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Just got this senseless junk spam in my inbox. Who is this moran lieberal mathew chapman? sounds like the name of a brit, a jew and a fag all rolled into one.
WARNING: This may cause loss of brain cells.
Televangelism; which is casually referred to as ‘the electric church’ is a means of preaching the Christian gospel by ministers through the use of televised-broadcasting. While the use of the media for sermons is not a new concept, it is more popular today than ever. It’s recognized as a mainly American phenomenon due to the large Christian population in the country, but it has now spread out its broadcasting gospel all over the world. However, by the amount of people who are sucked into the spectacle of televised church, televangelism is nothing more than a mass-broadcasted sham, which acts as a money making business by performing elaborate spectacles of divinity, healing, prophesy. Believers who are faithful to the televangelist programs are usually exploited by the celebrity ministers who use the tithes received to support their lavish lifestyles.
The sad thing about televangelism is how many people have been deceived by its lies. To suit the glamour of television, they need to make the circus big to suit their enormous audience. Lakewood Church is a U.S. mega church run by televangelist Joel Osteen. Lakewood rivals the size of a sports stadium and has a congregation made up of about 40,000 weekly attendees [1]. With everything grand, the next big selling point is to dazzle the audience with an elaborate magic show known as “faith healing”, which is the belief that through prayer, the ministers can prevent illness, cure disease, or improve health. Pastor Benny Hinn is one of those televangelists and on his shows; he will clearly demonstrate how he has been anointed as a faith healer by God. Footage shows Hinn waving his hand in front of the wretched person before him as they supposedly collapse and surrender to the power of God [2].
However, in the 1970’s, former evangelist Marjoe Gortner stood up to speak the truth against so called “faith healings.” He was thrust into the charismatic movement as a child and became disillusioned with the way he had to take advantage of his believers. He said, "I don't have any power and neither do any of these other guys. Hundreds of people were healed at my crusades, but I know damn well it was nothing I was doing." [3]. That’s how televangelism drew people in with the supposed miracles and promises; promises like a literal Rapture where Jesus will come down to fight evil in the Final Judgment known as Armageddon and all the people saved through Him will be raptured to his kingdom in heaven while all the enemies of God will spend their eternity in a torturous Hell. According to a 2004 Gallup Poll, 71 per cent of evangelical Christians said they believe the world will end in an Armageddon battle between Jesus Christ and the Antichrist [4]. Of course, this means it’s within their interest to be faithful to Jesus.
To this date, the evangelical movement has reached enormous proportions and shows no sign of slowing any time soon due the vast profit the televangelists are able to amass from their followers. The technique they use is called the “prosperity gospel.” This is a term used to describe the doctrine televangelists endorse to make their profit. Basically what it means is to love and believe in the healing power of God and to give to Him until you can give no more [5]. Televangelism can be very lucrative and because they run churches, they do not have to file tax forms with the IRS. As for where all the money goes, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports, “Rolls Royces, Bentleys ... a marble commode in an expensive home: that’s a lot of money down the toilet.” [6] Pastor Benny Hinn, not surprisingly represents a prime example of this. He uses the greed of his audience for the greed of his own. Often during his sermons he assures promise of many rewards, including financial gain. If they sow a sufficient monetary seed into his ministry, that person will be granted divine physical healing. A promise like that often results in his followers willingly relieving themselves of their hard earned cash [7]. Hinn insists that every penny is spent on God's work. But the Fifth Estate obtained confidential financial records from inside the Hinn ministry that displays how he uses his vast wealth to live like a celebrity, staying in 5-star hotels and travelling in private jets [8]. Another example is of a televangelist by the name of Peter Popoff who got seemingly personal with his congregation, predicting their ailments and knowing them by name; all of which provided by his wife through a microchip who had gone through the personal records of the congregation. He even sent out seemingly personal letters to his members imploring them to give a love donation to Christ and to follow his instructions to be blessed by God. In fact, this letter was nothing more than a "personalized" letter scam with personal details used to fill in the blanks. In this letter, Popoff connects a person's financial contribution to his ministry with obedience to the Holy Spirit. This sort of trick is not unique to him. Many other well-known televangelists like Oral Roberts, Robert Tilton, Rex Humbard, Marilyn Hickey and Don Stewart all succumbed to this sort of trickery [9].
