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Truth Matters Newsletters – February 2007 – Vol. 12 Issue 2 – Rekindling An Extinguished Flame (Making Money Off A Memory) by Rev. Bob Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

Rekindling An Extinguished Flame

(Making Money Off A Memory)

By Rev. Bob Liichow

This month’s issue of Charisma magazine had several things which caught my eye, but two advertisements really speak to where the emphasis is within the Charismatic Movement today. On page 62 of the February, 2007 issue of Charisma you can read the following information from a three-quarter page ad:

A.A. Allen’s

Miracle Valley

Resurrected

Resurrection Glory Tent Revival

February 21-25th, 2007

‘Miracles, Healings, Signs and Wonders once again at

Miracle Valley, Arizona.

A Generation later God is now restoring this massive

Well

Of Glory and Power! (1)

Naturally, two names come to the forefront when you consider A.A. Allen’s legacy, R.W. Schambach and Don Steward both of which can be seen on “Christian” television on a regular basis. Schambach is a regular guest on TBN and is brought out especially during Beg-a-thons because he appeals to the “old school” Pentecostals due to him being one of the last roving tent revivalists. Don Stewart has his own television broadcast. Both men will on occasion mention A.A. Alan’s name in passing to let their viewers know they walked with a General of Pentecostal power. Roberts LIARdon devotes an entire chapter to A.A. Alan in his book “God’s Generals.”

As I read down through the Charisma ad, which has a large picture of A.A. Allen in the upper left corner, I expected to read that either R.W. or Stewart were going to be speakers or hosting the event due to their being Allen’s former right and left hand men. Yet neither person is involved with the “Resurrection Glory Tent Revival.”

Could this be because the ad states that “God is now restoring this massive well of Glory and Power,” meaning that Allen’s mantle of miracle power did not fall upon Schambach or Stewart? With the death of Allen did the “masive well” of God’s power run dry and only now is being restored? First, we would have to agree that at some point there was a massive well of power in Miracle Valley, AZ. Secondly, we’d have to agree that the well through which this miracle power flowed was no less than Asa A. Allen.

I find a couple of interesting comparisons between charismatic extremists and Roman Catholicism. First, both groups believe there is or can be places where God moves specifically. For the Roman Catholic it may be dipping in the water at Lourdes, France or staring at the Sun on a hilltop in Medjugorie, Bosnia-Hercegovina. For the charismatic extremist it might be Azusa Street. CA. or the graves of Aimee Semple McPherson and Kathryn Kuhlman. Benny Hinn visits both tombs to re-charge his alleged anointing. (2) It seems that the final resting place of A.A. Alen’s is the latest place where people can come and receive miracles, healings and signs and wonders once again! A second comparison between these two groups is the belief in some form of “apostolic succession.” For the Roman Catholic that belief is centered on the office of the Pope. For the extremist it is a belief that God’s power can be bestowed from one anointed minister into another lesser anointed one. This is why many younger ministers will often mention how hands were laid upon them by some past (or current) man or woman of faith-N-power! I might as well add a third comparison between these groups of professing believers, that of the power of human mediators. For the Roman Catholic it can be a host of deceased saints, the Virgin Mary being the greatest of all mediators in their minds. Charismatic extremist televangelists foster the belief that their prayers are especially efficacious. Oral Roberts built an empire based on this misguided belief. Ever since he built his prayer tower he has used it as a tool to garner millions of dollars from God’s gullible saints. I mean, after all , if Oral is going to shut himself in with God to pray for me specifically, then surely God will answer my prayer request (along with other millions or so Oral will personally bring “before God.”). Hinn does the same thing on his television broadcasts when he and his guest or henchman will all lay their hands on the huge stack of prayer requests and prey on., I mean pray “for” God’s needy saints.

Since the advertisement states that “once again” this massive well of glory and power is being restored it behooves us to ask the question was A.A. Allen ever such a well of glory and power during his ministry?

A Little Stroll Down Memory Lane

It has been over thirty years since Allen died so many of our readers may not remember or even know who he was back in the day, as we like to say on the eastside of Detroit regarding the past. As the old adage says, “those who don’t learn from history are destined to repeat it” is certainly true regarding Allen and all the fake-healers that preceded and proceeded from him.

Allen claims to have received Christ at a Methodist meeting in 1934 and within a couple of years he became part of the Assembly of God (AOG) in 1936 and began ministering with them at that point. While an AOG Evangelist Allen in the mid to late 1930’s Allen claimed to have shut himself literally in a closet and fasted and prayed asking the Lord for the secret of His power. Allen claimed that God honored his prayers and revealed to him what the price tag was for miracles:

‘…When the last requirement was written down on the list, God spoke once again, and said: ‘This is the answer. When you have placed on the altar of consecration and obedience the last thing on your list, you shall not only heal the sick, but in My name shall you cast out devils, you shall see mighty miracles as in My Name you preach the Word, for behold, I give you power over all the power of the enemy…At last, here was the price I must pay for the power of God in my life and ministry. THE PRICE TAG OFFER THE MIRACLE-WORKING POWER OF GOD! (3)

“God” revealed to Allen thirteen works he had to do and when he had done all 13 of them, then God’ power would flow in his life. Allen only revealed eleven of the thirteen to is followers, saying that the last two had to do with “pet sins” in his life.

However, it was not until he participated in an Oral Roberts tent miracle revival meeting in 1949 that Allen got into the flow amidst a field of almost 200 other roving healing revivalists:

While attending an Oral Roberts Tent revival in 1949, Allen felt a burden to reach the lost with the miracle-working power of God and he soon hit the revival trail. Allen would be part of the “Golden-Era of Tent Evangelism,” that flourished between the end of World War Two and the mid-1960s. (4)

I can’t say for a certainty whether or not Allen “felt a burden” or not. When we consider his history and the fruit he brought forth it seems more likely that he believed he could do what Roberts did. Allen saw the large offerings being taken by Roberts, saw him lay his “anointed” right hand on the sick in healing lines, heard the standard Pentecostal revival preaching (Roberts was still Pentecostal at that point in time, he later left the Pentecostals and became a Methodist) and no doubt thought “I can do that too.” So Allen transformed himself into “A.A. Allen, healing evangelist” with the AOG. Allen stayed with the AOG until 1955 when they defrocked him and took his ministerial license away due to him being arrested in Knoxville,TN on a drunk driving charge. Instead of facing the charges in court, he jumped bail and fled the state (R.W. Schambach was with Allen as they fled the state). (5)

In true Latter Rain style (keep in mind by 1955 the New Order of the Latter Rain was in full gear) Allen simply re-ordained himself and started up as an independent ministry calling it the “Miracle Revival Fellowship,” along with the biggest tent of all the tent revivalists, he hit the road and hit pay dirt.

In 1955 Allen purchased a tent for $8,700 that would seat over ten thousand people , and Allen was soon one of the major healing evangelists on the revival circuit. Allen’s revival meetings were similar to the other leading evangelists of the time (such as Jack Coe, Oral Roberts, and William Branham) where there would be an extended time for music and testifying, then a sermon, then an appeal for those in need to come forward and be prayed for. Allen opened his revival meetings to all races, and his interracial meetings drew criticism, but Allen used the criticism as a platform to preach upon. (6)

Later Allen cut the tent up and sold pieces of it as point-of-contact devices saying that the tent had absorbed healing power from all the miracles that transpired under it (and you thought some Roman Catholics were superstitious)! In 1958, Allen purchased the largest of all the tents on the circuit, he bought Jack Coe’s tent which seated 22,000. Coe had died in 1956, so Allen got the tent for a good price, but he was “visionary” enough to see the future of revivalism. Not long after he purchased the huge tent, Allen was given 1,280 acres of land in Arizona by Urbane Lienen Decker. This large tract of desert land was soon to become Allen’s headquarters and he renamed this land “Miracle Valley.”

Miracle Valley, Arizona, is at the base of the Huachuca Mountains in the southeast corner of the state. There, Allen had his own airfield, a Cessna 150 aircraft, a record company (with 47 albums going), a 3,000 seat church, and a telephone prayer center. He appeared on 58 radio stations daily, and on 43 TV stations weekly…Miracle Magazine, a monthly publication with a circulation of 350,000 was produced and printed at Miracle Valley. (7)

Allen saw the future was in radio, television and print media’s and he was one of the first of the modern “televangelists.

Allen became one of the first to develop a national television ministry and broadcast prophecies and deliverances from demons over the airwaves. Allen is credited with helping to start over four hundred churches and led a revival in the Philippines. Allen also founded a Bible School in Miracle Valley, to fulfill his visions; ‘a place where thousands could be trained up to deliver the Word of God to the multitudes in need’. At a revival meeting on Jauary 1st, 1958, at Phoenix, Arizona Urbane Leign Decker, a recent convert and Spirit filled, approached Allen and offered him 1280 acres (5.2 km) of the finest land in Arizona, free of charge and with no strings attached. Within days a deed was recorded in the name of A.A. Allen Revivals, Inc. at the Cochise County Courthouse. (8)

Allen was pulling in around 4 million a year, which back then was a great deal of money, naturally I realize this in no way compares to Mr. Hinn’s one hundred (100) million + dollars per year today. Yet back in the late 1950’s and through the 1960’s a million dollars was a lot of money. In 1969 reporters from Look magazine wrote an article on Allen. These reporters concluded that Allen’s greatest miracle power was his unique ability to separate bills from billfolds. Let me cite James Randi again regarding this “power” of Allen:

He was very good at that. In his heyday, he claimed he sent out over 55 million copies of his publications from his mail room every year. He sold water from his Pool of Bethesda in Miracle Valley to customers all over the world. Said Allen of this commodity, ‘People are being healed instantly while they sip it as an act of faith’ Containers of plain dirt from the valley were also sold though no instructions went along with them. The reverend displayed demons in glass mason jars, sealed up safely and looking very, very dead. Allen told the faithful that those the preserved specimens might look to some insensitive, unbelieving folks like ordinary toads, snakes, and spiders, they were actually disease demons. (9)

Delivering folks from demons was one of Allen’s stock-in-trade shticks. However, Allen could not deliver himself from the demon of alcoholism and substance abuse. What is sad is that those closest to him did nothing to stop his self-destruction. R.W. Schambach and Don Stewart had to have known about this problem in Allen’s life, but both have kept silent and denied his alcoholism to this very day. I suppose they did not want to kill the “golden goose” by confronting the man of faith-and-power with his own “demons.”

