How a Bacterium Is Destroyed

Antibiotics are commonly used to eliminate or treat inflammation caused by bacteria. Some antibiotics kill bacteria by destroying their outer membrane — these are known as bactericidal antibiotics. However, certain bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics, making them harder to treat.

In such cases, special antimicrobial peptides come into play. These are molecules with antibacterial properties. The illustration shows how these peptides form micelles (particles) made from the fatty layer of the peptides, which penetrate the bacterial membrane with the sole purpose of rupturing it and destroying the bacterium.

These peptides target the bacteria’s membrane, creating pores or disrupting its structure, ultimately leading to the bacteria’s death. This is a crucial part of the body’s defense mechanism when antibiotics fail to work.

#discoveries

@scientific

10 THINGS EVERY WOMAN MUST LEARN BEFORE BECOMING A WIFE”


Dear sister,
Marriage is not for girls — it's for women who are ready in mind, spirit, and attitude. You don’t just wish your way into a happy marriage; you prepare for it. If you want to be a blessing in your husband’s life, not a burden, then take these to heart:

1. Learn How to Speak to a Man

A man is not your younger brother, houseboy, or classmate. Learn respectful communication. If you talk down on a man, mock his efforts, or constantly challenge his leadership — don’t expect peace.

Do this: Practice respect now in your words, tone, and timing. If you can’t honor him, don’t marry him.

2. Define Your Life Vision

You were not born just to cook, clean, and bear children. You have a calling! Without a personal sense of purpose, you’ll lose your identity in marriage.

Ask yourself: What are my goals? What’s my assignment on earth? Marriage should complement your purpose, not replace it.

3. Don’t Be Financially Idle

If you’re waiting for a man to carry all your financial responsibilities while you do nothing, you’re not preparing to be a wife — you’re preparing to be a burden.

Start now: Learn a trade, pursue a career, run a business. Be an asset, not a liability.

4. Become a Woman of Prayer

Marriage is not a luxury cruise — it’s a battlefield of destinies. A prayerless woman is a powerless woman.

Strengthen your altar: Build a lifestyle of prayer now. Intercede for your future home, children, and husband even before they arrive.

5. Take Care of Your Health and Appearance

Looking unkempt in your 20s is not cute — it’s careless. Beauty isn’t everything, but looking fresh, neat, and healthy shows that you value yourself.

Practical tip: Eat clean, exercise, rest well, dress well, smell good. A wife should be spiritually deep and physically attractive.

6. Learn the Art of Cooking

Your husband doesn’t expect restaurant-level meals, but cooking well is a basic life skill that helps keep the home joyful and united.

Start experimenting: Learn new recipes, local dishes, and healthy meals. Be creative in the kitchen — it’s a love language.

7. Understand Your Body and $exuality

No, don’t experiment with sin. But ignorance is not purity — it’s a setup for frustration.

Get educated: Read about your anatomy, menstrual cycle, $exual expectations in marriage. Books like Every Woman can guide you. Knowledge will help you confidently meet your husband's needs and enjoy the experience too.

8. Build Emotional Maturity

Can you handle conflict without shouting? Do you know how to manage jealousy, anger, and pressure? Marriage exposes every hidden character flaw.

Work on this: Learn emotional intelligence, forgiveness, and patience. A wise woman builds her home with grace.

9. Break Dependency on External Validation

If you need constant attention, praise, or social media likes to feel good, marriage won’t fix that. Your husband is not your happiness factory.

Start within: Find your confidence in God, grow your self-worth, and enter marriage as a whole person.

10. Understand That Marriage Is Service, Not Just Status

Marriage is not a crown to flaunt — it's a commitment to serve. If you’re focused only on the wedding day and not the lifelong journey, you’re not ready.

Shift your mindset: Learn humility, submission, teamwork, and responsibility. Prepare to give, not just receive.

Final Words:

Marriage is a garden — what you sow into it is what you’ll harvest. Prepare intentionally, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Don’t just wish for a happy home — build yourself to be a pillar in one.

