Top 10 christian scholers

1. Pastor Joel Osteen
"The 50-year-old preacher made headlines in 2012 when he was pictured in Hawaii with six-pack abs, which is a testament in itself to how much he exercises," said Becic. "Osteen frequently posts diet and fitness advice on his website, encouraging people to take care of their temple, limit sugar and drink more water. He also cares about the health of his congregation which is why he appointed me to lead the health and fitness program at his megachurch."

2. Father Mark Ivany
"Mark Ivany who leads Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Washington, D.C., believes that eating well and staying in good shape is going to add to his service as a priest. He was an all-American lacrosse player in college and says he doesn't like the gym, so he would rather motivate students, friends, and family to be active in social sports," said Becic.

3. Pastor Steve Spear
"49 year-old Steve Spear, who took up running just five years ago, ran coast to coast, which totals 3,081 miles from Los Angeles to New York in five months, averaging 170 miles a week, or a marathon a day," Becic explained. "The Chicago-area pastor quit his job at Willow Creek Church last year to focus on raising $1.5 million to provide clean water for 30,000 people living in Kenya."

4. Pastor Chuck Bernal
"Chuck Bernal, the lead pastor at LifePointe Church in Dallas, Texas, wasn't always the picture of health. In 2010, he started his health journey weighing in at 336 lbs. however, after 13 months of hard work he got to a healthy weight of 220 lbs. that he has managed to maintain for 18 months now. His daily secrets to success include eating five small meals, drinking over 100 ounces of water, using the elliptical for 45 minutes in addition to going to the gym and exercising at least five times a week," said Becic.

5. Pastor Scott Bennefield
"Known as the "Ironman Pastor," Bennefield of New Covenant Church in New Mexico, began running in 1991 as a normal guy with a minimal athletic background. He has had seven Ironman finishes since then, the first being at age 4," said Becic. "He is passionate about assisting others to run the "race of life" with passion and purpose and he currently leads the Faith and Fitness program at his church."

6. Msgr. Rick Hilgartner
"Monsignor Hilgartner has said modern technology and transportation advances have helped create a more sedentary life for humans in the past century, including priests," said Becic. "It's one of the reasons why this 45-year-old priest makes time to work out daily in the gym.  In fact, running has become a passion for him and he has participated in many marathons in recent years."

7. Pastor Rick Warren
"Warren had an epiphany one day while he was baptizing 858 people. After dipping the 500th body into the water, he thought 'we're all fat.' That triggered him to create a health program with leading experts such as Dr. Oz that Christians could follow. He also wrote the book, "The Daniel Plan," which Warren lost over 30 pounds by following," said Becic.

8. Pastor Heather Lindsey 
"Heather, who co-pastors with her husband Cornelius Lindsey at The Gathering Oasis Church in Atlanta,  knows what it takes to stay healthy and fit after working as a TV host in the entertainment industry. In 2012, she founded The Pinky Promise, an organization that promotes honoring God with your life & body and has also written "The Perfect Recipe," which is geared towards women who desire to get closer to Christ, eat healthier and feel better," said Becic.

9. Pastor Chris Townsend
"This pastor is so committed to fitness that he shows his congregation at Emanuel Lutheran Church in California that they can truly make time to be fit by brining stationary bikes, treadmills, and yoga balls to the pulpit!," said Becic. "But his main message is to be physically and spiritually fit. So far, he's lost 35 pounds and wants to lose another 25 to 30 pounds to reach his goal weight. In addition to exercise, Townsend has also completely cut out caffeine from his diet."

10. Pastor Jeff Kapusta
"Kapusta, lead pastor at Lifepoint Church in Wilmington, N.C., has a personal blog where he writes about fitness and admits that he hadn't realized how much being in ministry could be hazardous to his health," said Becic. "He maintains his healthy lifestyle by biking, surfing, running, and taking on fitness programs such as P90X, Insanity, and CrossFit. However, he actually managed to get down to his ideal weight of 163lbs by following the Paleo Diet."

The above article is taken from christianpost.com

Continue

Top 10 christian leaders ever

Elder John Leland (1754-1841)

John Leland was a faithful minister of the gospel for sixty-seven years. Leland was what some would call a “circuit preacher,” traveling on foot or horseback from Massachusetts to South Carolina. He traveled more than a hundred thousand miles in his preaching journeys [1]. He was most famous for his plight for religious freedom in the United States of America. In 1787, Leland was a great supporter of James Madison as he pursued his election to the Virginia Convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution and to adopt the Bill of Rights. He endorsed Mr. Madison and convinced many fellow Baptists to do the same because he knew Madison would pursue a federal amendment for religious freedom. Elder Leland spent more than 60 years fighting for what has commonly been called “separation of church and state” in the United States today. Elder Leland wrote his own epitaph: “Here lies the body of John Leland, who labored 67 years to promote piety and vindicate the civil and religious rights of all men.” [2]

William Carey (1761-1834)

A self-taught English cobbler, William Carey set out to evangelize the people of India. When Carey was called to missions, the vision of world evangelism was not clear in England. He was, in fact, considered to be the father of modern Protestant missions. Carey’s first six years on the field were nothing short of outrageously awful. He survived malaria, dysentery, and cholera. During his years in Bengal, he and his family tolerated inhabitable conditions, disease, grief, and wild animals. He buried 2 wives and one young child in the field.

