Hip-Hop, Idolatry & The Church Pt. 15

COGIC Mommas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be International Music Ministers. They Just Might Become Inspirational/Secular Singers & Create Videos That Display Their Sexuality!

Pastor Kim Burrell

Does anyone remember this statement?

"I’m dedicated to God, dedicated to ministry. I’m dedicated to the anointing of God that has on my life. I will never, ever compromise that indirectly or directly; and I’m dedicated to the International Music Department"..."But more than anything I fear God, so you have no worries about me doing anything that God is not pleased with. So I love you all so much and hopefully this will suffice for whatever or whoever needs it.” ~ Kim Burrell Feb. 2010

Well at least that's what PASTOR Kim Burrell did, and does. Yes, I said PASTOR. We all know that even pastors wear night clothes and have sexy apparel...but when you joined your church, did you expect to see your pastor in his/her DRAWS and unmentionables, displaying themselves in a sexually provocative manner on video? Well that is exactly what happened in one particular Church Of God In Christ and what is represented among the top leadership of praise and worship presenters in the Church Of God In Christ and we see it. We know what we're looking at and it is a MESS! I appreciate the attention that GCMWatch has brought to the issue.

The Philosophy Of The Music

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Watch This Pt. 7..."This Thing, I'm Gon'e Settle!"

In what will be the conclusion of a mini-series and seeming documentary on a form of clergy sexual misconduct, and modern idolatry, the Bishop Eddie Long and his accusers have come to what appears to be an amicable settlement satisfying the unconditional approval of his New Birth,  megachurch faithful and multiple extended followers all around the world.

"I am not gonna try this case in the media. It will be tried in the court of justice and dealt with in the court of justice"..."I've been accused, I'm under attack. I want you to know as I said earlier, I am not a perfect man; but this thing, I'm gon'e fight. And I want you to know one other thing, I feel like David, against Goliath but I got 5 rocks, and I haven't thrown one yet."

Privacy Is The Word

The bishop's words may have indicated "fight" and "court" but in the end, a court-battle was the last thing that the bishop wanted. As stated, the settlement avoided the disclosure of details and greater embarrassment on all sides. It appears to be a sealed affair at this point however, it is hard to tell as final agreements and conditions are being made (more than likely) for an undisclosed monetary amount and a measurable plan of action by either Bishop Long, the ministries involved or all parties. The young men, Anthony Flagg, Spencer LeGrande, Jamal Parris and Maurice Robinson , who brought the lawsuit may have been successful in their desire to stop Bishop Long from any further future perceived impropriety against others by exposing the bishop, but may have also, at the same time, lost credibility if monetary conditions are the only ones set forth as a result of the agreement.

As stated, we may never know the real requirements on either side of this agreement as it seems that the terms may actually be permanently closed. The lawyer for the plaintiffs B. J. Bernstein simply stated that there would be no commentary:

"...on this matter, now or in the future."

The Man Worship Continues 

When we first talked about this story in our podcast, "What Has The Church Become?" I explained that the worshipful nature of how the church received Long especially in light of the scope of the allegations, was disturbing. At the 8:00 AM Service, the crowd cheered and praised him for almost a full 2 minutes and greeted him as if he had conquered the last villain on earth.

The members of New Birth persist in a form of idolatry of the bishop. What we can readily observe is beyond pure support for a member of the Body of Christ. Many of them have entered into a place of unconditional acceptance where there is clearly no standard of accountability required for the bishop. In other words, some of them have basically told the bishop, "we don't care what you do, we'll follow, believe, and support you no matter what!" Neither of these sentiments are biblical, nor do they display the nature or love of God. Yes, God loves unconditionally, but unconditional acceptance breeds responsibility. Where there is no responsibility in response to unconditional love, there is only abuse and excess which will always lead to greater evil.  

The failure to understand the requirements of unconditional love is disturbing. Not just for New Birth, but for for all them that seek to define the difference between honoring their leader and standing by their church and worshiping an individual and exalting an individual over and above God, HIS standards and HIS precepts. Much of the commentary about the bishop from his members is almost indiscernible from worship directed toward God himself.   

