Month: May 2022

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Memorial Day 2022 — Thinking of The Dead From War

Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States. It is a day designated for honoring and remembering every U.S. military member who sacrificed their life in service to the nation. In 1971, Congress standardized the date of the holiday to the last Monday in May.

Some choose to observe Memorial Day by visiting the gravesite of family members lost in war. Many communities hold parades and special events. In my area of southern New Jersey it is customary for families to use the long weekend to head for the seashore or have family barbeques. In 2000, The National Moment Of Remembrance Act was signed into law. This law encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3:00 pm local time for one minute of silence to remember and honor the sacrifice of the fallen military members.

The War To End All War…….Not

One of the most preventable, most pointless and most savage wars in history was World War I. Indeed, a case can be made that World War II was merely a continuation of the first world war. Even though the fighting in World War I had stopped in November of 1918, the war officially ended in June of 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Originally World War I was called “The World War”. It was also termed “The War To End All War”. It was thought the utter magnitude of the slaughter and destruction would keep mankind from ever repeating it. How wrong they were! Just twenty years later world war would again erupt even more violently and destructive than its predecessor.

In World War I, there were an estimated twenty-four million deaths and twenty-one million wounded. Of the deaths, eleven million were of military personnel and thirteen million were civilians. World War II saw a marked increase in the killing and maiming. An estimated seventy to eighty-five million people died during this war. This represented three percent of the world’s population. Deaths caused directly by the war, including both military and civilian, are estimated at fifty to sixty million with an additional twenty to twenty-five million dying from war related disease and famine. Until this war, the record was held by Genghis Khan who was said to be responsible for the death of forty million people.

One April Morning

There have been countless movies made portraying the events of war. War movies showing the raw horror of war. War movies displaying incredible courage and bravery in the face of death. War movies as subtle or blatant propaganda for supporting the perspective of one side or the other. War movies from the perspective of poobahs, privates, and politicians. War movies from the perspective of non-combatant civilians. Many of these movies are engrossing in the story that they tell about the soldiers and various events of war. Two of these movies that I would like to comment on are: “One April Morning” and “Saving Private Ryan”.

The first movie is a relatively little-known film about the first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War. It took place in Lexington, Massachusetts and marked the beginning of war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the thirteen colonies in America, later to be known as the United States. The movie centers itself around one specific family household, the Cooper family, that was headed by Moses Cooper, portrayed by the actor Tommie Lee Jones. Also in the family were wife Sarah and sons Levi and Adam and Granny Cooper.

There is one scene in the movie that stands out in my mind. The British army regulars are marching through Lexington to Concord in order to capture and destroy Colonial militia military supplies reportedly stored at Concord. In Lexington, a small force of local farmers, merchants and backwoodsmen had formed an armed volunteer militia. They stood in the center of the Lexington green awaiting the British with the intent of displaying the colonial resolve against the show of force by the British. The militia was in place in three lines of of about twenty-five men per line. Moses Cooper was in the first line while his son Adam was in the last line.

The suspense and and intensity of the scene grows as the British professional soldiers slowly approach. At first they are out of sight, but the sounds of the drums as they march can be heard by the militia men. As the sounds of the drums get progressively louder as the British got nearer, the resolved yet anxious looks on the faces of many of the militia displays the seriousness of the situation. The British arrive at the green and the commanding officer imperiously demands that the militia disarm and go home. Suddenly, a shot rings out from somewhere. It is the famous “shot heard around the world”. The British regulars charge the militia men. Then Moses Cooper is shot and drops to the ground, dead. The look of abject horror on his son’s face as he looks at the dead body of his father reveals the grim reality of war.

Saving Private Ryan

To observe the horror of war, all you need to do is view the twenty-four minute sequence of the landings on Omaha Beach in the war movie masterpiece, “Saving Private Ryan”. It is the quintessential war movie, beautifully acted and breathtakingly shot. It is probably the most realistic battle scene of all time.

