YOU ASKED FOR IT—now it’s here!!!
And I apologize that it took so long to get it going! Hundreds of people have requested and downloaded the Cross Graphic which is featured on the www.timothyreport.com website. (If you haven’t seen it, go to the website, find the Cross Graphic link on the left side of the page near the top.) Anyway, many have written and requested a T-shirt—and now you can get them! Professionally designed in color, these shirts are sure to grab attention and draw comments. From a distance it will look like a cross (of course), but when people get closer, they see there are words on it, and they can’t help but look! A great way to share your faith in Christ!!!
They’re great for Christmas gifts (but you need to order quickly!), for yourself as a wonderful way to share your faith, or even as a fund-raiser for your youth group! You can see what the shirt looks like and find out all the details by clicking on the link at the top of the home page of the website.
THIS WEEK’S GRAPHIC
Is based on the hymn “Down at the Cross.” It reads, “The Cross of Christ. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His Name!” ALSO, there is a graphic which will remain up for a period of time for you to use to remind your people to VOTE! Any of the graphics appearing on the website are absolutely free for use in your non-profit organization’s publications, and can be downloaded at www.timothyreport.com
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Welcome to THE TIMOTHY REPORT for September 27, 2004
“To assist, encourage, enable and equip”
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DNA AND JUDGMENT DAY
DNA has been called “the criminal’s worst enemy,” because the smallest sample of blood, saliva, hair, body fluid or tissue can actually be used to prove guilt. But on the other hand, if the person accused of a crime is not guilty, then the DNA evidence can be his best friend.
Narborough is a small quiet town in England. On November 22, 1983, the body of 15-year-old Lynda Mann was found just a few miles from her home, along a shady footpath, savagely raped and strangled. The murder rocked the town of Narborough, which to that point had been considered a relatively safe and crime-free place to live. A huge 150-man dragnet was launched but it remained unclear as to who had committed the crime. The police failed to unearth any leads except for the killer leaving behind a tiny piece of evidence—a minute sample of body fluid. The case went unsolved for four years.
But on July 31 1987, a body of yet another girl was discovered. Like Lynda, Dawn Ashforth, also 15 years old, had been brutally raped and strangled. The similarity between the two cases was too close to ignore and the police realized they were looking for the same man.
Again, a massive manhunt was launched in an effort to locate the murderer, but it appeared that none of the people investigated could possibly be suspects. When the police were tipped off about a possible suspect, it appeared they had received a break. Richard John Buckland, a 17-year-old dishwasher, was apprehended and taken into police custody. He was subjected to a lengthy interrogation, where he initially denied having anything to do with the crimes. After extensive questioning however, and with a testimony that was muddled and often contradictory, he admitted to the murder of one girl, but refused to admit to the other.
The police knew that one person was responsible for both murders and it was at this point that they had an inspiration. One of the policemen had read an article about a new forensic technique called DNA Fingerprinting which had been developed by Sir Alec Jeffreys. It had never been used to solve a crime, but it just might prove Buckland's guilt.
Investigators compared Buckland's DNA with the DNA found at the crime scene. In a miraculous twist of events, amazed police discovered that the DNA results proved Buckland innocent of both murders. The police turned in a different direction. They realized that if this technique could prove one man's innocence, then it could also prove another man's guilt. So the police focused on three local villages. Every male between 13 and 30 years of age was tested. Blood samples were drawn from over 5,000 people and analyzed. Months passed, and none of them matched the DNA found at the crime scene. The case by this point was covered throughout the media, and it was at the forefront of everybody's mind.
A young woman who managed a local bakery overheard a man bragging to his friend that he had paid someone else to go in his place and be tested in his name. The woman reported the man to police who picked him up and took him into custody.
His name was Colin Pitchfork, and convinced that the DNA testing would be a match, Pitchfork confessed to both crimes. Pitchfork's worries were confirmed, the test did indeed prove to be a positive match. Colin Pitchfork was the first man ever to be convicted by DNA procedures and Richard John Buckland was the first man to ever be proved innocent.
“DNA fingerprinting” was a new invention in the 1980’s, but when the time for judgment comes, God will not need DNA or any new inventions to find our sins. God has heard our thoughts. We have lied and cheated. We have deceived and hated. We have lusted and tried to hide that lust. We have held grudges and bitterness. There is a preponderance of evidence against us. There will be no confusion then about our guilt. Our only hope is to be found in Christ. We are guilty, and there will be no excuse or evidence that will be able to prove otherwise. Our only hope is to throw ourselves on the mercy of the Court.
But don’t be afraid! Satan is the accuser, but Jesus is both our Defense Attorney and our Judge—and He has already paid for our sins!
--Rocky Henriques
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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BEING READY FOR CHRIST
A U.S. Army officer told of the contrast in his pupils during two different eras of teaching at the artillery training school at Fort Sill, Oklahoma (Home of the Field Artillery). In 1958-60 the attitude was so lax that the instructors had a problem getting the men to stay awake to hear the lectures. During the 1965-67 classes, however, the men, hearing the same basic lectures, were alert and took copious notes. What made the difference in the class of 65? They knew that in less than six weeks they would be facing the enemy in Vietnam.
--Unknown
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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NO MATTER HOW IT LOOKS, GOD HAS NOT ABANDONED YOU
Whatever form mistreatment takes, it hurts. You feel the horrible rejection. You've done what is right but you've been mistreated wrongly. In the midst of all this, remember, God has not abandoned you. He has not forgotten you. He never left. He understands the heartache brought on by the evil He mysteriously permits so He might bring you to a tender, sensitive walk with Him. God is good, Jesus Christ is real--your present circumstances notwithstanding.
