Truth Matters Newsletters – October 2007 – Vol. 12 – Issue 10 – Where’s the Love Ladies (and the Discernment?) By Rev. Bob Liuchow & Jackie Alnor

Discernment Ministries International

Where’s the Love Ladies (and the Discernment?)

By Rev. Bob Liichow & Jackie Alnor

As you probably know by now both Paula White & Juanita Bynum have both trotted off to the divorce court. Divorce is always troubling to me especially in the marriage of Christians. One would image that since we’ve been forgiven in like manner what excuse can there be to proceed with divorce? After all the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) and this love comes directly from God and we know its character and the fruit of it in our lives.

Love is patient love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.  1 Cor. 13:4-8

Robert Tilton personally taught me (and others) that the “God” kind of faith Only produces when we walk in love…But then Mr. Tilton is currently in marriage number 3, so where’s the love Bobby? How’s that God kind of faith working for you these days I wonder?

The following televangelists have all gone through divorce: Bob Tilton, Richard Roberts, John Hagee, Hal Lindsey, Jim and Tammy Bakker, Joyce Meyer, Charles Stanley, Bishop Noel Jones, Bishop Clarence McClendon, and Robert Schuller. Now we can add to this sad list Paula & Randy White along with the “prophetess” Juanita Bynum.

Randy and Paula just decided to “go their separate” ways and got divorced for purely selfish reasons, nothing even remotely biblical. Will this effect their impact and future in ministry? If history has taught us anything the answer is “no” it will not effect them in the long run. What is even more curious to me is the case of Juanita Bynum (who we were exposed to in Detroit long before she became a superstar). She calls herself a “prophetess” of the Lord and says she hears from God for the Church and even the nations! If this is true then why didn’t she hear God tell her not to marry “Bishop” Weeks because he was a wife-beater? If she cannot obtain direction from God for her own life, then how can she expect anyone to believe her when she spews forth the word of the Lord to guide other peoples lives?

The following is an excellent article written by a fellow truth-teller and friend, sister Jackie Alnor. If you have a computer you can visit her website at http://www.apostasyalert.org

Jezebel & the Frog Prince – by Jackie Alnor

“Jezebel & the Frog Prince” – sounds like an Aesop’s fairy tale where the loving couple lives happily ever after. But not in the corrupt kingdom of televangelism where lowly church people are transformed into famous starlets whose role models are the rich and famous seen on the primary channels of the boob tube. The big difference between the secular and the religious celebrities are that the secular ones got to the top because of their talent and the televangelists rose to fame on the backs of the poor widows’ mites. ‘

This sad episode began in 2003 when the Trinity Broadcasting Network aired the wedding of Bishop Thomas Weeks to “prophetess” Juanita Bynum. The net cost for the event exceeded one million dollars and was one ugly display of conspicuous consumption with a big load of bad taste thrown in. Newsweek reported in an article called “Evangelist with a Big Stick”.

“The ceremony featured a wedding party of 80, a gown with a bodice covered in crystals and a 7.76-carat diamond ring…Bynum had waited all her life to have a fairy-tale wedding, she says. ‘It started out with a $500,000 budget, and then it just started growing like the blob,’ she says, adding, ‘I didn’t think it robbery to celebrate my day.’ “

The fairy tale ended just four years later in an Atlanta hotel parking lot in a scuffle in which the fairy tale prince Weeks went ballistic all over his Jezebel bride. Charisma Magazine’s Editor Lee Grady expressed the outrage so many Christians felt:

“Bishop Thomas Weeks III was arrested after being accused of kicking, choking and hitting his wife, prominent preacher Juanita Bynum, in a hotel paring lot in Atlanta on Aug. 22. We did not need another embarrassing display of religious hypocrisy played out in the national media. The incident gave the whole church a black eye and bruised our reputation. When I first heard that Weeks excused his actions (the devil made him do it, he claims) and that his congregation cheered his return to the pulpit (after he fled from police and then posted $40,000 bail), I was riled. What was this guy thinking?”

After the incident, Bishop Weeks gave a statement to the media via his attorney that seemed to imply that he isn’t the only one in the marriage that uses physical violence. The statement read on Fox News Atlanta, stated that they agree with Bynum that “any violence is a very important social issue.” The female lawyer completed the statement saying emphatically, “In fact, any violence in a relationship is an important social issue!”

Now evidence has come forth that demonstrates Bynum’s violent temper. Grady’s editorial called Juanita Bynum on her bad behavior leading up to the incident:

“I’m all for rousing sermons, but what Bynum often offers her audiences is downright mean. Eleven days before the Atlanta incident, Bynum told women at a large conference that they needed to learn to become harsh. Shocking clips of her comments were then posted on YouTube. Bynum told of how she corrected an unnamed assistant for being too nice when carrying out her orders. ‘I’m trying to teach you to be a bulldog!’ she declared with gritted teeth and a hateful expression.”

“When women did not shout loud enough after her comments, Bynum threatened them too ‘If somebody don’t start praising God right here, I’m gonna have to hit somebody with this microphone,’ she said. She also implied that women who treat others with polite restraint are ‘too suburb’ and need to learn the street-wise tactics of the ghetto.”

“Is this the new face of domestic violence? An angry woman preacher who threatens to hit people? A ‘bulldog’ who barks orders and teats subordinates rudely? Please.”

Another clip from YouTube shows Bynum laughing about how she handles men who give her trouble – she just threatens violence upon them. In this clip, she talks about threatening her man with a brick while Bishop Weeks looks on chuckling.

TBN: An Enabler of Evil -

Days after Bynum announced that she had filed for divorce from her second husband, the Trinity Broadcasting Network gave her a platform — the entire Praise the Lord program on September 4th – for her to announce that she was not going to lose a day doing her own brand of “ministry.” the TBN announcer, introduced her as “Prophetess Juanita Bynum,” a blind endorsement of her self-appointed spiritual greatness. The show opened with the most shameful display of celebrity idolatry imaginable, as Bynum pranced around shouting while an organ played a dramatic refrain in the background. As is TBN’s custom, when one of their own on-air celebrities gets bad publicity – due to their own outrageous behavior — TBN gives them a quick platform on the airwaves to do their damage control. So it has been this past week with Jezebels Paula White and Juanita Bynum.

Paul White, like Bynum, after announcing divorce plans from her second husband, Randy White, showed up on TBN’s Praise program hosted by singer Carmen. She too announced that she was going to just keep on going as if nothing was wrong as she makes money rubbing elbows with the likes of Donald Trump. Both women have followed in the steps of Tammy Faye Bakker Messner whose love affair with the television camera was apparent from the fact that she would agree to be on any TV program, no matter how undignified it made her look.

These women flaunt their carnal desires for wealth and success in the most nauseous manner imaginable and TBN lifts them up to the world as role models of Christian behavior. Grady pointed out that “the American church is hijacked by carnality” by these women.

In the bulldog video on YouTube referred to above, it opens with Juanita Bynum screaming out at the top of her lungs: “When I get out of this conference this year, I’m going to possess my place in the world, not in the church!” Bynum had already told Fox News of her plans to trade in her ministry to be a secular spokesperson for domestic abuse. She said she would begin her new crusade the following weekend at a campaign party for Illinois Sentor Barack Obama. She said the 2,000-person affair will be held at TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey’s home in California. Bynum’s followers have often called her a “Christian” version of Oprah. Apparently, she is quite comfortable with the African-American rich and famous. So what if Obama supports partial-birth abortion and Oprah is an open new ager. Bynum has shown her true colors –what matters to her is not spiritual truth or faithfulness to God, but her own success and wealth. The most despicable example of this fact can be seen on Bynum’s own website in a video announcement of her greatness.

