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The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoax Photo Database, the Hoax Forum, and the Hoaxipedia.

Web Hoax Museum

RUDE ROVER
The Christmas dog with no class! He sings and toots Jingle Bells.
INFLATABLE TREE
Who needs the hassle of a real Christmas tree?
FARTING SANTA
Go ahead and pull his finger!

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.

Well, good for you Guy. If I had money I might give to charity, but I have to worry about feeding myself first. You can't expect everyone with no money to give to the poor. Also, I don't think you should be bragging about it. Doesn't that kind of negate the whole "I'm doing it for the Lord!" argument? Actually come to think of it... your whole argument reminds me of that song, Amish Paradise where the person singing brags "I'm at least a million times more humble than thou art!" You know, it's people like you that give the rest of us Christians a bad name. People see us all as crazy because of a couple weirdos in the bunch.

Also, Guy and Earl, and whoever else is arguing...it's pretty obvious that you're all the same person. I thought lying was a sin, so how about you stop lying about your identity? Though maybe you're just a troll who's trying to stir up trouble. I kind of hope so, because if you're a real person it's a little sad that you think that fake pieces of money are the most important thing on earth. Either way, whether you're a troll or just a sad little man, I'm not wasting any more time on this silly argument.

One more thing Sakano, it was someone giving me tract years ago, in 1993 that that played a big part in bringing me into relationship with Christ. So I can honestly tell you that tracts do work. It only does not work like self rightous people like you who are too pridful thinking like you quoted "go to church every week and pray, and all that good stuff." can save you. Going to church and paraying and all that good stuff cannot save you from the judment of God. Only faith in Jesus. Romans 10:17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

These tracts have the WORD OF GOD ON THEM.

Well, Sakano, I never met Earl, and do not know who he is. But I can tell you this. We are kinda the same person. Because we have the Same Spirit of Christ. And my point of teloing you what I give is not to be prideful. It is to give you explaination that the people of Christ do give . That is your argument that Christians rather give tracts than help those in need. You made your point that you do not give. I sacrifice to give. I have gone without food so others can have food. That is the LOVE OF CHRIST. He sacrificed so we can have.

Hey Sakano,
I never said anything about someone that is poor, must be lazy. You came up with that one all on your own. The Bible tells us that we are responsible to take care of our own families. Otherwise we have denied the faith, and are worse than an infidel (1 Timothy 5:8). I only bring this up because you brought it up to start with and claim to be a Christian. You and your family members should be helping out your Aunt. If you all pitch in a little, your Aunt will have some money to get by. You just do what you can and pray about what you can't do. Leave the rest up to God. You can always use part of your tithe to help your Aunt. This way you can feel good about helping out your Aunt and it will not cost you any more than you are giving to God. If you give an offering, give it to your Aunt. Only a person who doesn't give to God will not understand how God will bless you for it. I hope that you are a person that gives to God because He has given you everything that you have and if you show Him that you are faithful with what He has given to you, He will give you more. It may not be more money that He gives you. He can bless you in other ways like better health, your car not breaking down, or finding sales at the store when you must buy something. As a Christian you should be worried about the big picture. Take care of their physical needs but don't stop there. Make sure they are set for eternity. How will you answer a friend or family member in the after life when he says to you, you fed me but you didn't share with me how to go to Heaven. When he tells you that he will spend eternity in Hell and you knew how to keep him out of there. Tell them about Jesus and how to go to Heaven. Then let them make up their own mind - what they want to do with the knowledge that you have shared with them.

No matter how you sugarcoat it, it's still emotional blackmail and preying on the needy.

A good person would help them get back on their feet first, instead of taking advantage of them to proselytize.

