Kids for Cash Two Judges, Thousands of Children, and a $2.6 Million Kickback Scheme

one of them said to me, that's the first time someone has ever preached from the book of judges in a church service.

Let us pray. ... Judges 14.14

strength is no match for the power of a beautiful Philistine woman. Samson's lust and hubris is put on display as inspired by the book of Judges

Judges 14 verse 4 says this, His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.

inspired by the book of Judges.

We see it in the Exodus. We see it in the book of Judges. We see it here.

I told you, I told you that this is some of the darkest stuff in the Bible is here in the end of the book of Judges chapter 19, 20 and 21.

Judges 21-25 sums everything up so darn perfectly where it says in those days, there was no King in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes.

That's called relativism. That is who knows what truth is. You have your truth. I have my truth. You have what you think is right. I have what I think is right.

One of the reasons why the book of Judges is so appropriate for us today is because it's so broken and we live in such a broken place, but it brokenness has been chosen because truth had been revealed to the people of Israel.

And truth has been revealed to us and we choose to not pay attention to it. And that's one of the reasons why this book of Judges is so critical to us to never ever forget.

Man, oh man, I love the book of Judges is so powerful and it's so good for us because not because they're all great heroes that save the day and are incredible, but because they reveal us to us.

The book of Judges begins in the dark and ends even darker.

It's this constant hamster wheel that we're gonna see throughout the entire book of Judges, and it could become a source of frustration for a lot of people because it is this complete, you see it coming.

It's the insane cycle, right? Where you just keep doing the same thing expecting a different result.

There's disobedience which leads to distress. Israel falls away. They are not faithful. They turn to other gods and then God gives the power of the Philistines or the Amorites or the Amalekites or the Moabites into their hand. They call out, they repent. God raises up a redeemer and then they have renewal. It's this pattern again and again.

Don't think judges with gavels. Don't think someone in the long black robe. We're talking about people who are redeemers. We're talking about people who are generals. We're talking about people who lead into battle.

He raised up enemy nations to oppress them. And this is possibly referring to the stories we read in the book of Judges.

We finished our eighth book of the Bible today, and since we're reading an entire book tomorrow, that means we're about to be at nine books total.

Tomorrow we enter the book of Judges. It's a bloody book, but it brings us an important reminder of what happens when people don't follow Yahweh and follow their hearts instead.

Judges is a book full of bloody and wicked stories.

the books of Joshua and Judges were written by different authors, so to them it didn't feel redundant or confusing.

My guest today is Bill Akenbarger, a journalist and author of the book Kids for Cash, which offers a definitive account of the judges' kickback scheme.

I was once told by a great newspaper editor that the most important attribute a journalist can have is a sense of outrage. And in my years as a reporter, I had experienced a lot of outrage, particularly covering state government. But nothing ever outraged me like this because these were kids whose lives were destroyed. And it was terribly, terribly sad.

And I realized that this was a very, very important story. In fact, it would occupy me for the next two and a half years.

I interviewed more than 200 people, including 43 of the judges, child victims and their parents, juvenile justice experts, prosecutors, defense lawyers, state officials, federal agents, victims advocates, and local attorneys, judges, although not the two judges, not the two bad judges.

That was my conversation with Bill Eckenbarger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of Kids for Cash.

If you'd like to learn more about the Kids for Cash scheme, we recommend the book, Kids for Cash, Two Judges, Thousands of Children and a $2.8 million kickback scheme by William Eckenbarger and the documentary, Kids for Cash directed by Robert May.

If you'd like to learn more about the Kids for Cash Scheme, we recommend the book Kids for Cash, Two Judges, Thousands of Children, and a $2.8 million kickback scheme by William Eckenbarger and the documentary Kids for Cash, directed by Robert May.

If you'd like to learn more about the Kids for Cash Scheme, we recommend the book, Kids for Cash, Two Judges, Thousands of Children and a $2.8 million kickback scheme by William Eckenbarger.

