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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

America The real Religion is delusion

As Americans, whether we are on the secular left or the religious right, we like to think of ourselves as right.

We know for a fact that we are on the side of truth and those "other" people are on the side of evil. So the Christian Right "knows" that people who don't believe just like them are going to eternal damnation. And those on the liberal side, know for sure that the Religious Right wouldn't recognize Jesus if he walked up to them and tapped them on the shoulder. A good example would be the little known fact that Jesus never said one word in the bible about homosexuals. Yet the Christian Right has made this a very big part of their agenda.

And the fact that Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers, doesn't stop our born again President Bush from making up some fake reason for going to war- weapons of mass destruction or something like that. Why couldn't he just say I'm kicking middle east ass for my daddy and Halliburton! And if a women believes in abortion, then just say that, don't call it I'm standing up for my reproductive rights.

No, in our minds we have to create reasons to defend in our minds our behavior. And it's usually not enough to just do it as the Nike ads say, but we have to give good reasons why it is right and better behavior than yours. We are never wrong. And that my friend is delusional.

Billy Graham and Arranged Marriages

I was recently reading the book, Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer, the son of the famed Francis Schaeffer. In the book he talked about up the arranged marriage of Billy Graham's daughter Virginia.

I used to think that it was only Muslim Sheiks that did the arranged marriage thing, so imagine my surprise to find out so did Billy Graham.

His daughter, Virginia, only 17 at the time, when Billy arranged her to meet and then marry a man 20 years her senior, Stephen Tchividjian. He was the son of a wealthy donor to the Graham Organization.

Well, the marriage didn't last, and they divorced. She then remarried, and Virginia "Gigi" Graham Tchividjian became Gigi Foreman, As a side note, on July 1st, 2005 she was arrested and charged with domestic abuse after witnesses told police she choked her new second husband in a parking lot. She was charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse and released the following day.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Pat Robertson needs a new hearing aid

Well folks, once again Pat Robertson has proved that when it comes to having the mind of Christ and hearing form God- he's deaf. Very deaf, and perhaps dumb and blind.

A few months ago God told Pat to back Rudy Giuliani for President. Today, Rudy, having failed to garner any support among the faithful dropped out of the Presidential race.

Pat, I don't usually give advice, but next time God tells you to back somebody for president on the GOP side, you might just want to make sure that he is actually a conservative Republican.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Kenneth Copeland Ministries Investigation

If you are like me, you may have seen the recent report on KCM aired on CBS. Kenneth Copeland is known as the godfather of the faith and prosperity gospel. Now I'm not much of a fan of most televangelists, however I think in the case of Kenneth Copeland they are going after the wrong guy.

Sure he has the jets, the big house, the lavish lifestyle. He also makes God out to be a big casino, where the payoff is 100-1- you know the old give 1 dollar to me, get back 100. But so do all the other popular Christian ministries out there. The reason I don't have as big of a problem with Copeland is that he isn't spending most of his time telling the "non" churched world how they should live their lives and then doing something else. He pretty much keeps his insane scam self contained in TX.

If his followers want to give him millions of dollars every year, that's between him and them. But the day that Kenneth Copeland starts telling me or anyone else outside of his own ministry what i'm supposed to do- that's when you can expect me to question his actions and his ministry more so than I am doing here.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Pat Robertson fake formula keeps on going

I woke up late this Sunday morning and as I was flipping the TV channels caught the 700 club with Pat Robertson. It's been a while since I caught his act and I would have liked to report it has changed, but no such luck.

It was another one of those fake news stories where the person is down and out, but then God, I mean Pat tells them if they will only tithe- give money to the 700 club, then the great Piggy Bank in the Sky (Jesus) will send that person a check in return.

Sure enough, that's what happened. The lady reported that a check in the mail miraculously appeared and all was well.

Now, the problem with all this for anyone with more than a 6th grade level of education is that we all know checks just don't show up for no reason because we send The 700 Club money.

