SMOKING / RESEARCH REVIEW

The Report is based on a 6-month examination of the research literature, and has been reviewed by leading experts in the field.

FINDINGS

·      Nicotine, inhaled in smoking or ingested as snuff or chewing tobacco, is addictive.

·      This addiction resembles the pattern of opium-based drugs such as heroin.

·      There are several similarities between tobacco and opium (heroin) use:

à      Both create physiological dependence.

à      Cessation of both causes withdrawal symptoms.

à      The use of both substances leads to tolerance and increased need.

à      Relapse rates among those who quit are the same for both drugs—70% in the first 3 months, 75% by the end of first year.

à      Both drugs are psychoactive, producing mood changes.

à      Both substances serve as reinforcers.  For example, nicotine’s effect on the central nervous system, the touch and feel of a cigarette, and the smell of smoke all reinforce drug-seeking behavior.

CONCLUSIONS

Department of Health and Human Services encapsulates the findings:

In sum, nicotine has a profile of behavioral and physiologic effects typical of other drugs of abuse and, like the heroin derived from opium, meets rigorous experimental criteria as a drug with considerable potential to cause dependence...Surveys indicate that 90% of smokers would like to quit, but only a small minority succeed because of the difficulty of overcoming dependence on nicotine.

Likewise, 70% of junior and senior high school users of smokeless tobacco say that they have tried to quit, often many times, yet most fail and cite ‘addiction’ or ‘craving’ as the main reason why they cannot kick the habit.

IMPLICATIONS

1.     Suits against tobacco companies may significantly battle nicotine addiction.  Reports such as this may help change the legal perspective in such claims.

2.     Very few young people or adults know the facts contained in this Report.  Such evidence will help many young people make life-improving decisions.

3.     Self-image, peer influence, and lifestyle are important factors in choosing to be free from, or enslaved to, a chemical substance.

4.     Adult friends and youth groups can affect the important decisions of young people.

Contentment

Contentment:

*HOW DO I FIND TRUE PEACE AND CONTENTMENT IN LIFE?

ISAIAH 26:3

There are many ways to have transient peace or what we think is peace, but genuine peace is found only in a trusting relationship with the Lord.

GENESIS 33:9

Forgiving those who have wronged us is a key to contentment.

**IS CONTENTMENT FOUND IN MONEY OR SUCCESS?

ECCLESIASTES 5:19-20; PHILIPPIANS 4:11-13; HEBREWS 13:5

Contentment is not dependent on wealth, nor does it have to be stifled by poverty. Wealth by itself is neutral—neither good nor bad. The key is to thank God for what we have and to use our time and resources to please him.

1 PETER 5:8

Satan’s goal is to get us to believe the illusion that knowing more or having more will make us content. Actually, it just shows we’ll never be satisfied. A person who is never satisfied is a person who fails to fully trust God.

1 TIMOTHY 6:6-7

Knowing that our real home is with God in eternity should help us be content with what we have now. Making wise personal investments here will bring us great wealth in heaven.

***HOW DO I LEARN TO BE CONTENT IN ANY SITUATION?

MATTHEW 5:3; LUKE 14:33

Contentment comes when we are willing to give up everything for God. Only then are we truly free to rest in the peace and security God offers.

DEUTERONOMY 3

*The Israelites faced a big problem-the well-trained army of Og, king of Bashan. The Israelites hardly stood a chance. But they won because God fought for them. God can help his people regardless of the problems they face. No matter how insurmountable the obstacles may seem, remember that God is sovereign, and he will keep his promises.

**What encouraging news for Joshua, who was to lead his men against the persistent forces of evil in the Promised Land! Since God promised to help him win every battle, he had nothing to fear. Our battles may not be against godless armies, but they are just as real as Joshua's. Whether we are resisting temptation or battling fear, God has promised to fight with and for us as we obey him.

***God had made it clear that Moses would not enter the Promised Land (Numbers 20:12). So God told Moses to commission Joshua as the new leader and encourage him in this new role. This is a good example to churches and organizations who must eventually replace their leaders.

"Good leaders prepare their people to function without them by discovering those with leadership potential, providing the training they need, and looking for ways to encourage them............"

Motives

*SO LONG AS WE DO THE RIGHT THING, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES OUR MOTIVE MAKE?

GENESIS 4:3-5

It is quite likely that Cain’s sacrifice was regarded as inappropriate because his motives were impure.

