Saturday, September 08, 2012

"save Jesus only with themselves"- No More Wars

Tokyo Station...

No More Wars

It is 11 years since the 9/11 Terror on the World Trade Center in New York.

It is said that 3,000 people were killed on the day, Sept. 11, 2011.

And, the subsequent War on Iraq took lives of 5,000 soldiers on the US and its allies side, 1,000 of war subcontractors in the private sector on the US side, 9,000 Iraqi security soldiers (newly formed after the collapse of Hussein's regime) subject to the US, 5,000 Iraqi troops commanded by Saddam Hussein, 15,000 armed insurgents against the new Iraqi Government, and about 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

And also, in the subsequent War in Afghanistan, it is estimated that more than 5,000 soldiers and war subcontractors in the private sector on the US side were killed while more than 38,000 Taliban and AlQaeda fighters were killed.

The news about the 9/11 Terror spread all over the world on the day, Sept. 11, 2011.  People who were later killed in those wars must have heard of the news, too.  How many of them felt that they were facing coming danger?  It is very, very horrible.

Of course, if then US President George W. Bush had not decided to launch those wars, many of them should have been living even today.

It can be also said that if the Imperial Government had not decided to launch the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the Empire of Japan should not have lost 1.7 million soldiers, the US should not have lost 350,000 soldiers, and the UK 86,000.

It really looks like that mankind has not learnt a lesson from past tragedies.

It is very difficult to stop every terrorist from starting an act of terror along with his plan.  But it is more difficult to prevent top leaders of a nation from deciding to go to war after suffering terror.

Even in the era of Christ Jesus, Israelites could not refrain from touching off the revolt against the Roman Empire, while they had been blessed and taught directly by Christ Jesus Himself.  In the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), it is estimated that 20,000 Roman soldiers were killed and 250,000 to 1 million Israelites lost lives.

As even Isrealites could not refrain from starting the war against Romans despite the great effort by Christ Jesus to educate them, it might be inevitable that today's leaders could not abandon the idea of going to war when they were put in such a situation as the 9/11 Terror.

Nonetheless, it is against the teaching of Christ Jesus to begin a war.


http://www.monacome.com/2008/09/911-september-11-2001-terrorist-attack.html


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Mar 9:8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

Friday, September 07, 2012

"John was risen from the dead" - Effects of Obama

Around the Japanese Parliament Bldg., Tokyo

Effects of Obama

Obama was not a man who wanted to be rich by becoming a politician.

But, he could enjoy being rich as everybody while there are many poor people.  And, eventually he has become a rich man.

He is not a fellow poor man in Chicago any more.

But for Obama to be rich, he had to first help the poor to be trusted and elected by them.  So, it has become the secondary matter for Obama to save all the poor guys in Chicago.  He is too busy handling Wall Street, GM, new energy, China, etc. as a rich US President.  Besides, nobody blames him for incompleteness of his mission to completely save poor residents in Chicago.
What Does Obama Really Believe In? 
By PAUL TOUGH
Published: August 15, 2012
...
As Obama’s time on the South Side progressed, he grew preoccupied by the fate of Roseland’s young people, especially the teenage boys, who seemed increasingly directionless and hopeless. It was not just money they were lacking, he realized, but something deeper. As a boy, Obama spent several years in Indonesia, with a close-up view of third-world poverty, and in his memoir, Obama compared the lives of the children he saw in Altgeld Gardens with the lives of the children he saw as a boy growing up in the slums of Jakarta. In many ways, Obama wrote, the Indonesian slum-dwellers had it better. “For all that poverty, there remained in their lives a discernible order,” he explained. “The habits of a generation played out every day beneath the bargaining and the noise and the swirling dust. It was the absence of such coherence that made a place like Altgeld so desperate.” 
In the spring of 1987, Obama wrote, he began to feel that “something different was going on,” on the South Side. It was a subtle shift — “a change of atmosphere, like the electricity of an approaching storm” — but to Obama, that spring brought to Roseland the “sense, shared by adults and youth alike, that some, if not most, of our boys were slipping beyond rescue.”...

And so in 2009 and 2010, the Obama administration put a tremendous amount of money, very quickly, into the hands of low-income Americans. As part of the Recovery Act, the administration extended the eligibility rules for existing programs like food stamps and unemployment insurance, and the combination of the collapsing economy and the more generous rules meant the programs grew quickly. The number of individuals receiving food stamps rose to 45.1 million in 2011 from 27.4 million in 2007. From 2008 to 2010, an additional 6.8 million people, mostly children, began receiving Medicaid. Temporary changes in the eligibility criteria for various tax credits, including the earned-income tax credit and the child tax credit, produced tax refunds for millions of low-income workers, often totaling thousands of dollars a year....

In Roseland, the stimulus may not have made things much better, but it stopped them from getting much worse. Food stamps helped some families get enough to eat, teenagers got summer jobs, some tenants received help with their rent. A stimulus grant to the Chicago public schools helped pay for the YAP program, which let Steve Gates start working with children like Jasmine and Damien. But it was, by definition, a temporary fix.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/magazine/obama-poverty.html?pagewanted=all)
Obama must have learnt that all he had ever learnt and acquired was useless for his great mission to save all the poor in Chicago.  And as he had nothing other than what he had ever learnt and acquired, he had no means to completely eradicate poverty in Chicago.  So, he could excuse himself for his failure, since he had no means and tools effective for the great mission.