A person with good intentions may think that getting them back on their feet would be more important, but when you realize that any one of us may not even be alive in five minutes from now you will see that it is more important to get right with God than to let them have a meal. Anything can happen to anyone at any time. The people on 911 were working in their offices one minute and seconds later they were dead from a plane crashing in on them and they never even knew what hit them. How about the people eating at a McDonalds restraunt a few years ago when a car crashed in the store where they were sitting and some of them died. There was a famous basketball player "Pistle Pete" that was playing basketball with some friends. He just told a friend that he felt better than he had ever felt in his life and then he dropped over dead from a heart defect that he was born with ( and never knew about). The person youn are trying to help get back on their feet may not live to see tomorrow. That is why it is so important to make sure that they are right with God. You want to make sure they have a meal today. I want to make sure they will have meals for all of eternity. I don't see this as taking advantage of them but as helping them in the best way possible.

I love the "It's for their own good" bullshit when it's so obvious it's not. It's conceit, pure and simple.

It's for their own good is something that each parent uses with their child if they care at all for the child. We don't let our children play in the street, put their fingers in electric sockets, pet strange animals that wander into our yard, or talk to strangers. Why? Because it is for their own good. I have teenagers that don't always understand why I won't let them do things. They have found out the hard way that I knew what I was talking about. I know people that are still paying the price for things they did 10 or 20 years ago. Yes, for their own good is a good thing. If you were walking by a house late at night and saw it was on fire but didn't try to warn the people in the house, people in town would think you were a monster for letting the people in the house die when you could have helped them. You may say, hey, I fed them lunch, that's all I need to do but you would be wrong and they would end up paying the price for what you didn't do. This is known as a sin of ommision (Not doing something that you should do). Trying to help someone has nothing to do with conceit. You do it because it is the right thing to do. Helping someone to go to Heaven has nothing to do with conceit. You do it because you don't want that person to spend eternity in Hell. Hell is far worse than a burning building. I have no doubt that you would want to help the people in the burning building, however you see no reason to help them out of going to Hell. This is where we differ. I try to help people with eternity. You think it's a waste of time and energy. I hope and pray that you will be right with God when your time comes. Some day I will find out. I hope to see you in Heaven. You can offer a lot to Gods work if you will let Him help you. If you have any interest now or in the future, you can check out a simple test to see where you stand in Gods eyes as far as eternity. It's at http://www.makeitclearnow.org/gospel.html. They have a lot of other things on their site but I think it is pretty cool how they did this.

That's so condescending, it's not even funny. We're talking about adults. They're not children and they don't need to be treated like children. It's very pretenious that you feel you need to protect them and decide what's good for them.

Your analogy also falls short. I think this would be a more apt analogy. Let's say you're walking by, and you see a building burning with someone trapped inside. They're screaming for help, but instead of calling for help or actually trying to save them yourselves, you just scream "I hope you're right with God! Pray to Jesus so at least you'll go to Heaven!" and walking away.

Sakano, Go back and read everything that I have said on this site and you will realize that I would try to get them out of the house first, then talk to them about eternity. So you think that adults know what is good for them. Look at the world today, read the paper, watch the news. Adults often are no better at knowing what is good for them than children. This is why we have so much sin in the world. This is why the divorce rate is so high. People don't go into a marriage knowing what they are doing. They go into a marriage acting on their feelings instead of seeing what is real. Then when the feeling ends, they get out. And after they get out of the marriage, they say it is all the other persons fault. Then they get into another relationship and make the same mistakes all over again because they didn't learn from their previous mistakes. Learn from your mistakes so you don't repeat them later. You have already told us about your Aunt who needs help and you don't help her. You could help her if you wanted to. It's just not important to you. If it was, you would help her. My parents need help. I pay one of their monthly bills and send them money each month. I could say that I need the money to feed my children but that wouldn't help my parents out any. I just go without a few things that I would like to have but don't need. My parents are more important to me than the money. This is also why I give money to the local mission that feeds the poor and why I will buy a hungry person a meal or put gas in someones tank. But I also try to make sure that they will go to Heaven when they die. Something you care nothing about. I take care of the physically and spiritually. Ask yourself what kind of help are you giving them. I will tell you the same thing I told Charybdis in Hell. I hope that you are right with God when your time comes. If you can overcome the things that life has thrown at you, you will be able to live a life that will please God. Strive for that. You say that you are a Christian. Pray about it and ask God if you are living your life the way that He wants you to. You don't answer to me but one day you will answer to Him.

