text:
Successful Internet Marketing Business - FREE 2hr Workshop Surfers Paradise
FREE Internet Business Workshop - How To Start Your Own Successful Online Marketing Business With No Experience Necessary!
Wednesday May 16 2018, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Novotel Surfers Paradise, 3105 Surfers Paradise
Want to know how you can start a successful online business that can be run from anywhere in the world, on YOUR schedule and on YOUR terms?
Yes, it's absolutely possible with the help and power of today's technology and this new digital economy. Join the thousands of people working from home online and making a lucrative living doing so. We'll show you how in this 2 hour FREE Internet Business workshop.
This one-time event will literally be life changing for you and your finances, because you will learn how to stop trading your valuable time for money. You will discover how to transform your mind-set around money so you can be in control of it, and let money work for you instead. We will also show you the latest cutting edge tools, strategies and systems to create wealth online in this rapidly growing digital marketplace.
So, whether you're brand new or you've been building your online business for a while, this 2 hour hands on workshop will show you what to do to get to the next level.
What to Expect At This FREE 2 Hour Workshop:
Discover our revolutionary "system" that has paid out over $73 million in commissions to people in 38 countries around the world.
Find out how to gain financial freedom and earn residual income through the power of this System… even if you have NO computer skills and have NEVER made a single sale online before.
Learn how you can get off the ground quickly by tapping into NEW platforms, where all the products & marketing are done for you. You'll never have to close a sale yourself. Get our System ABSOLUTELY FREE if you show up!
Who Is This Event For:
Completely new people who are trying to figure out how to generate a sustainable, profitable income online or those who are just wanting to see the power of having a truly mobile business that you can run from anywhere with just a laptop.
Existing small business owners, who are tired of having to constantly slog to keep their business afloat and looking to learn ways on how to improve their customer acquisition process and automate their business.
Corporate and public-sector employees who are tired of the 9-5 and are looking for a career transition, or are keen to learn how to launch their own online business with pre-existing professional and education skills.
Self-motivated, ambitious individuals and aspiring entrepreneurs from all backgrounds who want to learn how to tap into a more powerful online model.
Anyone who is curious and interested in learning more about running a successful online business in their spare time.
All Attendees Get FREE Access To:
The Revolutionary Business System
The Best Selling Book 'Limitless'
5 special reports to expand your business knowledge
1-on-1 coaching sessions via Skype/Phone
Why You Absolutely DON'T WANT TO MISS This Event:
You're going to personally get trained by experts who have created 6 and 7 figure online businesses and have a proven track record of coaching others to success. When you learn from the best, you get the best results.
You'll get the chance to meet up with successful marketers (who are producing great results in their business) and ask them whatever questions you have and get all your doubts clarified.
This Workshop is FREE - You are going to learn all the above profit pulling information for FREE in just 2 hours. There is no cost to attend this event, you just need to register your seat.
Amazing bonuses for FREE - When you attend the workshop you are going to get access to our marketing & training system, book, free reports and one on one coaching worth hundreds of dollars.
Make sure you secure your seat now and we'll see you there!
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers:
Q: Do I need to register or can I just show up?
A: Please register before you show up. Our events are typically sold out and we need to know ahead of time how many people are showing up to ensure we have enough seating for everyone.
Q: Would it be possible for me to bring friend(s) or business partner(s)?
A: Yes, definitely, the more the merrier! Just make sure that you register the people you'll bring with you to the Workshop.
Q: Do I need any experience in order to understand what is being taught at the Workshop?
A: No, we will teach you exactly and step by step how to generate a full time income in your spare time.
Q: Does my age, education background matter?
A: No, it doesn't. We have students ranging from 16 - 80 years old, many who are definitely not computer savvy!
Q: Is this event really free?
A: Yes, it is absolutely free to come and learn at this event and when you attend, please make sure to ask for your FREE BONUS GIFTS! We do offer additional educational products and services at our workshops, but you are never under any obligation to buy.


text:
"After I became an American citizen, the thing that stands out so clearly in my mind is the Reagan/Gorbachev summit at Reykjavik," California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said recently. "The leaders of the two most powerful nations on earth were actually discussing the elimination of nuclear weapons. Such a breathtaking possibility. I still remember the thrill of it."
The occasion was a conference at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, led by the four authors of an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal last January. It called for "A World Free of Nuclear Weapons," as championed by Reagan and Gorbachev at Reykjavik, and its authors were George Shultz, Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan (Shultz was present at Reykjavik); William Perry, Secretary of Defense under Bill Clinton; Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State under Richard Nixon; and former Senator Sam Nunn–four archbishops of the cold war nuclear priesthood, most of whom until now have dismissed the idea of nuclear abolition as undiscussably utopian and naïve. The four cited proliferation and the terrorist danger, and warned that the world is entering "a new nuclear era that will be more precarious, psychologically disorienting, and economically costly than Cold War deterrence." Significantly, they invoked moral as well as practical reasons for their proposal, approvingly quoting Reagan's opinion that nuclear weapons are "totally irrational, totally inhumane, good for nothing but killing, possibly destructive of life on earth and civilization." The conference at Hoover was the second in a series convened to explore concrete pathways to the goal of abolition. The group will eventually publish a book and hold an international conference to present their findings.
As Schwarzenegger self-deprecatingly observed, he knows more about weight lifting than throw-weights; yet he went on to speak compellingly of the new nuclear dangers. (It is a perverse pleasure to be able to quote Schwarzenegger, Shultz, Kissinger, Perry, Nunn and Reagan approvingly in a single article in The Nation, which normally does not keep company of this kind. The hopeful aspect may be that in our fractious time there are still some issues that can recall us to our common humanity.) And not only former weight lifters and nuclear priests but anyone who reads a newspaper can see that nuclear dangers are spreading like the brush fires that were sweeping through Southern California as the conference met. The United States has, of course, got itself stuck in Iraq in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and facilities for making them, including nuclear ones. In Iran the government is racing to produce nuclear power fuels that, with a few extra touches, could become nuclear weapons materials. To halt this development, many inside and outside the Bush Administration have favored a military attack on Iran, though a recent National Intelligence Estimate has declared that while Iran once had an active nuclear weapons program, it was suspended in 2003.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We come to Revelation chapters 21 and 22 and a look at the capital city of heaven. When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, He included a marvelous promise to believers. He said to them in Matthew 5:12, "Your reward in heaven is great." Jesus also included in the Sermon on the Mount a command to "Lay up treasures in heaven."
Later on in the nineteenth chapter of Matthew it is recorded that Jesus told the rich young ruler these words, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven and come follow Me." In Luke 23 it is recorded that Jesus said, "Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven."
Interesting, isn't it, that Jesus talked about the treasures of heaven, the reward of heaven, the riches of heaven. The Apostle Paul followed up on that and reminded believers that he was thankful for the hope laid up for him in heaven. He talked about a crown which is righteousness. He talked about a crown which is rejoicing, a crown that belongs to all those who love the Lord's appearing.
And Peter echoed the sentiment of Paul when he said that we have an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for us, 1 Peter 1:4. Heaven is our place. It's where our inheritance is. It's where our reward is. It's where our hope is. It's where our treasure is laid up. Heaven is our eternal home and the place of eternal glory. So, we're looking at heaven, particularly in Revelation 21 and 22, we're looking at the capital city of the eternal state, none other than what is called the new Jerusalem, the holy city, our forever home. It's the place where we're going to spend eternity.
Now Revelation 21 opened with the announcement that the present universe will be uncreated. John says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there is no longer any sea." I told you the significance of the statement "there is no longer any sea" is the fact that in the new creation there will not be a water-based existence. This existence in which we now live in the present universe is dependent upon water. Most of what we are is water, as you well know from a scientific analysis perspective. And we are in a water-based existence. The very fact that there is no longer any sea in the future, new heaven and new earth, indicates that it will be of a completely different order than anything that we can understand in the life in which we now live.
And so, we see then in the opening of this twenty-first chapter the introduction of the new heaven and the new earth. And immediately after that the jeweled city of that eternal state is introduced. Verse 2, "I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride adorned for her husband." She comes down, as it were, out of heaven in splendorous garb, taking her place in the new heaven and the new earth, perhaps even settling on some place on the new earth, settling into some location on the new earth.
That city then that descends into the eternal state becomes the focal point of attention for the rest of this section, running all the way down to chapter 22 and verse 5. Now keep in mind that we're talking about a new heaven and a new earth. There will be a new earth. And there will be a new heavens or heaven in which that earth exists. It will be an infinite heaven, it will be a vast...as I said infinite heaven...at the same time it will be crowned in the very center on the new earth or perhaps hanging over the new earth with this glorious city called the new Jerusalem.
So when we talk about the new Jerusalem or the holy city, we're not just talking about all that heaven is, we're talking about the capital city within the infinity of the new heaven and the new earth. The city then, as I said, became the focal point of attention and we started in verse 9 last time to take a look at this city. And verses 9 through 11, actually a couple of weeks ago, gave us a general appearance. And you remember that general appearance is like a bride, verse 10, "He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper," which we said would be like a diamond, perhaps a diamond is exactly what is in mind here.