During 1969 Allen was a sick man who according to Roberts LIARdon suffered from a severe arthritic condition in his knee. Somehow Roberts failed to mention the revelations in the Look article which proved Allen to be a fraud. Instead he tries to paint a sympathetic picture of a man in so much pain that he must take strong addictive drugs to combat it:

In fact, it is documented that his personal physician, Dr. Seymour Farber, prescribed Percodan, Seconal, and Valium to ease the pain and for insomnia brought on by the severity of the pain. (10)

On June 11, 1970 Allen checked into the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco. He made a phone call to a close friend at 9:00 P.M. who was alarmed by whatever or however Allen spoke to him, so much so that he drove over to the Hotel and got the manger to open Allen’s room with the master key. According to the Coroner’s report A.A. Allen was declared officially dead at 11:23 P.M. that evening. In the room was a bottle of whiskey and numerous bottles of prescription drugs. According to the death certificate (which DMI has an official copy of – See at End of article) Allen died of “acute” alcoholism and fatty infiltration of the liver.” In the words of Paul Harvey, “now you know the rest of the story.”

Brothers and sisters, there is no independent recorded evidence of any creative miracles or divine healing in Mr. Allen’s ministry. We do know he was extremely sensational, so much so that almost every other revivalist stayed away from him due to his wild unsubstantiated claims. It is a fact that he jumped bail and fled TN due to a DUI charge. We know that his wife left him around 1962 in a legal separation. We know he was being sued for over $300,000 in back taxes in 1967. We know his doctor had him on highly addictive drugs, which I believe, combined with his drinking, eventually caused his death on June 11th, 1970. A.A. Allen was not a man of wonder-working power or of miracles and signs and wonders.

Yet these documented facts do not seem to matter to those holding the “Resurrection Glory Tent Revival” on the Miracle Valley property later this month. Since Schambach and steward are not involved in this meeting, who is you might ask? It is being sponsored primarily by David Herzog and his wife Stephanie. If you go to their web site www.thegloryzone.org you can read about their miracle ministry! On their site they claim jewels from heaven are manifesting in some of their meetings. They show pictures of people with their mouths gaping open showing the “gold teeth” God has supernaturally given them, etc…In other words they, like the man they esteem, Mr. Allen, seem to be totally caught up in the sensational and not the Scriptural. Naturally, on their web site there is no proof given for any of the testimonies or pictures on their web site. DMI has looked into various alleged reports of gem stones and gold teeth and we have yet to find any proof of such things. So be aware a new generation of frauds, fakes and thieves are being raised up to fill the place where Allen on stood.

Just When You Thought It Could Get No Worse

As if propping Allen up as a miracle worker was not bad enough, Charisma on the adjacent page sells a full page advertisement to “Mel Bond.” (Who you might rightly ask is Mel Bond?) According to his Ad he is a “last day Apostle of signs and wonders.” What is more, Mr. Bond is holding a school of signs and wonders, here is a portion of the ad:

Sound the Alarm

New School of Signs and Wonder

I am building an army equipped with the ministry of signs and wonders to go to the world and openly on platforms demonstrate the power of God by healing the blinded eyes, deaf ears, crippleness, incurable pain and the dead corpses to rise, ALL INSTANTLY THAT THE Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:12-14).   (11)

DMI is in fact “sounding the alarm” that another flake is on the loose. I’m sorry if I do not sound very merciful towards Mr. Bond, but I have yet to see the Scripture so openly and obviously twisted and misstated as his ad proclaims. What is worse is that this nonsense passed the inspection of the Editors of Charisma magazine. They see no problem at all with the above statement. Bond goes on to say the following:

According to God’s Word, God is waiting on the ministry of Signs and Wonders to bring in the masses throughout the world and then the rapture will take place (Joel 2:28-32; Rev. 4:6; 5:9). In this one week of schooling I will teach & demonstrate (1 Cor. 2:4,5) in the classroom how to see in the spirit world, how to feel God’s anointing, how to place God’s anointing into physical bodies for instant miracles, and how to release God last days anointing for Signs and Wonders. At the end of the week together, you will have learned to do the same. (12)

Oh really? Where does the Bible speak of a “last days anointing? It seems in order to move this hitherto unknown anointing one simply needs to attend Mr. Bond’s class? It is not a question of the sovereign good pleasure of God, nor is it up to the Holy Spirit to bestow His gifts as He wills (1 Cor. 12:7). No, friends in these dark and evil last days it takes only a week of instruction by one of God’s restored Last Day Apostles {drum roll please} “Apostle Mel Bond.”

In Matthew 12:39 Jesus answered His crowd saying “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” God has never used signs and wonders to create saving faith in people. The Israelites saw daily miracles and yet the entire generation could not enter into the promised land due to their unbelief, except Joshua and Caleb. The genuine Apostle, the Apostle Paul said that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). The same Apostle said that the Gospel is the POWER OF GOD unto salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).

Last Days Anointing for Signs and Wonders?

Mr. Bond claims that the rapture cannot and will not occur until the “ministry of Signs and Wonders” brings in the masses of lost throughout the world. Oh really? What saith the Scriptures?

Jesus asks quite clearly that when He returns to earth will He find faith (Luke 18:8)? It is a rhetorical question with the answer of “no.” Our Lord also says that in the last days the love of most will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). How does Mel deal with texts such as the following:

Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:22-23.

For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. {Possibly interpreted ‘I am the anointed’}. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Matthew 24:5,10,11

He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. Luke 21:8

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  2 Thess. 2:9-10

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.  2 Timothy 4:3-4

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 2 Thess 2:3

Sorry Mel and anyone else who is counting on some great tidal wave of revival and soul-winning to occur that will precipitate the return of our Lord. If such a thing were true then the return of Christ depends upon the Church and not God’s will; which is exactly what Bond’s ad implies when it states that “God is waiting on the ministry of signs and wonders.” I’m sorry but did I miss something in reading my Bible? Where exactly is a “ministry” of signs and wonders mentioned and moreover where doe the Bible declare that anyone can be taught to flow in the supernatural gifts of the Spirit?

A plain reading of the Biblical texts show that the very end of times (which has been going on now for almost two thousand years) is a time of apostasy from genuine faith, a time when men {and women} will declare themselves to be anointed by God, a time when the love of most will grow cold towards God and each other. It will be a time of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders to deceive those seeking a sign versus the God behind the sign. The end times will be a time when multitudes will gather to themselves teachers that suit their own fleshly lusts and desires, i.e. people teaching things they want to hear as opposed to what the Bible actually teaches. Humm…maybe we are in those times.

Let me close out this sad episode of deception by letting you know that Mr. Benny Hinn, not to be outdone by an “unknown” like Mel Bond also is now offering a “Signs and Wonders School of Ministry.” Unlike Bond’s Mr. Hinn offers his school online and at a cost. Mel Bond’s school is free: the only cost is room, board and travel to his home base located at 140 N. Point Prairie, Wentzville, MO. So all DMI Missouri readers, if you live near Wentzville consider these dates: March 26-30 or October 22-26 of this year to attend a week of classes on how to become a super-raising the dead and lifting wallets saint of the Most High!! ♦

Copyright © Robert S. Liichow

End Note

1 Charisma, February, 2007, p. 62. Bold type and underlining added for emphasis.

2. In an April 7,1991 sermon, Hinn revealed that he periodically visits Kuhlman’s grave and that he is one of the few with a key to gain access to it. He also visits Aimee’s grave. Where he says: “I felt a terrific anointing…I was shaking all over…trembling under the power of God…’Dear God, ‘ I said, ‘I feel the anointing…I believe the anointing has lingered over Aimee’s body.” Obtained from http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/bhinn.html on 01-2007

3. Liardon, Roberts God’s Generals, Tulsa, OK: Asbury Publishing, 1996, p. 390.

4. Obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Allen on 01-28-07

5. Randi, James. The Faith Healers, Prometheus Books: Buffalo, New York. 1987, p.85

6. Obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Allen on 01-28-07 underlining added for emphasis.

7. Randi, James. The Faith Healers, Prometheus Books: Buffalo, New York. 1987, p.84

8. Obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Allen on 01-28-07

9. Randi, James. The Faith Healers, Prometheus Books: Buffalo, New Yor. 1987, p. 87.

10. Liardon Roberts, God’s Generals, Tulsa, OK: Asbury Publishing, 1996, p. 408.

11. Charisma, February, 2007, p. 63. Bold type and underlining added for emphasis

12. Ibid. Italics, underlining and bold type added.

Truth Matters Newsletter – June 2005 – Vol. 10 Issue 6 – Sacred Cow Number Five – It is God’s Will to Always Heal – by Rev. Robert S. Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

Sacred Cow Number Five – It Is God’s Will to Always Heal

Throughout this series I have been focusing on the major beliefs of the Word of Faith (WOF) cult. It is appropriate to delve into this topic due to the fact that the cult is also known as the “Health and Wealth” movement. This month I will consider their views on divine healing as oppose to what the Bible teaches and next month I will close this series out by exposing their twisting of biblical texts concerning God’s will and financial prosperity. But what good is money if you don’t have your health, eh?