For example, the Atlanta Journal Constitution  reports members to state:

As it pertains to the undisclosed nature of the settlement:

"I'm still steadfast,"..."I know what he's done in my life, and I know what he has done in the lives of others." ~ member Rasheedah Oliver

This sounds like an individual talking about the God of heaven. Unfortunately, this sister is talking about Eddie Long and rationalizing what he has done in her life and done in the lives of others to be the standard by which she is committed to the ministry and ultimately the bishop.  As it pertains to the possible improprieties and scope of the allegations themselves and private settlement, another member stated:

"It doesn't make me think he's guilty or anything,"..."I decided when this came out that I loved my pastor unconditionally. Even if he came out and grabbed the mic and said ‘I'm guilty,' it wouldn't change the way I feel about him. I wouldn't be angry like a lot of people are. You can't walk away after 15 years of being a member of a church."..."He's done 1,000 good things,"..."and he may or may not have done four really bad things." ~ member Kamelya Hinson

Once again, this sister states that it wouldn't matter to her if the bishop told everyone that he was guilty of all charges, she loves him and is attached to him without condition. She further states that no matter the 4 "really bad things" that he has done, he's done an insurmountable number of good things, therefore he and it is OK.

Now, the sad thing is that each of the 4 lawsuits contained over 100 counts of improper, unethical and ungodly behavior by the bishop against his victims. Most of the suits included coersion, misappropriation of funds and even one that claimed that the bishop not only performed oral sex on his victims, but that he also performed oral sodomy. This member skirts by some of the most low-life accusations that could be brought against a person and states that none of that matters, even IF he is guilty and reduces some over 400 counts of impropriety and clergy sexual misconduct to simply "4 bad things"...

This is unbelievable! This is IDOLATRY! This is having another God beside, before, and in the presence of, the ONE AND ONLY God of creation. Without doubt, this is against the word of the Lord God himself as he has outlined not only the 1st Commandment but the entire word of God as God mandates our object of worship to be toward him and him alone.  

Isaiah 45: 5-6 ~ "5-I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6-That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else."

Where Is The Time Of Reconciliation And Restoration?

2 Cor. 5:18-19 ~ "18-And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19-To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."

With the seriousness of the accusations against this pastor, which not only alleged ungodly behavior, but revealed severe and pervasive psychological issues for either the accusers (if lying) or the defendant (if accusations are true), one would think that at a very least there would be some time given and an extension for all sides and parties to heal. 

What really drives this point home is that obviously, the bishop in his initial response, did not deny the core allegations against his person or ministry. What he certainly did deny was the allegations of sexual abuse and manipulation levied against himself. Remember, that the allegations included the bishop used money and fame to manipulate the environment, flash material possessions to impress, and use his status to gain access to emotions and feelings that were otherwise off limits. The allegations were also that the bishop used his influence, title and position in a manner unbecoming of bishopric and pastoral leaders. 

However, the spokesperson for the church simply stated that the decision to settle as opposed to fight in court was made

"to bring closure to this matter and to allow us to move forward with the plans God has for this ministry." and that "This resolution is the most reasonable road for everyone to travel," 

What this means is that business regarding this was handled like any other business that should be handled to position the ministry to move on to the next grand adventure. Reconciliation and restoration were not goals of the settlement. "Moving forward with plans" was the whole objective. What this also could mean is that there was enough damaging information on both sides of the case that in the end it would more than likely resemble WW III as opposed to a church, a Christian leader and 4 abused and disappointed followers.

Either way, this is certainly much less than God would require of any and or all of us when confronted with this or similar issue.

Conclusion

We are thankful that this ordeal seems to be over, however neither the Body Of Christ, the modern mega church or any of the parties involved, nor members were edified as a result of this case. We were only brought to more of an open shame.

Some say, "why talk about it, let's move on". That sort of sentiment causes them that buy into it, to miss what God is trying to show us. I believe what he is saying is that our Idols are inadequate and anything built and established by flesh and materialism will not and cannot stand judgement of the Lord. Evidently, neither this pastor nor this church and ministry could stand the judgement of men, yet alone the judgement of God. However, believe me, he will judge. 

Revelation 20:12-13 ~ 12-And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13-And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."

Blessed!

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"Weaving Spiders, Come Not Here"

2 Kings 21:1-5 ~ 1-Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah. 2-And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 3-For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4-And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5-And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

Worship In The Grove

One of the ways that Israel violated the law of the Lord was in the worship other gods and idols. The first commandment of the Lord was not to worship or have any other gods before (in the presence of) the Lord himself.(Ex. 20:3, Deut. 5:7)  Since one of the attributes of God is omnipresence, the command was not to have any gods or idols period. What seemed to be a simple command in light of all the power that God had shown and displayed by delivering his people would soon be violated over and over until the idol of an Asherah (Deut. 16:21, 2 Kings 13:6) was placed outside of the temple to signify the cohort (female counterpart, partner or wife) of the God of Israel. In other words no matter how God has blessed the nation to rise from obscurity to a possession, they would trample back over the name of the Lord and even add to their sins through idolatry.

