Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce empathized with Dallas Cowboys star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb about fighting the sun glare at AT&T Stadium.

But this book by Johnson and Vanvonderen is different. Drawing upon years of ministry experience as pastor and counselor (respectively), they examine the fine line between Biblical leadership and abuse. Without mentioning groups or demonizing those involved, they discuss how well-intentioned leadership can have abusive effects. This "high road" approach is highly helpful in identifying some of the critical factors that have led to harsh and harmful leadership in churches. -- Marks of a Spiritually Unhealthy Environment: For example, the authors identify the marks of a spiritually unhealthy system. I'd like to include these here as a sample of how the authors address these issues. (The following consists of verbatim citations of copyrighted material from Chapter 5,6 of "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse.") -- 1. Power-Posturing: Power-posturing simply means leaders spend a lot of time focused on their own authority and reminding others of it, as well. They spend a lot of energy posturing about how much authority they have and how much everyone else is supposed to submit to it. The fact that they are eager to place people under them-- under their word, under their "authority"-- is one easy-to-spot clue that they are operating in their own authority. -- 2. Performance Preoccupation: In abusive spiritual systems, power is postured and authority is legislated. Therefore, these systems are preoccupied with the performance of their members. Obedience and submission are two important words often used. The way to tell if someone is doing the right thing for the wrong reason is if they are keeping track of it. Let's say that another way. If obedience and service is flowing out of you as a result of your own dependence on God alone, you won't keep track of it with an eye toward reward, you'll just do it. But if you're preoccupied with whether you've done enough to please God, then you're not looking at Him, you're looking at your own works. And you're also concerned about who else might be looking at you, evaluating you. What would anyone keep track of their godly behavior unless they were trying to earn spiritual points because of it? For many reasons, followers sometimes obey or follow orders to avoid being shamed, to gain someone's approval, or to keep their spiritual status or position intact. This is not true obedience or submission, it is compliant self-seeking. When behavior is simply legislated from the outside, instead of coming from a heart that loves God, it cannot be called obedience. It is merely weak compliance to some form of external pressure. -- 3. Unspoken Rules: In abusive spiritual systems, people's lives are controlled from the outside in by rules, spoken and unspoken. Unspoken rules are those that govern unhealthy churches or families but are not said out loud. Because they are not said out loud, you don't find out that they're there until you break them. The most powerful of all unspoken rules in the abusive system is what we have already termed the "can't talk" rule. The "can't talk" [rule] has this thinking behind it: "The real problem cannot be exposed because then it would have to be dealt with and things would have to change; so it must be protected behind walls of silence (neglect) or by assault (legalistic attack). If you speak about the problem, you are the problem. -- 4. Lack of Balance: The fourth characteristic of a spiritual abusive system is an unbalanced approach to living out the truth of the Christian life. This shows itself in two extremes: Extreme Objectivism - The first extreme is an empirical approach to life, which elevates objective truth to the exclusion of valid subjective experience. This approach to spirituality creates a system in which authority is based upon the level of education and intellectual capacity alone, rather than on intimacy with God, obedience and sensitivity to His Spirit. Extreme Subjectivism - The other manifestation of lack of balance is seen in an extremely subjective approach to the Christian life. What is true is decided on the basis of feelings and experiences, giving more weight to them than what the Bible declares. In this system, people can't know or understand truths (even if they really do understand or know them) until the leaders "receive them by spiritual revelation from the Lord" and "impart" them to the people. In such systems, it is more important to act according to the word of a leader who has "a word" for you than to act according to what you know to be true from Scripture, or simply from your spiritual growth-history. As with the extreme objective approach, Christians who are highly subjective also have a view of education-- most often, that education is bad or unnecessary. There is almost a pride in not being educated, and a disdain for those who are. Everything that is needed is taught through the Holy Spirit. ("After all, Peter and Timothy didn't go to college or seminary...") -- 5. Paranoia: In the church that is spiritually abusive, there is a sense, spoken or unspoken, that "others will not understand what we're all about, so let's not let them know-- that way they won't be able to ridicule or persecute us." There is an assumption that (1) what we say, know, or do is a result of our being more enlightened that others; (2) others will not understand unless they become one of us; and (3) others will respond negatively. In a place where authority is grasped and legislated, not simply demonstrated, persecution sensitivity builds a case for keeping everything within the system. Why? Because of the evil, dangerous, or unspiritual people outside of the system who are trying to weaken or destroy "us." This mentality builds a strong wall or bunker around the abusive system, isolates the abusers from scrutiny and accountability, and makes it more difficult for people to leave-- because they will then be outsiders too. While it is true that there is a world of evil outside of the system, there is also good out there. But people are misled into thinking that the only safety is in the system. Ironically, Jesus and Paul both warned that one of the worst dangers to the flock was from wolves in the house (Matthew 10:16, Acts 20:29-30). -- 6. Misplaced Loyalty: The next characteristic of spiritually abusive systems is that a misplaced sense of loyalty is fostered and even demanded. We're not talking about loyalty to Christ, but about loyalty to a given organization, church, or leader. Once again, because authority is assumed or legislated (and therefore not real), following must be legislated as well. A common way this is accomplished is by setting up a system where disloyalty to or disagreement with the leadership is construed as the same thing as disobeying God. Questioning leaders is equal to questioning God. "We Alone Are Right" There are three factors that come into place here, adding up to a misplaced loyalty. First, leadership projects a "we alone are right" mentality, which permeates the system. Members must remain in the system if they want to be "safe," or to stay "on good terms" with God, or not be viewed as wrong or "backslidden." - Scare Tactics - The second factor that brings about misplaced loyalty is the use of "scare tactics." We're already seen this in some of the paranoia described in the last section. Scare tactics are more serious. This is more than just the risk of being polluted by the world. We have counseled many Christians who, after deciding to leave their church, were told horrifying things. "God is going to withdraw His Spirit from you and your family." "God will destroy your business." "Without our protection, Satan will get your children." "You and your family will come under a curse." This is spiritual blackmail and it's abuse. And it does cause people to stay in abusive places. - Humiliation - The third method of calling forth misplaced loyalty is the threat of humiliation. This is done by publicly shaming, exposing, or threatening to remove people from the group. Unquestionably, there is a place for appropriate church discipline. In the abusive system, it is the fear of being exposed, humiliated or removed that insures your proper allegiance, and insulates those in authority. You can be "exposed" for asking too many questions, for disobeying the unspoken rules, or for disagreeing with authority. People are made public examples in order to send a message to those who remain. Others have phone campaigns launched against them, to warn their friends and others in the group about how "dangerous" they are. -- 7. Secretive: When you see people in a religious system being secretive-- watch out. People don't hide what is appropriate; they hide what is inappropriate. One reason spiritual abusive families and churches are secretive is because they are so image conscious. People in these systems can't even live up to their own performance standards, so they have to hide what is real. Some believe they must do this to protect God's good name. So how things look and what others think becomes more important than what's real. They become God's "public relations agents." The truth is, He's not hiring anyone for this position. Another reason for secrecy in a church is that the leadership has a condescending, negative view of the laity. This results in conspiracies on the leadership level. They tell themselves, "People are not mature enough to handle truth." This is patronizing at best. Conspiracies also develop among the lay people. Since it is not all right [sic] to notice or talk about problems, people form conspiracies behind closed doors and over the telephone as they try to solve things informally. But since they have no authority, they solve, and solve, and solve-- but nothing really gets solved. And all the while, building God's true kingdom is put on hold. -- Conclusion: I hope that what I have cited gets your attention and motivates you to read this book. The subtle patterns of unhealthy characteristics are discussed in a way that actually helps people identify them, resist them, and recover from them. Copyright © 2000 John Engler. All rights reserved. The Barnabas Ministry

