THE ONE YEAR ILLUSTRATIONS CLUB

Bill Vaughan, NANA. A man put up a sign in his yard that read: "Puppies for Sale." Among those who came to inquire was a young boy. "Please, Mister," he said, "I'd like to buy one of your puppies if they don't cost too much." "Well, son, they're $25." The boy looked crushed. "I've only got two dollars and five cents. Could I see them anyway?" "Of course. Maybe we can work something out," said the man. The lad's eyes danced at the sight of those five little balls of fur. "I heard that one has a bad leg," he said. "Yes, I'm afraid she'll be crippled for life." "Well, that's the puppy I want. Could I pay for her a little at a time?" The man responded, "But she'll always have a limp." Smiling bravely, the boy pulled up one pant leg, revealing a brace. "I don't walk good either." Then, looking at the puppy sympathetically, he continued, "...

A Man Says God Told Him Trump Would Be President. Liberty U.’s Making a Movie About Him. By Megan Zahneis MAY 31, 2018 "The Trump Prophecy," a film produced by Liberty U. and a Christian filmmaker there, will be released this fall. Liberty University is producing a film about a man who says God told him that Donald J. Trump would be elected president, The Washington Post reports. The movie, The Trump Prophecy, is slated for nationwide release this fall. It follows the story of Mark Taylor, a former firefighter who says he received the divine prophecy about Trump in 2011. Its trailer depicts a Liberty theater professor playing Taylor in a montage of firefighting scenes, telling his captain that God was speaking to him. “God told me” When it comes true, we look like heroes and people are ready to make a movie about us; and when it doesn’t, we’re crazy‼!

You’re a little on the short side, no you’re too tall! You’re a little chubby; you’re a little too thin! You don’t make that much money, do you? You’re all about money aren’t you? You’re accused of being stupid so you study, apply your self become a “straight A” a student, now you’re a geek & teachers pet! Your teeth are crooked, your eyes are to big! Your eyes are too small; you look high all the time! Do you ever talk? Get a personality! She never shuts up, OMG! She’s sooooo ugly, she’s pretty and oh so stuck up! Loose some weight would you! Gain some weight would you! You’ll find in life, you’re not going to win. You’re either too rich or you’re too poor You’re either too ugly or too good looking! Of course when we come into the Church that all ends or does it? She’s carnal, don’t hang around with her! He’s Mr. spiritual stay away from him! You don’t seem to pray enough. You are told you dress like a slob, so you dress up and you hear ...

An unknown author once said, "As a boy, I thought of heaven as a city with domes, spires, and beautiful streets, inhabited by angels. Kind of surreal place, not one I envisioned my self living in for eternity. By the time my little brother died, I thought of heaven much more and as before, but now… with one inhabitant, that I knew. Then another died, and then some of my acquaintances, so in time I began to think of heaven as containing several people that I knew. But it was not until one of my own little children died years later and as I healed of that pain and agony, than I began to think I had treasure in heaven myself. No longer a celestial  Netherlands  inhabited by Angels, but a home that housed many people I loved. Afterward my mother went, who was a devout Christian, and yet another in Heaven. By that time I had so many acquaintances in heaven, that I no more thought of Heaven as a city merely with streets of gold but as a place full of inhabitan...

Herbert Spencer, a 19th century philosopher, promoted the idea of Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is an application of the theory of natural selection to social, political, and economic issues. In its simplest form, Social Darwinism follows the mantra of "the strong survive," This theory was used to promote the idea that the white European race was superior to others, and therefore, destined to rule over them. (THIS HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, AMERICA, IS THE WORLD SUPER POWER AND IS MULTI CULTURAL)  At its worst, the implications of Social Darwinism were used as scientific justification for the Holocaust. The Nazis claimed that the murder of Jews in World War II was an example of cleaning out the inferior genetics. Various other dictators and criminals have claimed the cause of Social Darwinism in carrying out their acts. In nature, the strong survive and those best suited to survival will out-live the weak. According to Social Darwinism, those with strength flourish and thos...

Mark twain shortly before his death wrote: "a myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle;...they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; ...those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. It (the release) comes at last--the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them--and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence,...a world which will lament them a day and forget them” This is a very grim and dire way, to think and live out, one’s existence on earth! “And they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence...” I’m sorry, I know I’m not a literary genius like Mark Twain, but I beg to differ with you, Mr. Twain. I am a chosen vessel for a chosen purpose. And so are you! 1 Chronicles 8:24 "yet the lord, the god of Israel, chose me from my whole family” What about you? Is God, the cruel designer that...