The Tribute to Bynum begins with her dancing around in a variety of robes and holy attire. The announcer’s voice is dubbed over her antics saying:

“In every generation God raises up a revolutionary, a chief commander, a force who’s not afraid to cry aloud and spare not on behalf of his people [sound of a trumpet blast]. We call her ‘the prophetess to the nations’, whose very presence invokes a tangible anointing, fills stadiums, and changes lives. With transparency and brokenness, she ushers people into the presence and glory of God. Prophetess Juanita Bynum is an awesome teacher who delivers God’s word in season with brokenness, freshness, and authority. Juanita Bynum Ministries is world renown and has been marked with signs and wonders since its inception. From the war sheets to the threshing floor, the power of God has been unquestionable on Juanita Bynum’s life and ministry…”

The announcer highlights her attributes (comments in parenthesis are my observations):

• Best-selling author (thanks to Charisma Publishers and TBN)
• Popular television personality (courtesy of Jan Crouch)
• Ambassador to world leaders (thanks to T.D. Jakes)
• National recording artist (glory to her role models Aretha Franklin & Donna Summer)
• Executive producer, playwright, and “powerful actress” (by way of idolatrous church members)

Announcer: “Though she has crossed denomination lines, is respected as a spiritual leader in this generation and as one of the most admired African-American women of today, still the totality of Juanita Bynum has yet to be revealed!”

• Upcoming ventures include:
• New magazine – Ethme
• Her own reality show
• Opening of the Country Spa
• Mount Olive line of candles & tea
• Her own make-up line also called Ethme

Then the final rallying cry:

“From the preacher, teacher, ambassador, entrepreneurial mastermind herself – Juanita Bynum!”

The shameful display of self-promotion and her calling herself a “prophetess” is what makes it biblical to refer to her as “Jezebel.” Every Christian in America should write a heartfelt letter to Paul Crouch Jr. at TBN rebuking him for allowing such wickedness to be displayed on the public airwaves when he has the power to stop it. This fairy tale of Jezebel and the Frog Prince puts all of Christianity up for ridicule — what an unhappy ending for all of Christendom. The enablers are just as guilty as the perpetrators in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to public scorn.

“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that women Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” (Rev. 2:20)

Obtained from : http://www.apostasyalert.org/REFLECTIONS/jezebel.htm on Sept 26, 2007

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Folks I understand that in extreme cases divorce is the only way out for some couples, but I believe that is the exception and not the rule. Today in the Church the rate of divorce is a little higher than in the world and this simply should not be. The majority of divorces are due to selfishness, pride, and unforgiveness.

Certainly it is not the unforgivable sin and I am not judging anyone who has been divorced. I do know this, God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16) and I pray for all Christian marriages that they by God’s grace withstand the pressures of the world which seek to split up couples and families to the greater detriment of society.

The mainline Christian churches, which include Roman Catholic, Greek and Russian Orthodox, and every Protestant church teach (excluding Jehovah Witnesses) believe that Jesus was just another form of God the Father.  This false doctrine stems from the Roman Catholic doctrine known as the Trinity.

Here is another way of stating the false doctrine: God decided to become a human being who was born without the need of a human male’s sperm and was named Jesus.  Therefore, Jesus was not a human being, but just looked like one because He was God the Father in another form.

This is a lie!  The church known as Jehovah Witnesses have a different problem.  They claim Jesus is not God, but only the Son of God, who was a mere human being.  This is also a lie!  They have one thing correct: Jesus was a mere human being.

The mystery of Jesus is complicated by the above church leaders who have refused to allow outsiders to teach them the truth.  Yet, if they would take the time to read the scriptures, they would be amazed to find that God’s plan clearly provides for sending men from the outside to their existing churches.  Men whom God anointed to teach them the truth.

Greed and fear are the reasons church leaders refuse to allow an outsider access to their congregations.  Greed keeps the wealth of their churches in their control; and fear of losing their congregations to an outsider who knows more than they, keeps them barring their doors against outsiders.  These are the same reasons the Pharisees worried about concerning an outsider named Jesus.  Jesus summed up this behavior in His parable of the rented vineyard.

The scriptures clearly state: Jesus is God. The scriptures clearly state: Jesus was a human being. The scriptures also state: Jesus is not the God that sent Him.

When we eliminate church leaders, who have their obvious reasons for lying and denying that men exist and have always existed, who are sent to them by God, and clergy who are more interested in holding onto their jobs, rather than holding onto their souls by holding onto the truth about God and Jesus, we are left with their congregations.  The congregations of these liars are the blind following their blind leaders.

There are various reasons congregations suffer with blindness:

1. Some of the people are more interested in maintaining their particular social status, which is a benefit derived from their respective churches;
2. Other people become hooked on the newly discovered kinship of a church group and refuse the truth to stay with the group;
3. Then there are people who are afraid to question their church’s doctrine, even when they’ve seen a contradiction of their church doctrine in the Bible;
4. Finally, we have the rest of the people who are simply being deceived, because they refuse to, or are too lazy to, or just don’t know they can, read the Bible for themselves and understand it.

All of them are being deceived!  Some are deceiving themselves, while others are allowing themselves to be deceived.  Whatever the case, they will be judged and damned because of the deception.

Jesus put it this way:

“For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” ~Revelation 22:15

To be continued…

Freedom of speech and religious freedom should mean that the errors, hatreds, slanderous rhetoric and hypocrisy that is practiced in the name of some religion should be open to public investigation as is everything else.  But in the United States, there is practiced the religious pretense that God finds it “an abomination” to seriously question the self-serving “faiths” that promote themselves through tax-free money while seeking to deny others their personal rights of expression. 

When groups of persons use religion as a decoy to indulge in covert actions and seek to disrupt or even overturn the principles of liberty that made the United States great, those are not spiritual objectives: they are glaringly temporal and material ambitions.  They also border on treason.

Aggressive  religious factions have risen dramatically in the U.S. since the 1950s, and the commercialism of religion has been in direct ratio to the rise of television through the same period as a means of  public communication.  Televangelists compete with one another to exercise power over as many impressible and insecure persons as possible, and make themselves wealthy in the process.  It was noted in a previous post that crime also increased across the nation in equal proportion to the spread of commercial religionism.

That was bad enough, but when the religiously inspired moved to control the seats of government and in that way have attempted to install their theocratic ideology upon the nation, they betrayed not only the nation that allows them such freedom of religion and speech, but insulted the higher purpose that they pretend to serve.

A prime example of “faith-based” governing was demonstrated in the so-called Military Commission Act that was imposed upon American citizens late in 2006 by the self-professed born-againer George Bush, his fundamentalist administration, and the Republican congressional choir that rubber stamped all his unconstitutional abuses of power.  Under this undemocratic and perverse “law” the right-wing granted themselves these horrendous indulgences:

• Denial of the writ of habeas corpus—the right to challenge the legality or  conditions of their detention in an independent court—to people being held in detention.
• Fashioned an excessively broad category of “unlawful enemy combatant,” a status that is not recognized in either U.S. law or international law, but which did allow the god-dazzled president to pick and choose who could be detained under that label.
• Permitted whoever they chose to call “unlawful enemy combatants” to be tried by military commission, which would provide no guarantee whatever of fair trial rights—this again was clearly in contempt of mandated U.S. and international law.
• Granted military commissions the right to use evidence that was obtained through cruel and degrading treatment (torture) of those being held in detention.
• Allowed for imprisoned persons to be held indefinitely without charges, and established arbitrary and discriminatory means for prosecuting them.