And so the general appearance of this city is like a transparent lucid diamond in the center of which is the glory of God blazing out through all the refractions of that diamond and scattering light throughout the entire new heaven and new earth. It is God revealed as light because when God reveals Himself, you remember, He reveals Himself as light. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." John said that, "In Him is light and there is no darkness at all." He is...He is unlimited and unmitigated and unhindered and non-obstructed light and when He reduces His attributes to that which is manifest or visible, it comes out as light or glory. God's presence, God's Shekinah manifest as light. And so the city itself is a diamond reflecting light coming from the very heart of it. We saw that general appearance.
Then we came to verse 12 and we saw the exterior design. That ran all the way down through verse 21, and I'll just read it to you.
It had a great and high wall with twelve gates and at the gates twelve angels and names were written onthem which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones and on them were the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
So the city identifies the twelve tribes, pulling together people from the Old Testament era, it names the twelve Apostles, of course, representative of those of the New Testament era. Verse 15: "The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod," and we noted that that occurs a number of times in prophetic literature and shows God measuring out what belongs to Him, marking off the boundaries of that which is His possession. And so, the gold measuring rod was used to measure the city and its gates and its wall. And the city is laid out as a square. We talked about it being symmetrical, three gates on every side. It is a perfect square. It has twelve foundation stones as well, corresponding, I'm sure, to the three gates, three foundation stones on each of the four sides.
Its length is as great as its width.He measured thecity with a rod 1500 miles its length and width andheight are equal.
And we talked about the fact that it is a cube, 1500 miles in every direction.
And then he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, a hundred and forty-four cubits.
And I suggested to you that that is not the height of the wall. If the city is 1500 miles high it wouldn't do much good to have a 216 foot high wall. That is, no doubt, the measurement of the width of it, not the height of it. And somebody at this point is going to say, "Yeah, well this isn't actually literal." And so, just for those folks who might say that, he says, "This is according to human measurements which are also angelic measurements." And I told you how I love that kind of statement which just backs off anybody who wants to tamper with the text.
And the material of the wall was jasper. So 216 feet or 72 yards in width, and again it is this diamond crystal. And the city inside of these walls that run from the bottom to the top, the city inside is made of pure gold like clear glass. And again, the light can blaze through the clear gold glass and come blazing through the thick crystal diamond walls, blazing through the foundation stones also. And you remember, there were twelve of them and he names them, they were every kind of precious stone, jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth and amethyst. And we gave you some idea of what those might mean.
Then the street of the city was like...pardon me, verse 21 says, "The twelve gates were twelve pearls." Verse 21 indicating the construction material of the gates being twelve pearls. That is to say each gate was one pearl. If they're 1500 miles high, then that is a fairly large pearl...a 1500-mile-high pearl making a gate. Remember now, the city is tiered and I talked about the fact that we'll be in our glorified form moving horizontally as easily as moving vertically...moving vertically as easily as moving horizontally, and so the gate will run all the way to the top so we can go in and out and traverse the city in any way that we would wish. Each of the gates was a single pearl. The street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.
And I suggested to you a few ways to comprehend the dimensions of the city and to understand that there's going to be plenty of room for all of the redeemed to have space there. Henry Morris calculates, "Each believer could have a cubicle block a little over a third of a mile in each direction," and that would be if there were calculated a certain number of believers based upon how many people have lived in the world and just making sort of a good educated guess. So there will be plenty of room. And besides, we'll all be coming in and out of the city and there will be plenty of infinity for us to traverse, so we're not going to get too crowded there.
All right, now we come to the third feature, or the third series of features and that is the internal character of this city. We've looked at the general appearance which is like a diamond with light blazing out of it. We looked at the exterior design, the configuration of the city and its walls and all of that. And now we're going to go inside the city and see what is inside, what are the internal characteristics. John takes us inside for a glimpse of our future home. Verse 22, and the first thing that he says is, "I saw no temple in it." I saw no temple in it. Up to this point we would have to acknowledge that there has been a temple in heaven. Chapter 8 verse 3 talks about an angel standing at the altar, holding a golden censer with incense given to him that he might add it to the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. Now those are all the kind of features that you would find in a temple. There would be an altar there and there would be incense there and certainly we are inclined to believe that there was a temple in heaven, that there is indicated in the Scripture that God dwells in heaven in some form of temple. There is in chapter 4 and verse 2 the indication of a throne in heaven. There wasn't a throne in the temple and so we don't necessarily associate that with the temple, but we do associate the altar here and the golden censer with things that were characteristic of a temple.
Over in chapter 11 of Revelation and down in verse 19 it says it very clearly. "And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple." So at the time that John sees the vision in chapter 11, he is literally taken by vision into heaven and a temple opens up and he can see into the temple. What we have to conclude then is that in the eternal state that temple is gone. There's no more temple there.
And why is that? Well there's no need for an abode of God because God will literally occupy by blazing glory the whole of the new heaven and the new earth. There's no need for a temple. There's no need for a cathedral. There's no need for a church. There's no need for a chapel. There's no need for a house of prayer. There's no need for a place of worship. There's no need for a day of worship. There's no need to for anyone to go anywhere to worship God. There won't be any place where they'll be having services. There won't be any facility at all. There won't be any temple.
Why? Verse 22, "For the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple."
You know what that says? That says literally that this city dwells within the temple which is the very presence of God and Christ. In other words, the presence of God literally fills the whole new heaven and new earth. Right now, as you know, God certainly is omnipresent, but you also know that Satan is the prince of the power of the air and that demons have access not only to the earth but to heavens as well, that the universe itself has been polluted. There is a unique place which is identified as the temple of God but in the new heaven and the new earth when the glory of God fills the earth and the glory of God fills the new universe with all of His infinity, there will be no need for a temple because God Himself will be the temple in which everything exists.
You see that back in chapter 21 verse 3 in different terms, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men. He shall dwell among them. They shall be His people, God Himself shall be among them." We literally will live in His presence. We will live in the temple of God and Christ. They are the temple by presence and we are in their presence forever.
So there wouldn't be any need to go to a church. There wouldn't be any need to go to a cathedral or go to a place of worship. Worship will be life. That's all we'll do. We'll worship, worship, worship and that's all we'll do. All of life, never a moment when we're not...listen to this...never a moment when we're not worshiping, never a moment when we're not in perfect holy communion with the perfect holy Almighty God and the Lamb, never a moment when we are not engaged in rapturous joyous worship and service to Him. Never a moment when those things are not reality. We will be the true worshipers that the Father has always sought. Our worship will be pure and true and perfect. We will be worshiping in perfect Spirit and in perfect truth in His eternal presence.
And I think it's interesting that that's the first thing that John noted because it was important to him, it was priority to him. After all, he was the one that wrote about God seeking true worshipers. He was the one who was so concerned about God being worshiped and he was the one who had been taken through all of these tremendous visions in the book of Revelation and been instructed about how important worship was and what happened to people who didn't. And he had seen glimpses of heaven where worship was the constant occupation.
And so, naturally the first thing he would look for when he was taken to the inside of the capital city of heaven would be to see if there was a place of worship there and the answer is...there isn't any. It's not necessary. Because there won't be anything but worship there wouldn't be any need to go somewhere and worship.
And then in verse 23 he goes back to that glory that's blazing out of the middle of the city which he talked about in his initial perspective in verses 9 to 11. And he says this, "And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it for the glory of God has illumined it and its lamp is the Lamb." Now that will tell you a little bit about the new earth because whatever the new earth is it won't be an earth like we know now because the earth as we know it now depends upon the sun and the moon, it depends upon time for the sun to shine and time for darkness to run its normal cycles. So whatever goes on in that new earth will be dependent on a completely different structure, a completely different creation than anything we know today. There will be no sun, there will be no moon. They're not necessary for light because the glory of God has illumined it and its lamp is the Lamb. And again it's God and the Lamb.
And you see that pretty much through all the visions of the book of Revelation. You see the Father's throne but the Lamb is sitting on the throne. And you see them share the responsibility. The tabernacle of God is with men but so is the tabernacle of Jesus Christ. He dwells with them as well. You see the great White Throne and Him who sat upon it is no other than the Creator and yet God has committed all judgment on to His own Son. So you see them together. The Creator and the Lamb then are the light of that eternal city. And remember now the new Jerusalem is a prism of utterly dazzling light.
Then in verse 24 he says, "And the nations shall walk by its light and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it." Now this might take a little bit of explanation. I'll do my best to make it as simple and plain as I can.
Some people assume that this is a millennial description, that this is describing something in the MIllennium because it mentions the nations and the kings. But if you make this the thousand-year Millennium, you have a real problem because this is the new heaven and the new earth which come after the Millennium.
And you really can't do justice to the chronology of the book of Revelation by going back. And I can't imagine anything in the Millennium that could fit this description because you still have physical human beings living in the Millennium, don't you? Those who went through the judgment because they are the sheep and entered into the Kingdom and received the earthly Kingdom and they could never live in a place like this that is built on a different creative order than anything we know today. This has to be the eternal state.