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When Plan "A" Fails

As noted in "False Prophet~Countdown To Apostasy", In what was one of the worlds most critical events of the church in modern times, the ministry of Harold Camping was once again,  and hopefully for all times, put to shame. Since we are all here May 22nd, 2011 Harold Camping has once again been PROVEN to be a liar and a false prophet. Having told Reuters prior to yesterday that there was no possible way that he was wrong about this one, he further stated that:

"There is no plan B"

In other words according to Harold himself, his doctrine was not meant to fail or miss its target date regarding the rapture. Having spent over $100 million to buy billboards and to promote his message, the false prophecy of the Camping rapture was one of the most expensive lies ever perpetuated in modern times. 

About the only thing worse than camping's manipulation of his followers, was the Bernie Madoff scandal which also devastated lives and bilked millions from unsuspecting families and individuals. Singlehandedly, Harold Camping and his avowed faithful followers have set back a rational approach to biblical prophecy and the message of Christianity to almost the dark ages, by promoting a lie of epic proportions, not just once or twice, but multiple times, and refusing to listen to correction in effort to prove superior revelation and servitude toward God. You see Harold rejected everyone else within Christianity even claiming that noone could be saved after 1994 but those who would listen to and follow him. 

Proverbs 16:18 ~ "Pride goeth before destruction, and 

an haughty spirit before a fall."

Be clear, the LIE is not that there will be a rapture. However, the Lie of Camping was that HE, in isolation, knew exactly when the rapture would occur and that according to him, all the rest of the church was rejected by God as God had revealed all the secrets to only him and his adherents.  

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False Prophet ~ Countdown To Apostasy

Matthew 24:34-38 ~ "34-Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35-Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36-But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37-But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38-For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 

Over the years there has been all kinds of predictions regarding the end of time and the end of the church age. In fact Here are a few dates and culprits of the end of the world in modern times: 

March 21st 1844:  In 1843, William Miller (1782-1849), a self-taught prophetic scholar from New York, predicted that based on his interpretation of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14 in relation to the appearance of Antiochus Epiphanies and the cleansing of the temple, that the world would end in his day. People sold all worldly possessions in expectation of this event 

Ellen G. White
1827-1915

Oct. 22, 1844:  When the March 21st date didn't pan out, some of Miller's adherents people got a hold of Miller's calculations and postulated that he had simply made a mathematical error and proposed this new date. 

1844 Ellen G. White, Prophetess and co-founder of the Seventh Day Adventist church, who was an avid follower of William Miller, claimed that Jesus had returned as Miller preached, only that he done so in an invisible manner making his presence known on earth. 

1844 Revision to 1874: Jonas Swendahl, the founder of The Second Adventist Church, proclaimed that the 1844 date was all wrong and set forth a new date of 1874. Needless to say that date came and went also. 

Into The 20th Century

Charles T. Russell
2/1852 ~ 10/1916

March 21st 1914: Former Presbyterian minister Charles Taze Russell, who would eventually split from the Second Adventists and found Zion's Watchtower & Tract Society, and ultimately the Jehova's Witness, claimed all prior dates to wrong. (Partially because the previous dates came and went), but also claimed that because God had spoken to him, and that all other churches and organizations were apostate  that all one needed to do was add 70 years to the original date. 

Charles would also claim that "Christians" were not the people of God and that Christianity should be rejected in favor of the direction of the true Witnesses of Jehovah's Watchtower.

“True, there have been those in times past who predicted an ‘end of the world,’ even announcing a specific date. …Yet, nothing happened. The ‘end’ did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing?  …Missing from such people were God’s truths and the evidence that he was guiding and using them.”—Awake!, October 8, 1968, p. 23 ** 

Remember, The Watchtower (while claiming to be the only AUTHENTIC voice of the Lord in the earth)

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Thoughts That Shaped A Nation

Nixon Leaving The White House After
Resignation From Office

I always had an affinity for former President Richard M. Nixon. I'm not sure if it was because he was one of the first political figures I came to know or become aware of when I was young, or whether it was because I felt that he had done something of some significance for me and or my family. It could have been that I just felt sorry for him because it appeared that he had been thrown out of office and treated unfairly.  I guess I should have know something from his nickname "Tricky Dick"...

Scandal & Exposure

It seems that the former President was fixated on recording certain conversations. These particular recordings were the back-breaker for his claimed innocence in what was called the "Water Gate Scandal". In this scandal, the President had evidently been involved in covering up a break in at the DNC headquarters at the Water Gate Hotel. The revelation that he had funnelled millions to cover up the incident, eventually led to not only his impeachment as President, but also his resignation from the position as the leader of the free world. While doing some research on another subject, I came across some statements that the dreaded and infamous White House tapes revealed and thought they were quite interesting for discussion as many of the sentiments from 1971 still linger today.