Clement was born probably c. 150 A.D. of heathen parentage at Athens. The circumstances of his conversion are not known. It is supposed that he was troubled, like Justin, by the problem of God and, like him, was attracted to Christianity by the nobility and purity of the evangelical doctrines and morals. His conversion, if it had not yet taken place, was at least imminent when he undertook the journeys spoken of in his writings. He set out from Greece and travelled through southern Italy, Palestine, and finally Egypt, seeking everywhere the society of Christian teachers. -- Towards 180 A.D., he met Pantaenus at Alexandria, and took up his permanent residence in that city. There he was ordained a presbyter and, from being a disciple of Pantaenus, became, in 190, his associate and fellow-teacher. In 202 A.D. or 203 A.D., he was forced to suspend his lessons on account of the persecution of Septimius Severus, which closed the Christian school of Alexandria. He withdrew into Cappadocia, residing there with his former disciple, Bishop Alexander. We meet him again in 211 A.D., carrying to the Christians of Antioch a letter from Alexander, in which are mentioned the services he, Clement, had rendered in Cappadocia.-- In 215 A.D. or 216 A.D.the same Alexander, now bishop of Jerusalem, writes to Origen and speaks of Clement as having gone to his rest. Clement must therefore have died between 211 A.D. and 216 A.D. Ancient authors speak of him as St. Clement, but his name was not admitted to the Roman Martyrology by Benedict XIV.

