Illustration results for plundering
Staff Picks of the Week:
Memorial Day 2013
Memorial Day 2013 Preaching Bundle »
Greater Love Video Illustration »
Everlasting God Worship Music Video »
Sabbath
Sabbath Preaching Bundle »
1 Outta 7 Video Illustration »
Before The Throne… Worship Music Video »
Juan Carlos was a famous pirate. He was notorious for his thievery, and it was rumored that he had a very large amount of plunder buried.
One day he was in Mexico and a man came up to him, pushed him to the ground and said “Juan Carlos tell me where all your money is buried or I will shoot you right here” Juan Carlos didn’t speak a word of English, so he found a young boy to act as interpreter. The boy relayed the message to Juan Carlos, and fearing for his life Juan Carlos said “tell him that I don’t want to die. All my money is located 30 paces north of the city water tower under a large rock”. So the boy turned to the man and said, “Juan Carlos says he is an honorable man and will never tell you where the money is. He says to kill him now.”
Evie Megginson
The army of Alexander the Great was advancing on Persia. At one critical point, it appeared that his troops might be defeated. The soldiers had taken so much plunder from their previous campaigns that they had become weighted down and were losing their effectiveness in combat. Alexander commanded that all the spoils be thrown into a heap and burned. The men complained bitterly but soon saw the wisdom of the order. Someone wrote, "It was as if wings had been given to them—they walked lightly again." Victory was assured.
Let me tell you a story about a small island in the South Seas inhabited by a group of people who had very little contact with the outside world. Theirs was a beautiful island – lush vegetation, wonderfully sweet-tasting fruit, and many domesticated animals good for eating. It was a tropical paradise.
But many others took advantage of the beauty. Over the years, many ships would land on the shores, unload its decks of pirates and thieves, and would fill its holds with plunder, looted from the island. Many beautiful island ladies found themselves stolen for pirates’ pleasures, many young children kidnapped to become pirates’ servants. Many animals, much fruit found their way uninvited to pirates’ galleys, leaving a terrorized people behind in the wake.
For many years this went on, until the islanders moved inland. Every set of sails on the horizon brought fear to the hearts of the natives, and they eventually moved their homes inland, away from thieving eyes.
Well, it turns out that the island was not an island – it was a dormant volcano, unknown to the natives. Seismologists from around the world picked up small tremors on their instruments, and discovered that the volcano would soon erupt. The volcano would send lava over the whole island, dooming everything there. Rumors had been heard years before of a hidden tribe of people on that island, and the scientists rushed to save the lives of the tribe.
Soon, a ship was sent to pick up the islanders and move them to a safe island. But when the ship arrived, they found no-one. The ship sailed away with no islanders on board.
Then a helicopter was sent. It flew over the island, but it too saw nothing, and flew off.
Each time a contact came from the outside world, it left empty-handed. Because, each time the islanders, very much alive and well, heard or saw something, they ran and hid in their well-concealed village. Years of visits from wicked outsiders brought such a terror into the hearts of the islanders, that they hid at even the peaceful outsiders.
And it’s sad, that the messenger, meant to bring news that would save them, was still rejected due to fear. Such was the case with Zechariah [or Herod]. He was afraid of the messenger, the angel, bringing good news to him and to the rest of the world.
TESTIMONY OF CHARLES SPURGEON
Charles Spurgeon, credited as the greatest preacher in the history of the English World, read a copy of Pilgrim’s Progress while plundering through his grandfather’s belongings. Through this book he became aware of his sinfulness and depravity. He carried this guilt for some time and desired so anxiously to be relieved of it. He went from church to chapel hearing message after message and was so despondent he would do anything to relieve this burden of sin and guilt.
One morning it was snowing very heavily in his village and so he attended the Primitive Methodist Chapel that was very close to his home. When he arrived there were about 15 people in attendance and even the preacher himself wasn’t there. A man in the church came forward to preach and he read a passage from Isaiah which said "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the Earth." This man preached as best he could, which was feeble at best, exhorting his ...
Paraphrase of part of the fatwa from Osma Bin Laden, 1998.
”Praise be to God, who revealed the Book, controls the clouds, defeats factionalism, and says in His Book "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every strategy of war. The crimes committed by the Americans are crimes against us all."
On that basis, and in compliance with God’s order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: Kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and military. This is an individual duty for every Muslim. We call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded, to comply with God’s order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. “ [Abridged & paraphrase, “Text of Fatwah Urging Jihad Against Americans,”<< http://www.ict.org.il/articles/fatwah.htm>>]
To tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection: it is plunder.
"Alliance, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each others pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third."
The man who pulls the plow gets the plunder in politics.
Just off the shore of North Carolina on the island of Cape Hatteras is a village known as Nag’s Head, a small shoreline town where, back in the 1800’s, the “wreckers” lived. These “wreckers” made their living gathering up parts and cargo from ships that had run aground in the night. But these ships didn’t run aground accidentally. No, they were lured into the rocks by these “wreckers” – deceitful men who had fastened a lighted lantern onto the head of an old nag – a horse (thus the name Nag’ Head) – and would then lead the old horse up and down and back and forth on the edge of Diamond Shoals beach. Ships out at sea would mistake the bobbing lantern for the stern light of a ship that they supposed had found safe passage through the mid-Atlantic, and they would, in turn, head in that direction, only to run aground on the rocks. With nowhere to go, the crew and the ship were no contest for the wreckers, who would pillage the ship and all its cargo. In fact, “wrecking” became a thriving business in Nag’s Head, even though it was built on treachery. Even now guests to Nag’s Head can see old homes built and furnished with the material taken from the more than 2,300 ships that were misguided and ultimately destroyed.
TRANSITION: Guess what? There’s a Nag’s Head just off the shore of your life as well!
And as you are sailing through your days, understand this, my friend – there’s a “wrecker” who is doing all he can to destroy your life; he desires to pull you towards the rocks of sin and then plunder you once you find you have no place to go. His name is Satan, and bringing you to ruin is exactly what he is trying to do to those who are pursing of lifestyle of trust – both in God and by God.
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli’s envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring "concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury", the ambassador replied:
"It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy’s ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once."