Yeah, so adults may make mistake...but those are there mistakes to make. People are allowed to be free and make choices. You're no better than anyone else, and therefore you're no more fit than anyone else to make choices for another adult. You're being awfully judgmental and prideful in assuming that you know what's good for them.

You don't know anything about my life, or anything I do for my Aunt, so you trying to make me feel guilty about it doesn't really phase me. I haven't really seen anything in your previous posts that show that you would save them from a burning house first. In fact, isn't your whole argument that it's more important to save someone's spiritual soul than their physical body? You say you feed people and help them, and that's all well and good...but you also use false advertising by packaging tracts as money. As you can see from a previous post, that tactic DID actually hurt someone, so there may be more out there who are hurt. And whatever you say about it, it's just a cheap, dirty trick that doesn't really help anyone. It creates litter, kills trees, and may lower to morale of someone who is already suffering. They do more harm than good.

Isaiah 55:7-9, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Sakano, you are the one who judges unrightously. You condemn people who just want to bring salvation to others. Many will not choose to listen, but others will listen. You are right that we all have choices, but I want to give someone the option of choosing right.

You sound as if you are full of bitterness towards the followers of Christ. Maybe because you are angry at God. You may blame God for hurts in your life. Maybe you need to look into the mirror and blame the right person. One we humble ourselves and call out unto Christ, He is there to save us.

You make satement after statement that these people who give out these tracts are doing nothing but that. But like I and others mentioned before, Christians have given more to feed the hungry, clothed the naked and house the homeless than any other organization on earth. So you have lost your argument that all Christians care about is a person's soul.

Yet, Christians do not stop at meeting the physacle needs of a person, but more importantly, the persons spiratual needs.

But your eyes are blind to this, because of your anger. Jesus fed the hungry, but He preached about salvation more. These people are not doing this to get anything out of it, they do it out of pure love. Many have laid down their lives to get the message of salvation. Go to gfa.com (Gospel For Asia Ministries), these people have been burned at the stake for witnessing to others. Millions have been killed throughout the ages for witnessing to others the message of salvation.

I would rather starve than loose my salvation. Because I have EXPERIENCED JESUS. I just want others to experience HIM also. Without anyone witnessing about salvation to anyone, no one would believe. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the WORD of God. How can anyone believe if they do not hear the Word. And how can one hear unless someone goes out witnessing?

I really would love to see you come to understand this. Not for my benifit, but yours. I do pray for you guys. I know you may get angry at this, I would hope not, I do not mean any harm. I hope only good to come to you.

Yes, adults have the free will that God gave them to make mistakes. You have the free will to accept or reject the things that God has planned for your life. You see, I dont make the choice of what is good or bad for a person. God has already done that in the Bible. You say you are a Christian. You should know that God spells out what is right and wrong. If a person doesn't read the Bible though, they wont know what God says about sin and salvation. That is where I come in. I give them the information so that they can make up their own mind. They can only act on something that they have been told about. If no oone has ever taken the time to let them know that they can have eternal life, there is a good chance that whey will never find out. You don't want to give them the choice. As a Christian you are holding back important information from these people that can change their lives for the better. Did you see the post that told us that a tract is what helped Guy to find God in the first place? Tracts do work no matter what you may think. My whole argument is that we take care of the physical and the spiritual. Your whole argument is that the spiritual part of a person doesn't matter. I try to help in both areas and you don't help in either one. I say that because of your comments about your Aunt. And you still haven't told me after several posts that you have helped your Aunt out. That tells me that you haven't helped her out or you would have corrected me on that one. If you have helped her out, you can tell me in your next post. You surely don't talk like a Christian. You seem to be against witnessing to others about Jesus and what He did for them on the cross. I would guess that you get upset at street corner preachers too. Remember this. Different people will only listen to God through different methods. Some people will go to a church and accept Christ as their Savior. Some would never step church in a church but will listen to a Christian friend. Some will hear the street preacher and will accept Christ then. Some people will pick up a tract and read it and accept Christ as their savior. No one way will reach everyone. This is why God uses different people and different methods to get out His word to people.