May you enter marriage as a prepared woman, not just a pretty bride.

Kindly share this message with your loved ones

INTROSPECTION

Connecting life to a classroom is essential for learning and growth through every season. Learning involves behaviour change; without change, you haven’t learned the lesson. You can use introspection to examine how the mind works, and through serious conscious participation, you can explore your biases, self-justifications, and reasoning in various situations. Consider how you respond when alone versus in social settings and what values guide your decisions. Which ideas originate from culture? Which comes from a conscious awareness of God in the present moment instead of drifting through life. Capturing every thought in obedience to Christ requires a strategic approach to thinking, which includes establishing boundaries.
How do you think about the things you dislike? What do you try to avoid? Where does your mind wander when you're idle? Noticing these different patterns involves harnessing the power of introspection by examining yourself and looking inward. What is your weakness, and what is your strength? Often, they lie at opposite ends of the spectrum; one counters the other, revealing the range of behaviour created by thought. How do thought and feeling relate? What brings you joy, and what makes you feel less than good? While emotions shouldn't dictate our lives, we should be guided by intention. However, the way we are wired is connected to our emotions.
Observing emotional states, what mental state makes you unresourceful, or when you are the most resourceful, what triggers different responses? This can only be discovered through introspection. Many people are not conscious of themselves. What concepts are you using in your thinking? What questions is the mind asking? What questions are not being asked? Why did you choose to do that over another thing? Why does that person elicit a specific response from you? It is something the mind has perceived. Different people carry different energy, and being able to discern what it is in them creates an attitude of heart.

Connecting how the energy of two people creates a certain ambience, studying this and how it changes. Like water has two components, oxygen and hydrogen, it is similar to the chemical effects of different people. Certain attitudes of the heart may create defensiveness or encourage openness. Why is that? Do you observe what effects that has? What subjects change from person to person? What is the range of ideas? Who sparks inspiration or a willingness to rise? The company you keep is vital; hanging out with people who have no regard for time affects your life. You must create a life such that when you go to bed at night, you can honestly say the day was good. What kind of day would that look like? Is it disciplined without any time wasted? People want to put you in their prison, where all your time is taken up by their values. When we are not living in line with our own values, it creates disorder and does not bring joy. You need to observe this. Because people value different things than you do, this is where clashes can arise
We can observe this in various aspects of life, from work ethic and money to relationships. We all have different perceptions of reality; if one views it solely through a materialistic lens, one won't recognise the spiritual dimension. Since our world is physical, some may believe that this is all there is, while others shape their understanding of reality based on diverse concepts of God — from believing there is no God to viewing God as Jesus Christ, Buddha, the self, or various deities. This belief system influences how people design their lives and shapes their distinct values. A purely materialistic outlook limits individuals to what they can see with the physical eye, leading them to perceive anyone with opposing values as peculiar. Observe how they respond to life; it tends to be centered around carnal desires, lacking any consideration for how the spirit influences our existence. Yet, this is the mindset that keeps them deceived.
On the other hand, you might encounter those who are deeply spiritual; they perceive the material world as secondary, believing that everything relies on a spiritual dimension and that all occurrences are tied to a spiritual connection. This represents one end of the spectrum, while I believe that spiritual and material aspects must be balanced. God created the material world from the spiritual, as everything visible originated from the invisible—trees, sky, planets, and people all had a beginning with God’s creation. Our purpose in life is to live from the spirit and transform it into substance. This is how we can lead a full and happy life, which is how we are all designed to function.

Not from physical things; first, we are designed to live by faith. That’s when you see with your spiritual eyes things that are not yet tangible and work to produce them. Living this way is a superimposing lifestyle. Living from a materialistic paradigm, or a spiritual one, if it is not converted, is dead. We want to make these observations using introspection to see how much is being converted. Love can be converted into a tangible product in everything you do when you function from the spirit and convert it to benefit others. That is living the highest life and making Jesus tangible, for it is from Him we move and have our being, and for His purpose, we were created. By using the power of introspection to study all your motivations—your whys and ways of thinking—you can progress through the classroom of life’s levels.

