Så hur ska man klara av det här tjatet i många många år till? Tycker det är onödigt att hon ska ha en mobiltelefon när hon inte ens kan läsa och skriva. Många anser att de tycker det är så lättvindigt när deras små barn (nu pratar jag om barn som i alla fall är under 8 år) har mobil för då kan de nå dom när de vill och de behöver inte komma hem och säga till vart det går, bara ringa hem och tala om det....Hmmm...en helt jäkla dålig ursäkt till att de ska behöva ha en egen mobil tycker jag. Har deras barn inga ben att gå hem med och tala om vart det går eller? Ska det behöva bli så lata redan? Behöver jag få tag i min dotter när hon är hos kompisar, ringer jag ju såklart hem till kompisens föräldrar. Behöver hon oss någonting lånar hon ju kompisens hemtelefon. Sedan har jag läst en del resonera att barn behöver följa med i den tekniska utvecklingen och därför behöver ha en egen mobil. Dottern klarar sig utmärkt att låna sina föräldrars mobiler ibland för att lära sig hur det går till...

Har ännu inte bestämt mig för när dottern ska få en egen mobil, det får vi se. Men inte innan 10 års åldern i alla fall. Man kan liksom inte förutse det utan man får helt enkelt gå efter hur situationen ser ut. Skulle kunna tänka mig skicka med henne en mobil vid vissa tillfällen bara. Men det behövs ingen egen mobil för det.

Hur resonerar ni?

All she is doing is saying what they will already do; spend money they have not got for Offices and status they cannot maintain

BRIEF POST

66 words

http://reallyrealecumania.blogspot.com/2008/06/tod-bentley-arrested.html

CREDIT TO REALECUMANIA FOR PUBLISHING THIS, THIS SHOULD MAYBE BE A MEME ON THE NET TO SPREAD VIRUS FASHION TO ALERT THE NAR/BENTLEY/GOD TV/JOYNER CROSS RHYTHMS/INNERVATION TRUST/MESSAGE TO SCHOOLS BLOGWATCHERSPHERE

There is so much brilliant commentary on bentley it is best to leave it to those who have experience of the scene.

As you will know God TV finances with regard to their Bankers and legions of unpaid Suppliers. God TV has nearly come to an end 3 times if I am not mistaken. This blog pioneered financial commentary into God TV's finances and God TV has published breakdowns of figures as a result. Now there are other blogs also commentating righly on the poor way the God TV finances and the station is run. This ultimately means that I predict god TV will want fairly high sums as I said before given costs of Battle for Britain which run at a million leaflets 4000 walkers ( a far cry from 25,000 wanted no correct that THE ENTIRE UK all 21million streets with no go areas with gun crime etc, sink estates, gated communities, asylums community care supported housing units... God TV DOES NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO RUN A 21m street x 6 month campaign. at things stand they are making a rod for their own back and will end up forgoeing holidays in order to slave drive the B2B, and of course the debacle over Lakeland which God TV DROPPED REVENUE CAUSING STREAMS in favour of the as yet unknown Lakeland fiasco now Scandal. in the three Behind the Screen rory and wendy have made no attempt to apologise, repent or admit human failing, They are attempting to gloss over things when the blogosphere is full of discussion and conmmentary regarding lakeland.

The reason I believe is to preserve what revenue there is and to put a PR spin on events. Missions week will be worth watching if only to see the figures or lack of money coming into the ministry.

I am familiar enough with their finances to be able to predict the outcome given God TV's high profile in promoting extending and even now trying to sustain this fiasco of a 'revival'. The fact that they endorsed and supported bentley who was unprepared for public ministry, slave drove him into A HUNDRED DAYS MINISTRY WITHOUT REST and then covered it up by saying it was a family beach holiday mean God TV are not keen to be seen with blood on their hands and all manner of sins and foibles being exposed to the whole body of Christ.

Below is Dutch Sheets letter of repentence. everyone knows what I think of NAR, the whole Joyner led apostolic thing with its intereference and meddling in ministries** see page 60 of the Vision to see what I am gettng at it is all over the net , I can provide examples of meddled with ministries not just Revelation Genesis TV with two so called ex God TV folks in commanding positions.

That is for a later post.

here below is dutch sheets letter

A Statement and Appeal Regarding Lakeland

August 21, 2008

It has now been a couple of weeks since I heard about Todd Bentley’s plans for separation and divorce. Like everyone, I have had a variety of emotions including anger, sadness, and grief. Every time I see this scenario repeated, I grieve: for the husband and wife involved; for the family that will be scarred in so many ways; because of the incredible reproach it brings to Christ; and the distortion it gives concerning God’s heart and ways. I am praying for Todd and his family.

I was asked numerous times to write my position on Lakeland while it was happening, but always felt checked by the Lord—the waters were too muddy and emotions too high. I now feel strongly that the Lord wants me to do so. It will be arguably one of the greatest risks of my ministry to date, but one I feel must be taken. Fathers, when given the voice to do so, bear the responsibility of giving correction and wisdom. I hope mine qualifies for the latter. I assure you I have spent many hours praying and thinking through the situation.

