THE ONE YEAR ILLUSTRATIONS CLUB

In the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) it states: Desertion is punishable under art. 317 of Law 2306 by imprisonment for from 61 days to 5 years. If the desertion is in some way aggravated or occurs in wartime, punishment may be up to life imprisonment. The Code of Military Justice does not prescribe capital punishment, but in wartime deserters may be considered traitors and get sentenced to death by a war tribunal. [1] [4] In other words, this type of cowardice behavior, is reprehensible…… Nobody likes a coward, but even more surprisingly, we find that god, the all loving god, does not like cowards either. Rev 21:8 But the cowardly, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers and all liars--their doom is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. Many of us wouldn’t be caught dead committing any of those reprehensible sins, but the cowardly???  What is the coward doing in there?

During World War II, a military governor met with General George Patton in Sicily. When he praised Patton highly for his courage and bravery, the general replied, "Sir, I am not a brave man. . . The truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn't so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands." Years later, when Patton's autobiography was published, it contained this significant statement by the general: "I learned very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears."

Black Bart was a professional thief whose very name struck fear as he terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line. From San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier. Between 1875 and 1883 he robbed 29 different stagecoach crews. Amazingly, Bart did it all without firing a shot. Because a hood hid his face, no victim ever saw his face. He never took a hostage and was never trailed by a sheriff. Instead, Black Bart used fear to paralyze his victims. His sinister presence was enough to overwhelm the toughest stagecoach guard. How true this is, while we may not deal with Black Bart on a day to day basis, we do deal with mean people on mean streets, that God expects us to reach. It's interesting that when dealing with young Jeremiah and his future ministry God knew this was going to be an issue! Jeremiah 1:8 "Fear not their faces..."

W.A. Criswell tells of an ambitious young man who told his pastor he'd promised God a tithe of his income. They prayed for God to bless his career. At that time he was making $40.00 per week and tithing $4.00. In a few years his income increased and he was tithing $500.00 per week. He called on the pastor to see if he could be released from his tithing promise, it was too costly now. The pastor replied, "I don't see how you can be released from your promise, but we can ask God to reduce your income to $40.00 a week, then you'd have no problem tithing $4.00."

Stories told of a clever salesman who closed hundreds of sales with this one line, that never failed him: "Let me show you something several of your neighbors said you couldn't afford."

WHEN George Gordon Liddy, Watergate conspirator was released from prison he was quick to write an Autobiography in it he was quoted as saying, "I have found within myself all I need and all I ever shall need. I am a man of great faith, but my faith is in George Gordon Liddy. I have never failed me."

Nothing, it seems, is sacred anymore, including the baby Jesus. A rendering of the infant has been stolen from a creche in set up in the public square And in the days leading up to the theft, all the fingers on its right hand were broken off, except for the middle finger. Michel Beauregard, the curator of the large nativity scene ~arrived on Sunday morning only to discover that the figure had been pinched. "I know there are problems in society, but to steal baby Jesus is a cheap shot," he said "We put up the creche on Wednesday and the very next morning - it was gone. The life-size Mary, Joseph, Magi and animals have been vandalized repeatedly since the creche was put up last week. Joseph has a dent in his right forearm and his left hand is damaged. Mary had a stop sign placed in her hands. The donkey's left ear has been broken off. Blue spruce trees surrounding the figures have been knocked down, and people have been tramping on the light fixtures th...

There’s this add that runs on the internet, during Christmas Season. It's an add for a cute pair of socks. The feet are propped up and on the soles of the feet you can read: “If you can read this, leave me alone, I’m watching Hallmark movies” Well, it’s Christmas time and nobody has more movies on Christmas, than Hallmark. But the question is…..are they really Christmas movies? And the answer is “no”. They are not Christmas movies; they are love stories, merely based around Christmas season. And if you’re not falling in love at Christmas, they are downright depressing. The argument if you want to try to put one up, “well they’re about love, and God is love, so, there, they are Christmas movies‼! Well, there’s different types of Love, just to name a couple, there’s "Agape Love" (Unconditional Love) which is definitely God, but there is also Eros Love, from which we get the word “erotica” this is a Love of Romance & Intimacy, need I say more. We are satu...

Thomas g. Stemberg After 13 hours of site visits and meetings in four different states, you think Thomas G. Stemberg would be peaked. Indeed, the 54 year old founder of the staples office supply chain lets out a quiet grunt as he carries his suitcase up a flight of stairs to a Gaithersburg, MD. Hotel suite. But tuckered out? Stemberg, his shirt only half tucked in, is just getting started. He apologizes for his tardiness to two executives from oll y shoes, a children's shoe chain Stemberg co-founded in 2001. Still chairman of staples, Stemberg cut his workweek there in half, to 50 hours, after finally anointing a chief executive in February 2002. But he's still making good on his vow to visit every store around the world (1,200 down, 300 to go). We can criticize a man for what he has sold himself out for (Office supplies & shoes?), but the question to ask, before we criticize is...."what do I believe in?" and once you have that answer then you can answer the 2...

