circulation, healing, memory
GREEN TEA: Antioxidant, anticancer agent, tonic
MAITAKE: Tonic, anticancer agent; enhances immune system
MILK THISTLE: Liver tonic
REISHI: Adaptogen, tonic, immunostimulant
SIBERIAN GINSENG: Adaptogen, tonic; boosts energy
TURMERIC: Antioxidant
For Colds and Flu
For Digestion
For Constipation
For Anxiety and Stress
For Insomnia
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This set of tutorials are essential steps students need to set up UW's Google Sites for an ePortfolio. Navigate through this site using the above menu, and the 'Previous' and 'Next' buttons at the bottom of each page. Your instructor will provide more details on the requirements depending on your class and major.
UW Google Apps is a collection of web tools that let users easily collaborate with others on assignments and other tasks. The University of Washington has partnered with Google to provide Google Apps for UW faculty, staff, and students. UW Google Apps is tied to your UW NETID and is different from a separate Google Account. You can login to UW Google Apps from either (http://gmail.uw.edu) or the Google homepage.
Make sure to check out our Google Sites How Do I...? page (also known as Google Sites FAQ). This is a list goes into more detail on how to do specific tasks.

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There is a seismic shift occurring in marketing as startups, for various reasons, are forced to discover new ways to grow their user bases.
I'd rather not bore you with another philosophical rant about how everything is changing (even though it is), so instead, I'll share with you one of the underlying insights that is at the core of this new marketing ethos, micro-failures.
In the past, a new marketing push was equivalent to game day, there was massive preparation. The team would diagram plays, practice the strategy, talk about the plan, and quite literally obsess over the whole ordeal.
This was necessary because substantial resources were being thrown at these endeavors, and the details mattered because you couldn't take a mulligan. The marketing push in question might be an ad buy, bringing an affiliate system online, orchestrating a social media campaign, or a number of other possibilities.
We used to have this same mentality with products, and it was called waterfall development. Everyone on the team would gear up for the big 'magical' 2.0 release of the product (or whatever number they were on), and it was, again, obsessed over.
We now realize that agile development, which allows for quick, ongoing, non-dramatic, software updates, is a better method for developing many applications. Well, guess what, it's a better framework for marketing too.
Marketing is now agile
- Instead of having a board meeting that decides to allocate $10,000 to AdWords, why not spend $250 on AdWords (without asking anyone), and see what happens?
- Instead of spending three months building and implementing an affiliate solution, why not sign up for a cheap web app that has the core functionality you need, hand recruit five affiliates, and see what happens?
- Instead of talking for a week about the pros and cons of a certain social media campaign, why not just start it today, and see what happens?
But won't this lack of preparation lead to failure? Yes. But you're missing the point. Most marketing campaigns that were discussed ad nauseam also failed.
Spending more time and money didn't ensure their success, it just ensured that you were going to spend more time and money. Agile experiments allow you to discover what you would have most likely found out anyway, just in a more timely manner.
The history of marketing is one of macro-failures, but the future belongs to those who embrace micro-failures.
Consider the idea of a marketing 'at-bat.' This is the amount of times you get to try a new marketing idea, much like how many times a baseball player gets to face a pitcher.
If startup A cycles through four marketing at-bats every year (they try four new marketing ideas), while startup B cycles through 24 marketing at-bats every year (they get to try 24 marketing ideas), which startup will have a higher likelihood of finding a scaleable growth channel for their company?
We've spent so long optimizing our marketing for execution, we didn't realize that we should actually be optimizing for ignorance. If we find a marketing strategy that works we can always refine our execution when appropriate, but that was never the real problem.
It's finding a strategy that works at all (our ignorance) that should have been solved for.
Micro-failures are the future of marketing because they solve for ignorance, not execution.
Zack Onisko, one of the founding members of BranchOut, and the previous head of their growth team, was able to grow BranchOut by 500% in 90 days (to over 30m users), and here is what he said :
One of the things we decided early on, and we actually got a lot of pushback internally…was to to make sure the [growth] team could work autonomously from all the product features that we wanted to build on the main product road map. [The growth team] needed to release faster…we needed to release basically on a daily basis…we aimed to move the needle everyday."
(You can watch the video of this interview here.)
In case you're counting, Zack was ambitiously going for 365 marketing at-bats a year. If you are currently working in a startup, here is an action plan to get more at-bats:
1. Take inventory of internal skills
Your startup is completely unique (yes, like a snowflake). Therefore, your team is going to have skills in certain areas and lack them in other areas.
Do you have someone with experience leading a local meetup? Do you have someone who is comfortable writing an ebook? Do you have someone who is awesome at email marketing?
Whatever skills and experiences your team has should inform the list you're getting ready to make.
2. Keep a stack-ranked list of marketing ideas
Every marketing idea you get should go into a simple to-do list that is always ordered according to which ideas you think will work based on the skills you uncovered in the first step.
If you keep a list like this then you'll avoid marketing downtime (where you just stare at the screen, trying to will yourself to come up with a brilliant marketing ploy).
The list will be there waiting for you. Remember, everything on this list doesn't have to be the product of genius. That's why it's stack-ranked. The best stuff will always be at the top so you have the freedom to put down almost any idea you have.
3. Do something on the list at least once a week
If you try something off the list once a week then you'll essentially have 52 at-bats in a year. That's 52 chances to find something that works, which you can then refine. That's 52 chances to discover how people want to find out about your product.
While others startups are stuck in paralysis by analysis, you'll be learning by doing. It's important that you brace yourself for failure (even if it's micro-failure) because the vast majority of things you try will not work.
Luckily, businesses are made because a few things did work, not because a lot of things didn't.
Comments (5)
Isn't the 'new' concept of micro failures the same principle as Scientific Advertising developed in the early 20th century? Do people really blow a 10k Adwords budget without testing different approaches first with smaller budgets?
Great question! In the article I'm really trying to emphasize the speed of failure, and the ultimate idea of marketing "at-bats," more than the quantification of results (though I'm a proponent of both).
To use the AdWords example. While it is true that many people will test with a smaller budget, the question is, will they will still debate for a week whether they should try a small budget at all, thereby forfeiting the gains of speed.
Science + Speed = Awesome.
With regard to the degree of obsession that takes place, for larger clients this article is definitely on target. It's hard to argue against the value of the big splash versus the slow incremental climb. If you persevere the numbers will back you up in the end but many remain focused on the quick win – to use a bit of tired jargon.
Micro-Failures - I love it.
Speed is of utmost essence in today's fast changing world. Low cost experiments in real life situations teaches one much more than simulated high-cost researches.
Most start-ups I believe resort to this approach for 2 reasons
1) Limited financial resources
2) Limited intellect resources
I therefore agree that micro-failures should be the approach to marketing success as we go forward.
The principle I agree with. I also believe it applies to businesses that are not start ups but should be acting like one.
When I think about practicalities in some areas I have some questions. We bet heavily on experiential marketing In our business) - creating large scale events that engage and WOW people.
I can see how you can scale down an adwords campaign for testing but some marketing events need scale to have any impact at all and therefore need/require commitment and attention to detail from the outset ?


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Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says elderly residents will have new protections against fraud and financial abuse under a new state law.
Legislation creating the crime of mistreatment of an elder person was signed by Gov. Sam Brownback last week.
The law is aimed at protecting people 70 and older who are victims of financial abuse. People convicted of large-scale abuse could be sentenced to more than 40 years in prison.
Schmidt said Monday the law adds protections against misusing a financial trust or power of attorney for the purpose of misappropriating a person's life savings.
The measure was sponsored by Senate Vice President Jeff King of Independence and Sen. Michael O'Donnell, both Republicans. King and O'Donnell say it gives law enforcement another tool to protect older residents.


