We are now going to look carefully at that fifteenth verse: "So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate."
This next stage of the Church's journey in its departure, alas, from truth may easily be recognized historically. It applies to the time when, after having passed through the heathen persecution, (and the faithfulness of many an Antipas was brought out by it,) it got publicly recognized and established in the world. The characteristic of this epistle is, — although I do not now dwell upon it, I hope to take it up another time, — the Church dwelling where Satan's throne is. "Throne" it should be, not "seat," Now Satan has his throne, not in hell, (which is his prison, and where he never reigns, at all,) but in the world. He is expressly called the "prince of this world." To dwell where Satan's throne is, is to settle down in the world, under Satan's government, so to speak, and protection. That is what people call the establishment of the Church. It took place in Constantine's time Although amalgamation with the world had been growing for a long time more and more decided, yet it was then that the Church stepped into the seats of the old heathen idolatry. It was what people call the triumph of Christianity but the result was that the Church had the things of the world now, as never before, in secure possession: the chief place in the world was hers, and the principles of the world everywhere pervaded her.
The very name of "Pergamos" intimates that. It is a word (without the particle attached to it, which is itself significant) meaning "marriage;" and the Church's marriage before Christ comes to receive her to Himself is necessarily unfaithfulness to Him to whom she is espoused. It is the marriage of the Church and the world which the epistle to Pergamos speaks of — the end of a courtship which had been going on long before.
There is something, however, which is really preliminary to this, — mentioned in the very first address — which I shall take up tonight, and which really comes in place here. I could not so well bring it in when we were looking at the address to Ephesus, because there it is evidently incidental, and does not characterize the state of things. In the address to Ephesus the Lord says: "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate" (Rev. 2:6). Here it is more than the "deeds" of the Nicolaitans. There are now not merely "deeds," but "doctrine." And the Church, instead of repudiating it, was holding with it. In the Ephesian days they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans, but in Pergamos they "had," and did not reprobate, those who held the doctrine.
The serious question, then, is, How shall we interpret this? I answer that the word "Nicolaitans" is the only thing really which we have to interpret it by. People have tried very hard to show that there was a sect of the Nicolaitans, but it is owned by writers now, almost on all sides, to be very doubtful. Nor can we conceive why, in epistles of a prophetic character — which I trust I have shown these to have — there should be such repeated and emphatic mention of a mere obscure sect, about which people can tell us little or nothing, and that seems manufactured to suit the passage before us. The Lord solemnly denounces it: "which thing I hate." It must have a special importance with Him, and be of moment in the Church's history — little apprehended as it may have been. And another thing which we have to remember is, that it is not the way of Scripture to send us to Church histories or to any history at all, in order to interpret its sayings. God's Word is its own interpreter, and we have not to go elsewhere in order to find out what is there. Otherwise it becomes a question of learned men searching and finding out for those who have not the same means or abilities — applications which must be taken on their authority alone. God does not leave us to that sort of thing. Besides, it is the ordinary way in Scripture, and especially in passages of a symbolical character, such as is the part before us, for the names to be significant. I need not remind you how abundantly in the Old Testament this is the case; and in the New Testament, although less noticed, I cannot doubt but that there is the same significance throughout. Here, if we are left simply to the name, I think the name alone is sufficiently startling and instructive. Of course, to those who spoke the language used the meaning would be no hidden or recondite thing, but as apparent as those of Bunyan's allegories.
It means, then, "conquering the people." The last part of the word (Laos) is the word used in Greek for "people," and it is the word from which the commonly used term "Laity" is derived. The Nicolaitans were just those: "subjecting, putting down the laity," the mass of Christian people, in order unduly to lord it over them.
There is another word which is very striking in this connection, and found in this very address, side by side with this; a word quite alike to this "Nicolaitans," although it is a Hebrew word and not a Greek; as you have the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, so you have the "doctrine of Balaam;" and as Nicolaitans means "conquering the people," Balaam means "destroying the people." You have pointed out what he "taught" Balak. Balaam's doctrine was "to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication." For this purpose he enticed them to mixture with the nations, from which God had carefully separated them. That needful separation broken down was their destruction, so far as it prevailed. In like manner, we have seen the Church to be called out from the world, and it is only too easy to apply the Divine type in this case. But here we have a confessedly typical people, with a corresponding significant name, and in such close connection as naturally to confirm the reading of the similar word "Nicolaitans" as similarly significant. I shall have to speak more of this at another time, if the Lord will.
Let us notice now the development of Nicolaitanism. It is, first of all, certain people who have this character, and who — I am merely translating the word — first take the place of superiors over the people. Their "deeds" show what they are. There is no "doctrine" yet. But it ends, in Pergamos, with the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. The place is assumed now to be theirs by right. There is a doctrine, a teaching about it, received at least by some, and to which the Church at large — nay, true souls also, on the whole, — have become indifferent. Now what has come in between these two things the "deeds" and the "doctrine"? It is what we looked at last time — the rise of a party whom the Lord marks out as those who said they were Jews and were not, but who were the synagogue of Satan — the adversary's attempt (alas, too successful) to Judaize the Church.
I was trying to show you last time what the characteristics of Judaism are. It was a probationary system, a system of trial, in which it was to be seen if man could produce a righteousness for God. We know the end of the trial, and that God pronounced "none righteous; no, not one." And only then it was that God could manifest His grace. As long as He was putting man under trial He could not possibly open the way to His own presence and justify the sinner there. He had, as long as this trial went on, to shut him out. For on that ground nobody could see God and live. Now, the very essence of Christianity is that all are welcomed in. There is an open door and ready access, where the blood of Christ entitles every one, however much a sinner, to draw near to God, and to find at His hand justification as ungodly. To see God in Christ is not to die, but live. And what further is the consequence of this? Those who have come thus to Him — those who have found the way of access through the peace-speaking blood into His presence, learned what He is in Christ, and been justified before God — are able to take, and taught to take, a place distinct from all others, as now His — children of the Father, members of Christ, His body. That is the Church, a body called out, separate from the world. Judaism, on the other hand, necessarily mixed all together. Nobody there can take such a place with God. Nobody can cry "Abba, Father," really; therefore there could not be any separation. This had been once a necessity, and of God, no doubt. But now, Judaism being set up again, after God had abolished it, it is no use to urge that it was once of Him; its setting up again was the too successful work of the enemy against this gospel and against this Church. He brands these Judaizers as the "synagogue of Satan."
Now you can understand at once, when the Church in its true character was practically lost sight of, when Church-members meant people baptized by water instead of by the Holy Ghost, or when the baptism of water and of the Holy Ghost were reckoned one, (and this very early became accepted doctrine,) then, of course, the Jewish synagogue was practically again set up. It became more and more impossible to speak of Christians beingat peace with God or saved. They were hoping to be, and sacraments and ordinances became means of grace to ensure, as far as might be, a far-off salvation.
Let us see how far this would help on the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. It is plain that when, and as, the Church sank into the synagogue, the Christian people became practically what of old the Jewish had been. Now, what was that position? As I have said, there was no real drawing near to God at all. Even the high priest, who (as a type of Christ) entered into the holiest once a year, on the day of atonement, had to cover the mercy-seat with a cloud of incense, that he might not die. But the ordinary priests could not enter there at all, but only into the outer holy place; while the people in general could not come in even there. And this was expressly designed as a witness of their condition. It was the result of failure on their part; for God's offer to them, which you may find in the nineteenth chapter of Exodus, was this: "Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation."
They were thus conditionally offered equal nearness of access to God — they should be all priests. But this was rescinded, for they broke the covenant; and then a special family is put into the place of priests, the rest of the people being put into the background, and only able to draw near to God through these.
Thus a separate and intermediate priesthood characterized Judaism; and, for the same reason, what we should call now missionary work there was none. There was no going out to the world in this way; no provision, no command to preach the law at all. What, in fact, could they say? That God was in the thick darkness? That no one could see Him, and live? It is surely evident there was no "good news" there. Judaism had no true gospel. The absence of the evangelist and the presence of the intermediate priesthood told the same sorrowful story, and were in perfect keeping with each other.
Such was Judaism. How different, then, is Christianity! No sooner had the death of Christ rent the veil and opened a way of access into the presence of God than at once there was a gospel, and the new order is, "Go out into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." God is making Himself known, and "is He the God of the Jews only?" Can you confine the gospel of Christ within the bounds of a nation? No, the fermentation of the new wine would burst the bottles.
The intermediate priesthood has, by the gospel, now been done away; for all Christian people are priests now to God. What was conditionally offered to Israel is now an accomplished fact in Christianity. We are a kingdom of priests; and in the wisdom of God it is Peter — ordained of man the great head of ritualism — who, in his first epistle, announces the two things which destroy ritualism root and branch for those who believe him. First, that we are "born again," not of baptism, but by the word of God, that liveth and abideth forever; . . and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." Secondly, instead of a set of priests, he says to all Christians: "Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5). The sacrifices are spiritual — praise and thanksgiving, and our lives and bodies also (Heb. 13:15, 16; Rom. 12:1). This is to be with us true priestly work, and thus do our lives get their proper character: they are the thank-offering, service of those able to draw nigh to God.
In Judaism, let me repeat, none really drew nigh; but now, the people — the laity (for it is only a Greek word made English) — and that in a better way than the Jewish priest could. The priestly caste, wherever it is found, means the same thing. There is no drawing nigh of the whole body of the people at all. It means distance from God, and darkness — God shut out from the people.
Now, that is the meaning of "the Clergy." I want you to look at it very carefully. I want you not to think it a mere question of a certain order of Church government — as people are very apt to do. I want you to see the important principles which are involved in this, and how really the Lord has cause, as He must have, to say of Nicolaitanism, "which I also hate." And my aim and object tonight is to try to make you hate it as God hates it.
I am not speaking of people — God forbid. I am speaking of a thing. Our unhappiness is, that we are at the end of a long series of departures from God, and as a consequence we grow up in the midst of many things which come down to us as "tradition of the elders," associated with names which we all revere and love, upon whose authority in reality we have accepted them, without ever having looked at them really in the light of God's presence. And there are many thus whom we gladly recognize as truly men of God, and servants of God, in a false position. It is of that position I am speaking. I am speaking of a thing, as the Lord does — "which thing I hate." He does not say, "which people I hate." Although in those days evil of this kind was not an inheritance as now, and the first propagators of it had, of course, a responsibility peculiarly their own, self-deceived as they may have been; still, in this matter as in all others, we need not be ashamed or afraid to be where the Lord is. Nay, we cannot be with Him in this unless we are. And He says of Nicolaitanism, "which thing I hate."
Because, what does it mean? I will tell you in brief what the very idea of a clergy is. It means a spiritual caste, or class; a set of people having officially a right to leadership in spiritual things; a nearness to God derived from official place, not spiritual power: in fact, the revival, under the names and with various modifications, of that very intermediate priesthood which distinguished Judaism, and which Christianity emphatically disclaims. That is what a clergy means; and in contradiction to these the rest of Christians are but the laity, the seculars, necessarily put back into more or less of the old distance) which the cross of Christ has done away.
We see then why it needed that the Church should be Judaized before the deeds of the Nicolaitans could ripen into a "doctrine." The Lord even had authorized obedience to scribes and Pharisees sitting in Moses' seat; and to make this text apply as people apply it now, Moses' seat had, of course, to be set up in the Christian Church: this done, and the mass of Christians degraded from the priesthood Peter spoke of into mere "lay members," the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was at once established.
