Thursday, March 31, 2011

Short encouraging Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements

Believer Encouragements

Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 1 April, Evening

“It is time to seek the Lord.” - Hosea 10:12

This month of April is said to derive its name from the Latin verb aperio, which signifies to open, because all the buds and blossoms are now opening, and we have arrived at the gates of the flowery year. Reader, if you are yet unsaved, may your heart, in accord with the universal awakening of nature, be opened to receive the Lord. Every blossoming flower warns you that it is time to seek the Lord; be not out of tune with nature, but let your heart bud and bloom with holy desires. Do you tell me that the warm blood of youth leaps in your veins? then, I entreat you, give your vigour to the Lord. It was my unspeakable happiness to be called in early youth, and I could fain praise the Lord every day for it. Salvation is priceless, let it come when it may, but oh! an early salvation has a double value in it. Young men and maidens, since you may perish ere you reach your prime, “It is time to seek the Lord.” Ye who feel the first signs of decay, quicken your pace: that hollow cough, that hectic flush, are warnings which you must not trifle with; with you it is indeed time to seek the Lord. Did I observe a little grey mingled with your once luxurious tresses? Years are stealing on apace, and death is drawing nearer by hasty marches, let each return of spring arouse you to set your house in order. Dear reader, if you are now advanced in life, let me entreat and implore you to delay no longer. There is a day of grace for you now-be thankful for that, but it is a limited season and grows shorter every time that clock ticks. Here in this silent chamber, on this first night of another month, I speak to you as best I can by paper and ink, and from my inmost soul, as God’s servant, I lay before you this warning, “It is time to seek the Lord.” Slight not that work, it may be your last call from destruction, the final syllable from the lip of grace.

Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 1 April, Evening

On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases

    Short encouraging Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements

    Believer Encouragements

    Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 1 April, Morning 

    “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” - Songs of Solomon 1:2

    For several days we have been dwelling upon the Saviour’s passion, and for some little time to come we shall linger there. In beginning a new month, let us seek the same desires after our Lord as those which glowed in the heart of the elect spouse. See how she leaps at once to him; there are no prefatory words; she does not even mention his name; she is in the heart of her theme at once, for she speaks of him who was the only him in the world to her. How bold is her love! it was much condescension which permitted the weeping penitent to anoint his feet with spikenard-it was rich love which allowed the gentle Mary to sit at his feet and learn of him-but here, love, strong, fervent love, aspires to higher tokens of regard, and closer signs of fellowship. Esther trembled in the presence of Ahasuerus, but the spouse in joyful liberty of perfect love knows no fear. If we have received the same free spirit, we also may ask the like. By kisses we suppose to be intended those varied manifestations of affection by which the believer is made to enjoy the love of Jesus. The kiss of reconciliation we enjoyed at our conversion, and it was sweet as honey dropping from the comb. The kiss of acceptance is still warm on our brow, as we know that he hath accepted our persons and our works through rich grace. The kiss of daily, present communion, is that which we pant after to be repeated day after day, till it is changed into the kiss of reception, which removes the soul from earth, and the kiss of consummation which fills it with the joy of heaven. Faith is our walk, but fellowship sensibly felt is our rest. Faith is the road, but communion with Jesus is the well from which the pilgrim drinks. O lover of our souls, be not strange to us; let the lips of thy blessing meet the lips of our asking; let the lips of thy fulness touch the lips of our need, and straightway the kiss will be effected.

    Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 1 April, Morning 

    On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases

      Japan's quake may impact daylight savings time

      A man draws the Japanese flag on the asphalt in central Bucharest March 25, 2011, during an event paying tribute to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.Credit: Reuters/Bogdan Cristel
      Japan's cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami, which shattered towns and altered its coastline, may also have an impact on time in the country.

      Japan may shed its decades-old allergy to daylight savings time in an effort to cut down electricity usage as it struggles to cope with a drop in power output after the strongest earthquake in its history on March 11 triggered a huge tsunami that knocked out a nuclear power plant.

      The magnitude 9.0 quake was so powerful it shifted the coastline eight feet to the east around its epicenter in the northeast, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

      Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano (right) said Friday the government would begin estimating the impact and cost of adopting daylight savings and how much support it would get from the private sector.

      Japan has had to implement rolling blackouts after the double disaster crippled the Fukushima Daiichi (after earthquake and tsunami on left) nuclear plant near the epicenter. The mismatch between supply and demand is set to widen in Japan's summer when electricity usage traditionally peaks with the use of air conditioners.

      Clocks are set one hour ahead in daylight savings time to give the day more natural daylight, thus helping to alleviate the need for artificial lighting. The sun appears to rise one hour later in the morning and set an hour later in the evening.

      Daylight savings, briefly introduced in Japan during the U.S. occupation after World War Two, has had a handful of advocates, but until now no serious government consideration.

      Opponents have cited various reasons, ranging from fears that setting the clock forward in the spring and back in the autumn would result in something akin to jet lag, to union concerns it would lead to longer job hours, given unspoken workplace practices that frown on going home before dark.

      Another hurdle is lingering bad memories after it was implemented during the Occupation with almost no preparation, resulting in mass confusion and dislocation.

      Tokyo Electric Power Co, which supplies the greater Tokyo area, said Friday power demand would exceed supply by 8.5 million kilowatts, or about 18 percent, at the end of July. A company spokesman said that the firm had yet to estimate how much power could be saved.

      "At this point we are trying to see whether the plan would be feasible or not and if it will actually be effective. We cannot come up with concrete estimates at this stage," he said.

      A group of lawmakers advocating daylight savings estimated in 2008 it would save 930,000 kiloliters of crude oil -- equivalent to all the electricity used by Japan's railroads for about 10 weeks.

      In the United States, estimates suggest that a one-hour change in time can save up to 5 percent of daily power consumption in large cities. Other studies, however, show that the one-hour change has but a negligible effect on energy demand and at times may increase it.

