Shame on you Frank Viola ~ What is a Lie?

Like my Grandma always told me, “There is no such thing as a free lunch”

But – if you read all the way to the bottom of this posting, you will find free download links for several of the things on Mr. Viola’s exclusive list!!!!

I have been telling myself for too many years, “well at least I learned my lesson” and another favorite, “I’ll never make that mistake again” In case you haven’t heard enough things wrong with growing old. . .you find yourself making the same old stupid mistakes you made when you were young.

This could be considered a rant, I think creating it may have acted as therapy, calming me. I guess when someone makes a fool out of me, makes me feel like I have been ripped off, due to my gullibility or even greed, I get riled. But this guy used his reputation with me, to talk me into helping him, rip off my friends and family. Some of which are brand new Christians. Arghgh

If you asked my kids when they were young I’m sure they would have said that my definition of a lie is too broad, heck, for all I know they might still say that. I have never been a church going man but I guess I have always felt that a lie starts somewhere in your heart, if you set out, specifically to mislead your neighbor, to get them to do something, that you are pretty sure they might not do, or probably won’t do unless you fudge the facts, then I say that you are “bearing false witness”.

Did Mr. Viola make it sound too good to be true?

“25 FREE Reasons to Buy My New Book NOW!”

My wife has been reading Frank Viola’s books for ten years and I have for seven, we have been subscribers to his blog for as long.

I’m an old man and not an impulse shopper, I thought I knew Mr. Viola’s work. I am, and always have been a reader. I am a member of Goodreads.com and Librarything.com both help publishers give away free books by new authors to avid readers to read and review, in order to get the conversation about these authors and their work started. Using book rate at the Post Office, I might be able to ship a package of 20 books for 3 bucks, do publishing houses get a better rate?

No, the offer sounded reasonable to me.

Why do I feel ripped off?

Mr. Viola did everything he could to make us think he was giving us something wonderful, His first email –

“But it gets better. Today through May 7th, if you purchase a copy (or copies) of my new book, I will give you 25 FREE books & audios by 19 different authors. God’s Favorite Place is my most creative work and the 25 FREE gifts are immensely valuable.

Yours in His bonds, fv Psalm 115:1”

On the pitch webpage he lets us know that this offer is so wonderful, that he expects that his readers will put their salvation on the line to cheat and steal the prize – for shame –

“Caution: Some people advised me to require that you send me a receipt proving
that you bought the book. But I want to make this easy for you –
therefore, I am trusting your honor and integrity here. The publisher
and I choose to take you at your word. As you know, lying about this can be damaging to your transformation! So buy the book FIRST, then send the email stating that you bought it.”

The second email from Mr. Viola: FViola: I’m Sorry to Say This: I Feel Terrible –

May 3rd, 2013
Dear Friend, Before I share what's on my heart,
I want to make sure you saw the email from Wednesday noting
that my new book is out and I'm giving away 25 FREE but VALUABL
bonuses by 19 different authors to those who buy the book soon.

Do you feel as slimy as I do reading this? – paragraphs later he finally shares “what is on his heart” –

What I Feel Terrible About
I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but some people have asked, "Frank, I won't 
be able to buy the book and get the resources until after May 8th. Can you put it
off for one more day?"
I hate saying "no" to anyone. But this one is beyond my control, as the publishers
make this decision for their author products. Convincing some of them to be part
 of this 1-week give away was like pulling 10 Mack trucks with the breaks on!
Some flat-out said no. Others reluctantly agreed to one-week only. So unfortunately,
we can't extend the offer. I feel terrible about this.

Note that the first time he mentions the free offer he calls them “books” and he calls them books several times –

BOOK, n. [Like the Latin liber, book signifies primarily bark and beech, the tree being probably named from its bark.]

A general name of every literary composition which is printed; but appropriately, a printed composition bound; a volume. The name is given also to any number of written sheets when bound or sewed together, and to a volume of blank paper, intended for any species of writing, as for memorandums, for accounts, or receipts. (Webster’s)

He knows that e-books aren’t considered “books”, he even leads us to believe during his pitch, that e-books don’t count towards his ratings:

“You can order a Kindle or Nook and still qualify for the free
gifts, but we encourage you to get a paperback copy also. This will help
the book’s rankings. If you only read eBooks, you can get a
paperback copy for a friend or loved one. It makes a great Mother’s Day
gift.”

On his “Answers to Questions area” it would appear someone asked him straight out if there would be shipping and handling, now my definition of lying may be broad but here was a perfect opportunity to come clean, obviously the people who asked about S&H thought they were receiving paper books, an honest person would feel duty bound to explain that they were just PDFs that you will need to download.

Why do we think e-books aren’t the same as real books?