Understand me fully that I am in no wise questioning the divine institution of the Christian ministry. God forbid; for ministry, in the fullest sense, is characteristic of Christianity, as I have already in fact maintained. Nor do I (while believing that all true Christians are ministers also by the very fact) deny a special and distinctive ministry of the Word, as what God has given to some, and not to all, though for the use of all. No one truly taught of God can deny that some, not all, among Christians have the place of evangelist, pastor, teacher. I believe I make more of this than current views do; for I believe that every true minister is a gift from Christ, in His care as Head of the Church, for His people, and one who has his place from God alone, and is responsible in that character to God, and God alone. The miserable system which I see around degrades him from this blessed place and makes him in fact little more than the manufacture and the servant of men. While giving, it is true, a place of lordship over people which gratifies a carnal mind, still it fetters the spiritual man, and puts him in chains, everywhere giving him an artificial conscience towards man, hindering in fact his conscience being properly before God.
Let me briefly state to you what the Scripture doctrine of the ministry is; it is a very simple one. The Assembly of God is Christ's body; all the members are members of Christ. There is no other membership in Scripture than this, the membership of Christ's body, to which all true Christians belong: not many bodies of Christ, but one body; not many churches, but one Church.
There is, of course, a different place for each member of the body by the very fact that he is such. All members have not the same office: there is the eye, the ear, and so on, but they are all necessary, and all necessarily ministering in some way to one another.
Every member has its place, not merely locally and for the benefit of certain other members, but for the benefit of the whole body.
Each member has its gift, as the apostle teaches distinctly. "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us," etc. (Rom. 12:4-6).
In the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians the apostle speaks at large of these gifts; and he calls them by a significant name — "manifestations of the Spirit." They are gifts of the Spirit, of course; but more, they are "manifestations of the Spirit;" they manifest themselves where they are found — where (I scarcely need to add) there is spiritual discernment — where souls are before God.
For instance, if you take the gospel of God, whence does it derive its authority and power? From any sanction of men? any human credentials of any kind? or from its own inherent power? I maintain that the common attempt to authenticate the messenger takes away from, instead of adding to, the power of the Word. God's word must be received as such: he that receives it sets to his seal that God is true. Its ability to meet the needs of heart and conscience is derived from the fact that it is "God's good news," who knows perfectly what man's need is, and has provided for it accordingly. He who has felt its power knows well from whom it comes. The work and witness of the Spirit of God in the soul need no witness of man to supplement them.
Even the Lord's appeal in His own case was to the truth He uttered: "If I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me?" When He stood forth in the Jewish synagogues, or elsewhere, He was but, in men's eyes, a poor carpenter's son, accredited by no school or set of men at all. All the weight of authority was ever against Him. He disclaimed even "receiving testimony from men." God's word alone should speak for God. "My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me." And how did it approve itself? By the fact of its being truth. "If I speak the truth, why do ye not believe Me?" It was the truth that was to make its way with the true. "He that wills to do God's will shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself." He says: I speak the truth; I bring it to you from God; and if it is truth, if you are seeking to do God's will, you will learn to recognize it as the truth. God will not leave people in ignorance and darkness if they are seeking to be doers of His will. Can you suppose that God will allow true hearts to be deceived by whatever plausible deceptions may be abroad? He is able to make His voice known in those who seek to hear His voice. And so the Lord says to Pilate, "Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice" (John 18:37). "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me," and, again, "a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers" (John 10:27, 5).
Such is the nature of truth then, that to pretend to authenticate it to those who are themselves true, is to dishonor it, as if it were not capable of self-evidence; and it dishonors God, as if He could be wanting to souls, or to what He Himself has given. Nay, the apostle says: "By manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Cor. 4:2). And the Lord speaks of its being the condemnation of the world that "light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). There was no lack of evidence: light was there, and men owned its power to their own condemnation when they sought to escape from it.
Even so in the gift, there was "the manifestation of the Spirit," and it was "given to every man to profit withal." By the very fact that he had it he was responsible to use it — responsible to Him who had not given it in vain. In the gift itself lay the ability to minister, and title too; for I am bound to help and serve with what I have. And if souls are helped, they need scarcely ask if I had commission to do it.
That is the simple character of ministry — the service of love, according to the ability which God gave; mutual service of each to each, and each to all, without jostling or exclusion of one another. Each gift was thrown into the common treasury, and all were the richer by it. God's blessing and the manifestation of the Spirit were all the needed sanction. All were not teachers, still less public teachers, of the Word; still, in these cases the same principles exactly applied. That was but one department of a service which had many, and which was rendered by each to each according to his sphere.
Was there nothing else than that? Was there no ordained class at all then? That is another thing. There were, without doubt, in the primitive Church two classes of officials, regularly appointed, — ordained, if you like. The deacons were those who, having charge of the fund for the poor and other purposes, were chosen by the saints first for this place of trust in their behalf, and then appointed authoritatively by apostles mediately or immediately. Elders were a second class, — elderly men, as the word imports, who were appointed in the local assemblies as "bishops" or "overseers," to take cognizance of their state. That the elders were the same as bishops may be seen in Paul's words to the elders of Ephesus, where he exhorts them to "take heed to . . . all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers." There they have translated the word, "bishops," but in Titus they have left it — "that thou shouldst ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee; if any be blameless . . . for a bishop must be blameless" (Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5, 7).
Their work was to "oversee," and although for that purpose their being "apt to teach" was a much needed qualification, in view of errors already rife, yet no one could suppose that teaching was confined to those who were "elders," "husbands of one wife, having their children in subjection with all gravity." This was a needed test for one who was to be a bishop; "for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" (1 Tim. 3:1-7).
Whatever gifts they had, they used, as all did, and thus the apostle directs, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, specially they who labor in the word and doctrine" (ver. 17). But they might rule, and rule well, without this.
The meaning of their ordination was just this, that here it was not a question of gift, but of authority. It was a question of title to take up and look into, often difficult and delicate matters, among people, too, very likely in no state to submit to what was merely spiritual. The ministration of gift was another thing, and free, under God, to all.
Thus much, very briefly, as to Scripture doctrine. Our painful duty is now to put in contrast with it the system I am deprecating, according to which a distinct class are devoted formally to spiritual things, and the people — the laity — are in the same ratio excluded from such occupation. This is true Nicolaitanism, — the "subjection of the people."
Again I say, not only that ministry of the Word is entirely right, but that there are those who have special gift and responsibility (though still not exclusive) to minister it. But priesthood is another thing, and a thing sufficiently distinct to be easily recognized where it is claimed or in fact exists. I am, of course, aware that Protestants in general disclaim any priestly powers for their ministers. I have no wish nor thought of disputing their perfect honesty in this disavowal. They mean that they have no thought of the minister having any authoritative power of absolution; and that they do not make the Lord's table an altar, whereon afresh day after day the perfection of Christ's one offering is denied by countless repetitions. They are right in both respects; but it is scarcely the whole matter. If we look more deeply we shall find that much of a priestly character may attach where neither of these have the least place.
Priesthood and ministry may be distinguished in this way. Ministry (in the sense we are now considering) is to men; priesthood is to God. The minister brings God's message to the people; he speaks for Him to them. The priest goes to God for the people; he speaks, in the reverse way, for them to Him. It is surely easy to distinguish these two attitudes.
"Praise and thanksgiving" are "spiritual sacrifices:" they are part of our offering as priests. Put a special class into a place where regularly and officially they act thus for the rest, they are at once in the rank of an intermediate priesthood, mediators with God for those who are not so near.
The Lord's Supper is the most prominent and fullest expression of Christian thankfulness and adoration, publicly and statedly. But what Protestant minister does not look upon it as his official right to administer this? What "layman" would not shrink from the profanation of administering it? And this is one of the terrible evils of the system, that the mass of Christian people are thus distinctly secularized. Occupied with worldly things, they cannot be expected to be spiritually what the clergy are. And to this they are given over as it were. They are released from spiritual occupations to which they are not equal, and to which others give themselves entirely.
But this must evidently go much further. "The priest's lips should keep knowledge." The laity, who have become that by abdicating their priesthood, how should they retain the knowledge belonging to a priestly class? The unspirituality, to which they have given themselves up, pursues them here. The class whose business it is, become the authorized interpreters of the Word also, for how should the secular man know so well what Scripture means? Thus the clergy become spiritual eyes and ears and mouth for the laity, and are in the fair way of becoming the whole body too.
But it suits people well. Do not mistake me as if I meant that this is all come in as the assumption of a class merely. It is that, no doubt, but never could this miserable and unscriptural distinction of clergy and laity have obtained so rapidly as it did, and so universally, if everywhere it had not been found well adapted to the tastes of those even whom it really displaced and degraded. Not alone in Israel, but in Christendom also, has it been fulfilled: "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule through their means, and my people love to have it so!" Alas, they did, and they do. As spiritual decline sets in, the heart that is turning to the world barters readily, Esau-like, its spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage. It exchanges thankfully its need of caring too much for spiritual things, with those who will accept the responsibility of this. Worldliness is well covered with a layman's cloak. And as the Church at large dropped out of first love, as it did rapidly, the world began to come in through the loosely guarded gates, and it became more and more impossible for the rank and file of Christendom to take the blessed and wonderful place which belonged to Christians. The step taken downwards, instead of being retrieved, only made succeeding steps each one easier; until, in less than 300 years from the beginning, a Jewish priesthood and a ritualistic religion were everywhere installed. Only so much the worse, as the precious things of Christianity left their names at least as spoils to the invader, and the shadow became, for most, the substance itself.
But I must return to look more particularly at one feature in this clerisy. I have noted the confounding of ministry and priesthood; the assumption of an official title in spiritual things, of title to administer the Lord's Supper, and I might have added also, to baptize. For none of these things can Scripture be found at all. But I must dwell a little more on the emphasis that is laid on ordination.
I want you to see a little more what ordination means. In the first place, if you look through the New Testament you will find nothing about ordination to teach or to preach. You find people going about everywhere freely exercising whatever gift they had; the whole Church was scattered abroad from Jerusalem, except the apostles, and they went everywhere preaching (literally, evangelizing) the Word. The persecution did not ordain them, I suppose. So with Apollos. So with Philip the deacon. There is in fact no trace of anything else. Timothy received a gift by prophecy, by the laying on of Paul's hands with those of the elders, but that was gift, not authorization to use it. So he is bidden to communicate his own knowledge to faithful men, who should be able to teach others also; but there is not a word about ordaining them. The case of elders I have already noticed. That of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch is the most unhappy that can be for the purpose people use it for. For prophets and teachers are made to ordain an apostle, and one who totally disclaims being that, "of men or by man." And there the Holy Ghost — not confers power of ordaining any, but says, "Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereto I have called them" — for a special missionary journey, which it is shown afterwards they had fulfilled. See Acts 8:1, 3; Acts 11:19– 21; Acts 13:2-4; Acts 18:24-28; 1 Tim. 4:14; etc.
Now, what means this "ordination"? It means much, you may be sure, or it would not be so zealously contended for as it is. There are, no doubt, two phases of it. In the most extreme, as among Romanists and Ritualists, there is claimed for it in the fullest way that it is the conveyance, not merely of authority, but of spiritual power. They assume, with all the power of apostles, to give the Holy Ghost by the laying on of their hands, and also for priesthood in the fullest way. The people of God, as such, are rejected from the priesthood He has given them, and a special class are put into their place to mediate for them in a way which sets aside the fruit of Christ's work and ties them to the Church as the channel of all grace. Among Protestants you think, perhaps, I need not dwell on this; but it is done among some of these also, in words which, to a certain class of them, seem strangely to mean nothing, while another class find in them the abundant sanction of their highest pretensions.
