Greetings!
A
few shipments arrived this week. If you log
into your account at www.toywonders.com, before clicking
on any of the links below, approved wholesale accounts will
see wholesale pricing.
Forgot
your password?
Having
trouble viewing this page?
Missed
a previous week's newsletter?
DIECAST
Collectible Model Cars And More
| Item# |
Description |
Stock
Status |
| AMM927BK |
Round
2 ERTL Elite - Plymouth Duster 340 Hard Top (1971, 1:18
scale diecast model, Black) AMM927 |
New |
| PMSC06BK |
Precision
Miniatures Sunset Coach - Cadillac Series 75 Limousine (1959,
1:18 scale diecast model, Black) PMSC06 |
New |
| 39278BK |
RC2
ERTL Elite - Mustang Saleen S281 Hard Top (2004, 1:18 scale
diecast model, Black) 39278 |
Restock |
| 39282R |
RC2
ERTL - Chevy Camaro Z/28 Hard Top (1969, 1:18 scale diecast
model, Red) 39282 |
Restock |
| 51105KGN |
RC2
Johnny Lightning - Pontiac GTO Hard Top (1968, 1:24, Green)
51105KZ |
New |
| 51105KBU |
RC2
Johnny Lightning - Chevy Chevelle SS Hard Top (1969, 1:24,
Blue) 51105KZ |
New |
| CP5588 |
Round
2 Auto World Authentics - NHRA DSR Valvoline / MTS Funny
Car Jack Beckman (2009, 1:24, Blue) CP5588 |
New |
| 92364 |
Jada
Toys Toon Garage - Ford Mustang GT Hard Top (3.5", Asstd.)
92364 |
New |
| 92364P |
Jada
Toys Toon Garage - Ford Mustang GT Police Car #12 (3.5",
Black) 92364P |
New |
| 92373 |
Jada
Toys Showroom Floor - Chevy Bel Air Hard Top (1953, 1:24,
Asstd.) 92373 |
New |
| 90999 |
Jada
Toys Showroom Floor - Chevy Tow Truck 66 Highway (1953,
1:24, Asstd.) 90999 |
New |
| 90998 |
Jada
Toys Showroom Floor - Chevy Tow Truck 66 Highway (1953,
1:24, Asstd.) 90998 |
New |
| 90793YL |
Jada
Toys Bigtime Muscle - Dodge Charger R/T Hard Top (2006,
1:18 scale diecast model, Yellow) 90793 |
New |
| 91200P |
Jada
Toys Bigtime Muscle - Dodge Charger R/T Police Car (2006,
1:18 scale diecast model, Black/White) 91200 |
New |
| 91461P |
Jada
Toys Dub City Heat - Chevy Camaro Concept Police (2006,
1:18 scale diecast model, Black) 91461 |
Restock |
| 92194W |
Jada
Toys Dub City - Nissan GT-R Hard Top (2009, 1:18 scale diecast
model, Beige) 92194 |
New |
| 90054GY |
Jada
Toys Dub City Bigtime Muscle - Shelby GT-500KR Hard Top
(1967, 1:18 scale diecast model, Gray) 90054 |
Restock |
| 11228/01 |
Castline
M2 Machines - Drivers Release 1 (1:64, Asstd.) 11228/01 |
New |
| 301/2D |
Friction
Mini Racer (4.25", Asstd.) 301/2D |
Restock |
| 5071D |
Kinsmart
- Mazda RX-8 Hard Top (1:36, Asstd.) 5071D |
Restock |
| 5309DD |
Kinsmart
- Mercedes Benz ML-Class SUV (5", Asstd.) 5309DD |
Restock |
| 9808/4P |
Super
Power Friction Construction Series w/ Big Wheels (10.25",
Asstd.) 9808/4P |
New |
Toys
Please
do not reply to this email address.
Any questions or comments, please email us at [email protected].
To unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an email to [email protected]
and put the word 'unsubscribe' on the subject line.
Thank
you
Lu Su
Toy Wonders, Inc.
www.toywonders.com
201-229-1700
God and the Art of Toy and Diecast Marketing
Render unto God the things that are God's (part
2 of 2)
By Lu Su
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to
trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along
with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we
know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way
of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by
men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us
then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar
or not?"
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said,
"You hypocrites, why are you trying
to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax."
They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose
portrait is this? And whose inscription?" -Matthew
22: 15-20
Here we see that some religious and political
folk approached Jesus and asked
him a moral question. "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar
or not?" It's such a simple question. A simple "yes" or "no" would suffice, but a simple "yes"
or "no" would be problematic. Jesus knew that
the question was a snare designed to trap the answerer. But how was this question a trap? Allow me to give you the
historical back drop of the events. You'll see how this seemingly innocuous
question was actually a lethal one.