​"Ever heard of Shipwreck Kelly?" Ever heard of flagpole sitting? Well, at the height of his fame in 1930, the greatest flagpole-sitter of all, "Shipwreck Kelly", claimed he had spent a total of 20,613 hours "in cloudland". History records that he sat perched atop flagpoles on tall buildings he endured 14,000 hours of rain and sleet, 210 hours in temperatures below freezing, 47 hours in snowstorms. He climbed poles for more than 20 years. What are you doing with your life? Are you just "sitting around" or are you living it; doing something purposeful with it?!

     The Nixon Watergate scandal that had Richard Nixon impeached from office was based off of a number of illegal activities the Nixon administration was involved in, primarily one of an attempted break in, by five men, all of them caught, to try to steal some incriminating tapes the DNC had on Richard Nixon. Some of us, at the end of our lives are going to be wanting to attempt our own break in, to Heaven Central, to try stealing incriminating tapes on us, which have been recorded. Words we wished had not left our mouth! Matthew 12:37 “for we will give an account of every careless word that proceeds out of our mouths”      Where are those tapes? Safely in God’s hands; and if 5 professional burglars couldn't pull off a simple heist, I can tell you you’re not getting your hands on your tapes either. So you’d better start watching what you say. Especially when you’re tired, mad and frustrated. The verse goes on to say, “For by your words you will be acquit...

An unknown author once said, "As a boy, I thought of heaven as a city with domes, spires, and beautiful streets, inhabited by angels. By and by my little brother died, and I thought of heaven much as before, but 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 that I began to think I had treasure in heaven myself. Afterward another went, and yet another. By that time I had so many acquaintances and children in heaven that I no more thought of it as a city merely with streets of gold but as a place full of inhabitants. Now there are so many loved ones there I sometimes think I know more people in heaven than I do on earth."

One of the great influences on Frederick Handle's life was while he was writing the Messiah in three weeks. in reading the passage in the Gospel of Luke, of the Messiah’s entry into the world. While reading the text, Handle was inspired to sit down and try to compose music to such a great event. When Frederick locked himself up in a room for 23 days and tried to compose music, as close to at least humanely possible, as to what this might have sounded like....something came over him!!! Handle, before writing the messiah, had rented a theater for his own use, and though he had some successes, he had more failures; he was bankrupt twice through his opera business" But when Frederick Handle decided to sit down to write and compose music to the entry of Jesus Christ into the world, he ended up, supernaturally or miraculously, you could say, writing the most brilliant piece of music many say has ever been written. ....in a piece of orchestra, even redone by the great Mozart, t...

It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life. Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean...For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five. The bigges...

It was the first Sunday for the new preacher that had recently arrived at the eagerly awaiting church. The members greatly anticipated to hear the preacher’s first sermon. After the service many of the parishioners came to the preacher and commended him “well done pastor” “excellent sermon” “wonderful message from the lord reverend, said another. The following Sunday the new preacher preached the same sermon and the congregation just smiled gracefully, wonderful sermon pastor “wonderful word of the lord” The third Sunday, the young preacher preached the same sermon, but this time he received no comments. Being concerned, and knowing the young preacher was young and inexperienced a few concerned people in the church got together and gathered a few sermons together from some books and the internet. Embarrassed for they young and inexperienced pastor they gently told him that they understood he probably did not have more than one sermon so they graciously presented him with a ch...

Frank had been attending the Assembly of God church in Albany New York for 15 years. Frank was a faithful member but often plagued by financial difficulties, many because of his own bad decisions. When the crisis reached its peak, with the threat of bankruptcy and losing his home looming on the horizon, frank lost all trust and hope in god and went back to an old contact and made an ungodly alliance, with the mob, to get him out of trouble. The mob was very empathetic to franks dilemma and quickly lent him the money to bail him out of his financial troubles. "Frank, we never thought we would see you again, we're glad you're back, we are there for you anything we can do to help" Frank had wondered why he had not gone to them sooner. However, the situation only got worse as frank could not keep up on the payments, never did he imagine, what would happen next. Frank got a call from the police at 2am, from the emergency room, informing him his son had been jum...

In the Islands of the Pacific War the Japanese constantly tried to fool the Marines to lose trust in their comrades that would come back for them. “No man left behind” was their moto and they now had to trust in that. Then they would see U.S. Flags being brought down in battle areas the marines had previously raised; those flags…they would be burning in plain site. Then they cut off a Marines head and raised it high up a flag pole for the ambushed Marines to see. They were trying to convince them, “all is lost here, you've been left alone. You've been abandoned, why don't you just give in, surrender, give up hope.” The Marines had to make a decision, based on circumstantial evidence, it looked like it was true what the Japanese were saying. The choice they had to make…trust in the Marine motto or trust in what they were seeing with their eyes. They chose to trust in the Marine motto and fight for another day. And that extra day of fighting is all they needed because t...

Earth gets hotter toward the center. At the bottom of the continental crust, the temperature is about 1800 degrees F (1000 degrees C). The temperature increases about 3 degrees F per mile (1 degree C per kilometer) below the crust. Geologists believe the temperature of Earth's outer core is about 6700 to 7800 degrees F (3700 to 4300 degrees C). The inner core may be as hot as 12,600 degrees F (7000 degrees C)--hotter than the surface of the sun. But, because it is under great pressures, the rock in the center of Earth remains solid.