Title: The Hunt. Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are, or how they got there. They've been chosen for a very specific purpose. Starring: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank

CONSTRUCTION

Many people are sleepwalking through life. They have no awareness of the unconscious decisions they make by default. They go through the motions of what is necessary and what requires the least effort, failing to consciously construct their lives. Life should be lived with the intention that all your activities lead to a result where we practically apply laws by understanding the building blocks that intentionally create life. We could envision the building blocks as the walls of the house of life. If you build your life without conscious intention, your materials will not yield the desired outcome.

One day, we will be tested by fire to see if the house stands. That is why it is crucial to thoughtfully apply the laws that create life. Life has many parts, and all parts need a careful application of principles such as family, purpose, health, and work. When you integrate all these elements into the house and understand the building blocks you are using, you will create the kind of life you envision. When people build a physical house, they pay close attention to the specifications, the quality of the bricks, the colours of the rooms, and the size and placement of every room in the house. The house is designed within a budget, and every detail is carefully considered. Yet, people do not approach life in the same way. They do not intentionally design life, choosing which building blocks to include in the house, the arrangement of each room, the colour schemes, and the values that support the structure, all while ensuring nothing is out of place.

A house stands when it is built on truth, ensuring there are no hazards. That is exactly what life could be compared to when there is order, health, truth, and who do we invite in to dine with us. Belief systems build the structure of the rooms that you spend the most time in, which could be compared to the compartments of life. The inner workings of the house by being connected to God brings illumination to the rooms in the house when it is full with light you can see every detail. Where you need maintenance, the flow of water means there is sanitation, no blockages, and crystal clear water that has been purified, which is the information flow. Where you need to spend more time is the centre of the house in the living room, the heart where God abides, which makes the connection rich. Is there any clutter or rooms that need to be tidied?

When we build life through the thoughtful application of laws, we thoroughly analyse each part of the house. This perspective allows us to see life from the inside out rather than the outside in. As I considered all the rooms in the household, they appeared clean. What quality of food do you consume? This thought necessitates the removal of sugars and fats, which are tied to our carnal nature as they are the easiest to consume. In contrast, nutrient-dense foods require time to prepare and come with different quality carbohydrates, often regarded as daily staples. This is contentment, where you thrive, for man was not meant to live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This is the essence of life, as embracing God's words brings life and abundance into all the rooms of the house.

The windows of the house represent all the ways that connect us to the view outside through our eyes, mouth, and nose—our physical senses that interact with the material world. The mind of the house links ideas to the functionality of every component within it. Reflecting on all these parts aids in logically placing everything, especially when pursuing self-development. Even God compares life to a house when He states that its quality will be tested by fire. This temple belongs to God, which is why it is crucial to keep the rooms of life holy, for He abides there. Living in alignment with His perfect, pleasing, and acceptable will entails walking in the spirit and being led by Him; this is the key to life through faith.

Sanctify the rooms with the washing of the word and commit to communion with God at the centre, and then everything flows from there. No one allows a stranger into the house; access is granted through the door by permission. We give entry, and this is what we agree upon. If we do not agree with foreign information, we do not permit it access. Always, before you embrace any idea, ensure you have consciously investigated it. The content within the house differs from the structure. The content gains access through the door. Consider the rooms of life by the content you wish to include in every area of existence. Exercise patience and self-control to consciously navigate this process and decide on the quality of décor and the placement of everything for the functional purpose of life. Every man’s work will be tested by fire.

Written by Rochelle White

AUTONOMY

Everyone possesses individual autonomy. However, unless we recognise this in ourselves and others, we risk being subjected to or dominating individuals who have the right to govern themselves as made in God's exact image and likeness. Because we carry His image, nothing in all creation should dominate us. While some are given honourable roles like government officials, police, teachers, pastors, leaders, and apostles, this does not mean they rule us or our voices don't matter. While we honour those in leadership, we shouldn't break the law; we listen to our teachers and are guided by our pastors who shepherd our souls. Yet, we maintain our autonomy as we are submitted to our leaders. If we do not heed God's voice above all others, we risk being led astray by the wrong influences.

