America's Moral Decline and the Rise of False Christianity

[WhiteTara]

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0216-20.htm

This is so right on!

America's Moral Decline and the Rise of False Christianity
by Karen Horst Cobb


“This is the year God wants to make you a millionaire.” The visiting evangelist stomped back and forth on the stage of the rented school building. His “hallelujahs” and “praise God” crescendos were followed by jumping up and down. Sweat ran down his face as he proclaimed that the church members would not need to be afraid if the economy collapses and their neighbors houses are foreclosed upon because they are blessed and will have all of their needs met. The service ended with the explanation that the first step to becoming a millionaire is to pledge $200 of “seed faith money” to the church .

Just prior to the introduction of the evangelist the young single minister with spiky hair introduced the beginning of fellowship “life groups," explaining that the “free market” will decide which ones succeed. Recently, Ted Taggard of mega church New Life Fellowship in Colorado Springs explained that Spirituality is a “commodity “ to be bought and sold. The writings of Milton Friedman are recommended for all new converts. This young minister must also be a free market convert . His small group is a satellite of World Harvest Church. The sermon themes of the mega churches are all very similar and reflect the cause of America‘s moral decline. Christianity is getting a makeover using the classic trappings of Money, domination and military aggression.
snip
This immoral clarity was reported recently in the Jerusalem Post. Rev John Hagee is the organizer and leader of the Armageddon war cry and has now created the powerful political lobby, Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Christians untied for Israel (CUFI) includes Jerry Falwell, Benny Hinn, Jack Hayford, George Morrison, Rod Parsley and Steven Strang and many other media evangelicals. According to Hagee, “ The goal is to be strategically placed to successfully lobby Washington on behalf of Israel… Every state in the Union, every congressional district will be accounted for.” Reportedly, this lobbying group represents 30 million evangelical Christians. As we know, congress alone has the power to declare war. Will it be Christians who pressure elected officials into war? Will it be people who declare themselves to be Christ-like, who use his name to sound the collective war cry which unleashes the deadliest weapons on earth? George W. Bush said recently that “all options are on the table” when it comes to Iran.

The Evangelical Christian right is working to insure a manmade apocalypse develops in the Middle east. This powerful political faction runs parallel to the economic foreign policies of the slightly more secular neo-conservative “republican” party which has visions of empire and military rule as outlined in the Project for a New American Century's "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century" . It was written a year before 9/11, and, prophetically, the plan to put bases throughout the Middle East is right on schedule. John Hagee’s latest book is Jerusalem Countdown which can be viewed on his website. Evidently, it presents Iran as a horrible nuclear threat to Israel and the United States. Just for a quick check with reality here is the score on nuclear weapons: Iran-0, Israel-200, US-10,600 (as of 2002). Please explain to me who are these "people of faith” and what do they put their faith in? Experts agree that Iran is at the very least ten years away from obtaining even one nuclear warhead.Ten years is a lot of time to wage peace.

Theocratic capitalism appeals to human lust for money, power, and military rule. Conversely, simplicity, service, and humility belong to the divine. Confusing fables are taught to itching ears. (Timothy 4:3 paraphrased). The first century followers of Christ did not entertain the entrepreneurial spirit, market competition and accumulation of wealth or organized to lobby Caesar.



These people are the real enemies of the state. Subsidized, tax free political machines with no check or balance. I think it is time to get the IRS involved as I do not doubt that they are breaking the tax exempt rule of not mixing politics and religion on our dime (Billions actually)
irs.gov here is where to go to file complaints.
http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=106778,00.html
Let's go get'em

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. It's that man-made apocalypse that worries me

God help us all, but I fear it is going to happen, and not long from now.

Note to Agent Mike: I'm referring to the idiotic Iranian policy of the Bushcos, which I fear will lead to nuclear holocost. I have no knowledge of any plot to blow up the world.

[WhiteTara]

4. me too. You know when Putin says slow down

that things are really getting out of hand. When do we get to impeach that evil crew?

[Warpy]

2. Theocratic capitalism? It's just plain old evil Calvinism

which is basically what the rich and powerful have always wanted to push onto the sheeplike masses. They've had poor success, only managing to do it regionally, until the wonderful invention of televangelism.