Salary.com, the leading SaaS provider of cloud-based compensation data and analytics, today released the results of its eighth annual U.S. and Canada National Salary Budget Survey – revealing, for the eighth year in a row, that annual salary increase budgets are expected to remain flat at 3% for the upcoming year.

Exercise and healthy lifestyle choices to defy your age, look and feel great no matter what age.

Landscape plant propagation and plant propagating. Learn easy propagation and propagating techniques.

Popular Delhi brand Cottons and Satins brings its elegant upholstery with floral and animal motifs to Chennai’s Khader Nawaz Khan Road

Fr. Ted reminds us that the Divine Liturgy is a meal—an entering into the eternal reality of the Mystical Supper of Jesus Christ.

Casper Ruud stuns an out-of-sorts Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP Finals, before Alexander Zverev beats Andrey Rublev.

Daniil Medvedev was able to "block the noise" following a temper tantrum in his previous match and moved back into contention at the ATP Finals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alex de Minaur on Tuesday.

Late in the second set of his victory over Taylor Fritz at the ATP Finals on Tuesday, Jannik Sinner used all the adulation in his home country to his advantage.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown C-suite leaders the value of safety professionals.

Exploring Millionaires' Dating Preferences: The Importance of Video Content in Building Emotional Connections

The recent antitrust lawsuit inadvertently highlighted something interesting during the trial. The plaintiffs’ attorney successfully argued that the whole real estate industry engaged in collusion and price-fixing. As real estate professionals, we know that isn’t true, right? Here’s the interesting part: Those attorneys who will be paid on contingency literally make their money in exactly…

The post Taking a Closer Look at Attorney Contingencies Vs. Agent Commissions appeared first on RISMedia.

The home now has a 3.9 kW solar array that offsets nearly 100% of the System M and grid power supplied from the clean-sourced ConEd program — meaning that the house has zero emission heating, cooling, and hot water.

Washington, D.C. -- Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt will participate in a fireside chat on the NAB Show Main Stage on April 25, 2022 at 10 a.m. in Las Vegas, Nev.

COPENHAGEN, 29 June 2016 – Following the suicide bombings yesterday at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, killing at least 36, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement:

“I condemn in the strongest terms yesterday’s horrific suicide bombings at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. This sort of indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians is absolutely unacceptable, and my deepest sympathies go out to the victims, their families, and the people and government of Turkey.

“As the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is set to gather in Tbilisi, Georgia, for its 25th Annual Session later this week, I urge all of us to recommit ourselves to building a more stable, secure and peaceful world, and to redouble our efforts to fighting terrorism in all its forms."

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[Written by Stephen Wright] OpenMat Bermuda will return to the island with 11 medals from the Grappling Industries Toronto Gi & No Gi Round Robin Tournament. The island’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy won four gold, three silver, and four bronze medals at the competition at the weekend. It was a marked improvement on their medal haul […]

[Written by Stephen Wright] Lonnie Bascome and Ramazan Ramazanov won bronze medals for OpenMat Bermuda at the Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Kissimmee, Florida, at the weekend. Bascome, who won gold in the purple belt lightweight division at the championship two years ago, enjoyed a podium finish in the brown belt category. Ramazanov continued his […]

Athletes from OpenMat Bermuda have returned home with 13 medals from the Grappling Industries BJJ GI and No Gi Round-Robin Tournament in Boston. A team of 12 athletes represented the Brazilian jiu-jitsu gym at the competition on Saturday [July 13]. In the junior division, Dash Irvine won gold in the No Gi and silver in […]

A team of nine athletes from Open Mat Bermuda will be hunting for medals at the Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship in Texas. The competition, which runs from tomorrow [November 1] until Sunday, will be held at the Fort Worth Convention Centre and Arena, Fort Worth, Texas. Representing Open Mat – a Brazilian Jui-Jitsu Gym […]

Athletes from Open Mat Bermuda claimed four medals on day one of the Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship in Fort Worth, Texas, yesterday [November 1]. Lonnie Bascome [brown belt] claimed gold in the men’s 162.2Ib category; Reina Maypa [blue belt] won bronze in the women’s 136lb division; and Jason McAlpine [brown belt] secured two bronze […]

How to build muscle and loose fat at the same time.

