“Pastor Frank’s line never failed to deliver: that and accusations of being ‘religious’, unloving and closed to the things of God would make any still hesitant intern strip quicker than one could say ‘Bob’s your Uncle’.”

“Gary didn’t see why it was so hard for ‘The Religious’ to understand.”

“Never ones to miss an opportunity, Frank and his wife were moved to action after hearing of the plight of the beggar children in Slobodovia.”

“It was most odd, thought Gladys, that God would regularly come in power enough to knock her off her feet and make her twitch, but not enough to heal even a little of her sickness. Meanwhile, her friend Maria honestly didn’t understand why when she and everyone else she knew had enough faith to be “slain in the Spirit” at a meeting, none of them had enough faith to be healed. Or so the healing revivalist claimed.”

“Pamela Prophet’s audience failed to see that Pam, while claiming to be free and open to new things, was even more closed-minded and dogmatic than the ’religious’ leaders she so regularly put down. Nor did they click whose box they were exchanging the Word of God for.”

“Pamela Prophet was most concerned that the flock did not miss out on  God’s New Thing.”

“Chas knew that he was more anointed than most Christians. “

Please do vote!

Further Reading: Mike Bickle & IHOP Cult-like Tendancies

“Sarah wished she was anointed enough to pray with others in her church.”

Making the audience feel more comfortable

Peace, peace, where there is no peace (Ezekiel 13:10)

What do you think? Discuss.

Article from The Telegraph (link)

“Thorpe Park ‘may be exorcised’ after Ouija board seance

Thorpe Park bosses have suspended six members of staff and have called in a paranormal expert after a late-night Ouija board seance at the theme park was blamed for a series of spooky incidents.

The workers are said to have carried out a Ouija board session in the horror-themed rollercoaster SAW – The Ride, at Thorpe Park, following their shift on the opening night of the Park’s Halloween-themed ‘Fright Nights.’

It is thought the group chose the park’s newest ride, which boasts gruesome features mimicking the sinister torture scenarios from the film SAW, thinking it was the perfect setting for their antics.

But bosses at the Park in Chertsey, Surrey, apparently failed to see the funny side and are now holding the seance responsible for a series of eerie goings on.

Several bemused visitors have complained about an extreme drop in temperature inside the ride building.

And spooked workers have reported lights flickering and special effects starting up sporadically after being switched off.

Unable to find any technical reason for the malfunctions, bemused park bosses have now called in a paranormal expert.

Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe, the UK’s leading authority on the unexplained, is currently examining the suspect areas of the ride for any disturbances and, if required, will perform an exorcism.

He said: “Many people believe that the Ouija board is just a game but its power should never be underestimated, it may be a very dangerous tool if not used properly.

“It opens a gateway to another dimension and when people who, are not experienced spiritualists, play with Ouija boards mischievous entities can get through.

“If there is something that has been causing fear and bewilderment at the park I will hopefully be able to like a doctor with antibiotics and cure the problem.

He added: “If deemed necessary I will carry out an exorcism but at this point in time initial investigations are still underway.”

A source at the Park this morning commented: ‘It was a pretty strange sight to see a priest walking around Thorpe Park holding a bible in one hand and a crucifix in the other, I’m not sure what he was exactly doing but it all looked a bit unusual.’

A spokesman for the Park: “On the evening of Monday 12th October an unauthorised Ouija Board session was conducted by six employees at SAW – The Ride after Thorpe Park had closed to the public.

“A full investigation is underway and the six employees have been temporarily suspended pending the outcome of this enquiry.

“We take both staff and guest feedback very seriously and for this reason we have called in Lionel Fanthorpe, a leading paranormal expert to help us investigate some of the reports that have arisen as a result of this situation.

“Thorpe Park and SAW – The Ride remain open as usual for the Park’s Fright Nights season.”"

(Cartoon from here)

One of the more popular ministries (not giving a damn), excused and justified by the kind of obnoxious “super-spirituality” that is too common in too many churches today.

On the surface these ones pretend to be spiritual, warm and loving (“Christian” hugs and all!), even deceiving themselves that this is what they really are – but in truth these ones are unspiritual, careless, self-centred, cold and arrogant .

Read I John for how a person and/or church would act if it actually cared. Not “should” act – how they “would” act. The one that doesn’t love demonstrated in deeds doesn’t love, and certainly isn’t spiritual. It’s that simple.

