Note: JumPage Solutions also goes by the names: INC21 Communications, Metro YP, Metroyp.net, INC21.COM, Globalyp.net, Netopus and GoFaxer.com.
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Our eagle-eyed church treasurer noticed an additional charge of $39.95 (plus $2.00 state tax) tacked on to the end of our most recent phone bill. The new monthly web charge was billed on behalf of a company called JumPage Solutions. I did some quick research and found that this is a company that has been reported to the Better Business Bureau for the practice of “cramming.”

The FCC defines cramming as:

the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill. Crammers rely on confusing telephone bills in an attempt to trick consumers into paying for services they did not authorize or receive, or that cost more than the consumer was led to believe.

The company first calls your church or business to verify your contact information. They may offer you a free service — which later converts to a paid service without your knowledge or consent. The charge then shows up as an additional item on your regular phone bill. If you do not notice it, you will end up paying for a service that you never authorized or requested.

I called our phone company (Verizon) and asked the customer service representative how Verizon could bill me for another company’s services without even checking with me first. She said all accounts are set up that way unless you tell them otherwise. I told her, “Then I am telling you otherwise.” She agreed to reverse the charges and change our church account to protect from future cramming. I then called JumPage and reported my complaint to them. I also filed a complaint with the San Francisco Better Business Bureau.

Action Points for Churches and Small Businesses:

1. Check your phone bills for additional charges that should not be there. If there are unfamiliar charges, call your phone company immediately to have them removed.
2. Tell your phone company you do not want outside providers using your phone bill for third-party billing.
3. Beware of Yellow Pages representatives calling to verify your information or offering you free services, especially when they ask if you are the authorized person to make changes on the account.
4. You can report any violations to the Better Business Bureau or the FCC.

You can learn more about JumPage and “cramming” at these two links:

• JumPage Solutions – Questionable Business Practices
• Targeting Area Businesses with Deceptive Invoices

Have you had problems with “cramming” on your phone bill? Share about it in the comments.

John MacEnroe called it, “The greatest match I’ve ever seen.” I agree. Rafael Nadal’s 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7 win over Roger Federer in the 2008 Men’s Wimbledon Finals on Sunday will go down as one of the best tennis matches in history. Nadal and Federer played the highest quality tennis for nearly five hours as they both fought for victory in the closely matched contest.

I was also impressed with each player’s comments immediately following the game. When asked to share his thoughts on the match, Federer responded: “Yeah, I tried everything. Got a little late and everything, but look, Raf is a deserving champ, and he just played fantastic today.” And when asked what it was like beating Federer on center court in one of the greatest finals ever, Nadal was quick to credit Roger: “He’s still number one. He’s still the best. He’s still five times champion here, and right now I have one.”

Graceful losers and humble winners are hard to come by these days, but Federer showed a lot of grace after the most difficult loss of his career, and Nadal showed a lot of humility after the most important win of his career. Both of these guys have a lot of class, and I can’t think of two tennis players I would rather see at numbers one and two in the world right now.

Related articles:

• Roger v Rafa – the best final ever?
• Nadal Ends Federer’s Reign at Wimbledon

• Gabriel’s Vision (Messiah Stone). Todd Bolen provides a good overview of the latest archaeological discovery that is supposed to “shake our basic view of Christianity.” (Does anyone even remember last year’s “faith-shaking” discovery? I’m just surprised this didn’t come out at Easter.)
• Who Really Profits the Most from the Price of Gasoline? “Once State and Federal excise taxes are paid, anywhere from 30-60 cents (approximately) of every gallon of gasoline goes to the government in taxes. The profit oil companies make on a gallon of gas? About 10 cents.”
• China to Provide Free Bibles during Olympic Games. “About 10,000 bilingual copies of the Bible will be distributed and another 30,000 copies of the New Testament will also be available during the games, but none will be provided in public hotels. The cover of the Gospels will sport an Olympics logo.”
• Worst. Congress. Ever. “The congressional job approval is 9%. Disapproval, 52%. Among independents, only 3% approve of Congress. That’s within the margin of error, which means there is a chance no independent approves.” Ouch!
• Free Online Animated Greek Course. Presented by Professor Ted Hildebrandt of Gordon College. (You will need Adobe Flash Player – free download here.)

Here is R. C. Sproul’s recommended starter list for people who have never read the Bible. The list is from R.C.’s book 5 Things Every Christian Needs to Grow.

Old Testament overview:

• Genesis (the history of Creation, the fall, and God’s covenantal dealings with the patriarchs)
• Exodus (the history of Israel’s liberation and formation as a nation)
• Joshua (the history of the military conquest of the Promised Land)
• Judges (Israel’s transition from a tribal federation to a monarchy)
• 1 Samuel (Israel’s emerging monarchy under Saul and David)
• 2 Samuel (David’s reign)
• 1 Kings (Solomon and the divided kingdom)
• 2 Kings (the fall of Israel)
• Ezra (the Israelites’ return from exile)
• Nehemiah (the restoration of Jerusalem)
• Amos and Hosea (examples of minor prophets)
• Jeremiah (an example of a major prophet)
• Ecclesiastes (Wisdom Literature)
• Psalms and Proverbs (Hebrew poetry)

New Testament overview:

• The Gospel of Luke (the life of Jesus)
• Acts (the early church)
• Ephesians (an introduction to the teaching of Paul)
• 1 Corinthians (life in the church)
• 1 Peter (an introduction to Peter)
• 1 Timothy (an introduction to the Pastoral Epistles)
• Hebrews (Christology)
• Romans (Paul’s theology)

What do you think are the most important books to read in the Bible first?