In 64 BC, Rome had conquered the entire region.
All conquered territories had to pay a tribute to Rome. That's
how things worked in the ancient world. If you got conquered,
you had to pay up. And I still think this kind of thinking still
carries forward today. I had a house mate that strongly felt
that after we helped the Kuwaitis conquered their land back
from the Iraqis in 1991, the Kuwaitis now owe us. And my house mate Tom
made some suggestion that restitution (tribute)
should be paid back to the American people in either cash or oil.
In 6 BC, Augustus Caesar makes a decree and institutes a census for
the entire Roman empire. Back then, the primary reason to conduct a census was to figure out how
much "tribute" you could wring out from all your conquered
people. So the head of each household had to return to his home town to register. Back then, and I suppose even today, one's wealth
was tied to the land you (or your family) owned. It
was the Jewish custom that land inheritance was divvied out by tribe and family. Joseph
was of the family of David, and thus went to register where his family had their land inheritance. These two peasants Joseph and a very pregnant Mary, who both happen
to be descendents of King David, leave Nazareth for Bethlehem.
Since they could not afford an airline ticket,
which would have only made it a 70 mile journey by plane (or
by a really huge crow), they made the 3 to 5 day journey on
foot. Bethlehem also happens to be the birth place of their
famous ancestor King David, hence the city is often referred
to as the City of David. As the story goes, Mary gives birth
to Jesus while they are in Bethlehem. This event alone fulfills
numerous Biblical prophecies, which I won't get into now.
About 2016 years ago, a wondrous and unique event
occurs. This event was even bigger than the Big Bang. Around 6 BC, God incarnates.
God becomes a man. God becomes fully human, while at the same time being fully God. This
is really mind blowing stuff. From my study of world religions,
only Christianity makes this incredible and almost unbelievable
claim. God enters our three dimensional plus time world as a human.
I want to be clear here. Christianity does NOT claim that God just had the appearance
of being human. Jesus was not God with some type of human-like shell around
him. Jesus was both God and man at the same time. So if you were to take a pin and
stick it into Jesus' arm, he would show annoyance, bleed and
would be in pain. What is bizarre to me is that God would willing
choose to make himself vulnerable. And he went all the way by
coming into the world as a baby.
I've encountered numerous people that will often
make some type of argument stating that God is unknowable. I'll
hear stuff like, "God is so beyond us!" (and people
will drag out the 'so' in that sentence). Or, "How is it
possible that we can know anything about God?" One person
even gave me the analogy of what ants are to people, people
are to God. And thus it was questionable if we could even fathom
who God is or what he is like. My response is, "What if God became
a man and used our own language to communicate Truth, tell
us what the Kingdom of God was like, and showed us what love was?"
Okay, back to Caesar. Around 6 or 7 AD (while
Jesus is 12 or 13 years of age) a new census tax was imposed.
Note this was on top of the tribute tax that was collected. Now, just for the honor of being a subject of the Roman empire, this
head tax was collected for every person counted. The fee was
one denarius. This particular tax irked the Jews more than any
other tax, not so much because of the amount, but because this
tax was related to the census; Jews at that time understood
that the very act of taking a census was evil; and now paying
a tax associated with this evil was like condoning it. To get
a better understanding of opposition to the census, read 2
Samuel 24. This is the recorded event where King David conducts a census, it's considered evil, and things go very poorly for Israel immediately.
After the census tax was imposed on the Jews,
there were strong and violent protests. Understandably, many Jews considered
this tax a kin to committing sin and many refused to pay this
tax. An uprising starts. This leader of this rebellion is Judas
of Galilee. He leads a violent resistance against the denarius tax. Judas of Galilee
was also one of the founding members of this sect called the Zealots,
who believed in the use of violence to rid Roman occupation.
His band more or less engaged in gorilla warfare against Roman soldiers. Ambushing the invading party whenever they had the opportunity. Rome didn't care for this. If word got out that payment of the denarius tax was optional, this idea could spread to other territories. Rome sends in its troops. Out numbered and out gunned, this small rebellion led by Judas of Galilee was brutally crushed. Judas was killed and later both of his two sons
were caught and crucified.
With no cable, internet or American Idol, news
of this nature would have been big news. Furthermore
Rome would have put their propaganda machine in full gear to
spread the news. If you don't pay your taxes, you'll end up like Judas
of Galilee and his merry band.
