If you remember, several months ago I pointed out that Joel (Willow Boy) Osteen, when interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News, said he believes Mormons were Christians. After all, he said, drawing from his deep theological well, “…when he says that Christ is his savior, to me that’s a common bond.”

I just ran across a James White YouTube posting speaking of Mormonism. He gives a really clear thumbnail presentation of the difference between Mormonism and Christianity. Give it a listen by clicking on the YouTube link below. It’s about 13 minutes long.

And in all of this, note that Mormons use the very same words we use. But they pour a completely different meaning into those words.

Christian? I think not! And I for one, don’t wonder about it at all. They are not.

Doctrine is important. Know what you believe or you’ll end up like Jon Paden when you grow up.

Know how to defend what you believe and why. You’ll be a better Christian for it.

Christian Living | 9 Comments »

A tip of the hat to Amy for spotting this “Devotional” for me.

This is a posting from Ken “I’ve Got Too Many Jets” Copeland’s website. It’s a little long, but please read it. I believe it gets to the crux of the Prosperity and prosperity-type Mega-church issues.

A covenant of grace. That’s what you and I have with Almighty God. If you could truly grasp the significance of that, you’d never be the same again.
What exactly is a covenant of grace? It’s a relationship of favor that gives you access to someone else’s power.
An illustration of a covenant of grace is the covenant the old Sicilian “family” members have with the “godfather” of the “family.”
In that group, a weak person might come in and ask the Don for a favor. The Don would say, “I will grant this favor and I will ask a favor of you, and when that time comes, I will collect it.”
Once that was said, the weak person would become excited. Suddenly he knew he would no longer have this problem because anyone who tried to rough him up would now have to face the godfather, the one with all the power. Suddenly, that little guy’s attitude would change. He would leave the presence of the head of the family in the full assurance that he didn’t have a thing to worry about. He was no longer small and powerless in his own mind. He had gained favor (grace) with the powerful.
He’d walk out thinking, “Everything is handled. All I have to do now is whatever the Don asks me to do–and the Don knows I don’t have anything, so whatever he asks me to do, he’ll provide the wherewithal to do it.”
That’s grace. God’s willingness to enter into blood covenant with you and give you everything He has in exchange for everything you have.
He took your sin to give you His righteousness. He took your sickness to give you His health. He took your poverty in order to meet all your needs according to His riches in glory. Whenever He asks you to do something, He provides everything you need to carry it out.
The great Jehovah, God of heaven and earth, is your Father God. Can you understand that? If you’re under the blood of Jesus, you’ve been made a covenant child of the most powerful being in the universe.
Dare to take your place in the family!

I want to look at some parts of this monstrosity of arrogance and presumption and see if we can see why the Prosperity Gospel tends to be one of arrogance, greed and selfishness. Along the way, we may even discover why most of these folks seem to view God as their own cosmic servant.

That’s grace. God’s willingness to enter into blood covenant with you and give you everything He has in exchange for everything you have.

Notice what Copeland says here. We enter into a blood covenant with God and He gives me everything He has in exchange for everything I have. If you look earlier, you’ll see some of the things don Copleando says God will give us. They include: His righteousness, His health, His riches in glory in exchange for our sins, our sickness and our poverty (physical poverty).

But look at what the Bible says:

Colossians 3:1-3
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

See anything here that would indicate I’m big stuff in the world? Anything to indicate I should expect riches in place of poverty, or health in place of sickness? Nope, no glory as far as the world is concerned. No guarantee of health, wealth, or power. We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, but it’s not a suit I managed to buy on my own. It’s clothing God gave to a man (me) who was completely incapable of getting it for myself.

So once the heavenly Godfather makes this covenant with us, what can we expect? Well, according to the God the Father’s Son we can expect the following:

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!…Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:24 -28

Reading this, do you get the idea that Christians should expect a lot of favor from the world? Or that we are going to be treated better than Jesus has been treated? Don Copleando has a twisted idea of what it means to be a Christian. And the don, as the mentor of such pimps as Creflo, Price, and the rest has been very effective in moving the Gospel from a focus on dying to the world, to a focus of seeking to get as much from the world as possible.

They have turned the Gospel upon its head, removing Jesus Christ as the center and replacing him with our greed, our lusts for material treasures, and a desire to be important in the world.
Indeed I am the child of the most powerful person in the universe. But what does this mean? Looking again at Scripture, we see the following:

“Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution,or famine,or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For you sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

Again, does this sound like the life of someone who has a Godfather to make sure no one hassles him? Anything but. Rather it sounds like the man who is learning to trust God the Father in living his life, in growing as Christ works His will in my life. It sounds like the man who has learned to die daily, to deny himself, and to surrender himself to the will of God, however that will may play itself out in his life.

Don Copleando is presumptuous. He presumes to tell God what he is to experience in his life. He presumes to tell God what He is to give him. He presumes to tell God that as His child, he has rights. He fails, or refuses, to recognize that we have no rights in Christ. We who would be obedient to Him, are to consider ourselves his bond slaves, willing to suffer even as He suffered. Again, don Copleando turns the whole thing on its head.

But it’s what makes him so attractive and it’s what made him the Alpha Pimp among the prosperity pimps. After all, who wants to hear “die to self”? Who among those invested in the flesh, are particularly interested in being told that they are to live for Christ rather than themselves, to carry their own crosses (Luke 14:27), or to hate our life in order to keep it to eternal life (John 12:24, 25)?

Stay away from this man and those men like him. They prostitute the Gospel for their gain. They twist it such that what they preach isn’t even recognizable as the Gospel.

Kenneth Copeland, Pulpit Pimps | 27 Comments »

I had forgotten about Reverend James L. White. It must be a sign of aging.

He’s Kierny, Copeland, Fast Eddie, Manning, and Paula White and Rev. Ike all in one. He just dares to say the word - MONEY.

And I think “Boom Boom” Parker is the choreographer for the singers.

A tip of the hat to Anonymous for bringing it back.

Pulpit Pimps | 9 Comments »

I sit and I mind my business. I try to leave people alone. I even try to listen to some of you when you whine and complain about the posts I write. A couple of weeks ago, some reader complained that I must be bitter because I KEEP on writing about First Baptist Church of Glenarden on the Kettering, pastored by John K. Jenkins. And I listened. I thought “Maybe I am covering this pimp too much. Maybe, just maybe I should leave him alone for a bit.”

Then I made the mistake of visiting his site. You know, just looking around to see what they were doing for New Years. And then I saw it – evidence that far from mentioning him too often, I am not sounding the alarm enough.

A question for you: What do these three people have in common?