You say, "Well then explain to me how the nations got there and the kings got there?" Well, that's not really that difficult. Nations is the word ethnae, and all it means is "the peoples." It can be translated "nations," most often do you know how it's translated in the New Testament? Most often it is translated by the word...what?...Gentiles. It's the same word. It can be translated "peoples," that's really all it means. In the broadest sense all the peoples from every tongue and tribe and nation and the world will all be walking in its light. In fact, what he is really saying here is this is not going to be limited to one group. This is going to be...this is going to be the eternal capital where everybody is welcome. There will be no more divisions as we know them. All of the nations shall walk by its light.
What it really is saying is that there will be no more divisions. It will be the capital city for everybody. It's not the idea that heaven is going to be organized by political sections, but that all ethnic groups will be moving in and about that city, no...no race, no culture, no one left out.
And then it says, "And the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it." Some see this as indicated...and I think it may well indicate that...no social structure, no upper and lower class, all the kings of the earth who come to that place, that would be those mighty men, noble men, those leaders, those great men, give their glory to that city. That is their glory is gone. Everybody is at the same level. All human glory dissolves into the glory of God. All races dissolve into the people of God. And the character of that city is universal in the fact that everybody there belongs and there is no social strata. The kings give up their glory.
There's another interesting possibility about this verse and I suggest it to you. There will be believers living at the end of the millennial Kingdom, think with me on this, there will be believers living at the end of the millennial Kingdom, right? In other words, when the Kingdom starts there will be people on earth who will have children, they'll populate the earth. Many of those people who populate the earth will be unbelievers and even though Christ is ruling in Jerusalem, they won't believe in Him. Satan will be released at the end of the thousand years. He'll sweep through the earth with his demons. He'll create a rebellion. He'll gather a huge army. And he'll fight against the Lord Jesus Christ. But there still will be millions of believers all over the world, all over the world.
Now when the...follow this one...when the present creation in its millennial form is uncreated, the question is: what's going to happen to all those living believers? And some commentators feel that this verse, "And the nations shall walk by its light and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it," is a reference to the translation of those living believers on earth, people and rulers, who are taken into the eternal state. Perhaps that is what John had in ind, we certainly can't be dogmatic about it. But it could refer to those believer who simply are alive at the end of the millennial Kingdom and are translated into the new heavens and the new earth without going through death and certainly they wouldn't be judged by God and executed in the rebellion when God judges Satan and all who fight with him.
It may well be that as the new heavens and the new earth come immediately into existence and the old is uncreated, they are translated instantaneously into the descending new Jerusalem and it is those nations and kings to which he refers. But in the end everybody is going to be there, all peoples are going to be there and all rulers are going to have their glory dissolved into the glory of God which is all the glory that will be in the eternal state.
Now I know some of you are counting big on the fact that there's going to be variations in the social strata because somewhere down the line you heard some guy preach a sermon on whether you're building a big mansion or a little one. I want to hurry to say that when John went to visit heaven he didn't see any mansions. He didn't see any.
You say, "What about...what about John 14, `In My Father's house there are many mansions.'" That's one of the saddest translations I've ever heard. What it says in the Greek is, "In My Father's house there are many rooms, or in My Father's house there are many dwelling places." How could you have a house with many mansions in it? It doesn't even make sense in English. It's a house with many rooms. There will be room for all of us. I don't think that we're going to be up there saying, "Boy, I wish I had his house."
Verse 25 takes us a step further. "And in the day time," and then to make sure you don't misunderstand that, "for there shall be no night there," so it will always be...what?...daytime. "In the daytime and there will be no night there, its gate shall never be closed." Now that's an important thing to say. You don't understand that because you don't live in an ancient time. Although some of you have learned the importance of gates and you've got a...you've got a place behind some kind of security system and you know what that means to have those gates closed, you feel secure and that's the way it was in an old ancient city. They were walled cities and they had gates and the gates were closed at night to keep invaders, marauders and criminals and dangerous people from coming into their city in the night. But the point here is there's never any night and so you never need to close the gate. It's a place of rest and safety and security and refreshment.
The city gates were shut at night because they were there for protection. Not in the new Jerusalem, no night...by the way, nobody will ever sleep anyway because we will have entered into eternal...what?...rest and be continually refreshed all the time. Heaven is eternal rest and that's what it will be. And so...in fact, Revelation 14:13 says, "We'll rest from our labors while the ungodly in hell have no rest," 14:11. So the gates never close because there's never any night, and frankly there's never any danger. We enter into rest.
Richard Baxter, the great Puritan writer, comments on rest, eternal rest, with some interesting words that I found. "Rest," he says, "not as the stone that rests on the earth, nor as these clods of flesh shall rest in the grave, so our beasts much rest as well as we. Nor is it the satisfying of our fleshly lusts nor such rest as the carnal world desires. No, no, we have another kind of rest than these. Rest we shall from all our labors which were but the way and means to rest, but yet that is the smallest part. O blessed rest, where we shall never rest day or night, crying, `Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbaths,' when we shall rest from sin but not from worship. Rest from suffering and sorrow but not from comfort. O blessed day when I shall rest with God, when I shall rest in knowing, loving, rejoicing and praising, when my perfect soul and body together shall in these perfect things perfectly enjoy the most perfect rest. When God also who is love itself shall perfectly love me, yea, and rest in His love to me as I shall rest in my love to Him and rejoice over me with joy and singing as I rejoice over Him." That kind of rest. And so, we will have protection, security, safety, rest without ever sleeping.
Verse 26, not just the kings will give all their glory to God but everyone will. Verse 26 says, "And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it." That is to say all people no matter who they are or what country or nation they've come from will bring all their glory, all that is good about them and it will dissolve, as it were, in the eternal worship of God and Christ. The glory and the honor of all the nations dissolves, as it were, in the glory of God.
Now this tells us, I think, something about what this whole matter of rewards means. When we receive our eternal glory, when we receive our eternal honor, I really believe that we receive it and yet it is defused into the glory of God because after all, whatever good we did, whatever we achieved for the cause of Christ, the Spirit of God did in us, right? And He gets all the glory in the end. So all of the redeemed who enter into the eternal city and receive their eternal reward will give...give that back to God and God will be all and all and the eternal worship of God and the eternal worship of Jesus Christ will be everything.
And so, it's a shining city. It has the glory of God and it has all the glory of all the people who have ever received from God honor and glory diffused into that glory of God. It is a breathtaking glory, blazing everywhere. And that above everything describes that city.
The commentator Cise(?) writing many years ago wrote a vision of this glory that stuck with me through the years. In fact, I've never found anything to surpass it. And I went back digging through my old notes to find it and I found it. This is what he says about this blazing jewel of the holy city. He says, "That shining is not from any material combustion, not from any consumption of fuel that needs to be replaced as one supply burns out, for it is the uncreated light of Him who is light, dispensed by and through the Lamb as the everlasting lamp to the home and hearts and understandings of His glorified saints. When Paul and Silas laid wounded and bound in the inner dungeon of the prison of Philippi, they still had sacred light which enabled them to beguile the night with happy songs. When Paul was on his way to Damascus, a light brighter than the sun at noon shone round about him, irradiating his whole being with new sights and understanding and making soul and body ever afterward light in the Lord.
When Moses came down from the mount of his communion with God, his face was so illuminous that his brethren could not endure to look upon it. He was in such close fellowship with light that he became informed with light and came to the camp as a very lamp of God glowing with the glory of God. And on the Mount of Transfiguration that same light streamed forth from all the body and raiment of the blessed Jesus. And with reference to the very time when this city comes into being and place, Isaiah said, "The moon shall be ashamed and the sun confounded," ashamed because of the out beaming glory which then shall appear in the new Jerusalem, leaving no more need for them to shine in it since the glory of God lights it and the Lamb is the light thereof.
And so does John describe the general appearance, the exterior design and the internal features. And there are more. Continuing in our look on the inside, let's go to chapter 22 verse 1. We're now getting our city tour. "He showed me a river of the water of life clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb." And again I point out that everything is clear, everything is crystal so that the glory shines through it all. "He showed me a river of the water of life." Remember now there's no more sea so this is not a river like we know. In order to have a hydrological cycle, in order to have a river as we know a river, you'd have to have a sea because the river would go somewhere and then it would have to dissolve into something and it would have to be evaporated and picked up and brought back and put back in the head waters to make the river go again. There would have to be some cycle that moved the water. But there's no sea. There's no hydrological creation as we know it. So this is a different kind of river. And it's clear it is because this river is filled with the water of...what?...of life. That's not H2O, folks. You say, "What is it?" I don't know, it's the water of life and it's as clear as crystal. It's the water of life as clear as crystal, that's all I know. It's ever flowing and it's ever cascading. I see it as a cascading river. Why? Because it comes down from the throne of God and of the Lamb and it's tumbling like waterfall across this crystal city, splashing across the transparent gold.
And, of course, you know how crystal clear moving water refracts light at every change of flow. This just adds to the blaze of glory.