• Williams Carey was best known for penning the original translations of the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit, and parts of it into 29 other languages and dialects.
• Carey was co-founder of Serampore College and a member of the Baptist Missionary Society.
• One Famous Quote of William Carey is: “I can plod, I can persevere to any definite pursuit.”

Dr. Jerry Falwell (1933-2007)

Dr. Falwell had a vision to train young people for Christ. He was a faithful husband, father, and grandfather, as well as a servant for the Lord. In 1985, he hoped to seeLiberty University train 50,000 students. Today more than 70,000 students are enrolled in onsite and offsite classes, thereby fulfilling his vision. Dr. Falwell often took heat for his pro-life, pro-family, and favor for a national defense stance but stuck to his guns. He was a strong supporter of seeing Ronald Reagan elected as President of the United States.

• Dr. Falwell was best known for his radio and television ministry “Old Time Gospel Hour” and as the founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.
• Dr. Falwell was also the founder of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA.
• Dr. Falwell often said that his heart was to “train young Champions for Christ.”

Rev. Billy Graham

Billy Graham is an Evangelist, best known for his televised crusades. He preached the message of Christianity for forty years. He was advisor to several American Presidents. It is believed that he has led thousands to profess Jesus Christ as personal Savior.

• Rev. Graham is best known for his worldwide evangelist crusades.
• Rev. Graham is founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).
• Rev. Graham once said: “It is not the body’s posture, but the heart’s attitude that counts when we pray.”

Rev. Jesse Jackson

As a civil rights activist and minister, Rev. Jackson has been in the limelight for both for his accomplishments and for his controversial stand on popular political topics. He was with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at his march in Selma, Alabama. And in the 1980s, he became the leading spokesman for African Americans.

• Rev. Jackson is best known for his civil rights activism but also twice ran for President of the United States.
• Rev. Jackson is founder of Rainbow/PUSH Coalition whose goal is to seek equal rights for African Americans and women.
• One famous quote of Rev. Jackson is: “We must not measure greatness from the mansion down but from the manger up.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) 

Dr. King’s birth name was Michael Luther King and he later changed his name to Martin. He followed his grandfather and father as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. This strong Christian and civil rights activist led peaceful marches in several southern towns where Negro Americans were unequally treated. He was the youngest man ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and he donated the over $50,000 prize money to further his civil rights cause.^[4] He was assassinated in 1968.

• Dr. King was best known for his civil right activism, which cost him his life.
• Dr. King was founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA, and Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL.
• Dr. King once said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” 

Dr. John Vernon McGee (1904-1988) 

Dr. McGee pastored churches in Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas before settling at the Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles, California, where he first aired “High Noon Bible Class” on a little radio station. When he retired from the church, his radio ministry exploded and he began teaching “Thru the Bible,” reaching more than 400 stations in the United States and Canada daily. It soon was broadcasted in more than 100 languages and available worldwide on the Internet. His good ol’ fashioned expository teaching is as relevant today as it was in 1967 when he began the broadcast.

• Dr. McGee is best known for his deep southern drawl as broadcasted on the “Thru the Bible” radio show.
• Dr. McGee, better known as just “J. Vernon McGee,” is founder of “Thru the Bible,” and even though he has gone on to be with the Lord, his voice continues to broadcast the 5-year Bible study program.
• Dr. McGee once prayed: “Oh, God, help me to always preach so that it can be said, ‘I never knew Jesus was so wonderful.’” ^[5]

Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) 

Mr. Moody was a visionary and his success came because of his ability to choose the proper people to put into leadership. He had great dreams of getting rich in shoe sales, and as a young man was approached by his Sunday school teacher with the gospel of salvation. He accepted Jesus as Lord and from that time on devoted his life to serving the Lord. He was involved with the YMCA, Mission Sunday school, and even evangelized Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was a turning point in his devotion to God; it was that event that helped him to know that he needed to preach the Word of God to the world. His approach was nondenominational, and because of this, he was able to reach all peoples, regardless of religious ties, with the Gospel of Christ.

• D. L. Moody is best known as the Founder of Moody Bible Institute formerly known as the Chicago Evangelization Society
• D. L. Moody also opened Northfield Seminary for Young Women; Mount Hermon School for Boys; and Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions to reach Europe and South Africa ^[6]
• D.L. Moody once said: “Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal- a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.” 

Evangelist Lester Roloff (1914-1982)

Brother Roloff was saved when he was fourteen years old. He paid his way through Baylor University with four gallons of milk per day from his beloved jersey cow “Marie.” He became the Pastor of People’s Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1969 where he began his outreach to troubled teens and adults. He fought the state of Texas for eight years because he did not want the state to control his church ministries. He won that battle and the Lester Roloff homes continue today as an outreach of People’s Baptist Church.

• Brother Roloff is best known for his battle and protection of the People’s Baptist Church’s ministries in Texas.
• Brother Roloff is the Founder of Rebecca Home for Girls, Anchor Home for Boys, Lighthouse for Men and Boys, and the Jubilee Home for Women.
• Brother Roloff once said: “This is going to be the greatest day of my life” and it was — as his plane crashed and he went home to be with his Father in Heaven on November 2, 1982

Evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770)

Pastor Whitefield was a clergyman at the Church of England. He was small in stature but known for his huge preaching voice. He is said to be one of the greatest evangelists of all time^[7]. He was the spark of America’s 1st Great Awakening. If you do not know the history behind George Whitefield (pronounced “Whitfield”), you should read about it to learn that he had an amazing way of simplifying the message of Christianity to a very large population. He is a great contributor to our heritage.