Sure they’re all Pentecostal, but that’s not the common factor I’m talking about. Yes, yes – they all appear on The Baal Network (TBN). But that’s not the common factor I’m looking for. Any more guesses? No?

Well, it seems that all three of these icons of ignorance are going to be guest speakers at the First Baptist Church of Glenarden/Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church annual New Years Watch and Revival.

Let’s review:

Noel Jones is a Oneness Pentecostal. He has made this fact quite clear on several occasions. He is a leader within the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (a Oneness organization led by such luminaries as Chuck Ellis out of Detroit). In fact, on his own web site he says:

He has served on the Board of Directors as a resident Bishop for the California District Council 16th Episcopal District of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc.,

Again, the man is a Oneness adherent. He denies one of the central tenets of Christianity. And he’s going to be speaking at a Baptist church. Well, he’s going to be speaking at a church that has a nominal hold on Baptist doctrine. Evidence that John Jenkins does not care about the welfare of the sheeple.

Have you ever listened to this fellow preach? It’s like listening to Geordi LaForge and Data having a conversation about the Enterprise’s warp core. But instead of Techno-babble , this man spews Christo-babble. I sit and listen and I think “Do people really think he is saying anything of significance?”

John Jenkins has reached a new low in exposing the sheeple to this man.

Then of course, there’s T. Dexter, the Potentate of Pomposity. I’ve discussed him until I’m blue (okay, dark blue) in the face. But it’s my lot in life to fully embrace the Cassandra syndrome.

The guy is Oneness, but too in love with money and too cowardly to admit it publicly. He has been rolled on HIV/AIDS (remember when he said he didn’t talk about AIDS because according to him, it’s not in the Bible ?). He refused to proclaim Jesus as the only way and instead mealy-mouthed some platitudes at some Muslim woman during a radio interview. He occasionally appears with Dr. Phil, a man who has unabashedly claimed that folks are wired homosexual and we need to get over it.

Yeah – he’s speaking at First Baptist Church of Glenarden, pastored by John K. Jenkins, a man who apparently doesn’t give a whit about the spiritual well-being of the men and women who are a part of the church. If T. Dexter is there, it means a lot of folks will be there too. And that means the coffers will be bulging, even after they pay the pimps their fees.

Finally, there’s pastor Sheryl Brady – the mascara lady. I’m trying to figure out how people, thinking men and women, can not only have a woman as their pastor, but have one who obviously owns stock in a mascara company to boot.

She appears to be a Fast Eddie with (if I may say it) breasts. She speaks of walking into greatness (not great in faith), about God greatly blessing us (material, or course), and other prosperity garbage. She speaks of God offering you another level in your spirit; your suffering just a preface to getting blessed. Your pain is just a warning that you are about to break into blessings. Too bad the victims of godlessness in China, Soviet Union, the Roman Empire, and other places never heard this. They were stupid enough to die without seeing that supposed blessing.

She even sounds like Fast Eddie…and John K. Jenkins…and T. Dexter. In fact, while I was listening, without looking at the video, I had to keep telling myself this was a white woman preaching and not John, T. Dexter, or Chuck Ellis.

These people are more evidence, more to support the indictment, that John K. Jenkins, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Glenarden, is not interested in taking care of the sheep. The fame of the pimps and pimpettes he is able to attract through the doors of his church (his and not Christ’s) gets greater and greater. And the worse thing is the sheeple are starving.

I have to wonder how men like Deacon Larry Lee, Deacon Stan Featherstone, the so-called “Elders”, Deacon Doug Smith, and a host of other spineless men can stand by and allow the wolves to feed on the flock. Oh wait, I think I just answered my own question. Standing by and saying nothing is what the spineless are best at.

Pulpit Pimps | 69 Comments »

Sometimes you almost have to feel some bit of compassion for folks whose lives are in the process of self-destructing. But then it becomes difficult to do that when you see the damage those folks have done to the people they are supposed to be shepherding.

You remember the Paulks, right? They were once the biggest thing in Atlanta. They ran a place called Chapel Hill Harvester Church. Then…well…due to some somewhat unfavorable press they ended up calling themselves the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

They went in not just for the Charismatic/Pentecostal teachings, they were a part of the Five Fold ministries, with prophets, apostles, and the whole thing. Along the way, as early as the 1960’s one of the Paulk boys got in trouble for a couple of sexual “incidents.” This is back when they were in their thirties. They ended up moving to Arizona to let things simmer down before continuing their “ministry.” When they came back, and the church really got to going, they got in trouble when it was discovered they were participating in wife-swapping. From that point on, the church was wrapped up in more secrecy that the Politburo in the old Soviet Union.

They have been truly amazing to watch. For a while, my brother-in-law and his wife attended the place when it was called Chapel Hill Harvester. In fact, they got married there. I even met one of the Paulk brothers. My opinion? One of the most arrogant and presumptuous set of men I have met in my entire life.

But that’s beside the point. As I said earlier in the article, the Paulk brothers got in a little trouble here and there. There was the incident where Earl, bless his twisted little heart, got sued and was accused of convincing a female member to…uh…consort with him because it was her duty to keep the mand of Gawd happy. Here’s the article we ran on that a while back.

He is also suspected of pedophilia, accused of lying to law enforcement, and is apparently the uncle of his son, or the father of his nephew. That is, if you want it more explicitly, he cheated on his wife with the wife of his brother. This came out when he was being closely questioned by law enforcement and made the mistake of lying to them. And his nephew, Donnie Earl Paulk, was fortunate enough to find out with the rest of us, that his uncle is really his father.

Now let’s look at the result of the doctrines he was promoting, the effects of those doctrines, and the long term effects of those doctrines.

As you can see in the picture above, the escapades of the dynamic duo (Don and Earl Paulk) has finally caught up with them. According to the various news organizations, the congregants finally began to see through the Archbishop garbage and began to see past the veneer, as I call it, of authority these two bozos hid behind for so many years. And once that happened, the more astute congregants started bailing. And of course when your sheeple scoot, you can’t expect your loot to stay at the same level. The result? They can’t pay for the building.

Well, what do you suppose ever became of that nephew/son? Donnie Paulk, the son/nephew of Don Paulk, has departed orthodox Christianity and has joined the ranks of Universalists. In fact, according to a quote from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, they’re selling it because they really don’t need such a large church anymore since their mission has changed. He says:

The smaller church’s mission has changed, so it doesn’t need so much property, D.E. Paulk said in the sale announcement.

“As the message and expression of our ministry has transitioned to become more open and radically inclusive of all people, we realize the ministry can be facilitated in a smaller and more urban location,” he said.

