BBD 09.26.17 Intimidation (Classic)

#1 · September 26, 2017, 12:26 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on September 26, 2017, 12:26 pm
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Classic from 2010

Burning Bush Devotional

26 September 2017

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 NKJV.

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 NKJV.

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 intimidation and threats of the world.

Copyright © 2010 - 2017. Ed
Wrather. 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 those
first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to
prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites are celebrating
19 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 12,000
subscribers across the world.

The Addictions Kit - Biblical Help for Addictions by Ed Wrather is now
available for download from Amazon. The Addictions Kit provides practical Biblical steps to defeat
your addiction that actually work.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIYLNLM

The New Pastor's Training Manual is available for download on Amazon. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PJ8UTGS If you prefer a paper copy of the book you can order it from
the Burning Bush website at http://bit.ly/1uXDBnk

Books now available at the Burning Bush website:

New Pastor's
Training Manual

Biblical Help
for Overcoming Substance Abuse

Biblical Help
for Overcoming Sexual Addictions In Times of
Trouble - Devotionals to Encourage and Strengthen You (Also available for
download on Amazon.)

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

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the
Devotionals at the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of
the home page. Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

PRAY PRAY PRAY for all those
affected by the horrific Hurricane Harvey devastation and floods and from
Hurricane Irma.

Please continue to pray for
healing for Pastor Shane Hall, Michelle Abetz, Wesley Lewis, Brandy, Brad,
Damon D. & wife, Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Brent Baker, Lexi McCalip (her
last scan was clear!), Gary Kirk, and Jeanie.

Please also pray for Aleesha
McMillan and Amy Carroll.

Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many
prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page.
You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. My
prayer focus is now that God will give me opportunities to preach. As the
apostle Paul says, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

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

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

You can help support this
ministry by using this link: www.paypal.me/EdWrather

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group 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 (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) 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.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Classic from 2010

Burning Bush Devotional

26 September 2017

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 NKJV.

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 NKJV.

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 intimidation and threats of the world.

Copyright © 2010 - 2017. Ed
Wrather. 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 those
first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to
prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites are celebrating
19 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 12,000
subscribers across the world.

The Addictions Kit - Biblical Help for Addictions by Ed Wrather is now
available for download from Amazon. The Addictions Kit provides practical Biblical steps to defeat
your addiction that actually work.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIYLNLM

The New Pastor's Training Manual is available for download on Amazon. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PJ8UTGS If you prefer a paper copy of the book you can order it from
the Burning Bush website at http://bit.ly/1uXDBnk

Books now available at the Burning Bush website:

New Pastor's
Training Manual

Biblical Help
for Overcoming Substance Abuse

Biblical Help
for Overcoming Sexual Addictions In Times of
Trouble - Devotionals to Encourage and Strengthen You (Also available for
download on Amazon.)

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

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the
Devotionals at the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of
the home page. Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

PRAY PRAY PRAY for all those
affected by the horrific Hurricane Harvey devastation and floods and from
Hurricane Irma.

Please continue to pray for
healing for Pastor Shane Hall, Michelle Abetz, Wesley Lewis, Brandy, Brad,
Damon D. & wife, Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Brent Baker, Lexi McCalip (her
last scan was clear!), Gary Kirk, and Jeanie.

Please also pray for Aleesha
McMillan and Amy Carroll.

Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many
prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page.
You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. My
prayer focus is now that God will give me opportunities to preach. As the
apostle Paul says, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

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

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

You can help support this
ministry by using this link: http://www.paypal.me/EdWrather

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group 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 (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) 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.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org