By Joseph
Farah
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – If and when the Secret Service visits the offices of Living Waters Ministry in Southern
California to collect more "counterfeiting evidence" in the form of gospel
tracts disguised as $1 million bills, agents better be armed with a
warrant.
Ray
Comfort |
Ray Comfort, the world-renowned evangelist and head of the ministry,
says he is not inclined to turn over any more copies of one of his most
effective tools for witnessing his faith just because some Treasury agents
demand them.
Comfort was advised by his attorneys not to hand over the same gospel
tracts seized Thursday in a raid on Living Waters' partner ministry in
Denton, Texas.
"The thinking is that if agents show a judge a copy of the $1 million
tract, he would laugh till he cried and then, after catching his breath,
he would thank the agents for a good laugh and then ask them to stop
wasting his time," explained Comfort.
The controversy began Thursday about 1 p.m. when Secret Service agents
visited the Great News Network in
Texas and threatened with arrest Tim Crawford for hiding evidence in a
counterfeiting investigation and seized 8,300 gospel tracts designed as
"million-dollar bills."
Three Secret Service agents asked Crawford if he was responsible for
printing "the million-dollar bills," gospel tracts that appear on one side
to be a $1 million dollar bill and present the Christian salvation message
on the opposite side.
Crawford suggested they talk to his boss, Darrel Rudus, the founder of
the organization that trains evangelists from around the country in the
techniques of witnessing their faith.
By telephone with the agents, Rudus offered his opinion that it was
impossible to counterfeit something that wasn't real – a $1 million bill.
But the agents explained that someone in North Carolina had attempted
to deposit one of the million-dollar bills in a bank account. The address
of the Great News Network was on the back, and the Secret Service went
into action.
Though Rudus' group distributes thousands of the tracts, it did not
originate them. They are the work of Comfort’s Living Waters Ministry,
which distributes millions of them a year.
Before he got off the phone, Rudus was convinced the agents were going
to drop their demand for the Great News Network's tracts.
But later, he reports, the agents again demanded them from Crawford,
threatening him with arrest for "concealing evidence." Rather than face
arrest, Crawford turned over the approximately 8,300 million-dollar tracts
the group had stored. The agents left a receipt and their business cards.
Comfort told WND he was stunned by the action of the Secret Service and
expects agents to visit his offices soon. He said he has no plans to
abandon the use of the tracts, which are among the most popular of the
many his organization distributes. Living Waters is known for its
television program, "The Way of the Master," and an association with actor
Kirk Cameron.
"I'm not going to stop printing them," Comfort said. "How can you
possibly counterfeit something that is not real – a $1 million bill?"
Comfort's group is being represented by the American Family Association
Center for Law and Policy in the case.
"I am more than a little amazed that the Secret Service has chosen to
harass Ray Comfort because of his $1 million gospel tracts," said Brian
Fahling, senior trial attorney for the group. "It is abundantly clear to
anyone with a modicum of common sense that the 'bills' are not made with
an intent to defraud, but rather, they are distributed with the intent to
reveal the Truth. No thinking person could believe the bills are real. If
the Secret Service does not cease from this intrusion upon the free speech
rights and free exercise rights of Ray Comfort and others, that agency
will be explaining its outrageous conduct to a federal judge."
The tract also includes this message: "The million dollar question:
Will you go to Heaven? Here's a quick test. Have you ever told a lie,
stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? Jesus said, "Whoever looks
upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already with her in
his heart." Have you looked with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgment Day?
If you have done those things God sees you as a lying, thieving,
blasphemous, adulterer at heart. The Bible warns that if you are guilty
you will end up in Hell. That's not God's will. He sent His Son to suffer
and die on the cross for you. Jesus took your punishment upon Himself –
'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.' Then
He rose from the dead and defeated death. Please, repent (turn from sin)
today and trust in Jesus, and God will grant you everlasting life. Then
read your Bible daily and obey it."
The tracts are also clearly marked on the front: "This bill is not
legal tender." It also includes the message "Thou Shalt Not Steal," the
words "Department of Eternal Affairs" and a picture of President Grover
Cleveland, whose image has never appeared on any bill. The website address
for the radio program of Comfort and Cameron, "The Way of the Master," is
also emblazoned on the "bill."
"Apparently some cognitively challenged individual in North Carolina
attempted to deposit one of the 'bills' into his account, and the Secret
Service decided that was enough for them to treat the bills as
counterfeit," said Fahling. "By that type of reasoning, if someone should
attempt to deposit Monopoly money in a bank, the Secret Service could
seize all the Monopoly money held by Americans. Surely the Secret Service
has more important things to do."
Rudus says he won't be deterred from distributing the tracts in the
future.
"Show me the law we're breaking," he told WND. "How can you counterfeit
bills that do not exist."
Rudus suspects the unknown lady in North Carolina didn't actually try
to deposit the tract into her bank account.
"People drop these tracts for others to see and read," he explained.
"That's the purpose of it. I have no way of knowing, but if I were going
to guess, I would suggest this person just included the tract along with a
deposit and someone got offended."
Comfort said: "People love this gospel tract. It's my personal favorite
because it makes people laugh, and the reason they laugh is because they
know that there’s no such thing as a million dollar bill. When it comes to
producing counterfeit money, there must be an intent to defraud. This
wasn't produced with the intent to buy anything, or to get change.
… It was produced as a gospel tract. That's its sole intent. Besides, any
bank teller or shop assistant who is duped into giving change on a million
dollar bill shouldn't be behind the counter."
The controversy, first
reported by WND yesterday, has caused a "run" on demand for the
million-dollar tracts. Living Waters' website was nearly incapacitated by
the number of orders for the tract from the public.
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