These have been the means used by all theocratic forms of “governing” throughout history—always with appalling consequence.

Truth Matters Newsletters – August 2007 -Vol. 12 Issue 8 – Tammy Faye Bakker Messner (She Didn’t Get What She Deserved) – By Robert S. Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

Tammy Faye Bakker Messner

(She Didn’t Get What She Deserved)

By Robert S. Liichow

Out of all the televangelists Tammy Faye always evoked the most sympathy and respect from me. I am sympathetic towards her because she was the product of aberrant doctrine. She was damaged by false teaching her entire life and she never fully recovered from that quicksand of ignorance. I feel sympathy for her because she was deeply wounded and rejected by the very people she and her former husband helped elevate to charismatic superstardom.

What a lot of people may not know is that when they lost PTL and Jim Bakker went to prison, Tammy Faye and her children were virtually left with next to nothing (some said “she got what she deserved”) and not one ministry stepped up to assist the family. Jim and Tammy helped get Pat Robertson started, then he fired Jim. Fro that rejection they went on to help establish Paul & Jan Crouch out in California. Then out of jealousy Jan had Paul Sr. fire Jim and Tammy. Even though Jim & Tammy played a large part in both of the televangelist empires neither Robertson or the Crouches offered one thin dime to Tammy and her children. Some say “Bakker got what he deserved, he went to jail.” Others said when Tammy was diagnosed with cancer “she had it coming to her.” We’ll consider that belief a little bit further on.

In light of the above you might wonder what is there to respect about such a woman. To begin with Tammy Faye was “real” —what you saw was what you got. There was no pretense about her and she was quick to laugh at herself, her makeup, clothing, etc…secondly, she refused to quit and she was a fighter to the end. One thing I can say about Tammy Faye was even though she lacked wisdom she did not lack love for people. Although she never endorsed homosexuality she did have a genuine compassion for people caught in that sin.

She proved this by her short-lived television show co-hosted by a gay man who later died of AIDS. The documentary of her life “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” was produced by two homosexual men and many within that community adopted Tammy Faye (the documentary was quite good in all honesty). She truly loved the sinner but not the sin. Tammy Faye had a heart for broken homeless (which is probably why the charismatic superstars stayed away from her). I respect that loving attitude in anyone. Tammy Faye probably could not have explained the differences between Calvinistic and Arminian views on the atonement…but she did her best to love God with all her heart and her neighbor as herself and isn’t this what Jesus asked of us all?

As to her “getting what she deserved” well the truth is NONE of us receive from God “what we deserve.” In fact, you’d better pray that God does not ever give you what you deserve because if He does what you will end up with is eternal damnation. You see my friends what we all deserve is death and damnation. That is what we have “earned” in this life. Thanks be to God that He gives us what we do not deserve, i.e. His grace and mercy which He pours out in abundance for us in His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father loved us so abundantly that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us, so we would not receive what we so rightly deserve. No, I can honestly say thanks be to God that Tammy Faye did not get what she deserved, instead she received the unmerited favor of God in Christ. I thank God daily that each day His mercy is renewed towards me and as I think about His rich grace given to me, it helps me to be a little more gracious to others. Selah.

Copyright © Robert S. Liichow

All your drones are belong to us: A readily available, $26 piece of software has allowed Iraqi insurgents to intercept video from U.S. Predator drones. The government has known about this flaw since the weapons’ use in the Balkans in the 1990s but never did anything about it because it “assumed local adversaries wouldn’t know how to exploit it.” As Attackerman (h/t) comments, “Arrogance like this gets people killed.”

All our money are belong to the devil, so send us yours: Televangelist Rod Parsley’s Web site sets a Dec. 31 deadline for contributions and urges, “Will you help take back what the devil stole?” The ministry is in financial trouble primarily because it had to pay a $3.1 million judgment to the parents of a 2-year-old whom a teacher at the ministry severely beat.

Bill Gates sez, “Go ahead, make my day tax my estate!”: The Microsoft founder says we shouldn’t let the estate tax expire. I agree with him. Raise the cap, sure. Index for inflation, of course. But scrap? Nuh-uh.

Relatedly, if you have both money and heirs (Hi, Mom!), you might not sleep very well next year.

Wall Street is killing health care: That’s what taking your company public will do. (Previously.) Just ask the newspaper industry.

Odd couple: Sens. John McCain and Maria Cantwell have jointly introduced legislation to reimpose Glass-Steagall standards on banks. Comments HuffPo’s Jason Linkins: “Give McCain and Cantwell a big round of applause for their effort, because in Washington, this seemingly obvious response to the financial crisis is considered the domain of wild-eyed hippies (and Paul Volcker).”

Which raises a damn good question: Why, in Washington, has the obvious become the domain only of wild-eyed hippies and Paul Volcker, and not of the “serious” politicians/bureaucrats/journalists?

Worthwhile related point: Byron Dorgan warned us at the time that within 10 years we’d be sorry we repealed Glass-Steagall. BZZZT! Wrong! We were sorry within nine years.

Speaking of banksters, looks like Ben Bernanke is going to get reconfirmed. Which would be fine if, like a large majority of the American public, he gave the first damn about putting people back to work. But he doesn’t. Memo to Congressional Democrats: You can steal this issue from the Tea Party, or you can let the Tea Party steal your Congressional seats from you. Your call.

On the bright side, for Democrats and the jobless: A $154 billion economic-stimulus bill passed the House … without a single Republican vote. I’m a longtime deficit hawk, but part of the reason that I am is that I understand that there are times when only fiscal policy can jump-start the economy. So you have to balance the budget or run a surplus in good times to be in position to spend in bad times. And as I’ve said before, the biggest problem of the earlier stimulus package was that even at $787 billion, it was only about half as big as it needed to be (second biggest problem was it relied too heavily on tax cuts, not enough on direct spending).

Here are three more questions to be asked about health-care reform, based on public pledges Obama has made in the past. No one who wanted reform in any form or fashion is going to like the answers. Actually, this piece was so good that I’m going to deviate from standard Odds & Ends formatting and quote from it at some length:

I’ll be evaluating the bill according to three principles:

1. When this plan goes into effect, will it bring an end to the battles that health insurance consumers must wage to retain their coverage, or will the practice of rescission continue?

2. When this plan goes into effect, will it bring an end to the long-term, intractable debt that millions of hard-working Americans incur, simply because they get sick, get injured and grow old?

3. When this bill is signed into law, will Obama truly be in the position to say he’ll be the last president to “take up the cause,” or will it be obvious that we’ve only kicked the can down the road, and that more needs to be done?

In truth, the way I see things shaping up, I don’t believe that the eventual reform legislation will achieve any of these things. At the same time, I think that if it makes it to Obama’s desk, he’s going to sign it. But, pursuant to the cause of Not Kidding Ourselves, he’d better not call it a victory.

Sounds about right.

Is the Senate health-care bill comparable to the (successful) Dutch health-care system?: No, not really.