The basic premise of the movie is that three out of four brothers of an Iowa family named Ryan have been killed in the line of duty. One brother is known to be still surviving. He is somewhere in Normandy, France. Platoon leader Captain Miller is ordered to find the surviving brother and get him to safety so he can be sent home to his family.

The Omaha Beach sequence in the movie is hard to watch but necessary in order to get an approximation of what our soldiers had to experience in that landing. The evil that Hitler and Tojo had unleashed had to be countered. The slaughter and carnage on that beach was hellish. Behind every dead soldier is a heartbroken mother and father, decades of future life experiences lost, an opportunity to manifest attributes of God (love, truth, etc.) through a human body, tragically snatched away.

William Tecumseh Sherman, famed Civil War general, once said “War is hell”. I think even more appropriate would be “War is horror”. In war, attributes of courage, valor, sacrifice and bravery come forth from men and these are qualities that are not found in hell. War is horror. Utmost horror. Pure horror. The Omaha Beach scene in Saving Private Ryan is a realistic and heart wrenching portrayal of that horror.

Will War Ever Disappear?

If you look at recorded human history, from the Sumerians up to the present day, it sure looks like the one thing that human beings seem to do best is kill each other in wars. In our current era, there is the possibility that the use of nuclear weapons or biological warfare could potentially wipe out ninety percent or more of the earth’s population. And who among you do not believe that the remaining ten percent would wind up resuming wars “after the dust clears”, using swords and spears, if need be.

Within man is an implanted need to grow, to be more tomorrow than he is today. This urge has somehow been corrupted in that war is used to achieve said ends. The powers that be all over the world are masters at manipulating the minds of the masses to support the horrors of war. Those humans that they cannot manipulate, they coerce. I recall a scene in Saving Private Ryan where a small group of German soldiers stand up within a trench with their arms up. One of them shouts something that none of the Americans understand. One is shot and the others are taken prisoner. It turns out that the one who was shouting was speaking Czech and saying, “We are not nazis. We don’t want to be here. We were forced to be here”.

Wars will continue throughout human existence until one of two things happen. The first option is that the entire human species is eliminated and a new species subsequently takes over the earth. The second option is if mankind decides to surrender whole heartedly to the guidance and direction of Ultimate Love and Intelligence, the eternal I AM, God.

In Invitation To You

On this Memorial Day, Monday, at 3:00 pm, I invite you to join me in one minute of silent prayer for all of our soldiers killed in wars. Ask God to bless them wherever their spirits may currently be. I will, in the silence of my Dwelling Place, reflect on their suffering and sacrifice. When that minute is over, I will focus my attention, with all the energy I can muster, to live, to breathe, to have my being within the peace and power of the Kingdom of God within. The way to be victorious in the “War of Chaos” in the world today is to surrender to Original Source and follow where Universal Wisdom leads you.

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A Beautiful Mystical Dwelling Place

Your Power To See The Unseen

Faith is the solid reality of what you hope for.

Faith is the solid proof of what is unseen.

What is hope? The dictionary defines hope as: “a feeling of confident expectation for a certain thing to happen”. Faith is your power to see the unseen. Faith is available to every single human being on the face of the earth. You do need to activate your faith however. You do this by going to a beautiful mystical Dwelling Place every day. This Dwelling Place is the Kingdom of God within.

For any problem, for any situation, for any decision, for any manifestation – dwell on the only true power – God, the universal I AM. Dwelling on God is dwelling within your place of power – the Kingdom of God within. Do not search for God up on Mt. Olympus nor do you have to travel to the peaks of the Himalayas. It is not mandatory to travel to an ecclesiastical building of some type. God is not some Jack and the Beanstalk giant with a long white beard peeking at you from behind the clouds or up on the planet Mars. The Kingdom of God is within you, right now, The price of admission is to focus your mind and your heart on what you are able to perceive about God.