• George Whitefield is best known as an aggressive evangelist who was the fire behind America’s Great Awakening.
• George Whitefield was the Founder of the movement called Methodism
• George Whitefield said: “The reason why the Son of God took upon him our nature was the fall of our first parents.”

The above article is taken from churchleaders.com

Continue

Top 10 Politicians of 2013

1. Xi Jinping

Holding three positions in China, Xi Jinping is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People Republic of China and Chairman of the central Military Commission is on the top of the list. He had also been the Governor of Fujian between 1992 to 2002. Xi is the fifth continuous leader from the family and has not been given up on his responsibilities, thus has started campaigns against corruption, continued with the economic policies, has an open view towards leadership and is still working on ‘Chinese Dream’. Standing firm and strong on his first position Xi is no less than his ancestors. 

2. Barack Obama

The 44th and the first ever African American President Barack Obama is yet again elected by the public of America in 2013 after he took place in 2009. He is a graduate of Colombia University and Harvard Law School; he worked as the Civil rights Attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of the Chicago School. Obama have served the best he can for the country and have had passed foreign policies alike to that, ending U.S military involvements in Iraq War, signed New Start arms control treaty with Russia and ordered U.S military involvement in Libya. Obama also came with the great improvement in Economic policies, Health care reforms and Domestic Policy. He was also ranked as second in the ‘9 World Leaders’ on the Global Post.

3. Imran Khan

A former cricketer turned Politician; Imran Khan is a philanthropist, cricket commentator, Chancellor at the University of Bradford, founding chairman of the Board of Governors of the Shaukat Khanam Memorial hospital and Research Center and the founder of Namal College (Mianwali).  Khan became the Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, a political party that emerged in 1996, whereas Khan served to be the representative of Mianwali from 2002-2007 but it was not until 2013 elections when he found a suitable position of his party in the country. A large number of supporters, especially youngsters in the country polled for their new heartthrob leader. Khan was voted as the Asia’s Person of the year by the Asia Society in 2012, in the same year he was put as third in the list of ‘9 World Leaders’ on the Global Post and Jinnah Award was also presented to him. Not only these but many number of awards from different countries was awarded to him for his skills and services. 

4. Hillary Clinton

Wife of Bill Clinton as we all know! Hillary Clinton is an American Politician and diplomat serving since 1978 when she first found herself in a chair of the first female of the Legal Services Corporation. She is the 67th United states Secretary of State from 2009-2013, Hillary Clinton has been awarded with number of Awards for her continuous work and services for Health, Women and specially children. To pull the U.S message out in the world she traveled in around 111 countries and used social media to spread her word of conduct.

5.c

Son of Kim Jong il, Kim Jong Un is the Supreme leader of North Korea. He has taken many titles until now on which he had been working and primarily serving his country after his ancestors, the titles are, First secretary of the Worker’s Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, First Chairman of the National Defense Commission of Korea and Supreme commander of the Korean’s People army. He came up to the leadership seat after his father’s death in 2009, He was announced to be ‘A Great Successor’ by the state television after his services and work for his country after his father and is known to be the youngest head of state at the age of 30 now.

6. Tayyip Erdogan

Since 2003 till now, Tayyip Erdogan is the 25th Prime Minister of Turkey. Graduated of an Islamic high school, Imam Hatip School, Tayyip has been the Mayor of an important city of Turkey that is Istanbul for four years, from 1994 till 1998. Tayyip had been banned from the political office and was sentenced to ten month prison, for reciting a poem to the public in the area of Siirt in Turkey, in just three months in jail he formed the Justice and development party (AKP) which became the most publicly supported party in its first year. He has been awarded with countless awards due to his services and work for the country, has also been on the list of ‘100 most influential people’ in 2004 and 2010. For his dedicated leadership to control tobacco in Turkey he has been given the World health Organization Award and has also been awarded with the highest award of the Pakistani state that is ‘Nishan-e-Pakistan’.

7. Angela Merkel

German politician, Angela Merkel has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005 is the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000 and is the only women to hold the position in both the places. She entered the field of politics in 1989 when she became the spokesperson of the East German Government. Angela is awarded with many awards some of which are, Vision for Europe award, Charlemagne Prize and B’nai B’rith Europe award. She has also been put on the ‘World’s 50 most influential figures’ in 2010.

8. Jacob Zuma

The President of South Africa Jacob Zuma takes the eighth rank on the list. Serving the country from 1977, Jacob had been elected as the president in the year 2009 by his party. He had been holding some corruption charges which were later declared as unlawful and despite of other charges he had full support from the people of the country and by his party workers too. He started serving in the National Executive Committee and later served the African National Congress for a long period of thirty years which afterwards lead him to become the President of the country.

9. Hassan Rouhani

Lawyer, Academic, cleric, diplomat, Iranian politician Hassan Rouhani is a recently elected as the President of the country. He has been the part of the politics since 1989 and since then has been serving Supreme National Security Council, Expediency Council, Center for strategic research and other political firms. After being registered in May, Hassan took a heavy lead in the elections and won in July. He said he will prepare a ‘Civil rights charter’ and improve the relations with West which he is likely to do, keeping an eye on his previous strong political career.