-- Charles Swindoll
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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WHY THEY FIRED THE PASTOR
I don't know how long he had been at the church when the members noticed.
I'm certain he must have been on his best behavior for at least a few months.
Some members think that the first time they noticed was the night he failed to show up for a committee. The next day he explained to a member that he had met a friend who had invited him to a community activity. "I knew you could carry on without me," he said with a disarming smile.
When he missed the first prayer meeting is a matter of dispute. Some say one day and some another. But all agree that he failed to show up a number of times. Not that he ever failed to provide for a speaker; it was just that, well, people kind of expect the pastor to be at prayer meeting. A member recalls one explanation: "A little job I had to get done at home," he said. "It wasn't much, but it was bugging the wife."
Then it was a Sunday evening he missed. The members do recall that date, because just the week before, he had spoken on the brotherhood of believers and the necessity of Christian fellowship -- "so much the more as you see the day approaching," he had quoted. "The fact is," he explained to a member, "I wasn't on the program, and since the whole family was at home for once, I decided to take time out to be with them. And I was really tired and probably wouldn't have gotten much out of the service anyway."
Probably all this would have been forgiven if it hadn't been for the morning he arrived ten minutes late for the church service. And that morning he was to be the speaker. He didn't give any explanation – just marched up the aisle to the front and went on as if nothing had happened. Before long he was late more often than not. It got so you could almost count on his walking in with the other latecomers. When a deacon ventured to speak to him about it, he just said he had gotten into the habit of starting late and it was hard to kick the habit.
The whole thing came to a head the morning he didn't show up for the service at all. On the spur of the moment, members learned later, he had decided to go for a drive, since the fall colors were so beautiful. "Not many nice days left," he said. "And I thought I'd not be missed, since I met so many members on the way."
Well, it was then that the church board met, talked over what it meant to be a minister in their church, and decided to get a dependable minister.
"He doesn't even know what membership in the church means," said one board member.
"He doesn't realize the importance of the church," said another.
The secretary summed it all up in the minutes of the meeting, after the vote to dismiss him had been passed. "It was clear he cannot be a minister here if he insists on acting just like the rest of the members."
-- John M. Drescher, in "Ministry"
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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YES, HIS WAYS SOMETIMES ARE DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND
Pastor Jeff Simms shares this illustration of how God's ways are often difficult to explain and understand. (A suggested scripture reference might be Isaiah 55:8-9.)
Our cat Madeline had allergies that would cause her to pull at her fur and cause large areas of redness on her skin. When we took her to the vet he said to shampoo her thoroughly and then let her soak. Not knowing what else to do, I would soak her down with shampoo and stick her for 2-3 minutes in the cat carrier to soak and then dry her off. She was absolutely terrified of this and would run and hide when bath time came every two weeks.
One day I went to search for Madeline. I found her hiding on the window sill. Just as I was taking her to the sink to wash her, I felt the Lord say to me, "Tell this cat what you're doing." Out loud I said, "That's silly Lord, Madeline and I don't talk on the same level. It's for her own good." Down the cat went into the water. Two or three minutes later she was lathered up and in the carrier. Again, the Lord spoke to my heart, "Tell the cat why she is in there." I thought to myself, "That is silly. I don't talk cat. It's for her own good. She'll just have to trust me." I sat there for a few minutes and watched Madeline in the carrier, not understanding exactly what was happening to her or why. That's when I realized what the Lord was saying. If I can't communicate to the cat all of my intentions, how much more difficult is it for an infinite God to communicate His infinite purposes and will to me. It should be enough to trust in the character of the one who holds you.
Some things are too difficult for us to understand. We just have to trust God with them. Even though it feels like we are going down for the third time in a pool over our heads, God is still in control.
(Jeff Simms is Pastor of Southern Baptist Church of Philippi, WV)
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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YES, ALBERT EINSTEIN SAID THIS
The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books -- a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.
--Albert Einstein
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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GREAT PRESENTATION OF THE GOSPEL
from Evangelism Explosion International
The two most important questions you'll ever hear
http://www.eeinternational.org/dykfs/
Put a link to this on your church’s website, or use it in training your people to witness for Christ.
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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PRIDE
James Hewett has written of a missionary who spoke of his difficult work in translating the Scriptures for a tribe of natives in the country where he worked. He found it extremely trying to translate the word “pride” with something close enough so the idea would be conveyed to them. He finally had to settle on a word which described the ears being too far apart. The picture of an inflated head very accurately depicts what pride does to a person.
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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SQUEEZING THE GLORY OUT
Perry Tanksley wrote words which would be good for any of us to adopt as a personal motto: (“To Love is to Give,” Perry Tanksley. Jackson, Mississippi: Allgood Books, 1970, p. 7)
In youth and in old age,
In pleasure and in strife,
Lord, help me do Thy will,
Get glory from my life,
And if I, half-forgetful,
Put not Thy kingdom first,
And if for righteousness
I lose my deeper thirst;
Then Lord, in hot displeasure
Purge me from fear and doubt,
And crush me if it’s needed
To squeeze Thy glory out.
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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PRIDE AND SERVICE
Pride keeps us from doing many things in the service of God and others. A student at a Bible college in the Philippines became upset over the condition of the men’s rest room, since it seemed that they were neglected in the cleaning routine. Finally, he took matters into his own hands and went to see the president of the college to complain about the filthy conditions. Just a little while later, the student noticed with pride swelling in his breast that the problem was being corrected. The pride quickly turned to amazement and then shame, as the student realized that the man with mop and pail in hand was the president himself! The student commented later, “I thought he would call a janitor, but he cleaned the toilets himself. It was a major lesson to me on being a servant, and of course, it raised a question in my own mind as to why I hadn’t taken care of the problem!”
(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com, September 27, 2004)
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