Go to gfa.com (Gospel For Asia Ministries)

I do apolagize. Correction: The link is http://www.gfa.org

I sponsor missionaries here, the biggest part of their ministry is handing out tracks. Please check it out. Request their free book, Revolution in World Missions

And please excuse my bad spelling

I have been reading all of these posts and now it's my turn.
I believe it is important to live by example. What better example to follow than Jesus Christ. Let's go back to the Bible. Jesus made it his mission to help the needy out. But he didn't just give them food and not worry about their soul. He taught those he came in contact with of their need for a saviour and he paid attention to their physical needs as well.
It looks to me that from his example if we aren't doing both we aren't truly as Christ-like as we could be.
Take the man with the withered hand. Christ was teaching in the Synagogue (Taking care of the man's spiritual needs). He could have just stopped there but he didn't. There were people watching who were against helping this man out but Jesus didn't pay any attention to them he healed the mans hand (Taking care of the man's physical needs).
Read through the Bible there are countless situations in which Christ took care of both the physical and the spiritual needs of others. To call yourself a true Christ follower you have to be willing to do both.
I thought it was interesting that Sakano mentioned in his post that it is prideful and judgmental to decide what is good for another adult. You know that no one can make your choices for you. A tract gives just that a chance for the person who reads it to make an educated decision. In college they taught us to look at both sides of an argument and make a decison based on knowledge from both sides of the issue. A tract may reach someone who otherwise wouldn't know that there was a choice to make about eternity.
If a person finds a tract they can make the choice to read it or throw it away. They can choose to believe what it says or not. The choice is theirs whether to use the contact information to find out more or not. Sure we all make mistakes but just remember not making a choice... IS really making a choice.

I'm not bitter towards God. I love God, and I don't blame him for anything bad in my life. I'm just annoyed at the bunch of idiots who think throwing tracts in the street is a good idea. Generally, to persuade someone to do something you want them to (ie go to church) you have to make a good impression. The tract fails to do this TWICE. When a person finds out that what they picked up isn't money, they're not going to be receptive, they're going to be annoyed, frustrated and disappointed. Then on top of it, the message basically says "Hey! You're a greedy bastard. Go to church and change your wicked ways!" No one likes to be attacked, and that's what the messages do, attack people. So they're even LESS likely to listen to what's on the message. Yeah it may work for 1 or 2 people out of the thousands (Like, supposedly, Guy...who I don't really believe.) but there are more effective ways.

Street preachers don't bother me, because at least then the person knows what they're getting and I feel they work better. As long as the people spreading the word aren't manipulative or deceptive or downright stupid, I have no problem with it.

Yay Sakano! You answered that nonsense with far more patience and understanding than I could have managed. Well done.

Of course, now I feel lazy about it.

Full of Bitterness Sakano

I believe there is more to your bitterness towards God than you admit. Otherwise you would not attack the workers of God. Jesus said : John 15:18, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you."

I don't guess I have to prove it to you, but just to mention, I still carry the tract in my BIBLE. It was actually 2 tracts. It was CHICK TRACTS. I hate to think what you feel about that Sakano.

I might share the story in my next post on how the tracts were given to me. I believe it was an actual miracle. Very so ordained of God I say anyway.

But it's ok to call me a liar Sakano, they done worse to my LORD. I need to try and take pleasure in persecution. But that does not cause me to stray from my love towards you guys. It only makes me want to pray more for you.

Luke 23:34, "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots."

You're free to think what you want to think about me Guy. I don't care what some person on the internet thinks about me and my relationship with God. I never attacked you, I just think tracts are dumb, and nothing you say is going to convince me that tracts aren't dumb. Saying you carry the tracts in your Bible proves nothing. Even if you scanned the tracts, it wouldn't mean anything.

Thanks Charybdis! I'm afraid I'm starting to lose patience myself, so I don't think you're lazy. You fought a good fight!