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Leadng&Couns Nonprof Orgs (Co-Req: LAW-852) (LAW-795Z-001)
Garber Siegrist
Co-req: LAW-852
Leading & Counseling Nonprofit Organizations builds on your study of nonprofit law (from Law of Nonprofit Organizations) to deepen your understanding of nonprofit law through practical assignments. Do you want to start a nonprofit organization? Serve on a board or serve as general counsel in a nonprofit? This unique add-on course to Law of Nonprofit Organizations consists of weekly practical exercises designed to teach students the skills and practices useful for the representation and leadership of nonprofit organizations. Exercises include: drafting bylaws, drafting applications for tax exemption, developing key governance policies, evaluating business forms for commercial activities, evaluating political activities and more. Additionally, there is an interdisciplinary exercise that involves meeting with students at the American University School of International Service social enterprise program to work collaboratively to resolve (simulated) legal issues arising in a new social enterprise. To take this course, you must co-register with Law of Nonprofit Organizations (LAW 852-001). SEE Professor Garber Siegrist profile at http://www.wcl.american.edu/faculty/csiegrist/
Textbooks and Other Materials
The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.
The required text for the course will be: Good Counsel: Meeting the Legal Needs of Nonprofits by: Lesley Rosenthal http://www.amazon.com/Good-Counsel-Meeting-Legal-Nonprofits/dp/1118084047 ISBN-10: 1118084047
First Class Readings
Not available at this time.


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If Tripper doesn't mind me stepping in, I know where the helmet's from. It's a little-known fodder source, one I've used for years actually. The visor's movable if he didn't glue it down or onto a different head. Very cool. I actually use those figures "as-is" myself as they're already sci-fi figures.I won't give away his surprise, just thought I'd tease a little. They're great pieces. Great customs too, as always stormtripper!
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Lewis gives his occupation as manufacturer - kitchen utensils. Looks like we have a match! Now each time we use a saucepan we will be reminded of Lewis B. Wismer, inventor.
Give Google Patents a whirl. Never know what you may discover.
Loved your post! I had an inventor ancestor, too. I found out he had a patent on kitchen items in the late 1800s from the city directories. There was an ad for one of his "roasting pans" with a patent number. This was more than 10 years ago, and I had to go to Boston Public Library to use the indexes and then look up the invention in great big books in the basement. Now, with Google patents it is easy to find the patent, any mention of the inventor's name, etc. Congrats on a great find!ReplyDelete
Thanks for stopping by and reading the post. Glad you liked the story! Great idea about checking the city directories. Check out Heather's patent posts!
Fascinating... thanks for sharing. Cheers, CatherineReplyDelete
Thanks for stopping by to read the post and leave a comment. Glad you enjoyed the discovery!
No kidding! I notice his saucepan has a flared top, in the drawing. I wonder how many saucepans were patented? A nice find. We have no inventors in our family that I've found. : ( Love the drawing.ReplyDelete


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The Lanier Law Firm's Alex Brown Earns Top International Law Ranking
Houston attorney's "Top Rated" listing in international law based on peer review
Jan 18, 2013, 11:33 EST
HOUSTON, Jan. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Noted Houston attorney Alex J. Brown from The Lanier Law Firm has earned a spot on American Lawyer Media's 2013 listing of the "Top Rated Lawyers: International Law & International Trade."
The 2013 edition of "Top Rated Lawyers: International Law & International Trade" is published in the Winter 2013 issues of The Asian Lawyer and Focus Europe, two special publications for subscribers of Corporate Counsel and The American Lawyer magazines.
To compile the listing, editors from American Lawyer Media worked with LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell to identify the international law attorneys with the highest peer ratings. Mr. Brown has earned the AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest ranking available.
Mr. Brown's litigation practice includes representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of complex commercial disputes involving international project development, oil and gas ventures, corporate governance and shareholder rights, financial services firms, partnerships, and commercial real estate. He has represented companies and individuals in trial and appellate courts around the country in addition to doing significant work in international arbitration forums.
The "Top Rated Lawyers" honor is the latest professional recognition for Mr. Brown, who has been featured among the state's top young lawyers in the annual Texas Rising Stars list. He previously served as Co-Chair of the Creditor Rights Subcommittee for the Litigation section of the American Bar Association, and is a member of the ABA's Private Equity Litigation Subcommittee. Mr. Brown earned his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center after earning his undergraduate degree at Texas Tech University.
With offices in Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and Palo Alto, The Lanier Law Firm is committed to addressing client concerns with effective and innovative solutions in courtrooms across the country. The firm is composed of outstanding trial attorneys with decades of experience handling cases involving pharmaceutical liability, asbestos exposure, intellectual property, business litigation, product liability, maritime law, bad faith insurance claims, and sports and entertainment law.
For more information on Mr. Brown's recent honors, please contact J.D. Cargill at 713-659-5200.
SOURCE The Lanier Law Firm