The liberation of Kuwait was about 20 years ago, which to me didn't seem that long. But now just 10 years after this rebellion, the same question is given to another leader "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar
or not?" Had Jesus had answered,
"No, it is not right to pay taxes to Caesar." A quick
cell phone call to the authorities with the Herodians as eye-witnesses,
Jesus would have been arrested before he could leave the temple courts. "We've got
another leader from Galilee who is telling the people not to pay their taxes."
"But answering "Yes", has its own
set of problems. On a deeper level, this question was a challenge
to the authority of new Kingdom Jesus was ushering in. The question was tantamount in asking Jesus whose the King here? Should we listen to you or Caesar?
Just a couple of days before the question, Jesus
had entered Jerusalem riding on a colt.
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the
road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread
them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those
that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and
asked, "Who is this?"
The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from
Nazareth in Galilee." -Matthew 21:8-11
Matthew the Gospel writer who was with Jesus at
the time comments:
This took place to fulfill what was spoken through
the prophet:
"Say to the Daughter of Zion,
'See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' -Matthew
21:4-5
Matthew didn't make this up. Matthew is a Jew
who knows his Scripture and is quoting Zechariah
9:9. Back then
and even today, many Jews, Christians, and Christian Jews continue to hold
on to this promise from God. This promise was spoken by the
prophet Nathan to King David.
'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself
will establish a house for you: When your days are over and
you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring
to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will
establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house
for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever -2
Samuel 7: 11-13
Now Jesus who constantly preached about the Kingdom
of God was renowned for his miracles, deeds, and happens to
be from the linage of King David comes riding into the capital
city on a colt. Expectations are very high. Let's look at Jesus' response to the question.
Show me the coin used
for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius,
and he asked them, "Whose portrait
is this? And whose inscription?
The denarius was a Roman silver coin that is often
known as the "penny" of the Bible because of the King
James Version translation using that word for it. The denarius
was about the size of a present-day U.S. dime. The denarius
was the most common Roman coin during the human lifetime of
Jesus Christ and it amounted to a day's pay for workers and
Roman troops.
There were a few different versions of the Roman
denarius. Every Caesar minted their own coin. But it was highly
likely that a coin like the one shown above was brought to Jesus.
Tiberius Caesar who was the emperor at the time of Jesus' ministry,
Tiberius minted more coins than any of his predecessor, and this coin was
in wide circulation at that time.
Jesus specifically asks, "Whose portrait is this? And whose
inscription?" Let's take a second to investigate
this. The portrait is image of Tiberius Caesar. The Latin
inscription reads Augustus Ti(berius) Caesar Divi Aug(usti)
F(ilius) ["Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus"].
If you remember your history, Augustus was Tiberius' father.
Augustus, as well as most of the Caesars, claimed to be divine.
This coin says Tiberius is the son of God (divine Augustus).
On the reverse side of the coin, you have the
inscription Pontif Maxim. This is from the title of Pontifex
Maximus, which literally means "Greatest Bridge-maker".
This title was given to the high priest of the Ancient Roman
College of Pontiffs and was the most important position to the
ancient Roman religion. Priest back then (and some still believe
today) served to mediate between God and man -like a bridge.
Now it is important that you realize that priests are human
beings. And more specifically, the title Pontif Maxim was reserved for the highest priest. Note that the priest must be human and male.
Houston, we have a problem. Will the real son of God and high priest please stand up? Jesus claims to be divine
by claiming that he is the son of God. And because Jesus was also
a man, he could serve as our high priest -our mediator and bridge
to God.
"Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "Give to
Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
Jesus skillfully avoids answering the question
on taxes, but points us to something far more important. I know many people will use this reply to argue that Jesus is pro paying taxes to Caesar. I don't see that here. Jesus only says to give to Caesar what is his; so if you happened to have borrowed Caesar's toga or hedge clippers, Jesus wants you to give it back.
When you take into account this whole story, the most important line is to "Give to God what is God's." But don't let your mind stop here. If I tell you to, "Give to God what is God's.", a most reasonable question to ask is "What's God's?"
Jesus
held up a coin and basically asked us "Whose image stamped onto this coin?" Then Jesus tells us to return it to
its rightful owner. So whose image has been stamped on you?
Then God said, "Let us make man in our
image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the
fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock,
over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along
the ground." -Genesis
1:26
The Bible claims that God's image has been impressed on you. "Render
unto God the things that are God's." Render means more
than to "Give". When you say "give" there
is no specific direction; but when you say, "render"
it means to give but it is direction oriented and also means "give back"
or "return".
So in conclusion, render unto God the things that are God's. What
belongs to God? You do. Return.
Sources:
"Antiquities of the Jews" by Josephus
in Jewish Wars
"Pontifex
Maximus" by N. S. Gill, About.com: Ancient/Classic
History