Those, on the other hand, who rightly and consistently reject these unchristian assumptions, do not pretend indeed to confer any gift in ordination, but only to "recognize" the gift which God has given. But then, after all, this recognition is considered necessary before the person can baptize or administer the Lord's Supper — things which really require no peculiar gift at all. And as to the ministry of the Word, God's gift is made to require human sanction, and is "recognized" on behalf of His people by those who are considered to have a discernment which the people, as such, have not. Blind themselves or not, these men are to become "leaders of the blind;" else why need others to be eyes for them, while their own souls are taken out of the place of immediate responsibility to God and made responsible unduly to man? An artificial conscience is manufactured for them, and conditions are constantly imposed to which they have to conform in order to obtain the needful recognition. It is well if they are not under the control of their ordainers as to their path of service also, as they generally are.
In principle this is unfaithfulness to God: for if He has given me gift to use for Him, I am surely unfaithful if I go to any man or body of men to ask their leave to use it. The gift itself carries with it the responsibility of using it, as we have seen. If they say, "But people may make mistakes," I own it thoroughly; but who is to assume my responsibility if I am mistaken? And, again, the mistakes of an ordaining body are infinitely more serious than those of one who merely runs unsent. Their mistakes are consecrated and perpetuated by the ordination they bestow; and the man who, if he stood simply upon his own merits, would soon find his true level, has a character conferred upon him by it which the whole weight of the system must sustain. Mistake or not, he is none the less one of the clerical body — a minister, if he has nothing really to minister. He must be provided for, if only with some less conspicuous place, where souls, dear to God as any, are put under his care, and must be unfed if he cannot feed them.
Do not accuse me of sarcasm; it is the system I am speaking of which is a sarcasm: a swathing of the body of Christ in bands which hinder the free circulation of the vitalizing blood which should be permeating unrestrictedly the whole of it. Nature itself should rebuke the folly. What enormous inference is deduced from such Scriptural premises as that apostles and apostolic men "ordained elders"! They must prove that they are either, and (granting them that), that the Scripture "elder" might be no elder at all, but a young unmarried man just out of his teens, and on the other hand was evangelist, pastor, teacher — all God's various gifts rolled into one. This is the minister, — according to the system, indeed, the minister, — the all in all to the fifty or five hundred souls who are committed to him as "his flock," with which no other has title to interfere! Surely, surely, the brand of Nicolaitanism is upon the forefront of such a system as this!
Take it at its best, the man, if gifted at all, is scarcely likely to have every gift. Suppose he is an evangelist, and souls are happily converted, he is no teacher, and cannot build them up. Or, he is a teacher sent to a place where there are but a few Christians, and the mass of his congregation unconverted men. There are no conversions, and his presence there (according to the system) keeps away the evangelist who is needed there. Thank God! He is ever breaking up these barriers, and in some irregular way the need may be supplied. But the supply is schismatical and a confusion: the new wine breaks the poor human bottles.
For all this the system is responsible. The exclusive ministry of one man, or of a number of men in a congregation has no shred of Scripture to support it while the ordination, as we have seen, is the attempt to confine all ministry to a certain class, and make it rest on human authorization rather than on divine gift the people, Christ's sheep, being denied their competency to hear His voice. The inevitable tendency is to fix upon the man the attention which should be devoted to the word he brings. The question is, is he accredited? If he speak truly is subordinated to the question: Is he ordained? or, perhaps I should say, his orthodoxy is settled already for them by the fact of his ordination.
Paul, an apostle, not of men, nor by man, could not have been received upon this plan. There were apostles before him, and he neither went up to them nor got anything from them. If there were a succession, he was a break in the succession. And what he did he did designedly, to show that his gospel was not after man (Gal. 1:11), and that it might not rest upon the authority of man. Nay, if he himself preached a different gospel from that he had preached (for there was not another), yea, or an angel from heaven (where the authority, if that were in question, might seem conclusive), his solemn decision is, "let him be accursed."
Authority then is nothing, if it be not the authority of the word of God. That is the test — is it according to the Scriptures? If the blind lead the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch? To say, "I could not, of course know, I trusted another" will not save you from the ditch.
But the unspiritual and unlearned layman, how can he pretend to equal knowledge with the educated and accredited minister, devoted to spiritual things? In point of fact, in general he does not. He yields to the one who should know better, and practically the minister's teaching largely supplants the authority of the word of God. Not that certainty indeed is thus attained. He cannot conceal it from himself that people differ, wise and good and learned and accredited as they may be. But here the devil steps in, and — if God has allowed men's authorities to get into a babel of confusion, as they have — suggests to the unwary soul that the confusion must be the result of the obscurity of Scripture, whereas they have got into it by disregarding Scripture.
But this is everywhere! Opinion, not faith; opinion to which you are welcome and have a right, of course and you must allow others a right to theirs. You may say "I believe" as long as you do not mean by that "I know." To claim "knowledge" is to claim that you are wiser, more learned, better, than whole generations before you, who thought opposite to you.
Need I show you how infidelity thrives upon this? how Satan rejoices when, for the simple and emphatic "Yea" of the divine voice, he succeeds in substituting the Yea and Nay of a host of jarring commentators? Think you, you can fight the Lord's battles with the rush of human opinion instead of "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God"? Think you, "Thus says John Calvin, or John Wesley," will meet Satan as satisfactorily as "Thus saith the Lord"?
Who can deny that such thoughts are abroad, and in no wise confined to papists or ritualists? The tendency, alas, is in the heart of unbelief ever departing from the living God, as near to His own today as at any time through the centuries His Church has traveled on as competent to instruct as ever — as ready to fulfil the word "He that will do His will shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." The eyes are of the heart, and not the head. He has hidden from wise and prudent what He reveals to babes. The school of God is more effectual than all colleges combined, and here layman and cleric are equal: "He that is spiritual discerneth all things," and he alone. Substitute for spirituality there is none: unspirituality the Spirit of God alone can remedy. Ordination, such as practised, is rather a sanction put upon it — an attempt to manifest what is the manifestation of the Spirit, or not His work at all, and to provide leaders for the blind whom, with all their care, they cannot ensure not being blind also.
Before I close, I must say a few words about "succession." An ordination which pretends to be derived from the apostles must needs be (to be consistent) a successional one. Who can confer authority (and in the least and lowest theories of ordination authority is conferred, as to baptize and to administer the Lord's Supper) but one himself authorized for this very purpose? You must therefore have a chain of ordained men, lineally succeeding one another. Apostolic succession is as necessary on the Presbyterian as on the Episcopalian plan. John Wesley, as his warrant for ordaining, fell back upon the essential oneness of bishop and presbyter. Nay, presbyterians will urge against episcopalians the ease of maintaining succession in this way. I have nothing to do with this: I only insist that succession is needed.
But then, mark the result. It is a thing apart from spirituality, and from truth even. A Romish priest may have it as well as any; and, indeed, through the gutter of Rome most of that we have around us must necessarily have come down. Impiety and impurity do not in the least invalidate Christ's commission. The teacher of false doctrine may be as well His messenger as the teacher of truth. Nay, the possession of the truth, with gift to minister it and godliness combined, are actually no part of the credentials of the true ambassador. He may have all these, and be none. He may want them all, and be truly one nevertheless.
Who can believe such doctrine? Can He who is truth accredit error? the righteous One, unrighteousness? It is impossible. This ecclesiasticism violates every principle of morality, and hardens the conscience that has to do with it. For why need we be careful for truth, if He is not? And how can He send messengers that He would not have to be believed? His own test of a true witness fails: for "he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh His glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." His own test of credibility fails, for if I speak the truth, why do ye not believe Me?" was His own appeal.
No: to state this principle is to condemn it. He who foresaw and predicted the failure of what should have been the bright and evident witness of His truth and grace, could not ordain a succession of teachers for it who should carry His commission, unforfeitable by whatever failure! Before apostles had left the earth, the house of God had become as a "great house," and it was necessary to separate from vessels to dishonor in it. He who bade His apostle instruct another to "follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart," could not possibly tell us to listen to men, as His ministers, who are alien from all this, and have His commission in spite of all. And thus, notably, in the second epistle to Timothy, in which this is said, there is no longer, as in the first, any talk of elders, or of ordained men. It is "faithful men" who are wanted, not for ordination, but for the deposit of the truth committed to Timothy: "The things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."
Thus God's holy Word vindicates itself to the heart and conscience ever. The effort to attach His sanction to a Romish priesthood, or a Protestant hierarchy, fails alike upon the same ground; for as to this they are upon the same ground. Alas, Nicolaitanism is no past thing, no obscure doctrine of past ages, but a widespread and gigantic system of error, fruitful in evil results. Error is long-lived, though mortal. Reverence it not for its gray hairs, and "follow not with a multitude to do evil." With cause does the Lord say in this case, "which thing I hate." If He does, shall we be afraid to have fellowship with Him? That there are good men entangled in it, all must admit. There are godly men and true ministers ignorantly wearing the livery of men. May God deliver them may they cast aside their fetters and be free! May they rise up to the true dignity of their calling, responsible to God, and walking before Him alone!
On the other hand, beloved brethren, it is of immense importance that all His people, however diverse their places in the body of Christ may be, should realize that they are all as really ministers as they are all priests. We need to recognize that every Christian has spiritual duties flowing from spiritual relationship to every other Christian. It is the privilege of each one to contribute his share to the common treasury of gift with which Christ has endowed His Church. Nay, he who does not contribute is actually holding back what is his debt to the whole family of God. No possessor of one talent is entitled to wrap it in a napkin upon that account: it would be mere unfaithfulness and unbelief.
"It is more blessed to give than to receive." Brethren in Christ, when shall we awake to the reality of our Lord's words there? Ours is a never-failing spring of perpetual joy and blessing, which if we but come to when we thirst, out of our bellies shall flow rivers of living water. The spring is not limited by the vessel which receives it: it is divine, and yet ours fully — fully as can be! Oh, to know more this abundance, and the responsibility of the possession of it, in a dry and weary scene like this! Oh, to know better the infinite grace which has taken us up as channels of its outflow among men! When shall we rise up to the sense of our common dignity? to the sweet reality of fellowship with Him who "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister?" Oh for unofficial ministry, the overflowing of full hearts into empty ones, so many as there are around us! How we should rejoice, in a scene of want and misery and sin, to find perpetual opportunity to show the competency of Christ's fulness to meet and minister to every form of it!
Official ministry is practical independence of the Spirit of God. It is to decide that such a vessel shall overflow, though at the time, it may be, practically empty and, on the other hand, that such another shall not overflow, however full it may be. It proposes, in the face of Him who has come down in Christ's absence to be the Guardian of His people, to provide for order and for edification, not by spiritual power, but by legislation. It would provide for failure on the part of Christ's sheep to hear His voice, by making it, as far as possible, unnecessary for them to do so. It thus sanctions and perpetuates unspirituality, instead of condemning or avoiding it.
It is quite true that in God's mode of action the failure in man's part may become more evident externally: for He cares little for a correct outside when the heart is nevertheless not right with Him, and He knows well that ability to maintain a correct outside may in fact prevent a truthful judgment of what is our real condition before Him. Men would have upbraided Peter with his attempt to walk upon those waves which made his little faith so manifest. The Lord would only rebuke the littleness of the faith which made him fail. And man still, and ever, would propose the boat as the remedy for failure, instead of the strength of the Lord's support which He made Peter prove. Yet, after all, the boat confessedly may fail; winds and waves may overthrow it; but "the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." Through these many centuries of failure have we proved Him untrustworthy? Beloved, is it your honest conviction that it is absolutely safe to trust the living God? Then let us make no provision for His failure, however much we may have to own that we have failed! Let us act as if we really trusted Him.


