Posted on 09/02/2005 9:21:56 AM PDT by Mark Felton
The Gideons International are sending 40,000 Personal Witnessing Testaments (New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs) to be distributed at the Astrodome and other relief centers in Houston.
My camp in Clear Lake is the focal point for organizing Gideon volunteers to help with the distribution. We are doing this in cooperation with the Salvation Army.
If you are a Gideon, or a minister, and would like to help the Salvation Army and Gideons minister to the people and distribute the New Testaments please freep mail me your name and phone number and either myself, the Salvation Army or a Gideon organizer will contact you.
At this time we are working with our own personal cell phones until we get a headquarters established. You may also contact the Gideons International HQ in Nashville, TN and they can forward your information. Telephone: (615)564-5000 or Email us at tgi@gideons.org
The scriptures are on a truck due to arrive Sunday by 10 a.m. and we are planning shifts to provide patoral care 24/7.
God is at work, and we are called by Him to Serve His Will. There was a purpose for Katrina, let us not fail to fulfill our duties.
"The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, But a broken spirit who can bear?" -- Proverbs 18:14 NASB
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” -- John 7:37-38
This is awesome. Talk about the fields being ripe unto harvest!
The Gideons do not usually advertise their activities (we are very low-key, we do not seek worldly glory), but this is a call for volunteers in coordination with the Salvation Army.
"The scriptures are on a truck due to arrive Sunday by 10 a.m. and we are planning shifts to provide patoral care 24/7."
I don't think they'll be 40,000 people there by Sunday.
Something tells me the pages will be used for toilet paper.
Let's hope that JK Rowling matches this generous donation.
Or kindling.
You can't eat the Bible, send food. Small consolation that you are at peace with God while you're dying of starvation.
That's great, but it's only half the story.
We merely plant the Word. God does the work.
John 4:13-14 (New International Version)
13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
God bless you for your work. Let not your heart be troubled by the sarcasm. I'm sure that many will appreciate what you are doing.
That being said I'm waiting for someone to chime in about separation of church and state since the Federal Govt is involved.
Amen, bro.
forgot to add - "since the federal government is involved in relief efforts."
You obviously have no idea how important a Bible would be to a Christian. I know that is something you cannot understand.
I don't think their souls are an immediate concern.
God must truly work in mysterious ways. In this case, it's an apparent dis-concern for the suffering of his people.
This is far better than some mosque sending 40,000 copies of the Quran. Of course, the ACLU will immediately file a lawsuit preventing the distribution of these New Testaments.
Mark-
Bless you for your committment to Christ. Sometimes, I wish I had more of it in me.
But the necessities are food, water, clothing and basic medical supplies.
Although a lot of people out there carry Christ along with them in every aspect of their daily lives, these poor people need something else - something more substantial and tangible than a Bible.
I wish you well in your endeavours - but I feel they are a little misplaced at this time.
Dont you know
But He answered and said, "It is written, `MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD Matt 4:4
People have more than food needs and I am sure those are being addressed at the Astro Dome.
May God bless you all for your efforts, and may His kingdom be increased by the seeds you've planted.
How you can snark even on this is amazing....
BTW, 32 years is a long time to be in a bad mood. I pity you.
No doubt that some will be misused, but spirtual comfort may be all that can be offered and in times of crisis, faith and hope may be all you have.
"Praise God from whom all blessing flow
Praise Him all creatures here below..."
For some of those folks it will be their first Book. God be with them.
I follow Christian tenants very seriously. You have no idea who I am. The Bible at this point is merely a sop to people who have more immediate needs.
If you're starving and thirsty...what would you prefer...a book...or food and water?
Try not to obfuscate the issue..but answer this question...if you had a thousand dollars to contribute...would you invest the saving of people's lives in physical sustenance..or the spiritual alternative
This is tremendous, God Bless you for the work you have always done. It is at times like these that folks will start to realize that the Gideons do more than just "stock" hotel and hospital rooms. Here is a link to another thread about a group in the New Orleans area that is asking for Bible donations to distribute to people there.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1475189/posts
Hopefully they are made of bologna.
There was a link on a previous thread from someone in touch with a shelter in Baton Rouge--after food and water, what people most request is the Bible. No one is suggesting that food and water not be sent--but this is also a necessity, and normal relief workers have other things to do. God gives each of us work to do, and it's not always the same.
I guess that's why he sent a CAT 5.
That's ok, as long as it isn't the Koran, that's ok. (/sarcasm)
BTW, 32 years is a long time to be in a bad mood. I pity you.
Amen!
Quick true Gideons story.
The Gideons were traveling to a small private school somewhere in Africa to distribute bible to the children where the local whites spoke English, so they packed only English language NT's. Unknown to them, there was the son of a French diplomat who spoke very little English and read none, but he got a bible, too. A few days later, the schoolmaster asked them how they knew to pack a French language NT's. They had not of course and when the headmaster was questioned, it seems that somehow ONE French translation NT had accidentally packed in with the English ones and the worker handing them out had somehow randomly grabbed THAT NT and given it to the French boy.
Just coincidence? I think not.
Exactly!
Let's talk practicalities here.
But if it makes some people out there feel good to have distributed Bibles instead of water or food, then so be it.
BTW...that's what's called a cynical, humorous tag....get your head out of the Book...and smell the real world.
I am going to tell you the truth and I realize you probably won't like it. You are blind, my friend, and you don't even know it.
Only by those who have rejected God.Only by those who have chosen death over life.Only by those who choose NOT to believe.
Do you realize that Bibles are among the most requested items. Physical needs are not the only thing. Both types are being taken care of.
See post 37.
"The Gideons International are sending 40,000 Personal Witnessing Testaments (New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs) "
My bet is the ACLU will file suit preventing this from happening.
On the other hand, imagine the horror of being stuck in a crowded shelter for weeks with nothing to read? I'd go balmy and start eating the neighbors.
I wonder who is going to feel better. The people who are dying...or the people having a successful distribution project.
2 excellent Christian relief organizations:
Southern Baptist's NAMB: http://www.namb.net/
Samaritan's Purse: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/
Why must the sending of food and scriptures be mutually exclusive?
"You can't eat the Bible, send food. Small consolation that you are at peace with God while you're dying of starvation."
With all due respect, that is a stupid comment.
The people at the Astrodome are in HOUSTON. They are being well-fed. Houston doesn't need anybody to send food.
Nice gesture by the Gideons. I heard that people, while still in NO, were asking for Bibles.
Despite the degeneracy and bad behavior we'll all heard of, I know that there are good and decent people who have been brought to Houston and who will appreciate a copy of the scriptures.
Happy to see you are so ignorant.Have you not read there is
good seed and bad?Children of darkness and children of light,disobediant and obediant children? suffering is visited upon the good as well as upon the wicked.But I worry about those who think man--or godless government is the answer to a problem such as this.
God Bless the effort! Let us not neglect the mind and the emotions. Our body is but a shell if our heart and mind are lost in the mire.
The Bibles are a nice idea but it looks as if the Astrodome is only going to hold about 8,000 and not 25,000 so the Gideons will be able to hand out five Bibles for every evacuee, where the evacuee wants it or not. That seems like a waste of resources to me.
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