MATTHEW 6:1-8, 16-18

When we pursue spiritual life with self-serving motives, we rob ourselves of the joy God intends.

PHILIPPIANS 1:18

Sometimes God chooses to use even those motivated by selfish ambition to accomplish his purposes.

**HOW CAN I HAVE PURER MOTIVES?

1 CHRONICLES 28:8-10

We must learn to serve the Lord with a pure heart and mind.

PROVERBS 21:2

We must recognize that God is as interested in motive as he is in deed.

1 CORINTHIANS 4:1-5

Remember that God alone knows your heart. Ask him to reveal to you any area in which your motives are less than pure.

(Promise: Ezekiel 36:26)

Idol worship ???

Exodus 32

*Idols again! Even though Israel had seen the invisible God in action, they still wanted the familiar gods they could see and shape into whatever image they desired. How much like them we are! Our great temptation is still to shape God to our liking, to make him convenient to obey or ignore. God responds in great anger when his mercy is trampled on. The gods we create blind us to the love that our loving God wants to shower on us. "God cannot work in us when we elevate anyone or anything above him". What false gods in your life are preventing the true God from living in you?

**Even if we do not make idols, we are often guilty of trying to make God in our image, molding him to fit our expectations, desires, and circumstances. When we do this, we end up worshiping ourselves rather than the God who created us-and self-worship, today as in the Israelites' time, leads to all kinds of immorality. What is your favorite image of God? Is it biblical? Is it adequate? Do you need to destroy it in order to worship the immeasurably powerful God who delivered you from bondage to sin?

***Two popular Egyptian gods, Hapi (Apis) and Hathor, were thought of as a bull and a heifer. The Canaanites around them worshiped Baal, thought of as a bull. Baal was their sacred symbol of power and fertility and was closely connected to immoral sexual practices. No doubt the Israelites, fresh from Egypt, found it quite natural to make a golden calf to represent the God that had just delivered them from their oppressors. They were weary of a god without a face. But in doing so, they were ignoring the command he had just given them: "Do not make idols of any kind" (20:4). They may even have thought they were worshiping God. Their apparent sincerity was no substitute for obedience or excuse for disobedience.

****God was ready to destroy the whole nation because of their sin. But Moses pleaded for mercy, and God spared them. This is one of the countless examples in the Bible of God's mercy. Although we deserve his anger, he is willing to forgive and restore us to himself. We can receive God's forgiveness from sin by asking him. Like Moses, we can pray that he will forgive others and use us to bring them the message of his mercy.

*****How could God relent? God did not change his mind in the same way that a parent decides not to discipline a child. Instead, God changed his behavior to remain consistent with his nature. When God first wanted to destroy the people, he was acting consistently with his justice. When Moses interceded for the people, God relented in order to act consistently with his mercy. "God had often told the people that if they changed their ways, he would not condemn them". They changed, and God did as he promised...........!!!

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DIWALI

Diwali ! A day to rejoice! A day to be happy with exchanging sweets, delicious food and wearing new dresses! Bright lights everywhere and the sound of firecrackers, which drives people crazy sometimes. All their money has been burned out into ashes while bursting firecrackers.

But why should Indians celebrate this auspicious day? It is a long story. Let us find out how & why?

Once upon a time there lived a giant called Naragashur. Narag means hell and Ashur means giant. So he was a giant of hell. He did many harms to the civilians as well as to the sages. All people cried to the Lord for relief. The Lord incarnated and one fine evening, the Lord killed the giant. People came out of their houses with joy holding torches in their hands. So it became a tradition and it has been followed by the generations and that is why every year they celebrate this festival which is called Diwali.

The question is, if people wanted to celebrate a day because of the death of a giant, then the whole lifetime will not be enough for a person to celebrate because there are so many similar stories in the Puranas like Hiranya, Ravan, Kamsa, Bagava, Idumba, Andakashur, Jalandashur, Hiranyatcha, Tirunavartha and so on, who were killed by god's incarnations. So, the festival Diwali has nothing to do with the death of Naragashur. Kandapurana part VII ?Upadeshkanda says about an auspicious day, which is called Diwali.