Visiting the Kingdom of God within is about seeing only God if even for only a few minutes a day. Go beyond your problem or situation, whatever it is. Keep going until you arrive at the feeling that the problem does not even exist, you know nothing about it. “How can I do this”?, you ask, “I can’t stop worrying. I’ve tried”. You not only can stop worrying but you must stop worrying. Focus your mind on God. Dwell on God. Dwell in God. You were not created by Original Source in order to demonstrate worry and fear. You were created by Universal Intelligence so that you can bring to fruition in the 3D world the majesty and glory and attributes of the energy of Original Source. Fear and worry do not demonstrate the glory of God Almighty. All humans experience some degree of worry at times. To stubbornly continue however in a state of worry and fear about a problem is sin. It is a falling short of what God created you for. Valid concern is one thing. Prolonged worry is quite another. It is a “holding on” to your lack of faith.

The Photo Shoot

I am grateful over this lifetime to be the father of three precious children, two males, one female. Back when the youngest one, the daughter, was about three or four years old, we decided to take advantage of a big box store “photo shoot special” for all three children. The store had a small room that served as a photo studio. A professional photographer took a photo that was subsequently enlarged and suitable for framing.

In order to keep small children occupied while others were getting their photo taken, there were a few toys and what not there. Included was a lightweight, colorful ball, about the size of a basketball. While waiting, my daughter became enthralled with this ball. When it was her turn to get her photo taken, she steadfastly refused to let go of the ball. The photographer said that it would interfere with the quality of the photo. When we went to take the ball out of her hands, she started crying. Well, we did not want to pay a photographer for a photograph of a crying child so we let her have the ball and the photo was taken.

So it is with free will, faith and choosing to dwell on God. We can choose to just let go (for our benefit) and place our focus on God or we can stubbornly hold onto worry and fear (to our detriment). God allows us the total freedom to make either choice.

OK, So How Do You Get There?

The route to take in order to get to your mystical Dwelling Place is also the simplest route. Whatever your problem, whatever your frustrated desire, refrain from dwelling on it. Refrain from hanging around in that thought neighborhood. Instead, dwell on God. Whatever it is that you are desirous of manifesting, you place roadblocks in your path when you fret and fuss over how in the world you are going to satisfy that desire. Leave the details to God. Be sure that you are paying attention when Universal Intelligence subsequently provides you with the details.

One road that you can use to get to your Dwelling Place is this: once a day, or more if you choose, say to yourself, “I am turning this whole thing (name the specific problem or desire) over to God. Then for at least a few minutes, think of God and only of God. You can do this by making some statement of absolute fact over and over again with the utmost of earnestness.

Some examples of statements of fact that you can use are: “There is only one true power. It is God”; “God is with me, now and always”; “God is guiding me and directing me with love”; “I am grateful that God is with me now”; “Thank you Father, I thank you with all that I am”, “I am a child of the Most High God”; “The peace and presence of God fills me now”. No matter how mechanical it seems at first, keep at it. Commit fully, heart and soul, to the process. It will work, if you work at it. Refrain from struggling. If a fear or worry enters your mind, acknowledge it, then with quiet but firm insistence, substitute that thought with your thought of God. There is not room enough there for both of them. Whenever your mind starts wandering, just gently guide it back to the Dwelling Place.

Another Road You Can Use To Get There

Sometimes, the urge to think about the problem or frustrated desire can be quite powerful. The urge can be so bullying that you cannot even come up with the words of your chosen statement of fact. If you find this to be the case, here is another road that you can take to get to your Dwelling Place. Just say the word “God” and follow that up immediately with a word that describes an attribute of God. Since you are a child of God, created to manifest the I AM in 3D reality, they become your attributes as well by channeling through God. God is demonstrated through your faith.