The risks are broad: with some of my dearest friends and co-laborers, I risk harming those relationships; with many in the charismatic body of Christ, I risk appearing to be an arrogant, “self-appointed” spokesperson for them; to the “I told you so” crowd, I risk the accusation of “spinning” the situation. (As far as the heresy hunters and revival police—not those who raised legitimate questions about Lakeland, but the attack dogs who make their living and build their ministries criticizing everyone else—I lost respect for them long ago and couldn’t care less what they think.) My purpose and sincere prayer in writing this statement, however, is three-fold: to see healing begin for the body of Christ; to initiate a process that can remove the reproach brought to Christ and the Church; and to do these things while preserving and honoring my current relationships. I pray that these desires, along with my heart, come through loudly. And I hope I’m writing this with true humility—who among us clearly sees all hidden in our own hearts?

Let me also preface this statement by saying that what needs to be said cannot be done quickly or carelessly. I do not want my heart to be missed and am not willing to run that risk for the sake of brevity, so please bear with the length. (Incidentally, I think it will be obvious no one involved in the Lakeland situation has asked me to write this; and for the sake of integrity on my part, none have been consulted concerning what I’m stating.)

Mistakes at Lakeland

Did leaders handling the Lakeland situation make mistakes? Yes—huge mistakes. Beyond the obvious fruit of salvations and healings, can good come from Lakeland, as some have suggested, even with the recent revelations concerning Todd Bentley? Yes, but only if there is complete honesty and transparency, the removal of all attempts at self-preservation, and absolute humility from all sides.

Did I endorse the Lakeland meetings? No, I did not, nor did I condemn them. I acknowledged that healings were occurring and some were being saved, which I still believe and rejoice over. I realized and stated that the thousands of people attending were hungry and sincere, as were those involved in leading the meetings. The worship was regularly good. But looking past some of the immediate and positive results, I, like many, also looked ahead to the possible fruit from questionable doctrine and experiences, exaggeration and hype, youthful pride, character issues and the frightening potential of a 32 year “young” man leading a movement that could shape the future of the Church. These things were frightening, very frightening, to others and me.

When something has the potential of setting precedent, birthing a movement and being reproduced as a prototype, we are no longer simply endorsing good brothers, good intentions and miracles. Doctrine and foundations will be built on these events. Teachings and paradigms for future ministries will be formed—in short, the next generation of the church and the move of God in the earth could be greatly impacted. This is why I stopped short of endorsing everything at Lakeland. Just as importantly, I could not ignore the “check”, the uneasiness, the sickening feeling deep in my spirit telling me something else was wrong—terribly wrong—in this situation. Like other leaders I tried to push past my uneasiness with the showmanship, the “bams,” the head butts and kneeing, along with certain experiences and doctrines, all in order to embrace the good. Like many of my friends I tried to be—and believe I was—gracious, accepting, ready to think “out of the box”, etc. But try as I may, the uneasiness in my spirit just wouldn’t leave.

Did I voice my concerns to the appropriate people? Yes, including stating my concerns for Todd’s marriage to the Lakeland Outpouring Apostolic Team. Did they listen? Some did, some didn’t. But I want to state emphatically, this is not an “I told you so” statement. In fact, much of what I want to address goes back several years into our charismatic Christian history. And I assure you that concerning our present weaknesses in the charismatic church, there is plenty of blame to go around. Personally, I’ve been right at times with my discernment and decisions, wrong at others. It would be worse than hypocritical for me to point the finger of accusation—I have no stones of judgment to throw. Nonetheless, mistakes were made and must be acknowledged and learned from in order for us to heal, grow and move forward.

Some of my closest friends endorsed and participated in the Lakeland meetings. For them I have both criticism—all of us lose credibility at this point if we’re not completely honest—and affirmation. Should they have been more discerning and have listened to the warnings they received? Obviously. Should those who “aligned” Todd with spiritual fathers (which was a good thing and positioned him to receive help if he chooses to accept it) have realized to do so publicly was a mistake and could be interpreted by those watching in no other way than as a complete endorsement? Yes, they should have, especially when the event became a commissioning ceremony, complete with decrees and prophecies of going to higher levels, predictions of Todd’s increasing world-wide influence and leading a world-wide revival, emphatic and prolific endorsements of his character, etc.

How could those watching believe the evening was anything but an aligning, endorsing and commissioning ceremony? It was. It really doesn’t matter who laid their hands on Todd—all share responsibility. This was unwise at best, naïve at least and at its worst, foolish. And should the leaders involved have realized that those of us connected to them relationally, ministerially, and as movements—some even in alignment with them apostolically and as sons and daughters—would feel minimalized, if not betrayed, by the fact that they were in essence taking us onto the stage with them? Yes. These feelings were inevitable, especially when we had such uneasiness and asked them not to. Should there be an acknowledgment of these mistakes to the body of Christ for the sake of accountability and in order to rebuild trust? I believe so, and remain hopeful this will happen.

