Shippingguru

Nigerian Bible Scam

by Barbara Brabec

Your church may be a target for scammers who want Bibles they can sell in Nigeria on the black market. A reader reports on a scam perpetrated on her church.

"A couple of years ago," writes Christine in North Carolina, "our church was contacted by an "Elder Israel Osawe" of Nigeria who asked if we could donate a couple dozen giant print KJV Bibles (new or used) for use by older members of his church who couldn’t afford to buy Bibles.

"He said they were actually searching in the trash dumpsters for these Bibles and, of course, that would strike a sympathetic nerve with churchgoers. It was my job to gather the Bibles. I maintained communication with this man by e-mail and he sent all kinds of e-mails about how they were praying for us, and how God had specifically revealed to them that our church would help them. What raised my suspicion was when, to my strong objection, they made me the international president of their ministry without even meeting me, and began begging me for money for canoes, bicycles, and a laptop computer.

"So I began some investigation on my own and actually found Israel Osawe's name on a scammer's web site. Thank God we found out this information before sending the Bibles or anything else for that matter. Until this happened, I didn’t know there was a black market for KJV Bibles in Nigeria. After arriving in Nigeria, the Bibles we almost sent would have been sold on the black market and the money would have been pocketed by the scammers."

Christine’s research revealed that this is a subgenre of the scam that uses fraudulent credit card information to order Bibles from Christian bookstores. And it’s a scam that continues today. "Even though there is not a great monetary loss in the above scam, the spiritual loss can be great for those compassionate individuals who are sending bibles to those who they feel need them," adds Christine.

After receiving Christine's report, I Googled Osawe’s name and came up with the following links. The third one was particularly interesting:

NigerianBiblesScammers.homestead.com

Freightcenter.com

Matthew J. Brosious

VibrationData.com - Visit this page to get a detailed account of how Edomwande Austine (or Austine Edomwande, as he often reverses it), posing as Israel Osawe, conned one Christian man to send not only a couple of batches of Bibles, but money for airfare to come to America. By reading the communications this particular man received, you can see how these *** artists cleverly play on people’s emotions over a long period of time. After they have built a level of trust, they begin to ask for more and more things while setting them up for the "kill" – the request for big bucks.

VibrationData.com/scam - On this Web page, you’ll find a chart of various scams using the Christian faith ("crimes of persuasion") with a summary of the e-mail scam and the country of origin.

REMEMBER . . . Nigerian *** artists are constantly preying on Christians, Christian book stores, and small businesses on the Web. Unfortunately, many tender souls fall victim to their schemes, often losing thousands of dollars in the process. Educate yourself to what’s going on here by reading these articles on my personal domain:

Nigerian Scams on the Rise

More Reports from Readers Who Have Been Targeted by Nigerian *** Artists

Ship-to Names & Addresses Being Used by Nigerian Scammers

FreightCenter Complaint by Freightcenter insider: I lost $900 for the shipping, and about $3000 worth of product. I cuation everyone, this company is dishonest, and you may very well get your shipment destroyed.Review posted by Ken Sullivan on 9/1/2010 2:50:00 PM Rating: 0 stars out of 5Subject: Destroyed 95% of shipmentReview: I tried to get insurance and was jerked around with a website procedure they demanded I use as it gets them completely off the hook.

The game is scandalous; they tell you to ensure the paperwork FROM THEM is used when the items are picked up. The truck driver works for a different company and says “I’ve got all the paperwork filled out just sign here” which costs you approximately 30% more. The person loading my cages has no idea of this and signs the paperwork the truck driver has. When they delivered my cages it was obvious they hot them HARD with a fork lift.

They were so badly screwed up I salvaged 2 of 15. I consider it a total loss. And of course the paperwork was not filled out on the website for insurance so I was screwed. I really recommend you NOT use Frieghtcenter.com I wasted $900.

TOTAL RIP OFF!!! KenKen,You are not the only person Matthew J. Brosious, Louis Capolino and D. Ben Cross have scammed.

Report this to the DOT as well as the freight carrier you used and get their rates, tariff and MC authority revoked. You can add to the complaints with the BBB as well as the local television station there in FL: WFLAWFLA-TV P.O.

Box 1410 Tampa, FL 33601Sales and administration (813) 228-**** Newsroom (813) 221-****See news developing? Email or call our Tipline at 1-80*-***-WFLA

God is Love: How do we Define Love?

"God is Love", but how do we define it? The American Heritage Dictionary defines love as "an intense affection for another person based on familial or personal ties". Often this "intense affection" stems from a sexual attraction for that other person. We love other people, or we say we love other people, when we are attracted to them and when they make us feel good. Notice that a key phrase in the dictionary definition of love is the phrase "based on". This phrase implies that we love conditionally; in other words, we love someone because they fulfill a condition that we require before we can love them. How many times have you heard or said, "I love you because you are cute;" or "I love you because you take good care of me;" or "I love you because you are fun to be with"?

Our love is not only conditional, it is also mercurial. We love based on feelings and emotions that can change from one moment to the next. The divorce rate is extremely high in today's society because husbands and wives supposedly stop loving one another-or they "fall out of love". They may go through a rough patch in their marriage, and they no longer "feel" love for their spouse, so they call it quits. Evidently, their marriage vow of "till death do us part" means they can part at the death of their love for their spouse rather than at their physical death.

Can anyone really comprehend "unconditional" love? It seems the love that parents have for their children is as close to unconditional love as we can get without the help of God's love in our lives. We continue to love our children through good times and bad, and we don't stop loving them if they don't meet the expectations we may have for them. We make a choice to love our children even when we consider them unlovable; our love doesn't stop when we don't "feel" love for them. This is similar to God's love for us, but as we shall see, God's love transcends the human definition of love to a point that is hard for us to comprehend.