You say, "What is the water in there?" It's the water of life. It's a symbol of pure, holy, eternal life flowing down through the city from the throne of God and of the Lamb. That's one throne. And so the fountain head or the source of this is the throne of God from which it tumbles. It reminds us, doesn't it, of the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden there was a beautiful river with four branches. And those four branches watered paradise. So the heavenly paradise has its river, too. It is a beautiful crystal clear celestial river of eternal life that bathes the holy city as it flows down from the throne of God.
Water symbolizes salvation. Water symbolizes eternal life. You must be born of the water and the Spirit, it symbolizes washing and regeneration. John really understood the meaning of water in terms of its reference to salvation for it was John himself who...who wrote down the words of Jesus, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he can't enter the Kingdom." It was John who wrote down the words of Jesus, "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give them shall be come in him a well of water, springing up to eternal life." So we know it's not H2O, that's in chapter 4 of John's gospel.
Over in chapter 7 it was John who recorded the words of Jesus who said, "If any man is thirsty let him come to Me and drink," verse 37, "He who believes in Me as the Scripture says from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water." It was John also in chapter 13 and verse 8 who wrote down the words of Jesus, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."
John understood the symbol of water, the symbolic character as it pointed to salvation cleansing. This river has no stagnation, this river has no pollution, no obstructions, no murkiness. It is the symbol of the constant flow of everlasting life from God's throne to all the people in glory. He is the spring, He is the fountain, He is the source of eternal life and this river symbolizes that as it comes out of His throne.
No doubt it's what the psalmist had in mind in Psalm 46:4 when he said, "There is a river, the streams of which make glad the city of God." God even gave the psalmist a view.
And then verse 2, "In the middle of its street," literally its path might be a better way to say that, "In the middle of the path of this river," and there's some punctuation issues here and some translation issues in this verse that some folks have maybe disagreed on. But let me give it to you as simply as I can. "In the middle of its path," disregard that period, "and on either side of the river was the tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
In the middle of its path and on either side of the river was the tree of life. So here comes the river tumbling out of the throne and as it cascades and tumbles, whatever it is, crystal clear, shining eternal life in some appearance as water flashing the beautiful brilliance of the glory of God, as it tumbles down its path on either side of that path it says was the tree of life. Now that's just another symbol.
You say, "Well, what kind of a tree is it?" Well it's not a tree like we know because a tree like we know grows in...what?...soil and there's no soil there. So this isn't a tree like we know. This is the tree of life, it's not a tree of the created order in this earth. This is the tree of life.
There was a tree of life once, Genesis 2:9, remember that? And God said, "You can eat of the tree of life but if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I'm going to throw you out of the Garden because once you've eaten of that you can't dare eat of the tree of life or you would be perpetually living in that condition of sinfulness." So there was a tree of life, according to Genesis 2:9 in the Garden. The tree of life was a symbol of eternal life, a symbol of blessing.
This is a different one. This is a celestial one. But it symbolizes blessing. When the Jews want to say to you that you should be blessed they say, "La Haem"(??)(chayyim). You know what that means? To life...to life. This is La haem, this is the symbol of life, the highest life, the best life, the greatest joys, the most fulfillment, to life. This tree is the symbol of the unbelievable, glorious life.
In fact, the Jews used that concept that way. Back in Proverbs 3:18 it talks about wisdom and it says, "Wisdom is a tree of life." What does that mean? A source of blessing. It doesn't mean a literal tree, it means a source of blessing. Wisdom is a tree of life. It produces La Haem, rich full life.
In Proverbs 11 and we would agree that wisdom does do that, in Proverbs 11 and verse 30, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life." Get around a righteous person and the product of their life produces blessing, doesn't it? It produces the best of life.
Chapter 13 of Proverbs and verse 12, "Desire fulfilled is a tree of life." What does that mean? When you have something that you desire that you really long for, and God fulfills it, life becomes rich and full and meaningful, that's a tree of life.
Chapter 15 of Proverbs, as you can see, this is a common concept. Chapter 15 and verse 4, I think it is, "A soothing tongue is a tree of life." So you can see that the Jews had this concept of a tree of life simply referring to blessing. A righteous person produces a tree of life. A soothing tongue produces a tree of life. A desire fulfilled produces a tree of life. Wisdom produces a tree of life. That's blessing, joy, fulfillment, contentment, happiness.
So what that tells us is that it's going to be a happy place. It's going to be a place of contentment, joy. It's going to be "La Haem," everybody is going to be going around saying, "La Haem," to life, to life, isn't this marvelous, isn't this glorious?
And the richness of this thing is illustrated because on either side of the river was the tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Now what do you mean twelve kinds of fruit? Well this life is going to have variety. And I suppose that's an important thing to say because when I was a kid I used to think about heaven as boring. Did you ever think about it like that? As a kid I used to say, "It won't be any fun to play basketball because everybody will make every shot. It won't be any fun to play golf because every shot will be a hole-in-one." And you couldn't possibly play tennis because an irresistible force and an immovable object result in nothing. What are we going to do up there?" We won't be able to improve on anything because we'll be perfect at everything. There won't be anything to make because everything will be made.
You say, "We'll sing." Yeah, we'll all sing perfectly so there won't be any reason to practice. You say, "Well, I'm going to play a harp." Well you'll play it perfectly from the first time you pick it up and you'll never make a mistake eternally, and neither will anybody else.
It just seemed sort of boring. And I think just for people like me there's a little hint here that this tree of life is going to have twelve kinds of fruit, a different kind every month. And what that means is heaven is going to be filled with...what?...variety, variety.
By the way, somebody I know, I can feel it, is saying, "Month, month, month, did I hear month? Isn't this eternity? What's month doing there?" Well time has no part of eternity but it does remind us that there are cycles. I mean, it's just another one of those anthropomorphic expressions to say something to us in terminology which we can understand. There will be a regular cycle of joyous provision, filled with variety, changing all the time.
And then a most interesting comment. "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Healing? From what? No more illness, no more pain, no more disease, what is this healing? Well we know it's not from sickness, don't we? The word "healing," therapeon. It means therapeutic, therapeon, therapeutic. It doesn't imply illness. A better way to translate it would be this, "And the leaves of the tree were...were life giving, health giving, therapeutic." They just enriched life. Like vitamins only supernatural ones. You don't take vitamins because you're sick, you take them because somebody told you it enhances the well being of life, right? Make you feel better. Or you take some dose of whatever you take, if you're deficient in iron or whatever, it's not because you're ill, it's not because you have a disease, you don't need surgery, you just need a little zest in your life. I think that's the idea. There's...there's going to be provided in heaven infinite variety and they are going to be all kinds of things available in heaven demonstrated by the symbolism of the leaves of that tree that are just going to energize life and just make it rich and full and exciting.
And I can hear some of you saying, "But it says eat, or it assumes eat, the leaves of the tree were for the healing." It doesn't assume eat, maybe we just rub them on our glorified body, I don't know. You say, "Well, are we going to eat them?" I don't know because it doesn't say. I do know that angels ate Abraham's meat and Sarah's cakes in Genesis 16. And I do know that a resurrected Christ ate with His disciples, right? I don't...I don't really know how it's going to work. But all I know is it says that they are for the therapy, they're health-giving, they're energizing.
Heaven's going to have all kinds of variety. And it's not going to be sort of droning on at the same pace. They're going to be great explosions of energy as the life of God is made available to us.
And so the leaves sort of symbolize the full enjoyment of life in the new Jerusalem. We don't really need any food, we won't need to be healed of anything. But there's going to be endless variety and a constant infusing of great exhilarating joy.
Now that brings us to the last point in John's vision. Hear his description. He got a general look, then he got the exterior design and then he got the interior features. And now we come fourthly to the privileges of the saints.
Now we're going to talk about what life's going to be like in there, verses 3 to 5 and we'll be done. What's life going to be like? Verse 3, "There shall no longer be any curse," no longer any curse. Boy, is that wonderful? Absolutely no curse at all. There's not going to be, back in chapter 21 verse 4, any tears, any death, any mourning, any crying, any pain, all of those things fit into the category of first things and they are all eternally gone. No longer any curse.
"And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and His bondservants shall serve Him." There's no temple there but there is a throne there. We already had a description of that throne back in chapter 4. And I would only remind you to read it, I'm not going to go through the detailed description but there is a throne. Guess what? Verse 3, "He who is sitting on it was like a jasper." Again, the blazing diamond, "And a sardius in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance. And around the throne are twenty-four thrones and on the thrones twenty four elders sitting," and we discussed that those were representatives of the redeemed, "clothed in white garments, golden crowns on their heads and from the throne lightning and sounds and peals of thunder." And, of course, that was all when judgment was about to fall. "There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are the seven Spirits of God." So the Spirit of God will be represented there as well. "And in front of the throne was a sea of glass like crystal." And again there's that transparency. "And then there were four living creatures," they're described there, an incredible description of angelic beings. "And holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty who was and who is and who is to come, they cry out as they surround the throne." And you have all the praise going on around the throne.
So you already have that description of what the throne is like and that's the throne that is in heaven and that's the one that's there when the celestial city descends. So we get a little hint as to what life is going to be like in there, no curse. The throne of God and the Lamb is there. And a sovereign God sits on His throne and a sovereign Lamb with Him. And His bondservants, verse 3, shall serve Him. His bondservants shall serve Him.