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Nesolagus timminsi
|Scope: Global
Language: English
|Scientific Name:
|Nesolagus timminsi Averianov, Abramov & Tikhonov, 2000
Common Name(s):
|Taxonomic Notes:
|There are no recognized subspecies of Nesolagus timminsi (Hoffmann and Smith 2005).
|Red List Category & Criteria:
|Data Deficient ver 3.1
|Year Published:
|Date Assessed:
|Abramov, A., Timmins, R.J., Touk, D., Duckworth, J.W. & Steinmetz, R.
|Smith, A.T. & Boyer, A.F. (Lagomorph Red List Authority)
Very little is known about the status of Nesolagus timminsi and it is therefore listed as Data Deficient. Acquisition of more data is not likely to list the species as Least Concern, but rather its conservation status probably ranges anywhere from Near Threatened to Endangered. This species is losing suitable habitat to logging and agricultural practices. The species is heavily hunted, but the effects of hunting are unknown. Because this species may naturally occur at low densities, heavy hunting pressure would have deleterious effects on the population. Furthermore, nothing is known about the life history traits of this species (Duckworth 2006, Timmins 2006).
|Previously published Red List assessments:
|Range Description:
|N. timminsi occurs in the northern Annamites, almost certainly in the central Annamites where there have been reports of a striped rabbit, and possibly in the southern Annamites in Viet Nam and Lao PDR. It was described in the 1990s from Ha Tinh Province, Viet Nam, and is known only from the vicinity of the type locality (Hoffmann and Smith 2005). The known distribution is based on about 10 localities (Averianov et al. 2000). Presence of N. timminsi in the central Annamites seems likely because of the ecological similarity with northern areas, and a forest dwelling rabbit has been reported to be present (Long 2006). Presence further north and south of its known range cannot be ruled out on the basis of ecological factors. Total extent of occurrence is thought to be no more that 10,000 sq. km in the northern Annamites (within five main forest areas). A similar extent of occurrence is expected in the central Annamite region, although it is likely smaller in total area and broken into a series of generally smaller forests. If the species should be confirmed as occurring in the southern Annamites and the northern highlands, the distribution would be much more restricted. The elevational range is unknown, but all records of the species come from relatively low altitudes (below 1,000 m) and the species probably could utilize habitats down to sea level (although few such areas now exist).
|Countries occurrence:
Native:Lao People's Democratic Republic; Viet Nam
|Additional data:
|Range Map:
|Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
|Unlike a number of mammal species in it's range, records suggest that it is still well distributed in suitable habitats. However, in some portions of the range N. timminsi is presumed to be uncommon or rare, although in at least one town in the southern portion of its range hunters report that the species may in fact not be uncommon (Touk 2006). This species could possibly occur at lower densities naturally than other rabbits in southeast Asia.
|Current Population Trend:
|Additional data:
|Habitat and Ecology:
|This species occurs in wet evergreen forests that experience little or no dry season and generally occur on the seaward facing slopes of the Annamite mountains. A number of records come from heavily logged areas (not clear felled), suggesting that habitat degradation per se may not be a major threat.
Nesolagus timminsi is morphologically very similar to N. netscheri (Surridge et al. 1999; Averianov et al. 2000). Nothing is known about the litter size of the species and other reproductive information is lacking (Duckworth 2006).
|Use and Trade:
|100% of total population is utilized. Hunting may occur minimally at the international level.
|Major Threat(s):
Nesolagus timminsi is primarily threatened by hunting either by snares, or probably to a lesser extent by dogs. Snaring operations range from very low key subsistence levels to well organized gangs focusing primarily on sub-national and international trade, to supply both bushmeat and medicinal markets (a very wide range of species are involved). There is no evidence that N. timminsi has a high value if only in feeding hunters while in the forest. Almost all mammals seem to have some medicinal use, but there is no evidence that any medicinal trade demand exists for N. timminsi. Hunters from Viet Nam using snares in the Lao portion of range affect the area heavily (Duckworth 2006). N. timminsi is trapped in the southern portion of Viet Nam range (Touk 2006). Hunters with dogs likely exploit the species, but the effects of this exploitation are not known (Duckworth 2006).
Habitat degradation, loss, and fragmentation increase accessibility to hunters. Shifting cultivation and establishment of permanent agriculture is probably the biggest threat, the latter generally at lower altitudes and the former throughout. Viet Nam's aggressive road building policy has increased accessibility to undisturbed habitat for farmers and timber harvesters (semi-commercial and commercial logging operations). Dams, which so far has had minimal impact, but looks to increase in the future, results in lost habitat and increased accessibility to hunters and harvesters of other forest products. Mining for gold, gems, and other minerals seems to be on the increase, which results in habitat destruction and increased hunting levels.
There is lack of foresight in protected area designation and management. Most conservation strategies focus on remote, higher altitude areas; lowlands are generally marginalized and lost in conservation management.
|Conservation Actions:
Nesolagus timminsi is found in Umat and Phong Nha nature reserves and Nakai-Nam Theun conservation areas. It is also found in Nam Chat/Nam Pan provincial protected area, and Xe Sap protected area in Lao (Abramov et al. 2005). This species is also reported from unprotected forest north of Xe Sap (Abramov et al. 2005).
The range of N. timminsi straddles the Viet Nam/Lao PDR border and both governments do not actively support any conservation measures for the species (Duckworth 2006).
Development of management plans, legislation to protect this species, education regarding the species, and research regarding population status, ecology, and effects of threats are needed to assess and protect this species.
|Abramov, A., Timmins, R.J., Touk, D., Duckworth, J.W. & Steinmetz, R. 2008. Nesolagus timminsi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T41209A10412274. . Downloaded on 17 August 2018.
|To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
|If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided


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S3™ Silver Anti-Microbial Technology S3 products utilize antimicrobial technology which helps to inhibit the growth of odor causing bacteria. S3 keeps the garment smelling fresher longer.


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GOAL: To help students have a positive OC experience through academic, social and spiritual success.
Freshman Counselors
All first-time college students are provided a Freshman Counselor. This person is here to guide students through their first year of college and assist with any questions, problems or concerns.
Freshman Links
The Freshman Links are peer mentors who work closely with the Freshman Counselors to assist students in having a great year. These current OC students contact their freshmen regularly and plan great activities, encouraging students to get involved and meet other freshmen.
Students of Concern
Students of Concern is a campus-wide retention effort that provides support to any student who is challenged in continuing his/her education.
Summer Programs
Take Flight
During this one-day orientation event, new students will receive basic knowledge about preparing for the academic side of the OC experience. Students will have the opportunity to explore majors and meet professors. By the end of orientation, they will have their first college schedule and some new friends!
Earn Your Wings
After students have enjoyed "Take Flight," they will be ready to attend "Earn Your Wings." Upperclassmen have prepared a week packed full of fun activities that will help new students meet fellow students and learn the history and spirit of Oklahoma Christian. These activities include inspirational speakers, small discussion groups, beginning the Freshman Seminar class and great entertainment. This event has a great reputation for getting students started on a successful college experience.
For more information on either of these events, visit www.oc.edu/TakeFlight.
Freshman Experience Contact Information
Located in the Student Life Office, Gaylord University Center


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I know, It's not funny.... And this is funny or die... Not "Deep" or die...
But, we've all come accross that piece that really had an impact on us, and we want to share it...
That, and I really wanna bug the author, and let them know someone other than me thought it was a really amazing.
So, without further delay:
Shards Of Never
"A sorrowed soul, wrapped in a silly smile.
A knight's heart, trapped in a recreant's shell.
Boundless love, saddled with searing despise.
Stalwart steadfastness, lost in a torrent of fear and uncertainty.
That is I, a whirling cyclone of mismatched failings,
A great man on paper, a raging failure in the flesh.
I am so worthy, and yet, so insignificant.
The great contradiction, forever consistent in his inconsistency.
I am the friend who will sit beside you, without response, as vicious and meaningless barbs alike, tear into my soul, breaking me down, yet will bow in regret and atonement when but one jesting word from my mouth has offended, all the while, ready at a moments notice to stand at your shoulder against those who'd threaten you.
I carry love for those I know, those I hold dear, love so strong, my simple ways can never express properly. There is nothing, if it is within my means, that I would not give for Mine, but I pull away in shame when a hand reaches to lift me from my trench, because I refuse to believe I could ever be worthy of such care.
A mind, sharp, witty, focused, buried within a husk of desolation and self-pity. My mind, heart, soul, are filled with dreams, goals, hopes. And yet, in a instant, my mind, my heart, shatter those moments of glory into shards of never will be, and drag everything into the shadows, to see only loathing and tears.
I believe always in those I call Mine, the truest and deepest parts of them that not even they themselves can see, their true strength, their true worth, and will fight with my last breath to help them see, see that which I refuse to know of myself.
I am the truest of contradictions, the most pious of hypocrites.
I am the most outspoken showman, and yet, you will rarely hear me even speak.
I will hold you upon a pillar, as I cast myself into the mud.
I angrily chastise you for looking down on yourself, as I carve those same words into my own spirit.
The absurd, bound to the tragic, joined with the wonderful.
The greatest of mankind, and vilest example of a person.
That, is I."
... And I'm Kenny!! (I had to say it... Sorry ;-) )
- Kenny G.