In the classic Disney animation, Alice in wonderland. Alice is in a conversation with Cheshire, the cat, Alice asked, "would you tell me please, which way i ought to go from here?" "that depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the cat. "I don't much care where," said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the cat. Many people approach their Christianity just like Alice, they are nomadic wanderers, not realizing, it really does matter, which way you go!

He once killed a man in a road rage incident. Now, he has died in one. The  Washington  Post © Courtesy of WTVT/Fox 13 Gary Durham in 2002, after he was charged with manslaughter in a road rage killing.  Durham  died Wednesday following another road rage altercation in  Florida . After a traffic mishap in  Florida ’s  Hillsborough   County  on Wednesday, Gary Lynn Durham got out of his car and exchanged heated words with another driver. Their argument ended violently, with  Durham  dying from a gunshot wound on the side of the road, police said.  When investigators dug deeper into the case, they found a sad twist:  Durham  had recently been released from prison for killing a man in road rage confrontation in 2001. Police say  Durham  punched a 48-year-old cancer survivor in the face at an intersection as the two men argued 15 years ago in  Tampa . The punch killed the man, Tim Gibbs, ...

How is  Israel , a 60 year old nation with a population of 7.1 million was able to reach such economic growth that “at the start of 2009, some 63 Israeli companies were listed on the nasdaq more than those of any other foreign country. How is it, that a country only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources, produces more than large, peaceful and stable nations like, Japan, China, India, Canada and the united kingdom.  Israel  is a very small country. It is smaller by half than  San Bernardino   County  in  California . It would sink in  Lake Michigan  without a trace. It has barely 8 million citizens. It has been in existence for just 60 years, but it is an economic powerhouse. In contrast to its Muslim enemies, who have virtually no indigenous industry, whose people are largely illiterate, but who have natural riches through their almost limitless petroleum resources,...

Little Johnnie’s mom came home from work and saw cookie crumbs on the counter that were not there earlier that morning before she left for work. Mother cried out to her son, “Johnnie, I want you to come downstairs now”. He came down the stairs, his head down, looking guilty as charged, she new little Johnnie had probably come home and ate a bunch of cookies and spoiled his appetite for dinner. The mom looked at Johnnie, she said, “you know what you did, don’t you!” “Yes, mommy”, replied little Johnnie. The mom said, “go on now, get out of here and do right”. “Yes mom”, replied little Johnnie. Later, after dinner, the mom went to her room and found $25 stuffed in her purse. She wondered, “what’s this?” she asked her husband, he said it wasn’t him. She asked her teenage daughter, maybe it was her. The daughter said it wasn’t her so finally she called out “Johnnie, I want you to come downstairs right now”. Little Johnnie came down the stairs, head down, looking guilty as charged Johnnie...

Ashley Madison is a Canada-based  online dating service  and  social networking service  marketed to people who are married or in a committed  relationship . its slogan is "life is short. have an  affair ." the website was launched in 2001. According to third-party  web analytics  provider  similar web , the site has more than 124 million visits per month,  as of 2015, and is ranked no. 18 among adult sites, the company received significant attention on July 15, 2015, after  hackers   stole all of its customer data —including names, addresses, sexual fantasies and credit card information—and threatened to post all the data online if Ashley Madison and fellow avid life media site establishedmen.com were not permanently closed. by July 22, the first names of customers were released by hackers, with all of the user data released on august 18, 2015. more data (including some of the CEO’s emails) was released on august 20,...

Filthy lucre indeed. It seems that paper money is a magnet for germs. A study presented at a meeting of microbiologists Wednesday concluded that most paper currency is contaminated with bacteria and could play a role in spreading disease. Dr. Peter Ender and colleagues at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, collected dollar bills (swapping new bills for old) from patrons of a high school stadium concession stand and of a local grocery store.  Of the 68 bills they collected and studied, only four were free of bacterial contamination. Five contained types of bacteria that can commonly cause infections in healthy people, including Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Fifty-nine bills held bacteria that can cause significant infections in people who are hospitalized or have depressed immune systems. These included various species of Streptococcus, Enterobacter, Bacillus and Escherichia vulneris. "One-dollar bills are widely used and each is exc...

