Head-dibs

Feds seize 'millions'– in gospel tractsSecret Service threatens evangelistin Texas with arrest for counterfeiting Posted: June 2, 20067:45 p.m. Eastern By Joseph Farah© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON -- Secret Service agents today threatened a Denton, Texas, evangelist with arrest for counterfeiting and seized 8,300 gospel tracts designed as "million-dollar bills." Three Secret Service agents visited the Great News Network offices about 1 p.m. asking staffer Tim Crawford if he was responsible for printing "the million-dollar bills." Crawford suggested they talk to his boss, Darrel Rudus, the founder of the organization that trains evangelists from around the country in the techniques of witnessing their faith. By telephone, Rudus offered his opinion that it was impossible to counterfeit something that wasn't real – a $1 million bill. Read the rest here . ((ROFLOL))

Wayne Mack says the problem of loneliness is epidemic. Psychiatrist Paul Tournier is quoted as saying that loneliness is “. . . the most devastating malady of this age.” Loneliness seems to know no bounds, affecting every person in any place at any time regardless of age, sex, or culture. [i] One is alone, cut off, without companionship. When God created man, He did so with relationship, companionship in mind. In the general description of the event as found in Genesis 1, God created man in His image, as a set (male and female) to rule and to fruitful and multiply in the context of his relationship with His creator. In the specific account as found in Genesis 2, we are able to zero in on some details: God created the man; God allowed man to be creative with language by naming the animals (God created with language, but in his image man was able to demonstrate rulership by doing something God did not, which was name the animals); God made the man a helper in order that he be not alone,...

Wikipedia on False advertising: “an act of deliberately misleading a potential client about a product, service or a company in general by reporting false or misrepresenting information or data in advertising or other promotional materials. False advertising is a type of fraud. False advertising is often a crime.” False advertising is sneaky and there’s a whole class of sneaky behavior that’s designed to move money from one pocket to another under false pretenses. These con games are often just greedy and dishonest, but can sometimes be clever and creative as well. While nobody likes to be conned, there seems to be enough people out there who are ready to do it. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Ever heard of the “Psychic” Mary Elaine Stevenson? She managed to convince some of her clients to bring her specific items including a spoonful of dirt and cash. After spreading the cash around the room, she’d declare that it was cursed and offer to dispose of it safely. I am certain that by no...

Is SETI—the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence—a religion? This is one of the topics that Jill Tarter, Director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute, and I discussed on "Are We Alone?", the SETI Institute's weekly radio program on Wednesday May 17. The discussion by Jill and I was in response to a claim made by George Basalla (professor emeritus of history at the University of Delaware) in his book Civilized Life in the Universe (Oxford University Press: 2006) that SETI is more of a faith-based enterprise than a genuine science. He points to SETI's failure to make "contact" after more than forty years of trying and its continuing efforts in the absence of any positive evidence as a sign that it relies more on a kind of religious zeal than anything else. (Incidentally, Basalla was invited to appear on the show but declined.) Read the rest here .

by Andre Rogers . May God bless the hearers and doers of His Word. Think about success, what is it, what does it look like? We miss God when we do all the right things for the wrong reasons. Psalm 1 is the blueprint for what it looks like to be blessed, fulfilled. Define “success”: it does not mean that you have the right stuff or attitude. Success is living by true obedience to the Word of God. I. Model God's Word (Verse 1) Don't take counsel from people who leave God out. And don't be like the ungodly, and give counsel that leaves God out. The ungodly have no foundation, no fellowship, no future but punishment (see verses 4-6). We hang around sinners to point them to Christ, not to let them transform us. The things of God are nothing to scoff or laugh at, no joking matters here. II. Meditate on God's Word (Verse 2) There are only two occasions we are to meditate on the Bible: day and night, not Sunday and Wednesday. Make our delight in what He says. Make it a "no...

The twelve apostles included “Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him ” (Matt. 10:4). "God can use even an apostate like Judas to teach us some important lessons. Judas is history’s greatest human tragedy. He had opportunities and privileges known only to the other disciples, but he turned from them to pursue a course of destruction. Yet even from his foolishness we can learn some important lessons. Judas, for example, is the world’s greatest example of lost opportunity. He ministered for three years with Jesus Himself but was content merely to associate with Him, never submitting to Him in saving faith. Millions of others have followed his example by hearing the gospel and associating with Christians, yet rejecting Christ. Tragically, like Judas, once death comes, they too are damned for all eternity. Judas is also the world’s greatest example of wasted privileges. He could have had the riches of an eternal inheritance but instead chose thirty pieces of silver. In that respect h...

"Oh, but anyway, Toto, we're home. Home! And this is my room, and you're all here. And I'm not gonna leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all, and - oh, Auntie Em - there's no place like home!" Friends, my "Dorothy" came home! Praise the LORD!

A few years back my wife, two of my children and me were in a horrible car crash. We were on our way to a friend’s house to pick up my two oldest daughters and to spend the rest of the evening in fellowship. My wife was driving our brand new GMC Safari, our baby daughter strapped in her car chair in the front, while I sat with our two-year old son in the very back seat. We turned from the highway onto the road that took us to our friend’s house. From the direction we were coming, the road made a “V”, curving off sharply to the left, while our friend’s house was straight ahead—as a matter of fact, we could see our daughters playing in the front yard up ahead. Suddenly, and without warning, a car came flying around the curve from our left and overshot the center line. My wife saw the car coming and (though we were going slow, from having just turned off the highway) began to move off the road onto the shoulder. The speeding car kept coming straight on and slammed into the front of o...