10. Bashar Al-Assad

Son of Hafez-al-Assad who ruled Syria for about 30 years, Bashar-al-Assad has been the President of Syria since 2000 after his father passed away. Graduating from the medical school the University of Damascus Bashar later worked as a physician in the Syrian Army. Despite of all the difficulties in the country Assad had been firm and strong at his position. He has fulfilled all the responsibilities of being a good leader to his country, like his late father. He makes himself to the top ten’s Tenth powerful politician of 2013.

The above article with images is taken from toptensworld.com

Continue

Top 10 Armored Personnel Carriers

Nr.1 AMV (Finland)

   The Patria AMV was developed in association with the Finish Defense Force. It revealed in 2001. This APC has some export success. Export operators are Croatia, Poland and Slovenia. Some other countries also ordered this armored vehicle.

   With maximum level of protection the front arc of the AMV withstands 30-mm armor-piercing rounds. Vehicle also has a top-class mine protection. It withstands blasts equivalent to 10 kg of TNT. Two uparmored Polish Army vehicles were hit in Afghanistan by RPG-7 rockets, however armor was not penetrated and vehicles managed to return to base.

   The baseline version is armed with remotely-controlled 12.7-mm machine gun, or 40-mm automatic grenade launcher.

   This APC is fitted with a powerful engine, developing 490 or 540 hp. The baseline variant is fully amphibious.

Nr.2 Piranha V (Switzerland)

 The Piranha V is the latest and most protected vehicle of the MOWAG Piranha line. The latest Piranha V is actually a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle. However its APC version is also available. It was revealed in 2010. The Piranha V is in service with Monaco.

   Vehicle has an all-welded steel armor hull with integrated add-on composite modular armor. With maximum level of protection the Piranha V withstands 25-mm armor-piercing rounds all-round. Vehicle has a double floor with a V-shaped hull and is well protected against landmines and IED blasts. It withstands a 10 kg anti-tank mine blast under any wheel. This APC is also available with active protection system.

   In APC configuration this vehicle is proposed with 12.7-mm machine gun, or 40-mm automatic grenade launcher.

   The Piranha V is fitted with a powerful engine, developing 580 hp. It has good off-road mobility due to its height-adjustable semi-active hydropneumatic suspension.

Nr.3 Kodiak (Canada)

The Canadian LAV III Kodiak is a license-produced version of the Swiss MOWAG Piranha III. It entered service with Canada in 1999. The Kodiak has been exported to New Zealand. Its modified version, the Stryker is in service with US Army.

   A ceramic add-on armor kit provides all-round protection against 14.5-mm rounds. Some sources claim, that front arc of the Kodiak with add-on armor withstands 30-mm hits. This armored vehicle has a strengthened bottom for improved protection against landmines and IED blasts.

   The Kodiak is armed with a turret-mounted 25-mm chain gun and coaxial 7.62-mm machine gun. Its derivative Stryker is not that well armed.

Nr.4 Terrex (Singapore)

The Singaporean Terrex is one of the latest and most advanced armored personnel carriers. It entered service with Singaporean armed forces in 2006.

   Maximum level of all-round protection is against 14.5-mm armor-piercing rounds. Vehicle has a double V-shaped hull, which deflects mine blasts away from the vehicle. The Terrex can withstand up to 12 kg TNT explosion under the hull and the vehicle still keep on moving.

   The baseline version is armed with remotely-controlled 40-mm automatic grenade launcher and coaxial 7.62-mm machine gun. Alternatively it can be fitted with remotely-controlled 12.7-mm machine gun.

   The Terrex is fitted with a powerful engine, developing 400 hp. The Terrex is exceptionaly mobile due to its powerful engine and advanced Timoney independent suspension system. This APC is amphibious.

Nr.5 Boxer (Germany/Netherlands)

The Boxer is one of the latest and most advanced armored personnel carriers. It was jointly developed by Germany and Netherlands. As with all German vehicles it is well engineered and reliable.

   It is a truly modular vehicle with interchangeable snap-in modules. It uses a single chassis for different purposes, including infantry carrier, command vehicle, ambulance, supply carrier and so on. Modules can be replaced in less than an hour. Some other armored vehicles are also claimed to be modular. However they never really exploit their modularity.

   Modular armor of the Boxer is made with special ceramic mix. Every mission module has it's own primary safety cell. It is claimed that front armor withstands 30-mm rounds. All-round protection is against 12.7-mm fire. Damaged armor slabs can be easily replaced in field condition. The triple hull floor is shaped for maximum protection against anti-tank mines. Also this APC  has low radar and acoustic signatures, making it harder to detect.

   Despite being well protected the standard Boxer is armed only with remotely controlled 12.7-mm machine gun, or 40-mm automatic grenade launcher. There are some proposed versions with turret-mounted cannons.

Nr.6 Stryker (USA)

The Stryker APC is being produced in large numbers. It entered service with the US Army in 2003. Currently US Army operates over 4 000 of these armored vehicles.

   Maximum level of all-round protection with add-on armor is against 14.5-mm armor-piercing rounds. Vehicle has a strengthened undercarriage and can survive mine blasts. It is claimed that Strykers are superior to other APCs regarding survivability against IEDs.

   Strykers in APC configuration are armed with remotely-controlled 12.7-mm machine guns or 40-mm automatic grenade launchers.

