Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

This must be my lucky day. Check out this awesome e-mail I received!

END OF YEAR UK LOTTERY WINNER
From: British National Lottery Online Promo
To:
Date: Sat Oct 27 14:14:06 2007
British Online Co-ordinators
Ref: UK/776090X2/23
Batch: 013/06/8394369

FINAL NOTIFICATION

We happily announce to you the Draw (06/1096) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online UK National Lottery program held on
Draw 1214 25th of October 10.Your e-mail address attached to Ticket Number:8603775966738 with Serial number
5368/02drew the Winning Numbers:06,10,11,19,22,46(bonusno.40)

You have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout of £1,500,000(One Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling
payout in Us dollars ;2,776,646.55 in cash credited to file XYL/26510460037/06.

To file for your claim please contact our fiduciary agent Sir David Rex.
with details below:

Does this mean I’m rich?

Last night my associate Mike and my son Jacob were so excited. Mike has been having lots of students coming from our community the last few weeks. These are individuals within walking distance and a few that our own students invited.

Praise God 15 –that is right FIFTEEN made Jesus the leader of their life last night.

Great job Mike and students for Investing and Inviting….

[Newsweek]

After A. J. Jacobs spent a year reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica for his book “The Know-It-All,” he figured he had the yearlong experiment thing down. How much harder could it be to follow every rule in the Bible? Much, much harder, he soon discovered, as he found himself growing his beard, struggling not to curse and asking strangers for permission to stone them for adultery. Jacobs spent the year carrying around a stapled list of the more than 700 rules and prohibitions identified in the Good Book, and also consulted with religious leaders and spent time with the Amish, Hassidic Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I don’t want to give away the ending, but let’s say I started the year as an agnostic, and now I am a reverent agnostic.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Well Christianity isn’t about following rules. Rules will never be kept. Even if you kept everyone it won’t get us closer to God. Christianity is about having a relationship with Jesus who paid for our sins by dying on a cross.

What do you think?

[Reuters]

Officials at Nepal’s state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Where is PETA when you need them?

[CNN]

Leona Helmsley, who ran her empire of luxurious Manhattan hotels with an iron fist and went to prison for tax fraud, has died, her publicist said Monday. Helmsley, who was reviled as the “queen of mean,” was 87.

Read about it here.

Leona Helmsley’s decision to leave $12 million to her dog so it could live out its life in luxury proved once and for all that she was not one of the little people. A growing number of people, not all wealthy, have been setting up trust funds or adjusting their wills to ensure that their pets are well cared for if they die, according to attorneys and animal welfare groups.

States have rushed to make such gifts easier. At the close of the 1990s, only a handful recognized so-called “pet trusts.” Now, 39 states plus Washington, D.C., have enacted laws dealing with such gifts.

Read about it here.

[From me]

This woman died and was obviously at odds with her own family. She left a dog $12 million! Just think of what could be done with that money to reach people who are dying and going to hell. Think of how many hungry people that could feed. Think of how many Habitat homes could be built. Good grief! Is that how you would want people remembering you?

Acts 4:36-37 says:

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Imagine having your name changed to “ENCOURAGEMENT!” That is what I would like to be remembered for.