This following news article reveals a very interesting piece of news for prophecy watchers – the Iranian president allegedly has Jewish roots. This will make all the difference for some in assessing Ahmadinejad’s likelihood to be the Antichrist, as many think the Antichrist MUST be of Jewish descent because of scriptures such as Daniel 11.37 .

The news article is from the Telegraph, (link).

“A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots.

A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver.

The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.

The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad’s birthplace, and the name derives from “weaver of the Sabour”, the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran’s Ministry of the Interior.

Experts last night suggested Mr Ahmadinejad’s track record for hate-filled attacks on Jews could be an overcompensation to hide his past.

Ali Nourizadeh, of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies, said: “This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad’s background explains a lot about him.

“Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith.

“By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a radical Shia society.”

A London-based expert on Iranian Jewry said that “jian” ending to the name specifically showed the family had been practising Jews.

“He has changed his name for religious reasons, or at least his parents had,” said the Iranian-born Jew living in London. “Sabourjian is well known Jewish name in Iran.”

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London said it would not be drawn on Mr Ahmadinejad’s background. “It’s not something we’d talk about,” said Ron Gidor, a spokesman.

The Iranian leader has not denied his name was changed when his family moved to Tehran in the 1950s. But he has never revealed what it was change from or directly addressed the reason for the switch.

Relatives have previously said a mixture of religious reasons and economic pressures forced his blacksmith father Ahmad to change when Mr Ahmadinejad was aged four.

The Iranian president grew up to be a qualified engineer with a doctorate in traffic management. He served in the Revolutionary Guards militia before going on to make his name in hardline politics in the capital.

During this year’s presidential debate on television he was goaded to admit that his name had changed but he ignored the jibe.

However Mehdi Khazali, an internet blogger, who called for an investigation of Mr Ahmadinejad’s roots was arrested this summer.

Mr Ahmadinejad has regularly levelled bitter criticism at Israel, questioned its right to exist and denied the Holocaust. British diplomats walked out of a UN meeting last month after the Iranian president denounced Israel’s ‘genocide, barbarism and racism.’

Benjamin Netanyahu made an impassioned denunciation of the Iranian leader at the same UN summit. “Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium,” he said. “A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews while promising to wipe out the State of Israel, the State of the Jews. What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations.”

Mr Ahmadinejad has been consistently outspoken about the Nazi attempt to wipe out the Jewish race. “They have created a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets,” he declared at a conference on the holocaust staged in Tehran in 2006.”

“… Obama is not the antichrist.” says Benny Hinn very firmly in a recent interview on Fox News. Hinn continues of Obama: “He’s a good man, a Christian man”.  (See the video here:  link)

“Evangelist” Benny Hinn has been so busy pimping for filthy lucre to feed his gluttinously lavish lifestyle, he has evidently forgotten the simple gospel of what makes someone a Christian, and what doesn’t  make them a Christian.

Hear me now, I’m not referring to President Barack Obama’s politics, or his color of skin and ethnicity that are seemingly enough to send shivers down the spines of certain those on the Religious Right making Obama, in their minds at least, a prime candidate for Antichrist (- but at the same time, I gotta say, what is  that with his nomination for the Nobel peace prize? – )…. I’m talking about the simple gospel message and its plumb-line that applies to, and measures, us all, high and low, black and white, Republican or Democrat. 

How to spot a real  Christian? For a start, a real Christian is one who knows the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, and knows nobody comes to God the Father but by and through God’s Son Jesus Christ who is the ONLY way, truth and life.  A real  Christian cannot say there are other gods or other pathways to God, or other ways to inherit eternal life, and remain a Christian, as He would be denying all that Jesus is,  and all that Christianity is.

A real Christian then, clearly couldn’t and wouldn’t say the kind of things it was reported Obama did in this interview - Barack Obama In His Own Words Explains That He Is NOT A Christian or say stuff like this: Obama on many paths to God and embracing the divine within.

Nor does a Christian carry or use lucky charms, including one of a Hindu monkey god as Obama reportedly does - see the pictures of his assortment of charms here: Obama’s lucky charms.

And what about this possible revealing slip-up on TV? Obama on “My Muslim, err I mean Christian, faith.”