      Source:
      Reuters,"Japan's quake may impact daylight savings time ",accessed March 28, 2011

      Wednesday, March 30, 2011

      Short encouraging Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements

      Believer Encouragements

      Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 31 March, Evening

      “And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.” - 2  Samuel 1:10

      If the love of a woman to her slain sons could make her prolong her mournful vigil for so long a period, shall we weary of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord? She drove away the birds of prey, and shall not we chase from our meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both our minds and the sacred themes upon which we are occupied? Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave ye the sacrifice alone! She bore the heats of summer, the night dews and the rains, unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes: her heart was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her children! Shall Rizpah thus endure, and shall we start at the first little inconvenience or trial? Are we such cowards that we cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She chased away even the wild beasts, with courage unusual in her sex, and will not we be ready to encounter every foe for Jesus’ sake? These her children were slain by other hands than hers, and yet she wept and watched: what ought we to do who have by our sins crucified our Lord? Our obligations are boundless, our love should be fervent and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should be our business, to protect his honour our occupation, to abide by his cross our solace. Those ghastly corpses might well have affrighted Rizpah, especially by night, but in our Lord, at whose cross-foot we are sitting, there is nothing revolting, but everything attractive. Never was living beauty so enchanting as a dying Saviour. Jesus, we will watch with thee yet awhile, and do thou graciously unveil thyself to us; then shall we not sit beneath sackcloth, but in a royal pavilion.

      Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 31 March, Evening

      On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases

        Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

        Believer Encouragements

        Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 31 March, Morning

        “With his stripes we are healed.” - Isaiah 53:5

        Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted every here and there among the sinews; so that every time the lash came down these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration, and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Saviour was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus beaten. He had been beaten before; but this of the Roman lictors was probably the most severe of his flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep over his poor stricken body.

        Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon him without tears, as he stands before you the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once fair as the lily for innocence, and red as the rose with the crimson of his own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed healing which his stripes have wrought in us, does not our heart melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms.

        “See how the patient Jesus stands,
        Insulted in his lowest case!
        Sinners have bound the Almighty’s hands,
        And spit in their Creator’s face.
        With thorns his temples gor’d and gash’d
        Send streams of blood from every part;
        His back’s with knotted scourges lash’d.
        But sharper scourges tear his heart.”

        We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since our business calls us away, we will first pray our Beloved to print the image of his bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day, and at nightfall we will return to commune with him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost him so dear.


        Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 31 March, Morning 

        On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases

          Simon Baron-Cohen, Empathy, and the Atrocities in Afghanistan

          From Rolling Stone Magazine


          An excerpt from Simon-Baron Cohen's new book, Zero Degrees of Empathy: a New Theory of Human Cruelty, appeared as The science of empathy in the Guardian. Overall, the writing revealed him to be unempathetic in some respects, particularly with regard to people with borderline personality disorder1 (BPD):
          Unempathic acts are simply the tail end of a bell curve, found in every population on the planet. If we want to replace the term "evil" with the term "empathy", we have to understand empathy closely. The key idea is that we all lie somewhere on an empathy spectrum. People said to be "evil" or cruel are simply at one extreme of the empathy spectrum. We can all be lined up along this spectrum of individual differences, based on how much empathy we have. At one end of this spectrum we find "zero degrees of empathy".

          . . .

          Zero degrees of empathy does not strike at random in the population. There are at least three well-defined routes to getting to this end-point: borderline, psychopathic, and borderline personality disorders. I group these as zero-negative because they have nothing positive to recommend them. They are unequivocally bad for the sufferer and for those around them. Of course these are not all the sub-types that exist. Indeed, alcohol, fatigue and depression are just a few examples of states that can temporarily reduce one's empathy, and schizophrenia is another example of a medical condition that can reduce one's empathy.
          This comes after an introduction that recounts a childhood memory: when his father told him that the Nazis turned Jewish people into lampshades and soap. So people with BPD are "evil", "zero-negative" and have "zero degrees of empathy" (similar to the Nazis). This is quite a stunning characterization, in fact one that is not borne out by the literature. For example, one study showed that individuals with BPD are actually better than controls on a test of empathy designed by Baron-Cohen himself (Fertuck et al., 2009).2 That would be the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), "a measure of the capacity to discriminate the mental state of others from expressions in the eye region of the face." The study showed that:
          The BPD group performed significantly better than the HC group on the RMET, particularly for the Total Score and Neutral emotional valences. Effect sizes were in the large range for the Total Score and for Neutral RMET performance. The results could not be accounted for by demographics, co-occurring Axis I or II conditions, medication status, abuse history, or emotional state. However, depression severity partially mediated the relationship between RMET and BPD status.
          The authors concluded that this enhancement of facial emotion recognition abilities (or "enhanced sensitivity to the mental states of others") is what can get BPD persons in trouble socially. Consistent with this finding, another study found a double dissociation between two different types of empathy in BPD (Harari et al., 2010). Emotional empathy was slightly enhanced, whereas cognitive empathy was significantly impaired relative to controls.


          Fig. 1 (Preißler et al., 2010). (A) a significant group-by-type (interaction) effect [F(1,40) = 6.375, P = 0.016]. The HC group had significantly higher scores (*) in the cognitive empathy scale, whereas there was an opposite trend is observed in the BPD group.

          Cognitive empathy, or the ability to take another person's perspective, is closely related to (or even synonymous with) theory of mind. On the other hand, emotional or affective empathy is "emotional contagion" - the ability to mirror an emotional response observed in another person and to experience it vicariously. The literature on emotional empathy in BPD isn't entirely consistent, however. Although Preißler and colleagues (2010) reported preserved (but not enhanced) performance on the RMET, they observed an impairment on the “Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition” (MASC) in the BPD participants.

          In his book, Baron-Cohen also provides a case study from another population with "zero degrees of empathy" -- the psychopath:
          Paul's career of criminal behaviour had begun when he was as young as 13, when he had set fire to the school gym and sat in a tree across a field to watch it burn. He was expelled and from there went to three more schools, each time being expelled for aggression – starting fights in the playground, attacking a teacher who asked him to be quiet and even jumping on someone's head when they wouldn't let him join the football team.

