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WorldNetDaily Exclusive

Government confiscation of Gospel tracts in court

Hearings under way for warrantless seizure of private property

Posted: September 02, 2009
9:31 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh

WorldNetDaily

"Million" dollar bill tracts

Court hearings are under way in a lawsuit by a Christian ministry against the U.S. government over its warrantless seizure of private property from the group's offices.

The seized property was a stack of more than 8,000 Gospel tracts made to look like a $1 million bill. The tract invites the recipient to answer the "million-dollar question: Will you go to Heaven?"

The case was brought on behalf of the Great News Network, which was distributing the tracts. It is being argued in court before U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis in Dallas.by lawyers with the Florida-based non-profit legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel. The case isn't expected to conclude for another day or two, at least.

Liberty Counsel founder Mathew D. Staver told WND the government has conceded there are dozens of play-money products in stores and on the Internet that look more like real U.S. currency, but no attempt is being made to attack them.

The tracts, however, are another story, even though they clearly state they are not legal tender and contain the Gospel message, instead of any government information.


"I think somebody is not liking that this is a religious tract," Staver told WND. "It's marked that it is not legal tender. Also, on the back it has the Gospel story."

Further, he noted, there is no such thing as a $1 million bill.

Liberty Counsel is defending the Great News Network and its founder, Darrel Rundus, who sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for violations of the Constitution's First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourth Amendment guarantee against unlawful search and seizure.

Rundus has reported the tracts are extremely effective. He uses them to share his faith with others. While the front of the tract has markings similar to paper currency, it states "This bill is not legal tender," "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Department of Eternal Affairs" and "1,000,000."



Great News Network has distributed over 1 million of the tracts, which are produced by Ray Comfort and his Living Waters ministry as an evangelism tool.

An estimated 8 million to10 million tracts sold by Living Waters have been handed out over the last 10 years, without any interference by the government.


The Barack Obama "million" dollar bill tracts
Besides the original million-dollar tract, Comfort also now offers tracts featuring caricatures of celebrities and the image of President Obama.

Comfort's newest book, "You Can Lead An Atheist to Evidence, but You Can't Make Him Think" is available here.

The case originated in 2006 when the U.S. Secret Service raided GNN's office without a warrant and demanded all of the million-dollar tracts.

Agents alleged the items violated federal counterfeiting laws, even though there was no million-dollar bill in existence.

Rundus and GNN filed suit to force the government to return the tracts or compensate him for the loss.


"The Department of Homeland Security should be tracking dangerous criminals instead of harassing innocent people of faith for handing out religious tracts. If the government can ban 'Million Dollar Bill' gospel tracts, then Americans had better start hiding their Monopoly money,â€