   This APC takes advantage of high-tech information technologies. It is fitted with a battlefield information management system. It links up with other similarly equipped vehicles and command posts.

   The Stryker APCs operate in rapid deployment Stryker Brigade Combat Teams. Each brigade has more than 300 Strykers of all variants, including APCs, reconnaissance vehicles, 105-mm fire support vehicles, 120-mm mortar carriers, command vehicles, engineering vehicles, ambulances, ATGW carriers and NBC reconnaissance vehicles. These brigades can be airlifted and deployed anywhere in the world within 96 hours.

Nr.7 Pandur II (Austria)

The Pandur II is a further development of the previous successful Pandur APC. The Pandur II is also a commercial success. It is in service with Austria, Czech Republic and Portugal. Slovenia produces this APC under license. The Slovenian version, known as Krpan has some improvements.

   Maximum level of all-round protection with add-on armor is against 14.5-mm ammunition. The baseline version has a flat bottom though, which do not protect well against landmines.

   The baseline version is armed with a 12.7-mm machine gun. There is a wheeled IFV version, armed with a remotely-controlled 30-mm cannon.

   Some variants of this APC are fully amphibious.

Nr.8 AV8 (Turkey)

 The AV8 armored personnel carrier was developed in Turkey by FNSS to meet a Malaysian Army requirement. It evolved from the Turkish Pars, which in turn was developed by American GPV. First vehicles were delivered to Malaysia in 2013.

   Front arc provides protection against 14.5-mm armor-piercing rounds. All-round protection is against 7.62-mm armor-piercing rounds. Vehicle has a V-shaped hull and withstands blasts equivalent to 8 kg of TNT under any wheel and 6 kg under the hull.

   The most numerous version of this APC is fitted with a 30-mm cannon and coaxial 7.62-mm machine gun. Some APCs will also have anti-tank guided missile launchers.

   Vehicle is fitted with a powerful engine, developing 523 hp. It seems that the AV8 has the same sophisticated active suspension, used on the GPV armored vehicles and the Pars.

Nr.9 BTR-4 (Ukraine)

The Ukrainian BTR-4 gradually evolved from the Soviet BTR-80. Ukrainians managed to fix a lot of design flaws of its predecessor. First APCs were delivered to Ukrainian Army in 2009. The BTR-4 also received substantial export orders from Iraq, Kazakhstan.    This armored vehicle has a different layout, comparing with Soviet and Russian 8x8 armored personnel carriers. The main drawback of the Soviet APCs was a rear-mounted engine. Troops have to leave the vehicle through the side doors, thus being exposed to enemy fire. The BTR-4 has engine and transmission mounted in the middle and troop compartment at the rear. Its layout is similar to that of Western design.    A baseline version provides all-round protection against 7.62-mm ball rounds and artillery shell splinters. It seems that the front arc withstands 12.7-mm rounds. Add-on armor can be fitted for improved level of protection. Vehicle also withstands 6 kg anti-tank mine blasts.    This armored personnel carrier is available with numerous weapon modules, armed with 23-mm or 30-mm cannons, and often anti-tank guided missiles.    The BTR-4 is fitted with a powerful engine, developing 500 hp. Vehicle is fully amphibious. Nr.10 BTR-82 (Russia) \    The BTR-82 is the latest variant of the BTR-80 series of 8x8 wheeled armored personnel carrier. It was revealed in 2009 and entered service with the Russian Army in 2011. It has been exported to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.    The previous BTR-80 offers all-round protection against 7.62-mm rounds. Its front arc withstands 12.7-mm rounds. It is claimed that protection of the new BTR-82 is slightly better. However add-on armor kit is not available. Protection against landmines has been improved over the predecessor. Overall protection of the BTR-82 is rather poor comparing with the latest Western APCs.    The baseline version is armed with externally-mounted 14.5-mm machine gun. There is also a BTR-82A, armed with a 30-mm cannon.    However the BTR-82 inherited some design limitations, such as rear-mounted engine. Because of such layout ambushed troops have to leave the vehicle via side doors, under direct enemy fire.    Unlike many Western rivals this APC is fully amphibious. On water it is propelled by a rear-mounted waterjet.

The above article and images are taken from military-today.com

Continue

TOP 10 most popular people ever

1:Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh[PBUH]

c. A.D. 570–632

Google searches: 13.6 million+ per month

Number of books: incalculable

To non-Muslims, Muhammad founded Islam. To Muslims, he did not found anything, because the religion, called Islam, was already there, and had to be restored to its proper maintenance. Muslims believe that Muhammad restored the religion and unified it under the philosophies God imparted to him in revelations he wrote down. These became the Q’uran. Islam is the Arabic noun for “a surrendering,” or “a yielding,” in this case to the will of Allah. Muhammad was born about A.D. 570 in Makkah (Mecca), Saudi Arabia. He had 13 wives, which is acceptable and encouraged in Muslim cultures.

Muhammad’s status as second most famous person in history is especially remarkable given that it is illegal according to Islamic law to depict Muhammad in any way (which is why you don’t see him in the above picture). That law dictates that Muhammad is the last prophet to have been sent by God to teach mankind the ways of peace and righteousness, and that he is too holy to be viewed by our sinful eyes. For this reason, very few films have been made about him. The most notable was The Message (1977), the premiere of which incited suicide bombings throughout the Middle East and protests around the world, until everyone realized that Muhammad is not actually depicted; rather, the camera’s point of view represents him: the film is seen through his eyes.