In fact, if the logic that Pat Robertson used on his show was true- you give money you get money, then instead of Pat asking his viewers to send him money, he would instead ask his viewers to send him their addresses so he could instead have the 700 club send them a check so the 700 club could get a great big Jesus in the sky blessing.

Why the viewers of The 700 club don't catch onto this con game amazes me. But, I guess it is biblical in some ways as "a fool and his money are soon parted". Thank you Jesus.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Christian Divorce Dobson and Gingrich

I was asked the other day why I bring up divorce and the shortcomings of the so called "Christian" leaders. Well, I wouldn't except for the fact that they keep bringing up the sins and shortcomings of everybody but themselves. I would much prefer that everybody just chill out. But having read the bible I know that Jesus had a real problem with hypocrites. Much more so than with adulterers, murderers, and homosexuals. In fact when it comes to homosexuals Jesus said NOTHING in the bible pro or con about them. An amazing fact that very few bible believing Christians are even aware of these days.

It brings to mind that great family leader and politician Newt Gingrich who had such a hard time with the sins of Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky. At the same time that Newt was attacking and judging Clinton, he was having an extramarital affair too. But instead of admitting to himself that he was a hypocrite he just felt sorry for himself, saying, "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." Gingrich argued however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity. This is the kind of wacked out thinking that must be exposed.

Widely considered a mastermind of the Republican revolution that swept Congress in the 1994 elections, Gingrich remains wildly popular among many conservatives.

Reports of extramarital affairs have dogged him for years as a result of two messy divorces, but he has refused to discuss them publicly.

Gingrich, who frequently campaigned on family values issues, divorced his second wife, Marianne, in 2000 after his attorneys acknowledged Gingrich's relationship with his current wife, Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide more than 20 years younger than he is.

His first marriage, to his former high school geometry teacher, Jackie Battley, ended in divorce in 1981. Although Gingrich has said he doesn't remember it, Battley has said Gingrich discussed divorce terms with her while she was recuperating in the hospital from cancer surgery. I'm sure he must have prayed WWJD before the meeting.

Gingrich married Marianne months after the divorce. Ouch.

"There were times when I was praying and when I felt I was doing things that were wrong. But I was still doing them," he said in the interview. "I look back on those as periods of weakness and periods that I'm ... not proud of." Yet he is very proud of going after others while doing the same thing he condemns. With good Christian leaders like him, who needs those pagans anyway. Unless they can help raise funds to bring back morality in America again.

James Dobson Family Divorce

It's always interesting to me how James Dobson can spend all his time telling everyone else how to live Christian family values, but when it comes to his own family, it's the age old do as I say, not as I do. Though Dobson has tried to cover up the divorce of his own son (now remarried, so that makes him an adulterer by fundamentalist Christian standards as well) you just can't hide from the truth. Ryan Dobson was formerly married to Cezanne N. Williams (Also known as Danita Williams) of Seattle in 1999. But the marriage didn't last, and the couple were divorced in 2001

As you may have read from my previous post, it's all right for Dobson to destroy the ministry of others who go through divorce. Or if they happen to work for Focdus on the Family, to fire them as in the case of Dobson's long time assistant Gil Alexander-Moegerle. But if it's your own son, well then it's different. Dobson's son Ryan Dobson, now living with his second wife Laura runs KOR Ministries. Judgement, condemnation, firing, blacklisting- that's for others. Your own divorced son, that's different. On the Hypocrisy scale James Dobson gets a 10.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Joyce Meyer - New member of he Fraud Squad

I have just learned that popular televangelist Joyce Meyer has become Dr. Joyce Meyer. That would be impressive, as one should be congratulated for the years of study and hard work to get a doctorate degree. However, as with most other Dr's out there- Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, etc, they aren't really doctors.

The degree Joyce Meyer received is an honorary degree! Not only that, but Joyce Meyer doesn't even have a undergraduate college degree. So with no legitimate undergraduate or post graduate degree, (just your good old HS education) to merit such an appellation, she can no go around and claim to be a Dr. I'm sure it will help future book sales however deceptive this may be.

keep in mind that whenever you see the title "Dr." in front of a charismatic teacher's name, especially if they are on television you can "bet" nine times out of ten that the degree is bogus.