Republicans are crawling back toward sanity: Yesterday, Laura Ingraham was likening health-care reform to the Holocaust. Today, Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour is saying it’s only as bad as Jonestown. Whew. I was really afraid they were going off the deep end.

Oral Roberts is often is credited with taking the Christian message to television, helping make Pentecostal Christianity mainstream, and thus bringing greater acceptance of divine healing and laying the foundation for “prosperity gospel”.

Whether that’s good or bad news depends on what part of the Christian worldview spectrum you come from.

As a young boy, I was well aware of the ministry of Oral Roberts.  His name was synonymous with what I believed at the time to be the evangelical Christian movement.  Only later in life as I studied religions exhaustively did I realize Oral had his own particular brand of “name it and claim it” preaching that had little in common with preachers such as Billy Graham.

If Billy Graham is the simple meat and potatoes of the gospel, then Oral Roberts was certainly the Chateau Briand with Romanée-Conti Burgundy of the prosperity gospel.  Although the core of Robert’s message contained some foundational principles of Christianity, it was where he differed that caused him his most success, and his deepest failures.

My Dad, a cautious believer, was never a fan of television preachers and had many a good laugh over Oral’s supposed visions.  The “give me money” or “God will kill me” line or the 900 foot Jesus visions did little to persuade him and were the punch-line of many a joke.  From this point in his ministry, Oral opened himself to public scrutiny and began to be defined by serious doubts about his credibility.  In the meantime there gave birth a modern breed of millionaire parasite televangelists who were far less credible than even their questionable successor.  Jim and Tammy Bakker.  Robert Tilden.  Benny Hinn.  Kenneth Copeland.  Peter Popoff. The message switched gears from one of faith in Jesus, to one of faith for the sole purpose of monetary gain.  Always their own.

Not to label him on the same level as these bottom feeding, salvation for sale con-men…it should at least be noted that Oral Robert’s did accomplish some good in his ministry.  I’m sure many came to a saving faith due to his intervention.  Possibly he even did miracles…who knows?  But we should not overlook the unfortunate error in his message.  It is a message that pervades even today in the dusk of the televangelist freak show.  It is the notion that as a believer we are entitled to “lots and lots of stuff”.

For many, wealth is indeed given.  For many more it is not.  For countless masses, faith in the midst of abject poverty and persecution is what must be endured.  God’s favor is not and never has been measured in the property you own and the size of your bank account.

Christ’s request of the rich man should be proof enough of that.

Veined Octopus

Juxtapositions fascinate me. As a former editor I notice the layout of stories on a page knowing that word counts, subject matter, photo sizes, and general interest all play into the placement of material. I recently posted an entry on Sacraments and Sea Cucumbers that had been suggested by such an editorial flourish. Yesterday’s paper wafted another such epiphany.

By now everyone knows that televangelist Oral Roberts died on Tuesday. Although he pioneered much of what is now recognized as televangelism, his true motives were clear when the money began piling up. I’m not the judge of his religious sincerity, but his ministry was a multi-million dollar enterprise, and he even founded a “university” named after himself. Meanwhile, housebound octogenarians on limited incomes gladly sent him their money to continue his good work. There is a very substantial profit to be made in preaching to the choir. All televangelists know that.

Immediately beneath the Oral Roberts story in the New Jersey Star-Ledger was a much more fascinating story about the veined octopus. Biologists have long known that octopi use large shells and other natural detritus for shelter. Octopi had been known to use coconut halves for that purpose as well. What is new in this story is that veined octopi have been observed collecting coconut halves (often discarded by human gatherers), emptying them out, and moving them to a place where two halves can be made into a neat shelter, thereby demonstrating a more advanced brain structure than most televangelists. In short, these invertebrates are utilizing tools. It is only a short step on the way to octopus televangelists, but if they know how to gather their valuables, this development can’t be far behind.

Oral Roberts finally joined the likes of Tammy Faye Bakker in the televangelist afterlife yesterday after experiencing complications with pneumonia. This would be sad if he weren’t known for lying to sick, desperate people for money. Gawker delivered a fitting obituary, detailing Roberts’ many schemes.

I agree with Gawker, that the best way to remember him is through his very own words:

“The vagina. Only one organ made can bring forth life. It’s the male organ.It’s not, in lesbianism, for the tongue of a female goes into the vagina of another female. It’s not in the male, where the male organ goes into the part of the body where the… the waste matter comes out of the body as poison, and he penetrates that part of the body in homosexuality. It’s not to be put in the mouth of the man, or the mouth of the man or the woman…. It is the male organ, penetrating the vagina of the woman, the male and the female.”

Ahmen.

After mentioning this site in December 2nd’s link list, I finally found a couple of  ‘toons on World of Dod’s Blog that were of a size I could screen-shot them for you.   This blog is part funny, part thought-provoking, but you really need to have spent some time in the Pentecostal or Charismatic community to get all the nuances.   And that crowd isn’t known for a lot of introspection, let alone humor.   It’s a whole other world out there!   (Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt…)  So when you find a diamond in the rough…

Here’s another one:

These are just a couple of the recent ones.   Be sure to visit the site at: http://worldofdod.wordpress.com/

All cartoons are copyright of Dod Cartoonist, © 2009. www.worldofdod.wordpress.com

popout

LOL.

During the surge of rightism which occurred in the wake of the Iraq invasion, when the opinions of the right-wing talking heads became, for a little while, mainstream opinion, you may remember that they began campaigns against ‘left wing professors’ who allegedly were pumping the country’s innocent college students full of all-but-marxist dogma, when all they really wanted was to go to class and get an education.

The right correctly realizes that the professoriate, and the sceintific establishment in general, tends to be more liberal than average.  For that matter, high school teachers are also left of center as as group, but tigher laws and curriculum restraints effectively censor them from putting political content into their classrooms, to a large degree.  Not so the professoriate–yet.  Though I admit that as a beginning professor sans tenure, I felt quite muzzled at the time – and had to make sure that I couched every possible criticism of Bush with some observations which would ensure a more ‘balanced’ classroom attitude.  I for one seldom out and out criticized the right wing policies of the Bush admin in class, even though the rest of the world thought they were radically off the charts, and even though I personally thought that, from an historical standpoint, what was going on was historically bad, in many ways (though I was careful not to lose sight of the right’s arguments for toppling Saddam – clearly, that per se was a good idea, in theory–whether it was worth several million dead, wounded, and displaced is another question).

At any rate, why are profesors and scientists so liberal?  Well, as I wrote in my post on why people choose political parties, conservatism is more natural to human beings, because it essentially chooses an in-group which it associates with ’self’ and then labels everyone else as ‘other.’  Social conservatives want to make the whole world in the image of their own social niche:  fundamentalist christianity, small-town homogenaiety, etc.  Fiscal conservatives see the world as an economic ‘warre of ‘alle against alle’ (Hobbes), and therefore see themselves and their family as ’self’ while seeing everyone else as ‘other.’  They compete in the economy to ‘win’ over other people.  This is why fiscal and social conservatives have teamed up:  they both share an innately combatative fear of the other – or desire to dominate.  This is also why extreme right wing people are exemplified by skinhead Nazis – who hate everyone who is not just like them to such a degree, that they would like to physically kill these people, or at least remove them from their entire country. 