          Paul [currently in jail for murder] is clearly not the kind of guy you want to live near. Many would not hesitate to describe him as "evil". He is a psychopath – a Type P – though to give him the proper diagnostic label, he has antisocial personality disorder. He earns this label because he shows "a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others that begins in childhood or adolescence, and continues into adulthood".
          This sounds similar to the description of Cpl. Jeremy Morlock in The Kill Team, a recent article in Rolling Stone on the American soldiers in Afghanistan who killed innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses. [NOTE: I am not linking directly to this article because it contains very graphic and disturbing photographs. You'll find them within the online magazine if you want to see them.] According to Rolling Stone:
          Before the military found itself short of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, Morlock was the kind of bad-news kid who the Army might have passed on. He grew up not far from Sarah Palin in Wasilla, Alaska; his sister hung out with Bristol, and Morlock played hockey against Track. Back in those days, it seemed like he was constantly in trouble: getting drunk and into fights, driving without a license, leaving the scene of a serious car accident.
          But it gets worse and escalates, just like with Paul: he committed the serious crime of spousal abuse only one month before being deployed. Unfortunately, he was only charged with "disorderly conduct" and then sent off to Afghanistan anyway:
          Even after he joined the Army, Morlock continued to get into trouble. In 2009, a month before he deployed to Afghanistan, he was charged with disorderly conduct after burning his wife with a cigarette. After he arrived in Afghanistan, he did any drug he could get his hands on: opium, hash, Ambien, amitriptyline, flexeril, phenergan, codeine, trazodone.
          So it seems that his antisocial character was well-established before he arrived in Afghanistan.3

          Come on, Professor Baron-Cohen. Surely it's a stretch to compare Nazis and callous murderers without a conscience to affectively unstable, impulsive, and interpersonally difficult individuals who may be self-destructive or manipulative?
          Clearly Type Ps differ in important ways to Type Bs, but they share the core feature of being zero-negative: their zero degrees of empathy can result in them doing cruel things to others.
          Inferring a complete lack of empathy in Marilyn Monroe (whom he diagnoses with borderline personality disorder instead of bipolar disorder) and comparing her to someone who commits war crimes is preposterous.


          Footnotes

          1 Roth and Fonagy (1996) defined BPD thusly:
          The essential feature of this disorder is a pervasive pattern of instability of self-image, interpersonal relationships and mood. The person’s sense of identity is profoundly uncertain. Interpersonal relationships are unstable and intense, fluctuating between the extremes of idealisation and devaluation. There is often a terror of being alone, with great efforts made to avoid real or imagined abandonment. Affect is extremely unstable, with marked shifts from baseline mood to depression and anxiety usually lasting a few hours. Inappropriate anger and impulsive behaviour are common, and often this behaviour is self-harming. Suicidal threats and self-mutilation are common in more severe forms of this disorder.
          2 This fact was noted by @autismcrisis, who said:
          People with enhanced empathy per Simon Baron-Cohen's test http://j.mp/eOOwph are denounced by SBC for having no empathy http://j.mp/gUNgbj
          3 Glancing at a few of the comments on the article, among the most appalled are other soldiers.


          Further Reading

          Additional posts about Borderline Personality Disorder by The Neurocritic.

          Dinah at Shrink Rap goes Over The Border Line to explain her dislike for the label.


          References

          Fertuck, E., Jekal, A., Song, I., Wyman, B., Morris, M., Wilson, S., Brodsky, B., & Stanley, B. (2009). Enhanced ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ in borderline personality disorder compared to healthy controls. Psychological Medicine, 39 (12) DOI: 10.1017/S003329170900600X

          Harari, H., Shamay-Tsoory, S., Ravid, M., & Levkovitz, Y. (2010). Double dissociation between cognitive and affective empathy in borderline personality disorder Psychiatry Research, 175 (3), 277-279 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2009.03.002

          Preißler S, Dziobek I, Ritter K, Heekeren HR, Roepke S. (2010). Social Cognition in Borderline Personality Disorder: Evidence for Disturbed Recognition of the Emotions, Thoughts, and Intentions of others. Front Behav Neurosci. 4:182.

          Roth A, Fonagy P. (1996). What Works for Whom? A Critical Review of Psychotherapy Research. London and New York: Guilford.

          Great Lakes barrier may be too weak to stop carp

          Voltage coursing through electrical barriers designed to keep invasive Asian carp (left) out of the Great Lakes may need to be raised to keep out juvenile fish, U.S. officials said on Friday.

          The Army Corps of Engineers has mounted a multi million-dollar effort to keep voracious Bighead and Silver Carp that now infest the Mississippi River Basin out of the Great Lakes, where scientists predict they could decimate the lakes' $7 billion fishery.


          "The current barrier operating parameters are effective for fish as small as 5.4 inches in length," the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a news release.

          "The research published in this report
          suggests that slightly higher operating parameters than those currently in use may be necessary to immobilize all very small Asian carp, as small as 1.7 to 3.2 inches in length."

          Juvenile carp can swim 37 miles by the time they reach 6 inches in length.

          Environmentalists and several state governments have fought to create a permanent ecological separation between the Mississippi River basin and the Great Lakes.


          The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, other federal agencies and Chicago-area governments have joined commercial shippers, sightseeing
          operators and recreational boaters in an bid to keep the waterways open.

          For now, officials say smaller, juvenile carp are well downstream from the three electrical barriers (right: how electric barriers work) on the canal that links the river system to the Great Lakes, so the two-volt current laid down by the barriers will be maintained.

          The best estimate of a potentially reproducible population of Bighead carp is 25 miles downstream from the barriers, Charles Wooley of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.

          Lock and dam structures have impeded the carp's progress, Wooley said, and agency crews will be vigilant during the summer spawning season to kill carp in the pools between dams.

          A U.S. study to be completed this spring will determine the impact on barges and barge operators if the voltage in the barriers is raised to 2.3
          volts, which laboratory tests show is sufficient to repel the juvenile carp.

          Army Corps Major General John Peabody stressed that the voltage impact on the juvenile carp was measured in a laboratory, and "needs to be validated" in the field.

