Norton Ghost supported *.gho extension in its previous releases, like Norton Ghost 2002 or in versions, it was probably 8.x. In the later versions, this extension is NOT SUPPORTED. So, if you have *.gho format ghosts of your operating system and want to convert it to latest *.v2i formats to take full advantages of latest releases of Norton Ghost, “Stop wasting time googling how to convert“. You WILL HAVE TO go through these steps.

1. Restore the *.gho file to your computer using older Norton Ghost.
2. Make a new image (v2i format) of the computer using latest Norton Ghost.

There is no way to convert *.gho to *.v2i or any workaround except this. You will have to restore the image.

Happy eCommerce and Happy Holidays!

Wow, it’s been a very long time since I posted, but I just haven’t been motivated to write and I truly believe unless you have something of value to write – don’t!

Since my last post my life has been quite a roller coaster.  I got into the DR space for awhile, wow! what a whirlwind that is.  It was a breakaway from my traditional knowledge of eCommerce, but I embraced it and fell into the excitement of the “And wait there’s more!”  The DR industry is truly a breed unto itself and it is quite amazing.  I will save my comments and insight for another post, as it truly deserves a post all it’s own and boy, do I have a lot to say and many people to thank for the knowledge I gained.

I then joined a truly phenominal company, buySAFE, who I actually partnered with while at HackerSafe.  I am now their Director of Business Development.  As many of you know Verisign recently made a strategic investment in buySAFE….now many of you know that I wasn’t fully bought into buySAFE’s business model, but they made some great changes that really got me excited and made me want to come on board.

Unless I truly believe in a product I am no good…so I had to make sure I had a passion for their service in order to come fully on board.  I can truly say that not only am I passionate about their service but my colleagues are some of the best people I have had the pleasure to know and have in my life.

In October I jumped over a tennis net, well actually hurdled it..trying to relive my track days and show off to my 3 year old son, in doing so I dislocated my knee and tore not one, not two but all four of my ligaments…it has been a month since my surgery and I am now doing outpatient PT..been in house for awhile.  I won’t walk on my own for quite sometime, but an injury like this makes you really look at your life and reevaluate your life and your life’s goals as well as the people you surround yourself with.

Hence my passion and loyalty for the people that work at buySAFE.  They could not have been more supportive.  They have been beside me every step of the way and it makes me just more passionate about buySAFE!  They have truly earned my loyalty and I am proud to be a part of the buySAFE team!  A lesson to employers…if you want loyal employees…it isn’t about the paycheck, or the stock options but it’s about treating them like family and making them feel special…just taking that extra step to let them know that you care about them outside of what they can do for your company will earn you a loyal employee who will give you above 100%.

So, enough about that, but I just had to get it off my chest.  I truly feel blessed.  I want to talk to you about buySAFE now, many of you may know their older model…but how many of you know the great changes they have made to their service that makes such a HUGE impact on the merchants conversion and overall profit?  Well let me tell you….I will keep it short as to not have a pitch fest …but really just exude my passion for the product…LOL, no truly I am passionate about it because I have seen the results that merchants are seeing.

Not only does buySAFE have an impact on first time visitors converting into shoppers, but those that do purchase the bond which we know through extensive testing that 54% of the people choose to buy the bond, but of those that buy the bond, 14% of those become repeat buyers..now how valuable is that?  The merchant doesn’t have to do additional advertising to get the consumer to come back, but use a service that is free and increase their return rate by 14%.

Ok, so for the bullet points for those of you that are asking what is buySAFE
1.  buySAFE is free
2.  buySAFE will pay for the intgegration of buySAFE which is about 20 hours of development
3.  buySAFE increases conversion an average of 15.6% even with McAfee on the site
4.  buySAFE will pick up the cost of McAfee
5.  buySAFE will pick up the cost of EV SSL from Verisign for 2 of your sites
6.  buySAFE will do an AB test on all of your sites
6.  buySAFE will pay you a 20% revshare of the bond
7.  54% of consumers take the bond
8.  Their are no contracts

Bottom line is buySAFE offers merchants a unique way to immediately improve their website’s conversion rate, revenue and profitability – Website Bonding. buySAFE is used by thousands of online merchants, including many ranked in the IR Top 500.

Not only that but it is a PROVEN SOLUTION

Consumers have two primary concerns when shopping online – personal information security and merchant reliability.  While security solutions like Verisign® SSL reassure shoppers that their personal information is safe, buySAFE guarantees shoppers they are shopping with a reliable, trustworthy and stable merchant.  As the Internet’s most effective trust solution, buySAFE has proven to increase conversion by up to 20%.

So as I titled my blog post..as you can see buySAFE truly puts their money where there mouth is.  They know it’s a proven solution, they know it works..that my friendly merchants is why we don’t charge for it and why we are willing to pick up the cost of the integration….any questions?

If you are intrigued as you should be..give me a call or email me.  The bottom line is I am not asking you to make a decision to use buySAFE, but how can you ignore the test results?  What I am asking you to do, because it is in the best interest of you the merchant is TEST it…if it works like I know it will you will be extremely happy and if I am wrong, and all the extensive testing buySAFE has done in the past 6 years is wrong then don’t use it…easy!