With such strong statements of disagreement, what is the affirmation toward my friends who led, participated in or endorsed this ceremony (and the meetings in general)? Simply stated, I know their hearts. It is not a contradiction of my criticisms toward some of their actions to, at the same time, defend and endorse their hearts and character. It is completely appropriate—when true—to defend a person’s heart and integrity while disagreeing with their actions. I think the blunder of that night was huge and very damaging to the body of Christ, but I also realize that in their hearts, those involved honestly felt they were doing the right things.

Again, while not defending the action taken, I would defend the character and integrity of Peter and Doris Wagner as vigorously as anyone I know, and do so with absolute confidence. There are no two people, and I mean that literally, who embody the qualities of humility, integrity, holiness (no compromise!), sacrifice, unselfish kingdom-thinking, the tireless giving of themselves to Christ’s cause and the body of Christ—and do I need to add risk-taking?—as much as Peter and Doris Wagner. It remains my great honor to be associated with them and call them a spiritual father and mother. And again, while not minimizing or “sweeping under the rug” any wrong decisions, I remain steadfast in my belief that similar affirmations could be made of others involved—either directly or indirectly—in the ceremony. And some of them still see their endorsing of Lakeland as an endorsement of revival generally, not of Todd personally.

The Bigger Picture

It may come as a surprise, however, that my real purpose in writing this is not to only state the above, as important as I believe saying it is. My primary purpose, and I believe my assignment from the Lord, is to identificationally repent on behalf of the leadership of the charismatic body of Christ (see Nehemiah 1:4-7; Daniel 9:1-19). In doing so, I do not have a pompous, “no one else will, so I’ll do it” attitude, nor am I arrogant enough to think I have become the spokesperson for the charismatic church. But in the same way that I can identify with the racism of white predecessors and repent to blacks, Native Americans and other races, I can represent the leadership of the charismatic body of Christ and identificationally repent for our sins and weaknesses. I encourage leaders who find my statements true and appropriate to join me. Beyond the simple fact of it being appropriate, I firmly believe it is the only way to begin the process of rebuilding trust with those asked to follow us and to remove the cynicism of the world we ask to listen to us. As you know, regaining credibility is much more difficult than attaining credibility.

Concerning what I’m about to say, I don’t believe I have a critical spirit, nor do I want to diminish the sacrifices, faithfulness, and hard work done by so many in ministry. The fact remains, however, that we have failed the Lord and His people in many ways—not just with Lakeland but in countless other situations—and must repent if we are to be trusted in the future. And as you also know, no repentance is effective if watered down and couched in excuses, therefore, I intend to be brutally honest:

1) We, the leaders of the charismatic community, have operated in an extremely low level of discernment. Frankly, we often don’t even try to discern. We assume a person’s credibility based on gifts, charisma, the size of their ministry or church, whether they can prophesy or work a miracle, etc. (Miracles and signs are intended to validate God and His message, not the messenger; sometimes they validate the assignment of an individual, but never the person’s character, lifestyle or spiritual maturity.) We leaders in the Church have become no different than the world around us in our standards for measuring success and greatness. This has contributed to the body of Christ giving millions of dollars to undeserving individuals; it has allowed people living in sin to become influential leaders—even to lead movement, allowing them influence all the way to the White House. Through our lack of discernment we built their stages and gave them their platforms. We have been gullible beyond words—gullible leaders producing gullible sheep.

When a spiritual leader we’re connected with violates trust, is exposed for immorality or falls below other accepted standards of behavior, it does not exonerate us simply to say we don’t condone such behavior. Those we lead trust us to let them know whom to trust. We have failed them miserably in this regard.

For this lack of discernment, and for employing and passing on inappropriate standards of judgment, I repent to the Lord and ask forgiveness of the body of Christ.

2) We, the leaders of the charismatic church, spin our involvement and fail to acknowledge our responsibility when other leaders fall—all of which stems from our self-preservation and pride. Enough of the spin—we’re no different than Washington, DC. Every time another embarrassing and disgraceful situation is exposed, the dancing begins. It seems that no one bears any real responsibility except the man or woman who actually commits sin. Incredibly, we even blame “revival” itself—the pressures, attacks, weariness, the “revival is messy” argument, etc., saying it is responsible for the failures. This is disgusting. Those of us on boards of fallen leaders, those who helped give them a voice, put them on TV, published and endorsed their books (yes, I have), etc., are not exonerated simply by saying we don’t condone the wrong behavior or that we didn’t know. We’re supposed to know.

I don’t believe anyone is expecting perfection from us—I know I’m not. We’re far too human for that. But we are expected to have enough humility to look the world and those who follow us in the eye when we miss it and say, “we were wrong and we are sorry.”

Our careless accountability has caused the body of Christ to be spiritually raped and abused. It has produced disillusionment and brought immeasurable reproach to our God and cynicism to His message. Concerning Lakeland, what was called the “greatest revival since Azusa Street” has become possibly one of the greatest reproaches. We, the leaders of the charismatic church, are responsible.