          Source:
          Reuters,"Great Lakes barrier may be too weak to stop carp", by Andrew Stern , accessed March 25, 2011

          Tuesday, March 29, 2011

          Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

          Believer Encouragements

          Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 30 March, Evening

          “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.” - Lamentations 3:40

          The spouse who fondly loves her absent husband longs for his return; a long protracted separation from her lord is a semi-death to her spirit: and so with souls who love the Saviour much, they must see his face, they cannot bear that he should be away upon the mountains of Bether, and no more hold communion with them. A reproaching glance, an uplifted finger will be grievous to loving children, who fear to offend their tender father, and are only happy in his smile. Beloved, it was so once with you. A text of Scripture, a threatening, a touch of the rod of affliction, and you went to your Father’s feet, crying, “Show me wherefore thou contendest with me?” Is it so now? Are you content to follow Jesus afar off? Can you contemplate suspended communion with Christ without alarm? Can you bear to have your Beloved walking contrary to you, because you walk contrary to him? Have your sins separated between you and your God, and is your heart at rest? O let me affectionately warn you, for it is a grievous thing when we can live contentedly without the present enjoyment of the Saviour’s face. Let us labour to feel what an evil thing this is-little love to our own dying Saviour, little joy in our precious Jesus, little fellowship with the Beloved! Hold a true Lent in your souls, while you sorrow over your hardness of heart. Do not stop at sorrow! Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the cross. There, and there only, can you get your spirit quickened. No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead we may have become, let us go again in all the rags and poverty, and defilement of our natural condition. Let us clasp that cross, let us look into those languid eyes, let us bathe in that fountain filled with blood-this will bring back to us our first love; this will restore the simplicity of our faith, and the tenderness of our heart.


          Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 30 March, Evening

          On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases

            Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

            Believer Encouragements

            Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 30 March, Morning

            “He was numbered with the transgressors.” - Isaiah 53:12

            Why did Jesus suffer himself to be enrolled amongst sinners? This wonderful condescension was justified by many powerful reasons. In such a character he could the better become their advocate. In some trials there is an identification of the counsellor with the client, nor can they be looked upon in the eye of the law as apart from one another. Now, when the sinner is brought to the bar, Jesus appears there himself. He stands to answer the accusation. He points to his side, his hands, his feet, and challenges Justice to bring anything against the sinners whom he represents; he pleads his blood, and pleads so triumphantly, being numbered with them and having a part with them, that the Judge proclaims, “Let them go their way; deliver them from going down into the pit, for he hath found a ransom.” Our Lord Jesus was numbered with the transgressors in order that they might feel their hearts drawn towards him. Who can be afraid of one who is written in the same list with us? Surely we may come boldly to him, and confess our guilt. He who is numbered with us cannot condemn us. Was he not put down in the transgressor’s list that we might be written in the red roll of the saints? He was holy, and written among the holy; we were guilty, and numbered among the guilty; he transfers his name from yonder list to this black indictment, and our names are taken from the indictment and written in the roll of acceptance, for there is a complete transfer made between Jesus and his people. All our estate of misery and sin Jesus has taken; and all that Jesus has comes to us. His righteousness, his blood, and everything that he hath he gives us as our dowry. Rejoice, believer, in your union to him who was numbered among the transgressors; and prove that you are truly saved by being manifestly numbered with those who are new creatures in him.

            Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 30 March, Morning 

            On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases

              First North Pole Ozone Hole Forming?

              Spawned by strangely cold temperatures, "beautiful" clouds helped strip the Arctic atmosphere of most of its protective ozone this winter, new research shows.

              The resulting zone of low-ozone air could drift as far south as New York, according to experts who warn of increased skin-cancer risk.

              The stratosphere's global blanket of ozone—about 12 miles (20 kilometers) above Earth—blocks most of the sun's high-frequency ultraviolet (UV) rays from hitting Earth's surface, largely preventing sunburn and skin cancer. (Right: regions of atmosphere - click on image for larger view)

              But a continuing high-altitude freeze over the Arctic may have already reduced ozone to half its normal concentrations—and "an end is not in sight," said research leader Markus Rex, a physicist for the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany.

              Preliminary data from 30 ozone-monitoring stations throughout the
              The position of the polar vortex on March, 14th, 2011. Air masses exposed to ozone loss are colored in red.
              Arctic show the degree of ozone loss was larger this winter than ever before, Rex said.

              Before spring is out, "we may even get the first Arctic ozone hole ... which would be a dramatic development—one which would make it into coming history books," he said. "It's too early to call, but stay tuned."

              Atmospheric chemist Simone Tilmes, who wasn't part of the study, agreed.

              "We do not know at the moment how large the ozone hole in the Arctic
              will grow, because the thinning of the ozone layer is happening right now," said Tilmes (right), of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado.

              Full confirmation may require computer simulations and satellite measurements, which study leader Rex said would "be very useful to provide an independent view of the ozone loss this year."

              An ozone hole is an area of the ozone layer that is seasonally depleted of the protective gas—such as the well-known hole over Antarctica.

              "Beautiful" Clouds Harbor Ozone-Fighting Chemicals

              In the 1980s scientists realized chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other
              ozone-depleting chemicals—then widely used in aerosol hairsprays and refrigerants, for example—were degrading the ozone layer.

              The 1987 Montreal Protocol initiated a global phase-out of CFCs, replacing them with alternatives that don't destroy ozone. However, CFCs can persist for decades in the stratosphere—the Antarctic ozone hole is still there, though it's expected to grow smaller in coming decades.

              Once in the upper atmosphere, CFCs break down into chlorine atoms, which, when activated by sunlight, destroy ozone molecules.

              Cold temperatures speed up this process through polar stratospheric
              clouds, "beautiful" and still little understood formations that occur once stratospheric temperatures drop to at least -108 degrees Fahrenheit (-78 degrees Celsius), Rex noted.

              The clouds provide "reservoirs" for inactivated byproducts of chlorine. On the surface of the cloud, these byproducts react with each other and release "aggressive" chlorine atoms that attack ozone molecules.

              The whole process stops as soon as it gets warmer and the so-called Arctic polar vortex breaks up, Tilmes said.

              At about 6 million square miles (15 million square kilometers), or 40 times the size of Germany, the Arctic polar vortex (left) is a frigid air mass that
              circles the North Pole in winter.

              Both the North and South Poles are affected by a polar vortex. The polar vortex is a persistent large-scale cyclonic circulation pattern in the mid- to upper- troposphere and stratosphere, centered over the pole. The Arctic polar vortex is not symmetrical and features an elongated area of low pressure, called a trough, which extends over eastern North America.

              Warming Link to High-Altitude Cold Snap?