If you’d like to know, there is nothing in the Q’uran that states, “To kill Americans, both civil and military, is the duty of every Muslim who is able.” That nonsense was concocted by various Middle Eastern leaders over the years, mostly in the last half of the 20th Century and beyond. These leaders know full well that knowledge is power and have done their level best to hoard literacy education from the public. The literacy rate in Yemen is currently about 70%, which is terrible compared to “more civilized” countries like the USA, England, Germany, and Japan. And because the Middle Eastern Muslim public largely cannot read the Q’uran, the governments disseminate anti-American, anti-Western lies to indoctrinate them into hatred.

Muhammad died on 8 June A.D. 632 in Medina, Saudi Arabia, having united the whole of the Middle East under a single God, whose name is Allah. There are many spellings of Muhammad, including Mohammed, Moammar, Mehmet, Mahomet, and others. Because of him, Muhammad is the most common given name in the world, with about 200 million carriers. “Muhammad” means “praised.”

If you anticipated Muhammad, you probably anticipated the next entry.

2:Jesus of Nazareth[MAMUH]

c. 5 B.C.–c. A.D. 28

Google searches: 24.9 million+ per month

Number of books: incalculable

There’s really no need to explain just what the four Gospels say Jesus did to become famous, but in the interest of fairness, here are the claims: he was born to a virgin, died at about the age of 33 sometime around the year A.D. 33 (plus or minus 5), the most famous victim of crucifixion, and rose from the dead on his own power 3 days later, ascended into Heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father as a manifestation of that God’s only offspring. You can look up the various miracles attributed to him. There are just over 7 billion people on Earth as of this list, and just about one-third precisely, 33.32%, of them, worship Jesus as “the Christ of God.” We may fairly say that these 2.33 billion people know very well who he was/is, and specifics about his life.

It is also indisputable that those followers of Islam and Judaism both know perfectly well who he was. There are some 1.75 billion Muslims on Earth today, or 25% of the global population, and since Jesus is venerated as a very important prophet of their religion, to whom they say Muhammad spoke when he sprang to Heaven on a horse, Jesus is certainly not unknown to them. There are about 1.3 billion atheists the world over, and at least 98% of those people certainly know all about Jesus. It is highly possible that the only people on Earth who have no idea who he was, or anything about him, are those people who belong to the 100 or so primitive, uncontacted tribes remaining around the world, the most well known across the Internet of which are the Envira people of the Brazilian-Peruvian border area, deep in the Amazon Jungle. They have been photographed from helicopter. It is doubtful they know of Jesus, or Muhammad, or anyone else on this list, as they are 100% isolated from the rest of the world’s societies.

Google claims that 129,864,880 books have been written and bound throughout human history and which still survive in book form in some library in the world. That is not as high a number as you might have expected, but we are speaking of different volumes, so only one of the 25 million copies of the Bible printed every single year counts toward this total. Out of these c. 130 million books, it is estimated that 40% are about Jesus. This percentage includes books about Christianity in general, whether evangelical (or anti-evangelical) or historical. Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion focuses on God in general, but pays special attention to Christianity, as any atheist apology must, since Christianity is the most popular religion, and thus Dawkins’s book counts as 1 book about Jesus, as it counts as 1 book about Muhammad. So there are some 52 million different books circulating the world right now that are in some way concerned with Jesus, the man who may have lived, who may have walked on water, and risen from the dead. The Gospel of John, one of the 52 million books written about Jesus, ends with this passage: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

Just missed the cut (many): Confucius, Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Jack the Ripper, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, and more.

3:Abraham[MAMUH]

c. 1812–c. 1637 B.C.

Google searches: 9.1 million+ per month

Number of books: c. 2 million

The google searches for Abraham the Old Testament prophet are not as reliable as those for Moses or Adolf Hitler, since quite a few famous historical or fictitious people have been named Abraham. The top three most famous are Abraham of the Bible, Abraham Lincoln, and Abraham van Helsing. But if you were to go, say, the Philippines, and ask the first passerby who Abraham Lincoln was, they might actually not know. Among well over 99% of the world’s cultures and societies, you will not have that problem when asking about the prophet called Abraham.

He is revered by all three monotheisms, as well as Baha’i, as a prophet, and one of the first, if not the first, persons of the Middle East to believe in a single God. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are referred to as “the Abrahamic religions.” In the Bible, God makes a covenant with Abraham because of his devout, unswerving faith in God, while everyone around him follows the newest god to take everyone’s fancy. This covenant is marked by circumcision. God then tests the conviction of Abraham’s faith in him by demanding that he kill his firstborn son, Isaac, to glorify God. Abraham does not hesitate, but takes Isaac up to the top of a mountain and is about to kill him when an angel arrives and tells him to stop. God is immensely impressed and blesses Abraham with fruitfulness: he will be the father of many nations.

Today, Abraham is precisely that. Muslims believe that it was not Isaac, but Ishmael, his other son, whom God told Abraham to sacrifice, and Muslims believe that Ishmael’s lineage led to the next entry. The site of the near sacrifice is traditionally deemed to be where the Dome of the Rock sits today. This shrine is sacred to all three Abrahamic religions.