It is vitally important for you to understand Discernment Ministries International (DMI) position regarding divine healing. DMI does not doubt that our Lord Jesus Christ still heals His people. Where orthodox Christians diverge from the WOF cult is that we believe that God heals people according to His sovereign good pleasure which is based upon His will for us as individuals. The Lord is the Healer and frankly, it may or may not be within His plan to heal an individual physically. I have often taught that God answers 100% of my prayers (yours too), however, the answers are not always what I want.

There is absolutely nothing wrong or sinful for Christians to pray for physical healing for themselves, family members, friends or others. It is doctrinally correct for the elders of a congregation to anoint the sick with oil and pray for their physical restoration (read James 5:14,15). Our Lord can and does heal through the proper reception of His grace when we come to the altar and celebrate the Lord’s Supper:

Those guilty of unworthy communion through non-discernment of the body and/or failure to examine themselves commit sacrilege against the most holy things, for which reason they are weak or sick or have even died (1 Cor. 11:27-31)…In the Large Catechism Luther confesses the other side of the coin presented by the Apostle in these verses. ‘We must never regard the sacrament as a harmful thing from which we should flee, but as a pure, wholesome, soothing medicine that aids you and gives life in both soul and body. For where the soul is healed, the body is healed as well’ (LCV.68). Positive bodily benefit may accrue, even in this life, to those who worthily (I.e.., contritely and with faith) partake of the Holy Supper. For it may please Almighty God to hold back the progress or even to drive back the depredations of bodily and mental disease through the life-giving body and blood of Him “by [whose] wounds we are healed (Is 53:5c; 1 Pt 2:24) (1)

It is with these texts in mind that we know that our Lord can and does heal His people. DMI is not anti-healing, we are against any teaching which takes something God may graciously do for one of His children and turn that grace into a work wrought by man and thus available to anyone who knows how to work the work, which is essentially what the WOF cult has done.

The WOF Teaching on Divine Healing

The problem with the WOF view of divine healing is that it is based on false premises, shoddy exegesis and is being propagated in many cases by wolves masquerading as genuine Christians. Their belief promises healing to all yet provides healing to none. The only ones who truly benefit from this deadly error are the so-called healing evangelists, all of whom have gotten extremely wealthy from presenting false hopes to the hopeless and desperate. Let’s drive a stake into this particular darkness.

 F.F. Bosworth, an early “healing” evangelist, made the following statement and as you can read Gloria Copeland’s comment echoes Bosworth’s and is now parroted by every WOF SINister on television and in pulpits today:

We see, from almost every conceivable angle throughout the Scripture, that there is no doctrine more clearly taught than it is God’s will to all who have need of healing, and that they may fulfill the number of their days, according to His promise. (2)

The Word of God will establish, without a doubt, that it is God’s will to heal everyone all of the time who will agree with Him. Agreeing with God puts you in a position to receive from God. (3)

There you have it folks, it is God’s will to heal everyone all of the time, end of story. Obviously people who are not healed are (1) out of the will of God for their lives and (2) not in agreement with God. Bosworth moved to Zion, IL a city founded by faith healer John Alexander Dowie (who later claimed he was Elijah returned and died of a stroke). His initial education and training came from his association with Dowie, Parham and E.W. Kenyon. In her healing school tape series Gloria goes on pontificating regarding the condition of the early Church:

In the early Church, they had this revelation. Sickness was no problem to them. They knew how to resist Satan and command disease to leave. They depended on the power of God to put them over in everything. Satan did not control the early Church, the believers kept him under control. (4)

The early Church she is referring to is the Church from its inception to the Dark Ages. The revelation they had was that it was God’s will to always heal people of everything every time. “Sickness was no problem to them.” Oh, really? What does she base that statement on? Paul in 1 Cor. 11 warned the Corinthians about abuses concerning the Lord’s Supper. That due to those abuses many were (1) weak; (2) sickly and (3) some had died. This seems like a bit of a problem to me. If people were not sick then James would not have written about the sick people calling for the church elders. Nothing is written in Acts about the rank and file believer “commanding disease to leave.” Both of Copeland’s statements are unwarranted and in fact, potentially quite dangerous a fact I will address later in this article. This much is certain, at least according to the WOF doctrine— healing is the will of God for all His people.

The fallacy behind their belief is that they teach that physical healing was also obtained for all of God’s children in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. “God heals today because healing is in the atonement.” Tilton is merely quoting Dr. T.J. McCrossan who attempted to write a scholarly apologetic for physical healing in the atonement in his book (read and cited by almost every WOF SINister) Bodily Healing and the Atonement:

Again, all Christians should expect God to heal their bodies today, because Christ died to atone for our sicknesses as well as for our diseases. (6)

Gloria Copeland in her “healing school” echoes this sentiment as well:

When He paid the price for sin, He paid the price for sickness and the chastisement of our peace (mental torment) for us…Forgiveness of sin belongs to you now. Healing of your body belongs to you now. Freedom from mental torment belongs to you now…When Jesus came out of hell, He brought us with Him. We are not bound by sin, sickness or disease anymore. (7)

Some WOF extremists teach that the 39 “stripes” which Jesus was lashed with by the Roman soldiers actually represent categories of disease. Each lash was a disease which is why Peter says that “by His stripes we are healed” (see 1 Peter 2:24).

I continued and said, ‘How many of you believe that Jesus took all our diseases on himself at Calvary? Every one of those 39 stripes he had on his back was a different disease…Can you imagine all the brain damage in the world on him? Can you see all the crippling disease on him? Millions of all kinds of diseases, all on Jesus at one time? (8)

He suffered in our stead because He did not want us to suffer disease. He took our specific diseases and infirmities upon His own sinless, perfect body in complete payment of the penalty of our sin. (9)

The Bible says in Isaiah, that on Calvary He was so disfigured, His body was so bent out of shape, His Spirit was so twisted, that He didn’t even look like a man any more. Sin had crushed Him in His Spirit; sickness and disease had taken hold of His body. He had cancer, tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, and everything else all at one time. All of this from the whole world, came on Him, and He took everybody’s sickness, everybody’s disease upon His own body. (10)

The obvious error here stems from their belief that Jesus literally became a sinner. He did not bear the penalty for our sin, but He actually became sin. Even so regarding our sicknesses; He was not punished for sickness (which is a result of sin) but actually bore/became literally plagued with all the illnesses of humanity past, present and future during His scourging.

Jesus our Lamb suffered in two ways. He shed His blood on the cross for our salvation from sin, and He bore the stripes on His BODY for our healing from sickness. In the intense spiritual and physical agony of Calvary, which Jesus suffered principally in His spirit…But in the excruciating physical agony of the Praetorium, where Jesus suffered in His BODY from the terrible Roman lash, He bare our sicknesses; for it was there by His stripes that He was made sick for us (Isaiah 53:10), and by His stripes we are healed. (11)

When Jesus bore away our sins, He also bore away our diseases. The cross pronounced a double cure for the ills of mankind. The church of Jesus Christ has been made as free from sickness as it has been made free from sin. A Christian may continue to sin after he has been born again, but he does not have to…A Christian may continue to be sick after he has been born again but he does not have to. He has been redeemed from sickness. The price has been paid for his healing. Sickness can no longer exert dominion over him unless he allows it. (12)

When the Bible talks about suffering, that doesn’t mean ‘sickness.’ We have no business suffering sickness and disease, because Jesus redeemed us from that…Yes, there is suffering, but not sickness and disease. Thank God you don’t have to suffer with that, because Jesus bore our infirmities. (13)

The reason I cited all of the above individuals is to show you (and anyone you may share this with) how widely this error is taught. No one can claim that DMI is setting up a straw man argument. On the contrary, I have in fact only referenced a few examples and could have easily added an additional twenty quotes from our library concerning divine healing.

It is the WOF cult’s contention that divine healing is part-n-parcel of our redemption. I have heard Kenneth Copeland on numerous occasions say that it is as easy to get healed as it is to get saved. It simply requires an individual to use the same force of faith for both. This only shows their ignorance concerning salvation, but since they are at best semi-Pelagian and at worst full blown Pelagians (as was Charles Finney) it is understandable. Let me remind you of what Dr. Martin Luther said regarding salvation in the Third Article on Becoming Holy in his Small Catechism:

A. I believe that I cannot come to my Lord Jesus Christ by my own intelligence or power. But the Holy Spirit call me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as He calls, gathers together, enlightens and makes holy the whole Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus in the one, true faith. In this Church, He generously forgives each day every sin committed by me and by every believer. On the last day, He will raise me and all the dead from the grave. He will give eternal life to me and to all who believe in Christ. Yes, this is true!

