The Shocking Youth Message (Paul Washer)

I love this sermon and I am so glad that I could find it on youtube!! It is a MUST WATCH!

Isaiah Chapter 59

I realy like this chapter so I just thought I would post it.  Isaiah chapter 59.

1¶ Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

2But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

3For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

4None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

5They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

6Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hand.

7Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

8The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

9¶ Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darknes

10We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

11We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

12For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know the.
13In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood

14And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

16¶ And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

17For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.

18According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.

19So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

20And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.

21As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

I AM STILL HERE!!!!!!

I just wanted everyone who reads my blog to know that I have not stopped posting on my blog.  I have just been busy with school and such.  Oh and to anyone reading this if you have any ideas on something I can post PLEASE tell me!!  So that is all the blog is alive!

Strange Testimony

I was at a friends house last night and after eating chili with ice cream for desert I had the worst............ umm...how do I say this I had the worst upset stomach I have ever had!  Well actually i've had this before so while in the bathroom I thought "i've had this before it is so horrible my stomach feels soooo BAD I have to get rid of this"! 
So I thought "well maybe I could ask God to relieve me of this upset stomach".
Then I thought "no why would God want to help my stomach'?
  Then I thought "well in the bible it says "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"Lu 11:9.

Then I rememberd that in the kitchen about 1 or 2 days ago I heard mom listening to Michael Pearl.  And he said that there was this man who got a hold of his Grandmas bible and to the side of a lot of bible verse there was a mark that said TP and he couldn't figure it out.  So he brought it to his Grandmas pastor and asked "what does this TP mean"?  And he said "your Grandma put that to the side of a lot of bible verses it means "tried and proved" she put that to the side of every bible verse that she tried and proved."  Well I am going to try and prove Luke 11:9!  So I prayed to God and asked him to relieve me of my upset stomach and abou 10 secents later it quit!  So prase God!

My Mom's Testimony

                                   Here is a picture of Mom and Jakin.  And my Moms tesimony.

The night before Jakin and I were scheduled to leave Liberia we still had not received the proper documents to leave the country. I had gotten a verbal okay that the Colonel would write up the exit clearance and we could pick it up in the morning but I have been around Liberia long enough to know that I very likely would not receive the letter til it was too late for our flight.




To be discreet and make a long story short after trying to pick up some personal belongings from our house that we have there confusion broke out between Jakin’s family and I. Prior to this in talking with Dan before the trip and what I felt like God was telling me when I got to the country was like the Holy Spirit was warning me NOT to go back to our house on 72nd. I felt such a demonic spirit or even more I felt like a legion of unclean spirits there at our house and even on the road in the village surrounding our house. The instant I got on our road I felt it. It over came me with the feeling of wanting to vomit. I should have turned back then but I did not.



That episode of being on our road that night and in our house was maybe the most horrible experience of my life and a time where I felt the biggest warning from God I have ever felt. I cannot share more details of that publicly and it is hard to convey what went on in the house there that night but it was the most demonic thing I have ever seen. I left our house with Jakin so shaken and went back to where I was staying.



I was staying in man’s house who is a friend of Dan’s ministry partner Bestman because it was a secure house with a wall, gate, broken glass, steel bars on the windows and steel doors on the Congo Town Backroad which is a pretty good area. Dan and Bestman and Jakin agreed before I came to Liberia that I would not be safe there on 72nd so Bestman had choose this place for me and Dan had given the okay. The man who owned the house assured me that he had never had problems with criminals before.



The mans house did not have one stick of furniture so we were sitting on the floor trying to process what I had just seen. I wanted to pray but I felt so bound and just devastated and in shock I could not. I knew if I could pray my way threw it I could pray this demonic activity away Dan and I had done it so many times before but I felt overcome.



At about 11:00 we heard pounding at the gate. Instantly I knew there was serious trouble. In Liberia no one goes out or goes to other people after maybe 9:00 9:30 because it is very dangerous and normally even if you come to someone they will not want to let you in their house even if they know you for fear that criminals are using a person that you know to trick you into getting inside.