Paulk, who describes himself as a “radically inclusive minister,” also is the founder of the Pro-Love Organization, whose mission is to unite people of different faiths, cultures and backgrounds.

Take a look here to see what the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, aka Chapel Hill Harvester, aka Harvester, has finally sunk to.

I rail against the pimps not because I’m just a whiner or because I’m jealous, but because the more you look at these men and women, the more damage you can see they do to the people who get involved in church (as opposed to maturing as Christians). The son, raised in the church, has wandered down the dead end path of universalism. Earl’s daughter-in-law is a pastor in the church. They actively promote acceptance of homosexuality, the unity of Judaism and Islam with Christianity (their brand of it anyway) and a view of Christianity that is so fuzzy and jacked up that it is virtually unrecognizable as Christianity. But why not? For years they were taught that the very words of the supposed apostles and the self-defined words of wisdom and knowledge were the very words of God.

While being trained in solid doctrine doesn’t guarantee the son staying on the straight and narrow (Franky Schaeffer comes to mind almost immediately), training them in bad doctrine, and giving them the idea they are somehow special or privileged, is a virtual guarantee that somewhere along the line the poor kid is going to get his head screwed on backwards. And so we have Donnie Earl Paulk, the senior pastor of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, preaching an ersatz gospel that denies the power of the Holy Spirit and profanes the name of Jesus Christ.

Pator Paula White’s husband, Bishop Randy White, is having a hard time holding the Church Without Walls together enough to continue to pay for the building with walls they meet in every Sunday. Their satellite campus in Lakeland Florida is probably going to go on the auction block – soon. Since she left to be a life coach and is apparently planning on taking a assistant pastor job in Texas, Bishop White hasn’t been able to draw the crowds they need to pay for the building, the clothes, the cars, or the plastic surgery.

This bozo and bozette stood on the stage for years preaching about the power of God to act in our lives; about God’s ability to guide us in solving our problems. Then they stand up and say they can’t get along because their problems are too big?!?! Which one of those positions is a lie? And how much do you think this decision on their part confused the heck out of people trying to do what they thought was following God?

And we won’t even talk about poor old Thomas Weeks and his congregation. After his wife dumped him (although she still loves him and forgives him for putting a whoopin’ on her), his attendance has apparently fallen off as well. In fact, it seems it has fallen off so much that he owes more than $511,000 in back rent to the building’s owners. He was escorted out of the building on Nov. 14 while a church service was in progress. That must have been a sight. And more importantly, it must have really had an impact on the congregation – that which was left, anyway. I wonder if he’s going to be able to continue with “Find Weeks a Wife” reality show.

At least Charisma Magazine has recognized these disasters for what they are. But my trouble is that Charisma Magazine has yet to recognize that until a solid doctrinal foundation is set, until the Bible and only the Bible is the standard to evaluate “ministries” this stuff will continue to happen. It will just be a lot more obvious because of the internet, the 24-hour news cycle and mean-spirited bloggers like me and Independent Conservative.

Pulpit Pimps | 60 Comments »

Sorry I’ve been so quiet for the last week. I just got back from a trip to South Korea, visiting one of my sons, his wife, and my cutey-pie granddaughter. I stayed with them in their apartment in the city of Songtan, about an hour south of Seoul. Being the Benevolent Dictator, I have exercised my right to post at least one picture of Elizabeth Ruth Jones, the cutest granddaughter in the world.

Here you go. Tiger Lizzie.

I gotta say though, it’s been a while since I have been so close to a five month old for so long. She’s just getting good at holding herself up on her hands and knees and can work the two arms enough to move them forward. She still has to work on getting the legs to work with the arms to provide locomotion.

My wife and I (she’d been there for almost six weeks before I got there) had Thanksgiving Dinner with the folks from the church my son and his wife (William and Cara) attend. We then had Thanksgiving Dinner at the apartment with four airmen from her unit (she’s active duty Air Force, he works some computer software on the flight line at Osan AB). A couple of days before that we attended the Thanksgiving Dinner/Pot Luck for the Air Force Unit his wife and he support. All in all, it was a very - uh - eating experience.

I also went to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between South Korea and North Korea. And while the view of North Korea from just across the border doesn’t necessarily qualify me to be the next Secretary of State, it sure did help me appreciate the blessings we have in the United States. The North Koreans don’t have jack. You may have seen some documentaries on just how bad it is there.

And just as a novelty, at the Joint Security Area, where the demarcation between North and South passes right through the center of the building, I walked about ten feet into North Korea. Yeah, I know - some of you wish I had stayed.

Oh, and just to show you that everybody, even foreigners, takes advantage of a commercial gimmick, just outside the base at Osan, I saw this:

Ah capitalism. I love it!

Pulpit Pimps | 21 Comments »

Juanita has developed a new money making idea. Since she is convinced we actually believe she is a prophetess (as well as a profiteer), and that we actually care what she thinks, your girl has decided to let us read her diary – if we pay some nominal fee every day ($1.99) or every month ($9.99).

Well, as most of you know, I don’t have a lot of money. And as such, I tend to come up with creative ways of doing the things I want to do. Either that or I blatantly jimmy the system. In this case, I had my VOPWM blatantly jimmy the system for me. I broke into Juanita’s server and took a look at the diary entries she has recorded so far.

Here’s about a week’s worth for your examination:

November 7th, 2008
Dear Diary,
So far quite a few people have signed up to read what I have to say. And at $10 a month, I should be able to buy a new five thousand dollar pen to replace the one I lost when I got…uh… carried away and got in Weeks’ face last year. I’ll bet that parking attendant found my pen when he was picking me up and kept it. The little thief.

Speaking of Tommy, I haven’t seen him in quite a while. Now that the divorce is final, I guess I can go out and look for another husband. Tommy seems to be doing a pretty good job of finding a wife and making a couple of bucks at the same time. Maybe I could try something like that. Maybe I could call the show “How Juanita Got Her Groove Back.”

November 8th, 2008
Dear Diary,
Hmm. The county tax people came snooping around yesterday. I think they may tell me I owe some more money. Let’s see…let’s see. I’ve tapped out my account with T. Dexter. He gave me the money and all I had to do was promote one of his silly women’s conferences. Yeah, the conferences are a waste of time. But he and I both know that the folks who attend his conferences will likely attend mine too. So really, I’m helping out both of us. I may have to give that messed up girl from Mississippi a call and see if I can score something off of her.