Although I don't suggest that these thoughts are a sum total of what the President and his advisers thought on the subject, but for a minute let's look at what the former leader of our nation thought about blacks, gays and immigrants. Please keep in mind that this was the same conversation one day.

Title Section Of Tapes:

ALL THE PHILOSOPHER KING'S MEN.

(President Richard Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and H. R. Haldeman)

(Brief Article) Harper's Magazine, Feb, 2000, by James Warren

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If Madonna Is Right...

>>>>> Say "HI" To Your Cousin <<<<<

On her 1984 album, Like A Virgin", Madonna introduced a song called "Material Girl" in which she claimed that she was simply a "material girl living in a material world". If her statements are true, there are many implications than can be drawn from it. Let's simply look at a few of them.

Rocks Do What Rocks Do

In the picture above, you see a rock. It is simply a rock. It is no more than a rock. It materially exists as a rock. It will always be a rock.

Rocks have no morals. Rocks have no values. You can call rocks good or evil, but they are nothing but rocks until you use them for a specific or certain purpose. Rocks have no value until someone, with a sense of values, ascribes values to them. In fact rocks have no thoughts nor do they have a mind. Rocks don't kill people, people kill people.

What makes one think that this rock or any rock will one day, over eons of time, and environmental pressure, develop DNA, gain consciousness, become self aware, gain a sense of values, start to think, develop a moral "ought" and ultimately make moral decisions, (settle down and have other, "little rocks") and further formulate opinions regarding abstract concepts such as logic, math and science?

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What Cleanses Us From Sin? Lessons On Atonement

"What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"

In a recent conversation with a friend and fellow pastor, I was compelled to share some insights on the atonement and under what basis and process that our sins are forgiven. In this dialogue, we look at Leviticus 16 as the backdrop for understanding what the bible calls the Day Of Atonement, or the day by Jewish tradition, the annual day when the sins of the nation would be forgiven. 

The Day Of Atonement or Yom Kippur was an annual day established in Lev. 23:26. The commands regarding the day and what sacrifices were supposed to take place were actually given in Lev. 16. This day,

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It Can Get Better, But Without HIM, It Will Get Worse!

Listen To CRI's Recent Radio Program With Joe Dallas Exposing This Issue

“Beginning with one inspiring video, Dan Savage used the web to create the It Gets Better project--a movement that has generated thousands of uplifting videos that give hope to teens.”

A Mixed Message, Gay Advocacy & Teen Bullying

Recently Google Chrome partnered with gay advocate and relationship advisor, Daniel Savage to promote the "It Gets Better Project". The campaign was developed in response to the recent rash of teen suicides and was designed to help give inspiration to gay teens by letting them know that as society evolves,  and as they get older, the world will become a more accommodating place for them as homosexuals and that they are not alone in the struggle for homosexual rights. In addition the campaign addresses teen bullying which has said to have been responsible for many of the suicide deaths. 

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Osama "Exactly When Did He Die?" bin Laden

See The New Video Added To The End Of This Story

Osama (or Usama) Bin Laden was said to have been killed 5/2/2011, by US Special Forces entering Pakistan. While I certainly applaud the bravery and committment to duty of those seeking to bring Osama to justice, I am left scratching my head as to what happened and who was actually killed. This is why?

According to FOX News report in 12/26/2001 Osama was already dead and had been dead for about 10 years: Here is the article in it's entirety just in case it gets deleted somehow:

Report: Bin Laden Already Dead

"Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader. 

"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.

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God Bless The Memory Of Dr. David Wilkerson

May the Lord bless the memory and continued works of the man who's faith caused him to place his life efforts into reaching those whom many had given up on. Please say a prayer for his family and the recovery of his wife.

Update: May 3rd 2011~ Dr. Wilkerson's funeral was held yesterday May 2nd. The following was his last blog entry:

To believe when all means fail is exceedingly pleasing to God and is most acceptable. Jesus said to Thomas, “You have believed because you have seen, but blessed are those that do believe and have not seen” (John 20:29).

Blessed are those who believe when there is no evidence of an answer to prayer—who trust beyond hope when all means have failed.

Someone has come to the place of hopelessness—the end of hope—the end of all means. A loved one is facing death and doctors give no hope. Death seems inevitable. Hope is gone. The miracle prayed for is not happening.

That is when Satan’s hordes come to attack your mind with fear, anger, overwhelming questions: “Where is your God now? You prayed until you had no tears left. You fasted. You stood on promises. You trusted.”