Before the auction of the finest paintings, the painter put in his will that first the painting of his son would be auctioned. The painting was of no value, it seemed, and nobody wanted to bid. Everyone was there to bid low on one of the painters famous paintings and then sell high to make out. The auctioneer said before we get bidding for his famous works, the artist requested in his will, that before we bid for his famous works, we auction off the painting of his son he did, before he ever became famous.  The auctioneer began, “let’s start the bidding” but nobody would bid. One heckler yelled, “never mind the old man’s son, let’s get to the good stuff”.  The auctioneer stood his ground,  “I will not violate the request of the deceased artist, I will not start bidding on the other works until we start bidding on the son, now let’s get started so we can move on.” Silence, all across the auditorium….finally one man raised his arm and said, “$1.00 I’ll give you $1.00 f...

Walter M. is suing the Amateur Mixed Martial Arts, otherwise known as, "MMA" amateur league for false advertisement. Walter responded to an add he’d seen advertising for a volunteer for a fight that would be fixed, earning him $100.00 for 15 min fight, the add called for..."some martial arts experience and/or wrestling skills", $100.00 for 15 minutes. Walter responded to the add and upon further interview was told personally, the fight would be fixed, eventually his opponent would allow himself to be tied up into a choke hold and he would  tap out and he would win the fight. Walter had a yellow belt in Taekwondo and wrestled in high school so he thought, why not, $100.00 for 15 min, fixed fight, no brainer! Walter got into the ring on may 7th, ready to win a fight, start his MMA career and bring home an easy $100 until he got a round house kick to the head, he went down immediately and could not seem to get back up. His opponent was leaning over him, whispering, “yo...

USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was a  Portland  class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. She was named for the city of  Indianapolis ,  Indiana . Her sinking led to the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy. On 30 July 1945, after delivering parts for the first atomic bomb to the  United States  air base at  Tinian , the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58, sinking in 12 minutes. Of the 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 900 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks while floating with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. The Navy learned of the sinking when survivors were spotted four days later by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. Only 317 survived of the almost 1200 man crew. -After several days drifting at sea in a blazing sun, dying of thirst, many gave up the hope of being rescued; either drank sa...

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) -- The Missouri attorney general has filed two lawsuits against a television psychic hotline for false advertising, fraud and other unlawful business practices, alleging the company bilked consumers out of money and caused them significant injury. The hotline advertises services by Miss Cleo, who speaks with a  Caribbean  accent and promises psychic and tarot card readings. The commercial, which has been broadcast across the nation, offers to "find the answers for free" with the slogan "Keepin' it Real." "They should've seen it coming, whether they were psychic or not," state Attorney General Jay Nixon told CNN. "The fact that they didn't see it coming shows they aren't psychic."  In a suit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, Nixon charges Access Resource Services Inc., based in  Fort Lauderdale ,  Florida , falsely advertises that certain services -- like tarot readings and psychic readings -- are fre...

Soren Kiergaard was a prolific 19th Century Danish Philosopher and Theologian. He wrote this parable to describe the state of the church, it’s called “Duckland”. It was Sunday morning in Duckland, and all the ducks dutifully came to church, waddling through the doors and down the aisle into their pews where they comfortably squatted.    When all were well-settled, and the hymns were sung, the duck minister waddled to his pulpit, opened the Duck Bible and read: "Ducks! You have wings, and with wings you can fly like eagles. You can soar into the sky! Use your wings!" It was a marvelous, elevating duck reading from the Duck Bible, and thus all the ducks quacked their assent with a hearty "Amen!" . . . and then plopped down from their pews and…..waddled home.

Tullian Tchividian is the fourth Florida megachurch pastor to resign over an affair. A grandson of the influential evangelical pastor Billy Graham has resigned from the pulpit at a high-profile church in South Florida after church leaders discovered he was having an affair.  Tullian Tchividjian said that he returned from a trip a few months ago to find his wife having an affair, and that he in turn went on to a friend with whom he “sought comfort,” in a statement to the  Washington Post . “I resigned from my position at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church today due to ongoing marital issues.”  “Both my wife and I are heartbroken over our actions,” he said.  The pastor, 42, has three children with his wife, Kim. Tchividjian was widely considered a rising star in evangelical circles and is the fourth Florida megachurch pastor to resign after having affairs, according to thePost. Beauty either in men or women, often proves a snare both to themselves and others...