IN THE TRUE ACCOUNTS OF WORLD HISTORY OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, WE HAVE THE STORY OF The citizens in the town of  Feldkirch ,  Austria . The Community did not know what to do. Napoleon's massive army was preparing to attack. Soldiers had been spotted on the heights above the little town, which was situated on the Austrian border. A council of citizens was hastily summoned to decide whether they should try to defend themselves or display the white flag of surrender. It happened to be Easter Sunday, and the people had gathered in the local church. The pastor rose and said, "Friends, we have been counting on our own strength, and apparently that has failed. As this is the day of our Lord's resurrection, let us just ring the bells, have our services as usual, and leave the matter in His hands. We know only our weakness, and not the power of God to defend us." The council accepted his plan and the church bells rang. The enemy, hearing the sudden loud clanging of the be...

Watch your thoughts; they become words Watch your words; they become actions Watch your actions; they become habits Watch your habits; they become character Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. Frank Outlaw

The Body Speaks: What Your Symptoms Might Be Saying While symptoms can herald diseases, and should be taken seriously, they can also be our body’s way of trying to communicate important information about what’s going on in our inner world – what’s working and what’s not serving us well. Take for example, a woman who has horrible eczema but only under her wedding ring. It started when she began to suspect her husband was having an affair. Turned out he was. Or another who has terrible arthritis and when I asked her what triggers it she said, “My husband is a constant source of inflammation in my life. I want a divorce but just can’t go there.” Or another who works in a toxic social environment, really wants to quit her job and only gets headaches on weekdays. Or my patient who experienced Takotsubo syndrome, an actual change in her heart mimicking a heart attack, over the grief of her husband’s sudden and unexpected death. Our bodies don’t lie!   In fact, our bodies speak ...

Billie Wilcox WROTE: While my husband Frank and I were living in Pakistan many years ago, our six-month-old baby died. An old Punjabi who heard of our grief came to comfort us. He said, "A tragedy like this is similar to being plunged into boiling water," He went on then to say… "If you are an egg, your affliction will make you hard and unresponsive.” If you are a potato, you will emerge soft and pliable" It may sound funny to God, but there have been times when I have prayed, "O Lord, let me be a potato."

“THE DAY I TOLD MY HUSBAND I HAD FEELINGS FOR ANOTHER MAN” I remember the moment I felt an unmistakable attraction to a man who wasn’t my husband. It would mark the beginning of an infatuation that waxed and waned for nearly a year. He and I were both active in a local community organization. For at least six months, we had greeted each other and exchanged superficial pleasantries on a weekly basis without anything remarkable transpiring. But on this particular day, we had a long, substantive conversation. Through it, I discovered that we not only shared many of the same perspectives but also clicked well—to the point my heart rate increased and the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up. Looking back, it’s not surprising it happened. I was in the midst of a major identity shift that was changing the way I saw myself and how I fit in the world. After learning previously unknown stories of my family, I had come to embrace my Taiwanese heritage—a development that caused me...

Lance Armstrong went on the Today show Thursday to lament how hard life has been since he admitted to being one of the biggest frauds in sports history, whining how unfair it is that other cheats aren’t the pariah he is. “I do think there’s a double standard,” Armstrong said. “But I’m OK with it.” Sure he is. The blind ego and arrogance that seeped through his interview Thursday is exactly why Armstrong remains so reviled. That he doped his way to seven Tour de France titles was bad, of course. Sports is supposed to be about the purity of competition and athleticism. As Armstrong has rightly pointed out, though, he wasn’t some rogue cheater in a pristine sport. Everyone in cycling at the time was pumped full of PEDs and EPO. Had Armstrong only been a cheater, though, he’d have been forgiven long ago. But the cheating was never the worst of his sins He threw Alex Rodriguez under the bus, saying he doesn’t understand why the New York Yankees third baseman has been able to reh...

Sharon Tendler met Cindy 15 years ago. She said it was love at first sight. This week she finally took the plunge and proposed. The lucky "bride" plunged right back. In a modest ceremony at dolphin reef in the southern Israeli port of Eilat, Tendler, a 41-year-old British citizen, apparently became the world's first person to "marry" a dolphin. Dressed in a white dress, a veil and pink flowers in her hair, Tendler got down on one knee on the dock and gave Cindy a kiss and a piece of Herring.

For months the man felt called to be the 1st missionary to Malaysia. He wrestled over this for months in prayer. After much thought in prayer he and his wife decided to go, however they had two children they could not bring because of the dangers involved in the brush. They left their children behind. Only every six months would they be able to see the children that they loved so much and as time went on and the resources diminished it became once a year. While out in the bush the wife of the missionary gave birth to another child. They labored and labored to no avail. They lived by whatever they could get their hands on, what in America would be considered worse than abject poverty, all to no avail, no fruit, that the missionary believed awaited them as he answered the call of god other than this 8 year old boy Tumba, that faithfully showed up to do Sunday school with the missionaries wife. 3 years into their efforts his wife and newborn son contracted malaria. He prayed and praye...