Yumme is an innovative social media mobile platform where users can search for any restaurant around the world to save and share with friends and followers.
Users can add photos and notes from each restaurant so they can remember any specific detail from it. The map tab is one of the app's main features, where you can see your restaurants denoted with orange pins and your friends' restaurants denoted with different colored pin. Yumme will be an essential app for any foodie!


Played around with Opera 7.1. Very nice rendering, but a little buggy. Horrible mail client. Uninstalled all older versions of Mozilla on my workstation and went with Mozilla 1.4a. Was an adventure.
Got rid of evolution. Love it, but it's not GTK2 yet. The GTK2 beta is too unstable. It's a shame because GTK2 rules.
Got some more functionality working on my side project "backUplink" which is a utility for Introversion's hacking game "Uplink". It backs up your character so you don't lose your entire character. Very close to done.
Read on to see the Java source code to an Application Preferences storage class.
Package below needs to be changed if you want to use it (unless you like com.squarism …), make an empty file what is listed, run the main unit class and see how it works.
Works fairly well. Be sure to change file paths and the like. Your mileage may vary.


text:
Се́верный Таныма́с — горный хребет на востоке Памира в Таджикистане, примыкающий на востоке к хребту Зулумарт.

Хребет протягивается в широтном направлении на 80 км. Около 140 вершин превышают высоту 5000 м, две — 6000 м; высшая точка хребта — гора Крутой Рог (6025 м). На севере от хребта отходят два крупных отрога: Кызкурган и Баландкиик. Южнее находится параллельный малорасчленённый хребет Арал (длиной около 25 км), отделённый от Северного Танымаса ледником Наливкина.

Нижняя часть склонов и долины заняты высокогорными пустынями, степями и альпийскими лугами, выше — нивальные ландшафты. Высота снеговой границы на склонах северной экспозиции составляет 4800—5200 м, на склонах южной экспозиции — 4900—5300 м. Общая площадь оледенения 430 км².