Speaking of Paula, she’s doing really well with that Rabbi guy and the Ark of the Covenant. That whole Jewish law/worship/sacrifice schtick is really working for her. All I got is this lame “Threshing Floor” thing. I gotta find something else. Every time I go in there, I break out in a sweat and the clothes give me a rash. But right now money’s a little tight and I can’t afford to run the air conditioning unit. Not until I can build up another reservoir of cash. But how many times can I go out there on stage dressed in this bed sheet?

November 10th, 2008

Dear Diary,
Things just don’t seem to be going particularly well. I just got a call from my webmaster. He just finished talking to Kurt Cameron, that dweeb who uses the Ten Commandments to share the Gospel with people. Apparently, my webmaster actually listened to what he was saying, got saved, and now won’t maintain the website – something about being involved in heresy or scandalous behavior. I don’t know what he’s talking about. We are perfectly above board here and teach very clearly. If people are stupid enough to give us money anyway, well, whose fault is that? It certainly isn’t mine.

All the same, now I have go out and find a new webmaster before I have some kind of problems with the web site. Life is so difficult for a prophetess.

November 12th, 2008

Dear Diary
I slept in this morning. I really just didn’t feel like getting out of bed. I went downtown to interview a new webmaster and stopped at a real nice restaurant. On the way back in the rain, we got a flat tire. I was on the side of the road, waiting, for almost an hour and a half. It was all I could do to make my armor bearer change the tire. And it took her so long because she’d never done it before. I may have to replace Taneeshah. She’s been giving me trouble lately. And I think she got a cold last night while she was in the rain. I can’t feel too bad about it though. She knew when she came to work for me that I wasn’t going to provide her with health insurance. She should have exercised her faith and spoken the cold away a little more aggressively, ‘cause I am NOT going to pay any of her hospital bills.

Creflo came by this afternoon. In fact, he’s downstairs right now. He’s such an arrogant twerp. But I gotta admit he has got his people trained. It was pouring down rain when his driver pulled up to the house. But the man got out of the car, ran around to the passenger’s side and opened the door for Cref. And even though he had an umbrella, the driver didn’t open it until just before Cref got out of the car. And even then, he held the umbrella over Cref, leaving himself out in the rain. Now THAT is an armorbearer.

I’ll probably spend the rest of the evening talking to Cref to see how he keeps his people from reading their Bibles, or at least keeping them from actually thinking about what it says. If I can do that, I should be able to double or even triple my followers. Heck, I might even be able to score a church building again. And with that I could easily triple my income. No more of this “No More Sheets” crap.
Gotta go. Creflo is downstairs and I don’t want to keep him waiting TOO long.

Unfortunately, that was all my VOPWM could get before her security system detected him and shut down his access. I’ll probably have him try again in a couple of weeks. Assuming of course people are stupid enough to actually give her money so they can read her vapid thoughts.

A tip of the hat to search4truth in telling me about the new scam. If you want to sign up, go here.

Pulpit Pimps | 71 Comments »

I went to church today. Got there late. They took up the collection, prayed, all that good stuff. Then, while the collection was being gathered and Milton the piano player was playing a nice song, a couple of ushers came up to the podium and moved the lectern out of the way to stage right. I thought “Hmmph. That’s interesting. I wonder what that is about?”

Once the music was finished, Eric Redmond got up and, using a stool that had been placed there, began talking. As planned, his sermon was from 1 Corinthians 13. However, the exact contents weren’t as planned.

Eric started off the sermon with mention of what had been happening over the last week. Apparently a couple of e-mobs - one from each side - had started a pretty ugly e-mail campaign to take things to a whole new level. Far from deriving any benefit from his sermons and his example, the two sides were becoming more polarized and even more estranged. They were starting to do relational damage to each other that would have been nearly impossible to repair once Eric left on January 14th, 2009.

In order to neutralize the damaging behavior, Eric submitted his resignation effective today, November 9th, 2008. The church will provide him with a severance package, he will go on with his life, and the church will make an attempt at recovering from what has been a really sad, and in my humble opinion, stupid affair.

Now I have to decide what I am going to do. The overwhelming urge is to get the heck out of dodge. However, I also see a need to remain at least for a while to see if maybe I can help repair the rift that has developed.

I gotta say that Eric’s behavior and decisions have been excellent and totally in keeping with that which we see in Christ. He is to be commended. Even more, his wife is to be doubly commended for being will to follow him and take the trash they have had dished to them.

Christian Living | 40 Comments »

As I’m sure you realize, I virtually never venture into the political realm. However, I read a posting out on Facebook that just screamed for a presence on Pulpit-Pimps. I don’t know where most of you stand on Obama. The fact that you visit the site and even support much of what I do out here, doesn’t necessarily indicate your position one way or the other. And that really doesn’t matter. This posting needs to be publicized. The article was put out there on November 5, 2008.

“How did Barak Obama win?” I was asked last night. If you’ve been on the internet at all today, you know that there are literally thousands of answers and pages of analysis to answer that question. But the Bible, as usual, gives a far different answer.

Barak Obama, the least experienced and most radically left-wing candidate in modern history just won the election of 2008 with well over 300 electoral college votes. McCain paled by comparison. But why are some people surprised? Americans voted their consciences, which are seared for the most part. We are not a nation of ideals in the moralistic use of the term. America has one ideal and one only: Autonomy. That word comes from two Greek words: “autos” means “self” and “nomos” means “law.” Americans exalt in autonomy. In fact, all human beings do, by nature. How is this so?

Consider: the big story of this election was its historic nature. The first black president was elected. So deep is the racial divide and the popular guilt over the wrongs of the past that we, as a nation, were willing to elect a man who has ties to Kenyan Marxists, domestic terrorists and thugs behind the brutal Chicago political machine. We voted our ideal: nothing is more important than making ourselves feel better, even if it means setting aside calm, rational judgment. Nothing is more important to unbelief than unity, no matter the cost. But unity is always for and against something. And apart from Christ, there is ever and only false unity.

Now, why is racism even a problem? Is it because of the terrible wrongs (and they were terrible) of the slave holders of the agrigarian South? The denial of civil rights in the mid 20th century? No, these are merely the fruits on the tree. The apostle Paul explains in his letter to the Galatians that racism is a form of self-righteousness, another of the bitter fruits of autonomy. Racists believe they are better because of the color of their skin. But Paul reminds the Corinthians that they had nothing apart from what God had given them. Self-righteousness is sin precisely because we are all undone and unrighteous. We all deserve eternal punishment. If you don’t believe that, you cannot be saved. Jesus’ harshest words were for religious folk who thought they did not need a Divine Savior.

How do we solve the racial problem? We’ve heard, even at this early hour, almost ad nauseum, that we are going to be “one” now. President Obama will solve the racial problem. President Obama will right the ship of the economy. He will bring world leaders together.

