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My Experience with TracFone (and Other Carriers)

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Until 2008, I didn’t own a cell phone. I grew to despising them because they often rang before I could witness to selected individuals. Then I dated a woman who offered to buy me a phone and put me on her Sprint plan. That ended after a few months when we broke up.  A short time later, I set up a Boost Mobile account. It was the only cellular service I knew of then that didn’t require signing a contract. My Boost Mobile phone was used sparingly since I had frequent access to landlines. In addition, a friend told me about Google Voice that allowed me to make free calls through my laptop using Wi-Fi. Eventually , I closed my Boost Mobile account after being tricked into switching to their $50/month Unlimited Plan to use a “free phone” they sent me. Then another friend offered me a phone to use with his T-Mobile family plan. A year later, that phone accidentally got baptized in the washing machine. My then-pastor unsuccessfully tried resurrecting that phone in a bag of rice. Because m
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5 Things I’m Thankful For

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This Thursday in the United States (and a few other countries) is Thanksgiving Day, an annual holiday marked by religious observances and a traditional turkey dinner. It’s definitely a good time to count your blessings. In this article, I will describe five things I’m thankful for. Hopefully, this will inspire you to do the same, especially if you’re going through difficult times.  We should never lose an attitude of gratitude.  1) I’m still alive. In 1978, I almost got killed in an accident. While in my early teens, my parents had property on Big Sugar Bush Lake in Central Minnesota. During the summer, we’d go there every weekend. One Sunday in mid-September, we went waterskiing. While taking my turn around the lake, my sister stood on the dock. I tried to get close enough to spray water on her. Unfortunately, I misjudged my distance and slammed into the side of the dock! All I suffered were surface cuts on my arm and leg. Although I wasn’t born again at the time, God’s angels prote
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God’s Prosperity vs. Satan’s Prosperity

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One thing that annoys me is Christians criticizing the so-called “ prosperity gospel " as if it’s a sin to be wealthy. I like what my former pastor Mac Hammond says, “The more money believers have, the less the devil has.” Nevertheless, a man I know recently shared this meme that claims “...the prosperity gospel offers you everything Satan offered Christ." Let’s examine what the devil offered the Lord in Matthew 4… 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,  6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw
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To Friend or Unfriend

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For 15 years now, I’ve been on Facebook plus added other social media platforms. Since I use Facebook as a tool for ministry, I will accept most friend requests as long as my potential friend appears to be a God-fearing person and has a legitimate profile photo . If a person I don’t know doesn’t have a sufficient number of Facebook friends, then their request is deleted. I’m suspicious of individuals who immediately go outside their circle of influence before connecting with people they already know. I’ve learned to set other boundaries . Some of my Facebook friends post too much stuff online. I noticed one woman make over 40 posts on the same day! Digital entrepreneur Neil Patel says, “If you post too infrequently, your audience will forget that you exist and you will quickly fade into the deep dark recesses of their minds. However, if you are posting too often, you will become a complete nuisance and they will dread seeing your posts overcrowding their feed.” Most studies agree that
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Liberal vs. Conservative

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With the American midterm election coming up in a few days, I thought it would be good to share this powerful analogy a Facebook friend posted: A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like many others her age, she considered herself to be liberal. She was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs: in other words, the redistribution of wealth.     She was ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.     One day she challenged her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth, and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in schoo
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Come Let Us Reason Together

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Yesterday afternoon I rode a bus from downtown Tampa after doing some street evangelism. I was getting hungry and thought of an area in the northern part of town with many restaurants. While getting off by the intersection of Fowler and Nebraska Avenue, I noticed a gathering that included a man preaching over a loudspeaker. One thing that caught my attention was a large banner quoting Isaiah 1:18 but misspelled “saith.” By the time I walked over there, I forgot about the misspelled banner because of seeing other signs. I also noticed the group consisted of well dressed African-American men (I don’t recall seeing any women). I asked who they were. One of the men handed me a flyer that resembled a church bulletin.  I started looking at the flyer minutes later after getting seated at Denny’s. I realized the flyer was their church's version of a gospel tract. However, there were parts of it I don’t agree with. Despite their sign encouraging people to “reason together”, I wasn’t in the
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In Remembrance of Scooby a/k/a Seal Dog

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All my life I’ve been a cat lover but in recent years developed an increasing appreciation for dogs. One in particular that I grew fond of recently passed away. When I first stayed with my friend Lorvin in 2013, he had two beagles named Rocky and Scooby. I noticed Scooby’s bark sounded like a seal. So we started calling him Seal Dog. I never got tired of hearing his “seal squeal.” Scooby wagged his tail while barking and howling for me. I believe he enjoyed the extra attention. Rocky usually wouldn’t bark when I tried getting him to do so. Seal Dog always responded instead. Lorvin got the idea of turning Scooby into a superhero . He ordered a Superman outfit for dogs since the “S” could also stand for Seal Dog. An Underdog outfit was ordered for Rocky who I nicknamed Überdog. Just for fun, I created videos of these characters. One of them was for a song I composed. “ Seal Dog Theme ” got played on the Dr. Demento radio show. Later when Lorvin got married, his wife Tanya insisted on
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