This word is a combination of two words. Deep, which means light and Awali, means line. Lights in a line. During the month of Oct-Nov a day before the new moon, people take holy bath early in the morning. They keep a heap of paddy and place a pot and upon that with holy grass which is called dharba (a type of hyssop) and worship the god Shiva with fasting and prayer. Some people fast for 21 days. On the day of new moon they complete their fasting and put on new clothes, eat sweets and food. On this day they should not eat non- - vegetarian food. Those who eat such food will go to hell. This is what the great man Thirumuruga Kirubananda Variayar says. (Variyar Virundhu-page 84-87)

But what people experience today? There are lights around them, but inwardly they are immersed in darkness. They think that the giant (Satan) was killed but they do not understand that the giant still live in them and keep them under bondage like debts, sorrow, sickness, hatred, poverty etc.

The puranic stories were written to make people understand that God has to come in flesh to release the people from the bondage of this giant who is called Satan. But who is this Satan? Who is the incarnation of god who manifested in flesh? The Giant is sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, evil thoughts, theft, murder, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, slander, arrogance, folly, homosexual, smoking, chewing panparak, drugs, watching blue films, reading filthy stories, bribery, and so on. Such kind of giant still lives in the minds of people and spoils everyone?s life and also the lives of his kin and kids and the society. The giant is also called the darkness of the world. He has blinded the minds of people so that they cannot see the light of the good news of the real God who came in flesh who is the image of God.

Great saints like Thirumoolar, Agastiyar, Thayumanavar and other Siddhars (nameless saints who knew god and the truth) anticipated God as light who will remove the darkness from the mind of people. The 19th century Hindu saint Vallalar otherwise called Jyothi Ramalinga Adigalar who started worshipping god Murugan, then Nataraja but later declared that God is light and he proclaimed that truth throughout Tamilnadu. The dominating Brahmin religious leaders ignored this Saint. Many of his poems about this light focus towards Jesus Christ. Darkness cannot be removed by bullets, money, austerity, rituals, temple attendance, celebrations, holy baths or self righteousness, only light can remove darkness. Ordinary powerful lights cannot remove the darkness that is in the minds of the people.

If God is light then who is this god?

The Bible has the answer. Jesus said: "I am the light of this world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (John 8:12) If this is true then why people do not accept this light who is Jesus the Christ? The Bible has the answer again. It says, Light has come into this world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. When Jesus said: "I am the light of this world" he also said that his followers are lights of this world. He said: "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise God the Father in heaven". Jesus is the light and his followers make a line after him. Lights in a line!

The real Deep-Awali = Diwali! It is good that the Indian saints celebrate this festival during October. Jesus lived thirty-three and a half years. He was nailed to the cross in the month of April. He was only thirty-three and a half years old. His birthday fall after six months, that is in October. The month God came to this world as light. Saul, a tribe of Benjamin of Israel who was against Christian believers killed many of them met Jesus on his way to Damascus. God appeared to him in the form of light. He became a follower of Jesus Christ and preached the glorious Gospel to many thousands. He writes in one of his letters that "For god who said, let light shine out of darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the Glory of god in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing powers is from God and not from us" (2 Cor 4:6,7)

The light of God, which is the knowledge, should shine in the minds of people. The human body is the temple of God. It has body, spirit and soul. We have no authority to make it unclean or impure. One of the great Tamil poets said that in the garden of god man was made out of clay and the soul was in him. Not knowing this because of darkness of sin he enjoyed the luxuries of this world and broke it into pieces. This is a true fact.

This is the message we heard from God and declare to you.

God is light, In Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with God and yet walk in darkness, we die and do not live by truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all sins (darkness). The real meaning of Deepavali or Diwali is that God the light has come into this world to remove sin the giant of darkness. Let us come out of darkness to light. Jesus is the light of the world.

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One Way or Many Ways

DO ALL RELIGIONS REACH THE SAME GOAL?

It may be popular to say that all religions are one. It pleases all and offends none; it permits everything and does not include a cross. But, is this the truth?

Ancient scriptures of the world do not say that all `ways' lead to salvation or moksha. Religions differ in philosophy and ethics. They vary in concepts such as God, man, world, salvation, life, death, and life after death. Religious worship differs; some worship fire, others water and yet others worship spirits. Some glorify self and others renounce it. Even the deities differ. How then can all religions mean the same thing?

What is the result of their differences? In many countries people suffer on account of their religious convictions and some have even been martyred. In some instances families persecute their members who embrace other religious faiths. But, if all religions lead to the same goal, why do these things happen?

It is clear that all religions cannot be the same. Why then do people persist in saying that all religions are good and lead to one place? Could it be because this idea would kill the spirit of inquiry and analysis?

