Thursday 23 September 2021

"Edmonton's Christian university" holds a silent online auction

Bold, links in original:

The King's University in Edmonton, Alberta

The King's University is Edmonton's Christian University and serves students and communities across Western Canada and internationally. Its campus is located in Alberta's young and vibrant capital and sits on Treaty Six territory, the traditional home of many Indigenous peoples.
The world can be studied best when acknowledged that it was created by and belongs to God. Come to King's and you'll see friendly, welcoming faces. We do our best to reflect Christ's love and grace to all students. The university receives top rankings and recognition on national surveys for student-faculty engagement, a supportive campus, and quality of teaching. It's no wonder King's boasts of a 98% post-grad employment rate!

Anyone who thinks that The King's University is Christian simply isn't paying attention; submitted for your approval, the university's silent online auction:

About Our Auction

We are excited to once again host our annual silent auction online to raise funds for student scholarships at The King's University! All auction items have been donated by generous donors, so all funds raised from this auction ill support student scholarships at The King's University!

Last year, we raised over $11,000 for student scholarships and this year we would like to reach higher with the goal of $35,000! With the support of our generous donors and sponsors, you can make a King's education more accessible to our hardworking students! We know you will be able to enjoy winning these wonderful auction items, so please bid generously!

Once again, we are holding our Harvest Banquet online for all to attend for free! Please register so you can receive the link to the livestream and plan to join us on October 2 @ 7:00 PM: https://www.kingsu.ca/about-us/calendar/banquet


The auction includes the following distinctively Christian items; there's still time to bid on them as of the publication of this post, although I doubt any real Christians will be interested.

$150 iava wellness Gift Certificate

Item Description

$150 Gift Certificate for services at Iava Wellness, located near King's on 50th St in Edmonton, AB.
Value: $150.00 CAD
Ends: Oct 3, 2021 - 1:00pm MDT


And what does Iava Wellness practice? Acupuncture; Massage; Access Bars; Subconscious Imprinting Technique (S.I.T.); and Reiki.

1 Hour Restorative Yoga
in person at Iava Wellness or online via Zoom
Value: $50.00 CAD
Ends: Oct 3, 2021 - 1:00pm MDT

Item Description

The winning bidder on this item will have their choice of attending an in-person yoga class with Ting Elger at Iava Wellness (near King's in Edmonton) OR a private Zoom Yoga lesson with up to 5 friends.

This 60 minute foundational Yoga class is designed to center and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the "rest and digest". Beginning with comfortable sitting pose followed by easy pranayama breathing technique. This gentle sequence will incorporate arm and upper body movements in a very slow and repetitive manner until there is some calming flow and rhythm. Depending on the class- will progress to sun salutation and standing poses then cooling down to more restorative shapes near the end. This is open to beginner up to advance practitioners and open to requests, modifications and substitutions.

Ting works at King's Development Department. She is a registered Yoga Teacher for adults, children and family. She also loves to paint abstract florals, write little poems, brew kombucha and concocts essential oils & herbs :) . She is a strong believer in radical self care which may look like going for a quick walk or simply taking a deep, relaxing breath. She presently teaches a yoga workshop #SELFLOVE in Iava Wellness.


AlleyKat Brewery Tour & Specialty Glassware
Value: $50.00 CAD
Ends: Oct 3, 2021 - 1:00pm MDT

Item Description

This Alley Kat Brewery package is perfect for any beer fan in your life. Containing two Alley Kat beer glasses and two sets of brewery tour tickets, purchase this basket to learn how Alley Kat makes their beer, and maybe try some along the way!

There are 2 brewery tour passes for 2 people each, so take up to four people on a great night out.