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Someone who assists another 1) who has committed a felony, 2) after the person has committed the felony, 3) with knowledge that the person committed the felony, and 4) with the intent to help the person avoid arrest or punishment. An accessory after the fact may be held liable for, inter alia, obstruction of justice.
Illustrative case law
See, e.g. Com. v. Dalton, 259 Va. 249 (2000).
See also


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School board candidates can start filing
The actual opening date is Feb. 9, but that falls on Saturday. The filing deadline is March 21.
Board members will be elected in the May 21 election. Voters will receive ballots around the beginning of May.
Most school board positions are elected at-large, meaning they may live anywhere within the school district. Newberg, however, requires candidates to live in specific geographic zones within the Newberg-Dundee area.
About half of all Oregon school board positions are open in each odd-numbered years. Positions run for four years, starting July 1.
By district, positions open this year are now held by:
Amity -- Paul Dauenhauer, Sandra McKee and Craig Hudson.
Dayton -- Kathy Miller and Greg Whiteup.
McMinnville -- Tim Roberts, Kathy Cabe and Stan Primozich, who was appointed in late 2011 after Nicole Obrist resigned.
Newberg -- Board members are elected by geographic zones; a map of the zones is posted on the district website, www.newberg.k12.or.us. Positions up for election this year are: Zone 1, held by Ron Mock, who was appointed in 2012; Zone 4, Todd Thomas; Zone 5, Jim Chogyoji; and Zone 7, Debbie Hawblitzel.
Sheridan -- Jason Alexander, Robin Rawlings and Larry Deibel.
Willamina -- Position 2, held by Clinton Coblentz, and 3, held by Loren Wassen.
Yamhill-Carlton -- Jami Egland, Rick Yeo and Carol West.


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Case closed in final BHS hazing case
BLACKFOOT — The final hazing case involving five former Blackfoot High School athletes is now closed. Tuesday, Anthony Clarke signed a binding written plea agreement through his attorney. In this plea agreement, Clarke pled guilty to a misdemeanor disturbing the peace.
Magistrate Judge Charles Roos gave Clarke a withheld judgment and court probation for one year.
Under this plea agreement, Clarke was fined $500. He must pay court costs that total $137.50. Judge Roos suspended $500.
He was sentenced to serve 30 days in jail with 29 days suspended. He is to complete the 24 hours in jail within 90 days.
In the agreement, Clarke must also complete 100 hours of community service. Clarke's attorney said he has already completed this requirement. Clarke has until Dec. 31, 2011, to show proof to the court that he has completed the community service.
If Clarke successfully completes probation, he will be discharged from probation and the charge against him will be dismissed. Probation will be terminated on Oct. 11, 2012.
Two charges of battery and two charges of false imprisonment were dismissed on a motion from the prosecutor.
Clarke's trial was vacated due to the plea and sentence, which were done in abstentia with the approval of the victims. Defense attorney Dean Brandstetter represented Clarke in court because Clarke is now attending school at Carroll College in Helena, Mont.
Last year, Clarke red-shirted on the Boise State University football team. His name was removed from the BSU football roster this year.
This is the last case involving five former Blackfoot High School students who faced various charges from hazing incidents that occurred between Dec. 2, 2009, and Feb. 28, 2010, while they were members of the high school basketball team.
Besides, Clarke, defendants Nathan Walker and Logan Chidester pled guilty to two counts of misdemeanor disturbing the peace in March 2011. Defendant Tyson Katseanes pled guilty to one count of principal to battery in December 2010.
Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Randy Smith said Walker and Chidester were ordered to do 100 hours of community service; Katseanes was ordered to do 40 hours.
"These sentences reflect our interpretation of the level of culpability," Smith said.
The fifth defendant, a juvenile, was acquitted of all charges in February by Judge Roos following a juvenile evidentiary hearing.
"This has been an extraordinary strain and taken a huge toll on everyone involved—defendants, victims, families, friends," said Bingham County Prosecuting Attorney Scott Andrew.
"We feel this [plea agreement] is in the best interest for everyone; it is within the spectrum of responsibility of the defendants," said Andrew. "[This decision] will bring final closure and help people move on."