But consider again: the Tower of Babel (Gen 11) is the account of God scattering the people by confusing their language. Why? Because of their autonomy: they wanted to make a name for themselves apart from God, just like their forefather of a few generations prior, Adam. Since then, the world has been divided, proud, self-righteous and racist. Has any political figured solved the problem? Hardly. And they never will.

The only solution to racial unity is found in the book of Acts. There, contrary to the mystical and fantastic interpretations of modern “tongue-speaking” churches, God plainly pours out the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire to enable the Apostles to preach in known, understandable languages to the crowds gathered for the Feast of Pentecost. This is the undoing of Babel. As God scattered the nations for their autonomy in Gen 11, now He gathers them because Jesus has died, risen again and paid the price for all His people’s sins. He gathers, by His grace alone, those who were once autonomous and draws them with cords of love to true unity around the Gospel.

So how does unity come? According to God speaking in Acts, through the preaching and belief of the propositional truth of the Gospel. Unity is around the Cross, the bloody spectacle of God’s wrath against human autonomy and God’s grace to wretches like us. The unity produced by human beings will always be false, temporary and Satanic because we wish, like the ancients on the plain of Shinar, to make a name for ourselves over against the Creator. Unity apart from Christ is an illusion because autonomy still reigns and will work itself out in our lives. Always.

Obama (and probably most so-called conservatives) reject Genesis as literal history, and probably Acts too. the vast majority of people think the Bible is a myth. Ideas, however, have consequences. This is why, like other radically left-wingers before him, Obama will grasp at power and advance Statism. This is because if we reject our Creator, we will replace Him with another. In world history, that something is the State. This is so because, as the Bible clearly reveals, our Maker is our Savior (cf. Isaiah 46:3, 4). Hence, rejecting the Triune God, there is the push for government control, from the cradle to the grave. Who will be sovereign - God or the State? Without being overly simplistic, such is the tale of world history.

What’s the solution? The repudiation of all forms of autonomy. God is sovereign and we are not. Salvation is God’s gift, merited for the elect by Jesus Christ. The Bible is God’s Word, without any error and the only authority; we have only derivative authority.

These were the battle cries of the Protestant Reformation. One secular historian properly noted that John Calvin is rightly called THE founding father of America. The ideas of Calvin, Luther and the other Reformers lead us to the technological advances, republican (not the political party) government, economic prosperity and all the things we enjoy in the now declining West. Their ideas were drawn from the Bible, God’s self-revelation, alone. Thus, they worked.

We have turned our back on this heritage and are we now surprised that God has given us over to what we have rapaciously begged Him for?

So why did Obama win? Because we wanted him to. We deeply resent the fact that we do not control the universe. Anyone who offers even a glimmer of hope for taking care of us, apart from the Triune God, we run after because we love to have it so, just like the Israelites of old.

The solution is repentance and faith. So let us neither be surprised nor daunted, if we believe the Gospel. For God still reigns, Jesus is still the only true King and the Holy Spirit will still use His Word to convict sinners and bring them to that ever-growing throng that will, in perfect unity, sing:
“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One Who is and Who was and Who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned. The nations were angry and Your wrath has come.” (Rev 11:16b).

Pulpit Pimps | 189 Comments »

I’ve got good news: I just got threatened with a lawsuit. It would seem that somewhere along the way I became more than a pimple on the behind of at least one of the pimps. Can you guess which one? That’s right – John K. Jenkins (aka John the Magnificent). I have a letter in hand. As soon as I can, I’ll scan it so you can take a look. (My VOPWM made me change the way I upload and view images on my server.) In the letter from First Baptist Church of Glenarden on the Kettering (FBCGotK), the attack dogs demand I “cease and desist” using one of my registered domain names.

When I started the site, way back in January of 2005, I had several domain names registered. One of them is “FBCGlenarden.com”. Apparently they don’t like the fact that some of their members and other people who, not paying attention, may type in “.com” instead of “.org” when they want to visit FBCGotK’s site. Of course, when they do that, they end up at my site. And once the land at my site, they don’t get the usual view of John the Magnficent (hereafter referred to as JtM) or any of the other pimps. Instead, they get his words and his actions compared to Scripture.

The lawyers at FBCGotK seem to think I registered that domain name so I could draw FBCGotK people and other seekers to my site. The lawyers say that I used a trademark that is “…confusingly similar to (fbcglenarden.org).” They point out that they view it as a violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999. According to them, I also violate the Federal Trademark Dilution Act.

This is interesting. For years I’ve attempted to engage JtM in a discussion, asking him to counsel my wife to leave First Baptist Church of Glenarden and worship with me. And for years he has ignored me after first refusing to do so. He even went to the extreme of blocking my e-mails since I insisted on sending him stuff asking if he really thought he should invite people like Charles Ellis, the pastor of Greater Grace Tabernacle, a Oneness church out of Detroit, to preach to the congregation.

When I tried to talk to him about his heretical teaching claiming that Jesus suffered in hell for our sins, he dismissed me with the usual “we just interpret it differently, and I have been ministering for 25 years.” And somehow, this “ministering” demonstrates that he is right and I am wrong.

As a result of being rebuffed (or snubbed for the plain folks out there), I decided to address not only his poor treatment of the sheeple but the poor treatment of the sheeple by other pimps and pimpettes. How many former members of first FBCGotK decided to put truth first, leaving FBCGotK even if they had to leave their wives behind? How many families have been destroyed by the insistence on the part of the pimps that people’s money, time, and effort should be focused on the church organization rather than their family? Thus the genesis of Pulpit-Pimps.org.

But notice that even now, JtM isn’t willing to talk to me. He isn’t willing to do the right thing and counsel my wife to leave FBCGotK. Instead of talking to me and doing the right thing, he hires his legal guns to come after me, to sue me (if I refuse to roll over and give up the domain name).

For the sake of the pimp defenders out there, let’s review.

I went to John and confronted him (talked to him) about his doctrine (Jesus suffering in hell, speaking stuff into existence, etc). He didn’t turn from it. I confronted him on the people he brings in to preach to the congregation (Charles Ellis and others). He didn’t turn from it. I confronted him on his decision to refuse to counsel my wife to leave FBCGotK and to join me in worship. He didn’t turn from it. I even confronted him on his basically Armenian requirement that people walk down the aisle in order to “get saved.” He didn’t turn from it.

Now, he apparently JUST noticed (“…our client has discovered that you are the owner of fbcglenarden.com…) that I run a site with the subject domain name.