Salvation is not by our own efforts it is by grace alone through faith and the faith to believe in Christ Jesus is a gift from God (read Eph. 2:8). This is in direct opposition to their view where they have the lost man making a decision to receive Christ and in the same manner to make a decision to be healed as well. Yet if salvation is the gift of God and physical healing is indeed included in the atoning death of Christ, then divine healing would have to equally be a gift. Naturally, they do not see it this way. In answering their claim of divine healing being in the atonement I will cite Dr. Crenshaw:

Is there healing in the atonement? Certainly, and in exactly the way Matthew used the Isaiah passage. From Isaiah we learn that Jesus definitively and once for all removed the cause of sickness by atonement in bearing sin. From Matthew we learn that He occasionally removed the effects of sin during His earthly ministry by miracles. We have already seen that He did miracles to demonstrate Who He was, and once this was done, there was no reason to expect them to continue. The purpose had been completed. Since the healing aspect of the Isaiah passage was “fulfilled” in the life of the Lord, why should we look for it to be fulfilled again today? (14)

Christ died because we were sinners in need of redemption, not because we were sick in need of healing. The focus of the atonement is our being made righteous before the Father by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Crenshaw goes on to say:

The Word of Faith leaders, however, make one of the fruits of His death, healing disease, the essence of the atonement. They miss the whole point of sin, judgment, and Jesus’ death, for God has not charged us with diseases but with sin, with disobedience to His moral laws. Diseases are the result of sin, not the sin itself, and Jesus bore our sin, not the result…While in this life though, we shall always have some sin and thus some sickness. It is only when we are glorified that we shall no longer sin (1 John 3:2). Just as we do not expect sinlessness in this life, neither should we expect perfect health.

One day we shall be sinless and free of sickness, and one day the curse from the earth shall be removed, all as a result of the atonement, but not now. (15)

In the April, 2005 edition of Truth Matters the article dealt with the WOF heresy concerning the atonement of Jesus and it is obvious to any genuine Christian that the leaders of this cult are totally ignorant of the biblical Jesus and the biblical account of His death for us on the cross. So it is no wonder they are equally confused regarding healing and the atonement. They all teach that sickness comes from Satan, they do not teach that we live in a fallen world, thusly much of our woes stem from this fact. They give far too much credit to Satan while ignoring texts such as—

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 2 Cor. 4:16,17

If one reads the prior verses and the following ones the meaning becomes clear. Our body is dying, yet spiritually we are growing daily by the grace of God. The WOF leaders and their followers are dying physically daily, as are we all. Those who propagate faith healing ministries are no less prone to disease than anyone else in the Body of Christ.

The danger of this specific error is that those who hear these leaders actually believe what they proclaim and follow their so-called spiritual laws and principles often at the cost of their own lives. Meanwhile, the faith healers keep their own physical ailments out of the spotlight as long as possible and when they are sick they make use of the best medical facilities money can buy.

How Do We Tap Into God’s Healing Power?

(All you Need is Faith, Everybody Now, All You Need is Faith)   (16)

 This is really the $64,000 question the WOF pundits claim to have the answer to. But first allow me to give you a short history lesson. Prior to the formation of this cult (17) belief in faith healing was around for many years. Individuals traveled under the aegis of “healing evangelists.” Some of the more notable characters include: John Alexander Dowie, John G. Lake, and Aimee Semple McPherson. These and other people laid the foundation for the so-called “healing revival” of Post World War II. The healers of the late 40’s and 50’s took their cues from the healers which proceeded them. In the Post War days healing evangelists roved the nation. Names like William Branham, Oral Roberts, A.A. Allen, Jack Coe, T.L. Osborn, O.L. Jaggers and Franklin Hall were (and are) commonplace in Pentecostalism and the early Charismatic renewal movement. There was extreme competition (18) among these healers and each one claimed a stronger “anointing” or more dramatic miracles in their meetings. From Dowie up to the present day those seeking divine healing were led to believe that they needed to be in the presence of the man or women especially anointed by God to heal the sick. These charlatans (as history has proven) usually laid hands upon the sick and commanded evil spirits (the cause of sickness they claimed) to leave the infirmed. All of these former faith healers obtained both fame and great fortunes from those in need.

Due to the tremendous wealth which these fake-healers accumulated it caused many others to take their place when death or exposure ended their time in the spotlight. Today we have a host of individuals who teach that Christians need to come to them specifically for healing, that they (the healers) are the mediators of God’s power for those who will but “believe.” People such as Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman (deceased), Benny Hinn, R.W. Schambach, Leroy Jenkins, Peter Popoff, Robert Tilton, W.V. Grant Jr., Jim Whittington, Don Stewart and other healing evangelists can be seen regularly on television. Hagin and his clones took a different and less risky route then the healing evangelists. It was the WOF cult that began to write and teach about divine healing apart from needing to go to the big tent, traveling healing revivalists which have dotted the spiritual landscape. Divine healing began to become codified into a guarantee from God if people simply applied the correct spiritual laws or principles.

During the great healing revival, evangelists would hold short meetings, and I’d come along behind them with longer meetings. By the time I got there, I often found people who had been healed in those meetings already had lost their healing. This happened in my meetings, too, but I learned how to get them healed and keep them healed. (19)

Even though Hagin attempted to lump himself in with the “big” healing revivalist he never was seen as one of them. In fact, Hagin is not known for even having a divine healing ministry per se. Hagin would show up after the “big-boys” had left town and hold smaller meetings in which he would pray for those who had lost their healing and teach the attendees how to receive divine healing. The important point to remember is that Hagin states he ’learned how to get them healed and keep them healed.” In essence he is saying that he is really more powerful than the huge tent revivalists in that he had the needed revelation of how one can remain healed. Before considering how to keep divine healing, let’s get down to brass tacks and see what is taught on how to receive it in the first place!

Faith healing is exactly what it says it is: you are healed by faith, and you keep your healing by faith…Miracles and healing happen through faith: so if it happens through faith, then we need to find out about faith. (20)

Everything within the WOF cult is predicated by their concept of faith, (21) which as we studied last month does not mean a believer’s simple reliance and trust in God, the object of our faith as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. To these people faith is a mystical force which when properly use according to set spiritual laws will create and change spiritual and physical reality, including physical health and healing. So the initial piece to the healing puzzle is that people receive healing by releasing the force of faith within them for healing.

Your faith will cause the power of God to be manifested in your life. His power is always present. It will do what you need it to do. (22)

Notice how depersonalized Copeland’s statement is; “your faith will cause….it will do what you need it to do.” God’s power is separated from Himself (something the Bible does not teach). The power of our faith, i.e. our ability to conceive in our spirits what we desire will cause this power to be activated. God’s power is at our command and is only limited by the strength of our faith. If a person believes this way about God and faith, then when they fail to receive their healing by “faith” it can have some very dire implications for that individual, or their families.

“If Christ is our Passover lamb, His blood was most assuredly shed to save us from the wrath of God through the forgiveness of our sins, and His flesh was bruised and broken for our physical benefits.’ The logical conclusion to such reasoning is that if one gets sick, he really has not had his sins forgiven. To evade this logic, they make a distinction between forgiveness and healing, which is the Gnostic dualism… (23)

The Copelands assert that the faith that saves is the same faith that heals. It is only logical to believe if one is not healed, then one must not be saved either. Admittedly, the WOF cult does not make this distinction, but then logic is not their strong suit.

Let’s consider just a few of the biblical examples of people who received divine healing from God apart from exercising faith on their part. How do they explain the FACT that ten lepers were healed by Jesus, yet only ONE had faith (read Luke 17:12-19). How much faith did Lazarus exercise when Jesus raised him from the dead, death after all is a permanent result of sin & sickness (read the crippled beggar in Acts 3:3-8 ? The cripple asked for money, Peter and John had none, instead the man got physically healed, something he obviously did not believe for! I could mention the case where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law in Mark 1:31. Nothing is mentioned of her faith in Christ, yet Jesus healed her. Most of you are familiar with the case of the man who was born blind. Jesus healed him and in this case the man had faith in Jesus AFTER he was healed, not before (read John 4:16).

Failure to Receive Divine Healing

All failure to receive the promised blessings falls squarely on the shoulders of the individual believer. It is never the fault of the healer. In closing I will cite seven of the most common excuses used to attempt to explain away the lack of success in the healing business. Space does not permit me to give direct citations, but I will list works which detail what I am sharing in the end notes. (24)

#1. The individual only had head knowledge of God’s will for healing and not a revelation from the Spirit to their spirit. The individual only had mental assent, which will not heal anyone. Remember the only way you can know if you have a spirit versus soul revelation is by the manifestation of what you have believed for.

#2. Hidden sin in a person’s life can block the flow of divine healing. Naturally this excuse does not explain why God allegedly heals unbelievers and admitted sinners in healing revivals. This mystery is attested to by Kuhlman and Hinn.

#3. A lack of tithing (off the gross vs. the net) will open the door for demonic attack. God will rebuke the devourer (I.e. Satan & demons in the WOF cult) on the behalf of the faithful tither (read Mal. 3:11). This is a frequently twisted text used by SINisters to bilk money from God’s gullible and often desperate sheep.

#4. A lack of knowledge concerning divine healing is a major cause of sickness in the Church. After all, doesn’t the Bible teach us that “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge” in Hosea 4:6? How can one exercise faith for healing when one does not know it is God’s will to heal them?

#5. Sicknesses that come form unknown causes. This is a major source of confusion and depression among WOF cultists. Marilyn Hickey is well known for teaching that “the curse causeless shall not come” from Proverbs 26:2. So when sickness attacks the WOF devotee they immediately begin to search their lives and see if thee is any hidden sin, lack of giving or strife with others. There is always a cause for sickness and its root is to be found in Satan and the believer who has left the door open for him to attack them.