In his book “Saddam’s Secrets”, General George Sada One of the questions frequently asked to Sada was what was it like to stand before Saddam Hussein and actually hear him say, “George, I’ve decided that the air force will attack Israel and wipe her out with chemical weapons”.  ​ I was thinking of it in two ways, he told me. One, as a Christian, as a believer. Second, as a national officer that belonged to the IRAQI FORCES… .as a Christian, I could not accept this order to send two waves of fighters to attack  Israel , one wave through  Jordan  and one through  Syria . I knew the capabilities of the Israeli air force and their air defenses and their plans to destroy all aircraft coming from the east before entering the Israeli borders. So this means that bombs were mostly going to drop on  Jordan  and  Syria …but with 98 aircraft, some of them would still penetrate to  Israel ; just imagine as a Christian, the deaths that would result as...

It was not that King Henry VIII had a change of conscience regarding publishing the Bible in English. His motives were more sinister… but the Lord sometimes uses the evil intentions of men to bring about His glory. King Henry VIII had in fact, requested that the Pope permit him to divorce his wife and marry his mistress. The Pope refused. King Henry responded by marrying his mistress anyway, (later having two of his many wives executed), and thumbing his nose at the Pope by renouncing Roman Catholicism, taking England out from under Rome’s religious control, and declaring himself as the reigning head of State to also be the new head of the Church. This new branch of the Christian Church, neither Roman Catholic nor truly Protestant, became known as the Anglican Church or the Church of England. King Henry acted essentially as its “Pope”. His first act was to further defy the wishes of  Rome  by funding the printing of the scriptures in English… the first legal English Bible… jus...

Founded 1971, by Howard Schultz, with its first store at Pikes' Place Market in Seattle, now operates or licenses more than 8,000 retail coffee shops, know as Starbucks Coffee. Howard Schultz…Vision: Put a Starbucks in every city in the world. Working a minimum of 65 hrs per week! Howard Schultz has a vision; we see it coming to pass right before our eyes, in cities we live in all around the world. This is what Howard Schultz believes in and he has given his life to it. Christians for all we claim to believe and preach, the question remains, have we given ourselves to what we believe? If you look around, unlike Starbucks, we are not seeing the vision we preach, effectively actualized in the lives of those who claim it. Statistics shows that Churches who had the traditional 3 day services a week have had to shut down their Wednesday and Sunday evening services, simply because people are not coming. Where is our vision? A vision, a passion for something…it means we…Stay up late…It me...

I have here just a short version of  Francine   River ’s testimony ...Meanwhile, our marriage was falling apart. We thought being closer to family would help, but the only way to move to  Northern California  would be for Rick to start his own business. So we sold our home and gave away everything that wouldn’t fit in a small rental. Rick headed north and moved in with his parents while looking for an office. I stayed in  Southern California  until the children finished the school year. Only one rental was available, and Rick grabbed it. It didn’t take long to find out we had landed in between two Christian families. A boy of about eight was waiting to help us move in. We saw him as a pest; he turned out to be an evangelist. “Have I got a church for you!” he said. Neither of us was eager to go, but with the stresses of starting a new business, moving, and our marriage crashing and burning, I was desperate enough to try anything, even a small church un...

Rodney Sumter and Tim Tebow were high school teammates at Nease High in Ponte Vedra ( Fla. ). Tebow would go on to win two national titles and the Heisman Trophy.  Sumter  would play at  Jacksonville   University  and then move to  Orlando , working as a dancer and bartender. Sumter was tending bar at Pulse nightclub on the night of the massive shooting and has been recovering at Orlando Regional Medical Center after being shot three times and breaking both his arms, according to the  Florida Times Union  and what he has posted on his Instagram account. Among those who came to see him  in the hospital was Tebow. On his Instagram account,  Sumter  wrote: “My high school quarterback left the  Bahamas  to come and see me. Tebow has always been an awesome person.”  According to The Orlando Sentinel ,  Sumter  also posted a photo with  Orlando   City  captain Kaká, former baseball star Jo...

Today thousands of Muhammad’s followers are having dreams and visions of their own—experiences that rock their world. While political revolution avalanches throughout the  Middle East , tremors of spiritual change are also being felt on a widespread scale, especially within countries hostile to Christianity. Ironically, thousands of stories are emerging from around the world of Muslims being awakened to the gospel, literally from their dreams. Karima, a Muslim, dreamed she was in a car when it crashed. She was knocked out, but when she opened her eyes (in her dream), she saw that Jesus was the driver. “Come to me,” He told her, “I am with you. I love you.” That experience led her to seek out a Christian church, where she responded to the gospel. Omar had been locked up and tortured for years in a jail cell in a nation ruled by a dictator. One night a messenger visited him in a dream, telling him he would be set free. Within days he was released from prison and traveled to  Ame...