If Obama wants to be a Muslim, Hindu, New Age Hippy, agnostic or atheist,  that’s his lookout. But when Benny Hinn, who puports to be an evangelist for the Christian faith, claims on national TV that Obama is a Christian – well shame on you, Benny Hinn, for leading people astray.

And Benny Hinn, on the money front, you’re a smarmy no-good liar. I rebuke you for your relentless and ruthless pimping of God’s people for your own ends, and the rape, pillaging, beating up and leading astray of Christ’s lambs. May the Lord open up the eyes of your blinded deluded followers and bring them to swift repentance. As for you, Benny, what will you do as you stand on the doorway to eternity? Re-pent or re-pimp?

See also  -

Is Barack Obama Satan’s Warm-up Act? (link)

Barack Obama and Left Behind and Left Behind authors says Obama “likely” not the antichrist

A handy tape measure, complete with scripture quotation.

(Product source: link)

This product is for not quite the kind of building I had in mind when I called on the modern day “Nehemiahs” to rebuild and restore the church’s crumbling walls (see article on Eroding the church walls).

Walk In The Light torch, comes complete with out of context scripture verse and a choice of colors and styles. (from link).

Article by LAURIE GOODSTEIN from NY Times (link)

“FORT WORTH — Onstage before thousands of believers weighed down by debt and economic insecurity, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and their all-star lineup of “prosperity gospel” preachers delighted the crowd with anecdotes about the luxurious lives they had attained by following the Word of God.

Private airplanes and boats. A motorcycle sent by an anonymous supporter. Vacations in Hawaii and cruises in Alaska. Designer handbags. A ring of emeralds and diamonds.

“God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get the money to you,” preached Mrs. Copeland, dressed in a crisp pants ensemble like those worn by C.E.O.’s.

Even in an economic downturn, preachers in the “prosperity gospel” movement are drawing sizable, adoring audiences. Their message — that if you have sufficient faith in God and the Bible and donate generously, God will multiply your offerings a hundredfold — is reassuring to many in hard times.

The preachers barely acknowledged the recession, though they did say it was no excuse to curtail giving. “Fear will make you stingy,” Mr. Copeland said.

But the offering buckets came up emptier than in some previous years, said those who have attended before.

Many in this flock do not trust banks, the news media or Washington, where the Senate Finance Committee is investigating whether the Copelands and other prosperity evangelists used donations to enrich themselves and abused their tax-exempt status. But they trust the Copelands, the movement’s current patriarch and matriarch, who seem to embody prosperity with their robust health and abundance of children and grandchildren who have followed them into the ministry.

“If God did it for them, he will do it for us,” said Edwige Ndoudi, who traveled with her husband and three children from Canada for the Southwest Believers’ Convention this month, where the Copelands and three of their friends took turns preaching for five days, 10 hours a day at the Fort Worth Convention Center.

The crowd of more than 9,000 was multiracial, from 48 states and 27 countries. There was no fee to attend. There were bikers in leather vests, pastors, blue-collar workers, professionals and plenty of families with children.

A large contingent came in wheelchairs, hoping for miraculous healings. The audience sat with Bibles open, flipping to passages cited by the preachers, taking notes on pads and laptop computers.

“The folks who are coming aren’t poor,” said Jonathan L. Walton, a professor of religion at the University of California, Riverside, who has written about the movement and was there doing research. “They reside in that nebulous category between the working and the middle class.”

Sitting in Section 316, eight rows up, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on a Bible at lunch time, was a family who could explain the enduring loyalty the prosperity preachers inspire.

Stephen Biellier, a long-distance trucker from Mount Vernon, Mo., said he and his wife, Millie, came to the convention praying that this would be “the overcoming year.” They are $102,000 in debt, and the bank has cut off their credit line, Mrs. Biellier said.

They say the Copelands rescued them from financial failure 23 years ago, when they bought their first truck at 22 percent interest and had to rebuild the engine twice in a year.

Around that time, Mrs. Biellier first saw Mr. Copeland on television and began sending him 50 cents a week.

Others who bought trucks from the same dealer in Joplin that year went under, the Bielliers said, but they did not.

“We would have failed if Copeland hadn’t been praying for us every day,” Mrs. Biellier said.