Источники
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Горные хребты Памира
Горные хребты Таджикистана

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


In your journey to find the right VPN for you, you may have come across the term "VPN passthrough." Even though it's a feature built into your router, it doesn't function exactly the same way as a VPN-enabled router. What is it and why should you (or shouldn't you) care?
This is a feature that allows any devices connected to the router to establish outbound VPN connections. Most modern routers already have this built-in, so many of us take it for granted. But is it really necessary?
It all starts with something called the Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall. This tool comes standard with many routers and can hinder your VPN connection.
NAT gives all the devices connected to the router the same IP address and hides them from the outside world. It also filters the traffic sent to devices that are connected to the router, making sure that you only receive the information you requested.
In order to do its job, the NAT needs certain information about the connections leaving and entering your router. The problem arises when certain outdated VPN protocols try to get through. The way they encrypt your connection doesn't give the NAT enough information to do its job, forcing it to block those connections.
A VPN passthrough solves this problem for older VPN protocols (like PPTP or IPsec) by allowing them through the NAT.
Most routers on the current market will already have a built-in VPN passthrough. If they don't, however, that's fine.
Your router only needs a VPN passthrough if you want to use a VPN that supports IPsec or PPTP protocols. However, these security protocols are outdated and unreliable. Modern VPNs use faster and more secure protocols such as OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPsec. In fact, NordVPN will soon stop supporting PPTP and L2TP (an outdated IPsec protocol) completely.
OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPsec don't just offer a better and quicker encryption, they also tunnel through the NAT on their own so your router doesn't need a VPN passthrough at all.
Instead of worrying about outdated VPN passthrough technology, choose the VPN of the future!


LIVERPOOL boss Brendan Rodgers has praised the contribution of the club's youngsters during the club's stay in North America.
In the absence of some star names, the likes of Raheem Sterling, Adam Morgan, Stephen Sama, Suso, Jordon Ibe, Ryan McLaughlin and Andre Wisdom enjoyed some invaluable experience.
"I have been really pleased with them," said Rodgers. "That was one of the key things – the development of the youngsters and how they've taken on the concept.
"If you look at Raheem Sterling over the last two weeks, he came as a young boy, 17 years old, and he only knew how to beat a defender.
"If you look at Saturday's game, he understood when to press and when to be inside.
"He was playing against an experienced player in Sebastien Bassong and he actually gave him a hard time. That's brilliant for me because it shows he's taken it on board.
"He's thinking about the game.


text:
Available: June 2018
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 , 224 pages
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How Eight Innovative Public Schools Are Transforming Education in the Twenty-First Century
Monica R. Martinez
Dennis McGrath
with a new foreword by Russlynn Ali
The acclaimed exploration of how public education can cultivate innovators—with a foreword by Russlynn Ali, a leading advocate for remaking schools
"A wonderful book that should be read by every educator, parent, and policy maker." —Tony Wagner, author of Creating Innovators and The Global Achievement Gap
Dime-a-dozen ideas for reforming education seem to be everywhere these days but few actually transform the everyday experience of the 50-million-plus students who are regularly subjected to traditional lecturing, note-taking, and rote learning—often with dismal results. Enter Deeper Learning, "a fast read [that] will interest educators who want to produce self-motivated, passionate learners" (Library Journal).
Offering "uplifting" (Kirkus Reviews) anecdotes in what Tom Carroll of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future calls a "rare blend of inspiration and practical action," Deeper Learning provides a blueprint for creating flexible environments that put students at the helm of their own collaborative learning experience. This paperback edition includes a new foreword by renowned education advocate Russlynn Ali and will empower and inspire educators everywhere to address the need for schools to be genuinely innovative.
"In the tradition of Ted Sizer, Pedro Noguera, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and other innovative thought leaders, Martinez and McGrath provide inspiring examples of what deeper, student-centered learning looks like in practice. Communities across the nation must use the principles outlined in this book to fundamentally transform schools into places where Deeper Learning flourishes as a rule rather than an exception."
—Warren Simmons, executive director, Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
"This compelling book reveals how eight schools are navigating the transition from industrial-era teaching to twenty-first-century learning. A rare blend of inspiration and practical action."
—Tom Carroll, president emeritus, National Commission on Teaching and America's Future
"It is a fast read and will interest educators who want to produce self-motivated, passionate learners with a goal that looks beyond passing tomorrow's quiz."
"Deeper Learning is both informed and informative. From California to Maine, eight exemplary public schools show us how teachers and principals are finding creative ways to impact the learning and life chances of high school youth. This book is a clarion call to celebrate the imagination and commitment of educators in these and other stellar public schools."
—Mary Brabeck, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
"Deeper Learning is a refreshing reminder that the best schools are defined by a commitment to motivating, challenging, and connecting students to their own lives and their own learning."
—Elena Silva, senior associate, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
"The best book on education I have read in 2014. . . . I will be sharing this with every educator that I know."
—Aaron Maurer, Iowa Teacher of the Year finalist, Bettendorf Schools
Getting Smart
Getting Smart's feature on Deeper Learning
Forecaster Newspaper
Forecaster Newspaper's feature on Deeper Learning.
Cutting School
The Segrenomics of American Education
Noliwe Rooks
Families and Freedom
A Documentary History of African-American Kinship in the Civil War Era
Ira Berlin, Leslie S. Rowland
Out of the Classroom and into the World
Learning from Field Trips, Educating from Experience, and Unlocking the Potential of Our Students and Teachers
Salvatore Vascellaro
A People's History of the United States
Abridged Teaching Edition
@drmonie
Monica R. Martinez is the chief school support officer for the XQ Institute. Former president of the New Tech Network and former vice president of KnowledgeWorks, she was appointed by President Obama to serve on the President's Advisory...
Dennis McGrath is a professor of sociology at the Community College of Philadelphia, where he won the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award. He is a co-author, with Monica R. Martinez, of Deeper Learning:...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Turbiscan LAB enables fast and sensitive identification of destabilization mechanisms (creaming, sedimentation, flocculation, coalescence...). A temperature controlled measurement cell allows either stability monitoring at specific storage temperature or accelerating destabilization process. Turbiscan LAB can be used in both R&D and QC labs for development and routine control of raw materials and final product formulations. The instrument not only detects stability evolution at an early stage, up to 200 times faster compared to visual testing but also quantifies global formula alteration with TSI scale.
Turbiscan LAB analyzes sample stability without dilution or mechanical stress. Concentrations up to 95% can be characterized in their native state giving a unique insight to particle migration and size variation.
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Turbiscan LAB is designed to work with disposable glass cells of 4 or 20mL but the complete kit is also available for foams and viscous product analysis.


Thanks to a lot of stress over the past several months, I'm happy to be where I am with my weightloss journey. It's been the longest journey ever, but I'm getting there. And I'm getting pretty close to the finish line. I'm in the final stretch.
I've been holding on to 170.8lbs for the past week or so. And it's been a transition with dealing with first week of school, new daycare situation, etc. So this week starts the final stretch. It's the part that I both love and dread. I love it because of course I'm getting smaller and that in itself is great. Wearing smaller clothes and all. But at the same time, it means less time for playing around. Let's get it done already. Go hard. Push.
I'm less than 90 days away from my birthday. And no I don't wish to calculate the exact number of days before I turn 30, but I believe it's in the 60s. Over the weekend I've been stuck on . And I think last week, I found this pin and it made me decide that perhaps, I need to do something big for my birthday.
Being 100% honest…I could wear this dress now. Sure could. But those of you who actually know me, know that I would do no such thing! lol Spanx or not…I'm not toned enough yet. So that's what I'm doing in this final stretch. Because yes, I look good in clothes now. But I want to look good without clothes on too. Now I know I can't act as if I've magically had some plastic surgery…but I can make some drastic changes.
For some reason, just like the last time I did ChaLean Extreme…I'm struggling finishing the full Push Phase. But I'm going to give it another week before I go into the Lean Phase. Now before I fully make a workout schedule that includes the Lean Phase, I need to view it. Because the plan is to continue with CE 3x's a week, Cardio on other days, and Pilates everyday. At minimum of doing Pilates abs daily. Reason being, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do a full Pilates circuit while on the Lean Phase. So with this week before many of my tv shows come back, I'll try to start to preview the Lean Phase so I can make my workout schedule.
The overall focus is on lots of cardio and lots of ab work. Because that's where the last 20-25lbs are stored. I have a little in my thighs and overall, but most of it's in the last place that I like to work…the tummy. And although I know the powers of Pilates, it doesn't make me want to do it. But it must get done. I'm not sure if I want to get to 45lbs…that's always been my goal for as long as I can remember, but wherever my body stays between 140-150lbs is good for me. My size 8 Express jeans fit and fit good. I wore them out Friday night. I have no clothes hardly that I can really fit! But that's a good problem to have!
I'm not sure what I'll do yet for my birthday, but I know it involves this dress and the rest…I'll be planning on Pinterest! So want an update to where I'm at now?


The Whirlpool 30-inch-wide Top-Freezer Refrigerator features 18.15 cubic feet of storage space, including 5 cubic feet of freezer space, which also includes a factory-installed ice maker.
This model has 2 fixed full-width door bins, 2 half-width humidity controlled drawers, glass shelving, and incandescent lighting. Smooth surfaces make it easy to clean inside and out.
Closed depth (including handles) measures 33.5 inches.


This chapter begins with a background note on international human rights law and the right to health — the most commonly mentioned basis for a right to access to medicine — as well as human rights aspects of intellectual property. It then discusses the interpretation of human rights conventions. The rights at issue are closely connected to the notion of economic, social, and cultural rights. Some authors argue that this category of human rights is of doubtful legal relevance, an objection that is treated under the heading of 'justiciability'. The chapter also examines whether pharmaceutical companies are directly bound by these rights and whether the WTO is bound by human rights law. Finally, the right to access to medicine is discussed in detail, proceeding in the order of the sources recognized by international law as stated in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ): international conventions, customary international law, and general principles of law.