For not accepting and acknowledging our responsibility, for caring more about our own reputation than Christ’s, I repent to God and ask forgiveness of the body of Christ.

3) Our procedures and standards of accountability are incredibly inadequate. We have provided camaraderie, not biblical accountability. For those on Todd Bentley’s board who had previous knowledge of his marriage problems and said nothing, it was more than a mistake—it was reckless, foolish, and irresponsible. For those on the stage the night of his aligning and commissioning who knew and said nothing—ditto. For those there who didn’t know, my question is, “why didn’t you?” You were trusted to know. That is one of the purposes of public commissioning and the purpose behind the concept of endorsement. I’m not trying to point the finger; I’m endeavoring to get us to be honest about our failures—we have serious credibility issues. Have I ever laid hands on, commissioned or endorsed anyone without adequately checking them out? Yes, but you better believe I’ll be more careful next time!

And we must not single out Lakeland. We’re all guilty.

What about the leader in my city who ran with some of the leading

spiritual fathers in our nation—sincere and good men, I might add, and not all “charismatic” leaders—who sang his praises and helped build his stage—all while he was doing drugs and having sex with other men? But we shouldn’t blame only the high profile cases—what about those of us who unknowingly have had adulterers on our staffs or appointed elders that turned out to have compromise in their life? Sounding familiar yet?

This is so epidemic that every member of the body of Christ stands guilty—what pastor or leader did you follow that turned out to have sin issues? What ministry did you support that was unworthy? There is plenty of blame to go around. The big question becomes not “who do we blame” but “how do we fix this mess?”

Leaders can live in sin—adultery, homosexuality, financial wrongdoing, drugs, etc.—for years without it being realized. They can offer completely unacceptable lifestyles for the body of Christ to follow and still keep their TV programs and lavish lifestyles. In the name of grace, compassion and forgiveness we have lowered the standard so much that often there isn’t one. We have bought into the lie that true discipline is “shooting our wounded.” We have made a mockery of biblical restoration, making “ministry”—not healthy individuals, marriages and families—its ultimate goal. The fact is, integrity matters. No, we don’t need legalistic, pharisaical standards, but we must have standards.

For this lack of biblical accountability, I repent to God and I ask forgiveness of the body of Christ.

4) We, the leaders of the charismatic church, have built on hype, sensation, innovation, programs, personality and charisma. This has produced: shallowness; false movements; novice leaders—gifted but immature and untested; a deficient understanding of God’s word; the building of man-centered rather than kingdom-centered churches and ministries; competition rather than cooperation; humanistic, self-centered Christians who don’t understand sacrifice and commitment; Christians without discernment; superstar leaders; a perverted and powerless gospel; prayerless and anemic Christians; a replacement of the fear of the Lord with the fear of man; and a young generation that is cynical of it all. We are responsible, not the devil; he takes what we give him.

For this compromise in the way we build, for giving the

Church watered down wine, commercial Christianity, a flashy but

weak Church and hype disguised as anointing, I repent to God

and ask forgiveness of the body of Christ.

Galatians 6:1-5 is an appropriate reference with which to end this statement: “Brethren, even if a man caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one shall bear his own load.” NAS

My passionate prayer is that God honors this repentance—I believe He led me to do it and therefore, will—and uses it to begin a process of cleansing and healing for all of us. In order for the coming great awakening to bear maximum fruit we must have both, as well as a course correction that sets us on a path of wisdom leading to life. There is no doubt that past moves of God have been aborted, ended prematurely and contained error or heresy that have wounded, if not destroyed, many. The healing revival of the 40’s and 50’s, the charismatic movement, discipleship movement and Jesus movement are all examples. My heart is to help shape a movement, the fruit of which will last for decades—better yet, forever. And I have great expectations for us—I am not a cynic.

My passionate prayer is also that Todd Bentley’s marriage survives and thrives…that he turns his heart fully toward Christ and toward those with whom he is aligned, and allows them, as God leads, to put him on a path of complete restoration. I thank God for those who were touched by the Holy Spirit at Lakeland and while watching it on God TV and the web.

May we all move forward into all God has planned for us in this awesome season of endless possibility.

With great hope—Dutch Sheets

488 own words remaining dutch sheets

it would appear the discerning blogosphere may have something like a vindication but we shall all need to wait on the LORD and unfolding events for more news.

Sonra bir başkası konuşup dedi ki: "Ben de senin kadar genç olduğum zamanlar böyle hayaller kurardım, ama artık her şeyi ölçüp tartabiliyorum ve bütün umutlarımın boş olduklarını anladım."

Ve üçüncü tane konuştu: "Bize böyle güzel gelecek vaad eden hiç bir işaret göremiyorum."

Ve bir dördüncüsü: "Fakat böyle güzel bir gelecek yoksa hayatımız ne kötü olur!"

Bir beşincisi: "Ne olduğumuzu bile bilmezken niçin ne olacağız diye çekişiyorsunuz?"