It was Bestman and the man of the house very reluctantly opened up the gate first standing over the door while Bestman walked inside with a machete “just in case”. By that time I was already on the phone with Dan not even knowing what the problem was yet just telling Dan that there was big big trouble.



When Bestman got inside he told Dan over the phone that Jakins aunt and Uncle had come to Bestmans place so angry and wanted to let him know that in the morning they would be going to Star Radio and to all the Ministries saying that I had come to kidnap Jakin out of the country and that they were going to the police to have me arrested.



Dan and I legally adopted Jakin two years ago and the family had released him to us even one year prior to that so for the last 3 years I have been this childs mother and legal guardian with the families knowledge and consent and blessing.







Because there is such a massive amount of contention in the country about adoptions their accusations and suggestion that they have me arrested even though I had done nothing wrong was very very serious. That was exactly the kind of information and accusations that the enemies of adoptions in the country would love to get their hands on and knowing what I know about the country jail was a very real possibility.



But far worse than jail here I am less than 24 hours before my flight leaves Liberia with no documents to bring Jakin with me and knowing if the familiy did what they said they were going to do Jakin would not leave with me yet again.



Bestman told Dan that as soon as daybreak we would go back to our house there and beg that family to reconcile and have mercy.



Before Bestman showed up I was shaken beyond words but now words are not sufficient to tell how I felt.



Jakin and I got down on our knees and I covered my head with a sheet before I got busy praying showing whatever evil out there that I was under the authority of my husband.



I prayed like I have never prayed before. I felt like Jakin in I were in bodily danger but I could not say why. I prayed all night like that.



Begging God saying “Lord prepare me a table in the presence of mine enemies Lord.” I reminded him of all Dan and I have been through and prayed verses of truth that he had given me on the plane and I had commited these verses to memory:



Blessed is the man that considereth the poor for the Lord shall save him in time of trouble

He will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed amoung the earth thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.



I reminded God of these verses and said “God I need you now your all I got!” If you deliver Jakin and I we will be delivered and if you don’t deliver us we will perish Lord! I felt like I just wrestled with God throughout the night and that He replaced the demonic activity all around me with His spirit of power and of might and a righteous indignation that I could be bold to go forward that day and He was going to fight for me.



I used the bathroom in the night and saw flashlights flashing on the wall like someone was looking for me. I heard machetes scrapping and clanging together but I don’t think too much of these things because these were somewhat familiar things of the neighborhood watch time that patrols at night for criminals.



I prayed all through the night like I never prayed before. Dan was praying back home. I had called Nicole and I knew Dan had called people and that they were praying. I felt their prayers and I felt the might and power of God.



As soon as daybreak came is was pouring rain as it is rainy season there but I just had to set out I had less than 12 hours before we had to leave Liberia and I determine to fight my son out of that country no matter what it cost me. God told Dan and I that he was ours and this time we were taking what belonged to us.



The man of the house opened the doors so I could get out of the house. It takes a long time to get out of a secure house in Liberia. You have to unlock a series of doors and once outside the house there are even more gates and such to unlock. I waited impatiently while he opened the house and when it finally was opened the door swung open to see the car sitting in front of us totally broken into and damaged. Exploring further we saw the evidence that more than one person had entered the fence armed with machetes.



At first I thought no big deal after all it was impossible for them to enter the house. Bestman came by while I was getting ready and came to my door horrified with his hand laid over his mouth “Saying Sis Stacy criminals entered this house last night looking for you come and see!” I went in the kitchen to see that a hole had been chopped in the outside of the house near the tin roof where it is a wood there and they had climed into the rafters of the house and cut yet another hole into the kitchen of the house and got inside.



In all my time in Liberia and after people telling us over and over again and over and over again. If they ever get in your house they will violate and damage the women and torture the men and they will even kill you if you do not have enough money to satisy them.



I knew looking at that hole in the ceiling that I had escaped only by God’s hands.



In thinking that over : whoever did that had planned that attack, They watched that house and planned just how they were going to do it and what they were going to do. They had taken a whole lot of time to not be heard cutting all those holes in the house making sure they were not found out so we could not holler for the neighborhood watch team (who would have killed the criminals if they were caught) Even the criminals themselves had put their life in danger to enter that house. So after they were successful and undetected they got all the way inside which was just what they wanted they now could carry out their wicked plan.