A favorite acronym that I use to instantly recall a dozen of attributes that I can demonstrate through God and by God is “LILT*BAPC*ICIJ”. The acronym stands for “Love. Intelligence. Light. Truth. Beauty. Abundance. Power. Compassion. Imagination. Creativity. Impartiality. Joy”. When your mind just does not want to let up in conjuring up the problem or frustration, just say loudly in your mind (or out loud if you prefer), “God, Love”; “God, Intelligence”; “God, Light”; “God, Truth”, and so on for all of the attributes. If you have “let go” and allowed God to fill up your thoughts, you are allowing God to channel those attributes through you. In effect, you are those attributes as long as you dwell on God.

Some Further Details

How long per session should I actively use the Dwelling Place technique? A few consecutive minutes are sufficient as long as you are focused and not dealing with distractions.

How many times a day should I practice this form of scientific prayer? When you get to the point where you can go a few consecutive minutes very quickly, feel free to repeat the prayer several times a day with a period of time separating each session. It is important however, that after you have prayed in this manner, that you completely drop all thought of the matter until the next session. This is important to remember as this “in-between respite” gives your manifestation a chance to grow.

How many days should I continue with this technique with regard to a specific desire? Until its materialization is complete. This can range from a few days to a few years depending on the size of the manifestation and the fullness of your faith. Be alert and pay attention to what is going on around you. Be prepared to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. Be thankful when you receive encouraging signs and signals. Refrain from thinking of the probable means of achieving your desired end. Ironically, this will slow things down. Just consistently go to your Dwelling Place and when things present themselves, follow through appropriately on your end.

Can I use this technique to manifest more than one pressing need at the same time? While there is nothing per se to prevent you from doing so, if you can, focus on one thing at a time. Try to come up with one manifestation that will solve both problems at once. The greater the manifestation, the more elongated the time factor. That time lag is what really puts your faith to the test. The more elongated the time factor, the greater the temptation to lose faith. If you never used this manner of scientific prayer before, start small. Then as your results yield success, it will strengthen your faith, which is the fuel to your “rocket ship”. If you have two equal and critical desires, then go ahead but just name one desire at the outset of each Dwelling Place session.

You Are A Scientist

Put on your imaginary white lab coat, get your imaginary clipboard and run your own scientific laboratory experiment. Every day, like clockwork, for the next six months, spend some of your daily allotment of time going to your mystical Dwelling Place. Whatever your religious beliefs, from the very start, just check your doubt at the door. Better yet, throw it in the large trash can outside the door. Dragging around a duffel bag of doubt for this experiment will just be a self fulfilling prophecy for negative results.

In my personal experience in praying in this manner, the time frame for manifestation was longer than I originally anticipated but the manifestations were indeed created. I think my “backsliding” into subtle episodes of doubt served to delay the receiving of my order. In any case, this technique will not cost you anything but some moments of your daily time. As you faithfully await answer to your prayer, how can it possibly hurt you to spend time each day dwelling on God?

Believe. Receive.

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Seventeen Seconds To Love, Health, Success

One Thousand One, One Thousand Two…….

When I was young, we used to play two-hand touch pickup football games in our neighborhood. Usually we either played in the street (“car coming”) or in the parking lot of a nearby VFW. In two-hand touch football, if you were on defense, you were not allowed to rush the quarterback as soon as the ball was hiked. You were only allowed to go after the quarterback after a five second count that you had to say out loud. You either said, “One Thousand One, One Thousand Two” up to “One Thousand Five”. The alternate was “Mississippi One, Mississippi Two” and so on. When you reached five, you could rush the quarterback and attempt to two-hand touch him to end the play or force him to pass the ball to one of his teammates.

In the amount of time that it takes for you to give a corresponding “one thousand count” to seventeen, you could be engaging in a life changing manifesting technique that could draw to you your heart’s desire. What is your desire? Love? Good health? Money? Having the ability to help a loved one who needs help? A new job? Maybe a combination of these or perhaps all five. If you are not just conning yourself with a bunch of fluff and you really and truly desire to do what is required to draw good stuff into your life, then read on. If not, go watch tv.