For further reference go to www.buysafe.com, www.buysafe.com/demo/home.htm to view a merchant using it go to www.efaucets.com

I hope to hear from you all soon..you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!  May it be the best year ever for you!!!!

Happy Ecommerce,

Cresta

(Methodism and the Mob Part 4)

John Cennick

Howell Harris did not only preach in Wales, of course, but ventured into England as well.

On one occasion he was preaching with fellow Methodist John Cennick in Swindon in Wiltshire, South West England.

Before long there was a strong reaction and considerable gang of trouble makers were out to stop these Evangelists from preaching.

Threatened with Guns
Cennick wrote, ‘The mob fired guns over our heads, holding the muzzles so near to our faces that Howell Harris and myself were both made as black as tinkers with the powder. We were not affrighted, but opened our breasts, telling them we were ready to lay down our lives.…

Splattered with Sewerage
‘Then they got dust out of the highway and covered us all over; and then they played an engine upon us, which they filled out of the stinking ditches.

‘While they played on brother Harris, I preached; and when they turned the engine upon me, he preached. This they continued till they spoiled the engine; and they threw whole buckets of water and mud over us.

‘After we left the town, they dressed up two images, called one Cennick and the other Harris, and then burnt them.

The home and family of the hospitable attacked
The next day they gathered about the home of Mr. Lawrence, who had received us, and broke all of his windows with stones, cut and wounded four of his family, and knocked down one of his daughters.’ (John Cennick, Memorable Passages relating to the Awakening in Wiltshire (unpublished, but referred to in Dallimore, George Whitefield, Wakeman Press, p.142, and Christian History)

Pressing on until grace wins
Yet these heroes continued to proclaim the gospel message, overcoming the resistance and transforming the culture. If ever we needed an encouragement to persevere then here it is, in the heroism of the 18th Century Evangelists.

More next time…

Methodism and the Mob Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
© 2009 Lex Loizides

J. Grant Swank, Jr.

We were so excited. The baby, long awaited, was to be ours in a couple of days.

We had worked in the summer of 1962 in the Student Interracial Ministry organized by Union Theological Seminary in New York. I was a student at Harvard Divinity School when I read their poster tacked to the bulletin board.

It invited seminary students to volunteer for civil rights witness in the South. My wife and I, white, were going to live in High Point, North Carolina, pastoring alongside a black minister at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. It would be for the summer only, and then I would return to my second year in seminary training.

While in High Point, we made so many friends. The time flew by as we thoroughly enjoyed the bonding that ended up to last a lifetime.

After seminary graduation, I wanted desperately to pastor a black congregation. We spied out one in East St. Louis, sure that God would place us there. But church officialdom thought otherwise; so we ended up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

“Not many black people there,” my seminary friends quipped. That was for sure. At that time the city’s population was 365,000; however, blacks did not number in large figures.

Time moved along from pastorate to pastorate. And with that, we grew older. However, when pastoring in Fishkill, New York, we saw on television announcements urging adoptions of black children.

“If we don’t do it now, we’ll be too old,” I said to my wife.

And so we contacted the agency that put us in touch with the two-and-a-half months tiny black baby boy. Actually, he was multiracial in that his mother was white and his father was black. That was all that we knew about his parents.

As we drove up to Poughkeepsie, our hearts were beating out of our chests. We had waited nine months for this. And now it came to pass.

On Route 9, we stopped by a baby-clothing store. And there we bought the blue blanket.

We had told no one in the congregation about our adoption plans. Therefore, when we drove up to our parsonage on that Tuesday morning, a group of women was conducting a Bible study in our living room.

We opened up the front door, walked in, and showed them a blue blanket wrapped around a black baby boy, Jay. I took my first initial and turned it into the word “Jay.”

These white ladies were absolutely thrilled. They too were beside themselves with anticipation.

For the months ahead, my life revolved around Jay. I would help change his diapers. I would help feed him. I would help dress him. And when it was naptime, I placed him ever so carefully on my tummy where he slipped into his own sound sleep.

I could feel his breathing against my heart. He was ours. My soul was full.

I said to myself: He will grow up to do wonderful things for God and his people. After all, both my wife and I had cared for civil rights causes all our adult lives; and now we would have a son who would carry on the same. But it would mean much more since he himself was “one of them.”

I envisioned him to be a tall handsome fellow in his teens who would live out the exemplary life, perhaps even be a student leader in school. He would stand out for black people as one who achieved, worked hard, and was a noble citizen.

But there was a twist in matters in his mid-teens.

He came to prefer gangs instead of family, even joining one of the most notorious—the bloods and crips. Nights were consumed with chasing police cars or vice versa. Drugs. Mayhem. Threatening telephone calls in the middle of the night.

Weeks would go by when we had no idea where he had fled from home. Then all of a sudden, he’d walk into the house as if he had been gone just a few minutes. This went on for years.

Eventually, my wife and I sat in the courtroom to hear the judge sentence him to five years in prison. He did his time.

Then upon release, he broke his probation. That meant nearly two more years in prison.