Blasphemous thoughts will be injected into your mind: “Prayer failed. Faith failed. Don’t quit on God—just do not trust him anymore. It doesn’t pay!”

Even questioning God’s existence will be injected into your mind. These have been the devices of Satan for centuries. Some of the godliest men and women who ever lived were under such demonic attacks.

To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights—and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, “I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident. It was no failure on your part. Hold fast. Let me embrace you in your hour of pain.”

Beloved, God has never failed to act but in goodness and love. When all means fail—his love prevails. Hold fast to your faith. Stand fast in his Word. There is no other hope in this world. ~ Dr. David Wilkerson 34/27/2011

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The "Superstition" Of Atheism

Current statistics rate the top beliefs systems by adherents as follows:

(1) Christianity: About 2.3 billion followers. About 50% of Christians are Roman Catholics.

(2) Muslim: About 1.5 billion followers. About 80-90% of Muslims are Sunni and 10-20% are Shia. The Shia-Sunni split in the Muslim religion occurred due to the dispute over the succession after the prophet Muhammad died in 632.

(3) Non-religious or atheist: About 1 billion people

(4) Hindu: About 900 million followers with the vast majority living in India.

(5) Buddhist: About 400 million followers. Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the vast majority of Buddhists live in Asia.

In America it is said that atheism and non-belief in God, has risen from about 900,000 in 2001 to approximately 1.6 Million persons currently. Please note that those who have no religious belief are also lumped in with those who are atheists. There is a big difference between one who does not believe that God exists and one who has no opinion either way.So the numbers are slightly skewed as a result. Over the same period of time, it is said that Christianity has lost about 15% of it's adherents. Reminder that atheism has actually existed longer than Christianity estimated back over some 2,400 years.

In an article in the USA Today forum Anthony DeStefano points out much of the preceding information and claims that although atheism appears to be successful in its current marketing efforts through books, conferences and other schemes, it is worth noting that the atheists themselves are engaging in potentially the biggest fraud in history, by making it seem that the existence of material (materialism) is all that there is and that all other experience stems from it.

There are two trains of thoughts to DeStefanos' argument. 1- That material observation (empiricism) can be deceiving and give us completely wrong ideas about material reality. He points out that at one time the "observable world" was  flat, and that although we don't observe that we're moving through space that we're actually hurling through space on a planet going millions of miles per hour. So material observation by itself fails.  Then 2- The "superstition" of atheism, as DeStefano calls it, is the belief that biological processes and the interaction of molecules account for immaterial realities such as love, passion, memories, philosophies, dreams, thoughts, consciousness and other abstract concepts such as logic. The facts are that none of these things have ever been extracted from a body or brain and placed under a microscope and examined.

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2012 A Change In Life As We Know It?

Revelation 16:8-9 ~ "8-And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9-And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory."

There are all kinds of theories floating around all over the place, but when we have credible scientists present two totally different views of the same evidence, we can better understand how the empiricism of science fails in the search for truth. Well we have two videos, one saying that we "may" suffer tremendously in 2010 and another that says don't worry about a thing.

The following is a total refutation of that and then some:



So which science should we believe?...I know, I'll believe the word of God! We all know something is coming, I certainly know Jesus is. What will we do with what we know and believe? It remains to be seen.

Submitted for your consideration.

Blessed!

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Paula White ~ "You betta recognize!"

For the latest adventure in the saga of Paula White go HERE

So said the sheep to the shepherds of the flock:

Evangelist Paula White

"[Bishop] Randy, Pastor Paula, give me a word, marry me, bury me, pay these bills, prophesy. Why aren't you doing this? Why isn't it like it used to be? We don't like the music. We leaving the church because you didn't know our names and you didn't come have lasagna with us,"

Being a world famous evangelist must be really something else. From what I can read and hear from those who are of the class, it's froth will all kinds of problems as Pastor Paula White presented at the 2011 Pastors & Leaders Conference in Orlando, FL, themed “What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You” hosted by her mentor Bishop T.D. Jakes. 

Proclaiming the message "I Got My Bounce Back", Paula took the time to lay out the fact that everything was going well in her life until pressures like pastoring, the government and other challenges to her lifestyle became part of the equation. She summed up the good times like this:  

"I'm living heaven on earth. Life cannot get any better."..."I'm above the struggle and beneath the radar. I love my husband and my husband loves me. And we do. The kids are doing good. And millions of dollars in the bank. Not sick,"

From her statements, this was a time when she and her former husband Bishop Randy shared an over $600,000 joint annual income from the work of ministry and lived in an over $2 Million home paid for in part by a tax free church allowance that probably exceeded $100,000 ultimately. (these numbers are probably low) Then after the government began to investigate these expenditures and what certainly appeared to be a lavish lifestyle,she thought this:

 "You can handle something if it's for a short season. But how do I praise Him when my days turn into weeks and my weeks turn into months and my months turn into years and my years turn into decades?" she said. "How do I praise Him under that continual pressure? That kind of pressure wears you out."