Divine right kings comforted themselves as they robbed their pesants into slow death by starvation that Paul said faith alone was sufficient for salvation. When Calvin came along and told them they were rich because they were favored by gawd instead of being heartless robbers and oppressors, they glommed right onto it.

There's a reason Stupid's faith came from a rich mens' bible study group in Midland and not his wife's Methodist church. He might have heard the words of Christ in that church. He'd never have heard them from a bunch of rich men who were trying to bribe their way out of hell.

The only thing we can do, and we MUST do it, to counter these Calvinist clods is to call them what they are: unchristian. They've read the words of Christ. Deep down, they know it's true. Only when it's validated will they start to wake up.

[WhiteTara]

3. yes and the mega churches are definitely

pushing the mentality that you can get rich when you give all your money to them.

Time to shut these evil bastards down. We need to do the Christlike thing and throw the moneyleeches from the church.

[awoke_in_2003]

9. Here in Dallas/Fort Worth

those mega-churches are everywhere. I know people that go to them (I, myself, haven't seen the inside of a church for 20 years- damn pagan atheist). The ones I know are all the same, just a little right of Ghengis Khan politically, worshipping at the alter of Bush. They make me sick, but I get great enjoyment out of tweaking them- sets their hearts aflutter with indignation.

[glitch]

16. Fear & Greed, Inc.

Pretty sure that's not what Jesus taught.

[CrispyQ]

5. Such an excellent commentary!

Every true Christian should read it & spread it. I especially liked this:

It seems today there is a need for a tougher, meaner Jesus, a government issue Jesus (GI-Joe) who comes complete with state of the art Kevlar tunic, two edged sword, and secret code book (the book of Revelation). Evangelical Christians are organizing and conspiring to manipulate governments to use weapons if necessary to kill some of God’s children so that prime real estate goes to people whom they believe God likes best.


It would almost be fun if the rapture really happened to see the faces of these self-righteous pricks watching everyone else rise toward the heavens as they are 'left behind.' They certainly deserve each other. They make me fucking sick.

:puke:

[Wickerman]

6. Hagee is clearly insane

and his followers are equal freaks. When I lived in San Antonio I knew a couple "followers" and they were impressed with star power and loved his services. Interesting, that if you confronted them on his message (available on TV, now nationally) it was like they never actually heard what he had said. A real cultive personality.

Even a decade ago his message was very Apocalyptic, white male rules, female subservient, the usual.

He is very overweight, yet he sells weight loss product (based on the "diet of God") that truly works!



And author of 10 major books!

Dr. Hagee is the author of 10 major books published by Thomas Nelson Publishers. BEGINNING OF THE END was a run-away best-seller on the New York Times Best Seller List, and the #1 book in America in 1996 in the CBA non-fiction division. DAY OF DECEPTION was also on the New York Times Best Seller List. FINAL DAWN OVER JERUSALEM, released in February 1998 was listed as the #1 book on the Best Seller List. Other books include: HIS GLORY REVEALED; FROM DANIEL TO DOOMSDAY; GOD'S TWO-MINUTE WARNING; followed by the release of his major prophetic book entitled THE REVELATION OF TRUTH. Then, in March of 2001, BATTLE FOR JERUSALEM was released and an updated version entitled, ATTACK ON AMERICA , which examined several reasons for the 9/11 terrorist attack was released in the Fall of 2001. Dr. Hagee’s first fictional novel DEVIL’S ISLAND was released in September 2001, with his second in the series AVENGER OF BLOOD released the following Fall. In 2004 the LIFE PLAN STUDY BIBLE, with Dr. Hagee as the General Editor was released with a follow-on daily Devotional entitle Life Lessons to Live By in the Summer of 2005. Strang Communication/Charisma House released in 2004 Dr. Hagee’s book entitled “SEVEN SECRETS – UNCOVERING GENUINE GREATNESS” and then in February 2005 they released the joint project with Dr. Hagee’s wife Diana as co-author, “WHAT EVERY MAN WANTS IN A WOMAN / WHAT EVERY WOMAN WANTS IN A MAN”.

http://www.jhm.org/pastor.asp

[WhiteTara]