Yet love never gave up. We drove thousands of miles to three separate prisons in far-flung states. We booked motel rooms and bed-and-breakfasts in order to spend a couple of days seated in the sterile visitors’ rooms. Food machines and beverage machines were our treats as we attempted to make conversation with a son who had changed into a stranger.

However, I always pictured that little black baby in the blue blanket. And I remembered the innocence, that package of joy, envisioning him to grow up before our eyes to follow in our Christian commitment. Yet all that seemed so very far distant—now impossible, actually.

We moved from parsonage to parsonage, assignment to assignment. Somewhere along the way, the blue blanket got waylaid. I wish I could find it today; but I can’t.

However, in my prayers I would lift to God the blue blanket. Then I would offer the Lord a simple petition: “Please, Jesus, bring back to us our son. Bring him back to us for we love him.”

So it is that this evening as I reminisce I thank heaven for miracles. They truly do exist in a lifetime of anguish and hope.

Today Jay is in evangelistic witness for Jesus, surrendered to the same Savior his adoptive parents introduced him to as a child.

He is married with two delightful children. The family is totally Christian. They breathe God. They live God. They reflect God’s redeeming presence.

At times when I lay my head on the pillow at the close of another day, I don’t spare the tears of gratitude.

We have our son back. We lost the blue blanket somewhere along the way; but loving over and over again found for us our son. We’ve come full circle.

Yes, we have our son back.

Last time I blogged, I left you in 1986.  Jump to 1989, and I am on a Greyhound to a large Canadian prairie city to start my first year of a three year program that will give me a Diploma in Theology.  In my Evangelical fervor, and desire to win the world, I decided to “follow Gods leading and pursue ministry…” (Following Gods leading is a Christian buzz phrase for, “Well, I have no idea what to do, so, I’ll do something… anything, and blame it on God.)

From 1989-1992 I slaved away and earned my Diploma, which one very wise Professor constantly reminded us, was not even worth the piece of paper on which it was written outside of the church world.  I only wish someone had drilled that into me before I went to college.  In 1990, I met the woman I felt God was “telling” me to marry. Six months later we were married.  Our marriage could have been described as ‘The Best of Times and The Worst of Times”, or, “War and Peace.”  After fifteen years we decided to pack it in.   I must say, that even though it was rough, it was worth it, if only for the fact that we brought two amazing and beautiful daughters into this world.

After I graduated from college I pastored a small church for two years, and in subsequent years, up until my divorce, was involved with the leadership teams of various churches.  I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed my years in college, and made some amazing friends.

It was over these years, however, that the first seeds of doubt crept in.  I started to question some of the things I was seeing and involved in, as far as my Christian beliefs were concerned.  I started to see the Evangelical sub-culture for what it actually was: a belief system that relied on fear and intimidation to influence and control individuals.  Individual freedom, despite all the talk of “being free in Christ”, was discouraged.  Self identity was given over to the corporate identity of whatever group you belonged to.  Freedom of thought was frowned upon, especially if it contradicted the “Group Think” of the group.  It is important to note that when one is immersed in this environment, one can be blind to these things.  It is much like the well worn analogy: Put a frog in boiling water, and the frog will immediately jump out.  Put a frog in cool water, and slowly increase the temperature, the frog will become so comfortable as to not notice the temperature increase, with the result of eventually being boiled alive.  Adherents to these groups fail to see the emotional damage inflicted by such things. In future postings to my blog, I will examine the ways in which manipulation, Group Think, and other techniques are used to control the lives of individuals.

Stay tuned, and, as always, comments are welcomed!

ever since I became interested in buddhism, I was never able to actually become a buddhist. either because I was ashamed of assuming it or because I was too busy being young and not caring about my cravings, I always knew that I wanted to be a buddhist.

or, to put it more honestly, “i would like to be a buddhist”.

I won’t say I knew that from “the bottom of my soul” or “because I heard the calling of the buddha”. like (almost) all of the really important things in my life, I just clinged to it naturally, out of impulse, only at a certain point noticing that it had happened.

and at a certain point, I noticed that as an expat in amsterdam, one of the things I brought with me to feel at home was a statue of Siddhartha Gautama reaching enlightnment. for me, the most beautiful and modern and expressinve  statue of Siddhartha that I have ever seen. and a reminder of the fact that I admire this man, his ideas and his legacy.

which leads me to the reason why I started this blog.

now on my last countdown to become 30, about to change my life drastically because of several reasons, and having had to be inside very serious, very complicated discussions about religion, I found  myself (again) looking at buddhism as a solution, as a way for me. I found myself actually going insomniac while reading about these themes on wikipedia, considering changing my life habits, considering going vegetarian, considering quiting smoking and liking the idea of doing that.