Blindman Brewing Merchandise
Zip Up Hooded Sweatshirt & Brumate Hopsulator Trio
Value: $75.00 CAD
Ends: Oct 3, 2021 - 1:00pm MDT

Item Description

This listing is for a Blindman Brewing Zip Up Hooded Sweatshirt and a Brumate Glitter Rose Gold Hopsulator Trio

The package includes:

1. Hoodie (XL: can replace for different sizing if need be)

2. Brumate Glitter Rose Gold Hopsulator Trio

3. Blindman Brewery Stickers


Fort Distillery Canadian Boreal Gin
500mL
Value: $35.00 CAD
Ends: Oct 3, 2021 - 1:00pm MDT

Item Description

Canadian Boreal Gin is our vibrant take on a pink gin, using haskap berries and local honey for a bright, berry forward, warm & spicy tasting experience, with a honey cinnamon nose, and floral finish. Named for the iconic Canadian Boreal forest, and the spectacular Aurora Borealis, and inspired by the ingredients of Northern Canada and the people who grow them. Raw honey, haskap berries, and organic botanicals, all grown in Northern Alberta, produce a truly Canadian gin.

This item is not eligible for shipping. Winning bidder over of the age of majority must pick up the item at The King's University.

The preceding item is also available here.

Fort Distillery Classic Old Fashioned
Ready to Serve Cocktail - 750 mL
Value: $35.00 CAD
Ends: Oct 3, 2021 - 1:00pm MDT

Item Description

Our exclusive bourbon blend pairs with mellow demerara sugar and Alberta made bitters for the perfect Old-Fashioned. There’s a reason the Old-Fashioned is called such, as one of the earliest cocktail concoctions developed, and our version is just as delicious, and even simpler to execute. Enjoy the fine and balanced complexity of this traditional favourite, anytime, anywhere.

This item is not eligible for shipping. Winning bidder over of the age of majority must pick up the item at The King's University.

The preceding item is also available here.

Wine Tasting Evening
with Ralph & Angela Troschke
Value: $450.00 CAD
Ends: Oct 3, 2021 - 1:00pm MDT

Item Description

Wine Tasting Experience with King’s VP Finance, Ralph Troschke and his beautiful wife and King’s student life staff, Angela.

Angela and Ralph have been hosting wine tastings for 29 years. They have hosted over 100 tastings and have been wine judges at fall fairs as well. Ralph was once invited to participate as a finalist in the Canadian national amateur wine tasting championship. They would love to host a wine tasting in your Edmonton area home for 8-10 people.

Our tasting is a fun-filled classroom experience where we will focus on how to taste/evaluate wine and draw comparisons between wines. It is guaranteed to be social and get louder as the evening rolls along.

The evening will consist of:

A 2.5-hour show with one flight of red and one flight of white wines for 8-10 people

4 samples per person of white wine, choice of Chardonnay or Riesling

4 samples per person of red wine, choice of Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir

Ralph & Angela kindly request that the winning bidder schedule their wine tasting by June 30, 2022.


Indigenous Cultural Items
from Nordegg, AB
Value: $316.00 CAD
Ends: Oct 3, 2021 - 1:00pm MD

Item Description

Gourd container with dream catcher. Handmade and signed

Talking Stick: handmade with selenite & amethyst beads. Wood burning decoration, "All is possible to those who believe"

Abalone shell, to be used as part of the traditional smudging ritual, said to enhance feelings of peace, compassion, and love.

Smudging feather, handmade with deer hide, glass beads & a wild turkey feather.

Sweet grass. Sweetgrass is one of the main herbs used by Native people. It is often part of the medicine used when smudging along with sage and cedar. Just as sage is used to clear negativity, to cleanse, sweetgrass is used to bring positivity.

Sunday 19 September 2021

140 years ago: U.S. President James A. Garfield dies after being shot by a pseudo-Christian utopian socialist

On September 19, 1881, James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States of America, died at the age of 49. He had been shot in the back on July 2 at a train station in Washington. His wound was probably survivable, and it's been speculated that his death resulted not so much from the wound as from infection caused by poking and prodding by his doctors with unwashed hands using unsterilized instruments in an effort to find the bullet.