That's what we're going to do. We're going to serve Him. We're going to do whatever He wants us to do. Bondservants, slaves, we're going to do whatever He tells us to do. That's what we'll do forever and ever and ever. And the infinite mind of God, listen...do you understand how infinite God's mind is? Do you understand the variety of God's mind? If you think for one minute it's going to be boring in heaven, is it boring down here? You haven't even begun to see one billionth of what it will be like in a perfect world when the unlimited creative mind of God sets itself loose. I mean, it's going to be incredible to serve Him in ways which are absolutely beyond our ability to comprehend.
Back in chapter 7 of Revelation and verse 15 it says that they serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. That's why there doesn't have to be a temple or a tabernacle because He's going to spread it over all of them and so the whole of the new heaven and the new earth becomes His tabernacle or His temple and we serve Him in that.
Rudyard Kipling who was a great poet and a lousy theologian wrote these words, "When earth's last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried, when the oldest colors have faded and the youngest critic has died, we shall rest and faith we shall need it. Lay down for an eon or two, till the Master of all good workmen shall put us to work anew." That's great poetry. That is lousy theology. That is a Rip-Van-Winkle view of heaven. We're not going to be lying around, we're going to be serving Him night and day, that simply means all the time because there there is no night, as you remember.
And you know, there's another interesting note I mentioned to you, did you pick it up at the communion service a few weeks ago? We're not only going to serve Him, but this is the most mind-boggling thing of all. Back in Luke chapter 12, I have to add this because it's so wonderful, Luke chapter 12 verse 35, Jesus says, "Be dressed in readiness, keep your lamps lit, be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast so that they may immediately open a door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at the table and come up and wait on them." Is that unbelievable?
You know what's going to happen? We're not only going to serve Him, but...what?...He's going to serve us.
And then John takes us further into the activities of heaven. Verse 4, "And they shall see His face." They shall see His face. Exodus 33, God said if anybody looks on My face they'll die. They'll be consumed. No man could see Me and live. That changes. Now we can look at the blazing glory of God in all its fullness and not die. Why? Because we're holy. We are covered with His holiness. To see God's face as sinners would be to be consumed with His holy animosity to sin. But in heaven we'll see Him in all His glory. John 1:18 says, "No man has seen God at any time, but the day will come when we will indeed see Him face to face." "We will see He who is...according to 1 Timothy 6:15...the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see." We will see Him then. Matthew 5:8 says, "They shall see God."
In that city we will be engulfed in His presence. We will be exposed to the full blaze of His eternal glory. Christ will be the radiant focal point of that manifestation. Christ will be the centerpiece, if there is such a thing, of that diamond blazing glory of God.
And this then really is the joy of heaven. The hymn writer said, "The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace." In other words, the believer is going to follow the glory back to the face from which it radiates. "Not at the crown He giveth," says the hymn writer, "but on His pierced hand, the Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel's land."
And then we look again and we see in verse 4 His name shall be on their foreheads. "His name shall be on their foreheads." What's that? Personal possession. That's eternal security, friends. No doubt who we belong to and we'll belong to Him forever. Back in chapter 3 of Revelation when the Lord was writing to the churches, He wrote a letter to the church at Philadelphia and He said, "He who overcomes," verse 12, "I'll make a pillar in the temple of My God and he will not go out from it anymore. And I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from God and My new name." There you have the fullness of it. It says His name shall be on their foreheads, in that verse it says you're going to have the name of My God, the name of the city of My God, and My new name. Hey, we're going to have a whole lot of names written on our foreheads.
And what it all says is he belongs to Me and he belongs to this city of which he is an eternal citizen and he belongs to the Lamb and all of that is identified in what is written on us.
And then it all ends, this description of the glory of the holy city with a repeat of the real magnificence. Look at verse 5, remember this, this is the essence of it and this is the third time this has been mentioned in one way or another. "There shall no longer be any night, they shall not have need of the light of a lamp or the light of the sun because the Lord God shall illumine them." And then here's one more feature of what we do, "They shall reign forever and ever." Not just serving but reigning...reigning. What a tremendous truth.
What does that mean? Well, Revelation 3:21 says, "To him who overcomes I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne." Wow! We'll be reigning and He'll be serving us as He is reigning and we're serving Him. It's unbelievable that we could attain to such glory.
The gold, the jewels, the diamonds, the pearls are all incidental to the glory shining, the glory is everything. This is astounding truth, really. To be eternally embraced in the arms of the glory of God, unbelievable.
It was the Queen of Sheba who had reason to say of Solomon's glory, "Happy are thy men, happy are thy servants who stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom. Then surely they that stand continually before God and see His glory and the glory of the Lamb are truly happy."
You know something? If this isn't true, John is the ultimate blasphemer. How blasphemous it would be to speak of being with the eternal God, of having His personal name written on your head, of having Him serve you, of reigning with Him and sitting on His throne? How blasphemous would it be to say that you are a joint heir with Jesus Christ, that you reign on the throne of God, that you are one with the Father were it not true? What a hope.
So, we've seen the appearance, the design, the interior life and the privileges. Now I know you know I skipped a verse till now. One more issue, the occupants. Who's there? Who's in this place? Back to verse 27 of chapter 21, "And nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life."
The inhabitants of the city are identified over in chapter 21 verse 7 as those who overcome. And what is it that overcomes in 1 John 5? It is our faith, faith in Christ. They will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be My son. It won't be, verse 8 says, the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death.
God down to chapter 22 verse 15, "Outside this city are the dogs," dogs were symbols of outcasts, "the sorcerers, the immoral persons, the murderers, the idolaters, everyone who loves and practices lying." Outside, verse 19, are those who take away from the words of the book of this prophecy because God will take away their part from the tree of life and from the holy city. No, there won't be any unclean there, there won't be any who practice abominations, there won't be any liars there, there won't be any murderers there, there won't be any idolaters, any unbelieving, cowardly, abominable, immoral, sorcerers. There won't be any of those there. They'll all be in the lake of fire, only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
We've heard about that already. Chapter 17 and verse 8, "Whose name has not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world." In other words, the judgment of God will fall on those whose names are not written in that book. Back in chapter 13 verse 8, "All those who dwell on the earth will worship Him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of the life...in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain."
The only people who are going to be there are those whose names are written in the Book of Life. When were they written there? From before the foundation of the world. It's the elect. They're described in chapter 22 verse 14, "Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city." It's the elect who have been cleansed, who have been washed by the washing of regeneration. It's...it's the thirsty, verse 17 of chapter 22, who come and take the water of life without cost, those who come pleading for spiritual thirst to be quenched. That's who will be there. The elect who have come to be thirsty and cried out for a drink, come to be hungry and cried out for righteousness. It's the elect who have believed and thus they've overcome the world. It is for them that 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who...what?...who love Him." It's the elect who come to faith and who love Him and who hunger and thirst for righteousness, it's those who belong to God, first of all because they're chosen but they come by faith in Christ and they've been transformed and sanctified and made holy.
Do you want to be there? Then confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead and you'll be saved.
You want to be there? As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to be called the sons of God.
Do you want to be there? Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the eternal home for the saved. Everybody else is in the lake of fire, darkness, weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. And I ask you, what fool would choose that? One who so consummately loves his sin that he is willing to pay the price of eternal hell for it.
Hold on to hell if you want, I'll take heaven. Let's pray.
Father, what a picture, what a glorious picture of our eternal home, all those who have committed their lives to Christ, all those who have believed in You, who have hungered and thirsted for righteousness, who have come to drink and to eat, all those who by faith have overcome the world, all those who believed, all those whose names You wrote in the Book of Life from before the foundation of the world. Heaven is just for Your people, those who come to You by faith, counting on nothing that they have done to gain salvation or heaven but realizing that they have to come as a thirsty sinner, a hungry sinner, a beggar, pleading for Your grace and forgiveness which You give them so freely because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for their sins and satisfied Your just requirement.
Father, we...we thank you for heaven. We thank You, Lord, that it will be a place of absolute holiness. We rejoice that only the pure will be there, those made pure by Your grace. We thank You that it will be a place of perfection. But that, Lord, is not to say we don't grieve over those who are shut out because of loving sin so profoundly that they would choose eternal punishment in order to hold on to it, for the brief flicker of this life. O God, I pray that You will convict any such foolish sinner and may he let go of hell and embrace heaven. May You be gracious to that sinner, holding so tightly to his sin or her sin, clinging to eternal punishment as if it were to be desired and forfeiting heaven. And may they loose the grasp and reach out to the Savior who can forgive their sin and take them to the glory of the eternal city. Life passes so fast, may we choose in the light of eternity. Work You work in every heart, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.


text:
James Wood, the ferociously intelligent critic whose reviews appear regularly in The New Republic and the London Review of Books, has single-handedly done a great deal to improve the literary atmosphere in the past few years. With their extraordinary intensity, Wood's literary essays are like nothing else being written today; he seems to be a man who couldn't live without literature, and for many of us, his example has been inspiring.