In Judges chapter 6 verse 22 through 29, there is an encounter with God Between the angel of the Lord and a man named Gideon

The book of judges demonstrates to us the unfortunate reality that we can be in covenant with God and Still in captivity

You may try to break up with God But God won't let you the book of judges proof it

first, well, we're going to see all through the book of Judges as I come back to these devotions while we're doing our personal family reading from the book of Judges, we're going to see over and over again, hey, sometimes God is going to do something and he's going to lead with the left.

And they found the key and unlocked the door where the king was sitting there dead with his gut spilling out.

But when they found the key, they unlocked the door. And that spoke to me about how the unlock for the nation of Israel after 18 years of chains of oppression, metaphorically speaking, not that they were physically in chains, although some of them were. But the captivity that was a part of this cycle was unlocked by a man with the left hand from the tribe of the right hand.

Benjamin, son of my right hand, Ehud, a judge that the Bible doesn't even say the spirit came on, who was left-handed, had a secret meeting and God used an 18 inch weapon, a left-handed man in a secret place to deliver a nation.

This is Judges 7, verse 17. I'm back in the NIV. Watch me. He told them, follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.

I didn't get time to get all the way to the end of Judges chapter 7, but the enemy turns against itself.

Remember that only 300 men stayed. Only 300 men who lapped water like dogs.

I got that dog. I don't have to be fancy with my faith. I got that dog. I don't have to be proper with my praise.

Remember, the trumpets were what they took when they had 10,000 and they only kept 300 out of the 9700 that left. There were 300 trumpets enough for every man. You've got enough. You've got enough.

Open your Bible to Judges chapter 7 or Pretend to open your Bible as you flip through your phone and get that last round of candy crush so you can pay attention to me

Good news, I'm gonna read so much scripture. It's gonna make up for all the ones you didn't read this week.

I'm gonna put them all in on this one Judges chapter 7 Verse 1 how about that from the English Standard Version of the Bible?

Then Jerubabbel that is Gideon and all the people who were with him rose early and Encamped beside the spring of Harod in the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Moriah in the valley

put up verse 7 judges 7 you'll hardly believe how clear it is. He said let All the others Go you see that? 9,700 on one time side 300 on the other and the 300 are dogs and God says you can do it You're gonna do this with those 300 dogs

Gideon is the greatest judge in the book of Judges, the greatest judge of all time.

Gideon is a GOAT, but God is getting him ready, because he's not looking much like a GOAT at the moment.

The Bible says they were in Midian's hands. That was their Enemy.

You don't even know that the angel of the Lord sent a word into a winepress and called him a warrior while he was down there scared that the swarms of Midianites were going to come get what he planted, so he had to hide it.

Gideon went in, and watch this. He went inside, prepared a young goat.

Before I read our Scriptures, Judges 6... You can make your way there. It's in the beginning of the Bible.

Judges 6, verse 1. The Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years.

Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Ebeazar. Gideon, son of Joash, was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites.

The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, 'Mighty hero, the Lord is with you.'

'Sir,' Gideon replied, 'if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say, 'The Lord brought us up out of Egypt, but now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.'"

The Bible says in judges 13 verse 1 remember in a pivotal time for the nation of Israel a Pivotal time because they were in a cycle of sin Judgment and deliverance a pivotal time because they didn't have a king and They they didn't really want God to be their king

The Bible says that at least the perspective of the writer Samuel was who we preached about last week that God delivered them into the hands of their enemies That's interesting to me. I Don't have a category for that But God is bigger than my categories

the angel said just tell your wife right now. Don't drink anything or eat anything unclean That's all you need know right now the pivot From what you think you need to know To what you really need to know

the parentheses in first in Judges chapter 14 verse 4 says his parents did not know that this Was from the Lord They knew Samson was from the Lord Because the angel spoke it and her womb was barren

God wanted to set his people free from the Phoenicians from the Philistines and he was gonna do it But he wanted to do it not through a good decision, but through a bad decision