If they just want to steal usually they do not enter the house because they are professionals at getting things through windows with long hooks and even threatening people with guns through the window or whatever so they do not have to enter.



Everyone assured me that they had plans to do great harm to me. So why in the world after all of that and they get inside would they not even so much as try the handle of my door or anyones door that lived in that house????? No one in that house was aware that there were criminals there. They stole a childs backpack and that was it.



Do you know that:



The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivered them.



And again:



Blessed is the man that considereth the poor for the Lord will not deliver him to the will of his enemies!!!!



God saved Jakin and I alive that night thank you Jesus and I will never cease to let that testimony be forgotten from my lips. Our God is mighty and able to save!



I still had less than 24 hours to leave the country with my son and threats of jail still loomed over my head as I ran out the door to get over to Jakins family to resolve these irresolvable problems.



I got to the house with Bestman and sat down with the very angry family and to be discreet and brief after a long time of talking and begging on my part they were satisfied with having Dans and my belongings being turned over to them including the house.



When I went there after God had filled me full of His mighty Spirit I felt zero demonic activity and I felt so strong in my spirit and so determined that God was going before me to fight for me to give me the son that belongs to us. The son that He promised to Dan and I three years prior!



Thank God I could make peace with them and as I left I had like 6 hours to get all the remaining documents so we could leave Liberia. Still a long shot!



I went down to the Ministry of Justice and after sitting in her office for about an hour behold someone came out and put the paper in my hand (Thank You Jesus!).



I grabbed Jakin by the arm and ran out the door saying let’s get out of here.

I still had not confirmed my tickets and was unsure if that meant I had been bumped from my flight. After going to Brussels and confirming my tickets (Praise God) they told me I had to pay $25 each person in airport taxes before being allowed to leave the country.



Big problem : I did not have $50 for taxes. Where am I going to get the money for that in about 5 hours time? I had a few things that were worth a little money and I sent Jakin and Bestman out to sell them so that we could get the money in time. Thank God they were able to sell the stuff get the money and get back just as we had to leave for the airport.



I could see that God was totally going before me and preserving me and Jakin and parting the Red Sea for us. He was fighting for me. All I could think of as we raced for the airport was the Devowes and others experience of being turned away at the airport and all the warnings I heard form other that the airport is where they make problems.



I held my breath and refused to allow myself to even think I might get him out of the country. Instead I just watched and prayed.



We got to the airport, we went through the checkpoints they never questioned and meerly just glanced at my documents. Before I knew it Dan and I saw the completion of a miracle and the plane was flying high above and out of Liberia. Praise our Jehovah God!



Satan did not want our son to leave Liberia but God had other plans for Jakin blessed be the name of the Lord.

Why Not Preach Peace, Joy, Love And Comfort?

So why not preach peace, joy, and love?  Well a lot people think that they can get people to become born again by preaching peace, joy, love, and comfort.  But when your born again God expects you to be ready for whatever he wants you to do!  Like when you join the army don't expect comfort!  Because they expect you to fight!  The same with God it will not always be easy to follow God.  Satan will tempt you and people will mock you. 


Sometimes you will have to step out of your comfort zone and stand up for the gospel!  So when you try to get someone saved by preaching peace and comfort, they will become saved thinking that it will easy that they won't have to do anything, that they can do what they want to do as long as they still believe in God.  That isn't right!  If you do that your not saving people!  Your giving them a ticket to hell!



I'm not saying that Jesus does not love you.  He loves you more than anyone else!  I am just saying that God wants you to be bold for the lord.

Question And Answer Post #3

WARNING!!!!!!  This post has no corect answer it is sort of like a poll.


How would you try to get out of an old dried up well with only two large poles?  Comment your answers.

First Liberian Civil War

Liberia is located in west Africa next to Sierra Leone one of the worlds most dangerous places.  There where two civil wars one lasted from 1989 until 1996 the secent lasted from 1999 until 2003. 