The Bielliers are now among 386,000 people worldwide whom the Copelands call their “partners,” most of whom send regular contributions and merit special prayers from the Copelands.

A call center at the ministry’s 481-employee headquarters in Newark, Tex., takes in 60,000 prayer requests a month, a publicist said.

The Copelands’ broadcast reaches 134 countries, and the ministry’s income is about $100 million annually.

The Bielliers were at the convention a few years ago when a supporter made a pitch for people to join an “Elite CX Team” to raise money to buy the ministry a Citation X airplane. (Mr. Copeland is an airplane aficionado who got his start in ministry as a pilot for Oral Roberts.) At that moment, Mrs. Biellier said she heard the voice of the Holy Spirit telling her, “You were born to support this man.”

She gave $2,000 for the plane, and recently sent $1,800 for the team’s latest project: buying high-definition television equipment to upgrade the ministry’s international broadcasts.

Mrs. Biellier said some friends and relatives would say the preacher just wanted their money. She explained that the Copelands did not need the money for themselves; it is for their ministry. And besides, even “trashy people like Hugh Hefner” have private airplanes.

“I remember Copeland had to once fly halfway around the world to talk to one person,” she said. “Because we’re partners with Kenneth Copeland, for every soul that gets saved, we get credit for that in heaven.”

But while a band primed the crowd, Professor Walton called the prosperity preachers “spiritual pickpockets.”

“To dismiss and ignore the harsh realities of this economic crisis,” he said. “is beyond irresponsible, to the point of reprehensible.”

The Copelands refused an interview request, but one of their daughters, Kellie Copeland Swisher, and her husband, Steve Swisher, who both work in the ministry, spoke for them.

Mrs. Swisher said the ministry gave away “a minimum of 10 percent of what comes in” to other charities. Her father’s current favorite, she said, is a Roman Catholic orphanage in Mexico.

The ministry has resisted providing the Senate investigation with all the documents requested, she said, because the Copelands did not want to publicly reveal the names of the “partners.” The investigation, which could result in new laws, is continuing, a committee spokeswoman said. Among those being investigated is Creflo Dollar, one of the ministers at the Copelands’ convention.

Mr. Swisher said that even in the economic downturn, the ministry’s income going into the convention was up 3 percent over last year. Asked if they had adjusted the message for the economy, Mrs. Swisher patted the worn Bible in her lap and said: “The message they preach is the Word of God. The Word doesn’t change.”

At the convention, the preachers — who also included Jesse Duplantis and Jerry Savelle — sprinkled their sermons with put-downs of the government, an overhaul of health care, public schools, the news media and other churches, many of which condemn prosperity preaching.

But mostly the preachers were working mightily to remind the crowd that they are God’s elect. “While everybody else is having a famine,” said Mr. Savelle, a Texas televangelist, “his covenant people will be having the best of times.”

“Any time a worried thought about money pops up in your mind,” Mr. Savelle continued, “the next thing you do is sow”: drop money, like seeds, in “good ground” like the preachers’ ministries. “Stop worrying, start sowing,” he added, his voice rising. “That’s God’s stimulus package for you.”

At that, hundreds streamed down the aisles to the stage, laying envelopes, cash and coins on the carpeted steps.”

More articles on Kenneth and Gloria Copeland by following this link

Introducing Disciple Shades (http://discipleshades.com/)  whose inspiring product (inspiring for all the wrong reasons) can enter the Religious Rubbish Hall of Fame.

Disciple Shades company motto is Live in the Light.  Bible Quotes on the frames beautifully manipulated and distorted to fit include: MAT 5:14  You’re here to be light

You have got to be kidding me. Only in America. Really.

“Christian couple face losing hotel after criminal charges for offending Muslim woman

By John Bingham, The Telegraph, Sept 20 2009( link)

“A Christian Couple face losing their livelihood after being charged with a criminal offence for offending a Muslim woman by saying that Islamic dress is oppressive.

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang are awaiting trial accused of breaching public order by insulting a guest at their hotel in Aintree, Liverpool, about her religion.

A Christian Couple face losing their livelihood after being charged with a criminal offence for offending a Muslim woman by saying that Islamic dress is oppressive.

The couple, who are members of an evangelical congregation, were arrested by police after getting into a discussion with the woman about the differences between Christianity and Islam earlier this year.