Ve yedincisi dedi ki: "Her şeyin ne olacağını biliyorum ama bunu sözcüklere dökemiyorum."

Sonra sekizinci konuştu ve dokuzuncusu ve sonra daha bir çokları, sonra hepsi birden konuşmaya başladılar ve bir sürü ses arasında hiç bir şey anlayamaz hale geldim.

Ve tam o gün çekirdekleri az ve hemen hemen sessiz olan bir ayvanın içine taşındım.

Halil Cibran

Today I attended a great class on Internet marketing.  I confirmed my Internet marketing is the best and I am the Number 1 Expert on Internet marketing in Highlands County - Avon Park, Sebring, and Lake Placid.

 I also learned some new statistics and information from NAR (National Association of Realtors) that I did not know.  The most important item I learned that if your Realtor is not leading the field in Internet marketing, they are not doing the best job of marketing your property.  This decreases the chances of a quick sale of your home.  NAR reports the following statistics for 2007.

1.  84% of all home buyers start their home search on the internet.  Generally, by the time a buyer contacts a Realtor.  The buyer has already narrowed their choice down to the homes they want to look at.  If your Realtor does not have latest and best Internet marketing, 84 buyers out of 100 may have already eliminated your home before the buyer even meets the Realtor in person!

2.  A buyer is 900% or 9 times more likely to find their new home on the internet than in a newspaper advertisement.
 
3.  A buyer is 3400% or 34 times more likely to purchase a home from Internet advertising instead of a real estate magazine.

I was happy to find out I am investing my advertising dollars wisely and that I am leading the way in Internet Marketing.  When you are ready to sell your home, which type of a Realtor do you want?  Are you are looking for a Realtor that specializes in Internet marketing that gets results?  If so, give me a call today.  I will be happy to discuss my marketing plan for your home.  Yes, call me even in Las Vegas….if I do not answer, leave a message and I will call you back.  Stay tuned for more happenings in Vegas.

As we approach September (can you believe it, only 3 months away from the holiday season), we would like to offer a Special Discount to “new” agents that inquire about realtor service & support.  Sign-up now until September 15^th, to take advantage of our special rates!  Virtual real estate Business Specialties provides multiple services and our support team is available 7 days a week, 24-hours a day.  Our team members provide you with listing services, lead management & database management support including drip marketing, custom web design, just listed & just sold marketing flyers/postcards/brochures, newsletters, and oodles more!  We welcome you to tour our website for a complete list of services and support.

Phase II, Virtual real estate Business Specialties is excited to launch our new & improved call center.  Under construction, the online appointment desk will be open to agents who wish to use the system for home showings, special instructions and home feedback requests.  Stay tuned for project completion as we are extremely excited for the launch of this new service!

In the meantime, remember to take advantage of the September Discount!  Visit our website at www.vrebs.net, Email, or call directly at (419) 305-8444.  We welcome the opportunity to talk with you and come onboard to the world of Virtual Outsourcing.

Releasing the full findings from its 2008 NAR Profile of International Home Buying Activity, it found that business from overseas buyers kept agents in the country busy throughout last year, purchasing in every US state and territory, however at a somewhat smaller rate than last year.

Of the 4,000 US-based agents surveyed between May 2007 – May 2008, some 26% served international clients in the past year and nearly half of those clients ended up purchasing a home. The primary reasons some clients did not eventually buy a house were home price concerns, immigration laws, and property taxes. “If visa regulations that favor longer stays for overseas buyers such as retirees from abroad were in place, these sales levels would be even higher,” said Tony Macaluso, 2008 chair of NAR’s international business group.

Realtors who have sold homes to international clients reported that their transactions with these clients accounted for about 16% of their entire business, down from 18% in 2007’s survey. For about 8% of agents who worked with foreign buyers, more than half of their transactions were from international sales.
Although it is still seen as a healthy number of international buyers entering the market to supplement the declining domestic sector, the faltering markets in the UK and Europe have had an impact on the amount buying in the US this year – predicted to be far higher then current figures would suggest.

The NAR report suggested that foreign exchange rates have helped keep US homes more affordable for international buyers. The Euro, for example, has strengthened 24% versus the US dollar over the past two years.

“Many international buyers recognize that real estate is an excellent investment and are drawn today by abundant inventory, low interest rates and a softer dollar. These conditions allow them to own their own a piece of the American dream,” said NAR President Richard Gaylord.

Foreign buying trends in USA
May 2007 – May 2008: Source NAR
- 150,000 – 190,000 properties sold to international buyers
- Florida, California Texas. Arizona, New York, Washington, Nevada – most popular locations
- 14% of foreign bought property cost over $750,000
- Average foreign purchase cost $297,000
- 40% of buyers paid in cash
- Canada, UK, Mexico, China, India and Germany most active buyer markets
- Percentage of Canadian buyers doubled from last year, from 11% to 23.5% - now the biggest foreign buyer market in the US.
Source: OPP

The Ravenous:  The people who respond in this manner are seeking after the experience.  They are seeking to fill their lusts for more power, more experience.  Many of these people view themselves as seeking more so they can serve God better, but ultimately it comes down to seeking to fill the lust of flesh, lust of eyes, and pride of life.  They rally to the cries of “Come get some” and “More, more, more.”