Pali, this bull has killed me." So said Jose Cubero, one of Spain's most brilliant matadors, before he lost consciousness and died. Only 21 years old, he had been enjoying a spectacular career. However, in this l958 bullfight, Jose made a tragic mistake. He thrust his sword a final time into a bleeding, delirious bull, which then collapsed. Considering the struggle finished, Jose turned to the crowd to acknowledge the applause. The bull, however, was not dead. It rose and lunged at the unsuspecting matador, its horn piercing his back and puncturing his heart. Just when we think we've finished off pride, just when we turn to accept the Congratulations of the crowd, pride stabs us in the back. We should never consider pride dead before we are.

Former heavy-weight boxer James (Quick) Tillis is a cowboy from Oklahoma who fought out of Chicago in the early 1980s. He still remembers his first day in the Windy City after his arrival from Tulsa. "I got off the bus with two cardboard suitcases under by arms in downtown Chicago and stopped in front of the Sears Tower. I put my suitcases down, and I looked up at the Tower and I said to myself, 'I'm going to conquer Chicago.' "When I looked down, the suitcases were gone."

So here you have the Atheist who says, "Sorry, I don't believe, I will not pray to a God I don't believe in!" You have the Christian who argues back, "what's wrong with you, how can you not believe!" However it is only the Pastor, who counsels congregation members, that understands, the one characteristic the Atheist and Christian has in common, is in all actuality, neither of them believes; merely one proclaims to not believe and the other pro-claims to believe.   The sad truth is, at the end of the day, neither of them lives their lives much different than the other. 

BOSTON — The 2012 New England Patriots were an offensive force, setting a record for first downs in an N.F.L. season while scoring 557 points. Tight end Aaron Hernandez was a big part of that offense. On Thursday, a grand jury indicted Hernandez in a double murder that occurred less than two months before that season began, and about a month before he signed a five-year, $40 million contract extension with the Patriots. Hernandez, 24, already in custody after being charged in the June 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, is now charged with two additional first-degree murders in the shooting deaths of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado on July 16, 2012. District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said Hernandez followed the two after an encounter at a bar in Boston’s Theater District. After Abreu and Furtado left the bar, the indictment charged, Hernandez followed them and pulled his vehicle next to theirs at a stop light not far from the bar. Conley said Hernandez then fired several rounds from a .38 cal...

Douglas Maurer, 15, of Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. His temperature was ranging between 103 and 105 degrees, and he was suffering from severe flu-like symptoms. Finally, his mother took him to the hospital in St. Louis. Douglas Maurer was diagnosed as having leukemia. The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease. They said that for the next three years, he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They didn't sugarcoat the side effects. They told Douglas he would go bald and that his body would most likely bloat. Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression. His aunt called a floral shop to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers. She told the clerk that it was for her teenage nephew who has leukemia. When the flowers arrived at the hospital, they were beautiful. Douglas read the card from his aunt. Then he saw a second card. It said: "Douglas--I took your order. I work at Brix florist. I had leukemia when I was 7 years old. I'm 22 ...

As I watched them tear a building down A gang of men in a busy town With a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yell They swung a beam and the side wall fell I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled, And the men you'd hire if you wanted to build?" He gave a laugh and said, "No, indeed, Just common labor is all I need." "I can easily wreck in a day or two, What builders have taken years to do." And I thought to myself, as I went my way Which of these roles have I tried to play? Am I a builder who works with care, Measuring life by rule and square? Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan Patiently doing the best I can? Or am I a wrecker who walks to town Content with the labor of tearing down? "O Lord let my life and my labors be That which will build for eternity!" Author Unknown, The Increase, 35th Anniversary Issue, 1993, p. 9.

➤  William Carey went 7 years before he had his first convert in India ➤  Adoniram Judson worked in  Burma  for almost the same period of time before he had his first convert. ➤  Robert Morrison, first Protestant missionary to  China , who labored for 25 years and had fewer than a dozen converts? ➤  Anskar, the Apostle of the North, who gave his life to preaching the gospel to the Vikings without any long-lasting results? ➤  What about missionaries to East Africa who in the early 1800's shipped their goods to  Africa  in coffins because most of them knew they most likely would be struck down during their first term by disease or unfriendly natives? ➤  Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and five others were martyred on a sandy beach in South America (Ecuador) as they made the first attempts to reach the Auca Indians with the gospel.

Early African converts to Christianity were earnest and regular in private PRAYER. Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers began to neglect prayer, it was soon apparent to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent one, "Brother, the grass grows on your path."

A little boy who had been sent to his room because he had been bad came out a short time later and said to his mother, "I've been thinking about what I did and I said a prayer." "That's fine," the mom said, "if you ask God to make you good, He will help you." "Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me be good," replied the boy. "I asked Him to help you put up with me."

Billie Wilcox WROTE: While my husband Frank and I were living in Pakistan many years ago, our six-month-old baby died. An old Punjabi who heard of our grief came to comfort us. He said, "A tragedy like this is similar to being plunged into boiling water," He went on then to say… "If you are an egg, your affliction will make you hard and unresponsive.” If you are a potato, you will emerge soft and pliable" It may sound funny to God, but there have been times when I have prayed, "O Lord, let me be a potato."