Because they aren’t – maybe that is why Amazon charges so little for e-books – For us, the big obvious thing was – we don’t have an e-reader, so we are stuck looking at the PDFs on a laptop, kinda hard to cuddle up to a laptop, second we are on a fixed income and pay for internet bandwidth on a “pay-as-you-go” basis, so we are picky about downloads.

What did we get when we sent in our email…?

We got an instant auto reply with a weblink to a page with links to download the files, most just simple PDF files that Mr. Viola is hosting on his web server. Some of the links send you to other snake oil salesmen, where you need to jump through more hoops.

The email we received starts by saying “Thank you for buying Frank’s new book and honoring our good faith agreement” , now, when we re-read it, it kinda feels like a slap in the face.

When we started looking through the list of downloads my wife’s first reaction was that she wasn’t sure she wants read what Mr. Viola has to say anymore. If you can’t trust his sales ethics, how do you trust what he has to say in his books?

Following is his list of the “Bonus Gifts”. We have added to the list what we actually found each gift to be. (While we were going through the list, deciding whether to download each, we wondered if we even wanted to read anything by people associated with Viola?)

3 conference messages that I delivered on the same subject that have never been released. – We didn’t waste the bandwidth even looking at this.
Beyond Evangelical – This was a 80 page PDF – I think it is a collection of Viola’s old blog posts – does not seem to be formatted as an e-book, just 8.5×11
Epic Jesus – Little e-book shaped PDF pamphlet by Viola, just 24 pages including advertisements – a long blog post?
The Deeper Christian Life by Andrew Murray – written in 1895, no copyright, free everywhere – download free (choose a format) or AUDIO VERSION
Moving Beyond the Shallows by Andrew Farley and me – This was like a 3 page thing, we saw it free somewhere, but I can’t find it today, try Googling it.
Nudge by Leonard Sweet – This WAS a free e-book download from a publisher that is advertising more free e-books, I signed up for the newsletter and was offered a free book by another guy within 24 hours BUT I WE MISSED OUT, ON THIS…IT HAD EXPIRED ON MAY 5TH, rather than May 7th as advertised.
Raised with Christ by Adrian Warnock – This 274 pg PDF is in an e-book format – for sale at Amazon in paperback, hardback and Kindle
Grace Walk by Steve McVey – This too was a free e-book download from a publisher that is advertising more free e-books – we just skipped it cause we don’t have a reader.
No Other Foundation by DeVern Fromke – – 203 page PDF book – We did find this free on Google but don’t know if we should share the link, sorry.
Father is Looking For . . . by DeVern Fromke – – 111 page PDF book – Again we found this free on Google but don’t know if we should share the link, sorry.
Why God Intervenes by DeVern Fromke – 95 page PDF book, I don’t know how this might look in an e-book reader
Larger Window by DeVern Fromke – 224 page PDF book, I don’t know how this might look in an e-book reader
Disarming the Darkness by Pete Briscoe – ? audio mp3 CD, sends you to a website asking for name, street address, email and phone number, another sales pitch that doesn’t tell you what you will get for sure, if it is a link to download we cant afford the bandwidth.
Wrecked by Jeff Goins – This 176 pg PDF is in an e-book format – FREE in Nook format at Barnes & Noble (act fast I have no idea for how long)
A Simple Guide to Hearing God by Felicity Dale – Weird 44pg PDF w/ embedded video – Many places to get FREE – this was just the first hit.
Sacred Pauses by April Yamasaki- We skipped this one due to bandwidth – for sale at Barnes & Noble in paperback and Nook format
Love is by Bob Christopher- This 110 pg PDF is in an e-book format – I only see this at Amazon in Kindle – no where else.
Bone of His Bone: Going Beyond the Imitation of Christ – by F. J Huegel – This 56 pg PDF is available, along with all this WWI Chaplin’s works, all over the internet – This link goes to a reputable looking site with a bunch of Christian resources. FREE
The Wealth, Walk, and Warfare of the Christian by Ruth Paxson – This 183 pg book was written in 1939 and is available to download in quite a few places on the internet – This website explains copyrights and seems to have hundreds of items available – http://www.dailybread.com.au/5000/200/202/index_ruth_paxson.html
This is My Beloved Son: Hear Him! by Jon Zens – – 80 page 8.5×11 PDF book- We did find this free on Google but don’t know if we should share the link, sorry.
Christ in 3-D by Milt Rodriguez – This little 20 pg PDF is in an e-book format – I only see this at Amazon in Kindle – no where else.
The Power of Weakness by Keith Giles – This 101 pg PDF is in an e-book format – I only see this at Amazon in Kindle and Lulu as a paperback.
Bethany by Michael Sweet (song) – Mp3 download
The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hanna W. Smith – written in 1875 no copyright free everywhere – download free at Google books (choose a format) or almost ready as AUDIO VERSION
50% discount for Sermons.com – THE FRANK VIOLA WE READ 7 YEARS AGO DIDN’T BELIEVE IN SERMONS ????