Liberalism, on the other hand, is all about empathy – so fiscal liberals are people who do not see economcs as inherently and necessarily a competition.  As much as possible, they believe that wealth should be shared, and evenly distributed, and do not feel the need to accumulate enormous sums, in an effort to gain power over, or to show that they are better than everyone else.  Social liberals are those who wish to be inclusive:  no matter what race, religion, ethnicity, language, etc., that you may be, practise, or speak, liberals ideally believe that we should try to all get along, as human beings, and foster positive goals of fraternity and sorority, rather than the anger, fear, hatred, and ultimately, war which arises from the conservative point of view.  This is why extreme liberals are exemplified by people such as tree huggers:  they are so empathetic towards others that they would sacrifice themselves to save a tree.  And/or environmentalists:  they are so empathetic towards the rest of the world, that they see it as a whole, and therefore realize that it all has value, and needs to be preserved, in order for humans to have a habitat to live in.  Conservatives see themselves as essentially against nature, and against other people, and see nature as something to be dominated and exploited, and this is why they are instinctually anti-environmentalist.

So, this being said, why are professors and scientists as a whole more liberal than conservative? 

I have argued elsewhere that since we all have to start out as babies, we all start out as the ultimate egotists.  Our instinct to survive causes us to only care about our own needs.  As we grow up we have 2 choices.  We can have our comfort zone stay very small, i.e., around our own kin group and family and neighbourhood, and view everyone else with suspicion (which is a very instinctual behaviour – chimps and primitive humans developed this clan mentality to help their clain survive in the fight for food and territory and sex partners, against other clans–also, today this leads to our innate ability to identify with sports teams).  Or else, we can read, travel, and realize that we are all part of one larger human family, which has very similar traits across cultures, etc.  Some cultures or governments are more or less evil, at various times, but this is relatively rare, and the majority of people in question are seldom as guilty as the government.  And as I wrote this, the Onion of course came out with an article on the idea that as children we all begin as ultimate egoists; with the last line suggesting that very few of us move beyond this stage, even as adults.  

To be a professor, you have to read widely, and, often, you need to travel too.  To be a scientist, you also need to read widely.  And for both professions, you have to be a master of rational argument, and logic.  And logically, most of the fears that one clan has about other clans (medieval christians’ fear of jews poisoning the wells, modern fundamentalists’ fear that athiests will turn society into a communist work camp), are simply illogical.  Everyone who stays in their hometown, and only sees people ‘just like them’ will naturally tend to have parochial, local, narrower-minded views, than people whose minds have been enlarged by reading, travel, and education.  It’s been this way for centuries.  Of course there are exceptions:  this is just the average we are talking about.  And on average, Professors and scientists have gone over the next hill; they have physically gone off to college, met students and colleagues from other cultures, talked with a wide range of people, and, importantly, proven that they have good logical faculties (by getting As in university courses), which also causes them to realize that science is science, and fable is fable.  They can discern fact from fiction, and can see that most in-groups’ fears are in fact myths. 

So when the right seeks to create a professoriate which is more ‘right wing’ or less liberal – they are in fact grappling with an oxymoron.  A right-wing professor is essentially an anomaly – especially in terms of social conservatism:  if you study other cultures for a living, and yet you are convinced that the one culture, religion, neighbourhood, and race that you happened to be born into is somehow the best in the world – well, you’re either very lucky for having been born in such a blessed place, or else you are bringing your own bias into the equation.  The nature of science is that you first must be skeptical, and as a human being, we all tend to start with the bias that we are inherently more correct, or more superior, to others, personally and culturally.  These biases are one of the first things that you have to check at the door, in order to do truly balanced, rational science.  (Which is why science in history has been so rare:  only the Greeks, and then the Florentines, and later the Northern European protestants developed it in what would be its modern form; and it remains a scarce commodity even today).  

And these biases are the essence of social conservatism.  So no wonder there are very few good scientists who are right wing in the fundamentalist christian way that our commentators would like us to be:  for one thing, their brand of fundamentalism thrives on being a-historical, and a-factual, and to a large degree a-scientific (thus, the earth being 6,000 years old, which requires an amazing feat of denying most of the laws of chemistry and physics and biology and geology in order to assert).

So, they can try and create a univeresity (such as Liberty University) where all of the professors are fundamentalists:  but guess what, they’ve tried that before.  It was called Spain and Italy after the counter-reformation, under the Jesuits.  In those societies, every professor had to be a doctrinaire Catholic, a militant right wing one at that.  And guess how much important science happened at Spanish and Italian universities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?  Exactly Zero.  Where was the good science being done - which fostered the scientific revolution?  It was being done in those “ultra liberal” centres in England and Holland – where republican freedoms, including freedom to worship, and free speech, and the right to assert one’s opinion amongst one’s peers, were standard practise.  Another freedom they had was the freedom to, as with the Royal Society (founded in the 1660s), establish peer-review committees, which could discern ‘junk science’ from the good stuff.  And guess what?  Those peer review committees have brought us to where we are today. 

So if the right-wing people are sad that their fundamentalism and their climate-change denial has not found its way into the circles of the peer reviewers, well, they should get in line, and re-examine their views.  If they were based on solid, proveable science, the truth would out:  reason is its own truth, and it cannot remain hidden for long–in a rational society that is (which we cannot take for granted, at all).  If not, then you can create all the Liberty Universities you want–but, as with Salamanca University in the seventeenth century, don’t expect any good research, or science, to come out of an institution which tells you that you must believe in patently illogical, and unproveable dogmas, which are ultimately based on egotistical, small-minded, and a-historical fears of everyone not just like you, and which are ultimately designed to keep a particular power structure in place, rather than to discover scientific truths.

This evening, I was in a nice restaurant and noticed one of the most prominent televangelists in America walking in. If you have cable TV, he is instantly recognizable. He drove up in a Rolls Royce with blacked out windows and had two armed bodyguards. Funny thing for a man of the cloth. You see, his empire is in the many hundreds of millions of dollars, and if a reasonable intelligent individual watched him in action, they would call BS after 3-4 minutes of watching his oily informercials for Jesus.

Another Elmer Gantry finally broke his silence tonight. Al Gore doubled down on his anthropomorphic global warming sermon and said that we have to act yesterday to prevent a global catastrophe. His visual aid,  for the event, presented by Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a map of San Francisco in 2030 showing the entire coastline inundated and the city under 30′ of water. Some  are not too unhappy about that prospect. I would miss the surf at Mavericks, though. Mr. Gore said nothing about the Climategate controversy or his massive bet on carbon futures, the big money pot at the end of his particular rainbow. Mr. Gore, you see, only takes select questions from trained monkeys these days.

On the other side of the country Larry King was on television arguing with Michael Moore, who I must say has at least a consistency of conviction on the Afghanistan war. Mr. Moore pointed out the intellectual flaws in Mr. Obama’s rationalization of the Afghanistan surge while Mr. King was an unabashed cheerleader. Sean Penn, Jane Fonda, and others on the Left have all been contorting themselves like a game of Twister gone wrong today as they try to justify the President’s pretzel logic. At the same time, the Congressional Black Caucus wants to stick up the Congress for more aid for their pet projects, including mortgage forgiveness in inner cities, pork, and a laundry list amounting to hundreds of billions for their campaign donors.

I really am not sure if I loathe the preacher or the politicians or the gandy dancers more these days.