But, of course, Romney would not be interested in the great mission to completely overcome poverty in Chicago if Romney should be elected as President.

But, poor people in Chicago would understand that Obama did as much as he could for them.  Nobody would blame Obama for not becoming poor as much as they are.  

One great experiment might be going to end as the 2012 Presidential Election has started with Obama and Romney, two strangers for poor people in Chicago.


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Luk 9:7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead;
Luk 9:8 And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

"power on earth to forgive sins" - Chiang Kaishek in 1927

Around the National Diet Bldg., Tokyo

Chiang Kaishek in 1927

Chiang Kaishek visited Japan in 1927 as he temporarily stepped down from the leading position of the Nationalist Party.

This visit to the Empire of Japan was, probably, the most decisive moment and chance to avoid the tragic war between the Empire and China that would be set off a decade later, though Chinag and Japanese counterparts failed to grasp it.
Chiang Kai-shek (1887 – 1975) was a political and military leader of 20th-century China... 
Chiang was an influential member of the Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang (KMT), and was a close ally of Sun Yat-sen. He became the Commandant of the Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy, and took Sun's place as leader of the KMT when Sun died in 1925. In 1926, Chiang led the Northern Expedition to unify the country, becoming China's nominal leader.[3] He served as Chairman of the National Military Council of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 to 1948. Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which the Nationalist government's power severely weakened, but his prominence grew. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek

He stayed in Japan 40 days on this occasion, moving from a Japanese port city Kobe to Tokyo.

Chiang met some Japanese leaders in politics and business.  But the most important meeting was the one with Giichi Tanaka, the then prime minister of the Empire of Japan and a general of the Imperial Army.

Chiang asked Tanaka about his opinion about future of the relationship between the Empire of Japan and China.  But PM Tanaka did not answer the question; instead, he asked Chiang why he came to Japan.  Then, Chiang said that his aims were,

To request Tokyo not to tie up with rotten military cliques in China and Manchuria but to support the Nationalist Party,

To request Tokyo not to interfere with the military campaign of his party to conquer northern part of China and thus achieve unification of China in a revolutionary manner, and

To  request Tokyo to adopt a diplomatic policy toward China based on economic relationships but not on military concerns.

Hearing this answer, General Tanaka said to Chiang not to try to promote in haste the military campaign in northern China but concentrate Chiang's efforts in southern China.

So, Chiang argued against Tanaka, saying that the goal of the Chinese revolution was to unify China, so that the military operation in northern China should be carried out so quickly.  "And without unification of China, East Asia cannot be stable," said the Chinese young leader.

Chiang later commented that when he had used the expression of unification of China, Tanaka suddenly blanched his face (to hide some emotion inside).  So,  Chiang Kaishek understood that Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka had no intention to cooperate with Chinag and the National Party.  The Empire of Japan must have come to take Manchuria or northern part of China, so Chiang felt.

Eventually ten years later in 1937,  Chiang Kaishek started to attack the Imperial troops stationed in North China and Shanghai, though the Empire of Japan had already established its protected nation in Manchuria which was called Manchukuo.  These battles that started in 1937 continued till the end of WWII in 1945 through the Pearl Harbor attack.

But, if Japanese PM Giichi Tanaka and other leaders had had more compassion for the rising Chinese leader Chiang in 1927, many tragic incidents must have been avoided in Asia through the Second Japanese-Sino War and the Pacific theater of WWII.

Chiang Kaishek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek

Giichi Tanaka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanaka_Giichi

It is also notable that Chiang Kaishek was educated in the Empire of Japan:

Chiang grew up in a time period in which military defeats and civil wars among warlords had left China destabilized and in debt, and he decided to pursue a military career. He began his military education at the Baoding Military Academy, in 1906. He then left for the Tokyo Shinbu Gakko, an Imperial Japanese Army Academy Preparatory School for Chinese students, in 1907. There he was influenced by his compatriots to support the revolutionary movement to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and to set up a Chinese republic. He befriended fellow Zhejiang native Chen Qimei, and, in 1908, Chen brought Chiang into the Tongmenghui, a precursor of the Kuomintang (KMT) organization. Chiang served in the Imperial Japanese Army from 1909 to 1911.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek



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Mat 9:6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

"Peter answered and said to Jesus" - A Holy Baptism

A Tokyo Subway Station...


A Holy Baptism


One of enigmas about Christ Jesus' life is that he received baptism from a man.
The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his public ministry. This event is recorded in the Canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. In John 1:29-33, rather than a direct narrative, John the Baptist bears witness to the episode. 
In the New Testament, John the Baptist preached a "baptism with water", not of forgiveness but of penance or repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 3:3), and declared himself a forerunner to one who would baptize 'with the Holy Spirit and with fire' (Luke 3:16). In so doing he was preparing the way for Jesus.[4] Jesus came to the Jordan River where he was baptized by John.The baptismal scene includes the Heavens opening, a dove-like descent of the Holy Spirit, and a voice from Heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_of_Jesus

There are many arguments as to why He had to receive baptism while Christ Jesus never committed a sin.  Will God be christened by a man?