Before the first civil war broke out Samuel Doe was president of Liberia and he had taken power in a popular coup of 1980 but opposition to his undemocratic regime led to economic collapse.  But after his krahn ethnic group began attacking other ethnic groups (mostly in Nimba county) conflict seemed inevitable.

Charles Taylor who left Does govermont they later became known as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).  They invaded Nimba County on the 24 of December 1989.  The Liberian army retailiated against the whole population of the region atacking unarmed civilians and burning villages.  Many left as refugees to Giunea and Cote d'lvoire, but opposition to Doe was inflamed.  Prince Johnson an NPFL fighter, split to form his own guerilla force soon after crossing the border and named the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia or INPFL.

By 1990 a civil war was raging.  Taylors NPFL soon controlled much of the country, while Johnson took most of the capital Monrovia.  ECOWAS tried to persuade Doe resign and go into exile, but despite his weak position (he was besieged in his mansion) he refused.  While making a brief trip out of the Executive Mansion to ECOMOG headquarters, Doe was captured by Johnson, then he was tortured brutaly and killed.  Then they left his body out to rot and Johnsons army poured beer on him or spit on him.  The murder of Doe was videotaped and seen on news reports around the world. 

But peace was still far off as both Taylor and Johnson claimed power.  ECOMOG declared an Interim Govermont of National Unity, with Amos Sawyer as thier president, with broad support of Johnson.  Taylor attacked Monrovia in 1992, but ECOMOG reinforced the city and negotiated the Contouno Agreement, a treaty between the NPFL, IGNU and Does remaining supporters (known as the United Liberiation Movement of Liberia for Democracy or ULIMO). a coalition govermont was formed in August 1993.

In September 1994, Akosombo Agreement attempted to replace the coalition with moves toward a democratic govermont, but IGNU rejected this.  The Abuja Acord of August 1995 finaly achieved this, but in April 1996 the NPFL and ULIMO again began fighting in Monrovia, leading to the eavacuation of most of the nations NGO's and the destruction of most of the city.

Charles Taylor organized and trained some indigenous northerners in Cote d'Ivoire. During Doe's regime Taylor had served in the Liberian Government's General Services Agency, acting 'as its de facto director'. However, he fled to the United States in 1983 amid what Stephan Ellis describes as the 'increasingly menacing atmosphere in Monrovia' shortly before Thomas Quiwonkpa, Doe's chief lieutenant, fled into exile himself. Doe requested Taylor's extradition for embezzling $900,000 of Liberian government funds. Taylor was thus arrested in the United States and after sixteen months broke out of a Massachusetts jail in circumstances that are still unclear.

On December 24, 1989, Charles Taylor and a small group of Libyan-trained rebels calling themselves the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) entered Nimba County from neighboring Côte d'Ivoire, attacking the village of Butuo. The raid, mounted by a small group of men, managed to capture some weapons, and then the raiders withdrew to the jungle.

The NPFL initially encountered plenty of support within Nimba County, which had endured the majority of Samuel Doe’s wrath after the 1985 attempted coup. When Taylor and his force of 100 rebels reentered Liberia in 1989, on Christmas Eve, thousands of Gio and Mano joined them. While these formed the core of his rebel army, there were many Liberians of other ethnic backgrounds who joined as well.

Doe responded by sending two AFL battalions, including the 1st Infantry Battalion,[4] to Nimba in December 1989-January 1990,[5] apparently under then-Colonel Hezekiah Bowen.[6] The AFL acted in a very brutal and scorched-earth fashion which quickly alienated the local people.

Tribal affiliations played a key role in the split between the Krahn, to which Doe and most of his adherents belonged, and the Gio and Mano people, who formed the bulk of the rebel forces. The rebel invasion soon pitted ethnic Krahn sympathetic to the Doe regime against those victimized by it, the Gio and the Mano. Thousands of civilians were massacred on both sides. Hundreds of thousands fled their homes.