Mr. Garfield had taken office on March 4 and had made civil service reform a priority of his presidency. The assassin, Charles Guiteau, was an unsuccessful lawyer from Chicago who has been largely passed over in the history books as simply a deranged office-seeker. However, the history books have overlooked, as Paul Harvey would say, "The rest of the story."

Charles Guiteau, the fourth of six children, was born on September 8, 1841 in Freeport, Illinois and moved with his family to Ulao, Wisconsin in 1850, moving back to Freeport with his father after his mother died in 1855. He failed the entrance examinations for the University of Michigan, and abandoned remedial studies.

Mr. Guiteau's father Luther was closely affiliated with the Oneida Community in Oneida, New York. The United States of the mid-19th century contained a number of utopian sects, and the Oneida Community, founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848, was one of them. Mr. Noyes was influenced by the preaching of Charles G. Finney, the "Father of American revivalism," and underwent a religious conversion at the age of 20 in 1831; he claimed to be a Christian, but eventually embraced the unbiblical doctrine that believers can attain sinless perfection in this life. He studied at Dartmouth College, Andover Theological Seminary, and Yale Theological College, and while at Yale, came to the conclusion that the second coming of Christ had occurred in A.D. 70 and that "mankind was now living in a new age."

Mr. Noyes was a Perfectionist--he believed that it was possible for man to be free from sin in this lifetime--and on February 20, 1834, he declared himself perfect and free from sin. Mr. Noyes' declaration provoked outrage from Yale Theological College, and he was expelled and stripped of his recently-earned license to preach. Mr. Noyes returned home to Putney, Vermont, where he continued to preach his Perfectionist doctrines. In 1847 he was arrested for adultery, and he and some followers fled to Oneida, where he established a community in 1848, raising canned fruits and vegetables, and achieving success in various industries, including the silverware trade. The Oneida Community, which practiced communalism, complex marriage, male sexual continence, and mutual criticism, grew to over 300 members by 1878, and had branches in other locales.

Charles Guiteau joined the Oneida Community in June 1860 at the age of 18, and expressed perfect confidence in Mr. Noyes and his teachings. Despite the community's practice of group marriage, Mr. Guiteau was generally rejected by women during his five years there. He left twice, returning once and then leaving for good, filing several lawsuits against Mr. Noyes, demanding payment for work he had done on behalf of the community. Mr. Guiteau studied law, but failed in a brief career as a lawyer and at several other jobs. He met and married librarian Annie Bunn in 1869, but was abusive to her. Mr. Guiteau eventually reinvented himself as a theologian, although his writing on the subject was largely plagiarized from Mr. Noyes. He was increasingly convinced that his actions--which included defrauding clients--were divinely inspired, but by 1875 Luther Guiteau was convinced that his son was possessed by Satan.

Charles Guiteau turned his interest to politics, originally supporting former President U.S. Grant for the 1880 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination, and then supporting Mr. Garfield after the latter won the nomination. Mr. Guiteau believed his support had been crucial to Mr. Garfield's electoral victory, and made repeated personal requests--always rebuffed--for a consulship in Paris. By July 2, 1881, Mr. Guiteau was convinced that God wanted Mr. Garfield "removed."

In contrast to today, justice was swift in 1881. On October 14, Mr. Guiteau was charged with murder. His trial began on November 17; a plea of temporary insanity was unsuccessful, and he was convicted on January 25, 1882 and sentenced to death. On June 1, he composed a lengthy poem claiming that God had commanded him to kill President Garfield in order to prevent Secretary James G. Blaine’s "scheming" to war with Chile and Peru. Mr. Guiteau also accused Chester Arthur, who had succeeded Mr. Garfield as President, of the "basest ingratitude" for not pardoning him when he knew that the death of Mr. Garfield had saved the United States.

Mr. Guiteau was hanged in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 1882 at the age of 40. While on the scaffold, he recited a poem he had composed titled I am Going to the Lordy.