4:Moses[MAMUH]

c. 1300–c. 1180 B.C

Google searches: 2.7 million+ per month

Number of books: c. 8 million

Moses is revered but not worshipped by all three major monotheisms, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as Baha’i. He is regarded as the greatest prophet of the Old Testament; the liberator of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt; their leader into Canaan, the Promised Land; and their lawgiver, who relayed God’s commandments to the Jews, and founded much of Jewish life and tradition.

The Pharaoh’s daughter, usually named Bithiah, found the infant Moses in a basket floating in the Nile and took him as her own son. She named him after the Hebrew verb “to draw,” since she drew him out of the river. No information is given on Moses’s life, except that he was raised in the Egyptian noble household, and that one day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and saved the Hebrew by killing the Egyptian. He then hid in the wilderness, and met Jethro, who was a follower of the precursor faith to Islam.

Jethro gave him Zipporah, his daughter, to be his wife, and Moses met God for the first time, who showed himself in the form of a burning bush. Moses then bravely returned to Egypt and, with God’s help, forced the Pharaoh to let his people go. Moses was about 80 years old when this Exodus began. They wandered the desert wilds for 40 more years, received God’s law through Moses, built an ark into which the law was placed, and finally reached a land flowing with milk and honey, which God promised them. Moses, however, had acted arrogantly when he struck the stone from which water sprang for the Israelites, and so God refused to allow him entrance into Canaan. Moses died at 120 years and God buried him in the Moab valley opposite Mount Nebo. There is a memorial to him there today.

5:Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

c. 563–c. 483 B.C.

Google searches: 4 million+ per month

Number of books: c. 7 million

You might be surprised to know that most of the people who google Buddha are not Buddhists. In the Western Hemisphere and throughout Europe, Buddhism is not as well understood as the three major monotheisms. A few clarifications:

Gautama was probably born in Kapilavastu or Lumbini, Nepal in about 563 B.C., about 24 years after Babylon sacked Jerusalem. Gautama was a mortal man who attained Nirvana, or spiritual awakening and peace of mind, at the age of 35, while seated under a Pipal tree, now referred to as the Bodhi tree, in Bodh Gaya, India. The tree growing there now was planted in 288 B.C. from a seed of the original. Buddha sat in meditation for 49 days until he attained the knowledge of how to thoroughly end suffering for all people on Earth. The people do have to follow his teaching in order to free themselves from the various griefs of life.

This is called the Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right concentration, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness. If you hold to all these, you will be able to put away all worries and you will be truly happy and unaffected by anything. Buddha rejected the notion of any literature being infallible, and argued that truth must be experienced to be known.

Gautama, the Supreme Buddha, is worshipped in Hinduism as well, as one of the ten representations of Vishnu, who is the god above all others. Baha’i also venerates Gautama as a mortal manifestation of God, who descended to teach mankind to love one another and how to be happy. Gautama is traditionally said to have died in about 411 B.C., at the age of 150 or so. Modern scholars place his death at about 483, at the age of 80.

6:Paul the Apostle of Tarsus

c. 5–c. A.D. 67

Google searches: 3.35 million+ per month

Number of books: c. 7 million

Paul is quite possibly more responsible for the dissemination of Christianity, its ideals, theology, and principles, than anyone else. He is venerated in all branches, as a saint in many, or at least as a profoundly respected teacher, preacher, and the chief Christian apologist. And he did all this via 13 letters to various churches and people throughout Asia Minor.

He was the first person to write anything that was later canonized into what we call the New Testament. He probably wrote his first epistle, to the churches in Galatia, in about A.D. 50, give or take 5 years. Mark wrote his Gospel 5 to 10 years later. Paul’s theological thesis throughout his 13 or so Epistles is a more detailed statement of Jesus’s philosophy of ethics and salvation given in the Gospels. Paul’s central point is that all you have to do is believe that Jesus is the Son of God, Savior of the world, rose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven, and you will not die. Your transition may be painful, but you’ll go to Heaven.

If that’s all you have to do, as most people have accepted his teaching, it’s obvious why Paul’s brand of evangelism caught on so quickly, firmly, and widely. He is far more immediately known than any of the Twelve Apostles, only rivaled, through the fame of the popes, by Peter. By his death, he permanently cemented his legacy for the ages: he was arrested in Rome for inciting political discord and beheaded south of the city center, at what is now San Paolo alle Tre Fontane, or the basilica of Saint Paul at the Three Fountains.

7:Adolf Hitler

1889–1945

Google searches: 6.1 million+ per month

Number of books: c. 175,000

We have covered Hitler many times on Listverse, but rarely from a somewhat historiometric perspective. We all know that he remains the primary cause of WWII. He instigated it to suit two profound desires: to become the most powerful person on Earth, preferably in history, if not to rule the whole world; and, for his own enjoyment, to cause as much pain as possible against all those he deemed responsible for Germany’s humiliating and miserable defeat in WWI, and its squalid poverty between the wars. Germany was forced to pay every other nation’s wartime expenses after the First World War, and this utterly destroyed Germany’s economy. The Deutschmark became so worthless that children burned millions of them at once to keep warm in the streets.

The Jews, meanwhile, largely kept their money in gold and jewelry, safe in international banks. Gold and diamonds do not depreciate, and Hitler seized on his own hatred of the Jews’ prosperity in the Interbellum to sway as many people to his side as possible. Add to this a supreme mastery of oratory, and history is about to suffer a severe catastrophe. WWII resulted in more deaths than any other war, up to 71 million, and Hitler is the most to blame. He knew and was not ashamed. He was despised and happy about it.