According to White, all of this led to health problems such as a stroke, a midlife meltdown, compassion fatigue, Rx drug addictions, and "in a really weak moment", divorce from her husband Bishop Randy and a host of other personal issues.  There was even a hint of an extramarital relationship between she and Evangelist Benny Hinn who was caught in holding hands with White in Rome on July 13th 2010. Although White admits that nothing happened as a result of this Hinn also followed up with this in a message delivered on July 30th 2010:

“A friendship did develop,”...“Hear this: No immorality whatsoever. These people out there are making it sound like we had an affair. That’s a lie.” ~ Benny Hinn

Prior to this (Feb. 2010) Pastor Hinn did a special segment on his TV show outlining the divorce from his wife found HERE, of course there could have been no affair, because neither of them were married at the time (supposedly). How did I know that was mere wishful thinking? According to other sources, Hinn WAS married at the time which invoked a Morality Lawsuit by Strang publications. So, under NORMAL circumstances,  what would there have been to be ashamed of? It seems that SIN is the only thing that some people will hide. If this relationship wasn't inspired by sin, then why not display it. These were two otherwise singe people, were they not? However, that's yet another story.

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Lee Strobel, The Resurrection Took Me From Atheist To Apologist

Christian apologist Lee Strobel recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal in response to an atheists defense of why he was an atheist. The problem is that Lee was also a practicing atheist until he went on a two years search to undermine the facts of Christianity in effort to debunk the faith of his wife.

Lee decided to bump the small things and go straight to the heart of the Christian faith...The Resurrection. You see Lee knew that if the resurrection was false, then all of Christianity fails and Jesus is no more than a man if not only a myth in the minds of those seeking a world apocalypse. After 2 years on this search Lee surrendered to Christ and found a faith so vibrant that since 1981 he's been in full gear trying to share it with everyone that would listen.

How could this be from a trained professional journalist at the height of his secular career and trained in legal issues and evidences? What was offered so great that a person would risk all of his life and take courage to find something so vibrant and, living and true that he would be consumed by merely presenting the facts and helping others to discover the joy that he had found? 

What changed Lee's mind? It was the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

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The "Good Book" The Bible Of Humanism

Shortly after beginning this blog, I referenced the problems that our nation has experienced and the congruent rise of Secular Humanist agenda in The Legacy Of Atheism's Queen. Well, I must reference that agenda again as what I was warning of then is being promoted and  appearing before our very eyes. Remember, the agenda of secualr humanism? Let me remind you: 

Dr. Paul Kurtz

"That is why a negative atheism that seeks simply to destroy religion, without providing a positive agenda, will not in my judgment get very far. The wider platform for human progress as part of a New Enlightenment needs, I submit, to advocate secularism in the above three senses: (1) the separation of religion from the state; (2) the humanization of values that satisfy the deeper interests and needs of human beings; and (3) the decline of religious practice, entailing the growth of the Human City in place of the City of God."

 Remember this is what Paul Kurtz, the the director of the Council For Secular Humanism says. He maintains that his group is NOT an atheist group, even though most of the leadership, including himself, are atheists...The objective of the group is to spread the message of materialism aka naturalism. Now they have a new tool to spread their message.

The New Bible & Gospel According To Humanism

Anthony Graylings book called "The Good Book" is currently being promoted to support the efforts and the agenda of materialism and materialists everywhere. In a book styled after the Bible, which is known as the best selling book in history, the "Godo Book" as it is called comes replete with chapter, verse and language similar to the King James Version of the Bible. Simply put, it is a Bible without God and one that is centered on man and naturalism. 

Genesis 1:1 ~ "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

The Good Book ~ “All things take their origin from earlier kinds: Ancestors of most creatures rose from the sea, some inhabitants of the sea evolved from land-dwelling forefathers.”

According to the Christian Post the Good Book, contains several books (including Genesis, Wisdom, Parables, Lamentations, Consolations, Proverbs, and Acts) which are edited to have numerical chapters and verses and the text has been printed in two columns with a white dividing line down the middle. Instead of man being a product of God, man is a product of his own self awareness. There is no original sin, as everyone is good without God and the work is geard toward pluralism: 

Dr. Anthony Grayling

"There's no command there to believe, to accept, to obey. There's no promises of rewards or threats of punishment,"...