The Desperate:  These are the people who have legitimate hurts and pain either physically or emotionally and find themselves drawn to somewhere where they are told someone can help them.  They are desperate to hear, see, or get a touch from God.  Some of these people may feel God has abandoned them in whatever form of suffering they endure.  These people are focused on what they lack and look to this special place where one of special anointing may give them an answer or touch that fills the lack.

The Wounded Servant: These are people wounded and injured by others related to the deception but stay where they are and reach out to others in surrender to God.  These people are isolated, wounded, and have little support. They would have difficulty being aware of any deceptive teaching they may latch onto in their service to God.  

The Naïve: These are the people who just simply take people at their word. If someone says something is of God and there are experiences to support the claim, they accept what is happening at face value. They follow where they are lead. They do not test, examine, or question. 

The Special: These are the people who report having a special relationship with God. They rely on mystical or esoteric experiences. They have their understanding and anyone bringing any questions to the contrary obviously just don’t “get it.” 

The Defensive: These are people that have both accepted events and happenings without question but also actively seek to defend. These are people who consistently utter threats such as "touch not God's annointed" and "don't blaspheme the Holy Spirit." They find ways to spin every evidence in order to engage in what they consider proper defense. They see any confrontation or criticism as an attack to be defended.

The  Spinners: Similar to defenders. Basically they engage in rhetoric and find ways to spin the meaning of what is said and find ways to make excuses for wrong teaching or behaviors.  Sometimes the spinners may be sincere in their understanding, but often may just be practicing rhetoric.

The Connected: These are people who claim that based on personal knowledge of people involved and their own personal experiences with similar phenomena that they know God had to be working regardless of any evidence to the contrary. 

The Seekers: These are people simply seeking God and the truth in the instance. God can and will meet them because those that seek God will find him.  A difficulty exists though in that those that seek and find God in the midst of deception can attribute the deception for the reason they met God. They also may view criticism of the circumstances where they found God as seeking to invalidate what they experienced.

The Pushers:  These are people who have a theological investment in what they see happening. These are similar people to the The Connected.  These people value the theology and doctrine promoting the deception and have difficulty accepting any opposing view and fill look for ways to dismiss any presented evidence.

The Users: These are people behind the scenes, folks that stand to gain from the event.  What they care about is how the event effects them and how they can use it to improve their own standing and/or agenda.

The Ignorant: The are the people that just simply are unaware of what is happening. It doesn't cross their sphere or circle of life and don't know what is going on. 

The Fence Sitters:  These are people who simply don't know one way or another whether there is truth. They see good and bad and cannot be sure one way or another. They here both sides and feel caught in the middle.

The Passive:  These are people who know what is going on, know of possible dangers, but express belief that if it is not of God it will die off. These people also may have perspective that what is going on isn't impacting their life directly so it isn't really important. 

The Betrayed: These are people who used to believe what is being pushed by the deception, recognize it and stand strongly against it. Often they will stand against it in their own strength.  This category of response is similar to how you see ex-smokers interact around smokers.

The Obsessed: These are people who don't accept what is going on but cannot stop reading information on what is happening. May even watch multiple hours of what is happened all to spot ever last bit of error.  Documenting and reading and viewing the event and deception becomes their sole focus.

The Paranoid: These are people who initially recognize deception and warn others but they begin seeing deception everywhere.  Rather then doing in actual discerning of what is true and what God is doing in people's lives, they see deception even where there is no deception.

The Sidelined: These would be the people who recognized and discerned truth, warned people they cared about and left it at that. They didn't speak out because of a lack of trust in their own discernment or listening to other voices telling them they could be wrong.  They protected their own interests but did nothing to expand their concerns to the church as a whole, including intercessory prayer.  

The Fighters:  These are people who are angry. They see the church being hurt and sheep being led to slaughter. They see it as their duty to fight for the sheep.  Often times they will use rhetoric, manipulation, satire, and other weapons of the flesh in the name of fighting for the truth.

The Self-Righteous: These are people who think they are better then others. Think the understand what is going on completely and will mock others for not understanding, even if their perspective is extreme.  These people think they are better then anyone else, and other would be if that just understood and "got it."

The Concerned: These are people who see or discern the deceptions and express concern. They may actively engage others warning them of the errors but really are concerned about the people involved and work to reach out to any that may listen. They also spend time in prayer but their main response is to reach out to others, sometimes with direct confrontation. These people are truth tellers.

The Intercessors: These are people led to pray for the truth, for the sheep being led to slaughter, for God to work His will in the midst.  They seek to do and follow as God leads but primarily are engaged in prayer.

The Faithful: Those that hear the deception, here the truth don't favor. They avoid confronting or fighting  in the flesh and walk in step with God's leading.  They surrender to God in the matter and follow as God leads.

