A federal judge in Dallas yesterday ruled against a Christian group whose "million-dollar" gospel tracts were seized by the U.S. Secret Service as "counterfeit money," and a wheelchair-bound man in Las Vegas claims a Secret Service agent threatened him with arrest for passing out the same tracts.
Brian Fahling of the American Family Association Center for Law and Policy, which is representing the Denton, Texas-based Great News Network, had asked the judge to order immediately the return of 8,300 tracts seized by the Secret Service and to prevent the government agency's local field office from arresting anyone who distributes them.
The front of the bills look like this:
The tract 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 message is on the back of the bill in fine print all around the outside edge in the white margin.
The problems for the group, the Great News Network, started when somebody in North Carolina attempted to deposit one of the tracts in the bank. The address of GNN was on the back, so apparently the bank called the Secret Service, who went to GNN's offices in Dallas and seized the tracts. Here is part of GNN's statement from their website:
According to the Secret Service, the Million Dollar gospel tract produced by Ray Comfort (www.livingwaters.com) and distributed by The Great News Network and thousands of other Christians all around the World is counterfeit. However, according to the US Treasury’s own policy it is illegal to duplicate and make copies that are comparable to existing currency with the intent to commit fraud. Since there is no such thing as a Million Dollar bill in circulation, it is obviously not illegal to create, print and or distribute one. In other words, how do you counterfeit something that doesn’t exist? In fact, you can purchase all the million dollar bills you want from various novelty retailers throughout the US and most of them look far more authentic than the ones, the USSS seized from our Christian ministry. In fact, if you Google the term, “Million Dollar Bill” you we get over 43-million results!
There's also supposed to be a "reasonableness" test when evaluating counterfeiting cases. If a reasonable person would believe the bill is a genuine one, there could be a case. But the Secret Service seems to have used one silly person in North Carolina as their basis for who is "reasonable." Sounds unreasonable to me.
The group will be filing an appeal in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, but it's expected to take several months before a decision is made.
Still, it makes a person wonder why the Secret Service is going so hard after this one group with its million-dollar gospel tracts and is ignoring the novelty companies selling better imitations of the same non-existent bills. Could it be that the agents (and this federal judge) have something against the gospel? I certainly hope not. We'll just have to wait and see what the 5th Circuit Court decides.
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