HE kicked off his career at the age of four by fronting his uncle’s band, becoming Oahu's youngest Elvis impersonator in the process. Ten years later, he was impersonating the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, as part of the Legends in Concert show. After graduating high school in 2003, he took his uncle's advice and moved to California to pursue a music career. After months of frustration, he met songwriter Phillip Lawrence, who convinced HIM to try his hand at writing songs for other artists. The two dubbed themselves the Smeezingtons and co-wrote “Long Distance,” which was recorded in 2008 by R&B singer Brandy. More offers arrived after that, and HE and Lawrence scored their first number one hit in 2009, when they co-authored Flo Rida's international smash "Right Round." After working a string of behind-the-scenes jobs -- including writing songs for Brandy, singing backup for the Sugababes, and impersonating Elvis -- HE put his name on top of the charts in ...

This story out of South Carolina… Crossing the center line, running several stop signs and almost crashing twice…all after a Sumter police officer reported watching Susie Thomas run a red light. The high speed and dangerous chase last week came to an abrupt stop with police officers drawing their guns on the eluder. That’s when police found a crying 4 year old girl in the back seat of her grandmother’s car, where she had been for this entire high speed chase, not even buckled in. “Why did you do this”, the police asked the grandma “Because I knew that I had warrants out on me”, answered the grandma. And that she did!!! The child was returned to mom; and grandma was taken in to custody!

Two Christian men sitting in a park watching people walk by and they saw this man walk by, his shirt all open, drinking womanizing this woman, all over. One man just gasped, the other did nothing  "What are you gasping at, didn’t you see what I saw?" "I don’t know, what did you see?", responded the other man  He answered, "I saw a sleezeball that walked by drunk as a skunk, trying to pick up on that young girl and on top of that a ring on his finger, and you know that wasn’t his wife, that’s what I saw, nasty sinner! So, what did you see?"  The other man was quiet for a while, then responded, "I saw myself, if not for the Grace of God……that would have been me!"

IN THE PRYOR REPORT, A BUSINESS JOURNAL THEY LISTED THE TOP 7 VIRTUES EMPLOYERS LOOK FOR IN THEIR EMPLOYEES  What qualities in employees irritate bosses the most? Burke Marketing Research asked executives in 100 of the nation's 1000 largest companies. At the top of the list was dishonesty. Marc Silbert, whose temporary employee firm commissioned the study, says, "If a company believes that an employee lacks integrity, all positive qualities--ranging from skill and experience to productivity and intelligence--become meaningless

In recent years, politicians and pundits, professors and even Pulitzer Prize-winners have been caught dealing in deceit. One of the nation's most respected historians, Stephen Ambrose, plagiarized portions of other historians' works and—notwithstanding his public apology—seemed hardly disturbed by the resulting controversy. Historian Joseph Ellis, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his book,~Founding Brothers, was caught inventing a Vietnam War record for himself. Ex-conservative writer David Brock admitted he'd made up sordid details about Anita Hill. Gloria Steinem's claim about the number of women who die of eating disorders—supposedly 150,000 a year—turned out to be a huge feminist hoax. James Patterson and Peter Kim, authors of~The Day America Told the Truth, estimate that 91 percent of us regularly embroider the truth. "We lie and don't even think about it," Patterson and Kim write.

    Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman (November 6, 1976– April 22, 2004) was an American football player who left his professional career and enlisted in the United States Army in June 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. His service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and subsequent death, were the subject of much media attention.      Tillman joined the Army Rangers and served several tours in combat before he died in the mountains of Afghanistan. At first, the Army reported that Tillman had been killed by enemy fire. Controversy ensued when a month later, on May 28, 2004, the Pentagon notified the Tillman family that he had died as a result of a friendly fire incident; the family and other critics allege that the Department of Defense AND TOP BRASS GENERALS, LIED AND COVERED UP for weeks after Tillman's memorial service out of a desire to protect the image of the U.S. armed forces.

Ted Turner, the founder of the Cable News Network, aka CNN, MGM, TNT and other media outlets, claims, in a sense, that prayer was what pushed him away from his faith. Cable television mogul Ted Turner criticized fundamentalist Christianity and said Jesus probably would "be sick at his stomach" over the way his ideas have been "twisted," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Turner made his remarks Friday evening at a banquet in Orlando, Fla., where he was given an award by the American Humanist Association for his work on behalf of the environment and world peace. Turner said he had a strict Christian upbringing and at one time considered becoming a missionary. "I was saved seven or eight times," the newspaper quoted him as saying. But he said he became disenchanted with Christianity after his sister died, despite his prayers. Turner said the more he strayed from his faith, "the better I felt." Spokesman-Review, May 1, 1990.

Defending Olympic champion Usain Bolt may be the fastest human on two legs, but he would struggle to outpace a raft of animals, including horses, which would leave him nearly 10 seconds behind over 200 metres. Jamaican sprinter Bolt, currently the fastest man in the world, could not match greyhounds, cheetahs, pronghorn antelope, and horses for sheer pace. Professor Craig Sharp, from the Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance at Brunel University in Britain, has highlighted a range of animals whose speed and strength easily beats that of our most elite athletes. Humans can run at a maximum speed of 23.4 miles per hour. That kind of speed gives them the egde – but only just – over the Dromedary camel, with a top speed of 22mph (35.3kmh), or 9.8 metres/second. A cheetah is about twice as fast as the world’s top sprinters. A cheetah is around twice as fast as the world’s top sprinters at 64mph, but the pronghorn antelope also puts in a very respectable 55mph. Then, of course, ...