According to Grayland the motivation for the "Good Book" came together in part because because of the success that he attributes to the Bible on the way it was put together, even while admitting that the Bible seems to be more of patchwork than anything else. Here's what he said:

[The Bible parts seems to be] "woven into one another, modified, arranged [and] organized" ..."clumsily edited."..."The patchwork of the Bible becomes apparent when you step aside from its religious message and just look at it as a historical work which emerged over a long period of time by many hands,"

So in response to all that clumsy and patchwork success that the Bible represents, Grayling has promoted the words and expressions of people like Aristotle, Confucius, Darwin, and Lord Chesterfield even stating that if the writers of the Bible, the prophets and holy men of scripture had gone to and known these men before writing  that "they would have made a different book and maybe there would have a different history as a result."

The plan is to create a children's version and even a pocket sized version so that the message of humanism can be learned, taken and shared with everyone of all ages.

Blessed Apostle Peter, do you think the church realizes what is really going on???

2 Peter 1:16- 21 ~ "16-For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17-For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18-And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 19-We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20-Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21-For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

Thank you Apostle, for allowing the Lord to use you just so that we can be blessed today!

Blessed!

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Easter & The Resurrection, Debunking Novel Speculations

Don't forget to read:

The Resurrection, A Historical Fact

As we approach Easter 2011 as always we are confronted with individuals, some believers and some non-believers who assert that the Christian celebration of Easter is nothing more than an extension and reproduction of pagan festivals and ritualism of ancient times. While there are some pagan elements within almost every secular/Christian celebration that occurs today, the facts are that the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus doesn't reproduce, imitate or infringe upon paganism.

The Name Easter

One of the first myths to dispel is the name and the origin of the name that we use for Easter. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, in Latin, Easter is Festa Paschalia (plural because it is a seven-day feast), The 7 day feast to which the Latin word refers is the Pascha or Passover as it was known in New Testament times. This Latin phrase, not the related and associated German phrase, became the basis for the French Pâques, the Italian Pasqua, and the Spanish Pascua. Also related are the Scottish Pask, the Dutch Paschen, the Danish Paaske, and the Swedish Pask

{Special note regarding the German phrase: Another idea involves the history of the Frankish church (Germans who settled in Rome during the fifth century). Their celebration of Christ's resurrection included the word "alba", which means white (the color of the robes worn during the resurrection festival). Alba also meant sunrise. So when the name of the festival was translated into German, the sunrise meaning, ostern, was selected, likely in error. One theory is that Ostern is the origin of the word Easter.}

What's more is that the pagan celebration of the Great Mother goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe was known as "Easter" was named after goddess Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). However this practice was was a product of anglo-saxon descent and a development far too late to have any biblical significance. In

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The lion Of Atheism Pt. 2 ~ "Everyone Is An Atheist"

In debate circles often atheist ( or anti-theist) Christopher Hitchens hails that even Christians are atheists. Even stating the following:

Atheist Christopher Hitchens

"Everyone in this room is an atheist, there's not one of you who isn't. You don't believe in the temple of Diana at Ephasus. You don't believe in the Egyptian Thor. You don't believe in Oden. You don't believe in Quetzalcoatl, y'u-know the other Aztec gods. None of you do. You're all atheists so far as that's concerned. Some of you believe that one of these is OK and that it's true. I just say, I'll go you one better and say I'll be an atheist and I'll be a consistent one." 

With false statements like these in debates, Hitchens tries to do a number of things. First, establish credibility for the claim that atheism is some type of default when it comes to non-preferred religious claims in general. Second, he is throwing a dig at the religious basically claiming "theism-hypocrisy". This is the thought that the religious are inconsistent and bias in their belief system only willing to affirm their particular view of God. Third, it seems that he is communicating, like Richard Dawkins who uses the same type of shoddy reasoning, that Christians, who obviously don't believe in multiple gods or the gods of other religions, are also intellectually dishonest and faulted for not admitting that the only thing that separates them from being atheists is their belief in their particular God. The question is, is any part of his statement, and what is ultimately drawn from statements like these, true? I don't believe so. Here's why:

• Theism is described as the belief that at least one God exists.

• Atheism is described as the belief that no God exists.

Since Christians claim that one God exists they cannot be an atheist under any possible construct even when rejecting the god all other religions and faiths. Out of 1,000 gods the rejection of 999 of them has no bearing on the argument and cannot be rendered as some sort of proof, that one is an atheist. If a person believes that just one God exists he or she cannot possibly be an atheist in any manner or form as atheism is the rejection of ALL God belief. Not nearly all God belief.  