Everyone has opinions, and even leaders can be drastically wrong, much like pastors who attempt to control those entrusted to them by God. They are not there to dictate what you can or cannot do, and you don’t need their permission to act. We were created, whether Jew or Greek, male or female; we are one in Christ, who is the CEO of our lives. If Christianity hasn't institutionalised you and God has raised you uniquely, it means there’s a reason for that. We were never meant to sit in a church for the rest of our lives. Sometimes, the reason is that we have a different theology. We’ve been exposed to other information, and God has shaped us for His purpose, not to make us conform.

Only one gospel, the gospel of the kingdom, will send people outside the church's four walls. It is not inward-focused, and God has given every person, whether a pastor or a street cleaner, a purpose for existence. This does not make one better than another. Each of us has a different responsibility before God to steward whatever is in our hands. If God has given you something, no one can tell you to lay that down. It’s interesting to see people’s perceptions when they do not know your heart or the purpose behind your actions. I cannot tell Michael Jordan to put down his basketball, tell Celine Dion not to sing, or tell Bill Gates to stop his climate initiatives to resolve a global issue. I have no right to tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t be doing because I am not God over that person.

This can be a problem in Christian circles; it’s as though we have a theology that people should be doing certain things, even when it’s not what God has told them. We may have a different concept of time and how it should be used. The issue arises because people judge from their own perspective. They don’t consider that we have all been shaped differently. Mary's path differed from that of Joseph, John the Baptist, or Paul. God used them for His purpose. A perfect example of this is the contrast between Mary and Martha. Martha went about her work, resentful that Mary wasn’t helping her in the kitchen. Martha had a different heart attitude than Mary, but Mary chose the better thing and wasn’t consumed by mundane thoughts. She did not prioritise trivial matters. She opted for the greater purpose. We can’t know someone else's relationship or heart with God; we can only see external things.

Never put religion in a box where we have expectations that it should be this way; God is far greater than that. We must allow God to be sovereign in people’s lives, and He will show them the way to go. We must be critical thinkers, dissecting what someone is saying and observing where they have made a human judgment or whether it is bad theology. The gospel of the kingdom sends and doesn’t enslave people to traditions. While we need to be connected, as God said, do not forsake the assembling of the brethren; this is not just about meeting on Sundays at a church building; it’s about fellowship. More importantly, if God has given you a gift that may not fit into institutionalised Christianity, we cannot instruct them to lay it down when God hasn’t. We can’t dictate how others should live; we are not them.

We do not know how God communicates differently with each person. If God has given someone a passion for swimming long distances, there may be a greater purpose behind it, and they could even use it as a tool for the kingdom by reaching out to a similar community. They possess an individual sovereignty that a scientist does not have. Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and John Key dominated the political sphere. Albert Einstein, John Locke, and Isaac Newton are remembered for their groundbreaking discoveries. If traditional Christianity had institutionalised them and we had not recognised their autonomy, much wealth would not have benefited this world. They are not singular individuals. We are all created for a purpose: to be a small god over a terrain. One focused on science and philosophy, while the other focused on politics. This is how we were designed to function: to discover that gift within us and use it for God's purpose.

It’s not about self-importance. If the honeybee didn't function as God designed it to, this earth would suffer if people allowed others to dominate their society in the name of religion. There would be parts of the earth that would endure hardship as a result. We were made from material for a reason, and it’s not to be subdued by the ideas of others that stem from a theology that has kept the church inward rather than outward, serving the community. Sometimes, we repeat dogma because these ideas have been ingrained in us, and we accept them as doctrine. For example, using pulpit ministry as their church model, which is merely an equipping centre, aligns with God’s strategy to raise industrial giants across every industry as kingdom bearers of truth who illuminate every domain. God can use anyone. No one is more special than another. All are equal in His eyes. We should recognise that all individuals are created to be kings and priests, from the weakest to the strongest. Always question theology if it doesn't send.