#6. An attack from Satan to hold back God’s plan. This excuse is usually reserved for the leaders in the movement itself. If the sheep get a disease, then it is obviously their fault in some way. If a leader gets a disease it is an attack from the Enemy to hinder the expansion of the Kingdom of God. For example, when Jan Crouch gets cancer it is because Satan wanted to stop her from giving donated toys to poor children in Haiti.

#7. The individual was healed, but lost their healing. This is a common excuse favored by the healing evangelists. They claim people were healed in their meetings and when they die later on, it is because they “lost” their healing. This is why so many books have been written on how to Keep your healing.

When you read the books published by individuals cited in this article do not be deceived by the testimonies they share. No information is ever given that will enable the reader to verify the claims being made. Anyone can write “ten people, born blind were healed in my Calcutta crusade’ or “Mrs. M. wrote us and said that after she sent in her last $100 God delivered her completely from the demon of stomach cancer.” Also, realize that the level of sickness and disease is as high, if not actually higher among the WOF leaders. The rate of cancer among their international leadership and their families is off the scale. One would expect to see a large (and growing larger) group of extremely healthy individuals and yet they are no better off than anyone else in the Church.

They promise much but they deliver nothing but false hopes and empty promises. I believe Jude must have know people like this in his day:

Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Jude 1:11-13 ¨ ♦

Copyright © 2005  Robert S. Liichow

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Kenneth Copeland (*But were Afraid to Ask)  By Rev. Robert S. Liichow

This Booklet is Only  Available from DMI – $15.00

End Notes

1. Stephenson, John R. The Lord’s Supper (Northville, SD: The Luther Academy), 2003 p. 200. Bold type added for emphasis.

2. God’s Word for Your Healing (Tulsa, Ok: Harrison House) 1993, p. 9 This comment is attributed to F.F. Bosworth by the unknown author of this book. F.F. Bosworth is best known today for his book Christ the Healer. The following comments were obtained from http://www.christianheroes.com/ev/ev014.asp: “Little is known of the early life of F.F. Bosworth. His family moved to Zion city whilst he was young and both he and his brother BB were to become preachers. FF Bosworth strongly influenced many of the early healing evangelists. This list includes Oral Roberts, T.L. Osborn, J.G. Lake and many others. His book ‘Christ the Healer is a tremendous book on the principles of healing through the finished work of Christ on the cross at Calvary. Bosworth worked with John Alexander Dowie for a number of years before starting his own healing ministry. Bosworth embraced Pentecostalism as a result of being influenced by Charles Parham in 1906. Bosworth was also influenced by E.W. Kenyon and his teachings on divine healing…In 1948Bosworth met William Branham. Bosworth supported Branham until his death. (Bosworth’s) in 1958” The underlining and bold type has been added.

3. Copeland, Gloria, Healing School (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries), 1988, p. 5.

4. Ibid. p. 10

5. Tilton, Robert How to Receive & Keep Your Healing (Dallas, TX: Robert Tilton Ministries) 1987, p. 22 bold type added.

6. McCrossan, T.J. Bodily Healing and the Atonement (Tulsa, OK. Rhema Bible Church). 1982 p. 10.

7. Copeland, Gloria, Healing School (Fort Worth, TX; Kenneth Copeland Ministries 1988 pp. 28,29,30

8. Hunter, Charles and Francis, How to Heal the Sick, Kingwood, TX: Hunter Books), 1981, 9.85.

8. Roberts, Oral How I know God Wants to Heal You, (Tulsa, OK ; Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association) 1970 p. 3 Underlining added.

9. Price, Frederick K. Is Healing For All, (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House) 1976, p. 119. Underlining added.

10. Osborn, T.L. Healing the Sick and Casting Out Devils, (Tulsa, OK; The voice of Faith Ministry), 1950, pp. 179, 180.

11. Copeland, Gloria, God’s Will For Your Healing, (Fort Worth, TX; Kenneth Copeland Ministries) 1972, p. 30

12. Hagin Kenneth E. Must Christians Suffer?, (Tulsa, OK Kenneth Hagin Ministries). 1990 pp. 2, 41.

13. Crenshaw, Curtis, Man As God The Word of Faith Movement (Memphis, TN; Footstool Publications), 1994 p. 139

14. Ibid p. 133

15. Hum this to yourself using the Beatles tune ‘All you need is Love”

In saying ‘formation’ I am referring to the establishment of actual Word of Faith congregations. This did not really begin to occur until Kenneth Hagin had graduated his first class from Rhema Bible Training Center outside of Tulsa, OK. In the late 1940’s up to this day there have been many formerly Pentecostal congregations which separated themselves from their denominations and became independent charismatic churches, many of which began to teach WOF concepts as they became popular. One of the largest and most enduring WOF “denominations” was started by Buddy Harrison, Hagin’s son-in-law called Faith Christian Fellowship which has 100’s of congregations throughout America and overseas.

16. For many years there was an ongoing “battle” between A.A. Allen and Jack Coe over who had the largest healing revival tent. Branham claimed to see an angel feel demons in his right hand, Roberts said God had anointed his right hand with healing power. Jack Coe would inflate the results of his meetings and make outlandish claims. Each healer tried to find a “nitch” market among the sick seekers.

17. Hagin, Kenneth, How to Keep Your Healing (Tulsa, OK. Kenneth Hagin Ministries). 1989, p. 19

18. Tilton, Robert, How To Receive & Keep Your Healing, (Dallas, TX: Robert Tilton Ministries ) 1987, p. 18 Underlining added.

In Last month’s Truth Matters (May 2005) I delved into the WOF concept regarding faith and it would be redundant to devote much space re-explaining it in this issue.

19. Copeland, Gloria, Healing School (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries) 1988 p. 4 underlining added.

20 Crenshaw, Curtis, Man As God The Word of Faith Movement (Memphis, TN. Footstool Publication) 1994 p. 143. In the beginning of this citation Crenshaw is quoting from McCrossan’s book on healing and the atonement. Bold type added.

21. Here are some titles which cover these excuses and many others: T.L. Osborn. One Hundred Divine Healing Facts; Gordon Lindsey Twenty-Five Objections to divine healing and Bible answers; K. Neill Foster Twenty-three Reasons Why Some Are Not Healed.

22. I have mentioned in many previous articles and on our website the fact that the rate of cancer among WOF leaders and their families far exceeds that of other international Christian leaders and their families.

Howard Cairns

It was great, on May 28, to have bassist Howard Cairns — who has played with (among others) Yarra Yarra Jazz Band, Ross Hannaford, Allan Browne’s Red Onions and New Rascals, the Dancehall Racketeers, Michelle Nicole, Igor Oskolkov’s Gypsy Swing, Andy Cowan and the internationally acclaimed Way Out West, as well as touring widely in Australia, Europe and America — leading his group to play his material.

Grant, Simmons, Cairns

It was their first gig, enabled courtesy of Martin Jackson and Melbourne Jazz Co-operative, and the musicians and the relatively small audience had a great time. With Cairns in a chordless line-up were Mike Jordan (drums), Steve Grant (trumpet), Don Stewart (trombone) and Adam Simmons (woodwinds).

Howard Cairns

I had agreed beforehand to stay for only the first set, so I had to stick to that. Still, one set was far better than none, and the Cairns Quintet treated us to four pieces with the theme of trains, cars and travel. The Newell Waltz, which began after a little quiz about where that highway starts and finishes (Tocumwal and Goondiwindi were the answers), was subdued and moody. The Inland Road was more rugged, with a few moments when it definitely sounded as if the road surface had deteriorated and there were some sharp edges and potholes to negotiate.

Steve Grant

In 500,000 miles (or should that be kilometres) the band put their foot down, giving us a souped up vision of scenery, and maybe a few road trains, flashing past. Top stuff. And, to end the first set, the quintet played Way Out West’s Footscray Station, which I would not have recognised. As Howard Cairns said, the quintet had its own take on the piece, which did sound quite different. The interplay between horns was a delight. A standout for me was Grant on cornet — he seemed to play with such ease and yet with so much emotion, feeling, call it what you will.

Mike Jordan

As usual at your average jazz gig, the lighting left some musicians in the dark, so Don Stewart on trombone was often hard to pick up in photographs, as was Mike Jordan on drums. But that’s a lament of the lens, so to speak, and in no way detracted from the music. Hope the Howard Cairns Quintet will be back soon

Article by Robert Anglen, May 4th 2009 from  here

“Don Stewart says God touched him even before he was born.

It was 1939, Prescott. A 41-year-old pregnant woman was rushed from a country hovel to the county hospital in fierce labor pain. With the baby in breech, doctors and nurses were convinced the mother would die.

Then a stranger walked into the room holding a prayer cloth.

“Witnesses going down the hall said the room lit up when the man came in,” Stewart says. “The man . . . put the prayer cloth on my mother and said, ‘You shall live and not die, and the child you shall have will be a chosen vessel.’ “

Stewart presides today over a multimillion-dollar Phoenix ministry that reaches across the globe, although many Arizonans have never heard of him.

The 69-year-old televangelist conducts energetic revivals across the country – he calls them “crusades” – that often feature rapid-fire faith-healing episodes. Stewart oversees 85 churches in the Philippines, preaches to viewers through his “Power and Mercy” television show and conducts a direct-mail campaign that floods followers with requests to donate money.

Stewart also has built his ministry on charitable work and delivering aid to the world’s poor and sick.

But he has been dogged by controversy. Two decades ago, he was accused by another church of committing arson for an insurance payoff. A decade before that, church officials in his own ministry accused him of embezzlement. And, in 1997, the IRS accused Stewart of using his church for personal benefit and revoked the ministry’s tax-exempt status.