Plug Your Self Into The Power Outlet

Every single day of your life you either draw stuff to you or repel stuff away from you. The strength of your drawing power can range from extremely mild to extraordinarily strong. When nothing of note is happening in your life, it could be an indication that your connection to the power source is weak. If you are an atheist, you may say, “Nonsense and balderdash. All the power that I possess is within me so if nothing is happening in my life, I have to reach down and bring it up to the surface.” Ironically, as a believer in the existence of one true God through which we were all created, I am in agreement with that statement insofar as the power of the Kingdom of God is indeed within us all. It is up to us to make the connection with this power in order to use it.

You can own the most awesome stereo or refrigerator or television or microwave oven or whatever. If they are not plugged into a power outlet however, they are of no value to you. Even for something such as a tablet or laptop computer or cellphone that is powered by battery, at some point, in order to recharge the battery, it has to be plugged into a power outlet. If you do not have a strong power source for whatever device you are using, it will ultimately run out of juice. This is what happens to human beings all over the earth. They neglect to plug into the Universal Power Source.

The path of your life is determined by the frequency of the energy vibration that you put out from your inner energy. The higher the frequency of the vibration, the greater the likelihood that you will draw unto yourself the desires of your heart. Caution: outside of the realm of self-defense, if your desire is to inflict harm on another soul, this will inevitably boomerang on you. “For in the way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Where There Is No Vision, The People Perish

Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. In order to fulfill your desires, you must have a vision of those desires. Using the “Mr. Chi” acronym, your desires will most likely fall into one of five general categories: money, relationships, career (or avocation), health and interceding to help another person.

Form a clear, discernable vision of each of your desires, starting with the strongest desire. If you need more money, visualize having more money. If you are searching for love, visualize how you would feel if you had it right now. Not a particular person per se, just the feeling. A feeling can be as much a vision as an image. If you are in good health, visualize remaining thus. If you have an infirmity, visualize being in good health. If your job sucks, visualize working at an occupation that you would enjoy. If you love your job, visualize and feel the gratitude. If you desire to help someone that is dealing with a problem, visualize helping them and seeing the happiness you create. All of these visions should be created in your mind. Be clear about your vision, not wishy-washy.

By creating the vision, you have created the conduit to plug yourself into the life’s Power Outlet. You have the plug in your hand. Now you need “juice”. You need to connect with the Universal Power Outlet, the Kingdom of God.

The Seventeen Second Technique In A Nutshell

One of the techniques that I have successfully used in my sixty-nine years of living is what I call the “Seventeen Second Technique”. This technique involves consciously and intentionally, focusing at will, on raising your personal energy vibration frequency in order to magnetize your intention. This technique, as in all conscious manifesting techniques, requires you to fully commit to the process. There can be no holding back. There can be no half-hearted attempts. There can be no keeping one foot in the door and one foot out. If you do not believe that it will produce results that will benefit you, move on to another technique. Perhaps at a later date you will feel differently. I have most assuredly used this method successfully. That it works is beyond question. The real question is: will you work? This is not some la-ti-da fluff process. To successfully use the Seventeen Second Technique requires real work on your part.

This technique is all about revving up your energy frequency for a minimum of seventeen consecutive seconds. You do this by creating a mind image. This in turn results in a “feeling good” sensation right down to the depths of your being. Sounds easy huh?. Hint: it’s not. If you make the choice to work at it however, and can get yourself to a point where you can do it at will, there is nothing in the world that will stop good things coming to you. Nothing.

Four Different Approaches To The Same Result

So how do you go about training yourself in this technique? There are a number of ways to do this. It may be best for you to get a pen and spiral bound notebook or legal pad and start writing. You may say, “Write what”? Good, you’re interested. One way to go about it is to write down at least a half dozen things about yourself that you like and admire. It could be a physical feature (such as your eyes, your nose, your hair, etc.). It could be a feature within your body such as your voice, your vision, your hearing, etc. It could be a particular skill (or skills) that you happen to be good at. It may be a particular inner quality of your personality that you look on as a positive asset. Take some time and think it over. Be sure that they are things that actually make you feel good.