2007-03-03 10:31:15 Ok so I just started today and let me tell you what an expierence I had so far.!.!
What do you guys think would be an ultimate Role Playing expierence with wrestling ?
I'm thinking it would be cool if we could acctually see our wrestlers fight.
2007-03-03 22:51:19 lol, first thing i hear about it.


Or... you can rebuild it yourself for $30 in parts and a couple of hours of work.
I have been thinking of doing this. Are there any special tools I'll need, and any suggestion of source for parts?
I usually get my stuff from www.ackits.com, but I believe www.acsource.com also has the stuff you will need for a 6E171 rebuild.
I bought the rebuilt Denso AC compressor and new dryer from TechChoice Parts. Had it installed and just got my S4 back today. Everything is running great. Total cost, compresser/dryer $250, installation and system recharge $440, total cost $690.
FYI: Plus, for $25 more TechChoice will grant a lifetime warranty for the compressor, one year warranty is standard for the AC compressor.
Cool breezes blowing in the Porsche on a hot, 90+ degree Florida day!
Here is an update on the AC Compressor for my '88 928 S4.
In February 2011 the rebuilt compressor from TechChoice Parts I had installed in 2010 failed and seized up completely. Who knows why, but the unit only lasted about a year.
Taking everyones advise, I bought a "new" Denso 6E171 AC Compressor from Pelican Parts, plus new dryer and expansion valves. They offer 3 day delivery for $3, nice. Parts came in and first week of March I took the parts and car to the shop to have it repaired, again.
By the time I got home from dropping the car off, there was a phone message - the "new" Denso Compressor was the wrong model. After frantic phone calls to Pelican Parts, it turns out I ordered the right part, but their system kicked out the compressor for the 1990-1995 models of the 928, whoops.
ALSO, it turns out there is no "new" Denso 6E171 AC Compressors, only rebuilts available. Their rebuilt was done by Denso, so they overnighted the correct, rebuilt Denso compressor to the shop.
Shop got the compressor and installed it. I picked up the car and after driving 10-15 miles home, I noticed a whine from the compressor. Kind of like a dentist drill. Drove around for a week and the noise didnt go away... so I take the car back to the shop and they say I have a noisy compressor, get another one.
I called service dept at Pelican Parts, again, and they send a third compressor, another Denso rebuilt compressor. This time when the part was replaced the shop had to completely clean out the AC system because the first rebuilt compressor had crap in it and gunked up all the AC lines.
All said and done, I had to pay for two compressor installs, but at least now the AC works and is quiet, no more whining noise. Fingers crossed, this is the last time I have to work on the AC on the car in a long time.
Sorry for all your troubles.
Hmmm, was the shop not flushing the system btw compressor failures?
Seems strange to me to only flush the one time they saw "gunk".
Getting the wrong compressor from Pelican wouldn've chapped my ***. I have not ordered from them since they messed up parts in two orders, of two.
I'm glad you fought through and got your AC up-to-snuff. Enjoy your cool driving summer!
did you go back with R12, or did you convert over to R134a? I still need to address the AC in my 85.
Still running R12.. works just fine.
When a compressor seizes up, the whole system *must* be thoroughly flushed. The drier and expansion valves should also be replaced. If you don't do this, particles from the damaged compressor can make their way into the system and could then get into the new compressor and damage it as well.
Hope this is not too far of a stray from the origonal post, but I don't order from Pelican as much any more. I'm in Honolulu so shipping is pretty expensive. I ordered a radiator for my 944 S2 from them and got the wrong part. I didn't want to pay to ship the wrong part back and reship so I made it work, but while the car runs fine with the wrong part in there, there is a satisfiction of doing a job right that I missed. Perhaps, if I had make a stink they would have comped me the shipping but it would have been hundreds of dollars so I kinda doubt it. I must admit, I did not ask. But now I try to get my 944 parts from Roger. I feel like he will make the extra effort to make sure it is the right part that is shipping and I won't be stuck, thousands of miles from the nearest landmass, with the wrong part.
Hey Joe - PM Sent.
I think a new Denso (or alternative like the Griffith kit) is the only way to go. A standard "rebuild" involves just seals. Nothing is done to the pistons and casing. If you rebuild yourself, same thing. Joe's story is all to common. I've looked at the John Deere 6E171 situation, some very inexpensive for new. All have a single mounting ear. If you ask the same suppliers for one with 2 ears, the price is a couple hundred more ($499 vs. $299). Weird.
The rebuilt (thought it was new, but wasn't) Denso 6E171 that I got was rebuilt by Denso in Japan. Still just seals and nothing else?
I suppose it is possible, but unlikely. I think the amount of work and $$$ required to rebuild the hard components of a compressor would far outweigh the cost to just manufacture a new one. It's like an engine; if the bores are scratched, would you try and hone them and insert sleeves, then larger pistons? Or whole new casing?
Well I assume they have some specs they check for wear of the pistons and cylinder block, but to replace them basically means you've got a new compressor. I may be wrong, but I think they junk ones that are out of spec. They may do a better job of checking the unit over than some of the $199 rebuilders. Anyway, it looks like new 6E171 units can be had readily for $499; maybe cheaper, but I haven't found any below that.


In Lucas Rahn's work he attempts to examine time and utilises painting's ability to link the past with the present and the future. Instead of mainly depicting the specific conditions at a particular time, Rahn explores the idea of ll the possibilities that time implies: the possibility of what has been and what is, whilst at the same time what could have been and what might be. Painting in this case becomes as much as a craft as a way to explore time as a concept and search for what Rahn calls a slower and more sincere time.
A main characteristic of his artwork is tranquillity. It is a visual world that is all-embracing and adheres to the notion of timeless aesthetics. A painting such asModern house against the light – where the art-historical theme of the sunset contrasts with and obscures the contemporary building – may, in this perspective, stand as a metaphor for an overall theme. The juxtaposition of the modern aesthetic against the background of the universal aesthetic, becomes an allegory of the time and a meeting between the contemporary and the omnipresent within the painting.
Lucas Rahn's work holds a kinship with the literary world, as reflected in both his choice of motifs and more abstract literary references – like Borge's magical realism with his murky and obscure logic – which interacts with the works in a more underlying and atmospheric manner. Despite the intellectual approach and the intellectualised view on painting, there is still an element of intuition present in the work. There is a sense of humour and a warmth in his method, combining a playfullness that interacts with and contrasts against the austerity in a complimentary way.
Just as everyones perception of reality is a complex web of twisted fragments of the past, experiences of the present, and thoughts of the future, the painting becomes a place where these different occurrences can meet on non-linear terms. The motifs move between abstraction and figuration, occassionally within the same painting. The subdued colour scheme, the placidity, and the dark and murky undertones, reconnects to the idea of iving the paintings an all-embracing feeling and a desire for eternity, and also a desire for something that can survive the thoughts and ideas of our time.
The quietness, the slowness and the intimate format creates a subtle encounter between the viewer and the work. To encounter each painting is to encounter the content rather than the body: instead of being overwhelmed by a real physical presence, the viewer is invited to enter the realm of the painting and adapt to the tempo. The result is a body of work characterised by a quality that emerges from the subtlety of Rahn's painting method, which enables the viewer to gradually build up a relationship to.
These paintings create an opportunity for reflection, a room where alternative time and endless possibilities can co-exist.
Lucas Rahn (b.1980) graduated from The Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm 2011.


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blpapi_subscriptionlist.h File Reference

Provide a list of subscriptions.
More...

Go to the source code of this file.

Classes

class  	blpapi::SubscriptionList

Namespaces

namespace  	blpapi

Defines

#define 	INCLUDED_STDDEF

#define 	INCLUDED_CSTRING

#define 	INCLUDED_STRING

#define 	INCLUDED_VECTOR

Typedefs

typedef struct

blpapi_SubscriptionList 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_t

Functions

BLPAPI_EXPORT

blpapi_SubscriptionList_t * 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_create ()

BLPAPI_EXPORT void 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_destroy (blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *list)

BLPAPI_EXPORT int 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_add (blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *list, const char *subscriptionString, const blpapi_CorrelationId_t *correlationId, const char **fields, const char **options, size_t numfields, size_t numOptions)

BLPAPI_EXPORT int 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_addResolved (blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *list, const char *subscriptionString, const blpapi_CorrelationId_t *correlationId)

BLPAPI_EXPORT int 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_clear (blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *list)

BLPAPI_EXPORT int 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_append (blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *dest, const blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *src)

BLPAPI_EXPORT int 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_size (const blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *list)

BLPAPI_EXPORT int 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_correlationIdAt (const blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *list, blpapi_CorrelationId_t *result, size_t index)

BLPAPI_EXPORT int 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_topicStringAt (blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *list, const char **result, size_t index)

BLPAPI_EXPORT int 	blpapi_SubscriptionList_isResolvedAt (blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *list, int *result, size_t index)

Detailed Description

Provide a list of subscriptions.