But Stewart has never been charged with a crime, and he dismisses the accusations as unproven, motivated by unscrupulous critics and disgruntled employees.

Stewart is not as flamboyantly recognizable as some televangelists. He does not have the extravagance of Benny Hinn, the audience of Robert Tilton or the mega-church of Robert Schuller. His ministry, the Don Stewart Association, operates out of a nondescript warehouse in an industrial park near Interstate 17.

Stewart’s calling also has brought him wealth. He lives in a $2.5 million Paradise Valley home owned by his church, and the church has paid his wife and his sons hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. The church’s charity also bought a Hummer, records show; it’s unclear whether that was the same yellow Hummer driven by his wife, Brenda.

Stewart calls this God’s reward. It echoes the message he imparts to his followers: that God will reward the faithful with prosperity.

“I see the Bible through the lens of a young kid who didn’t have a chance in life. No money, tattered and broken and heartbroken,” Stewart says. “God says come and follow me and I will take care of all your needs. Not only will I do that, but I will give you the desires of your heart.”

Stewart did his growing up dirt poor in Clarkdale and Jerome.

His mother was a devout Christian, his father a bigamist who abandoned Stewart’s mother and five siblings before he was born, Stewart says. His father later returned to the family, repentant and religious.

“He came back, and the dad I knew was a very distant man, a hard worker,” Stewart says. “But he never told me he loved me or anything like that.”

At 13, Stewart says he developed a bone disease. Four operations later, hips pinned, he could not walk without crutches.

“I was in . . . a little Assembly of God church in Cottonwood,” Stewart says. “Evangelists prayed for me. I threw my crutches away and ran around that building. I fell at the altar.”

He describes the experience as an anointing, and like Saul on the road to Damascus, he heard God’s voice.

“How do I know it was God? Was it audible? Was it in my heart? I can’t tell you, but it was real to me. He said, ‘Take my healing powers to the nations of the world.’ “

Stewart’s critics describe him as a huckster with a Bible. They say he takes his cues for coaxing money and emotions out of people from an old school of televangelists and Pentecostal preachers.

“During his services, Stewart sings off key to people just before they are ’slain in the spirit’ by his touch,” Pastor G. Richard Fisher wrote in a 2002 article on Stewart in New Quarterly magazine. “He warbles and croons songs (partially scripture and partially positive affirmations) that sound like he is just making them up as they go along.”

Fisher wrote that some ministries are “not only concerned with Stewart’s lavish lifestyle . . . money-raising schemes, IRS problems . . . and overblown hype regarding his power,” but also that “his published statements are replete with new-age buzz words.”

Fisher is a senior researcher for Personal Freedom Outreach, a non-denominational Christian watchdog group in Missouri that seeks to expose what it describes as false biblical teachings.

The miracle engine of Stewart’s empire is a green handkerchief called a “prosperity prayer cloth.” Stewart says it’s a touchpoint for God’s blessing, not unlike the one the stranger carried into his mother’s hospital room.

Stewart’s promise: wealth and health in exchange for financial contributions.

“Whatever you make happen for God’s work, God will make happen for you,” Stewart tells followers.

Stewart says he graduated 12th in a high-school class of 12. Instead of textbooks, he read the Bible and dialed in radio revivals. One preacher in particular, a man named A.A. Allen, held him rapt with fiery sermons and vivid healings.

“I had never heard anybody preach like that.”

One of the things Allen preached was how God wanted them to be prosperous.

“That struck a note of hope in me,” Stewart says. “I found out that about over 20 percent of the Bible is made up of scriptures that have something to do with money, gold, silver . . . I went through the Old Testament and I found that God’s best friend was a millionaire; his name was Abraham. He was blessed, he prospered.”

The day that Stewart stepped into Allen’s tent was the beginning of a 12-year friendship between the two men.

Asa Alonso Allen was one of the forerunners of modern televangelism. At his most popular, Allen was broadcast on more than 50 daily radio stations and 40 television stations. He also started a Bible college off Highway 92 south of Sierra Vista and west of Bisbee, a place called Miracle Valley.

Allen claimed he could heal the sick, turned sermons into prophecies and had a collection of bottles that he said held the evil spirits exorcised from his followers.

Stewart went from pounding tent stakes at Allen’s revivals to driving a truck to preaching. He finally took over Allen’s ministry.

Stewart calls Allen his spiritual father. And when Allen drank himself to death in 1970 at age 59, it was Stewart who attempted to clean up evidence of his mentor’s alcoholic binge in a San Francisco hotel before the police arrived.

Stewart, who weeps when talking of Allen, says he wasn’t trying to cover up anything. He says he was protecting one of God’s chosen few.

“The man changed my life, dear God,” Stewart says. “God takes human, frail beings and I don’t understand how, but he anoints them. And anybody that will protect the anointed . . . will be blessed.”

In the wake of Allen’s death, Stewart was hit with allegations of embezzlement by Allen’s brother-in-law, of pocketing offerings from the revivals.

Stewart denies embezzling money, saying the accusation was part of a power struggle that ended when Allen’s brother-in-law got a restraining order against him that shut down operations for 24 hours. Stewart prevailed in court, and the restraining order was lifted. No theft was ever proved. The ministry’s board of directors sided with Stewart, who renamed the ministry the Don Stewart Evangelistic Association. Later it became the Don Stewart Association.

At the age of 30, two months after Allen’s death, Stewart says he was in a New York hotel when he had a vision about becoming the first faith healer to preach in the newly built Madison Square Garden.

“Suddenly, something came in my spirit and said, ‘You are going to preach there.’ “

Stewart says at that moment he “set a vision” to become the first minister of his type to preach in the Garden. And he did, filling the arena with followers.

Flush with success and a bigger audience than ever, Stewart moved his operation to Phoenix in the early 1970s.

Miracle Valley fell into disrepair and destruction. Stewart leased the property to the Hispanic Assemblies of God for $1 a year. But when a suspicious fire burned a key building to the ground in 1982 and Stewart opted for a cash insurance settlement rather than to rebuild, church officials accused him of arson. He denied having anything to do with the fire and was never charged.

“They (Assemblies of God) felt I torched it so I could collect on the insurance,” Stewart says, adding that a settlement was reached in which his ministry collected close to $1 million and the Assemblies of God got the property, “no strings attached.”

A wane in the faith-healing revival era in the U.S. set the stage for Stewart’s modern ministry.

As the 1980s approached, Stewart says he tried to adjust and considered becoming a mainstream preacher and teacher.

“I believe there again God spoke to my spirit and told me to quit trying to adjust yourself to this society; go to a people that want what you have.”

Stewart embarked on an international crusade, going to 86 countries and drawing audiences of half a million or more in the Philippines, Central America and South America.

He says he initiated feeding programs through the church to address the horrific conditions and scenes of starvation that he witnessed. Charitable work became as much a part of the Stewart operation as the crusades.

His ministry found a loyal following among African-American audiences, a point of pride for Stewart, who was arrested in 1962 for refusing to segregate a South Carolina revival.

Stewart’s crusades continue today. In hotel ballrooms, churches and auditoriums from Los Angeles to New York, he leads revivals that can last more than five hours. Anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand people attend.

A September revival in Secaucus, N.J., was no exception.

“He’s just wonderful,” said Erica Boone of Newark, N.J., adding that Stewart inspires her and that the green handkerchief is always close at hand. “When I’m feeling down, I just put it up to my heart and I feel better.”

Beatrice Dicks of Patterson, N.J., said she has been following Stewart for years.

“I believe he is a prophet of God, because everything he says to me, it is,” she says. “If I had a million dollars, he’d have half of it.”

Stewart acknowledges that the largest segment of his audience is made up of low-income individuals. He says he has no feelings of hypocrisy when asking them to contribute money to his ministry. He says giving is part of his faith, part of the lesson Jesus taught.

But the suggestion draws a rare flash of ire toward critics.

“Why weren’t they criticizing me when I had to go around in telephone booths and try to find a quarter? Why weren’t they criticizing me when I’d go to the butcher and say, ‘Do you have any dog bones?’ Because if you ask for dog bones, they don’t charge you,” Stewart says. “Where were the critics then?”

continued from here

Breathe. In. Out. Breathe. Good air in; bad air out. Something else. Just think. Think. Just think of something else. Anything else. Times not now, places not here. What did she need to do? She had a midterm in quantum mechanics the next week. Joy. Now she had a headache to go along with her stomachache. She really didn’t want to think about that either. Resigning herself to the nagging feeling, she packed up her books and headed back to MacC Dorm.

When she walked into the suite, she found a gathering of several math majors.

“How’s the number theory going?” she asked. They were in the common room every Wednesday evening working on their problem sets.

“Not funny” Don replied. “What’ve you been up to?”

“Lab. Always Lab. I hate my life”

“You know, you could have been a math major”

“And learn number theory? Thanks, but I prefer to learn slightly less useless things. I like science, where I can see and touch.”

“I forgot” Don replied. “You make day trips to Alpha Centauri.”

“Ha, ha! Still not as useless as number theory”

“Actually” a senior that Swallow knew by sight but not name spoke up. “since the early 70’s, number theory has an application. It’s used for cryptography now with the advance in computers.”

“You see that there, Julia” Don pointed towards the door. “Yo walk out that, and keep going. Go down the stairs and across the quad. You can join your CS friends over in B.”

“You make it sound like they have cooties, Don. Why do you have to be so mean?”