But, it was like children's play for Christ.   John the Baptist was doing something so primitive to the eye of Christ Jesus.  He might have even laughed at it.  Instead, Christ Jesus decided to encourage John as He saw that John was sincere and pious.  So, instead of correcting the way of John's administration, Christ Jesus decided to have John continue the way with good faith.

After this incident, whenever John the Baptist performed baptism on a sinner, he must have recalled Christ Jesus receiving baptism from him.  Accordingly, John must have felt so solemn when he administered baptism.  John must have seen the image of Christ in a man receiving baptism, which made John feel so blessed.

Christ Jesus' act of receiving baptism from John was not for Christ Himself but for John the Baptist.

It is so because without holy help a man cannot administer baptism on so many sinners from whom evil spirits should come out to defile the one baptizing them.

The incident gave great strength spiritually to John.

http://s.webry.info/sp/michi0103.at.webry.info/201206/article_59.html

Suppose that you are John the Baptist.  Then here comes God.  He lets you take a superior position against Him.  How do you feel?  Do you think now you are superior to God?  There are no such fools.  You will wonder whether this act of baptizing God is the worst blasphemy.  You would be, then, surely condemned forever.  But if you see God forgiving you, your faith in God will be so uplifted.  What honor you have been given, you must feel.  You will never betray God who loves you so much by positioning you above Him, if once, though.



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Mar 9:5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.


Tuesday, September 04, 2012

"they were talking with Jesus" - Battles against Cancer

Tokyo...

Battles against Cancer

Researchers in Japanese universities (Osaka Medical College and Kyoto University), etc. have developed a new method to combat cancers using neutron beams.

It is different from conventional ways to use neutron beams to destroy cancer cells.  Currently, neutron beams also destroy normal cells around cancer cells, thus causing pains in a patient.

But the new method uses boron to be injected into the body of a patient.  Then boron atoms converge into cancer cells.  When neutron beams are radiated to the cancer cells, neutrons cause radioactive reactions in the cells containing boron, leading to discharge of neutrons from the cells which destroy other cancer cells around them.  The flying distance of neutrons used in this method is just 0.009 mm.  They don't harm other cells and organs.

The equipment to radiate neutron beams has a size of 3 meters (9 feet) x 3 meters x 3 meters, costing about 2.5 billion yen ($30 million).  So this machine can be installed in an ordinary hospital, though a conventional neutron machine is placed in a nuclear reactor.  

This equipment can radiate an amount of radioactive rays in 20 to 30 minutes that is equal to the amount of rays discharged from a conventional facility in six weeks.

http://maoccoy.tumblr.com/post/30835947429


Researchers in other Japanese universities (Tokyo Women's Medical University and Tokyo Medical University) are also engaged in study of a new method to kill cancer cells using laser rays.  They use a special medical agent that generates active oxygen when receiving light.  So, this agent is injected into the body of a cancer patient so that it will converge into cancer cells.  Then, laser beams are radiated to activate the agent.  Resultant active oxygen destroys the cancer cells.

 


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Mar 9:4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
Mar 9:5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

Monday, September 03, 2012

"exceeding white as snow" - Fukushima Rice


Imperial Palace, Tokyo


Fukushima Rice

Japanese eat rice, but not wheat products, as the principal food, at least, till lately.

All over Japan, most of agricultural land is used for rice farming.

So, there are many paddy fields in Fukushima Prefecture, too.  But, almost half of those rice fields faced the nuclear threat from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.  So, last year some rice harvested in Fukushima showed a radiation dosage level higher than a provisional allowable level for safety of 500 Bq/kg.  As a result, 17,000 tons of rice harvested in Fukushima last year were stopped from delivery to be stored in special store buildings.

So, this year the Prefectural office of Fukushima decided to test all the rice bags (30kg each) produced in the prefecture to measure a radiation dosage.

For this purpose they purchased 190 units of special test devices.  They plan to test all the rice bags (12 million bags) of rice produced in Fukushima Prefecture.

Fukushima rice is sold, for example, at 5,000 yen ($60) per 5 kg in a department store in Tokyo.

Further, the general agricultural study center of Fukushima found that existence of potassium in the ground has an effect of preventing radioactive cesium from mingling into the rice plant.  Many farmers sprinkled potassium into their rice fields.

Peaches and other agricultural products produced in Fukushima Prefecture are also delivered to market after radioactive checks from Fukushima.


Radiation Doses in Fukushima Prefecture as of September 2:

Iitate 0.824 uSv/h

Minami-soma 0.38 uSv

Fukushima City 0.69 uSv/h

Koriyama 0.51 uSv/h

Shirakawa 0.21 uSv/h

Iwaki 0.10 uSv/h

Aizu-wakamatsu 0.10 uSv/h

(Tokyo 0.07 uSv/h, London 0.08 uSv/h)


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Mar 9:3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.