12. he looks best for turning into the IRS

he is setting up a great big meeting of Christians for Israel. I wish I knew how to find old threads. This was a discussion about a week ago.
but here is this
http://middleeastwindow.com/node/283
Christians and Zion: Part IV


(Part IV) The interregnum: Christian Zionism in the Clinton years

by Donald Wagner

10/11/03: (Daily Star)
The Christian Zionist leaders returned to the United States and launched a national campaign with full-page advertisements in major newspapers under the banner "Christians call for a united Jerusalem." Of little concern to the Christian Zionists was the fact that their positions were in conflict with official US policy and could undermine the delicate negotiations of the Oslo process. Signed onto by Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Ralph Reed, then director of the conservative Christian Coalition, prominent minister Jerry Falwell and Ed McAteer of the Religious Roundtable, the campaign was one of Likud's answers to the Clinton-Labor strategy. It was also a direct challenge to the mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic campaign led by Churches for Middle East Peace that called for a "shared Jerusalem."

Likud also turned to the Christian Zionists for help in offsetting the dramatic decline in contributions to Israel from the American Jewish establishment during the conflict between the Orthodox and Reform-Conservative branches of Judaism. When the latter cut back on their contributions to the Jewish National Fund in the late 1990s, several Christian Zionist-oriented churches were asked to make up the difference. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, led by a former Anti-Defamation League employee and Orthodox rabbi, Yechiel Eckstein, claimed to have raised over $5 million, mostly from fundamentalist Christian sources.

I just really think the only way to stop these people is to take away their tax breaks. If it doesn't stop them, then at least we aren't paying for our own doom.

For example, John Hagee, pastor of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, announced in February 1997 that his church was donating over $1 million to Israel. Hagee claimed the funds would be used to help resettle Jews from the Soviet Union in the West Bank and Jerusalem. "We feel like the coming of Soviet Jews to Israel is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy," Hagee stated. When asked if he realized that support of Likud's policies and the increase in Jewish settlements was at cross-purposes with US policy, Hagee answered: "I am a Bible scholar and a theologian, and from my perspective the law of God transcends the laws of the United States government and the US State Department."

[Wickerman]

15. I agree

and that is a perfect example. Thanks.

I recall Hagee has had his tax exempt challenged previously but don't recall the outcome, or, truthfully, the circumstances. Must have been about '95 or so.

[WhiteTara]

25. as I understand it, it was about personal

income and he won. But this is for violating his church status.

[sam sarrha]

7. Christianity is a false doctrine to begin with, Aramaic is a language of

Metaphor and parable, then translated into Greek.. a logical language with out the richness of visual emotion and analogical thought.. then into Latin.. the language of Empire... then a long chain of modification to suit the elitist power and financial struggles through the centuries..

most damming to the original teachings was the Roman/Greeks transmogrifying Christ into a Pagan demigod.. the loss of the Humanity of Christ by the Bloody arguing over a Greek Diphthong.. which could be used as 'IS or 'AS'..God.. relative to manner of use in the sentence.. the worst of humanity at the time Capitalized on the power of using the 'IS'.. and deified a man.. making his teaching unattainable to mortal man.. unlike the Buddha.

Christ lived at the Cross Roads of the Old Silk Road, Buddhism had been spreading for over 500 years at Christ time, it is highly likely that he received teachings of compassion, unconditional tolerance and forgiveness the Buddha taught 500 years before, in Palestine from travelers.

the song.. 'They dont make Jews like Jesus anymore.. well at the time people were Righteously stoning to death their friends and family for absurd transgressions of religious law.

if one rejects the obvious roman/greek pagan influence of Paul's teaching to the uneducated slaves in his exile.. one can only see Jesus as a man with a compassion greater than the religion he was born into.. so his inspiration has to have come form the only teachings of the time that was essentially one of tolerance and compassion, and it is not unreasonable to think that message came out of india along the silk road as it passed thru india.

edited..i want to emphasize that the false doctrine is not his original teachings.. but what was done to them by scheming or ignorant people

[dweller]

10. Kicking the thread

recommending your response.