In other words Hitchen's statement is a logical contradiction. It is impossible that a person is an atheist when they agree, affirm or believe that at least one God exists. Further it is intellectual

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The lion Of Atheism Pt.1 ~ "I like surprises"

"Well, I ought never to say there's nothing would change my mind. So, shall I just say no evidence or argument has yet been presented yet that will change my mind. But I like surprises."

Christopher Hitchens is a person I have deemed to be the "lion of atheism" because he has roared so vehemently against God and against religion over the last 8 to 10 years that it has been heard all around the world. He has had many great and bold things to say against God. As you see in the piece, this man has taken secular and religious individuals to task and called for a new order of moral sense based on, if anything, anti-theism. His tenor is not just the non-belief in God, but the non-belief and repudiation of religion and faith in general. 

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Atheist SmackDown

Physicist Dr. Lawrence Krauss 

Philosopher Dr. W.L. Craig

"Accidents Happen All The Time" 

~ Physicist Dr. Lawrence Krauss

"All Accidents Have A Cause" 

~ Philosopher Dr. William L. Craig

In yet another in the series of Atheism's Greatest Hits, Biblical Scholar and Philosopher Dr. William Lane Craig debated Scientist and Physicist Dr. Lawrence Krauss at N.C. State University on Wed. March 30, 2011 sponsored by Campus Crusade For Christ. The debate topic was "Is There Evidence For God?" 

Using Bayesian Probability Theory as a base Dr. Craig offered 5 basic arguments:

• The existence of contingent beings
• The origin of the universe
• The fine tuning of the universe for intelligent life
• Objective moral values and duties in the world
• Historical facts of /the resurrection of Jesus Christ

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Pseudepigrapha. Did The Bible Authors Lie?

In another of a series of apostate moments designed, in my opinion, to drive books sales, Dr. Bart Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, recently stated the following in a Huffington Post article:

Professor Bart Ehrman

"Many of the books of the New Testament were written by people who lied about their identity, claiming to be a famous apostle -- Peter, Paul or James -- knowing full well they were someone else. In modern parlance, that is a lie, and a book written by someone who lies about his identity is a forgery."

Since Dr. Ehrman delivers such a convoluted picture of the study of ancient biblical historiography, I feel that an examination of his comments are in order. It seems that Dr. Ehrman is continuing to take circumstances that most scholarly literary historians are well aware of and have adequately addressed over the years, raising certain issues to an overblown and disproportionate level, and building on many modern conspiracy theories that seem to surround the biblical texts in general.  Ehrman builds upon the discredited foundation of his mentor Dr. Walter Bauer, whose theories of multiple Christianities first century AD have been handily refuted. For more information on this and a better understanding of the assumptions behind the scholarship of individuals like Ehrman, please obtain the book, "The Missing Gospels, Unearthing The Truth Behind Alternative Christianities" by Dr. Darrell Bock Nelson Books 2006. 

In his written works Dr. Ehrman seems to be somewhat of a fatalist asserting that history can't be known for certain, even stating that the words and deeds of the historical Jesus may never be known because we don't have the original texts of scripture. If these arguments are not patently false, they are at least refuted quite adequately over the years, both in print and by debate. Of course I have addressed some of his assertions in previous articles HERE and  HERE, but Dr. Ehrman continues to offer more and more sensational notions at every turn. It is that sensationalism that he often implores as he seeks to sell and promote books, through seeking to shake and disturb the faith of millions who have come to know and trust in the historical biblical narrative. It is for that reason primarily that I DO NOT ENDORSE UNC Chapel Hill Religious Studies as a place of consideration for biblical students seeking to received a fair, balanced religious education. It seems that one that corrects or challenges his arguments will probably fail his class and waste tuition funds.

Statements such as Dr. Ehrman's describe what scholars who study ancient literature call Pseudepigrapha (Gk: "falsely attributed")or literature written by a person other than whom the writing is ascribed. Similar to what we may call a "Ghost Writer" in modern times, Pseudepigrapha goes a step further when the author attaches or assigns a name of a popular or powerful figure, past or present, in order to establish credibility for the document among a target group of individuals. Dr. Ehrman's argument appears to be that the attribution of famous names was done to New testament documents in order to deceive the readers into believing and  following practices which may not have been intended to be followed or that were not a part of the original message of Christianity as taught by those very same leaders. As we will see, he is among an ultra fringe shred of scholars who adopt this position in part because theories regarding this have been adequately refuted over the years. I believe Ehrman takes advantage of the new generation biblical critic who has never taken a look at this issue and assesses the bible and historiography ignorantly.

From A Historical Perspective, Did Pseudepigrapha Exist?

Follow me as we lay a little foundation:

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