(May 22, 2008)--Steven Curtis Chapman's longtime pastor says the Christian musician and his wife are "grieving and wailing" over the death of their 5-year-old daughter Maria, who was accidentally run over Wednesday in the driveway of their home in Franklin, Tenn. She was flown by helicopter to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, but doctors were unable to save her life. The Rev. Reverend Scotty Smith says he's been praying with the couple and assuring their 17-year-old son, Will, who was driving the vehicle that in Christ there's "no condemnation."

There’s an old story about a man who owned a business, he decided it was time for him to retire and turn it over to his son. So he called his son in and give him a bit of advice. “Son it’s all yours, I’ve made a success of this business because of two principles, Honesty and wisdom! First of all honesty, if you promise someone goods by the 10th of the month, no matter what happens, you must deliver by the 10th of the month, even if it costs you overtime, double time, you always deliver what you promise.” The son thought about it for a moment, said, “okay that’s honesty now how about wisdom?” The dad answered, “wisdom son, wisdom is never making such a stupid promise in the first place!”

A client went to a lawyer and said I’m going into a business with a man I do not trust, I want you to frame an air tight contract, which he cannot break, and which will protect me from any mischief he might come up with. The attorney replied, “Listen my friend, there is no group of words in the English language that will take the place of plain honesty between men or which will fully protect either of you, if you plan to deceive each other.”

Ernest Shackleton, in his exploration of the North Pole, did not promise that there would not be hardship, but he did promise that he would come back for his men when he had to leave them on Elephant Island in the North Pole. Shackleton traveled 800 miles across the Arctic Ocean in a life boat to get help. On a trip that took him 105 days and tried to return to his men on 3 failed attempts, finally 105 days later, he returned back to his men. And what’s more important, is his men had not given up hope. They kept themselves alive because Ernest Shackleton had given his word that he would return. For over 3 months, they waited, based on this man’s word.

Survey found that 46 percent of people have lied to their partner about money, confessing to a wide range of money secrets, including lying about purchases, hiding them in the back of the closet and clandestinely withdrawing money from joint accounts. The extensive poll of 23,000 online users also found that more than 60 percent of both men and women think cheating is cheating, whether it’s financial or sexual. Two-thirds told us that honesty about money is as important as remaining monogamous. Statistics show a surprising or perhaps not so surprising tie, between Financial Infidelity and Sexual Infidelity. Oddly enough, those often caught in Financial Infidelity are often caught, down the road, in sexually. Could the two be tied together? Research shows yes, compromise, cheating, lieing and covering up in one area often leads to compromise, cheating, lieing in other areas too.

let go of the old.... In the Late 1960s a revival swept through the  United States  called the "Jesus People Movement." Many nominal churches rejected the hippies who were getting saved but Pastor Mitchell accepted them into his church and saw dramatic church growth. Being inspired by Chuck Smith, David Wilkerson and other ministers, Pastor Mitchell overlooked what the people looked like and smelt like, and saw the potential in each person to be strong Christians. Much of the leadership in the church today is made up of people who got saved in this movement.

Near Cisterna, Italy, in the battle at Anzio beachhead, Sylvester Antolak charged 200 yards over flat terrain with absolutely no cover to destroy a German  machine gun  bunker during the second day of the offensive. He ran 30 yards in advance of his squad, to take on fire and free them to move forward unharmed. He ran into withering enemy machine gun fire. Three times he was struck by  bullets  and knocked to the ground, but each time, he struggled to his feet to continue his relentless advance. With one shoulder deeply gashed and his right arm shattered, he continued to rush directly into the enemy fire concentration with his  submachine gun  wedged under his uninjured arm until within 15 yards of the enemy strong point, where he opened fire at deadly close range, killing 2 Germans and forcing the remaining 10 to  surrender . In the book “to hell and back” Audie Murphy describes the scene as such: On the flat, coverless terrain, his body is a pe...

Alexander III of Macedon ,commonly known as Alexander the Great…was a king of the Greek kingdom of Macedon. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II, to the throne at the age of twenty. He spent most of his ruling years on an unprecedented military campaign through Asia and northeast Africa, until by the age of thirty he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from Greece to Egypt and into present-day Pakistan. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders. I wonder what Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he penned, "all men are created equal" Clearly all men are not created equal. King Solomon the wisest man who ever lived penned these words, "it is the duty of man to accept his lot in life, to be happy in his toilsome labor under the sun, for this is a gift from God."      Every man must accept that "we are not created equal" and that we must accep...

“In the nick of time Dobson Jr. believes his dad made a critical move, “my mom and dad made it up to me after years of my father traveling with my mom, he bought ~us a house and let my mother have me for the next eleven years and he traveled alone, which was very hard for him. The adulation that Dobson Jr. Gives to his father’s memory today is rooted, in part, in the sacrificial decisions made by his dad those many years ago. Yet by the time young Dobson was sixteen, he again began to demonstrate some of the same sorts of rebellious behavior In a foreshadowing of the decision that Dobson Jr. Later would make when his own ministry was keeping him away from home too much His father shut down a thriving career as the Nazarenes’ top evangelist, sold their house in Bethany and moved his family south to San Benito, Texas, a small town near the Mexican border. My mother had simply said, “I need you” Dobson says, “my dad had a four year slate of revival meetings lined up, but he came...