Define Documentation

          #define INCLUDED_STDDEF

          #define INCLUDED_CSTRING

          #define INCLUDED_STRING

          #define INCLUDED_VECTOR

Typedef Documentation

          typedef struct blpapi_SubscriptionList blpapi_SubscriptionList_t

Function Documentation

          BLPAPI_EXPORT blpapi_SubscriptionList_t* blpapi_SubscriptionList_create
          (

           )

          BLPAPI_EXPORT void blpapi_SubscriptionList_destroy
          (
          blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           list
           )

          BLPAPI_EXPORT int blpapi_SubscriptionList_add
          (
          blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           list,

          const char *
           subscriptionString,

          const blpapi_CorrelationId_t *
           correlationId,

          const char **
           fields,

          const char **
           options,

          size_t
           numfields,

          size_t
           numOptions

          )

          BLPAPI_EXPORT int blpapi_SubscriptionList_addResolved
          (
          blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           list,

          const char *
           subscriptionString,

          const blpapi_CorrelationId_t *
           correlationId

          )

          BLPAPI_EXPORT int blpapi_SubscriptionList_clear
          (
          blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           list
           )

          BLPAPI_EXPORT int blpapi_SubscriptionList_append
          (
          blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           dest,

          const blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           src

          )

          BLPAPI_EXPORT int blpapi_SubscriptionList_size
          (
          const blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           list
           )

          BLPAPI_EXPORT int blpapi_SubscriptionList_correlationIdAt
          (
          const blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           list,

          blpapi_CorrelationId_t *
           result,

          size_t
           index

          )

          BLPAPI_EXPORT int blpapi_SubscriptionList_topicStringAt
          (
          blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           list,

          const char **
           result,

          size_t
           index

          )

          BLPAPI_EXPORT int blpapi_SubscriptionList_isResolvedAt
          (
          blpapi_SubscriptionList_t *
           list,

          int *
           result,

          size_t
           index

          )

<address class="footer">Generated on Fri Dec 6 2013 13:45:17 for BLPAPI 3.7.5 by

 1.7.1 </address>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Visual Studio 2010 + XNA 4.0 Debug error I have Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate for Windows 7 installed along with the Windows Phone Developer Tools (XNA 4.0). The installations went smoothly (no errors reported during install), but when I start debugging I get an error saying: "Attaching the ProteusDebugEngine debugger to process '[XXXX] projectname.exe' on machine 'MYCOMP' failed. Invalid Pointer"
However when I go to the debug menu and I choose start without debugging the program launches just fine. How can I fix this error? (Also everything works fine if I try debugging a Windows Phone Game... But when I try to debug an XNA 4.0 Windows Game I get the error message...)
EDIT:
When I start Visual Studio 2010 in safe mode and try to open a project it gives me an error and says that the project type is not supported by this installation...

A: Check the extended error message, there's usually a hint about which module crashed or isn't found, and it'll tell you to manually register it. Then try starting in safe mode to see if it works, because plugins that haven't been updated for XNA debugging can cause crashes. (Old versions of Resharper, for one.)

A: Reinstalling visual studio did not help.
Just reimaged then reinstalled and it fixed the problem.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


It's about time for the official premiere of Frank Edwards' new album, Frankincense. This upcoming album promises to be outstanding as the maestro explores new inspirations but in the meantime, check out "God Over Everything" - a song for the young hearts that love the Lord!
"God Over Everything" - one for the young people. Here is one of the tracks that didn't make the album because it didn't fit into the direction GOD wanted me to go with the album. I dedicate this to every youth out there who is born again despite peer pressure and all. I celebrate you!
You can't wait to get it right? Download below!


"This kaleidoscopic vision is a remarkable creation from author Izaak Mansk. Written as a novel within a novel, Emil Brut is a hugely entertaining book that explores the intellectual landscape of Europe; additionally it is an extended conversation about the aspects of life - that is, cultural, morals and the nature of love. Emit Brut is a challenging, funny and smart novel, full of hip wit and wisdom and steeped in originality. It remains testament to the remarkable places fiction can take us."--Editor's description.


For some people, sequins and sparkles get their style mojo going. For me, it's all about embroidery. A little smattering of something on the arm, or an all over folk design – it doesn't matter to me, I love it all. This season Debenhams are all over embellishment. They asked me to trial some of the looks – and here's how I got on.
My first outfit is a cool take on quite a prim style, but with a twist. I love the ruffled pinafore, which I know will become an outfit staple. Teamed with an off the shoulder striped blouse it looks modern – and I love the bold contrast embroidery.
Be still my beating, embroidered heart! If you're a fan of feminine, girly dresses, have a wedding to attend or just fancy treating yourself this season, may I introduce you to the bohemian dress of dreams. In a beautiful muted peach, with silver embroidery it's the ultimate, flattering style to suit all shapes. I've teamed it with silver mules to add a more edgy take.
The mix of texture and print on this outfit is what appeals to me. I love toughening up the pretty dress with this leather jacket – although the embroidery on that makes it feel contemporary. The trainers are an easy way to buy into the trend – wear with everything from denim to midi skirts.
A summer hero piece if ever there was one – this hot pink, fluted sleeve blouse will be one you keep reaching for. I've teamed it with wide leg trousers and clashing bold orange shoes for an unexpected mix. Throw this cool Henry Holland camo print and embroidered jacket into the mix and you've got an embellished look that's as far from boho as you can get!
Love the embroidery trend as much as Erica? Check out more embroidery pieces here.


The chlorine and chloramines found in tap water are harmful to fish - Blue Planet Water Ager instantly neutralises these making the water safe for us in your tank or aquarium. It also adds essential electrolytes to the water for the ongoing health of your fish.
Save $2.10 when you Autoship!


Remember the board game Battleship? Well now there's a movie about the game. The cast lineup includes Liam Neeson, Rihanna, and Alexander Skarsgård (just to name a few).
I've personally never played the game, but... meh. Either way, the trailer has been leaked.
You can expect to see the movie in theaters next summer.


Downstream cruise from Chongqing to Yichang (4 Days & 3 Nights), from Wuhan to Shanghai (6 Days & 5 Nights), and from Chongqing to Shanghai (11 Days & 10 Nights).
Upstream cruises from Yichang to Chongqing (5 Days & 4 Nights), from Shanghai to Wuhan (6 Days & 5 Nights), and from Shanghai to Chongqing (11 Days & 10 Nights).
Besides, in 2019, to meet the needs and interests of more Yangtze River cruise, we also provide the upstream and downstream cruises between Shanghai and Wuhan for the poetic enjoyment of the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River and the elegant Jiangnan region in China.
Yangtze cruises between Chongqing and Yichang is the most popular cruise route, chosen by about 95% Yangtze River cruisers. The cruising distance is about 648 kilometers, taking 3 nights and 4 days sailing downstream from Chongqing to Yichang, and 4 nights and 5 days upstream from Yichang to Chongqing.
Shore excursions of this route are mainly including Fengdu Ghost City, Shibaozhai Temple, Lesser Three Gorges, Shennong Stream, White Empire City and the Three Gorges Dam. However, the exact itineraries are different according to the cruise companies' schedule. You can check cruise ships layout to find detailed info.
There are also some differences between the upstream and the downstream itinerary, shown on our Cruise Route Comparison Chart. You can go to check the detailed comparison, and find your favorite way to go.
The longest Yangtze Cruise Route (about 2644 kilometers) between Chongqing and Shanghai is the most relaxing cruising, taking 10 nights and 11 days downstream from Chongqing to Shanghai, and upstream from Shanghai to Chongqing. The ONLY ship - Century Sky, running this route, will stop over at Taizhou, Manjing, Chizhou, Mount Jiuhua, Jingzhou, Wuhan cities and Jingdezhen, etc. to offer great time for the best appreciation of the essences in those nice tourist icon places.
Besides the shore excursions to Shibaozhai Pagoda, Shennv Stream and Three Gorges Dam in the Three Gorges area, this route also operates land excursions to Jingdezhen porcelain town and some historical sites, like Museums in Wuhan city, and famous Confucius Temple in Nanjing, where you can get a better understanding about culture and history along the Yangtze River.
Take the Century Sky - 5 star cruise ship; sailing between Wuhan and Shanghai, to admire the natural, cultural and historical changes and highlights of the middle and lower parts along Yangtze. It takes 6 days and 5 nights for the downstream cruising from Wuhan to Shanghai. And 6 days and 5 nights for the upstream cruising from Shanghai to Wuhan.
Besides the close up to the prosperous Shanghai and Wuhan to see their modern look with many skyscrapers, you could also have special-offered excursions to the featured Dongguan Ancient Street and Slender West Lake in the charming Yangzhou, some famed places of interested in Nanjing, including the Confucius Temple and Niushou Mountann, and well-known Jiuhua Mountain, the earliest institutes of higher learning in ancient China White Deer Cave Academy, and iconic Lushan Mountain complimented in many famous Chinese ancient poems, etc. All are enriching and enlightening along the way!