Mrs Vogelenzang, 54, is understood to have described Muslim dress as putting women into “bondage” while her husband, 53, allegedly described the Prophet Mohammed as a “warlord”.

The Christian Institute, which is finding the Vogelenzangs’ defence, said that the case showed that Christians are suffering growing “persecution” by officials who use the law to prevent them speaking about their faith.

It is understood that the couple’s business, the Bounty House Hotel in Aintree, has suffered a major drop in takings because of the case.

Friends said that they had seen bookings fall by up to 80 per cent after a local hospital stopped an arrangement in which it recommended the hotel to people attending courses there after hearing that the owners were facing criminal charges.

Although the couple have told friends that they understood the hospital’s position, they fear they could end up losing their business.

“It is just a consequence of the case that not only are they worrying about criminal charges but they may also lose their business,” said Mike Judge, a spokesman for the institute.

It is understood that the argument happened on the last day of the woman’s stay at the hotel in March when she appeared in Muslim dress.

The woman, who has not been named, is said to have told them that Jesus is considered a “minor prophet” in Islam while the debate also touched on the status of Mohammed.

The guest complained to Merseyside Police who called the couple in for an interview. They were questioned twice before being charged with a religiously aggravated public order offence.

They appeared before magistrates last week where they denied the charges and are due to go on trial later this year. If found guilty they face a fine and a criminal record.

Mr Vogelenzang denies calling the Prophet Mohammed a “warlord”. It is understood that his wife accepts that she used the word “bondage” about Islamic dress but denies deliberately causing offence.

“Even if the court accepts that these things were said, I have read this sort of thing in many western criticisms of Islam,” said Mr Judge.

“If we are really saying that someone can’t express that without having their collar felt by the police I think we are in a very worrying situation for freedom of speech.”

He added: “There is a persecution of Christians and I think public officials are misusing the law in that way.”

Merseyside Police confirmed that the couple have been charged with religiously a aggravated public order offence.”

Comment - This sentence, in my view, summarises very well what is going on in today’s country: “A spirit of silence “shushes”  Britain, I see a finger pressed against her adulterous lips.” (excerpt from a prophetic word given in 2007)

Article by Ruth Gledhill from The Times, Oct 3rd 2009 (link)

“An American Christian preacher has been turned away from Britain, leaving thousands of people stranded at an evangelical rally in London this weekend.

Benny Hinn, from Texas, who draws large crowds to his Pentecostal revival rallies, was turned back at Stansted airport under new rules on visiting ministers of religion.

Many thousands of Pentecostal Christians travelled from across Britain and Europe and booked long weekend breaks in the capital’s hotels for his mission at the ExCeL exhibition centre in Docklands, East London, which had been due to begin on Thursday night.

They were left disappointed after Border Agency officials turned him back when he landed with his private jet because he had failed to obtain a “letter of sponsorship” from a church.

Instead, Mr Hinn flew on to Paris and tried to enter Britain at Luton airport but was again turned back. He was on his way back to France last night.

Jill Masefield, who lives in Bristol, said that she and thousands of other followers had been left waiting for Mr Hinn to appear at the free preaching event, not knowing why he had not appeared. Instead, another pastor preached and requested donations of up to £1,000.

“He’s been coming here for years and years,” she said. “I think it is very unfair that they have blocked him now. It has cost me a fortune in hotel bills and I feel we have been led up the garden path. It is extremely unfair.”

The Benny Hinn “fire conference and miracle service” was scheduled to last three days. Among the “miracles” the Texan preacher performs are those in which he instructs participants to “let the bodies hit the floor”. The routine is featured on YouTube videos that show the devout falling down backwards, “slain in the spirit”.

A spokeswoman for ExCeL said thatMr Hinn had been turned back at immigration and would not be coming. Staff at the exhibition centre were meeting last night to decide whether to provide another evangelical preacher in his place.

Mr Hinn has visited before without any problem but the Home Office has changed the rules for ministers of religion. He fell foul of tier five of the new points-based system for all visitors to Britain, which came into effect last November. One of the aims of the new rules was to combat extremism and prevent teachers of religious hate entering the country.

A Border Agency spokesman said: “Under the UK’s tough new points-based system, religious workers must obtain a valid certificate of sponsorship prior to arriving in the UK. These rules are designed to make sure that a legitimate sponsor is linked to each application to enter the UK for work purposes.

