Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
To receive the email edition of Weekend Encounter (without charge) click on the Subscribe button.
Privacy policy: We do not sell or rent subscriber's e-mail
addresses to anyone. We value your privacy.
Global Communications Outreach:
Learn how to be a missionary right from your own home and have a vital part in worldwide gospel outreach by becoming an ACTS People Power for Jesus Partner. Click HERE There is no charge.
Vol. 14 – No. 0612 February 11, 2012
Thought for the week: As Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Germany in Hitler's time said, "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."
"If you have learned how to disagree without being disagreeable, then you have discovered the secret of getting along—whether it be business, family relations, or life itself." – Bernard Meltzer
"It will not do, my friend, to grant an easy indulgence to natural appetite and desire, for they ever seek to be our masters." – T.S. Arthur
"With lies you may get ahead in the world—but you can never go back." – Russian proverb
"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude." – Cynthia Ozick
"We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate." – Unknown
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." – Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." – John Wooden
In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinborough, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years.
During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."
The Obituary follows:
Born 1776, Died 2012.
It doesn't hurt to read this several times. Beware of politicians who want to give the masses who don't want to work—and are living off various forms of government welfare free handouts.
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals—and they vote—then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.
Remember, too, that "apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom."
Please be sure to pass this message on to everyone in your address book.
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Germany in Hitler's time said, "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."
Latest news reports are that five terrorist cell groups have been operating in many of our churches.
They have been identified as: Bin Sleepin, Bin Arguin, Bin Fightin, Bin Complainin, and Bin Missin. Their leader, Lucifer Bin Workin, trained these groups to destroy the Body of Christ. The plan is to come into the church disguised as Christians and to work within the church to discourage, disrupt, and destroy.
However, there have been reports of a sixth group.
A tiny cell known by the name Bin Prayin is actually the only effective counter terrorism force in the church. Unlike other terrorist cells, the Bin Prayin team does not blend in with whoever and whatever comes along. Bin Prayin does whatever is needed to uplift and encourage the Body of Christ.
We have noticed that the Bin Prayin cell group has different characteristics than the others. They have Bin Watchin, Bin Waitin, Bin Fastin, and Bin Longin for their Master, Jesus Christ to return.
No church is exempt! You can spot them if you bin lookin and bin goin.
Author and lecturer, Leo Buscaglia, once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four-year-old child, whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old Gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy just said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."
By Michael Josephson of Character Counts (733.4)
July 27, 2911
A popular way to encourage charitable donations is to invoke people to "give till it hurts." Mrs. Rosario Rivera, an elementary school teacher in Puerto Rico, takes a very different approach, urging her students to "give until it feels good."
Mrs. Rivera teaches English at the José Ramón Rodriguez Elementary School in the town of Coamo in Puerto Rico. Her school is one of the 205 schools piloting the CHARACTER COUNTS! program (called Tus Valores Cuentan in Puerto Rico).
To stimulate her students' sense of charity and empathy, she showed her class a movie about a young boy dying of cancer. A few weeks later she told her students she had received a letter from the American Cancer Society seeking donations for cancer research. She put an empty can on her desk and encouraged her students to donate all their leftover change for the next few weeks. The class raised $32.
But that wasn't enough. Mrs. Rosario had long, beautiful hair all the way to her waist. It was a source of pride and pleasure, so when she told her students she was going to cut off her hair and donate it to the Locks of Love Foundation so cancer patients could have wigs with real hair, her students were astonished. I suspect some were doubtful that she would follow through—until she came to class with short hair and showed her students a shipping box filled with a very long braid. She told them how good it made her feel to give away something that was so important to her to help children.
That's what it means to be a good role model.
So, are you surprised that several girls in her class declared their intention to follow her example?
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"'King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.' Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'You almost persuade me to become a Christian.' And Paul said, 'I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am.'"1
"In the Peanuts cartoon the team statistician brings Charlie Brown, the manager, his report [which says]: 'I've compiled the statistics on our baseball team for last season,' Linus says. 'In twelve games we almost scored a run and in nine games the other team almost didn't score before the first out. In right field, Lucy almost caught three balls and once almost made the right play.
"'We led the league,' he concludes, 'in almosts.'"2
In Paul's day King Agrippa was also an almost ... he was almost persuaded to become a Christian. We hope that he did while he had the opportunity. However, if he didn't, he is lost forever because there is no indication anywhere in God's Word that anybody is given a second chance after death to receive Jesus as their Savior.
So whatever you do, don't be an almost—an almost persuaded. For help, be sure to pick up your "Passport for Heaven" at: http://tinyurl.com/heaven-passport.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me not to be an 'almost' in anything of significance—including when it comes to fulfilling my God-given life purpose here on earth, and especially when it comes to being prepared for life after death. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
8. Receive Daily Encounter E-mail ... Without Charge
Daily Encounter, a without charge weekday e-mail inspirational from ACTS International is now going to 408,000+ subscribers. Scores of letters from around the world have come from readers saying how much they are being helped by this brief, practical devotional.
Over 100 million e-mail Daily, Weekend and Prayer Encounters are delivered to subscribers every year!
NOTE: Some ISPs (especially AOL) now use e-mail filtering software that allows you to add e-mail addresses to your 'buddy', 'safe', or 'approved' list. Please be sure to add acts@actsweb.org to yours so you won't miss any issue of Daily Encounter.
One of ACTS greatest needs is Prayer Partners to stand with us as we seek to share the gospel with millions of people around the world through E-mail and the Internet and to win the lost to Jesus. If you would like to be an ACTS Prayer Partner, please subscribe to the Prayer Encounter list. Approximately one prayer report is e-mailed monthly. Thank you.
If you have a special prayer request please submit it to David Clark at: www.responda.co.uk/prayer.php. David is not on the ACTS staff but is offering this as a service to Daily and Weekend Encounter readers.
Helpers Needed: If you can help David pray for prayer requests, please could you go to: www.responda.co.uk/member.php
Weekend Encounter and Daily Encounter are just two of the ways the nonprofit organization, ACTS International, is working to improve the spiritual and emotional life of many thousands of people around the world.
Every weekday Daily Encounter is going to 408,000+ subscribers, and every week Weekend Encounter is going to 7,965 subscribers worldwide— many of whom are in places where it is forbidden to spread the Christian gospel and message. Plus we reach several hundred thousand more every week through our advertising. As a result every day we are seeing an average of 5-6 salvation responses from around the world—almost 3000 in the past 12 months!
If you find value in the Weekend Encounter and/or Daily Encounter, we hope you will be comfortable donating at least $26. That's only 50 cents a week for an entire year (tax-deductible in the U.S.). You can donate in one of the following ways:
Oprah Winfrey: "Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi." – Oprah Winfrey
1. Bible concordance and Bible helps
2. New Hope Crisis Counseling with trained
lay/volunteer counselors. www.newhopenow.org 3. E-Word Today for a daily Bible reading
4. To find your ZIP+4 Area Code in the U.S.A.
5. How to find and write to your U.S. Representative
6. ASK ... Smart answers fast
7. Send a greeting card without charge for all occasions
8. To check the weather in your area
9. Hoax Web Sites
10. Plus many more sources of helpful information
"Because the world is hungry,
go with bread.
Because the world is filled with strife,
go with peace.
Because the world is filled with deceptions and lies,
go with truth.
Because the world would die without,
go with the love of God."