              The cold snap is no coincidence, research leader Rex added. "This is the continuation of a long-term tendency that the cold Arctic winters have become colder," Rex said.

              And global warming may drive this trend, he added. As greenhouse gases trap heat in the lower levels of the atmosphere, the higher levels tend to cool, he said.

              Of course, the "process is more complicated than this simple explanation"—there may be many ways in which greenhouse gases influence high-altitude temperatures, he added.

              Low-Ozone Air to Fly South for Spring?

              Any spike in UV radiation can impact both the Arctic ecosystem and human health, research leader Rex noted. For instance, more sunlight can
              slow the growth of certain species of ocean algae that provide food for larger organisms—and whose absence can have reverberations up the food chain.

              More worrisome, Rex said, is that ozone-depleted air can catch a ride south to more highly populated areas with the Arctic polar vortex.

              Low-ozone air is often pushed southward to 40 or 45 degrees latitude by natural atmospheric disturbances, Rex said. A low-ozone air mass's
              southern "excursions" can take it as far as northern Italy in Europe or New York or San Francisco in the United States, he said.

              The rapidly shifting vortex might last into April, when people are starting
              to spend more time outside, NCAR's Tilmes noted.

              "A good message for people [is] to just be aware that this is a year where ozone will be likely thinner this spring. You should watch out for your skin and put on your sunscreen."

              Rex noted that, however, that since the mass is constantly moving, low-ozone episodes would only last a few days in a given region.

              Rex also said this winter's decline in ozone doesn't mean that the
              Montreal Protocol isn't doing its job. "People could mistake that and say we have banned CFCs and [it] doesn't seem to work," he said. "That's not the case. It's just the timescale—CFCs take so long to disappear from the atmosphere."

              Source:
              National Geographic,"First North Pole Ozone Hole Forming?",accessed March 25, 2011

              Monday, March 28, 2011

              Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

              Believer Encouragements

              Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 29 March, Evening

              “I called him, but he gave me no answer.” - Song of Solomon 5:6

              Prayer sometimes tarrieth, like a petitioner at the gate, until the King cometh forth to fill her bosom with the blessings which she seeketh. The Lord, when he hath given great faith, has been known to try it by long delayings. He has suffered his servants’ voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky. They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained immovable, as though it were rusted upon its hinges. Like Jeremiah, they have cried, “Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.” Thus have true saints continued long in patient waiting without reply, not because their prayers were not vehement, nor because they were unaccepted, but because it so pleased him who is a Sovereign, and who gives according to his own pleasure. If it pleases him to bid our patience exercise itself, shall he not do as he wills with his own! Beggars must not be choosers either as to time, place, or form. But we must be careful not to take delays in prayer for denials: God’s long-dated bills will be punctually honoured; we must not suffer Satan to shake our confidence in the God of truth by pointing to our unanswered prayers. Unanswered petitions are not unheard. God keeps a file for our prayers-they are not blown away by the wind, they are treasured in the King’s archives. This is a registry in the court of heaven wherein every prayer is recorded. Tried believer, thy Lord hath a tear-bottle in which the costly drops of sacred grief are put away, and a book in which thy holy groanings are numbered. By-and-by, thy suit shall prevail. Canst thou not be content to wait a little? Will not thy Lord’s time be better than thy time? By-and-by he will comfortably appear, to thy soul’s joy, and make thee put away the sackcloth and ashes of long waiting, and put on the scarlet and fine linen of full fruition.

              Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 29 March, Evening

              On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases

                Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

                Believer Encouragements

                Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 29 March, Morning

                “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” - Hebrew 5:8

                We are told that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, therefore we who are sinful, and who are far from being perfect, must not wonder if we are called to pass through suffering too. Shall the head be crowned with thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon the dainty lap of ease? Must Christ pass through seas of his own blood to win the crown, and are we to walk to heaven dryshod in silver slippers? No, our Master’s experience teaches us that suffering is necessary, and the true-born child of God must not, would not, escape it if he might. But there is one very comforting thought in the fact of Christ’s “being made perfect through suffering”-it is, that he can have complete sympathy with us. “He is not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” In this sympathy of Christ we find a sustaining power. One of the early martyrs said, “I can bear it all, for Jesus suffered, and he suffers in me now; he sympathizes with me, and this makes me strong.” Believer, lay hold of this thought in all times of agony. Let the thought of Jesus strengthen you as you follow in his steps. Find a sweet support in his sympathy; and remember that, to suffer is an honourable thing-to suffer for Christ is glory. The apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to do this. Just so far as the Lord shall give us grace to suffer for Christ, to suffer with Christ, just so far does he honour us. The jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the kings whom God hath anointed are their troubles, their sorrows, and their griefs. Let us not, therefore, shun being honoured. Let us not turn aside from being exalted. Griefs exalt us, and troubles lift us up. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.”

                Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 29 March, Morning

                On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases

                  Arctic sea ice ties for smallest area this winter

                  The 2011 Arctic sea ice extent maximum that marks the beginning of the melt season appears to be tied with that for 2006 for the least amount of ice ever measured by satellites, say scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center.

                  Sea ice on the Arctic Ocean usually starts growing in September and hits its maximum area in February or March. The CU-Boulder research team believes the lowest annual maximum ice extent of 5,650,000 square miles (14.64 million square km) occurred on March 7. The maximum ice extent was 463,000 square miles below the 1979-2000 average, an area slightly larger than the states of Texas and California combined. The 2011 measurements were tied with those from 2006 as the lowest maximum sea ice extents measured since satellite record keeping began in 1979.

                  That area of ice-covered water is 471,000 square miles (1.2 million square km) below the average maximum ice extent observed by satellites from 1979 to 2000, the center said in a statement.

                  The seven lowest maximum Arctic sea ice extents measured by satellites all have occurred in the last seven years, said CU-Boulder Research Scientist Walt Meier (left) of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, who participated in the latest study. "I'm not surprised by the new data because we've seen a downward trend in winter sea ice extent for some time now."

                  As of Tuesday, March 22, the extent of the ice had shrunk for five straight days, but there is a chance it could expand again, the center said.

                  "Sea ice extent in February and March tends to be quite variable, because
                  ice near the edge is thin and often quite dispersed," the statement read.

                  This thin ice is sensitive to weather, which can make it move or melt quickly, and it often stays around the maximum for days or weeks, as it has done this year.

