This is the very first post I did. I am revising all initial posts with scenery as I am able.
PHB. 10/24/2008
I must say that the comments regarding Bishop Thomas Weeks III, Prophetess Juanita Bynum, Randy & Paula White and the circumstances involved, go from extremely good to extremely bad. I might as well add my little 2 cents.
First of all, everyone NEEDS to talk about what happened at length. Please stop this "touch not my anointed" commentary because it's taken TOTALLY out of context. We as a church have the right and God given call to discern between right and wrong, good and bad. Paul said in I Cor. 6 that we (Saints)are going to judge the world and angels we should be able to judge the things that pertain to this life. That judgement is not a condemnation to hell, but rather a discernment of truth, right and wrong. Yes, we should pray...but that praying SHOULDN'T have started with Juanita Bynum and Paula White.
We should pray because the Bible says that men ought to ALWAYS pray and not faint (Luke 18:1). Not because Bishop Weeks III beat up his wife. 
Bishop Weeks, Prophetess Juanita, and Evangelist Paula were CELEBRATIZED and caught up in MONEY, MATERIAL AND FLESH. This didn't just start, it's happened for a number of years and partakers of their ministries have contributed to their current situation. The facts are these:Juanita was the main money maker at almost EVERY conference at which she spoke for over the last 10 or so years.
Bishop Weeks, Prophetess Juanita, and Evangelist Paula were CELEBRATIZED and caught up in MONEY, MATERIAL AND FLESH. This didn't just start, it's happened for a number of years and partakers of their ministries have contributed to their current situation. The facts are these:Juanita was the main money maker at almost EVERY conference at which she spoke for over the last 10 or so years.
Paula was a similar money ticket. It's reported that the nights they were featured on the programs that offerings usually exceeded $100,000. They made the budgets in most places. Church leaders who have used these women as CASH COWS must repent for not assisting them to place a healthy perspective on ministry and build their HOMES AND MARRIAGES FIRST... Churchgoers, such as many reading, MUST REPENT for exalting Flesh and people and giving them more authenticity than either of them were due...and Gospel Celebrity seekers MUST REPENT for having ANOTHER God and not humbling themselves to the true and living God...As with Jim and Tammy, Jimmy Swaggart
, Clarence McClendon, Jim Jones and countless others, our folly and silliness in NOT demanding accountability in leadership has set the stage for further problems, while we use cliché’s such as "this too shall pass" and "something good will come from this". Get real, get spiritual and most of all GET BACK TO THE BIBLE...I am a Pentecostal believer and preacher for over 26 years of my 43 year life. Pentecostalism or the style of ministry IS NOT the problem. FLESH, MATERIALISM AND CLICHE'S ARE. The good that will come from this is when we, as a church, as families, and as married folk, talk about everything that has led to this point, discover the ugly truths of how PREACHERS can be on TV, ministering to others while they're creepin', beatin' women, writin' books, drivin' nice cars, buying bigger homes, collecting excessive gifts from the poor, and doing seemingly all the things that makes us feel good about our leader.
What's more, we must discover why we feel that those sort of excesses are essential and necessary for our church leadership, while AIDS ravishes our community, poverty rapes our families, bad education destroys our community dreams, and a new subculture, with its own new standards of morality, lives within our homes destroying the lives of many of our children...Yes, while we're talking, we must discover everything. Tell the whole story.
Bishop Weeks has NO EXCUSE for hitting a woman (outside of protecting his own life)NONE of them have a right to continue ministry as they've done until they have taken time to settle some issues, restore themselves, and get a new focus and direction...I will not accept this "God will heal me as I heal others" NO! These situations are too visible and have affected too many people...It's my prayer that all of the leaders involved will humble themselves, retreat into their systems of accountability, allow godly men and women to oversee their current churches for a season, and come back with clear, forthright repentance and set forth greater measures to safeguard against this happening again. So church, TALK, TALK, TALK AND PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. We must do both to get a grip on this and MANY other situations and circumstances that have invaded our churches, seduced the minds of God's people, and weakened many of our relationships with Christ...
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Luke 12:48(b) "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:"
Let's get this thing RIGHT. We may NOT ever be on TV, but we can certainly offer VALUE to the Body of Christ and the communities that we serve by simply LIVING RIGHT!!! (Thank God for Jim Bakker at least he had the spiritual nerve to admit his error. God bless him.)