When you come up with some choices, then write them down on an index card or post-it note. Keep it with you at all times. Start with the first choice on your list. Be happy that that item is part of you. Think of how that feature or skill or quality has fulfilled you or benefitted you or someone else in some way. Be thankful that it is part of what makes you, you. Enjoy enjoying it. Focus on your choice for a minimum of seventeen seconds. If your mind starts wandering around before that seventeen second time period, just reset and start again. As you get more adept at doing this, explore stretching out that seventeen seconds to a longer time period. The ideal is probably about two minutes but just start with seventeen seconds. If you are in a feel-good state for at least seventeen seconds, the coffee starts to percolate in the universal storehouse of goodies.

Another way of achieving this feel-good state is to dwell on a particular desire that you have “in reverse”. In other words, you have already traded in the “junker”. You are now driving around in a car of your choosing. You feel the texture of the seats. You handle the steering wheel. You turn on and listen to the stereo system. Your hear your passenger stating, “This is a really nice car”. You throw open the moon roof and feel the breeze. The car handles really well and suits your purposes to a tee. If not a car, then a new big sceen tv or a state of the art refrigerator or a new mattress for your bedroom or, well, you get the idea. Whatever floats your boat.

Yet another way of of achieving this feel-good synapse is through the retrieval of beautiful memories of achievements or experiences that have made your life worthwhile. Things that changed the world for the better, if only in a microscopic way, that you were personally responsible for. Make sure that it is “feel-good” only. There is no room in this technique for bittersweet memories tainted with regret. The whole purpose of the procedure is to raise your energy frequency, not lower it.

One more way of approaching this technique involves compiling a list of what brings forth a feel-good vibe from things that you enjoy doing. Eating a wonderful meal, listening to music, dancing, hiking, fishing, swimming, engaging in sex, playing a musical instrument, gardening, spending time in the company of friends and family, and so on. How do you feel when you are fully engaged in your choices? Once your have that feeling, hold it. Hold on to it for at least seventeen seconds. Lose your self in the experience that you have chosen to dwell upon. For a minimum of seventeen seconds, this is your existence.

Some Further Details

How long do you keep doing this? Until you have achieved the results that you desire. Do not be concerned with the means that Universal Intelligence chooses to bring it about. Your job is to continue with the process until the end is reached. If you are looking to manifest a Hyundai sedan, it is going to ultimately appear much sooner than than if you are desiring a Maserati or Mercedes. Before your intention is materialized, if you persist in the process, you will see signs and signals that your “order has been received”. Depending on the size and extent of your intention, it could come to you with “same day service” or in a number of years. Pay attention to everything around you and observe the signs and signals that occur.

One potential obstacle that can throw a monkey wrench into your efforts is doubt. Scripture states, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord”.

This technique is something that you can do anywhere, at any time of day or night. You can do this at work, at home doing a chore, while sitting, while walking, while jogging, while laying down, while exercising, even when you are in the shower. Do it as many times as you like during the course of the day, whenever you feel like it. Raising your personal energy vibration will be an action that is always to your advantage.

When you have chosen a specific set of feel-good mood flippers, give it awhile to see how things go. If after doing it for a period of time and it is not feeling right for you, make an adjustment to another approach. If you are doing it right, you will after awhile observe things happening in your favor. Sometimes shifting your energy vibration, especially if it was low to start with, may throw your body out of whack for a short period of time. Continue with the process and this will pass. It is a form of your body going through a type of withdrawal as you cease injecting it with toxic thoughts. Again, feel free to experiment and make adjustments as you go along if you feel it necessary.