Now unfortunately, we all probably have reactions that are not helpful.  We all would serve best by being faithful and following as God directs, yet we can easily falter and land in other responses that are more self-directed. There of course can be mutliple categories of response not mentioned in this article.  We each can actually respond in a multitude of categories or shift from one area of response to another.  One minute being faithful, the next being a fighter, the next being self-righteous.  The step to being truly faithful is surrender to the King of Kings. We need to constantly examine ourselves and find the ways we are being self-directed and reacting out of ourselves in the name of the Kingdom of God.

Because I'm not an expert in MLS issues, some of the topics they bring up are beyond my ken. However, some of the questions and opinions are, to say the least, interesting.

Let us start with Greg's take:

Here is the naked essence of Saul Klein’s so-called “MLS 5.0″ proposal:

The MLS of the future will bring a marketing service and benefit to the industry by being the single point of entry for listing data and then, based upon the election of the broker, distribute that information to web portals, newspapers, even radio and television, handheld devices and applications.

The emphasis was in the original, which is a nice illustration of how much Klein trusts you not to see what he’s up to.

What does that sentence actually say?

It says that Klein’s idealized “MLS of the Future” will be a national monopoly system controlled by real estate brokers and the NAR — to the immediate and permanent detriment of independent MLS systems and vendors, Web 2.0 listings aggregators and — most especially — individual real estate agents.

And Danilo's take:

Call it what you will…MLS 5.0, Gateway, TREC, the greatest thing since sliced bread…I believe that this could potentially be the single worse thing to ever happen to the real estate industry (except for the very few elite at the top of the food chain and those that get into bed with them). If you’re an agent or small to medium-sized broker like most of us, then you should be seriously worried about your livelihood and future should this project materialize.

My take/question: What's the problem exactly? Is it NAR's involvement in this "MLS of the Future", and the dislike that folks (and for the record, as a Hayekian Friedman acolyte, I'm very sympathetic to Greg's principled position) have for NAR?

For one thing, the idea of a single point of entry did not immediately make me reach for my torches and pitchfork. Maybe it's because that was a holy grail for me personally, and for my old company, Coldwell Banker Commercial, when I was responsible for dealing with that sort of thing.

Stripped to what it actually does, a single point of entry simply means that some poor human being doesn't have the enter the exact same listing data multiple times. At RE Bar Camp in San Francisco, I had a very enlightening conversation with Stacey Harmon, a real estate agent and blogger, who told me that she enters her listing into something like ten different places: her local MLS, her office database, Trulia, Zillow, Google Base, her company website, etc. etc. That's an enormous waste of time. Even if we posit that entering a listing only takes 5 minutes, that's 50 minutes -- nearly an hour -- of Stacey's day taken up with the repetitive chore of data entry.

At CBC, I know when we researched the topic, we were finding that some of our offices had employed multiple "marketing specialists" whose job was just to enter listings into all of the different commercial databases and websites. That means each office was spending tens of thousands of dollars just to do data entry.

Furthermore, human error always creeps in when you do data entry by hand. Maybe it's a typo. Maybe a misplaced decimal point -- that's always a fun one when price goes from $500,000 to $50,000.  Or better yet (because you'll catch mistakes like that when the phone starts ringing off the hook), when your rent/sq. ft. goes from $1.50 per month (reasonable in that part of California) to $15.00 per month -- and you wonder why you're getting ZERO leads.  That last example actually happened to a CBC affiliate; they didn't catch the mistake for three months.  The client, understandably, thought his broker was singularly ineffective at marketing his property and pulled the assignment.

Anyway you slice it, reducing the number of times that a person has to enter data by hand is almost always a good thing.

How you go from that simple time-saving device to global mind control by NAR is a bit beyond me.  This is especially the case when NAR doesn't get mentioned much (if at all) in the original document.  Sure, Saul goes on and on about REALTORS® which strongly implies the National Association of REALTORS®, but one could conceivably think he meant "real estate brokers and agents".  Even if Saul himself meant REALTORS® and explicitly wants NAR control over everything, the concept itself isn't tied to NAR in any substantive way, and should be evaluated on its own.

But Danilo does make an astute point:

There are about 15 major brokerage firms that comprise the majority of control of the US real estate market because they have the majority of the agents and transactions in the US. To give you an example, Keller Williams International which has 70,000 agents only has 4 percent market share. It’s really the top 3 or so brokerage firms in the US control the majority of the market and agent count.

Within these 15 major brokerage firms, there are about 50 top brokers that have the most say (aka control and power). In essence, it’s these 50 brokers that control the NAR and the RE industry in general. Since NAR will have control of the “MLS 5.0,” it will in fact be these top 50 brokers that have control of it.

Is NAR concerned about money or about control? Control. And controlling the flow of data is just as important as controlling the data itself. The MLS 5.0 gives the NAR not only control of the data itself, but the flow of that data. This is exactly what the big brokers want because it helps ensure their survival.