My Bible reading today caused me to consider a very serious, sobering thought about heaven, which was this: there’s going to be a lot of people there. Think about that for a minute . . . a lot of people. Who are those people? The Bible tells us those in heaven are those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! That’s who they are, people from whom all blemish and spot of sin has been removed! But who are those people on this side of heaven? They are the tax-collectors, the Zaccheus’s of our locale. They are the stinky, the dirty, the poor whom perhaps we have told to sit “over there,” out of the way, where we can’t smell them or look at them. We prefer to associate with people who draw crowds, not with those who chase crowds away. We like beautiful people. The truth of the matter is: heaven is going to be populated by people who don’t fit our preferences. Heaven is going to be filled with people God loves—without our consent. “Sunday Morning Worship” has become the most segregated hour of al...

A couple of months ago I was on the campus of USC sharing the gospel with students in "The Horseshoe." I was going through the law with this guy to point him to his need for Christ: he admitted he had broken the 9th and 8th and 3rd Commandment. When I asked if he had committed adultery, he said he had not. I pointed out that Jesus said that if you look at a woman so as to lust after her, that adultery had already been committed. He got extremely agitated and raising his voice fired back, “You can’t quote what Jesus said because his words are contained in a humanly written book that is filled with errors!” I wanted to ask him who wrote the textbook in his hand if he thought the author was right in the ever-changing flow of understanding. I didn’t. Instead, I held out my Bible and asked him to show me some of those errors. He stepped back and declined my offer. He sarcastically asked, “prove walking on water archeaologically!” I confessed I could not, but that’s why such events...

" Nathanael said to Him, 'How do You know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you .'" (Jn 1:48) “' Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?'” . . . From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, 'He told me all the things that I have done .'” (Jn 4:28, 39) ********** Searcher of hearts, from mine erase All thoughts that should not be, And in its deep recesses trace My gratitude to Thee. Hearer of prayer, O guide aright Each word and deed of mine; Life’s battle teach me how to fight, And be the vict’ry Thine. Giver of all—for ev’ry good In the Redeemer came— For raiment, shelter, and for food, I thank Thee in His Name. Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, Thou glorious Three in One, Thou knowest best what I need most, And let Thy will be done. (Words: George P. Mor­ris, 1838.)

The result of our recent move has put us within the boundaries of a changing neighborhood. A local church is fronting an initiative called “The Nehemiah Project” that includes affordable housing and cleaning up the neighborhood both aesthetically and spiritually. Though I think we are the only white people for quite a few miles, I actually delight in God’s providence for us to be in this area, though we are not part of that local church—I am sure He is going to do something great. I mentioned before about the party that took place next door: the loud music, the debauchery and language being broadcast without shame into the neighborhood. I was outside doing some gardening last night when I suddenly heard an eruption of profanity and abusive speech from two bickering females (I just can’t call them “ladies”) two houses down—yes, two houses down. About once a week they erupt and I shoo the children inside . . . I never have been able to tell what their problem is, but all the guys do ...

You're Confessions ! by St. Augustine You're a sinner, you're a saint, you do not feel ashamed. Well, you might feel a little ashamed of your past, but it did such a good job of teaching you what not to do. Now you've become a devout Christian and have spent more time ruminating on the world to come rather than worldly pleasures. Your realizations and ability to change will bring reverence upon you despite your hedonistic transgressions. Florida will honor you most in the end. Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid .

I may have already mention Aiken to you. He's the guy I met downtown a few weeks back. He was sitting on a bench listening to his CD player when I approached him with the gospel. He told me he was saved already, and an ordained pastor to boot! But the Lord prodded me not to let him go. I asked him what he understood about salvation. He told me he had received the Word of God into his life, so he was saved and he was happy; however, he was not going to church because he was mad at God because he was homeless, but he fellowships with God on a daily basis in the wind and the sunshine and rain, etc. I see Aiken every time I go to the park, just sitting there on the bench, listening to his CD player, mad at God and fellowshipping with Him, saved as a snug bug in a rug. Or is he? Just the other night I stayed up quite late while the neighbors celebrated a drunken, boisterous birthday party (most folks left at 2:00 a.m., but the debauchery continued until at least 4:00 a.m.), scre...

She loved it! The deep blue four-inch vase sat in her glass cabinet for thirty years until her death. I'm convinced that she loved it more every year she lived. She didn't have to say much about it. Just that fact that it sat there among other valuables and was dusted with cherished thoughts was enough. You could see mom having good memories. I remember when I bought that blue vase for mom. I was on a trip with a school group when we stopped at a truck stop. There on the shelf was the blue vase, and in my pocket was some of my very own money. I'm not sure, as a grade-school boy, that I had bought anything costing three dollars on my own before, but I didn't hesitate. I really wanted to buy it for mom. When mother died, I took the vase and put it in my own cabinet. It represents the unselfish, encouraging nature of my mother. She was always like that—making out that you were so special. She always told us that the four children were equally loved and appreciated, but I k...