Actor Jack Klugman recalls being devastated at age 12 when his father died. Struggling for decades with depression over that loss, Klugman finally sought counseling. “It was then that I remembered that my father was the only one in my family who ever hugged me. The rest of my family stayed away from touching or hugging—especially my mother. Only my father was unashamed to show affection. My father taught me that showing your affection was not a sign of weakness but instead a sign of love.” Klugman says he passed his father's legacy on to his own two sons as well as his granddaughters. “Whenever I see them, we kiss and hug and show how fond we are of each other. I love it!”

Howard Schultz became chairman and CEO of Starbucks and expanded the company from its original three stores to more than 3000. Schultz was raised in a working-class family in Brooklyn. His father was a high-school dropout who held a series of low-income jobs as factory worker, trucker, and cab driver. “We actually lived in federally subsidized housing,” he states. To make ends meet, his father often worked long hours. In spite of having little discretionary time, the elder Schultz carved out space for his son. “There were many days when my dad came home from 14-hour days of very physical labor, and the first thing he did was look for me. We would put our gloves on, go outside, and have a catch. Those moments between a father and son are so special and I will never forget.

     Lisa was presiding over yet another funeral and she would be lying if she didn't admit some were easier and more pleasant to preside over, than others. Lisa approached Tom, who was doing the eulogy, she said, "let me see watcha ya got? “That's it?” she said, “two sentences, you're gonna have at least 50 people here John, looking up at you, listening to you, hoping to hear something praiseworthy come out of your mouth and you have two sentences, that’s not gonna work, you'd better work it Tom, I don't care if you have to make it up", Lisa said.      It made her think of the funeral she attended two months prior, have presided over many funerals herself as a funeral conductor, this was definitely special. It was for her great grandpa and how different that funeral was, not just because it was for someone dear to her but because of the praise that many had for this great man.      In this case it was the opposite, the eulogy was too long,...

The Taliban released a video Wednesday it says shows their handover of former prisoner Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to  U.S.  forces.  The 17-minute video shows Bergdahl dressed in white robes being led from a pickup truck as what appears to be a Black Hawk helicopter lands.  Taliban fighters waving a white flag are seen shaking hands with men dressed in Western civilian clothes as Bergdahl is handed over and then taken aboard the helicopter. Several armed Taliban members are seen on the surrounding hillside as the handover takes place. "Don't come back to  Afghanistan ," one man tells Bergdahl, according to a translation by the Associated Press. "You won't make it out alive next time!" Bowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban when he deserted his post. He is wanted by the military for dereliction of duty a crime punishable under the UCMJ. (Uniform Code of Military Justice).       I find it interesting, the Bergdahl, fleeing form his Comrades falls...

Was reading this article by this journalist, Jessica Booth The heading was; “You’ll lose friends when you get a new boyfriend” A recent study has delivered some news that may bum you out: According to researchers, when women enter a new relationship, they’ll lose two friends on average. So basically, you gain a boyfriend… but you lose friends in the process.  Unfortunately, I can’t say I find this study very surprising. Ever since high school started, I have watched many friends come and go – and the biggest reason I’ve grown apart from girls I was once was close with is because of relationships.  Whether it’s my new relationship or theirs, one thing is for sure: a boyfriend guarantees that I’ll be missing a bestie in the near future.  When we’re single, we all swear up and down that we’ll never be like those girls who ditch their friends for their BF. Then we meet someone we really like, and we find that it’s incredibly hard to find the time f...

There was a street woman that many of you may know, or know of her, she went by the name of Wauneva. She wandered the streets of San Angelo She would often sit on our bench outside the church and wander around in the downtown area. She was found dead this past Friday on the streets. This letter was posted on line about her. Her name was Wauneva Irene Benson, her birth date Oct 24 1944.    Mother of 3 sons and a daughter, 8 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren.    Many of you know Wauneva suffered debilitating mental issues. Sometimes even to the point of being agitated. During one of our last visits, almost 20 years ago, she was playing with 4 of her grandchildren and enjoying my family. After returning home, she removed me as her health contact and then she told me that she didn’t’ want to do this to my family. She then vanished from my life. Mental disorders are like that. Similar to a mirror dropping on cement. Shards of glass are what remai...

One woman wrote: I agree that two are better than one Because I always look thinner when I stand beside him Two are better than one Because when its cold he gets up to to light the fire Two are better than one Because when there's a spider in the house I don't have to kill it, he does Two are better than one Because when the principal calls They're his kids not mine Two are better than one Because when I lose my temper Its his fault, not mine Two are better than one Because I can't scratch my own back And last Two are better than one Because I have the gift of spending And he has the gift of earning

Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in '71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn't call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team. Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory."

Every conscientious parent recognizes how difficult it is to exercise his God-given authority over his children. The delicate balance of being tough yet tender is not easy to maintain. Many parents intensify a rebellious spirit by being dictatorial and harsh. Others yield when their authority is tested. When a strong-willed child resists, the pressure to give in for the sake of peace and harmony can become overpowering. I am reminded of the mother who wanted to have the last word but couldn't handle the hassle that resulted whenever she said no to her young son. After an especially trying day, she finally flung up her hands and shouted, "All right, Billy, do whatever you want! Now let me see you disobey THAT!"