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This transcript is still being processed for Smart Transcript. To see an example of this new feature, click here.
We have had the privilege for a number of months now to be studying in 2 Corinthians, a wonderful epistle Paul wrote to the church for which he had such great love. We find ourselves in chapter 2 verses 5 to 11, a section dealing with the matter of forgiveness. You remember the story, I'm sure, if you've been with us. Paul had made a visit to the Corinthian church, a brief visit. At that time he ran into some false teachers who had come there and led a mutiny against him. One of the deceived members of the Corinthian church had no doubt confronted Paul face-to-face, embarrassed him, shamed him, denigrated him publicly. Paul told the church you need to deal with that man, you need to discipline that man for the sake of unity, for the sake of holiness. And they did. It is apparent from the text that the man repented. And Paul now writes this text to invite the Corinthians to take that man back fully into fellowship.
Let's begin at verse 5 and I'll read this text. "If any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me but in some degree, in order not to say too much, to all of you. Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. For to this end also I wrote that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. But whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes."
It was time for the Corinthian church to forgive the man. No doubt there were some in the congregation that were saying, "Well wait a minute, the man repented, he repented a little soon, maybe," but would have wanted to inflict a little more pain. They had wished he hadn't repented quite so quickly so they could have abused him a little longer, after all, he spoke against the Apostle Paul. And so the Apostle Paul is writing to say in verse 5, it's no issue with me, I'm not taking this as something personal. Down in verse 10 he is saying, if I forgave anything, that is to say it's such a small issue that there really didn't need to be much forgiveness from me, if I forgave anything it was just for your sakes. So please, don't continue to inflict pain on this man for my sake, this is not an issue to me. Forgive the man, affirm your love to the man, embrace him and bring him back into the fellowship, give him full reconciliation or Satan is going to be able to succeed in creating division in the congregation. It is a plea for forgiveness.
And those people who wanted to turn the screws a little bit and add pain to pain to the man were probably going to lean on the Apostle Paul and they were going to say...Well, we need to inflict more pain on him, after all he offended Paul and I'm sure Paul is greatly offended and in order to compensate Paul for this tremendous embarrassment publicly, we really need to make this man pay. And Paul is saying forget that all together, the man repented, he owes me nothing, I am not the issue, love him, reconcile him.
It's a wonderful, wonderful chapter on forgiveness. Now we've gone through this text all the way to verse 11. We might well move on to the next text, but I'm not going to do that and there are a couple of reasons. It has been a great encouragement to my heart that over the last two weeks while preaching these texts it has come to my attention that many of you have gone to one another and expressed forgiveness. Oftentimes people have met and with tears asked someone to forgive them or granted forgiveness that was withheld. These stories have come back to me and they've been a tremendous encouragement to my heart. And if God is working, and He is, in this area of forgiveness, then whom am I to leave too soon the theme?
Secondly, others of you are coming to me and asking me questions about the things I didn't say regarding forgiveness and could I fill in some of the blanks? So in order to accommodate what the Holy Spirit may be well doing in our congregation in regard to forgiveness and in order to bring about even more conviction on those of you who as of yet have not gotten the message, and in order to fill in the blanks that some of you may still be querying about, I will speak this morning about forgiveness.
What makes forgiveness perhaps more difficult in the culture in which we live is that this society sees forgiveness not as a virtue, not even as a necessity, but as a demonstration of weakness. We live in a society that is totally on the road to self-destruction, not just American culture but it seems to be even around the world, because we have an utter and complete disregard for forgiveness. We exalt vengeance, retaliation. Consequently people are filled with bitterness, anger, hate and vengeance. And retaliation is sought on many fronts. Such attitudes are approved. It's a frightening world really to live in.
We've had chaos in the past. We've had racial problems in the past. This world has never yet seen the kind of animosity, bitterness, hate, retaliation, racism it is going to see in the future, because forgiveness has been turned into a sign of weakness, rather than a virtue. People make heroes out of the vindictive, they make heroes out of the vengeful, the Rambos, the Dirty Harrys who find joy in the kill. In America we have 250 thousand law suits a year. We have 70 percent of the world's attorneys just to keep up with them. People are after every single pound of flesh that they can possibly get. And even the people helpers, the sociologists and the psychologists say it is not healthy to forgive. A new book on psychology has a chapter, the title of that chapter is, "You don't have to forgive." The writer of the book says you should place the blame for all your present problems strictly on the people who have the blame who have victimized you. Guilt for everything is pushed off on somebody else and left there until vengeance finally exhausts itself. Forgiveness is seen as a sign of weakness.
The price of vengeance, by the way, is very, very high. It fills culture with hatred, bitterness, animosity, wrath, retribution. And beyond what it does to the society is what it does to the individual. First of all, it imprisons people in their past. They can never get on with life. As long as you fail to forgive the offender, the one who offended you, as long as you fail to forgive you are shackled to him. You are shackled to that past act. The pain is kept alive and you are picking at the open sore, keeping it from healing. You are sentencing yourself to feel as bad now as you did then with no relief in sight. You are choosing to love to hate.
Not only are you being imprisoned in your past, but you're becoming a victim of bitterness and bitterness is an infectious cancer in the heart, it is devastating, it is malignant. It produces harassing thoughts and memories that distort your whole life. Anger dominates rages, comes out of control, emotions are unchecked. You entertain desperate ideas for revenge. Every conversation becomes a forum for slander. Every conversation becomes an opportunity for defamation and lies and joy is gone and peace is gone and life is filled with turmoil.
On the other hand, forgiveness is freeing, liberating, peace-giving, joy bringing. Scripture gives at least 75 word pictures of forgiveness. Here are a few. To forgive is to turn the key, open the cell door and let the prisoner walk free. To forgive is to write in large letters across a debt, "Nothing Owed." To forgive is to pound the gavel in a courtroom and declare not guilty. To forgive is to shoot an arrow so high and so far that it can never be found. To forgive is to take out the garbage and dispose of it, leaving the house fresh and clean. To forgive is to loose the anchor and set the ship to sail. To forgive is to grant a full pardon to a condemned and sentenced criminal. To forgive is to loosen a strangle hold on a wrestling opponent. To forgive is to sandblast a wall of graffiti, leaving it looking brand new and no memory left of what was there. To forgive is to smash a clay pot into a thousand small pieces so that it can never be reassembled. Forgiveness is a marvelous virtuous liberating, loving attitude and act.
It makes sense to forgive. It is healthy. It is wholesome. It is sensible. It relieves tension. It produces joy. It brings peace. It solicits love. More than that, as I said last time, forgiveness is the most noble thing one saint can do for another. It is hum...it is Christianity at its highest level, Christian to Christian. And over the last couple of weeks we have tried to look at this text and let it unfold for us the magnanimity, the greatness of forgiveness.
But in order to sum it all up and perhaps to encompass some things that we didn't cover, I want to give you a list of things that express the sheer virtue and nobility of forgiveness. I'm going to give you ten of them this morning, I know you don't believe it but I did it in the first service. We'll get through.
Some of this will pull together elements of what has been said. Some will be brand new to you.
First of all, the virtue and nobility of forgiveness can be seen in that forgiveness is the most godlike act a person can do. Not is it...not only is it the most noble act man to man, or woman to woman, not only is it the most noble act that one Christian can do for another, but it is the most godlike act a person can do. Nothing that you can possibly do is more like God than to forgive. Never are you more like Him than when you forgive. God is a forgiving God. Who is a pardoning God like you? Says the prophet. Who but God overlooks a transgression, passes by an iniquity? God is a saving God. God is a forgiving God. Forgiveness is a verbally declared personally given promise, you remember, that the sin will never be remembered, never be brought up again. Forgiveness affirms that there is no anger, there is no hatred, there is no desire for vengeance, there is no retaliation because there remains no guilt, no blame. The sin is forgotten, removed, eliminated, never to be entertained again. It is the promise that the issue is gone. And that is precisely what God does to the repentant sinner, and never are you more like God than when to one who comes to you and repents you offer forgiveness.
The beauty of that kind of forgiveness and the nature of it and the character of it is demonstrated most aptly in Luke 15 in the wonderful parable of the prodigal son. You remember the story of the boy who took what belonged to him by way of inheritance, not by way of achievement or earning. He tool what he had not earned and he went away and spent it, as the Bible says, living wildly. Human foolishness at its greatest extent. He fell in with some people who took advantage of him. They exploited him until they drained him of all that he had and when he had nothing, he stood in his own misery eating pig slop.
