Quick Sam Tax Refund of Gary, Ind., and Its Owner, John Newlin, Allegedly Falsified Tax Returns, Costing U.S. Treasury Tens of Millions of Dollars
A federal court permanently barred a Gary, Ind., tax-preparation firm and its owner, John Newlin, from preparing tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which Newlin and Quick Sam agreed without admitting the allegations against them, was signed by Judge Jon E. DeGuilio of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Indiana.

The government in the civil injunction suit alleged that Newlin’s business, Quick Sam Tax Refund, had repeatedly prepared federal income tax returns that unlawfully understated customers’ income tax liabilities. According to the complaint, Quick Sam guaranteed its customers that they would receive the largest refund by getting their taxes prepared at Quick Sam. In order to deliver on this promise, the complaint alleges, Quick Sam employees fabricated bogus business expenses, claimed improper tax credits, and reported fictitious dependents to illegally increase customers’ tax refunds. Newlin and Quick Sam allegedly gave bonuses to employees for engaging in these fraudulent practices.

Several Quick Sam employees have been accused of fraud in the past, according to the complaint. Charles Standifer, Rhonda Murphy, Chanel Bandy and Brittaney Walker-Lipsey, all former Quick Sam tax return preparers, have pled guilty to tax-related crimes. The complaint alleges that the total harm to the government caused by Newlin and Quick Sam’s illegal conduct possibly exceeded $35 million in lost tax revenue.

Claiming bogus tax refunds is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams . In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax fraud promoters and unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website .
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There was drama at Manor Hotel in Bulawayo after a woman who had been presumed dead after collapsing while allegedly having sex suddenly woke up just after police officers had put her body into a coffin.

The incident occurred on Tuesday last week at about 12pm. Sources said the woman woke up saying: “You want to kill me, you want to kill me.”

A number of people who had gathered to witness the woman’s “dead” body being removed from a room at the hotel reportedly fled from the scene. Some are said to have fallen while others tripped over each other in fear of the ‘resurrected’ woman.

“It was like a movie. People were running away in different directions. It was a scary incident because we were all convinced that she had died because she was just cold. Miracles surely do happen,” said a source.

According to the source, police officers who attended the scene seemed moved by the woman’s rise from the dead but kept their cool and tried to calm her while she accused them of trying to kill her.

“They had no choice. Surely it was going to be something else to see them also running away. It’s their job and they had to remain clam and ascertain what was really happening.”

After the woman had regained composure, the police officers are said to have left the hotel with an ’empty’ coffin. The woman’s unidentified partner reportedly sneaked out of the hotel moments after the cops had left while she was taken home by a colleague.

Sources identified her as MaNdlo and was said to be a ‘new patron’ at the hotel. When our news crew visited the hotel this week, she was said to be away.

“No one really knows her well because she was just new. We are hoping that she will be back within the course of the week,” said a source.

The hotel’s manager Raymond Nariti said he did not know what really happened.

“The police officers came with a steel coffin but they left without carrying a body. So I do not know what happened,” he said.

Psalm 148

1 Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for at his command they were created,
6 and he established them for ever and ever—
he issued a decree that will never pass away.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
9 you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,
11 kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,
12 young men and women,
old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
14 And he has raised up for his people a horn,[b]
the praise of all his faithful servants,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.
Praise the Lord.

A psalm of praise. Of David.

1 I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
4 One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts.
5 They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.[b]
6 They tell of the power of your awesome works—
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
7 They celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
9 The Lord is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All your works praise you, Lord;
your faithful people extol you.
11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might,
12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
and faithful in all he does.[c]
14 The Lord upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all he does.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.

Why Did Jesus Have To Suffer And Die?

Is God a “bloody God”?

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[This article was taken from our book “Don’t Blame God! A Biblical Answer to the Problem of Evil, Sin, and Suffering.”]

Two primary qualities of God help us understand why Jesus Christ had to suffer and die in order to redeem mankind. First, God is righteous. Thus His justice demands that a penalty for sin be paid. As Kenyon writes:

God cannot ignore the fact of man’s hideous transgression. That transgression must be punished, and if man is restored to God, it must be upon grounds that will not pauperize man nor rob him of his self respect; but it must be upon legal grounds that will perfectly justify man in the sight of God… [1]

Second, God is love. Thus, in His grace and mercy, He decreed that the penalty for sin could be paid by a substitute, providing that the substitute be sinless. God wanted, and mankind needed, a man who:

…met the demands, first, of the heart of Deity for a perfect human who would do His will; second, He met the demands of fallen man in that as a man He met the Devil and conquered him in honorable open combat. [2]

Because of the magnitude of Adam’s sin and its reverberating ramifications, only the death penalty would satisfy true justice. Hebrews 9:22 says that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness [of sin].” In the Old Testament, it was the death of unblemished “stand-in” lambs and other animals that God allowed to temporarily cover His people’s sins (Heb. 10:1-14). These sacrifices were foreshadows, or types, of the coming Redeemer, Jesus Christ. He is the true “Lamb of God” whose blood was shed to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Hebrews 9:14
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

As we have stated, Jesus Christ was the only man who was “without spot or blemish,” both genetically and behaviorally. As such, only he could qualify to offer his life as the payment for the sin and sins of mankind. The suffering and death of Jesus Christ was part of God’s plan to make available salvation to all mankind.

Hebrews 9:27 and 28
(27) Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
(28) So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

What the blood of bulls and goats could do only temporarily for Israel in the Old Testament, the blood of Jesus has done once and for all for everyone who believes in him. He bore our sins in his own body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24). By his freedom of will he gave up his life for us. He willingly endured the pain of the cross and death for all men. We must understand, however, that it was not God who was responsible for Jesus’ death. Note the following verses:

1 Corinthians 2:7 and 8
(7) No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
(8) None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

The “rulers of this age” are Satan and his evil-spirit sidekicks (the disobedient angels that were cast down to earth with him). God’s Word plainly says that it is the Devil who was responsible for killing Jesus Christ.

Once the dominion of the world was given to Satan, and mankind was ruined by sin, God has had to ask people to step into harm’s way so that His redemptive purposes could be accomplished. Jesus Christ is the chief example of this, and there are many others (see Hebrews 11). Jesus suffered so that those who believe on him can one day have peace and joy forever, and a taste of it even in this life. In Jesus, we see the epitome of the redemptive value of suffering, a subject we will discuss later.

Hebrews 5:7-9 (Moffatt)
In the days of his flesh, with bitter cries and tears, he offered prayers and supplications to Him who was able to save him from death; and he was heard, because of his godly fear. Thus, Son though he was, he learned by all he suffered how to obey, and by being THUS PERFECTED he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, being designated by God high priest with the rank of Melchizedek.

We feel the Moffatt translation (e.g.,“thus perfected”) best represents the truth of the Greek text that Jesus attained moral perfection through suffering and death. It was God who totally “perfected” Jesus by raising Him from the dead with a glorious new body and exalting Him as Lord, as the following verses make clear:

Hebrews 2:9-11
(9) But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
(10) In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
(11) Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Jesus Christ is the Last Adam, the fulfillment of God’s prophecy in Genesis 3:15. As our Redeemer, Jesus purchased our salvation with his own blood. He provided, and is, the way back to God that Adam had lost. Those who confess him as Lord and believe in his resurrection are saved, fully equipped to live in this corrupted world and guaranteed ultimate and everlasting victory over sin and death, as we shall see. [For further study read How can a man atone for the sins of mankind?]

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