I guess when you go insomniac over something, it must mean that’s an important thing for you.

so, here’s suburbia monk.

this is going to be my confessionary, my place to put down all my chalenges and changes and failures in the process of converting to buddhism.

it is a conversion. I believe there is no other way of looking at a process like this apart from being a conversion. not a forced one, not one that throws away your culture but one that is indeed like a rebirth, one that turns your previous life into a past and forces you (me, in this case) to become a new person.

it is also a conversion in the beggining of the 21st century. a conversion which is not happening in ancient India or ancient Japan, and is not subject (neither wants to be) to classical vocabularies, habits or intricacies.

this is a voluntary, historically adequate conversion, one that is starting with the awareness of it being difficult. a conversion that happens to a 29 year old guy living amidst technology and the quotidianness of (late) 2009; a conversion that happens in a time where people are no longer convertable. or don’t care about it.

and a conversion which requires dedication devotion, a word that has a negativelly religious meaning; that requires that certain rules be followed, in a time where no one wants rules.

a conversion, happening in the suburbs of life, in the suburbs of what people hold dear nowadays. these are not the suburbs of amsterdam; these are the suburbs of early 21st century mankind, the suburbs of the present.

During the 24 years I spent “in the faith”, I never really questioned whether or not my beliefs, and my faith in God and adherence (to the best of my ability) to the Biblical Scriptures was rational.  By rational, I mean, “believing and acting on the basis of the evidence of one’s senses and/or following the principles of good reason”. To understand where I am going with this, one must understand the circles and church sub-culture I was associated with.  For 21 of the 24 years I spent as a Christian, I was involved in charismatic type churches.  Charismatics believe in the operation of Spiritual Gifts as outlined by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.  Many Christians believe such gifts were supernaturally bestowed upon individuals, and in a sense, bypassed the rational, thinking mind.   In fact it is not uncommon for people to be encouraged to shut off their minds and allow the Holy Spirit to take control.  This type of thinking and belief leads to a very experiential based belief system, where feelings are valued above reason.  Pentecostal/charismatic Christianity is a very sensual and experiential based faith system.  This is incredibly dangerous and can lead to many types of abuses.  A charismatic might argue that, according to the definition of rational I have outlined above, (Believing and acting on the basis of ones senses), that their faith and belief system is totally rational, since they are acting on the basis of  what they can sense.  My counter-argument is, that, no, you are acting on the basis of your emotion, or your feelings.  There is a great difference here.  The senses that I refer to are the senses that we use to interact and explore and experience the physical world around us.  The senses that the religious believer refers to are often emotional, or psychic (of the mind).  You will often hear phrases such as, “I feel the Lord speaking to me/you/us…”, “I sense the presence of the Lord”, “I feel the joy of the Lord”… Notice that these phrases are all using the words “feel”, “sense”, and numerous other phrases can be cited as examples.  I would argue that this type of belief is irrational.  As we shall see, though, irrational beliefs cut across religious faith and can be identified in all religious belief systems.

How are irrational beliefs identified?

Messages about life we send to ourselves that keep us from growing emotionally.

You are a dirty rotten sinner, full of evil that could never measure up.  No one is good.  Any good righteous acts I do are worthless.   You need God to help you because you can’t do it on your own.

See the problem here?  Think about it in this way: As a parent, what do you think would happen to your child if you were to continually berate them in this way?  If a child is continually told he is stupid, worthless and will never amount to anything in life, guess what?  He will believe it, and that is what is called a self-fulfilling prophecy!  Yet, tens of millions of people around the world pack into churches, mosques and other religious institutions to be told this exact same thing!

Scripts we have in our head about how we believe life “should” be for us and for others.

If you just had more faith. God wants you healthy and wealthy!  You must have some unconfessed or hidden sin in your heart. God has a plan for your life!

I’m sure all of us that have been involved in any faith group have heard people say things like this at one time or another.  The script basically tells us, “If you live for God, then He has your life in His hands, and has everything under control.”

So, what happens when life goes off script?  What happens when life, to borrow a phrase, “Goes Rogue”?

Unfounded attitudes, opinions and values we hold to that are out of synchrony with the way the world really is.

What is the one phrase that is guaranteed to draw the ire of Evangelical Christians?   Gay Marriage.  For some strange reason, Evangelical Christians have the belief that if two people of the same sex fall in love with each other, and wish to get married so that they may be entitled to all the benefits as heterosexual couples, civilization as we know it will crumble and fall.   Is this belief based on rational thinking, or even the experience of other nations that have legalized gay marriage?  No.  There is not one shred of evidence to support that claim.  Yet people continue to push this idea as fact.

I’m sure that there are countless examples of irrational beliefs that individuals hold fast to.  Maybe you hold to those beliefs now.  Maybe, like me, you once held to those beliefs.  Feel free to leave a comment and tell us about it!

]]> http://apostaterebel.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/apostate-rebel-goes-heretical/ Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:33:38 +0000 apostaterebel http://apostaterebel.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/apostate-rebel-goes-heretical/

The year is 1986.  It’s not exactly the “Summer of Love”, but it is the Summer of Expo ‘86, in Vancouver, BC!  Excitement rages as Vancouver becomes a “Player” on the World Stage.  In anticipation of the millions of visitors expected, the city goes all out and as a result we have a 60,000+ seat Air Supported domed Stadium (BC Place Stadium), a brand spanking new LRT system (SkyTrain) and numerous other infra-structure upgrades. Not to mention the fact that a once, run down industrial wasteland will now be home for dozens of Pavilions from nations around the world showcasing the very latest in technology over six months.