Most people lose sight of their purpose because they allow what happened to them in the morning affect what goes on in the afternoon of their lives

EPISTEMOLOGY- HOW WE KNOW

Epistemology is the study of how we know what we know. It examines all the tricks of the mind and methods of rationalisation. When you start to take an interest in the software of how people think, the ways they perceive the world, and the limited analytical and critical thinking that is applied, you'll begin to see how many are asleep. Many individuals rationalise based on emotions or their perspective. We should consider the law of difference, even among our peers, whenever we meet someone. In the first instance, no two people have had the same life experiences, and we may not share the same sex. We may also belong to different age groups, cultures, religions, or social classes. Without recognising this background information, akin to the mathematical code of an algorithm, we miss out on a lot.

It significantly influences how we perceive the world, shaping our judgments from our unique perspectives, often in opposition to those of our neighbours. We might judge people or circumstances we don’t fully understand, mistakenly believing we are correct despite our ignorance. Even the fact that we grew up at different addresses on a geographical map exposed us to entirely different information, accompanied by our individual social advantages or disadvantages. It doesn’t matter whether you come from a poor family, a wealthy one of German descent, or Pacific Islanders; every small piece of information contributed to the software that shapes your reasoning today.

Even if we take one word, whatever that word is, it does not mean that the same picture evoked in your mind will also be the same image in someone else's mind. Not to mention the information we tend to gravitate towards. There is a significant difference in how we perceive information, let alone how we process it, before we even start labelling the world and forming judgments, all while believing we are 100% right most of the time. This is without considering the fundamental assumptions we've made that haven't been tested or that we've compared information from multiple perspectives while failing to realise that we view things from a unique vantage point that differs from our neighbour's and we think we know. When, in reality, it's just a perspective.

I have been exposed to many perspectives, as most people in my world come from a diverse range of views, much like the distance from the East to the West. This has made me question how we know. I have a deep-seated fascination stemming from an eternal perspective that holds significance for all people, whether they know it in the dimension of thought or not. Everything eternal resides in the spirit, yet while we are on Earth, one can take a trillion different paths guided solely by thought. If this is the case, and the way we reason shapes our destiny, we should consider the importance of understanding how we know what we know. We need to investigate the logic behind someone’s worldview, examine the premises upon which they base their ideas, and determine whether these can be proven to align with the truth, which I believe they can.

There is so much we do not understand about life, and we will never encounter all there is to know within time and space simply because it is so comprehensive. We begin to realise that there are deeper dimensions we haven't even reached in our understanding, yet that information exists even though we do not yet know it. Consider the perspective of a five-year-old compared to a well-versed 80-year-old. She has been through her own school of what she needed to learn, whether she truly learnt the lessons meant to impart wisdom and understanding for the higher dimensions of life. Only God knows that information.

We cannot fully comprehend the software of all that she was meant to learn. Still, the all-seeing and knowing God, who possesses profound understanding far beyond our limited grasp, is the only one able to judge her in righteousness and truth. No one else has that perspective; even those who believed they knew her could not fully appreciate the depth of her existence—only God can. What happens on this earth is that we often become ensnared in our limited perspectives, which can be incredibly misguided. We have varying ideas about how we should live, and at times, we view those who differ from us through a lens that suggests we should all live in the same way. Yet, God created a rich tapestry of colours; the differing geographies, plant and animal life, vegetation, and environmental conditions of nations reveal His diversity. From the intricate design of a snowflake to the dense foliage of the Amazon rainforest, the desert storms in Egypt, the rugged mountains, and the diverse groups of people across generations, God's scope of imagination and intelligence is so vast and profound that we can hardly grasp it until we know as Christ in eternal realms.