Gillian Bennett and her husband Jonathan Bowen.
"I will take my life today around noon. It is time. Dementia is taking its toll and I have nearly lost myself. I have nearly lost me. Jonathan, the straightest and brightest of men, will be at my side as a loving witness." These are the opening words of a four page post at the website Dead at Noon, written by Gillian Bennett, a philosopher and psychotherapist who lived with her husband Jonathan on Bowen Island off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. The post is not dated but CBC News reported the 84 year-old died on August 18, 2014. "Three outsize institutions: the medical profession, the Law, and the Church will challenge and fight any transformative change. Yet we all hear of changes in each of these professions that suggest a broader approach, guided and informed by empathy. My hope is that all of these institutions will continue to transform themselves," writes Bennett. Aid in dying is not legal in Canada; Bennett does not say where she got the medication. But the plight of those like Bennett is receiving increased attention across the globe.
According to the Zurich Institute report, a total of 611 people from 31 countries used aid in dying in Switzerland during the five-year period. The report was prominent in British media, including the BBC and the Telegraph, because Britain is once again engaged in a public debate about the legalization of aid in dying. Lord Falconer of Thoroton introduced Assisted Dying Bill [HL] 2014-15, which is modeled on Oregon's Death with Dignity law, in the House of Lords this year. The bill's second reading took place on July 18. A third reading will take place there before the bill moves to the House of Commons for three more readings on its way to a vote.
"The fact is that I have changed my mind," Lord George Carey, former archbishop of Canterbury, explained a few days later in his support for the UK bill. "The old philosophical certainties have collapsed in the face of the reality of needless suffering." The current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, opposes the bill.
Billionaire CEO Sir Richard Branson has also supported the bill, writing on his blog at Virgin.com, "An assisted-dying law would not result in more people dying, but in fewer people suffering," and, "The House of Lords needs to look to Oregon in the U.S., where an assisted-dying law has worked for over 16 years." Other prominent Britons who have spoken out for legalization include author Sir Terry Pratchett, actors Hugh Grant and Sir Patrick Stewart, and musician and reality TV stars Ozzie Osbourne and his wife Sharon.
The US and the UK are not the only countries where aid in dying is a prominent legal and political discussion. At his Medical Futility Blog, lawyer Thaddeus Pope reports that oral arguments in a case that challenges legal aid in dying, Lee Carter, et al. v. Attorney General of Canada, et al., will be heard on October 15 by the Supreme Court of Canada. The case challenges the country's criminal code, under which assisted suicide or euthanasia are prosecutable, as unconstitutional.
As the population in Western countries ages, as elders watch their parents die in hospitals, homes and other care facilities, as the public becomes more aware of what Western medicine can and can't do, public awareness of how we die is gaining ground. The experiences that many are having with their parents and spouses alarm them. The over-treatment, the operations on 80 year olds that seldom improve life, the fear of long and painful deaths are palpable and personal for many. "Every day I lose bits of myself, and it's obvious that I am heading towards the state that all dementia patients eventually get to: not knowing who I am and requiring full-time care. I know as I write these words that within six months or nine months or twelve months, I, Gillian, will no longer be here. What is to be done with my carcass? It will be physically alive but there will be no one inside," writes Bennett.
In a recent article at the Journal of the American Medical Association, authors David Orentfischer, Thaddeus Pope (whose Medical Futility Blog is mentioned above) and Ben Rich write that the new climate regarding aid in dying is a result of the evolution of law surrounding end of life issues. They write that, until about forty years ago, it was thought by a majority of the population that "turning off a ventilator, stopping dialysis, or discontinuing artificial feeding was an act of killing that should be unlawful." But various court cases and state legislative efforts have contributed to a change in how discontinuing medical treatments is viewed. "Recognition of the right to refuse life-sustaining care reflected a societal consensus that people should be able to decline treatment when they are suffering greatly," the authors write.
During the 1970 and 80s, medical culture adopted a "do everything" course when treating any patient (cancer, degenerative disease, aging were going to be cured! the abilities of medicine were endless!), but as the general population has aged and patients and their families experienced treatments that could merely prolong lives without improving them–often with devastating effects on families, finances, and the well-being of patients, now unconscious or in pain), attitudes regarding medicine's possibilities have changed. Society has come to focus on the quality, not quantity, of lives, however patients wish to define that quality. Advanced directives and other tools that allow patients to determine what medical treatments they (do and) don't want are legal methods of stopping unwanted treatment. We're now in a climate where many feel as though right to die legislation–laws that allow patients to remove unwanted and ineffective treatment–does not go far enough. Those who are seriously ill and suffering painful deaths but have no treatments to discontinue are looking for options.
An op-ed last month at MyCentralJersey.com highlights another concern that is changing public opinion: violent deaths. It was reported in August that Joan Bramhall, a Morris County clerk and "a New Jersey Republican fixture," was shot by her husband before he shot himself. The murder-suicide was allegedly caused by John's "enormous stress" over his wife's dementia. "Where there is no Aid in Dying law, there are many violent suicides or botched attempts, and premature deaths of those who go it alone while they still can," writes the author, Linda Kilcrease. The op-ed is an attempt to link a lack of options for those with terminal diseases to such violent deaths; it pins the need for legal aid in dying to desperation in the face of terror, helplessness and unstoppable decline. Fear of being just a body without a sentient mind. A bill to legalize aid in dying is currently pending in New Jersey.
As more elders see death as something they wish to control and as they come to value consciousness and capacity over longevity, the way people are dying is increasingly an important global conversation.
As more elders see death as something they wish to control and as they come to value consciousness and capacity over longevity, the way people are dying is increasingly an important global conversation. Violent and painful deaths are no longer considered a shameful weakness of afflicted individuals, but instead, the tragic and unnecessary outcome of a society in crisis. One that is not providing suffering citizens with enough options.
*By my use of Western I mean simply to note the type of health care systems in countries like Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. Whether health care is universal, national or a mix of private and national, medical research and technology are highly advanced. Even in countries where systems are considered non-profit, they are profit-driven (although, particularly in the US, access remains predominantly rationed according to class).
**A few cases in Belgium where patients were not terminally ill have attracted condemnation from opponents.
Ann Neumann is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Religion and Media at New York University and contributing editor at The Revealer and Guernica magazine. Neumann's book about a good death, SITTING VIGIL, will be published by Beacon Press in 2015.


text:
REITs Edge Up in August
Allen Kenney
The U.S. REIT market held steady in August, as the FTSE NAREIT All REIT Total Return Index inched up 0.46 percent for the month.
REIT returns lagged the broader market for the month. The S&P 500 gained 2.25 percent in August.
In a video interview with REIT.com, Brad Case, NAREIT's senior vice president for research and industry information, offered his analysis of REITs' overall performance. Case described August as a "quiet" month for REITs, which isn't uncommon.
"Many investors and investment advisers are on vacation, so there's often not a lot of activity in August," Case said.
Case called the current state of the REIT market a "normal bull market," with investors taking a more optimistic view of commercial real estate investment.
"Investors are increasingly sanguine about the recovery in the commercial real estate industry," he said. "The downturn that we saw starting in early 2007 is over. People who were invested in REITs in January and February of 2007 have recovered all of their losses from the liquidity crisis, as well as from the economic downturn."
Case cautioned that the evidence doesn't necessarily indicate that the economic downturn has reached a conclusion. Instead, he said the market is giving off signals that investors are confident looking forward at the REIT industry.
"They're comfortable with how REITs are going to return income from owning and leasing properties going forward, and so they are confident that they have a good investment in the commercial real estate market," Case said.
From a longer-term perspective, Case pointed out that REITs have had total returns in the range of 20 percent in the last 12 months. That level of return is consistent with REIT bull markets of the past, according to Case. However, he warned that a bull market won't inoculate REITs against down months.
"That doesn't mean any particular month is going to be an up month," Case said. "During a REIT bull market, you typically see about two up months for every down month. August was a moderate up month. I expect to see other months of just moderate progress and some other months with negative progress. But, overall, 20 percent per year on average returns has been the norm for the last three REIT market upturns."


THE Wingmakers' have been handed a tough assignment in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Cup after being drawn away to face Aberystwyth Town, who are also Saturday's visitors to the Hollingsworth Group Stadium in a league clash.
Airbus reached the last eight by avoiding a banana skin at Cardiff Met University, beating the Welsh League Division One high-flyers 4-1 and director of football Andy Preece was delighted with the performance.
"They made it difficult for us, we were getting a little bit frustrated because they were closing us down," Preece said.
"Sometimes you've got to work your way into games, you've got to work out what's happening within the game and try and deal with it.
"We sorted a few things out second half and we did much better, we're in a better position to go and press them and we had a little bit more width.
"It was a good performance and a great result because they are a tough team to play against."
Four second half goals sealed the win and Preece added: "We were a lot more clinical than we have been previously which is nice to see.
"It was nice to see Wayne Riley get a couple of goals, we came on strong second half and we just set up a lot better and we thoroughly deserved to win.
"They are top for a reason, they work really hard on the ball and they've got good movement and some good individual players and a lot of belief.
"It was a tough, tough game and we're thankful that we are through to the next round."
Photo: Celebrations after Wayne Riley's opening goal in Cardiff.


Trio of mature. white Rhinoceroses. resting on the shady floor of their habitat enclosure in a popular. public zoo.
hd00:18Mature and enormous white rhinoceros stands lazily in his habitat enclosure at a popular public zoo.


Is this supposed to work? Because it doesn't on my project ;-) That's a shame because I find it very elegant!
Sorry, I didn't see your comment. Good, that it is clearer now.
Would it be sane to replace line 4 with a JQuery AJAX call to get a list of options from the server?
Why would you do that? Just use the $http scope and create an http request.


Expect Miracles Foundation rallies the financial services industry to invest in life-saving cancer research and advance patient care programs nationwide. Breakthroughs in targeted therapies. Support for families impacted by of cancer. That's our focus. And that's your focus when you support Expect Miracles Foundation, a dedicated commitment of the financial services community, to bring meaningful resources to research and to families. They need our help, so please give us yours. After all, you are the cure!