Wood is one of those rare critics whose discernment is so strong that he helps us to become better readers of fiction. More than that: He's one of those rare writers who can enrich one's own engagement with life. In a brilliant appreciation of Saul Bellow, for example, Wood showed how Bellow is alone among contemporary writers in his power to make the reader see–and after reading Wood's demonstration of where Bellow's greatness lies, one came away feeling that one's own ability to see had been magnified.
Most book reviews are just plot summaries with a few adjectives thrown in; Wood is rare among contemporary reviewers in that he has a considered idea of what a good novel should be, and he's confident enough to make his premises clear. Wood believes that the special magic of fiction lies in the writer's ability to create "characters out of nothing"–and when he finds fault with a novel it's often because he believes that the novelist has avoided the hard work of trying to bring fully imagined characters to the page. Reviewing Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon, he writes that "Its characters exist to dispense lessons, ideological or philosophical. Although they have a certain alluring liveliness, they do not quite exist as people." Of Don DeLillo's Underworld, he writes that "the paranoid vision incorporates a certain restless despair that makes the creation of rounded individual characters impossible." And of Toni Morrison's Paradise, he writes that she "is so besotted with making poetry, with the lyrical dyeing of every moment, that she cannot grant characters their own words…. Morrison loves her own language more than she loves her characters." Wood is an advocate of literary realism, but his idea of realism is wide enough to embrace Kafka and Gogol–because however fantastic the worlds they place their characters in, the characters themselves are imagined with a frightening vividness. Gregor Samsa, antennae and all, is indelibly real. In an essay on Iris Murdoch, Wood refers to her belief that "we judge the great novelists by the quality of their awareness of others…for the novelist this is at the highest level the most crucial test." His discussion of Murdoch is nuanced, and I'm not sure he explicitly endorses her formulation, but I think that a similar view is at the heart of his notion of what good fiction should be.


text:
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korea have failed again to agree on how to reopen a shuttered inter-Korean factory park. They have decided to meet again next week.
Wednesday's meeting at the North Korean border town of Kaesong was their fourth meeting this month. It was aimed at finding a way to restart the factory complex there.
The park was the rivals' last major cooperation project before it closed in April amid high tension following Pyongyang's third nuclear test in February.
Media pool reports say chief South Korean delegate Kim Kiwoong told reporters the two Koreas still have "big differences." Seoul wants measures that would prevent any future unilateral shutdown of Kaesong.
North Korea has pressed South Korea to end military exercises with the U.S.


text:
By Darius Jankiewicz
In the Part I, I explored the origin of the word "ordination" and how its pagan undertones began to influence Christian thinking on ministry during the second century of the Christian era. Most importantly, I noted that already by the second part of the second century it is possible to detect growing clericalization of the Church (i.e., separation between clergy and laity), something not present among the early New Testament Christians.[1] At the same time, the Christian minister became a priest.[2] Ironically, this understanding of Christian ministry arose from a sincere desire to protect the church from heresies and guard its unity. In the end, notes historian Pierre Gy, Christian pastors assumed the role of the ancient Roman ordo senatorum.[3] Other developments followed during the third century.
Hippolytus (ca. 170‒ca. 235 AD) and Apostolic Tradition
While no Christian thinker from the first or second century mentions the ministerial laying-on-of-hands ceremony, it is reasonable to assume that Christians practiced the rite during the second century.[4] The first complete description of the Christian ceremony of ordination appears at the beginning of the third century and is found in the Apostolic Tradition, a work attributed to Hippolytus of Rome.[5] In this work, we find a detailed description of early Christian ordinations, complete with a detailed theology of ministry and the liturgy to be followed in the ordination service.[6]
All three orders of ministry— bishop, elder, and deacon—had their own ordination services through the laying-on-of-hands and a separate set of prayers; each order of ministry now required a higher order to place hands upon the lower order.[7] This is probably the root of the common Christian practice, both Catholic and Protestant, of only ordained clergy ordaining candidates for ministry
Continue reading "A Short History of Ordination (Part II)" »


text: Monday, July 18, 2011 Infection Prevention Guidance Aims to Help Clinicians Deliver Safe Care The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released 2 infection prevention documents for clinicians in outpatient settings. The Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Settings: Minimum Expectations for Safe Care highlights existing CDC and Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee recommendations, summarizes basic infection prevention recommendations for outpatient (ambulatory care) settings, reaffirms standard precautions as the foundation for preventing transmission of infectious agents during patient care in all health care settings, and provides links to full guidelines and source documents. The Infection Prevention Checklist for Outpatient Settings: Minimum Expectations for Safe Care is a companion to the guide. Facilities can use it to ensure that they have established appropriate policies and procedures, have adequate supplies to allow health care personnel to provide safe care, and systematically assess personnel adherence to correct infection prevention practices.


text:
Bariatric & Minimally Invasive Surgery
Brain & Spine Institute
Breast Care Center
Cancer Institute
Cardiovascular Institute
Cosmetic Surgery
ER-7 Emergency Center
Krieger Eye Institute
Psychiatric Services
Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics
Sleep Center
Spine Center
Vascular Institute
Women's Wellness Center
Wound Care & HBOT
Center for Diabetic Limb Preservation (DLP)
About Northwest Hospital
Ask Brian - President of Northwest Hospital
Campus Map
Community Survey
Contact Northwest Hospital
Expansion and Renovation
Gift Shop
Insurance Plans Accepted
Population Health
Visitor & Patient Information
Wireless Internet Access
Northwest Board of Directors
Northwest Management Team
Northwest Division Chiefs
Sinai Hospital
Northwest Hospital
Carroll Hospital
LifeBridge Health Development
Contact Us
Development News
Donate Now
Grateful Patient Stories
Special Events
Ways to Give
Volunteer at Sinai Hospital
Volunteer at Northwest Hospital
Volunteer at Carroll Hospital
Volunteer at Levindale
Advance Directives
Billing and Financial Considerations
Campus Map
Dining - Patient Room Menus
Dining - Retail
Discharge Information
Ethics Committee
Gift Shop
Important Phone Numbers
Insurance Plans Accepted
Interpreter Services
Local Accommodations
Meals and Nutrition Services
Medication Information
Notary Services
Parking Information
Patient Forms
Patient Pain Management
Patient Personal Items and Valuables
Patient Quality Care
Patient Rights & Responsibilities
Pay Your Bill
Outpatient Pharmacy
Resolving Concerns
Request Medical Records
Telephone Services
Television Services
Visitor Guide (PDF)
Visiting Hours and Guidelines
Wireless Internet
Campus Map
Community Calendar
Contact Northwest Hospital
Directions to Northwest Hospital
Gift Shop
Health Library
Important Information
Insurance Plans Accepted
LifeBridge Health Business Partners
LifeBridge Health Magazine
Local Accommodations
Maryland Health Connection
My LifeBridge Health Patient Portal
News Room
Outpatient Pharmacy
Parking Information
Recorded Webinars
Social Media
Vendor Resources
WBAL-AM Videos
Northwest Hospital, located in Randallstown, serves the health care needs of the northwest Baltimore metro area, including Baltimore County, western Baltimore City, and Carroll and Howard counties. It was established in 1962 as Liberty Court Rehabilitation Center, and in 1963 became Baltimore County General Hospital. In June of 1993, it changed its name to Northwest Hospital.
Northwest Hospital exists to improve the well-being of the community by nurturing relationships between the hospital, medical staff and our patients.
Northwest Hospital, a not-for-profit organization, is committed to creating and maintaining an environment where exceptional quality care and service is achieved and recognized by our patients and their families, members of the medical and allied health staffs, employees, volunteers and the communities we serve. Care and service are provided without regard to age, sex, race, religion, disability or financial status.
Northwest Hospital will be a recognized leader in customer care and clinical quality in the services we choose to offer by exceeding expectations of patients, physicians, employees and the community.
In keeping with Northwest Hospital's philosophy of patient-centered care, its facilities have been designed around the Friesen concept, with nursing alcoves outside each patient room so nurses can spend more time with their patients. The Friesen-designed hospital functions differently from the traditional hospital in that it creates an environment conducive to direct patient care through smaller 20-bed units; private patient rooms; elimination of nursing stations; and the placement of supplies, medications and charts in close proximity to patients.
Northwest is an all-private room hospital that has 254 beds.
Northwest Hospital provides a variety of quality care services to the greater Baltimore community. In addition, we have created Centers of Excellence that specialize in the most advanced treatments.
Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery
Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute
Center for Wound Care, including HBOT
Cosmetic Surgery Center
ER-7 Emergency Center
Herman & Walter Samuelson Breast Care Center
Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics
Sandra and Malcolm Berman Brain & Spine Institute
Sleep Disorders Center
Spine Center at Northwest Hospital
Women's Wellness Center
For a full list of medical services, click here.
Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
American Association of Blood Banks
American College of Surgeons
College of American Pathologists
American College of Radiology
Northwest Hospital
5401 Old Court Road
Randallstown, MD 21133
Contact Us: 410-521-2200
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices | Transportation Policy |
Nondiscrimination Notice and Foreign Language Assistance


text:
Photo: Bloomberg Markets magazine
For many years I have told clients to think like a movie producer. We see "teasers" (movie trailers) before the movie is released. Tidbits of compelling shots and information that drum up the excitement and desire to see the film. Then, after the film is released, producers look to prolong the share of voice by reinforcing and quoting what people are saying about the movie … "Siskel and Ebert say, 'Best film of the year'."While movies have always created a great example for brand marketing, "The Hunger Games" just set a new bar for the use of social media to spawn pre-reveal buzz. In doing so, their opening weekend scored an impressive $155 million at the box office last weekend – the third best opening ever outside of summer launches. Granted, "The Hunger Games" has an established fan community with the book trilogy's success, but certainly that provided added incentive to leverage social media.
As a brand, this is exactly what you want to accomplish; increase the magnitude and length of time that people are talking about your brand. Imagine your brand has a "reveal" period – that time when you have a product launch or other key event. Focus on activities in both the "pre-reveal" and "post-reveal" periods that elevate the brand's voice. Think about using social media to rally your target audience and ignite word of mouth. Like "The Hunger Games," it is likely you have an existing base for your brand as well.
Lionsgate, the independent film studio behind "The Hunger Games," focused on the platforms used by their target audience – namely Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, GetGlue and iPhone to drive pre-release attention and buzz. The team was meticulous at setting a content calendar and distribution points to orchestrate their story and marketing activities. Social efforts started early by promoting casting news on Facebook. Fans were called into action with a Facebook contest anda Twitter scavenger hunt. They were also asked to vote, rate and share their opinions and reviews via social media. All of these actions then got shared with the participant's friends and network, adding to awareness and excitement around the film premiere.
And yes, Lionsgate provided the sneak peek trailer online, but more importantly, they listened to the reaction of the released film clip in the social space. People liked it but complained very loudly … it was too short; they wanted more. Thus, footage was released that included a Twitter prompt that allowed fans access to a Web site for the movie, TheCapitol.pn. (The Capitol is where the Hunger Games take place.) The site provided more content and allowed visitors to make digital ID cards symbolizing that they lived in Panem, the movie's futuristic society. Then there were other activities that those with digital ID cards could participate in.
But it did not stop with their Facebook and Twitter presence. Lionsgate was smart to not only consider their own digital assets, but also focus on digital influence and outreach to fan blogs. Another important aspect of their social plan was to spark user-generated content. They did this by running a sweepstakes where the winners were brought to the movie's set and no reporters were invited there.
There have been numerous other digital activities choreographed around the Hunger Games, but I won't list them all. If you are social, you can discover them on your own like the real Hunger Games audience has. All of these activities produced word of mouth marketing and drew one million mentions of "Hunger Games" on Twitter over the past month.
Clearly, the power of social does not mean dropping traditional marketing. Social must be integrated with marketing that has proven results over the years. Lionsgate used traditional media and PR as well. They gave away 80K posters, secured almost 50 magazine cover stories and advertised on 3K billboards and bus stops.
As a social media marketing executive, I look at measured results. The box office sales were a huge success, but how would I know that social had some contribution to that success. This correlation is always difficult to measure. I typically look at various brand metrics that show the degree of awareness, consideration, loyalty and advocacy generated from social channels. If we see strong results in these categories, we know that the other component (the transaction) of a sales cycle has to be strong.
I'll give you one example. Yesterday I looked at The Hunger Games Facebook page. I found an impressive 3.5 million likes. Everyone measures likes, but that is only part of the story. Anyone can drive a gazillion likes … just give an iPad away to everyone that likes your brand. But you have to keep people engaged. Facebook shows this parameter in something they call "talking about this." Usually, when I look at brand pages I see one to four per cent engagement. The Hunger Games had 767K talking about this, 22 per cent engagement – wow. Granted this is for an entertainment category, and you would expect a higher percentage than for a consumer brand, but this is still damn impressive. And if almost one in four of their likes are talking about The Hunger Games, you can be sure they are also not only going to the movie, but they are telling their friends.
In the end, there is much to learn from Lionsgate and their social play. First, they understand their target audience. They understand their digital behaviours and places where they engage. Lionsgate produced compelling content way beyond the movie itself. The content calendar was well planned to produce increased excitement and sharing integrated with all aspects of the movie's marketing strategy. When the audience responded negatively (not enough content), they listened and put a new plan in action to satisfy "the hunger."
This approach and mentality can be accomplished by any brand. What is your brand story? What is distinctive about what you do that is perceived to be most valuable by your target audience. Plan your pre-reveal, reveal and post-reveal activities such that you have a choreographed, orchestrated continuous roll of information that is valued by your customers and potential customer. Tell your story, listen, engage and react.
Make It Happen.
Steve Goldner (aka "Social Steve) leads the social media practice at MediaWhiz LLC, a Hyper Marketing Inc. company. You can follow him on Twitter @SocialSteve.
NOW WATCH: Ideas videos
Business Insider Emails & Alerts
Site highlights each day to your inbox.
Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.


text:
The New England Patriots travel to Charlotte to take on the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football. The game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.
The Patriots (7-2) are coming off of a bye week but ended their first half on a good note by scoring an NFL season high 55 points in dismantling the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Panthers (6-3) beat the San Francisco 49ers in Frisco on Sunday 10-9. The Panthers were able to shut down the Niners in the second half and come away with a huge win on the road that thrust them into the thick of the playoff picture.
We'll post a detailed breakdown of the matchups later this week, but here are five first impressions of the Carolina Panthers:
Matchup Much Tougher Than Anticipated Earlier This Summer:
When this game was initially shown on the Patriots 2013 schedule, many would have pointed at it as a check mark in the win column….not so fast.
Carolina, after a slow start has won 5 in a row and now is the thick of the NFC playoff race. Head Coach Ron Rivera has his players believing in his team and after a very impressive win this weekend in San Francisco, has many NFL pundits doing the same.
The Niners entered Sunday on their own five game winning streak and were seen as just hitting their stride and were playing at home. With the win, the Panthers won't be the underdogs against the Patriots on Monday night, they will be favored.
Panthers Defense Now One of the Best:Carolina has transformed their defense from one of the worst just a few seasons ago to now one of the best in the NFL. They've allowed 115 points on the season, and only the Kansas City Chiefs have allowed less.
During their current five game winning streak, they are averaging giving up only 11.4 points per game and haven't allowed more than 15 points in any of them. Currently they are the #2 defense against the run, (82 yards per game) and the #4 defense against the pass, (201.3 yards per game).
Looking at the last five games:
Panthers Defensive StatsOpponent Opp. Score W/L Rush Yds Pass Yds ______________________________________________________________________
|Minnesota Vikings
|St. Louis Rams
|Tampa Bay Buccaneers
|Atlanta Falcons
|San Francisco 49ers
It starts upfront with one of the best front sevens in the league. The Panthers used their first two picks in the 2013 draft on defensive tackles Star Lotulelei and Kawann Short. And they keep it simple, there isn't a lot of trickery, exotic formations and blitz packages. They stick to their base defense and make you beat them.
Looking at the numbers from the Niners game, they sacked QB Colin Kaepernick six times and had seven more hurries in just 28 passes attempted. Four of the sacks came when rushing four or fewer defenders. The 49ers were just 2-for-13 on third down.
The linebackers Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis have been the big playmakers for the defense with Kuechly being one of if not the best coverage linebacker in the league.
Running Game Keeps The Offense Balanced:The Panthers have a very good running game and have been bolstered by the return of Jonathan Stewart to go along with the dangerous DeAngelo Williams who is on pace for a 1000 yard season, fullback Mike Tolbert and Cam Newton who can be a big factor rushing from the QB position.
With the Patriots struggles in stopping the run in the last few games, the Panthers will want to take advantage of that and open up play action, something they've been successful on during their current winning streak.
Each of the different runners brings something different to the table and the Panthers will be looking to pound the ball and control the clock. The Panthers average 4.0 yards per carry and 128 yards per game on the ground.
Cam Newton And Shula, A Good Match:New Carolina Offensive Coordinator Mike Shula has gotten some very good play out of QB Cam Newton this season and all signs are pointing to them getting even more out of the young signal caller as the season moves down the stretch.
Shula has tried to improve Newton's play this season by getting him to make quicker decisions, read the defenses faster and get the football out of his hand faster. And he has, as well as having Newton buying into his system as the Panthers have rolled off five wins in a row.
Shula has him making better decisions which places a lot of stress on the defense, particularly in the pass-rush while the coverage units on the backend have their own issues because there's that time clock ticking in a lot of people's heads and Newton can extend plays if need be and by scrambling can make plays with his feet or by throwing on the run.
For the season, Newton has completed 62.7 percent of his passes, 170 of 271 for 1970 yards 13 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.
Mentally Tough Team, Taking It One Game At A Time:It has been awhile, since the Panthers have been relevant in the league….about 5 years but their new found success is not getting to the player's heads and coach Ron Rivera has kept the focus on the most important game of the year…the next one.
"If you're winning, you're more relevant and people pay more attention to you – and deservedly so," Rivera said. "We've got good players that deserve some recognition. They've worked hard at it."