Blessed!
I think the bottom line is, people are human, and to never exalt anyone to a place where you feel they are perfect.
ReplyDeleteSome ministers, pastors, preachers, evangelists, hate on those ministers that appear on TBN; almost hoping for the day a Bynum or Dollar will be caught in some type of mess.
It's my prayer that the Body of Christ will be unified: support one another, pray for one another, cry with one another, and finacially build the Church of the Living God.
Can't help the AIDS patients with no money, can't reach the Hip Hop generation with no money, and you sure can't win souls with a $0 budget, and a building fund of 30 years.
Let's be real, it takes money to run the ministry, but of course it should be kept in perspective.
-A Minister from Detroit, MI
First, I would like to commend the originator of this site for having the courage to provide opportunity for comments on such a heart touching subject. You are obviously well-versed, and it is my hope that those who post here will leave some type of encouragement for all.
ReplyDeleteWhile people will always be human, Christians are those who follow Christ, and are following from different levels of life. Christ is, and will always be the HEAD. No body has a monopoly on Him, although He is available for anyone to get as much as they would like from Him.
We are not judges, but those who follow Him have certainly been given the authority to be Holy Spirit Fruit Inspectors. A close look at the letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the chruch at Galatia will reveal the characteristics of that fruit.
This post is by no mean meant to attack anyone, but simply to support the Scriptures, and to say that regardless to who falls, the Word of God continues and shall continue to stand.
When we look at Spiritual Gifts, we know that God did place them in the Church, the Books of Ephesians and Corinthians will validate that fact. However, when the title of "Phophet" or "Prophetress" is used, it is natural to seek definition by referring to the Scriptures. Through the Old Testament writer, Amos it was spoken "...surely, the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth His secrets to His servants, the prophets..."[3;7) According to Scripture, God's Prophets (Prophetress) know of things to come before anyone else. While many may not believe, those gifts remain in the body today. Reference is also given in the New Testament through the description of Spiritual Gifts. The fruit will always spring from the root.
Moreover, when we refer to Proverbs 3: 5-6 we find "...Trust in the Lord with all thine (your) heart; and lean not unto thine (your) own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy (your) path. When we follow these instructions, we save ourselves much heartache, pain, and frustration. We are the children of those we obey. The Gospel of John points this out so beautifully well.
There is no need for anyone to be jealous of anyone, or wait for anyone to fall because reaping and sowing is very real. What is sent out, will return. God wants to bless everyone, rather than being jealous and waiting for someone to fall, time should would be better spent learning and obeying the ways of God. There is much more I would like to say on this topic, however, it is my hope
that what I have written has blessed all who reads.
Oh, one word about the office of Bishop, we know from Scripture that a Bishop is one who rules his home, apt to teach,...etc. The letters to the Chruch at Corinth points this out very well.
In summation, lets learn to be wise as serpants, harmless as dove and if we must be gophers, lets go for Christ. He gives His blue print through His Word.
No doubt about it, there is a severe need to stop idolizing people, and do an individual, sincere study of the Word of God. While we do need each other, it seems that we are living in a time where people are depeding on other people too much. Yes, the ministries mentioned here represent a type of failure. What happened to the Scriptural declaration as spoken by Christ Himself: "I know my sheep, my sheep know me, and a stranger they will not follow", and "I will have no other God before me", as declared by God Himself. The declarations still stand, but have we become so "caught up" with worshiping creatures that we fail to see the creator?? As a student of World Religions, I spoke with a Hindu most recently. When asked why they worship so many Gods, the reply was: "It is because we know there is something bigger than ourselves". We as Christians have the truth, we have been taught and know exactly who is to be worshipped, we know where true freedom lies. However, many are past due for accepting true freedom.
ReplyDeleteThe three ministries mentioned on this blog have done much to help others, however, only Jesus Christ shed His blood for God's creation. When we identify as being covered by Him, be not deceived, everything that is not covered will be exposed. The beautiful thing is, as long as there is life, there is room for redeption. So, I whole-heartedly agree with the title of this blog: GET RIGHT CHURCH, LETS GO HOME.
AMEN! The word tells saints we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. That means we have to stay close to God and stop following after ministries. We must know God for ourselves so that when a high-profiled pastor/evangelist falls off the straight & narrow we don't become so disillusioned that we stop believing in the reality of our salvation, simply because that high profiled minister fell short.