Enter David Mainse and Crossroads Christian Communications.  These are the folks that produce the Evangelical 100 Huntley Street.  A sort of Canadian version of the 700 Club, although with much less wackiness.  OK, it’s downright tame compared to Pat Robertson and his brand of Evangelical nuttiness!   Anyway, to make a long story short, my church received word that Crossroads were going to build a Pavilion at Expo ‘86 that featured the story of Gods’ relationship with humanity from Creation to the ‘Rapture’ (don’t ask… just don’t ask… I’ll explain this bizarre belief later).  The Pavilion needed a volunteer staff to run the operation and host/witness/proselytize to the millions of anticipated guests.  “What a perfect opportunity to engage in evangelizing the heathen masses”, I thought to myself!  So, with a kindly donated sponsorship, I packed my bags and headed to the Mission Field.

I must say, in all honesty, even now as a De-converted person, the Summer of ‘86 was one of the best times of my life.  I made some awesome friends, and had tons of fun!  Also, the Pavilion of Promise, even though it was nothing more than Evangelical propaganda, looking back on it, was pretty amazing, technology-wise.  It utilized film, live action, music, and an awesome laser light show.  In fact, during the initial testing of the laser system, the neighbouring Romanian Pavilion suffered the wrath of a mis-fired laser beam.  The outside canvas canopy of their pavilion suffered a scorch mark about half way across it’s breadth.  It was like a Christian Death Star attacked these godless commie Romanians!

Ah yes, ’twas a wonderful summer!  Oh, and this was the summer I went all heretical.  You see, I happened to have been attending a non-charismatic fundamentalist Evangelical church.  At some point, I remember being briefly warned not to associate with these “Pentecostal” type people that may or may not be there.  Those people, I were told, had a habit of rolling in the aisles, dancing in (or was it on) the pews, swinging from the chandeliers, were rumored to handle snakes, and definitely spoke in strange devil inspired tongues.

As I rolled up in my ‘76 Chevy Nova, aptly named “The Beast”, I saw that we would be staying at a good Conservative Fundamentalist non charismatic Bible College.  Phew!  No danger of those dangerous people here, I said to myself.  Well, it wasn’t long before I realized they were there, and they were infesting the place.  It was crawling with Pentecostals.  I could turn around without bumping into one of “Those” people!

In time, I began to see that none of the stereotypes were remotely true.  In fact I became one of them eventually, and as I first walked into one of their churches, I wondered where the chandeliers were.  This particular church had recessed pot lighting.

In the ’80’s, to leave a fundamentalist non-charismatic church for a charismatic/Pentecostal church was considered to be an act of heresy.   Especially in a small town.  In some ways, I became an outcast of the one church, while being welcomed with open arms into the other.  Although I could not see it at the time, the pattern of indoctrination and immersion into another Evangelical sub-culture was now underway.  As a side note, in today’s Evangelical churches, such church switching is rather commonplace as denominational allegiance has been replaced by such things as “What does this church offer my family that is best suited for them.”

I will share more in a later posting about these  so called “spiritual gifts” that Charismatic/Pentecostal churches embrace.  What’s really going on?  Is it genuine, or is it merely another example of Group Think and conditioning?

Next: Apostate Rebel is “Called” of God to be a Minister!

How did my journey into religious faith begin?

After I graduated from High School in 1983, I felt lost.  I did not know what I was going to do with my life.  All during my teenage years I struggled with depression.  In 1983, that depression deepened.  I had lost all hope for the future and fell into what can only be described as the deepest, darkest, bottomless pit of despair.  I have heard accounts of people lost in the woods, far from civilization.  They wander around looking for a sign of hope, a landmark, or a familiar outcrop of rock that will lead them to safety.  Many tell of coming to a place that they recognize, giving them a moment of hope, only to realize this familiar place was the place they had passed by a few hours ago.   Without a map, or a compass to guide the way, the realization that they have been walking in circles sinks in.  Despair takes over.  They are hopelessly lost.  That, my friend, is a perfect description of my life at that time.

During my years in High School, I had a friend that happened to be, at that time, an Evangelical Christian.  In 1984, the despair and desperate circumstances of my life led me to accept an invitation to travel to Vancouver, BC, to attend a Billy Graham Crusade.  I sat in BC Place Stadium, along with thousands of other people, listening to Mr. Grahams’ message of hope through a “new life in Christ.”  Even though I had been raised Catholic, I had never considered myself religious.  I abandoned the Church when I was 15, and felt I had no need of religion in my life.  However, the message that Graham brought that night convinced me otherwise.  I became convinced that this message of new life and hope in Christ was the answer, the compass, or road-map I needed to get out of the wilderness of despair and depression.  So, on October 14, 1984 at 7:25 PM, I was “Born Again.”