As an aside, I hope you understand the significance of the statement by the lawyers. Namely, it’s not true. I am very sure they have known since the site first appeared that I am the owner of the domain name. I’ve made it very apparent who runs the site and why. But he’s saying “our client has discovered” as though it just happened. The site has been up for almost four years. We’ll be starting our fifth year in January.

So now, instead of talking to me, in yet another display of uber spirituality, JtM has decided to sue me. More exactly, he has laid the ground work for suing me. But he hasn’t talked to me as one Christian to another. He has simply sicked his lawyers on me. He hasn’t attempted to communicate with me at all, except to send his lawyers out with the threat of knee-capping me.

Samuel Y. Botts, the lawyer handling the case, is likely going to bill FBCGotK for the work he’s doing on this case. And I wouldn’t think Samuel Y. Botts works for cheap. He has some really nice stationery. You have to wonder what would make JtM spend church funds to shut down my domain name. Maybe, just maybe, this piddling little website is starting to have an impact in some minor way. Maybe. Otherwise, I just can’t see why he would pay any attention to us at all; or why he would spend big money on a team of lawyers to attack it.

I thought it was interesting that if JtM had just done the right thing when I left FBCGotK, I would likely have gotten so busy being about the Lord’s work (with a local body) that I would probably have forgotten all about him and the rest of the pimps. But God, being sovereign as He is, apparently hardened JtM’s heart and started a series of events that eventually resulted in Pulpit-Pimps.org.

But back to the point. JtM is preparing to sue me. This, in disobedience to 1 Corinthians 6:1 - 7 which, as I’m sure you who pay attention to such things, says the Christian isn’t supposed to do. But why would you expect any less from a man who tolerates oneness folks preaching from the holy desk, preaches Word of Faith doctrine, a man who has placed himself as the center of the church (check out the new website, the only names you see are “First Baptist Church of Glenarden” and “John K. Jenkins”), a man who has spent more time growing the size of the congregation than he has in growing the spiritual maturity of the congregants?

He has a perfect opportunity to talk to me. But instead of talking to me, he spends money to attempt to shut me up. Instead of submitting to God as directed in Psalms 19:12, 13 and asking God to show him his transgressions, he hides behind lawyers, sending them to attack, to silence those who would question his actions.

Eight years and $55 million later, he hasn’t changed a bit.

His consistency impresses me.

John K. Jenkins, Sr., Pulpit Pimps | 122 Comments »

Trying to work your way through real-time conflict and issues is so much fun. I just (the afternoon of 24 October) spoke to Eric Redmond, the pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church. I asked him what he was going to be doing until his resignation took effect. His response surprised me. His intent is to preach through 1 Corinthians 13 until the day he walks out the door. His resignation letter identified January 14th as his last day, the day he walks out the door.

Being a person who doesn’t like going into the jaws of a hostile situation by myself, I asked if he wanted me to be there Sundays. He said “Yes, most certainly!!” In fact, he asked me to advertise the fact that he would be there. That is part of the purpose of this post.

As a result of that conversation, I want to make a slight revision to the ending of the previous posting (October 23 - A Lousy Day at Church). Once the majority of the congregation clearly demonstrated they are willing to act in defiance of the Bible, I saw no reason to continue there. I didn’t consider that Redmond might actually preach in the time following his dismissal. However, Redmond’s request that I remain, if only , as it says in Romans 12, to heap burning coals on their heads (we’re talking about loving them and being examples of Christian character and behavior, not hurting them), has changed the equation.

Unless they lock him out (and I wouldn’t put it past the…uh…gentlemen who now control the church), I will be sitting and praying until 14 January. I will also be visiting other churches (CHB) during the week to check out their teaching and fellowships.

Of course, the hard part is I have to be pleasant to and care about the very folks who dismissed Redmond. Yeah, I have to be civil to them and actually look after their spiritual well being.

And, you see, that’s the irritating part about memorizing Scripture. Romans 12 says that as much as it lies within me, I am to be at peace with others. I get to, with a great deal of reluctance, practice this “at peace with others” thing in an environment where I have no desire to be, with people I have no desire to be around as I practice that peace. I now have to love and seek the best for those I unfortunately tend to think of as my enemies.

I suspect Redmond is right. Even though words like “reprobate” and “rebellious” keep coming to my mind, can I really write them off just yet? It’s quite possible that God in His graciousness will move on the hearts of the men and women who engineered and participated in this coup. It’s possible that God, in His sovereignty, will move on the hearts of the two deacons who planned, fomented and directed the coup. Hey, He did it with Paul. And with Paul, God came against religious fervor. At Hillcrest, He is only coming against a desire to maintain power and hold to tradition. He’s only dealing with the fear of change.

Are the folks any less rebellious just because the rebellion is out of fear? No. Israel had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because they were afraid to enter the Promised Land and rebelled. King Saul got in a bunch of trouble because he feared he would lose his army and he offered a sacrifice in disobedience and rebellion. Behaving badly in fear is no excuse. It doesn’t temper God’s wrath.

But my point is this: perhaps I should trust God in His sovereignty to do as He wishes in their lives and in my life as well (though I can’t honestly say I am interested in it at the moment).

I am not one to attempt to lay any kind of spiritual guilt or burden on folks. I recognize that what God does in my life (sad and boring as that life is), is not necessarily what He wants to do the lives of others. We don’t all have the motivation or the same rough edges to be sanded.

Having said that, I will ask that those of you who read this blog (an obvious indication of your discriminating taste and great wisdom) to consider remaining at HBC until the very end of Redmond’s time there. Certainly look for another place to land. Visit functions and activities at other churches. Get a feel for them as we play the clock out at Hillcrest.

I have often stated that being a Christian can be very expensive. I’ve made it clear that the expense usually isn’t money or physical things. That expense is usually our desires and preferences. It is usually the inconveniences of being obedient. Consider remaining until Eric leaves for the last time. If nothing else, you get to practice loving without hypocrisy (Romans 12).

And hey, if the gaggle of deacons decides to continue their maneuvering and they manage to get rid of Redmond before January 14th, then they will have accomplished two things: They will have demonstrated to the remaining church members all the more that they are not honorable, Spirit-filled men of God (as required in Acts 6:3) and they will have cut the time you would stay at Hillcrest.

Pulpit Pimps | 22 Comments »

I just had a lousy experience at church this evening.

As you know, the pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church has been moving the church to governing by elders rather than deacons. For more than a year Eric Redmond, the pastor, has been preaching and teaching on elders, what the Bible says about them, the proper use of deacons and the relationship between the two groups of men.