I am really opening myself up to scathing judgment and potential Christian hysterics and histrionics, but I am going to just go out there and say this: I need people.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.  I know.  If you are a “good Christian,” I can pretty much quote verbatim the thought that just flitted through your mind: “Erica, as a Christian, the only relationship you really need is your relationship with Jesus.”

Yes, you have me there.  That’s a really nice, loving way to phrase a horrifically judgmental sentence.  Basically what you have just done is demonstrated that I must not know even the basic precepts of my faith, since I am making that critical error in belief (that I need something other than Jesus), and then you’ve called into question the standing of my relationship with my Savior, in effect implying that you doubt the authenticity of my salvation.  Well, now that we’ve “unpacked” your sentence, as it were, let’s pack it back up, and you can stuff it.  Guess what?  God made us to be relational creatures.

I can joke about that because that sentence is my knee-jerk reaction, too.  Basically if you were raised in America as a Christian, that’s the way you were taught to think, I believe.  We had those awesome televangelists who were preaching hellfire and damnation from their pulpits, and how if anyone was sad or depressed or upset about anything, clearly it was because they hadn’t given their lives to Jesus and experienced His perfect, transforming, redemptive power.  Okay, yes.  There’s a lot of truth in that.  But just because you aren’t happy 24/7 doesn’t mean you are going to hell, I think, and that’s where some of us, as Christians, fall off the wagon.

I will be the first person to admit that I am not good at relationships.  Casual relationships, deep friendships, familial relationships, I basically am a master of being awkward in all of them.  I am really good at saying the right thing at the wrong time, or the wrong thing at the wrong time, or saying something totally off the wall in an awkward silence and making it worse.  Basically if it’s part of a relationship and I can screw it up, I will.  But I still really like people, and I really need them.

This is kind of putting myself out there again, which I don’t like, but I hate church sometimes, and it’s at those times when I hate church that I sit in my chair and I think to myself, “God, I love you, but I think that Your followers may be some of the stupidest, meanest, cruelest, most malicious, awful, nasty people ever.  You’re great, but man, Christians are jerks! They may be my least favorite people ever.”  Tragically, this happens to me once a week, on Wednesdays.

As Christians, we’re called to love each other.  We’re called to share one another’s burdens.  As a Christian, I want to tell you that if you, as a brother or sister in Christ, see someone crying in a seat during church, you are called by Christ to come and share that burden with them.  You’re not called to sit there awkwardly and wring your hands, although you are undeniably very good at it.  If you see that someone is having a hard time, you are called to go to that person and reach out to them; you aren’t called to pretend you didn’t notice and then talk and laugh with your clique-ish friends.

This is my point, and you definitely need to hear it:  Christ is love.  If you follow Christ, you are called to love.  If you are not loving, then you are not following Christ.  Reach out to that person next to you.  Because if they’re like me, and if they leave church feeling even more useless, unwanted, worthless, and unloved than when they walked in, Christ will hold you accountable for that.  And it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

(ChattahBox)—Oh my! According to Evangelicals, miniature snickers and milky ways are cursed by witches and demons. Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network website posted quite the bizarre little Evangelical manifesto against the satanic dangers of Halloween. CBN contributor Kimberly Daniels, a self described “recognized prophetic voice,” wrote an unhinged rant against Halloween claiming, “most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches.”

Original DVD cover

Daniels also warned of sex with demons and revel nights. And that witches on brooms, mummies, werewolves and Dracula “actually exist.”

Soon after the wacky piece entitled, “The Danger of Celebrating Halloween,” appeared on the CBN website it mysteriously disappeared, no doubt from mass mockery, but it remains cached and it has been re-posted on another site, thank goodness.

Read the insanity below for your Halloween Eve enjoyment:

“During Halloween, time-released curses are always loosed. A time-released curse is a period that has been set aside to release demonic activity and to ensnare souls in great measure … During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches.

I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.

…snip…

Halloween is much more than a holiday filled with fun and tricks or treats. It is a time for the gathering of evil that masquerades behind the fictitious characters of Dracula, werewolves, mummies and witches on brooms. The truth is that these demons that have been presented as scary cartoons actually exist. I have prayed for witches who are addicted to drinking blood and howling at the moon.

While the lukewarm and ignorant think of these customs as “just harmless fun,” the vortexes of hell are releasing new assignments against souls.

…snip…

The word “occult” means “secret.” The danger of Halloween is not in the scary things we see but in the secret, wicked, cruel activities that go on behind the scenes. These activities include:

* Sex with demons
* Orgies between animals and humans
* Animal and human sacrifices
* Sacrificing babies to shed innocent blood
* Rape and molestation of adults, children and babies
* Revel nights
* Conjuring of demons and casting of spells
* Release of “time-released” curses against the innocent and the ignorant.”

Well, that sure as heck is gonna put a damper on the trick-or-treat festivities. I know three little buddies from the Senate who were all ready to eat candy until their tummies ached and their blood sugar levels got out of control (don’t worry, kids, they have the best health insurance coverage our money can buy!). I made a bunch of crap up My infallible confidential sources got me some pictures so that I could share them with you. Early in the evening, Lindseypoo Lindsey Graham was so excited, he put his costume on before anyone else!

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Captain Underpants John McCain sure looked surprised, and Holy Joe McLiebercain Lieberman thought the whole thing was hilarious!

Then it was Captain Underpants John McCain’s turn to put on his Halloween best.

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I bet that got Lindseypoo Lindsey Graham all excited and reaching for the Olive “Oyl!” Heh!

Last but not least, it was Holy Joe McLiebercain Lieberman’s turn to show off his finery. As you can see, he’s equipped to stab just about anyone in the back!

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What a shame all that good candy got all demon-y and evil. Oh well, fellas, there’s always next year!

America's Favorite Clown - Glenn Beck

Rush Limbaugh - America's Favorite Tyrant

Who will you be for Halloween?

From facebook, immediately after the event happened:

I couldn’t remember the name of some guy who saw me earlier today and he dispensed a monologue at me over it.

“You just don’t give a living fuck about anything, and it’s obvious to everyone that you just sort of live in this bizarre, overecstatic alternate universe that nobody else understands. Whatever man, sit on the floor in the hallway with no shoes, huge sunglasses, and your headphones on just hanging out, waiting for it to be announced that the apocalypse really is going to happen in 2012 and you can start a three-year acid trip until Jesus comes… for everyone else!”

So apparently, I’m going to hell. What gives?  lol

#   #  #

In honor of my eternal damnation, and because the last last list seems to be the only post that drives traffic to this website, I have decided to compile a new list:  ”Stuff Other People Don’t Like”.  Please hate me for it.  According to lunatics who wander the hallways of the upper storeys of the engineering buildings on campus, the world is going to end before I get my college degree, which implies that I need a new life plan that doesn’t require one.  I’m looking into trying to secure employment doing PR for hell, and I want to be able to squeeze a few bullet points for that resume out of this blog.

#   #   #

STUFF OTHER PEOPLE DON’T LIKE

1.  Diet Sodas, Cough Syrup:  We here in America love our high fructose corn syrup so much that we do “scientific” studies to prove that it’s better for you than asparatame.  Artificial sugars get such a bad rap in our disgustingly obese country, that a couple of semesters ago I hastily unlocked my dorm room door and jumped over my pile of dirty laundry in a frantic hurry to get to the refrigerator:  ”Asparatame!  I need to get some more asparatame in me or there is absolutely no fucking way that I will ever be able to stay awake for this fucking class!”.  My roommate absolutely flipped shit.  ”Are you doing drugs in our room!?  Drugs are baaad for you.”