Bruce Lee — Martial Arts Master

On my personal list of most admired people is the martial arts master and actor, Bruce Lee. One of his most quoted lines is “I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times”. It is a quote that highlights the importance of focus and persistence in becoming skilled in something. Once you get in a groove with this technique, keep at it. Stay with it and you will open the door to a wonderful array of gifts and good surprises.

Believe. Receive.

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Are You Placing Your Trust In The Right Place ?

The Sixty-Four Billion Dollar Con Job

You have a substantial sum of money which you want to intelligently invest so as to make a reasonable return on your investment. You are not looking at any “double your money in ninety days” type of schemes. Perhaps you are the manager of a pension fund or a trust fund or a non-profit foundation. Perhaps you are a private investor and would like to stay ahead of the inflation rate without risking any of your principal. As the financial manager, you have a fiduciary duty to investigate and research any investment of funds that you make on behalf of the person or entity that you are representing. As a private investor you have the fiduciary duty to yourself, your spouse and your family to handle your life’s savings wisely. These are logical and rational approaches to investing funds. You need to place your trust in someone who you can unequivocally trust with your money. I will venture to say that you would not place your substantial sum of money in the hands of the guy in the image above. While some people reek of cologne, this guy reeks of sleaze. The only thing missing is a pencil thin mustache. If you would lookup the definition of the phrase “sleazy con artist”, you might even see this guy’s image next to the printed definition.

The bottom line in allowing another person to invest your money on your behalf is finding someone that you can safely trust with your money. Someone with a rock solid reputation. Someone who is vouched for by people whose judgement you trust and respect. Someone who perhaps is well known for his philanthropy. Someone whose lifestyle clearly reflects the ability to be quite successful in financial investment matters. Someone like…..Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Of course I am referring to Bernie Madoff, aka Bernie the Con Man, aka Bernie the Sixty Four Billion Dollar Man, aka Bernie the Fraudster, aka Bernie the Liar, aka…..well you get the idea. Bernie Madoff, who ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in history to the tune of sixty four billion dollars.

A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

If you google the image of Bernie Madoff, what you see is nothing like the image of poor Mr. Sleaze above. What you will see is the image of a very respectable looking, well dressed, well groomed businessman. Such is the stock in trade of the classic con man. The word con man is short for “confidence man”. In other words, someone who has a high degree of skill in gaining the confidence of his targeted victims. The con man presents the impressive facade that puts the investor at ease. That part of the con is called “the front”. Once the victim is hooked, the con man is adept at gently reeling him in. Part of the front of the con man is having word of mouth testimonials from actual investors. You may not put much stock in a paid advertisement but a testimonial from your brother, your uncle, your friend, your business associate, your current financial advisor, is something that carries a lot of weight.

In Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, he generated extensive word of mouth referrals by paying in full to a number of investors who wished to redeem their investment. He did this by using “new money” provided by new investors. He likewise generated a “history of proven results” by providing all investors with quarterly statements showing steady and consistent returns on their money of between ten and twelve percent per year. At that rate the investors who “let it ride” would double their initial investment in just seven years. Of course those statements were as phony as a three dollar bill. It was definitely not a “double your money in ninety days” type of con. It was perceived as steady and reliable as the Rock of Gibraltar. He carried on with this scheme for a very long time until it all came crashing down in the recession of 2008. Large numbers of investors requested redemptions of their funds and Bernie wasn’t able to cover the nut any longer. In 2008, he plead guilty to his crimes. He died in prison in 2021.

It Has To Be Legit, Just Look At His Investor List

The Madoff con job fooled some of the top hedge fund managers and major investment banks. The magnitude of the con is staggering. Some of the most highly touted MBA financial advisors in the world got flimflammed. Some of the most respected names in global banking got bamboozled. One poor money manger committed suicide by slitting his wrists while another jumped to his death from the twenty-fourth floor of an office building. Average everyday people lost their life savings that they had entrusted to financial advisors. Madoff was a giant money vacuum cleaner sucking in money from all directions.