We live in a scientific age and no scientist dares to say that every theory is correct. Nor can we assert that all things are right and good. There is a way that is right and there is also a way that is wrong. The necessity to choose between them puts the onus on us to discover the truth.

One of the ancient scriptures of India, the Rig Vedha says.

"Yekham sath vipre bahutha vadhanthi"
(Truth is one; but men have divided it).

So, we can be sure that there is only one truth and one way - that is God. But, man by his own power and knowledge cannot see or know God.

Many ancient saints in India understood that they were in darkness and presumed God to be `Light'; they readily accept this concept of God as the light of this darkened world. Some presumed God as "Truth", some as `way' and some as `Life-giver'.
A famous Tamil saint, Thirumoolar, who lived around 900 A.D. wrote that man cannot get rid of his sins by his own efforts, just as a thief, bound by ropes cannot free himself. Only God could come down to earth form heaven and in human form to offer Himself in payment of the penalty for sin. He will show the right way through His spirit entering into the heart of man. Thus He washes away the sins of man.,

How does God reveal himself to man?

A God-fearing person believes that there is ONE God who is the Truth, the Way, the Life, the Word, and that He is omniscient, the sin-bearer and Sacrifice for sin. Instead of waiting for the real to reveal Himself by His own grace to men, they formed their many gods and goddesses out of their own imaginations.

Yet, God who was the `word' in the beginning did reveal Himself in the flesh. The Bible says:

"In the beginning was the world,
and the word was God,.
And the word became flesh, (John 1: 1,2,14).

He was called Jesus because He would bear the sins of the world. Jesus said, "I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6). The Gospel of St. John, Chapter 2:24, 25 says that Jesus is all knowing. Jesus became the perfect sacrifice and paid the penalty for our sins.

Does God reveal Himself in many ways?

God is not confused and He will never confuse His own people. God will therefore, surely not reveal himself in different ways; as Jehovah, to Jews, Jesus to Christians, Allah to Muslims, Shiva to Saivaites, Bishu to Vaishnavites and over three hundred million gods and goddesses and god-men and god-women to the Hindus, thus confusing His people and putting them in conflict with each other.

God is love and righteousness. It would be incorrect to say that there is one God of love and another God of righteousness. It is the attributes of one and the same God which man has assigned to various deities.

Man, realizing his own sin, falls at the feet of God for forgiveness and redemption. The righteousness of God declares, "This man accepts that he is a sinner. He must pay the penalty". The love of God proclaims, "This man realizes that he is a sinner and has come for forgiveness. He must be shown mercy". Man stands before God, full of fear, wondering if God would punish him or forgive him. If God, in righteousness, punishes him, He would not be a loving God. If God, in love, ought to meet the demands of justice while at the same time shows mercy and love. So He reached down to man, took man's punishment upon Himself, thereby fulfilling the demands of righteousness, and thus is able to forgive man, expressing His love. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself". (I Corinthians. 5:19).

"God so loved the world that He gave He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life". (John 3:16).

"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is Good" - (Psalms 85: 10-12).

Search	Revelation
The Aryan search for the God to whom they would offer oblation.	Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father God" (John. 14:9)
Their search for Thathvagnana (truth)	Jesus said, "I am the truth" John. 14:6
Their search for Amrutham (a kind of drink which will never permit them to die)	Jesus said, "Whoever drinks the water that I give him will never thirst" John. 4:14
Their pursuit after Shanthi (peace)	Jesus said, "My peace I give to you" John. 14:27
Their search for Jyothi (light)	Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John. 9: 5)
They anticipated the Prajapathi or Vishvakarma (Creator of universe)	Through Jesus all things were made John. 1:3
They anticipated the Thrata (Saviour)	Today a savior is born Luke 2:11
They called him the Medha Purusha or Yagnapurusha (God who will sacrifice his body)	Behold the lamb of God. Who takes away the sin of world. John. 1:29

Many people believe that only truth can liberate man from sin. This is certainly true. Jesus said,"You shall know the truth and the Truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). What then is Truth? This was the question Pilate the Roman Governor asked of Jesus when Jesus was brought before him. Jesus never gave him an answer, for He is the Truth, He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father but by me" (John 14: 6)

God is not found in a book or in lectures or discourses. He is found whenever a sincere seeker opens the door of his or her heart by faith and with repentance, offers to Jesus Christ, a complete personal surrender. God will be found of such a person. 'When you seek and find God with all of your heart, I will be found by you declares the Lord'. *(Jeremiah 29:13-14)