He is routinely listed alongside the following names on lists of the most evil people, real or fictitious, in history, especially those of public polls: “the Devil;” “Satan;” “Lucifer;” “Stalin.” The current US President (whoever it is) is usually next, although recently elected popes can unseat him. It can be argued that Hitler shaped the 20th Century more than any other person, except possibly Einstein, and Hitler is the only person of the 20th or 21st Century on this list. Quite an impressive ranking to have been dead for only 68 years.

8;William Shakespeare

1564–1616

Google searches: 7.4 million+ per month

Number of books: c. 1 million

The man with the lion’s share of the percentage of votes for greatest writer in English or any language in human history is sure to be the source for quite a few words and phrases now common in his native language. A good 50% of common English phrases come from the King James Bible, and possibly 30% of the rest come from the Bard. If you’ve ever said, “It’s all Greek to me;” “food for the gods;” “all that glitters is not gold;” “a sorry sight;” “dead as a doornail;” “come what may;” “with one fell swoop;” or “all’s well that ends well;” then “by Jove” you’re quoting Shakespeare.

Egil Aarvik, of the Committee for the Nobel Prize, once said that Shakespeare would have been the only person in history to win more than one prize for his literature. There is no rule against this, and had he lived into the 20th Century, his plays would have certainly deserved one, but his sonnets alone are worth the bodies of work for which other laureates have been honored. What is the most famous quote in all of English literature? Probably “to be or not to be.”

What’s most impressive about his fame is that we know very little at all about Shakespeare himself, the man and his life. He only had a grammar school education and worked as an actor before becoming a playwright. What makes Shakespeare so great is his seamless blend of the finest poetry, profound, multifaceted philosophy, and a lively wit. Do it one time and you’ll win quite a few awards and be thought a great writer. Shakespeare did it 37 times, and that doesn’t account for his 154 sonnets, the bulk of the English repertory. Hamlet and King Lear are universally acclaimed masterpieces, benchmarks against which all other drama, before and after, is judged.

9:Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

1452–1519

Google searches: 4 million+ per month

Number of books: c. 600,000

Google searches can be inaccurate, which is why they are only half the criteria for judgment. If you search “leonardo,” you’ll get a lot of pages about ninja turtles and people who drowned on Titanic. But if you type da Vinci’s full name, you’ll quickly see why he is world renowned. He could do anything. He has possibly the greatest resume in history. Imagine if you could put the following on yours and then make good on all of it at an interview:

Engineer, inventor, anatomist, architect, mathematician, geologist, musician, cartographer, botanist, writer, sculptor. You name it, da Vinci was into it. He invented the sniper rifle, although it was not rifled: he just bolted one of his refracting telescopes onto a wheellock musket and shot people from 1,000 yards. He probably invented the wheellock musket, too. He invented the parachute about 300 years before Louis-Sebastien Lenormand claimed the honor in the late 1700s. Da Vinci’s design is not known to have been tested until 2000. It worked perfectly. he invented the hang glider about 400 years before it really took off. His design was based on a bird’s wings. He gave the helicopter quite the college try, but couldn’t figure out a sufficiently powerful method for getting it airborne. He was the first to understand the concept of spinning helical blades tilted at just the right angle pulling an object up into the air.

He invented the tank, which was propelled via men turning a crankshaft inside and fired cannon in all directions. He invented the mitrailleuse about 400 years before the French. It is a precursor to what we consider a machine gun, with multiple barrels firing all at once. Da Vinci invented the pivoting scissors by bolting two knives together for shearing cloth.

His sculptures are not as well known as those of Michelangelo, but da Vinci envisioned a gigantic horse sculpted out of poured bronze, which was impossible to make with the technology of his day (the sculpture would have broken apart under its own weight). But it was completed in 1998 and there are three models of it around the world, one in Milan, Italy, one in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, and one based in Florence, Italy that is shipped around the world for display. They are 24 feet high and the largest horse statues ever constructed.

Da Vinci was also a pretty good painter.

Sir 10:Isaac Newton

1642–1727

Google searches: 1 million+ per month

Number of books written about this person: c. 400,000

The discoverer of the calculus just edged out Albert Einstein for the 10th spot. Google searches alone would have netted Einstein a place on the list, at 6.1 million searches per month, but many more books have been written about Newton. Einstein is on track to break his record in far fewer than 286 years, but even then, Einstein would have had no foundation on which to base his theories of Relativity had Newton not existed. 95% of all classical mechanics is built on Isaac Newton alone.

He generalized the binomial theorem, invented the reflecting telescope, coined the word “gravity” and gave the Roman Catholic Church’s self-important hegemony over geocentrism its final knockout blow. Copernicus and Galileo had to face inquisitions, but no one ever attempted to reproach Newton’s Principia Mathematica. Perhaps arguing against someone else’s observations is inane enough, but arguing against math itself was in Newton’s case, impossible. He proved the former two’s theories on heliocentrism, and explained why and how every single macroscopic object in the entire Universe moves as it does. He did all this by himself and still had time to investigate elements and principles of optics, and invent the pet door, although he was too busy ever to have sex. He died a virgin at 84.

This article and images are taken from listverse.com

Continue