After the meeting, I boarded the rented bus for the trip home.  I was welcomed with open arms into the “family of God.”   Little did I know of the indoctrination to follow over the next several years!   This indoctrination began with a total immersion into the Evangelical sub-culture.  Instead of the promised “new life” and “freedom in Christ”, I was taught the rules of the game.  These rules included such things as “How a Christian Should Dress”, (because, as I was told, how you look on the outside is a reflection of the work of the Holy Spirit on the inside!). “How a Christian Should Talk” (no cursing or off colour jokes anymore), “What a Christian Should Read, Watch, and Listen To”.  Then of course, as a “baby Christian” I was strongly encouraged to be in church every time the door was open. Sunday Morning Service.  Sunday Evening Service.  Wednesday Night Bible Study.  Various Home Groups.  Whenever Special Speakers, or church events took place.  I ate it all up.  I dropped all of my “unsaved” friends as I was told that unbelievers were a danger to new believers because there was the danger of being pulled back into “the world.”   (This is ironic, since Evangelicals believe they are called to fulfill the Great Commission, going into all the world, converting and baptizing unbelievers!)

I bought into the whole “Christian lifestyle” hook, line and sinker!  It had the answers I seemed to be looking for, and all of these wonderful new friends that were so concerned about my spiritual life!  It was amazing, and I must admit, gratifying to finally find a purpose in life.  What was that purpose?  Living for Jesus, and spreading the “Good News” of Jesus dying for your sins.   I began by attempting to convert family and friends.  Especially my mother, who was, and still is, Catholic, and everyone knew that the Catholic Church was the Mother of all Harlots, the Pope was the Anti-Christ, Mary and the Saints were worshiped, and all True Christians were to come out of Mystery Babylon (The Roman Catholic Church), or suffer an eternity burning in hellfire.  I made it my mission to save her soul.  I made it my “Mission” to “save” my family, friends and relatives.  I believed it was my “Christian Duty.”  Looking back now, I realize I was being a self righteous prick.  In all honesty, I can say that I am so very thankful that I never “saved” any of them.  You see, I realize now, that they do not need saving.  Come to think of it, the only ones that need to be “saved” are those caught up in this type of faith culture.

As time progressed, and I grew deeper in the faith, my ego was stroked by folks encouraging me with kind words, words to the effect of how impressed they were with my spiritual progress.  This led to a strong encouragement by some well meaning folks to look into pursuing ministry.  But that’s another story…

So, there you have it!  That is the story of my conversion, and the beginning of my Christian life.

Next: The Apostate Rebel Goes Heretical!

I also would like to note that many of these individuals that I knew and grew to love in those early years of my Christian walk were, and some still are dear friends of mine to this day.  I do not believe anyone can be blamed for trying to “help” or “Coach” someone that is new to their faith.  They meant well, but were misguided due to no fault of their own.  The fault lies in the “Evangelical sub-culture.”  In this sub-culture, a process known as “Group Think” takes over.  More on that later!

1 Corinthians 9:22-23a

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I became all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.

I do all things for the sake of the gospel.

I’d like to take a moment to welcome you to my Blog!  As the title states, I am an Apostate Rebel.  Oh, don’t worry!  Despite what the title may imply, I’m not an evil person.  No, really, I’m not! I’m a person, just like countless others that once lived a life of faith, devoted to God, the church, spreading the “good news” and trying to live up to the expectations of words and scriptures written thousands of years ago.  Oh, and not to mention the expectations of those fellow believers watching every move you make.

Like countless others who once walked “in the faith”, I found my beliefs lacking.  I decided to really examine those beliefs, beliefs about the Bible, God, Jesus and myself as a “sinner”.  These cherished beliefs that had been held dear to me for 24 years began to erode and crumble away when exposed to the light of reason.  I actually read the Bible as a book, much like any other book, instead of a “God breathed, God inspired” holy book.  The beliefs that I had help sacred for so many years began to be stripped away like the layers of an onion.

So, how did this all begin?  As you will read in future postings, my journey of faith began, like it does for so many of us, in a moment of crisis.  Ironically, it ended in a moment of crisis like it does for so many others.

This blog is my story.  A story of my life as a Christian, and my story of de-conversion to a life of what my Christian friends label “apostasy.”

So, just what does this word “apostate” mean?  Quite simply it means “one who has abandoned religious faith, a cause or principles.”  I think this definition best describes me:

The total rejection of Christianity by a baptized person who, having at one time professed the Christian faith, publicly rejects it. It is distinguished from heresy, which is limited to the rejection of one or more Christian doctrines by one who maintains an overall adherence to Jesus Christ.

Please join me as I tell my story of a life once lived for God and faith, and travel the road with me to understand what real freedom is.  Freedom from dogma, freedom from religion, freedom from control, and ultimately the freedom to choose to live my life the way I feel is best for me based on reason and rational thinking.

We’ve been implementing a large TFS 2010 installation and recently started the migration from VSS. I’m writing to say that so far I’m impressed with the migration tool. It’s clearly documented in the MSDN library. A couple of XML configuration files drive the app. After setting up the config files you launch the migration process from the command line. I was surprised to find that you can migrate any subset of projects from VSS at a time. You don’t have to migrate the whole VSS database in one shot. I was also surprised to see that the tool mapped VSS users to TFS users and preserved version history by users. Remember to create the target users in TFS, then edit the user map file to point VSS users to TFS users.

It all works great so far. Now keep in mind we’ve only done a small pilot project. I’ll write back once we get onto larger ones.