About three months ago, after a lot of teaching, multiple Wednesday night Bible studies in which the congregation was encouraged to ask questions about the reasons for moving to elders, asking questions about the changes the move would cause and how the church will deal with those changes and asking really any question they wanted with respect to the move to elders, a slate of elders was solicited, the list of elders was announced and, working with the deacon board, they made a transition to elders.

However, it seemed there were some hard feelings hiding just below the surface at the church, hard feelings that go back from five to fifteen years (Redmond has only been there seven years). A couple of mistakes made by the elders apparently gave opportunity for these hard feelings (unconfessed and unforgiven hurts, you might say) to make their presence known. And from what I could tell, it gave a couple of the deacons the opportunity to do a Romans 16:17, 18 on the congregation. You know Romans 16:17, 18 don’t you? Yeah, it says:

Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eyes on those who cause hindrances and dissensions contrary to those things you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites. And by their smooth and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

I got to watch, first hand, as two of the deacons spent the last couple of months causing hindrances and dissensions. I got to watch as the weak deacons stood by and did nothing. I watched the unsuspecting get deceived and manipulated. And I have to admit it was ugly.

But I also got to watch Deacon Hodges ante up and kick in like a man.

But anyway, to make a long story short, the congregation voted, 102 to 110 (or something like that), to accept Eric Redmond’s resignation. That’s right, the church fired the man who was telling them the truth, telling them what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear. They fired the man who was encouraging them to study the Bible and conform themselves to what it says.

Several of the younger men in the church bailed a month ago when the church voted to rescind the move to elders and to return to deacons. I, as the mature and understanding Christian that I am, willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, ever willing to believe the best about people, have waited until today. I have officially bailed.

Now, unless the folks at Hillcrest come to understand what they have done, I am going to have to find another church. I’ll try to beat the wave of refugees as they wash up on the shores of the church pastored by Mark Devers in DC. Yeah – that Mark Devers. He and Pastor Redmond have worked together on some things in the past.

Gosh, I was hoping I’d be able to settle in there at Hillcrest, contribute where I could, and watch the congregation grow into something other than the usual Black Baptist, pimp-driven church. But alas, since a majority of the congregation has elected to follow flash and emotions, it won’t be long until a wolf sniffs them out and moves in for the kill.

I can almost guarantee you no one who puts the Bible first and uncovers the circumstances of the dismissal is going to want to pastor there. Heck, if the deacons turned on one guy who stood for the Bible, what would keep the same gaggle of men from turning on the next guy if he were to take a stand? As a result, the only kind of preacher they’re going to get is someone who puts personal fame and gain over personal and biblical integrity. It makes for a big church – they’ll probably be busting at the seams and dripping with money in a couple of years - but it also makes for an empty Body, one ill-equipped to minister to the members, and church members ill-equipped to minister to the community.

Chris, Wommack, Derrick – wait up. I’m right behind you.

Pulpit Pimps | 50 Comments »

A reader (Avishalom) pointed me to an article in the All African News Site that indicated T. Dexter was supposed to visit Zambia in order to host the “Africa Global Summit” and to pray for the presidential candidates in the up coming elections. He backed out. See the article here.

Why? Because, according to the news site, is was “…for fear of a mysterious disease that was reported last week to have killed some people.” And I could maybe see that. Why would I go into a city where thousands of people are dying from some mysterious disease? If I got sick I would just add to the burden of an already overstressed medical infrastructure. Right?

Wait a minute. There aren’t thousands dying and stressing the medical infrastructure. There weren’t even hundreds dying and maybe slowing the system down. There weren’t tens dying and at least giving funeral parlors a bump in business. In fact, according to the Zambian ministry of Health, Foreign Affairs AND the American embassy there were four deaths and they weren’t the result of a mysterious disease.

The organizers attempted to reassure T. Dexter and his team that there was no such disease. Five experts carried out investigation on two of the four folks who died. The woman could have died from a viral infection from a tick bite. She was from Lusaka. They pointed out that the first victim (who owned horses and attended a polo game in Lusaka as well) had a habit of running around barefoot in some very unhealthy places. Lusaka is 275 kilometers to the south.

I guess T. Dexter figures since he’s going to be the next Billy Graham, he doesn’t want to do anything that will in even the slightest way get in the way of him living long enough to BECOME the next Billy Graham.

T. Dexter is a coward. He is afraid to speak out against homosexuality. He is afraid to wear an ear ring if he thinks someone might complain about it and impact the money coming into the organization. He is even afraid to admit that he is a Oneness bishop, knowing that enough people aren’t quite stupid enough to continue throwing money at him once they found out. And now we find out he is too afraid, too cowardly to go into a country where the national health organization and the U. S. Embassy assured him that there was no mysterious disease killing ones of people in a city 160 miles to the south.

Tell me again how this man is setting the example of us in how to deal with adversity, persecution, and distress.

By the way, don’t think all the Zambians are taken in with T. Dexter. Here is a comment from one of the readers of the Lusaka Times Headliner:

External Observer
Oct 8th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Why meet with our presidentil hopefuls when he has not done the same back home. Zambians wake up! We have enough men of God in our motherland,
why didnt he just pray for our peace from his bedroom?

Pulpit Pimps | 17 Comments »

(MN: The reconstructed site still has a couple of glitches in it. At the moment I can’t get to the directory containing the images. As such, it’s straight text for now. I’ve put a work order in to my VOPW. But his response included the phrase “get bent.” I hung up before he finished. I think I heard the sounds from “Halo” in the background. But on to the posting. )

I try to avoid making judgments about people based on the way they look. (Thanks to GCM Watch for the image, by the way) After all, as a Black fellow, I have had to put up with this sort of behavior and bias most of my life. And I certainly don’t make it a habit to judge people just on the people they may occasionally associate with. After all, Jesus had dinner with pimps, prostitutes and tax collectors. But at some point, you have to be willing to make a judgment, no matter how much folks may disagree with it.

Here’s the announcement from the Human Rights Campaign (read here - defenders of homosexuality as a civil right):

Coming Out Day Prayer Breakfast
Date: Friday, October 10, 2008 - 7:30pm
Location:
All Saints Episcopal Church, 634 W. Peachtree Street, NW, Atlanta, GA.
HRC’s Atlanta Religion and Faith Committee is sponsoring a prayer breakfast in recognition of National Coming Out Day, Oct. 10, 2008.
HRC Religion Council member, Bishop Carlton Pearson will be the featured speaker. The breakfast will take place from 8 am to 10 am (registration at 7:30 am) at All Saints Episcopal Church, 634 W. Peachtree Street, NW, Atlanta, GA.