Hostage says he was blindfolded for 10 months September 24, 2005 MEMPHIS ,  Tenn.  -- An American contract worker who was kidnapped in  Iraq  and held more than 10 months says in an interview that his captors kept him blindfolded and bound throughout the ordeal. Roy Hallums, 57, described his experience to ''60 Minutes'' reporter Lesley Stahl in a segment that will air Sunday on CBS. Hallums also said the motive behind his kidnapping was ransom, but he refused to give his captors contact information for his family to spare them from having to negotiate. Hallums was rescued Sept. 7 by coalition troops from a 4-foot-high crawl space under a farmhouse. He returned to his hometown of  Memphis  two days later to a joyous family reunion. 'Happiest moment of my life' "When I saw him come down off the plane, it was the happiest moment of my life," his ex-wife, Susan Hallums, said earlier this month. Hallums, who worked for a contractor supplyin...

By JOYCE HULETT Published Thursday, August 18, 2005 A: Good parents should know that children need love. From the moment a baby is born, she needs love from her parents. That love is given in the form of holding, cuddling and nurturing. Parental love is vital for a baby to grow and develop. Without this love, a baby will progress much more slowly Babies need attention from their parents. Tending to only physical needs is not enough. Babies need interaction with their parents. Most parents understand the physical needs of their babies. They know babies must be fed, clothed and sheltered. Parents might not know that babies also must be cuddled and held. Babies must hear the voices of their parents. During the middle part of the 20th century, many people believed babies should not be held. They thought babies should be left in their cribs, or they would be "spoiled." This is far from the truth. We now know that babies grow and develop from being held and cuddled....

                               HOW DOES THE DOVE DIFFER FROM OTHER BIRDS      They Differ Anatomically: Scientists have found the anatomy of Doves is very different from that of other birds. In fact, these beloved birds have no gallbladder, an organ that typically secretes bile.      The dove is the rare bird that has not bitterness, gall in it’s body but also displays no sign towards other birds. It is no surprise then that the Dove is what God used to represent the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus, a bird with no bitterness in it. It was imperative to Jesus' ministry that He never allow bitterness to enter Him; even to the very end, upon His crucifixion where He refused the drink, mixed with gall. Don't drink the cup of bitterness/gall,....ever!

I was listening to the story of a man on Focus on The Family radio. It was a story of a group of girls that he encountered at a ski resort; a rather obnoxious irritating group of teens.  There she was alone on the ski slopes, as the group were all approaching the gondola to take them to the top in the midst of this large youth group. They are all hip, rich and good looking, stylish teens, they’re in the gondola and there’s this girl who is in there seemingly alone and she just keeps saying whomever, whomever.... She’s trying to repeat what she heard one of the hip teen girls say, which was "whatever"….and she’s there, "whomever, whomever...."   And the teens are laughing at her and snickering, when she looked over, I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was retarded, it was obvious. Then this large man that was standing beside her, reached out, took his arms and puts them around her and says, that’s right honey, “whomever”, “whomever” And you could...

Thomas Jefferson was one of the early founders and authors of the declaration of independence, he wrote in it himself, he is most famously remembered for his declaration “all men are created equal” And I quote: “we hold these truths to be  self-evident , that  all men are created equal , that they are endowed by their creator with certain  unalienable rights , that among these are life, liberty, and the  pursuit of happiness —that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” Thomas Jefferson even made attempts at legislating laws against slavery. At the time of the Ameri...

That appalling figure was Beck Weathers, the author of this surprisingly cheerful book. Weathers was left for dead not once but twice during the disastrous day in 1996 which left nine climbers dead on Mount Everest. Part of one hand was saved, his nose was reconstructed surgically, and his sight came back before he left Everest, but his climbing days are finished.       Ordinary life was too boring to distract him away from his depression. Danger and crucial details of equipment and planning were able to mask his despair with the result that his life was completely unbalanced in favor of mountain climbing, with the summit of Everest the goal. As those at base camp watched Beck Weathers, barely recognizable stumble into camp they thought they were seeing his ghost. They had left Beck for dead days earlier as they passed him up on the way down to base camp, there was Beck, frozen inside an ice cocoon and they simply passed him up as dead. Yet when Beck was getti...

NEW YORK  — Adam Silver used the biggest weapon the NBA commissioner has when he banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life and said he would move to force  Sterling  to sell his team. Sterling  can pay the $2.5 million fine Silver issued. The lifetime ban for  Sterling ? It may be inconsequential as long as the Clippers are making money and filling his bank account But in his unprecedented rebuke Tuesday of Sterling, Silver made clear that he — along with several players, coaches, owners, fans, public officials and activists — wants a new owner for the Clippers. "I will urge the Board of Governors to exercise its authority to force a sale of the team and will do everything in my power to ensure that that happens," Silver said Silver is relying on the NBA's Constitution and By-Laws, which say the interest of an owner "may be terminated by a vote of three-fourths of the Board of Governors." Silver's predecessor, David Stern, never sp...