“I’m not saying that they aren’t fantastic people. It’s just that they function by a completely different set of rules than everyone else on planet earth”

“You might have a thesis topic there,” Swallow mused.

“What?”

“Interplanetary travel and interactions with extraterrestrials. Subtitled, B dorm”

“Swallow, you might want to bone up on those social skills of your own before you go judging others’” Julia remarked, rather unkindly. Swallow noted that Julia knew who she was, even though Swallow didn’t really know her. She couldn’t figure out whether that was good or bad.

“None of us were prom queen,” Swallow decided to brush it off. “I’m headed to bed. Good luck with the homework!”

Swallow went into The Nest. She put away all her work and books as well as hole-punched her handouts. All her graded work was into the designated folders and replaced the pens and pencils in the drawers. She then changed for bed, putting on an old space camp t-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts. She then crawled between the sheets (no blanket) and among her large pillows.

Swallow tugged at the door, but it was locked.

“Now what?” Banks asked impatiently.

“Hold your horses” she spoke softly and calmly, bending down on one knee. She deftly removed her shoelace and stood back up. Her companion looked at her as if she were crazy, but she ignored him and treaded one end of the shoelace in between the door and the frame, just above the catch. After she had thread it a few inches, she came down below and put the other end to the crack below the hatch. The magnet on the end in her hand drew the other and they came together with a soft snap! The shoelace was now a completed loop.

“Take the door knob” she instructed him, “and continue pulling.”

And so, he pulled, leaning back with his weight. Holding the loop at the magnets, swallow pulled, pushing back the latch long enough for the door to lose its grasp. It swung back and Banks lost balance, falling to the floor.

“Always funny the first time” she smiled, stepping through the door.

“Always?” Banks asked, pulling himself to his feet. “Exactly how many times have you done this?”

Swallow beamed back. “So many!”

She took a small roll of electrical tape from her pocket and taped the catch down. Next she restrung her shoe with the deftness of one well-practiced in the art of threading a shoelace. Then she continued up the stairs as Banks followed. The door at the top was open, and from there they steped onto the roof. Swallow walked to the edge and sat down cross-legged. Banks approachedslowly and crouched down slightly behind her.

“No need to by shy” Swallow laughed. “They’re too busy in their own lives down below to be bothered to look up. Silly people. They’re missing a lot of the universe by not doing so.”

She laid down on her back, staring back up at the bow with dark brown curls. He inched forward then laid down beside her.

“Pity we’re in Los Angeles” he spoke quietly, as if even whispering would disturb the cosmos. “On a cloudy night no less. Nothing to see but the airplanes coming and going.”

“I like the planes” she countered. “They have just as many stories as the stars. And besides, they’re more likely to change your life. A hundred plus people up there each who could set the world spinning. I always make a wish on a passing plane.”

“What did you wish for this time?”

“You know better than to ask that” she threw him a half-smile. Only half of which he could see from that angle.

“I think the stars have more stories. They’ve certainly been hanging in the sky longer.”

“See that one there” Swallow pointed to the only visible star hanging low to the south. “How many more stories do you know about it than the plane leaving LAX?”

“Ummm…I don’t have any.”

“Really?” she asked, though she fully expected that answer.

“How many do you know?”

“Infinite. I could spend my life recounting stories for each!”

“You claim to be able to tell more stories than you could possibly have heard”

“The imagination is limitless”

“Yours, maybe.” He pointed straight up to the heavens. “That one, that plane. Tell me about it.”

Swallow opened her mouth to speak but as she did so, her cell phone went off singing a sacred mass. She answered it without even looking at the caller. It didn’t matter, she wouldn’t have recognized the number anyways. A half an hour passed as Banks listened to her explain basic calculus to someone on the other end. Finally she signed off.

“That seemed important” He sounded annoyed. Turns out, math wasn’t his idea of adventure.

“It was” she affirmed, rather firmly in fact. “He’s got an exam tomorrow and needed help. It’s family.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother”

“I don’t”

“Cousin”

“No.”

“Nephew? Uncle?”

Swallow sighed and shook her head. “We aren’t blood-related”

“So not family”

“It’s complicated”

“Complicated, like boyfriend-back-home-complicated?”

“Complicated, like I’m-An-Orphan-And-They’re-The-Only-Family-I’ve-Ever-Known-COMPLICATED!” she shouted, tears welling up in her eyes. At which point the people below left their little worlds to take notice of the girl screaming on top of her lungs on the roof. Swallow raised an arm to them:

“Carry on!”

“Great, now they have seen us”

Swallow scoffed. “They’ve noticed nothing. They have places to go, drinks to imbibe, their own illegal activities to carry on. None of which they’re going to interrupt in order to report a pair of people they couldn’t even describe except to say black clothing and brown hair, hardly a description to go on.”

She lay back down and Banks followed her lead. They lay there like that for a few minutes until Swallow had built up the confidence to speak.

“It was a car crash,” she began. “Ain’t it always? Perfect way to create an orphan. I was 5. I don’t remember anything about it. I have memories of them—faint, but they’re there—and memories of my life afterwards. I don’t, however, remember the transition. I like it that way. Supposedly Mommy had some sort of family—of the consanguine sort if you will—up in Wisconsin or Arkansas or some silly place like that. But something about me was too much a hassle in their lives. So the colleagues and friends of my parents made the decision to collectively adopt me.”

“Colleagues?”

“Yeah. They were teachers at this boarding school—Arbor Hills. Officially the old librarian Miss Myra adopted me. I stayed in her extra bedroom the first two years after the accident. After then she decided to retire for health reasons and move to Florida. So I took the couch at the Ellisons’ until the end of summer. I continued to bounce around spare bedrooms and empty teachers’ apartments during the school months for a number of years, until I enrolled in the school and moved into the dorms. I ate three meals a day in the dining halls and got tutored by teachers in their off-periods instead of going to elementary school. I spent my evening sitting in on senior lectures and seminars. Or I’d play computer games with the students in the tech lab. You see, the students were no different. They adopted me too, babysitting me, teaching me to play piano, to swim. They threw my birthday parities and took me shopping for clothes. They didn’t do this for me because I was alone, though. There’s no shortage of disadvantaged children in foster homes and orphanages all over this country. Kids in much worse situations than I was in. They did it because we had the greater bond holding us all together: this community, this family that we are all a part of. I do for the students now what those before did for me. I do it for family.”

Swallow stood up and flittered down the stairs. Before Banks could catch her, she was gone.

~***~

Banks burst into the room. He knocked on the door to room 212, but when he got no response, he checked the crack in the door for light. Finally, he put his ear to the door to listen for sounds. Not hearing so much as a flitter, he checked the bathroom (behind the shower curtain? No.) then continued by peeking into even the tiniest hiding spot in the suite. When he didn’t find anything behind them either, he went into his own room.

“Dud, what’re you doing?” Mac asked, turning around from where he had been hunched over his desk.

“She hates me. She’s completely pissed and she’s a ninja!”

“Don! Hey, Don!” Mac called out.

“What?” Don shouted back from the common room. He’d watched Banks’ search with mild amusement, but not enough to pique his interest and fully divert his attention.

“Hide the liquor and check the bathroom for crazy pills!”

“What?!” Don’s fly-away hair popped into the doorframe. “Dude, don’t joke about the liquor.”

“See him?” Mac thumbed towards Banks who was searching under his pillows.

“What’s he looking for?” Don asked, not much impressed. Banks kept going, rifling through his drawers, checking the closet.

“A ninja. Somehow he pissed her off” Mac spoke in a tone as if he had been told a fairy-tale by some child.

“A she-ninja is out to get him?” Don was actually interested now.

“Umm…yeah, I guess.” Mac paused, watching his roommate slowly go insane. “So, Banks, do you think you could, you know, kinda, sorta…concisely explain WHAT THE FUCK YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT?!”

Banks sat down on the bed, clasping his hands and resting his arms on his knees. Don and Mac exchanged glances, and though they were about to burst out laughing, they managed to remain silent. Banks took a deep breath and spoke one word:

“Swallow”

His friends couldn’t contain themselves any longer. They fell over themselves laughing. Not just laughing, but hooting, roaring, and bursting up. They were just barely able to take breath in the midst of everything.

“omygodyouhadmegoing”

“Shit, this calls for tequila”

“Grab the whisky while you’re at it. None for the hunted over here, though.”

“Guys, I’m serious,” Banks tried to explain. “She’s—“

“Wait, wait, just let me interrupt you one second there, Banks. I’m only going to consult the ninja encyclopedia on my computer here. Hmmm…yes…oh, my bad, here’s an entry for Swallow. Oh, yes: ‘Swallow, a small, graceful, swift-flying’—very ninja—‘bird eaten by ninjas for lunch’”

“Look, I’m not kidding, she got us onto the roof of the Horn Building using her shoelaces!’

“Did she attach them to a grappling hook and swing it up there?”

“Drop the ninja jokes!” Banks got frustrated with his very unsympathetic friends.

“You made the reference” Mac grumbled.

“Whatever” exasperated with both his roommates and himself, Banks grabbed his town and headed into the bathroom, turning on the shower. Don turned to Mac.

“What the hell was that?”

“No idea” Mac replied. The amusement and interest had worn off for him. “Swallow McCullen certainly isn’t anything to get worked up over under any circumstances. I mean, she’s wicked smart, but that’s it.”