Dying of hunger in a pig sty he came to his senses and said, "My father's servants live better than this, I'll go home and become one of them." In his humiliation he sought only to be the lowest slave on the list of slaves. He sought the bottom, not the top. He never really expected forgiveness, to say nothing of restoration. He just wanted a chance to get a meal and have a roof over his head, that's all. He knew he had forfeited the privilege of a son. He knew he had no claim to anything noble, lovely, beautiful, comfortable, or generous. All he wanted was a place to put his head and some food better than the pigs were eating and so he started on the road back.
It is precisely at this point that we move from the penitent sinner to the father and we see how God forgives. Jesus tells us how to forgive like God forgives in the story. The father did not wait for the sinner to arrive. When the father saw him a long way off, his response was...Oh-oh, no, no, here he comes, I know what he wants, he wants a place to stay and he wants a meal and I'm going to make him pay for what he's done. That wasn't the attitude.
You remember the story, the father sees the approaching son a long way off and what does the father do? He runs to him. He falls on his neck with tears. He kisses him. He embraces him. And before the young man can even really understand what is going on, he is literally smothered in forgiving love. He's embraced. All he wanted was a little better than a pig's sty. All he wanted was a place to put his head and a simple meal to eat. But what he got was a ring on his finger and robe and what he got was a feast and a celebration and a festival and nobility and privilege and elevation and exaltation. And that's how God forgives. And that's how we're to forgive.
When we see the approaching sinner a far off, we run. The first signs of repentance are enough for us. The first of sorry is sufficient to elicit the embrace and the kiss and the love and the ring and the robe and the feast. The forgiving father shows us how to forgive and never are we more like Him than when we forgive like that. Not reluctantly but eagerly, not indifferently but passionately.
Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, after having been tried at Westminster and condemned to death with no just cause, said this to his judges, and it is a great statement, About to die at the hands of unjust men, he said this, quote: "As St. Paul held the clothes of those who stoned Stephen to death and as they are both now saints in heaven and shall continue there friends forever, so I verily trust shall most heartily pray that though your lordships have now here on earth been judges to my condemnation, we may nevertheless hereafter cheerfully meet in heaven in everlasting salvation," end quote.
The man was praying for the eternal fellowship in glory of those who were unjustly executing him. So prayed Jesus, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." So prayed Stephen, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." That is godlike. God has been so overtly, so blatantly, so unjustly offended, blasphemed and dishonored, yet does he magnanimously, eagerly, passionately and comprehensively forgive and so are we to forgive. This is a call to be like God. Forgive the way that God forgives.
In Matthew 5 verse 44 and 45 Jesus said, "I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." As you embrace your enemies, you are godlike.
Secondly, the virtue of forgiveness is manifest also in the recognition that the sixth commandment does not just forbid murder, the sixth commandment, Exodus 20:13, does not forbid just murder. It is not murder alone which is involved in the prohibition, "Thou shalt not kill." But rather in that prohibition is the murderous attitude. All anger, all wrath, all malice, all lack of forgiveness, all desire for revenge, all vengeance is forbidden in the intent of that command, and that by the very words of Jesus Himself who said you have heard that the ancients were told you shall not commit murder, Matthew 5:21, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. And that, by the way, was the rabbinical teaching. The ancients said don't murder someone, if you do you're going to be liable to the court. But I say to you, that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. And whoever shall say to his brother Raca, shall be guilty before the supreme court. And whoever shall say you fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. If you think by not killing someone you have therefore demonstrated your righteousness, you're wrong. For if ever you have hated you have violated that command. First John 3:15 says, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer."
Jesus then strips the Jewish leaders in that text of their self-confidence. He shatters the illusion of their righteousness. At that point of the law He swept away, He unmasked all their murderous vice and unforgiveness. If you say to someone "Raca" we don't know what the translation of that word is, we don't know any modern equivalent that would be an exact translation of it. It is some kind of slanderous epithet that was thrown at someone you hated, a term of derision, a term of abuse, a term of arrogant contempt, a term of hate. And then to say "you fool, you stupid, you godless one" was to curse and that is so serious that one doing that would be guilty enough to go to hell. You don't have to kill to go to hell. You don't have to kill to violate the sixth command, all you have to do is not forgive and carry bitterness, hatred, and venomous animosity. The one who won't forgive, who won't love his neighbor as himself violates the sixth commandment clearly. If you're angry with someone else and it turns to bitterness and hostility and vengeance, that too is a murderous heart.
And recognize that it expresses selfishness and you're going to have to kill your selfishness because it is exactly that that
aggravates you about the faults of others. If you're humble enough, no one can really offend you because you see yourself as unworthy of anything any way.
Thirdly, another principle that speaks of the virtue of forgiveness is that whoever has offended you has offended God more. Whoever has offended you has offended God more. Now follow my thinking...and if God who is the most holy has forgiven the offender against Him, can you the least holy forgive the offender against you? It's a reasoning from the greater to the lesser. Let me say it again. Whoever has offended you has offended God more. And if God who is the greater can forgive, can you who are the lesser forgive?
Any wrong done against me is a small thing. See how Paul discounts it in the text? If this has caused sorrow, he says in verse 5, it certainly hasn't caused it to me, why should I take it personally, I'm no one. In verse 10, "If I've forgiven anything," it's as if it's not even an issue to be thought of or regarded, if I've done anything, some small forgiveness I might have given, it was certainly for your sakes not for my own, I don't take this personally. I certainly am not personally offended. This isn't some vendetta on my part. You don't need to turn the screws on this guy to make me happy.
Paul could readily forgive someone else a small offense because he had been forgiven such a massive offense by God who was before a blasphemer and injurious and a murderer and decides to call himself the chief of sinners, him having been forgiven he found it in his own heart rather easy to forgive those who mildly offended him. The most holy, the most supremely offended is God. You remember the psalmist prayed in Psalm 51, "Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned and done this iniquity." The sin offends God. That's the...that's the issue. It is only incidental that it might have offended us. And since we are really incidental to the sinful offense, it certainly should be within the realm of our ability to forgive when God who is the object of that offense can himself forgive. Who are we, unholy, unworthy, undeserving, to imagine that we should not be offended? And if we are, we have some right to unending vengeance or lack of forgiveness?
So, we forgive because God forbids anger and He forbids hate and He forbids attitudes of vengeance. We forgive because He has forgiven the one who most offended Him and cannot we forgive the one who offends us? And we forgive because it is godlike and we're His children.
Fourthly, and this expands on the third point, it is only reasonable that those who have been forgiven the greater amount of sin can forgive the lesser. And that takes us back to Matthew 18, doesn't it? In Matthew 18 in that tremendous parable that speaks to the issue of forgiveness, tells about a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves, his regional governors, no doubt, and he began to settle and one came in who owed him ten thousand talents which would be an utterly unpayable debt, just a vast amount of money that in a lifetime could never be paid. But since the man didn't have the means to repay, you remember the lord said, "Well a proper punishment is to get anything I can to get out of you, so sell his wife, sell his children, get everything he has and take what you can get." The slave fell down in verse 26, prostrating himself before the man who was king and said, "Have patience with me, I'll repay you everything." It was ignorant penitence, he couldn't really pay it all but his heart was right. So the man forgave him. He had compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. And that's the picture of God, the penitent sinner comes, doesn't really fully understand the vastness of the debt, comes in ignorant but genuine penitence and God in His mercy and grace forgives the man.
Then inexplicably, unbelievably the slave goes out, finds one of his fellow slaves who owes him a hundred denarii, that's a few months work, grabs him, chokes him. Says, "Pay what you owe." Throws him in prison until he pays everything, even though the man pleads for forgiveness.
The incongruity here is obvious to anybody who reads. Here is a man forgiven an unpayable debt, he won't forgive a man a small debt. And that is the whole point of this fourth point, God has forgiven a massive incurred debt. From the time that you were born into the world you were an affront to God. Everything you thought, everything you did, everything you said fell short of His glory. Everything offended Him. And He is infinitely sensitive to every iniquity. You and I can't even keep track of our own sin, yet...let alone the sins of others against us. God feels every blow against His glory.
He therefore has the accumulated mass of all iniquities that you have ever committed that have offended Him, from the time of your birth till the moment now. The full accumulation of the wicked wretchedness of our lives is felt by God...all of it. That is the unpayable debt. Before you were a Christian everything in your life offended Him. You hated Him. You were an enemy. There wasn't anything good in you and there wasn't any of you who were good. Everything about you was an offense to God. And yet in spite of all of that accumulated offense, that massive uncountable debt incurred against the holiness of God, in one moment of faith in Jesus Christ He forgave you all of it, purely on the basis of the mercy and the grace of His own character.