                  Arctic sea ice extent -- the area the ice covers in summer and winter -- is one measure scientists use to track changes in global climate. Virtually all climate scientists believe shrinking Arctic sea ice is tied to warming temperatures in the region caused by an increase in human-produced
                  greenhouse gases being pumped into Earth's atmosphere. Because of the spiraling downward trend of Arctic sea ice extent in the last decade, some CU scientists are predicting the Arctic Ocean may be ice free in the summers within the next several decades.

                  Scientists believe Arctic sea ice functions like an air conditioner for the global climate system by naturally cooling air and water masses, playing a key role in ocean circulation and reflecting solar radiation back into
                  space, said Meier. In the Arctic summer months, sunlight is absorbed by the growing amounts of open water, raising surface temperatures and causing more ice to melt.
                  "I think one of the reasons the Arctic sea ice maximum extent is declining is that the autumn ice growth is delayed by warmer temperatures and the ice extent is not able to 'catch up' through the winter," said Meier. "In addition, the clock runs out on the annual ice growth season as temperatures start to rise along with the sun during the spring months."
                  Since satellite record keeping began in 1979, the maximum Arctic sea ice extent has occurred as early as Feb. 18 and as late as March 31, with an average date of March 6. (At left: 2011 Greenland ice) Since the CU-Boulder researchers determine the maximum sea ice extent using a five-day running average, there is small chance the data could change.

                  In early April (approximately the second week of April) CU-Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center will issue a formal announcement on the 2011 maximum sea ice extent with a full analysis of the winter ice growth season, including graphics comparing 2011 to the long-term record.

                  Source:
                  Reuters,"Arctic sea ice ties for smallest area this winter", accessed March 24, 2011
                  RedOrbit, "Arctic Sea Ice Loss Continuing", accessed March 25, 2011

                  Sunday, March 27, 2011

                  Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

                  Believer Encouragements

                  Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 28 March, Evening

                  “I will accept you with your sweet savour.” - Ezekiel 20:41

                  The merits of our great Redeemer are as sweet savour to the Most High. Whether we speak of the active or passive righteousness of Christ, there is an equal fragrance. There was a sweet savour in his active life by which he honoured the law of God, and made every precept to glitter like a precious jewel in the pure setting of his own person. Such, too, was his passive obedience, when he endured with unmurmuring submission, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and at length sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane, gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked out the hair, and was fastened to the cruel wood, that he might suffer the wrath of God in our behalf. These two things are sweet before the Most High; and for the sake of his doing and his dying, his substitutionary sufferings and his vicarious obedience, the Lord our God accepts us. What a preciousness must there be in him to overcome our want of preciousness! What a sweet savour to put away our ill savour! What a cleansing power in his blood to take away sin such as ours! and what glory in his righteousness to make such unacceptable creatures to be accepted in the Beloved! Mark, believer, how sure and unchanging must be our acceptance, since it is in him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ; but, when you have received his merit, you cannot be unaccepted. Notwithstanding all your doubts, and fears, and sins, Jehovah’s gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though he sees sin in you, in yourself, yet when he looks at you through Christ, he sees no sin. You are always accepted in Christ, are always blessed and dear to the Father’s heart. Therefore lift up a song, and as you see the smoking incense of the merit of the Saviour coming up, this evening, before the sapphire throne, let the incense of your praise go up also.

                  Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 28 March, Evening

                  On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases

                    Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

                    Believer Encouragements

                    Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 28 March, Morning 

                    “The love of Christ which passeth knowledge.” - Ephesians 3:19

                    The love of Christ in its sweetness, its fulness, its greatness, its faithfulness, passeth all human comprehension. Where shall language be found which shall describe his matchless, his unparalleled love towards the children of men? It is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the water, and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath. Well might the poet say,

                    “O love, thou fathomless abyss!”

                    for this love of Christ is indeed measureless and fathomless; none can attain unto it. Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand his previous glory in its height of majesty, and his incarnation upon the earth in all its depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ? When he was enthroned in the highest heavens he was very God of very God; by him were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof. His own almighty arm upheld the spheres; the praises of cherubim and seraphim perpetually surrounded him; the full chorus of the hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the foot of his throne: he reigned supreme above all his creatures, God over all, blessed for ever. Who can tell his height of glory then? And who, on the other hand, can tell how low he descended? To be a man was something, to be a man of sorrows was far more; to bleed, and die, and suffer, these were much for him who was the Son of God; but to suffer such unparalleled agony-to endure a death of shame and desertion by his Father, this is a depth of condescending love which the most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom. Herein is love! and truly it is love that “passeth knowledge.” O let this love fill our hearts with adoring gratitude, and lead us to practical manifestations of its power.

                    Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 28 March, Morning

                    On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases


                    Hawaii wildfire threatens protected rainforest

                    Specialized firefighting teams Wednesday battled a remote wildfire touched off by the eruption of the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island, which has burned some 2,000 acres of national park land.

                    The fire threatens a fragile, protected rain forest, officials said.

                    Authorities do not know when they will be able to contain the spreading fire, which was being fanned by strong, gusty trade winds, said Gary Wuchner, a spokesman for the National Park Service.

                    "It's a very remote fire," he said. "We just can't get to it."


                    Specialized firefighting teams from western U.S. states arrived to battle the blaze, some to rappel into fire-stricken areas and others to fight the fire on the ground along its perimeters, he said.

                    Firefighters also dropped water on hot spots from helicopters, Wuchner said.

                    The wildfire was caused by lava from the March 5 eruption of the volcano's Kamoamoa fissure, (left) and is burning about seven miles southeast
                    of the Kilauea Visitor Center, located on the volcano's east rift in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

                    Authorities hope to protect a lowland rain forest on the east rift that is home to endangered Hawaiian bats, happy face spiders, carnivorous caterpillars and Hawaiian honeycreepers, all found only in Hawaii, the park service said.

                    Because of the rain forest, firefighters have opted not to let the fire simply burn itself out, Wuchner said.


                    "It's a remnant forest and if we lose it, it's gone forever," Wuchner said. The wildfire is only about three-quarters of a mile from the forest boundary, he said. "It's pretty close," he said. The fire has burned about 2,000 acres, Wuchner said.