“These rules are applied objectively and clearly set out for travellers. People who arrive without the required documentation can be refused entry to the UK.”

For more on Benny Hinn, follow this link

I came across this news article, and felt it graphically illustrated a far deeper truth.

(The news article is from link) -

“Wollongong’s Wesley Church of the Mall has weathered many storms, but the latest affront is attacking its very foundation.

Police have been called in to safeguard the 127-year-old sandstone building that is being eroded by people both urinating and fornicating against the walls.

The problem, which has also led to a discolouration and stench along the base of the church, was reported to police by Reverend Gordon Bradbery about six months ago.

“This has been going on for years but has become more prominent in recent times,” he said.

“It’s indicative of the behaviour of people in the mall, particularly those who come through inebriated.

“That sandstone is part of the original structure that was put up in 1882 so it’s over 125 years old. It’s just a complete lack of respect.”

Wollongong Police Inspector Brian Wyver said samples taken from the building had shown a variety of human waste, including urine and semen.

“There is evidence people have also been fornicating against the church wall,” he said…..”

My Comments -

 The “walls” of today’s church worldwide have been damaged to such a degree by urine and fornication and all manner of other degradation (from within  its own walls from its own folk which makes it all the more disgusting)  that it is no wonder that the most part of modern day “Christianity” is in the weak and stinking state it is. I call to modern day Nehemiahs to work and to urge others to work to uproot the mess, re-dig foundations where necessary and then strengthen and rebuild the walls!

This can be so true

[Cartoon from here]

Testimony left at Pulpit Pimps here

Bill, you say that Joyce Meyer doesn’t run a cult, otherwise you wouldn’t be in it. Let me say that the people who are in cults think the same way! Nobody likes to think that they have been deceived,. They want to think they are smart enough to know better. I assure you that if Joyce Meyer teaches the prosperity gospel or that Jesus went to hell so you wouldn’t have to (and she does!), then she IS running a cult, and if you are supporting her, then YOU ARE in a cult and you don’t even know it!

What’s more, there is probably nothing anyone here can say to you that will convince you otherwise, and I for one will not attempt to do so. All anyone here can do for you is speak the truth. It’s up to God and you from there. If God can’t take some of what we say here and get it through to you, then you cannot be reached sir.

A few years ago, I supported Joyce Meyer with everything I had. I regarded her as a true, down to earth, sincere, and prosperous role model. I hung on every word that came out of her mouth as if they were the words of God straight to me. I never missed a show, and if I did, I watched her internet broadcasts. When she held her conferences in my area, I went to see her in person. I would do as she said to prove my commitment to God and take vacation days and drive 3 hours to Tulsa to see her preach at the ORU campus and drive 3 hours back home, justifying myself to God by reminding Him of these sacrifices.

Talking about sacrifice, not only did I give up a day’s pay to see her, but it was nothing for me to sacrifice $100 or more into the white buckets they’d pass around as offering plates, knowing all along that I’d have to sacrifice again when I didn’t have that money to pay a bill with! That, in addition to the hundreds of dollars I’d send her through the mail every month! In the typical Word of Faith fashion, I would then go to God in “prayer” and tell Him what He had to do (you [God] MUST keep your word; you MUST provide ‘pressed down, shaken-together’ etc; if I delight myself in you, you MUST give me the desire of my heart, ad nausea!).

Bill, that’s NOT praying! When a WoF preacher “prays” by saying “we bind you Satan, we come against all the powers of darkness, we rebuke all poverty and lack” etc, they are NOT praying to God! They are talking to the devil and speaking as if they were God Himself. It is NOT prayer. But I digress.

I absolutely LOVED Joyce Meyer! But God had other plans for me. I was DEEP into the Word of Faith . It was all I had ever known all my life. My grandmother latched onto the seed faith teachings of Oral Roberts back when it first came out. She taught my mother in the ways of the WoF, and my mother in turn taught us the same way!

I grew up thanking God for being numbered among those who knew the “truth!” Needless to say, I naturally equated the WoF to be the one and only WILL OF GOD, and anyone who believed otherwise was deceived and damned to hell! That being the case, I grew up feeling at one with all the T.V. ministers. I loved them ALL! As a young boy, I read Copeland’s “The Laws of Prosperity” and I was determined to make those laws work … after all they are LAWS and even God must abide by them!

