Prosecutor Refuses To Drop Case of Christian Ticketed For Scripture On Truck

A Christian who was ticked for posting a sign on his truck that quoted Scripture is reporting the prosecutor handling the case refuses to drop it because of the New York protests against police.

“The prosecutor stated that he was not going to drop the case because he wanted to respect the authority of police,” Luis Zapata, whose defense attorney spoke with the prosecution last week, told Christian News Network on Wednesday. “Especially with the events with the police officers in New York City—the protests and the negative view of the officers—he was going to stand by the officer.”

Zapata has been posting scripture on his truck for two years until last August.  He said that he felt God telling him to share the gospel with the word and to place a sign on his truck about the Lord’s return.

Police officer Mark Van Wormer began to harass Zapata when he was parked near an abortion clinic for a protest with other Christians.  Van Wormer told Zapata to take his signs down or he would be ticketed.  Zapata moved the truck at the officer’s approval and then was later ticketed by Van Wormer at the new location.

Zapata said the tickets are part of a harassment campaign by the police against the Christians who protest the clinic.

“I feel that the city of Englewood got together with the abortion mill to try to drive us out of there by giving us petty citations,” he said.

Mississippi Lawmakers Propose Making Bible State Book

Three Mississippi lawmakers are fighting to make the Bible the official state book.

Rep. Tracy Arnold of Boonville, who is also a pastor, introduced a proposal in the House to “recognize the value of the Scriptures.”  Two state senators, Tom Miles of Forest and Michael Evans of Preston, introduced a similar bill in the state senate.

“Me and my constituents, we were talking about it and one of them made a comment that people ought to start reading the Bible,” Evans told AL.com.

“The Bible provides a good role model on how to treat people,” Miles added to the Associated Press. “They could read in there about love and compassion.”

The state currently does not have any book designated as the official state book.

The Bible has been lauded in the past by many politicians including former President Ronald Reagan, who declared 1983 the national “Year of the Bible.”

“Many of our greatest national leaders—among them Presidents Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, and Wilson—have recognized the influence of the Bible on our country’s development,” Reagan stated. “The plainspoken Andrew Jackson referred to the Bible as no less than ‘the rock on which our Republic rests.’”

“Today our beloved America and, indeed, the world, is facing a decade of enormous challenge,” he continued. “There could be no more fitting moment than now to reflect with gratitude, humility, and urgency upon the wisdom revealed to us in the writing that Abraham Lincoln called ‘the best gift God has ever given to man . . . But for [without] it we could not know right from wrong.”’

Christian Returns Wallet With Scripture Note

A South Carolina man who left his wallet behind while he was traveling out of state is having a Merry Christmas after an anonymous Christian returned the wallet with everything inside.

Bruce Ryland stopped for gas in Warren, South Carolina while returning home from a trip to Atlanta.  He remembered using a credit card to pay for the gas but doesn’t remember where the wallet went after that.   He told a local TV station he probably left it on the top of the car when he drove off.

The wallet had over $300 inside.  Ryland called the gas station to see if anyone had turned it in but nothing had been found.

“I was running crazy, canceling credit cards, debit cards, trying to scramble and get the insurance cards and drivers license,” he said.

Over a week later, a package arrived in the mail from someone in Sparta, Georgia identified as “N. Cummings.”  Inside, the wallet with all the cash enclosed and a note that outlined the Biblical reasons for returning the wallet:

“Three Scriptural reasons I am moved to do this,” it read. “Please read them for yourself: Luke 10:27, Luke 16:10, Psalms 83:18. You’re welcome.”

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself,” the first verse reads.

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much,” the second states.

“That men may know that Thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth,” the third Scripture reads.

Ryland tried to find the Christian behind the letter but couldn’t find them.  So he sent a gift card to the return address on the envelope for $305 dollars…the same amount as the cash in the wallet.

Students Nationwide Challenged To Read and Live Scripture

A major youth outreach is taking place today called “Fields of Faith” where students will meet at athletic fields to read and be challenged to “live out” the Scriptures.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is organizing the event.

“The reality is we are losing the spiritual war in America,” Fields of Faith’s website states. “There is a movement in our country to remove God from the public square. It is rapidly taking ground and grows more emboldened every day.”

“Christian teens are being assaulted by a highly organized pagan culture. Christian teens are not reading the Scriptures; they have no way of fighting back.  They are depending on their churches to make them feel good about their faith. Meanwhile, our culture is descending into the same abyss that Josiah had to face.”

The FCA attributes much of the problem to students not reading their Bibles or understanding the guidelines God gives us to live a pure and holy life.

Over 450 locations are taking place in the event.  Over 170,000 students participated in the event last year.

Let’s Be God’s People!

The Bible tells us that if we do what God says, we will be a nation that will lend and not borrow. The Bible says that! And if we disobey God and rebel, we will be a debtor.

Guess what? We are the number one debtor nation in the world! But because we are not studying those Scriptures, we don’t realize that America is under judgment. And the only way we can change it, [the Bible] says “If my people will humble themselves and pray, turn, He says I’ll hear in heaven and heal their land.

The thing I keep saying is one day, I will say it on TV; “Order your food today,” and, that will be the last time I will ever be able to say it. And, the food will all be gone. And, those who have it, then they will have life at least a little simpler than having to go out and find food somewhere. Continue reading

Students Carry Bibles To Protest Teacher’s Actions

The Bible was seen all over the hallways at a Missouri school after a teacher told two students they weren’t allowed to even read their Bibles in the hallway.

Kiela English, 15, a freshman at Potosi High School, was reading the Bible with a friend and discussing a passage when a teacher confronted them and said they had to put the Bible away and stop pushing their religion on people.  The two girls had not been speaking to anyone else about the Bible or its contents.

Kiela’s mother posted on Facebook about the incident and it developed into a call for students to bring their Bibles to school and carry them around as a form of protest showing their rights to have their Bibles in school.

Students say the protest was effective in that not only did they show their dedication to the Scriptures, they also did it in way that did not disrupt the school day or show disrespect to the administration.

Potosi Superintendent Randy Davis said an investigation is ongoing regarding the incident but that he had no problem with the girls bringing their Bibles.

“We have absolutely no problem with our students bringing their Bible,” Davis said.  “We firmly believe in freedom of religion and students practicing their religion.”

Walgreens Employee Refuses To Print Bible Verses

A woman who ordered two prints online of Bible verses for her Bible study from her local Walgreens was told she couldn’t print them because Bible verses violated copyright law.

After a clerk told Kelly Taylor that they would not print her order, she received an e-mail that told her to contact a photo team associate.  When she called the number, she was told that printing Scripture violated copyright law.

She was given prints of the Bible verses after Fox News obtained copies of the e-mails between Taylor and store officials and provided them to Walgreens’ corporate offices.

A Walgreens spokesman then sent a statement to Fox News that the employee who rejected the printing of the verses was not acting on behalf of the company.

He went on to say the employee may have had concerns that graphic designs behind the verses could fall under copyright protection and that the whole situation could be resolved by Taylor signing a waiver of copyright law.

Taylor said she hopes the incident will be a teachable moment for Walgreens and that in the future Christians won’t be denied the opportunity to print Scripture verses.