You know it’s Monday when …

your fuse is shorter than your getaway time.

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    April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

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Check back the first Monday of each month for more Garfield Mondays.

Yesterday’s message in the Life of Samuel series was called Respecting God’s Holiness, taken from 1 Samuel 6:1-7:1. The main idea of the message was that we should have reverence or respect for God’s holiness. Here is a quick outline of the message:

1. Those who are afraid of God’s holiness push him away.
   (1 Samuel 6:1-12)
2. Those who have reverence for God’s holiness receive him gladly.
   (1 Samuel 6:13-18)
3. Those who show disrespect for God’s holiness provoke his anger.
   (1 Samuel 6:19-7:1)

Note: Click on the Sermons tab at the top of the blog for this and other messages.

I didn’t see much about this in the news. On this Independence Day, let us remember the sacrifice and service of those in our military who willingly risk their lives to defend our freedoms.

From Bob Krumm: Baghdad Reenlistment and How did you spend Independence Day?:

While most Americans probably slept, 1,215 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines raised their right hands and committed to a combined 5,500 years of additional service during the largest reenlistment ceremony in the history of the American military. Beneath a large American flag which dwarfed even the enormous chandelier that Saddam Hussein had built for the Al Faw Palace, members of all services, representing all 50 states took the oath administered by Gen. David Petraeus, Commander of Multi-National Forces Iraq.

There has been a lot of talk around the web since the Pew Forum U.S. Religious Landscape Survey came out last week. One of the most controversial findings in the report was that a majority of those affiliated with a religion did not believe their religion was the only way to salvation. However, new information shows that the actual question posed to survey takers may have been interpreted in different ways. Terry Mattingly reports:

In one of several questions probing the role of dogmatism in American life, interviewers asked adults which of two statements better fit their beliefs: “My religion is the one, true faith leading to eternal life” or “many religions can lead to eternal life.”

The results leaped into national headlines, with 70 percent of those affiliated with a religion or denomination saying that many religions can bring eternal salvation … But there’s the rub. It’s impossible, based on a straightforward reading of the Pew Forum research, to know how individual participants defined the word “religion” when they answered.

“We didn’t have a set of interview guidelines or talking points that we used when asking that question,” said Greg Smith, a Pew research fellow. “The interviewers didn’t say, ‘Well, that means someone who is a member of a different denomination than yours’ or ‘that means someone in a completely different religion than your religion.’ So people may have answered that in different ways.”

There is no way — based on this round of research — to know precisely how many believers have decided to reject what their faiths teach, if those faiths make exclusive truth claims about salvation and eternal life. Thus, said Smith, the Pew Forum is planning follow-up work.

I thought the numbers in the survey seemed questionably high. I am guessing that many (not all) Christians interpreted the question to mean different denominations rather than different religious faiths. In fact in the same article Mattingly refers to a new survey by the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Research team which specifically asked Protestants if they believed people can find eternal life through “religions other than Christianity.” Only 31 percent agreed “strongly” or “somewhat.”

See related posts:
    Pew Forum U.S. Religious Landscape Survey
    New Study Finds Fewer Evangelical Universalists than Reported

Dan Kimball shares a couple letters from church members complaining about the song selection and music in church.

Letter #1:

I am no music scholar, but I feel I know appropriate church music when I hear it. Last Sunday’s new hymn – if you can call it that – sounded like a sentimental love ballad one would expect to hear crooned in a saloon. If you insist on exposing us to rubbish like this – in God’s house! – don’t be surprised if many of the faithful look for a new place to worship. The hymns we grew up with are all we need.

Letter #2:

What is wrong with the inspiring hymns with which we grew up? When I go to church, it is to worship God, not to be distracted with learning a new hymn. Last Sunday’s was particularly unnerving. The tune was un-singable and the new harmonies were quite distorting.

The first letter was written in 1863 about the hymn “Just As I Am.” The second letter was written in 1890 about the hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus.” Hmmm, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

What do you think about the changing musical styles in church?

HT: Monday Morning Insight

• Pagan Christianity. Ben Witherington critiques George Barna and Frank Viola’s critique of the institutional church. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
• How To Write an Effective Thank You Note. This is an area where we could probably all show some improvement.
• Creating a Life Plan. Michael Hyatt (President/CEO of Thomas Nelson) shares his plan for creating a life plan.
• We Can Lower Oil Prices Now. Martin Feldstein argues that the best way to lower oil prices right now is to lower projected future oil prices.
• The Dying Art of the Knuckleball. Read about the pitch that trying to hit is like “trying to catch a butterfly with tweezers.”

Here are some great space walk pictures from the space shuttle Endeavour’s TST-118 mission in August 2007. (Click on the picture for a larger image.)

Can you imagine looking down on our planet from such a height? Just beautiful.

Click here for more International Space Station photos.
Click here for more Space related posts.

Piedmont College professor Barbara Brown Taylor laments her Christian students’ lack of knowledge of church history and tradition.

They never noticed that Matthew and Luke tell different stories of Jesus’ birth, or that Mark and John tell no such stories at all. They never imagined that the first Christians did not walk around with New Testaments in their pockets. No one ever told them about Constantine, Augustine, Benedict or Martin Luther. They never thought about what happened during the centuries between Jesus’ resurrection and their own professions of faith. In their minds, they fell in line behind the disciples, picking up the proclamation of the gospel where those simple fishermen left off …

College students in all other regards, they remain fifth graders in religion. How, when they meet someone who asks them intelligent questions about their faith, will they come up with equally intelligent answers? Keep your class notes, I tell them. You never know when you may need them.