Most charismatic ministers openly denigrate serious biblical study on the seminary level. Yet they love to use the title of a scholar. Why? To give them the credibility they lack. The degree title will make the unsuspecting Christian put more confidence in what they teach, after all, they are a "Doctor."

This is just another example of the deception that these ministers knowingly perpetrate on the unsuspecting Christian. Anyone in the academic world will tell you that no one of any repute will use or cite an honorary degree. Certainly they will not use it in connection with their publications. Why not? Because people of integrity know full well that they have not put in the requisite time required to merit such a title.

To use an honorary degree in the same manner as a person who has worked for the degree is seen as an insult to those who have put in the hard years of study to earn that academic standing. Yet charismatic leaders, many of whom, like Joyce, who have no college degree at all have no moral problem calling themselves by a title they have not earned. This should not surprise us because they call themselves apostles, prophets, and bishops - these titles are just as hollow and fraudulent as their doctorate titles.

Some of these charismatic frauds are "Dr." Marilyn Hickey, "Dr." Kenneth E. Hagin, "Dr." Oral Roberts, "Dr." Joyce Meyer, "Dr." Rodney Howard Brown, "Dr." Lester Sumrall. Joyce has now joined the ranks of the fraud squad.

Monday, January 21, 2008

James Dobson is a quart low on Grace

I just finished reading the book, Unworld People by Joyce Landorf. It was given to me by a friend due to my interest in fundamental Christians and their strange ways. In the 70's Joyce Landorf was the female version of James Dobson. She was a best selling author of Christian Living books and her publisher was the same as Dobson's.

Anyway, she went through a divorce, and for those of you who have ever been in the fundamentalist Christian church and in a "leadership" position- divorce is the kiss of death. But what is most amazing after reading the book is how her so called "friends" like James Dobson could not wait to throw her under the train- all of course in the name of Christian love and concern.

The love and grace that James Dobson and others claim to embrace is rarely if ever found when you read the real life accounts by the people who's lives they destroy. (Another book about this almost hidden fact is James Dobson's War On America) An example of this condescending attitude of Dobson and other mostly male preachers is and I quote, "Why don't you stop your work, go home, be a wife, a mother, and grandmother". But please leave the real work of God's work to us guys. In a few years maybe you will come back. It should be noted that during the time shw was going through the divorce, her good friend James Dobson went to their book publisher and gave Word Books the ultimatum to drop her as an author or he would take his highly profitable books to another publisher. Oh, and he didn't contact her for more than 3 years. What a friend we have in Jesus, I mean James Dobson, who claims Jesus. Nice.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Another Funamentalist Christian Guilty of Sex Crimes

Just last week, yet another fundamentist Christian leader pleaded guilty to felony perjury. Paulk, formerly a prominent minister, was charged with perjury for lying during a deposition last year in a sexual misconduct lawsuit against him. Bobby and Mona Brewer, former staff members at what was known as Chapel Hill Harvester Church, which Paulk built into a nationally known ministry sued Paulk that he coerced Mona Brewer into a sexual relationship and used his influence to hide that and other improprieties.

"Earl Paulk was the architect of an entire scheme to protect the kingdom," Levenson said.

He defined 'kingdom' as the church and system of influence Paulk built.

In a deposition taken in the suit, Paulk said Mona Brewer was the only woman he had sex with outside of marriage. A DNA test last year showed Paulk fathered a child by the wife of his brother, the Rev. Don Paulk. That discovery led to the perjury charge.

Paulk's religious celebrity peaked in the 1980s and 1990s with TV appearances and more than 10,000 church members. He was nationally influential among independent charismatic churches.

His fame turned to infamy as he faced a series of allegations of sexual misconduct with many women. Though he no longer leads the church, now called the Cathedral at Chapel Hill. He still participates, speaking briefly. Attendance has dropped dramatically.