By: Tim Ernst

Is it possible to gain muscle while at the same time loose fat? Some argue that you either have to do one or the other. I'm here to tell you that it is possible, but the secret is all about nutrient timing.

There are certain times of the day when you want to be in a caloric surplus. The only way to build muscle is to be in a caloric surplus and the only way to loose fat is to be in a caloric deficit. How do you do both at the same time?

Research shows that your most optimal time for muscle growth is what you consume after your workout. If you are not consuming enough calories after your workout, then you are just wasting your time.

Here is an example on how to start your day.

8:00 am: Low-carb protein shake with a greens product.

10:30 am: 2eggs plus 4 whites scrambled with cheese, spinach, onions, peppers, and mushrooms.

1:00 pm: 2 oz of dry roasted nuts.

3:00 pm: Chicken Breast with sweet potato or brown rice.

5:00 pm (workout) Consume your a favorite pre workout shake if you want for energy but, it's not necessary.

5:30 pm 30 minutes into your workout consume a high carb drink like Karbolyn, Power Carb, or Vitargo.

5:45 pm (immediately post-workout): quickly digested protein/carb beverage.

6:15pm: 2 oz of pasta (dry weight); 4 oz of Ground Turkey mixed with egg whites.; 2 slices of 12-grain bread; package of broccoli or green beans.

7:45 pm: 1 cup brown rice, cous cous, or quinoa 4 oz of chicken breast; 2 slices of 12-grain bread, asparagus.

10:00 pm: Hand full of mixed nuts or avocado and fish oils.

That's it!

Get ready to GROW.

The public can now step into the future of lunar exploration at Space Center Houston by entering an early mockup for Northrop Grumman's Gateway astronaut accommodations around the moon.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has raised the alarm over climate change, reporting 2024 is the world's hottest year yet.

A seat at the table – why inclusivity matters in global governance 10 May 2021 — 1:30PM TO 3:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 22 April 2021 Online

Exploring the changing dynamics of global cooperation and the role inclusivity can play in building collaborative action.

Please click on the below link to confirm your participation and receive your individual joining details from Zoom for this event. You will receive a confirmation email from Zoom, which contains the option to add the event to your calendar if you so wish.

The scale of today’s global challenges demand collaborative and coordinated action. But deepening geopolitical competition is threatening multilateralism while growing inequality and social tensions continue to undermine public confidence in the ability of international institutions to deliver.

Into this challenging environment, add the complexity and sheer pace of many global challenges such as the climate crisis and the proliferation of new technologies – issues that cannot be addressed effectively by governments alone.

• How do global institutions and mechanisms need to adapt to address the demands for a fairer distribution of power between states and to engage the diverse set of actors essential today for effective solutions?
• What can be learnt from existing initiatives that bring together governments, civil society, private sector, cities, next generation leaders and other stakeholders?
• And what are the political obstacles to greater inclusivity?

This event supports the launch of a synthesis paper from Chatham House’s Inclusive Governance Initiative.

Spinning tails on the moths' wingtips scramble bats' echolocation signals to keep the moths from being eaten

Penn State Hazleton's trick-or-treating is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 24, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on the Sports and Recreation Field at the campus. Children attending the event must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner made it two wins in two matches before his home fans at the ATP Finals, beating Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday. Earlier, Daniil Medvedev moved back into contention with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alex De Minaur.

The Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of JV Creatives (P.) Ltd. v. Principal Additional Director General, DGGI, Gurugram Zonal Unit [W.P. (C) No. 10042 of 2024 dated July 23, 2024] dismissed the writ petition filed against the order of provisional attachment passed under Section 83 of the Central

Oxford ; Havertown, Pennsylvania : Oxbow Books, 2017.

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“Investors remained cautious and stayed away from riskier assets due to geopolitical uncertainties,” forex dealers said

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 84.07 against the greenback and traded on a flat note in early deals

The local unit was also weighed down by elevated crude oil prices as well as firm American currency amid rising U.S. treasury yields, forex traders said.

The rupee remains flat against the dollar amid oil prices, foreign fund withdrawals, and market

Forex traders said, the indication of some recovery in domestic equity markets prevented the fall in the local unit.

The local currency touched its lowest closing level of 84.10 against the dollar on October 11.

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Top-ranked Jannik Sinner has made it two wins in two matches before his home fans at the ATP Finals by beating Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 in a rematch of the U.S. Open final