Having God's Word available to the public in the language of the common man, English, would have meant disaster to the church. No longer would they control access to the scriptures. If people were able to read the Bible in their own tongue, the church's income and power would crumble. They could not possibly continue to get away with selling indulgences (the forgiveness of sins) or selling the release of loved ones from a church-manufactured "Purgatory". People would begin to challenge the church's authority if the church were exposed as frauds and thieves. The contradictions between what God's Word said, and what the priests taught, would open the public's eyes and the truth would set them free from the grip of fear that the institutional church held. Salvation through faith, not works or donations, would be understood. The need for priests would vanish through the priesthood of all believers. The veneration of church-canonized Saints and Mary would be ca...

"My Dad.....he preached to me his whole life....on occasion, he even used words".  Often, you will find that the kids that go on to embrace the Faith of the Father are the kids who were not preached to and yelled at, through out their child hood, but those who had a Father who lived out his faith before their eyes, loved their mom and love them, that's a faith that is contagious. For kids that grow up in the home of a Pastor, the same is true, one young man wrote, "The greatest sermon I ever heard my father preach, was the one he lived".

Joe Theismann enjoyed an illustrious 12-year career as quarterback of the Washington Redskins. He led the team to two Super Bowl appearances--winning in 1982 before losing  in 1983 the following year. When a leg injury forced him out of football in 1985, he was entrenched in the record books as  Washington 's all-time leading passer. Still, the tail end of Theismann's career taught him a bitter lesson: I got stagnant. I thought the team revolved around me. I should have known it was time to go when I didn't care whether a pass hit Art Monk in the 8 or the 1 on his uniform. When we went back to the Super Bowl, my approach had changed. I was griping about the weather, my shoes, practice times, everything. The Raiders defeated the Redskins by the score of 38–9. The Raiders' 38 points and their 29-point margin of victory broke Super Bowl records; it still remains the most points scored by an  AFC  team in a Super Bowl.  Today I wear my two rings--the winne...

Gary Richmond, a former zoo keeper, had this to say: Raccoons go through a glandular change at about 24 months. After that they often attack their owners. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound dog in a scrap, I felt compelled to mention the change coming to a pet raccoon owned by a young friend of mine, Julie. She listened politely as I explained the coming danger. I'll never forget her answer. "It will be different for me. . ." And she smiled as she added, "Bandit wouldn't hurt me. He just wouldn't." Three months later Julie underwent plastic surgery for facial lacerations sustained when her adult raccoon attacked her for no apparent reason. Bandit was released into the wild and Julie was scarred for life.

I’ll never forget the day I just found out my husband was having an affair; I was cut to the heart like never before. This came only two weeks after finding out my 15 year old daughter was pregnant and then found out my husband was leaving me. And in the middle of that mess, I got myself fired from my job, can you blame me? How could anyone concentrate at work with all hell breaking loose in their life; like, what I was experiencing! I didn’t know what to do or who to turn too. I finally thought I would call my best friend Samantha. I just needed to talk to somebody, someone who could listen, someone who I could cry with. We sat down at the café where we regularly met, on the corner of Van Buren & Metcalf, unfortunately before I could speak a word, she started, “oh you won’t believe the week I've had, a week from hell, let me tell you", she said, “1st my hair dresser, Jean Pierre, I don’t know why I go to him, he over streaked my hair, “I told him, you fix it, and now look...

“My personal feeling is the teachings of Christ are more relevant now than they’ve ever been.” If you have even a surface-level knowledge of comedian, actor, writer and all- around provocateur Russell Brand , this is a shocking statement. Though in recent years he’s become more and more vocal about social justice issues, for much of his career, Brand has been known for his uniquely raunchy brand of shock comedy (This is the guy who once brought his drug dealer to work with him when he was an MTV VJ.). He continues: “When stripped of the cultural inflection of the time when it was first written and is variously being translated, there is an undeniable truth.” Yes, Russell Brand, that Russell Brand, believes the world needs Jesus’ message now more than ever. It’s something he thinks a lot about. Brand feels the world is profoundly broken. Technology, pop culture and social media have accelerated the worst impulses of human nature, and, in his view, never has there been a time in history ...