:kick: and R,

dp

[glitch]

17. Second that. K & R nt

[megatherium]

19. The origin of Christianity was whatever it was that happened immediately

after the crucifixion. The leader who taught compassion appeared/was revealed to his followers after his death. (A good case can be made that the belief in the resurrection came very early in Christianity, immediately after the death of Jesus; and it was the resurrection that propelled the new religion. One key element of this case: Paul speaks directly of the belief in the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, which was written in the late 50s; Paul was converted maybe 10 years after the crucifixion, and he was in contact with the original followers of Jesus.) What the resurrection was, isn't exactly clear (the New Testament is sketchy and confused at this point). I drift in and out of agnosticism, but I tend to believe in a "spritual resurrection", where Jesus appeared to his followers after his death. (It isn't particularly unusual even today for people to strongly believe that deceased loved ones have appeared to them.) Apparently, Jesus told his followers to spread the good news that God's love transcends death. That they did, though the message was distorted soon enough.

But it is very true that there are mythological elements overlaid on top of the accounts of Jesus in the Gospels. The virgin birth was never mentioned by Paul, and the two nativity stories in the Gospels (Matthew and Luke) are substantially different. Also, there is never a direct statement of the theological doctrine of the Trinity in the New Testament. Jesus is called the 'son of God' but is portrayed as praying to God. The dogma of the Trinity came much later. I'm not certain about the notion that Jesus was a substitutionary death (to pay the penalty for the sins of the world); similar statements occur in the letters of Paul, so this might represent a rather early attempt by him and other Christians to understand why their Savior had to die.

Anyway, your read of Jesus, that the important thing about him is what he taught (compassion, the immanence of God, and forgiveness) is exactly correct. And this is exactly what is not being taught in these megachurches.

[Jo March]

21. Amen, megatherium. Amen. nt

[fedsron2us]

22. Greek 'a logical language with out the richness of visual emotion'

Is this hoary old lie still doing the grounds. I thought this rubbish was buried for once and for all by E.R Dodds in his book The Greeks and the Irrational'.

[AnnieBW]

8. Protestants Doing What They Accused Catholics Of

The Protestants are doing exactly what they didn't like about the Catholics - selling indulgences, building huge cathedrals..er... mega-churches, etc. Time to drill a bigger hole in the eye of that needle. The camel's getting bigger...

[scarletlib]

13. My thoughts exactly.

[Vidar]

26. These aren't real Protestants. The Wold Council of Churches

opposes bush. These are updated tentshow, snake-oil-peddling Elmer Ganty wannabes.

[NVMojo]

11. Jesus would be tossing them on their keesters ...

IF he were around today.

[Nomen Tuum]

14. The time has come to tax all churches

If Hagee wants to play, make him pay. C'mon Fatso John, Let's RENDER UNDER CAESAR every last penny you milked from idiots like my sister!

[RazzleDazzle]

20. Very, very bad idea. Here's why.

Because right now, the trade-off for not getting tax revenues from them is that they can't get political in a partisan way (they can always talk about issues, but they' can't lobby, they can't advocate for or against any candidate OR party -- and if they do, they should be reported immediately to the IRS because it's a violation of their non-profit status).

[Nomen Tuum]

23. Sorry, but your opinion is wrong

Republican Churches ALREADY have a blank check to take any action Rove directs them to do. The IRS sits back and does nothing but it DOES go after Democratic churches such as St Luke's in Pasadena CA. EVERY TV Preacher utters nothing but GOP propaganda in TV and your IRS ENCOURAGES them to.

So SCREW THEM, Make 'em pay. Tax ALL the churches NOW!

[RazzleDazzle]

28. No, I'm not wrong

Just because the IRS regulations aren't being properly enforced (according to you), doesn't mean that jettisoning them all together would serve us better: it would NOT. That would ensure that all the socially conservative churches became fully political organizations, arms of the GOP.

[EVDebs]

18. Stems from the CounterReformation of the 1500s

Read about how the Left Behind pre-tribulation-secret-rapture group have hijacked US foreign policy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=215343

along with this on the Third Temple crazies
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week319/cover.html

[zeemike]

24. The prophesies are being fulfilled

Jesus himself said that in the later days many false Christs would arise and warned his followers not to follow them. And he said that they would worship the god of Mammon (materialism) which all of this is about.

[Vidar]

27. Great article.