What is obtainable in heaven vastly differs from what we see on this earth. Yet this all-knowing God, full of love for His creation, cares about how we perceive information because it shapes our lives and the lives of all beyond the grave. That’s why He says, "Come reason with Me." God is not confined, as we can see from the magnificent diversity of people throughout all generations, each carrying a unique expression of Him. This is why we need to wake up and be aware of the magnificence evident in others and in the way He has fashioned us. However, developing our critical and analytical thinking skills to question everything is what God desires for us all. We are encouraged to explore new dimensions of thought and to uncover the software in our unconscious mind, recognising patterns of hidden assumptions and the concepts we use in our reasoning, comparing them with other views to uncover where our information comes from and how we know it

Did it come from the spirit? Did it come from the realm of sense? Did it come from a life experience? Did it come from traditions? Did it come from god, a man of previous generations? Is the idea serving you and your highest purpose? There are some ideas people entertain, yet they are strangers. Just like you wouldn’t allow strangers access, you should test every idea with the same level of caution until it has been proven that it stands on the truth and can never be unchanged. Everything in the spirit is permanent. Everything in the physical is passing away. Even studying the name of virtues such as empathy, kindness, justice, and love, have you thought of these as an energy that has been identified with certain characteristics that we can know what realm it comes from? This is another way of questioning how we all know the virtue of kindness.

It is an attitude of the heart that comes from the unseen, yet we must make it visible. We cannot touch or taste it unless it manifests through physical products or services. How do we know what kindness and empathy are? How do they differ? This is like observing colour in the physical world; we can distinguish pink from orange or yellow. Will we all point to yellow and recognise it? Might some people have a different opinion and say it is black? You can’t unless you are blind. That is the battle we fight in the spirit, which is that people will recognise and distinguish the eternal, everlasting God. But to see, they need the illumination of truth that brings life.

Written by Rochelle White

*CATHOLIC MEDITATION: 9 July, 2025.*




*WEDNESDAY*

14TH WEEK - ORDINARY TIME, YEAR C

*1st R* : Gen. 41:55-57. 42:5-7, 17-24.
*Resp. Psalm* : Ps. 33.
*R/ - May your merciful love be upon us as we hope in you, O Lord.*
*Gosp.* : Mtt. 10:1-7.

*Message:* *WE HAVE BEEN EMPOWERED AND EQUIPPED FOR A PURPOSEFUL MISSION.* _Jesus empowers his apostles for the mission he assigned them. He equips them with the necessary tools - a tongue to preach and convert people; and spiritual powers to heal and cast out demons. You don't expect good results when you don't empower the people from whom you expect the results. Also, when empowered, we should produce the necessary fruits. We can empower people spiritually, intellectually, morally, financially, with skills or otherwise._

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/ttxWSC_nmBY
*Fr. Blessed Ambang Njume*

Fulfillment comes from discovering your true purpose and potentials

A THRIVING ENVIRONMENT

Eagles do not thrive alongside chickens or sparrows, nor was the horse meant to be confined to small spaces. The lily pad will not grow in the Sahara Desert, nor are birds meant to be caged. A fish cannot flourish unless it is in water. Roses do not grow on concrete. None of these species can reach their full potential unless they are in the environment created for them. Every person has a unique temperament and a specific calling from God. Esther was called in the dispensation of times to save the Jews. She was placed in an environment that would ensure God's will came to pass. John the Baptist wore camel skin and a leather belt, ate locusts and honey, and lived in the wilderness.

We can consider various personalities and the environments in which they thrived. Mother Teresa truly flourished on the streets of Calcutta. Einstein and other great minds thrived in solitude. Billy Graham excelled in front of massive crowds, while John wrote the Book of Revelation on the island of Patmos. As I have demonstrated here with examples from animal, plant, and bird life, the destinies of fish and people depend on the environments required for them to fulfil their calling. Clearly, Billy Graham was quite different from Mother Teresa and Einstein. Yet, while Mother Teresa wouldn’t have thrived in the roles of Billy Graham or Einstein, they too would struggle in traditional nine-to-five jobs, such as selling shoes. Thomas Edison, who persevered through over 1,000 attempts to invent the light bulb, could easily have been sidetracked if everyone else had confined him to their own viewpoints on how life should be lived.