Shall you who have been offended once, twice, three times or four times by somebody not forgive? What incongruity. What reprehensible conduct. What insensitive gratitude. What mockery of forgiveness. Somebody offends you once and you say, "Boy, I'm not going to take that." And somebody talks you into forgiveness and you say, "Well, once maybe, but if they do it again, I don't know." And then somebody reads you rabbinic law and the rabbis said, "Forgive three times," and you say, okay, okay, I'll go three. And the fourth offense comes and you say, "Well that's the end." And the somebody takes you to Matthew 18 and you hear Peter say, "How many times shall I forgive? Seven?" And you say I'll go for it, seven, that's as far as I'm going though. And then you hear the words of Jesus, "No, seventy times seven." And you say "Whoops, 490 times I have to forgive?" Not only that, would you please remember how many times God has forgiven you, keeps on forgiving you and will forgive you? And God is of a holier standard than you will ever know. God has comprehensively and completely forgiven you, it is absolutely inconceivable, it is the worst kind of ingratitude when you have been forgiven the greater amount of sins to find that you won't forgive the lesser ones. What an ugly and disgusting attitude that is.
Number five, the one who does not forgive will not enjoy the love of other Christians. If you have unforgiveness in your heart, bitterness in your heart, animosity in your heart, anger in your heart toward someone, you're going to forfeit fellowship because as soon as the other believers find out and whether they find out the specifics of just read your attitude, they're going to alienate you. In verse 31, in this account of Matthew 18, in the parable, when the fellow slaves, the friends of this guy who wouldn't forgive saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved, came and reported to their lord all that had happened. That's a sort of parabolic way to describe church discipline. They took this guy to the Lord. They went to heaven with this guy. They put him on the top of the prayer list and it wasn't for physical healing. They wanted the Lord to do something. Why? Because he was leaven, he was poison, he was leavening the whole lump, he was staining the unstained garment of the purity of the church. He was a bad influence. They didn't want other believers seeing this kind of attitude. That's...that's the imagery here. And they went to the Lord and they said, "Lord, You've got to do something about this guy." And all of a sudden, instead of becoming those who restore and hold up and pick up and lift up and comfort, encourage, they become those who go to the Lord and ask the Lord to do something harsh in order to bring him out of his sin.
One of the things that should happen in the church is when there is someone who carries a heart of unforgiveness, the believers should see that individual as leaven, as something that stains the church, something that destroys its unity, something that will...someone that will cause a rift and a fracture and generally speaking that kind of anger is never self-contained, it spreads to the people that they talk to and it becomes the thing that fractures and destroys the unity of the church. And so the church knowing that is eager to go to the Lord and say, "Lord, You've got to deal with this man."
Do you ever pray prayers like that? Do you ever find yourself in the imprecatory psalms praying that the Lord will come down and crush the people that are violating the standard of purity? You can and you should. We pray for people all the time, we pray somewhat superficially for them. I don't know how often you've prayed that the Lord will somehow come into the life of someone in sin and crush that sin out of them by whatever means God would choose. That's a prayer for their good, isn't it? They no longer are able to be a part of the stimulation of love and good works that Hebrews 10:24 talks about, they're rather stimulating to hate and bad works and they don't help the process of the church. As I said last time, unforgiveness tears the church to shreds cause it escalates and it spreads like a prairie fire, the bitterness of one heart to many.
So what these friends are doing is basically saying is we don't want anything to do with this guy, we're turning him over to you to discipline him. Like the Apostle Paul who came into the church at Ephesus prior to Timothy, took Hymenaeus and Alexander, turned them over to Satan so they'd learn not to blaspheme. Like the man in 1 Corinthians 5 who was having a relationship with his father's wife, an incestuous relationship, and the Apostle Paul says you have to deal with that man. He's destroying your fellowship. And so immediately the sinner is alienated from the fellowship. There must be that price. That's why church discipline says that if a man doesn't repent, you put him out, you treat him like a pagan and a tax gatherer, like an outcast. There's a price to pay for an unforgiving attitude and it is the alienation from the fellowship.
Number six, not just the alienation, that's sort of a negative side, what you can't enjoy, but there's a positive side, failure to forgive results in divine chastening...failure to forgive results in divine chastening. Not just absence from fellowship, but presence in suffering. Because what happens in verse 32 in the parable, then summoning him, after the lord has heard this from those who came and told him about what the man had done, he calls him in. He says, "You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me, should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?" and it was absolutely unthinkable the way the man was acting and his lord was moved with anger. And here is God with a holy anger against a sinning saint who willingly will accept all of his forgiveness and won't give any to anybody else. That kind of double standard, that kind of ingratitude, that kind of iniquity is very serious. The Lord is moved with anger and he hands him over to the tormentors, literally...to those who will apply stress, hardship and difficulty against him, those who will chasten him until he has rendered the true forgiveness is what I believe is meant by the last phrase in verse 34, "Until he should repay all that was owed."
What did he owe? I really believe before God he owes forgiveness. Remember James 2:13, judgment will be merciless to those who show no mercy. The unforgiving brother will satisfy God only when he forgives...until then he will feel chastening. If you are struggling in your life and you're not seeing the hand of God and the joy of God and the blessing of God in your life, and life is a real painful struggle, it may well be that you have an unforgiving heart. That is crucial.
Let me give you a number seven in our list. Number seven, the one who does not forgive, and here we come to the heart of the matter, the one who does not forgive will not forgiven. The one who does not forgive will not be forgiven.
You say, "Now wait a minute, I thought in the parable the man was forgiven everything." He was, and that's in the justifying sense, in the salvific sense. That is at the point of salvation your sins are forgiven, past, present and future, forever. Your life is secure in Christ in eternity as well as in time. That can't change. But there is beyond eternal forgiveness, which is an issue of justification, there is temporal forgiveness which is an issue of sanctification.
Let me put it to you this way. I love my wife, I love my children. In fact, it would be impossible, inconceivable to me that they could ever go beyond the bounds of my love. They could go beyond the bounds of my will, and occasionally do through the years, of course. They could go beyond the bounds of my advice, and occasionally do. But I cannot imagine they could ever go beyond the bounds of my love. In fact, the further they go beyond the bounds of my will and my desire for them, the deeper the pain, right? They would never...they would never reach a point where they would be beyond my love. It is my love that pains me out there. They could never go beyond my love because I am unconditionally committed to love them. It is not only a choice, it is all wrapped up in who I am and the emotions that I carry as a human being. Plus I think I love them with more than a human love because I love them at least in some small way with a love of Christ that is in me. So it would be inconceivable that my children could ever go beyond the pale of my love, no matter what they did in life, no matter how far they went away from the things that are precious to me, all they would do would be wound me deeply because my love would be as strong as ever.
The same would be true with God. You could never go beyond the limits of His love. You could never get outside His love and His love is that ultimate encircling that keeps you in the kingdom. They would never be...they would never cease to be my children, they would never cease to be the children of my love, no matter what they did. But, they could take themselves not...well not out of my comprehensive love, they could take themself...themselves out of the joy of our relationship, right? They could sever that.
And that, I believe, is what you have here. You have an eternal forgiveness wrapped up in justification. And you have a temporal forgiveness wrapped up in sanctification. And while on the general sense my sins are all forgiven, yet as I live my life day in and day out, if I don't forgive others, the Scripture says God doesn't forgive me. Matthew chapter 6 verses 14 and 15, Mark chapter 11 verses 25 and 26, if you don't forgive others, I won't forgive you, and it couldn't be more clear cut.
Now if we make that an issue of salvation, then salvation comes when you forgive someone else's sin. So if I forgive you your sins, I'm saved by that. That would be salvation by...what?...by works, that's not possible. So we're not talking about a salvation related, or a forgiveness related to justification or salvation but one related to sanctification. Not settling the issue of future blessing, but settling the issue of present blessing. Jesus said in the disciples' prayer, He said, "Forgive us our...pray like this...forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," and then followed that up by saying and if you don't forgive others, then I'm not going to forgive you. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be living under God's...without God's forgiveness. I don't want to be going through life knowing that I'm accumulating a temporal debt of sin against God, not that's going to cause me to lose my salvation, but that's going to cause me to lose my blessing, my joy and my peace, God's power in my life.