Most of my blog entries have been about marketing and driving traffic to your sites.    Clearly the topic of conversion requires lots of in-depth discussion.  But here, as succinctly as I can, is a laundry list of the top 10 no-brainer audits that you should do on your site to keep people from abandoning the cart and leaving before they buy.  Look at your site, and think about these challenges.  It’s a shame to lose a customer after all that you invest in bringing them there!

1: Pay attention to design

Once they’re on your home page or in your store, design and usability are crucial!  Not only must your site be attractive, but calls to action need to be obvious (or more than obvious if possible), so visitors:

• See your site as credible
• Understand your offerings
• Know how to buy
• Can see where to click
• Are not overwhelmed with too many choices on the home page or any sub-page.

2:  Don’t ask for too much information too quickly.

Some people would love to be on your mailing list, others just want to buy.  Don’t require registration.  It should be just an option after they checkout. Don’t worry, you can always email them and ask them to register later.   Offer some value, even if it’s just discount offers or a chance to win a prize, to get them on your list.

3:  Write for humans.

Yes, you need to have SEO terms for our friends at Google.  But first and foremost, the customer who visits needs to understand what you are talking about.  Good content first, SEO optimization second.

4:  Fill your categories with product, and remove items when they are out of stock

No one wants to look at a category page with less than 5 items.  Keep your category pages broad enough to include 10-30 items.  And unless you are the only seller of an item, if it’s out of stock remove it!  Sell them something you have.  Otherwise they will just go find that out of stock item somewhere else, thanks to your excellent merchandising.

5:  Save cross marketing and recommendations until after the cart entry.

Keep the sales goal in mind.  Get the first item sale into the cart before you send the customer off looking at accessories.  Otherwise, you might lose the whole sale!

6:  Keep the checkout simple.

Cut out unnecessary questions.  Eliminate the VISA/MC/AMEX question, you can figure out what kind of credit card they’re using from the number.   Consider filling in the town/city from the zip code.  Remember me (if I opt-in) for my next order.  If you asked my zipcode for shipping, don’t ask again at checkout. And avoid Captcha image phrases, unless you enjoy frustrating your customers.

7:  Explain shipping time and shipping cost up front.

If the customer needs to pay shipping, tell them how much, and how long shipping will take, right up front.  Don’t make them click around to find the choices, and certainly avoid surprising them at that end, unless the surprise can be a lowered cost.  (It never hurts to delight the customer).

8: Make it easy to contact you.

Don’t hide your contact information, offer a number, email, chat, and any other means for them to talk to a person and get answers quickly – ideally while they are still shopping!

9:  Offer customer reviews, and don’t be afraid of negative ones.

Customers appreciate both the positive and negative reviews.  Don’t be afraid of the bad ones, and don’t edit them out (other than the occasional angry ranter and raver).  If the reviewer’s concerns resonate with the buyer, better we all find out now.  Returns that could have been avoided eat into profit, and don’t build loyalty.

10:  Make sure your product search tool is refreshed often and effective:

If someone is searching for an item, and you have it, it’s an absolute sin to turn them away.  Implement a search tool that pre-fills, accepts miss-spellings, and is as effective as possible in finding the customer what they need.

This list is far from all-inclusive.  But if you start here, I guarantee you can increase conversions, customer satisfaction, and a better return on the investments you keep making to bring new customers to your site.

When I started dating my wife, I acclimated to a tradition of her family by venturing out into the wilds of Indiana and selecting a fresh Christmas tree, cutting it down and dragging it home to decorate.  Previous to this, I had merely pulled out the dusty tree from a box in the closet and placed it in the corner, but now, here was a new exciting part of the holiday that felt exotic and exhilarating.  There is truly something invigorating about wandering in a field in the cold, crisp weather and breathing in that beautiful pine scent; the sharp odor of fresh cut wood.  I really enjoy the moments outdoors selecting our tree.

All of this is to say that yesterday, we went out again into the cold with our daughter and C.’s mom and dad and we chose our tree and it was, yet again, a serene experience to be in the company of family, participating in an old-fashioned tradition, and enjoying the beginnings of our holiday season.  Also, part of this tradition is the listening to Christmas music, particularly John Denver and the Muppets, but several other Christmas CDs as well, which leads me to my minor “conversion” moment this morning on the way to church.

Now, one would think if I were already headed to church, I wouldn’t have needed a conversion moment.  And, I don’t want to alienate anyone who thinks I’ve jumped on the “crazy Christian” bandwagon, because that wouldn’t be an accurate account either.  Truth is, I attend church for a lot of reasons…one is that it’s a job, I get paid to sing.  Second, the community that is shared among the group of friends at our church is really second to none.  We, my wife and I, really enjoy the friendships we’ve made at church.  But, the main reason I attend church is that I don’t have all the answers and, honestly, there’s quite a bit of doubt.  I AM the “Thomas the Apostle” for my generation.  Still, there are clear and shining moments wherein the voice of God breaks through the cloud of mystery and doubt and floods my heart and mind.  This morning, I was going to change the cd in the stereo because we’d listened to it at least 3 or 4 times yesterday during various trips across the county, but I left it in because I wanted to hear Earl Scruggs play “Jingle Bells” on the banjo.  Well, a few songs later, Patty Loveless began her version of “O Come All Ye Faithful” and that is the moment that it made sense to me:

O Come, All Ye Faithful

It was an invitation; an invitation to be a part of a season, a tradition.  Sure, it specifies the faithful, but also the joyful and the triumphant.  I would venture to say that it was also an invitation to the doubtful, the disheartened and the downtrodden.  I felt a part of the faithful, not necessarily the believers, but those who have faith, however shaky it might be, that there is good and purpose in the world.  And, we’re invited to share in a community with other faithful.  I’d like to propose that the comma in that opening line is maybe premature.  Maybe, instead, it should read:

O Come All, Ye Faithful

So, during this season of Advent Aside: for those of you who didn’t go to church this morning, Advent is the season of preparation that precedes Christmas.  You won’t find it in the Hallmark card section as it goes largely unnoticed by the general populace. as we prepare for our Christmas traditions with fresh or dusty trees, fresh or dusty faiths, I’d like to believe that we’ve all been invited to attend, to celebrate in the joy of this season.

Finally, in keeping with Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 challenge, today’s “Best of” is workshop or conference.  I don’t attend many workshops or conferences.  My job is not such that it’s necessary, however, this year I did attend a marriage retreat that might fall into this category.  My wife and I, as part of the aforementioned church, journeyed down to the All Saints Conference Center in Leitchfield, KY for a short marriage retreat.  We truly enjoyed the retreat and were able to further solidify our marriage by recognizing that we share many of the same constructs for making our marriage work smoothly and joyfully with a minimum of distraction and discord.  It was a very nice weekend and I feel like it strengthened our marriage.  So, even though it’s the only one, I’d say it was the best one of 2009.

See you in the funny papers!

Image : http://www.flickr.com

DIY electric car conversion is the value for money way to convert your car to an electric hybrid, which will save an almost ridiculous amount of gasoline costs in the future. The problem with many of the leaders is that they do not simply give a high quality of information or they do not currently in a very professional manner for the user.

DIY overcome leaders to the problem of high investment costs, which were previously requiredwhen they tried to convert a car to an electric hybrid. You probably have together an investment of about $ 400 all this to an investment of several thousand dollars compared to if you were to choose to invest in a commercial installation or a brand new hybrid car. So of course, the investment is very uneven.

Apart from the difference in cost is the main difference of course in the workload. If you do it yourself your going to spend a few hours, they getdone, and although it is not that difficult in terms of mechanization, it requires some hard work. If you have a basic understanding of mechanics and basic maintenance on your car, you should convert should find no difficulties in using one of these guides to your car to a hybrid.

The rewards of this work are immense, when you set up your hybrid, you do not need to buy more gasoline at all, think of just to make as much difference that you would be financially. ForMost people who are somewhere between $ 100 and $ 500 per week that they keep in their pockets.

So the question is, how do I find the best do-it-yourself guide website and get started and start saving money and gas and also down the degradation of my carbon emissions?

http://diyhome.jaideespace.com/

when we sometimes write in word we continue to write in uppercase by switching the capslock on

this capslock on can be very irritating & sometimes it leads to deletion of line and retyping of line which is very frustrating

recently i found a solution for it that i am sharing here now that is you can select the text then if you will  press shift +f3 then it will change it’s case

IT’S A VERY USEFUL FUNCTION WHEN YOU WRITE LONG …………………

Former Episcopal bishop John Lipscomb has been ordained a Cath0lic priest. He just seems to be relieved to be in a position to serve God quietly, instead of being the head of an Episcopal diocese in one of the more divisive times in Anglican history. Honestly, I can’t blame him.

We were truly blessed, this Wednesday by the presence of Brother Steve, who accepted Islam. It was unexpected, at the last minute a close friend and President of the Islamic Society had contacted me
Informing me that Steve was interested in Islam. I had the fortune to be hosting several Muslims that night and told him that that it would be a good occasion to come over. When Steve arrived, he had emitted a positive longing for a change in his life and that other ways didn’t provide him with that. I am sure, as the Prophet (saw) had related that this was a gathering witnessed by the Angels. With some talk on Tawheed, and the importance of following a life dedicated to Allah, he willingly said his Shahada.
For many of the Brothers and Sisters, this was a remarkable moment in their life, especially coming from societies where Islam is a take for granted fact. Nevertheless, being in small county in the North East of England renowned for its cathedral and Prince Bishops, a local converting to Islam is truly incredible. All praise to Allah.

A few observations can be taken from this:
1) Bringing an interested person to a public place like a mosque is not advisable if you are not able to regulate who joins the gathering. This was a lesson learned way back, when people at my local mosque would give Da’wa in a large group. It took more time regulating and following up on peoples comments than giving the person the benefit of getting the proper message.
2) Arranging people in a circle I find to be very warm, and conducive to conversation, opposed to an audience style format with all the Muslims on one side, and the non-Muslim on the other.
3) Stick to tahweed, and focus all questions and concerns to tawheed. This is the hardest part because you can never expect what the person is going to say, but try your best not to divert the conversation.

All praise to Allah that guided us to this religion.

Testimony – Greg Richardson

Christian testimony – the son returns

Right mouse click to save this Testimony as a MP3.

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