God is Love: How does God Define Love?

The Bible tells us that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). But how can we even begin to understand that truth? There are many passages in the Bible that give us God's definition of love. The most well known verse is John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So one way God defines love is in the act of giving. However, what God gave (or should we say, "who" God gave) was not a mere gift-wrapped present; God sacrificed His only Son so that we, who put our faith in His Son, will not spend eternity separated from Him. This is an amazing love, because we are the ones who choose to be separated from God through our own sin, yet it's God who mends the separation through His intense personal sacrifice, and all we have to do is accept His gift.

Another great verse about God's love is found in Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In this verse and in John 3:16, we find no conditions placed on God's love for us. God doesn't say, "as soon as you clean up your act, I'll love you; " nor does He say, "I'll sacrifice my Son if you promise to love Me." In fact, in Romans 5:8, we find just the opposite. God wants us to know that His love is unconditional, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us while we were still unlovable sinners. We didn't have to get clean, and we didn't have to make any promises to God before we could experience His love. His love for us has always existed, and because of that, He did all the giving and sacrificing long before we were even aware that we needed His love.

God is Love: It's Unconditional

God is Love, and His love is very different from human love. God's love is unconditional, and it's not based on feelings or emotions. He doesn't love us because we're lovable or because we make Him feel good; He loves us because He is love. He created us to have a loving relationship with Him, and He sacrificed His own Son (who also willingly died for us) to restore that relationship.

Shannon Steede has begun using the name Stone Steede. Please be aware. He worked for me and is very unethical.

lololololol. lololololol

The posting below is just more proof of the pompous, self righteous atitudes of those who choose to hide their wrongdoings behind the bible. Your wife still loves you , I'm sure, but still recognizes,somewhere inside,your wrongdoings.

Same with your God. He surely still loves you Shannon but recognizes your failures as a follower. The hippocryt that you are. Maybe the need to convince yourself that unconditional love exists from somewhere stems from the lack of from your birth mother.

Discarded like yesterdays trash or a balled up piece of paper with a series of errors on it. Yeah, that's it you are just a series of errors on a balled-up piece of paper which we call life. Possibly in your eyes God is your eraser, you will find that your mistakes are scrolled in ink and ink doesn't erase very well. You are born of errors and live a life of errors.

I guess you can say you are what you are born of.....S#IT. You will always be a loser and a failure because success isn't measured in money.

God is Love: How do we Define Love?

"God is Love", but how do we define it? The American Heritage Dictionary defines love as "an intense affection for another person based on familial or personal ties". Often this "intense affection" stems from a sexual attraction for that other person. We love other people, or we say we love other people, when we are attracted to them and when they make us feel good. Notice that a key phrase in the dictionary definition of love is the phrase "based on". This phrase implies that we love conditionally; in other words, we love someone because they fulfill a condition that we require before we can love them. How many times have you heard or said, "I love you because you are cute;" or "I love you because you take good care of me;" or "I love you because you are fun to be with"?

Our love is not only conditional, it is also mercurial. We love based on feelings and emotions that can change from one moment to the next. The divorce rate is extremely high in today's society because husbands and wives supposedly stop loving one another-or they "fall out of love". They may go through a rough patch in their marriage, and they no longer "feel" love for their spouse, so they call it quits. Evidently, their marriage vow of "till death do us part" means they can part at the death of their love for their spouse rather than at their physical death.

Can anyone really comprehend "unconditional" love? It seems the love that parents have for their children is as close to unconditional love as we can get without the help of God's love in our lives. We continue to love our children through good times and bad, and we don't stop loving them if they don't meet the expectations we may have for them. We make a choice to love our children even when we consider them unlovable; our love doesn't stop when we don't "feel" love for them. This is similar to God's love for us, but as we shall see, God's love transcends the human definition of love to a point that is hard for us to comprehend.

God is Love: How does God Define Love?

The Bible tells us that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). But how can we even begin to understand that truth? There are many passages in the Bible that give us God's definition of love. The most well known verse is John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So one way God defines love is in the act of giving. However, what God gave (or should we say, "who" God gave) was not a mere gift-wrapped present; God sacrificed His only Son so that we, who put our faith in His Son, will not spend eternity separated from Him. This is an amazing love, because we are the ones who choose to be separated from God through our own sin, yet it's God who mends the separation through His intense personal sacrifice, and all we have to do is accept His gift.

Another great verse about God's love is found in Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In this verse and in John 3:16, we find no conditions placed on God's love for us. God doesn't say, "as soon as you clean up your act, I'll love you; " nor does He say, "I'll sacrifice my Son if you promise to love Me." In fact, in Romans 5:8, we find just the opposite. God wants us to know that His love is unconditional, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us while we were still unlovable sinners. We didn't have to get clean, and we didn't have to make any promises to God before we could experience His love. His love for us has always existed, and because of that, He did all the giving and sacrificing long before we were even aware that we needed His love.

God is Love: It's Unconditional

God is Love, and His love is very different from human love. God's love is unconditional, and it's not based on feelings or emotions. He doesn't love us because we're lovable or because we make Him feel good; He loves us because He is love. He created us to have a loving relationship with Him, and He sacrificed His own Son (who also willingly died for us) to restore that relationship.

I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with Shannon Steede of Freight88.com

I paid him a deposit to move my items, he kept my $10,000 and filed bankruptcy leaving me holding the bag.

Shannon Steede also changed his website names to openroadfreight.com and fairratefreight.com in order to conceal his identity.