A sheriff walks into a saloon and shouts for everyone's attention. "Has anyone seen Brown Paper Jake?" "What's he look like?", asks one shoddy-looking cowboy. "Well", replies the Sheriff. "He wears a brown paper hat, a brown paper waistcoat, a brown paper shirt, brown paper boots, brown paper pants, and a brown paper jacket." "So what's he wanted for?", asks the same cowboy. "Rustlin'."
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Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in money and you may have it taken from you; but trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity. - D.L. Moody
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“We can all pray. We all should pray. We should ask the fulfillment of God’s will. We should ask for courage, wisdom, for the quietness of soul which comes alone to them who place their lives in His hands.” --Harry Truman
One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read: "I am blind, please help."
A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it.
He returned the sign to the blind man and left. That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins.
The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if it was he who had rewritten his sign and wanted to know what he had written on it.
The publicist responded: "Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently." He smiled and went on his way.
The new sign read: "Today is Spring and I cannot see it."
[from Kim Klaver's blog on marketing and writing: http://kimklaverblogs.blogspot.com/]
It is interesting to note that the term "Heresy-hunter" is hardly new, as this excerpt from an essay of 1910 notes.
HERESY-HUNTING.
Some people have very confused ideas about hunting for heresy, and about Christian liberty. If a man advances and seeks to propagate teaching which I regard as very injurious, if not ruinous, and I assail it with vigor, such vigor as he feels unable to resist on the merits of the question, it is common for him and his friends to cry out, "Heresy-hunter! Heresy-hunter!" If a lot of us should go prying into some man's utterances to find something wrong, somewhat as [some] hounds kept up a yelping all night . . . we might be charged with hunting for heresy; but if those hounds had seen a fox coming out of some man's hen-roost, nobody would have objected to their giving him chase. The fox might cry out for personal liberty, and say, "I have just as good a right to take a chicken as you have to take a fox," nevertheless, the common judgment of mankind would say that to chase the fox away would be a righteous act. Out West there are bear-hunters. They go creeping around among the hills and rocks trying to slip up on a bear and take the advantage of him. In this they are like real heresy-hunters. But if a man is walking along the public road, and meets a bear reared on his hind legs, and reaching for him with his fore paws, there is bound to be a fight or a foot-race; and if the man should fight the bear, nobody could on this account call him a bear-hunter. The bear might say, "I am free, and have as much right on this road as you have," and the man could answer, "I am free, too, and have as much right on this road as you have." And if the man should also say, "You are after hugging me, and you hug everybody you can get hold of, so I will put a bullet through you," the average citizen would say that the man was in the right. So, if heresy does not want to be shot at, it should play sly and not walk out into the public road (J. W. McGarvey, "Short Essays in Biblical Criticism," 1910, pp. 383-384) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Our radio program is available on XM radio!
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Father J.L. Menezes knew Islam up close: as a missionary in India, he devoted his priestly life to introducing that nation's tens of millions of Muslims to Christianity. In The Life and Religion of Mohammed, he left us the record of his appeals: a frank, honest, and exhaustively researched exploration of the life of the "prophet" of Islam, the development and contents of the Koran, and an introduction to various Muslim sects.
Working from the earliest Islamic sources, Fr. Menezes provides a complete account of Mohammed's life, from his days as a simple merchant to his triumphs as a leader of armies and revered prophet. Menezes delved so deeply into his subject that he was even able to describe Mohammed's physical appearance. He explains why Mohammed couldn't possibly be a true prophet, and reveals the true sources of his "revelations."
Fr. Menezes could be writing about today's Muslim terrorists when he explains that "Mohammed posed as the apostle of God, the seal of the prophets; as the destroyer of idolatry; as preacher of one true God, and the reformer of morals: while his life is marked by innumerable marriages; and great licentiousness, deeds of rapine, warfare, conquests, unmerciful butcheries, all the time invoking God's holy name to sanction his evil deeds, ordering prayers and alms deeds and at the same time propagating Islam everywhere by fire and sword."
Turning to the Koran, Fr. Menezes delineates the distinctive teachings of Islam, explaining the elements of the Muslim holy book that make it so difficult for Muslims to convert to Christianity -- and showing how the Koran, when read honestly and without Islamic preconceptions, nonetheless depends upon and leads to Christianity.
The Life and Religion of Mohammed concludes with an "appeal to candor and common sense," inviting Muslims to think critically about their religion, and to embrace Christ instead. With Islam on the march everywhere and Muslims streaming into the U.S. in record numbers, the candor, common sense, and solid Christian faith of this book are needed more than ever.
Your guide into the dark mind of Mohammed includes:
The bizarre circumstances of Mohammed's "revelations": "it was a painful sight to behold the nervousness of his features, the distortion of his countenance and the anxiety of mind portrayed on his face"
How worldly ambition gradually blinded Mohammed's mind and overwhelmed his early searches for the true God
How Mohammed borrowed many of his ideas of Paradise from contemporary Jews and Christians -- and mixed them with base and lewd imaginings
How Mohammed again and again justified his rapine and licentiousness with new "divine revelations"
Why Mohammed adopted -- and later discarded -- many Jewish customs and ritual observances
Islamic tolerance: Mohammed let Jews and Christians live in his domains -- if they paid tribute and accepted second-class status
What the Koran really teaches about Christianity and Christ
What Mohammed learned from heretical Christian sects -- and incorporated into the Koran
The early history of Islam: just as bloody as the life of its founder
How the Koran doesn't limit Muslims to four wives, as is widely believed, but actually sets no real limit
Why the new religion Mohammed taught became so commonly identified with war and politics
The hard-to-find The Life and Religion of Mohammed