Whether we realise it or not, when you examine the status quo, you start to notice common stereotypes and ideas about how someone should live their life. I wouldn’t thrive in an accountant’s office or doing factory work. Musical artists wouldn’t live their best lives if asked to work as optometrists because it’s not in the fabric of their being. One thing we must remember is to never impose our views on others regarding how they should live. Much of this comes from our differing values of what we consider important; someone else may value mundane things related to this world, such as frivolous socialising over coffee or family. There are various possibilities, but Einstein valued solitude because, without it, he couldn’t do his best thinking. I wonder how many people thought he was unusual in his time. Solitude is one of life’s greatest gifts you can give yourself. Only in solitude, where the thoughts of others do not influence you, can you delve into yourself and engage in deep contemplation. An eagle flies alone. It soars above the storms and has a higher perspective, seeing with greater clarity from a bird’s eye view. The creator did not design the eagle to be with the chickens, who do not share the same perspective. Their view is limited. Ester had been prepared with beauty treatments for a year before she could see the king, and he chose her over others. Beauty treatments are like the preparation for truth, as nothing is more fundamental than the truth. We all value different things, but when you have been seeking the truth for a long time, and you encounter it in its fullness, you will toss aside mundane things and activities that no longer hold the same meaning or relevance as you discover something of far greater worth.

We all seek different things. Some seek marriage, others seek success or self-aggrandizement, some seek careers, and a few seek God. Moreover, we have to consider the concept of God because there are a multitude of perspectives we can hold about Him, but there is only one God. There is one universal narrative that encompasses all humanity. Even if you disagree, He is the creator of our design and should be the focal point of our lives, living in the depths of our hearts and guiding us in the way we should go. He has unique callings for every person, whether a pastor, scientist, or musician. God has created everyone to fit His plan and purpose within the dispensation of the age they inhabit.

If we believe that God is ourselves, that God resides out there in heaven, or that we must do something to appease our God so that He will accept us; or if we think He created us for good works, to live by faith, and to move and have our being in Him, all of these perspectives will shape a different theology. God knitted you together in your mother’s womb before He designed you. He had a blueprint to follow because He wrote a book on your life before you came into existence. Before He designed Moses to lead the children of Israel out of their slavery and captivity, God knew He needed a Moses, so He placed all the necessary inclinations within his DNA to fulfill that assignment. He then brought Moses into the world in the exact geographical location and family needed to provide the temperament and connection between Egypt, which symbolizes the world, and Israel, which symbolizes God’s people. Moses was brought up in the ways of Egypt, but his heart was for the children of Israel.

Notice that the pharaoh’s heart was not motivated by the cry of the children of Israel, nor was it in the DNA of his bones to be the deliverer of that nation. Instead, he fitted another role, and his stubborn heart caused many plagues and destruction to come upon the Egyptians; ultimately, many of them drowned. They were trying to keep the children of Israel in bondage and slavery, which was not what God desired for them. However, the mindset they developed during years of captivity meant that only two made it to the promised land. You must fight to stand in the truth and never doubt that this is the environment of the heart's condition, regardless of the materiality of life. This is why we face opposition wanting to keep us from reaching our promised land. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We can only stand in our authority with the right heart attitude, regardless of what comes to oppose us. You take dominion with each step of faith in the way God is leading you.

DECODING CONTENT: STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGED THINKING

Thinking is the key to all content. Whatever topics or disciplines you are studying must be understood by thinking. Content is organized by thinking, analyzed, explained, illustrated, applied, transformed, evaluated, synthesized, and learned by thinking. Let’s philosophize this by examining the parts of thinking about a business; therefore, you have defined the subject or range of business-related ideas. A business aims to achieve maximum profit and productivity within the least expenditure. The inferences you will be making will be judgments on the type of employers and what motivates them to make judgements about the information we gather on supply/ demand. Judgments about what would make the company more productive.