ReplyDeleteWe all need God and in these perilous times, more than ever, we better have a spirit of discernment and stop forming cliques--"no I'm a follower of Bynum..."no, I don't like her; I prefer Noel Jones!" Naw, how about you better prefer JESUS because he's the only one that can save our soul!!
I have read this post and I agree with much of it, I disagree with some of it. I will only deal with the things I disagree with. I disagree with your view of "Holy Hip Hop" - do I call it hip-hop, no I call it gospel rap, but Daniel didn't mind people calling him a magician and a chaldeean or Maji. I truly believe that a group of people in HHH have the right look on the gospel and are liken to modern day Paul's - standing up against the traditions of men and and making a difference between culture and sin (sin is still sin and easily defined). If there is sin in a culture, God is against the sin - as we should be. If it's just a cultural difference - God doesn't care as long as sin is not involved. If we weren't hypocrites ourselves - we would all be eating kosher foods as James commanded all Gentile converts to do (but James was trying to compromise between Paul and Converted Scribes wasn't he).
ReplyDeleteWe should do a lot more Bible study instead of just taking the parts that fit our purposes. I believe in having a Holy Ghost party or festival (nothing wrong with a festival in the Bible - orgies - also called reveling however,are sinful). As an african american, I have learned much of what we do in church has little to do with the Holy Ghost, and more to do with being spiritual (as in worshiping spirits - brought into christianity by our slave ancestors - tight but it's right). Lets check our own customs and see whats wrong there. Or do we love them that much?
Well, well, well, Thank God for the last comment. This is America and I'm glad to let you have your say. Youalso pose some interesting thoughts, however I couldn't let this just go:
ReplyDelete"Holy Hip Hop" - do I call it hip-hop, no I call it gospel rap,"
There ain't NOTHING "Gospel" about men or women grabbin' themselves on stage, exalting themselves through song, blang-blangin', glorifying guns, sexual promiscuity, flat out worldly dancin' and trying to attach Jesus name to it.
That's not cultural, that's not scriptural, that's just plain ole stipid, and dishonoring to God. The reason I say it like that is because most of these fellas and ladies have mad concious decisions to do what they do (in their actions) for money, associations and fame. NOT the gospel.
There just still ought to be a difference between clean and unclean Lev. 11:47, II Cor. 6:17-18. and any of us who live serving two masters have done the body of Christ a disservice, but even that won't go without it's reward.
Thank you for your commentary, please continue to post.
Great subject. I have been playing around with the idea of the comment structure recently.
ReplyDeleteI think now Internet user are increasing day by day so company are preferring online marketing now.
I think that Marketing Online is still the best choice, cause we have high ROI´s with less investments, especially with SEO.
Thanks
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degree home
Ephesians 4:1-3,19 says "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace...Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed."
ReplyDeleteI think these verses make it clear what ministers (as well as members of the Body of Christ for that matter) should be focused on. We should endeavor by the Grace of God, to live a life worthy of our calling. Although we should not shoot our wounded, who have fought faithfully in the heat of battle, we should not call wrong right either.
However, what do you do when a minister is independent? He or she would have to be humble enough to sit him or herself down and seek godly counsel. Yet, I think that the limelight and other benefits of ministry prevent them form humbling themselves.
I think that people like to see their ministers with lots of "bling" and other wordly trappings because, some of us live vicariously through our ministers. It is also why when a minister falls, it is so painful. Some of us also live vicariously through our minister's righteousness, when in fact, as christians, we are covered by the robe of Christ's Righteousness.
I hope that we can achieve a mature and balanced perspective as a Body and pray for our ministers as we pray for ourselves.
I recently began to reflect on this post because it is among the most frequently viewed on this site.
ReplyDeleteI thank every ready from every country that reads and prays for me, us and what we're going through as a Christian community worldwide.
I'm even thankful for the critics of Christianity, because I believe that all you want to see is someone live the life that we sing, preach and pray about with conviction, and actually stand for equity, justice and right.
So as I reflect, I want you to know that I appreciate the fact that everyone who reads shares this little space in time with me. I'm so glad we've crossed paths and I pray that you have been and will be benefitted in some way by reading this blog.
THANK YOU!