By May 1990 the AFL had been forced back to Gbarnga, still under the control of Bowen's troops, but they lost the town to a NPFL assault on 28 May.[7] By June 1990, Taylor's forces were laying siege to Monrovia. In July 1990, Prince Yormie Johnson split from Taylor and formed the Independent National Patriotic Front (INPFL). The INPFL and NPFL continued their siege on Monrovia, which the AFL defended. Johnson quickly controlled parts of Monrovia prompting evacuation of foreign nationals and diplomats by the US Navy in August

 

In August 1990, the 16-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed to deploy a joint military intervention force, the Economic Community Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), and place it under Nigerian leadership. The mission later included troops from non-ECOWAS countries, including Uganda and Tanzania. ECOMOG’s objectives were to impose a cease-fire; help Liberians establish an interim government until elections could be held; stop the killing of innocent civilians; and ensure the safe evacuation of foreign nationals. ECOMOG also sought to prevent the conflict from spreading into neighboring states, which share a complex history of state, economic, and ethno-linguistic social relations with Liberia.

 

 

Johnson’s INPFL and Taylor’s NPFL continued to struggle for control of Monrovia in the months that followed. With military discipline absent and bloodshed throughout the capital region, members of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) created the Economic Community Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) to restore order. The force comprised some 4,000 troops from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Gambia and Guinea. ECOMOG succeeded in bringing Taylor and Johnson to agree to its intervention, but Taylor's forces engaged it in the port area of Monrovia

 

 

In November 1990, ECOWAS invited the principal Liberian players to meet in Banjul, Gambia to form a government of national unity. The negotiated settlement established the Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU), led by Dr. Amos Sawyer, leader of the LPP. Bishop Ronald Diggs of the Liberian Council of Churches became vice president. However, Taylor's NPFL refused to attend the conference.

Within days, hostilities resumed. ECOMOG was reinforced in order to protect the interim government. Sawyer was able to establish his authority over most of Monrovia, but the rest of Liberia was in the hands of various factions of the NPFL or of local gangs.

 

The United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) was formed in June 1991 by supporters of the late President Samuel Doe and former Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) fighters who had taken refuge in Guinea and Sierra Leone. It was led by Raleigh Seekie, a deputy Minister of Finance in the Doe government.

After fighting alongside the Sierra Leonean army against the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), ULIMO forces entered western Liberia in September 1991. The group scored significant gains in areas held by another rebel group – the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), notably around the diamond mining areas of Lofa and Bomi counties.

From its outset, ULIMO was beset with internal divisions and the group effectively broke into two separate militias in 1994: ULIMO-J, an ethnic Krahn faction led by General Roosevelt Johnson and ULIMO-K, a Mandingo-based faction led by Alhaji G.V. Kromah.The group was alleged to have committed serious violations of human rights, both before and after its breakup.

 

In 1993, ECOWAS brokered a peace agreement in Cotonou, Benin. Following this, on September 22, 1993, the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council established the U.N. Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), to support ECOMOG in implementing this Cotonou peace agreement. UNOMIL in early 1994 deployed 368 military observers and associated civilian personnel to monitor implementation of the abortive Cotonou Peace Agreement, prior to elections originally planned for February/March 1994. Renewed armed hostilities, however, broke out in May 1994 and continued, becoming especially intense in July and August. ECOMOG, and later UNOMIL, members were captured and held hostage by some factions. By mid-1994, the humanitarian situation had become disastrous, with 1.8 million Liberians in need of humanitarian assistance. Conditions continued to deteriorate, but humanitarian agencies were unable to reach many in need due to hostilities and general insecurity. Factional leaders agreed in September 1994 to the Akosombo Agreement, a supplement to the Cotonou agreement, named after the Ghanaian town where it was signed, but the security situation in Liberia remained poor. In October 1994, in the face of ECOMOG funding shortfalls and a lack of will by the Liberian combatants to honor agreements to end the war, the Security Council reduced to about 90 the number of UNOMIL observers. It extended UNOMIL’s mandate, however, and subsequently extended it several times until September 1997. In December 1994, the factions and other parties signed the Accra Agreement, a supplement to the Akosombo Agreement, but disagreements ensued and fighting continued.

