BBD 08.18.10 Intimidation (New)

#1 · August 17, 2010, 11:17 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on August 17, 2010, 11:17 pm
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net
www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of more than 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you love to send and receive inspirational emails the Burning Bush
Inspirational Group is for you. To join send an email to
bbinspire-join@welovegod.org

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
www.theburningbush.net.

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 1071 new subscribers since January 1, 2010!!
There were 1367 new subscribers during 2009!!

08.18.10

Intimidation

Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the
Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the
gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, and all of
them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.
Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a
watch against them day and night. - Nehemiah 4:7-9.

Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the
multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him
to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and
went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. -
Acts 14:19-20.

Rev. Luke Strand who is the priest at the Holy Family Catholic Church in
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin had a great idea to gain more attention for God. His
idea was to put an oval decal (black background on top with white background
on the bottom) with the words "God Squad" on his solid black Volkswagen
Beetle. Admittedly, the word "Squad" on the bottom is similar to that of
Best Buy's "Squad" in their Geek Squad decal which they also have on a
Volkswagen Beetle. Best Buy's Beetle is black and white. Best Buy has served
Rev. Strand with a cease-and-desist order claiming the God Squad decal is a
violation of their trademark of the "Geek Squad". Rev. Strand has agreed to
stop using his "God Squad" decal on his Volkswagen Beetle.

Rhea Behlke who is a spokeswoman for the church said that Rev. Strand had
been using the decal on his Beetle for several years. She also said that the
God Squad Beetle was a "creative way to bring God to the streets" and that
it has made it more comfortable for some people to approach a priest.

In defense of Rev. Strand, the term "God Squad" does have a completely
different meaning than that of "Geek Squad." The term God Squad has been in
use for many years and is still in use by various individuals and
organizations. Rev. Strand had used his decal promoting his God Squad for a
number of years prior to Best Buy deciding to take action against him. Here
is part of the definition of infringement of trademark from NOLO (the free
dictionary of law terms and definitions), "Unauthorized use of a trademark
or service mark (or a substantially similar mark) on competing or related
goods and services." It is immediately clear that God Squad is not competing
with the Geek Squad and that Rev. Strand is not offering for sale any
related goods or services.

Here we have an obvious situation of Christianity being intimidated and
threatened by the world. It is likely if the trademark infringement that
Best Buy claims went to court that they would lose. However, it is very
costly to fight claims like this, and it could expose the priest's church to
substantial legal obligations.

What do you do when you are faced with such intimidation and threats? You
continue on to the extent that you can, which is what Rev. Strand intends to
do. He will not be using the decal, but he will still be driving his black
Beetle around the community. When the apostle Paul was stoned at Lystra and
dragged outside the city and left for dead he did not run away. No, he got
up and went back into the city to continue to preach the Gospel of Christ.
When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites mocked
and threatened Nehemiah and the people of God, they did not stop building
the wall. No, they armed themselves and continued to build at an even faster
pace. We must do the same when we face the intimidations and threats of the
world.

As a Christian I will no longer buy anything from Best Buy and will not use
their Geek Squad because of how they have treated Rev. Strand and because of
what a former employee has shared at this link:
easytechtalk.com/2008/05/04/dont-use-geek-squad/

Copyright © 2010. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals
in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was
primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

For information about how to hear my testimony in your church visit this
link: www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=22160

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
connect.tangle.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

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Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net
http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of more than 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you love to send and receive inspirational emails the Burning Bush
Inspirational Group is for you. To join send an email to
bbinspire-join@welovegod.org

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
http://www.theburningbush.net.

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 1071 new subscribers since January 1, 2010!!
There were 1367 new subscribers during 2009!!

08.18.10

Intimidation

Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the
Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the
gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, and all of
them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.
Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a
watch against them day and night. - Nehemiah 4:7-9.

Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the
multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him
to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and
went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. -
Acts 14:19-20.

Rev. Luke Strand who is the priest at the Holy Family Catholic Church in
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin had a great idea to gain more attention for God. His
idea was to put an oval decal (black background on top with white background
on the bottom) with the words "God Squad" on his solid black Volkswagen
Beetle. Admittedly, the word "Squad" on the bottom is similar to that of
Best Buy's "Squad" in their Geek Squad decal which they also have on a
Volkswagen Beetle. Best Buy's Beetle is black and white. Best Buy has served
Rev. Strand with a cease-and-desist order claiming the God Squad decal is a
violation of their trademark of the "Geek Squad". Rev. Strand has agreed to
stop using his "God Squad" decal on his Volkswagen Beetle.

Rhea Behlke who is a spokeswoman for the church said that Rev. Strand had
been using the decal on his Beetle for several years. She also said that the
God Squad Beetle was a "creative way to bring God to the streets" and that
it has made it more comfortable for some people to approach a priest.

In defense of Rev. Strand, the term "God Squad" does have a completely
different meaning than that of "Geek Squad." The term God Squad has been in
use for many years and is still in use by various individuals and
organizations. Rev. Strand had used his decal promoting his God Squad for a
number of years prior to Best Buy deciding to take action against him. Here
is part of the definition of infringement of trademark from NOLO (the free
dictionary of law terms and definitions), "Unauthorized use of a trademark
or service mark (or a substantially similar mark) on competing or related
goods and services." It is immediately clear that God Squad is not competing
with the Geek Squad and that Rev. Strand is not offering for sale any
related goods or services.

Here we have an obvious situation of Christianity being intimidated and
threatened by the world. It is likely if the trademark infringement that
Best Buy claims went to court that they would lose. However, it is very
costly to fight claims like this, and it could expose the priest's church to
substantial legal obligations.

What do you do when you are faced with such intimidation and threats? You
continue on to the extent that you can, which is what Rev. Strand intends to
do. He will not be using the decal, but he will still be driving his black
Beetle around the community. When the apostle Paul was stoned at Lystra and
dragged outside the city and left for dead he did not run away. No, he got
up and went back into the city to continue to preach the Gospel of Christ.
When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites mocked
and threatened Nehemiah and the people of God, they did not stop building
the wall. No, they armed themselves and continued to build at an even faster
pace. We must do the same when we face the intimidations and threats of the
world.

As a Christian I will no longer buy anything from Best Buy and will not use
their Geek Squad because of how they have treated Rev. Strand and because of
what a former employee has shared at this link:
easytechtalk.com/2008/05/04/dont-use-geek-squad/

Copyright © 2010. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals
in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was
primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

For information about how to hear my testimony in your church visit this
link: http://www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=22160

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
connect.tangle.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
http://www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

=======
Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
(Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.15670)
http://www.pctools.com/
=======