In a story at Fox News called Doctors Can’t Remove Needles Stuck Near Boy’s Heart we find religion harming people again.

The article says

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The stepfather of a 2-year-old boy found with 42 needles in his body has confessed to jabbing them into the toddler as part of a religious ritual, Brazilian police said Thursday.

The boy’s father, Gessivaldo Alves, told the newspaper A Tarde that he believed his son could have been a victim of a black magic ritual. Alves reportedly said he visited the home where the boy was living and found unspecified items that could be used for black magic.

That is why you make the Bible your only rule of faith and practice. Religion kills. There is no preacher, man of God, apostle, prophet or any other alive today that give us a new word from the Lord.

We believe the Bible. We check everything anyone says by what the Word of God says. Do not fall into the trap of following preachers. Always have your Bible out. Check out the reference. Make sure that is what the Bible is saying.

Many people today in Christianity are being duped because of their ignorance of the Scriptures. Be careful to be a student of the Bible.

Be wary of anyone that tells you that God is speaking to them and telling you something to do. Beware of anyone that goes into some sort of trance and gets a message from God. We have His finished, complete Word. We need no further revelation.

Chile is on the move both economically and politically. They are being recognized for developing so quickly. The following block of information comes from this article in the Washington Post.

While the country is developing economically I am excited that God is also at work through one of our missionaries, Jason Holt.

I hope that our church becomes very geographically literate. I hope that as you notice the names of countries in the news you will think of the missionaries we have there and the work that God is doing in that country.

This week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a club of rich nations that includes the United States, Japan and several European countries, formally invited Chile to join. Becoming the first South American nation in the 30-member group would be among the tangible signs of Chile’s steady rise since the 1980s, when it was in the grip of dictatorship.

Chile has posted Latin America’s fastest economic growth over a generation, and poverty has dropped from 45 percent before the demise of Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s government to a regional low of 14 percent today. But Giugale and other economists say Chile has advanced in areas more difficult to measure, such as strengthening state institutions like the courts and fighting corruption.

Chile also has a stable and robust democracy, ruled since 1990 by a coalition of Socialists and Christian Democrats that unseated Pinochet. The current president, Michelle Bachelet, has a popularity rate hovering at nearly 80 percent.

Forty percent of youths now go on to universities or other institutions beyond high school, authorities say, and 70 percent of those are the first in their families to do so.

Prudent economic management, officials here say, not only helped Chile go from being a debtor nation to a net creditor, but also protected it from the worldwide economic meltdown. Velasco, the finance minister, said Chile created a rainy-day account funded with the billions generated by a commodities boom earlier this decade.

The following are excerpts from a great post by Greg Gilbert. I hope you will read the entire article and the following ones.

#1: Own your unemployment

Embracing the trial, to me, means being honest with myself and forcing myself to run to God and to depend on him.  I need to work at not putting up defenses.  I need to regularly admit to people that I am unemployed…

This honest assessment drives me to the scriptures to find rest and solace in God and His word and NOT in anything else.

#2: Preach to yourself

Here are a few common “thoughts” that we need to “take captive:” worry (Luke 12), fears that my struggle is meaningless (James 1), fears that God doesn’t love me (Galatians 4:6-7), fears that God is powerless (Numbers 1:23).

Use God’s Word to fight your thoughts that challenge God’s truth.

#3: Prepare for the Storm

The book of James is clear that we do not know the future.  We don’t even know what is going to happen tomorrow.  So, we are wise, to prepare.  As proverbs says: “Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.”  Are you prepared for tomorrow?  For those of you with jobs, you are in your ‘summer.’  Are you preparing for winter?   Don’t think that it can’t happen to you.  It is a good thing to live well within our means so that we can give sacrificially now while also saving that we might provide for our families in the future.

#4: Depend on the LORD

As a believer, it is a blessing to depend on the LORD.  It is really evident to me that the LORD is pouring out his grace on me and my family right now.  We know that Faith is a gift from God and he has been kind to allow me to trust him as I walk through this trial.

God is giving me hope.  Not just in that he will provide a next job.  But is giving me hope in him and is fitting me for heaven.

#5: Be surprised at his Kindness

In the midst of real difficultly, this has been a surprisingly sweet period in my life.  Don’t get me wrong, I want a job, but I see this as God ordained.  He gives and he takes.  And, while waiting for a job, he has blessed me.

• He has refreshed my soul and reoriented my heart towards Him.
• I have been able to spend a ton of time with my family.
• The extra time has allowed me to serve my church and care for them.

God knew what I needed and has been an abundant provider of blessing.