 

 

 

In August 1995, the main factions signed an agreement largely brokered by Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings. At a conference sponsored by ECOWAS, the United Nations and the United States, the European Union, and the Organization of African Unity, Charles Taylor agreed to a cease-fire and a timetable to demobilize and disarm his troops. At the beginning of September 1995, Liberia’s three principal warlords – Taylor, George Boley and Alhaji Kromah – made theatrical entrances into Monrovia. A ruling council of six members under civilian Wilton G. S. Sankawulo and with the three factional heads Charles Taylor, Alhaji Kromah and George Boley, took control of the country preparatory to elections that were originally scheduled for 1996.

Heavy fighting broke out again in April 1996. In August 1996, these battles were ended by the Abuja Accord in Nigeria, agreeing to disarmament and demobilization by 1997 and elections in July of that year. 3 September 1996, Sankawulo is followed by Ruth Perry as chairwoman of the ruling council, who served until 2 August 1997.

Liberians had voted for Taylor in the hope that he would end the bloodshed. The bloodshed did slow considerably, but it did not end. Violent events flared up regularly after the putative end of the war. Taylor, furthermore, was accused of backing guerrillas in neighboring countries and funneling diamond monies into arms purchases for the rebel armies he supported, and into luxuries for himself. After Taylor's victory, the country was peaceful enough so that refugees began to return. But other leaders were forced to leave the country, and some ULIMO forces reformed as the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). LURD began fighting in Lofa County with the aim of destabilizing the government and gaining control of the local diamond fields, leading to the Second Liberian Civil War.

In 1997, the Liberian people elected Charles Taylor as President after he entered the capital city, Monrovia, by force. The implicit unrest manifested during the late 1990s is emblematic in the sharp national economic decline and the prevalent sale of diamonds and timber in exchange for small arms.

The 1989-1996 Liberian civil war, which was one of Africa's bloodiest, claimed the lives of more than 200,000 Liberians and further displaced a million others into refugee camps in neighboring countries. Entire villages were emptied as people fled. Children soldiers committed atrocities, raping and murdering people of all ages.




Liberia's civil war claimed the lives of one out of every 17 people in the country, uprooted most of the rest, and destroyed a once-viable economic infrastructure. The strife also spread to Liberia's neighbors, contributing to a slowing of the democratization that was progressing steadily through West Africa at the beginning of the 1990s and destabilizing a region that already was one of the world's most marginal.



The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 and ended in October 2003, when UN and US military intervened to stop the rebel siege on Monrovia and exiled Charles Taylor to Nigeria until he was arrested in 2006 and taken to The Hague for his trial. By the conclusion of the final war, more than 250,000 people had been killed and nearly 1 million displaced. Half that number remain to be repatriated in 2005, at the election of Liberia's first democratic President since the initial 1980 coup d'état of Samuel Doe.


The new president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who initially was a strong supporter of Charles Taylor, was inaugurated in January 2006 and the National Transitional Government of Liberia terminated its power. After fourteen years of war, Liberians may be ready for development of basic services on peaceful terms, particularly electric current and primary infrastructure.



Now here are some things I was told in Liberia that happened during the first and second Liberian civil war.  And some pictures.



During the second war I was told that a village out in Nimba county was captured by some of Taylor's army and they stayed there for a couple of days because the village had food (and they didn't really get a lot of food in the army).  A couple days later the Prince Jhonsons army found them and killed every single person in the village because they thought that the village was helping Taylor's army in some way (but really they were forced to).


Also the captains and sergeants and other people in positions like that believed that they had to kill at least one person a day during or before battles, and if they didn't kill a person in battle they would kill someone in their own army!


They also thought that eating the hearts of an enemy soldier or even an Innocent civilian was good luck and both army's did that almost daily!

I think this is Samuel Doe?

This is Prince Johnson.

This is Charles Taylor.

Liberian fighters.

Liberian fighter

Liberian refugees forced out of thier homes.

                                                                 Little Liberian refugee 

Veggie Tales Safe For Kids?

