Belgian television recently broke into their regular programming with an urgent bulletin stating the nation had come to an end. The news flash informed viewers that the Dutch-speaking half of the nation had declared independence and the king and queen had fled. The bulletin was highlighted with grainy footage from the military airport showing dark silhouettes of a royal entourage boarding a plane. The report stated the Flemish parliament had declared the independence of Flanders and that the King and Queen had left on the first air force plane available. Thirty minutes later the station flashed a message saying, "This is fiction," but it was too late. By that time, many Belgians had already fallen for the hoax; embassies were calling authorities to find out what was going on while foreign journalists scrambled to get confirmation of the story.

Though the network defended the program, most Belgians said the presentation was in poor taste. The Senate Chair Anne-Marie Lizin said, "Ambassadors who were worried asked what they had to tell their capitals. This fiction was seen as a reality and it created a catastrophic image of the country." Independence is not the aim of any of the major parties in power, but economic disparity between the north and south of the country has intensified the political debate. The royal family is often portrayed as the glue that holds the nation together.

—http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/20/opinion/edmnookin.php. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Isaiah 9:7 (CEV) "His power will never end; peace will last forever. He will rule David's kingdom and make it grow strong. He will always rule with honesty and justice. The Lord All-Powerful will make certain that all of this is done."

In 1970, an engineer bought a plain looking wooden chest for about $150. All he wanted was something to put his television on. For the next 43 years, the wooden chest, known as the Mazarin chest sat in the man’s living room. What the man did not know about his television stand was that it was hand crafted in Japan during the 1640s, and was worth millions of dollars. The Victoria and Albert Museum owns another chest by the same craftsman, and had been searching for the lost piece. They traced it through a series of private owners until it disappeared in 1941. The museum was amazed when the box resurfaced after the death of the man who used it as a television stand. It was made available at an auction, and another museum purchased it for $9.6 million US. No one knows how the engineer ended up with it, but this elaborately handcrafted masterpiece made a very expensive TV stand for many years.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

How an antique Japanese chest worth $10M became a TV stand, by Lindsay Jolivet, http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/chest-worth-10-million-became-tv-stand-152618340.html, Accessed September 5, 2013.

Matthew 13:44-46 (NASB) "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (45) "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, (46) and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

The President signed legislation that provides healthcare for its citizens through the Affordable Care Act. The basic cost of some plans starts from just $1. Yet, with the stroke of his pen, President Obama postponed the application deadline to March 31, 2014, but that was not the final deadline. The administration provided more time for those who had begun the process, but have not finished. Ultimately, those who have not applied for it before the deadline will pay the penalty $95 or 1 percent of their annual income through deduction from federal income tax refund in 2015. – Jim L. Wilson and Yuet S. Flavia Wong

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/20/obamacare-deadline_n_4994921.html
http://www.bnd.com/2014/03/31/3137839/today-is-the-final-day-for-affordable.html

Matthew 25:1-13 (ESV) “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. (2) Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. (3) For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, (4) but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. (5) As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. (6) But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ (7) Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. (8) And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ (9) But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ (10) And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. (11) Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ (12) But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ (13) Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.