                    Kilauea is one of five volcanoes that formed the Big Island, officially known as the island of Hawaii. Periodic eruptions of the volcano have destroyed 213 homes since the volcano emerged from a period of dormancy in 1983.

                    The latest episode began with the collapse of the floor of the Pu'u O'o crater and opening of the 535-yard-long Kamoamoa fissure on March 5.


                    Source:
                    Reuters,"Hawaii wildfire threatens protected rainforest", accessed March 22, 2011

                    Saturday, March 26, 2011

                    Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

                    Believer Encouragements

                    Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 27 March, Evening

                    “And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.”
                    - Matthew 15:27

                    This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking GREAT THOUGHTS OF CHRIST. The Master had talked about the children’s bread: “Now,” argued she, “since thou art the Master of the table of grace, I know that thou art a generous housekeeper, and there is sure to be abundance of bread on thy table; there will be such an abundance for the children that there will be crumbs to throw on the floor for the dogs, and the children will fare none the worse because the dogs are fed.” She thought him one who kept so good a table that all that she needed would only be a crumb in comparison; yet remember, what she wanted was to have the devil cast out of her daughter. It was a very great thing to her, but she had such a high esteem of Christ, that she said, “It is nothing to him, it is but a crumb for Christ to give.” This is the royal road to comfort. Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ will pilot you into the haven of peace. “My sins are many, but oh! it is nothing to Jesus to take them all away. The weight of my guilt presses me down as a giant’s foot would crush a worm, but it is no more than a grain of dust to him, because he has already borne its curse in his own body on the tree. It will be but a small thing for him to give me full remission, although it will be an infinite blessing for me to receive it.” The woman opens her soul’s mouth very wide, expecting great things of Jesus, and he fills it with his love. Dear reader, do the same. She confessed what Christ laid at her door, but she laid fast hold upon him, and drew arguments even out of his hard words; she believed great things of him, and she thus overcame him.

                    SHE WON THE VICTORY BY BELIEVING IN HIM. Her case is an instance of prevailing faith; and if we would conquer like her, we must imitate her tactics.

                    Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 27 March, Evening

                    On this site you can also find: Encouragements for Christian / Christian encouragements / Encouragements Quotes / Poem encouraging believers / Christian encouragement quotes / simple Christian sermons on encouragement / christian encouragements / biblical sermon on encouragement / Christian bookmark templates / 2010 Christian calendar template / Free printable Bible quotes / Free encouraging sermons / Biblical verse of encouragement for the believers and sermons / Free Christian encouraging images / Free christian encouraging pictures /  Christian encouragements phrases


                    Pharmacological Misinformation Foisted on Unsuspecting Public



                    An article from January is making the rounds again. One in nextgov's exposé-like series on America's Broken Warriors, it highlighted the fact that 20% of U.S. active duty troops are on psychotropic medications. While this may not be a good thing, the article was filled with erroneous information about specific psych meds and general scare-mongering from antipsychiatry "experts" pitching their books. Let's take a look.
                    Military's drug policy threatens troops' health, doctors say

                    By Bob Brewin 01/18/2011

                    Army leaders are increasingly concerned about the growing use and abuse of prescription drugs by soldiers, but a Nextgov investigation shows a U.S. Central Command policy that allows troops a 90- or 180-day supply of highly addictive psychotropic drugs before they deploy to combat contributes to the problem.

                    The CENTCOM Central Nervous System Drug formulary includes drugs like Valium and Xanax, used to treat depression, as well as the antipsychotic Seroquel, originally developed to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, mania and depression.
                    1. Valium (diazepam) and Xanax (alprazolam) are not used to treat depression. These sedative-hypnotic benzodiazepine medications are primarily used to treat anxiety disorders.

                    2. The atypical antipsychotic Seroquel (quetiapine) was originally developed to treat schizophrenia, although now it is prescribed for bipolar disorder and major depression. Off-label usage of quetiapine, including as a sleep aid, is controversial and I won't be discussing it further here. That topic could easily take up several posts of its own.

                    The article continues:
                    A June 2010 internal report from the Defense Department's Pharmacoeconomic Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio showed that 213,972, or 20 percent of the 1.1 million active-duty troops surveyed, were taking some form of psychotropic drug: antidepressants, antipsychotics, sedative hypnotics, or other controlled substances.

                    Dr. Grace Jackson, a former Navy psychiatrist, told Nextgov she resigned her commission in 2002 "out of conscience, because I did not want to be a pill pusher." She believes psychotropic drugs have so many inherent dangers that "the CENTCOM CNS formulary is destroying the force," she said.
                    Here we see Dr. Jackson's antipsychiatry agenda first established. All psych drugs are bad. Also note that Dr. Jackson resigned in 2002, before the war in Iraq began on March 20, 2003. So she doesn't have first hand experience with current prescribing practices or the effects of these medications on troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is what the article is about.

                    We also have quotes from one of the leading antipsychiatry advocates, Dr. Peter Breggin:
                    Dr. Peter Breggin, an Ithaca, N.Y., psychiatrist who testified before a House Veterans Affairs Committee last September on the relationship between medication and veterans' suicides, said flatly, "You should not send troops into combat on psychotropic drugs." Medications on the CENTCOM CNS formulary can cause loss of judgment and self-control and could result in increased violence and suicidal impulses, Breggin said.
                    Dr. Breggin's credibility as an expert witness has been repeatedly questioned, however. I agree that mentally ill troops should not be sent into combat, but will also point out that untreated and unmedicated psychiatric disorders in a war zone can cause increases in violence and suicidal behavior.