Sometimes you...as a pastor, I look at a lot of people, I talk to a lot of people, I meet a lot of people in the life of the church, and as I go through that, sometimes I find empty, dry, insipid, dull, joyless, powerless kind of weak Christians and very often in my heart I wonder whether all of that is because God has not forgiven them because they have not forgiven someone else. That's tragic. Forgiveness is such a wonderful, liberating thing to give. If for nothing else it frees God to forgive you and to put you back in the place of bountiful blessing.
We're to forgive then because it is like God whose children we are. We're to forgive because it's forbidden not to forgive in the command not to murder. We're to forgive because the Most High forgives, shouldn't the least? We're to forgive because we've been forgiven the greatest amount of sins, can't we forgive a few against us? We're to forgive because we will otherwise forfeit the joy of fellowship and the opportunity to experience the love of the brethren. We're to forgive or we will be chastened. And we're to forgive or we won't be forgiven and God will hold our iniquities against us in this world and we will forfeit blessing.
Just a few more, number eight, the absence of forgiveness renders us unfit to worship. The absence of forgiveness renders us unfit for worship. In Matthew chapter 5 again, familiar words coming from our Lord, "If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go your way, first be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering." To put that in modern terms, if you pulled into the parking lot at 8:15 and you arrive at the door of the auditorium at 8:25 in time for the early service, or you arrive here at 10:15 in time for this service and you remember that there's something between you and a brother that is not resolved, there is some lack of forgiveness in your heart toward that individual, stop...go back...find him in the patio, or get in your car, go there, make that right and then come back. That's what it's saying.
Don't affront God by a hypocritical kind of worship because the fact of the matter is you don't have any business worshiping God because if you're not forgiving someone else, then God's not forgiving you and you're not here with clean hands and a pure heart that's required for one who enters the holy hill, right? Don't draw near to God with the intention to worship Him if you have an unsettled grudge with someone else. Reconciliation has to proceed...precede worship. Whatever that animosity is in that relationship, if you know it's there either because you have not repented, or because you have not forgiven one who has repented, go make it right. In worship, as in prayer, if you regard iniquity in your heart according to Psalm 66:18, the Lord will not hear you. So if you want to have an unforgiving heart, your sins won't be forgiven, you can't worship and God won't answer your prayers. Now I don't know about you but that doesn't sound like a very inviting condition.
Number nine, not to forgive is to usurp the role of God. Not to forgive is to usurp the role of God. It is this, folks, is the ultimate ego trip. When you say in your heart I won't forgive, you then are saying two things...one, you're saying, "Well, God might forgive you but I have higher standards," right? You're saying, "I know, God's an easier deal than I am. God's law is not as demanding as mine." What blasphemy, what unimaginable pride.
Secondly, you're not only doing that but you're also saying, "Give me that sword, God, give me that sword." And you're taking the sword of divine judgment out of the hand of the Almighty and saying I'm going to wield this deal myself. You're rejecting Romans 12:14, 17 to 21, where it says, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord." And you're deciding God is too slow, too unjust, too indifferent, too weak, or too tolerant and you're saying, "Give me that sword, I'll do some hacking on my own." That's a blasphemous thought, isn't it?, that the absence of forgiveness is the presence of pride to the degree that you literally are usurping the role of God.
God alone can deal with sin. He has the perfect and true understanding of the offense, you're limited. He has the highest standard, your's is lower. He has the authority unlimited, you have none. He's impartial, you're not. He's omniscient and eternal, sees the end from the beginning, you don't see anything, you're short-sighted and ignorant, so am I. He's wise and good and acts in perfect holiness, and we're blinded by anger. Better keep that sword our of our hands or lots of folks are going to get hacked up and it's not going to be just. It makes no sense for me to be the judge, makes all the sense in the world for Him to be the judge. So you just say, "Vengeance belongs to the Lord," we just go about our business, forgive from the heart. And if God wants to bring some retribution, if God wants to bring some chastening, if God wants to act against that individual, let Him act.
One final point, this is very important, one final point. Your injuries and your offenses, the injuries and offenses against you, listen to this, are what mature you. The offenses against you are your trials, folks, they are your trials. All the difficulties, all the criticisms, all the injustices, all the offenses, all the persecutions, all the mistreatments, all the unkindnesses of life, all the things that people do to violate you and victimize you and whatever else, all those things all wrapped together constitute your trials. Would you agree? You say, "Oh these are the trials of life, what a trial that child is, what a trial that guy is..." They're all your trials.
Now I want to remind you something about your trials. Listen to this, James 1:3...or 1:2, "Consider it all...what?...joy, my brethren, when you encounter various...what?...trials." So you rejoice in all those sins against you. It is the opposite of an unforgiving attitude, it is a rejoicing attitude. You say, "Why am I rejoicing?" Because the testing or the trial of your faith produces endurance, and endurance has a perfect result. So, when I am assaulted and battered and abused and victimized and mistreated, and maltreated, and whatever it might be, I embrace that as God's means to my spiritual maturity.
After you have suffered a little while, 1 Peter 5:10 says the Lord make you perfect. The end of that wonderful text in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul says, "I am well content with weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions and difficulties..." Why? "For Christ's sake because when I'm weak then I'm strong." Out of all those debilitating assaults in my life, out of all of those iniquitous actions against me, all of the unjust trials, all of the beatings with rods, all of the whippings, all of the stonings, all of everything that I've endured, in it all I see the hand of God making me strong. So a proper response to sin is not bitterness, anger and revenge, it is to embrace that offense, see it as a trial that God intends to use to make you strong as you respond rightly to it.
These are the reasons why we forgive. The model of forgiveness is summed up magnificently in 1 Peter chapter 2, turn to it...1 Peter chapter 2. Verse 19 says that we should bear up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. It's going to happen in life. People are going to offend us, sin against us. Go down to verse 21, you've been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example to you to follow in His steps. Here's how he handled suffering...unjust sin, violation. He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth, so He didn't deserve the treatment He got. But listen, verse 23, "While being reviled He did not revile in return, while suffering He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously." He just gave Himself to God and said, "God, vengeance is Yours, You'll do whatever is right, You'll do whatever is just, I will not retaliate, I will not strike back, I will not utter threats, I commit Myself to You." And He even went beyond that, verse 24, He just Himself bore the very sins in His body on the cross of the people that would put Him to death. What grace, what love, and He was being wounded and offering those wounds to heal the very ones who inflicted them. That's the attitude.
He knew the purpose of God was working out in His unjust suffering. They were sinning vilely against Him. But in it all He didn't take the offense personally. He turned over the vengeance to God and sought to redeem the very people who had brought Him that unjust pain.
Summing it up, an anonymous saint long ago wrote, "Revenge indeed seems often sweet to men, but it is only sugared poison and its aftertaste is bitter as hell. Forgiving, enduring love alone is sweet and blissful. It enjoys peace in the consciousness of God's favor. By forgiving it gives away and annihilates the injury, it treats the injurer as if he had not injured and therefore feels no more the smart and sting that he inflicted. Forgiveness is a shield from which all the fiery darts of the wicked one harmlessly rebound. Forgiveness brings heaven to earth and heaven's peace into the sinful heart. Forgiveness is the image of God, the forgiving Father. Forgiveness is the advancement of Christ's Kingdom in the world."
And now, our Father, we can only ask as we conclude that what we now know about forgiveness might pass from our heads to our hearts. What we understand to be true of forgiveness and to be commanded might become the way of life. Fill us with forgiveness who have been forgiven so much. May we see the atrocities of an unforgiving attitude. And, Father, may this fellowship be a fellowship of forgivers and may we be ever and always running eagerly, passionately to embrace the penitent and not with a marginal tolerance but with a ring and a robe and a feast. May we forgive the way You forgive that the world may know that we are Your children. We pray for the glory and the honor of Your dear Son who gave His life for us, our Savior even Jesus Christ. Amen.


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Reviewed By Leo B (WALNUT CREEK, CA) Reviewed for a 1989 BMW 3-Series —8/16/2014 2:09 PM
The rear deck cover is high quality and looks very good in the back window. Gives the car a nice overall look compared to old faded original fabric. Fits well, but does allow the original fabric to be seen in the corners here and there. There are NO holes for the speakers, but could easily be cut to fit. I just left it over them as they sound the same either way. It did take a little work to get it around the rear deck tail light housing but it looks good that way.


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Valentine's Day
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Inspiring Middle School Literacy Collection
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