What may seem to be a harmless kids movie may be very dangerous!  Specifically Veggie Tales!  Yes Veggie Tales because they are perverted!!!  They change God's word and make it silly and stupid!  So the kids watching are not getting the same message as they would get from the Bible!!!!  What are people thinking these days??????????  Also I don't what Bible they are reading out of but it is not good!  So be
careful what you are letting your kids watch cuz if they are watching the people of Jericho throwing down slushies at Joshuah or King Nebechunezer making Rack Shack and Benny bow down to a choclate bunnie you know they are watching the wrong thing!

Street Preaching

This is a video of me my dad (mostly my dad) and my little brother Peyton preaching the word of God. I realy should of have posted thios sooner!

Lego 4th Of July

A stopmotion movie I made for the 4th of july enjoy!

Problem Posting

I posted a post a while ago called Christian Rock EXPOSED! But when I posted it it went way back into my older blog post's. So if you want to see it than you will have to go back to an older post.

I Have A You Tube Channel

I have a new You Tube channel!! Here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/user/John316Studios

And The Answer Is...

The mosquito!!! Causing 2-3million deaths a year!!! The mosquito causes many diseases and viruses such as Malaria, Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Arboviral Encephilitdes and West Nile Virus. Those are the only ones I know about but I'm sure there's more! But fear not for mosquito bites in America are prfectly harmless. So that is all I have to say about this although you can do some research on this if you want to.

Question And Answer Post 2

Question: What is the deadliest animal on earth?





Comment your answer's the answer will be posted on the 14th.

Mellow Yellow Commercial #3

This is the third and final Mellow Yellow movie. Again I can't believe I am posting this! Well enjoy.

Mellow Yellow Commercial #2

Here is the 2nd Mellow Yellow movie. Enjoy!

Mellow Yellow commercial

A movie I made with some friends. I cant believe I'm posting it!!! Well enjoy!

The five Truths Of Life

The five truths of life.


PLEASE NOTE:
That this is an idea I got from an E-mail.



1.You cannot touch all your top teeth with your tongue.



2. All idiots after reading the first truth will try it.



3. And discover that the first truth is a lie and feel superior because they can do it.



4. Your smiling know because you are an idiot.


5. You still have that stupid smile on your face.



I apologize about this but I know now that I have a sense of humor and some teeth.

Question And Answer Post

The answer is SUGAR!!!!!!!!!! Yes it is sugar sugar when taken in large amount's and/or often can cause the diseases mentioned in the last post. I really don't have anymore to add to what I just said so you can google it and read about it or what ever. So I will try to post soon soon so until then keep commenting!

Question And Answer Post

What common ingredient causes:

Candida

Diabetes

Alzheimer's disease

And Cancer?


Comment your answer.
Answer will be posted April 30th.

Preach The Gospel

I want to ask you guys a question do you know what it means to be bold for the lord?

Being bold for means to do what he tells you to and to submit to his word, and god has told us in his word "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature". That means that we should preach Gods word everywhere. here's a video of us preaching enjoy!

Ya know a lot of people in the world think were crazy for going and preaching the gospel like this we went outside a collage one time and preached and this one young man stopped and started talking to me and my friend and asked what we were doing and I said we are preaching and he said well that's fine I think that's fine but standing there and yelling at the people doesn't seem like the best way to do it. And I said theres no bible verse that says what were doing is wrong. And he said I'm not saying what your doing is wrong I just said that's not the best way.

mathew 10:27 says preach ye on the hous tops. Anyway think about that "go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature".

Funny Pictures

I have a friend who asked me to post something diffrent on my blog so here it is enjoy!

And also thanks for all the comments everyone!


Play dead Luke!!

Me in the morning LOL. (that hand in the right corner is my sister Emily watching as Peyton took the picture)

My brother Nathan.

My brother Daniel

LOL!!!

And last but not least! (Did it myself)

My week

So who's just ready to talk? Well I am and I guess, I'm going to be the only one talking so forget about you talking because I'm going to be talking so let's get started talking.... wait a minute I'm going to be talking your not so let me be.....wait why are we fighting... wait a minute -I'm not fighting with anybody so I'm going to talk you are going to be reading got that? Good!