                    Back to Dr. Jackson:
                    Jackson, the former Navy psychiatrist, now has a civilian practice in Greensboro, N.C. She said at least one drug on the CENTCOM formulary -- Depakote, an anticonvulsant, which military doctors prescribe for mood control -- carries serious physical risks for troops.
                    Really? Depakote (valproic acid) is an antiseizure medication also used to treat bipolar disorder. I would like to see statistics on how frequently it's prescribed for "mood control" in soldiers without bipolar disorder.1
                    Depakote is toxic to certain cells, including hair cells in the ears, and can lead to hearing loss. Troops in a howitzer battery who already run the risk of hearing loss should not take Depakote, she said.
                    3. Depakote is certainly not without its adverse effects, but hearing loss is an extremely rare side effect.2 In a study of 21 patients taking valproic acid (VPA) to control seizures, there were no differences in hearing thresholds between 125 and 16,000 Hz compared to age- and sex-matched controls (Incecik et al., 2007). In addition, there was no relationship between duration or dosage of drug and hearing levels.
                    The medication also can cause what she calls "cognitive toxicity," also known as Depakote dementia, impairing a person's ability to think and make decisions. Jackson said that while Depakote has been investigated as an adjunct therapy for cancer, its use has been limited due to the drug's effects on cognition.
                    4. Contrary to the notion of "Depakote dementia", VPA has been recognized for its potential to treat Alzheimer's disease (Nalivaeva et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2010). VPA is a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor that might be able to prevent amyloid-beta aggregation in Alzheimer's disease by increasing the expression of clusterin, or apolipoprotein J (Nuutinen et al., 2010). This would in turn prevent the accumulation of amyloid plaques, a pathological feature in the brains of those with Alzheimer's.

                    While it's possible that VPA could produce impairments in some cognitive domains, proper studies are difficult because you have to control for the length of illness in untreated patients (since cognitive deficits can be caused by the disorder itself). One such report on currently medicated (n=33) and currently unmedicated (n=32) participants with bipolar depression failed to find group differences in visual memory and sustained attention (Holmes et al., 2008). Unfortunately, this study collapsed across participants on lithium and valproic acid. Further, the groups weren't matched on age, sex, and depression scores. Finally, the medicated individuals were more depressed, which might be expected to worsen performance on its own.

                    A double-blind cross-over design in healthy controls administered a relatively high dose of VPA for two weeks (800 mg the first week, 1,000 mg the second). There were no changes in memory, concentration, perceptual speed, motor speed, and subjective ratings relative to placebo (Trimble & Thompson, 1981). The drug did, however, slow response times in a category decision task. A review of the literature on cognition and anticonvulsants concluded: "Overall, deficits are subtle, especially in the therapeutic range" for valproic acid (Goldberg & Burdick, 2001). Not exactly a ringing endorsement for cognitive toxicity and Depakote dementia.

                    On to the next drug:
                    The antidepressant Wellbutrin, also on the CENTCOM formulary, likely poses a long-term risk of Parkinson's disease, especially for older troops, said Jackson, author of Drug-Induced Dementia: A Perfect Crime (AuthorHouse, 2009).
                    5. I found no published, peer-reviewed evidence that the antidepressant Wellbutrin (bupropion) increases the long-term risk of developing Parkinson's disease. [Guess we'll have to buy her book to find out why she said that.] Bupropion is a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor, unlike the better known selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). A few reports have actually recommended buproprion for treating depression, panic disorder, and compulsive behaviors in patients with Parkinson's disease (Benincasa et al., 2010; Gebhardt et al., 2008; Załuska & Dyduch, 2011), although the lack of double-blind placebo-controlled studies was acknowledged.

                    I did find a few case reports that bupropion can induce a parkinsonian-like condition within a week or two, especially in elderly patients, that abates upon discontinuation (Szuba et al., 1992; Cheng et al., 2009). This is not the same thing as increasing long-term risk for Parkinson's in "older troops" given the drug.

                    I think I'll stop for now. The rest of the article covers the addiction potential of alprazolam (well-supported by the literature), the dangers of quetiapine (an issue not discussed here), and an unsupported statement from Jackson that "Seroquel has the addictive potential of opioids, such heroin."

                    Although these psychotropic medications are not without their risks and adverse side-effects, neither are they a societal evil capable of producing a military force of deaf, demented, and parkinsonian troops.


                    Footnotes

                    1 VPA has been shown to be ineffective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (Davis et al., 2008; Hamner et al., 2009).

                    2 The ototoxicity of VPA was not mentioned in this 233 page book on Otoxtoxicity (PDF) or in this review of ototoxic drugs.


                    References

                    Benincasa D, Pellicano C, Fanciulli A, Pontieri FE. (2011) Bupropion abates dopamine agonist-mediated compulsive behaviors in Parkinson's disease. Mov Disord. 26:355-7.

                    Cheng WC, Liu CM, Hsieh MH, Hwang TJ. (2009). Bupropion-related parkinsonism and dystonia. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 29:616-8.

                    Gebhardt S, Röttgers H, Bäcker A, Schu U, Krieg JC. (2008). Treatment of panic disorder with bupropion in a patient with Parkinson's disease. J Clin Pharm Ther. 33:575-7.

                    Goldberg JF, Burdick KE. (2001). Cognitive side effects of anticonvulsants. J Clin Psychiatry 62 Suppl 14:27-33.

                    Holmes MK, Erickson K, Luckenbaugh DA, Drevets WC, Bain EE, Cannon DM, Snow J, Sahakian BJ, Manji HK, & Zarate CA Jr (2008). A comparison of cognitive functioning in medicated and unmedicated subjects with bipolar depression. Bipolar disorders, 10 (7), 806-15 PMID: 19032712

                    Incecik F, Akoglu E, Sangün O, Melek I, & Duman T (2007). Effects of valproic acid on hearing in epileptic patients. International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology, 71 (4), 611-4 PMID: 17270285

                    Nalivaeva NN, Belyaev ND, Turner AJ. (2009). Sodium valproate: an old drug with new roles. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 30:509-14.

                    Nuutinen T, Suuronen T, Kauppinen A, Salminen A. (2010). Valproic acid stimulates clusterin expression in human astrocytes: Implications for Alzheimer's disease. Neurosci Lett. 475:64-8.

                    Szuba MP, Leuchter AF. (1992). Falling backward in two elderly patients taking bupropion. J Clin Psychiatry 53:157-9.

                    Thompson PJ, Trimble MR (1981). Sodium valproate and cognitive functioning in normal volunteers. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 12 (6), 819-24 PMID: 6803819

                    Załuska M, Dyduch A. (2011). Bupropion in the treatment of depression in Parkinson's disease. Int Psychogeriatr. 23:325-7.

                    Zhang XZ, Li XJ, Zhang HY. (2010). Valproic acid as a promising agent to combat Alzheimer's disease. Brain Res Bull. 81:3-6.