I found this whole scenario to be more ironic than a cargo plane bound for Panama with ten tons of bananas; I, the lowly computer programmer, was explaining to the 4.0 junior in biochemical engineering that I was really just craving the artificial sweeteners found in diet sodas, and trying to do it without implying that I thought that the overprocessed sugars found in the beverages she consumed might be partially responsible for her constantly-expanding waistline.

As far as cough syrup goes, no, I’m not talking about robotripping; our nation’s college students lead the world in robotripping talents, though I suspect that Germany and the Netherlands could give us a run for our money on that one.  I’m talking about how much real, gritty sugar cane sugar we put in the suspensions and cough syrups that our nation’s children consume at the slightest hint of a cough.  When I went to Russia, my host family saw me taking Claritin and a multivitamin in the morning and assumed that I was ill; I wasn’t, but Holida came out of nowhere with a mug filled to the brim with a pink, sugary syrup and said, “YOU.  DRINK,” so I did.  I saw this happen elsewhere travelling within the country as well, and came to the conclusion that Russians believe that cane sugar is a perfectly legitimate cure for everything.  I like this idea.

2.  Calculus:  When I told my high school physics teacher that I wanted to become an engineer, his response was, “Good luck with that.  Calculus will be your life.”  I’ve had some pretty miserable experiences taking it, but I still hold the subject in pretty high esteem.  Newton’s calculus helped him to develop the laws of mechanics that Kepler later used to prove that the sun doesn’t revolve around the Earth, which, Satan, if you’re reading this, is pretty much a Christianity-shattering idea.  I <3 calculus!  =D

3.  Cops on Segways:   Stop making fun of them, people!  When I’m doing illegal things, it’s a comfort to know that dodging the police can be as easy as finding the nearest staircase.

4.  Ads:  There’s nothing I love more than a good ad.  I don’t read Vogue for the articles.  I don’t read Vogue at all.  I skip over all of the articles, and go straight to the dramatic photos of striking redheads in 8″ heels with their hair blowing in the fan-provided “wind”, or, better yet, shirtless male models lying on sandy beaches without the clothing they are supposedly modelling.  It makes for a much more pleasant experience.

Besides, advertising is the lifeblood of the internet; for all of the shit nerds like to give marketing majors, your favorite toy is funded mostly by money from advertisers, with Facebook and Google being the most famous and successful examples.

5.  People Who Smoke:  I was just reading the other day in Slate about some guy living in an apartment complex whose neighbors were trying to sue him for smoking, when it wasn’t even a no-smoking property!  Jesus Christ people, lay the fuck off.  I don’t smoke, but I don’t know why it has become so acceptable to harass a group of people that is doing something legal.

For the record, I thought “Thank You For Smoking” was a wonderful movie.  If I wasn’t already working on becoming Satan’s PR woman, doing one of the jobs the sleazy blonde guy’s friends had would also be a highly desirable position.

6.  Douchebags.  On Friday night, I got drunk with my pretentious intellectual nerd friend, and the leftover booze is still sitting in my refrigerator.  He was telling me that for Halloween, he was going to go out with his hair spiked up wearing shutter shades, an unbuttoned cotton shirt, and pants with his boxers hanging out.  I thought this was hilarious at the time.  Then on Saturday night, he was doing homework.  I was crossing the street back to my apartment with a bag full of groceries and one of the people he was describing that I didn’t even know asked me if I wanted to go out to the clubs with them, and I said no, mostly because I didn’t even have my purse or anything with me.  I chatted with them for a while, but eventually wanted to get back and eat, because I was very hungry.  ”Douchebag” A asked for a hug.  Well whatever, I was okay with that.  I leaned in to give him a hug and he picks me up and twirls me in the air.  Guess who’s winning the nerds vs. douchebags war now?  Not the people doing homework after 9 p.m. on a Saturday night.

7.  Huge Auditorium Classes:  I’ve never understood why private schools hype up their small class sizes.  In small classes, you have to pay attention, because by the end of the semester, the instructor knows you.  If it’s a subject that I am completely disinterested in, which is most of them, I don’t want that to happen.  I want to be able to walk in with 30 seconds left until the start of the lecture and spend an hour and fifteen minutes on the Internet, with the only interruption being the occasional clicker question.

8.  TV Preachers and Salespeople:  Why do people think they need to watch intentional comedy?  There is a reality far more real than any of the contrived ‘reality’ programming on VH1, and far more hilarious than any generic sitcom ever could be. You can find it on any network that airs religious broadcasting, especially late at night, or QVC and its many less-famous clones.  Sunday afternoon is usually the most fruitful time to scan the TV networks for irate Southern Baptists and people selling useless kitchen gadgets.  Tune into Food Network on a weekday to see the best of both worlds.

9.   Projects; Specifically, Alan Parsons and Manhattan.  One day my boss went on a tear about how much he hates his Technology and Society class.  It was YouTube worthy.  ”I’m so tired of hearing people talk about how the world would be such a wonderful, awesome, and magical place if only we could uninvent the nuclear bomb!  WE CAN’T UNINVENT THE NUCLEAR BOMB! Do these people understand what other technology has come out of all of this weapons development, and how much worse the Cold War probably would have been without them?!”  Short answer:  No, people do not understand why nuclear stockpiles are necessary.  Except maybe Rush.  Maybe Rush understood.

On that note, just because The Alan Parsons Project is a terrible band name, doesn’t mean that all of their music was bad.  They had some pretty good stuff.

10.  Muammar al-Gaddafi:  This man gets a bad rap for being tied to the bombing of a German disco, but if it was merely an assault on poor taste, I have a hard time finding a problem with it.  Besides, Gaddafi was rocking the whole “I’m On a Boat!” look waaay before it was ever cool.  Truly, a man who has proved to be far ahead of his time.

11.  Airports:  Okay, paying $10 for fake Chinese food sucks, but overall being in airports is generally a pretty cool experience.  Moving sidewalks!  Cool people from obscure foreign countries!  Long layovers in random cities you will never see much else of!  Exposure to weather outside of Phoenix, however briefly!  Lots of well-dressed, interesting people about to leave and go elsewhere!  Shops selling all sorts of weird, overpriced, gimmicky stuff!  Copies of SkyMall that people have accidentally stolen from the planes and left in the seating areas!  … What could be better, honestly?

12.  Messy Rooms:  I just don’t understand our society’s collective paranoia about messy people.  Things can be disorganized without also being dirty.  Whether or not a room is messy has very little to do with the value of what is being produced therein.  I am blogging on the floor with several dirty coffee cups, a Russian dictionary, my cell phone, a mountain of CD’s, papers, binders, cookies, and a box of paperclips.  My roommates are polishing up their pristine little boxes they call bedrooms and listening to awful music.  When I am finished with this, I will do math homework, and they will probably still be working on finding new surfaces to clean.  Barf.

13.  Unaltered Dairy Products:  This is sort of like item #1.  We do everything we can to squeeze the pleasure out of drinking milk by making it with soy or turning it into ’skim milk’, and for what?  America is still fatter than it ever has been.  People in foreign countries don’t have 20 different ‘percents’ of milk to choose from at the grocery store, yet they are still skinnier than us.  I’m going to continue to drink whole milk until the stores quit selling it because I’m the only one who buys it.