Both boys returned to their work and carried on with their lives, dismissing the incident entirely. Banks, they decided to themselves, was probably drunk anyways. Besides, once he got out of the shower he began studying as if this were any other night in which he was massively behind in work. Banks continued to work through the early morning hours. When Mac left to join his girlfriend around 2 a.m., his roommate was still hunched over an open physics book. For the life of him, Banks simply couldn’t grasp some of (what his professor considered) the most basic concepts. He checked the messenger application on his laptop. Swallow was on, and clearly awake, as her status was active, not idle. He assumed she’d come in when he was in the shower or at the study lounge. Either way, he knew this wasn’t one of the nights in which he could go looking to her for help.

Swallow, on the other hand, had come back to her room. There she was doing nothing resembling productive. Her books were open, but she was watching television shows off the internet. But she was just mildly listening to what was happing in them. She tabbed to Facebook, where she could tell that Banks was on. She wondered what he was doing up so late; he didn’t have any problem sets or exams tomorrow. This curiosity wasn’t new, though. She wondered this every night she saw him up at this hour. It certainly wasn’t unusual for him. And she doubted they were up for the same reasons. Few people, she knew, stayed up to the wee hours, just because they couldn’t sleep, because they liked to see the sun rise each morning. The obsessions and the neuroses didn’t help either.

If she signed off, she wouldn’t see when he went to bed. If she stayed on he might talk to her, unlikely to happen given the events of the evening, but she secretly hoped for it. And dreaded it. She had nothing but harsh words for him—words she really would rather keep to herself. It would be much better if she could just cool off. Given a couple of days and many hours of talking to friends, she’d calm down and go back to work as usual. And stalking. Her work would get done and all could return to normal. Until then, however, her mind would hang somewhere near the corner of anticipation and **** in the neighborhood of crazy. Above all else, she didn’t want him to think she was crazy.

He signed off around 4:04. Around. Aproximately. Somewhere therein. It’s not like she was staring it down or anything. Of course not. That’d be creepy. Then again, so would perching on a roof and watching the activities of others. Swallow rationalized, deciding she was not creepy, just inquisitive. She was also out of time to procrastinate anymore. She turned of the computer and started attacking her proofs. No sleep would be obtained this night. Even without it, she may need to miss one of her classes to make up for lost time. Oh, well. She’d manage. She always did.

]]> http://flapharder.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/mac-and-don/ Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:59:34 +0000 discontinuedcrayons http://flapharder.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/mac-and-don/

Don Stewart

Don Stewart needs a quirk. And personality in general.

He’s a really smart math/science guy. He’d be called a ‘nerd’ in a normal situation, but really isn’t all that nerdy in terms of cultural interests (like movies, games, etc.). He’s a junior in college, but I haven’t figured out what his major should be. I’m thinking math or biology or something of the like. Like his friends, he drinks socially.

Looks: ‘feathered’ hair.

MacDonald

MacDonald (no first name) goes by Mac. He’s a little full of himself and has no problem having a laugh at the expense of others. He’s a very dedicated student, majoring in engineering and also plays on the school’s less-than-great club basketball team. He and Don are friends and live in the same suite in one of the school’s dorms. I haven’t figured out what he looks like. He has a girlfriend.

Don Stewart

Is Barack Obama a Christian?   I told you in my last blog that I have never endorsed a presidential candidate or been political in my ministry. I simply stated that for many years I was hoping that an African American would be elected president. At one time I thought it might be Colin Powell, because I felt he was certainly qualified. I thought it was time for America to make a statement.

First of all I want to say to the African American community that Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream was being fulfilled as he prophetically declared, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Secondly, to every American regardless of their race that we are all created in the image of God. Thirdly to the world, that America is truly, “the home of the brave and the land of the free,” enough to make changes.

 I realize that many of you are concerned about President-elect Obama’s stand on abortion and same sex marriages.  I will tell you I have concerns as well, but I am encouraged by his book, “The Audacity of Hope.” In the book he says …”perhaps we could agree on a way to reduce the number of women who felt the need to have abortions in the first place.” My point is, regardless of how you voted we Americans have elected the first African American to be our president. He is not just the president of Democrats; he is also the president of Republicans. He is the president of all Americans. We may disagree with some of his policies, even from what we consider to be against Biblical truth. However, I hope you remember many of the kings that God chose in the Bible were flawed, but they were still ordained by God.

I have heard a few people say some very harsh things that I believe are unfair and without merit things like he is a Muslim or he is the anti-Christ. He has declared that he is a Christian. In his book he tells us how he walked down the aisle of his church and accepted Christ as his Savior and was baptized. The bible says, (1 John 4:2-3 NKJV); “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,   3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the [spirit] of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” Barack Obama has confessed Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior.

My prayer for Barack Obama is that God will use him like he did Barak in the Bible, Judges Chapters 4 and 5. Deborah and Barak were used by God to defeat the enemies of Israel, Sisera, “And the hand of the children of Israel prospered…” (Judges 4:24 KJV) This was a battle that was more than a battle on earth. It was a battle that was fought from the heavens.  ”They fought from heaven; the stars in there courses fought against Sisera.”(Judges 5:20 KJV) I pray that Barack Obama will be listed in the hall of faith along with Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Sampson, David, Samuel, Barak, and the prophets.

Is it a sign that proposition 8 in California that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman, would not have passed if it weren’t for the African American vote? Black Americans voted for it by over 70%, while a majority of white voters were against it. God may be up to something we do not know. (Isaiah 55:8&9 KJV),”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

My dear friends, I realize that I view things through the lens of hope, grace, and mercy; because that is the gift God gave me, the gift of hope!

Don

Please sign into wordpress and leave a comment. Just click on the “comment” and the web-site will guide you through it. Also copy and paste this blog address into your comments at other sites if you think people reading that blog would be interested in this one.  The blog address is: http://electionordained.wordpress.com/ (sometimes you have to put the blog address between the < > symbols for it to work)

From The Courier-Journal:

Take Sen. Mitch McConnell. His office was caught trying to promote the smear of a Baltimore family, when brain-injured 12-year-old Graeme Frost spoke up for the State Children’s Health Care Insurance Program, which helped when he and his little sister were badly injured in an accident.

Original DVD cover.

McConnell aide Don Stewart alerted reporters by e-mail that “bloggers have done a little digging” and turned up evidence the family might not be a legitimate SCHIP user. Hours later he sent another e-mail saying a blogger he trusted had concluded “the family is legit.”

Stewart told McConnell all of this, yet the senator, when asked about the e-mails, said that “there was no involvement whatsoever” by his office.

When this example of disinformation was exposed, did McConnell turn red with embarrassment? Did he apologize? Did he promise to caution Stewart about premature and potentially hurtful attempts at manipulating the news? Did he express regret over the role Republicans may have played in the smears and death threats directed at Graeme and his family by right-wing bloggers?

As far as I know, he hasn’t even blushed.

No premature coloration that might suggest he was weak or susceptible to attack.

…snip…

(article quoting Ezra Klein:)

“This is not politics. This is, in symbolism and emotion, a violent group ritual. It is savages tearing at the body of a captured enemy. It is the group reminding itself that the Other is always disingenuous, always evil, always lying, always pitiful and pathetic and grotesque. It is a bonding experience — the collaborative nature of these hateful orgies proves that much — in which the enemy is exposed as base and vile and then ripped apart by the community. In that way, it sustains itself, each attack pre-emptively justifying the next assault, justifying the whole hateful edifice on which their politics rest.”

…snip…

My question is, can’t politics be better than this?

We do a better job of improving our livestock than our elected officials.

From the AFL-CIO Blog:

Republicans in Washington have had their hands dirtied by plenty of scandals in recent months, but this latest action has to rank among the lowest. In an effort to beat back full funding for children’s health care, the staff of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) supported a smear campaign against a 12-year-old survivor of a car crash.

…snip…

Reactionary bloggers spent several days harassing the family and looking for “proof” the Frosts were too wealthy to “deserve” SCHIP. Over several days, these bloggers—including Fox News correspondent Michelle Malkin—made unfounded, speculative claims about Graeme Frost and his family, staked out their house and questioned their neighbors and posted photos of the Frost family’s home online.

…snip…

While the national media picked up and passed on the lies and false assertions from these blogs, they have not been so quick to let the public know the extent of McConnell’s involvement.

…snip…

Think Progress uncovered the involvement of McConnell’s staff in furthering the smear campaign. Think Progress obtained an e-mail sent to reporters by McConnell’s communications director, Don Stewart, in which he touted the claims the extremist bloggers made about the Frost family. (Stewart later sent an e-mail to the same reporters, acknowledging the accusations about the Frosts didn’t stand up to scrutiny.)

Stewart sent the e-mail Monday, Oct. 8. As word spread that McConnell may have had a hand in pushing the attacks on Frost and his family, McConnell went into denial mode. That Thursday, McConnell told Louisville’s WHAS-TV that his staff had “no involvement” in the anti-Frost campaign. Yet McConnell knew this wasn’t true when he said it.

Ditch Mitch, a Kentucky blog, posted a video of McConnell lying to reporters about his staff’s involvement in the smear campaign. Other Kentucky blogs, like Bluegrassroots, Bluegrass Report and Page One Kentucky, are keeping up the pressure on McConnell.

Two of McConnell’s home-state papers have criticized him for his role in the smear campaign and his attempt to cover it up. The Lexington Herald-Leader and the Louisville Courier-Journal condemned McConnell and his staff in strongly worded editorials.

…snip…

McConnell and the Republican media machine that pushed these attacks should be ashamed of themselves. Unfortunately, as the failure to override Bush’s SCHIP veto shows, McConnell and his allies seem incapable of shame.