But the big focus isn't getting lost as he added, "That's great. I hope they enjoy it, but once they come in Wednesday, the focus is now on New England."
Mike Mitchell summed it up best on Sunday after the win against the 49ers saying, "We're relevant. We're here. And we've got the biggest game Monday night. It's the biggest game because it's the next game. We look forward to preparing to try to win it."
Follow me on Twitter @SteveB7SFG or email me at email@example.com
Listen to our Patriots 4th and 2 podcast on blog talk radio as the writers Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and I from PatsFans.com discuss the latest Patriots news Wednesdays at 12 noon.


text:
"It seemed to me that timing the launch of the Year of Faith to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council would provide a good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, "have lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church's Tradition "
Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei,
For the Indication of the Year of Faith
Lenten Parish Mission: Pt. 2
Wed. Feb. 27 at 10 AM ET, Sat. Mar. 2 at 5 AM ET
Fathers of Mercy Superior General Fr. William Casey, C.P.M.,reflects on the Real Presence of Our Lord from the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama.
Let Me Walk This Path: Pt. 4
Thurs. Feb. 28 at 3 AM ET & 6:30 PM ET
Stories of martyrdom in 17th-century Japan and the ever-changing dynamics within the ruling classes.


text:
The New York Times recently went shopping with the Israeli-American architect Michael Arad, revealing how this designer of the National September 11 Memorial scours Manhattan toy stores for unusual building-block sets to construct miniature villages with his three young children.
The devoted dad last fall completed a "green roof" on his oldest child's school building. In May, he was back in Israel to speak about his main area of expertise – urban architecture — at the 2013 Jerusalem International Tourism Summit. He also guest lectured at Hebrew University and met with a group of wounded Israeli veterans about a small proposed memorial in Israel "that could be very gratifying on a personal level," he tells ISRAEL21c.
Spread the Word
• Email this article to friends or colleagues
• Share this article on Facebook or Twitter
• Write about and link to this article on your blog
• Local relevancy? Send this article to your local press
The son of Moshe Arad, Israel's former ambassador to the United States, the 43-year-old architect clearly has come of age since his model for the memorial beat out 5,200 other entries in a 2004 international competition.
Between the time his design won and the time it was completed in September 2011, Arad received much press for his emotional struggle to shield his concept from myriad changes suggested by various stakeholders.
Today, he speaks of that period with calm equanimity; even gratitude.
"The tone of the memorial came through unchanged, and that's a testament to the hard work of so many people," he tells ISRAEL21c. "[New York] Mayor Bloomberg and his deputies shepherded the process through and gave us the opportunity to respond to challenges to the design process."
About seven million people have so far visited the memorial and surrounding park at the former World Trade Center site.
Pools in each footprint of the downed twin towers are fed by the largest manmade waterfalls in North America, and surrounded by bronze panels etched with the names of the 2,982 victims — including six from the 1993 attack on the towers, and 224 who died on planes hijacked on 9/11.
"It suggests commemoration and everyday life, a place that residents and workers in this neighborhood could utilize as much as visitors to the memorial," says Arad. "I saw how public spaces allowed New Yorkers to come together after the attack in stoic defiance, leavened with a lot of compassion."
He had watched from his Lower Manhattan roof as the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed from the impact of the terror attack on September 11, 2001.
"Witnessing the attacks, and most importantly the way the city responded to them, was incredibly powerful and motivated me to start sketching ideas for a memorial," Arad says. "I tried to express the idea of absence and loss, by having water cascade into empty spaces yet never fill them up."
What makes cities great
Born in 1969, Arad spent his first three years in London, then one year in New York, three in Washington, four in Jerusalem, another year in New York and two more in Jerusalem, and then four years in Mexico City as his diplomatic family globe-trotted.
"I consider myself Israeli, but other things as well, and they're not mutually exclusive," he tells ISRAEL21c.
After a year at Dartmouth, he returned to Israel to serve from 1988 to 1991 in the Golani Brigade. "I never thought about not doing my military service," he says. "I had grown up expecting to do it and wanting to do it."
After his bachelor's degree, he studied for his master's at the Georgia Tech College of Architecture from 1995 to 1999. Living in New York ever since, he's helped design two police stations, Union Station Tower, a 108-story Hong Kong skyscraper and Espirito Santo Plaza, a 37-story edifice in Miami that won the 2001 New York American Institute of Architects award.
Today he is a partner in Handel Architects and shares his Manhattan home with his wife, legal editor Melanie Arad Fitzpatrick, and children Nathaniel, 10; Ariel, seven; and Dani, two.
Arad helped plan and solicit funds for a "green roof" on the top of Nathaniel's public school building in the East Village. The Fifth Street Farm, opened last September, allows pre-K through eighth-grade students to grow and eat fresh fruits and vegetables.
"I did not want to do a green roof only for its positive environmental impact but to see how we could weave this into the curriculum and health-and-wellness program at the school," says Arad. "We wanted a real urban farm so kids could be engaged in agriculture activities and harvest and cook and eat their food onsite."
Among the projects on his drawing board are a retail -housing-cultural complex on Manhattan's Lower East Side and a hotel and residential tower for an Israeli developer in Long Island City.
"Our firm deals with density and diversity in urban sites," explains Arad. "We see a vitality and significance to cities. What makes great cities great is the happenstance — not knowing what you'll encounter around the next block."
He says he is happy to see the renovation of older buildings in Tel Aviv, where his sister lives, and the addition of the light rail system in Jerusalem, where his parents reside. "It's good to get people out of cars and onto the streets and public transportation. It creates an important sense of community."


text:
Alert 2009-6
Subject: Counterfeit Cashier's Checks
Date: April 6, 2009
Description: Rockport National Bank
Counterfeit Cashier's Checks of Rockport National Bank, Rockport, MA
To: Chief Executive Officers of All National Banks; All State Banking Authorities; Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Director, Office of Thrift Supervision; Conference of State Bank Supervisors; Deputy Comptrollers (districts); Assistant Deputy Comptrollers; District Counsel; and All Examining Personnel
The above-named bank has reported that counterfeit cashier's checks issued in the bank's name and using a correct routing number of 011305260 are being presented for payment nationwide in connection with a mystery shopping scam.
The counterfeit checks do not resemble the authentic items, and may be identified by the following traits: the instruments are of unknown color and include the following security statement in the top border: "For security purposes, the face of this check contains a colored background and microprinting in the border." The words "Cashier's Check" are located in the top-center portion of the item directly followed by: "Notice to Purchaser – In the event this check is lost, misplaced or stolen, a sworn statement and 90 day waiting period will be required prior to replacement. This check should be negotiated within 90 days." The following security statement is printed between two padlock icons in the bottom-center section: "Security Features Included. Details on Back." Please note that the telephone number of 1-888-681-7950 located in the bottom-left corner of the check is not associated with the bank.
Items presented to date have been made payable in the amount of $4,984, contain a remitter name of Consumer Service Opinion Inc., and contain a 9-digit serial number.
Due to possible variations between the appearance of the bank's authentic items and the counterfeit items associated with differing scams, officials of Rockport National Bank suggest they be contacted to verify authenticity of the bank's cashier's checks if received from an unknown or questionable source.
Correspondence accompanying the counterfeit checks may contain the letterhead of "Consumer Service Opinion, Inc., Suite 10C, 120 Jerdens Street, Rockport, MA 01966, Tel # 1-905-609-8074 or 1-905-781-3712" and may be signed by Pam Davids, Head Assignment Co-ordinator. The correspondence informs the recipient that he or she has been selected to represent the company as a mystery customer. It is explained that the enclosed cashier's check is to be used during the assignment to make purchases at various merchants and to transfer money using a nationally known wire service. Recipients are instructed to contact the assignment coordinator at 1-905-609-8074 Ext 201 or 1-905-781-3712 Ext 201 upon receipt of the correspondence.
For additional information and guidance, and to verify the authenticity of Rockport National Bank's checks, please contact Kathryn Limone, Security Officer, 16 Main Street, Rockport, MA 01966, by telephone at (978) 546-3411, by fax at (978) 546-3263, or via e-mail at [email@example.com].
Consumers who receive a counterfeit or fictitious item and associated material should file complaints with the following agencies, as appropriate:
Additional information concerning this matter that you believe should be brought to the attention of the OCC may be forwarded to:
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
For additional information regarding other types of financial fraud, please visit the OCC's anti-fraud resource at: https://www.occ.gov/topics/consumer-protection/fraud-resources/index-fraud-resources.html.
Richard C. Stearns
Related Links


text:
Sorry about this, we are in read only mode. You can browse the site as normal but you won't be able to sign in or make changes.
Consultant, Data Scientist at MasterCard
Peng Yang has not yet claimed their profile. Are you Peng Yang? Sign in with LinkedIn to claim your profile and make changes.
Peng Yang has not yet tracked or attended any events.
LinkedIn profile
Follow @lanyrd on Twitter.
Lanyrd on Facebook
· Blog
· Services
· Colophon
+ Cookies · Email us