14.  Jazz, Obnoxious Saxophone Solos:  What do you think I write depressing blog entries like this to, Lady GaGa?  No, fucking Birdland.  (Actually not really Birdland, I just know that it’s quite possibly the only jazz song you would ever recognize by its title.)  Jazz is awesome.  I find the idea that people can be just making stuff up and it still sounds good to be fascinating.  I like all varieties of jazz, from cheesy ‘Weather Channel Jazz’ all the way to the most avant free jazz fusion stuff.

I don’t actually know any of these songs, but this article infuriates me:  10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined By Saxophone.  I think more pop music type songs should have sax solos.  The world would be a better place if they did, I’m sure of it.

15.  People Who Just Don’t Give A Shit.  If you have failed to adequately vex your intended targets with the other items on this list, fear not, you have one final recourse; simply quit caring.  Even people who are clearly raving lunatics will despise you if your apathy exceeds theirs.  There’s nothing more fun than just not giving a shit.  The mad hallway wanderer was right, I just don’t care.  He told me his name again, and I still don’t remember it, because I don’t care.  It doesn’t matter.

I would attempt to persuade you to pursue a life of hedonism and irrationally-driven accomplishments, but that would violate my apathy and make my previous statements logically inconsistent.

- sf1

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 Newsletters – January 2007 – Vol. 12 Issue 1 – Kenny’s Birthday Surprise – by Robert S. Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

Kenny’s Birthday “Surprise”

On January 18, 2007 marks both forty (40) years of teaching heresy and by the mercy of our gracious God He has allowed Mr. Copeland to live to be 70 years old. Cashflow A. Dollar and John (son of Ken & Gloria Copeland) plan to surprise them on that evening with a small love offering from their devotees. Oh nothing big or elaborate, merely a token love gift of a —$2.5 million dollar check made out to the Copelands personally for their own use!

When DMI received this appeal letter, complete with DVD from Cashflow and his posse we were sickened beyond belief. The Copelands are among the wealthiest of all the televangelists and their SINistry just purchased at least 1 Citation X jet, KCM owns “Eagle Mountain” a defunct Air Force base they purchased some time back. What is more Kenny and his gang have never had to resort to the usual charismatic tactic of sending out a wide variety of gimmicks to raise funds. Why not? Because they did not and do not need the money.

DMI has no problem with giving a financial gift to ministers (gee wish we’d get more of them, guess I need a “beard” like Cashflow to beg for us), but 2.5 million dollars given to a couple of people who are filthy rich already, who have honestly done nothing but teach error and sow discord in the Body of Christ is a bit much.

Even though the letter is sent to us (and a million others on their mailing list) by their son John Copeland, the checks are to go to Cashflow’s Church until the big service!

A couple of things there to keep in mind: (1). DMI assumes Cashflow’s ministry will without a doubt keep the interest off the money given and (2) Cashflow knows that one day he will reap what he sows, I.e. his day is coming from the Copeland family to “bless” the Dollar family in Atlanta. It is kinda like the Cleveland mob, paying homage to the Chicago family, knowing that “one hand washes the other,” capice? DMI is sure (oh yeah) that Kenny will tithe to the poor from this largess, maybe make an additional payment on a condo, retreat cabin, home or two, possibly just purchase another antique car to add to his growing collection. Hey who said godliness is not gain? (Sorry to sound like a sour-puss, but nobody can spend a dime in hell which we pray is not Mr. Copeland’s ultimate destination). ♦

Copyright © Robert S. Liichow

See Related Articles:

The Jet Set http://discernmentministriesinternation.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/the-jet-set/

Benny HINN JOINS the Jet Set: http://discernmentministriesinternational.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/benny-hinn-joins-the-jet-set/

Truth Matters Newsletters – January 2007 – Vol. 12 Issue 1 – Benny Hinn JOINS the Jet Set – by Rev. Robert S. Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

Benny HINN JOINS the Jet Set

I guess it comes as no surprise, other than why did it take Benny such a long time to join the televangelist “jet set,” but that day has come. According to the Trinity Foundation Mr. Hinn’s SINistry are now the proud owners of a Gulstream private executive jet. His plane is bigger than Mr. Copeland’s new Citation X, but Copeland’s plane can fly higher and faster. Benny’s jet is not as big as Paul and Jan’s Canadaire, but it is newer.

In the minds of all these jet-setters, i.e. Mr. Copeland, Cashflow Dollar, the Crouches, Keith Butler, Benny Hinn and others… They are simply too important and their message or anointing are vital for the advancement of the Kingdom of God ergo that they cannot fly commercial. They must be able to leave at the drop of the hat as the Spirit leads them (or in case they have to blow town or a nation in a big hurry). Hinn’s plan was paid for, by the infirmed, poor and desperate people who think God will/can heal them through Hinn. What a shame.  ♦

Copyright © Robert S. Liichow

See Related Article: The Jet Set  http://discernmentministriesinternational.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/the-jet-set/ 

ht: Christianity Today

Cornerstone Church, Simi Valley, CA – blog; website.

Truth Matters Newsletters – August 2006 Vol. 11 Issue 8 – The Jet Set – by Robert S. Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

The Jet Set

In the rough-n-tumble world of televangelism it seem that to be a “player” you must own your own private jet. Simply flying first class in a commercial jet is not good enough. These men and women of God are too important to stand in line and be searched like the rest of us. Here is a short list of those who need millions of dollars a year just to keep themselves in the air:

Copeland protégés Jesse Duplantis and Jerry Savelle, and Florida’s Mark Bishop, each fly their own Cessna Citation 500. They cruise at 400 mph with a range of 1,400 miles and carry a price tag of about $1.25 million each.

Fred Price, Creflo Dollar and Benny Hinn all have their own Grumman Gulfstream II’s. With a two-man crew and 19 passengers, these babies cruise at 581 mph with a range of 4,275 miles. Used, they’re worth about $4.5 million each.

Paul Crouch owns the current Queen of the Flying-Televangelist Fleet – a Bombardier Challenger 604. Carrying a crew of two plus 19 passengers, she cruises at 529 mph with a range of 3,860 miles. She’s valued at $16.5 million, not including Paul’s “special interior remodeling.” The late Ken Hagin’s Challenger 601, about 10 years older than Paul’s is “only” worth about $9.6 million. Joyce Meyers has her own Challenger 600. A full 18 years older than Paul’s this one’s only worth a paltry $4.5 million.

Mr. Copeland owns a Cessna Citation 550 Bravo (valued at $3.4 million), PLUS his Grumman Gulfstream II (worth $4.5 million) AND his Cessna Golden Eagle AND his Beech E-55 AND his assorted less aircraft AND his own airport all add up to untold millions of poor folks’ dollars. But Kenny’s masterstroke is the fact that he’s now telling the faithful that God wants him and wife Gloria to EACH have their own Cessna Citation Ten super-jets.

Video – Kenneth Copeland: God told me to buy a Citation:

Flying just below the speed of sound, these state-of-the-art flying palaces carry a base sticker price of $20 million! That means when “God” has his way, the widows and orphans will have “invested” just about $50-60 million in Kenny’s Heavenly Air Force. Information obtained from http://www.wittenburgdoor.com.

Kenneth Copeland’s Jet Denied Tax Exemption:

Copyright  © 2006 Robert S. Liichow