Then a little later on, he writes:

• Once agents see that they’ll make 3 times the money by switching to the larger brokerage firm(s), they will. That will cause the small, up and coming (and typically revolutionary) brokerage firms and brokers to go out of business almost overnight.
• This is a horrible proposition for the RE industry because it’s typically the new, forward thinking people and companies that lead the way into the future and revolutionize industries. Without them two things will most likely happen - the larger firms will have all the power and say and there will be much less innovation within the industry.

Unfortunately, I believe Danilo is simply wrong here in both a technical sense and a substantive sense.

Perhaps he's 100% correct that once agents see that they'll make three times the money by leaving the small, up-and-coming brokerages, those small brokerages are doomed.  But then, those can hardly be described as companies that will revolutionize industries.

Short of government action -- which is really where so many of the problems facing real estate industry have their roots, starting with licensing schemes -- if a company is truly revolutionary, it will crush the old dinosaurs.  That is the nature of capitalism and change: creative destruction.  It's simple really.  Either you are meeting customer demand, or you are not.  Either you are better at serving the needs of customers, or you are not.  if you are better, then customer will flock to you, and you will not be a small, up-and-coming company for long.

Action by competitors doesn't stop this natural evolution -- either they have to offer something to customers that is at least as compelling as your offering, or they have to undercut your price, or do something to compete.  If your company is truly revolutionary, then you should have no trouble beating your competition into paste.

I have worked with entrepreneurs for at least half of my career.  I still know a bunch of them.  Do you know what they think about Big Competitors for the most part?  They laugh at them; they hunger for the chance to compete with the big boys, who they all think are fattened cattle ready for slaughter.  Entrepreneurs do not fear big companies, even the Top 15 major brokerages.  Indeed, they feel slightly sorry for their future victims, because they feel that their secret-sauce is so overwhelming an advantage that they can't help but beat the living tar out of these big, slow dinosaurs who have no clue of the coming disaster and couldn't move out of the way even if they did.

That's the technical sense in which Danilo is wrong: if a company can be driven out of business by larger competitors, it is by definition not revolutionary.

The substantive sense is that the business of real estate brokerage is not providing data, but providing real estate services.  Whether you have a million independent MLSes or one giant national MLS, the customer is not coming to you for data.  The customer is coming to you for services, for advice, for help with an important transaction, for support and assistance.  The data helps you deliver those services, but especially in the aftermath of the DOJ litigation, I think it is error to believe that the only reason why consumers use a realtor is to have access to listings data.

Put differently, let's imagine a world where all buyers and sellers can be perfectly matched by an automated system.  Some super expert-system with fuzzy logic and so forth put out by Google that instantly matches buyer to property with no human intervention.  I need not use a real estate agent at all to buy or sell my house.  I would still want to use an agent if she provided value to me -- whether with her advice, her experience, just her time spent on doing things I'd rather not do (like showing my house), and so on and so forth.

Just because I can buy shoes online doesn't mean I don't like going to Nordstrom's and working with a sales associate.  People like, people want, indeed people need service.  Data is important only insofar as it helps with service, no more and no less.  (Again, in the absence of government interference, I believe this to be true.)

Revolutionary thinking will come, I believe, from focusing on the service delivery -- not on data flow or control over data flow.  Only litigation will come from that path.

As it happens, I have a number of queasy feelings about Saul Klein's MLS 5.0 manifesto.  I'll have to get into those in a later post.  (Let's just say that I thought Saul drank too deeply of the Web 2.0 Kool-Aid.)  But I thought some of the negative reaction to what appeared to me to be a relatively benign, if hyperventilated, suggestion for improving what is surely an asinine state of current affairs.

-rsh

"The foreclosure filings piling up across the country are taking a toll not just on banks and Americans' personal finances, but on their mental state as well...The related stress can lead to an increase in unhealthy behavior, like not eating or sleeping properly, self-medicating with alcohol or drugs, and damaging personal relationships or employment. Some have even taken their own lives.

"One couple facing foreclosure in Prineville, Ore., left their car running to kill themselves and their three dogs, according to a USA Today article. ABC News reported that another woman in Massachusetts fatally shot herself after faxing her mortgage company a note saying that "by the time you foreclose on my house I'll be dead."

"While these may be extreme examples, there is no doubt that the economic downturn is causing mental anguish for Americans across the board, and that those who are in danger of losing their homes are likely to be hit the worst."

"The American Psychological Association provides tips for those coping with such financial anxiety. The group suggests that you don't overreact to a bad situation, but also don't become passive. It's important to identify the key problems, formulate a plan and stay focused on improvement and long-term goals despite short-term problems or pain. "

"If you find yourself moving toward unhealthy behaviors -- smoking, drinking, drugs, gambling or emotional eating -- consider seeking help from a mental-health specialist before it becomes a serious problem or causes damage to your personal relationships or job.  Credit counseling services and financial planners can also help in times of economic stress."

 Please take care of yourselves and others in your community.  Get Involved.