A business owner would ask how we can create maximum productivity with the least expenditure. The assumption the business owner would have is supply and demand are predictable based on certain variables. That productivity can be improved, and employers are motivated by certain variables. The essential concepts in business are maximum profit, productivity, least expenditure, motivation, productive employers, reasonable salaries, services, supply and demand. The implication and consequences: if I accurately access the information I gather to improve productivity, I can predict how changes we make will affect productivity.

The point of view for a business is to see maximum productivity with the last expenditure as the business goal. I would be using information regarding employer motivation, appropriate pay structure, cost of services/materials needed to achieve purpose, and supply/demand. Now that I have separated the parts of thinking associated with business, I can gain clarity so that the content of reasoning can go through all those methods to transform the thinking and apply it in real life. If that was the purpose of my reasoning, there is a particular aim or goal to thinking. We can use this model for any subject we want to ensure we have thought through it well. When you separate the parts of thinking, you gain ultimate clarity.

You could determine what is the main question this discipline is asking. For instance, sociology is asking how humans behave in particular groups. The purpose is to learn how and why people act the way they do due to living with others in groups. First, you would have to define what group you were analyzing. Is it related to a particular culture, is it political religion or social group? What systems and structures create the dynamic of the group? In America, they only have democrats and republicans representing right and left politics, which differ in policies. Even the president is limited by the policies in place regarding what he can do.

He is the face of the political party, but there are structures that he must work within unless he knows shortcuts. Studying group culture like nationalistic that is defined within the borders of land China is different to Japan economically, socially, and spiritually, but what causes these differences is their outlook on life based on the environment that the citizens of a nation have adopted collectively. It’s interesting how culture emerges when no one actor is making all the decisions. Look at fashion and how it evolves, but if you study this, it is created from what the consumers are sold through shops and what is identified as popular. People think that what they are wearing is original, and they make it a part of their identity. It’s connecting the materiality with the invisible.

Studying how groups behave in relation to consumerism may depend on where they live geographically and what is socially acceptable. However, we cannot define an individual until we examine the systems and structures of a nation. Clothing is cultural as it is someone making a political statement about who they are by the colours and style of dress some announce rebellion. You will see this in punk dress. Maybe they are trying to express their individuality. Yet it came from a culture that targeted their identity. That is how consumerism works. I may not buy traditional Indian dress, and I would feel out of place within the community I belong. We could use the eight dimensions of thinking to get to the deeper parts. We may judge others’ dress if we have come from conservative values or even religious ideas of what we define as socially acceptable. One thing we must observe is different cultural narratives create the standards and define the limits of dress. I have been shocked by what has changed in the last twenty years, even within my own culture. The bikini is just string up the backside.

What is even more interesting is how normalised this culture is. While it does not appeal to my tastes, nor do I see it as decent, I cannot judge the younger generation for something that has been sold to them through magazines, consumer-based marketing and has now been normalised it is widespread throughout my nation. Yet, if we changed a culture group and went to Samoa, that would not be acceptable, and you would be disowned.

Contrasting groups with others, helps us to discover some cultural norms, and the limits of the mind are defined within the context of reasoning. We need to think through different materialities that are created by the dimension of thought, which is also determined by the systems and structure they are within that have espoused such logic. There is a particular rationale to everything that only by going through the process of examining the content and analysing the content to understand it deeper can we accept the differences in culture are not one individual’s fault. They have been influenced by systems and structures within any sphere of life. If you observe Facebook as a system and structure the friends content, you see the kind of advertising targeting you is all based on algorithms that you or I don’t control, but they do control the kind of information available to you that I may not ever see in my lifetime.

Even realizing that we all have different information that creates our worldview by where we are socially positioned within a culture and generation, there are many things that we do not control, such as the banking system or how we purchase items at a shop. This is why we need to think deeply about the content in our reasoning and where the information came from. As you see above, in the business model, that would have been very different information that made up the parts of thinking in the 18th hundreds before the concept of a shop had even been hypothesized therefore, we are affected by the dispensation of our generation. Thinking through the logic of content is defined by other factors influencing it.

Written by Rochelle White