Television celebrities, movie stars, sports figures, politicians, charities, pension funds, hedge funds, universities, churches, financial management firms, banks of all sizes, they all got sucked into the Madoff vacuum cleaner. One investor told the judge at Madoff’s sentencing hearing – “He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in between. He had no moral values whatsoever. He cheated all his victims out of their money so he and his wife could live a life of luxury.” (As to stealing from the poor, I would assume the investor was talking about the charities Madoff stole from. Said charities would have aided the poor).

A telling quote comes from another of the victims – author of fifty-seven books, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor, Elie Weisel: “We thought he was God. We trusted everything in his hands”. Of course Weisel did not mean to infer that Madoff was believed to be God. He just used that as a figure of speech to indicate the utmost trust that the victims had in Madoff.

Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God

Jesus states very clearly in the book of Matthew what the objective of every person on earth should be: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness”. If you are able to free yourself somehow from the countless distractions of the world and center yourself in the Kingdom of God within, everything that you came here in this world to do, shall be done. Human beings throw themselves needless detours when they base their lives and place their trust on anything outside the Kingdom of God. Does this mean that we should neglect the reasonable and daily duties that help sustain us as well as the lives of our family members? Of course not. Surrendering to the benevolence and power of the Kingdom of God however, serves to sharpen your intuition, and thus allows enhancement of your intuition so as to guide you unto your best path in life, the path that is the most personally fulfilling to you.

So how do you go about seeking the Kingdom of God?

Prayer. Go into your inner place and in solitude ask, seek, knock. Ask for guidance from the Divine for any and all situations. After asking, seek the door to which your intuition subsequently directs you. Once reaching that door, gain admittance by knocking until the door is opened. Once inside and you see that your heart’s desire has been granted, then believe and receive with thanksgiving.

Meditation. Every day reserve some minutes to stop everything and just say to the world and everyone in it, “Quiet please”! Then say to your mind that is throwing thoughts around in your head like the wild man of Borneo, “Quiet please”! Then just sit in silence for your designated time and listen. You may be quite surprised at what you will hear. If you find it difficult to stop all the chatter inside your mind, conduct research as to the best way to have your mind be still. One suggestion is either aloud or silently just slowly repeat the phrase “Thank you Father”. Sometimes music can help. If you really want to, you’ll find the best way.

Surrender. Your ego’s job is to protect you and keep you safe based on its knowledge of everything that ever happened to you and everything that you ever learned or observed. Sometimes it gets a bit too bossy and dogmatic. When that happens, just say to it, “please just sit down and relax. I trust God. God has this, so relax”.

Listen. Pay attention to your surroundings. The first human tragedy is that many can hear but do not listen. Be confident yet humble in spirit and your “inner hearing” correspondingly sharpens.

Observe. Pay attention to your surroundings. The second human tragedy is that many look but do not observe. Be confident yet humble in spirit and your “inner vision” correspondingly sharpens.

Follow Through. If you have ever closely watched a pitcher in the game of baseball, you will see that his follow through when he pitches the ball “seals the deal” regarding the success of each pitch. He can be highly skilled in gripping the ball. He can be physically strong and possess great stamina. He can be perfect in his initial approach, called “the wind-up”. If however, the pitcher fails to properly follow through on his pitch (arms, legs, hips, torso), his pitch will be drastically reduced in quality. The pitcher has to do more than know the perfect style and approach for pitching the ball. He has to fully follow through with each pitch that he makes. So it is with your life, with my life, with all lives. Without true and consistent follow through, you will find yourself on life’s dreaded “hamster treadmill”.

Today, stop at some point for a few minutes and ask yourself in the quiet of your mind: “Where are you placing your trust”? Answer your question with raw, uncensored honesty. Nobody will hear you except you. Where you place your true trust in your life determines the tenor and substance of your existence.

Believe. Receive.