But taking an honest look back over the past 30 years, I had to admit that they never worked for me. I grew up into my 40’s all along thinking there was something wrong with me. I would actually look at a mustard seed in the spice rack and wonder why my faith was so much smaller that that and didn’t work. Then I would get depressed because my faith was so much tinier than that mustard seed that God wouldn’t honor it.

I felt rejected by God. Sometimes that feeling of rejection made me angry at Him and there were times I actually told Him that he was a liar! That He WAS a respecter of persons; that He showed favoritism, and that He didn’t love me, even though I was doing everything I knew to do to keep with “His” teachings as I was taught them!

All that being said, let me say this: there was nothing wrong with my faith, so don’t even try to tell me “oh ye of little faith!” I’ve heard that all my life and now I know better. My faith was fine, but the problem was that my faith was in a LIE! The “god” I was mad at was NOT the God of the Bible! The “god” of the Word of Faith is a demon straight from HELL! I know that now, but therein lies the danger in Word of Faith teachings. The people in that CULT don’t even know who the TRUE God really is, and are damned as a result!

Back to Joyce Meyer. I supported her “ministry” with ALL of my substance, and I thought she was truly God speaking straight to me. But the more I gave to her, the poorer I got (the story of my life)! It wasn’t until I got down to where I was about to LOSE MY HOUSE the Lord began to act on the anguish inside me. I remember back in 2005, watching Joyce on T.V. One day she was talking about how she had brought her parents to St Louis and bought them a house close to her. She said “I was just in the mood to buy houses!” I almost screamed at her “why don’t you buy MINE for me?”

I pleaded with God to speak to her heart to send me a check and prevent the impending disaster facing me. Then I would know that God really heard me and loved me enough to finally do something after 30 years of giving!

But of course Joyce never did do that, and since I thought she was close to God and had his attentive ear, that it must be that God wanted me to suffer all the more! I couldn’t understand it. I had donated to her (God’s?) ministry, I helped her build her headquarters building and all the furnishings in it. According to her plea for funds back then, I was promised that I would “own” one square foot for each $100 I gave towards it (I gave $300, so I “owned” 3 square feet).

Had God forgotten that ????? Now I was in desperate need, had NOBODY to beg from like she did, and I felt God didn’t care. I told Him He was cruel and mean! But I still loved Him because even then, if I had given up on my ONLY hope, then I REALLY had no hope at all. Even then, I felt that my breakthrough might still come, so I’d pick myself up and apologize to God for my ill will towards Him.

Then one day, as I was watching Joyce on T.V. it seemed like literally “scales” fell from my eyes! Near the end of the show, as she was begging for donations, and her announcer came on talking about all her books that we could have for a “gift” of X-dollars, and then talked about “seeing Joyce in person” and hearing “Joyce preach the word as only she can do.” God Himself spoke to my spirit in that still small voice and told me “this isn’t about God, this is about JOYCE!” “Joyce” this, and “Joyce” that! And all the dollar signs on the T.V. screen seemed to “stick-out” like sore thumbs, and the whole thing smacked of one big long INFOMERCIAL about Joyce Meyer!!

That, my friend, was the beginning of my exodus from the Word of Faith! Each time I saw her show, it got even more disgusting to me … and I stopped giving to her. S L O W L Y, by putting a stop to the hemorrhage of money flowing out of my bank account to these people, I was able to recover somewhat, and I never did lose my house. But it was close. That, my friend was GOD showing me that He really did care about my financial well-being. He didn’t want my money!!!!! And not only did He NOT want my money, I was NOT cursed with a curse if I KEPT it !!!! That is freedom!

About the same time, I just happened to stumble upon this website, Pulpit-Pimps.org, and God has used this site TREMENDOUSLY to teach me the truth about where I had been all my life and that the Lord loved me enough to lead me out of it into the truth!

Unbeknownst to me, my mother, who had raised me in the WoF, had been led out of their heresy about a year before I had! She never told me though. I asked her why, and she said that I would have thought she was backslidden and lost in heresy forever. And she was right. Some other members of my extended family are not convinced, and there is a definite divide – but even that is mentioned in the Bible. That’s why I say that nothing any of us say will EVER convince you of the truth. You will just think that we are deceived and damned to hell. If God doesn’t get through to you, then YOU are not reachable. It’s as simple as that!