So, it’s clear that televangelism acts more as a money making business, which profits through the masses, but there’s a final negative aspect about televangelism. Consider the political implications. The religious right in the United State is huge, and it wouldn’t be surprising that they would want complete political reform to line up with their own beliefs. Acccording to William Fore’s article called, The Unknown History of Televangelism, ‘Pat Robertson is a key leader in the group called Dominionists, or sometimes Reconstructionists. Robertson and his followers consistently and openly argue that America must become a theocracy under the control of Christian fundamentalists. He is on record saying that democracy is a terrible form of government, unless it is run by his kind of Christians’. Fore brings up Dr. Gary North, a major figure among the Dominionists, who clarifies their goal and tactics. North says, "We must use the doctrine of religious liberty ... until we train up a generation of people who know that there is no religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education, and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God." Fore also states that Dr. North advocates public execution of women who undergo abortions and a similar fate for those who advise them to do so. There’s little difference between these values compared to the enemies the religious right decries against. [10]
In the Book of Matthew, Chapter 7:15, Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Despite those words in the Bible spoken by the Lord, a large portion of America and other parts of the world are allowing themselves be taken in so easily and they will believe these reward-seeking beliefs in hopes of something good in return. Unfortunately, the only ones who are getting any real gain are the televangelists who present themselves in “sheep’s clothing” to make a quick buck at the expense of their followers.
This unreadable trash has been written by some underaged 12 year old tryin to impress his pinko engrish teacher. I dont think he has reached that level of sesoned maturity to understand the NEED for an invisible GOD to take comfort in during those tough times when you hafta to dicipline yur wife.
In the name of CHRIST what should I send the smart aleck twerp in return? If this was MY kid, he wouldnt be walkin on two legs.
WARNING: This may cause loss of brain cells.
Televangelism
Matthew Chapman
Televangelism; which is casually referred to as ‘the electric church’ is a means of preaching the Christian gospel by ministers through the use of televised-broadcasting. While the use of the media for sermons is not a new concept, it is more popular today than ever. It’s recognized as a mainly American phenomenon due to the large Christian population in the country, but it has now spread out its broadcasting gospel all over the world. However, by the amount of people who are sucked into the spectacle of televised church, televangelism is nothing more than a mass-broadcasted sham, which acts as a money making business by performing elaborate spectacles of divinity, healing, prophesy. Believers who are faithful to the televangelist programs are usually exploited by the celebrity ministers who use the tithes received to support their lavish lifestyles.
The sad thing about televangelism is how many people have been deceived by its lies. To suit the glamour of television, they need to make the circus big to suit their enormous audience. Lakewood Church is a U.S. mega church run by televangelist Joel Osteen. Lakewood rivals the size of a sports stadium and has a congregation made up of about 40,000 weekly attendees [1]. With everything grand, the next big selling point is to dazzle the audience with an elaborate magic show known as “faith healing”, which is the belief that through prayer, the ministers can prevent illness, cure disease, or improve health. Pastor Benny Hinn is one of those televangelists and on his shows; he will clearly demonstrate how he has been anointed as a faith healer by God. Footage shows Hinn waving his hand in front of the wretched person before him as they supposedly collapse and surrender to the power of God [2].
