From: R & S Scarcella & Family [inbox@webpastor.com] Sent: Tuesday, 31 October 2000 7:54 PM To: hits@webpastor.com Subject: CoGS Weekly Hits! 2000 Vol. 11 No.1 =================================================== YOUR CoGS WEEKLY HITS! - FREE NETMAGAZINE =================================================== distributed by Rev. Rocco & Mrs. Susan Scarcella from Church of the Good Shepherd Bossley Park NSW Australia WEBSITE: www.webpastor.com ITEMS, JOKES ETC TO: hits@webpastor.com SUBSCRIBE: subscribe@webpastor.com UNSUBSCRIBE: unsubscribe@webpastor.com (Please write "no hits" in the subject frame) WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY?: Go to... http://www.christianity.net.au HELP BLIMBINGSARI ORPHANAGE?: Go to... http://www.webpastor.com/miss&supp.htm LIKE YOUR OWN FREE EMAIL ADDRESS & MORE? Go to... http://www.webpastor.com/free-mail.htm FOR BACK ISSUES OF THE HITS! Go to... http://www.webpastor.com/hits/index.htm *************************************************** Dear Hitsters, Welcome to all those who have recently subscribed to the Hits! We hope that you are being blessed by it. To our long-time subscribers - we thank you for your ongoing support. We have a wonderful family of people online and they work together well when one of us has a problem or need - so please tell us if you require some prayer for something or someone in your life. Also, if you would like to contribute a testimony or a joke, we'd love to hear from you. If you are able to help with a financial gift towards this ministry and the various ministries we support, then you will find full details if you visit http://www.webpastor.com/miss&supp.htm . Thank you. READING FROM THE WORD OF GOD Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: For twenty-three years--from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day-- the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. They said, "Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you." Jeremiah 25:2-6 (NIV) The modern western mind is a rational one...or so it likes to believe. We say that we have come past all the superstition that ruled our ancestors' lives , and we are now in an age where science rules and logic pervades. How then, can the words of Jeremiah have any relevance to us? We do not bow down before idols! we say. And yet, the truth is, we do. Every time we put another thing before our service to God, we are bowing down to an idol, be it an idol of work, so-called quality time with the family, sport, money, the computer, the television and so on. And oddly enough, in this the year 2000, many of us have turned back to the practices of the past. Look in any newspaper: psychic readings, tarot cards, clairvoyants, spells and charms, crystals, New Age beliefs. All these come from the evil one who is, as he has done since the Garden of Eden, trying to convince us that we can be masters of our own destiny and captains of our own fates. We must not forget that the "I" in the middle is the essence of sIn, and that "I" is the first letter of the word "Idolatry". TESTIMONY "While strung out on drugs I killed a man. Charged with capital murder, I woke up in prison one morning to hear Big Ed, an ex-pagan biker, playing Christian rock music. I got up to cuss him out, instead I got saved that day. After praying for Jesus to save me, I felt His presence and a warm tingle all through my being. I finally got up off my knees and went to tell Big Ed. He was in his cell praying with other Christians. I saw everyone with different eyes after that and sensed an overwhelming love for them. Now I am married with five children and I pastor the Victory Life Center in Macon, Georgia. I was saved on a Super Bowl Sunday and I'll always claim to be the big winner on that day." --Bill. QUOTE OF THE WEEK "For peace of mind, we need to resign as general manager of the universe." Larry Eisenberg ---submitted by Pat Loria PRAYER POINTS *** Thank God that He is holy and trustworthy. *** Thank Him that He knows exactly what He is doing. *** Pray that He will take more and more control of our thoughts and beings, so that everything we do reflects His glory. *** Thank Him that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and that no matter what we have done, we can be transformed by Jesus, just as Bill was. *** Pray this week for Rinda & Karmen & the ladies going into Emu Plains Prison in Sydney, to preach to the female prisoners there as part of the Kairos movement. Pray that lives will be changed. *** Keep little Amelia D in your prayers. She needs to put on weight after the operation. Stitches came out today! Keep Lynn, Mark and little Astrid in your prayers as it is still a time of great distress for them. *** Sue's mum, Barbara, is in hospital again. The pain of the advanced cancer was extremely bad yesterday. Now the medical system has to work out what, if any options, are left to them. *** The Middle East is still at flashpoint. Christians in Africa and Asia are under renewed persecution. *** Sue has asked Garuda Airlines to consider taking Christmas presents to the Widhya Asih II orphanage in Bali (see http://www.webpastor.com/orphans.htm )for no cost. Pray that the executives of Garuda Airlines will be agreeable to this. *** Jan M has asked for prayers as she drives across the USA to her son's wedding. HAHAHA CORNER ***A man brought a very limp dog into the veterinary clinic. After examining the dog , the vet shook his head sadly and said, "I'm sorry, but your dog has passed away." "What?" screamed the man. " I want another opinion!" With that, the vet turned and left the room. In a few moments, he returned with a Labrador Retriever. The Retriever ,after a considerable amount of sniffing, sadly shook his head and left the room. The veterinarian went out and returned in a few moments with a cat, who also carefully sniffed out the poor dog on the table. As had the Retriever,the cat sadly shook his head. He then jumped off the table and ran out of the room. The veterinarian handed the man a bill for $600. The dog's owner went berserk. "$600! Just to tell me my dog is dead? This is outrageous!" The vet shook his head sadly and explained. "If you had taken my word for it, the charge would have been $50, but with the Lab report and the cat scan..........." ---submitted by Paul D ***PAYING ATTENTION IN CHURCH Coming out of church, Mrs. Peterson asked her husband, "Do you think that Johnson girl is tinting her hair?" "I didn't even see her," admitted Mr. Peterson. "And that dress Mrs. Hansen was wearing," continued Mrs. Peterson, "Really, don't tell me you think that's the proper costume for a mother of two." "I'm afraid I didn't notice that either," said Mr. Peterson. "Oh, for heaven's sake," snapped Mrs. Peterson. "A lot of good it does YOU to go to church." ---Anon. ***POOR LITTLE TIMMY? Little Timmy was in the garden filling in a hole when his neighbor peered over the fence. Interested in what the cheeky-faced youngster was up to, he politely asked, "What are you up to there, Tim?" "My goldfish died," replied Timmy tearfully, "and I've just buried him." The neighbor was concerned. "That's an awfully big hole for a goldfish,isn't it?" Little Timmy patted down the last heap of earth then replied, "That's because he's inside your cat." --Anon. ***"THIS,APPARENTLY IS TRUE! After an Atlanta scientist collected over ten pounds of bullet shell casings from the city's streets during lunch hours, a police department official said that finding casings of weapons ranging from .22-caliber rifles to AK-47 assault rifles does not necessarily indicate that the city is unsafe. Possibly, he suggested, people are firing their weapons elsewhere and leaving the shells in Atlanta." --submitted by Chris F ============================================================ Well, that last one has left us completely "shell-shocked"! D'OH!!!! Until next week, Rocco and Sue. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DID YOU MISS OUT ON SOME HITS! LIKE TO SEND SOME TO YOUR FRIENDS? Go to... http://www.webpastor.com/hits/index.htm ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++