Notice here that Carlton is not attending a dinner where he is able to teach about the righteousness of God. And he isn’t friends with folks in the hopes that he will have the opportunity to present them the truth. Apparently, he is attending the “Coming Out Day Prayer Breakfast” or what amounts to a “I’ve Decided to Thumb God in His Eye Publicly” Celebration, not simply as an observer or a guest. He attended as the keynote, or featured speaker.

Here again, is an example of the need to hold to and present ORTHODOX doctrine. Why do I say this? Let’s take a look at Mr. Pearson and the sorry path his life has taken so far.

Carlton grew up believing that awful Arminian doctrine that requires people to work to get saved and to work to maintain their salvation. His grandparents apparently professed and did a lot to promote the generally Arminian flavor of Christianity. And of course, he loved his grandparents, a lot. Take a look at the MSNBC special broadcast several months ago.

Unfortunately, the grandparents, later in their lives, ended up falling away. As a result, all the work they did, and their religious behavior did nothing for them and, he believed, they lost their salvation and ended up in hell for all eternity.

Several years ago, “God” spoke to Carlton and explained to him that his grandparents weren’t actually in hell. In fact, “God” told him, everyone will go to Heaven – eventually. He (“God”) goes on to say that the most a person may have to suffer is remedial training once they die. Think in terms of Hitler taking a Race Relationship class to help him relate to Jews.

Take a look at what happened with Carlton. He grew up in a church that insists I have to work for my salvation (that’s the bottom line, no matter how much you try to argue otherwise and no matter how much you try to pretty it up). When the ones he loved failed to live up to the legalistic standards set by their denomination (hard-shell Pentecostal, by the way), he was forced to see them as having been consigned to the depths of hell purely because a failure in the later years of their lives. From his perspective, they had lived godly lives for almost all of their lives, fell away (drinking, smoking, and a little lotto) and now were lost. That seemed so unfair, especially to a teenager. That sense of betrayal must have sat rather heavily on young Carlton’s heart and mind.

This gave the spirit of this world (whatever name you may want to assign it) the perfect opportunity to tell Carlton what he wanted to hear: that his beloved grandparents are safe and in the arms of Christ since everyone eventually ends up safe and in the arms of Christ.

And now, having set aside one of the central doctrine of Christianity as revealed in the Bible, Carlton began the slide down that pesky slippery slope. If everyone is saved, then there’s no reason to limit my associations to Christians. Let’s check out the Unitarians and hook up with them. And since I’m not going to pay attention to the central teaching of Christianity, why do I need to pay attention to some of its teachings on so-called sinful activities – you know, things like homosexuality as an abomination.

Of course from there it’s a very short jump to not only accepting those who choose to publicize the way they like to have sex (as GCMW so cleverly put it), but celebrating those who do and using a prayer breakfast to do it.

Doctrine matters. As a legalistic Pentecostal (and yes, that is a somewhat redundant phrase), Carlton was set up to fail. The only questions were: How would that failure manifest itself? And who would be dragged down with him in the the failure?

In his case, his love of his grandparents aced out his loyalty to doctrine, even if it was bad doctrine. Once he cut the line, it has been a quick slide (less than two years) to end up where he is now.

The bottom line – Doctrine matters. It’s not about loving God without knowing God. It’s not about having a “heart knowledge” and forgetting to develop a strong head knowledge. It’s not about forgetting about the Bible and just caring about each other. And it certainly isn’t about forgetting all that dry theology since that’s just stuff for old white guys in Semitary.

To be a Christian requires that I grow to stand on the essential doctrines, that I understand the essential doctrines and that I be able to teach the essential doctrines. To fail to grow is to guarantee that in one way or another you will go the route of Carton Pearson.

And whether you want to admit it or not, the prospects for Carlton “coming out” within the next several months are looking pretty good right about now. Has anyone seen his wife lately?

Eddie Long, Pulpit Pimps | 58 Comments »

Over and over again I rail against the folks who insist that you have to tithe - to them. I rail against the folks who have a vision - one that usually costs tens of millions of dollars to build. I warn you about the people who promise you your coming break through if you give them lots of money so they can continue to enjoy their break through right now.

I point out that giving is a matter of faith. It’s not simply another bill for us to keep track of.  It’s not something you do to guarantee that God will bless you - as you count blessing. And it’s certainly not something you should do so that as you bless the Mand of Gawd, God can pour out blessings on you.

You should give where God moves on your heart to give. And you should give as much as God moves on your heart to give. And you should do so because you are acting in faith. Not faith that He will bless you if you give, but faith that you are doing what He would have you to do.

I am presenting an opportunity to give. You will receive no recognition for it. The people you give to will likely never meet you, and you will likely not have the satisfaction of seeing the benefits of your gifts unless the benefactor publicizes it. And even then, the results of the giving may not be what we want them to be.

If you give, it will only be because God has moved on your heart to do so. I won’t know it. The other readers of P-P.org won’t know it. But you may be able to turn it into a great lesson on giving for your children and maybe help pimp proof them.

Josh, a blogger, has some huge medical expenses as a part of his mother’s treatment of cancer. You can get some of the details here.

He has set up a PayPal account and has asked people to make donations for his mother’s medications and chemo treatments. I am presenting to you an opportunity to exercise your faith - not your greed, but your faith.

Any robot can write a check each week for X dollars and give it to an organization. Heck, I do that when ever I pay a bill. But giving isn’t simply paying a bill. It is an act of faith. How do I know God wants me to give here? How do I know how much God wants me to give? How do I know how often or how long God wants me to give?

The average pimp church, or even the average church steeped in tradition, does not require you to consider these questions. “Just give what we tell you to give,” they say, “and you will be blessed. Now shut up and write the check.”

Here is an opportunity to do more than take the easy way out. It’s easy to say “I’m praying for you and your mom, brother.” But what you actually do is much more revealing. Afterall, James did say it’s a bit on the hypocritical side to say “Be healed and get well” and then not do anything to help make it happen. (Yeah, I know. He talked about being fed and warmed. But that didn’t fit in with the contents of the posting. Cut me a little slack here. )

The bottom line - consider if you should give to the “Help Josh’s Mom Get Okay” fund. And if you decide to do so, let me know. But don’t tell me who you are - post an anonymous on this article.

Of course if you don’t give, God’s not going to bless you, your clothes will be consumed by the destroyer, your car will fall apart, your house will need a new foundation, you will lose your job, your wife will divorce you and take the house and your children will come up homosexual. And I won’t even mention the fact that you will get a vicious case of the hives, the grass in your yard will be invaded by grubs and you will draw the attention and the ire of the IRS.

But don’t feel like I’m putting any pressure on you.

Christian Living | 47 Comments »