However, in the 1970’s, former evangelist Marjoe Gortner stood up to speak the truth against so called “faith healings.” He was thrust into the charismatic movement as a child and became disillusioned with the way he had to take advantage of his believers. He said, "I don't have any power and neither do any of these other guys. Hundreds of people were healed at my crusades, but I know damn well it was nothing I was doing." [3]. That’s how televangelism drew people in with the supposed miracles and promises; promises like a literal Rapture where Jesus will come down to fight evil in the Final Judgment known as Armageddon and all the people saved through Him will be raptured to his kingdom in heaven while all the enemies of God will spend their eternity in a torturous Hell. According to a 2004 Gallup Poll, 71 per cent of evangelical Christians said they believe the world will end in an Armageddon battle between Jesus Christ and the Antichrist [4]. Of course, this means it’s within their interest to be faithful to Jesus.
To this date, the evangelical movement has reached enormous proportions and shows no sign of slowing any time soon due the vast profit the televangelists are able to amass from their followers. The technique they use is called the “prosperity gospel.” This is a term used to describe the doctrine televangelists endorse to make their profit. Basically what it means is to love and believe in the healing power of God and to give to Him until you can give no more [5]. Televangelism can be very lucrative and because they run churches, they do not have to file tax forms with the IRS. As for where all the money goes, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports, “Rolls Royces, Bentleys ... a marble commode in an expensive home: that’s a lot of money down the toilet.” [6] Pastor Benny Hinn, not surprisingly represents a prime example of this. He uses the greed of his audience for the greed of his own. Often during his sermons he assures promise of many rewards, including financial gain. If they sow a sufficient monetary seed into his ministry, that person will be granted divine physical healing. A promise like that often results in his followers willingly relieving themselves of their hard earned cash [7]. Hinn insists that every penny is spent on God's work. But the Fifth Estate obtained confidential financial records from inside the Hinn ministry that displays how he uses his vast wealth to live like a celebrity, staying in 5-star hotels and travelling in private jets [8]. Another example is of a televangelist by the name of Peter Popoff who got seemingly personal with his congregation, predicting their ailments and knowing them by name; all of which provided by his wife through a microchip who had gone through the personal records of the congregation. He even sent out seemingly personal letters to his members imploring them to give a love donation to Christ and to follow his instructions to be blessed by God. In fact, this letter was nothing more than a "personalized" letter scam with personal details used to fill in the blanks. In this letter, Popoff connects a person's financial contribution to his ministry with obedience to the Holy Spirit. This sort of trick is not unique to him. Many other well-known televangelists like Oral Roberts, Robert Tilton, Rex Humbard, Marilyn Hickey and Don Stewart all succumbed to this sort of trickery [9].
So, it’s clear that televangelism acts more as a money making business, which profits through the masses, but there’s a final negative aspect about televangelism. Consider the political implications. The religious right in the United State is huge, and it wouldn’t be surprising that they would want complete political reform to line up with their own beliefs. Acccording to William Fore’s article called, The Unknown History of Televangelism, ‘Pat Robertson is a key leader in the group called Dominionists, or sometimes Reconstructionists. Robertson and his followers consistently and openly argue that America must become a theocracy under the control of Christian fundamentalists. He is on record saying that democracy is a terrible form of government, unless it is run by his kind of Christians’. Fore brings up Dr. Gary North, a major figure among the Dominionists, who clarifies their goal and tactics. North says, "We must use the doctrine of religious liberty ... until we train up a generation of people who know that there is no religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education, and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God." Fore also states that Dr. North advocates public execution of women who undergo abortions and a similar fate for those who advise them to do so. There’s little difference between these values compared to the enemies the religious right decries against. [10]
In the Book of Matthew, Chapter 7:15, Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Despite those words in the Bible spoken by the Lord, a large portion of America and other parts of the world are allowing themselves be taken in so easily and they will believe these reward-seeking beliefs in hopes of something good in return. Unfortunately, the only ones who are getting any real gain are the televangelists who present themselves in “sheep’s clothing” to make a quick buck at the expense of their followers.
In the name of CHRIST what should I send the smart aleck twerp in return? If this was MY kid, he wouldnt be walkin on two legs.
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