So as I posted earlier I'm 14 so it's been an exciting week.

Now the first 2-3 days were normal until my b-day came - that was exciting, Mom made a cake, Dad got me a gun cleaning kit for my shotgun and a metal target set. He also got me a book called Unshackled based on true life stories of how some people got saved... cool. Then we ate the cake yum!

The next day I went bowling with my Dad and Tiffany and Madison and my brother Peyton. I told Peyton if I just get one strike I'll be happy and guess what I got one strike! And I was happy!

Here's Peyton trying to get the spare.

Go Peyton!

Yeah! He got the spare we just didn't get the picture.

Here I am bowling I stink at bowling! But It's still fun.

Me and Peyton and Madison.

So then on Sunday we went to church at our friend's house and that was a ton of fun after the service we played fooseball. It was me and my friend Jeff against Peyton and his ever crazy and energetic friend Elijah. They kicked our but then they beat me and my friend Bryce. Then we went outside and played on the trampoline, then we went back inside and me and Bryce got into a fight with Jeff and he beat us first I grabbed him around the neck and bent him over and started pushing and wiggling all over the place and finally he got out of my hold and grabbed me around the neck and started pushing Bryce he was so strong he pushed us both up against the wall and even we even though we were both pushing and kicking he started squishing us up against the wall and drug us to the floor and got up and said "good fight" and just walked upstairs and then I went upstairs and started a conversation with Tiffany and Mike (another good friend) and we talked for hours then we played Monopoly and stopped before we knew who won and then we went home so that's it.

I'm 14!!

I just turned 14 today! I'm so excited I can't for my Dad to come home. Wish I could keep on blogging but I got other thing's to do bye!

Bats and Moles

Warning!! This post is for boys only! Anyone else
viewing this post must be prepared for
freakyness and wierdness!


This is a picture of a bat skeleton my sister found while sweeping upstairs in what my Mom says used to be a servants quarters to me it's just an old beat up room too small for a baby to sleep in!

Anyway if you look real close at the bat's head you might notice that the bat still has some hair meaning he's not fully decomposed cool huh!?

Here I turned him over so you could see his ribcage and other parts.

Look at that claw on the wing!

See that foot I guess that's how bats get their grip when their sleeping upside down which reminds me we had two bats sleeping downstairs on the cement wall!? At first we thought they were dead because they wouldn't move and we were touching them with the broom and finally one got up and started crawling around on the wall and then they were both up and after a while they flying all over the place! Then we started wondering if bat's hibernate?

Hold on I'll Google it......................okay- It Say's that besides being nocturnal, some Bat species are known to pack it in during the winter as well. Not all bats hibernate, but those that do live at high latitudes where insect prey becomes scarce during the cold month's the rest isn't very important for this subject.

This is a star nosed mole that I found outside a couple month's ago it wasn't even dead that long it probably died the same day I found it!

Here is a picture of what it probably looked like standing up.

Look at that star! Pretty cool! I wonder what it's star nose is for- hold on I'll Google it.............................finally I found something the star is a unique and biologically novel (sorry for all the fancy words!) Sensory adaption that allows them to find food with incredibal speed and efficiency. Pretty cool I wish I had something like that!

Mom and Dad are home!!!!!!!!

My Mom and Dad are finally home! Well actually they got home a week ago and we were so busy so that's why I didn't post earlier sorry. but Mom and Dad weren't able to bring home Jakin:( So please pray for us and him.

Jakin's coming home

GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My mom and dad are coming home this Sunday (hope fully) with Jakin I'm EXTREMELY EXITED! I cant wait anyway I'm not really going to start Blogging until they get home so I got to go.

Hi,
My name is Ashton fresh out of Liberia, West Africa ..well actually my whole family is fresh out of Liberia. We spent a year there doing missions work and street preaching. Back in the United States we usually go street preaching by ourselves or with some friends of our downtown Minneapolis. My Dad and Mom are in Liberia right now getting Jakin home. My adoptive brother. This blog is about woodworking, fun boyish activities and street preaching updates.
Enjoy the blog!