I know this is a LONG post, but before I stop there is some more I want to say about the Word of Faith.

The salvation of Jesus Christ is NOT about all the things that the Lord gives to His people! And people who seek the Lord for what He can give them are seeking Him for all the WRONG reasons! A person cannot receive the salvation of Christ unless first he realizes that he is a wretched sinner who deserves HELL, not all of the worldly stuff you WoF people clamor after! It’s not about getting all the STUFF. It’s about giving up their lives for HIM and becoming His slaves. Somehow you Word of Faith people have gotten that all backwards. You think salvation is about getting, and getting more It’s just STUFF, material worldly stuff, it’s CARNAL and ungodly! You think that all your STUFF is proof that you are blessed. There is one thing that is promised for sure to all true followers of Christ and that is PERSECUTION!

You Word of Faithers only think of earthly “blessings”. But God does not promise us the things of this world. Think about it What would it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your own SOUL? Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Paula White, all of those hellish creatures on TBN – I can’t even name all of the pulpit pimps on TV (and maybe even your pastor too by the way) all of them have their reward. They have their “Best Life Now” But they can’t take any of it with them where they go

What about later on? The Bible speaks of the rich man and Lazarus. That kind of reminds me of the relationship between all these RICH pastors and their pimped followers. I believe they will suffer the same fate!

God does promise us SPIRITUAL prosperity, but you Word of Faith people only think on things of this world. When people like you give expecting your 100-fold return, you are giving to GET !!!! But the true Jesus tells us to give, expecting NOTHING in return. Do any of you honestly do that? Neither are we supposed to give out of NECESSITY or of COMPULSION … tell THAT to all of the pimp preachers on TV who incessantly compel us to give to their ministries ad nausea! It’s WRONG! If any of them really believed what they “preach” then all they really have to do is give and expect their 100-fold return and leave their audiences ALONE! But they won’t ever do that, because they really don’t believe what they preach either. Otherwise they would practice what they preach. YOU are profitable to them, and they fear that if they don’t ask YOU for it, YOU won’t give it to them. YOU are their cash cow, not GOD.

I am not attacking you, so don’t even go there. I am speaking from a life of experience. As I said, I was all bound up and hog-tied in all that Word of Faith crap for almost 30 YEARS!!! I gave, and I gave. I did all of the right things according to our famous PIMPS! It was nothing for me to fork over almost everything I had … tithes and offerings above and beyond what was expected, because I BELIEVED what the pimps said. I thought that I was doing what GOD wanted, and I suffered the consequences of that for far too long.

Like Joyce Meyer always says “give until it hurts!” — “give SACRIFICIALLY!” My intentions were good. And I had faith. But my faith was in a LIE! I was sincere and honest, but I was sincerely and honestly WRONG. I think that the Lord really knew that, and finally got through to me to just STOP IT! Like, HELL-OOOOO! If this thing still doesn’t work after nearly 30 years, guess what – IT DOESN’T WORK!!

I see myself all over all of you defenders of these people. I was just like ALL of you. And a couple of years ago, I would have been standing right there by your side. That’s why I say that ONLY THE LORD will ever get through to you. Nobody could have EVER gotten through to me so I know that.

I guess you can tell I am just a little bit angry about this lie that is continuously propagated by the deluge of televangelists spewing this prosperity vomit into living rooms across this country and bringing millions to hell with them. But maybe somehow the Lord can use my experience to help lead someone else out of this DELUSION you call faith. It is another gospel, and the “Jesus” you think you worship will someday be crystal clear to you. I just hope that you find out who it really is before it’s too late. REALLY! The Bible is the truth, and it contains the way to the real Jesus. This Word of Faith gospel is pure MADNESS !!!!!

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on the 17th June in Kazakhstan that the global financial crisis has reduced the differences between nations and created the opportunity to form a new world order

“I want to say that before the crisis, there were many countries which had greater significance than others, and some countries which had no significance at all,” he said through a translator.

“After the crisis, everyone has become similar. We have the possibility to create a new world order and together we should improve our relations.”

He and the Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, then said the United Nations should open up the UN Security Council to developing nations in an effort to bolster global security.

(Source here)